Norfolk County MA Archives Biographies.....Ide, Jacob 1785 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ma/mafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 11, 2006, 12:26 am Author: E. O. Jameson (1886) REV. JACOB IDE, D. D. JACOB IDE, son of Jacob and Lydia (Kent) Ide, was born March 29, 1785, in Attleboro, Mass. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances. His mother was a daughter of Dea. Elijah Kent, of Rehoboth, Mass. The early years of his life were passed in hard labor on the farm, and the general expectation was that he would follow the occupation of his father. But at the age of seventeen he began to have strong leanings toward a public education. His thoughts were at Brown University. About this time he had a great desire to attend Commencement at that institution. His father said there was a field of corn whose stalks must be cut that day. So Jacob got up at three o'clock in the morning, and did a full day's work of cutting stalks, and then dressed and went on foot eight miles to Providence to attend Commencement. At length he gained the consent of his father that he might obtain a public education. He fitted for college with the Rev. Mr. Holman, pastor of the Second Church in Attleboro, who was well qualified to give classical instruction. It shows the earnestness of purpose which was in the young man, that his whole preparation for college was made in a year, and that, too, with many interruptions by reason of sickness, labor, and teaching, so that the period of solid study was hardly more than six months. At that time the candidates for admission to Brown University must be prepared to pass an examination in AEsop's Fables, eight books of Virgil's AEneid, eight orations of Cicero, and the four evangelists in the Greek Testament. All this was done in the time specified, and the young man entered Brown University, went through the course of study and graduated in 1809, the valedictorian of his class. After graduating he was engaged for a few months in teaching in Wrentham, and then went to Andover, entering the third class that passed through that institution. Here he was brought into familiar acquaintance with that band of young men who had devoted themselves to the work of Foreign Missions, Judson, Mills, Newell, Hall, Richards, and Warren. The thoughts that filled their minds were then freshly awakened, and the whole enterprise was new to the American churches. During his stay at Andover the American Board was organized at Bradford, and some of these young men were commissioned to go forth and carry the Gospel to distant and idolatrous nations. The impressions gained amid those scenes were never lost. After graduating at Andover in 1812, he preached for a few Sabbaths at East Abington, and was then invited to Portsmouth, N. H., to preach as a candidate in the pulpit just made vacant by the death of the Rev. Joseph Buckminster. Here he had Ex-Governor Langdon for one of his constant hearers, and also Daniel Webster, then a young lawyer of great promise, and who was elected that same year, for the first time, Representative to Congress. After preaching for some months, in April, 1813, he received an unanimous call from the church to settle there in the ministry; but the parish did not concur. From Portsmouth Mr. Ide came to Boston, and assisted Dr. Griffin for a few weeks, while he was preparing and delivering his famous "Park Street Lectures," Mr. Ide preaching in the morning, and Dr. Griffin in the afternoon and evening. He preached also again at East Abington, and at York, Me. Then his health failed, and for a time he was laid aside from labor, and grave doubts were felt whether he would be able to preach again. But in 1814 he was so far recovered that he accepted a call from the church and society in West Medway to become their pastor, and there had a long ministry. He was ordained Nov. 2, 1814, and for fifty-one years remained in full discharge of the duties of the pastorate. After 1865 he was relieved of all ministerial responsibility, but continued senior pastor till his death. In 1815 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Emmons, youngest daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, of Franklin, Mass. In his long ministry, reaching considerably beyond the half century, he was a man of marked character and influence. Of quiet and simple manners, without the slightest approach to the noisy and demonstrative, he had weight in all counsels, and was one in whom his fellow-men loved to confide and whom they found it safe to trust. With little rhetorical power in the pulpit, and with no attempt whatever at oratorical display, he was an able and faithful preacher, kept a steady hold upon the respect and affection of his people, as few pastors are able to do, and was often called upon to exercise his gifts on public occasions abroad. Dr. Ide was a man of remarkable self-control. He had learned to rule well his own spirit. Those who came into his presence for the first time, seeing how meek and placid was his demeanor, how quiet and unpretending his manners, how silently and respectfully he listened to what a stranger had to say, might suppose for a moment that he was wanting in force of character and will. But a slight acquaintance would convince any one that he had an eye to see, as well as an ear to hear; that he had a mind of his own, a judgment eminently clear, incisive and decisive. He furnished a beautiful illustration of a truth, which we are sometimes slow to learn, that strength of will and purpose is more commonly the property of quiet and gentle natures than of noisy and blustering ones. Dr. Ide was early the friend of the slave. He embraced and proclaimed anti-slavery principles when it was an unpopular cause, and he was firm, steadfast, and influential therein. There were scenes in his life connected with this matter which were peculiarly trying, and which called for large wisdom and patience. But in this, as in other things, he bore himself faithfully and well. Few men pass away from earth with a record so clear and bright. Thousands of the living have seen him in his quiet and hospitable home, and many more have seen him in the pulpit and on public occasions. We have no fear that their verdict will not accord essentially with our own. He was a kind of model minister, and especially a model country minister. He loved the quiet and simplicity of country life. He was not a man for the noise, show, and excitement of a great city. He dwelt among his own people. He loved them and they loved him. There is something beautiful in the contemplation of such a life-long ministry as his. Such cases are growing rare among us. The picture of his long dwelling at West Med-way is peculiarly attractive. The good which he has done will live after him. He will long be remembered in all that region as an able and successful pastor, and as a true and faithful preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The following is a list of Dr. Ide's published writings: Funeral Sermons.— On the death of Miss Sarah J. Fuller; Edmund I. Sanford; Mrs. Hannah Miller; the Rev. David Long, Milford; Dea. Daniel Wiley; Mr. James Partridge; the Rev. Charles Simmons; Mr. George Nourse; Mrs. Abigail Wright; the Rev. Joseph Wheaton; Miss Lydia C Southwick. Occasional Sermons.— On Intemperance, Dec. 14, 1817; at the ordination of the Rev. David Brigham, at Randolph, Dec. 29,1818; before the Norfolk Education Society, June 13, 1821; at the ordination of the Rev. Daniel J. Poor, at Foxboro, March 11, 1840; on the fiftieth anniversary of the author's ordination and settlement, Nov. 2, 1864; at the ordination of the Rev. Sewall Harding, Waltham, Jan. 17,1821; at the ordination of the Rev. George Fisher, at Harvard, Mass.; on the "Nature and Tendency of Balls, Seriously and Candidly Considered"; on Fast Day, April 9, 1829; on "Character of John the Baptist"; at the ordination of the Rev. Asa Hixon, Oakham, Oct. 7, 1829; at the ordination of the Rev. John M. Putnam, Ashby, Dec. 13, 1820; at the ordination of the Rev. Samuel Hunt, Natick, July 17, 1839; at the installation of the Rev. Samuel Hunt at Franklin, Dec. 4, 1850; at the ordination of the Rev. Charles T. Torrey, March 23, 1837. One or two other discourses are lost. Articles for the Christian Magazine. Vol. 1. "Fasting Explained," p. 111; Obituary of the Rev. M. Partridge, p. 376; Review of a sermon preached by the Rev. Wm. B. Sprague, before the Bible Foreign Missionary and Education Societies at Springfield, Aug. 28, 1823, p. 364; "Strange Thing," p. 266. Vol. 2. Review of Dr. Pond's Concert Lectures, p. 107; "Ought a Wife to Refrain from Making a Public Profession of Religion in Consequence of being Forbidden by her Husband?" p. 137; "Total Depravity," p. 239. Vol. 3. "A's Answer to Discipulus," p. 107; "Improper Instructions to an Awakened Sinner," p. 149; "Deception: or, Hypocrisy in Death," p. 58; Review of the Rev. Mr. Whitman's Sermon, pp. 217, 243, 267, 309, 369; "The Criminality of Unbelief," p. 43; "Reply to Xanthus," p. 142. Vol. 4. "Answers respecting Inquiries, Submission," pp. 50, 97. Dr. Ide also edited The Works of Dr. Emmons, in seven volumes. Dr. Ide retained to the last his characteristic dignity and gentle courtesy, thanking his attendants for the least service rendered. As he grew gradually weaker, he seemed conscious of the approaching end, and said to his oldest son, who had come from Mansfield for the final visit, with a tender pathos: "I am going away and shall be forgotten." The night but one before he died, when suffering from a sharp pain in his head, he arose and standing by his study desk, lifted up his hands and thus prayed with all the clearness of his pulpit utterance: "O Lord, when thou has kept us here on earth as long as it is thy will, be pleased to take us home to thyself." One night more had passed and the sun had just risen, when with gentle breathings, as of an infant's peaceful sleep, the good man's spirit was released. REV. JACOB IDE, D. D. " A hoary herald of the truth, Who'd struggled with disease from youth, But notwithstanding friendship's fears, Had lived almost a hundred years, With mind well trained and running o'er With wisdom's wealth and learning's lore, With heart so tuned with Christ's to play, He never feared the face of clay, But feared, one inch to bow or bend, If that would grieve his Heavenly friend. He preached the truth, without one thought, If it would give offense or not, And yet so calm and kind 'twas said, Which showed the heart that prompted bled, That guilt endowed with common sense, Had been ashamed to take offense. A purer life has seldom been Passed in this world so stained with sin. He had his faults, as who has not? And yet I ne'er discovered what. I've met him oft for many a year, In many a phase of his career, At home, abroad, and by the way, Among the grave, among the gay, When sweet repentance came to sue, For one to tell it what to do, Where sickness tossed its weary head, And death was hovering o'er the bed, Where guilt was suffering bitterer pangs Than sickness shoots, from conscience's fangs, In these and countless ways beside, He was the same kind friend and guide, And then his gems of wit would throng, In places where such gems belong, And make the moments spent, so sweet, You'd wish such meetings to repeat, And when Brown's fresh triennial came, And brought me that old veteran's name, And bore me to my native shore And set me down before his door, He wore the same mild gentle mien, That I for years and years had seen. But those purer powers, that made him strong, And that he'd used so well and long, The Master had in kindness come, And picked them up to carry home, And soon will come the happy day When re-attuned they'll ever play. "O! if we ever are forgiven, And by God's kindness enter heaven, We shall behold close to his side, That grand old veteran, Jacob Ide." CHARLES THURBER. A Hymn sung at the Funeral of Mrs. Mary Ide, July 3, 1880. The hands that wrought for man and God Are folded on the breast of peace; From toils for want, at home, abroad, These busy hands have sweet release. The heart that beat is pulseless now, The heart that beat for human woe; No more this heart will beat, or bow, Or pray for sufferers here below. Her prayer to praise, her toil to rest, Is chang'd within the "Better Land," Where sorrow ne'er afflicts the breast, Nor sin defiles the heart or hand. Earth gives her up, though with a tear; Heaven greets on high the sainted one; While living weepers round the bier Gather—TO TELL WHAT SHE HATH DONE ! W. M. T. Additional Comments: THE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT PERSONS, AND The Genealogical Records OF MANY EARLY AND OTHER FAMILIES IN MEDWAY, MASS. 1713-1886. Illustrated WITH NUMEROUS STEEL AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS. BY E. O. JAMESON, THE AUTHOR OK "THE COGSWELLS IN AMERICA," "THE HISTORY OF MEDWAY, MASS." ETC. MILLIS, MASS. 1886. Copyright, 1886. E. O. JAMESON, MILLIS, MASS. All Rights Reserved. J. A. & R. A. REID, PRINTERS, PROVIDENCE, R. I. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/norfolk/bios/ide30gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mafiles/ File size: 13.5 Kb