Mr. Turell was not pleased with the conduct of the popular Whitefield, and did not scruple to say so. Mr. Turell Tufts, son of Dr. Simon Tufts, writes thus concerning this subject:

"There were some zealots in Medford, who were desirous that their minister should invite Mr. Whitefield to preach in his pulpit; but he opposed it strongly; and, to justify himself, he preached a sermon from this text: 'I will magnify my office.' And I remember, on a day when Drs. Thatcher and Osgood dined with my father, he read some striking passages to them from that sermon ; and they said that it was probably the best sermon that Mr. Turell ever delivered."

When Mr. Turell was ill, Mr. Whitefield did get into his pulpit. Oct. 7, 1770, Mr. Turell preached a sermon on the death of Mr. Whitefield, from this text: "Verily, every man at his best estate is altogether vanity."

April 18, 1768: The number of church-members was 49 males, and 74 females; total, 123.

March 7, 1774: "Voted, that the singers have the two hind seats of the women's seats below;" and the Committee shall designate who shall occupy said seats.

May 20, 1776: "Voted, that the singers have one-half of the three front seats in the women's gallery, next to the

women.

Age, with its accompaniments, gathered upon the pastor; and he was frequently obliged to ask assistance from the young preachers of the college, who cheerfully bestowed the "labor of love." As he was known to possess some property, the town voted the annual salary of £80 with less zeal than they should. May 14, 1772, the vote stood 18 yeas, and 14 nays; but, as Mr. Turell was unwell, they voted £50 to supply the pulpit. May 24, 1773: Mr. Turell continues sick, and the following is "Voted, unanimously, to grant the Rev. Mr. Turell the sum of £66. 13s. 4d., annually, for his salary during his continuance in the ministry in said town."

In September, 1774, he received a colleague, on whom the chief labor devolved, and for four years enjoyed his release from ministerial anxieties. On the 5th December, 1778, he died of old age, having reached the seventy-seventh year of his life, and the fifty-fourth of his ministry. He was buried on the 8th. "Mr. Lawrence prayed; the President of Harvard College, Rev. Mr. Cushing, Rev. Mr. Clark, and Rev. Mr. Woodward, bore the pall." The following Sunday, Mr. Osgood

preached an appropriate sermon. Thus died a clergyman and pastor who had preached in all the meeting-houses which had been built in Medford, from the first settlement of the town to the year 1824! He kept no record of deaths. He baptized 1,037 persons; married 220 couple; and admitted to the church 323 communicants.

Some further light may be shed on the character of Mr. Turell by a few extracts from his wills. One will is dated Oct. 8, 1758; another, in 1762; and a third, in 1764. He shows sound judgment, kind affections, and Christian justice, in his bequests.

His dwelling-house, which is now owned and occupied by Jonathan Porter, Esq., he gave to the church in Medford, "for the use of the ministry for ever." He gave his "largest silver tankard, and a silver spoon, which has a lion's head engraved on it, to the church in Medford." He gave "to Madam Elizabeth Royal, and Peter Chardon, Esq., each a mourning ring."

"I give to Mrs. Lucy Tufts her aunt Turell's picture.

"I give to Mr. Faneuil, and Mrs. Hatch, their grandfather's and grandmother's pictures.

"I give to Harvard College the learned Dr. Isaac Barrow's work, in three vols., folio; my fine loadstone, set in silver; and my bunch or brush of spun glass.

"Item. My good servant Worcester, - I give him his freedom, and discharge him from any demands of my heirs or executors on account of his being a slave; and order my executor to reserve in his hands £50, sterling, to and for the use of my said servant, if he should be unable to support himself; the same to be given him at the discretion of my said executor."

When the town determined to set the meeting-house where it was built in 1769, Mr. Turell remonstrated. He wished it placed beside the old one. He accordingly erased from his will the section in which he had given his dwelling-house to the town!

The system of "exchanges," by which neighboring ministers preached in each other's pulpits, was in full activity during Mr. Turell's ministry; and the Medford church was instructed occasionally by Rev. Messrs. Colman, Cooper, Gardner, and Byles, of Boston; Prince, Warren, and Clapp, of Cambridge; Stimson, of Charlestown; Coolidge, of Watertown; Flagg, of Woburn; Lowell and Tufts, of Newbury; Parkman, of Westbury; Parsons, of Bradford; and many

more. This wide connection in ministerial brotherhood shows Mr. Turell to have enjoyed the respect and esteem of the clergy, as well as the approbation and confidence of the churches. President Allen, in his Biographical Dictionary, speaks of him thus:

"He was an eminent preacher, of a ready invention, a correct judgment, and fervent devotion, who delivered divine truth with animation, and maintained discipline in his church with boldness tempered by prudence."

An anecdote is told of him, which may mean much or little. It was reported that Mr. Whitefield was to preach in Medford the next sabbath. A man from Malden came, and took his seat in the meeting-house. He thought he was listening to the wonderful preacher, and went into corresponding raptures. For a week he praised "the unparalleled," and then learned that he had listened to Mr. Turell.

We do not suppose that Mr Turell was one of those men who can make ice perform the offices of fire; nor was such a man then needed in Medford. In his intercourse with his people, he was kind-hearted, social, and dignified. There was about him a morning freshness' which was very agreeable. At home, he was hospitable and generous; a lover of anecdotes, even when they related to his own personal beauty, which was remarkable. As a preacher, he was clear, direct, and scriptural; following the habit of that day, which was to amass texts from Scripture in proof of Christian doctrine and useful morals. The unflinching directness of the following is more apparent than its classic taste. He was preaching on selfishness; and, after designating certain people, he said:

"They are so selfish, that, if their neighbor's barn was on fire, they would not lift a finger to extinguish the flames, if they could only roast their own apples."

In his theological sentiments, he sometimes revolved round the Assembly's Catechism, and believed that he was thus revolving round the Bible. A parishioner of his, who had moved into the country, where no stated sabbath exercises and worship could be enjoyed, wrote to Mr. Turell (1760), lamenting his absence from public worship and the use of Christian means. Mr. Turell writes a very good letter, in which he says to him: "You have your Bible, which contains

all things necessary for salvation." His ministry gave contentment to his people, and passed away like the seasons, showing bloom, growth, and fruitage, without noise or record.

His printed compositions are few. We have seen his biographical notice of his first wife, Mrs. Jane Colman Turell; and it gives evidence of his just appreciation of a most interesting woman in the family and a pious member of the church. His sketch of his father-in-law, Dr. Colman, is a labored and successful eulogy of every quality in the deceased which could ornament a man or sanctify a preacher. The manuscript sermons which have escaped destruction are chiefly amplifications of texts which pertained to his theme, ending with the accustomed "improvement," which was a practical application of his doctrine to the hearts and lives of his audience.

The third minister of Medford was born in the south-west part of Andover, within half a mile of the Tewksbury line. His father, Captain Isaac Osgood, who lived to 'an advanced age, was born upon and occupied the same farm which had been owned and cultivated by his father before him, Mr. Stephen Osgood, who belonged originally to the north parish in Andover. David, the oldest of Captain Isaac Osgood's four sons, was born October, 1747. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Flint; and she was the daughter of a respectable farmer in the neighboring town of Reading. She was a great invalid; and no tradition remains of her having exercised any leading influence over the characters of her sons, all of whom were men of more than common intellectual endowments. David assiduously labored with his father on the farm until the age of nineteen, when he began to direct his studies with reference to a collegiate education. In these studies he was guided and helped by Rev. Mr. Emerson, of Holliston. Like most young men of that day, he taught a school as a means of support, and entered Harvard College, in 1767, at the age of twenty-one. His age gave him great advantage in mastering the more difficult studies, and he sustained a high rank in his class. His predilections for the ministry had always been dominant; and, immediately after his graduation, he commenced the study of divinity, residing part of his time in Cambridge, and part in Andover.

March 10, 1774: On this day, the town of Medford voted to hear Mr. David Osgood as a candidate for settlement. This proposal was accepted; and the consequence was (April 18, 1774) an invitation from the church and the town to settle as colleague pastor with Rev. Ebenezer Turell. There were sixty yeas, and six nays. The six gentlemen (Simon Tufts, Thomas Brooks, jun., Edward Brooks, Samuel Angier, Joshua Simonds, the sixth not named) opposed the call because they differed from the candidate in their interpretation of Scripture; he adopting the Calvinistic doctrine of total depravity, and they taking the Arminian view of the subject.

The Arminian brethren began to use all lawful means to prevent the acceptance of the call. They addressed a letter to the pastor elect, May 4, 1774, detailing their reasons for opposing him. On the thirteenth of that month, he sends his refusal of the invitation, based, as he says, upon "the quality and rank of my present opposers, and the great