USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > The history of the First church, Charlestown, in nine lectures, with notes > Part 2
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Under these circumstances of deep affliction and severe depression, Governor Winthrop maintained a lofty courage, and bore up the sinking hopes of the colony. In a letter which he wrote at this time (September 9,) to his wife, after announcing the death of the Lady Arbella, and good Mr. Higginson, and expressing his confidence in God, he thus writes, " I thank God I like so well to be here, as I do not repent my coming ; and if I were to come again, I would not have altered my course, though I had foreseen all these afflictions. I never fared better in my life, never slept better, never had more content of mind, which comes merely of the Lord's good hand; for we have not the like means of these comforts here, which we had in England. But the Lord is all sufficient, blessed be his holy name. If he please he can still uphold us in this estate ; but if he shall see good to make us partakers with others in more
1 Jolinson's Wond. Work. Prov. ch. xvii.
: Gov. Dudley's Letter, Hist. Coll. Ist ser. viii. 11.
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affliction, his will be done. He is our God, and may dispose us as he sees good ! "
It was in the month of November that the Governor, Deputy Governor, and all the Assistants except Mr. Nowell removed their families to Boston. The frame of the Governor's house had already been cut, and was about to be erected, but it was carried over to Boston.1
After this, for a period of two years, the inhabitants of Charlestown, were "constrained to go to Boston on the Lord's day to hear the word, and enjoy the sacraments before they could be otherwise supplied." 2
The winter was now approaching, and the scarcity of pro- visions was continually increasing ; the people were compelled to live upon clams and muscles, ground nuts and acorns, and these were obtained with much difficulty in the winter time. " Upon these accounts," say our town records, " the people became much tired and discouraged, especially when they heard that the Governor had his last batch of bread in the oven. And many were the fears of the people, that Mr. Pearce, who was sent to Ireland to fetch provisions, was cast away or taken by pirates; but God who delights to appear in greatest straits did work marvellously at this time, for before the very day appointed to seck the Lord by fasting and prayer, about the month of February or March, (5th of February, )3 in comes Mr. Pearce laden with provisions ; upon which occasion the day of fast was changed and ordered to be kept as a day of thanksgiving. The provisions were distributed among the people in proportion to their necessities."
I shall pass hastily over the occurrences that transpired during the two years that the people of Boston and Charlestown were united in the same church,-these subjects belonging rather to the history of the First church in Boston and to the history of this town.
In March of 1631, the Rev. Mr. Wilson left for England, 4 intrusting the spiritual charge of his church to Governor Win- throp, Deputy Governor Dudley, and Mr. Nowell the ruling
1 Note 11. 2 Town Records.
3 Mather says that on this day Gov. Winthrop was distributing the last handful of the meal in the barrel unto a poor man distressed by the wolf at the door, when at that instant they spied a ship arrived at the harbor's month laden with provisions for them all. - Vol. i. 112. 4 Note 12.
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elder. His place however, was soon occupied by the Rev. John Eliot, who came to our country the ensuing autumn, and was afterwards distinguished as the apostle to the Indians.
Mr. Wilson carried with him a letter to the Countess of Lin- coln, written by Mr. Dudley the Deputy Governor of the Colony. It contains an impartial account of the condition of the plantation at that time, and I will therefore present an extract from it.
" Having some leisure," he writes, "to discourse of the motives for other men's coming to this place, or their abstain- ing from it ; after my brief manner I say this: That if any come hither to plant for worldly ends, that can live well at home, he commits an error, of which he will soon repent him: But if for spiritual, and that no particular obstacle hinder his removal, he may find here what may well content him : viz. Materials to build, fuel to burn, ground to plant, seas and rivers to fish in, a pure air to breath in, good water to drink, till wine or beer can be made ; which together with the cows, hogs and goats, brought hither already, may suffice for food ; as for fowl and venison, they are dainties here as well as in England. For clothes and bedding, they must bring them with them, till time and industry produce them here. In a word, we yet enjoy little to be envied, and endure much to be pitied in the sickness and mortality of our people. And I do the more willingly use this open and plain dealing, lest other men should fall short of their expectations, when they come hither, as we to our great prejudice did ; by means of letters sent us from hence into England ; wherein honest men out of a desire to draw over others to them, wrote somewhat hyperbolically of many things here. If any godly men out of religious ends will come over to help us in the good work we are about, I think they cannot dispose of themselves, nor of their estates more to God's glory, and the furtherance of their own reckoning : but they must not be of the poorer sort yet, for divers years. For we have found by experience that they have hindered, not furthered the work : and for prophane and debauched persons, their oversight in coming hither is wondered at, where they shall find nothing to content them. If there be any endued with grace, and furnished with means to feed themselves and
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theirs for eighteen months, and to build and plant, let them come into our Macedonia, and help us, and not spend them- selves and their estates in a less profitable employment : for others I conceive they are not yet fitted for this business." 1
The return of the Rev. Mr. Wilson took place May 26, 1632, and in August the congregation of Boston and Charlestown began to build a meeting-house ; for which purpose, and the erection of a dwelling-house for Mr. Wilson, a voluntary con- tribution was made, amounting to about £120. This building was erected on the south side of State street, in Boston ; its roof was of thatch, and its walls of mud.2
This was the last enterprise in which the united congrega- tion of Boston and Charlestown were engaged. The division of the church took place soon after. The more immediate occasion of this, was the arrival of the Rev. Thomas James, who became an inhabitant of this place, and thus afforded the people an opportunity to establish a separate church. The severity of the winter season seemed also to render the step necessary. We learn from Winthrop's journal, that our people were unable to cross the ferry on some occasions, in conse- quence of the cold and the quantity of floating ice in the river. The winter was now setting in upon them, and it was destined to be the severest one the Pilgrims had ever experienced.3
The request of the Charlestown members having been made for a dismission, the church appointed the 11th of October for seeking the direction of God, and on the following Sabbath (14th) 35 persons, 19 males and 16 females, were dismissed to form this church.
Up to the period of the separation, i. e. from July, 1630, to October, 1632, 151 persons had been admitted to full com-
1 1 Mass. H. S. Coll. viii. 42. For the most accurate copy of this interesting and valuable letter sce Force's Hist. Tracts, vol ii. In this connection the following extract from Mather will be found interesting. " By computation the passage of the persons that peopled New England cost at least £95,000. The transportation of their first small stock of cattle great and small cost no less than £12,000, besides the price of the cattle themselves : the pro- visions laid in for subsistence, till tillage might produce more, cost £15,000 : the materials for their first cottages cost £18,000; their arms, ammunition and great artillery, cost £22,000 ; besides which £192,000, the adventurers laid out in England what was not incon- siderable. About 198 ships were employed in passing the perils of the seas, in the aceom- plishment of this renowned settlement; whereof by the way, but one miscarried in those perils "-Mag. I. 64.
2 Winthrop's Journal, p. 87. Emerson's Hist. First Chh.
3 " A terrible cold winter," says Johnson, " with weekly snows, and fierce frosts between while congealing Charles River, as well from the town to sea-ward, as above, insomuch that men might frequently pass from one island to another upon the ice."- W. W. Prov. ch. xxvi.
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munion, 80 or 90 of whom were males, and constituted the body of the inhabitants. The Charlestown members therefore made up nearly one fourth of the church.
Friday, the 2d of November, or 12th,1 according to our mode of reckoning, was set apart as a day of fasting and prayer, when a church covenant was formed, and subscribed by 35 persons, 19 males and 16 females, and Mr. James elected and ordained pastor. The covenant is expressed in nearly the same words as the original covenant of the first church.2
We have no record left us of the religious ceremonies of this day ; but we may learn with sufficient accuracy what they were, from the particular account which Johnson has given us of the organization of the First church in Woburn, which was constituted out of this church ten years after. The congre- gation assembled about eight o'clock, -perhaps under the Charlestown Oak, beneath which the first religious assemblies were held. After the public exercises,-which in the case of the Woburn church were performed by the Rev. Mr. Symmes, pastor of this church, who "continued in preaching and prayer about the space of four or five hours,"-those who were to join first in the covenant stood forth and gave a relation of their religious experience-what the Lord had done for them by his word and providence-and also a profession of their faith in those doctrines upon which their hopes were founded. The messengers of other churches present questioned them on any points they had doubt of, until all were satisfied. They then unitedly entered into covenant with one another ; after which they received the right hand of fellowship from the representa- tives of the churches, and were recognized as a regularly con- stituted church.
After this they proceeded to elect a pastor, and chose Mr. James, who was set apart to office-work in this church, by two or three persons, who laid their hands upon his head, and said, "We ordain thee to be pastor unto this church of Christ." 3
1 Note 13.
2 Note 14.
3 It was in this manner that Mr. Carter, the first minister of the Woburn church, was ordained. See Johnson's Wonder Working Providence, ch. xxii. But Hubbard tells us, ch. xlviii, " There was some little difference about the manner of his ordination ; for in regard they had no other officer in their church besides, nor any of their members that thought themselves fit to solemnize such an ordinance, they were advised by some to desire the elders of other churches to perforin it, by imposing hands on the said Mr. Carter ; but others supposing it might be an occasion of introducing the dependency of churches, &c. and
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The first time this church assembled after its organization, for public worship, was on the 4th of November, O. S. With the close of this Sabbath,1 therefore, two hundred and ten years will have passed away, since this church commemorated our Lord's resurrection for the first time. From that time to this, with the exception of a little more than three years, when the town lay in ashes, and the people were dispersed, the worship of God has been maintained, and his ordinances duly administered.
And here let me mention the order of public worship ob- served by the Puritans : it will enable us to form some idea of the manner in which our fathers spent the Lord's day on which they first assembled as a distinct church, as well as their Sab- baths generally.
They came together in the morning of the Sabbath as early as 9 o'clock, and frequently before. After prayer either the pastor or the teacher read a chapter and expounded it, giving the sense, to cause the people to understand the reading, ac- cording to Neh. viii. 8. A psalm was then sung, which was dictated by the ruling elder,2 and a sermon preached by the one who had not expounded, commonly the pastor, and the services were closed with a prayer and blessing by the teacher. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered in the morning once a month, notice of which was given a fortnight beforehand, the ministers and ruling elders sitting at the table, the two ministers sharing equally in the services, which were what they now are.
In the afternoon, after prayer by the pastor or teacher, the Word was again read and expounded, (if time allowed, ) by the one who preached in the morning, and a sermon preached by
so of a presbytery, were not so free to admit thereof, and therefore it was performed by one of their own members, though not so well to the satisfaction of some of the magistrates and ministers then present ; and since that time it hath been more frequent in such cases to desire the elders of neighboring churches, by virtue of communion of churches, to ordain such as are by the churches and people chosen to be their officers, where there are no elders before." When Mr. Cotton was ordained teacher of the Boston Church, Oct. 17, 1633, the pastor, Mr. Wilson, and the two ruling elders, laid their hands upon his head, while the pastor prayed and gave him the charge of the congregation. Then the neighboring ministers that were present gave him the right hand of fellowship. When no eldership existed previously in a church, it was held proper that some of the brethren should be deputed by the church to ordain ; and this, says Hubbard, was approved of "by the learned Dr. Hornbeck, Professor of Divinity in Holland, and a Presbyterian in his judgment, and engaged in the defence of that cause." But it soon became the usual practice for the ordination to be performed by the elders of neighboring churches, in virtue of the communion of churches. See Hubbard, ch. xxviii.
1 November 13, 1842.
2 Note 15.
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the other, commonly the teacher. After this, baptism was administered, (if occasion required,) by either pastor or teacher, in the deacons' seat, which was under the elders' and higher than the other pews. The minister commonly made an exhorta- tion to the church and parents concerning the ordinance, and prayed before and after. This ended, the contribution followed, one of the deacons calling upon the people and saying, Brethren of the congregation, now there is time left for contribution, wherefore as God hath prospered you, so freely offer. The whole congregation then arose and proceeded to the deacons' seat, the magistrates and chief gentlemen first, and then the elders, and then the rest of the congregation, all the men, all single persons, widows, and women in the absence of their husbands, came up one by one, and put their offerings into a box of wood made for the purpose, and then passed another way to their seats again. Their offerings were of money, and goods and chattels of various descriptions ; and from them, the deacons made distribution for the maintenance of the ministers, the poor of the church, and other purposes, such as the church appointed. This custom was founded on Deut. xvi. 16, Acts iv. 35, and vi. 3, 1 Cor. i. 2. After the contribution, members were received, and cases of discipline tried, until it oftentimes became very late. If they had time, a psahn was sung, and the services concluded with a prayer and blessing.1
. Before proceeding any further in our narrative, allow me to give a brief account of the origin of the Puritans, that we may obtain some general idea of their religious character, and the principles that led to their dissent from the Church of England.
The Puritans had their origin in the convulsions into which Europe was thrown by the Reformation. Previously to that memorable era, the Christian church had preserved for the most part a visible unity, and the Bishop of Rome had gradually subjugated the Christian world, and by the same insensible degrees the most monstrous errors had crept into the creed and worship of the church. When the conscience and common sense of the world began to awake, and men inquired what was of divine and what of human origin, as a matter of course
1 Cotton's Way of the Chhs. ch. iv. Lechford's Plain Dealing, 3 Mass. II. S. Coll. iii. 76.
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a great conflict of opinion ensued, and two great parties were formed, one advocating the old established order of things, and the other maintaining the necessity of a reformation to a great- er or less extent.
This great contest commenced early and raged long in England-our father-land. Previously to the reign of Henry VIII. the elements of the Reformation existed in England, and many noble spirits had labored and bled in that cause. At length, however, that imperious monarch, wishing to obtain a divorce from his wife, and having applied in vain to the Pope, who for certain reasons could not grant it, declared the church of England independent of the Roman See, and himself the Head of the church. This, of course, was rather a political than a moral revolution ; but it afforded the friends of the Reformation, both in the kingdom and on the continent, a favorable opportunity, which they diligently improved in spread- ing among the people a correct knowledge of the Scriptures. So that during the reign of Ilenry and the short reign of the gentle Edward, the Reformation took such deep root in England, that no violence was ever subsequently able to extir- pate it.
Under the reign of the cruel Mary, popery was re-established, and everything done which persecution could de, to prevent the spread of the Reformation. It was impossible ; the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. Many bright lights were indeed extinguished, and much of the purest and best blood of England shed. But this was all that persecution could do ; it killed the body, but the spirit of the martyrs fled to the breasts of the people, and became omnipotent and im- mortal. It was in this sanguinary period that the Puritan or leading portion of the Reformers, suffered most severely, and testified by their sufferings and death, how heartily they had espoused and how dearly they loved the cause of pure religion. Under Elizabeth the reformed religion was revived and perma- nently established as the religion of the state ;- and now the question arose, To what extent shall we carry the Reformation ; what part of the ancient forms and services of the church shall be retained, and what part reformed ? Upon this question two great parties arose,-the one for departing to a greater, and the other to a less extent from the church, as they found it at
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the period of the Reformation. There was a large class, as you would naturally suppose, who were on the side of the Reforma- tion from political motives, and having no spiritual sympathies with Luther and the Reformers, were in favor of retaining all the peculiarities of their ancient faith and worship. Then there were a class of genuine Reformers, who from conviction and a conservative dread of radical changes, were disposed to stop short in the work of reform, lest it should unsettle the very foundations of religion. And finally there were the Puri- tans, who, as their name imports, were for purifying the church, from everything for which evidence might not be pro- duced from the Scriptures.
In January, 1563, Queen Elizabeth's first Protestant Convo- cation assembled, of which Alexander Nowell-the uncle or, great uncle of Increase Nowell the founder of this church-was prolocutor. This convocation agreed to the thirty-nine articles, and having finished the articles, proceeded to the Reformation of Ceremonies in the Public Liturgy, and it was on this subject that a great contest arose, and the Puritan party (embracing the larger part of the dignitaries of the church ) were defeated by a majority of one. The points upon which this final issue was made, were the following six in number ;- " That all Sundays and principal feasts of Christ be kept holy days, and all others abrogated. That the minister in common prayer turn his face to the people and distinctly read the service. 'T'hat in baptism, the ceremony of making the cross on the child's forehead be omitted, as tending to superstition. That at the communion, kneeling may be left to the discretion of the ordinary. That it be sufficient in time of saying divine service and ministering the sacraments, to use a surplice. And finally that the use of organs be removed." 1
These articles were voted down by a bare majority, procured by proxies ;- and from that time forward, the Puritans were displaced and oppressed with increasing severity until some were driven to separation and exile. The policy adopted by Elizabeth and her advisers was designed to conciliate the papists, and for this purpose ancient ceremonies were retained, that the outward shows of religion might be the same. The
? Strype, quoted by Prince, p. 291, and Burnet, iii. 454.
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scruples of the Puritans were disregarded, their intelligent and conscientious convictions were treated with contempt, and they were required to bow to the authority of the church in respect to outward ceremonies, which common sense as well as Christian charity would require should be left to the discretion of the worshipper or minister.
This spirit of tyrannical and absurd interference with the rights of conscience, descended from Elizabeth to her suc- cessor King James ; and the hopes of the Puritans were finally crushed by the issue of the conference at Hampton Court. On this occasion Dr. Reynolds stated, in behalf of the Puritans, that all they required might be reduced to these four heads ;- purity of doctrine,-the supply of the churches with good pastors,-the scriptural administration of church government, -and the improvement of the Book of Common Prayer.
In regard to the first point nothing was obtained except a new translation of the Bible ;- and for this noble translation, now in the hands of all English Christians, the world are indebted to the Puritans.
In reply to their scruple how far the ordinance of the church bindeth, without impeaching Christian liberty ? James warm- ly declared, "I will not argue that point with you, but answer as kings in Parliament, Le Roy s'avisera. This is, like Mr. John Black, a beardless boy, who told me the last conference in Scotland, that he would hold conformity with his Majesty in matters of doctrine, but every man for ceremonies was to be left to his own liberty. But I will have none of that ! I will have one doctrine, one discipline, one religion in substance and ceremony. Never speak more to that point how far you are bound to obey ! "
In regard to church government, Dr. Reynolds desired that the clergy might have meetings every three weeks for the dis- cussion of scriptural and theological questions. "If you aim at a Scottish Presbytery," replied the king, " it agreeth as well with monarchy as God and the Devil. Then Jack and Tom and Will and Dick, shall meet and censure me and my council. Therefore I reiterate my former speech, 'Le Roy s'avisera.' Stay I pray for one seven years before you demand that! and then if you find me grow pursy and fat, I may, perchance, hearken unto you, for that government will keep me in breath
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and give me work enough." And then repeating his favorite maxim, "No bishop, no king!" the king broke up the con- ference by saying, " if this be all your party hath to say, I will make them conform, or harrie them out of the land,-or else do worse ! " 1
Such was the spirit of the temporal Head of the church of England when the Puritans were struggling to advance and secure the principles of the Reformation. As a consequence, they were excluded from the National church, although, for serious piety, sound learning, and heroic sufferings, under the perse- cuting reign of Queen Mary, they were as much entitled to be embraced within it, as any portion of the English people. To the church as now established by law, the Puritans could not conform,-and hence their name -Non-conformists. They were at the outset a numerous and powerful party ; and they increased, till under the tyrannical reign of Charles I., they overthrew the constitution of both church and state.
The Puritans, however, were by no means agreed among themselves. There was among them a class of rigid Separatists who looked upon the entire constitution of the English as well as Roman church, as unscriptural and anti-Christian ;- they came out from among them, therefore, and held themselves separate. The non-conformists generally however did not for- mally separate from her, but held themselves ready to unite with her as a true church, when released from observances and tests, which in conscience they could not submit to.
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