In the late 1700s, when towns across the Monadnock region were just establishing themselves, one of the fundamental pillars of town life was the church. And the man at the pulpit usually served as a town leader and prominent person. But after hundreds of years, little survives of what they spoken from those pulpits.
Warren Ojala of New Ipswich doesn’t want what little is left to fade.
Ojala has secured what remains of the speeches and writings of two early ministers of the area in two separate volumes: “Gleanings from the Life and Ministry of Stephen Farrar” and “Sermons and Addresses of Seth Payson, D.D.”
These two straight-forwardly titled books do exactly as they say on their covers: Provide some insight into the teachings of the early pastors of Rindge and New Ipswich.
Many things about the two early ministers of the area have been lost. There is no record of what either of them look like, for example, Ojala said, though sketches from their eras of other town leaders survive. But their thoughts and teachings, at least some of them, have endured, and Ojala said that’s what he wants to preserve.
“It feels like I’m compelled to make it available for the generations after,” Ojala said. “It’s a personal interest, I guess you could say.”
There is often a different tone to these early sermons, Ojala said.
“They often address the brevity of life. Perhaps because life was shorter back then. They took their vocation very seriously,” he said.
Ojala, who professes himself not to be a writer, has published several collections of other people’s work, including other pastors. Each starts with research. Sometimes, local historical societies have preserves some of the writings, and sometimes it takes some internet sleuthing through library databases and newspapers. For some of his larger compilations, Ojala said, he can work on them off and on over a number of years.
“My niche is compiling material. This was kind of a fun project, because they’re local,” Ojala said.
Farrar, in particular, is close to home. Not only was he the first minister in New Ipswich, he lived on the same road where Ojala now resides.
Farrar, born Sept. 8, 1738, was a graduate of Harvard College, and began his preaching career as a young man of 20. His first posting was New Ipswich – a first for the town, too, which was just starting up.
Farrar married Eunice Farrar, and together they had 12 children, all of which survived into adulthood, but none of whom remained in New Ipswich, and today, none of his many descendants remain in town. But Farrar remained the minister in New Ipswich for 50 years, leaving his mark in other ways.
Ojala’s “Gleanings from the Life and Ministry of Stephen Farrar” is a thin volume, including a short history of Farrar’s life, and only a few addresses – Farrar’s response to accepting the ministry of the town of New Ipswich, and a funeral sermon.
The other addresses touch upon the depth of Farrar’s influence in the area, however. The book includes several addresses given by Farrar during the ordination of other early ministers of the area – including Rindge’s Seth Payson, Mason’s Ebenezer Hill, and Peterborough’s Elijah Dunbar.
Seth Payson was himself the son of a reverend, and two of his sons would also follow him into the ministry. Like Farrar, he too, graduated from Harvard, but did not become ordained as a pastor until five years later, becoming ordained as the pastor in Rindge in 1782. In 1809, he was conferred a degree of Doctor of Divinity by Dartmouth College.
In a short memoir of Payson, his friend, Isaac Robinson said, “It was universally conceded that Dr. Payson possessed much more than common abilities. His intellect was sharp and vigorous, his imagination lively, and his memory highly retentive. His acquisitions were extensive and varied; and there were few subjects on which he could not converse with intelligence, and no class of men that ere no interested in listening to him.”
One of those topics Payson was adept in was politics. Ministering wasn’t the only position Payson held. For two years, he sat on the New Hampshire state Senate. After his tenure there, he also provided a sermon preached at Concord, before Governor John Taylor Gilman, in 1799.
He also authored a 300 page treatise on “Proofs of the Existence and Dangerous Tendency of Modern Illuminism,” warning against the spread of the Illuminati and anti-Christian sentiment.
Those interested in purchasing either volume may contact Ojala at Pietan Publications at pietan@netzero.net.