22 History of Hingham. 



pastor. Only one of his sermons was printed. This was an 

 Election Sermon, delivered on May 26, 1708. Judge Sewall 

 makes the following entry in his " Diary " : — 



" Midweek, May 26, 1708. Mr. Jno. Norton preaches a Flattering 

 Sermon as to the Governour." 



" May 27. I was with a Comittee in the morn, . . . and so by God's 

 good providence absent when Mr. Corwin and Cushing were order'd to 

 Thank Mr. Norton for his sermon and desire a Copy." 



Praise of Governor Dudley was distasteful to Judge Sewall, 

 who was opposed to the policy of the Governor. 



March 26, 1710, Judge Sewall " went to Hingham to Meeting, 

 heard Mr. Norton from Psal. cxlv. 18. Setting forth the Propi- 

 tiousness of God." 



Mr. Norton died Oct. 3, 1716, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, 

 and the thirty-eighth year of his ministry. 



It was during the ministrv of Mr. Norton that the first meeting- 

 house became too small for the growing town, and a second house 

 was erected. 



The first meeting-house was built shortly after the gathering of 

 the church in 1635. It was on the main street, on a hill in front 

 of the present site of the Derby Academy. It was surrounded by 

 a palisade erected in 1645 " to prevent any danger that may come 

 into this town by any assault of the Indians," and was surmounted 

 by a belfry with a bell. Around it upon the slope of the hill the 

 dead were buried. The hill was removed in 1831, and the re- 

 mains, which were disinterred by the removal, were buried within 

 the old fort in the Hingham cemetery, and a monument erected 

 over them by the town, bearing the inscription " To the first set- 

 tlers of Hingham. Erected by the Town, 1839." 



The first meeting-house was undoubtedly a rude structure, but 

 there are indications that it was not wholly without ornament. 

 For forty-five years it was the only house for public worship in 

 the town. 



Jan. 19, 1679-80, the town agreed to build a new meeting-house 

 " with all convenient speed," and a committee was appointed to 

 view the meeting-houses of other towns, for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining the dimensions of a building necessary to accommodate the 

 inhabitants, and the probable expense. This committee were to 

 report to the town at the next town-meeting in May following. 



May 3, 1680, the Selectmen were directed to " carry on the 

 business to effect about building a new meeting-house," and it 

 was voted " to have the new meeting-house set up in the place 

 where the old one doth now stand." On this last question the 

 Town Records give the names of thirty-four persons voting in the 

 affirmative, and eleven in the negative. 



Aug. 11, 1680, the dimensions of the house were fixed by the 

 town as follows: length, 35 feet; breadth, 45 feet; and height 



