Memoirs of the Rev. Noah Worcester, D. D.

Preface

In the year 1821 the Rev. Joseph Tuckerman, D. D., requested my father to write Memoirs of his own life, and about the same time I communicated to him a similar request from his children. It was with great reluctance that he consented to make the effort ; but he commenced the work in June 1822, in a series of Letters addressed to Dr. Tuckerman, the last of which is dated Jan. 26, 1832. When I asked him, from time to time, what progress he had made, he always said that this work was very unpleasant to him, and that he could not do it well. His time was much occupied in writing on other subjects which he thought more important, and he added nothing to the Memoir in the last five and a half years of his life.

Many years before his death he expressed a wish that the manuscripts which he might leave at the time of his death, should fall into my hands ; and he desired that Dr. Channing, Dr. Tuckerman, and Dr. Ware, Jr., should

PREFACE.

advise and assist me in making selections for publication. I requested him to leave a memorandum of his wishes on this subject, to which he assented. At a later period I requested him to leave very explicit directions in respect to his manuscripts ; and also to specify which of them he thought most important to have published, and which of his printed works he thought most useful to be reprinted. This last request was made because I thought it possible that the public might desire to have a uniform edition of his most important writings, together with his Autobiographr. He seemed pleased with my suggestions, and said he would endeavor to comply with them.

I mentioned to my father two reasons for making these requests : those whom he named as my advisers might be unable to assist me ; and my views on several religious doctrines were so different from his own, that it might be difficult to satisfy others that I acted impartially, and fulfilled my duty to him.

Immediately after my father's death, Oct. 31, 1837, I took possession of all his papers, and examined them very carefully ; and, to my great regret, no directions, and no notice of my requests could be found. I was thus left under the necessity of acting according to what I could remember to have been requested by him, or assented to in answer to my suggestions. I made known my father's desire that Drs. Channing, Tuckerman, and Ware, should give me advice and assistance, and I gave them a full view of the 3ISS. which he had left. They treated me with

PREFACE.

v great kindness and justice, and examined the Memoirs and several other MSS.

Not only these gentlemen and myself, but all the relatives of my father to whom I could show his Autobiography, were agreed in the decision that it ought not to be published as. the Memoirs of Dr. Worcester. It does, indeed, record the principal historical facts belonging to a suitable Memoir. It also furnishes many other useful materials ; but it does not present his character and works as others saw them and ought to see them, — it does not give any fair and adequate view of the real usefulness of his labors, nor of the estimation in which they were held by the intelligent and virtuous of his own times.

It was the earnest desire of Dr. Channing, Dr. Tuckerman, and many other friends of my father, that Dr. Ware should write his Memoirs ; but the feeble state of Dr. Ware's health, and his numerous and arduous labors, rendered it impossible for him to undertake the work at so early a period as was desirable. After he consented to perform it, he was delayed by sickness and by unforeseen labors ; and it was not till the autumn of 1842, that he was able to devote much attention to it. It is with pain that I remember the anxiety which was caused him by this delay. He often expressed sorrow that he had consented to write the Memoirs, and wished that I would employ some other person ; but I knew not how to find any one of equal qualifications ; and I constantly desired him to feel at ease on the subject, and not labor upon it till he had health and leisure* a* vi

PREFACE.

He had indeed a strong wish to write the Memoirs of Dr. Worcester ; and I am certain that no fault should be imputed to him on account of his delaying and partially failing to perform the work.

Dr. Tuckerman agreed to examine all my father's Manuscripts, select the best, and prepare them for publication. In this he was to have some assistance from Dr. Channing. Dr. Tuckerman's health failed before he performed any part of this labor. His death and that of Dr. Channing, left the whole work for Dr. Ware and myself. He also has gone home before the work is completed ; and the duty of finishing it devolves upon me, when my health has become too feeble to perform it well. All those whom my father named as my advisers and assistants, have left me, to become his companions.

When I visited Dr. Ware in Nov. 1842, it was agreed that I should make such inquiries of the booksellers, as would help us to decide how many volumes should be published. We proposed a selection from the printed works of my father, and one or two volumes from his Manuscripts, in addition to the Memoirs. The state of the book-market was such at that time, that it was deemed improper to publish any part of these works ; and the advice given to Dr. Ware was, that the Memoirs should be finished, and that we should wait for a more favorable time for publishing. This removed from his mind the feeling that it was necessary to do the work now, and he permitted other duties to take its place. This accounts for his not completing the

PREFACE.

vii

Memoirs previous to April 1843, when his health failed so much that he seems to have added nothing to this work. After his death in September, Mrs. Ware kindly sent me all the papers which she found relating to the Memoirs.

It appears that Dr. Ware designed to have the work consist of eight Chapters. Five Chapters seem to be completed, with the exception of a few facts, and the last labor of correcting the composition. I do not find any paper headed as Chapter VI., nor anything that I am certain was intended for it ; but I have put in this place what seemed most suitable.

I find the beginning of Chapter VII., and such things as I have arranged under that head. For Chapter VIII. I find only a few fragments. He did not attempt to write it, and has left only a few scattered remarks.

It seems to me and to others that the most important part of the work is done, that it is valuable, and should not be lost. It is indeed a very delicate and difficult task, to prepare these papers for publication ; and I should be wholly unwilling to undertake it, were not the relatives of Dr. Ware so competent and so ready to assist me. The reader will find that where I have made changes, they are made in brackets ; and that where I have added Notes, they are given as mine. I have omitted very few passages which Dr. Ware wrote. His account of the family of Noah Worcester, Esq., in the first Chapter, was very imperfect ; I have therefore omitted it, and inserted a statement in brackets.

viii

PREFACE.

Dr. Ware intended that the last Chapter should give an account of my father's last days, his sickness, and his death ; and also a review of his labors, and his character. It is necessary that I should write this Chapter ; and I can give the facts which are required, more easily than any other person. I can also add some things which the reader may wish to know, but which might not be easily said by another. But the general view of my father's character and labors, with which Dr. Ware intended to close the Memoirs, must be omitted. The reader will regret that Dr. Ware did not write it ; but his regret will be less than he anticipates, when he finds how fully Dr. Worcester's labors are described, and how justly his character is delineated, in the Chapters which are completed.

It may be expected that I should give a more particular account of the Manuscripts left by my father, than is contained in the following Memoirs. Dr. Ware did not read all of them ; but, relying partly on Dr. Tuckerman and myself, he selected and examined those which seemed to be most important. It may be well to name those which he set apart as the parcel which he had examined and retained, as what would probably go wholly or partially, into the volumes which he proposed to publish.

1. " The Messiah's Kingdom not of this world." This is particularly mentioned in the fifth Chapter of the Memoirs and the Note following.

2. " Appeals to the Bible in Search of Truth." It is written in numbers, and treats of a great variety of sub-

PREFACE.

ix jects, and would make a large volume duodecimo. It is plain that this Manuscript was written with great care, and I recollect that my father expected me to publish it.

3. "Review of facts relating to the Redemption by Jesus Christ." This also was prepared with great care, and made ready for the press. It would perhaps make sixty or eighty pages.

4. " Letters to a Candid Minister concerning Redemption." There are six letters, in five sheets.

5. " Select Inquiries on several subjects." This would make twenty or thirty pages.

6 "Philosophy of Reformation." This would make forty or fifty pages.

These with a very few short pieces are what Dr. Ware regarded as the most important of the Manuscripts.

Another parcel of the Manuscripts is marked as not having been read by Dr. Ware in January 1843 ; and it seems to me nearly certain that he never read them. The package consists of a very great number of short articles, on a great variety of subjects. Several of these would, I think, be found interesting and useful. The poetical articles are very numerous, and would make a large volume ; but Dr. Ware did not think that they should be printed. There are a few Sermons, and a great many other Manuscripts, which a judicious editor would not select for publication. My father seldom wrote any more than short notes for his Sermons ; and those which he preached from these notes, were generally the best.

X

PREFACE.

I do not yet find encouragement for printing even the most valuable of these Manuscripts ; but I am willing to show them to the friends of my father's sentiments, and publish them whenever it is thought prudent.

In respect to the following Memoirs, I owe it to the memory of Dr. Ware, to say, that they seem to me to be written with great candor, ability, and fidelity. In some parts I discover marks of his very feeble health ; but on all the principal topics, I think the work will be found highly satisfactory.

Chapter I

Birth-place, Ancestors, Brothers. Life from childhood to manhood. Service in the war of the Revolution. Residence in Plymouth. Deficiencies of education. How he learned to write. His marriage. His becoming Schoolmaster 1 „

Chapter II

Removal from Plymouth to Thornton. His religious character at this period. His occupations during the first years of his residence at Thornton. His study. The first book that he wrote. Became the Minister of Thornton ; remarks concerning his Ministry. His early writings, and his habits in writing. Death of his wife; her character. Second Marriage. Missionary labors. Muscular powers and loss of them. Changes in his opinions. Removal to Salisbury. . . .... 11

Chapter III

Publication of Bible News with its attendant circumstances. He was invited to. become the Editor of the Christian Disciple. . . . . . . . . 35 xii

CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Removal to Brighton, Mass. Labors as Editor of the Christian Disciple. His preparation for the works for which he is most distinguished; his Solemn Review of the Custom of War, and the Friend of Peace. Character of these works. ........ 58

Chapter I

Birth-place, Ancestors, Brothers. Life from childhood to manhood. Service in the war of the Revolution. Residence in Plymouth. Deficiencies of education. How he learned to write. His marriage. His becoming a Schoolmaster.

[Noah Worcester was torn Nov. 25th, 1758, at Hollis, N. H., then a new and obscure place, the settlement of which was commenced in 1730. He was the oldest son of Noah Worcester, Esq., who was a son of the Rev. Francis Worcester, who was for some years pastor of a church in Sandwich, Mass., and who died at Hollis in 1783. The Rev. Francis Worcester was the great grandson of the Rev. William Worcester, who came from Salisbury in England, and was the first minis- 1

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

ter of the church in Salisbury, Mass., which was instituted in 1638 and was the 18th church, in the order of time, formed in Massachusetts Bay.

In " An Address delivered on the Centennial Celebration to the People of Hollis, N. H., Sept. 15th, 1830, by the Rev. Grant Powers," there is a notice of Noah Worcester, Esq. and his family, from which the following extract is made. u The daughter of Mr. Taylor [one of the first settlers of Hollis], married Noah Worcester, Esq., whose memory is with us to-day as one of the fathers of the town for a long series of years. He had an active and vigorous mind, was one of the framers of the Constitution of this State, sustained the office of magistrate for more than forty years, and was a member of this church more than sixty years. Mr. Worcester and his wife [his first wife] had seven children, and of their posterity eighteen have either received the honors of college, or are now members of New England colleges. Eight are, or have been, ministers of the Gospel."

The names of the five sons of Noah Worcester, Esq., by his first marriage, were as follows : — Noah Worcester, D. D., the subject of these Memoirs ; Jesse Worcester, a very intelligent and respectable

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

farmer, who resided on the paternal estate at Hollis ; Leonard Worcester, A. M., ordained pastor of the church in Peacham, Vt. in 1799 ; Thomas Worcester, A. M., pastor of the church in Salisbury, N. H., from 1797 to 1823; and Samuel Worcester, D. IX, pastor of the church in Fitchburg, Mass., from 1797 to 1802 ; and of the Tabernacle church in Salem, from 1803 till his death in 1821.

Leonard Worcester, the only survivor of these brothers, a man greatly respected for his talents and virtues, and for the excellence of his ministerial character, was bred a printer, and carried on the business for some years in Worcester, Mass., and was at the same time editor of the Massachusetts Spy. After a useful ministry at Peacham of about forty years he was obliged, three or four years since, to retire from the public duties of his profession on account of declining health. Thomas Worcester, who was a man of good talents and much esteemed, died in 1831, having been a great invalid for several years. Samuel Worcester, the only one of the five brothers who had the advantages of a collegiate education, is well known as one of the most distinguished theologians of his age in this country. His

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

name is associated especially with the cause of Missions, he having been the Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, from its institution in 1810 till his death.]

These facts show what must have been the domestic discipline of the house in which the subject of these Memoirs spent his earliest years. Religion must have had there a favorite and familiar home. The air that he breathed during childhood was that of religion. His grandparents made part of the family, and he tells us that u all united to make early a deep impression on his mind in favor of religion and against vice ; and that in these efforts they were so far successful, that his religious impressions were of the earliest date of any thing he can remember, excepting," he adds, " a burn which I received in my bosom when I was about two years old." From the time that he was twelve years old he was accustomed to lead the daily worship of the family in the absence of his father. As a proof of the consciousness which at the earliest period was cultivated in him, he relates the distress

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

which he once endured, before he was five years old, at the idea that he had been guilty of the sin of falsehood in asserting as a fact what had been told him without his knowing it to be true ; and the relief which he experienced in having the difference between an unintentional departure from truth and a design to deceive, explained to him.

He was taught to read at a very early age, and took pleasure in reading. He is remembered as being always accounted one of the best scholars in the school, and as employing his leisure time at home, in reading or studying, or teaching the younger children. The best opportunities of education were at that time and in that place but small, and his privileges became poor indeed as he advanced in years. For as he grew to be large and strong for his age, his services as a laborer were too valuable to be dispensed with, and he was only spared from the farm to attend the brief school of a few weeks during the winter season. Neither grammar nor geography made any part of his studies ; and scanty as his advantages were, they ceased with the winter of 1774-5, when he was but sixteen years old.

On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war the 1 *

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

next spring, he joined the army as a fifer, and continued in the service for about eleven months. He narrowly escaped being made prisoner at the battle of Bunker Hill ; in the confusion of the retreat he ran toward a party of the enemy, and barely discovered his mistake in season to correct it. He again was in the army for two months, c£ to please his father " # he says, during the campaign of 1777. He was then fife-major. It was his fortune to be in the battle of Bennington ; where, as he said afterward, "he felt much worse in going over the ground the next day, than during the engagement." When the term of his enlistment expired, he was solicited with some urgency to remain in the army, and offers were made to raise his wages to those of a non-commissioned officer ; but he disliked the business, and he was in love ; he therefore persisted in quitting the camp ; expressing devout gratitude to that kind Providence which had led him unharmed through the terrible moral dangers to which he had been exposed. u One effect, however," he says, u occurred from my

* His father commanded a company at the breaking out of the war, but it does not appear that he was ever in active service. — Powers' Address.

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

being in the army, which I could not but observe with some alarm. From my childhood till I became a soldier, my sympathetic affections or passions were remarkably tender ; so that I was easily moved to tears by any affecting objects or circumstances. But the first funeral I attended at home after having been in the army, I was shocked to find myself so changed and so unmoved on such an occasion."

The interval between his two military expeditions was in several respects an important period of his life. He resided for a time in the family of his uncle Francis Worcester at Plymouth, whither he had gone with a view to engaging in the manufacture of maple sugar. Here was residing also his uncle's stepdaughter, Hannah Brown, a native of Newburyport, a fine girl of sixteen, whose admirable qualities attracted his warmest affection. A mutual attachment grew up between the young pair, and spite of poverty, war, and youth, they pledged themselves to each other. This was in the season of 1776-7. He was eighteen years old, she was sixteen.

It was during this winter too that he first occupied himself as an instructor. He undertook the care of the village school ; and, notwithstanding what w 7 e have seen must have been his very in-

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

adequate preparation for such a task, he acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his employers, and pursued the occupation for nine successive winters. He was perfectly aware of his deficiencies, and anxious and resolute to remove them. He availed himself with diligence of the best means within his reach. How good these were, and what obstacles he had to contend against may be seen in his account of them.

" In the course of that winter, I probably acquired more useful knowledge than I had even before done in any two winters by going to school. After I became an instructor I felt the importance of learning, and exerted myself to obtain it by such means as were then within my power. I found myself deficient in the art of writing ; and being at Plymouth in N. H. in the summer season, where it was difficult to procure paper during the war, I wrote over a quantity of white birch bark, in imitation of some excellent copies which I found in that place. By this means I made considerable improvement in leisure hours and rainy weather. About this time I procured a dictionary, which was the first I ever had the privilege of perusing, though I was then in my eighteenth year."

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

So young, and yet already he had been in one battle and was soon to be in another, had taught school one winter, and was engaged to be married. This engagement, as was natural, seems to have hastened his settlement in life. In September, 1778, he purchased of his father the remainder of his minority, and left home for Plymouth, intending to make that town the place of his residence, and expecting to spend his days as a farmer, except so far as he might obtain employment as a schoolmaster. Here he was married the next year, on the day he was twenty-one years of age.

And now, having accompanied him up to manhood, what have we found in his circumstances, character or education, to give any prediction of the place which he was afterward to fill in life ? What was there so extraordinary, that, if he had died then, any one should say, " Alas, alas, the world has lost a benefactor ; the progress of man is put back ? " • A conscientious child, a good boy, an enterprising youth, hopeful, diligent and brave ; but so far from being apparently on the path to literary eminence or distinction of life, he has barely studied enough to attain the accomplishment of a district school teacher, and that in a region so ob-

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

scure and so remote from the means of improvement, that his paper has been birch bark, and he meets no dictionary till he has reached his eighteenth year. No one could doubt that with his athletic frame, his capacity for labor and his spirit of enterprise, he would make his way in the world, and probably thrive. No one could doubt that with his exemplary correctness of life and readiness to serve others, he would be a useful member of society. But he was now settled for life, as a small farmer in a small place. To human eye there was no prospect that he could ever move in any other sphere, or be known beyond the limits of his own village. In this case as in multitudes of others, how strikingly was the saying verified, "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps ! "

Chapter II

Removal from Plymouth to Thornton. Hts religious character at this period. His occupations during the first years of his residence at Thornton. His study. The first book that he wrote. . Became the Minister of Thornton ; remarks concerning his Ministry. His early writings, and his habits in writing. Death of his wife ; her character. Second Marriage. Missionary labors. Muscular powers, and loss of them. Changes in his opinions. Removal to Salisbury.

u From the facts and circumstances which have been already mentioned," — we now copy from the autobiography, — "it will be obvious to you, that to the time of my marriage, my advantages for acquiring knowledge must have been very small ; perhaps not half so good as are now generally enjoyed in my native town. * * * I shall here mention one fact which has seemed to myself remarkable, when compared with the course I have

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

pursued since I was twenty-five years of age. At the age of twenty-one, I think I had never written any compositions of my own of any kind, except such as the following. I had written letters on my own account and for others who had friends in the army. I had probably written notes, bonds, and deeds, some of which I recollect. When teaching a school, I was in the habit of composing copies for my scholars, and questions in Arithmetic, instead of taking them from books. Excepting such compositions as have now been named, I have no recollections of having written any of my own till after I was married. I had, however, from my childhood been much in the habit of reflection and inquiry ; and probably I was too much inclined to argument and disputation, on various subjects. I think I was not more than twelve years old when this propensity was mentioned to me as one of my faults. Though the propensity was doubtless in some instances imprudently indulged, it was probably a means of my advancement in knowledge.

" The first of my compositions of a nature different from those I have mentioned, were argumentative, and in the form of objections to the first proposed constitution for the state of New Hampshire.

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

A Convention of delegates had formed a constitution, which they caused to be printed and sent to the different towns with a request that such objections as should occur might be stated in writing with reasons for their support, and forwarded to the Convention at their next meeting. I had the curiosity to examine the constitution, and finding some things in it which I deemed objectionable, I stated them in writing, and showed them to a neighbor. In consequence of these steps, I was chosen by the town as one of the committee to examine the constitution, and state such objections as should occur. As the committee were apprized of the fact that I had paid some attention to the subject, the task of writing was assigned to me. This I performed to the satisfaction of the committee and of the town. By this first effort, I acquired a taste for writing, and a hope that by further practice I might be able to write to advantage."

As no date is given, it is not clear whether this took place during Mr. Worcester's residence in Plymouth, or after his removal to Thornton. To the latter place, a small town in the neighborhood, he removed in February, 1782, about three and a half years after his marriage. Here his religious 2 character seems to have received a quickened development, and he made a profession of religion in the succeeding August. His brief account of this event it is proper to give in his own words. " When I removed from Plymouth to Thornton, neither my wife nor myself had joined any church as members. This neglect was not, I believe, in either of us, the fruit of disrespect to religion or its institutions. "We had been educated under the influence of Christian instruction, and had grown up, as I trust, under the influence of religious principles. Though our love and obedience had been imperfect, we had a reverence for God, and for the precepts of the gospel. But neither of us could name the day of our conversion, nor could we honestly relate such distressing agitations of mind and subsequent transports of joy as we had heard from the lips of others, and which we had been led to regard as the evidences of having been born of God. We had not duly reflected on the fact, that these are not the evidences of a good heart which are mentioned in the Bible. But after we removed to Thornton, we were under the ministry of the Rev. Experience Estabrook, an eminently pious man, and by his preaching and conversation we were led to a more

MEMOIRS OF NOAH WORCESTER.

serious consideration of the importance of showing our regard to God and to the precepts of his Son, by becoming more openly professors of religion. And after much serious thought and inquiry we obtained such satisfaction that we were encouraged to become members of the church, though not both at the same time.