[JFR]
In this part we are going to consider other churches
that were Baptist in New England and just where
they were located. We will first start with the State
of Massachusetts.
[Newman]
BAPTIST CHURCHES IN MASSACHUSETTS
If, with most writers, we leave out of consideration
the Baptist meetings held by Obadiah Holmes and his
fellow- believers at Rehoboth in 1649, then the first
Baptist church within the territory now covered by
Massachusetts was also the first Baptist church of
Wales. The leader of the band of Welsh Baptists
who, in 1663, took refuge in New England from
persecutions under Charles II, (1662 on- ward) was
John Myles. That they should have made their way
to the Plymouth colony was natural in view of the
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well-known tolerant disposition of its authorities.
Rehoboth, where they settled, had already, as we
have seen, witnessed the holding of Baptist meetings.
Like man of the ministers who sought in New
England a refuge from the persecutions of the British
authorities, Myles had behind him a long career of
distinguished usefulness. When Obadiah Holmes
was gathering the Baptist converts of Rehoboth for
worship, Myles, and an associate, Thomas Proud by
name, were planting the Baptist banner at Ilston,
Glamorganshire, Wales. Of the early life of Myles,
we have only meager information. Born at Newton,
in Herefordshire, about 1621, we find him a student
in the University of Oxford in 1636. He sprang from
a region whose soil had been enriched by the blood
of martyrs in medieval and later times. It had been
the stronghold of Lollardism in the fourteenth
century, and it gloried in being the birthplace or the
scene of the labors of such evangelical heroes and
martyrs as Bradwardine, Sir John Oldcastle (Lord
Cobham), and Walter Brute, in the medieval time,
and of John Penry in the age of Elizabeth. The
destitution of gospel privileges in Wales about 1641
was truly appalling. Evangelical preachers had been
hunted out by the Laudian inquisition, and the great
majority of the ministers of the established church
were ignorant and corrupt. According to Vavasour
Powell, the great Baptist evangelist of Wales, "A
petition was sent to the King and Parliament about
1641, setting forth humbly and truly, by many
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responsible persons, that after minutely searching
scarcely were there found as many conscientious,
settled preachers in Wales as there were counties in
it."
Myles began his ministry about 1645, under what
circumstances or with what views of truth we are not
informed. According to the records of the Baptist
church at listen, which Myles and his brethren
brought with them to New England, the organization
took place April 1, 1649. The heading of the first
page is said to run: "Names of the brethren and sisters
who were added, to this church from the first day of
the second month [April, N. S.] in 1649 to the 16th
day of the same month in 1650." The name of John
Myles heads the list and is followed by that of
Thomas Proud. It is probable that Myles and Proud
had been baptized shortly before the inauguration of
their work at Ilston into the fellowship of a London
Baptist church (now meeting in the Glass House,
Broad Street), whither they had apparently gone for
this purpose. The London church, it is related,
regarded the coming of these brethren and their
proposal to enter upon evangelistic work in Wales as
a direct answer to their recent prayers for the
evangelization of that region. A letter written by the
pastor of the London church, dated Barnstable, May
9, 1650, is of interest in this connection: "Dear
Brother Myles : Having heard lately, by some of your
fellow- countrymen, and also by some of the brethren
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in London, of your seeking the way of the Lord in the
participation of the ordinances of the Gospel in
accordance with the proper mode of the Gospel, we
could not less than bless the Father in your behalf,
that you have fully submitted to the way of truth.
Give my most fervent love to all the church." The
London church long continued to regard the
evangelistic work of Myles and Proud as their own
and were always ready to give the advice that the
Welsh evangelists did not fail to ask of their more
experienced brethren. It is probable that the
evangelists received material assistance from the
same source. In the Ilston church book already
referred to appears " A brief report of some of the
chief providences of our Father towards us, his poor
and despised people, who have by great grace been
baptized into the name of Jesus Christ and to the
profession of the Gospel and have united in
fellowship with one another in this church." The
following record will be of interest: "We cannot do
less than admire the unsearchable wisdom, power,
and love of God in bringing about his own purposes,
which transcend the power and understanding of the
wisest of men. Thus to the glory of his great -name
he dealt, for when there was no company or society
of prophets setting forth and preaching the doctrines
of worship and order and Gospel discipline, ac-
cording to primitive institution, that we ever heard of
since the time of the apostasy, it pleased God to
choose this dark corner, to put his name in it, and to
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give us poor, unworthy creatures the honor of being
the first in all these parts to observe the glorious
ordinance of baptism, and gather together the first
church of baptized believers."
That the zealous laborers had much to discourage
them in the early stages of the movement, and that
they yet had a strong and abiding faith, is evident
from the following extract from the records already
quoted: "It pleased the Lord to give us some signs of
his purpose to gather to himself a people to walk in
fellowship with them, his servants; but in order that
he might be seen more visible in his work, he began
with two women, who were baptized about the
beginning of the 8th month [October], 1649; and thus
teaching us not to despise the day of small things, nor
to judge the work of God according to appearance or
human probability. For when these feeble creatures
were baptized, there was not a strong probability that
one more would be added to us; yet the Lord went on
and called four more women before one man offered
himself." But the community was ripe for such
gospel efforts, and during the year following forty-
six were baptized into the fellowship of the little
band of believers. In eleven years, the number of
members had increased to two hundred and sixty-
three. The labors of Myles and his associates
extended over a considerable territory, and meetings
must be held in several localities in order to
accommodate the people. The entire church,
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however, were expected to meet together at Ilston on
the first day of every three weeks for the breaking of
bread. A number of other preachers were soon raised
up in connection with the labors of Myles and Proud,
and by 165 1 there were four churches in fellowship.
The name of Myles appears as one of the testers (or
triers) in connection with a parliamentary " Act for
the Better Propagation of the Gospel in Wales,"
signed February 22, 1649. The aim of the act was the
rooting out of the corrupt and worthless ministers
who abounded and the supplying of the principality
with worthy ministers. In a few years the religious
aspect of Wales had become completely changed
owing to the successful working of this measure,
which from a Baptist point of view was by no means
an ideal arrangement, but which, on the assumption
that the church endowments and rates were to be
maintained and administered under the direction of
the state, was a practical necessity. Myles was far
from being alone among Baptist ministers in
consenting to act in such capacity. Tombes, Jessey,
and Dyke were among Cromwell's triers for England,
and the first two at least ministered to beneficed
churches.
It should be observed that Myles and Proud were by
no means the first Baptists in Wales. Vavasour
Powell and Cradock had been for some years
evangelizing in Wales, but as they were open
communionists the results of their work had
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appeared in mixed rather than in Baptist churches.
Baptist principles flourished in Wales, and Welsh
Baptists have long been noted for their consistency
and devotion. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 drove
Myles from his pastorate. He is numbered among the
two thousand ejected ministers, and as he had acted
under the Cromwellian government in the capacity
of trier for Wales, so he seems to have received
support from the parish revenues that had earlier
been enjoyed by the corrupt minister of the parish.
We would not be understood to justify his
acquiescence in this state-church arrangement; but it
is desirable that we should understand the real
relations of things in order that we may appreciate
the situation of Myles and a number of other
excellent Baptist brethren of that time. The case
seems to have been something like this: the
Cromwellian government had not confiscated the
church endowments or abolished the old methods of
raising church revenues; the great majority of the
residents in the parish where he labored desired his
services in the ministry; his ministry was acceptable
to the state-church authorities; as things were, the
members of the parish must contribute through the
legal channels, and the income from endowments, if
there were any, must pass through the hands of the
government authorities. Myles and his Baptist
parishioners might have said, and perhaps ought to
have said, " No, we will have absolutely nothing to
do with a state-church arrangement; we will pay our
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church rates if we must; we will let the government
make what use it pleases of these and of the income
of the parish endowments; we will not submit to
having the qualifications of our pastor passed upon
by the triers appointed by the government—much
less shall our pastor countenance the continuance of
the state-church system by sitting on the Board of
Triers1; besides paying under protest what the state
may exact we will, as pastor and people, pursue the
New Testament plan of direct dependence on the
church on the one hand, and voluntary support of the
gospel ministry on the other." This would have been
heroic, but the supreme importance of the voluntary
system and the deadly evils of all state-churchism
seem not to have impressed men like Myles, Tombes,
Dyke, and Jessey, as they impressed many Baptists
in the seventeenth century and as they have
impressed nearly all Baptists from that time onward.
With a company of his Welsh brethren, Myles made
his way to Rehoboth, as has already been stated, and
was not slow in instituting' Baptist worship and
ordinances in his new home. (pp. 185-190)
********************************************************
********1 (The Board of Triers was sometimes called The Commission of
Triers.) The Commission of Triers was a 38-member administrative
commission established by Oliver Cromwell in 1654, during the early months of the Protectorate (1653–58), to assess the suitability of future parish ministers. The triers, and a related set of "ejectors" (whose role
was to dismiss ministers and schoolmasters who were deemed
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unsuitable for office) were intended to be at the vanguard of
Cromwell's reform of parish worship in England.
******************************************
******The commission was established by the Triers
Ordinance. A further ordinance in August 1654
known as Gillespie's Charter extended the role of the triers to Scotland.
The Persecution in Massachusetts
It does not appear that any coercive measures were
undertaken against the new organization until July,
1667, when Myles and Brown were arraigned before
the court " for their breach, of order in setting up of
a public meeting without the knowledge and
approbation of the Court, to the disturbance of the
peace of the place, "and" are fined each of them five
pounds, and Mr. Tanner the sum of one pound, and
we judge that their continuance at Rehoboth, being
very prejudicial to the peace of that church and that
town, may not be allowed; and do therefore order all
persons concerned therein wholly to desist from the
said meeting in that place or township, within this
month. Yet in case they shall remove their meeting
unto some other place, where they may not prejudice
any other church, and shall give us any reasonable
satisfaction respecting their principles, we do not
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know but they may be permitted by this government
so to do."
It is evident that the Baptist work was being pushed
with some vigor and had become a matter of alarm
to the pastor of the church of the standing order. It is
further evident that the authorities had ceased to
regard antipedobaptism with the horror of the earlier
time. As compared with the attitude of the
Massachusetts Bay authorities before and after, the
last sentence of this pronouncement is toleration
itself. Massachusetts would have imprisoned and
banished Myles and his associates. Plymouth simply
requires them to remove to a convenient distance
from the church of the standing order, so as not to
disturb the peace of church and town. In October of
the same year the court set apart for them a large
body of land near the Rhode Island frontier, which
they named Swansea, in commemoration of
Swansea, near Ilston, their Welsh home. The land-
grant was made in the names of Captain Willet and
Mr. Paine, who were pedobaptists, and three of the
Baptist brethren. Captain Willet proposed to the
other members of the new township: "1. That no
erroneous person be admitted into the township
either as an inhabit- ant or sojourner. 2. That no man
of an evil behavior or contentious person, etc., be
admitted. 3. That none may be admitted that may
become a charge to the place." It is somewhat
humiliating to Baptists to find the church under
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Myles consenting to these proposals, with certain
explications. As it is the aim of this history to relate
the facts precisely as they occurred, it may be
worthwhile to quote the terms in which they accepted
the proposal to exclude all erroneous persons:
"That the first proposal relating to the non-admission
of erroneous persons may be only understood under
the following explications, viz. : (1) of such as hold
damnable heresies, inconsistent with the faith of the
gospel; as, to deny the Trinity, or any person therein;
the deity or sinless humanity of Christ, or the union
of both natures in him, or his full satisfaction to the
divine justice of all his elect, by his active or passive
obedience, or his resurrection, ascension into heaven,
intercession, or his second coming personally to
judgment; or else to deny the truth or divine authority
of the Scriptures, or the resurrection of the dead, or
to maintain any merit of works, consubstantiation,
transubstantiation, giving divine adoration to any
creature, or any other antichristian doctrine directly
opposing the priestly, prophetical, or kingly offices
of Christ, or any part thereof; (2) or such as hold such
opinions as are inconsistent with the well-being of
the place, as to deny the magistrate's power to punish
evil-doers as well as to encourage those that do well,
or to deny the first day of the week to be observed by
divine institution as the Lord's Day or Christian
Sabbath, or to deny the giving of honor to whom
honor is due, or to oppose those civil respects that are
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usually performed according to the laudable customs
of our nation each to other, as bowing the knee or
body, etc., or else to deny the office, use, or authority
of the ministry or a comfortable maintenance to be
due to them from such as partake of their teachings,
or to speak reproachfully of any of the churches of
Christ in the country, or of any such other churches
as are of the same common faith with us or them. We
desire that it be also understood and declared that this
is not understood of any holding any opinion
different from others in any disputable point, yet in
controversy among the godly learned, the belief
thereof not being essentially necessary to salvation;
such as pedobaptism, antipedobaptism, church
discipline, or the like; but that the minister or
ministers of the said town may take their liberty to
baptize infants or grown persons as the Lord shall
persuade their consciences, and so also the
inhabitants take their liberty to bring their children to
baptism or to forbear."
Here we see a result of Myles's training in connection
with the state-church system of the Commonwealth
and the Protectorate. He had failed to grasp the great
principle of absolute liberty of conscience which the
mass of antipedobaptists from the Reformation time
onward had consistently advocated and practiced. If
this document mean anything, it means that Myles
and his Baptist brethren would have cooperated with
the pedobaptist inhabitants of the township of
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Swansea in excluding, by forcible means if
necessary, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans,
Armenians, Socinians of all classes, Sabbatarians,
and Quakers. Roger Williams would have been
almost as unacceptable in Swansea as he had been
thirty years before to the Massachusetts Bay
authorities, and few, if any, of the Baptists we have
encountered in New England would have been able
to endure the test. (pp. 190-193)
[JFR]
Myles had become quite old and feeble but remained
the Pastor until he died. We often think that calling a
pastor is a problem for modern day churches, but it
was the same problem in the 1600 and 1700’s. The
church went for a significant period before they were
to get a new pastor. Some of them were good and the
church flourished while others were not so good to
stand for Baptist views.
Newman continues with a lengthy account of the
First Baptist Church in Boston. The church was
started with individuals that came from sister
churches in South Caroline and from Baptist
churches in England.
[Newman]
The First Baptist Church of Boston became, as might
have been expected, the mother of churches. The
Newbury church was formed in 1682, with the assent
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and no doubt with the cooperation of the Boston
church. It is probable that several of its constituent
members had been connected with the older church
(Backus, i., 405; cf. Weston's foot-note on same
page). The church organized by William Screven,
Humphrey Churchwood, and others at Kittery, Me.,
during the same year, was likewise due to Boston
influence. The important and interesting history of
this movement we shall have occasion to narrate
elsewhere. By 1694 there were two Indian Baptist
churches in Massachusetts, one on Martha's
Vineyard and another on Nantucket Island. Thomas
Mayhew, the proprietor of Martha's Vineyard, had
treated the natives so humanely that large numbers of
them had accepted the gospel. His son ministered to
them in spiritual things. The first to introduce Baptist
views among them appears to have been Peter
Foulger, who was employed as a teacher among them
during the absence in England of the younger
Mayhew. So friendly were these Indians that during
the terrible wars of 1676 onward they remained
faithful to the English. Foulger became a member of
the First Newport Church about 1675. One of his
grandsons was Benjamin Franklin. The first Indian
Baptist pastor of whom we are informed was John
Tackamason. Though not himself a Baptist, Mayhew
expressed the highest confidence in his Christian
character: "' I had frequent conversation with him
while he was in health, and sometimes ... in the time
of that long sickness whereof he died; and never from
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first to last saw anything by him that made me any
ways suspect the integrity of his heart, but did ever
think him to be a godly and discreet man." His death
occurred in 1708.
A Six Principle Baptist church was formed at
Swansea in 1693 under the leadership of Thomas
Barnes. In 1732 a Baptist church was formed in
Rehoboth under the ministry of the learned and
zealous John Comer, who had given up the pastorate
of the First Church, Newport, on account of his
acceptance of the doctrine of the laying on of hands,
but, unlike most Six Principle Baptists, continued to
be an earnest Calvinist. Thirty members withdrew
from the First Church, Swansea, without ill-will on
either side so far as appears, to form the new church.
The elders and messengers of the Swansea church
assisted in the installation of the pastor. A revival
ensued immediately upon the organization, and in
less than two years the church had a membership of
ninety-five. Comer labored with consuming zeal, his
evangelistic efforts extending far beyond the limits
of his own community. He died of consumption in
his thirtieth year, May 23, 1734. Though his life was
thus cut short, the lifework of few of his
contemporaries was more fruitful. Largely through
the influence of the labors of Comer in 1632, a
Baptist church was organized at Sutton, September,
1635, of which two years later Benjamin Marsh and
Thomas Green became joint pastors. The church
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divided by mutual agreement in September, 1738,
Green becoming pastor of the new Leicester church.
In November, 1736, a Baptist church was organized
at Brimfield, and five years later Ebenezer Moulton,
whose ancestor, Robert Moulton, had been a member
of the first House of Representatives at Boston in
1634, but who was among those disarmed in 1637 in
connection with the antinomian controversy
(Backus, ii., 31, and Weston's note), became pastor.
(pp. 197-199)
Conclusion to Chapter Four
[JFR]
Thusly, we come to an end of the narrative
concerning the Baptist Churches of Massachusetts.
In the next session, we will begin to consider the
Baptist in Pennsylvania and the Jerseys.
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