USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, for the year 1881-1882 > Part 35
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The following correspondence was then read, and ordered to be printed in the Proceedings for 1882 :-
Worcester, Mass., Nov. 8, 1882. REV. SAMUEL MAY,
My dear sir :- The package containing this note of explanation also contains a complete set thus far of the publications of The Worcester Society of Antiquity. And while acting as a servant of that Society it affords me much pleasure to present through
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you to the Leicester Town Library these specimens of the ac- tivity and industry of the members of the Society I humbly represent. The cordial greeting and open-handed generosity which were so bountifully displayed by the good people of Leices- ter to those of us who were so fortunate as to visit your beautiful town last summer have not been forgotten ; and that trip will ever be remembered as one of our most delightful and profitable excursions. In behalf of the Leicester Town Library, please accept this gift from The Worcester Society of Antiquity.
Very repectfully yours,
E. B. CRANE, President.
Leicester, Nov. 20, 1882.
To ELLERY B. CRANE, Esq., PRESIDENT, &c.
The Directors of the Leicester Public Library have received from The Worcester Society of Antiquity, through your hands as its President, the four volumes of the Collections of the Society.
At a full meeting held on Wednesday last, it was voted to send a special letter to your Society, in acknowledgement of this valuable and acceptable gift, and to express the thanks of the Directors in behalf of the people of Leicester for the great pains the Society has taken to make this collection for us, and put it in a form so well fitted for use and preservation, even stamping each volume with the title of our Library ; and that the letter be signed by all the Directors. Our Library has already re- ceived from one of your members, Mr. T. A. Dickinson, a copy of your Society's pamphlet for 1881-whole No. 17-so that we now possess a perfect set of your publications, very much to our satisfaction. May we not add a word as to the mechanical, yes and artistic, completeness of these volumes? The firm and beautiful paper, the clear, exact, and tasteful typography, and the solid and elegant binding of these books do great credit- if we may so say-to the taste and skill of the Society, beyond whose membership you have no need to go, we believe, to ac- complish all this thorough and handsome work.
Please accept this letter as an imperfect expression of our thanks. Let it also convey to you an assurance of the continued pleasure we have in remembering the visit of your Society to Leicester in July last, and the meeting it then held here.
We are very respectfully yours,
A. H. COOLIDGE, T. E. WOODCOCK, 2 Directors of DEXTER KNIGHT, &Leicester H. O, SMITH, Public Library. SAMUEL MAY.
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The Annual Report of the Treasurer, Henry F. Stedman, was presented and accepted, as follows :-
TREASURER'S REPORT.
To the Officers and Members of
The Worcester Society of Antiquity.
Gentlemen :- Agreeable to the requirements of the by-laws of this Society, I herewith submit this Annual Report, showing the receipts and expenditures of the Society, from Jan. 3, 1882, to Dec. 5, 1882, as follows :-
Cash Received. Dr.
Cash Paid.
1882.
1882. Cr.
Assessments,
ยท $163,00
Rent, . $131,25
Admisisons, 18,00
Gas, . 7,22
Donations, .
194,75
Stationery & Printing 149,92
Sale of Proceedings, 44,55
Express & Postage, . 18,27
Life membership,
25,00
Binding,
5,53
Keys sold, .
,55
Supplies for rooms, . 13,75
$325,94
Balance on hand,
119,91
$445,85
$445,85
There are accounts due the Treasurer to the amount of $240. Respectfully submitted, H. F. STEDMAN, Treasurer.
The Annual Report of the Librarian, Samuel E. Staples, was presented and accepted. It was accom- panied by an interesting sketch of the "Fifth Day Meeting" of early New England.
LIBRARIAN'S REPORT,
INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OF THE THURSDAY LECTURE OF FORMER TIMES.
BY SAMUEL E. STAPLES.
To the President und Members of
The Worcester Society af' Antiquity.
O UR former Librarian, Mr. Albert A. Lovell, having sig- nified his intention at the last annual meeting, not to serve in that capacity another year, in my absense from the city, I had the honor, which I truly appreciate, to be elected to that posi- tion, the duties of which I have endeavored to perform, devoting such time to the work required as I could spare from other en- gagements. I regret, however, that Mr. Lovell found it neces- sary to decline a re-election to a position he is so well qualified to occupy, and I desire here to express to him my personal obli- gations, and also the gratitude of the members of this Society, for the great amount of labor performed in arranging and cata- loguing the library, and the general work accomplished for the benefit of this Society.
We are now approaching the close of the eighth year of our existence as a Society, having been five years located in these rooms, most of our work having been done since we took pos- session of these apartments. Previous to that time our meetings were usually held at the residences of the members, and we had no library that could be considered such, though a few books and pamphlets had been received, the first donation being a copy of "Worcester in the war of the Revolution," from the author, our former Librarian, Mr. Lovell. This was followed by Mr. Crane's "Genealogy of the Rawson Family," from the writer, several publications of the late Hon. Charles Hudson, contributed by him, and other contributions from Messrs. Daniel Seagrave, Richard O'Flynn, Nathaniel Paine and Clark Jillson.
At the annual meeting, Jan. 1, 1878, theLibrarian reported the accessions for the year, 362 volumes of books, 2027 pam-
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phlets, 1212 newspapers, 159 catalogues, and a large number of circulars, programmes, prints, views, engravings and por- traits. At the next annual meeting, Jan. 7, 1879, there had been received during the year, 470 bound volumes, 1256 pam- phlets, 509 magazines, besides newspapers, broadsides, circulars, manuscripts, prints, engravings and maps. During the year 1879, there were received 487 bound volumes, 1062 pamphlets, 530 magazines, numerous manuscripts, engravings, portraits and newspapers. In 1880, the accessions amounted to 133 bound volumes, 1067 pamphlets, 15 volumes magazines, and various articles to our Cabinet collections. At the last annual meeting, the accessions reported were 165 bound volumes, 657 pamphlets, and 26 miscellaneons articles. It will be noticed that the contributions in 1880 and 1881 were considerably less than in the years immediately preceding. This year, there has been a gain, both in quality and quantity, and I am gratified in being able to report that our accessions, since Jan. 1, 1882, have been 237 bound volumes, 1004 pamphlets, 242 magazines, 66 almanacs, and 686 catalogues. More than 600 of the latter, were given by Mr. Richard O'Flynn, many of them being cata- logues of valuable private libraries, that have been sold at auc- tion sales in Boston, and New York, during a few years past.
In summing up our accessions for the last five years, I find that we have received in the aggregate, 1404 bound volumes, and 6978 pamphlets, of which, 1998 have been received since the last report of the Librarian was made. We have also received many interesting articles for our Cabinet, a more particular no- tice of which will be made in the Department reports.
[Since this report was submitted, and during the month of December, there were received 35 bound volumes, 69 pamphlets and a number of miscellaneous articles, including maps broad- sides and newspapers. These will make the amount received during the year 1882, to be 272 bound volumes, and 2067 pam- phlets, and the whole amount received since our organization, 1439 bound volumes and 7047 pamphlets.]
I desire to make special mention of the gift to the Society, by Stephen Salisbury Jr. Esq., of the North American Review, as issued ; by our Secretary, Mr. H. L. Shumway, the Magazine
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of American History, and various other publications, and a number of volumes of the Annual of Scientific Discovery ; by Miss Ellen D, Larned, her History of Windham County, Conn. ; by Charles C. Baldwin, his Baldwin Genealogy ; by Daniel Sea- grave Esq., his Genealogy of the Seagrave Family ; by George F. Daniels, his Huguenots in the Nipmuck Country ; by Henry M. Smith Esq., his Memorial volume of IIon. Charles Hudson, and also the balance of the pamphlet edition of the same ; by Mrs. Henry Chapin, the Address of her deceased husband, at Uxbridge, in 1864 ; by Edward W. Lincoln Esq., a volume of his reports as chairman of the Commissioners of Public Grounds ; by Hon. John D. Baldwin, his Record of the Descendants of John Baldwin of Stonington, Ct. ; by Rev. Adin Ballou, his His- tory of Milford and other works of which he is the author ; by Dr. John G. Metcalf, his Annals of Mendon ; by C. B. Tilling- hast Esq., State Librarian, a set of the Plymouth Colony Rec- ords, and by Holmes Ammidown Esq., a valuable map of St. Augustine, Fla. Valuable donations have been received from Thomas Drew Esq., Mr. Lucien Prince, Mr. A. S. Roe, prin- of the IIigh School, Vice President George Sumner, and from David S. Messinger Esq., a fine copy of Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana, 4to, edition 1702.
Mr. C. C Stearns has favored the Society with a set of his musical compositions, which we trust may be followed by other composers of this city. From the New England IIistoric Genea- logical Society, we have received the second volume of their Memorial Biographies, and the Genealogical Register as issued. The publishers of the Webster Times and Athol Transcript also contribute their papers as issued.
The library work has been continued, and with the assistance of an active member of the Society, the Card Catalogue so well begun by my predecessor, has been nearly completed.
We are not unmindful of contributions in multifid forms, by the President of the Society, Mr. Crane, by Hon. Clark Jillson, and the great labor performed by these gentlemen. and by Mr. Franklin P. Rice, which cannot be over estimated. Various other donations to our library have been received, which we should like to make special mention of, but time forbids.
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By exchange with the American Antiquarian Society, through the assistance of their courteous Librarian, Mr. Edmund M. Barton, a set of their proceedings has been completed, with the exception of two early numbers, now out of print. Also, a set of the Annual Reports of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association, by the assistance of William A. Smith Esq., the efficient Secretary and Treasurer of the institution, and a com- plete set of the Transactions of the Worcester County Horticul- tural Society through the aid and courtesy of Mr. Henry Phelps.
The set of the Pennsylvania Magazine of Biography and his- tory has also been completed. A few volumes have been bound through the liberality of two of our members. We are greatly in need of money for binding purposes, and the wish is express- ed, that means may be furnished to carry on this important part of our work. We have many valuable publications, that ought at once to be placed in the hands of the binder, and I hope that much may be done in this direction during the year 1883.
Our own publications have become quite numerous and val- nable, and a demand has arisen for them, which we have not, in all cases, been able to supply. Seventeen numbers have been issued, making four large octavo volumes, containing a large amount of historical matter, and the fifth volume will be com- pleted during the coming year. The receipts and expenses of the Librarian's office, appear in the report of the Treasurer.
The additions to our Cabinet will receive proper notice in the reports to be submitted on that department. I cannot however, refrain from referring, with much satisfaction, to a gift from Mr. Alfred Waites, of a beautiful oil painting, nicely framed, of Lake Quinsigamond, by Triscott, and a large engraving, the Authors of the United States. Dr. George Chandler has also contribu- ted to this department, and a valuable collection of relics of the late war has been received from John Boyden Esq., which in due time will receive proper attention from the department of Military History. Mr. Joseph B. Knox has left in our custody the Brewster Mortar, which descended to him in a direct line from Elder William Brewster, of Mayflower fame.
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We are under renewed obligations to our President, and to Mr. William B. Howe, for new shelving, during the present year. We find ourselves much crowded for room, and shall soon find it necessary for more aid in the same direction. To a number of other gentlemen we are under obligations for special favors, and to whom we now publicly express our thanks.
Appended to this report will be found a full list of donors and donations for the year 1882.
THE THURSDAY LECTURE.
W HATEVER tends to enlighten our minds concerning the past, and increase our veneration for the great and . good men of former generations, will not, I am sure, be con- sidered inappropriate or altogether useless upon this occasion. Reverence for the great and good, a desire to know more of their public and private life, a disposition to study their noble charac- ters, that we may emulate their examples, will be productive, I doubt not, in improving the disposition and habits of all such as may give proper consideration to these examples of virtue and knowledge, and strive with such ability as they possess, to perform well and truly their part in life, that the virtues of the fathers may be perpetuated in the children, unto the latest generations.
More than two hundred and sixty years ago there landed up- on these shores a noble band of men and women. driven from home and the cherished land of their fathers, by the oppression of a tyrannical priesthood, that they might here find that liberty and freedom of thought and action, which was denied to them in the land of their birth. Here they would establish themselves upon a virgin soil, untrodden except by the native red man, with no power to control their consciences or deter them from doing what seemed to them right, and consequently best to be done, and where they could found institutions, which in their judgment, enlightened by the pure word of God, should be the foundation of a free and prosperous people, a country in which religious liberty should prevail, and where the exiled of all na- tions might find a peaceful home.
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The paramount thought in the minds of these noble men and women, was to perpetuate a truly religious character ; for upon this fabric rested their hopes of all future goodness and excel- lence. Nothing was left undone, which to them seemed neces- sary to secure this greatest of all blessings. The family was the church-the unit of the church universal .* Here the great principles of virtue and all goodness were instilled into the minds of the young, and loving obedience was respected and largely obtained, through the efforts of the godly fathers and mothers at the fireside-home. The seed there sown yielded an abundant fruitage, and characters were there formed whose influence has been felt in the generations that have followed, even unto the present day. The Christain Sabbath was held in great reverence by these devout persons, and its observance was strictly adhered to by abstaining from all unnecessary labor, and .by meeting in their houses of worship, that true religion might be fostered, and their Maker glorified by the loving adoration of His saints. ; And not on Sundays, alone, did these Christain people meet for public worship ; but a day in the week was set apart for public religious service. And in this connexion- I propose to give a brief account of the Thursday, or fifth day lecture, as that meeting was termed.
To Mr. John Cotton, one of the reverend pastors of the first church in Boston, belongs the honor of introducing that service
* The apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, XVI. 3. 5., sends greet- ings unto the CHURCH in the house of Priscilla and Aquila ; and, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, XVI. 19. " Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the CHURCH that is in their house." And, again, in wri- ting to the Colossians, IV. 15.,"Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the CHURCH which is in his house."
+ In a sermon preached by Dr. Increase Mather in 1721, he remarks :- "Good men have always walked in that way (The way everlasting,) Chosen that Way of Truth, laying the Judgments of GOD before them. It is the Way of Piety. They have always like SAMUEL WORSHIPPED GOD AND HIM ONLY ; and have been careful not to TAKE THE NAME OF GOD IN VAIN; and have SANCTIFIED THE HOLY Sabbaths of GOD : Yea, SANCTIFYING THE SAB- BATH is indeed so great a part of PIETY that it is put for ALL RELIGION. (Isai., LVIII. 13.)
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upon these shores. Before coming to Boston, he had been ac- customed to hold such a meeting in old Boston, England, from whence he came, and where under the Gothic arches of St. Bo- tolph's it was first commenced. John Cotton was settled in Boston, as associate pastor with Rev. John Wilson, October 17, 1633. Cotton Mather says, "If Boston be the chief seat of New England, it was Cotton that was the father and glory of Boston." He was held in high esteem in England, being a pro- found preacher, and in addition to his Sabbath labors, it is re- corded, he had a Lecture every Thursday, at which multitudes thronged to hear him.
Here we find the origin of the Thursday Lecture, an observ- ance which was continued many generations, and not entirely abandoned till a time within the memory of some now present. Mr. Cotton, himself, continued to officiate at this Lecture until his death, which took place in December, 1652, "on the day, yea, at the very hour of his constant weekly labors in the Lec- ture, wherein he had been so long serviceable even to all the churches of New England." The Lectures were continned by Mr. Norton, the successor of Mr. Cotton. Mr. Wilson also officiated at times, an instance of which is related by Cotton Mather in his life of this divine, found in his Magnalia, Book III. p. 46, where he says, "The Great Lecture of Boston, being disappointed of him that should have preached it, Mr. Wilson preached that Lecture on a Text occurring in the Chapter that had been read that morning in his family -- Jer. XXIX. 8-'Nei- ther hearken to your dreams, which you cause to be dreamed ;' from whence he gave a seasonable warning unto the people against the dreams wherewith sundry sorts of opinionists have been endeavoring to seduce them. It was the last Boston Lec- ture that ever he preached," November 16, 1665.
As tending somewhat to show the interest felt in this fifth day service, I quote the words of Allen, in his biography of Norton, where he says, "a good man of Ipswich used fre- quently to walk to Boston, then a distance of about thirty miles, to attend the Thursday Lecture, and would say, that it was worth a great journey to unite in one of Mr. Norton's prayers."
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These Lectures were sustained by the pastors of the first church, till 1679, but at this time there were three churches in the town, and a desire was expressed that the other pastors should perforn a part of this service. An order was passed by the magistrates, that "all the Elders of this towne might joyntly carry on the fifth day Lecture." The order was thought to be an infringement upon religious liberty, and on the records of the Church stands the following reply : "In answer to ye Honed Magistrates about the Lecture ; Tho as an injunction wee can- not concur with it, but doe humbly bare our witnesse against it, as apprehending it tending to ye infringement of Church Lib- ertie ; yett if the Lord incline the hearts of the other Teaching officers, to give ye assistance with those of this Church, who shall bee desired to carry on their fifth day lecture, wee are willing to accept theire help therein."
Important as this week-day service was thought to be by the Elders and people for many years, it was hardly to be expected that the same interest could be continued for a long period of time, without there being seasons when other matters would `attract the attention of the people, and to some extent lessen in their judgment the comparative importance of the Thursday Lecture. The leading men, however, were constant, to a large extent, in their adherence to this stated service. Chief Justice Sewall manifested a deep concern in this institution, and he it was who "sot the tune" in order that the congregation might join in singing the praises of God in His sanctuary. In April, 1697, Cotton Mather gave notice that the Lecture would from that time begin at 11 o'clock, instead of 12, and reproved the town's people that they attended no better; and declared that it would be an omem of their not enjoying the Lecture long if they did not amend.
On Thursday morning, the 26th of January, 1715, the clouds looked dark and threatening, and there followed a vehement snow storm with the wind driving from the northeast. The Chief Justice made his way through drifts of snow, and when in the old meeting house, he not only set the tune, but counted the worshipers, and he tells us that "the number consisted of but sixteen women and two hundred men." The manner in which
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he makes this statement would seem to indicate that this was a small attendance ; but when we remember, not only the want of comforts in the meeting house of that day, but the great inclem- ency of the season, the wonder is, not that so few were present, but that any should have been there upon such an occasion, though important the meeting was thought to be.
The Rev. Mr. Waterston, in a sermon delivered at a Thurs- day Lecture in Boston, in 1843, informs us, that for sixty years after the time referred to above, "the Lecture was constantly sustained, with the exception of two months in 1734, when it was omitted every other week, on account of a lecture at Cam- bridge. Thus did it go on until 1775, when, during the siege of the town, it was for a time, with reluctance, suspended." He further remarks that "on the Thursday preceding the battle of Bunker Hill, the Lecture was held as usual. On the day pre- ceding Dr. Eliot preached, and on the week following Dr. Mather preached. Thus amid the shouts of war did this service speak with its 'still small voice,' Through five months of painful trial the Lecture was only omitted five times ; and during that period was alternately preached by Dr. Eliot and Dr. Mather. By the middle of November the difficulties became so great, that on the 30th of that month the Lecture was brought, for a season, to a close." The Lecture was resumed immediately after the British evacuated Boston, March 17, 1776 ; the officers of the American army and Washington himself attended the service. Dr. Eliot preached an appropriate discourse from Isa. XXXIII. 20 : "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities ; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down."
The Thursday Lecture afforded an opportunity for the minis- ters to discourse upon subjects that might have been considered of too secular a character for the usual Sabbath services. Ques- tions concerning the welfare of the people in their political life and every day walk, were considered. Even the wearing of veils served to call forth sermons for and against the custom.
The suitable training of the young was considered a very im- portant matter by the early New England clergy. In the year 1721, beginning Jan. 23d, a course of eight sermons on Early
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Piety was delivered at the Thursday Lecture, by the leading Elders who sustained this week-day meeting. The first was by Dr. Cotton Mather, from the text, I. Chron, XXIX. 19: "Give unto Solomon my Son a Perfect Heart,"-subject, The Pious Pa- rent's Wishes. The next discourse was upon "The Nature of Early Piety as it respects God." This was delivered at Boston- Lecture, March 30, 1720-1, by Benjamin Wadsworth, A. M., from Psalms XXXIV. 2., "Come ye Children, hearken unto me : I will teach you the fear of the Lord ;" and the doctrine set forth was as follows : "That Children, Young Persons, should make it their chief, principal care and business to Fear God, to be Sin- cerely and Practically Pious." The next Lecture, April 6, 1791, was by Mr. Coleman, upon "The Nature of Early Piety as it respects Men," the text being taken from Ephesians VI. 2 :- Honor thy Father and Mother, which is the First Commandment with Promise.
These were followed by Mr. Sewall, on Early Piety, as it re- spects ourselves ; by Mr. Prince, on The Obligations to Early Piety ; by Mr. Webb, on The Advantages of Early Piety ; by Mr. Cooper, on Objections Answered ; and on the 18th of May, 1721, by Mr. Foxcroft, giving Exhortations and Directions to Young People founded upon the text, 2d Epistle to Timothy, II. 22.
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