USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut > Part 87
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At the head of the list of members a part of two lines are still legible, "were so in Dorchester, and came up here with Mr. [Warham] and still are of us," then follows a list of 17 male and 7 female members, and on the next page over the column of the names of the male members we read, " [Men tha]t have been taken [iuto fu]il communion since we [cam]e here. I set them down [acc]ording to the year and [da]y of the month they were [adm]itted and now remain ;" over the other column, " Women admitted here." Near the close of the record is another list of members, headed "The account of persons taken into Church communion, and years when, that are now living, December 21, 1677."
"Only yet living that came from Dorchester in full communion ;" then follows a list of nine males .- " Women from Dorchester," a list of six .- " Men taken in here,"-" Women taken in here."
It now remains to show that this Clinrch has not since lost its identity. It has been claimed that the First Church in Hartford is the oldest Church in Connecticut in which the ordinances have been regularly administered. This claim probably originated from the Record Book, from which I have quoted. It says : " Here I set down the times of sacraments administered. January 1669-70, a sacrament ; which the Church has not had 2 years and 12 weeks." This was but two and a half months before Mr. Warham's death. It is evident from the Record, which is continued seven years and a half after the above date, that it was not the practice of the Church at that time to have stated communion seasons. The intervals range from "7 weeks" to " 28 weeks." Our explanation of the withholding the administration of the sac- rament of the Lord's Supper, for more than two years, is as follows : In the fall of 1667 the Church, in consequence of "Mr. Warham becoming ancient," sent to the Pastors of Boston, Dorchester and Cambridge, soliciting their assistance in procuring a suitable person for a colleague, and they recom- mended the Rev. Nathaniel Chancey.
There was a want of unanimity among the people on the question of giving Mr. Chancey a call : and the Legislature then in session came forward in its wisdom to settle the difficulty, ordering a meeting of the Freemen and house- holders of Windsor, on the Monday following, to vote for or against giving Mr. Chancey a call, and forbid " all discourse and agitation" at said meeting, of such "matters as may provoke or disturb the spirits of each other." The result of that ballot was 86 votes for, and 52 against, calling Mr. Chancey. The minority now appeal to the Legislature and obtain an order authorizing them to procure another minister for themselves ; and liberty was granted to the Church to settle Mr. Chancey.
The next May, 1668, Mr. Warham inquires whether the Legislature intended to authorize any of members of the Church to withdraw, which was answered affirmatively. At the next session, in the fall of 1668, a Council of four ministers was designated to meet the April following, and " settle an accommodation between the Church and the dissenting brethren in Windsor, if they can attain to it ; " and in the mean time any might " without offence," attend the seperate meetings held by the minority (who had obtained the services of Rev. Mr. Woodbridge). The Council was ursuccessful, and in the fall of 1669 the dissenting brethren were authorized by the Legislature to gatlier themselves in a separate Church. This permission was doubtless acted upon before the 16th of the January following, which comprised the whole interval of " 2 years and 12 weeks," during all which time we have shown, the shield of the civil anthority was held over the refractory members, and they were now by the same authority removed from the membership of Mr. Warham's Church.
During this interval the Church sustained Mr. Warham and a colleague ; had regular services on the Sabbath and Lecture days, received members under the Half Way Covenant, and baptized children. Mr. Warham, his
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two deacons and 22 others of the original members, and about 70 admitted here, were at the close of this period in good and regular standing ; and if the omission of the sacrament, under these circumstances, constitutes an irregularity, it by no means disbanded the Church, but tends, when taken in connection with subsequent events, to prove rigid adherence to the principles of the Congregational Order, and the practice of uncompromising discipline.
That the old Church was not swallowed up in the new, we have abundant proof. In Jannary, 1678, a Mutnal Council was called by the two churches. That Council advised " that the two congregations reunite, and walk together in the same way and order, and this way of order whereunto they shall meet in their future walk, shall be the known and settled walk of the First Church, which we understand to be the Congregational way of Church Order." That " those who were originally members of the First Church be admitted ; and those who after the division joined the new Church, be examined, if there was any objection to them, by the Rev. Mr. Rowlandson and Rev. Mr. Hooker," neighboring ministers. The next August the Second Church send a com- munication to the First Church, stating their understanding of the Council to be, that they be received in a body, " without any trial of their fitness by the Church." The Church voted that " they understood the Council's act other- wise, and should wait the Council's session for the clearing up of the matter," July 1, 1680. The Court of Assistants " prohibit all distinct meetings on the Sabbath and public days." It appears from that Order that the Second Church had complied in part with the advice of Council. And it afterwards appears that part of those who separated from the First Church, had returned to her communion. October 1680, the Legislature ordered that the Society shall unite with the First on the terms proposed by the Council of 1668 ; both of the former ministers [Mr. Chancey and Mr. Woodbridge], to be re- leased, and a new one sought." Then the Second Church complain to the Legislature, that the First Church will not abide by the advice of said Coun- cil. " Our communicants are not entertained, or objected against [if they had been objected against they could have applied to Messrs. Rowlandson and Hooker for certificates of their Orthodoxy ], neither wc or our minister could enjoy communion in sacraments, nay the sacrament was put by, that we might not."
Finally, at the May session of 1682, the Legislature, " upon application of the Church of Windsor, respecting the difficulties they met with in the settle- ment of Mr. Mather [ to whom they had given a call], all former orders and endeavors not being effectual to remove the impediment that lies still in the way, that the matter of union may be plainly stated, which is now mainly impedimenting to them, this Court see cause to declare their ready owning the said Church, in the quiet practice of their professed principles in point of order, and that the forementioned union be carried on in manner following, viz : That Mr. Mather being in due time called and settled in office by the Church of Windsor, thereupon such of the Second Society as desire fellow- ship with them in all ordinances (excepting those that were formerly in com- munion with that Church, that are returned, or to return to the same standing in it), address themselves to Mr. Mather ; and having satisfied him about their experimental knowledge, and the grounds of that satisfaction by him declared to the Church to their acceptance, with encouraging testimony given in refer- ence to their conversation, they be thereupon admitted."
Thus ended a sad division which had continued through fifteen years, mainly stimulated, I think, by the mistaken sympathy of the civil authority. From that time there needs no citing of authorities, to show the continued existence of this church, and that " the ordinances have been regularly ad- ministered." Its present Confession of Faith bears internal evidence of its antiquity, and its orthodoxy. If I am not in error, the present Congregational Church in Windsor is the oldest Evangelical Church in America ; and, except the Southwark Church, London, the oldest Orthodox Congregational Church in the world.
J. H. HAYDEN.
Windsor Locks, Ct., January 16, 1855.
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APPENDIX.
ARTICLE II.
MESSRS. EDITORS-Since the appearance of Mr. Carlton's article in the Pu- ritan Recorder of April 5th, any farther presentation of the claim of the present Church in Windsor to precedence, may appear of secondary import- ance. But whatever present or future research may prove respecting other churches of earlier organization, I wish, if you can give me farther space in your columns, to establish one point in the history of the Church in Wind - sor, which has been called in question, viz : its removal, with its original organization, from Dorchester, Mass., to Connecticut.
The following extract is from the Life of Richard Mather, published with the sanction of his son, Rev. Increase Mather, in 1670, the very year of Mr. Warham's death, and but thirty-five years after the date of the event in qnes- tion, when there was no lack of living witnesses. There were still living twenty-four members of the church in Windsor, who " were so in Dorches- ter, and came up here with Mr. [Warham] and still are of us." Captain Roger Clap, and probably others who came from England with Mr. Warham and his people, and remained in Dorchester, were also living.
" Being thus by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm brought into New England, motions from sundry towns were soon presented to him, desiring that he would employ the talent which the Lord had enriched him with for the work of the ministry amongst them ; at the same time he was desired at Plymouth, Dorchester and Roxbury. Being in a great strait in his own mind, which of these invitations to accept of; considering that in difficult cases counsel is an ordinance of God, whereby he is wont to discover his will, he therefore referred himself to the advice of some judicious friends, amongst whom Mr. Cotton and Mr. Hooker were chief, who met to consult this weighty affair ; and their advice was, that he should accept of the motion from Dor- chester, which, being accordingly accepted of by him, he did (by the help of Christ) set upon that great work of gathering a Church ; the Church which was first planted in that place being removed with the Rev. Mr. Warham to Connecticut. There was an essay towards gathering a Church, April 1, 1636 ; but by reason that the messengers of neighboring churches were not satisfied concerning some that were intended members of that foundation, the work was deferred until August 23, when a Church was constituted in Dorchester according to the order of the Gospel by Confession and Profession of Faith ; and Mr. Mather was chosen Teacher of that Church."
Blake's Annals of Dorchester, dated 1750 (the year of the author's death), 115 years after the removal of Mr. Warham and his people to Connecticut, states that " Mr. Warham and about half ye Church removed to Windsor, in Connecticut Colony, and Mr. Mather and his people came and joined with Mr. Maverick, and that half of ye Church that were lett, and from these people so united are ye greatest part of ye present inhabitants descended. When these two companies of people were thus united, they made one Church, hav- ing ye sd Rev. Mr. John Maverick, and ye sd Rev. Mr. Richard Mather for their Pastors."
This statement taken in connection with the fact, that Mr. Warham and Mr. Maverick were installed Pastor and Teacher over the old Church before they left England, has seemed to militate against the evidence presented to sustain the claim that the old Church did remove to Connecticut in its or- ganized capacity. But the author of the Annals was certainly in error re- specting Mr. Maverick's connection with the new Church ; for Winthrop shows that he had been dead more than six months when the new Church was formed, and I think the author little nearer the truth in the statement, that half the old Church remained in Dorchester.
I am, perhaps, presuming too much to ask space to extend this commnni- cation farther, and certainly am stepping beyond my original design to attempt a criticism on the evidence adduced to prove the identity of the present Church in West Barnstable, and that gathered by Henry Jacob in 1616.
It appears from Mr. Carleton's article, that unless his claim is valid, the far famed Congregational Church of Southwark, London, became extinct long
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before the question of precedence possessed any interest. Whatever partiality rival claimants may feel for the precedence of the churches whose claims they present, few will, withont regret, accept the latter alternative.
Mr. Carleton, with so much ingenious plausibility disposes of the extract. from Winthrop, which disproved the former claim that Mr. Lothrop was still pastor of that church at the time of his arrival in New England, that I feel some reluctance in saying, that to my mind, his supposition relative to the pastor, applies with equal force to the Church. If the Church was impris- oned with its pastor, and it was a condition of his release, or a matter of ex- pediency, that his pastoral relation should be severed from the Church of his affections, his prayers and his labors, would not the same reasons require the disbanding of the Church, to facilitate the release of its individual men -. bers ?
Again, Mr. Carleton after quoting from Mr. Lothrop : "Upon the 23d of November, 1634, our brethren of Scituate that were members at Plymouth were dismissed from their membership, in case they joined in a body at Scituate ;" and goes on to say : " But was there a Church in Scituate on the 5th of October, one week after Mr. Lothrop arrived there, although those who were connected with the Plymouth Church had not at that time received their letters of dismission ? According to Winthrop, there was a church there even then ; for he says ' He (Lothrop) went to Scituate, being desired to be their pastor.' Mr. Lothrop had then, on the 5th of October, 1634, been invited to be the pastor of a church in Scituate, before the persons residing there, but belonging to the Plymouth Church, had obtained letters of dismission from their churches." To show that the quotation from Winthrop does not of itself prove a church organization at Scituate, I need but refer to the foregoing extract from the life of Richard Mather, from which it appears that " he was desired" " for the work of the ministry" in " sundry towns," and " being in a great strait in his own minde which of these invitations to accept of," the advice of his friends was " that he should accept of the motion from Dorchester, which being accordingly accepted of by him, he did, by the help of Christ, set upon that great work, of gathering a Church." Mr. Mather's call was certainly as definite as Mr. Lothrop's. Neither does the fact, that " none from the Plymouth Church," " Mr. Heatherly, who was the father of Scituate, and Mr. Cudworth, at whose house the first Church Fast was held, appear among those who, " Upon January 8, 1634, joined in cove- nant together," but united with the Church afterwards, give us any positive proof that the said covenanting together of " so many of us as had been in covenant before," was not the organization of a new church ; for, at the or- ganization of the New Church in Dorchester by Mr. Mather (which occurred a few months later), but seven individuals united to form the church, even the name of Roger Clap, who had been " on the ground" five years, a mem- ber of Mr. Warham's Church, does not appear among the original members. And, besides, the inference Mr. Carleton draws from the time the Plymouth brethren united with the church, suggests the inquiry, Why did they hold their letters of dismission so long if there was a church in Scituate previous to November 23d ?
In the extracts from Mr. Lothrop's Record of Church days of Humiliation, which Mr. Carleton has given (January 8th, and that after the removal to Barnstable), there appears more difference in the wording than the same author is likely to make in recording " similar ceremonies."
Once more, Mr. Carleton says, " Mr. Lothrop has recorded two Church Fasts previous to the 8th of January, which he numbers 1, 2." " By numbering these days, and putting them in the list of Church Fasts, which amounted in Scituate to twelve, and in Barnstable to twenty or more, he clearly indicates that the church existed and acted as such before January 8, 1634, O. S., or before the day when they renewed covenant." I have nothing positive with which to break the force of this apparently positive testimony, and must still reply by referring to analagous cases, where we know a contrary construction is the true one. A few years since several members of the church in Wind-
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APPENDIX.
sor, residing in this village, and three members of other churches, met to make preliminary arrangements for the organization of a new church, which organization was consummated a few weeks after. Are the proceedings of that meeting out of place on our Church Records, and under the head of " Proceedings of the Church ?" The well known faith and zeal of Mr. Lo- throp and his people would have led us to expect, that, after setting down in the wilderness at Scituate, they would have observed " days of Humiliation," before January 8th, even though the people, as well as pastor, were " not then in order;" and if any record remained we should expect to find it with the record of like days after the formal organization of their church.
It will be said my objections to the proofs offered to sustain the claims of the church in West Barnstable to precedence are all negative ; but are some of the vital points of the proofs free from a like objection ?
In the present state of the question I see no necessity for abandoning the claim that the Church in Windsor is the oldest Orthodox Congregational Church in America. I regret that in this discussion the Church in Windsor had not an able champion. I am not even a member of the Church in Windsor ; but a motive for my volunteer efforts may be formed in the fact, that I am proud to trace my descent from the first Pastor of that Church, the Deacon, and several of the members "who came up from Dorchester in full communion." Six generations of my ancestors have lived and died in that communion, and " my friends and kindred" still "inherit the land, and dwell therein." There I made a public profession of my faith in " the God of my Fathers;" and from thence I consented (though with deep regret) to ask, with others, a letter of dismission, and commendation " to the Council to be convened at Windsor Locks, for the purpose of organizing said members into a Church." J. H. HAYDEN.
Windsor Locks, Ct., June, 1855.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the editor of the Recorder summed up as follows :
The Oldest Church.
Before we made our recent statement, as to the Church in Lynn being the oldest Church, we were aware that the First Church in Hartford-several years younger than that in Lynn-claimed to be, and we supposed was con- ceded to be, the oldest Church in Connecticut. We have not the means of settling the question between Hartford and Windsor. That in Hartford con- fidently rests in the conclusion that she is the oldest. If her claim is well founded, the priority of Lynn is established. But if gentlemen in Hartford and Windsor, living nearer the sources of original information, cannot settle the question, it would hardly be modest in us to assume to do it.
Then as to the other point, whether the Windsor Church, removing from Dorchester, removed in an organized capacity-that it voted in Church meet- ing to remove as a Church-and carried with them their Church Records, formally dismissing those left behind, and continuing to keep their Records, as the same Church-more light is required. It is true that, both here and at Cambridge, after the removal of some of the first settlers to Connecticut with their ministers, another organization of the Church was had. For new immigrants had come in, and purchased the houses and lands of those migrat- ing to Connectiont ; and so great was the change of people, that there would be occasion for a re-construction of the Church, whether the people who left went in an organized body, or were organized anew in their new field.
We were led to conclude, from what Cotton Mather says, that they did organize anew in Connecticut. Speaking of those Connectiont transplants, he says, of this and that one, that it " removed and became a Church " in Connec- tient. Of the emigrants to Windsor he says, " They removed and became a Church." It was on this authority that we based onr former position. But since we have had occasion to examine the matter more critically, we have came to the conclusion that Mather uses a looseness of expression here ; not
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
intending to inform us whether the Church organization was transferred. Otherwise lic would contradict himself ; for in one passage he tells us, that the Dorchester people moved and became a Church in Windsor, and in another, that the Church planted in Dorchester was transplanted to Windsor. In one place he tells us that Stone and Hooker went as Colleagues to Hartford; and, in another, that Stone was ordained Teacher of the Church at Hartford. Mather uses such vagueness of speech about the whole matter, that his testi- mony is of little or no valuc either way.
As to the evidence produced by Mr. Hayden, in his very acceptable article, it proves clearly, that another Church was organized at Dorchester. Of this we were well aware ; but the expression, " a large part of the old one being gone to Conn.," would seem to indicate that the Church itself did not go. The difficulty about all the documents relating to this subject is, that the writers seem to have treated the question, as to the preservation of the origi- nal organization, as a matter of little consequence; while they state the fact of the removal, and so nse expressions which may be construed either way. This defect appears in Mr. Hayden's extracts from the mutilated Compilation of Records. The writer might have said the things there cited in cither case. Still we are not certain that there may not be proofs extant somewhere, which will definitely settle this question ; and if any of our readers know of such proofs, we should be grateful for the communication of them, * *
Meanwhile, considering nothing upon these points to be definitely settled, we will, in order to be sure that we tread on no one's toes, for the present modify our position ; and say that the Church in Lynn is the oldest Orthodox Congregational Church in Massachusetts, and the oldest remaining in its position, or place of its planting, of any in the country.
No. 4. Pago 75. The Presbyterianism of the Earlier Churches of New England.
The Presbyterian Quarterly, for January, 1859, in a review of a recent issue of the German press entitled : " The New England Theocracy - a History of Congregationalism in New England to the Revivals of 1740. By H. F. Uhden, with a preface by the late Dr. Neander," makes the following remarks :
As to the constitution of the individual Church in the early history of New England, it was Presbyterian rather than Congregational. This was the case with the mother Church of Leyden, of which Robinson was Pastor, and Brewster a Ruling Elder. They seem to have borrowed their ideas of the proper and Scriptural organization of an individual church, with scarce a modification, from the writings of Calvin. In the French Reformed Church, as is well known, the principles of the Genevese Reformer were more per- fectly and constantly carried out than in Geneva itself, and it is to the French Reformed Churches that thic Leyden Church refers as the pattern from which they had drawn. In response to certain honorable members of His Majesty's Privy Council, Robinson and Brewster reply under their own signatures to the effect that " touching the ecclesiastical ministry, namely of pastors for teaching, elders for ruling, and deacons for distributing the Church contribu- tion, as also for the two sacraments, &c., we do wholly and in all points agree with the French Reformed churches, according to their public confession of faith," They add that some small differences were to be found in their prac- tice, but such only as were "in some accidental circumstances," and "not
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at all in the substance of the things." Yet in specifying these differences, they say, " We choose none for governing elders but such as are ' apt to teach.' " " Their elders are annual, &c., ours perpetual." "Our elders administer their office publicly, theirs more privately." These are the only matters of difference between themselves and the French Reformed Churches, to which they refer in connection with the form of government or the constitution of the individual church.
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