USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Barrington > A history of Barrington, Rhode Island > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
The original covenant is a remarkable paper, toned with deep piety, and a broad and comprehensive spirit of Christian fellowship:
--
--
---- -
17
126
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
"HOLY COVENANT."
" Swansea in New England. - A true Copy of the Holy Covenant the first founders of Swansea Entered into at the first beginning, and all the members thereof for Divers years. " Whereas, we Poor Creatures are through the exceeding Riches of God's Infinite Grace Mercyfully snatched out of the Kingdom of darkness, and by his infinite power trans- lated into the Kingdom of his dear Son, there to be par- takers with all the Saints of all those Privileges which Christ by the Shedding of his Pretious Blood hath purchased for us, and that we do find our Souls in Some good Measure wrought on by Divine Grace to desire to be Conformable to Christ in all things, being also constrained by the matchless love and wonderfull Distinguishing Mercies that we Abundantly Injoy from his most free grace to Serve him according to our ut- most capacitys, and that we also know that it is our most bounden Duty to walk in Visible Communion with Christ and each other according to the Prescript Rule of his most holy word, and also that it is our undoubted Right through Christ to Injoy all the Privileges of Gods House which our souls for a long time panted after. And finding no other way at Present by the all-working Providence of our only wise God and gracious Father to us opened for the injoy- ment of the same. We do therefore after often and Solemn Seeking to the Lord for Help and direction in the fear of his holy Name, and with hands lifted up to him the most High God, Humbly and freely offer up ourselves this day a Living Sacrifice unto him who is our God in Covenant through Christ our Lord and only Saviour to walk together according to his revealed word in the Visible Gospel Relation both to Christ our only head, and to each other as fellow-members and Brethren and of the Same Household of faith. And we do Humbly praye that through his Strength we will henceforth Endeavor to Perform all our Respective Duties towards God and each other and to practice all the ordinances of Christ according to what is or shall be revealed to us in our Re-
------------
.
water boling: 1
1
1
127
THE ANCIENT COVENANT.
spective Places to exercise Practice and Submit to the Gov- ernment of Christ in this his Church, viz. further Protesting against all Rending and Dividing Principles or Practices from any of the People of God as being most abominable and loathsome to our souls and utterly inconsistent with that Christian Charity which declares men to be Christ's Disciples. Indeed further declaring in that as Union in Christ is the sole ground of our Communion, each with other, so we are ready to accept of, Receive to and hold Communion with all such as by judgment of Charity we conceive to be fellow- members with us in our head Christ Jesus tho differing from us in Such Controversial points as are not absolutely and es- sentially necessary to salvation. We also hope that though of ourselves we are altogether unworthy and unfit thus to offer up ourselves to God or to do him a, or to expect any, favor with or mercy from him. He will graciously accept of this our free-will offering, in and through the mediation of our Dear Redeemer. And that he will imploy and emprove us his service to his praise, to whom be all Glory, and Honor, now and forever, Amen."
The names of the persons that first joyned themselves in the Covenant aforesaid as a Church of Christ :
John Myles, Elder, James Brown,
Nicholas Tanner, Joseph Carpenter,
John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley.
Benjamin Alby,
The Catholic spirit of Mr. Myles, as expressed in this covenant and in his godly life, soon drew to the new settle- ment many families who held to Baptist opinions, as well as some of other church relations, friendly to their interests. The opposition which their liberal principles had awakened had brought the little company into public notice through- out the two colonies, and their character had won for them the respect and confidence of all their neighbors and author- ities. The Rehoboth Church also soon came to regard Mr. Myles and his followers with more kindly feelings, for, in
-----
---
128
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
1666, after the death of Mr. Newman, (in 1663), it was voted by the town that Mr. Myles be invited " to preach, viz .: once in a fortnight in the week day, and once on the Sabbath Day," in the orthodox church of the town. And in August of the same year the town voted "that Mr. Myles shall continue to lecture on the week day, and further on the Sabbath, if he be thereunto legally called."
This interchange of pulpit relations indicates a cordial sen- timent between the two churches, which is in striking con- trast to the hostility manifested to the new church but three years before, when the members were warned out of the town, and suggests that animosity had been conquered by good will, and that sober judgment had taken the place of passionate bigotry.
The history of Mr. Myles has already been sketched, from his home in Swansea, Wales, where he occupied a prominent place among the Baptist clergy of that country, to his new home in Swansea, New England, where he became a leader in the establishment, not only of Baptist principles in Plym- outh and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, but also in the grander and broader notion of religious toleration. In these times, when a liberal Christian sentiment pervades our com- munities quite generally, it is difficult for us to appreciate the struggles and contests which the last two centuries have witnessed to secure it. The men who could plant churches in the wilderness under so severe personal persecutions, with a firm reliance on the divine arm for support, possessed the courage and sublime faith which make heroes. Certainly the various trials which Mr. Myles and his associates endured show that they acted upon the instructions given to Joshua of old, " Be strong and of good courage."
The covenant of the church, already given, indicates that Mr. Myles was a strong advocate of open communion, although while in Wales he was equally strenuous in advo- cating close or restricted communion. He also declared " that the ministry might take the liberty to Baptize infants or grown persons as the Lord shall persuade their con-
..
rx- roms thể
-
JAMES BOWEN.
おもとし
الىته ٠ ٨٩۔
-٧ -٠١٠٦
. فيميك ٥٠ أو ٦/ ٢٨٦- ٠١٠٠١
١٠ ليه - ية وليرا
٣
129
MR. MYLES'S PASTORATE.
sciences, and so also the inhabitants to take their liberty to bring their children to baptize or forbear." True to his new convictions and desirous of uniting the elements around him in a harmonious and flourishing civil as well as religious community, he made his church the abode of all who sought a pure worship, untrammeled by sectarian tenets. On such a basis Mr. John Brown and Capt. Thomas Willett could build a hearty fellowship, and engage with earnest zeal with Messrs. Butterworth, Tanner, Alby, and Kingsley in the work of settlement of this church and civil plantation.
Mr. Myles's first residence in Swansea was near Barneys- ville. The bridge across the Sowams, or Palmer's River, was called Myles's Bridge. Myles Garrison, used for defence in Philip's War, was in the same neighborhood. In those early days of Massachusetts's history, even to times within an hundred years, the selection of the minister, the payment of his salary, and the question of his removal, were a part of the business of the towns at their annual meetings. While the larger number of the first families of Swansea were Bap- tists, several, as we have noted, were of the Congregational order. All, however, united most harmoniously in the elec- tion of Mr. Myles as their pastor for several years. His sal- ary was small, and, like Goldsmith's minister, he
" Was passing rich with forty pounds a year."
His compensation was increased by the use of certain lands, denominated " pastors and teachers lots," set apart in the first division of the town for the support and benefit of the ministry. His congregation was scattered over a wide extent of territory, and although the majority of settlers had established themselves on New Meadow Neck, in the vicin- ity of the meeting-house and their pastor's residence, we find Mr. Willett's and Mr. Brown's families traveling from Wan- namoisett, a distance of five or six miles, and Hugh Cole and his neighbors from Kickemuit, a distance of three miles, and other families still, a distance of four or five miles from 9
O steand Lod
£
130
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
Mattapoisett or Gardner's Neck, to attend Mr. Myles's preaching on the Lord's day.
His interest in matters of education was second only to his desire to spread the Gospel. In 1673, the town voted to establish a school "for the teaching of grammar, rhetoric, and arithmetic and the tongues of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, also to read English and to write." Of this school Mr. Myles was invited to be schoolmaster, at a salary of "forty pounds per annum in current country funds." He accepted and performed the duties of minister and schoolmaster until the settlement was broken up by the Indian war. This school was kept in the several neighborhoods of the town in different portions of the year, so that the reverend school- master not only enjoyed the privilege of boarding among his school parishioners, but also of carrying the means of a literary education from one community to another over the town. Then, as now, the clergy did not grow rich from the people. Some of the inhabitants saw no necessity of a schoolmaster and others argued against paying his salary as a minister, and between both difficulties Mr. Myles secured but a lean support.
When Philip's War opened in 1675, Mr. Myles's house was fortified and was known as the Myles's Garrison. Here the troops collected at the first outbreak, and Mr. Myles was among the foremost in the defence of the infant settlement, holding the position of captain. At the close of the war, the pastor found the membership of his church and society so scattered that he was obliged to seek a support elsewhere. Boston, Providence, and Newport had become the only places of safety and sympathy for Baptist believers, and he preached in Boston for a considerable time after leaving his home in Swansea. Mr. Sprague, who in those times joined the Baptist Church in Providence, in writing to Massachu- setts many years after says, " Why do you strive to per- suade the rising generation that you never persecuted nor hurt the Baptists, which is so apparently false ? Did you not barbarously scourge Mr. Baker of Cambridge, the chief
-------
-----------
D
131
A NEW MEETING-HOUSE.
mate of a London ship ? Where also you imprisoned Mr. Thomas Gould, John Russell, and Benjamin Sweetser, and many others and fined them 550 a man. And did you not nail up the Baptist meeting-house doors, and fine Mr. John Myles, Mr. James Brown and Mr. Nicholas Tanner ?"
At a town meeting of the town of Swansea, May 27, 1678, John Allen and John Brown were chosen to draw up a letter in the behalf of the church and minister of the town, mani- festing their desire of his return to them; and Thomas Eastabrooks was chosen to carry the town's letter to Mr. Myles, at Boston. On his return he found the settlement nearly broken up near his old residence, and a large increase of inhabitants on the south end of the town, near Tyler's Point. The town voted "for the encouragement of Mr. Myles in the work of the ministry among us" to increase his salary to sixty pounds yearly, thirty in provisions and thirty in money. The town also built a house for their min- ister on the lower end of New Meadow Neck, near the ferry. It was voted by the town in 1679, "that Mr. John Myles shall have the house built him to indemnify him for debts due him in the time of the Indian War, in full of his demands against them and accepted by him," Mr. Myles receipted as follows : "Received of ye town of Swansea the full of all debts due to me from ye sd town from ye begin- ning of ye world till ye eighteenth of June, 1679. I say received this 25th of February, 1679, by me."
JOHN MYLES.
At a town meeting held Sept. 30, 1679, "It is voted and ordered that a meeting-house of 40 foot in length and twenty-two foot in breadth, and sixteen foot between joynts be forthwith built and a committee be chosen for ye letting out of ye sd work and finishing ye same." John Allen, Hugh Cole, and William Ingraham were chosen the com- mittee and the new house was erected near the ferry, near Mr. Myles's new house, at the lower end of New Meadow Neck.
------------
---- .
-
0
=
UT
132
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
Mr. Myles continued his labors among this people for three years or a little more after his return, and died Feb. 3d, 1682-3, between sixty and seventy years of age and in the thirty-eighth year of his ministry. The record of his death is, "Mr. John Myles, pastour of the church of Swan- sea, deceased February the third, 1682, William Ingra- ham, Town Clerk of Swansea." He was a man of good tal- ents and education, with unusual energy of character. He was liberal in his religious opinions, but not loose; he was an apostle and not a proselyte. His sacrifices for con- science's sake testify to his firm adherence to truth, and his interest in civil society is evinced by the labors which he undertook for its prosperousadvancement. His burial place is supposed to be with many of his people, near his home and place of preaching, at Tyler's Point, Barrington. Silence alone marks the resting place of this pioneer and founder of Swansea and of a larger religious freedom, through the first Baptist Church within the bounds of the present common- wealth of Massachusetts.
Cotton Mather mentions Rev. John Myles as "among those who deserve to live in our Book for their piety, as having a respectful character in these churches of this wilderness."
Hutchinson says, "I have seen a letter dated not many years after this time (1665), from Mr. Myles, a Baptist min- ister of Swansea, to one of the Congregational ministers of Boston, which breathes the true spirit of the Gospel, and urges Christian concord, charity and love, although they did not agree at every point."
The name of his wife was Ann Humphrey ; John, Susannah and Samuel, were their children. John, Jr., probably lived and died in Swansea. He was town clerk for many years. Samuel was at college at Cambridge in 1682, graduated in 1684 ; taught school in Charlestown 1684-5; went to England, received A. M. at Oxford ; took Episcopal orders, settled as minister of King's Chapel, Boston, in 1689; and died in 1728.
Of their descent, Daniel and three brothers served in the patriot army in the Revolution, and Daniel, with his great
-------
-. .
Wachit all
حارة محمد
2
133
ELDER SAMUEL LUTHER.
faith in the cause, converted all his property into Conti- nental money, losing all by its repudiation. Maj .- Gen. Nel- son A. Miles, of the United States Army, is a lineal descendant of Rev. John Myles of Swansea.
Elder Samuel Luther, the ancestor of the Luthers of this section, was Mr. Myles's successor in 1685, and of two events only during his ministry have I space now to write. The liberal policy of Plymouth Colony had allowed the Bap- tist Church on New Meadow Neck an existence, and the rights of conscience had been maintained strictly to the · terms of the act of incorporation. The majority of the people were Baptists, but the Congregationalists coincided with in the essential doctrines of liberty of the Rhode Island Colony.
When Sir William Phipps brought the charter which united Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, in 1692, a new order of things was instituted which interfered with the ideas of our people in religious concernments. A warrant from the Court of Quarter Sessions was read, requiring the town to choose a minister according to law. After some debate the meeting was adjourned for half an hour. "Ye church by Lieutenant Cole returned and replied thus that they had a minister that they apprehended was according to law, viz .: the Elder Samuel Luther, and desired the vote of the town to see their assent and approbation." Debate fol- lowed and then an adjournment for another half hour and then a considerable debate and then another adjournment for two months for time to consider, to debate, and to settle this vexed matter. Puritan Massachusetts expected each town to support by public tax the established order of Con- gregational churches. Baptist Swansea decided not to do so. The people have supported their ministry for forty years by free contributions, and they propose to continue on the same plan.
The tithing-man had been an unknown officer among us. At the October meeting the town again voted on the same matter, and elected Elder Samuel Luther minister, and four
--------------------------------
--... .
134
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
tithing-men were elected. They were careful to select good Baptist brethren as tithers, and while the letter of the law was fulfilled, as in the case of the choice of a minister, its spirit was evaded. The number of tithing-men varied from one to four ; the same men were never re-chosen and the voluntary system was maintained by the independent townsmen.
About the year 1700, the increase of population in the direction of Myles's Bridge and over Palmer's River required the removal of the house of worship from Tyler's Point to a spot near Mason's Corners in North Swansea, in order to accommodate the majority of the congregation. During Elder Luther's ministry he had seen fit to add certain sup- plementary notes to the original covenant, with reference to Baptism and Communion, which were not relished by the Congregational element, and whether intended or not, served to establish the dividing line of denominationalism between the hitherto united parties. The removal of the church edi- fice from New Meadow Neck seems to have been another element of separation, and the question of the establishment of a church of the Congregational order was earnestly dis- cussed. The dwellers on Peebee's Neck added to those on New Meadow Neck who favor the new organization, saw no way to secure this object but the establishment of a new town, wherein the tithes of the people, as in other towns, shall support the ministry of the ruling order.
This was a stormy period both for church and state. The sons of men, who fought at Naseby and Marston Moor, were not put to flight by bulls, civil or ecclesiastical, on this side of the water. The contest was necessary and its trials essential to the evolution of a purer faith. Had either party shown less of the persecuting or the martyr spirit -we should not to-day enjoy so great a heritage of liberty under the royal law. "'Twas sharp medicine," as Raleigh said of the axe that beheaded him, but it was heroic in its purifica- tion of the body politic of the ecclesiastical disease of intol- erance. When John Myles landed at Weymouth in 1663, Boston was the hot-bed of intolerant persecution. The
6
T
135
FROM PERSECUTION TO TOLERATION.
thirty years following witnessed scenes as tragic and as heroic as have been embalmed in history. Men's bodies and souls were tried and not found wanting in physical and moral courage or in a sublime faith.
John Myles at Swansea and his son Samuel at Boston stood for the larger and broader faith of our own day, and though they died without the sight, yet they lived long enough to see the whole spirit of the ancient time breaking in the presence of " sweeter manners, purer laws " of tolera- tion. One step was taken in their day from persecution to . toleration. Later, toleration gave way to liberty whose dawn is now the hope of mankind.
We have good reason to hold John Myles in memory as the founder of the first free Baptist Church in The Common- wealth of Massachusetts ; as the co-founder with Captain Thomas Willett of a town after the Baptist order, the first and the only one in the Commonwealth of the early found- ing and of the declaration on Massachusetts soil and the practical application of the principles of a true Christian Society, " In essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity."
---------
---
--------
M
-----
-------
CHAPTER X
THE INCORPORATION OF SWANSEA
Population - Plymouth Democracy - Separation of Town and Church -Principles of Town and State Government - Willett, Brown, and Myles, the Founders-Grant of New Swansea, 1667 - Plymouth Court - Orders relative to the New Town -Captain Willett's Pro- posals - Reply of Mr. Myles and his Church - Proposals Ratified by Town - Inhabitants Subscribe to Agreement - An Act to Prevent Unworthy Citizenship.
P RIOR to 1667, the attractions of climate, soil, meadows-
fresh and salt, and the shell and fin fisheries of the bay and rivers, had led many people from the eastern towns of Ply- mouth Colony to make their homes at Sowams, " The garden of the Patent," as Standish and Winslow called it. The eminent respectability of the proprietors undoubtedly had much to do in influencing the best class of New England emigrants to settle on this territory bordering on Narragan- sett Bay, and the Sowams River. So many settlers had come, to the number of two hundred, probably, the formation of a town was talked of, for this was the first step towards the goal of their purpose, a free government.
·The organization of towns and the establishment of town governments after the democratic order, belong by right of origin to New England. The town was the germ of the the state. From Plymouth and Providence sprang the com- monwealths of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Provi- dence Plantations. The original settlers formed a pure democracy with inherent rights for determining the policy of the settlement, the character of its inhabitants, the offi- cers who should govern them, and the spirit and form of the laws which should control them. As the population of the first settlement increased, the nature of the government
X JETINIEY
1
WILLIAM H. SMITH.
------------
-------
٠
137
GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE.
remained the same, while it was changed from a pure to a representative democracy, where a few, by the consent and choice of the many, administered all the duties and offices which related to the interests of the whole community. This was the leading characteristic of the New England policy. In this sense, towns were never known or estab- lished before, and the success of the state and the nation is primarily due to this system here introduced. As was noticed in the church history, Captain Willett and Mr. Myles were the founders and leading men in establishing the Baptist Church in New Swansea. The history of the church of which Rev. Mr. Myles was pastor, is therefore inseparably associated with the civil history of the town, and the two elements are united in the legislation of the inhabitants.
A single act of legislation of the Court of Associates at Plymouth, in 1635, is most significant in its declaration of the will of the people as the governing principle in civil af- fairs. On the 15th of November the following order or resolution was passed :
" We, the associates of New Plymouth, coming hither as free born subjects of the State of England, and endowed with all and singular the privileges belonging to such, being as- sembled, do ordain that no act, imposition, law or ordinance be made or imposed upon us at the present or to come, but such as shall be made and imposed by consent of the body of associates, or their representatives legally assembled, which is according to the liberties of the State of England."
No clearer or more emphatic declaration could be made of the right of the people in their primary capacity as citizens of the towns, to make their own laws and regulate their own affairs. The only allegiance required is to the decision of the people whose major sentiment is the authority and con- tent, to be held in honor and obedience. The town meeting of 1898 in Barrington can be governed by no freer spirit than that which dictated the resolve of 1635, at Plymouth, two hundred and sixty years earlier. The qualifications of a freeman in the towns were, twenty-one years of age, sober
.
-
1
138
THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
and peaceable conversation, orthodox in the fundamentals of religion, and a rateable estate of twenty pounds. These were pre-requisites to the freeman's oath.
All of the towns already granted by Plymouth Court, ten or twelve in number, were of the Plymouth type, democratic in civil affairs, orthodox Congregational in church polity. Not a town in all the New England Colonies, save in the heretical little Commonwealth of Rhode Island, had been es- tablished on any other than a sound Puritan theology, and a Cromwellian democracy. Swansea, however, has a Baptist Church already formed, and the people do not want a state church, of the ruling order. John Brown has already shown his dissent by contributing of his own funds to support the Rehoboth Church, and has entered his strong but unavailing protest against taxing the people to pay for meeting-houses and ministers' salaries. Willett and Myles agree with Brown, and all unite in a petition for a township, with no trammels as to religious concerns. What Roger Williams had done at Providence, under penalty of excommunication, these patriot founders of Swansea attempted to accomplish, with slight modification, within the loyal domain of Plymouth. They ask for a town grant, solely and simply. And in proper sea- son, and according to due process of Plymouth Court law, they obtain a township, founded on independency as to church relations, and on the absolute freedom of the inhabi- tant to be or not to be a church member, and to contribute or not to church support.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.