USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Manual of the Church of the Pilgrimage, Plymouth, Mass. 1870 > Part 1
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REYNOLDS LISTOPICAL GENEALOOY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01104 6205
4484 MANUAL
OF THE
CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMAGE,
PLYMOUTH, MASS.
1870.
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.
EPH. ii. 20.
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
CAMBRIDGE : WELCH, BIGELOW, AND COMPANY, UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1871.
1851484
,“
THE
Church of the Pilgrimtags,
PLYMOUTH,
MASS.
THE NEWBERRY LIB
THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMAGE,
PLYMOUTH, MASS.
See page 22.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/manualofchurchof1870plym
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TO
THE MEMBERS OF
THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMAGE,
This Manual IS,
IN COMMEMORATION OF
THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS,
AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
BY
THE PASTOR.
PLYMOUTH, December 21, 1870.
I
HISTORY.
THOU SHALT REMEMBER ALL THE WAY WHICH THE LORD THY GOD LED THEE. - Moses.
WE locate the beginning of the history of this church, in respect to time, near the close of the sixteenth and the first part of the seventeenth centuries ; and, in respect to place, across the sea, in England.
The principles of the Reformation had for a long time, by reason largely of the circulation of Tyndale's transla- tion of the Bible, attracted general attention throughout England, and had become deeply fixed in the minds of many of the people ; and Henry VIII., who reigned from 1509 to 1547, had gained to himself the title of "De- fender of the Faith" for his zeal in opposing them. But on account of the refusal of the Pope to divorce him from Katharine, his wife, he summarily, in 1534, divorced that part of the Catholic Church included within his rule from its allegiance to Rome, and established a regal in place of a papal supremacy in religious and ecclesiastical matters. He made himself Pope in England in place of Clement VII.
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
With this single change, the Church continued for a considerable time very much as before. But in order to conciliate, on the one hand, those who still adhered to the Church of Rome, and on the other, those who avowed the Protestant faith, it assumed, under the reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553), a character of compromise between the excessive rites and ceremonies of the Papal worship, and the extreme simplicity of worship of the Reformed - churches. During the five years of Mary's reign it was set back to its original allegiance to Rome, and many were driven from the realm by persecution ; while many, among whom were Ridley, Latimer, and other prominent preachers of the Reformed faith, suffered death by mar- tyrdom. On the accession, however, of Elizabeth, the yoke of Romish tyranny and intolerance was finally cast off; an act of supremacy was passed, declaring her to be the head of the Church, which was soon followed by the "Act of Uniformity," requiring all religious worship to be conducted according to the model of the State, and by the adoption of the Articles of Religion. Thus came into permanent being the Established Church of England.
Very soon and very naturally the different elements combined in this constitution of the Church began to de- velop themselves in strife and division. We see the germ of this difference in the refusal of John Hooper, in 1550, to take the oath of supremacy until King Edward had erased a part of it; and note the evidences of its gradual growth in the separate congregations of exiles established at Frankfort, Zurich, Geneva, and other places, during Mary's reign, many of whom returned when Elizabeth
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9
History.
came to the throne; in a similar movement in England in 1566 ; in the proposal of Cartwright, four years later, to reduce all things relating to church government to the apostolic method of the New Testament. The Church thus resolved itself into two parties, - Prelatists and Puri" tans; the former being earnestly desirous to continue the resemblances to Romanism which lingered in it, while the Puritans, contemptuously so called, desired to have every vestige of them removed. They acted as a reforming party within the Church, to which, as a body, they con- tinued loyal, firmly believing in a union of Church and State, or in the right of the State to hold supremacy in re- ligious matters. They thought that by the power of the State the Church should be still further reformed. For this they labored, for this they suffered. Throughout the entire reign of Elizabeth (1558- 1603) they were opposed and persecuted, were fined, imprisoned, deprived of their goods. Nor was their case improved as they had hoped, but rather made worse, in the succession of James.
But in connection with the continuous failure of the Puritans to effect the changes which they desired, a ten- dency began to appear, in more and more evident forms, to question the authority itself of a State Church. There were some who, as Bradford says, "began to see farther into these things by the light of God's Word"; to see that the "lordly and tyrannous power of the prelates was contrary to the gospel, and that their authority to load men's consciences ought not to be submitted to." Many began to deny openly the right of the State to direct and control the religious methods of its subjects, and to affirm,
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
in place of this, the right of every man to worship God ac- cording to the dictates of his own conscience and his per- sonal understanding of the Holy Scriptures. In 1582 the doctrine was advanced by Robert Brown, that, according to the New Testament, any body of Christian men, asso- ciating themselves together by a willing covenant, was a church, and, as such, had power to govern itself, inde- pendently of all external control. In accordance with these views, large numbers, feeling that they could not conscientiously continue in the Established Church, re- nounced their connection with it and became known as Separatists. Churches were formed in different places upon the self-governing idea. The movement provoked a bitterness of persecution unknown within the period ; and some - as Barrow, Greenwood, and Penry in 1593 - suf- fered martyrdom for their loyalty to the principles of Con- gregational Church government.
It thus appears that the Puritans and the Separatists were two entirely different parties. Although Puritanism may have been the germ of which Separation became the flower, -although the position of Separatists may have been reached through the Puritan way, - there was yet a vast deal of Puritanism that never came to the flower ; there were a great many Puritans who never became Sep- aratists. As adherents in principle to the English Church, the former settled in 1630 in the Bay of Massachusetts.
The origin of the Church of the Pilgrimage at Plymouth is found in one of the principal congregations in which this movement crystallized ; in that which was formed at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire County, in the North of Eng-
II
History.
land, as early as 1602 .. Prominent among those compos- ing it were Richard Clyfton, John Robinson, and other ministers in that and the adjacent counties ; also William Bradford, of the neighboring village of Austerfield, and William Brewster. The place in which they were accus- tomed to meet was a large manor-house occupied by Brewster, then postmaster at Scrooby, and an earnest advocate of the principles of Separation. They formed in 1606 "the church which was in his house," when, in Bradford's words, they "joyned themselves (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in ye fellow- ship of ye gospell to walke in all His wayes, made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them." This was the beginning of the Mayflower Church.
They soon found that, on account of the fearful and in- creasing persecution to which they were subjected on every side, it would be impossible for them to maintain themselves in England. They found that King James meant to be true to his purpose to " harry them out of the land," unless they returned to the church they had left. They therefore, with much regret for the necessity, and much opposition and delay in the process of removal, sought refuge in Holland, where they had heard "was free- dome of Religion for all men." After remaining in Am- sterdam about a year, they removed to Leyden. John Robinson was formally settled as their pastor ; William Brewster was chosen ruling elder. They were joined while here. by John Carver, Robert Cushman, Edward
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
Winslow, and others, from England. Here they con- tinued "a church by themselves "; " enjoying," as Brad- ford has said, "much sweet and delightful society and much spiritual comfort together in the ways of God," and "lived together in peace and love and holiness." Their relations were also pleasant with those around them, and the influence of the exile church was strongly felt for good.
Their abode here, however, gradually wrought within them the conviction that Holland could not make for them a suitable permanent home. They found it to be a coun- try in which it was extremely difficult to obtain comfort- able support ; that many among them were suffering on this account, while many for the same reason were kept from joining them. They were also deeply exercised for the welfare of their children, whom, owing to the peculiar temptations of a manufacturing city, they found it difficult to train in thorough Christian ways ; while they wished to preserve and perpetuate their distinctive English name and tongue. The noble thought, moreover, found place within them, that, by removing, they might lay "some good foundation " for advancing the Redeemer's kingdom in other parts of the world. At length, having continued in Leyden eleven or twelve years, the thought of removal became for these reasons their settled purpose; and al- most concurrently with the growth and formation of this purpose, they were led to choose the "vast and unpeopled countries of America," then under the dominion of the king of England, as the place of their future home.
Accepting the memorably "hard terms " by which the
History. 13
relations of the enterprise to the English government were finally adjusted, it was agreed among themselves that the younger and stronger portion of the church should go at first ; also, that those who went should offer themselves freely ; and that, if the larger part went, Mr. Robinson should go with them ; if not, the elder, Mr. Brewster, only. As the result of this arrangement the number of those who volunteered to go was slightly less than half. The pastor therefore remained, and, as they were about to leave Ley- den for Delfthaven, fourteen miles distant, preached to them a memorable sermon from Ezra viii. 21, and, just before leaving Delfthaven, knelt upon the shore and " com- ended them with most fervente praiers to the Lord and his blessing." After repeated reverses and delays, this pioneer Pilgrim company left Plymouth, England, Septem- ber 16, 1620, in number one hundred and two persons, and ended an ocean voyage of much anxiety and peril by anchoring, November 21, in the harbor of Provincetown. On the 16th of December a third exploring party went forth, and after searching along the shore two or three days, came to "Clark's Island," where, in the words of the record, "On the Sabbath day we rested," and on the fol lowing Monday, December 21, 1620, landed on Plymouth Rock.
It had been the earnest, assured hope of the Pilgrims that their beloved pastor, with others whom they had left in Holland, would soon join them. But through deceptive dealing on the part of some of the merchant adventurers, who had furnished money for the enterprise, and had be- come jealous of its religious character, he was kept year
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
after year from doing so, until, in March, 1625, he was taken to his rest above. Meanwhile William Brewster ministered acceptably to the church in all things except the sacraments, of which, during this period, it was, with much grief, deprived. We are told that "many were brought to God by his ministry"; and from the beginning the religious life of the colony was a radiant fact ; "the church in the wilderness," though depleted by the death of many of its members, among whom was Carver, one of its deacons, continued to live. Regular Sabbath ser- vices were held; probably during the first year in "the common house "; subsequently in the lower part of the fort erected early in 1622, east of the Cushman monument, on Burial Hill. On the Ioth of November, 1621, a vessel ar- rived from England bringing thirty-five persons, one of whom was Robert Cushman, who, shortly before his return a month later, preached a sermon on "The Sin and Danger of Self-love," from 1 Corinthians x. 24. It was the first sermon preached in New England. On the 11th of De- cember the Pilgrims kept the first Thanksgiving, "our har- vest being gotten in." The first fast was observed in July, 1623, on the occasion of a severe, long-continued drought. Near the end of the same month the colony was again reinforced by the arrival of two ships from London, with sixty passengers.
In 1624 a man by the name of Lyford was sent over by those who had prevented Mr. Robinson's coming, to act in the interest, secretly, of Episcopacy, as pastor of the church. But his treacherous designs were soon discov- ered, with other immoralities, and he was expelled from
15
History.
the colony. In 1628 another man by the name of Rogers was sent over to be the minister of the church, but was likewise refused. In the following year the church ex- tended a call to Rev. Ralph Smith, just arrived at Salem, who was duly installed as the first successor of John Robinson. He continued in the office five or six years, and during the last three years of his ministry was as- sisted by the celebrated Roger Williams. New arrivals took place in this and the following year from the church in Leyden. In 1632 the first church that went out from the church at Plymouth was formed at Duxbury; and shortly after, in the same year, another was organized from it, -the first church at Marshfield. Two years later the church at Scituate was formed by a reunion of several members of the Plymouth church with about thirty members from the church at Southwark, London, with whom they had been associated before leaving England. It was about this time that Archbishop Laud and others of the Established Church made an attempt, upon author- ity of Charles I., to deprive the colony of all the rights which had been granted it, and replace its existing form of government, both civil and ecclesiastical, with another, of such kind as to them might seem expedient. Had this attempt succeeded, the church at Plymouth would doubt- less have been destroyed, and the colony reduced to ab- ject bondage. But its success was happily prevented by the timely efforts of Edward Winslow, the agent for the colony, then in England. In 1636 Mr. John Reyner, “an able and godly man," became the third pastor of the Mayflower Church, with whom, from 1638 to 1641, Rev.
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
Charles Chauncy was associated as an assistant. In the year 1637, one of the colony gave by will " somewhat" to " Plymouth meeting-house." A building, probably the first church edifice of the Pilgrims, was subsequently erected, the site of which is suggested by an ancient deed, which speaks of the north side of Town Square as "the spot where the old meeting-house stood." The church was deeply afflicted, in 1644, by the death of William Brewster, who was succeeded in the office of ruling elder by Thom- as Cushman. About this time its members were led to consider seriously the question of giving up the settlement at Plymouth on account of its unpromising condition, and a majority at length determined upon removal to Eastham, on Cape Cod. The project was, however, afterward abandoned ; but some who were intent upon going thither were dismissed and organized into a Congregational church in that place. "Thus was this poor church," as the rec- ords say, " left like an ancient mother grown old, and for- saken of her children, though not in their affections, yet in regard of their bodily presence and personal helpful- ness ; her ancient members being most of them worn away by death, and those of later times being like children translated into other families, and she like a widow left alone to trust in God. Thus she that had made many rich became herself poor."
In addition to these trials, the church became involved soon after in a long-continued "first encounter" with re- ligious error, which appeared throughout New England in the form of Quaker and Antinomian teachings. Its pros- perity was also weakened by a sentiment embraced by
History. 17
some of its members, of opposition to an educated and salaried ministry, which, more than anything else, caused the withdrawal, in 1654, of Mr. Reyner, and, with the ex- ception of occasional supply, kept them destitute of a pastor fifteen years. Its purity was at the same time sadly compromised by its adoption, with most of the other New England churches, of the decision of the Synod of 1662, called the Half-way Covenant, which allowed unre- generate persons to be received into membership with the church. In 1657 another of its most valued and useful members, William Bradford, was removed by death. In June, 1669, Rev. John Cotton, son of the celebrated John Cotton of Boston, was installed as the fourth pastor, and continued in the office thirty years. The low estate of the church at this time is indicated by the fact that it con- tained but forty-seven resident members. As a bright and cheering feature, however, amid so much that was dark and depressing, it is pleasant to notice the extent to which the Pilgrims had already been the means of "ad- vancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ," as indicated in the large number of "praying Indians" in the settle ments at this period, and in the existence of several Indian churches ; also in the fact that a complete translation of the Bible had been made into the Indian tongue. The second edition of this Bible was corrected by Mr. Cotton, who sometimes preached to the Indians in their own lan- guage. In the year 1683 a new house of worship was erected at the head of Town Square. We note in 1685 the death of Nathaniel Morton, author of the New Eng- land Memorial, and also of the records of the church
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
from its beginning to 1667; and in 1691, the death of Thomas Cushman, the ruling elder, to which office Thomas Faunce was chosen after some years. In 1694 a church was formed at Middleboro' by a union of several members from Plymouth with others from other places ; and two or three years later, a similar procedure resulted in the forma- tion of the church at Plympton, then a part of Plymouth. Mr. Cotton was succeeded in 1697 by Rev. Ephraim Little, the fifth in the occupancy of this office, in which he con- tinued until his death, in 1723. He was the first minister buried in the Plymouth burying-ground. We have a rec- ord of temporal reverse in the partial destruction in 1715, by lightning, of the meeting-house. In 1717 several mem- bers of the parent church were organized into a church in the north part of the town, now Kingston. In July of the year following the death of Mr. Little, Rev. Nathaniel Leonard was installed as his successor, and continued in the office thirty-two years. In 1734 a union of some of the Plymouth members with others from Middleboro' formed the church in Halifax ; and November 8, 1737, twenty-five members of the original church were organ- ized into the Second Church in Plymouth, at Manomet Ponds.
We reach here the period of the "Great Awakening " under Edwards and Whitefield, in which the church at Plymouth participated, and by which, owing to the sad in- fluence of the Half-way Covenant, and the Arminian tendencies of some of its members, it was brought to a de- cisive test with respect to its purity and doctrinal sound- ness. Many were offended ; a violent opposition to the
19
History.
emphasis given to the leading doctrines of evangelical re- ligion, especially that of regeneration, arose, and resulted in a withdrawal, in 1744, of some of the members of the church and society, and their organization into the "Third Church and Congregation " of Plymouth, by whom a house of worship was built on King, now Middle, street. "The society was never large, though comprising much of the wealth and fashion of the town." It continued in exist- ence until 1776, when, having become greatly reduced in number, it was dissolved by mutual consent, and, not long after, the meeting-house was demolished, and the members of both church and society returned to their former con- nection. In July, of 1744, the first society built a new house of worship on the same spot occupied by the former. Nearly two years later occurred the death of Thomas Faunce, the last ruling elder of the church. About this time, and again in 1754, we read that Whitefield visited Plymouth and preached with great power and acceptance to crowded audiences.
Mr. Leonard continued pastor of the church till 1756, when, owing to physical infirmities, he asked and received a dismission, and, in 1760, was succeeded by Rev. Chan- dler Robbins, D. D., whose pastorate continued until his death in 1799, and was characterized by faithful, kindly intercourse with his people, and by thorough evangelical teaching. About four or five years before his death, the same spirit which had once withdrawn from, and returned to, the church, began again to show its unrest in the pro- posal of about fifty persons in the parish, not relishing the distinctive doctrines of Christianity, to be released from
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
their connection with it for the purpose of forming a new society. Their proposal, however, not being granted by a majority, was withdrawn ; and largely out of personal re- gard for Dr. Robbins, they continued to bear their propor- tional part in the support of worship. But when, by reason of his death, it became necessary to obtain another pastor, the desire for a more "liberal " style of preaching, which meanwhile had been dormant but not dead, reasserted itself with renewed earnestness in the church and society, and resulted in the choice of Rev. James Kendall to the pastoral office, who was installed on the first day of January, 1800.
There were those, however, who from the first had re- fused to concur in this result ; and the ministry thus begun had continued somewhat more than a year, when a goodly number, not satisfied with the modified form in which the doctrines of the gospel were presented, and determined to remain true to the faith of their fathers, began to feel that they could not, consistently with their views of religious duty, continue longer in the original church. This con- viction deepened rapidly into a settled purpose, and, on the first day of October, 1801, fifty-two persons, eighteen males and thirty-four females, but one less than half the entire number, withdrew, and organized themselves as the Third Congregational Church of Plymouth ; and on March 30, 1802, one hundred and fifty-four persons were incorpo- rated into the Third Congregational Society of Plymouth ; declaring, in their petition for incorporation, that they "could not longer conscientiously unite in public worship with those from whom they had separated."
This movement involved no small degree of sacrifice on
21
History.
the part of those by whom it was made, not only of feeling and outward inclination, but also of the temporal appli- ances of worship; inasmuch as the church edifice, the ground on which it stood, the funds devoted to the main- tenance of worship in it, the records which told the story of the religious life it represented, were sacred to evan- gelical sentiment and doctrine. But all was left, our later, like our earlier ancestors, choosing rather to abandon things like these than to compromise their loyalty to the faith delivered unto them. It was a repetition in minia- ture of the original act of separation which initiated the Pilgrim history ; and, in singular coincidence with the precedent of that history, is said to have been the first of many similar movements which took place in the State, during the first part of the present century.
From the period of this division, the first church of Plymouth has been a Unitarian church, and it is with the new organization that the remainder of our history has to do.
A house of worship was built on the westerly side of " Training Green"; and, on the 12th of May, 1802, Rev. Adoniram Judson was installed as the pastor, the eighth in the succession from John Robinson ; and continued in this position until 1817, when, by reason of his adoption of Baptist views, the relation was dissolved. During this period the blessing of God rested evidently upon the church ; believers to the number of about ninety were by letter and profession added to it, and, in 1813, a church was formed chiefly from its membership at Chiltonville, under the name of the Fourth Congregational Church of
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