USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Grafton > History of Grafton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its early settlement by the Indians in 1647 to the present time, 1879. Including the genealogies of seventy-nine of the older families > Part 12
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At the time of Mr. Prentice's settlement there were only nine pews in the meeting-house, the remaining space being filled with benches. The pews were large boxes, almost square, 42 by 5 feet, with seats on three sides, and so high that when the people sat down they could not see each other, but could only see the preacher who towered above them in his high pulpit, and poured the gospel down into these "pits," as they were not inappropriately called. The . fashions could only be studied while the people were stand- ing during prayer.
The house in which he lived is still standing. It is located on Oak street, and is owned by Henry Prentice, and true to its first purpose, is still a minister's home, being occupied by Rev. A. C. Hussey.
The covenant which they adopted is as follows :-
"We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, inhabitants of Hassa namisco, In New England, knowing that we are very prone to offend God, the Most High, hoth in heart and life, through the prevalency of sin that dwelleth within us, and the manifold temptations from without
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HISTORY OF GRAFTON.
us, for which we have great reason to be unfeignedly humble before Him from day to day : Do, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, with dependence upon the gracious assistance of His Holy Spirit, solemnly enter into a covenant with God, and one with another, according to God, as follows :-
First .- That having chosen and taken the Lord Jehovah to be our God, we will fear Him, cleave to llim in love, and serve Him in truth, with all our hearts, giving np ourselves to Him to be His people, in all things, to be at His direction and sovereign disposal, that we may have and hold communion with Him as members of Christ's mystical body, according to His revealed will, to our lives' end.
Secondly .- We also bind ourselves to bring up our children and servants in the knowledge and fear of God, by His instructions accord- ing to our best abilities, and in special by the use of Orthodox Cate- chism[s], that the true religion may be maintained in our families while we live; yea, and among such as shall live when we are dead and gone.
Thirdly .- We furthermore promise to keep close to the truth of Christ, endeavoring with lively affection towards it in our hearts, to defend it against all opposers thereof, as God shall call us at any time thereunto; which, that we may do, we resolve to use the Holy Scrip- tures as our platform whereby we may discern the mind and will of Christ, and not the new-found inventions of men.
Fourthly .- We also engage ourselves to have a careful inspection over our own hearts, so as to endeavor, by virtue of the death of Christ, the mortification of all our sinful passions, worldly frames, and disorderly affections, whereby we may be withdrawn from the living God.
Fifthly .- We moreover oblige ourselves, in the faithful improvement of all our abilities and opportunities, to worship God according to the particular institutions of Christ for His church under Gospel adminis- trations; as to give reverend attention to the word of God, to pray unto Him, to sing His praises, and to hold communion one with an- other, in the use of both the seals, viz. : Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Sixthly .- We likewise promise, that we will peaceably submit unto the holy discipline appointed by Christ in His church for offenders, obeying them that rule over us in the Lord.
Seventhly .- We also bind ourselves to walk in love one toward an- other, endeavoring our mutual edification, visiting, exhorting, comfort- ing as occasion serveth, and warning any brother or sister which offends, not divulging private offences irregularly, but heedfully follow- ing the several precepts laid down by Christ for church dealing, 18th Matt. 16, 17, 18, willingly forgiving all that manifest unto the judgment of charity that they truly repent of all their mismanagements.
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PROPRIETORS' MEETING, FIRST CHURCH.
Now the God of peace, which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the ever- lasting covenaut, make us all perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever."
This covenant, you perceive, is liberal and unsectarian. In this respect it resembled those generally used in the early Congregational churches of the country. This very cove- nant, indeed, was adopted by several other churches in the vicinity afterwards, and probably had been in use elsewhere before it was submitted to this church .*
The ordination of Mr. Prentice, as has been observed, took place the day after the formation of the church. Tes- timonials of his qualifications for the ministry are among the Proprietors' Records, signed by Messrs. Trowbridge, of Groton, Appleton, of Cambridge, and Parkman, of West- borough.
REV. SOLOMON PRENTICE was born in Cambridge, May 11, 1705, and was the son of Solomon Prentice of that place. Ile was graduated at Harvard College, 1727, and was a classmate of Governors Hutchinson and Trumbull. His ordination over the church here, of which he was the first minister, took place December 29, 1731, Rev. Nathaniel Appleton, of Cambridge, preaching the ordination sermon. In 1740, the celebrated Whitefield came over to this coun- try from England, whose preaching excited a great deal of enthusiasm, and was the occasion of much controversy among the clergy, and of many unhappy divisions in the
* It was adopted by the First Church in Sterling in 1744, and by the Northborough Church in 1746, as we learn from Rev. Mr. Allen's Centen- nial Discourse ; and by the First Church in Worcester, with some slight modifications making it more doctrinal, in 1746, as we learn from Mr. Lincoln's History of Worcester. Mr. Lincoln, in his excellent work (p. 171) seems to attribute the authorship of it to Rev. Messrs. Campbell, of Oxford, and Stone, of Southborough, on the authority of Rev. Mr. Maccarty. These gentlemen probably brought it forward for the ac- ceptauce of that church, but could hardly have originated it, as it had been long in use before that time.
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HISTORY OF GRAFTON.
churches of New England. Mr. Prentice was a great admirer of Whitefield, and became one of what were called " The New Lights." His course was not approved by his society ; and a controversy arose which led to his dismission, July 10, 1747. He was afterwards settled in Easton, Bris- tol County, where he remained about seven years. He then joined the Presbyterians, but was suspended by the presby- tery in 1754; after which he returned to this town, where he resided until his death, May 22, 1773, at the age of sixty- eight.
ORDINATION.
At the ordination of Rev. Solomon Prentice, the intro- ductory prayer was offered by Rev. Ebenezer Parkinan, of Westborough ; sermon by Rev. Nathaniel Appleton, of Cam- bridge; ordaining prayer by Rev. Mr. Smith, of Framing- ham. Rev. Caleb Trowbridge, of Groton, joined in the laying on of hands. Right hand of fellowship, Rev. Mr. Loring, of Sudbury. During Mr. Prentice's ministry 178 were added to the church.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered for the first time April 9th, 1732. No provision seems to have been made for supplying the communion table with suitable furniture, till the beginning of the year 1734, when £8, 4s. were raised for the purpose from the following sources : Five of the Proprietors living out of town contributed £1, 7s. 6d .; the congregation contributed £2, 6s. 6d .; the Rev. Mr. Flynt, of Harvard College, gave £1, 10s.,* and the church itself contributed £3. Deacon James Whipple, Eleazer Fletcher and Silas Warren, at different times after- wards, presented vessels to the church for their use in the ordinances.
The congregation were not then permitted to choose their own seats in the meeting-house, nor to become permanent
* For an interesting account of this early benefactor of the church, see Pierce's History of Harvard College, pp. 260-264.
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PROPRIETORS' MEETING, FIRST CHURCH.
proprietors of any partienlar accommodation in it. A com- mittee was chosen from time to time, to assign seats to the worshippers, "according to estate and age." This assign- ment of seats was called " seating the meeting-house." The Indians being entitled to all the privileges of the other in- habitants in regard to publie worship, were consulted as to their choice of seats, and were finally appointed to sit on either side of the front door against the walls of the house, the men on one side and the women on the other.
The committee chosen to seat the meeting-house, Thomas Drury, Zerubbable Eager and Phineas Rice, reported as fol- lows :-
" The pews-the right hand of the east door, to the Widow Willard and her son Simeon Willard.
The second, Ensign Eagers.
The third, Joseph Merriam.
The fourth to Captain Barrett.
The fifth to Captain Hall.
The sixth to Richard Taylor.
At the left hand of the west door, Charles Brigham.
The second, Left. Drury.
The third, John Sherman.
The fourth, Phineas Rice.
The fore scat below, Mr. Flint, Captain Leland, Nehemiah How, Cap- tain Willard, Ensign Pratt, Captain Brigham.
The fore seat of the front, Jonas Houghton, Samnel Stow, Eliazer Flagg, John Hunt, Samuel Chandler, Benjamin Barrett, Captain Jones.
The long fore seat, John Davis, Jonathan Morey, Captain Watson, Samuel Biglo, Widdo Herrington, Thomas Weeks, Jacob Taylor, Simon Gates.
The second seat, Jeremiah Bestow, John Ward, Nathaniel Wilder, Thomas Stow, John Coller, Deacon Hapgood, John Warring.
The third seat below, Simon Gates, Jr., Jonathan Rice, Joseph Wil- lard, David Herrington, Captain Rogers, Ebenezer Wheeler."
The connection between Mr. Prentice and his people was one of uninterrupted harmony for several years. The men of those days wore men of prayer, who cheerfully main- tained the institutions of Christianity, murmuring at no sac-
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HISTORY OF GRAFTON.
rifiees which were necessary to secure the ministrations of the word of God. They were a people of few wants and simple habits. Their ministers, like themselves, lived frugally, and nsually shared with them, to greater or less extent, in the labors of husbandry. If there is truth in the lines of the old poet, they were abundantly blessed, scanty as were their worldly endowments :-
" For gold and grace did never yet agree; Religion always sides with poverty."
An anecdote, which tradition has preserved, gives us a vivid picture of the wildness of the conntry at this period. Mr. Prentice, it is said, proceeding to meeting on a Sunday morning, observed a bear ranging among the boughs of a chestnut tree not far from the meeting-house. Probably thinking it hardly prudent to leave him to go at large, while the congregation were ocenpied in worship, he returned to his honse, and taking his gun, brought down the unwelcome intruder from his retreat ; after which he again took his way to the church, where he undoubtedly led the devotions of the assembly with more concentration and fervor of mind than he could have commanded, if he had suffered the wild beast to roam through the neighborhood in freedom .*
* This anecdote occasions us no qualms of conscience on our own behalf, but we are almost surprised, we confess, that neither Mr. Pren- tice nor his parishoners should have had any seruples as to the pro- priety of his act, in those days of punetilious Sabbath-keeping. Had it been a question of a few rows of corn, or a sheep or two, we cannot think the minister would have turned from his walk to the meeting- house. But the apprehension that might be felt for the safety of child- ren, or other unprotected persons in the settlement, would perhaps justify it to the most exact.
It seems to us more in keeping with the spirit of the age, that "Brother Ezekiel Cole " should have " come before the church," as the records say he did, on the 13th of February, 1743, "and acknowledged his fault for going a gunning on the public thanksgiving day appointed for the King's deliverance in the late battle on the river Mayne in Germany."
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PROPRIETORS' MEETING, FIRST CHURCH.
November 15, 1738, the committee on seating the meeting- house reported as follows :-
In the fore seat below. In the fore seat of the long gallery. Thomas Drury, Thomas Pratt, James Harrington, Thomas Ax- John Perham, James Moore, Nehe- tell, Jr., Jeddediah Biglo, Nathan- miah How, Samuel Colburn, Jona- iel Whitmore, William Simpson, than Child. Benjamin Pratt, Jonathan Stow, Benjamin Grover, Benjamin Har- In the second seat. wood, Robert Moore, James Rose- borough.
Robert Ferguson, Eleazer Fletch- er, Jacob Whipple, Marke Bachel- lor, Isaac Herrington, John Foster, Israel Stevens.
The fore seat of ye front.
Joseph Rice, Benjamin Goddard, Caleb Benjamin, Jason Whitney, Abner Stow, Francis Herrington, Hezekiah Taylor.
The third seat below.
Joseph Goodell, Joseph Perry, John Sherman, Jonathan Morse, William Perbam, David Bachellor, Jonathan Adams.
The fourth seat below.
Silas Wetherbee, Ebenezer Wheeler, Robert Flag, Nathaniel Adams, Benjamin Leland, Joseph Moore.
The second seat of ye front.
Benjamin Chapin, Benjamin Wil- lard, Phineas Pratt, William Thompson, Andrew Adams, David Safford, Samuel Monroe.
The fifth seat below.
Moses Leland, Nehemiah Bach- ellor, James Ferguson, William Ward, Benjamin Warrin, Jonathan Rogers.
NEHEMIAH HOW, CALEB BENJAMIN, JASON WHITNEY, ISRAEL STEVENS,
Com.
No events of particular importance, in the history of the church, are to be noticed for about ten years after the settle- ment of the first minister. It was about the year 1740, that the memorable and wide-spread religious excitement of
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HISTORY OF GRAFTON.
the last century began to be strongly felt here. It was in the latter part of that year that Whitefield arrived in Bos- ton. The churches throughout the land were thrown into a state of intense agitation. Rev. Mr. Prentice was one wlio decidedly favored the movement, and encouraged the meas- ures of the itinerant preachers, whom he invited freely into his pulpit. He became what was termed at that time a " New Light," a title, the origin and precise significance of which we are not sure that we know ; but we have supposed that it referred to that inner light or perception, which some of the more extravagant of the revivalists claimed to pos- sess, and to the guidance of which they trusted with scarcely less confidence than to the light of Scripture .* Whitefield is said to have preached here one or more times, though not, as we ean learn, with any very extraordinary effect. On the 16th of May, 1742, Rev. Philemon Robbins, of Bran- ford, Conn., a man who was actively engaged, both at home and abroad, in promoting the excitement, preached here, when twenty or more persons are reported to have fallen down with distress and angnish .; Ezekiel Coal (or Cole), a member of this chinreh, and an Indian, Solomon Paine, Elihu Marsh, and others, who had been ordained as lay preachers or exhorters, also came among the people at this period and preached.
The course of the pastor was not approved by all the church. By the beginning of the year 1743, a disaffection had sprung up which continued to work till it resulted in Mr. Prentice's dismission. Seven members at first with-
* Many who were then known as belonging to the "New Light" party, afterwards, we are told, went to make up a set of strange fanat- les called " Live-forevers," who had their headquarters hereabouts, and professed to believe that they should live an endless life on earth. After this bubble of delusion burst, the same elements, as was natural, entered Into a third combination, and flourished for a while as Shakers.
t Rev. Mr. Parkman's Journal, in Tracy's " Great Awakening," p. 207.
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PROPRIETORS' MEETING, FIRST CHURCH.
drew from the comununion .* This led to discipline and dis- cord. Meetings of the church were held without effect. Council upon council was called with no better results. Neither party were satisfied nor conciliated. After many difficulties, which we have neither the time nor inclination to detail, a council was at last agreed on, which met on the 2nd of October, 1744. It closed its session on the 11th. The "result " was printed by the aggrieved brethren, a circum- stance which shows that it was regarded as rather more favor- able to themselves than to their pastor: It is an interesting document, as showing some of the extravagances into which even sincere and well-meaning Christians are liable to fall in seasons of high excitement, when the passions override the reason, and as illustrating some of the peculiar absurdities which were not rare at that period. It shows also that Mr. Prentice had gone so far as to lose, in a measure at least, the confidence of his ministerial brethren of the neighbor- hood, as a prudent and discreet minister. Among the doc- trines which he was charged with preaching, were such as these : That we " are to love none but such as are savingly converted "; that the "life and practice are the negative part" of Christianity ; that a converted man might know others, whether they were converted or not, by conversing with them; that he might in fact, "give a near guess, if they held their tongues." The council judged that he had gone too far in his language on these points. Another charge was, that he had said that " some ministers would advise some persons in distress to prayer, which he said was abominable." Referring to the remark of another, " that prayer is as fatal to the sonl as rats-bane is to the body," he was said to have added, "I leave that, but I say it is abom-
* These seven were Thomas Axtell, Thomas Drury, John Ward, Aaron Hardy, Israel Stevens, Jason Whitney and Simon Taintor. It appears before the 9th of January, 1743, "they had for some time withdrawn from the communion." Some of them afterwards went so far as to sign another covenant.
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HISTORY OF GRAFTON.
inable ! abominable! " This doctrine the council pro- nonneed unsound and of dangerous tendency. Another charge was, that he had said that " the Court of Heaven was adjonrned for a little space, till one of the members caine down to take upon him humanity." These expressions were condemned as untrne, and as " discovering a want of sonnd knowledge, and implying a variety of absurd notions." It was complained that in one of his sermons he had said that " persons would follow their unconverted min- isters, till they come to hell." It was one of the doctrines broached and much insisted on during this religious agita- tion, that those who were truly converted must not only certainly know it, but that they had the power of discern- ing with hardly less than certainty, whether or not others were converted, and nothing was more common among the over-heated zealots of that day, than the pronunciation of wholesale condemnation against the ministers of the land, multitudes of whom were denounced as unconverted men. Mr. Prentice was thought by the council to have counte- nanced these hard and uncharitable judgments too much.
One other charge against the doctrines he preached was, that he had said, " to what purpose is it to preach to an un- regenerate man," * * " to tell him he must not kill, must not steal, must not do these and those things ? for he has no power to resist them; for he is the Devil's slave and vassal, and doeth just what the Devil would have him do." This was considered by the council as "carrying the matter too far." The introduction of uneducated ex- horters and itinerauts into his pulpit, and the obtrusion of himself into the charges of other ministers withont their consent, were also charges preferred against him. The council judged it condemnable, and entreated him to guard against such a course in future. Other complaints were brought against the preaching of Mr. Prentice, in which the council thought it proper to condemn him in part, and cau- tion him for the future. Nothing was urged against him
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THE COUNCIL, PRENTICE'S DISMISSAL.
affecting his moral character. The council exhorted the aggrieved brethren to bury all past dissatisfaction, and to sit contentedly and peaceably under his ministrations, if he should accept their judgment and advice.
We might suspect from the censures laid upon Mr. Pren- tice by this council, that the men who composed it were un- friendly to him or to the revival. But this suspicion is for- bidden by the fact that it was a mutual council. And we find the names of a majority of the clerical members, asso- ciated with that of Mr. Prentice himself, in a document issued the previous year from an assembly of ministers met in Boston, bearing testimony to the genuineness of "the late revival of religion."* There can be no doubt that he was one of the most zealous favorers of the extraordinary means which were employed to produce the tempest of re- ligions emotion which swept over the whole country. His honesty and conscientiousness are not to be doubted for a moment-his discretion may be. Some good probably came of his measures ; but that much evil accompanied it there can be no question. If there was a revival of religion here, there was a revival of some things else which were not so good. The excitement bore some fruits which are not to be recognized as Christian fruits. The result of the council was accepted by both parties, but evidently with little hearti- ness on the part of the pastor. Indeed he declared to the church that he felt "very much hurt and pressed by it ";
* The following seven churches were represented in this council : The Third Church in Ipswich, then called Ipswich Hamlet, now the town of Hamilton-Samuel Wigglesworth, its pastor, was moderator of the council; the First Church in Mendon, Joseph Dorr, pastor; the Second Church in Mendon, now Milford, Amariah Frost, pastor; the Church in Medford, Ebenezer Turell, pastor; the First Church in Mal- deu, Joseph Emerson, pastor; the First Church in Reading, William Hobby, pastor; the Third Church in Salem. We are informed that there was no church in Salem designated as the Third, at the time this coun- cil was convened. But that which afterwards took the style of the Third Church had for its pastor, at that time, Samuel Fisk. It is that which is now called the Tabernacle Church.
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HISTORY OF GRAFTON.
but " as he had submitted matters of controversy to the council," he acquiesced in their judgment, "so far as he could and not infringe upon his conscience." There was but a temporary quiet enjoyed by the church after this ad- justment of its difficulties. There had been no real recon- eiliation. In the early part of 1746 the disaffection broke out anew .* Mr. Prentice was charged with not having fol- lowed the advice of the council in all partieulars. He re- plied that he never intended to in every particular, as he must violate his own conseience if he did so. Church meet- ings were resumed ; council followed council as before ; but all to no purpose. The advice of the counsellors was in each case voted accepted by all, and then followed by none. The church continued in this distracted state till Mr. Pren- tice at last " signified that he was discouraged in his station," and was willing to receive a dismission. A council was ae- eordingly called, by whose advice he was dismissed, July 10th, 1747. In a communication which he made to this council, he alludes most touchingly to his trials and perplex- itics, exhibiting a deep and tender interest in the flock of his charge, and expressing his desire to continue in the sacred office of the ministry, "if it might be for the glory of God, and the spiritual good of His church and people." It breathes throughout the spirit of the devoted Christian pastor, who desires to live only for his Master's great work ; and whatever errors of doetrine or practice he may have fallen into in the administration of religious truth, none, who read his feeling lamentations over the sad dissensions in the church, and his humble account of his own labors, ean fail to be impressed with the belief that he was a "man of God," pure in heart, and of true piety. Whatever may have been his errors, their root was not in the heart. Mr. Prentice erected a house, in which he lived while minister of
* The length to which it had gone may be inferred from the following entry made by the pastor upon the records : " May 4, 1746, Sac't of the Lord's Supper administered here. Many, viz. sixty, absent."
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SKETCHES OF HUTCHINSON, GROSVENOR AND MILES.
the town, upon or near the spot occupied by the house of Hon. Samuel Wood, in 1846, now the residence of George F. Slocomb, Esq. It was nearly three years after Mr. Pren- tice was dismissed before another minister was settled. During this interval, in 1749, the church voted to take the Cambridge platform as their rule of church discipline " in the main things or articles therein contained." They took it only " in so far as they thought it to be supported by and grounded on the express word of God." " As to other things that might be looked on as expedients for the well- ordering of a church," they adopted it as their "general " rule .*
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