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our readers ; and because we wish to extract the notice of his daughter ; her for whom he wrote , during his confinement in the Tower , the " Dying Father ' s Last Legacy . " " It is enough to make the heart bleed to think of the situation in which
the ' poor child' to whom he addressed his dying advice was left . She was a forlorn , forsaken , helpless creature , the memory of her revered father was loaded with infamy , she was utterly destitute of friends , of sympathy , and of the means of subsistence . 4 I do first , ' says the wretched parent , ' commend you to the
Lord , and then to the care of a faithful friend , whom I shall name unto you , if a friend may be found in this juncture , that dare own your name . And if I go shortly where time shall be no more , sink not , but lay thy head in His bosom who can keep thee , for He sits upou the wares . Farewell—And since we must
part—must part : take my wishes , sighs , and groans to follow thee , and pity the feebleness of what 1 have sent , being writ under much , yea very much discomposure of spirit . ' After advising her to procure , upon his departure , a situation as a servant * in some godly family , he makes the following proposal . * But if you would go home to New-England ( which
you have much reason to do ) go with good company , and trust God there : the church are a tender com pany . ' Although the imagination is left to conjecture the particulars of the life of this desolate young orphan , it is delightful to our hearts to think that she did seek refuge in that New-Eiiglaud which was so dear to her father . The God to whom he
committed her in his dying hour did not desert her . There is reason to believe that the people of this place , that ' tender company' to whom he commended her , received her into the arms of their love and compassion , and did for her every thing that gratitude and benevolence could suggest . " *—Pp . 23 , 24 .
* < i In Hutchiuson ' s Collection of Papers there is a letter from a gentleman in London to Governor Leverett , requesting him to inform the Salem Church of the wretched and destitute condition of the bereaved family of Mr . Peters , and to commend to its charity and care his wife , who , for years before his execution ,
had beeu afflicted by mental alienation . The daughter to whom Mr Peters addressed his * Legacy' was horn before he left Ainerica ; her baptism is found recorded thus in our Church books . « 1640 . 1 st mo . 8 . Eliza , daughter of Mr . Pc-
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Edvvard Norris ( who had been , a cler » gyman in England ) succeeded Hugh Peters in the ministry at Salem , and lived a life of peace and usefulness . He was followed by John Higginson , the son of that Francis Higginson who , though on
account of his age he held the subordinate office , yet appears to be considered as the real founder of the Church . 4 * He ( John Higginson ) was the first persou admitted to this Church after its formation , and the last forty-nine years of his life were spent in the duties of its pastoral care . ' *
" The life of this excellent man was protracted to the great leugth of ninetythree years . Throughout its whole course he was a beautiful specimen of a distinct and peculiar class of men , who in many points were possessed of a dignified and amiable interest , the primitive
New-England Ministers . His last days were spent in peace and honour ; they were lovely and venerable . He was regarded as the Nestdr of the Congregational Churches . His counsel was sought in every emergency—his sanction requested for every undertaking . Books , published
ters . ' After her father's execution , she came to America , according to his advice , and was kindly received by his friends . So respectable was the situation in which they placed her , that she was married to a gentleman of rank in Newport , Rhode-Island . It is probable that she removed with her husband to
England , where she became a widow . There can be no doubt that she lived there in afflueuce and honour , for she had influence enough to recover from the crown her father ' s foreign possessions , which had illegally been confiscated . Humphrey Devereux , Esq ., a member of this Church and Society , is at present the owner of an estate on the
Marblehead shore , which originally belonged to Hugh Peters . The deed by which he holds it , was given to his ancestor , March 17 , 1705 , by ' Elizabeth Barker , widow , daughter aud sole heir of Hugh . Peters ' She appears to have been in America at the time of signing this deed . The sum which she received for the estate was over three hundred and fifty
pounds . At its date « he must have been sixty-five years of age . It is highly gratifying to our feelings to find evidence , in these few facts , which are all that we can ascertain concerning her , that the good Providence to which her dying father entrusted her , supplied her wants , conducted her steps , and surrounded her path with blessings . "
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Critical Notices , — Theological . 49
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VOL . IV . e
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 49, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/49/
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