USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Barrington > A history of Barrington, Rhode Island > Part 17
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August 3d, Lieut. James Adams, Zachariah Bicknell and Samuel Allen were chosen a Committee "to provide the town with a minister till next March meeting." The town also voted to concur with the Church in choosing Mr. John Wadsworth to be their minister at an annual salary of £100, and a settlement of £200 to be paid in two years. Mr. Wadsworth declined the call. Mr. John Sumner was the next candidate for the ministerial office, and the town offered him an annual salary of £100, and a settlement of £200, to be paid in two years. The Committee consisting of Lieut. Peck, John Chaffee, and Joseph Allen reported to Mr. Sumner the town's proposals, and received a negative answer to their invitation. Neither the Church nor the town was discouraged but continued their efforts with un-
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
abated zeal, and the fifth time with success. The salary of £1Io and a settlement of £200 were offered to Mr. Peleg Heath, of Roxbury, Mass., to become the minister of the Church and town. Lieut. Adams, Lieut. Peck, Mr. Viall, Mr. Tiffany and Mr. Bicknell, all of whom have had large experi- ence in making ministerial proposals, were the Committeeto report to Mr. Heath and to the town. August 15th, the salary vote of the town was increased £10, making it £120, to be paid quarterly, and the settlement £200 to be paid in two years, £100 a year. Mr. Heath's reply was as follows :
MR. HEATH'S ANSWER TO THE TOWN.
" Whereas, you the people of God in this place have given an invitation to labor in the Gospel among you ; having taken it into deliberate consideration, as it is a call of God, I do therefore in His strength engage therein and desire your prayers that I may be directed, assisted, succeeded and accepted.
Barrington, September 9, 1728.
PELEG HEATH."
Mr. Heath belonged to a Massachusetts family of excellent rank and character, one of whom, Maj .- Gen. William Heath' of Roxbury, distinguished himself in the Revolutionary War. He was educated in the schools of Roxbury, graduated from Harvard College, with the degree of A. M., in the class of 1721, and came to Barrington, with the enthusiasm of a novi- tiate for his first pastorate, at the age of twenty-six. The young pastor was intellectually well equipped for his work. His Christian character and theology partook of the severe type of his time. He readily won the confidence of his people by his marked ability, sincere Christian earnestness, and zeal for the spiritual welfare of his people. Possessing a will of unusual vigor, and a purpose clear and strong, it was not possible for the pastor not to come into positions of disagree- ment with the Church and the town authorities, both of which held control of the situation.
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PELEG HEATH'S MINISTRY.
The twelve years of Mr. Heath's ministry, from 1728 to 1740, found him now and then in open conflict with a part of the Church and the town, and his abilities were often more than a match for their combined wisdom. It is fair to the pastor as well as the people to say that much of the disturb- ance during Mr. Heath's ministry was due to the low state of piety in the Church, and to the low state of morals in the community. The New England Churches had adopted the "Half Way Covenant," by which, unregenerate persons, who had received baptism in infancy or as adults, could be re- ceived into membership and enjoy all the privileges of the Church, except that of partaking of the Lord's Supper. A professed moral life was all that was required to maintain a standing in the Church, even though the person might be a transgressor of half the commandments. Church discipline was lax, and the standard of the religious life was very low and formal. The two preaching services on Sunday, and the monthly preparatory lecture before Communion were the only public meetings of the Church. With no religious papers and few books, no Sunday Schools nor prayer meetings, it can be seen how easy it was for the people to fall into care- less habits of living, and how hard it was for the clergy to live very far above the level of their congregations, inasmuch as the towns-people, church members and others, determined the standard and the stay of the ministry to a great extent. The discussions of the pulpit were largely on doctrinal rather than ethical topics, and the sermons were little adapted to check the wayward, or elevate the spiritually minded. Puri- tanism had lost much of its vital power, and worldliness had taken possession of the hearts and lives of men. Drinking habits were universal, and the clergy usually went to their pulpits from their side-boards, and returned at the close of the service to the same solace. Custom approved and con- science did not condemn many sinful and vulgar habits which the Christian world now avoids and denounces. Let us re- member and judge with charity, while we review the times so far from and so unlike our own.
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
Rev. Mr. Heath was both pastor and clerk of the Church, and the only records of the Church until the year 1800 are in Mr. Heath's hand-writing, and are contained within the compass of fifteen pages of a sheep-bound record book, which has been handed down through his son Nathaniel, his grand- son Wilmarth, and is now in the possession of his grand- daughter, Mrs. William Carter, of Barrington.
The heading of the first page reads as follows :
The Records of the Church of Christ in Barrington, kept by me Peleg Heath, Pastor, beginning November 13, 1728.
Feby 21, 1728-9. "At a church meeting for the choice of a Deacon, Lt. Nathaniel Peck was chosen by a unanimous vote :" "At said meeting voted also with respect to mem- bers-that all persons that cohabit and dwell with us here in the town, being members in full communion in other Churches, shall be obliged to produce their letters of recom- mendation or dismission from those chhs before we admit them to partake with us in our Sacred Communion ; first allowing them time convenient to produce them."
March 6, 1728.9. Lieut. Adams "employed and empow- ered to arrest and levy " to obtain a bequest made to the church by Mr. John Allen of Bristol alias Swansea, deceased. On Feby 9, 1723, Mr. Adams was instructed to deliver to Mr. Heath the sum of twenty pounds, obtained by judgment of the Court, the proceeds of the legacy of Mr. John Allen. It is further recorded that Mr. Hugh Cole of Swansea, the executor of Mr. Allen's estate, neglected or refused to pay the bequest to the church, and that Mr. Adams received of the church the sum of twenty-one pounds one shilling and eleven pence for his charges and services as agent of the church in obtaining the Allen legacy of twenty pounds. It was voted, " that the Church is satisfied, having received of Mr. Adams the sum of five pounds, being the full of all debts due from said Adams to the Church." The following named persons gave ten shillings each addi- tional to pay the costs of the Court for obtaining the legacy: Deacon Samuel Humphrey, Deacon Nathaniel Peck, Tim-
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MR. HEATH'S MINISTRY.
othy Wadsworth, James Adams, Ebenezer Allen, John Read, Nathaniel Peck, Edward Bosworth, Josiah Humphrey, Jonathan Viall, and Rachael, the wife of Samuel Allen.
March 28, 1730. Deacon Humphrey, Deacon Peck, Lieut. Adams, Eb. Allen, and Nathaniel Peck were chosen a com- mittee "to treat with the church or a Committee of the Church of Swansea belonging to Elder Ephraim Wheaton concerning proper methods for the recovering and dividing the ministerial lands, 'or pastors and teachers lots,' lying in Swansea pursuant to an agreement of the two churches, the Barrington Church to bear two-fifths of the expense." The same matter was brought before the church, March 16, 1736, and the committee was instructed to bring suit for the min- isterial lands in Swansea, "to a full issue in the law," unit- ing with the committee and church of Swansea, then under the pastoral care of Elder Maxwell, successor of Elder Wheaton.
We have no evidence at hand as to the final settlement of the case, but as the two churches, the Baptist of Swansea and the Congregational of Barrington, were united in press- ing the suit to an issue, there can be no doubt that satisfac- tory results were obtained, inasmuch as Mr. Heath's vigor- ous management usually accomplished his purpose.
In matters of discipline, Mr. Heath aimed to exercise the largest Christian charity, consistent with a just administra- tion of church affairs. The following action of the church, taken on the 17th of March, 1733, indicates the spirit of his administration. "At a Church meeting, all the members except one being present, a question was put, viz. : whether that all persons under the watch and care of the church, any of them falling and being guilty of scandalous sins and offenses to the dishonor of God and his holy religion and the members of Christ's Church : - all such offenders making their peace and manifesting their repentance to and with the brethren and sisters of the Church and not before the con- gregation - be sufficient ; information of their giving satis- faction afterward being declared in publick to the whole
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congregation. Each particular member singly declaring his mind, it then being put to vote and voted in the affirm- ative by every member." On the following day the offend- ing member appeared before the church, made confession, and was by unanimous vote " declared to be a restored per- .son."
The greatest disturbance that took place during Mr. Heath's ministry, which resulted in dividing the Church and the town into opposing parties, the effects of which are manifest even in our own times, came out of the re- moval of the meeting-house from its location in the south- east part of the town to its present beautiful site on Bar- rington River. Mr. Heath lived in the north part of the town, in the house now occupied by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. William Carter. Since the building of the first meeting- house, a large number of families had settled north of Princes Hill, and when the matter of building a new house of worship was discussed, the people in the north part of the town urged its removal to that section in order to accommodate a majority of the people. The Bosworths, Adams's, Wat- sons, Smiths, Lows, Martins, Tiffanys, and Reads struggled to keep the house in the old locality, while the Humphreys, the Allens, the Browns, the Chaffees, the Bicknells, the Richmonds, the Pecks, and the Vialls favored the present site. Mr. Heath's sympathies, and, so far as was politic, his influence favored the new site, but at the outset, he did not take an active part in the discussion. Strong feeling was aroused on both sides of the question and the town was divided into two hostile camps, up-neck and down-neck, with New Meadow Neck divided in the warm debate. Joshua Bicknell offered to the town the lot of land on which the meeting-house stands. This' gift helped to decide the matter and in 1737, the meeting-house was pulled down and removed to the new location. Mr. Heath was attending Court at Bristol while the house was being removed, and on his return to Barrington, was taunted by his opponents for allowing the house to be taken down and set up in his ab-
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REMOVAL OF MEETING-HOUSE.
sence. He very shrewdly replied, that while Moses was in the Mount with the Lord, the Children of Israel, under Aaron, made and worshipped a Golden Calf, for which the great leader was not responsible, and so, while he was in Bristol on the Lord's business, the Barrington people had done this unwonted act without his knowledge. While the new meeting-house was building, the town voted February 6, 1738, that "the Reverend Mr. Peleg Heath shall preach at the house of Mr. Edward Bosworth, dwelling house, until the town shall build a meeting-house," and the town chose James Adams, Edward Bosworth and James Smith a Com- mittee to report to Mr. Heath " where he shall preach until the town hath built a meeting-house." The house of Mr. Edward Bosworth stood on the Barrington River, South of the Ferry crossing to Tyler's Point, near the residence of the late Hon. Allen Mathewson, and about one-quarter of a mile East of the first Congregational meeting-house. The following protest was entered :
February 6, 1738.
"We whose names are hereunto subscribed being free- holders and inhabitants in Barrington and qualified by law to vote on all town affairs do dissent from the proceedings of this meeting in every respect relating to the moving the min- ister to any other place to preach at otherwhere than at the meeting-house, and such a meeting and practice being illegal whatsoever cost or charge may arrise herefrom, we protest and declare against paying any part hereof.
Samuel Allen,
Constant Viall,
Benjamin Viall, David Peck,
Josiah Humphrey,
Joseph Viall,
Nathaniel Peck, David Allen,
Joseph Allen, Jr., Daniel Peck,
Peleg Richmond, Solomon Peck,
Nathaniel Peck, Jr."
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
On the 2nd of March, 173S, the town voted to pay to Mr. Heath the first half year's salary, "but not to give order for the last half year's salary, except he comply with the vote of the town passed the sixth day of February last past to preach at the place the town hath appointed." On the 9th of March, - the town met to learn Mr. Heath's answer, when the com- mittee reported " that he would consider of it." Against this vote we find this protest :
" We the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of Bar- rington do enter our protest against the vote that hath been past in this meeting in order to keep back or diminish the one half of the Reverend Mr. Peleg Heath's salary and to free ourselves from any charge that may arise by reason of this meeting.
BARRINGTON, March 2, 1738.
Nathaniel Peck,
Constant Viall,
Samuel Allen,
Joseph Viall,
Benjamin Viall,
Peleg Richmond,
Josiah Humphrey,
Daniel Peck,
Nathaniel Peck, Jr.,
Solomon Peck,
Daniel Allen."
Mr. Heath's further consideration of the matter led to a decision not to preach at the house of Mr. Bosworth, and his appeal to the Inferior Court at Bristol to require the town to pay his salary. In October, 1738, the town voted to allow the selectmen the money they had expended at Court in an- swering the suit brought by Mr. Heath, in an appeal to the Superior Court at Bristol. December 29, 1738, the town voted ten pounds to the selectmen "to pay the charge they were at in the Superior Court to vindicate a law suit Mr. Peleg Heath brought against the town." It was also voted to exempt the Baptists from paying any of the expenses in defending the suit of Rev. Mr. Heath. March 12, 1739, the town voted not to raise the money to answer the execu- tion that the Rev. Mr. Peleg Heath obtained against the town. On the 20th of the same month, the town voted to
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THE TOWN VS. PELEG HEATH.
raise one hundred pounds to defend themselves against the execution obtained by Mr. Heath against the town. The in- habitants also voted "to allow all reasonable charges that shall arise by imprisoning any person or persons for not dis- charging the said execution." Mr. Heath obtained judgment against the town, and on the town's refusal to pay the exe- cution, the sheriff made arrest of James Adams and James Smith, who were confined in the jail at Bristol. The town then chose John Read, John Adams, and Hezekiah Tiffany to go to Boston to the General Court, to secure redress for the town, and the release of Messrs. Adams and Smith, select- men, now prisoners " in his Majesty's prison at Bristol." Mr. Tiffany declining to serve, Matthew Watson was chosen to take his place.
In August, 1739, the town voted not to pay Mr. Heath's salary of £120, this year, seeing he still neglects and refuses to preach at the place the town hath appointed him. Again Mr. Heath brings action against the town for refusal to pay his salary, and the town voted to spend £14 in answering the suits at Court at Bristol. December 31, 1739, it was voted to allow Mr. James Smith and Mr. James Adams £25 each, for imprisonment at Bristol, and Joseph Allen and Josiah Humphrey are made a new Committee to appear at Bristol to answer trial, on the second Tuesday of March, 1740.
The next two town meetings are instructive lessons of the varying moods of men, and the variable judgments which enter into town legislation. The opposing factions of the town were in terrible conflict. The Heath and Anti-Heath forces worked with all their powers to accomplish their pur- poses, and victory at last crowned the efforts of the pastor and his supporters.
At a town meeting of the inhabitants of Barrington, held February II, 1740, Lieut. Joseph Allen, a Heath man, was elected Moderator. These interesting votes follow :
I. Voted, "not to clear the Baptists from paying their proportion of the charges that arise by an execution Mr. Peleg Heath obtained against the town."
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
2. Voted, "not to clear the Baptists from paying to the minister's rate this year."
3. Voted, "not to raise more money for an addition for the minister's salary this year for the Baptists minister."
4. Voted, "to accept the meeting-house as it is conveyed to the town."
5. "That the selectmen shall give orders to the town treasurer to pay the Reverend Mr. Peleg Heath's tenth and eleventh years salary."
6. Voted, "to allow the Committee all reasonable charges they are at in answering a petition of Mr. Peleg Heath's at the Court of General Session to be holden at Bristol on the second Tuesday of March next."
7. Voted, " that the two years money the Church mini- ster hath drawn out of the town treasurer the last years, (two years) out of Mr. Peleg Heath's salary should be made in a rate by itself."
The seven votes recorded above show a complete triumph for the Heath party in a contest of nearly three years' stand- ing, during which the bitterest sectional feeling was aroused, which continued to divide the town for a century.
The second town meeting held a month later shows a better state of feeling concerning taxing the Baptists, and the victors of February II unite with the opposite party in exempting the Baptists from assessment on account of Mr. Heath's salary and law suits, and the town allows bills of John Adams for £76, 2s., IIp. ; of Matthew Watson for £38, 5s. 6p .; with interest and bills of the selectmen for £15, all growing out of and closing up the struggle with Rev. Peleg Heath.
The town had spent over two years in the wrangle over a new meeting-house and the incidents growing out of the quarrel with the pastor, and at its close accepted the house built on the new site, paid all salary arrears, and law suit expenditures amounting to several hundred pounds, and found itself wiser in its experience, at a cost of much labor and self-respect. The lesson is not far to seek in the con-
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CHURCH DISCIPLINE.
duct of civil or religious concerns. The general welfare precedes and precludes selfish ends, and the law of Love is the mightiest power in the universe.
Recurring to Mr. Heath's records, we find under date of May 12, 1735, further reference to church discipline in the following vote : "That inasmuch as the members of this Church have been in the past too negligent and remiss in their attending at Church meeting warned by the pastor, for the preventing of such disorders in the members for the future, and for the maintaining and upholding unity, good order, and decency in the Church, it was unanimously voted that whenever a Church meeting is ordered and appointed by the pastor of his order, time and place being specified for the brethren to meet at : - all and every member that shall be delinquent and absent,- without giving at the next meeting a sufficient and satisfactory reason of their being absent to the Church and pastor,- that then the Church shall deal with them as disorderly walkers for absenting."
At the same meeting the church chose brother Josiah Humphrey as deacon by a unanimous vote. A year or more later (1737 and 8) several cases of discipline occur, coming under the rule adopted May 12, 1735, "for withdrawing Communion in sealing ordinances." The persons so accused were cited to appear before the church, but refused to come at first. Later, on further admonition, several appeared to give reasons for their absence and to answer to the search- ing interrogatory whether they were "children of the Church of Christ." One answered that he thought he was, and the church voted by a yea and nay vote that they con- sidered him to be, although " the pastor could not see to his satisfaction that Mr. - was a child of the Church by any act of his own." Another answered, "I was in charity with the brethren until a certain paper came from the Church August 3, 1737." Another answered "that he was in char- ity with the brethren until the pulling down of the meeting- house," and when asked how much he was a sufferer in name or estate said. " I gave three shillings toward repair-
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THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON.
ing the house." and further added " that he should not have been uneasy if others had not."
And so the story goes of church difficulty, estrangement, sin, and confession until the year 1740, when by mutual vote of the church, town, and Church Council, the pastoral rela- tions were dissolved. Prior to his dismission from the pas- torate, Mr. Heath petitioned the town to grant him and his heirs, "thirteen feet long and ten feet wide of ground in the burying place at Princes Hill, so called in Barrington to build a tomb where or near the place his deceased family now lies to be for him and his heirs forever," which was " granted in the affirmative by every vote present."
In November, 1740, the town voted "to concur with the vote of the Church in dismissing the Rev. Mr. Peleg Heath from being the minister of this town" and Capt. Joseph Allen, James Adams, and John Adams were chosen a com- mittee "to present the Rev. Peleg Heath with the town's vote in their concurring with the Church in his dismission." Thus terminated Mr. Heath's ministerial career, after twelve laborious and stormy years, during which his Christian char- acter was never questioned, though his conduct and posi- tions were subject to the severest criticism. He sought so far as we can see the best good of the church and people and the church in the main strongly supported him. When the votes of the members are recorded, there are few instances of persons voting contrary to the pastor's views. As we have already stated, the removal of the meeting-house was the chief cause of the trouble of the community. Princes Hill was the dividing line between the contestants. Those on the north of the Hill favored its removal and were Mr. Heath's strong supporters ; those on the south fought against it and were his opponents. That act changed the whole history of the town. As the meeting-house was the centre of the social, the control of all these interests was removed from the south to the north part of the town, and it is a noticeable fact that after the year 1740, the leading Church and town officers were chosen from the inhabitants
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OLD CONGREGATIONAL MEETING-HOUSE, EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR, 1739-1805.
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RESULTS OF MR. HEATH'S MINISTRY.
north of Princes Hill. The balance of power was held in that section and the people used it to their own advantage and to the neglect of their brethren on the lower neck. The union of the people in a common cause against the tyranny of the mother country was the first strong influence to reunite the people and cause them to forget their differ- ences and divisions of the generation earlier.
Mr. Heath continued a resident of Barrington, after re- tiring from the pulpit. He was a useful citizen and held offices of trust in the town, as evidence of the true respect of the people for their pastor who during the trying period of the life of the town and the Church labored to the best of his ability to preserve the dignity and honor of both.
Mr. Heath married Miss Sarah Richmond, daughter of Col. Sylvester Richmond. She died in 1739 at the age of twenty-eight. His second wife was Miss Bethiah Peck, daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Peck, who died in 1740, aged twenty-three. His third wife was Jerusha Peck, who survived her husband, and afterwards married Joshua Bicknell.
Mr. Heath died in 1748, in the 49th year of his age, and was buried at Princes Hill. In his will, the following books are named as a part of his library: Small Bible, large Bible, preaching Bible, Manadril's Travels, Calvin's Institu- tions, Horneck's Sermons, Lebtoon's Geography, William Pemble upon Justification, Marden's Geography, Dr. Ames's Marrow of Divinity, Doctor Preston's Works. His son, Major Peleg Heath, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and his descendants have been and are still among the most respected citizens of the town and State. His grandson, Mr. Jabez Heath, died in 1870, at the ripe age of ninety years.
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