USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 14
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Mr. Avery's house was at Tashmuit, Highland, a few rods east of the house of Mrs. Rebecca Paine, a short distance north of the Highland House, and near the well-known spring. It was a two-story house, with ell. The old plaster, hard as granite, and bits of thick English glass can now be found on the spot. The smithy, where the good minister, clad in leather apron, shaped the glowing iron with muscular arm, stood just southwest of his house by the road. Clinkers and slag still mark the place. It is thought that Mr. Avery
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belonged to a family of smiths, and learned the trade when a boy at home. His salary of sixty pounds a year does not sound large, but was liberal for the times, and, like Gold- smith's village preacher, -
Who passing rich at forty pounds a year,
it was undoubtedly regarded a superior living. With a comfortable house, land for farming, plenty of wood, timber, and meadow, as voted May 29, 1710, and the doctor, lawyer, and smith, it is not surprising that he accumulated a fine estate, as evidenced by his will.
This noble example to his flock he gave : That first he wrought and afterwards he taught ; Out of the Gospel he that lesson caught, And this new figure added he thereto, That if the gold rust what should the iron do? -Prologue to Canterbury Tales.
July 1723, voted to add ten pounds to Mr. Avery's salary, making it £70.
At a meeting of the town of Truro July 19, 1725, orderly warned for the ends set forth in the warrant for calling the same. Mr. Thomas Mulford was chosen moderator, and a vote was called whether the town would make any addition to the Rev. Mr. Avery's salary for his further support and encouragement in the work of the ministry in said town. It passed in the affirmative; then the question was asked whether the town would add so much for the said Mr. Avery's salary, as to make it a hundred pounds in the whole. It passed in the negative.
Then the question was asked whether the town would add so much to the said Mr. Avery's salary as to make it ninety pounds in the whole for the year next ensuing. It passed in the affirmative by a majority of votes.
Attest, JOHN SNOW. Town Clerk.
At a church meeting Oct. 1725 it was proposed to the church by the pastor, whether a confession of faith was not more agreeable to the rules of the gospel, to be required of those that desired to be admitted to full communion, than a relation of experiences ? It was answered in the affirmative, and voted hence- forward to be the practice of the church.
At a church meeting Dec. 29, 1725, it was proposed to the church, whether adult persons owning their Baptismal Covenant, and putting themselves under the watch and government of the church, should have their children baptized tho' they through fears, did not come up to the communion ? Answered in the affirmative, and voted to be the practice for the future.
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As an assurance that this carefully-worded, cautious, but nevertheless advance step was not hurried through without due consideration, we are assured by a note at the foot of the journal that " the church had six weeks' consideration be- fore ye vote."
At a meeting of the church 1726, it was proposed to the church, whether such persons, being members of the church, that made practice of selling strong drink, contrary to the good laws of the Province, without license, should not be looked upon by the church as offenders, and accordingly dealt with. (Being left several months before to the Church's consideration.) It was answered in the affirmative and so voted.
At a church meeting, Nov. 30, 1726, it was proposed to the church, whether it was not according to gospel rule to choose Ruling Elders according to the practice of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. After six weeks' consideration an answer was defined by the pastor and was given in the affirm- ative.
In January II, 1727, the persons before nominated (viz.) : Mr. Thomas Mulford and Mr. Constant Freeman, were ordained ruling elders. Mr. John Myrick and Mr. Moses Paine were ordained deacons March 31, 1727. Mr. John Myrick and Mr. Thomas Paine were chosen ruling elders Nov. 13, 1728 ; ordained 15, 1728. Mr. Jonathan Vickery was chosen deacon Nov. 13, 1728.
June 21, 1730, the town raised Mr. Avery's salary to one hundred pounds. In 1747 it was raised by a vote of the town to two hundred pounds old tenor. Owing to the depreciation in old tenor, the last advance in Mr. Avery's salary was much more apparent than real.
The following memorandum found in the diary of a gen- tleman who died in 1756, refers to this early inflation which shows history does not go backward. "Men that have sal- aries and set fees, have been very much wronged, and it has raised the price of almost everything double, and what will be the event of it God only knows." The real value of old tenor is better understood from a Sandwich record: "In 1749 it was voted in Sandwich to extend a call to Mr. Abraham Wil- liams, at a yearly salary of 400 pounds O. T., or the payment
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in mill dollars of £2.5 per dollar." So in 1749, one hun- dred pounds were worth about $44.00, or eleven per cent.
It seems but a little while that we have followed the history of this town, and but yesterday when Mr. Avery came among them in the strength and freshness of youth. The children whom he baptized have become gray-headed fathers, and his stricken form gives token that his long useful life is drawing to a close; and that his work is well-nigh done. For forty- five years as a minister of the Church of Christ he has con- tinued the even thread of an unblemished life.
" Nov. 6, 1752, it being thought advisable to hire some suit- able minister to assist Rev. Mr. Avery in preaching the gospel this winter, Mr. Joshua Atkins and Deacon Barnabas Paine were appointed to look out for some one. The town agreed to bear Deacon Paine's expenses, and the cost of shoeing his horse, to go to Barnstable for this purpose, and Mr. Atkins' expenses, if he hires a horse and rides out of Boston in pur- suit of the same object." It will explain the above action by saying that Deacon Paine's trip to Barnstable was to secure the services of a son of Rev. Mr. Spear of that town, and that Capt. Atkins being in Boston on private business, the Church became responsible for any extraordinary expense. "January following a committee was chosen to converse with Rev. Mr. Avery respecting an assistant, and it was agreed to give him £100 old tenor for the present year, he giving up the right to the parsonage property, both wood and improvement." "July 30, it was agreed to give a call either to Mr. Charles Turner, Mr. Caleb Upham or Mr. Samuel Angier, to preach the gospel on probation. The committee of supplies were Messrs. Benj. Collins, Joshua Atkins, Barnabas Paine, Joseph Smally, and Rd. Collins." "Aug. 13, 1753, voted by the Church to give Mr. Charles Turner a call to the pastoral office in this place. Jonathan Collins, Moses Paine, Deacon Joshua Freeman were appointed by the Church to give him a call."
Aug. 15, 1753, it was voted to give £80 per annum, either in money or mer- chantable pay as it shall pass with the merchant, in common traffic, and the improvement of the parsonage lands, for the support and encouragement of an
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orthodox minister regularly called and settled in the Gospel Ministry in this town, provided he allow Rev. Mr. Avery £13. 68 yearly from his salary.
Also voted to present the much-respected Mr. Charles Turner Jr., whom the Church of Christ in this town have by their unanimous vote, called to the pastoral office, with a copy of these proceedings concurring with the church in the call.
Mr. Turner declined this call. When at another meeting the former vote was reconsidered and they voted to give him £80 lawful money, with the same provision in regard to Mr. Avery, which last offer Mr. Turner accepted.
Messrs. Joshua Atkins, John Rich, and Moses Paine, were a committee " to draw a covenant" and Messrs. Joshua Atkins, Rd. Collins and Rd. Stevens a committee to make all necessary arrangement for the ordination appointed for the last Wednesday in Nov., and for the entertainment of elders and messengers.
On the 23d of April, 1754, after an uninterrupted ministry of forty-four years, the Rev. John Avery, the first minister of the Church of Christ in Truro, died. In the old graveyard near where stood the meeting-house, stand three well-pre- served slate stones with the following inscriptions :
Here lie the Remains of ye Revd. Mr. John Avery who departed this life ye 23d of April 1754 in the 44th of his ministry and the first Pastor Ordained in this place. In this dark cavern, in this lonesome grave, Here lies the honest, pious, virtuous friend ; Him, Kind Heav'n to us priest and doctor gave, As such he lived; as such we mourn his end.
Here lies burried the Body of Mrs. Ruth Avery Wife to the Rev. Mr. John Avery she Deceased Oct. the Ist 1732 in the 46th year of her age.
Here lies burried the body of Mrs. Ruth Avery ye second wife of ye Rev. Mr. John Avery she died Nov. I A D 1745 in ye 5Ist year of her age.
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Walter T. Avery of New York, a descendant, has re-con- secrated the graves of his ancestors, by enclosing the lot with granite posts and heavy iron rails. Mr. Avery has also generously encouraged other improvements in connection with the yard.
THE WILL OF REV. JOHN AVERY, OF TRURO.
By the Will of God, Amen, the Eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four, I, John Avery of Truro, in the County of Barnstable, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New Eng- land, Clerk, being in a weak and low condition as to bodily health, yet thanks be to God, for that measure of understanding and memory that I yet enjoy, there- fore calling to mind what the servant of God says : Job 30, 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to Death and to the house appointed for all Living. I think it therefore proper for me to settle the affairs of my body and soul, that when my great change cometh, I may have only this to say, viz., to resign my soul into the hands of God, whose I am, and with whom I Desire to dwell forever, I do there- fore make and ordain this my Last Will and Testament, that is to say, In the first place I give and recommend My Immortal Soul into the hands of the Great God, My Creator and Redeemer, hoping through the Active and Passive Obe- dience of Christ my Redeemer, to Obtain forgiveness of all my sins, the Justi- fication of my person, and an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by the Holy Spirit ; and as to my body I desire it may be decently buried at the des- cretion of my Executors, hereafter named, to remain in the dust till the General Resurrection, at which time, I believe it will be seminally raised again by the Mighty Power of God, and through Grace appear like unto Christ's Glorious body ; and as to my lawful heirs of the Worldly Estate with which God hath been pleased to favor me with on Earth, My Will is that My beloved wife Mary Avery still wait upon God (as I hope she hath long done) to order all things for her who hath always been the Widow's God, as well as Judge in his holy habitation ; Psal. 68, 5; and as to my beloved children my will is that they take care above all things to get ready for a dying day; that they don't cumber themselves so about worldly things, as to neglect the better part, but Labour to get durable Riches and Riteousness, that so they may upon good ground be able to apply that word of Comfort to themselves in Psalm 27, 10, When My father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up. And as to My Worldly estate my will is that all those debts and duties as I do owe in Right and Conscience to any person whatsoever, be well and truly satisfied and paid in convenient time, after my decease, by My Executors hereafter named, and as to the Remainder of My Estate after Debts and funeral Charges paid, I give and bequeath as followeth : In the first place I give and bequeath to my well beloved wife Mary Avery (over and above what she is to have out of my Estate by my agreement with her before Marriage) the use and Improvement of my westerly bedroom and my Study appertaining thereto, and the use and Improve- ment of my Woodland on the Easterly side of the Highway that leads from Neighbor Eldreds to the Meeting-house in said Truro, these privileges for her
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so long as she Continues to be my Relict or Widow, and shall think fit to Dwell in this town.
2ndly. I give and bequeath to my beloved son John Avery, to him, his heirs and assigns forever, my silver Tankard and forty-three pounds sixteen shillings and Eight pence lawful money, Which he has already received, as may appear by a note, under his hand, to him, his heirs and assigns forever, said Note of hand in Old Tennor is three hundred twenty-cight pounds fifteen Shills : and 4d.
3dly. I give and bequeath unto my beloved son Ephriam Avery the note of land he Gave me before the year 1739, and also all the money he has Received of me, to him, his heirs and assigns forever.
4thly. I Give and bequeath to the children of my beloved Daughter Ruth Parker, deceased, namely Ruth Bishop, Jonathan Parker and Avery Parker, all the Goods and household stuff together with my negro Girl named Phillis, all which their mother received of me in her life time, to them, their heirs and assigns forever, to be equally divided among them.
5thly. I give and bequeath to my well beloved Daughter Elisabeth Draper, all the Goods and household stuff she hath already received together with my Indian Girl Sarah, who now lives with her, to her, her heirs and assigns forever.
6thly. To my son Robert Avery I have already given by deed of Gift My Interest in the Town of Lebanon in the Colony of Connecticut.
7thly. To my son Job Avery I have already given by deed of Gift My Lands in this Town of Truro My Dwelling house and buildings appertaining thereto, My Pew in the meeting house, as also my young negro man named Larned, nevertheless it is my will that my son Job take care to make out to Mary my beloved wife the Priviledges expressed to her In this my last Will and Testa- ment.
8thly. I give and bequeath to my well beloved Daughter Mary West forty pounds lawful money, which she hath already received; and my will is that Six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence lawful money to be paid to her out of My Personal Estate, to her, her heirs and assigns forever.
9thly. I give and bequeath unto my well beloved Daughter Abagail Lothrop, forty pounds lawful money, which she hath already received, and six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, to be paid to her out of my personal Estate, to her, her heirs and assigns forever.
Finally. And all the remainder of My Personal Estate I Do give to my Children above named, to be divided into nine shares, and my will is that my son John Avery have two shares, and that the children of my daughter Ruth Parker (deceased) have one share in unequal partnership among them, namely, that my Grandson Jonathan Parker (who has an Impediment in his sight) receive one half of said share and that my other two grandchildren, namely Ruth Bishop and Avery Parker, receive the other half share, equally between them, and my other six shares to my other children, above named, in Equal Divisions. Moreover I do Constitute and appoint my well beloved sons John Avery and Job Avery, to be my Executors of this my last Will and Testament, and hereby do utterly disallow, revoke and disannull all and every other former Test'mts or Wills, and bequests and Executors by me, in any ways before this time named, willed and bequeathed, Ratifiyng and Confirming this and no other, to be my last will and Testament
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In Witness thereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal this Day and year above Written.
Signed Sealed Published Pronounced and Declared by The Said John Avery, as his Last Will and Testa- ment, in presence of us the Sub- scribers.
SAMUEL ELDREDG. MOSES PAINE. BARZILLAH SMITH. NATHANIEL BREED.
Further it is My Will that my two negroes Jack and Hope, have the Liberty to choose their Master among all my Children, and they with whom they choose to live, give nothing for them, and that they shall not be sold from my children to any person Whatsoever, and this was added before I signed this Will and Testa ment.
JOHN AVERY
[FAC SIMILE OF JOHN AVERY'S SEAL .!
CHAPTER X.
HOW THEY WORSHIPED, OR LAW AND GOSPEL.
Saturday Night. The New England Sabbath. The Deacon and the Host. Going to Meeting. The Hour Glass. Long Sermons. Legislation. Pilgrim Polity. Confed- eration. Tyrants and Taxation. Whipping Post. Sunday Laws. Muskets to Meet- ing. McFingal. Matchlocks.
Fines. Quakers and Indians. Reaction. Ye Constable. Funeral Fashions. Drums. Tithing Man. Naughty Boys and long Prayers. Uprising and Downsitting. Days of Humiliation. Mr. John Lothrop. Thanksgiving. Wonder working Providence. Edward Johnson. The First Grave. Silent Habitations. God's Acre. Wm. H. Lapham. Decoration Week. A Worship- ful Spot. Sentiment and Superstition. The Benighted Traveller. Entombed. The Bewitched Captain. Southey and Tregeagle. Spiritual Visitants. Cotton Mather. Win- ter Evening Tales. The Chimney Corner. A Scared Boy. Love of the Marvellous. Old Chapman.
S ATURDAY night was the beginning of the Sabbath. Everywhere was the quiet hush that betokened the com- ing Lord's day. The Saturday night atmosphere that pervaded the house suppressed the tumultuous exuberance of youth, and early planted a reverent love for the New England Sabbath. The varied experience of the week passed in pleasant family review, till the father lifted the family Bible .-
He wales a portion with judicious care ; And, ' Let us worship God !" he says with solemn air.
In those days everybody was expected to go to meeting and stay through both meetings. Rev. Mr. Simpkins, of Yar- mouth, said : "It was the fashion for all the families to go to meeting, and he did not know of a family of respectability that did not make a practice of going regularly." Our com- ment would be upon the moral excellence of the fashion.
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It was one of those beautiful Puritan fashions that had its fountain in the best of the English head and heart. Some of the stanch men rode in the saddle, the good wife on a pillion with the baby in her lap, and the next in order in front or behind. The family horse was loaded like a drome- dary and carried as many on his back as a Germantown rock- away. One of the old deacons whose duty it was to furnish the Sacramental bread and wine, lived a long distance from the meeting-house and always rode a white horse. Every first Sabbath of the month, the deacon could be seen canter- ing up the long sandy road, with the consecr. ted jug dangling from his saddle.
Since the disestablishment of the Romish Church in Mexico, no person is allowed to carry the "host" through the streets unless in a covered carriage ; but no Government minion challenged the faithful deacon as onward he rode with a high consciousness as a king's messenger of doing a noble service. And indeed he was doing a service where kings are the humblest messengers.
It must have been a pleasant sight to have stood by and observed the people from near and far throng the sacred temple. I love to stand by the present little church on a bright summer Sabbath, in full view of the ocean on the east, and the bay on the west, both touched by white sails, tracing their courses by diverging paths, and watch the worshippers, as singly, two by two, or in families, and little groups, they seem to rise out of the hills from the east and from the west, from the north and the south, like travellers to a great city; for Sunday morning all paths lead to Church, as all roads lead to Rome.
They come up from the bridle-paths that wind among the hills and valleys, as the old Scotch Covenantors used to come up to worship among the Cartland Crags of the Highlands. Most everybody walked to meeting, and walked miles. The children's toilets soon made, they trudged off in good season, The older boys and girls regarded the coming and going together as no penance. In summer time the girls carried their shoes and stockings in their hands, to save them from
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the wear and tear of the bushes and the long sandy walk. When near the meeting-house, they left their old shoes under the trees and came into meeting with -
Shoon as black as sloe, And hose as white as snow.
Among the duties of the sexton was to turn the hour-glass. The sermon was expected to close with the last sands of the glass. How the children - perhaps not only children - watched the glass, and how they were sometimes disap- pointed, fully appears in the reports of the time. Some of the old ministers had great gifts of continuance. In Scotland, during the seventeenth century, if the pastor discoursed two hours, he was valued a zealous servant of the Lord. Forbes, an old Scotch divine who was vigorous as well as voluble, thought nothing of preaching five hours. Some of these old divines had a wig full of learning, and as freely they had received, freely they gave.
In the early days of the Colonies everything was legislated. They were less catholic than St. Paul, who would have men, in some things, a law unto themselves. It was said "the General Court made the laws, the Church made the General Court, and the clergy made the Church."
An English writer says : "The Puritans were more fanatical than superstitious. They were so ignorant of the real prin- ciples of government, as to direct penal laws against private vices, and to suppose that immorality could be stemmed by legislation." We leave the last clause of this statement on its own merits. While we freely admit the folly of over law- making, whether by the General Court of 1640 or 1880, we respectfully submit, that neither the Pilgrims nor Puritans were ignorant of the principles of government. This must be said with a poor grace of men who fought with crowns and mitres for the first principles of independency, that in 1620 proclaimed the spirit of democracy, and in 1643 con- federated the two colonies upon terms of peace and equity, making an epoch in their history. In the articles of confed- eration, entitled "The United Colonies of New England," it
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required no prophet to see the United States of America. If two colonies could be successfully confederated, why not thirteen, or thirty-six? Ignorant of the principles of gov- ernment, indeed ! They were statesmen, with a genius for government and law, who wrought with a plastic civilization, and have shaped the destinies of mankind.
The history of tyrants, of bad and weak rulers the world over, has ever been wicked and unjust laws, by which the people have suffered cruelty, oppression, and unjust taxation. However absurd some of the laws which I am about to pre- sent may now seem, we shall not fail to observe that the motive was always to make the people better and more equal, to produce a higher moral standard and a purer Christian life. Injustice, luxury, and self-aggrandizement, were the sins unpardonable in the Puritan code.
In 1635 each meeting-house had the appendages of stocks and whipping-post. As a practical illustration of the rare adaptability of the law-makers and law-keepers, it is related that the first victim of the stocks was the carpenter who built them. For charging more than the authorities regarded a fair price, Chips was put in durance till he put a satisfactory price on his work. He was hoisted on his own petard. In 1665 the town voted, "That all persons who should stand out of the meeting-house during the time of divine service, should be set in the stocks." The stocks, by Hudibras : -
There's neither iron bar nor gate : Portcullis, chain, nor bolt, nor grate : And yet men durance there abide, In dungeon scarce three inches wide, With roof so low that under it They never stand, but lie or sit.
In 1640 it was ordered that profane swearing should be punished by sitting in the stocks three times, or by impris- onment ; also, that for telling lies, a fine of ten shillings should be imposed for each and every offence, or sitting in the stocks two times. This may seem a severe punishment for the luxury of lying, but it is a marked modification on
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the old law of having the tongue pulled out. In 1665 the Court passed a law to inflict corporal punishment on all persons who resided in the towns of the Commonwealth who denied the Scriptures. It was ordered by the General Court " That whosoever shall shoot off a gun on any unnecessary occasion, or at any game, except a wolf or an Indian, shall forfeit five shillings at each shot." In 1685 an unfortunate Benedict was fined for "disorderly keeping house alone." No persons were allowed to become housekeepers till they were completely provided with guns and ammunition. Laws were enacted prohibiting the Indians to sell, lease, or give their property, without consent of government. Also pro- hibiting arms, ammunition, canoes, or horses, to be sold the Indians. They thus forestalled the modern doctrine of hold- ing the Indians as wards, and anticipated those famous reso- lutions : - " First. Resolved, that to the saints belong the spoils. Second. Resolved, we are the saints." William Chase was presented for driving a yoke of oxen about five miles on the Lord's day. Three shillings a day for mowing was regarded as excessive wages, and such as charged more than that amount were "presented." The dresses of the men and the dresses of the women were regulated by law.
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