Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OE BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 25
was in accordance with the offer Mr. Hull had made, that he should
refund to Samuel Hinckley 20 shillings, and that the town should return
one-half of the land taken. As the decision was in exact accordance
with the tender made by Mr. Hull ; and as this was the
only lawsuit, or controversy, as il is called, in which his name appears,
it does not prove that he was "a contentious man."
Human nature is ever the same. All men are ambitious,
some seek distinction in one form, some in another. "Whether a
community be large or small, to be the leading man therein is a mark
of honor, and to be rudely thrust from that position is a dishonor to
which very few men can calmly and quietly submit. In October,
1639, Mr. Hull was the leading man in the town—he had procured
the grant of the lands—the act incorporating the town—as chairman
of the town committee, had the general management of its municipal
affairs—was deputy to the Colony Court—and pastor of the
church and congregation. He was the founder of a civil community
and however small or however weak it may have been, and
though no Homer or Virgil has sung his praises, nor any Demosthenese
or Cicero has trumpeted his fame, yet he may honestly and
truly have said, I was the instrument in the hands of God to build
up this little community ; and to convert the savage Indians from
enmity to friendship.
In one short year thereafter he fell from his high position, he
was excluded from office ; he had lost his influence ; he was unpopular,
many of his early friends had deserted him, and others reaped
the fields he had sown. He felt chagrined ; and the ungenerous
treatment he thought he had received, induced him to remove. A
few friends still adhered to him—they deeply sympathized with him,
and they desired that he should continue to be their leader in tempo-
ral, and minister unto them in spiritual things.
In Yarmouth the Rev. Marmaduke Matthews, a Welchman, was
the settled minister. He was witty and learned ; but not distinguished
for depth of thought or sound judgment. Many were dissatisfied
with him as a minister, among whom were Dr. Thomas
Starr, Mr. William Nickerson, Hugh Tilley, and Joshua Barnes.*
d?hese men probably invited Mr. Hull to come to Yarmouth, and in
the spring of 1641 he removed, and was the pastor of a small congregation,
composed partly ot his Barnstable friends and partly of
the opponents of Mr. Matthews. For thus presuming to worship
Grod in the manner and in the place they desired, the church in
Barnstable hurled letters of excommunication against him and those
who had dared to follow him. Those letters had no effect. The
power of the civil magistrate was invoked, and in March, 1642-3, a
*TheBe men were presented as "scoffers and jeerers of religion" and as disturbers of
the proceedings of a town meeting. The plain English of this is, they opposed Mr.
Matthews, the regularly settled minister, and favored Mr. Hull, the pastor of the second or
irregularly estabhshed church.