USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > Thirteen historical discourses, on the completion of two hundred years : from the beginning of the First Church in New Haven, with an appendix > Part 8
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# Preface to Power of Congregational Churches.
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non-conformist Cotton. The bishop having the advantage of him by such arguments as the Star chamber afforded, said, in reference to these debates, "I thought I had settled his judgment." Accordingly the prelate expressed himself with some displeasure, when he found, near the close of the year 1633, that Davenport had not only openly " declared his judgment againt conformity with the Church of England," but had resigned his benefice and escaped from the warrant that was out against him, by fleeing into Holland .*
So conscientious was Mr. Davenport, that even when threat- ened with immediate danger, he would not retreat from his post without the free consent of those to whom he stood in the pastoral relation. "Being seasonably and sufficiently ~ advertised" of the impending " vengeance" of the arch- bishop, " he convened the principal persons under his pasto- ral charge at a general vestry, desiring them on this occasion to declare what they would advise ; for, acknowledging the right which they had in him as their pastor, he would not, by any danger, be driven from any service which they should expect or demand at his hands." "Upon a serious delib- eration, they discharged his conscientious obligations, by agreeing with him that it would be best for him to resign." Having resigned, he still found that he could not be safe till he had put the sea between himself and the officers that · were in pursuit of him.t
In the city of Amsterdam, there had been for many years a congregation of English Christians, organized upon Pres- byterian principles, under the pastoral care of Mr. John Paget. That Church, having heard of Mr. Davenport's arrival in Hol- land, immediately sent messengers to meet him, with the invitation to be colleague with their aged pastor. Accord- ingly he labored for a season in the English Church at Am- sterdam, with "great acceptance." But a difference soon arose between him and Mr. Paget, in respect to the indiscrim- inate baptism of children practiced in that congregation. The
* Wood.
t Magnalia, III, 52.
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practice there had been, as it was and is in the Established Church of England, to baptize the children of all sorts of parents, without any evidence or inquiry as to the fitness of the parents to enter into such a covenant. This Davenport refused to do, which gave great offense to Mr. Paget. The matter was in some way brought before the Dutch classis or presbytery, to which that English Church appears to have been subject ; but though the classis acknowledged Mr. Dav- enport's "eminent learning and singular piety," and could not refrain from " approving his good zeal and care" respecting the fitness of parents offering their children for baptism, he had already made up his mind against the power of classical as- semblies, as well as against the promiscuous administration of ordinances ; and the result was, "the matter could not be accommodated ; Mr. Davenport could not be allowed, except he would promise to baptize the children whose parents and sureties were, even upon examination, found never so much unchristianized, ignorant or scandalous.". Being thus con- strained to desist from the public exercise of his ministry, he confined himself to a private Sabbath evening lecture at his own lodgings ; but that was soon complained of, and his lecture was given up. Several works were published on both sides during the progress of this controversy, the last of which, being Mr. Davenport's "Apologetical Reply," was printed at Rotterdam in 1636. Soon after this, having found by experience that a strict Presbyterian hierarchy is not much better than the yoke of prelacy, he returned to his native country, for the purpose of emigrating to America."*
٦٠
From the first movement towards the planting of the Mas- sachusetts colony, Mr. Davenport, though at that time he had no idea of leaving England himself, had much to do with the undertaking. That colony, from its beginning, had oc- casion to regard him as one of its chief patrons.t "And
* Magnalia, III, 53.
t He contributed £50, and his friend and parishioner Eaton paid £100 to- wards procuring the charter of Massachusetts in 1628. Hutchinson, III, 395. Eaton was one of the original patentees.
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while he was in Holland," says Mather, " he received letters of Mr. Cotton, from the country whereto he had been thus a father, telling him that the order of the Churches and the commonwealth, was now so settled in New England, by common consent, that it brought into his mind the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness." Accordingly he and his friend Theophilus Eaton, became the leaders of a new expedition to New England, which arrived at Boston, in the Hector and another vessel, on the 26th of June, 1637 .*
Mr. Davenport was heartily welcomed by the ministers and Churches who were in New England before him, for he arrived at a time when the whole colony of Massachu- setts was shaken with a religious controversy. There are certain opinions which always come forth, under one form or another, in times of great religious excitement, to dishonor the truth which they simulate, and to defeat the work of God by heating the minds of men to enthusiasm, and thus leading them into licentiousness of conduct. These opin- ions, essentially the same under many modifications, have been known in various ages by various names, as Antinomi- anism, Familism, and-in our day-Perfectionism. Persons falling into these errors commonly begin by talking mysti- cally and extravagantly about grace, the indwelling of the Spirit, the identity of believers with the person of Christ, or of the Holy Ghost, or of God ; as they proceed they learn to despise all ordinances and means of grace, they put contempt upon the Bible as a mere dead letter, worth nothing in com- parison with their inspiration, they reject and revile all civil government and order; and not unfrequently they end in denying theoretically all the difference between right and wrong so far as their conduct is concerned, and in rushing to the shameless perpetration of the most loathsome wickedness. This intellectual and spiritual disease had broken out in Mas- sachusetts, and threatened to become epidemic. An artful,
* Winthrop, I, 227.
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enthusiastic and eloquent woman, forgetting, like some wo- men of our day, the modesty of her sex, had set herself up for a preacher; and by the adroitness with which she ad- dressed herself to the weaknesses and prejudices of individ- uals, and drew to her side the authority of some of the most honored names in the colony, she seemed likely not only to lead her own blind followers to the wildest extravagances, but to spread division through all the Churches. In this crisis a man so eminent as Davenport, so much respected by all parties, so exempt from any participation in the contro- versy, so learned in the Scriptures, so skilled in the great art of marking distinctions and detecting fallacies, could not but be welcomed by all-to use the words of Mather, " as Moses welcomed Jethro, hoping that he would be as eyes to them in the wilderness." A synod was soon to be held at which the controversies of the day were to be examined, and if pos- sible adjusted. On the 17th of August, Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone having already come from Connecticut to attend the expected synod, " Mr. Davenport preached at Boston (it be- ing the lecture day) out of that in 1 Cor. 'I exhort you, brethren, &c., that there be no divisions among you,' &c. ; wherein," says Gov. Winthrop, "as he fully set forth the nature and danger of divisions, and the disorders which were among us, so he clearly discovered his judgment against the new opinions and bitter practices which were sprung up here."*
The synod met at Cambridge (then called Newtown) on the thirtieth of August, Mr. Hooker of Hartford, and Mr. Buckly of Concord, being the moderators, and "all the teach- ing elders in the country and some new come out of Eng- land, as Mr. Davenport," having seats in the assembly. During the three weeks' session which ensued, Mr. Daven- port was active in promoting the ends aimed at in the sermon just referred to. " The learning and wisdom of this worthy man," says Mather, "in the synod then assembled, did con-
* Winthrop, I, 236.
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tribute more than a little to dispel the fascinating mists which had suddenly disordered our affairs." The session being fin- ished, Mr. Davenport, at the request of the synod, preached in Boston from Phil. iii, 16,-" Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." In his sermon, "he laid down the occasions of differences among Christians, declared the effect and fruit of the synod, and with much wisdom and argument persuaded to unity."*
The wealth, the reputation, and the intellectual and moral endowments of the newly arrived company of emigrants, made it an object with each of the colonies already planted, to secure so valuable an accession. They were invited to Plymouth ; offers of the most liberal character were made to them by the people of Massachusetts ; but for various reasons they determined to attempt a new and independent settle- ment. Of these reasons, the most obvious and most cogent was, that their chief men were Londoners, accustomed chiefly to commercial pursuits, and there was no considerable pros- pect at that time of building up another commercial town in either of those elder colonies. Another reason was found in the expectation that some invasion would soon be made upon the liberties of Massachusetts and Plymouth by the sending over of a general governor. In some way they expected, by establishing a new colony out of the bounds of any existing jurisdiction, without any charter, or any recognition of de- pendence on the king, to escape or resist the power of the expected general governor. Davenport knew that Laud, the head of the royal commissioners for the colonies, was his personal enemy, and had uttered against him, on hearing of his retreat into America, the significant threat, My arm shall reach him there,t and that therefore he, of all men, had no reason to expect any favor from a governor-general ruling in the name of the archbishop. Is it not possible that the bold thought was entertained of asserting, if it should be neces-
* Winthrop, I, 241.
t Neal, III, 229.
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sary, an absolute independence of the English crown, and of the English state ? He who reads their records, will find nothing to contradict such an hypothesis. May it not have been among their imaginings, that the progress of tyranny in their native country would bring to New England increasing multitudes of such men as they were, with increasing re- sources, till, in a few years, they should be able to defy inva- sion ? Nay, had not the progress of tyranny in England been arrested by the breaking out of civil war, and the subversion of the monarchy, might not such an idea have been realized, and the Declaration of Independence have been anticipated by more than a century ?
Just before the arrival of the emigrants from Coleman street, the Pequot war had made the colonists acquainted with a tract of coast till that time unexplored. The soldiers who, after the Mystic fight, pursued the flying Pequots from their ancient seat east of the Thames, to the swamp beyond the Housatonic, where their race was extinguished, had been struck especially with the vernal beauty of this place. Here they had remained several days, waiting for information of the route of the enemies they were pursuing. Captain Stoughton had written to the Governor of Massa- chusetts, " The Providence of God guided us to so excellent a country at Quaillipioak river, and so along the coast as we travelled, as I am confident we have not the like in English possession as yet ; and probable it is that the Dutch will seize it if the English do not : it is too good for any but friends."* Captain Underhill, too, had brought home to Boston his tes- timony of "that famous place called Queenapiok," that "it hath a fair river, fit for harboring of ships, and abounds with rich and goodly meadows.", Mr. Eaton, therefore, early in September, came to this place with a few others of his company, to examine it in person. He appears to have determined at once on this, as the best spot for their under- taking ; and accordingly he left a few men here through the
* Hutchinson, III, 62.
+ III, Mass. Hist. Coll. VI, 13.
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winter, to make some little preparation for commencing the settlement .*
When Mr. Davenport and his company, in the following spring, removed from Massachusetts to this place, bringing with them many families who had been settled there, but who were induced by the bright prospects of this new enter- prise, to remove themselves out of that jurisdiction, the. mi- gration was felt to be a great weakening of the Massachu- setts colony. An admirable letter to the government of that colony, was written by Mr. Davenport, and signed by him- self and Mr. Eaton, declaring the reasons of their attempting a separate and independent colony. The whole letter is full of affection and devotion, and the conclusion particularly, which I read to you from the original autograph, is eloquent.
" The season of the year and other weighty considera- tions, compelled us to hasten to a full and final conclusion which we are at last come unto, by God's appointment and direction, we hope in mercy, and have sent letters to Con- necticut for a speedy transacting the purchase of the parts about Quillypieck from the natives which may pretend title thereunto : by which act we are absolutely and irrevocably in- gaged that way, and we are persuaded that God will order it for good unto these plantations, whose love so abundantly above our deserts or expectations, expressed in your desire of our abode in these parts, as we shall ever retain in thankful memory, so we shall account ourselves thereby obliged to be any way instrumental and serviceable for the common good of these plantations as well as of those, which the Divine prov-
* Dr. Dana (Serm. on Completion of 18th Cent., 45) says, "Seven men began the settlement in the autumn of 1637. Mr. Joshua Atwater, a gentle- man of distinction and opulence, was of the seven. They passed the win- ter in an indifferent shelter, thrown up for the season, near the South Mar- ket." He adds that Mr. Atwater "built the house now occupied by his great-grandson, Thomas Atwater, a convenient habitation, though older, by about fifty years, than any in the city." The same house is still standing in Fleet street, owned and occupied by descendants of the original proprietor. The " South Market," I am told, was at the intersection of George and Church streets with Meadow street and Congress Avenue. -
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idence hath combined together in as strong bond of brotherly affection, by the sameness of their condition, as Joab and Abishai were, whose several armies did mutually strengthen them both against several enemies-2 Sam. 10-9, 10, 11, or rather they are joined together as Hippocrates his twins, to stand and fall, to grow and decay, to flourish and wither, to live and die together. In witness of the premises we subscribe our names,
JOHN DAVENPORT, THEOPH. EATON."
The 12th day of the 1st Month Anno 1638 *.
Behold him then planted here in New Haven. He and his friend Eaton build their dwellings over against each other on the same street ; and the intimacy begun when they were children and strengthened in their earlier manhood, is prolonged without interruption, till in a good old age, death separates them for a little season, to meet again in heaven. They were never out of each other's thoughts; and rarely could a day pass by, in which they did not see each other and take counsel together. The voice of prayer, or the evening psalm, in one of their dwellings, might be heard in the other. Whatever changes came upon one family, the other was sure to partake immediately in the sorrow or the joy. In such neighborhood and intimacy, these two friends passed their days here, till the full strength of manhood in which they came, had gradually turned to venerable age. They saw trials, many and various ; trials such as weigh heaviest upon the spirit, and cause the heart to faint ; but in all their trials they had one hope, one consolation ; and how refreshing to such men, in such vicissitudes, is the sympathy of kindred souls, well-tried and true. Strong in themselves, with the gifts of nature, the endowments of education and experience, and the unction of Almighty grace; strong in their indi- vidual reliance upon God their help and Savior ; they were the stronger for their friendship, the stronger for their mutual
* This letter was first published in the appendix to Winthrop, (1, 404,) and afterwards in the Mass. His. Coll. (III Series, III, 165,) from which it has been frequently copied. The original is still in possession of F. B. Win- throp, Esq., of this city.
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counsels the stronger for the sympathy by which each drew the other towards the great fountain of strength, and love, and life. 1
Such are the friendships of good men. Their intima- cies make them better, holier, happier, more patient for en- durance, wiser for counsel, stronger for every godlike action. " But the ungodly are not so."
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DISCOURSE VI.
JOHN DAVENPORT AND THEOPHILUS EATON THE FOUNDERS OF A NEW REPUBLIC : VICISSITUDES IN NEW HAVEN TILL 1660.
MATT. iii, 3 .- The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
SOME lineaments of the character of Mr. Davenport and his friend Governor Eaton, may be traced in the institutions which they gave to the little community of which they were the founders, and in the conduct of that commonwealth while it was under their controlling influence. None who read the records of the town and colony, can doubt either that in whatever respects New Haven differed from the other New England colonies, the difference was owing chiefly to the influence of these two men; or that in whatever par- ticulars the institutions and government of New Haven were conformed to those of the other colonies, that conformity was because these two men were of the same sort with those truly noble men who planted Plymouth, and the Bay, and the Connecticut.
First, then, the fact that John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton had this commanding influence in the colony of New Haven, shows that they were extraordinary men. What gave them this influence over their associates ? They brought with them no royal grant making them Lords Pro- prietaries, as Penn and Calvert were in their respective prov- inces. They had no commission from king or parliament, to exercise authority over the emigrants that came with them. Their influence could not be ascribed to their wealth; for though Eaton was the wealthiest of the colonists-his estate being rated at three thousand pounds ; and though Daven- port was one of the nine who, after the governor, were the richest inhabitants of the town, their estates being rated at one thousand pounds each ; their superiority in this respect
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was at the most but trifling, and in such a country as this was then, wealth alone can do but little towards giving its possessor permanent influence. To what then shall we as- cribe their controlling influence in the colony? Will you say it was because they were followed hither by a company of weak, enthusiastic men, easily led and managed? But weak, enthusiastic people, easily managed by one man to-day, will be just as easily led by another to-morrow. It was not so in this case. The people of New Haven, in eighteen suc- cessive annual elections, made Theophilus Eaton their chief magistrate ; and for thirty years, through all sorts of changes, they adhered to their honored and venerated pastor with con- stant attachment. The great power of these two men had its seat in the understandings and affections of the people. It was none other than the power of intellectual superiority combined with unquestionable moral worth. That they had such power, in such a community, proves that they were of the number of those who are created to govern their fel- low men by the divine right of genius and virtue.
It will be worth our while, then, to look at the distinctive character of the New Haven colony, as illustrating the per- sonal character of its two principal founders.
1. New Haven was distinguished above the other colonies by its zeal for education. On this point, if I should go into all the particulars which would be interesting, I should greatly transgress the limits which I have prescribed to myself ; and indeed there is the less occasion for this, as the subject has been recently treated by another, far better than I could hope to do .* I will only say, then, that if we of this city enjoy in this respect any peculiar privileges-if it is a privilege that any poor man here, with ordinary health in his family, and the ordinary blessing of God upon his industry, may give to his son, without sending him away from home, the best edu- cation which the country affords-if it is a privilege to us to live in a city in which learning, sound and thorough educa-
* Kingsley's Historical Discourse.
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tion, is, equally with commerce and the mechanic arts, a great public interest-if it is a privilege to us to record among our fellow citizens some of the brightest names in the learning and science, not of our country only, but of the age, and to be conversant with such men, and subject to their constant influence in the various relations of society-if it is a privi- lege that our young mechanics, in their associations, can receive instruction in popular lectures from the most accom- plished teachers-if, in a word, there is any privilege in hav- ing our home at one of the fountains of light for this vast confederacy-the privilege may be traced to the influence of John Davenport, to the peculiar character which he, more than any other man, gave to this community in its very be- ginning. Every one of us is daily enjoying the effects of his wisdom and public spirit. Thus, he is to-day our bene- factor ; and thus he is to be the benefactor of our posterity through ages to come. How aptly might that beautiful apos- trophe of one of our poets have been addressed to him :
" The good begun by thee shall onward flow In many a branching stream, and wider grow ; The seed that in these few and fleeting hours, Thy hands, unsparing and unwearied, sow, Shall deck thy grave with amaranthine flowers, And yield thee fruit divine in heaven's immortal bowers."
2. Another characteristic of the New Haven colony, while it continued under the influence of its two great fathers, was great strictness in the administration of the laws. In the words of Hubbard, " They were very vigorous in the exe- cution of justice, and especially the punishment of offenders." The meaning of this is not, that their laws were more severe than those of the other colonies; on the contrary, I am per- suaded, after considerable investigation, that the reverse is true. The meaning is, that they carried all their laws into effect, with a more impartial and undeviating strictness than was practiced elsewhere. He who examines our public rec- ords, with reference to this matter, will find much reason to believe that the historian just quoted did not speak at ran-
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dom. For myself I may say, that in studying these records, I have acquired new views of the dignity which belongs to the place of the civil magistrate. I seem to see, in the proceedings of the courts, in which the Governor constantly presided, something of the original of that description which Mather has so elaborately given, in writing the life of him whom he calls the Moses of New Haven. "He carried in his very countenance a majesty which cannot be described ; and in his dispensations of justice, he was a mirror for the most imitable impartiality, but ungainsayable authority of his proceedings, being awfully sensible of the obligations which the oath of a judge lays upon him. Hence he who would most patiently bear hard things offered to his person in private cases, would never pass by any public affronts or neglects, when he appeared under the character of a magistrate. But he still was the guide of the blind, the staff of the lame, the helper of the widow and the orphan, and all the distressed. None that had a good cause was afraid of coming before him. On the one side, in his days did the righteous flourish ; on the other side, he was the terror of evil doers." I cannot doubt that this character of Governor Eaton as a magistrate, is substantially correct. He and those who were associated with him in the government, appear to have been greatly distinguished by a strong love of justice. They felt that it was for them to see to it always that the "rules of righteous- ness" were " duly attended." Such a feeling was inculca- ted upon them, and upon the people, by their pastor. He had strong views of the divine institution of civil govern- ment, and especially of that government which the people here had agreed upon as most agreeable to the will of God. Never elsewhere, I believe, has the world seen magistrates who felt more deeply that they were God's ministers execu- ting God's justice. The law which they administered was not the law of man merely ; it was not simply a conventional code, or an arbitrary system of regulations; it was the law of God, the great eternal rule of righteousness, drawn out and applied to the particular exigencies of this community ; and
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