Torrey's history, in a notice of Rev. Mr. Payson, says he was "a man of respectable talents, of a peaceful disposition, and of devoted piety. He was fortunate in having secured, for a long period, the love and respect of his people. Fond of the peaceful walks of his profession, he knew but little of the affairs of the world, and was ill calculated to sustain its buffets. The latter years of his ministry were embittered by the inroads made among his people by the Methodists, Baptists and Universalists." So early as 1787, seventeen "professed Baptists" were exempted by the town from paying any tax toward the support of Mr. Payson, on the ground that they had preaching among themselves. "These circumstances, together with a constitutional infirmity of mind, caused a great depression of spirits, which finally settled in confirmed insanity. Yet he continued to preach for several years. He would go through with the public services on the Sabbath with perfect propriety, when frequently there did not occur another lucid interval during the week." One who remembered him during the last years of his ministry related that he would sometimes enter the pulpit, and then, as if conscious of his mental infirmity, would apologize to his people for not being in condition to preach-and then descend to the deacons' seats in front of the pulpit, and there go on with the services.

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"His infirmity increasing upon him, in the summer of 1793, both the church and town united in calling a council to take into consideration their ecclesiastical affairs." After a ministry of twenty-six years, in May, 1794, Mr. Payson was regularly dismissed. He continued to reside in Fitchburg, but still the victim of insanity, until May 21, 1804, when he died by his own hand, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His death occurred in Leominster, at the residence of his brother-in-law, while there on a visit. His remains repose in the old cemetery on South street, where a large horizontal slab bearing an elaborate inscription in Latin was erected to his memory.

It is not known that any sermon or other literary effort of Rev. Mr. Payson has been preserved in print; but during the past month a manuscript sermon in his

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A PAGE OF REV. JOHN PAYSON'S MANUSCRIPT.

[See page 85, sixth line from bottom.]

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peculiar hand-writing has come to light, and through the courtesy of Mr. E. B. Rockwood we have been permitted to make a copy of it. It has seemed worth the while to puzzle over the almost indecipherable manuscript, to be able to get a glimpse of the kind of preaching under which the forefathers and mothers of this hamlet sat in the days when all were expected to attend divine service regularly, or be disciplined for neglect of duty.

This sermon is dated September 8, 1786, and must have been preached at the little meeting-house on the hill, between Blossom and Mt. Vernon streets. The closelywritten pages, covering the paper to the very edge, indicate a careful economy in the use of writing material. During the period of Mr. Payson's ministry there were very few paper mills in the country; and the process of manufacture being entirely by hand, paper was a somewhat expensive commodity. A brief extract may serve to show something of the style and character of Mr. Payson's work.

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"This is an argument that has often been used to prove the divinity of Christ-that all those works which the Supreme God only can do are attributed to him in the Word of God. * The evangelist from whom is our text, said, in the first chapter, that all things were made by Christ, and without him was not anything made that was made. I might also show you that the preservation and government of the world are, in sacred writ, ascribed to Jesus Christ. It is therein said that by him all things consist, and that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and as none can do these works but God-almighty in power and infinite in knowledge-their being attributed to Christ proves that he has the divine nature. And, surely, never did the natural son of an earthly parent resemble him more than our Lord Jesusas his character is drawn in the Evangelists-does the God of Nature; for, does the Supreme God appear from the works of nature to be a being of infinite knowledge and wisdom, and did not our Lord Jesus in his conduct and conversation in the world appear to be possessed of such a divine wisdom? And how much like that adorable Being

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who said, 'Let there be light and there was light,' does our Lord Jesus appear, when he said to the leper, 'I will-be thou clean,' and immediately his leprosy departed from him! And when he said to the tempestuous winds and seas, 'Peace, be still;' and suddenly there was a great calm? What a complete resemblance of our beneficent Creator was he who went about doing good! How like him who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust, was he who cried on the cross concerning them that persecuted him-Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!""

In 1786, when this sermon was written, Fitchburg had increased from a population of two hundred and fifty to probably not far from a thousand inhabitants. Torrey gives a description of the village as it appeared at this time. He says:

"A traveler approaching from the east or south would first behold the tavern of Thomas Cowdin. Upon the hill to the northwest might be seen a small, yellow, and rather mean-looking meeting-house. In front would appear the red store of Joseph Fox, Esq., and in the rear of that his dwelling house, with large, projecting eaves. The mills and dwelling house of Dea. Ephraim Kimball were just below, and over the bridge were two houses more. Casting his eyes up the hill he would see the house of Rev. Mr. Payson [later known as the Dea. Samuel Burnap place]. This was all that could be seen, and all that then constituted the village of Fitchburg. Thence proceeding westward over a crooked and rough road the traveler would next see the house built by David Gibson [about where the city hall now stands], and opposite to that Mr. Gibson's baker's shop. He would then come on to the present common. Here his sight would be greeted by small, stunted pine trees, and such bushes as grow upon the poorest land. A straggling log fence here and there might serve to diversify the scene.”

Such, in 1786, when the sermon was written from which we have read, was the forbidding aspect of what is now the busy and thriving city of Fitchburg.

Four of the sons of Rev. Phillips Payson of Walpole were ministers. The eldest, Rev. Phillips Payson, Jr., was a distinguished minister of Chelsea, Mass., a graduate of Harvard, 1754, and received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Rev. Samuel Payson, a graduate of Harvard, 1758, ordained over the church at Lunenburg, 1762, died February 14, 1763, at the age of twenty-four, after a ministry of less than six months. Rev. John Payson, born January 6, 1746, graduated at Harvard, 1764, became the first minister of Fitchburg, and Rev. Seth Payson, the youngest and only son by a second marriage, graduated at Harvard, 1777, was ordained at Rindge, N. H., in 1782, and received the degree of D. D. from Dartmouth college in 1809. He died February, 1820, after a ministry of thirty-seven years. Both father and sons, says Stearns in his History of Rindge, are reported to have been able ministers and excellent men. Eminently successful in their profession, they evinced a lively interest and exerted a great influence in civil affairs.