not in this town any division of the churches on denominational lines, as was common in other places in the latter part of the last century.

   The meeting-house of the First Parish, or the "Old Meeting-house" as it is now called, was built in 1681.   Parts of the first meeting-house were used in the construction of the new one.   Its antiquity makes it one of the principal objects of interest in Hingham.   No house for public worship exists within the original limits of the United States, which continues to be used for the

purpose for which it was erected, and remaining on the same site where it was built, which is so old as the meeting-house of the First Parish in Hingham.
   In 1730 it was enlarged, and again enlarged in 1755.   In the latter year the present pulpit was built and placed nearly in its present position.   Dr. Gay preached from it for the first time after it was built from Nehemiah viii. 4: "And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose."   In the same year the first pews were built, viz.: two rows of square pews all around the house, excepting the spaces occupied by the pulpit and the aisles leading from the porches.   There was a pew in front of the pulpit known as the elders' pew or seat, and an enclosed seat or pew in front of the elders' pew, facing