USA > New Hampshire > The New Hampshire churches : comprising histories of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in the state, with notices of other denominations: also containing many interesting incidents connected with the first settlement of towns > Part 12
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Mr. Oliphant left in 1852, and during his ministry there were added to the church 7 by letter and 25 by profession. Infant baptisms, 32. Rev. Charles Tenney commenced his labors early in 1853, with this church, and 12 persons have been added by letter, and 28 by profession since that time. Present number of members, 90. The church building stands near the Haverhill line-the parsonage, a few rods distant is situated in Haverhill, Ms. Attendance at public worship is about equally from Haverhill and Plaistow. Sev- eral families also attend from Atkinson, the boundary line of which is about half a mile distant. The average attendance at worship on the Sabbath exceeds 150. For the past sixteen years, the ministry was supported by voluntary subscription.
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Eight men have entered the ministry from families con- nected with this church-six of them Congregationalists, one Methodist, one Episcopalian.
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Old North Meeting=house from 1712 to 1854.
PORTSMOUTH .*
Rev. L. WHITING.
"Therefore, Honorable and worthy countrymen," said Capt. Smith to the New Hampshire colonists, "let not the meanness of the word fish distaste you, for it will afford you as good gold as the mines of Potosi, with less hazard and charge, and more certainty and facility."
This discloses in the briefest manner the origin of Ports- mouth, for that lofty and self forgetting devotion to great principles which baptized many of the early settlements lin- ing the New England coast, never put its seal on the brow
* Sketch by H. C. K.
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of Strawberry Bank. Its first colonists-fish mongers of London, more intent on trade than religion-arrived three years after the Pilgrims at Plymouth. They first settled at Little Harbor, nor was it until seven years that houses began to dot the ridge which run along from Pitts Street to Chapel Hill, then called "The Bank." Here the church with its wholesome discipline and heavenly comforts found no early home. Though a chapel and parsonage seem to have been built, no regular provision was made for a settled min- istry until 1640, when twenty of the inhabitants deeded to some church wardens fifty acres of land for a glebe, twelve of which lay in what is now the most compact part of the city ; and seventeen years after, the town voted to build a Meeting-house on a rise of land a few rods south of the south mill dam. Hitherto there had been but transient preaching, but the progress of the new Meeting-house, quickening the religious instincts of the settlers, they resolved to have a minister, and thirty six subscribers called a young man of rising fame, Joshua Moodey, from the neighboring colony of Massachusetts. This was in 1658. He accepted the call and the town voted to settle him. And as a proof, we take it, of their readiness to remove all hindrances in the way of the new preacher's usefulness, the town meeting ordered a cage to be made to punish those who slept or took tobacco on the Lord's Day, during the public service. Such cages might not be amiss now-a-days. Mr. Moodey was a brave, able and zealous preacher ; and when we think of his moral field, a trading community long isolated from the ordinances of the gospel, with little or no spiritual affinities for the Pu- ritan element of sister colonies, we need not wonder that thirteen years of instruction and labor were necessary before a church could be gathered. Professing Christians from other places had meanwhile moved to Portsmouth, who felt they could no "longer satisfy themselves to live without those strengthening and edifying ordinances which their souls tasted the good of in times past, and others well affected to the work, professed their longings after the fat and marrow- ed things of God's house." Little meetings of conference, confession and prayer were held from house to house, "to the mutual refreshing and endearing of the speakers, and to the awakening and warning of the neighbors who were per- mitted to be present." The civil authority was made acquainted with their wishes, and at last in 1671, several churches were invited to come and assist in the formation of the first church in Portsmouth and the "ordination of offi- cers therein." These were the church in Cambridge, of
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which Mr. Moodey was a member, and those of Ipswich, Rowley, and Hampton. Eight members with the minister entered into a covenant of their faith in Christ, and with appropriate solemnities he was ordained their pastor. A deacon also was set apart by the "imposition of hand and prayer." And thus after a lapse of nearly fifty years, this little branch of the spiritual vine was planted in feebleness but in faith upon our native soil. More than ten years of pastoral labor went by, when political troubles disturbed the peace of the people of God. In 1684, a member of the church was charged with false swearing in relation to the seizure of a fishing smack in the harbor, and though the matter was hushed up to the Governor, not so to the minis- ter. In an attempt to ferret out the truth, the Governor commanded him to desist ; but zealous for the honor of the church, he preached a sermon upon the evil of false swearing, and boldly called the offender to an account ; who, unable to brave the searching and pungent preaching of his minister, made a public confession of his sin. This the imperious spirit of Governor Cranfield could not brook, and he determined to wreak his vengeance on Mr. Moodey. For this purpose he determined to put into execution the Con- formity Act of Charles the II. which was at that time crushing thousands of the best subjects in England. He therefore, as Governor, issued a formal edict, which declared "that all persons who desired it should be admitted to the Lord's Supper, according to the Liturgy of the English church." The Governor then sent word to the pastor, that he and two of his friends intended to partake of this sacra- ment on the next Lord's day.
Mr. Moodey promptly and boldly refused to receive them, for which he was arrested and thrown into jail at Great Island, now called New Castle. "Our menester lyees in prison and a fammine of the Word of God cominge upon us," writes one in that dark day. "The Sabbath is come, but no preaching at the Banke. Motyones have been made that Mr. Moodey may goe up and preach on the Lord's daye, tho' hee come down to prisson at night, or that naibor ministers might be permitted to come and preach, or that the people might come down to the prison and heare as many as could, but nothing will doe. Good Mrs. Martin was buried, being not able to live above one Sabbath after the shutting up of the doors of the sanctuary." Nor was the sorrow of the bereaved flock less keen than that of the imprisoned pastor. In the absence of the Governor, he obtained leave from his deputy to permit preaching, and
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thus he pours out his soul in a letter to a brother clergyman at Rowley, beseeching his assistance: "Oh, consider that my poor flock have fasted about forty days and must now be an hungered. Have pity upon them, have pity upon them, oh thou my friend, and when you have taken yr' turn we shall hope for some other. Let this good work for the house of God be done, that you may be blest of God for good. You will thereby not only visit me in prison, but feed a great multitude of the hungry and thirsty little ones in Christ, which will be accounted for at that day."
After thirteen weeks imprisonment Mr. Moodey was releas- ed, on condition of his leaving the colony. He went to Bos- ton, where he staid ten years, his old and endeared flock never losing their hold upon him. In 1693, all obstacles having been removed, he returned to labor four years longer among the people of Portsmouth, when death removed him to the rewards of the faithful in Heaven. His last words to a brother clergyman were, "The life of the churches-the life of the churches, and the power of godliness in them, I beseech you to look after that." Checkered as his ministry had been, it was blessed of God; one hundred and sixty were gathered into the church during his ministry, and such was the power of his preaching that families walked from Greenland, six or eight miles, to attend the Sabbath service. What provision was made in the counsels of the dying pas- tor for his successor, we do not know; but within a month after his death, a call was issued to Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, the son of President Rogers of Harvard college, a descendant of the martyr, whose spiritual gifts marked many of that illustrious line.
As settlements thickened on the Bank, and the old Meet- ing-house became battered by the storms of more than fifty winters, the town voted to build a new one on the corner of the glebe land in the northerly part of the town. The move- ment excited a fierce opposition ; town meetings and counter town meetings, votes and counter votes agitated the commu- nity, while still the building went up, and when completed, the majority decided it should be the settled Meeting-house of the town, and a vote of the church removed Mr. Rogers from the old sanctuary to the new. This was the old three storied pile, whose double galleries and square pews and huge oak posts and braces are within the memory of the present generation.
In 1740, permission was given by the parish to " any per- sons or number of persons to procure a clock at their own cost, to set it up in the steeple of their Meeting-house, so
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that its hammer might strike on the bell." This permission was accepted a few years after, by Daniel Peirce and several other gentlemen, who purchased a clock and presented it to the town on the 25th of March, 1749. This clock, many years afterwards, on the introduction of a new one, was re- moved to the tower of the old South Meeting-house, where it did good service till a recent period. The new clock, which took its place, was made by that faithful and accurate work- man, Mr. Simon Willard, in the year 1803, and after the constant wear of about fifty years, is pronounced about as good as new. It is to be used in the new tower, with the old bell, as a connecting link between the past and the present.
The present bell bears the date of 1764 ; its immediate predecessor, the record says, having become cracked, was sent to England to be re-cast and was lost on the voyage.
Mr. Rogers' able ministry continued until 1723, when his death took place, and he was buried in the old burial place called the "Point of Graves." Rev. John Fitch, from Ips- wich, succeeded him, on the salary of 130 pounds a year, and the " contribution of strangers." After a pious and use- ful ministry of twenty years, the infirmities of age creeping upon him, a young clergyman from Boston, Samuel Lang- don, master of a grammar school in town, was invited to as- sist Mr. Fitch in his pastoral labors. Within a year, 1746, the old minister ceased from his earthly work, and the new one entered upon all the responsibilities of the ministerial office. For twenty seven years he was the faithful preacher and laborious pastor of the North Church, when his learning and piety secured to him the Presidency of Harvard Col- lege, and he removed to Cambridge. In the interval of five years between his departure and the settlement of Rev. Joseph Buckminster, Dr. Stiles of Newport, driven from his flock by the calamities of the war, supplied the North Church pulpit for a year, and he might have long remained to bless the town with his able ministry, had not Yale col- lege invited him to the President's chair.
Massachusetts again gave one of her sons, and Rev. Joseph Buckminster, in the early part of 1779, was ordained over the old North Church. Portsmouth had been now long dis- tinguished for its wealth and the generous hospitality of its principal families. The elegance and splendor of the old country were re-produced in this part of the new. Cocked hats and gold headed canes, embroidered waistcoats and gold laced coats glided up the aisles of the old Meeting-house ; while chariots with liveried footmen were standing at the door. Politics and pleasure divided the breasts of the people,
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and little room was left for the exercise of that holy living required by the elevated standard of Buckminster's the- ology. Thirty three years of faithful and indefatigable labor passed away, whose fruit, not all seen by our dim vision, is yet gathered up in the eternal harvest.
Mr. Buckminster's death took place in June, 1812, while on a journey in quest of health, at Bennington, Vermont, spreading grief throughout his flock and over a large circle of relatives and friends.
Rev. Israel W. Putnam, D.D. another of the Bay State sons, succeeded Dr. Buckminster. After a ministry of twenty years, marked by powerful revivals and the ingathering of many into the church of our Lord, he left in 1835 for another field of labor, leaving many hearts knit to him by the ten- derest ties of Christian affection.
The antiquated architecture of the old sanctuary it was now thought, needed to be remodeled ; and though many an old parishioner sighed over the restless spirit of reform, the old pile, both inside and out, was converted into a respecta- ble looking Meeting-house of more modern style.
Rev. Edwin Holt was the first occupant of the re-formed sanctuary. He was installed in 1836, and resigned his charge for a parish in New York, in 1842.
Rev. Rufus W. Clark was his successor, who after a pop- ular ministry of nine years, accepted a call from the Mav- erick church in East Boston, in 1851.
The Rev. Henry D. Moore was installed in August, 1853, and dismissed Aug. 7, 1855. But the "Old North," the holy place where our fathers worshiped, has done its work for the generations gone by ; it was decrepit with age; it had lost its hold upon the affections of the people of the present ;- it has been swept away, and a "New North," better suited to the tastes and demands of the present age, has risen on the old site. When a vote of the parish de- cided to tear down the old and build a "New," thirty seven parishioners came forward with generous subscriptions, from one hundred to three thousand dollars, according to their means, until they reached the sum of $ 24,000.
The new house was completed and publicly dedicated Nov. 1st, 1855. On the same day, Rev. L. Whiting, from Mas- sachusetts, was examined, approved, and installed pastor of the church and congregation.
Thus in a period of 215 years this church, almost "moth- er of us all," has settled ten pastors, and buried but four of them. The first six of the number, served the church about 140 years, and of the last four, three ministered but
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19 years ; the last one has just entered their service. Re- vivals of religion have been among the fondly cherished experiences of this church, and memorable scenes have they been. No schism, or fatal alienation has sprung up among the members, though at times the religious character of the church has been mournfully low. It once had a church library. It was lost by fire. A parsonage and a chapel like- wise, thus perished. The communion service is marked " 1705," and was imported from England, except the flag- ons, which were presented about fifty years later. The par- ish own a chapel in addition to their new Meeting-house, but have now no parsonage. The church numbers nearly 350. About $ 20,000 of the pew property was sold on the first day of sale. The house will seat above one thousand persons.
RAYMOND .*
In the year 1763, at a town meeting held in Chester, it was "granted and voted that a part of said township com- monly called Freetown, be incorporated into a new parish." The act of incorporation was passed the same year, and the new parish was called Raymond.
The first settlers of Raymond came from Hampton, Hawke, (Danville,) Kingston, Chester and Exeter, between the years 1750 and 1763. Most of them possessed a puri- tanic respect for religion, and a few of them were members of the churches in the towns from which they came; while some are said to have had little regard for things sacred, and to have uniformly opposed the raising of money by the par- ish for religious purposes.
Public worship was held for many years in the house of Benjamin Bean. Efforts were made to erect a Meeting- house as early as 1768, but the people could not agree where it should stand. A small Meeting-house frame was raised in 1774, near the spot now occupied by the pound ; but it was never finished. It was finally sold at auction and used in constructing a bridge across Lamprey river, on the road leading to Deerfield. Another house was raised in the year 1786 near the residence of David Page. The sermon at its dedication was preached by Rev. Mr. Stearns of Epping, from Psalm 132: 6,-"Lo, we heard of it at Ephrata, we found it in the fields of the wood." This text was probably
* History by Rev. D. Burt, late pastor.
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selected on account of the location of the house. It was surrounded by the primeval forest. This fact once led some one to post up an advertisement, that he had "found a stray Meeting-house in the woods." Many in town, espec- ially among the young men, being dissatisfied with its loca- tion, after holding numerous parish meetings, it was finally decided, by a small majority, that it should be removed. The moving took place in the autumn of 1797. The inhab- itants of the neighboring towns assisted, and "the team" consisted of about eighty yoke of oxen. After it was hitch- ed to the house and ready for a start, prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Stearns. It was moved to what is now the center of business, about half a mile from its old position at the geographical center. After the Free Will Baptist society was organized the old house became an object of some con- tention. It was once decided that the Baptists should occu- py it a part of the time, and they did so for a while, the Congregationalists holding their meetings in a private house. In the year 1834 the Congregational society erected a new Meeting-house which it occupies at the present time. The old house has been occupied by the Methodist society, and is now used as a town house. Its end, however, draweth nigh, and it would not be anticipating the course of events very much, should its obituary now be written.
The parish had no settled minister before the year 1800. A Mr. Gilman is mentioned as having preached in 1764. At later dates are mentioned the names of Webster, Reed, Thurston, Nehemiah Ordaway, Williams and Moore.' The last two both received a call to settle, which they declined. In 1799 a Mr. Gillett preached on the death of Gen. Wash- ington. Some of these men are remembered as good preach- ers and consistent Christians. One of them, however, once remarked that he had as good orthodoxy in his pocket as any body-alluding to a sermon which he was about to preach. An aged brother thinks it would have been well for him to have carried his orthodoxy in his heart.
Rev. Jonathan Stickney was ordained in the year 1800. He is remembered as an able and sound minister. He was dismissed in 1807, being nearly worn out by consumption, of which he soon after died. After Mr. Stickney left, the church, consisting then of forty three members, had occa- sional preaching until 1817, by Messrs. Holt, Homer, Cres- sy, Peak and Stone. The last two were Calvanistic Bap- tists. From 1813 to 1817, the church was supplied with missionaries about half the time, sent out by "The Mass. Society for promoting Christian Knowledge."
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Rev. Stephen Bailey was installed Oct. 1, 1817, for five years, and hence dismissed Oct. 22, 1822. Toward the last of Mr. Bailey's ministry, Mr. Wheeler of Candia, on an exchange with him, preached a sermon from Isa. 55: 9, in which he dwelt upon the Divine Sovereignty. Mr. Burnham of Pembroke also on a similar occasion, preached from Eph. 1 : 4, on the doctrine of Election. Mr. Bailey felt it his duty to oppose the sentiments advanced in these sermons by his neighboring brethren. By so doing, he caused a division in the church. The main body of the church were against him! A few, however, took his side in the affair, and the contention did not cease until he left.
Rev. Seth Farnsworth was ordained Oct. 3, 1824. He is always spoken of as an able preacher and a man of deep pie- ty. He was dismissed in 1834 on account of the ill health of his wife. He was afterwards settled in Hillsborough, where he soon died.
Rev. Andrew H. Reed was installed Nov. 13, 1834, and dismissed because many were not satisfied with him as a preacher, Oct. 26, 1836. He soon after left the ministry.
Rev. Anson Sheldon was installed June 28, 1837, and dismissed Oct. 15, 1839, the church being divided on the question of his usefulness.
Rev. John C. Page was ordained Oct. 6, 1841, and dis- missed May 7, 1851.
Rev. David Burt was ordained Nov. 5, 1851, and dismiss- ed in 1855.
When the town was set off from Chester, one hundred acres of land were laid out for a parsonage lot, the income of which was to be devoted to the support of a preacher. This lot was situated on the road leading to Deerfield, about eighty rods from the top of "The long hill." It was sold by the town in 1824 for about $1170, and this sum was put at interest. The income of this fund is now divided among the three religious societies in town. In 1816, parsonage buildings were erected, by subscription, at a cost of about $ 700. In 1824, about five acres of this parsonage lot were purchased of the town by the Congregational society for $ 45,50. But this situation was sold in 1825 for $370. A building spot was given to the society by Shurburn Blake, Esq., and a parsonage was erected upon it in 1836. The cost of this house was about $1000.
The funds of the society, exclusive of its variable share of the parsonage fund, amount to $700.
The first parish meeting was held at the house of Benja- min Bean, May 29, 1764. At this meeting officers were
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appointed to serve until the annual meeting in March fol- lowing. At a special parish meeting, held April 1, 1765, it was "voted that £ 300, old tenor, be raised this year for the support of the preached gospel," and "that Capt. John Cram, Benjamin Whitcher and Enoch Fogg be a committee to secure the services of a minister." Voted also, "that those persons who belong to the Presbytery, shall be eased of their minister rates." Almost every year it was voted "to ease" some one, of his minister rates,-probably all were so "eased" who objected to being taxed for the support of the gospel. In 1787 it was voted that, "any person desirous of not being rated" for the support of a minister "shall not be, after notifying the parish clerk of his unwillingness to be so rated." "The standing order" in Raymond has never compelled any one to aid in supporting its minister. Dur- ing the revolutionary war no money was voted for religious purposes.
A vote was passed in 1787 to give Mr. Stephen Williams a call, provided that his salary should be £ 65 a year, one third "to be paid in beef and porke and corn or grain at the current market price." He was also to have the use of the parsonage lot and 20 cords of wood delivered annually at his door. Mr. Bailey received a salary of $ 450, with the use of the parsonage and five acres of land ; also 15 cords of wood annually delivered at his door. Mr. Farnsworth was paid a salary of $375, with the income of the parsonage property. Mr. Farnsworth finding his salary inadequate to meet his wants, $75 were annually added to it by subscription for several of the last years of his ministry. The salary of Mr. Reed and also of Mr. Sheldon was $350 and the parsonage. The salary of Mr. Page was $375; that of the present min- ister is $425, and parsonage. The Congregational society was incorporated in 1816, and in 1817 it had sixty five members. Its present number is fifty eight.
The orthodox Congregational church in Raymond was organized in 1791, with twenty two members. Previous to the settlement of Mr. Stickney, those who wished, could enter into "the half way covenant," and have their children baptized. In the case of those who "owned the covenant" for this purpose, to the clause "you promise to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," it was added, "so far as God shall afford you light and direc- tion." Mr. Stickney, not being in favor of this practice, it was abolished when he became pastor of the church. At the present time the members of the church even, with a few exceptions, do not give up their children in the ordi-
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nance of baptism. It is recorded that "On the Lord's day June 29, 1817, fifty nine children were baptized." Twenty eight were also baptized May 25, 1817. The record of baptisms previous to 1800 has not been kept. Members from the beginning have been 397-present number 138. Parishioners of the Congregational pastor, of all ages, num- ber 450. Average attendance on public worship of all three of the churches in town is about 300. Amount of annual contributions of the Congregational church and society to benevolent societies is about $100. Three young men have been furnished from the town for the ministry.
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