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 6
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The Universalists were the first to come out in the open and declare their opposition to the old doctrines. They were in the field as the champions of liberalism thirty years before the Unitarians. Their principal doctrine was the ultimate salva- tion of all men everywhere; universal salvation was the plan of God, and while men might repel the heavenly Father during their lives as mundane creatures, living in fellowship with sin and cleaving to that which is evil, they would finally be won to righteousness.
In America there were several eminent ministers in the Episcopal, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Congregational denomi- nations who gave it their hearty endorsement before any attempt was made to organize a Universalist Church. But it was for the Reverend John Murray to establish the first Uni- versalist Church in America; an odd blending was the theology of this brilliant Englishman, for his father was an Episco- palian, his mother a Presbyterian, and he himself had been an earnest disciple of Calvin. Not satisfied with the faith of his childhood and youth, he joined himself to a Wesleyan society, but was subsequently converted to Universalism through a book entitled Union written by the Reverend James Relly.4 In 1774 he removed to Gloucester, Massachusetts, where there
4 Richard Eddy, The Universalists, pp. 388-407.
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were several adherents to his doctrine of final restitution. Here on January 1, 1779, the first American Universalist Church was formed, the little handful of believers naming their organization "a true independent Church of Christ." Their meetings were held in private homes until Christmas day, 1780, when for the first time they occupied their own house of divine worship.5
The progress and growth of the Universalist movement in New England was largely due to the efforts of the Reverend Hosea Ballou, preeminently the greatest figure in American Universalism. A creative thinker of Unitarian views, whose ministerial activities were largely in Massachusetts and Ver- mont, his influence has been felt in every Protestant denomi- nation in the land. His first efforts in the pulpit were so miserable that those who heard him "had their doubts whether he had a talent for such labor." In 1805 he published his Treatise on Atonement, "the first assembling of all the points of the liberal theology of the present day," and one of the truly great works in American religious thought.6 It promulgated the doctrine that Christ's atonement had nothing to do with the divine law; that it was moral and not legal. Christ suf- fered for men but not as a substitute; every man must suffer for his own sins, although salvation is certain for all.
Two years before the Treatise on Atonement appeared, the Universalists held a convention in Winchester, New Hamp- shire, and adopted a Profession of Belief, known as the "Win- chester Profession." It was the embodiment of the liberalism of Hosea Ballou, and it is still the statement of faith in the Universalist Church.
Universalism did not find fertile soil in Connecticut. Mr. Murray made frequent trips into the colony, but he established
5 See Life of Reverend John Murray, written by himself and his wife.
" It was followed a few months later by One God In One Person Only, written by the Rev. John Sherman, of Mansfield, Connecticut,-the first Unitarian book published in America.
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no church. A few separate society organizations7 were formed here and there and associations were created in 1827, but their growth has been exceedingly meager.
Contemporaneous with the gradual development of Univer- salism there was a silent and steady growth in a similar move- ment, known as Unitarianism. It, too, was a reaction from the stricter forms of Calvinism, but its evolution was peaceful until three decades after the Universalists had started out for them- selves.
The Unitarians were in opposition to the Trinitarians; they maintained the unity, rather than the trinity, of God. Jesus was recognized as being "more than a man" although his deity was flatly rejected ; he was not God, but created of God, and consequently of lower rating. God alone was not created.8 They denied the total depravity of man, emphasizing instead his super-mundane possibilities, and, like the Universalists, believing the doctrine of future punishment to be irrational and contrary to divine will. Salvation was only through character. It was decidedly a rationalistic movement in which Reason and Revelation were looked upon as divine gifts, the latter being absurd if inconsistent with the former. In their preach- ing they magnified the goodness and mercy of the heavenly Father and the duty of man to man.
The Reverend Ebenezer Gay,? of Hingham, Massachusetts (1717-1787), is known as the "Father of American Unitarian- ism." He probably was the first to preach openly his anti- Trinitarian belief, although he was not alone in his convictions; for, according to the testimony of President John Adams, the Reverend Lemuel Briant, minister in Braintree, Massachusetts,
X
" L. Bacon, Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut, p. 278. "No Congregational Church in the state has ever apostasized to Univer- salism."
'The Works of William E. Channing (1878), pp. 367-84.
9 W. C. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. VIII, pp. 5-6. Forty-nine ministers in the 18th century in New England were of Unitarian views.
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from 1747 till 1752, was an avowed Unitarian.10 Dr. Cotton Mather, in his Convention Sermon in 1772, declared that there was a growing tendency among churches to entertain lower views respecting the person of Christ.
In 1727 Reverend Charles Chauncy settled in the pastorate at the First Church, Boston, and for 60 years was the intellec- tual force of the Unitarians. However, the popular leader was the Reverend Jonathan Mayhew, pastor of the West Church in the same city from 1747 to 1767. Because of his anti-Trinitarian views several of the local ministers refused to take part in his ordination. In 1785 the congregation in King's Chapel, Boston, eliminated from their Prayer Book all references to the Trinity, and thus "the first Episcopal Church in New England became the first Unitarian Church in America." The Reverend James Freeman, an avowed Uni- tarian, was settled in the parish two years later. Still, the anti-Trinitarians in the Congregational order continued to express themselves while remaining in the fold.
The appointment of the Reverend Henry Ware, a Unitarian, as Hollis Professor in Harvard College, in 1805, revealed the rapidly growing strength of the liberals. Several similar appointments soon followed and Harvard became the seat of the liberal party.11 In a very short time all the Congrega- tional churches in Boston, except the Old South Church, were Unitarian, although they retained membership in the Congre- gational denomination. In the second decade of the 19th century there were about 130 Unitarian churches in and around Boston, but not one called itself Unitarian.
Reverend William Ellery Channing, on May 5, 1815, preached the installation sermon for the Reverend Jared Sparks, a firm anti-Trinitarian, in a church in Baltimore.12 Channing was anxious to keep the liberal movement within
10 C. F. Adams, Three Episodes in the History of Massachusetts, p. 643. 11 J. Quincy, History of Harvard, Vol. II, pp. 284, 291.
12 Channing's Works, pp. 367-384.
N.S.
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the Congregational body, while he strenuously opposed the old Calvinistic theology and the "New Divinity" of the Edwardean school. His sermon was a sane and masterly attack on the orthodox doctrines and a clear, concise elucida- tion of the Unitarian beliefs. It was received with such popular approval that he became at once the leader of his party. The conservatives were led by Professor Moses Stuart and Professor Andrews Norton, who immediately took up the issue. For more than a generation a heated theological con- troversy continued, but the organization of the American Unitarian Association, in 1825, giving the liberals a denomi- nation of their own, allayed the intensity of the conflict.
While the early controversy was dying out, the Reverend Ralph Waldo Emerson, minister in the Boston Second Church, requested of his parishioners to discontinue observing the Lord's Supper. Because of their refusal he resigned and retired from active work in the pulpit. In 1838 he delivered the address before the graduating class of the Harvard Divin- ity School, and astounded even his own constituency with his radicalism. Three years later the Reverend Theodore Parker delivered a sermon on The Transient and Permanent in Chris- tianity, which was essentially of the same point of view as Emerson's commencement address. Thus a new departure was made in Unitarianism which has led to the development of the doctrines now held. Two parties speedily developed, the conservatives led by the aging Channing and the liberals led by Emerson and Parker. With the death of the conserva- tive leader the liberals gained ascendency.
Eastern Massachusetts, particularly Boston, was the heart of the Unitarian movement.13 The Pilgrim Church in Ply- mouth, the First Church, Boston, where John Davenport spent his last years, and, in fact, all the early churches, with the
13 J. H. Allen, The Unitarians, p. 195, "A radius of 35 miles from Boston as a center would sweep almost the whole field of its history."
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exception of Old South, became Unitarian, although for many years they did not change their names.
Unitarianism could not take root in Connecticut. The con- sociated system of church government could easily handle incipient heresy and remove it before a dangerous situation developed. As soon as anti-Trinitarian utterances were heard in Massachusetts, the members of the "old guard" in Connect- icut were on the alert for similar heretical sounds in their own household. The Reverend Stanley Griswold, of New Milford, was dismissed from his pastorate for preaching unorthodox doctrine. The Reverend Whitfield Cowles, of Granby, openly declared himself an anti-Trinitarian, but his congregation refused to follow him; so he was released and soon disap- peared. The Reverend John Sherman, pastor of the South Church, Mansfield, the Reverend Henry Channing, of New London, and the Reverend Abiel Abbott, of South Coventry, were excluded from fellowship by their respective consocia- tions and forced to retire; Reverend Luther Wilson, of Brook- lyn, and the Reverend George Leonard, of the First Church in Canterbury, were expelled from their charges by their own parishioners for anti-Trinitarian beliefs.14 So potent was the strength of the Connecticut consociations that no church in the state became Unitarian.
Universalism and Unitarianism did not become cogent forces until the beginning of the nineteenth century; and while they were silently growing within the fold of orthodoxy, their radical doctrines being only occasionally expressed in public, another school of religious thinkers had come out into the open to declare war on them as well as on the strict Calvinists. The New Lights began to develop a theology of their own, which they called the "New Divinity," or "Calvinism Im- proved," but which is now generally known as the "New England theology." The Old Lights were really between two
14 L. Bacon, Contributions to Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut, pp. 275-77.
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fires -- the liberal anti-Trinitarians, on the one hand, and those advocating the "New Divinity," on the other. However free Connecticut and Western Massachusetts remained from the heresies of Universalism and Unitarianism, "Improved Calvin- ism" could not be kept out. In fact the outstanding champions of the new order were largely men from Connecticut, and, with one exception, graduates of Yale. The conservative Old Lights held on with grim tenacity, battling hard and long to keep Consociated Congregationalism free from profanation and defilement, but they were fighting a losing fight. By 1758 the control of religious affairs in the colony was com- pletely wrested from them, and their decline became more marked as the century drew to a close.
The father of the school of "New Divinity" was Jonathan Edwards, a man of rich religious experience, a mystic of deep convictions, and an intellectual giant. A Calvinist, believing heartily in the sovereignty of God, he tried to show man's personal responsibility in saving his own soul.
A disciple of Edwards whose services in the cause were invaluable was the Reverend Samuel Hopkins, Yale 1741, minister at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, from 1743 till 1769, and at Newport, Rhode Island, from 1770 till his death, in 1803. Though not an eminent pulpit orator, he was a powerful and adroit controversialist; and his able defense of the "Improved Calvinism" lead to the development of a theo- logical system known as "Hopkintonian" or "Hopkinsian."15 It was not a new or original system, but rather an extension of Edwardeanism, carrying further the idea of love for God as the highest and truest virtue. Every individual should love God for the glory of God, resigning himself entirely to the will of the heavenly Father. Thus a true test for conversion was in the answer to the query, "Are you willing to be eternally damned for the glory of God?" If one was so willing, it was
15 W. Walker, Congregationalists, pp. 288-290; also F. H. Foster, A History of New England Theology, pp. 162-186.
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a clear sign that he was regenerate; but the fallacy lay in the fact that if he was so willing he was saved. Man's first duty was to surrender himself, body and soul, to God, and when that was done his inclination would be to serve God and renounce sin.
Edwards and Hopkins published numerous sermons, pam- phlets, and books, all of which elicited prompt replies from the advocates of liberalism and from the Old Light Calvinists. It was a three-cornered conflict, in which all contestants resorted to pamphleteering; in fact the second half of the eighteenth century may be characterized theologically as an age of pamphlet warfare. One of the most capable defenders of the Old Light party was Moses Hemenway, a cousin twice removed of the first pastor of the East Haven Church.
The second generation of "New Divinity" enthusiasts was well able to carry on the work which had gained such wide . favor and general acceptance. They were men of unusual talent both in the pulpit and with the pen; men of intense religious fervor and keen intelligence who were not afraid to declare their convictions. Reverend Stephen West and Rev- erend John Smalley, both Connecticut men and graduates of Yale, and Jonathan Edwards, Jr., a graduate of Princeton, were the most eminent ones to continue the development of Edwardeanism. The younger Edwards was very much like his father in mental capacity,16 although less of a mystic, and his career was strikingly similar to his progenitor.
His principal contribution was a "Governmental Theory" of the atonement, which was elicited by the Universalists, and which was a total departure from the original Edwardeanism. It had been set forth by Bellamy and Smalley, but in three sermons preached in the White Haven Church (United Church), New Haven, Edwards, Jr., gave it such clear eluci- dation that he is generally looked upon as its originator. Heartily accepted by his colleagues and by subsequent leaders in his school, it became the dominant theory in New England.
16 W. Walker, p. 294.
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The crucifixion of Christ upon the Cross, so the doctrine stated, was not the payment of a debt to an offended God ; but as the law of God is righteous and must be fully respected, . Christ's death was an expedient to uphold the authority of the divine government. This did not mean that the sinner had the right to be saved, but that through Christ's sacrifice the penalty of sin was satisfied and God's grace was free to all men.17
Of course the Universalists and Unitarians registered aver- sion to such a doctrine, but the old Calvinists were simply horrified. They believed that the fall of Adam made the entire human race guilty of sin, and that sin was a debt which had to be paid. Every individual would have to suffer the penalty of his guilt or find a substitute who was innocent of sin and who would appease the wrath of an angry God by bearing the guilt of others. This substitute was Jesus Christ.
Two other leaders of the Edwardean school must be con- sidered here. Nathaneal Emmons, of East Haddam, Con- necticut, a graduate of Yale in 1767, studied for the ministry under Smalley and Hopkins. While he departed somewhat from his teachers, he brought the Hopkinsian system of theology to its logical and most absolute conclusions. In matters of church polity, too, he took a leading rôle, persist- ently advocating "pure democracy" as the form of govern- ment for Congregational churches, and opposing all tendencies toward Presbyterianism. When attempts were made to form a State Association in Massachusetts he labored assiduously to prevent any such step, declaring, "Associationism leads to Consociationism; Consociationism leads to Presbyterianism; Presbyterianism leads to Episcopacy; Episcopacy leads to Roman Catholicism; and Roman Catholicism is an ultimate fact."
17 G. N. Boardman, New England Theology, pp. 230-237 ; also F. H. Foster, A History of New England Theology, pp. 200-206.
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Reverend Timothy Dwight, a graduate of Yale in 1769, and from 1795 to 1817 President of his alma mater, was of a more conciliatory nature. His influence over the students of the college was tremendous, so that the "New Divinity" was firmly established as the theology of the institution. An indefatigable worker in matters of religion and education, and unmistakably a follower of Edwards, he could not accept the extreme position held by Hopkins and his disciple Emmons.18 His position on all questions was far more moderate and tolerant. With the old Calvinists he believed that an individual was lost in sin so long as he remained unconverted, but his conduct was less sinful if he performed virtuous acts. Thus through Emmons and Dwight the "New Divinity" began to divide into two separate schools, each of which was to carry on the theological altercation during the first half of the next century.19
The pastor and his parishioners in East Haven remained true to their original Calvinism.20 Though the spirit of con- troversy everywhere filled the air, there was marked unanimity of opinion among those who assembled Sabbath after Sabbath to worship under the spiritual leadership of Mr. Street. The Great Awakening had stirred up excitement in the colonies, but East Haven remained outside its pale. Even during the visits of Whitfield and Davenport in New Haven the villagers on the east side of the Quinnipiac were apparently immune to the ecstasy so near at hand. The New Haven Church was rent asunder by the ungenerous and malicious work of James Davenport, resulting in the establishment of what is now the United Church, but still the diplomatic pastor in East Haven
18 W. Walker, pp. 302-305.
19 See Chapter 4.
20 At a church meeting, "called to discourse of church government, and of ye manner in which they proposed to be governed, Voted and agreed, that the Seabrook platform should be the constitution by which they, with their pastor, would be governed." September 3, 1755. Ecclesiastical Society Records, Vol. I.
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held his people under his influence, preventing them, by his own wisdom and the power of his personality, from becoming a part of the turmoil of the times. When Universalism and Unitarianism began to be heard, and the cloud of dissension and strife settled low on the horizon, he successfully led his people through the storm. The "New Divinity" of Jonathan Edwards and his school, though completely capturing the ecclesiastical machinery of Connecticut and firmly implanting itself in Yale College in New Haven, did not directly affect the East Haven Church. The villagers had always been strict Calvinists, and to strict Calvinism they remained staunch and true. Toward the close of the century Mr. Street fre- quently exchanged pulpits with President Dwight; but it must be remembered that the Yale President was of generous dispo- sition, a very moderate Edwardean, and not a controversialist. Undoubtedly Mr. Street felt that his people would not be endangered by the preaching of Mr. Dwight, while he availed himself of the opportunity to address the students in the college chapel.
It is quite probable that the positive program of the East Haven Church, demanding so much of the good people, kept harmony and happiness within the organization. The people were too busy and too absorbed with their own local problems to become involved in affairs beyond the immediate parish. Their meeting-house had become too small for the growing congregation and too decadent to be repaired and enlarged, so every one had to concentrate on the task of erecting a new building.
There had been an agitation in the village for this purpose before the death of Mr. Hemingway, but financial conditions were unfavorable and the need was not particularly urgent, so the old one was repaired and continued in use for about thirty- five years more. In December, 1769, the Ecclesiastical Society "Voted we build a new meeting-house, if we can be suited with the place," and later in the month a meeting was held "to fix
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upon a place where the new meeting-house is to be set." It was a matter of deep concern to all, and every voter was present. The people of Foxon and Dragon wanted the new edifice to stand at the foot of Mullen Hill, where the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad now runs through, while the inhabitants at the South End and Morris Cove fav- ored the site of the old meeting-house. The people in the center were divided, the majority, however, uniting against the Mullen Hill location. After a spirited discussion a vote was taken, resulting in thirty-seven for the Green, and twenty- seven for Mullen Hill. Although a majority favored the Green the excitement was so tense that the leaders of both sides, realizing the delicate nature of the situation, urged that definite and final action be postponed until a representative committee, consisting of members of both factions,21 "try to agree about a spot where the meeting-house should stand, and if they agreed the people would agree."
In the following year the committee reported their inability to arrive at an agreement. The only thing left to do was to invite non-resident and impartial persons to conduct an investi- gation and arbitrate. Captain Eliakim Hull, of Wallingford, Colonel Nathaniel Chauncy and James Wadsworth, of Dur- ham, were invited to review the case and render a decision. Captain Guernsey, of New Haven, was made alternate, to serve in case one of the others could not. This committee held meetings and made a report, although there is no record of the recommendations. Arbitration, apparently, had failed, and the whole matter of building a new church was dropped until December, 1771, when it was again voted, "we will build a meeting-house for the public worship of God." But the same old question of location again became the paramount
21 The committee consisted of Captain Stephen Smith, Samuel Thompson, and Captain Isaac Chidsey, from Foxon; Samuel Hemingway, from Dragon; Captain Amos Morris, and Stephen Morris, from Morris Cove; Benjamin Smith, from the South End; John Woodward, from Woodwardtown; Abra- ham Heminway and Timothy Andrews, from the Center.
OLD STONE CHURCH, 1774-1797
E
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issue. The vote in 1769 had stood in favor of the Green, but now the situation was reversed : Mullen Hill had twenty-seven, the Green twenty, and "Thompson's Corner," a point midway between the disputed sites, two. The Mullen Hill folk had not increased their constituency, but the advocates of the Green had lost. It is probable that several voters refused to cast their ballot, being willing to have the meeting-house at either place. It was obvious that a third location would have to be chosen; for the majority of each of the principal contestants continued obstinate, and the feeling was becoming quite bitter. At a meeting of the Society, in January, 1772, it was decided to request the judges of the County Court to relieve the dilemma by rendering a decision as to where the new meeting-house should be erected. But at the following meeting of the Society it was voted, "that two of the judges of the County Court, with another judicious man, should be a committee to state the place of the meeting-house." The committee, finally consist- ing of the two judges of the County Court, Colonel Chauncy, of Durham, Esquire Darling, of New Haven,22 and Caleb Beecher, of Amity, now Woodbridge, was requested to "come and take a view of the Society before the Court sits," and to "keep their decision secret till the Court hath empowered them" to make it known. The Committee made an exhaustive exami- nation of all conditions and circumstances and decided on "Thompson's Corner," thus fully satisfying neither party and requiring each to yield. It was a wise and judicious decision, for it maintained harmony in the church, and the subsequent growth of the town was such that the meeting-house held the most central position.
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