Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a genealogical register

“ [296] be exempted from all ministerial taxes to said precinct, so long as they shall live or reside within the same, or until they or either of them shall give their hands into the Secretary's Office of this State, desiring that they with their estates may be considered as part of said precinct.” The subsequent proceedings are related by Dr. Holmes in “Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc.,” VII., 36, 37: “In 1780, the church members on the south side of Charles River in Cambridge presented a petition to the church, signifying their desire to be dismissed and incorporated into a distinct church, for enjoying the special ordinances of the gospel more conveniently by themselves. The church voted a compliance with their petition; and they were incorporated on the 23d of February, 1783. The Reverend John Foster was ordained to their pastoral charge, November 4, 1784.”

Besides the incorporation of the second and third precincts, resulting in the establishment of two more churches professing the same faith which had distinguished the parent church during the century and a half of its existence, Dr. Appleton witnessed yet another secession from his congregation, involving what he must have regarded as a departure from the faith and order of the churches. A subscription was commenced in 1759 for the erection of an edifice, which was opened Oct. 15, 1761, for the worship of God according to the forms prescribed by the Episcopal Church. The organization and history of Christ Church Parish will be more fully noticed elsewhere. It is sufficient to say here that it drew from Dr. Appleton's parish several of its richest and most aristocratic members. Socially and financially, he must have regarded their secession as a serious loss.

The ministry of this sixth pastor of the church was long and peaceful,—two thirds of a century in length, but not marked by any very extraordinary characteristics. “The written record of his labors as pastor comprises little more than long lists of persons received to the church, of adults and children who were baptized, and of persons married. The summing up is as follows: children baptized, 2,048; adults, 90; admissions to the fellowship of the church, 784. All through this long ministry the pastor was busy in the duties of his office, preaching the word, striving for the salvation of those under his care, and for the edifying of the body of Christ.” ¹ Among the methods adopted for the furtherance of this object, Dr. Holmes says that “in 1736, a committee, chosen by the church to consult with the ”