The extent of this loss is here stated by Dr. Lunt with great moderation. The records in question cover the history of the Braintree church during the whole of the theocratic period in Massachusetts; and, for reasons which will appear in my forthcoming history of Quincy, the loss of these records causes not only an irreparable but a most serious break, so far as Braintree is concerned, in the discussion of one of the most interesting of all the problems connected with the origin and development of the New England town, and system of town-government. There is room for hope that the missing volume may yet come to light. [3] Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., 2d series, vol. i. p. 239. [4] "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." [5] 3. "For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. 4. "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5. "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." [6] Ellis, The Puritan Age in Massachusetts, 206-208. [7] "5. To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." [8] Trumbull's Blue Laws, True and False, p. 37. [9] Drake's History of Middlesex County, vol. ii. p. 371. [10] Butler's History of Groton, pp. 174, 178, 181. [11] Hutchinson's Diary and Letters, vol. i. p. 232. [12] Palfrey, vol. v. p. 9. [13] A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls, &c., 1738, pp. 8-10. [14] The Rev. Ebenezer Gay, of Hingham. [15] Lunt's Two Discourses, 1840, p. 48. [16] Elliott's The New England History, vol. ii. p. 136. [17] Narrative, pp. 4, 5. [18] TO BUNDLE. Mr. Grose thus describes this custom: "A man and woman lying on the same bed with their clothes on; an expedient practised in America, on account of a scarcity of beds, where, on such occasions, husbands and parents frequently permitted travellers to _bundle_ with their wives and daughters." (_Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue._) The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his "General History of Connecticut" (London, 1781), enters largely into the custom of bundling as practised there. He says: "Notwithstanding the great modesty of the females is such, that it would be accounted the greatest rudeness for a gentleman to speak before a lady of a garter or leg, yet it is thought but a piece of civility to ask her to _bundle_." The learned and pious historian endeavors to prove that _bundling_ was not only a Christian custom, but a very polite and prudent one.