NOTICES OF THE LATE NATHANIEL THAYER, D. D.

WE are called again to record the death of an honoured and valued minister, who for many years has been known, and whose loss will be regretted, through all our churches. We have been permitted by the Pastor of the New North church in this city to publish part of a discourse delivered by him at the first church in Beverly, over which a son of Dr. Thayer is settled, on the morning of the Lord's day after his interment, July 5, 1840.

Amidst the more common ravages of death, or within the circles of private friendship, eulogies on the departed, even though they had left us much to admire and to mourn, should be cautiously bestowed. Extravagant praises of the dead may prove only snares to the living. But when one who, like our lamented friend, had become venerable not by years only but by honourable service, whose praise was in the churches and whose character commanded our esteem, is removed from the midst of us, we may freely give utterance to the emotions which such events awaken; and may derive from their death a confirmation of the lessons, which their lives did continually and eloquently enforce.

Dr. Nathaniel Thayer was born in Hampton, N. H. July 11, 1769. He was the son of Rev. Ebenezer Thayer, who for a long series of years was the respected minister of that town. He became a member of Harvard College in 1785, and was graduated in 1789, in the class of which the late President Kirkland was also a member. While pursuing his theological studies at Medford under the care of the late venerable Dr. Osgood, he engaged in the instruction of the public school in that place;—an arduous, but honourable work, which has been the beginning of their usefulness with some of the wisest and most eminent men both in Church and in State, who have adorned our country. Between the years 1792 and 1793 he also filled the place of a Tutor in Harvard College: till having completed his theological course and entered upon the public services of his profession,

he was ordained as junior Pastor of the church in Lancaster, in this State, Oct. 9, 1793.*

The gentleman with whom he was thus united, Rev. Timothy Harrington, had then fulfilled a ministry of nearly half a century; and through the infirmities of old age was unable to attend the services of the ordination. But feeling a deep interest in an event so important to the spiritual welfare of a people whom he had himself long and faithfully served, he requested that the procession, in which were not a few of the most eminent clergymen of the day, should stop on returning from the church before the door of his house; and coming forth to meet them, he expressed his joy in the occasion that had assembled them, and laying his aged hands upon his youthful colleague, he blessed him, and declared that he was now ready to depart, and would tell his predecessor,† whom he hoped shortly to meet in heaven, that he had left their common flock to a faithful care.

In this pleasant village of Lancaster, amidst a united and affection. ate people, Dr. Thayer passed the residue of his days. His ministry extended to the long, and what has now become a very rare and unusual, term of nearly forty-seven years: and it was sustained with a fidelity and devotion honourable to the pastor, and in a harmony and peace not less honourable to the flock. For, as has been remarked, by one with whom Dr. Thayer was allied by family connexion as well as professional friendship,‡ " when ministers and people live long and happily together, some credit may be allowed to the prudence of both." On the part of the people there were the virtues of a happy and flourishing village, united with reverence for the institutions of religion and ardent attachment to their pastor; while on his part were

* Lancaster was incorporated in 1653, and was for many years exposed to the incursions and barbarities of the Indians. It was wholly destroyed in 1676, and lay in ruins for some years. Two of its earliest ministers, Rev. John Whitney and Rev. Andrew Gardiner, were victims of savage fury, being surprised and murdered in or near their own houses, which they had fortified as garrisons.

+ Mr. Harrington was ordained November 16, 1748; and his predecessor, Rev. John Prentice, in May 1705. Their united ministries extended through nearly ninety years, and that of Dr. Thayer, exceeding forty-six, made together a term of one hundred and thirty five years, for three successive ministries. See Whitney's History of the County of Worcester, and Willard's History of Lancaster.

Rev. John Eliot, D. D., in his Sermon at the dedication of his church.

exemplified in no common measure those virtues, which of all others are best adapted to give stability and efficacy to any ministry. Dr. Thayer loved his profession; and this love was in him an hereditary attachment, derived through a long succession of ancestors, and shared with a family who from the times of John Cotton, of the First Church in Boston, even to the present have never failed in each generation of one or more representatives in the Christian ministry. He was devoted to the peculiar studies of his profession, from which he permitted no other objects however engaging, nor yet the infirmities of advancing years, to distract his attention. He was an affectionate and devoted pastor, who knew the flock and was known of them, impartial and considerate in his regards, and alike to the rich and to the poor, to the obscure as to the honourable, according to their several conditions, the father, brother, counsellor and friend. He never incurred the reproach given of old to the unfaithful shepherds;" the diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye sought that which was lost." In a remarkable sense he might have said, "I dwell among my own people ;" and in his diligent studies pursued to the last, in his faithful preparation of discourses adapted to their wants and griefs, in his unintermitted pastoral intercourse, he has left an example worthy of imitation to his brethren and successors; and furnishing an instructive evidence of the efficacy, even in these days of change, of such fidelity to preserve the good influences of the ministry and to secure the harmony and prosperity of any people.

With this characteristic fidelity was combined great prudence. It is possible, that to some it seemed a prudence not wholly unmingled with timidity or an excess of caution. But though it dwelt certainly with discretion, and would neither unnecessarily offend nor put to hazard important interests, it suffered no compromise with principle. When the cause of truth or of sound morals was concerned, it appeared that it was allied with an unflinching courage and would take no counsel of any fear but the fear of God. This was exhibited in some signal instances, as well by his resolute maintenance, when it was required, of the discipline of his church, as by his firmness in exposing before those ecclesiastical tribunals, to which he was so often called, every form of deception or unworthy artifice.

In his theological views he was distinguished, from the very beginning to the close of his professional career, by a genuine catholicism. He was of that honoured class, of whom were Mayhew and Clarke, and Freeman and Bancroft, and others that have passed or are rapidly passing to their reward, who in days less propitious than our own openly professed and inculcated the Unitarian faith. He was through life a consistent believer and a hearty advocate of rational Christianity. It did not shake his confidence in its truth, that it was reviled of men. He found in its doctrines a beautiful accordance with what his understanding revealed to him of truth, and with what his heart craved for its solace. Accordingly, the same views, which for almost half a century he enforced in his teachings and adorned by his life, were his support in his expiring hour.

These various qualities, united with an unfailing kindness of heart and a truly Christian courtesy, conciliated the confidence not of his people only, who esteemed him for his works' sake, but of his brethren in the same profession, of the churches who shared in his ministrations, and of the community at large. For us, his brethren or sons in the Gospel, it was impossible to regard otherwise than with respect -may we be disposed to imitate-that wise and beneficent ministry, the fruits of which, though there were never wanting a just decision and independence, were seen in the harmony of a numerous flock, in their exemplary attendance on the worship of the sanctuary, and in the spectacle, almost unparalleled in these days, of a single temple in that large and populous village.* That single church still remains, the honourable monument of his wisdom and fidelity; and when this beautiful spectacle shall cease and other churches shall arise by its side, may the same blessed spirit of Christian love, of which the whole life of our friend was the exemplification, unite the members; and taught by his example and walking in his steps, may they know "how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."

Among the expressions of his pastoral faithfulness, and as part also of his character as a good citizen, was his zeal in the cause of education and his affectionate interest for the young. He looked with

During the greater part of Dr. Thayer's ministry there was no public worship in the town of Lancaster except in the Congregational meetinghouse. Recently two other religious societies have been formed, though they have not yet erected places for their worship.

solicitude upon the rising generation. He devoted much of his time, many days of each year, to the visiting of his parochial schools; and to the children of his own flock he continued to the last his assiduous and paternal cares. They were not lost upon their susceptible hearts; and the tears which, as we have learned, were shed by teachers and by pupils of his Sunday School, when it was known that they could see his face no more, testified to the affection which they bore him.

His last moments were in happy accordance with his faith and with his life. I am aware that there is a disposition to embellish or exaggerate the scenes of a dying bed. We listen reverently to lips which death is about to close. We dwell fondly on the accents of a beloved and departing friend; and imagination conspires with affection-never so partial as when bereaved-to increase the delusion. Happily, however, in the simple truth, which God forbid we should presume to violate in this holy place, we have an undeniable testimony to his unchanging convictions and to the enduring power of his faith. In the circumstances of his death, though there was much in its suddenness to afflict his friends, there was a gracious accordance with his own wishes. He desired a sudden release. He dreaded a continuance of life beyond the continuance of usefulness. He particularly deprecated a disordered reason; and could hardly endure the thought, that while animal life remained the intellectual light should be darkened. His prayer was granted; and at a moment when his friends

* The last interview with which the writer of these notices was favoured with Dr. Thayer was while he was on a visit to Boston, but a few weeks before his death; and the purpose he had specially in view was the completion of a catalogue of the best practical religious books, which he wished to procure for the benefit of the children of his flock. They were thus among the last, as they had always been the cherished, objects of his pastoral regards; and he recommended to his younger friends in the ministry the religious care of the young as among the most effectual means of their usefulness.

Dr. Thayer was on his way to the Falls of Niagara, accompanied by his youngest daughter, and reached Rochester, N. Y., in his accustomed health and cheerfulness on the evening of the 23d of June. After retiring to rest he became unwell, and was persuaded to have medical advice. But it was immediately found, that the disorder was fatal. He felt that his end was approaching, and calling his daughter to his side, he expressed the assurance of his faith, sent his love to his family, and in the full exercise of his reason calmly expired on the morning of the 24th.