USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > The evolution of an old New England Church, being the history of the Old stone church in East Haven, Connecticut > Part 2
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13 E. E. Atwater, History of the Colony of New Haven, p. 248; L. Bacon, Historical Discourses, pp. 48-9.
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Children, then as now, often wearied of the long service and became restless or fell asleep; and in consequence thereof a tithing man was appointed to keep attention and order, his instrument of peace being a long pole with a knob on one end and a feather on the other. If the culprit was asleep he was awakened by brushing the feather across his face or neck, and if he was misbehaving he was soon brought to orderliness by a rap or two from the knob. Whatever may be said of the severity of the discipline inflicted upon the youngsters of the day, this much is certain, all went to church, all stayed until the last of the many 'amens'-and history records no casualties.
Seats in the rear near the door were assigned to the town militia, and in the turret was stationed a sentinel to warn of hostile Indians. All the men except the church officers were required to be armed. It was not the peaceful Quinnipiacs who were feared and against whom these precautions were taken, but there were warlike tribes not far away that might swoop down on the settlement while the planters were least prepared.
As there was no bell, the beat of the drum summoned the people to worship. Jarvis Boykin was the official drummer, and on Sunday he gave the first summons at eight o'clock and the second at nine. He also summoned the people to the town meetings, which were held in the meeting house.14
In the winter time, the building being unwarmed, footstoves containing hot coals were used by the women and children. The glass was removed from the windows and the opening's boarded up to keep out the penetrating air. Into this cold and gloomy room assembled the people Sabbath after Sabbath to worship God. It is reported that on extremely cold days the water in the baptismal font would freeze while the service was going on.
The services consisted of prayers, the singing of psalms, reading of the Scriptures, and a sermon of an hour's length or more. When the minister announced his text the congrega- tion arose and remained standing until the text was read. The
14 E. E. Atwater, p. 251.
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THE EVOLUTION OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCH.
afternoon service began at two o'clock and was very similar to that of the morning.
The first meeting house did not stand the wear of time, for shortly indications of decay necessitated the removal of the tower and turret and the placing of props under the roof to give it additional support. In 1668 a new building was erected to the east of the old one.15 Fourteen years later a bell was imported, and after testing it for a year and a half it was hung in the turret.
The New Haven Colony grew and conditions of living changed. The Fundamental Agreement was proving unsatis- factory. The Connecticut Colony was about to secure a royal charter, and the general feeling in Hartford was that New Haven should unite with her and form one colony. Davenport fought the proposed union with all his might, but the trend of opinion was against him. The charter was received in April, 1662, and New Haven was included within its jurisdiction; but it was not until December, 1664, that the last of the Puritan colonies ceased to exist as an independent republic.
The Massachusetts General Court had issued a call for a synod to meet in Cambridge in 1646, to determine the rights of baptized but unregenerate parishioners and the rights and privileges of their children to baptism. The problem which the Cambridge Synod attempted to solve was causing divisions among the churches and introducing the spirit of controversy among the clergy. Massachusetts had taken the lead in facing the issue because she was the principal colony in the recently formed confederation. The Pequot War of 1637 and the effective prosecution of it through the cooperation of Con- necticut and Massachusetts settlers manifested the wisdom of forming some sort of union both offensive and defensive in character. Propositions were made by Connecticut in 1637
15 The present building is the fourth occupied by the First Church of Christ in New Haver. The first erected in 1639, the second in 1670, the third in 1757, and the jourth in 1814.
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and again in 1642, but Massachusetts would not give her con- sent. The next year, because of fear of a general Indian uprising to exterminate the whites, the confederacy was formed, consisting of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. For forty years these confederated colonies continued to operate in unison, holding together during the terrible King Philip's War, and gradually dissolving when the exigencies for which they had united ceased to exist.
It was while the Cambridge Synod was in session debating the question of baptism and church membership that the news arrived that Cromwell had overthrown the English King and was in charge of the British government. The attention of the synod was immediately turned to matters of church polity. Seven conclusions were arrived at, the following three being the more important: (I) the independence of the local churches was acknowledged, (2) the Westminster Confession of Faith was accepted with the exception of its provisions for government and discipline, and (3) the authority of civil magistrates in religious affairs was clearly defined.16
The Cambridge Platform, drawn up in the closing session of the synod of 1648, served as the constitution for all the Congregational Churches until 1708, when it was superceded by the Saybrook Platform, and Connecticut separated from Massachusetts and began the consociated system of church government.17 However good the results of the Cambridge Synod were in supplying the churches with a definite policy to resist the intrusion of other forms of ecclesiastical government, nothing was accomplished in the direction of what it had set out to do. The two subjects which were continually before the people and which had caused the synod to be convened were not settled, and as a result the heated Half-Way Covenant controversy began to excite all New England.
16 W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, pp. 203-37.
M. L. Greene, The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut, 17 p. 90.
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THE EVOLUTION OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCH.
Congregationalists had consistently maintained that only adults should be admitted to the church, but their children, like the children of the Jews, should share with their parents in the church covenant. This child membership was acquired by birth into a Christian home and the baptism which such a cir- cumstance permitted. But the question was raised about bap- tizing and admitting into the church covenant the children whose parents were not regenerate. A compromise was finally agreed upon: children of non-regenerate parents were to receive baptism and have the degree of church membership that their parents were able to transmit, but they were not admitted to the Lord's Table nor allowed to vote in affairs of church government. This double classification of church members, or dual membership, was called the Half-Way Covenant.18
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Although Davenport was most emphatic in his aversion to the compromise, and was assisted by some very capable leaders, he was unable to make his opposition effective. The ministers of Massachusetts and Connecticut met in convention in June, 1657, and after prolonged debate decided in favor of granting to the non-regenerate members the privilege of having their children baptized.
The Synod of 1662, meeting in Boston, dealt another blow to Davenport. Although Charles Chauncey, President of Harvard College, Increase Mather, later to become President of the same institution, and the venerable pastor of the New Haven Church strenuously opposed the Half-Way view and circulated some of Mr. Davenport's writings among the brethren, the majority approved the conclusions of the Ministerial Convention of 1657.19
It was too much for the aging and declining Davenport. The colony which he had founded and for which he had given the best of his life was departing from his ideals. His
18 W. Walker, The Congregationalists, pp. 170-3.
19 Ibid., p. 177.
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THE COLONY IN THE WILDERNESS.
influence, power, and friends were gone. The younger gener- ation was taking the lead in religious and civil affairs and pushing the older ones into the minority. The Fundamental Agreement, that compact which made religion the very corner- stone of the state, had been growing in disfavor, and any one could readily see that it would soon have to give way to something more suitable to the growing needs of the people. Theophilus Eaton had died in 1658, thus terminating a friend- ship which had stood unmarred for over half a century. Many of the old settlers had passed away. Thomas Hooker, pastor of the First Church in Hartford, and on many occasions the colleague of the New Haven pastor, had gone to his eternal home in 1647. Davenport felt himself all alone. The union of the New Haven Colony with Connecticut and the adoption of the Half-Way Covenant made further endurance impossible. A call came from the First Church in Boston in 1669, where a majority of the membership shared his antipathy to the modification of the old practice, and he accepted. It was an unfortunate move for both pastor and church, for the minority, which held the new view and opposed his coming, withdrew and formed the Old South Church. The next year, on March 15, 1670, in the 73d year of his life, the first pastor of the church in New Haven was at rest.
The Reverend Samuel Eaton, brother of Governor The- ophilus Eaton, had been assistant to Mr. Davenport before the formal organization of the church in 1639. While his duties were those of teacher he was never in office as such, nor did he ever serve as pastor. In 1640 he returned to England to induce some Puritan friends to come with him and settle in Totokett, or what is now Branford. The situation in the mother country had greatly changed to the advantage of the Puritan party, and Mr. Eaton felt constrained to remain and labor among his home folk rather than return to the wilder- ness of America. But it was not long until the loyalists were again in authority. In 1662 he was silenced by the Act of
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Uniformity; and the remainder of his life was filled with troubles and persecutions, until, on June 9, 1665, his trials were over and his enemies could harm him no more.
The first one officially to fill the office of teacher in the New Haven Church was the Reverend William Hooke, a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford. In 1637 he became minister in Taunton, in the Plymouth Colony, and in 1644 he was installed teacher in New Haven. For twelve years he cooperated with Mr. Davenport in ministering to the people and rendering faithful and able service. "If Mr. Davenport was more venerated than Mr. Hooke, and had more influence in the church and in the community generally, it was more because of the acknowledged personal superiority of the former in respect to age and gifts and learning, than because of any official disparity."20 In 1656, discouraged and depressed at the gloomy prospects in the colony, Mr. Hooke resigned and returned to England, where he died in 1678.
His successor in the office of teacher in the New Haven Church was the Reverend Nicholas Street,21 who had succeeded him in the pastorate at Taunton. Mr. Street had received his education at Oxford, England, and had come to America in 1638. For a time he was associated with Mr. Hooke in Taunton, and upon the latter's departure for New Haven he became pastor of the church. Some years later, when the office of teacher became vacant in New Haven, he voluntarily terminated his services in Taunton and again assumed the work of his former companion. He was installed on the 26th ^of September, 1659. After Mr. Davenport had removed to Boston, Mr. Street continued to serve the church in the capac- ity of both pastor and teacher. The Cambridge Platform22
20 L. Bacon, Historical Discourses, p. 43. See Charles Ray Palmer, Rev. William Hooke, 1601-1678, in New Haven Colony Historical Society Papers, Vol. VIII, pp. 56-81.
21 The great grandfather of the Reverend Nicholas Street of East Haven. See Street Genealogy, pp. 2-5.
22 W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, p. 211.
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defined the difference between these two offices as follows : "The pastor's special work is to attend to exhortation, and therein to administer a word of wisdom; the teacher is to attend to doctrine, and therein administer a word of knowl- edge; and either of them to administer the seals of that cove- nant unto the dispensation whereof they are alike called; and also to execute the censures, being but a kind of application of the word; the preaching of which, together with the appli- cation thereof, they are alike charged with all."
Mr. Street was the last to fill the office of teacher: from the time of his assuming the duties of pastor the entire respon- sibility was placed on him, and since his time there has been no distinction between these two offices. After fifteen years of faithful service, nine of which were as colleague with Mr. Davenport, his ministry was closed with his death, April 22, 1674
For the next ten years the church was without a pastor. The work was carried on by a series of ministers, each of whom gave but casual attention to the development of religion in the parish. The Reverend Joseph Taylor, who had gradu- ated from Harvard College in 1669 and was ordained pastor at Southampton, on Long Island, in March, 1680, preached intermittently from 1674 until 1679; and at one time was called by the church to make permanent settlement.23 His death occurred in April, 1682.
The Reverend John Harriman began to serve the church in July, 1676, and two years later he was invited "to go on in his work." He continued as a supply pastor, however, until 1683, when he removed to East Haven to lead in the formation of the parish. During the following year the church was served by a Mr. Wilson-about whom nothing definite is known.
The church was losing ground and the spiritual needs of 23 L. Bacon, p. 159; J. L. Sibley, Harvard Graduates, Vol. II, pp. 288-91.
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THE EVOLUTION OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCH.
the people were being sorely neglected. Realizing the imprac- ticability of the existing conditions the church appointed a com- mittee to go to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and invite the Reverend Joshua Moody, "a man, by report, singularly fit for the ministry," to become the settled pastor in New Haven. Mr. Moody had just been liberated from jail where he had served a term of imprisonment because he had defied the governor of the colony for interfering with religious matters. His par- ishioners in Portsmouth were intensely loyal to him, and the need for an aggressive spiritual leader was so pressing, that he decided to decline the New Haven invitation.24
24 " New Hampshire, less favored in its origin than the other New England colonies, was at that time subject to a royal governor,-a creature of King James II, practicing, in the four townes of New Hampshire, the same viola- tions of right and liberty, which his master was practicing on a grander scale in England. To such a governor, the pastor of Portsmouth had become greatly obnoxious, by the fearless freedom of his preaching, and by his resoluteness in maintaining a strictly Congregational Church discipline. A member of his Church was strongly suspected of having taken a false oath, in a matter of a vessel. The man thus charged with perjury, was able in some way to pacify the governor and the collector; but in the Church, the supposed offense was made a subject of investigation. Mr. Moody, as pastor, requested of Cranfield, the governor, copies of the evidence which had been taken in the case by the government. The governor not only refused this request, but declared that the man having been forgiven by him, should not be called to account by anybody else, and threatened the pastor with vengeance if he dared to proceed in the matter. But Mr. Moody did not believe that the right of a Christian Church to inspect the conduct of its own members, or the duty of a church to execute discipline upon offenders, depended on the will of governors or kings. ... Having consulted his church, he preached a sermon on the sin of perjury; and then the offender was tried, found guilty, and at last, by God's blessing upon the ordinance of church discipline, brought to repentence and a public confession. The governor, indignant at this manly proceeding, had yet no way to execute his threat of vengeance but by some indirect method. He accordingly made an order, that all the ministers within the province, should admit all persons of suitable age, and not vicious in their lives, to the Lord's supper, and their children to baptism; and that if any person should desire to have these sacraments administered according to the liturgy of the Church of England, his desire should be complied with .... Cranfield's next step was, without any loss of time, to send a written message to Mr. Moody, by the hands of
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The committee, manifesting good judgment although some- what exceeding its prerogatives, invited the Reverend James Pierpont, a young man of twenty-five years and less than three years a graduate of Harvard College, to come and preach as a candidate in the New Haven Church. Accepting their invi- tation, he arrived in August, 1684, and after preaching suitable doctrine he was given a call. His ordination took place on July 2d of the following year, after having served the people for eleven months.25 The chaotic situation had come to an end; the church was entering upon a period of prosperity under the direction of their new and capable minister, who was to continue in the pastoral office for thirty years and leave the imprint of his personality indelibly stamped on the develop- ment of religion and education in the colony.
The attitude of the people in the colony was from the first favorable toward education. A free school was established in 1641 by Ezekiel Cheever, a graduate of Cambridge, England, whose remarkable genius has earned for him the recognition of modern scholars as being "perhaps the most famous of all early American schoolmasters." His text book known as Cheever's Accidence was used for more than a century by all the Latin grammar schools of New England.26
In 1644 it was agreed that each person should contribute a peck of corn or wheat annually toward the support of Harvard College, and in 1653 the General Court ordered that twenty pounds be paid to the support of a fellowship. The next year, however, Mr. Davenport urged the establishment of a college in New Haven. The town donated land, Milford made a cash contribution, and Governor Hopkins augmented the small
the sheriff, signifying that he and two of his friends intended to partake of the Lord's supper the next Sunday, and requiring that it be administered according to the liturgy (Moody) was prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned." See L. Bacon, Historical Discourses, pp. 171-73; J. Belknap, History of New Hampshire, Vol. I, p. 204.
25 J. L. Sibley, Harvard Graduates, Vol. III, pp. 222-30.
26 E. P. Cubberly, Public Education in the United States, p. 33.
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endowment with five hundred pounds. Mr. Davenport was placed in charge.27 The people of New England protested against the attempts of New Haven to found a college on the ground that there was not sufficient demand for it and it would interfere with the prosperity of the college in Cambridge. Therefore, in 1644, the inchoate college became a secondary school to prepare youths for Harvard; and it continues to this day under the name of Hopkins Grammar School. Its first teacher was George Pardee, of East Haven.
For fifty-six years nothing further was done to advance the cause of higher education in Connecticut or New Haven. Youths from all over New England continued to attend Har- vard, which was generally acknowledged as the college for all the Puritan colonies. In 1700 ten ministers met in New Haven28 and agreed to found an institution of collegiate rank. At the next meeting, which was held in the home of the Reverend Henry Russell in Branford, each minister brought a quantity of books from his own library and gave them "for the founding of a college in this colony." The next year the legislature granted a charter and the college was started at Saybrook. Abraham Pierson, minister at Killingworth (now Clinton), was appointed rector.29 The first student in the new
27 E. E. Atwater, pp. 555-60.
28 Rev. James Noyes, of Stonington. Rev. Israel Chauncey, of Stratford. Rev. Thomas Buckingham, of Saybrook. Rev. Abraham Pierson, of Killingworth.
Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, of Hartford.
Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven.
Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford.
Rev. Noadiah Russell, of Middletown.
Rev. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield.
Rev. Samuel Mather, of Windsor. -See E. Oviatt, The Beginnings of Yale.
29 In 1716 the college, then known as the Collegiate School of Connecticut, was removed to New Haven. In 1718 the name was changed to Yale College, in honor of Elihu Yale. In 1887 the name was changed to Yale University.
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college, and for a time the only student (the entire college as he expressed it) was Jacob Hemingway, who was to become the first minister of the church in East Haven.
The Reforming Synod of 1679-80, called by the Massa- chusetts General Court and meeting in Boston, marked the beginning of the separation of Connecticut from Massachusetts Congregationalism.30 The movement in Connecticut for a more centralized church government was accelerated by the election of the Reverend Gurdon Saltonstall, of New London, to the governorship. He was quite influential with the clergy and his very decided views in favor of synods made a marked impression on the rapidly developing movement toward stricter ecclesiastical control. In May, 1708, the court issued a call for the Saybrook Synod. After some preliminaries the synod met in the college at Saybrook, September 9, with twelve min- isters and four laymen in attendance. Its ostensible purpose was to improve church discipline and establish a communion among the churches. Mr. Pierpont was one of the leaders, and it is reported that the Fifteen Articles which constitute the Saybrook Platform were drawn up by him.31 The Fifteen Articles provided for the grouping of churches in consocia- tions, as the Presbyterian churches are grouped in presbyteries ; and there was to be one or more such grouping in each county. All the ministers were to be grouped in associations, and their delegates would constitute an annual General Association. The consociations were to handle all cases of discipline, ordain, install, and dismiss ministers, while the associations were for consultation and ministerial licensure. In February, March,
Elihu Yale was born in Boston, April 5, 1648. His father was Thomas Yale, one of the original settlers in New Haven. Father and son returned to England, the former in 1651 and the latter in 1652, and never returned to this country. Elihu made several contributions to the Collegiate School of Connecticut, both in books and money. He died in London, July 8, 1721, and was buried in Wrexham, a small town in Wales.
30 M. L. Greene, p. 123.
31 L. Bacon, p. 191.
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and April, 1709, consociations and associations were formed in all the counties, and on May 18th the General Association held its first meeting.
Connecticut had definitely parted from the democratic form of church government as provided by the Cambridge Platform in favor of the consociated system and its ecclesiastical coun- cils. The separation of Connecticut from Massachusetts Con- gregationalism was complete. The Saybrook Platform was a compromise between Presbyterianism and the more demo- cratic Congregational order. The local churches had sur- rendered their freedom and the Presbyterian system of organization had triumphed. The names Congregational and Presbyterian were used interchangeably, but the churches were primarily Presbyterian in their character. A Presbyterianized Congregationalism was the official religion of the common- wealth.32 In 1799 the Hartford North Association declared33 "that the Constitution of the Churches in the State of Con- necticut, founded on the common usage, and the confession of faith, heads of agreement, and articles of church discipline, adopted at the earliest period of the Settlement of this State, is not Congregational, but contains the essentials of the Church of Scotland, or Presbyterian Church in America, particularly, as it gives a decisive power to Ecclesiastical Councils; and a Consociation consisting of Ministers and Messengers or a lay representation from the churches is possessed of substantially the same authority as a Presbytery." The General Associa- tion in 1805 acknowledged that "The Saybrook Platform is the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in Connecticut."34
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