USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Manual of the Church of the Pilgrimage, Plymouth, Mass. 1870 > Part 2
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
Plymouth. Mr. Judson was succeeded by Rev. William T. Torrey, whose pastorate continued about five years. In 1824 Rev. Frederic Freeman became the pastor. Two or three years later the meeting-house was enlarged and re- modelled. In 1830 a spirit of division and dissatisfaction with respect to the existing ministry, which had been manifest for some time, culminated in the withdrawal of about fifty members of the Third church and the forma- tion of the "Robinson Church," or the Fifth Congrega- tional Church of Plymouth, by whom a house of worship was erected on Pleasant street. Three years after, Mr. Freeman closed his labors and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Boutelle, who held the pastoral office until April, 1837. Rev. Robert B. Hall was installed in the August following.
On the 24th of November, 1840, a new house of wor- ship, which has since been occupied by the society, was dedicated with appropriate services under the name of "The Church of the Pilgrimage." Its dimensions are sixty-eight feet by fifty-nine, with a tower twenty-six feet square. It stands very near, if not directly upon, the site of the first church erected by our Pilgrim Fathers (see page 16), and received its name in commemoration of their pilgrimage to this place. A view of this church is given in the engraving (see Frontispiece), on the right of which is seen a portion of the chapel dedicated March 3, 1852 ; also, rising directly from its base, a section of Burial Hill, where the remains of many of the Pilgrims rest.
A new society, called the Society of the Pilgrimage, was organized shortly after the dedication of the church.
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History.
Mr. Hall continued his ministry until the spring of 1844, when, by reason of his "preferences for the doctrine, dis- cipline, and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church," it was brought to an end. In May, of the year following, Rev. Charles S. Porter was installed as the pastor. Dur- ing his ministry the Robinson church disbanded ; and at the communion of October 19, 1851, fifty years from the first communion service of the Third church, a large num- ber of its members were received again into fellowship with this church, and others continued subsequently to come. The house in which they had worshipped was sold to, and is still occupied by, the Methodist society. Mr. Porter closed his pastorate February 1, 1854, and was succeeded by Rev. Joseph B. Johnson, who was installed on the 4th of January following, and continued the pastor two years. In September, 1857, Rev. Nathaniel B. Blan- chard, who had supplied the pulpit for a short time pre- vious, was invited by the church and society to become their minister, and continued to act in this capacity, though not installed, until the summer of 1860. The church remained destitute of a regular ministry from that time until the autumn of 1861, when Rev. P. C. Headley assumed the supply of the pulpit, and continued his labors through the winter and spring, though declining the invitation given him to become the settled pastor. Rev. W. W. Woodworth "entered into" his labors and continued to act as stated supply to the end of March, 1864. In November of this year Rev. David Bremner was installed as the pastor, and held the relation until August, 1868. During the interval of transient supply which fol-
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
lowed, the house of worship was repaired and made to as- sume its present condition of convenience and comfort. The present pastor was installed on the 13th of April, 1870.
By a vote of the church on the 5th of May last, its name was changed from that of the "Third Church of Christ in Plymouth," under which it was organized in 1801, to that of "The Church of the Pilgrimage," and was thus made to conform not only to the name by which for a long time it had been currently known, but also to that of the society organized in 1840, and to that by which the new edifice was the same year dedicated ; so that the present name of these two organizations is, "The Church and Society of the Pilgrimage, Plymouth, Mass."
Such is an outline of the outward history of this church from its beginning to the present time. But let it not be thought, as we have thus traced it, that it is the history of a mere externality. These visible, successive facts are but the expression of an inward life. Their essential, evolving principle has, we believe, been that of an indwelling Christ. This is evidenced by the fact that, notwithstand- ing the adverse events which have so often gathered about it from without, and the restless tendencies repeatedly de- veloped from within, it has continued to live and grow. It has shown a power to preserve and perpetuate itself, to eliminate error, and maintain and advance the doctrine of Christ. It has been refreshing, in looking through the records of the church, to find frequent instances of a re- newal of covenant on the part of its members, and to note its occasional observance of days of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, and of thanksgiving for special mercies. While
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the repeated revival scenes to which we have come have been like the wells and palms of Elim to the Israelites ; the more recent of which are gratefully remembered by many now. Nor has it merely kept itself in being, but has, as we have seen, thrown off numerous coruscations of its life, which have become bright lights in other places. Ac- cording to the history given, ten churches have, either wholly or in part, been formed from it.
This is but a statement in subjective terms of the kindly, preserving care of God for his Church and for his gospel. To Him be all the glory.
We recognize the Church of the Pilgrimage to be iden- tical, in all essential respects, with the church of Scrooby, Leyden, and of the early wilderness of America ; and ap- ply to it the words of Morton, at the close of his Introduc- tion to Bradford's History: "The Church of Christ at Plymouth in New England, first begun in Old England, and carried on in Holland and at Plymouth aforesaid." It is thus the first and oldest church of America. The church at Scrooby, from which it came, was organized ten years before the Congregational church at Southwark, London, from which mainly the church of Scituate, the larger part of which afterward removed to Barnstable, was formed. Although its organization changed in 1801, the same long current of previous life continued, and is still resident in this church. As the identity of an individual is not changed by a legislative change of name, neither does a change of the organization, which is but the out- ward form or name for the essential, interior life, affect necessarily the identity of a church. We believe that
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The Church of the Pilgrimage.
an impartial, comprehensive eye, tracing through the years the line of ecclesiastical history over which our view has passed, would, on reaching the beginning of the present century, make the turn which we have made, and see that history perpetuated in the Church of the Pilgrimage of to-day.
It is the same in doctrinal faith, which is the vital, pre- serving secret of identity, and from which the essential character of a church is formed. By the necessary con- dition of a oneness of doctrine, its members are consti- tuted "the direct spiritual heirs and successors of the Mayflower Church." We may still say, in the words of John Robinson : "Our faith is not negative." "Our faith is founded upon the writings of the Prophets and Apostles." Its creed affirms "the same great truths of 'the glorious gospel of the blessed God,' to maintain which our fathers fled to these Western shores, under the influence of which they lived, in the belief and love of which they died, and 'which they left it in solemn charge to their posterity to maintain, whatever temporal sacrifices it might require, to the end of the world.'" Its present Articles of Faith, with the Covenant and Rules of Government, were adopted November 28, 1870. (See pages 32 - 44.)
During the incipient days of the Scrooby congregation, the Rev. John Smyth, pastor of a Separatist church formed by him at Gainsborough, in the neighboring county of Lincolnshire, in 1602, and the venerable Richard Clyf- ton, whose labors were much blessed in its advancement, seem to have been associated in its pastoral care. On the removal of the former with his people to Amsterdam, in
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1604, Clyfton assumed the entire ministerial charge, in which, soon after, he was assisted by John Robinson, to whom it was at length entirely transferred. The church, although organized in 1606, does not seem to have become thoroughly settled in its organization until the removal to Leyden, when Robinson was chosen and installed as pastor. It is quite evident that he was the first who was formally installed in this office. We therefore place his name at the head of the list of pastors of this church. (See page 45.)
The office of the ruling elder seems to have combined some of the duties belonging to that of the pastor and the deacon, holding a midway place between the one and the other. (See Dexter's Congregationalism.) It ended with the death of its third incumbent, in 1746, being justly re- garded as no longer necessary or desirable. (See page 46.)
The church, while remaining entire in Holland, "had three able men for deacons." The name of one of them, who probably remained there, with the time also of their choice, is unknown. It is quite probable, however, that they were chosen about the same time Brewster was chosen elder, and we have therefore given this date. Nor is the record fully definite with regard to the time of choice of the fourth, fifth, and ninth in this office, but associates it, more nearly than with any other, respectively with the years given. The choice of the sixteenth and seventeenth in the list is located in the spring of 1716 ; hence we have placed it in April. The record makes no mention of the choice of the twenty-ninth, and we therefore place it in the first year during which he is spoken of as deacon. It
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also gives the year only of the choice of the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth, but leads us to infer that it was not earlier than September. (See pages 46, 47:)
The total number of members of this church, by whom the long line of succession we have followed has been maintained, cannot be given with absolute certainty. Be- fore the departure of the Mayflower Pilgrims the church at Leyden numbered about three hundred. Regarding the greater part of those who came over, subsequently to the first arrival, as already members, we have no record of additions until the beginning of Mr. Cotton's ministry, in 1669, during which there were added one hundred and seventy-eight persons. During the ministry of Mr. Little one hundred and fifty-nine additions are recorded ; during that of Mr. Leonard, three hundred and thirteen ; from the beginning of Dr. Robbins' ministry to the division in 1801, two hundred and twenty; from the division in 1801 to the present time, seven hundred, - making a total, according to these numbers, of one thousand eight hundred and seventy persons. The only record which we have, with respect to the number received during the first fifty years, from 1620 to 1670, is that, at the begin- ning of Mr. Cotton's ministry, there were forty-seven resi- dent members. Adding to this a fair proportion of absent members, and, at the same time, making all due allowance for those of the entire number who may have remained of the Leyden membership, it seems but reasonable to sup- pose that the number received additionally, during this in- terim, would make the total membership of this church from the beginning not less than two thousand, while
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probably it would make it more, -a number which, dis- tributed in spaces of less than a year apart, would form a continuous line to the time when Christ was on the earth.
From the date of the new organization, in 1801, to the present time, the entire number constituting the member- ship of this church consists of the fifty-two original mem- bers, and of seven hundred since added, - in all of seven hundred and fifty-two persons ; five hundred and eight having joined by profession, two hundred and forty-four by letter. Of these, two hundred and thirty-one have been removed by death, and two hundred and thirty-one by dis- mission to other churches. The total present membership consists of two hundred and fifty-five persons; and, as a complete register of members from the first cannot be given, it has been thought best to give simply a list of those composing this number. (See pages 48 - 55.)
But "our fathers, where are they ?" As we think of the great proportion of those constituting the entire member- ship of this church, who, we doubt not, are resting now from their pilgrimage and rejoicing in the glory of the heavenly world, we cannot fail to be impressed with our nearness to eternal scenes. The line of history, which we found to begin at the village of Scrooby, seems to begin no longer there, but to stretch down, in diagonal course, from the City of God. The thither end of it has been lifted. God has reached down and caught it up and fastened it about his throne. The life of earth has been trans- figured into the life of heaven. Robinson and Brew- ster, Smith, Cotton, and Robbins, Judson, Porter, and Blanchard, and all the earlier ministers and members of
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this church, are there. The descending line draws nearer to us as we think of those who have more lately died. Its hither end is fastened about ourselves. We are in close and vital connection with those who, during the his- tory of this church, have ascended from its membership to glory, - members of the same body, possessors of the same " goodly heritage," lovers of the same Christ.
"One family, we dwell in Him, - One church above, beneath."
We would, in closing this review, make thankful record of the fact that the present condition of the church is one of peace and prosperity. The services of the sanctuary are well attended ; the meetings for social religious wor- ship are well sustained. A Sabbath school is in success- ful operation. The various processes of church life are in healthful, harmonious exercise. The blessing of God in temporal and in spiritual things is abundantly manifest.
May the future of the Church of the Pilgrimage be ever worthy of its past. May it be in days to come what its members in days of old were pleased to call it, "an in- closed garden," in which " the righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree," and the fruits of grace shall be richly mul- tiplied, and out of which every false, unhealthful growth shall be carefully kept. May the mantle of Elijah rest upon Elisha, its present and future members maintaining in all purity "the faith once delivered unto the saints"; taking up this radiant line of former years and making it longer, brighter still ; transmitting from generation to gen- eration, even to the end of time, the grand succession.
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History.
" Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundant- ly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
" Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
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ARTICLES OF FAITH.
(See page 26.)
I. WE believe in the existence of a personal God ; and in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as a record, given by inspiration of God, of a revelation of himself to man, and the only perfect rule of our faith and practice.
I Tim. ii. 5. Jer. x. 10. Isa. Iv. 9. Matt. vi. 10. 1 John iv. 19.
2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. i. 21. John v. 39; xvii. 17. Heb. i. 1, 2. Ps. xix. 7, 8; cxix 105.
II. We believe that there is a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; and that these three are one God, the same in substance, and equal in every divine perfection.
Matt. xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
Exo. iii. 14. Ps. xc. 2. Matt. v. 48. 1 Kings viii. 27. Mal. iii. 6. Rom. xi. 33. Jer. xxxii. 17. Dan. iv. 35. Exo. xxxiv. 6, 7. Rom. i. 25.
Isa. ix. 6 John i. 1 - 18 ; v. 16- 32. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 John v. 20. Micah v. 2. Col. ii. 9. Matt. xxviii. 20. Heb. xiii. 8. John x. 18 ; xxi. 17. Heb. i. 3, 8. Rom. ix. 5.
Mark xii. 36. Acts v. 3, 4. Heb. ix. 14. Ps. cxxxix. 7-10. I Cor. ii. 10, 11 ; xii. II. Rom. xv. 19. Eph. iv. 30.
Deut. vi. 4. John xiv. 7 - 10 ; xv. 26. 1 Cor. viii. 4. 2 Cor. iii. 17.
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Articles of Faith.
III. We believe that God has an eternal purpose to declare his own glory as the chief end of all his works ; and that, according to this purpose, he created, preserves, and governs the universe.
Gen. i. 1, 2. Job. xxxiii. 4. Col. i. 16. Neh. ix. 6. Heb. i. 3. I Chron. xxix. II.
Isa. xiv. 24-27. Acts ii. 23. Rom. viii. 28-30 ; ix. 15- 24. Eph. i. 4-II; iii. II.
Prov. xvi. 4. Isa. xliii. 7. Rom. xi. 36. Rev. iv. II. I Cor. x. 31.
IV. We believe that God created man in his own image, and gave him a law requiring holiness, and sanctioned by the penalty of eternal death upon the transgressor ; that, in the beginning, man was holy, but fell from that estate by disobedience ; that, in consequence, men are by nature destitute of holiness and prone to sin, justly exposed to God's displeasure, and unable to deliver themselves " from the body of this death."
Gen. i. 26, 27 ; ii. 16, 17. Eze. xviii. 4. Rom. vi 23.
Gen. i. 31. Eccl. vii. 29. Gen. iii. 6-8, 16 - 19, 23, 24.
Gen. vi. 5. Ps. xiv. 2, 3. Rom. iii. 9 - 19, 23 ; v. 12 - 21 ; ii. 8, 9. Eph. ii. 3. Rom. vii. 24. John xv. 5.
V. We believe that God, in the second person of the Trinity, became incarnate in Jesus Christ, and has, by his humiliation, sufferings, and death, made an atonement for sin, sufficient for the whole world ; that, since the depraved condition of the heart is such, that none will turn to Christ except the Father draw them, the Holy Spirit comes to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judg-
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ment; and that regeneration by the influence of the Holy Spirit is essential to salvation.
Matt. i. 23. Luke i. 35. John i. 14. Gal. iv. 4. Heb. ii. 14 - 17. Isa. liii. Matt. i. 21 ; xxvi. 28. Acts iv. 12. Rom. iii. 24, 25. I Cor. xv. 3. I Tim. i. 15. I Pet. ii. 24.
John iii. 16. I Cor. viii. II. I Tim. ii. 6 ; iv. 10. 1 John ii. 2.
John v. 40, 42 ; vi. 44, 65. Rom. viii. 7, 8. 1 Cor. xii. 3. John xvi. 8 - II. Acts ii. 2 - 4.
John i. 12, 13 ; iii. 3, 5-7. Rom. viii. 9, 10. 2 Cor. v. 17. Eph. ii. I. Titus iii. 5. Rev. xxi. 27.
VI. We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the great condition on which men may be justified and saved ; that all who will may thus receive the water of life freely ; and that those who, through faith, are renewed by the Holy Spirit, will finally attain to everlasting life.
Mark xvi. 16. Acts xiii. 39 ; xvi. 31. Eph. ii. 8. Ps. xxxi. 19. Matt. xiv. 30. Rom. iii. 20 -28 ; x. 9- 11. James ii. 20 - 24. Isa. Iv. I. Matt. xi. 28. Rev. xxii. 17.
Ps. xxxvii. 24. Prov. iv. 18. John v. 24 ; vi. 39 ; x. 28, 29. Phil. i. 6. 1 Pet. i. 5. 1 John ii. 19.
VII. We believe that the Christian Sabbath is of Divine appointment and authority ; also that the Lord Jesus Christ has a Church in the world, to which all regenerate persons should belong ; that the Sacraments of the Church are Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; that the proper re- cipients of baptism are the infant children of professing Christians, and believers on profession of their faith not before baptized ; and of the Lord's Supper those only who are in good standing in the Church.
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Gen. ii. 3. Exo. xx. 8- 11. Mark xvi. 2, 9. John xx. 19. Acts xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 10.
Gen. xii. 1-3. Acts vii. 38; xx. 28. Matt. xvi. 18. Eph. i. 22, 23 ; iii. 21. Matt. x. 32. Acts ii. 47. I Cor. i. 2. 2 Cor. vi. 17. Titus iii. 10.
Matt. xxviii. 19. Acts ii. 38. Matt. xxvi. 26 - 30. 1 Cor. xi. 23 - 26.
Gen. xvii. 7- 10 ; xviii. 19. Deut. vi. 7. Luke xviii. 15, 16. Acts ii. 39; xvi. 15, 33 ; xviii. 8. Rom. iv. 11 ; xi. 17- 24. I Cor. i. 16; vii. 14. Gal. iii. 14 - 17.
Acts ii. 41 ; viii. 37 ; ix. 18 ; x. 47, 48.
Luke xxii. 19. I Cor. v. 7, 8; x. 16, 21, 31 ; xi. 27 - 29.
VIII. We believe that all men, irrespectively of char- acter, are immortal, and do, at death, enter upon their respective rewards of glory or of misery; that Christ will come again at the end of time, to raise the dead and judge the world; and that the wicked will at that day "go away into everlasting punishment," and the right- eous be received into everlasting life.
Gen. i. 27 ; v. 24. 2 Kings ii. II. Job xix. 26, 27. Isa. xiv. 9. Matt. x. 28; xiii. 47 - 50. Luke xx. 38 ; xvi. 19-31 ; xxiii. 43. Phil. i. 21 - 23. Rev. ii. 10; xxii. II.
Matt. xvi. 27. Acts i. II. I Thess. iv. 16. Luke xxiv. 6. 1 Cor. xv. Matt. xxvii. 52, 53. John v. 28, 29. Matt. xxv. 31 - 46. 2 Cor. v. IO. Rev. xx. 11 - 13.
Isa. iii. II. Matt. xii. 31, 32 ; xxv. 41- 46. Mark ix. 43 - 48. 2 Thess. i. 7-9. Heb. x. 26-31. Jude 6, 13. Rev. xxi. 27.
Ps Ixxiii. 24 ; Matt. xxv. 21, 34. John xiv. 3 ; xvii. 24. 2 Pet. i. II. Rev. vii. 9 - 17.
Do you thus believe ?
COVENANT.
CONFESSING that you have lived at enmity with your Heavenly Father, and relying henceforth upon divine grace, you do now, in the presence of God and men, sol- emnly choose the Lord Jehovah to be your God, the Lord Jesus Christ to be your only Saviour, the Holy Spirit to be your Sanctifier, Guide, and Comforter, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be your rule of faith and practice.
In consecration of all that you have and are to the ser- vice of God, you "join yourself (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways, made known, or to be made known unto you, according to your best endeavors, whatsoever it shall cost you, the Lord assisting you"; engaging, by his help, to be faithful in every personal and relative duty ; to live a prayerful, earnest Christian life, aiming always to promote the interest of our Saviour's cause ; to hold communion with this church in all Christian ordinances, walking with and watching over its members in love; to submit to the discipline of Christ in his house, and to its regular administration in this church ; and to seek in all
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things its peace and welfare so long as your connection with it shall continue.
This you profess, and promise, in the strength of your Lord and Saviour, to perform.
[The ordinance of baptism here administered when requisite, after which the members of the church will rise.]
I, then, in the presence of God and these witnesses, and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, do pronounce you a member of this church ; and we engage to treat you as such, to watch over you in love, praying the God of all grace to keep both you and us in his holy covenant, and to receive us at length into the communion of the Church in Heaven ; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
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GOVERNMENT.
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THE Church of the Pilgrimage is, according to its his- tory from the beginning, a Congregational church, main- taining the polity for which its original members suffered, and in adherence to which they came to America. It recognizes all ecclesiastical power to be vested in the con- gregation of Christian believers, united in covenant in the local church ; claiming the right to administer its own affairs according to its understanding of the Word of God, independently of all outward authority or control. At the same time it recognizes the principle of the Fellowship of the Churches as exercised in councils, in the transfer of members, in fraternal intercourse and mutual watch and care, according to the law of Christ and established Con- greg tional usages.
In the general administration of its affairs, it observes the usual methods of Congregational churches, as laid down in the leading treatises on Congregational church government. For convenience, however, it adopts, for its more special guidance, the rules which follow.
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Government.
I. OFFICERS.
The officers of this church shall be a Pastor or Pastors, Deacons, Scribe, and Treasurer, who shall be chosen by its members, by ballot, to perform respectively the duties usually appertaining to these offices. The Pastor shall be a member of the church. There shall also be a Standing Committee, consisting of the Pastor and Deacons, and as many others as the interests of the church may be thought to require, whose duty it shall be to examine applicants for admission to the church, and exercise a watchful care of its interests, and a general supervision of its discipline. The added members of this committee shall, with the Scribe and Treasurer, be chosen annually.
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