USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Historical discourse delivered on the occasion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Upper Octorara Presbyterian Church : Chester County, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1870 > Part 5
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Mr. Foster died on the 30th of September, 1780, at the age of forty years, having been pastor of this church, in connection with Doe Run, about twelve years. He had been preaching, and on his walk home was overtaken by a heavy rain, which brought on the attack that terminated his life.
He was a brother-in-law of the Rev. John Car- michael, at that time pastor of the church of Forks of Brandywine. The Rev. Dr. Robert Smith, of Pequea, was an uncle of Mrs. Foster, he having married a sister of Mrs. Foster's father, the Rev. Samuel Blair. Soon after Mr. Foster's death, Mr. Carmichael ad- dressed a letter to Dr. Smith, containing a statement of his religious exercises during his last illness. This letter is so interesting, and portrays so fully the beloved character of Mr. Foster that I am sure you will pardon me for presenting it to you. It reads thus :
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REV. AND DEAR SIR :-
As you were abroad a considerable distance on important busi- ness at the time of the sickness and much lamented death of my dear brother-in-law, the Rev. William Foster, and since you have been informed that he left this world in a very happy frame of mind, and you wish to know the particulars, and what I heard him say with his dying lips on his death-bed, I very readily comply with your desire; for notwithstanding the subject is in itself melancholy, yet I bless God I have it in my power to send you such an account of the blessed and unusually happy state of his precious soul in his sickness, and at his dissolution, as cannot fail to be refreshing to every one that loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ; for, " blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."
As soon as I heard of his illness, I went to see him, and, from the bad color of his skin and heavy fever, I was afraid the conse- quence might prove fatal. But Mr. Foster himself did not appre- hend much danger. After much conversation, and after we had prayed together, I returned home, and in a few days heard he was worse, which I indeed much feared would be the case. I went to see him again, and was alarmed to find his disease had increased much during the short time of my absence. I told him my fear, that he would be taken from us; while at the same time I felt much difficulty in being resigned to such a step of divine provi- dence, as both church and state needed the exercise of his valuable talents. Mr. Foster said he was more apprehensive that his dis- order might terminate in his dissolution than at first ; but said he, " The will of God be done. Whatever my great Master God and Saviour Jesus Christ does is right ; and blessed be his name, I am not afraid to meet death."
We entered into a free conversation on the state of religion in our own and the neighboring churches around us. Mr. Foster observed, that although his own pastoral charges and the congre- gations contiguous were no doubt in a declining state of religion, and did just now partake of the present declension of the day ; yet we ought to bless God it was no worse with us than it was, when we consider how much the divine influence of God, the Holy Spirit, is withdrawn from the means of grace in general, and the
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many and strange temptations which these times throw in the way of real piety and true holiness. He said that his people, con- sidered as a congregation, were both solemn and attentive in time of public worship, and discovered much affection to him as their pastor; that he felt in himself much outgoing of Christian love and affection to them : that in his public labors in his Divine Master's service, both at home and abroad, he had much greater freedom and enlargement of soul in the real things of God and eternal life than usual; which was exceedingly refreshing to him, so that he found himself really fed with divine things, while he was breaking the bread of life to others; and that this had been his happy case for some time past.
I then returned home, full of fears that Mr. Foster would soon be removed from us by death; and I found that there was too much cause for my fears, as a messenger was sent to request me to come and see him, as he was supposed to be near his end. I came, but as too much company weakened him, I did not go in where he lay, or let him know I was come. But after a little, being sensi- ble that his dissolution was near, I was anxious to see him, and converse with him about affairs of infinite moment, as he was on the verge of eternity, and in the full exercise of his rational powers.
I therefore desired Mrs. Foster to tell my dear brother that I was come. He was glad to hear it, and desired to see me. I was much affected to see him so much reduced in his outward man, attended with so many evidences of the near approach of death. He took me very affectionately by the hand, and held it. I said to him, inasmuch as you are too weak to speak much, I wish you . only to answer the few questions I will ask you, by a sign, or yes or no, or a word or two, as you feel yourself able.
I asked him, as you are now on the very brink of the eternal world, and in a few hours to appear before the great God, to answer for the deeds done in the body, how do you feel in your soul, and what are your hopes of eternal life ? He answered, that although it was very difficult for him to speak much, yet he would do all in his power for the best of Masters, in leaving testimony for him and his precious truths with his last breath, and would
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not have us stop him from speaking, although it might seem to hurt him. " What I shall say," he said, " you may depend on as sin- cere and from the heart, as I can be under no temptation to deceive ; for I am a dying man, and now die in the full belief of the truth and vast importance of those doctrines of grace which I have been preaching to mankind, and I do now with my dying breath give my testimony to them as true. I am venturing my soul on their veracity with the greatest cheerfulness ; and adored be my God and Saviour for it. I do now feel, on this my death-bed, their application by the blessed spirit to my soul. I do find, by a most inexpressible experience, that while my outward man is decaying, my inward man is gathering strength every moment; and the nearer my approach to death and eternity, the greater my joy, insomuch that I find all those sweet, precious promises of eternal life dispersed through the holy, dear book of God harmonizing for my divine consolation, by the spirit's application of them to my soul. And I now feed on them by faith, so that I am not able to tell the thousandth part of the joy and evangelical consolation, and real comfort my soul feels, and which has been increasing in my heart since the beginning of this sickness, even to this hour, like a stream of the water of the river of life flowing in a growing tide to my soul. Oh ! how shall I praise and sufficiently adore my God, my Saviour and my Jesus, my all and in all !" He then paused, and I asked him if he had not at times some fears and doubts lest his heart should deceive him in this great eternal affair. He replied "In my early days, and in my youth, under the gospel, I had many alarms and awful fears through the con- viction I then had of the natural badness of my heart; and the more powerful and clear the sermon I heard, the more I was con. vinced of my undone state by nature. But I had a great desire to be a preacher of the precious gospel of Jesus Christ to the world ; yet felt an exceedingly great terror at times, more especially lest I should preach an unknown Christ. I importuned heaven to save me from such a judgment; and forever adored be the Lord Jesus Christ, my divine Master, for he was pleased to answer my prayers. He was graciously pleased to reveal himself in a saving manner to my soul, so that, after the experience of a number of
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years, I have reason to know with much gospel confidence, that what I called my convictions at the time of my soul's closure with Christ, and the very solemn exercise of my heart, was not a delu- sion, but a great reality. I have not been preaching an unknown Christ. I know in whom I have believed, and that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against the last day. I now tell you on my death-bed, that the divine beauty, harmony, moral excellency, and heavenly sweetness of the way of salvation for sinners of mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ, did con- tinue to grow and increase to my view from the time of my con- version until this solemn moment." He then paused, and I asked him if he was not at times affected with the prevalency of a self- righteous spirit. He replied, that he found that spirit at times a very sore enemy to keep in subjection, but that just now he happily found himself enabled to rest wholly on the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness ; and he felt himself so happily relieved from the enemy as to be full of joy and divine consolation. I then asked him which he would choose, if it was at his option just now, either to live or die. He answered, that he had no choice to make: God's choice was his ; so that he could say from the heart, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." If the King of Zion chose to continue him longer on earth to serve him, he would say, Amen ; and would wish to preach again to souls, as one from the dead; but to depart and be with Christ was far better. There was nothing on earth worth enjoying compared to the heavenly glories, and death was but the partition wall between God's chil- dren and infinite happiness, suited to the nature of an immortal soul. All that the earth calls good and great, with all its possible splendor, is but dust in the balance when put in competition with divine things, and viewed in the light of eternity, as he now viewed them; and all their false appearances vanish as darkness before the rising day of the glory of Immanuel's land. He then said, "Oh ! how sweet is the gospel of Jesus Christ and its divine truths just now to my soul." He then paused, and I asked him if he did not find it difficult to part with his dear wife and little children. He answered, that the ties of nature were very binding, and their dissolution hard to be borne, but that the God of nature
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had a right to rend those bonds and ties, how or when he pleased. Death, said he, must separate us some time, and God's time is the best. I have no fear but God will take care of my widow and my fatherless children. God tells me, in Jeremiah xlix. 11, " Leave thy fatherless children ; I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." This is like a bill of exchange put into my hand by the Great Secretary of heaven, God the Holy Ghost, to draw on the bank of heaven for the support of my family after my decease. I rely upon it, and do you think it will be protested ? No, it cannot, except through infidelity on the part of the de- pendents, which they must guard against if they wish to be happy. I do cheerfully commit my earthly concerns of every kind into the hands of the great Messiah, Jesus Christ, who has all power in heaven and on earth; to whom I commit my soul triumphing; for I am certain that all things shall work together for good finally to God's people. Many more things he said of the same heavenly kind and strain, which showed how full his soul was of God, how empty of self, and how much his conversation was in heaven.
I then took my leave of him in the most affectionate manner, and hastened home to bring Mrs. Carmichael to see him, if she could once more in this world; but our ears were struck with the melancholy news of his death, on the road, by a messenger sent to inform us. We came to Bochim, the place of weeping; and I was told by those who were present, that his happy frame of soul con- tinued, and even increased, to the last moments of his life. A few hours before his departure, he called Mr. Sample* to his bedside and said, "You see, my dear sir, that I am grappling with the king of terrors; and justly is he so called; for to die is indeed a solemn thing. But this is the gate by which we must enter in : and, blessed be my God, I am not afraid to pass the Jordan of death. My Joshua has gone before. Oh, how comfortable to have a God to go to in such an hour! And let me now, my dear sir, in your presence, give my testimony with my dying breath to God's truths; that it is alone in true religion that real comfort is to be found; that God's favor and loving kindness, in this trying
* Nathaniel W. Sample, a student of theology under his care.
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hour, will be found better than life itself. Oh, sir, remember the infinite importance of the work in which you are engaged. It may appear important to you now, but when, like me, you are just launching into the world of spirits, and have eternity in full view, it will appear infinitely more so. With respect to the dear people of my charge, it would be one of the foremost things to make life desirable to have an opportunity of meeting with them once more, to declare to them the counsels of heaven with the emphasis of death and eternity on my lips, as I now feel them, and so, if possi- ble, to press on them more closely those important realities which belong to their everlasting peace; but infinite wisdom has deter- mined otherwise. I still hope that God has something great and good in store for Octorara : therefore, my dear sir, when I am sleeping in the dust, do you deliver this message to the dear people of my charge as the last words of their dying pastor to them, that when I was just launching into the eternal world, and had it in full view, and just appearing before their and my great, eternal, and just Judge, my conscience then bore testimony that I never had concealed from them any of the divine counsels with which I was intrusted, and which was necessary for them to know, nor had I ever delivered to them a doctrine but on the veracity of which I can venture my own salvation, and that those very important truths which I have delivered to them in life, are now the support of my soul and the foundation of my hopes. But inasmuch as infinite wisdom has denied them and me an interview until the morning of the resurrection, tell them, oh, tell them, from me, just now expiring, to prepare to have the solemn account then and there settled, before their and my God-I to answer in what manner, from what views, and from what ends I have declared the truth of the everlasting gospel to them-they to answer how they have heard those truths, and in what manner they have improved them."
As God has favored him with the full and free use of his reason through the whole of his sickness, when he found himself in the very jaws of death, lest those about him should think his suffer- ing intolerable, and tend to lessen the idea they ought to have of God's love to his dying servants, he said, "Though my body is so
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wrought, do not think my burthen too hard to bear; it is not. Death is not so hard as I was wont to imagine. I can bear it. My God supports me in it." He then took leave of his dear wife and children, and other tender connections present, in the hope of meeting them in a better world, and soon after fell asleep in Jesus.
Death had now executed its office, and had rent asunder the bands which united the soul and body; the latter to rest in the grave until the morning of the resurrection; the former angels conveyed into heaven, to dwell forever with its Maker, God.
Mr. Foster was evidently a man of very superior mind, and was much esteemed and respected by all who knew him for his solid sense and unaffected piety. By his congregation, whom he had united by his zeal, talents and piety, after the schism which had for many years divided them, he was affection- ately beloved, and his death, at an early age, was universally lamented. It is evident, from the minutes of Presbytery, that he was held in high estimation by his ministerial brethren, as his name constantly occurs in connection with positions of trust and re- sponsibility. He occasionally received under his care theological students. The Rev. Nathaniel W. Sample, whose name occurs in the letter of Mr. Carmichael, which I have just read, and who was the esteemed pastor of churches in Lancaster county for forty years, was, at the time of Mr. Foster's death, one of his students.
The congregation procured a tombstone to be placed over his remains in yonder church-yard, which bears the following inscription, written by the Rev. Mr. Carmichael :
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HERE LIES ENTOMBED
WHAT WAS MORTAL OF THE
REV. MR. WILLIAM FOSTER, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE SEPT. THE 30TH, 1780,
IN THE 41ST YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Foster, of sense profound, flowing in eloquence, Of aspect comely, saint without pretence, Foster the brave, the wise, the good, thou'st gone To reign forever with thy Saviour on his throne, And left thy widowed charge to sit and weep alone. If grace and gifts like thine a mortal could reprieve From the dark regions of the dreary grave, Thy friend, dear Shade, would ne'er inscribe thy stone, Nor with the Church's tears have mixed his own.
Mr. Foster left eight children, four sons and four daughters, the oldest about thirteen or fourteen years, and the youngest one year of age. His will, exe- cuted the day before his death, is in the handwriting of William Clingan, Esq., an elder in this church, and a man of note, and was witnessed by Rev. John Car- michael, Nathaniel W. Sample, and Joseph Park. It contains, among others, this provision : "My son Samuel to be made a scholar." His executors were his widow, Hannah Foster, and his friends William Clin- gan and Matthew Boyd. The estate left by him was not large in point of value, but Mrs. Foster was a very prudent, managing woman, and, under the bless- ing of Providence, was enabled to raise her children until they were of an age to take care of themselves.
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Mr. Foster, in his lifetime, had sold a small portion of his farm to Joseph Park, Esq., who had other property adjoining. In 1790, Mrs. Foster, as execu- trix, sold sixty-two acres to Mr. Park, and thirty-six acres to Thomas Truman; and in 1793, conveyed to her two oldest sons, Samuel B. Foster and Alexander W. Foster, the remainder of the land, being about one hundred and fifty acres ; and they, in 1797, sold and conveyed the same to Mr. Park, who thus became the owner of the greater portion of the land originally owned by Mr. Foster.
In February, 1779, Mr. Foster had opened a classi- cal school, and had as teacher Mr. Francis Hindman -afterwards Rev. Francis Hindman-who resided with him. This school was in operation at Mr. Foster's death, and was carried on by Mr. Hindman for about eighteen months thereafter, in all a period of three years. I mention this circumstance to show that Mr. Foster, a scholar himself, took a deep interest in thorough education, and that at that early day the classics were taught within the bounds of this congregation.
The appraisement of Mr. Foster's personal effects was made in what is known as continental currency, and amounted in that currency-then very much de- preciated in value-to £26,743.
In those days, slavery existed in a mild form in Pennsylvania, and we find Negro James' time ap- praised at £1,200; Violet and her child at £4,200; and Negro Will at £2,700.
The library, which contained 104 volumes, besides
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school books and pamphlets, was appraised at £3,004. It sold for £69 in specie. The titles of the books owned by him are given in detail in the inventory, and show that his library, for that day, was large and well selected.
In 1780, an act of Assembly was passed, providing for the gradual abolition of slavery, which required the owners of slaves to register their names and ages in the office of the clerk of the courts. In accor- dance with its provisions, the following registry was made by Mr. Foster :
No. 1. A negro woman named Violet, aged twenty-four years, a slave for life.
No. 2. A negro boy named Will, aged fourteen years, a slave for life.
No. 3. A female negro child, named Jean, aged one year, a slave for life.
In 1796, the entire family removed to Cussawaga, (now Meadville). Two of the sons, Samuel Blair Foster and Alexander W. Foster, became members of the bar, and were among the most eminent lawyers of western Pennsylvania, and were long recognized as the leaders of the bar in that part of the State. Alexander had been admitted to the bar of Chester county, in November, 1793, and in 1796, on his re- moval to Cussawaga, became agent of the Holland Land Company. He devoted half a century to the labors of his profession, and died at Mercer, in 1843. Samuel Blair Foster was the father of the Hon. Henry D. Foster of Westmoreland, and Alexander W. Foster left a son, Alexander W. Foster, Esq., who
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is now a prominent member of the Pittsburg bar. William B. Foster, formerly canal commissioner of this State, was a descendant of James Foster, a brother of the Rev. William Foster.
Mrs. Foster survived until the 14th of May, 1810, when she died, at the residence of a daughter, in Mercer, Pa., at the age of sixty-five years. She was distin- guished for an equanimity of temper that adorned those principles in which she had been educated, and which she constantly practiced through life. She saw her approaching dissolution with a calm composure which nothing could inspire buta review of a life of piety and virtue, and full persuasion of another and better world. A singular circumstance was connected with her decease, which I will relate. On the morning of the day she died, one of her sons (Alexander) was at her bedside, and observing her lips moving, leaned down and asked her what she was saying. Her reply was,
" It is singular that two sisters should enter heaven's gates upon the same day." Upon being asked to ex- plain, she was only able to reply, "Sister Carmichael." In the course of the day she died ; and after the lapse of weeks-for the mails were few in those days-the family heard for the first time of the illness and death of their aunt, the widow of Rev. John Carmichael, who had died on the same day with her sister, Mrs. Foster. I have no theory to broach with reference to the subject suggested by this incident. I simply relate the occurrence, which is well authenticated.
I have spoken of Mrs. Foster as a daughter of Rev. Samuel Blair, formerly of Faggs Manor. Mr. Blair
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was eminently distinguished for his talents, piety and usefulness in the Church, and was esteemed one of the most able, learned, and excellent men of his day. . He established a classical school at Faggs Manor, which had particular reference to the study of theology, and from which eminated many distin- guished pupils, who did honor to their instructor, both as scholars and Christian ministers, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. Samuel Davies, called in his day " the prince of preachers," and who was one of the presidents of the College of New Jersey ; the Rev. John Rodgers, for a long time an eminent minister in New York ; and Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequea, the father of Samuel Stanhope Smith and John Blair Smith, all eminent as scholars and divines.
Mr. Blair's daughters married respectively Rev. George Duffield, Rev. David Rice, of Kentucky, Rev. John Carmichael, of Forks of Brandywine, Rev. William Foster, of Upper Octorara, Dr. Samuel Edmiston, a physician of Faggs Manor, Mr. James Moore, a farmer, and a Mr. Sanderson, a merchant. I may be permitted to refer to Mr. Carmichael, as a man who possessed a mind of more than ordinary comprehensiveness and energy, and as an eloquent, laborious and faithful minister. In the Revolution, he was an earnest and uncompromising friend of American liberty, and did much to animate the drooping spirit of the people, during the whole of that contest. He succeeded in instilling the princi- ples of patriotism into the minds of the people to whom he ministered to such an extent that when
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they were called upon to serve their country, not a man capable of bearing arms hesitated or faltered, and, in their absence, it devolved upon the old men, women and children to attend to the ordinary farm work. Mr. Carmichael's will, which is on record in the register's office of Chester county, contains a synopsis of the doctrines and polity of the Presby- terian Church, as given in her standards, and an ex- pression of his belief in them. It is a curious docu- ment.
Mr. Foster was succeeded as pastor of the united congregations of Upper Octorara and Doe Run by Rev. Alexander Mitchel, who was installed at Octo- rara December 14, 1785, giving Doe Run one-fourth of his time. The congregation had in the meantime received supplies from Presbytery, those most fre- quently appointed being the Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequea, and Rev. John Carmichael, of Forks of Brandywine.
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