USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > North Middleborough > The history of the Church of North Middleborough, Massachusetts : in six discourses > Part 2
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And some there were who did the Word receive; These walked among their tribe as praying men, Taught by His love, who died for them, to live As ever in His sight-Himself unseen.
And the first church of Christ upon this ground Was formed of members of that dusky race, Who taught the woodland echoes to resound With words of prayer and hymus of lofty praise.
And the pale people came and with thein dwelt, And tilled the soil and practiced arts of peace ; With their red.brethren in their worship knelt Upon the thymy sod beneath the trees.
And when our fathers, in those early days, Resting within the dwellings they had reared, Like David in his cedar house, would raise To God a house of worship, there appeared
. Three men -their names are here upon this stone- Who proffered acres of their hunting ground For church and pastor's house to stand upon, For training field and for a burial mound.
The deeds of gift were duly registered : They may be seen in Plymouth town to-day. From the same spot the preacher still is heard, And still our d ad beneath this turf we lay.
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CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
simply a barn-like building, a mere frame, covered and en- closed. It had three doors of entrance, on three sides, called the east, west, and south doors. Its windows were small, with diamond shaped glass. It had no means of warming in the coldest winter's day. An occasional foot- stove gave out the smell and warmth of fire. . But this was a luxury all were not supposed to be able to possess: This spot, in that early, ancient time, was more beautiful and attractive than now. I describe it as some of the older peo- ple remember it. It was a pine forest. Beautifully shaded in the heat of summer was the house of God. The whisper- · ing of the pines mingled with the praises of God's people, as they met here from week to week to worship God. Ver- ily the trees of the field did clap their hands. The little hills rejoiced on every side. How still and quiet were those sweet days of satred rest! How strong was the attraction of the simple, unpretending, plain, place of worship which stood here, to the few families, on either side of the river, which were wont to gather within its consecrated walls to meet God and hear Him speak to them through His written Word, or the mouth of His ministering servants !
But I have already detained you too long. We will pursue, if we are not able to finish, the history of this church in the afternoon.
DISCOURSE II.
PREACHED JUNE 6th, 1875.
For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. Shall not they teach thee and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart ?- JOB VIII : 8, 10.
In the morning we began this search of the fathers. and our inquiry was of the former age. Let us pursue the search and see what these past generations will teach us: and tell us to our profit. We had hardly reached the time of the establishment of what might be termed a permanent ministry in this place. There were occasional supplies and the labors of itinerant preachers. No meeting house was built and finished. No church organized. Precinct and parish meetings were held at private houses. So, also, were preaching services, on both sides of the river. During the year 1747 there were few, if any such, services. The con- troversy, which at this time raged throughout New Eng- land, especially in Connecticut between what were called the New Lights, or new measure, revival men and the old established churches more stiff, staid and formal in their ways-this controversy reached the Titicut plantation, and was quite heated in all this region. Those of you who have 3
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18 . CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
read the history of those exciting times when Whitefield, Davenport and the Tennents were in the midst of their evangelist movements, when President Edwards, Bellamy and Hopkins were at the height of their power and com- manding influence, need not that I should go into details. It was the period of the Great Awakening, as it has been called. or rather I am coming to a period, when there may. be said to have occurred a reaction and a sad decline. The Great Awakening was in 1740. There were sad divisions, even among good men, concerning methods and measures. It is most melancholy, the narrative of party feeling and party strife, crimination and recrimination, in connection with the extraordinary efforts which were then put forth for the extension of Christ's kingdom. The Prince of Peace- could hardly have looked down upon all that transpired with Ilis favor. Alas! How many crimes have been committed against God and man at such times of wicked provocation. and what fearful breaches of the good law of christian fel- lowship and brotherly love! The commotion was felt here. All these years of which I have been speaking, from 1743, when the precinct was set off, to 1747, no church organiza- tion had sprung up, for the reason, probably, that the churches in the vicinity, and those in this precinct who would be likely to constitute the church, were not quite certain whether it should be an Old Light or a New Light Church. At length, about the Ist of December, 1747, Rev. Nathaniel Shepherd of Attleborough preached and prepared the way for Rev. Joseph Snow, pastor of a New Light Church in Providence, and Rev. Isaac Backus,* then a
*" My mother sprang from the family of Mr. Winslow, who came over to Plymouth in 1620, and my father from one of the first planters in Norwich in Connecticut, in 1660. My father, Samuel Backus, was born in Norwich, January 6, 1693, and Elizabeth Tracy, my mother, on April 6, 1698, and they were married January 18, 1716. Both they and their parents were members of the First Church in Norwich, and trained up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I was born there January 9, 1724, and was well educated in the Christian religion and also in the principles of civil lib- erty." Rev. Silas Hall writes : "The place where Mr. Backus administered the ordinance of baptism when at home, and where he practiced immersion, was in a stream of water but a few rods from his dwelling"-and this dwell- ing is well known to those of this generation as having been on Plymouth Street, and is now occupied by a grand-son.
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ORGANIZATION OF A CHURCH.
young man and a young minister, from Norwich, Connecti- cut. They were both revivalists, and in ten days preached twenty-four sermons. They preceded and accompanied their preaching with much visiting and free intercourse among the people. They speak of being "kindly enter- tained at the house of Seth Hayward, a christian brother in Bridgewater," and they also name " brother Samuel Alden. of Titient." These and other brethren gave Mr. Snow a cordial welcome, as he had been among them before. They were so pleased and profited by the preaching of Mr. Back- us as to request him to remain with them. Mr. Backus seems to have had great freedom and fullness of soul in speaking, for he says of it on one occasion : "Divine truth seemed to flow through my soul like a river, and it was easier to speak than to refrain. Thus I went on for several hours, and the saints were greatly refreshed, while many sinners were struck under conviction." Again he writes : "I preached from the second Psalm, and had, perhaps, greater freedom and assistance than ever before in my life. Glory to God alone !" If there had been a dearth of preach- ing during the year 1747 there was not likely to be during 1748. Mr .. Backus preached thirty sermons during the month of January. A good deal of interest was awakened. The meetings alternated between the Bridgewater and Mid- dleborough side of the river. . The meeting house does not appear to have been quite finished and ready for steady occupancy. But the time has come for a church to be or- ganized without waiting for the full consent of all the neigh- boring churches. . Accordingly Articles of Faith * and a
* These Articles of Faith and the Covenant are found in a very valuable book of records, which fortunately has just come to light. I express my obligations for it to. Mr. Joseph Backus, grand-son of Rev. Mr. Backus, who occupies the minister's homestead. The manuscript has the following title : The Records of the Church of Christ in the Joining Borders of Bridgewater and Middleborough.
It is to these I am indebted for the facts in the ministry of Rev. Mr. Backus, which follow. Thus are the records of the Church rendered com- . plete from the beginning. The first printed manual of the Church was in 1831, soon after the Great Awakening of that year and is styled, "Covenant of the Titicut Precinct Congregational Church in Middleborough and Bridge- water." This was followed by a publication in 1852, prepared by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Bliss.
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20 . CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
Covenant were drawn up, and on the 16th of February, 1747 O. S., 1748 N. S., sixteen persons signed them, "solemnly," as "in the presence of God," quoting from the records, after having " met together several times for prayer and declar- ing what God had done for their souls, one to another." Those that signed were Jonathan Woods. Joseph Harvey, William Hooper, Ephraim Leach, Onesimus Campbell, Sam- uel Alden, Joseph Phinney, Israel Washburn, James Hoop- er, Joseph Harvey, Jr .- ten men; Leah Washburn, Ruth Leach, Sarah Leach, Esther Fobes, Abigail Fobes, Abigail Fobes, Jr .- six women. "These all signed that day." the records state, " sixteen in all." There were received to the church, at different times in 1748, eighteen men and twenty- six women ; in 1749, one woman; in 1750, two women; in 1752, one woman; making a total, from the beginning, of sixty-four. But some of these seem to have fallen away, or withdrawn, and to have been so exercised on the subject of baptism, its modes and subjects, as to have lost their evi- dence of acceptance as God's children, and failed in the sympathy and communion of saints. Thus there were fre- quent councils-five in all-and renewals of covenant and attempts at discipline, and the actual number of living, working members in 1752, and onwards to 1756 when Rev. Mr. Reed came, must have been much smaller than the nom- inal number. It has been said that the Church really died out and became extinct, I think not. There is nothing in the records just come to light to indicate it. Not the slight- est hint of it. It was weakened and reduced by the con- stant agitation of the question of baptism. Many left and lost their interest, and at length a Baptist Church of six members was formed; but if all beside this element had left and there was nothing, save this, remaining in the old Church, certainly there had been no need of organizing anew as a Baptist Church. We are sure the precinct, the . parish, remained. The Church also remained. We have no knowledge of the organizing of any other church than the Baptist, after February 16th, 1748. The Confession of Faith and Church Covenant that day signed and adopted do not
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· REV. MR. BACKUS INSTALLED PASTOR.
differ-and I have carefully compared them-from those now used by this Church in its admission of members. To com- plete the history of the Church, as given in these records : "At a meeting of the Church of Christ in Bridgewater and Middleborough, on March 31, 1748, after united and fervent prayers to God, they had clearness to go on in the choice of church officers ;" and they not only chose Rev. Mr. Backus to be their pastor, but Jonathan Woods and Israel Wash- burn to be deacons. There is a full account of the arrange- ments for the ordination and installation of Rev. Mr. Backus as pastor, the 13th of April, 1748, of the churches sent to, and the ministers who took part on that interesting occasion .* The records also present quite fully the history of the councils called by this Church to settle difficulties. The pastor of this Church, and delegates, bore part in ten councils held elsewhere. The sacrament of the Lord's sup- per was appointed to be observed once in two months. In 1751 two brethren, James Mead and William Smith, were dismissed "to embody together," say the records, " into a church where they live, at Beach Woods in one edge of Mid- dleborough." There is a record of infant baptisms in 1748 and 1749-sixteen in all-a larger number certainly than in any other two years of the history of the Church, and a larger number than during the entire pastorates of other ministers. In 1752 there were cases of re-baptism by im- mersion, and I have been interested in finding in connection with this, "Lord's Day and sacrament day, June 21," such a notice as the following : "Mary Washburn and Esther Hayward did publickly give up their daughters, infants, unto God and to ye watch and care of this Church, and did
*"Brother Snow of Providence preached the ordination sermon from Matthew XXVIII : 19, 20, with considerable power. Then the pastor gave a particular account of his experiences as to his conversion, his call to preach and his call to this people, and they gave some account of their experiences as to receiving him, which gave good satisfaction to the brethren. So they . proceeded to ye installation. The Church chose Bro. Israel Washburn to be one to lay on hands. Bro. Cleaveland of Canterbury made ye first prayer. Bro. Paine of Canterbury gave ye charge. Bro. Hide of Norwich gave ye right hand of fellowship, and Bro. Washburn of this Church made ye last prayer. It was a solemn and refreshing season to many souls. Glory to God."
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22 CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH. $
engage to train 'em up in His ways. And ye pastor also gave up his son and daughter in like manner." " Also, "Lord's Day, June 28. Joseph Phinney and-his wife and Phebe Fobes renewedly gave up themselves and their all to God, and to go on with this Church in His ways as He should direct and assist; and sister Fobes publickly gave up her two children to God and the care of His people and . engaged by Divine help to train 'em up in Ilis ways." This renewal of covenant on the part of church members was not uncommon, as, "Lord's Day, August 9," same year, James Hooper, John Hayward, Mary Caswell, Alice Heford and Anna Leach came in. renewedly engaging to go on for God with His church, and we had a glorious sacrament to- gether."
Sometime during the year of 1748 the church frame be- fore referred to, and which awaited completion, was so "inclosed and covered " that it could be used as a " public meeting house "; for the precinct annual meeting in Janu- ary, 1749, was held there, we are informed, "for the first time." During this and the six following years. that is, till the 16th of January, 1756, Mr. Backus acted as pastor and preacher to this Church. At that date, Isaac Backus, Tim- othy Bryant, John Hayward, Susanna Backus, Mary Cas- well and Esther Fobes-six in all, two brethren and three sisters, beside Mr. Backus-" entered into covenant' as a Baptist Church," * which still exists and holds in deserved reverential remembrance the name and work of Isaac Backus. He was a man of remarkable vigor of mind, and true to his convictions of truth and duty. There is hardly"
* A large number of ministers have gone forth from this, the First Bap- tist Church of Middleborough, which has well earned the title, not only, of mother of churches, but of mother of ministers; the list being as follows, quoting from Dr. Hovey, in his "Life and Times of Backus": James Mel- len, Abner Lewis, Asa Hunt, Elijah Codding, Job Macomber, Samuel Nel- son, David Leonard, Zenas Lockwood Leonard, Stephen Smith, Nelson. Lewis Leonard, Silas Hall, Thomas Conant, George Leonard, William HIar- rison Alden, David Weston. The last named recently died, having filled, with great promise of usefulness and eminence in his profession, the office of Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Madison University, Hamilton, N. Y., deeply lamented by all who had watched his progress and had such high hopes concerning his future.
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TIIE DEATH OF REV. MR. BACKUS.
another in the whole range of the denomination of Baptists who has, in his day and generation, wrought a greater work in their service as well as of the common Master. Ilis was a long and laborious life, beginning in its ministerial work with this people in 1747, and not closing till the year of his death, among his own loved church, in 1806-making full three score years of privileged preaching service. IIe was a great worker through all these years. It was not uncom- mon for him to average a sermon a day in his preaching, both at home and abroad, during several months. He made frequent and long missionary tours. The list of his pub- lished writings * is large. At the ripe age of eighty-twot years and ten months he was called home to the rest and reward of Heaven. His body lies by the side of other min- isters # of the place in the neighboring cemetery, awaiting the call of the resurrection trump.
In the account of the precinct meeting, 4th of June, 1756, we find the following vote : " Put to vote whether the
* More than thirty sermons and essays on various subjects, the history of the Baptists in three volumes and an abridgement in one volume. A Me- moir of the Life and Times of Rev. Mr. Backus, by Rev. Dr. Alvah Hovey of Newton Theological Seminary, was published in 1859.
t When more than eighty years old, Mr. Backus wrote : "November 29, 1749, Susanna Mason of Rehoboth became the companion of my life for nearly fifty-one years, and the greatest temporal blessing God ever gave me ; for which I trust I shall praise Him to eternity." Dr. Hovey adds concern- : ing her: "She appears to have possessed, in large measure, those womanly virtues which make home peaceful and attractive. She was devout, training up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." She died No- vember 24, 1800, having been the mother of nine children, all of whom reached adult age. Their names were Hannah, Nathan, Isaac, Eunice, Su- sanna, Lois, Lncy, Simon, and Sibel. The last died at the age of twenty, in 1788. The rest all lived till the present century, and all but one survived . their father.
# Backus, Reed, Gurney, Colby-the first four pastors of the Church,; from 1748 to 1851, more than a full century-lie side by side with members of their families and many hundreds of their flock. The inscription on the me- morial stone of Mr. Backus is as follows: "Here lie deposited the remains of the Rev. Isaac Backus, A. M., who departed this life November 20, 1806, aged eighty-two years and ten months, in the sixty-first year of his ministry. As a Christian and minister, the character of this man was truly conspicuous. As the pastor of a church in this town, for fifty-eight years, he was eminently useful and beloved. His domestic and relative duties, as a husband and pa- rent, were discharged with fidelity, tenderness and affection. Ilis zeal and persevering industry in the cause of civil and religious liberty, through a long, laborious life, is still manifest in his writings as an historian of the Bap- tist denomination and defender of the truths of the doctrines of Christ. Having uniformly borne testimony in his life, conversation and ministry, of
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CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
Precinct would sell the pew ground in the meeting house and appropriate the money towards finishing said meeting house. Voted in the affirmative, and made choice of Messrs. Ephraim Keith, David Alden and Abiezer Edson, precinct committee, to sell the pew spotts in said house to the high- est bidders, and improve the money as aforesaid." This was accordingly done the 21st day of October, 1756. The. bids were made "in furnace credit, to be paid the next blast, and security given.", So it seems the meeting house, the frame of which was bought in 1747, is not yet finished in 1756. Our fathers made haste slowly in those early times, which tried men's souls. The record of the sale of "pew spotts," as they are called, sounds strangely in our ears to- day : "No. 1, on ye west side of the pulpit, being 7 feet long and 512 feet deep, was sold to Mr. James Keith, at £110 old tenor, furnace credit," and so on. "No. 5" was "under the men's stairs." "No. 8" was "under the women's stairs." The men and women had stairs and seats separate and distinct, even as the Quakers do to the present day. The records speak of the "men's side" and the " women's side" of the house. It was "Thursday, the 21st day of October, 1756," the same day on which the "pew spotts " were sold, that it was "put to vote, whether the Precinct would concur with the Church, in giving ye Rev. Mr. Solo- mon Reed a call to the work of the ministry. And voted in the affirmative, viz: that they did concur. Put to vote, whether sd Precinct wd vote to Mr. Reed the use of the par- ish lands, during his labor in the work of the ministry. And it passed in the affirmative. Voted the Rev. Mr. Reed
this ardent love to his Divine Master and the doctrine of the cross, in an ad- vanced age he was called from his beloved charge and numerous Christian friends and brethren, to sleep in Jesus and his spirit into the garner of his Heavenly Father, as a shock of corn fully ripe.
God was his portion and his guide through this dark wilderness, And now his flesh is laid aside, his soul has endless rest."
The ministers who followed Mr. Backus in the Baptist Church, so far as their names appear on the records, kindly copied for me by Miss Robinson, are : Ezra Kendall, Samuel Abbott, Jeremiah Kelley, Asa Niles, Silas Hall, James Andem, Lorenzo Tandy, Samuel Richardson, Alexander McLearn, Joseph Hutchinson; the last named having recently died, much lamented, after a ministry in Titicut of ten years.
:
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REV. MR. REED BECOMES PASTOR.
sixty pounds lawful money for his annual salary during his stay in the work of the ministry." And his "stay," as some of you know, was to the time of his death-from the autumn of 1756 to the spring of 1785-something over eight and twenty years. This was not Mr. Reed's first field of labor. Graduated at Harvard College in 1739; in 1746 a small num- ber called New Lights withdrew from the church in Fram- ingham, and Mr. Reed became their pastor. His letter of acceptance to the call from this place is dated : "Framing- ham, November the 17th, 1756. After serious consideration of the invitation, and repeated requests to Heaven for direc- tion in this important case, it appears to be my duty to accept "-is the substance of his answer. He desires such a support that he may give himself "wholly to the work of the ministry." "Earnestly wishing that grace and peace may be multiplied to you, and that you may be Divinely directed in this weighty affair, I rest, yours, to serve in the Gospel of Christ, Solomon Reed." The letter is " directed to Lieut. Abiezer Edson and Ensign Amos Keith, to be com- municated to the Church and Society of which they are members." It seems that a church was in existence at this time, and we conclude it was the same church which was organized by Mr. Backus in 1748, the 16th of February- rather more than eight years before. We have heard noth- ing of its dissolution, neither has there been any notice of the organizing of a new one. Moreover, it is still, proba- ably what might be called a New Light Church. At any rate, they have called a New Light minister to become their pastor. So far as we know, it was with unanimity and cordiality he was so called. His pastorate was life-long ; extending as we have seen, through nearly an entire genera- tion-if we call a score and a half of years such. In his letter of acceptance, Mr. Reed alludes to "necessary articles towards building." I conclude the Precinct took hold and helped him make ready a house to live in. Some of you may know where that house was. The older people may have seen it. It was on Pleasant Street nearly opposite the old Hathaway place, and its site is now occupied by a more
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CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
modern dwelling. The roof of the old house, in the rear, came down nearly to the ground. There, father and mother, four sons and one daughter, had their home. To each of these four sons, Mr. Reed, by great personal industry and self-sacrifice, was able to give collegiate education. The oldest, John, graduated at Yale College in 1772. He pre- pared for the ministry under the instruction of his father in this place, and after the Declaration of Independence was for some time chaplain in the U. S. Navy. On the 7th of Janu- ary, 1780, he was ordained as pastor of the Congregational Church and Society in West Bridgewater, being the. third minister of that parish. In 1794 he was elected to Congress and after serving six years, declined a re-election, preferring to return to his pastoral work which he fulfilled for more than fifty years in the place, dying in 1831, in his eightieth year. The Hon. John Reed, of Yarmouth, Member of Con- gress and Lieutenant-Governor of this State so many years, was a son of his, and grandson of the Titicut minister.
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