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CHURCH HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW ENGLAND, 
 
 1620 TO 1804. 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A VIEW OF THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. DECLENSIONS 
 
 AND REVIVAL-!, OPPRESSION AND LIBERTY OF THE 
 
 CHURCHES, AND A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 BY ISAAC BACKUS, A. M. 
 
 WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION AND S. S. SOCIETY, 
 
 NO. 21 SOUTH FOURTH STREET. 
 
 1844 
 
ifii 
 
 The annexed Memoir has been carefully compiled for this volume, from 
 the American Baptist Magazine— the second volume of Benedict's History— 
 the writings of Backus, and such verbal recollections of him, as the writer 
 has been able to secure. It is hoped that it may give increased interest to 
 the perusal of his history ; while it will by no means supersede the neces- 
 sity and the desire for a more complete and elaborate "Life of Backus,*' 
 which one of his distinguished friends, who can have ready access to hia 
 extensive diary, and the scenes of his protracted labours, has promised to 
 prepare, for our " Biographical Series." 
 
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 No. 9, George 
 
 street, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
MEMOIR. 
 
 Isaac Backus was born in Norwich, Connecticut, 
 January 9th, 1724. His parents were pious and respect- 
 able members of the Pedobaptist church in that town. 
 His father was a descendant of one of the first families in 
 the settlement of Norwich ; and his mother's pedigree is 
 traced back to the family of Winslows, who came to Ply- 
 mouth with the first European emigrants to this country, 
 in 1620. At the time when the celebrated Whitefield 
 preached with such signal success in that vicinity, some 
 of Mr. Backus's connexions united with the Separates ^-^ 
 a name given to several independent churches formed 
 about this period, of a more zealous and spiritual character 
 than the Associate Pedobaptist churches, which then and 
 long after claimed to be the standing order, or churches 
 established by law. For uniting with these, they were 
 harrassed and persecuted by the ruling party. The mo- 
 ther of, young Backus, when a widow, with some other 
 of his relations were cast into prison, by these persecuting 
 zealots, solely for exercising their conscientious convic- 
 tions, in uniting with those churches which were not es- 
 tablished by law. It was in the midst of this excitement, 
 that the subject of this memoir was brought to the know- 
 ledge of the truth, in the 18th year of his age. He 
 furnishes the following simple and striking account of his 
 conversion. 
 
 " My being bom of religious parents, and having a re- 
 ligious (though not what is called a liberal) education, I 
 have ever esteemed an unspeakable favour. Yet I 
 neglected the great salvation for more than seventeen 
 years, because of the secret imagination that it would 
 abridge my present liberty and comfort ; and also, that 
 when I should in good earnest set about the work, God 
 would be moved to help, pardon, and save me. But in 
 
 3 
 
 M109760 
 
4 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 May, 1741, my eyes were opened to see that time was 
 not at my command, and that eternity was directly before 
 me, into which I might justly be called the next moment. 
 Then I knew what it was to work for my life for three 
 months : until on August 24, as I was alone in the field, 
 it was demonstrated to my mind and conscience, that I 
 had done my utmost to make myself better, without ob- 
 taining any such thing ; and that I was a guilty sinner in 
 the hands of a holy God, who had a right to do with me 
 as seemed good in his sight ; which I then yielded to, 
 and all my objections were silenced. And soon upon 
 this, a way of relief was opened to my soul, which I had 
 never any true idea of before, wherein truth and justice 
 shine with lustre in the bestowment of free mercy and 
 salvation upon objects who have nothing in themselves 
 but badness. And while this divine glory engaged all my 
 attention, my burden of guilt, and evil dispositions was 
 gone, and such ideas and inclinations were implanted in 
 my heart, as were never there before, but which have 
 never been rooted out since, though often overclouded." 
 
 Soon after this change, he united with the Pedobap- 
 tist church in his native town, where he had been accus- 
 tomed to attend worship ; but after about two years, some 
 troubles in that church led to his withdrawal from it. It 
 was not until September, 1746, that he entered upon the 
 duties of the Christian ministry ; and the principles which 
 governed him in this important step are described in his 
 discourse, published eight years after, entitled "7%c Na- 
 ture and Necessity of an Internal Call to preach the 
 Gospel'' 
 
 Near the close of the following year, he was guided by 
 the disposal of Providence, to a parish or precinct called 
 Titicut, upon the river between Bridgwater and Middle- 
 borough, in the county of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where 
 a Pedobaptist church, of the Separate order, was formed 
 in February following, to which he ministered with evi- 
 dent success. In August, 1746, disputes about baptism 
 were first brought into this church ; and while the pastor, 
 Mr. Backus, was prayerfully considering the subject, ten 
 persons were baptized by Elder Moulton. The descrip- 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. , O 
 
 tion of his subsequent exercises, and the result to which 
 he was brought, is thus given in his own words. 
 
 "About three months after, when the heat of contro- 
 versy was abated, the question was put to my conscience 
 in my retired hours. Where is it, and in what relation to 
 the church, do those stand, who are baptized, but not con- 
 verted ? I could see that all the circumcised were obliged 
 to keep the passover ; and I had seen that there was no 
 halfway in the Christian church, nor any warrant to ad- 
 mit any to communion therein, without a credible profes- 
 sion of saving faith. No tongue can tell the distress I 
 now felt. Could I have discovered any foundation in 
 Scripture for my former practice, I should most certainly 
 have continued therein : But all my efforts failing, I was 
 at last brought to the old standard, so as to leave good 
 men and bad men out of the question, and simply inquire, 
 What saith the Scripture?'' By this means his mind 
 was at length settled, in the full conviction of the baptism 
 of believers only, and he submitted himself to this ordi- 
 nance, August 22, 1751. 
 
 For more than four years afterwards, he continued mi- 
 nistering to the same church, on the principles of open 
 communion ; many of its members being decided Bap- 
 tists, and others still cleaving to the principles and prac- 
 tice of Pedobaptism. This difference created no litde 
 embarrassment, and furnished frequent occasions of dis- 
 quietude to both parties, which led to a fresh search into 
 the cause of these difficulties. The following account of 
 the result, is from the pen of Mr. Backus. 
 
 " The arguments of the beloved Bunyan for a free 
 communion with all saints, had before appeared conclu- 
 sive to me and to others ; but a review of them discovered 
 his mistake. One argument is, that plain laws of old, 
 were sometimes dispensed with ; as circumcision was 
 omitted in the wilderness ; David ate of the shew-bread 
 that was not lawful for him : and the people in Heze- 
 kiah^s time ate of the passover, otherwise than it was 
 written. But it was found upon search, that each of 
 these were extraordinary cases, which were not repeated ; 
 and therefore could afford no plea for dispensing with 
 
 1* 
 
O MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 rule, at ordinary times. And as to Bunyan's capital 
 argument, which is, God hath received them, therefore 
 we ought to ; it was observed that his example is often 
 inimitable by us, but as far as it is imitable, it is always 
 in the truth. Hence truth is never to be violated for any 
 one, no, not to save natural life, which all lawful means 
 should be used to preserve. And truth so clearly requires 
 baptism before the supper, that Pedobaptists do never 
 come to the table with any but such as are baptized in 
 their esteem. Neither could we understandingly act in 
 being buried in baptism, until we were convinced that 
 what was done to us in infancy was not gospel baptism ; 
 therefore to commune at the Lord's table with any who 
 were only sprinkled in infancy, is parting with truth, by 
 practically saying they are baptized, when we do not be- 
 lieve they are. I since find that the learned and pious 
 Dr. Watts in his ' Rational foundation of the Christian 
 church,' allows this argument to be just, though many 
 still wrangle against it." 
 
 Upon this conviction, that truth limits church com- 
 munion to believers baptized upon a profession of their 
 own faith, and that into the Christian church neither na- 
 tural birth, nor the doings of others, can rightly bring any 
 one soul, without their own consent ; a church was con- 
 stituted at Titicut, (known as the first Baptist church in 
 Middleborough,) January 26, 1756, and by assistance 
 from Boston and Rehoboth, the subject of this memoir 
 Was publicly recognised as their pastor in July following. 
 This was the first Baptist church constituted in Plymouth 
 county, and at the time was the only one in an extent of 
 country above a hundred miles long, from Bellingham to 
 Cape Cod, and near fifty miles wide, from Boston to Re- 
 hoboth. • 
 
 In this place, and as the faithful and endeared pastor 
 of this flock, Mr. Backus spent sixty years of his useful 
 life. In 1749 he was married to Susanna Mason of Re- 
 hoboth, with whom he lived in the greatest harmony more 
 than half a century. According to his own words, " She 
 was the greatest earthly blessing which God ever gave 
 him." They reared up a somewhat numerous family of 
 
 .r- 
 
HEMOm OF THE ATTTHOR. f 
 
 children, of high respectability ; and though nerer very 
 amply supported by the people to whom he ministered, 
 they were enabled, by the blessing of Providence, and their 
 own industry and frugality, to accumulate an estate of con- 
 siderable value. 
 
 The church over which he was the spiritual watchman 
 was small for many years. But they had some additions 
 from time to time, until the blessed revival which begun 
 in 1779, and increased their number in three years from 
 fifty-nine members to one hundred and thirty-eight. This 
 church was also the germ of several other Baptist churches, 
 and the nursing mother of several distinguished ministers 
 of the gospel. In little more than a quarter of a century 
 after its constitution, there were seventeen churches 
 within the wide limits above described. 
 
 Besides the labours of Mr. Backus as a Christian pas- 
 tor, he was eminently distinguished as the noble defender 
 of religious liberty and the rights of conscience, and as 
 an ecclesiastical historian. The part which he took, and 
 the service he performed, in both these spheres, for the 
 general welfare of the Baptist churches, furnish a number 
 of incidents which ought to be perpetuated, and also 
 serve to illustrate the excellences of his character. He 
 early imbibed a settled aversion to civil coercion in reli- 
 gious concerns. He was taught its iniquity both by ex- 
 perience and observation, having been himself taxed and 
 seized as a prisoner to coerce payment, to support a mi- 
 nister on whom he never attended, and indeed at a time 
 when he was pastor, and regularly officiated to another 
 church. His members, too, were sometimes imprisoned 
 for similar causes ; nor would he be likely to forget the 
 horror early produced in his mind by the imprisonment 
 of his widowed mother. Few men have exerted them- 
 selves more than he did in the support of the equal rights 
 of Christians, to worship God unmolested. In 1772 he 
 was chosen an agent for the Baptist churches in Massa- 
 chusetts, in the room of Mr. Davis, formerly pastor of 
 the second church in Boston, then lately deceased. The 
 duties of this agency, which was merely of a civil cha- 
 racter, were executed by him with fidelity, intrepidity. 
 
8 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 and some degree of success. Members of Baptist and 
 other non-conforming churches and congregations in that 
 state, were then so continually harrassed for the support 
 of the established clergy, that they found it necessary to 
 have some one thoroughly acquainted with the laws and 
 usages, to advise on sudden emergencies, and to afford 
 assistance to those who were in trouble. Their great 
 object was to obtain the establishment of equal religious 
 liberty in the land, which the dominant party were de- 
 termined to prevent. 
 
 When the disputes came on, which terminated in the 
 revolutionary war and the independence of the United 
 States, the Baptists vigorously united with their fellow- 
 citizens in resisting the arbitrary claims of Great Britain ; 
 but it seemed to them unreasonable that they should be 
 called, upon to contend for civil liberty, if, after it was 
 gained, they should still be exposed to oppression in re- 
 ligious concerns. When, therefore, the first Continental 
 Congress met in Philadelphia, the Warren Association, 
 viewing it as the highest civil resort, agreed to send Mr. 
 Backus as their agent to that convention, " there to follow 
 the best advice he could obtain, to procure some influence 
 from thence in their favour." When he arrived in Phila- 
 delphia, the Philadelphia Baptist Association appointed a 
 large committee, of whom Dr. Samuel Jones was one, to 
 assist their New England brethren. '* But our endea- 
 vours," says Dr. Jones, " availed us nothing. One of 
 them told us, that if we meant to effect a change in their 
 measures respecting religion, we might as well attempt to 
 change the course of the sun in the heavens." 
 
 Mr. Backus failing of success at Philadelphia, on his 
 return met the Baptist committee at Boston, by whose 
 advice a memorial of their grievances was drawn up, and 
 laid before the next Congress at Cambridge, near Boston, 
 to which the following answer was returned : — 
 
 "//I Provincial Congress, Cambridge, Dec. 9, 1774. 
 "On reading the memorial of the Rev. Isaac Backus, 
 agent to the Baptist churches in this government : — 
 ** Resolved^ That the establishment of civil and reli- 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 9^ 
 
 gious liberty, to each denomination in the province, is the 
 sincere wish of this Congress ; but being by no means 
 vested with powers of civil government, whereby they 
 can redress the grievances of any person whatever ; they 
 therefore recommend to the Baptist churches, that when 
 a General Assembly shall be convened in this colony, 
 they lay the real grievances of said churches before the 
 same, when and where their petition will most certainly 
 meet with all that attention due to the memorial of a de- 
 nomination of Christians, so well disposed to the public 
 weal of their country. 
 
 ** By order of the Congress^ 
 
 '* John Hancock, President, 
 
 " ^ true extract from the Minutes, 
 '* John Lincoln, Secretary. ^^ 
 
 Such an Assembly as is here mentioned, convened at 
 Watertown, July, 1775, to which our brethren presented 
 another memorial, in which they said, ** Our real griev- 
 ances are, that we, as well as our fathers, have from time 
 to time been taxed on religious accounts where we were 
 not represented ; and when we have sued for our rights, 
 our causes have been tried by interested judges. That 
 the representatives in former Assemblies, as well as the 
 present, were elected by virtue only of civil and worldly 
 qualifications, is a truth so evident, that we presume it 
 need not be proved to this Assembly ; ^nd for a civil 
 legislature to impose religious taxes, is, we conceive, a 
 power which their constituents never had to give, and is, 
 therefore, going entirely out of their jurisdiction. Uhder 
 the legal dispensation, where God himself prescribed the 
 exact proportion of what the people were to give, yet 
 none but persons of the worst characters ever attempted 
 to take it by force. How daring then must it be for any 
 to do it for Christ's ministers, who says. My kingdom 
 is not of this world ! We beseech this honourable As- 
 sembly to take these matters into their wise and serious 
 consideration before Him, who has said, TVith what mea' 
 sure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. Is not 
 
10 MEMOIR OF THF AUTKv. R. 
 
 all America now appealing to Heaven, against the injus- 
 tice of being taxed where we are not represented, and 
 against being judged by men, who are interested in getting 
 away our money ? And will Heaven approve of your 
 doing the same thing to your fellow -servants ! No, surely. 
 We have no desire of representing this government as the 
 worst of any who have imposed religious taxes ; we fully 
 believe the contrary. Yet, as we are persuaded that an 
 entire freedom from being taxed by civil rulers to reli- 
 gious worship, is not a mere favour, from any man or 
 men in the world, but a right and property granted us by 
 God, who commands us to standfast in it, we have not 
 only the same reason to refuse an acknowledgment of 
 such a taxing power here, as America has the abovesaid 
 power, but also, according to our present light, we should 
 wrong our consciences in allowing that power to men, 
 which we believe belongs only to God." 
 
 This memorial was read in the Assembly, and after 
 lying a week on the table, was read again, debated upon, 
 and referred to a committee, who reported fav^ourably. A 
 bill was finally brought in,in favour of the petitioners, read 
 once, and a time set for its second reading ; but other 
 business crowded in, and nothing more was done about 
 it. In this manner have the Baptist^ frequently been 
 shuffled out of their rights. After this, they made a 
 number of attempts to get some security for their freedom 
 from religious oppression, but none was formally given 
 them. They had many fair promises, which were never 
 fulfilled ; and when the State Constitution was formed, 
 the Bill of Rights was made to look one way, but priests 
 and constables have gone another. The first article of 
 the Bill of Rights declares " All men are born free and 
 equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable 
 rights," &c. The second declares, "No subject shall 
 be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty 
 or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and sea- 
 son most agreeable to the dictates of his own con- 
 science," <fcc. 
 
 But notwithstanding all these declarations, many have 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 11 
 
 been molested and restrained in their persons, liberties, 
 and estates, on religious accounts.* 
 
 These things we have thought proper to insert in Mr. 
 Backus's biography. He was undoubtedly the draughts- 
 man of some of the memorials of his brethren, and he 
 was certainly the able and undaunted expositor of them 
 all. His whole soul was engaged in the prosecution of 
 his agency ; insomuch that he became the champion of 
 non-conformity in New England, and was, on that ac- 
 count, much vilified and abused by the established party. 
 
 When he waited on the Congress at Philadelphia, he 
 was accused of going there on purpose to attempt to 
 break the union of the colonies. The newspapers 
 abounded with pieces against him, some of which he an- 
 swered, and others he treated as beneath his notice. In 
 one, he was threatened with a halter and the gallows ; 
 but he had been too long inured to the war, to be terrified 
 by such impotent threats. 
 
 Bad as were the laws of Massachusetts at this period, 
 their interpretation and execution by bigoted and inte- 
 rested courts was frequently much more exceptionable. 
 Against ;ill such perversions Mr. Backus failed not to lift 
 up the voice of solemn remonstrance. The undaunted 
 intrepidity with which he withstood corrupt or party- 
 blinded judges, even to the face, is still remembered by 
 some of that waning remnant who were contemporaneous 
 with his later years. 
 
 The other sphere of service in which the subject of this 
 memoir acted so distinguished and useful a part, was entered 
 in obedience to the pressing and reiterated solicitations of 
 his brethren. With characteristic humility he thus adverts, 
 in the preface to vol. i. of his history, to his feelings and 
 circumstances when first solicited, about the year 1771, 
 to wri^e a history of the churches of New England. 
 '* When I was requested by several gentlemen of note and 
 others, to undertake this work, two great objections pre- 
 sented themselves to my mind ; namely, my great unfit- 
 
 • This remained true till within a few years since, when the con- 
 stitution of Massachusetts was finally purified of this obnoxious 
 feature, and all sects were placed on equality. 
 
12 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 ness for it, and the difficulty of obtaining the necessary 
 materials. But their importunity prevailed against the 
 first, and Divine providence has removed the other, by 
 conveying into my hands a variety of authentic materials, 
 much beyond what I conceived could have now been ob- 
 tained in the world." In the same preface he thus indi- 
 cates the necessity of re-writing the early history of the 
 Puritan churches and governments, 
 
 " It may well be supposed, that men who are striving for 
 more power over others than belongs to them, will not 
 set their own or their opponent's disposition and character 
 in a just light. And if it should be found, that near all 
 the histories of this country which are much known, have 
 been written by persons who thought themselves invested 
 with power to act as lawgivers and judges for their 
 neighbours, under the name either of orthodoxy, or of 
 immediate power from heaven, the inference will be 
 strong, that our affairs have never been set in so clear a 
 light as they ought to be ; and if this is not indeed the 
 case, I am greatly mistaken." 
 
 Under these circumstances, Mr. Backus set himself to 
 the diligent search of all the original records within his 
 reach, and in 1777, in the midst of the confusion and suf- 
 fering occasioned by the war of the Revolution, he pub- 
 lished his first volume, a large 8vo., and brought down 
 the history of the colonies, and particularly of their eccle- 
 siastical affairs to 1690. A single sheet was added as an 
 ** Appendix, containing a brief summary of the Ecclesi- 
 astical Affairs of this country down to the present time." 
 
 This volume is now very scarce, and though containing 
 ample and valuable materials for the historian, they will 
 scarcely require to be republished in their present shape. 
 
 His second volume contained the Church History of 
 New England, from 1690 to 1784. It included "A con- 
 cise view of the American War, and of the conduct of the 
 Baptists therein, with the present state of their churches." 
 In 1796 a third volume appeared, gleaning up a portion 
 of materials which had been omitted in the others, and 
 continuing the history down to that time. He says, 
 *' Through the whole, I h^ve compared actions and events 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 13 
 
 With the word of God, according to the best light I could 
 gain from every quarter." 
 
 The first and third of the above volumes were printed 
 in Boston, the second in Providence. They contain in 
 the aggregate more than 1300 pages octavo; and though 
 from the circumstances in which they were successively 
 produced, it could not be expected that they would be 
 free from repetitions, and some transposition of the order 
 of events, yet the student of our early ecclesiastical his- 
 tory will in vain look elsewhere for much of the interest- 
 ing and important matter here contained. The style is 
 uniformly lucid and nervous, without any attempt at 
 polish or ornament. The sentiments and reflections 
 freely interspersed, are such as arise naturally from the 
 events narrated, and are fully imbued with the desire of 
 civil and religious liberty. A delightful spirit of candour 
 is evinced, in giving just commendation to whatever was 
 truly excellent in the character and deportment of the Pu- 
 ritans ; and if their now indefensible intolerance and 
 bigotry receive a somewhat severer denunciation than 
 we have been accustomed to hear awarded to them, let us 
 remember the exasperating circumstances under which 
 the author wrote. Let it also be borne in mind that he 
 clearly discriminates between the early principles of the 
 Puritans, and some subsequent inconsistencies of their 
 practice. 
 
 His last historical work was the volume herewith 
 published. It consists of a condensation of the most im- 
 portant things embraced in his lormer publications, into 
 one smaller volume, with a concise view of the southern 
 states ; the whole being continued to the time of its pub- 
 lication in 1804. This is by far the most useful of his 
 historical labours, for common readers ; and will by this 
 cheap republication, be made widely accessible. 
 
 Besides these literary enterprises, and the ordinary dis- 
 charge of his pastoral duties, he travelled and preached 
 very extensively in New England, and on one occasion, 
 in 1789, in consequence of a request from the southern 
 brethren for some one of the ministers of the Warren As- 
 sociation to come and assist them in the great field of 
 
14 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 labour which was then opened before them, he spent six 
 months chiefly in Virginia and North Carolina, in which 
 tour he travelled over three thousand miles, and preached 
 one hundred and twenty-six sermons. His pen was 
 rarely idle for any considerable length of time, and besides 
 the list of about forty publications which he sent to the 
 press, within the last half century of his useful life, he 
 wrote a number of circular letters, and other communica- 
 tions for various periodicals. His newspaper articles 
 were not on the ordinary political topics, but were de- 
 signed to expose ecclesiastical oppression, and to defend 
 the noble principles of religious freedom.* 
 
 This distinguished man finished his earthly course with 
 great composure, November 20, 1806, in the 83d year of 
 his age, and the 60th of his ministry. For a few months 
 
 * The following is a complete list of the books and pamphlets 
 which he published, in regular order. A Discourse on the Internal 
 Call to preach the Gospel, 1754. A Sermon on Gal. iv. 31., 1766. 
 A Sermon on Acts xiii. 27, 1763. A Letter to Mr. Lord, 1764. A 
 Sermon on Prayer, 1766. A Discourse on Faith, 1767. An Answer 
 to Mr. Fish, 1768. A Sermon on his Mother's Death, 1769. A Se- 
 cond Edition of his Sermon on Gal. iv. 31., with an Answer to Mr. 
 Frothingham, 1770. A Plea for Liberty of Conscience, 1770. So- 
 vereign Grace vindicated, 1771. A Letter concerning Taxes to sup- 
 port Religious Worship, 1771. A Sermon at the Ordination of Mr. 
 Hunt, 1772. A reply to Mr. Holly, 1772. A Reply to Mr. Fish, 
 1773. An Appeal to the Public in Defence of ReUgious Liberty, 
 1773. A Letter on the Decrees, 1773. A History of the Baptists, 
 vol. i. 1777. Government and Liberty described, 1778. A Piece 
 upon Baptism, 1779. True Policy requires Equal Religious Liberty, 
 1779. An Appeal to the People of Massachusetts against Arbitrary 
 Power, 1 780. Truth is Great and will Prevail, 1781. The Doctrine 
 of Universal Salvation examined and refuted, 1782. A Door opened 
 for Christian Liberty, 1783. A History of the Baptists, vol. ii., 1784. 
 Godliness excludes Slavery, in Answer to John Cleaveland, 1785. 
 The Testimony of the Two Witnesses, 1786. An Address to New 
 England, 1787. An Answer to Remmele on the Atonement, 1787. 
 A Piece on Discipline, 1787. An Answer to Wesley on Election 
 ' and Perseverance, 1789. On the Support of Gospel Ministers, 1790. 
 An Essay on the Kingdom of God, 1792. A History of the Baptists, 
 vol. iii., 1796. A second edition of his Sermon on the death of his 
 Mother ; to which was added a Short Account of his Wife, who died in 
 1800. Published 1803. An Abridgment of the Church History of 
 New England, 1804. A Great Faith described, 1805. 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 15 
 
 previous to his death he had been laid by from his public 
 labours by a paralysis, which deprived him of the power 
 of speech and the use of his limbs. But his reason con- 
 tinued unclouded to the last, and in his expiring moments, 
 he manifested entire resignation to the will of Heaven. 
 
 Few of his favoured brethren of this generation, are 
 adequately impressed with a sense of their indebtedness 
 to the labours of this departed champion of their cause. 
 He was unquestionably one of the most useful ministers 
 that has ever appeared among the American Baptists. 
 For fifty years, he was a laborious servant of their 
 churches ; and for more than half this period, he diligently 
 devoted what time he could spare from professional du- 
 ties, to historical researches. The vast fund of materials 
 which he thus accumulated, must have sunk into entire 
 oblivion, had it not been for his unwearied care. As a 
 preacher he was entirely evangelical : pungency, pathos 
 and power, characterized many of his discourses, which 
 though unornamented with rhetorical language, were richly 
 stored with scriptural truth. 
 
 His unaffected piety, sincerity, and unwavering inte- 
 grity, were proverbial among all that knew him. The 
 foUowiPig interesting reminiscence has been communicated 
 by the worthy pastor of the church to which father Backus 
 so long ministered. 
 
 ** The following anecdote is sometimes related by the 
 aged Christians in this region : — An unpleasant rupture 
 took place between Rev. Mr. Alden, late of Bellingham, 
 and a certain Mr. Mann, a member of his church. All 
 attempts for a reconciliation were in vain. At length a 
 number of ministers were called together for consultation 
 and advice ; among whom were Stillman, of Boston : 
 Manning, of Providence : and Backus, of Middleborough. 
 The conference was held at the house of Rev. W. 
 Williams, in Wrentham, and they spent the afternoon 
 and almost all the following night in their pious efforts ; 
 but the parties were unyielding, and there was not the 
 least prospect of a settlement. For a long time Mr. 
 Backus had sat with his head bowed down, and appeared 
 to be sleeping. A little before break of day, (which is 
 
16 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 said to be the darkest time,) Mr. B. rose up, saying, — 
 Let us look to the throne of grace once more ; and then 
 kneeling down he prayed. The spirit and tone of his 
 prayer was such as to make every one feel that the heart- 
 searching God had come down among them. The result 
 was, the contending parties began immediately to melt, 
 and the rising sun saw the rupture healed and closed up 
 forever. 
 
 " I have often heard that good man pray. The efficacy 
 of his prayers did not consist in length, nor gaudy dre^s ; 
 but it seemed that he and his God loved one another, and 
 that he was at home before the throne of grace. I heard 
 the last sermon which he ever preached. It was deliver- 
 ed in his dwelling-house, from 1 Pet. ii. 9. I remember 
 well the piety, pathos, and unusual earnestness which 
 characterized that discourse. His religion made him 
 willing to die. S. H." 
 
 The following description of his person and manner, is 
 from the pen of his intimate friend and contemporary, Dr. 
 Thomas Baldwin of Boston. 
 
 " Mr. Backus's personal appearance was very grave 
 and venerable. He w^as not far from six feet in stature, 
 and in the latter part of life considerably corpulent. He 
 was naturally modest and diffident ; which probably led 
 him into a habit, which he continued to the day of his 
 death, of shutting his eyes, when conversing or preach- 
 ing on important subjects. His voice was clear and dis- 
 tinct, but rather sharp than pleasant. In both praying 
 and preaching, he often appeared to be favoured with such 
 a degree of divine unction, as to render it manifest to all 
 that God was with him. Few men have more uniformly 
 lived and acted up to their profession than Mr. Backus. 
 It may be truly said of him, that he was a burning and 
 shining light; and, though dead, he left behind him the 
 good name which is better than precious ointment.'^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The experience of mankind, from age to age, gives 
 the best light to direct our ways of any human means ; 
 and the record of the word of God is our only sure guide 
 to eternal life. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual, 
 under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is the way to 
 bring us to that happy end ; and though the writings of 
 all uninspired men are imperfect, yet by comparing their 
 various accounts together, we may gain much instruction 
 from them about the accomplishment of prophecy, and 
 many other things. 
 
 These things were much upon my mind in early life, 
 especially about the history of my own country. And 
 when the knowledge of experimental religion was given 
 me, above threescore years ago, it increased my attention 
 to these things.^ But when some of our chief ministers 
 requested me to engage to write our history, in 1771, the 
 greatness of the work, and the difficulty of obtaining the 
 necessary materials, were great objections in my way. 
 Yet their importunity prevailed ; and I spent much of my 
 time in going to, and searching of the records of the old 
 colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
 Connecticut, and of the United Colonies, which last are 
 ai Plymouth. I also searched many other records and 
 papers, as well as books of various kinds, and inquired 
 of intelligent persons, to get all the light I could from 
 every quarter. And our first volume was published in 
 '2* 17 
 
18 PREFACE. 
 
 1777, the second in 1784, and the third in 1796 ; and I 
 never heard of any thing published against the work, 
 though I desired that it might be corrected. 
 
 As several things have come to light of late, that I had 
 not before, and my ability for writing is continued to old 
 age,* I have thought it to be [my] duty to reduce the 
 most useful things into one volume, with a concise view 
 of our Southern States, as well as to bring the history 
 down to the present time. And as writers are often in- 
 correct in their dates, I have paid much attention to that 
 subject ; and have given an exact table of events, accord- 
 ing to what light I could gain, following the old style, 
 until the new took place in 1752. 
 
 Many of the new things in this volume were taken 
 from Winthrop's Journal, published in 1790 ; from the 
 publications of the Historical Society at Boston, and 
 from a book which I borrowed of them, called ** The 
 Bloody Tenet," of which I know not of another copy in 
 America. The accounts of our Southern States were col- 
 lected partly when I was in North Carolina and Virginia, 
 in 1789, and partly from other sources of intelligence. 
 And in the experience of two centuries, in this great 
 country, we may see a great variety of different schemes 
 of government that have been tried, which may direct our 
 choice to what is right, and to avoid evil ways ; espe- 
 cially to guard against all cruelty, deceit, and violence. 
 These things are humbly presented to the public, by 
 their aged friend, Isaac IBackus. 
 
 Middkbormgh, August 30, 1804. 
 
 * Eighty on January 20, 1804. 
 
CHURCH HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Their first church formed — They divide into two — They remove to 
 Amsterdam — One goes to Ley den — They increase to three hun- 
 dred — Part of them come to America — Here many of them die. 
 Yet the rest are prospered — Robinson dies in Holland — Yet more 
 come over — Their charter given — Their church order. 
 
 The light of revelation, and the superstitions and per- 
 secutions of the Church of England, were the causes of 
 the first planting of New England. A number of people 
 near the borders of the counties of York, Nottingham, and 
 Lincoln, were so much convinced of the corruptions of 
 the Church of England, that they withdrew from her in 
 1602, and formed another church, in which they cove- 
 nanted together, to walk in all the ordinances and com- 
 mandments of God, according to the light he had given, 
 or should give them out of his holy word. But for so 
 doing they were cruelly persecuted by the ruling powers 
 of the national church. Yet they increased so much in 
 about four years, as to divide into two churches ; and this 
 increased the resentment of their enemies so much, that 
 they removed to Amsterdam, in 1608. One of these 
 churches had the aged Mr. Richard Clifton, and Mr. 
 John Robinson for their pastors ; but Clifton died at Ara- 
 
 19 
 
20 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. I. 
 
 sterdam.* And as contentions had broken out in the 
 other church, Mr. Robinson and his people removed to 
 Leyden, in 1609, though tu their temporal disadvantage. 
 There they lived in peace and harmony, and increased to 
 three hundred communicants. 
 
 This caused much uneasiness in the Church of England, 
 and many things were published against them. Mr. 
 Richard Bernard of Nottinghamshire, in particular, wrote 
 a large book against them, which Mr. Robinson answered 
 in 1610; and he observes, that because one Bolton, in the 
 early part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, formed a 
 church in a way of separation from the Church of Eng- 
 land, which persecution brought him to renounce, and 
 afterwards to hang himself; and Robert Brown, a minis- 
 ter of that church, came out and formed several separate 
 cjiurches, and yet turned back again into the national 
 church, Mr. Bernard brought these instances as arguments 
 against all who separated from them. Upon which Ro- 
 binson said, '* The universal apostasy of all the bishops, 
 ministers, students in the universities, yea, of the whole 
 Church of England in Queen Mary's days, (a handful in 
 comparison excepted,) might more colourably be urged by 
 the papists against Mr. Bernard, than some few instances 
 against us. The fall of Judas, an apostle ; of Nicolas, one 
 of the seven deacons ; and of Demas, one of Paul's special 
 companions in the ministry, sufficiently teach us that 
 there is no cause so holy, nor calling so excellent, as not 
 to be subject to the invasion of painted hypocrites. "t And 
 as Mr. Bernard referred to many evils in the primitive 
 churches, as a plea that the Church of England might be 
 a true church of Christ, notwithstanding all her corrup- 
 tions, Robinson says, "It is true that the apostles men- 
 tioned them, but always with utter dislike, severe reproof, 
 and strict charges to reform them. Rom. xvi. 17. 1 Cor. 
 v. 1 Thess. V. 14. 2 Thess. iii. 6. 1 Tim. vi. 5. Rev. ii. 
 14 — 16. 20. But how doth this concern you ? Though 
 Paul and all the apostles with him; yea, though Christ 
 himself from heaven should admonish any of your 
 
 • Prince's Chronology, 254. -j- Robinson, 53 — 55. 
 
1613.] ARMINIAN CONTROVERSY. 81 
 
 churches to put away any person, though never so here- 
 tical or flagitious, you could not do it."* " Your prelates 
 govern, or rather reign, but teach not ; your parish priests 
 teach so much as they dare for fear of their imperious 
 lords, but they govern not."t '< Nothing hath more 
 advanced the throne of antichrist in former days, nor 
 doth more uphold it at this day, than the people's dis- 
 charging themselves of the care of public affairs in the 
 church, on the one side, and the priests and prelates arro- 
 gating all to themselves, on the other." J " And I doubt 
 not but Mr. Bernard, and a thousand more ministers in 
 the land, (were they secure from the magistrates' sword, 
 and might they go on with good license,) would wholly 
 shake ofi* their canonical obedience to their ordinaries, 
 and neglect their citations and censures, and refuse to sue 
 in their courts, for all the peace of the church, which they 
 commend to us for so sacred a thing. "§ 
 
 This remark was plainly verified in the vast numbers 
 who afterwards came over to New England, who did not 
 separate from the national church before they came away. 
 The following account may give us some idea of his 
 views of gospel doctrines. James Arminius, a professor 
 of divinity in the University of Leyden, died there in 
 1609; but the opinions he had advanced have caused 
 much controversy ever since. It was so sharp at Leyden 
 in 1612, between the two professors in their university, 
 that few of the disciples of the one would hear the other; 
 but Mr. Robinson, though he preached thrice a week, 
 and wrote sundry books, besides many other labours, yet 
 went constantly to hear them, both, whereby he was 
 grounded in the controversy, and saw the force of all 
 their arguments. And in 1613, Episcopius set forth 
 sundry Arminian theses at Leyden, which he would de- 
 fend in public against all opposers ; upon which Polyan- 
 der, and the chief preachers of the city, desired Mr. 
 Robinson to dispute against him. But being a stranger, 
 he was loath to engage. Yet the other telling him, that 
 »uch was the ability and expertness of the adversary, 
 
 • Robinson, 82. f I^. 359. ^ lb. 204. § lb. 14. 
 
22 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. I 
 
 that truth was in danger of suffering if he would not help 
 them, he at length yields ; and when the day came, he 
 defended the truth and foiled the opposer, so as to put 
 him to an apparent nonplus in a great and public audience. 
 The same he does a second and a third time, upon like 
 occasions ; which caused many to praise God, and highly 
 to esteem Mr. Robinson.* 
 
 Thus it appears that Mr. Robinson was a firm believer 
 of those doctrines which are called Calvinism, while he 
 was earnest for allowing all men liberty of conscience ; 
 and that the contrary behaviour of many was not owing 
 to that plan of doctrine, but to other causes. For the 
 rulers in Holland held firmly to that doctrine, and yet they 
 established such religious liberty as was not then enjoyed 
 in any other part of Europe. But though their religious 
 privileges were great, yet many other things caused Mr. 
 Robinson and his people to desires removal to a better 
 country. For most of them had been bred to husbandry, 
 which they had not advantages to follow in Holland ; and 
 the language and manners of the Dutch were not agreeable 
 to them ; and their little regard to the Sabbath, and other 
 religious duties, were offensive to them ; and the climate 
 of the country was not favourable to their health, but their 
 children were oppressed with labour and disease, so as to 
 abate the vigour of nature in early age ; neither could they 
 be willing to lose their interest in the English nation, and 
 the government thereof, if they could obtain liberty of 
 conscience from thence. And they believed that if they 
 could have such liberty granted them in America, many 
 would remove thither, who would enlarge the English 
 dominions, and also spread the light of the gospel among 
 the heathen. They therefore sent two agents to England 
 in 1617, to petition for such liberties and privileges. 
 And having received some encouragement from the coun- 
 cil there, who had the care of the American affairs, Mr. 
 Robinson and Elder Brewster wrote to them these en- 
 couraging considerations. " 1. We verily believe and 
 trust that the Lord is with us ; to whom and whose service 
 
 * Prince's Chronology, p. 36. 38. 
 
1620.^ EMIGRATION TO AMERICA. 23 
 
 we have given ourselves in many trials, and that he will 
 graciously prosper our endeavours according to the sim- 
 plicity of our hearts. 2. We are well weaned from the 
 delicate milk of our mother country, and inured to the 
 difficulties of a strange land. 3. The people are, for the 
 body of them, industrious and frugal, we think we may 
 safely say, as any company of people in the world. 
 4. We are knit together as a- body, in a most strict and 
 sacred bond and covenant of the Lord ; of the violation 
 whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof 
 we hold ourselves straitly tied to all care of each other's 
 good, and of the whole. 5. It is not with us, as with other 
 men, whom small things can discourage, and small dis- 
 couragements cause to wish ourselves at home again."* 
 Herein they were not mistaken, as will soon appear; 
 for though contentions in said council, and other things, 
 delayed their proceedings for three years, and they could 
 not obtain a promise of liberty of conscience in this coun- 
 try, but only that the king would connive at them, and 
 not molest them, if they carried peaceably, **yet, casting 
 themselves on the care of Providence, they resolved to 
 venture." But as they could not obtain help enough, 
 from the merchant adventurers in England, to carry over 
 half of their society at first, Mr. Robinson was obliged to 
 stay with the majority in Holland, while Elder Brewster 
 came with the rest to America. And before they came 
 away Mr. Robinson gave them this solemn advice. Said 
 he, " We are now to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth 
 whether I shall live to see your faces again : but whether 
 he hath appointed it or not, I charge you before God and 
 his blessed angels, to follow me no further than T have 
 followed Christ. And if God shall reveal any thing to 
 you by any other instnimentof his, be as ready to receive 
 it as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry ; 
 for 1 am very confident that the Lord has more truth and 
 light yet to break forth out of his holy word. Here he 
 took occasion to bewail the state and condition of the re- 
 formed churches, who were come to a period in religion, 
 
 •Prince, p. 51, 52. 
 
24 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. I. 
 
 and would go no further than the instruments of their re- 
 formation. As for example, the Lutherans could not be 
 drawn to go beyond what Luther saw ; for whatever part 
 of God's will he had further imparted and revealed to 
 Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And so 
 you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them, a 
 misery much to be lamented ; for though they were pre- 
 cious shining lights in their times, yet God had not re- 
 vealed his whole will to them. And were they now liv- 
 ing, they would be as ready and willing to embrace further 
 light, as that they had received. And here I must put 
 you in mind of our church covenant, wherein we promise 
 and covenant with God and one another, to receive what- 
 soever light or truth that shall be made known to us from 
 his written word. But withal I exhort you to take heed 
 what you receive for truth, and well to examine and com- 
 pare it with other Scriptures before you receive it ; for it 
 is not possible tjiat the Christian world should come so 
 lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that 
 full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once."* 
 And after an affectionate parting, Mr. Robinson, on 
 July 27, 1 620, sent them the following letter : 
 
 ** Loving Christian Friends, 
 '* I do heartily, and in the Lord salute you, as being 
 those with whom I am present in my best affections, and 
 most earnest longing after you, though I be constrained 
 for a while to be bodily absent from you : I say con- 
 strained ; God knowing how willing, and much rather 
 than otherwise, I would have borne my part with you 
 in this first brunt, were I not by strong necessity held 
 back for the present. Make account of me in the mean 
 time as a man divided in myself, with great pain and as 
 (natural bonds set aside) having my better part with you : 
 and although I doubt not but in your godly wisdoms you 
 both foresee and resolve upon that which concerneth your 
 present state and condition, both severally and jointly ; 
 yet have I thought it but my duty to add some further 
 
 * Winslow against Gorton, p. 97, 98. 
 
1620.] PASTORAL LETTER. 25 
 
 spur of provocation unto them who run already, if not 
 because you need it, yet because I owe it in love and duty. 
 And first, as we are daily to renew our repentance with 
 our God, especially for our sins known, and generally 
 for our unknown trespasses ; so doth the Lord call us in 
 a singular manner, upon occasions of such difficulty and 
 danger as lieth upon you, to both a narrow search and 
 careful reformation of your ways in his sight, lest he, call- 
 ing to remembrance our sins forgotten by us, or unrepented 
 of, take advantage against us, and in judgment leave us to 
 be swallowed up in one danger or other. Whereas, on 
 the contrary, sin being taken away by earnest repentance, 
 and the pardon thereof from the Lord sealed up to a man's 
 conscience by his Spirit, great shall be his security and 
 peace in all dangers, sweet his comforts in all distresses, 
 with happy deliverance from evil, whether in life or death. 
 *' Now, next after this heavenly peace with God and 
 our consciences, we are carefully to provide for peace 
 with all men, what lieth in us, especially with our asso- 
 ciates ; and, for that watchfulness must be had, that we 
 neither at all in ourselves do give, no, nor easily take 
 offence being given by others. Wo be to the world for 
 offences ; for although it be necessary, considering the 
 malice of Satan and men's corruptions, that offences come, 
 yet wo unto the man, or woman either, by whom the 
 offence cometh, -saith Christ, Matt, xviii. 7. And if 
 offences in the unseasonable use of things in themselves 
 indifferent be more to be feared than death itself, as the ^ 
 apostle teacheth, 1 Cor. ix. 15, how much more in things 
 simply evil, in which neither the honour of God, nor love 
 to man is thought worthy to be regarded ! Neither yet is 
 it sufficient that we keep ourselves by the grace of God 
 from giving offence, except withal we be armed against 
 taking of them when they are given by others ; for how 
 imperfect and lame is the work of grace in that person, 
 who wants charity to cover a multitude of offences ! as 
 the Scripture speaks. Neither are you to be exhorted to 
 this grace, only upon common grounds of Christianity, 
 which are, that persons ready to take offence either want 
 charity to cover offences, or duly to weigh human frailties ; 
 3 
 
26 ' CHURCPI HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. I, 
 
 or, lastly, are gross though close hypocrites, as Christ our 
 Lord teacheth, Matt. vii. 1 — 3. As, indeed, in my own 
 experience, few or none have been found who sooner 
 give offence, than such as easily take it ; neither have 
 they ever proved sound and profitable members in socie- 
 ties, who have nourished this touchy humour. But, 
 besides these, there are divers motives provoking you 
 above others to great care and conscience of this way ; as 
 first, there are many of you strangers as to the persons 
 so to the infirmities of one another, and so stand in need 
 of more watchfulness this way, lest when such things fall 
 out in men and women as you expected not, you be inor- 
 dinately affected with them, which doth require at your 
 hands much wisdom and charity for the covering and 
 preventing of incidental offences that way. And, lastly 
 your intended course of civil community* will ministe. 
 continual occasion of offence, and be as fuel for that fire, 
 except you diligently quench it with brotherly forbearance. 
 And if taking offence causelessly or easily at man's 
 doings, be so carefully to be avoided, how much more 
 heed is to be taken that we take not offence at God him- 
 self! which we certainly do, so oft as we murmur at his 
 providence in our crosses, or bear impatiently such aflflic- 
 tions wherewith he is pleased to visit us. Store up 
 therefore patience against the evil day ; without which we 
 take offence at the Lord himself in his holy and just 
 works. There is a fourth thing carefully to be provided 
 for, viz. : That with your common employments you join 
 common affections tridy bent upon the general good, 
 avoiding as a deadly plague of both your common and 
 special comforts, all retiredness of mind for proper advan- 
 tage, and all singularly affected every manner of way ; let 
 every man repress in himself, and the whole body in each 
 person, as so many rebels against the common good, all 
 private respects of men's selves, not sorting with the 
 general convenience. And as men are careful not to have 
 a new house shaken with violence, before it be well set- 
 tled, and the parts firmly knit ; so be you, 1 beseech you, 
 
 • For seven years their aiSairs were managed in one common stock 
 
1630.] PASTORAL LETTER. 27 
 
 brethren, much more careful that the house of God (which 
 you are) be not shaken with unnecessary novelties, or 
 other oppositions at the first settling thereof. 
 
 "Lastly, whereas you are to become a body politic, 
 using civil government among yourselves, and are not 
 furnished with special eminency above the rest, to be 
 chosen by you into office of government ; let your wisdom 
 and godliness appear, not only in choosing such persons 
 as do entirely love, and will promote the common good ; 
 but also in yielding unto them all due honour and obe- 
 dience in their lawful administrations ; not beholding in 
 them the ordinariness of their persons, but God's ordinance 
 for your good ; not being like the foolish multitude, who ho- 
 nour the gay coat more than either the virtuous mind of the 
 man, or the glorious ordinance of the Lord; but you know 
 better things, and that the image of the Lord's power and 
 authority, which the magistrate beareth, is honourable in 
 how mean persons soever; and this duty you may the 
 more willingly, and ought the more conscionably to per- 
 form, because you are (at least for the present) to have 
 them for your ordinary governors, which yourselves shall 
 make choice of for that work. 
 
 ** Paiidry other things of importance I could put. you in 
 mind of. and of those before mentioned in more words; 
 but 1 will not so far wrong your godly minds, as to think 
 you heedless of these things, there being also divers 
 among you so' well able both to admonish themselves and 
 others of what concerneth them. These few things, 
 therefore, and the same in a few words, I do earnestly 
 commend to your care and conscience, joining therein 
 with my daily incessant prayers unto the Lord, that he 
 who made the heavens, and the earth, and sea, and all 
 rivers of water, and whose providence is over all his 
 works, especially over all his dear children for good, 
 would so guide and guard you in your ways, as inwardly 
 by his Spirit, so outwardly by the hand of his power, as 
 that both you, and w^e also, for and with you, may have 
 after matter of praising his name all the days of your and 
 our lives. Fare you well in him in whom you trust, and 
 
28 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. I. 
 
 in whom I rest, an unfeigned well-wisher to your happy- 
 success in your hopeful voyage. John Robinson."* 
 
 This they received at Southampton in England ; and 
 these excellent instructions had lasting influence upon 
 their posterity. Two ships had been provided to carry 
 them to America, but after sailing twice, and turning back, 
 one of them was left and the other sailed from Plymouth, 
 September 6, and landed on Cape Cod, November 11. 
 And as this was northward of where they had any patent, 
 they drew a covenant for their civil government, which 
 was signed before they landed, by John Carver, William 
 Bradford, Edward Winslow, Isaac AUerton, William 
 Brewster, Miles Standish, John Alden, Samuel Fuller, 
 and thirty-three more, their whole number being 101 
 souls. Mr. Carver was chosen their governor ; and they 
 had a tedious time to find out a place to settle in ; but 
 on December 16, 1620, the ship came into the harbour 
 which they called Plymouth, and then they had to build 
 themselves habitations, in a cold winter season, without 
 any friend to help them. They intended to have gone to 
 Hudson's river, but the Dutch had hired the master of the 
 ship deceitfully to prevent it ; though God meant it for 
 their good ; for the Indians were numerous there, while 
 there were none here. A great sickness a few years 
 before had laid this place desolate, and had swept off 
 most of the Indians for forty miles round, so that those 
 who remained were glad of their help against the Narra- 
 gansets, where the sickness did not reach ; and here were 
 fields ready cleared for them, who had no cattle to help 
 them till several years after. 
 
 How wonderful are the works of God ! Yea, and his 
 judgments are a great deep ; for by reason of their long 
 voyage, and the difficulties of the winter following, 
 without good accommodations, near half of their company 
 died in six months, among whom was Governor Carver 
 and his wife. Yet the survivors were wonderfully sup- 
 ported, and the chief sachem of the Indians in these parts 
 
 * Morton, p. 7 — 10. 
 
1623.] EARLY PRIVATIONS. 29 
 
 came to Plymouth, in March, 1621, and entered into a 
 friendly covenant with them, which lasted all their days. 
 Afterwards some friends in England wrote to them, and 
 said, " we are still persuaded, you are the people that must 
 make a plantation, and erect a city in those remote places, 
 when all others fail."* And they will be remembered to 
 the latest posterity. 
 
 Massassoit, the sachem who had made a league with 
 them, having found out a plot which was laid against the 
 English in the spring of 1623, by some Indians in Mas- 
 sachusetts bay, informed our fathers of Plymouth of it, 
 and advised them to cut off a few leaders in it, whom he 
 named, which they did, and so the plot was entirely 
 crushed.! Such a scarcity also came upon them in that 
 year, that they had no bread at Plymouth from the time 
 of their planting until their corn was grown ; but they 
 lived upon fish, deer, fowls, and ground nuts. And to add 
 to their trials, a great drought came on with heat, from 
 the third week in May to the middle of July, so that 
 their corn withered as if it were dead ; and a ship which 
 they had long expected did not arrive, but they thought 
 Aey saw signs of its being wrecked on the coasts. This 
 was distressing indeed ; but their authority set apart a 
 day of fasting and prayer to seek help from their God, 
 and they found it was not in vain ; for though the former 
 part of the day was clear and hot, yet before their exercise 
 was over the clouds gathered, and distilled next morning 
 in gentle showers, and so for fourteen days together, 
 which revived their corn and other fruits, so that they had 
 a plentiful harvest. And soon after, the ship which they 
 expected arrived, and another in a few days, wherein 
 came sixty of their friends. J And they never had such 
 scarcity afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Robinson and the most of his people were detained 
 in Holland, until, after a short sickness, he died there on 
 March 1, 1625, in the fiftieth year of his age, greatly 
 lamented by his people both there and here. His family 
 
 * Historical Society, vol. iii. p. 33. 
 
 j- Prince, p. 129—133. t lb. p. 137—139. 
 
 3* 
 
30 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. II. 
 
 came over afterwards, and his son Isaac lived to be above 
 ninety years old, and left male posterity in the county of 
 Barnstable. The company of adventurers in England 
 would not be at the expense of conveying these and others 
 from Leyden, and yet demanded the pay for their former 
 expenses. Therefore, in 1628, their friends here engaged 
 to do it, when William Bradford, Miles Standish, Isaac 
 AUerton, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, John 
 Howland, John Alden, and Thomas Prince, with four 
 friends in London, after having the trade of this colony 
 secured to them, undertook to pay the debts of the colony 
 in England, which were eighteen hundred pounds sterling, 
 and also to bring those friends over.* And in August, 
 1629, thirty-five families arrived at Plymouth, from Ley- 
 den, the transporting of whom cost five hundred and fifty 
 pounds sterling, besides supporting of them above a year 
 more, till they had a harvest of their own, all which was 
 freely given them.t A wonderful instance of Christian 
 generosity. 
 
 On January 13, 1630, the council for New England 
 gave a patent to William Bradford and his associates and 
 assigns of all that part of New England between Cohasset 
 rivulet towards the north, and Narraganset river towards 
 the south, the western ocean towards the east, and between 
 a straight line directly extending up into the main land 
 toward the north from the mouth of Narraganset river, to 
 the utmost bounds of a country in New England, called 
 Pacanokit, alias Swamset, westward, and another straight 
 line extending directly from the mouth of Cohasset river 
 towards the west, so far into the main land westward as 
 to the utmost limits of the said Pacanokit or Swamset 
 extend ; and also a tract of land extending fifteen miles 
 wide on each side of Kennebeck river, &c.J and this con- 
 tinued a distinct government until 1692. In 1621, they 
 chose a governor and one assistant with him; in 1624, 
 they chose five assistants ; and in 1633, they chose a 
 governor and seven assistants, and continued that number 
 as long as they remained a distinct government. 
 
 * Historical Collections at Boston, 1794, p. 61. 
 
 t Prince, p. 168. 192. + lb. p. 196, 197. 
 
1630.] CHURCH ORDER. ^1 
 
 As to the government of the church, they held the power 
 to be in each particular church, to receive and exclude 
 members, and to choose and ordain officers, though they 
 would act in fellowship with sister churches. As to offi- 
 cers, they held to having pastors, ruling elders, and dea- 
 cons. Their ruling elders were to have the gifts of public 
 teachers, but not to administer the ordinances of baptism 
 and the holy supper. Such was Mr. William Brewster, 
 from their first coming to this land, until he died in 1644. 
 They also held that every brother in the church might 
 improve his gifts in public Reaching, if he had gifts that 
 could edify the brethren, to whom they were to be sub- 
 ject. Some of their proofs for it were these: One apos- 
 tle says, " he that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to 
 edification, and exhortation, and comfort. And ye may 
 all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may 
 be comforted." 1 Cor. xiv. 3. 31. And another says, 
 " As every man hath received the gift, even so minister 
 the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold 
 grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the 
 oracles of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as of 
 the ability which God giveth ; that God in all things may 
 be glorified through Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11.* 
 Though they took much pains, yet they never obtained a 
 pastor here, until Mr. Ralph Smith came over with the 
 Salem company, in 1629, and not being wanted there, he 
 came that year to Plymouth, and was their pastor about 
 six years. 
 
 * Robinson against Bernard, 235. 
 
32 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A church settled at Salem — Governor Winthrop comes over with their 
 charter — Church and State united — Williams banished — His great 
 service in the Pequot war — A synod at Cambridge — A new court 
 called, who punished many whom the synod had condemned. 
 
 After our fathers at Plymouth, through great dangers 
 and difficulties, had prepared the way, many who disliked 
 the corruptions and oppressions in the Church of England 
 made preparations for a removal into this country. Mr. 
 John White, a minister at Dorchester in England, pre- 
 vailed with a number of wealthy men to write over to 
 Roger Conant and others, who were scattered in different 
 places, to repair to Cape Ann, and they would send over 
 money and goods to assist them in planting and fishing ; 
 and they did so with success. And on March 19, 1628, 
 the council for the affairs of New England sold to a num- 
 ber of men, their heirs and associates, that part of New 
 England which lies between lines drawn three miles north 
 of every part of Merrimack river, and three miles south 
 of every part of Charles river and Massachusetts bay, and 
 extending west from the Atlantic ocean to the south sea. 
 And they sent over Mr. John Endicot as governor of said 
 people, who made Salem to be their chief town ; and on 
 March 4, 1629, King Charles granted the Massachusetts 
 charter, including all the lands before described, to be 
 holden of him and his heirs and successors. And Mr. 
 Francis Higginson and Samuel Skelton, with two other 
 ministers and above three hundred persons with them, 
 came over to Salem, and gathered a church, and ordained 
 these two ministers on August 6, 1629, and also a ruling 
 elder; and they received the right hand of fellowship 
 from the church of Plymouth the same day.* So early 
 did they join with those here, whom many had censured 
 
 *Prince,p.83. 190, 191 
 
1630.] SALEM AND BOSTON FOUNDED. 33 
 
 for separating from the church of England in their native 
 country. 
 
 And on June 12, 1630, Governor Winthrop arrived at 
 Salem ; and about fifteen hundred people came over that 
 year, bringing the Massachusetts charter with them, and 
 the churches of Boston, Dorchester, and Watertown, 
 were soon formed and organized like Salem, as Charles- 
 town also was in 1632. At first they received members 
 by a general declaration of their faith, and the discovery 
 of a regular walk ; but they afterwards required of each 
 one an account of a change of heart by the work of God's 
 Spirit. Mr. John Wilson was the first pastor of the 
 church of Charlestown and Boston, who was ordained, 
 with a ruling elder and two deacons, August 27, 1630. 
 Governor Winthrop says, *' We used imposition of hands, 
 but with this protestation by all, that it was only a sign 
 of election and confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. 
 Wilson should renounce his ministry he received in Eng- 
 land."* But he afterwards informs us, that when a mi- 
 nister had resigned his pastoral charge of any church, he 
 was then " no minister," by the received determination of 
 their churches ; and also that they did not allow any elders 
 to lay on hands in ordinations, but those who were of the 
 church where the ordination was.f But in 1648, that li- 
 berty was granted in their platform. 
 
 The General Court at Boston, May 18, 1631, made a 
 law that no man should hereafter be admitted as a freeman, 
 to have a vote in their government, but a member in some 
 of their churches. On Sept. 4, 1633, arrived a ship, in 
 which came John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and Samuel 
 Stone, ministers, and John Haynes, afterwards Governor 
 of Massachusetts, and then of Connecticut. Mr. Cotton 
 was soon settled in the ministry, at Boston, where he had 
 as much influence, both in the civil and ecclesiastical 
 affairs of the country, as any one man therein, for near 
 twenty years, till he died. But Mr. Hooker could not 
 agree with him in somethings of great importance, though 
 he did in others. Hooker and Stone settled first at Cam- 
 
 * Journal, p. 20. f ^^' P- ^^^' ^^^* 
 
34 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. 11. 
 
 bridge, and then removed with many others to Hartford, 
 in 1636, and were leaders in the colony of Connecticut, 
 where men were received to be freemen who were not 
 members of their churches. They also held that none 
 had a right to bring their children to baptism but commu- 
 nicants, while Cotton was for others doing it, if they 
 were not scandalous. And he was for carrying the power 
 of councils higher than Hooker would. 
 
 Governor Winthrop gives the following account of the 
 manner of their forming churches, and receiving members 
 into them, which was soon established. It was, that 
 where a church was designed to be gathered, their chief 
 rulers and ministers must be convened, and those who 
 were to be the first members of the church were to tell 
 their experiences before them, and have their approbation, 
 or else they were not to proceed. Of this he relates the 
 following example. In 1635, the most of the church in 
 Dorchester, with their minister, removed up, and planted 
 Windsor, and began the colony of Connecticut; in which 
 year Mr. Richard Mather came over and settled in Dor- 
 chester. And on April 11, 1636, many rulers and mi- 
 nisters met there for the purpose of forming a new church ; 
 but it was not done, because the most of those who in- 
 tended to be members were thought not meet "at present 
 to be the foundation of a church, because they had built 
 their hopes of salvation upon unsound grounds, viz. : 
 " Some upon dreams and ravishes of spirit by fits ; others 
 upon the reformation of their lives ; others upon duties 
 and performances, <fcc. wherein they discovered three 
 special errors. 1. That they had not come to hate sin • 
 because it is filthy, but only left it because it is hurtful. 
 2. That by reason of this they had never truly closed 
 with Christ, (or rather Christ with them,) but had made 
 use of him only to help the imperfection of their sanctifi- 
 cation and duties, and not made him their sanctification, 
 wisdom, <fec. 3. They expected to believe by some 
 power of their own, and not only and wholly from Christ.-' 
 These are the views that Governor Winthrop had of 
 Christian experiences, and of how churches should be 
 
;j 
 
 1633.] ROGER WILLIAMS. 35 
 
 gathered. And satisfaction was gained the fall after, when 
 a church was gathered there.* 
 
 Perhaps he, and many rulers and teachers among them, j 
 were as wise and pious men as any who ever undertook 
 to establish religion upon earth by human laws, enforced 
 by the sword of the magistrate ; and the evils which they 
 ran into ought to be imputed to that principle, and not to 
 any others which they held that were agreeable to the 
 gospel. But as their persecutors in England were then 
 exerting all their influence to bring these people again 
 under their power in religious matters, they took such 
 measures to defend themselves as cannot be justified ; and 
 as Mr. Roger Williams earnestly laboured to prevent 
 those measures, and to promote the establishment of full 
 liberty of conscience in this country, they bent all their 
 power against him. 
 
 According to his own account, and good information 
 from others, he was born in Wales, in 1599, and he had 
 the early patronage of the famous Sir Edward Coke ; was 
 educated at the University of Oxford, and was introduced 
 into the ministry in the Church of England. But he soon 
 found that he could not in conscience conform to many 
 things in their worship ; therefore he came over to this 
 country, and arrived at Boston, in February, 1631 ; and in 
 April, he was called to preach at Salem; but as he had 
 refused to commune with the church at Boston, and ob- 
 jected against the oaths which they took when they came 
 out of England, and the force in religious affairs which 
 they exercised here, the court at Boston wrote to Salem 
 against him, upon which he went to Plymouth, where he 
 preached above two years, and was highly esteemed by 
 Governor Bradford and others. Mr. Prince supposed 
 that he had taken the oath of a freeman at Boston, in 
 May, 1631, because a man of his name is upon their 
 records in that month ; but this was an evident mistake, 
 and I found a Roger Williams upon their records the fall 
 before this minister came to America. As these colonies 
 had received the grant of American lands from the kings 
 
 * Winthrop, p. 98. 105. 
 
36 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. II. 
 
 of England, Mr. Williams wrote his thoughts against it 
 while he lived at Plymouth, which some liked, and 
 others did not ; and as Mr. Skelton was sick at Salem, 
 Williams was invited there to preach in his place, and he 
 obtained a dismission in the summer of 1633, and preacljed 
 there till Skelton died, August 2, 1634, after which he 
 was ordained in Salem. He had spoken against the 
 meeting of ministers by themselves, once a fortnight, 
 fearing that it might grow in time to a presbytery or su- 
 perintendency over the churches ;* and greater difficulties 
 soon followed. 
 
 Their charter gave them no power to make any laws 
 contrary to the laws of England, and they had sworn to 
 act accordingly; yet when they met at Boston, May 14, 
 1634, before they elected their officers, the assembly 
 passed an act which said, '* It was agreed and ordered, 
 that the former oath of freemen shall be revoked, so far as 
 it is dissonant from the oath of freemen hereunder written, 
 and that those that received the former oath shall stand 
 bound no further thereby, to any intent or purpose, than 
 this new oath ties them that now take the same. 
 
 THE OATH OF A FREEMAN. 
 
 " I, A. B., being by God's providence an inhabitant and 
 freeman in this Commonweal, do freely acknowledge 
 myself to be subject to the government thereof, and there- 
 fore, do here swear by the great and dreadful name of the 
 everliving God, that I will be true and faithful to the same, 
 and will accordingly yield assistance and support hereunto 
 with my person and estate as in equity I am bound, and 
 will also truly endeavour to maintain and preserve all the 
 liberties and privileges thereof; submitting myself to the 
 wholesome laws and orders made and established by the 
 same. And further, that I will not plot nor practise any 
 evil against it, nor consent to any that shall so do ; but 
 will truly discover and reveal the same to lawful authority 
 now here established, for the speedy preventing thereof. 
 Moreover, I do solemnly bind myself in the sight of God, 
 
 * Winthrop, p. 57. 
 
1635.] THE freeman's oath. 37 
 
 that when I shall be called to give my voice touching any 
 such matters of this state wherein freemen are to deal, I 
 will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine 
 own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public 
 weal of the body; without respect of persons or favour of 
 any man; so help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 And it appears that they never acted any more in the 
 name of the kings of England, until after 1660. Ahd 
 what a stretch of arbitrary power was this ! Yet men 
 might still choose whether they would take this oath or 
 not, if they would be content not to be freemen. But 
 when they met again, March 4, 1635, they enacted, 
 ** That every man of or above the age of sixteen years, 
 who hath been or shall hereafter be resident within this 
 jurisdiction by the space of six months, (as well servants 
 as others,) and not infranchised, shall take the oath of re- 
 sidents, before the governor, deputy governor, or two of 
 the next assistants, who shall have power to convent him 
 for that purpose ; and upon his refusal, to bind him over 
 to the next court of assistants, and upon his refusal the 
 second time to be punished at the discretion of the court. 
 It is ordered that the freeman's oath shall be given to 
 every man of or above the age of sixteen years, the clause 
 for election of magistrates only excepted." 
 
 Now as this act was to bind all, Mr. Williams openly 
 preached against it at Salem, for which the governor and 
 assistants convented him before them on April 30 ; but he 
 refused to retract what he had done, and Mr. Cotton says, 
 ** The court was forced to desist from that proceeding."* 
 Indeed he calls it the first of these acts, but Governor 
 Winthrop shews it to be the second.t And because of it, 
 they at their meeting in May took away some land from 
 Salem, by an act which said, " The land betwixt the Clift 
 and the Forest river, near Marblehead, shall for the pre- 
 sent be improved by John Humphrey, Esq. ; and as the 
 inhabitants of Marblehead shall stand in need of it, the 
 said John Humphrey shall part with it, the said inhabitants 
 allowing him equal recompense for his labour and. cost 
 
 • Tenet washed, part second, p. 29. -(• Journal, p, 80. 
 
 4 
 
38 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. II, 
 
 bestowed thereupon ; provided, that if in the mean time 
 the inhabitants of Salem can satisfy the court that they 
 have a true right unto it, that then it shall belong unto the 
 inhabitants thereof." And how was that satisfaction to 
 be given ? Why, they gave up Mr. Williams in the fall 
 after ; and when the court met, March 3, 1636, they said, 
 " It was proved this court that Marbleneck belongs to 
 Salem." 
 
 Thus it stands upon their records, though Mr. Cotton 
 pretends that Salem only petitioned for land in May, 
 1635 ; instead of their having some taken from them, until 
 they gave him up. That act of taking land from them, 
 appeared so evil to Mr. Williams and his church, that 
 they wrote letters of reproof to the churches where those 
 rulers belonged ; upon which their rulers and ministers 
 met in July, and gave Williams notice that he should be 
 banished if he did not give them satisfaction ; and Salem 
 church yielded so much to them, that he left preaching to 
 them in August. And when the court met in September, 
 Governor Winthrop says, " Mr. Endicot made a protes- 
 tation in justification of the letters formerly sent from 
 Salem to other churches against the magistrates and de- 
 puties, for which he was committed, but the same day he 
 came and acknowledged his fault, and was discharged."* 
 He afterwards acted at the head of their government in 
 hanging the Quakers ; but as Williams remained steadfast, 
 their records say, 
 
 " Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of 
 the church of Salem, hath broached and divulged divers 
 new and dangerous opinions against the authority of ma- 
 gistrates, as also writ letters of defamation both of the 
 magistrates and churches here, and that before any con- 
 viction, and yet maintaineth the same without any retrac- 
 tion ; it is therefore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams 
 shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now 
 next ensuing ; which if he neglect to perform, it shall be 
 lawful for the governor and two magistrates to send him 
 to some place out of this jurisdiction, nit to return any 
 more without leave from the court." 
 * Journal, p. 84. 86. 
 
1636.] ROGER WILLIAMS BANISHED. 39 
 
 As he did not go, they sent for him to come to Boston, 
 in January, 1636, but he sent an excuse for not coming ; 
 upon which they sent an officer to take him, and to convey 
 him on board a ship bound for England ; but when the 
 officer got to Salem, he had been gone three days.* He 
 first went to the place since called Rehoboth ; but Go- 
 vernor Winslbw wrote to him, that he was then within 
 Plymouth colony, but if he would only go over the river, 
 he would be out of it, and be as free as themselves. And 
 he readily did so, and obtained a grant of lands from the 
 Narraganset Indians, where he began the first civil go- 
 vernment upon earth that gave equal liberty of conscience. 
 Though before he obtained it, he says, *' I was sorely 
 tossed for fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not 
 knowing what bread or bed did mean."t And from a 
 view of the great things which God had done for him, he 
 called the place Providence. 
 
 The nature of true liberty of conscience was very little 
 understood then in the world. A»d as God had brought 
 the people here, out of an Egyptian bondage, and given 
 -them a good land, they imagined that they ought to imitate 
 the chi^lrcn of Israel, in punishing the wicked, and in 
 establip^ing a holy government in this great country 
 And from hence, they who opposed such a great and good 
 work, appeared to them exceedingly criminal. A noted 
 man, who was then active among them, thought that 
 Christ called tliem, not only to assist in building up his 
 churches, but also in pulling down the kingdom of anti- 
 christ ; and that he said to them, " You are not set up for 
 tolerating times, nor shall any of you be content with this, 
 that you are set at liberty, but take up your arms, and march 
 manfully on till all opposers of Christ's kingly power are 
 abolished. Have you not the blessedest opportunity put 
 into your hands that ever any people had ? Then fail not 
 in prosecution of the work, for your Lord hath furnished 
 you with able pilots, to steer the helm in a godly, peace- 
 able civil government also ; then see that you make choice 
 of such as are found both in profession and confession, 
 men fearing God and hating bribes ; whose commission is 
 * Journal, p. 92. j- Historical Society, vol, i. p. 276. 
 
 1 
 
40 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. II. 
 
 not limited to the commands of the second table, but they 
 are to look to the rules of the first also ; and let them be 
 sure to put on Joshua's resolution and courage, never to 
 make a league with any of these seven sectaries. The 
 Gortonists, who deny the humanity of Christ, and most 
 blasphemously and proudly profess themselves to be per- 
 sonally Christ. 2. The Papists, who with almost equal 
 blasphemy and pride prefer their own merits and works 
 of supererogation as equal with Christ's invaluable death 
 and sufferings. 3. The Familists, who depend upon rare 
 revelations, and forsake the sure revealed word of Christ. 
 4. The Seekers, who deny the churches and ordinances 
 of Christ. 5. Antinomians, who deny the moral law to 
 be the rule of Christ. 6. Anabaptists, who deny civil 
 government to be proved of Christ. 7. The Prelacy, 
 who will have their own injunctions submitted unto in the 
 churches of Christ."* 
 
 Here we may plainly learn the cause why Mr. Williams 
 was treated so cruelly. But as God overruled the cruel 
 selling of Joseph to the heathen, as a means of saving the 
 lives of many people ; so the banishing of Mr. Williams 
 made him a chief instrument of saving all the English in 
 New England from destruction. For he had obtained 
 much knowledge of the Indian language, and friendship 
 with them, when a war was ready to break out with the 
 most powerful nation in the land. Of this a concise view 
 was given, by Governor Trumbull and the general court 
 of Connecticut, in 1774, in answer to a query from Eng- 
 land, to know by what title they held their lands. Upon 
 it, they said, " The original title to the lands on which 
 the colony was first settled, was at the time the English 
 came hither, in the Pequot nation of Indians, who were 
 numerous and warlike ; their country extended from Nar- 
 raganset to Hudson's river, and over all Long Island. 
 Sassacus, their great sagamore, had under him twenty-six 
 sachems : he injuriously made war upon the English ; he 
 exercised despotic dominion over his subjects ; he with all 
 his sachems and people were conquered, and made tribu- 
 
 * Johnson, p. 7, 8. 
 
1635.] PEQIJOT WAR. 41 
 
 taries to the English. The war being ended, considera- 
 tions and settlements were made with such sachems and 
 people as remained, who came in and received full con- 
 tentment and satisfaction."* 
 
 Some Indians up Connecticut river had been so much 
 oppressed by Sassacus, that they came down to Plymouth 
 and Boston, so early as 1631, to get some of the English 
 to go up and settle there. t And they afterwards went up 
 to trade there several times, before they planted Windsor, 
 and began a fort at Saybrook, in 1635, and Hartford in 
 1636. But the Pequots killed several men, from time to 
 time, until they murdered John Oldham, near Block 
 Island, because they went to trade that way. Mr. Wil- 
 liams began at Providence in the spring of 1636, just before 
 Oldham was killed, the news of which they first received 
 from him at Boston, July 26 ; upon which the governor 
 there wrote to him to use all his influence with the Narra- 
 gansets, to obtain their help against the Pequots. This 
 he did so expeditiously, as to return their answer July 30. 
 Messengers were then sent to the Narragansets, who re- 
 turned to Boston with a favourable aiiswer on August 13. 
 An army was then sent round by water, to revenge the 
 death of Oldham, and to try to bring the Pequots to 
 terms ; but they returned without success.J Upon a sight 
 of their danger, the Pequots sent directly to the Narra- 
 gansets, with whom they had been at war several years, 
 and desired that they would make peace with them, and 
 for all to join together, and to drive the English out of the 
 country; saying, '' If you should help the English to sub- 
 due us, you would thereby make way for your own ruin ; 
 and we need not come to open battle with them, but only 
 fire their houses, kill their cattle, and lie in wait and shoot 
 thpm as they go about their business, and they will soon 
 be forced to leave the country, and the Indians not be ex- 
 posed to much hazard. "II 
 
 What policy was here ! and what would the English 
 have done, if they had sent Williams out of the country 
 
 • Said answer, p. 4. j- Winthrop, p. 25. 
 
 ^ Winthrop, p. 103 — 105. | Preface to Mason's History, p. 4 
 
 4* 
 
42 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH II. 
 
 as they intended ? But a kind Providence prevented it, 
 and he now wrote an account of these things to Boston ; 
 upon which they sent to him, to do his utmost for their 
 relief; and he says, " The Lord helped me immediately 
 to put my life in my hand, and, scarce acquainting my 
 wife, to ship myself all alone in a poor canoe, and to cut 
 through a stormy wind with great seas, every minute in 
 hazard of life, to the sachem's house. Three days and 
 nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the 
 bloody Pequot ambassadors, whose hands and arms me- 
 thought reeked with the blood of my countrymen, mur- 
 dered and massacred by them on Connecticut river, and 
 from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody 
 knives at my own throat also. But God \vt)nderfully 
 preserved me, and helped me to break to pieces their 
 design, and to make, promote, and finish, by many travels 
 and charges, the English league with the Narragansets 
 and Mohegans against the Pequots."* He prevailed with 
 Miantenimo, the chief sachem of the Narragansets, to 
 come to Boston, in October, and to covenant with them to 
 war against the Pequots till they were subdued ; and they 
 sent a copy of it to Mr. Williams, who could best inter- 
 pret it to him.t 
 
 Uncas, the sachem of the Mohegans, who lived between 
 New London and Norwich, had revolted from the Pequots 
 a little before, and now joined against them ; and the co- 
 lonies agreed to raise an army against them in the spring. 
 
 But the Pequots were too early for them, and sent an 
 army up the river in April, and killed several, and capti- 
 vated others ; upon which Connecticut raised an army of 
 ninety English, and a hundred Mohegan Indians, who 
 went down to Saybrook, where Captain Underbill joined 
 them with nineteen men, upon which twenty of the 
 others were sent back, and then the army sailed to the 
 Narraganset bay, under the command of Captain John 
 Mason of Windsor. After they landed, many of the 
 Narragansets joined them, and they marched over Paw- 
 catuck river, and encamped in the night ; but the Narra- 
 
 • Historical Society, vol. i. p. 277. f Winthrop, p. 109, 110. 
 
1 637.] EXTERMINATION OF THE PEQUOTS. 43 
 
 gansets were so much afraid of the Pequots, that they all 
 forsook the English, and the Mohegans went behind them. 
 Yet Captain Mason and his men assaulted Mistick fort in 
 Stonington, a little before day, May 26, 1637, and by fire 
 and sword destroyed six or seven hundred Pequots, in 
 about an hour, when only seven were captivated, and 
 about seven escaped ; while he had but two men killed, 
 and twenty wounded.* Sassacus was at another fort, 
 where some of his own men were for killing him, because 
 he had caused this dreadful war ; but others pleaded for 
 him, though they ail concluded to flee over Connecticut 
 river. After which General Stoughton came up with 120 
 men, and Mason and part of his men joined him, and they 
 pursued the Pequots beyond New Haven, and Sassacus 
 fled to the Mohawks, who cut off his head, and informed 
 the English of it. So mayy Pequots were slain or capti- 
 vated, that the rest sued for peace, which was granted 
 upon condition of their quitting their name, and former 
 habitations, and being dispersed among the Mohegans and 
 Narragansets, who should pay an annual tribute for them, 
 while others were servants to the English. 
 
 All this was accomplished in about six months, as 
 appears by the journal of Governor Winthrop, the history 
 of Captain Mason, and other accounts; and Indian 
 sachems came to Boston, 1638, from all the country, as 
 well as from Long Island, to express their gratitude to the 
 English for this victory, as Governor Winthrop informs 
 us. And Captain Mason says in his history, that they 
 had but about two hundred and fifty men in all Connecti- 
 cut, when the war began, and they were in the midst of 
 those enemies. How wonderful then was their victory, 
 which opened a wide door for the English to fill the 
 country! Governor Eaton and Mr. Davenport, who 
 came over in the time of the war, went and planted New 
 Haven, in 1638, and began another colony, who allowed 
 none to be freemen but communicants in their churches. 
 About. three thousand people came over that year; and it 
 was computed that from 1628 to 1643, about twenty-one 
 
 * Mason's History, p. 10. 
 
44 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CU. II. 
 
 thousand two hundred persons came over here ;* and very- 
 few of them had separated from the church of England 
 before they came away. This fully verified what Mr. 
 Robinson said, twenty years before Boston was planted ; 
 and it shows how men are influenced in religious matters 
 by the government which they are under. 
 
 An act of justice now towards the Indians, served greatly 
 to confirm their friendship. For four young men ran 
 away from Plymouth, and meeting with an Indian near 
 Providence, with a rich pack upon his back, they mur- 
 dered him for it, and then fled to Rhode Island. Mr. 
 Williams informed Governor Winthrop of it, who advised 
 him to write to Plymouth about it, which he did, and 
 they sent to Rhode Island, and caught three of them, and 
 hanged them at Plymouth. And though some might 
 think it strange, that three English should be executed 
 for one Indian, yet none can tell how many lives this 
 saved afterwards. 
 
 Yet all the great services which Mr. Williams did for 
 Massachusetts, could not prevail with them to take ofi*his 
 sentence of banishment, though Governor Winthrop was 
 for it. A fear of their enemies in England had a great 
 hand in this ; for on April 28, 1634, King Charles gave a 
 commission to Archbishop Laud, and eleven men more, to 
 revoke all the charters which he had given to these colo- 
 nies, and to make such new constitutions and laws as they 
 thought meet for them ; and also to displace their governors 
 and other officers, and to appoint others in their room ; to 
 impose tithes for the clergy, and to punish all those who 
 disobeyed them with fines, imprisonment, or death. And 
 though Governor Winslow was sent over their agent, and 
 got this commission revoked, yet Laud caused him to be 
 imprisoned in London seventeen weeks, for teaching 
 sometimes at Plymouth, and for marrying people as a ma- 
 gistrate, which Laud called an invasion of the ministerial 
 office.! And to guard against such tyranny, was of great 
 importance. Another reason was, that they expected to 
 obtain so much power here, as to give a wound to anti- 
 
 • Johnson, p. 31. f Historical Society, vol. iv. p. 119, 120. 
 
1637.] PROCEEDINGS AT BOSTON. 45 
 
 christ in other countries. For a man who was well ac- 
 quainted with their views, speaking of the man of sin, 
 says, ** Mr. John Cotton, among others, hath diligently 
 searched for the Lord's mind herein, and hath declared 
 some sudden blow to be given to this bloodthirsty mon- 
 ster ; but the Lord Christ hath inseparably joined the time, 
 means, and manner of this work together."* 
 
 The planting of this country and the great things which 
 God hath done here, has evidently given much light 
 to Europe, and weakened the power of antichrist there ; 
 but the use of force in religious affairs, has been so far 
 from weakening that enemy, that his main strength lies 
 therein. But Massachusetts still went on in that way, 
 and on March 3, 1636, they said, ** This court doth not 
 nor will hereafter approve of any such companies of men, 
 as shall henceforth join in any way of church fellowship 
 without they shall first acquaint the magistrates, and the 
 elders of the greater part of the churches of this jurisdic- 
 tion, and have their approbation herein. And further it 
 is ordered, that no person, being a member of any church 
 which shall hereal'ier be gathered without the approbation 
 of the magistrates and the greater part of the said churches, 
 shall be admitted to the freedom of this commonwealth." 
 And when they met at Boston, May 25, 1636, Henry 
 Vane, Esq. was chosen governor, and John Winthrop 
 deputy governor ; and he and Dudley were elected to be 
 a standing council for life, and the governor for the time 
 being was to be their president. Endicott was also chosen a 
 counsellor for life the next year ; for which their charter 
 gave no right, and no others were ever elected so among them. 
 Five rulers and three ministers were also now appointed, 
 »* To make a draught of laws which may be the funda- 
 mentals of this commonwealth, and to present the same to 
 the next general court ; and it is ordered that in the mean 
 time the magistrates and their associates shall proceed in 
 the courts, to hear and determine all causes according to 
 the laws now established; and where there is no law, 
 then as near the laws of God as they can." 
 
 • Johnson, p. 230. 
 
46 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. II. 
 
 So that when their laws were made, their judges were 
 to act thereby in religious affairs, instead of the laws of 
 God. But what followed among them may be a warning 
 to all after ages, against confounding church and state 
 together in their government. For disputes and divi- 
 sions about grace and works, between their chief rulers 
 and ministers, came on in Boston, and spread through all 
 the country to a great degree. A fast was appointed on 
 account of it, on January 19, 1637; but Mr. Wheel- 
 wright then preached a sermon which increased their dif- 
 ficulties, for which he was called before their general 
 court, March 9, who dismissed him for the present ; and 
 when they met May 17, after a sharp contention, Mr. 
 Winthrop was again chosen governor, and Mr. Vane was 
 left out of office, and the case of Wheelwright was again 
 deferred. A synod of ministers from all the colonies 
 met at Cambridge, August 30, and sat three weeks, and 
 drew up a list of eighty errors which they said were held 
 in the country ; and then the general court met Septem- 
 ber 26, and again dismissed Mr. Wheelwright, and dis- 
 solved the house of deputies, and called another for No- 
 vember 2, 1637. Such an instance as never was here 
 before or since, of electing the house of deputies twice in 
 one fall. The house they dissolved had twenty-six depu- 
 ties, and the new one thirty-one, only eleven of whom 
 were in that which was dissolved. 
 
 And now they had a majority to punish those whom 
 the synod had condemned ; and they went on to banish 
 John Wheelwright, William Aspinwall, Ann Hutchinson, 
 and others, and to disarm seventy-six men, fifty-eight of 
 whom were of Boston. Of these Mr. Wheelwright and 
 some others went and planted Exeter in New Hampshire, 
 and were dismissed and recommended to form a church 
 there, from the church in Boston ;* though Mr. Williams 
 was excommunicated by the church in Salem, after he 
 had been ban'«hed by the court, for things that Governor 
 Winthrop judged to be less dangerous than the other was 
 
 * Belknap's New Hampshire, vol. i. p. 37. 
 
1637.] PERSECUTIONS. 47 
 
 guilty of.* Wheelwright was banished for what they 
 judged to be sedition and contempt of their government, 
 and Williams for denying that they had any right to 
 make laws, and enforce them with the sword in religious 
 affairs. Wheelwright afterwards made a slight confes- 
 sion to them, and was restored to favour, but Williams 
 never retracted his opinion about liberty of conscience, 
 therefore they never would restore him. And how many 
 have there been ever since, who have been more earnest 
 for the use of force in religious affairs, than for the peace 
 and good order of civil government ! but wise men learn 
 much by the mistakes of others. Mr. John Haynes was 
 governor of Massachusetts in 1635, and pronounced the 
 sentence of banishment on Williams ; but he removed to 
 Hartford in the spring of 1637, where he afterwards said 
 to Williams, ** I think I must confess to you, that the 
 most wise God hath provided and cut out this part of his 
 world for a receptacle and refuge for all sorts of con- 
 sciences. I am now under a cloud, and my brother 
 Hooker, with the Bay, as you have been ; we have re- 
 moved from them thus far, and yet they are not satis- 
 fied."! This confirms what was before said of the dif- 
 ference between the Massachusetts and Connecticut go- 
 vernments. 
 
 In September, 1638, Massachusetts made a law to com- 
 pel all the inhabitants in each town to pay an equal pro- 
 portion towards the support of religious ministers, though 
 none had a vote in choosing them but communicants in 
 their churches. And they then made another law, which 
 said, ** That whosoever shall stand excommunicated for 
 the space of six months, without labouring what in him 
 or her lieth to be restored, such person shall be presented 
 to the court of assistants, and there proceeded with by 
 fine, imprisonment, banishment, or farther for the good 
 behaviour, as thei-. contempt and obstinacy upon full 
 hearing shall deserve." But this act was so high and 
 glaring that it was repealed the next year. In the mean 
 
 * Hiitchinson*s Collections, p. 71. 
 f Historical Society, vol. i. p. 280. 
 
48 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. III. 
 
 time, as adultery was a capital crime by the law of Moses, 
 a law to punish it with death was made at Boston, in 
 1631, and three persons were banished for it in 1638, and 
 a man and a woman were hanged for it in 1644. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Rhode Island planted — Their first government — Providence upon an- 
 other plan — The Baptist church there — Their sentiments spread — 
 Account of Knollys — A law against the Baptists — And writings, 
 also — Men in England against them — The case of Gorton and his 
 company — Indians against them — They are banished, but obtain re- 
 lief from England — Williams obtains a new charter, and writes 
 against persecution, and Cotton against him — Owen for him — 
 These colonies for severity ; but Robinson for liberty. 
 
 When such cruelty was exercised at Boston, Mr. John 
 Clarke, his brother Joseph, and many others concluded 
 to remove away ; and when they came to Providence, 
 Mr. Williams advised them to go to the island of Aquid- 
 net; and he went with them to Plymouth, to inquire 
 whether they claimed it or not ; and finding that they did 
 not, many went there, and signed a covenant on March 7, 
 1638, in which they said, " We whose names are under- 
 
 Exodus, 
 
 xxxiv. 3, 
 
 4. 
 
 2 Chron. 
 
 xi. 3. 
 
 2 Kings, 
 
 xi. 17. 
 
 written, do here solemnly, in the presence of 
 Jehovah, incorporate ourselves into a body 
 politic, and as he shall help, will submit our 
 persons, lives, and estates, unto our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of 
 lords, and to all those perfect and most abso- 
 lute laws of his, given us in his holy word 
 ^of truth, to be guided and judged thereby. 
 William Coddington, John Clarke, William Hutchinson, 
 John Cogshall, William AspinwalU Thomas Savage, 
 William Dyre, William Freeborne, Philip Sherman, John 
 Walker, Richard Carder, William Baulstone, Edward 
 
1638.] INCORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND. 49 
 
 Hutchinson, Edward Hutchinson, junior, Samuel Wil- 
 bore, John Sanford, John Porter, Henry Bull." 
 
 This I copied from their records. Those whose names 
 are in Italic afterwards went back, and were reconciled 
 to Massachusetts ; and most of the others were of note 
 on the island, which they called Rhode Island. Their 
 covenant to be governed by the perfect laws of Christ as 
 a body politic, seemed to be preferable to the scheme of 
 Massachusetts ; yet as they could not find laws to govern 
 such a body in the New Testament, they went back to the 
 laws of Moses, and elected a judge and three elders to 
 rule them. And an assembly of their freemen, on Janu- 
 ary 2, 1639, said, ** That the judge, together with the 
 elders, shall rule and govern according to the general 
 rules of the word of God, when they have no particular 
 rule from God's word, by the body prescribed as a direc- 
 tion unto them in the case." But on March 12, 1640, 
 they changed their plan of government, and elected a go- 
 vernor, and four assistants ; and they went on till they 
 disfranchised four men, and suspended others from voting 
 in their elections ; afterwards Mr. Williams went over to 
 England, and obtained a charter which included them in 
 his government. 
 
 He had procured a deed of Rhode Island for them, 
 from the Narraganset sachems, on March 24, 1638; and 
 another to himself of Providence, the same day. He 
 and a few friends had been there for two years before ; 
 and when he had obtained a deed of the town, he gave a 
 deed to Stukely Westcoat, William Arnold, Thomas 
 James, Robert Cole, John Green, John Throckmorton, 
 William Harris, William Carpenter, Thomas Olney, 
 Francis Western, Richard Waterman, Ezekiel Holiman, 
 and such others as the major part of them should admit 
 into fellowship and vote with them. 
 
 To these he gave a right in the town freely ; but they 
 ^yho were received afterwards, were to pay him thirty 
 shillings a piece. And they were Chad Brown, William 
 Field, Thomas Harris, William Wickenden, Robert Wil- 
 liams, Richard Scott, William Renolds, John Field, 
 John Warner, Thomas Angell, Benedict Arnold, Joshua 
 5 
 
50 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IH. 
 
 Winsor, Thomas Hopkins, Francis Weeks, &>c. They 
 all signed a covenant which said, 
 
 *' We whose names are underwritten, being desirous 
 to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to sub- 
 mit ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such 
 orders or agreements as shall be made for the public good 
 of the body in an orderly way, by the major consent of 
 the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated 
 together into a township, and such others whom they 
 shall admit unto the same, only in civil things, ^^ And 
 I found a record afterward, which said, *' It was agreed 
 that Joshua Verin, upon breach of covenant, or restrain- 
 ing liberty of conscience, shall be withheld from liberty 
 of voting till he shall declare the contrary." He re- 
 strained his wife from going to meeting as often as she 
 desired ; and upon this act against him he removed away, 
 as their records show. 
 
 And the men who were for such liberty, soon formed 
 the first Baptist church in America. Mr. Williams had 
 been accused before of embracing principles which tended 
 to anabaptism ; and in March, 1639, he was baptized by 
 one of his brethren, and then he baptized about ten 
 more. But in July following, such scruples were raised_ 
 in his mind about it, that he refrained from such admi- 
 nistrations among them.* Mr. Williams discovers in his 
 writings, that as sacrifices and other acts of worship were 
 omitted by the people of God, while his temple lay in 
 ruins ; and that they were restored again by immediate 
 direction from Heaven, so that some such direction was 
 necessary to restore the ordinances of baptism and the 
 supper, since the desolation of the church in mystical 
 Babylon.t But these cases are far from being parallel ; 
 lor the altar of God in one place in the land of Canaan, 
 was the only place where acceptable sacrifices could then 
 be offered ; while the Christian church is not confined to 
 any place, but Christ is with his saints wherever they 
 meet in his name ; and he says to his ministers, Go ye 
 and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
 
 • Winthrop, p. 174. 18a f ^P^J ^ Cotton, p. 107. 
 
1638.] THE BAPTIST CHURCH. 81 
 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teach- 
 ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you : and lo, I am with you always, even unto 
 the end of the world. Amen. Matt, xviii. 20 ; xxviii. 19, 
 20. And these promises belong only to the children of 
 God, in the way of observing all his commandments, let 
 them be ordained by whom they may. As the priests 
 who could not find a register of their lawful descent from 
 Aaron were put from the priesthood ^ so those who are 
 born again are the only priesthood whom Christ owns 
 under the gospel. Ezra ii. 62. 1 Pet. i. 23 ; xi. 9. 
 
 After Mr. Williams left that church in Providence, 
 they chose Mr. Thomas Olney for their pastor, and he 
 served them in that office until he died, in 1682 ; and 
 through many trials and changes they have continued 
 ever since, and are now a flourishing church. Others 
 had much labour about baptism in these times. Mr. 
 Charles Chauncy preached ti Plymouth above two years, 
 and they would fain have settled him with Mr. Reyner, 
 their other minister ; but he believed that gospel baptism 
 was dipping, and that sprinkling for baptism was not 
 lawful, as their records show. He therefore went to 
 Scituatc, where he practised the dipping of infants.* He 
 was afif^rwards president of the college at Cambridge. 
 Governor Winthrop also says, ** The lady Moody, a wise 
 and anciently religious woman, being taken with the 
 error of denying baptism to infants, was dealt with by 
 many of the elders and others, and admonished by the 
 church of Salem, whereof she was a member ; but per- 
 sisting still, and to avoid further trouble, she removed to 
 the Dutch, against the advice of all her friends. Many 
 others, infected with anabaptism, removed thither also.'* 
 They went to the west part of Long Island, where Mr. 
 Williams went in 1643, and made peace between the In- 
 dians and the Dutch, and then sailed for England.! 
 
 Mr. Hanserd Knollys was a minister in the church of 
 England for nine years, and then he was so cruelly per- 
 secuted therein, that he came over to Boston in the spring 
 
 • Winthrop, p. 200. 261. f Winthrop, p. 273. 298, 299. 
 
53 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. III. 
 
 of 1638 ; but their rulers called him an Antinomian, and 
 would not suffer him there ; therefore he went to Dover 
 on Piscataqua river, where he preached near four years, 
 and then returned to England, and arrived in London in 
 December, 1641. As the war broke out there the next 
 year, liberty for various opinions was caused thereby, and 
 he became a Baptist, and gathered a church in London, 
 where he often had a thousand hearers. He baptized 
 Mr. Henry Jessy, an eminent minister in that city, and 
 was one who signed the Baptist confession of faith in 
 1643, which was as clear in the doctrines of the gospel, 
 as was that of the divines at Westminster ; a copy of 
 which Mr. Crosby has given at the end of the first volume 
 of his history. He also informs us that Mr. KnoUys 
 continued a faithful pastor of his church in London, 
 through great changes and sufferings, until he died in 
 peace, September 19, 1691, aged 93 years. And though 
 many things were published against him here, yet Dr. 
 Mather says, '' He had a respectful character in the 
 churches of this wilderness."* And Mr. John Clarke * 
 was a preacher of the gospel at Newport, until he formed 
 a Baptist church there in 1644, which has continued by 
 succession ever since. But Massachusetts was so much 
 afraid of the spread of their principles, that they made a 
 law in November that year, which said, -n 
 
 " Forasmuch as experience hath plentifully and often ( 
 proved, that since the first rising of the Anabaptists, about 
 one hundred years since, they have been the incendiaries 
 of the commonwealths, and the infectors of persons in 
 main matters of religion, and the troublers of churches in 
 all places where they have been, and that they who have 
 held the baptizing of infants unlawful, h^ve usually held 
 other errors or heresies together therewith, though they 
 have (as other heretics use to do) concealed the same till 
 they spied out a fit advantage and opportunity to vent 
 them, by way of question or scruple ; and whereas divers 
 of this kind have, since our coming to New England, 
 appeared amongst ourselves, some whereof (as others b«- \ 
 
 * Magnalia, book iii. p. 7. 
 
1 638. J LAW AGAINST THE BAPTISTS. §3 
 
 fore them) denied the ordinance of magistracy, and the 
 lawfulness of making war, and others the lawfulness of 
 magistrates, and their inspection into the breach of the 
 first table ; which opinions, if they should be connived at 
 by us, are like to be increased amongst us, and so must 
 necessarily bring guilt upon us, infection and trouble to 
 the churches, and hazard to the whole commonwealth ; 
 it is ordered and agreed, that if any person or persons, 
 within this jurisdiction, shall either openly condemn or 
 oppose the baptizing of infants, or go about secretly to 
 seduce others from the approbation or use thereof, or 
 shall purposely depart the congregation at the ministra- 
 tion of the ordinance, or shall deny the ordinance of ma- 
 gistracy, or their lawful right and authority to make war^ 
 or to punish the outward breaches of the first table, and 
 shall appear to the court wilfully and obstinately to con- 
 tinue therein, after due time and means of conviction, 
 every such person or persons shall be sentenced to ba- 
 nishment." 
 
 Thus denying infant baptism was made a cause of ba- 
 nishment, by men who knew that many who did so, did 
 not hold the errors mentioned in this law. And Mr. 
 Cotton said in those times, ** they do not deny magis- 
 trates, nor predestination, nor original sin, nor maintain 
 free-will in conversion, nor apostasy from grace ; but 
 only deny the lawful use of the baptism of children, be- 
 cause it wanteth a word of commandment and example 
 from the Scripture. And I am bound in Christian love 
 to believe, that they who yield so far, do it out of con- 
 science, as following the example of the apostle, who 
 professed of himself and his followers. We can do nothing 
 against the truth, but for the truth. But yet I believe 
 withal, that it is not out of love to the truth that Satan 
 yieldeth so much, but rather out of another ground, and 
 for a worse end. He knoweth that now, by the good 
 hand of God, they are set upon purity and reformation ; 
 and now to plead against the baptism of children upon 
 any of those Arminian and Popish grounds, as those 
 above named, Satan knoweth they would be rejected. 
 He now pleadeth no other arguments in these times of 
 
54 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. IH. 
 
 reformation, than may be urged from a main principle of 
 reformation, to wit, That no duty of God's worship, nor 
 any ordinance of religion, is to be administered in his 
 church, but such as hath a just warrant from the word 
 of God. And by urging this argument against the bap- 
 tism of children, Satan transformeth himself into an angel 
 of light."* 
 
 Here we may see that Mr. Cotton knew the Baptists 
 among them were not such as are described in the above 
 law ; though his charity about them was, that they""were 
 deceived by the devil, in pleading plain Scripture against 
 infant baptism, which hath no precept nor example for it 
 in the word of God. And another minister near him, in 
 writing then against the Baptists, ranks them with our 
 first mother Eve, and says, '^ Hath God said it? was 
 the old serpentine insinuation to blind and beguile, and 
 to corrupt first the judgment in point of warrant of this 
 or that practice."! As if a calling in question a custom 
 of men, which is not named in the word of God, was as 
 criminal and dangerous as a disputing the authority and 
 truth of his express command. Of this every one must 
 judge for himself. The Presbyterian assembly of divines 
 at Westminster now denied liberty to their Congrega- 
 tional brethren in England, to have gathered churches 
 there, distinct from their parish churches ; and said to 
 them, *' This liberty was denied by the churches of New 
 England, and we have as just ground to deny it as they : 
 this desired forbearance is a perpetual drawing away from 
 churches under the rule ; for upon the same pretence, 
 those who scruple infant baptism may withdraw from 
 their churches, and so separate into another congrega- 
 tion ; and so in that, some practice may be scrupled, and 
 they separate again. "J Such is the effect of the use of 
 force in religious affairs. And it now caused much trou- 
 ble to Massachusetts, from men who were really very 
 corrupt in doctrines. 
 
 Samuel Gorton had considerable knowledge of the 
 
 * Cotton on Baptism, 1647, p. 3. f Cobbet on Baptism, p. 8. 
 4: Crosby, vol. i. p. 186, 187. 
 
1643.] SAMUEL GORTON. 55 
 
 Hebrew and Greek languages, which he made use of to 
 corrupt the word of God. He held the coming and suf- 
 ferings of Christ to be within his children, and that he 
 was as much in this world at one time as another; or that 
 all which we read about him is to be taken in a mystical 
 sense, which he called spiritual sense. And of the visi- 
 ble church, he says, ** Pharisaical interpreters, who 
 erect churches as true churches of God, that admit of de- 
 cay, and falling from God in whole, or any part thereof, 
 are they who have deceived and undone the world from 
 the foundation thereof unto this day, and are the proper 
 witches of the world, which the Scripture intends." 
 Again he says, ** They can strain out the gnat of ""dipping 
 into, or sprinkling with water in the entrance into their 
 church." And he says, '* Antichrist is not to be con- 
 fined to any one particular man or devil, but every one of 
 that spirit is the original and proper inlet of sin, and in 
 undatioh of God*s wrath into the world. 1 John ii. 18 
 22. Neither is the disposition, office, and authority of 
 the Son of God confined and limited to one man ; but 
 every one that is of that spirit, hath that royal preroga- 
 tive or set in him to be the Son of God, even so many as 
 believe in that name." John i. 12.* 
 
 And his practice was no better than his principles 
 For he came over to Boston in 1636, where he caused 
 considerable trouble, and then did the like at Plymouth, 
 from whence he went to Newport, and behaved so there, 
 that they inflicted corporeal punishment upon him. He 
 then went and bought some land near Pawtuxet river, in 
 the south part of Providence, in January, 1641 ; but such 
 contention soon arose among neighbours there, about 
 earthly things, that they came armed into the field to 
 fight ; but Mr. Williams interposed and pacified them for 
 the present, and then wrote to Boston for advice and help. 
 This was not granted from thence, unless they would 
 come under the Massachusetts government. And as 
 difficulties continued great in that place, four men went 
 from Pawtuxet to Boston, in September, 1642, and sub- 
 
 * Aptidote against Pharisaical t«achers, p. 42. 60, <iV 
 
56 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. III. 
 
 mitted themselves and their lands under that government ; 
 and then their rulers wrote to Gorton and others to come 
 to Boston, and answer to the complaints of these men. 
 But they were so far from going, that they wrote a long 
 letter, containing a mystical paraphrase upon their writing, 
 and many provoking sentences against said rulers, and 
 their religious principles and conduct, and a refusal to go, 
 dated November 20, 1642, signed by twelve men. And 
 to get out of their reach, these men went over the river, 
 and bought the lands at Shawomet, of the Indians, and 
 received a deed of it, January 12, 1643, signed by Mian- 
 tanimo and Pumham. 
 
 In May following the general court at Boston sent 
 men into those parts ; and finding that Gorton and his com- 
 pany were gone out of what they called their jurisdiction, 
 they got Pumham and Socononco, two Indian sachems, 
 10 come to Boston in June, and to submit themselves and 
 their lands unto their government , and then to enter a 
 complaint against Gorton and his company, that they had 
 taken away their lands, by the hifluence of Miantanimo, 
 who forced Pumham to sign the deed, as they said, 
 though he would not receive any of the pay for it. Upon 
 which the governor and one assistant wrote to Gorton 
 and his company to come to Boston, and answer to these 
 complaints ; and they sent to Miantanimo also to come 
 to Boston for the same end. But Gorton and his com- 
 pany sent a long and provoking letter, and refused to go. 
 Miantanimo went down and justified his sale of those 
 lands, and said those sachems were his subjects, or rulers 
 under him. And it appears by many writings, that he 
 was a man of the greatest powers of mind, and of the 
 greatest influence among the Indians of almost any one 
 in the land, which caused the English to be greatly afraid 
 of him. 
 
 After much consultation, commissioners from New 
 Haven, Connecticut, Plymouth, and Massachusetts, met 
 at Boston in September, and signed articles of confedera- 
 tion for mutual assistance and defence ; that two com- 
 missioners from each colony should meet once a year, or 
 oftener, if necessary, to order the general affairs of all, 
 
1643.] GORTON AND OTHERS CONFINED. 57 
 
 while the internal government of each should be as be- 
 fore. And Massachusetts declared that Shawomet was 
 within Plymouth colony, and called upon them to relieve 
 the Indians there, whom they said Gorton's company 
 had oppressed ; but rather than attempt it, they gave up 
 all the right they had there to Massachusetts, and the 
 other commissioners assented to it. 
 
 Massachusetts then put their government into a posture 
 of war, and sent three officers and forty armed soldiers to 
 Shawomet, and brought Gorton and a number of his com- 
 pany to Boston by force. They also brought away about 
 eighty head of their cattle, to pay the cost of this expedi- 
 tion. And when they had got these men there, they left 
 the affair about lands, and tried them for their lives upon 
 a charge of lieresy and blasphemy ; but a small majority 
 saved their lives for that time ; and they enacted that 
 Samuel Gorton, John Weeks, Randal Holden, Robert 
 Potter, Richard Carder, Francis Weston, and John War- 
 ner, should be confined in seven of their chief towns, 
 during the pleasure of the court, to work for their living, 
 and not to publish tlieir errors nor to speak against the 
 government, each upon pain of death. Some others had 
 smaller punishments. 
 
 In the mean time war had broken out between the Nar- 
 ragansets and the Mohegans, in which Uncas prevailed, 
 and took Miarrtanimo prisoner, and carried him to Hart- 
 ford, and left him in the hands of the English, at his own 
 request ; and when the commissioners met at Boston in 
 September, they debated about what they should do with 
 him ; and though they could not see any right they had to 
 put him to death, yet they feared that if he was set at 
 liberty it would be very dangerous to themselves, and 
 therefore they delivered him to Uncas, for him to execute 
 him without torture, which he did.* Thus one evil leads 
 on to others, like the breaking forth of waters. 
 
 For the confinement of Gorton and his company did no 
 good to them, and it caused uneasiness to many of their 
 own people ; and therefore when the general court met 
 
 ♦ Winthrop, p. 262. 295. 303. 305, 306. 
 
58 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. III. 
 
 at Boston, March 7, 1644, they passed an act, which 
 said, ** It is ordered that Samuel Gorton and the rest of 
 that company, who stand confined, shall be set at liberty ; 
 provided that if they or any of them shall, after fourteen 
 days after such enlargement, come within any part of our 
 jurisdiction, either in Massachusetts, or in or near Provi- 
 dence, or any of the lands of Pumham and Socononco, or 
 elsewhere within our jurisdiction, then such person or 
 persons shall be apprehended, wheresoever they may be 
 taken, and shall suffer death by course of law ; provided 
 also, that during all their continuance in our bounds in- 
 habiting for the said time of fourteen days, they shall be 
 still bound to the rest of the articles of their former con- 
 finement, upon the penalty therein expressed." 
 
 Thus it stands upon their records. And one of the 
 officers who brought them to Boston, says, " To be sure 
 there be them in New England, that have Christ Jesus 
 and his blessed ordinances in such esteem, that, the Lord 
 assisting, they had rather lose their lives than suffer them 
 to be thus blasphemed, if they can help it. And whereas 
 some have favoured them, and endeavoured to bring under 
 blame such as have been zealous against their abominable 
 doctrines ; the good God be favourable unto them, and 
 prevent them from coming under the like blame with 
 Ahab. Yet they remained in their old way ; and there is 
 somewhat to be considered in it, to be sure, that in these 
 days, when all look for the fall of antichrist, such detest- 
 able doctrines should be upheld, and persons suffered, 
 who exceed the beast himself for blasphemy ; and this to 
 be done by those that would be counted reformers, and 
 such as seek the utter subversion of antichrist."* 
 
 This history was finished in 1652 ; and it discovers the 
 sincerity of the actors in those measures, which now ap- 
 pear very strange. And if any men had a right to use 
 force with others about religious affairs, perhaps these 
 were as pious men as ever did so, as I observed before. 
 But nothing serves more to prejudice sinful men against 
 the truth, than injurious treatment from tliose who teach 
 
 * Johnson's History, p. 187. 
 
1643.] WILLIAMS VISITS ENGLAND. 59 
 
 it ; which Gorton and his company have evidenced even 
 to this day. For when they were released, they went to 
 Rhode Island, and from thence over to the N arragansets, 
 where they procured a deed from the Indians of all their 
 people and lands, which they resigned over to the King 
 of England, and appointed Gorton and others as their 
 agents to carry the same to him, dated April 19, 1644. 
 And they went over to England with it, and there pub- 
 lished an account of their sufferings at Boston ; and 
 though the king could not help them, yet they obtained 
 an order from the Parliament to Massachusetts, to allow 
 them to enjoy the lands which they had purchased, and 
 to remove any obstructions that they had put in the way 
 of it. And as the Earl of Warwick was their great friend 
 in this affair, they called their town Warwick. And Gor- 
 ton taught his doctrines there for many years ; and the 
 effects of them, and of the persecutions which these men 
 suffered, with the general nature of sin, have caused a 
 large part of their posterity to neglect all religion to this 
 day ; others of them have become professors of religion, 
 but not in the Congregational way. 
 
 When Mr. Williams saw how thing? went here, and 
 that some light opened in England, he went there in the 
 spring of 1643, and published a key to the language and 
 customs of the Indians in our country ; which the His- 
 torical Society at Boston reprinted in 1794. And as Sir 
 Henry Vane, who was Governor at Boston in the time 
 of the Pequot war, was now a member of Parliament, and 
 had a great regard for Mr. Williams : he used his great 
 influence in procuring a charter for him, "Bordering 
 northward and north-east on the patent of Massachusetts, 
 east and south-east on Plymouth patent, south on the 
 ocean, and on the west and north-west by the Indians 
 called Narragansets ; the whole tract extending about 
 twenty-five miles unto the Pequot river and country; to 
 be known by the name of * the incorporation of Provi- 
 dence plantations in the Narraganset bay, in New Eng- 
 land.'" It gave them power to form their own govern- 
 ment, elect all their officers, and to make all their laws, 
 as near the laws of England as they could. This charter 
 
60 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. III. 
 
 was dated March 14, 1644, and was signed by Robert 
 Warwick, Philip Pembroke, Say and Seal, Philip Whar- 
 ton, Arthur Haslerig, Cornelius Holland, Henry Vane, 
 Samuel Vassel, John Rolle, Miles Corbet, and William 
 Spurstow. 
 
 With this they sent a letter to the rulers and other 
 friends in Massachusetts, saying, ** Taking notice, some 
 of us of long time, of Mr. Roger Williams, his good af- 
 fections and conscience, and of his sufferings by our com- 
 mon enemies and oppressors of God's people — the pre- 
 lates ; as also of his great industry and travel in his print- 
 ed Indian labours in your parts, the like whereof we have 
 not seen extant from any part of America, and in which 
 respect it hath pleased both houses of Parliament freely 
 to grant unto him and friends with him a free and absolute 
 charter of civil government for these parts of his abode ; 
 and withal sorrowfully resenting, that amongst good men, 
 our friends, driven to the ends of the earth, exercised 
 with the trials of a wilderness, and who mutually give 
 good testimony each of other, as we observe you do of 
 him, and he abundantly of you ; there should be such a 
 distance. We thought it fit upon divers considerations, 
 to profess our great desires of both your utmost endea- 
 vours of nearer closing, and of ready expressing of these 
 good affections, which we perceive you bear each to 
 other, in the actual performance of all friendly offices ; 
 the rather because of those bad neighbours you are like 
 to find too near you in Virginia, and the unfriendly visits 
 from the west of England and from Ireland ;* that how- 
 soever it may please the Most High to shake bur founda- 
 tions, yet the report of your peaceable and prosperous 
 plantations may be some refreshing to your true and 
 faithful friends."t 
 
 Mr. Williams arrived at Boston with this letter, in Sep- 
 tember, 1644, and they let him pass on to Providence ; 
 but they never took off his sentence of banishment, noi 
 
 * Places that were then in the king's party, but were soon after 
 brought under the parliament, 
 f Winthrop, p. 356. 
 
1644.] WILLIAMS EXPOSES PERSECUTION. 61 
 
 ever allowed of the validity of the charter of his own 
 civil government until 1656. And we are now to see the 
 cause of it more fully. For Mr. Williams published a 
 book in London that year, which opened the evil of their 
 conduct, beyond any thing he had done before. The title 
 of it is, ** The bloody tenet of persecution for the cause of 
 conscience." It appeared to Mr. Cotton to be of so dan- 
 gerous tendency to them, that he published an answer to it 
 in 1647, which he called, ** The bloody tenet washed, and 
 made white in the blood of the Lamb." But Williams 
 replied to it in 1652; and called it, "The bloody tenet 
 yet more bloody, by Mr. Cotton's endeavour to wash it 
 white." And I will give a few extracts from these writings. 
 
 A prisoner in London wrote some reasons against per- 
 secution, which one Hall of Roxbury obtained, and sent 
 it to Mr. Cotton, and he wrote an answer to it. But as 
 Mr. Hall was not satisfied therewith, he sent it to Mr. 
 Williams, who now published the whole controversy. 
 The prisoner first brought the case which Christ has 
 stated, of the children of his kingdom, and the children 
 of the devil, appearing by their fruits in the field of the 
 world, when he said, *♦ Let both grow together until the 
 harvest." Matt. xiii. 30. 38. And the prisoner said, 
 ** the reason seems to be, because they who are tares, 
 may hereafter become wheat ; they who are blind, may 
 hereafter see ; they who resist him, may hereafter receive 
 him ; they who are now in the devil's snare, and averse 
 to the truth, may hereafter come to repentance ; they who 
 are now blasphemers and persecutors, as Paul was, may 
 in time becoirft faithful, as he did ; they who are now idol- 
 aters, as the Corinthians once were, may hereafter become 
 true worshippers, as they did; (1 Cor. vi. 9;) they who 
 are no people of God, nor under mercy, may hereafter 
 become his people, and obtain mercy. 1 Peter ii. 10.* 
 
 Now, though these things are very plain, yet Mr. Cot- 
 ton went on for more than forty pages, before he came to 
 the case in hand, which the prisoner said in few words, 
 * Tares are antichristians or false Christians."! And 
 
 Bloody tenet, p. 2. f Ibid. p. 44. 
 
 6 
 
62 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [^CH. III. 
 
 when Mr. Cotton came to this he said, ** It is not the will 
 of Christ that antichrist and antichristianity should be 
 tolerated in the world, until the end of the world. For 
 God will put it into the hearts of faithful princes (as they 
 have given their kingdoms to the beast, so) in fulness of 
 time to hate the whore, to leave her desolate and naked, 
 and to burn her flesh with fire. Rev. xvii. 16, 17." *" 
 Mr. Williams had before said, '* This hating, and desolat- 
 ing, and making naked, and burning, shall not arise by way 
 of ordinance, warranted by the institution of Christ Je- 
 sus ; but by way of providence, when (as it useth to be 
 with whores and their lovers) the church of Rome and 
 her great lovers shall fall out ; and, by the righteous ven- 
 geance of God upon her, drunk with the blood of the 
 saints, these mighty fornicators shall turn their love into 
 hatred, which shall make her a poor naked whore, torn 
 and consumed."! But Mr. Cotton passed this over in 
 silence. 
 
 Now if we take the word flesh here to mean riches, it 
 is well known that the King of France did the most to 
 enrich the pope, of any king upon earth ; and the French 
 nation have now taken the riches of the church of Rome 
 to support war and vengeance against her, above all 
 others in the world. And is not this according to that 
 prophecy ? 
 
 Of civil government, Mr. Williams says, '* The sove- 
 reign, original, and foundation of civil power lies in the 
 people ; and it is evident that such governments as are by 
 them erected and established, have no more power, nor 
 for no longer time, than the civil power or people con- 
 senting and agreeing shall betrust them with. This is 
 clear, not only in reason, but in the experience of all 
 commonweals, where the people are not deprived of their 
 natural freedom by the power of tyrants. "J Yea, the 
 experience of all America, in her deliverance from the 
 tyranny of Britain, confirms this truth. And as to religion, 
 Mr. Williams says, " Persons may with less sin be forced 
 
 * Tenet washed, p. 42, 43. f Bloody tenet, p. 246. 
 i Bloody tenet, p. 137. 
 
\644.] cotton's reply to williams. 63 
 
 to marry whom they cannot love, than to worship where 
 they cannot believe.* And I find no answer to this. 
 
 Mr. Cotton was so far from thinking that he was a per- 
 secutor, fhat he said, '* It is not lawful to prosecute any, 
 until after admonition once or twice ; and so the apostle 
 directeth, and giveth the reason, that in fundamental 
 points of doctrine or worship, the word of God is so 
 clear, that he cannot but be convinced in conscience of the 
 dangerous error of his way, after admonition once or 
 twice, wisely and faithfully dispensed. And then if any 
 one persist, it is not out of conscience, but against his 
 conscience, as the apostle saith. Titus iii. 10, 11." 
 Upon which Williams says, '* Titus, unto whom these 
 directions were written, was no minister of the civil state, 
 armed with the material sword, who might inflict punish- 
 ments upon the bodies of men, by imprisonments, whip- 
 ping, fines, banishment, and death. Titus was a minister 
 of the gospel, armed only with the spiritual sword of the 
 word of God, and such spiritual weapons as were mighty 
 through God to the casting down strongholds ; yea, 
 every high thought of the highest head and heart in 
 the woilrl. 1 Cor. x. 4."t And he observes that the 
 charge- and exhortations which Christ gave to his minis- 
 ters, ar:^ now applied to civil magistrates in this affair. 
 But upon this Mr. Cotton says, 
 
 '* Look the answer through, and you shall find not one 
 of the charges or exhortations given to ministers, ever 
 directed by the answerer to civil magistrates : the falsehood 
 of the discusser in this charge upon the answer is palpa- 
 ble and notorious." And yet in this book he says, ** the 
 good that is brought to princes and subjects by the due 
 punishment of apostate seducers, idolaters, and blas- 
 phemers, is manifold. 1. It putteth away evil from the 
 people, and cutteth off a gangrene, which would spread to 
 further ungodliness. Deut.xiii.5. 2 Tim. ii. 16 — 18. 2. It 
 drivetli away wolves from worrying and scattering the 
 sheep of Christ ; for false teachers be wolves. Matt. vi. 
 15. Acts XX. 29. And the very name of wolves holdeth 
 
 * Bloody tenet, p. 143. f Ibid. p. 36. 
 
64 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. III. 
 
 forth what benefit will redound to the sheep, by either 
 killing them, or driving them away."* 
 
 If any man will take the pains to examine Mr. Cot- 
 ton's book well, he will find that his main arguments are 
 taken from Scriptures which belong to the church, and not 
 to the state. And that passage in the epistle to Titus, 
 about a heretic condemned of himself, is referred to from 
 one end of his book to the other. And it is implied in 
 the sentence of banishment passed against Mr. Williams, 
 where he is condemned for writing letters against their 
 rulers '* before any conviction." This idea the court evi- 
 dently took from Mr. Cotton, and had great influence in their 
 government. And as Williams denied that Christ had 
 appointed the civil sword as a remedy against false 
 teachers. Cotton said, "it is evident that the civil sword 
 was appointed for a remedy in this case. Deut. xiii. And 
 appointed it was by that angel of God's presence, whom 
 God promised to send with his people, as being unwilling 
 to go with them himself. Exod. xxxiii. 2^ 3. And that 
 angel was Christ, whom they tempted in the wilderness. 
 I Cor. X. 9. And therefore it cannot truly be said, that 
 the Lord Jesus never appointed the civil sword for a re- 
 medy in such case ; for he did expressly appoint it in the 
 Old Testament ; nor did he ever abrogate it in the New. 
 The reason of the law, which is the life of the law, is of 
 eternal force and equity in all ages: Thou shalt surely kill 
 him, because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the 
 Lord thy God, Deut. xiii. 9, 10. This reason is of 
 moral : that is, of universal and perpetual equity, to put 
 to death any apostate seducing idolater or heretic, who 
 seeketh to thrust away the souls of God's people from 
 the Lord their God."t 
 
 From hence Williams called his reply, " The bloody 
 tenet yet more bloody by Mr. Cotton's endeavour to wash 
 it white ;" from which many extracts are made in the 
 first volume of our history ; and also an extract from Dr. 
 Owen, who said, '' He who holds the truth may be con- 
 futed, but he cannot be convinced but by the truth. That 
 
 • Tenet washed, p. 88. 137, 138. f Ibid. p. 66, 67. 
 
1646.] OPINIONS OF DR. OWEN. 65 
 
 a man should be said to be convinced of a truth, and yet 
 that truth not shine in upon his understanding", to the ex- 
 pelling the contrary error, to me is strange. To be con- 
 vinced is to be overpowered by the evidence of that which 
 before a man knew not. I once knew a scholqir invited 
 to a dispute with another man about something in con- 
 troversy in religion ; in his own, and in the judgment of 
 all the bystanders, the opposing person was utterly con- 
 futed : and yet the scholar, within a few months, was 
 taught of God, and clearly convinced that it was an error 
 which he had maintained, and the truth which he op- 
 posed ; and then, and not till then, did he cease to won- 
 der that the other was not convinced by his strong argu- 
 ments as he before had thought. To say a man is con- 
 vinced, when either from want of skill and abihty, or the 
 like, he cannot maintain his opinion against all men, is a 
 mere conceit. That they are obstinate and pertinacious 
 is a cheap supposal taken up without the price of a proof. 
 As the conviction is imposed — not owned, so is this ob- 
 stinacy : if we may be judges of other men's obstinacy, 
 all will be plain ; but if ever they get uppermost, they will 
 be judges of ours."* This the great Dr. Owen published 
 in London the year after Mr. Cotton's book came out 
 there. But it was so little regarded here, that violent 
 methods were still pursed in this country, though against 
 the minds of many. 
 
 When the commissioners of the united colonies met at 
 New Haven, September 9, 1646, they said, '* Upon se- 
 rious consideration of the spreading nature of error, the 
 dangerous growth and effects thereof in other places, and 
 especially how the purity and power both of religion and 
 civil order is already much complained of, if not wholly 
 lost in part of New England by a licentious liberty granted 
 and setded, whereby many, casting off the rule of the 
 word, profess and practise what is good in their own 
 eyes ; and upon information of what petitions have been 
 lately put up in some of the colonies against the good and 
 straight ways of Christ, both in the churches and in the 
 
 * Folio collection of his tracts, p. 312. 
 6* 
 
66 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. III. 
 
 commonwealth, the commissioners, remembering that 
 these colonies, for themselves and their posterity, did unite 
 into this firm and perpetual league as for other respects, 
 so for mutual advice, that the truth and liberties of the 
 gospel might be preserved and perpetuated, thought it 
 their duty seriously to commend it to the care and consi- 
 deration of each general court within these united colo- 
 nies, that as they have laid their foundations and mea- 
 sured the house of God, the worship and worshippers, by 
 the rod God hath put into their hands, so they would 
 walk on and build up (all discouragements and difficulties 
 notwithstanding) with undaunted heart and unwearied 
 hand, according to the same rules and patterns ; that a due 
 watch be kept at the doors of God's house, that none be 
 admitted as members of the body of Christ, but such as 
 hold forth eflfectual callmg, and thereby union with Christ 
 the head; and those whom Christ hath received, and enter 
 by an express covenant to observe the laws and duties of 
 that spiritual corporation ; that baptism, the seal of the 
 covenant, be administered only to such members and their 
 immediate seed ; that Anabaptism, Familism, Antinomian- 
 ism, and generally all errors of like nature which oppose, 
 undermine, and slight either the Scriptures, the Sabbath, 
 or other ordinances of God, bring in and cry up unwar* 
 rantable revelations, inventions of men, or any carnal 
 liberty under a deceitful colour of liberty of conscience, 
 may be duly and seasonably suppressed ; though they 
 wish as much forbearance and respect may be had of 
 tender consciences seeking light, as may stand with the 
 purity of religion and peace of the churches." 
 
 But the commissioners from Plymouth did not concur 
 with this act. They had not lost the impression of the 
 instructions which they received before they came to 
 America ; which said, " As the kingdom of Christ is not 
 of this world, but spiritual, and he a spiritual king, so 
 must the government of this spiritual kingdom under this 
 spiritual king needs be spiritual, and all the laws of it. 
 And as Christ Jesus hath, by the merits of his priesthood, 
 redeemed as well the body as the soul ;* so is he by the 
 * John xviii. 36. 1 Cor. vL 20. 
 
1647.] PLAN OF WILLIAMS' GOVERNMENT. 67 
 
 sceptre of his kingdom to rule and reign over both ; unto 
 which Christian magistrates, as well as meaner persons, 
 ought to submit themselves ; and the more Christian they 
 are, the more meekly to take the yoke of Christ upon 
 them ; and the greater authority they have, the more ef- 
 fectually to advance his sceptre over themselves and their 
 people, by all good means. Neither can there be any 
 reason given why the merits of saints may not as well be 
 mingled with the merits of Christ for the saving of the 
 church, as the laws of men with his laws, for the ruling 
 and guiding of it. He is as absolute and as entire a king 
 as he is a priest, and his people must be as careful to pre- 
 serve the dignity of the one, as to enjoy the benefit of the 
 other."* 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Plan of Williams* government ; anil of the churches in Massachu^ 
 setts — Cambridge platform — Williams on national confusion — 
 Coddington does hurt to his own colony — Winthrop dies — Clarke 
 and Holmes sufter at Boston — Williams and Clarke go to Eng- 
 land, and expose such doings there — Letter about it from thence 
 — Cotton dies — Infant baptism opposed at Cambridge — Williams 
 and Clarke opposed in England, and yet prevail — Williams re- 
 turns, and is president here ; and prevails in his colony — Quakers 
 come over and behave provokingly, and four of them were hanged. 
 
 The severities that were exercised in the other colo- 
 nies caused many of different opinions to remove into 
 Providence colony, where they could have full liberty ; 
 and this made it more difficult for them to agree upon 
 their plan of government. But on May 19, 1647, 
 they met at Portsmouth, and elected a president, as their 
 chief ruler, and an assistant from each of the towns of 
 Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick ; and 
 they were to be judges in executive courts, and to keep 
 
 * Robinsonr against Bernard, p. 38. . 
 
68 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 the peace. But six representatives from each town were 
 to make their laws, which were to be sent to each town, 
 to be established or disannulled by the major vote of all 
 their freemen. Mr. Williams was their assistant for 
 Providence; but such difficulties arose in the colony, 
 that he drew a covenant in December following for all to 
 sign who would, wherein they say, " That government 
 held forth through love, union, and order, though by few 
 in number and mean in condition, yet hath by experience 
 withstood and overcome mighty opposers ; and, above all, 
 the several unexpected deliverances of this poor planta- 
 tion, by that mighty Providence who is still able to de- 
 liver us, through love, union, and order ; therefore being 
 sensible of these great and weighty premises, and now 
 met together to consult about our peace and liberty, 
 whereby our families and posterity will still enjoy these 
 favours ; and that we may declare unto all the free dis- 
 charge of our conscience and duties, whereby it may ap- 
 pear upon record that we are not wilfully opposite, nor 
 careless and senseless, and so the means of our own and 
 others' ruin and destruction ; and especially in testimony 
 of our fidelity and affection unto one another here pre- 
 sent, we promise unto each other to keep unto the ensu- 
 ing particulars." And so went on to lay down excellent 
 rules of conduct, in order to remove their difficulties. 
 
 The name Providence, which Mr. Williams gave both 
 to his town and colony, and the word hope, in their pub- 
 lic seal, with the figure of an anchor therein, were de- 
 signed to hold forth the hope that he had in God, that he 
 would succeed the great work that he was engaged in, of 
 establishing a civil government upon the principles of true 
 freedom to soul and body. This appears plain in many 
 of his writings. But as they now appeared to be weak, 
 and to have divisions among them, Massachusetts still 
 refused to own them as a distinct government, and tried 
 all they could to bring them under their power, which 
 they thought was a holy government ; and to continue it 
 so. Governor Winthrop says, 
 
 "Two churches were appointed to be gathered, one at 
 Haverhill and the other at Andover, both upon Merri- 
 
1647.] VISIT OF HUGH P£T£RS. 60^ 
 
 mack river. They had given notice thereof to the ma- 
 gistrates and elders, who desired, in regard of their re- 
 moteness and scarcity of housing there, that the meeting 
 might be at Rowley, which they assented unto ; but be- 
 ing assembled, most of those who were to join refused 
 to declare how God had carried on the work of grace in 
 them, because they had declared it formerly in their ad- 
 mission into other churches ; whereupon the assembly 
 broke up without proceeding." This was in the fall 
 of 1644.* Their strictness of government, both in church 
 and state, did much towards restraining of immoralities 
 among them ; so much that Mr. Hugh Peters, who came 
 over to Boston in 1635, and travelled and laboured much 
 in this country, until he went back upon the turn of times 
 in England, where he became very famous, gave an ex- 
 traordinary character of New England. When the Par- 
 liament had conquered all the king's forces in England, 
 they kept a day of thanksgiving for it, April 2, 1646, and 
 Peters preached a sermon before the Parliament, the 
 Westminster Assembly of Divines, and the corporation of 
 the city of London, to whom he said, ** I have lived in a 
 country, where for seven years I never saw a beggar, nor 
 heard an oath, nor looked upon a drunkard."! This he 
 said to urge them into like measures with Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 But a greater sight now appears before the world, than 
 was then so much extolled. For th« scheme which they so 
 much admired, has long since been broken and dissolved ; 
 and the principles which were then despised and persecu- 
 ted, are now become the glory of America. Roger Wil- 
 liams, John Clarke, Joseph Clarke, Thomas Olney, Gre- 
 gory Dexter, Samuel Hubbard, and many others in that lit- 
 tle colony, held the pure doctrines of grace, and the import- 
 ance of a holy life, as much as the fathers of Massachu- 
 setts did ; and they established the first government upon 
 earth, that gave equal liberty, civil and religious, which 
 is now enjoyed in the most parts of America. General 
 Greene also, the second military character in our revolu 
 
 * Winthrop,p. 356. f Peters' Sermon, p. 44. 
 
 1 
 
70 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 tionary war, sprang from one of the first planters of Pro- 
 vidence. These things show how great men have been 
 mistaken, and that we ever should judge of things by the 
 light of revelation, and not take any men as our guides, 
 further than they appear to walk in that light. ^_J 
 
 Many books were brought from England about this 
 time, but none were more disagreeable to the fathers of 
 Massachusetts, than those which were written against in- 
 fant baptism, and for liberty of conscience. Several 
 extracts from those writings have already been given. 
 And the public records at Boston, 1646, show that con- 
 troversies about infant baptism were a chief cause of their 
 calling a synod, to compose a platform of government 
 for their churches. Ministers were called from all their 
 colonies to assist in this work. But Mr. Hooker of Hart- 
 ford died before they met, on July 7, 1647. A book of 
 his was printed in London, after his death, in which he 
 says, '* Children, as children, have no right to baptism ; 
 so that it belongs not to any predecessors, either nearer 
 or further off, removed from the next parents, to give 
 right of this privilege to their children."* And when 
 the synod met in 1648, and composed their platform, 
 which was approved by their general court, the majority 
 of them agreed with him in this, though Mr. Cotton 
 would have extended it further. And though he, and 
 their churches in general, had allowed no elders to lay on 
 hands in ordination, but the elders of the church in which 
 the pastor was ordained ;" yet they now said, "In 
 churches where there are no elders, and the church so 
 desire, we see not why imposition of hands may not be 
 performed by the elders of other churches." In this I 
 think they were right ; but when they say, " If any 
 church, one or more, shall grow schismatical, rending 
 itself from the communion of other churches, or shall 
 walk incorrigibly or obstinately in any corrupt way of 
 their own, contrary to the rule of the word ; in such case 
 the magistrate is to put forth his coercive power, as the 
 matter shall require ;t here I must enter my dissent, be- 
 
 * Survey of Church Discipline, part iii, p. 13 
 f Platform, eh. ix, xvii. 
 
1648.3 CHURCH AND STATE. 71 
 
 cause this principle is the root of all the bloody persecu- 
 tion that ever was in the world. 
 
 Mr. Williams observes, that the attempts for a reforma- 
 tion m England, by the power of the magistrate, filled 
 their country with blood and confusion for a hundred 
 years. For says he, " Henry the Seventh leaves Eng- 
 land under the slavish bondage of the pope's yoke. 
 Henry the Eighth reforms all England to a new fashion, 
 half Papist, half Protestant. King Edward the Sixth 
 turns about the wheels of state, and works the whole 
 land to absolute Protestantism. Queen Mary, succeeding 
 to the helm, steers a direct contrary course, breaks in 
 pieces all that Edward wrought, and brings forth an old 
 edition of England's reformation, all Popish. Mary not 
 living out half her days, (as the prophet speaks of bloody 
 persons,) Elizabeth (like Joseph) is advanced from the 
 prison to the palace, and from the irons to the crown ; 
 she plucks up all her sister Mary's plants, and sounds a 
 trumpet, all Protestant. What sober man is not amazed 
 at these revolutions !"* 
 
 Yet as all these revolutions were made by rulers who 
 were not comparable to the godly magistrates and minis- 
 ters here, they regarded not the warnings of men whom 
 they thought to be deceived. And a writ was sent from 
 Boston, to cite men in the midst of Providence colony, to 
 come to Boston to answer to complaints that were entered 
 there, dated June 20, 1650; which writ is recorded at 
 Providence. Not only so, but when Mr. Coddington was 
 elected president of his colony. May 16, 1648, he refused 
 to serve, because William Dyer had commenced an action 
 against him about some lands ; and in September after he 
 went and tried to get Rhode Island to be received into 
 -confederacy with the united colonies ; and as that scheme 
 failed, he went to England, in the year 1651, and obtain- 
 ed a commission for himself to be governor of that 
 island, separate from the rest of the colony, when he had 
 the deeds of the whole island in his own hands. This 
 caused such a fire of contention among them, that one 
 
 * Bloody tenet, p. 197. 
 
 / 
 
72 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. fcH. IV. 
 
 man was condemned by a vote of the town of Newport, 
 and was carried out and shot to death in their presence. 
 How they were relieved will appear hereafter. 
 
 Governor Winthrop was an excellent ruler, until he 
 died, March 26, 1649, in his 62d year. He kept a jour- 
 nal of remarkable events in his colony, from 1630, until 
 near his end. Hubbard, Mather, and Prince made great 
 use of it in their histories. But the first volume of it 
 was published entire in 1790, as it never was before. It 
 gives the clearest account of dates, principles, and mo- 
 tives of actions in their government, of any work that 
 ever was published. By it we may learn that he was for 
 milder measures with dissenters from their worship, than 
 the majority of their rulers and ministers were ; and 
 though they drew him into greater severities than he de- 
 sired, yet near his end, when Mr. Dudley desired him to 
 sign an order to banish a person for heterodoxy, he re- 
 fused, saying, "We have done too much of that work al- 
 ready."* He spent a large part of his great estate in pro- 
 moting the plantation of his colony, though he met with 
 much ungrateful treatment therein ; but his eldest son went 
 over and procured Connecticut charter, and was governor 
 of that colony until he died, in 1676. These were great 
 honours for one family. 
 
 Mr. John Clarke was an assistant and the treasurer of 
 Rhode Island colony in 1649 ; but that could not secure 
 him from cruel persecution in Massachusetts two years 
 after, with Mr. Obadiah Holmes, who sprang from a good 
 family in England. When Holmes came over first 
 to this country, he joined the church in Salem, and was 
 dismissed from thence to the church in Rehoboth, under 
 the ministry of Mr. Samuel Newman. With them he 
 walked about five years, and then he withdrew from 
 Newman, because he had assumed a presbyterial power 
 over the church. Soon after, he and some became Bap- 
 tists, upon which Newman excommunicated them, and 
 then got them presented to the court of Plymouth, June 
 4, 1650. And when they came there, they found that 
 
 * Belknap's Biography, vol. ii p. 356. 
 
1651.] BAPTIST TESTIMONIES. 73 
 
 one letter was sent to the court against them from Reho- 
 both, another from Taunton, a third from most of the 
 ministers in Plymouth colony, and a fourth from the court 
 at Boston, all urging sharp dealings with them. But 
 Governor Bradford and his court only charged them to 
 desist from their separate meeting at Rehoboth, and ad- 
 journed their case to October court, when they were dis- 
 missed without any punishment. Such was then the 
 government of Plymouth colony. But how different w;.s 
 that of Massachusetts ! There Mr. Clarke and two of 
 his brethren went to visit an old brother of theirs at Lynn, 
 beyond Boston, where they arrived July 19, 1651, and 
 held worship with him the next day, which was the 
 Lord's day. But Mr. Clarke could not get through his 
 first sermon before he and his friends were seized by an 
 officer, and carried to a tavern, and to the parish worship 
 in the afternoon ; and at the close of it Clarke spake a 
 few words, and then a magistrate sent them into confine- 
 ment, and next day to Boston prison. And on July 31, 
 they were tried before the icourt of assistants, by whom 
 Clarke was fined twenty pounds. Holmes thirty, and 
 John Crandal five, or each to be well whipped. When 
 Judge Endicot gave this sentence against them, he said, 
 ** You go up and down, and secretly insinuate things into 
 those that are weak, but you cannot maintain it before our 
 ministers ; you m^y try and dispute with them." There- 
 fore Mr. Clarke wrote from the prison to the court, and 
 proposed a fair dispute upon his principles with any of 
 their ministers. And upon asking what said principles 
 were, he said, 
 
 *' I testify that Jesus of Nazareth, whom God hath 
 raised from the dead, is made Lord and Christ ; this Jesus 
 I say is Christ ; in English, the anointed one ; hath a 
 name above every name ; he is the anointed Priest, none 
 to or with him in point of atonement ; the anointed Pro- 
 phet, none to him in point of institution ; the anointed 
 King, who is gone unto his Father for his glorious king- 
 dom, and shall, ere long, return again ; and that this Je- 
 sus Christ is also Lord, none to or with him by way of 
 commanding and ordering, with reference to the worship 
 
 7 
 
74 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 of God, the household of faith, which being purchased 
 with his blood as a priest, instructed and nourished by 
 his Spirit as a prophet, do wait in his appointments, as 
 he is the Lord, in hope of that glorious kingdom, wliich 
 shall ere long appear. 2. I testify that baptism, or dip- 
 ping in water, is one of the commandments of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and that a visible believer, or disciple of 
 Christ Jesus (that is, one who manifesteth repentance 
 towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ) is the only per- 
 son to be baptized or dipped with water, and also that 
 visible person that is to walk in that visible order of his 
 house, and to wait for his coming the second time in the 
 form of Lord and King, with his glorious kingdom, ac- 
 cording to promise ; and for his sending down, in the 
 time of his absence, the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit of 
 promise, and all this according to the last will and testa- 
 ment of that living Lord, whose will is not to be added 
 to or taken from. 3. I testify or witness, that every such 
 believer in Christ Jesus, that waiteth for his appearing, 
 may, in point of liberty, yea, ought, in point of duty, to 
 improve that talent his Lord hath given him, and in the 
 congregation may ask for information to himself ; or if 
 he can, may speak by way of prophecy for the edifica- 
 tion, exhortation, and comfort of the whole ; and out of 
 the congregation at all times, upon all occasions, and in 
 all places, as far as the jurisdiction of his Lord extendeth, 
 may, yea, ought to walk as a child of light, justifying 
 wisdom with his ways, and reproving folly with the un- 
 fruitful works thereof; provided all this is shown out of 
 a good conversation, as James speaks, with meekness of 
 wisdom. 4. I testify, that no such believer, or servant 
 of Christ Jesus, hath any liberty, much less authority, 
 from his Lord, to smite his fellow-servant, nor with out- 
 ward force, or arm of flesh to constrain, or restrain his 
 conscience, nor his outward man for conscience sake, or 
 worship of his God, where injury is not offered to any 
 person, name, or estate of others, every man being such 
 as shall appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and 
 must give an account of himself to God ; and, therefore, 
 ought to be fully persuaded in his own mind for what he 
 
 n 
 
1651.] HOLMES WHIPPED AT BOSTON. 75 
 
 undertakes, because he that doubteth is damned if he eat, 
 and so also if he act, because he doth not eat or act in 
 faith, and what is not of faith is sin."* 
 
 When he had given this plain testimony, there was a 
 talk that Mr. Cotton would dispute him upon it ; but after 
 consulting together. Cotton declined, and Clarke was re- 
 leased from prison, to be gone out of the colony as soon 
 as possible. Crandal also was released with him ; but as 
 Holmes had been one of them, they resolved to make 
 him a public example. He was therefore confined until 
 September, and then was brought out to be punished in 
 Boston ; and two magistrates, Nowel and Flint, were 
 present to see it done severely. Mr. Holmes, after giv- 
 ing the previous exercises of his own mind, says, 
 
 '* I desired to speak a few words ; but Mr. Nowel an- 
 swered, It is not now a time to speak; whereupon I took 
 leave, and said. Men, brethren, fathers and c^)untrymen, 
 I beseech you to give me leave to speak a few words, and 
 the rather because here are many spectators to see me 
 punished, and I am to seal with my blood, if God give 
 strength, that which I hold and practise in reference to 
 the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus. That 
 which 1 have to say in brief is this, although I am no dis- 
 putant, } et seeing I am to seal with my blood what 1 
 hold, 1 am ready to defend by the word, and to dispute 
 that point with any that shall come forth to withstand it. 
 Mr. Nowel answered, now was no time to dispute ; then 
 said I, I desire to give an account of the faith and order 
 which I hold, and this I desired three times ; but in 
 comes Mr. Fhnt, and saith to the executioner. Fellow, do 
 thine office, for this fellow would but make a long speech 
 to delude the people; so I, being resolved to speak, told 
 the people, that which I am to suffer for is the word of 
 God, and testimony of Jesus Christ. No, saith Mr. 
 Nowel, it is for your error, and going about to seduce the 
 people ; to which I replied. Not for error, for in all the 
 time of my imprisonment, wherein I was left alone, mjr 
 
 brethren being gone, which of all your ministers came td\ 
 
 \ 
 
 * Clarke's Narrative, p. 9, 10. * 
 
76 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 convince me of error? And when, upon the governor's 
 words, a motion was made for a public dispute, and often 
 renewed upon fair terms, and desired by hundreds, what 
 was the reason it was not granted ? Mr. Nowel told me, 
 it was his fault who went away and would not dispute ; 
 but this the writings will clear at large. Still Mr. Flint 
 calls to the man to do his office ; so before, and in the 
 time of his pulling off my clothes, I continued speaking, 
 telling them that I had so learned that for all Boston I 
 would not give my body into their hands thus to be 
 bruised upon another account, yet upon this I would not 
 give the hundredth part of a wampum peague* to free it 
 out of their hands ; and that I made as much con- 
 science of unbuttoning one button, as I did of paying the 
 thirty pounds in reference thereunto. I told them more- 
 over, that the Lord having manifested his love towards 
 me, in giving me repentance towards God, and faith in 
 Christ, and so to be baptized in water by a messenger of 
 Jesus, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
 wherein I have fellowship with him in his death, burial, 
 and resurrection, I am now come to be baptized in af- 
 flictions by your hands, that so I may have further fel- 
 lowship with my Lord, and am not ashamed of his suf- 
 ferings, for by his stripes am I healed. And as the man 
 began to lay the strokes upon my back, I said to the peo- 
 ple, though my flesh should fail, and my spirit should 
 fail, yet God would not fail ; so it pleased the Lord to 
 come in, and to fill my heart and tongue as a vessel full, 
 and with an audible voice I break forth, praying the Lord 
 not to lay this sin to their charge, and telling the people 
 that now I found he did not fail me, and therefore now I 
 should trust him forever who failed me not ; for in truth, 
 as the strokes fell upon me, I had such a spiritual mani- 
 festation of God's presence, as I never had before, and 
 the outward pain was so removed from me, that I could 
 well bear it, yea, and in a manner felt it not, although ii 
 was grievous, as the spectators said, the man striking 
 with all his strength, spitting in his hand three times, 
 
 * The sixth part of a penny. 
 
1651.] HOLMES ESCAPES. 77 
 
 with a three corded whip, giving me therewith thirty 
 strokes. When he had loosed me from the post, having 
 joy fulness in my heart, and cheerfulness in my counte- 
 nance, as the spectators observed, I told the magistrates, 
 You have struck me as with roses ; and said, moreover, 
 although the Lord hath made it easy to me, yet I pray 
 God it may not be laid to your charge. 
 
 *' After this many came to me, rejoicing to see the 
 power of the Lord manifested in weak flesh ; but sinful 
 flesh takes occasion hereby to bring others into trouble, 
 informs the magistrates hereof, and so two more are ap^ 
 prehended as for contempt of authority ; their names are 
 John Hazel and John Spur, who came indeed and did 
 shake me by the hand, but did use no words of contempt 
 or reproach unto any. No man can prove that the first 
 spake any thing ; and for the second, he only said. Bless- 
 ed be the Lord ; yet these two, for taking me by the 
 hand, and thus saying, after I had received my punish- 
 ment, were sentenced to pay forty shillings, or to be 
 whipt. Both were resolved against paying their fine : 
 nevertheless, after one or two days' imprisonment, one 
 paid John Spur's fine, and he was released ; and after six 
 or seven days' imprisonment of brother Hazel, even the 
 day when he should have suffered, another paid his, 
 and so he escaped, and the next day went to visit a friend 
 about six miles from Boston, where he fell sick the same 
 day, and within ten days he ended this life. When I 
 was come to the prison, it pleased God to stir up the 
 heart of an old acquaintance of mine, who with much 
 tenderness, like the good Samaritan, poured oil into my 
 wounds, and plastered my sores ; but there was present 
 information given of what was done, and inquiry made 
 who was the surgeon, and it was commonly reported he 
 should be sent for ; but what was done, I yet know not. 
 Now thus it hath pleased the Father of mercies to dispose 
 of the matter, that my bonds and imprisonment have 
 been no hinderance to the gospel ; for before my return, 
 some submitted to the Lord, and were baptized, and di- 
 vers were put upon the way of inquiry ; and now being 
 advised to make my escape by night, because it was re- 
 7* 
 
78 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 ported that there were warrants forth for me, I departed ; 
 and the next day after, while I was on my journey, the 
 constable came to search at the house where I lodged ; 
 so I escaped their hands, and by the good hand of my 
 heavenly Father brought home again to my near rela- 
 tions, my wife and eight children, the brethren of our 
 town and Providence having taken pains to meet me four 
 miles in the woods, where we rejoiced together in the 
 Lord. Thus have I given you, as briefly as I can, a true 
 relation of things ; wherefore, my brethren, rejoice with me 
 in the Lord, and give all glory to him, for he is worthy, 
 to whom be praise forevermore, to whom I commit you, 
 and pot up my earnest prayers for you, that by my late 
 experience, who trusted in God, and have not been de- 
 ceived, you may trust in him perfectly : wherefore, my 
 dearly beloved brethren, trust in the Lord, and you shall 
 not be ashamed nor confounded. So I rest, yours in the 
 bond of charity, Obadiah Holmes.* "^ 
 
 " Unto the well beloved John Spilsbury, William Kif-1 
 fen, and the rest that in London stand fast in the faith." 
 
 This was carried to England, and published there in 
 1652 ; upon which Sir Richard Saltonstall, who was an 
 early magistrate in Massachusetts^ when Boston was first 
 planted, but was now in London, wrote to the ministers 
 of Boston, and said : 
 
 *' Reverend and dear friends, whom I unfeignedly 
 love and respect, 
 " It doth not a little grieve my spirit to hear what sad 
 things are reported daily of your tyranny and persecu' 
 tion in New England ; that you fine, whip, and imprison 
 men for their consciences. First, you compel such to 
 come into your assemblies as you know will not join with 
 you in worship, and when they show their dislike there- 
 of, or witness against it, then you stir up your magis- 
 trates to punish them for such (as you conceive) their 
 public aflfronts. Truly, friends, this practice of compel- 
 ling any in matters of worship to do that whereof they | 
 «ire not fully persuaded, is to make them sin, for so the 
 * Clarke, p. 17—23. ""^ 
 
1652.] SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALl's LETTER. 79 
 
 apostle tells us, Rom. xiv. 23 ; and many are made hy- 
 pocrites thereby, conforming in their outward man for 
 fear of punishment. We pray for you, and wish your 
 prosperity every way ; hoped the Lord would have 
 given you so much light and love there, that you might 
 have been eyes to God's people here, and not to practise 
 those courses in a wilderness, which you went so far to 
 prevent. These rigid ways have laid you very low in 
 the hearts of the saints. I do assure you I have heard 
 them pray in public assemblies, that the Lord would give 
 you meek and humble spirits, not to strive so much for 
 uniformity as to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond 
 of peace. When I was in Holland, about the beginning 
 of our wars, I remember some Christians there, that then 
 had serious thoughts of planting in New England, de- 
 sired me to write to the governor thereof to know if those 
 ihat differ from you in opinion, yet holding the same 
 foundation in religion, as Anabaptists, Seekers, Antino- 
 mians, and the like, might be permitted to live among 
 you ; to which I received this short answer from your 
 then governor, Mr. Dudley: God forbid, said he, our love 
 for the truth should be grown so cold that we should tole- 
 rate errors." 
 
 To this Mr. Cotton answered, and said : 
 
 ** Honoured and dear Sir, 
 *' My brother Wilson and self do both of us acknow- 
 ledge your love, as otherwise formerly, so now in the late 
 lines we received from you, that you grieve in spirit to 
 hear daily complaints against us ; it springeth from your 
 compassion for our afflictions therein, wherein we see just 
 cause to desire you may never suffer like injury in your- 
 self, but may find olhers to compassionate and condole 
 with you. For w^hen the complaints you hear of ar€ 
 against our tyranny and persecution in fining, whipping, 
 and imprisoning men for their consciences, be pleased to 
 understand we look at such complaints as altogether inju- 
 rious in respect of ourselves, who had no hand or tongue 
 at all to promote either the coming of the persons you aim 
 at into our assemblies, or their punishment for their car- 
 
80 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. IV. 
 
 riage there. Righteous judgment will not take up reports, 
 much less reproaches against the innocent. The cry of 
 the sins of Sodom was great and loud, and reached unto 
 heaven ; yet the righteous God (giving us an example 
 what to do in the like case) he would first go down to see 
 whether their crimes were altogether according to the cry, 
 before he would proceed to judgment. Gen. xviii. 20, 21. 
 And when he did find the truth of the cry, he did not 
 wrap up all alike promiscuously in the judgment, but 
 spared such as he found innocent. We are amongst 
 those (if you knew us better) you would account of (as 
 the matron of Abel spake of herself) peaceable in Israel. 
 2 Sam. XX. 19. Yet neither are we so vast in our indul- 
 gence or toleration as to think the men you speak of suf- 
 fered an unjust censure. For one of them — Obadiah 
 Holmes, being an excommunicate person himself, out of 
 a church in Plymouth patent, came into this jurisdiction, 
 and took upon him to baptize, which I think himself will 
 not say he was compelled here to perform. And he was 
 not ignorant that the rebaptizing of an elder person, and 
 that by a private person out of office and under excom- 
 munication, are all of them manifest contestations against 
 the order and government of our churches, established, we 
 know, by God's law, and he knoweth by the laws of the 
 country. And we conceive we may safely appeal to the 
 ingenuity of your own judgment, whether it would be 
 tolerated in any civil state, for a stranger to come and 
 practise contrary to the known principles of the church 
 estate ? As for his whipping, it was more voluntarily 
 chosen by him than inflicted on him. His censure by the 
 court was to have paid, as I know, thirty pounds, or else 
 to be whipt ; his fine was offered to be paid by friends 
 for him freely ; but he chose rather to be whipt ; in which 
 case, if his suflferings of stripes was any worship of God 
 at all, surely it could be accounted no better than will- 
 worship. The other, Mr. Clarke, was wiser in that point, 
 and his offence was less, so was his fine less, and him- 
 self, as I hear, was contented to have it paid for him, 
 whereupon he was released. The imprisonment of either 
 of them was no detriment. I believe they fared neither 
 
1652.] MR. cotton's answer. &1 
 
 of them better at home ; and I am sure Hohues had not 
 been so well clad of many years before. 
 
 '* But be pleased to consider this point a little further. 
 You think to compel men in niatter of worship is to make 
 them sin, according to Romans xiv. 23. If the worship 
 be lawful in itself, the magistrate compelling to come to 
 it, compelleth him not to sin, but the sin is in his will 
 that needs to be compelled to a Christian duty. Josiah 
 compelled all Israel, or, which is all one, made to serve 
 the Lord their God. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 33. Yet his act 
 herein was not blamed, but recorded among his virtuous 
 actions. For a governor to suffer any within his gates 
 to profane the Sabbath, is a sin against the fourth com- 
 mandment, both in the private householder and m the 
 magistrate ; and if he requires them to present themselves 
 before the Lord, the magistrate sinneth not, nor doth the 
 subject sin so great a sin as if he did refrain to come. — 
 But you say it doth but make men hypocrites, to compel 
 men to conform the outward man for fear of punishment. 
 If it did so, yet better-be hypocrites than profane persons. 
 Hypocrites give God part of his due, the outward man, 
 but the profane person giveth God neither outward nor 
 inward man. — Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, we have 
 tolerated in our church some Anabaptists, some Antino- 
 mians, and some Seekers, and do so still at this day."* 
 
 These letters give a plain idea of the sentiments of 
 these two great men in that day, and that of Mr. Cotton 
 shows the absurdities of his scheme of compulsion about 
 religion. The paying of Mr. Clarke's fine, he says, was 
 done "contrary to my judgment."! Yet Mr. Cotton re- 
 ports that he consented to it, and reflects upon Holmes 
 for not doing the same. But I have a writing of Go- 
 vernor Jenks, wherein he says, ''Although the paying of a 
 fine seems to be a small thing in comparison of a man's 
 parting with his religion : yet the paying of a fine is the 
 acknowledging of a transgression ; and for a man to ac- 
 knowledge that he has transgressed, when his conscience 
 tells him he has not, is but little if any thing short of 
 
 * Hutchinson's Collections, p. 401. 407. f Narrative, p. 11. 
 
82 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. fcH. IV. 
 
 parting with his religion; and it is likely this might be 
 the consideration of those sufferers." And though Cot- 
 ton says, " Hypocrites give God part of his due," yet in 
 the first Christian church God struck two hypocrites dead 
 for lying to the Holy Ghost, and said upon it, Of the 
 rest durst no man join himself to them, but the people 
 magnified them. And believers were the more added to 
 the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. Acts v. 5 
 — 14. And how loud is this warning to all the world 
 against lying and hypocrisy, especially in the affairs of 
 religion ! And though Mr. Cotton was exceeding confi- 
 dent that their churches were established by the laws of 
 God, yet the character which he gives of his own church 
 is more like confusion of all sentiments, than the union 
 described in the first Christian churches. --. 
 
 Mr. Cotton died on December 23, 1652, soon after this \ 
 letter was written. He was greatly esteemed, both in j 
 Europe and America, as a clear preacher of the gospel. 
 And though he was so dark about Christian liberty, yet 
 Mr. Williams says, " Since it pleased God to lay a com-_j 
 mand on my conscience to come in as his poor witness in 
 this great cause, I rejoice that it hath pleased him to ap- 
 point so able, and excellent, and conscionable an instm- 
 ment, to bolt out the truth to the brain. As it is my con- 
 stant grief to differ from any fearing God, so much more 
 from Mr. Cotton, whom I highly esteem and dearly re- 
 spect, for so great a portion of mercy given unto him, and 
 so many truths of Christ maintained by him."* So that 
 his conscience obliged him to write against the errors of a 
 man whom he highly esteemed. And in the same book 
 he sent a letter to Governor Endicot, in which he said, 
 *' By your principles and conscience, such as you count 
 heretics, blasphemers, and seducers must be put to death. 
 You cannot be faithful to your principles and conscience 
 without it."t Endicot did plead conscience in putting 
 four persons to death about eight years after; and this hath 
 exposed New England to reproach among the nations 
 ever since, more than any other action they ever did. 
 
 * Preface to Williams against Cotton, 1652, p. 6. 
 j- Tenet more bloody, p. 312. 
 
1653.] OPINIONS CONCERNING BAPTISM. 83 
 
 The sufferings and writings of the Baptists at this 
 time were a cause of light to many. Mr. Henry Dunstar, 
 president of Cambridge college, had such a turn in his 
 mind, that he boldly preached in their pulpit, that they 
 had no right to baptize any infant whatever. And when 
 Mr. Mitchel, minister in the town, went to talk with him 
 upon the subject, great scruples were raised in his own 
 mind about infant baptism. But he laboured hard to re- 
 move them, and at length concluded that they were from 
 the devil, and said, '* I resolved that I would have an argu- 
 ment able to remove a mountain, before I would recede 
 from, or appear against a truth or practice received among 
 the faithful."* This was in December, 1653; and Dr. 
 Cotton Mather published it to the world in 1697, and Mr. 
 John Cleveland of Ipswich inserted it in a piece he 
 published for infant baptism in 1784. Thus it has been 
 a tradition in New England, from the fathers of Massa- 
 chusetts to our days, that they who forsake infant baptism 
 are deceived by the devil, though that practice is not 
 named in the Bible ! And Mr. Dunstar was turned out 
 from being president, for rejecting it ; and such a temper 
 was discovered against him, that he removed out of their 
 colony, and spent the remainder of his days at Scituate in 
 Plymouth colony, where he died in 1659. Captain 
 Johnson finished writing his history in 1652, just before 
 this event, and then he said, ** Mr. Henry Dunstar is now 
 president of the college, fitted from the Lord for the work, 
 and by those that have skill that way, reported to be an 
 able proficient, both in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin 
 languages, an orthodox preacher of the truths of Christ, 
 and very powerful, through his blessing, to move the 
 affections, "t 
 
 At the same time he said, " Familists, Seekers, Antino- 
 mians, and Anabaptists are so ill armed, that they think 
 it best sleeping in a whole skin ; fearing that if the day 
 of battle once goes on, they shall fall among antichrist's 
 armies ; and therefore cry out like cowards, If you will 
 
 ♦ • 
 
 * Mitchers Life, p. 67—70. 
 
 f Johnson^p. 168. His history was printed in 1654. 
 
84 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 let me alone, I will let you alone ; but assuredly the Lord 
 Christ hath said, He that is not with us is against us : 
 there is no room in his army for toleratorists."* But the 
 Baptists were so far from fear or discouragement, that 
 they boldly persevered in their way, till they obtained de- 
 liverance. The towns of Newport and Portsmouth 
 chose Mr. Clarke, and Providence and Warwick chose 
 Mr. Williams their agents to go to England, and plead 
 their cause there. And that they might have a fair trial, 
 the commissioners of the United Colonies, at their meet- 
 ing in September, 1651, received a writing from War- 
 wick, saying, '* May it please this honoured committee to 
 take knowledge, that we, the inhabitants of Shawomet, 
 alias Warwick, having undergone divers oppressions and 
 wrongs, amounting to great damage, since we first pos- 
 sessed this place ; being forced thereby to seek to the 
 honourable state of Old England for relief, which did 
 inevitably draw great charge upon us, to the further im- 
 pairing of our estates ; and finding favour for redress, 
 were willing to waive for that time (in regard to the great 
 troubles and employment that then lay on that state) all 
 other lesser wrongs we then underwent, so that we might 
 be replaced in and upon this our purchased possession, 
 and enjoy it peaceably for time to come, without disturb- 
 ance or molestation by those from whom we had formerly 
 suffered. But since our gracious grant from the Hon. 
 Parliament, in replacing of us in this place, we have been 
 and are daily pressed with intolerable grievances, to the 
 eating up of our labours, and wasting of our estates, mak- 
 ing our lives, together with our wives and children, bitter 
 and uncomfortable ; insomuch that, groaning under our 
 burden, we are again constrained to make our address to 
 the Parliament." And so gave the colonies notice to be 
 prepared to answer their complaints there. 
 
 This caused the commissioners of Massachusetts, Brad 
 street and Hathorne, to observe that Plymouth gave up 
 those lands to th«m in 1643, to which others assented 
 and told of the great pains and expense they had been a> 
 
 * Johnson, p. "231. 
 
1653.] COMMISSIONERS IN ENGLAND. 85 
 
 about Gorton and his company, and support to the In- 
 dians, who said those men had wronged them about their 
 lands ; and desired to know if the other colonies would 
 help them to do justice for the Indians. But the com- 
 missioners from Plymouth, Brown and Hatherly, de- 
 clared that what was done in 1643, by men from their 
 colony, was going beyond their authority, who had no 
 right over Shawomet lands, and that Massachusetts had 
 no right to do all that they had in the heart of Providence 
 colony. And the commissioners from Connecticut and 
 New Haven owned that it might be so. This is all plain 
 in their records. And Williams and Clarke sailed from 
 Boston with these complaints in November, though Wil- 
 liams had hard work to get a passage from thence, not- 
 ivithstanding the services he had done for them formerly. 
 
 When they arrived at London, each of them published 
 the books which I have before named : and in October 
 they obtained a vacation of Coddington's commission, 
 and an order for their colony to unite again, under their 
 former charter. This was brought over by William Dyer, 
 who left it on Rhode Island, and wrote to Providence and 
 Warwick to come there and act upon it. But as these 
 two towns had acted upon their charter all the while that 
 the island was in confusion, they still remained two par- 
 ties ; and there were many against them in England. 
 Edward Winslow, who had been governor of Plymouth, 
 and Edward Hopkins, who had been governor of Connecti- 
 cut, were then in England. 
 
 On April 1, 1653, Mr. Williams wrote to his constitu- 
 ents, and said, '* The determination of our controversy is 
 hindered by two main obstructions. The first is the 
 mighty war with the Dutch. Our second obstruction is 
 the opposition of our adversaries. Sir Arthur Haselrig and 
 Colonel Fenwick, who married his daughter, Mr. Wins- 
 low, and Mr. Hopkins, both in great place ; and all the 
 friends they can make in the Parliament and council, and 
 all the priests, both Presbyterian and Independent ; so 
 that we stand as two armies ready to engage, observing 
 the motions and postures each of other, and yet shy each 
 of other." But before that month was out, Cromwell 
 8 
 
86 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 dissolved the Parliament, vt^hich altered things greatly; 
 and the Presbyterians have never had so great power in 
 England since, as they had before. 
 
 Mr. Williams continued there another year, and then 
 left Mr. Clarke, their agent, in Englana, while he came 
 over to settle affairs here. And he brought a letter from 
 Sir Henry Vane, which contained sharp reproofs for their 
 disorders in his colony, and wise advice about removing 
 of them. But Williams found it very hard work to get 
 the two parties together, and yet he did it ; and they met 
 on September 12, 1654, and elected him for their presi- 
 dent, and then voted to have him send letters of thanks to 
 their benefactors in England. On May 22, 1655, he 
 was again elected president for a year. But some men 
 had been so troublesome among them, that a letter was 
 procured from the protector in England, which said, 
 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your agent here hath represented unto us some par- 
 ticulars concerning your government, which you judge 
 necessary to be settled by us here ; but by reason of other 
 great and weighty affairs of this commonwealth, we have 
 been necessitated to defer the consideration of them to a 
 further opportunity ; in the mean time we are willing to 
 let you know, that you were to proceed in your govern- 
 ment according to the tenor of your charter, formerly 
 granted on that behalf, taking care of the peace and safety 
 of those plantations, that neither through intestine com- 
 motions or foreign invasions, there do arise any detri- 
 ment or dishonour to this commonwealth or yourselves, 
 as far as you by your care and diligence can prevent. 
 And as for the things that are before us, they shall, as 
 soon as other occasions will permit, receive a just and 
 sufficient determination. And so we bid you farewell, 
 and rest, your loving friend, Oliver P. 
 
 ''March 29, 1655. 
 To our trusty and well-beloved, the president, assistants, 
 
 and inhabitants of Rhode Island, together with the rest 
 
 of the Providence Plantations in the Narraganset Bay 
 
 in New England." 
 
1656.] AFFAIRS AT WARWICK. 87 
 
 Upon receiving this, their assembly met, June 28, and 
 enacted, *' That if any person or persons be found by 
 examination and judgment of a general court of commis- 
 sioners, to be a ringleader or ringleaders of factions or 
 divisions among us, he or they shall be sent over at his 
 or their own charges, as prisoners, to receive his or their 
 trial or sentence, at the pleasure of his highness and the 
 lords of his council." And then all open opposition 
 ceased in their government. And President Williams 
 wrote in November to Massachusetts about their opposi- 
 tion to it ; but receiving no satisfaction, he wrote again 
 in May, 1656, and said, 
 
 ** Honoured sirs, our first request is for your favoura- 
 ble consideration of the long and lamentable condition of 
 the town of Warwick, which hath been thus. They are 
 so dangerously and so vexatiously intermingled with the 
 barbarians, that I have long admired the wonderful power 
 of God in restraining and preventing very great fires of 
 mutual slaughters breaking forth between them. Your 
 wisdoms know the inhumane insultations of these wild 
 creatures, and you may be pleased also to imagine, that 
 they have not been sparing of your name as the patron 
 of all their wickedness against our Englishmen, women, 
 and cliiklren, and cattle, to the yearly damage of sixty, 
 eighty, and an hundred pounds. The remedy, under 
 God, is only your pleasure that Pumham shall come to 
 an agreement with the town or colony, and that some 
 convenient way and time be set for their removal. And 
 that your wisdoms may see just grounds for such your 
 willingness, be pleased to be informed of a reality of a 
 s*olemn covenant between this town of Warwick and 
 Pumham, unto which, notwithstanding he pleads his be- 
 ing drawn to it by the awe of his superior sachems, yet 
 I humbly offer, that what was done was according to the 
 law and tenor of the natives (I take it) in all New Eng- 
 land and America, viz. that the inferior sachems and sub- 
 jects shall plant and remove at the pleasure of the high- 
 est and supreme sachems ; and I humbly conceive that it 
 pleaseth the Most High and only Wise to make use of 
 such a bond of authority over them, without which they 
 
88 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 could not long subsist in human societies, in this wild 
 condition wherein they are." 
 
 And he went on to remind them of the order of Par- 
 liament in 1646, that they should remove all obstructions 
 which they had put in the way of those who had pur- 
 chased the lands in Warwick, so that they might freely 
 enjoy their rights. He also desired them no longer to 
 assume any power over a few persons in Pawtuxet, and 
 to treat their colony as a distinct government.* And his 
 request was granted. 
 
 The Massachusetts were awfully requited for their 
 iniquity in these affairs. For when they received Pum- 
 ham as their subject, they furnished him with arms and 
 ammunition, for hunting ; and in Philip's war he joined 
 against the English, and was very active in the war, and 
 so was his son and grandson ; and Pumham was killed 
 within twenty miles of Boston, but a few days before 
 Philip.t How righteous are God's judgments ! 
 
 The Massachusetts were fond of comparing themselves 
 to the Israelites who conquered Canaan ; and I have re- 
 cited a passage in which Captain Johnson has named 
 seven sectaries which they were to subdue, as Israel did 
 the seven nations in the promised land ; but as these are 
 far from being parallel cases, so was the success of the 
 two people. For the seed of Jacob were completely 
 victorious, but Massachusetts never subdued one of 
 the sects which he named. And a new one now arose, 
 who caused more disgrace to them than any others had 
 done. 
 
 Out of the confusions in England, George Fox came 
 forth as a zealous preacher of a new doctrine ; and in 
 1650, he and his followers received the name of Qua- 
 kers, from the trembling motions of their bodies, upon 
 various occasions. They increased fast in England, and 
 their sufferings animated them to travel far and near; and 
 in the summer of 1656, some of them arrived at Boston, 
 where they were confined. And when the commission- 
 
 * Hutchinson's Collections, p. 279—282. 
 •f Habbard on said War, p. 131. 175, 176. 
 
1657.] GOVERNOR BRADFORD DIES. 89 
 
 ers of the United Colonies met at Plymouth in Septem- 
 ber, they received a letter from the court at Boston, 
 which said, " Having heard some time since, that our 
 neighbouring colony of Plymouth, our beloved brethren, 
 in great part seem to be wanting to themselves in a due 
 acknowledgment and encouragement of the ministry of 
 the gospel, so as many pious ministers have (how justly we 
 know not)* deserted their stations, callings, and relations; 
 our desire is that some such course may be taken, as that 
 a pious orthodox ministry may be restated among them, 
 that so the flood of errors and principles of anarchy may 
 be prevented. Here hath arrived amongst us several 
 persons professing themselves Quakers, fit instruments 
 to propagate the kingdom of Satan ; for the securing of 
 our neighbours from such pests, we have imprisoned 
 them all till they be despatched away to the place from 
 whence they came." And the commissioners gave ad- 
 vice accordingly.! 
 
 But such measures were not taken as long as Governor 
 Bradford lived, who died on May 9, 1657, in his 69th 
 year. And in June following, John Brown and James 
 Cudworth, two of their assistants, were left out of office, 
 and others were chosen, who were for more severe mea- 
 sures, though not equal to Massachusetts ; who also 
 wrote repeatedly to the rulers of Rhode Island colony, to 
 try to draw them into like severity, but without any suc- 
 cess. 
 
 The Quakers held that they had a light and spirit 
 within them, which was their highest rule of action, and 
 that the Scriptures were only a secondary rule ; and that 
 the external use of baptism and the Lord's supper was 
 now out of date, and that they had those ordinances in- 
 wardly and spiritually. They also held themselves to be 
 inspired by the Spirit of God to teach a more clear and 
 
 * One of these was Mr. Reyner, who went from Plymouth in 
 1654, and robbed them of all their church records, so that all the re- 
 cords they since have of former actings in their church, were col- 
 lected from memory and private writings ; as their late pastor told me. 
 And how unjust was this ! 
 
 \ Hutchinson's Collections, p. 283 — 286. 
 8* 
 
90 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH.'lV. 
 
 -A 
 
 perfect way than men had known since the days of the 
 apostles, if they had not greater light than the apostles 
 had. This spirit taught them to give no titles to rulers 
 nor other men, and to use thee and thou to all. Hum- 
 phrey Norton was scourged at Plymouth, in June, 1658, i 
 and then sent out of that colony; upon which he wrote/ 
 to Governor Prince, and said, 
 
 " Thomas Prince, thou who hast hent thy heart to 
 work wickedness, and with thy tongue hast thou set forth 
 deceit; thou imaginest mischief upon thy bed, and 
 hatchest thy hatred in thy secret chamber ; the strength 
 of darkness is over thee, and a malicious mouth hast thou 
 opened against God and his anointed, and with thy 
 tongue and lips hast thou uttered perverse things ; thou 
 hast slandered the innocent by railing, lying, and false ac- 
 cusations : and with thy barbarous heart hast thou caused 
 their blood to be shed. Thou hast through all these 
 things broke and transgressed the laws and ways of God, 
 and equity is not before thy eyes. The curse causeless 
 cannot come upon thee, nor the vengeance of God unjustly 
 cannot fetch thee up ; thou makest thyself merry with thy 
 secret malice. The day of thy wailing will be like unto 
 that of a woman that murders the fruit of her womb ; the 
 anguish and pain that will enter upon thy reins will be 
 like gnawing worms lodging betwixt thy heart and liver : 
 when these things come upon thee, and thy back bowed 
 down with pain, in that day and hour thou shalt know to 
 thy grief, that prophets of the Lord God we are, and the 
 God of vengeance is our God. Humphrey Norton." 
 
 This I copied from Plymouth records, where it was in- 
 serted, that posterity might know how their fathers were 
 treated. And we may here also learn how secular force 
 serves to inflame mistaken zeal ; for the various punish- 
 ments that were inflicted upon those people caused their 
 zeal to rise the higher, until the commissioners of the 
 United Colonies met at Boston in September, 1658 ; and 
 then they advised each general court to make a law t(> 
 banish Quakers on pain of death. And such a law wa^ 
 
1659.] QUAKERS HANGED. 91 
 
 made at Boston the next month, by the majority of one 
 vote only ; and the other colonies would not follow their 
 example. Many other punishments were inflicted upon 
 the Quakers in Plymouth and New Haven colonies, but 
 little or none in Connecticut. _ 
 
 On October 20, 1659, William Robinson, Marmaduke 
 Stevenson, and Mary Dyre, were condemned to die for 
 returning after they were banished on pain of death ; and 
 the two men were hanged at Boston the 27th. And 
 though the woman was then sent away, yet she returned, 
 and was executed June 1, 1660. And on March 14, 
 1661, William Leddra was hanged there for the like 
 crime. And as Charles the Second had been restored to 
 the crown of England the year before, Governor Endicot 
 and his court wrote to him in December, and said, ** Our 
 liberty to walk in the faith of the gospel, with all good 
 conscience, was the cause of our transporting ourselves, 
 with our wives, little ones, and our substance, from that 
 pleasant land over the Atlantic Ocean into this vast wil- 
 derness, choosing rather the pure Scripture worship with 
 a good conscience, in this remote wilderness among the 
 heathen, than the pleasures of England with submission 
 to the then so disposed and so far prevailing hierarchy, 
 which we could not do without an evil conscience. — Con- 
 cerning the Quakers, open and capital blasphemers, open 
 seducers from the glorious Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed gospel, and from the 
 Holy Scriptures as the rule of life, open enemies to the 
 government itself as established in the hands of any but 
 men of their own principles, malignant and assiduous pro- 
 moters of doctrines directly tending to subvert both our 
 church and state, after all other means for a long time 
 used in vain, we were at last constrained for our own ~1 
 safety to pass a sentence of banishment against them 
 upon pain of death. Such was their desperate turbulence 
 both to religion and state, civil and ecclesiastical, as that 
 the magistrate at last, in conscience both to God and man, 
 judged himself called for the defence of all, to keep the 
 passage with the point of the sword held towards them ; 
 this could do no harm to him that would be warned 
 
92 CHURCH HIsArY of new ENGLAND. [cH. IV. ^ 
 
 ] 
 
 thereby ; their wittingly rushing themselves thereupon 
 was their own act, we with humility conceive a crime 
 bringing their blood upon their own heads."* 
 
 But William Robinson had given a paper to the court 
 at Boston, in which he said, " The word of the Lord came 
 expressly to me, which did fill me immediately with life, 
 and power, and heavenly love, by which he constrained 
 me, and commanded me to pass to the town of Boston, 
 my life to lay down in his will, for the accomplishing of 
 his service, that he had there to perform at the day ap- 
 pointed." And Marmaduke Stevenson gave them another 
 paper, in which he said, '* The word of the Lord came 
 unto me, saying, Go to Boston, with thy brother William 
 Robinson."! 
 
 Thus it appears that both sides pleaded a conscientious 
 obedience to God in their actings against each other. And 
 from hence we may see that the use of force in religious 
 affairs is a bloody practice. And though King Charles 
 put a stop to their hanging any more here, yet he said, 
 " We cannot be understood hereby to direct or wish that 
 any indulgence should be granted to those persons com- 
 monly called Quakers, whose principles being inconsistent 
 with any kind of government, we have found it necessary, 
 with the advice of our Parliament here, to make a sharp 
 law against them, and are well content you do the like 
 there."} And many more dissenters died in prison in his 
 reign, than the bloody Queen Mary burnt at the stake. 
 Open executions were now become more odious to the • 
 people than in former days of ignorance and superstition, 
 while private cruelty was borne with or little regarded. 
 But the vengeance of God will reach the most secret / 
 criminals, as well as the most open murderers. ~~~n/ 
 
 * Hutchinson's Collections, p. 326, 327. 
 
 t Bishop, p. 127—133. 
 
 \ Hutchinson's Collections, p. 379. 
 
1662.] CONTENTION ABOUT BAPTISM. 93 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Contention about baptism — Two Baptist churches formed — That at 
 Boston is persecuted three years, and then three of them were 
 banished — But many are for them here, and clear letters are 
 written in their favour from England — After they had been con- 
 fined a year they were released from prison — Injustice about Pro- 
 vidence colony exposed — And they at last prevail — Williams dis- 
 putes and writes against the Quakers — A division in Boston church 
 — Clarke's faith, and his joyful end. 
 
 We shall now return to the affairs of baptism. They 
 who supposed that each believer stood in the same rela- 
 tion to liis children as Abraham did to his in the covenant 
 of circumcision, brought none to baptism but the infants 
 of communicants in their churches. But as those infants 
 grew up and had children, and yet were not communicants 
 themselves, a greiU trial came on to know what would 
 become of succeeding generations. A convention of 
 ministers met in 1657, and answered twenty -one ques- 
 tions upon the subject, and had them printed in London. 
 But as this did not relieve them, another convention was 
 called at Boston in 1659, and a synod in 1662, who 
 introduced a halfway-covenant, so that they who would 
 own it, and were regular in their lives, might have 
 their children sprinkled without coming to the ordinance 
 of the supper themselves. This was pleasing to many, 
 while others thought it to be an apostasy from the first 
 principles of the country ; and the controversy about it, in 
 various shapes, has continued ever since. 
 
 The first Baptist church in Wales was formed near 
 Swansea, in that country, in 1649. Mr. John Miles was 
 their chief leader, and they increased to about three hun- 
 dred members, by the year 1662, when he was ejected 
 out of his place, by a cruel act of Parliament, which 
 turned two thousand teachers out of their places in one 
 day, for refusing fully to conform to the church of Eng- 
 land. He then came over, with the book of church re- 
 
94 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. V. 
 
 cords which he had kept there, and it remains in our 
 Swansea to this day. And at the house of John Butter- 
 worth, in Rehoboth, in 1663, John Miles, elder, James 
 Brown, Nicholas Tanner, Joseph Carpenter, John But- 
 terworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby, solemnly 
 covenanted together as a church of Christ, to obey him 
 in all his ordinances and commandments. They were in 
 Plymouth colony, where they had ever enjoyed much 
 more liberty than any had in Massachusetts. Mr. Brown 
 was son to John Brown, who had long been a magistrate 
 in that colony, and his son served them afterwards in 
 that office for eleven years, in a time when his brethren 
 in Massachusetts were fined, imprisoned, and banished. 
 Indeed Mr. Miles and his church were complained of to 
 court, for holding their meetings in Rehoboth, where was 
 a Congregational church, and a small fine was imposed 
 upon them for it. But in 1667, the court granted them 
 the town of Swansea, where the church has continued 
 by succession ever since, and is the fourth Baptist church 
 in America. 
 
 The fifth was formed in Massachusetts. The liglu 
 that was gained in 1653, when President Dunstar preach- 
 ed against infant baptism in Cambridge, caused Thomas 
 Gould, who lived near him in Charlestown, to examine 
 the matter so much, that when he had a child born in 1655, 
 he could not bring it to be sprinkled. For this he was 
 called before the church in Charlestown, and he told them 
 that he could see no light for infant baptism, and there- 
 fore could not, in conscience, bring his child to it. Upon 
 this, ministers, rulers, and brethren laboured with him, 
 but could not convince him. He was still willing to com- 
 mune with that church, if they would let him do it with- 
 out carrying his child to an ordinance, which he had no 
 faith in ; and he read that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 
 And because of this, and also his going out of meeting 
 when they sprinkled infants, they censured him in their 
 church, and punished him in their courts for more than 
 seven years. At length three Baptist brethren came over 
 from England, recommended from churches there, and 
 met with him and others in private houses. And on 
 
1665.] BAPTISTS ARRESTED. 95 
 
 May 28, 1665, Thomas Gould, Thomas Osborne, Ed- 
 ward Drinker, John George, Richard Goodale, William 
 Turner, Robert Lambert, Mary Goodale, and Mary 
 Newell, ** joined in a solemn covenant, in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, to walk in fellowship and communion 
 together in the practice of all the holy appointments of 
 Christ, which he had, or should further make known unto 
 them." 
 
 Goodale came from London, and Turner and Lambert 
 from Dartmouth ; the others were of our country, though 
 none of them were church members before, but Gould 
 and Osborne, both of Charlestown ; from whence they 
 were excommunicated, after they were baptized. These 
 facts I gathered from their records and writings. They 
 were of such a peaceable disposition, and so far from dis- 
 turbing others, as the Quakers did, that their rulers hardly 
 knew where to find them. But on August 20, 1665, 
 Richard Russel, one of their magistrates, issued a war- 
 rant to the constable of Charlestown, requiring him in his 
 majesty's name, to labour to discover where these people 
 were, and to require them to attend on the established 
 worship, or if they would not, to return their names and 
 places of abode (o the next magistrate. This was done, 
 and some of them were brought before their court of as- 
 sistants in September, to whom they presented a confes- 
 sion of their faith, in which they said, ** Christ's commis- 
 sion to his disciples is to teach and baptize, and those 
 who gladly receive the word and are baptized, are fit mat- 
 ter for a visible church." But this was loudly complain- 
 ed of, as implying that none were visible saints, who 
 were not baptized by immersion ; though they held that 
 they ought to be visible saints before they were baptized. 
 Thus men turn things upside down. And the court of 
 assistants charged them to desist from their practice ; and 
 because they did not, Gould, Turner, Osborne, Drinker, 
 and George, were brought before their general court in 
 October, to whom they presented their confession of faith, 
 and closed with saying, ** If any take this to be heresy, 
 then do we with the apostle confess, that after tlie way 
 which they call heresy, we worship God, the Father of 
 
96 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. V. 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, believing all things that are written 
 in the law and the prophets and apostles." 
 
 But the court called this a contemning of their author- 
 ity and laws, and declared them to be no lawful church 
 assembly, and said, '* Such of them as are freemen are 
 to be disfranchised, and all of them, upon conviction be- 
 fore any one magistrate or court, of their further pro- 
 ceeding herein, to be committed to prison until the gene- 
 ral court shall take further order with them." Dr. Ma- 
 ther tries to vindicate the court herein, because the Bap- 
 tists acted against the law of the government ; but a 
 noted Presbyterian minister says, *' This condemns all 
 the dissenting congregations that have been gathered in 
 England, since the act of uniformity in the year 1662." 
 And, says he, " Let the reader judge, who had most rea- 
 son to complain ; the New England churches, who would 
 neither suffer the Baptists to live quietly in their commu- 
 nion, nor separate peaceably from it ; or these unhappy 
 persons, who were treated so unkindly for following the 
 light of their consciences."* 
 
 Yet for following that light, they pursued them with 
 fines and imprisonment, for three years ; and then the 
 court of assistants appointed a meeting at Boston, April 
 14, 1668, and called six ministers to manage a dispute 
 whether those persons ought not to be banished, for hold- 
 ing a separate meeting from their churches. And they 
 sent a warrant to Thomas Gould, which said, *' You are 
 required in his majesty's name to give notice to John 
 Farnum, Thomas Osborne, and the company, and you 
 and they are alike required to give your attendance, at 
 the time and place above mentioned, for the end therein 
 expressed." And as this was heard of at Newport, Mi 
 Clarke and his church sent William Hiscox, Joseph To- 
 ry, and Samuel Hubbard, to assist their brethren, ana 
 they got to Boston three days before the dispute. And it 
 was carried on two days by those ministers, with allow- 
 ing the Baptists but little liberty to speak for themselves ; 
 and it was closed by Mr. Mitchel, with the words of Mo- 
 
 * Magnalia, b. 7, p. 27. Neale on New England, vol. i. p. 304, 305. 
 
1668.] GOULD AND OTHERS BANISHED. 97 
 
 ses, who said to Israel, If there arise a matter too hard tV 
 thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea 
 and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of 
 controversy within thy gates ; then shalt thou arise, and 
 get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall 
 choose ; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, 
 and unto the judge tha^ shall be in those days, and in- 
 quire ; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judg- 
 ment : and thou shalt do according to the sentence, which 
 they of that place, which the Lord shall choose, shall 
 shew thee ; and thou shalt observe to do according to all 
 that they inform thee ; according to the sentence of the 
 law which they shall teach thee, and according to the 
 judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do ; thou 
 shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew 
 thee, to the right hand nor the left. And the man that 
 will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the 
 priest (that standeth- there before the Lord thy God) or 
 unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt 
 put away the evil from Israel. Deut. xvii. 8 — 12. 
 
 Thus the sentence that was given from the law of God, 
 in the place he chose, under the direction of the Urim 
 and Thummim, w^s applied to the sentence of rulers and 
 ministers at Boston, according to the laws of men. That 
 they then applied this Scripture in this manner, appears 
 from their colony records, compared with the writings of 
 Samuel Hubbard and Mr. Gould. And thirty years after, 
 Mr. Stoddard brought the same Scriptures to prove, that 
 all men ought to submit to a national synod, as I shall 
 prove hereafter. 
 
 Their general court in May called those Baptists before 
 them, to know whether they were convinced of their evil 
 in withdrawing from their churches, by what said minis- 
 ters had laid before them ; but they declared that they 
 were not at all convinced of any evil in so doing. The 
 court then called them obstinate Anabaptists, whom they 
 were bound in conscience to proceed against ; and gave 
 sentence that Thomas Gould, William Turner, and John 
 Farnum, should be gone out of their jurisdiction by the 
 20th July, not to return again without their leave. And 
 9 
 
98 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. V. 
 
 as Gould was then a prisoner, by the sentence of a for- 
 mer court, he was liberated from thence, in order that he 
 might obey this sentence. Mr. Mitchel, who read off 
 said scripture against them, died suddenly eleven days be- 
 fore the time set in their sentence of banishment ; but 
 this gave no relief to these sufferers. And because they 
 did not obey their sentence, these three men were impri- 
 soned in Boston for near or quite a year. 
 
 How any who feared God, could go on to act against 
 others, as these rulers and ministers did, may seem very 
 strange in our days ; but a careful search into their histo- 
 ry will open the cause of it. Mr. Wilson, the first mi- 
 nister of Boston, was in great esteem with other ministers, 
 who came round him in May past, and desired him to 
 give his dying testimony of what he conceived to be the 
 cause of the displeasure of God against this country. 
 He told them that he had long feared the following sins as 
 chief among others, which provoked God greatly, 
 " 1. Separation. 2. Anabaptism. 3. Corahism, when 
 people rise up as Corah, against their ministers or elders, 
 as if they took too much upon them, when indeed they 
 do but rule for Christ, and according to Christ. 4. An- 
 other sin I take to be, the making light of, and not sub- 
 jecting to the authority of synods."* These things he 
 delivered as his dying testimony ; and he died August 7, 
 1668, just after those Baptists were put in prison there. 
 No one can easily tell how great impressions such things 
 had upon their minds. Indeed some were of a different 
 opinion, and when their general court met in the fall, they 
 presented a petition in favour of those sufferers, and said, 
 " We humbly beseech this honourable court, in their 
 Christian mercy and bowels of compassion, to pity and 
 relieve these poor prisoners ; whose sufferings are doubt- 
 ful to many, and some of great worth among ourselves, 
 and grievous to the hearts of God's people at home and 
 abroad. Your wisdoms may be pleased to think of some 
 better expedient, and seriously to consider whether an in- 
 dulgence, justifiable by the word of God, pleaded for and 
 
 * Morton, p, 195, 196. 
 
 I 
 
1669.] LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 99 
 
 practised by Congregational churches, may not, in this 
 (Jay of suffering to the people of God, be more effectual, 
 safe, and inoffensive than other ways, which are always 
 grievous and seldom lind success." And they spoke 
 highly of the good lives of those Baptists, as another 
 plea in their favour. Captain Hutchinson, Captain Oliver, 
 and many others signed this petition ; but some were 
 fined for it, and others were compelled to confess their 
 fault, for reflecting upon the court. But Deputy Govern- 
 or Willoughby was against these proceedings.* An ac- 
 count of these things was sent to England, and a letter 
 from thence to Captain Oliver, said, 
 
 ^'My dear Brother^ 
 ** The ardent affection and great honours that I have for 
 New England transport me, and 1 hope your churches shall 
 ever be to me as the gates of heaven. 1 have ever been 
 warmed with the apprehension of the grace of God to- 
 wards me in carrying me thither. But now it is other- 
 wise; with joy to ourselves and grief to you be it spoken. 
 Now tlu^ greater my love is to New England, the more 
 am I f rieved at their failings. It is frequently said here, 
 that lliey are swerved aside towards Presbytery; if so, 
 the Loi J restore them all. But another sad thing that 
 much affects us is, to hear that you even in New England 
 persecute your brethren ; men sound in the faith ; of holy 
 life ; agreeing in worship and discipline with you ; only 
 differing in the point of baptism. Dear brother, we here 
 do love and honour them, hold familiarity with them, and 
 take sweet counsel together ; they lie in the bosom of 
 Christ, and therefore they ought to belaid in our bosoms. 
 In a word, we freely admit them into churches ; few of 
 our churches, but many of our members are Anabaptists ; 
 I merm baptized again. This is love in England ; this is 
 moderation ; this is a right New Testament spirit. -But 
 do you now bear with, yea, more than bear with the Pres- 
 byterians ? Yea, and that the worst sort of them, those 
 who are the corruptest, rigidest ; whose principles tend 
 
 • Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 227. 269. 
 
..00 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. V. 
 
 lO corrupt the churches ; turning the world into the 
 church, and the church into the world ; and which doth no 
 less than to bring a people under mere slavery. It is an 
 iron yoke, which neither we nor our Congregational bre- 
 thren in Scotland were ever able to bear. I have heard 
 them utter these words in the pulpit, that it is no wrong 
 to make the Independents sell all they have, and depart 
 the land ; and many more things I might mention of that 
 kind ; but this I hint only, to shew what cause there is to 
 withstand that wicked tyranny which was once set up in 
 poor miserable Scotland, which I verily believe was a 
 great wrong and injury to the reformation. The generali- 
 ty of them here, even to this day, will not freely consent 
 to our enjoyment of our liberty ; though* through mercy, 
 the best and most reformed of them do otherwise. How 
 much, therefore, would it concern dear New England to 
 turn the edge against those who, if not prevented, will 
 certainly corrupt and enslave, not only their own, but also 
 your churches ? Whereas Anabaptists are neither spirit- 
 ed or principled to injure or hurt your government nor 
 your liberties ; but rather these be the means to preserve 
 your churches from apostasy, and to provoke them to 
 their primitive purity, as they were in the first planting; 
 in admission of members to receive none into your 
 churches but visible saints, and in restoring the entire ju- 
 risdiction of every congregation complete and undisturb- 
 ed. We are hearty and full for our Presbyterian bre- 
 thren's equal liberty with ourselves ; O that they had the 
 same spirit towards us ! But O how it grieves and af- 
 fects us, that New England should persecute ! Will you 
 not give what you take ? Is liberty of conscience your 
 due ? And is it not as due unto others who are sound in 
 the faith ? Amongst many Scriptures, that in the four- 
 teenth of Romans much confirms me in liberty of con- 
 science thus stated. To him that esteemeth any thing 
 unclean, to him it is unclean. Therefore, though we a[)- 
 prove of the baptism of the immediate children of church 
 members, and of their admission into the church when they 
 evidence a real work of grace ; yet to those who in con- 
 science believe the said baptism to be unclean, it is unclean. 
 
1669.] LETTERS FROM KWl^I^NIt. l()\ 
 
 Both that and mere ruling elders, though we approve of 
 them, yet our grounds are mere interpretations of, and not 
 any express scripture. I cannot say so clearly of any 
 thing else in our religion, neither as to faith or practice. 
 Now must we force our interpretations upon others, pope- 
 like ? How do you cast a reproach upon us who are 
 Congregational in England, and furnish our adversaries 
 with weapons against us ! We blush and are filled with 
 shame and confusion of face, when we hear of these 
 things. Dear brother, we pray that God would open 
 your eyes, and persuade the heart of your magistrates, 
 that they may no more smite their fellow-servants, nor 
 thus greatly injure us their brethren, and that they may 
 not thus dishonour the name of God. My dear brother, 
 pardon me, for I am affected ; I speak for God, to whose 
 grace I commend you all in New England ; and humbly 
 craving your prayers for us here, and remain your affec- 
 tionate brother, ^^^^^^ Mascall. 
 
 Finsbury, near Morefield, March 25, 1669." 
 
 This was copied by Mr. Samuel Hubbard, from whence 
 I took it. Dr. Goodwin, Dr. Owen, and ten other minis- 
 ters wrote to the Massachusetts rulers the same day, in a 
 moving manner, and said, *'We are sure you would be 
 unwilling to put an advantage into the hands of some who 
 seek pretences and occasions against our liberty, and to 
 reinforce the former rigour. Now we cannot deny but 
 this hath already in some measure been done, in that it 
 hath been vogued, that persons of your way, principles, 
 and spirit, cannot bear with dissenters from them. And 
 as this greatly reflects upon us, so some of us have ob- 
 served how already it has turned to your own disadvan- 
 tage." Yet Dr. Mather says, *' I cannot say that this 
 excellent letter had immediately all the effect it should 
 have had."* So that they were imprisoned about a year, 
 because they would not voluntarily go out of that juris- 
 diction. And the year after, six magistrates gave a war- 
 
 * Magnolia, b. 7, p. 27, 28. 
 9* 
 
"102 ' cilURCH ihSTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. V. 
 
 rant to take up Gould and Turner again, and Turner was 
 actually put in prison upon the old sentence, and lay- 
 there a long time ; but Gould went and lived and preached 
 upon Noddle's island in the harbour, where they did not 
 pursue him. For a great many rulers and others ab- 
 horred such conduct. But we must now take a review of 
 other things. 
 
 When the rulers of Massachusetts yielded to the order 
 of Parliament about Warwick, they were far from giving 
 up their designs upon the lands in Providence colony- 
 They claimed much of the west part of it, because of the 
 Pequot conquest; and in 1657 and 1658, they sent men 
 and got deeds of much land in the heart of the Narra- 
 ganset country. The Narraganset Indians were also so 
 uneasy about the death of their great sachem, Miantenimo, 
 that they often attempted to revenge his death, but were 
 overpowered by forces sent, once and again, from Massa- 
 chusetts ; and in 1660, they compelled those Indians to 
 mortgage all their lands to them, for what they said was 
 due to Massachusetts. And because two Baptist brethren, 
 Tobias Sanders, and Robert Burdick, went to work upon 
 lands which they had procured from their government in 
 Westerly : they were imprisoned by Massachusetts in 
 1662, who then wrote to the rulers of Providence colony 
 about it, as it appears by the records of both colonies. In 
 the mean time, Mr. Winthrop went over to England, and 
 obtained a charter, dated April 23, 1662, which united 
 Connecticut and New Haven in one colony. Their 
 eastern boundary was described to be " By the Narra- 
 ganset river, commonly called Narraganset Bay, where 
 said river falleth into the sea." And by this general de- 
 scription they claimed the Narraganset country. For 
 when the commissioners of the united colonies met at 
 Boston in September, they wrote to the rulers of Provi- 
 dence colony, and mentioned this charter to Connecticut, 
 which they said, ** Granted the lands at Pawcatuck and 
 Narraganset, which we hope will prevail with you to re- 
 quire and cause your people to withdraw themselves, and 
 desist from further disturbance." 
 
 Now they should have remembered, that in 1643, they 
 
1670.] PROVIDENCE BOUNDARY SETTLED. 103 
 
 interpreted the Narraganset river, the western boundary 
 of Plymouth colony, so as to include the lands where 
 Gorton was settled ; and all that Massachusetts did to him 
 was founded upon that interpretation, which supposed 
 Pawcatuck to be the western boundary of Plymouth 
 colony. Yet now they would claim all the Narraganset 
 country by Connecticut charter. What great blindness 
 was here ! And it was soon discovered by the charter 
 which Mr. Clarke procured for his colony, dated July 8, 
 1663, which said, ** Pawcatuck river shall be also called, 
 alias, Narraganset river ; and to prevent future disputes 
 that otherwise might arise thereby, forever hereafter shall 
 be construed, deemed, and taken to be the Narraganset 
 river, in the late grant to Connecticut colony, mentioned 
 as the eastwardly bounds of that colony." Yet they 
 were so resolute that it should not be so, that they pro- 
 posed to send an agent over to England, to get that line 
 altered. Upon which Mr. Williams wrote to Connecticut 
 rulers, and said : 
 
 " It looks like a prodigy or monster, that countrymen 
 among savagres in a wilderness ; that professors of God 
 and one Mediator, of an eternal life, and that this is like 
 a dream, should not be content with those vast large 
 tracts which all the other colonies have, (like platters and 
 tables full of dainties,) but pull and snatch away their 
 poor neighbour's bit or crust ; and a crust it is, and a dry, 
 hard one too, because of the natives' continual troubles, 
 trials, and vexations." And as to claims from the Pequot 
 conquest, he said, " Having ocular knowledge of persons, 
 places, and transactions, I did honestly and conscien- 
 tiously, as in the holy presence of God, draw up from 
 Pawcatuck river, which I then believed and still do is free 
 from all English claims and conquests. For although 
 there were some Pequots on this side the river, who by 
 reason of some sachems' marriages with some on this 
 side, lived in a kind of neutrality with both sides ; yet 
 upon the breaking out of the war, they relinquished their 
 land to the possession of their enemies the Narrag-ansets 
 and Nyanticks, and their land never came into the con- 
 dition of the lands on the other side, which the English 
 
104 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. V. 
 
 by conquest challenged : so that I must affirm, as in God's 
 holy presence, I tenderly waived to touch a foot of land in 
 which I knew the Pequot wars were maintained, and 
 were properly Pequot, being a gallant country. And 
 from Pawcatuck river hitherward, being but a patch of 
 ground, full of troublesome inhabitants, I did, as I judged 
 inoffensively, draw our poor and inconsiderable line." 
 And he says of their second charter, "Mr. Winthrop, 
 upon some mistake, had intrenched upon our line, and it 
 is said upon the lines of other charters also ; but upon 
 Mr. Clarke's complaint, your grant was called in again, 
 and it had never been returned, but upon a report that the 
 agents, Mr. Winthrop, and Mr. Clarke, were agreed by 
 mediation of friends ; and it is true they came to a solemn 
 agreement under hands and seals, which agreement was 
 never violated on our part."* 
 
 This letter was dated June 22, 1670. And though the 
 case was not then carried again to England, yet this line 
 was not settled in fifty years after. But in 1720, Go- 
 vernor Jenks was sent over as agent upon this contro- 
 versy, and it was settled in 1729, the line to be Paw- 
 catuck river. And in 1741, their easterly line was 
 settled, which gave their colony Littlecompton, Tiverton, 
 Bristol, Warren, Barrington, and Cumberland, which they 
 had not enjoyed before. Thus all the lands, and all the 
 liberties that were asked for by Mr. Williams and Mr. 
 Clarke, were finally obtained in that colony, though 
 others exerted all their powers against it. And these 
 things give great encouragement to all who may come 
 after us, to perseverance in right ways, and a warning 
 against all injustice and oppression. 
 
 Mr. Williams had also another difficulty now to en 
 counter, in which he was successful. Though Mr. Cod- 
 dington, and other men of note, submitted to his govern- 
 ment in 1656 : yet as they soon joined with the Quakers, 
 they refused to be active in that government. Their 
 plea was, that they were obliged in conscience to refrain 
 from taking any oath. Therefore the form of an engage- 
 
 * Historical Society, vol. i. p. 278—280. 
 
1672.] DISPUTES WITH QUAKERS. 105 
 
 ment to the government was enacted for them in 1665, 
 which it was hoped they would take ; but in March, 
 1666, they objected against it, and prevailed with their 
 Assembly to make a law to allow them to make their sub- 
 mission in their own words, either before the court or be- 
 fore two magistrates. And then they were as fond of being 
 rulers as any men : and Mr. Nicholas Easton was go- 
 vernor in 1672 and 1673, and Mr. Coddington in 1674 and 
 1675, who were then Quakers. And as Williams believed 
 that their principles were hurtful to government, as well 
 as dangerous to the souls of men, and George Fox and 
 Other teachers of theirs were come over, he wrote four- 
 teen propositions upon the subject, and sent them to 
 Newport, proposing to Fox or his friends, to hold a dis- 
 pute upon seven of them at Newport, and upon the other 
 seven at Providence, upon any days that they should ap- 
 point. Fox then sailed for England, but John Stubs, 
 John Burnyeat, and William Edmondson undertook it ; 
 and Williams held a dispute with them in August, 1672, 
 ' three days at Newport, and one at Providence. And he 
 MTOte a large account of it, which was printed at Cam- 
 bridge, 1676; and soon after it came out, several of the' 
 Quakers were left out of office. Upon this, Mr. Cod- 
 dington sent the book over to Fox, with a bitter letter 
 against Williams ; and he with Burnyeat wrote a reply, 
 which they called, " A New England firebrand quenched." 
 And it was printed in England, in 1678. 
 
 Mr. Williams dedicated his book to them, wherein he 
 said, '* From my childhood, now above threescore years, 
 the Father of lights and mercies touched my soul with 
 the love of himself, to his only begotten Son, the true 
 Lord Jesus, to his Holy Scriptures, &c. His infinite 
 wisdom hath given me to see the city, court, and country, 
 the schools and universities of my native country, to 
 converse with some Turks, Jews, Papists, and all sorts 
 of Protestants ; and by books to know the affairs and re- 
 ligions of all countries. My conclusion is, that Be of 
 good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, (Matt. ix. 2,) is 
 one of the joyfullest sounds that ever came to poor sinful 
 ears. How to obtain this sound from the mouth of the 
 
106 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 Mediator who spoke it, is the greatest dispute between 
 the Protestants and the bloody whore of Rome ; and this 
 is also the greatest point between the Protestants and 
 yourselves, as also, in order to this, about what the tru6 
 Lord Jesus Christ is." 
 
 They were so much upon what Christ did within 
 them, that he says George Fox, in a former book, " can- 
 not endure to hear the word human, as being a new name 
 and never heard of in Scripture. Fox knows, that if 
 Christ Jesus be granted to have had such a soul and body 
 as is human or common to man, down falls their Dagon 
 before the ark of God, viz. their idol of a Christ called 
 light within them."* To which it was answered, 
 " There is no such word that calleth Christ's body and 
 soul human; and whether is Christ's body celestial or 
 terrestrial, "t 
 
 And this opinion prevailed so much at Newport, that 
 Mr. Clarke and his church, after much labour, excluded 
 three men and two women from their communion, Octo-' 
 ber 16, 1673, for holding "That the man Christ Jesus 
 was not now in heaven nor earth, nor anywhere else, but 
 that his body was entirely lost." This Mr. Comer says 
 he took from their records. Such was their language 
 then, let it be altered ever so much since. And as to 
 government. Fox published a book in 1659, in which he 
 said, " that the magistrate of Christ, the help government 
 for him, he is in the light and power of Christ ; and he 
 is to subject all under the power of Christ, into his light, 
 else he is not a faithful magistrate ; and his laws are 
 agreeable, and answerable according to that of God in 
 every man. "J Williams brought this to prove that their 
 spirit was arbitrary and persecuting ; but Fox said, '* Is 
 there one word of persecution here ? or can Roger Wil- 
 liams think himself a Christian, and look upon it to be 
 persecution, for Christ*s magistrates by Christ's light 
 and power, to subject all under the power of Christ, and 
 to bring all into this light of Christ ? or can he think 
 
 • Williams, p. 51. f Fox, p. 43. 
 
 • Wiiuams, p. 51. 
 
 4: Williams, p. 207, 208 
 
1672.] DISPUTES WITH QUAKERS. 107 
 
 such an one an unfaithful magistrate ? or are those laws, 
 and the execution of them, persecution, that are agreeable 
 and answerable to that of God in every man ? These are 
 George Fox's words. Such magistrates, such laws, such 
 power, and light, and subjection, is George Fox for, and 
 no other."* 
 
 And as two women had appeared as naked as they 
 were born, before many people, the one at Salem and the 
 other at Newbury, and had been whipped for it, which 
 George Bishop called persecution, Williams mentioned 
 it, and that he thought persons must be bewitched to call 
 this persecution. But Fox said, ** We do believe thee, 
 in that dark, persecuting, bloody spirit, that thou and the 
 New England priests are bewitched in, you cannot be- 
 lieve that you are naked from God and his clothing, and 
 blind ; and therefore hath the Lord in his power moved 
 some of his sons and daughters to go naked ; yea, they 
 did tell them in Oliver's days, and the Long Parliament's, 
 that God would strip them of their church profession and 
 of their power, as naked as they were. And so they 
 were true prophets and prophetesses to the nation, as 
 many sober men have confessed since ; though thou and 
 the old persecuting priests in New England remain in 
 your blindness and nakedness. "t 
 
 And through their book they called him a cruel perse- 
 cutor for disputing against their principles and behaviour, 
 while he abhorred the use of any force against them on 
 that account. And having obtained his end in the dispute, 
 he never troubled them or himself any more about it. 
 
 But the dispute about baptism was again brought up in 
 Massachusetts. Mr. John Devenport had published his 
 testimony against the result of the synod of 1662, which 
 allowed persons to bring their children to baptism, who 
 were not fit to come to the Lord's supper themselves ; 
 and as a majority of the first church in Boston were of 
 his mind, they obtained him for their pastor, soon after 
 Mr. Wilson died. But a minor part of the church were 
 for the new scheme, and they separated from the major- 
 
 • Fox, p. 229, 230. f ^o^» P- ^- 
 
108 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IV. 
 
 ity, pleading that Mr. Devenport had no right to leave 
 his people at New Haven, in order to be a minister in 
 Boston. And in May, 1669, a number of ministers as- 
 sisted in forming the minor party into another church ; 
 and in July Governor Bellingham called his council to- 
 gether, fearing, he said, " A sudden tumult, some per- 
 sons attempting to set up an edifice for public worship, 
 which he apprehended to be detrimental to the public 
 peace." But the majority of his council voted to let 
 them go on ; though a hot contention about it continued 
 through the year. And in May, 1670, the house of re- 
 presentatives chose a committee to inquire into the causes 
 of God's displeasure against this land ; and they reported 
 that they were, '* declension from the primitive founda- 
 tion work, innovations in doctrine and worship, opinion 
 and practice ; an invasion of the rights, liberties, and pri- 
 vileges of churches, an usurpation of a lordly and prelati- 
 cal power over God's heritage, subversion oT gospel 
 order, &;c." And the acting of the ministers who formed 
 said new church they called, " irregular, illegal, and dis- 
 orderly." But of fifty members who were in their next 
 house, there were but twenty of these ; and they declared 
 against what the others had done.* Such was the in- 
 fluence of ministers in that day. And in May, 1682, 
 Edward Randolph, who was trying to get away their 
 charter, wrote to England, and said, ** There was a great 
 difference betwixt the old church and the members of the 
 new church, about baptism and their members joining in 
 full communion with either church. This was so high 
 that there was imprisoning of parties and great disturb- 
 ances ; but now, hearing of my proposals for ministers to 
 be sent over, they are now joined together, about a fort- 
 night ago, and pray to God to confound the devices of all 
 who disturb their peace and liberties. "t That new 
 church is since called the Old South. 
 
 Whilst Mr. Clarke was in England, a new Baptist 
 church was formed out of the first church in Newport, 
 holding to the laying on of hands upon every member 
 
 ♦ Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 272—274. f His Collections, p. 632. 
 
1673.] MR. JOHN CLARKE. 109 
 
 after baptism, about the year 1656, which was the third 
 Baptist church in America, and is still continued by suc- 
 cession. And as other colonies were then trying to draw 
 his colony into violent measures against the Quakers, the 
 Legislature of Rhode Island colony wrote to Mr. Clarke 
 and said, '* We have found, not only your ability and dili- 
 gence, but also your love and care to be such concerning 
 the welfare and prosperity of this colony, since you have 
 been intrusted with the more public affairs thereof, sur- 
 passing the no small benefit which we had of your pre- 
 sence here at home, that we in all straits and encum- 
 brances, are emboldened to repair to you for further and 
 continued care, counsel, and help ; finding that your solid 
 and Christian demeanor hath gotten no small interest in 
 the hearts of our superiors, those noble and worthy sena- 
 tors, with whom you had to do in our behalf, as it hath 
 constantly appeared in our addresses to them, we have by 
 good and comfortable proof found, having had plentiful 
 experience thereof." And so they went on to entreat 
 him to use all his influence in their favour, that they 
 might not be compelled to persecute the Quakers, and he 
 succeeded therein.- This was dated, November 5, 1658, 
 the month after the law was made at Boston to banish 
 them on pain of death. 
 
 Mr. Clarke continued their agent in England, until he 
 obtained the charter from the king which I mentioned be- 
 fore, to procure which he mortgaged his farm in Newport, 
 willing to venture his estate in so good a cause. He 
 came over to Newport in 1664, and their assembly voted 
 to pay him for all his expenses, in obtaining their charter 
 and other ways, and to give him a considerable reward for 
 his services ; but it was a long time before they paid him 
 only for his expenses in their service. 
 
 From that time he continued the pastor of the first 
 church in Newport, until he died in peace. A small 
 church was formed out of that, in December, 1671, hold- 
 ing to the seventh-day Sabbath, which yet continues. 
 This made the sixth Baptist church in America. Mr. 
 Clarke left a confession of his faith in writing, in which 
 he said, 
 
 10 
 
110 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. V. 
 
 " The decree of God is that whereby he hath from 
 eternity set down with himself what shall come to pass 
 in time. Eph. i. 11. All things, with their causes, ef- 
 fects, circumstances, and manner of being, are decreed by 
 God. Acts ii. 23. Him being delivered by the determi- 
 nate counsel and foreknowledge of God, &:c. Acts iv. 28. 
 This decree is most wise. Rom. xi. 33. Most just. 
 Rom. ix. 13, 14. Eternal. Ep. i. 4, 5. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 
 Necessary. Ps. xxxiii. 11. Prov. xix. 21, Unchange- 
 able. Heb. vi. 17. Most free. Rom. ix. 18. And the 
 cause of all good. James i. 17. But not of any sin. 1 
 John i. 5. The special decree of God concerning angels 
 and men is called predestination. Rom. viii. 30. Of the 
 former, viz. angels, little is spoken in the Holy Scriptures; 
 of the latter, more is revealed, not unprofitable to be 
 known. It may be defined the wise, free, just, eternal, 
 and unchangeable sentence or decree of God, determining 
 to create and govern men for his special glory, viz. the 
 praise of his glorious mercy and justice. Rom. ix. 17, 
 1 8, and xi. 36. Election is the decree of God, of his 
 free love, grace, and mercy, choosing some men to faith, 
 holiness, and eternal life, for the praise of his glorious 
 mercy. 1 Thess. i. 4. 2 Thess. ii. 13. Rom. viii. 29,30. 
 The cause which moved the Lord to elect them who are 
 chosen was none other but his mere good will and plea- 
 sure. Luke xii. 32. The end is the manifestation of the 
 riches of his grace and mercy. Rom. ix. 23. Eph. i. 6. 
 The sending of Christ, faith, holiness, and eternal life, are 
 the effects of his love, by which he manifesteth the infinite 
 riches of his grace. In the same order God doth execute 
 this decree in time, he did decree it in his eternal counsel. 
 1 Thess. V. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 13. Sin is the effect of 
 man's free will, and condemnation is an effect of justice 
 inflicted upon man for sin and disobedience. A man in 
 this life may be sure of his election. 2 Pet. i. 10. 
 1 Thess. i. 4. Yea, of his eternal happiness, but not of 
 his eternal reprobation ; for he that is now profane may 
 be called hereafter." ^^ 
 
 This faith, which was also held by Mr. Williams, moved 
 
1673.] MR. JOHN CLARKE. Ill 
 
 ih£m to spend their lives for the welfare of mankind, and 
 to establish the first government upon earth, since the rise 
 of antichrist, which gave equal liberty, civil and religious, 
 to all men therein. Though many have imagined that be- 
 cause the leaders of Massachusetts professed this faith, that 
 it was inconsistent with the allowance of equal privileges 
 to all mankind. Therefore 1 thought it best here to give 
 a view of the faith of these men, who were persecuted 
 by Massachusetts, because they thought that good men 
 ought to enforce their faith with the sword. But this 
 last opinion should ever bear the blame of all the injuries • 
 which they did to others, and not the faith above de- I 
 scribed. 
 
 Mr. Clarke was influenced so much by faith and love, 
 that through many changes, and doing of public busi- 
 ness, both in Europe and America, I have never 
 found one blemish upon his character, noticed in any 
 record or writing that I ever saw. In the last day of his 
 life he said, 
 
 ** Whereas, 1, John Clarke, of Newport, in the colony 
 of Rhodi! Island and Providence Plantations, in New 
 England, physician, am at this present, through the abun- 
 dant goodness and mercy of my God, though weak in 
 body, \c\ sound in my memory and understanding, and 
 being sensible of the inconveniences that may ensue in 
 case I should not set my house in order, before this spirit 
 of mine be called by the Lord to remove out of this taber- 
 nacle, do therefore make and declare this my last will and 
 testament, in manner following: willingly and readily 
 r(>siirning up my soul unto my merciful Redeemer, through 
 faith in whose death I firmly hope and believe to escape 
 from that second hurting death, and through his resurrec- 
 tion and life, to be glorified with him in life eternal. 
 And my spirit being returned out of this frail body, in 
 which it hath conversed for about sixty-six years, my will 
 is, that it be decently interred, without any vain ostenta- 
 tion, between my loving wives, Elizabeth and Jane, al- 
 ready deceased, in hopeful expectation that the same Re- 
 deemer who hath laid down a price both for my soul and 
 
112 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. M, 
 
 body, will raise it up at the last day a spiritual one, that 
 they may together be singing hallelujah unto him to all 
 eternity."* O how glorious is such an end ! 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A terrible Indian war — It prevailed most in Massachusetts — Some 
 whom they had employed against Providence colony, revenge them- 
 selves on their employers — But the Baptist suflerers now overcame 
 evil with good, and the war was closed — Many Christian Indians 
 never joined in it — Two Baptist churches formed among them, and 
 others in our days — More severities against the Baptists — Their 
 house for worship nailed up in Boston, and writings against them, 
 which they answered — Death of some of their ministers — The Mas- 
 sachusetts charter vacated — Then some of their eyes were opened 
 to see their errors. 
 
 We are now come to the time when they had the most 
 terrible war with the Indians that ever was known in this 
 part of the country. And in it there appeared a vast dif- 
 ference between the Indians who had been well treated 
 before, and those who had been treated injuriously. The 
 execution of the great sachem of the Narragansets, after 
 he had been taken captive, and then delivered up to the 
 
 * Taken from his original will, dated April 20, 1676; and he left 
 our world the same day. His first wife was Elizabeth Harges, who 
 hud an annual income of twenty pounds sterling from lands left her 
 in Bedfordshire. In a power of attorney to recover it, given May 12, 
 1 6^6, he styled himself John Clarke, physician of London. She died 
 at Newport, without issue ; and he married Jane Fletcher in Februa- 
 ry, 1671, by whom he had a daughter; but they both died in 1672. 
 His third wife was the widow Sarah Davis, who survived him, and he 
 gave her the use of his farm in Newport, during her natural life, and 
 then the income of it was to go to the poor, and to support civil and 
 religious teaching. It has produced 200 dollars a year, and it has 
 thus been a public benefit ever since. His brother, Joseph Clarke, was 
 sometimes a magistrate in their government, and he was a member of 
 the first church in Newport, above forty years ; and his posterity are 
 numerous and respectable unto this day. 
 
1676.] INDIAN WAR. 113 
 
 English, raised such a spirit of resentment among them, 
 that they often attempted to revenge his death. And such 
 danger of their doing it appeared in 1645, that the colo- 
 ny raised an army against them, when an instruction to 
 their general said, ** You are to use your best endeavours 
 to gain the enemies' canoes, or utterly to destroy them ; 
 and herein you may make good use of the Indians our 
 confederates, as you may do upon other occasions, having 
 due regard to the honour of God, who is both our sword 
 and shield, and to the distance which is to be observed 
 betwixt Christians and barbarians, as well in wars as in 
 other negotiations."* And though fear of gunpowder, 
 want of union among themselves, and the want of an able 
 leader, suspended the war for many years, yet it now 
 came on terribly. 
 
 Philip, a son and successor to old Massassoit, had been 
 preparing for it for several years : and because it was dis- 
 covered to the English, by one of his friends, that friend 
 -was murdered in Middleborough, and the murderers were 
 taken and executed at Plymouth. Upon this the war 
 broke out immediately, and nine men were killed in 
 Swansea, June 24^ 1675, and the alarm was given ; and 
 an army both from Boston and Plymouth met there in 
 four days, and made their head quarters at the house of 
 Mr. Miles, the Baptist minister of Swansea. Philip soon 
 fled from his station at Mount Hope, now Bristol, over to 
 the east side of the great river. And upon this the Mas- 
 sachusetts army marched into the N^rraganset country, 
 and brought the Indians there to promise not to join with 
 Philip, and then they returned, and joined with Ply- 
 mouth forces to fight against him. But he soon came 
 back over the river, and made his way up into Worcester 
 county, where some English were killed in July, as Cap- 
 tain Hutchinson and others were on August 2, near 
 Brookfield. Major Willard then marched up and relieved 
 that town, upon which the Indians went further westward, 
 and burned most of the houses in Deerfield, September 1 , 
 and Northfield a few days after, when one captain and 
 
 * Hutchinson's Collecrions, p. 161. 
 10* 
 
114 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VI. 
 
 about twenty raen were slain. And on September 18, as 
 Captain Lothrop went with his company to guard some 
 teams, in bringing off grain from Deerfield, they were 
 surprised by the Indians, who slew him and more than 
 seventy of his men. Deerfield was then deserted, and 
 thirty houses were burned in Springfield, and some men 
 slain there. On October 19, Hatfield was assaulted by 
 many Indians, but they were bravely repulsed, and many 
 of them retired into Narraganset. 
 
 Upon a small tract of upland, within a large swamp in 
 that country, they had built and stored the strongest fort 
 that they ever had in these parts. Therefore the colonies 
 raised an army of a thousand men, under General Win- 
 slow, and destroyed it on December 19, with great stores 
 of provision, and many hundreds of the enemy ; but with 
 the loss of six English captains, and one hundred and 
 seventy, some said two hundred and ten men killed or 
 M^ounded. A terrible storm of snow made the case much 
 more distressing. And as much provision was destroyed 
 in that fort, the Indians were greatly distressed, and 
 many perished; but a great thaw in January, 1676, en- 
 abled them to get some food out of the ground, and they 
 again went up northward, and burned the deserted houses 
 in Mendon, and made an onset upon Lancaster, February 
 10, burning their houses, and killed or captivated forty 
 persons, of whom Mrs. Rowlandson, wife to the minister, 
 was one, who published an account of her captivity. 
 Similar mischiefs were done at Groton, Malborough, Sud- 
 bUry, and Chelmsford ; and on February 21, they came 
 down upon MedfieldJ but twenty miles from Boston, and 
 burned many houses, and killed eighteen men. • On the 
 25th they did damage at Weymouth, still nearer to Bos- 
 ton. On March 12, they took Clarke's garrison in Ply- 
 mouth, killing several persons ; and on the next day they 
 burned all Groton to the ground, so that the place was de- 
 serted for some time. In the same month they burned 
 many houses in Warwick, Providence, and Rehoboth. 
 And on March 26, near Patucket river. Captain Pierce 
 engaged with a body of Indians, who proved to be more 
 than he expected, when he and near sixty of his men 
 
1676.] INDIAN WAR. 115 
 
 were cut off, though it was said they slew one hundred 
 and forty Indians. And the western part of Massachusetts 
 was now in great distress, so that new forces were raised 
 to help them. 
 
 William Turner, and other Baptists, who had suffered 
 from the rulers of the government, were as ready to lend 
 a helping hand against the common enemy, as any among 
 them. He had offered his service in the beginning of the 
 war, but it was not then accepted ; but now he was called 
 forth, and made captain of a company, and his brother 
 Drinker lieutenant, and the company were mainly Bap- 
 tists, who marched up in the beginning of this month, 
 with others, and drove off the enemy from Northampton, 
 March 14. Many of the enemy then came down the 
 country again, and did much mischief, as before described ; 
 and they also killed Captain Wadsworth and about thirty 
 of his men at Sudbury, April 18. Most of the western 
 forces were now come down the country, and Captain 
 Turner was left the chief commander above. 
 
 Upon this the enemy felt more secure, and seven or 
 eight hundred of them resorted to the great falls above 
 Deerfield upon the fishing design. Two captive lads 
 made their escape, and informed how secure the Indians 
 were, upon which Captain Turner and Captain Holyoke 
 collected about one hundred and seventy men, and went 
 up silently in the night, and tied their horses at some dis- 
 tance, and a litde before break of day. May 18, came upon 
 them unawares, *' fired into their very wigwams, killing 
 many upon the place, and frightening others with the 
 sudden alarm of their guns, made them run into the river, 
 where the swiftness of the stream carried them down a 
 steep fall, and they perished in the waters ; some, getting 
 into canoes, were sunk or overset by the shooting of our 
 men ; others, creeping under the bank of the river, were 
 espied by our men and killed with their swords. Some 
 of their prisoners owned afterwards that they lost above 
 three hundred men, some of them their best fighting men 
 that were left. Nor did they seem ever to recover them- 
 selves after this defeat, but their ruin followed dil-ectly 
 upon it." When thpy were first fired upon, they cried 
 
116 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VI. 
 
 out, Mohawks ! but when they discovered their mistake in 
 the morning, they rallied their forces, and Captain Tur- 
 ner being unwell, and not able to guide their retreat so 
 agreeably, thirty-eight men fell, of whom he was one, 
 who was afterwards found and buried.* AH the rest of 
 the Baptists were spared and returned. 
 
 Captain Benjamin Church of Duxborough, in Ply- 
 mouth colony, carried his family on to Rhode Island in 
 the beginning of the war, and he was very serviceable 
 therein. And as he knew that the Sokonet Indians were 
 forced into the war by Philip, he ventured over among 
 them in June, 1676, and gained them over to the English 
 to fight against Philip, and they were very successful 
 from day to day, until they killed him at Mount Hope, 
 August 12, 1676, after which peace was soon restored in 
 these parts. t 
 
 This summary of that cruel war is collected from a 
 variety of histories and accounts. Connecticut forces 
 were very helpful in the war, and they lost three captains 
 at the Narraganset fort : namely, Gallop, Seily, and Mar- 
 shal, and a number of their men ; but they had scarce any 
 damage done in any of their towns, while they and the 
 Mohegan Indians did great exploits in the war. It began 
 in Plymouth colony, where a few men were killed, and 
 Captain Pierce was of their colony. But Massachusetts 
 lost eight captains, viz.: Hutchinson, Beers, Lothrop, 
 Devenport, Gardner, Johnson, Wads worth, and Turner, 
 and a great many men. And the towns of Northfield, 
 Deerfield, Brookfield, Mendon, Lancaster, and Groton, 
 were all broken up for some years ; and they lost a vast 
 deal of property. 
 
 Mr. John Eliot of Roxbury, had begun to teach Chris- 
 tianity to some Indians about 1646, and Mr. Winslow, 
 their agent in England, obtained a charter from the Par- 
 liament in 1649, to incorporate a society to promote that 
 work ; and Eliot learned the Indian language, and trans- 
 lated the Bible into it, which passed one edition in 1664, 
 
 • Hubbard's History, p. 1 57—1 61. 
 
 f Pumham, before spoken of, was killed a few days before Philip. 
 
1676.] CHRISTIAN INDIANS. 117 
 
 and another in 1684, with some other books. Mr. Daniel 
 Gookin, a magistrate and a major-general in their go- 
 vernment, was also his helper in the affair ; and they had 
 formed twelve praying societies among the Indians be- 
 fore this war, some of them as high up the country as 
 Dudley and Woodstock ; but they were all scattered in 
 the war, and many of their praying Indians became bloody 
 enemies, and were slain in the war, or hanged after it at 
 Boston. Those that remained were afterwards collected 
 by Mr. Eliot into four societies ; but they are all dissolved 
 since. 
 
 But the Indians on Cape Cod, and on the islands south 
 of it, scarce any of them ever joined in the war against 
 the English. They had not only been treated in a 
 friendly manner, but much pains had also been taken to 
 teach them Christianity. Mr. Richard Bourn engaged in 
 that work as early as 1658, and in 1670 he was ordained 
 the pastor of a church among them, by the assistance of 
 Mr. Eliot and others. And in 1674, he wrote to Major 
 Gookin, that upon and near the Cape there were seven 
 praying societies; among the Indians, of whom an hun- 
 dred and forty could read, and some of them could write. 
 Marshpee, between Sandwich and Barnstable, was the 
 greatest seat of them ; and a religious society has con- 
 tinued there ever since, and a Baptist church was formed 
 and organized among them in 1797. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Mayhew obtained a grant of Martha's 
 Vineyard, and went to live there in 1642, where he was 
 the chief ruler of the English inhabitants, and his son 
 Thomas was their minister. And about 1646 he began 
 to preach to the Indians on the island ; and to promote 
 the cause, his father informed them, that by an order from 
 the crown of England he was to govern the English who 
 should inhabit there ; that his royal master had power far 
 above the Indian monarchs, but that as he was great and 
 powerful, so he was a lover of justice, and would not in- 
 vade their jurisdiction, but would assist them if need re- 
 quired ; that religion and government were two distinct 
 things, and their sachems might retain their just authority, 
 though their subjects became Christians. And he prac- 
 
118 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VI 
 
 tised accordingly, and would not suffer any to injure them, 
 either in goods or lands. They always found a father 
 and protector in him ; and he was so far from introducing 
 any form of government among them against their wills, 
 that he first convinced them of the advantage of it, and 
 even brought them to desire him to introduce and setde it. 
 And a Christian church was formed among them in 1659, 
 in which four officers were ordained in 1670, by Mr. 
 Eliot and others. And they had soon two churches on 
 the Vineyard, and one on Nantucket. Old Mr. Mayhew 
 said in 1674, "There are ten Indian preachers, of good 
 knowledge and holy conversation ; seven jurisdictions, 
 and six meetings every Lord's day." So many were on 
 the Vineyard, besides a church at Nantucket. 
 
 And when the war came on the next year, the Chris- 
 tian Indians were furnished with arms and ammunition to 
 defend the islands against the enemy ; and they were so 
 faithful therein, that when any landed to solicit them to 
 join in the war, though some were related by blood and 
 others by marriage, yet the islanders directly brought them 
 before the governor to attend his pleasure. And by a Ci- 
 vine blessing on these means, though the Indians on the 
 island were twenty to one of the English, yet they lived 
 in peace and security through all that dreadful war on the 
 main land. Young Mr. Mayhew had sailed for England, 
 in 1657, and was lost at sea, but he left Peter Folger, a 
 schoolmaster, among the Indians ; and he removed to 
 Nantucket about four years after, and taught them there. 
 He became a Baptist, and there was a Baptist church 
 formed among the Indians on the Vineyard, and another 
 at Nantucket, by 1 69.3.* That on the Vineyard continues 
 to this day, but the Indians are nearly all dead on Nan- 
 tucket. Peter Folger was grandfather to the famous Dr. 
 Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 Ninagret, sachem of the south part of the Narragansets, 
 did not join in that war, and their successors have con- 
 tinued there in Charlestown ; and in and after 1741, many 
 
 * Magnalia, b. 6, p. 56. Appendix to Mayhew's Indian Converts, 
 p. 291—296. Historical Society, vol. i. p. 1*68—207. vol. iii. p. 189, 
 190. 
 
1677.] BAPTISTS STILL OPPRESSED. 119 
 
 of them were hopefully converted, and a Baptist church 
 was formed among them, which still remains, though 
 many of them have removed up to the Oneida country. 
 Also in 1741, many of the Mohegans were happily 
 changed, of whom Samsom Occum was one ; but many 
 of them have removed also to said Oneida country. 
 
 As ministers and rulers were still earnest to keep up the 
 pawer of the church over the world, so they could not do 
 it without oppressing the Baptists, who increased conside- 
 rably. Hence their law to banish them was reprinted in 
 1672; and they were often fined or imprisoned. Mr. 
 William Hubbard, who preached their election sermon at 
 Boston, May 3, 1676, said, ** It is made, by learned and 
 judicious writers, one of the undoubted rights of sove- 
 reignty to determine what religion shall be publicly pro- 
 fessed and exercised within their dominions. Why else 
 do we in New England, that profess the doctrine of Cal- 
 vin, yet practise the discipline of them called Independent 
 or Congregational churches, but because the authority of 
 the country is persuaded that is most agreeable to the mind 
 of God ?"* But why did they and their fathers dissent 
 from the church of England ? In a dedication of his ser- 
 mon to their rulers, he said, ** If he was not mistaken 
 who said, it is morally impossible to rivet the Christian 
 religion into the body of a nation without infant baptism, 
 by proportion it will necessarily follow, that the neglect 
 or disuse thereof will directly tend to root it out." But 
 this was spoken with a view that good men should ever 
 have the government in their hands. 
 
 Hence, when Dr. Increase Mather preached their elec- 
 tion sermon. May 23, 1677, he referred to Mr. Cotton, 
 who said, '* The Lord keep us from being bewitched with 
 the whore's cup, lest, whilst we seem to detest and reject 
 her with open face of profession, we do not bring her in 
 by the back door of toleration."! And Mather said, ** I be- 
 lieve that antichrist hath not at this day a more probable 
 way to advance his kingdom of darkness, than by a tolera- 
 tion of all religions and persuasions. "J This he reprinted 
 
 • Said Sermon, p 35. \ Tenet washed, p. 192. 
 
 t His Sermons, p. 106. 
 
12@ CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [oH. VI. 
 
 with other sermons, in 1685, after their charter was taken 
 away. But he suffered so much directly after, that he 
 and others got such a toleration established in Boston in 
 1693, though they could not get it extended through the 
 country. For fifty years before they lost their charter, 
 no man had a vote for their ministers or rulers, but com- 
 municants in their churches ; but under their second char- 
 ter, the wicked had as much power in their government 
 as the righteous, which discovered the necessity of a tole- 
 ration ; though their present views were such as prevent- 
 ed their seeing it. 
 
 In September, 1679, Mather was scribe of a synod 
 that was called to give their opinion about what were the 
 causes of the judgments of God upon the land; and in 
 their result they said, " Men have set up their thresholds 
 by God's thresholds, and their posts by his posts. Qua- 
 kers are false worshippers, and such Anabaptists as have 
 risen up amongst us, in opposition to the churches of the 
 Lord Jesus, receiving into their society those who have 
 been for scandal delivered unto Satan ; yea, and improv- 
 ing those as administrators of holy things, who have been 
 (as doth appear) justly under censure, do no better than 
 set up altars against the Lord's altar." And their result 
 was approved by their general court.* 
 
 Upon the coming out of this, from the highest authori- 
 ty in the country, the Baptists carefully reviewed their 
 past conduct, and they found that four men who were 
 censured by Congregational churches, before they re- 
 ceived them into their church, and one of them was of 
 Dr. Mather's church, which served to raise his resentment. 
 They therefore sent and obtained copies of their dealings 
 with him, which discovered that the member got angry 
 when the church was dealing with him, and spake and 
 acted in a wrong manner. Upon which the Baptists 
 obliged him to offer satisfaction to that church, which he 
 did both by word and by writing ; but as his principles 
 were inconsistent with a returning into their communion, 
 they would not revoke their censure.t 
 
 ^ Magnalia, b. v. p. 87-- 89. 
 
 f Russefs Narrative, p. 8. Willard's answer, p. 21. 
 
1679.] LETTER FROM THE KING. 121 
 
 This Baptist church had increased so much, that in 
 February, 1677, they concluded to divide into two church- 
 es ; but in January, 1678, they agreed to build them a 
 meeting-house in Boston, and not to divide till they could 
 get a minister settled there. Mr. Miles of Swansea had 
 often preached to them, and they requested him to become 
 their pastor, and for Mr. John Russell to supply his place 
 in Swansea. But he returned home, and Mr. Russell 
 was ordained in Boston, July 28, 1679. They built their 
 house for worship so cautiously, as not to let others know 
 what it was designed for, until they met in it, February 
 15, 1679. But in May following, a law was made to 
 take it from them, if they continued to meet in it ; there- 
 fore they refrained from it for a while. News of that 
 law was sent to England, from whence the king wrote tcv 
 the rulers here, July 24, 1679, and said, " We shall 
 henceforth expect that there shall be suitable obedience 
 in respect of freedom and liberty of conscience, so as 
 those that desire to serve God in the way of the church 
 of England, be not thereby made obnoxious or discounte- 
 nanced from sharing in the government, much less that 
 any other of our good subjects (not being Papists) who do 
 not agree in the Congregational way, be by law subjected 
 to fines or forfeitures, or other incapacities, for the samo ; 
 which is a severity the more to be wondered at, whereis 
 
 liberty of conscience was made one principal motive for 
 
 your first transportation into those parts."* 1 
 
 Some friends in London informed the Baptists of this, I ' 
 upon which they met in their house again, but their chief 
 leaders were brought before the court of Assistants for it, 
 in March, 1680; and because they would not promise not 
 to meet there again, the court sent an officer, who nailed 
 up the doors of the house, and forbid their meeting there 
 any more upon their peril, without leave from court. Not 
 long after the house was opened by an unknown hand, 
 and they met there till May, when the Baptists were con- 
 vented before the general court of Boston, and pleaded 
 that their house was built when there was no law against 
 
 * Hutchinson's Collections, p. 520. 
 11 
 
122 CHURCH HISTORY ON NEW ENGLAND. [cH. VI. 
 
 it, and the king had now written in their favour. But the 
 court only forgave what was past, and forbid their meet- 
 ing there any more. In the March before, Dr. Increas^ 
 Mather published a pamphlet against the Baptists in 
 general, and against those in Boston in particular. And 
 in May Mr. Russell wrote an answer to what he had said 
 against their character, and it was printed in London the 
 same year, with a preface signed by William Kiffen, 
 Hansard Knollys, Daniel Dyke, William Collins, John 
 Harris, and Nehemiah Coxe, noted Baptist ministers. 
 And they said therein, *' It seems most strange that our 
 Congregational brethren in New England, who with 
 liberal estates, chose rather to depart from their native 
 soil into a wilderness, than to be under the lash of those 
 who upon religious pretences took delight to smite their 
 fellow-servants, should exercise towards others the like 
 severity that themselves with so great hazard and hard- 
 ship sought to avoid ; especially considering that it is 
 against their brethren, who profess and appeal to the 
 same rule with themselves for their guidance in the wor- 
 ship of God, and the ordering their whole conversation." 
 And they observed that persecutors in England then tried 
 to justify themselves by these severities in America. 
 
 In 1681, Mr. Willard, of Boston, wrote an answer to 
 Russell, and Dr. Mather wrote a preface to it, in which 
 he said, ** I would entreat the brethren who have sub- 
 scribed the epistle to consider that the place may some- 
 times make a great alteration as to indulgence to be ex- 
 pected. It is evident that such toleration is not only law- 
 ful in one place, but a necessary duty, which would be 
 destructive in another place. That which is needful to 
 ballast a great ship, will sink a small boat. From whence 
 we may learn, that it was their weakness and not their 
 strength, which caused them to be so hard with their 
 Baptist brethren. For the extending of baptism to infants 
 in a state of nature, and supporting their worship by 
 force, in the name of their king, who forbid it, was in- 
 deed weak business. 
 
 Mr. John Russell, pastor of the Baptist church in Bos- 
 ton, died there December 21, 1680, much lamented, and 
 
 I 
 
1683.] ROGER WILLIAMS DIES. 123 
 
 his posterity are respectable among us to this day. Elder 
 Isaac Hull was still living, but he was aged and infirm. 
 Therefore the church wrote to London, June 27, 1681, 
 and said, ** We conceive that there is a prospect of good 
 encouragement for an able minister to come over ; in that 
 there seems to be an apparent and general apostasy among 
 the churches who have professed themselves Congrega- 
 tional in this land ; whereby many have their eyes open- 
 ed, by seeing the declensions and confusion that is among 
 them." To this they received a kind answer, dated Oc- 
 tober 13, 1681, signed by William Kiffen, Hansard 
 Knollys, Daniel Dyke, William Collins, Nehemiah 
 C/oxe, Edward Williams, William Dix, Robert Snelling, 
 Tobias Russell, Maurice King, and John Skinner. And 
 on July 20, 1684, they received John Emblen from 
 England, who became their pastor for about fifteen years, 
 until his death. 
 
 Elder Thomas Olney was pastor of the Baptist church 
 in Providence, for above forty years, till he died in 1682, 
 leaving a good character, and his posterity are numerous 
 to this dnv. Obadiah Holmes was pastor of the first 
 church iij Newport, from soon after Mr. Clarke's death, 
 until h^^ died, October, 15, 1682, aged 76, and his pos- 
 terity i::(' now large, in New England and New Jersey. 
 
 By cissistance from Boston, a Baptist church was 
 formed at Kittery, in the province of Maine, in Septem- 
 ber, 1682, when William Scraven was ordained then* 
 pastor; but cruel persecution soon scattered them, some 
 to South Carolina, some to New Jersey, and some to 
 Boston again, where they were useful afterwards. Mr. 
 Miles of Swansea died there in a good old age, February 
 3, 1683; and Mr. Samuel Luther succeeded him in his 
 office for more than thirty years. In April, the same 
 year, Mr. Roger Williams was taken to rest, and he hath 
 a large posterity among us to this day. He was ho- 
 noured of God to be instrumental of founding the first 
 civil government upon earth, since the rise of antichrist, 
 that allowed equal religious liberty, and he was service- 
 able therein unto the age of eiglUy-four. And for godly 
 sincerity in public actings, and overcoming evil with 
 
124 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH VI. 
 
 good, it is believed no man on earth exceeded him in 
 that age. 
 
 A dreadful storm came upon this country the year af-" 
 ter ; for the charter of Massachusetts was vacated in 
 1684, and amazing confusions followed it. Their go- 
 vernment of the church over the world, which had been 
 upheld for fifty years, with a vast deal of labour to them- 
 selves, and oppression upon others, was now dissolved ; 
 and the measures which they had meted to others were 
 meted to them with a vengeance. Sir Edmond Andros, 
 with his council in 1686, made laws and imposed taxes 
 upon all without any house of representatives ; and they 
 declared that as their charter was forfeited, their lands be- 
 longed to the king, and each man must come and buy 
 new titles from them, or be turned off from their lands, 
 which should be disposed of to others. And as the offi- 
 cers of the town of Ipswich refused to assess a tax, which 
 was imposed without a house of representatives, and Mr. 
 Wise their minister justified them in it, he and those 
 officers were brought before the court at Boston, where 
 they pleaded Magna Charta, and the laws of England, in 
 their justification. But one of the judges said, '* Yon 
 must not think that the laws of England will follow you 
 to the ends of the earth. Mr. Wise, you have no more 
 privilege left you, than not to be sold for slaves ;" and 
 no man of the council contradicted it. And one of them 
 also said, ** It is a fundamental point, consented to by all 
 Christian nations, that the first discoverer of a country 
 inhabited by infidels gives right and dominion of that 
 country to the prince in whose service the discoverers 
 were sent." But Massachusetts replied and said, ** This 
 is not a Christian, but an unchristian principle."* Yes ; 
 and it was as much so when Mr. Williams was banished! 
 for testifying against this and other evils. j 
 
 Mr. Bradstreet was active in banishing Mr. Williams, 
 and he now felt much of these calamities, when the 
 government was dissolved of which he was at the head 
 Dr. Mather, also, who had done much against the Bap- 
 
 The Revolution in New England vindicated, p. 16. 44. 
 
 
1686.] ANDROS' OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT. 125 
 
 tists, was now cruelly persecuted by evil men; one of 
 whom forged a letter in his name, which was shown to 
 the king and council in England, and exposed him to re- 
 proach and sufferings there. And because he wrote to a 
 friend that he thought one of their oppressors here forged 
 said letter, he was prosecuted for defamation on that ac- 
 count, and though he was acquitted upon trial, yet they 
 attempted to take him up again for it. The supporting 
 of ministers in the country was interrupted, and Episco- 
 pal worship was forcibly carried into one of the meeting- 
 houses in Boston. These things were so distressing, 
 that when they heard that King James had published a 
 declaration for liberty of conscience, in 1687, the minis- 
 ters of Boston proposed with their people to keep a day 
 of thanksgiving for it ; but Andros said if they did, he 
 would clap a guard of soldiers at the doors of their meet- 
 ing-houses, and so prevented it. Upon these multiplied 
 troubles, they concluded to send Dr. Mather their agent 
 to England ; but their enemies tried to hinder it, and he 
 privately got away, and sailed to England in the spring 
 of 1688, and thanked the popish King James for his de- 
 claration for liberty of conscience to all. 
 
 So great a turn was given to his mind, that he then 
 concluded that the parable of the tares of the field required 
 a general toleration about religion ; and he said, ** For 
 an uppermost party of Christians to punish men in their 
 temporal enjoyments, because in some religious opinions 
 they dissent from them, or with an exclusion from the 
 temporal enjoyments, which would justly belong unto 
 them, is a robbery."* All his life afterwards was agree- 
 able to this belief, though many ministers in our country 
 have been guilty of such robbery ever since. One reli- 
 gious sect have held a power to take away the property 
 of the people for ministers, to the constant injury of dis- 
 senters from them. 
 
 Dr. Mather had several interviews with King James, 
 till he found him to be so deceitful, that he refrained from 
 any more concern with him, and waited for William to 
 
 * His Life, p. 59. 
 11* 
 
126 CHimCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VII. 
 
 come to the throne. But Andros was so much afraid of 
 it, that he imprisoned the man who first brought his pro- 
 clamation to Boston ; though this alarmed tlie country so 
 much, that the people flocked in by thousands, April 18, 
 1689, and confined Andros and his party, until they were 
 sent to England by an order from thence ; and the former 
 rulers here were restored to their places, and managed 
 the government till the new charter arrived. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The world governs the church — But Boston is exempted from it — 
 Plymouth colony was so at first — Great declensions are lamented 
 — But they increase — Episcopal society constituted — They try for 
 an establishment here — Ministers try for a lordly power — They 
 obtain it in Connecticut — Hooker was against it — Norwich and 
 Windsor reject it ; and Wise, Moody, and Mather also—But Stod- 
 dard was not so — The Baptists are favoured at Boston — Hollis ia 
 liberal to Cambridge college. 
 
 The new charter for Massachusetts contained many! 
 privileges, though it took away some which they had be- 
 fore. It was dated October 7, 1691, and reserved a 
 power in the crown always to appoint the two chief offi- 
 cers of government ; and no law could be made without 
 the consent of the governor, and when that was obtained, 
 the king in council could disannul any law, within three 
 years after it was made. William intended by this to 
 prevent their making any more persecuting laws, and it 
 had that effect fifty years after, when Connecticut impri- 
 soned men for preaching the gospel, but Massachusetts 
 could not do so. Yet other evils were not prevented ; 
 and taxing of our trade, and being under kingly governors, 
 finally separated these colonies from Britain. Plymouth 
 colony, on the one hand, and the province of Maine on the^ 
 other, were now united with Massachusetts. 
 
 When the new charter arrived. May 14, 1692, the 
 
1693.] EXECUTIONS FOR WITCHCRAFT. 127 
 
 country was so involved in confusion about witchcraft, 
 that twenty persons were executed on that account, in 
 about four months. And when their general court met, 
 on October 12, they made laws to compel every town to 
 have and support an orthodox minister, and to empower 
 their county courts to punish every town who neglected 
 it. The whole power of choosing, and of supporting re- 
 ligious ministers was put into the hands of the voters in 
 each town, who acted therein without any religious 
 qualification in themselves. Formerly the church had 
 governed the world, but now the world was to govern the 
 church, about religious ministers. Our Lord says, ** Ex- 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God." John iii. 3. And his kingdom evidently here 
 means his church ; yet no regard is paid to his authority, 
 as far as the world governs m religious affairs. 
 
 Therefore Dr. Mather, and other fathers in Boston, ob- 
 tained an exemption from these laws, in February, 1693, 
 which Boston has enjoyed ever since. But the country 
 in general is governed by the world, about religious 
 ministers, to this day.* When that first law was made, 
 they did not remember that any town had more than one 
 church in it. But now an act was passed to allow each 
 church to elect her own minister, and then to present him 
 to the voters in the society who met with them for 
 worship ; and if they received him, all that society must 
 be compelled to support him. If the selectmen of any 
 town neglected to assess the salary that was ordered for 
 their minister, their county courts were to fine them 
 forty shillings for the first offence, and four pounds for 
 the second. And they attempted to force the town of 
 Swansea to receive a Congregational minister, where there 
 never had been any but Baptist churches, nor ever have 
 to this day. The second church was now formed there. 
 
 When they were under the government of Plymouth 
 colony, their ministers were treated as regular ministers, 
 
 * The modification of the Bill of Rights in so far altered this ar- 
 rangement, that the whole of Massachusetts is now in the same situa- 
 tion as Boston in this respect. The " standing order" of clergy is 
 now among " the things that t^crc."— J. A. W 
 
128 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VII. 
 
 and one of the brethren of the first church in Swansea 
 was elected a magistrate in their government for eleven 
 years together. Neither was a college education held to 
 be essential for a Congregational minister there, as it was 
 in Massachusetts ; for Mr. Jonathan Dunham was or- 
 dained the pastor of the church at Edgarton in 1694; and 
 Mr. Samuel Fuller, after preaching sixteen years in Mid- 
 dleborough, was ordained pastor of a church that was 
 constituted there in 1694. He was much esteemed as a 
 gospel minister, until he died there, August 24, 1695, 
 aged 66. Mr. Isaac Cushman was invited to succeed 
 him, but he chose to settle at Plymton, where he before 
 had a call; and he was ordained there in 1698, where he 
 was a great blessing for about forty years. Mr. Samuel 
 Arnold was also the first minister in Rochester, where he 
 was long useful ; and neither of these were educated at 
 any college. And though Mr. John Cooke was censured 
 by Mr. Reyner at Plymouth a little before he left that 
 church, and robbed them of their records, yet Cooke was 
 a Baptist minister in Dartmouth for many years, from 
 whence spring the Baptist church in the east borders of 
 Tiverton. 
 
 The Massachusetts were three years in finding out what 
 to do when a congregation did not concur with their church, 
 m the choice of a pastor ; but in May, 1695, they enacted, 
 that in such a case, the church should call a council of 
 three or five churches, and if they approved of the choice 
 of the church, the congregation must submit and support 
 him ; if not, then the church must give up her choice, and 
 call another minister; and so tliey have acted ever since. 
 And it may be serviceable to know what eminent fathers 
 then thought about the state of religion among them. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Torry of Weymouth delivered the election 
 sermon at Boston, May 16, 1683, when he said, ** There 
 is already a great death upon religion, little more left than 
 a name to live ; the things which remain are ready to die, 
 and we are in great danger of dying together with it ; this 
 is one of the most awakening and humbling considerations 
 of our present state and condition. O ! the many deadly 
 symptoms of death that are upon our religion ! Consider 
 
1697.] GREAT DECLENSIONS. 129 
 
 we then how much it is dying respecting the very being 
 of it, by the general failure of the work of conversion ; 
 whereby only it is that religion is propagated, continued, 
 and upheld in being among any people. As conversion 
 work doth cease, so religion doth die away ; though more 
 insensibly, yet most irrecoverably."* And in 1697, Dr. 
 Increase Mather wrote a dedication of Mitchel's life, in 
 which he said, ** Dr. Owen has evinced, that the letting 
 go this principle, that particular churches ought to consist 
 of regenerate persons, brought in the great apostasy of 
 the Christian church. The way to prevent the like 
 apostasy in these churches, is to require an account of 
 those who offer themselves to communion therein con- 
 cerning the work of God on their souls, as well as con- 
 cerning their knowledge and belief. "t Three years after 
 he published another book, which he dedicated to the 
 churches of New England, to whom he said, '* If the 
 begun apostasy should proceed as fast the next thirty 
 years, as it has done these last, surely it will come to that 
 in New England, (except the gospel itself depart with the 
 order of it,) that the most conscientious people therein will 
 think themselves concerned to gather churches out of 
 churches." And having clearly proved that Christ has 
 given to his churches the sole right, each of electing her 
 own pastors, he declares it to be " Simonical to affirm 
 that this sacred privilege may be purchased with money."± 
 And the next year after this book was published, it was 
 highly recommended by Mr. John Higginson, and Mr. 
 William Hubbard, the two oldest ministers in the govern- 
 ment, as may be seen in Wise's works, printed in 1773. 
 Mr. Willard published a book in 1700, in which he says, 
 " It hath been a frequent observation, that if one genera- 
 tion begins to decline, the next that follows usually grows 
 worse, and so on, until God pours out his Spirit again 
 upon them. The decays which we already languish 
 under are sad ; and what tokens are on our children, that 
 
 * Said Sermon, p. 11. 
 
 •j- Said dedication, p. 16. 
 
 i Mather on Gospel Order, 1700, p. 12. 67, 68. 
 
130 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEV ENGLAND. [CH. VII. 
 
 it is like to be better hereafter ? God be thanked that 
 there are so many among them who promise well ; but, 
 alas ! how doth vanity, and a fondness after new things 
 abound among them ? How do young professors grow 
 weary of the strict profession of their fathers, and become 
 strong disputants for those things which their progenitors 
 forsook a pleasant land for the avoidance of!"* 
 
 A new church was formed in Brattle street, Boston, in 
 1699, with a professed design to receive communicants 
 upon lower terms than their fathers did ; and in 1700, Mr. 
 Solomon Stoddard of Northampton published a book in 
 London, wherein he expressly held, that the Christian 
 church is national ; and that all baptized persons, who are 
 not openly scandalous, ought to come to the Lord's sup- 
 per, " though they know themselves to be in a natural 
 condition." And by confounding the work of Jewish and 
 Christian officers together, he asserted that the power of 
 receiving, censuring, and restoring members is wholly in 
 officers, and says, '* The brethren of the church are not 
 to intermeddle with it." Again he says, "A national 
 synod is the highest ecclesiastical authority upon earth/ ' 
 Finally he says, '* Synods have power to admonish, to 
 excommunicate, and deliver from those censures, and 
 every man must stand to the judgment of the national 
 synod. Deut. xvii. 12. "t These indeed were the same 
 principles, which our fathers fled into America to avoid ; 
 and this last text is the same which was brought in 1668, 
 to justify their banishing the Baptists. 
 
 Episcopalians were also then striving for power over 
 this country. On June 16, 1701, a society was incor- 
 porated in England for that purpose, even to propagate 
 what they called the gospel in America. They sent over 
 missionaries, and got so far in about twelve years, as to 
 obtain an order from the crown to bring a bill into Parlia- 
 ment to establish Episcopacy here, and they expected it 
 would speedily be done, when the queen was suddenly 
 
 • Christian History, vol. i. p. 101. 
 
 f Stoddard on Instituted Churches, p. 12. 21. 29. 33. 
 
1707.] MINISTERS OBTAIN CIVIL POWER. 331 
 
 taken away by death ; and they could not get the two 
 succeeding kings to revive the scheme.* 
 
 When the general court met at Boston, October 15, 
 1702, they made another law to empower each county 
 court, after fining such assessors of towns as did not obey 
 their orders, to appoint others to do it, and then to pro- 
 cure warrants from two justices of the quorum, requiring 
 the constables of delinquent towns and districts to collect 
 such taxes, upon the same penalties as for other taxes ; 
 and the fines imposed upon delinquent officers were to go 
 to pay said new assessors for their service. At the same 
 time tlie ministers through the g^overnment were trying 
 for a classical power above all the churches. A number 
 of ministers signed proposals for such a scheme, Novem- 
 ber 5, 1705, just one hundred years after the gunpowder 
 plot. But Mr. John Wise wrote a sharp answer to these 
 proposals, which prevented their taking place here ; 
 though they were soon received in Connecticut; for the 
 third Governor Winthrop died there, November 27, 1707, 
 upon which a special meeting of their general court was 
 called, December 17, to choose a new governor. By a 
 law then in force, he was to be chosen out of a certain 
 number of men in previous nomination ; but they broke 
 over this law, and elected an ordained minister for their 
 governor ; and he readily quitted the solemn charge of 
 souls for worldly promotion, and was sworn into his new 
 office, January 1, 1708, after which they repealed the law 
 which they had before broken. Mr. Gurdon Saltonstall 
 was the governor so chosen ; and he took the proposals 
 of 1705, and presented them to their legislature, where 
 it was observed that there was not one text of Scripture 
 in them. And as this would not do, the proposals were 
 silently withdrawn ; and when they met at Hartford, May 
 13, 1708, an act was passed which said, "This assembly, 
 from their own observation, and from the complaint of 
 others, being made sensible of the defects of the discipline 
 of the churches of this government, arising from the want 
 of a more explicit asserting of the rules given for that end 
 
 * Chandler's Appeal in 1767, p. 50—54. 
 
132 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. VII 
 
 in the Holy Scriptures, from which would arise a firm 
 establishment amongst ourselves, a good and regular issue 
 in cases subject to ecclesiastical discipline, glory to Christ 
 our Head* and edification to his members, hath seen fit to 
 ordain and require, and it is by authority of the same or- 
 dained and required, that the ministers of the churches, in 
 the several counties of this government, shall meet to- 
 gether at their respective county towns, with such mes- 
 sengers as the churches to which they belong shall see 
 cause to send with them, on the last Monday in June 
 next, there to consider and agree upon those methods and 
 rules for the management of ecclesiastical discipline, which 
 by them shall be judged agreeable and conformable to the 
 word of God ; and shall at the same meeting appoint two 
 or more of their number to be their delegates, who shall 
 all meet together at Say brook at the next commencement 
 to be held there,t where they shall compare the results 
 of the ministers of the several counties, and out of and 
 from them to draw a form of ecclesiastical discipline," 
 which should be presented to the assembly for their ac- 
 ceptance, and the expense of those meetings was to be 
 paid out of their treasury. This order was obeyed, and a 
 scheme of discipline was drawn up, which was established 
 by law the next month. Their second article says : 
 
 '* That the churches, which are neighbouring each to 
 other, shall consociate for mutually affording to each other 
 such assistance as may be requisite upon all occasions 
 ecclesiastical ;" and they formed two kinds of judicatures 
 for that purpose. The first are consociations, consisting 
 of ministers meeting in their own persons, and the 
 churches by their messengers, of whom each church 
 . might send one or two, though the want of them should 
 not invalidate the acts of the council ; but none of their 
 acts were valid without the concurrence of the majority 
 of the pastors present. They were to be the standing 
 council in each circuit ; though in cases of special difii- 
 culty they may call the next consociation to sit and act 
 with them. They are to have one or more consociation 
 
 • Can Christ be the head of a worldly government 1 
 
 j- Then tl^qt college was there, which is since at New Haven. 
 
1708.] MR. hooker's opinions. II 
 
 in each county. They are to have a new choice of mes- 
 sengers and moderators once a year, or oftener ; and the 
 last moderator is to call a new meeting when it is judged 
 proper. Their sentence is to be final and decisive. 
 Their other judicatures are called associations, which are 
 meetings of ministers by themselves in each circuit, as 
 often as they think proper, to hear and answer questions 
 of importance, to examine and license candidates for the 
 ministry, to receive complaints from individuals or socie- 
 ties, and to direct to the calling of the council to try the 
 same, if they think proper ; to direct destitute churches in 
 calling and settling pastors, and to make complaint to 
 their legislature against any whom they think negligent 
 of their duty in these things. And each association is to 
 choose one or two delegates, to meet once a year from all 
 parts of their government in a general association. 
 
 Their fourth article says, *' that according to the com- 
 mon practice of our churches, nothing shall be deemed 
 an act or judgment of any council, which hath not a 
 major part of the elders present concurring, and such a 
 number of the messengers present, as to make the ma- 
 jority of the council." Which is a naked falsehood ; for 
 this was so far from being common, that such a practice 
 was never known before in New England. If the major 
 vote of the ministers is n'^cessary in all their acts, to what 
 end are any delegates sent from their churches ? Are 
 they not mere ciphers ? 
 
 Mr. Hooker of Hartford, one of the best ministers who 
 ever came to America, says, '* A particular congregation 
 is the highest tribunal, unto which the grieved party may 
 appeal in the third place, if private council, or the wit- 
 ness of two have seemed to proceed too sharply, and 
 with too much rigour against him ; before the tribunal 
 of the church, the cause may easily be scanned and sen- 
 tence executed according to Christ. If difficulties arise 
 in the proceeding, the council of other churches should 
 be sous^ht to clear the truth ; but the power of censure 
 rests still in the congregation where Christ placed it." 
 And, speaking of the acts of councils, he says, ** They 
 set down their determinations, assure truths in their judg- 
 12 
 
134 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VII. 
 
 ments, and so return them to the particular churches from 
 whence they came ; and their determinations take place, 
 not because they concluded so, but because the churches 
 approved of what they have determined ; for the churches 
 sent them, and therefore are above them."* ._ 
 
 Thus Congregational principles are, that ministers 
 have no right in councils, but as they are sent by each 
 church, and that their judgments are not binding until 
 the church approves of them ; but in this new scheme, 
 the ministers attend councils without being sent by their 
 churches, and their judgments are above all their 
 churches. And yet they have the face to call this the 
 common practice of their churches in former times. 
 
 Mr. John Woodward was then minister of Norwich, 
 and he got the act of their legislature, which approved 
 of that scheme, and read off the first part of it to his 
 congregation, without the clause which allowed of a dis- 
 sent from it : but Richard Bushnel and Joseph Backus, 
 Esquires, their representatives, gave them that clause ; 
 but he got a major vote to adopt it, upon which said re- 
 presentatives, and other fathers of the town, withdrew 
 from that tyranny, and held worship by themselves for 
 three months. For this the minister and his party cen- 
 sured them, and then sent a letter to their legislature, 
 that Norwich had sent scandalous men for their repre- 
 sentatives, who were under church censure, and they 
 were expelled the house. But it was not long before the 
 minister consented to call a council ; and they had coun- 
 cil after council for about six years. Mr. Stoddard was 
 moderator of one of them, and the governor also came 
 there to try what his influence would do. The last coun- 
 cil met there, August 31, 1716, and by their advice he 
 was dismissed, and he quitted the ministry, and went to 
 farming, for which it is likely he was better qualified. 
 The church in Norwich determined to abide by their old 
 principles, and it was well known, that when their church 
 was constituted at Saybrook in 1660, with the approba- 
 tion of other ministers, Mr. James Fitch was ordained 
 
 ♦ Survey of Church Discipline, part 4, p. 1 9. 47. 
 
1710.] NORWICH CASE. 135 
 
 their pastor, by the laying on of the hands of their two 
 deacons, as a token that the power of ordination is in 
 each church. They came and planted Norwich the same 
 year, and Mr. Fitch was greatly esteemed as a minister 
 of the gospel for near fifty years. Mr. Timothy Ed- 
 wards, father of the president, with his church at Wind- 
 sor, also refused to receive this new scheme. But many 
 ministers in Massachusetts were so fond of it, that they 
 presented a petition to their legislature, in 1715, that 
 they would call a synod to introduce it; and the council 
 voted to grant it, but other branches did not concur. 
 Yet a law was then made, to require each county court 
 to charge the grand jury to prosecute every town or dis- 
 trict who neglected to settle or support such ministers as 
 they called orthodox ; and if they could not bring them 
 to do it, the court was to make complaint to the legisla- 
 ture, and they were to order such sums to be assessed on 
 delinquent towns as they judged proper, and the minis- 
 ters were to draw their salaries out of the state treasury. 
 But some others were of a very different mind ; for two 
 ministers wrote to Mr. Wise, and desired him to print a 
 second ediuon of his piece against the said proposals, 
 which ihey said, '* will be a testimony that all our watch- 
 men w(;!c not asleep, nor the camp of Christ surprised 
 and taken before they had warning." This was the lan- 
 guage of Mr. Samuel Moody of York, and Mr. John 
 White of Gloucester, men of eminent piety and useful- 
 ness. Mr. Wise complied with their request. Mr. 
 Backus of Norwich had requested the same, when he 
 went as far as Boston and Ipswich to consult about their 
 affairs, before Norwich minister was dismissed. Dr. 
 Increase Mather also now published a book, in which he 
 said, " For ministers to pretend to a negative voice in 
 synods, or for councils to take upon them to determine 
 what elders or messengers a church shall submit unto, 
 without the choice of the church concerned ; or for mi- 
 ^nisters to pretend to be members of a council without 
 any mission from their churches, nay, although the 
 church declares that they will not send them ; is prelec- 
 ticaU and essentially differing not only from Congrega 
 
186 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. j^CH. VII. 
 
 tional, but from Presbyterian principles. And now that 
 I am going out of the world, I could not die in peace, if 
 1 did not discharge my conscience in bearing witness 
 against such innovations, and invasions on the rights 
 and liberties belonging to particular congregations of 
 Christ." * 
 
 This was the testimony of the oldest minister then in 
 this province, who had been twice to England, and had 
 been President of Harvard college sixteen years, so that 
 his knowledge must have been very extensive ; and yet 
 his testimony was little regarded by many. And the de- 
 clension of the churches kept pace with the corruption 
 of their ministers ; for Mr. Stoddard published a sermon 
 from the twelfth of Exodus, in 1707, wherein he held 
 forth, *' that as all persons in Israel who were circum- 
 cised were required to eat the passover, so all baptized 
 persons, if they were not scandalous, ought to come to 
 the Lord's supper." And he went so far as to say, 
 '* That a minister who knows himself unregenerate may 
 nevertheless lawfully administer baptism and the Lord's 
 supper. Men who are destitute of saving grace, may 
 preach the gospel, and therefore administer and so par- 
 take of the Lord's supper. For, says he, the children 
 of God's people should be baptized, who are generally 
 at that time in a natural condition. And the sacrament 
 is a converting ordinance for church members only, and 
 not for other men."* Against this doctrine, Dr. Mather 
 published a dissertation in 1708, wherein he brings the 
 awful case of the man who came in without a wedding 
 garment, and of them who eat and drink the supper 
 unworthily ; to avoid which, all are called to examine 
 themselves whether they be in the faith; also that all 
 the churches to whom the apostles wrote were called 
 saints, and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, and the 
 Lord added to the church such as should be saved ; and 
 much more to the same purpose. But as long as he held 
 to infant baptism, Mr. Stoddard was so far from yielding 
 
 * Disquisition concerning Councils, 1716, p. 13. 
 f Said Sermon, p. 13. 27, 28. 
 
17 18. J BAPTISTS ORDAINED AT BOSTON. 137 
 
 to him, that he published a reply in 1709, wherein all 
 his arguments turned upon these points : *' That if un- 
 sanctified persons might lawfully come to the pass- 
 over, then such may lawfully come to the Lord's sup- 
 per ; and they who convey to their children a right 
 to baptism, have a right themselves to the Lord's supper, 
 provided they carry inoffensively."* He could plainly 
 see that there was no halfway in the Jewish church ; 
 and his opponent could see as plainly that fruits meet for 
 repentance were required in order for baptism, even of 
 those who were in Abraham's covenant. But as tradition 
 had taught them both that the Christian church was built 
 upon that covenant, neither of them could convince the 
 other, though they were two of the most able ministers in 
 the land. 
 
 By these things Dr. Mather was brought to treat the 
 Baptists in quite another manner than formerly. Mr. 
 Ellis Callender joined to their church in Boston in 1669, 
 and was a leading member of it in 1680, when their 
 house was nailed up; and he became the pastor of it in 
 1708. On August 10, 1713, his son Elisha became a 
 member of it, after which he went through Harvard Col- 
 lege in Cambridge. Dr. Mather had appeared so friendly 
 to the Baptists, that he and his son, and Mr. John Webb, 
 were called, and assisted in ordaining Mr. Elisha Callen- 
 der, as pastor of the Baptist church in Boston, May 21, 
 1718. Dr. Increase Mather wrote a preface to the ordina- 
 tion sermon, in which he said, ** It was a grateful surprise 
 to me when several brethren of the Antipaedobaptist per- 
 suasion came to me, desiring that I would give them the 
 right hand of fellowship in ordaining one whom they had 
 chosen to be their pastor." Dr. Cotton Mather preached 
 the ordination sermon, in which he spake much against 
 cruelties which had often been exercised against dissent- 
 ers from the ruling powers, both in this and other coun- 
 tries, and then said, '* If the brethren in whose house we 
 are now convened, met with any thing too unbrotherly, 
 they with satisfaction hear us expressing our dislike of 
 
 '• Appeal to the Learned, p. 50. 89. 
 12* 
 
.38 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VII. 
 
 every thing that looked like persecution in the days that 
 have passed over us.""^ 
 
 Mr. Ellis Cailender was a good man in 1680, when 
 the house was nailed up, in which his son was now or- 
 dained by the help of a minister, who then had influence 
 in said event. He was then very zealous against those 
 whom he now gave fellowship to ; and this may aflford 
 a teaching lesion to after ages. Many are earnest in our 
 days to compel all to support Congregational worship, 
 who are far from acting with the sincerity that their fa- 
 thers did. 
 
 From this time the Baptist principles were in more es- 
 teem ; and Samuel Jennings, Esq. a representative for 
 Sandwich, was baptized by Mr. Elisha Cailender, June 
 9, 1718, and joined to his church, of which he continued 
 a member until he died in 1764. This did not hinder his 
 being elected a representative again, nor of hi« serving in 
 other offices for his town. And such a revival came on in 
 Swansea, in 1718, as caused the addition of fifty members 
 to the first church there in five years, of which an account 
 was sent to Mr. Thomas Mollis of London, one of the most 
 liberal men upon earth. Dr. Mather had some acquaintance 
 with him, when he was in England thirty years before ; 
 and now, hearing of these transactions, his heart was 
 wonderfully enlarged towards our country. Soon after 
 Mr. Cailender was ordained, he and his church wrote t^ 
 friends in London, and a hundred and thirty-five pounds 
 were sent from thence, to enable them to repair their 
 meeting-house. And in 1720, Mr. Hollis sent over so 
 much money as to found a professorship of theology in 
 Harvard College, with a salary of eighty pounds a year 
 to the professor, and ten pounds per annum to ten scho- 
 lars of good character, four of whom should be Baptists, 
 if any such were there. Also ten pounds a year to the 
 college treasurer, for his trouble, and ten pounds more to 
 supply accidental losses, or to increase the number of 
 students. And in 1726, he founded in that college a 
 professorship of the mathematics and experimental phi- 
 
 * Said Sennon, p. 38, 39. 
 
1718.] FREETOWN OPPRESSED. 139 
 
 losophy, with a salary of eighty pounds a year to the 
 professor ; and he sent over an apparatus for the purpose, 
 which cost about an hundred and fifty pounds sterling, 
 beside large additions to the college library. No man 
 had ever been so liberal to it before, as was this Baptist 
 gentleman. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Freetown oppressed — Also Tiverton and Dartmouth — They got re- 
 lief from England — Increase Mather died — His son tries for more 
 power ; but is checked from Enarland — He dies — Pharaoh imitated 
 — Many are imprisoned — Religion revived — Comer converted — 
 He is serviceable in many places — He and others die — Conijr.^a:a- 
 tional churches at Newport and Providence — A great work at 
 Northampton — Several Baptist churches formed. 
 
 Equal liberty was then enjoyed in Boston, while other 
 towns were oppressed. In 1718, a law was made to 
 compel all the country to assist in building or repairing 
 Congregational meeting-houses; and in 1719, another 
 attempt was made to force Swansea to receive and sup- 
 port one of their ministers, when they had two Baptist 
 churches and three ministers then in the town, and no 
 other religious society therein. Freetown, on the east" 
 side of Swansea, called Mr. Thomas Craghead, a minis- 
 ter from Ireland, to be their pastor, September 9, 1717, 
 and he accepted of their call ; but instead of an amicable 
 agreement with them about his support, he went to the 
 court at Bristol in January, 1718, and procured an order 
 from thence to compel Freetown to pay to him a salary 
 of sixty-five pounds a year, to begin from the day he was 
 chosen their minister. And for refusing to pay it, about 
 fourteen of the inhabitants were imprisoned at Bristol, 
 one of whom w^as a member of a Baptist church in New- 
 port. These things produced much trouble in courts for 
 two or three years, till the minister was forced to leave 
 
140 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VIII. 
 
 the town, and the broils therein lasted for several genera- 
 tions. 
 
 Tiverton and Dartmouth were the only remaining 
 towns in the province which had not received any Con- 
 gregational ministers. .^Therefore a complaint against 
 them was made to their legislature in May, 1722, and 
 they voted a salary for such ministers, to be assessed 
 upon all the inhabitants of said towns, which the minis- 
 ters were to draw out of the State treasury. But their 
 assessors sent and obtained an account of how much was 
 added to their tax on that account, and then left it out of 
 their assessment. For this, two assessors of each town 
 were seized in May, 1723, and were imprisoned at Bris- 
 tol, until they sent to England, and got that act disan- 
 nulled by the king and council. One of those sufferers 
 was Philip Tabor, pastor of the Baptist church on the 
 borders of Tiverton and Dartmouth. But before the or- 
 der for their release arrived, two more assessors of Dart- 
 mouth were put in prison, for not assessing a like tax 
 imposed for 1723 ; though upon the arrival of that order, 
 they were released by an act of the legislature here. Yet 
 the ministers were so far from yielding to these things, 
 that they presented a petition to their legislators in May, 
 1725, that they would call a synod, to give their advice 
 about what were the evils which caused the judgments 
 of Heaven upon the country, and what were the evan- 
 gelical means which should be used to remove the same, 
 signed by Cotton Mather, in the name of the ministers 
 assembled in their general convention.* But the consi- 
 deration of this petition was put off to the next meeting 
 of their legislature. 
 
 Episcopalians sent an account of it to England, and a 
 sharp reprimand was sent from the British court to Lieu- 
 tenant Governor Dummer, for giving any countenance 
 thereto, as being an invasion of the king's prerogative, 
 who only could lawfully call synods ; and a command to 
 him to cause such a meeting to cease, if it was convened, 
 and to cause the chief actors therein to be punished if they 
 
 * Hutchinson, vol. ii. p. 322. 
 
y724.] DEATH OF DR. INCREASE MATHER. 141 
 
 (lid not immediately disperse. Before this, Dr. Increase 
 Mather died, August 23, 1723, in the eighty-fifth year of 
 his age, having been a preacher of the gospel sixty-five 
 years. We have before seen how he testified against the 
 power which ministers had assumed over the churches ; 
 but his son was so fond of it, that when Governor Salton- 
 stall died in 1724, he preached a funeral sermon for him 
 at Boston, and got it printed at New London. And he 
 published a book in 1726, in which he expressed his 
 resentment against Mr. Wise for writing against the pro- 
 posals of 1705. Having mentioned that four synods had 
 been called by authority in Massachusetts, he says, " The 
 synods of New England know no weapons, but what are 
 purely spiritual. They have no secular arms to enforce 
 any canons ; they ask none ; they want none. And they 
 cannot believe, that any Protestant secular arm would, 
 upon due information, any more forbid their meetings, 
 than they would any of the religious assemblies upheld in 
 the country."* Yet many were banished upon the result 
 of the synod of 1G37, and the Baptist meeting-house in 
 Boston was nailed up, after the synod of 1679. Yea, 
 and he was now' earnest to have Congregational ministers 
 supported by taxes imposed '* in the king's name." He 
 approved of the practice of some towns, who involved the 
 salary for ministers in a general town tax ;t and there 
 never was any law made here to exempt the Baptists from 
 taxes to Congregational ministers, until after Dr. Mather 
 died, February 13, 1728, aged 65. 
 
 But in May following, an act was made to exempt the 
 persons of Baptists and Quakers from such taxes, if they 
 lived within five miles of their respective meetings, and 
 usually attended worship there on Lord's-days ; of which 
 they must give an account to their county courts in June 
 annually, upon oath or affirmation, after which the clerk 
 of each court was to give a list of their names to the 
 assessors of each town or precinct. In this, arbitrary 
 
 * An account of the discipline in the churches of New England, 
 p. 172, 173. 184. 
 ■flbid. p. 21, 22. 
 
142 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VIII. 
 
 power was carried beyond what it was in Egypt; for 
 Pharaoh said, *' Go ye, serve the Lord ; only let your 
 flocks and herds be stayed." Let their polls be exempted, 
 but their estates and faculties taxed, said Massachusetts. 
 Herein they imitated him ; but they went beyond him in 
 two other points ; for Pharaoh said, ** Go not very far 
 away ;" but these allowed only five miles, though many 
 of their parishioners must go much further than that to 
 meeting, even to this day ; neither did Pharaoh require a 
 list of the people upon oath, as these did. 
 
 Yet this small favour was denied to dissenters in Reho- 
 both for this year ; and for refusing to pay a tax to Con- 
 gregational ministers there, twenty-eight Baptists, two 
 Quakers, and two Episcopalians were seized and impri- 
 soned at Bristol, in March, 1729. Though Governor 
 Burnet and his council gave their opinion in favour of 
 these people, yet they were confined in prison till they or 
 their friends paid the money. In the fall after, an act was 
 passed to exempt their estates as well as persons, yet still 
 under a five mile limitation. ~^ 
 
 But we will gladly turn to more agreeable things ; for 
 although the majority of Congregational ministers were 
 very corrupt, yet some of them were faithful and success- 
 ful. In the beginning of 1705, such a revival of religion ~ 
 was granted at Taunton, in the county of Bristol, under 
 the ministry of Mr. Samuel Danforth, as turned the minds 
 of most of the inhabitants from vain company and many 
 immoralities, to an earnest attention to religion, and the 
 great concerns of the soul and eternity ; and they had 
 something of the same nature at this time in Boston.* In 
 1721, the Spirit of God was so remarkably poured out 
 upon the inhabitants of Windham in Connecticut, under 
 the ministry of Mr. Samuel Whiting, and such a great 
 change was made, that fourscore persons were added to 
 their communion in about half a year, for which they 
 kept a day of public thanksgiving.! One curious event 
 happened there, which I will mention. The word preached 
 was such a looking-glass to one man, that he seriously 
 
 * Christian History, vol. i. p. 108. 112. f Ibid. p. 130—134. 
 
1724.] JOHN COMER CONVERTED. 143 
 
 went to Mr. Whiting, and told him he was very sorry 
 that so good a minister as he was should so grossly trans- 
 gress the divine rule, as to tell him his faults before all 
 the congregation, instead of coming to deal with him pri- 
 vately. The minister smiled, and said he was glad that 
 truth had found him out, for he had no particular thought 
 of him in his sermon. 
 
 Norwich, ten miles from Windham, enjoyed much of 
 the like blessing the same year, from whence my pious 
 mother dated her conversion. Boston shared something 
 of the same, when God in judgment remembered mercy 
 for many ; for the smallpox came into the town in April, 
 J 721, and prevailed through the year. It appeared to 
 have happy effects upon many minds, while it carried a 
 large number into eternity. One instance of conversion 
 there I shall mention. John Comer was born in Boston, 
 August 1, 1704, and sat under the ministry of the Dr. Ma- 
 thers. He was put out to learn a trade ; but he had such a 
 desire for learning, that by the influence of Dr. Increase 
 Mather, he was taken from it, and put to school in De- 
 cember, 1720. He had serious concern about his soul 
 from time to time, until he had caught that distemper ; 
 and he says, ** Nothing but the ghostly countenance of 
 death, unprepared for, was before me, and no sight of a 
 reconciled God, nor any sense of the application of the 
 soul-cleansing blood of Christ to my distressed sorj. I 
 remained in extreme terror, until November 22, 1721. 
 All the interval of time I spent in looking over the affairs 
 of my soul ; and on that day I was taken sick. As soon 
 as it was told me that the distemper appeared, all my fears 
 entirely vanished, and a beam of comfort darted into my 
 soul, and with it satisfaction from those words, ' Thou 
 shalt not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.' 
 Yea, so great was my satisfaction, that immediately I 
 replied, to my aunt who told me. Then I know I shall 
 not die now ; but gave no reason why I said so." 
 
 He recovered, and pursued his learning at Cambridge, 
 
 .where he joined to a Congregational church in February, 
 
 1723. Ephraim Crafts, his intimate friend, had joined 
 
 to the Baptist church in Boston just before. This Comer 
 
144 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. VIII. 
 
 thought to be a very wrong action, and took the first op- 
 portunity he had to try to convince him of it ; but after 
 considerable debate, Comer was prevailed with to take 
 Stennett upon baptism, the reading of which gave a great 
 turn to his mind. However, he concluded to be silent 
 about it; and as education was cheapest at New Haven, 
 he went and entered the college there in September, 1723, 
 and continued a member of it until October, 1724 ; when 
 infirmity of body caused his return to Boston by water ; 
 and a terrible storm at sea. with the death of a dear friend 
 just as he arrived, brought eternity so directly before him, 
 as to spoil his plausible excuses for the neglect of baptism. 
 He informs us, that those words of Christ, *' Whosoever 
 shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adul- 
 terous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of 
 Man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his 
 Father, with the holy angels," had such influence upon n 
 him, that, after proper labours with those he was pre- 
 viously connected with, he was baptized, and joined to 
 the Baptist church in Boston, January 31, 1725, and con- 
 cluded to pursue his studies in a private way. In May 
 following, he went to keep school in Swansea, and was 
 soon called to preach the gospel in the first church there ; 
 and on May 19, 1726, he was ordained a pastor of the 
 first church in Newport, colleague with elder Peckum. 
 
 Mr. Peckum had been pastor of that church sixteen 
 years, but his gifts were small, and he had but seventeen 
 members in his church ; though such a blessing was 
 granted on the ministry of Mr. Comer, that thirty-four 
 were added to them in three years. They had no public 
 singing, until he, with a blessing, introduced it ; neither 
 had they any church records before he got a book, and 
 collected into it the best accounts that he could get of 
 their former affairs. 
 
 As it has been a common thing in all ages, when men 
 have declined from the power of religion, to fix upon 
 some external practice to supply the want of it ; so this 
 was now evident among the Baptists in these parts, and . 
 upon a very disputable point too. For in the law of 
 Moses, a great variety of washings or bathings were re- 
 
1728.3 MR. comer's ministry. 145 
 
 quired, and also the laying on of hands upon the head of 
 their sacrifices, as a token of their sins being laid thereon; 
 and this evidently pointed to laying our sins upon Christ, 
 who bare our sins in his own body on the tree. And 
 those washings were a clear type of the washing of re- 
 generation, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which God 
 sheds on us abundantly through Christ Jesus our Saviour. j 
 All must allow these to be foundation points. And the — ^ 
 same word that is rendered baptisms in the sixth chapter 
 to the Hebrews, is rendered washings in the ninth ; and 
 divers washings, and carnal ordinances there, refer most 
 certainly to Jewish ceremonies. But the doctrine which 
 was held forth in those washings, and laying on of hands, 
 was evidendy the doctrine of the renewing of the Holy 
 Ghost, and of our acceptance with God by having our 
 sins laid upon Christ, who made atonement for them. 
 
 But receiving it as a foundation principle in Christianity, 
 that every believer must pass under laying on of hands 
 after baptism, in order to be received into church commu- 
 nion, caused a separation among the Baptists in Newport 
 and Providence in 1652, which still continued in New- 
 port. And as Mr. Comer thought that separation to be 
 wrong, and yet that laying on of hands after baptism was 
 warrantable, he preached it up in that way, on November 
 17, 1728, without first acquainting his church with his 
 being of this mind. Therefore two of the most powerful 
 members, who disliked his searching preaching, took this 
 as a handle to crowd him out of their church. This was 
 a sore trial to him, but they prevailed to have him dis- 
 missed in January, 1729, and he then passed under hands, 
 and was received into the second church in Newport, 
 where he preached one-half of the Lord's-days with elder 
 Daniel Wightman for two years. A revival of religion 
 began in that church a little before, and forty members 
 were added to it in those two years, at the close of which 
 they had one hundred and fifty members, being the largest 
 church in the colony. Governor Jenks then lived in 
 Newport, and communed with that church, who supported 
 Comer liberally. In March, 1731, he went a journey 
 into New Jersey, and as far as Philadelphia, and was 
 13 
 
146 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VIII. 
 
 greaily pleased with the faith and order of the Baptist 
 churches in those parts. 
 
 Upon his return, receiving an invitation from Reho- 
 both, he was dismissed from Newport, and removed to 
 Rehoboth in August, where a church was formed, and he 
 was installed their pastor, January 26, 1732. In the 
 mean time, Mr. John Callender from Boston was or- 
 dained in the first church in Newport, a colleague with 
 elder Peckum, October 13, 1731. Also Mr. Nicholas 
 Eyres, who came from England to New York, was called 
 to Newport, and was settled as a colleague with elder 
 Wightman the same month. 
 
 Mr. Elisha Callender of Boston had been sent for to 
 Springfield, where he baptized seven persons in July, 
 1727, and Mr. Comer visited them in October following: 
 and was there when the great earthquake came on in the 
 evening of the 29th of that month. After he was settled 
 in Rehoboth, he visited the people in Sutton and Leices- 
 ter, in June, 1732, and baptized eight persons in those 
 two towns : one of whom was Daniel Denny, Esq., who 
 came from England. The next month he preached in 
 Middleborough, and baptized one man there. In Novem- 
 ber following, he baptized fifteen at home in one day ; 
 and before the close of 1733, his church had increased to 
 ninety-five members, besides many seals of his ministry 
 who joined to other churches. He was a small man, but 
 of sprightly powers both of body and mind, and did much 
 towards the revival of doctrinal and practical religion 
 among the Baptists ; and collected many papers, and wrote 
 many things that have been very serviceable in our his- 
 tory. But his constant labours and exertions in this noble 
 cause, wasted his vital strength, and he fell into a con- 
 sumption, of which he died in Rehoboth, May 23, 1734, 
 before he was thirty years old. Elder Ephraim Wheaton, 
 pastor of the first church in Swansea, died the 26th of 
 April before, aged 75, having two hundred members in 
 his church. These things I have carefully collected from 
 various records and writings. 
 
 On September 16, 1735, a Baptist church was formed 
 in Sutton, and September 28, 1737, Benjamin Marsh 
 
1738.] MR. ELISHA CALLENDER. 147 
 
 and Thomas Green were ordained their joint pastors. 
 But on September 28, 1738, by mutual agreement, the 
 brethren at Leicester became a church by themselves, and 
 Green their pastor. On November 4, 1736, a Baptist 
 xhurch was gathered in Brimfield ; and on November 4, 
 1741, Ebenezer Moulton was ordained their pastor. 
 March 24, 1738, a century after the deed of Rhode Island 
 was obtained of the Narraganset Indians, Mr. John Cal- 
 lender delivered a sermon at Newport, which he publish- 
 ed with enlargements, containing the best history of that 
 colony then extant. But his uncle at Boston was taken 
 away by death the last day of that month ; and he finish- 
 ed his course in the happy manner following : March 21, 
 he said, *' When I look on one hand, I see nothing but 
 sin, guilt, and discouragement ; but when I look on the 
 other, I see my glorious Saviour, and the merits of his 
 precious blood, which cleanseth from all sin. I cannot 
 say I have such transports of joy as some have had, but 
 through grace I can say I have gotten the victory over 
 death and the grave." Being asked what word of advice 
 he had for his church, he earnestly replied, ** Away with 
 lukewarini38ss ! Away with such remissness in attending 
 the hoii:^e of prayer, which has been a discouragement to 
 me, and I have been faulty myself." The Boston Even- 
 ing Poot of April 3, says, ** Friday morning last, after a 
 lingering sickness, deceased the Reverend Mr. Elisha 
 Callender, minister of the Baptist church in this town; a 
 gentleman universally beloved by people of all persuasions, 
 for his charitable and catholic way of thinking. His life 
 was unspotted, and his conversation always affable, reli- 
 gious, and truly manly. During his long illness he was 
 remarkably patient, and in his last hours (like the blessed 
 above) pacific and entirely serene ; his senses good to the 
 last. / shalU said he, sleep in Jesus, and that moment 
 expired." 
 
 Mr. Comer gives us an account of the first planting of 
 the Congregational churches in Rhode Island colony. Mr. 
 Nathanael Clap from Dorchester began to preach in New- 
 port in 1695, and continued his labours there, under many 
 discouragements, until a church was formed, and he was 
 
148 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. VIII. 
 
 ordained their pastor, November 3, 1720. But in 1727, 
 one Mr. John Adams, a young minister, came and preach- 
 ed there ; and because Mr. Clap would not consent to 
 have him setded as his colleague, a party council from 
 Massachusetts divided the church, and Adams was ordain- 
 ed over a majority of the church, April 11, 1728; and 
 Mr. (>lap was shut out of his meeting-house, and his 
 people built another for him. But in about two years, 
 Adams's people dismissed him without a recommenda- 
 tion. Congregational ministers also took much pains to 
 introduce their worship into Providence ; to promote 
 which, an association of ministers, in and near Boston, 
 wrote to Governor Jenks, and other men of note in that 
 town, October 27, 1721, and said, "With what peace 
 and love societies of different modes of worship have gene- 
 rally entertained one another in your government, we 
 cannot think of it without admiration ; and we suppose, 
 under God, it is owing to the choice liberty granted to 
 Protestants of all persuasions, in the royal charter gra- 
 ciously given you ; and to the wise and prudent conduct 
 of the gentlemen that have been governors and justices 
 in your colony." And so went on to desire them to 
 countenance and encourage the preaching of their minis- 
 ters among them. The town of Providence wrote an 
 answer to them, February 23, 1722, signed by .Jonathan 
 Sprague, wherein they say, " This happiness principally 
 consists in their not allowing societies any superiority 
 one over another ; but each society supports their own 
 ministry, of their own free-will, and not by constraint or 
 force, upon any man's person or estate ; and this gready 
 adds to our peace and tranquillity. But the contrary, that 
 takes any man's estate by force, to maintain their own or 
 any other ministry, it serves for nothing but to provoke 
 to wrath, envy, and strife." And they went on to msntion 
 how such things were continued in their government. 
 
 An anonymous reply to this was published the fall 
 after, which contained a mean reflection against Sprague's 
 character, without any thing that could vindicate their 
 own conduct. In January, 1723, Sprague wrote a brief 
 vindication of his character, and then said, " Why do you 
 
 I 
 
1727.] EARTHQUAKE IN PROVIDENCE. 149 
 
 Strive to persuade the rising generation, that you never 
 persecuted nor hurt the Baptists ? Did you not barba- 
 rously scourge Mr. Obadiah Holmes, and imprison John 
 Hazel of Rehoboth, who died and came not home ? And 
 did you not barbarously scourge Mr. Baker, in Cambridge, 
 the chief mate of a London ship ? Where also you impri- 
 soned Mr. Thomas Gould, John Russell, Benjamin Sweet- 
 ser, and many others, and fined them fifty pounds a man. 
 And did you not take away a part of said Sweetser's land, 
 to pay his fine, and conveyed it to Solomon Phips, the 
 Deputy-governor Danforth's son-in-law, who after by the 
 hand of God ran distracted, dying suddenly, saying he 
 was bewitched? And did you not nail up the Baptist 
 meeting-house doors, and fine Mr, John Miles, Mr. James 
 Brown, and Mr. Nicholas Tanner? Surely I can fill 
 sheets of paper with the sufferings of the Baptists, as well 
 as others, within your precincts ; but what I have men- 
 tioned shall suffice for the present." Mr. Sprague was a 
 minister for many years to a Baptist society, in the east 
 part of Smithfield, then a part of Providence, where he 
 died in January, 1741, aged 93. Mr. Comer knew him, 
 and speaks of him as a very judicious and pious man. 
 
 A Congregational church was constituted in Provi- 
 dence, and Mr. Josiah Cotton was ordained their pastor, 
 October 23, 1728. The year before, on October 29, 
 1727, about ten in the evening, came on the greatest 
 earthquake that had then been known in this country, and 
 great numbers were awakened thereby, in all parts of the 
 land, many of whom appeared to be truly turned to God, 
 though others soon forgot their danger. But greater 
 things are before us, as to real reformation, and one instru- 
 ment of it deserves particular notice ; namely, Mr. Jona- 
 than Edwards, who was born at Windsor in Connecticut, 
 October 5, 1703; was educated at Yale College, and be- 
 gan to preach the gospel in 1722, and was ordained at 
 Northampton, colleague with his grandfather Stoddard, 
 February 15, 1727. Mr. Stoddard died February 11, 
 1729, after having preached there about sixty years. He 
 preached the clear doctrines of grace, and had great suc- 
 cess in his ministry, notwithstanding his opinion about 
 18* 
 
150 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENiGLAND. [CH. IX. 
 
 terms of communion and church government, before de- 
 scribed. 
 
 It was a low time among them for several years, until 
 a revival of religion began in Northampton, in 1733, and 
 it arose so high in the spring of 1735, that Mr. Edwards 
 entertained hopes that about thirty were converted in a 
 week, for six weeks together ; so that scarce a grown 
 person in the place remained unaffected, and many child- 
 ren were effectually called. The same work was pow- 
 erful in about twelve adjacent towns in the county of • 
 Hampshire, and they had something of it in various parts j 
 of Connecticut. Mr. Edwards wrote a narrative of this j 
 great work, in 1736, which was printed in England as 
 well as America, and caused great joy to many ; though; 
 it was but as dropping, before a plentiful shower, as will, 
 appear in the ilext chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The low state of religion in our land — But a glorious revival was 
 now granted ; and it spread far — Yet laws were made against it in 
 Connecticut, and writings against it in Massachusetts, though in- 
 consistent — Ministers are punished by the general court of Con- 
 necticut — Some make retractions — But President Edwards con- 
 demns opposers. 
 
 The first fathers of New England held, that each be 
 liever stands in the same relation to his children as Abra- 
 ham did to his, in the covenant of circumcision ; and 
 therefore that each believer had a right to bring his child 
 ren to baptism, which no others had. But forty years 
 after, a door was opened for those who had been baptized 
 in infancy, and were not scandalous, to bring their infants 
 to baptism, though none were to come to the ordinance 
 of the supper without a profession of saving grace. Yet 
 in forty years more, an open plea was published, before 
 described, for all baptized persons who were not openly 
 
1740.] MR. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 151 
 
 scandalous, to come to the Lord's supper, as well as to 
 bring their children to baptism. And in a third forty 
 years, these things had turned the world into the church, 
 and the church into the world, in such a manner as to 
 leave very little difference between them. But as it is 
 said of false teachers, **They are of the world, therefore 
 speak they of the world, and the world heareth them," 
 so it was generally in our land. 1 John iv. 5. And in 
 England the declension had gone so far, that in 1736, 
 Bishop Butler said, ** It is come, I know not how, to be 
 taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is 
 not so much as a subject of inquiry ; but that it is now at 
 length discovered to be fictitious ; and accordingly they 
 treat it as if in the present age this were an agreed poiiit 
 among all people of discernment, and nothing remained 
 but to set it up a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, 
 as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long in- 
 terrupted the pleasures of the world."* 
 
 But when the enemy was thus coming in like a flood, 
 the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against him. 
 Mr. George Whitefield, who was born in the city of * 
 Gloucester, December 16, 1714, converted while in the 
 University of Oxford in 1733, and ordained in 1736, was 
 wonderfully furnished with grace and gifts to proclaim i 
 doctrinal and practical Christianity through the British / 
 empire. He sailed from England in December, 1737, toJ 
 Georgia, and returned through Ireland to England in De- 
 cember, 1738. He embarked again for America in Au- 
 gust, 1739, and travelled and laboured with great success, 
 as far northward as New York. He returned back to 
 Georgia, from whence he went to South Carolina, and 
 sailed from thence to New England, where he had been 
 earnestly invited, and landed at Newport, September 14, 
 1740, and preached there three days, from whence he 
 came to Boston the 18th. After preaching there and 
 near it many days, he went as far eastward as Old York, 
 to see our excellent Moody ; and then he returned and 
 preached at Boston till October 12, after which he went 
 
 * Preface to his Analogy. 
 
152 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IX. 
 
 up westward to Northampton, to see Mr. Edwards, and 
 roused the people there ; he then turned down by Hart- 
 ford and New Haven, and away to New York, through 
 New Jersey and Philadelphia, and embarked from Dela- 
 ware Bay, December 1, 1740. And he then said, *' ! 
 my soul, look back with gratitude on what the Lord hath 
 done for thee in this excursion. I think it is the seventy- 
 fifth day since I arrived at Rhode Island. My body was 
 then weak, but the Lord has much renewed its strength. 
 I have been enabled to preach, I think, one hundred and 
 seventy-five times in public, besides exhorting frequently 
 in private. I have travelled upwards of eight hundred 
 miles, and gotten upwards of seven hundred pounds ster- 
 ling, in goods, provisions, and money, for the Georgia 
 orphans. Never did God vouchsafe to me greater com- 
 forts. Never did I see such a continuance of the Divine 
 presence in the congregations to whom I have preach- 
 ed."* 
 
 When he went through New Jersey, he prevailed with 
 Mr. Gilbert Tennant to take a tour into this field, which 
 was white already unto the harvest ; and he came to Bos- 
 ton in December, and laboured in these parts till March, 
 when he came round by Plymouth, Middleborough, 
 Bridgwater, Taunton, Newport, and Providence, and so 
 returned home through Connecticut. Both of them, in 
 their preaching, laid open the dreadful danger of hypo- 
 crisy, as well as profaneness, and spake as plainly against 
 unconverted ministers and professors as any other sort 
 of sinners, and the effects were exceeding great and 
 happy. 
 
 Some indeed tried to persuade the world, that the great 
 change then made in the land, was chiefly owing to the 
 mechanical influence of their terrible words, gestures, 
 and moving ways of address. But Mr. Prince says, 
 '* As to Mr. Whitefield's preaching, it was in the man- 
 ner, moving, winning, and melting ; but the mechanical 
 influence of this, according to the usual operation of me- 
 chanical powers, in two or three days expired, with many 
 
 \ • Collection of his Journals, p. 437. 
 
1740.] REVIVALS OP RELIGION. 153 
 
 in two or three hours ; and I believe with the most as 
 soon as the sound was over, or they got out of the house, -n 
 or in the first conversation they fell into. But with the ' 
 manner of his preaching, wherein he appeared to be in 
 earnest,, he delivered those vital truths which animated 
 all our martyrs, made them triumph in flames, and led 
 his hearers into the view of that vital, inward, active 
 piety, which is the mere efiect of the mighty and super- 
 natural operation of a divine power on the souls of men ; 
 which only will support and carry through the sharpest i 
 trials, and make meet for the inheritance of the saints in 
 light." As to Mr. Tennant, he says, "In private con-'~~^ 
 verse with him I found him to be a man of considerable 
 parts and learning ; free, gentle, condescending ; and from 
 his own various experience, reading the most noted 
 writers on experimental divinity, as well as the Scriptures, 
 and conversing with many who had been awakened by 
 his ministry in New Jersey, where he then lived ; he 
 seemed to have as deep an acquaintance with the experi- 
 mental part of religion as any I have conversed with, and 
 his preaching was as searching and rousing as ever 1' 
 heard. He seemed to have no regard to please the eyes 
 of his hearers with agreeable gestures, nor their ears with' 
 delivery, nor their fancy with language ; but to aim di- 
 rectly at their hearts and consciences, to lay open their 
 ruinous delusions, show them their numerous, secret, hy- 
 pocritical shifts in religion, and drive them out of every 
 deceitful refuge, wherein they made themselves easy 
 with a form of godliness without the power."* 
 
 Religion was much revived at Boston, Northampton, 
 and other places in the fall and winter; and in the twa 
 years following, the work spread through most parts of 
 New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylva- 
 nia, beyond all that was ever known before in America. 
 Several ministers, who were converted before, were now 
 greatly quickened, and spent much of their time in tra- 
 velling and preaching in various parts of the land. 
 Others, who had been blind guides before, were now 
 
 * Christian History, vol. ii. p. 384 — 387 
 
154 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. IX. 
 
 ^spiritually enlightened, and heartily joined in this great 
 work ; three of them were Mr. William Hobby of Read- 
 ing, Mr. John Porter of Bridgwater, and Mr. Daniel 
 Rogers, a tutor in Harvard College, who all acknow- 
 ledged Mr. Whitefield to be the instrument of their con- 
 version. A number of young scholars also met with a 
 change in these times, and came into the ministry, in 
 which they did much for the good of souls. Religious 
 meetings, and religious conversation, engaged the atten- 
 tion of a great part of the people in most parts of the 
 land. A reformation of life, confessing their former 
 faults, and making restitution for injuries done, were evi- 
 dent in many places ; and a vast number of all ages made 
 a profession of religion, and joined to the several churches 
 where they lived. 
 
 But a great majority of the ministers and rulers through 
 the land disliked this work, and exerted all their powers 
 against it ; and as many imperfections appeared therein, 
 this gave them many plausible excuses for so doing. But 
 Mr. Edwards delivered a sermon at New Haven in Sep- 
 tember, 1741, in which he well distinguished between the 
 marks of a true work of God, and all false appearances of 
 it, which was printed and spread through the nation, and 
 was much esteemed. An anonymous answer to it was 
 soon published at Boston, and many appeared against the 
 work in Massachusetts ; but they could not get any law 
 made against it, as they did in Connecticut. ^-^ 
 
 Governor Talcot died there in October, 1741, while 
 their legislature was sitting, who then elected another go- 
 vernor, who was greatly in favour of ministerial power ; 
 and they called a consociation of ministers to meet at 
 Guilford in November, and they drew up a number of 
 resolves, in one of which they said, ** That for a minister 
 to enter into another minister's parish, and preach or ad- 
 minister the seals of the covenant, without the consent of, 
 or in opposition to the settled minister of the parish, is 
 disorderly,^'' Mr. Robbins of Branford had done some- 
 thing like it before at New Haven, for which others had 
 reproved him, and he had made some concessions to them. 
 In December he received a letter from a Baptist minister 
 
1742.] RESTRICTIONS ON PREACHING. 155 
 
 in Wallingford, informing him that Dr. Bellamy had 
 preached to their society to mutual satisfaction, a^jd desir- 
 ing that he would do the like. This request appeared 
 agreeable, and he appointed a meeting for this purpose, 
 January 6, 1742. But two days before that time, a deacon 
 from Wallingford brought him a letter signed by forty-two 
 men in their town, and another signed by two ministers 
 who lived by the way, desiring him not to go to preach 
 to those Baptists, without giving any reason against it, 
 but their desire. And as this did not appear to him a 
 sufficient reason to violate his promise, and to disappoint 
 a people who were desirous to hear the gospel, he w^ent 
 and preached two sermons to them. Yet for this he was 
 complained of as a disorderly person, to the consociation 
 of New Haven county, February 9. He asked how it 
 could be disorderly, since he preached to a particular re- 
 ligious society, at the request of their pastor. They 
 answered, that it was not a lawful society, but a disor- 
 derly company. He replied, that Governor Talcot had 
 advised Wallingford collectors not to distrain ministerial 
 taxes from them ; and the authority sent them annual pro- 
 clamations for fasts and thanksgivings, as to other socie- 
 ties.* But they disregarded these reasons, and expelled 
 him out of their consociation ! This was abput the time 
 that Mr. David Brainerd was expelled out of Yale col- 
 lege, who did the most afterwards towards spreading 
 Christianity among the Indians of any man in our day. 
 How far were the above actions from a catholic behaviour 
 towards the Baptists, pretended to by many ! 
 
 Those ministers procured a law to be made in May, 
 1742, wherein it w^as enacted, that if any settled minister 
 in their government should preach in the parish of another 
 without his consent, he should lose all the benefit of 
 their laws for his support ; and that if any man who was 
 not a settled minister, should go into any parish and 
 preach without such consent, he should be imprisoned 
 until he gave an hundred pound bond not to do so again ; 
 
 * That Baptist church in Wallingford was formed, and Mr. John 
 Merriraan was ordained their pastor in 1739. 
 
156 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IX. 
 
 and if any minister came out of any other government, 
 and preached without such consent, he should be taken 
 up by authority, and carried as a vagrant person out of 
 Connecticut. At the same time they had an old law, by 
 which every person was to be fined ten shillings, who 
 drew off from parish ministers, and met for worship in a 
 place separate from them. What tyranny was this ! And 
 though Massachusetts had no power to make such laws 
 about preachers, yet saicl Connecticut law was printed in 
 a Boston newspaper, and many did all they could against 
 travelling ministers, and against the work in general. 
 
 But Mr. Edwards published a book on the other side, 
 in 1742 ; showing that the work then going on in the land 
 was a glorious work of God ; the duty of all to acknow- 
 ledge and to promote it, and the great danger of the con- 
 trary ; wherein its friends had been injuriously blamed ; 
 what ought to be corrected among them, and what ought 
 positively to be done to promote the work. This book 
 was much esteemed in Europe as well as America. Yet 
 Dr. Charles Chauncy of Boston was so much displeased 
 with it, that he set off and travelled through the country, 
 as far as Philadelphia, picking up all the evils that he 
 could find, and some reports that were not true, concern- 
 ing the work, and published them in 1743, as an answer 
 to Edwards. In an introduction of above thirty pages, 
 he tries to prove that this work was carried on by the 
 same spirit and errors that were condemned by the synod 
 of 1637. But what has been before recited, and much 
 more that might be produced, plainly shows the contrary. 
 He then spends about three hundred pages upon what he 
 calls, " things of a bad and dangerous tendency, in the 
 late religious appearances in New England." And the 
 first thing which he so calls, is itinerant preaching, which 
 he says had its rise in these parts from Mr. Whitefield, 
 who was followed by Mr. Tennant, and others. And 
 before he cited any Scripture against it, he mentioned 
 their law against it in Connecticut, which he observed 
 had been printed in one of the Boston papers. After 
 which he produced what is said in the Scriptures con- 
 cerning idle disorderly walkers, who eat the bread of 
 
 J 
 
 
 
1743. J RESTRICTIONS DEFENDED. 157 
 
 Others for naught. 2 Thess. iii. 6 — 11. And then he 
 mentioned the caution against being busybodies in other 
 men's matters. 1 Pet. iv. 15. But this could not an- 
 swer his turn, without mending the translation, and ob- 
 serving that the word busybody is episcopos, which is 
 often translated bishop ; and the evil here warned against, 
 he says, is *' One that plays the bishop in another's dio- 
 cess."* But it is well known, that the word means an 
 overseer, and is so rendered in Acts xx. 28. A busybody 
 then is an overseer in the affairs of others, and in the two 
 scriptures which he produced, it is applied to Christians 
 in general, and is not confined to ministers. All should 
 take heed that they do not intermeddle with the affairs of 
 others, which do not belong to them. Two other scrip- 
 tures he brings which belong to ministers, that condemn 
 the commending of themselves, and entering into the line 
 of others, and the building upon another man's founda- 
 tion. 2 Cor. X. 12 — 17. Rom. xv. 20. And these are' 
 his scriptures to prove that a minister ought not to 
 preach in any parish where another was settled by the 
 laws of men, without his consent.! But all ought to 
 know, that the line of conduct which God has drawn in 
 his word, and the foundation which he has laid for his 
 church, is as high above all establishments for worship by 
 human laws, as heaven is above the earth. And the 
 reader will judge whether the above application of those 
 scriptures to worldly establishments, is not corrupting 
 the word of God. For travelling preachers of the gospel 
 through the world, were the great means that God made 
 use of, to lay the foundation of the Christian church, ii^ 
 the apostolic age. And travelling preaching hath often 
 been blessed for the good of souls in every age, and in 
 every country vvrhere the gospel has come. 
 
 Another thing which Dr. Chauncy complains of, as of 
 a dangerous tendency, is a spirit of rash and censorious 
 judging; this he says first appeared in Mr. Whitefield, 
 who seldom preached, but he had something or other in 
 
 * Chauncy's Thoughts, p. 36 — 42. 
 I p. 43--45. 
 
 14 
 
158 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. IX. 
 
 his sermon against unconverted ministers. Chauncy says, 
 **I freely confess, had the ministers of New England lost 
 their character as men of religion, by a deportment of 
 themselves contradictory to the gospel, 1 should have 
 found no fault with any representation of them as bad 
 men; nay, dangerous enemies to the kingdom of Christ: 
 for I am clearly of the mind, that a visibly wicked minis- 
 ter is the greatest scandal to religion, and plague to the 
 church of God ; nor is it a hurt, but a real service to the 
 cause of Christ, to expose the characters of such, and 
 lessen their power to do mischief."* But to prove that 
 their character was good, he recites the words of Dr. 
 Cotton Mather, who said, *' No man becomes a minister 
 in our churches, till he first be a communicant ; and no 
 man becomes a communicant, until he hath been severely 
 examined about his regeneration, as well as his conver- 
 sation."! 
 
 But when was it so ? This testimony was published 
 in 1696; but four years after Mr. Stoddard published his 
 opinion, that if men were not openly scandalous, they 
 ought to come to communion in the church, though they 
 knew themselves to be unregenerate ; and this opinion 
 had spread over the whole country before Mr. Whitefield 
 came into it. Nay, Dr. Chauncy himself said afterwards, 
 ** The divinely appointed way, in which persons become 
 members of the visible church of Christ, is utterly incon- 
 sistent with the supposition, that, in order to their being 
 so, they must be subjects of saving faith, or judged to 
 be so."J So that out of his own mouth he is con- 
 demned. 
 
 An uncharitable and censorious spirit is ever to be watch- 
 ed against, much of which appeared in that day among 
 all orders of men. And Dr. Chauncy discovered a large 
 share of it, and he published many censures of others, 
 and of some in high authority. Governor Law of Con- 
 necticut, in a proclamation for their annual fast, February 
 16, 1743, called all his subjects to confess and be hum- 
 
 • P. 140, 141. fP- ^^2. 
 
 i Sermong on breaking of bread, p. 106. 
 
1743.] PRESBYTERIANS PERSECUTED. 159 
 
 bled for their sins, which he said were, '* The ^eat 
 neglect and contempt of the gospel and the ministry there- 
 of, and the prevailing of a spirit of error, disorder, un- 
 peaceableness, pride, bitterness, uncharitableness, censo- 
 riousness, disobedience, calumniating and reviling of 
 authority ; divisions, contentions, separations, and confu- 
 sions in churches ; injustice, idleness, evil-speaking, lasci- 
 viousness, and all other vices and impieties which abound 
 among us." This Chauncy has inserted in his book.* 
 This proclamation was published so early as to have influ- 
 ence in their election of rulers ; and Deacon Hezekiah 
 Huntington of Norwich, who had been one of their coun- 
 cil three years, was then left out of it, and a man was 
 elected in his room, who had sent men to prison for 
 preaching and exhorting the year before. Huntington 
 had been greatly engaged in the reformation then going 
 on in the land, and he continued steadfast therein all his 
 days. 
 
 A. new church had been formed in New Haven, and 
 another at Milford, which had been tolerated by their 
 county court, and they had put themselves undexthe^care 
 of a pres{)\tery In New Jersey. But the legislature that 
 met at Hartford in May, 1743, enacted, **That those 
 commonK- called Presbyterians or Congregationalists shall 
 not take benefit of the act of toleration." And they also 
 declared that no other dissenters from the established way 
 of worship, but such as should " Before the Assembly 
 take the oaths and subscribe the declaration provided in 
 the act of Parliament, in cases of like nature, should be 
 tolerated." Mr. John Owen of Groton, was complained 
 of for preaching against their laws in April before ; there- 
 fore he was ordered to be brou^^ht before the legislature 
 at their next session. 
 
 In the mean time a Presbyterian minister was sent 
 from the Jerseys, to preach to said societies in Milford 
 and New Haven ; and for preaching at Milford, he was 
 taken up by authority, and carried as a vagrant person out 
 of their government. But when he was let go, he came 
 
 * His Thoughts, p. 295, 296. 
 
160 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. IX 
 
 back and preached at New Haven. And as the people 
 < oncealed him on week-days, an officer came on a Lord's- 
 day morning and seized him at their meeting-house door, 
 and carried him away. Yet he returned again and 
 preached to the people ; an account of which was laid 
 before their legislature in October following, when it was 
 enacted, that any minister who should do so again, should 
 be imprisoned until he should give a hundred pound 
 bond not to do so any more. Such was their treatment 
 of a minister of Christ, whose name and title since was 
 Samuel Finley, D. D. President of New Jersey College. 
 
 As Mr. Owen avoided being taken, and like complaints 
 were exhibited against Mr. Pomroy, both were ordered 
 to be brought before the assembly the next May. Ac- 
 cordingly, at their meeting at Hartford, May 10, 1744, 
 Owen came with an humble confession, and they forgave 
 him, he paying costs. Pomroy was brought, and stood 
 trial for some hours; but he was condemned, and ordered 
 to be committed, till he would pay costs, and bind him- 
 self for one year, in a recognizance of fifty pounds, not to 
 offend again in like manner. He then yielded to their 
 requirements. And Mr. James Devenport, who had gone 
 as far in condemning the settled ministers, and in pro- 
 moting separations from them, as any minister in these 
 parts, wrote a retraction of those things, and sent it to 
 Boston, where Mr. Prince published it, in September, 
 1744.* After which, scarce any settled minister in New 
 England ventured to preach in any parish, without the 
 consent of the settled minister. 
 
 Yet Mr. Edwards had before said, *' If ministers preach 
 never so good doctrine, and are never so painful and la- 
 borious in their work, yet if, at such a day as this, they 
 shew to the people that they are not well affected to this 
 work, but are very doubtful and suspicious of it, they 
 will be very likely to do their people a great deal more 
 hurt than good : for the very fame of such a great and 
 extraordinary work of God, if their people were suffered 
 to believe it to be his, and the example of other towns, 
 
 * Christian History, vol. ii. p. 237—240. 
 
/745.] MR. ELISHA PAINE. 161 
 
 together with what preaching they might hear occasion- 
 ally, would be likely to have a much greater influence 
 upon the minds of the people, to awaken and animate 
 them in religion, than all their labours with them. And 
 we that are ministers, by looking on this work from year 
 to year, with a displeased countenance, shall efl^ectually 
 keep the sheep from their pasture, instead of doing the 
 part of shepherds to them, by feeding them ; and our 
 people had a great deal better be without any settled mi- 
 nister at all, at such a day as this. The times of Christ^s 
 remarkably appearing in behalf of his church, and to re- 
 vive religion, and advance his kingdom in the world, are 
 often spoken of in the prophecies of Scripture, as times 
 wherein he will remarkably execute judgment on such 
 miitisters or shepherds as do not feed the flock, but 
 hinder their being fed, and so deliver his flock from 
 them, as Jer. xxiii. Ezek. xxxiv. Zech. x. Isa. xlvi. 
 &c."* How solemn are these considerations ! And we 
 have before seen, that Dr. Increase Mather, in the year 
 1700, said, ** If the began apostasy should proceed as 
 fast the next thirty years as it has done these last, 
 surely it will come to that in New England, that the most 
 conscientious people therein will think themselves con- 
 cerned to gather churches out of churches." And though 
 he knew not the exact time, yet this came to pass in 
 forty-five years in the following manner. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Of Canterbury separation — Association letter against it — But sepa- 
 rations multiply, though persecuted — The work at Middleborough * 
 — Of President Edwards — Of Mr. Whitefield — Robbins persecuted, 
 but delivered — Sufferings at Norwich and Canterbury. 
 
 Mr. Elisha Paine was born in Eastham, on Cape 
 Cod, and was well instructed in the principles of thfe 
 
 * Edwards' Thoughts, 1742, p. 133—136. 
 14* 
 
162 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. X. 
 
 first church in Plymouth, and was well established there- 
 in. His father removed his family to Canterbury, in 
 Connecticut, and was one of the men who formed a 
 church there in 1711. He had four sons, whom he 
 brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; 
 and they appeared to be acquainted with experimental 
 religion. His son Elisha was become one of the greatest 
 lawyers in Connecticut, and was much prospered in the 
 world, before the law was made in 1742, to imprison 
 men for preachi^ig the gospel ; but he then quitted their 
 courts, and went forth preaching the gospel through the 
 land. The church in Canterbury was then without a 
 pastor ; and on January 27, 1743, they voted to adhere 
 to the Cambridge platform instead of that of Say brook. 
 Soon after, Mr. Elisha Paine set off in preaching the 
 gospel to the northward; but for preaching in Wood- 
 stock, which then belonged to Massachusetts, he was 
 taken up, in February, and was sent to Worcester jail, 
 under pretence of his breaking a law against mocking or 
 mimicking of preaching. But four ministers in Con- 
 necticut, being informed of it, gave a certificate, that they 
 esteemed him to be qualified to preach the gospel. In 
 May the court at Worcester were forced to release him, 
 as having been imprisoned without law ; and he went 
 round preaching the gospel for about a fortnight, and 
 then returned home. On July 8, he set off again, and 
 travelled to Providence, Bristol, Boston, Cambridge, and 
 as far northward as Dimstable and Lancaster, preaching 
 with great power. He returned home December 3, hav- 
 ing preached two hundred and forty-four sermons, as ap- 
 pears by his journal. In Jime, 1744, he went and 
 preached at Eastham and Harwich, which caused a sepa- 
 ration, and then a Baptist church in Harwich. Upon his 
 return to Canterbury, a division took place there in the 
 following manner : The parish had called a young minis- 
 ter to preach to them, by whom most of the church were 
 not edified. The parish therefore called a committee of 
 their association in August to give advice in the case. 
 Mr. Paine was requested to give them his objections 
 against said candidate ; but he woidd not, because thev 
 
1744.] SEPARATION AT CANTERBURY. 163 
 
 were not called by the church. Another member gave 
 them a copy of the vote of the church against him, which 
 they called the act of the aggrieved part of the church ; 
 and they advised the parish to go on and settle said can- 
 didate. For this, Mr. Paine wrote to one of those mi- 
 nisters in September a sharp reproof for wronging the 
 truth in calling that a part of the church, which was the 
 church itself. Upon this he was seized and imprisoned 
 at Windham before the month was out, for preaching in 
 Windham the spring before, without the consent of pa- 
 rish ministers. Mr. Paine gave bonds to the jail-keeper, 
 so as to have liberty to preach in the yard ; and he soon 
 had so large a congregation to hear him, that his perse- 
 cutors found they weakened their own cause by confining 
 him there. They therefore released him about Octo- 
 ber 19. 
 
 In the mean time, as the church in Canterbury had no 
 other way to avoid hearing a man who did not edify them, 
 they withdrew from their meeting-house, and met at 
 another house. And John and Ebenezer Cleaveland, 
 members of it, as they also were of Yale College ; being 
 at home in vacation time, met for worship with their own 
 church ; but for nothing but so domg they were expelled 
 from the college. And Mr. Paine was repeatedly cited 
 to appear before the ministers of that county, to answer 
 to complaints they had received against him; but he 
 knew them too well to submit himself to their power. 
 Twelve of them met in November, and published a testi- 
 mony against him in a newspaper. And near all the 
 ministers in Windham county met and published a letter 
 to their people, dated December 11, 1744, signed by 
 Joseph Coite, Ebenezer Williams, Joseph Meacham, 
 Samuel Dorrance, Solomon Williams, Jacob Eliot, Mar- 
 ston Cabot, Samuel Mosely, Ephraim Avery, Ebenezer 
 Devotion, Eleazar Wheelock, Abel Stiles, Stephen 
 White, John Bass, Richard Salter, William Throope. 
 They brought Deut. xiii. 1 — 3, as a warning to their 
 people against hearing Mr. Paine and his brethren, and 
 Ihen said, *' The case here supposed is an attempt to 
 draw the people to idolatry, and this, you will say, is not 
 
164 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. X. 
 
 your case. These prophets and dreamers endeavour to 
 draw you to Christ, and not from him ; but then they 
 endeavour to draw you from his institutions, to a way of 
 worship which he has not instituted. Though the case 
 is not so strong, yet the argument against your compli- 
 ance is the same ; for whatsoever worship God has not 
 instituted and directed in his word, is false worship, and 
 therefore if there seem to be never so many appearances 
 of God's power attending it, you may not go after it, any 
 more than after a false god."* 
 
 Upon which we may observe, that Christ calls the field 
 the world, and says of the wheat and tares, ** Let both 
 grow together until the harvest." But he says to his 
 church, " Put away from among yourselves that wicked 
 person." Yet these ministers held the field to be the 
 church, and that Christ would not let his servants root up 
 the tares, "even when they appeared^^ But how far is 
 such worship from the instituted church of Christ! Yea, 
 while they were for having the tares grow in the church, 
 they would not let the children of God grow peaceably in 
 the world, but took up and imprisoned many of them. 
 
 On November 27, 1744, the church of Canterbury met, 
 and sixteen members against twenty-three voted to send 
 for their consociation to come and ordain the candidate 
 whom the parish had chosen ; and they met there for that 
 purpose on December 26 ; but not having the majority of 
 the church for him, they could not proceed according to 
 their own laws. At length they called the parish together, 
 and got them to vote, that they were willing their legis- 
 lature should set off those who did not choose their can- 
 didate, as a distinct religious society ; and so went on and 
 ordained him as the minister of that parish. But as the 
 church did not desire any new incorporation by the laws 
 of men, but only petitioned to be exempted from taxes to 
 a minister they never chose, their petition was disregarded, 
 their goods were torn away, or their persons imprisoned 
 for his support for fifteen years, without the least com- 
 passion from the ministers who acted in that ordination. 
 
 * Association letter, p. 43 f P. 21. 
 
1746.] NEW CHURCHES ORGANIZED. 165 
 
 These, and many other things, moved a number of teachers 
 and brethren to meet at Mansfield, October 9, 1745, and 
 form a new church ; and they elected Mr. Thomas Marsh I 
 
 of Windham to be their pastor, and appointed his ordina- 1 
 
 tion to be on January 6, 1746. But he was seized the 
 day before, and was imprisoned at Windham, for preach- 
 ing without leave from parish ministers. On the day he 
 was to have been ordained, a large assembly met, to wj^m 
 Mr. Elisha Paine preached a good sermon, at the close of 
 which about thirteen parish ministers came up, and tried 
 all their influence to scatter that flock, whose shepherd 
 had been smitten ; though, instead of it, they elected and 
 ordained Mr. John Hovey as their pastor the next month. 
 Mr. Marsh was confined in prison till June, and then 
 their court released him, and in July he was ordained as 
 a colleague with Mr. Hovey ; and many such churches 
 were soon after formed and organized.* 
 
 What our Lord says about putting a piece of new cloth 
 into an old garment, and new wine into old bottles, was 
 
 • Mr. Solomon Paine was ordained at Canterbury, September 10; 
 Thomas Stevens at Plainfield, September 1 1 ; Thomas Dennison at 
 Norwich farms, October 29 ; Jedidiah Hide at Norwich town, Octo- 
 ber 30 ; Matthew Smith at Stonington, December 10; John Fuller 
 at Lyme, December 25; Joseph Snow at Providence, February 12, 
 1747; Samuel Wadsworth at Killingly, June .T; Paul Park at Pres- 
 ton, July 15; Elihu Marsh, at Windham, October 7 ; Ebenezer Froth- 
 ingham at Weathersfield, October 28; Nathanael Shepard in Attle- 
 borough, January 20, 1748; Isaac Backus at Bridgwater, April 13; 
 John Paine at Rehoboth, August 3 ; William Carpenter at Norton, 
 September 7 ; John Blunt at Sturbridge, September 28 ; Ebenezet 
 Mack at Lyme, January 12, 1749; Joshua Nickerson at Harwicli, 
 February 23 ; Samuel Hide at Bridgwater, May 1 1 ; John Palmer at 
 Windham, May 17; Samuel Hcrvey at Mendon, May 31; Samuel 
 Drown at Coventry, October 1 1 ; Stephen Babcock at Westerly, April 
 4, 1750; Joseph Hastings at Suffield, April 17; Nathanael Ewer at 
 Barnstable, May 10; Joshua Morse at New London, May 17; Jona- 
 than Hide at Brookline, January 17, 1751; Ezekiel Cole at Sutton, 
 January 31 ; Ebenezer Wadsworth at Grafton, March 20; Shubaef 
 Stearns at Tolland, March 20; Nathanael Draper at Cambridge, 
 April 24; Peter Werden at Warwick, May 17, &c. 
 
 Those in Italic became Baptists afterwards; Drown, Babcock, 
 Morse, Stearns, Draper, and Werden were ao l)efore. 
 
166 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [uH. X. 
 
 remarkably verified at this time. Great numbers of young 
 converts had joined to their old churches ; but a regard to 
 the pure laws of Christ, from the new wine of love to 
 God and love to men, could not be contained in churches 
 which were governed by the laws and inventions of men, 
 obeyed from the love of worldly honour and gain, or a 
 desire to get life by their own doing, any more than a 
 piece of new cloth could agree with an old garment, or 
 new wine could be contained in old bottles. Instead 
 of it, the rent was made worse, or the bottles were 
 broken. 
 
 The consociation of Windham county met in January, 
 1747, and received accounts of these transactions, and 
 then adjourned a month, and sent citations to Mr. Paine, 
 and others of those ministers, to appear before the lawful 
 ministers of their parishes, or a committee of their council, 
 to offer what they had to say in vindication of themselves. 
 But they were far from an inclination to submit themselves 
 to such judges. When said consociation met again, they 
 published a copy of the confession of faith and covenant 
 of the new church in Mansfield, and their objection >} 
 against the same, and their judgment against all those 
 new churches, and got these things printed at Boston, in 
 a pamphlet of twenty-two octavo pages. To these means 
 were added the imprisonment of Mr. Frothingham five 
 months, Mr. John Paine eleven months, and Mr. Palmer 
 four months, all at Hartford, for preaching without the 
 consent of parish ministers. Mr. Solomon Paine suf- 
 fered imprisonment also at Windham for a fortnight, on 
 the same account, and many others suffered the like. 
 And three gentlemen, only for being members and deacons 
 in these separate churches, were, at different times, ex- 
 pelled out of their legislature, namely. Captain Obadiah 
 Johnson, of Canterbury, Captain Thomas Stevens, of 
 Plainfield, and Captain Nathan Jewet, of Lyme. But 
 overstraining their power weakened it, and it began to 
 decline ; for Deacon Hezekiah Huntington was again 
 elected into their council at Hartford in May, 1748 ; and 
 he continued in that office, and was alsof judge of probate, 
 and chief judge of their county court, until he died in 
 
1747.] CASE OF MIDDLEBOROUGH. 167 
 
 1773. These things were done in Connecticut; but we 
 must now return to the affairs of Massachusetts. 
 
 Mr. Peter Thatcher was the third minister of Middle- 
 borough, where he began to preach in 1707, and he was 
 much engaged in that work, especially in and after the 
 glorious year 1741 ; and his success was so great that 
 there were above three hundred and forty communicants 
 in his church when he died, April 22, 1744.* But the 
 parish committee, direcdy after his death, exerted all their 
 influence against the church, about calling another minis- 
 ter. And when the church had voted to hear Mr. Syl- 
 vanus Conant four Sabbaths upon probation, the parish 
 committee went and got another man to preach there the 
 same days ; so that the church withdrew, and met at 
 another place till his probation time was out, and then 
 elected him for their pastor, and presented their choice to 
 the parish. Upon this, said committee made a new regu- 
 lation of voters, wherein they excluded seven or eight old 
 voters, and made about nineteen new ones ; and they 
 negatived the choice of the church. But the church sent 
 for a council of five other churches to settle the matter ; 
 and by their hplp Mr. Conant was ordained their pastor, 
 March 28, 1745. Yet less than a quarter of the church 
 called themselves the standing part of it, and went on and 
 ordained another minister the next October, and held the 
 old house and ministerial land, and taxed all the parish 
 for his support. The church built another meetmg-house, 
 and went on to support their minister ; but such a party 
 spirit prevailed, even in their legislature, that they could 
 get no relief from thence in about four years. Though 
 such a turn was then made, that the parish was divided 
 into two promiscuously, and each man had liberty to 
 choose which he would be of, and each was to support "^ 
 his own minister. When this liberty was obtained, the 
 opposing party were soon sick of the minister they had 
 ordained, and used violence against him until they got 
 him away, and obtained a dissolution of their society. 
 Does not this, as well as the experience of Canterbury, • 
 
 • Christian History, vol. ii. p. 77—79. 99. 
 
168 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. X. 
 
 show the great evil of allowing the world to govern the 
 church about religious ministers ? 
 
 And where church and world are one, it is no better, 
 as now appeared at Northampton. The excellent Mr. 
 Edwards was settled there, with his grandfather Stod- 
 dard, upon the opinion that the Lord's supper was a con- 
 verting ordinance, and he had gone on fifteen years in 
 that way, until he was fully convinced that it was con- 
 trary to the word of God ; and he also found that gospel 
 discipline could not be practised in such a way. No 
 sooner was his change of mind discovered, in 1744, than 
 most of his people were inflamed against him, and never 
 would give him a hearing upon the reasons of his change 
 ol sentiments ; but they were resolute to have him dis- 
 missed. As he could not get them to hear him preach 
 upon the subject,he printed his thoughts upon it, in 1749, 
 though most of them would not read his book. In it he 
 says, ** that baptism, by which the primitive converts 
 were admitted into the church, was used as an exhibition 
 and token of their being visibly regenerated^ dead to sin, 
 aiid alive to God. The saintship, godliness, and holiness 
 of which, according to Scripture, professing Christians 
 and visible saints do make a profession and have a visi- 
 bility, is not any religion and virtue that is the result of 
 common grace, or moral sincerity, (as it is called,) but 
 saving grace,^^ And to prove this, he referred to Rom. 
 ii. 29; vi. 1—4. Phil. iii. 3. Col. ii. 11, 12.* Though 
 he did not design it, yet many others have been made 
 Baptists by the same scriptures, and the same ideas from 
 them. But Mr. Stoddard's doctrine had prevailed so far 
 in that part of the country, that in all the county of Hamp- 
 sliire, which then included all our state west of Worcester 
 county, not less than sixty miles wide and seventy miles 
 long, there were but three ministers who did not hold 
 that doctrine; and the church at Northampton denied Mr. 
 Edwards the liberty of going out of that county, for any 
 of those whom he was to choose to settle their contro- 
 r&f^j. At last they yielded that he might go out of that 
 
 ♦ On a right to Sacraments, p. 20—23. 
 
1745.] OPPOSITION TO WHITEFIELD. 169 
 
 county for two, as each party was to choose five. But 
 when the council met, in June, 1750, one of the churches 
 whom Mr. Edwards sent to. had sent no delegate to the 
 council, though their minister came and acted in the 
 council, so that by the majority of one vote, Mr. Ed- 
 wards was separated from the flock he dearly loved. 
 Thus one of the best men in our land was rejected from 
 his place and employment, only for coming into the be- 
 lief that a profession of saving faith was necessary in all 
 who came into communion in the church of Christ. But 
 as this was evidendy a good cause, so God was with him 
 in it, so that he afterwards wrote a book which opened 
 the true nature of the liberty of the will of moral agents, 
 beyond any thing that ever was published in latter ages ; 
 and that and many other works of his are still greatly 
 esteemed in Europe, as well as America. He was very 
 useful in the ministry, until he died President of New 
 Jersey College, March 22, 1758, in his 56th year. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield came a second time into New England, 
 in the fall of 1744 ; when such opposition appeared 
 against him, as never was seen before against any minis- 
 ter of the gospel in our land. The Corporation of Har- 
 vard College soon published a testimony against him, 
 which was followed with one from an association of mi- 
 nisters at Weymouth, and another at Marlborough, with a 
 third in the county of Barnstable, besides many indivi- 
 duals ; and in February, 1745, Yale College did the like, 
 and represented that he intended to root out all the stand- 
 ing ministers in our land, and to introduce foreigners in 
 their stead. This was so opposite to truth, that all his 
 life was evidently spent in labouring for the conversion 
 and edification of precious souls, while he left the building 
 and government of churches to others ; though when per- 
 sons were brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, they 
 could not be easy under teachers who were strangers to 
 him, for he says, *' A stranger will they not follow, but 
 will flee from him ; for they know not the voice of 
 strangers." And if many ministers in our land had not 
 been strangers to Christ, how could they have acted as 
 they did ? 
 
 15 
 
170 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. X. 
 
 Those who had cast Mr. Robbins out of their consocia- 
 tion, for preaching to the Baptists without their consent, 
 could not let him alone ; because while he continued a 
 pastor of the first church in Branford, and yet was not 
 with them, it weakened their power. Therefore, in May, 
 1743, they received a complaint against him, signed by 
 six of his people ; and they appointed a committee to go 
 to him upon it, before he knew who the complainants 
 were, or what they complained of. But when he found 
 who they were, he went and gave them satisfaction, and 
 they wrote an account of it to said committee, but they 
 would come, and insisted upon it, that Mr. Robbins must 
 go and be reconciled to their association. This he tried 
 for without success. Yet, seeing what a storm was 
 gathering, he drew three confessions, and went to another 
 of their meetings, and offered them, wherein he went as 
 ^ far as he could towards giving them satisfaction, short of 
 confessing that he broke the law of God in preaching to 
 those Baptists as he did. But as he could not in con- 
 science confess that, they rejected all his confessions. 
 And in May, 1745, they received a larger complaint 
 against him, without his having any previous notice of it, 
 and another committee was sent to him, who prevailed 
 with him to go and offer a fourth confession to their as- 
 sociation, wherein he pleaded that his ignorance of its 
 being a crime to preach to the Baptists as he did, might 
 apologize for him, so that a reconciliation might be 
 effected with them, and among his people. But they 
 refused to be satisfied with any thing short of his confess- 
 ing that he broke the law of God in preaching to the 
 Baptists against their consent. He then went home and 
 laid this confession before his society, who voted that it 
 was sufficient, and they desired him to continue in the 
 ministry with them, and also that no councils or commit- 
 tees might be sent there again without their request. And 
 his church met November 4, 1745, and renounced the 
 Saybrook platform, and said, " We receive the Scriptures 
 of the Old and New Testament, as the only perfect rule 
 and platform of church government and discipline ;" 
 
1747.] PROCEEDINGS AGAINST MR. ROBBINS. 171 
 
 though they did not renounce fellowship with the conso- 
 ciated churches. 
 
 This was worse in their view than all he had done be- 
 fore ; and a much larger complaint was received against 
 him than before, and a consociation was appointed to try 
 It at Branford, September 30, 1746 ; and Mr. Robbins 
 was required ** in the name of Christ" to appear before 
 them. But he drew an answer to each article of their 
 complaint, and laid them before his church, who chose a 
 committee to lay a copy of their former votes before the 
 consociation, and earnestly to deny their jurisdiction over 
 them. This was accordingly done ; yet they resolved 
 that Mr. Robbins was under their jurisdiction, and went 
 on to hear accusations against him in his absence, and to 
 condemn him in ten articles of his public teaching, with- 
 out naming any witnesses, or any time or place when or 
 where either of them were delivered. And concerning 
 his conduct, they say, ** He hath led off a party with 
 him, to rise up against and separate from the ecclesiastical 
 constitution of this colony, under which this church was 
 peaceably established ; reproachfully insinuating in a 
 church mooting^ that under the Saybrook platform it is 
 king ar' oriation in opposition to Jesus Christ, the only 
 King c r ti.e church. In which articles, upon mature de- 
 liberation, we judge the said Mr. Robbins is criminally 
 guilty of the breach of the third, fifth, and ninth com- 
 mands, and of many gospel rules, for which he ought to 
 give Christian satisfaction, by making a confession to the 
 acceptance of this consociation."* This he was so far 
 from doing, that he published a narrative of the whole 
 affair at Boston, in which the reader may find all the 
 above particulars. 
 
 The consociation waited a year, and then met on Sep- 
 tember 29, 1747, and after telling much of their lenity 
 and his obstinacy, they say, *' This consociation do now 
 upon the whole judge and determine the said Mr. Rob- 
 bins unworthy the ministerial character and Christian 
 communion ; and accordingly do, in the name of the 
 
 * Robbins* Narrative, p. 28, 29 
 
172 CHURCH HISTORY OP NEW ENGLAND. [CH. X. 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ, according to the word of God, and 
 the powers invested in this consociation by the ecclesias- 
 tical constitution of this government, depose the said Mr. 
 Philemon Robbins from his ministerial office, and minis- 
 terial and pastoral relation to the first church in said 
 Branford, and debar and suspend him from communion 
 in any of the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ."* 
 This is in an answer to Mr. Robbins, which they pub- 
 lished in 1748 ; in which they say of his voting with his 
 church to renounce the Say brook platform, " There was 
 no more validity in such a vote, than there would have 
 been in that, if the major part of the first society in 
 Branford had voted to renounce the civil government of 
 Connecticut."t And a petition was sent to their general 
 court, that they would turn Mr. Robbins out of his meet- 
 ing-house, that a regular minister might be settled there- 
 in. But such glaring conduct opened their eyes, and 
 they ordered a council to be called out of other counties, 
 who prevailed with New Haven consociation to restore 
 Mr. Robbins to a seat with them, which he held to his 
 death in 1781 ; but his church sent no messenger with 
 him. And their general court revived their former acts 
 of toleration to dissenters, and ordered a new edition of 
 t^eir laws to be printed, which was done in 1750, out of 
 which their late persecuting laws were left, without any 
 express repeal of them. Governor Wolcot published a 
 pamphlet against the Saybrook scheme ; and Governor 
 Fitch endeavoured to explain away their power, which 
 has since much declined. -^ 
 
 An end was thus put to their imprisoning men for \ 
 preaching ; but still they were resolute for compelling all 
 to support those parish ministers. Let it be observed, 
 that the fathers of Plymouth colony held, that the minis- 
 ters of Christ are to be supported only by his laws and 
 influence, and not at all by the laws of men enforced by 
 the sword of the magistrate ; and many who now came 
 out in a separation from these churches, descended from 
 those Plymouth fathers, and meant conscientiously to 
 
 * Answer to Robbins, p. 1 17. f P. 86. 
 
1752.] IMPRISONMENT FOR TAXES. 173 
 
 follow their good principles, in which others joined 
 them ; but for so doing, they suffered much, for several 
 years, until their oppressors found their own cause was 
 weakened thereby, and so desisted. A short view of two 
 places may give a general view of the whole. 
 
 'The minister of the first church in Norwich was set- 
 tled in 1717, upon the old principles of New England; 
 but in 1744, he procured a vote of the major part of the 
 church, to admit communicants into it without so much 
 as a written account of any inward change of heart at 
 all. At the same time he openly declared his attachment 
 to the Say brook platform, which the church renounced 
 when they setded him. Therefore a large number of the 
 church drew off, and formed another church, and settled 
 another minister ; yet they were still taxed to the old 
 minister, and many were imprisoned therefor. Of this, and 
 their temper under their sufferings, a private letter from 
 a widqw of fifty-four years old may give some idea. 
 
 " Norwich, Nov. 4, 1752. 
 " Dear Son, 
 ** I have heard something of the trials among you of 
 late, and I was grieved till I had strength to give up the 
 case to God, and leave my burden there. And now I 
 would tell you something of our trials. Your brother 
 Samuel lay in prison twenty days. October 15, the col- 
 lector came to our house, and took me away to prison 
 about nine o'clock, in a dark rainy night. Brothers Hill 
 and Sabin were brought there next night. We lay in 
 prison thirteen days, and then were set at liberty, by 
 what means I know not. Whilst I was there, a great 
 many people came to see me ; and some said one thing 
 and some another. O ! the innumerable snares and tempt- 
 ations that beset me, more than I ever thought of before ! 
 But, O ! the condescension of Heaven ! Though I was 
 bound when I was cast into this furnace, yet was I loosed, 
 and found Jesus in the midst of the furnace with me. O, 
 then I could give up my name, estate, family, life, and 
 breath, freely to God. Now the prison looked like a 
 p»iace to me. I could bless God for all the laughs and 
 15* 
 
 ) 
 
174 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. X. 
 
 scoffs made at me. O the love that flowed out to all 
 mankind ! Then I could forgive, as I would desire to be 
 forgiven, and love my neighbour as myself. Deacon 
 Griswold was put in prison the 8th of October, and yes- 
 terday old brother Grover, and [they] are in pursuit of 
 others ; all which calls for humiliation. This church 
 hath appointed the 13th of November to be spent in 
 prayer and fasting on that account. I do remember my 
 love to you and your wife, and the dear children of God 
 with you, begging your prayers for us in such a day of 
 trial. We are all in tolerable health, expecting to see 
 you. These from your loving mother, 
 
 " Elizabeth Backus." 
 
 They afterwards imprisoned her brother for such taxes, 
 while he was a member of their legislature ; and they 
 went on in such ways for about eight years, until the 
 spiritual weapons of truth and love vanquished those 
 carnal weapons, which have not been so used in Norwich 
 since. And the same may be observed of Canterbury. 
 Mr. Elisha Paine was ordained pastor of a church on 
 Long Island in May, 1752 ; but as he came over to Can- 
 terbury the fall after, he was seized and imprisoned at 
 Windham, November 21, 1752, for a tax to the minister 
 whom the church rejected. Upon which he said, ** I 
 cannot but marvel to see how soon the children will for- 
 get the sword that drove their fathers into this land, and 
 take hold of it as a jewel, and kill their grandchildren 
 therewith. O that men could see how far this is from 
 Christ's rule ! that all things, which we would have others 
 do unto us, that we should do even so unto them. I be- 
 lieve the same people, who put this authority into the 
 hands of Mr. Cogswell, their minister, to put me into 
 prison for not paying him for preaching, would think it 
 very hard for the church 1 belong to, and am pastor of, 
 if they should get the upper hand, and tax and imprison 
 him, for what he should be so unjustly taxed at ; and yet 
 I can see no other difference, only because the power is 
 in his hands ; for I suppose he has heard me as often as 
 I ever have him, and yet he hath taken from me by force 
 
1752.] ELISHA PAINE IMPRISONED. 175 
 
 two COWS and one steer, and now my body held in pri- 
 son, only because the power is in his hands." And on 
 December 11, he wrote to the assessors of Canterbury, 
 and reminded them of the cruelty of the two beasts at 
 Rome, and then said, ** What your prisoner requests of 
 you is, a clear distinction between the ecclesiastical con- 
 stitution of Connecticut, by which I am now held in pri- 
 son, and those thrones or beasts, in the foundation, con- 
 stitution, and support thereof. For if you can show, by 
 Scripture and reason, that they do not all stand on the 
 throne mentioned in Psalm xciv. 20, but that the latter is 
 founded on the rock Christ Jesus, I will confess my fault, 
 and soon clear myself of the prison. But if this consti- 
 tution hath its rise from that throne, then come forth to 
 the help of the Lord against the mighty ; for it is better 
 to die for Christ, than to live against him. From an old 
 friend to this civil constitution, and long your prisoner. 
 
 Elisha Paine."* 
 
 Five days after he was released ; but the extremity of a 
 severe winter kept him long from his family, who suf- 
 fered much in an unfinished house for want of his help. 
 Mr. Solomon Paine published a book this year, to show 
 *' the difference between the church of Christ, and the 
 churches established by law in Connecticut." And 
 though they continued this oppression until 1771, yet 
 their minister was then dismissed ; and many confessed 
 their faults in those oppressions, and equal liberty has 
 been enjoyed in Canterbury ever since. 
 
 * Mr. Paine continued the pastor of his church on Long Island, 
 till he (lied, in 1775, aged eighty-four. 
 
176 CHURCH HISTORY OF NBW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The cause why Baptist churches increased in several places, though 
 opposed by many — Two who were against them die — ^The corrup- 
 tion of many exposed — Episcopalians try for power here — The 
 great earthquake awakens many — More Baptist churches formed — 
 A new revival of religion among them and others — Providence 
 college constituted — Light given about baptism by Psedobaptists ; 
 and by writings concerning reUgious establishments — The evil of 
 them opened — Particularly at Boston — Universalism exposed — 
 New revivals — Whitefield dies — Certificate laws exposed — The 
 war comes on — ^The Baptists unite with their country in it— The 
 Quakers did not 
 
 When religion was revived in 1741, there were but 
 nine Baptist churches in all Massachusetts government, 
 and none in New Hampshire or Vermont. As Paedobap- 
 tist instruments were chiefly used in that work, and the 
 most of the old Baptists were not clear in the doctrines 
 of grace, they were generally prejudiced against it. Yet 
 the great change that was then wrought in many minds, 
 was the evident cause of the spread of the Baptist prin- 
 ciples in our land, which have increased ever since. The 
 subjects of that work of grace embraced two ideas which 
 produced this effect. The first is, that saving faith is ne- 
 cessary to give any soul a true right to commtmion in the 
 church of Christ. The second is, that there is no warrant 
 for a halfway covenant therein. And as infants are ge- 
 nerally in the state of nature when they are said to be 
 brought into covenant, infant baptism expires before these 
 principles. Yet, natural affection, education, honour, 
 gain, and self-righteousness, all conspire together to pre- 
 judice people against becoming Baptists. It is not 
 strange, therefore, that but few became such for many - 
 years. 
 
 The pastor of the Baptist church in Boston was dark U 
 in doctrine, and opposed the revival of religion that began 
 
1752.] INCREASE OF BAPTIST CHURCHES. 177 
 
 there in 1740 ; therefore a few of the church drew off, 
 and formed another church in 1742, and ordained a pastor 
 in 1743, who was a clear preacher of the gospel^ and 
 many joined with them from adjacent towns. A second 
 Baptist church was also formed and organized in Reho- 
 both, in 1743. The like was done at Stonington in Con- 
 necticut the same year. And they increased so much in 
 New Jersey, that Mr. Dickinson, the first president of 
 their college, wrote a pamphlet against them, which was 
 printed both in New York and Boston, in 1746. But it 
 was sent over to London, and Dr. Gill published an 
 answer to it in 1749 ; to which Mr. Peter Clark replied 
 in 1752 ; and this examination of the subject caused light 
 to be spread in our land. 
 
 More than threescore members of the separate church 
 in Sturbridge, including all their officers, were baptized 
 in 1749. Elder Ebenezer Moulton, of Brimfield, bap- 
 tized the first part of them, and many others about the 
 same time. In September that year, he baptized ten 
 persons in Bridg-water, and three in Raynham. The 
 month before, a controversy was brought into the sepa- 
 rate church in the joining borders of Bridgwater and Mid- 
 dleborough, which was managed in an unhappy manner, 
 and served to prejudice many against the Baptist princi- 
 ples ; yet they gradually prevailed, until their pastor and 
 others were baptized in 1751, and others afterwards, who 
 yet held communion with their old brethren for a number 
 of years. Several lively preachers were received among 
 the old Baptists in Narraganset, who had much success 
 there ; and Baptist elders went from thence, and baptized 
 many in the separate churches in Connecticut, and it 
 seemed as though all those churches would become Bap- 
 tists ; but for fear of it, fierce opposition was raised against 
 what was called rehaptizing, which was declared to be a 
 very wicked action, and some retracted it. This caused 
 much unhappiness, and councils were called upon it, and 
 a general meeting of churches at Exeter in May, 1753, 
 and a larger one at Stonington in May, 1754 ; but they 
 could not settle the controversy. Though the commun- 
 ing of all real saints together appeared to be of great im- 
 
178 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 portance, yet many found by degrees that it could not be 
 done in that way ; for they saw that if they came to the 
 Lord's supper with any who were only sprinkled in their 
 infancy, it practically said they were baptized, when they 
 believed in their consciences that they were not. And 
 practical lying is a great sin. We ought to use all the 
 freedom towards all men, and towards Christians especi- 
 ally, that we can with a good conscience ; but neither 
 Scripture nor reason can require us to violate our own 
 consciences for any cause whatever. And upon these 
 principles the first Baptist church in Middleborough was 
 constituted, January 16, 1756, and their former pastor 
 was installed in his office, June 23d following. This 
 was the first Baptist church which was formed in an ex- 
 tent of country of more than a hundred miles long, from 
 Bellingham to the end of Cape Cod, and near fifty miles 
 wide, between Boston and Rehoboth, in which are now 
 above twenty churches. 
 
 In two years before, gospel preachers from New York 
 and New Jersey, had travelled several times to Newpoii 
 «nd Swansea, and laboured among our old Baptipt 
 churches with success ; and a reformation in doctrine and 
 conduct followed, and also a friendly intercourse with 
 our new churches. Mr. Solomon Paine, who had op- 
 posed the Baptists much, died October 25, 1754, and Mr 
 Thomas Stevenson, November 13, 1755, after which that 
 opposition abated. But a cruel war now came on, which 
 turned the minds of people oflf from the great concerns of 
 the soul and eternity, to the confusions of this world. 
 The ministers who had been against the late glorious 
 work, were now using all their art to render the doctrines 
 of sovereign grace odious ; and the doctrine of Jesus 
 Christ being truly the Son of God, and justification by 
 faith in his righteousness, was treated with scorn and con- 
 tempt in a publication at Boston in 1755. And the same 
 spirit appeared in Connecticut. The Baptist minister 
 and church of Wallingford removed from thence in 1750 ; 
 but when the Congregational minister, who had perse- 
 cuted Mr. Robbins, died there in 1756, his people had 
 great difficulties about settling another. Among twenty 
 
1758.] WALLINGFORD CASK. 179 
 
 candidates, they could not agree about any one of them. 
 Therefore, in the spring of 1758, they were advised to 
 send to Cambridge, and they did so, and a man came 
 highly recommended from thence, and the majority 
 elected him for their pastor ; and appointed his ordination 
 to be on October 1 1 . But instead of acting by Saybrook 
 platform, they sent for such ministers as suited them, in 
 their own county, and in other places, who were of their 
 party. God says, ** Mark them which cause divisions 
 and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have 
 learned, and avoid them ; for they that are such serve 
 not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly ; and by 
 good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the 
 simple." Rom. xvi. 17, 18. This word has been abun- 
 dantly cast upon all men who have separated from minis- 
 ters who were supported by force ; though they have paid 
 no regard to two characters described in the text. The 
 first is, them who cause divisions; the second is, their 
 acting contrary to the doctrine which the Christian 
 church have learned ; for Christ himself caused divisions 
 between his church and the world. And because the 
 ministers of Windham county ordained a candidate in 
 Canterbury, in 1744, contrary to the minds of the ma- 
 jority of the church, divisions and offences were caused 
 thereby through the land. Another division was now 
 coming on about doctrines; for some members of the 
 church in Wallingford, had visited their candidate, and 
 desired to know his thoughts, *' about original sin, and 
 the saints' perseverance, the power of free-will, and fall- 
 ing from grace," but he refused to tell them. As they 
 were not willing to sit under such a teacher of souls, their 
 consociation was convened at Wallingford the day before 
 the ordination was to be, to hear and act upon a complaint 
 exhibited against their candidate ; but he and his party 
 protested against their meeting at that time, and refused 
 to be tried by them. The ministers whom they had 
 called, formed themselves into a council, and went into 
 the meeting-house, and heard the candidate vindicate him- 
 self, before judges that his accusers refused to be tried by. 
 Though while they were there, they received a paper, 
 
180 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 signed by ninety-five inhabitants of that parish, who pos- 
 sessed about half the freehold estate therein, desiring them 
 not to proceed in the ordination ; and also a message from 
 their consociation, warning and beseeching them not then 
 to proceed ; yet, in the face of all this, they went on and 
 ordained him as the pastor of that parish. 
 
 Such an instance was never before known in our land ; 
 therefore the consociation adjourned, and called the 
 southern consociation of Hartford county to meet with 
 them ; but they could not bring said party to be tried by 
 them ; therefore, at their meeting of April 3, 1759, they 
 gave the sentence of noncommunion against the minister 
 so ordained in Wallingford, and against the members of 
 the church who should continue with him. They de- 
 clared the ministers of their county who acted in that 
 ordination to be disorderly persons, until they gave satis- 
 faction for that offence ; and they were Joseph Noyes, 
 Isaac Stiles, and Chauncy Whittlesey of New Haven, 
 Samuel Whittlesey of Milford, Theophilus Hall of Meri- 
 den, and Jonathan Todd of East Guildford. Two of 
 these were sons of the old minister of Wallingford, and 
 one of them was the tutor for whom David Brainerd was 
 expelled from college. 
 
 Mr. Todd and William Hart wrote in favour of these 
 men, and Mr. Edward Eelles and Noah Hobart wrote 
 against them ; and all the above things appear in their 
 publications. Mr. Robbins was one of their judges, in 
 an affair which affords useful lessons. Here we may see 
 how SELF can blind the children of men. The scene of 
 these actions was in the same town from whence all their 
 actings against him originated. He only preached there 
 occasionally ; they settled a minister in the parish. He 
 acted against the desire of two ministers and forty-two in- 
 habitants ; they against their consociation, and ninety-five 
 inhabitants. In the first case the Say brook scheme was 
 fairly renounced, and the word of God taken in its room ; 
 in the other they only protested against the meeting of 
 the consociation at that time, but intended to be of it 
 afterwards. These things caused a division in the town, 
 and another church and minister were settled there ; two 
 
1762.] DANBURY CASE. 181 
 
 Baptist churches also are since formed in Wallingford. 
 Aind their conduct produced like effects in other places. 
 
 The preaching of Mr. Ebenezer White of Danbury, 
 was not liked by a minor part of his hearers, and they 
 went and complained of him to their association, and ad- 
 vised to the calling of the consociation of that district to 
 hear and act upon it. But when Mr. White heard of it, 
 he called his church together, June 28, 1763, and they 
 renounced the Saybrook platform, which many of them 
 never liked, though they did not renounce communion 
 with the churches who were under it. When the con- 
 sociation of the eastern district of Fairfield county met at 
 Danbury in August, Mr. White and his church informed 
 them of what they had done, and refused to be tried by 
 them. Yet they would hear the case, and finding it to 
 be very diflicult, they adjourned, and called in the conso- 
 ciation of the western district of that county to act with 
 them. After other adjournments, and much labour, they 
 at their meeting of March 27, 1764, rejected Mr. White 
 and a large majority of his church, and held the minority 
 as the church and society in Danbury, and refused to re- 
 commend Mr. White as a preacher to any people, until 
 he gave them satisfaction. But five ministers entered 
 their protest against this last article, the first of whom 
 was Mr. David Judson of Newtown, who, with his 
 church, afterwards renounced the Saybrook platform. 
 Thus those ministers caused divisions and offences, from 
 place to place, by acting upon that arbitrary scheme. And 
 there are now two Baptist churches in Danbury, and one 
 in Newtown, with one hundred and twenty-five members 
 in the three churches, and one hundred and four in the , 
 two in Wallingford. These were their numbers in 1802. 
 
 What Dr. Chauncy and others had published about 
 bishops in each parish, encouraged the ministers who 
 were ordained by bishops in England, to deny that any 
 who were not so ordained could have any just right to 
 administer gospel ordinances. And they erected an Epis- 
 copal church in Cambridge, near the college ; at the open- 
 ing of which a discourse was delivered, which contained 
 bitter reflections upon the fathers of this country, for 
 16 
 
182 CHURCH HISTORY OF jNEW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 their separation from the church of England. To this 
 Dr. Jonathan Mayhew of Boston published a smart 
 answer, but a reply was returned, said to be written by 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy was 
 warmly carried on, until the American war came on, 
 which issued in our independence of Britain. 
 
 The great earthquake, on the morning of November 
 18, 1755, served to awaken a number of people, and that 
 and other means were blessed for the conversion of seve- 
 ral in the time of the war that then came on. The second 
 Baptist church in Middleborough was formed November 
 16, 1757, and the third on August 4, 1761, and pastors 
 were ordained in each of them. Baptist churches were 
 likewise formed and organized in 1761, in Norton and in 
 Ashfield. 
 
 A revival of religion came on in the third Baptist 
 church in Middleborough in May, 1762, and prevailed 
 so through all the summer, that people held frequent 
 meetings on week-days as well as the Sabbaths, and 
 great numbers were hopefully converted and added to the 
 church ; and it spread among other denominations. Al- 
 though many said they would all come^to want, because 
 they neglected their worldly business so much, yet a few 
 seasonable showers, in a great drought, caused a double 
 crop of corn, so that they had enough for themselves, 
 and much to spare for others at a distance, where their 
 crops were much cut short, which was very convincing 
 to many. This work was much more pure, and people 
 acted more understandingly, than in our former revivals , 
 and if all would learn to seek first the kingdom of God, 
 and his righteousness, they would find an addition of all 
 needful good unto them. 
 
 This work was very extensive afterwards in many 
 parts of this land. It came on in Ipswich, under the 
 ministry of Mr. John Cleaveland, near the close of 1763, 
 and caused the addition of ninety communicants to his 
 church in less than a year. And the work was great at 
 Providence, Norwich, and many other places in 1764; 
 and in March that year it was greater at Easthampton on 
 Long Island, where one Jew was converted. And as a 
 
 I 
 
1769.] BAPTIST COLLEGE FOUNDED. 183 
 
 Baptist minister went through Woodstock in Connecti- 
 cut, in December, 1763, he preached a sermon to a few 
 people, one of whom was a young man, who had been a 
 leader in vanity ; but he was then seized with conviction, 
 and was converted in March after, upon which four of 
 his old companion* came to try if they could not draw 
 him back to his old ways ; which they were so far from 
 doing, that his labours with them produced a change in 
 their minds ; a great work was wrought in the town, a 
 Baptist church was formed there, and he was ordained 
 their pastor in 1768. And other things concurred to open 
 a wide door for the spread of Baptist principles in our 
 land. 
 
 Until now they had never had the government of any 
 college, for the education of youth in human learning. 
 Their churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey had 
 held an annual meeting to promote their welfare, ever 
 since 1707 ; and it now appeared expedient to them, to 
 endeavour to erect a college in Rhode Island government 
 for the above purpose. Mr. James Manning, who was 
 born in Elizabethtown, Oatober 22, 1738, graduated at 
 Princeton college in 1762, and ordained a minister of the 
 gospel, appeared to them a suitable man to lead in. this 
 work. T lie re fore, on a voyage to Halifax, he called at 
 Newport, and proposed the affair to a number of Baptist 
 gentlemen, and they liked it well ; and though they met 
 with some opposition, yet they obtained a charter for a 
 college, in February, 1764, from their legislature, in 
 which the president was always to be a Baptist, and so 
 were the majority of the corporation, though some of the 
 Episcopal, Quaker, and Congregational denominations 
 were to be of it. No religious test was ever to be im- 
 posed upon the scholars, though great care was to be 
 taken about their morals. 
 
 Mr. Manning removed his family to Warren in July, 
 where a Baptist church was then formed, and he minis- 
 tered to them. In September, 1765, he was chosen pre- 
 sident of the college, and diligently attended to the duties 
 of it, until seven young gentlemen took their first degrees 
 there, September 7, 1769. In the spring after the col- 
 
184 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XI. 
 
 lege was removed to Providence, where a large brick 
 edifice was erected for it, and a house for the President, 
 all by personal generosity ; and no government upon 
 earth ever gave any thing towards said buildings, or for 
 the college funds ; though vast sums had been given by 
 the governments of Massachusetts and Connecticut to 
 their colleges. But the buildings, library, and funds of 
 ' this college, were all produced voluntarily, and chiefly 
 from the inhabitants of Providence, many of whom 
 sprung from the planters of the first Baptist church in 
 America. O how far was this from the thoughts of Mas- 
 sachusetts, when they banished Roger Williams for op- 
 posing the use of force in religious affairs! 
 
 Mr. Hezekiah Smith was a classmate with Manning, 
 and was ordained a minister of the gospel. Having tra- 
 velled and preached it to the southward as far as Georgia, 
 he came into New England in the spring of 1764, and 
 preached much, among various denominations, with an 
 expectation of going back in the fall ; but a destitute pa- 
 rish in Haverhill prevailed with him to stay and preach 
 to them, which he did with success ; and a Baptist church 
 was formed in the heart of the town. May 9, 1705. 
 Upon which many raised opposition against him, and 
 things were published against the Baptists in general ; to 
 which answers were returned ; and the more their prin- 
 ciples were examined, the more they were embraced. 
 Controversies among their opponents had a like effect; 
 for in 1768, Dr. Joseph Bellamy began a dispute against 
 the halfway covenant, which was pursued for several 
 years. Dr. Moses Mather was one who wrote against 
 him, and he held up the covenant with Abraham, as a 
 covenant that all ought to be in, in order to use the means 
 of grace for their conversion. But Dr. Bellamy replied, 
 and said, '* the unbaptized have as good a right to read 
 and hear the word of God, as the baptized have ; and as 
 good a right to believe and embrace the gospel. For by 
 Christ's last commission, the gospel is to be preached to 
 all nations ; yea, to every creature ; and that previous to, 
 and in order to prepare men for baptism. Mark xvi. 15, 
 16. So that there is not the least need of being in his 
 
1769.] EFFORTS OF EPISCOPALIANS. 185 
 
 external covenant, in order to have as good a right to hear 
 and believe, and to be justified by the gospel, as any men 
 on earth have ; for there is no difference. Rom. iii. 22."* 
 And how strong is this reasoning for the baptism of be- 
 lievers only ! But greater things were then before them. 
 
 When the British court had determined to tax America, 
 their bishops had great hopes of establishing their wor- 
 ship upon it: and one of them then said, ** We may as- 
 sure ourselves that this benefit will flow to the church 
 from our present most gracious sovereign, whenever pub- 
 lic wisdom, public care, public justice, and piety shall 
 advise the measure. This point obtained, the American 
 church will soon go out of its infant state, be able to stand 
 upon its own legs ; and without foreign help support and 
 spread itself. Then the business of this society will have 
 been brought to the happy issue intended."! 
 
 The society, to whom this was preached, had expended 
 vast sums, for sixty-six years, to propagate what they 
 called the gospel in America; and they now discovered 
 what they were after; which was to have Episcopacy 
 supported by force in our country. By the abstract at 
 the end of this sermon, it appears that their society had 
 then only seven ministers in the whole of North Carolina, 
 when they had twenty-three in Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut. Yet their profession was, to send ministers to 
 gospelize the heathen, or to teach others who had not a 
 sufficient support for ministers among them. And Dr. 
 Chandler, of New Jersey, now wrote upon the same argu- 
 ment, which I before referred to ; and the danger of their 
 succeeding appeared to be so great, that Dr. Chauncy 
 wrote a large answer to him, wherein he said : 
 
 " We are in principle against all civil establishments in 
 religion ; and as we do not desire any establishment in 
 support of our own religious sentiments or practice, we 
 cannot reasonably be blamed, if we are not disposed to 
 encourage one in favour of the Episcopal colonists. — It 
 
 * Reply to Mather, p. 75. 
 
 f Sermon in London, February 20, 1767, by the Bishop of Lan- 
 daff, p. 24, 25. 
 
 16* 
 
186 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 does not appear to us, that God has intrusted the state 
 with a right to make religious establishments. If the 
 state in England has this delegated authority, must it not 
 be owned, that the state in China, in Turkey, in Spain, 
 has this authority also ? What should make the difference 
 in the eye of true reason? Hath the state in England 
 been distinguished by Heaven by any particular grant be^ 
 yond the state in other countries ? If it has, let the grant 
 be produced. If it has not, all states have in common 
 the same authority. And as they must severally be sup- 
 posed to exert their authority in establishments conforma- 
 ble to their own sentiments in religion ; what can the 
 consequence be, but infinite damage to the cause of God 
 and true religion ? And such in fact has been the conse- 
 quence of these establishments in all ages, and in all 
 places."* 
 
 The general association of ministers in Connecticut 
 published a letter of thanks to Dr. Chauncy, for writing 
 this book, in a Boston paper, in 1768. But Chandler 
 wrote again, and Chauncy replied, and said, " The reli- 
 gion of Jesus has suffered more from the exercise of this 
 pretended right, than from all other causes put together ; 
 and it is, with me, past all doubt, that it will never be 
 restored to its primitive purity, simplicity and glory, until 
 religious establishments are so brought down as to be no 
 more."t And yet he had published more, for thirty 
 years, to uphold the Congregational establishments in 
 New England, than any other man. And if any should 
 plead that he held these not to be real establishments, that 
 plea cannot be truth, because they hold fast three princi- 
 ples here, that are the foundation of all worldly establish- 
 ments that ever were made under the name of Christianity. 
 The first is, infant baptism, which lays bands upon child- 
 ren before they can choose for themselves ; and educa- 
 tion, honour, gain, and self-righteousness, hold them in 
 that way all their days, in the general custom of the world. 
 The second is, the supporting of religious teachers by 
 
 * Answer to Chandler, p. 152, 153. 
 t Reply, 1770, p. 144, 145. 
 
1771. J A DRUNKARD FAVOURED. 187 
 
 force, by the power of the magistrate. The third is, the 
 allowing religious ministers a power of office which the 
 people cannot give nor take away. The church of Rome, 
 and the church of England, were built and are now up- 
 held entirely by these three principles : and the Congre- 
 gational churches that are established by law in Massa- 
 chusetts and Connecticut hold each of them fast. As 
 long as rulers force the people to support religious teachers, 
 it bribes them to use all their influence in favour of such 
 "Rulers, and this bribes rulers to continue in that way. 
 And God says, ** A gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, 
 and pervert the words of the righteous." Deut. xvi. 19. 
 And so many wise and righteous men have gone in that 
 way, that it is very difficult for their children to get out 
 of it. But the word of God points out a clear light, which 
 is to direct our feet in the way of peace. And he gives a 
 most solemn warning to all, against adding to, or taking 
 from his words. Rev. xxii. 18, 19. And no men can 
 force others to support any religious teachers, without 
 adding to the Holy Scriptures, our only safe rule of con- 
 duct. What vast expenses would be saved to worldly 
 governments, if that evil was entirely renounced ! For 
 the costs of legislatures to make laws about worship, 
 parishes, and ministers, is a main part of the expenses of 
 all governments who go in that way. Religious pretences 
 have caused the most of the wars that have been in the 
 world, under the name of Christianity ; and the expenses 
 which are occasioned by wars, are as much as half of 
 the support of government in Europe and America. 
 
 Yet the holding of ministers above the churches is still 
 a darling point in our country, against all the light which 
 God has given us. For the minister of Bolton, in Wor- 
 cester county, drank to excess on a sacrament day, so as 
 to shock his whole congregation. His church called him 
 to account for it, but he did not give them satisfaction. 
 Three councils, one after another, were called about it, 
 but they were all for continuing him in office there ; but 
 as he had assumed the power to negative the acts of the 
 church, and to dissolve their meeting, they called another, 
 and chose a moderator and clerk, and made some propo- 
 
188 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 sals to their minister, and adjourned. But as he gave 
 them no satisfaction, they met on August 8, 1771, and 
 dismissed him from them, and the town concurred in it. 
 
 Upon this, ministers were much alarmed, and things 
 were published against the church, as daring usurpers of 
 an unwarrantable power ; upon which two editions of Mr. 
 Wise's works were printed at Boston, to show what 
 power the church once had. But the general convention 
 of ministers at Boston, in May, 1773, published a pam- 
 phlet, to try to prove that no church had a right to dismiss* 
 their minister, without the direction of a council therein. 
 And in August following, a council of seven churches 
 met at Bolton, and tried hard to have that minister restored 
 again to his office there ; and because they could not 
 obtain it, they printed their result at Boston, as their tes- 
 timony against any such power in their churches. Dr. 
 Chauncy was moderator of that council. 
 
 In 1772, a man from England, by the way of New 
 York, came to Boston, and artfully held up that Christ 
 had paid the debt to justice for all mankind, so that none 
 of them would suffer in hell after the day of judgment. 
 This gave so great a shock to the ministers who held to 
 general redemption, that they published nothing against 
 him in ten years; but in 1782, an anonymous pamphlet 
 came out in Boston against him. And Dr. Chauncy 
 published a book in 1784, wherein he held forth, that the 
 fire of hell would purge away the sins of all the race of 
 Adam, so that they would be all saved, after ages of ages.* 
 This the pamphlet, in 1782, had called purgatory.! 
 
 Now an inspired apostle says, '* If the blood of bulls, 
 and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the 
 unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how 
 much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the 
 eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge 
 your conscience from dead works to serve the living 
 God !" Heb. ix. 13, 14. This must be done in the pre- 
 sent life, or else they who die in their sins will lift up 
 their eyes in torment^ and find a great gulf fixed between 
 
 * Salvation for all Men, p. 324. | Said pamphlet, p. 21. 
 
1774.] RELIGION AOAIN REVIVED, 189 
 
 them and the righteous, which none can pass over. Luke 
 xvi. 22—26. And what madness is it to hold that the 
 fire of hell can purge away any sins, instead of the blood 
 of Christ ! Dr. Jonathan Edwards published a full an- 
 swer to Chauncy, in 1790. 
 
 But let us return to more agreeable things. A Baptist 
 church was formed at Newton in New Hampshire, in 
 1755, and one at Haverhill, in 1765, which were the 
 first that were formed anywhere northward of Boston. 
 A great revival of religion then prevailed in New Hamp- 
 shire, and the Baptist principle spread therein, until a 
 Baptist church was constituted in Stratham, and a minis- 
 ter was ordained there in 1771, and their increase has 
 been great that way ever since. And a powerful work 
 came on in Swansea and Rehoboth, which increased the 
 Baptist churches there, and raised a new one in Dighton, 
 which is since very large. Old churches gained great 
 light now, about doctrines and gospel order, and more 
 than twenty new churches were formed in New England, 
 in three years. And in the close of 1774, such a work 
 came on in Providence, that Dr. Manning baptized an 
 hundred and ten persons in nine months ; and many 
 joined to other churches in that town, and the work was 
 extensive in other places. 
 
 Mr. Whitefield was taken to his rest before this, after 
 his extraordinary labours, for thirty-four years, in Eng- 
 land, Scotland, Ireland, and America. He came over 
 seven voyages to our country, in the last of which he 
 landed in South Carolina, in November, 1769, and went 
 to Georgia. From thence he travelled through all the 
 country, as far as the district of Maine ; and in fifty-eight 
 days he preached fifty-one sermons, before he died at 
 Nevvburyport, September 30, 1770 ; as appears in fune- 
 ral sermons for him, and in his life published since. And 
 how wonderful were these things ! 
 
 The first Baptist church in Vermont was formed in 
 Shaftsbury in 1768, and the second was in Pownal in 
 1773. In the three following years, Baptist churches 
 were constituted at Suffield, Ashford, Hampton, and Kil- 
 lingly in Connecticut, andMedfield, Harvard, and Chelms- 
 
190 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XI. 
 
 ford in Massachusetts ; when the terrible calamities of 
 the war could not stop this work. Neither could the ill- 
 treatment which the Baptists had met with, turn them 
 against their country, who had oppressed them ; for 
 though they had received relief from the British court, 
 several times, yet they saw that this was done for political 
 ends, by men who now aimed to bring all America into 
 bondage. And we shall here take a concise view of the 
 partiality that was often discovered, even when our rulers 
 pretended to relieve us. 
 
 The certificate acts which were made from time to 
 time, to exempt us from ministerial taxes, were often vio- 
 lated by our oppressors, especially where new churches 
 were formed. The Baptist church that was formed at 
 Sturbridge in 1749, gave in certificates according to law, 
 and yet they were all taxed to the parish minister ; and 
 in two years five men were imprisoned for it at Wor- 
 cester, and three oxen and eight cows were taken 
 away, besides a great deal of other property. Several 
 men sued for recompense, and at length judgment was 
 given for them in one case ; but then other cases wera 
 nonsuited, under the pretence that the actions were not 
 commenced against the right persons. The Baptists 
 judged that their damages in these cases were not less 
 than four hundred dollars. And a representative from 
 Sturbridge prevailed with our legislature to make a new 
 law, in 1752, to exclude all Baptist churches from power 
 to give legal certificates, until they had obtained certifi- 
 cates from three other Baptist churches, that they es- 
 teemed said church to be conscientiously Anabaptists ; 
 that is, rebaptizers, which they never did believe. Yet, 
 rather than to suffer continually, most of the Baptists 
 conformed in some measure to their laws, until they were 
 convinced that true help could not be had in that way, 
 and therefore they concluded in 1773 to give no more 
 certificates, and published their reasons for so doing. 
 
 The town of Ashfield was planted in 1751, and a Bap- 
 tist church was constituted and organized there in 1761, 
 with a large majority of the inhabitants in their favour. 
 They had upheld worship there through all the perils of 
 
1770.] BAPTISTS PERSECUTED. 191 
 
 a long war ; yet after it was over, others came in, and 
 ordained a Congregational minister, and taxed the Baptist 
 minister and his people for his support. One condition 
 in the grant of the town was, that they should settle an 
 orthodox minister, and build a meeting-house ; and as the 
 Baptists were taxed for doing that for a Congregational 
 minister, they paid it. But after they had done it, a law 
 was made in 1768, which took the power out of the 
 hands of the inhabitants, and put it into the hands of the 
 proprietors, many of whom did not live in the town, to 
 tax all the inhabitants of the town for the support of said 
 minister, and to lay the tax wholly upon the lands, be 
 they in whose hands they might, and to sell the lands if 
 the owners refused to pay it. The word support was not 
 in the original grant of the town from the government. 
 Yet in 1770, three hundred and ninety-eight acres ofland, 
 owned by the Baptists, was sold, because they refused to 
 pay a tax laid contrary to the original grant of said lands. 
 They sought to the legislature for relief, without any suc- 
 cess, for near three years, and then sent to the king, m 
 council, and got that law disannulled. But no sooner was 
 the news of it published here, than a malicious prosecu- 
 tion was commenced against the character of a chief fa- 
 ther of that Baptist church ; and though he was fully 
 acquitted upon trial, yet he got no recompense for his 
 costs and trouble. This plainly discovers what wicked- 
 ness is the consequence of supporting religious ministers J 
 by force. 
 
 More of this appeared in other places. After the Bap- 
 tist church was formed in Haverhill, in 1765, they gave 
 in certificates to the other denomination according to law, 
 and yet they were all taxed to them ; and in 1766, a large 
 quantity of goods were taken from one of their society, 
 and they sued for recompense in several courts, until 
 judgment was given in their favour in 1767, by our su- 
 perior court. Their opponents had promised that this 
 should be a final trial, yet they violated that promise, and 
 procured another trial in June, 1769, when the case was 
 turned against the Baptists, which cost them two hundred 
 and fifty dollars. And they suffered much other ways 
 
192 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XI. 
 
 for several years, but they have been well treated since. 
 A.t Montague they made distress upon the Baptist com- 
 mittee, who signed their certificates, and not upon others ; 
 and when they sued for recompense, the case was turned 
 against them, both in their inferior and superior courts, 
 upon a pretence that they could not witness for them- 
 selves, though there were three of them, and if their 
 names had not been in the lists, they could not have been 
 exempted. And both there and in Haverhill case, Bap- 
 tists were not admitted as witnesses of plain facts, because 
 they were parties concerned^ though judges and jurors 
 were as much so as they. The Baptists in Berwick and^ 
 Goreham suffered much in these ways, as many others 
 also did. And as their exempting law expired in 1774, 
 another was made, which required that their certificates 
 should be recorded in each parish where the Baptists 
 lived, who must give four-pence for a copy of it, in order 
 to clear themselves, which is three-pence sterling ; the 
 same as was laid on a pound of tea, which brought on 
 the war in America ! 
 
 The Baptist churches began an annual association at 
 Warren, September 8, 1767, who have done much to de- 
 fend their privileges, as well as to unite and quicken each 
 other in religion. And when they met at Medfield, Sep- 
 tember 13, 1774, they chose an agent to go to Philadel- 
 phia, when the first Congress was sitting there, to join 
 with the Philadelphia association, to endeavour to secure 
 our religious rights, while we united with our country in 
 the defence of all our privileges. And when he came 
 there, said association elected a large committee to help in 
 the affair; and they obtained a meeting of the four dele- 
 gates from Massachusetts, before other members of Con- 
 gress, in the evening of October 14 ; to whom a memorial 
 of our grievances about religious matters was read. This, 
 two of those delegates endeavoured to answer, and denied 
 that we had any reason to complain on those accounts. 
 But when leave was given for a reply, plain facts silenced 
 that plea. They then shifted their plea, and would have 
 all the blame of our sufferings laid upon executive officers, 
 and they asserted that our legislature was entirely free 
 
1775.] BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 193 
 
 from blame. Three of them joined in this plea, and one 
 of them denied that it could be a case of conscience to re- 
 fuse to give them certificates, and said it was a matter of 
 conscience with them to support ministers by law, and 
 that we denied them liberty of conscience, in denying 
 their right to do it. But when our agent was allowed to 
 speak, he brought up the case of Ashfield, where near 
 four hundred acres of land were sold for a condition that 
 was not in the original grant of the town, for which the 
 blame lay directly on the legislature ; and if the king in 
 council had not disannulled that law, the Baptists might 
 have been robbed of all their lands, as far as any thing hay 
 since appeared. He also told them that he could not in 
 conscience give the certificates which they required, 
 which would implicitly allow a power to man, which in 
 his view belongs only to God. And said he, ** Only allow 
 us the liberty in the country that they have long enjoyed 
 in Boston, and we ask no more." This was so plain, 
 that said delegates promised to use their influence to- 
 wards having that liberty granted to all our government. 
 
 But as one of them returned before said agent got home, 
 a report was spread in the country, that he had been to 
 Philadelphia to try to break the union of these colonies 
 in the defence of all their privileges. He therefore soon 
 met our Baptist committee at Boston, who sent in a re- 
 monstrance upon this subject to our provincial Congress 
 at Cambridge, and they passed a resolve, which acquitted 
 us of all blame in that affair ; and we are now to look into 
 their following proceedings. 
 
 A Congress, elected by the people in twelve colonies, 
 met at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, and sent a peti- 
 tion to the king for the restoration and continuance of our 
 former privileges, and also made the best preparations 
 that they could to defend them ; but their petition was 
 treated with contempt, and an army was sent to compel 
 us to yield to be taxed where we were not represented. 
 A part of the army was sent from Boston in the night, 
 and on the morning of April 19, 1775, they killed eight 
 men at Lexington, and some more at Concord. But the 
 people arose against them, and they fled back the same 
 17 
 
 1 
 
194 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CV. XI. 
 
 might, and were confined in Boston eleven months, and 
 then their army fled from thence by sea. And such things 
 then took place in America, as never were seen upon 
 earth before. A minister who came from England, and 
 then lived at Roxbury, said, upon a view of our country 
 at that time, 
 
 ** Now some hundred thousand people are in a state of 
 nature, and yet as still and peaceable, at present, as ever 
 they were when government was in full vigour. We have 
 neither legislators, nor magistrates, nor executive officers. 
 We have no officers but military ones ; of these we have 
 a multitude, chosen by the people, and exercising them 
 with more authority and spirit than ever any did who 
 had commissions from a governor. The inhabitants are 
 determined never to submit to the act destroying their 
 charter, and are everywhere devoting themselves to 
 arms."* And a man who was born in this country, and 
 carefully observed the events in it, inserted a note in his 
 private diary, in January, 1776, which he said, " Great 
 and marvellous have been our dangers and our escapes. 
 In the midst of the worst kind of wars, we have both 
 peace and plenty. I scarce ever knew the country to be 
 better off for provision. This is a state of trial, and the 
 great changes which are passing over us, serve greatly to 
 show what is in man. As every one saw himself to be 
 interested in the war, men were forward enough to enlist 
 into the army, and others to supply them ; so that perhaps 
 no army was ever supplied more plentifully with provi- 
 sion than ours has been." 
 
 Yet a party spirit about religion still remained, and it 
 was remarkably discovered in one place. A young Bap- 
 tist minister was invited to preach in Pepperell, forty 
 miles north-westerly from Boston, and it had so much 
 effect, that a number of people met with a change ; 
 another minister was sent for, and six persons declared 
 their experiences before them, who were judged to be fit 
 subjects for baptism. And on June 26, 1778, they met 
 in a field, by the side of a river, for worship and the ad* 
 
 * Gordon's History, vol. i. p. 427, 428. 
 
1778.] RIOT AT PEPPERELL. 195 
 
 ministration of that ordinance. But in the midst of their 
 worship, the chief men of the town came at the head of a 
 mob and broke it up. The ministers tried to reason with 
 them about their conduct, but in vain ; and a dog was 
 carried into the river, and dipped, in contempt of their 
 opinion. A gentleman of the town then invited the Bap- 
 tists to his house, near another river, and they held their 
 worship there ; but the chief men of the town followed 
 them, and two dogs were plunged in that river ; and one 
 young man* dipped another there with scorn and derision 
 of the Baptists ; and an officer of the town went into the 
 house, and advised these ministers to depart immediately 
 out of town for their own safety. They asked if their 
 liv«s would be in danger if they did not go, but received 
 no answer. But they secretly agreed with their friends 
 to disperse, and to meet at another place of water ; and 
 they did so, and those six persons were baptized, after 
 which the mob offered them some further abuse. These 
 things were laid before the Warren Association in Sep- 
 tember, by whose direction an account of them was pub- 
 lished in Boston, which the town of Pepperell answered, 
 and the Baptisjts replied thereto, and made the town 
 ashamed of what they had done. 
 
 At the same time an event took place which weakened 
 the society of Quakers more than any thing had done 
 before, since they first came into existence. With much 
 art and labour, their church had become numerous in Eng- 
 land and America, which they held to be but one church, 
 and that all their children were born in it, and they did 
 not allow them to hear any teachers but their own. And 
 they had five houses for public worship in the town of 
 Dartmouth, which then included what is now three towns. 
 But after our war began, one of their most noted ministers 
 published a pamphlet, to persuade them to pay what they 
 were taxed for the war, to defend America against Britain. 
 Upon which they dealt with him as a transgressor of the 
 rules of their church, and they expelled him from it in 
 1778. But this caused a division among them, and it 
 reached to Philadelphia, and it opened a door for their 
 vhildren to go to hear other teachers ; and two Baptist 
 
196 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XCI. 
 
 churches have been formed since, where there were none 
 before. 
 
 The Baptists were so generally united with their 
 country in the defence of their privileges, that when the 
 general court at Boston passed an act, in October, 1778, 
 to debar all men from returning into their government, 
 whom tliey judged to be their enemies, and named three 
 hundred and eleven men as such, there was not one Bap- 
 tist among them. Yet there was scarce a Baptist mem- 
 ber in the legislature who passed this act, -n 
 
 In the same year a new plan of government was formed I 
 for Massachusetts, which took in their old taxing laws 
 for ministers, who were exceeding earnest for its adoption; 
 but they then failed of their design. But they, by de- 
 ceitful arts, at length obtained what they were after. And, 
 in the mean time. Dr. Chauncy published a sermon in 
 September, 1778, wherein he held up to the world, that 
 the neglect of our legislature, to make an act to compel 
 the people to make up to ministers what their salaries had 
 lacked from the depreciation of our public currency, was 
 an accursed thing, which caused the defeat of our army 
 on Rhode Island ! 
 
 J 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A new constitution formed — Unjust accusations against the Baptists 
 — k plea of conscience against them — Ministers discover their mis- 
 takes — The kingdom of Christ described — Connecticut schemes 
 against it — Yet God now revived his work greatly — Methodism 
 described — Bishops come over from England — Episcopacy abolish- 
 ed in Virginia — A new constitution of government established in 
 America — President Washington favours the Baptists — A great 
 revival on our eastern coasts — Also to the westward. 
 
 A CONVENTION met at Boston, September 1, 1779, to 
 form a new constitution of government for us, and they 
 chose a committee to make a draught for it, and adjourned. 
 
1779.] BAPTISTS FURTHER OPPRESSED. 197 
 
 A general fast was appointed to pray for direction in the 
 affair, on November 4; and on the 10th, the article was 
 brought in, to give rulers power to support ministers by 
 force ; and in order to get a vote for it, Mr. John Adams 
 accused the Baptists of sending an agent to Philadelphia, 
 when the first Congress was sitting there, to try to break 
 the union of these colonies in the defence of all our pri- 
 vileges. And Mr. Paine accused the Baptists of reading 
 a long memorial there, in which were some things against 
 our government, which he believed never existed. Many 
 in the convention were greatly inflamed thereby, and a 
 vote was obtained to adopt said article. And did not these 
 men, " fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist 
 of wickedness ?" Isaiah Iviii. 4. 
 
 As the Baptist agent was soon informed of these things, 
 he wrote a narrative of the affair, naming his accusers, 
 and challenging them to a fair hearing upon it before any 
 proper judges, and published it in the Chronicle at Boston, 
 December 2, 1779 ; and he has never heard of any answer 
 since. Though when the first general court upon the 
 constitution met at Boston, October 25, 1780, a chief 
 minister of the town said in a sermon before them, " I 
 know there is diversity of sentiments respecting the ex- 
 tent of civil power in religious matters. Instead of enter- 
 ing into the dispute, may I be allowed from the warmth 
 of my heart to recommend, where conscience is pleaded 
 on both sides, mutual candour and love."* 
 
 But do any men plead conscience for violating their 
 own promises ? Or are any conscientious in denying all 
 the country the liberty which they have long enjoyed in 
 Boston ? Yea, what do they do with their consciences in 
 Boston, where the laws are made, since they are not en- 
 forced there ? And if men call interest conscience, where 
 is their religion? A just answer to these questions may be 
 very serviceable. The views of another minister, who 
 had a hand in forming our constitution, discover how far 
 they were from right ideas about the kingdom of Christ; 
 for he said to our general court, 
 
 • Cooper^s Sermon, p. 37, 38. 
 17* 
 
198 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XH. 
 
 ** The law of self-preservation will always justify op- 
 posing a cruel and tyrannical imposition, except where 
 opposition is attended with greater evils than submission ; 
 which is frequently the case where a few are oppressed 
 by a large and powerful majority. This shows the 
 reason why the primitive Christians did not oppose the 
 cruel persecutions that were inflicted upon them by the 
 heathen magistrates ; they were few compared with the 
 heathen world, and for them to have attempted to resist 
 their enemies by force, would have been like a small 
 parcel of sheep endeavouring to oppose a large number of 
 ravening wolves and savage beasts of prey ; it would 
 without a miracle have brought upon them inevitable ruin 
 and destruction. Hence the wise and prudent advice of , 
 our Saviour to them was, " When they persecute you in j 
 this city, flee ye to another.'** ^.^ 
 
 But this is so opposite to truth, that our Lord said to 
 his heathen judge, '* My kingdom is not of this world: 
 if my kingdom were of this world, then would my ser- 
 vants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews ; 
 but now is my kingdom not from thence." John xviii, , 
 36. And Paul says, *' The weapons of our warfare are J 
 not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down 
 of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every 
 high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
 God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the 1 
 obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Therefore all the 
 use of carnal weapons, to support religious ministers, that 
 ever has been in the world, has been a violation of the 
 laws of Christ ; for he is the only head of his church, and 
 each church that supports her ministers in the name of 
 any earthly head, is a harlot. And the power of spiritual 
 weapons was such, that God again revived his work in 
 1779, and it prevailed so far for three years, as greatly to 
 increase the old Baptist churches, and to form above 
 thirty new ones in New England, besides many more in \ 
 the southern parts of America. And as pure religion is^ 
 directly against all oflfensive wars, and fills the people of \. 
 
 • West*s Election Sermon, May 29, 1776, p. 19. 
 
1784.] APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. 199 
 
 God with an earnest desire and pursuit of justice and 
 equity, this revival had a great influence in procuring the 
 peace of 1783. 
 
 But as it came on, many discovered more of their own 
 blindness ; for a minister of great note in Connecticut 
 said to their l^islature, ** The pastors are orderly and 
 regularly set apart to the ministry, by the laying on of the 
 hands of the presbytery, or of those who have regularly 
 derived office power, in a lineal succession, from the 
 apostles and Jesus Christ." And though he knew that 
 the first ministers in our country were ordained by their 
 churches, arid did not hold to such succession, yet he 
 said, " These were all ordained before by the bishops in 
 England."* And they had theirs from Rome, the mother 
 of harlots, the great city which reigneth over the kings of 
 the earth. Rev. xvii. 5. 18. Great Britain has lost all 
 her power here, and our rulers have sworn to renounce 
 all foreign power over America, and yet they compel the 
 people to support ministers who claim a power of office 
 from England. How shocking is this ! 
 
 They also accuse us of renouncing the true God, be- 
 cause we have renounced a successive baptism which 
 came from Rome. For so many had been baptized in 
 Connecticut, that their general association set one of their 
 number to write against the Baptists ; and he said to them, 
 " When you rebaptize those in adult years, which we 
 have baptized in their infancy, you and they jointly re- 
 nounce that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whom we 
 adore and worship, as the only living and true God, and 
 on whom we depend for all our salvation."! Whereas 
 we have only renounced an invention of men, which 
 came from Rome, and is never named in the word of God. 
 Yet we are constantly complained of, because we cannot 
 receive it as his ordinance. 
 
 In the year 1784, the year in which Dr. Chauncy held 
 
 • Election sermon at Hartford, May 8, 1783, by Ezra Stiles, D. D. 
 President of Yale College, p. 58. 61. 
 
 \ An address to his Anabaptist brethren, by Joseph Huntingdon, 
 D. D., 1783, p. 23. 
 
 i 
 
200 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XII, 
 
 Up the doctrine of purgatory in Boston, laws were made 
 in Connecticut to force people to support such ministers, 
 and the like was soon done in Massachusetts. The chief 
 rulers of New Hampshire, for many years, were not of 
 the Congregational denomination, and therefore the peo- 
 ple did not suffer so much from them as they did in 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut, and so I have passed 
 them over. And there is such a mixture in Vermont, 
 that I have no account of great sufferings there. But 
 the behaviour of various parties in England, at this time, 
 may deserve some notice. 
 
 Mr. John Wesley was with Mr. Whitefield in Oxford 
 College, where they obtained the name of Methodists, 
 because of their strict method of acting about religion ; 
 and they appeared to be united in one cause, until Wesley 
 came out against particular election and final perseverance, 
 about 1739; after which Mr. Wqpley travelled and la- 
 boured earnestly, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, to 
 promote a particular sect, until America became independ- 
 ent of Britain ; and then he took the thirty-nine articles 
 of the church of England, and reduced them to twenty- 
 four, with new forms of prayer and discipline, and printed 
 them in London, in 1784, and called them, ** The Sunday 
 service in North America ;" thus presuming to be a law- 
 giver for this great country. Many of his followers met 
 in Maryland, December 27, 1784, and drew up a pam- 
 phlet, called, ** A form of discipline for the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church in America." They hold to three orders of 
 office, one above another, called Bishops, Elders, and 
 Deacons, besides preachers who are not ordained. They 
 plainly give up the opinion of a lineal succession from the 
 aposties, because it cannot be proved. They hold to per- 
 fection in this life, and yet that saints may fall away and 
 perish forever. They hold that Christ died equally for 
 all mankind, and that no man is elected until he is con- 
 verted. And if any one who was sprinkled in infancy is 
 not satisfied with it, and will join with them, they will 
 go into the water and baptize him. And they have 
 preached these sentiments through these United States, 
 and in Canada and Nova Scotia. Many have doubtless 
 
1786.1 ORDINATION OF AMERICAN BISHOPS. 201 
 
 been reformed by their means, and some converted ; but 
 they readily receive awakened persons to communion, 
 without a profession of regeneration. Hereby church 
 and world are as really bound together as they were in 
 old worldly establishments ; whereas the Son of God says 
 to his children, "If ye were of the world, the world would 
 love his own ; but because ye are not of the world, but I 
 have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world 
 hateth you." John xv. 19. He chose, or elected them 
 out of the world, and so they are elect according to the 
 foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctifieation 
 of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood 
 of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. i. 2. God the Father hath 
 chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, 
 that we should be holy, and without blame before him in 
 love. Eph. i. 3, 4. He chose them that they should be 
 holy, and not as they become holy in conversion. If 
 our conversion and holiness were the cause of God's 
 electing us, our salvation would be of works, and not of 
 grace ; and this would also exclude all men from hope^ 
 who see that they are wholly under sin, and have natu- 
 rally no good thing in them. 
 
 There were many others in England that held to a 
 lineal succession of office, who wanted to have power in 
 America ; but as no bishop could be ordained in England,, 
 without swearing to the king's supremacy. Dr. Samuel 
 Seabury went into Scotland, and obtained the name of 
 Bishop of Connecticut, from men who claimed a succes- 
 sion from bishops in England, who refused to swear alle- 
 giance to King William, after he came to the throne in 
 1689. But as this was not liked in England, letters were 
 written to America about it, and one minister went over 
 from New York, and another from Philadelphia, and a 
 special act of Parliament then exempted them from said 
 Oath, and they were ordained bishops of the states where 
 they belonged, to which they returned in 1786. So that 
 America has men now, whom England allows to be regu- 
 lar bishops, and who can make others so ; but as Britain 
 cannot compel us to receive or support them, they have 
 increased their denomination but very little anywhere^ 
 
202 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XII. 
 
 and they have but one minister in all the old colony of 
 Plymouth ; and their establishment is abolished in Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 That colony was first planted in 1607, the first of all 
 our colonies, and the church of England had all the go- 
 vernment there until 1775, when Britain commenced a war 
 against us, in which dissenters from them prevailed, and 
 took away the support of those ministers by law. And 
 though they tried hard to regain their power afterwards, 
 yet, in the beginning of 1786, a law was made, which 
 said : 
 
 " Well awar^ that Almighty God hath created the mind 
 free ; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punish- 
 ments or burdens, or by civil incapacitjitions, tend only to 
 beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a depart- 
 ure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion, who, 
 being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to pro- 
 pagate it by coercions on either, as was in his almighty 
 power to do; that the impious presumption of legisla- 
 tures and rulers, civil or ecclesiastical, who being them- 
 selves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed 
 dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own 
 opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and in- 
 fallible, and as such endeavouring to impose them on 
 others, have established and maintained false religions 
 over the greatest part of the world, and through all time ; 
 that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money 
 for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is 
 sinful and tyrannical ; that even the forcing him to sup- 
 port this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, 
 is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his 
 contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he 
 would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most 
 persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the 
 ministry those temporal rewards, which, proceeding from 
 an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional 
 incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the in- 
 struction of mankind ; that our civil rights have no depend- 
 ence on our religious opinions, more than on our opinions 
 in physics or geometry ; that therefore the proscribing 
 
1786.] LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE IN VIRGINIA. 203 
 
 any citizen as unworthy the public confidence, by laying 
 upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust 
 and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or 
 that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of 
 those privileges and advantages to which, in common with 
 his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right ; that it tends 
 also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is 
 meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly 
 honours and emoluments, those who will externally pro- 
 fess and conform to it; that though indeed those are 
 criminal who do not withstand such temptations, yet 
 neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way ; 
 that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers 
 into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or 
 propagation of principles on supposition of their ill ten- 
 dency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all 
 religious liberty, because he, being of course judge of that 
 tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment, 
 and approve or condemn the sentiments of others, only as 
 they shall square with or differ from his own ; that it is 
 time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government 
 for its officers .to interfere when principles break out into 
 overt acts against peace and good order ; and finally, that 
 truth is great and will prevail if left to itself; that she is 
 the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has 
 nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human inter- 
 position, disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument 
 and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is^ 
 permitted freely to contradict them. 
 
 " Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly , 
 That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support 
 any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor 
 shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his 
 body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of 
 his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be 
 free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opi- 
 nions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in 
 no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. 
 
 ** And though we well know that this assembly, elected 
 by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation 
 
204 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XII. 
 
 only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding 
 assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, 
 and therefore to declare this act irrevocable, would be of 
 no effect in law, yet we are free to declare, and do de- 
 clare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural 
 rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter 
 passed to repeal the present, or to narrow its operation, 
 such act will be an infringement of natural right."* 
 
 Though many have imagined that such liberty favours 
 infidelity, yet Christianity is in full favour of it ; and the 
 power of the gospel, against all the powers of Rome, 
 prevailed as far and farther than the Roman empire ex- 
 tended, for two hundred years. And Christianity has 
 never appeared in the world, in its primitive purity and^ 
 glory, since infant baptism was brought in, and after ilt 
 the sword of the magistrate to support religious teachers. 
 Yea, the foregoing declaration of Dr. Chauncy plainly 
 says as much ; and the inconsistencies and contradictions, 
 that he and others have been guilty of, serve to confirm 
 the above observation. 
 
 The credit of the paper money, which supported our 
 war for several years, gradually declined, until it entirely 
 failed in 1781 ; so that if a kind Providence had not 
 opened other ways for us, the independence of America 
 could not have been established. And when that was 
 granted, private and public debts, and the fierce methods 
 that were taken to recover them, brought on an insurrec- 
 tion in Massachusetts, where the war began. It was then 
 found to be necessary for a new plan to be formed for the 
 government of all these states ; and this was done in 
 
 1787. A large convention met at Boston, in January, 
 
 1788, to consider of this new constitution, where men 
 discovered what was in their hearts in various ways. 1 
 before observed that a constitution for Massachusetts was 
 formed in 1778, which was not accepted. But I would 
 observe now, that when it was in suspense, a noted mi- 
 nister said to our rulers, '* Let the restraints of religion 
 once be broken down, as they infallibly would be by 
 
 * Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, p. 242 — ^244, 
 
1788.] INCONSISTENCY OF PAYSON. 205 
 
 leaving the subject of public worship to the humours of 
 the multitude, and we might well defy all human wisdom 
 and power to support and preserve order and government 
 in the state."* Yet this same man was in the Conven- 
 tion of 1788, wherein much was said against adopting a 
 constitution of government, which had no religious tests 
 in it ; and he was then in favour of the constitution, and 
 to promote the adoption of it, he said, ** The great object 
 of religion being God supreme, and the seat of religion 
 in man being the heart or conscience, that is, the reason 
 God has given us, employed on our moral actions, in 
 their most important consequences, as related to the tri- 
 bunal of God, hence I infer that God alone is the God 
 of the conscience, and, consequently, attempts to erect 
 human tribunals for the consciences of men are impious 
 encroachments upon the prerogatives of God."* 
 
 Can these two paragraphs, from one man, possibly be 
 reconciled together ? Yea, or can any men support mi- 
 nisters by the sword of the magistrate, without acting con- 
 trary to a good conscience ? The support of the ministers 
 of Christ is as plainly a matter of conscience towards 
 God, as any ordinance of his worship is. This I shall 
 more clearly prove hereafter. In the mean time, the sen- 
 timents and example of the greatest men in America de- 
 serve our serious notice. 
 
 After General Washington was established as Presi- 
 dent of these United States, a general committee of the 
 Baptist churches in Virginia presented an address to him, 
 in August, 1789, wherein they expressed a high regard 
 for him ; but a fear that our religious rights were not well 
 secured in our new constitution of government. In an- 
 swer to which, he assured them of his readiness to use 
 his influence to make them more secure, and then said, 
 " While I recollect with satisfaction, that the religious 
 society of which you are members have been, throughout 
 America, uniformly and almost unanimously the firm 
 friends of civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of 
 
 * Payson's Election Sermon, May 27, 1778, p. 20. 
 j- Debates in Convention, p. 1 48. 
 18 
 
206 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XII. 
 
 our glorious Revolution, I cannot hesitate lo believe that 
 they will be the faithful supporters of a free, yet efficient , 
 general government."* And an amendment to the consti- 
 tution was made the next month, which says, -i-i 
 I *' Congress shall make no law, establishing articles of | 
 faith, or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exer- 
 cise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or 
 of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to as- 
 semble, and to petition to the government for a redress 
 of grievances." 
 
 This was dated September 23, 1789; and it has been 
 adopted by so many of the states, that it is part of the 
 constitution of our general government, and yet Massachu- , 
 setts and Connecticut act contrary to it to this day. And I 
 so all the evils that worldly establishments have ever pro- ' 
 duced ought to be considered as a warning to them ; for 
 our Lord assured the Jews, that all the blood which had 
 been shed by former persecutors, whom they imitated, 
 should be required of them. Matt, xxiii. 29 — 35. And 
 the blood that was shed at Boston, an hundred and forty 
 years ago, brought the greatest reproach upon New Eng- 
 land of any thing that was ever done in it. A mistaken 
 idea of good, in maintaining the government of the church 
 over the world, was the cause of that evil ; but the worst 
 of men in our land have equal votes with the best, in 
 our present government. A view of this caused many 
 fathers in Boston to procure an act to abolish the use of 
 force there for the support of religious ministers ; and all 
 that is done of that nature in the country is contrary to 
 that example, as well as to our national government. 
 
 A work of the Spirit of God at this time discovered 
 the glory of a free gospel ; for many new plantations on 
 our eastern coasts had scarce any ministers at all to preach 
 to them, as a view to worldly gain could not draw them 
 there ; but a man who was born in 1734, and settled near 
 Kennebec river, was converted in October, 1781, and 
 then said, <' Now I began to see the base views I for- 
 merly had of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the plan of 
 
 * Leland'g Virginia Chronicle, p. 47, 48. 
 
1790.] REVIVALS. 207 
 
 salvation ; for when I had a discovery of actual sins, and 
 of the danger I was exposed to thereby, I would repent 
 and reform, and think what a glorious Saviour Christ 
 was, and that some time or other he would save me from 
 hell, and take me to glory, with a desire to be happy, but 
 no desire to be holy. But, glory to God ! he now gave 
 me another view of salvation. Now I saw his law to be 
 holy, and loved it, though I and all my conduct was con- 
 demned by it. Now I saw that God's justice did not 
 strike against me as his creature, but as a sinner ; and 
 that Christ died, not only to save from punishment, but 
 from sin itself. I saw that Christ's office was not only 
 to make men happy, but also to make them holy ; and 
 the plan now looked beautiful to me ; and I had no desire 
 to have the least titde of it altered, but all my cry was to 
 be conformed to this glorious plan." 
 
 It appeared to him to be his duty to leave the care of 
 his farm to his wife and children, and to go from house 
 to house, for many miles round, to converse with all he 
 could meet with, about the concerns of their souls and 
 eternal salvation. And though many were stupid at first, 
 yet in the beginning of 1782, powerful effects appeared, 
 so tl'cit they set up religious meetings, and one after an- 
 otht r came out into spiritual liberty, and he and others 
 were led into the Baptist principles, even before they had 
 seen a Baptist minister. But hearing of these things at a 
 distance, some preachers went among them, and the work 
 was promoted thereby, and it went on through the year 
 1783. In May, 1784, a Baptist church was formed in 
 Bowdoinham, and another in Thomaston, and pastors 
 were settled in each of them. A church was also formed 
 in Harpswell, January 20, 1785, and a pastor was or- 
 dained there the fall after. These three churches began 
 an association in 1787, which increased to six churches 
 in 1790, and three hundred and seventeen members. 
 
 These new churches had many secret and open enemies 
 to encounter in a wilderness ; yet God was pleased to re- 
 vive his work again in 1791, so that five churches were 
 formed in that year, and four in 1792. And by August, 
 1802, they had increased to forty-one churches, and 
 
208 CHUKCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. l_CH. XII. 
 
 twenty-five ordained ministers, in the counties of Cum- 
 berland, Lincoln, and Kennebec, and one thousand seven 
 hundred and fifty-four members, besides many preachers 
 who were not ordained. So many in eighteen years. In 
 the mean time there was such a revival granted in and 
 near Swansea, in 1789, and on our western borders in 
 that and the year before, that above five hundred persons 
 were.baptized in those places. To open still more clearly 
 the nature of what these people call religion, I shall give 
 a distinct account of one new church on our western 
 borders. 
 
 In the adjoining borders of Bethlehem, Sandisfield, and 
 Tyringham, in the county of Berkshire, a number of 
 people, who lived remote from parish meetings, set up a 
 meeting among themselves, in 1784, to pray, sing, and to 
 read sermons ; and they concluded not to admit any man 
 who was not a Paedobaptist to carry on among them. 
 And they went on in that way, until a man who was a 
 Baptist came to their meeting in the fall of 1787 ; and as 
 he spake in public at times, they allowed him to do so 
 once among them. This he did to their satisfaction, so 
 that they desired him to proceed in that way, and such a 
 blessing was granted on his labours, that a Baptist minis- 
 ter was sent for in March, 1788, when nineteen persons 
 were baptized and formed into a church, called the Second 
 Baptist church in Sandisfield. And they increased to 
 forty members, when Mr. Benjamin Baldwin was or- 
 dained their pastor, June 9, 1790. They afterwards met 
 with cruel oppression from the Congregational party, 
 from which they in vain sought for relief in courts ; 
 though their oppressors at length gave up such proceed- 
 ings. Yet declension and coldness came on among the 
 Baptists, until the work of God was again revived among 
 them in June, 1798, and prevailed through the winter 
 after. And they say, " conferences and lectures were at- 
 tended in Sandisfield, Bethlehem, and Tyringham, and in 
 the two last places almost every night in the week. 
 Neither storms of snow, nor piercing cold could obstruct 
 their attending divine worship. The most delicate cha- 
 racters did not observe the severity of the weather, in 
 
1793.] DR. MANNING. 209 
 
 following Jesus down the banks of Jordan into the liquid 
 grave. This work appeared to go on with great soiem- 
 nity, and scarce an instance appeared of any overheated 
 zeal, or flight of passion. Both sinners under conviction, 
 and those who were newly brought into the liberty of the 
 gospel, conversed in their meetings with the greatest free- 
 dom ; they spake one at a time, in the most solemn and 
 impressive manner. Their enemies were bound, and 
 there was not a dog to move his tongue. It appeared 
 also in the first church, and in neighbouring towns. In 
 one year there were added to this church about sixty, and 
 about as many to the first church, and some to other 
 churches. In the following years, about twenty were 
 added to our church each year. Our present number is 
 one hundred and seventy-five, November 12, 1801." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Manning's character and death — Others raised to supply his place — 
 The increase of the Baptists makes others expose themselves — 
 Cruelty shown to the Baptists — Their first church in Connecticut 
 better treated — They increase there — Religion greatly revived 
 through the country — Even to Virginia, Georgia, and Ken- 
 tucky — A book from England reprinted against them — Remarks 
 upon it 
 
 Dr. Manning was a faithful preacher of the gospel, and 
 president of our college for twenty-five years, until he 
 was called out of our world, July 29, 1791, in his fifty- 
 third year. He was a good instructer in human learning, 
 but at every commencement he gave a solemn charge to 
 his scholars, never to presume to enter into the work of 
 the ministry, until they were taught of God, and had 
 reason to conclude that they had experienced a saving 
 change of heart. And a tutor in the college, who ap- 
 peared to have met with such a change in October, 1789, 
 was instrumental of a revival of religion, both in the 
 
 18* 
 
210 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. Xn». 
 
 college and in the town, and he was called into the mi- 
 nistry, and then was a president of the college eleven 
 years. And then another tutor was hopefully converted, 
 and called into the ministry, and has been president ever 
 since. And I hope succeeding ages will follow these ex- 
 amples. 
 
 But as the Baptists increased much, in many parts of 
 our land, a minister in the west parts of Massachusetts 
 endeavoured to make an improvement upon the plan 
 which Dr. Stiles had published in Connecticut ; and his 
 book was so pleasing to many, that it passed six editions 
 in about two years, the last of which was at Boston, in 
 1793. His text is Matt. vii. 15, 16 ; and he tried all his 
 art to represent all teachers in our land to be wolves in 
 sheep's clothing, who were not ordained by ministers 
 who hold a succession from England, and who do not re- 
 gard parish lines. And he says, ** A good shepherd at- 
 tends to his own proper charge ; the wolf is a rapacious, 
 prowling animal, not satisfied with taking out of one flock, 
 he roams from flock to flock, and can never have enough." 
 And of an uninterrupted succession from the apostles, he 
 says, "It is by no means necessary, that by historical 
 deduction we should prove an uninterrupted succession ; 
 we have a right to presume it, until evidence appears to 
 the contrary."* But God says, " Who hath required 
 this at your hands to tread my courts ? Your hands are 
 full o( blood, ^^ Isaiah i. 12, 15. And the bloody hands 
 of teachers in Rome and England could never convey 
 just authority to any other ministers. 
 
 This was so evident to the fathers of this country, that 
 they allowed none to be pastors of their churches, but 
 such as each church elected and ordained, as I before 
 proved. And Mr. Cotton said, " The power of the mi- 
 nisterial calling is not derived from ordination, whether 
 Episcopal, or Presbyterial, or Congregational. The 
 power of the ministerial calling is derived chiefly from 
 Christ, furnishing his servants with gifts fit for the call- 
 ing ; and nextly from the church (or congregation) who 
 
 * Lathrop's Diseours<^s, p. 26. 56. 
 
1793.] MINISTERIAL POWER. 211 
 
 observing such whom the Lord hath gifted, do elect and 
 call ihein forth to come and help them."* 
 
 From hence came the name Congregational, the mean- 
 ing of which many have departed from, though they still 
 usurp the name. But it is well known in America, that 
 it is the election of the people that gives our civil officers 
 their power, and not the oaths which they take from 
 other officers. And ordination of ministers is no more 
 than swearing them to be faithful in that office. Their 
 being furnished with grace and gifts for it, is the most 
 essential thing in the affair ; for an inspired apostle says, 
 *^' As every man hath received the gift, even so minis tet 
 the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold 
 gTdice of God. If any man speak, let him speak as th€ 
 oracles of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as of 
 the ability which God giveth ; that God in all things may 
 be glorified through Christ Jesus. The elders which 
 are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a 
 witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of 
 the glory that shall be revealed ; feed the flock of God 
 which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by 
 constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, butof a ready 
 mind ; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being 
 ensamples to the flock. And when th6 chief Shepherd shall 
 appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not 
 away. Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the 
 elder ; yea, all of you be subject one to another, and 
 be clothed with humility ; for God resisteth the proud, 
 and giveth grace to the humble." 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11; 
 v. 1—5. 
 
 Here we may plainly see, that the gifts and graces 
 which God bestows on men for the ministry, gives them 
 their internal call to go into that work ; and the union of 
 the church in calling and receiving them, and the acting 
 as a united body, is the essence of the government which 
 Christ has established in each of his churches. All men 
 who claim a power of office above the churches, desire to 
 be lords over God's heritage. And we must not forget 
 
 * Answer to WiHiams, part second, p. 82. 
 
213 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIII. 
 
 that teachers are to be known by their fruits, and not by 
 ordination. Thorns and thistles wound the flesh, or tear 
 away the property of others; which is done by impri- 
 soning their persons, or taking away their goods unjustly. 
 If we regard this rule, which Christ has given to know 
 false teachers by, how plainly do they appear in our land ! 
 A great many instances of imprisonment, and spoiling of 
 goods, to support ministers whom the people did not | 
 choose, have been given already, and more are before us J 
 
 The Baptist church in Barnstable was formed, June 20, 
 1771, and they were not free of sufferings, though they 
 were not great, until God revived his work there in 1781, 
 and it increased their church and society, and they 
 ordained a pastor therein, in 1788, who had preached to 
 them five years. Yet in that time, and in two years 
 after, more than a hundred and fifty dollars were forced 
 from them for ministers whom they did not hear. But 
 the committee of the Warren Association met at Boston, 
 in January, 1791, and wrote to the officers of the parishes 
 who oppressed them, in such a manner as caused them to 
 refrain from proceeding in that way, though they did not 
 restore the money which they had taken away unjustly. 
 Much greater evils were soon after done in another place ; 
 for a Baptist church was formed and organized in the 
 south part of Harwich in 1757, and they built them a meet- 
 ing-house, and carried on their worship for about forty 
 years, when there was no Congregational minister in that 
 parish. But when the Baptists were without a pastor, in 
 the fall of 1792, a Congregational minister was ordained 
 there, and the Baptists treated him in a friendly manner, 
 while they still maintained their own worship, and soon 
 got them another minister. Yet after they had done it, a 
 few of the Congregational party, in the beginning of 1794, 
 taxed all the Baptist church and society to their minister ; 
 and near the close of 1795, they imprisoned six men for 
 it, and forced away much property from others. This 
 was so glaringly unjust, and even contrary to the law of 
 the government, that the Baptists sued for recompense, 
 in 1796, and obtained judgment in their favour, in their 
 county court. But their oppressors appealed to their su- 
 
1796.] NEW OPPRESSIONS. 213 
 
 perior court, and obtained judgment against the Baptists, 
 who in the whole lost above five hundred dollars. False 
 witnesses had an evident hand in this. And as the Con- 
 gregational party found that their courts favoured them, 
 they thought they might do as they pleased. 
 
 An aged and pious Baptist deacon, who never was of 
 the Congregational party, wrote to Boston, November 12, 
 1799, and said, ** On the 26th of last July, the collector 
 of Harwich came and seized about four or five bushels of 
 my rye, and carried it off, and sold it for one dollar, and 
 made above two dollars charge on it; and on the 13th of 
 August, the same collector, Edward Hall, came and seized 
 about three tons of my hay, and carried it off, and sold it 
 for forty-nine shillings, and returned me five shillings and 
 sixpence. For all this I was taxed to their minister but 
 seven shillings and a penny. I have given you as exact 
 account as possible. These from yours in gospel bonds, 
 
 Abner Chase." 
 
 The rye was taken out of the field before it was threshed, 
 so that the exact quantity was not known. Now the 
 only reason tha*^ is given in our constitution of govern- 
 ment, for empowering rulers to support teachers by force, 
 is because ** the happiness of a people, and the good 
 order of civil government essentially depend upon piety, 
 religion, and morality." But how opposite hereto is the 
 above conduct! Our Lord says, '* All things whatsoever 
 ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
 them ; for this is the law and the prophets." Mat. vii. 
 12. And is there one man among us, who would be 
 willing to be compelled to support any teacher that he 
 never chose ? Yet this is the natural consequence of 
 allowing any men to support teachers by the sword of 
 the magistrate. And this practice has caused the effusion 
 of blood among all nations, more than any other means 
 in the world. And the combination of rulers and teachers 
 herein, I believe, is the beast and false prophet, which 
 will finally be cast into the burning lake. Rev. xix. 20. 
 When this shall be done, the glory of the latter day will 
 come on, as it is described in the next chapter ; though 
 this great event is freely left with Him to whom it belongs. 
 
2^14 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XllU 
 
 But as God never allowed Israel to use any force for the 
 support of his priests, how can any be willing to use 
 compulsion for the support of religious ministers ? No 
 man can be satisfied that others have a right to take away 
 his property for nothing, yea, and worse than nothing. 
 
 Any Congregational minister may avoid oppressing the 
 people, if he will. This appeared plain in the case of 
 the first Baptist church in Connecticut. It was formed 
 about 1705, in the town of Groton, under the ministry 
 of Mr. Valentine Wightman. They suffered some at first, 
 but when Mr. John Owen became the minister of the 
 town, he was not for forcing any money from the Baptists ; 
 and when the great revival of religion came on, he and 
 Wightman were agreed in it, until the latter died in 1747. 
 His son. Timothy Wightman, was ordained in his place, 
 May 20, 1756, and he was a faithful and successful minis- 
 ter, until he died joyfully, November 14, 1796, aged near 
 78, when he left 215 members in his church. After 
 which, his son, John Gano Wightman, succeeded him in 
 that office. A daughter of their first pastor married a Mr. 
 Rathbun, two of whose sons, and two of his grandsons, 
 are ordained Baptist ministers, and so have been some 
 others of the Wightman family. 
 
 Their first minister assisted in forming a Baptist church 
 in Stonington, in 1743, and a second was formed there in 
 1765. But a number there and more in Groton were 
 then for continuing the communion of the two denomina- 
 tions together, and many churches were formed upon 
 that plan ; and they began a yearly meeting in 1785, 
 called, The Groton Conference. But they have given up 
 mixed communion in later years, and are come into con- 
 nexion with the rest of our associations. 
 
 Much declension and coldness about religion came on 
 in 1797, which was lamented by the faithful of different 
 denominations ; but a great work came on in the spring 
 of 1798, in many parts of America. It began at Mans- 
 field in Connecticut, in a remarkable mannerr A letter 
 from Windham in October mentions it, and says, " The 
 Spirit of the Lord seemed to sweep all before it, like an 
 overflowing flood, though with very little noise or crying, 
 
1798.] REVIVALS IN CONNECTICUT. 215 
 
 out. It was wonderful to see the surprising alteration in 
 that place in so short a time. I conclude there are not 
 less than an hundred souls converted in that town since 
 the work began. It soon after began in Hampton, but 
 did not spread with that degree of rapidity as it did in 
 Mansfield. The same happy work has lately taken place 
 in Ashford." Soon after this, Hartford, their capital 
 city, experienced the like work among the Congrega- 
 tional and Baptist societies. A Presbyterian minister, 
 who went from Massachusetts to a town above them, said 
 on February 6, 1799, " I stopped at Hartford, and 
 preached five sermons. The spirit of hearing at Hart- 
 ford is greater than any representations which have been 
 made. Young people of both sexes flock by hundreds, 
 and the prospect is flattering in the extreme. Conference 
 meetings are held every night in different private houses. 
 In Mr. Strong's society sixty are thought to be under con- 
 viction, and twenty have been hopefully brought into gos- 
 pel liberty. In* Mr. Nelson's thirty, and some in Mr. 
 Flint's. This sacred flame has spread into many neigh- 
 bouring towns, and the pious are flocking into Hartford 
 to be eye-witnesses of this glorious work. I have felt 
 myself so much engaged in preaching, visiting, and con- 
 versing with old and young, that my attention has been 
 literally taken off* from wife, children, flock, and bbdily 
 infirmities." It was said that this work spread, more or 
 less, into an hundred towns in Connecticut. 
 
 In April, 1798, Mr. Blood, pastor of a Baptist church 
 at Shaftsbury in Vermont, had his soul greatly aflfected 
 with the low state of religion among them, with earnest 
 cries that God would pour out his Spirit upon the souls 
 of men, and save them from sin and ruin. In July fol- 
 lowing, a person who had been converted before, came 
 forward in baptism ; and her declaration and example 
 awakened many others, and four were baptized in Au- 
 gust, and seventeen in September. And the work went 
 on in such a manner, that on February 21, 1799, he said, 
 ** The whole number added to this church, since last 
 
 • Nelson's church are Baptists. 
 
216 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XHI. 
 
 May, is one hundred and seventy-five ; twenty-five by 
 letter and other ways, and one hundred and fifty by bap- 
 tism. Our whole number is three hundred and forty-six. 
 Many of this number are removed into difll'erent parts of 
 the country ; there are, however, nearly three hundred 
 that live in the vicinity, the remotest of them not more 
 than six miles from our meeting-house. There are also 
 about seventy added to the west church in this town since 
 the work began ; and thirteen to the east church. In 
 years past there has not been the most cordial fellowship 
 between the three churches in this town ; but the Lord 
 has now effected a happy union between us. On the 
 last Lord's-day in January, we all met at one communion 
 table. That happy day my soul had desired for years. 
 Nothing but experience could have made me believe it 
 possible, that I could have felt so much solid delight, an- 
 ticipated so much trouble, and rejoiced with so much 
 trembling, at one and the same time. That day I trust 
 will never be forgotten by me. In about two months after 
 the work began, the whole town seemed to be aflfected. 
 Conference meetings were attended two or three times in 
 a week in almost every neighbourhood ; and it was sur- 
 prising to me, that scarcely a single instance appeared of 
 any overheated zeal, or flight of passion. Both sinners 
 under conviction, and those newly brought into the liberty 
 of the gospel, conversed in their meetings with the great- 
 est freedom ; they spake one at a time a few words, in 
 the most solemn manner I ever heard people in my life. 
 And in general they spake so low, that their assemblies 
 must be perfectly still, or they could not hear them ; yet 
 a remarkable power attended their conversation. Sinners 
 would tremble as though they felt themselves in the im- 
 mediate presence of the great Jehovah. Some of all 
 ranks and characters among us have been taken ; from 
 the most respectable members of society, to the vilest in 
 the place. Some of our most noted Deists have bowed 
 the knee to King Jesus; and a number of Universalists 
 have forsaken their delusions, and embraced the truth." 
 And when the Shaftsbury Association met in June, 1799; 
 they had accounts that two hundred and fifty-nine had 
 
1799.] REVIVALS DESCRIBED. 217 
 
 been added in the year, to the three churches in Shafts- 
 bury, and not one member had died in that time. Also 
 that the addition to their whole association that year was 
 seven hundred and thirty-two. 
 
 This work was also great on our eastern coasts. Mr. 
 Peter Powers, a Congregational minister on Deer Island 
 in Penobscot Bay, wrote from thence, March 20, 1799, 
 and said, ** In the beginning of June last, I was called to 
 Mount Desert to administer sacraments to a church who 
 have not a stated pastor, and tarried with them about nine 
 days ; when, in preaching my second sermon, the glory 
 of the Lord came down in a wonderful manner. One 
 convicted, and hopefully converted under the sermon, 
 was added to the church about two days after, and three 
 others who had before obtained a hope. Three months 
 after this I went again to administer the Lord's supper, 
 at which time I admitted twenty-eight who had hopefully 
 been brought home in the interval. The work of con- 
 viction was then going on powerfully in the town, and 
 spreading into those adjoining on the same island. Our 
 association had licensed dear Mr. Ebenezer Eaton to 
 preach, who improved his talent, labouring night and 
 day among them, whom the Lord remarkably owned. 
 How many have been brought out since I was there, 1 
 am not informed ; but according to the best accounts, 
 there are many. The Lord multiply the number, and add 
 to the church of such as shall be saved. 
 
 '* I now come a little nearer home. In the beginning 
 of winter, this glorious work began in Sedgwick, under 
 the pastoral care of the Rev. Daniel Merrill. Perhaps 
 there hath not been a work so powerful, and so much like 
 the work fifty-eight years ago. In a time of such extra- 
 ordinaries, it could not reasonably be expected but some 
 things would be a little wild and incoherent, considering 
 the various tempers, infirmities, and dispositions of man- 
 kind : but I believe my young dear brother Merrill, to- 
 gether with experienced Christians, were very careful to 
 distinguish the precious from the vile ; to correct errors, 
 to set them in the way of His steps, so that there appears 
 to be no prevalence of enthusiasm among them, accord- 
 19 
 
218 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XlH. 
 
 ing to the best information. How great the number is 
 of those who have been brought to hope, I am not able 
 to give any tolerable account. Some say there are about 
 an hundred, others about double that number; I believe 
 they are all very uncertain. Blessed be God, the work 
 is yet going on there, though not with equal rapidity. 
 
 '* And now, dear sir, let your imagination paint to 
 your view the striking scene of a hundred souls, men, 
 women, and children, at the same time under the work 
 of the law. The tears, sobs, groans, and cries issuing 
 from scores at a time ! All the terrors of the law crowd- 
 ing and pressing in upon them; their sins, in infinite 
 number and aggravations, staring them in the face ; all 
 their old vain hopes gone, and cut off, and every refuge 
 failing ! Hear them freely confessing their old abomina- 
 tions, their former enmity to the great doctrines of ori- 
 ginal sin, election, the sovereignty of divine free grace, the 
 power of God displayed in effectual vocation ; above all, 
 the justice of God in their damnation ! How often are 
 souls brought out into peace and comfort of the love of 
 God, and the sweet consolations of the Holy Spirit ! The 
 dead hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. Children 
 are brought to cry, * Hosanna to the Son of David.' In- 
 deed this glorious work has been wonderful among child- 
 ren ; and God has made instruments of them to perfect 
 praise in carrying on his work. 
 
 " This blessed work of God has begun in Blue Hill ; 
 but as yet has not gained the ascendency. I shall there- 
 fore come to my own dear people of Deer Isle. And 
 here, perhaps, the work is as remarkable as at Sedgwick, 
 but not so rapid. Not more than eight months ago it ap- 
 peared to me that religion was near expiring among us, 
 except in a very handful of professors. Deism had taken 
 an unaccountable stride, and spread itself over a grej^t 
 number of the inhabitants. And now, no Bible, no Christ; 
 but the Christian religion, and Christians, were the song 
 of the drunkard ; and every drunkard, and every vice, was 
 deemed harmless, and inoffensive to God. I had no 
 reason to think but by the next annual meeting of the 
 town, they would vote the gospel out from them. When 
 
1799.] REVIVALS DESCRIBED. 219 
 
 the afore-mentioned work at Penobscot and Mount Desert 
 was going on, it seemed to have no influence on our 
 people. This, you may be sure, was very grievous to 
 me. However, I think I was enabled to bear witness to 
 the truth with great freedom. In October, I perceived a 
 more close attention to the word, but nothing special as 
 yet. After I was confined to my house, the work began 
 to appear ; and though I could not go abroad to preach at 
 the meeting-house, there was seldom a day but more or 
 less visited me under their trouble, and I preached in my 
 own house when I was not able to stand on my feet. At 
 length we had the assistance of Mr. E. Eaton, whom God 
 remarkably owns. I believe there are about forty men, 
 women, and children, who have obtained a hope ; and 
 great numbers are under pressing conviction. The work 
 is now on the increase. May the Lord continue and still 
 increase it, till they are all brought in. The mouth of 
 deism is at present stopped, and against the children of 
 Israel not so much as a dog is suffered to move his 
 tongue." 
 
 A Brptist minister of Lyme in Connecticut, on June 
 30, 1799, wrote to Boston, and said, "Though the 
 sever 'y of last winter was tedious, yet I have not heard 
 any one complain, or shrink at the cross, on account of 
 the coldness of the weather. This work has been glo- 
 riously carried on in the spirit of love. In the first part 
 of it, there was great crying out, but it gradually subsided 
 into free deliberate conversation on the dreadful situation 
 they were in by nature, and their full determination to 
 continue seeking till they should find him of whom 
 Moses and the prophets did write. I never saw less op- 
 position to any work of God I ever was acquainted with. 
 More than a hundred we hope have received the grace of 
 God, and more than eighty have joined with our church. 
 The present number of members is three hundred and 
 thirty-six." 
 
 Extracts from these and other letters were printed in a 
 pamphlet at Boston, and afterwards at Philadelphia. At 
 the same time they had a great work among the Baptists 
 near Kennebec river. Elder James Potter, the instru- 
 
220 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIII. 
 
 inent of beginning the revival there, had ninety-seven 
 members added to his church in Bowdoin, in 1798 and 
 1799 ; and live hundred and seventy-five were then added 
 to the whole of their association. And Boston, Bridg- 
 water, Middleborough, and many other places had a share 
 of these blessings ; and so had some places to the south- 
 ward. 1 
 
 I received a letter from Elder Benjamin Watkins of / 
 Virginia, dated June 30, 1801, in which he says, *'I have 
 lived to see several revivals in our parts, but the last has 
 been the greatest, which originated about two years ago, 
 in several churches belonging to the middle district asso- 
 ciation. Before the revival began, wickedness had gotten 
 to a great height. Deism and irreligion abounded on 
 every hand. Professors had become very carnal, many 
 had apostatized, so that there were but a few names in 
 Sardis who had not defiled their garments ; so that I had 
 some awful fears about our condition, and was dreading 
 that some great judgment would befall our wretched land. 
 But, contrary to my fears, the Lord visited us in a way of 
 mercy, by stirring up his church often to ^semble to- 
 gether, and to carry on worship by prayer and fasting, 
 called prayer meetings. And he came amongst us, and 
 the sacred flame has spread in various parts of Virginia ; 
 so that we may truly say. The lines are fallen unto us in 
 pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage. 
 
 ''Our church, called Spring Creek, has an addition by 
 baptism, since the revival began, of upwards of two hun- 
 dred members ; brother Clay's about the same number, or 
 more ; brother Smith's about an hundred ; Tomahawk 
 Church about fifty ; Skinquarter near an hundred ; Elder 
 Webber's church two hundred or more ; and several other 
 churches have had some smart additions. The work has ; 
 chiefly been among the young people ; there has not been 
 nigh so much noise amongst us, as there was in 1785 
 and 1786. Many would come and give a declaration of -^ 
 the work of God upon their souls, that made no noise at \ 
 all ; and, what was remarkable, a number of children, \ 
 from ten to fifteen years of age, would come and tell of j 
 the goodness of God, while the old people, who had lived J 
 
1800.] REVIVALS IN VIRGINIA. 221 
 
 n 
 
 to see several revivals, are still left out, exposed to the > 
 wrath and displeasure of God." 
 
 All the churches mentioned above, are in the three 
 counties of Powhatan, Chesterfield, and Goochland, in 
 the middle part of Virginia, a little above the city of 
 Richmond, their capital. I had much delight in preach- 
 ing in all of them, when I was there in the spring of 
 1789, when they had about two hundred Baptist churches 
 in the whole of Virginia. And the work has been great 
 since in many places farther southward. A minister in 
 the upper part of Georgia wrote to his friend in Savan- 
 nah, November 17, 1801, and said, ** several churches 
 here, within three or four months past, have received and 
 baptized from twenty to fifty persons ; and one in Elbert 
 county has had an addition by baptism of about an hun- 
 dred and forty. And according to the best accounts from 
 Kentucky, there have been added to the Baptist churches, 
 since last March, near six thousand, while multitudes 
 were joining to the Methodists and Presbyterians." 
 
 This was put into our public papers, and sent into all 
 the country. Those who held to infant baptism were 
 very uneasy under such things, which they discovered in 
 a remarkable manner; for early in 1802, a book from 
 England was reprinted at Exeter, in New Hampshire, 
 written by a minister who had been a Baptist, who held 
 up to the world, that the greatest writers in England 
 against infant baptism were guilty of sophistry and deceit 
 in their arguments, as he had clearly found by experience. 
 And it was said that this testimony had been published 
 seven years in England, and no answer had been made to 
 it. This was so wonderful, that it passed four or five 
 editions in about a year, in the different States of New 
 .England. But when this glorying was at the highest, an 
 answer came out of the press at Boston, in December, 
 1802, which was first published in London the same year 
 that the first book came out there. The facts here 
 follow. 
 
 Mr. Peter Edwards was first a zealous advocate for in- 
 fant baptism in London, and then turned suddenly fronii 
 it ; became a Baptist preacher, and was ordained in a 
 19* 
 
222 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIII 
 
 Baptist church near Portsmouth in England ; but in about 
 ten years he changed again, and published this book, to 
 give the reasons for his renouncing the principles of the 
 Baptists, in the beginning of 1795 ; and Dr. Joseph Jen- 
 kins of London answered him the same year. Edwards 
 holds up, with much confidence, that faith and repentance 
 were required of all adult persons, in order for circumci- 
 sion as well as baptism ; and therefore that all which is 
 said in the gospel about the baptizing of believers, is no 
 argument against believers having their infants baptized. 
 He accuseth the Baptists in general of denying the use 
 of inferences and consequences, in arguments for infant 
 baptism, but of using them against that practice, which 
 he calls sophistry and deceit. Having disarmed the Bap- 
 tists, as he imagined, he lays down his foundation in 
 these words: '* 1. God has instituted in his church the 
 membership of infants, and admitted them to it by a reli- 
 gious rite. 2. The church membership of infants was 
 never set aside by God or man ; but continues in force, 
 under the sanction of God, to the present day." p. 90. 
 
 But as the Baptists never denied the true use of infer- 
 ences and consequences in any argument, the charge of 
 deceit and sophistry must be turned back upon him who 
 advanced it ; and whether his foundation can stand, may 
 be judged of by the following things. 
 
 1. Circumcision was not known in the world, for above 
 two thousand years after it was created ; and who will 
 say that God had no church in the world for all that 
 time ? Yea, when circumcision was instituted, Lot and 
 other righteous men had no concern in it ; neither had 
 any females among the posterity of Abraham, though wo- 
 men are baptized under the gospel as well as men. 2. 
 God said to Israel, '* The life of the flesh is in the bloody 
 and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an 
 atonement for your souls." Lev. xvii. 11. And no 
 worship was ever accepted of God from the beginning 
 without blood in sacrifices. Abraham shed his own blood 
 in circumcision, as the father of all believers in all na- 
 tions. Rom. iv. 18. And thus he was a type of Christ, 
 who shed his blood to atone for the sins of all true be 
 
1802.] REMARKS ON INFANT BAPTISM. 223 
 
 lievers, even to the end of the world. 3. Abraham had 
 no right to circumcise any male but such as were born in 
 his house, or bought with his money ; and he circum- 
 cised all the men of his house, the same day that he cir- 
 cumcised himself, of whom he had before three hundred 
 and eighteen soldiers. Gen. xiv. 14; xvii. 33, 27. And 
 how far is this from a warrant for infant baptism. 4. 
 No females were to be circumcised, to show that it was a 
 man and not a woman who was to die for us. 5. The 
 bloody sign of circumcision weakened men so much, that 
 two men destroyed a whole city, three days after the men 
 in it were circumcised. Gen. xxxiv. 25. But no infant 
 that ever was sprinkled could know that it was done, if. 
 they were not told of it by others. So far are they frow 
 answering a good conscience in baptism. 1 Pet. iii. 21. 
 None but believers can do it. 6. Abraham was not to 
 circumcise any stranger, until he had bought him as a 
 servant with his money, which was a type of our being 
 bought with the blood of Christ ; and after he had done 
 it, he said, ** Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision 
 is nothing, but the keeping the commandments of God. 
 Ye are bought with a price ; be not ye the servants of 
 men." 1 Cor. vii. 19. 23. Which is a plain repeal of 
 the covenant of circumcision. It was a type of the death 
 of Christ to come, and baptism is to be done by faith in 
 him who is already come. This is a reason why men 
 might be circumcised before they believed, and why bap- 
 tism is only for professing believers. 7. Since he is 
 come, he says, " Ye are all the children of God by faith 
 in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been bap- 
 tized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither 
 Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is 
 neither male nor female ; for ye are all one in Christ Je- 
 sus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, 
 and heirs according to the promise. Gal. iii. 26 — 29. 
 Three things are here excluded from baptism, which 
 were essential in circumcision. 8. The children of Is- 
 rael had no right to admit strangers by households to 
 circtimcision and the passover, until the day in which 
 they came out of Egypt. Ex. xii. 43 — 51. But when 
 
224 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. LcH. XHI. 
 
 they were going into Babylon, it was said, " Behold the 
 days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new cove- 
 nant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Ju- 
 dah, not according to the covenant that I made with their 
 fathers in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring 
 them out of the land of Egypt (which my covenant they 
 brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the 
 Lord ;) but this shall be the covenant that I will make 
 with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the 
 Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write 
 it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall 
 be my people. And they shall teach no more every man 
 
 «s neighbour, and every man his brother, saying. Know 
 e Lord ; for they shall all know me, from the least of 
 them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord ; for I will 
 forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no 
 more." Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34. This is the pure covenant 
 of grace, since the death of Christ hath taken away the 
 old covenant. Heb. viii. 7 — 13. Language cannot dis- 
 tinguish two covenants more clearly than God hath here 
 done it. And until old and new, first and second, can be 
 made to mean but one covenant, men can never prove in- 
 fant baptism by said covenant. 9. God promised that 
 kings should come out of Abraham. Gen. xvii. 6. And 
 this was fulfilled in David and his race, and in the King 
 Messiah ; and this shows that no man now can stand in 
 such a relation to his children as Abraham did to his. 
 Aaron was also a type of Christ, and his lawful posterity 
 were the only priests in Israel until Christ came, when 
 the priesthood was changed ^ and Christ is both our king 
 and priest. Heb. vii. 12. And God says to those who 
 are born again, among all nations, " Ye are a chosen 
 generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
 people ; that ye should show forth the praises of him 
 who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous 
 light." 1 Pet. i. 23. ii. 9. And such are the only priests 
 and holy nation that are ever named in the church of 
 Christ. By his death he abolished all those ancient 
 types, and formed his church of all souls who are boTn 
 again among all nations ; and oflScers in his church are 
 
1802,] BAPTISTS IN SOUTHERN STATES. 226 
 
 never called priests therein, in distinction from other 
 children of God. Worldly churches have been built 
 upon infant baptism, which is not named in the Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A view of the Baptist churches in South Carolina — In Pennsylvania 
 and New Jersey — In Virginia — Presbyterians there — A difference 
 among the Baptists healed — The cause of equal liberty among 
 them — A view of them in North Carolina — In Georgia — Of negro 
 Baptists— Of the Baptists in the State of New York — In Kentucky 
 — Of associations — Of the number of Baptists in all America — Of 
 late revivals — Of their likeness to the first fathers of our country — 
 How infant baptism originated — A happy change in our govern- 
 ment — Light from the case of Israel — Of the latter-day glory. 
 
 Truth, and love, and persecution for the same, caused 
 the first planting of New England ; and it also caused the 
 planting of Baptist churches in the southern parts of 
 America. Some men from here, and some from Eng- 
 land, Wales, and Ireland, all had a hand in it. When 
 Elder William Scraven was cruelly persecuted in the pro- 
 vince of Maine, in 1682, he went to Charleston in South 
 Carolina, and became pastor of a Baptist church there. 
 How long it had been formed I know not. But when the 
 Baptist church in Boston wanted a pastor, and sent for 
 him, who had been one of them, he wrote to them, June 
 2, 1707, and said, " Our minister who came from Eng- 
 land is dead, and I can by no means be spared. I must 
 say it is a great loss, and to me a great disappointment ; 
 but the will of the Lord is done." And he wrote again, 
 August 6, 1708, and said, ** I have been brought very low 
 by sickness, but I bless God, I was helped to preach, and 
 administer the communion last Lord's-day ; but am still 
 weak. Our society are for the most part in health, and 
 I hope thriving in grace. We are about ninety in all." 
 
226 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIV. 
 
 And his posterity have been honourable and useful in 
 those parts ever since. Mr. Isaac Chanler was a Baptist 
 minister among them for many years, and a book of his 
 upon the doctrines of the gospel was printed at Boston in 
 1744. Mr. Oliver Hart, from Pennsylvania, got to 
 Charleston in 1749, just after Mr. Chanler died, and was 
 pastor of that church thirty years. But as he was heartily 
 engaged for liberty in America, he left Charleston, before 
 the British forces took it, in 1780, and settled as pastor 
 of the Baptist church at Hopewell, in New Jersey, the 
 same year, where he was very useful, till he died in 1795. 
 But the Baptist cause has prevailed much in that state to 
 this day. 
 
 Thomas Dungen of Newport was one of the signers of 
 the request to Mr. Clarke, to go as their agent to England 
 in 1651, the original of which I now have. And about 
 1684, two years after Pennsylvania began, Dungen went 
 there; and preached the Baptist principles among the 
 people, with considerable success ; and his posterity are 
 numerous among them ever since. And about 168(i, 
 Elias Keach, son to Elder Benjamin Keach of London, 
 came over to Philadelphia, a wild young man, but was 
 soon after converted, and laboured earnestly to collect the 
 Baptists together ; and they formed a church at Penne- 
 peck, eleven miles from Philadelphia, in 1688. Mr. 
 Keach also was helpful in forming a Baptist church at 
 Middletown, and another at Piscataway in 1689 ; and one 
 at Cohansey in 1690, all three in New Jersey. And these 
 four, with that at Charleston, were all the Baptist churches 
 that were formed south of New England, before the year 
 1700. Many of those who constituted the church at Co- 
 hansey, came from Ireland; though one of them was 
 Obadiah Holmes, Esq. a son of the sufferer at Boston in 
 1651 ; and others of his posterity have since been mem- 
 bers of the church in Middletown. Piscataway, on Ra- 
 ritan river in Jersey, sprang partly from people who came 
 from Piscataqua river, which has Kittery upon the north 
 side of it, where the Baptist church was formed in 1682, 
 who were scattered by persecution. Other members of 
 those churches went from Rhode Island colony, as ap- 
 
1802.] VARIOUS SECTS. 227 
 
 pears by the publications of Mr. Morgan Edwards, in 
 1770, and 1792. He was born in Wales, from whence 
 also came many ministers and members of those churches ; 
 and I took many of the above things from him. 
 
 And he informs us of many people who came over 
 from Wales in 1701, and resided near their brethren at 
 Pennepeck, until they removed in 1703, and planted a 
 church in a place they called Welshtract, then under the 
 government of Pennsylvania, but now under Delaware 
 State. In 1770, they had increased to ten churches in 
 Pennsylvania, and six hundred and sixty-eight members, 
 besides a few who kept the seventh-day Sabbath. He 
 gives an account also of the Tunkers, the first of whom 
 came from Germany in 1719, and had increased to fifteen 
 societies, and a large number of communicants, who were 
 not in fellowship with the English churches. They dip 
 persons with their faces forward, three times over. They 
 hold to general redemption, and are much like the old 
 Quakers in their general conduct, though more strict than 
 they are now. The Mennonists also came from Germany, 
 and are of like behaviour, but they are not truly Baptists 
 now. Their jathers were so in Luther's day, until con- 
 finement in prison brought them to pour water on the head 
 of the subjects, instead of immersion ; and what was then 
 done out of necessity is now done out of choice, as other 
 corruptions are. When Edwards published his book ift.-; 
 1792, the first-day Baptists in Jersey had twenty-four 
 churches, and two thousand nine hundred and ninety-four 
 members ; and those who kept the seventh-day three 
 churches and two hundred and forty-nine members. And 
 in 1802, the Philadelphia Association had two thousand 
 six hundred and ninety-five members. 
 
 North Carolina had but litde appearance of religion in 
 any part of it, until late years. Some Baptist ministers 
 from New Jersey and Pennsylvania travelled and laboured 
 there with some success, and some who went from New 
 England settled there. Shubael Stearns was born in Bos- 
 ton, January 28, 1706 ; but he went to Connecticut, 
 where he was baptized, arid was ordained at Tolland, 
 March 20, 1751, and continued there three years. But 
 
228 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XIV. 
 
 then his soul was fired with zeal to carry light into those 
 dark parts ; and in August, 1754, he and others set off for 
 that purpose, and some of them got into North Carolina 
 before him ; and he wrote to Connecticut from the south 
 part of Virginia, that they informed him from Carolina, 
 ** That the work of God was great, in preaching to an ig- 
 norant people, who had little or no preaching for a hun- 
 dred miles, and no established meeting. But now the 
 people were so eager to hear, that they would come forty 
 miles each way, when they could have opportunity to 
 hear a sermon." This was dated June 13, 1755; and 
 Stearns went and settled upon Sandy Creek, which runs 
 into Cape Fear river, where he formed a church, Novem- 
 ber 22, 1755, which increased to six hundred and six 
 members in a few years, and several other churches were 
 soon formed round him. 
 
 Daniel Marshall was born at Windsor in Connecticut, 
 and after he was called to preach, he went and laboured 
 some time among the Indians, in the upper part of New 
 Jersey, and then followed Stearns into North Carolina 
 where he was very successful. And in and after 1758, 
 many were converted and baptized near the south borders 
 of Virginia, and they began an association in 1760, of 
 five churches in Carolina, and one in Virginia, and they 
 increased fast. On October 16, 1765, Stearns wrote to 
 Connecticut, and said, " The Lord carries on his work 
 gloriously in sundry places in this province, and in Vir- 
 ginia, and in South Carolina. There has been no addi- 
 tion of churches, since I wrote last year, but many mem- 
 bers have been added in many places. Not long since, 1 
 attended a meeting on Hoy river, about thirty miles from 
 hence. About seven hundred souls attended the meeting, 
 which held six days. We received twenty-four persons 
 by a satisfactory declaration of grace, and eighteen of 
 them were baptized. The power of God was wonderful." 
 
 But we must now come to Virginia, of which it may 
 be said. The first is last, and the last first. It was planted 
 in 1607, the first of all our English colonies ; and though 
 it was done entirely from worldly motives, yet the wor- 
 ship of the church of England was established by law, 
 
1802.J BAPTISTS IN VIRGINIA. 229 
 
 and no other worship was allowed of there for an hun- 
 dred years. In 1643, three Congregational ministers 
 went there, at the request of a number of the inhabitants, 
 but they were forced to depart the colony, after preaching 
 a few sermons. And direcdy upon it, the savages were 
 let loose upon the English, and destroyed about five hun- 
 dred of them. This one of them declared in England 
 afterwards, where he again suffered from Episcopalians.* 
 In 1644, Daniel Gookin left Virginia, and became a very 
 useful man in Massachusetts for many years.t 
 
 The first Baptist church in Virginia was formed in 
 Prince George county, in 1714, by Robert Norden, who 
 then came from England, and was their pastor till he 
 died, in 1725. In 1727, Mr. Richard Jones was or- 
 dained their pastor ; and in 1742 they had about forty 
 members, as one of them then wrote to Newport, which 
 letter I have. About the same time, a man went from 
 thence and formed a church on the sea-coasts of North 
 Carolina. But these all held to general redemption, and 
 their churches are since dissolved. 
 
 In the mean time, religion was revived in Virginia by 
 other means ; for Samuel Morris, of Hanover county, was 
 converted in 1740, by reading some old books; and upon 
 his reading them to his neighbours, they set up a meeting 
 at his house, instead of going to church. And in 1743, 
 he obtained a book of sermons, taken down in short 
 hand, as Mr. Whitefield delivered them in Glasgow, and 
 printed there. The reading of these had such an eflect 
 upon the people, that more came to hear them than his 
 house could hold, and they built a meeting-house for the 
 purpose. He was also called to read them in several 
 other places, and many were affected thereby. But they 
 were called to account for not going to church, and they 
 pleaded the act of toleration for dissenters, though they 
 knew not what to call themselves. At length they called 
 themselves Lutherans, because they had received much 
 benefit from the writings of that reformer. And hearing 
 
 • Calamy*s Account, vol. ii. p. 607. 
 •j- Historical Society, vol i. p. 228. 
 20 
 
230 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. MV. 
 
 of a wonderful preacher, near an hundred miles off, they 
 sent for him, in July, 1743, and he preached to them four 
 days, with exceeding great effect; and he advised them 
 to pray and sing in their meetings, which they had not 
 done before ; so great is the mfluence of tradition. Mr. 
 William Robinson was the man whose labours had then 
 been so much blessed among them ; and when he was 
 going away, they asked him what he called himself ; he 
 said, ** A Presbyterian." " Then we are Presbyterians 
 too," said they, for your religion is just like ours." 
 
 They then sent for other ministers of that denomina- 
 tion, from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and obtained 
 help from them, from time to time, until Mr. Samuel 
 Davies settled there in 1748. And in 1751, he published 
 an account of this work, and of other Presbyterians in 
 those parts. Mr. Davies became the president of New 
 Jersey college afterwards, and died there ; and his ser- 
 mons are now much esteemed in Europe, as well as 
 America. Those ministers met at Philadelphia in 1789, 
 and formed a society which they called *' The General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in the United 
 States of America." In 1793, it was said that they had 
 about two hundred churches in all the states south of New 
 England.* But they have very few of them in the old 
 part of Virginia, where the Baptists have increased greatly. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Harris was born in Hanover county, Ja- 
 nuary 12, 1724, and he was so much esteemed, that he 
 became a colonel of their militia, a member of their le- 
 gislature, and a judge of their courts, before he was con- 
 verted in 1758 ; when he not only became a Baptist 
 preacher, but also much of a father among their churches 
 for above thirty years. And some ministers from Penn- 
 sylvania went and formed some Baptist churches in the 
 north part of Virginia, about 1760, who were not fully 
 agreed with those southern Baptists, for the following 
 reasons : The Philadelphia association had adopted the 
 confession of faith which was composed by the Baptists 
 in London in 1689, with the addition of an article which 
 
 ♦ Rippon'g Register, vol. li. p. 131. 
 
180lj.] OPINIONS or THE BAPTISTS. 231 
 
 required the laying on of hands upon every member of 
 the church, which the others did not hold. Some emi- 
 nent ministers in England had also carried the doctrine 
 of particular election so far, as to deny that any minister 
 had a right to address the calls of the gospel to all sinners 
 without distinction, and the Philadelphians had adopted 
 this opinion ; and they called themselves Regular Bap- 
 tists, while those who went from Connecticut were called 
 Separates. And there were many unhappy contentions 
 between them for many years ; for the New England 
 Baptists in general do not hold to the laying on of hands 
 upon every member, nor to the above restriction of the 
 calls of the gospel. 
 
 We generally believe the doctrine of particular elec- 
 tion, and the final perseverance of every true believer, 
 while we proclaim a free salvation to all the children of 
 men, and even to the chief of sinners ; and we hold 
 that God has appointed the means as well as the end, 
 and the means in order to the end of every event. 
 When the Jews were obstinate against receiving Jesus 
 as the true Messiah, he said, ** I thank thee, O Father, 
 Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these 
 things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
 unto l:>hr'p. Even so. Father, for so it seemed good 
 in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my 
 Father ; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father ; 
 neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and 
 he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto 
 me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 
 me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find 
 rest unto your souls ; for my yoke is easy, and my bur- 
 den is light." Matt. xi. 25 — 30. The only reason w^hy 
 any one is chosen, called, and saved, rather than another, 
 is because so it seemed good in the sight of God. But 
 many men imagine that the choice and doings of men are 
 the cause of it, and so would take the glory of it to them- 
 selves, instead of giving it to God alone. God never fails 
 of doing justice to all, while he says, *' I will be gracious 
 to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on 
 
232 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIV. 
 
 whom I will show mercy." And his glory essentially 
 requires this. Ex. xxxiii. 18, 19. Therefore he says, 
 " Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine 
 own ?" Matt. xx. 15. The meanest person upon earth 
 has a right to give his own property to whom he will ; 
 and how mad are those who deny this right to the eternal 
 God ! Many ruin their souls by fighting against God, 
 but it is impossible for him to be deceived or disappointed 
 in any of his designs of mercy, as well as of justice. 
 And free salvation by the Son of God is held forth to all 
 men in the gospel, as openly as the brazen serpent was 
 to the camp of Israel ; and the condemnation of all who 
 do not receive him, is because they hate the light, John 
 iii. 14 — 20. Therefore the most moving methods ought 
 to be taken with sinners in general, to enlighten and turn 
 them from sin to God. Light concerning these things 
 gained gradually among the Baptists in Virginia, so as to 
 unite them as one people in 1787, and they have in- 
 creased much since. 
 
 Mr. John Leland, from whom I had many of these 
 things, was born at Grafton in Massachusetts, May 14, 
 1754 ; and after he was baptized and called to preach, he 
 set off with his young wife, in the fall of 1776, and went 
 into Virginia, and settled in the county of Orange. He 
 travelled and laboured much in those parts, and had a 
 considerable hand in procuring the law for equal liberty, 
 before inserted. Though the behaviour of Episcopal mi- 
 nisters themselves did more towards it ; for many of them 
 would play cards, swear profanely, and get drunk, while 
 they imprisoned about thirty Baptist ministers for preach- 
 ing the gospel to precious souls, without license from 
 them. This moved their rulers to abolish such tyranny. 
 Mr. Leland baptized about a hundred persons in and near 
 Yorktown, the year before the British army was capti- 
 vated there ; and in the whole he baptized above six hun- 
 dred in those parts. He published a Virginia Chronicle, 
 before referred to, and some other things ; and in if 91, 
 he returned to New England, and settled in Cheshire in 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 But Mr. Stearns spent his life in those parts, and died 
 
1804.] BAPTISTS IN GEORGIA, ETC. 233 
 
 in peace, November 20, 1771. And the Baptists have 
 been increasing in North Carolina ever since, and have 
 been so highly esteemed by their fellow-citizens, that 
 many members of their churches have been representa- 
 tives and senators in their legislature, judges in their 
 courts, and in other offices of their government. 
 
 Mr. Daniel Marshall, after much service there, went on 
 to Georgia, where he formed a church in 1772, and was 
 the pastor of it until he died, it being the first Baptist 
 church in that state ; and his son Abraham Marshall has 
 been pastor of it ever since. The Baptists have been the 
 most numerous of any religious denomination in Georgia, 
 for many years past. They have lately increased much 
 in Savannah, their capital. The late Honourable Joseph 
 Clay, who had been one of the federal judges of the 
 district court, was ordained a Baptist minister there, in 
 January, 1804. There are many associations in those 
 parts, in one of which were fifty-six churches, and three 
 thousand seven hundred and ninety-six members, in 
 1792; and they have greatly increased since. One mi- 
 nister baptized about an hundred persons there, in the 
 year 1803; and when the first association of South Caro- 
 lina met that fall, they received the report of Mr. John 
 Rooker, one of their ministers, who had been sent to 
 preach among the Catawba Indians, that his preaching 
 among them was received with much attention, and they 
 were very thankful for his being sent among them ; and 
 they not only desired him to come again, but also that a 
 schoolmaster might be sent to teach the Indian youth in 
 human learning, and also in Christian principles. The 
 association agreed to send him among them again, and 
 also a schoolmaster, according to their request, and to 
 bear their expenses. Some of the English near them ap- 
 peared to have a gracious work begun among them, and 
 it was hoped that the Indians would share in the same 
 blessing. 
 
 A great many negroes in those parts have been con- 
 verted and baptized, and some of them have been called 
 to preach the gospel. George Liele was so a little before 
 our American war ; and in the time of it he fell into British 
 20* 
 
234 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XIV. 
 
 hands, and went down and baptized a number in Savan- 
 nah, and then was carried to Jamaica, where he began to 
 preach to the blacks in 1784 ; and he behaved so well as 
 to be favoured by the government there, and his success 
 was so great that he had three hundred and fifty members 
 in his church in 1791.* And we have heard of much in- 
 crease among them since. There is one such minister 
 and church in Virginia, besides a great number of blacks 
 who have joined to the English churches there. And 
 Andrew Bryan has a large negro church in Savannah in 
 Georgia ; and Mr. Abraham Marshall assisted in his ordi- 
 nation. The Charleston Association, in 1803, received 
 an account from the Bethel Association, that more than 
 fourteen hundred persons had joined to all their churches 
 in a year. Such has been the work in those parts. 
 
 The first Baptist church in the State of New York was 
 formed at Oyster Bay on Long Island. Elder Robert 
 (ufeuA^^Keke wrote from thence to Newport, November 29, 
 ' 1741, and said, " God has begun a glorious work among 
 us, and I hope he will carry it on to his own glory, and 
 the salvation of many souls. There have been seventeen 
 added to our little band in about three months.'' I sup- 
 pose their church had not been formed long. 
 
 The fijjg^t Baptist church in the city of New York was 
 formed in 1762, under the ministry of Mr. John Gano, 
 who is since in Kentucky. There were a few Baptist 
 churches before, northward of the city, near Connecticut 
 line. And soon after the British army was captivated at 
 Saratoga, in 1777, many such churches were formed in 
 those parts, and they have been increasing ever since. 
 And a large number of people have removed from New 
 England, and planted the lands near the heads of the Mo- 
 hawk, Susquehanna, and Genesee rivers ; and a Baptist 
 church was formed in 1789 near the Otsego lake, which 
 is the first church in the Otsego Association, which was 
 formed in 1795, and it increased in three years to twenty* 
 eight churches, and one thousand two hundred and 
 ninety-two members. They have been increasing to this 
 
 • Rippon's Register, vol. i. p. 334. 
 
1804.] BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS FORMED. 235 
 
 day, and have formed another association further west- 
 ward. These associations have sent ministers to preach 
 to the Six Nations of Indians, and also among the English 
 in Upper Canada, where they have been well received, 
 and an association is formed there. Several Baptists mi- 
 nisters in those parts were preachers before in Congrega- 
 tional churches. If we look again to the southward, we 
 may still see greater wonders of grace, as well as of Divine 
 Providence. 
 
 The lands upon the river Ohio were so much esteemed, 
 both by the French and English nations, that they com- 
 menced a war about them in 1755, which ended in yield- 
 ing those lands, as well as all Canada, to Great Britain. 
 Our people began to plant Kentucky about 1777, and in- 
 habitants have increased so much in that State, as now to 
 have six representatives in Congress, which is one more 
 than New Hampshire has. Many of the inhabitants went 
 from Virginia, and the Baptists have increased to six as- 
 sociations, and to fourteen thousand and seventy-six com- 
 municants in their churches, as we had a printed account 
 in 1802. And there are a large number of such churches 
 on both sides- of the Ohio, besides those in Kentucky ; 
 and they are scattered into each of these United States. 
 
 .4s associations have been often mentioned, I will now 
 describe the nature of them. Associations had been very 
 cruel and oppressive in Connecticut, as they were there 
 established by law ; and many Baptists could not believe, 
 for a long time, that they could be so conducted as to be 
 serviceable any way ; and it has ever been difficult to 
 keep a clear distinction in our minds, between the real 
 nature of things, and the abuse of them which is very 
 common. When difficulties arise in churches, few have 
 the patience and wisdom which is necessary for the car- 
 rying the laws of Christ into effect against offenders, 
 without looking to any earthly power for help in such 
 cases. 
 
 The Warren Association was formed, September 8, 
 1767, upon the following principles. They refuse to 
 hear and judge of any personal controversy in any of 
 their churches, or to intermeddle with the affairs of any 
 
23d CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIV. 
 
 church wliich hath not freely joined with them. When 
 any church desires to join with them, they send messen- 
 gers and a letter to the association, showing when their 
 church was formed, the faith and order of it, and their 
 number of members. If satisfaction is gained, they are 
 received by a vote of the association, and the moderator 
 gives the messengers the right hand of fellowship. Each 
 church is to send messengers and a letter, or a letter at 
 least to the annual meeting of the association, to give an 
 account of the state of their church, and how many have 
 been added, dismissed, excluded, or that have died in the 
 year. If this is neglected for a number of years, or if 
 the church departs from her former faith and order, she is 
 left out of the association. In 1771, they began to print 
 the minutes of their annual proceedings, which any may 
 have if they will. By these means, mutual acquaintance 
 and communion hath been begotten and promoted ; errors 
 in doctrine or conduct have been exposed and guarded 
 against; false teachers have been detected, and warnings 
 published against them ; destitute flocks have been occa- 
 sionally supplied ; the weak and oppressed have been 
 relieved, and many have been animated and encouraged 
 in preaching the gospel through the land, and in new 
 plantations in the wilderness. 
 
 A collection is made at our annual meetings for the 
 widows and children of poor ministers. A society has 
 also been incorporated, to collect money to assist pious 
 youths in obtaining learning, with a view to the ministry. 
 And a Missionary Society is formed to collect money for 
 the support of travelling ministers, and to instruct and 
 direct them therein, according to their best discretion. 
 And several of them have visited many destitute flocks, 
 and some have gone into Upper Canada, with great ac- 
 ceptance. 
 
 The Warren Association has extended over all the old 
 colony of Plymouth, and over Massachusetts as high as 
 Connecticut river, and into the borders of three other 
 States ; and its benefits soon became visible to others. 
 The Stonington Association began in 1772, and it extends 
 over the east part of Connecticut, and the west of Rhode 
 
1804.] HISTORY OF ASSOCIATIONS. 237 
 
 Island state. The New Hampshire Association began in 
 1776, and it extends over the east part of that state, and over 
 the county of York in the District of Maine. The Shafts- 
 bury Association began in 1781, and it is in the south-west 
 part of Vermont, the west of Massachusetts, and east of 
 New York state. The Woodstock Association began in 
 1783, and is in the easterly part of Vermont, and westerly 
 of New Hampshire. The Groton Conference began in 
 1785, and it extends from Connecticut river near the sea, 
 across the state of Rhode Island, into the county of Bris- 
 tol in Massachusetts. The Bowdoinham Association be- 
 gan in 1787, and it extends over three counties in the 
 District of Maine. The Vermont Association began the 
 same year, and it is in the north-west part of that state. 
 The Meredith Association began in 1789, and is in the 
 northerly part of New Hampshire, and the adjoining part 
 of Vermont. The Danbury Association began in 1790, 
 and it extends from the south borders of Massachusetts, 
 across Connecticut to the sea, west of their great river. 
 The Ley den Association began in 1793, on the north 
 borders of Massachusetts, and it extends into the corners 
 of New Hampshire and Vermont, on both sides of Con- 
 necticut river. The Richmond Conference began in 
 1795, and is in the north-east part of Vermont. The 
 Sturbridge Association began in 1801, and it is in the 
 southerly part of the middle of Massachusetts, and north- 
 erly of Connecticut. 
 
 Thus we have thirteen associations in New England, 
 in which are three hundred and twelve churches, and 
 twenty-three thousand six hundred and thirty-eight mem- 
 bers, where there were but nine Baptist churches in 1700, 
 and but five more in all America. We have also many 
 other churches in New England besides what are in these 
 associations ; and I conclude that in the whole of these 
 United States, there are now about twelve hundred Bap- 
 tist churches, and an hundred thousand members. And 
 the main of them have been formed within forty years 
 past. The work of God in late years has given much 
 liffht to our old Baptist churches. The darkness that was 
 in the first Baptist church in Boston, caused the forming 
 
CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIV. 
 
 of the second in 1742 ; but light gradually gained among 
 them, until they settled a pastor there in 1765, who was 
 clear in gospel doctrines ; and religion was soon after re- 
 vived there, and the two churches were united, and they 
 have been increasing to this day. They have gained 
 such credit in our government, that Dr. Stillman, pastor 
 of their first church, was called to preach the election 
 sermon at Boston in 1779, and Dr. Baldwin, pastor of the 
 second, in 1802. In the spring of 1803, religion was 
 again revived in Boston, which still continues, and their 
 two churches have increased to six hundred and forty 
 members. This work is now powerful in Charlestown, 
 Maiden, Woburn, Reading, Danvers, Salem, and Bever- 
 ly ; the first of which churches was formed in 1793, and 
 the rest since, all within about twenty miles of Boston. 
 Our churches in general hold to the doctrines of grace. 
 Christian experience, and the importance of a holy life, 
 much as the chief fathers of New England did. They 
 differ very little from the fathers of Plymouth colony, 
 only about infant baptism. And though the fathers of 
 Massachusetts made laws to establish the government of 
 the church over the world, yet when that power was lost, 
 Boston renounced the government of the world over the 
 church, as we have proved. And this practice cannot now 
 be vindicated by Scripture^ reason, nor by the example 
 of any of the fathers of New England, for seventy years 
 after it was planted. And it is also contrary to the gene- 
 ral government of these United States. 
 
 Infant baptism was not named in the Holy Scriptures, 
 nor in any history, for two hundred years after the birth 
 of Christ. And when it was first named, ministers called 
 it regeneration. Because Christ says, " Except a man 
 be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
 the kingdom of God," they held that baptism washed 
 away original sin, and that infants could not be saved if 
 they were not baptized. And because Christ says, 
 *' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
 his blood, ye have no life in you," they held that no 
 person could be saved without eating the Lord's supper ; 
 and they brought infants to it, as well as to baptism. For 
 
1804.1 CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT. 23^ 
 
 the truth of these facts, we appeal to the most noted 
 writings of the third and fourth centuries. A noted mi- 
 nister of the third century said, ** It is for that reason, 
 because by the sacrament of baptism the pollutions of our 
 birth is taken away, that infants are baptized."* 
 
 This, and more of like nature, was quoted by an emi- 
 nent advocate for infant baptism in our day, to defend the 
 practice, though not the opinion of its being regeneration. 
 But the church of Rome, and the church df England, have 
 long held that ministers could regenerate persons by bap- 
 tizing them. And they who renounced that practice have 
 been called Anabaptists to this day. Natural affection for 
 children, and for the sick and dying, has caused an 
 amazing attachment to ministers who they thought could 
 save persons from hell by baptizing them ; and from 
 thence came the notion of the necessity of an external 
 succession of ministerial ordinations, even through the 
 corruptions of antichrist. 
 
 But as fire and wind, as well as water, are of a cleans- 
 ing influence, they are all made use of to explain the na- 
 ture of regeneration, which is effected only by the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. Matt. iii. 11. John iii. 5. 8. The 
 work of sanctification in believers is carried on by the or- 
 dinances of baptism and the holy supper, but they are not 
 spoken of in Scripture as the means of begetting faith in 
 any person ; for faith cometh by hearing the word of God. - — f 
 Rom. X. 17. But in all nations where ministers have been / 
 supported by force, only one party of teachers and rulers 
 have shared in the gains of it, to the constant injury of 
 all the rest of the community. And this way has been-^ 
 upheld by perverse disputers, who have supposed that I 
 gain was godliness. 1 Tim. vi. 5. But if the vengeance 
 of God came upon men who were partial in his law, 
 what will he do to those who make partial laws of their 
 own ? Mai. ii. 9. 
 
 And since a door is now opened in our land for a clear 
 deliverance from these evils, can any man be free of guilt 
 if he tries to shut it ? This consideration is enforced by 
 
 • Clark's Defence of Infant Baptism, 1752, p. 111. 
 
/ 
 
 240 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. fcH. XIV. 
 
 late experience ; for the man, who was the chief magis- 
 trate of these United States for four years, was very fond 
 of such partiality. But a man was elected into that of- 
 fice in 1801, who is for equal liberty to all the nation. 
 And if the Holy Scriptures are well regarded, we shall be 
 the happiest people upon earth ; for they show that every 
 man, who is fit for a ruler, is like good trees and vines, 
 which yield sweet fruits to all around them, without in- 
 juring any one ;# and that tyrants are like the bramble, 
 which would set the whole community on fire, and burn 
 up the best characters in it, if they stood in the way of 
 their gratifying their own lusts of pride and covetousness. 
 Judg. ix. 7 — 15. Therefore our Lord says, '* By their 
 fruits ye shall know them." Matt. vii. 20. And this 
 should ever guide all electors of officers, as well as all 
 men in office. 
 
 A review of the dealings of God with his ancient 
 people may afford much help to us all. For the highest 
 rulers in Israel had no right to make any laws at all, but 
 were to govern the people by the laws of God, which he 
 had given them by Moses and the prophets. The tribe 
 of Levi, in which was the family of Aaron, were to have 
 the whole government ol their worship, and to offer sacri- 
 fices upon the altar of God. Those offerings, with the 
 tenth part of the produce of the good land which he had 
 given them, were freely to be brought in annually to the 
 place which God chose, and the Priests and Levites were 
 to have their living in that way, and they were to have 
 the care of the poor. Each man in Israel was to bring in 
 those tithes and offerings to the place which God chose, 
 in such a manner as to be able to say before him, " I have 
 brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and 
 also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the 
 stranger, to the fatherless and the widow according to all 
 thy commandments which thou hast commanded me ; 1 
 have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I 
 forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof in my mourn- 
 ing, neither have 1 taken aught thereof, for any unclean 
 use, nor given aught thereof for the dead ; but I have 
 hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and nave 
 
1804.] GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL. 241 
 
 done all that thou hast commanded me. Look down 
 from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy 
 people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as 
 thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with 
 milk and honey. This day the Lord thy God hath com- 
 manded thee to do these statutes and judgments ; thou 
 shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and 
 with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day 
 to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his 
 statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and 
 to hearken to his voice. And the Lord hath avouched 
 thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath pro- 
 mised thee, and that thou shouldst keep all his command- 
 ments ; and to make thee high above all nations which he 
 hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour, and 
 that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy 
 God, as he hath spoken." Deut. xxvi. 13 — 19. 
 
 Thus we may see that the support of religious minis- 
 ters in Israel, as well as the poor, was to be done volun- 
 tarily, as each man would desire the blessing of God upon 
 his labours, as well as the salvation of his soul ; and also 
 that they could not be a holy people in any other way, 
 but by obeying the voice of God with all their hearts, and 
 with all their souls. And for any community to call 
 themselves a holy people, only because they have an es- 
 tablished worship by the laws of men, enforced by the 
 sword, is directly contrary to the national worship of 
 Israel which was owned of God. Christ was tempted in 
 all points like as we are, and the devil tempted him to 
 presume upon being supported by the promise of God, 
 without going in the ways of his precepts. Matt. iv. 6, 7. 
 Psalm xci. 11, 12. And how full is the world of this 
 iniquity! 
 
 The nation of Israel was advanced above all other na- 
 tions, when they obeyed the revealed will of God, in the 
 days of David and Solomon, accordinjg to this promise. 
 But in after generations they declined from that way, 
 until God said, *' As troops of robbers wait for a man, so 
 the company of priests murder in the way by eonsent." 
 Hosea vi. 9. '* The heads thereof judge for reward, the 
 21 
 
242 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [CH. XIV 
 
 priests thereof teach for hire, and the propkets thereof 
 divine for money ; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and 
 say, Is not the Lord among us ? None evil can come upon 
 us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a 
 field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain 
 of the house as the high places of the forest." Micah 
 iii. 11, 12. This prophecy was partly accomplished by 
 the Babylonians, and fully by the Romans. And the 
 Jews are now monuments of warning to all nations. 
 Isa. XXX. 17. Thus present events prove the truth of 
 revelation. 
 
 Before the destruction of the second temple, God gave 
 the Jews a new warning, and said, ** Will a man rob 
 God ? Yet ye have robbed me ; but ye say. Wherein have 
 we robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed 
 with a curse ; for ye have robbed me, even this whole na- 
 tion. Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, that 
 there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now 
 herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you 
 the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that 
 there shall not be room enough to receive it." Mai. iii. 
 8—10. 
 
 Here we may see that a voluntary obedience to God 
 about his worship and ministers, or the Contrary, brought 
 his blessings or curses upon his people ; and he now says 
 to people under the gospel, *' Do ye not know that they 
 which minister about holy things, live of the things of 
 the temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers 
 with the altar ? Even so hath the liord ordained, that 
 they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 
 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. But as some ministers of the devil 
 had prejudiced many in the church of Corinth against this 
 apostle, he refused to take any support of them, though 
 he said "Forgive me this wrong." 2 Cor. xi. 13 — 15. 
 xii. 13. Thus it appears, that there is a stronger guard 
 set against deceitful teachers, by the laws of Christ, than 
 there was by the law of Moses. Yet such is the depra- 
 vity of human nature, that the supporting of ministers of 
 the devil by force hath filled the world with war and blood, 
 under the name of Christianity, much more than the na 
 
i804.] THE LATTER-DAY GLORY. 24*5 
 
 lion of Isiael ever did. And this is now the greatest 
 handle that infidels have to use against revealed religion 
 The command is, '* Let God be true and every man a 
 liar ;" w^hile many bring the lies of men against the truth 
 of God, and so discover that he hath said the truth con- 
 cerning them. 
 
 Upon the case before us, he says, ** Let him that is 
 taught in the word, communicate unto him that teacheth 
 in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; 
 for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
 For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap 
 corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the 
 spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. vi. 6 — 8. So that ever- 
 lasting life, or endless misery, are connected with faith- 
 fulness or unfaithfulness in this afl^air. Yea, and these 
 things are personal between God and individuals, as much 
 as faith and unbelief are ; and therefore they are entirely 
 out of the jurisdiction of the magistrate. And we have a 
 glorious promise of God, which says, " In the last days 
 it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of 
 the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, 
 and it si .all be exalted above the hills, and people shall 
 flow U!ito it. And many nations shall come and say, 
 Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 
 and to the habitation of the God of Jacob, and he will 
 teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths ; foi 
 the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord 
 from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the people, 
 and rebuke strong nations afar off", and they shall bea< 
 their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into 
 pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against na- 
 tion, neither shall they learn war any more. But they 
 shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, 
 and none shall make them afraid ; for the mouth of the 
 Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk 
 every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in 
 the name of the Lord our God, forever and ever." Micah 
 iv. 1—5. 
 
 Now it is most certain that this prophecy hath never 
 yet been fulfilled ; but i^ ^ill ^s surely come to pass here- 
 
844 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [cH. XIV. 
 
 after, as ever the promise did of Christ's being born of a 
 virgin. The mountains and hills here mean the king- 
 doms and states of this world, and the mountain of the 
 house of the Lord, is the kingdom of Christ, who will 
 subdue all other kingdoms, and reign forever. And he 
 says, "The kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness 
 of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to 
 the people of the saints of the Most High ; whose king- 
 dom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall 
 serve and obey him." Daniel ii. 35. 44 ; vii. 27. People 
 shall go up to the house of God, and personally obey his 
 revealed will, as freely as the vfdXer flows in its channels. 
 And what can be freer ihan water ? Every idea of force 
 is excluded from the support of his worship ; and all the 
 force for the support of religious teachers, that ever was 
 used under the name of Christianity, was done by adding 
 to his word. And Christ says, '* I testify unto every man 
 that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If 
 any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto 
 him the plagues that are written in this book ; and if any 
 man shall take away from the words of the book of this 
 prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book 
 of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things 
 which are written in this book." Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 
 
 O how solemn are these things ! Mystery Babylon 
 was built by adding to the word of God, and by taking 
 away what is plainly written in it ; and all religious esta- 
 blishments by the laws of men, that ever were made in 
 our world, were made in that way, and so are parts of 
 that great city. She is the mother of harlots, and she 
 hath many daughters. And as Christ is the only head 
 of his church, every community that supports her minis- 
 ters in the name of any earthly head, is a harlot. And in 
 Babylon was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, 
 and of all that were slain upon the earth. Rev. xviii. 24. 
 The blood of Abel was shed by Cain, because his own 
 works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 1 John iii. 
 12. And the guilt of blood will come upon all men who 
 imitate old persecutors. Matt, xxiii. 35, 36. And God 
 says, ** In the last days perilous times shall come ; for 
 
1804.] THE LATTER-DAY GLORY. 245 
 
 men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, 
 proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, 
 unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false ac- 
 cusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are 
 good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures 
 more than lovers of God ; having a form of godliness, but 
 denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 
 2 Tim. iii. 1—5. 
 
 Language cannot describe our times more exactly, than 
 it was thus done by God, near eighteen hundred years 
 ago. And how blind must men be, if they imagine that 
 godliness can be supported by such characters ! and yet 
 such have equal votes in government with the best men 
 in it. The best churches that ever supported their minis- 
 ters by force, had no more than a form of godliness ; and 
 all men have denied the power of it, who have denied 
 that the laws and Spirit of Christ were entirely sufficient 
 to support his ministers, without any arm of flesh in the 
 case. And God says, '* Hold fast the form of sound 
 words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love 
 which is in Christ Jesus." And the form says, " All 
 scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
 for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
 righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, 
 thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. i. 13 ; 
 iii. 16, 17. -^ 
 
 The men of the world are allowed to make laws, and 1 
 to enforce them with the sword, to punish immoralities, 
 and to keep the civil peace ; and real Christians are the best 
 subjects of civil government in the world, while they 
 obey God rather than man in the form of godliness. 
 And though the worst of wars have lately been carried on 
 by sea, yet it will hereafter be said, '* Look upon Zion, 
 the city of our solemnities ; thine eyes shall see Jerusa- 
 lem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken 
 down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, 
 neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But 
 there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad 
 rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no galley with oars, 
 neither shall gallant ships pass thereby. For the Lord is 
 21* 
 
246 CHURCH HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND. [c|I. XIV. 
 
 our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our 
 king, he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed ; they 
 could not well strengthen their mast; they could not 
 spread the sail : then is the prey of a great spoil divided ; 
 the lame take the prey." Isaiah xxxiii. 2(> — 23. And 
 though the merchants of Babylon, and her mariners, will 
 make great lamentations for the loss of their bloody gains, 
 yet the Holy Spirit says, '* Rejoice over her, thou heaven, 
 and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged 
 you on her." Rev. xviii. 20. The apostles explained 
 the prophets, and finished writing the book of God ; and 
 heaven and earth will rejoice to see his truth and justice 
 glorified. 
 
 THS END 
 
A 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
 
 WITH SOME TIII963 TSfOT BEFORE ]^£1?TIQ^£^. 
 
 1602 Their first church formed ••••••• i? 
 
 1606 They become two , . ip, 
 
 1Q08 Both go to Amsterdam ib. 
 
 1 609 One goes to Leyden 2Q 
 
 IQIO Robinson defends them 20.31.66,67 
 
 1613 Disputes against Arminians 2^,22 
 
 1617 They consult about removing 22 
 
 1620 Excellent advice given 23, 24 
 
 They come to Cape Cod — P|ant Plymouth ........... ?§ 
 
 J 62 1 Many die there, 28. — But Indians are friendly ?^ 
 
 1623 Relief in distress — New Hampshire |)egun. ........... ib. 
 
 1625 Robinson dies lb. 
 
 1628 Their debts paid— Salem begun 3(| 
 
 1629 More come ovf r, 30. — Massachusetts charter 32 
 
 1 630 Plymouth Charter— Their church order 30, 3 1 
 
 Boston planted 3.^ 
 
 1631 Church governs the world, 33. — Williams comes over. . 35 
 
 1633 Also, Cotton and Hooker, 33. — Williams goes to Salem 35 
 
 1634 New oath imposed 36, 37 
 
 1635 All to take it— Williams against it 37 
 
 Lands taken from Salem, 37, 38. — Windsor plaated. . . 34 
 
 1636 Lands restored 38 
 
 Williams banished — Plants Providence 39 
 
 Does great service to many 40, 41 
 
 Church order at Boston 34. 45. 6^^ ^9 
 
 Reasons of it, 39, 40. 45.— Hartford planted. 34 
 
 16.^7 Pequot war — But soon over 42, 43 
 
 Confusion at Boston — A synod called » 46 
 
 Some banished — Connecticut more mild 46, 47. 34 
 
 1638 Rhode Island begun — New Haven also 48. 43 
 
 Harvard College founded — Providence government 50 
 
 1639 Province of Maine granted. 
 
 Baptist church at Providence — Baptists elsewhere. ... 50, 51 
 
 1640 Coddington^s changes 49. 71 
 
 1641 Account of Knollys 51, 52 
 
 1642 Pawtuxet difficulties 55, .56 
 
 1643 The colonies confederate 56 
 
 Gorton and others confined 57 
 
 Miantanimo killed, 57.— Williams went to Englan4, 51. 59 
 
 1644 A number banished, 58. — Williams gets a charter 69 
 
 Exposeth persecution 61 — 64. 71 
 
 Boston law against Baptists 52, 53 
 
 24T 
 
248 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 PngB 
 
 1645 They sent an agent to England 116 
 
 1646 Severity pleaded for — Others for pure liberty. ...... 6.5 — 67 
 
 1647 Providence colony — A view of their leaders 67 — 69 
 
 Extracts from Cotton, 53. 61. 63— and Hooker. . . . 70. 133 
 
 1 648 Owen for liberty — Others for force 65. 70 
 
 1649 Winthrop a good ruler 72 
 
 1 650 Some for oppression 71 — 73 
 
 1651 Cruelty at Boston, 73, 75. — A good testimony there. . . 30 
 Warwick sufferings 84. 87 
 
 1652 Baptist testimonies, 73 — 78. — Letters about them = . 78 — 81 
 Johnson, 39, 40. 44. 58. 83, 84.— Cotton dies 82 
 
 1653 Light about baptism — and about England 83. 85, 86 
 
 1655 Williams prevails here 87 
 
 1656 Massachusetts requited — Quakers come over 88 
 
 1657 Bradford against persecution 89 
 
 1658 Quakers described 89,90 
 
 1659 Some are hanged 91 
 
 1660 Conscience pleaded for it 91, 92 
 
 1661 Great cruelty in England 92 
 
 1662 Injustice about colony lines, 103. — Settled afterwards . . 104 
 
 1663 Swansea church formed 93 
 
 1665 Also one in Boston, who suffer much 95, 96 
 
 1667 Neal spake for them 96 
 
 1668 Yet they were banished— Cause of it 97, 98 
 
 1 669 Moving letter from England 99—101 
 
 1670 Divisions about them 98. 107, 108 
 
 1671 Another Baptist church 109 
 
 1672 A dispute with Quakers 105 
 
 1673 Some Baptists join them 106 
 
 Clarke's character— His faith 109, i 10 
 
 1676 Hisdeath Ill, 112 
 
 Indian war 112—116 
 
 Christian Indians described 11 6 — 1 1 9 
 
 1 677 Baptists still oppressed 119 
 
 1679 They increase 121 
 
 1 680 Their friends in England favour them ib. 
 
 1682 Piscataqua affairs 123 
 
 J683 Williams dies ib. 
 
 1684 Charter vacated 124 
 
 1686 Great cruelties here. 124, 125 
 
 1688 Mather goes to England — His mind is changed 125 
 
 1691 New charter given 126 
 
 1692 The world above the church — Boston not so 127 
 
 1697 Declensions described 128,129 
 
 1700 More of it— Testified against 129, 130. 160, 161 
 
 1701 Episcopal scheme 130,185 
 
 1705 Attempts for lordly power 131 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. ^ %49 
 
 1708 Connecticut got it. 131 
 
 17Q9 Churches corrupted 137 
 
 1710 Norwich case. ../.•.. 134. 173 
 
 1714 Queen removed in mercy. ........ .............. 130,131 
 
 1715 Lordly power attempted again. 135 
 
 1716 Again condemned 135,136 
 
 1718 Boston ordination 137 
 
 1720 Baptists' liberality 138, 139 
 
 1721 Revivals of religion — Comer converted 142, 143 
 
 1722 Dartmouth oppressed 140 
 
 1723 Increase Mather dies 141 
 
 1 725 Ministers try for more power ib. 
 
 1726 Inconsistent therein ib. 
 
 1727 Great earthquake. 149 
 
 1728 Pharaoh imitated 142 
 
 1729 Many were imprisoned ib. 
 
 1731 Baptist ministers settled 146 
 
 1732 A new Baptist church. 145 
 
 1734 Two ministers die 146 
 
 1736 Another church formed ib. 
 
 A great work at Northampton 150 
 
 1738 Callendar dies, 147. — Of Congregational churches 148 
 
 1740 Low state of religion — But it was greatly revived 151 
 
 1741 It spread far, 1 53.— Nature of the work 152, 153 
 
 1742 Laws against it, 155, 156.— Edwards for it. . 154.160,161 
 J 743 Chauncy against it, 156. — Condemns himself. 158 
 
 Finley persecuted ^ 169, 160 
 
 1744 Violence against the work 162 — 164 
 
 Divisions caused by it 164, 167 
 
 1746 A new church formed, 165. — Whitefield abused 169 
 
 1746 Robbins much more, 171. — Separate ordinations 165 
 
 1748 Ministers lose by it 172 
 
 1749 Cruel laws suspended ib. 
 
 1750 Edwards cruelly rejected 168, 169 
 
 1 751 He is useful elsewhere ib. 
 
 1752 Imprisonment for taxes 174, 175. 190 
 
 1754 Opposition abates 178 
 
 1755 Another earthquake 182 
 
 1756 The Baptists increase 177, 178. 180 
 
 1758 Wallingford division 178—180 
 
 1759 Episcopal scheme 181 
 
 1741 More Baptist churches 182 
 
 1762 Religion again revived ib. 
 
 1763 It spreads far 182, 183 
 
 1764 A Baptist college begun, on liberal principles 183, 18i 
 
 1765 Haverhill church begun 184 
 
 1767 The tea act passed — Episcopalians stir 186 
 
250 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 Page 
 
 1768 Chauncy inconsistent 186.196 
 
 1770 Establishments described 187 
 
 1771 A drunkard favoured ib. 
 
 1772 Universalism 188, 189 
 
 1774 Religion revived again — New attempts for liberty. . 189. 192 
 
 1775 A cruel war came on 193 
 
 1776 Union and plenty in it 194 
 
 1777 An army captivated. 
 
 1778 Pepperell riot 194, 195 
 
 Quakers divided, 195. — Baptists united 196 
 
 1779 Baptists falsely accused — Oppression continued by it. . . 197 
 
 1780 Conscience pleaded for it ib. 
 
 Christ's kingdom described 198 
 
 Baptist churches increase. 
 
 1781 Another army captivated. 
 
 1782 Peace proposed. 
 
 1783 It is established 204 
 
 Yet ministers claimed a power from England 199 
 
 And accuse us falsely ib. 
 
 1784 Methodism described — And other bishops 200, 201 
 
 1785 Oppression continued , ,.. 200 
 
 1786 Liberty in Virginia 203 
 
 1787 New constitution formed 204 
 
 1 788 It is adopted, 204. — Ministers inconsistent 205 
 
 1789 Liberty more secured 20«) 
 
 1 790 Eastern and western revivals 207, 208 
 
 1791 Manning dies — But has good successors 209, 210 
 
 1793 Ministerial power opened 210, 21 1 
 
 1795 New oppressions 212 
 
 1796 Others kind 214 
 
 1798 Newrevivals 214,215 
 
 1799 The work extends far 218 
 
 1800 Virginia shares in it 220 
 
 1801 Vast numbers baptized 221 
 
 1802 A book against it— Remarks thereon 221, 222 
 
 Account of South Carolina — Pennsylvania — New Jer- 
 sey — North Carolina, Virginia — Georgia — New York 
 —Kentucky 225—235 
 
 Associations described 235 — 237 
 
 1804 Number of Baptists in the United States 237 
 
 Late revivals 238 
 
 Their likeness to the fathers of New England ib. 
 
 How infant baptism originated ib. 
 
 Happy change in our government 240 
 
 The latter-day glory 244 
 
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