USA > Maine > History of the Baptists in Maine > Part 3
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Mr. Screven seems to have paid no heed to this order, and his case was brought before a General Assembly of the province held at York, June 28, 1682. The record of the action is as follows :
"William Screven, appearing before this Court and being before convicted of the contempt of his Majesty's authority, by refusing to submit himself to the sentence of the former Court prohibiting his public exercises, refer- ring to some irreligious speeches uttered by him, and upon examination before this Court declaring his resolution still to persist in the same course, the Court tendered him lib- erty to return home to his family, in case he would forbear such kind of disorderly and turbulent practices, and amend for the future. But he refusing, the Court required him to give bond for his good behavior, and to forbear such contemptuous behavior for the future, and ordered that the delinquent should stand committed until the judg- ment of this Court herein be fulfilled. After which said Screven coming into the Court, did, in the presence of the said Court, and president, promise and engage to depart out of this Province within a very short time." 2
It is evident from these words that Screven and his associates had now come to the conclusion that if at Kittery they could not have freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their consciences, they must seek that freedom elsewhere. But, as yet, they had no church organization, and it was evidently deemed desir- able that such an organization should be effected before their departure, and while they could have the assistance of their Boston brethren. Accordingly Sept. 13, 1682, Mr. Screven sent a letter to the Baptist church in Boston,
1 Early Records, Vol. 4, p. 261.
2 Early Records, Vol. 4, p. 23.
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requesting the church to send its pastor and delegates to aid in the organization of a church. In this letter he said :
"To Thomas Skinner, Boston, for the church : Dearly beloved brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of saints. I and my wife salute you with our Christian love in our Lord Jesus, hoping through grace these few lines will find you in health of body and mind. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ, in whom he is pleased to account his saints meet to be partakers of the blessed rest provided for them in his mansion-house eternally in the heavens. That will be a happy day when all the saints shall join together in sounding of his praise. The good Lord enable us to prepare for that blessed day. To that end, brethren, let us pray, every one himself, for himself, and for one another, that God would please to search our hearts and reins, so as that we may walk with God here, and here- after dwell with him in glory."
Mr. Screven then refers to the fact that his mother-in- law had become a Baptist ;1 and expresses the desire that the pastor of the church in Boston, with other delegates, would visit Kittery, and assist in the organization of a church and in the ordination of its pastor.
To this request the church acceded and the pastor of the church, Rev. Isaac Hull, and two of his brethren, Thomas Skinner and Philip Squire, made their way to Kittery. From the records of the First Baptist church in Boston, we have the following information concerning the organ- ization of the Kittery church.
1 The records of the church in Boston show that on the seventeenth day of the tenth month, 1681, a little more than six months after the baptism of her daughter Bridget, wife of William Screven, Mrs. Mary Cutts, widow of Robert Cutts (who died the last of June, 1674), was baptized in Boston and united with the Baptist church in Boston. On the same day Leonard Drowne of Kittery was baptized. Five additional residents of Kittery, viz., George Litten, Timothy Davis, Wm. Addams, Humphrey Axall and John Morgradge were baptized and received as members of the Baptist church in Boston on the twentieth day of the twelfth month, 1681. In July, 1682, four others, - -- - Landall, Richard Cutts, Sarah Morgandy and Robert Williams of Kittery were baptized and received to member- ship in the Boston church. Richard Cutts was the oldest son of Robert and Mary Cutts, and a brother of Mrs. Screven. Sarah Morgandy-so the name seems to be written- was probably the wife of John Morgradge, as the same spelling, Morgandy, occurs in Backus' list of the constituent members of the church, while in the Boston records his name is plainly recorded as John Morgradge.
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"Upon serious and solemn consideration of the church about a motion or request made by several members that lived at Kittery that they might become a church and that they might proceed therein provided they were such as should be approved for such a foundation work, the church gave their grant and at the time appointed did send several messengers to make that strict inquiry and examination as they ought in such a case; who at their return brought the copy here inserted 26th of 7 month [Sept. 26th] 1682.
"The church of Christ at Boston that is baptized upon profession of faith having taken into serious consideration the request of our brethren at Kittery relating to their being a church by themselves that so they might enjoy the precious ordinances of Christ which by reason of distance of habitation they but seldom could enjoy have therefore thought meet to make choice of us whose names are under written as messengers to assist them in the same, and coming up to them we have found them a competent num- ber and in the same faith with us, for upon careful examination of them in matters of doctrine and practice and so finding are with us by their (we hope) conscientious acknowledgment of the Confession of Faith put forth by the elders and brethren of the churches in London and the county in England dated in the year 1682.
"And they having given themselves up to the Lord and to one another in a solemn covenant to walk as said cove- nant may express, and also having chosen their officers whom they with us have appointed and ordained, we do therefore in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the appointment of this church deliver them to be a church of Christ in the faith and order of the Gospel.
"Signed by us in the name of the church the 25th of 7 mo [Sept. 25] 1682.
ISAAC HULL, THOMAS SKINNER.
PHILIP SQUIRE."
Isaac Hull became pastor of the church probably in
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1682.1 Thomas Skinner was an elder of the church; and Philip Squire was the lay member of the church, who, with Ellis Callender, erected the Baptist meeting-house in Boston. The articles of faith adopted by the Kittery church were the same evidently as were published anony- mously in England in 1677 "by the elders and brethren of many congregations of Christians (baptized upon profes- sion of faith) in London and the Country." They were doubtless isssued from time to time subsequently-an adaptation for Baptist churches of the Westminster Con- fession-and were adopted formally in 1689 as the recog- nized expression of the doctrinal views of the Baptists of England.
"A copy of their said covenant :
"We whose names are here underwritten do solemnly and on good consideration God assisting us by his grace give up ourselves to the Lord and to one another in sol- emn covenant, wherein we do Covenant and promise to walk with God and one with another in a due and faithful observance of all his most holy and blessed com- mandments, ordinances and institutions or appointments revealed to us in his sacred word of the Old and New Tes- tament and according to the grace of God and light at present through his grace given us or hereafter he shall please to discover and make known to us by his Holy Spirit according to the same blessed word all the days of our lives ; and this will we do if the Lord graciously please to assist us by his grace and Spirit and to give us divine wisdom, strength, knowledge and understanding from above to perform the same without which we can do nothing. John 15.4. 2. Corinthians 3.5.
"Signed by Wm. Screven, Elder, Humphrey Church- wood, Deacon, Robert Williams, John Morgradge, Richard Cutts, Timothy Davis, Leonard Drown, Wm. Adams, Hum- phrey Axill, George Litten.
1 The History of the First Church of Boston, by Nathan E. Wood, its minister. Phila- delphia, American Baptist Publication Society, 1899, p. 178.
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"This is a true copy compared with the original and owned by all our brethren and seven sisters as attest WM. SCREVEN in behalf of the rest."
It has been supposed that Mr. Screven and his associates left Kittery not long after the organization of the church. Time, however, would be required for the consideration of a desirable location, as well as for the disposal of prop- erty,1 and for providing means of transportation when the matter of location had been settled. It is certain from the Court Records that Mr. Screven and his "Baptist Com- pany" were at Kittery as late as Oct. 9, 1683, for under that date, in the record of a court held at Wells, occurs this entry:
"Order about Will. Screven. William Screven being brought before the court for not departing this Province according to a former confession of Court, and his own choice, and denying now to fulfill it, this Court doth declare that the sentence of the General Assembly bearing date the 28th of June 1682, stands good and in full force against the said William Screven during the Court's pleasure." 2
This order does not seem to have hastened the departure of Screven and his associates. At the court held at Wells, May 27, 1684, this action was taken :
"An order to be sent for William Screven to appear before the General Assembly in June next."3
1 Robert Screven, son of Rev. William Screven, was a resident of Kittery in 1704, and Nov. 20, 1704, as the attorney of his father, sold the latter's "homestead." The deed locates the homestead on "Crooked Lane near adjacent unto Mr. Robert Cutts' dwelling house," "land containing about half an acre. When Robert Screven sold the homestead, it was occupied by Rev. John Newmarch," minister of said town. It was the tract of land con- veyed to Mr. Screven by Mr. Richard Cutts. Mr. Screven's brother-in-law, Robert Cutts, lived in what is now known as the Whipple house, opposite the marine barracks of the United States Navy Yard at Kittery. Mr. Screven's house accordingly, after his removal from his Spruce Creek place, stood "where now stands the summer cottage of William B. Keen of Malden, Mass. Mrs. Keen, who is a native of Kittery, remembers when the old two-story house was torn down, and says the doorstep of the old house is under the piazza at the west end of the cottage. It is also a tradition in Kittery that this old house contained loopholes for musketry." For a more extended statement see a paper read by the writer before the Maine Historical Society Dec. 8, 1893, and printed in the Collections and Proceedings of the Society, Vol. 5, p. 282.
2 Early Records, Vol. 4, p. 295.
8 Early Records, Vol. 4, p. 173.
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As no further citation for Mr. Screven appears in the Court Records, it is probable that he and his company had made all their preparations for removal, and, before the time of the meeting of the General Assembly arrived, had left their homes on the Piscataqua for a new settlement, where they could enjoy undisturbed freedom to worship God in accordance with their religious convictions. 1
The place selected for the settlement was on the Cooper river, not far from the present site of Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Screven called the name of this settlement Somerton. It is from this fact that an inference has been drawn with reference to Mr. Screven's home in England. Ivimey2 says that in 1655 Rev. Henry Jessey, a Baptist minister of London, was invited to visit his brethren in Bristol. Baptist principles he found had spread into many adjacent parts, and congregations in Wells, Cirencester, Somerton, Chard, Taunton, Honiton, Exeter, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Lyme, Weymouth and Dorchester were also visited. In the following year these churches asserted their agreement in a common declaration of faith, entitled, "A Confession of Faith of several churches in the county of Somerset and in the counties near adjacent." The Confession was signed by twenty-five persons, ministers and laymen in behalf of the whole, and among the signa- tures is that of William Screven of Somerton. It has been thought that this William Screven was the one who
1 A William Screven still remained at Kittery. There are several references to him in the "York Deeds." In Book V., Part I., Folio 75, William Screven is a witness to a docu- ment dated April 18, 1692. At a court held at York Oct. 6, 1691 (Book V., Part II., Folio 12), William Screven, with two others, was appointed to view certain bounds. At a court held at York April 4, 1693 (Part II., Folio 18), William Screven, with Richard Cutts, was fined for non-appearance on jury. In the record of the court held at York July 4, 1693 (Part II., Folio 19), William Screven appears as foreman of the Grand Jury. As William Screven, who went to South Carolina, married Bridget Cutts July 23, 1674, I am inclined to believe that this William Screven was a son of the minister by a former wife.
2 History of the English Baptists, Vol. 2, p. 521.
8 Newman, A History of the Baptist Churches in the United States, p. 218, inclines to this view. "It is probable," he says, "that most or all of those who joined in the Kittery organization had been members of Baptist churches in England. It is highly probable that the pastor of the Kittery church is identical with the William Screven, who, as a representative of the Somerton church, was among the signers of the Confession. It is almost certain that he was a member of the Somerton church."
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organized the church at Kittery and established the colony at Somerton, South Carolina; but the fact that the William Screven who went from Kittery to South Carolina was admitted to the Baptist church in Boston by baptism makes it plain that Screven was not a Baptist church member before coming to this country. It is possible that the William Screven who signed the Confession of 1656 may have been his father, and the fact that he gave the name of Somerton to his settlement on the Cooper river in South Carolina affords at least a plausible ground for such an inference.
It has been supposed that the Baptist church in Kittery was transferred from Maine to South Carolina. If this was not the fact, another church was organized by Mr. Screven and his company after their arrival in South Carolina. The church thus transferred, or reorganized,1 became the first of all the Baptist churches in the South.
Charleston had begun to attract colonists about ten years before Mr. Screven and his company established them- selves at Somerton. Its facilities for commerce did not escape the attention of these colonists from Maine ; and before the year 1693, the larger portion of the members of the church had removed from Somerton to "Charles- Town." It became necessary, therefore, that the meet- ings of the church should be transferred thither also, and in 1699, or 1700, a house of worship was erected on the lot of land on which the First Baptist church in Charleston now stands. Mr. Screven at this time was more than seventy years of age, and he resigned his pastoral office, although he did not wholly withdraw from ministerial service. Indeed, in 1706, he was invited to take the pastoral oversight of the Baptist church in Boston. He was at first inclined to accede to this request, but just at
1 The First Baptist church in Charleston celebrated its two hundredth anniversary Nov. 21-25, 1883. It was supposed that Mr. Screven left Kittery in 1682 or early in 1683, an earlier date than the "Early Records" show. The proceedings at the celebration were published in a volume of 351 pages, entitled "Two Centuries of the First Baptist Church of South Carolina, 1683-1883, with Supplement. Edited by H. A. Tupper, D. D. Baltimore, R. H. Woodward and Company, 1889."
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this time his successor in the pastorate at Charleston died, and receiving a call from the church to return and resume his pastoral labors with them he felt that he could not decline. He accordingly sent to the church in Boston the following letter, dated June 2, 1707 :
"Dearly beloved, this may inform you that I have many thoughts of heart about you, and am much concerned for you ; and hope I may say, my prayers are to God for you. Though I am not with you, nor can I come as I was inclined to do, our help being taken from us: for our minister who came from England is dead, and I can by no means be spared. I must say it is a great loss, and to me a great disappointment, but the will of the Lord is done. I have longed to hear that you were supplied with an able minister, who might break the bread of life among you ; but if the Lord do not please to supply you in the way you expected, your way will be to improve the gifts you have in the church. Brother Callender and Joseph Russell I know have gifts that may tend to edification, if improved. I think you should call one or both of them to it."
The church in Boston acted upon this suggestion, and called Mr. Callender. It is not thought that Mr. Screven removed his family to Charleston ; but his labors in behalf of the church which he had formed, and to which he had given so much of the strength of the best years of his life, were continued, as he was able, until his death, which occurred at Georgetown, October 10, 1713, at the com- pletion of the eighty-fourth year of his age. Pure in life, affectionate in disposition, abundant in every good work, honored and revered by all, he commended the Gospel which he preached, and came to the "grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season." His tomb on Screven St., Georgetown, is still to be seen, and his memory is lovingly cherished, not only by a numerous posterity-he had eleven children-but by the Baptists of South Carolina, and of all the southern States." 1
1 Mrs. Screven's mother, the widow of Robert Cutts, married Capt. Francis Champer- nowne of Kittery, one of the most prominent of the Kittery colonists and a descendant of
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many of the most prominent families in the West of England, his father, Arthur Cham- pernowne, being a first cousin of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh. After the death of her husband in the spring of 1687, Mrs. Champernowne made her way to South Carolina and joined the Screvens in their new home. The descendants of Rev. William Screven are very numerous in South Carolina and Georgia. Gen. James Screven, born in 1738, a great grandson, was one of a committee of thirty appointed July 27, 1774, at a meeting of the inhabitants of Georgia, at the Exchange in Savannah, who drew up resolutions not to import or use British manufactures till the rights of the colonists should be restored. This committee reported the resolutions at a meeting held August 10, 1774. The resolutions are given in Force's American Archives, fourth series, volume 1, pages 638 and 700. James Screven was a member of the Provincial Congress which met July 4, 1775, and as brigadier general in the Georgia militia, having served from 1775, he was killed at Medway church Nov. 24, 1778. Benjamin Screven was a captain of South Carolina dragoons in 1779. Rev. Charles O. Screven, a son of Gen. James Screven, was graduated at Brown University in 1795, received the degree of doctor of divinity in 1826 and died in 1830. He had a classmate at Brown University, Thomas Screven, and both were classmates of Ezekiel Whitman, LL. D., of this State, who was a member of the seventeenth Congress from Maine, also Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine, and died in 1866.
CHAPTER III.
THE REAPPEARANCE OF BAPTIST VIEWS.
For four-score years after the removal of William Screven and his associates from Kittery, the Province of Maine was frequently disturbed by hostilities occasioned by the encroachments of the French or the uprising of the Indians. These hostilities greatly retarded the growth of the settlements, and when peace at length came with the close of the French war, in 1763, the population of the province did not exceed 24,000. During this time no attempt was made to organize another Baptist church within the limits of the province. Baptists were regarded as fanatics, and their doctrines as destructive to the wel- fare of both society and religion. "We can hardly imag- ine now, perhaps better not try to imagine, to what obloquy, and hatred, and persecutions, men and women subjected themselves by avowing their belief in Baptist doctrines, or even showing any sympathy with those who were suspected of holding Baptist sentiments. Living within parish lines all were taxed for the support of the parish ministers, whether they attended upon their min- istrations or not. Protestations against the injustice of this were of no avail, and petitions to the legislature, or 'general court,' for religious liberty were laid aside with contempt, or referred to committees in form, only to draw forth an unfavorable report, with a recommenda- tion appended that the prayer of the petitioners be not granted. The controversy was long and severe, and yet with no lack of faith on the part of the non-conformists in the justice of their cause, or that finally the issue would be favorable to them."1
1 Rev. W. H. Shailer, D. D., in Centennial Discourse before the Maine Baptist Mission- ary Convention at Hallowell, June 20, 1876.
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But there were influences at work which resulted in the formation of two Baptist churches in the Province of Maine shortly before the Revolutionary War. May 9, 1765, a Baptist church was organized in Haverhill, Mass. The pastor of this church, Rev. Hezekiah Smith,1 possessed in an eminent degree the evangelistic spirit. His commis- sion read, "Go ye," and as opportunity offered he made his way into the "regions beyond," declaring to crowds of eager hearers the glad tidings of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. In these evangelistic tours he visited many towns in southern New Hampshire, and at length we find him in the Province of Maine. In his diary on Tuesday, June 23, 1767, having preached twice on the preceding day, once in Brentwood and once in Newmarket, he entered this record : "In the forenoon at the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson's at Lee, from Hos. 4. 17, and in the afternoon at Mr. Hyde's in Madbury, from John 9.7. In the even- ing at Dr. Lord's at Berwick from Col. 1. 9."2 No report has been preserved of that first sermon by Hezekiah Smith within the present limits of the State of Maine, but from the text, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wis- dom and spiritual understanding," we can readily infer
1 Mr. Smith was born in Hampstead, Long Island, April 21, 1737. Baptized at nineteen years of age by Dr. Gano, he was educated at Princeton College, graduating in 1762 in the same class with James Manning, the first president of Brown University. After his graduation he made a journey through the southern colonies, and was ordained as an evangelist by the Baptist church in Charleston founded by William Screven. Returning to the north he visited Haverhill, July 27, 1764, and here in the following year a church was organized of which he became pastor. Dr. Baldwin said of him: "As a preacher Dr. Smith was equalled by few. His subjects were well chosen, and always evangelical. His voice was strong and commanding and his manner solemn and impressive. He was often led to pour the balm of consolation into the wounded conscience, but the general tenor of his preaching was calculated to arouse the careless and secure. In stature Dr. Smith was above the middling size, being about six feet in height, and well proportioned. His countenance, though open and pleasant, was peculiarly solemn and majestic. In his deportment he was mild, dignified and grave, equally distant from priestly hauteur and superstitious reserve. He never thought religion incompatible with real politeness ; hence the gentleman, the scholar and the Christian were happily blended in his character." Dr. Smith died in Haverhill Jan. 24, 1805, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and in the forty-second of his ministry.
2 Chaplain Smith and the Baptists. By R. A. Guild, pp. 117, 118.
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what the leading thoughts of that first sermon at Berwick by Mr. Smith must have been.
Mr. Smith's diary continues. "Wed. Preached at Deacon Kimball's in Kennebunk. - Thurs. 25. Preached at Freetown, from John 3.3. - Fri. 26. At Gorham-town, from Isa. 55. 1 .- Sat. 27. Visited some in Gorham. - Sab. 28. Preached in Gorham meeting house a sermon from John 5. 25, and baptized William Cotton, Mrs. Morton and Lydia Dunn. - Mon. 29. Went to Falmouth and gave an exhortation at Mr. Burnham's.1-Tues. 30. Preached a sermon at Gorham from Gal. 3.29, and baptized John Cotton and Bryant Morton,2 after Mr. Clark3 had preached from Gen. 17. 7, and sprinkled twenty-odd children. - Wed. July 1. Preached at Capt. Lane's from 1. Cor. 9.24, in the forenoon, and then baptized Edward Chapman, John Lane and Aaron Gould in Saco River by the Block House.4 After baptizing, I preached at the Block House from Isa. 3.10.11. Lodged that night at Peter Ayres. - Thurs. 2. Went to Massibeswick,5 to Simeon Coffin's where the next day I preached from 'Ye have robbed me.'-Sat. 4.
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