From the library of the Reverend Noble Everett (1747-1819), signed by him along the inner edge of the title page. The Rev. Noble Everett is included in the list of those present at this Council.
Born in Woodbury, CT in 1747, Noble Everett graduated from Yale in 1772 and served as Chaplain in the Revolutionary Army. He was present at the Battle of White Plains. He was ordained in Wareham, Massachusetts in October of 1782. Noble Everett, together with the Reverend Jonathan Burr, organized the South Congregational Church or Third Church of Barnstable. He instructed the Bristol lawyer Timothy G. Coffin for college. The name "Coffin", preceded by an illegible first name or word, is written on the inside of the front wrap.
[Shaw & Shoemaker 42051].
This pamphlet is illustrated with the publisher Samuel Armstrong's attractive pictorial ad, which depicts 3 domed pillars, each supported by a Holy Bible bracing shelves of books between them. Lists of religious figures and authors, including Luther, Calvin, Watts, and Mather, among many others, are printed in rows on the columns. Banners advertising the publisher "Samuel T. Armstrong, Printer and Bookseller" are held aloft by domes topping the pillars. Text advertising the work "The Platform of Church Discipline" is printed below.
The pamphlet begins with the "Results" of its meeting "By letters missive from the Congregational Church of Christ in Sandwich, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Jonathan Burr, and ecclesiastical council was convened, at the house of William Fessenden, Esq. in said town, on Tuesday 20th May, 1817; and continued by adjournments until Friday the 23d.." Listed among those present were the Rev. Joseph Lyman, representing Hatfield; the Rev. Noble Everett and Deacon Barnabus Bates, representing Wareham; the Rev. Thomas Andros and Brother Samuel Toby, representing Berkley; the Rev. Daniel Dana and Brother Benjamin Wyatt, representing Newburyport; the Rev. Samuel Worcester and Brother Thomas Needham, representing Salem; and the Rev. Oliver Cobb and Deacon Jesse Haskell, representing Rochester. The pamphlet makes mention that Reverend Burr (i.e. Jonathan Burr, 1757-1842) had sent the missive offering mutual council to the Church of the Rev. Goodwin (Ezra Shaw Goodwin, 1787-1833). The offer, rebuffed by Rev. Goodwin, concerns the council as there seems to be a conflict over who is the legitimate first or ancient Congregational Church in Sandwich. Good .
Keywords: RELIGION; SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG; PUBLISHER; RESULT OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCIL, HELD AT SANDWICH, MAY 20, 1817; MASSACHUSETTS; 19TH CENTURY; NINETEENTH CENTURY; ILLUSTRATED; ILLUSTRATION; PICTORIAL AD; EPHEMERA; REV. JONATHAN BURR; EZRA SHAW GOODWIN; REVER