Ecclesiastical History. 43 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. DR. SHUTE. 

 BY SOLOMON LINCOLN. 



Daniel Shute, a son of John and Mary (Wayte) Shute, was born in 

 Maiden, the residence of his parents, on the 19th of July, 1722. He 

 entered Harvard College in 1739, remained there for the whole term of 

 four years, and was graduated in 1743. Among his classmates were the 

 Hon. Foster Hutchinson, of the Supreme Court of the Province of Mas- 

 sachusetts ; Major Samuel Thaxter, of Hingham, a distinguished officer 

 in the war against the French and the Indians; the Hon. James Otis, 

 father of the celebrated Revolutionary patriot and orator ; and the Rev. 

 Gad Hitchcock, D.D., a distinguished divine of Pembroke. 



Mr. Shute, having chosen the profession of Divinity, was invited in 

 April, 1746, to commence his professional career as a candidate in the 

 South Parish of Maiden. In June of the same year he was invited to 

 preach as a candidate in the recently formed Third Parish in Hingham. 

 This Parish was set off from the First Parish (Dr. Gay's) in that town, 

 March 25, 1745, and at that time was designated the Third, as Cohasset, 

 which was the Second Precinct, had not then been incorporated as a sepa- 

 rate district or town. This was done in 1770, and the Third Parish of 

 Hingham has since been known as the Second Congregational Parish. 

 The inhabitants composing this Parish, which embraced territorially the 

 south part of the town, had contended zealously for nearly twenty years 

 for separate parochial privileges, which were denied to them. Some alien- 

 ation of feeling naturally grew out of a controversy so long protracted. 

 Confident of ultimate success in their efforts, the inhabitants of the south 

 part of the town had, in 1742, erected a commodious meeting-house on 

 Glad-Tidings Plain, which is now standing in a good state of preservation. 



Mr. Shute declined an invitation to settle in Maiden, and in September, 

 1746, accepted the call at Hingham. In the following November a church 

 was embodied by the Rev. Nathaniel Felles, of Scituate, and the Rev. 

 William Smith, of Weymouth. Mr. Shute was ordained their pastor, De- 

 cember 10th, 1746. The Rev. Messrs. Eelles of Scituate, Lewis of Pem- 

 broke, Emerson of Maiden, Bay ley and Smith of Weymouth, were invited, 

 with delegates, to form the Ordaining Council. The part performed by 

 each on that occasion is not known. The exercises were not printed. 

 Mr. Gay of the First Church was also invited to be present with dele- 

 gates, but he declined the invitation in behalf of his church, and did not 

 himself attend. He wrote a very conciliatory letter to the new church. . . . 



But a short time elapsed before the most friendly relations were estab- 

 lished between the two parishes and their pastors. In May following the 

 settlement of Mr. Shute, he exchanged pulpit services with Dr. Gay, and 

 continued to do so until the death of the latter. Mr. Shute was a fre- 

 quent guest at the hospitable table of Dr. Gay, and they enjoyed many a 

 frugal repast and rich intellectual feast together. 



There was entire harmony in their religious opinions ; and it has been 

 said that there was great unanimity of sentiment between all the members 

 of the Association to which they belonged, of which Drs. Gay, Shute, 

 Hitchcock, Barnes, Smith, Brown, Rand, and others were members. At 

 a subsequent period of their lives, Gay and Shute took opposite views of 



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