USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Leicester > History of the Second Congregational church and society in Leicester, Massachusetts > Part 2
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 | Part 11 | Part 12
1
-----
20
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
"We rejoice with you, and give thanks to God, at the remembrance of his faithful labors, his long and peaceful and prosperous ministry, his literary eminence, his domestic virtues, his honorable and well-spent life.
"We shall not forget the happy home, over which, together with his excellent consort, he presided with so much ease and dignity and grace; nor the serene and cheerful spirit with which he met the visitations of adversity, and drank the bitter cup.
"We honored him in life; his memory will ever be precious, and we rejoice and will rejoice in the blessed hope and assured belief that it is but the time-worn tabernacle that is dissolved, while the released spirit of our friend has ascended to purer regions, to be forever united with the wise and good of all ages and lands; where, if we remain faithful unto death, we shall again meet, to renew our intercourse and friendship that shall be as enduring as the imperishable soul.
"Commending you to the grace of God, and the rich con- solations of the gospel, we subscribe ourselves yours in the faith and fellowship of Jesus Christ.
"NATHANIEL THAYER, "WASHINGTON GILBERT,
"ISAAC ALLEN, "CAZNEAU PALFREY,
"JOSEPH ALLEN, "SAMUEL MAY,
"CALVIN LINCOLN, "RUFUS P. STEBBINS."
As some indication of the spirit of Unitarianism, prevalent in many of the early churches in Massachusetts, an interest- ing comparison may be instituted between the several Cove- nants of the 1First Congregational Church in the neighboring
1 See Appendix to Centennial Discourse, 1843. By Rufus P. Stebbins.
1
21
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
town of Leominster, long affiliated with Leicester in the Worcester Association of Ministers. The first covenant was subscribed in 1743, to which the second, in 1760, is manifestly a protest; while the third, in 1815, in harmony with the first, tacitly rejects the five points of Calvinism, fosters the sense of personal responsibility, and is well upon the way toward the more liberal thought which that distinguished Unitarian clergyman, the Rev. Rufus P. Stebbins, so acceptably dis- seminated during his pastorate of the First Congregational Church in Leominster, which charge he resigned to become first President of the Theological School at Meadville, Penn.
FIRST COVENANT, 1743.
Being persuaded that we are now called of God to come into the state of a Gospel Church, we do it, therefore, freely in a solemn and religious manner, reflecting on our own unworthiness, admiring the mercy and condescension of God, and trusting in his promised grace. Accordingly, in the presence of God and men we make these solemn declarations respecting our faith and practice.
Declaring our hearty belief of the Christian religion com- prised in the Holy Scriptures, we firmly resolve, that (studying and meditating in the Word of God, both day and night), we will there unto habitually conform our lives.
We dedicate ourselves to the Lord Jehovah (to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and take Him for our eternal portion.
We give up ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, as our Prophet, Priest and King.
We promise constantly, and in an exemplary manner, to
-
1
22
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
observe all the duties of the Moral Law, to live soberly, righteously, and piously, keeping consciences void of offence toward God and men.
We resolve to walk together as becomes a Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the faith and order of the Gospel, ac- cording to the best light we can obtain, diligently. Attend- ing the public worship of God, the sacraments of the New Testament, and all his sacred institutions ; watching over one another in meekness and tenderness.
We promise likewise, if any children shall be committed to our care, to educate them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
We promise to be sincerely and regularly concerned for our neighbor's welfare, both temporal and spiritual; to do no injury ; to give no offence ; but to do what in us lies to promote the happiness of all (with whom we shall be con- cerned) in every respect-and not to confine this caution and benevolence to our friends, but to extend them even to our enemies.
More particularly, we promise inviolably to practice all relative duties, both to superiors, inferiors and equals; to show them all that honor, love, condescension and benefi- cence, which shall be due from us.
We promise never to avenge any injury, which we may suppose ourselves to have received of our neighbors.
We will never promote or countenance any obscenity or impurity by word or deed.
We will never wrong our neighbors' worldly estate, but endeavor to advance it, conscientiously observing the rules of justness and honesty ; and as far as we shall be able, make
23
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
full reparation of any injuries which we may have done.
Moreover, we solemnly promise, that we will never allow ourselves in the practice of calumny or slander; but will strictly regard such Christian rules as these. (Titus iii. 2) : Speak evil of no man. (James iv. 11): Speak not evil one of another (2 Cor. xii. 20), lest there be strifes, backbitings, whisperings ; and will exercise that charity which covereth the multitude of faults and thinketh no evil.
And, in sum, we solemnly engage that we will invariably seek the public weal, and govern ourselves by the peaceful, charitable, and generous principles of our holy religion, fixedly adhering to that most reasonable precept of our blessed Lord and pattern, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even the same unto them."
And now, sensible of our own corruption and weakness, and of the power and vigilance of our spiritual enemies, we implore and trust in the Grace of God, through Jesus Christ, to preserve us from dissimulation and instability, with refer- ence to these our sacred vows and resolutions; to which, in the presence and fear of our righteous all-seeing Judge, we subscribe our names.
SECOND COVENANT, SUBSCRIBED FEBRUARY 4, 1760.
The long preamble is omitted.
1. We do avouch the Lord to be our God, whose name alone is Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons in one God who is over all blessed forever, to fear him and cleave to him in love, and serve him in truth, with all our hearts :-
-
24
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
2. We do, through the help of the Holy Spirit, by covenant, choose all the written word of God, to be our only rule for faith and manners, so building upon the founda- tion of the Apostles and Prophets, not preferring one part of the Word by partiality to another; but by esteeming every word of God to be pure and useful for reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness, and as thoroughly furnishing us to all good works, waiting for the teaching of the Spirit of truth to lead us into all truth, in a diligent comparing Serip- ture with Scripture until the light thereof shine more unto the perfect day-as some of the truths of God are opposed in this day of apostacy ;- we will therefore stand together in the defence of these truths, resisting steadfastly by His word and Spirit, all doctrines that tend to undermine the true Deity or Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, or His dignity as King and Prophet and Priest of His Church; or that tend to advance Man's innocency by nature, his own merits or righteousness, and to eclipse the Sovereignty and efficacy of Divine Grace in Election, Vocation and Justification, the whole of salvation both begun and perfected being only of Grace, without any regard had to good foreseen in man or willed by him ;- as for human composures, we bless God for the great Grace and eminent gifts he hath given to some men and shall use the writings of such as are agreeable to the word of God, as helps for our instruction, quickening, com- forting and establishing in Grace, at the same time searching the Scriptures whether what they say be agreeable to them, so our faith may not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God :-
3. We covenant through the help of the Holy Spirit to
25
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
improve all the ordinances which Christ hath instituted in His Church, both general and special, in their appointed seasons, as prayers, praises, hearing God's word, and to hold communion with each other, in the use of both the seals of the Covenant, viz .:- Baptism and Lord's Supper :-
4. We promise peaceably to submit to the holy discipline appointed by Christ in His Church; as fellowship, the key for opening the doors of the Church, to receive in the righteous that keep the truth; censure, the key for shutting the door of the Church; public admonition when the offence is public; withdrawing from those that walk disorderly, that cause divisions and offences, or forsake Church assemblies; and excommunicating such as are obstinate heretics, or persist in open scandalous sins; and that there may be less occasion for public censures and excisions, we promise to warn every brother or sister that offends; not divulging in private, offences irregularly, but heedfully following the several pre- cepts laid down for Church dealing in Matthew, XVIII. 15, 16, 17, willingly forgiving all that manifest unto the judg- ment of Charity that they truly repent of their miscarriage :-
5. We covenant by the help of the Holy Spirit faithfully to discharge our several relative duties; as-
1. To submit to our pastor in waiting upon his ministry, esteeming him very highly in love for his work's sake, and as a steward of the mysteries of God to us, obeying him that hath the rule over us, and counting him worthy of double honor while ruling well.
2. To discharge our duty to our families, especially to our infant seed, challenging their right to a relation unto God in his Church, and to Baptism, the seal thereof, and
-
26
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
therefore to train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord-in special, by the use of such catechisms as are agreeable to the doctrine of grace, especially the Westminster Catechism, and calling upon them as they grow up, to avouch the Lord to be their God, and to take on themselves the bond of the Covenant, that so the true religion may be maintained in our families whilst we live, and that when we are dead they may stand up in our stead and be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
3. To discharge our duties to each other, in particular to love one another-to bear each other's burdens and in honor esteeming each other better than ourselves; to watch over each other, praying for, and strengthening and comforting one another.
4. To esteem all men, and to love the brotherhood and fear God, and to do good to all as we have opportunity, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Thus we covenant and promise; and now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the ever- lasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
COVENANT OF 1815.
The long preamble is omitted.
ARTICLE 1. We unreservedly give up ourselves to Al- mighty God, choosing Him for our friend and everlasting
27
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
portion, and promising, with the assistance of His Grace, to glorify Him with our bodies and with our spirits, which are His.
2. We heartily embrace the Lord Jesus Christ in all His offices, as our only Saviour, and the Holy Ghost as our sanctifier and teacher.
We receive the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the Word of God, and promise to make them the only rule of our faith and religious practice.
4. We promise with seriousness and prayerfulness, to wait on God, diligently, in all His holy ordinances, both common and special.
5. We engage to walk orderly and charitably with each other, to use our endeavors for the promotion of the Church's purity, edification and prosperity ; to submit ourselves to its watch and discipline ; and in case of offences, to conform to the rule pointed out by our Saviour in Matthew xviii. 15, 16, 17.
6. We promise to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to see that all under our care are instructed in the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, to maintain the worship of God in our families and to set before our households examples of virtue and godliness.
All this' we do, looking to the blood of the everlasting covenant for the pardon of our sins, and praying that the glorious Lord who is the great Shepherd would prepare and strengthen us for every good word and work, and receive us at last to everlasting mansions.
1
1
1
CHAPTER II. A GLANCE AT LEICESTER HISTORY.
A glance at the ecclesiastical history of Leicester leads us directly to the first Church of Christ, which embodied the religious life and sentiment of the town.
It was indeed a great thing in this New World when amid much diversity of opinion a single Church could still stand for an entire community.
But with the more widely cultivated habit of thought, and widely spread diffusion of knowledge, it would be an infi- nitely greater achievement in this twentieth century than it was nearly two hundred years ago, however much the con- templation of that earlier robust aspect, when Religion was made a definite part of the recognized business of the town, commands our admiration and respect.
And so we hark back to the days when the first rude little meeting-house, supposed to have been built in 1719, stood near the present site of the successively built churches of this first parish, hemmed in by primeval forest; when the now excellent neighboring road to Paxton was described as beginning at "a black birch standing near a great red oak behind the meeting-house and close by the same," and run- ning thence through the woods by marked trees, to the days of the wolf, and of the Nipmuck Indian still lingering doubt- fully upon his native soil, ill-content to forsake his home, and continuing a source of more or less anxiety hereabout,
29
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
to the extent of delaying settlement for many years, the land having been acquired in 1686. Leicester was in the heart of the great Nipmuck Country, where Indian villages had been planted upon the hilltops here and there, as con- venient, and the township, eight miles square, was purchased of the two daughters of Chief Oraskaso, recently deceased, for the sum of fifteen pounds current money of New England.
Accordingly Momokhue, and her sister Waiwaynow, duly set their pathetic hands and seals to the legal instrument as required, along with their young husbands, Philip Tray and John Wampscon, whose English given names lend color to the surmise that they belonged to the "Praying Indians," and not highly improbable of those to whom the Apostle Eliot preached on Pakachoag Hill, in Worcester, on which historic site Holy Cross College most appropriately stands.
It is estimated that the "Praying Indians" of the Nip- muck tribe numbered one thousand in what is now Worcester County.
The twenty-two proprietors of Leicester, who undertook the enterprise of settling the town, and of confirming the original title, were men of influence in the Province, and the acknowledgment of the deed was certified by Col. Penn Townsend, former Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk, on February 23, 1713-14.
The Rev. David Parsons, first minister of the first Church in Leicester was settled in 1721.
The dwelling provided for him in the vicinity of the meeting-house was protected by "a garrison" or stockade, the erection of which was one of the first corporate acts of the town, and two soldiers were garrisoned there for a time
1
-
1
30
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
by order of Lieut. Gov. Dummer, to guard not only the clergyman and his family against possible attack by the Indians, but all who might seek refuge there in the event of peril.
There were several of these stockades in other parts of Leicester, which at this period was a frontier town, and the Indians a serious menace from 1722 to 1726, while war was being waged with tribes at the East.
The pastorate of Mr. Parsons is a doleful story of straitened circumstances, delayed salary, and ill feeling, and the sympathy of the reader of local history is rather hopelessly confused between the long-suffering impoverished little town so remorselessly held to its luckless choice, and the conten- tious pastor. Happily perhaps for Mr. Parsons, he was no novice in parish warfare, having come from twelve stormy years in Malden, where he succeeded in 1709, the Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, best known as the author of that terrible epic "Day of Doom," lavish of detail as the Inferno of Dante, yet possessed withal of a certain wealth of local imagery and ingenious adaptableness to the local imagination, which forbids even a passing comparison.
Mr. Parsons's twelve years' pastorate in Malden, and his fourteen years in Leicester, were alike ended by a law-suit and an Ecclesiastical Council.
While there is reason to believe he was an unusually force- ful speaker, history described him as contentious and un- happy; out of harmony with his environment, and himself.
The polity of this first struggling church was Congrega- tional, according to the custom of early Massachusetts churches, and liberal in its simple covenant, as well as in
-
31
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
the absence of a formulated creed for the first eighty-six years of its existence.
The Rev. David Goddard, son of Hon. Edward Goddard, of Framingham, at one time a member of the Council, succeeded Mr. Parsons, and was ordained, June 30, 1736. Described as "a man of loving and forbearing spirit, and deep piety," he served most acceptably for eighteen years, and died in office, January 19, 1754, of "the great sickness," as it was called, while on a visit to Framingham. His father and mother were borne to the tomb within a month after, victims of the same prevailing malady. Governor Washburn relates that Mr. Goddard found religious interest in a sadly depressed condition in Leicester, and that "the meeting- house, never in complete order, had been suffered to fall into such general dilapidation, that it required an expendi- ture of ten pounds merely to repair the glass in its windows, before it could be considered fit for the new minister."
But those humble windows that swung upon hinges, and were refitted with their little diamond-shaped panes of glass at so grievous a cost, from an impoverished treasury, were destined to witness great things. The Churches of New England were on the eve of a wide-spread revival of religion, in which the mother country was also much concerned; the movement calling forth as all great movements, whether religious or political inevitably must, men of remarkable power and strongly partisan.
Most prominent among the supporters of the " Great Awakening, " and most responsible as an exciting cause, was the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton.
The want of space forbids more than passing reference to
32
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
this subject, which, in its multitudinous bearings, fills shelves of books in great libraries; but it is a matter of deep local interest and significance that Leicester shared in the inex- pressible excitment of the period, and enjoys the historic distinction of a visitation from Jonathan Edwards, and also from George Whitefield, who, though an Oxford University man, and regularly ordained clergyman of the Church of England, was a free lance in the field of religion; and in common with the Wesleys and others, upheld general minis- tration and exhortation by the laity, an itinerant clergy, and kindred features highly objectionable to conservative taste and practice. It was on Wednesday afternoon, October 15, 1740, that the Rev. George Whitefield preached in Leicester.
Mr. William Lincoln writes in his valuable history of Worcester, "The celebrated Whitefield, whose splendid eloquence seemed almost the gift of inspiration, controlling the judgment, and swaying the feelings of men at pleasure, went through New England during his second visit, preach- ing to congregations gathered by the acre, beneath the open sky, in numbers no house could contain.
"On his way to New York this powerful exhorter arrived in Worcester, October 14, 1740, accompanied by Gov. Bel- cher, whose mind had been deeply impressed by the glowing elocution which had roused thousands."
Governor Belcher refers to this occasion in a letter to Richard Waldron to be found among the Belcher papers. .
"What crowned the pleasure of the journey was my unex- pectedly meeting on the road, the excellent, lovely, heavenly Whitefield, whom I had often heard at Boston without weariness, and wherefore eagerly heard him again at Marl-
.
33
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
borough and Worcester; and although I greatly approve and admire his matter and manner of preaching, yet having an opportunity in this journey of considerable conversation with him, by his piety, meekness, humility, innocence and great simplicity, he has most of all enamored me."
Robert Philip, biographer of Mr. Whitefield, states that Gov. Belcher accompanied the great evangelist to Leicester, but some research fails to reveal corroborative testimony.
Mr. Whitefield refers tenderly to the Governor in his journal, Oct. 14-15, 1740.
Of Worcester he writes : "I preached in the open air on the common to some thousands ; the word fell with weight indeed; it carried all before it." And of Leicester : "Preached in Leicester, six miles from Worcester, with some, though not so much power as in the morning."
Scholars, statesmen, actors, men little touched by the bur- den of his discourses, sat spell-bound beneath the resistless quality of Whitefield's mighty eloquence. A Hume, a Chesterfield, a Franklin, have attested. And David Garrick, sensitive to each gesture, each intonation and inflection of that marvellous voice, declared that Whitefield could move his audience to tears or to ecstasy at will, by simply saying "Mesopotamia" with varied utterance.
The interest in the great revival in which one hundred and fifty towns in New England were actively engaged continued to increase, and at the invitation of Mr. Goddard and others, the Rev. Jonathan Edwards came to Leicester in January, 1742, and remained for several weeks preaching here, with occasional visits to adjacent towns. He was assisted by Rev. Dr. David Hall, of Sutton, and Rev. Ebenezer Park-
3
1
34
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
man, of Westboro, and valuable references thereto appear in the diaries of these three clergymen.
"He that would know the working of the New England mind in the middle of the last century, and the throbbings of its heart, must give his days and nights to the study of Jonathan Edwards," wrote George Bancroft the historian, while the nineteenth century was still with us. The ma- terial for exhaustive study is abundant and accessible indeed, but imagination runs riot in the midst of it in vain endeavor to picture the further development of this remarkable man under advantages such as the Old World could have given, but which the infant settlements of New Haven and North- ampton were powerless to bestow.
His is the most solemn, imposing, awe-inspiring figure in all of Massachusetts history, one is tempted to assert, as he moves across the stage of his day and generation with his queenly wife beside him-his perfect complement.
I "We cannot be wrong in assigning to Mrs. Edwards a place in the Great Awakening hardly inferior to that occupied by her husband. The young girl whom at the age of thirteen he had eulogized as a favorite of Heaven, whose rare beauty had satisfied his fastidious taste, was still exercising as a ma- ture woman the same attractive influence over his mind and heart.
"There is abundant evidence of the spell which she exerted over those around her by the beauty of her person, and the singular and refined loveliness of her manner, as also of the character which inspired it. Her reputation had gone abroad
1 Alexander V. G. Allen, D. D. Life of Edwards, p. 197.
-
1851567
LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS 35
in the colony, she was even said to surpass her husband in her endowment of Christian graces. Like him, she was a mystic devotee, with a natural capacity for the highest fer- vors of devotion. It was her experience-which seemed to Edwards as genuine as it was remarkable-which would have compelled him to believe, even against his will, that the divine visitation might overpower the human body."
There was probably no lack of grace and dignity in the physical effect of religion in the person of Mrs. Edwards, who by pure force of will, and dominant spirituality had learned to extricate herself from the human condition of doubt and discouragement touching this life, and that which is to come. As the Buddhist finely phrases it, she had "attained"; and none better than the devout Buddhist knows, perhaps, the intense mental absorption, self-abnega- tion, and unconsidered world of pains required to compass this condition.
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.