USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 12
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 12
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SHUBAEL DUMMER
Mr. Emerson leaving in 1664, the townsmen evidently took steps to secure the services of Mr. Dummer to fill the vacancy. He was the son of Richard and Mary Dummer, born in Newbury, February 17, 1635-6, of whom Cotton Mather said: "a Gentleman Well-Descended, Well-Tem- pered, Well-Educated. ... In a word he was one that might by way of Eminency be called A Good Man." (Magnalia vii, 77.) He was graduated at Harvard in the class of 1656 with Increase Mather, and in 1660 was called to the ministry in Amesbury, for which he was approved by the General Court. He next appears at Newichewannock, as just related, and in 1665 began his pastoral duties in this town without the formality of an ordination. He was made a Freeman this same year. It has been suggested that he was at first acting as an itinerant missionary for the coast towns of Maine, with headquarters in this town, but there is nothing to bear out such an idea (Sibley, Harvard Graduates i, 471 -- 5). It is a fact, however, that it was not till December 3, 1673, that he was ordained with the usual ceremonies adopted by the New England churches. The "First Prayer" was made by Rev. Joshua Moody (Har- vard, 1653), pastor of Portsmouth, and the "Pastoral Charge" given by Rev. Samuel Phillips (Harvard 1650),
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pastor at Rowley, Mass., to whom a special invitation had been sent from this church to assist in the Ordination, a representation of which is here shown. In addition to the ministers, the laity was represented by the following "Messengers": Capt. Samuel Brocklebank of Rowley, Job Clements of Dover and Mr. Richard Cutts of Ports- mouth. Mr. Dummer preached his own "Ordination Ser- mon," perhaps from a scarcity of available clergy to do this fraternal courtesy, for it must be remembered that Mr. Dummer had been tolerant of those Quakers in former days, an indication of liberal tendencies unforgiveable in the Massachusetts hierarchy. The text of his sermon was: "Return, O Lord, and visit this vine."
The financial arrangements between pastor and church are not known, but it is certain that when he came he did not live in the "hows with 3 chimneys, the parsons howes," the old parsonage of Godfrey's time, as it is probable that by this time not only the chimneys but the building itself had "blown down." By his marriage with the daughter of John Alcock, one of the wealthiest men in town, he acquired a contingent interest in the large property of this family on Alcock's Neck, and built himself a residence there. In addition to this he was of independent means himself, and we are told by Mather that "he spent very much of his own Patrimony to subsist among them, when their Distresses made them unable to subsist him, as otherwise they would have done." He did not, like his earlier predecessors, desert his responsibilities after a year's isolation from the greater attractions of life in the more populous centres of Massachusetts, to which "he had been Sollicited with many Temptations to leave this place, but he chose rather with a paternal affection to stay amongst those who had been so many of them Converted and Edified by his Ministry." It is well to record this quality of his sacrificing service, which is not exaggerated, as he had a large and influential circle of family and per- sonal friends, like Chief Justice Sewall, to draw his mind towards more alluring prospects of worldly profit else- where. Little, if anything, of record remains to add to the story of his pastorate. A son was born to him, but he perished at the time of the Massacre. His own end in that savage shambles will be told in another place. He was the faithful shepherd of his flock for twenty-seven years, and
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To the Reverend thelived bethum of the church of it at Rowley they af zal
Reverend & beloved Grace mercy & power de multiples? te. This war to acquainty on that Goody hos qualwing providence having gove late rhino the work ofher houl semanagh wy, which fare for many fate yeay papy fremed denly banquething banking into a dadyning lethargic ( toch grenad by- 0 abling best (packen) zy that now our hearts and inclined xayfed up for fare ay tycks in my by car assiglance azerefulved In falls. all the ard inamen of god according to ge order it command of the gaffell arough vy; And trythis to ondains our Reverend brother mir Stulad Dumer an officer of our madeat hast under kov ford Jefus ist own wy upon the 4th Day of the weak trung the 3 day of Deanifor mach. They are therefore to come your help by the offer tamer of your prayers + your perfume upon that day with up by you Eldrep & meffers gray for the furtheram y acomplefaint of - sve you'd a work from when we hope according to Regular approbation we may expect vereine the right hand of fellowship Karma Roz 10th 1873
FACSIMILE OF LETTER, 1673 Inviting Church at Rowley, Mass., to send delegates to the ordination of Rev. Shubael Dummer
you to have comand Din the be hulp of us church according to be
Quand kishwork Rimango Banker
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with him ended a distinct era in the ecclesiastical history of the church in this town.
The effect of the Massacre weighed as heavily upon the Church as upon the material interests of the town. Everything was subordinated to the preservation of the settlement, and it became practically a military outpost to guard the frontier. As far as known the meeting house was not destroyed when the town was burnt, though the reasons for its survival are not apparent, when it is con- sidered that the Indians were under the influence of French Catholics, bent on wiping out all English heretics. The garrison maintained here had among its staff a chap- lain to attend to the spiritual needs of the troops, and it may be supposed that church services were held in the old meeting house for the convenience of the residents, as well as the soldiers. This condition of religious affairs pre- vailed for about five years, from necessity, not choice. The few survivors of the Massacre, brought up in the Faith taught by the beloved Dummer, did not lapse into irreverence lightly. A contemporary writer has left the statement on record that "not above Four Males were left of that Society, the rest Dead, Slaughtered or Capti- vated" (4 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. iv, 279).
The awful significance of the holocaust was not lost upon them. In writing of this period a former pastor of the First Church, thinking only of the long hiatus before another minister was secured, assumes that "the restraints of religion were very much removed, and levity and wickedness rapidly spread. The majority, forgetting the faithful instruction of their deceased pastor, treated religion lightly, and lived as though they were made for no higher purpose than to eat, drink and be merry." This is an unwarranted libel on the character of the survivors and without foundation in fact, or in fancy.1 The townspeople were living in a state of constant terror during this period, and had little time to "eat, drink and be merry" even if they had the leisure and the means to pursue this Baby- lonian style of existence. It is not improbable that the
1 Perhaps this critic had in mind an action of the Court, taken October 3, 1693, when the town was "presented" by the Grand Jury, for not "taking due care to pro- vide a Minister according to law." This is a good example of technical observance of the statutes. It is doubtful if a minister could be induced to come to this dangerous outpost, so recently reduced to ashes, and the population living in garrisons. The troops had a chaplain, which served every need of the survivors in this hour of their extremity.
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presence of a garrison of soldiers here had in it some of the elements of imported levity among the young troops, but that is no reason for confusing the two unrelated condi- tions, always found in garrison towns, and applying it to the local population. This kind of loose platitude does not enhance the credit of the successor chosen to take up the fallen pastoral staff snatched from the hands of Shubael Dummer so recently. It minimizes the results of the labors of the one to magnify the fruits of the other, and is an instance of the easy way in which persons from other localities unconsciously adopt the habit of the Puritan historians of Massachusetts in their preachments about the ungodly character of the settlers of Maine.
REV. JOHN HANCOCK
As may be imagined the vacant pulpit at York offered no great attraction to a clergyman available for employ- ment. The Massacre, with its horrors, was enough to make one hesitate to tempt a like fate. Over two years elapsed before a successor was induced to assume the responsibility. It is probable that he came as chaplain to the garrison at first. This was John Hancock, son of Deacon Nathaniel Hancock of Cambridge, Mass., born there March I, 1671, and a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1689. There is evidence that he was here before July 1694, and on March 18, 1695-6, the town appointed "Left. Prebble to Join with the Select men in Agreeing with Mr Hancock for the year Ensuing." This language indicates that it was a renewal of his previous agreement, and further evidence shows that he remained another year (Deeds iv, 109, 115). He was ordained at Lexington, Mass., November 1698, and possibly con- tinued here until shortly before that date. He was emi- nent in his profession and was generally styled "Bishop" Hancock. He remained at Lexington until his death on December 6, 1752, and it is interesting to know that his grandson and namesake, John Hancock, became the famous Governor of Massachusetts, President of the Con- tinental Congress and first Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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CHAPTER VII ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS 1701-1800
REV. SAMUEL MOODY
The ninth pastor began his work as the old century was dying and the eighteenth century was dawning, and he came to be its most famous one. Samuel Moody, son of Caleb and Judith (Bradbury) Moody of Newbury, was born in that town January 4, 1675-6, and was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1697, and as a young clergyman he came hither as a chaplain for temporary work with the garrison. In this way he was introduced to the notice of the people as a desirable successor in the vacant pulpit, perhaps the first one to recommend him- self to their approval. Garrison chaplains are not always of pastoral quality, and the recognition of his outstanding ability is a testimony that the responsible members of Dummer's remnant recognized in this grandson of an early York pioneer the outstanding qualities necessary in a spiritual leader they desired - a worthy successor to the martyred Dummer. Samuel Moody was a grandson of Thomas Bradbury, and as the latter lived until 1696, when Moody was twenty years old, the probabilities are strong that the latter had heard the story of the early days at Agamenticus from his grandfather's lips. He was not a stranger to its history. The results justified their judgment, and he became one of the celebrated figures of his day in clerical circles, as he naturally did in the history of the York pulpit. He is now more than a tradition. He has become a living "character." In May 1698 he began his ministrations as a "candidate" in the eyes of the resi- dents, and soon accepted their expressed wish for perma- nent relations as pastor. This acceptance was made without reference to any formal agreement for prescribed salary and perquisites, as the spirit of service was greater than the hope of material returns. Doubtless he recog- nized the poverty of the town after its great losses in the Massacre, and in the true missionary spirit, he chose to
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be one of them, and receive what could be spared to him in reliance on their good faith. Neither failed the other in a long relationship, which lasted till terminated by death. An appeal was made in 1700 to the General Court for assistance in the support of the ministry here, on account of the poverty of the town, and a grant of twelve pounds was made, equivalent to about three hun- dred dollars in our present currency. In relating the story of his pastorate of nearly half a century the historian is as much concerned with what might be left out as what should be preserved of the ample materials, actual and legendary, of this picturesque man. The anecdotes that have grown up about his colorful personality may be likened to those that are now woven about the character of Lincoln. Many of them may be exaggerated or attached to him from other origins. He might even repudiate some of them as unworthy of a minister of the gospel . Coming as he did to a frontier settlement where for almost the entire time of his ministry no man dared go forth unarmed, even to church, he grew into the rough and ready out- spoken ways of a pioneer people. With him was his young bride, Hannah, daughter of John Sewall, also of Newbury, born December 26, 1677, whom he had married in July, 1698.
Her character as a thrifty housewife sets off many of the tales of his impractical liberality, heedless of his own or his wife's personal needs. Many of them may be apoc- ryphal, though they are not unlike the largess of a spirit unmindful of worldly cares and responsibilities. He always looked to the expected "Providence" to supply any defi- ciencies in his own needs, which were the result of his impulsive generosity. This was an ever present philosophy in his life and guided him in his dealings with the parish as his employers. In one of his sermons, about 1718, he said that for twenty years he had been supported in a way most pleasing to him, receiving what the people could give him without the formality of a stipulated salary and a specified number of cords of wood and so many bushels of corn yearly. In the early years of his ministry the town was forced to ask aid from time to time of the General Court to assist in the support of the church. Such a request in 1702 is here given in full to show the conditions under which they were struggling to maintain the Gospel here - not "to eat, drink and be merry."
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June the 9th, 1702.
To the Honble the Counsell and Representatives of her Majesty" Prouance of the Massethuset Bay now setting in Boston in Generall Assembly
The Humble Petition of Abraham Preble Representative for York Sheweth that Whereas the said town of York have of Late been under very Grate disadvantages by reason of the Loses sustained by the War: and families dispersed and Broken up: sum of which altho returned unto us are not Able to sustaine any publick charges: becase of the Charges and disbusements about their one settlement; haveing much to doe and but Little to doe withall; haveing also bin Lately att Con- siderable Exspencs; In building for the Conveniency and accomoda- tion of the Minestry: and in Maintaining a scool for the Instructtion of our youth; which Wee Look upon as highly Needfull & beneficiall and are still Willing to Give all due Encorragment thereunto we Can: and haveing had Greate Reson to think Well and Worthely of What the Honble Coret hath done for us in our Low Estate for the seporte of the minestry a mong us, Which we Most Gratefully Accept and acknowledg; are therefore Incorraged herefrom to Sollicitt once More that your Hon's will please to Give us help by Granting some further Encorragement this year unto the Revd m' Samuell Moody whome God hath hitherto Made a blessing unto us; Hopeing that if God will bless the land with peace: and this Honrd: Corte and assembly shall please to assist us this yeare we shall be able hereafter to Carry on and Support the Ministry among our selves: without being any further Chargable or trubelsum unto the Publick and not Douting of your Generous and Good Inclination to assist us in What you Can humbly submit and shall for Ever Pray for &c.
To get a picture of him as a rare and unique occupant of the pulpit, and obtain an appreciation of his eccentric methods, absolutely indifferent to parochial opinion, one may read the timeworn stories of his personal attacks on his hearers who had aroused his resentment by their uncharitable dealings or their worldliness. Addressing them by name he would stigmatize their actions as repre- hensible or, pointing to one of his flock sweeping into her pew in full-hooped grandeur, advised the congregation that though beautifully rigged she had a "leak that will sink her to hell." This vigorous and declamative style of pulpit comment on his parishioners seems to indicate that he indulged in extemporaneous preaching, uncommon in that day, when interminable sermons were painfully prepared by candlelight, and carefully modeled into the conventional divisions of "heads" and numbered firstly, secondly and so on without apparent limit. This undoubt- edly was the case. It is related that his son-in-law, Rev. Joseph Emerson, was an occasional visitor who preached
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for him in the orthodox manner with written sermons and much to the satisfaction of his parish. His reaction was characteristic. He wrote out his next sermon and started to deliver it. The effort was too much and when half through it he suddenly threw the manuscript aside and spoke his mind unrestrained by adhesion to what he had written. "Emerson must be Emerson," he cried, "and Moody must be Moody. I feel as if my head was in a bag. You call Moody a rambling preacher, and it is true enough. He is just fit to catch up rambling sinners. You are all rambling from the Lord." It may be that he had found that firstlys and secondlys were too soporific, as it is said that his eyes once fell on some of his congregation peacefully ignoring his description of Hell. He shouted at them "Fire! Fire!" "Where? Where?" they asked in their half-wakened condition. "In Hell for sleepy sin- ners," he answered, having accomplished his purpose in arousing them.
That such a free lance should have survived the shocks of resentment stirred up by this indulgence of personal attacks on prominent members of his congrega- tion is perhaps the greatest wonder of his unusual quali- ties. It is quite certain that no successor of his could afford to imitate his methods, without handing in his resignation at the.close of the sermon, to forestall dis- missal.1 He became a "character" in the public estima- tion and his colleagues frowned on his peculiarities. A ministerial association to which he belonged undertook to call him to account for his "odd expressions and back- handed strokes." They did not think he was mentally well-balanced, but he showed them that he had the largest parish, in numbers, in the Province, and they let him continue as a "rambling preacher."
"Hell" was was a favorite country in his vocabulary, as has been evident from the many outbursts in the pulpit related above. That he was able to produce discourses of the kind common to the theology of his age can be estab- lished in his published sermons. They contain meat for the strongest digestion and leave the hearers or readers paralyzed and helpless. Quotations from two of them will serve to explain that only a hardy race could have derived
1 One which he preached, vouched for by his family historian, exceeds in virulence of language the instances just recited. It is referred to elsewhere in this history.
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any pleasure in listening to such representations of the future existence, while they enhance our admiration of his ingenuity in finding adjectives enough to multiply the different kinds of horrors he believed to be in store for unbelievers. It is difficult to accept this paradox in a mind crammed with the greatest charity and love for his fellow man and his conception of an end that he said beggared description, which he felt awaited even those dearest to him, yet unconverted.
You must Believe Heartily, Repent Unfeignedly, and Obey Sincerely, and all this Speedily too, or your Case will be formidable in that Day; and your Lodging among Devils, where the Worm Dyeth not, and the Fire is not Quenched. Read and Tremble at thy dreadful Doom, when the Lord Jesus shall be Revealed from Heaven, with his Mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that Know not God & that Obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be Punished with Everlasting Destruction, from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of his Power. Oh! to be thrust away from all the Good Company in the Whole World and chained down in a dark Prison (if it were only the Darkness of the place that might fill thee with horror!) and the Iron Gates thereof Bar'd, Bolted and Lock't, by Him that shuts and no man opens: and there to be on a Bed of flames; and suck in smoke of burning Brimstone, for thy common breath. How can thy Heart endure when God shall deal with thee? And how dost thou think to wear out an endless Eternity in the Place of Dragons? Suppose thou wert cast Naked into a deep Pit, full of Toads, Serpents, Vipers and Adders, that would crawl over thy Flesh, and in thy Mouth; -- or suppose thy self shut up, for one Night, in an House haunted with evil Spirits; how terrible would either of these be? Yet nothing to what thou art like to endure throughout the Endless Ages of Eternity. (The Vain Youth, 1707, PP. 43-44.)
Survival of this picture will fortify us for the next delinea- tion, as well as explain to us why so many persons were fined for absence from church in those days. It must have been an ordeal for nervous people.
We might also transiently Consider Hell as a Place and State of the Blackest Darkness, the Most exquisite torment and extreamest Horrour, Despair and Raging Blasphemy. A Place of Howling, Roar- ing, Yelling, Shrieking, -- But Words utterly and infinitely fail of expressing to the Life, the Heart-rending Pangs of the second Death. It is metaphorically, and in Scripture Language a Prison, a Lake of Fire and Brimstone; a Bottomless Pit, a Furnace of Fire, Prepared for the Devil and his Angels; a Place where the Worm Dieth not, and the Fire is not Quenched: the Vengeance of Eternal Fire. Now, if the Bodies of the Damned shall be Tormented with Material Fire and Brimstone, it must needs be Dreadful! As if we should see a real Copper, containing the quantity of many Tuns, fill'd with Brimstone; then melted over a mighty Fire; then set on a Flame, as you have seen
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.
a Kettle of Boiling Tarr in the Ship-wright's Yard: and Men, Women and Children thrown into it alive; this would be terrible to Beholders, much more to the Persons thus executed; though the Pain and Horror would in this case be over, in a few minutes. Suppose that God should keep thee alive in the Fiery Pond for one year and age to another, and we could walk safely by the side of it, and round it, and see the Poor Undone Creatures swimming about in the Midst of Flames and hear their Fruitless Cries for One Drop of Water. What Adamantine Heart would not Bleed at such a sight and Sound? (Doleful State of the Damned, 1710, PP. 32-33.)
Altogether he published about a dozen like discourses, but it is significant that his title to fame and honor in this town does not rest upon such hectic literature, but is cherished for his large-hearted human instincts. He lived in the day when "Special Providences" were vouchsafed in answer to prayer. It was believed that one of his fer- vent invocations resulted in the destruction of the French Fleet in 1746. Col. Dummer Sewall of Bath, a native of York, describing his recollection of this prayer which he heard when quite young, stated that consternation was depicted on almost every countenance. It was delivered on a day appointed for special fasting and prayer and he made use of the Scriptures in connection with Senna- cherib, thus: "Put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips, turn him back again by the way that he came, that he shall not shoot an arrow here, nor cast up a bank." In the fervor of his appeals to the Almighty this venerable septuagenarian servant of God waxed warm and raising his hands and voice upward cried out, "Good Lord, if there is no other way of defeating their enterprise, send a storm upon them, and sink them in the deep." It was learned some time afterward that not far from the time of this prayer a violent storm occasioned the destruction of the enemy's fleet. It is only fair, however, to other equally fervent prayers sent up by other clergymen in New England at that time, to permit them to share in the production of this timely meteorological "Provi- dence" which enhanced their reputations for controlling natural phenomena by prayer.
So far mention of his unprofessional methods has obscured the many tales of his practical humanitarian qualities. He had brought to his parsonage a kinsman by marriage, Thomas Bradbury of Salisbury, "who had been taken sick while a soldier in service at the Eastward,"
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