USA > Connecticut > Windham County > History of Windham County, Connecticut. Volume I, 1600-1760 > Part 54
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
The separating brethren, without waiting for this reply to their alle- gations, had already united in church estate by adopting the subjoined articles and covenant :-
" 1. Christ gave the keys to his church. Christ is the Institutor of his church.
2. Christ is the Door, by whom all that come, enter inl.
3. Christ unites his church together as a compact body, sets every member in his place, furnisheth them with gifts to profit, withal.
4. Christ is Head over all things to this church by the decree of the Father.
5. The church is called Christ's house and himself is Lord of his house.
462
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
Christ gives all the laws and ordinances of his worship. The Church of Christ is a spiritual house, so that there is no human power can build Christ's church nor give a church rules or laws to work by. The Scriptures being a perfeet rule to walk by and the only rule of faith and practice in religion, we have written our faitli and discipline in short.
We believe in one God; three Persons in the God-head. In fore-ordination, general and special providence, &c.
We believe the supreme and lordly power in all the churches upon earth belongeth wholly to Jesus Christ, who is King and Head thereof. He hath the government upon his shoulder. The sovereign power of Christ is exercised by himself-
1. In calling his church.
2. In instituting ordinances.
3. In giving laws for the ordering of all our ways and the ways of his house.
4. In giving life to all his institutions and to his people by them.
5. In protecting and delivering his people.
The power granted by Christ to the body of the Church is a prerogative exercised by them-
1. In admitting their own members.
2. In choosing and ordaining their own officers.
3. In removing them from their office and also from fellowship.
4. The Gospel ministry is to be supported, the ordinances and the poor of the church without using the civil sword or any coercive means to force men thereto. Magistrates are God's ministers bearing the sword of justice, and it is our duty to honor their persons, pray God for them, and obey them in all their lawful commands."
This Scotland Separate church was organized in the summer of 1746, and soon gained a very respectable position, receiving to its member- ship some of the leading families in the parish. Mr. Devotion was greatly disturbed by its intrusion within his lawful limits, and encour- aged the extortion of rates and the enforcement of all legal penalties from its members. The ministers of Windham County, finding all their attempts to stay the tide of separation ineffectual, felt it their duty to formally protest against it. Baptisms administered by Thomas Marsh, Solomon Paine and other Separate elders were declared " not valid," by the Association. A committee was chosen, "to draw a narrative of the affair of a number of men at Mansfield, pretending to form themselves into church state and ordain officers among them." A meeting of Consociation was held in Scotland, January 13, 1747, "to take into consideration and give advice relative to the lamented divi- sions and errors which have arisen," and to hear the information gathered by the Association's committee. Sixteen ministers with their delegates were present. Notifications were sent to Elisha and Solomon Paine, Thomas Marsh and Thomas Stevens, desiring them to appear before the pastors and churches from which they had separated. After recommending that a day of fasting and prayer be kept previously in all the churches, the council adjourned till February 11. The sum- moned Separate leaders refusing to appear, the Consociation proceeded to examine their principles and practice, as set forth in their so-called church covenants, and declared, "' That whenever they varied from the
463
SEPARATE CHURCHES, ETC.
ordinary confession of faith, they marred the sense or perverted Scrip- ture doctrine, and under pretence of Congregational discipline, set up as absolute an Independency as ever was heard of ; that the Canterbury scheme, though differing from Mansfield and Plainfield and mainly orthodox, was still deficient and left room for the errors plainly spoken out by the others, evidencing that they are of one heart." Among the errors noted were-" That there are two meanings in the Bible, doctrinal and spiritual, which latter none can come to knowledge of but by special revelation ; that Christian assurance is the essence of faith, saving faith being a sure persuasion that Christ died for me; That children of God know who are converted and who are not, and that the way to know if a minister is a true minister, or a person converted, is by feeling the preaching of the one and the discourse of the other ; That an unconverted person ought not to pray till such time as he can pray in faith." After hearing much testimony to the doctrinal nn- soundness of the Separates ; their violence, fanaticism and hostility to the Ecclesiastic Constitution and civil authority, the council declared, That there was no just ground for separation ; that the Separates had not proceeded in a Scriptural or Gospel way, but had conducted uncharitably and unchristianly ; that, therefore, the churches ought to withdraw fellowship from them as scandalous and disorderly walkers, yet not to give them up as hopeless but make efforts with them as indi- viduals to reclaim them from their errors. In contradiction to a prevailing report, the Consociation now expressly denied, That any one minister in Windham County, however much in sympathy with the Revival, held to certainty of knowledge of piety of others, preaching by illiterate or unauthorized persons ; that outcries and bodily agita- tions were an evidence of the presence of God's Spirit, or to any of those errors of which the Separates were convicted. The result of this Council of the Consociated churches of Windham County, was soon published in a pamphlet and widely circulated.
The Scotland Separate church was quite unaffected by the presence, arguments and unfavorable judgment of this high ecclesiastic anthority, but continued to increase in numbers and influence. One of the deacons of the standing church lapsed to the Separates, and other resi- dents of position and character. For a time they enjoyed the occasional ministrations of their favorite ministers, the Paines and Elder Marsh, but when one of their own members-John Palmer, a descendant of one of the early Scotland settlers-exercised too freely his gift of exhortation, he was summarily arrested by the civil authority and kept four months in Hartford jail. His imprisonment only increased his zeal, devotion and opposition to the established churches, and after farther trial, the church united in calling him to its
464
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
ministry, and on May 17, 1749, he was ordained its pastor. Though deficient in education and somewhat rough in speech and manner, Mr. Palmer was a man of estimable character and sound piety, and under his guidance the Brunswick church, as it was called, maintained for many years a good standing in the community, comparatively free from those excesses and fanaticisms which marred so many of its cotem- poraries. No difficulty was found in supporting its worship by volun- tary contributions. A church edifice was built a mile or so southeast of Scotland Village, long known as the Brunswick meeting-house. Mr. Devotion was never reconciled to this intrusion within his parochial diocese, but was accustomed every Sunday morning to send his negro servant with a rescript to the Brunswick meeting house, forbidding Mr. Palmer or any other unauthorized person to preach therein that day- a prohibition which only served to increase the number of attendants and fan the spirit of separation and opposition.
The northern part of the County was less affected by religious dis- turbances and separation. The first church of Pomfret, alone of all the Windham County churches, is believed to have escaped wholly unscathed, leaving no record of loss or agitation. In the more north. erly churches, a Baptist element was developed, resulting in secession from the standing order and the formation of Baptist churches. The first and strongest of these churches was formed in Thompson Parish, under the guidance of Wightman, son of Nathaniel Jacobs. As Mr. Jacobs had lived for a time in Rhode Island and given his son the name of a noted Baptist elder, it is probable that his sympathies were with the Baptists, although on his removal to Thompson in 1742, he united with the established church. This church received large acces- sions during the Revival, nor is there any appearance of disaffection or disturbance prior to the irruption of a young Baptist itinerant in 1748. Jeremiah Barstow of Sturbridge, a fervent young exhorter, was proba- bly the first proclaimer in Thompson of Believer's baptism by immer- sion. At the close of the sermon one Sunday afternoon, he arose from his seat, and, addressing the minister, asked liberty to tell his expe- rience. This request was promptly denied by Mr. Cabot, and the pre- sumptuous intruder " turned out of the meeting-house," whereupon he persisted in exhorting the people before the doors till arrested by proper officers for this breach of law and decorum, was carried next morning to jail, and endured a month's imprisonment. This violent treatment awakened the sympathies of Wightman Jacobs and others, and called public attention to the principles for which Barstow had suffered.
465
· SEPARATE CHURCHES, ETC.
Other Baptist exhorters (probably from Leicester or Sturbridge), extended their labors to this promising field. Meetings were held, principles discussed, and soon a considerable number declared them- selves Baptists, withdrew from the stated religious worship, held meetings by themselves, and probably united with the Baptist church of Leicester, as they refused to pay rates for the support of Mr. Cabot. A spirited contest with the society officers followed, in which the Baptists defended their rights with much gallantry. When arrested for holding unlawful meetings, they retaliated by bringing actions against the civil authority for rioting, and when "strained upon for rates," claimed the benefit of the Toleration Act, and appealed for relief to the County Court. Their plea was allowed, and exemption granted. The Society was obliged "to pay the Baptists the charges they were put to for being strained on for rates," and " for traveling to Windham," and appointed a committee to agree with thein on as easy terms as they could. The rates of several Baptists were then formally abated, viz., Jonathan Marsh, John Atwell, James Coats, Isaac and Nathan Burrill, Thomas Buffington, Eliphalet, Levi and John Wight, and Wightman Jacobs, residents of the north part of the parish. Having thus gained a footing, the above Baptists, with other families in their neighborhood, were organized as a distinct church in 1750, upon the Six Principles of Christ's doctrine, Hebrews vi : 1, 2. These General Baptists differed from others of that order in rejecting the doctrines of personal election and reprobation. They maintained that Christ died for all mankind and that the Holy Spirit came by the laying on of hands of ministers. In many respects they agreed with the Separates, with even a more literal adherence to the letter of Scripture. They did not believe in singing but in recounting the praises of God, mostly in words of Scripture, with a pleasant and cheerful voice; did not believe in sermons, but in exercising gifts in various ways. Many of them practiced the washing of each other's feet, anointing the sick and abstaining from eating blood, but did not insist upon these points as essential. Wightman Jacobs was chosen pastor by the church, and was formally ordained over it. Under his faithful and active labors, the church increased rapidly, so that other churches were formed from it on the same principle in adjoining towns, which united together in a formal Association, comprising eight churches. Very little is known of this General Baptist Association and its constituent churches. They occupied by and waste places, were largely composed of the lower and more ignorant classes, and indulged in some very erratic and extra- ordinary practices. The Thompson church, probably the strongest and most vigorous, soon suffered division. A number were unable to relinquish the Abrahamic Covenant, and relapsed into Separatism.
59
466
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
According to Dr. Stiles, a Mr. Pierce of Providence, " drew off this separation " from the Baptist church, and was ordained elder over it by Elder Peckam, and then " enlarged his church to comprehend all in this communion in distant, surrounding towns." This Separate church was soon dissolved by the removal of Elder Pierce to Oblong. The Baptist church survived the breach, and continued to flourish for some years. Mr. Cabot, though so opposed to intrusions upon the public worship of the sanctuary, made no attempt to discipline or retain such members as chose to unite with the new organization, and a significant "gone to ye Baptists," inserted beneath the names of a few individuals on the church records, is all that indicates any defection or separation.
A number of the descendants of the first settlers of Chestnut Hill in East Killingly-Bateman, Grover, Draper and others-also became Baptists, and united in Church fellowship upon the Six Principles of Christ's doctrine, and after suffering many trials and discouragements issned the following official document :-
" Feb. 3, 1752.
The church of Christ at Chasnat Hill in Killingly to the church of Christ at Canterberry, sendeth greeting :-
These are to let you know the dooings of the Lord in Zion, wishing you grace, mercy and peas from God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ. God hath returned the captivity of Zion in this place, we having renewed covenant with God and one another, finding in[cour]iadgement throu the helpe of God, to see this church orginized, God having restored our brother, Benjamin Grover, to us againe in the fellowship of the gospel. Desiering you to send such men as the holy gost shall chuse to asist in the grate work of ordana- tion, desiering youer prears for ous.
The place apinted for ordination is at the house of Joseph Bateman at Chas- nut Hill, and the time apointed Is the fourteen day of february next insuing, ACording to new stile.
GIDEON DRAPER. JAMES DRAPER. JOSEPH BATEMAN. ISAAC GROVER."
For some unassigned cause, this ordination was not effected, nor does it appear that any pastor was ever ordained over this church. It survived a few years, amid increasing trials and obstacles ; was included in the Association of General Baptist churches previously noticed, and recognized as a regular church by the Separate church of South Killingly.
The General Baptist church in Woodstock was also included in the Association, and received into the fellowship of the Separate churches. Like the church of Chestnut Hill, its existence was brief and troubled. The first Baptist in Woodstock of whom we have record, was the wife of Colonel Chandler's second son, Joshua-Elizabeth Cutler of Reading. She was evidently a woman of much spirit and independent judgment, and early incurred the censure of the church on Woodstock Hill by absenting herself from the communion from conscientious scruples.
467
SEPARATE CHURCHES, ETC.
The excuses offered by her for this breach of faith were pronounced by the church, impertinent, trifling and in no measure satisfactory, and advice sought from neighboring ministers. Councils and arguments failed to satisfy her scruples, and after attempting for several years to walk with the church, she became thoroughly convinced of the neces- sity of Believer's baptism, and with her husband, Samuel Chamberlain, Ebenezer Chapman and his wife, was baptized by Elder Thomas Green of Leicester, and taken into full communion with the Baptist church in that town, October 4, 1749. The First Church of Woodstock, after their defection, thus resolved :-
" Whereas, Ebenezer Chapman and his wife, and Elizabeth Chandler, mem- bers of this church, have heretofore renounced communion with this church and other established churches, and have lately joined with that sect called Ana-baptists (at least so far as to renounce their infant baptism and to be re- baptized by plunging) ; It is our opinion that we are no longer obliged to inspect and watch over them as members of this church."
These Baptists were all residents of West Woodstock society. Others were added to their number, who after a time united with them in forming a distinet Baptist church upon the Six Principles of Christ's doctrine, and enjoyed the ministrations of Benjamin Grover of Chestnut Hill. This brother, after failing to receive ordination in Killingly, found " all the churches upon the earth taken out of his view and Woodstock church laid into his heart by God." His wife was also "brought into this church under a great operation of the Spirit of God," and so manifest were the leadings of Providence that letters missive were sent to the churches in Plainfield, Canterbury, Thompson, Coventry, Killingly and Sturbridge, declaring :-
" That the Lord hath founded Zion here and the poor of the people trust in it, and that the poor have and shall have the Gospel preached to them, and to this end has provided pastors for them . and sent to us our dear brother, Benjamin Grover, a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, and united us and him together in the Gospel . . and the voyce is Arise, Anoint him, for this is he! Dear Saints, may you hear our masydony ery, Come over and help us to set apart this dear brother to the great work whereto the Holy Ghost hath called him. The day appoynted for this solemn ordination is the second Wednesday of this instant August.
The council is desired to meet at the house of Mr. Joseph Bateman at Chestnut Hill in Killingly, in order to remove some difficulty there, respecting that people and our brother Grover.
Woodstock, Aug. 7, 1752.
EBENEZER CHAPMAN. EPHRAIM BACON. JOSHUA CHANDLER. SAMUEL CHAMBERLAIN."
The council was unable to remove the difficulty with the church of Killingly, and again declined to ordain Grover to the ministry. The Woodstock church failed to unite in choice of another candidate and soon fell to pieces, its members probably reuniting with the parent church at Leicester. The rejected "brother Grover" never, apparently, suc ceeded in obtaining ordination, but continued through life to itinerate
468
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
through the County, exhorting and denouncing wherever he could find a hearing. Tradition represents him as one of the rougher class of Separates, rude and uncouth in speech and manner, fiercely assailing the standing churches and ministry, defying and resisting civil authority and rate-collectors, a terror to children and evil-doers by his fearful threatenings of future punishment and vivid pictures of the Day of Judgment.
XI
MISTAKES IN THE SEPARATE MOVEMENT. OPPOSITION.
FAILURE.
TN every town of Windham County, separations from the mother churches had thus been effected and new churches formed, claim- ing greatly increased purity and spirituality. The privileges of church membership had been restricted to known Christians, unscriptural beliefs and practices abandoned and the Scriptures, interpreted by the Spirit, accepted as their only rule and guide. Their pastors were men of fervent piety, wholly absorbed in the work to which they believed themselves divinely called and cou- secrated ; their members were mostly zealous, active Christians, " conscientiously engaged in promoting and maintaining religious truth." It would seem that such churches could hardly fail to become permanently established, overpowering and rooting out the feeble remnants of the original churches. But the result was precisely con- trary. These fresh, vigorous churches, with all their zeal for religious purity and liberty, had bút a brief existence and left no lasting impress, while the churches they denounced and abandoned have survived and flourished through many succeeding generations. Battling in advance of their age for religious liberty and pure Congregationalism, advo- cating a higher Christian life, individual responsibility and activity, and other principles and practices now recognized by all Christian churches-the Separates were wholly vanquished. That they were in advance of the age was not the only cause of their failure. The great truths which they advocated might have won their way in spite of every external opposition had they not been intermingled with some fatal errors. Fighting against the age, against established religious systems and practices, against the civil and ecclesiastic Constitutions of Connecticut-the deadliest foe of the Separates was their own igno- rance and folly. Assuming that they were God's church and all others anti-Christian and Satanic, they thundered maledictions against
469
MISTAKES IN THE SEPARATE MOVEMENT, ETC.
all who opposed God's work and church and people, which were only too literally fulfilled in their own swift destruction.
One of the mistakes or errors which wrought such mischief among the Separates, was their rejection of human learning. Learned men having opposed them, they opposed all learning. Knowledge of tongues was a snare, and encouraged pride and self-confidence. A man need not study who had the Spirit of God to teach him. An inward call was the only essential qualification for a minister. Thus their spiritual leaders were uneducated and often ignorant men, expounding Scripture according to their own fancy. All parts of the Bible were used indiscriminately. Plain commands were spiritualized and figures taken literally. Dreams and visions supplied the place of dictionary and commentary. Scripture truth was often perverted and misappre- hended, and very gross errors promulgated and received among them.
A still more fatal error was assuming to know perfectly the spiritual condition of others. Christ had given them "the key of knowledge." A Christian could be distinguished from an unbeliever as certainly and clearly "as a sheep may be known from a dog." Those only with whom " they held communion in the inward actings of their own souls" were Christians ; all others were unbelievers and hypocrites. By this simple rule, all the churches and church members of the land were tried and found wanting. "We know we are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness." All persons not in immediate active sympathy with them, were thus cut off from Christian charity and given over to reproba- tion and perdition. The churches planted by their fathers in faith and prayer were Papal and Anti-Christ. Godly ministers who had proved their faith by lives of devoted Christian labor, were teachers for lucre, lying shepherds, dead dogs, followers of the Beast and Dragon. "They would have the most dreadful damnation who led their flock to hell, as was the case with most ministers." Zealous Revivalists, who stopped short of Separation, shared the same condemnation. A Plainfield Separate thus threatens the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock for expressing disapproba- tion of some of their practices :-
" Yet all this never went so near my soul as it does to see and hear the blessed works and ways of the glorious God called errors and delusions of the Devil. Do you think you are out of danger of committing an unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost? It would not surprise me much to hear that God had opened the flood-gates of his wrath and let out the horrors of conscience on you, and many more of your party who deny the truth, so that you should die in great despair, as Judas and Sapphira did."
Still fiercer denunciations were launched against the ecclesiastic Establishment of Connecticut. Its method was that of Pope and Papists. Its Councils exalted themselves above God and Ilis Word. The investigating Consociation at Scotland met "to receive the Devil's
470
HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY.
trumpery against God's children." "I know as perfectly," says Solo- mon Paine, "that this Established Worship is idolatry, as I do that Nebuchadnezzar's or Jeroboam's was, and it is no more of a question with me whether I ought to give what they demand to support it, than it is whether Israel ought to give to support Jeroboam's priests which he made for his calves." This extreme severity of judgment, this sweeping condemnation of all outside their immediate circle, cost the Separates many adherents. Many earnest Christians who lamented the abuses within the churches, and might have joined with them in pro- moting a work of reformation, refused to enlist in a warfare of indis- criminate extermination. The more moderate and reasonable of the Revival party remained in the churches, striving gradually to root out and overcome existing evils, and thus the Separates lost an important element that would have given strength and stability to their movement.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.