USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Haverhill > The story of a New England town; a record of the commemoration, July second and third, 1890 on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Haverhill, Massachusetts > Part 3
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93. Site of Garrison House erected by Joshua Sawyer, 1672.
Noik. : -- Placed near Tilton's Corner, at corner of Last Broadway and old Ferry road.
91. flome of Samuel White, prior to 1775.
Nori . -- White's Corner, north-west comer of Merrimack and Main Streets.
95. Gile Homestead. Settled by Samuel Gile, 1610, and always held by his descendants.
NOTE. - Next house on the left, this side of the Trotting Park. 96. Home of Deacon David Marsh, 1728-1777.
Nork: - Placed in front of the present residence of Rev. G. W. Kelly, .... inte of Main St et ir at abot: Vente Cheech
97. Home of Capt. Cornelius Mansise, fir+ Clueľ of -
Fire Department, 1768.
Noit - Present location of Lincoln Hall, coruc: of Merrimack and West Street
The duty of the Literary Committee was to arrange the literary exercises for the morning of July 2d, to provide the speakers for the banquet on the afternoon of that day, and to attend to the publication of an account of the pro- ceedings at the whole anniversary celebration.
WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH.
RELIGIOUS EXERCISES AT THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC ON THE SUNDAY PREVIOUS TO THE CELEBRATION.
IT was dermed advisable that special religious exercises be - held on the Sunday previous, at the Academy of Music, as an introduction to the celebration. At this place, on Sunday, June 29, at three o'clock in the afternoon, a large and appreciative audience was assembled.
The auditorium was adorned with flags of different nations and with bunting, and on and around the speaker's desk was a profusion of floral decorations. The exercises were opened by flis Honor, Mayor Burnham's words of introduction : -
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Pillow Citizens : - Looking backward over a period of two hundred and fifty years awakens within us thoughts of so varied a nature that we almost ask ourselves what there is in these things that has made us what we are, and what me the influences, good or bad, that have contributed to place society in its present condition ?
Who, and of what material are we, and from whom did we spring ?
While we are casting about among the traditions, the legends, and the history of those years for a solution, there stands out one distinct and separate element that is so well ah fined and dear that we instinctively tuin to it as one of the largest contributing causes of the high state of car pies- ent civilization, - this element that we call the Christian reli- gion, transplanted with the little band of carly colonists who, in 1640, began their settlement on the shores of our beauti- fal river, and first plied the axe in the pihaeval forest and piled its rude logs into the form of a building.
In this, their meeting-house, they assembled, and here the cultured, pious Ward dedicated the rough structure to the service of God.
Was not this true worship ? Was not this religion that would, by its rude simplicity, form the character of a people? From this beginning, through all its forms, and by whatever m.utake it bore, the same element has existed until to-day. Though known by the different names of various denomina- tens, it stands the true representative of Bu sid Goodness, and with renewed force still exercises a great for good in
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the world such as is offered by no other instrumentality of our civilization.
Nor has the religious history of Haverhill, or that of its expounders of the Word, been uneventful during this time. For years the sanctuary was the arsenal, and men seated beside their dear ones listened to the gospel, muskets within their reach.
Thrilling and affecting are the stories of these early yours. How the pious Rolle was ruthlessly slain ; of the captivity, the suffering; of the prayers that must have gone up from the log church in these days of tribulation : - these, and in later years, the trials and triumphs of the worshippers, make history that is interesting and instructive.
And it is eminently fitting that this hoty Sabbath day should be set apart for these ceremoni , that we may learn from the representatives of the many churches that to-day mise their spires to heaven, something of their history, and in it lind a worthy beginning of the observance of our great anniversary celebration. Thus, we are assembled here without distinction of creed, in recognition of the work that has been wrought by the Christian religion for our people, for mankind, and the world.
Next came the Invocation by Key. E. A. Hainer :
Almighty God, our Father and our Friend, Thou kind Benefactor and Helper of the son. I men. .. could not be forgetful of Thy goodness mato a a se nos of a th .
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days of rejoicing and thanksgiving because of the prosperity and growth that have come to us.
Help us to realize that Thon hast been the Fountain of all our good and the Source of all our joy. We invoke Thy blessing upon the exercises of this hour. By them may our hearts be inspired with the wisdom of our great Leader divine. And during these days of celebration, as we have occasion to look upon the integrity and stalwart manhood of our fathers, may it became an inspiration to us, who still remain, to live purer and better lives. And to this rud wilt Thou help us ever to look upward, to be led of Thee, that even better things may be our portion in the coming years.
Hear and auswe as according to The wisdom and love. We ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Then the audience sang, to the tune of " Duke Street," Leonard Bacon's hymn, written in 1838. "O God, beneath thy guiding hand."
After which Rev. James W. Bisler read the ninetieth Psalm: -
1. Lord, thon hast been our dwelling-place in all gen- erations.
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever they hadst formed the earth and the world, even from over- lasting to everlasting, thon art God.
3. Thou turnest man to destruction ; and sayest, Re- turn, ye children of men.
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1. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yester- day when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood ; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is ent down, and withereth.
7. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret. -ins in the light of thy countenance.
9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fora core years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut ofl, all we fly away.
11. Who knoweth the power of thise anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12. So teach us to munber our days, that we may ap- ply our hearts unto wisdom.
13. Return, O Lord, how long ? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
11. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16. Let the work appear unto fly servants, and thy glory unto their children.
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17. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be up- on us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
A prayer was then offered by Res. Joseph C. Snow, D. D. :-
Lord, Thou hast been oar dwelling plac in all gener- ations ; from everlasting to everlasting Theu sat God. Thou wast with our fathers when they crossed the sea; Thon lidst protect them in the midst of encompassing perils, and tpput them amid sore trials.
We thank Thee for the unfaltering faith and courage in which our fathers laid the foundation of om: Christian State. W. gratefully acknowledge Thy merciful Providence continued to their sons even to the present generation. Thou didst show Thyself favorable to this people in their straggle for national independence, and madest them strong to withstand rebellion, and to achieve the freedom of the slave, in maintaining the unity of the Republic. Unless Thou hadst builded, Thy servants would have builded in vain. We thank Thee, with full hearts, for the priceless privileges that are ours to-day in a lant of civil and re- ligious liberty.
And now, O Lord, we come to Thee in humble sup- plication for Thy guidance and Thy blessing in the days to come. Remember, we bescech The the Pie ident of the United States : endue him with all went wi low rat gi .
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him strength adequate to his great offre ; inspire him with the purpose to honor Thee in serving his country with all singleness of heart. May the members of his Cabinet be faithful counsellors, walking in the way of Thy truth.
We commend unto Thy gracious favor the Governor of our beloved Commonwealth and the Mayor of our city, and all others in authority throughout our Lind. May the rulers rule in equity and the judges give forth righteous judgments, and may the hearts of all Thy people be turned unto the Lord, their God.
Grant, we pray Thee, that the evils which now affiet the land may be speedily done away ; that the riot of worldliness, imtemperance and crime may cease, and the reign of godliness, sobriety and love be ushered in. May our en become the home of virtue and peace.
Ammmand Thy blessing upon all the exercises of this anniversary season. May the meditations and rejoicings of this day and hour redound to Thy honor and glory. For- give us our sins, and, at last, crown us all Thise in the everlasting City of our God. And to Thee, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, will we aseribe all praise, and honor, and thanksgiving, now and evermore. Amen
Next in order came the oldest hymn upon the programme; one written by Isaac Watts in 1719: - Car God, our help in ages past." It was sung to the time of " Arlington."
Rev. Mr. Everts then described . The Religious Wer sluip of the Past."
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Remnaoos WoRsme of THE PAST.
The year Haverhill was settled, the civilized world was under an intense religious excitement. The Thirty Years' religious war was raging in Germany; the Huguenots were reduced from a political party to a religious sect in France ; and in England, Charles 1. and Archbishop Land were exas- perating the Dissenters to the utmost.
The founders of Haverhill were exiles for conscience, sake. They were, first and last, and altogether, devout men. " For then religion comprehended all things ; church and state, home and school, virtue and piety, liberty and order were involved in it." Religious exercises opened court, were the signal for training day, and the preparation for raising the frame of a house. Life was a serious matter with the carly settlers of New England.
'Iny had to clear the forest, build de tous, establish industries, insfitidions, Good laws, and good customs When in 1685, a dancing master in Boston advertise4 dancing lessons, and mixed dances on lective day. Rev. Joshua Moody procested : " It is no time for New England to dance." A theatre was unheard of until British soldiers introduced it, jast before the Revolution. The first generation of New England may have been made of stern straf, but they had to face stern duties. What generation in the world's history hus laid foundations so grand and so enduring? ". It is not with us," said Brewster, " as with men whom small things ran discourage, or small discontent canse them to wish them- alves at home again. The religion of the I'mtitans was not changed by crossing the Atlantic. We have changed our climate, not our minds; we have altered our place, that we might retain the faith, without alteration. It is well known that, as to matters of doctrine, we agree with other reformed churches ; nor was it that, but what concerns worship and dis- cipline, that caused our fathers to come into this wilderness. The free air of the wilderness has wrought some changes for which we see good reason. Churches have till nel to grow from defects to purity, and from reformation mu star
CENTRE CHURCH (CONGREGATIONAL).
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HITACHIOUS EXERCISES AT ACADEMY DE MUSIC.
mation, age after age." As doctrine had so little influence in determining the settlement of New England, the chief interest attaches to the worship of our fathers. The key to their fonn, or rather to the informality of their worship, is found in their antipathy to the Church of England. Everything that the bishop had ordained, they rejected. Puritan worship was the antipodes of the Anglican.
The Anglican divines wore white robes like Rome ; the Puritans wore black robes like Genova. The Anglican ob- a ved Feast days; the Puritan scorned the use of boughs at Christmas, and of bright flowers at Easter. The Anglican treated all days alike; the Puritan regarded the Sabbath as a day by itself. He never called it Sunday, but rather the Lord's day. Work must be put away Saturday at sunset, and the holy hours that followed must be devoted to holy carries. Walking abroad, and standing on the streets were punishable offences. Special officers were appointed to ob- serve if any were lymg in the field, or at home during meeting-time, and such were to be fined. There were tithing- men with tipstaves iu their hands to tap on the shoulder ny on. who chanced to nod during the sermon. In Ports- mouth church sleepers were locked up in a cage.
The service was monotonous. There was no choir, because choirs were one of the abominations of the Church of England. " If we sing by rute, nest we will pray by rule, and then comes popery." The Church of England denounced extempore prayers ; for that reason none other were tolerated in Massachusetts. The Pater Nosters must not be used, for Good commands: " Use no vain repetitions." Cotton Mather declared the liturgy was a breach of the second command- ment, and the prayer-book a mixture of h athenism, Judaism, and popery. The Episcopal service abounded with Scripture passages; but such dumb reading was forbidden in New Bagland. For a hundred years the Bible was seldom read unless it was expounded at the same time. Brattle Street Church, Boston, was formed in 1099 because the advanced thinkers desired to hear the Bible Bad. In IT. the
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minister of the First Church was given discretion in the matter; Newburyport fell into hne in 1750; Dorchester, in 1753; West Newbury, not till 1769. In England, they had been told to kneel during prayer. In New England, they asserted their liberty by standing. As they arose and the seats were turned back with a bang, it sounded like a loud protest against oppression.
In the early days of Haverhill, there was but one church and everybody went to it. The original structure, twenty-six feet by twenty, on the site of Pentucket Cemetery, was soon crowded, and a gallery was added. At the close of the cen- tury, a stately two-story edifice, with tower, turret, and steeple, was created at the head of the Common. Now that there was a bell, the occupation of Abraham Tyler, who Lact one peck of corn a year of every family for blowing his horn a lauf hour below seriavar tiate, ve gone. The rude benches gave place to high-back pews, and & seating com- mittee was appointed, to seat the people in the nez meeting- house, "that they may not disorderly crowd upon one another : " and " that there may be no grumbling at the seating committee for picking for, and pleasing themselves," nuother committee was selected to seat them. The worshippers came on horseback in summer, on ox-sleds in winter.
They were never troubled with smoky houses, for stoves and furnaces had not been invented. All was still as death while the sexton escorted the pastor to the high pulpit. There he stood in powdered periwig, the massive rolls hang- ing down over his shoulders, and in a black tobe ahnost con- cealing the black silk stockings and the bright shoe-buckles. He preached till the sands ran out of the hour-glass, and if he sometimes took a second glass, no one found fault, for in those days, before the daily newspaper was thought of, the intellectual feast of the week was served in the clunch on Lord's day.
After sermon an elder rises and says . " Brethren of the congregation, offer freely, as God has prospered you." Then beginning with the magistrate and chief gentlemen. then alm
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elders, and all men in the congregation, finally all single persons, widows, and women in absence of their husbands, file up to the deacon's stand by one aisle, deposit their con- tributions, and return to their seats, where all stand till the benediction has been pronounced and the minister has passed ont.
After this interesting discourse, the patriotic hymn " America," written by Dr. Samuel F. Smith in 1832, fol- lowed ; and then Rev. C. S. Nutter gave a graphic account of " Church Psahody in the Town's History."
CHURCH PSALMODY IN THE TOWN'S HISTORY.
Music is a child of heaven. It is not necessary to des- enbe the church nasie of the present ;asiation. Let us notice briefly the hymns and music of other days, not so familiar. English hymnody originated in palm singing. The psalms of the Bible were arranged in a rude metrical foma and set to music. This was the fashion of church music for a hundred years and more.
We do not know positively what psalm book was used by the first worshippers in Haverhill. It minst have been one of three, as only that umaber existed in the English language, at that time.
Thomas Sternhold, an officer in the household of King Henry VIII., versified fifty-one of the psalms; the Rev. John Hopkins and others, the rest of the book. In 1562, this version was adopted in England, and hell an honored place in church services for generations. This book was used in the First Church in Ipswich, in some of the churches of Boston, and may have been used in Haverhill.
These psalms were very helpful, no doubt, and were ung by multitudes who now sing the " new song " above; but poetically they were weak, crude, and as a rule, common- place. Here and there, at long intervals may be found
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specimens of genuine poetry. Thomas Sternhold's sublime rendering of Psalm XVIII., verses 9 and 10, is familiar to every one : -
" The Lord descended from above And bowed the Heavens high, And underneath his feet he cast The darkness of the sky.
"On Cherubs and on Cherubim Full royally he rode And on the wings of all the winds Came flying all abroad."
The attempts to versify some passages of the psalms were not only poetical failures, but sometimes produced results that seem to us more ridienlons than religious. For example, ve cite John Hopkins' rendering of Palm LXXIV .. 11: " Why withdraw thy right hand ? Pluck it out of thy bosom." His metrieal rendering was as follows . -
" Why doost withdraw thy hand abach And hide it in thy lappe? O pluck it out, and be not slack "To give thy foes a rappe."
When the Pilgrim Fathers came to America, they brought with them a psalm book especially prepared for their nse by Rev. Henry Ainsworth, a Puritan scholar and author who flourished in England, about the beginning of the seven- teenth century. This was the book from which Priscilla was singing when John Alden appeared on the, to him, dis- tasteful mission of Captain Miles Standish. Longfellow must have seen this very rare old book, or he could not have leseribed it accurately : --
" Open wide on her lap lay the well-worn psalm book of Ains- worth,
Printed in Amsterdam, the words and the naste together, Rough-hewn, angular notes, like staates in the wall at a church- yard,
FREE-WILL BAPTIST CHURCH.
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Darkened and overhung by the running vine of the nmisie ; Such was the book from whose pages she sang the old Puritan anthem,
She, the Puritan girl, in the solitude of the forest."
The psalm book published in Amsterdam in 1612 was a great favorite among the Puritans. It was used exclusively at Plymouth for seventy years, and at Salem for more than fifty years. A single copy of the original first edition is still in existence, and can be seen in the library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester.
Listen to Ainsworth's version of the first Psalm as a specimen of the poetry sung by the Pilgrims for at least two generations : -
O blessed man, that dooth not in the wicked's counsel walk : Not tand in hyunets' ways der sit in what of seeinfal folk.
But sitteth in Iehovali , law, his pleasureful delight : And in her law dooth meditate by day and eke by night.
And 1. shall be, like as a tree by water brooks planted ; Which in his time shall give his fruit, his leaf eke shal not fade ;
And whatsoever he shall doo, it prosperously shall thrive. Not so the wicked ; but as chaffe which wind away dooth drive.
Therefore the wicked shall not in the judgment stand upright And in th' assembly of the just, not any sinful wight.
For, of the just, lehovah, he acknowledgeth the way ; And way of the ungracious shall utterly de. ay.
Ainsworth's Psalms were followed by The Bay Psalm Beok, so called, which was the jomt production of three Congregational ministers, - Rev. John Flot. known as the apostle to the Indians, Rev. Thomas Well of Roxbury, and Rev. Richard Mather of Dorchester.
The design of these versilius was to produce a better
HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETIS.
metrical version than there existed. In this they succeeded, and their book was the standard of the New England churches for more than a century. It was also popular in England and Scotland, and was reprinted in many editions.
Their tash was, however, a difficult one. Their rever- twee for the text of the Bible required them to keep close to the original, and yet they were to render it in measure and rhyme. They succeeded, according to the verdict of their generation, in a remarkable degree ; but te modern eyes and cars, their version appears to be anything but poetry.
Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, in his History of _American Literature, says : - " The verses indeed seem to have been hammered out on an anvil by blows from a blacksmith's sledgehammer. Everywhere in the book is manifest the agony il cost the writer to find two words that would chyme more or le and so often as this arduous feat is achieved, the poet athlete appears to pause awhile from sheer est. bis- tion, panting for breath."
Take the twenty-third Psalm as a specimen of their work : - -
The Lord to mee a shepherd is Want therefore shall not i lle in the folds of tender grasse Doth cause mee downe to lie ;
To waters calme me gently leads Restore my soule doth hee : He doth in paths of righteous ness For his name's sake leade tice
Yea though in valley of deaths shade I walk, none ill I'll feare : Because thou art with mec, thy rod Aud staffe my comforts are.
Fore me a table thou hast spread, In presence of my foes : They dost anoynt my head with byse My cup it over-tlowes.
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Goodness and merey surely shall All my dayes follow mee : And in the Lords house I shall dwell So long as dayes shall bee.
The Bay Psalm Book is famous as being the first hook printed in America, 1640. Only seven perfect copies of the original first edition are now known to exist. Two of these have been sold at anction within a few years. One was bought by C. Fisk Harris of Providence. R. L., in 1876, for $1025; the other was purchased by Cornelius Vanderbilt of New York, for $1200.
This book was adopted immediately by some of the churches, and later by others. The meters were simpler and fewer than in Ainsworth's. All but eight of the psalms were terthed in common, short. or long meter, so that the con- gregation could sing nearly every psalm in the book to three or four times. One of these three books was no doubt used in the early worship of the people of Haverhill. It is possible chat the American book published about the thne this city was planted was used ; it is more probable that one of the older books, more familiar to the worshippers, was used for a time. The New England Psahn Book, however, was generally adopted, and remained the standard for a full century.
The musie of the early Puritan period was congregational. It consisted only of one part, the melody. No instruments were used. Some one started the tune by guess; the others followed, singing mostly from memory, which they could very well do, as they had only a few tunes. At the best, the singing of the early church in America was not anything remarkable. Poor as it was at the beginning, it declined considerably after fifty or seventy-five years. The reasons for this declension are not difficult to understand: the congregations were greatly separated ; they were exposed to many dangers ; they had no singing . chool, and so instructors ; the few books they brought with them beenne worn ont a.at
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