A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW ENGLAND
By HENRY S. BURRAGE, D. D.Author of "A History of the Anabaptists of Switzerland", "Baptist Hymn Writers and their Hymns" etc.
"Different statements of truth, different forms of worship, an altered outward life there may be; but the spiritual affections, the sense of duty, the charity, the penitent trust, the divine desire, the hatred of wrong, the faith in the unseen, which constitute true religion, belong to all generations." - S. L. Caldwell, D. D.
PHILADELPHIA: AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 1894
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CONTENTS.I. ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE EARLY BAPTISTS OF NEW ENGLAND
II. THE EARLY BAPTISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS, ... 81
III. Baptists OF OTHER NEW ENGLAND STATES, ... 51
IV. Brown UNIVERSITY—EpucaTionaL Work, ... 69
V. ASSOCIATIONAL RELATIONS, ... 80
VI. THE CONTEST FOR RELIGIOUS LiBERTY, ... 104
VII. ORGANIZED MISSIONARY OPERATIONS, ... 134
VIII. NEW ENGLAND BAPTISTS AND FOREIGN MISSIONS, ... 150
IX. THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATIONAL Work, ... 170
X. PROGRESS OF THE DENOMINATION IN NEW ENGLAND SINCE 1800. (MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND VERMONT), ... 196
XI. Progress OF THE DENOMINATION IN NEW ENGLAND SINCE 1800. (MASSAHUSETTS, RHODE IsLAND, AND CONNECTICUT), ... 216
XII. THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL MOVEMENT, ... 241
XIII. THE BAPTIST WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, ... 265
XIV. SOME WAYMARKS IN NEW ENGLAND BAPTIST HISTORY, ... 281
XV. THE PRESENT CONDITION AND OUTLOOK, ... 297
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PREFACE The plan of this history was adopted in order that I might meet the requirements of the task assigned me. Regretfully I have been compelled, for lack of space, to omit much that ought to find a place in a history of the Baptists of New England. Yet I trust it will be found that, even in this brief review of a long and eventful period, the prominent facts have been clearly and faithfully presented.
Concerning the earlier history of the Baptists of New England, ReV. Isaac Backus' "History of New England with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians called Baptists," published a hundred years ago, has been to me, as to others, a treasure house of interesting and trustworthy facts. For his painstaking investigations, as well as for his personal worth and services, Mr. Backus should forever be held in honor by the Baptists of New England. Dr. David Benedict, in his "General History of the Baptist Denomination in America," published in 1813, devoted attention to a wider field than the Middleboro pastor, and so far as New England is concerned added little to what Mr. Backus had already done. Valuable material for the earlier period I have also derived from Dr. R. A. Guild's "Chaplain Smith and the Baptists," with its numerous extracts from the diary of Rev. Hezekiah Smith of Haverhill, Mass., published by the American Baptist Publication Society in 1885; also from the "Diary of John Comer", published by the American Baptist Publication Society in 1893. The Minutes of the
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Warren Association I have carefully examined; also such of the Minutes of the other earlier Associations as are now accessible, together with the Minutes of the various State Conventions, in which so much of the history of the Baptists of New England since 1825 has been recorded. Nor have I overlooked the "Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine," 1803-1817, and the "Maine Baptist Missionary Register," 1806-1808. These beginnings of our missionary literature are a repository of facts concerning New England Baptist churches in the early part of the century, and especially concerning their missionary activity. Centennial and semicentennial discourses, histories of churches, biographical sketches, etc., etc., have also furnished me with valuable material. With reference to the contest for religious liberty, i am indebted to Buck's "Ecclesiastical Law," the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Constitutional Conventions of 1779 and 1820, and especially to Dr. Alvah Hovey's "Life and Times of Isaac Backus," one of Dr. Hovey's many valuable services to the Baptists of New England during his long connection with the Newton Theological Institution.Concerning Brown University I have found helpful Dr. R. A. Guild's "Manning and Brown University," also President Barnas Sears' "Centennial Discourse at the Centennial of Brown University, September 6, 1864." For a sketch of Colby University I am indebted to President Champlin's Semi-Centennial Discourse. With reference to Newton Theological Institution, I have examined the historical materials published from time to time by the institution, and especially have I been aided by a recent paper concerning the institution contributed by President Hovey to the "History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts."
For facts concerning the relation of the New England Baptist churches to foreign and home missions, I have received help from the Jubilee volumes of the American Baptist Missionary Union and the American Baptist Home.
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Mission Society. I have also found helpful, "Baptists and the National Centenary," published by the American Baptist Publication Society in 1876. For an admirable statement of the facts concerning the work of the Baptist women of New England in foreign missions, I am greatly indebted to a "Historical Sketch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society" by Frances Stoughton Bailey, published by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in 1891. A like valuable service concerning the work of New England Baptist women in home missions was rendered for me by Mrs. James McWhinnie, of the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society.I desire also to acknowledge my indebtedness to Rev. William Hurlin of Antrim, N. H.; Rev. C. H. Spalding of Boston, Mass.; Rev. Henry Crocker of Fairfax, Vt.; Rev. A. McGeorge of Brattleboro, Vt.; Rev. R. C. Mills, D. D., of Newton Centre, Mass.; Rev. P. S. Evans of New Haven, Conn.; Rev. Henry M. King, D. D., of Providence, R. I.; R. A. Guild, LL. D., of Providence, R. I.; Dr. George B. Peck of Providence, R. I.; Rev. T. J. Morgan, D. D., of New York; Rev. E. F. Merriam of Boston, Mass.; and Dea. W. H. Roundy of Boston, Mass.
My acknowledgments also are due to the library of Colby University, the General Theological Library, Boston, the library of the Maine Historical Society, Portland, and especially to the library of the Backus Historical Society, Newton Theological Institution, for the use of its valuable collection of Minutes.
Henry S. Burrage.
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CHAPTER I.
ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE EARLY BAPTISTS OF RHODE ISLAND.THE Popham colonists established themselves at the mouth of the Kennebec River, in what is now the State of Maine, in August, 1607. Sir John Popham, from whom the colony received its name, was chief justice of England. With him were associated Sir John Gilbert and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Doubtless they sought to enlarge their own fortunes by this colonial enterprise; but they were loyal to the interests of the crown, and saw in the anticipated success of the colony the greater glory of England by the consequent increase of her dominion and her commerce. Unfortunately, the colonists were not of the best. They had not the strength of character that belongs to the founders of States. They were here simply because they were sent. Furthermore, Sir John Popham died June 10, 1607, shortly after the colonists sailed. The president of the colony, George Popham, a nephew of the chief justice, died
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in the winter following the landing. Also, during the following summer, Sir John Gilbert died, and on receiving this intelligence, Raleigh Gilbert, who on the death of George Popham became president of the colony, found it necessary to return to England as the heir to his brother's inheritance. A part of the colonists had returned to England in the preceding December, and as there was now no one capable of taking charge of the interests of the colony, Fort St. George, which they had erected, was dismantled, and the remnant returned to England with Gilbert in the autumn of 1608.The utter abandonment of an enterprise at one period so full of promise, was a severe blow to Gorges and other patrons of colonization in New England; and no further attempt by Englishmen was made to secure a foothold in the new world until the Pilgrims, better men with better hopes, settled at Plymouth, in 1620. The Pilgrims were Separatists, and are to be sharply distinguished from the Puritans, who afterward established the settlements of Massachusetts Bay. Coming from Holland, whither they had fled on account of persecution, the Pilgrims brought with them to our shores "hearts full of charity, kindliness, and toleration; their minds broadened by experience in a land where religion was free to all men." They did not remain in Holland, because they were not at home there. They desired for themselves and for their children entirely different surroundings; and so they left Leyden, where for some time they had lived in exile, crossed a stormy sea, and established themselves at Plymouth, "the forerunners of an innumerable host." The Puritans, on the other hand, were not separatists from the Church of England. They were not in harmony with it, however; and with the purpose to secure ecclesiastical changes which they could not obtain in England, they too turned toward the new world. A party of Puritan colonists settled at Cape Ann, in 1624. In the following year, they began a settlement at Salem. John Endicott joined them in 1628. In 1629, Rev. Francis Higginson and Rev. Samuel Skelton, two Puritan ministers, came with other colonists and organized a church at Salem. On leaving England the former is reported by Cotton Mather to have said: "We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England: Farewell, Babylon! Farewell, Rome! But we will say. Farewell, dear England! Farewell, the church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there. We do not go to New England as separatists from the Church of England; though we cannot but separate from the corruptions in it. But we go to practise the positive part of church reformation; and propagate the gospel in America."1
How this was to be done was very soon apparent. John Brown and Samuel Brown, "men of estates and men of parts," attempted to introduce the worship of
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1 "Magnalia," Lib. III., § 1, p. 12.
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the Church of England at Salem; and when summoned before Gov. Endicott because of this innovation, they "accused the ministers as departing from the order of the Church of England; that they were Separatists, and would-be Anabaptists, etc., but for themselves they would hold to the orders of the Church of England." The governor and council were unwilling to tolerate such views. They tended, they said, to "mutiny and faction." The Browns accordingly were told that New England was no place for them, and they were compelled to return to England in the ship that brought them over. Religious freedom was not a part of the Puritans' polity. They wanted for themselves what they were not ready to grant to others.The Puritan exodus from England continued. John Winthrop came over in 1630, with about fifteen hundred colonists, who settled at Charlestown, Boston, Dorchester, and Watertown. Between 1630 and 1640, at least twenty thousand Englishmen were transferred from the mother country to Massachusetts Bay. Neal says that if the civil power had not interfered to check emigration, one-fourth of the property of the British kingdom would have been transferred to America. It is said that among the passengers who were either prevented from embarking or compelled to disembark by an order to "stay eight ships now in the River Thames prepared to go to New England," was Oliver Cromwell. Old England
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not New England, was to be the field of his splendid achievements.1There were many men, however, well fitted to be the founders of States, who succeeded in making their way to these western shores. On the ship Lyon, which arrived at Boston, February 5, 1631, was Roger Williams. A native of London, as has recently been ascertained,2 and at this time about thirty years of age, he had had the advantage of a liberal education. When he was a youth, Sir Edward Coke, discovering his promise, esteemed him so highly that he sent him to Sutton’s Hospital, afterward known as the Charter House. Here he was elected a scholar June 25,1621. After the completion of his preparatory studies in London, July 7, 1625, he became a pensioner of Pembroke College, Cambridge, where in January, 1626, he took his degree of Bachelor of Arts. It is said that after
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1 This statement is made by Mather, "Magnalia," Lib. I., 7 7, p. 28, 1st ed., 1702. "Among those bound for New England, that were so stopt, there were especially three famous persons, whom I suppose their adversaries would not have so studiously detained at home if they had foreseen events; these were Oliver Cromwell, and Mr. Hambden and Sir Arthur Haselrig." Oldmixon, Neal, Hutchinson, Grahame, Hume, Hallam, Russell, Macaulay, and others make the statement with modifications. On the other hand, Aiken, Forster, Bancroft, Young, and others deny or doubt it. See the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register" for April, 1866, pp. 113-120.
2 This is a discovery of Mr. Henry F. Waters. See the "New England Historical and Geneological Register," July, 1880, p.291,seq.
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leaving the university he entered upon the study of law, but he soon abandoned his legal studies, and devoted himself to theology. He was admitted to orders in the Church of England, and it is believed that he was placed in charged of a parish. In 1629, his residence was at High Laver in Essex, not more than a dozen miles from Chelmsford, where Rev. Thomas Hooker preached. In his "Bloudy Tenent yet more Bloudy," he says, "Master Cotton may call to mind that the discusser, riding with himself and one other of precious memory, Master Hooker, to and from Sempringham, presented his arguments from Scripture, why he durst not join with them in their use of common prayer."1 This was John Cotton, the celebrated Boston minister of a later day; and the statement shows that Williams was already out of harmony with the Established Church. This, also, at once appeared on his arrival in New England. He was recognized as a "godly minister," and his learning and piety were such that he was invited to settle in Boston. He declined the invitation, because, as he said,2 he "durst not officiate to an unseparated people," as upon examination and conference he found them to be. The church in Salem then called him, as the successor of Mr. Higginson, who on account of feeble health was compelled to retire from active service. The Salem Church was the oldest church in
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1 "Pub. Narr. Club," Vol. IV., p. 65.
2 Letter to Rev. John Cotton, March 25, 1671.
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the colony, having been organized August 6, 1629, "on principles of perfect and entire independence of every other ecclesiastical body." The civil authorities in Boston protested against this action of the church in Salem: "That whereas, Mr. Williams had refused to join with the congregation at Boston, because they would not make a public declaration of their repentance for having communion with the churches of England, while they lived there; and besides, had declared his opinion that the magistrate might not punish the breach of the Sabbath, nor any other offense that was a breach of the first table: therefore, they marveled they would choose him without advising with the Council; and withal desiring that they would forbear to proceed till they had conferred about it." From this protest we learn that since his arrival in the country, Roger Williams had already promulgated views with reference to "soul liberty." The Salem Church received him as its minister on the same day the General Court formulated its protest, and he continued to discharge the duties of his office until summer when, for the sake of peace, he withdrew, and took up his residence at Plymouth, which was outside the jurisdiction of Massachusetts Bay. Says Gov. Bradford:1 "He was friendly entertained according to their poor ability, and exercised his gifts amongst them, and after
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1 "Hist. of Plymouth Plantation." Coll. of Mass. Hist. Soc , Vol. III., p. 310.
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some time was admitted a member of the church, and his teaching well approved; for the benefit whereof I still bless God, and am thankful lo him even for his sharpest admonitions and reproofs, so far as they agree with truth." Yet, tolerant as the Pilgrims were, they had a fear, to use Elder Brewster's words,1 that Mr. Williams would "run the same course of rigid Separation and Anabaptistry which Mr. John Smith, the Se-Baptist at Amsterdam, had done." They were not disappointed, therefore, when near the end of August, 1633, Mr. Williams left Plymouth, and, in accordance with an invitation, returned to Salem, where he resumed his ministry, as an assistant to Mr. Skelton; and on the death of Mr. Skelton, which occurred August 2, 1634, he was made his successor. Among his church-members were some of the church at Plymouth, who had transferred their membership to Salem, in order that tliey still might enjoy the blessings of his ministry.But the return of Mr. Williams to Salem was not at all pleasing to the authorities at Boston. "From the period of Mr. Williams' final settlement as the teacher of the church in Salem," says Prof. Gammell,2 "may be dated the beginniug of the controversy with the clergy and court of Massachusetts, which at length terminated in his banishment from the colony. He was surrounded by men, both in ecclesiastical and
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1 Reported by Morton in "New England's Memorial," p. 78.
2 "Life of Roger Williams," p. 38.
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civil life, whose minds were as yet incapable of forming a conception of the great principle of spiritual freedom which had taken full possession of his soul, and which was now gradually molding all his opinions, and by unseen agencies shaping the destiny which the future had in store for him." In less than a year, in April, 1635, Mr. Williams was summoned by the court to appear at Boston for having taught publicly that a magistrate ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man. "He was heard before all the ministers," says Gov. Winthrop, "and clearly confuted." In July, 1635, he was again summoned to Boston, and called to answer to the following tenets represented to be held by him: 1. That the magistrate ought not to punish the breach of the first table, otherwise than in such case as did disturb the civil peace. 2. That he ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man. 3. That a man ought not to pray with such, though they might be wife, children, etc. 4. That a man ought not to give thanks after sacrament, nor after meals; and that the other churches were about to write to Salem to admonish him of these errors, understanding that the church had called him to the office of teacher. "The said opinions," says Gov. Winthrop1 "were adjudged by all the magistracy and ministers — who were desired to be present — to be erroneous and very dangerous, and the calling of him to office at that time was judged a great contempt of
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1 "Hist. of New England," Vol. I., p. 194.
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authority." Mr. Williams and the church in Salem were given until the next meeting of the court to consider the matter, the advice of the ministers present being that those who should obstinately maintain such opinions should be "removed" in other words banished, "and that the other churches ought to request the magistrate so to do." The people at Salem seem to have been steadfast in their allegiance to Mr. Williams. "They adhered to him long and faithfully," says Upham, "and sheltered him from all assaults. And when at last he was sentenced by the General Court to banishment from the colony, on account of his principles, we cannot but admire the fidelity of that friendship which prompted many members of his congregation to accompany him in his exile, and partake of his fortunes when an outcast upon the earth."According to Winthrop, the sentence of banishment against Williams was pronounced by the General Court in October, 1635. Mr. Hooker was selected to dispute with him, but "could not reduce him from any of his errors." So the next day the court sentenced him to depart out of the jurisdiction of the colony within six weeks, all the ministers but one approving the sentence. The sentence of banishment pronounced October 19, 1635, was as follows:
"Whereas, Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem, hath broached and divulged
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new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates; and also writ letters of defamation, both of the magistrates and churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet maintaineth the same without any retraction : it is therefore ordered that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensuing, which, if he neglect to perform, it shall be lawful for the Governor and two of the magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without license from the court."It is pleasant to know that on account of Roger Williams' valuable services to the Massachusetts colonists, this sentence of banishment was revoked by the Council, March 31, 1676. The revocation is in these words:
WHEREAS, Mr. Roger Williams stands at present under a sentence of Restraint from coming into this Colony, yet considering how readyly and freely at all times he hath served the English interest in this time of warre with the Indians and manifested his particular respects to the Authority of this Colony in several services desired of him, and further understanding how by the last assault of the Indians upon Providence his House is burned and himself, in his old age, reduced to an uncomfortable and disabled slate. Out of compassion to him in this condition The Council doe Order and Declare that if the saved Mr. Williams shall see cause and desire it, he shall have liberty to repayre into any of our Towns for his security and Comfortable abode during these Public Troubles, He behaving himself peaceably and inoffensively and not
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disseminating and venting any of his different opinions in matters of Religion to the dissatisfaction of any.It has been argued that the banishment of Roger Williams "took place for reasons purely political,"1 or, in other words, that the "new and dangerous opinions" which he had divulged had no reference to the doctrine of soul liberty, of which he was the great apostle in later years. But this position is clearly untenable. While there were other matters, doubtless, that brought upon Roger Williams the ill will of the Massachusetts authorities, his denial of the right of the civil magistrate to deal in matters of conscience and religion was certainly one of the reasons why his banishment was decreed. This is his own statement, more than once repeated, and his conflict with the Massachusetts authorities is also a witness on the same side. Furthermore, the revocation of the edict banishing Mr. Williams was expressly upon the ground of his "not disseminating and venting any of his different opinions in matters of religion."
Roger Williams died in 1683; but although in the seven years of his life that remained he did not avail himself of this manifestation of "Compassion," he could not have been insensible to the kindly feeling that prompted it. When the "Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England " were published by the State of Massachusetts in 1859,
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1 Rev. Dr. H. M. Dexter, in his "As to Roger Williams," p. 79.
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the editor, to render the work more perfect, added in an appendix several acts and minutes of the commissioners, and other documents, "discovered since the printing of this volume was commenced." The above revocation of the sentence of banishment against Roger Williams was one of these documents, and the editor evidently sought to give it prominence by inserting it in his Introduction. But the person who made the index overlooked it, and it has therefore escaped attention until within a few years.1The views of Roger Williams were views which the Massachusetts authorities were unwilling to tolerate. It is true, as John Cotton said, that to Williams his departure from the colony "was not banishment, but enlargement." But this was not the purpose of the authorities of Massachusetts Bay in sending him out of their jurisdiction. Their act "determined him to another, a wider, a far more beneficent career," but they had in mind only the removal of one whose "opinions in matters of religion" they were anxious to suppress.
On account of ill health, Mr. Williams, after his banishment had been decreed, received permission to remain at Salem during the winter, but it was soon reported to the magistrates that he could not refrain from uttering his opinions in his own house, and that
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1 See 'Plymouth Colony Records," Vol. X., p. 6, Introduction; also, as to its original source, "Massachusetts Archives," Vol. X., p. 233.
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he was preparing to establish a colony on Narragansett Bay. The court accordingly decided to send him back to England, and he was summoned to Boston with this intent. Mr. Williams, however, declined to obey the summons. A small sloop was then sent to Salem, and the captain was instructed to apprehend him and place him on board a vessel then about to sail to England. Yet when the officers reached his house they found he had been gone three days, but whither he had gone they could not learn.By advice of John Winthrop, who privately wrote to him, Mr. Williams proceeded to the shores of Narragansett Bay, and located at first at Seekonk; but on learning from Gov. Winslow, of Plymouth, that he was within the bounds of that colony, he crossed the river with five others, who it is supposed had followed him from Salem, and commenced a settlement which he called Providence. It was Mr. Williams' desire that the new colony might be "a shelter for persons distressed of conscience." The growth of the colony, however, was slow. In October, 1638, Providence was divided among thirteen proprietors, and as many more must have joined the settlement shortly after. From the beginning there may have been preaching and worship, but there was no church organization for more than two years after the founding of the settlement. The religious opinions of Williams and his associates were evidently in a transition state. The tendency of the former had been toward Baptist
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views for some time. Before leaving England he had been acquainted with Baptists, and was familiar with their articles of belief; and he was doubtless the leader in the formation of a Baptist church at Providence. This first sign of organization was at some time prior to March 16, 1639, when Williams was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman, and he in turn baptized Holliman and "some ten more." But Williams remained only a few months in connection with the church. He had doubts in reference to the validity of his own baptism, and the baptism of his associates on account of the absence of "authorized administrators." "For him there was no church and no ministry left. The apostolic succession was interrupted and apostolic authority had ceased. It was the baptizer, and not the baptism, about which he doubted. He was a high church Anabaptist. He went out of the church, left his little congregation behind, preached when and where he could, and became a 'seeker' the rest of his days. And during the rest of his days he never came to a 'satisfying discovery' of a true church or ministry."1 Two or three withdrew from the fellowship of the church with Mr. Williams, but others were added to its membership, among them Chad Brown, William Wickenden, and later Gregory Dexter. These with Thomas Olney, who was baptized by Williams, were ministers of the church, although it is very difficult to determine their terms of service, or how far each was
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1 S. L. Caldwell, D. D.
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recognized as pastor. "The ministry of the word fell to men of less genius, of less education, of more sobriety of mind than Mr. Williams had. They were his friends, and to a certain extent, his followers. They had come after him into the wilderness, but could not follow him into the thickets of speculation where he had wandered. They were satisfied with the new baptism they had found, and such ministry as their own choice and the Holy Spirit supplied. By necessity, and probably by conviction, it was an unpaid ministry, and was exercised by those who in character and gifts of 'prophesying' were marked for it."1In November, 1637, John Clarke, an educated man, and a man of some property, arrived at Boston. It is believed that he was a Baptist before leaving England. When he reached Boston, the Antinomian controversy, which had attracted general attention, was approaching its culmination, and several of the leaders were about to be banislied from the colony. Clarke was not drawn into this controversy, and in the interests of peace, he suggested the establishment of a new colony. With two others he first visited New Hampshire, but finding the climate too severe, he made his way to Providence, and, as the result of a conference with Roger Williams, Mr. Clarke and his company, in March, 1638, settled at Aquidneck, now the island of Rhode Island. The first settlement was
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1 S. L. Caldwell, D. D.
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at the northern part of the island; but in April following, several of the families, including the government officials, removed to the southern part of the island, which they called Newport. Preaching services were held from the beginning. "Mr. John Clarke, who was a man of letters, carried on public worship." A church, at some time, was organized, and this church disclaimed fellowship with the Congregational church in Boston, with which some of its members had formerly been connected. Gov. Winthrop says that in 1640-41 there were "professed Anabaptists" on the island. A Mr. Lechford, in a small book, to which he added an address to the reader dated January, 1641, says there was a church on the island in 1640, of which Mr. Clarke was elder or pastor, but he had heard that it was dissolved. On the other hand, Rev. John Comer, the fifth pastor of the Newport Church, about ninety years after the settlement of the island, in searching for facts concerning the organization of the church, found the private record of Mr. Samuel Hubbard, who united with the Newport Church November 3, 1648; and by information received from other sources he learned that the church "was constituted about 1644." In a manuscript said to be in the possession of the Backus Historical Society, Mr. Comer repeated the statement that the church was first gathered by Mr. Clarke about 1644." Moreover, Rev. John Callender, who succeeded Mr. Comer as pastor of the Newport Church, in his
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Century Sermon, says: "It is said that in 1644, Mr. John Clarke and some others formed a church on the scheme and principles of the Baptists." The most that can be said then, as to the date at which the Newport Church was formed, is that its organization took place at an early period, "perhaps within the very first year of the settlement of the island."At Seekonk, now Rehoboth, Baptist sentiments appeared at length, and in 1649, an attempt was made to organize a Baptist church. Assistance was sought from Newport, and Mr. Clarke and Mr. Lucar made their way thither in order to give needed counsel, and otherwise aid the new disciples. Mr. Clarke baptized quite a number, and Roger Williams referring to the fact in a letter to Gov. Winthrop, said: "At Seekonk, a great many have lately concurred with Mr. John Clarke, and our Providence men, about the point of a new baptism and the manner by dipping; and Mr, John Clarke hath been there lately, and Mr. Lucar, and hath dipped them. I believe their practice comes nearer to the first practice of our great Founder, Christ Jesus, than other practices of religion do."1 Seekonk was within the jurisdiction of the Plymouth colony, and the Plymouth magistrates prosecuted these persons who had publicly avowed their Baptist belief.2 The result
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1 "Pub. Narr. Club," Vol. VI., p. 188.
2" The Mass. Gen. Court sent to Plymouth a note October, 1649, in which occurs the following: "Particularly we understand
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was that most of them removed to Aquidneck in 1650, or early in 1651, and proved a valuable addition to the Newport Church. Among them were Obadiah Holmes and Joseph Torrey. Of the former more will be said hereafter.A controversy soon arose concerning the principles that enter into the foundation of a true church of Christ, and are essential to its completeness. While some in the colony would do away with the visible church, and denied the obligation of baptism and the Lord's Supper, insisting that these have only a spiritual meaning, others would add to these, as another ordinance, the imposition of hands. On the authority of Heb. 6:1, 2, this was regarded as an indispensable prerequisite to church-membership and a place at the Lord's Supper.
This matter was first broached at Newport and Providence, about the year 1652, and the division which the controversy occasioned occurred in the latter church in 1653-4. Rev. John Callender, of Newport, writing in 1738, and referring to the Providence Baptists, says: "Hereupon they walked in two churches, one under Mr. C. Brown, Mr. Wickenden,
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that within this few weekes there have been at Sea Cunke, thirteene or fourteene persons rebaptized (a swift progress in one towne), yett we heare not if any effectual restriction is entended thereabouts. Lett it not, we pray you, seeme presumption in us to mind you hereof, nor that we earnestly intreate you to take care as well of the suppressing of errors as of the maintenance of truth." — Mass. Col. Records, Vol. III., p. 174.
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etc., the other under Mr. Thomas Olney; but laying on of hands at length generally obtained." Mr. Olney's party withdrew from the church, and maintained a separate existence until about 1718.1In the Newport Church the division occurred in 1656, when twenty-one members withdrew and formed another church. The Baptist brotherhood in Rhode Island was thus rent asunder. The new doctrine continued to win many converts, churches were organized, and toward the close of the century an Association was formed in which these churches were united.
In 1665, a few of the members of the Baptist church in Newport began to keep the seventh day, holding that the Scriptures enjoined its observance, and in 1671, they withdrew and formed a Sabbatarian church.
Mr. Clarke died April 20, 1676, and was succeeded by Obadiah Holmes, who was educated at the University of Oxford. In 1673, five members of tlie church were disfellowshiped for denying the deity of
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1 "The fanciful theory that in this movement of Olney the historic continuity of the church [the First Church of Providence] was disrupted, and we lose our antiquity and our primacy goes to pieces on the facts. Just as well say the church lost its previous history, when, in 1771, Winsor and his associates went out for a reason just opposite to that which led out Olney and liis dissenters. In both cases the church lived and continued and survived the schism." — Historical Discourse, Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Baptist Church, Providence, by Rev. S. L. Caldwell, D. D.
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Christ. In 1707, the old meeting house at “Green End” was sold, and another built on Tanner Street in the following year. John Comer, the fifth pastor of the church, was a student at Yale College, but did not complete the course. His successor, John Callender, was graduated at Harvard in 1723. Edward Upham, Mr. Callender’s successor, was also a graduate of Harvard.At Providence the eldership continued in the family of the Browns three generations. During the ministry of Pardon Tillinghast, "after meeting sixty years out of doors and indoors, wherever it could find a place," the church had at length a meeting house. It was a rude affair, "in the shape of a hay cap, with a fireplace in the middle, the smoke escaping from a hole in the roof," and was the gift of the pastor. Ebenezer Jenckes, who succeeded Mr. Tillinghast in 1719, served the church as its pastor till his death, August 14, 1726. About that time a new meeting house was erected, which stood until the present commodious house was built. Thus far the ministry in the church had been unpaid. A party in the church, of which Mr. Samuel Winsor, one cf the deacons, was the leader, was opposed to any change in the established custom. But Gov. Jenckes and others wished not only to employ Mr. John Walton, a minister of liberal education, but to pay him. It appears that Mr. Walton was not only willing to accept a salary, but he favored the singing of psalms,
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and would receive to communion those who were “not under hands.” Mr. Winsor’s party prevailed, and Mr. Winsor himself became pastor of the church, and was followed by his son, Samuel Winsor, Jr., who served the church from the death of his father, in 1758, until the spring of 1771.A century and a third had passed since the organization of the church at Providence.1 During this time “there had been preaching after its kind.” The ministers had been good men, but without professional training, and the growth of the church had not been marked Without commerce, the progress of the community had been slow. But the influence of a new life was now manifest, and it was evident that a better era was about to open.
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1 Of the other Baptist churches organized in Rhode Island during this early period, [Isaac] Backus mentions Scituate (1725), Gloster (1649), Tiverton (1685), Smithfield (1706), Hopkinton (1708), North Kingston (1710), Warwick (1725), Cumberland (1782), East Greenwich (1743), Exeter (1750), Westerly (1750), Coventry (1752), Warren (1764), North Providence (1765), Foster (1766).CHAPTER II.
THE EARLY BAPTISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS
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REFERRING to the “Anabaptists” in the colony in 1646, Gov. Winslow said: “We have some living among us; nay, some in our churches of that judgment.”1 Prominent among these was Charles Chauncy, afterward president of Harvard College, who arrived at Plymouth from England in 1638. He held that baptism “ought only to be by dipping, and putting ye whole body under water, and that sprinkling was unlawful.”2 The church at Plymouth wished to secure Mr. Chauncy’s services as assistant pastor, and it was willing that he should “practice as he was persuaded,” provided those who desired to be “otherwise baptized” by another minister, should have this privilege. But Mr. Chauncy would not agree to such an arrangement, and accordingly, later, after much discussion with prominent ministers, he removed to Scituate. where there was a strong party in the church that held to immersion, some to adult immersion only, and some to immersion of infants as well as of adults. Mr. Chauncy became pastor of
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1 Mather, “Magnalia,” Vol. II., p. 459.
2 Quincy, “Hist. of Harvard College,” Vol. I., p. 18.
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the church. Felt says of him, July 7, 1642, “Chauncy at Scituate still adheres to his practice of immersion. He had baptized two of his children in this way.” In 1644, Thomas Painter, of Hingham, was ordered by the General Court to be whipped for refusing to have his new-born babe baptized, and for saying that such baptism was anti-Christian.1 Shortly afterward, in November, 1644, the Court passed this vote: “It is ordered and agreed, that if any person or persons within this particular jurisdiction shall either openly condemn or oppose the baptism of infants, or go about secretly to seduce others from the approbation or use thereof, or shall purposely depart the congregation at the administration of the ordinance, or shall deny the ordinance of magistracy, or their lawful right to make war, or to punish outward breaches of the first table, and shall appear to the Court willfully and obstinately to continue therein after due time and means of conviction, every such person or persons shall be sentenced to banishment.”2 Goy. Winthrop, referring to this order, says it was occasioned because “Anabaptistry had increased and spread in the country.” Hubbard also says, “About the year 1644, the Anabaptists increased much in the Massachusetts Colony of New England.”
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1 Backus, “Hist. of the Baptists in New England,” Vol. I., p. 127, note.
2 Backus, Vol. I., p. 126.
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The attitude of the authorities of Massachusetts Bay with reference to the Baptists within their jurisdiction is illustrated by the following facts:1 William Witter,2 a member of the Baptist church in Newport, R. I., lived in Lynn, abont two miles from the village. In July, 1651, the pastor of the Newport Church, Rev. John Clarke, and two of his brethren, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall, visited Mr. Witter, an aged blind man who desired Christian counsel and consolation. With what joy Mr. Witter greeted the Newport brethren as they reached his house on a Saturday evening can readily be imagined. A religious service was held the next forenoon at which the family, the visitors, “and four or five strangers that came in unexpected,” were present. While Mr. Clarke was opening to these the Scriptures, two constables appeared with a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Clarke and his Newport associates. No resistance was offered to the officers, but permission to conclude the service was requested. This was denied, and those arrested were removed to
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1 “Mass. Hist. Society Coll.,” 4th series, Vol. II., p. 27, seq.
2 Dexter, in his “As to Roger Williams,” p. 120, note 470, says it does not appear to be by any means certain that Witter was a member of the Newport Church or any other, as Backus affirms on the authority of the “Newport Church Papers.” But these papers “were gathered by the painstaking John Comer, in 1726,” and “were derived from Samuel Hubbard and Edward Smith, both members of the Newport Church, and contemporary with the events narrated.” — Rev. C. E. Barrows, D. D., in “Baptist Quarterly Review,” Vol. X., p. 360.
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“the ale-house or ordinary.” In the afternoon, against their protest, Mr. Clarke and his companions were compelled to attend the public service. From the language of the sentences of the Court it has been inferred that occasion was found, probably on the following day, for the Newport brethren to administer the ordinance of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It has even been suggested that Mr. Witter was baptized at this time. But neither Mr. Clarke nor Mr. Holmes makes any allusion to baptism in connection with this visit, and the mention of baptism in the sentences doubtless grew out of a suspicion of the magistrates. Mr. Witter was an avowed Baptist at least eight years before, and it is altogether improbable that he had delayed baptism until this time.1On Tuesday, July 22, the prisoners were removed to Boston. The next week, on Thursday, July 31, occurred the trial. Mr. Clarke says: “In the forenoon we were examined; in the afternoon, without producing either accuser, witness, jury, law of God or man, we were sentenced.” Gov. Endicott during the examination, accused Mr. Clarke and his companions of being Anabaptusts. Mr. Clarke replied that he was “neither an Anabaptist, nor a Pedobaptist, nor a Catabaptist.” Losing his temper, the governor said “they deserved death, and he would not have such trash brought into his jurisdiction.” He challenged them to a discussion
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1 Rev. Dr. Henry M. King’s “Early Baptists Defended,” p. 32.
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with the ministers. Mr. Clarke accepted this challenge, and requested the governor to appoint a time for the discussion. One of the magistrates informed Mr. Clarke that the discussion would take place the following week; but after some delay the arrangement failed. The points Mr. Clarke proposed for discussion were four in number. The first had reference to the kingship of Christ: “That this Jesus Christ is also the Lord: none to or with him by way of commanding and ordering, with respect to the worship of God, the household of faith.” The second testified that “baptism, or dipping in water, is one of the commandments of this Lord Jesus Christ, and that a visible believer or disciple of Christ Jesus — that is, one that manifesteth repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus Christ — is the only person that is to be baptized, or dipped with that visible baptism.” The third affirmed that “every such believer in Christ Jesus ... may in point of liberty, yea, ought in point of duty, to improve that talent his Lord hath given unto him, and in the congregation ... may speak by way of prophecy for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of the whole” The fourth insisted “that no such believer or servant of Christ Jesus hath liberty, much less authority from his Lord to smite his fellow-servant, nor yet with outward force, or arm of flesh to constrain, or restrain his conscience, no, nor yet his outward man for conscience’ sake, or worship of his God, where
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injury is not offered to the person, name, or estate of others.”Crandall was sentenced to pay five pounds, or to be well whipped; Clarke to pay twenty pounds, or to be well whipped; and Holmes, probably because he had been excommunicated from the church at Rehoboth, was sentenced to pay thirty pounds, or to be well whipped. The fines of Crandall and Clarke were paid by “tender-hearted friends, without their consent and contrary to their judgment.” There were those too who desired to pay the fine of Mr. Holmes, but he “durst not accept of deliverance in such a way.” Inasmuch as the consciences of Clarke and Crandall impelled them to a like refusal, it is evident “that the authorities were willing to accept the payment of the fines of Crandall and Clarke, though made by others without their knowledge and consent, and set them free; but that in the case of Holmes, he being the greatest offender, they manifested no such willingness.” He was kept in prison until September, and then brought forth for punishment. Having been stripped of his clothing, Holmes was delivered to the executioner who was told to “doe his office.” Mr. Holmes tells the story of what followed. “As the man began to lay the stroaks upon my back, I said to the people: ‘Though my flesh should fail, and my spirit should fail, yet God would not fail’; so it pleased the Lord to come in and so to fill my heart and tongue as a vessel full, and with an audible voyce
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I broke forth praying unto the Lord not to lay this sin to their charge, and telling the people, that now I found he did not fail me; and therefore, now I should trust him forever who failed me not; for in truth, as the stroaks fell upon me, I had such a spiritual manifestation of God’s presence, as the like thereunto I never heard, nor felt, nor can with fleshly tongue expresse; and the outward pain was so removed from me, that indeed I am not able to declare it to you; it was so easie to me that I could well bear it, yea, and in a manner felt it not, although it was grievous, as the spectators said, the man striking with all his strength (yea, spitting on his hands three times, as many affirm) with a three-coarded whip, giving me therewith thirty stroaks. When he had loosed me from the post, having joyfulness in my heart and cheerfulness in my countenance, as the spectators observed, I told the magistrates: ‘You have struck me as with roses’; and said, moreover: ‘Although the Lord hath made it easie to me, yet I pray God it may not be laid to your charge.’”1Writing to Gov. Endicott with reference to the treatment which the Newport Baptists received at the hands of the Massachusetts Bay authorities, Roger
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1 Rev. H. M. Dexter, D. D., in his “As to Roger Williams,” p. 121, note 478, referring to the whipping of Holmes, says: “Arnold thinks he was ‘cruelly whipped’ (Hist. of R. I., Vol. I., p. 285). But Clarke [he means Holmes] says: ‘It was so easie to me, that I could well bear it, yea, and in a manner felt it not’; and that he told the magistrates after it was over: ‘You
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Williams made an earnest, manly plea for toleration in matters of conscience and religion. It was a timely letter, but failed to accomplish its object. The first president of Harvard College, Henry Dunster, of whom Quincy, in his history of Harvard College, says, “No man ever questioned his talents, learning, exemplary fidelity, and usefulness,” was led to a study of God’s word with reference to Baptist principles by the trial and punishment of Mr. Clarke and his associates. The result was that he publicly assailed infant baptism and insisted on believers’ baptism. “All instituted gospel worship,” he said, “hath some express word of Scripture, but Pedobaptism hath none”; and on account of his views concerning baptism Mr. Dunster was compelled in October, 1654, to resign the presidency, after having been “indicted by the Grand Jury for disturbing the ordinance of infant baptism in the Cambridge Church, sentenced to a public admonition on lecture day, and laid under bonds for good behavior.” As Cotton Mather says: “His unhappy entanglement in the snares of Anabaptism filled the overseers with uneasy fears, lest the students
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have struck me as with roses.”? This note conveys the impression that Holmes’ punishment was made light. If Dr. Dexter had given the quotation from Holmes in full, however, no such impression would be possible. For a long time Dr. Dexter was unwilling to admit the erroneous character of this note; he yielded at length, however, and agreed to correct his statement in another edition of his work. But the work has not yet reached a second edition, and probably never will.
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by his means should come to be ensnared.” It is a curious fact that President Dunster’s successor was Mr. Charles Chauncy, the pastor at Scituate, to whom reference has already been made.The first Baptist church in what is now the State of Massachusetts was organized in Rehoboth, in 1663, by Rev. John Miles. Mr. Miles was the father of the Baptist churches in Wales, and had been pastor of one of them at Iston, near Swansea. By the Act of Uniformity, in 1662, he was ejected from his pastorate, and with others he determined to seek a home in the New World. In settling at Rehoboth, Mr. Miles and his brethren were on ground that had already been occupied by Baptists. Obadiah Holmes, removed there from Salem in 1646, and united with the Congregational church. But having become a Baptist, he and eight others established a separate meeting, for which they were excommunicated by the church. In October, 1650, they were indicted by the Grand Jury, and to escape further persecution, and doubtless compelled to leave, Holmes and most of his little company removed to Newport.
For a while Mr. Miles and his brethren at Rehoboth were unmolested. He was a favorite in the community, and March 13, 1666, the people publicly requested him to lecture on Sunday, and once in two weeks on the week-day. But the state of things at Rehoboth was not pleasing to the authorities, and July 2, 1667, Mr. Miles and one of his associates
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were brought before the court at Plymouth for a breach of order "in setting up of a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the court, to the disturbance of the peace of the place"; and they were each fined five pounds. As their continuance at Rehoboth was regarded as prejudicial to the peace of the church and the town, they were notified that they must settle elsewhere. An arrangement was accordingly made by which, in October following, they obtained from the court at Plymouth the grant of a township which they called Swansea, and of which the present town of Swansea is a part. Mr. Backus says: "Mr. Miles often visited and labored with his brethren of Boston in the time of their sufferings; and he continued the faithful pastor of the church at Swansea, until he fell asleep there, in a good old age, February 3, 1683."1Almost from the beginning of the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, Baptists had been found here and there. Seth Sweetser, who came over from England to Charlestown, in 1638, was one of those early Baptists. Others, whose names have not been preserved, were faithful to their convictions of truth and duty, and constituted the unorganized materials of Baptist churches. Out of these materials there was formed in Charlestown, May 28, 1665, what is now known as the First Baptist Church in Boston. On that day
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1 Backus, "Hist. of the Baptists in New England," Vol. II., p. 433.
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Thomas Gould, Thomas Osborne, Edward Drinker, and John George were baptized, and joined with Richard Goodall, William Turner, Robert Lambert, Mary Goodall, and Mary Newell, "in a solemn covenant, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to walk in fellowship and communion together, in the practice of all the holy appointments of Christ, which he had, or should further make known to them." Gould and Osborne had separated from the church in Charlestown; Drinker and George had lived many years in the colony, but had not united with any church; Goodall came from Mr. Kiffin's church in London; Turner and Lambert, from Mr. Stead's church in Dartmouth; all having been members in good standing before leaving England.Persecution soon assailed this little company of believers. Having been brought before the Court of Assistance in September, they exhibited their Confession of Faith. The following was the only article to which objection was made: "Christ's commission to his disciples is to teach and baptize, and those who gladly receive the word, and are baptized, are saints by calling, and fit matter for a visible church." It was said that this article excluded all from a visible saintship but baptized persons. The Court commanded them to "desist from their schismatical practices," and as they refused, the General Court, October 11, summoned Gould, Turner, Osborne, Drinker, and George, who brought with them the same Confession of Faith they
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had submitted to the Court of Assistance. "If any take this to be heresy," they said, "then do we, with the apostle, confess that after the way which they call heresy, we worship God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets and apostles." This the Court called a "contemning of the authority and laws," and it was ordered that those who were freemen should be disfranchised, and that all of them, "upon conviction before any one magistrate or Court, of their further proceedings herein," should be committed to prison until the General Court should take further order concerning them. April 17, 1666, they were presented to the County Court at Cambridge, for absenting themselves from the public worship; and when they claimed that they did steadily attend such worship according to the rule of Christ, the unlawfulness of their assembly was insisted upon, and they were each fined four pounds, and required to give bonds in twenty pounds each for their appearance at the next Court of Assistance. Refusing to do this they were committed to prison.August 18, 1666, the Court of Assistance decided that if Gould and Osborne would pay their fines and costs they should be released; if not, they should be banished. March 3, 1668, Gould was recommitted to prison. As fines and imprisonments accomplished nothing, a public discussion was arranged for April 14, at the meeting house in Boston. The governor
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and council appointed Messrs. Allen, Cobbett, Higginson, Danforth, Mitchell, and Shepard to debate with Gould and his brethren this question: "Whether it be justifiable by the word of God for these persons and their company to depart from the communion of these churches, and to set up an assembly here in the way of Anabaptism, and whether such a practice is to be allowed by the government of this jurisdiction?" Mr. Gould was required by the council to notify his brethren of this discussion. The church in Newport sent three of its members to aid the Boston brethren. But the discussion was all on one side. For two days the opponents of the Baptists presented their views, but the Baptists were not allowed to reply, and when the assembly met in Boston in May, Gould and his brethren were summoned in order that the Court might know whether "they had altered their former declared resolution."1 They replied that they had not, and it was accordingly ordered that "Thomas Gould, William Turner, and John Farnura, Senior, do before the twentieth of July next, remove themselves out of this jurisdiction." As they paid no attention to the order of the Court all three were imprisoned; and wiien in the autumn a petition was sent to the Court for their release, the Court, instead of granting it, fined its principal promoters. March 2, 1669, Gould and Turner were liberated from prison three days "to visit their families, as also to apply
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1 "Order of Court," Backus, Vol. I., p. 303.
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themselves to any that are able and orthodox for their further conviucement of their many irregularities in those practices for which they were sentenced."1 At some time in 1670, it is supposed they were again released. Mr. Gould then made his home on Noddle's Island, in Boston Harbor, and there the church also had a home.While Mr. Leverett was governor of the colony, the Baptists do not seem to have been molested. Mr. Gould died October 27, 1675, having "proved an eminent instrument in the hand of the Lord for the carrying on of the good work of God in its low and weak beginnings." The ministry of Mr. Miles and others was greatly blessed to the church, which in February, 1677, had so much increased in numbers that a division was agreed upon. In January, 1678, however, it was decided to defer the division of the church and to erect a meeting house. Mr. Russell was ordained pastor of the church, July 28, 1679. With him was associated Isaac Hull, who, Benedict says, succeeded Mr. Russell. Gov. Leverett had now died, and we again hear of fines and court charges. But the members of the church resolutely continued their work. Philip Squire and Ellis Callender had built, in 1669, a small house "at the foot of an open lot running down from Salem street to the mill pond." It was not called a meeting house, but when the church, February 9, 1670, bought the house and the
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1 "Order of Court," Backus, Vol. I., p. 315, note.
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land on which it stood, there was much excitement concerning it. The Baptists had been censured for meeting in private houses. "Since we have for our convenience obtained a public house on purpose for that use," wrote Mr. Russell, "we are become more offensive than before." In May, the General Court enacted a law prohibiting the erection and use of a house for public worship, without the consent of the freemen of the town, and license of the County Court, or special order of the General Court, on the penalty of forfeiture of house and land to the county. In obedience to this ex post facto law, the Baptists refrained from occupying their meeting house. But when King Charles, in the interest of Episcopacy, directed the colonial authorities to allow to all Protestants liberty of conscience, the Baptists reopened their house. For this they were arraigned by the Court, and March 8, 1680, the marshal nailed up the doors, on one of which was posted the following notice:All persons are to take notice that, by order of the Court, the doors of this house are shut up, and that they are inhibited to hold any meetings therein, or to open the doors thereof, without license from authority, till the Court take farther order, or they will answer the contrary to their peril.On the following Sunday the Baptists held a meeting for worship in the church yard, and during the following week they " prepared a shed therein for the
Edward Rawson, Secretary.
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purpose." On the second Sunday, when they assembled, they found the doors of the house open, and occupied it, as the owners of the property. The church subsequently received an admonition from the governor by direction of the General Court, but there is no record of a later ejectment.Mr. Russell died Dec. 21, 1680. Mr. Hull continued in the pastoral office until 1689, and perhaps longer, but on account of the failure of his health the church, in 1684, called Mr. John Emblen, from England, whose service with the church extended to the close of the century. An attempt was then made to secure another minister from England, but without success. Rev. William Screven, of South Carolina, was invited to take the pastorate of the church. At his suggestion they called Mr. Ellis Callender, in 1708, and he served the church until 1726. His son, Elisha Callender, a graduate of Harvard, was his successor, having been ordained May 21, 1718. He died March 31, 1738. Mr. Jeremy Condy, also a graduate of Harvard, was ordained pastor of the church Feb. 14, 1739. Backus says: "He had quite other sentiments concerning the nature and power of the gospel than those of his predecessors; and he opposed the powerful work which came on in Boston the year after he was ordained."1
The reference is to the "Great Awakening," or " Great Revival," in New England, in connection with
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1 "Hist, of the Baptists iu New England," Vol. II., p. 419.
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the labors of Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, and other "wanton gospellers," as they were sometimes called, who stirred the religious feelings of the people whereever they appeared. Whitefield, whose tongue was a tongue of fire, is said to have preached to twenty thousand hearers on Boston Common. Of the preaching of Tennent, Rev. Thomas Prince, at that time pastor of the Old South Church, Boston, said: "It is both terrible and searching. . . By his arousing and spiritual preaching, deep and pungent convictions were wrought in the minds of many hundreds of persons in that town. . . And now was such a time as we never knew. The Rev. Mr. Cooper was wont to say that more came to him in one week in deep concern than in the whole twenty-four years of his preceding ministry. I can say also the same as to the numbers who repaired to me." This was also true of the work of Whitefield and his associates wherever they went. The preaching of Jonathan Edwards was also helpful in extending these revival influences. Earnestly solicited by ministers and people, he visited many churches and aided in the work. But Mr. Edwards was especially helpful in the movement by his writings, prominent among which was his sermon preached at New Haven, Sept. 10, 1741, on "The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God," for which, when published, Mr. Cooper, of Boston, wrote a preface; also very helpful was his "Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England," in
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which the distinction between true and false religion was clearly and forcibly stated.The dissatisfaction with reference to Mr. Condy, at the First Baptist Church in Boston, led to the withdrawal of those who were opposed to him, and the organization of the Second Baptist Church, July 27, 1743.1 "As most of the old Baptist ministers and churches in our country were prejudiced against the late revival of religion therein," says Backus,2 "these people found it difficult to obtain help in the ordination of their minister," Mr. Ephraim Bound. This was at length secured, however, and he was ordained a1 Warwick, R. I.
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1 Up to the time of the Great Awakening the Baptist churches organized in Massachusetts, besides the church in Swansea (1663) and the First Church in Boston (1665), were the church among the Indians in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard (1693), Rehoboth (1732), Sutton (1735), Brimfield, now Wales (1736), Bellingham (1737), and Leicester (1738). After the Great Awakening, and as a result of it, the number of Baptist churches in the State was largely increased. The following churches were organized previous to the Revolution: Second Rehoboth (1743), Sturbridge (1749), Bellingham (1750, either the church organized in 1737 had become extinct or was now revived). First Middleboro (1756), Second Middleboro (1757), Harwich (1757), Ashfield (1761), Third Middleboro (1761), Taunton (1761), Third Rehoboth (1762), Charlton (17(i2), Haverhill (1765), Second Sutton (1765), Hardwick (1768), Wilbraham (1768), Attleboro (1769), Cheshire (1769), Wrentham (1769), Royalston (1770), Chelmsford (1771), Barnstable (1771), New Salem (1772), Fourth Rehoboth (1772), Pittsfield (1772), Hancock (1772), Freetown (1774), New Bedford (1774).
2 "Hist. of the Baptists in New England," Vol. II., p. 422.
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The Baptist church in Middleboro was organized by Rev. Isaac Backus. He was converted at Norwich, Conn., in 1741, and in connection with the Whitefield revival. July 11, 1742, he united with the Congregational church in Norwich, but with misgivings, from observing that neither due care was exercised in receiving members, nor proper faithfulness with reference to those who were in the church. In 1745, he withdrew from the church, and with fifteen others formed a Separate church, which was composed of Baptists and Congregationalists. In 1748, he organized a Separate church in Middleboro, Mass., of which he was ordained pastor, April 13. Baptist tendencies more and more appeared in the membership of the church; Backus himself was led to consider the question of duty; and January 16, 1756, a Baptist church was organized, of which Mr. Backus was installed pastor, July 23. It was the first Baptist church formed in Plymouth county, and the first "in an extent of country above a hundred miles long, from Bellingham to the end of Cape Cod, and near fifty miles wide, between Boston and Rehoboth." The ability, piety, and untiring industry of Mr. Backus made him a valuable addition to the Baptist ranks in New England. In labors he was abundant. From 1756 to 1767 he preached two thousand four hundred and twelve sermons, and traveled beyond the limits of his own parish fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one miles.
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The Baptist church in Haverhill had as its first pastor Rev. Hezekiah Smith. He was graduated at Princeton College in the same class with James Manning, the first president of Brown University. After laboring as an evangelist in the South, he came inio New England in the spring of 1764, and on account of his glowing piety and earnest, effective preaching of the gospel, he was welcomed to Baptist and Congregational pulpits in many places. Mr. Smith expected to return to New Jersey in the fall, but at Haverhill, Mass., a large and effectual door was opened to him, and, as a result of his labors there, a Baptist church was organized May 9, 1765, and he became pastor of the church. A meeting-house was at once erected. The first person baptized at Haverhill by Mr. Smith was Miss Mary Bailey, afterward Mrs. Asa Chaplin, and the mother of the first president of Waterville College, now Colby University. The church had twenty-three members at its organization, and at the formation of the Warren Association, two years later, it reported one hundred and seven members, and was the fourth Baptist church in New England in the number of its members. During the first four years of his ministry in Haverhill, Mr. Smith baptized one hundred and thirty-six converts, besides fifty-six elsewhere. He was a man whose evangelistic zeal would not let him rest, and he became the spiritual father of a host in the neighboring towns, and in towns beyond the limits of the State.CHAPTER III.
BAPTISTS OF OTHER NEW ENGLAND STATES
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MAINE.— William Screven and Humphrey Churchwood were baptized and united with the Baptist church in Boston, June 21, 1681. They were residents of Kittery, in the Province of Maine, and having adopted Baptist views had made their way to Boston to unite with brethren of the same faith and order. Mr. Screven undoubtedly came to Kittery from England, but at what time is unknown. After his settlement at Kittery, he is first mentioned in a land conveyance dated November 15, 1673. He married Bridget Cutis, a daughter of Robert Cutts, one of the three brothers so prominent among the early settlers at the mouth of the Piscataqua. In what way Mr. Screven was led to adopt Baptist views is not known. A letter which Humphrey Churchwood addressed to his Baptist brethren in Boston, January 3, 1682, reveals the fact that others in Kittery besides Mr. Screven and himself had become Baptists. They were "a competent number," he says, "of well-established people, whose hearts the Lord had opened, who professed "their hearty desire to the following of Christ and to partake of all his holy ordinances
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according to his blessed institutions and divine aj)pointment."1 It was their wish, accordingly, that a gospel church should be organized in Kittery, and they made the request that Mr. Screven, "who is, through free grace, gifted and endued with the spirit of prophecy to preach the gospel," should be ordained to the work of the Christian ministry and intrusted with the pastoral oversight of the church.Mr. Screven, after his arrival in Boston, made "trial of his gifts" before the church, and received the approbation of its members as "a man whom God hath qualified and furnished with the gifts of his Holy Spirit and grace, enabling him to open and apply the word of God." The church did not proceed to ordination, but Mr. Screven was appointed, approved, and encouraged "to exercise his gift in the place where he lives, or elsewhere, as the Providence of God may cast him." His license closed with these w^ords: "and so the Lord help him to eye his glory in all things, and to walk humbly in the fear of his name."
Meanwhile the members of the little company of Baptists in Kittery were subjected to many annoyances. Before Mr. Screven's return the brethren were threatened with fines and other penalties if they attended the Baptist meeting any longer, and Churchwood was summoned before the magistrate, with
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1 Backus, "Hist. of the Baptists in New England," Vol. I., p. 401, note.
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whom he had a long discussion concerning infant baptism.1On his return to Kittery, Mr. Screven entered upon his work. The opposition, which during his absence had been manifested toward his associates, was now transferred to him. From an entry in the early records of the province, without date, it appears that in a short time he was summoned before the provincial authorities to answer to some "rumors and reports from a common fame of some presumptuous, if not blasphemous speeches, about the holy ordinance of baptism." At the examination that followed, Mr. Screven said he regarded infant baptism as "no ordinance of God, but an invention of men." As a result of the examination, he was required to give a bond of one hundred pounds to appear at the next Court of Pleas or go to jail. He chose the latter alternative, but how long he remained in jail is not known. He was brought before the Court at York, April 12, 1682, where he was fined ten pounds, and forbidden to "keep any private exercise at his own house, or elsewhere upon ye Lord's Day, either in Kittery or any other place within ye limits of this province." He was also directed to observe the public worship of God at the parish church, or suffer the penalties which the law imposed.
Mr. Screven seems to have paid no heed to this
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1 Manuscript letter, by Churchwood, "To the Church of Christ at Boston," and in the possession of the author of this volume.
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order, and June 28, 1682, his case was brought before a General Assembly of the province held at York, at which he was convicted of contempt of His Majesty's authority in refusing to submit to the direction of the Court prohibiting him from holding public meetings. He was offered his liberty, however, and the privilege of returning to his family, if "he would forbear such kind of disorderly and turbulent practices, and amend for the future." But, on his refusal to withdraw from the work to which he believed he had been divinely called, it was ordered that he should stand committed until the judgment of the court should be "fulfilled." It is probable, however, that the sentence of the court was not carried into execution, for the record closes with these words: "After which said Screven, coming into court, did, in the presence of the said Court and president, promise and engage to depart out of this province within a very short time."1Evidently Mr. Screven and his associates had now come to the conclusion that if at Kittery they could not have freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their consciences, they must seek that freedom elsewhere. As yet, however, they had no church organization, and, doubtless, it was deemed desirable that such an organization should be effected before their departure, and while they could have the assistance of their Boston brethren. Accordingly, September
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1 "Early Kecords of the Province of Maine," Vol. IV., p. 23.
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13, 1682, Mr. Screven sent a letter to the Baptist church in Boston, requesting the church to send its pastor and delegates to aid in the organization of a church and in ordaining its pastor.To this request the church acceded, and the pastor of the church, Rev. Isaac Hull, and two of his brethren, Thomas Skinner and Philip Squire, made their way to Kittery. The church was organized, and Mr. Screven ordained September 25, 1682. The Confession of Faith adopted was that "put forth by the elders and brethren of the churches in London and the county in England dated in ye year 1682." The record of the council closes with these words:
"And they having given themselves up to the Lord and to one another in a solemn covenant to walk as said covenant may express, and also having chosen their officers whom they, with us, have appointed and ordained, we do, therefore, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the appointment of this church, deliver them to be a church of Christ in the faith and order of the gospel." A copy of the covenant signed by ten brethren, and acknowledged by seven sisters also, was appended to this record.
It has been supposed that Mr. Screven and his associates, in part at least, left Kittery not long after the organization of the church. Time, however, would be required for the consideration of a desirable location, as well as for the disposal of property, and for providing means of transportation when tlie matter
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of location had been settled. It is certain from the court records that Mr. Screven and his "Baptist company" were at Kittery as late as October 9, 1683, for under that date, in the record of a Court held at Wells, occurs an entry from which it appears that Mr. Screven was brought before the Court for "not departing this province, according to a former confession of Court and his own choice." The Court accordingly reaffirmed the sentence of June 28, 1682, as "in full force against the said William Screven during the Court's pleasure."This order seems not to have hastened the departure of Screven and his associates. At the Court held at Wells, May 27, 1684, this action was taken : "An order to be sent for William Screven to appear before ye General Assembly in June next." ^ As no further citation for Mr. Screven appears in the court records, it is probable that he and his little company had now made all their preparations for removal, and, before the time of the meeting of the General Assembly arrived, had left their homes on the Piscataqua for a new settlement, where they could enjoy undisturbed freedom to worship God in accordance with their religious convictions.^
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1 "Early Eecords of the Province of Maine," Vol. IV., p. 173.
2 A list of those who accompanied Mr. Screven has not been preserved, and the early records of the church in Charleston were destroyed by an inundation in 1752. Mrs. Screven's mother, after the death of Robert Cutts in 1674, married Captain Francis Champernowne. In a letter written at Kittery,
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The place selected for the settlement was on the Cooper River, not far from the present site of Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Screven called the name of this settlement Somerton, the name probably of his old home in England. Among the signers of a Confession of Faith adopted in 1656 by Baptist churches in the county of Somerset and adjacent counties, was a William Screven, of Somerton. It has been inferred that this William Screven was the one who organized the church at Kittery and established the colony at Somerton. But the William Screven who organized the church at Kittery, and established the colony at Somerton, did not become a Baptist church member until June 21, 1681. It is possible that the William Screven who signed the Confession of 1656, was the father of William Screven of Kittery; and
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[footnote #2 continued]
September 7, 1682, to Thomas Skinner, of the Baptist church in Boston, Mr. Screven says: "Besides, my mother-in-law hath desired to follow Christ in that ordinance." Whether his mother-in-law was baptized at Kittery at the time of the organization of the church, is not known. Captain Champernowne died in 1687, leaving one-half of Champernowne Island to his widow and one-half to her daughter, who had married Humphrey Elliot. He also remembered in his will the other children of his wife by her first husband, including Mrs. Screven; while Champernowne Elliot, son of Humphrey Elliot, he made his heir. Mrs. Champernowne and Humphrey Elliot subsequently removed to South Carolina, where they continued to reside and where they died. After the death of Humphrey Elliott, which occurred before 1700, his widow married Robert Witherick, also of South Carolina. Robert, son of Humphrey Elliott, married February 6, 1720, Elizabeth Screven, a daughter of Rev. William Screven.
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the fact that the latter gave the name of Somerton to his settlement on the Cooper River, affords at least a a plausible ground for the inference.It has been supposed that the Baptist church in Kittery was transferred from Maine to South Carolina. If this was not the fact, another church was organized by Mr. Screven, and was the first of all the Baptist churches in the South. Charleston had begun to attract colonists about ten years before Mr. Screven and his company established tliemselves at Somerton. Its facilities for commerce did not escape the notice of these colonists from Maine, and before the year 1693, the larger portion of the members of the church had removed from Somerton to "Charlestown." It became necessary, therefore, that the meetings of the church should be transferred thither also, and in 1699 or 1700, a house of worship was erected on the lot of land on which the First Baptist Church in Charleston now stands. Mr. Screven, at this time, was more than seventy years of age, and he resigned his pastoral office, although he did not wholly withdraw from ministerial service. Indeed, in 1706, as has already been stated, he was invited to take the pastoral oversight of the Baptist church in Boston. This call he was obliged to decline. He died at Georgetown, S. C. Oct. 10, 1713, at the completion of his eighty-fourth year.
After the departure of Rev. William Screven and his Baptist company from Kittery, no attempt was
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made to organize another Baptist church in the Province of Maine for more than four-score years. Rev. Hezekiah Smith, in 1765, in connection with whose labors the First Baptist Church in Haverhill, Mass., was organized, was the first Baptist minister to take up the work from which Mr. Screven had withdrawn. Having preached in Brentwood and Newmarket, June 22, 1767, he entered in his diary on the following day, this record: "In the forenoon, at the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson's, at Lee, from Hosea 4:17; and in the afternoon at Mr. Hyde's, at Madbury, from John 9:7; in the evening at Dr. Lord's, at Berwick, from Col. 1:9."1 On the following day, he preached at Deacon Kimball's, in Kennebunk, and continuing his journey, he preached at Freetown and Gorham. At Gorham, on Sunday, he baptized three candidates. Then he proceeded to Falmouth, where he gave an exhortation at Mr. Burnham's. Returning to Gorham, he preached and baptized two candidates, "after Mr. Clark had preached from Gen. 17:7, and sprinkled twenty odd children." On the following day, July 1, he baptized three candidates in the Saco River, at the Block House. Continuing his homeward journey, he preached and baptized in Sanford, preached also in Berwick, and on his report to his church in Haverhill, the persons whom he had baptized were received to membership in that church.In Mr. Smith's diary, there is no record of a visit
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1 Guild, "Chaplain Smith," p. 117.
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to the District of Maine, in 1768; but we know that he made such a visit, accompanied by several of the members of his church, including two of its deacons. June 20, 1768, he organized a Baptist church in Gorham. A few days later, he organized a Baptist church of seventeen members in Berwick. Mr Smith and his associates returned to Haverhill, and reported to the church the results of their visit, and the church voted to approve of their proceedings in constituting the two churches.In the Gorham Church, difficulties at length arose that finally led to its dissolution. But a church was organized at Sanford, September 16, 1772, of which Rev. Pelatiah Tingley became pastor. About the middle of July, 1773, a request was received from a number of Baptists in Lebanon, for the appointment of a committee of the Sanford Church to consult with them as to the propriety of their uniting with that church, or of organizing a Baptist church in Lebanon. Such a committee was appointed, and in accordance with their advice, the Lebanon brethren united with the Sanford Church. At a meeting of the Sanford Church, July 2, 1774, Tozier Lord, a member of the "branch church at Lebanon," stated that it was the desire of the brethren there, "to embody in a church by themselves," and it was voted to grant their desire. But if a Baptist church was organized in Lebanon at that time, the record has not been preserved.
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CONNECTICUT. — In 1635 and 1636, a company of English Puritans from Massachusetts, became tlie founders of Connecticut. As in Massachusetts, so here, there were individuals very early in the history of the colony, who held Baptist views concerning both the act and subjects of baptism. According to the records of the New Haven Church, the wife of Gov. Theophilus Eaton rejected infant baptism. Rev. Jolin Davenport's efforts to lead her to accept his own views were frUitless, and she "continued as before." There were others, also, who were quiet in their dissent, and so were unmolested by the civil authorities. The development of Baptist principles in the State was due to the influence of Rhode Island Baptists. The first instances in Connecticut of immersion on a personal profession of faith are said to have occurred in the vicinity of New London, in 1674. Baptist ministers from Rhode Island administered the ordinance, and the candidates were received to church fellowship in that State.THe first Baptist church in Connecticut was organized in Groton, in 1705. In the previous year, a few scattered Baptists in the southeastern part of the State had petitioned the General Court for permission to hold meetinGs and form a church. No notice, it seems was taken of this petition, and its signers a few months later invited Rev. Valentine Wightman, of Rhode Island, to organize the church and serve as its Pastor. Mr. Wightman was a man of deep piety,
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possessed mental abilities of a high order, and under his leadership this little band of Baptists increased in numbers and influence. In common with their brethren elsewhere, the Baptists in Groton were subjected to many annoyances from the Standing Order, but these were light compared with those experienced in other parts of the State. A company of Baptists and their minister were thrown into the New London county jail for holding a religious meeting "contrary to law on the Sabbatli Day." Others were confined in Hartford prison. In some cases venerable ministers were flogged at the town post, or at the tail of an ox cart. In various ways Baptists were ignominiously treated because of their religious views.A second Baptist church in Connecticut was organized in 1710, in Waterford, then a part of New London. In this church, and also in the church in Groton, singing in connection with public worship was introduced before 1730, and to promote it Mr. Wightman published a small pamphlet. In Wallingford, a number of people became Baptists in 1731, and united with the Baptist church in New London; but in 1735, they organized within the limits of their own township, a church of which, in 1739, Mr. John Merriam was ordained pastor. A fourth Baptist church in Connecticut was organized in Southington in 1738, but was known as the Farmington Church until about the year 1800. Rev. John Merriam, who had been ordained as pastor of the Wallingford Church,
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became pastor of this younger church in Southington. So far as is known these were the only Baptist churches organized in Connecticut prior to 1740.1The Great Awakening, in Connecticut as elsewhere, aided the Baptist movement. Those who were converted in the powerful revivals that occurred at different points at that time, found that the churches of the Standing Order had little sympathy with evangelistic work. The General Association of Connecticut, in 1745, put on record the declaration that "if Mr. Whitefield should make his progress through this government, it would by no means be advisable for any of our ministers to admit him into their pulpits, or for any of our people to attend upon his preaching and administrations." Many in the Congregational churches, therefore, who sought union with those who manifested a warm, earnest, evangelical spirit, found their way into Baptist churches, and in a few instances New Light, or Separate churches, became Baptist churches. A parish minister in Stonington, said in 1767: "Not less than two-thirds of the congregation formerly under my care, have withdrawn from my ministry and formed themselves into Baptist and Separate churches." The Baptist membership in the
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1 The Baptist church in East Lyme is said to have been organized in 1705. "This may be the date of a parish church of the Standing Order," says Prof. B. O. True; "but it is certain that there was no Baptist church in the town of Lyme until many years later." — Address at Centennial Anniversary of the First Baptist Church, Meriden, Conn., Oct. 7, 1886, p. 16.
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colony, accordingly, was considerably increased by the Great Awakening, and the Baptist churches had a growing influence in the religious development of the people. "The Baptist fathers zealously attacked the idea of a wordly and an avowedly unconverted church-membership. They were jealous of any approach to official dictation on the part of ministers. In their rebound against ministerial rates, and possibly inspired by the characteristic economy of those earlier days, many laymen were prejudiced against fixed salaries and what they termed a 'hireling ministry,' and it should be frankly admitted that witli some there was a prejudice against an educated ministry, and with too many there was a tendency to undervalue educational advantages, as calculated to develop an unholy ambition, and reliance on human rather than divine agencies. For this attitude there were manifest historic reasons. And had the choice been necessary, as at one time seemed possible, between the plain, unlearned men who labored with their own hands as farmers or mechanics, and insisted upon their absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit in all their religious ministrations, and the technically trained ministers, many of whom placed little stress upon personal experience of Christian truth, who would hesitate to say that the men called of God to preach in his name, though without the stamp of the schools, and without the ordination or fellowship of the churches established by law, would have proved better ministers of
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Jesus Christ than those who, with full academic honors and scholastic training, entered upon the ministry as a learned and honorable profession, but were without any absorbing passion, overmastering love, or abiding desire to serve and save their fellowmen?"1 Such were the early Baptist preachers of Connecticut, and their influence can be distinctly traced in the history of the churches organized before the Revolution.NEW HAMPSHIRE. — Rev. Hanserd Knollys came from England to Boston in 1638, and soon settled at Piscataqua, afterward Dover, N. H., where he organized a church. It has been held that at this time Mr. Knollys was a Baptist, and that in a subsequent division of the church, Mr. Knollys' section "held Baptist sentiments." Mr. Knollys' residence in Dover terminated in September, 1641, and as during this time he declared his opposition to infant baptism. Baptist principles were doubtless working in his mind; but he did not avow himself a Baptist until some time after his return to England. Cotton Mather's statement in his "Ecclesiastical History of New England," including Knollys among the "some godly Anabaptists" who emigrated to New England in that early period of its history, was doubtless due to Mr. Knollys' subsequent position as a Baptist. He was ordained pastor of a
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1 Prof. B. O. True, Address at Centennial Anniversary of the First Baptist Church, Meriden, Conn., Oct. 7, 1886, p. 26.
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Baptist church in London in 1645, and held a prominent position in the denomination until his death, September 19, 1691.The first Baptist church in New Hampshire was organized at Newton, in 1750. Difficulties afterward arose, and the church, in 1765, was disbanded, and many of the members united with the Baptist church in Haverhill, Mass.
Mr. Smith, when at Haverhill, in 1764, crossed over into New Hampshire, and preaclied at New Salem, Plaistow, and Newton. In May, 1767, he preached in Hampstead, Chester, Hopkinton, Dunbarton, and Deerfield, and in the following month at Portsmouth, Brentwood, Newmarket, Lee, and Madbury. At Brentwood, August 6, he preached and baptized. At Deerfield, June 14, 1770, he baptized the Congregational minister. Rev. Eliphalet Smith, his wife, and twelve others, whom on the same day he "embodied into a Baptist church." At Epping, June 16, he baptized Dr. Samuel Shepard, a physician, and six others. He went to Newmarket, June 18, where he preached in Mr. Ewer's meeting house, and had a conference with some of the members who desired to be baptized; but the church, as a church, would not give him "leave to baptize their members." At Stratham, June 20, he examined a number for baptism, and after a sermon he administered the ordinance to fourteen persons. On the following day he returned to Haverhill, having baptized thirty-eight candidates in the seven days, and preached
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seven sermons. He preached at Stratham, July 18, of the same year, and there baptized. After the baptism he had a debate on baptism with Rev. Joseph Adams, pastor of the Congregational church in Stratham, and at the close of the debate he organized a Baptist church of fourteen members. Mr. Smith preached again at Stratham, September 29, 1770, and the congregation was so large that he was obliged to hold the service in the open air. He visited Exeter, October 9, and after preaching baptized another Congregational minister. Rev. Joseph Sanborn, of Epping, and five others. It was estimated that there were two thousand people at the water side, as it was the first time the ordinance had been administered at that place. Dr. Shepard was ordained at Stratham, September 25, 1771. The ordination sermon was preached by Mr. Stillman, of Boston, the charge was by Mr. Smith, of Haverhill, and the hand of fellowship by President Manning, of Providence. A Baptist church was organized at Brentwood, May 7, 1772, which, with the churches in Stratham and Nottingliam, was placed under the pastoral charge of Dr. Shepard. To him very largely was due under God the spread of Baptist principles in New Hampshire. In Northwood, which was largely settled by Baptists from Stratham and Epping, a church was organized July 27, 1773. The first pastor of the church was Edmund Pillsbury, of South Hampton, a member of the Baptist church in Haverhill, Mass.
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VERMONT. — The first Baptist church in Vermont was organized in 1768, at Shaftsbury. Its founders had been Separatists, or New Lights, who had removed from Massachusetts, and settled at Bennington, seven years before. Having adopted Baptist principles, they desired to enter into church relations, and this they could do elsewhere under more favorable circumstances. Accordingly they made for themselves homes in Shaftsbury, and laid the foundations of a Baptist church, which was called the West Church for many years, and extended its influence into adjacent towns. Little else is known, however, concerning its earlier history.The only other Baptist churches in the State previous to 1780, were the church in Guilford, organized in 1770, a second church in the same town, organized in 1772, and the church in Pownal, organized in 1773. A foothold for the denomination had thus been secured, and if the war of the Revolution had not followed, the development of Baptist churches in the new and growing communities of the Green Mountain region would have been as rapid, doubtless, as in other portions of New England.
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CHAPTER IV.
BROWN UNIVERSITY. — EDUCATIONAL WORK.THE influence of the Great Awakening in the development of Baptist cluirches in New England has already been briefly noticed. The Congregational churches were divided by the new movement. For two generations they had not known a revival season. The type of piety in these churches had become formal and unemotional. But though this general spiritual lethargy now came to an end, the great body of the Congregational churches opposed a revival movement, and only a minority of their ministers were in sympathy with revivals. Those who adopted the methods of the revivalists were called New Lights, and the few Congregational churches that welcomed these methods were known as New Light churches. But the Baptists throughout New England were in hearty accord with revival efforts. They rejoiced in the labors of Whitefield, Edwards, the Tennents, and other evangelists. Many, therefore, in Congregational churches, especially in the New Light churches, finding in the Baptists those who were actively engaged in promoting revivals, and who insisted "on a conscious experience of a change in a man's relations to
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God, as the only proof that a man was truly a Christian," left the churches in which they had been reared, and united with Baptist churches.But a difficulty was experienced in securing suitable pastors for these growing Baptist churches. While there were many who were willing to accept piety and some ability in exhortation as a sufficient qualification for the Christian ministry, there were those who knew the value of literary and theological training in a preparation for the most effective ministerial service. But the only colleges in New England, Harvard and Yale, were opposed to the new movement, and therefore those who were in sympathy with it could only with difficulty overcome their extreme reluctance to send ministerial students to institutions of learning that were hostile to views which they sacredly held, and which they desired to see extended. To such men an institution founded on their own principles seemed indispensable.
In 1756, Rev. Isaac Eaton had opened at Hopewell, N. J., an academy for the education of Baptist young men for the work of the Christian ministry. This was the first Baptist institution of its kind in America, and to it many bright young men made their way and entered upon a course of liberal studies, by which they were fitted for positions of usefulness and honor. Hezekiah Smith, of Haverhill, Mass., whose unwearied labors in organizing a Baptist church there, and in organizing Baptist churches in New
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Hampshire and the District of Maine, have briefly been noticed, pursued preparatory studies at this academy. Indeed, its value to the denomination was such that prominent brethren in the Philadelphia Baptist Association were soon led to consider the importance of establishing at some suitable place. North or South, a college or university, "which should be principally under the direction and government of the Baptists." "At first, some of the Southern colonies seemed to bid fairest to answer their purpose," wrote Morgan Edwards, "there not being so many colleges in those colonies as in the northerly; but the Northern colonies, having been visited by some of the Association, who informed them of the great increase of the Baptist societies of late in those parts, and that the Rhode Island government had no public school or college in it, and was originally settled by persons of the Baptist persuasion, and the greater part of the government remained so still, there was no longer any doubt but that was the most suitable place to carry the design into execution."The Association met in Philadelphia, October 12, 1762, and at this meeting it was decided that it was practicable and expedient to found a college in Rhode Island, which should be under the chief direction of the Baptists, and "in which education might be promoted, and superior learning obtained, free from any sectarian test." Rev. Morgan Edwards was the moderator of this Association, and the details of the plan were left
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to him, as the original mover in the matter, and to Rev. Samuel Jones. At their request. Rev. Jamss Manning, a recent graduate of Princeton College, and Rev. John Sutton, of Elizabethtown, N. J., both of whom had been students at Mr. Eaton's academy, proceeded to Rhode Island. Mr. Manning was at this time twenty-five years of age, of a fine, commanding appearance, with pleasant manners and a polished address. Concerning his reception in Rhode Island, and the success of his mission we have an account in his own words. He arrived at Newport, with his companion, in the month of July, 1763, and at once; laid before Col. Gardner, the deputy governor, and several other Baptists, the plan of establisliing in Rhode Island "a seminary of polite literature, subject to the government of the Baptists." The deputy governor thereupon called together at his house about fifteen gentlemen, all Baptists, who requested Mr. Manning to present his plan in writing. On the following day a rough draft was produced and read, and Hon. Josias Lyndon and Col. Job Bennett were appointed to prepare a charter which should be laid before the next General Assembly for its action. "But the said gentlemen, pleading unskillfulness touching an affair of this kind, requested that their trusty friend, Rev. Ezra, now Dr. Stiles, might be solicited to assist them." This request was granted, and the drafting of the charter was left entirely to Dr. Stiles, a prominent Congregational minister in Newport.
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The charter was drawn, and a time and place were appointed for its consideration by the friends of the college. The corporation was made to consist of two branches, Fellows and Trustees. The trustees were presumed to be the principal branch of authority, and as nineteen out of thirty-five were to be Baptists, the Baptists, without further examination, seem to have considered their rights amply secured. In fact, Dr. Stiles was told, when the preparation of the charter was placed in his hands, that the Baptists "were to have the lead in the institution and the government thereof forever." But when the charter was read in the Assembly, and a vote was called for, Daniel Jenckes, Esq., of Providence, asked for time in which to ascertain "whether it was agreeable to the design of the first movers for it." The examination, which was granted with some opposition, revealed the fact that the charter had been "so artfully constructed as to throw the power into the Fellows' hands, whereof eight out of twelve were Presbyterians, usually called Congregationalists."1 Governor Lyndon immediately had an interview with Dr. Stiles, and asked why he had perverted the charter. The answer was: "I gave you timely warning to take care of yourselves, for that we had done so with regard to our society"; and he finally remarked, "that he v/as not the rogue." Mr. William Ellery assisted Dr. Stiles
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1 President Manning, in Guild's "History of Brown University," p. 123.
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in the preparation of the charter, and it is easy to infer who the "rogue" was, if it was not the former.When the Assembly convened again, Mr. Jenckes asked that the matter of the charter be postponed to the next session, adding, "that the motion for a college originated with the Baptists, and was intended for their use, but that the charter in question was not at all calculated to answer their purpose; and since the committee intrusted with this matter by the Baptists professed they had been misled, not to say imposed upon, it was necessary that the Baptists in other parts of the colony should be consulted previous to its passing into a law, especially as few, if any of them except himself, had seen it; and he prayed that he might have a copy for the said purpose, which he promised to return. All which was granted. When the charter came to be narrowly inspected, it was found to be by no means answerable to the design of the agitators, and the instruction given to the committee. Consequently, application was made to the Philadelphia Association, where the thing took its rise, to have their mind on the subject, who immediately sent two gentlemen thither to join with the Baptists of this colony in making such alterations and amendments as were to them specified before their departure. When they arrived, Dr. Eyres, of Newport, was added to the committee, and they happily drafted the present charter, and lodged it, with a new petition, in proper
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hands."1 In the new draft as many Baptists were made Fellows as Dr. Stiles had given to the Congregationalists. It was required, also, that the president should be a Baptist, five Baptists were added to the trustees, and more Episcopalians than Congregationalists were given places in the corporation. Opposition to the new charter was manifested by persons who had interested themselves in the charter prepared by Dr. Stiles, but it was at length carried by a large majority. It is worthy of note that Yale College was founded just sixty-four years after Harvard University, and Brown University just sixty-four years after Yale.As the foundation of the new enterprise, the corporation first established a preparatory school at Warren. Immediately after his arrival in Newport, April 13, 1764, Mr. Manning proceeded to Warren, where he was followed in the succeeding week by Mrs. Manning and Rev. Hezekiah Smith. As the college as yet had no funds, it was arranged that Mr. Manning should take the pastorate of a church to be established there, and so provide for his livelihood until the corporation should be able to assume his support as the president of the college. There were at that time in Warren about sixty Baptists, a majority of whom were members of the church in Swansea.
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1 "Centennial Discourse," by President Sears, p. 15; also appendix, pp. 68-70. Guild, "History of Brown University," pp. 129, 130.
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Mr. Manning accordingly commenced religious services at once, and also opened a grammar school. A Baptist church, of which Mr. Manning became pastor, was organized in Warren, November 15, 1764, and on the first Wednesday in September, 1765, Mr. Manning was elected "president of the college, professor of languages and other branches of learning," and the college was formally opened with a single student, afterward Rev. William Rogers, D. D., for many years Professor of Oratory and Belles-Lettres in the University of Pennsylvania. But funds were necessary to meet the growing wants of the institution, and in 1767, Rev. Morgan Edwards was sent to England to solicit aid. He was successful, and in his subscription book, which is one of the prized possessions of the college, are found the names of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin West, Thomas Penn, Thomas Hollis, Rev. Dr. Stennett, Rev. Dr. Gill, and many others interested in the new college. Rev. Hezekiah Smith also visited South Carolina and Georgia, and made collections for the same purpose.The first commencement of the college was held in the meeting house at Warren, September 7, 1769. Seven young men, some of them "destined to fill conspicuous places in the approaching struggle for independence," others "to be leaders in the church and distinguished educators of youth," were graduated, and the commencement exercises brought together a large concourse of people from all parts of the colony.
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A contemporary chronicler placed on record the fact that both the president and the candidates for degrees were dressed in clothing of American manufacture.Up to this time, says Rev. Morgan Edwards, the college "was for the most part friendless and moneyless, and therefore forlorn, insomuch that a college edifice was hardly thought of" But the commencement exercises awakened new interest in the institution, while the frequent remittances from England led some "to hope and many to fear that the institution would come to something and stand." Then a building and the place of it were talked of, which opened a new scene of troubles and contentions that had well-nigh ruined all. Warren was at first agreed on as a proper situation, where a small wing was to be erected in the spring of 1770, and about eight hundred pounds, lawful money, was raised toward affecting it. But soon afterward, some who were unwilling it should be there, and some who were unwilling it should be anywhere, did so far agree as to lay aside the location, and propose that the county which should raise the most money should have the college. At first, four counties contended for the honor, but the claimants were soon reduced to two. Providence and Newport. The competition was sharp, but by a vote of twentyone to fourteen was decided in favor of Providence at a meeting of the corporation, February 7, 1770. Says President Manning: "The people had raised four thousand pounds, lawful money, taking in their
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unconditional subscription. But Providence presented four thousand two hundred and eighty pounds, lawful, and advantages superior to Newport in other respects."1President Manning, Prof. Howell, and the students removed to Providence soon after the question of location was settled, and for a while the upper part of the brick schoolhouse on Meeting Street was used for the college exercises. The foundations of the first college building, now known as University Hall, were laid May 14, 1770, on a lot of land comprising about eight acres on high ground commanding an extended prospect. It was a part of the original home lot of Chad Brown, the associate and friend of Roger Williams, and the "first Baptist elder in Rhode Island." The commencement exercises during the first six years of the history of the college in Providence, were held in the church of which Rev. Joseph Snow was pastor.
President Manning wrote to Rev. John C. Ryland, of Northampton, England, the following, bearing the date of June 1, 1771: "The college in this place consists of twenty-three youths, five of whom are to leave us in tlie fall; though we hope to have some additions at that time. The institution calls for the vigorous exertions of all its friends, as well on account of the smallness of its funds as the unreasonable opposition made against it. . . I am cheerful under the hopes
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1 Guild, "Manning and Brown University," p. 111.
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of its rising, at some future period, to be the joy of its friends and the denomination, as well as the mortification of its ungenerous enemies."1In February, 1772, University Hall was so far completed as to receive the students. Opposition to the college continued to be manifested, and its source is indicated by President Manning, when he speaks of "the inveterate enmity of the New England clergy," who took unwearied pains to make the number of students as small as possible. "But," he adds, "thank God they don't govern the world." This opposition, however, soon closed. Says President Sears: "The well-known elevation of the president's character, which lifted him infinitely above all intrigue and dishonesty, made it impossible for such enmity to continue except in base minds; and the effect of the Revolution, which soon followed, was to disseminate the principles of religious liberty, and to mitigate, though not at once wholly to destroy, the spirit of intolerance and bigotry. The college itself contributed not a little to this happy result."1
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1 "Manning and Brown University," p. 187. The reply to tbis letter, pp. 188 and 189, shows that it was addressed to Rev. John C. Ryland, and not to His son, John Ryland, who was then nineteen years of age.
2 "Centennial Discourse," p. 25.
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CHAPTER V.
ASSOCIATIONAL RELATIONS.THE Baptist churches of Providence, Newport, Swansea, and Kingston, all of them Six Principle churches, united in a yearly meeting about the close of the seventeenth century. This meeting was composed of elders and messengers from the churches. In 1730, there were thirteen churches connected with the meeting, viz: One in Providence, the Second in Newport, two in Smithfield, the Second in Swansea, the churches in Dartmouth, Warwick, North Kingston, South Kingston, Scituate; also the church in Groton, and the church in New London, Conn., and the church in New York. In the progress of time, however, some of the churches which had entered into this relation became extinct, while others ceased to maintain the peculiar views which had separated them from other Baptists; but the meeting was in existence as late as 1764, when, instead of a general meeting, an annual Association was organized, but how long it continued is unknown. Mr. Backus, writing in 1791, refers to the Six Principle Association as the Rhode Island Association, embracing the Baptist churches that held to the "laying on of hands on
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every member as the term of their communion, and so are not in fellowship with our churches."1Very early in connection with his work at Warren, President Manning was led to consider the importance of bringing the New England Baptist churches, other than the Six Principle churches, into closer relations. The Philadelphia Association, organized in 1707, and followed by an Association of Baptist churches organized at Charleston, S. C, in 1751, and another at Kehukee, N. C, in 1765, had exerted a powerful influence in promoting Baptist interests in the Middle States. Such an Association in New England, where at this time, according to Backus, there were fifty-five Baptist churches, and according to Morgan Edwards, seventy, could hardly fail to strengthen and develop the Baptist cause. And yet the undertaking was not an easy one. The Baptists of New England made much of the independence of the churches, and were unwilling to do anything that would place them under the authority of another body.
First of all, Mr. Manning submitted the matter to his own church. Subsequently he visited pastors and churches in other places, and conferred with them in reference to the organization of an Association. As the result of these conferences, a meeting was appointed at Warren, Sept. 8, 1767. Ten churches — Warren, Rehoboth, Haverhill, Norton, Bellingham,
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1 MS. Hist. of the Warren Association, in the archives of the Backus Historical Society.
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First Middleboro, Cumberland, First Boston, Second Boston, and Attleboro — were represented by delegates, prominent among whom were President Manning and Hezekiah Smith. There were also present from the Philadelphia Association, Rev. John Gano, Abel Griffith, and Noah Hammond. Rev. John Gano was elected moderator, and Rev. Isaac Backus, clerk. The moderator, who was a brother-in-law of President Manning, opened the meeting with a sermon from Act 15:9.1The delegates "generally manifested a good will toward this attempt for promoting the union and welfare of the churches," says Backus, "but most of them thought they were not prepared to join an Association." They were not only unwilling to surrender in the least the independence of the local church, but they were not altogether satisfied with the plan of organization, which was borrowed largely from that of the Philadelphia Association Mr. Backus was one of this number. Four churches, however, — Warren, Haverhill, Bellinghara, and Second Middleboro, — entered into an associational relation, and the Association received its name from the church with which the first meeting was held.
When the Association met at Warren, Sept. 13, 1768, the Second Middleboro Church withdrew from its fellowship. Four churches, however, — Sutton,
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1 Backus, "History of the Baptists in New England," Vol. II., pp. 154, 408.
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Leicester, Ware, and the First Church, Boston, — joined the Association at this session, as did four others — Sturbridge, Enfield, Wilbraham, and Montague — at the meeting at Warren in 1769. At this time, President Manning presented a plan of organization, which was adopted. This was designed to meet the objections that had been made hitherto, and a statement was added with reference to the aims and powers of the Association, which rendered the movement less exceptionable to some of the churches: 1 "That such a combination of churches is not only prudent, but useful, as has appeared even in America by the experience of upwards of sixty years. Some of the uses of it are: union and communion among themselves; maintaining more effectually the order and faith once delivered to the saints; having advice in cases of doubt, and help in distress; being more able to promote the good of the cause and becoming important in the eye of the civil powers, as has already appeared in many instances on this continent. 2. That such an Association is consistent with the independency and power of particular churches, because it pretends to be no other than an advisory council, utterly disclaiming superiority, jurisdiction, coercive right, and infallibility."1 It was doubtless this statement that led Mr. Backus and his brethren of the First Church in Middleboro, at the meeting in 1770, to waive their objections to the associational
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1 Guild, "Manning and Brown University," p. 78.
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movemeut. "They waited," be says, "until they could be satisfied that the Association did not assume any jurisdiction over the churches, before they joined. And they now joined upon the express condition that no complaint should ever be received by the Association against any particular church that was not of the Association, nor from any censured member of any of our churches."1 The Third Church in Middleboro, and the church in Ashfield, also joined the Association in 1770.At the opening of the Revolution, the Warren Association embraced twenty-seven churches, with a membership of thirteen hundred and ninety-three. Throughout the struggle with the mother country the Baptists of New England, in common with their brethren in the other colonies, were true to the patriot cause. They responded to the call to arms, and rejoiced in the victory which was finally secured. In an address at the annual meeting of the Warren Association at Charleston, in September, 1783, the elders and brethren gave devout expression to their feelings on the return of peace after "a long and very distressing war." Meanwhile, however, the Association had prospered. At the close of the war there were connected with the Warren Association forty-four churches with three thousand five hundred and seventy members.
The rapid increase of Baptist churches and Baptist
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1 Backus, Vol. II., p. 409, note.
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church-members continued after the Revolution; and while, at the close of the century, the Warren Association reported ouly the same number of churches as at the close of the Revolution, with about the same membership, it is to be remembered that the increase of churches had made necessary the organization of other Associations, with which the new churches and some of the old had become connected.The churches in New Hampshire and Maine early desired associational fellowship, but they were too remote from the Warren Association for more than an occasional visit. Nor, at first, were there enough Baptist churches in either State to warrant the formation of an Association. In 1776, however, the churches in Berwick and Sanford, in the district of Maine, united with the church in Brentwood, N. H., in organizing "the Brentwood Conference." Out of this Conference, of which Dr. Shepard, of Brentwood, and Rev. William Hooper, of Berwick, were the principal promoters, grew the New Hampshire Association in 1785. The meeting of the Conference in 1784, was at Berwick. Six churches, with nearly four hundred members, were then connected with it.1 Of the eight churches then comprising the New Hampshire Association, five — Berwick, Wells,
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1 In 1785, the meeting was at Northwood, N. H.; in 1786, unknown; in 1787, at Brentwood, N. H.; in 1788, in Stratham, N. H.; in 1789, at Berwick. The Minutes of 1789 — an imperfect copy, however — are in the possession of the York Baptist Association, and are the earliest the writer has seen.
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Sanford, Coxhall (Lyman), and Shapleigh — were in the district of Maine, and Brentwood, Northwood, and Gilmanton, were in New Hampshire. The total membership was four hundred and seventy, the New Hampshire churches having two hundred and forty-four members, or a little more than one-half.In the summer of 1782, Rev. Natlianiel Lord, of Wells, on his way from the islands of the Kennebec where he had held religious services, stopped in Potterstown, now Bowdoinham, and preached. A revival had been in progress in that place several months. Among Mr. Lord's hearers was James Potter, a member of the Congregational church in Harpswell. By his study of the Scriptures he had been led to embrace Baptist views as to the subjects and acts of baptism; and he revealed his position to Mr. Lord. About the same time, Mr. Job Macomber, of Middleboro, Mass., came into the district. He was the son of a Congregational deacon, but, in 1772. united with the Baptist church in Middleboro, of which Rev. Isaac Backus was pastor. He was licensed by the church to preach, and for a while devoted himself to missionary work in Massachusetts. He had served in the French and Indian Wars, and according to tradition, he served as a chaplain during most of the Revolutionary War. In the autumn of 1782, he came into the District of Maine, and engaged in missionary service. In a letter to Mr. Backus he referred to the spiritual destitution which he found. Mr.
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Backus showed this letter to Isaac Case, a young man connected with the Baptist church in Dighton. Mr. Case had already engaged in Christian work, and the needs of the wilds of Maine, as outlined in this letter, were to him a Macedonian cry. He was ordained September 10, 1783, and on the following day he left his home in Rehoboth, and started on his journey eastward. At Haverhill, he called to see Rev. Hezekiah Smith, and October 19, he was in Gorham. Thus far he had found a resting place with his brethren in the Lord; but at Brunswick, which he reached October 21, he was obliged to tarry over night at the public house. Here, at New Meadows, he met James Potter. "When I heard him relate his exercises of mind to visit these parts," says Mr. Potter, "I rejoiced. I heard him preach with engagedness and becoming zeal for the cause of truth, and glorified God on his behalf. I rejoiced that the Lord had sent him amongst us to preach the gospel, where the harvest was so great, and laborers so few."1 Mr. Potter joined Mr. Case and Job Macomber in evangelistic work.The Revolutionary War had now come to a close. To attract soldiers and others to Maine, Massachusetts offered to settlers one hundred and fifty acres of land upon the rivers and navigable waters of the District at one dollar per acre, or one hundred acres of land elsewhere to any one who would clear sixteen acres
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1 Potter's "Narration," p. 21.
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in four years. Many Revolutionary soldiers availed themselves of this offer, and the population of the District was rapidly increased.In the autumn of 1783, Mr. Macomber took up a farm in Bowdoinham, and brought his family to his new home. The religious interest, commenced under Mr. Potter's labors, continued, and a Baptist church was organized May 24, 1784. Of this church Mr. Macomber became pastor. Mr. Case, meanwhile, had turned his face to the eastward. A powerful work of grace followed his labors at Thomaston. Many were baptized, and a church of fifty members was organized May 27, 1785, of which Mr. Case became pastor. One of the converts, Elisha Snow, had been a prominent business man. Though now in middle life he left all to follow Christ. One of his daughters became the wife of Mr. Case. Mr. Snow at once began to preach in his own town and neighboring towns, co-operating with his pastor, and June 11, 1788, he was ordained at Harpswell as "an itinerant minister." Mr. Potter was ordained at Harpswell, October 5, 1785. His own statement was: "I was ordained with liberty to travel."
In connection with the labors of Case, Potter, Macomber, Snow, and others, Baptist churches were organized in many places. Though they had the powers of the world against them, they flourished. The Bowdoinham Association was organized in Bowdoinham May 24, 1787, by churches from Bowdoinham.
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Thomaston, and Harpswell. Other churches were added from time to time, and at the close of the century, thirteen years after its organization, the Association comprised thirty-two churches with one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight members. This rapid growth was due in a large measure to the untiring, self-denying labors of Rev. Isaac Case and Rev. James Potter. They went everywhere preaching the word, and their preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and in power.Near the close of the Revolution the Baptists increased very rapidly in New Hampshire. Only nine churches had been organized from 1770 to 1779. As many were organized in 1780, due in part to missionary activity. Rev. Caleb Blood was pastor of the Baptist church in Marlow, organized in 1777. His heart was stirred by reason of the religious destitution he saw all about him, and he urged the Warren Association to send laborers into the field. Rev. Job Seamans, of Attleboro, Mass., and Rev. Biel Ledoyt, of Woodstock, Conn., were requested to engage in this service, and in 1779, they made their way up the Connecticut River as far as Woodstock in Vermont, preaching on both sides of the river, but for the most part in New Hampshire. Many were converted in connection with their labors, and later both removed to the State and settled as pastors of churches, Mr. Seamans at New London in 1788, and Mr. Ledoyt at Newport in 1791. At New
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London there was little increase for four years, but a work of grace commenced in 1792, and the church of eighteen members had in 1794 increased to one hundred and fifteen. The church at Newport had a like experience. Writing in 1793, to Mr. Backus, Mr. Ledoyt said: "It hath been a long, dark, and cloudy niglit with me and the people here; but glory to our God, the cloud is dispersing fast. His work is begun among us; Newport and Croyden are greatly blessed. There have been forty souls hopefully converted in a few weeks among us. I have baptized twenty-nine in four weeks. The work appears still going on. I cannot be idle; it is out of my power to answer all the calls I have at this time, but I endeavor to do all I can. Being favored with health, and the spirit of preaching, I ascend the mountain easy. There is the prospect of a glorious reformation in these parts."1Others of like evangelistic spirit engaged in the work. Thomas Baldwin, of Canaan — born in Bozrah. Conn., Dec. 23, 1753 — was baptized by Rev. Elisha Ransom in the latter part of 1781. Abandoning his legal studies, he decided to enter the Christian ministry. Commencing to preach in August, 1782, he was ordained at Canaan as an evangelist, June 11, 1783, and although he had the pastoral oversight of the church in Canaan until 1790, he performed during this time a large amount of missionary service in destitute places. His hymn,
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1 "History of the Baptists in New England," Vol. II., p. 540.
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"From whence doth this union arise,
That hatred is conquered by love?"was written during a night journey from Newport to Canaan. There had been alienation in the Newport Church, and Dr. Baldwin's visit had resulted in a union of its members. The good work thrilled his heart, and as he reflected upon it on his homeward way he gave expression to the joy he felt in the words of this familiar hymn.
The church in Grafton was organized in 1785. Most of the inhabitants of the town came from Rehoboth and Swansea, Mass., where the Baptists were numerous; while in Westmoreland, where a Baptist church was organized in 1771, most of the settlers had been connected with Mr. Backus' congregation in Middleboro.
Meanwhile Dr. Shepard continued his labors in connection with the churches at Stratham, Brentwood, and Nottingham. He devoted much time also to evangelistic labors. Writing to Mr. Backus, March 15, 1781, he said that there had been several hundred conversions in the counties of Rockingham, Stafford, and Grafton during the past year. In the last journey he had taken, he baptized seventy-two. In Meredith, a church had been gathered in 1780, consisting of between sixty and seventy members. Dr. Shepard baptized forty-three there in one day. In Canterbury, two Baptist churches were organized in 1780. Another church of about fifty members was
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organized in Chichester; churches also were organized in Barrington, Hubbardston, Holderness, and Rumney. The churches at Stratham, Brentwood, and Nottingham were united in one organization, and in 1785, the united church had a membership of one hundred and sixty-one. During the next five years there was not much growth; but in 1792, the number had increased to three hundred and ninety-seven, and in 1793, to five hundred and twenty-six.In 1790, there were within the limits of the State thirty-one Baptist churches, twenty-three ordained and licensed preachers, and one thousand seven hundred and thirty-two members. In 1795, there were forty-one churches, thirty ministers, and two thousand five hundred and sixty-two members.
Near the close of the Revolutionary War, settlers from the older portions of New England began to find their way into Vermont in increasing numbers. Among them were many Baptists, who sought for their families, not only homes, but freedom from the ecclesiastical annoyances to which hitherto they had been subjected. A considerable number of able, consecrated ministers also made their way thither; among them: Elisha Ransom, Joseph Cornell, Caleb Blood, Elisha Rich, Joseph Call, Jedediah and John Hibbard, Aaron Leland, Sylvester Haynes, Isaac and Ephraim Sawyer, Isaac Webb, Richard Williams, and Roswell Mears. Only a few of these pioneers had received a liberal education, but they were men of strong minds,
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ardent piety, sound judgment, finn faith, and untiring zeal. Strong in the Lord, they visited the scattered settlements. Freely they had received, freely they gave; and everywhere they were cordially welcomed for their Master's sake and for their own. Converts were multiplied and churches organized. In 1790, according to Asplund, there were within the limits of the State, thirty-four Baptist churches, with one thousand six hundred and ten members, twenty-one ordained ministers, and fifteen licentiates.The first Association organized in what is now the State of Vermont was the Shaftsbury Association, which, according to the Minutes of the Association published in 1786, "was begun and held at Shaftsbury, on June 11, 1781." This is the date of organization given by Backus, but Benedict and others claim that the Association was constituted in 1780. Possibly there was a preliminary meeting with reference to such an organization in 1780, but the organization itself was not effected until the following year. This mother of Associations in Vermont at one time embraced a territory extending from north of the St. Lawrence River to the southern boundary of western Massachusetts, and from the eastern slope of the Green Mountains almost to the Great Lakes. In 1786, the Association reported 15 churches, — five in each of the States of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York, — with seven hundred and fifteen members. Rev. Caleb Blood became pastor of the fourth
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church in Shaftsbury, in 1788. In the following year the church had a membership of one hundred and twenty-four. This number had increased to one hundred and sixty in 1795, and a revival in 1798-9 resulted in the addition of about one hundred and seventy-five members. In 1800, the Association contained forty-six churches, thirty-three ministers, and four thousand one hundred and twenty-seven members. For the two years prior to 1800, the churches in the Association had received nearly eight hundred to their membership, and during that year they received by baptism seven hundred and sixty-seven, the additions to the church in Cheshire alone being two hundred and fourteen.The Woodstock Association was organized in February, 1783, in the town from which it received its name. It was composed of churches on both sides of the Connecticut River, and covered a territory now occupied by the Woodstock and Windham Associations in Vermont, and the Newport, Dublin, and Salisbury Associations in New Hampshire. The Woodstock Church, which was organized in 1780 with Rev. Elisha Ransom as pastor, was connected with the Warren Association until the Woodstock Association was formed. In 1791, this Association comprised twenty-six churches with one thousand and fourteen members, and it was largely through the labors of Rev. Aaron Leland that it became a strong and efficient body. In 1797, it had increased to thirty-one
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churches and one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight members, and in 1800, with thirty churches, a membership of one thousand six hundred and seventy-nine was reported. The last year of the century with these churches was one of great prosperity.The Vermont Association was organized at Manchester, in 1785. According to Benedict it comprised five churches, viz: Clarendon, Granville, Manchester, Danby, and Mapleton. The church in Wallingford, organized in 1780, was the oldest within the bounds of this Association. The church in Manchester was organized in 1781, and Rev. Joseph Cornell, a native of Swansea, Mass., was called to the pastorate. He served the church fourteen years, but all this time he was abundant in labors throughout the surrounding country. The Vermont Association was organized in his barn in 1789, and reported eleven churches with six hundred and thirteen members. In 1791, it reported fourteen churches and seven hundred and eighty-five members, while in 1794, the number of churches had increased to fifteen with a membership of eight hundred and fortv-eight. The territory then included within the limits of the Association extended from Manchester on the south to Georgia on the north, and in addition to the territory at first occupied, embraced that afterward included in the Addison County and Lamoille Associations.
Two other Associations were formed in Vermont before the close of the century, Leyden (now Windham
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County) in 1793, and Richmond Association (afterward Fairfield) in 1795.In Massachusetts, more than a score of Baptist churches were organized between 1770 and 1780; and more than thirty between 1780 and 1790. Asplund, in his Register for 1790, shows that at that time there were in Massachusetts, exclusive of the District of Maine, eighty-seven Baptist churches with a membership of six thousand and fifty-two. This number was considerably increased by the close of the century.
Prominent among those who aided in many ways in promoting Baptist interests in the State was Rev. Isaac Backus. His labors in behalf of religious liberty will be mentioned later. As an evangelist he did a great work. From 1756 to 1767 he preached two thousand four hundred and twelve sermons, and traveled fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety-one miles outside of the limits of his own parish. Writing December 31, 1780, at the close of the great revival year, he said: "In the year which is now closed I have traveled one thousand nine hundred and eighteen miles and preached two hundred and forty-eight times, with as little weariness of body and with as much freedom of soul as I ever was favored with in mv life." At the close of the next December, he wrote: " Another year is now closed, wherein I have been enabled to preach two hundred and fifty sermons and to journey one thousand four hundred
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and four miles with health of body and freedom of mind." And so it was year after year. He was abundant in labors for the Baptist brotherhood. Meanwhile he was busily engaged in preparing his "History of New England, with Particular Reference to the Denomination of Christians called Baptists," the first volume of which was published in 1777, the second in 1784, and the third in 1796, with an abridgment in 1804, two years before his death. Bancroft once referred to Backus as "one of the most exact of our New England historians"; and he afterward added, "I look always to a Baptist historian for the ingenuousness, clear discernment, and determined accuracy, which formed the glory of their great historian, Backus."Rev. Hezekiah Smith, of Haverhill, during the last quarter of the eighteenth century, continued the unwearied labors that marked his earlier ministry. During the Revolutionary War he took an active part in the struggle. He was present at the battle of Bunker Hill, and was invited to preach to the soldiers at Cambridge on the following day. Although he retained the pastorate of his church, he served as a chaplain through nearly the whole of the war. He became the intimate friend of Washington, and in the highest degree possessed the confidence and esteem of the officers and men with whom he was associated. When, in 1777, Congress passed a law allowing only one chaplain to a brigade, Mr. Smith was one of
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those appointed. After the war, while as active as ever in his pastoral work at Haverhill, he continued his evangelistic tours into the neighboring towns and States. Everywhere he was welcome, and his earnest, devout presentation of the great truths of the Scriptures was exceedingly effective in awakening and converting souls. Mr. Smith died January 24, 1805, in the sixty-eighth year of his age and the forty-second of his ministry.Mention also should be made of the labors of Dr. Stillman. A native of Philadelphia, he came to Boston in October, 1763, as the assistant of the pastor of the Second Baptist Church; and in November, 1764, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church. During a pastorate of forty-two years, he served not only his own people, but the Baptists of New England. As a preacher he was in the foremost rank. Revivals in his church were frequent, and his aid was often sought in revivals in other churches.
Not long after the removal of the college from "Warren, it was deemed desirable that a new house of worship should be built in Providence" for the public worship of Almighty God, and also for holding commencements in"; and the church and society entered upon the work with unanimity and promptness. In order to procure the necessary funds, recourse was had to a lottery, according to the custom of the times. Managers were appointed by the General Assembly, and in their circular of June 25, 1774, they asked for
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the "cheerful assistance and eucouragement of the public, especially when it is considered that this is the first time the Baptist Society have solicited their assistance in this way, which they can assure them would not now have been the case had they not purchased as much more land, and designed a house as much larger than the society required for their own use (purposely to accommodate public commencements), as will amount to the full sum proposed to be raised by this lottery." There were eleven thousand nine hundred and seventy tickets sold at prices ranging from two dollars and fifty cents to five dollars each. This house, which is still in use, was dedicated May 28, 1775, President Manning preaching the dedicatory sermon. The lofty and graceful spire of the meeting house thus erected was a copy of that of St. Martin's-in-the-Field, London. The bell had this motto:For freedom of conscience the town was first planted;
Persuasion, not force, was used by the people;
This church was the eldest, and has not recanted,
Enjoying, and granting, bell, temple, and steeple.The entire cost of the house and lot was upward of twenty-five thousand dollars.
In the struggle between the colonies and Great Britain, the people of Rhode Island took a deep interest. Although, as Bancroft says, they possessed a "charter so thoroughly republican that no change was required beyond a renunciation of the King's name"
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in the style of the public acts of the colony, they considered the general welfare, and labored to advance it in all possible ways.December 7, 1776, Sir Peter Parker, commanding the British forces, with seventy war vessels, anchored in Newport Harbor, landed troops and took possession of the place. Providence, in consequence, became a military post, and martial law was proclaimed. The college was accordingly closed, and was not re-opened until May 27, 1782. Meanwhile, the college building, now University Hall, was occupied for barracks, and afterward as a hospital by the American, and French troops.
A party of British troops landed at Warren, May 25, 1778, and burned the Baptist meeting-house, the minister's house, and some others. They seized their goods, and carried some of the citizens, including the pastor of the Baptist church, with them to Newport on their return. The members of the Warren Church, while thus deprived of their pastor and house of worship, united with the Swansea Church, three miles distant; and their pastor, after he had been released, became pastor of the Swansea Church. A revival, ere long, was experienced, and in 1780 and in 1781, nearly two hundred persons were added to the two churches in Swansea.
After the close of the war, the charter of the college was revised, so that it should conform to the new civil order; and the seal of the college, which contained
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the busts of the king and queen of Great Britain, was exchanged for one with more suitable devices. The college library, during the war, was in the keeping of Rev. William Williams, of Wrentham, Mass.During the Revolution, the Baptists of Rhode Island made little progress numerically. Several churches were added, and in 1790, according to Asplund, there were thirty-eight Baptist churches in the State, with thirty-seven ordained and ninety-six licensed preachers, and three thousand five hundred and two members. In 1795, according to Backus, there were forty churches, thirty-four ministers, and three thousand eight hundred and fifty members.
In no other State was the Separatist movement more helpful to the Baptists than in Connecticut, and long after the labors of the great evangelists of that epoch, members of Separatist and Congregational churches continued to find their way into those of the Baptists. The early pioneers too were followed by men of like earnest spirit — the Wightmans, the Burrowses, the Aliens, the Bolles, the Palmers, and the Rathbuns — who loved the word of God, and delighted in preaching it to their fellow-men. Moreover, during the Revolutionary War, no other State, except Massachusetts, had so many men in the military service as Connecticut, As elsewhere, the struggle fostered the spirit of civil and religious liberty, and so opened the way for the reception of Baptist
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principles. Of the Baptist churches now extant in the State, twenty existed in 1786, a little after the close of the Revolutionary War; and from 1786, until the close of the century, ten Baptist churches, which remain to this day, were formed. "It thus appears that, during the last fourteen years of the last century, after the height of the Separatist movement and the close of the Revolutionary War, one-half as many enduring churches were formed in this State as during the forty-five preceding years. The numerical increase of Baptists was more rapid than at first, yet it was still slow. The development of their principles was, however, steady and permanent. These principles had not yet had a fair chance, but they were in Connecticut, and they were here to stay."1According to Asplund's Register for 1790, eight Baptist churches were organized in the State between 1770 and 1780. In the next decade eleven churches were added, and the number was still further increased in 1790 by five churches. The total number of churches in 1790 was fifty-five, with forty-four ordained and twenty-one licensed preachers, and three thousand one hundred and ninety-four members. Backus, in 1795, gives the number of churches in Connecticut as sixty, with forty ministers and three thousand five hundred and forty-seven members. At
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1 Prof. B. O. True, Address at the Centennial of the First Baptist Church, Meriden, October 7, 1886, p. 8.
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the close of the century the membership of the Baptist churches of the State could not have been far from four thousand.With increase in the number of churches came associational fellowship. In 1772 the Stonington Association was organized. The Groton Union Conference was the name given to an Association organized in 1785. It was a mixed Association of Baptists and Separatists, and had only a brief existence. The Groton Church, from which this body took its name, held mixed communion until 1797, when the practice was relinquished. When Benedict published his "History of the Baptist Denomination," this was true of the other churches in the Conference.1 The Danbury Association was formed in 1790, and embraced the churches in that part of the State west of the Connecticut River, except the churches in Ridgefield, Stamford, and Greenwich, which were connected with the Warwick Association in the State of New York.
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1 Benedict, "History," Vol. II., p. 526.CHAPTER VI. THE CONTEST FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
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