Israel Loring
Israel Loring | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 6, 1682 |
| Died | March 9, 1772 (aged 89) |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Minister |
Israel Loring (April 6, 1682 – March 9, 1772) was a British American Puritan clergyman who preached at the First Parish of Sudbury in Massachusetts for some 65 years. An elementary school in Sudbury is named in his honor. The Loring Parsonage in the Sudbury Center Historic District houses the Sudbury History Center and Museum.
Biography
Loring was born in Hull, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1682, according to his diary (town records give a different date). His parents were John Loring, an immigrant from England who at one point served in the Massachusetts General Court, and Rachel (Wheatley) Buckland. Mentored by Increase Mather, he studied for the ministry, preached his first sermon at Scituate in 1703, and graduated from Harvard College in 1704. He preached in the town of Sudbury, Massachusetts, for the first time on July 29, 1705. Two years later, after a series of short-term engagements by the town following its dismissal of long-time pastor James Sherman, the Sudbury congregation voted to hire him as full-time minister on October 22, 1707. Loring had been ordained on November 20, 1706. He served Sudbury as its chief minister until his death 65 years later.[1] When the town amicably split into two parishes on opposite sides of the Sudbury River, Loring relocated to the west side in July 1723 and continued his ministry. His congregation of 120 adults tripled in size, and he baptized a total of 1,400 children.[2][3]
Loring was a moderate Puritan who dismissed both latitudinarianism and revivalism. Respected by his contemporaries, he delivered a sermon by invitation to the Massachusetts General Court in 1737, which was printed and published that same year.[4] He supported John Leverett, who became first person who was not a minister to be elected president of Harvard. He opposed the Great Awakening, publicly denounced revivalist preacher George Whitefield, and prohibited itinerant lay preachers from addressing his congregation.[1][5]
A Black enslaved man named Simeon was born and raised in Loring's household. Simeon died of gastrointestinal disease at the age of 22 in 1755. Loring noted in his diary of Simeon: "He was greatly beloved by the family, and [his passing] has drowned us in tears." Simeon was interred in the cemetery in the Sudbury Center Historic District, and his gravestone featured a lengthy inscription.[6][7]
On June 4, 1770, Loring was dined at Faneuil Hall by the Sons of Liberty (he was sympathetic to the cause of opposition to British tyranny) and was fêted as the oldest minister in America. He died on March 9, 1772, at his home in Sudbury and was interred in a local cemetery. Loring had married Mary Hayman (d. 1769) in 1709 and had seven children during 60 years of marriage.[1][3]
Legacy
The Israel Loring Elementary School in Sudbury was named in his honor.[8] Many of his handwritten journals and letters are held at the Goodnow Library.[9][10] The Loring Parsonage, which served as Loring's home for nearly 50 years, stands in the Sudbury Center Historic District.[11] Restored and reopened in July 2021, this historic building houses the Sudbury History Center and Museum.[12]
References
- ^ a b c Shipton, Clifford Kenyon (1963). New England life in the 18th century: representative biographies from Sibley's Harvard graduates. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 102–109.
- ^ Hudson, Alfred Sereno (1891). The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. A. S. Hudson. pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Shipton, Clifford K. (1937). Biographical Sketches of Those Who Attended Harvard College in the Classes 1701–1712. Sibley's Harvard Graduates. Vol. 5. Massachusetts Historical Society. pp. 75–83.
- ^ Loring, Israel (1737). The duty of an apostatizing people to remember from whence they are fallen, and repent, and do their first works. A sermon preached before His Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq; the Honourable His Majesty's Council, and the Honourable House of Representatives of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, May 25th. 1737. Being the anniversary for the election of His Majesty's Council for the province. By Israel Loring, A.M. Pastor of a church in Sudbury. 1737.
- ^ Youngs, John William Theodore (1976). God's messengers, : religious leadership in colonial New England, 1700-1750. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-8018-1799-1.
- ^ Hudson, Alfred Sereno (1891). The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. A. S. Hudson. p. 94.
- ^ Hudson, Alfred Sereno (1968). The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889. [Boston, Printed by R.H. Blodgett] Republished by the Sudbury Press. p. 144.
- ^ "About Israel Loring". Israel Loring Elementary School. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
- ^ Kidd, Thomas S. (2004). The Protestant interest : New England after Puritanism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10421-9.
- ^ Harms, Elle (June 2023). "A Finding Aid for the Rev. Israel Loring Papers, 1704-1772" (PDF). Goodnow Library. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
- ^ "Restoring Our Home - The Loring Parsonage". Sudbury Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
- ^ "About The Sudbury History Center and Museum". Sudbury Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-08-17.