USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Bennington > Memorials of a century. Embracing a record of individuals and events, chiefly in the early history of Bennington, Vt., and its First church > Part 4
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In this notice of persecuting laws those of Connecticut have been adduced. In Massachusetts the case was dif- ferent. There no laws were specially enacted against Separate itinerant preachers and lay exhorters, but the existing laws did not exempt Separates from paying taxes to the parish minister and for building and repairing parish meeting-houses. Neither did the Massachusetts laws give to Separate congregations any legal power to collect taxes or subscriptions for their own expenses.
Moreover, while it is true that many of the members of
1 Backus' History. See, also, Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut.
2 Mr. Learned's article.
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SEPARATISTS IN CONNECTICUT.
the Bennington church, perhaps most, came, in its incipient history, from Massachusetts, its ecclesiastical affinities ap- pear to have especially identified it with the Connecticut Separate churches and ministers. " Father " Marshall, who used to pass this way frequently, and appears to have felt quite at home here, was pastor of the first Separate church that was formed, that in Canterbury, Conn. The Rev. John Palmer, who was repeatedly on ecclesiastical councils in this town, was pastor of one of the Separate churches in Connecticut, that of Scotland parish, in Wind- sor township. He was member of the council that was con- vened, by letters-missive from this church, in Westfield, to consider and act upon the question of the union of that church with the Bennington church. He was member of the council called here in 1770 to give advice in the diffi- culty about the duty of communicating for the support of the gospel. He was here also either as member of a council or informally to advise in the difficulties concerning Mr. Avery. He was a worthy and excellent Christian minister. He officiated to the Separate church in Scotland parish, doubtless with acceptance, through the long period of fifty- seven years,-1750 to 1807,-when he deceased. Universally spoken of as a man of real piety, he was imprisoned under the Connecticut laws before mentioned four months in Hart- ford for preaching. The other Separate churches called to sit in the Westfield council, and their pastors, belonged to Connecticut : Plainfield, Alexander Miller, minister ; and Suffield, Israel Holley, minister.
A large part of the First Church in Norwich, Conn., drew off from its minister and met for worship in another place.1 Thirty male members, including one deacon and a large number of females, left the Old Standing Order Church at about the same time. Others soon followed.
1 Backus.
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MEMORIALS OF A CENTURY.
Among these were some of the most wealthy and influential men in the town. The Separates and their friends finally outvoted the old church in the town meetings, and declared that they would no longer pay the minister's rates, as they were conscientiously opposed to the union of church and state. But upon a complaint entered, the General Assem- bly interfered, and they were taxed, by a special act, to support the Rev. Dr. Lord and his society. Refusing to pay the tax, they were imprisoned. For this cause as many as forty persons, men and women, were imprisoned in a single year.1 Many of the early settlers of Bennington were from Norwich and its vicinity. The Newint Sepa- rate Church, so prominently represented in Bennington, belonged to a part of the town of Norwich of that day.
Deacon Joseph Safford and some others among the earli- est members of this church belonged to a Separate church in Newint, Conn., and brought, if not the church, at least the records of it, with them to this town.
1 Historical Notices by the Rev. F. Denison, quoted in a foot-note by Hovey. Life and Times of Backus, p. 42.
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CHAPTER V.
INTERNAL PERPLEXITIES OF THE CHURCH.
INANCIAL CONTROVERSY. - The first great trial of the church, and perhaps the greatest of an internal character, was occasioned by the ques- tion, - how to pay the minister?
The Bennington church, as a church, never took any position identical with Separate churches more extreme than the actual reformation which was finally ac- cepted by the great body of the Congregational churches of the country. In this it evinced the shrewd indomitable com- mon sense of its leading minds. There were, however, individual members of the church, who, upon some points at least, were extreme, even factious, relatively to the Ben- nington church. They were not without serious influence in the church, and yet they appear to have been always in a minority when it came to voting. They had the more influence on one point in particular, that of a church member's duty with respect to the pecuniary necessities of public worship, because the Separate theory on this point was susceptible of a pretty sharp definition. It may be stated in the words of the Separate Ecclesiastical Council convened here in 1770, on this subject : -
" The Society is by no means to be allowed to control or govern the church in the affair."
At the same time there was in the Bennington church that common sense or practical - or worldly - wisdom
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which saw that in the secularities of public worship the world would certainly have a hand, and which reasoned that there might be so much jealousy of bringing the church under bondage to the world, as to fail to obtain all that lawfully might be of co-operation both of the world's peo- ple and of the civil law.
But the extreme Separates had on their side the moral weight of the fact that the Bennington church was formed out of bona fide Separate churches ; that many had joined its ranks from other churches of the same character; that its pastor was thoroughly of Separate origin, -its ecclesi- astical councils were made up from Separate churches, and the council of 1770 rather sided with the extreme members than with the church. At any rate they were unceasingly active, and in several instances inflexible to the last.
That which appears to have brought the opposing par- ties to a decisive struggle was the action of an adjourned meeting of the congregation, Feb. 8, 1768. At this meet- ing the following resolves were voted : --
1. That the church and society should stand all in an equal right about proposing any method, or voting in any meeting about the support of the gospel for the present year. 2. Chose Moses Robinson clerk for the same meeting and for this year. 3. Chose Stephen Fay, Samuel Safford, and Moses Robinson assessors. 4. Chose Stephen Fay treasurer. 5. Chose James Walbridge and Henry Walbridge collectors ; then made a subscription binding in common law in order to secure to Mr. Dewey fifty pounds for the present year."
This, it will be observed, was a meeting, not of the church, but of the congregation, but church members acted in it and with it; three out of five appointed to office in the meeting were church members. This course of members of the churches was not suffered by the extreme Separates to pass unchallenged. Against these members of the church
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A LONG CHURCH CONTROVERSY.
active in this meeting a complaint was soon brought in church meeting, and the attempt was made to convict them of violating the principles of the Separate churches, with re- spect to their independence of the Society and of the civil power.1
Had the complaining party been above suspicion of sin- ister intent their case would have stood better. It was the refusal of some of these, and perhaps of some others, to pay their share toward the minister's salary, which was the proximate cause of the action complained of. The salary was not secured ; and hence the effort in the adjourned meeting of the congregation to hit upon some expedient that should accomplish this result. Most if not all of the brethren who complained so bitterly of that action were themselves remiss. Their remissness dates far back upon the records, as appears by the following entry : -
"June 19, 1766. - Then the church being met by appointment acted on the following articles, namely, 1. To send brothers James Breakenridge, Henry Walbridge, and John Wood to those brethren that did not attend the church meeting, and had not settled or paid their proportion or sums for the year past with Mr. Dewey, that they forthwith settle the above said sum or sums; and that they appear on Friday the twenty-sixth day of this in- stant at the adjourned meeting at the house of Mr. Dewey to an- swer to their conduct. 2. Voted, that those persons who do not settle and pay the sums of their equality with Mr. Dewey for his support within the time appointed by the church and society forth- with give security for the above said sums, and it shall be no offence."
Here we have the party of the first part aggrieved because the party of the second part would not do their share to-
1 The probability is that the error of these complaining brethren was not in their professed anxiety lest the church should lose its proper control in spiritual affairs, so much as in their want of discrimination as to what was purely secular in the matter, and therefore not to be a bone of contention in the church.
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ward the salary of Mr. Dewey ; and the party of the second part aggrieved because the party of the first part had secured the adoption of church and society measures, and some aid, if necessary, of the civil law, to relieve the finan- cial difficulties of the parish. The result was a long church controversy.
It is believed by some of Mr. Dewey's descendants that he, in consideration of the valuable property called " the minister's right " being settled upon him, declined, for a while at least, other compensation ; they have a tradition in the family to this effect. If so, Mr. Dewey could not have begun to receive any compensation from the church and society until near the time of the above vote. To suppose that brethren would refuse to pay their part toward the small amount then proposed to be raised as a salary for Mr. Dewey, and at the first attempt, or nearly the first at- tempt, reflects seriously upon their goodness of character. Whether they were afflicted with the malady not unknown to mankind, a chronic disinclination to part with one's money for a public good object, or whether they deemed it a violation of their consciences to contribute anything to the treasury of the church so long as it adopted financial expedients inconsistent with their notions of Christian duty ; or whether their course was the result of both these causes combined, there grew up an irreconcilable difficulty between the church and these brethren. The leaders among them were under church censure from time to time, and finally were excommunicated. For a long time, however, they remained in the church, as it knew to its cost. New complaints were brought ; new grievances there were ; new offences for church action. All their church meetings, and all their debates as to what was according to their principles of freedom of conscience, and the church's true indepen- dence of and separation from the world, availed nothing to
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A LONG CHURCH CONTROVERSY.
settle the difficulty, or to remove the main difficulty of the delinquency of these brethren toward the salary. Among other entries upon the records of a like character, let us notice one under date of August, 17, 1769 : -
" The church being met by adjournment, and the meeting being opened by prayer, took into consideration the case of those breth- ren who are behind in their communication to the support of the gospel, and voted that if they shall pay thirteen shillings to fifteen it shall be satisfactory."
It would seem that the delinquent brethren did not all of them now pay the "thirteen shillings to fifteen," for there are recorded actions of discipline in their case under subsequent dates.
Glimpses in the records show us that the sacrament of the Lord's supper was not administered for some time on account of the progress of this war in the church. Infant baptisms, however, were not omitted, whatever the state of the church might be, whether cold or lukewarm or divided. Some stayed away from public worship because of griev- ances.
At length a council of churches was called, 1770. Its result is on the records. On the whole it appears rather to condemn the church for calling to its aid the society as prominently as it did, according to the action of the ad- journed meeting of the congregation on Feb. 8, 1768. It was a council of Separate churches. Apparently no good effect followed. Matters waxed worse and worse. One and another became the subject of church discipline. Thus they went on until January, 1780, fourteen years after the first appearance of this difficulty upon the records. Then we find this hopeful indication : -
" The church being met by appointment, the meeting being opened by prayer, TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION THIE CIRCUMSTANCE OF
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THE COVENANT BEING VERY MUCH SHATTERED AND TORN. VOTED, TO SIGN THE COVENANT NEWLY DRAFTED AND TO RENEW COVE- NANT WITH GOD AND WITH ONE ANOTHER." This return to the solemn renewal of covenant obligation, and to the enjoyment of the presence of the Holy Spirit, must have been a relief as de- lightful as it was salutary.
The old covenant so "much shattered and torn" was probably the one among the papers of the church on file ; that newly drafted and signed, the paper in the possession of John Fay.
With regard to the ultimate result as to the method of securing the salary, it may be stated that no invariable rule was attained. Society meetings and town meetings for some years played an important part in this business. The extreme Separatist method was never adopted. The more usual way was, to obtain as many as would consent to bring in their tax lists, and let the society or town rate upon them a tax sufficient for the salary and other expenses of public worship. Those who voluntarily brought in their lists to be taxed were liable to have their tax collected by law if they neglected to pay it at the right time. Church discipline upon members delinquent in this matter fell into disuse ; so it is inferred from the fact that cases of disci- pline of this kind do not afterward appear upon the records. This financial question came up again on the building of the new meeting-house, and created again a profound ex- citement.
II. CASE OF THE REV. DAVID AVERY. - There were also troublous times to this church in connection with the ministry of the Rev. David Avery. This difficulty followed fast upon the heels of the other ; and it is quite possible some of the disturbing influence of the old trouble re- mained. The settlement of Mr. Avery here was com-
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CASE OF REV. DAVID AVERY.
menced with a foreshadowed opposition, which increased until the termination of his ministry, June 17, 1783. One person only was added to the church ; the Lord's supper was celebrated once only, and that not without opposition on the alleged singular ground of the impropriety of the measure because of the divided state of the church.
A pamphlet of fifty-five pages is extant, with this title : " A Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Difficulties which have issued in a separation between the Minister and People of Bennington, 1783. With a Valedictory Address by the Rev. David Avery, V. D. M." He was evidently a man of superior talents and accomplishments. Governor Tichenor - who was proverbial for his graceful politeness, so much so that, having come from New Jersey, he obtained the not very graceful sobriquet of "The Jersey Slick" - used to say that the opposition sent Mr. Avery away be- cause he walked to church arm in arm with his wife. There is some reason to think, however, that with all his acquire- ments he lacked humility, and, therefore, was less fitted than otherwise he might have been to build up and unite the people. In his communication to them respecting his dismission he exalts his official prerogatives, lays all the blame upon the opposition, loftily pities their weaknesses, and rebukes their wrong-doing, inasmuch as they receive the word at his lips with no more meekness ; and, which is most galling of all, derides their Separate origin.
As a ceremony of installation, Mr. Avery adopted the novel method of pronouncing, in the presence of the coun- cil, an address, first, to the church, and then to the congre- gation, solemnly declaring his acceptance of the pastorate in accordance with their request. In the address to the church occurs this paragraph : -
"Inasmuch as I have been duly ordained an officer in Christ's kingdom by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, whereby 6
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I am invested with full power and authority to administer sealing ordinances, and to do all the duties of a minister in God's house ; and inasmuch as I can receive no new, nor even any accession of, power, by a re-ordination, I do now, without some of the usual ceremonies of an ordination, thus publicly acknowledge myself to be under the most sacred vows to exercise my office, and to do all the duties of the pastor of this church," etc.
The "re-ordination" refers to the doctrine which had some currency among the radical Separates that ordination by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery was a vio- lation of the power of the brotherhood, and therefore it was their duty to require one who had been presbyterially or- dained, and who had come to be their pastor, to be re-or- dained by the laying on of the hands of the lay-members of the church. The Bennington church, as such, never received this doctrine ; but from Mr. Avery's narrative it appears that, in the course of the difficulties with him, this was seriously pressed by some of the members.
A mutual council, half of Strict Congregationalists and half of Standing Order Congregationalists, was first called upon the difficulties. The Strict Congregational half failed to come, and the council did not proceed. Next, an ex- parte council of Strict Congregationalists was called, and failed to come. At length, a mutual council of Strict Con- gregationalists was called, and came. In this council the aggrieved portion of the church appeared as plaintiff, and the church itself as defendant, on the side of Mr. Avery. The chief burden of the complaint was alleged departure from the faith by Mr. Avery in his preaching, three specifi- cations being presented. The council sustained Mr. Avery and the church in every particular, - advising the church, however, to accept Mr. Avery's resignation if he should offer it ; which he immediately did.
In his address of resignation, he says, " One half of this
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THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
church are divided from me without any prospect of my recovering them." This must have been meant in a numeri- cal sense ; a leading personal influence in the community sided with Mr. Avery, and had, or carried, the council with it.
Among his more ardent admirers here were some of the most influential members of the church or congregation, - such men as Governor Moses Robinson, Hon. Isaac Tiche- nor, Dr. Jonas Fay.
When he was dismissed from Bennington and left the place, the troubles here on his account appear to have ceased. Soon afterward the church was again blessed with a revival of religion, in which numbers were added to its communion, of whom the names of forty-seven are upon the records. Its wounds were doubtless healed, and it was once more in the enjoyment of health and vigor.
III. THE SLAVERY QUESTION. - Mr. Avery brought with his family to town a colored woman, and he insisted on his right to hold her as a slave. This was one of the serious objections urged against him, and which created much dissatisfaction in the church.1 But the persons dis- satisfied on this account appear to have been in the minor- ity.
One who had been for several years an active and influen- tial member of the church, being frequently on important com- mittees, having his children baptized, etc., was placed under church discipline during the ministry of Mr. Avery : -
" For withdrawing himself from its communion for its affirming the position that it would commune with a brother who might have a slave."
Some five years afterward this brother was excommuni- 1 Vermont Hist. Mag.
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cated for continuing in his refusal to walk with the church. Nothing of an immoral character appears to have been alleged against him ; he continued to be respected as an upright citi- zen. It is related that, after his excommunication, one of the members of the church, a carpenter, was employed by him to do a day's work, who had scruples about eating with him, because he had been excommunicated ; he, therefore, caused a table to be set very nicely in the parlor, and di- rected the brother to dine there by himself.
That the slavery question was somewhat agitated about this time in this vicinity may be inferred from a case pre- served upon the town records of this town. It can be best given in the words of the record : -
" HEAD-QUARTERS, PAULET, Nov. 28, 1777.
"To whom it may concern, know ye ; whereas, Dinah Mattis, a negro woman, with Nancy, her child of two months old, was taken prisoner on Lake Champlain, with the British troops, some- where near Col. Gilliner's patent, the 12th day of inst. November, by a scout under my command, and, according to a resolve passed by the Honorable Continental Congress, that all prizes be- long to the captivators thereof, therefore, she and her child be- came the just property of the captivators thereof. I being con- sci-hentious that it is not right in the sight of God to keep slaves ; therefore obtaining leave of the detachment under my command, to give her and her child their freedom; I do therefore give the said Dinah Mattis, and Nancy her child, their freedom to pass and repass anywhere through the United States of America, with her behaving as becometh, and to trade and traffic for herself and child as though she were born free, without being molested by any per- son or person. In witness whereunto I have set my hand and subscribed my name.
" (Signed) EBENEZER ALLEN,"
' Capt. in Col. Herrick's Regiment of Green Mountain Boys."
1 " Major Ebenezer Allen was a captain in Col. Herrick's battalion of State Rangers, and distinguished himself in the Battle of Bennington." - See Bio- graphical Sketch in Hall's Early Hist., Vermont, p. 651.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD.
ITH the ecclesiastical life of the community there was also going on here in strong pulsations the secular life of a most energetic people. These men, a glimpse of whom we get from meagre but suggestive church records, shared in this secular life. It is impossible to form any just idea of the church's life, its trials, influence, and dangers, without understanding the secular history of the town. Church members had a large part in the establishment of a town, and then of a State, and meantime of a nation. Each several work crowded fast upon the heels of the other, or mingled one with the other. There was the wilderness to subdue, land titles to establish. There were legislatures to entertain, and their share of legislation to perform. They had highways and accommodations to keep up for the travelling public, on one of its then most important thoroughfares.1 They had strong individuality ; each would
1 " Settlements had also (as early as 1765) been made to the northward as far as Danby, and extensive preparations were making for occupying other town- ships, as well as for extending the settlements in those already commenced, - the tillers of the hard New England soil then, as they have often been since, swarming for emigration to new and uncultivated lands." - Vt. Hist. Mag.
Mr. Samuel Fay, five years of age the day of the Bennington battle, and who distinctly recollected occurrences of that day, with other reminiscences, stated to G. W. Robinson the following, of public houses, all in apparent successful operation; the Catamount Tavern, kept by his grandfather, Stephen Fay; the Dewey Tavern, now Walloomsac House, then kept by Capt. Elijah Dewey; the Herrick Tavern, kept by Col. Herrick, now known as the Dimmick place; the Harmon Tavern, kept by Daniel Harmon now the old yellow buildin west of
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in a measure have his own way, and yet they must endure one another and be mutually helpful, for they had many common labors, hardships, and dangers, and common in- terests, ambitions, and expectations. They must help each other to be strong, while sometimes, doubtless, they yielded to the temptation, in this or that private mutual competition, to put down each other. So they grew ; so their individual force of character was developed.
As before said, many of those thus situated as to their secular and social life were members of the Bennington church, many were unwearied in Christian efforts, habitual in their attendance upon public ordinances, some - doubt- less at times a few - faithful to the Friday prayer-meeting. There were in particular two great public struggles in the history of the town, and which are no less prominent in the history of the State, and one of them of commanding im- portance in the history of the nation. I refer to the land- title controversy and to the Revolutionary War. The land- title controversy and the Bennington battle will have a place as separate topics. Let it suffice now to say, prom- inent was the part Bennington acted in the Revolution- ary War. Here was held the council of Allen, Warner, Easton, and others, in which the expedition to Ticonderoga, which resulted, under the intrepid leadership of Allen, in the surrender of that fortress, was planned, May, 1775, and a considerable portion of the Green Mountain boys who joined the expedition were from Bennington. Ethan Allen came to the New Hampshire Grants about the year 1769,
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