USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sherborn > History of Sherburne, Mass., from its incorporation, MDCLXXIV, to the end of the year MDCCCXXX : including that of Framingham and Holliston, so far as they were constituent parts of that town > Part 6
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The following exercises were performed, with appro- priate music at intervals.
Introductory Prayer, by Rev. Mr. Ripley of Waltham ; Reading of the Scriptures, Thompson, Natick ; Sermon,
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HISTORY OF SHERBURNE.
Kendall, Plymouth ; Ordaining Prayer, Ritchie, Need- ham ; Charge, Pierce, Brookline ; Right Hand of Fel- Jowship, Sanger, Dover ; Concluding Prayer, White, Dedham.
June 7th .- Voted that the Parish Committee be re- quested to write to the Rev. Mr. Townsend, our senior Pastor, and express to him our sympathy and sorrow for the continuance of his indisposition ; our gratitude for the magnanimous sacrifice, he has made by relinquishing his salary, to promote our union and harmony ; and our anx- ious desire for his restoration to health and his early re- turn to his People :- and also to make him particularly ac- quainted with all the important circumstances, that have taken place in the Parish during his absence.
August 18 and 19 .-- This Society raised a meeting- house which was finished in December following. It is 83 by 48 feet, containing, 78 pews on the ground floor and 6 in the gallery, besides seats for musicians. The ar- chitecture of this house exhibits a happy union of simplici- ty and elegance. On Lord's day, Dec. 26, of the same year, public worship was attended, for the last time, and an interesting and instructive sermon preached by Rev. Mr. Clarke, in the old meeting house, which had been devoted to that purpose, for more than a century. On Wednesday, the 29th of the same month and year, the new house, erected within a few feet of the old one, was solemnly dedicated to the worship of GOD. On this oc- casion the following exercises were performed, with ap- propriate music at intervals. Introductory Prayer, Rev. Mr. Muzzy of Framingham ; Reading Portions of Scrip- ture, Kendall, Medfield; Dedicatory Prayer, Ritchie, Needhum ; Sermon, Clarke, Sherburne; Concluding Prayer, Thompson, Natick.
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HISTORY OF SHERBURNE.
On the 10th of February, 1830, a petition to William Farriss, Esq. or cither of the Justices of the Peace, in the town of Natick, was signed by twelve of the male inhab- itants of the town of Sherburne, in behalf of a majority of the church, and a minority of the congregation, request- ing that " a warrant may be issued, in due form of law, for the purpose of forming a Second religious Congrega- tional Society, in said town." A warrant was accord- ingly issued, on the next day, by Samuel Fisk, Esq. of Natick ; and, on the 22d of the same month and year, the society was duly organized.
On the 8th of July following, this society raised thic frame of a meeting house, on a rising piece of ground, about 40 rods, S. E. of Meetinghouse hill. This house is 60 by 46 fect, contains 64 pews on the floor, and a gallery for musicians. It is a pleasing specimen of plain and neat architecture.
On the 30th of September 1830, the following votes were passed by this society.
" At a meeting of the Church of Christ in Sherburne, held at the house of Mr. Henry Pratt, in said Sherburne, for the purpose of giving Mr. Samuel Lee an invitation to settle with them, as colleague pastor with the Rev. S. B. Townsend over said church :- Voted in the affirmative unanimously.
AARON LELAND, Modr. A true copy, attest, Daniel Leland, Scribe."
" The Evangelical Society voted, on the same day, that they do concur with the church, in giving the Rev. Samuel Lec an invitation to settle as above stated. BENJAMIN DOWSE, Moderator,"
October 16 .- Mr. Lec accepted the above invitation.
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Nov. 4th .--- An Ecclesiastical Council convened for the purpose of ordaining the pastor elect, and dedicating the meeting house, composed of the following pastors with their delegates. Revds. Mr. Fitch, Holliston ; Howe and Phelps, `Hopkinton ; Kellogg and Trask, Framingham ; Moore, Natick ; Noyes, Needham ; Greenough and Gil- bert, Newton; Bigelow, Walpole ; Wood, Upton; Bald- win, Berlin ; Smith, E. Sudbury ; Ide, Medway ; Hard- ing, Waltham ; Southmayd, Concord, Ms .; Ennnons and Smalley, Franklin ; Beecher, D. D. Boston ; Fay, Charlestown ; Pond, Boston ; Taylor, D. D. professor of Theology, Yale College, New Haven.
On this occasion, hand bills were distributed in the meetinghouse, bearing the following superscription .- " Order of Exercises, at the Dedication of the Meeting House of the Trinitarian Church and Society, in Sher- burne; and Ordination of Mr. Samuel Lee, as their Pas- tor. The exercises were-Dedicatory Prayer, by Rev. Mr. Fitch of Holliston-Introductory Prayer, for Ordina- tion, Smith, E. Sudbury-Sermon, Taylor, New-Haven, Con .- Ordaining Prayer, Wood, Upton-Charge, Beech- er, Boston-Right Hand of Fellowship, Phelps, Hopkin- ton-Address to the Church and Society, Pond, Boston ; Concluding Prayer, Baldwin, Berlin. At intervals, dur- ing the service, a number of appropriate Anthems, and Hymns were sung.
SAMUEL LEE, pastor of the second Religious Congre- - gational Society, is a native of Middletown, Con. Hle was graduated at Yale College in 1827, and pursued his professional studies, in the Theological Institution, at- tached to that seminary. Ile is to receive a salary of $500 a year, and to be dismissed from his pastoral rela- tion, on either party giving six months previous notice.
HISTORY OF SHERBURNE.
MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, DEATHS. - It appears that the inhabitants of Sherburne were more particular in record- ing these, in former days, than they have been in later tinies. From the records, which I have been permitted to examine, the following is the result-Marriages to the end of the year 1827-693. Births 2774. Deatlıs 758.
ADMISSIONS TO FULL COMMUNION .- By Mr. Porter 158. Locke 52. Brown 171. Townsend 90.
BAPTISMS .- By Mr. Porter 412. Locke 215. Brown 914. Townsend 132.
Rer. Mr. Townsend has written several letters to the people (of, his former charge, of both societies, in which he expresses the highest solicitude for their temporal and eternal welfare. Hle earnestly exhorts them to avoid the mistaking of sectarian bigotry and zeal, for a sincere de- sire to promote the cause of truth, virtue, piety and holi- ness. Ile urges them to let there be no strife among them, but an carnest endeavor to excel in dealing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God.
Respecting his own relation to the two societies, these are his words.
" I vas, it is well understood already by both parties, favorable to the setli.ment of Mr. Clarke over both the church and society, on the suppositim that both coucurred. Whether I was mistaken, or not, will be deuded, in my mind, very much by the course, which both my reverend brother and my beloved church shall be found to take. If they both drive to keep far away the demon of party spirit, and by zealous means to promote the salvation of souls, my heart shall re- joice. But if tin one becomes remiss and the other bigotted, my soul shall weep 1. secret places.
I have thought it'inportant, that there should be no mistake, as tu the relation, which I conceive myself to sustain, on the one part to thr church, and on the other to the society. I confess, I hardly kr what language to use, in distinguishing between the brethren are connected with the first parish and those connected with "
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HISTORY OF SHERBURNE.
ond; for I know not what either or both of you have done, in the way of separation from each other, as forming a distinct church. If notb- ing has been done on either side, then I am pastor of the same church I'always was ; for there has been no separation. But if there bas . been a regular separation, then I consider myself pastor of that church and minister of that society, which was a majority of the former so- ciety ; not because I am especially fond of being with a majority, but because such are my views of the nature of churches and societies."
CONCLUSION .- Mr. Townsend's relation to this people is uncom- mon, if not unprecedented. He is claimed as senior pastor of two churches, the one liberal, the other orthodox, in the phrase of the day ; one styling themselves " the first church," the other " the church of Christ" in Sherburne. He. is also claimed, as senior minister of two congregations of similar sentiments to those of the respective church- es, with which they unite in public worship. He.has a colleague, of associate pastor and teacher ordained over . ..... society ; and if the wishes and prayers of both .shall be answered, he will be spacdily re- stored to health, return to the scene of his former labors and be receiv- ed by both, in the open arms of respectful and grateful affection.
May Divine Providence so overrule all their proceedings, that peace and harmony may prevail, as heretofore for more than a century and a half, under a succession of able and faithful ministers. May each so- ciety allow the other, without molestation or censure, to enjoy the liberty, wherewith Christ aud the form of government, under which jve live, have made them free. And long after the agents in the trans -: actions, which are now taking place, shall have gone to render an ac- count of the deeds done in the body, and the band, that is now writ- ing, shall bare mouldered into dust; may the future historian, in cx. amining the records of the present and coming generations, met with as little to excite a painful emotion, as has been found, in thearchives of this ancient and respectable town, by the compiler of tiys bamble production.
ERRATA .- In revising these sheets, a few typographical errors have been found and one or two instances of Alse grammar, in the passages written by the Compiler, which he leaves to the reader discover and correct ..
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