USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680 > Part 12
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And thus, having finished the few brief remarks and inquiries of this sort which they had occasion to make, they tarried no longer at the door; but uncovering their heads the instant they stepped on the threshold, they reverently entered the house of God, and quietly took their appointed seats. And now my friend, the sexton, pointing to the dial, which showed it was almost nine o'clock, and saying it was time to ring the bell, I followed him in to a seat, where I had good view both of the ministers and hearers, and where, while the people were gather- ing, I improved the opportunity to look around, and survey the novel, interesting scene.
In the front row of seats facing the pulpit, on the east side of the broad aisle, were the Selectmen. At the head sat William Johnson, whom I knew by his open, ingenuous countenance and robust, vigorous frame, such as I have seen in some of his
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posterity. Next came Ensign James Convers, grave, thoughtful and attentive in his looks, resolute and energetic in his whole demeanor. At his side sat Sergeant Matthew Johnson, a brother of William; and, next to him, John Wright, Jr., and Francis Kendall - all honored names in their day. In the opposite row of seats, on the west side, were the wives of the Selectmen, all fair in appearance and becoming in behavior ; and yet whose silk dresses, or the addition of a few extra ribbons to their attire, showed that they had not forgotten the lessons touching the necessity of maintaining distinctions of rank by distinctions of dress, which their mothers had taught them on the other side of the Atlantic. The second and third ranges of seats on the east side were occupied by men whose hoary locks and bending forms proclaimed them to be the surviving few of those who had come up to Woburn at the first to take possession of the land ; but whose fixed eyes and laboring cars and solemnity of air were strong indications that their thoughts were now set on a better country, and that they had come to the Lord's house to-day, seeking direction and encouragement in their pil- grimage to it. As my eyes ran from this interesting class of men across the aisle, and surveyed for a moment the venerable matrons, the wives of their youth, or the widows of their carly associates now deceased, who filled the two opposite rows of seats, methought I saw a striking exemplification of the Apostle's counsel, " Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great price." Next to the aged men's seats came those appropriated to the substantial farmers and tradesmen of the town, who were all arranged in them with some regard both to their years and to the proportion they paid of the public taxes. There, in dense, crowded ranks sat the Converses and Johnsons, the Richardsons and Thompsons; the Mousalls and the Winns, the Wrights and the Baldwins; the Kendalls and the Carters, the Russells and the Walkers; the Peirces and the Wymans, the Fowles and the Simonds; the
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Brooks and the Teeds, the Flaggs and the Reeds; the Snows and the Cutlers, the Lockes and the Butters's, and many other respected names, all or most of which are borne to this day by descendants in Woburn and vicinity. There, too, were to be seen the Brushes, now turned into Bruces; and there, too, the Pollys and the Greenes, the Henshaws and Berbeanes, the Cleavelands and the Farrars, the Lepingwells and Bakers, - names once familiar to the ancient inhabitants of Woburn, but which, with others, are now quite extinet in the town, having long since given place to the Parkers and the Cummings's, the Tays and the Skeltons,-names common here in succeeding gen- erations, and now better known. In the corresponding seats on the west side of the aisle sat the wives of these worthy men, - helps meet for them indeed, - who, arrayed in plain home- spun garments of the most perfect neatness, defended from soil- ing by tidy aprons of the purest white, carried evidence in their dress that they came to the house of God to pray and to praise, rather than to see and be seen.
In the remotest seats on the floor of the house, and in the cast and west galleries, sat the young men and women, -the flower of Woburn. And, last of all, upon the two long benches against the wall, on the east and west sides of the broad aisle, were seated the boys of the congregation, whom, full of life and playfulness as they were, a grave overseer, with a rod, and a constable, with a staff of office in his hand, at the end of each seat, made out to keep in tolerable restraint ; although some of them, I observed, as they looked or winked at one another, could hardly, at times, suppress a whisper or a rising smile. In the deacons' seat sat John Wright, Sen., one of the earliest set- tlers of the town, but now stooping under the weight of three score years and ten; and Josiah Convers, a brother of the ensign, and like him, of a grave, intelligent, and active appear- ance. The elders' seat was empty; for, though the church of Woburn held to the Cambridge platform, which represents the office of ruling elder in the church as of divine institution, yet no one of her sons, whom she may have thought worthy of the office, was ever found willing to accept it. In the pulpit, at the
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left hand, sat Mr. Fox, the recently ordained colleague of the senior pastor, now in the vigor of manhood, a sedate, solid preacher, and much beloved by his flock, both old and young. At the head of the pulpit was Mr. Carter, the senior pastor himself, whose furrowed cheeks and hoary locks signified to all that his work was almost done; and who, as with placid eye and benevolent countenance he looked round upon the people of his charge, seemed to be bidding them all, one after another, farewell; as though he thought that the present might possibly be the last time he should ever meet them there. But while my eyes had thus been moving over this numerous assembly, and were fixed for a moment on their venerable senior minister, the congregation had all collected, the bell had ceased tolling, and the sexton had taken his wonted seat at the head of the pulpit stairs. Divine service was presently commenced by Mr. Carter with a short invocation; praising God for the light and privi- leges of another of his holy days, and fervently imploring his presence and aid in the prayers and praises now to be offered, and his blessing upon his Word now to be dispensed. The introductory prayer being over, I was expecting to hear the Serip- tures read, as I had been used to. But after waiting a few moments, looking for this portion of Divine service to begin, Deacon Wright arose to announce singing; and, holding in his hand the Collection, entitled the "New England Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs," that now forgotten, but once favorite ver- sion of our fathers, both in their private and public devotions, he read five stanzas of the 5th Psalın, as follows :
" Jehovah, to my words give ear, My meditation weigh; My King, my God, my cry's voice hear, For I to thee will pray.
" Thou in the morn my voice shalt hear; Lord, in the morning I Will unto thee direct my prayer, And will look up on high.
" For thou art not a God that will In wickedness delight; Nor shall with thee dwell any ill, Nor fools stand in thy sight.
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" Craftsmen of sin, thou hat'st all them, Thou shalt him 'stroy that lies : The Lord will loath the bloody man, And them that guile devise.
" But I will to thy house draw near In thine abundant grace ; And I will worship in thy fear Towards thy holy place."
When he had finished reading, I was right glad to hear him give out Windsor, as the tune to be sung; for that is a tune, which, like others of the same class, such as plaintive Canter- bury an ! Little Marlborough, and mournful Bangor and Isle of Wight, and stately Rochester and Wells, grave Colchester and Wantage, sweet-toned Barby and Mear, cheerful York and St. Martin's, and majestic Winchester and Old Hundredth, I am always delighted to hear sung on suitable occasions; but which, from the general change of the public taste in Sacred Music, I am seldom or never likely to hear again. The deacon, having announced the tune, read the first line again, and then, with a tremulous voice commenced singing, in which he was instantly joined by almost the whole of the congregation, sitting, both by old and young, males and females. These, as he read severally a line of the portion he had given out, would catch the words from his lips, and fall in with him in singing it. And never, thought I, had I heard singing, that was on the whole quite equal to this. There was no exact harmony in it, no perfect keeping of time, and much otherwise, at which a critical ear might justly take offence. And yet there was in it that, which to me was exceed- ingly interesting and impressive. The sound coming from such a multitude of voices, seemed as the roar of thunder and the voice of many waters. And then, there was such a seriousness in the appearance and manner of the great majority, such an evident engagedness in this act of praise to the Most High, as caused a deep solemnity to pervade the whole congregation, and in my humble opinion much more than compensated for all the musical faults and deficiences of the performance. Here, thought I, if anywhere, is a specimen of singing to the Lord
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with the Spirit and with the understanding also, of that melody of the heart which makes even the meanest attempts at melody with the voice an acceptable offering to God through Jesus Christ, and insures his favorable presence in the assemblies of his saints.
To singing succeeded what is commonly termed with us the long prayer. And it might very significantly be called so in the present case ; for it occupied, as it seemed to me, at least three- quarters of an hour. And yet it was made, I am confident, from better motives than the long prayers of the Pharisees, and without any visible signs of weariness or impatience on the part of the congregation. It was offered by Mr. Carter, who, previ- ously to commencing it, read a large collection of little bills, or notes, as they were called, expressive either of thanksgiving to God on the part of sundry individuals for various mercies which he had recently vouchsafed them, or of desire on the part of others for the prayers of the congregation, that the Lord would be pleased to grant help or relief in sundry exigencies of trouble or suffering there particularly enumerated. Nor did I under- stand that the notes read this day were more numerous than common, but only a fair sample, in this respect, of what used to be presented every Sabbath. For the first planters of New England, and in a good degree their immediate successors, were eminent for their practical belief in a particular Providence ; such as extends not merely to the general interests and concerns, but to the minutest affairs and events of this lower world. They had a firm, realizing, ever present persuasion of the truth of those declarations of the Saviour, that the very hairs of our heads are all numbered with God, that not a sparrow, much less an individual of his human family, falls to the ground without his direction or permission. And they were well assured, too, of the efficacy of humble, fervent prayer for obtaining relief in any exigence into which the hand of his Providence might bring them, so far as would be consistent with his infinite rectitude, wisdom and goodness. Hence their aptness to make almost every event of life a foundation of prayer or praise, both in pri- vate and in public. And hence, too, a wonderful minuteness in
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the devotional exercises of the sanctuary in this place, on the occasion I am speaking of.
The prayer then offered by Mr. Carter, as mentioned above, differed not materially from such as we are accustomed to hear from orthodox pulpits at the present day, in its general acknowledgments of dependence, guilt and spiritual necessity, and in the leading spiritual mercies which it implored. But when he came to present the various special cases and circum- stances of his people at the throne of grace, he became minute and particular, far beyond what is now commonly witnessed. Here he grew very fervent in spirit; and from the fulness of his heart, showed great fulness as well as plainness of speech. His mouth was filled with arguments; and he seemed hardly to know when he had said enough, and where to make a stop. He spread all the wants, all the trials and temptations and prevail- ing sins of his people before the Lord. Scarcely anything could be conceived having a bearing upon their present or future well-being, but he made it a matter of supplication to the Most High. And while he fervently deprecated the Divine judgments, he earnestly implored for his people all manner of blessings, both spiritual and temporal; or, as he quaintly termed them, " blessings of the upper, and blessings of the nether springs." He praised the Lord for granting to his people of this place a favorable seed-time the present spring thus far; and besought him to perfect his merey in this kind toward them; to give them due measures of sunshine and of the rain of heaven in due time ; to suffer no blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar to blast their expectations ; but to bless the springing of the earth, to cause their grass to grow, and their land to yield its increase, and to give them their corn, and their flax, and the wine of their orchards in their season. He made devout acknowledgments of God's hand in certain melancholy casualties, and in all the signal occurrences, whether of sorrow or of joy, which had taken place in the town the week preceding; and prayed that God would sanctify to all concerned the visitations of his providence, whether in judgment or mercy. He presented with special minuteness of description the thanksgivings and the requests of
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those, who had expressly desired particular mention in the prayers of the sanctuary that day. He besought God to accept the thank-offerings of all those, whom he was permitting, after long restraint by sickness, to visit that day with recovered health the courts of his house once more; of his handmaids to whom he had recently granted safe deliverance in childbirth ; and of his servants, whom, in their distant journeys by land or by sca, he had protected from enemies and from the perils of the great deep, had prospered them in the way they went, and had now restored them in peace to their homes and families again ; and to vouchsafe to all and to each of them a deep and abiding sense of their obligations to the Divine favor; that so they might glorify him in the lives which he had preserved, and with the mercies which he had bestowed. Finally, he prayed the great Lord of Life, that he would sanctify all bereavements by death in this place to those who had lately been afflicted therewith, and had now expressly implored in the assembly of his people support, consolation and grace from above : that he would spread the everlasting arm beneath all who were sick ; make their bed in their sickness; abate the violence of their respective diseases, allay the fever in their veins, make whole the bones that were broken; send healing mercy to them all ; and above all, if the sickness of any of them who had asked the prayers of the congregation that day was unto death, that he would give them grace to be prepared for the solemn change that awaited them; that so they might meet it in peace, sus- tained with the blessed hope of pardon and acceptance with Him through the Divine Redeemer, and of eternal life and felicity beyond the grave.
The prayer was followed by singing the 15th Psalm from the same obsolete version as at the first singing.
Then came the sermon by Mr. Fox. While he was announcing his text, there was a most profound stillness. But, immediately after, I heard a slight rustling noise from different quarters of the house ; and looking round to discover the cause, I spied the deacons, selectmen and others, who seemed to carry for that day the pens of ready writers, preparing to take down the texts and
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prominent heads of the discourse. This reminded me, it might be well for me to do the same; and I now copy from the entries then made in my note-book as follows :
The text was 2 Tim. ii : 19. " And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." After observing that by those who name the name of Christ must here be understood, those who professedly believe in Christ, the preacher went on to deduce from these words of the Inspired Apostle the following doctrine : viz, "That it is the duty of all that profess themselves to be Chris- tians to depart from iniquity." This important doctrine was then explained and made intelligible to the lowest capacities by answers to three pertinent questions, was confirmed by several Scriptural and convincing reasons, and applied to the spiritual benefit of his hearers by a single use for information, which was still further enlarged upon, under four distinct considerations. The questions, by way of explication, were, briefly, 1, " What is meant by ini- quity ?" 2, " What is meant by departing from iniquity?" 3, " Why is it so, that every one that names the name of Christ must depart from iniquity ?" Among the seven " reasons," in confirma- tion of the doctrine deduced from the text, and implied in the last question, were briefly, 1, " Because God is a holy God, and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." 2, "Because the Lord Jesus Christ himself is holy, and therefore will not suffer any to live in the profession of his name, and not depart from iniquity." 5, " Because Christians are called with a holy calling." 6, " Because of the great dishonor and reproach that sin casts upon the Lord Jesus Christ." 7, "Because it is the will of God that those that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity." The use " for information " was, " Hence learn the folly of those that make a profession of the name of Christ, and (depart not) from iniquity." " Let such consider, 1, ' that they have not as yet taken one true step towards a true reformation ;'" 2, " that neither their persons nor services are accepted before God ; " 3, " that it is a bold and daring presumption to name the name of Christ, and not to depart from iniquity." From all which considerations, the preacher deduced one more by way of " conclusion," viz : " Whoever are found under a profession of the name of Christ, and depart not from iniquity, Christ will one day not think them worthy to be named among professors. They shall not be found to be sealed ones, that day."
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44 Such is a brief specimen of the mode in which one of the earliest pastors of this church used to feed the flock of Christ committed to his charge. The spiritual food ministered by him on this occasion was plain food, served up in a homely, and, as some may think, in too precise and starched a style. Still it was wholesome food, the pure milk of the Word, and adapted, with the Divine blessing, to nourish the souls of his flock unto eternal life. The doctrine inferred from the text, and inculcated in this discourse, was sound and important; the reasons advanced in support of it were clear and sufficient; the use or application ever seasonable; and if there were any of his hearers who were not profited by it, the fault was not the preacher's, but their own.
Sermon being over, a short prayer by the preacher for the blessing of God on his Word dispensed, and a solemn benedic- tion, closed the services of the forenoon.
In the afternoon, they were commenced with singing a portion of the 148th Psalm, H. M., to the tune expressly adapted to that Psalm, and thence called the " Old 148th." In the prayer by Mr. Fox which followed, was observed the same particularity of enumeration, and minuteness of description of the mercies implored, as that by which the prayer of the morning was dis- tingnished. After reverend, adoring acknowledgments of the Divine perfections and works, love and mercy to the children of men, and after a more minute confession of prevailing sins (especially among his own people) than is now common, and earnest supplications for pardon and spiritual healing through the grace of God in Christ, he commended anew the special cases and wants of his people, and the interests of Zion among them, to Him that heareth prayer. And then, giving his thoughts a wider range than Mr. Carter had extended his in the morning, so as to take in all the proper subjects of prayer which his senior colleague had omitted, he began to offer earnest inter- cessions for his country, for all mankind, for the church of God throughout the world. He prayed that the inhabitants of New
44 See skeleton of a discourse by Rev. Jabez Fox, delivered at Cam- bridge, July 1678, in Alden's Collection of Epitaphs, Vol. I., No. 236, p. 225.
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England, especially of the Bay, might never forget the errand upon which their fathers crossed the ocean to this then dreary wilderness, that so they might enjoy the ordinances of God in their purity, and gather churches according to his Word: that they might still pursue the design and work which their progeni- tors had begun, still adhere to the Holy Scriptures in doctrine, worship and practice, neither adding to nor taking aught from the Divine requirements therein laid down, either by word or example : that so New England might continue New England, and that the Lord God might still condescend to dwell among them, and defend them, and multiply them, and build them up, as he had hitherto, forevermore. He thanked God for the endeavors of the Synod of the Elders and Messengers of these churches, lately convened in the city of our solemnities, 45 with a view to the reformation of those manifest deelensions and crying sins, for which, it was to be feared, God had a controversy with the people of this land; and earnestly prayed, that the means and measures which the Synod had recommended for promoting reformation, and averting the Divine displeasure, might be prospered and blessed. And to this end, he earnestly besought of God, that he would pour out his Spirit, and rain down right- cousness upon the whole Colony (especially upon this town of Woburn) : that so this and all the churches of our land might awake from their slumbers, return to their first love, and do their first works; that godly discipline according to their Scriptural Platform might be kept up in them, the truth of the gospel be maintained in them, holiness and peace abound : that ministers might cry aloud, and spare not to show the people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins; that our honored Magistrates might diligently attend the execution of the salutary laws and orders of the Government for the suppression and punishment of profaneness, Sabbath breaking, drunkenness, oppression, and all manner of wickedness and vice; and be themselves examples of piety and virtue : that the religion of the gospel might revive in power and purity among all ranks and
43 Synod assembled In Boston, 1679, 1680.
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conditions of men : that so God might lift on us once more the light of his countenance : that righteousness might dwell in our land; that mercy and truth might here meet together, righteous- ness and peace kiss each other.
He prayed for God's direction and blessing upon our honored Governor, Deputy Governor and the Magistrates of this juris- diction ; that he would at all times aid and prosper them in all their consultations and measures for preserving unimpaired the then threatened liberties of the country. He praised the Lord for inclining the Great and General Court of this Colony in their recent session to countenance the proceedings of the late Synod, by ordering the Confession of Faith drawn up by it, together with the Platform of Discipline agreed upon in 1648, to be printed " for the benefit of these Churches, in present and after Times ; " 46 and prayed, that as Moses and Aaron kissed each other in the Mount of God, so the Lord would dircet and dis- pose our civil and our spiritual fathers always to act in concert with each other in all designs for the reformation of the people, and the furtherance of the common welfare. And now, extend- ing his views to the mother country, (or, as our ancestors were accustomed to call it, their home,) he prayed God to preserve and bless our dread Sovereign Lord, King Charles; that he would effectually incline him to remove from his presence all Popish and maliciously affected counsellors, who were laboring for the destruction of these his Majesty's Colonies by suggesting to his royal ear false and malicious insinuations against them; that he would move his princely heart to favor his poor but loyal subjects in these goings down of the sun, and to bestow on them his promised protection ; and that so his Majesty ruling in right- eousness and mercy, God would clothe all his adversaries with shame; but cause upon him and his royal house the crown of these kingdoms to flourish, so long as the sun and the moon shall endure. He implored too the Divine benediction upon the High Court of Parliament, the Legislature of the realm of England ; that by their laws, and by all their proceedings and measures,
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