USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Brief history of the First Baptist Church in Boston : with a list of its present members, 1843 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Gc 974.402 B65bf 1820263
M.L .:
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00084 1178
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryoffi00firs
11.2011 1
A
BRIEF HISTORY
OF THE
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN BOSTON, Not
WITH A
List of its Present Members.
REVISED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE CHURCH, APPOINTED FOR THAT
PURPOSE ; TO WHICH ALSO ARE ADDED THE CHURCH
COVENANT AND ARTICLES OF FAITH.
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY BOSTON, JANUARY 1,CHICAGO
BOSTON:
PRINTED BY S. N. DICKINSON. 1843.
~
1820263
BOSTON. FIRST SARTIST CHURCH. A brief history of the First Baptist church in Boston, with a list of its present members Revised by a committee of tho church, appointed for that purpose; to which also are added the church covenant and articles of faith. Boston, January 1. 1843. Boston, Dickinson, 1843. 36p.
37:
NL 36-2784
HISTORY.
THIS CHURCH Was gathered in Charlestown, on the 28th of May, 1665. Having first given themselves to the Lord, and then to each other, by the will of God, engaging to walk together in all the appointments of their Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, they im- bodied themselves into a Baptist Church. Their names were Thomas Gould, Thomas Osborne, Edward Drink- er, John George, Richard Goodhall, William Turner, Robert Lambert, Mary Goodhall, Mary Newell.
This was considered a most unprecedented and un- justifiable act, by the rulers, and most of the people in Massachusetts, who accordingly denounced them as disturbers of the peace. as heretics, &c., and they soon passed a law, ordering them to depart out of their juris- diction. And nothing was so disagreeable and danger- ous, in their view, as the sentiments of these Baptists, although in all other respects they were acknowledged to be most worthy Christians, and as holy, watchful, and heavenly people as any in the world.
A law had been passed, at an early period, forbidding any persons to form a Church, or to meet together for divine service, without the consent of the magistrate. Under this law, on the 20th of August, not three months after the Baptists had formed themselves into a church, and began to meet and worship by themselves, a warrant was issued by Richard Russell, Esq,, to the constable in Charlestown, requiring him, in his majesty's name, to labor to discover where these people were assembled, and to require them to attend the established worship, which, if they refused to do, he was to return their
4
names and place of abode to the next magistrate. In consequence whereof they were brought before the Court of Assistants, to whom they exhibited a confes- sion of their faith,* in September, 1665.
We should hardly think there was any thing in it which could endanger the peace and safety of the com- munity, and indeed the Court did not pretend to find fault with any article except that which made immersed believers the only fit subjects of a visible Church of Christ.
This, in fact, was the main point on which their dif- ferences turned, and continues to be so, between Baptists and Pedobaptists, at the present day.
The founders of this Church could not see that any but practical believers, who had been baptized upon a profession of their faith, could be visible members of the Church of Christ.
On this account, they were highly criminal in the view of our worthy forefathers, as the prevalence of such sentiments would tend to the subversion of their Church order.
The Court of Assistants, therefore, charged them to desist from what they called their schismatical practice. But because they did not see fit to renounce their faith, they were summoned to appear before the General Court, and notwithstanding their confession of faith they there presented, the following sentence was passed ; that, Thomas Gould, William Turner, Thomas Osborne, Edward Drinker and John George, such of them as were free men to be disfranchised, and all of them to be committed to prison, until the General Court take fur- ther order with them.
On the 17th of April, the year following, they were again indicted before the county court at Cambridge, for absenting themselves from public worship, and when they asserted that they steadily attended such worship, (meaning in their own church,) they convicted them of high presumption. Gould, Osborne and George, the three principal brethren, were fined four pounds each,
* Inserted at page 14.
5
and ordered to bind themselves in a bond of twenty pounds each, for their appearance at the Court of As- sistants.
This they refused to do, and were therefore committed to prison, and were denied the privilege of speaking even in self-defence.
The May following, the General Court ordered that Thomas Gould, William Turner and John Farnum, should, before the July coming, remove out of their ju- risdiction ; and if they were seen in any part of it, after that time, without license from the Court or Council, they were to be thrown into prison, and were therefore commanded to prepare to go into banishment.
The Church now consisted of about eighteen mem- bers.
Gould and his associates seemed determined to suffer imprisonment, rather than go into exile, and their un- happy case excited the compassion of many who did not think with them in sentiment, both in Europe and America ; and letters of remonstrance were sent to their persecutors from Pedobaptists in England, to prevail upon them to desist from their persecutions, but they did not produce the effect that was expected.
The sentence of banishment was suffered to remain in full force ; they were liable to be apprehended if found within their jurisdiction, at any time after the 20th of July, 1665.
It does not appear that Gould and Russell were both considered preachers at the same time.
A number of brethren met regularly, once a week, at Noddle's Island, (now East Boston,) at the house of Mr. Gould, when, probably, he was the principal speaker.
When the weather was unpleasant, the brethren resi- ding at and about Woburn, assembled and attended the ministry of elder Russell, a gracious, wise, and holy man. From these men arose the Church in Woburn.
The spirit of persecution still continued. Elder Rus- sell and his son, and brother Foster, were thrown into prison, and confined there for nearly six months.
On the 20th of May, 1672, the General Court ordered their law books to be revised, and inserted another act,
1.
6
sentencing to banishment every person who should openly oppose, or condemn the baptizing of infants .*
Thus the Baptists continued to be exposed to perse- cution, and two of them, Trumbel and Osborne were, in 1673, fined twenty shillings each, for withdrawing from the public (that is the established) meetings.
But this year, Mr. John Leveret, who had all along been opposed to the measures used against the Baptists, was chosen governor, and they were permitted to enjoy their liberty for nearly six years.
In October, 1675, Mr. Gould died, just ten years after the Church was constituted, and Isaac Hull and Elder Russell became the pastors of the Church, assisted in their labors, during two or three years, by Mr. John Miles, who was one of the two thousand ministers ejected from their livings in England, in 1662.
Mr. Gould proved an eminent instrument in the hand of the Lord, for the carrying on of this good work of God in its weak beginnings.
The Church under the occasional labors of Messrs. Russell, Hull and Miles, had become so large, that they agreed to divide into two Churches, but in January,
. A few years previous to this, three men from Newport, R. I., being on a visit to their friends in Lynn, were apprehended, by pub- lic authority, while attending divme service at the house of Mr. Witter, and the next day sent to prison. About a fortnight after- wards, the Court required each of them to pay his fine, or to be whipped. One of them was afterwards released, the fine of the other was paid by his friends, without his knowledge ; but the third, by the name of Obadiah Holmes, was whipped, thirty stripes, and in such an unmerciful manner, that in many duys, if not some weeks, he could take no rest but ns he lny upon his knees and cl- bows; not being able to touch the bed whereon he lay, with any part of his body, on account of the sufferings thereof.
With a three-corded whip, he was most cruelly scourged, for no other crime than that of denying that infants ought to be baptized. The names of the other two that were imprisoned and fined for the same offence, were John Hazel and John Spur. A female, also, by the name of Moody, was compelled to flee for safety.
They were not allowed to live in peace, but every effort was made to suppress them. Some they whipped, some they fined, somne they imprisoned, and some they banished. And warrants were issued out against persons, whose only crime was showing some emotion of sympathy towards these innocent sufferers.
7
1678, they resolved to unite and erect a place of worship in Boston, having, for fourteen years, been destitute of a house for public worship, during which time they met for worship in their dwelling houses in Charlestown, Boston and Noddle's Island.
Before the meeting house was finished, Governor Leveret died, and former measures of severity were re- newed against the Baptists.
On the 15th of February, 1679, the Church met in their house for the first time. It was located at the cor- ner of what is now called Stillman and Salem Streets.
But our brethren were not long permitted to assemble in their new house. The General Court passed a law in the May following, that no person should erect or make use of a house for public worship, without license from the authorities, under the penalty that the house and land on which it stood, should be forfeited. In con- sequence of this, they refrained from meeting in their house until an order was received from the king, re- quiring "that liberty of conscience should be allowed to all protestants," and that none should " be subjected to fines and forfeitures for not agreeing in the congrega- tional way."
Notice being thus received of the king's pleasure, they met again in their house.
But they had not assembled but three or four times in their house, before the Court ordered the marshal to nail up the doors, which he accordingly did, on the Sth of March, 1650, putting a paper thereon, which said : - "All persons are to take notice, that by order of the Court, the doors of this house are shut, and that they are in- hibited to hold any meetings therein, or to open the doors thereof, without license from the authorities, till the Court take further order, as they will answer the contrary at their peril."
Next Lord's day, therefore, the Church met in the yard, and the ensuing week erected a temporary cover- ing; but coming the second Lord's day, they found the doors of the house opened, and they continued to meet in it till the General Court met, in the month of May following, when, having been admonished in open
8
Court, by the Governor, Simon Bradstreet, and charged not to meet in their house, they were dismissed, and the Court agreed to suspend any further proceedings against them.
Thus our brethren were left, for a while at least, to worship God as they chose, although the law forbade them.
On the 21st of December, 1680, in less than one year after the meeting house was opened. it pleased the Lord to remove from this scene of suffering, their beloved pastor, Elder John Russell.
After the death of Mr. Russell, the Church appointed Ellis Callender, to aid in carrying on their worship in the forenoon, and Edward Drinker to officiate in the af- ternoon, in the absence of Elder Hull.
To narrate the sufferings that the Baptists endured in defence of their principles, during twelve or fifteen years, would fill a volume. These sufferings, however, by the kind providence of God, were at length brought to a close.
Mr. Miles died February 3d, 1683.
Previous to the year 1684, the Church, in consequence of the age and infirmity of Elder Hull, had written to England for an assistant pastor, and obtained a man by the name of John Emblem, who continued in that office till about the year 1699, when he died.
The Church then applied to England again for help, but as they could obtain none, they called Mr. Ellis Cal- lender to become their pastor, (who, when the Church was destitute of a pastor, had been "principal speaker among them for about thirty years.")
He was ordained in 1708. He continued in the pas- toral office, highly honored and esteemed, for more than ten years.
His son, Elisha Callender, became his successor in the pastoral office. He had received a liberal education in Harvard College, and graduated in the year 1710. He was baptized, and received into the Church, August 10th, 1713, and ordained to the solemn work of the min- istry, May 21st, 1718.
The ordination of Mr. Callender was an interesting
9
event, on account of its having been attended by those very ministers, who, a few years before, had used their influence to drive the Baptists out of the Colony.
So wonderful was the change which had already been effected in the public sentiment, that Dr. Increase Ma- ther, and Cotton Mather, and Mr. John Webb, three prin- cipal clergymen of this town, in the Congregational order, at the request of the Church, not only agreed to the settlement of Mr. Callender, but performed the prin- cipal services on the occasion, and that too, in the very house which had been once nailed up by the authority of the town.
Every thing seemed to be in a prosperous train during the whole of Mr. Callender's ministry ; almost every month additions were made to the Church, and a broad foundation laid for its future enlargement. But in the midst of life and usefulness, Mr. Callender was arrested by disease, and removed from his beloved flock.
On the 20th of January, 1738, he preached his last sermon, from the text, " Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
His last advice to the Church was, " Away with luke- warmness ; away with remissness in attending the house of prayer ; live in peace, that the God of love and peace may be with you ; improve your time, for your standing in the Church is short ; and that is the way to prepare for the inheritance of the saints in light."
He died on the 31st day of March, 1738, in the twen- tieth year of his ministry.
His life was unspotted, and his conversation always affable, religious, and truly manly. During his long ill- ness he was remarkably patient, and in his last hours, like the blessed above. "I shall," said he, "sleep in Jesus," and that moment expired.
He was the first of the pastors of this Church, and the first Baptist minister who received a college educa- tion in this section of the country.
After the death of Mr. Callender, the Church wrote to England for Mr. Jeremiah Condy, to become their pastor ; in the mean time the pulpit was supplied by dif- ferent ministers.
·
10
Mr. Condy's answer signified his acceptance of the call ; he was accordingly ordained on the 14th of Feb- ruary, 1739.
In 1743, a number of the members of this Church withdrew, and formed the second Church in Boston.
Mr. Condy resigned his pastoral office August, 1764, after which he retired to a private station, and died in 1768, aged fifty-nine years, twenty-five of which he was pastor of this Church.
The next person who sustained that office was the eminent and beloved Samuel Stillman. He was public- ly installed, January 9th, 1765, just one hundred years from the formation of the Church in Charlestown.
During the occupancy of this town by the British troops, in the year 1775, the Church was in a dispersed condition. Mr. Stillman, with his family, removed to Philadelphia, where they resided for more than a year. He returned the 2d of June, 1776, and the few brethren remaining here, again assembled in the house, which was regularly opened for public worship, on Lord's days, during the whole of the war, when most of the other meeting houses in the town were shut.
When about the age of twelve or fourteen, and while residing in Charleston, S. C., young Stillman was brought to the knowledge of Christ, as his Saviour, un- der the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Hart, Baptist minister in that city. He early received an academical educa- tion, and being decidedly pious, and possessing pleasing talents for the ministry, he commenced public speaking when about the age of twenty.
His popular and fervid manner of address soon brought him into high estimation. When he first visited Boston, having entered by the south part of the town, so few were the Baptists, that he found it difficult to learn the residence of the Rev. Mr. Bound, then the only Baptist minister in Boston.
Dr. Stillman's ministry was long and prosperous. He had always prayed that his life and usefulness might end together. Accordingly, the measure of his days being full, his course finished, and his work done, it pleased the Lord, after detaining him only two Sabbaths
11
from the pulpit, to take him to himself, on Wednesday, the 12th day of March, 1507. On the Monday following, his remains were conveyed to the meeting house, and, after an appropriate discourse by the Rev. Dr Baldwin, were followed to the grave by his bereaved family and flock, and a great number of citizens.
During some of the last years of his ministry, he was permitted to witness a revival of religion of greater ex- tent and power than had blessed this town since the memorable period of 1740. As this was the first season of special mercy that this town enjoyed in the early part of the present century, and as it was the first in the series of revivals that have since followed, its history is now become a matter of deep interest. In the Baptist Magazine of 1504 and 5, this work is thus described :
" A special seriousness made its appearance in both Baptist churches early in 1803. Its first indications were a solemn stillness, and a deep, fixed attention on the Sabbath. The work gradually continued to extend from week to week, through two or three years." What are now known as inquiry meetings were not then insti- tuted ; but there was what amounted to the same thing.
" It has been usual, during the fall, winter and spring months," says the Magazine, " while the evenings were sufficiently long, for the people to tarry after the bless- ing, and frequently some minister present has again addressed them. Sometimes two or three have spoken and prayed. This custom seemed to arise out of the feelings of the people. They appeared loath to leave the place. There is no doubt but they would have tarried until midnight, had the exhortations been con- tinued." The number gathered into the First Church was 127; into the Second, 185. " Although these two societies have been the principal sharers in the work," says the Magazine, " it has not been confined to them. Persons from almost every society in town, and num- bers from the adjacent towns, have frequently attended on our lectures; and we have reason to believe that many have reaped saving advantages.
" The work was still and without confusion. The gospel preached was principally blessed. . Almost crery
£
12
thing seemed to preach. The converts generally had a deep sense of the depravity of their own hearts ; of the infinite evil of sin, as committed against a holy Ged. It reclaimed the profane swearer, the gambler, and the Sabbath breaker. It made the young men ' sober min- ded.' "
After the decease of Dr. Stillman, the Church invited Mr. Josephi Clay to become their pastor, which he ac- cepted, and was installed on the third Wednesday in August, 1807. He continued with the Church till the beginning of November, 1508, when, agreeably with his previous engagement, he left them, and sailed for Sa- vannah, the place of his nativity, expecting to return to them in the spring. But soon after, finding his health declining, he obtained a dismission from his pastoral charge, in October, 1809.
On the 11th of January, 1811, after a long and tedious illness, during which he manifested much Christian for- titude, he fell asleep in Jesus, in the forty-seventh year of his age.
After the death of Mr. Clay, nearly five years elapsed before the Church was supplied with another settled minister.
On the 30th of March, 1814, Mr. James Manning Winchell was installed into the pastoral office of this Church and congregation.
As a devoted Christian, a beloved pastor, and faithful minister of the New Testament, it might be well said of him, " He was a burning and a shining light." But in the midst of his usefulness and vigor, he was called to enter into his rest, February 22, 1820, aged twenty- eight years.
In the year 1521, Rev. Francis Wayland, Jr., was or- dained pastor of this Church. He was an able minister of Christ, and has since become the efficient President of Brown University. He resigned his office in 1826, and was succeeded by Rev. Cyrus Pitt Grovesnor, in January, 1827, who was pastor nearly four years.
In 1828, the new house was erected at the corner of Hanover and Union Streets.
In 1530, Rev. C. P. Grovesnor resigned his charge.
-
13
The Church being again destitute of a pastor, pre- sented to the Rev. William Hague a unanimous call to accept of the office, with which he complied, and was installed February 5th, 1531, in whom the Church were happily united for about six years. He then received a call from the First Baptist Church in Providence, to become their pastor, and considering it his duty to ac- cept, asked his dismission, which was accordingly grant- ed in June, 1837.
The Church then invited the Rev. Rollin Hervey Neale to assume the ministerial charge of the Church and Society, of which he accepted, and was installed on Wednesday, the 27th of September, 1837.
Since the settlement of our present pastor, four hun- dred and fifty-nine have been received into the Church by baptism. During the past year (1842) a very power- ful revival of religion has been experienced in this city. Two hundred and seventy-four have been added to our number in the ordinance of baptism. Of these a large proportion are heads of families, business men in the vigor of life, strong, active and enterprising. The mem- bers of the singing choir have been nearly all hopefully converted. Many of the children in the Sabbath school have shared in the good work, and are now gratefully singing hosannas to the son of David. The labors of Rev. Mr. Knapp, an evangelist of much celebrity, have been very successful in the promotion of this revival. No other instrumentalities have been employed than the faithful and continuous preaching of the gospel from day to day, for about three months, united with the ear- nest prayers of the people of God. Christians have ap- peared to possess a deeper sense of their individual re- sponsibilities, and have labored more directly for the conversion of souls, perhaps than in former years.
There is at the present time an interesting state of religious feeling in the Church ; and our prayer is that the mercy of the Lord may abound towards us yet more and more, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
2
a he d. he n- ed c- n S 1- o h 1 3 .
11
ARTICLES OF FAITH.
AGREED UPON, A. D. 1035. 1
WE believe with the heart and confess with the mouth, that there is * but one God,t Creator and Gover- nor of all things, t distinguished into Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, § and that this is life eternal, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.
* Deut. 6 : 4. 1 Tim. 2: 5. Eph. 4 : 6. 1 Gen. 1 : 1. Heb. 11 : 3. Į Matt. 3 : 16. 1 John, 5: 7. 6 John, 17: 3. Heb. 5: 9.
And that the rule of this knowledge, faith, and obe- dience, concerning the worship and service of God, and all other Christian duties, is the written Word of God, contained in the books of the Old and New Testaments .*
· John, 5 : 39. 2 Tim. 3 : 15, 16, 17. Deut. 4 : 2, 5, 6. Gen. 6 : 22. Ex. 20: 4, 56. 39 : 42, 43. 1 Chron. 28 : 19. Ps. 119. Gal. 1: 8. Rom. 22 : 19, 19.
We believe, Christ is the foundation laid by the Fa- ther,* of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote and the Apostles preached; t who is that great Prophet whom we are to hear in all things ; ; who hath perfectly re- vealed, out of the bosom of his Father, the whole word and will of God, which his servants are to know, be- lieve, and obey. §
· Gen. 3 : 15. 22 : 19. 1 Deut. 18 : 15. Ps. 22 : 6, 7, 12, 17. Deut. 18 : 15. Acts, 3 : 22, 23. | John, 1: 18. 12 : 29. 15: 15. 17:13. Matt. 17 : 5. 2 Tun. 3 : 15, 10, 17.
Christ's commission to his disciples is to teach and baptize; * and those, who glady receive the word and are baptized, are his by calling, and fit matter for a visi- ble Church ; t and a competent number of such, joined together in covenant, and fellowship of the Gospel, are a Church of Christ. ;
. Matt. 28: 19. Arts, 0 : 10, 18. 10: 29. + Arts, 2: 41. 11 Cor. 1. Jer. 30 : 4, 5. Ps. 50 : 5. Micah, 4 : 5. Matt. 18.
15
We believe, that a Church, thus established, are to walk in all the appointments of Christ; * and have power from him to choose from among themselves their own officers ; whom the Gospel allows to administer in the ordinances of Christ among them -whom they may depute or ordain to this end. t
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.