USA > Maine > History of the Baptists in Maine > Part 10
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"Motioned and brought to vote to see if the town would make good to Mr. John Woodman the damages he has sustained by having a cow taken from him for what he was assessed with the two years past, in a tax made for the minister's salary. It passed in the negative."1
Mr. Woodman was one of four persons who united with the Baptist church about six weeks after the organization. In the warrant for a meeting of the legal voters, to be held Feb. 10, 1786, the following article was inserted :
"ART. 2. To see if they will pass a vote not to oppose those persons who call themselves Baptists, if they will petition the General Court to be exempt from taxation in
1 Town records, p. 68.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
any future tax that shall be made for the support of a minister in this town, while they continue in that princi- ple."1 It was voted to drop this article.
In the warrant for the meeting March 13, 1786, was the following article :
"ART. 3. To see if the town will free the Baptists from paying taxes to Mr. Wilder,"? the Congregational minis- ter. The vote was 19 to 17, but at the next meeting, in April following, the vote was reconsidered and the Bap- tists were required to pay taxes as before.3
Not long after the organization of the church, an act was obtained from the General Court of Massachusetts incorporating a Baptist society in New Gloucester, with powers and privileges equal to those of other parishes. But this was found to be an additional burden, and four years afterward the society was dissolved. The church continued, also the old troubles continued, and in 1793 there was separation and a dissolution of the church. But in the following year, in connection with the labors of Elder Potter, there was a revival in the place, and Oct. 16, 1794, a new church of twelve members was organized.4 Rev. Isaac Case preached the sermon from John 3: 29.
It having been thought expedient for the convenience of churches on admission of members "to abridge the arti- cles of faith adopted by the association," not designing any alteration therein, the following were presented for use in the churches :
"Having been enabled by divine grace to give up our- selves to the Lord, we account it a duty incumbent upon us, to make a declaration of our faith, to the honor of Christ and glory of his name; knowing that as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
"We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God; we believe there is but
1 Town Records, p. 102.
2 Town Records, p. 103.
3 Town Records, p. 105.
4 Millet's History of the Baptists in Maine, p. 148.
4
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
one only true and living God; we believe the important doctrines of three equal persons in the Godhead; eternal and personal election ; original sin; particular redemp- tion ; free justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ ; efficacious grace in regeneration ; the final perse- verance of real believers; the resurrection of the dead ; the future judgment ; the eternal happiness of the right- eous; and everlasting misery of the impenitent. We also believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Christ, to be continued until his second coming, and the former is requisite to the latter, that is to say, that those are to be admitted into the communion of the church, and so to partake of its ordinances, who on profession of their faith have been baptized by immersion in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." A covenant was also presented by the association.
During the year two ministers had been ordained, Joshua Young at Ballstown in April, 1795, and James Hooper at Paris June 25, 1795. Mr. Hooper was the youngest brother of Rev. William Hooper of Berwick. Converted at the age of twenty and baptized by his brother William, he commenced to preach on New Year's day, 1791, at the age of twenty-two. For awhile he trav- eled with Joshua Smith, a New Hampshire evangelist. In 1793 he preached in Minot and Hebron. Then he went to New Gloucester, and the Baptist church in that place was organized while he was there. Receiving an invita- tion to go to Paris, he removed there Nov. 6, 1794, and on April 6, 1795, after having preached "upon probation," he was chosen minister of the town at a meeting of the "freeholders and other inhabitants." 1
Mr. Young went to the eastward and entered upon pas- toral service in Columbia and Addison. He also carried the gospel into the regions round about. A revival in connection with his labors at Columbia extended to Steu- ben, now Cherryfield, and in April, 1796, he baptized six candidates. Rev. Isaac Case was there in July and bap-
1 Life and Sentiments of James Hooper, Minister of the Gospel, pp. 7-11. Centennial Discourse by H. C. Estes, D. D., pp. 27-30.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
tized several more, and a church was organized Septem- ber 16th following.1
At the meeting of the association at Greene, Aug. 24 and 25, 1796, the church in Clinton was received to mem- bership. Its pastor was Mephibosheth Cain,2 who was ordained in January, 1796. The church was organized the preceding September, and at the time of the associa- tion reported twenty-six members. Nehemiah Gould was ordained pastor of the church in Vassalborough in Janu- ary, 1796, and Job Chadwick pastor of the church in Harlem, now China. During the year Joshua Bailey was ordained pastor of the church in Ballstown.
The church in Harlem (China), consisting of twenty members, was received into the Bowdoinham Association at the meeting in Thomaston in 1797, as also was the church at North Yarmouth, now Yarmouth. Rev. Heze- kiah Smith, as we have seen, was here in 1772. Elder
1 Millet's History of the Baptists in Maine, p. 294, and Centennial First Baptist Church, Cherryfield, 1796-1896, pp. 4, 5.
2 "He was, as his name signifies, 'lame on his feet,' or as it is sometimes termed, 'pumple footed,' and his journeys were performed principally on horseback, and his sermons prepared as he rode from one appointment to another. His early advantages were limited, and as was the case with most of our early ministers, he was, as he believed, led by the Spirit in his selection of texts and subjects for discourse; and while results very frequently justified his impressions, yet he sometimes made a mistake, as in the instance I am about to relate. In those old days in the summer season, five o'clock lectures on the Sabbath afternoon, at private houses, were fashionable and profitable. And these were the occasions on which the Elder enjoyed the largest liberty, and in which, as he believed, he was, more than in the more formal services of the day, under the guidance of the Spirit. It is told of him, that on his way to one of these favorite appointments, a text having been impressed upon his mind, he had an unusually good time in meditating upon it, and shaping it for use ; and on arriving at the place of meet- ing he fastened his horse to the fence, and passing through quite a crowd around the house, he went in at the front door, and prospected until he saw the brother he wanted, to whom he beckoned, and taking him out and on one side, he said : 'My dear brother, just as I got on to my horse to come to this meeting, the Lord gave me a text to preach from, and while meditating it, I have had all the way the most heavenly time a man ever had in the flesh, but for the life of me I can't remember where the passage is, and I thought perhaps you might help me. I think it is somewhere in the Proverbs, but am not certain.' "If you can give me the words,' said the brother, 'perhaps I can assist you.' 'Well,' said the Elder, 'the words are these, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."' 'It's a first-rate text,' said the brother, with a laugh, 'but I'm quite sure it isn't in the Bible, but think you'll find it in Webster's Spelling Book or Esop's Fables.' The Elder was of course considerably mortified, but regarding the sentiment as a good one, he got a new handle to his discourse, and gave the people the subject of his meditations, which was 'that a present possession of salvation is worth more than a future expectation of it.'" Rev. C. G. Porter in Zion's Advocate.
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE, YARMOUTH.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
Potter was in the place in his evangelizing tours and about the year 1793 "preached and administered the ordinance of baptism at the Falls to three candidates." Early in 1795 the Baptists and those in sympathy with them formed an association for the purpose of sustaining permanently the ministry of the word, and employed Rev. Abraham Cummings of Freeport as a supply. The church was organized Jan. 18, 1797, and when received into the association had seven members. The old meeting- house on the hill, still standing but remodeled in 1837, was built in 1796, at a cost of £1,358, 4s., 5d.1
The Bowdoinham Association in 1798 met in the Baptist meeting-house in Brunswick, now East Brunswick, Aug. 12th and 13th. Three churches, New Vineyard, Farming- ton and 2d Litchfield, were received into membership. New Vineyard had among its first settlers Baptists from Martha's Vineyard. Rev. Isaac Case and Rev. Eliphalet Smith were active in the formation of the church here, and also at Farmington. The church in Bowdoin in con- nection with the labors of its pastor, Rev. James Potter, was blessed with an extensive revival this year. The Bowdoin church reported 58 additions, the 2d Bowdoin, 35, while the 2d Litchfield was gathered from the fruits of the revival there. Rev. John Tripp had become pastor at Hebron. He was born in Dartmouth, later Fair Haven, Mass., March 25, 1761. He was licensed to preach Sept. 18, 1787, when living in Edgartown, Mass., and was ordained Sept. 29, 1791. He preached in Carver, Mass., about six years, and came from Carver to Hebron in the
1 Origin and Progress of the Baptist Church in Yarmouth, Maine, 1861 [prepared by Rev. Thomas B. Ripley], p. 4. Centennial Discourse June 16, 1797, by Rev. J. H. Bar- rows, pp. 1, 2. The first pastor of the Yarmouth church was Dr. Thomas Green, a physician, who came from Danvers, Mass., where for about three years he had been the pastor of the Baptist church in that town. He was a son of Dr. John Green of Worces- ter, Mass., and grandson of Dr. Thomas Green, also a physician and first pastor of the Greenville Baptist church in Leicester, Mass. He studied theology with Rev. Joseph Avery (Congregational minister in Holden) after studying medicine with his father and practiced medicine in Lexington, Mass. He was ordained in Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 26, 1783, as pastor of the church in what is now Arlington. Later he was pastor in Danvers, and came to Yarmouth in 1797. See Historical Discourse by H. C. Estes, D. D., at the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of Greenville Baptist Church, Sept. 28, 1888, pp. 60-63.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
summer of 1798, but was not installed as pastor until Feb. 14, 1799. Elder James Potter preached the sermon from 1 Tim. 4: 16. The hand of fellowship was extended by Rev. James Hooper of Paris.
Among the items in the report for that year are these : "Attended to the administration of the ordinance of bap- tism to two subjects. Attended to the celebration of the Lord's Supper, agreeably to a vote of the association the last year, to have said ordinance administered at our annual meeting in future." This action of the Bowdoin- ham Association with reference to the Lord's Supper preceded that of the New Hampshire Association by one year. The innovation was short-lived. In 1801, it was voted to "suspend" the celebration of the Supper in future meetings of the association "on account of some incon- veniences."
Three churches were added to the association at the meeting in Livermore Aug. 28 and 29, 1799, Wales, Jay and Mt. Vernon. Wales was visited by Elder Potter as early as 1793. But especially was the influence of the great revival in 1798 and 1799 felt in the place. Jay seems to have come into existence with the aid of the neighboring churches, Livermore and Fayette, while Mt. Vernon, at first known as Washington Plantation, and incorporated in 1792 with its present name, shared in its earlier history the self-denying labors of Elder Case. The Litchfield church this year reported 82 additions; the 2d Litchfield, 72; Thompsonborough, formerly the 2d Bow- doin, afterward Lisbon, 46; Bowdoin, 39; Cushing, 39; Clinton, 29. It was "Voted to recommend to the churches in the association to raise money by contribution for the support of a Gospel Mission, and to bring in the same at our annual meeting. Contributed fifteen dollars at the association for this use." It was also voted that Elders Green, Williams and Woodward be a committee to super- intend the business relating to the Gospel Mission, and Elder Woodward was made mission treasurer.
In connection with the association occurred the ordina-
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
tion of the moderator, Elisha Williams, a member of the church in Livermore and a licentiate of that church since 1795. June 29th of this year occurred also the ordination of Thomas Francis at Wayne. A revival of religion in Leeds in 1795 resulted in a large number of conversions. By the efforts of some Methodist preachers a class was formed and Mr. Francis was appointed class leader, but Mr. Francis and some others were not satisfied with the doctrinal views of the Methodists. Elder Potter visited the place, and the Methodists left the field. When one asked the presiding elder what had become of his class at Leeds, the latter wittily replied, "They were marred in the hands of the Potter." Elder Case was also a helper in this pioneer work in Leeds.
The Bowdoinham Association had now had an existence of thirteen years. This review of its history to the close of the century shows how much of its growth and pros- perity was due, under God, to the untiring labors of Elders Case and Potter. They went everywhere preach- ing the word, and their preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That the churches in this time increased from three to twenty-one, and the members from 183 to 1,568, was very largely due to their heroic and self-denying labors divinely blessed. The following table presents the statistics of the association to 1800.
Ministers.
Churches.
Additions.
Dismissed.
Excluded.
Died.
Members.
1787
3
3
183
1788
3
1789
4
6
11
13
14
1
288
1790
4
6
31
2
1
317
1791
4
10
20
23
1
2
397
1792
6
15
51
27
3
1
566
1793
6
19
89
42
3
695
1794
11
21
178
24
2
887
1795
13
23
112
20
41
9
955
1796
15
24
92
12
15
7
1009
1797
17
26
65
24
19
9
1088
1798
18
29
187
29
41
5
1233
1799
21
32
388
100
48
9
1568
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
The statistics for 1798 and 1799 show how largely the churches in the association had shared in the great revival influences which between the years 1797 and 1801 swept over the land, following a period of comparative religious dearth. This revival took a much stronger hold on the real life of New England piety than the religious awaken- ing of 1740. It was not attended by the outward physi- cal manifestations which characterized that display of religious feeling and emotion. "Nor, unlike that former religious movement, did this one derive its impulse at all from the presence of a celebrated evangelist, or even from the use of the itineracy in any form.
. The work sprang up almost simultaneously throughout the churches under the ministrations of their own pastors, and progressed under the visible influence of only such added efforts and agencies as settled ministers are able mutually to afford one to another."1 Those who came into the churches at this time bore "a stamp of experience so deep, and on the whole so genuine, that they were of inestimable value to every interest of the Christian king- dom."2 Abundant illustration of this fact we shall have in the chapters that follow.
1 Some Aspects of the Religious Life of New England, by George Leon Walker, D. D., p. 135.
2 Some Aspects of the Religious Life of New England, by George Leon Walker, D. D., p. 146.
CHAPTER VIII.
MISSIONARY ACTIVITY.
When the eighteenth century came to a close much had already been accomplished by the Baptists of Maine in organizing and developing churches. Within the limits of the district there were forty-two churches, viz., in the New Hampshire Association, Berwick at the Great Hill, Sanford, Wells and Berwick, Coxhall (Lyman), Shap- leigh, Waterborough, Cornish, Fryeburg, Limerick, Par- sonsfield and Newfield ; in the Bowdoinham Association, Bowdoinham, Harpswell, Thomaston, Bowdoin (Web- ster), Vassalborough, Ballstown (Whitefield), Sydney, Litchfield, Hebron, Buckfield, Paris, Lewiston, Readfield, Fayette, Miscongus1 Island, Cushing, Nobleborough, Liver- more, Greene, Wayne, Lisbon, Barrettstown (Hope), New Gloucester, Clinton, North Yarmouth, Harlem (China), New Vineyard (Industry), Farmington, 2d Litchfield, Wales, Jay and Mount Vernon. These forty churches had a membership of 2,186.
From the beginning of the movement resulting in the organization of these churches much missionary activity had been manifested. Rev. Nehemiah Lord of Wells, we have seen, early made his way to the scattered settlements east of Falmouth. In Case and Potter and Snow, Bow- doinham Association had men of untiring missionary activ- ity. In 1789, they were appointed to supply Ballstown, Harpswell and Vassalborough, with this end in view, that each of these churches should have preaching on two Sundays during the year. In 1792, appointments were made for preaching in ten churches. Arrangements for such "supplies" were made annually. But enlarged mis-
1 So in the Minutes ; now Muscongus.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
sionary operations were contemplated with the opening of the new century. The revival influences abroad in the churches evidently had a quickening effect, awakening a missionary impulse and strengthening the desire for a larger harvest of souls.
It was doubtless at the suggestion of Rev. Isaac Case that this missionary movement on the part of the churches in the District of Maine was taken. He was present at the New Hampshire Association June 13, 1799, when it was voted to send a missionary to preach and administer the ordinances of the gospel in the eastern country. He was also present at the Bowdoinham Association Aug. 29, 1799, when it was voted to recommend to the churches in the association to raise money by contribution for the sup- port of a Gospel Mission. He knew the needs of those scattered settlements in the eastern part of the district, and he was ready in the full vigor of a sturdy manhood to consecrate himself to this service. Because of his interest in the work, and his especial adaptation to it, he was selected as the first missionary of Bowdoinham Associa- tion. Resigning his pastorate at Readfield, he accepted his appointment with the prospect of a scanty support, and hurried away to the eastern country on his "Gospel Mission."
No record of that missionary journey, so far as I am aware, has been preserved, but when the Bowdoinham Association met in Greene Aug. 27 and 28, 1800, the mis- sionary was present with a report of his labors. In the Minutes of the association is the following entry : "Agree- able to a vote of the association the last year, Elder Case visited the new settlements in the eastern part of the Province of Maine as a missionary to preach the gospel in places destitute of settled ministers, who reported a very pleasing account of the advancement of the Redeem- er's kingdom in many places he visited, and that there appeared to be a door opened for great usefulness in preaching the gospel in those parts." There is also this added statement : "Agreeable to a request of the associa-
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
tion the last year, a contribution was received from some of our churches, societies and individuals present, for the support of a Gospel Mission, amounting to $43.10."
The New Hampshire Association at its meeting at Brent- wood, June 11 and 12, 1800, "Chose Elders William Hooper, Henry Smith, and William Batchelder to employ a suitable ordained elder as a missionary to travel into the eastern parts to preach and administer the ordinances of the gos- pel." Contributions were announced as follows : Berwick church at the Great Hill, $6.00; Waterborough, $4.50 ; Newton, $10.00. Contributions in the other churches when collected were to be paid to Elder Henry Smith, treasurer. The collection at the association for the Gospel Mission amounted to $25.70.
Elder John Tripp of Hebron made a missionary journey to the eastward in January and February, 1801, and his report of this journey is the earliest missionary record that has come down to us. He says :1
"Under a great sense of unworthiness and unfitness for the business, on the 26th day of January, 1801, I set out on a mission to preach the gospel to the destitute in the eastern parts of this country. On my journey I preached at Brunswick, Warren and Belfast, but with little freedom or prospect of success. And after crossing the Penobscot river, and traveling east far beyond all my acquaintance, in my discouragement I had sober thoughts of return- ing, but several passages of Scripture coming to my mind (Luke 9: 62, Math. 10 : 37 with Luke 14: 26), fully determined me to press forward, Providence permitting, let my feelings be as they might. Coming to a neighbor- hood in the town of Orland at almost sunset, February 4, a meeting was called, and I preached with freedom, and I think the Lord was there. On the 6th, I came to Union River. Before I reached that place, I felt an unwilling- ness to spend the Lord's day there, having understood that the Methodists preached there, concluding, that if so,
1 The Maine Baptist Missionary Register, Vol. 1, August, 1806, pp. 6, 7. In it were recorded reports of missionary labors "both before and since the regular establishment of the Society."
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
the people would not wish to hear me. But I could not well get farther, and coming there I found that Provi- dence had opened the way. On Lord's day, February 8th, I preached there three sermons to a large and attentive assembly. My soul was refreshed, and so I think were the souls of many.
"The next day I preached at Newbury Neck (South Surry), in the vicinity of Union River, and found a number of precious Christians, some of whom were in connection with the Methodists. We spent an exceedingly happy evening in relating to each other the experiences of our souls. I found them so much better indoctrinated than I expected, that I was filled with astonishment, and could not but give glory to God for what I saw and heard, and that ever I was brought to that place.
"I preached several times in the week, and again on Lord's day at Union River, three sermons. The attention was remarkable, my soul seemed to be alive, and my tenderness towards the people cannot be expressed. On Monday, 16th, preached again at Newbury Neck with a sweet freedom of soul; and the conversation with indi- viduals after the meeting was agreeable beyond descrip- tion. And blessed be the Lord for what of religion I unexpectedly found in that place.
"Being about to set out homewards, on Tuesday even- ing, February 17th, I preached at Patten's Bay [Surry Village], and how shall I describe the peculiar heart exer- cises of that interview. . That evening and the next morning, I took my leave of them, which was quite affecting, at least to me. Never was I more sensible that I was in the work of the Lord, and in the place where he would have me, than while at and about Union River."
In the records of the first meeting of the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society, held in Boston, May 26, 1802, is this entry: "The reverend Messrs. Isaac Case, John Tripp and Joseph Cornell were appointed missionaries, the two former to visit the new settlements in the District of Maine and New Hampshire; the latter to visit the new
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
settlements in the northwesterly parts of New York and the adjacent settlements in Canada." June 17, 1802, Mr. Tripp set out for Mt. Desert with Mr. Case. He also preached at Union River and other places which he visited in the preceding year. In October he spent a week in the new settlements upon and near the Androscoggin river. He spent a Sunday at Bethel. "I affected not to be a Cal- vinist or Arminian, but a Christian minister. I endeav- ored not to confound my hearers with bold assertions, but as much as in me lay to inform their understandings ; and I have reason to hope it was not altogether in vain." In May he was again in Bethel. In June he visited Rum- ford, Paris, Andover, Bethel and Little's Grant.
In both the New Hampshire and Bowdoinham Associa- tions contributions were still made for the support of a Gospel Mission. The amount raised in the Bowdoinham Association reported in the Minutes for 1803 was $81.00, of which $48.00 were collected at the association.
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