I 
 
 ,;SS?J.\\K;;:S\-®- 
 
FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 Section /^ 
 
 / / 
 
FiKST Baptist Church (Meeting Hoi'se), Providence, K. L 
 
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 APR 22 1932 
 
 THE MOTHER CHURCH V^. 
 
 'iOGiGM ^m^ 
 
 A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN 
 AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE FIRST 
 BAPTIST CHURCH IN PROVIDENCE 
 
 BY /(/ 
 
 HENRY MELVILLE KING, D. D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 
 1420 Chestnut Street 
 
Copyright 1896 by the 
 American Baptist Piklication Society 
 
^0 tbe Sacrc^ flUemori? 
 
 OF THOSE OF PAST GENERATIONS, WHOSE 
 PRAYERS AND TOILS AND SELF-DE- 
 NIALS HAVE MINISTERED TO 
 THE UNBROKEN LIFE 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN PROVIDENCE 
 
 AND TO THE 
 LIVING MEMBERS OF 
 THE CHURCH WHO HAVE IN- 
 HERITED A LEGACY OF PECULIAR 
 HONOR AND GREAT RESPONSIBILITY 
 THIS BRIEF ACCOUNT OF ITS EARLY HISTORY 
 
 Us Bffectionatele DeDicateD 
 
PREFACE 
 
 American Baptists must always be interested in 
 the beginnings of the denomination in this country. 
 The present wide discussion indicates that the 
 interest does not abate as the years go by. Every 
 fresh effort to bring to hght the facts of our early 
 history is certain to receive a cordial welcome. 
 What we all desire to know is the truth, that we 
 may honor those to whom hoiioris due, and gather 
 courage and inspiration from the heroic example, 
 the loyal fidelity, and the patient sufferings of the 
 fathers. An intimate acquaintance with the history 
 of the past ought to enable us to make better his- 
 tory in the future. Amid the discussions which 
 are constantly arising, we realize more and more 
 the importance of preserving all records and his- 
 toric documents. Complete records pertaining to 
 the first century of our denominational history in 
 this country would be invaluable. 
 
 This little volume contains a brief address on the 
 early Baptists of Rhode Island, which was prepared 
 by request, and delivered in the First Baptist meet- 
 ing-house in Providence, July i6, 1895, before the 
 Massachusetts delegates 01 route to the Baltimore 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Convention of the Baptist Young People's Union 
 of America. It is allowed to remain as it was 
 delivered, because it presents in careful outline, 
 unencumbered by discussions, the early history 
 of the First Baptist Church which is believed by 
 the church to be correct, and has been accepted 
 generally by historians and by the denomination. 
 Explanatory notes have been added, covering 
 matters of great historical interest not generally 
 known,, giving reasons for statements made in the 
 address, describing the present venerable meeting- 
 house occupied by the First Baptist Church (Note 
 1 6), and discussing at considerable length the bap- 
 tism of Roger Williams (Note 4), and also the 
 questions of the priority of the church, and the un- 
 broken continuity of its life (Notes 18, 19, and 
 20). Access has been had to all published docu- 
 ments relating to these matters, as far as known, 
 and valuable manuscript testimony recently discov- 
 ered has been adduced, which throws light upon 
 some points which have been in dispute. Some 
 features of the early history of this church, which is 
 believed to be the first Baptist church in America, 
 are presented here with a completeness of treat- 
 ment which the}' have not thus far received. 
 
 I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to 
 Reuben A. Guild, i.l. n.. librarian emeritus of 
 Brown University, for valuable assistance in the 
 preparation of these notes. 
 
PREFACE 7 
 
 The names of Roger Williams and the First Bap- 
 tist Church in Providence will always be associated 
 with each other, and with the great principle of 
 religious liberty, as well as with the origin of our 
 denominational life in America. It is coming to 
 be conceded more and more that this sublime doc- 
 trine was first promulgated b\- the Anabaptists of 
 the old world, and has been realized in civil gov- 
 ernment large])' b\' the efforts of the Baptists of the 
 new world. Roger Williams, as the founder of the 
 free State in which the government is in the hands 
 of the people and restricted to civil affairs, and 
 citizenship is without religious tests, is held in 
 superior honor b}' all lovers of liberty. As the 
 pioneer advocate in this country of a regenerate 
 church, whose corner-stone is personal loyalty to 
 Christ and his word, he can never be forgotten by 
 
 American Baptists. 
 
 H. U. K. 
 
 June, 1896 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 THIS is not the first time that Rhode Island has 
 given hospitable welcome to exiles from the 
 Massachusetts Bay. Ever since the days of Roger 
 Williams, who, after being banished from Salem 
 and wandering many days in the wintry wilderness, 
 "not knowing what bread or bed did mean," found 
 on this side of the Seekonk a safe retreat which, in 
 recognition of the Dixine leading and care, he 
 gratefully called " Providence," Rhode Island has 
 been somewhat noted for its hospitalit}-. We are 
 not of those who ask " Can any good thing come 
 out of Nazareth? " To all who believe in religious 
 libert}-, in freedom of thought and of worship, in a 
 spiritual church, in loyalty to Christ in all things, 
 we extend a cordial welcome, whether for a briei 
 visit or a longer stav. Once, w hen Roger Williams 
 desired to visit the mother countr\' b}' way of the 
 Massachusetts Ba^^ that being the nearer route, he 
 was forbidden to do so, and was not allowed to 
 
 ^ An address delivered in the First Baptist Meeting-house in 
 Providence, before the Massachusetts delegates en route to the 
 BaMmore Convention of the Young People's Baptist Union, luly 
 i6, 1895. 
 
 9 
 
lO THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 cross its territory, lest his "pestilential" doctrines 
 should infect the very atmosphere. He was com- 
 pelled to go by way of New York, the New 
 Netherlanders, who had tasted the spirit of a larger 
 freedom in their old home, and had there sheltered 
 the Pilgrim fathers and mothers during eleven most 
 influential years, not being afraid of the presence or 
 doctrine of this apostle of soul liberty, but bidding 
 him welcome to their borders, and God-speed on his 
 journey. We give you the freedom of our State, 
 to cross it at your leisure, without let or hindrance, 
 and if, on your return, you shall be sufficienth' 
 charmed with what you see to stay with us for the 
 rest of your days, not the slightest obstacle will be 
 placed in your way. To such immigration we set 
 no restriction. You will not be officially admon- 
 ished that your presence is not wanted, and that 
 " it is better farther on," or farther off, as was Roger 
 Williams even by the Pilgrim fathers, who feared 
 to give offense to the inhabitants of the Bay by 
 harboring the exile within their borders (Note i); 
 nor will you be " warned off of the face of God's 
 earth," as was one of the preachers in Massachusetts 
 in the last century, who dared to be a Baptist, and 
 with the Baptists stand. (Note 2.) 
 
 You stand to-day on historic ground. Not far 
 away from this spot, directly east, Roger Williams 
 cro.ssed the rixcr with his five companions, and re- 
 ceived upon the hither shore the kindl\' greeting of 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH I I 
 
 the aboriginal inhabitants. (Note 3.) Not far 
 away from this spot he was baptized by Ezekiel 
 HoHman, in the hkeness of the Saviour's death, 
 and in turn baptized Mr. Hohman and ten others, 
 they together making the apostoHc number and 
 constituting the first church of immersed behevers 
 in Christ in this new world. (Note 4.) Not far 
 away from this spot, a little to the north, was the 
 home of Roger Williams, where he thought and 
 planned and prayed to God, and gave utterance to 
 those sublime truths which have made his name 
 resplendent on the page of histor}-, and where he 
 reared his little family amid the hardships and ex- 
 posures of the almost unbroken forest ; and not far 
 away was the orchard in which his body at last 
 found a peaceful resting-place. (Note 5.) 
 
 Not far from this spot those first settlers pro- 
 ceeded at once to make " covenantes of peaceable 
 neighborhood with all the sachems and natives 
 round about," and then, ha\'mg gained rightful 
 ownership of the land, they entered into covenant 
 among themselves to establish here, in the immor- 
 tal words of their distinguished leader, " a shelter 
 for all persons distressed of conscience." (Note 6.) 
 And so, not far a'va}- from this spot, was founded 
 a civil State which protected the rights of con- 
 science, which provided that no person should be 
 molested, punished, or proscribed, for an)- differences 
 of religious belief, but that perfect freedom should 
 
12 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 be offered to all persons who chose to come ; and 
 here, in this Baptist colony, which for years was the 
 object of Puritan scorn and hate, was ordained, for 
 the first time in the history of the world, a civil 
 government whose corner-stone was absolute soul 
 liberty. (Note 7.) 
 
 "In the code of laws established here," says 
 Judge Story, "we read for the first time since 
 Christianity ascended the throne of the Caesars, the 
 declaration that conscience should be free and men 
 should not be punished for worshiping God in the 
 way they were persuaded he requires." 
 
 It is not claimed that Roger Williams and his 
 confreres originated the idea of soul libert}-. For 
 a hundred years it had been pleading for recog- 
 nition in the old world in many voices that were 
 silenced only in death. In 1527, more than a cen- 
 tury before, the Swiss Anabaptists at Schleitheim 
 had formulated and proclaimed their famous Con- 
 fession, the first known Confession in the world in 
 which liberty of conscience was declared to be the 
 indestructible right of all men. In Germany, in 
 Holland, and in England, their successors had re- 
 iterated their faith, and been sent to the stake for 
 it. The fires kindled about the helpless bodies of 
 the Anabaptists in these lands are the inextinguish- 
 able halo about their names to eyes that have not 
 been blurred by the smoke of prejudice. The Gen- 
 eral Baptists in London, in 161 1, and the Particular 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH I3 
 
 Baptists, in 1644, issued their solemn pronunciamcii- 
 toes, declaring the absolute separation of Church 
 and State to be the law of Christ. "The magis- 
 trate by virtue of his office," they affirmed and re- 
 affirmed, "is not to meddle with religion or matters 
 of conscience, nor to compel men to this or that 
 form of religion ; but to leave the Christian religion 
 to the free conscience of an)' one, and to meddle 
 only with political matters. Christ alone is the 
 King and Lawgiver of the church and conscience." 
 When a distinguished Episcopal prelate in this 
 country asserts that Roger Williams was the founder 
 of the Baptists, and ascribes to him the origin of 
 the denomination, he is simply publishing his gross 
 ignorance of the facts of histor}^ There was an 
 old world, with its history, its truths, its Confessions, 
 its heroes and martyrs, before the Pilgrims landed 
 on Plymouth Rock, and before Roger Williams was 
 born. Roger Williams was not the beginner of our 
 history, but the hero of a new and splendid chap- 
 ter. Becoming first a Puritan and then a Separa- 
 tist, he allowed his convictions to carry him to their 
 logical issue, a thing which the great Reformers did 
 not do, and which the Puritans did only in part. 
 Before leaving England he was acquainted with the 
 language of Holland, which had been consecrated 
 to liberal ideas and broader views of human rights, 
 for in that land liberty had been for years strug- 
 gling for recognition, and had achieved its most 
 
14 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 conspicuous victories ; and he had been also on 
 intimate terms with English Baptists, to one of 
 whom, a pastor in London, he paid a noble and 
 grateful tribute: "To the everlasting praise of 
 Christ Jesus, and of his Holy Spirit, breathing and 
 blessing where he listeth, I cannot but with honor- 
 able testimony," he wrote in the " Hireling Minis- 
 try," "remember that eminent Christian witness and 
 prophet of Christ, even that despised and beloved 
 Samuel Howe who, being by calling a cobbler and 
 without human learning (which yet in its sphere and 
 place he honored), who yet, I say, by searching the 
 Holy Scriptures grew so excellent a textuary, or 
 Scripture-learned man. that few of those high 
 rabbis that scorn to mend or make a shoe, could 
 aptly or readily from the Scriptures outgo him." 
 
 "If then, while in England," said Dr. William 
 Hague, the pastor of this church, at its two hun- 
 dredth anniversar}^ " Roger Williams held friendly 
 communings with men of such spirit, who were 
 publishing there, at the hazard of reputation and 
 property and life, the same principles which have 
 since attracted the statesman's e)'c as he has seen 
 them shining among the statutes of this Common- 
 wealth, we need be at no loss to conjecture where 
 he drew them. He learned them from men who 
 derived them from the Bible. The fact is that, 
 although in New England he seemed to stand 
 alone, there were many in old England with whon 
 
THE MUTilER CHURCH 15 
 
 he had common sjanpathics, who cherished the - 
 same senthneiits, who in some instances suffered 
 for them the loss of all things, clung to them under 
 galling bondage, and proclaimed them amidst the 
 fires of martyrdom." 
 
 Quickly upon his arrival in Boston suspicion was 
 aroused against him. He was charged with " Ana- 
 baptistry." He was accounted a disturber of the 
 peace. The anger of "the Bay bull," which ani- 
 mal, according to Dr. H. M. Dexter (Note 8), seems 
 to have been chosen the guardian angel of the new 
 world's destinies, was hotly kindled, and Roger 
 Williams, the advanced Puritan, the Pilgrim of the 
 Pilgrims, the ripening freeman, the progressive 
 statesman, the new world product of old world 
 ideas which there had found limited hospitalit\^ in 
 whose mind the leaven of Anabaptism had been 
 slowly working, was driven out, and, in the provi- 
 dence of God, became the chief agent in founding 
 on this spot the first government in human histor\' 
 in which soul liberty was part of its organic law. 
 On the shores of the Narragansett, in the person of 
 the great founder of this church and this Common- 
 wealth, the spirit of Anabaptism (for that was what 
 it was) matured at last in clearness of vision, in 
 definiteness of purpose and conviction, and in im- 
 mortal action, and here, where you now stand, the 
 ultimate thought of the New Testament for human 
 life and go\-crnment upon earth was crystallized 
 
l6 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 into fact, viz., a free church endowed with spiritual 
 hfe in a free State, built upon human brotherhood 
 and the rights of the individual conscience. 
 
 The exact date of the organization of this 
 mother church is unknown. The early settlers of 
 Providence were, for the most part, religious men, 
 and had been members of churches elsewhere. 
 They undoubtedly had worship from the first in 
 humble form in their humble homes. Though de- 
 barred from the fellowship of the men and women 
 who claimed a monopoly of the true religion in 
 this new world, they still believed in the commun- 
 ion of saints. Meetings were held, we are told. 
 But man)' months, possibly two \-ears, passed b\' 
 before an\' attempt was made to organize the relig- 
 ious life into church life. Religious opinion was 
 unsettled, and probabK' far from harmonious. They 
 had no common creed. Perhaps no man as yet 
 felt quite sure of his own creed. This one thing 
 they knew — they were Separatists. Time was 
 needed to discover any permanent basis of agree- 
 ment or any bond of unity. The baptism of the 
 twelve was the first evidence of any attempt at 
 organized church life. Their Jordan of baptism 
 was their ecclesiastical Rubicon, and at the same 
 time their pledge and sign of a new fellowship. 
 For the knowledge of this important event, in 
 which their separatism culminated and their or- 
 ganic union began, we are indebted to Winthrop's 
 
THE MOTHER CllLKCII I^ 
 
 "Journal," under date of March i6, 1639, which 
 contains the earhest authentic record of it. It may 
 have taken place a month or a year before the 
 record. There wa.s no as.sociated pres.s in those 
 days. News moved at slow pace through the 
 wilderness. Boston and Providence were a thou- 
 sand miles apart. The>' had little .sympathy or 
 communication with each other. But diis earliest 
 record has been accepted generally as the date of 
 the origin of the church. The probabilities place 
 it at least a year before this, for, as Winthrop say."--, 
 during the previous year, that is between March, 
 1637, and March. 1638, Mr.s. Scott, si-ster of the 
 celebrated Mrs. Hutchinson, had gone to Provi- 
 dence to live. She, according to Governor Win- 
 throp, was " infected with Anabaptistry," and led 
 Mr. Williams "to make open profession thereof.'' 
 His well-known kindly feeling toward the exile 
 must have prompted the suggestion that his grave 
 heresy was traceable to a cause outside of himself; 
 as if Roger Williams was not abundant!}' competent 
 in himself to reach his own conclusions and deter- 
 mine his conduct ! 
 
 Who the twelve were \vho were baptized, w'e 
 cannot be certain, except in the case of Williams 
 and Holiman. The Salem Church subsequently 
 excommunicated Roger Williams and wife, and 
 eight others, \'iz., John Throgmorton and wife, 
 Thomas 01ne\' and wife, Stukel}^ Westcott and 
 
 B 
 
1 8 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 wife, Mary Holiman and Widow Reeves, all of 
 whom except two were said to have been " rebap- 
 tized," and all of whom were associated with Wil- 
 liams in the settlement of Providence. These 
 rebaptized persons and Holiman make nine. Mrs. 
 Scott, who seems to have been badly mfected with 
 Anabaptistry, was undoubtedly also one of the 
 number, and her husband, Richard, says that he 
 too belonged to the company, which he distinctly 
 calls "a church." That baptism then, taking place 
 whenever it did, in 1639. or 1638, or 1637, was 
 the beginning of our organized denominational life 
 in this new world. (Note 9.) The elements unhin- 
 dered crystallized into the divine form. The relig- 
 ious life, having burst through the iron walls of old 
 creeds and the solid masonry of ecclesiastical 
 polities and governments, poured itself, like the life 
 of primitive Christianity, into the inspired matrix 
 and mold. A church after the New Testament 
 pattern came into being, born in loneliness and 
 exile, but born of the Spirit of God, to human 
 appearance self-originated and without lineal de- 
 scent or pedigree, untouched by priestly hands, 
 unanointed by apostolic grace, and yet a church 
 of Jesus Christ, the fruit of the divine seed of the 
 kingdom, which had been borne safely across the 
 Atlantic on the wind of God's providence and 
 planted in the virgin soil of this western conti- 
 nent, the beginning of a spiritual harvest which 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH - I 9 
 
 should wave like the golden fields of autumn and 
 spread from ocean to ocean. 
 
 Of that church, Roger Williams, the leading 
 spirit, who had previously been invested with min- 
 isterial functions, was the accepted teacher and 
 minister. It was a ver\' simple affair. The essen- 
 tials of church life are exceedingh- few and easily 
 understood. There was no creed but the Scrip- 
 tures, and no ritual but the spontaneous offering of 
 prayer and praise, and the familiar unfolding of 
 the word of truth. Christ was the center and cir- 
 cumference of it all, and the word of Christ was 
 the supreme and only rule of church order and 
 individual life. This mother church, as you may 
 know, has never seen fit to depart in this respect 
 from the example of the founders, which was the 
 example of the apostles. It has never adopted 
 any articles of faith or creedal test, or even any 
 formal covenant. The acceptance of Christ as a 
 personal Saviour, and loving obedience to his com- 
 mands, have been the only qualifications for mem- 
 bership. And yet, during a continuous life of 
 more than two centuries and a half, it has preserved 
 the essential doctrines of grace and the order of the 
 gospel in substantial purity and in general agree- 
 ment. 
 
 Roger Williams did not remain long in its fellow- 
 ship, but withdrew and was henceforth known as a 
 Seeker, one of those " who as they looked over 
 
20 THE MOTHER CHLRCll 
 
 Christendom and saw the corruptions which gen- 
 erally prevailed, concluded the divinely authorized 
 ministr\- of the church had been lost, and that, be- 
 fore any could be empowered to administer ordi- 
 nances, a new apostleship must be commissioned." 
 (Note lo.) He became a consistent high church 
 Baptist, and distrusted the validity of his own ordi- 
 nation and baptism, as every consistent high- 
 churchman must do. He remained, however, in 
 sentiment a Baptist, and declared to the end of his 
 days that the Baptists were nearer the New Testa- 
 ment model than an)- other branch of the visible 
 church of Christ. (Note ii.) But the little 
 church survived the withrawal of its minister, and 
 gradually increased with the slowly increasing com- 
 munity. Soon the names of eleven new settlers 
 appear upon the town records. Three of them, Chad 
 Brown, William Wickenden, and Gregory Dexter, 
 became actively identified with the church ; and 
 they, with Thomas Olney, one of the constituent 
 members, and Pardon Tillinghast, who was ad- 
 mitted to citizenship in Providence in 1646, served, 
 in turn or together, as its unpaid ministers, for the 
 first three-quarters of a century of its existence. 
 (Note 12.) 
 
 You do not expect me to trace the life of this, 
 our oldest church, through its long and eventful 
 history. It is, however, interesting to remember 
 that for sixty years it survived without a house of 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 21 
 
 worship, public service being held under the trees 
 or in the houses of the people (Note 1 3), and that 
 its first house was built by its minister, Pardon Til- 
 linghast, at his own expense (Note 14), and was 
 situated on this street (North Main Street), a little 
 farther north, being ' in the shape of a hay-cap, 
 with a fireplace in the middle, the smoke escaping 
 from a hole in the roof" (Note 15.) The wor- 
 shipers must have shut their eyes, or have given 
 wings to their imasrination, to have sung in those 
 days such sentiments as these : 
 
 How pleasant, how divinely fair, 
 O Lord of hosts, thy dwellings are. 
 
 It is interesting to remember that the first house 
 gave way in 1726 to a second, a little more preten- 
 tious, it being about forty feet square, which 
 served its purpose for nearly fifty years, and that 
 this, the third house, was built in 1775, when the 
 population of Providence was but little more than 
 four thousand, and was built, as the record says, 
 " for the public worship of Almighty God, and also 
 for holding commencement in." (Note 16.) It 
 is interesting to remember that for one hundred 
 and thirty }'ears the ministers of this church, after 
 the first pastor, were without special training, and 
 conscientiously served without compensation, sup- 
 porting themselves and their fatnilies by the labor 
 of their hands, believing and teachmg "that all 
 
22 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 those who took anything for preaching were hke 
 Simon Magus " (Note 17); and to remember also 
 that for the same period this church was virtually a 
 "Six Principle" church, though there was fre- 
 quently difference of opinion upon the question, 
 and in two instances there were defections by rea- 
 son of it. The first was in 1652, led by Thomas 
 Olney, one of the ministers, because a majority of 
 the church insisted upon the laying on of hands as 
 prerequisite to the Communion (Note 1 8) ; and the 
 second was in 1771, led by the pastor, Samuel 
 Winsor, Jr., for the very opposite reason, because 
 the majority of the church voted to abandon its 
 adherence to "a doubtful and unessential rite." 
 (Note 19.) The question was not finally settled 
 until after the present century had opened, when 
 Rev. Stephen Gano was pastor. It is said that 
 Mr. Winsor was also influenced in his withdrawal 
 by the introduction of church music at that time, 
 saying that " singing in worship was highly dis- 
 gustful to him." 
 
 The coming of Rhode Island College and Presi- 
 dent Manning to Providence, in 1770, brought an 
 intelligent enlargement to the church, and a pros- 
 perity such as it had never known. President 
 Manning was at once chosen pastor, upon the 
 retirement of Mr. Winsor. and served in that capacity 
 for twenty years. From that time the life of the 
 church and the life of the university have flowed 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 2^ 
 
 side by side — rather have intermingled — each giv- 
 ing character and strength to the other, as they 
 have sought to enrich and ennoble the life of men 
 and of the community. 
 
 To-day the mother church (Note 20) looks back, 
 after an existence of nearl)- two hundred and sixty 
 years, to her birth in exile, to her early struggles 
 and hardships endured for the sake of truth and 
 principle and libert}'. In addition to her own roll 
 of honor, she recalls the names of that eminent 
 physician and statesman and minister, John Clarke, 
 of Newport, and his companions in tribulation, 
 John Crandall and Obadiah Holmes ; of William 
 Witter, of Swampscott ; of Thomas Painter, of 
 Hingham ; of Henry Dunster, of Harvard College ; 
 of Thomas Gould, Thomas Osborne, and John 
 George, of the First Baptist Church in Boston ; of 
 William Screven, of Kitter>% and of many others, 
 not onl\' in New England, but out of it, who were 
 counted worthy to suffer persecution for Christ's 
 sake and the gospel's. She rejoices that these ban- 
 ishments, these fines, these imprisonments, these 
 cruel whippings, were not endured in vain ; that the 
 long, weary, and bitter seed-sowing has yielded a 
 harvest of untold blessing to the nation and the 
 world ; that through the heroic fidelit}- of the 
 fathers the children have entered upon a glorious 
 heritage of exalted privilege and unlimited oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
24 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 To-day the mother church looks out upon the 
 prosperous city, with its homes of comfort and 
 refinement ; upon the State, with its busy and suc- 
 cessful industries and its world-wide commerce ; 
 upon the land, with its vast population, its inex- 
 haustible resources, its equality in physical power 
 and moral influence with the mightiest nations of 
 the old world ; and as she sees her daughters, fair 
 and beautiful as herself, numerous beyond her 
 fondest expectations, free, absolutely free, to wor- 
 ship God according to the dictates of an enlight- 
 ened conscience and to do his will on the earth, 
 equipped with endowed institutions of learning, 
 with successful missionary organizations, with mul- 
 titudinous Sunday-schools, with an intelligent min- 
 istiy and a consecrated laity, with the wisdom of 
 age and the zeal of an awakened and irrepressible 
 youth, whose coming together from }^ear to year is 
 as the mustering of a victorious army, she exclaims 
 in adoring gratitude: "Verily, verily, what hath 
 God wrought!" And she repeats with renewed 
 confidence the predictive oracle of Jehovah : The 
 Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at nu' right hand, 
 until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The 
 sceptre of th)- might Jehovah shall stretch forth out 
 of Zion, saying. Rule thou in the midst of thine 
 enemies. Thy people offer themselves willingly in 
 the day that thou warrest, clad in holy vestments. 
 As the dew from the womb of the morning [as 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 25 
 
 numerous and beautiful in their holy consecration] 
 is to thee the dew of thy young men. 
 
 Note i. Professor William Gammell, in his " Life 
 of Roger Williams," says: "It would appear that 
 when he fled from Salem, he made his way through 
 the forest to the lodges of the Pokanokets, who 
 occupied the country north from Mount Hope as 
 far as Charles River. Ousemaguin or Massasoit, 
 the famous chief of this tribe, had known Mr. 
 Williams when he lived in Plymouth, and had often 
 received presents and tokens of kindness at his 
 hands ; and now in the days of his friendless exile, 
 the aged chief welcomed him to his cabin at Mount 
 Hope, and extended to him the protection and aid 
 he required. He granted him a tract of land on 
 the Seekoik River, to which, at the opening of 
 spring, he repaired, and where he 'pitched and 
 began to build and plant.' At this place, also, at 
 this time, he was joined by a number of his friends 
 from Salem." This was on the east side of the 
 river at a beautiful bend, known as Manton's Cove. 
 " But scarcely had the first dwelling been raised in 
 the new settlement, scarcely had the corn which 
 they had planted appeared above the ground, 
 when he was again disturbed, and obliged to move 
 still farther from Christian neighbors and the dwel- 
 lings of civilized men. ' I received a letter,' he 
 says, ' from m>' ancient friend, Mr. Winslow, then 
 
26 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 Governor of Plymouth, professing his own and 
 others' love and respect for me, yet lovingly advis- 
 ing me, since I was fallen into the edge of their 
 bounds, and they were loth to displease the Bay, to 
 remove but to the other side of the water ; and 
 then, he said, 1 had the country before me, and 
 might be as free as themselves, and we should be 
 loving neighbors together.' " 
 
 Note 2. This was Rev. Hezekiah Smith, d. d., 
 first pastor of the Baptist church in Haverhill. 
 He had gone to a neighboring town to preach. 
 The constable, a man of diminutive size, was 
 prompted to go, clothed with the majesty of the 
 law, and warn him out of the place. Mr. Smith 
 was a man of commanding presence and noble 
 bearing. The constable was greatly disconcerted, 
 and in his confusion said : " I warn you — off of 
 God's earth." " My good sir," said the preacher, 
 "where shall I go?" "Go an}-where," was the 
 reply; "go to the Isle of Shoals." (Sprague's 
 "Annals of the American Baptist Pulpit," p. 102.) 
 
 Note 3. " He accordingh- soon abandoned the 
 fields which he had planted, and the dwelling he 
 had begun to build, and embarked in a canoe upon 
 the Seekonk River in quest of another spot, where 
 unmolested he might rear a home and plant a sep- 
 arate colony. There were five others, who having 
 joined him at Seekonk. bore him company in the 
 excursion in \vh*ch he thus went forth to become 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 2"] 
 
 the founder of a city and a State. Tradition has 
 handed down among the sons of these earhest citi- 
 zens of Rhode Island the course and incidents of 
 their singular voyage. As the little bark, thus 
 freighted with the fortunes of a future State, was 
 borne along on the waters of the Seekonk, Wil- 
 liams was greeted by some Indians, from the heights 
 that rise on the western banks of the stream, with 
 the friendl}- salutation, ' What cheer, Netop ? 
 What cheer? ' and first came to land at the spot 
 now called Slate Rock" (Professor Gammell's 
 " Life of Roger Williams "). 
 
 Note 4. The fact of the immersion of Roger 
 Williams and his associates was never called in 
 question until about the year 1880. At that time 
 the question was raised by Rev. Heniy M. Dexter, 
 D. D., a Congregationalist, who made several veiy 
 unsuccessful attempts to write Baptist histor)'-. 
 The question did not arise from any local facts, 
 familiar or newly discovered, suggesting doubt as 
 to the universally accepted belief It was solely of 
 the nature of an inference from the alleged later 
 introduction of immersion among the Baptists of 
 England. In 1881 Dr. Dexter published what he 
 called "The True Story of John Sm\'th, the Se- 
 Baptist," in which he undertook to prove that im- 
 mersion was a new mode of baptism in England, 
 introduced about 1641. Had he succeeded in 
 proving what he undertook, the inference would 
 
28 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 have by no means followed, for Roger Williams was 
 not dependent upon human precedent, and was 
 able to mark out his own course, as was evident in 
 other matters. It is frequenth' forgotten that im- 
 mersion, as practised by the Baptists, was not a 
 novel idea. The primitive rite has never been 
 changed in the Eastern church with its hundred 
 millions of adherents, that is, as to form, although 
 the rite in ihat church is not now dependent upon 
 an antecedent personal faith in Christ. Immersion 
 was also retained in the Western church for many 
 centuries, and is known to have been practised in 
 England in the sixteenth and even in the seven- 
 teenth century, although infant baptism had been 
 adopted. According to Dean Stanley, Queen 
 Elizabeth and Edward VI. were immersed when 
 baptized. Even so late as 1644, a clergyman of 
 the Church of England, named Blake, who was 
 rector at Tam worth, said : "I have been an eye- 
 witness of many infants dipped, and I know it to 
 have been the constant practice of many ministers 
 in their places for many years together." The 
 practice of immersion had not entirely ceased in 
 the English cathedrals before it was resumed under 
 their very shadow in the form of believers' baptism. 
 In 1614 Leonard Busher, of London, wrote: "And 
 such as shall willingly and gladly receive the gospel 
 he hath commanded to be baptized in the water ; 
 that is, dipped for dead in the water." Undoubt- 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 2(J 
 
 edly the Baptists in England were more concerned 
 at first about the subjects of baptism than about 
 the rite itself, as was the case on the Continent ; 
 but the spiritual prerequisite having been accepted 
 as scriptural, the rite itself would be gradually con- 
 formed to the New Testament norm. Prof Henn- 
 C. Vedder speaks carefully when he says : " While 
 it is certain that from about 1640 immersion was 
 the uniform practice of Baptists, there is ever)' 
 reason to believe that it was at least occasionally- 
 practised among them from the first. That the}' 
 had the idea we know, and practice would naturally 
 have followed the idea." The Swiss Anabaptists 
 of the previous century had been led in the same 
 way. At first rejecting infant baptism and accept- 
 ing believers' baptism, they soon conscientiously 
 sought to restore the sacred rite to the primitive 
 institution in mode and symbolic meaning, and were 
 immersed in large numbers on profession of their 
 faith in Christ. 
 
 It is altogether certain that immersion was prac- 
 tised here and there among the General Baptists 
 of England, of whom there were nearly fortv con- 
 gregations by 1640, for a considerable number of 
 years prior to that date. When and by whom it 
 was first introduced cannot be told. The intro- 
 duction was probably gradual, and the fact that at 
 first it was not widely known is not to be wondered 
 at. When Edward Barber in 1641 declared that 
 
30 THE MOTHKK CHURCH 
 
 he was " raised up to divulge this glorious truth," 
 he was undoubtedly sincere in his statement, but 
 we know that his statement was not true. Busher 
 had preceded him b\' twent}'-seven years. 
 
 In 1633 the first Particular Baptist church was 
 formed in London, by certain persons who with- 
 drew from a Separatist congregation, because they 
 had come to accept the doctrine of believers' bap- 
 tism. According to the so-called Kiffin manu- 
 script — though there is some disagreement in the 
 quotations from it — the members of this church 
 being convinced that baptism "ought to be admin- 
 istered b\' immersion," decided after "sober con- 
 ference" among themselves for several months to 
 send one of their number. Richard Blount, to Hol- 
 land, where the}- had learned that there were Ana- 
 baptists who practised immersion, to receive from 
 them scriptural baptism. This the}^ did, " because 
 though some in this nation rejected the baptism of 
 infants, yet they had not as they knew of, revived 
 the ancient custom of immersion." Blount re- 
 turned, accompanied b\' John Batten, the teacher 
 of the Holland church, and the members of the 
 London church were thereupon immersed. This 
 is represented as having taken place in 1641. But 
 it would be by no means safe to infer that immer- 
 sion was then for the first time practised by the 
 Baptists of England. The Particular Baptists 
 apparently at that time " revived the ancient cus- 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 31 
 
 torn of immersion" among themselves, and undoubt- 
 edly from that time immersed exclusively. But 
 their ignorance as to what had taken place before 
 and among other Baptists was no more conclusive 
 evidence of the non-existence of the rite than the 
 ignorance of Edward Barber. Indeed, we have 
 the positive testimon\- of Dr. hY^atly, who writing 
 in 1644, declared that near liis residence the Bap- 
 tists had "defiled the rix'ers with their impure 
 washings for more than twenty N'ears." This is the 
 language of bitter prejudice, and though his feel- 
 ings led him to speak contemptuously of the prac- 
 tice of immersion, they would not have been likely 
 to tempt him to falsify as to the length of time 
 during which he had knowledge of its being con- 
 tinued. Such testimonv- seems conclusive, and 
 dates the practice of immersion among English 
 Baptists earlier than 1624, or within ten years of 
 Busher, and makes it quite certain that he rendered 
 obedience to the truth which he believed and 
 taught. 
 
 Dr. Dexter failed to prove the late introduction 
 of immersion among the English Baptists, and the 
 inference as to Roger Williams was so unwarranted 
 and unreasonable and so contrary to the testimony 
 of his contemporaries and all the known facts in 
 the case, that it had no influence whatever, and 
 has been regarded by most persons as not worthy 
 of serious consideration. 
 
32 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 Pres. William H. Whitsitt, of the Southern Bap- 
 tist Theological Seminary is, as far as I am aware, 
 the solitary exception. Indeed, he now claims the 
 honor of having discovered the new historic fact (?) 
 and of having suggested the inference as to Roger 
 Williams' non-immersion, and of having called the 
 attention of Dr. Dexter thereto, and complains of 
 the lack of credit. But as he published his opin- 
 ions in a Pedobaptist paper anonymously, and at 
 about the same time that Dr. Dexter was openly 
 publishing the same opinions, and then allowed 
 fifteen >'ears to go by before he acknowledged the 
 paternity of the anonymous articles, the claim and 
 the complaint seem somewhat out of place. In 
 an article on the Baptists published in the recent 
 edition of Johnson's "New Universal Cyclopaedia," 
 Professor Whitsitt says of the baptism of Roger 
 Williams: "The ceremony was most likely per- 
 formed by sprinkling ; the Baptists of P^ngland had 
 not yet adopted immersion, and there is no reason 
 which renders it probable that W^illiams was in ad- 
 vance of them in that regard." It is exceedingly 
 unfortunate that an opinion which is merely an 
 individual conjecture should have been allowed in 
 a popular cyclopaedia to appear in the place of 
 established and accredited history, and in the face 
 of it. The contemporaneous and local testimony as 
 to the Providence baptism has always been re- 
 garded as abundant and convincing. 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 33 
 
 Richard Scott and William Coddington, both 
 contemporaries of Williams, one a friend and fel- 
 low church-member, and the other an enemy, 
 speak of him in such a way as to lea\'e no possible 
 doubt that his baptism was immersion. Codding- 
 ton says : "I have known him about fifty years, a 
 mere weathercock, constant only in inconstancy. . . 
 One time for water baptism [Coddington had 
 become a Quaker when he wrote this], men and 
 women must be plunged into the water, and then 
 threw it all down again." This refers to his brief con- 
 nection with the Baptist church, and his withdrawal 
 because he thought the true baptism had been lost 
 by reason of the break in the line of succession. 
 The language can have no application to any other 
 period or act in the life of Williams. Professor 
 Albert H. Newman, in a review of Dr. H. M. 
 Dexter's "John Smyth, the Se-Baptist," pub- 
 lished in The Examiner in March, 1882, was 
 inclined to accept the inference that Williams' 
 baptism was sprinking. This he did, as he sub- 
 sequently confessed (ii>rt';/////rr. May, 1896), "some- 
 what rashly," and " without having specially inves- 
 tigated the question." A thorough study of the 
 evidence pro and con the immersion theor)% com- 
 pelled him to retract his hastily accepted view and 
 to acknowledge the convincing force of Codding- 
 ton's testimony. He also said, " I attach little 
 importance to the argument drawn from the fact 
 
34 i'llli MOTllliK CHURCH 
 
 that the EngHsh Baptists had not as yet reached 
 the conviction that immersion alone is true bap- 
 tism. WilHams was quite as Hkely as any member 
 of the Southwark (London) congregation to come 
 to an independent conclusion on a point of this 
 kind, and was quite as likely to act promptly on 
 his convictions. Restraining influences which may 
 have delayed action for a number of years in Lon- 
 don, were wholly wanting in Providence. That 
 primitive baptism was immersion had been freely 
 admitted by leading reformers, and immersion was 
 the form prescribed in the English Prayer Book. 
 A highly educated man like Williams did not need 
 the example of English Baptists in a matter of this 
 kind." Dr. Newman added that when he had 
 reached this conclusion after a thorough investiga- 
 tion, he submitted it to Dr. H. M. Dexter, and 
 found to his great surprise that he too had been 
 led to adopt the same view. "His answer was 
 entirely in accord with my own conclusion. He 
 expressed the opinion that in the absence of con- 
 temporary evidence against immersion, Codding- 
 ton's statement must be accepted as probably 
 correct." 
 
 When immersion is spoken of in English con- 
 troversial publications, bearing date of 1641 and 
 1642, as a "new baptism," and one "lately intro- 
 duced," these terms must not be interpreted too 
 strictly or narrowly. If it had been administered 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 35 
 
 to believers in Christ for a period of ten years, or 
 even for twenty-five years, the terms would have 
 been accurate. It is abundant!}' evident that for 
 several years in England much and wide thought 
 had been given to the form of baptism as well as 
 to the proper candidates. The American colonists 
 must all have been aware of the discussion that 
 was going on, and of the changing views, at least 
 in some instances. Rev. Charles Chauncy (subse- 
 quently president of Harvard College) arrived at 
 Ph-mouth from England in 1638, and was desired 
 as assistant to the pastor of the church there. 
 Governor Bradford says of him : " But there fell 
 out some difference about baptizing, he holding it 
 ought to be by dipping, and putting the whole 
 body under water, and that sprinkling was un- 
 lawful." The church was willing that he should 
 "practice as he was persuaded," if those who 
 wished to be "otherwise baptized" could have the 
 privilege. To this Mr. Chauncy could not con- 
 scientiously agree, and became pastor of the church 
 at Scituate, where it is said he found many mem- 
 bers who "held to immersion, some to adult im- 
 mersion only, and some to immersion of infants as 
 well as adults." 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." If there were no adult immersions 
 at Scituate at that early date it must have been 
 
36 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 because there were no candidates, and certainly 
 not because of any lack of faith in the scriptural- 
 ness of the rite, or reluctance of disposition. Well 
 has Dr. H. S. Burrage asked : " How came Mr. 
 Chauncy to hold such an opinion, if immersion 
 was unknown among the Baptists of England until 
 1641 ? And certainly if Mr. Chauncy, in 1638, 
 rejected sprinkling and insisted upon immersion as 
 scriptural baptism, why may not Roger Williams 
 and his associates at Providence have done the 
 same in the following [or possibly the preceding] 
 year?" With this condition of religious thought 
 on both sides of the Atlantic, why should it be 
 thought a thing incredible or improbable that the 
 great Rhode Island leader, the independent thinker, 
 the conscientious actor, the courageous pioneer, 
 should have acted out an interpretation and con- 
 viction which he is known to have held ? Any in- 
 ference from the supposed or actual tardiness of 
 English Baptists to follow their convictions as to 
 the non-immersion of Roger W^illiams, is surely a 
 palpable non scqiiitnr, and in the face of explicit 
 testimony, like that of Coddington, cannot be en- 
 tertained by reasonable historians. 
 
 Strong confirmatoiy evidence that the Providence 
 baptism was immersion, is found in the fact that 
 when John Clarke and Mark Lucar are reported as 
 first administering baptism, there is no intimation 
 of any variance between their practice and the 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 3/ 
 
 practice that had been instituted in Providence. 
 Had the Newport baptism been different from the 
 Providence baptism, it is incredible that some 
 record of the fact should not have been made. 
 The Providence church has never for an instant 
 questioned the immersion of its great founder. 
 After the withdrawal of Williams for the reasons 
 which influenced him to take that step, there arose 
 a solicitude in the church as to the validity of the 
 baptism originated among themselves, not as to its 
 mode ; but the project of sending a representativ^e 
 to the old world to receive what could be regarded 
 as apostolic baptism by reason of a supposed un- 
 broken succession, was soon wisely abandoned, and 
 from that day to this the church has remained con- 
 tent with the baptism which it received from 
 Williams. 
 
 It should be added, moreover, that if Roger 
 Williams and his companions were not immersed 
 when the}' were "baptized," we have not the 
 slightest intimation as to the time when the change 
 was brought about, and immersion was introduced 
 into the Baptist church in Providence. A belief, 
 therefore, against which not a suspicion was raised 
 for two hundred and forty years, and against which 
 no evidence whatever has been discovered, but in 
 support of which there is the most explicit tes- 
 timony contemporaneous with the act itself, and on 
 which rests the unbroken history of an existing 
 
38 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 church, is not likely to be puffed away by the rash 
 inference of a fertile imagination. One might as 
 reasonably infer that Roger Williams and Ezekiel 
 Holiman have onl)' a mythical existence, or that in 
 the first half of the seventeenth centur}- there was 
 not water sufficient in Narragansett Ba\- to permit 
 the performance of the rite of baptism. Such de- 
 structive historical criticism is likely to leave noth- 
 ing back of the memory of living men that can be 
 looked upon as established and trustworthy, and 
 no man can be quite sure of being left in undis- 
 turbed possession of what he has seen with his own 
 eyes and heard with his own ears. It is prepos- 
 terous at this late day for a man to rise up and 
 deny, simply on his own authority, the immersion 
 of Roger Williams, and call for proof of a fact so 
 thoroughly established, and for two and a half cen- 
 turies unquestioned. 
 
 Such a student of history is made conspicuous 
 by reason of his solitariness. The onus probandi 
 clearly rests upon him who says that Williams and 
 his companions were " most likely sprinkled." Such 
 an assertion should be made only on the most in- 
 dubitable evidence. 
 
 Note' 5. There are preserved in the museum 
 of Brown University the roots of an apple tree 
 believed to have been nourished^ by the body of 
 Mr. Williams, and also nails from his coffin and 
 that of his wife. 
 
 I 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 39 
 
 Note 6. Deed of Roger Williams to his asso- 
 ciates in 1638 (R. I. Col. Rec, I., 22). 
 
 Note 7. The following instrument stands with- 
 out date in the earliest records of the colon)^ and 
 is believed to be the first form of civil government 
 adopted by the inhabitants : 
 
 " We whose names are here underwritten, being 
 desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do 
 promise to submit ourselves, in active or passive 
 obedience, to all such orders or agreements as 
 shall be made for public good of the body in an 
 orderly wa}^ by the major consent of the present 
 inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated 
 together into a township, and such others as they 
 shall admit into the same, only in civil things." 
 
 Note 8. See "As to Roger Williams," p. 119. 
 
 Note 9. "This has been generally regarded as the 
 establishment of the first Baptist church in America." 
 (See Straus' " Roger Williams," p. 107.) 
 
 Note 10. Rev. John Stanford, acting pastor of 
 the church from January, 1788, to September, 
 1789, says in "Baptist Annual Register," p 796 : 
 " Mr. Williams held his pastoral office about four 
 years, and then resigned the same to Mr. Brown 
 and Mr. Wickenden, and went to England to 
 solicit the first charter." But Governor Winthrop 
 and Richard Scott say his connection continued 
 only three or four months. Their testimony is 
 probably to be accepted. 
 
40 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 Note ii. In a letter to Governor Winthrop, 
 under date of Nov. lo, 1649, he says: "I believe 
 their practice comes nearer the first practice of our 
 great founder, Jesus Christ, than other practices of 
 religion do." In a reply to George Fox in 1672, 
 only eleven years before his death, he gives expres- 
 sion to his unchanged faith in the spiritual nature 
 of a church, and the spiritual qualifications for its 
 membership and ordinances. " After all my search 
 and examinations and considerations, I do profess 
 to believe that some come nearer to the first prim- 
 itive churches and the institutions and appoint- 
 ments of Jesus Christ than others ; as in many 
 respects, so in that gallant and heavenly and fun- 
 damental principle of the true matter of a Chris- 
 tian congregation, flock, or society, namely, actual 
 believers, true disciples and converts, living stones, 
 such as can give some account how the grace of 
 God hath appeared unto them." In 1645 ^^^ pub- 
 lished in London a treatise entitled "Christenings 
 Make not Christians." His views were radical at 
 that time, and thoroughly scriptural, as Baptists 
 believe. 
 
 Note 12. "It is very difficult to determine their 
 terms of service, or how far each was recognized as 
 pastor. Two or three seem to have been elders at 
 the same time" ("History of the First Baptist 
 Church in Providence, 1639— 1877," prepared by 
 Rev. S. L. Caldwell, d. d., and Prof William Gam- 
 
THE MOTHER CHUKCH 4I 
 
 mell). Rev. C. E, Barrows, d. d., in the " History 
 of the First Baptist Church in Newport," says that 
 that church had elders " besides a pastor," and gives 
 the names of three. It is, however, probable, if 
 not certain, that Dr. Barrows was misled by the 
 record of the election of "three elders" to be 
 assistants to William Coddington in the govern- 
 ment of the new colon}-. They were not called 
 elders of the church. Their office seems to have 
 been purely a civil one. But in Providence there 
 was undoubtedly a plurality of elders in the 
 church, and the descendants of each elder have 
 claimed that their ancestor stood next to Roger 
 Williams in the pastorate. The office could not 
 have involved much labor or any cessation from 
 secular employment. They shared the responsi- 
 bility of the spiritual oversight of the little church. 
 In the Second Baptist Church of Newport, how- 
 ever, as late as the first quarter of the eighteenth 
 century, there was a triple pastorate. James 
 Clarke, a nephew of Dr. John Clarke, was ordained 
 as pastor in 1 700, at the age of fifty-one, he hav- 
 ing been previously a cooper by trade. In 1704 
 Daniel Wightman was ordained as associate pastor 
 with Mr. Clarke, and in 1729 Rev. John Comer, 
 having become a Six Principle Baptist, resigned the 
 pastorate of the First Church, and became also 
 associate pastor of the Second Church. He served, 
 however, but two years. They were all pastors at 
 
43 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 the same time. It was in that year (1729) that 
 Dean Berkeley described the divided reHgious con- 
 dition of Newport in these words : " Here are four 
 sorts of Anabaptists, besides Presbyterians, Quakers, 
 Independents, and many of no profession. Not- 
 withstanding so many differences, here are fewer 
 quarrels about religion than elsewhere, the people 
 living peaceably with their neighbors of whatever 
 persuasion. The town of Newport contains about 
 six thousand souls, and is the most thriving in all 
 America for bigness." 
 
 Note 13. "For over sixty years religion- was 
 here, the church was here, but with no house of its 
 own. It found such shelter as it could in open 
 spaces and under trees, when skies were fair ; in 
 such houses as could give it hospitality, when driven 
 in by the weather. There was no public building 
 in the town even for civil purposes. After Philip's 
 War, in June, 1676, the annual town meeting was 
 held ' before Thomas Field's house, under a tree 
 by the waterside.' " ("Discourse in the First Bap- 
 tist Meeting House on the Ninetieth Anniversary of 
 its Dedication, May 28, 1865," by the pastor, Rev. 
 S. L. Caldwell, d. d.) 
 
 Note 14. Not only did he serve the church 
 without charge, but in a noble and generous spirit, 
 in the year 1 700, he built a meeting-house for it 
 on a lot near the corner of North Main and Smith 
 Streets. "In 171 1, seven years before his death, 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 43 
 
 he made a free gift of a deed of the house and 
 land to the church." (Discourse by Dr. Caldwell.) 
 
 Note 15. Knowles' "Life of Roger Williams," 
 p. 175. 
 
 Note 16. This house was dedicated on May 28, 
 1775, President James Manning preaching the ser- 
 mon on the occasion. It is modeled from a draw- 
 ing made for the Church of St. Martin's-in-the 
 Fields, near Charing Cross, London, contained in 
 Gibbs' " Designs of Buildings and Ornaments." 
 James Gibbs was a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. 
 The cost of land and building was a little ov^er 
 ^7,000, "lawful money," or about $35,000. Of 
 this amount ;^2,ooo was raised by lottery', a bill 
 having been granted by the General Assembly at 
 the June session, 1774. 
 
 The steeple was furnished with a bell weighing 
 two thousand five hundred and fifteen pounds, cast 
 in London, and bearing this quaint inscription : 
 
 For freedom of conscience the town was first planted, 
 Persuasion, not force, was used by the people : 
 
 This church is the eldest and has not recanted, 
 Enjoying and granting bell, temple, and steeple. 
 
 In England the chapels of dissenters were not 
 allowed to have either spire or bell. The bell was 
 broken in ringing, and recast in 1787. It then re- 
 ceived a new inscription, viz. : "This church was 
 formed a. d. 1639, the first in the State, and the 
 
44 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 oldest of the Baptists in America." It was again 
 broken and recast in March, 1 844, and a third time 
 in September of the same year. Its present in- 
 scription is as follows : " This church was founded 
 in 1639 by Roger Williams, its first pastor, and the 
 first asserter of liberty of conscience. It was the 
 first church in R. I., and the first Baptist church in 
 America." The bell is still rung daily at sunrise, 
 at noon, and at 9 P. m. 
 
 The building is eighty feet square, with projec- 
 tions in front and in the rear, and has entrances on 
 the four sides. At first the pews were square, and 
 the two principal aisles crossed each other at right 
 angles in the center of the house. In 1792 the 
 beautiful crystal chandelier, the gift of Mrs. Hope 
 Ives, the daughter of Nicholas Brown, was placed 
 in the audience room. In 1832 the sounding- 
 board was removed, the pulpit lowered, and the top 
 galler}^ at the west end, which was devoted to the 
 use of colored people, was taken away and an 
 organ introduced. The interior of the house has 
 been several times renovated, modernized, and better 
 fitted for the needs of the church, but the archi- 
 tectural proportions remain undisturbed. Nearly 
 four generations have worshiped under its roof 
 It stands as a beautiful specimen of the church 
 architecture of the eighteenth century, a highly 
 prized landmark in the city, and the pride of those 
 who make it their religious home. (See "Address 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 45 
 
 by Hon. Samuel Greene Arnold at the One Hun- 
 dredth Anniversary of the Opening of the Meeting 
 House," dehvered May 28, 1875.) 
 
 Note 17. Governor Jenckes, writing in 1730, 
 says, however, of Pardon TilHnghast : " He did sev- 
 eral times in his teaching declare that it was the 
 duty of a church to contribute toward the main- 
 tenance of their elders, who labored in the word 
 and doctrine of Christ ; and although, for his part, 
 he would take nothing, yet it remained the church's 
 duty to be performed to such as might succeed 
 him" (Backus, Vol. H., p. 114). 
 
 Note 18. There is some difference of opinion as 
 to the original attitude of the church in reference 
 to the practice of laying on of hands. The state- 
 ment of Morgan Edwards, made in 1770, is prob- 
 ably correct : "At first laying on of hands was held 
 in a lax manner, so that they who had no faith in 
 the rite were received without it, and such (saith 
 Jo'seph Jenks) was the opinion of the Baptists in 
 the first constitution of their churches throughout 
 this colony." Again he says: "Some divisions 
 have taken place in this church. The first was 
 about the year 1654, on account of laying on of 
 hands. Some were for banishing it entirely, among 
 which Rev. Thomas Olney was the chief, who with 
 a few more withdrew and formed themselves into a 
 distinct church, distinguished by the name of Five 
 Point Baptists, and the first of the name in the 
 
4-6 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 province. It continued in being to 171 5, when Mr. 
 Olney resigned the care of it, and soon after it 
 ceased to exist." [This must have been Thomas 
 Olney, Jr., who was also an elder, and died in 
 1722. The father died in 1682.] 
 
 Mr. Edwards followed Stephen Hopkins, Gov- 
 ernor of Rhode Island and signer of the Declaration 
 of Independence, Rev. John Callender, the Newport 
 pastor, who delivered his famous " Historical Dis- 
 course " in 1738, and many others. This view has 
 been generally accepted. Rev. John Comer, also 
 a Newport pastor, in a manuscript diary written 
 about 1730', appears to have regarded the Six 
 Principle church, under Mr. Brown, Mr. Wicken- 
 den, and Mr. Dexter, as the seceding church. Cal- 
 lender, Avho has been called "a man of wonderful 
 attainments and accuracy," and whose " Historical 
 Discourse" was preached eight years later than 
 Comer, reviewing the whole matter, took the oppo- 
 site view. Backus (Vol. I., p. 405) speaks of 
 " those who parted from their brethren about the 
 year 1653, under the leading of Elder Wicken- 
 den," and seems to coincide with Mr. Comer, 
 though the language probably means simply that 
 there was a separation. He does not hesitate to 
 call the first church in Providence "The first Bap- 
 tist church in America," and speaks of the Olney 
 
 ' This diary was published in 1894 t>y the American Baptist Pub- 
 lication Society. 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 47 
 
 faction not as the church, but as "a part of the 
 church." Rev. Samuel Adlam, in a pamphlet which 
 appeared in 1850, followed Mr. Comer. He was 
 pastor of the First Church in Newport when he 
 published his views. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Armitage, d. d. (" Histor>^ of Bap- 
 tists," p. 667), says : 
 
 It seems clear from the statements of the most reliable 
 historians that the first warm contention on the subject 
 at Providence was between Wickenden and Olney, as to 
 whether the point of being "under hands" should be made 
 a test of fellowship; that Olney went out, that Wickenden 
 and Brown remained with the old church, and that in that 
 body, according to Callender, laying on of hands prevailed, 
 and held its own till the days of Manning, when it ceased 
 to be a test of membership, and gradually died out. 
 
 Rev. H. S. BuiTage, d. d., in "Histor}^ of Bap- 
 tists in New England," p. 28, takes the same view. 
 He says : " Mr. Olney's party withdrew from the 
 church, and maintained a separate existence until 
 about I 718. 
 
 Rev. S. L. Caldwell, d. d.. in a discourse preached 
 at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
 church (1889), says : 
 
 The fanciful theory that in this movement of Olney the 
 historic continuity of the church was disrupted, and we lost 
 our antiquity and our primacy, goes to pieces on the facts. 
 Just as well say the church lost its previous history, when 
 in 1 77 1 Winsor and his associates went out for a reason just 
 
4^ THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 opposite to that which led out Ohiey and his dissenters. 
 In both cases the church lived and continued and survived 
 the schism. 
 
 There has been no difference of opinion as to 
 the fact of a division in the church in 1652, 1653, 
 or 1654, or as to the cause of the division. The 
 main question to be answered is, what was the pre- 
 vaiHng sentiment in the church, before the division, 
 on the point in discussion ? The answer to that 
 will enable us to determine which part of the church 
 seceded. A second question, the answer to which 
 cannot be doubtful is, would a division of the church, 
 in such circumstances and on such grounds, in any 
 way inhibit the surviving part of the church from 
 claiming to be the church, and dating its origin at 
 the beginning of the original church ? 
 
 Mr. Comer's language, as quoted by Dr. Armi- 
 tage, is as follows : " Mr. William Vaughn [a mem- 
 ber of the First Baptist Church in Newport], finding 
 a number of Baptists in the town of Providence, 
 lately joined together in special church covenant, 
 in the faith and practice, under the inspection of 
 Mr. Wiggington [Wickenden], being heretofore 
 members of the church under Mr. Thomas Olney 
 of that town, he, that is, Mr. William Vaughn, went 
 thither in the month of October, 1652, and sub- 
 mitted thereto (the laying on of hands), whereupon 
 he returned to Newport, accompanied with Mr. 
 William Wiggington and Mr. Gregory Dexter." 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 49 
 
 This act led to the formation of the Second Baptist 
 Church in Newport, in 1656. Mr. Comer's record 
 was made more than seventy-five years after the 
 event. The announcement that a part of the 
 church in Providence, which was said indiscrimi- 
 nately to be under the care of Olney or Wicken- 
 den, Dexter or Brown, had openly put itself on 
 Six Principle ground, would have been a sufficient 
 cause for the visit of Mr. Vaughn, who had been 
 led to sympathize with that view. Mr. Comer in- 
 ferred that the Wickenden church was the seceding 
 church, and hence was unable rightfully to claim 
 an origin prior to the separation. 
 
 The only advocates of this view in the North 
 have been two or three pastors of the First Church 
 in Newport, the priority of which would be secured 
 by its adoption. Prof Henry C. Vedder (" A Short 
 History of the Baptists," p. 155) thinks the ques- 
 tion a difficult one to settle. He says "Whether 
 the First Baptist Church of Providence is the lineal 
 successor of this church founded by Roger Wil- 
 liams is a difficult historical question, about which 
 a positive opinion should be expressed with diffi- 
 dence. Tradition maintains that the line of succes- 
 sion has been unbroken ; but the records to prove 
 this are lacking." All other Baptist historians 
 either declare the Olney party to be the seceding 
 church, or accepting the language of Mr. Comer, 
 do not see that it affects at all the question of the 
 
 D 
 
50 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 priority of the existing First Church in Providence. 
 It is difificLilt to say how much the landmarker 
 spirit among the Southern Baptists, which would 
 deny the vahdity of the baptism of Roger Wil- 
 hams, and of course that of his successors, because 
 he was baptized by an unbaptized person, has had 
 to do with the disposition in certain quarters of late 
 to give the priority to the Newport church. 
 
 In reference to the attitude of the church prior 
 to the division, it ma\' be said that there is positive 
 evidence from his writings that Roger Williams held 
 to the laying on of hands as a fitting sequel to 
 baptism and a rite of equal importance and sacred- 
 ness. His view found expression in his " Bloody 
 Tenet," "Bloody Tenet, yet More Bloody," and 
 " Hireling Ministry." These works were published 
 between 1643 and 1652, all of them before the 
 division in the church took place. How early 
 Roger Williams adopted the view it is impossible 
 to determine, probably some years before 1643. 
 Knight, in his " History of the Six Principle Bap- 
 tists," calls him "the parent and founder" of that 
 denomination. This is unquestionably an over- 
 statement, for it is not known that he was active in 
 spreading the rite and winning adherents to it. 
 The principal men, however, associated with him, 
 with the single exception of Olney, held the same 
 view. When the schism occurred, Brown, Wick- 
 enden, and Dexter were all opposed to Olney, and 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 5I 
 
 undoubtedly the majorit)- of the church were with 
 them, and would not naturally be called the seced- 
 ing party. Comer's statement, which undoubtedly 
 was based upon hearsay testimony, does not seem 
 to be in harmony with the known attitude of the 
 original church. 
 
 Pardon Tillinghast, who was admitted to citizen- 
 ship in Providence in 1646, at least six years before 
 the defection occurred, and who was connected 
 with the church as private member or pastor for 
 seventy-two years, until his death in 171 8, must 
 have been perfectly acquainted with the character 
 of the church from the beginning. In his deed to 
 the church, in 171 1, of the meeting-house which he 
 had built at his own expense (Record of Deeds, 
 Vol. XII., p. 260), the language reads, " My house, 
 called the Baptist meeting-house." There was no 
 other meeting-house, and as we know, there had 
 been no other. The church worshiping in it had 
 evidently maintained its original name and primacy 
 as the Baptist church. Its doctrinal position is 
 made known by the following memorandum, which 
 appears at the end of the deed. 
 
 Memorandum. Before the engrossing hereof I do de- 
 clare, that whereas it is above mentioned to wit, "to the 
 church and their successors in the same faith and order," 
 I do intend by the words " same faith and order," such as 
 do truly believe and practice the six principles of the doc- 
 trine of Christ mentioned Heb. 6 : 2, such as after their 
 
52 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 manifestation of repentance and faith, are baptized in water 
 and have hands laid on them. Signed 
 
 Pardon Tillinghast, 
 mark of 
 Li 1)1 A L. Tillinghast. 
 
 The practice of laying on of hands was intro- 
 duced among the Baptists of England and Wales 
 about the year 1646, according to Evans' "Early 
 English Baptists," and prevailed quite extensively. 
 It was the result of a conscientious re-examination 
 of the New Testament to ascertain the constitution 
 of the primitive church and the requirements of 
 the gospel. In their extreme conscientiousness 
 and care to omit nothing required, some of them 
 went so far as to practise feet-washing. Knight 
 says: " When professors found themselves at liberty, 
 during the confusions caused by the civil wars, to 
 read the Scriptures and act for themselves, several 
 of the General Baptists, as well as others, esteem- 
 ing the example and precepts of Christ to be bind- 
 ing on all his followers, conscientiously practised 
 the washing of each other's feet as a religious insti- 
 tution." So it was that every symbolic act came 
 to be regarded as of the nature of a permanent 
 ordinance of Christianity. 
 
 Nearly all of the early Baptist churches in New 
 England were Six Principle, entirely or in part. 
 In 1729 thirteen churches met in annual association 
 in Newport, all of them Six Principle. There were 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 53 
 
 only five other Baptist churches at that date north 
 of New Jersey, so Backus informs us, and two of 
 these were Seventh Day. The First Church in 
 Providence was soon after its organization evidently 
 divided on the practice of laying on of hands, with 
 an increasing sentiment in its favor. At length the 
 church as a body adopted it — those who could not 
 agree joining with Mr. Olney in another organiza- 
 tion — and, in the words of Dr. Caldwell, " kept it, 
 with more or less questioning over it, for consider- 
 ably over a centuiy, until the arrival of a new and 
 happier and more liberal period in its history." 
 Moreover, the church has always been claimed by 
 the Six Principle Baptists as in sympathy with 
 their views in all its early years from its origin. 
 Knight, their historian, writing in 1827, the last 
 year of the pastorate of Rev. Stephen Gano, says : 
 "This has been a large, respectable, flourishing 
 church, almost from itc first establishment. It was 
 settled upon, and constantly maintained the six 
 principles of the doctrine of Christ, until their 
 present pastor received the pastoral charge, since 
 which they have renounced the imposition of hands 
 on private members, and inclined to Calvinism, 
 though many of the members are still in sentiment 
 as formerly." 
 
 The simple facts, then, evidently are that from 
 the beginning, or very soon after, there was in the 
 church a strong sentiment in favor of laying, on 
 
54 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 of hands. In 1652-54 it triumphed, the church 
 was divided, and the members henceforth walked 
 in two bodies. But the question which was the 
 seceding body, if such a question remains, does 
 not seem to be one of very serious moment. Both 
 branches remained Baptist churches. The point 
 of difference was a minor one. The tree parted in 
 two branches, and the branch which survived would 
 inherit rightfully and inevitably the life and history 
 of the original church, and the continuity remain 
 unbroken. 
 
 Rev. A. H. Newman, d. d. (" History of Baptist 
 Churches in the United States," p. 87), says : "As 
 there was nothing whatever in the way of a church 
 building, nor anything the possession of which 
 would identify the party possessing it with the 
 original church to the exclusion of a like claim on 
 the part of the opposite party, it seems futile to 
 base an argument for the priority of another 
 church on the supposition that one of these parties 
 rather than the other was the original church, and 
 that this original church afterward became extinct." 
 
 The minor nature of the difference between the 
 two branches will appear, when the history of the 
 Second Baptist Church in Newport is recalled. It 
 was organized in 1656, on the Six Principle basis^ 
 and was composed of twenty-one members, who 
 withdrew from the First Church. For a long 
 period of years it affiliated with the Six Principle 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 55 
 
 Baptists. In 1801 it united with the Warren Asso- 
 ciation, and so continues. In a " Historical 
 Sketch" of the church, prepared in 1886, the 
 writer says : " The practice of laying hands on 
 baptized converts is continued unto this day, partly 
 out of regard for an old custom, because there is 
 something in it that appears pleasing and appropri- 
 ate, and because the church holds property given 
 in the name of the 'six principles,' and it is sup- 
 posed that this ' rite of confirmation ' so called, 
 secures the right of administration upon those 
 bequests." (See Minutes of Warren Association 
 for 1886.) This practice is no barrier to full fellow- 
 ship with churches which formerly would have been 
 called "Five Point" Baptist churches. The Six 
 Principle churches have been gradually disappear- 
 ing for many years, those members who are not 
 taken away by death generally joining other Bap- 
 tist churches. Knight says : " In the revival and 
 spread of the Calvin istic Baptists, a great part of 
 those churches by degrees fell in with their views, 
 and united with them." He is speaking of the 
 more Southern churches. What he says is true 
 also of the New England churches, especially since 
 the beginning of the present century. 
 
 Rev. C. Edwin Barrows, d. ix, in "The Diary 
 of John Comer," edited by him and Dr. J. W. 
 Willmarth ("Collections of the Rhode Island Histor- 
 ical Society," Vol. VIII.,) says, in Note 119, of the 
 
56 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 Six Principle churches : " Many of them were dis- 
 solved, and others became Calvinistic in doctrine 
 and renounced the laying on of hands, at least as 
 a necessary prerequisite to the communion." And 
 Dr. J. W. Willmarth, in a note in the same volume, 
 p. 1 20, says of the old Philadelphia Baptist Associa- 
 tion : 
 
 The churches of that body held the "Calvinistic doc- 
 trine" with great tenacity, and also practised the "imposi- 
 tion of hands." This ancient custom has gone out of use, 
 in the course of time, among American Baptists, except in 
 a few churches. It has been superseded by the "right 
 hand of fellowship" [or "of welcome"]. In a few 
 churches the old practice is still retained. They do not 
 make it a "term of communion," or a subject of conten- 
 tion with their brethren, but are unwilling to abandon a rite 
 which seems to them so scriptural and so significant of the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit promised to the believer. With some 
 of these the "hand of fellowship" follows. Others con- 
 sider this unnecessary, there being no scriptural authority 
 for it, so far as newly baptized converts are concerned ; 
 while the "laying on of hands," accompanied by solemn 
 prayer, seems to them far superior in meaning and impres- 
 siveness. The "imposition" or "laying on of hands" is 
 now practised by the Second and Roxborough Baptist 
 Churches of Philadelphia, and until recently also by the 
 Lower Merion Baptist Church, in the vicinity of Philadel- 
 phia. It is retained in the Second Baptist Church of New- 
 port, which has now nothing else in common with the "Six 
 Principle Baptists," but is in fellowship with the regular 
 Baptists of Rhode Island. Whether the practice is found 
 now in any other regular Baptist churches in the Philadel- 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 5/ 
 
 phia Association or elsewhere in America, I cannot say. 
 But if we may judge from the Philadelphia Confession of 
 Faith, and from notices in this diary and elsewhere, it was 
 once a part of acknowledged order among regular Ameri- 
 can Baptists generally, and was by no means peculiar to the 
 "Six Principle Baptists," whose sentiments were Arminian, 
 and (I suppose) are so still. I am free to say that I wish 
 the ancient custom could be restored in all our Baptist 
 churches. 
 
 Note 19. Between the defection in 1652 and the 
 defection in 1771 there was by no means unanimity 
 in the church in reference to the practice of lay- 
 ing on of hands. There were always a stricter party 
 and a more liberal party. The church was nomi- 
 nally Six Principle, and sent delegates to the Annual 
 Association and entertained the Association in its 
 turn, the other places of entertainment being prin- 
 cipally Swansea and Newport. During this period 
 the church undoubtedly administered the rite to all 
 persons who were received to membership. But 
 there was constant difference of opinion as to 
 whether or not it should be demanded in all cases 
 as a prerequisite to communion. Some went so 
 far as to insist that a person coming to the commun- 
 ion must not only have been "under hands" him- 
 self, but must look upon the rite as so sacred and 
 obligatory as to demand it in all other commu- 
 nicants, as they demanded scriptural baptism. 
 They allowed not only no liberty of action on the 
 part of the communicant, but no liberality of be- 
 
58 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 lief in his mind in reference to others. Others 
 were broader in their views, and would make the 
 omission of the rite no barrier to communion in the 
 case of baptized believers. About the year 1730, 
 under the ministry of Elder James Brown, a grand- 
 son of Chad Brown, there was a " woeful breach or 
 division," in which the leading men in the church 
 were involved. The pastor took the more liberal 
 view. The opponents were led by Samuel Win- 
 sor, Sr., who was then a deacon. An account of 
 this controversy is given in Guild's " Manning and 
 Brown University," p. 153. It was settled after 
 more than two years of warm discussion by a con- 
 cession to the stricter party in the interests of peace. 
 The agreement was signed by twenty-four names, 
 including the pastor and the deacon, under date of 
 May 25, 1732, and contains these words: 
 
 The difference between us is this, that some of us have 
 borne with larger communion than others. We shall en- 
 deavor, by the help of God, not to offend our brethren in 
 this thing, nor any thing whereby it shall offend their con- 
 sciences, but shall endeavor to be a building up of peace 
 and tranquillity within the spiritual walls of Jerusalem. . . 
 So we ought to be of one body, and not tearing one another 
 to pieces. 
 
 The church was not disrupted at this time. But 
 the controversy was not settled. The issue was 
 only postponed. The liberal spirit grew from \'ear 
 to year, and the coming of President Manning to 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 59 
 
 Providence and to the church hastened the end of 
 a strife that had vexed the church from the begin- 
 ning. President Manning had been ''under hands." 
 This fact was stated in the church letter which he 
 brought to Rhode Island. But it was known that 
 he was not strict in his interpretation of the rite, 
 and the question of his communing with the 
 church brought on the long-delayed crisis. Rev. 
 Samuel Winsor, Jr., had been pastor for many 
 years. His home was in the country, several miles 
 from the church. His health was feeble and his 
 flock was scattered. He had frequently asked to 
 be relieved from the pastoral responsibility. In 
 the judgment of the people President Manning's 
 presence made it possible to grant the pastor's re- 
 quest. Moreover, the meagreness of the resources 
 of the infant college made it necessary for the 
 president to have some other means of support, 
 as he had had at Warren. The indications of 
 God's providence seemed very plain, and the re- 
 sults have given abundant proof of the wisdom of 
 the action that was taken. Dr. Guild in " Man- 
 ning and Brown University," p. 178, thus describes 
 the action of the church : 
 
 The settlement of Dr. Manning in Providence was hailed 
 by the church as a happy event, supposing, as they did, 
 that by calling him to be their pastor they could carry into 
 effect the wishes of Mr. Winsor. He was at once invited 
 to occupy the pulpit. He accepted the invitation, and 
 
60 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 preached a sermon on a Sunday which happened to be the 
 day for the administration of the Lord' s Supper. Several 
 of the members of the church were, however, dissatisfied 
 ,that " the privilege of transient communion" should have 
 been allowed to Dr. Manning ; believing that he held the 
 doctrine of imposition of hands rather too loosely, and that 
 he practised it more to accommodate the consciences of 
 others than to meet the demands of his own. This dissatis- 
 faction led to the formation of a party, and to a series of 
 church meetings, in which the majority, however, was 
 found in every instance to be on the side of Manning. 
 With this party Mr. Winsor himself sympathized and acted. 
 This, however, was thought by some to be only "the osten- 
 sible reason" of dissatisfaction with Mr. Manning. The 
 true cause of opposition to him was "his holding to sing- 
 ing in public worship, which was highly disgustful to Mr. 
 Winsor." . . Finally, !Mr. Winsor, in April, 1771, pre- 
 sented to the church a writing, signed by a number of the 
 members, stating that they were in conscience bound to 
 withdraw from such as did not "hold strictly to the six 
 principles of the doctrine of Christ as laid down in Heb. 
 6 : I, 2." . 
 
 That it may be .seen that there is no difference 
 of opinion as to which was the seceding party, and 
 how the secession was brought about, it may be 
 well to quote from Knight, the historian of the 
 Six Principle Baptists. He says in his " History," 
 p. 257: 
 
 Elder James Manning, president of Rhode Island College, 
 was about to remove from Warren to Providence, and Dan- 
 iel Jenks and Solomon Drown, Esqs. , were appointed at 
 their church meeting held in May, 1770, to wait on Mr. 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 6 I 
 
 Manning on his arrival, and invite him to preach in the 
 meeting-house. Mr. Manning accepted, and delivered a 
 sermon on communion day, and was invited to partake with 
 them, which he did, which caused dissatisfaction in a num- 
 ber of members, on account of Mr. Manning's not holding 
 strictly to laying on of hands. Although under hands him- 
 self )'et he was willing to commune with those that were 
 not. A church meeting was appointed in order for recon- 
 ciliation, and by a vote of the majority present, Mr. Man- 
 ning was admitted to their communion and transient com- 
 munion allowed. The dissatisfaction continued and in- 
 creased, whereupon another meeting was called previous to 
 their next communion, to endeavor to reconcile their diffi- 
 culties, when Mr. Manning was again voted to the privilege 
 of their communion. At the next church meeting Elder 
 Winsor and a large number of brethren laid their grievance 
 before the church, which was that Elder Manning received 
 those to communion not under hands. They agreed to refer 
 the matter to the next Association, to be held at Swanzey ; 
 but when the case was laid before that body, they concluded 
 that the church must settle it themselves. At the next 
 church meeting in October the difficulty was taken up, and 
 determined by vote as heretofore, after which Elder Winsor 
 declined to administer the sacrament on account of the dis- 
 satisfaction of brethren. In April following, Elder Winsor 
 presented a paper to the church meeting, signed by a large 
 number of members, as follows : ' ' Brethren and Sisters : 
 We must in conscience withdraw ourselves from all those 
 who do not hold strictly to the six principles of the doctrine 
 of Christ as laid down in Heb. 6 : i, 2." 
 
 After this a final separation took place, and 
 eighty-seven person.s, including Elder Winsor and 
 Deacon John D}'er, were organized into a separate 
 
62 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 church in Johnston. It should be said that many 
 of these members did not come from the First 
 Church in Providence. 
 
 Johnston was three miles distant. The line of 
 division was drawn, for the most part, between the 
 Providence members and the countr}- members, 
 though a few in Providence .sympathized with the 
 departing brethren. As the former church prop- 
 erty had been deeded by Parson Tillinghast to 
 those who should adhere to Six Principle views, 
 an amicable financial adjustment was agreed upon, 
 and the church in Providence was left in posses- 
 sion of the propert}-, the field, the history, and the 
 traditions of the church, the lineal successor of the 
 church founded by Roger Williams. This was ac- 
 knowledged b\' both parties. The call extended 
 to President Manning to be pastor reads : "At a 
 meeting of the members of the old Baptist Church 
 in Providence, in church meeting a.ssembled this 
 31st day of July, 1 77 1, Daniel Jenckes, Esq., mod- 
 erator : Whereas, Polder Samuel Winsor, now of 
 Johnston, has withdrawn himself and a consider- 
 able number of members of this church from their 
 communion with us who live in town," etc. 
 
 Knight puts the date of the origin of the John- 
 -ston church as 1771, and in his "History" (1827), 
 still lists the Providence church with the Six Princi- 
 ple churches ; and places the date of its beginning 
 as 1636, the year of Roger Williams' arrival in 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH - 63 
 
 Providence. He may have hoped even at that late 
 day that the Six Principle leaven would reassert its 
 power and become again a controlling element in 
 the church. There was no disposition to deny the 
 validity of its claim to be the original church. The 
 records of the Johnston church began with 1771. 
 
 The controversy did not end with the call of 
 President Manning. Traces of i: remained well into 
 the first quarter of the present century to trouble 
 the pastor, and on one occasion he is reported to 
 have placed his resignation in the hands of the 
 church to bring the matter to its final issue. Such 
 tenacity of life reveals the conscientiousness of 
 those who looked upon the practice as an enact- 
 ment of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The character of the church and the changes 
 brought about in it by the coming of President 
 Manning to Providence, are set forth in a most in- 
 teresting manner in the following extract from a 
 letter by Moses Brown to President Wayland. The 
 letter is dated, "Providence, 25th of 5th month, 
 1833," and is found entire in Guild's " History of 
 Brown University," pp. 207-210. Mr. Brown was 
 then in his ninety-fifth year. He says : 
 
 I conclude to give thee my own knowledge respecting the 
 changes and alterations in the Baptist church in this town, 
 which was in very early time known by the name of Six 
 Principle Baptist. In proof of this, I have an original 
 letter of Elder Pardon Tillinghast, signed by himself, 
 
64 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 Gregory Dexter, and Aaron Davis, in behalf of the breth- 
 ren of the church in this town, dated in the 5th month, 
 then July, 168 1 ; and this is confirmed by Elder Tilling- 
 hast's deed of the Baptist meeting-house and lot to the 
 church. . . Indeed, the difference is marked between the 
 old church of the Baptists in this town and after Elder Man- 
 ning, a worthy godly man and an excellent preacher, whom 
 I attended in his last moments, and whom we all loved. In 
 divers respects, however, his practice was different from the 
 church here, and much difficulty was in the meeting upon 
 the subject of singing and the contribution box, these being 
 never known before. To give a vote of the church in favor 
 of the first more particularly, the female members were 
 called upon to vote, though not usual, and my mother and 
 sister attended accordingly. This occasioned a serious di- 
 vision with the old deacons and members. Elder Manning 
 having powerful aid from some of the old members, and 
 being prudent enough to keep himself out of the strife, 
 preserved the affection most generally of the church. At 
 length a separation was concluded on, the meeting-house 
 and lot were sold, the money was divided, the meeting- 
 house in Johnston on the plain was built, and also the 
 house now called the First Baptist. My brother Joseph was 
 a member of the church, and when he brought his contri- 
 bution box to my mother' s pew, I now remember my re- 
 luctant feelings for him, our family and the church never 
 having seen the like in our meeting, though often in the 
 Congregational and other churches. 
 
 The question may suggest itself, to what extent 
 a church may modify its behef or practice, and 
 still retain its identity. There are Unitarian 
 churches in New England which have, back of 
 their Unitarian life and present denominational fel- 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 65 
 
 lowship. a century or a century and a half of Congre- 
 gational life and history. They can hardly be said 
 to ha\e retained their ecclesiastical identit}', or to 
 be in any just sense the lineal descendants of the 
 original churches ; and yet they claim as their own 
 the life and histor\' of the past, and date their ori- 
 gin at the beginning of the original church life, and 
 this claim is unquestioned. The Unitarian church 
 worshiping in King's Chapel, Boston, was origi- 
 nalh' an Episcopal church, but has abandoned the 
 faith and government of the original church, and 
 yet calls itself the survdvor and inheritor of the 
 past. The John Bun\'an Church in Bedford is to- 
 day an Independent or Congregational church, re- 
 taining the name and the memorials of the im- 
 mortal allegorist, and inheriting all the treasured 
 wealth of the histor\- of the church to which he 
 ministered. Other similar instances might be cited. 
 But the First Baptist Church in Providence has 
 passed through no such changes in faith or practice. 
 It has never ceased to be a Bap^^'st church from the 
 beginning of its histor\' down to the present hour. 
 During all the difference of opinion and protracted 
 discussion about the rite, which received recog- 
 nition in many Baptist churches in England and 
 America during the last half of the seventeenth 
 and the whole of the eighteenth century, it pre- 
 served unchanged the evangelical faith, the con- 
 gregational polit}' and discipline, and the scriptural 
 
66 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 ordinances. In each instance of defection the ma- 
 jority of the church remained to carry forward the 
 hfe, the work, and the history of the church, and 
 to preserve its continuity without break or interrup- 
 tion. The church has never, for a single instant, 
 lost its existence or its identity. 
 
 It has not, indeed, either at the beginning or 
 since, adopted any articles of faith, or put forth 
 any creedal statement. The circumstances of its 
 origin were exceptional, and must not be taken as 
 a guide for to-day. Amid the multitude of relig- 
 ious faiths in our time, all claiming to rest upon the 
 word of God, a church needs to have some basis 
 of agreement, though it may be slight, on which its 
 members may unite, and by which it may be known 
 and distinguished. Fellowship and recognition by 
 those outside can be secured only by some definite 
 expression of belief A church must stand for 
 something, if it is to have either growth or ecclesi- 
 astical fellowship. Yet the old First Church has 
 held its faith, and borne its name, in such a way 
 that its position has never been misunderstood, and 
 when it united with the recently organized Warren 
 Association in 1782, under the guidance of Presi- 
 dent Manning, and entered into fellowship with 
 other Baptist churches, that act was in itself a 
 declaration of faith in points of essential doctrir.e 
 and polity, though the church has always allowed 
 the largest liberty to the individual. 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 6/ 
 
 The second seceding church, hke the first, went 
 to pieces after an existence of a httle more than 
 sixty years. How any candid and careful historian 
 can regard that church as the original church, and 
 accept the view that the First Church in Provi- 
 dence originated in 1771, is simply unaccountable. 
 It is unfortunate that so able a work as Johnson's 
 "Universal Cyclopaedia," in its new edition, should 
 give publicity to an opinion which has no argu- 
 ment in its support, has never had any currency, 
 or recognition even, among historians, and rests 
 upon an utter misinterpretation of historic facts. 
 There needs to be a new edition of this "Cyclo- 
 paedia," in which this statement, and other equally 
 erroneous statements in reference to the early Bap- 
 tists in Rhode Island, shall be revised, corrected, 
 and brought into harmony with established and 
 accredited history. 
 
 Note 20. A question has been raised in some 
 minds as to the priority of the First Baptist Church 
 in Providence over the First Baptist Church in New- 
 port, aside from the question of its continuity. As 
 we have seen, the date of the origin of the church 
 in Providence cannot be determined positively. 
 While it is usually given as 1639, it was undoubt- 
 edly earlier by one year, possibly by two. 
 
 John Clarke, m. d., one of the founders of New- 
 port, a man of great learning, ability, and piety, 
 arrived in Boston in November, 1637, where he 
 
68 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 expected to settle and practise his profession. 
 There is not the sHghtest evidence that he was a 
 Baptist at the time of his arrival. He would not 
 have been tolerated, if he had been. Good authority- 
 says he became "a member of the church in Bos- 
 ton." His departure from Boston was entirely 
 voluntary. He was a lover of peace, and was 
 beginning undoubtedly to have some clear concep- 
 tions of religious libert}'. The antinomian contro- 
 versy in connection with Mrs. Anne Hutchinson 
 was then at its height. He himself said : "Seeing 
 they were not able so to bear each with other in 
 their different understandings and consciences, as 
 in those utmost parts of the world to live peace- 
 ably together," he voluntarily determined to seek 
 another place, "forasmuch as the land was before 
 us and wide enough." He went first, with others, 
 to New Hampshire, as it is supposed, but finding 
 the winter too severe, in the spring he turned 
 southward. He had heard of Roger Williams 
 and his banishment, and visiting Providence on his 
 journey, he with his companions was warmly wel- 
 comed by Mr. Williams, and at his suggestion and 
 through his agency, they purchased of the Indians 
 the island of Aquidneck, now called Rhode Island, 
 and planted the new colony at Portsmouth, near 
 Newport. This was in March, 1638. 
 
 The colony was composed of many disaffected 
 persons from the Massachusetts Bay, some of whom 
 
THE MOTHER CHUKCH 69 
 
 had been excommunicated on account of anti- 
 nomian views. Mr. William Hutchinson, the hus- 
 band of Anne, appears to have been one of the 
 purchasers. She remained with the colony until 
 after her husband's death in 1642. Mr. William 
 Coddin;4ton, a wealthy merchant in Boston and a 
 deputy to the court, who had defended Mrs. 
 Hutchinson, and opposed, though unsuccessfully, 
 the proceedings against Mr. Wheelwright, was the 
 first, and John Clarke the second, of the eicrhteen 
 persons whose names appear on the civil com- 
 pact, signed March 7, 1638. Soon after, Arnold 
 says May i, 1639, Mr. Coddington, Mr. Clarke, 
 and others established the new colony at Newport. 
 Being religious people they held services from the 
 first. It is recorded that " Mr. John Clarke, who 
 was a man of letters, carried on public worship." 
 A church was soon organized, which was undoubt- 
 edly a Congregational church. The church in 
 Boston sent a deputation to it to reprimand it for 
 its disorderly conduct. This it would not have 
 done, had the cliurch been a Baptist church. The 
 nature of the disorderly conduct is apparent from 
 " Winthrop's Journal," which says: "They gath- 
 ered a church in a very disorderly way ; for they 
 took some excommunicated persons, and others 
 who were members of the church in Boston and 
 w^ere not dismissed." Callender says : "The peo- 
 ;ile who came to Rhode Island [by which he means 
 
yo THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 Portsmouth and Newport] who were Puritans of the 
 highest form, had desired and depended on the 
 assistance of Mr. Wheehvright, a famous Congre- 
 gational minister aforementioned. But lie chose to 
 go to Long Island, where he continued some years." 
 These statements prove conclusively the character 
 of the church and its doctrinal status. Neither at 
 Portsmouth nor at Newport, where a church existed 
 possibly as early as 1639 of which Mr. Clarke was 
 pastor, is there any appearance thus far of Baptist 
 sentiment. Those emigrants from the Massachu- 
 setts Bay, who were Baptistically inclined, went to 
 Providence and not to Newport, as they would 
 have done if there had been Baptists there at the 
 beginning of the settlement. Governor Winthrop 
 says (Vol. I., p. 293) : " Many of Boston and 
 others, who were of Mrs. Hutchinson's judgment 
 and party, remov^ed to the isle of Aquiday ; and 
 others who were of the rigid separation, and 
 favored Anabaptism, removed to Providence, so as 
 those parts became to be well peopled." 
 
 Moreover, the Newport church is claimed by the 
 Congregationalists as being of their faith and order, 
 though guilty of disorderly conduct. See "Sketches 
 of Concfreerationalism in Rhode Island," bv James 
 Gardiner Vose, d. d. Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles, pastor 
 of the Congregational Church in Newport from 
 1755 to 1778, and subsequently president of Yale 
 College until his death in 1795, in an unpublished 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 7 I 
 
 manuscript now in the possession of the church 
 which he sensed, says : 
 
 The first church in Rhode Island was Congregational, 
 and settled here [/. i'., in Providence, where the manuscript 
 was prepared as an appeal to the Legislature in behalf of an 
 act of incorporation for the Newport Congregational Church] 
 in the spring of 1636 under Rev. Roger Williams, who 
 administered the Lord's Supper and baptism of infants by 
 sprinkling for the first three years, till in 1639 he and his 
 church renounced their baptism, and were baptized by 
 plunging. Brother Holiman first plunging Mr. Williams, and 
 then Mr. Williams in turn plunging the rest or most of them. 
 The first church in Newport was gathered there in 1640, 
 and was Congregational and Pedobaptist under Dr. Clarke, 
 its elder, and continued for about four years, when it became 
 Baptist also. . . Though the two Congregational churches, 
 Providence and Newport, were broken up and became Bap- 
 tist, yet a body of the inhabitants did not lose their Pedo- 
 baptism. Their disgust with Boston, however, prevented 
 them from having a minister until about 1670, when there 
 was found a considerable number of Congregationalists, 
 which survived and lived through the desolation of our camp 
 by the Baptists and Friends. 
 
 If the supposition is true that Roger Wilhams and 
 his friends organized a church immediately on 
 arriving at Pro\'idence, Dr. Stiles is undoubtedly 
 correct in saying that it was a Congregational 
 church. But of such an organization we have 
 no knowledge whatever. Stephen Hopkins ("His- 
 tory of Providence," 1765) thinks it probable. He 
 says ; 
 
J2 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 The first church formed at Providence by Mr. Williams 
 and others seems to have been on the model of the Congre- 
 gational churches in the other New England Colonies. But 
 it did not continue long in this form, for most of its mem- 
 bers very soon embraced the principles and practices of the 
 Baptists, and some time earlier than 1639 gathered and 
 formed a church at Providence of that society. 
 
 But, however it may have been in Providence, 
 we have evidence that the Newport settlers formed 
 a church at once. 
 
 Governor Winthrop says that there were "pro- 
 fessed Anabaptists" on the island in 1640—41. 
 This is the earliest intimation we have, from any 
 source, of the presence there of any persons claim- 
 ing to hold Baptist views. A Mr. Lechford, writing 
 January, 1641, of the Newport church, says: "But 
 that church, I hear, is now dissolved." Rev. John 
 Comer, who was the fifth pastor of the First Bap- 
 tist Church in Newport, says (1730) that from "pri- 
 vate information" he learned that his church "was 
 constituted about 1644." Rev. John Callender, 
 his successor, cautiously mentions the same date as 
 the traditional one. It seems evident that the first 
 church formed in Newport was a Congregational 
 church, and went to pieces by reason of differences 
 of opinion and changing views, "as was the case 
 with divers churches in the country," and that some 
 time between 1640 and 1644 Mr. Clarke and some 
 of his neighbors accepted Baptist views, and began 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 73 
 
 to hold separate meetings. Ur. A. H. Newman 
 says: "It is probable that the Baptist meeting, 
 begun in 164 1 or 1642, assumed more completely 
 the character of a church in 1644." According to 
 Mr. Comer, the first certain record of this church 
 bears the date of October 12, 1648, at which time 
 there were twelve members in full communion, and 
 three others to be added. The traditional number 
 of the constituent members of the church is eight. 
 When and by whom Mr. Clarke and his com- 
 panions were baptized we have no knowledge what- 
 ever. The baptism may have been administered 
 by Mark Lucar, an English Particular Baptist, who 
 came to Rhode Island about this time, and is 
 said to have been one of the founders of the New- 
 port church. Vov man}' years he was one of its 
 ruling elders. Or more probably, it was adminis- 
 tered by the authorized representative of the church 
 in Providence, po.ssibly by Mr. Williams himself 
 But definite knowledge is wanting. It is this 
 ignorance that has led a few persons, anxious to 
 prove the priorit>' of the First Baptist Church in 
 Newport by showing, if possible, that the first 
 church formed there was a Baptist church, to sug- 
 gest the very improbable conjecture that Mr. Clarke 
 had been baptized in the old world. If he had 
 been, Roger Williams would have certainly sought 
 baptism at his hands, instead of accepting it at the 
 hands of Mr. Holiman, who had never been bap- 
 
74 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 tized. The absence of an}' regularly qualified ad- 
 ministrator has always been regarded by Baptist 
 writers as the only and sufficient justification of the 
 baptism of Roger Williams by Mr. H oilman. 
 
 Morgan Edwards sa\'s of the Newport church : 
 " It is said to ha\'e been a daughter of the Provi- 
 dence church." He also adds of Mr. Clarke: 
 " Tradition says that he was a preacher before he 
 left Boston, but that he became a Baptist after his 
 settlement in Rhode Island by means of Roger 
 Williams." Knight and others adopt this view. 
 Dr. Armitage's general statement about Mr. Clarke's 
 change of views seems correct : " A long train of 
 circumstances indicates that his steps had led in the 
 same path with those of Williams in the main ; 
 through Puritanism, love of religious liberty, dis- 
 gust at the intolerance of Massachusetts, and so 
 into full Baptist positions." 
 
 It should be added that jM'ior to 1 847 the First 
 Baptist Church in Newport did not think of claim- 
 ing an earlier origin than 1644. See " Minutes of 
 the Warren Association" for 1847. The claims 
 made by the church at that time were completely 
 answered by a careful and candid "Review," pre- 
 pared by Dr. J. N. Granger, Dr. Alexis Caswell, 
 and Professor William Gammell, and read to the 
 Association September 12, 1850. The claims were 
 shown to be groundless, and the arguments urged 
 in their support to rest upon an imperfect examina- 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 7^ 
 
 tion of historic documents and erroneous inferences 
 from them. Although the church succeeded at 
 that time in changing in the Minutes of the Associa- 
 tion the date of its origin from 1644 to 1638, it 
 did not succeed in changing the beHef of the de- 
 nomination at large, or even of the immediate com- 
 munity. 
 
 Rev. Henry Jackson, d. d., pastor of the Cen- 
 tral Baptist Church in Newport, prepared by vote 
 of the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention, of 
 which he was at that time vice-president, " An 
 Account of the Churches in Rhode Island," and 
 read it before that body, November 8, 1853. In 
 that account he reviewed thoroughly the whole 
 question of priority and continuit}% having before 
 him all known facts pertaining to them, and all the 
 arguments presented on both sides, and affirmed 
 and reaffirmed his conclusion that the First Church 
 in Providence was " the first church gathered in this 
 colony, and the first of its kind in the new settle- 
 ments of America " He added, " It is evident that 
 the main strength of the church belonged to that 
 portion of it which at the division continued, as 
 the church had always done, in the center of the 
 town, and from which all that has c\cr been of any 
 special note to Baptists, or to the denomination at 
 large, has emanated." The dix'ision to which Dr. 
 Jackson referred was the division of 1652. It was 
 not until the closing decade of the nineteenth cen- 
 
76 THE MOTHER CHURCH 
 
 tury that there arose a historian rash enough to 
 assert that the defection of 1771 destroyed the 
 light of the Providence church to call itself the 
 mother church. Dr. Jackson did not hesitate to 
 say : "I do not question that had Comer lived 
 until 1739 [that is, until Mr. Callender's discourse 
 had been delivered] he would have sympathized 
 with Mr. Callender entirely in the chronology of 
 these churches." 
 
 Mr. Comer was born August i, 1704, and was 
 ordained pastor of the First Church in Newport, 
 May 19, 1726. He could not have been more 
 than twenty-five or twenty-six years of age when 
 he wrote his manuscript. He did not live to revise 
 it, dying May 23, 1734, at the early age of thirty 
 years. The manuscript was known to be in exist- 
 ence for one hundred and seventeen years before 
 the church ventured to change the date of its or- 
 ganization on the strength of it, and the church 
 had had an existence for two hundred years (be- 
 lieving that it was probably born in 1644, which 
 was four years earlier than the first known record), 
 before it thought of adding an ante-natal period of 
 six years to its existence. 
 
 In Comer's manuscript, according to the state- 
 ment of Mr. Adlam, after the words "the Newport 
 church in age is prior to any other Baptist church 
 in America," there is this note, "excepting that of 
 Providence." Mr. Adlam thinks this was added 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 77 
 
 by a latei hand. As the manuscript (or that part of 
 the manuscript) which contained the reference to 
 Mr. Vaughan's visit to Providence and the age of 
 the Newport church, has disappeared, and cannot 
 be found in the hbrary either of the Rhode Island 
 Historical Society or of the Backus Historical So- 
 ciety, it is impossible to verify or disprove Mr. Ad- 
 lam's supposition. It is possible that Mr. Comer 
 may have ultimately reached a different conclusion. 
 
 On the other hand, the First Baptist Church in 
 Providence has always believed that the distinction 
 of being the oldest church in this colony, and the 
 first Baptist church in America, belongs rightfulh' 
 to it. The preamble to the charter of ' ' The 
 Charitable Baptist Society" connected with the 
 church, granted b>' the General Assembly in May, 
 1774, contains the following words: "Being the 
 oldest Christian church in the State or Colony." 
 The inscription on the bell has been already given. 
 
 This prevailing belief in the church, in Rhode 
 Island, and in the entire country, found expression 
 in the language of Stephen Hopkins (1765) : 
 
 This first church of Baptists at IVovidence hath from the 
 beginning kept itself in repute, and maintained its disci- 
 pline, so as to avoid scandal or schism to this day; hath al- 
 ways been, and still is, a numerous congregation, and in 
 which I have with pleasure observed very lately sundry de- 
 •scendants fiom each of the above-mentioned families, ex- 
 cept Holiman. 
 
^8 THE moth?:r church 
 
 The following paragraph is from the " Review" b}- 
 Drs. Granger and Caswell and Professor Gammcll : 
 
 The priority in age of the First Church in Providence has 
 been asserted by the unanimous voice of Baptists and ot 
 others. The story has been told by father to son, and 
 handed down through thousands of the famihes of this 
 State and land without change. The earliest chronicles 
 have recorded it. It has been woven into every history 
 which was ever written of the State or of the denomination. 
 It is impossible that an event so notorious, so widely pub- 
 lished at the time, and so universally received, could then 
 or afterward ha\e been misrepresented in this its most im- 
 portant particular. 
 
 In the absence of original church records in both 
 cases, it is probable that the traditional dates of 
 the origin of the two churches, viz., 1639 '^'"'d 
 1644, though the foi-mer is undoubtedly a little too 
 late and the latter is a little too early, will continue 
 to be accepted as approximately correct by the 
 great majorit}' of candid students of Baptist his- 
 tor\', and that the First Church in Providence will 
 be recognized by American Baptists, in the future 
 as it has been in the past, as "the mother church." 
 The unprejudiced judgment of Prof George P. 
 Fisher, of Yale University, covers the main points, 
 which have been considered. In his recent vol- 
 ume, "The Colonial Era," p. 143, he says of Dr. 
 Clarke and the Newport church : "At Newport he 
 was the principal member, and the minister of an 
 
THE MOTHER CHURCH 79 
 
 Anabaptist church — to use the name then current — 
 which, after a few years, was gathered there." And 
 of Roger WilHams and his baptism, and the Provi- 
 dence church, he uses the following language (p. 
 123): "In 1638 Williams was immersed by an 
 Anabaptist named Holyman, and then he himself 
 immersed Holyman and ten others. There was 
 thus constituted the first Baptist church in Amer- 
 ica." 
 
 mm 
 
 1,1 J 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adlara, Rev. Samuel 47,76 
 
 Anabaptists: religious liberty 
 first proclaimed by, in 
 Switzerland, 12 ; in Germany, 
 Holland, and England, 12: 
 martyrs for it, 12; practised 
 immersion, 29, ;'.i): drift to 
 Providence, 7ii: appeared in 
 
 Newport 72 
 
 Arraitage, Tliomas, d. r)...17. is, 71 
 Arnold, Hon. Samuel G i'> 
 
 Backus, Rev. Isaac 4.'), 4(i 
 
 Baptists of England ; pro- 
 claimed religious lilierty and 
 separation of Church and 
 State, 12, l:j : when immersicin 
 wa.s introduced among them, 
 2S-:u : the First Particular 
 church organized. ;:!0 ; prac- 
 tised laying on of hands, ."v2 ; 
 some of them practised feet- 
 washing ■'>2 
 
 Barber, Edward 20, :'.l 
 
 Barrows. Comfort K., n. i> 41, -"i.j 
 
 Batten, .lohn :!0 
 
 Berkeley, Bish. (xcorge 12 
 
 Blount, Richard :10 
 
 Boston: Roger Williams ar- 
 rived at. l-T : .Tohn Clarke ar- 
 rived at. 117 : hatred of, 
 against Providence. l.'i: 
 church in. sent deputation to 
 Congregational chnrcli in 
 
 Newport iV 
 
 Bradford, Governor William 33 
 
 Brown, Chad : settled in Provi- 
 dence, 20 ; minister of the 
 
 church 20, 39, 40, 50 
 
 Brown. Rev. James 58 
 
 Brown, .Joseph 64 
 
 Brown, >[oses t'>3 
 
 Brown. Nicholas 44 
 
 Brown Cniversity 22, :^S 
 
 Bunyan Church, Bedford 6.') 
 
 Hurrage. Henry S., D. i> ■](>, 47 
 
 Busher, Leonard 2.s, :!(), 31 
 
 Caldwell. Samuel L., i>. i>...40, 42 
 
 43.47, 53 
 
 Cal lender. Rev. John 4(>, 69, 72 
 
 Caswell, President Ale.xis, " Re- 
 view of Adlam " by 74, 77, 78 
 
 Chauncey, Rev. (Charles : ar- 
 rived at Plymouth, 35 ; de- 
 sired as assistant pastor, pas- 
 toral Scituate, believed in in- 
 fant and adult immersion. .:!5, 36 
 
 Clarke, Rev. James 41 
 
 Clarke, Rev. John, M. d. : re- 
 ferred to, 36. 41. 67 : arrived in 
 Boston and left because of its 
 unhappy condition, 67, 68; 
 visited Rojrer Williams. 68; 
 at his suggestion yilanted col- 
 ony at Portsmouth, 68 ; signer 
 of the civil compact, 69: re- 
 moved witli colony to New- 
 port, 69 : a preacher, 69, 73, 78 ; 
 when he became a Baptist, 
 72, 74 : when and where bap- 
 tized, 73; becoming a Bajitist 74 
 8l 
 
82 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Coddingrtoii. William.. 33, 34, 36 
 41, 68, 69 
 
 Confes.sioii.'* : of Anabaptists at 
 Schloitheim, TJ : of Englisli 
 Baptists 12, 13 
 
 Comer. Rev. John.. 41, 40, 4S, 49 
 72, 75, 70 
 
 Crandall, .lohn 23 
 
 Davis, Aaron (i;) 
 
 Dexter, Gresoty : settled in 
 Providence, 20 ; minister of 
 
 the church 20, 4t;. 4.S, .">n 
 
 Dexter. Henry M., i>. n... I'l. 27 
 
 Drown, Solomon liO 
 
 Dunster, Henry 23 
 
 Dyer, John (il 
 
 Edwards, Morgan 4."), 73 
 
 Evans' " Early En.£rlish Bap- 
 tists" :>2 
 
 Featly, Doctor 31 
 
 Pelt, Joseph Barlow 3.') 
 
 First Baptist Church in New- 
 port : spoken of, 41. 47, 48. 49 ; 
 younger than the Providence 
 church, ()7-7S; origin of 72; 
 traditional date concerning, 
 72 : first certain record of. 72 ; 
 number of constituent mem- 
 bers. 73 ; daughter of t h e 
 Providence church, 73: its 
 former view of the date of its 
 origin. 74: when changed. 
 74; change shown to be un- 
 warranted, 74. 7.') : view o f 
 Com r and Adlam. 7."i. 76; 
 uniformly rejected, 77, 78; 
 
 final statement 78 
 
 First Baptist Church in Provi- 
 dence ; date of organization 
 11 n known. 16: traditional 
 date of organization, 17 ; true 
 
 date probably earlier. 17; 
 how church originated, 16; 
 constituent members, 17, 18; 
 a New Testament church, 18; 
 without articles of faith, 19, 
 65; basis of union. 19; its 
 first ministers unpaid, 20, 21, 
 22 ; its first house of worship, 
 21, 42 ; its second, 21 ; its 
 present, 21, 43-4.') ; had plu- 
 rality of elders, 20, 40, 41 ; a 
 Six Principle church, 22, 
 4.T-63 ; the (irst sei)aration, 22, 
 4.5-.")7, 75 ; the second separa- 
 tion, 22, 57-67, 75 ; influenced 
 by the establishment of the 
 College and the pastorate of 
 President Manning, 22 ; the 
 mother church, 23, 67-78; 
 never ceased to be a Baptist 
 church. 65; joined Warren 
 .\ssociation, 66; and .so made 
 declaration of faitli. 61! ; older 
 tlian the Newport church, 
 67-78; view of Comer and 
 Adlam, 75, 76 ; priority never 
 questioned in the church or 
 the denomination at large, 77, 
 
 78; final statement 78 
 
 Fisher, Prof, (teorgc P., D. i> 78 
 
 Fox, C.eorge 40 
 
 Gammell. Prof AVilliam : ex- 
 tracts from his " Life of Roger 
 Williams," 25, 26. 27; "His- 
 tory of First Baptist Church," 
 40: " Review of Adlam "'.74. 77. 78 
 
 Gano. Rev. Stephen, m. n 2'. 
 
 George. John 2: 
 
 Gould, Thomas 23 
 
 Granger, J. N., i'. o.. " Review 
 of Adlam " by 7t, 77. 78 
 
 Hague. William, d. d. : extract 
 from his '• Historical Dis- 
 
INDEX 
 
 83 
 
 course at the Two Hundredth 
 Anniversary of the First Bap- 
 tist Church " 14, 15 
 
 Holinian, Ezekiel : liaptized 
 Roger Williams and t)aptized 
 by Williams, 11, 71, 7,s ; he 
 and wife members of First 
 Church, 17, 18; justification 
 of his baptism of Roger 
 
 Williams 73 
 
 Holmes, Obadiali 23 
 
 Hopkins, Stephen 46, 71, 77 
 
 Howe, Samuel : tribute to by 
 
 Williams 14 
 
 Hutchinson, William 68 
 
 Hutchinson„Mrs. Anne 17, 68 
 
 Immersion : when introduced 
 among the English Baptists, 
 27-31: not a modern rite, 28, 
 30; view of Dr. H. M. Dexter, 
 27 ; view of Prof. W. H. Whit- 
 sitt, 32 ; always practised by 
 Eastern Church. 28; pre- 
 scribed by English I'rayer 
 Book, :U ; infant innnersion 
 practised in Cliuich of Eng- 
 land till the seventeenth cen- 
 tury 28 
 
 Jackson, Henry, i>. d 74, 7") 
 
 Jenks, Daniel 60 
 
 .Tenks, Governor .Toseph 4.') 
 
 .Johnson's New, ITniversal Cy- 
 
 clopredia 32. 66, 67 
 
 Johnston Church : organized at, 
 
 61, 62, 61 ; became extinct 66 
 
 Kifflii '.nauuscriiit 30 
 
 King's Chapel, Boston 6.'') 
 
 Knight's " History of the Six 
 Principle Baptists "....jU, 53, .5.") 
 
 60, 62, 74 
 
 Knowle«, Prof, .hnncs D., "Life 
 of Ivoger Williams " 4;) 
 
 Laying on of hands : a practice 
 of the church, 22, 45-63; its 
 long prevalence, 45, 53, 62 ; 
 difference of opinion as to it, 
 57, 58 ; its fiiuil discontin- 
 uance, 5"J-63 ; practised by 
 English Baptists, .52 ; and by 
 New England Baptists gen- 
 erally, 52, .53 : its gradual dis- 
 appearance. 55 ; a few Bap- 
 tist churches still retain it.. 55-57 
 
 Lucar, Mark 36, 73 
 
 '• Manning and Brown T'niver- 
 sity." by Reuben A. (Juild, 
 LL.D 58. .5y, 63 
 
 Manning, .lames, u. n. : came 
 to Providence, '22; president 
 of college and pastor of the 
 ciiurcli, 22; preached dedica- 
 tion sermon, 4:! ; influence on 
 the church, .'I'.i. 63 ; had been 
 "under hands," -59; but a lib- 
 eral in opinion 00, 61 
 
 Xcwnum, I'rof. .Vlbcrt IL, D. D. 
 33, 34, .54, 72 
 
 Newport; settled, 67-69; civil 
 compact signed, 69; some of 
 colonists, 68. 69; distinction 
 between thcni and the peo- 
 ple of Providence, 70; jiros- 
 perity, 42; its earliest church 
 not Baptist, 69-72 ; clainu'd by 
 Congregationalists, 70, 71 ; lic- 
 came extinct. 7L72: suc- 
 ceeded by Baptist church. ..72, 7S 
 
 Olney. Thomas; himself and 
 wife excommunicated at Sa- 
 lem and members of church 
 in Providence, 17; minister 
 of the church, 20. 48 ; with- 
 drew from church. 22, 45, 53 ; 
 organized another, 45, .53; 
 which died 46, 47 
 
84 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Olney, Thomas, Jr 46 
 
 Osborne, Thomas -'o 
 
 Painter, Thomas '■!■'■'< 
 
 Philadelphia Confession of 
 Faith "tV 
 
 Plymouth : afraid to offend tlio 
 inhabitants of the liay, 10: 
 sent Roger Williams out of 
 its borders, 10 ; President 
 Chauncey arrived at, :i.'i ; de- 
 sired him as assistant pastor.. :V> 
 
 Providence: named, U : his- 
 toric ground, 10: the birth- 
 place of civil and religious lib- 
 erty, 12, m\ the colonists, 18, 
 20: distinction between them 
 and the people of Newpurt 70 
 
 Reeves. Mrs., a widow. e.\- 
 communicated at Salem, and 
 member of church in Provi- 
 dence IS 
 
 Religious Liberty : a " pestilen- 
 tial " doctrine, 10; first pro- 
 claimed, 12, l:i: partial 
 triuiniih in Holland, 10: an 
 Anabaptist doctrine, l'>: first 
 guaranteed, 11, :i9: the ulti- 
 mate thouiiht iif the New Tes- 
 tament 1''. 16 
 
 Rhode Island Haptist State Con- 
 vention "•'' 
 
 Salem : Williams b a n i s li e d 
 from, ;»: exclude<l iiicml)ers 
 of church 17, IM 
 
 Scituate: Chauncey pastor at, 
 :<.T : belief in adidt immersion 
 and practice of infant im- 
 mersion ■'''• -W 
 
 Scott, Richard : mention of him 
 and wife, 17, IS; asserts im- 
 mersion of Roger Williams, 
 :K ; and length of his connec- 
 tion with the church.. 3i» 
 
 Screven, William 
 
 Second Baptist Church in New- 
 port 41, 49, 54, 5o, 
 
 Second Baptist Church in Prov- 
 idence : separated from the 
 First Church, 22, 47-49, 54; 
 liecame extinct 46, 
 
 Smith, Hezekiah, d. n., warned 
 off of (lod's earth for preach- 
 ing 10, 
 
 Sprague's Annals of the Amer- 
 ican Baptist Pulpit, quoted... 
 
 Stanford, Rev. John 
 
 Stanley, Dean Artluir P 
 
 Stiles, Ezra, u. u. : mentioned, 
 70; important unpublished 
 manuscri] )t of 70, 
 
 Story. Judge, tribute to Roger 
 Williams 
 
 Straus, Oscar S., " Roger Wil- 
 liams, tlie Pioneer of Relig- 
 ious Liberty " 
 
 39 
 
 Throgmorton. John, and wife, 
 excommunicalcil in Salem, 
 members in Proviilence 17 
 
 Tillingluist. Pardon: admitted 
 to citizenship in Providence, 
 20, .'il : minister of tlie church, 
 20; built meeting-linuse. 21; 
 gave it to church. 42, 4:5; 
 view of a paid ministry, 45 ; 
 knowledge of tlie church, .51 ; 
 says it was Six Principle, 51, 
 6:5; important memorandum 
 of deed •''d- 'iS 
 
 Vaughn. William 48 
 
 Vedder. Prof. Henry C 29, 49 
 
 Vose, James C, i>. n 70 
 
 Warren Association 55, 66, 74 
 
 Wayland, Francis, n. d 63 
 
 Westcott. Stukely.and wife, ex- 
 communicated in Salem, 
 members in Providence 17 
 
INDEX 
 
 85 
 
 Wheelwright, Rev. John on 
 
 Whitsitt, William H., i). D...32, 60, 07 
 Wiekeiiden, William : settled 
 ill Providence, 20 ; minister 
 
 of the church 20, ;W, 40. 4s, .")0 
 
 Wightman, Rev. Daniel 41 
 
 Williams, Roger : banished, 9 : 
 forbidden to cross Massachu- 
 setts, 9 ; went to England via 
 New York, 10: refused shelter 
 by the Pilgrims, 10 ; cro.ssed 
 the Seekonk and welcomed by 
 the- Indians, 10, 11 : baptized 
 by Holiman. 11 : administered 
 baptism. 11 ; nature of his 
 baptism, 20-3«. 78 : his home 
 and grave, 11 : entered into 
 covenant with the natives, 11 : 
 with his companions, 11 ; 
 founder of religious liberty 
 and a Baptist colony, 11, 12; 
 did not originate the idea, 
 12; acquainted with Dutch, 
 i:^ ; acquainted with Knglisli 
 Baptists, 14; chai-ged with 
 Anabaptistry, 1.5; founder 
 xnd minister of the First 
 Church in Providence, 19, 44 ; 
 withdrew from its fellow- 
 sliip and became a Seeker, 
 
 19, 20; remained in sentiment 
 a Baptist, 20, 40 : was u n - 
 doubtedly immersed, 33-o8, 
 71, 78; believed in laying 
 oil of hands, ."lO : won Dr. 
 .h)hn Clarke to llie Baptist 
 faith 74 
 
 Willmarth, .J. \V.. n. n 56 
 
 Winslow. Govenmr. Ictteifrom, 
 to Williams 25, 26 
 
 Wiiisor, Rev. Samuel 58 
 
 Winsor, Rev. Samuel, Jr. ; pas- 
 tor of the church in Provi- 
 dence, 22 ; withdrew and or- 
 ganized church in .lohiiston, 
 22. 47 ; the reasons for it .j9-{)2 
 
 Winthroj), John: mentioned, 
 :>9: letter of Williams to. .')0 ; 
 says there were Analwptists 
 at Newiwrt 72 
 
 Winthrop's Journal : account of 
 Williams' baptism in, 17; 
 character of the earliest 
 ciiurch in Newport as found 
 in, 09; dLstinction between 
 the settlers of Providence 
 and those of Newport as 
 given by 70 
 
 Witter, William 23 
 
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