Noah Worcester
Encyclopedia
Noah Worcester was a Unitarian
clergyman and a seminal figure in history of American pacifism
.
, and was at the battle of Bunker Hill
, where he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. Eventually, choosing the ministry as a vocation, he became pastor of Thornton
, New Hampshire, in 1787, remaining in that position until 1810. In this period he commenced a prolific writing career, contributing numerous articles to theological and popular journals.
In 1810 he became a pastor in Salisbury, New Hampshire. Three years later, in 1813 he accepted an invitation to edit the The Christian Disciple
, a Boston-based periodical founded by the eminent Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing
and others, and moved to Brighton, Massachusetts.
Self-educated, he accustomed himself to rigorous mental discipline. Physically, Worcester presented the remarkable contrast of robust man "of uncommon strength", combined with unusual mildness of manner.
Worcester married twice. His first wife, Hannah Brown, died in 1797 after falling from a horse. The following year he married Hannah Huntington, of Norwich, Connecticut.
He had four sons and six daughters by his first marriage.
His brother, Thomas (1768–1831), also a clergyman, wrote extensively on subjects related to Unitarianism and Trinitarianism. Another brother, Samuel (1770–1821), also a clergyman, was corresponding secretary of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions in 1810, and in 1815 engaged in the Unitarian controversy, his immediate opponent being William Ellery Channing.
Worcester was awarded an honorary arts degree by Dartmouth in 1791 and an honorary Doctor of Divinity by Harvard in 1818.
In 1815, he founded the Massachusetts Peace Society
, serving as its secretary
until 1828. From 1819 to 1828 he tirelessly edited The Friend of Peace, a quarterly periodical of the Society, as well as wrote most of its content. In 1828, the Massachusetts Peace Society merged with the newly formed American Peace Society
.
William Ellery Channing's eulogy for Worcester was published in 1837. Some measure of Worcester is gained by the following tribute by his friend and co-laborer Channing:
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
clergyman and a seminal figure in history of American pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
.
Life
Born in Hollis, New Hampshire, at age 16 Worcester joined the militia as a fifer during the Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, and was at the battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
, where he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. Eventually, choosing the ministry as a vocation, he became pastor of Thornton
Thornton, New Hampshire
Thornton is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,490 at the 2010 census.- History :Thornton was incorporated in 1763, and named for Doctor Matthew Thornton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.- Geography :...
, New Hampshire, in 1787, remaining in that position until 1810. In this period he commenced a prolific writing career, contributing numerous articles to theological and popular journals.
In 1810 he became a pastor in Salisbury, New Hampshire. Three years later, in 1813 he accepted an invitation to edit the The Christian Disciple
Christian Examiner
The Christian Examiner is a Christian newspaper. The Christian Examiner is a monthly publication serving Southern California, Minnesota and Washington state. The newspapers report on regional, national and international news and events from a Christian perspective...
, a Boston-based periodical founded by the eminent Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing
Dr. William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton, one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker...
and others, and moved to Brighton, Massachusetts.
Self-educated, he accustomed himself to rigorous mental discipline. Physically, Worcester presented the remarkable contrast of robust man "of uncommon strength", combined with unusual mildness of manner.
Worcester married twice. His first wife, Hannah Brown, died in 1797 after falling from a horse. The following year he married Hannah Huntington, of Norwich, Connecticut.
He had four sons and six daughters by his first marriage.
His brother, Thomas (1768–1831), also a clergyman, wrote extensively on subjects related to Unitarianism and Trinitarianism. Another brother, Samuel (1770–1821), also a clergyman, was corresponding secretary of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions in 1810, and in 1815 engaged in the Unitarian controversy, his immediate opponent being William Ellery Channing.
Worcester was awarded an honorary arts degree by Dartmouth in 1791 and an honorary Doctor of Divinity by Harvard in 1818.
Peace Activism
Although active in Unitarian theological controversies of the day, Worcester is best remembered as a pioneer in the American peace movement. In December 1814, he published A Solemn Review of the Custom of War (under the pen-name Philo Pacificus), still considered one of the best pieces of anti-war literature ever committed to print, and as relevant today as then.In 1815, he founded the Massachusetts Peace Society
Massachusetts Peace Society
The Massachusetts Peace Society was an anti-war organization in Boston, Massachusetts, established to "diffuse light on the subject of war, and to cultivate the principles and spirit of peace." Founding officers included Thomas Dawes, William Phillips, Elisha Ticknor, Thomas Wallcut and Noah...
, serving as its secretary
until 1828. From 1819 to 1828 he tirelessly edited The Friend of Peace, a quarterly periodical of the Society, as well as wrote most of its content. In 1828, the Massachusetts Peace Society merged with the newly formed American Peace Society
American Peace Society
The American Peace Society is a pacifist group founded upon the initiative of William Ladd, in New York City, May 8, 1828. It was formed by the merging of many state and local societies, from New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, of which the oldest, the New York Peace Society, dated...
.
William Ellery Channing's eulogy for Worcester was published in 1837. Some measure of Worcester is gained by the following tribute by his friend and co-laborer Channing:
- "He was distinguished above all whom I have known, by his comprehension and deep feeling of the spirit of Christianity; by the sympathy with which he seized on the character of Jesus Christ as a manifestation of Perfect Love; by the honor in which he held the mild,- humble, forgiving, disinterested virtues of our religion. This distinguishing trait of his mind was embodied and brought out in his whole life and conduct. He especially expressed it in his labors for the promotion of Universal Peace on the earth. He was struck, as no other man within my acquaintance has been, with the monstrous incongruity between the spirit of Christianity and the spirit of Christian communities; between Christ's teaching of peace, mercy, forgiveness, and the wars which divide and desolate the church and the world. Every man has particular impressions which rule over and give a hue to his mind. Every man is struck by some evils rather than others. The excellent individual of whom I speak was shocked, heart-smitten, by nothing so much as by seeing that man hates man, that man destroys his brother, that man has drenched the earth with his brother's blood, that man, in his insanity, has crowned the murderer of his race with the highest honors; and, still worse, that Christian hates Christian, that church wars against church, that differences of forms and opinions array against each other those whom Christ died to join together in closest brotherhood, and that Christian zeal is spent in building up sects, rather than in spreading the spirit of Christ, and enlarging and binding together the universal church. The great evil on which his mind and heart fixed, was War, Discord, Intolerance, the substitution of force for Reason and Love. To spread peace on earth became the object of his life."
Publications
- Noah Worcester, Bible News of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 1810.
- Noah Worcester, A Solemn Review of the Custom of War, 1814.
- Noah Worcester (ed.), "The Christian Disciple" (1813 - )
- Noah Worcester (ed.), "The Friend of Peace" (1819–1828)
- Noah Worcester (author), Henry Ware Jr.Henry Ware, Jr.Henry Ware, Jr. was an influential Unitarian theologian, early member of the faculty of Harvard Divinity School, and first president of the Harvard Musical Association. He was a mentor of Ralph Waldo Emerson when Emerson studied for the ministry in the 1820s.The son of Henry Ware, he was born in...
(ed.), Samuel Worcester (contributor) Memoirs of the Rev. Noah Worcester, D.D. (1844).
Sources
- Dennis Davidson, "Noah Worcester", in the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography.
- Samuel Atkins Eliot, Noah Worcester in Heralds of a Liberal Faith, vol. 2, 1901.
- William P. Marchione, Noah Worcester: Brighton's Apostle of Peace, on the Brighton Allston Historical Society website.
- "Worcester, Noah", in The New American Cyclopedia, George Ripley and Charles Dana (eds.), Vol. XVI, New York: 1863. (pp. 554 – 555).