USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Natick > Manual of the first congregational church, Natick, Mass. > Part 2
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Natick > Manual of the first congregational church, Natick, Mass. > Part 2
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9. The Superintendent of the Sabbath School is an officer of this Church, and the choice of the school is not valid till approved by vote of the Church.
10. Besides the stated officers there may be chosen by the Church, a committee on religious papers, committee on monthly concerts and religious intelligence, ushers, and such other commit- tees as at any time may seem desirable.
Standing Rules.
I. All meetings for business shall be opened with prayer.
2. All adult members of the church, male and female, shall have a vote in all matters coming before the Church, and possess equal rights in it.
3. A meeting for the choice of officers and committees, and for other business, shall be held annually in the month of January. At this meeting the records of the last year shall be read, the catalogue of members revised, and accounts presented by the treasurer of all monies received, expended, or held by him on behalf of the Church, during the year. Reports shall be presented by the clerk, the auditor, and the superintendent of the Sabbath School.
4. The annual and other regular meetings of the Church, for the transaction of business, shall be announced from the pulpit on the preceding Sabbath.
5. Special meetings may be called by the pastor, or by a majority of the deacons, or by the clerk at the written request of five members of lawful age.
6. Business may be transacted at any regular meeting of the Church. But no business of importance shall be transacted at any church meeting unless notice has been given from the pulpit on the previous Sabbath.
7. The Lord's Supper shall be celebrated on the first Sabbath of January, March, May, July, September, and November. It shall be preceded by a preparatory service during the week pre- vious. The invitation to the Lord's Table shall be such as to include all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and who have made a public profession of their faith. The admission of members, together with the celebration of this ordinance, shall constitute the services of the afternoon.
8. The Sacrament of Baptism shall be administered to the children of believers, ordinarily, on the morning of the Commu- nion Sabbath, or at the Preparatory Lecture; and to adults, after
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First Congregational Church.
they have publicly professed faith in Christ, (and before their approach to the Table of the Lord.)
9. A contribution shall be made at every communion service ; and the fund thus obtained shall be used to defray the current expenses of the Church, and in assisting its necessitous members. 10. This Church will meet, for prayer and conference, every Thursday evening.
II. The Confession of Faith, Covenant, Forms of Admission, Ecclesiastical Principles and Rules, or Standing Rules, may not be altered, except by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the Church, of lawful age, present and voting at a meeting, due notice of which has been given on the previous Sabbath.
Constitution and By-Laws of the Sabbath School.
ARTICLE I.
This Sabbath School shall be called the First Congregational Sabbath School of Natick, Mass.
ARTICLE II.
The officers of this School shall consist of a President, Superin- tendent, Assistant Superintendent, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Chorister, Pianiste and Executive Committee for the whole School, together with a Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and Librarian for the Junior Department.
ARTICLE III.
SECTION I. The Pastor of the Church shall be, ex-officio, Presi- dent of the School, and shall preside at the annual meetings, but in his absence the Superintendent shall preside.
SEC. II. The Superintendent, who must be a church member, shall be elected at the regular session of the School on the second Sabbath of December of each year, each class in the Senior Department to have one vote, the choice subject to the approval of the Church.
SEC. III. The officers of the Junior Department shall be elected by the teachers of that department in December previous to the annual meeting, such election to be subject to the approval of the School.
SEC. IV. All other officers of the School shall be elected by ballot, at the annual meeting to be held in December subsequent to the election of Superintendent, but any vacancy may be filled at any session of the School or at any meeting called for that pur- pose.
SEC. V. All members of the school fourteen years of age and upwards shall be entitled to vote at the annual meetings.
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ARTICLE IV.
The President, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent of the Junior Department, and two others, one to be selected from each Department, shall constitute an executive committee, whose duty shall be to confer with the Superintendent in relation to the affairs of the school, and with him decide such questions as may be submitted to them ; provided, however, that such decision may be overruled or changed by a vote of the school.
ARTICLE V.
SECTION I. The School shall be reorganized on the first Sab- bath in January of each year, and each term of office shall com- mence at that time.
SEC. II. The older classes may choose their own teachers, sub- ject to the approval of the Superintendent; those of the younger classes shall be appointed by the Superintendent of the depart- ment to which they belong.
SEC. III. Any class wishing to retain their teacher must notify the Superintendent elect on or before the Sunday previous to the reorganization of the School.
ARTICLE VI.
Collections for some good object shall be taken at each regular session of the School, to be appropriated by a vote of the School
ARTICLE VII.
Annual reports shall be submitted at each annual meeting by the Superintendent, Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian, and Superintendent of the Junior Department, from which the Presi- dent shall prepare an abstract for record.
ARTICLE VIII.
This constitution may be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote of those present and voting at any regular business meeting of the School, provided notice shall have been publicly given in the School of such proposed change on or before the Sunday previous to such meeting.
Bistorical Sketch.
BY REV. DANIEL WIGHT.
ATO sketch of the First Congregational Church in Natick can be complete, that does not begin at the beginning- with the original planting of the gospel in Natick. This town, as indeed New England in gene- ral, was founded upon the Congregational Church, re- vived from the New Testament model. Her towns and town meetings as well, her families and her schools, her civil and her religious freedom, all took their origin and drank in their essential spirit from the same source, almost undiluted for the first one hundred and fifty years. In 1767, the number of Congregational churches in Massachusetts was two hundred and eighty ; while all others combined were less than forty .* This was on the eve of our Revolutionary struggle, a century since. Till then, also, nearly every family in her towns was usually represented in her sanctuaries from Sabbath to Sabbath.
REV. JOHN ELIOT, 1650-1690.
Early in this history, in 1650, under manifestly divine guidance, in answer to special prayer,; Rev. John Eliot, the afterward renowned "Apostle to the Indians," ex- plored and selected Natick as a beautiful locality for his Indian Parish, out of which sprang the First Church in
* See " Christian Observatory," Vol. I, p. 342.
+ " He tells us that during the time he was engaged in this search, he was much occupied in prayer for direction from heaven." (Nonantum and Natick, by Sarah S. Jacobs, 1853, p. 127.)
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Natick-the first Indian church in America-a Con- gregational church in harmony with his own at Rox- bury, and others throughout New England. Dr. Francis says, "Eliot always loved and defended the Congrega- tional form of church government," and further, that "he stood high among the first divines of the country and age."*
John Eliot was born in Nazing, Essex County, Eng- land, 1603. His parents were exemplary in their piety, and gave him a liberal education, in view of which he says: "I do see that it was a favor from God, that my first years were seasoned with the fear of God, his word and prayer." He was educated at Cambridge, England, matriculated as a pensioner in Jesus College, March 20, 1619, where he took his A. B., 1623. He came to Boston in the ship "Mary Lion," November 2, 1631, and was elected Teacher of the First Church in Roxbury in that month (November, 1631), then twenty- seven years of age, but was not ordained over that church till November 5, 1632, having officiated for a time in the First Church in Boston, in the absence of Mr. Wilson, their pastor, in England.t He married Ann Mumford, or Mountford, who was betrothed to him in England, and who followed him the next year, arriving probably in October. The year after his set- tlement, Rev. Thomas Welde became his colleague till 1639, when, upon advice of his friends, he returned to England, and died at London, March 23, 1660. Sub- sequently, Rev. Mr. Danforth, and still later, Rev. Mr. Walter, were his colleagues for a time, the latter at his death.
* Life of Eliot, pp. 312-13.
t Letter of C. K. Dillaway, of Roxbury, and Dr. Francis, pp. 8 and 9.
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Historical Sketch.
The Natick Indians, it would seem, had formerly lived in Deerfield, but, overcome by a neighboring hos- tile tribe, had recently put themselves under the pro- tection of the English, near Boston, where they lived in a roaming and wretched condition.
Deeply moved with compassion for these ignorant and degraded Indians in his vicinity, and in harmony with one design of the Pilgrims in first coming to this wil- derness, Eliot soon became interested in their behalf. In 1641, with the assistance of a young native, who could speak English, he resolved on the almost hopeless task of learning their rude and barbarous language- the Mohegan dialect, then generally spoken by the Indians throughout New England. I give a single word, as specimen, signifying "our question." It is composed of forty-two letters, viz : “ Kummogkodnnat- tootummooctiteaongannumarash." "One would think," says Mather, "that these words had been growing ever since Babel, unto the dimensions to which they are now extended." No wonder Eliot wrote, at the end of his Indian Grammar, "Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ, will do anything."* . In two years, however, he was able to converse with the natives in their own language.
In 1646, the Legislature of Massachusetts passed "An Act for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians," and July 27, 1649, "The Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England " was incorporated by Parlia- ment.t From the funds of these societies were after- wards paid, in part, the salaries of missionaries, the wages of teachers, white and Indian, and other expenses.
* Rev. Martin Moore's Memoir of Eliot, 2d Ed., 1842, p. 23.
+ Hist. of Am. Missions, pp. 13 and 15.
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October 28, 1646, Eliot began his more public labors among the Indians at Nonantum, now Newton, preach- ing a sermon in Waban's wigwam, in which he explained the Ten Commandments, and leading facts of the gos- pel, with application to his hearers, answering also their various questions- a three hours' service. They were deeply interested, and said "they understood all." Eliot now continued these services once in two weeks, the neighboring ministers often supplying his own pul- pit at Roxbury. The Roxborough Church records, in Eliot's hand-writing, inform us that "this winter was one of the mildest which we ever had-no snow all winter long, nor sharp weather; but they had long floods at Connecticut, which was much spoile to the corn in the meadows. We never had a bad day to go preach to the Indians all the winter. Praised be the Lord."* June 9, 1647, Eliot preached a sermon to the Indians, in their native language, in the presence of the Colonial Legislature, and also of the whole assembly of those divines who were then meeting at Cambridge to prepare the famous "Confession of Faith of 1680." }
After a few years of faithful instruction at Nonantum, Eliot perceived two most desirable objects for the bene- fit of these Indians-their removal to a more retired, larger and fixed locality, and their need of the Word of God in their own language,-objects he lived to see fully accomplished, chiefly by his own instrumentality.
As before intimated, after much serious deliberation and prayer, Eliot mounted his faithful horse, and rode far into the unbroken wilderness, in search of a suitable locality. Not finding what he desired, he dismounted,
* Records, p. 246.
t See "Cambridge of '76," p. 8.
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Historical Sketch.
tied his horse to a sapling tree, and knelt beside a high rock in earnest prayer, imploring the divine guidance and blessing. As he rose from his knees, he found a friendly Indian by his side, to whom he made known his object. The Indian replied, "Follow me," and then conducted him to the banks of the Charles River, now South Natick. Eliot was delighted with the beauti- ful spot, then a part of Dedham, and decided at once to remove his Indian congregation thither. This was in 1650. On Eliot's petition for the locality, it was given in exchange for Deerfield, formerly owned by the Natick tribe, and the transaction was sanctioned by the General Court. The original grant consisted of two thousand acres, enlarged to six thousand acres in 1658 .*
The same autumn, a foot-bridge was built over the river, eighty feet long and nine feet high in the middle ; and when finished, Eliot called his Indians together, offered thanks to God, and gave them instruction from a portion of Scripture. They proceeded the next spring to lay out three streets, two on the north and one on the south side of the river, with house-lots for every family, planting apple trees, etc. Tradition affirms that one of these trees Eliot brought to Natick in his pocket, and it is still (1877) in a bearing condition on the acre lot, near the Unitarian Church.
As Eliot thought all civil government and laws should be derived from the Word of God, he desired that his Indians should be so governed in all things, both in Church and State ; "An aspiration of piety," says Dr. Francis, "rather than the result of political philosophy, but still containing the germ of a principle, as sound as it is noble." Having thus fixed upon this form of
Massachusetts Records, Vol. III, p. 246, Vol. IV, Part I, p. 363.
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polity, a meeting was held August 6, 1651, for the choice of rulers. After Eliot had read and expounded Exodus xviii, they first chose a ruler of one hundred, then two rulers of fifty, and lastly, ten rulers of ten, under whom each one became duly enrolled. This was the first formal and public act of civil government among the Indians in North America. Thomas Waban was one of the rulers of fifty .* They then entered into the following covenant: "We give ourselves and our children to God, to be his people. He shall rule in all our affairs, not only in our religion and the affairs of church, but also in all our works and affairs in this world. God shall rule over us. The Lord is our Judge. The Lord is our Law-giver ; the Lord is our King. He will save us. The wisdom which he has taught us in his book, that shall guide and direct us in the way. O Jehovah, teach us wisdom to find out thy wisdom in thy scriptures. Let the grace of Christ help us. Send thy Spirit into our hearts, and let it teach us. Lord, take us to be thy people, and let us take thee to be our God."t
An important document among the ancient town rec- ords, believed to be in Eliot's own hand-writing, signed by himself and seventeen others, dated 1650, reads thus : " When they had thus cast themselves into this form of government, as it is written, then they considered how to order the town of Natick ; and because all those lands, or a great part at least, which belong to Natick, were the inheritance of John Speene and his brethren and kindred, therefore we thought it right that he and all his kindred should solemnly give the same unto the
* Nonantum and Natick, p. 135.
t Bigelow's History of Natick, 1829, pp. 22, 23.
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Historical Sketch.
public interest, right and possession of the town of Natick. They were all very willing so to do ; and there- fore on a lecture day, publicly and solemnly, before the Lord and all the people, John Speene and all his kin- dred, friends and posterity, gave away all their right and interest, which they formerly had in the land, in and about Natick, unto the public interest of the town of Natick, that so the praying Indians might then make a town ; and they received nothing to themselves, sav- ing interest in their wyers,* which they had before put ; for lands they would only take up lots, as others did, by the public order and agreement of the town, and at the same time they received a gratuity unto their good contentment."
In 1651, the first meeting-house was built, and after the English fashion, a two-story building, twenty-five by thirty feet on the ground, located on the bank of the beautiful Charles, near where the Unitarian Church now stands. Eliot says, "I set the Indians to fell and square the timber, and when it was ready, I went and many of them with me, and on their shoulders carried all the timber together." A white carpenter assisted in raising it. The lower room served for worship on the Lord's day, the men and women sitting apart, and a school-room through the week. The upper room was a kind of wardrobe, where the Indians hung up their skins, but in one corner was a room partitioned off for Mr. Eliot, with a bed and other conveniences.
In October of this year (1651), Governor Endicott and Rev. Mr. Wilson of Boston, visited Natick, when a religious service was held, and one of the best in-
* Now spelled " wears"; "a fence of stakes and twigs set in a stream for catching fish."-Webster.
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First Congregational Church.
structed Indians discoursed to his brethren on "the treasure hid in the field." He spoke with so great devotion, gravity, readiness and affection, and with such good sense, that the visitors were delighted with what they witnessed, and could scarcely refrain from tears of joy on the occasion. The Governor said, "Truly, I account this one of the best journeys I have made these many years." Eliot says of these Indians, "I find a good measure of ability in them, not only in prayer, in which they exceed my expectations, but in the rehears- ing such scriptures as I have expounded, and in apply- ing them as they have heard me do. They also early taught their children the knowledge and fear of God." Thus were they soon prepared for the following occa- sion.
October 13, 1652, a great assemby was held at Natick, where many ministers and their friends were present, assisted by the best interpreters, to judge of the fitness of these Indians to be admitted to church communion. At this time, some fifteen made distinct and open con- fession of their faith in Christ, and of the efficacy of the word upon their minds. Eliot subsequently reported these confessions in a tract, entitled "Tears of Repent- ance." A number of these were then baptized, but want of time and prudence also seemed to require some further delay, and that they should be kept for the present in a state of catechumens, until finally, in 166c, the First Indian Church in America was here organized. We regret to say, that no records of this church are known to exist, but we learn that ten years later, in 1670, the number of communicants was between forty and fifty.
As early as 1665, the Massachusetts Records testify,
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Historical Sketch.
that " the Sabbath is constantly kept by them, and they all attend the public worship of God. They have schools also, to teach their children to read and write."*
Thus established, this little flock of natives, with their church and schools, all under the guiding hand of their good apostle, with much self-denial and persever- ing labor, sent out Indian teachers and preachers of the gospel into other places. At one time, six teachers went from this church to be ministers in praying towns. Natick became a kind of seminary for these objects, and was considered the model town. In 1665, the friends of Indian education erected a brick building at Cambridge, for the use of the Indians, called "the In- dian College," and, though failing in its specific object, by the gradual extermination of the red man, yet it afterwards became exceedingly useful as a printing office, where the second edition of Eliot's Indian Bible was printed. Daniel Takawambpait was probably edu- cated at Natick, " a person of good knowledge," whom Eliot ordained as pastor of the church at Natick, several years before his death. This is confirmed by a letter from the pen of Increase Mather in 1687, to Prof. Leus- den, of Utrecht, in which he says, "The pastor of the church in Natick is an Indian, whose name is Daniel."+ At this time there were twenty-four Indian preachers, besides four English ministers, preaching in the Indian tongue.# Jethro of Natick was thus sent to Lancaster to preach to his countrymen.
While Eliot was thus pursuing these earnest labors among the Indians, he felt more and more the impor-
* Vol. IV, Part II, p. 199.
+ Bigelow, p. 52.
# Memoir of Eliot, p. 106.
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tance of having the Scriptures in their own language, to be placed in every home, that all might daily read these divine teachings for themselves, and he had early begun the great work, having employed one John Sassamon,* who had been educated by the English, to assist him in the translation. "The Old Indian Chronicle " quaintly says : " You must understand that Mr. Eliot is the man that hath, by his great study and labor, invented the way of printing the Indian language, and hath also perfectly translated the whole Bible, with the Singing Psalms in metre, the Assembly's Catechism, and the Practice of Piety, into the Indian language ; as also written several other books very profitable for understanding the Chris- tian religion, for which pains and labor he deserves honor-whose name will never die in New England." t
The translation of the New Testament was completed and printed in 1661, and the whole Bible in 1663. Mather says, "He wrote it with one pen." This was printed at Cambridge, Mass., the first Bible printed on the American continent,- an edition of fifteen hundred.
* This John Sassamon (whose father and mother were converts to Christian- ity, and died probably before 1675,) was murdered by Indians, January 29, 1675, the immediate cause of King Philip's war. He was educated by the English, and assisted Eliot in translating the Bible into Indian. For a time he was em- ployed as a school-master at Natick, and, being himself a convert to Christianity, was also employed as a missionary among his countrymen. His habits were English, and he often acted as interpreter, and, among others, to Alexander and King Philip, his successor. Being in confidence with Philip, he became privy to all his designs, embracing a plan to destroy all the English settlements in New England. This plan Sassamon kindly revealed to the Governor of Plymouth, though it doubtless led to his murder, and the war which followed. [Old Indian Chronicle, by S. G. Drake, 1867, p. 89, seq.] Eliot speaks of this man thus, April 4, 1675: "The winter past, John Sassamon was murdered by wicked In- dians. He was a man of eminent parts and wit. He was of late years con- verted, joined to the church at Natick, baptized and was sent by the church to Asowamsik, in Plymouth Patent, to teach the gospel. . His death was much bewailed." [Roxbury Church Records, p. 263.]
t Pp. 145-6.
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Historical Sketch.
Eliot gave a part of his small salary toward defraying this expense .* "As he depended very much on the Indians for aid in translating the Bible, most of the work was probably done with them."t A copy of this Indian Bible, in elegant binding, was sent to King Charles II, said to be " such a work and fruit of a plant- ation as was never before presented to a King." Nor was this all, or the best part of it, for near this time, it is recorded, that " about one hundred of Eliot's Indians can read in the Bible."#
Under a venerable oak, at South Natick, like that in Mamre in the days of Abraham, Eliot was wont to as- semble his Indians for social religious instruction and worship. In view of this fact we have the following " Sonnet on Eliot's Oak," by Henry W. Longfellow :
"Thou ancient Oak ! whose myriad leaves are loud With sounds of unintelligible speech, Sounds as of surges on a shingly beach, Or multitudinous murmurs of a crowd ; With some mysterious gift of tongues endowed, Thou speakest a different dialect to each ; To me a language no man can teach, Of a lost race, long vanished like a cloud,
For underneath thy shade, in days remote, Seated like Abraham at eventide Beneath the oaks of Mamre, the unknown
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