USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > Canton Baptist memorial : being a historical discourse delivered before the Baptist Church in Canton, Mass., at the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary, Wednesday, June 22, 1864 > Part 3
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
IV. No member shall be allowed to speak to any question before the church more than twice, without liberty of the church.
V. No member, when speaking, shall be interrupted by another, except it be to correct a mistake.
VI. Every vote passed by the church shall be accurately recorded by the Clerk.
VII. No candidate shall be admitted into the church to the destruction of the fellowship of one of its members ; and all persons wishing for membership shall come before the church, and relate their experience; and, if any objec- tion shall arise, the candidate shall be put by until the church shall examine into the nature of the objection. If the church shall judge the objection to be groundless, the objector shall submit it peaceably to the church. or suffer exclusion ; then the candidate may be received, and good order will be main- tained in the Church of Christ.
VIII. In any meeting of the church, any one of its members shall have a right to inquire after the spiritual health of any of its absent members, not in- timating any thing like a complaint ; and the church shall have a right to ap- point a committee of inquiry to inquire after any of its absent members ; and said committee shall report to the church, per order.
IX. No member, in presence of the church, shall implicate any one of its members ; but, in case any matter in question shall be a burden to any mem- ber, it shall be his duty to inquire of the Moderator into its propriety ; whose duty it shall be to call the attention of the church immediately to the sub- ject.
X. In all questions before the church, a majority shall govern, except in the reception of members ; but in all questions that have a tendency to divide the church, it must be governed by the discretion of the body.
XI. It shall be the established order of this clinreh to hold a church con- ference on the Friday preceding the full of the moon, at 6 o'clock, P.M., ex- cept when the moon fulls on Friday. In such case, the meeting will be held on Friday, at the usual hour .*
XII. In the reception or dismissing of members, the sisters are to act ; but in all matters of labor, they are not to act.
A code of Prudential Regulations was adopted in May,
* This rule of a monthly evening church-meeting, prior to communion, has been ad- hered to in the main particulars. In 1843, the attempt was made to fix the covenant- meeting in the afternoon (two o'clock ); but the change did not operate well, and the old evening meeting was re-established. - Church Records, pp. 138, 150, 159.
21
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814.]
First Associational Letter.
Church Fast for the Country.
1854, different from this in many essential particulars, having reference chiefly to officers and their duties. (195)
In 1814, the Warren Baptist Association included all the churches of the denomination in south-eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island ; and, as Canton fell within the limits, it was necessary for the new church to seek a formal union with that body. Accordingly, Elder Elisha Williams prepared a letter, which was copied, and sent by Brother Oliver Hough- ton to the meeting of the Association, in Providence.
In the mean time, the prospects of the country grew dark. In Canada, the American general, Wilkinson, had been de- feated ; Baltimore had been attacked, and many of her best citizens slain. The bloody battle of Niagara had been fought with but doubtful advantage to the Ainerican cause; and, worst of all, the capital of the nation was in the hands of a foreign enemy. Added to this, the victorious army that had fought in Europe under Wellington, and conquered Napoleon at Waterloo, had now quartered its thousands upon our fron- tier; and thus far the want of competent generals, and the partisan character of our measures of war, had tended rather to cripple our power of defence, until the country lay almost at the mercy of its invaders. It was " in view of these troubles now rolled upon the land " that the Association at its meeting, solemnly recommended to the churches to observe " Thursday, the 29th of September," as a day of fasting and prayer. It is the impression of the surviving original mem- bers, that that fast was observed by this church.
Forty names stood on the church-roll at the close of the year 1814. During the next year, the question of building a meeting-house began to be agitated.(16) The news of the return of peace * encouraged the little band of Christians to
2
An ingenious old minor melody entitled " Retrospect, an Anthem from Sundry Scriptures," and written in this neighborhood just after the Revolution, now became popular again in singing-societies and family-gatherings. The following are its words: -
" Was not the day dark and gloomy ? The enemy said, ' Let us draw a line even from York to Canada; '
But, praised be the Lord, the snare is broken and we are escaped. llark ! hear the adjuration :
.
22
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814-15.
Building talked of ..
Early Spirit of Giving.
venture more in their church expenditures, and some of their first essays in raising money are both entertaining and in- structive. The following is a verbatim copy of a church vote recorded under date of Sept. 1, 1815 :-
" Voted or appointed Br. F. Crane to get printed the church Articles of faith and Articles of regulation. Bro. Nathan Tucker subscribed to pay ¿ part the expense for printing,
Br. Dea" Houghton, Bro. Oliver Houghton,
Br. Friend Crane,
Br. Dear Tilden, 1
1 Br. Samuel Tucker, 16 Br. Lemuel Fuller, 1 18
-/+-100 -100 -120 --
We united in prayer with Dea" Tilden. Our hearts were made glad and the meeting was closed. Expense of printing the above-named articles is $7.50.
Attest : F. CRANE, Clerk." (1)
We hear it said sometimes, that it is sacrilegious to mix religion with money ; but those good brethren, now dead and gone, evidently exercised the spirit of prayer while they " subscribed to pay," and their " hearts were made glad."
No definite action in reference to building a meeting-house . was taken at this early period, further than to " confer with
Cursed be the man that keepeth back his sword ! O dismal ! O horrible ! My bowels, my bowels ! I am pained at my very heart ; My heart maketh a noise within me ; For thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet And the alarm of war !
Behold my father ! See my brother !
Hear him groan ! See them die ! O thou sword of the Lord !
How long will it be ere that thou be quiet ? Put thyself into thy scabbard; Rest, rest, and be still ! Cause us to hear with joy Thy kind, inviting voice;
That so the bones which thou hast broke May with fresh strength rejoice.
Hark ! my soul, catch the sound !
Hear and rejoice !
Beat your swords into ploughshares,
And your spears into pruning-looks, And learn war no more.
How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings;
That publisheth peace, - Peace on earth, good-will towards men ! Hallelujah; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! Hallelujah - Amen."
23
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1815-16.]
Movement for a Meeting-house. Supplies. First Revival.
Mrs. Sherman," # through a committee, with a view to secur- ing a piece of land. It was the plan then to unite with the Randolph Church in building the house; and this accounts for the contemplated choice of a spot on " Mrs. Sherman's " land, in Ponkapog, close to where the fire-engine house now stands.
For preaching, the church at first depended mainly upon Elder Kendall, Elder Williams, and Bro. Ensign Lincoln, who took turns in the supply, with occasional assistance from oth- ers, until the spring of 1816.
About this time, the Lord was pleased to pour out his Spirit upon the church .; A great awakening came upon the whole region in March; and in the towns of Sharon, Easton, Foxbo- ro', Mansfield, Attleboro', Bridgewater, Pawtucket, and Pro- vidence, believers were strengthened, and sinners flocked to Christ. In Canton, the people of God were greatly encour- aged by the revival of their own graces and the conversion of souls. Apparently uncaused by the efforts of any preacher, a strong spiritual interest pervaded the community, and proved its divine origin, as a few years before, both by its hateful- ness to the ungodly, and its fruits in the life of the church. Many went from house to house exhorting their neighbors to repent, and nothing seemed to be wanting but the labors of a judicious pastor to enable them to gather in a permanent and valuable harvest. Elder Kendall left about the first of March; and Bro. Lincoln, in consequence of his business, could spend little or no time here outside of the Sabbath. In their lack of a regular ministry, the church leaned much upon Elder Williams; and the nine or ten who joined the commu- nion as the fruits of this first revival were baptized by his hands.
Of all the ministers who watched around the cradle of this church, none had so much to do with its early nurture and discipline as Elder Williams. At its very entrance into life,
A family connection of Roger Sherman. of Revolutionary memory. who originally owned large real estate in this neighborhood. His father lies in the Canton Cemetery. + Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 94.
24
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1816.
Elder Williams. First Pastoral Call. Howard, Gibson, Evans.
he stood its god-father; and his interest in its measures and movements, for seven or eight years, was like that of Paul for his Macedonian converts. He presided at the constituting council; it was his wisdom, chiefly, that drafted the "Rules of Order " for the church; his pen wrote the first Associa- tional Letter; and his lips pronounced the sermon and the prayer at the dedication of the first meeting-house. As his name transpires again in connection with this last service, a brief sketch of him will be given at that point in the his- tory.
On the 26th of May, 1816, "Brother Leland Howard, of Vermont," * was unanimously invited to come here, and tarry " six months or a year, as would, in his opinion, be most usefull.77(18) Bro. Howard had preached somewhat here, during the time of his study with Rev. James M. Winchell, of Boston (successor of Stillman, and compiler of the well-known " Winchell's Watts") ; and the people being pleased with his spirit and gifts wished to hear him longer. He, however, declined the invitation ; and, about a fortnight after, applica- . tion was made to the Sharon Church to share with them alter- nately the ministrations of Elder John B. Gibson, of Newport, who was at that time supplying there. Bro. Gibson preached here three Sabbaths; but the church could not agree to any permanent arrangement with him,; and in August, Bro. . GEORGE EVANS, of South Reading, was sent for.
The church now entered upon an experience of adversity, that, following so close upon, the promise of the previous spring, was disheartening indeed. Overcome by the perse- cuting hostility of men of influence in the town, who carried the vulgar hatred of the Baptists to the extent of persecution, nearly every male member deserted his post, and left the deacons and the sisters alone.
* Still minister of the gospel in Rutland, in that State.
t Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 175. Elder John B. Gibson was an Arminian Methodist preacher, until the summer of 1502. when he was persuaded to Baptist views by a sermon of Elder John Peak. He died early in the year 1831. - Memoir of Elder J. Peak, by himself. Boston : 1832; pp. 135, 6, 7, S.
-
--
25
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1816-17.]
Persecution.
George Evans.
Kendall.
At last, about the middle of the fall, the enemies of the truth succeeded in shutting the little band of worshippers out of the North school-house where, up to that time, they had met unmolested as often as they chose .* This insult, how- ever, was productive of more good than harm to the church. Bro. Friend Crane opened the large upper chamber of his dwelling-house + for religious meetings; and, so far from being silenced, the harassed believers prayed and praised with new inspiration, and cleaved more closely together.
Bro. Evans accepted, after a time, the invitation ex- tended him by the church, and was here, probably in the winter, and certainly in the spring, of 1817, attaching him- self very strongly to the church. George Evans was a good man; as a minister of Christ singularly faithful, de- voted, and self-sacrificing. He was born in South Reading, Mass., Sept. 26, 1784; was licensed in the spring of 1809, and preached first in North Reading. After his brief term of labor in Canton, he removed West ; but it is evident that the people here regarded him as their minister; and, while he was in the valley of the Mississippi, they sent him an urgent request to return and labor with them again. After an absence of sev- eral years, in the spring of 1823 he once more came to Can- ton, but made only a brief visit. In the summer of 1825; he made his home here, and preached alternately to this and Sharon church, until some time in the following spring. Dur- ing this period, he became instrumental to the conversion of Francis Mason. He died in Manchester, N.HI., Jan. 18, 1848.₺
After Bro. Evans's departure, there is some evidence that Elder Kendall visited this place again, and preached here and in the vicinity during the fore-part of the summer.§
* Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 175.
t The house opposite where the old meeting-house (town-house) stands, now en- larged, and used by Mr. James Draper in his manufacture of worsteds. Friend Crane's store was in the lower part of this house.
# Memoir of Elder George Evans, by his brother.
§ See a letter of Deacon Ezra Tilden (July 1, 1817), in Life of Elder Kendall p. 181.
5
---------
26
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1817.
Warren Bird.
Supplies.
Coleman, Wheelock, Judson, &c.
After this the church had no regular ministerial supply until September, when Warren Bird," a faithful young brother from Foxboro', came and preached three months.+
Probably but a small proportion of all the ministers who preached here prior to the erection of the meeting-house are mentioned in the Records, and doubtless some of them have passed entirely from the memory of the church. The aged members recollect the names of Coleman and Wheelock and Benson and Conant and Sawyer and N. W. Williams and Pal- mer and Judson and Chessman and Lovell and Waitt and Farley and Smith and Joy Handy, and Putnam the younger, and Otis Briggs, son of Elder Joel. Coleman was Rev. James, of the Eastern Missions, and, at the time of his preaching here, a member of Dr. Sharp's church. He sailed on Sunday, Nov. 16, 1817, for Burmah, and settled at Ran- goon, where he died in 1822. Wheelock was Rev. Edward, the missionary, and the friend and associate of Coleman; when he preached here, he was a licentiate of Dr. Baldwin's church. He accompanied Coleman in 1817, but soon lost his health, and while en route for Bengal, intending to return home, he was drowned, Aug. 20, 1819.# Benson (Elder Caleb), of Mid- dleboro', was known as "Blind Benson." He was an hum- ble but gifted minister, and left grateful remembrances in Canton of his piety and faithfulness. Conant was Elder Thomas, well remembered as "Father Conant, of Abington." N. W. Williams, like Elder Elisha, was for a time pastor of the church of Beverly: B. W. Williams, of Boston, and Rev. N. M. Williams, of South Danvers, are his sons. Palmer was Elder William Palmer, of Connecticut : the church addressed him an invitation to come to Canton with a view to settle- ment; but his stay was short. § Judson was Rev. Adoniram, father of Dr. Judson, the celebrated missionary. He was
* Rev. Warren Bird became a Swedenborgian in 1829, and died in Foxboro', Oct. 17, 1863. - New Jerusalem Magazine, xxxv. 362.
t Life of Elder Henry Kendall, pp. 98, 99.
# Knowles' Life of Aun H. Judson, pp. 135, 154; Baptist Magazine, vol. ii. pp. 263, 800: Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 99.
§ Life of Elder Kendall, p. 98.
27
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1817-18.]
A. Judson, Sen. ' Elder Waitt: first exclusions. Commencement of Meeting-house.
pastor of a Congregational church in Plymouth, but became a Baptist after his son's arrival in Burmah. He related while in Canton, that, on hearing the news of Adoniram's conver- sion to Baptist views, he walked his chamber twelve days and nights, finding no rest. He was a stern old man, and little accustomed to allow his belief to be questioned; and when we consider the denominational hostility prevalent in 1811 and thereabouts, between Congregationalists and Baptists, his agitation is not wonderful. He, however, searched the Scrip- tures, and, having satisfied himself in the very views which his son had embraced, was baptized, with his wife and daugh- ter, by Dr. Baldwin. He died in Scituate, Nov. 25, 1826, aged 76 .* Rev. Daniel Chessman was a worthy Boston min- ister of the old school, a friend of Dr. Baldwin, and subse- quently author of a memoir of him. Rev. Samuel Waitt was the pastor of the Sharon church, f ordained there June 3, 1818 ;(21) but he occasionally filled the Canton pulpit as well as his own. The two churches drew kindly together, being of the same age, and neighbors ; and it was much the custom in their early days to accommodate each other in their pastoral supplies.
In the year 1817 occurred the first case of extreme disci- pline. Between January and October, three were excluded from fellowship; all of them being constituent members. The church, however, received some additions by baptism, and at the close of the year numbered forty-eight. The demand for a permanent place of worship had by this time become im- perative. Four years of rotary life had proved the patience, as well as the cohesiveness, of the church; and now, the spar- row must have a house, the swallow a nest for herself, where she might lay her young. After much prayer and careful thought, and many close counsels, at length, in the early part of September, 1818, the gathering of contributions commenced; (22) and, before the end of the following month, the plan of
* Wayland's Life of Judson, vol. i. p. 13.
+ Min. Bost. So. Assoc. 1853. Mr. Waitt removed South, and became president of a female college in South Carolina. At last accounts of him, he was still resident there.
-
28
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1818-21.
Meeting-house built.
Observance of the Lord's Supper.
Dedication.
the meeting-house was drawn, and all the necessary commit- tees appointed, not forgetting the one to keep the subscrip- tion-paper in circulation. The Ponkapog lot had been aban- doned, and a site had been fixed upon in Otis Billings' land, that "corners on the Taunton and Dedham Roads," opposite to where Mr. James Sumner now lives; but, failing to procure this, the church had purchased of Alexander French, for eighty dollars, a building spot on the opposite side of the "Taunton (Boston) Road," about eighty rods south-east of the old grave-yard, in the centre of the town. The foundation of the house was laid in 1819; but the work did not reach com- pletion until the latter part of the next year.
Meantime, the church, though suffering many inconven- iences, continued to meet and observe the ordinances. Up to Aug. 30, 1820, it would seem that they had been somewhat irregular in the observance of the Lord's Supper; though by the 11th article of their constitution (p. 20) it was evidently their intention to hold that sacrament monthly; but, on the day above named, it was voted (25) to celebrate it " on the last Lord's Day in every other month : " subsequently the time was changed to the first Sabbath in every month, as it still continues to be.
By a strange neglect, no record of the dedication of the meet- ing-house is made upon the church book. Aged people remem- ber only that Elder Elisha Williams preached the sermon, and made the dedicatory prayer; that the Unitarian choir assisted at the services; and that a snow-storm raged the whole day. The following notice, however, of the dedication, communi- cated very likely by Elder Williams himself, appears in the old Baptist Magazine : * -
" The new meeting-house in Canton, erected the past season by the Bap- tist church and society in that place, was opened on Lord's Day, Jan. 14 (1821), by the solemn and delightful worship of God. The sermon was preached by Rev. Elisha Williams, founded on 2 Chron. 7th chapter and 1st verse : 'Now, when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the
* Vol. vii. p. 50.
88
Elisha.Williams.
29
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1821.]
Dedication.
Elder E. S. Williams.
glory of the Lord filled the house.' The pleasing circumstances under which this house was opened inspire the hope that it will continue to be a sanctuary in which the pure principles of the gospel will be vindicated, and their holy tendency enforced on those who, in the present and future generations, may meet there for social worship ; that the glory of the Lord, in the power of the gospel on the hearts of sinners, and in the enjoyment of his presence, may · encourage the exertions of the church in the cause for which their Redeemer bled. And thus may it be apparent that their labor was not in vain in the Lord !"
The prayer of Elder Williams on this occasion is remem- bered from an exclamation of one of the auditory at the time, " He prayed like an angel !" This good man appears here for the last time (but one*) in connection with the history of this church. Many fields of New England's Zion besides our own preserve grateful remembrances of his useful life.
ELISHA SCOTT WILLIAMS was born in East Hartford, Ct., Oct. 7, 1757, of Congregational stock. He graduated at Yale College, in 1775, when only eighteen years old, and served in the Revolution as adjutant in a Connecticut regiment,f and on board the privateer "Hancock." After the war, he lived in Stockbridge, Mass., about ten years, and removed to Maine, where he taught school, and was elected a justice of the peace. About 1798, while residing at Livermore, Mo., he was converted to God, and soon after licensed there to preach the gospel. He was ordained in August, 1799, by the Bow- .doinham Association, and soon became pastor of the Baptist Church in Brunswick, where he labored till 1803, when he was settled over the First Baptist Church in Beverly, Mass. He remained there till 1812, and then removed to Boston. After a residence of twenty-five years in that city, he returned to Beverly, and died there Feb. 3, 1845. In his person, Elder Williams was tall and stately ; in manners, grave; vehement on occasion ; a gentleman of the old school. In the pulpit, he was solemn and impressive, but oftener didactic than glowing.
* See page 40.
While serving in the army, he crossed the Delaware with Washington as one of the general's aid -. In John Trumbull's well-known picture of that eventful stratagem, the portrait of Williams, introduced from life by the artist, is plainly discernible.
30
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1821.
Elder Williams.
First Sexton.
Elder Williams published during his life a Dialogue on Baptism, and a sermon in the " Baptist Preacher." # Fragments remem- bered here at this day, and recited with veneration when his life and services are talked of, show that he was wont to drop philosophical sayings, and sometimes indulged in verse. Among other things, he used to say, " There is nothing that we can want but what God has promised, and there is nothing that he has promised which we do not want ; " and, in refer- ence to allowing impertinent thoughts to disturb worship, he used quaintly to remark, " Although we cannot hinder the birds from flying over our heads, we may prevent their roosting in our hair." The following lines are part of a poem written by him on his seventy-second birthday : -
" Hail once again, auspicious morn On which poor helpless I was born To pleasure and to pain ! Of bothi, forsooth, I've had my share, For, duly mixed, they cure despair, And vain desires restrain.
Threescore and twelve revolving years, With all their joys and griefs and fears, I speedily have passed, &c."
Our first church edifice, consecrated by the prayers of Elder Williams, stands now where it was originally built, and with · scarcely an alteration from its original fashion, - a plain struc- ture, without steeple or porch, forty feet long by thirty-six wide, fronting the south. Its cost was about two thousand dollars.
Mr. Leonard Everett appears to have been the first sexton (so far as there was any ). +(74) Probably at first the doors were not so thronged as to render his duties very burdensome .; Af- terwards, as the congregation increased, we find " Brother
* Christian Watchman, Feb. 14, 1845; Sprague's Annals Am. (Bap.) Pulpit, pp. 392-94.
t Mr. Everett was a member of the Unitarian Society.
# Although many had withdrawn from the standing order, these seceders were not all meeting-goers. The population of the town, too, always subject to fluctuations, was
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.