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and necessary to be done for the procuring of a Minister, &c." and, as that appears to be the first time the Meeting House was occupied for any public use, it is presumed, that it had not then long been finished. It was located about eight rods to the north east of where the present Congregational Meeting House now stands. That house, after a lapse of forty years, being unsuitable to accommodate the inhabitants, the Parish voted in October, 1764, to build a new Meeting House, which is the present one. It is sixty feet long, forty five wide, with twenty seven feet posts, and a porch at each of the three outer doors. In 1807, a bellfry, with a steeple, was annexed to the west end of the Meeting House, and in 1808, a bell placed therein, both at the expense of certain individuals of the town.

At a meeting of the proprietors by adjournment, April 17, 1723, it was "voted, to nominate two or three Ministers to a settlement." Mr. Cushing, Mr. Barret and Mr. Bailey, were nominated; and there appeared 18 for the first, 16 for the second, and 4 for the third. On the 15th of May following, they chose Mr. Cushing to be their Minister by a full vote, and gave him £60 settlement, and £60 salary per year, for the two first years, then to rise 4 pounds a year, until it should amount to £80. The church was first gathered here on the 4th day of December, 1723, and he ordained on the same day. He continued here in the ministry nearly thirty seven years, and was suddenly taken away by a fit of the apoplexy, August 6, 1760, in the 67th year of his age. During his ministry, the north part of the town, after several unsuccessful attempts, sometimes to be set off as a separate town, and at others, as a Parish, was set off and incorporated as a distinct Parish, Dec. 17, 1742; not on account of any dissatisfaction of his parishioners towards him, for he lived and died in peace with his people; but on account of the increasing number, and remote situation in which many of them in that part of the town lived from the Meeting House.

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February 2, 1761, the Parish concurred with the church in the choice of Mr. Joshua Paine, to become their Pastor; and voted him £66 13 shillings, as an annual salary, time he should continue to preach the Gospel in this £200 settlement. Mr. Paine declined the invitation. ing several candidates, the Parish voted, Dec. 30, hear Mr. Joseph Sumner (of Pomfret, Conn.) if he might be had;" and on the 30th of March, 1762, the Parish concurred with the church in the choice of Mr. Sumner, to be their Pastor; and voted

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him the same settlement as to Mr. Paine, and sixty six pounds, thirteen shillings, and four pence, lawful money, annually, as a salary. Having accepted the call, he was ordained on the 23d day of June, 1762, at the age of twenty three.

The Meeting House being small, and unsafe for so large a collection of people, as assembled, the ordination solemnities were held out of doors, on a platform erected in front of the Meeting House, and the day observed by the Parish with fasting and prayer, in conformity with a vote of the church, in which the Parish concurred; "to observe said day, as a day of fasting and prayer, as being most agreeable to the Scripture rule of ordaining, as said church apprehends." After Mr. Sumner's acceptance, and before his ordination, the Parish increased his salary to £72 or $240 per annum, to take effect in ten years after his settlement. This additional grant, occasioning uneasiness in the minds of some, was relinquished by him in writing on the 12th of March, 1763, for peace sake; he at the same time informing his parishioners, that he "relied on their generosity for the future, if he should stand in need of further help, that they would be as ready to afford it, as he should be to ask it of them." Thus early in his life was manifested to our Fathers, what was exhibited to their posterity, a disposition to live peaceably with all men; and which so much distinguished, through a long life, this late venerable man of God.

Several grants were made to the Rev. Mr. Sumner, in the earlier part of his ministry, in addition to his stated salary. In 1809, his salary was raised to $286 67 per annum, and so remained till June, 1820; when, by reason of the infirmities of age, and the prospect of having a colleague, Samuel B. Ingersoll, settled with him in the ministry, and on whom would devolve the more arduous labors and active duties, he, voluntarily, and in writing, relinquished, from and after the settlement of Mr. Ingersoll, all his salary, except $142 per year, which he continued to receive till the time of his death, which happened Dec. 9, 1824, in the 63d year of his ministry, and 85th year of his age. Notwithstanding his salary was small, he was enabled by prudence and economy to leave, after having brought up a large family of children, a handsome property, mostly in real estate.* In 1814, he received the honora

* Dr. Sumner was no less remarkable for his affability and social qualities through life, than for his sound sense and dignified deportment. He never seemed to be taken by surprize; he always had a ready answer; his cheerful manner of giving it, and its peculiar fitness astonished as well as delighted those who heard him. He was a member of an ordaining Council at Prince

ry degree of D. D. from Harvard University, and about the same time a similar honor was conferred upon him by Columbia College, in South Carolina; an honor, the bestowment of which, while it reflected increasing honor on those Institutions, not in the least excited his vanity or inflated his pride-honors, which brightened as he wore them, and proved how judiciously they were conferred, where the subject was so worthy of them. On the 23d of June, 1812, he preached his half century sermon, which has gone through two editions and contains much valuable information. At the time of his death, there was not an individual in town, who was a member of the church at his ordination; and all but one, who were then in town, and qualified by age to invite him to settle in the ministry, had passed off the stage to their long home. This was to him a painful recollection; having many years previous, been deprived of the partner of his youth, and all the members composing the church, when he was wedded to it; and all but one of those, who had invited him to take the oversight of them in the Lord, whose kindness to him he held in grateful remembrance to the last; and having also buried two colleagues, he could not but feel solitary he was a widower, indeed!

During the Revolutionary struggle between the Colonies and the parent country, Dr. Sumner took an open and decisive part; he was always no less the friend of political, than religious freedom; while the privations, which he endured on account of the deranged state of the then public affairs, with a degree of patience and equanimity, rarely if ever equalled, furnished ample proofs of his sinton some years since, and the subject of salaries having been introduced, and by some complained of, as being too low-and when it was ascertained that his was the lowest salary enjoyed by any of the Clergymen present, and with which he seemed to be entirely satisfied, one of them, in the presence and hearing of the others, enquired of him, "how he could make out to live upon it?" The Doctor replied, "Oh! they that have much, have not enough, and they that have little, have no lack!"

At a dinner party in Worcester, in the latter part of his life, of a number of gentlemen of the Bar, and some others, among whom was the late Francis Blake, then Clerk of the Courts, Dr. Sumner was present, on the invitation of the Sheriff. After dinner, he thought it prudent, at his advanced period of life, to retire early from the table and prepare for home. This early withdrawal was noticed by Mr. Blake, and he publicly expressed to Dr. Sumner his regret on account of it; the Doctor observed, while putting on his coat, that "it is time old folks were at home"-upon which Mr. Blake said to him, "Dr. Sumner, I hope you do not mean, because you are going, it is time for us all to go?" "Oh no," replied the Doctor,in a pleasant manner, and turning round towards the company, just as he was going out at the door, "you may stay as much longer as you are younger !" Mr. Blake was afterwards often heard to speak with admiration of this reply.

cerity in the American cause, as well as his confidence in its final triumph. He omitted no reasonable opportunity, either in public discourses, or private interviews, to animate his townsmen to renewed exertions in the cause of freedom and the rights of man. "His constitution was naturally vigorous; through life he was blessed with good health; his punctuality in all his engagements was remarkable, and he was ever prompt to the call of duty. During the period of 62 years, he was never absent from the stated communion of his church," and during 57 years of his ministry, "the public exercises of the Sabbath in this place were suspended only seven Sundays, on account of his indisposition, or in consequence of his journeying." The sick were sure to find him early at their bedside, tenderly and with a fatherly anxiety to enquire after their situation, and to minister to their spiritual wants; and when sickness was followed by death, his feelings were touched, his sympathies mingled with the grief of the bereaved, and he was among them, and mourner among mourners. The deep yet lively interest he took in the education of children, the punctuality with which he visited and inspected the town schools, the cheerfulness with which he did it, even when past the age of 80, the good impressions made on the minds of the youth by his seasonable remarks and appropriate prayers, will long be remembered. It was a maxim with him, when duty called, never, if I may so express it, to suffer himself to excuse himself. During his ministry, the rite of baptism was administered to 1251 individuals of his society, and 367 persons were admitted into his church: he solemnized 488 marriages, assisted in the ordination of 53 Clergymen, and was a member of 33 mutual and exparte Councils. He preached three funeral sermons at the interments of three Pastors of the church in Rutland: viz. Messrs. Buckminster, Goodrich and Foster, and was moderator of three ordaining Councils in that town, viz: at the ordination of the two last named gentlemen, and that of the Rev. Mr. Clark. It was his request, expressed some years previous to his disease, that, should the Rev. Dr. Bancroft survive him, he might preach his funeral sermon; the event so happened; and his request was complied with, and on the 12th Dec. 1824, all that was mortal of this worthy man, was committed to the tomb.

Mr. Samuel B. Ingersoll, of Beverly, commenced preaching here, Sept. 27, 1819, in aid of the Rev. Dr. Sumner; and on the 14th of May, 1820, the church having made choice of him, on their part, to become the Colleague Pastor, with the Rev. Dr. Sumper, the

town concurred therein; and on the 14th of June following, he was publicly ordained to that office with a salary of $650 a year, payments to be made quarterly; he reserving to himself two Sabbaths in the spring and two in autumn of each and every year. He preached here the first Sabbath after his ordination for the last time. His health, when he was settled, was feeble; sickness arrested him, and he with his wife, whom he had married but a few months be fore, went to Beverly for the recovery of his health, where he died, Nov. 14, 1820, five months after his ordination, at the age of thirty three.

Thus far, since the year 1786, the parochial business had been done in the name of the town. A large number having withdrawn from this religious society, in 1820, and established another for public worship in the south part of the town, it was deemed expedient to revive the parish, the business of which had been merged in that of the town thirty four years, and have its concerns transacted in its own name. Accordingly, it was regularly re-organized on the 26th day of March, 1821, and the necessary parish officers chosen since which, it has continued its operations as a distinct body in its own name.

June 25th, 1821, the church unanimously made choice (and on the 26th of July following, the parish unanimously concurred therein) of the Rev. Edwards Whipple, late the settled minister of the Congregational church and society in Charlton, to become their pastor as colleague with the Rev. Dr. Sumner. Sept. 26, 1821, he was regularly installed with a salary of $550 per year to be paid him annually.

His manners were agreeable and his talents of the first order; but while his parishioners were congratulating one another on the happy re-settlement of a colleague pastor, he was suddenly snatched from them on the 17th of Sept. 1822, having been sick but a few days with a fever, at the age of 44; in the vigor of manhood and not a week before, the picture of health, with a fair prospect of living many years to enjoy it. This sudden and so unexpected, as well as repeated disappointment, as may well he expected, threw a gloom over the parish, the recollection of which will not soon be forgotten.

Mr. Ingersoll preached one Sabbath, and Mr. Whipple failed one of completing a year. Thus while the united labors of Dr. Samner's two colleagues just completed a full year, his, united to Mr. Cushing's completed a century.

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