USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the First church in Boston, 1630-1880 > Part 14
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An indication of the caution which he found it necessary to observe at this period appears by an entry on the parish records, where special attention is called to the fact that " a weak and sickly parish- ioner " is licensed " to cat flesh during the present Lent."
1 Dexter's Life of Davenport, 218. 2 Ibid., 219.
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FIRST CHURCH IN BOSTON. [1653-70.
His labors at the same time were very arduous, as appears by another entry on the record, where it is "agreed [in April, 1633] that Mr. Davenport shall have out of the parish stock {20 towards his charge in going and coming from the Bathe."
The year 1633 is supposed to be the time of his inward change from a conformist to a non-conform- ist. In the latter part of the same year the death of Archbishop Abbot, and the probable choice of Laud for his successor, brought about the resigna- tion of Davenport. " He left London on Monday, August 5th," and after three months' delay, in order to avoid arrest, fled in disguise to Holland, "in pursuance of an invitation from his countrymen residing there."
On his arrival at Haarlem, carly in November, two of the elders of the English Church in Amster- dam met and escorted him to that place, where it was proposed to make him assistant to their minis- ter, the Rev. John Paget, a man advanced in years. Davenport still yearned for a return to England and his former parish ; but early in December all hope was taken away by the choice of a new man to fill the vacancy.
Soon after his arrival at Amsterdam he wrote a letter to his old friend, Lady Vere, which contains an account of his sufferings for the " alteration of his judgment in matters of conformity to the cere- monies established."
" He now begins preaching (twice each Sunday at
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first)," but soon found serious difficulty with their custom of promiscuous baptism. Out of this grew a controversy with Paget, which was finally referred to the " Dutch Classis of City Ministers," who ap- pointed a committee of five prominent theologians to arbitrate the matter. They reported in January in favor of some indulgence in the observance of the ordinance. Davenport objected, but without effect ; and finally, after less than six months' ser- vice, gave up public preaching. One Stephen Goffe, chaplain of an English regiment at the Hague, and brother of the regicide whose life afterwards de- pended in such large measure upon Davenport, worked secretly to bring about this result. He was a man of slender scruples, who, in order to advance his own interests, laid a scheme for the removal of Davenport. For this purpose he sends over the news of his arrival to a friend in London to be for- warded to Laud, together with some letters still preserved, which sufficiently attest the malice of the writer. In one of these letters Goffe refers to an interview with Paget and Gerard Vossius, a distin- guished professor at Amsterdam. He worked to deceive the latter, especially giving hints as to the best course to pursue in order to prejudice his mind against Davenport. In a subsequent letter he states that his efforts have proved successful, and that Davenport is known as a deserter and for his sermons against the civil government of England. In conclusion, he prays that "we shall be delivered
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from this plague, and he will make for New Eng- land." His victim was accordingly summoned be- fore the English agent at the Hague to answer the charge of preaching against the government.
His reply, dated March 18, 1634, is preserved in the British Museum. After giving up public preach- ing in April, the rest of the year was devoted to private meetings held at his lodgings on Sundays, at different hours from the regular services. To these gatherings many of his countrymen resorted. In the same year an unauthorized publication of his views on promiscuous baptism passed upon by the Dutch Classis, together with a set of rules for the guidance of his followers in religion, and his state- ment of their grievances, is made by one of those who attended these services. It caused some stir, and a reply from Paget. It also produced a " Pro- testation " from Davenport in 1635, and an " Apolo- geticall Reply " to Paget in 1636. His letter to Lady Vere, written in 1635, refers to the matter as one which has caused him great annoyance. About this time he appears to have visited the Hague and Rotterdam. He returned to England late in 1636 . or early in 1637, and probably visited Lady Vere at Hackney. Laud's vicar-general reported, March 6, at Braintree, that " Mr. Davenport had lately been in these parts, and at Hackney not long since. I am told that he goeth in gray, like a country gentle- man." But he avoided arrest, and sailed for New England, "probably about. the middle of April."
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JOHN DAVENPORT.
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The proclamation, " at the end of April," passed to prevent unauthorized emigration, seems to have been in close connection with his flight.
The band of colonists, headed by Theophilus Eaton, arrived at Boston on June 26, and there lin- gered for nine months. During this visit Daven- port attended an ecclesiastical council, and served as a member of the committee appointed to carry out the vote establishing the college. In March, 1638, it was agreed to settle at Quinipiac. About a fortnight before the colonists sailed from Boston a farewell letter, written by Davenport, was ad- dressed to the Bay Colony by the two leaders in the enterprise. They reached New Haven in April.
Davenport was then forty-one years old, and des- tined to fill a large place in the new colony. Dur- ing the first year of the settlement he wrote two books, - one on civil, and the other on ecclesiasti- cal government, as established in the new planta- tion, - both of which displayed great argumentative powers.
On June 4, 1639, after a sermon by Davenport, the Articles of Government for New Haven Colony, as drawn up by him, were formally ratified. On Au- gust 22 the church was established under his direc- tion, as also the " Profession of Faith," which, two years later, was printed in London. The views set forth in this catechism do not differ materially, if at all, from those of the Church of England, except in regard to organization and government.
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Soon after this he wrote a letter to Lady Vere, giving an encouraging account of the progress of the colony, and laying stress on the posses- sion of " the greatest outward privilege under the sun," which allows them "to have and enjoy all God's ordinances purely dispensed in a church gathered and constituted according to his owne minde."
In October following, at the first election of offi- cers, he gave a solemn charge, to Governor Eaton, based on the law of Moses. In 1649 Charles Chaun- cey, of Scituate, wrote to him for instructions on the point of immersion in baptisms. His reply opposed the practice. In 1652 he produced a " vindication of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah," and in 1653 began a series of letters to Governor Winthrop of New Lon- don. On June 4, 1660, Davenport transferred to the General Court the trust property given by Ed- ward Hopkins for the formation of a college at New Haven, and accompanied the act with an ex- planation of the donor's intent, and his own wishes. As the origin of the Grammar School in that place, but more particularly as a harbinger of a larger organization forty years later, this ceremony is deeply significant.
In the same year Davenport wrote, in the name of the colony, a reply in Latin to a letter from John Dury, " who was laboring to promote the union of the Calvinistic and Lutheran churches."
During the struggle which finally resulted in the
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consolidation of New Haven and Connecticut Colo- nies, his pen was active in opposition.
The story of his coming to Boston, and the contro- versy which thence ensued, will be told hereafter.1
Davenport was particularly rigid in his notions of church discipline. He maintained that the order of worship should be based on the Hebrew insti- tutes and the usages of the primitive Christians. His views on the subject of baptism were of the same stern description. In weighing his ability and character, as that of nearly all the ministers of the day, Cotton not excepted, allowance must be made for the zealous reforming spirit so apt to pos- sess the devotee. The story of his conduct on the occasion of the flight of King Charles's judges to New Haven shows that he possessed a resolved heart, at all events. On the Restoration in Eng- land, in 1660, three of the judges who signed the warrant for the execution of Charles I. fled to New England. On their arrival they were well enter- tained at various places, - among others at New Haven, - and for some time thought themselves out of danger. But the new's of the king's proclamation for their arrest arriving, they were obliged to abscond. They appeared at New Milford in the daytime, but at night returned secretly to New Haven, and hid in Mr. Davenport's house until April 30, 1661. " About the time the pursuers came to New Haven, and
1 " 1668, 241 day, 34 month, at 3 or 4 in afternoon came Mr. John Dav- enport to town." - JOHN HULL'S Diary. Previous to his invitation from First Church he had received a call from the Second Church. Ante, Chap. II.
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perhaps a little before, and to prepare the minds of the people for their reception," Davenport preached a series of sermons. The text of one of them was from Isaiah xvi. 3, 4: " Take counsel, ex- ecute judgment ; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day; hide the outcasts; be- wray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." At the close of his account of him Emerson says: " As a scholar Mr. Davenport was always placed in the first rank. His judgment was profound, and his excursive fancy was guided by a correct taste."
Thus you have my opinion noch, of pray, Confider. in four, and acceptE asy EmgEnnous Expression of a plainE GEarte DEfixous to BE NEctifyEd, in call of Error, or to BENifit others, if the triEth guide mr. Novo, if you please, let us proceed to Arguments, white. m I Expect as I found in this, y you give y fresh OrfEtt. when ros have compared vEm cum VE and EnconET cum VALORE, Ihope, yE Trueth will bezakE fourth as yE lightE, at ch in humi- lity, and simplicity of with, CELEEching you yu nothing BE Done thorough Contentionre Dorm- glory: But fett vs versive y Tewith my E Pour of Er. Thus, Expecting you answer, ICEage Form Datenporte
In 1669 he preached the Election Sermon. Davenport died March 15, 1670, at the age of
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seventy-two. He was minister at New Haven nearly thirty, and of First Church not quite two years. He was the last of that group of four Johns so famous in the history of the church and colony. His body was interred in the Cotton tomb in the Chapel Burying Ground.
The settlement of Davenport involved First Church in a serious controversy. Before he was chosen to office the majority of that church, under the influence of Wilson, favored the new order of baptism, established by the synod of 1662, com- monly called the " Half Way Covenant." On the death of Wilson, and the choice of Davenport for his successor, the majority experienced a reaction. The change in sentiment was doubtless owing to the leadership of Davenport, whom Cotton Mather calls " the greatest of the anti-synodists." The minority in the church, to the number of twenty-eight, who were opposed to Davenport " on the ground of the rigidity of his sentiments " and his advanced age, finally withdrew in a body, and with one member from the church in Charlestown formed a new church.1 The Third Church in Boston was, like the old church, formed in Charlestown at two meet- ings, held May 12 and 16, 1669, under the sanction of a council of churches, which assumed the granting of a regular dismissal denied to them by the old church. First Church took no part in the ceremonies either
1 The land for the Third (or South) Meeting-house was given by Madam Norton, widow of Rev. John Norton of First Church.
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of formation or election of officers, and refused to dismiss the wives of some of the dissenting brethren who wished to join their husbands in the new cov- enant. Church contentions in those days seldom proceeded far without the intervention of the Gen- eral Court; and this case proved to be no exception. At the May. session, 1670, that body decided in favor of First Church, in opposition to the organi- zation of the new, or Third Church. The following is a part of the report of a committee appointed to examine into "those prevailing evils which were the probable cause of God's displeasure towards our land ": -
" Declension from the primitive foundation work; inno- vation in doctrine and worship, opinion and practice; an invasion of the rights, liberties, and privileges of churches; a usurpation of a lordly, prelatical power over God's her- itage; a subversion of gospel order; and all this with a dangerous tendency to the utter devastation of these churches; turning the pleasant gardens of Christ into a wilderness; and the inevitable and total extirpation of the principles and pillars of the congregational way: these are the leaven, the corrupting gangrene, the infecting, spreading plague, the provoking; image of jealousy set up before the Lord, the accur-ed thing, which hath provoked divine wrath, and doth further threaten destruction."
Some of the ministers objected to this report so strenuously that, the popular sentiment in the mean time having completely changed, it brought forth an apology the following year. "The court decreed that all papers relating to the late difficulty should be
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accounted useless, and that no odium ought to rest upon those ministers who had been instrumental in establishing the Third Church. In doing this, how- ever, care was taken to secure the authority of the magistrates ; and due caution was administered against questioning the rectitude of legislative pro- cecdings." From letters preserved in the records it appears that the church at Dedham was at variance with First Church over the removal of Davenport. As might have been expected, the church did not thrive during all this controversy." It. received very few accessions, and was busied principally with admonitions and excommunications.
" On 12 Feb., 1669, Edward Ransford and Jacob Eliot were dismissed from the office of deacons for setting their hands, with other brethren, to desire their dismission from the church, because the church had chosen Mr. Davenport for their pastor."
" On 29 March, 1670, at a meeting called about our dis- senting brethren, the question, whether the church see light from the word of God to dismiss our dissenting brethren that desire it, was answered in the negative, unanimously."
"At a general meeting of the church on 16 August, 1669, it was voted by the church, that our honored magistrates do draw up instructions for Capt. Clarke to N. Haven, that they might declare the owning of the letter sent from them to this church to be a true dismission for M' Dav- enport." 2
1 " In 1669 two men only and six women were received as members. Twenty male and nineteen female infants, in that year, were baptized."- EMERSON'S Ilistory, 117.
" It'was one of the objections against settling Mr. Davenport, that he had not been properly dismissed from his former church at New Haven, as would appear by letters, parts of which, it was claimed, had been suppressed.
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" At a meeting of ye church : on ye 20 : of August : 69, It was voted by ye church y' maj" gen", ye elders, wh Capt. Clark, M' Stoddard, and M' Cooke, do draw up a letter in answer to ye letter sent from Dedham Church, enquiring after the proceeding of ye church about a letter or letters from ye church of N. Haven to this church, and to sign it in the name of the church."
"On 25 Aug., 1669, the church met to hear the letter read that was sent to Dedham; and they did unanimously concur with it, as their own mind."
"At a church meeting on 9 Oct., 1669, 'upon hearing the letter read from N. Haven in answer to a letter of two of the elders to them, it was voted, unanimously, that the church doth stand to the former vote and judgment, in the case of the elders, about the extracting the sense of the letters dismissive.' "
The following vote alone shows a lingering re- gard for the spiritual welfare of the members, in the midst of all this strife : -
" At a publick church meeting, on the 13 of the 10 mo., 1669, it was agreed on and concluded by a unanimous vote, that the elders should go from house to house to visit the families, and see how they are instructed in the grounds of religion."
LIFE OF ALLEN.
James Allen, the colleague of Davenport, was born June 24, 1632. His father was a minister in Hampshire, England. Allen entered Magdalen Hall, March 16, 1649; and at New College, Oxford,
The original protest of seventeen ministers charging the elders of First Church with suppressing letters, or parts of letters, is preserved in the Massachusetts Historical Society Library. Trumbull and Hutchinson dis- cuss the matter more fully than is here attempted.
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proceeded for an M. A., and became a fellow. He came to this country as an ejected minister, arriving at Boston June 10, 1662. He married Hannah, daughter of Richard Dummer, Aug. 18, 1663. She died at twenty-one, " probably without children."
His second wife, Elizabeth, whom he married soon after, was widow of the second John Endicott, and daughter of Jeremiah Houchin. Allen brought over with him from England a recommendation from Mr. Goodwin. Mr. Davis, a merchant in Bos- ton, and a fellow-passenger of Allen, says that half a dozen of the " great church " were anxious, as he supposes, to secure him for assistant on his first arrival, "the Lord having given him large room in the hearts of the people," but some were at that time opposed to it. Though not called to be teacher on his first coming, he several times acted in that capacity. Eleazer Mather, of Northampton, writes to Mr. Davenport, of New Haven, on the "4th of 5th month, 1662, here is come with Woodgreene, one Mr. Allen, a young man, a very able teacher. He hath taught here divers times since he came."
In the year 1700 his name appears as one of the fifteen fellows of Harvard College.
His second wife died April 5, 1673, leaving sev- eral children, one of whom, Jeremiah, became Treas- urer of the Province in 1715, and another, James, graduated from Harvard in 1689.1
1 Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of New England, Vol. 1. 31. When Emerson was minister one of his posterity worshipped in First Church. Emerson's History of First Church, 157.
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On Sept. 11, 1673, he married his third wife, Sarah, widow of Robert Breck, and daughter of Captain Thomas Hawkins.
Allen lived in a handsome stone house,1 and was possessed of a large estate. " His wealth gave him the power, which he used, as a good bishop, to be hospitable." He steadily supported ecclesiastical order and government, but recognized the divine authority of Christ in all things, and the right of conscience to dictate his actions. He was jealous of the rights and privileges of the church, and would guard the latter from all encroachments. His third wife died Nov. 25, 1705. He died Sept. 22, 1710, at the age of seventy-eight years, "forty-six of which he had been a member, and forty-two a vigilant ruler and instructor of the church."
" During the six years, ending in 1710, twenty-four men and sixty-six women had been admitted into the church. In the same period the number of bap- tisms was two hundred and two, - one hundred and thirteen males and eighty-nine females." 2
1 Drake's Landmarks of Boston, 363.
2 Emerson's History of First Church, 157.
CHAPTER IV.
1671-1710.
JAMES ALLEN, JOHN OXENBRIDGE, JOSHUA MOODEY, JOHN BAILEY, BENJAMIN WADSWORTH, THOMAS BRIDGE.
Condition of Religious Affairs down to the Present Period. -- Trouble with the Baptists and Quakers. - John Oxenbridge. - Contribu- tion for Harvard College. - Psalm-singing: - Penn Legacy. - Synod of 1679. - Other Churches invited to assist in carrying on Thursday Lecture. - Reconciliation between First and Third Churches. - Joshua Moodey. - Establishment of Episcopacy. - Arbitrary Conduct of Governor Andros. - Salaries provided for the Ministers at this Period. - Modifications under the new Charter of 1692. - John Bailey. - Benjamin Wadsworth. - Churches in Boston in 1698. - Formation of Brattle Street. - Union between Church and College. - Thomas Bridge. - Erection of a Parsonage. 1
W TE have now reached a period in the history of the colony during which an important change was to take place in the relation of Church and State; taking away from the former that power which never properly belonged to it, and transfer- ring the jurisdiction in civil affairs to the people. This reform, so vital in its operation, did not ac- tually occur till 1692, when the new charter took effect; but the present place seems to afford a favor- able opportunity for taking a parting glimpse at
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the old order of things as it existed in the days of Cotton and Norton, when the church governed all. For nearly a quarter of a century no attack on the Puritan system of church government had met with more than limited success. The influence of one man, aided by the laws of the colony, had presented an impregnable barrier to any such attempts. The Quakers, to be sure, had caused some trouble, but no- where had established themselves as a society of any consequence, except on the borders of Rhode Island. The number of Baptists was perhaps even smaller than that of the Quakers, and the attempt to estab- lish an Episcopal church had thus far entirely failed. The influence of one man had done a great deal to keep this system in working order. " What- ever Mr. Cotton delivered was soon put into an order of court, if of a civil, or set up as a practice in the church, if of an ecclesiastical concernment."
It is not proposed to enter into an analysis of the peculiar form -of church government as established by Cotton and others, and commonly known as Puritan theocracy. The experiment of governing a country on strictly Biblical principles, then for the first time tried, proved difficult to handle, and in the end impracticable. Such an undertaking was found to attempt too much, and instead of keeping out objectionable characters, it only offered strong inducement to them to come in.
The system, as first introduced, comprehended the enforcement of a strict rule relating to baptism.
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The struggle came with the second generation of colonists. Serious objections began to be raised about baptizing the children of such as had not be- come full church-members. Synods were called " to allay the evils." These in their turn were strenu- ously opposed, and parties were divided into synod- ists and anti-synodists, the former finally carrying the day.
The part assumed by First Church resulted, as we have seen, in the refusal to ratify the Half Way Covenant, and the withdrawal of a portion of its members to constitute the Third, or South Church. The stern Norton had been dead more than five years when this separation took place. The age in which he lived is known as one of bitter intoler- ance as well as of earnest ecclesiastical contro- versy. England had set the example in adopting repressive measures towards the fanatical spirits with whom she was overrun. The charter of the Bay Colony was peculiarly adapted to foster similar notions.
The form of government attempted to be estab- lished by the colonists recognized not only the right, but the obligation to ward off "erratic spirits." The laws of the colony were framed so as to keep " police order " in religion. They recognized no dis- tinction, save in kind, between religious and civil of- fences. In either case the offender might be fined, imprisoned, banished, whipped, put in the stocks, or hung. That our fathers made prompt use of these
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means of enforcing discipline, the records will amply testify. No punishment was too severe for the re- ligious offender. They were especially violent in their opposition to the Quakers and Baptists. We have seen how far his zeal in this direction carried Norton. He was instrumental in, if not directly re- sponsible for, the execution of the Quakers on Boston Common, through the violence of his attack on what he called their blasphemous beliefs. But while we do not defend the course they pursued, we must be careful not to judge men like Norton too hastily. Harsh as their conduct was, we generally find some excuse for it in the extremely exasperating behavior of those with whom they had to deal. . The Quaker spirit of that day was very different from the temper of the modern Friend. Those who were called Quakers then would scarcely be recognized by that name to-day. Their nature was aggressive, and they courted persecution.
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