USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > The early history of the First church of Christ, New London, Conn. > Part 5
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He always avoided controversy and strove to pro- mote peace. It is said that he once tore up a writ which had been taken out against another person, in
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order to stop proceedings, so that the matter might be privately settled. When arraigned before the Court he acknowledged the offence, and, because he did not tear up the writ in contempt of authority, he was let off with the admonition " to beware of like rash carridge for time to come." Aside from Marshfield and Gloucester, "he appears to have worked undisturbed in the other fields of labor, and to have lived in peaceful and harmonious relations with all." The following lines, written while he was still in Gloucester, give a contemporary's estimate of . his character :
Thou hast thy prime and middle age here spent : The best is not too good for him that gave it. When thou did'st first this wilderness frequent, For Sion's sake it was, that Christ might save it. Blindman be blith in him, who thee hath taken To feed his flock, a few poor scattered sheep. Why should they be of thee at all forsaken ? Thy honor's high, that any thou may'st keep. Wait patiently thy master's coming : thou Hast hitherto his people's portion dealt. It matters not for high preferment : now Thy crown's to come, with joyes immortal felt.
If these lines are read in view of his contemplated departure from Gloucester, they shed a pleasant light upon the worthy character of the first pastor of this venerable Church.
As late as 1657 the parish of the first Church comprised the whole territory from Nahantick on the
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east to Nahantick on the west. Till that year the minister's rates were levied over that whole tract. Mr. Blinman was accustomed to hold occasional serv- ices in Mystic and Pawcatuck, for the benefit of his parishioners in these remote districts. He owned a
. considerable tract of land at Mystic. It was in this
connection that the only trouble arose which in the least disturbed the harmony of his pastorate here. Hon. Richard A. Wheeler says [Centennial celebra- tion of First Church, Stonington ] " up to 1654-5 the planters here attended meeting at New London when the weather permitted, and paid their rates for the support of the ministry there; but the distance was so great, with two rivers to pass in going and com- ing, that they were anxious to have public religious worship established among themselves." To do this they were obliged to obtain a grant for a new town from the General Court. This was opposed by those who lived west of Mystic River. At first Mr. Blin- man favored the project, but afterwards opposed it. Hot words passed between him and Thomas Miner and Captain Denison. They accused him of playing a double part. Captain Denison said "that Mr. Blinman did preach for Pawcatuck and Mystic being a town before he sold his land at Mystic; " implying that after he sold his land, his personal interests changed. While the controversy was at its height, a
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town meeting was held at Pequot, August 28, 1654, at which four men were appointed from Pequot, and three from Mystic and Pawcatuck, "to debate, rea- son and conclude whether Mystic and Pawcatuck should be a town, and upon what terms, and to deter- mine the case in no other way, but in the way of rea- . . son and love, and not by vote." The committee failed to agree. In 1656 the General Court passed the following order : "It is ordered by this Court, that while the ministry is maintained at Pawcatuck, the charge thereof and of the ministry at Pequett shall be borne as the major part of the inhabitants shall agree or order, that is whether Pawcatuck shall by and of themselves maintaine their minister, or whether they shall maintaine both their ministers in
a joynt way."' The majority decided that the settlers at Pawcatuck should pay their rates to Mr. Blinman, and appealed to the General Court to enforce their payment. At the session of May, 1657, the follow- ing vote was passed: "This Court doth order that the inhabitants of Mistick and Paucatuck shall pay to Mr. Blinman that which was to him for last yeare, scil: to March last." [Col. Rec., 1636-1665, p. 300.] The following entry in the diary of Thomas Miner shows that Mr. Blinman was paid for services in Pawcatuck : "May 22, 1654, I paid Mr. Blinman one firkin of butter and 12d. in wampum, which made
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his whole year's pay." A committee was appointed by the legislature in May, 1657, consisting of Mr. Winthrop, Major Mason, Captain Callick and Mr. Allyn, to bring to an issue the dispute between the inhabitants of Pequot, Mystic and Pawcatuck. This committee met at Pequot, July 8, 1657. What they said or did is not known, but whatever their action, it only intensified the controversy. "Mr. Blinman's rates were not paid, and he gave up his occasional services at Mystic and Pawcatuck." [Hon. Richard A. Wheeler. ] We have already recorded the recon- ciliation between Thomas Miner and Mr. Blinman, at the meeting of the Church held August 28, 1654. At the May session of the General Court for 1657, it is recorded in the doings of that body, that " Captain Denison doth acknowledge in this Court that hee wronged Mr. Blinman and missed his rule, and that he spake corruptly in saying that Mr. Blinman did preach for Paucatuck and Mystick being a Towne, before hee sold his land at Mystick as aforesaid." In the year 1658 it was decided by commissioners of the united Colonies that the territory hitherto comprising one plantation, should be divided into two, with the Mystic river for the dividing line, and that Mystic and Pawcatuck should be under the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts, whose General Court incorporated the terri- tory into a township which it named Southerton.
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Thus the unhappy differences which had estranged the people of these two sections from each other, were finally settled.
Mr. Blinman was accustomed to preach to the Indians in his parish. A letter written by Thomas Allen, of Norwich, England, and dated the eighth day of the eleventh month of 1651, says concerning the progress of the gospel among the Indians: "I can testify being lately come over from New England, that there are divers persons in sev- erall places who doe take pains, and labor in that work there, viz., not onely Mr. Eliot, of Roxbury, * and Mr. Mayhew at an Island called Martin's Vineyard, but also Mr. Leveridge in the jurisdiction of Plymouth, and Mr. Blynman who lives now in a new Plantation in the Pequotts Coun- try." [Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d series, vol. iv, p. 194. ] It is stated that in 1657 the agents of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England proposed to him to become a missionary to the Pequots and Mo- hegans at a salary of £20 a year, and pay for an in- terpreter. He declined. But neither his declination nor the division of the plantation just spoken of, deprived either the Indians or the English people residing in Mystic and Pawcatuck from the privileges of the Gospel. For in 1657 Mr. Thomson came as a missionary to the Indians, at a salary of £10 for the
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first year and £20 for the second year. His meetings were attended by the English as well as by the Indians. Thomas Miner wrote in his diary under date of June 12, 1659, "Mr. Tomson taught at mr. Burrows. mr. Winthrop was there."
As showing Mr. Blinman's appreciation of Mr. Thomson, the Indian missionary, it will be of interest to read the following letter, written from New Haven the year after Mr. Blinman left New London :
"LOVING FRIEND MR. THOMSON :
"I was bold by brother Parkes formerly to tender a small gift to you, viz., a piece of land and swamp which was given me for a wood lot, lying towards the west side of William Cumstock's hill, which if you please to accept as a token of my love I do give and confirm it to you. Your loving friend, " RICHARD BLINMAN. "New Haven, April 11, 1659."
The 20th "of January [1657-8] being Wednesday, Mr. Blinman gave nottis that he would be gone," says the diary of Thomas Miner. January 29 he records that Mr. Blinman went to New Haven during that week. No reason appears. I am inclined to the opinion that the practice of the Half-way Cove- nant by the churches in the Colony had something to do with his summary departure. He resided there a little over a year, returning to New London to com- plete some business before embarking with his family for England, which he did shortly after.
After a residence in America of twenty years, he
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returned to England by way of Newfoundland, sailing July 27 or 28, 1659. Under date of July 8 of that year Thomas Miner wrote in his diary, " Fri- day the 8 Mr. Blinman was at Towne." Two days later he wrote, " the 10th," which was Sunday, "mr. Blinman taught at London." This was, doubtless, his farewell service in this town and in this country. He preached for some time in Newfoundland with great acceptance, and received an urgent call to settle there, which he declined. Rev. John Davenport wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., September 28, 1659, " and to let you know that I have received a. letter from Mr. Blinman dated August 22 [1659], whereby I under- stand that God hath brought him to his Newfound- land, in safety and health, and maketh his ministry acceptable to all the people there except some Quak- ers, and much desired and flocked unto, and hath made choice of a ship for Barnstaple, to his content the master being godly." [Mass. Hist. Coll., third series, vol. x, p. 25.] Here we have incidental testimony to his power and ability as a preacher. He arrived in England some time in 1660, and took up his abode in Bristol, where Savage says "he continued in the service." Two of his farms, at Pine Neck, and Fort Hill, were purchased by Christopher Christophers after he left the country, and the deed of conveyance reads: "I, Richard
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Blinman, with Mary my wife, now dwelling in the castle, in the city of Bristol, England, 10 Jan. 1670-1."' We know from this, and from letters dated at Bristol as late as 1679, that after his return to England, he lived and probably died, in that city.
He was a learned and an able man. This is the testimony of contemporaries. He was a Puritan of the straightest sect, and uncompromisingly opposed to ecclesiastical hierarchy, and to everything in Church order which had in it the least suspicion of hierarchy. He was an outspoken Non-conformist ; and for this reason lost his charge in Chepstowe. He seems to have been among the last to seek an asylum in New England from the tyranny of Charles I. and of Laud. For events soon ripened into the death of the King, the ascendency of Puritanism in England, and the Lord Protectorate of Cromwell. He was an able expounder of the Word of God. Shortly before his death he wrote a treatise on infant baptism.
The only writings of his which have come under our eye are a few of his letters to Rev. Increase Mather, "Teacher to the Second Church at Boston in New England." These reveal the man quite as much as sermons could do. April 12, 1677, he wrote from Bristol, where all his letters to Mr. Mather are dated, "since my former by this bearer, I have heard something that I cannot omit. The convoca-
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tion summoned by the prelates' procurement, who went up with high expectations of straitning the Non-conformists, and providing for themselves had no commission given them to convene when they came up. I can not but looke upon it as an answer to prayers, which calls for prayses." In a postscript . he adds, "this post seems to lessen the great vic- tory of the French over the Prince of Orange and his army," referring probably to the defeat of the Prince of Orange at Cassel, which stirred the whole country to a cry for war to check French aggression.
August 14, 1677, he writes again to Mr. Mather, as follows : " I, with many others, are grieved to hear, that so little reformation hath been wrought by the awful dispensation of God to New England, and doe feare what wilbe the yssue of them. But the Lord hath a people among you, whom I trust he wil never leave nor forsake." He probably speaks of the threatened loss of the Bay Charter, and adds, "God hath formerly often blasted such endeavors, and I hope, will doe so stil, it being a thing wherein his glory is so much concerned. The Lord give a mighty spirit of supplication, humiliation and Re- pentance to his own people amongst you." In this letter he alludes to the imprisonment of Shaftsbury, Buckingham, Salisbury and Wharton, whom Danby had caused to be confined in the Tower in 1677 on
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charge of contempt of the House of Commons. Alluding to failure of harvest because of excessive rains, he goes on to say, " and our misery and sin is, that it's laid to heart by very few. The Lord seems to say, the floure and wine-press shal not feed us, & that he will take away our corn in the season thereof. We are making mirth, even now when God hath fourbished his sword against us. Cursed plays, by which the nation is debauched, abound, which our city experienced now at James's fayer." [St. James's Fair, which began on the eve of St. James's Day, July 25.]
Under date of March, or April 8, 1678, he writes again: " We have nothing but rumors of warrs against the French. * * Our late news is, that the French have deserted their present designe at Mycena in Sicily ; & hath laid an embargo on all his [Charles's] vessels in France, and made an order against our English commodities, in imitation of what we have done against French commodities here, & on our ships here. On Thursday next our Parlia- ment, after a fortnight's adjournment, is to sit againe ; the day before which there is to be a day of humilia- tion in all London; and that day fortnight over all England, to be seriously kept by all subjects, accord- ing to the printed form of prayer that shalbe pre- scribed. This post we heare that the French Mon-
" .:.
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sieur hath deserted Ghent and Ypres; which maks some think we shal indeed have war with France." This letter closes with reference to efforts to bring some of the Scotch to terms. The allusion to threat- ened war with France is a reference to a warlike speech from the throne to the Parliament of 1678, in answer to which supplies were voted and an army raised. But the actual declaration never came. Charles simply turned Danby's threats to his own benefit. [Green pp. 630, 631].
Under date of May 20, 1678, after alluding to some political matters, and to a protest of the Scotch nobility against the rigorous dealings of Lauderdale, whose iron rule in Scotland had had, for one of its purposes the humbling of the Scotch Presbyterians [Green p. 616] Mr. Blinman writes : " I could not omit to give you the estate of our present affaiers, since my former. You see what need we have of prayers. Its thought some great shaking is neere. I believe that earthquake, Revelation 11th, is not far off, when the 7,000 names of men (who are indeed rather bruits than men) shalbe slain, and the remain- der (or rest of men) shal have their eyes opened, be affrighted and give glory to God. And then woe be to Rome."
August 9, 1678, he writes again, in which he nar- rates some of the events connected with the French
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and Dutch war; gives a current rumor that eight French men of war and six French merchantmen with 9,500 men were lost by a hurricane in the West Indies, which he calls "an eminent blast of God, if true ; " and says that "the Scots stil goe on with their meetings, notwithsanding all the cruelties they have met with, & its said, they increase, & many come in to them, who before stood off." He also speaks of the treaty of Nimeguen, which, says Green, "not only left France the arbiter of Europe, but it left Charles the master of a force of twenty thousand men levied for the war he refused to declare, and with nearly a million of French money in his pocket." Mr. Blinman adds : "You see our state, & I suppose you know your own better than I can tell you. Yet I shal adventure to give you this hint, under the Rose, that I feare an Inhabitant of your countrey would faine be Lord paramount over all the Colonies." To whom the writer refers in the last sentence we do not know. Various attempts of that kind were made by men who were ambitious of large powers.
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These letters were written in the tumultuous times of Charles II. They breathe the intense religious spirit of the men who, in those days, dissented from the established ecclesiastical order. There can be no mistaking the opinions of their author. The Puritan- ism for whose sake he had quitted England almost
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forty years before, had lost, in the lapse of time, nothing of its strong hold upon him. He was keenly alive to the public questions which agitated his day. He was a believer in the Lord's second personal com- ing. He was a man of strong convictions, which he was not afraid to express, so as not to be misunder- stood. He devoutly recognized the hand of God in the startling events of the times. His early non- conformity had ripened into pronounced Separatism. He was a strong man. He must have left the impress of his spirit on the Church which he gath- ered. A man who is willing to suffer expatriation for the sake of his convictions cannot be weak. Not very much is known of the details of his life here. But the work which he did abides in the Church whose foundations he laid so deep and so well in eter- nal truth, that they have stood stable and strong through all the changes and vicissitudes and social upheavals of over two centuries and a half.
His children, were Jeremiah, born July 20, 1642; Ezekiel, born November 10, 1643; Azarikam, born January 2, 1646. These were all born in Gloucester. Jeremiah remained in this country.
Dr. Trumbull says "he lived to a good old age, and at the city of Bristol happily concluded a life spent in doing good." The date of his death and his. age we do not know. Rev. John Bishop, writing to.
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Increase Mather from Stamford, August 12, 1679, speaks of letters received from Mr. Blinman, [Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th series, vol. viii, p. 307] as if he were then alive. Thomas Miner, in his diary for May 23, 1683, wrote, " Was at New London .gave my testimony concerning Mr. Blindman's letter that he had received his pay from Mr. Christophers" for the farms on Pine Neck and Fort Hill. This is the last trace of him which we can find. We may conclude, therefore, that his death took place between 1679 and 1683. He was in his prime when he came to America. His first child was born in Gloucester. His marriage had not taken place long before; prob- ably after his arrival in 1640. Then his age at the time of his death must have been about eighty years. If no other monument to his memory exists, the Church which he gathered, and founded upon Christ, as the chief corner-stone, is a fitting one.
V.
GERSHOM BULKELEY'S PASTORATE.
1661-1665.
After the departure of Mr. Blinman the Church seems to have addressed itself immediately to the task of securing his successor. For June 17, 1658, Thomas Miner records in his diary, " thursday the 17 Captaine denison, Mr. stanton, goodman cheesbor- ough was heare to bid me com to a meeting;"' pre- sumably a meeting called with reference to securing a minister. For five days later he records, "Tues- day the 22 James morgan was to go to the Bay for A minister." This must have been an attempt to secure the Rev. Antipas Newman, of Wenham, who married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Governor John Winthrop, Jr. For the Governor wrote to his son, Fitz-John, September 9, 1658, as follows: "The Plantation of Pequot, which is now called New Lon- don (that name being established by order of the General Court), hath beene very earnest with him to be there, Mr. Blinman having left them, who is at present settled at New Haven, and like to continue
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there. He lives in Mr. Hookes house there. Those people at New London have beene very earnest to have Mr. Newman, but the other of Wenham are not willing to heare of his removal from them." So the effort to secure him did not succeed. The attention of the Church was probably turned to Mr. Newman by the fact that he had preached for them with very great acceptance in 1657 while Mr. Blinman was absent at the Synod, held that year in Boston. Thus Jonathan Brewster wrote to Governor Winthrop from "Pequett," under date of June 28, 1657, "Mr. Blyndman is not returned from the assembly of elders. Young Mr. Newman supplied his place in the ministry, a man very hopeful, and, inded, beyond expectation did wonderfully satisfy the spirits of his hearers."
Three years intervened between the departure of Mr. Blinman and the coming of Mr. Bulkeley. How religious services were maintained we are not told. In January, 1659-60, Thomas Miner makes these entries in his diary: "Sabath day 22 we had no meeting . " "'Sabath day the 29 Capt. Denison did exercise." The captain had performed the same service before. For October 19, 1656, he records that "Captaine denison taught." These were doubt- less what were called in the olden times "deacons' meetings." Though whether this Denison was a
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deacon we do not know. Besides it is supposed that John Tinker, a man of prominence and gifts in the town, often conducted public worship during the interval. For an item of business transacted at town meeting, December 1, 1661, was "to know what allowance Mr. Tinker shall have for his tyme spent in exercising in public." As Mr. Bulkeley had at that time begun his stated ministrations, it seems likely that Mr. Tinker had often exercised in public at religious meetings on the Sabbath, until the arrival of the new minister. He received for these services six pounds. "He was rate-maker, collector and commissioner for the year 1662, and also an assistant of the Colony." He was chosen, with James Morgan and Obadiah Bruen, "to seat the people in the meet- ing house, which, they doing, the inhabitants are to rest silent." This vote seems to point to some openly expressed dissatisfaction which was thus summarily rebuked. Mr. Tinker was popular with the people, insomuch that charges of treason which were brought against him found little favor with the public. He died at Hartford, while awaiting trial upon these charges, and was honored with a funeral at public expense. He was licensed to distil and retail liquors, and had, from the General Court, a monopoly of the business, with power to arrest any who should infringe on his rights and privileges. If it seems
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strange to us that such a man should conduct reli- gious services, it is to be remembered that public sentiment upon such questions has very decidedly changed since those times.
Before proceeding to the narrative of Mr. Bulke- .ley's ministry, we will note one or two facts, which show the relation in which the Church stood to the town at that time, and for about eighty years after- wards. All the business of the Church, such as calling a minister, making a contract with him, fixing and providing for his salary, building houses of wor- ship and the like, was transacted in open town meet- ing. The legislature of the Colony passed upon some of the matters which pertained solely to the spiritual affairs of the Church, and to its discipline, which are now determined upon by the Church. Seats in the meeting house were assigned by vote of the town. Thus at one time it was voted "that Mary Jiggles be seated in the third seat on the woman's side, where she is ordered by the town to sit ;"' at another time " that Mrs. Green, the deacon's wife, be seated in ye fore seat on the woman's side ;" at still another time " that for the benefit of setting the psalm Mr. Fos- dick is seated in the third seat at the end next the altar."' These votes show somewhat of the relation of the town to ecclesiastical affairs prior to 1726.
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Until 1657, "the whole territory from Nahantick on the east to Nahantick on the west, coutinued to be regarded as one township, acting together in town meeting. They formed also but one eccle- siastical society" [Miss Caulkins] for the levying of ministerial rates. These rates were assessed upon the grand list, so that every property holder in the town was liable to be taxed for the support of the gospel. The payment of these rates was not a matter of choice. Thus September 21, 1664, a vote of the town was passed "to determine a more certain way for the ministry to be upheld amongst us." What way was decided upon we are not told. A commit- tee was chosen at the same time to see that the peo- ple of " Pockatuck" paid their " rates to our towne as formerly they did." November 21 of that year Peter Blatchford was chosen "Atturney for the towne to see to the coming in of the minister's rates." This method of supporting the gospel continued till other denominations came into the field.
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