"The immediate effect of this discourse on the congregation has been described to me, and was such as we must naturally suppose it would be. A grave man, the beloved and revered pastor of the congregation, comes out suddenly on his audience, and discusses a subject on which mirth and merriment only had been heard, and denounces a favorite custom. The females blushed and hung down their heads. The men, too, hung down their heads, and now and then looked out from under their fallen eyebrows, to observe how others supported the attack. If the outward appearance of the assembly was somewhat composed, there was a violent internal agitation in many minds. And now, when forty-five years have expired, the persons who were present at the delivery of that sermon, express its effects by saying: 'How queerly I felt!' 'What a time it was!' 'This was close preaching indeed!' The custom was abandoned. The sexes learned to cultivate the proper degree of delicacy in their intercourse, and instances of unlawful cohabitation in this town since that time have been extremely rare." [34] _Butler's History of Groton_ (Pepperell & Shirley), page 174. At a church meeting, Feb. 29, 1739-40, the subject of compelling persons to confess themselves guilty of an offense, of which they said, "if not absolutely, yet next to impossible to convict them," was acted upon, and some relaxation made in the rule before adopted; but a part of the record is so worn as to be illegible. Page 177. June 1, 1761. "The church also at this meeting, voted in relation to the confession necessary to be made by parents, to entitle their children to the rite of baptism, who might be supposed to have committed the offence of which, in Mr. Trowbridge's time, they supposed that, 'if not absolutely, yet next to impossible to convict them,' not materially varying from a _seven-months_ rule heretofore adopted. These regulations were signed by the moderator, and assented to by the pastor elect." Page 181. "During Mr. Dana's ministry [1761-1775] 124 persons (38 males, 86 females) were admitted to the church in full communion; 200 (77 males, 123 females) owned the baptismal covenant. Of the first class, 14 confessed having committed the offence aforementioned, and of the last class, 66, a proportion not indicative of good customs and morals." [35] A typographical mistake for _unruly_. [36] But this was as late as 1785 to 1790, when the custom was very near its end. [37] Another, when in his 96th year, in speaking of his knowledge of the custom, after answering all inquiries, voluntarily mentioned his own personal experience. "In my younger days," said he, and his voice trembled, more from emotion then age, "I was on the bed with as many as five or six young women, but I thank God, that in all my long life I have never had carnal knowledge of any but my lawfully wedded wives."