History of the town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, Part 11

Author: Hobart, Benjamin, 1781-1877
Publication date: 1866
Publisher: Boston, T. H. Carter and son
Number of Pages: 552


USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Abington > History of the town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement > Part 11


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A Letter from the late Rev. Holland Weeks to James Jewett, Middlebury, Vt.


" HENDERSON, September 16, 1822.


" My Dear Sir :- Your acceptable favor of November 30, I received with pleasure on the 14th instant. Your proposed correspondence I accept, with the hope that it will tend not only to our mutual edification, but to those important uses in our respective spheres which shall be subservient to the interests of the Lord's kingdom. For one who professes to be ignorant of the rules of grammar, I think you may well take courage as a writer of letters. You need make no apologies ; the sentiments communicated are the principal things. It is much better to exhibit goods and truths without grammar, than to exhibit the finest specimens of grammar and rhetoric without goods and truths. A further interview


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with you would have been agreeable. When I come to Middlebury again, I hope my time will be less limited, and that both of us will have made so much progress in the regen- erate life as to render our interviews still more desirable, and interesting, and profitable.


" Your religious experience I should have been pleased to have heard you relate. I am of the opinion that many in the Old Church have a saving religious experience ; though there are few of them who can tell in what the life of religion con- sists. The reason is that darkness has covered the earth, and gross darkness the people ; their hearts, wherever they have had genuine Christian experience, are better than their heads.


" I am more prepared to have charity for many in the Old Church, in consequence of what I experienced myself when I was one of its members. Thirty-eight years ago, when I was sixteen years old, I obtained a liope of having obtained through the mercy of the Lord, by regeneration, a saving interest in Christ. From that time, until about four years since, I was in favor of the Calvinistic doctrines. Twenty-four years I preached these doctrines with increasing zeal. Nor do I recollect that I ever doubted as to the truth of them all that time.


"Inasmuch as you have desired me to state the occasion of the change of my sentiments, I shall proceed to make a brief statement. There were many things in the Divine Providence which led me by degrees to where I am; some remote, aud some proximate, though unthought of at the time, by myself, as having such a tendency. One was my having a sight of one of Swedenborg's books, which I read for about two hours, twenty years ago. I found it in the hands of Rev. B. Woodward, of Wolcott, in Connecticut. It appeared to me to be a most wonderful production. How to account for its existence, I could not determine to my own satisfaction. Observing nothing in it which appeared incorrect, I found afterwards that a curiosity remained with me to know more about it. Yet this curiosity was not sufficiently excited to induce me to be at any particular pains to seek the means of


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further information. About this time I read a book written by Abraham Cummings, on the subject of the 'Millennium ;' by this means I was led into an error as to what is termed the latter-day glory ; but still, from one of the sections, I was induced to believe that when the millennium should commence, there would be farther revelations from the Lord to mankind. My belief was founded on such passages as Joel ii. 28; Acts ii. 17. My being settled in this belief had a tendency to remove from my mind one of the greatest objections against a reception of the revelations which the Lord, in His mercy, has given by Emanuel Swedenborg. Another thing, which I little thought would sap my foundation ultimately,-an idea which I resolutely imbibed in the early part of my ministry,- was, that I would see and think for myself, without calling any man father. There were some instances, even among minis- ters of my acquaintance, of such disgusting servility, and the consequences in their cases appeared so pernicious, that the idea of doing as they did filled me with abhorrence. This had a tendency to break from my mind one of the most direful shackles. When on a journey, ten or twelve years ago, I met with the Halcyon Luminary. My opportunity was not suffi- cient to give it a particular perusal, yet I read so much as to have my curiosity still more excited. The work appeared to me to be a remarkable display of philosophy, and of something called correspondence, which I could not understand. With the publishers I had no acquaintance ; but whoever they might be, I was convinced that they were men of remarkable eru- dition and intelligence. The means of arriving to such taste and wisdom, I felt a sensible desire to know. That there was anything opposed to my darling sentiments, I did not as yet suspect. It was of the Divine Providence that I should be led in a way that I knew not. I was not permitted to be apprised of such things as would have appeared particularly objection- able until it was too late to recede. I come now to the occa- sion of my being introduced to the writings of my favorite author. It was a strenuous attempt to vindicate the Calvin- istic doctrines at the place of the landing of our forefathers, in


11*


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Plymoutn, by a sermon which I preached at the installation of Mr. Torry. There was a young gentleman present of the name of Hunn, who requested me to preach the same, or a similar discourse, at his ordination in Sandwich, on Cape Cod. Being thus led in the Divine Providence to the ordination of Mr. Hunn, I was also led to a sight of an old minister's library, which contained the following works of Emanuel Swedenborg, viz. : 'The Treatise on Heaven and Hell ;' 'The Doctrine of Life concerning the Decalogue ;' 'Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom,' and 'Con- jugial Love.' With the consent of their proprietor I obtained the reading of them, and commenced reading October 10, 1818. I first read the ' Treatise on Heaven and Hell ;' then, ' Angelic Wisdom ;' then the 'Doctrine of Life ;' and the ' Conjugial Love.' I also reviewed them, and received con- siderable part of their contents as truths, before I was per- mitted to see any other books of the kind, or to converse with any individual of the New Church. Had I read the ' Univer- sal Theology' in the first place, it seems to me probable that I should have read no more. But it was so directed in the Lord's most merciful Providence that my mind should in some measure be prepared to receive it, before it was put into my hands. Some trials I had already experienced. Some things I could not, for a long time, receive as truth. It appeared to me astonishing that Swedenborg should have had so much light upon some subjects, and by such means, and yet that he should be so much in the dark upon several of the plainest, and, as I thought, most essential doctrines of the Gospel. I was not so much convinced as I ought to have been ; the darkness was in myself. I found means, however, to give a construction to what he says upon some points, so as to get along with him, until I came to read the 'Universal Theology.' I then saw that my constructions would not answer; and that if his scheme of sentiments was true, mine was false. It was after Dr. Bates had removed to Middlebury that I was invited to supply the pulpit one Sabbath, which he had left vacant. The house where I was directed to put up


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was Judge Haven's. There I found receivers of the New Church doctrines. The judge had been a reader for about twenty years. Hle furnished me with the 'Universal The- ology,' and with several other books that I had not then seen.


"Soon after this I had trials with sentiments and with my- self, which I had never experienced. I was stripped and tossed, distressed and comforted. Generally when I read, the influx from the Lord was perceptible and sweet. But when I thought of some of my most darling Calvinistie doctrines, my mind was filled with unutterable anguish. My nights became sleepless, and my appetite for natural food was lost. As to many things in which I had been very confident, I was now wholly at a loss. Whether they were true or false, I could not tell. But there were a number of spiritual truths made plain to me, so that I had food enough to keep me alive until I should be prepared to receive more. I had also enough to furnish me with a theme whenever I was called to preach. But frequently I was so overwhelmed in the pulpit, as to be unable for some time to proceed. My constant practice was to look to the Lord to direct me, and lead me into all truth. He heard my prayer, so that I had the witness of it in myself.


" Every worldly consideration was opposed to my reception of the new dispensation. My salary, my reputation, my friends, my means of supporting my rising family, my every- thing of this nature, I saw from the first was to be made a sacrifice. But still the question would recur, What is truth ? This I prayed the Lord to show me, and this the Lord did show me by a wonderful combination of ten thousand circumstances, all leading to this glorious result. Blessed be His name. I am now so settled and grounded in the truth that I have no doubt respecting it. I am confirmed.


" All the evils which I anticipated came upon me, and some that I did not expect. But never, never for a moment do I regret that I have become a receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines of the Lord's new, last and best dispensation, under which I


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fully believe the golden age will be restored. I always preached what I sincerely believed was the truth, and do still ; and shall continue to do it so long as the Lord shall enable me.


" He has blessed my labors in this place by giving me to see the New Church arise here, and put on her beautiful gar- ments. They are persons, both men and women, of the first reputation. Indeed, my dear sir, it is in itself an absurdity to suppose that wicked and profligate characters can at the same time be sufficiently spiritual to constitute the Lord's New Church. No unclean thing shall enter there. None but the sincere worshippers and followers of the Lamb can be of the number of His tribe. Ask me all the questions you please ; give me all the information you can. Give my love to Mr. Copeland, and all inquiring friends.


" Yours affectionately,


" HOLLAND WEEKS."


Mr. Weeks remarks in the above letter that he "always preached what he believed to be true," and as he saw the truth of the doctrines of the New Church he preached them, and continued to preach them for nearly two years to the society over which he was pastor, without objection from any members of his church. Late in the year 1819, Mrs. Cushing, of Hanson, was visiting at Mrs. Niles', and heard Mr. Weeks preach on the Sabbath, and from a previous knowledge which she had of the writings of Swedenborg, she at once perceived that he was preaching the doctrines revealed to the world by Swedenborg. From her it was immediately made public. The promulgation of the fact that Mr. Weeks had embraced and was preaching the doctrines contained in the writings of Swedenborg, at once produced a deep sensation, not only in his own town and church, but iu many of the neighboring towns and churches. His church immediately became alienated from him.


I conelude my reminiscences of Mr. Weeks with the follow- ing short obituary notice of him published in the October number of The New Jerusalem Magazine, for the year 1843.


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"REV. HOLLAND WEEKS.


" Died in Henderson, N. Y., on the 24th of July last, Rev. Holland Weeks. Mr. Weeks was formerly a settled minister of the Orthodox denomination in Abington, Mass., and became a receiver of the doctrines of the New Church in 1818, soon after which his connection with his society there was dis- solved. He was ordained into the New Church ministry in 1821, and soon afterwards removed to Henderson, N. Y., where he resided till the time of his death. Mr. Weeks was a man of warm and kind feelings, of clear understanding and acute reasoning powers. He had an elevated sense of the dignity and importance of the ministerial office, and was well aware not only of the necessity of leading a life of charity, but also of maintaining sound doctrines, in order to the advance- ment of the church.


" Mr. Weeks' health had been quite infirm for several years ; though he continued in the comfortable enjoyment of life to as great an extent as could perhaps be expected at his advanced age. The following extract, recently received from a member of his family, contains a brief notice of his last sickness :-


"'He was confined to the house but a few days (with the prevailing influenza), and to his bed only one day before his decease. Though somewhat afflicted with pain in the chest and arms, during the week, in his last day and hour he was almost entirely free from pain. Ile was aware that his depar- ture was at hand, and he was willing, and desired to go; and he went in the most easy, quiet and tranquil manner-without a struggle or a sigh. He was surrounded by his children and a few sympathizing neighbors, supported in a sitting posture in his bed. He was conscious and composed to the last; and though he could not converse much, it was soothing and con- soling to the feelings of his bereaved children that the Lord, in His kind providence, removed our dear father in the most quiet and gentle manner.'"


CHAPTER XIV.


First Society of the New Jerusalem in Abington.


WITHOUT entering into any arguments in favor of the doctrines of the New Church-for they are abundantly sup- plied elsewhere by books and periodicals-I will only endeavor to correct one misapprehension of them.


The receivers of the new doctrine are supposed to be a new seet of the Christian dispensation. This is a mistake. New Churchmen believe that the period of the descent of the New Jerusalem, spoken of in Revelation xxi., has arrived ; that the Lord has commenced the establishment of a New Church-a new dispensation ; and that, as a means to this end, He has caused to be deduced from the literal sense of the Scriptures, through His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, illuminated for this purpose, doctrine of genuine truth, such as was never clearly understood in the first Christian Church, even in the days of its greatest purity.


And that, besides this, the Lord has, by the same means, revealed the fact which has been hitherto unknown, that there is a spiritual sense in every part of the Scriptures, in which genuine truth is in its glory, and without any of the obscurity which pervades the literal sense ; and finally, that he has revealed much of that sense, and the science of correspon- dences, by means of which it is understood.


Such are some of the reasons why those who receive the new doctrines, believe them to be the doctrines of a new church and not of a new seet.


The Secretary of the " First Society of the New Jerusalem in Abington," Mr. Jeremiah Towle, has furnished the follow- ing statement of the formation, progress, and present state of the Society :-


" Rev. Holland Weeks, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Abington, was the first receiver of the doctrines of the New Church in this place.


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NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH, CENTRE ABINGTON.


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" After receiving the doctrines, he began to preach them to his congregation in the year 1820 ; but this was soon followed by a dissolution of the connection which existed between him and them.


" Mr. Weeks removed from Abington in 1821. At that time there were five or six persons who were friendly to the doctrines ; but little interest was manifested, however, until 1824, when several young persons became receivers. Since that time there has been a regular increase. In the year 1827, the receivers first began to hold meetings for public worship on the Sabbath, in the westerly part of the town. In 1830, the receivers were legally organized as a distinct religions society, under the name of 'The First Society of the New Jerusalem in Abington.' The same year the meetings for public worship were changed to the centre of the town, and were held for several years in the house now occupied by Rev. Joseph Pettec, and former residence of Rev. Mr. Weeks, from 1827 to 1832. Mr. Eleazer Smith, and Mr. Samuel Worcester, preached occasionally for the society. In 1833 there was much thought about a more perfect organization of . the society, but it was postponed for want of a commodious place for public meetings.


" In the winter of 1833-34 the society, with the assistance of others who were interested in the doctrines, erected a building called the 'New Church Hall,' in which meetings for public worship were held for twenty-two years. From the commencement, up to this time, the meetings for public worship were usually conducted by Elisha Faxon, jr., when they were without the services of a minister. In 1833, and spring of 1834, Mr. Henry A. Worcester preached twenty Sabbaths. Meanwhile, the society had been gradually making accessions to their numbers. Benjamin Hobart, Esq., of South Abington, and his family, regularly attended the meet- ings when held at a private house ; and also Mr. Asaph Dunbar, and several others. In August, 1834, Rev. Warren Goddard (now of North Bridgewater) commenced preaching


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for the society, and continued for the most of the time until January, 1838.


" In February, 1835, a church was instituted in conformity with the rules of order of the General Convention of the New Church in the United Sates, consisting of twenty-four mem- bers. The Rev. Thomas Worcester, D.D., pastor of the Boston Society of the New Church, attended by delegates from that society, performed the services on that occasion. The names of the persons thus organized will be attached to the creed which follows, and which was adopted by them, June 28, 1835.


CREED.


"First-That God is one in essence, and in person, in whom is a Divine trinity ; that from love towards men, He assumed humanity, and glorified it ; and that He thus became God with us, the Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.


"Second-That the Word is the Divine truth itself, pro- ceeding from the Lord; that it is written according to the correspondence of natural things with heavenly and Divine, and is adapted to all the various states of angels and men : and that thus it is the Divine Medium, by which men are consociated with angels, and men and angels are conjoined to the Lord.


" Third-That from the Lord alone proceeds genuine life, the precepts of which are the Ten Commandments ; that these precepts are to be obeyed by man as of himself, with the acknowledgment that the will and power to do, are of the Lord alone ; and thus that man is saved by the Lord, by means of a life in conformity with His precepts.


" Benjamin Hobart, Deborah Hobart, Asaph Dunbar, Edward Cobb, 2d, Daniel Noyes, Hannah Noyes, Elisha Faxon, jr., Hannah M. Faxon, Isaiah Noyes, Betsey Noyes, Lucius Faxon, Harriet Faxon, Jeremiah Towle, Sophia W. Towle, Isaac Robbins, Ebenezer Robbins, Noah Reed, Mary Reed, Luther Cobb, Nancy W. Cobb, Calvin Faxon, Althea Faxon, Alden S. Loud, Diantha Loud.


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NEW JERUSALEM IN ABINGTON.


" Soon after the institution of the society, it was organized by choosing a secretary, and a committee of three persons, wlio were called ' The Ecclesiastical Committee.' The first Secre- tary chosen was Mr. Edward Cobb, 2d, who held the office until December, 1836. Mr. Luther Cobb was then chosen, and held the office until August, 1839. He then declined serving longer, and the writer of this was chosen, who has served in that capacity to the present time. The first Ecclesi- astical Committee of the society were Messrs. Edward Cobb, 2d, Benjamin Hobart, and Lucius Faxon.


" In January, 1838, Mr. Joseph Pettee was invited to come and preach, with a view to become pastor of the society if it should be mutually satisfactory.


" May 26, 1838, the society passed the following vote :-


"""Voted, That we invite Mr. Pettee to become our pastor, and that we will make provision for his support according to our ability.'


" May 27, an answer was received from him, accepting the invitation.


" July 25, 1838, Mr. Joseph Pettee was ordained pastor of this society, by Rev. Thomas Worcester, of Boston, Ordaining Minister in the New Jerusalem.


" The ordinance of the 'Lord's Supper' is administered in the society quarterly, viz.,-on the first Sabbath in January, April, July, and October. The present number of communi- cants is sixty-four ; the whole number of members since the formation of the society is eighty-four .*


"J. TOWLE, Secrteary."


* This was prepared some years ago ; the society lias much increased since.


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CHAPTER XV.


Physicians Practising in Abington in Past Times, and at the Present Time.


THE following sketches of the practising physicians in the town of Abington, from its first settlement, have been furnished in part for this article by one of our present leading physicians, Dr. F. F. Forsaith, of South Abington. I have added some remarks and statements, not included in double commas, which mark his sketches. It is very difficult to get correct infor- mation respecting the early physicians ; where they were born, when they commenced practice here, when they left or deceased, and of their connections and descendants.


" The first who practised medicine in this town was the Rev. SAMUEL BROWN, who came here in the year 1713, and, as was usual at that time, dispensed to the spiritual and physical wants of his parishioners. He lived in a small house about six or eight rods east from the old brick tavern-building at Centre Abington, now owned by Captain William Nash. He died September 12, 1749, aged sixty-two."


Dr. DAVID JONES came here, probably, about the year 1750. He lived in what was called the old Moses Reed House, near where Ephraim S. Jenkins now resides. It is not known where he originated, nor precisely when he settled here. He was chosen one of the Seleetmen in 1760, and served in that capacity for six years. Iu that year (1760) he was chosen by the town to purchase a bell of about six hundred pounds weight. In 1774 he was chosen a delegate from this . town to attend a County Congress, which met at Plympton, September 26, 1774, where all the towns in the county were represented. At that convention he was chosen one of the committee to report resolves on the oppressive acts of the British Parliament, and the rights of the Colony. These resolves have been highly spoken of, as timely, able, and


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spirited. He was chosen also a delegate to the first Provincial Congress at Salem, October 5, 1774 ; and also to the third at Watertown, July 31, 1775. He was a delegate to the Con- vention at Cambridge, in September, 1779, to form a State Constitution. Besides these, he held other important offices. Of his family, only two of his sons are remembered,-Elias, who settled in South Carolina, and David, who succeeded his father in his practice for a time. Dr. Jones was a man of talents, and well educated: he was a scientific man; one little circumstance illustrates this. There is a small brook on the farm which he occupied, running into a low meadow, called " Cole Brook "-not Cold or Coal brook : Cole signifies kale, or cabbage, which does not form a close head-sometimes ยท called wild, or meadow cabbage. This kale, or cabbage, grows in abundance, or did, (for I have seen it,) where this Cole brook runs into the meadow ; hence the name, " Cole Brook." None but a scientific man like Dr. Jones could have made this nice distinction in the name of the brook. This name (" Cole Brook ") has been applied to other localities, which certainly is a misnomer.


Dr. DAVID JONES, Jr., son of the above named Dr. Jones, practised in town for a year or two, about 1775. He had a hospital for small-pox patients on the spot where now stands the house occupied by Allen Leach, Franklin Street. He lived in the old Major John Cushing House, about one-half mile south of the then North Abington meeting-house. He after- wards moved to North Yarmouth, now in the State of Maine. He served for a time as a surgeon in the Revolutionary War. HIe married Elizabeth Hobart, daughter of Colonel Aaron Hobart by his first wife. After his removal to North Yar- mouth he had a large family of children, and his posterity is quite numerous. He was in extensive practice there for about thirty years. Several years before his death he suffered severely by the gout, but bore it with great patience and resignation ; was never heard to utter a complaint. During this period he was still consulted very extensively by his patients : he was held in high reputation as a physician.


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"Dr. ADAMS resided in Abington in about the year 1778 or 1779, in a house where Ephraim S. Jenkins now lives- the same one occupied by Dr. Jones, sen., in South Abington."


" Dr. FULLER, not far from the same time, lived in a house on the spot where Mr. Adam Reed now lives, in South Abing- ton. He continued here but a short time."




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