Ecclesiastical History. 81 



pies of piety, endurance, and heroic valor," and says, " We some- 

 times assume to sit in judgment on their doings. We often 

 criticise their faults and failings. There is a special proneness 

 of late to deride their superstitions and denounce their intoler- 

 ance." The church in Hingham began its existence under the 

 spiritual guidance of Rev. Peter Hobart, who was a man of too 

 large and liberal views to be a bigot in religious matters. Quoting 

 again from Mather, " his heart was knit in a most sincere and 

 hearty love towards pious men though they were not in all things 

 of his own persuasion, saying, ' I can carry them in my bosomc.' ' 

 Under the lead of such a man there appears to have been no 

 unusual intolerance here. Possibly the discipline of the church 

 was no less severe in Hingham than in the neighboring towns, 

 but he who searches our early church records will find no mention 

 of such cases of discipline as are found in the records of many 

 churches. 



It may be that the ecclesiastical history of Hingham is very 

 much like that of many other New England towns, but we cannot 

 study it closely without being impressed with one central and 

 pervading principle, — not that of intolerance, but of independence. 



That independent spirit which gave the people of this town the 

 courage born of their convictions, the boldness to assert their 

 opinions, the determination to establish and maintain their faith, 

 and the resolute adherence to the right of search after truth 

 according to the dictates of conscience, is manifest throughout 

 all their history. 



That independent spirit is seen in our Puritan ancestors, who 

 left their homes, crossed the sea, and settled here to escape per- 

 secution ; in Peter Hobart, the bold, fearless, resolute man, in his 

 controversy with the magistrates ; in Ebenezer Gay, who dared 

 to promulgate broader and more progressive opinions than most 

 of his contemporaries ; in the inhabitants of the Second Precinct 

 and South Parish in their determined efforts to secure for them- 

 selves independent churches ; in the founders of the Third Con- 

 gregational Society ; in the Baptists and Methodists, who struggled 

 and persisted in establishing churches of their own faiths, over- 

 coming opposition amounting almost to persecution ; and in the 

 more peaceful, yet none the less loyal efforts of those of other 

 churches, whose history lias been told. 



Out of all this independence has come logically a spirit of toler- 

 ation. There can hardly be found in New England a community 

 in which there is so much liberty of religious opinion as in Hing- 

 ham. Ministers of the various churches have been accustomed to 

 stand in each others' pulpits and deliver their holy messages to 

 appreciative and sympathizing congregations, and in the spirit of 

 true Christianity are always ready to lend a helping hand and 

 speak a consoling word to any who are in trouble, regardless of 

 denominational affiliations. Happily for the welfare of the town, 



VOL. I. — 6* 



