USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 20
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The following by Rev. A. C. Thompson, D.D., for many years a member of the prudential committee of the board, will fittingly close this sketch.
In the year 1846 Mr. Worcester became district secretary for Massachusetts of the American Board of Missions. His service in that capacity was conducted with industry and wisdom. His power in the pulpit lay in the firmness of his convictions, the mingled earnestness and sobriety of his views, the absence of all exaggeration, all sophistries and subtleties, all harshness and egotism. Rhetorical artifices were unknown to him. He did not aim at a highly imaginative presentation, but to set forth funda- mental principles and unimpeachable facts, and thus to instruct and to carry with him the judgment and conscience of all who listened. He was one whom any congregation would like to hear again and again on the same subject.
In editing the " Missionary Herald " Mr. Worcester exhibited naturally the same qualities as in his agency just spoken of. There was no bustle, no dogmatism, no sentimentalism, but dignity, accuracy, discrimination, and a happy faculty of never saying the wrong thing. Caution was always apparent, but it did not degenerate into timidity. The habitual reader would not be constantly reminded of the editor or any idiosyncrasies, but would have his attention fastened upon the method and progress of the great work, represented by that magazine, at home and abroad.
In 1878 he was elected a member of the prudential committee of the board. The two positions previously occupied served eminently to qualify him for this. It is safe to say that few men have had a seat at the weekly council table in the Missionary rooms, whose opinions were safer than those of Mr. Worcester. His manner was unusually quiet and unpretentious. Although
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familiar with the details of business at home and with the course of things in the different missions and stations, he never obtruded his opinions with anything like an air of self-conceit or superior knowledge. His modesty, his balance of faculties, and repose of character kept him from rash judgments, from temerity, and from obstinacy. He was firm yet tolerant of the opinion of others, however widely they might differ with him. No one could say he was not fair-minded and open to correction. There is a Portuguese proverb : "The wise man changes his opinion often, the fool never." Mr. Worcester, while not given to change, was always free from wilful persistency. His discernment and judi- cial calmness were in complete contrast with the infirmity of many minds which see no difference of degree in the weight of evidence. Eccentricities he had none ; impracticable projects were never suggested by him. If not a hero, he had no quixotism. He knew how to let windmills alone. Success did not intoxicate him, nor did trifles discourage him. A biographer of Dr. Isaac Barrow expresses regret that he could hear of no enemy and no calumny from which to vindicate him. The biographer of Isaac Worcester is likely to labor under a similar embarrassment.
Few men have been more beloved by the church or respected by the community than was the Rev. Mr. Worcester. While re- siding here he built the residence on the Apthorp road owned by the late John A. Miller ; the contractor for the work was Freder- ick Kilburn. Mr. Worcester had several acres of land ; much of this he cleared, and passed much of his time in its cultivation, thinking an outdoor life necessary to the maintenance of his health.
The Christian character and teaching of the Worcester brothers left an impression in the community that wrought for good through more than two generations, and there are those still liv- ing who in their youth knew the brothers and to this day recall their memory with loving reverence and assert that their example has influenced them throughout their lives and made them better men and better citizens.
The Worcester brothers had more than one generation of scholars and Congregational ministers among their ancestry who preached the Word at a time when what is now regarded as the severe doctrines of Calvin and Jonathan Edwards were taught and enforced by the church in all their strength. With hardly a variation these doctrines had constituted a part of the inheri- tance of the sons, and they lived up to them with righteous rigor. Their father, the Rev. Leonard Worcester, lived with his son
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Isaac in this town some three years, and frequently occupied the pulpit when the son was ill.
" He was the son of Noah and Lydia (Taylor) Worcester, born Jan- uary 1, 1767. Mr. Worcester went to Worcester, Mass., in his youth, and served an apprenticeship to the printer's trade in the office of Isaiah Thomas, Esq., a distinguished printer and publisher of that time. After reaching the age of majority, he was for several years editor, printer, and publisher of the newspaper called the 'Massachu- setts Spy.' In 1795, at the age of twenty-eight, he was chosen deacon of the first church in Worcester, of which Rev. Dr. Austin was pastor, and without any regular or systematic course of theological studies be was licensed to preach by the Mendon Association, March 12, 1799, and was ordained as' pastor of the Congregational Church and society in Peacham, Vt., October 30, 1799. He discharged the duties of his pastorate with much acceptance for thirty-eight years, till 1837, when he left Peacham on account of impaired health. He after wards resided in Littleton, and St. Johnsbury, Vt., where he died, May 28, 1846, aged seventy-nine.
" Publications of Mr. Worcester, 'Letters to Rev. Dr. Bancroft, on the doctrine of Election,' 1794; Oration on the 'Death of Washing- ton,' 1800 ; ' Fast Day Sermon,' 1802 ; also sermons on the following subjects : 'The Highway and Way ;' 'On the Atonement ;' 'On Prayer ;' ' On the Determination of God ;' 'On the Trinity ; ' ' Men their Worst Enemies ; ' ' The Christian desirous to be with Christ ; ' ' A Defence of the Confession of Faith of the Church at Peacham ; ' at the ' Ordination ' of Rev. Elnathan Gridley and Rev. Samuel A. Worcester, as missionaries, 1825; 'On the Alton Outrage,' 1837; ' At the close of his Ministry,' 1839. Besides the above publications, Mr. Worcester was a frequent contributor to several of the religious periodicals of the time. He received the honorary degree of A. M., from Middlebury College in 1804, and from Dartmouth College in 1827."1
After the departure of Mr. Worcester in 1841, the Rev. Samuel Bean was stated supply for some months. During the inter- regnum the Rev. Drury Fairbank also occasionally occupied the old pulpit, and then Mr. Burchard and the Rev. E. I. Carpenter be- came candidates for settlement, and the choice fell to the latter, who was ordained and installed over the church December 13, 1842.
It may well be believed that under the circumstances prevailing from 1803 to 1841 the growth of the church had been slow. It was now to receive a new impulse through the labors of a man who possessed a sound body as well as mental strength and spirit- ual grace, and who for fifteen years was to give of this abundance
1 Sprague's American Pulpit, vol. ii., pp. 455, 456.
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to the promotion of the religious, moral, and educational advance- ment of this community.
Erasmus Irvin Carpenter was of the well-known family of that name which for more than a century has been prominent in Vermont. He was, the son of Jonah and Hannah Carpenter, and was born in that part of Waterford adjoining Barnet and St. Johns- bury April 29, 1808. He attended the public school in his native district and Peacham Academy, and was graduated from the Uni- versity of Vermont with the class of 1837. He entered college with a mind well matured, and at once assumed a position among the first scholars of his class and maintained it to the day of his graduation. His mind was of a philosophical cast, and he espe- cially excelled in mathematics and those branches requiring clear- ness and strength in the reasoning faculty. Leaving the university, he passed a year at Andover Theological Seminary, and in June, 1842, came to Littleton and supplied the pulpit as a candidate until his ordination in the following December. Here he entered upon his chosen work with all the ardor and strength of his nature. He was not emotional, and possessed none of the merely showy qualities that sometimes have greater attraction in the ministerial office than the more substantial and useful attributes which rendered his pastorate notable for achievement, not only for winning souls to Christ, but in the upbuilding among its membership of the highest order of Christian character. His sermons were void of ornament and not calculated at first to win the attention of the indifferent listener, but their logical arrangement, clearness of thought, and elevation of sentiment always commanded the close consideration of thoughtful listeners, and in the course of time his lucid presentation of his subject drew to the church service a class of people who were not in sympathy with his theological views nor, it may be said, with his political principles, which he did not hesitate to express from the pulpit in the serious days of the Kansas-Nebraska excitement. Those who sat under his ministrations left the church with abun- dant food for thought. His pastorate was eminently successful from every point of view. In the time more than sixty persons united with the church, either by profession of faith or by letter, and the average attendance on public worship was largely increased. Some of this was undoubtedly due to the additions to our popula- tion, but at that time another denomination, the Methodist, had built their house of worship and drawn to it a large number of worshippers, so that on the whole it is evident that the interest in religious matters had received unusual stimulation in these
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years. But the most significant result of his labors within the church was the marked elevation of the spiritual character of its membership. Probably at no time in its history has there been more perfect harmony or less manifestation of worldly spirit among its members than prevailed during this pastorate. He was patient with those who failed to observe the law, but continuous neglect after what he regarded as a sufficient admonition was visited with the extreme penalty, and early in his ministry four persons were expelled from the church " for want of interest in religion and a sad indifference to their church relations ; " but subsequently the church was not called upon to administer this extreme penalty, and seldom had to call any of its members to account for minor in- fractions of its rules. Mr. Carpenter was a regular but not over- frequent visitor at the homes of those who attended his church, and was a sympathetic and helpful adviser in times of grief and adversity, as well as a wise counsellor in scriptural and theological matters. His conversation was indicative of the dominant note in his character; it was serious, practical, and helpful. These qualities shone forth in every act of his life. Neither in conver- sation nor in act could he be flippant, showy, or inconsiderate ; spiritual uplifting was the object at which he aimed in his inter- course with his fellow-beings, and the work he accomplished in this respect bore abundant testimony to his success.
As a citizen he was interested to an exceptional degree, for one burdened with so many professional duties, in promoting the wel- fare of the community. For much of the time during his residence here he was a member of the superintending school committee. To this honorable and useful position he was appointed at the first opportunity after he became a citizen, which was in April, 1843, and he served continuously to 1851. He then was relieved for a single year, to resume the work in 1852, when he began a service of three years, making eleven years in all. It was the custom then to appoint three persons to this office, and Mr. Carpenter usually had Dr. Adams Moore and either Dr. William Burns, John M. Charlton, or John Sargent as colleagues. Mr. Carpenter generally acted as chairman of the committee, and it is not too much to say that his influence and achievement in behalf of education was greater than has been rendered by any other citizen. He came to this service at a time when there was little interest manifested in the cause, and entered into it with the same tireless devotion he brought to every work that engaged his attention, and discharged its duties with a zeal that awakened teachers and pupils to do their best. With him an examination was no mere perfunctory task. At the
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beginning of a term he learned the exact situation, and followed the work with frequent visits to the end, until the school system of the town was equal to the best of that period. He was often called by the faculty of Dartmouth College to receive its "rusti- cated " students for instruction, and at one time had a class of four, among whose members was Thaddeus Stevens, Jr.
In the time of this pastorate, about 1851, the community ex- perienced an acute but permanently serious attack of the epidemic of spiritualism. Many prominent individuals were impressed if not convinced by the mysteries of this peculiar combination of fact and phantom, and the established churches were for a time distracted by it.
On the 14th of December, 1856, Mr. Carpenter tendered his resignation as pastor over the church and society. His letter was an unwelcome communication, and efforts were made to persuade him to withdraw it. Under all the circumstances he considered it best, especially for the church, that there should be a change in its pastor, and the matter was brought before a meeting of the church on the 27th of the same month, when the letter was duly considered and the following resolution adopted : -
" Resolved, unanimously, that we regret that our pastor, Rev. E. I. Carpenter, has asked to be dismissed from his pastoral charge over this church and society, but do not, under the circumstances of the case, feel that we ought to make any opposition to the desire expressed by him if a mutual council should think it advisable to grant it."
Deacon Jolin Merrill, Deacon Marshall D. Cobleigh, and Edmund Carleton were appointed a committee to arrange with the pastor for calling a mutual council, which assembled January 6, 1857. The churches represented were : Bethlehem, by Rev. Thos. Hall, acting pastor, Phineas Allen, delegate ; Waterford, Vt., Rev. F. Warriner, pastor, A. Goss, delegate ; Wells River, Vt., Rev. S. M. Plimpton, pastor ; Second Church of St. Johnsbury, Vt., Rev. W. B. Bond, pastor, Deacon S. G. Brackett, delegate. Rev. Mr. Hall acted as moderator and Rev. Mr. Bond as scribe. After due consideration of the statements presented, the council reported in substance " that it was expedient that the pastoral relations existing between Brother Carpenter and this church and society be dissolved, and that it hereby is dissolved." The council also ex- pressed its regret that Mr. Carpenter should leave this field, where he had been " so favorably known and so highly approved," and its sympathy with the church and society in the dissolution of the ties that had so long existed between them and their pastor.
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Mr. Carpenter at once removed to Barre, Vt., and became pastor of the Congregational Church there, where he remained ten years. For two years, 1867-69, he was acting pastor at Berlin, Vt .; then agent of the Vermont Bible Society until 1874, residing at White River Junction. His death occurred at Swanzey in Febru- ary, 1877.
The wife of Mr. Carpenter was Harriet, daughter of Col. Zenas and Grace W. Stevens, of Belchertown, Mass., who died at Swanzey in October, 1876. They had three children, all of whom were born in this town. The eldest, Harriet Elvira, is an instruc- tor in a college at Bowling Green, Ky. Irwin resides in Boston, and Mary Frances is the wife of Alfred Paschall, editor and publisher of a newspaper at Doylestown, Pa.
In personal appearance Mr. Carpenter was rather tall and slim, with a stoop that indicated studious habits. His complexion was dark ; his hair black, thin, and straight ; his face long and serious. In manner he just verged on cordiality, but never quite reached it. While he resided in this town he was constantly striving for the betterment of the religious, social, and educational condition of the people, and while he felt that his efforts had borne but little fruit, others, more familiar with preceding and subsequent con- ditions, considered his achievements in these respects abundant, and that his influence endured many years after his departure.
It was three years before the vacancy created by Mr. Carpen- ter's resignation was filled. In March and April, 1857, Abraham Burnham, a student at Andover Theological Seminary, supplied the pulpit for six Sundays. Then, all through the summer and autumn, Franklin Tilton each Sabbath read a sermon from the published volumes of Spurgeon or Beecher. In December the Rev. Mr. Coburn supplied, and in February, 1858, the Rev. Carey Rus- sell filled the pulpit until March, when he was engaged as acting pastor for a year. At that time Mr. Russell was fifty-six years of age, and continuous ill health had made him appear much older than his years. He possessed great resolution and devotion to his calling, and discharged with commendable success the duties that fell to his lot under trying circumstances. In his early ministry he had been distinguished for success in winning souls to Christ. It is related that in his first parish, in Hartland, Vt., there were but one or two females above the age of ten who were not hope- fully pious. Through his subsequent ministry he continued to meet with the same uncommon success. To see this stricken man laboring through the week with the zeal of a youth who had a position to win, and cheerfully fulfilling all pastoral duties,
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was a rare exhibition of the power which a strong and devoted spirit can exercise over an enfeebled frame. At the close of his year of service he retired to Norwich, Vt., near the scene of his first pastorate, where he passed to his final reward in 1864.
Through the summer of 1859 Prof. John Newton Putnam of Dartmouth College, one of the finest scholars and pulpit orators of the land, supplied the pulpit. His preaching attracted large numbers, some coming from other towns to listen to his eloquent and convincing exposition of the Scriptures.
In the following December, after having filled the pulpit several Sabbaths, a call was extended to the Rev. W. A. Smith to become pastor of the church ; quite unexpectedly Mr. Smith declined the invitation, and the Rev. Charles E. Milliken was called in April, 1860, and an account of his pastorate of over eighteen years, the longest in the history of the church, has been prepared by one 1 familiar with his life, and by reason of his family relations, his church associations, and personal sympathy, well fitted to write concerning it with sympathy and intelligence.
The fifth pastor regularly installed over the Congregational Church of Littleton was Rev. Charles Edward Milliken. He was born at Fitzwilliam, N. H., February 5, 1830, to Cyrus and Mary Smith Milliken, the sixth of a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters ; all living except Harriet, who, it will be remembered, died at the home of Mr. Milliken in this place March 3, 1867.
Both parents were Christian people and members of the First Congregational Church at Keene, of which Dr. Z. S. Barstow was for a long time pastor. No doubt the training received in a Christian home had much to do with the young man's choice of a profession for life. It is very rarely that a Christian minister comes from a home where one or both parents are not believers in the Christian religion.
As soon as Mr. Milliken felt assured that he was indeed a disciple of Christ, he decided to become a minister of His church and a teacher of His doctrine to men. A few months after this important step in his life, he united with the church of his parents. He was now twenty-one years of age. To become an acceptable and strong preacher preparation was necessary, and the question was where he should go to school. His pastor had been a trustee of Meriden Academy, and probably guided this member of his church, thirsting for knowledge, in that direction. To Meriden he went, and graduated at Kimball Union Academy
1 Deacon Charles L. Clay.
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in 1853. Dr. Cyrus Richards, a man dear to the memory of many connected heretofore and now with this school, was principal. This pupil, the subject of our sketch, says of him : " As a teacher he was careful, painstaking, and accurate. His influence over me was general rather than particular. How to be a student was one thing I learned of him." We must all admit that it is one of the most important things to be learned.
Mr. Milliken entered Dartmouth College in the fall of the year he graduated from Kimball Union Academy ; he took the regular classical course, and graduated in 1857. In his class were E. F. Noyes, a governor of Ohio and minister to France; S. E. Pingree, a governor of Vermont; Rev. William B. Wright, D.D., many years pastor of Berkeley Street Church in Boston ; Hon. James B. Richardson, of Boston, and Judge J. C. Hale, of Ohio. From Dartmouth Mr. Milliken went to Andover to take a theological course, and was graduated in June, 1860. Many of his class- mates liave attained commanding distinction, among them Rev. J. Q. Bittinger, of Haverhill, one of the ablest of thinkers; Dr. Simeon Gilbert, of "The Advance; " President L. Clark Seelyc, of Smith College; Henry M. Alden, for many years editor of " Harper's Magazine," and Peter McVickor, President of Wash- burn College.
Some inquiries had been made as to Andover graduates by some one connected with the church, so that it was understood that Mr. Milliken was available, and he came to Littleton to supply during his spring vacation. How many Sabbaths he spent with the people at that time the writer does not know, but that he filled the pulpit with acceptance to them, we infer from the following records of the church : "May 9, 1860, voted to choose a committee to unite with a committee of the society to give Mr. Charles E. Milliken a call to become our pastor. Chose John Farr, Sylvanus Balch, and William Bailey, Committee."
The letter to Mr. Milliken was as follows : -
REV. CHARLES E. MILLIKEN :
DEAR SIR, -The First Congregational Church in Littleton, New Hampshire, and the society connected therewith, have respectively this day voted unanimously to request you to settle over them as their pastor and spiritual guide, and chose the undersigned as their respec- tive committees to extend their mutual requests to you.
The society aforesaid authorize their committee to offer you, as a compensation for pastoral services, a yearly salary of eight hundred dollars, with the understanding that in case you accept our invitation,
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that you, until such time as will be suitable that you should be ordained and installed, supply our pulpit by others all or such portions of the time as you may be able to do so, the same as if you preached yourself, the society paying for the time they are supplied at the above rate.
Hoping that the indications of Providence may be such that you may feel inclined to accept of our invitation, which we most cordially extend to you, and that the result may prove mutually profitable and tend to advance the spiritual interests of this church and people and promote vital godliness among us, and that we may be able to aid you with our counsels and prayers and that He who doeth all things will add His blessing thereto.
Please accept of our personal assurances of affectionate regard and desire whether you labor here or elsewhere that you may not labor in vain nor spend your strength for nought.
Very truly yours, JOHN FARR, SYLVANUS BALCH, WILLIAM BAILEY, Committee of the Church.
JOHN MERRILL, MARQUIS L. GOULD, FRANKLIN TILTON, Committee of the Society.
LITTLETON, May 9, 1860.
These names, so familiar, were those of men who at this time were bearing the burden and heat of the day in the church and the active life of Littleton, all of whom, except William Bailey, have ceased from their labors and been gathered to their fathers.
Mr. Milliken's answer was as follows : -
ANDOVER, MASS., May 22d, 1860.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH . AND SOCIETY IN LITTLETON, N. H .:
DEAR BROTHERS, - Your communication containing the requests of the church and society you represent that I should " settle over them as their pastor and spiritual guide," has been duly and prayerfully con- sidered. The station to which you invite me is one of great responsi- bility, and deeply do I feel my unfitness for it. Trusting, however, that God, who hath called me to the work of the ministry, will grant me guidance and strength to fulfil it, I accept the call thus extended and agree to become your pastor. I desire to receive your continued prayers and your hearty co-operation in whatever endeavors I may put forth that there may be a mutual effort of pastor and people for the advancement of Christ's kingdom, all of which is needed to constitute a happy and successful pastoral relation. In this acceptance I deem it proper to put in writing the following conditions : first, that the salary, which in amount I regard sufficient, shall be paid quarterly in instal- ments ; secondly, that I shall be at liberty to take a vacation of three VOL. II .- 13
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