The history of Lynn - Lynn Massachusetts Genealogy Project

1C79.] HISTORY OF LYNN. 1251G79.In the number of the early ministers of New England, therewere few who deserved a higher celebrity, for the purity oftheir character, and the fervor of their piety, than the ReverendSamuel Whiting. His name has been frequently overlookedby biographers, and little known and estimated even in his ownparish. He has no stone erected to his memory, and the veryplace where he was buried is know only to a few. Had notJNIather sketched his life, and Thomson written his elegy, hisname would scarcely have survived." Dust long outlasfs the storied stone.But Thou—thy very dust is gone."This is another instance of the truth of the observation, thatmen are indebted to the poet and the historian for their remembranceto after ages. An honorable memorial of the deservingdead is one of the rewards of goodness, and the very desire ofremembrance is itself a virtue. We naturally love the idea thatwe are remembered by others, and that our names will beknown beyond the circle of those with whom we sharedthe endearments of friendship. It is sweet to think that wehave not altogether lived in vain—to persuade ourselves thatwe have conferred some slight benefit on the world, and that posteritywill repay the pleasing debt by mentioning our nameswith expressions of regard. It is not vanity— it is not ambition—it is a pure love of mankind—an exalting sense of right, thattwines itself around every virtuous and nol)le mind, raising itabove the enjoyment of worldliness, and making us wish to prolongour existence in the memory of the good.Mr. Whiting was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, England,.on the twentieth of November, 1597. His father, Mr. JohnWhiting, was Mayor of that city in 1600, and 1608 ;and hisbrother John obtained the same office in 1655. Having completedhis studies in the school of his birth place, young Samuelentered the university at Cambiidge ; where he had for hisclassmate, his cousin, Anthony Tuckney, afterward Master ofSt John's college ; with whom he commenced a friendship,which was not (juenched by the waters of the Atlantic. Hereceived impressions of piety at an early age, and loved to indulgehis meditations in the retired walks of Emanuel College.Having taken his degrees, he entered into holy orders, and be-17