Infra sitæ sunt reliquiæ Reverendi Samuelis Cary, Novangli; Procul a patriâ, inter eos quibus tantum laudes ejus innotuerunt, Quæ in Æde Regis, sic vocatâ, Bostoniæ Novanglorum convenit, In officiis et amicitiâ conjuncti. Vir fuit cui ingenium acer, doctrina, eloquentia, Et fallacibus hominum opinionibus minime confisus, Summâ cum pietate coluit, Summâ cum diligentiâ tradidit. In medio vitæ atque honorum cursu, morbo oppressus, Et unà cum conjuge hasce ad oras advenit. Morte iis etiam quibus advena fuit, non sine curâ. Excessit Octobris die vicesimo secundo, A: C., 1815. The news of Mr. Cary's death reached Boston on the 5th of December. On the next day, at a meeting of the surviving minister, the Wardens, and the Vestry, it was voted to drape the Chapel in black, and to request the wearing of suitable badges of mourning by the members of the parish. It was also voted "That the Wardens and vestry deeply sympathize with the mother and wife of the deceased pastor. To the mother they offer their affectionate condolence. They acknowledge themselves indebted for so much of the instruction and pleasure which they have derived from him to her, by whose skilful hand his mind was first formed to knowledge, piety, and virtue. They shall long remember with respect and gratitude his talents and excellent qualities,- his learning, his eloquence, his aptness to teach, his strong reasoning powers, his love of truth, his fearless integrity, his honorable principles, his candor, the dignity of his deportment, his disinterestedness, and generosity; and, above all, his faithful and pious per formance of the ministerial duties, and his attention to the people of his charge in health, in sickness, and in affliction. Whilst they lament their own great loss, it is an aggravation of their sorrow that his tender mother is deprived of so promising a son, upon whom she leaned as the support and comfort of her declining years. "To the wife of their deceased pastor they also present their condolences, with similar expressions of veneration and love for the character of her excellent husband. They thank her for all the kindness which she has shown to the man whom they so highly esteemed, and in particular for the tender solicitude with which she watched over his last days. "In behalf both of the mother and wife they fervently pray God that He would be graciously pleased to heal their wounded hearts. They supplicate upon them the blessing of that merciful Being who, though He has destroyed their hope in this world, yet communicates to them by the gospel the hope of immortal felicity in a better world, where the parent will again meet her son, and the wife her husband, where there will be no more separation of friends, no more tears, and no more mourning." On the 12th of October, 1826, Mrs. Cary became the second wife of Joseph May, and for more than twelve years ministered assiduously to his happiness, and was his diligent and faithful helpmate in his lifework of kindness, beneficence, and philanthropy. She died on Sunday, the 27th of January, 1839. On the following Sunday Mr. Greenwood thus spoke of her: "Every communion day of the Church is an All Saints' day. Then surely she will be with us who has last departed from among us,— she whom we have marked so gentle in demeanor, so simple in speech, so firm in principle and duty; she who was early disciplined in the school of sorrow and bereavement, but who always acknowledged the ruling hand of her Father, and was only strengthened in faith and reliance by the severity of trial. And when we bless God for those departed this life in his faith and fear, we may bless Him in her departure. And when we beseech Him to give us grace to follow their good example, we may remember and cherish hers, among those which, in life and death, have taught us the beauty of holiness, the peace and the reality of religion." WOOD-CARVING FROM CHANCEL. CHAPTER XXIII. THE PRICE FUND. HE same instinct which has led good and godly men and women in every age of the Christian Church to provide religious endowments has operated in the older American communities, although circumstances have made it more difficult to preserve such endowments unimpaired, than has been the case in the mother country. Several of the Puritan churches in Boston were thus endowed, at least so far as to have a parsonage house; and the Third (or Old South) Church now inherit from Madam Norton its considerable estate. It is probable that the custom of looking to the Crown for favors, as it prevented individuals from giving communion plate to King's Chapel according to the usual practice in the Puritan churches, had also hindered pious bequests for the benefit of the church. But the necessities of the church at last became urgent. The new building had burdened it with debt, and made it more difficult to provide properly for the support of its ministers. An appeal was therefore made in 1759 by a vote, which was printed on a broadside for distribution in the proper quarters. The following is a Vote of the Proprietors of King's Chapel, passed at their annual Meeting on Easter Monday, April 16, 1759: Whereas, this Congregation has no certain Fund for supporting the Minister and other Officers of it but what arises from the Assessment of the Pews and casual Contribution, which is no ways equal to its necessary annual Expence; and whereas the said Contributions by many Accidents may fail, to the great Detriment of this Church, which is now encumber'd with a heavy Debt, and not finish'd: Therefore to guard against Inconveniences and begin a Fund, the Income of which may in Time equal all our Charges, and enable this Church to pay their Debts and support their Ministers and other Officers in that generous Manner they in their Inclinations are desirous of: And whereas such a Support must 1 The First Church, and the Church in Brattle Square. VOL. II. - 27 greatly tend to the Encouragement of the most learned and ingenious Ministers to settle among us, on whom under God the Prosperity and Increase of true Religion greatly depends: It is therefore judged adviseable by this Propriety from a zealous View of promoting the Honour of Almighty God and the general benefit of this Congregation, to pursue all laudable Methods that may tend to answer such great and truly pious Designs; one of which is to render the Situation of their Ministers easy, by a handsome and honourable Support: And whereas it may with Reason be hoped that many Persons whom Divine Providence hath been pleased to entrust with competent Estates, are willing, and only wait an Opportunity of shewing their Gratitude, in particular for that Blessing, by chearfully bestowing part of the same to such pious and charitable uses, as may benefit the latest Ages, most effectually redound to the Honour and Advancement of Christ's Church, and their own eternal Welfare. It is therefore Voted, That the Minister, Church-Wardens, and Vestry-Men belonging or that shall belong to this Church, or the major Part of them, shall appoint one Day, if they think proper, in every Year for a publick Collection, Notice of such Appointment to be given the Sunday before such Collection, and all such Sums so collected shall by the Church-Wardens, with the Advice of the Vestry, or the major Part of them, be improved by putting the same to Interest on good Security, and only the Interest thereof shall be apply'd to the support of the Minister or Ministers, and other Officers and charges of said Church, in such a Manner as the Church-Wardens and Vestry of this Church, or the major Part of them, shall from Time to Time Vote and direct; but the Principal shall forever remain as a Fund for the use aforesaid, unless it should by the Church-Wardens and Vestry of said Church, or the major Part of them, be thought proper to invest the same or any Part thereof in Real Estate, for the Use and Benefit of said Church, and in that Case said Real Estate to be and remain forever to said Church, and only the Neat Profits thereof shall be apply'd to the Purposes aforesaid, but if any such Donations be of Real Estate, then the Church-Wardens, with the Advice of the Vestry, shall let the same, keep it in repair, and the Neat Profits only thereof shall be apply'd to the use aforesaid; so that whatever Principal shall be receiv'd by any Donations for the Purposes aforesaid, may forever remain entire, and as a Fund for the Benefit of this Church. Provided, nevertheless, there is not in any Gift or Donation particular Directions from the Donor that such his Gift shall be apply'd to some special Purpose not within mentioned. The Form of a Legacy to this Church. I Give, Bequeath, and Devise unto the Church called King's Chapel in Boston the sum of to and for the Use of said Church, to be dispos'd of in the following Manner, viz., said Sum shall be paid into the Hands of the Church-Wardens for the Time being of said Church, and by them shall be placed out at Interest on good Security, and only the Income thereof shall be appropriated to the use of said Church, in such Manner as the Church-Wardens and Vestry-Men of said Church, or the Majority of them shall from Time to Time direct; and the Principal shall forever remain as a Fund for the Use aforesaid, unless it should at any Time be thought proper by said Church-Wardens and Vestry-Men, or the Majority of them, to invest the said Principal Sum or any Part thereof in Real Estate for the Use and Benefit of said Church; in which Case said Money or any Part thereof shall be laid out in Real Estate as aforesaid, and the Income only of said Real Estate shall be applied to the Use aforesaid, and the Estate itself shall be and remain to said Church as a Fund for ever. This seems to have produced almost immediate fruit. On June 22 of the same year, Mrs. Joanna Brooker, widow, of Boston, died leaving a will dated May 11, 1759; in which, after giving to "the Rev. Mr. Henry Caner and the Reva. Mr. Roger Price, of Leigh in Essex, in Great Britain, Ten Pounds Sterling a peice," and to Rev. Mr. Troutbeck "my Topaz Ring as a Token of my Respect to him," the 20th clause ran: "I give and devise. all my Real Estate in the north End of Boston to the Church Wardens of King's Chappel Church in Boston, and their successors forever, for the use of said Church." 1 Mrs. Brooker's estate at the North End, in Fish Street, was afterward known as "Clarke's ship-yard," and is now Union Wharf. In 1794, when the church was extinguishing the burdensome remnants of the debt left by its building, Mr. James Clarke proposed to purchase this estate for £2,100; which offer was accepted by a vote of the Proprietors, and the title was confirmed to Colonel John May, assignee of Mr. Clarke, by a second vote in 1805. It is to be regretted that the circumstances of the church compelled it to apply this property to its immediate needs, instead of retaining it as a perpetual fund, to keep in remembrance the name and memory of this good and charitable woman. In 1770 another estate was bequeathed to King's Chapel, whose 1 Mrs. Brooker also bequeathed "all my Money and Interest in the South Sea Stocks or Funds (except what is hereinbefore disposed of . . . ) to the Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, to be a Fund in their hands, the Income thereof to be applied and paid to an Episcopal Minister that shall Preach the Gospel and live among the Indians in some part of the Continent of North America;" and "All the Residue of my Estate . . . for the Relief of Poor Widows and Sick People at the discretion of the Select Men of Boston for the time being." The latter fund was not merged in the "Pemberton Fund,". - an aggregate of similar bequests, deriving its name from the largest giver, but remains distinct as the "Poor Widow's Fund," amounting to $3,200 (1881). |