PREVIOUS
TO 1802
The writer of this paper does not claim for his
work the merit of originality. He has sought to bring together in a more
connected form material the most of which has been before published in
fragments. He acknowledges his indebtedness to The Seventh-day Baptist
Memorial, published in 1852, 3, 4; James Bailey's History of the General
Conference, 1866; The Seventh-day Baptist Quarterly, 1884; sundry
articles published at different times in The Sabbath Recorder; A History of
Washington County, R.I, found in the Library of Milton College, and to Mr. C.
H. Greene, of Alfred, N. Y., for some unpublished data gathered by him from
various records to which he has recently found access. The writer has verified
some points, especially in the New Jersey history, by his own examination of
original records.
INTRODUCTION
The history of the first Seventh-day
Baptists in America is a chapter of that general struggle for religious liberty
and the rights of conscience which is so familiar to the student of our
colonial times. It is the purpose of this paper to describe briefly the origin
of this people in America, and trace their growth to the organization of the
General Conference in 1802. This will be done, after this Introduction, under
five heads, viz.: First Seventh-day Baptists in America; Church Extension; Doctrinal
Standards; Religious Spirit and Life; Business and Public Life.
The coming of Jesus Christ into the world
was heralded by the song of "Peace on earth, good will toward men;"
and the Bringer of the good tidings was called, with the utmost appropriateness,
"The Prince of Peace." With great propriety it should be expected
that the followers of the Prince, possessing his spirit, would bear the same
good tidings to the dwellers of all lands, and in the final outcome, make an
end of all bitterness and strife. Notwithstanding this reasonable expectancy,
it is an acknowledged fact that, of all controversies waged by men, none have
been characterized by greater vehemence and bitterness than those which have
grown out of differences in religious faith and practice. It is not the
province of this paper to inquire after the causes of this paradoxical
phenomenon, but its bearing upon the origin of Seventh-day Baptists in America
cannot be ignored. The particular phases of religious belief and practice for
which men have striven and suffered have been many and varied; the processes of
the struggle have been essentially the same. He who has dared to believe
outside of the prescribed creed, or to act contrary to the established ritual,
has first been ridiculed, then denounced, and finally persecuted until he has
been compelled to leave the church which he has vainly hoped to reform and take
his stand alone for a better way. If his cause has been worthy, there have
gathered about him others of similar faith and experience, and thus has been
born a movement which has become of world-wide importance. Thus when Martin
Luther framed his immortal theses against the corruptions of the Church of
Rome, it was his sole purpose to correct the abuses against which he raised his
clarion voice. His separation from the church, which he loved, and the
Protestant Reformation, with which his name will always be associated, formed
no part of his original thought or plan. The great Protestant movement was the
result of the efforts of the church to force him and his followers into
unquestioning submission to the iron tyranny of the Papacy. The controversies
of the next century, which arose within the Protestant church, resulted in a
similar way in a separation of the Independents from the English Established
Church, giving what is, more familiarly known as the Puritan movement. A little
later, the English Baptists were compelled to become independent of the
Independents, or stifle their convictions on the question of Bible baptism. The
Baptist rule, applied to the Bible teaching concerning the Sabbath, made many
of these Baptists Seventh-day Baptists: and these, too, soon found that all
hope of reform within the church was hopeless, and were compelled to take their
stand alone for conscience's sake.
As the Seventh-day Baptist cause in America
dates back almost to Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower, a brief statement of
conditions at that time seems necessary to a proper understanding of its
origin.
During the first decade of the seventeenth
century, the church of Independents at Scrooby, England, in order to escape the
growing intolerance of the Established church, had emigrated, under the
leadership of John Robinson, to Holland. Ten years of experience sufficed to
convince them that the liberty of conscience which they sought was not to be
found in that country. Face to face with failure if they remained, and almost
certain of sorer trials should they return to England, they determined to try
their fortunes in the new world. Accordingly, after many discouragements, and
great suffering, the ever-famous Mayflower band of Pilgrims landed, December
20, 1620, at Plymouth in the Massachusetts Bay Colony; and began that struggle
for life and the rights of conscience for which they had already suffered much,
and were destined to suffer yet much more. Soon their numbers were increased by
other emigrants from Holland and by larger numbers who fled from the cruel
tyranny of Archbishop Laud in England. Strange as it may seem, these sufferers
for conscience's sake began, almost from the beginning of their settlement, to
formulate their doctrines and practices into laws which were quite as severe
against those who dissented from them as were those of the mother church from
which they had fled. To escape these severities colonists of the Baptist faith
pressed their way through the unbroken forests to the New Haven Colony, now
Connecticut. Here again they were driven from place to place until finally they
took a more united stand on the island of Rhode Island, where now stands the
city of Newport. Here was organized the first Baptist church in the colonies,
which was destined to become the principal source of the great Baptist family
of churches in the United States. These Rhode Island settlements, including
Newport, Providence and Portsmouth, soon became the basis of the Rhode Island
Colony, afterwards assuming the more pretentious name of the State of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations. Foremost among the names of the men who
carried these movements to success stands that of Roger Williams. Associated
with him, and scarcely less efficient and influential in this pioneer work were
Samuel Hubbard, the Clarkes - John, Thomas and Joseph - and a number of others,
some of whose names have become household words in many Seventh-day Baptist
homes to the present day.
I. FIRST SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS
About the year 1664, Mr. Stephen Mumford, a
member of the Bell Lane Seventh-day Baptist church, in London, came to Rhode
Island, and finding no church of his faith, he affiliated with the Baptist
church in Newport. During the next few years, a number of the members of that
church embraced his views concerning the Sabbath and the perpetuity of the Ten
Commandments. Prominent among these were Samuel and Tacy Hubbard and their
daughter, Rachel; William Hiscox, Roger Baster, Nicholas Wild and wife and John
Solmon and wife. Most of these had suffered with the Puritans for their faith
and thus were trained for the trials through which they were soon to pass. It
was not their intention to sever their connection with the Baptist church, for
they thought surely a people who had suffered as the Baptists had done for
Bible baptism would fellowship those who observed and defended the Bible
Sabbath. They soon discovered, however, that, even in the church of Roger
Williams, liberty of conscience meant liberty to believe and practice according
to established dogmas and decrees. Elder John Clark, Mark Luker and Obadiah
Holmes, who were leaders in the church, began to preach against the practice of
the Sabbath-keepers and to denounce them as heretics and schismatics. Mr.
Clark, especially, taught that the whole of the Ten Commandments was done away,
and that, therefore, these Sabbath-keepers had denied Christ and gone back to
the "beggarly elements." His associates, while not always agreeing
with his doctrines concerning the law, were quite agreed in opposing the course
of these Sabbath-keepers. The controversy became so sharp that four of the
number- Nicholas Wild and wife and John Solmon and wife gave up the struggle
and returned to First-day keeping. This was not only a serious loss to the
little company, but it also complicated, in no small degree, their relations to
the church. The tension of feeling, caused by the controversy, had already
raised the question of the propriety of taking the communion with the church.
Now that four of their number, who had been enlightened on the Sabbath truth
and who had forsaken it, were still members and regular communicants in the
church, the question of communing with them became more difficult. After much
prayer they decided that they could not commune with these persons and
consequently could not commune with the church. This brought the case to an
open trial. The Sabbath-keepers were cited to appear before the church and show
cause why they had denied Christ not only in going to Moses for the Law, but
had again denied him in refusing the emblems of his body and blood. They
joyfully appeared at the appointed time and place, expecting a fair hearing.
But they soon found that the purpose of the meeting was not to hear the reasons
for their faith and practice, but to point out to them their "error,"
and to compel them to abandon it. When they proposed that William Hiscox speak
for the company, in which they were all agreed, the church persistently refused
to hear him. After a long controversy, in which feelings, on both sides, grew
more intense, the accused came to consider themselves the aggrieved rather than
the offending party, and Tacy Hubbard , "gave forth the grounds" for
their grievance in three pointed items:
1. The apostasy of
those four persons.
2. That speech of
Brother Holmes, "Woe to the world because of offenses;" in which
discourse he said, "Offenses are such as arise from brethren of the
church, such as deny Christ, and have turned to Moses in observing days, times,
years, etc., and that it is better that a millstone were hanged about the neck
of such, and they be cast into the sea."
3. The dismal
laying aside of the ten precepts together with the leading brethren denying of
them at the meeting.
In the discussions which followed, Elder
Hiscox, and Tacy and Samuel Hubbard stoutly defended both the positions which
they held and their right to hold them in precisely the same way as that in
which they, together with those who are now opposing them, had defended the
cause of the Baptists in the Puritan controversy. They also bore grateful
testimony to the joy they found in keeping God's Holy Sabbath. Failing to
obtain any relief from the strain of the situation, and becoming convinced that
they could not keep the Sabbath and walk in fellowship with the church, the
faithful five formally withdrew December 7, 1671. A little later, December 23,
1671, they, with Stephen Mumford and wife, seven in all, entered into solemn
covenant with each other, as the First Seventh-day Baptist church of Newport -
the first church of that faith on the American continent. In the year 1684,
only thirteen years after the organization of the first church of Newport, Abel
Noble came to America and purchased a large tract of land in Ducks County,
Pennsylvania, about twenty-five miles north of Philadelphia, and about
twenty-five or thirty miles west of Trenton, N. J. It has been generally
believed that Mr. Noble was a Seventh-day Baptist preacher in England. Data
more recently discovered lead to the conclusion that this was a mistake. What
his church connection was is not clear; but soon after his settlement in
Pennsylvania he began to travel somewhat extensively in various sections of New
Jersey, where he met the Rev. Thomas Chillingworth, an eminent Baptist
preacher, who was believed to have organized the first Baptist church in New
Jersey at Piscataway, near New Brunswick. By him Mr. Noble was baptized. At
this time there were large numbers of Quakers in the vicinity of Philadelphia
both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Among, these there arose a dissension
concerning the sufficiency of the "Inner Light" and the value of the
Scriptures as the rule of faith and practice. This resulted in a division,
large numbers embracing substantially the Baptist doctrine under the leadership
of George Keith. Abel Noble appears to have been prominent among these people,
where he seems to have had great influence. Not far from this time, while on a
tour through East New Jersey, Mr. Noble met the Rev. William Gillette, M.D.,
from Saybrook, or Milford, Conn., who was a Seventh-day Baptist, and through
his teaching Mr. Noble accepted the Sabbath doctrine and returned to his home
to proclaim it. Through his labors a considerable number of the Keithian
Baptists were converted to the Sabbath, concerning whom more will be said in
the next chapter of this paper.
In the last decade of the seventeenth
century, Edmund Dunham was a deacon and licensed preacher in the Baptist church
at Piscataway, New Jersey. In 1702 he took occasion to reprove a Mr. Bonham for
performing labor upon the First day of the week. Whereupon Mr. Bonham
challenged him for the proof that it was sin to labor on that day. Whether Mr.
Bonham was a Sabbath-keeper or not is not clear; but the challenge caused Mr.
Dunham to make a thorough investigation of the whole subject which resulted in
his conversion to the Sabbath. The whole community appears to have been deeply
stirred over the matter and many people betook themselves to a prayerful study
of the Scriptures, and a number of persons were led to acknowledge the claims
of the Sabbath. Like the little band at Newport, little more than a generation
before, it was not the intention of these brethren to separate themselves from
the Baptist church. But the agitation became so strong and the feeling on both
sides so intense that the only hope of peace and the enjoyment of freedom of
speech and practice lay in their separation and the organization of a
Seventh-day Baptist church. This was accomplished in the summer of 1705 under
the name of the First Seventh-day Baptist Church of Piscataway, New Jersey. It
was composed of 17 members. From these three centers - Newport, Philadelphia
and Piscataway, the truth of the Sabbath, following the tides of emigration
westward, moved forward in three distinct lines.
II. CHURCH EXTENSION
From the organization of the first church at
Newport in 1671 to the organization of the Seventh-day Baptist General
Conference in 1802, the period covered by this paper, was 131 years. They were
eventful years in the history of the country - years of consecrated Christian
living, of clear thinking and of earliest defence and propagation of religious
truth, as well as years of hard fought battles for civil and political liberty.
The pioneer Seventh-day Baptists were men and women of marked character. They
bore well their part in all these great movements.
The little church at Newport grew, both by
the coming of Seventh-day Baptists from England and by frequent conversions to
the Sabbath in the colony; but whether by one method or the other, the new
accessions were accessions of real strength.
The first pastor was William Hiscox, one of
the first Sabbath converts under the teaching of Stephen Mumford. He was a man
of great ability and sterling integrity. He was chosen by the Baptist church in
Newport to defend the Baptist faith in an open discussion with the Puritans in
Boston, after he had become widely known as a Seventh-day Baptist and the
pastor of a church of that faith. As was to have been expected the church grew
rapidly under his able and faithful ministry. A considerable number having
settled in the town of Misquamicutt, afterward called Westerly, on the main
land, meetings were held among them as well as upon the island. Mr. Hiscox was
assisted in his labors during the latter part of his pastorate by Elder William
Gibson, who was a Seventh-day Baptist preacher in London, England, before
coming to America. On the death of Elder Hiscox, in 1704, after a fruitful
pastorate of 33 years, Elder Gibson became the pastor in full charge, and
continued in the office for the next 13 years. In the early part of his
pastorate, 1708, a church on the main land was organized. At first this church
was known as the Seventh-day Baptist church of Westerly; but years afterwards,
when the township was divided and the northwestern part became the town of
Hopkinton, the church took the name of the First Seventh-day Baptist Church of
Christ in Hopkinton, the name by, which it is still known. This step was not
taken, however, without much thought and earnest prayer, for, though the number
of those residing in Westerly was rapidly outgrowing the number remaining in
Newport, and, although the advantage of having a church with the ordinances of
the gospel in their midst was apparent to all, the common experiences and
labors of those who had stood together for a generation, had formed ties too
strong to be easily severed. It was not until some plan for joint meetings of
the two churches, and apparently for the interchange of ministerial labor had
been made that the Newport brethren consented to the division. As early, as
1696, twelve years before the organization of the church in Westerly, an Annual
Meeting was appointed to be held at Newport, at which it was expected that all
the brethren from the mainland, as well as those upon the island, should be
present. This annual meeting was continued through this entire period and may
be regarded as the nucleus around which the General Conference was finally
gathered. As the number of members grew and the difficulty of getting a general
attendance at Newport increased, the sessions began to be held in Westerly.
These meetings were occasions of great spiritual refreshing. The preaching was
with much fervor, strengthening and encouraging the people of God, awakening
the careless, and often leading multitudes to the foot of the cross for peace
and pardon. In the regular work of the two churches although each had its own
pastor, there appears to have been much preaching and pastoral work performed
interchangeably, or in co-operation. Eld. Gibson., the second pastor of the
Newport church, resided in Westerly both while assistant to Eld. Hiscox and
after he became his successor. The third of the Newport pastors was Joseph
Crandall, who served the church continuously for 37 years. During this long
period sixty persons were added to the church by baptism. He was followed by
John Maxson, who served the church 24 years, under whose labors nearly as many
more were added to the church.
The next and last pastorate of this period
was that of Wm. Bliss, which extended from 1779 to 1808, six years beyond the
organization of the General Conference. During this pastorate ninety-five were
added to the church. While the figures can not be accurately given, it is
probable that not less than 250 persons, during these years, were added to the
Newport church, although at the organization of the Conference the church
reported 80 members. Making a liberal allowance for losses by death and some
falling away from the faith, there must have been a large number who had moved
to other localities. Without doubt, the larger part of these united with the
church at Westerly, which, meanwhile, had grown to a membership of more than
600, living in Western Rhode Island, Eastern Connecticut and the eastern end of
Long Island. The scattered condition of the church made the labors of the
pastor arduous, so that for much of the time, men were called by the church to
the ministry and ordained as assistant pastors, and not infrequently deacons
were given authority to administer the ordinances as occasion might require. On
account of this joint pastorship, it is difficult to give, with accuracy, the
succession of pastors of the Westerly church. Among them we find the names of
John Maxson, Sen., John Maxson, Jr., Thos. Hiscox, Thos. Clarke, Joshua Clarke,
John Burdick, and others.
Before the organization of the Conference,
settlements had been extended to New London, Conn., where a church was
organized in 1784; to the Little Hoosic Valley, in Rensselaer County, New York,
where a church was organized in 1780, which took the name of Hoosic, later
Petersburg, and now Berlin and to Brookfield, in Madison County, New York,
where the First Seventh-day Baptist church of Brookfield was organized in 1797.
All of these churches continue until the present time. Besides these, churches
were organized along this route of emigration, which have long since ceased to
exist, but some of which contributed largely to the strength and growth of our
people in other localities. Chief among these were Burlington, Conn., 1780,
Bristol, Conn., sometimes called Farmington, 1790, and Oyster Pond, L. I.,
about 1790. Besides these organized churches, there were small groups of
Sabbath-keepers, or families of lone Sabbath-keepers, all along this line. From
Oyster Pond, Long Island, from Saybrook, Conn., where lived the Gillette
family, and from Rhode Island, originated the church in Monmouth County, New
Jersey, sometimes called the church of Squam. These nine churches, the result
of the New England movement, were all in active existence at the time of the
organization of the Conference and numbered, in all, about 1,200 members. The
church last named had a short and somewhat peculiar history. It was organized
in 1745, and about 1790, under the lead of its third pastor, the Rev. Jacob
Davis, it removed bodily to Woodbridgetown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where
a church was organized which reported to the Conference as late as 1853. The
pastor, and a few others, soon after the settlement at Woodbridgetown, resumed
the line of emigration, until they reached New Salem, Virginia, now Salem, West
Virginia. Three or four years later than this, Eld. Davis returned to
Woodbridgetown on a missionary visit, where he was taken sick and died. His
descendants, in large numbers, continue till the present time, and form a
considerable part of the Sabbath-keepers in West Virginia, and elsewhere. It is
said that there has not been a generation of this family without a
representation in the ministry of the Seventh-day Baptist church from Wm.
Davis, who came to this country in 1682, to the present time, - a period of 221
years, the writer of this paper being one of the number. The venerable Samuel
D. Davis of Jane Lew, West Virginia, is a grandson of Eld. Jacob Davis, above
mentioned.
The Seventh-day Baptist movement begun by
Abel Noble among the Keithian Quaker Baptists, near Philadelphia, had a rapid
development. Almost within the first quarter of the 18th century there had
sprung up four or five churches of considerable size among these people.
Comparatively little is known of them now, but we have the names of French
Creek Pennepek, Upper Providence, Nottingham, and Newtown. We also have the names
of several men who preached to the people of these churches. Foremost among
these stands the name of Abel Noble, though no record has been found which
would indicate that he was ever a member of any of the churches. After him is
Enoch David, some of whose descendants are still living among our people, and
then follow Thomas Martin, William and Philip Davis, Lewis Williams, Thomas
Rutter - and possibly some others, concerning whom little is known, except that
they were preachers of the Gospel in these churches. While each church had its
own place of meeting and maintained its own appointments for worship, they had
a Yearly Meeting, which all were expected to attend. As the churches were
located in adjoining counties, this was not difficult. While this Yearly
Meeting was sometimes held with one church and sometimes with another, Newtown
appears to have been the principal place of assembly, which leads to the
conclusion that this was regarded as one of the stronger churches. To a Yearly
Meeting held at French Creek, in 1745. the church at Piscataway, New Jersey,
sent Jonathan Dunham for ordination. This service was performed by Elder Lewis
Williams and Abel Noble.
One of these churches, probably Nottingham,
was located close to the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and some of
its members lived in Cecil County in the latter named state. Among these were
several families of Bonds who soon moved on through Maryland and Delaware, and
finally settled on Lost Creek, in Virginia, thus forming a second center from
which has sprung another large part of the Seventh-day Baptist family in West
Virginia of the present day, and thence spread to various other points
throughout the denomination. Other families from these churches took a line of
emigration still further southward and formed settlements and organized
churches in Georgia and South Carolina. These little settlements were short
lived, and the active life of the group near Philadelphia was limited to this
period, the only visible, permanent result of the movement being the portion
which was transplanted into the Lost Creek region. A burying ground near
Newtown still marks the site of that church.
The Piscataway movement, though not as wide
spread as the New England movement, was more permanent than that just described.
At the organization of the church in 1705, its founder, Edmund Dunham, was
chosen pastor, and was sent to Newport for ordination. The Yearly Meeting
convened that year in Westerly, and there Mr. Dunham was ordained by Eld.
Gibson, the Newport pastor. The members of this church were widely scattered so
that the pastor, in the performance of his duties, had to make long journeys,
which he did either on foot or on horseback, covering the country for a
distance of thirty or forty miles. Though the principal place of meeting was at
Piscataway, regular meetings were also held in Hopewell Township, and at
Trenton; meetings were also held at numerous other places, but less statedly
than at the three principal points just mentioned. Eld. Dunham performed these
labors for a period of 29 years, during which time the church grew to over 70
members. His son, Jonathan Dunham, succeeded him, serving the church for eleven
years as a licensed preacher, rather than as pastor, finally accepting
ordination, which took place at the Yearly Meeting at French Creek, in
Pennsylvania, as already stated. After his ordination, he continued to serve
the church until his death in 1777, a period of 32 years, making a continuous
service of 43 years. As will be seen by the date above given, Eld. Dunham died
in the early part of the Revolutionary War. New Jersey forming the coast line
between Eastern New York and Eastern Pennsylvania, was naturally the storm
center of that great contest; and the town of Piscataway, lying in the direct route
between the port of New York and the port of Philadelphia, by way of Bordentown
and Trenton, the church at Piscataway was exposed to the manifold hardships of
such a struggle - the desolations of war. Many of its able-bodied men, as
privates or officers, joined the patriot army: others gathered together their
live stock, and, taking such of their household effects as they could
conveniently carry, with their families, sought greater safety in the mountains
lying a few miles to the north of them; and still others, who could not get
away or would not go, remained to give such aid as they could, from their
fields or from their scanty stores, to the suffering patriots, or to see their
possessions wasted by the British soldiery, as the varying fortunes of war
might determine. Under these distressing conditions, the church was sadly
broken up. There was no pastor to hold the scattered remnants together, and for
a number of years, Sabbath meetings were held only at irregular intervals.
After the successful issue of the great struggle the survivors returned from
the army, or from their temporary homes in the mountains, and began to resume
their peaceful vocations in homes desolated by war. Under these conditions,
Eld. Nathan Rogers came from New London (Waterford). Connecticut, and took the
pastoral care of the scattered flock in 1786, and during the next eleven years,
65 persons were added to the church. He was followed in 1797 by Eld. Henry
McLafferty, who was still the pastor when the General Conference was organized
in 1802.
In the decade between 1730 and 1740,
families from different points within the boundaries of the Piscataway church,
made settlements on the Cohansey Creek, in Cumberland County, New Jersey, about
40 miles south from Philadelphia. These were joined by others from Shrewsbury,
and in 1737 they were constituted a church in sister relation. The first pastor
was Eld. Jonathan Davis, who, together with several others of that name, was a
descendant of a family of Davises, who came to this country from
Glamorganshire, Wales, about 1649, and settled somewhere in New Jersey.
Subsequently they lived on Long Island, then near Trenton, N. J.; thence they
removed to Cohansey. Somewhere, probably in the course of this itinerary, they
came in contact with Sabbath-keepers, and most of them appear to have embraced
the Sabbath. It is believed that Eld. William Gillette, M. D., who was a
Sabbath-keeping French Hugenot refugee, was the man through whose influence
this was brought about. Elder Davis served the church faithfully and acceptably
for 32 years, during which time the church grew to several times its original
numbers. The pastor, at the end of this period, was Eld. Nathan Avers, when the
church numbered go members. Within the next ten years, in 1811, a number of the
members of this church, living principally in Salem County, north-west from the
Cohansey settlement, were organized into the church known as the Seventh-day
Baptist church of Marlboro; and in 1838, fifty-one members, principally of the
Piscataway church, were duly organized as the Seventh-day Baptist church of
Plainfield, in Union County. Thus this movement resulted eventually in four-
churches in New Jersey, which with subsequent accessions, have continued strong
and active to the present day.
Besides those who have remained to maintain
the life and usefulness of these churches, members have gone out from them to
find a place of usefulness and honor in almost every Seventh-day Baptist church
of the central and northern streams of emigration from the Atlantic to the
Pacific coasts.
Thus from these original centers, Newport,
Rhode Island; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Piscataway, New Jersey, streams
of Seventh-day Baptist emigration flowed westward through Connecticut into New
York State, through Long Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, into Virginia,
and southwestward into the Carolinas and Georgia, until in 1802, there were not
less than 20 churches and settlements of Sabbath-keepers, in nine or ten
colonies or states, and numbering about 2,000 members. Eight of these churches,
being the larger ones, numbering between 1,100 and 1,200 members reported to
the General Conference at its first anniversary in 1803.
III. DOCTRINAL STANDARDS
As we have already seen, the earliest
Seventh-day Baptists in America were adherents of the Baptist church. In
general terms, therefore, they may be said to have held the tenets of that
body, parting company with them on the doctrine of the Sabbath, and the
perpetuity of the Ten Commandments. The extreme congregationalism of the
Baptist people which gave absolute independence to the individual church in all
matters of discipline, extended itself quite generally to the adoption of
articles of faith. For this reason they never had formal standards of doctrine
applicable to all churches in any such sense as such standards apply to
Presbyterian and ritualistic churches. Seventh-day Baptists were even more
independent than the Baptists, from whom they came. If there was general
agreement between the articles of faith of different churches, it was the
agreement of individuals having common experiences, purposes and hopes, rather
than the uniformity arising from the acceptance of a creed imposed by some
central, authoritative body. All Seventh-day Baptist creeds, so far as they
have come to the knowledge of the writer, have recognized the person and
attributes of God, together with his sovereign power over all his creatures,
the nature and destiny of man, salvation through Jesus Christ, sanctification
by the Holy Spirit, and the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures as the rule of
faith and practice. They have also generally added special statements
concerning the Bible doctrine of Baptism, the Sabbath, the Lord's Supper, the
Resurrection of the dead, the judgment and the future existence of both the
righteous and the wicked.
A few specifications will serve to show
where the emphasis of doctrinal thought in these early times was laid. For
generations, running down to, and through, the period covered by this paper,
were the parallel doctrines of the Sovereignty of God, and the Free-will of
man. Ultra-Calvanism, on the one hand, exalted the Divine Sovereignty in such a
manner and to such a degree as to render any exercise of the human will
practically impossible; Ultra-Armenianism, on the other hand, gave so much
prominence to the freedom of the human will, that it seemed to leave very
little room for the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of a man in his
conversion or in his subsequent religious life. The original Baptists were strongly
Calvinistic. Leading men among Seventh-day Baptists early sought the medium
ground on which the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty might be held consistently
with the doctrine of the freedom of the human will, without which, they held,
there could, be no human choices and, consequently, no human responsibility.
Thus, all unconsciously, our fathers became forerunners in the adoption of that
modified Calvinism now generally adopted by churches once severely Calvinistic.
Again, there appears to have been pretty
well defined notions upon the doctrine of the person of Christ. When a certain
brother from New Jersey went to Rhode Island and offered himself for membership
in the church at Newport, warning was sent from New Jersey that he was not
orthodox. On examination it was found that he held that Jesus Christ was not a
divine person, nor a human person but a mixture of the two. "The Divine
nature," he said, "united with the human nature to form a third
nature that was neither divine nor human." He illustrated his thought by
saying that when water and wine mix in a glass, the content is thenceforth
neither water nor wine. In other words, the union of the two natures in one
person without destroying the distinction of the natures was, by him, denied.
On this account he was for some time refused membership, although there appear
to have been some considerations, other than doctrinal unsoundness, which
operated against his request. When he was finally admitted, it was agreed that
his doctrinal notions were of such a nature that no practical harm could come
from them.
The Sabbath-keepers were forced to face the
doctrine of restricted communion in a very practical way before the first
Seventh-day Baptist church was organized. In fact, it was the determining point
of their separation. Being members of the Baptist church, they were
communicants with that body. But when four of their company, who had been
keeping the Sabbath, forsook them and went back to Sunday-keeping, they were
compelled to recognize the inconsistency of keeping fellowship with Sabbath
apostates. After much earnest prayerful thought they decided that they could no
longer continue this inconsistent practice, whereupon they refused to go to the
communion. As we have already seen, this brought on the controversy which
resulted in their withdrawal from their Baptist brethren, and the organization
of a church of their own faith and practice. The logic of the event,
unavoidably placed the new church on the restricted communion basis, where it
has consistently remained, though in this, as in most other matters of faith
and practice, large liberty of individual opinion has been allowed.
Occasionally also the experiment has been made of conducting Sabbath-keeping
churches on the so-called free communion basis, almost always with
disintegrating and destructive effect. A notable example of this, within this
period, is the "Wilcox Church," in Rhode Island. This appears to have
been an effort to eliminate all "tests of fellowship," and, although
their records speak often of their "covenant," no form of it has ever
been found, and no articles of faith. One case of discipline for performing
secular labor on the Sabbath is on record, which, together with the fact that
their early members were Sabbath-keepers, and that their meetings for worship
were held on the Sabbath, shows that the movement was a revolt from the
Seventh-day Baptist Church on the communion question. It was promoted by Isaiah
Wilcox, who was the first, and, apparently, the only pastor. He was joined by
his brother, David Wilcox; Elisha Sisson and Valentine Wilcox. It is first
mentioned in 1765, and the last record was made in 1810. In this brief time the
church numbered in all three or four hundred members, embracing both
Sabbath-keepers and First-day-keepers. They insisted so strenuously upon the
doctrine of free communion that they positively refused to grant one, Charles
Babcock, a permit to join the Seventh-day Baptist Church, of Brookfield, lest
he should be brought into bondage to the creed of that church. He was finally
told that he might go if the Brookfield church would allow him still to commune
with them, otherwise he must remain with them or be thrust out as a covenant
breaker! The site of this church, on the "post road" some two and a half
miles southeast of the present village of Westerly, is still pointed out. The
heterogeneous character of this church, its swift decline and its utter
extinction is a striking commentary upon the doctrine of free communion among
Seventh-day Baptists.
What is known as the Rogerene Quaker
movement sprang up considerably earlier than the free communion movement. Its
chief promoters appear to have been the brothers, John and James Rogers, of New
London, Connecticut. They, with many of their family connections, were Seventh-day
Baptists, principally members of the church at Newport. They had suffered much
for their faith in their Connecticut home. The defection grew out of a peculiar
method of applying Scripture tests to all religious practices. They, said
whatever does not rest upon a direct Scripture command or warrant, is
unscriptural, and, therefore, wrong. Christian people of that time generally
held family prayers night and morning; also when sick or suffering any physical
injury they took medicine, or called in the doctor. The Rogerenes found no
direct warrant in the Scriptures for such practices; therefore, they
discontinued family prayer, and refused medicines in sickness, or the services
of the surgeon in case of serious accident. They also had much to say against
stated formal public services, the employment of a "hireling
ministry," etc., though they continued to observe the Sabbath, to baptize
their converts, and to partake of the communion. The movement began when as yet
the membership of Sabbath-keepers in America was confined almost exclusively to
the church at Newport, and ran through this period, although it never became
very strong or widespread. They finally became a part of the New England Quaker
body. With the exception of this sentimental and abortive effort to establish a
free communion Seventh-day Baptist Church, and the more permanent but not
widespread Rogerene movement, the doctrinal standards of the churches of this
period were eminently Scriptural and, therefore, in the truest sense, orthodox.
The people were first Protestants, then Independents, then Baptists and then,
still following the Protestant doctrine of the Scriptures as the final
authority on questions of faith and practice, they were logically and
necessarily Seventh-day Baptists.
IV. SPIRIT AND DISCIPLINE
In spirit the early Seventh-day Baptists in
America were remarkably charitable. In common with the Puritans of the time,
they had suffered much for the rights of conscience; and in common with their
brethren, the Baptists, they had maintained, sometimes at great cost, the right
of private interpretation of the Scriptures. But their own trials had taught
them the sweet lessons of charity. Unlike the severer Puritanism, which sought
to press everything into its own peculiar mold, they had no doctrines or
practices which they wished to force upon others, save through an enlightened
conscience. While they were strict in their own observance of their faith, and
were ready always to defend that faith against all comers, they freely accorded
to others the liberty of thought, conscience and speech which they asked for
themselves. They were defenders of the principles of religious liberty of the
truest and highest type. In this broad spirit of Christian charity they struck,
at the very outset, the proper attitude of Seventh-day Baptists on the question
of legislation in religious matters. For themselves, they never asked of the
civil authorities anything but the right to read their Bible and to practice
its teachings at such times and in such manner as an enlightened conscience
might dictate, and to be protected in such exercise. For others they demanded
only that liberty and protection which the so strenuously demanded for
themselves.
There can be no other consistent attitude
for Seventh-day Baptists today upon this question of civil legislation upon
religious subjects, which is occupying so large a place in the minds of many
religious reformers of the present time. The logic of their faith put our
fathers early in the right attitude on this question. We shall be worthy sons
of such noble fathers only as we stand consistently on the same broad platform
of the truest charity.
The discipline of these early churches of
our denomination was well nigh ideal. The brethren exercised the most jealous
watchcare over each other. Absence from any public meeting of the church was
noted; and absence from three or four consecutive appointments became a matter
of official inquiry. The cause of such neglect of covenant obligation was
sought, and if no good reason for it could be shown, the delinquent was
earnestly exhorted to again "take up his walk" with the church. Page
after page of the early records of some of these churches is filled with
accounts of such labor. Through it all ran a manifest spirit of love for the
brotherhood, and the course of discipline usually resulted in the reformation
of the delinquent. When, however, the case proved to be one of deliberate
intent to violate the covenant vows of a member, or an obstinate disregard of
their claims, with no promise of reformation, the offending member was cut off,
not without loving exhortations to an amendment of life, and with a wide-open
door for a return with suitable evidence of repentance and reformation.
This loving regard among the members of the
individual church for each other appears to have run through the entire
fellowship of churches. Thus it was common for one church having trouble of
some sort to ask counsel and help from some sister church. This was especially
the case when one of the newer churches or settlements was in difficulty.
Appeal would be made to the mother church or churches from which most of them
had come. In such cases delegates - generally the pastor with one or two of the
leading men - would be appointed to visit the troubled church to help in
settling the case. Their work was done with the utmost pains to learn all the
facts in the case, with the deepest spirit of love for all concerned, and with
the sincerest desire to preserve the purity and power of the church.
Again, it is gratifying to be able to note
that no important action affecting the interest of the church or churches
concerned was allowed to be taken until the personal opinion and preference of
the members was first obtained. When a group of persons, living remote from any
church of Sabbath-keepers desired to be organized into a church by themselves,
they sent request for such organization to the church of which most of them
were members. A committee was then appointed to visit the community. This
committee passed from house to house and took a complete census of their
desire. Returning to the home church they reported the result of their
investigations, and made a similar canvas of the home church to ascertain the
personal views of the members on the propriety of granting the request. The
desire on the part of the petitioners being found to be unanimous, and the
motion to grant the request being without opposition, the organization was then
effected. The new church was thus, in the deepest and truest sense, a church in
sister relation.
In like manner, men refused appointment to
office, or to positions of service in the church, such as that of Elders or
Deacons, if there was any possible reason to suspect that the choice was not
unanimous. The candidate, if he felt called to the work, made diligent inquiry
for the reason or reasons why any member made objection to his election. If the
answer revealed obstacles which he could remove, he removed them; if not, he
patiently waited for conditions to change, or for the objector to withdraw his
objections. This is a most striking example of the fulfilment of the
instruction of Jesus: -"If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift
before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then
come and offer thy gift."
From this brief sketch of the spirit and
discipline of the early church, it must not be inferred that the work always
went smoothly. A Scripture writer of the olden time had occasion to remark:
"There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before
the Lord, and Satan came also among them, to present himself before the
Lord." It may be fairly questioned whether there has ever been a period in
the history of the church, ancient or modern, when this was not true; certainly
our fathers found it true in their experience, and sometimes it gave them
serious trouble. But the dominance of the spirit of love and forbearance
generally led them to righteous decisions and in the end to peaceable
settlement of all their difficulties.
V. BUSINESS AND PUBLIC LIFE
No sketch of the first Seventh-day Baptists
in America would be in any sense complete which did not take account of the
fact that they were early identified, in a most practical and efficient way,
with the material, the intellectual and the political, as well as the
religious, welfare of their country. While spirituality and loyalty to the
truth of God, as he reveals it by his Spirit and Word, are the center of real
power in the church, those sturdy qualities in its members which put them at
the front in business enterprises, in the arts and sciences, and in
governmental affairs, widen their influence and deepens their power.
Spirituality and consecrated talent is of far greater worth than spirituality
and ignorance. Our fathers were sturdy, intelligent, and able men. The limits
of this paper forbid the record of incidents which bear unmistakable evidence
of the truth of this statement, beyond a few typical cases.
We have already spoken of the Puritan
intolerance which drove the Baptists from Massachusetts into the wilderness of
the New Haven colony, and following them there, again drove them to the
necessity of seeking a more quiet home in the Rhode Island colony, for which Roger
Williams and others obtained a charter from England about 1647. It was a
colonist from Newport who settled in the western part of this colony in what
was then, called the "Narragansett" country, bought realty rights of
the Indians and organized the first township in the Rhode Island colony, which
they named Misquamicutt. It was bounded on the south by the Atlantic ocean, on
the west by the Pawcatuck river, which separated it from the New Haven colony
and from these boundaries extend northward fifteen or twenty miles, and
eastward twelve or fifteen miles, and included the present towns of Westerly,
Hopkinton, Richmond and Charlestown. The men, almost without exception, who did
this pioneer organizing and developing work either were, at the time, or soon after
became, members of the Seventh-day Baptist Church at Newport. A few years later
the town was incorporated and took the name of Westerly. The land of this
township, acquired from the Indians by purchase, was apportioned among the
forty or fifty settlers on a sort of contract, consisting of quite a series of
articles, the most important of which was the prompt payment of their
proportionate part of the purchase, and an agreement to enter at once upon the
possession of the purchase and remain subject to call for the defense of the
settlement. The management of the affairs of the town was entrusted to a small
committee of able men, all of whom save one were Seventh-day Baptists. The
making and holding of the deeds and other papers relating to the landed rights
of the settlers was in the hands of one William Vahan, or Vaughan - a member of
the Seventh-day Baptist Church at Newport. The article in the settlers contract
which pledged him to the defence of their rights of possession, meant much and
required a degree of character and manly courage of which we can have little
conception. The Indians, although they had been fairly bought out, were
naturally jealous and suspicious of the white settlers and gave them some
annoyance; but the Puritans were worse enemies than the Indians. The Baptist,
and Seventh-day Baptist doctrine of the rights of private interpretation of the
Scriptures, and of holding assemblies for worship where and how they pleased,
were, in the minds of these Puritans, the rankest kind of heresies. Naturally,
they were very unwilling that a colony should spring up in their midst, the
distinguishing feature of which was not only the toleration but the propagation
of these heresies. I am not sure also that they were not covetous of their
goodly possessions. Whatever the motive, they sought by every means to
subjugate the settlers or drive them out. The jealousies between Massachusetts
and Connecticut, to use modern names, added to the severities which the
settlers endured. On the one hand Massachusetts sought to extend her
jurisdiction over the entire territory of Rhode Island to the Connecticut
boundary; on the other hand the Connecticut authorities crossed the Pawcatuck
river and sent their surveyors to establish the eastern boundary far enough to the
eastward to include, at least, the whole of Misquamicutt, Westerly, in
Connecticut territory. Thus between the suspicions of their keen-eyed Indian
neighbors, the bigoted intolerance of the heresy hating Puritans, and the land
hunger of rival colonies, the settlers who had pledged their lives and fortunes
in the defense of their rights, soon found that they had taken no small
contract. They did not flinch, and in the end they won, on every point.
Among those chosen as conservators of the
rights of the settlers and of the Rhode Island colonists, were Tobias Saunders,
Robert Burdick, John Crandall, Joseph Clarke, all Seventh-day Baptists, with
others whose names are familiar in all our churches today. For the peaceful
performance of their duties, Saunders and Burdick were forcibly seized by the
Massachusetts authorities, dragged to Boston, condemned to pay a fine of 40
each, and cast into prison until the fine should be paid, and the prisoners
should give bonds in the sum of 100 to observe the peace of the commonwealth
for the future. In a similar way Crandall was dragged to the Hartford jail.
Clarke was a member of the Colonial Assembly, of Rhode Island, and ably
presented the cause of the Rhode Island colonists before the Governor of
Connecticut. Samuel Hubbard, who was a life-long friend and associate of Roger
Williams, until the death of the latter in 1683, though not one of the
Misquamicutt settlers, was, with his wife, Tacy, among their most devoted
friends and defenders. The marriage of their three daughters, Ruth, Bethia and
Rachel, respectively, to Robert Burdick, Joseph Clarke and Andrew Langworthy,-
linked three of our largest Seventh-day Baptist families, with their
outbranching lines, almost everywhere, to those two names which ought to be
enshrined in every grateful Seventh-day Baptist heart - Samuel Hubbard and Tacy
Cooper.
It would extend this paper to unwarrantable
limits to mention, with any detail, the many venerable names of these early
times, which deserve mention beside the names of the great men of our country.
Mumford, Hiscox, Gibson, Clarke, Maxson, Crandall, Babcock, Bliss, etc., of
Rhode Island; Rogers, Bebee, Gillett, Satterlee, of Connecticut; the Coons,
Clarke and Satterlee, of New York; Elisha Gillette, of Long Island; the
Davises, and the Dunhams, of New Jersey; the Davids, Bonds, etc.. of
Pennsylvania, and many others are names which tempt the pen of the genealogist
and the historian.
A few names, however, deserve especial
mention. John Ward was an officer in the English revolution of the seventeenth
century under Oliver Cromwell. His son, Thomas Ward, came to the American
colonies at the restoration of Charles the II., in 1666. Shortly after this
date, his name appears on the records, as a member of the Seventh-day Baptist
Church of Newport. He was a prominent member of the Legislature of the colony.
He married, as his second wife. Amy Smith, a grand-daughter of Roger Williams.
His son, by this second marriage, Richard Ward, was born in 1689, the year in
which Thomas, the father, died. Richard was Governor of the colony in 1741-2. Samuel Ward, another descendant of this same family,
was Governor from 1762- 1765, and then a member of the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia where he died during the first year of the Revolutionary War 1776.
He was greatly beloved and deeply mourned by his associates as well as by his
Rhode Island constituency. He was an earnest promoter of the higher education
in the colonies; and, as Governor of Rhode Island, gave the charter in 1764 for
the Rhode Island college at Providence, an institution which still lives, now
known as the Brown University. His estate was located in the present town of
Westerly, on what is familiarly known in that country as the "Shore
road," and looks out upon the open sea, between Block Island and Montauk
Point. This entire family of Wards in this country, for many generations, were
staunch Seventh-day Baptists. Though the name of Ward
has ceased from among us, their descendants are still with us.
After the death of Thomas Ward, his widow,
the mother of the first Governor Ward, married Arnold Collins, a thrifty
merchant of Newport, and member of the Seventh-day Baptist Church of that city.
To them was born a son - Henry Collins, whose name
ought to be an inspiration to every ambitious Seventh-day Baptist young man.
The half brothers, Richard Ward and Henry Collins, though separated in age by
several years, grew up together, attending the same schools, until Ward entered
into business and young Collins was sent to England for a college education, in
Oxford or Cambridge. After finishing his education, he returned to the colonies
and entered into the business, in Newport, of a goldsmith. His business was prosperous,
and, for that time, he became very wealthy. He did a large business with
foreign countries. His wealth was used for the promotion of such enterprises,
public and private, as would benefit those among whom he lived. He educated, at
his own expense, a large number of young men; he took the lead in organizing
and maintaining in the city a society, or club, for the regular study of social
and economic questions - such as would make better business men, better
citizens. He was also a patron of the fine arts, and established, at his own
expense, an art gallery in which were placed some of the best paintings, by the
ablest painters of that time. An enthusiastic historian of a little later date
pronounced him the "Lorenzo de Medici of the Colonies." His gifts to
public objects were many and generous. One which remains to the present day and
which will pass on to succeeding generations, was the gift of a beautiful plot
of ground in the finest part of the city, to the city, for a public library. A
wealthy Jew, Redwood, by name, donated a valuable collection of historical
works as the basis of the library, which is known by his name - The Redwood Library, - being one of the principal places
of interest in that city of magnificent homes, of fabulous wealth, and
fashionable foibles. In all this whirl of business, this busy thought and care
for the welfare of others, this planning and giving and doing for the
well-being of his city and country, Collins was a humble, faithful, consistent
Seventh-day Baptist-member of the church of that faith in the city. He was the
architect and principal member of the building committee for the principal
house of worship owned by the church, and gave the work as much personal
attention as though that had been his regular calling.
I cannot forbear mentioning one other New
England name - that of Deacon John Tanner, also a wealthy merchant of Newport.
Though his will is on record, and bears date of Stonington, Conn., August 26,
1776. In this will Deacon Tanner made generous remembrance of various public an
religious institutions or organizations, as well as to a large list of
relatives and personal friends. Among the former were the Seventh-day Baptist
Churches at Newport and Westerly R.I, and Piscataway, N. J., and the Rhode
Island College. Some of Deacon Tanner's descendants are still among on people
in New England.
In Western Connecticut settled a thrifty
Seventh-day Baptist family, whose home lay in the path of the contending armies
of the Revolution until they had given nearly all their substance to the
patriot cause. Under the stress of this drain upon their resources, they sold
what they had left, and moved on to Rensselaer County, in New York State; and
this gave to Petersburg, afterwards Berlin, Elder William Satterlee, and the
large Satterlee family in various parts of New York.
The part which the Seventh-day Baptists of
New Jersey took in the Revolutionary struggle has already been mentioned, a
part for which any people may justly feel proud.
The Seventh-day Baptist cause of
Philadelphia and vicinity also had its list of eminent and worthy names. We
have already mentioned the Rev. Enoch David as one of the strongest men in the
Philadelphia Sabbatarian movement. His son, Ebenezer David, was a young man of
marked ability and great promise. He graduated from the Rhode Island College
and was ordained a Seventh-day Baptist minister at Hopkinton, R.I Returning to
Philadelphia, he entered the Federal Army. He was soon after appointed
chaplain, and died in the service near Philadelphia in 1778. Descendants of
this family are still among us.
Abel Noble, the founder of the Pennsylvania
movement, notwithstanding his great activity as a preacher of righteousness and
propagandist of the Seventh-day Baptist faith, built up a large landed estate
in Bucks County, known far and near as one of the largest and wealthiest in the
county.
I forbear further individual mention. There
is ample evidence that in private business enterprises, in political and public
affairs, in local trusts, in colonial government positions, and in the National
Congress our fathers were men of sterling character, of marked ability, and of
thrifty and worthy achievements. They were loyal to all public interests and
were trusted and honored by their fellow-citizens. At the same time they were
staunch in their defense of their own religious faith, constant and consistent
in its observance. They were trusted and honored because they were men of
character and conscience.
In the midst of all this struggle for
personal religious liberty; these hard fought battles for subsistence first,
afterwards for competence; throughout these times which tried men's souls;
times which wrought out the religious, the social, the economic, the political
character of these colonies destined to become a great republic our fathers
earnestly cherished and jealously promoted the spirit of Christian love and
fellowship. They were first of all honest hearted Christian men, true to God
and loyal to his Word. This made them, in the truest sense, brethren in
sweetest charity. This, again, made them true in spirit, aim, and effort to all
that was best in human society. They thus laid the foundations of the
Seventh-day Baptist Church in America where it could stand the shock of coming
revolutions, of toppling monarchies, or crumbling republics - in characters
built on the word of eternal truth - tried and toughened by the fires of trials
and polished by the disciplines of the best possessions of men.
Accepting the inheritance which they have
handed down to us, let us see that it holds the high place on which they left
it.
