USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of Dedham, Massachusetts > Part 8
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my companion is a kind tender and virtuous person." Mr. and Mrs. Dexter had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Mrs. Dexter after her husband's decease married Samuel Barnard of Salem, after whose death she returned to Dedham and enjoyed a tranquil and happy old age dying at the age of ninety-five.
Samuel Dexter, their oldest son, was a distinguished citizen. His infancy seems to have encountered many serious perils. His father recorded August 11, 1730. My eldest son Samuel swal- lowed a brass pin rather better than an inch and a half long which came through him in about 44 hours-a wonderful salva- tion : may God have the glory of it, and if my child lives to take notice of this record, be quickened by it to devote himself to : God who wonderfully appeared for him in his deliverance, as well as many other times heretofore when he has been thought very low with the Squinancy. Although an apt scholar, fond of his books and ambitious for a good education yet he had an aversion to his father's profession and could not be induced to enlist in it. He engaged in mercantile pursuits, and in Boston built up a prosperous business from which he retired at the early age of thirty-six having acquired a modest fortune. He came back to his native town in 1763 where he continued to live for thirteen years being active in all Church and public affairs. He was for several years a member of the Governor's Council, a representative to the General Court and was elected to many offices of trust and responsibility; he appears to have been a leader in developing patriotic sentiment and organizing the peo- ple for the approaching crisis. He represented Dedham in the first Provincial Congress and served on the Committee to provide for the public defense and subsequently for the support of the army assembled for the seige of Boston. Soon after the begin- ning of hostilities, in 1776, he resigned from all committees, withdrew from all connections with public affairs, and never afterwards accepted an office. In 1776 his health being seriously impaired, Mr. Dexter removed with his family to Woodstock, Connecticut where he purchased an estate.
REVEREND JASON HAVEN. The Reverend Jason Haven was born in Framingham, Massachusetts March 2, 1733 and graduated from Harvard College in 1754. He was called to the Dedham Church in 1755 and ordained February 5, 1756. As an
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encouragement to settle here Mr. Haven was granted "one hun- dred thirty three pounds, six shillings, eight pence and an annual salary of sixty six pounds, thirteen shillings and eight pence and twenty cords of wood, during the time of his carrying on the work of the ministry in this place." The Church granted additionally "the use and improvement of their lot of land near the meeting house, being the whole square between that spot and the burying ground, to till, mow and feed:" also three pieces of meadow and a pasture in Medfield.
Mr. Haven was not settled without opposition but forty years later he was able to say of his early opponents that "after a little time, he had the satisfaction of numbering them all among his kind, affectionate and confidential friends and such they all continued to the close of their lives." Although he was an inva- lid during much of his professional life yet his ministry covered a period of nearly forty-seven years, the longest in the history of the church. About 1774 he was threatened with a fever on account of which a day of fasting and prayer was observed. Mr. Haven received pupils into his family, some to fit for college and others to prepare for the ministry. In forty years of his minis- try, fourteen young men were educated at Harvard College. The two leading events in his ministry were the erection of the present meeting house in 1762 and the restatement of the covenant of the church in 1793 in terms of the largest Christian charity, a covenant which shows the effects of the Revolution in broaden- ing the opinion of men in religious matters in throwing off the dogmas of the Puritan theology; a covenant which continued in use in the church for eighty four years. The covenant follows: We profess our belief of the Christian Religion. We unite our- selves together for the purpose of obeying the precepts and honoring the institutions of the religion which we profess. We covenant and agree with each other to live together as a band of Christian brethren; to give and receive counsel and reproof with meekness and candor; to submit with a Christian temper to the discipline which the Gospel authorizes the church to admin- ister; and diligently to seek after the will of God, and carefully endeavor to obey all His commands.
As a preacher Mr. Haven is said to have had gifts which especially qualified him for the various duties of his sacred office.
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His sermons were expressive and direct. Notwithstanding his physical disabilities he attained an honorable position in his pro- fession. He was frequently called upon to address public assem- blies and to give ordination sermons. He preached the discourse before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in Boston in 1761 and was called to give the sermon before the General Court in 1769. He was a member of the Convention which adopted the Constitution of the Commonwealth. The war of the Revolution occurred near the middle of Mr. Haven's ministry, an event which he says "hath given or confirmed to us civil and religeous privileges, equal, perhaps superior to those enjoyed in any part of the world." Mr. Haven occupied a home which stood on the grounds of the Allin Congregational Church. Mr. Haven died May 17, 1803 in the 74th year of his age.
REVEREND JOSHUA BATES. D.D. The Reverend Joshua Bates was called to the Dedham Church and Parish as an associate pastor with the Reverend Jason Haven in the later part of 1802 and was ordained March 16, 1803, "before a very crowded, but a remarkably civil and brilliant assembly."
Mr. Bates was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts, March 20, 1776 and was graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1800. After leaving college he was an assistant in Philips Aca- demy, Andover, where he pursued a course of theological studies at the same time and was licensed to preach by the Andover Association in 1802. When Mr. Bates was called to the Dedham Church Mr. Haven was in feeble health and lived only three months after his ordination. At the time of Mr. Bates' settle- ment there was much opposition to giving him a call, having, however the support of the Honorable Fisher Ames, who made such an eloquent plea for the young man, supposedly of liberal views, that a call was extended to him. Later Mr. Ames with- drew and joined the Episcopal Church. While his letter of with- drawal, addressed to Mr. Bates, does not have the ring of an Episcopalian, one is led to wonder if after all he was satisfied with the minister he had done so much to settle in the town. He may have desired a milder form of Calvinism than that preached by Mr. Bates. With the ordination of Mr. Bates many left the old parish and joined the Episcopal Church including Dr. Nathan- iel Ames.
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In Dr. Bates pastorate the Lords' Supper was administered once in six weeks. The Preparatory Lecture* was preached on the preceding Thursday. On those occasions the studies in the district school were omitted and the scholars marched two and two, led by their teacher, from the school house to the meeting- house to attend the service and the morning after the commun- ion, the pastor came into the school, for a brief hour, talking with the children or asking questions in the catechism. Also, semi- annually, the usual studies for a half-day were omitted and the time given to the recitation of the catechism. Small pamphlets with marble paper covers, were given for the most perfect reci- tations.
While the town and parish were strongly Antifederalist Mr. Bates was an ardent Federalist and in his pulpit utterances was very intolerant of the opinion of those who held different politi- cal views. The Federalists were so decidedly opposed to the "un- righteous" and "Godles" War of 1812, as they called it, that when General Hull ignominiously surrendered his army of 2,500 men at Detroit in 1812, there was great rejoicing among them in Ded- ham. Thomas Jefferson to Mr. Bates was an infidel and his followers at best but doubtful Christians. So when he asked for a dismission in 1818, a majority of the parish heard it with pleasure, because they felt that personal antagonism to him was destroying the harmony of the Church and that a more liberal man in religious belief was desired by the church.
Mr. Bates ** in an age of free inquiry frequently asserted some of the most difficult doctrines of the Christian Church, doc- trines which have ever excited doubt and controversy. The spirit of the times and the attitude of Mr. Bates is well illustrated by the following anecdote.
Pitt Butterfield, of Dedham, was a leather dresser and a radical politician of the republican stripe. When news reached the town that General Jackson had signally defeated the Bri- tish at New Orleans, January 8, 1815, the excitement was in- tense, and the war party, or Republicans as then distinguished from the Federalists, at once determined to fire a salute in honor
*Historical Sketch by Calvin Guild.
** For an Independent estimate of Mr. Bates' pastorate see Worthington's History of Dedham, page 110.
*** See Dedham Historical Register, vol. 1, p. 65.
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of the great victory. The old town gun was dragged to the church green in front of the meeting house in the First Parish, which then, as now, was not enclosed. The Federalists were strong in numbers, as they were influential in character, and as the prep- aration for the salute went on, their opposition to it assumed an air of open hostility. The townspeople had generally flocked to the scene of action, and ranged themselves on either side ac- cording to their politics. Party spirit ran high in those days. Mr. Butterfield was captain of the artillerists, and, like the tragic actor spoken of in Nicholas Nickleby, who always blacked him- self all over when about to impersonate the character of Othello, was filled to the brim with the exciting influences of the hour. Parson Joshua Bates was spokesman for the Federalists, and headed their column with a pail of water in hand, with the avowed purpose of wetting the priming before a match could be applied to the gun. His attitude and speech were defiant; and it was thought by his supporters that his active opposition, backed by the weight of ministerial authority, would dampen the ar- dor as well as the powder of the patriotic Republicans. But not so believed the bold leader of the cannoneers. The blood of all the Butterfields was up. Striding promptly to the front and throwing off his coat, he faced the church militant, and in lan- guage more forcible than elegant, gave the other party to under- stand that any interference with the loading or firing of the field-piece would result in a fight then and there, and that the broad-cloth of a priest would not protect a meddling and domi- neering politician. It was enough. Mr. Bates was in a false po- sition, and he had the good sense to see it. He retreated pre- cipitately with his unemptied bucket and with the best grace possible. The grim artillery men at once loaded their piece half to the muzzle, and its black lips time and time again that January afternoon voiced the exultation of the victorious vil- lagers.
At this distance of time it seems incredible that any one should have doubted the sincerity of the author of the immor- tal "Declaration of Independence," to many the most remarkable and important state paper in the world. "Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving, it consists of professing to believe what one does not believe."
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In 1769 Jefferson urged the Virginia Legislature to allow individuals to emancipate their slaves. In 1774 he instructed the Virginia Convention called to choose delegates to the Con- tinental Congress, that the God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. In 1776 he led in the measure to abolish all entails of landed estates, and won. Males and the first born were to have no special privileges, that all the children might share alike in the inheritance of their father's land and goods. He ad- vised that foreigners should be allowed to become naturalized and attain all the rights of citizens. That the penalty of death ought to be limited to murder and treason. That there should be no imprisonment for honest debt. That there should be com- plete religious freedom. No one should be forced to pay for opinions which he disliked, or for the support of any form of re- ligion against his will. The church must rest upon the voluntary contribution of the people. The law may judge no man's opinion. The State is to show no special favor to Christians, but Jews, Mohammedons, Deists and Atheists are all to be equal before the law and alike eligible to all offices. The Church Establish- ment should be abolished and all religious sects put on an equal footing. The Federalist party was un-American and fell to rise no more because it had a distrust of the people. However great their leaders may have been they disregarded the dearest instinct of humanity.
While Mr. Bates was a strict Calvinist, a dogma which a majority of his parishioners had outgrown, yet by his ability, his piety, his true manhood, he was enabled to hold his people without a revolt, but when his resignation was received it was hailed with delight. Mr. Bates resigned the Dedham pastorate to accept the presidency of Middlebury College. Soon after his election to Middlebury he received the degree of Doctor of Divin- ity from Yale College. He was chaplain during one season of the United States Senate. He was a member of the American Aca- demy of Arts and Sciences. He published Reminiscences of Reverend John Codman; a volume of sermons and several ad- dresses and discourses.
REVEREND ALVAN LAMSON. D. D. While Mr. Bates' resignation was accepted in February 1818 no definite action was taken by the parish to fill the vacant pulpit until early fall.
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In the mean time three candidates had been heard, of whom Mr. Alvan Lamson, a recent graduate of the Harvard Divinity School was one. At a parish meeting held on August 31, 1818 to elect "a public teacher of morality and religion" Mr. Lamson was elected by the parish as the successor to the Reverend Mr. Bates by a majority of 81 to 44, a vote cast by the taxable inhabitants of the town, who were obliged to pay taxes for the support of the parish ministry, as well as to attend public worship under penalty of a fine. The Church refused to concur in Mr. Lamson's election by a majority of eighteen to fourteen. Six members of the Church did not vote at the time. The church connected with the parish has always maintained that they had a majority of all the voting church members and this claim is substantiated by the vote of the church connected with the parish, when seventeen days after Mr. Lamson's ordination twenty-one members, a majority of three, elected him their pastor. "A large vote" says Dr. Lamson "sanc- tioning the proceedings of the parish than was ever given against them."-"Some who opposed the proceedings of the parish before the ordination yielding their scruples and living and dying in com- munion with the church adhering to the parish."
Erastus Worthington, an Episcopalian, who was familiar with the affairs of the Dedham Church, from a residence in the town says, *In justice to Mr. Lamson it should be said that before he had been invited into the parish it was really divided by religious opinion and strong aversions, arising from numerous other causes and that after he became a candidate for the ministry his oppon- ents did not urge any objection against his moral or professional qualifications. The opposition to him therefore arose from diver- sity of sentiments. The parish having received Mr. Lamson's acceptance, without the concurrence of the church, caused a coun- cil to convene on October 28, 1818, for the purpose of his ordina- tion. The council was composed of the pastors and delegates from thirteen churches, among whom were the Hon. John Davis, judge of the United States District Court; Rev. John S. Kirkland, D. D., President of Harvard; Rev. James Walker, D. D., afterwards President of Harvard, Rev. Dr. Henry Ware, Professor of Divinity at Harvard, Rev. Charles Lowell of the West Church and the Rev.
* See Worthington's History of Dedham.
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William E. Channing of the Federal Street Church, Boston. The Rev. William E. Channing was chosen moderator and the Rev. Ralph Sanger scribe. The committee appointed to prepare the result of the Council, consisted of the Rev. Dr. Reed of Bridge- water, Rev. Dr. Kirkland, Rev. Mr. Channing, Rev. Mr. Lowell and Hon. John Davis ..
The Council met in the Court House and patiently heard Judge Samuel Haven who appeared and read a protest against further proceedings. The Council carefully examined the evidence relating to the charges in the protest. On the second day it pub- lished its results giving its reasons for proceeding with the ordina- tion. The Council in giving its findings stated that they esteemed it to be due to themselves and to the Christian community, to explain, as far as time will permit, the views and motives by which they have been influenced in coming to their decision.
Mr. Lamson was ordained October 29, 1818 the seventh pastor of the Dedham Church; he continued in the pastorate until Octo- ber 29, 1860, a period of forty-two years, the second longest term in the history of the Dedham Church. The distinction at that time between a church and a parish should be clearly understood. Chief Justice Shaw, the son of a Congregational minister, and the most eminent jurist who has ever occupied the bench of the Massa- chusetts Supreme Court, thus defines the Church. The church is composed of those persons, being members of such parish or religious society, who unite themselves together for the purpose of celebrating the Lord's Supper. They may avail themselves of their union and association for other purposes of mutual support and edification in piety and morality, or otherwise, according to such terms of Church Covenant as they may think expedient to adopt. But such purposes are not essential to their existence and character as a church.
The deacons of the Dedham Church at the time of the con- troversy were Dea. Samuel Fales who "ceasing to be connected in worship and ordinances" was removed by the church, Dea. Jona- than Richards who voted for Mr. Lamson but after his settlement resigned and Dea. Joseph Swan who died a fortnight after Mr. Lamson's ordination. The church connected with the parish then elected Eliphalet Baker and Luther Richards deacons. As
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churches were not corporate bodies and authorized to hold pro- perty in succession, a statute was enacted in 1754 constituting deacons trustees of all church property. A suit in replevin was brought by the two deacons elected by those members of the church who voted with the parish, against the deacon elected by the old church, to recover the bonds, securities, church records and documents which he held.
In the practise of Congregationalism the choice of a minister was made differently at different times; at first by the church, then by the parish, then by the two concurrently and finally under the State Constitution of 1780 by the parish from which its min- ister drew his support. There was no uniformity in Dedham in calling its ministers. The two first ministers were called by the church alone. In 1685 a call was voted and extended to the Rev. Mr. Bowles, calling him to the Dedham Church, without any other action, it having been decided in town meeting that the church should take no separate action. In the Clapboard Tree Parish the Rev. Josiah Dwight was called and accepted the call before the organization of a church in the Parish. In 1762 the Dedham Springfield Parish, extended a call to Benjamin Caryl to become its minister, which invitation was accepted several months be- fore there was a church organization.
When the Dedham case came to trial Messrs. Chickering and Davis appeared for the plaintiff and Messrs. Metcalf, Haven and Prescott for the defence. The case was tried before Judge Wilde. Being a question of law the opinion of the Judge was in favor of the plaintiff as stated in his charge to the Jury. The jury retired and continued sitting the whole night and when called into court in the morning had not agreed upon a verdict. They had disagreed on the question "Which is the first Church". After being severely reprimanded by the Court they retired a second time and in about ten minutes brought in a verdict for the plain- tiff. The case was then carried to the Supreme Judicial Court. Famous lawyers were engaged on each side. Daniel Davis, the Solicitor General of the Commonwealth and Jabez Chickering of Dedham appeared for the plaintiff and Daniel Webster and Theron Metcalf for the defendants.
The decision of the Supreme Court unanimously sustained
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the right of the parish to ordain a minister without action by the church, the Court holding the Bill of Rights of the Massa- chusetts Constitution of 1780 expressly over-ruled the former practise of the Congregational Church. The Rev. Jason Haven of the Dedham Church was a member of the Convention which adopted the Bill of Rights. The Court further ruled that the members of the Church now associated and worshipping with the First Parish constitute the First Church in Dedham.
At the present time it is hard to realize the strong feeling that existed in the town a century ago on account of the church controversy, a feeling that divided not only neighbors and friends but families as well. At the Chorister's annual meeting of the First Church and Parish held on December 6, 1819, an invitation was extended by the "opposite" singers to join them in the prac- tise of pieces to be sung at the dedication of the "New Meeting House." In response to this invitation it was voted "that the sing- ers act in accordance to the dictates of conscience with regard to singing at the dedication of the meeting house."
The Rev. Dr. Burgess in his Centennial Sermon makes this statement. The records of the Church were assigned by the deci- sion of the Court to the Parish,* together with the furniture and funds. It was expected, however, as a matter of civility and pro- priety, that permission would be given by the Parish to tran- scribe a copy of the Records for the use of the Church. Respect- ful application was made, once and again, and the request was denied. Thus the members of the Church have not the oppor- tunity even to weep over the pages which register their parents' names or their own baptism or marriage. Dr. Burgess quotes a gentleman who exclaimed on being told of this denial. "Is this an illustration of the boasted liberality of Unitarians? Records are public documents open to the inspection of all men. Publish it to the world as a relic of Vandalism worthy of the dark ages."
The communion service of the First Church was kept in a closet in the meeting house. During the controversy the meet- ing house was entered through a window and the Communion Service removed. After the decision of the Supreme Court the
* The records were not assigned by the Court to the Parish but to the Church which the New Meeting House Society refused to recognize. The Parish had no records to "weep over" or lists of births, baptisms and marriages. These alone are found in the records of the First Church in Dedham.
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records, funds, etc., were restored to the deacons of the Church, but the Communion Service was kept in hiding for more than a century. Finally the flagons of the Service were found one morn- ing on the steps of the Dedham Historical Society whose welcom- ing arms took them in. The flagons now rest on the mantle of the fireplace in the rooms of the Society. The plates of the Service are now in friendly hands having come through descent and their return to the church is now only a matter of time.
The parish chose Dr. Lamson to be the town minister by a vote of 81 to 44, this two-thirds majority representing four-fifths of the taxable property in the parish. To the claim that a major- ity of the church members of the First Church associated them- selves with the "New Meeting House Society" Dr. Lamson said in his Second Century Historical Discourse delivered in 1838, "The majority of the old members did not in fact retire. . . This I believe from a careful inspection of a very accurate list of the original members to be a fact ... Of one thing there can be no dispute; that is, that after the ordination there was a larger vote sanctioning the proceedings of the Parish than was ever given against them. I make this whole statement after a diligent exami- nation of authentic documents and ample means of information and I believe that every part of it can be substantiated." The probable fact is that the number of Church members who re- mained and the number who withdrew were substantially equal; but that of the Parish about two-thirds remained and one-third left.
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