"The History of Lynn including Nahant"
by Alonzo Lewis, - The Lynn Bard

Transcribed and submitted
by Shaun Cook

To help transcribe or submit information, pleasee-mail Shaun Cook.

Chapter IV

Character and Religion of the first settlers - Church established at Lynn - Life of Rev. Stephen Bachiler - Poquanum, Sagamore of Nahant, murdered - Thomas Dexter punished - Mill built - Wood's description of Lynn - Montowampate dies - Hon. John Humfrey arrives - Great Storm - New Inhabitants - Rev. Samuel Whitting settled - Church Covenant - 1632 to 1636

To what famed college we our vicar owe,
To what fair country, let historians show,
But let applause be dealt in all we may,
Our priest was cheerful, and in season gay.
-Crabbe.


     The great body of the first settlers of Massachusetts were members of the Church of England. After they had gone aboard the ships, they addressed a letter 'To the rest of their brethren in and of the Church of England,' in which they say: 'We desire you would be pleased to take notice of the principals and body of our Company, as those who esteem it our honor to call the Church of England, from whence we rise, our dear Mother: and cannot depart from our native country where she specially resideth, without much sadness of heart, and many tears in our eyes; ever acknowledging that such hope and part as we have obtained in the common salvation, we have received it from her bosom.' Prince, who stands in the first rank of our historians, says: 'They had been chiefly born and brought up in the national Church, and had, until their separation, lived in communion with her; their ministers had been ordained by her bishops, and had officiated in her parish churches, and had made no secession from her uintil they left their native land.' The author of the Planter's Plea, printed in 1630, says: 'It may be with good assurance maintained, that at least three parts out of four, of the men there planted, are able to justify themselves to have lived in alconstant course of conformity unto our Church government.' Morton , in his Memorial says, when the ministers were accused, 'They answered for themselves; they were neither separatists nor anabaptists; they did not separate from the Church of England, nor from the ordinances of God there; and the generality of the people did well approve of the ministers answer.'  Backus, who had no partiality for the Church, but who could, nevertheless, speak the truth, says: 'The governor and company of the Massachusetts colony held communion with the national church, and reflected on their brethren who separated from her.' Mr. Hubbard, who was well acquainted with many of them, says: 'They always walked in a distinct path from the rigid separatists, nor did they ever disown the Church of England to be a true church.' The puritans of Plymouth colony, were the 'rigid separatists,' and they continued a separate government until the year 1692. Some historians have confounded these facts, and thus misled their readers.
     Among the early settlers of Lynn were some persons of high reputation, and most of them appear to have been men of good character, and of comfortable property. There is no evidence that any of them had abandoned the Church, or been persecuted for their opinions, with the exception of the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, and the few persons in his connection. Governor Winthrop, who came over with them, begins his journal on 'Easter Monday,' which Mr. Savage says was 'duly honored;' and it is not until nearly five years after, that we catch a glimpse of his Puritanism, when he begins to date on the 'eleventh month.'

1632.   For the first three years, the people of Lynn had no minister, but some of them attended church at Salem, and others had meetings for prayer and exhortation. The Rev. Stephen Bachiler, with his family, arrived at Boston on Thursday, the fifth of June, after a tedious passage of eighty-eight days. He came in the ship William and Francis, Captain Thomas, which sailed from London on the ninth of March. He immediately came to Lynn, where his daughter Theodate, wife of Christopher Hussey resided. He was seventy-one years of age. In his company were six persons who had belonged to a church with him in England; and of these he constituted a church at Lynn, to which he admitted such as desired to become members, and commenced the exercise of his public ministrations on Sunday, the eighth of June, without installation. He baptized four children, born before his arrival; two of whom, Thomas Newhall and Stephen Hussey, were born the same week. Thomas, being the first white child born in Lynn, was first presented; but Mr. Bachiler put him aside, saying, 'I will baptize my own child first' - meaning his daughter's child.
     The church at Lynn was the fifth in Massachusetts. The first was gathered at Salem, August 6, 1629; the second at Dorchester, in June, 1630; the third at Charlestown, July 30, 1630, and removed to Boston; the fourth at Watertown on the same day; and the fifth at Lynn, June 8, 1632. The first meeting-house was a small plain building, without bell or cupola, and stood on the northeastern corner of Shepard and Summer streets. It was placed in a small hollow, that it might be better sheltered from the winds, and was partly sunk into the earth, being entered by descending several steps.
     In the General Court on the ninth of May, 'A proposition was made by the people that every company of trained men might choose, their own captain and officers; but the governor, giving them reasons to the contrary, they were satisfied without it."
     On the fourteenth of June, as Captain Richard Wright was returning from the eastward, in a vessel, with about eight hundred dollars' worth of goods on board, one of the crew, when off Portsmouth, proceeded to light his pipe; but was requested to desist, as there was a barrel of powder on board. He replied that 'he should take one pipe if the devil carried him away.' The boat and the man, says Winthrop, were presently blown to pieces; but the rest of the crew, though some of them were drunk and asleep, escaped.
     Governor Winthrop, in his journal, August fouteenth, remarks: 'This week they had, in barley and oats, at Sagus, about twenty acres good corn, and sown with the plough."
     On the fourth of September, Richard Hopkins, of Watertown, was arraigned for selling a gun and pistol, with powder and shot, to Montowampate, the Lynn sagamore. The sentence of the Court was that he should 'be severely whippt, and branded with a hot iron on one of his cheekes.' One of the Saugus Indians gave the information, on promise of concealment, for his discovery would have exposed him to the resentment of his tribe.
     Captain Nathaniel Turner was chosen, by the General Court, 'constable of Saugus for this year, and till a new be chosen.'
     In consequence of a suspicion that the Indians were conspiring the destruction of the whites, the neighboring sagamores were called before the governor on the fourteenth of September. The readiness with which they appeared, evinced their friendly disposition.
     Mr. Bachiler had been in the performance of his pastoral duties about four months, when a complaint was made of some irregularities in his conduct. He was arraigned before the Court at Boston, on the third of October, when the following order was passed: 'Mr. Bachiler is required to forbeare exercising his giftes as a pastor or teacher publiquely in our Pattent, unlesse it be to those he brought with him, for his contempt of authority, and until some scandles be removed.' This was the commencement of a series of difficulties which agitated the unhappy church for several years.
     October 3. 'It is ordered, that Saugus plantation shall have liberty to build a ware upon Saugus Ryver; also they have promised to make and continually to keepe a goode foote bridge, upon the most convenient place there.' This wear was chiefly built by Thomas Dexter, for the purpose of taking bass and alewives, of which many were dried and smoked for shipping. It crossed the river near the iron-works. The bridge was only a rude structure of timber and rails.
     'It is further ordered, that no person shall take any tobacco publiquely, under pain of punishment; also that every one shall pay one penny for every time he is convicted of taking tobacco in any place."
     On the second of November, a vessel, commanded by Captain Pierce, and loaded with fish, of which Mr. John Humfrey was part owner, was wrecked off Cape Charles, and twelve men drowned.
     November 7. 'It is ordered that the Captaines shall train their companyes but once a monethe."
     'It is referred to Mr. Turner, Peter Palfrey, and Roger Conant, to sell out a proportion of land in Saugus for John Humfrey, Esqr.' This land was laid out at Swampscot. Mr. Turner was also one of the committee to settle a difference respecting the boundary line between Cambridge and Charlestown.
     In the month of December, a servant girl, in the family of the Rev. Samuel Skelton, of Salem, coming to see her friends at Lynn, lost her way, and wandered seven days. Mr. Winthrop says, 'All that time she was in the woods, having no kind of food, the snow being very deep, and as cold as at any time that winter. She was so frozen into the snow some mornings, as she was one hour before she could get up.' Mr. Wood says, 'The snow being on the ground at first, she might have trackt her own footsteps back again; but wanting that understanding, she wandered, till God, by his speciall Providence brought her backe to the place she went from, where she lives to this day.'

     1633. In the month of January, this year, Poquanum, the sagamore of Nahant was unfortunately killed. Several vessels having been to the eastward in search of some pirates, stopped on their return at Richmond's Isle, near Portland, where they found 'Black William,' whom they hanged in revenge for the murder of Walter Bagnall, who had been killed by the Indians, on the third of October, 1631. Mr. Winthrop says that Bagnall 'was a wicked fellow, and had much wronged the Indians.' It is not certain that Poquanum had any concern in his death; on the contrary, Governor Winthrop tells us that he was killed by "Squidraysett and his Indians." Thus terminated the existence of a chief who had welcomed the white men, and bestowed benefits on them.
     In the course of a few months, Mr. Bachiler had so far succeeded in regaining the esteem of the people, that the Court, on the fourth of March, removed their injunction that he should not preach in the colony, and left him at liberty to resume the performance of his public services.
     At the same Court, Mr. Thomas Dexter was ordered to 'be set in the bilbowes, disfranchised, and fined XL for speaking reproachful and seditious words against the government here established.'  The bilbows were a kind of stocks, like those in which the hands and feet of poor Hudibras were confined.
          --' The Knight
          And brave squire from their steeds alight,
          At the outer wall, near which there stands
          A Bastile, made to imprison hands,
          By strange enchantment made to fetter
          The lesser parts, and free the greater.
     One of these elegant and commodious appendages of the law, was placed near the meeting-house; where it stood the terror and punishment of all such evil doers as spoke against the government, chewed tobacco, or went to sleep in a sermon two hours long. However censurable Mr. Dexter may have been, his punishment was certainly disproportioned to his fault. To be deprived of the privileges of a freeman, to be exposed to the ignominy of the stocks, and to be amerced in a fine of more than forty dollars, show that the magistrates were greatly incensed by his remarks. If every man were to be set in the bilbows, who speaks against government, in these days, there would scarcely be trees enough in Lynn woods to make stocks of. The magistrates of those days had not acquired the lesson, which their successors have long since learned, that censure is the tax which public men must pay for their adventitious greatness.
     On the fourth of March, Mr. Nathaniel Turner was chosen by the General Court, 'Captaine of the military company att Saugus.'
     Captain Turner gave ten pounds 'towards the sea fort,' built for the defense of Boston harbor. Captain Richard Wright gave '400 feet 4 inch planke,' for the same purpose.
     Mr. Edward Howe was fined twenty shillings, 'for selling stronge waters, contrary to order of Court.'
     At a town meeting on the twelfth of July, the inhabitants made a grant to Mr. Edward Tomlins, of a privilege to build a corn-mill, at the mouth of the stream which flows from the Flax pond, where Chase's mill now stands. This was the second mill in the colony, the first having been built at Dorchester, the same year. At this time, the pond next above the Flax pond was partly a meadow; and some years after a dam was built and the pond raised by Edward Tomlins, from whom it was called Tomlins's pond. In reference to this mill, we find the following testimonies, given June 3, 1678, in the Essex Registry of Deeds.
     'I, George Keaser, Aged about 60 yeare, doe testifte, that being at a Towne meetinge in Linne meeting house many yeares agoe, mr. Edward Tomlins made complaint then to the Towne of Linne, that there was not water enough in the great pond next to the Towne of Linne to serve the mill to grind theire grist in the sumer time, and he desired leave of the Towne to make a dam in the upper pond to keep a head of water against the height of sumer time, that soe he might have a suply of water to Grind their Grist in the drought of sumer. And the Towne of linne granted him his request, that he would make a dam there, where the old trees lay for a bridge for all people to goe over, insteed of a bridg.'
     'This I, Clement Coldam, aged about 55 years, doe testifie, that the grant of the old mill was in July ye 12, 1633, to Edward Tomlins, which was the second mill in this colony; and after the Towne saw that the mill could not supply the Towne, they gave leave to build an overshoot mill upon the same water; with a sluice called by the name of the old sluce, being made by Mr. Howell, the second owner of the mill; and then Mr. Howell did sell the same mill to John Elderkin; and John Elderkin did sell it to mr. Bennet, and mr. Bennet did sell it to Goodman Wheeler, and Goodmanl Wheeler sould it to John Ballard, and John Ballard sold it to Henry Rhodes. And this I testifie that the water to supply the mill with, was granted to the mill, before any Meddow in the Towne was granted to any man, wee mowing all comon then. And this I testifie, that I kept the key of the old sluce for mr. South, which is since about 27 or 28 yeares agoe.'
     Edward Richards testified that Mr. Tomlins 'was not to stop or hinder the alewives to go up to the great pond.'
     The following description of ancient Saugus and Nahant is extracted from ' Nevv Englands Prospect,' written this year by William Wood of Lynn, and which he says was undertaken, 'because there hath been many scandalous and false reports past upon the country, even from the sulphurous breath of every base ballad monger.'

     'The next plantation is Saugus, sixe miles northeast from Winnesimet. This Towne is pleasant for situation, seated in the bottom of a Bay, which is made on one side with the surrounding shore, and on the other with a long, sandy Beach. This sandy beach is two miles long at the end, wnereon is a necke of land called Nahant. It is sixe miles in circumference, well wooded with Oakes, Pines and Cedars. It is beside, well watered, having beside the fresh Springs, a great Pond in the middle, before which is a spacious Marsh. In this necke is store of good ground, fit for the Plow; but for the present it is only used for to put young Cattle in, and weather Goates, and Swine, to secure them from the Woolues; a few posts and rayles, from the low water markes to the shore, keepes out the Woolves, and keepes in the Cattle. One Blacke William, an Indian Duke, out of his generosity, gave this place in generall to this plantation of Saugus, so that no other can appropriate it to himselfe.
     'Vpon the South side of the Sandy Beach, the Sea beateth, which is a true prognostication to presage stormes and foule weather, and the breaking up of the Frost. For when a storme hath been, or is likely to be, it will roare like Thunder, being heard sixe miles; and after stormes casts up great stores of great Clammes, which the Indians, taking out of their shels, carry home in baskets. On the North side of this Bay is two great Marshes, which are made two by a pleasant River, which runnes between them. Northward up this river goes great store of Alewives, of which they make good Red Herrings; insomuch that they have been at charges to make them a wayre, and a Herring house to dry these Herrings in; the last year were dried some 4 or 5 Last (150 barrels) for an experiment, which proved very good; this is like to prove a great inrichment to the land, being a staple commodity in other Countries, for there be such innumerable companies in every river, that I have seen ten thousand taken in two houres, by two men, without any weire at all saving a few stones to stop their passage up the river. There likewise come store of Basse, which the English and Indians catch with hooke and line, some fifty or three score at a tide. At the mouth of this river runnes up a great Creeke into that great Marsh, which is called Rumney Marsh, which is 4 miles long, and 2 miles broad, halfe of it being Marsh ground, and halfe upland grasse, without tree or bush; this Marsh is crossed with divers creekes, wherein lye great store of Geese and Duckes. There be convenient Ponds, for the planting of Duck coyes. Here is likewise belonging to this place, divers fresh Meddowes, which afford good grasse; and foure spacious Ponds, like little Lakes, wherein is good store of fresh Fish, within a mile of the Towne; out of which runnes a curious fresh Broocke, that is seldom frozen, by reason of the warmnesse of the water; upon this stream is built a water Milne, and up this river come Smelts and frost fish, much bigger than a Gudgeon. For wood there is no want, there being store of good Oakes, Wallnut, Cedar, Aspe, Elme. The ground is very good, in many places without trees, and fit for the plough. In this place is more English tillage than in all New England and Virginia besides; which proved as well as could be expected; the corn being very good, especially the Barley, Rye and Oates.
     'The land affordeth to the inhabitants as many varieties as any place else, and the sea more; the Basse continuing from the middle of April to Michaelmas (September 29) which stayes not half that time in the Bay; (Boston Harbor) besides, here is a great deal of Rock cod and Macrill, insomuch that shoales of Bass have driven up shoales of Macrill, from one end of the sandy Beach to the other; which the inhabitants have gathered up in wheelbarrows. The Bay which lyeth before the Towne, at a lowe spring tyde will be all flatts for two miles together; upon which is great store of Muscle banckes, and Clam banckes, and Lobsters amongst the rockes and grassie holes. These flatts make it unnavigable for shippes; yet at high water, great Boates, Loiters, (Lighters) and Pinnaces of 20 and 30 tun, may sails up to the plantation; but they neede have a skilful Pilote, because of many dangerous rockes and foaming breakers, that lye at the mouth of that Bay. The very aspect of the place is fortification enough to keepe of an unknowne enemie; yet it may be fortified at little charge, being but few landing places thereabout, and those obscure.'
     Of the health of Lynn, Mr. Wood remarks: 'Out of that Towne, from whence I came, in three years and a half, there died but three; to make good which losses, I have seene foure children Baptized at one time.' Prefixed to his book is the following address, written by some one in England, who signs himself s. w.
          'Thanks to thy travel and thyself, who hast
          Much knowledge in so small room comptly placed,
          And thine experience thus a mound dost make,
          From whence we may New England's prospect take,
          Though many thousands distant; therefore thou
          Thyself shall sit upon mount praise her brow.
          For if the man who shall the short cut find
          Unto the Indies, shall for that be shrined,
          Sure thou deservest then no small praise who
          So short cut to New England here dost shew;
          And if than this small thanks thou get'st no more
          Of thanks, I then will say, the world's grown poor.
     The 'curious fresh broocke' which Mr. Wood notices, is Strawberry brook; which is kept warm by the numerous springs beneath the pond in which it originates, and by its constant flowing for the supply of several mills. Mr. Robert Mansfield, who lived near its source, told me that he had never seen it frozen for more than seventy years.
     A tax, made by the General Court, on the first of October, will show the relative wealth of the several towns. The apportionment was, to Dorchester, 80 pounds; to Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge, Watertown, and Roxbury, each, 48 pounds; Lynn, 36; Salem, 28. At several assessments, Lynn was in advance of Salem.
     Such great quantities of corn having been used for fattening swine, as to occasion a scarcity, the Court ordered, on the fifth of November, 'That no man shall give his swine any corn, but such as, being viewed by two or three neighbors, shall be judged unfit for man's meat; and every plantation may agree how many swine every person may keep.'
     The Court ordered, that every man, in each plantation, excepting magistrates and ministers, should pay for three day's work, at one shilling and sixpence each, for completing the Fort in Boston harbor.
     The ministers of Lynn and the western towns were in the practice of meeting at each other's houses, once in two weeks, to discuss important questions. The ministers of Salem were averse to the practice, fearing it might eventuate in the establishment of a presbytery.
     On the fourth of December, corresponding with the fifteenth of new style, the snow was 'knee deep,' and the rivers frozen.
     The year 1633 was rendered memorable by the death of the three Indian sagamores. In January, Pequanum was murdered; and in December, Wonohaquaham and Montowampate died. Governor Winthrop, in his journal, says: 'December 5. John Sagamore died of the small pox, and almost all his people; above thirty buried by Mr. Maverick of Winnesemett in one day. The towns in the bay took away many of the children; but most of them died soon after.
     'James Sagamore of Sagus died also and most of his folks.   John Sagamore desired to be brought among the English; so he was; and promised, if he recovered, to live with the English and serve their God. He left one son, which he disposed to Mr. Wilson, the pastor of Boston, to be brought up by him. He gave to the governor a good quantity of wampompeague, and to divers others of the English he gave gifts; and took order for the payment of his own debts and his men's. He died in a persuasion that he should go to the Englishmen's God. Divers of them, in their sickness, confessed that the Englishmen's God was a good God, and that if they recovered they would serve him. It wrought much with them, that when their own people forsook them, yet the English came daily and ministered to them; and yet few, only two families, took any infection by it. Amongst others Mr. Maverick, of Winnesemett, is worthy of a perpetual remembrance. Himself, his wife and servants, went daily to them, ministered to their necessities, and buried their dead, and took home many of their children. So did other of the neighbors.'
     After the death of his brothers, Wenepoykin became sagamore of the remaining Indians in this region.

     1634. The inconvenience of having the Legislature composed of the whole number of freemen, and the danger of leaving the plantations exposed to the attacks of the Indians, induced the people to form a House of Representatives, who first assembled on the fourteenth of May. Eight towns were represented, each of which sent three representatives - Boston, Charlestown, Roxbury, Dorchester, Cambridge, Watertown, Lynn, and Salem. The representatives from Lynn were Captain Nathaniel Turner, Edward Tomlins, and Thomas Willis. The General Court this year consisted of the Governor, Deputy Governor, six assistants, and twenty-four representatives. This number was not much increased for many years; each town sending fewer, rather than more representatives.
     Hon. JOHN HUMFREY, with his wife, the Lady Susan, a daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, arrived in July. He brought with him a valuable present from Mr. Richard Andrews, an alderman of London, consisting of sixteen heifers, at this time valued at more than eighty dollars each. One of them was designed for each of the eight ministers, and the remainder were for the poor. He went to reside on his farm at Swampscot, which had been laid out by order of the Court. It consisted of five hundred acres, 'between Forest river and the cliff.' The bounds extended 'a mile from the seaside,' and ran 'to a great white oak by the rock,' including 'a spring south of the oak.' The spring is on Mr. Stetson's farm, and the 'old oak' is still standing about a furlong north, where it is hoped it will long be suffered to remain, a living memorial of other times.
          O spare the tree, whose dewy tears
          Have fallen for a thousand years!
          Beneath whose shade, in days of old,
          The careful shepherd watched his fold;
          On whose green top the eagle sate,
          To watch the fish hawk's watery weight;
          And oft in moonlight by whose side,
          The Indian wooed his dusky bride!
          It speaks to man of early time,
          Before the earth was stained with crime,
          Ere cannon waked the peaceful plains,
          When silence ruled her vast domains,
          0, as you love the bold and free,
          Spare, woodman, spare the old oak tree!
     Since the publication of these lines in the firsy edition, Mr. Morris has written his admirable song, 'Woodman, spare that tree!'  " But, alas! the old oak, the last of the ancient forest of Lynn, has been cut down. Some people have no sentiment."
     On the third of September, the Court ordered, 'That Mr. Edward Tomlins, or any other put in his place, by the Commissioners of War, with the help of an assistant, shall have power to presse men and carts, for ordinary wages, to helpe towards makeing of such carriages and wheeles as are wanting for the ordinances.'
     On training day, Captain Turner, by the direction of Colonel Humfrey, went with his company to Nahant, to hunt the wolves, by which it was infesed.  This was very pleasant amusement for training day.

     1635. Though an agreement had been made by Thomas Dexter with the Indian chief, for the proprietorship of Nahant, yet the town evidently regarded it as their property; as will appear by the following extracts from the Town Records, preserved in the files of the General Court:
     January 11. 'It is also voted by the freemen of the towne, that these men underwritten shall have liberty to plant and build at Nahant, and shall possess each man land for the said purpose, and proceeding in the trade of fishing. Mr. Humfreys, Daniel How, Mr. Ballard, Joseph Redknap, Timothy Tomlins, Richard Walker, Thomas Talmage, Henry Feakes, Francis Dent.'
     January 18. 'It is ordered by the freemen of the towne, that all such persons as are assigned any land at Nahant, to further the trade of making fish, That if they do not proceed accordingly to forward the said trade, but either doe grow remiss, or else doe give it quite over, that then all such lotts shall be forfeited again to the towne, to dispose of as shall be thought fitte.'
     The dissensions which had commenced in Mr. Bachiler's church at an early period, began again to assume a formidable appearance. Some of the members, disliking the conduct of the pastor, and 'withal making a question whether they were a church or not,' withdrew from the communion. Mr. Bachiler requested them to present their grievances in writing, but as they refused to do that, he gave information that he should proceed to excommuncate them. In consequence of this, a council of ministers was held on the fifteenth of March. After a deliberation of three days, they decided, that although the church had not been properly instituted, yet the mutual exercise of their religious duties had supplied the defect.
     The difficulties in the self-constituted church, however, did not cease with the decision of the council, but continued to increase, until Mr. Bachiler, perceiving no prospect of their termination, requested a dismission for himself and his first members, which was granted.
     The celebrated Hugh Peters, who had just arrived in America, was next employed to preach, and the people requested him to become their minister; but he preferred to exercise the duties of that office at Salem. He was a very enterprising man, but seems to have been much better adapted for a politician than a minister. He was a great favorite of Johnson, the Woburn poet, who thus alludes to his preaching, and to the difficulties at Lynn:
          'With courage Peters, a soldier stout,
             In wilderness for Christ begins to war;
          Much work he finds 'mongst people yet hold out;
             With fluent tongue he stops phantastic jar.'
     He returned to England in 1641, and unhappily became involved in the ambitious designs of Cromwell - preached the funeral sermon over the 'gray discrowned head' of the unfortunate Charles the First - and was executed for treason, on the sixteenth of October, 1660. He left 'A Father's Legacy to an Only Child;' written in the tower of London, and addressed, 'For Elizabeth Peters, my dear Child.' He says, 'I was the son of considerable parents from Foy in Cornwall. I am heartily sorry I was ever popular, and known better to others than to myself. And if I go shortly where time shall be no more, where cock nor clock distinguish hours, sink not, but lay thy head in his bosom who can keep thee, for he sits upon the waves. Farewell.
          'I wish thee neither poverty nor riches,
             But godliness, so gainful, with content;
          No painful pomp, nor glory that bewitches,
             A blameless life is the best monument!"
     It was the custom in those early days to have an hourglass in the pulpit, by which the minister timed his sermons. A painter of that day made a picture in which he represented Mr. Peters turning an hourglass and saying, 'I know you are good fellows; stay and take another glass!'
     The standard borne at this time was a red cross in a white field. This emblem was not congenial to the feelings of Mr. Endicott, and he ordered it to be cut out from the banner at Salem. This occasioned much dissatisfaction among the people, and a committee from each town was appointed in May, to consider of the offence. They judged it to be 'great, rash, and without discretion,' and disqualified him, for one year, from bearing any public office.
     May 6. 'There is 500 acres of land, and a freshe Pond, with a little Island, conteyning about two acres, granted to John Humfrey, Esqr., lying between north and west of Saugus; provided he take no part of the 500 acres within five miles of any Town now planted. Also, it is agreed that the inhabitants of Saugus and Salem, shall have liberty to build store howses upon the said Island, and to lay in such provisions as they shall judge necessary for their use in tyme of neede.' The land thus laid out was around Humfrey's Pond, in Lynnfield, and was nearly one mile in extent.
     On the sixteenth of August happened one of the most tremendous storms ever known in New England.  It bent down the corn, overturned houses, and tore up by the roots "many hundred thousand trees.'  The east wind blew with such violence, that the tide was turned before the ebb had half fallen, and the sea rose many feet, so that some Indians were drowned, and others climbed trees for safety. A vessel was wrecked on Thacher's Island, and twenty-one persons lost. Mr. Anthony Thacher and his wife, ancestors of Rev. Thomas Cushing Thacher, afterward minister of Lynn, were the only persons saved.
     This year brass farthings weye prohibited, and musket bullets were ordered to pass for farthings.
     Many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this time, whose names it will be well to preserve.
     Abraham Belknap had two sons, Abraham and Jeremy; and from him descended Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire.
     Edmund Bridges came over in July, 1635, and died in 1686, aged 74 years. The name of his wife was Mary, and his sons John and Josiah. He was the second shoemaker at Lynn.
     James Boutwell, farmer, freeman, 1638, died 1651. His wife was Alice, and his children, Samuel, Sarah, and John.
     Edward Burcham, freeman in 1638, clerk of the writs, 1645. In 1656 he returned to England.
     George Burt came to Lynn in 1635, and died November 2, 1661. He was a farmer, and the value of his estate was L144.4.9. He had three sons; George, who went to Sandwich, in 1637; Hugh, born 1591; and Edward, who removed to Charlestown.
     Henry Collins was a starch maker, and lived in Essex street. He embarked in the Abigail of London, on the thirtieth of June, 1635. In 1639 he was a member of the Salem Court. He was born in 1606, and was buried February 20, 1687, at the age of 81 years. His wife Ann was born in 1605. His children were, Henry, born 1630; John, born 1632; Margery, born 1633; and Joseph, born 1635, and his descendants remain.
     John Cooper embarked in the Hopewell, of London, April 1, 1635. He was born at Oney, in Buckinghamshire, in 1594.
     Timothy Cooper, farmer, died in March, 1659. His children were, Mary, Hannah, John, Timothy, Dorcas, and Rebecca.
     Jenkin Davis, joiner, freeman 1637, died 1661. His wife was named Sarah, and he had a son John.
     John Deacon was the first blacksmith at Lynn, and in 1638 had twenty acres of land allotted to him.
     Edmund Freeman, born in 1590, came to Lynn in 1635. He removed to Sandwich in 1637, and was an Assistant of Plymouth colony in 1640. His children were Elizabeth, Alice, Edmund and John. Mr. Freeman presented the colony with twenty corslets, or pieces of plate-armor.
     Edmund Farrington embarked in the Hopewell, of London, April 1, 1635, with his wife and four children. (Record in Westminster Hall, London.) He was a native of Oney, in Buckinghamshire, born in 1588. He was a farmer, and had 200 acres of land, part of which was on the western side of Federal street, where he lived, and part on the western side of Myrtle street, where the land is well known as 'Farrington's Canal'.  He died in 1670, aged 82. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, born in 1586. His children were, Sara, born in 1621; Martha, born 1623; John, born 1624; Elizabeth, born 1627, and married John Fuller in 1646. He also had a son Matthew, to whom, on the 16th of June, he gave half his corn mill, 'except the tole of my son ffuller's grists, which is well and duly to be ground tole free, during the life of my daughter Elizabeth.' (Salem Court files)
     Christopher Foster embarked in the Abigail, of London, June 17, 1635. He was a farmer, was admitted a freeman in 1637, and lived in Nahant street. He was born in 1603. His wife Frances was born in 1610. His children were Rebecca, born 1630; Nathaniel, born 1633; John, born 1634.
     Joseph Floyd lived in Fayette street. In 1666, he sold his house and land to 'Henry Silsbee of Ipswich,' for thirty-eight pounds, and removed to Chelsea. His land is described as bounded 'west next the town common, and east next a little river.' The 'town common' then meant the public lands in Woodend; and the 'little river' was Stacy's Brook.
     George Fraile died December 9, 1663. He had a son George, who was accidentally killed in 1669, 'by a piece of timber, of about fifteen hundred weight, rolling over him.' (Salem Court files)
     Dennis Geere came from Thesselworth to Lynn, in 1635. He was born in 1605, and his wife Elizabeth was born in 1613. His children were Elizabeth and Sara. He died in 1635, and gave, by his will, L300 to the colony.
     Nathaniel Handforth was a 'haberdasher', from London, and lived on the north side of the common. He was buried September 13, 1687, aged 79 years.
     Richard Johnson came over in 1630, and lived with Sir Richard Saltonstall, at Watertown. He was admitted a freeman in 1637. He came to Lynn the same year, and settled as a farmer, on the eastern end of the Common. He died in 1666, aged 54 years. His children were Daniel, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Abigail. His descendants remain.
     Philip Kertland was the first shoemaker known at Lynn. His name is from the German Cortlandt, or Lack-land; and I think it was afterwards changed to Kirkland. He was from Sherrington, in Buckinghamshire, and in 1638 had ten acres of land allotted to him by the town. He had two sons, Philip, born in 1614, and Nathaniel, born in 1616, who embarked on board the Hopewell, of London, William Burdock, master, on the first of April, 1635. The two sons remained at Lynn five years, and in 1640 went to form the new settlement of Southampton, on Long Island. Nathaniel returned to Lynn, married, and had three children; Nathaniel, Sarah; and Priscilla, He was buried December 27, 1686, aged 70 years.
     The following is from the Essex-Registry, October 14, 1659: 'Know all men by these presents, that I, Evan Thomas, of Boston, being about to marry the widow Alice Kertland of Lynn, do engage to and agree not to sell or alienate her now dwelling house and land.'
     Francis Lightfoot, freeman 1636, died 1646. He came from London, and the name of his wife was Anne.
     Thomas Laighton, farmer, freeman in 1638, lived in Franklin street. He was a representative in 1646, and town clerk in 1672. He died August 8, 1697. His children were, Thomas, Margaret, Samuel, Rebecca, and Elizabeth.
     Richard Longley, farmer, had two sons; William, clerk of the writs in 1655, and Jonathan.
     Captain Thomas Marshall came to Lynn in 1635. He embarked in the James, of London, on the seventeenth of July, (Hon. James Savage. The public are greatly indebted to this gentleman for his intelligent annotations of Gov. Winthrop's Journal, and for his valuable researches in the manuscript records of England.)  and soon after his arrival was admitted a freeman. With many others, he returned to England to join in the ambitious designs of Cromwell, by whom he was made a captain. He served in the army of the anarch for several years, and returned to Lynn laden with military glory. He was six times chosen representative. He purchased the tavern, on the west of Saugus river, which Mr. Joseph Armitage had opened. Here, with all the frankness and hospitality of a 'fine old English gentleman,' he kept open doors for the accommodation of the traveling public, for more than forty years. Mr. John Dunton, who passed through Lynn in 1686, thus mentions him in his journal.
'About two of the clock I reached Capt. Marshall's house, which is half way between Boston and Salem; here I staid to refresh nature with a pint of sack and a good fowl. Capt. Marshall is a hearty old gentleman, formerly one of Oliver's soldiers, upon which he very much values himself. He had all the history of the civil wars at his fingers' end, and if we may believe him, Oliver did hardly any thing that was considerable without his assistance; and if I'd have staid as long, as he'd have talked, he'd have spoiled my ramble to Salem.' He died December 23, 1689. His wife, Rebecca, died in August, 1693. He had two sons; John, born January 14, 1659; and Thomas, who removed to Reading.
     In the Essex Registry of Deeds is the following testimony, which is interesting, as coming from the venerable old hero of Cromwell's war:
     'Captain Thomas Marshall, aged about 67 yeares, doe testifie, that about 38 yeares since, the ould Water mill at Linn, which was an under shott mill, was by Mr. Howell committed to him, or before the said time, and about 38 yeares since, the building of an over shott mill was moved to the towne of Linn, and for incuragement to go on with the said worke, they then of the Towne of Linn, Granted their Priviledges of water and water Courses to the said mill, and that this said water mill iis now in the possession of Henry Roades; as witness my hand, Thomas Marshall; May 12th, 1683.'
     Thomas Parker embarked in the Christopher of London, March 11, 1635. He was born in 1614.
     John Pierson, farmer, lived in Nahant street, and removed to Reading. The name of his wife was Madeline.
     John Pool, farmer, had 200 acres of land. His descendants remain.
     Nicholas Potter was a mason, and had sixty acres of land.
     Oliver Purchis, freeman 1636, representative 1660, assistant 1685, town clerk 1686; removed to Concord 1691, and died November 20, 1701, aged 88 years.
     Richard Sadler, farmer; freeman 1638; came fiom Worcester in England. He lived near the great rock in Holyoke street. He was a member of the Salem Court in 1639, and clerk of the writs in 1640. He had a son Richard, born in 1610, who returned to England in 1647, and was ordained May 16, 1648.
     Thomas Townsend was a farmer, and lived near the iron works. He died December 22, 1677. His sons were John, Thomas, Henry, and Richard. Some of his descendants remain, others were among the first settlers of the towns on Long Island.

1636.   Mr. Bachiler had been readily dismissed from his pastoral charge, in the expectation that he would desist from its exercise, or remove from the town; instead of which, he renewed his covenant with the persons who came with him from England,intending to continue his ministrations. The people opposed this design, as its tendency would be to frustrate their intention of settling another minister; they therefore complained to the magistrates, who forbade his proceeding. Finding that he disregarded their injunctions, and refused to appear before them, they sent the marshal to compel him. He was brought before the Court of Assistants, at Boston, in January, and was discharged on engaging to leave the town within three months.
     Whoever has attentively read the lives of the early ministers of New England, as written by the Rev. Cotton Mather, must have noticed that they are all represented to have been men of uncommon learning, piety, and worth. This may be imputed partly to the embellishments of his pen, and partly to the fact that they were born and educated in the bosom of the church, and in the best universities of Europe. We are greatly indebted to Mr. Mather for his account of those ministers; but we should have been far more grateful to him, if he had been more particular with regard to dates and facts respecting the subjects of his biography, instead of devoting so much time and space to the worthies of Greece and Rome; for we could easily have presumed his acquaintance with ancient history and the classics, without so ostentatious a display of it. In his life of Mr. Cobbet, he has given us but one date with certainty - the rest have been supplied by my laborious research. Mr. Bachiler he did not notice, and the following sketch of his life is the first which has ever been offered to the public.
     The Rev. Stephen Bachiler was born in England, in the year 1561, and received orders in the established church. In the early part of his life he enjoyed a good reputation; but being dissatisfied with some of the ceremonies of the church, and refusing to continue his conformity, he was deprived of his permission to perform her services. The church has been much censured for her severity; and all uncharitableness and persecution are to be deprecated; but in simply ejecting her ministers for non-conformity, after they have approved her mode of worship,and in the most solemn manner possible engaged themselves in her service, the church is no more censurable than all other communities, with whom the same practice is common. On leaving England, Mr. Bachiler went with his family to Holland, where he resided several years. He then returned to London, from which place he sailed, on the ninth of March, 1632, for New England. He arrived at Lynn.on the sixth of June, having in his company six persons, his relatives and friends, who had belonged to his church in Holland. With them, and the few who united with them, he constituted a little church at Lynn, without any of the ceremonies usual on such occasions. He continued his ministrations here for about three years, with repeated interruptions; but he never had the support or the affections of the great body of the people. He was admitted a freeman on the sixth of May, 1635, and removed from Lynn in February, 1636. He went first to Ipswich, where he received a grant of fifty acres of land, and had the prospect of a settlement; but some difficulty having arisen, he left the place. In the very cold winter of 1637, he went on foot with some of his friends, to Yarmouth, a distance of about one hundred miles. There he intended to plant a town, and establish a church; but finding the difficulties great, and 'his company being all poor men,' he relinquished the design. He then went to Newbury, where, on the sixth of July, 1638, the town made him a grant of land. On the sixth of September, the General Court granted him permission to settle a town at Hampton. In 1639, the inhabitants of Ipswich voted to give him sixty acres of upland, and twenty acres of meadow, if he would reside with them three years; but he did not accept their invitation. On the fifth of July, he and Christopher Hussey sold their houses and lands in Newbury, for 'six score pounds,' and removed to Hampton. There a town was planted, and a church gathered, of which Mr. Bachiler became the minister. The town granted him three hundred acres of land, and he presented them with a bell for the meeting house, in 1640. Here he was treated with respect, and in 1641, he was appointed umpire in an important case of real estate between George Cleves and John Winter. Dissensions, however, soon commenced, and the people were divided between him and his colleague, Rev. Timothy Dalton. He was also accused of irregular conduct, which is thus related by Governor Winthrop:
     'Mr. Bachiler, the pastor of the church at Hampton, who had suffered much at the hands of the bishops in England, being about eighty years of age, and having a lusty, comely woman to his wife, did, solicit the chastity of his neighbor's wife, who acquainted her husband therewith; whereupon he was dealt with, but denied it, as he had told the woman he would do, and complained to the magistrates against the woman and her husband for slandering him. The church likewise dealing with him, he stiffly denied it; but soon after, when the Lord's supper was to be administered, he did voluntarily confess the attempt.'
     For this impropriety, he was excommunicated by the church. Soon after, his house took fire, and was consumed, with nearly all his property. In 1643, he was restored to the communion, but not to the office of minister. In 1644, the people of Exeter invited him to settle with them; but the Court laid their injunction. In 1647, he was at Portsmouth, where he resided three years. In 1650, being then eighty-nine years of age, and his second wife, Helena, being dead, he married his third wife, Mary; and in May was fined ten pounds, for not publishing his intention of marriage, according to law; half of which fine was remitted in October. In the same year, the Court passed the following order, in consequence of their matrimonial disagreement:
     'It is ordered by this Court, that Mr. Batchelor and his wife shall lyve together as man and wife, as in this Court they have publiquely professed to doe; and if either desert one another, then hereby the Court doth order that the marshal shall apprehend both the said Mr. Batchelor and Mary his wife, and bring them forthwith to Boston, there to be kept till the next Quarter Court of Assistants; that farther consideration thereof may be had, both of them moving for a divorce; and this order shall be sufficient order soe to doe; provided, notwithstanding, that if they put in L50, each of them, for their appearance, with such sureties as the commissioners or any one of them for the county shall think good to accept of, that then they shall be under their baile, to appear at the next Court of Assistants; and in case Mary Batchelor shall live out of the jurisdiction, without mutual consent for a time, that then the clarke shall give notice to the magistrate att Boston, of her absence, that farther order may be taken therein.'
     Soon after this, in 1651, Mr. Bachiler left the country and returned to England, where he married his fourth wife, being himself ninety years of age, and his third wife, Mary, being still living. I n October, 1656, she petitioned the Court, in the following words, to free her from her husband:
     'To the Honored Governor, Deputy Governor, with the Magistrates and Depiuties at the General Court at Boston: The humble petition of Mary Bachelor sheweth -Whereas your petitioner, having formerly lived with Mr. Stephen Bachelor, a minister of this Collany, as his lawfull wife, and not unknown to divers of you, as I conceive, and the said Mr. Bachelor, upon some pretended ends of his owne, hath transported himself unto ould England, for many yeares since, and betaken himself to another wife, as your petitioner hath often been credibly informed, and there continueth, whereby your petitioner is left destitute, not only of a guide to her and her children, but also made uncapable thereby of disposing herselfe in the way of marriage to any other, without a lawful permission; and having now two children upon her hands, that are chargeable unto her, in regard to a disease God hath been pleased to lay upon them both, which is not easily curable, and so weakening her estate in prosecuting the means of cure, that she is not able longer to subsist, without utter ruining her estate, or exposing herself to the common charity of others; which your petitioner is loth to put herself upon, if it may be lawfully avoided, as is well known to all, or most part of her neighbors. And were she free from her engagement to Mr. Bachelor, might probably soe dispose of herselfe, as that she might obtain a meet helpe to assist her to procure such means for her livelyhood, and the recovery of her children's health, as might keep them from perishing; which your petitioner, to her great grief, is much afraid of, if not timely prevented. Your petitioner's humble request therefore is, that this Honored Court would be pleased seriously to consider her condition, for matter of her relief in her freedom from the said Mr. Bachelor, and that she may be at liberty to dispose of herselfe in respect of any engagement to him, as in your wisdomes shall seem most expedient; and your petitioner shall humbly pray. MARY BACHELER.
     No record appears that the Court took any order on this petition; nor are we informed whether the lady succeeded to 'dispose of herselfe,' in the manner which she seems to have had so much at heart. It is to be hoped, however, that her request was granted, for the woman had undoubtedly suffered enough for her lapses, as the reader will probably agree, when he shall have read the sentence, which may serve to clear up at least one of the mysteries in this strangest of all the lives of our ear!y ministers. In the records of York, on the fifteenth of October, 1651, is the following entry: 'We do present George Rogers and Mary Batcheller, the wife of Mr. Stephen Batcheller, minister, for adultery. It is ordered that Mrs. Batcheller, for her adultery, shall receive 40 stripes save one, at the first town meeting held at Kittery, 6 weeks after her delivery, and be branded with the letter A.' In the horrible barbarity of this sentence we blush for the severity of the punishment, rather than for the crime. The husband and his erring wife have long since gone to their last account, and their errors and follies must be left to the adjustment of that tribunal which we hope is more merciful than the decisions of men. Mr. Bachiler had undoubtedly many virtues, or he would not have had many friends, and they would not have continued with him through all the changes of his varied life. Mr. Prince says that he was 'a man of fame in his day, a gentleman of learning and ingenuity, and wrote a fine and curious hand.' It was on his separation from the church at Lynn, with his subsequent misfortunes, that Mr. Edward Johnson wrote the following lines:
         'Through ocean large Christ brought thee for to feed
             His wandering flock, with's word thou oft hast taught;
          Then teach thyself, with others thou has need;
             Thy flowing fame unto low ebb is brought.
          Faith and obedience Christ full near hath joined;
             Then trust in Christ and thou again mayst be
          Brought on thy race, though now far cast behind;
             Run to the end and crowned thou shalt be.'
     Mr. Bachiler died at Hackney, near London, in 1660, in the one hundredth year of his age. He had four sons and three daughters. Theodate married Christopher Hussey, and removed to Hampton. Deborah married John Wing, of Lynn, and removed to Sandwich. The third daughter married a Sanborn; Francis and Stephen remained in London; Henry went to Reading; Nathaniel removed to Hampton, where in 1656, he married Deborah Smith, by whom he had nine children. After her death, he called on widow Mary Wyman of Woburn, and offered himself. She discouraged his hopes because he had so large a family. He replied, 'It was the first time he had ever known a woman to object to a man because he got children; he was going to Boston on business, and when he returned he would call for her answer.' He called as he had promised, she became his wife, and presented him with eight more children. Among the descendants from the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, may be mentioned the Hon. Daniel Webster.
     The dissensions in the churches at Salem and Lynn, and the scarcity of provisions, occasioned a fast to be proclaimed, which was observed on the twenty-first of February.
     On the third of March, the Court enacted, that each town should have power to regulate its own affairs; to set fines on offenders, not exceeding twenty shillings; and to choose a number of 'prudential men,' not exceeding seven, to order their municipal concerns. This was the legal origin of those officers since called 'Selectmen;' though some of the towns had similar officers before. They were at first chosen for only three months: and the town of Lynn continued to choose seven, until the year 1755, when the number was reduced to three. They also had a number of officers, called tythingmen, because each one was set over ten families, to observe their conduct, and to report any violation of the public order.
     Mr. Timothy Tomlins was licensed as a Retailer, 'to draw wine for the town of Saugus.'
     Mr. John Humfrey and Captain Nathaniel Turner were appointed by the Court to lay out the bounds of Ipswich.
     Mr. Humfrey built a windmill on the eastern mound of Sagamore Hill, which was thence called Windmill Hill.
     A Court was established at Salem, to be held quarterly, for the benefit of that and the adjacent towns. The judges consisted of a magistrate, and several freemen, selected from each town, by the General Court. This year there were four, of whom Captain Nathaniel Turner was one. The first session commenced on the twenty-seventh of June. A fine of ten shillings was imposed on Thomas Stanley, the constable of Lynn, for not appearing; and a record, made in September, says, 'Now it is in corn, in William Wood's hands.'
     The Rev. Samuel Whiting arrived from England in June; and was installed pastor of the church at Lynn, on Tuesday, the 8th of November. The Council remained two days, and found much difficulty in organizing a church; which was composed of only six members, besides the minister. The following is a copy of the original church covenant, transcribed by me from the leaf of a pocket Bible, belonging to one of the ministers.
     'The Covenant of the First Church of Christ in Lynn.'
     'We do give up ourselves to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as to the only true and living God; avouching God the Father to be our father; embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as our only Savior, in all his offices, prophetical, sacerdotal, and regal; depending on the blessed Spirit of Grace to be our Sanctifier, Teacher, Guide, and Comforter, and to make effectual application of the redemption purchased by Christ unto us; promising by the assistance, and through the sanctifying influences of that Blessed Spirit, to cleave unto this one God and Mediator, as his covenant people. We believe the revelation God hath made of himself, and our duty, in his word, to be true; and through grace strengthening, we promise to comply with the whole will of God, so far as he shall discover it to us. We promise, by the assistance of Divine Grace, to walk before God in our houses, in sincerity of heart; that we will uphold the worship of God therein; endeavoring to bring up all under our inspection, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We shall endeavor the mortification of our own sins, and we covenant to reprove sin in others, as far as the rule requires; promising in brotherly love to watch over one another, and to submit ourselves to the government of Christ in this church, and to attend the orders thereof. We do likewise solemnly agree by all means to study and endeavor the peace of this church, and the maintenance of the purity of the worship of God therein; that so the blessing of God may be vouchsafed to this his heritage. We do also give up ourselves to one another in the Lord, solemnly binding ourselves to walk together in the ways of his worship, and to cleave to his ordinances, according to the rules of his word. This you heartily comply with and consent to. You are now members in full communion with this church, purchased by the blood of Christ; and you do now seriously, solemnly, deliberately, and forever; in the presence of God, by whom you expect shortly to be judged, and by whom you hope to be acquitted, in the presence of an innumerable company of elect angels, and in the presence of this assembly, give up yourselves to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; avouching the Lord Jehovah to be your God. You give up yourselves unto this church; submitting to the holy rule and ordinance of it; putting yourselves under the care and inspection of it; promising to embrace counsel and reproofs with humbleness and thankfulness; and duly to attend the administration of the ordinances of the Gospel in this church; so long as your opportunities thereby to be edified in your holy faith shall be continued. We, then, the church of the Lord, do receive you into our sacred fellowship, as those whom we trust Christ hath received; and we promise to admit you to all the ordinances of the Gospel in fellowship with us; to watch over you with a spirit of love and meekness, not for your halting but helping; to treat you with all that affection which your sacred relation to us now calleth for; and to continue our ardent prayers for you, to the Father of Light, that you may have grace to keep this solemn covenant, you have now, before God, angels, and men, entered into; that so the sure mercies of the everlasting covenant may be your portion forever. Amen.'
     To those persons who did not wholly unite with this church, but only assented to the covenant, for the privilege of having their children baptized, the following was read immediately after the words 'consent to.'
     'You do now in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, avouch this one God in 3 persons to be your God; engaging to be his, only, constantly, and everlastingly. You do further promise to labor in preparing for the table of the Lord, that in due time you may make your approaches to God, and the Lord Jesis Christ, the Lord and Giver of eternal life, in all his ordinances and appointments; that at last you may give up your account with joy, unto Christ, the Judge of all.'

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