USA > Maine > History of the Baptists in Maine > Part 13
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Hon. Mark P. Emery, of Portland, but a native of Buxton Center, and a warm-hearted supporter of the Baptist church at Buxton Center, reprinted the sermon in loving recog. nition of Mr. Batchelder's service at Buxton. Mr. Batchelder left Berwick in 1805 to become the successor of Rev. Hezekiah Smith at Haverhill, Mass. "The last public enterprise undertaken by Elder Batchelder was the endowment of Waterville Academy, now Colby University. His great popularity as a preacher in Maine drew great crowds to hear him wherever he went in his chaise; and it was exposure in this collecting tour in the winter of 1817 that undermined his frail constitution." History of the First Bap- tist Church and Sunday School of Haverhill, Mass., Historical Discourse delivered May 9, 1890, on the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Church, by Rev. W. W. Everts, Jr., pp. 36-38. Mr. Batchelder died in Haverhill, April 8, 1818, in the fifty-first year of his age.
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136
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
about forty singing the songs of Zion ; several were pray- ing or exhorting-yet no confusion. We proceeded to the sea, whose hoarse roar seemed to forbid our approach ; but an isthmus formed by nature furnished us with a beautiful cove where the water was as smooth as a sea of glass. Here ten persons went down into the water in imitation of the humble Jesus. A semi-circular declivity was thronged with spectators, and, though the night was dark, the reflex glare of the lights from the water com- pletely enlightened the whole. The scene exceeded my power of description."1 No more vivid picture of revival services in the District of Maine a century ago has come down to us than that presented by the pastor of the Ber- wick Great Hill church.
The following table gives the summary of statistics of the New Hampshire Association in the first decade of the new century :
Ministers.
Churches.
Additions.
Dismissed.
Excluded.
Died.
Members.
1800
15
18
189
32
14
16
1560
1801
18
20
332
96
1
19
2035
1802
15
22
222
38
6
10
1925
1803
17
22
125
23
13
19
2022
1804
20
24
157
115
14
29
2106
1805
22
25
89
30
22
16
2081
1806
19
24
98
25
25
26
2205
1807
20
26
65
19
14
6
2210
1808
20
28
100
34
12
20
2218
1809
23
28
70
32
23
14
2198
1810
17
23
70
32
23
14
2193
In the Bowdoinham Association the growth of the de- nomination was even more rapid than in the New Hamp- shire Association. More new settlements were opened, and more missionary work was performed. Five new churches were received to membership at the meeting of the association in Greene, Aug. 27 and 28, 1800, viz.,
1 The First Century of the Baptist church in North Berwick, Me., 1768-1868, by Rev. Edmund Worth, pp. 18, 19.
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
Brunswick, Littleborough (Leeds), Woolwich, Meduncook (Friendship) and Warren. In 1782, Elder Potter began to preach in private houses in Brunswick, his native town. Mr. Case followed, but his labors were infrequent. In 1792, a few Baptists held occasional meetings at Maquoit, near the head of Maquoit Bay. A society was formed, and about 1798, in spite of fierce opposition on the part of the standing order, a meeting-house was built. A church of eight members was organized in September, 1799, of which Elisha Williams, who was ordained at Livermore in that year in connection with the meeting of that associa- tion, became pastor.
To Littleborough, in 1773, came Roger and Thomas Stinchfield from New Gloucester as settlers. With them came Thomas Francis, a lad of seventeen. He was born in England and was apprenticed to a physician. Running away he had shipped on his Majesty's ship Black Prince, which was wrecked on the coast of Maine. As the ship- wrecked sailors were making their way to Falmouth, some of them, including young Francis, stopped at one of the Stinchfield's. Mr. Stinchfield was pleased with the boy and invited him to make his home with him. Young Francis declined, but on rising the next morning his feet were so sore that he was unable to proceed on his journey. He accordingly accepted Mr. Stinchfield's kind offer. This was the beginning of a new course of life which was one of increasing usefulness and honor until Mr. Francis' death at a ripe old age. He was baptized in Leeds by Elder Potter in 1795, and was at once licensed to preach. He was ordained at Leeds in 1798, supplied the church in Wayne in 1798 and 1799, and became pastor of the church in Leeds at its organization in 1800. He continued in the active pastorate of the church until 1835, and was the senior pastor of the church at the time of his death, May 9, 1836. He was at one time a member of the Maine Senate.
In Woolwich, Rev. Benjamin Randall had organized a Freewill Baptist church as early as 1781. Two years later
138
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
Elders Potter, Case and Macomber preached occasionally in the town, and as a result of their labors there were additions to the Bowdoinham church. In 1796, a petition was sent to the General Court of Massachusetts from "a number of the inhabitants of the towns of Bowdoinham and Woolwich," praying to be incorporated into a Baptist society in order that the Baptists in Woolwich might be relieved "from paying taxes to the Congregational min- ister of said town." The petition was granted in the session of 1797-8. When, in 1800, a Baptist church was organized, most of the members were from the Congrega- tional church.1
The church in Meduncook (Friendship) was the fruit of the labors of Ephraim Hall of Cushing, and had thirty members when it joined the Bowdoinham Association in 1800.
Warren, settled in 1736 by Scotch Presbyterians from the north of Ireland, was visited in 1784 by Elders Case and Snow, and as a result of their work in the place converts were added to the church in Thomaston. The church organized at Warren in 1800 consisted of fourteen members.
The Baptist church in Portland had a like number of members when it joined the Bowdoinham Association in 1801. From Jan. 29, 1772, when Rev. Hezekiah Smith came from North Yarmouth to Falmouth and preached "at Mr. Burnam's," the place seems not to have been visited by Baptist preachers until Rev. Isaac Case and Dr. Green of North Yarmouth made their way thither in 1796 or 1797. "We preached," says Mr. Case, "to whom- soever might be disposed to hear us." Mr. Case contin- ued his visits, meeting from time to time "a few indi- viduals coming off from the Congregational churches," among them Benjamin Titcomb, a man of prominence in the community. "At first," says Mr. Case, "The Bap- tists could not secure a congregation of more than half a dozen ; but now the number of hearers became too numer-
1 A History of the Baptists of Maine, by Rev. Joshua Millet, p. 166.
REV. BENJAMIN TITCOMB.
139
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
ous for the schoolhouse in which they usually met, and a convenient hall was obtained for their accommodation." The Baptist church in Portland was organized in the house of Mr. Titcomb July 24, 1801.1
The churches added to the Bowdoinham Association in 1802 were Freetown (China), Mt. Ephraim (Swanville) and 2d Buckfield. In 1803, New Sharon, with twenty- two members, was added to the association, and in 1804, five churches, Canaan, Sumner, Islesborough, Vinalhaven and Bethel, in the District of Maine, and Jefferson and Lancaster across the border in New Hampshire, organized by Rev. Isaac Case in 1804.
The first division of the Bowdoinham Association was made in 1804. A petition for a division had been pre- sented in 1801, but after some consultation on the subject and a consideration of the advantages and disadvantages that would arise from a division, it was voted, as the opin- ion of the association, that it was not expedient to make a division. In 1803, the matter received further consider- ation, and upon a request of several churches it was voted that it was expedient to have the division made. There were now connected with the Bowdoinham Association forty-eight churches, thirty-two ordained ministers and two thousand, one hundred and twenty-one members. There were also at remote points to the eastward Baptist churches unassociated on account of distance from other churches of like faith and order; for example, Cherry- field and Eastport. It was accordingly voted at the meet-
1 Mr. Titcomb was born in Portland, then Falmouth, July 26, 1761. He was educated at Dummer Academy, Newbury, Mass., and served an apprenticeship as a printer at New- buryport, Mass. Having completed his apprenticeship he established a printing office in his native town, and on the first of January, 1785, he struck off with his own hands the first newspaper sheet ever printed in Maine, The Falmouth Gazette and Weekly Adver- tiser. He united with the Baptist church in North Yarmouth in the summer of 1799. August 27, 1801, he was ordained at North Yarmouth, and in the following month he received an invitation to the pastorate of the church in Portland. This invitation he accepted, and he served the church until September, 1804, when he became pastor of the Baptist church in Brunswick. Dr. Shaylor says of him, "He was a faithful minister, a good pastor, a judicious counselor." Mr. Titcomb died in Brunswick Sept. 30, 1848, in the eighty-eighth year of his age and the forty-eighth of his ministry. Historical Discourse at the One Hundredth Anniversary of the First Baptist Church, Portland, Oct. 10, 1901, by Rev. H. S. Burrage, D. D.
140
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
ing of the association at Readfield in 1804 "that those churches which wish to withdraw from the association meet at Ballstown the fourth Wednesday in October next." In accordance with this action sixteen churches withdrew from the Bowdoinham Association, including two of the three original churches of the association, Bowdoinham and Thomaston. The churches remaining in the association were as follows : Harpswell, Bowdoin, Sidney, Litchfield, Hebron, Buckfield, Paris, Lewiston, Readfield, Fayette, Livermore, Greene, Wayne, Lisbon, New Gloucester, Clinton, North Yarmouth, New Vine- yard, Farmington, 2d Litchfield, Wales, Jay, Mount Ver- non, Brunswick, Leeds, Portland, 2d Buckfield, New Sharon, Canaan, Sumner, Bethel, and Jefferson and Lan- caster. These thirty-two churches had a membership of thirteen hundred and seventy-five.
In the following year the Bowdoinham Association, notwithstanding the withdrawal of so many churches, reported a membership of seventeen hundred and ten. At the association in Buckfield, Sept. 24 and 25, 1806, four churches were received, 2d Sidney, 2d Bowdoin, Bel- grade and Norway, and the membership had increased to nineteen hundred and twelve. The 2d Sidney and 2d Bowdoin churches were the fruit of powerful revivals in connection with the labors of Rev. Henry Kendall.1
At the meeting of the Bowdoinham Association at Brunswick, Sept. 23 and 24, 1807, the churches at Hal-
1 Henry Kendall was born in Sanford, July 3, 1774, and in his youth was apprenticed to a tanner and shoemaker in Center Harbor, N. H. At length he was converted, and he was baptized at Meredith in September, 1795. As he worked at his shoemaker's bench, he kept his Bible open on the window before him and so studied the sacred Word. Often he would preach to himself from some text. At length he began to exhort at religious meetings and in 1801 to preach by appointment. In May, 1802, with his family he came into the District of Maine, and visited Mount Vernon, Palermo, Litchfield and other places. In February, 1804, he moved his family to Litchfield, and June 5, 1805, he was ordained at Mount Vernon. In 1805 and 1806 he was at Bowdoin and Sidney. Impressed with the idea that the Lord had a work for him to do in Hallowell, he preached several times. In March, 1807, he saw signs of a revival. The strange sight of a baptism on a cold, blustering day in April made a deep impression. A Baptist church of twenty-nine members was organized, Elder Potter, now seventy-three years old, preaching the ser- mon. The Autobiography of Elder Henry Kendall, with an introduction by Prof. J. T. Champlin, D. D., was published by the author in Portland in 1853.
141
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
lowell and Minot were admitted to membership, and at Fayette, Sept. 29, 1808, Freeport, 2d Lisbon and Pejep- scot churches were received. There were now forty- one churches connected with the association, having two thousand, two hundred and seventy-seven members, and at this meeting of the association the question of division was again considered. It was finally voted "to waive the division of the association the present year, and that the churches take the matter into consideration, and communi- cate their opinion to the association next session."
At this session, which was held at Leeds Sept. 27 and 28, 1809, five churches, Cornville, Harmony, Denmark, Number Five (Cambridge) and Piscataquis were received, and the membership was increased to two thousand, five hundred and forty-two. The question of division was again brought before the association, and it was voted to postpone its consideration, the churches meanwhile being requested to agree upon the dividing line and communicate their opinion to the association at the annual meeting in 1810.
The following table shows the growth of the Bowdoin- ham Association during the first decade of the century.
Ministers.
Churches.
Additions.
Dismissed.
Excluded.
Died.
Members.
1800
21
37
136
103
58
10
1613
1801
24
37
128
36
39
16
1648
1802
24
41
162
24
41
16
1754
1803
28
42
205
37
81
16
1873
1804
28
48
196
62
41
14
2121
1805
20
32
351
19
25
11
1710
1806
26
36
186
80
31
12
1912
1807
24
38
135
36
38
17
1989
1808
30
41
238
66
31
13
2277
1809
36
46
216
48
62
15
2542
1810
36
51
400
105
51
25
2843
The sixteen churches that withdrew from the Bowdoin- ham Association to form the Lincoln Association, in accord- ance with the vote of the association in 1804, were as
142
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
follows : Bowdoinham, Thomaston, Vassalborough, Balls- town, Miscongus Island, St. George, Nobleboro, Hope, Harlem (China), Woolwich, Meduncook (Friendship), War- ren, Fairfax (Albion), Mount Ephraim (Swanville), Isles- borough and Vinalhaven. At the first session of the asso- ciation at St. George, Sept. 4 and 5, 1805, the Palermo and Beaver Hill (Freedom) church, with forty-two members, and the Sedgwick church, with one hundred and twenty- five members, were added. The Sedgwick church was an accession that meant a great deal to the Baptists of Maine. Its pastor, Rev. Daniel Merrill, had been pastor of the Congregational church in Sedgwick since 1793, and under his ministry the church had become one of the largest, if not the largest in the state.1 Several of his students for the ministry had become Baptists. This led Mr. Merrill to make a protracted investigation of the subjects of baptism with the design of refuting from the Scriptures the Baptist position. So he turned to the Bible and studied its pages from Genesis to Revelation, intend- ing to write a book which might be helpful in showing Baptists the unscripturalness of their position. But he failed to find what he sought. He then renewed his search, but with no better results, though it was contin- ued more than two years. He says : "Towards the close of my research for what I had long believed to be the truth, and for that evidence of it which might compel every honest Baptist to buy it by exchanging his errors for it, my pain became severe. To my great disappoint- ment and extreme regret, I was driven to the then very sorrowful conclusion that the sacred Scriptures did not afford clear and direct evidence to support my own prac- tice. . . At this time eight children were about being presented to have the rite of sprinkling adminis- tered to them. I considered that I was under no obliga- tion to go, nor even had liberty to go, where the Lord would not go with me, and as he had refused me the light
1 Mr. Merrill, in his Autobiography, p. 10, says the number was one hundred and eighty- nine, "if I mistake not, the most numerous of any church of any name in the district."
143
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
of evidence in favor of this rite, I refused to administer it. . . By my particular desire, the church, with but three dissenting voices, agreed to observe a day of fasting and prayer before the Lord, to implore his merciful inter- ference, that we might not renounce the practice to which we had been accustomed, if that practice was . . . in accordance with his revealed will. The day was observed with much solemnity. With painful solicitude did our devout supplications ascend to the Father of our spirits that he would scatter light in our paths, settle the doubt- ful minds and lead us in the good and right way."1
But the light so carefully and prayerfully sought did not come. Mr. Merrill's distress continued several months. "I was in uncertainty as to the manner in which persons should be visibly introduced into this kingdom," he says, "as much as I was in relation to the gospel subjects." One source of his distress was the fact that he had an "unconquered antipathy" to the Baptists. "I could not bear the idea of being called one." But at length he sur- rendered himself "and the whole concern" to the Lord, "without so much as a known mental reservation. Thus by an unconditional submission to the will of God, I was enabled to roll my burden upon him, and found peace."
The first Sunday after securing relief from his distress- ing perplexity, Mr. Merrill preached the first two of seven sermons in which he set forth the conclusions he had reached. These sermons made a deep impression upon the members of his church. Writing Nov. 16, 1804, to Rev. Elisha Williams of Beverly, Mass., Mr. Merrill said: "I have within four weeks preached seven sermons on the mode and subjects [of baptism], which will probably be sent to the press within a few months. My pres- ent expectation is, that we shall, should the Lord be on our side, wish to be baptized, and formed into a regular Baptist church."
Opposition at once was developed. A petition, signed by seven men in the place, was presented to the selectmen
1 Autobiography of Rev. Daniel Merrill, pp. 3, 4.
144
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
of Sedgwick, asking them to call a town meeting to act on the following particulars : "1. To choose a moderator. 2. To see if the town will receive the Rev. Daniel Merrill as a town minister upon the Baptist platform. 3. To see if the town will reject the Rev. Daniel Merrill from his salary, since he has become a Baptist. 4. To see if the town will reject Rev. Daniel Merrill from the pulpit since he has became a Baptist." The meeting was held Jan. 28, 1805. It was a very stormy day, but the meeting was largely attended. When the question was proposed, "Will the town receive the Rev. Daniel Merrill as the town minister upon the Baptist platform ?" the vote was declared to be in the affirmative. The decision of the moderator was doubted, but when a division was ordered, the majority was so overwhelming that the negative vote was not even counted. The other articles in the warrant were disposed of in a like manner.
All opposition having now been overcome, the church, at a meeting held Feb. 28, 1805, voted unanimously to call a council of Baptist ministers "to come and assist them in the following particulars, viz. : 1st. To administer Chris- tian baptism to them; 2d. To constitute them into a church upon the primitive Baptist platform; 3d. To set over them in the Lord, the Rev. Daniel Merrill to be their minister."
In accordance with this request; Rev. Thomas Baldwin of Boston, Rev. John Pitman of Providence, R. I., and Rev. Elisha Williams of Beverly, Mass., accompanied by several laymen, took passage at Salem Thursday evening, May 9, 1805, and arrived at Sedgwick at one o'clock Saturday afternoon.
The next day in the forenoon, Mr. Pitman preached from Acts 5:20, "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." After an intermis- sion of half an hour, Mr. Baldwin preached from 1 Cor. 3 : 9, "Ye are God's building." After another inter- mission of a few minutes, Mr. Williams preached from Prov. 25: 25, "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good
.
145
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
news from a far country." At six o'clock Mr. Baldwin preached again from Solomon's Song 1:8, "If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents."
Monday afternoon at two o'clock the council met and adjourned until the next day. At three o'clock Mr. Wil- liams preached from John 14 : 21, "He that hath my com- mandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." The rest of the day, after the sermon, was spent in the examination of candidates for baptism. The examination continued on Tuesday. At half-past ten Tuesday fore- noon, Mr. Williams preached from Acts 2: 41, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." The bap- tism of the candidates followed. The place selected for the administration of the ordinance was "in the tide waters of Benjamin's river, about one mile from the sea. A more beautiful or convenient place is scarcely to be imagined. The land adjoining was sufficiently elevated to accommodate spectators with the best possible prospect ; and yet sloping so gently to the margin of the river that those at the furthest distance might see as plainly as those who stood nighest." Prayer, first of all, was offered, invoking the divine blessing. Amid profound silence Mr. Baldwin led Mr. Merrill into the water, repeating the words, "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." After his baptism, and while still in the water, Mr. Merrill expressed the satisfaction he felt in thus yielding obedience to the divine command. As Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Merrill came up out of the water Mr. Williams went down with Mrs. Merrill, repeating these words: "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Thus candidate followed candidate until sixty-six were baptized. The service was concluded with prayer and singing.
At five o'clock, at the meeting-house, Mr. Pitman
11
146
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
preached from John 12: 26, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my ser- vant be : if any man serve me, him will my father honor."
Wednesday morning the council met and examined nine- teen more candidates, who were baptized at the same place as those on the previous day. At one o'clock in the afternoon the candidates assembled in the meeting-house and formed a church organization. By appointment of the council, Rev. Isaac Case gave to them the hand of fel- lowship "as a sister church of Christ," and by prayer commended them to God and the word of his grace. The council then proceeded to ordain Mr. Merrill as pastor of the church. Prayer was offered by Mr. Baldwin, who then preached an impressive discourse from Jude, 3d verse, "Earnestly contend for the faith which was once deliv- ered unto the saints."1 Rev. Elisha Snow of Thomaston offered the ordaining prayer; Rev. Abraham Cummings of Vinalhaven gave the charge; Rev. Elisha Williams of Beverly, Mass., extended the hand of fellowship, and the concluding prayer was by Rev. John Pitman of Provi- dence, R. I.
As the service closed a vessel from Machias, belong- ing in Sedgwick and bound to Boston, anchored off the town. On her the visitors embarked Thursday morning, and before sunset on Friday they were in Boston.
We can hardly overestimate the importance of this event in the history of the Baptists of Maine. As Dr. Shailer says, it "tended greatly to encourage and strengthen the Baptists. They had been charged, to an extent not alto- gether true, of having only unlearned and ignorant men in their ministry, and of gaining converts to their faith
1 This sermon by Mr. Baldwin was published. It was entitled, "A Sermon Delivered at Sedgwick, May 15, 1805, at the Ordination of the Rev. Daniel Merrill to the Pastoral Charge of the Baptist Church of Christ in that Place." Mr. Merrill served the church as its pastor until 1814, when he became pastor of the Baptist church in Nottingham, N. H., where he remained seven years. He then returned to Sedgwick and resumed the pastor- ate of the church, continuing this relation until his death. Mr. Merrill's grandchildren have placed in the church a memorial tablet with this inscription, "In Respectful Mem- ory of our Grandfather, Rev. Daniel Merrill, Founder of this Church May 14, 1805, and for twenty-one years its devoted pastor. Born March 18, 1765. Died June 3, 1833."
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, SEDGWICK.
147
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN MAINE.
only from the more illiterate classes of the community. And to have a man of so much intelligence and piety, a man of acknowledged scholarship,1 and who had instructed young men preparing for the ministry, and who had preached earnestly and sustained an unblemished reputa- tion in that town for some twelve years, -to have such a man and more than a hundred of his parishioners, from no conceivable worldly motives, but from settled convictions of truth and duty, come out and avow Baptist sentiments, awakened an interest, produced an impression, and had an influence greater and broader than we, at this remote day, and in different circumstances, embrace even in our con- ceptions."2
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