of his church.  His conduct is honorable to his name, and to the name of the village.  By wise, prudent, but persistent efforts, he gradually repaired every breach, brought his parish out from under reproach, and set them right with each other, with the obligations of justice, and with the spirit of Christianity.  It is affecting to read his ejaculations of praise and gratitude to God for every symptom of the prevalence of harmony and love among the people of his charge.

The man who extinguished the fires of passion in a community that had ever before been consumed by them deserves to be held in lasting honor.  The history of the witchcraft delusion in Salem Village would, indeed, be imperfectly written, if it failed to present the character of him who healed its wounds, obliterated the traces of its malign influence on the hearts and lives of those who acted, and repaired the wrongs done to the memory of those who suffered, in it.  Joseph Green had a manly and amiable nature.  He was a studious scholar and an able preacher.  He was devoted to his ministry and faithful to its obligations.  He was a leader of his people, and shared in their occupations and experiences.  He was active in the ordinary employments of life and daily concerns of society.  Possessed of independent property, he was frugal and simple in his habits, and liberal in the use of his means.  The parsonage, while he lived in it, was the abode of hospitality, and frequented by the best society in the neighborhood.  By mingled firmness and kindliness, he met and removed difficulties.  He had a cheerful temperament, was not irritated by the course of events, even when of an unpleasant character.  While Mr. Noyes was disturbed, even to resentment, by encroachments upon his parish, in the formation of new societies in the middle precinct of Salem, now South Danvers, and in the second precinct of Beverly, now Upper Beverly, Mr. Green, although they drew away from him as many as from Mr. Noyes, went to participate in the raising of their meeting-houses.  Of a genial disposition, he countenanced innocent amusements.  He was fond of the sports of the field.  The catamount was among the trophies of his sure aim, and he came home with his huntsman’s bag filled with wild pigeons.  He would take his little sons before and behind him on his horse, and spend a day with them fishing and fowling on Wilkins’s Pond; and, when Indians threatened the settlements, he would shoulder his musket, join the brave young men of his parish, and be the first in the encounter, and the last to relinquish the pursuit of the savage foe.

He was always, everywhere, a peacemaker; by his genial manner, and his genuine dignity and decision of character, he removed dissensions from his church and neighborhood, and secured the respect while he won the love of all.  That such a person was raised up and placed where he was at that time, was truly a providence of God.