Introduction, Index and Preface, p 1-20, p 21-40, p 41-60, p 61-80, p 81-100, p 101-120, p 121-140, p 141-160, p 161-180
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pages 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, end
__________An anecdote is told of Mr. Treat, which shows how much the excellence of his matter was injured by the badness of the manner of his delivery.
His second wife, being the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Willard of Boston, he was invited to preach in his pulpit. Mr. Willard possessed a graceful delivery, his voice was masculine and harmonious, and consequently he was generally admired.
Mr. Treat having preached one of his best sermons to the congregation of his father-in-law, in his usual unhappy manner, excited universal disgust, and several nice judges waited on Mr. Willard, and begged that Mr. Treat, who was indeed a worthy, pious man, but a wretched preacher, might never be invited into his pulpit again. Mr. Willard made no reply; but desired his son-in-law, before he left Boston, to lend him the discourse. In a few weeks after, he delivered it to his people, without any alteration. His hearers were charmed with it, and came to Mr. Willard, and requested a copy for the press. 'See the difference,' they cried, 'between yourself and your son-in-law! You have preached a sermon on the same text as Mr. Treat's; but while his is contemptible, yours is excellent.
Mr. Treat was a man of piety. He addressed his Maker with humble devotion, and his prayers were copious and fervent. It is said, that his natural temper was mild; and his conduct in domestic life, as a husband, a parent, and a master, was kind and indulgent. His manners were cheerful, his conversation pleasant, and sometimes facetious, but always decent.
It is supposed that the society for the propagation of the gospel made him some compensation for his services among the Indians, and he received a small salary from his parish of £60. It is said that, in the latter part of his life, he engaged in trade, and by this means, with the addition of a small inheritance from his father, he left a good estate to his family.
There was a remarkable snow storm at the time of his death, and the snow fell so deep that he could not be buried for many days. The Indians dug an arch through it, a quarter of a mile long, and, such was their attachment to him, that they insisted on carrying his remains on their shoulders to the grave.
Samuel Rich was here about 1665. He had a son named
Thomas. His son, John Rich, married Mary Treat, daughter of the minister, 1700. He had five sons, Robert, John, Reuben, Joshua and Moses. Their mother died 1723.
l764. A number of men were raised in this town, by order of the Court, for the service against the Indians; also £66 for the purchase of guns, and £4 for ammunition.Jonathan Sparrow was appointed and commissioned as ensign of the military company of the town.
Thomas Mulford was a freeman of the town before this period. He had four children, but the name is extinct.
Stephen Myrick and Mary Bangs were married, and had one son, Stephen.
1675. The town raised £66, 16s, 6d. to pay the soldiers against the Narragansett Indians.
In 1675 the war with Philip, who was the sachem of the Wampanoags commenced. Philip's rule extended over the whole of Plymouth county, the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod and a part of Rhode Island. Mount Hope was the seat of the chieftain.
Philip was an ambitious, shrewd and bold warrior. He designed the utter extermination of the English settlers.
The most of the tribes of Massachusetts and Rhode Island were engaged with him. Swanzey was the place where he commenced the work of death. This war was a sore calamity. It is estimated that about six hundred of the inhabitants of New England were either killed or otherwise cut off by the Indians. Twelve or thirteen towns were entirely destroyed, and about six hundred dwellings were burnt.
1676. Three hundred men were ordered to be raised by the council of war at Plymouth, and eighteen was the number required of Eastham. The whole army raised in the colonies at this time was one thousand, and different respectable historians of that day estimate the whole population of New England somewhat, differently, but from the host accounts given, it appears to have been about fifty thousand.
At this time a generous and cordial invitation was given by a committee of the Cape towns, to the inhabitants of Rehoboth, Taunton and Bridgewater, to come to them with their
moveable property, for their preservation and safely. (Dartmouth, Middleborough and Swanzey were broken up.) Suitable answers were returned, with grateful acknowledgments for that expression of kindness, but declining the proposal.
The committee of Taunton say, 'We bless God that He has given us so much room in your hearts—that you so freely tender to us a part with you in your houses, fields and provisions, at such a time, when the Lord is threatening us with bereavement of our own.
'It much comforteth us, in this day of darkness and distress, that we shall want no succor you are able to afford us. We therefore return you all serious thanks for your sincere and abundant love, beseeching the Lord still to continue and increase your peace, ability and promptness to relieve the distressed in this evil day. Nevertheless, upon our serious, and mature deliberation upon and consideration of your offer, we cannot at present comply with a motion to remove and quit our places, and leave our habitations to be a desolation, and that, because we fear, that in so doing, we be wanting to the name of God, and the interest of Christ in this place, and bewray much diffidence and cowardice, and give the adversary occasion to triumph over us, to the reproach of that great and fearful name of God that is called on us.'
Signed by Richard Williams, Walter Deane, G. Macy and William Harvey.
The reply from Rehoboth, contains similar sentiments of holy resolution, and several prudential reasons against removal, such as the danger of being observed by the enemy and cut off, and the quantity of grain which they had in the ground, and the hope of a plentiful supply from an early harvest, which they were unwilling to abandon.
Signed by Thomas Cooper, senior, Peter Burt, senior, Henry Smith, David Smith and Nicholas Peck, in behalf of the inhabitants.
The reply in behalf of Bridgewater, was given by Rev. James Keith. (New England Memorial, by Judge Davis.)
The war was an awful calamity to the colonies, but this
and the other Cape towns were in a great measure exempt from its evils. ' The greater part of those who were killed were the flower and strength of the country. There were but few families who did not lose some near relation or friend, and a great part of the inhabitants were in deep mourning, A large debt was contracted by the colonies, when their numbers, dwellings, goods, cattle and all their resources were greatly diminished. Of this debt £124, 10s. was paid by a donation from Ireland, for the relief of such as were impoverished, distressed and in necessity by the war. The proportion paid by Eastham was £236, 5s. 6d.'
'The donation from Ireland is a gratifying instance of the generous influence of Christian sympathies, and is supposed to have been procured by the exertions of Rev. Nathaniel Mather, at that time a minister of the Congregational denomination in Dublin.'
The daily pay of the officers and soldiers who served in the war in the year 1675, was as follows: (Judge Davis.)
General .................. 6s 0d Captain .................. 5 0 Commissary General 4 0 Surgeon General ..... 4 0 Lieutenant ............... 4 0 Ensign ..................... 4 0 Sergeant ................ 2 6 Corporal ................. 2 0 Soldier .................... 1 6
1676. The town raised £125, 8s. 3d. towards defraying the expenses of the war with the Indians. At this time a dispute arose between this town and Barnstable, Sandwich and Yarmouth, in reference to some public charges; and Jonathan Bangs was chosen to act in the town's behalf.
Men were appointed to take care of Mr. Treat's maintenance, so that he be not wronged. Samuel Freeman and Mr. Twining were deacons of the church. This year the town agreed to build a new meeting-house, as the old house was decayed, and was not large enough for the present number of
inhabitants; and that it should be built by way of rates on their polls and estates. Deacon Freeman, Lieutenant Sparrow, Thomas Paine and John Doane were made a committee to carry on the building, and the town entered into an agreement to bind themselves, their heirs and administrators, to furnish the means of doing it. £153, 8s. was raised for this purpose. The town also agreed that the new house should stand near the burying place. Lieut. Sparrow and Thomas Paine were appointed agents to demand and receive from the town of Sandwich £12, 16s. 6d. due to this town, and prosecute for the same if that town refused to pay that sum.
1678. The town voted, that the inhabitants of Monomoyick should pay their proportionate part towards building the meeting-house and Mr. Treat's salary, and to prosecute them for it if not paid. The inhabitants of that place, though not within the limits of Eastham, attended this meeting, and therefore were required to assist in supporting it. This was the case also with the inhabitants of the first purchasers, as far as the bounds of Yarmouth, and to the other extremity of the Cape.
This year, lands were granted and divided both to old and new comers, and the school was continued.
1680. Complaint was made that the Indians did great damage to the town's commons, by cutting pine knots (for the purpose of making tar,) and other timber. Therefore the town ordered that no Indian or Indians shall cut pine knots, or wood, or timber, on the town's commons. Eastham was the only township below Yarmouth on Cape Cod, until 1694, when the tract of land granted to the purchasers or old comers of Plymouth colony, being inhabited by a competent number of families, many of whom removed from this town, petitioned the Court for an act of incorporation by the name of Harwich, which was granted.
The settlement of Truro was also commenced by emigrants from this town.
Before churches were organized and meeting-houses were built in these places, Mr. Treat performed religious services
and parochial labors in both of them; and by a letter which he wrote to Dr. Mather of Boston, he considered the whole of the Cape below Yarmouth to be within the limits of Eastham.
Agreeably to the law, the selectmen could not require their fees to be paid until they declared their verdicts. It was ordered that they should be paid when the action was entered, and their power was so extended that they might summon witnesses from other towns. (Eastham records.)
1681. The town voted that the military company should be filled by such of the inhabitants as were able to bear arms, and that every soldier be furnished with a sword or cutlass, as well as a gun, and that a part of the company should carry their arms to meeting on the Lord's day.
A committee was chosen to proportion and divide the money among the freemen of the town, which they were to receive—it being the town's part of the money in payment for Mount Hope;—and to request Mr. Freeman, one of the deputies to the Court, to obtain and bring it with him when he should return home. (After the war with the Indians, Mount Hope, and other tracts of land, were sold, by order of the Court, to pay the expenses of war, which had been raised by a tax on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of the several towns in the colony, according to their proportions. They were now to be repaid by the proceeds of the sale of these lands, divided among them as they had furnished the means of carrying on the war. The amount received at this time by this town is not known.)
In 1683, an overseer of the Indians was appointed to determine certain causes between them, and to command their constable to serve legal processes.
One Indian in every ten was appointed overseer of nine. There were two Indian constables in the town. The Indians were required to pay taxes, and the whole body of them were called together once in each year, to hear the criminal laws read.
In 1684, Lieut. Sparrow and John Doane were appointed to receive the town's proportion of the second payment for Mount Hope, and they were authorized to divide the money among all the freemen of the town.
The census was taken, and there was found to be one hundred and one voters, or freemen, in the town, and in all, nine hundred souls.
1685. Agreed to pay ten shillings for every head of a wolf, and half that sum for young ones, which any Indian should kill; and in 1686, the town offered as a bounty twenty shillings for every head of a wolf which should be killed either by white men or Indians, ten in silver and ten in corn. At this time these wild beasts were numerous here, and did much damage in destroying cattle and sheep.
This town was required to send three grand-jurymen to the Court.
1690. The war with the Indians and French in Canada required the aid of all the towns of. the governments of Plymouth, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and this town raised £187, 19s. as their proportionable part. Jonathan Sparrow was chosen and commissioned as captain of the military company; Joseph Snow, lieutenant; and Jonathan Bangs, ensign.
The difficulties with the Indians, and the war with them still continuing, the town voted by order of the Court, to raise by a tax, on the polls and estates of the inhabitants, £46 towards defraying the expenses.
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FROM THE UNION OF THE OLD COLONY WITH MASSACHUSETTS, IN 1691, TO THE SEPARATION OF WELLFLEET, IN 1763.
Pursuant to an order of the General Court, the town expressed their unanimous opinion that a new patent should be petitioned for to their majesties the King and Queen of England, and agreed to pay their proportion of the money arising from the expenses of obtaining it.
This was an eventful period of the old colony government.
The people of the colony were extremely desirous to have their government continued as they had enjoyed it from the first; but if this privilege could not be continued to them by their majesties, they preferred to be connected with Massachusetts, rather than with New York. The agents appointed by the colonial government to apply to the English government for a new charter, were Sir Henry Ashurst, Rev. Increase Mather of Boston, and Rev. Ichabod Wiswall of Duxbury. In 1691, the General Court voted thanks to these gentlemen for their faithful services, and to Sir Henry Ashurst fifty guineas, and to Messrs. Mather and Wiswall twenty-five guineas each. This colony was included in the new charter of Massachusetts, and they became one government. It was signed October 7th, 1691. Thomas Hinckley of Barnstable was re-elected governor, and William Bradford deputy governor, by the last Court which was holden in Plymouth, in June, 1691. Taxes were again levied on the towns to pay the expenses of the war, and Eastham was required to pay £46, one half in money and the other in corn at two shillings a bushel. A company of sixty men was ordered to be raised, and four was the portion of Eastham. The selectmen were ordered to make a valuation of the estates in the town, according to certain prices. Joseph Snow and Thomas Smith were a committee to take care of the town's commons, to prevent timber and wood from being cut and sold to persons out of the place. The town mortgaged to John Freeman two islands at Billingsgate, as his security for paying £76, as their proportion of the expenses of obtaining the new charter from England. The town ordered a watch to be kept, of so many persons as the selectmen think necessary, each night. (Eastham records.)
1692. On the authority of a warrant sent to the town of Eastham, directed to the constable, from the new governor, Sir William Phipps, two representatives were chosen to serve the town in the General Court to be held in Boston, and Captain Sparrow and Ensign Bangs were chosen. Sir William Phipps arrived at Boston, with the new charter, the
14th of May this year. He issued his warrants for a General Assembly, which met the 8th of June.
Although a party was formed who opposed this charter, yet a majority of the Court wisely and thankfully accepted it; and appointed a day of public thanksgiving to God, who had granted a safe arrival to his excellency the Governor and the Rev. Increase Mather, who had industriously served the people, and brought over with them a settlement of government, in which their majesties had graciously given distinguished marks of their royal favor and goodness.
In 1693, the mackerel and other fisheries were regulated by law, and no stranger was allowed to take them without leave.
The town voted to raise £6, 5s. for ammunition; also £13, 11s. for the support of the war.
1695. A committee was now chosen to build a steeple on the meeting-house and purchase a bell, at the expense of the town. This was the first church bell used in the county, and the last in Eastham.
The town agreed that the order which was passed in 1675, for the destruction of crows and black-birds, should be continued, and that, in addition, every unmarried man in the township should kill six black-birds or three crows while he remains single;—as a penalty for not doing it, should not be married till he obeyed this order.
It was ordered and appointed that John Doane, senior, get a pair of stocks and whipping-post made for the use of the town.
It was agreed that if John Doane, senior, and his heirs would fence from the bay at Nauset to the corner of the cliff al the northern end of the valley commonly called the Farther Plumb Valley, and maintain the fence for twenty-one years, that he or they should have all the upland contained within said fence during that time. Capt. Samuel Freeman and Thomas Paine were appointed as the town's agents to confirm this agreement with Mr. Doane.
1696. It was ordered and voted by the town, that for the time to come, when any of the common lands are sold or
given by the town to any person, men shall be annually chosen to have a negative vote in the disposal of them, and if they approve of the same, they shall lay them out and bound them.
The Court of quarter sessions issued their warrant to the town of Eastham, requiring the selectmen to make a tax of £19, 5s. to defray their portion of the charges for building a bridge near Plymouth; but, considering it to be contrary to the laws of the province for the justices of the quarter sessions to require money to be raised to defray charges for this purpose out of the county, refused, and agreed to hold the selectmen harmless for not obeying this order.
1700. Difficulties arose respecting the scarcity of money, about which the town held many meetings, and petitioned the General Court to abate their taxes in part, which was granted.
The town school was continued. The town agreed to pay the schoolmaster ten pence per week for every child; and that the north part of the town might have a school, if they would pay the teacher to learn their children to read the English bible.
James Rogers and Nathaniel Freeman were accepted as townsmen.
£180 was raised to repair and enlarge the meeting-house. The meeting-house was enlarged fifteen feet, so as to make it square, and sufficiently large to seat all the inhabitants.
The town sent a petition to his excellency the Governor, to procure a protection to secure them from sending so many of their men into his majesty's service out of the town. The town clerk was deputed to present the petition.
1703 and 1704. To this time much of the upland and salt meadows remained in commons, having never been divided. Many town meetings were held, and committees were chosen to make a division of the greater portion of these lands among the proprietors. It was agreed that a large proportion of upland and hay ground belonging to the town of Eastham, should be divided to the true proprietors, their heirs and assigns, to have and to hold forever; and that a
committee of twelve men be chosen to determine the rights of proprietors, and to divide and set off the common lands and meadows to them; and that the town oblige themselves to abide by their doings; and that the expense of the division shall be paid by each one of the proprietors.
1705. In town meeting the following preamble and votes were passed: 'Whereas there is much disorder and inconvenience in the town of Eastham, in not orderly attending town meetings; also by persons disorderly and tumultuously speaking in said meetings; also by disorderly departing without leave; it is therefore ordered by this town, that whenever there shall be a town meeting, duly warned, every person qualified to vote in said meeting, and living within seven miles of the meeting-house, who shall not .mend at the time appointed, or at the time the meeting is called to order, shall be fined six pence for every such default; or shall depart, without leave of the moderator, before the meeting closes, or speaks without liberty, shall be fined the same.' (Eastham records.)
It was further directed, that some person be appointed to assist the moderator in preserving order.
The above fines were to be added by the assessors to the rates of such offending persons, and be used to defray town charges.
These orders and by-laws being voted by the town of Eastham, and sent up to the Court of quarter sessions at Barnstable, for approbation, as the law directs, were allowed by the justices in session.
Attest: William Bassett, Clerk.
The town appointed three men, Samuel Knowles, Joseph Doane and Samuel Mayo, senior, to settle the line between Eastham and Harwich. They made their report to the town that they had agreed with the town and proprietors of Harwich, that the jurisdiction of the town should forever remain as formerly, but all the land lying between the bounds of said towns should forever be improved in common between the towns of Eastham and Harwich; and that, as a consideration,
this town should pay to the proprietors of Harwich £2, 10s. annually. This report was accepted, and the selectmen were ordered to pay out of the treasury this sum. (How large this intervening tract of land was, is not determined; but it was that on which the Portmunaachet Indians lived, one half of which Harwich afterwards sold to Eastham.)The old purchasers, by their heirs, had so increased, that in 1703 there were two hundred and forty proprietors of the Township; and to them, at this time, a large part of the common lands were set off and divided, generally in the following manner, viz.
Granted by the town of Eastham, at a town meeting on the twenty-sixth day of July, 1703, to Eldad Atwood, (and the other proprietors of Eastham,) to his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, to have and to hold forever, all the meadow or hay ground lying round the neck of upland contained and comprehended within the boundaries hereafter specified, which was not comprehended in the first grant to the old proprietors, &c., and after giving the courses and bounds, &c. This grant was approved by the major part of the men appointed to have a negative in disposing of land of the town of Eastham.
The principal business of this town has ever been agriculture and the fisheries, while some have engaged in foreign voyages. For the former pursuit the soil in the middle and south parts of the town was well adapted, especially for corn and rye. Some of the land had been cleared and long improved by the natives.
A law of the Colony required all fishermen to report to the town clerk, under oath, the quantity of fish and oil which they obtained by each voyage they made; and that all persons who should find on the sea shore any wrecked vessel, or parts of such, or any other property, to report said property to the town, that the lawful owners, if known, might have it.
The town gave permission to Nicholas Paine to build a windmill on a hill near his house, which was near to the house of Deacon Ebenezer Paine.
1709. The town was presented by the Court for not having a schoolmaster, and Joseph Doane, Esq., was appointed to answer this complaint, to the general sessions of the peace at Barnstable; and it was ordered that the selectmen take special care to obtain a schoolmaster for the town of Eastham.
1710. In town meeting it was ordered, that there should be ten acres of ordinary land laid out, and so proportionably as the lands should be better or worse, to accommodate the minister at Pochet, when there should be occasion for one to settle there, and the like quantity at Billingsgate; and that there be ten acres of woodland laid out and annexed to each lot; which lots of land respectively are granted to and shall be reserved for find set apart for the benefit of the ministry, and entailed for that use forever. The town agreed to raise Mr. Treat's salary £20, making it £70 in silver money.
1711. The town laid out for all the widows in Eastham four acres of land to each.
1712. This year the town chose Joseph Doane, Esq., as their agent, to join with Jonathan Bangs, Esq., who had been chosen by the town of Harwich to determine and settle a line between the said towns, running through the tract of land which was reserved for the Indians.
Voted to raise £136 to pay the salary of the representative at the General Court, the schoolmaster, and all other town and ministerial charges.
1713. Agreed with Mr. Peter Barnes to keep the town school.
This year it was agreed by the town to repair the meetinghouse, and choice was made of Capt. Samuel Freeman and Mr. Samuel Mayo, to procure the materials and employ workmen for this purpose.
Joseph Doane, Esq., Mr. Samuel Mayo and Mr. Isaac Pepper, were appointed a committee to adopt some better plan for settling and regulating the school, for the time to come, and make returns to the town; upon which they reported, that it was their opinion that the most proper way to
settle the school for the general benefit of the town is, that the town be divided into two parts, southerly and northerly, and that the school be kept for one full year in the northerly part of the town, and then for one year in the southerly part, and so on from time to time; that the schoolmaster should be supported by the whole town, and that each part of the town should take care to settle the teacher in proper and convenient places for the general benefit of the said part of the town; and that the Town cove should be the dividing line between the northern and southern ends of the town; and those of one end shall not send their children to the other. This report of the school committee was accepted by the town of Eastham.
1714. The Indians living on the borders of Eastham and Harwich entered a complaint to the General Court, against this town, for trespassing on their lands and rights; whereupon, the selectmen, received an order of notice from said Court, that they be heard thereon, on the first Friday of the next session of the Court. A town meeting was called, and after due consideration of the premises, John Paine was nominated and chosen as their agent in behalf of the town and selectmen, to appear at the Court in their defence of this complaint. They paid their agent for his services four shillings a day for all the time he spent in this business, over and above what was allowed him for services as a representative, allowing him three days for going and the same for returning.
Nehemiah Hobart was the school-master. The town agreed to pay him £10, over and above his salary as schoolmaster, for assisting the Rev. Samuel Treat in preaching as there may be need.
1715. By-laws and orders were passed by the town, which were presented to the Court of General Sessions holden at Barnstable, to prevent cattle and horses from running at large on the town's commons. These were approved and confirmed.
William Basset, Clerk of the Court.
Rev. Samuel Treat died this year, March 18th, aged 69, having labored in word and doctrine, with great faithfulness, forty-four years.
An agreement was now made with Mr. Hobart to supply the pulpit, and perform other ministerial duties for £1 a week until a candidate could be obtained. Joseph Doane, Esq., was chosen to seek for a minister, and his expenses were paid. A Mr. Lord was obtained, but preached only a few Sabbaths, and was afterwards settled in Chatham.
1718. The question about building a new meeting-house and its location, was now agitated, £600 was voted for this object. The old house stood near the old burying-place. This place did not appear to be the most central for the whole town, and it was proposed to erect the new house in some other place.
A spot a little south of Jeremiah's gutter was proposed, but the vote being put to the meeting by the moderator, it passed in the negative.
At a meeting held February 24th, it was proposed to build two meeting-houses, one of them to be placed in the south part of the town, and the other in the north or middle part; and if the town could not lovingly agree where the dividing line should be between the two parishes, the town should make choice of a committee, out of the neighboring towns, to determine that matter; and that Mr. Osborn, to whom they had given a call to settle with them in the gospel ministry, should have the liberty to settle in which end of the town he should see cause.
It was voted by a major part of the town, that they are willing that a meeting-house should be built where the town pound now stands; (Where Mr. Jabez Sparrow now lives.) but this was not done, and the town was divided into two parishes.
Joseph Doane, Esq., Capt. Samuel Freeman, Mr. John Knowles and Nathaniel Freeman, Esq., were a committee to treat with Mr. Samuel Osborn, relating to his settlement in the ministry, and the agreement touching his salary being unanimously concluded, he was ordained Sept. 18th, 1718.
The year after Mr. Osborn's ordination, he removed to the south part of the town, and took charge of that branch of the church, which was now organized. He was a native of Ireland, and graduated at the University of Dublin.
It is said that he was a man of wisdom and virtue. He contributed much to the prosperity of the people, by introducing new improvements in agriculture, and by his example of industry and economy. He taught them the use of peat for fuel. After continuing with them about twenty years, difficulties arose between him and a part of his church, on account of the laxity of his religious sentiments, and he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical council of ten ministers and churches which was convened at Eastham, June 27th, 1738, at the desire of Joseph Doane and Nathaniel Freeman, with others, in the name of the major part of the south church. After earnest supplication to God for wisdom and direction, they were led into the public meeting-house, by the pastor of the church, and there heard those doctrinal points on account of which the brethren were aggrieved. After a full bearing the council came to the following result:
I. It appears to the council that the Rev. Mr. Osborn hath in his preaching to his people said, that what Christ did and suffered doth nothing abate or diminish our obligation to obey the law of God, and that Christ's sufferings and obedience were for himself: both parts of which, we think, contain dangerous error.
And we say, that what Christ did and suffered, doth wholly take away our own obligation to obey the law as a covenant of works, so that the law still under the gospel dispensation remains not as a law of justification, (which seems to us to be intimated in the proposition,) but as a perfect scriptural, an unerring rule of righteousness and holiness. And to assert that the sufferings of Christ, were to render him capable of sympathizing with and being a pattern of patience to his suffering saints, mentioning no other design or end thereof, is an unsafe and dangerous doctrine, subversive of one great and main end of those sufferings, viz. the satisfaction of the justice of God.
II. It hath been said and doth appear to this council that the Rev. Mr. Osborn hath, both in public and private, asserted that there are no promises in the Bible but what are conditional, which we think, also, to be an error, and do say that there are promises which are absolute and without any conditions—such as the promise of a new heart, and that he will write his law in our hearts.
III. As to the third article, that redemption is conditional and not absolute, voted by this council that this charge, in the sum of it, is sufficiently proved ; but yet inasmuch as Mr. Osborn has retracted the conditionality of it, we, therefore, don't leave it as a charge upon him.
IV. It hath been alleged, and doth appear to us, that Mr. Osborn
hath declared, that obedience is a considerable cause of a person's justification, which we think contains very dangerous error, and upon which we say, that our best works, which are our obedience, have need to be justified, neither are they good till they be justified, and therefore cannot justify us till we have the holy law of God.
VI. It hath been alleged that Mr. Osborn did assert that the Rev. Peter Clark's book on Jeremiah, 31st chap. 18th verse, from which text the doctrine was that the efficacious grace of God is necessary to conversion, was wrong and erroneous, we find that now Mr. Osborn declares that the influence of God's spirit is necessary to conversion, by which, he says, he understands the same with efficacious grace of God mentioned in the above book.
VII. We say it appears to us by sufficient evidence, that Mr. Osborn hath, from time to time, frequently used strange, obscene, erroneous and unguarded expressions, too numerous to be mentioned here, concerning God and his moral perfections, as also concerning Election, Redemption, and other great tenets of our holy faith, which expressions we judge to be contrary to that plainness, simplicity and soundness of speech which a gospel minister ought to use; and, upon the whole, it is our judgment and advice, that the Rev. Mr. Osborn cease and forbear the exercise of his ministry, and be suspended therefrom until the twenty-fifth of October next, to which this council shall be adjourned.
Whether this council met at the time to which they adjourned, for the further consideration of this matter, is not known. It is believed, however, that Mr. Osborn was never afterwards reinstated in the ministry. Whatever good qualities he possessed, they did not avail him with his people to continue him as their minister, nor with his brethren in the ministry. He had embraced the faith of Arminius, while they retained the faith of Calvin, and in consequence thought proper to dismiss him. From Eastham he removed to Boston, where he opened a private grammar school, which he continued a number of years, and died between ninety and a hundred years old.
Richard Knowles was allowed £2, 10s. for bringing Mr. Osborn's family and goods from Plymouth, where he had resided after he came over from Ireland.
The town agreed to send for three judicious men from the neighboring towns to determine where the division line should be between the parishes, and that their decision should be binding on all the inhabitants.
Mr. Joseph Lothrop and Mr. John Baker of Barnstable, and Mr. Elisha Hall of Yarmouth, were chosen.
The town voted to raise by a tax on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of the middle and south parts of the town, £600 to build two new meeting-houses.
Town meetings were held in reference to the division of the parishes, and to take measures for the erection of these houses, and also dwelling-houses for the ministers in each part; which was acquiesced in by the whole town except Billingsgate.
The middle part took measures to obtain a candidate for settlement with them; and Mr. Isaac Pepper was appointed to seek for some suitable person, who should be orthodox and of good conversation. Mr. Benjamin Webb of Braintree, was obtained, and after preaching to them a number of Sabbaths, received a unanimous call to settle with them in the ministry, to which he gave his answer in the affirmative, and was ordained 1720.
The town voted to give Mr. Webb the same salary that was paid to Mr. Osborn, which was £90, for his support and encouragement in the work of the ministry, with all the ministerial lands and meadows in the middle part of the town and lying south of Blackfish creek. Also a house, which should be his own property and estate. This was situated near the meeting-house, agreeable to his choice.
Mr. Webb was born in Braintree, in 1695, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1715. That he was a pious, learned, laborious and faithful minister of the gospel, and that he was holy and unblameable in all the ways of life, is the universal voice of tradition.
Mr. Crocker, who was the pastor of the south church in Eastham, a man of piety and virtue, and a good judge of moral and religious worth, it is said, pronounced him to be the best man and the best minister he ever knew.
As he spent his days in the uniform and faithful discharge of his ministerial duties, he made no great noise in the world abroad.
It was said by a writer of that day, that his mind was as serene as the sky in a mild evening of June, when the full moon
shines without a cloud. Name any virtue, and that virtue he practised; name any vice, and that vice he shunned. But, if any peculiar qualities marked his character, they were his humility, his gentleness and his love of God. He was not a Boanerges, but a son of consolation. His visits among his people were as beneficial as his sermons from the pulpit. He had the happy talent of giving his conversation a religious turn, and enforcing the precepts which he had taught publicly on the Sabbath. (Mass. His. Col. Vol. viii.)
The most remarkable event which took place during Mr. Webb's ministry in Eastham, in which he took part, was the declaration of the ministers in Barnstable county, against itinerant preaching. This was aimed particularly against the Rev. George Whitfield, and was printed in Boston, in 1745. They state that 'itinerant preaching tends to destroy the usefulness of ministers among their people, in places where the gospel is settled and faithfully preached in its purity; and that it promotes strife and contention; a censorious and uncharitable spirit, and those numerous schisms and separations, which have already destroyed the peace and unity, and at the same time threaten the subversion of many churches.'
To this declaration Mr. Webb subscribed his name, with nine other ministers of the county.
He died August 21st, 1746, aged 51, having labored in the work of the ministry here twenty-six years, and with good success. He was greatly beloved and respected by his people, and his death was deeply and sincerely lamented. The number added to the church cannot be ascertained.
The town was fined by the Court £20 for not having a school, and it was voted that the selectmen humbly petition his majesty's justices of the General Sessions of the peace to be holden in Barnstable, to remit or abate this fine, or order the disposition of it to the benefit, of the school in Eastham, and Mr. Samuel Knowles was chosen to present the petition and offer the reasons which existed in the case.
1719. A burying-place was laid out at the west end of the south meeting-house.
The people living at Potanumaquut were set off from the town of Harwich and annexed to this town; and they were required to pay their regular proportion of the rates of the town.
The inhabitants of the hamlet of Billingsgate, by their agents, John Doane, Esq., and Mr. Samuel Brown, sent a petition to the town, to be set off from Eastham, to become a separate township, from the bounds of Truro to the Indian brook, from thence easterly to the sea. The town refused to grant their petition.The old meeting-house was occupied by the north or middle parish till 1720, when they built a new house near the house of the present Deacon Doane. A burying-place was laid out adjoining to it, and a house was built for the use of the minister.
A public county road was laid out through the town, from the bounds of Harwich to Truro, to be forty feet wide.
At a town meeting a resolution was offered, to take in the Billingsgate parish, so as to make three precincts in the town, and maintain the ministers equally by the whole town. It passed in the negative.
1721. The General Court passed an act to issue £50,000 in bills of credit, and loan it in just proportions to the several towns in the province, according to their taxes. This was done in consequence of the great scarcity of money making it difficult for the towns to support the government.
Many meetings were held to devise the ways and means of receiving and keeping the town's proportion of this money. Mr. Isaac Pepper, one of the representatives of the town, was appointed to receive and receipt for it to the province treasury; and Joseph Doane, Esq., Capt. Samuel Freeman and Nathaniel Freeman were made the trustees of this money, to take care of and dispose of it in such manner as they should receive instructions from the town, pursuant to the act of the Court. The trustees were allowed by the town sixpence on every pound of all the money they should let out agreeably to their instructions, and the same for all they should receive in after it had been let out. This committee
were instructed to let the money out for five per cent. yearly, and no more. They were required to take good security in real or personal estate. Mr. Pepper was allowed fifty shillings for his trouble and care in bringing the money from Boston. The proportion of this town was £468, 10s.
Introduction, Index and Preface, p 1-20, p 21-40, p 41-60, p 61-80, p 81-100, p 101-120, p 121-140, p 141-160, p 161-180
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pages top, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60
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