USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > The early history of the First church of Christ, New London, Conn. > Part 8
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ing any town vote."' And so a difference, which was likely to prove serious, was amicably adjusted, and the place of worship was yet to remain on the old site for over one hundred years. The second, or Bradstreet, meeting house was therefore built near the old one, probably just west of it, on the south- west corner of what was called Meeting House Green, now Bulkeley Square. As part of the ground for the new house was taken from Mr. Bradstreet's lot, his house must have stood near the southwest corner of the square ; presumably near the spot now occupied by the house of Hon. Stephen A. Gardner.
It is not strange that the people on the east side of the river looked with disfavor upon even the least increase of their Sabbath day journeys. It was no small matter that they were obliged to travel a long distance and cross the river, and climb the hill through Richards street to the old place of worship. It was not always possible to cross the river. Thomas Miner, in his diary, records that "Sabbath day the 7 1 [Jan., 1654] I was at Pequit river and could not get over." Their opposition to the new site, farther away, was not without reason, and their wish justly prevailed with the majority.
The early New Englanders had a love for a Church set on a hill, as the white towers of many a town pointing heavenward from many a hilltop abundantly
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prove. It may be because Jesus taught that his Church is to be like a city set on a hill; and also because, from its commanding position, it served both as a beacon and a watch-tower. Miss Caulkins says of the Blinman meeting house, what was also true of the Bradstreet meeting house, that "the cupola now became the lookout post of the watchman, and this rendered it a useful as well as an ornamental adjunct of the Church. The sentinel, from this elevated tower, commanded a prospect in which the solemnity of the vast forest was broken and relieved by touches of great beauty." The Hon. Augustus Brandegee tells us that the "early worshippers ascended from all parts of the town on each Sabbath, armed with Bible in one hand and the old flint-lock in the other, prepared to do valiant service against the Indians, the World, the Flesh, or the Devil, as occasion might require." But Captain John Mason had long ago settled the case of the Indians, so that Mr. Brad- street's congregation, unless we except the year 1675, could give its entire attention to the World, the Flesh and the Devil, neither of which were lacking then, as they are not now.
The meeting house was still to stand on the hill, overlooking the town. Still might the people sing- "The hill of Zion yields A thousand sacred sweets."
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Still could they say, " Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole Earth is Mount Zion."
The contract was let to John Elderkin and Samuel Lothrop. They were allowed a year and a half to build the house. "It was to be forty feet square ; the studs twenty feet high with a turret answerable ; two galleries, fourteen windows, three doors ; and to set up on all the four gables of the house, pyramids comely and fit for the work, and as many lights in each window as direction should be given ;
£240 to be paid in provision, viz. in wheat, pease, pork, and beef in quantity proportional ; the town to find nails, glass, iron-work, and ropes for rearing ; also to boat and cart the timber to the place, and pro- vide sufficient help to rear the work."
The finishing of the meeting house lingered. Re- peated orders were voted concerning it. The pulpit was removed to it from the old house when the work was sufficiently advanced, and the new house seems to have been used in an unfinished state. The build- ers were accused of not keeping their contract. John Frink of Stonington and Edward de Wolf of Lyme, were called in to arbitrate between the contractors and the town. September 6, 1682, two years after the house should have been finished, the town took vigorous action, and voted " that the meeting house shall be completed and finished to worship God in ;
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according to conformity of duty of Church and Town, and Town and Church." At last the house was com- pleted late in 1682, but not soon enough for Mr. Bradstreet to preach in it long, if at all; for his health had already begun to fail, and he died the next year.
During the building of the Church the parsonage was repaired, at the expense of the town, according to contract with Mr. Bradstreet. "One hundred acres of land in one entire piece." were voted to "Mr. Thomas Parkes, Senior," to remunerate him for furnishing " cedar clapboards," nails and work "for the parsonage house." Though this was called the parsonage, and the town house, and was to be kept in repair by the town, it had been given to Mr. Brad- street in fee simple, and was his property.
In 1680 Mr. Bradstreet's health began to decline. In August of the next year he proposed to resign. But the people declined to accept his resignation, and added "the town is willing to allow him comfortable maintenance as God shall enable them. and they will wait God's providence in respect to his health." His salary had been £100 a year. But at the same meet- ing it was " voted to allow him £120 a year in provis- ion pay, and also to find him his fire-wood, ninety loads for the ensuing year." This was most gener- ous provision for a pastor who was likely never to be
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able to serve them more, and is conclusive proof of the strong hold which he had upon his people.
The Rogerene movement had its beginnings during the ministry of Mr. Bradstreet. James Rogers was a member of this Church. He was received into it, · soon after Mr. Bradstreet's ordination, by letter from the Church in Milford. He is said to have been an upright, circumspect man. But in 1676 he and his sons were fined for profanation of the Sabbath, and for neglect of public worship, and were put under a bond of £10 each. This was repeated for a long course of years. It was at this time, 1676, that James Rogers and his wife left Mr. Bradstreet's Church to join the Sabbatarians, at Newport. Miss Caulkins says, " there is no account of any dealings with him and his wife on account of their secession from Mr. Bradstreet's Church." After a time John, who had also joined the Sabbatarians, withdrew from them, and promulgated notions peculiarly his own. May 25, 1675, Mr. Bradstreet writes concerning him in his diary : " John Rogers of N. London, aged aboute 28 (not many months before turned a proud Anabap- tist) was arraigned at Hartford, at ye court of Assistants vpon tryall of his life.
* * The tes- timony agst him was his own wife (a prudent, sober young woman), to whom he told it with his own mouth, and not in trouble of mind, but in a boasting
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manner of free grace yt he was pardoned. This was much about ye time yt he fell into yt cursed opinion of Anabaptisme." October 26, 1676, the General Court granted his wife a divorce, and the custody of the children, since he continued "in his evill prac-
tices." [Col. Records 1678-89, p. 144. ] It is evi- dent from all these facts, and Mr. Bradstreet's em- phatic words, that the beginnings of the Rogerene movement took place during his ministry, and that it was a source of annoyance to him. A further and fuller account of it will be found in a subsequent chapter.
In 1664 a house of worship was built in the eastern portion of the parish. Mr. James Noyes came from Newbury, Mass., about September 8 of that year, and preached ten years as a licentiate, till June 3, 1674, when a Church was gathered in what was then called Southerton, but is now known as Stonington, and Mr. Noyes was ordained as pastor Thursday, September 10. [Thomas Miner.] It is now known as the Road Church.
This was the final outcome of the controversy be- tween the people in Pequot and those residing in the eastern portion of the plantation, over the question of a new township, with its liberties and privileges. The territory, in which the new Church was gathered, was originally included in the parish of this Church.
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Three at least of the charter members of this new organization had been members in New London, Mr. Thomas Miner, Captain Denison, and Mr. Thomas Stanton. [Diary of Thomas Miner. ] Then the First Church in Stonington is the eldest daughter of the First Church in New London, and its formation was one of the important events of Mr. Bradstreet's pas- torate.
He kept a journal, entitled "a Breif Record of re- markable Providences and Acidents," which he began in 1664 and continued to August 10, 1683, when the last entry was made, not long prior to his death. One, which very nearly concerned him is the following : "July 12, 1666, while I was at N. London, my fath- er's house at Andover was burnt, where I lost my books and many of my clothes, to the value of 50 or £60 at least. The Lord gaue and the Lord hath taken away, blessed bee the Name of the Lord. Tho my owne losse of books (and papers espec) was great and my father's far more, being about £800; yet ye Lord was pleased gratiously many wayes to make vp ye same to us. It is therefore good to trust in the Lord." Under date of May, 1669, he writes in his journal of the severe winter in Massachusetts, and adds, " this. year the Lord frowned much vpon the country, by sickness in divers places, espec in this Colony of Con- necticut. Divisions in Seuerall chhs; Blastings of
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all sorts of grain that it was very scarce. Greater scarcity haueing not been known for very many years."
In November, 1677, he records the prevalence of the small pox in and about Boston, of which "many dyed." October 31, 1678, was set apart by the Gen- eral Court of this Colony "as a day of publique thanksgiving to bless and prayse the Lord our God for his great goodness to his people manifested" in sparing the Colony this dread scourge, in continuing the gospel, in giving good health to the people, and in affording a bountiful harvest. October 4, 1679, Mr. Bradstreet records that " John Smith, one of ye deacons of this chh, a man of great piety and vse in chh and Town went to heaven."
The year 1681 seems to have been one of great severity throughout the Colony. The October ses- sions of the General Court for that year was ad- journed without the usual order for a day of general thanksgiving. A foot note on p. 96 of the Colonial Records for 1678-1689 says that the omission was probably due to " the loss of the harvest and the sick- ness which was at that time prevalent." In his jour- nal Mr. Bradstreet makes this entry for 1681. "In the mo of June, July and August was a great drought thro the country to great losse in corn and grasse, valued at many thousand pounds, yet god hath gra- ciously left vs enough for a meat and drink offering.
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Sept" & Octob' w' sickly in many places in this Colony; the disease was a malignant feaver of wch many dyed." This fever evidently broke out again in 1683, as ap- pears from the last entry in his journal, made in August of that year, and quoted below. Another entry is as follows : " July 26, 1682, Mr. William Douglas one of ye deacons of this church dyed in ye 72 year of his age. He was an able Christian and this poor chh will much want him." The last entry referred to above reads, "August 10, 1683, Willm Hough Deacon of this chh aged about 64 dyed. He was a solid man and his death is a great Losse to chh & Town. The same day, and not above 2 or 3 houres after, Elizabeth Raymond (Daniel Raymond his wife) aged about 26 or 27 dyed. Shee was for her Piety, Prudence &c a very desirable person and has left but few of her Age behind her like her. They both dyed of malignant feaver weh was very severe thro: this Colony." The last Wednesday in October of that year was appointed by the General Court to "be kept as a day of publique Thanksgiving throughout the Colony," to recognize the divine favor in abating " the sore sickness," in sparing "so much of the fruits of the feild and trees as we enjoy," and various other similar blessings, which our fathers were not slow in recognizing as coming from the hand of God. The last Wednesday of November, of the same year,
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was appointed to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer throughout the Colony. The reasons assigned were, some of them, "the dispensation of God towards his poore wilderness people and particu- larly towards o'selves in this Colony the present year by reason of the generall sickness in most places, and more than ordinary in some, as allso excessive rains and floods in severall plantations, shortening us in our outward injoyments," and the fact that many congregations and Churches were bereaved of a set- tled ministry. [Col. Records 1678-89 pp. 131, 132.]
Before the Thanksgiving and the Fast Mr. Brad- street was in his grave, and his pastorate had ended ; not by the will of the people, but of God, after a ministry of seventeen years and a pastorate of thir- teen years. As we have said, his decline in health began in 1680. The date of his death is nowhere given. But it can be approximately fixed. The last entry on the records of the Church, made by his hand, is as follows : "baptized August 12, 1683, William Potts his child Patience." November 19 of that year a vote of the town, to pay Mrs. Bradstreet the arears of her deceased husband's salary, is recorded. Then his death must have occurred between the two dates, and not long after the earlier one, at the age of 43.
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The cause of his death is nowhere stated. But his long decline, the fact that he inherited weakness of the lungs from his mother, who writes of herself on one occasion, " I fell into a lingering sickness like a consumption," and the fact that she finally died of .this disease, justify the conclusion that he fell a vic- . tim to it in the prime and promise of his manhood.
No stone bears his name to mark the place of his burial. But Miss Caulkins well says "there can be no reasonable doubt that Mr. Bradstreet's remains were also deposited in that inclosure," the Town's Antientest Buriall Place. Miss Caulkins conjec- tures that his grave is covered by one of " two large, flat, granite stones, partly imbedded in the earth, near the center of the ground, which are supposed to have been laid as temporary memorials over the remains of some distinguished persons." If this conjecture cannot be proved, it cannot be disputed, and may be correct. At the time of his death it was difficult to procure engraved stones. Not long after, his family removed from New London. His house and lot were sold, and in due course of time his widow married Daniel Epes, of Ipswich, Mass. These facts help to explain the absence of a memo- rial slab to mark his grave.
A record of this pastorate would be incomplete without a personal sketch of the man himself. Be-
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sides the journal from which we have quoted, he left what he entitled "Remembrances of the greatest changes in my Life." From this, and from his jour- nal, the following facts are obtained. He was the second son, not the eldest, as Miss Caulkins says, of Governor Simon Bradstreet, of Massachusetts. For he writes in his journal, "Sometime in August, 1682, my dear brother Mr. Sam" Bradstreet dyed in Jamaica. He was ye first born, ye greater ye breach in of family; but he is at rest in glory." He writes in his "Remembrances," "I was borne in N. England at Ipswitch, Septem. 28, being Munday, 1640. 1651 I had my education in the same Towne, at the Free School, the master of wch was my ever respected Friend, Mr. Ezekiel Cheevers. My father was removed from Ipsw. to Andover before I was putt to school, so yt my schooling was more chargeable. June 25, 1656, I was admitted to the Vniversity, Mr. Charles Chauncey being President. Anno 1660 I went out Bachelour of Artes and defended this Posi- tion, Omnes Artes Accidentur Theologiae. Anno 1663 I took my second degree, and went m' of Artes, at wch time I defended this thesis, Discrimen Boni et mali Cognoscitur a lege Naturae. May 1, 1666, I came to New London at the desire of the people, and advise of my Freinds, in order to a settlement in the minis- try. The good Lord fitt me for that, or what other
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service I may most glorify him in." Then follows the item, already quoted, which relates to and fixes the date of his ordination.
His marriage was another important event in his life. He was married October 2, 1667, at Newbury, Mass., to his cousin Lucy, the daughter of Rev. John Woodbridge, by his uncle, Maj. Gen. Daniel Denison. Mr. Woodbridge married his aunt Lucy Dudley, came to New England and settled at New- bury as a planter in 1634, and afterwards became a preacher, and was ordained as the first pastor of the North Church in Andover in 1645. Maj. Gen. Den- ison married his aunt Patience Dudley, came to Cambridge in 1633, soon after removed to Ipswich, and was Maj. General in 1653. As marriages were performed by civil magistrates, Gen. Denison offi- ciated at the nuptials of his nephew and niece. Mrs. Bradstreet remained with her father at Newbury, to which he had returned after leaving his charge at Andover, till the spring of 1668, when, May 25, she accompanied her husband to New London. They boarded with Goodman Royse till September 3, when their house was ready to be occupied, and they began housekeeping.
Five children were the fruit of this marriage. The first was a son, born August 2, 1669, who died when but five days old. The next was Simon, who was
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born March 7, and baptized March 12, 1670-1. When he was but three years old, he came near losing his life. Mr. Bradstreet thus records the fact in his " Remembrances: " "September 3, 1674, God was gratiously pleased to shew me mvch mercy in saving . my eldest child (Symon) from eminent danger, being fallen into a well (tho shallow) up to his very chin, wrby had perished had not God's Provide ordered it so timely we mist him. Blessed God giue us hearts for euer to remember this, and to return vnto thee accordingly. Dear Symon if god giue yee life to read and vnderstand this, I charge thee to ac- knowledge it to god's praise and blesse his name for svch a Deliuer", that he did not cutt off thy life in ye bud. O yt thov mayest liue to know this and to walk answerably." Anne was the third child. She was born December 31, 1672. was baptized January 5, 1673, and died October 2, 1681, about two years before her father, and of the same disease. John was the fourth child, and third son. He was born November 3, 1676, and was baptized two days later. Lucy was the fifth child and second daughter. She was born October 24, 1680, and was baptized the thirty- first of the same month. She married Hon. Jonathan Remington of Cambridge, and died April 18, 1743, aged sixty-three.
Rev. Simon Bradstreet was of honorable descent.
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Good blood ran in his veins. His grandfather was Rev. Simon Bradstreet of Horbling, England, was of a family of wealth, was a graduate of Cambridge and subsequently a fellow of Emanuel college of that university, and was a Puritan, known as "the ven- erable Mordecai of his country." His father was the Hon. Simon Bradstreet, who came to this country with Winthrop in 1630. He was chosen assistant to Winthrop before embarking, and continued in that office eighteen years. He was one of five to join the Church in Charlestown, on the first Sabbath in August, 1630. He was a strict Puritan, but voted against the extreme measures taken with the Salem witches, with the Quakers, with Ann Hutchinson, and with other offenders against the established order. He was deputy governor under Governor Leverett from 1673 to 1679, when he succeeded to the gubernatorial chair. With the exception of 1687 and 1688, which belonged to the iron rule of Sir Edmund Andros, he was yearly elected Governor of Massachusetts till May, 1692. When the news was received at Boston that William had arrived in England, and that James II had fled, the people arose, seized Andros, and put him in prison, and Simon Bradstreet, then eighty-seven years old, and the only survivor of the old Puritan leaders, was again made Governor. He died March 27, 1697, at the age of ninety-four. "He was a man
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of deep discernment whom neither wealth nor honor could allure from duty. Sincere in religion and pure in his life, he overcame and left the world." Such was the honored father of Rev. Simon Brad- street of New London.
His mother was Ann Dudley, daughter of Thomas Dudley, the second Governor of Massachusetts. She was a woman of remarkable gifts, and of a poetical turn of mind. She was the earliest female poet in America. She published a volume of poems, the first to be published in this country, which went through several editions. She left also a volume in manu- script, dedicated to her son, Simon, containing twen- ty-seven Meditations Divine and Moral, of a most practical and serviceable nature. Thus "The finest wheat hath the least bran, the purest honey the least wax, and the sincerest Christian the least self-love ; " "Downy beds make drowsy persons, but hard lodging keeps the eyes open ; so a prosperous state makes a secure Christian, but adversity makes him consider." She died September 16, 1672, at about sixty years of age. Mr. Bradstreet makes this entry in his me- moirs on that date : "My ever honoured and dear mother was translated to Heaven. Her death was occasioned by consumption. * I being ab- sent from her lost the opportunity of committing to memory her pious and memorable expressions vttered
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in her sicknesse. . O yt ye good Lord would giue vnto me and mine a heart to walk in her steps, consider- ing what the end of her conversation was; yt so wee might one day haue a happy and glorious meeting." The Christian spirit of Ann Bradstreet left its stamp upon her son. Says Dr. Field, "it was the Chris- ·tian spirit of this noble-minded woman, that, without doubt, contributed most of all to form the character of one of our first ministers, Simon Bradstreet." We must believe that the son of such parents, in a line of descent so conspicuous for its learning, its virtues, and its piety, inherited some of these rare qualities, and that, when he died a life of great promise was cut short.
Extracts from three letters are appended which were written to the Rev. Increase Mather of Boston by Mr. Bradstreet. The first is as follows :
"N. LONDON, April 20th, 1681.
REVD SR. I think I never sent you my thanks for your last letter and your book against the Anabaptists, if not it is now time to doe it. I remember in your letter you say, that you doe not vnderstand of any in your parts against the Xtian Sabbath, I believe there are far more then you are aware of, and most Anabaptists I have known either deny it, or qvstion it. However, if there was a fair opportunity, I think some elucubrations of that nature might bee of great vse ; I am apt to think among good Christians there is not one in a hundred able to maintain the Xtian Sabbath with any strength. Their vsuall argts, are, practice of the chhs & Xt's Resurrection, both of which are good & from both an idle sophister would drive them, & run them into a hundred absurdities. Three sheets
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of paper, well filled by a dextrous & able hand to prove the change, under these three heads, Delicito, that it may ; De jure, that it ought; De facto, that it is ; I am apt to think would profit the world more then all Dr. Owen, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Hughes, etc., have written, tho: they deserve more then thankes for their paines. But I have forgot myself. Sr I have read your sermon, occasioned by the dreadful Comet, and now ac- cording to my wonted manner send to begge one (that I saw being only upon loan), haveing not hitherto mett with any re- pulse, which is no small encouragement to beggars. Whatever you print, I ever promise myself an interest in. You have made me so to believe.
ffor newes wee have the same you have, & as late as last Ffriday, by one that came then from Boston. I am not fond to believe what is said at present, if any strange reports should abuse or impose upon my reason, it is only because it is en- graven with a pen of iron & the point of a diamond vpon my spirit (& has been so for seuerall yeares) that dreadfull times are coming upon our Nation io a speciall manner, tho : doubt- less Calamityes enough upon all Christendom at least. ffor ourselves here, I am far from thinking wee shall bee at rest in the evil day, it was so formerly, but things were not then as they are now. I am sorry the great Conservators of your priviledges, &c. in the Bay, are m king rods for their own backs, & the backs of others. Some say my ffather is to be layd by this electr as too great a friend to Caesar, not caring for or regarding the concerns of your R. publ, &c. I think they can not doe him a greater kindnes. God forbid the reines of that poor Colony should be under his hand. P. T. in the N. West, with others of the same complexion, that have skill to guide a plow-tail, may bee the fittest men to steer a C[ommon] Wealth. I well remember in Rome of old, some were fetchd from the plow to lead an army; & so vice versa, & why not as good now? It is plain wee need no enemyes to conspire our rvine. Our sins and follies will doe it too fast. Sr, pray let me vnderstand by the bearer what newes you have from England by private letters, &c. Perhaps some ships will bee arrived before his return, & please to comvnicate your thoughts of your own affaires, both with reference to
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