USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Hingham > The settlement of Hingham, Massachusetts > Part 2
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The Archbishop was seeking to make the Church the supreme agency in the government. It is well for us to under- stand what this meant to individual liberty. He revived the ecclesiastical courts. He forbade the right of assembly. Men could not meet for an evening's talk without fear of examination and penalty. For such an offence we learn that Robert Peck and his people were disciplined in Hingham. Peck had been repeating the catechism with a group of his parishioners, and with them had sung a psalm. We learn also that " he had infected his parish with strange opinions." A man might be fined, exiled,
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perhaps banished or killed for like offences. It was for sound reasons that our fathers dreaded the " imperium in imperio."
The reasons for all the migration to the low countries and to New England are rooted in this determination of the Arch- bishop and King to complete the work begun by King James, to harry all the Puritans out of England. However academic and shadowy this word "Puritan " may now have become, the King and Archbishop used it with broad inclusiveness. They meant literally to harry out of England all persons opposed to ecclesiastical courts and like institutions of tyranny civil or ecclesiastical, in short all who contended for a free and consti- tutional government. Under the name of Puritan they doubt- less would have included every reader of this article, no matter what his shade of religious opinion or affiliation. It was while these difficulties were at their height that the first exodus took place from Old to New Hingham.
The immediate causes are at present unknown to us. For gathering in the rectory and singing a psalm together, as has been said, Bishop Wren had the culprits before him in the Church, and made them answer to each charge, "I do humbly confess my sin." The incident may well have played a part in their determination to migrate. Peck was a marked man, as was shown by the reports to Parliament, and by his " infection of the town with strange opinions." Hingham was under sus- picion of liberality and independence. These considerations cannot fail to have had weight.
Probably the whole atmosphere of the time and place led naturally to the migration. Many people were leaving England. Cromwell, it is said, just missed coming to America. The Hing- ham people had seen the weavers driven out of Norwich and a
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rich industry laid in ruin. They had seen similar removals all around them. They well knew the meaning of the contest, and their cause at this time was deep in shadow. Beside migration there was no other relief for independent men from the tyranny of Church and State. In 1635 the second company came out, and among them Peter Hobart.
These settlers of 1635, as the others probably had done before them, came from Charlestown by boat, and landing on the shore of what is now the mill. pond, Peter Hobart offered prayer for the blessing of God upon the new settlement. This may be fairly called the beginning of the Plantation. Events quickly followed. Land was apportioned in the summer of 1635, and in October of the same year the name of Hingham was recognized by the General Court. Peter Hobart " gathered" the parish, and erected the first meeting-house, a log building surrounded with a palisade.
After the exodus conditions in Norfolkshire grew steadily worse. The Archbishop by this time had silenced the week-day lectures, confiscating their endowments ; in many places he had abolished preaching; and he had revived ecclesiastical forms long disused and obnoxious to the people. On entering and leaving the churches the people were bidden to courtesy to the east, a practice unknown since the Reformation. Since the Reformation also the communion tables for the most part had stood in the broad aisles. The Archbishop now ordered them to be restored to the east end of the churches, and to be raised three feet above the chancel floors. To us this order seems harmless.
But to understand the bitter controversy which it provoked we must remember that our forefathers saw in this far more than
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THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PEWTER BAPTISMAL BASIN, OWNED BY THE FIRST PARISH, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FROM ENGLAND BY THE FIRST SETTLERS. IT HAS BEEN IN CONTINUOUS USE FOR NEARLY THREE CENTURIES.
DIAMETER 13 INCHES; DEPTH 3 INCHES.
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a question of decorous public worship. When Governor Endi- cott, for example, cut out the cross from the English flag the act had many meanings. It surely was more than a question of bunting and decoration. So the location of the communion tables contained meanings other than at first appear. The ques- tion then involved large political issues. For sound reasons it appeared to the fathers to be a matter of political liberty. The whole issue in short was grave and serious. There were open quarrels in the churches, protests from the Bishops, parlia- mentary commissions, petitions to Parliament, and a great ado.
It is now to be remembered that Robert Peck was a marked man, three times reported to Parliament, convicted of noncon- formity. But to this order about the communion tables he could not submit. He not only refused to obey. He went further. He dug the floor of his chancel a foot below the floor of the church, and there placed his communion table, endeavoring to make it symbolic of humility. This was a daring and a last defiance flung in the face of an opposing power capable of crush- ing him. Having done this thing, for which if caught he would certainly have been imprisoned, he fled over the sea, joining his former parishioners and fellow townsmen in New Hingham, where Peter Hobart, who had grown up under him, and whom he had baptized doubly thirty-three years before, was now the minister. So, as Cotton Mather tells us, "This light having been by the persecuting prelates put under a bushel was, by the good providence of Heaven, fetched away into New England, where the good people of our Hingham did rejoice in the light for a season."
Robert Peck did not come alone. Many of the best families of Old Hingham came with him, about thirty in number. If one
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may hazard a comparison between the companies, the earlier comprised more men of Peter Hobart's generation, the last more men of Robert Peck's generation, men well established in Old Hingham, in some instances probably the fathers of those who had come out in 1635. Blomfield, no friend to the Puritans, tells us in his history that these men came at great sacrifice, selling their possessions for half their value. Not a few in their coming showed that they still were possessed of affluence. For example, Joseph Peck, brother of Robert, brings his wife and two children, and with them three maids and two menservants, five servants for four people. Even to-day this would be con- sidered luxurious ; for that time it was far more exceptional.
The names of these families, about one hundred and thirty in all, have become well known the whole land over. The names are as follows :
Jacob, Lincoln, Hobart, Cushing, Gibbs, Lane, Chubbuck, Austin, Baker, Bates, Betscome, Bozworth, Buckland, Cade, Cooper, Cutler, Farrow, Fop. Gould, Hersey, Hodsdin, Smith, Johnson, Large, Loring, Hewett, Liford, Ludkin, Morse, Nolton, Otis, Phippeny, Palmer, Porter, Rust, Smart, Strong, Tuttil, Walton, Andrews, Arnall, Bacon, Collier, Marsh, Martin, Peck, Osborn, Wakely, Gill, Ibrook, Cockerum, Cockerill, Fearing, Tucker, Beal, Eames, Hammond, Hull, Jones, Lobdin, Langer, Leavitt, Mott, Minard, Parker, Russell, Sprague, Strange, Underwood, Ward, Woodward, Winches- ter, Walker, Barnes, Cobbit, Clapp, Carlslye, Dimock, Dreuce, Hett, Joshlin, Morrick, Nichols, Paynter, Pitts, Shave, Turner, Tower, Gilman, Foulsham, Chamberlain, Bates, Knights, James, Buck, Payne, Michell, Sutton, Moore, Allen, Hawke, Ripley, Benson, Lawrence, Stephens, Stodder, Wilder, Thax- ter, Hilliard, Price, Burr, Whiton, Lazell, Stowell, Garnett, and Canterbury.
Here then were some one hundred and thirty families trans- planted from the level country of that eastern promontory, from the broad and fertile Norfolk fields, the comfort of well estab- lished homes, the simple and pleasing dignity of Old Hingham,
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to the sandy soil, the shallow harbor, the hardship and desolation of the remote wilderness, to the frontier edge of an untrodden continent. This is something worth pondering on. Search the records as we may the plainer becomes the fact that the predomi- nating motive which brought them here was the love of liberty. They were moved by that spirit of democracy which in ever increasing strength has been slowly changing the face of the world, and whose greatest single expression is found to-day in our Republic. They believed, as the fourth great-grandson of Samuel Lincoln described democracy, in government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And the Hingham Plantation in those early days contributed in no small measure to the formation of that spirit of New England independency which later so largely shaped our national institutions.
The story of the exodus, however, must not merge into the history of the Hingham Plantation, which happily still continues. Perhaps no better ending can be given this narrative than to follow the life of Robert Peck to its close. New Hingham made him the co-laborer with Peter Hobart, curiously enough reordain- ing him to this office. Many New England parish pulpits were thus " double-barreled." In this capacity he served New Hingham for three years, living on the land now owned by the First Parish just to the south of the Old Meeting House.
Meantime in England the mighty storm of protest and rebellion was gathering. King Charles was forcing the Parlia- ment to arms. The beginnings of the Commonwealth were appearing. The King and Archbishop could not heed the inde- pendency of a Norfolk minister, no matter how flagrant. So in 1641 the people of Old Hingham urged Robert Peck to return to them. Peck's successor had reported that the people were " very
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factious, resorting to other Churches." The last exodus of 1638 had indeed left the town in a pitiable condition. A curious peti- tion, still preserved in manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, sets forth the pathetic straits to which the community had been reduced, and gives a picture of the times that is worth noting.
It is addressed to "the Right Honorable the Knights, Bur- gesses and Cittizens of the House of Commons," and is entitled, "The humble peticon of the Inhabitants of the poore ruinated towne of Hingham." It "in most humble wise sheweth " how Robert Peck had for thirty and two years been discharging the office of faithful pastor, " being a learned, godly, loving, peaceful and painful minister, a man so unblameable in his life and doc- trine that no just offence in either could ever be found concern- ing him." It tells how he was excommunicated for not appearing in person before the Chancellor of the Diocese, how when he sought reinstatement he must sign "certain new Articles," how on his refusal the Bishop took away his living, "and put in Curates to the vexation of the parson and parishioners." " About a year and a half after they deprived him under a pretence of non-residency ; yet he did always abide where he had so long lived, having had such a care of his charge in religion and civil affairs, that the people were able to maintain their poor and to help other towns, as neighboring Townes can well witnesse."
The petition next touches on the reasons for the exodus. " The minister being driven away, and forced in his old age to flee to seek his peace, and diverse of the inhabitants put to great loss and charges by the Chancellor and other ecclesiastical offi- cers, some for going to a neighboring towne to hear a godly minister preach, and most of them for building a mount in the east end of the Chancel, and of observing ceremonies to which
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they were inforced ; (it transpires that) Most of the able inhabi- tants have forsaken their dwellings, and have gone several ways for their peace and quiet, and the towne is now left and like to be in misery by reason of the meanness of the (remaining) inhabitants."
The petition relates recent difficulties and ends with one most illuminating incident that occurred some time after the exodus. A fair was held in the town on St. Matthias Day. A neighboring minister, Mr. Vylett, was asked to preach. " Amongst other godly exhortations he did wish the people to make use of the means of grace for (he said) some lights are gone out of this land." For this reference to Robert Peck and his associates Vylett was immediately deprived of his right to preach, and had to make two journeys up to London before he could be reinstated.
The petition ends with "humbly craving redresse, that Mr. Peck our old minister may be by law and justice of this Court reduced to his old possession."
As the date when this petition was submitted to Parliament is unknown, it probably was about 1640, we cannot tell what direct connection it had with Peck's return. But he is believed to have left New Hingham in 1641. "The invitation of his friends at Hingham in England," Cotton Mather tells us, "per- suaded him to return unto them; where, being thought a great person for stature, yet a greater for spirit, he was greatly ser- viceable for the good of the Church." It could have been no easy thing for him to have returned to " the poor ruinated towne," whence most of his friends had fled. But he went back to take up again his interrupted ministry, and to bear his part in the approaching conflict. There can be no doubt that thorough
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research in England would bring to light more concerning both Peck and his associates.
The times had dealt hard with the Bishop of Norwich, suc- cessor to the Bishop who had persecuted Robert Peck. The citizens had sacked his palace, had burned his papers and books in front of the cathedral, and stripped alike of his private for- tune and emoluments and broken in health the poor bishop took refuge in Old Hingham, where both he and Robert Peck lived for the remainder of their lives.
One last incident of Peck's ministry must be mentioned. In 1654 he was appointed on a Parliamentary Commission to "eject the scandalous, ignorant, and inefficient ministers and schoolmasters of Norfolk and Norwich." Perhaps this was not an uncongenial task !
He died in 1658, and, as he himself directed in his will, was buried " beside my wife and near my church." His will, it is pleasant to note, breathes a suggestion of plenty. He speaks of " My message, with all its edifices, yeards, and orchards, also enclosures and barns adjoining." He speaks also of " my lady- close," possibly a part of some convent land. Evidently his last years were spent in comfort, perhaps even in affluence. On his death he had served his parish for fifty-three years, of which three years had been given to this section that had removed itself across the sea.
The happenings at New Hingham in themselves form a story of no small significance. But we are concerned here only with the causes which led to the erection of this Plantation. When these causes ceased to be operative, that is, when the monarchy fell and the Commonwealth under Cromwell came into power, immigration to New England wholly ceased. For the next two
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centuries there was little growth in the New England Colonies except that which came by their own natural development. No more convincing proof could be shown that combined as it was with many others the main motive of the immigration was the love of freedom.
We are confronted to-day with rapidly shifting conditions. A newer New England is surplanting the old. Customs and traditions are being established among us which, if not hostile to our democratic spirit, are alien to it. This is because some of our newer and older citizens alike are often ignorant of our his- tory and of the heroic service by which the men of the older time purchased our freedom. Surely we can, most profitably remember the history of the New England settlements. And by no means least among them is the story of the erection of this free Plantation of New Hingham. Unless deep disappointment awaits those who hope that the newer New England will become more truly democratic and better than was the older New Eng- land, our newer New England must attain to a larger measure of individual liberty than did the old. This can best be brought to pass, not by forgetting the work of the forefathers, but by look- ing unto the rock whence we were hewn.
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