Biography of Mrs. Rebecca Gair Webster

Front matter

i

BIOGRAPHY

MRS, REBECCA GAIR WEBSTER,

Preface

None who were acquainted with Mrs. Webster will be disposed to inquire why this volume has been prepared. Impatient to recal reminiscences of one whose influence was so much prized while she lived, — a preface will not be likely to receive more than a passing glance from them. Fearful, perhaps, at first, whether materials for the work could be procured, they are rejoiced to find evidence before them that those fears were groundless.

But strangers to her name and character expect to be informed, at the outset, why they are invited to the perusal of another sketch of a human life. To such it is due to state, that after the decease of the wife of a New England pastor, his people desired the privilege of perpetuating, for their own and their children's benefit, the memory of her worth. The preacher at her funeral was requested to compile her biography. Rev. F. Wayland, D. D., President of Brown University, who had known her history, expressed it as his opinion that, " If her true character could be portrayed, for the benefit of the living, it would fill a nich in the already rich collection of American fe-

6 PREFACE.

male biography which had been thus far unoccupied." Subsequently, on learning that ample materials were accessible, he expressed his " wish that the work might be executed. — Rev.- Jacob Ide, D.D., of Medway, Mass., expressed " a strong personal desire to see a memoir of Mrs. Webster," adding, " that feiv, if any, of the ladies of his acquaintance had possessed a character so worthy of being held up as an example of refined and intelligent piety." — Other clergymen of her acquaintance gave the same opinion on the subject, one of them " wishing to be able to present to the young ladies of his parish just such a model of Christian excellence as her life would furnish" Thus encouraged, the compiler has attempted to render the work a faithful record, and an interesting and useful book, and leaves its success with God, and the Christian public.

Holliston, Ms., Jdn. 1848.

Introduction

REV. JOHN RUSSELL, WHO DIED IN 16S0,— AND REV. THOMAS GAIR, WHO DIED IN 1790.

Not a few worthy men, who shared the trials of Roger Williams, were contented to do their duty in a retirement from which neither ambition nor worldly interest could draw them. Many families in Rhode Island are therefore unable to trace their genealogies in the public records. Some of the following items are consequently valuable for other reasons as well as for their immediate connection with this biographical sketch. The 1st Baptist Church in Boston, when it began to worship in town, after its removal from " its place of worship for seven years upon Noddle's Island," received as its pastor Mr. John Russell. Although he lived but one year after his ordination, he became, after his death, well known in the Colonies, and in England by his narrative of the " forfeitures, stripes and imprisonments," winch he and his associates endured on account of their religious opinions. He was originally a shoemaker, and, as such, was allowed by all to be an " honest and worthy man." His talents, piety, and learning introduced him to the pulpit. We see indications of his mental power in the fact that a Latin Essay, by a Boston divine, in reply to his narrative, begins with the motto,

INTRODUCTION.

Descendants of John Russell.

11 Cobbler keep to your last." There would have been no such strong desire in one of the great men of the day, to keep him to his last if he had not crone important work without it. One of the grounds of opposition to his book was that " it created great excitement." To allay this Dr. Increase Mather condescended to write a pamphlet. Mr. Willard attempted to destroy his posthumous influence by writing, " Truly if goodman Russell was a fit man for a minister, we 'have but fooled ourselves in building colleges, and in instructing children in learning." — Hubbard endeavored to counteract the tendency of his narrative by calling him " One John Russell, a wedder, drop'd shoemaker." — Yet they all laid to his charge no crime, no fault save that " he became a priest from the lowest of the people," as they regarded rank ; and besides, he had ventured to print the story of his own and his companion's sufferings from these very men. Yet Kilpin, Dyke, Collins, Knollys, Harris and Cox, in 1680, commended the book, in a joint preface, as a simple narrative of facts which could not be denied. They never were denied. Their publication was of eminent service in arresting the madness of sectarian bigotry and intolerance. His name deserves a place among the benefactors of New England. The prayers and dying counsels of " goodman Russell " have been blessed to his numerous descendants. His daughter imparted those faithful teachings to her sons, Job, Russell, and John Mason, who successively became pastors of the Baptist church in Swanzey, in 1738, 1752, and 1788. They are called by Benedict, " Those three eminent ministers of Swanzey." — The same author states, " From him also descended the Russells of Providence, R. I." — Among them was the subject of this memoir. She read Exodus xx, 6, " And showing mercy unto thou-

INTRODUCTION.

Childhood of Rev. Thomas Gair.

sands of thein that love me and keep ray commandments." She compared that passage with the words of the commentator, " This is promised unto thousands, not only to vast multitudes but to the third and fourth generation, or to successive generations to the end of time." — What a lesson for the living, to find John Russell's prayers offered before 1680, answered in the life which closed in 1846 !

When the Rev. Samuel Stillman began his labors as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston, eighty-five years after Mr. John Russell's death, he met in the house of one of his " honest, worthy, but not opulent," parishioners, an interesting lad, aged nine years, named Thomas Gair. The boy was usually at meeting on the Sabbath, and uniformly sober, and regular in his conduct. In Feb. 1771, three youths were baptized, whose appearance interested Thomas in the ceremony, and led him to serious reflections upon his own duty, and need of preparation for death. On hearing a sermon of his pastor upon the " plague of one's own heart," from 1 Kings, viii, 38, he became convinced that, although upright, and blameless, and lovely in his whole external deportment, although in the sight of man perfectly moral, — he had never loved God " with all his heart," and therefore was condemned by the Bible, and by his conscience, to God's eternal wrath. He often visited his pastor to receive instruction in regard to " the way to be saved." He wrote of himself, at that time, as " sinning and repenting continually." A sermon from 1 John v, 10, " He that believeth on the son of God hath the witness in himself," led him to apply in prayer to Christ for relief. He found it by accepting pardon, as a free, undeserved gift of God, purchased on the cross by the suffering of punishment deserved by man, by the Lord Jesus Christ. He openly professed his attach-

10 INTRODUCTION.

General mourning in Boston for Mr. Gair.

ment to Christ, as Ms God, and king, as well as Saviour, Aug. 4,1771. He soon felt a strong -wish to preach the gospel. Having fitted for college with his pastor, he graduated at Brown University, and was ordained pastor of the •Baptist Church in Medfield in Sept. 1776, Dr. Stillman preaching on the occasion. In 1786 he was invited to the 2d Baptist Church in Boston, which since that day, when the pastor of the 1st Baptist Church was preacher at the installation of " his son in the faith," has enjoyed entire freedom from the long existing differences with its elder sister. A cotemporary says of him, " He here became exceedingly popular, growing rapidly in knowledge and usefulness. God gave many seals to his labors. That tall thin figure, swayed by deep emotion, rivetted the attention of an attached congregation.' At their dwellings they were equally delighted with the urbanity of his manners and the sweetness of his temper. The depth of his thoughts lost nothing in delivery, by his full, well-modulated voice. " He could sympathise with the mourner, for in addition to less affecting bereavements, two of his own infant children slept beneath the sod, at Medfield. Five others were now beginning to appreciate his counsels, and reciprocate his love, while they already solaced, as they clustered around him, many a weary hour. He was often solicitous respecting their future. He could not leave them estates. He could only aid in preparation for active life, and leave to them the example, and the prayers of a righteous man. This he did.

" When it was reported," writes an eye witness, " in the streets of Boston, on the morning of April 27, 1790 — ' Rev. Mr. Gair died last night between eleven and twelve o'clock,' — there was unspeakable grief in the town in general, as well as among his flock and in his family.

INTRODUCTION. 11

Surviving widow's trust in God.

A few davs before he was suddenly attacked with severe headache. It grew worse day by day. He at length gave up family prayer. He had offered his last prayer, uttered his last counsel. The venerable Dr. Stillman, after lingering for two days over his " insensible friend and brother, gave vent to his agonizing grief" by writing, " He is gone, and is now, I doubt not, reaping the reward of a faithful servant." During the first part of his sickness, although expecting death, he was calm and resigned. An overflowing crowd listened to the funeral sermon, by Rev. Dr. Morse of €harlestown, from Prov. xiv, 32, " The righteous hath hope in his death." Two hundred dollars were collected, " the Congregational ministers carrying around the boxes," at the funeral, for " the widow and her five small children," to which the congregation added, " the use of the house they had occupied for a few months." In her comparative poverty, her heart was stayed upon her husband's God, — her own " the widow's " God, — upon " the Father of the fatherless." She was spared ten years, in which to inculcate upon four sons and one daughter the great truths of salvation, teaching them also " to inherit the promises of God."

Mrs. Webster was the grand-daughter of that faithful pastor. It was thus her privilege to look back, both on the paternal and maternal side, to a pious ancestry, which had been blessed, in the last and preceding century also, to the church and the world. This fact was fully recognized in the developement of her intellectual, and spiritual character. She felt the responsibilities incurred by such a descent, more ennobling than the escutcheon of noble birth. She did not, however, regard the names of Russell and Gair as security for the fulfilment of promises

12 INTRODUCTION.

Influence of ancestry on her character.

always based upon the fidelity of those in whom they are fulfilled. But she was cheered by the retrospect here presented. Nor is it a matter of doubt, with those who knew her worth, whether her own influence resembled that of the holy men whose names she bore.

MEMOIR

Chapter I Childhood And School Days

A sea-captain residing in Providence, R. L, after a variety of adventures upon the ocean, relinquished that business and became a merchant. His little daughter Rebecca, then about six years old, was among the foremost of his children to rejoice at the change. Fear of his departure on long voyages, dread lest fatal accident should befal him in his absence, and anxious hopes of his speedy return had already begun to be her painful experience. It was his custom to afford an hour after tea every evening to his children, joining their innocent gambols, and living over again his eventful life while reciting its scenes in their hearing. All were eager to listen to these narratives. But one insinuated herself so cautiously and so constantly into her seat upon his knee that the place came to be regarded as hers by right. What she then heard was moulding her whole character. They who would appreciate that character must therefore condescend to notice, so far as they can be traced, these little rills of influence. Already indications of strength of character developed themselves. These received new coloring as she lis- 2

14 CHILDHOOD. [Ch. 1,

Resolution and propriety.

tenecl there, until these incipient tints became, in her subsequent career, vivid and beautiful in their expansion. More than a year before the great trunk in the entry, — her mother sobbing upon it,- — the other children weeping by her side, and her own heaving bosom told of the hour of sailing. She summons a resolution which she alone of them all possessed, and endeavors to rally their spirits by the call, " Come, come, let us go and play with the teasets Pa gave us." It was at a still earlier period that she took great delight in reciting hymns. When that privilege was granted she would exult in being able to afford satisfaction to her parents and their friends. She steps out with the utmost solemnity, and looking up to the ceiling, lifts her little hands. It is not the half performed imitation of a still more awkward example. It is the untutored act of a little child, who seems to feel as she lisps, " Lord teach a little child to pray." Resolution and propriety were now to be modified upon her father's knee. This was to be effected by narratives like the following : — " Pa, now tell us our story will you ? " " What will you have to-night, Rebecca?" "The dying baby, Pa."— " Our ship was about ready to sail from the Isle of France, when an English gentleman came on board in a shore boat, and wished to take passage, with his lady and their little infant. I told him that he could do so, and before long they came on board with their baggage. They wanted to get to New York, hoping to find a packet there for England. For some days they were well and happy. But after a while the child grew sick. There we were, off at sea. They could not get any doctor, nor much medicine, nor any nurse to help them tend it. And they could not keep the vessel still. The winds blew, and the waves tossed us up and down, and there were the father and

Ch. t.] CHILDHOOD. 15

" Infant buried at sea. — In tears while asleep.

mother carrying the baby in their arms day and night, and doing all they could for it. It was a poor place for a little infant. It grew worse and worse. At last it died. Oh, how its mother wept. She still held it in her arms, and I its cold cheek. The next day Ave made a little coffin, and put some heavy shot in it at the foot to make it sink, and placed the infant's body in it. I had it placed on a plank which rested at one end on the side of the ship, while the sailors held up the other. Then I read the burial service, — the plank was raised up, — the baby in the coffin slid off into the water, and sank down, down out of sight. Poor mother. She would come, every day, and look at the water and weep, — just as people stand at the grave in the burying ground. Now good-night children." As parental love cast its usual glance upon the sleepers in the nursery that night, a tear, not yet dried, told of deep sympathy for the parents of the dying babe. At another time the death of a ship-mate of her father at Batavia, far from mother and sisters, called forth her tears. Again the successful endeavors of her father to set a broken limb at sea increased her interest in relieving sufferings. Her sense of the ridiculous, always so keen as to give her trouble in after life, found satisfaction in many of these adventures. She subseo x uently alluded, in that light, to her father's description of the efforts of a shark, attempting to swallow a chicken, which had flown overboard, but which escaped by the inability of the fish to endure the scratching by which the fowl assailed its mouth. Her mind was kept alive to thought, and her knowledge of language increased by these evening entertainments for several years. Deep affliction in the family several times led her to solemn reflection. She herself in childhood was long afflicted with dangerous sickness. But as she as-

16 SCHOOL-DAYS. [Ch. 1.

Liberal disposal of needles.— Music-box in singing-school.-Heedlessness.

sumed her place among the pupils of the Academy, health, gaiety, politeness, and exuberant good-nature rendered her the favorite of all. The clerk had in her, one day, at noon, a very liberal customer. She called for needles enough to supply her school-mates. Her father wondered at such an unprecedented call for the article in his own family. At evening he inquired, as a matter of curiosity, what great occasion was approaching to bring such a supply into use ? " What needles ? " " Those which you sent for by Rebecca at noon." " I did not send for any." " Oh no, papa, ma did not want them, I got them for myself." " Why, what did you want of them ? " " To give to the girls." " She had no idea," she said, " that it was wrong." Her appearance began to awaken expectations of future usefulness as soon as she commenced attendance at the high school. She was scrupulously lady-like, and yet so full of humor that frolic seemed her element. At a singing-school, just as all were ready to begin the tune, a music-box began its loudest peal from among the girls' seats. All were astonished, some tried not to laugh, and others were full of glee. The foot of the teacher soon awed the school into silence, but failed to arrest the zeal of the box. On it rang till Davy Jones, or some other equally popular air had been performed through twice. Then followed, " Was that you ? " " No sir." "You?" " No sir " — till most of the pupils had been questioned. Rebecca's foot meanwhile pressed upon that of the companion who had accidentally started the box, — and Rebecca's answer was so comically polite that even the teacher's temper was restored and the singing began again. But in her early youth she was no friend of domestic duties. Often her mother would assign her a task which was still undone when school-time came, — while the

Ch. 1.] SCHOOL-DAYS. 17

Drollery.— Love of missionary " heroism.'

happy glee of the group -which were eager at the door " to ^o with Rebecca" checked the intended rebuke. " Pershe may be of some use in the store, upon an emergency." Her young gay heart was once beating behind the counter, while her father dined. A customer, a shrewd countrywoman, examined prints, and gloves, and hose, and thread to a considerable amount, and offering but a trifle for them all, was permitted to take them in perfect good-nature, and but for the father's timely return would have told at home of marvellously cheap purchases.

Mr. Dewitt placed her name on his list of " good girls," although he said, " She is one of the most playful in school." " Her elegantly refined drollery was often irresistible." " If she raised a school-laugh, teachers had to join it, and could join it without injury to dignity or order." She was apparently a stranger to serious thought. Her father had not felt it his duty to assemble his children around the family altar, excepting when clergymen shared his hospitality. Her mother, although religiously educated, and herself anxious for the conversion of her children, had not yet seen it best to keep them from fashionable amusements.

Rebecca was peculiarly interested in missionary intelligence. But the heroic element seemed its chief attraction to her. The fact of her father's intimacy with several American missionaries in India, gave her a high estimate of their noble disinterestedness. One of the stories to which her mind often reverted was the description of the grave of Harriet Newell, over which her father had wept with the bereaved husband of that devoted woman. She read the memoir of Mrs. N. with sympathetic interest. It doubtless led to serious belief in the value of piety.

But religion was far from her thoughts. When. Rev. Mr.

2*

18 SCHOOL-DAYS. [Ch. 1-

Bible read through at recess.— Cheerfulness.— Popularity.— Studies.

Wilson, her pastor, smiled upon her as she passed, the smile returned was one of deferential respect. She loved him too much to refuse to comply with his request to read the Bible through in course. Yet even this must be done jovially. A society must be duly organized for the purpose, pledged to spend all the recesses in reading the Bible, till they should get through, and meanwhile there must be a contest to decide which should " do it up first." Day after day, in the entry, or the yard, the group were eyed with curiosity by their sporting companions, as they sat reading the Bible, each at utmost speed, till at last the originator of the project came off victor. She had beat them all, fulfilled her promise to Mr. Wilson, and " had a fine time.""

Her teachers can none of them recal any thing in her which induces painful thought. They have a most vivid remembrance of her " always smiling as she came in," " her remarkable simplicity and frankness," " her quickness of apprehension," and " her popularity with her mates." " She had a decided choice of associates, and all knew it. Yet none were angry, nor envious, nor suspicious of her." " It was apparently a privilege to be intimate, but too much a privilege to be with her to be lost by resenting her preference for others." " She never liked Latin," " was not over fond of grammar, thought more of geography, and loved arithmetic." She excelled in calculating numbers, often through life anticipating, by her instant result, the answer of the cyphering salesman. Perhaps the most irksome task of that day was " learning all the Assembly's Catechism," which, however, was in after life " one of her pleasantest recollections." She excelled also in telling stories. " It was a happy noon for us, little ones, when Rebecca was obliged by a storm to stay with

Ch. 1.] BCHOOL-DAYS. Id

'• Her original son?" — Chastisement — Composition.

us. Once she made us all promise ' to be very still and very sober, and not to tell any body/ Then she began a long statement about a song which she should soon sing, if •we would only keep still. Expectation rose to its highest point. It would be such a song as we had never, never heard. We should never hear it again, no — not if we should live always. Nobody but her ever had sung it. What could it be ? When the hour of intermission had been almost taken up in fearful suspense of anticipation, she sprang towards us with a wild ' Oh ! oh ! oh ! ' which sent us scattering in every direction, — and sure enough, it was a song which filled us with terror then, and mirth since, such as none of us will ever forget. We looked at her all the afternoon with wonder She had charmed us by her tones and looks, — frightened us, — and we had hardly eaten our dinners. "

She was chastised twice in her early childhood. Once she came home with red and swollen wrists. The teacher had loosely tied her hands before her for not getting her lessons, and she had wrung her hands and rubbed her wrists red in sport, " so as to help punish them." Some wicked play-mates taught her an improper expression, which was followed by punishment. " She did not deserve it, it ought to be given to the girls who told her." She was beloved and respected, rarely censured.

" In one department she excelled all her mates, viz. in composition." Some of these performances exhibit an unusual maturity of thought, and penmanship of remarkable beauty. Hope marked childhood and school-days, while her levity and heedlessness awakened many fears.

20 CONVERSION. [Ch. 2.

Cotillon parties.— Fondness for whist and cards.

Chapter II Conversion, And Commencement Of Religious Life

Her parents, although members of the Beneficent Congregational Church in Providence, fell in -with the then fashionable custom of permitting their daughters to acquire a taste for dancing. Rebecca was in her element at the Assembly-room. She "was naturally calculated to attract attention where the charms of personal beauty and elegance of manners, and refined and ready wit are each, even when found alone, permitted to reign ; and where their combined power is almost worshipped by the fashionably gay. She indulged herself in these scenes too far for her frail constitution. But no signs of evil consequences had appeared when she finally relinquished them. From her first appearance in a cotilion, she was harassed with invitations to balls, and rarely declined them. She was met in the " light fantastic dance " three and four times per week through the season. Youthful gaiety could listen to no refusal. She came to be regarded as an inseparable companion of these vain amusements. Dignified, yet affable, conscious of her power of pleasing, and equally delighted to impart delight; graceful and simple in her movements, she led many a mazy round, through all the intricacies of the most complex figure as though she knew it not. Her smile enlivened all. When exhaustion led her to seek an interval of rest, she was equally at home with whist and cards. There was an attractive style in her conversation which always drew around her a happy

Oh. 2.] CONVERSION. 21

Propounded to join the Qhurch. — Address to school-mutes.

circle. On one occasion there seemed no time to stop till the clock struck four, when it yraa discovered that an almost impassable depth of snow must be ploughed in their so home.

She was a constant attendant at meeting on the Sabbath, f^r this was her parents' desire. Her own choice, formed in view of the attractions of youthful society, led her to Sabbath evening meetings. She was a Sabbath school scholar also, though not particularly interested in this employment. Her whole heart was bent on trifling amusements. — more congenial to one whose " fascinating modesthough it had secured the title even in print of " lily of the valley," shrunk from the exposure of attendance at a prayer-meeting.

The winter of 1828—9 was over.^ On the 19th of April, at the close of the afternoon service, Rev. James Wilson read the following announcement among others of a similar kind : " Miss Rebecca G. Russell, being desirous of professing her faith in Christ, is propounded for admission to this church." It created great sensation. Numbers were filled with astonishment. All eyes fell upon her, as she covered her face in her father's pew. We are not left to conjecture as to what was passing in her mind at that instant. One then attending the Union Academy states : " She called the girls around her, on the next day, and told us of the mercy of Christ. She said, ' While there in church, I seemed to see a book opened before me, in which were written all my sins. They seemed to be very numerous and aggravated. I prayed, Oh Saviour keep me from going back, make me holy. While I looked and prayed, the hand of the Saviour seemed to be extended, and to wipe them out, — and not a stain was left.' "

22 CONVERSION. [Ch. 2.

Fear of persecution.

The following extracts from a letter portray the steps which led to that wish to profess Christ. It was addressed to one who had been faithful in urging her to turn from vain amusements to the service of the Lord.

"Nov. 1,1830.

Very dear Friend,— With pleasure I resume my pen, for the purpose of communicating a few lines to one whom I so highly esteem. I often think of you with the fondest affection, and regret that the distance of a few miles deprives me of the privilege of seeing you. I will not" ask what shall be my theme. It shall be that which alone can support us in life, in death, and through eternity. Perhaps it may not be uninteresting for me to give you some account relative to^my Christian experience. When you were hero. T 3 somewhat seriously impressed with the importance of divine truth, yet my stubborn heart would not bow to the mild sceptre of King Jesus. I was fully aware that, should I become a disciple of the Lord Jesus I must suffer persecution, and for that reason I remained a long time in an undecided state. In Jan. 1829, I commenced attendijuf. evening meetings, which at that time were considered peculiarly interesting ; yet I did not enjoy them owing to the state of mind which I was in. * About the 1st of March, I felt myself to be a lost and undone sinner, and expected pardon only through the nlerits of a crucified Redeemer. I often had conversation with Christians on this all-important subject, but all they could do for me was to point me to^ the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. I knew of several who were seeking the Saviour at that time, and when I found that I was to be accompanied by my sister E., in this blessed way, I set out with increased visur to find him ' of whom