Cape Cod: Articles: History, Life -- post an article

Lecture Day

Not only did the colonists suffer through day-long Sunday sermons, but on Thursdays they attended a weekly lecture which was to the seventeenth century what the opera was to the nineteenth.

No minister would fail to tell his people how to vote. To give his opinion on all public questions was a part of his duty. On that day the names of those who were intending marriage were announced. Those who committed some misdemeanor were publicly reproved before the whole congregation.

People with troubled consciences might arise during the service and confess their sins. It was also the day for the whipping post. Therefore there was no way of knowing what sort of excitement you might miss if you stayed away from Thursday lecture.

• tell-a-friend • link to this post •