A ' A ^— . — - c S0U1> 8 7 _____ JO — ^^= z -— — — 30 _____ m ____=£ u __-—_-. 30 _______ m 8 — -____. 'L ■ — O 7 = "t> b S r== _— ^ - 30 n y 5 ^^^= F= _______ —l 1 STAPLES An Address. AN ADDRESS IN COiiriEriORATION OF THE ORDINATION AND SETTLEMENT OF REV. JOHN HANCOCK THE PARISH OF CAMBRIDGE FARMS NOW LEXINGTON, BY REV. CARLTON A. STAPLES, November 2, 1 898. •* o R6 enclosed poem is supposed to have been written by yobn jMascarene, a Spanish student, living in the family of Dr. F>enry GClare, at Cambridge, and pre- sented to bis daughter, Lucy Clarke dare, whose daughter presented it to Lexington historical & ?& Society, 1898. T F)S poem was probably written sometime between 1800 and 1805, the date of ]VIr. Clarke's death ,& A DISSERTATION ON THE REV. JONAS CLARKE'S SEAT AT I f.XINGTON. At it's appri >a< h \ ou \ iew an dm \\ : Aide i 1 1 1 1 ending l pe bright ^i-ni beams I !■ .in scor< hing heat des< ending. \ imI very near the ti With roses tli.it when blooming •■1 .1 smell extensively ghtful .ind perfuming. Ami in tin- midst four trees that Fine rare ripes; quite auspicious, Which when to view look fresh and fair And taste the most deli< i< »US. And to ; joined An orchard large ami blowing With apples, which almost bend l>oun to the earth when gTOWine. ( >n 1 tie two rows of tie Which form a hall most lovely Where rural scenes and prospects | this walk so grovely. Whei ur view \ xtending new ii fruit ami blossoms bending, re brilliant dra : a full 1>1<" mi complection, us plainly si • ion. UQSB 'id When we consider him who made The lightning, rain and thunder, And this vast world's foundation laid From nothing; with what wonder And great delight shall we behold This last work of Creation All made in six days we are told ; Such scenes of contemplation, Must sure excite the human mind To reverence and adore Jehovah's wisdom which we find Extensive as his power. Two front rooms on the lower floor A kitchen on behind, On one side a small parlor more, An out-house to it joined. With perfect neatness smiling round No painted wood is seen, But the two front rooms papered found One pink, the other green. Some images in one are shown, The other leaves and branches ; And a floor smooth enough to learn All kinds of country dances. Those posts on which the wainscots join Arc found as smooth as glass, And furniture around each room Shines bright as polished brass. A clock stands in the keeping room Keeps time of day precisely, And 1 Ik nigh in years looks in full bloom Being rubbed up so nicely. (over) A looking glass is garnished round \\ idi evergreen quite smiling ; Like wax-work all things may be found Without one thing left soiling. the chimney piece a n Small picture hangs in vi< a rural seat With colors green and blue. ( >n one side of this chimney's made A closet stored with plate, Which nearly has it may be said A ill >zen pounds in weight. 'rho kitchen has a dresser white. Afnxt t«> it are shelves With pewter standing and so bright That two might see themselves. Under the dresser there might be seen S< ime < >pper, brass and tin Like crystal stored in brightness be S ime outside and others in. br.i^s candlesticks of different kinds Stand on the mantel | >ie< e. ir as amber may be found Without one spot ot -lease. 'The food it is exceeding -cod When set upon the table : • rmpting that I eat As mui ii as 1 am able. thing one can desire be found in this house I t one thing, the widower II ■ iny spoi AN ADDRESS I5Y Ki:v. Cari,ton j\. Staples, IN COMMEMORATION OF THE OKDIXATIOX AND SETPLKMK.X'I' OK Joi i\ Hancxxmc, N< >V. 12, 1698, Over Cambridge Farms Parish. I X < >AV LEXIN"GT( >IN~] IN THE Fihst Pakisii Church, ( I 'MTARIAX ) LEXINGTON, MASS. Nov. 2, 1898. ARLINGTON: C. S. PARKER & SON. PRINTERS. 1 rjoo. Historical Address. This evening we are to turn back the pages of history two hundred years. What are the conditions under which the people of the parish of Cambridge Farms, now Lex- ington, are living? After a long struggle to retain it, Massa- chusetts has been deprived of her colonial charter and made a Province of Great Britain. Her governor is no longer elected by the people, but appointed by royal authority. William III., of blessed memory to the Protestant heart, is king .uid legal meetings here are warned in his majesty's name. The parish, then considerably larger than the present town of Lexington in territory, contains, as supposed, hardly more than three hundred inhabitants, or from thirty to forty fami- lies. In 1698, Boston had a population of seven thousand, as stated by Cotton Mather- not twice as large as Lexing- ton to-day. This village possibly contains half a dozen dwell- ings. Originally its site was nearly all comprised in one huge grant of 600 acres held by the Pelham family, and only re- cently divided and sold in three equal tracts. Not fifty per- sons probably are living within the bounds of what is now (ailed "Lexington Centre."' < )l these are the families ol Benj. Muzzey, on the Stetson place; John Munroe, neai belli}' Mill: Joseph Estabrook, on the Plumer place, and Jonathan Poulter, in the vicinity <>l the baptist Church. These are all we cm positively identify as living within the limits of this village when John Hancock, then a young man , IIISTOKK'AI \ I •! m , .inn-, in 1697. to pir. k I) as .1 < andidati irook, re< entl) d< 1 .-, ,|,|,- .in humble, feeble folk, widely ,1 the mosl pari on lonely farms, reached carl paths cut through the woods. e pine swamps extend <>n the west and on the north of what is ii"\\ the village, and where by the Concord . the road is < .tiled •■ tin 1 i) built upon logs, probably, over .1 sunken marsh, where to-da) rdens and fields. h, in brief, are some ol the natural features of the place mil tin- youi her came, as the picture is made .mt from the public 1 The meeting house stood at the s"Uth end of the common, where the watering trough now ted a few years before probably a frame building, but of what dimensions, or style of architecture, there is no kni'" We are told that upper galleries were put in as ised. What is (ailed a " Turriott " (tur- near it where the hell was hung. Hard by were the Sabbath breakers and other evil doers, hut was kept of those put therein, much n <>f their descendants. The hell was a other church <>f Cambridge to this her four daughters the churches v ion being elder members Within the I 3 5, ar- the principal m the women, the boys sitting in the rear. thej might " by tion and er improper conduct. HISTORICA1 The people were seated according to their age, property, or importance in the community, magistrates and old peo pie having seats nearest the pulpit. The seating of the meeting house was a matter of great difficulty and deli- cacy, causing often much hard and bitter feeling, since the estimate of a person's importance made by the Com- mittee often differed materially from his own. Here it was voted that in seating they should have respect only to Real Estate, and to one head of the family, and that all the people should bring in their a.ges before a given date to the Selectmen, that the seating may be correctly done. Nothing is said of pews in the meeting-house, before the second house was erected in 17 13, when space was sold for them on the floor, each man built his own pew and families were allowed to sit together, In reseating the meeting house, from time to time, it was voted thai n .111 should be degraded, that is, be assigned to a lower place than he was occupying. But how strange and trivial this contention appears over the position of one's scat in the meeting where the people came to worship; God. The) want- ed it to indicate their standing in wealth, authority and social importance; back-woods fanners and their wives, living in a hard, poor way, strenuous to be so placed that all might know their relative position to their neighbors in age, in real estate and in social standing. There was unquestii n- ably a great respect anion- the New England Puritans for these distinctions and the) recognized (hem, even in the house of God. This respect for rank in society was ried into the college. In the earl) catalogues ol Harvard, students are arranged on thai principle. Nanus were nol printed alphabetically, nor according to scholarship, bul to i. HISTORICAL ADDRI the wealth and social position ol their parents. Sons of mag landed proprietors, merchants and ministers came ihm on the list, and aftei them the sons ol farmers, nd laborers. fohn II.uk oik could not have ligh on such .1 catalogue, since he was tin- son mbridge shoe maker, Dea. Nathaniel Hancock, liv- in tliii part ol Cambridge now known ;is Newton. (.inn- t'i preach here and looked down upon the congregation from the high pulpit, he could tell it a glance where the people stood financially and socially in respect to cull other, whethei the Bowmans were richer than the .ii the Munroes than the Reeds, or the Cutlers than the Wellingtons, or tin- Muzzeys than the Fiskes. lei us enquire, whal is known of the preacher him- Nine years before coming here he had graduated from 1 1. ii \.u.l. I he intervening time was spent in teach- ing school, preparing for the ministry and in preaching to the churches in Groton and in Medford. He s< to have ministered here foi nearly a year before his <>rdi- i and settlement. At first there was some opposition iving him a rail between the church and the parish (voting as they did separately), but finally they d in a inanimous vote in his favor, and the rdination was appointed for Nov. 2nd, 1 the change to 'in old style dating it the 13th ol Nov., just two hund day. Five chun represented by . viz: the Old iir.h in Cambridge, in Newton, »rd and in Woburn. Mr. Hancock preached his - nuel Willard, of Bos HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 7 gave him the charge, which it is to be hoped was not drawn out to the extent of his lectures on the Assembly's Shorter Catechism as published in his "Body of Divinity," which contains two hundred and fifty lectures upon that lucid statemement of Christian doctrine. Rev. Joseph Es- tabrook, of Concord, gave the Right Hand of Fellowship, and "the elders assisted by the laying on of hands." Mr. Hancock's salary was fixed at .£40. with an additional ,£40. as a settlement, or gift, to be paid during that and the following year. A sum paid as a settlement was a custom of the New England churches which unfortunately has long since been abandoned. Doubtless it had the effect of prolonging the pastorates. Since the people there- by escaped paying frequent settlements, they bore more patiently with the minister's failings and let him remain un- til the Lord called him home. Thus by retaining Mr. Hancock fifty-five years, the people saved the payment ol another settlement for more than half a century. Scarcely had Mr. Hancock been ordained before he began planning to make himself a permanent home among his people. He was settled for lite when but J7, and had a reasonable expectation of many years of usefulness and happiness to come. Accordingly he buys a lilt\ acre tract of land of 15 ii. Muzzey, a part of Pelham Manor. extending from the Common on both sides ol what IS now Hancock street for a considerable ditsance, and here he soon began the erection of a humble dwelling, ha I'd n larger than a single room in some <>l tin- spacious houses of tlu' town to-dav. Probably before the cage was fin- ished the bird to sing in it had been alread) captured, and soon after was b ought from the pan nt rtes1 to HISTORfl \l KDDI !\ the young minister's h< A min* n mini-'. n< laughter and .1 minister's inddaughter. how could it l>r otherwise than thai I i . i U should he a minister's wife, lit I" be the mothci <>l ministers, "I statesman and of merchant pru ndmother and greal grandmother of men and women distinguished in theology, in literature, in science, in philanthropy; as teachers, as physicians, and in ;ill the industries of life. The Town Clerk of Chelmsford sends iliis record. •• [ohn Hancock, of North Cambridge, and I iIm-iIi Clark, of Chelmsford, were married Pec. nth, :.' rhomas Clark." The bride's mother, Mary, was the daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkley, of Concord, who was the son of Rev. Peter Bulkley, the founder town. Who will sa) that blood does tell, when we trace from that humble home of John and Elizabeth Hancock a long line of men and women of high moral, intellectual and religious character who in so \ ways rendered grand service to the .state, the chinch and the \ arh thirt\ ministers, teachers, - and lawyers may be traced hack to were in some way connected and splendid dwellings lired to bring forth noble manho »d and womanhood and leave an influence for good that tells on ut a life of industry, ol integrity, of in- •\ maintained in the horn. 1 . thai founded l>\ [ohn and 1 - not half as comfortable a- n condition- thus cramped men and women who, for the in all departments of human HISTORICAL ADDRESS. (j activity and progress; not because the environments were coarse and mean, but because the life there was conse- crated to duty, to truth, and to God; while all thai wealth and learning, art and taste may do to refine and adorn the home counts for little and often miserably tails to create and exert any elevating influence upon society. The forming, guiding force of moral and religious lite i- not in them. But what of John Hancock's ministry during the fifty- five years of its continuance in the parish and town? What was he doing here for this period of more than half a century? Two services were held on Sunday throughout the year, with no vacation for minister or peo- ple, which means the preaching of more than 2000 ser- mons. They were generally written discourses, as I judge from an entry in his Common Place hook where he --;i\-. "preaching without MSS. and good sense seldom go to- gether."' Nor are we to think <>t these sermons as peth ill teen minute productions ''pronounced trippingbj on the tongue," hut solid, thoughtful discourses of an hour's length, upon the profoundest themes of Puritan theology, with copious applications to the stall- of the hearers. In those days they liked what the} called "a painful preacher," and they only complained when S sermons weii- \<*<< short, easily understood and left no ground lor disputa- tion during the week. Parson Hancock was ;i diligenl student, a man of wide and varied information, a care- ful reader of Harvard College library, as his notes and comments abundantly prove, preserved in hi- Common Place Book. This is a huge mass of extracts and re- flections in his hand-writing, beginning when a college student and extending to near the close of his life. Ihe\ i HISTORIC Al M)DKI .in octavo vol • "i 5O0 closel) written pa filled i" the lasl line with \'ev> exceptions. It contains information upon a multitude « » t" - 1 1 1 - 1 med from the i. 1.I1 ig .in I experience ol .1 long life. It is a remarkable the mind of the 111. in ;iml revealing his habits and charactei mon full) Mian anything besides. II ■ .ire Science, Philosophv, Theology, Medicine, the phenomena "t nature, ami of animal life, a thousand l>i ictical matters relating t'> the farm, the household, the church ami the state, interspersed with scraps <>t" history, biography, the sayings of greal men, stories ami pungent epigrams, all carefull) ami systematical!) arranged under proper headings. Probabl) fiorn these readings ami re- ins, he drew the subjects ami illustrations <»i' his sermons. Ii -■'. Ik- must have been a rare preacher for those days. \,,i ime "I the •■ dr\ as dust " sort, i man) were, but a preacher who had something interest- ing to sa\ that had relation t<> human life around him, — knowledge wholesome and good, — thought that quickened ami enlarged thought, — that made a man more <>l a man t' 'i km i\\ ing him. I'hi- town once voted thai "no writing of a secular con- cernment should be pul up at the meeting house for the ead on Sunday." As we read the old sermons •t 1 hundred and fiftj years ago, or try to read them, we are impressed with the idea that something like this must have stared the minister in the face as he stood in the pulpit, Nothing that touches the pressing, vital in- terests of this world to-,l.i\ must be spoken here.'" Evi- dent!) John Hancock stood in no tear «»t" such an admonition. N01 was he that kind of"a preacher. He had the Bap and vigor of real lite. He was a think- HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 1 l ing, growing man as long as he lived, and so awakened thought and life in the people. A deeply religious man, an earnest, faithful Christian, a tireless worker for the up- building of the church, a strict disciplinarian in guard. ing its morals and bringing offenders to the bar of confession and repentence. Yet he was no bigot and held no ecclesiastical domination over the people. The subject of his sermon at the ordination of his son Ebenezer .^ his colleague, is "Ministers are the People's Helpers," and the first point is, ministers have no dominion over men's faith, but they are helpers of their joy. "Let us all be thankful," he says, "that we are delivered from a domineering and tyrannical clergy." And again, "the charity of some is, 'to damn all the world but themselves.'" " Biblical criticism " did not originate in our day, as the Common Place Book of John Hancock plainly shows. Some of the difficult questions of interpretation he boldly grappled two hundred years ago. Take this disc ussi< >n oj the Noachian Deluge. "How was it possible," he asks, "if the flood was universal, for water enough to have fallen in forty days to have covered the tops of the highest mountains?" He then makes a mathematical calculation showing that it must have taken more than fort) years, and then he asks, "What became of all that additional water? But if it was local, confined to Judea, what use was there in building the ark to save Noah and hi> family?" However, like many other wise men, he leaves the problem unsolved. Some of the pithy sayings and proverbs recorded are very bright. Thus, he says. -War is a fire Struck in the devil's tinder box." "Afflictions are the whetstone ol I • Ills |i IRK \l \M>II prayer." " Some nun will marr) then children I i golden trough." He discusses questions ol casuistry with much common sense. Thus, undei the head ol mar- he asks, "Is it lawful t"i .in educated Protestant woman to marr) .1 Roman Catholic, ii he agrees nol to disturb her religion ? Ii would nol be sinful for her t<> marr) .1 pagan, no more to marr) .1 Catholic, especially when- better is n<>t to be had." I low to deal with a cross husband is illustrated by the example ol .1 worthy Christian woman who had such an affliction to When asked how it was that she managed t" live pi ably with him, she replied that when he cunt- home* very cross she was as pleasant and agreeable to him as pos- sible, a recipe that would no doubt be equally efficacious in similai cases to-day. These sim] ids gathered from the Common Place Book show thai John Han not a theological or ecclesiastical fossil. l>ut a man oi real flesh and blood, with a warm, beating heart, a man in close touch with humanity in its manifold expres- sion and experience; a man who was abreast of the knowledge md progress of his time. Of his preachii printed sermons are preserved in the Harvard library, notabl) one before Gov. Shute and the General Court, in -. entitled '• Rule Benefactors of the People." The style is simple and direct, free from much ornament. it tempt at rhetorical display. The truth is plainly spoken. Magistrates and legislators are told how they ma) be a bli 1 the people by an example of 1 nty and piety, by devotion to the public weal, by cherishing the schools, the college and the church: with admirable to the electors as well as to the elected. — much HISTORICAL ADDRESS. '3 of it as pertinent to rulers and voters of to-da) as of those of a hundred and seventy years ago. It is no labored exposition of scripture texts and abstract doc- trines, but a forcible urging home upon the hearers ol their duties as rulers, citizens and Christians, terse, pun- gent, practical preaching that they would be better for hearing and heeding. The sermon would come within the limit once declared by a good judge to be the propel one for a religious service. He said " Let it he an hour. with a leaning to mercy." But the sermon that ap] most pleasing and impressive is that ahead) alluded to at the ordination of his son, a young man of remarkable promise, cut off from his work with his father here in 1739, after five years of great usefulness. It has a pecu- liar interest and value, however, from the fact that there is an introduction, or " preface," addressed to his people, giving a glimpse of life in Lexington in 1735. a hundred and sixty years ago. hirst he speaks of the km. shown to himself and the members of his family during the thirty-two years of his ministry, a respect and kindness which he has observed is sometimes wanting in other places. The inhabitants of this town, he says, are an industrious and thriving people. There are man) senilis, savory and spiritual Christians among them. There are no drinking clubs or companies that have theil appointed times and places to meet ami drink and game and spend their precious time, as 1 know ol. II then- be, I I that such of you as are under the oath ol God will dis- perse them. The rising generation have formed a societ) and hold a religious meeting <>n the evening aftei the Sabbath, and it is joyfully increasing. \ pleasing picture 1 I HISTORK \l \MMI ol the relations of pastoi and people and ol thi (.us treatment ol him in settling his son as his assistant, with the .ulilitiun.il salarj ed foi his support. It is doubtful it .1 bettei reporl could l><- made to-day of the moral condition ol Lexington, notwithstanding it has sis ministers instead "l one. Bui that shows how much more difficult it is to instruct and influence the people ol to- day than those of .1 century and .1 hall The title ol Bishop, generally applied t'> Mr. Hancock, indicates the position he held in the respect of the 1 and the laity as the counsellor and friend of all. It was no assumption of ecclesiastical or dogmatic authority on Ins pan, Imt an honor awarded him as ,i wise adviser ami pacificator in all church difficulties, as the senior minister ol the county for more than thirty years, and the moderator of church councils. So great was the con- fidence in his wisdom that it is said his parishioners seldom engaged in any new enterprise without asking Ins advice. Town quarrels and disputes over pom lines were settled peaceably by his decision as [.■ what justice and equity required, so that for many years there were no appeals to the courts from the people of Lex- ington. What parson Hancock said ought to he done, was done. I lis word was law as well as gospel. Members of the church were held to a strict account for all violations ■ ■I chastity, of temperance, of honesty, of truthfulness, and offenders were obliged to stand up before the congregation and make confession of their wrong doing and ask *to he en. Many such rises are recorded in the church hook; some anion- the most wealthy and prominent of hi.s parishioners. He said to the transgressor, you have done HISTORICAL ADDRESS. '5 an unjust, an impure, or an unkind thing, and you musl repent of it, must come before the people and say so, and promise to do right in time to come. It was done by high and low, rich and poor. Was it the power of fear, or the inllu- ence of love, that held strong men and women under this stern rule? I cannot say, but certain it is that he did it. But such publicity given to open and secret sins now, 1 feai would soon break up the churches and disrupt society. But there is another phase to John Hancock's character which must not be overlooked. He was a genial, compan- ionable, loveable man, fond of pleasantry and wit, a _ story-teller, and not above enjoying or perpetrating a joke. Dr. Appleton, in his funeral sermons on the Sunday folio Mr. Hancock's death, speaks of him as cheerful and tious ; so much so as sometimes to startle and shock the soberer brethren. But this endeared him all the more t<> his parishioners and made him a welcome guesl in tin n \\< a man in sympathy with the humble people around him, entertained by their homely wit and wisdom, who made himself one with them in their sorrows and joys. Me was given to hospitality, says Dr. Applcton, and his house was the resort of people of various characters. He adds that ministers of every age were fond of his company, which proves that in spite of their harsher theology and sternei manners, ministers of that day were much like ministers oi this day, — fond of one who tells a good stor) and lightens up the somber hues of life with cheerfulness and laughter. These facts make creditable some traditions ol Mi Han cock related by Theodore Parker, in a lettei oi Ins found in Dr. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit He says that in his old age some people wished to hav< i (■ HISTOKICAI VDDR1 ;i|)|)itiiiiril in the church to assisl him in his duties and two "I the deacons waited upon him t'> propose the matter. Hearing them through he said I suppose you would be willing to accepl the office yourselves. We would be will- ing, was the reply. Bui do you know what elders are required to do? No, bul we would be glad to learn. Well, they are to groom, saddle and bridle the minister's Ik. isc when he wislxs t<> ride, bring it to the door and hold the stirrup for him to mount, and when he goes to other towns on ministerial duties to i mpan) him and pay the expenses. This was enough; they departed and nothing more was said about appointing elders to assist their minister. And again, we have the story of Ids call upon the family of a wealthy parishioner when the wife asked him if he would partake of some refreshment, to which he readily assented. Placing before him her largest and best cheese, with other things, she hade him help himself. "But madam." he asked, "where shall I cut this fine chees "Anywhere you please, sir." was the answer. "Well, then, I will cut it at home." and accordingly he carried it away with him. < )n one occasion, meeting a parishioner, he said. "Brown, 1 hear that you and your neighbor are quarreling over that boundary line. Now go and bring him out there with both your deeds and let us settle that matter at once." It was done, and looking the land over with the deeds before him. he decided where the line ought to run and fixed the hounds accordingly. Both submitted to his decision; they had implicit confidence in his judgment and his impartial wisdom. Such facts .\nd stories bring vividly US John Hancock as he was. a man revered and : by his people, broad-minded, kind-hearted, more ready HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 17 to serve than to be served, the promoter of peace in the community, the helper of the people's joy. I cannot think of him as a stern, dogmatic, opinionated, unapproachable Puritan priest, lording it over the faith and the conscience of the people, but as a cheerful, genial, whole-souled Christian minister, striving to do the Master's will in the Master's spirit, a man of good learning and fair intellect- ual ability, but also of a good conscience and a tender heart. But what of his theology, it may he asked? No doubt it was like that of all New England ministers of that period. Calvinistic, but of the milder sort, with "a strong leaning towards mercy." In his sermons, so far as I have read them, there is no hard, dogmatic presentation ol the terrors of the law on the " Ipse dixit " of am 1 tical authority, so much as an appeal to reason, to conscience to the spiritual nature and the law of duty and ol love to what most becomes man as Cod's child, as Christ's brother, and as the heir of immortal life. As a preacher he was like that famous Connecticut divine who, when asked b) a young brother what was the secret of his great si 1 • and of his own failure said, " In fishing for souls. 1 bail the hook very carefully and let il down gentl} before the fish, but you fish with a bare hook and throw il at I hem saying, 'bite, or be damned.'" John Hancock's was the gen tie, winning way of love; of good sense, and not ol force aid terror. And so measured by the standard ol elevating in fluence and of a vigorous church life, his tninistrj was a true success. With him the preaching ol dogma was in cidental and subordinate to the preaching ol worth) lite and Christian character. Noble manhood and womanl i X tICAL A l>i>r helpful deeds, .1 faithful, loving spirit, were the vital mat- rathei than speculative doctrines and the li.u'id ob ance ol church forms. It is said thai he showed no wan- in- of his intellectual and spiritual vigor in the closing . of his long ministry. Greal sorrows overshad< him. His youngest son. Ebenezer, from whose association in the pastorate he had expected support and comfort in Ids old age, was soon taken away. His oldesl son. John. pastor of the church in Quincy, and father of the future I rnoi [ohn, soon followed. Thomas, the princely mer- ehant of Boston, alone survived to cheer the declining years of his parents. lie had enlarged the humble dwelling where their happy married life began and all their children were horn, and he sent from his ware - houses whatever was needful for their comfort when the depreciated currency made the salary very meagre. The farm was transferred to him, relieving them from anxiety and trouble, and a negro servant was bought and presented by the town to minister to their needs. Half a century passed away and still the venerable pastor bore up and steered right onward, never losing a jot of heart and hope to the last. The people said he never preached better than on the Sunday, two days before his death, when his text was. "Wist ye not that I must be about my father's busini The i.-\u\ came December 5th, 1752. He died, no doubt, as he desired, with his harness on and his face to the foe, fighting for the right and the good. Immediately a town meeting was called to see what should be done to provide for "the funeral of our beloved pastor." The sum of ^416 < ». 1'. was voted and every preparation made to give his body hon- orable burial. Mourning rings and badges were distributed HISTORICAL ADDRESS. [g and a brick grave made for the venerable form where it was laid, while a great multitude gathered around weep- ing for him whom they should behold on earth no more. In the old burying ground, a quiet and beautiful spot, where the dust of his congregation reposes, in .1 tomb with wife and son and many grandchildren, lies all that is mortal of Rev. John Hancock, -a little handful of dust, after one hundred and forty-six years. But is that all which remains from a life of more than four score years; and a ministry here of more than half a century; from troubles and sorrows patiently borne, truth faithfully sought and boldly proclaimed, prayers for light and guidance from a struggling, trusting soul? Ah no, that cannol It. He was ripened here for nobler service of God and man in the life beyond. Hundreds, yea thousands, ha reached by influences for good that have gone out from that humble home of John and Elizabeth Hancock, from that long ministry of faith and hope and love, from that life of high aims and good works "hid with Christ in Cod." This is a better town, a nobler Commonwealth, a more glorious nation for the family John Hancock founded here, and the souls that he instructed, guided and trained to act well their part and help build up the kingdom ol Cod in the world. And so it is fitting that on this • anniversary of his settlement over this church and thi town, his name should be recalled and honored here, that his work and his life may be held in grateful 1 eiiinnb: .. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Ilarhara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series lU-^j AA