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Shirley Town (part 2 of 2)
Part 2 of 2 of the account of this town in History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, published 1880. 271 words, covering 5 settlements. Source changes inside the text are labelled at the exact paragraph where the next book begins.
Parts
2 pagesThe source prints this as one continuous account. It is split here so no single page grows too heavy to load; the text runs straight on across the parts and nothing is omitted.
- Part 1
- Part 2
The chapter
271 wordsReproduced complete and unedited from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, published 1880. The text is machine-read from scans, so expect recognition errors: misspelled names, dropped words, and stray characters. Nothing has been corrected, because correcting a proper name invents one. The headings below are the books' own; source changes are labelled in place.
Wilds says, in his testimony, that at evening " the Elders returned and were gladly received by Mother, and the brethren and the sisters at our house. ' Have they abused you, James ? ' speaking to Elder Whittaker. 'I will show you. Mother,' said he ; and kneeling down before her, he stripped up his shirt, and showed his wounded back covered with blood, which had run down to his feet. In washing his back it was found to be beatea blsck tnd blue from his shoalden to his ^Taistbandi, and in siany places bruised to a jellj', as though he had been beaten with a club. ' I have been abused/ said he, ' but uotfor any wrong that I have done them ; it is for your sake ; I feel Qothing against them for what they have done to Die, for they were ignorant and knew not tihat they did, nor what manner of spirit they were of.* Mother and the £lders, with all the brethren and sisters, kneeled dovn and prayed to God to forgive their blood-thirsty persecutors. Elder James cried heartily, and said, ' Father, foi^ve them, for they know not what they do ! ' After praying for tbtm, Jilother and the Elders were filled with joy and thankfulness that they were counted worthy to suffer persecution for Christ's sake."
From this time the Shirley Shakers have never sufTered physical persecution, and no other could reach the moral equilibrium of their lives, and they have been permitted peaceably to use the {^fts of this world while seeking for another, where penecution cannot reach them.
Provenance
Text from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, published 1880, in the public domain in the United States and digitised by the Internet Archive. The settlements listed against this township are matched by point-in-polygon test of each Geographic Names Information System coordinate against the Census Bureau's county subdivision boundary, not by name.