USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Ashburnham > History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts : from the grant of Dorchester Canada to the present time 1734-1886 with a genealogical register of Ashburnham families > Part 18
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 215
expenses including preaching but no specifie sum was set apart for this purpose. Between this date and the settle- ment of Mr. Winchester several payments were made on this account, but the records only preserve the name of Rev. Elisha Harding, who received four pounds " for preach- ing in Dorchester Canada." Mr. Harding was settled in Brookfield, Massachusetts, September 13, 1749, and dis- missed May 8, 1755. In May, 1759, another appropriation of eighteen pounds was made and Captain Caleb Dana of Cambridge and Jolm Bates and Elisha Coolidge of Dorehes- ter Canada were selected "to provide preaching in said township." The early efforts of this committee introduced to the settlement Rev. Jonathan Winchester. The candi- date was favorably received. A call was extended Novem- ber 27, 1759, and he was ordained April 23, 1760. The story of the call and the ordination is briefly outlined in the records.
1759 Oct. 22. To appoint a committee to treat and agree with Mr. Jonathan Winchester, who has been preaching the Gospel there for some time past, concerning his settling in the work of the ministry there.
1759 Nov. 22. Voted that their should be twenty shillings lawful money Laid as a tax upon each Com- mon Right yearly as a salary for Mr. Jona- than Winchester provided he shall settle in said township as a Gospel minister. One moitie thereof to be paid at the end of six months from the time he shall be agreed with to settle there and the other moietie in twelve months, annually, for the term of seven years or till such time as said town- ship shall come into some other method of Raising said sum of money for his support.
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Voted that there be twenty shillings Lawfull money Laid as a tax upon each Common Right as a Settlement for the above said Winchester if he shall settle as aforesaid, and to be paid to the treasurer by the time the said Win- chester shall be ordained in said township.
Voted that Capt Caleb Dana, Nathan Hey- wood, Capt" Caleb Wilder, M' John Moffat and Mr. Benja Church be a Committee to treat and agree with Mr. Winchester con- cerning his settling in said township.
1760 Feb. 18. To hear the Report of the Committee appointed to treat and agree with M' Jonathan Win- chester concerning his settling in the work of the ministry there.
To grant and raise money for the expense of his ordination in case of his acceptance of the invitation given him.
1760 March 25. Voted that the place for ordination of M' Win- chester shall be in the township of Dorches- ter Canada.
Voted the time for ordaining M' Winchester shall be on wednesday the twenty-third day of April next.
Voted that we apply to five churches to assist in ordaining Mr Winchester, that we send to the first Church in Cambridge, to the Church in Lunenburg, to the Church in Acton, to the Church in Lancaster and to the Church in Brookline to assist in said ordination.
Voted that each proprietor pay three shillings to defray the Cost and Charge of the ordi- nation to be paid forthwith into the hands of the treasurer or other person or persons as the proprietors shall appoint to receive the same.
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Voted that Mr Moses Foster, Cap'n Caleb Wilder and Captu Samuel Hunt be a Com- mittee to provide for said ordination in as convenient a place as may be and that they or any of them be impowered to receive the money granted for that purpose.
Voted that M' Winchester may fence in and improve the meeting House Lot being forty rods square where the meeting House now stands, provided he doth not incommode the County road nor obstruct or hinder the Burrying of the dead, the burying place being in that lot.
The ordination, as appears in these votes, was arranged by an exterior organization but the minister was settled over the people. If the proprietors directed the proceedings their duties ended with them. The future comprehended only the new relations between the pastor and his flock. An agreement was made with Mr. Winchester in January. Probably the ordination was intentionally deferred until the close of the winter season.
Beyond the mention of the churches invited there is no record of the council. The records of the church in Brook- line contain the following entry under date of " April 13, 1760 .- Lord's Day. The pastor communicated to the church a letter from the committee of Dorchester Canada desiring the assistance of this church in the ordination of Mr. Jonathan Winchester, whereupon the church voted to comply with this request and chose Messrs. White, Aspin- wall, Croft, Isaac and Joseph Winchester to represent them.
" Upon the request of Mr. Winchester the church dis- missed and recommended him to the fellowship of the Church in Dorchester Canada."
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The pastor of the Brookline church at this time was Rev. Joseph Jackson. Joseph Winchester was a brother of the candidate and Mr. Croft, probably, was a relative of Mrs. Winchester. Rev. John Swift, pastor of the church in Acton, was one of the proprietors of the township. The invitations included the venerable Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Appleton of Cambridge and Rev. Timothy Harrington of Lancaster. Caleb Dana was a member of the church in Cambridge and the Wilders of the church in Lancaster. The records of the churches last named are incomplete, and while they contain no reference to the ordination of Mr. Winchester it is probable that all the churches invited were represented on the occasion. The invitation to the church in Lunenburg was significant. It was the voice of the settlement. Many of the settlers had been accustomed to worship there and Rev. David Stearns was the only minister they had known for many years. Without his presence the council would have been incomplete. The original letter of Mr. Winchester accepting the invitation of the proprietors, written in plain round characters, is preserved.
To Messrs. CALEB DANA, CALEB WILDER, NATHAN HAYWOOD, JOHN MOFFATr and BENJAMIN CHURCH, a committee of the proprietors of the township called Dorchester Canada in the county of Worcester, to communicate to said proprietors :
Gentlemen,
Whereas you have given me, the subscriber, the most unworthy and undeserving, an invitation and call to settle in the important work of the Gospel Ministry at Dorchester Canada, I thank you for the respect and favour therein discovered to me.
After due consideration, asking advice, and especially seeking to the great Head of the Church for direction in so momentous and weighty an affair, esteeming your offers for my settlement
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and support reasonable and generous and relying upon this (which will be of very great consequence with respect to my temporal interests and the comfortable subsistance of my family) viz. : that the right of land, which the first settled Gospel minister in the place is entitled to by the grant of the great and general court, be good and convenient for my settlement and that if the lots already appropriated to that purpose are not so, they be changed for lands more commodions, I have determined to accept your call and hereby do manifest my acceptance thereof. Asking your prayers and depending on Divine Grace for assistance that I may be enabled faithfully to discharge so important a trust and that my settling as a Gospel minister may be a means by the blessing of heaven of furthering the growth and prosperity of the place and promoting pure and undefiled religion in the hearts and lives of the inhabitants is the desire and prayer of, Gentlemen
Your devoted and most humble servant JONATHAN WINCHESTER.
BROOKLINE, January 23, 1760.
The church was embodied the same day. Endorsing the prevailing creed of New England and desiring to enjoy the fellowship of the churches, it became necessary to adopt a covenant embracing the essential features of their faith. It would be expected that common forms of expression would be found in the covenants, but it further appears that the covenant approved by the church in Gardner in 1786 is substantially a copy of the declaration adopted at this time. The original covenant is still preserved and on the back are written the names of the thirteen male members, who were admitted at the embodiment of the church. The covenant and the names are as follows :
COVENANT.
We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being as we appre- hend called of God to enter into the Church State of the Gospel
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for the free and constant enjoyment of God's Worship and Ordi- nances, do in the first place acknowledge our nuworthiness to be so highly favored of God at the same time admiring and adoring the rich and free Grace of God that triumphs over so great unworthiness, with a humble dependence upon the Grace of God to enable us to do our duty, we would thankfully lay hold on his Covenant and choose the things that please Him.
We declare our serious and hearty belief of the Christian Religion as contained in the Sacred Scriptures and as usually embraced by the faithful in the Churches of New England, which is summarily exhibited (in the substance of it) in their confession of Faith ; heartily resolving to conform our lives by the rule of Christ's holy Religion as long as we live in the world.
We give up ourselves to the Lord Jehovah who is the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, we vouch him this day to be our God, our Father and our Savior and Leader and receive him as our portion forever.
We give up ourselves to the Blessed Jesus acknowledging His true Deity resolving to adhere to Him as the head of his people in the Covenant of Grace, and we do rely upon Him as our Prophet, Priest and King to bring us to eternal blessedness.
We acknowledge our everlasting and indispntable obligation to glorify God in all the Duties of a sober godly life and very par- ticularly in the duties of a church state and a body of people associated for an Obedience to Ilim in all the ordinances of the Gospel and we hereupon depend on his Grace as sufficient for our faithful discharge of the Duties thus incumbent upon us.
We desire and also promise and engage with assistance to walk together as a church of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Faith and Order of the Gospel, so far as we do know the same, faithfully and conscientiously attending the Public Worship of God and the Sacrements of the New Testament. And that we will be observ- ant of the rules and laws of Christ's Kingdom which regard the Discipline and Government of the Church as they have in general been administered among the churches before mentioned. And that we will attend all God's holy institutions in communion
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with one another, watching over one another with a spirit of meekness, love and tenderness carefully avoiding all sinful stumbling blocks, strifes, contentions and that we will endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace.
We do also present our Offspring with ourselves unto the Lord resolving with Divine Help to do our part in the Method of a Relig- ious Education, that they may be the Lords, and that we will particularly be careful in our endeavor duly to sanctifie the Sab- bath and to keep up Religion in our Families. And all this we do flying to the Blood of the everlasting Covenant for the pardon of all our sins, praying the glorious Head of the church who is the great Shepherd of the Sheep would prepare and strengthen us for. every good work to do his will working in us that which will be pleasing in his sight, to whom be glory forever and ever.
JONATHAN WINCHESTER, Pastor
PHILIP VORBACK CHRISTIAN WM. WHITEMAN
JOHN RICH
JACOB SCHOFFE
JOHN KIBLINGER
ELISHA COOLIDGE
€
UNITY BROWN
JOHN ORERLOCK
MOSES FOSTER
THOMAS WHEELER
JAMES COLEMAN
JOHN BATES
In the transcript of the covenant and signatures made by Mr. Cushing the name of Unity Brown is written Unight Brown probably from the fact that his Christian name was sometimes written Unite and incorrectly pronounced in two syllables. The wives of the original members united with the church at this time or soon after, but their names do not appear in the records. Mr. Winchester and his wife brought letters from the church in Brookline. Moses Foster, James
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
Coleman, Unity Brown and their wives were received on letters from the church in Lunenburg where they had main- tained relations during their early residence in the settlement, and it is probable that some of the Germans presented letters from churches in their native land.
The additions to the church during the ministry of Mr. Winchester were Jeremiah Foster by profession, 1761; Samuel Fellows and wife, William Whitcomb and wife and Sarah Dickerson by letters from church in Harvard and Stephen Ames and wife by profession, 1762; Tristram Cheney and wife and Hannah Joyner by letter from church in Sudbury, Ebenezer Conant and wife from church in Con- cord, 1763 ; John Martin and wife, Samuel Fellows, Jr., and wife and Ebenezer Hemenway by profession, 1761;
Jeremiah Foster, Jr., and Abraham Smith and wife by profession, 1765; Deliverance Davis and wife and Mary Whitman, wife of John Whitman, by profession, 1766; Daniel Merrill and wife, Sarah Foster, wife of Jeremiah Foster, Jr., and Job Coleman and wife, 1767. The whole number is forty-two, to which should be added the names of the females who were received at the organization of the church. The first deacons were Moses Foster and Samuel Fellow, but a record of their election is not found. Beyond this outline of the results of his ministry, little is known of the labors and characteristics of Mr. Winchester. That he secured the love and respect of his people and was regarded as a most worthy and upright man is reflected in the measure of their sorrow at his death. The proprietors also manifested their esteem in a vote to make him a gratuity in addition to his stated salary. "Voted that the proprietors will grant Rev. Mr. Winchester £18 as a consideration of the extraor- dinary expense, he has been put to for two years past, on account of the high price of provisions." This action
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occurred January 26, 1763, and is suggestive of the hard- ships and trials attending both the pastor and his people in a new settlement.
The death of Mr. Winchester, which occurred on Wednes- day, November 26, 1767, was a serious loss to the young parish. At once they were bereft of a faithful pastor, a judicious counsellor and a sincere friend. Their established relations, their mutual plans, their brightest hopes of the future were ended by the sad event. That the people realized their loss and gave unmistakable expression of the deepest sorrow is announced in the records and confirmed by many traditions. The widow continued to reside in this town where she died July 27, 1794, and the name has never faded from the registers of the town.
Rev. Jonathan Winchester, son of Henry and Frances Winchester of Brookline, was born April 21, 1717. He was graduated at Harvard University 1737, and for several years was a school teacher in Brookline. He married May 5, 1748, Sarah Crofts, an educated and talented lady, of Brookline, where six of their ten children were born. If Mr. Winchester preached anywhere previous to his removal to this town the fact has not appeared. When he began preaching here he had not been ordained and consequently this was his first settlement in the ministry. If little has been found concerning the life and characteristics of Mr. Winchester, there is abundant evidence that he was a man of singular purity of character, a kind neighbor and an earnest and effective preacher. That he was respected and greatly beloved by his people is clearly reflected in the records, and that he was a man of earnest, steadfast pur- poses, of generous and friendly impulses, restrained by a firm adherence to the commands of duty, is supported by many traditions.
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
It is the testimony of Dr. Cushing that he lived in peace and was respected and beloved and when he died was much lamented. And his parish soon after his death engraved upon the tablet that marks his grave their appreciation of the minister whom they had loved.
THE GENTLEMAN, THE SCHOLAR AND THE CHRISTIAN WERE IN HIM CONSPICUOUS. AS A PREACHER, HIE WAS ACCEPTABLE ; AS A HUSBAND, TENDER ; AS A PARENT, AFFECTIONATE ;
AS A NEIGHBOR, KIND ; AS A FRIEND, SINCERE ;
FOR CANDOR, MEEKNESS, PATIENCE AND MODESTY REMARKABLE. Integer vitor, scelerisque purus.
A newspaper of the time, The Boston Post Boy and Advertiser, in the issue of December 28, 1767, announces the death of Mr. Winchester in these terms : "The latter end of November died at Ashburnham, long known by the name of Dorchester Canada, the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Winchester, Minister of the church in that town. A sensible, worthy man."
After the death of Mr. Winchester, the church " chose Deacon Moses Foster moderator while destitute of a pastor." "June 16, 1768, the church met and made choice of John Cushing for the minister with a full vote and chose Deacons Foster and Fellows and Brother Cheney as a committee to acquaint him of it." In this action of the church the town on the fourth of July unanimously concurred. "September 21, 1768, the church met and voted that the ordination of the pastor elect, John Cushing, should be on the second day of November following, and voted to send to seven churches." "Chose Deacon Fellows, Elisha Coolidge and Tristram Cheney to sign the letters missive." To this decision of the church the town promptly assented and made ample arrangements for the occasion.
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
The council, if all the invitations were accepted, was com- posed of Rev. Joseph Sumner of Shrewsbury, the successor of the father of Mr. Cushing ; Rev. Ebenezer Morse, pastor of the North Parish, now Boylston; Rev. Ebenezer Park- man of Westboro', the father of the future wife of Mr. Cushing ; Rev. Jacob Cushing of Waltham, a brother of the candidate ; Rev. Asaph Rice of Westminster; Rev. Stephen Farrar of New Ipswich, at whose ordination Mr. Winchester had assisted and Rev. John Payson of Fitchburg.
In full sympathy with this sombre day in autumn and with hearts heavy with sorrow for their first minister, whom they had loved, the church and parish look to his successor with hope and courage. Many trivial affairs have made more display on the pages of the records but in its pervading and salutary influences in directing and moulding the senti- ment of another generation, in the full measure of its results, the ordination of Mr. Cushing was a most memorable event in the annals of Ashburnham. The minister, in the robust strength and courage of carly manhood, assumes the labors and burdens of a lifetime ; while the people, entering an era of concord, willingly comply with the inild yet unyield- ing influences of his faithful ministrations.
The years of a successful ministry crowned with the rewards of peace and harmony are only the links in a con- tinuous chain of similar events. They are so alike in outline, so connected in record, they cannot be regarded separately. The labor of Mr. Cushing began with his ordination and ended with his death. It admits of no divisions. For fifty-five and one-half years the course of his labor, like the flow of a river, was uninterrupted and onward. To measure the flood emptied into the sea we must notice the duration as well as the volume of the
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current. Before his allotted work was scarce begun those aged at the time of his ordination had faded away; the middle-aged and those in the strength of carly manhood grew old and also died ; while yet with vigor unabated he ministered to their children and beneath his sight the youth he first beheld passed the stages of life and sunk beneath the weight of years. Without a change of scene bis charge and congregation were many times renewed.
The registers of the church during his ministry are a continued record of wisdom in administration and freedom from any serious contention. At the beginning the town was united in religious opinions and in harmony with the creed of the church. At a later period the pastor and the church found frequent employment in dealing with an increasing munber of dissenters. First, a few announcing a change of opinion on the doctrine of baptism desired to with- draw and unite with those of kindred faith, and early within the present century a larger number withdrew and united with the Methodists. Compared with the prevailing usage and practice of the times a liberal policy was pursued and a commendable measure of forbearance and toleration was exercised. In a review of the position of the church in these proceedings Mr. Cushing says, -"There has generally been manifested a disposition that each should enjoy liberty of conscience. I have uniformly endeavored to exercise charity towards dissenters and to avoid asperity and cen- soriousness. And the reflection that I have thus endeavored affords satisfaction. In exercising the discipline of Christ's kingdom I have aimed to avoid severity. I have ofter thought of an observation of the bishop of St. Asaph as worthy of regard : 'The art of government consists in not governing too much.'"
The great embarrassment of the church rested in the fact that each measure of discipline on questions of faith was
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answered by a request for a letter of dismissal and recom- mendation. This they could not grant without officially recognizing a church of another denomination and that, for many years, they would not do. The church also main- tained that a withdrawal without leave was amenable to discipline and that a dismissal could not be granted until the offending persons had given satisfaction to the church. A candid review of these proceedings must lead to the conclui- sion that the church in fact was laid under the sternest discipline and wisely profited by it. With a laudable degree of justice and in advance of the practice of the churches in this vicinity the church in Ashburnham began to grant dismissals when requested and to give a general certificate of good moral character. This procedure at once freed the church from a perpetual season of discipline and left the dissenters, armed with a commendation "to whom it may concern," at full liberty to follow the leadings of duty or inclination.
In 1778, the following persons were dismissed upon their declaration that they had changed their sentiments in respect to Infant Baptism, the manner of supporting the Gospel, and of admitting church members : Elisha Coolidge, Ebenezer Conant, Ebenezer Conant, Jr., and wife, Nathan Putnam and wife, Nathan Bigelow and wile, Jacob Willard and wife, Jacob Constantine and wife, Jolm Martin and wife, and John Bigelow. Upon their dismissal they were favored with the following letter :
Whereas Elisha Coolidge and others, members of this church, have withdrawn themselves from this church and plead their changing their religious sentiments with respect to Infant Baptism, etc., as the reason, and that they can't in conscienee hold com- munion with us as heretofore and desiring a dismission from their relations to this church, These are to signify that we would
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not forcibly detain them or hold them against their consent, but do dismiss them from their relations to us and certify withal that before they withdrew from communion with us they were free from scandal and while they appeared before the church, to give their reasons for absenting, they conducted in a brotherly and christian manner.
While the persons who withdrew at this time were styled Baptists on account of a feature of their creed they further contended that it was sinful and unscriptural to maintain a salaried clergy, or in their own words, "we are against those that preach for hire or those that ask pay for kindling a fire on God's altar." The case of Mary Cheney who joined the Baptists without requesting a dismissal was attended with more difficulty :
The Church of Christ in Ashburnham to Mary Cheney :
At a meeting of the church regularly held, your conduct in leaving this church without leave or notice given was taken in consideration and, after maturely weighing the matter, judged that it was a breach of covenant and that you ought to be admonished for your disorderly conduet. When you was admitted among us, . you solemnly promised to walk in communion with us as far as you knew your duty, and we promised to watch over you and are now endeavoring to perforin our engagement by sending you this letter of admonition. When you was dissatisfied with us and could not in conscience have communion with us, why could you not have manifested your mind? We do not want to debar any from enjoying liberty of conscience, but how can the purity and order of the church possibly be kept up, if members, contrary to solemn engagements, break away from one church to another with- out the least notice given ? Your change of opinions can't justify your conduct, for God is a God of order and not of confusion.
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