in Virginia, and a record of 1622 shows that "the Quarter Court of the Virginia Company thought fit to make Captain Martin Pring a freeman of the Company, and to give him two shares of land in regard of the large contribution which the gentlemen and mariners of his ship had given toward good works in Virginia, whereof he was an especial furtherer."

Captain Pring died in 1626. By his will, executed that year, it appears that the name of his wife was Elizabeth, and that he had one son and five daughters. An imposing monument was erected to his memory in St. Stephen's Church, Bristol, by the Company of the Merchant Venturers of that city. The inscription, which is as follows, "acquires," says his biographer, "additional strength from representing the sentiments of a public body, instead of being due to private and individual affections, a source which is apt to be influenced by partiality."

To the pious

Memorie of Martin Pringe,

Merchant, sometymee Generall to the

East Indies, and one of ye

Fraternitie of the

Trinitie House.

The liuing worth of this dead man was such
That this fay'r Touch can giue you but A touch

Of his admired gifts; the ise quarter'd Arts,
Enrich'd his knowledge and ye spheare imparts

His hearts true Embleme where pure thoughts did moue
By A most sacred Influence from aboue.

Prudence and fortitude ore topp this toombe,

Which is braue PRINGE tooke vpp ye cheifest roome;
Hope,Time supporters showe that hee did clyme,

The highest pitch of hope, though not of Tyme.
His painefull, skillful trauayles reach't as farre
As from the Artick to th' Antartick starre;
Hee made himselfe A shippe. Religion
His onely compass, and the truth alone
His guiding Cynosure, faith was his sailes,
His anchovr hope, A hope that never fayles;
His fraight was charite; and his returne

A fruitfull practice. In this fatall vrne

His shipps fayr Bulck is lodg'd but ye ritch ladinge
Is hous'd in heaven, A hauen neuer fadinge.

Hic terris multum iactatus et vndis.

Obit Anno (Salutis (1626.

Ætatis 46.

SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF EARLY MAINE MINISTERS.

BY WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON.

Presented to the Maine Historical Society, with an Introduction by Joseph Williamson, December 10, 1881. [CONCLUDED.]

REV. THURSTON WHITING.

REV. THURSTON WHITING, ordained in July, 1776, was the second settled minister in Newcastle. His predecessor was Rev. Alexander Boyd, who was dismissed in 1758. The interval of eighteen years had been truly full of anxiety and interest in Newcastle. The affairs and transactions with Mr. Boyd, and also with Mr. Ward, made, in their progress and result, unfavorable impressions upon the minds of the people. They tended to loosen, and even break, the ties of sound union, which always in all younger communi

ties specially need strengthening.

Parochial disputes

and religious controversies are the hotbeds of evil, which nothing but long labor and much grace can change into the garden of the Lord. After the departure of Mr. Ward in 1761, the people employed several candidates, and invited Rev. Moses Job Lain, Samuel Perley, William Southmayd, Joel Benedict and Jesse Reed to settle with them in the ministry, but they severally returned answers in the negative.

Mr. Whiting first appears as a preacher at Winthrop in 1773 and next in 1775 at Newcastle, where he is now settled. The people had been Presbyterians, yet being willing to adopt Congregational rites and forms in harmony with his sentiments, they settled him on that foundation, and a church of the same order was embodied at the same time. But Mr. Whiting was not the minister for the people of Newcastle. He did not in the outset come to them in the power and spirit of Elijah or Paul. He had not a collegiate education; he had no more than ordinary abilities; there was nothing captivating, or commanding in the turn or temperament of the man.1 Nor was he endued with the faculty to mold disconnected materials into form and comeliness and thus build up the parish. His destiny, at length, proved to be like that of his predecessor, for in January, 1782, he was dismissed, not without reflections by the Council, after an unpleasant pastorate of five years and six month. The next year he was preaching in Edgecomb when

1 This, I think, is incorrect, inasmuch as he was never destitute of many warm friends, and when I knew him in later years possessed an amiable, mild, social disposition, though he was wanting in firmness. CYRUS Eaton.

the Council formally restored him to "good standing" and organized a church, but did not, though requested, think fit to instal him. In two or three years after the dismissal of Mr. Urquhart, about 1784-85, Mr. Whiting removed into Warren and was employed about ten years in preaching there and in Thomaston, but was never resettled after leaving Newcastle. In 1796 he represented Warren in the General Court, and it might have been more for his honor, interest and happiness if he had never engaged in any other than secular employments, for uneducated, unconverted, self-made men are never distinguished for their success and usefulness in the ministry of the gospel.

REV. BENJAMIN CHADWICK.

1

REV. BENJAMIN CHADWICK, Harvard College 1770, was ordained December, 1776, the second settled minister in the second parish of Scarborough. His predecessor was the Rev. Mr. Elvins. His ancestors were the early settlers of Watertown. His ministerial labors faithfully performed so wasted his strength and impaired his health as to affect severely his spirits and gradually his mind. At his instance, therefore, he was dismissed in May, 1795, by mutual consent. Afterwards, by exercise, change of air and of scene, and freedom from cares, he so far recovered his health and energies as to be able to preach occasionally, though without any pastoral charge. He died Novem

1 His literary attainments were by no means inconsiderable. He entered college, He was though for some reason, probably misconduct, did not graduate. acquainted with the Latin, Greek and French languages, wrote a good style, and his contributions often appeared in the newspapers of the day. C. E.

ber 10, 1819, respected and lamented. His piety shone with pure light, and might have been splendid had it not been veiled with gloom and even eclipsed by the dark planet of ill health.

REV. CHARLES TURNER.

REV. CHARLES TURNER, Harvard College, 1762, preached and dwelt in Turner, but was never settled in Maine. He was a descendant of Pilgrim ancestry at old Plymouth and a minister of Duxbury seventeen years. He first visited this place, called Sylvester plantation, in 1776, the year after the first settlement was begun, and again in 1779, at which latter time he admitted such as desired to own the covenant and then baptized them and their children. This, denominated the "half-way covenant," was an unfortunate beginning of religious establishments in a new town. Nor did the procedure evince the minister's scriptural godliness, nor the most correct view of the sacred ordinances. He continued to preach in different places and in 1792 he removed into this town, it having been incorporated July 7, 1786, and also, as a compliment to him, taken his surname. After Mr. Strickland's dismission in 1797, both were, at times, employed to preach, and in 1802 Mr. Turner was invited by the parish to settle, but the procedure was non-concurred by the church and nothing was affected. Mr. Turner was in the ministry about forty years, though only fitted for secular employments. No man can teach what he never knew, nor guide to heaven in ways to which he is a stranger. He emigrated into