Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 13.

[p. 72] and up to the topmost stone, not a manuscript sermon is to be found in the parish where this monument was erected, though some printed discourses and controversial pamphlets remain. If all had been printed, they would have made 280 volumes, giving 20 sermons for a volume. So true is the old proverb: ‘Omnia vincit improbus labor.’

The last sermon of Mr. Turell was preached April 17, 1774, the text selected seeming to be prophetic of the end of his career, ‘If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.’ Here ended his labors, and soon after his life. His successor was Rev. Dr. David Osgood, who acquired a wide celebrity for two political sermons.

Mr. Turell seldom exchanged pulpits, and never, so far as the record shows, repeated a sermon. He never preached extempore, but always wrote his sermon fully out. He was a native of Boston, and graduate of Harvard University, remarkable for the elegance of his person and his gentlemanly manners. At the same time he was an accomplished scholar, while his health was always delicate. And yet he wrote and preached 5,582 long sermons! The texts alone, if given in a volume, would impart to it rare value, from the originality in their use, and their suggestiveness.

The notes of the recorder, with the facts and incidents he narrates, give an interesting view of the character of the ministry, the condition of the churches, and the type of Christian doctrine prevalent in that distant period.