USA > Vermont > History of the Baptists in Vermont > Part 3
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It was a custom of the church, when in any special straits, to appoint a day of prayer; and when any special matter was under consideration which threatened division, there would be appointed also a meeting for conference on the following day; and in some manner the brethren would maintain unity.
August, 1784, the church held a meeting at Moses Hinman's and "Proceeded to inquire for gifts in the church. First, for the gift of preaching, and found it in Brother Samuel Lathrop, and gen- erally satisfied that he had the gift of lead." A day in September was appointed for further inquiry for other gifts, and when they met they "supposed the gift of exhortation and prayer to be given to Joseph Randall, and Mebediah Angell, which they ought to wait upon; likewise supposed Eliakim Richmond to have the gift of prayer; all which were public gifts and to be waited upon and improved in the church." It is interesting to conjecture what changes might be wrought if the same plan were pursued in all our churches now; whether some in official position might not be re-
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manded to the more private walk, and some be called to officiate who now hide their light. The plan seems conducive to humility and to resemble the Apostolic method of choosing men to be leaders.
The action of the church in regard to singing is interesting and worthy of record. There was an impression among the churches at an early day that only professing christians should take charge of the singing, and in this church one and another was assigned to this duty. Thus, in November, 1800, a committee was appointed to select the tunes and have the entire matter under their charge. January 17, 1801, "After conversing on the subject of singing, agreed to sing once in a day by reading." As late as December, 1813, the church "mutually agreed that no person, not a member of any church, should be called on to lead in singing or preach in the church." One of the items March 2, 1816, is, "We will regulate the singing, the lead of the singing we will keep under the government of the church, if money and pains will effect it; if not the young peo- ple shall have the lead at all times when we fail." April 10, of the same year, however, it was voted that "if there are persons present qualified to lead the singing, though they are not church members, yet they are to be improved in that way." So far as the records show, the matter was dropped here forever.
The proceedings of the church in the choice of their first pastor are exceedingly suggestive. After appointing a special day for con- sideration of the matter, on February 2, 1787, "the church agreed, from the satisfaction they have of Henry Green's gift in doctrine, to request him to come and preach to them all the while if he sees it to be his duty, if not as much as he can." In March, we find a record of the names of those who joined in the request to "Brother Henry Green to come and take the watchcare of them as an under- shepherd, to lead them through this wilderness-and to set him apart for the work." Others are recorded as having "a freedom that the said Henry Green should come and take the pastoral care of the church in this place. The distinction seems to be that while a part requested him to do so, others did not join in the request, but were willing he should come. At another meeting some not present before signified their assent to the action of the church, and their names are entered. March 31, at a church meeting, Brother Green
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gave the church to understand that it was the "freedom of his mind to live with them the present season and preach to them, and get further acquaintance, and if light opens, and the doors open agree- ably to God's word, to comply with the request." May 31, the ques- tion was asked, "Whether their satisfaction of Brother Green's gifts was enlarged." All answered in the affirmative. "The church then proceeded to appoint brethren to make inquiry and see if they can find a farm to purchase for Brother Green, and inquire how much help can be had from the brethren and friends." With due seriousness and care the call was finally extended, and accepted, a council assembled and Brother Green ordained. The ordination took place on the 4th of October, 1787. The ordination services were by a presbytery chosen by the church, instead of by the Coun- cil. Joseph Randall was ordained deacon by the same presbytery with Brother Green added for the church.
Henry Green was now some twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age, and he gave twenty years of faithful labor to the church, nearly four times as long as any pastor since served up to 1880, and by far the most prosperous years, apparently.
The town records show that the town, as a civil body, had a voice in the settlement of Mr. Green. Mr. Green was the first settled minister in town, but for some reason not clear some dispute arose in the matter of right of land, and October 3, 1787, as ap- pears on the town records, a committee "was appointed to agree on a settlement of the affair." This committee reported as appears on the same day, "That the right of land for the first settled min- ister in town be equally divided, in quantity and quality, between the Presbyterian and Baptist churches."
In the records of a town meeting held December 24, 1793, this entry is found: "A motion was made to try the minds of the meeting to know whether they are agreed in Elder Henry Green as a minister for the town of Wallingford, unanimously voted in the affirmative. Then voted that Elder Green for the time being be apointed for the examination and approbation of regular min- isters of the Baptist, Congregational and Presbyterian orders to preach with us occasionally." What the town, as such, had to do with this matter is not so clear at this day.
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A somewhat unusual matter is to be found in the church record of April 30, 1789. It seems there were two classes under consideration; some who were comparative strangers would wish to unite with the church. Concerning these it was determined the church was in duty bound "to extend their watch and care over them for such a term of time as shall be necessary to form a suitable acquaintance." But the other class, it appears, did not want to be in church membership, hence this vote: "If any person wishes their watch and care, for the benefit of good christian society, it is our duty as individuals to watch over them, but not as a church act." Some cases of watch and care were immediately acted upon in accordance with this rule.
Wednesday, June 20, 1792, Colborn Preston, formerly a mem- ber of Elder Rich's church, was ordained by a council as deacon. Preceding the ordination, Mr. Preston gave a relation of his travail and call to the office of deacon, with his ideas of the duty in the same.
A question concerning infants came up at a church meeting, December 27th, 1792. "Brother Stephen Arnold manifested a wish to know the sentiment of the church in respect to dedication of infants in public." The church manifested their minds as follows: "That every brother or sister hath a right in any public meeting to ask the privilege of having mention made in public prayer, either in sickness or recovery; and if any brother or sister have a child born and wish mention to be made publicly of their thanks- giving, and wish to dedicate themselves and child to God, and wish for wisdom to train it up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, either having the child at home or at meeting; if the child be at meeting, that mention be made to the public, without presenting the child to the minister." So careful and judicious was this early church in dealing with a question which has caused so much dis- cussion and, as we believe, unscriptural practice.
For many years the church held its preaching services and conference meetings in private houses, sometimes in one place, sometimes in another. Some meetings were held in Mount Holly before a church was organized there. The members were widely scattered and much inconvenience was experienced. Propositions to build a meeting-house were, from time. to time, considered, but
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it was difficult to agree upon a place. The Clarendon church wanted the services of the pastor of the Wallingford church part of the time and objected to some of the locations proposed. To settle the question a council was called. Their decision was that the Clarendon people ought to consent for Elder Green to preach con- stantly in the town of Wallingford at such place as may best ac- commodate the church in Wallingford, and the inhabitants in said town. The council also set a stake where, in their judgment, the meeting-house ought to be built; and their advice was accepted, a tax raised and a meeting-house erected and finished in 1800. It was used by Baptists and Congregationalists for the most part, but occasionally occupied by others.
May 30, 1798, seventeen members were dismissed and or- ganized into an independent church in Clarendon, William Har- rington being ordained their pastor the same day, by a council called by this church.
Sanford Moon was ordained deacon, May 25, 1803. This is the last occasion on which a deacon has been ordained by this church.
Without any general revival the membership of the church increased from fifty-eight, in 1789, to eighty-nine. in 1795. In the revival of 1798-1800, forty-one were received by baptism, besides those received by letter, and in 1802, the membership was one hun- dred and thirty-eight.
In 1795, and again in 1800, the Association met with this church, and in January, 1796, there was a meeting of delegates from the churches of the Vermont Association, held here to "revise and make amendments to the constitution of the Vermont Associa- tion." The result of their labors was printed in a pamphlet. After being discussed at three successive annual meetings of the Associa- tion it was, after some amendment, adopted in 1798.
In 1804, the most extensive revival ever enjoyed by the church occurred. Some of the time baptisms occurred every week, and in a period of six months one hundred and fourteen were added to the church. In 1805, the membership was reported at two hundred and twenty-five, the largest it ever attained.
A considerable number of the members of this church were living at Mount Holly, and the church had voted to have Elder Green and others go there at sundry times and hold meetings and
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administer the ordinances. In 1801, a council was called, which did not deem it advisable to have a separate church there. Finally a council met September 6, 1804, and twenty-three members from this church were recognized as an independent body. Around this nucleus, Rev. Daniel Packer subsequently gathered a church exceed- ing four hundred in its membership.
In financial matters, the church from the first held theoretically to an adjustment of the pecuniary burdens of the church upon all the members. In 1789, the church voted "That when any wants or necessities of the church appear, the deacons shall call for a con- tribution, keep an account of what each contributes, and lay it be- fore the church. And if any have not come up to their duty they are to be admonished; and if any have overdone they are to be abated, according to the judgment of the church for that purpose, that there may be an equality in the church." Two prin- ciples are here asserted; one that every member is to give something according as the Lord hath prospered him, this being in strict ac- cordance with the eleventh of the articles of faith before noted; there is to be a division of burdens. The church was to be the final judge. Another scriptural principle recognized in the vote of 1789, is that the deacons are to be the business managers of the church. One scripture principle seems not to have been recognized with equal clearness, and that is liberality in dealing with the pastor. At first the compensation was in the form of some assistance in his farm work. April 18, 1799, it was agreed to give Elder Green forty dollars this year in cattle or grain. The next year it was increased to eighty-five dollars. In 1801, the church agreed to raise one penny on the pound on their church list for the assistance of Elder Green the present season. This would be about four dollars and twenty cents on a thousand dollars. The same amount was assessed the two following years. In October, 1805, there was an arrearage. It was voted that this debt should be paid, forty dollars for the then current year, and one hundred dollars per year in the future, and that the Elder should be assisted one day in the winter to get his wood; but this was not done till Mr. Green had asked for his dismission from the pastorate on account of his small salary. In 1806, he was allowed to go to West Clarendon half the time. The records do not state, but there can be no doubt that his dissolving
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of the pastoral relation in January, 1807, was occasioned by lack of financial support. The church thus lost a faithful pastor. The years immediately following were marred by dissensions and bicker- ings which might have been avoided.
CHAPTER II
SHAFTSBURY ASSOCIATION
The association of churches had its origin in an impulse as natural and instinctive as that which led the early disciples to meet often of one accord in one place. The natural longing for fellow- ship in worship and in work accounts for the organization of both churches and associations of churches. 1359862
For twelve years the Baptist church in Shaftsbury lived in isolation. It was a lone star in Vermont, save for the brief period when the church in Pownal was visible. To the north were no other Baptist churches. To the south, in Massachusetts, was the Baptist church in Cheshire, organized about 1770.
In the year 1780, a Second Baptist church was organized in Shaftsbury, largely from members of the First church. About the same time two churches were organized across the New York line; one in Stillwater and one in White Creek, from fragments of earlier organizations, which had been scattered by the devastations of the war of the Revolution.
Between the two older churches and the three younger ones, there was a natural bond of fellowship, and they formed an as- sociation in 1780, and on the 12th day of June, 1781, held their first anniversary in Shaftsbury, and assumed the name of The Shaftsbury Association, an honorable name from that time till now.
This little organization became the rallying point for churches over a wide area, until it included in its membership churches in what are now seventeen counties in three states, to which should be added five churches in Upper Canada, beyond the waters of the Niagara River.
At the first anniversary of this body, held with the First Shaftsbury church, June 11, 1781, Lemuel Powers was ordained, probably at the request of the Stillwater church, that he might be-
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come their pastor; as his name stands connected with this church just before and just after this event. Mr. Powers was pastor of this church and a member of the Shaftsbury Association till the time of his death, about twenty years. Stillwater was his only pastorate and a very successful one, as the church increased in numbers till, in 1793, it reached four hundred and thirteen. In 1789, thirty-three were baptized; in 1791, one hundred and eighty-two; in 1793, ninety- one; and in 1790, another church was added to his which had been gathered in the same town by Beriah Kelly. For several years the Stillwater Church was the largest church in the Association. Mr. Powers was chosen moderator of the Association in 1797, a position of honor in that large body of forty-eight churches and three thou- sand fivehundred members. This may have been the last time he attended the Association, as he is known to have been absent in 1799 and is reported as having died in 1800. President Millard Fillmore married a daughter of Elder Powers.
The following conspicuous notice appears in the minutes of 1797: "TAKE NOTICE! A certain man has been traveling around the country in the profession of the ministry, sometimes calling himself Dudley Young, and at other times Peter Powers, alias Walter Powers. He was whipped last fall at Northampton, for stealing a horse, and declared he was Elder Lemuel Powers of Stillwater. Who the fugitive is we know not, but take this method of clearing the character of Lemuel Powers of the charges that were proved upon the vagrant. Elder Powers is a large fat man with large eyes; but the counterfeit is a slim man with small eyes."
So large a portion of the Shaftsbury Association was for years outside of Vermont, and so small a portion within it that a history of the Baptists of Vermont would hardly include a full history of the Shaftsbury Association; but from the first the Vermont churches were influential in this body and bore their full share of its important and interesting work. Five years after its organization, the Associa- tion numbered fifteen churches, in which number is included two other Vermont churches, the Wallingford, and the Halifax. None of these churches had pastors at that time.
The founders of the Association had clear and definite ideas as to the powers and limitations of an association, and these they placed on record by publishing in their minutes, in 1791, a paper
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prepared by Elder Caleb Blood as a circular letter. The first part of the letter concerns the nature, business, power and government of a christian church; the second part concerns the association, and because it contains ideas on this subject, held and practiced by as- sociations generally at that time, may well be included as an im- portant part of our history.
"By an association we mean no more than a number of churches in sister relation, mutually agreeing to meet by their dele- gates at stated seasons, for free conference on those matters that concern the general good of the churches; that we might be mutual helpers to each other, by giving and receiving intelligence of each other's welfare; that we may sympathize with and pray for each other, and so be partners in the joys and sorrows that await us in this changing world.
"In which conference any church has a right to propose any question that relates to doctrine or discipline, provided that such questions are always so circumstanced that the solution of them will not interfere with the government of particular churches. On authentic information of the purity of faith and practice of any sister church, which desires to be received as a member of the con- ference, it is the privilege and liberty of this association to give them fellowship, and to receive them as a member of this conference. But in case any church or churches shall apostatize from the faith, and become corrupt, on information from sister churches, who have taken gospel steps to reclaim them, and have not succeeded, but have necessarily been called 'to withdraw from them,' it is the duty of this association to sympathize with those grieved churches in their sorrows, and to inform the churches in general, that we con- sider those churches who have fallen no longer in our fellowship. It is (also) the duty of this association to give information of apostates and corrupt men in the ministry, that the churches may not be imposed upon by them. In case any church that is a mem- ber of this conference shall neglect to attend with us in conference, it is but an act of brotherly kindness in us to inquire into the rea- son for such neglect; and if any church chooses not to meet any more with us, in this manner, it is reasonable they should let us know it, in a christian way. If any church think it best not to continue a
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member of this meeting, it is unreasonable to publish their names annexed to the transactions of the meeting, of which they did not consider themselves members.
"In such cases we may drop them from our minutes, and pub- lish the reasons for so doing. But any church not becoming or con- tinuing a member of this conference, is not considered a bar of our fellowship with them.
"Finally, brethren, we consider ourselves to have no porrer as an association to determine any cases of discipline in the churches, but we are only to give our adrice and opinion in those points, and intelligence, in such matters as come within the limits of a free christian conference.
"From what has been said, we learn that it is the church only, and not an association of churches or of ministers that is authorized to execute church discipline.
"We are sensible that some may object to this and say that the church is imperfect and liable to make wrong judgments. True, but if we admit of decisive councils to whose judgment the church must submit, if their judgment is in opposition of the church, and the church is not convinced that they were wrong,- they cannot restore the member rejected, without counteracting their own judgment; and if they do it upon the judgment of others, still they can have no more fellowship with such a person than be- fore. It appears hence, that decisive councils immediately militate against real fellowship, and gospel union in the churches. But councils for advice only in difficult cases are useful. In this way churches and brethren may gain light, and all their difficulties be happily settled."
The Association scrupulously kept itself within the bounds thus carefully defined. It entered into correspondence with other as- sociations, received delegates from them, and sent messengers to them, and thus kept in touch with the rapidly increasing number of Baptist organizations. Its circular letters were carefully prepared and were upon vital subjects.
The period from 1792 to 1800 was one of rapid development. From twenty-six churches, nineteen ministers, and seventeen hun- dred and fifty-four members, it increased to forty-six churches, having thirty-three ministers, and more than forty-one hundred members,
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after dismissing several churches to other bodies. Elder Caleb Blood and Elder Caleb Nichols, representing respectively the fourth Shaftsbury and the Pownal churches, were among the most promi- nent and influential ministers in the Association. The Pownal church united with the Asociation in 1793, and the year following entertained the Association under happiest circumstances; the church having received during the year previous sixty-four new mem- bers, bringing its membership up to one hundred and thirty-seven.
The Otsego Association was organized in 1796, and came into most sympathetic relation to the Shaftsbury, as was natural, for several of the infant churches had been planted and watered by Elders Blood, Nichols, Cornell and Craw.
The year 1789 witnessed a gracious revival in many of the churches, none being more favored than the Fourth Shaftsbury, a full account of which will be given in another chapter. One hun- dred and seventy-one were added to that church during that event- ful year.
The correspondence of the Association widely increased till, in 1799, there were twenty-two associations sending minutes or messengers, thirteen of these associations being south of Phila- delphia.
To this Association, in 1797, came messengers from the Stoning- ton, Warren, Leyden, Vermont, and Philadelphia associations and took seats with them, and minutes were received from a number of Virginia and North Carolina associations. A worthy company of men were present. The names of these pastors and delegates are suggestive of old-time family religion. Parents name their children after those whom they honor, and pray that they may be worthy of the name; and no names were so common in early days as those of Bible characters. Here are ninety-eight names and all but fifteen are Biblical. To read them is like a wide review of Scripture history. Thomas, Elisha, John, Isaac, Peter, Stephen, Daniel, Abijah, Mat- thew, Nathan, Samuel, Joseph, Eli, Jeduthan, Joshua, Ezra, Abel, Israel, Ezekiel, Issacher, Jonathan, Aaron, Gamaliel, Hezekialı, Lemuel, Benjamin, Caleb, Judah, Reuben, Jesse, Jeremiah, James, Sylvanus, Thaddeus, Ebenezer, Elijah, Lazarus, Solomon.
This session, in 1880, was held in Elder Blood's meeting-house in Shaftsbury, and he was chosen moderator. By this time the Asso-
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ciation consisted of forty-six churches with a total membership of forty-one hundred and twenty-seven. A painful feature of this ses- sion was the disfellowshiping of two churches, on account of the con- duct of their pastors, and the failure of the churches to take satisfac- tory action in the premises.
An appeal for help came at this time from the Partridgeville church, stating "that they were in distress, by being taxed, and having their property sold at public auction, to assist in building a Congregational meeting-house; that there was some hope of ob- taining redress if they could raise money enough to carry on a suit at law." They therefore requested the advice and assistance of the Association in their embarrassed situation. After some delibera- tion, it was proposed to request a contribution immediately, for their assistance; $45.50 were collected. The Association also advised them to strive to be at peace with all men, but at the same time to use all lawful endeavors to preserve inviolate the rights of conscience and property; "And as we think the conduct complained of is in violation of both we conclude that they have a right to stand in their own defence; and do promise to afford them further assistance if needed to relieve them from their present dis- tress." In order to carry out the above mentioned purpose the Association appointed Elders Werden, Leland and Smith a com- mittee to deliver the money collected and to report to the churches what further assistance they might need.
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