US13297.7.5 HARVARD COLLEGE FEB.20, 1841 President Quincy HINGHAM, OCTOBER 3, 1835. At a Meeting of the Committee of Arrangements for the Centennial Celebration: VOTED, That the thanks of the Committee be presented to Hon. SOLOMON LINCOLN, for the appropriate Address delivered by him before the Citizens of Hingham, on the 28th September, and that a copy thereof be requested for the press. ATTEST: CALEB GILL, JR. SECRETARY. ADDRESS. We can never entirely divest ourselves of a regard for ancestry. A curiosity to know more of the past is ever impelling the human mind to trace, either by the lights of history, or tradition, the connecting links which bind us to remote generations of men. This curiosity is excited to still greater activity by the influence of strong local attachments. Especially when it unfolds to us those traits of character which are ornamental to human nature, we cherish this appetite for what wears the charm of antiquity, as a guide to valuable instruction and the purest delight. Respect for the dead-love of noble actions-the tender attachment to the place of our nativity harmonize with our best sensibilities. We love to indulge and cultivate them. We feel that the mind is elevated-the heart is made better, when we can tear ourselves away from the cares and collisions of society, and give ourselves up to those sublimer feelings, almost of religious veneration, with which we contemplate the men and the institutions of former days. These are the feelings and sentiments which have drawn us together to day. We have assembled to commemorate the settlement of one of the oldest towns of New England; to review the events of two centuries intimately associated with all that can afford us interest as a community, and to pour out our prayers and thanksgivings within the walls of the oldest temple, that remains in New England, as a monument of the piety of our fathers. We stand between the mighty congregations of the past and the future, so to contemplate-so to study the character of those who have gone before us, as to result in the greatest good to those who are to come after us. We have come to take a survey of the works of industry, the spread of learning, the progress of civilization, the developement of the principles of liberty within the circle where centre our most grateful recollections, our warmest affections, our brightest hopes. We would transplant ourselves into the midst of a former age, when the fires of persecution blazed in the land of our ancestors, and a stern despotism was exerted to its utmost extent, to crush the spirit of freedom, and thence following down the current of time, would trace the daring course of the pilgrim band who sought repose from the storm which raged around them, upon these shores-then desolatesolitary-inhospitable. In the year 1635, the oppressive laws of the Stuarts, designed to enforce an observance of the unscriptural forms and ceremonies of the established Church, were in full force. Fines and imprisonment were frequently imposed to subdue the spirit and break down the influence of those who dared to think for themselves on the subject of religious rights, duties and privileges. The same noble spirit which led the pioneers in the cause of civil and religious liberty to plant a colony upon the desolate shores of Plymouth, and a more numerous company, to leave all that they loved in their native land, to carry on the great work to which their lives and fortunes were devoted, in Massachusetts, was still spreading with amazing rapidity. In the course of the fifteen years of trial and suffering which had been borne by the settlers of Plymouth, with so much fortitude and so much confidence in ultimate success, often were the reports of their disasters carried home to their Puritan brethren. So far from discouraging the fearless men who were determined to keep alive the spark of civil and religious liberty, they seem to have inspired a deeper and more earnest devotion to the cause. Even under the influence of the splendid forms and showy observances of the English Church, the lofty spirit of the Puritans could not be attracted to a corrupt hierarchy. Their keen sagacity could not fail to penetrate the veil which covered corruption; and their integrity and independence could not be so warped as to acquiesce in its extravagant demands. The rights of conscience were too clear-too sacred to be tampered with. Every attempt to destroy, increased their power. It was amid the prevalence of such views, and while large companies of men of fortune and education, and others engaged in agricultural and the various mechanical pursuits were emigrating to this resting place of freedom, that the father of Peter Hobart, the first pastor of the Church in this place, with his family, came to Charlestown. They arrived in the year 1633. Two years afterwards, that distinguished friend of liberty, Peter Hobart, induced by the solicitation of his friends, and impelled by the "cloud of prelatical impositions and persecutions" which thickened around him, left England with his family and a company of friends, and arrived at Charlestown, in June, upon which event, he recorded in his diary a brief and beautiful expression of his devotion and thanksgiving to God.1 Mr. Hobart was a native of Hingham, in the County of Norfolk, England, a town which contained two years since about 1500 inhabitants, less than half the population of our own. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, England, and ordained by the Bishop of Norwich in the year 1627. He afterwards espoused the Puritan cause. He was admitted by the Conformists to possess fine abilities. 11635, June 8, I with my wife and four children came safely to New England June ye 8: 1635, forever praysed be the God of Heaven, iny God and King." Peter Hobart's Diary. "1635-Mr. Peter Hobart minister of the Gospel, with his wife and four children came into New England and settled in this town of Hingham."-Cushing's MSS. |