Note 569 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

According to Worthington's History of Dedham (1827), 109—"a town only ten miles from Boston—I find that the Rev. Mr. Haven, the pastor of the church there, alarmed at the number of cases of unlawful cohabitation, preached at least as late as 1781 'a long and memorable discourse,' in which, with a courage deserving of unstinted praise, he dealt with 'the growing sin' publicly from his pulpit, attributing 'the frequent recurrence of the fault to the custom then prevalent of females admitting young men to their beds who sought their company with intentions of marriage.'"—Adams, op. cit., 35. Stiles, op. cit., 75-77, note, gives a long extract from Worthington, who represents Haven's sermon as having had a powerful influence in setting aside the custom of bundling. But already before this Jonathan Edwards had raised his voice against it.