The National council of Congregational churches of the United States

Preface

In the memorable trip over sea in July, 1891, on the fated "City of Chicago," which bore the delegates of America to the First International Council in London, it was my good fortune to occupy a stateroom with Rev. Alonzo H. Quint. This privilege gave much time for happy converse, which was especially valuble to me, a young man. The polity of the Congregational Churches was our favorite theme. And with the great meeting, to which* we both journeyed as delegates, before us, it was natural that the Council, its history and function, should have been uppermost in our minds. One day, he turned and said in his emphatic way, "You should write a history of the National Council." My work as Missionary Superintendent for several years in the West had indeed kept the polity of the churches ever before me. The genial doctor's request was not forgotten. With each recurring session since, articles have been prepared by request for our acknowledged denominational journals, which have received far greater commendation than their merit deserved. At the last session, a pamphlet was prepared; and, though a considerable edition was printed, it was immediately exhausted. Requests came from men whose judgment commands respect, in different parts of the country, that the treatise be amplified. The present monograph is the result.

It has been my purpose to tell the history of the Council as much as possible in the language of its own decisions and acts. To tell the story as simply as possible and to seek the interpretation of its function in the abiding principles of our polity, which

4 PREFACE

have governed our churches from the beginning, has been the constant aim. To each session go up delegates not present in former Councils, anxious, withal, to enter intelligently by sympathetic knowledge into the work of the assembly. This class, especially, has been borne continually in mind.

With the growing expansion of the nation and the multiplication of our churches, there is more and more manifest an earnest desire for fellowship. The proverbial "rope of sand" polity will no longer endure the strain put upon it by a faith which reaches from ocean to ocean, and even to the islands of the sea. Centripetal forces are in the air. Centralization prevails everywhere. The churches have learned by experience that there is strength in union. The Council came at a critical time and fulfilled expectations. It has been accepted as the logical and necessary outcome. In it the churches have found a bond of privilege and blessing. Already it has vindicated its right to be, and has practically overcome all hostile criticism. From its inception, thirty years ago, the Council has steadily grown in the favor and confidence of the churches; and it now seems probable that this growth will continue. If so, the Council is destined to exert an ever increasing influence.

It remains for me to express my sense of gratitude to those of my older, more experienced brethren, East and West, who have encouraged me in the undertaking, and who have kindly assisted me by giving invaluable data and counsel. Especially must I mention Prof. Addison Van Name, who, as Librarian of Yale University, is custodian of the priceless library of the Rev. H. M. Dexter; also Rev. W. H. Cobb, Librarian of the Congregational Library, Boston, both of whom lent their assistance.

The First General Convention of the Congregational Churches of

America, Held in Newtown, Colony Massachusetts,

August 30 — September 22, 1637.

Moderators, REV, PETER BULKELEY, REV. THOMAS HOOKER.

"A synode is a joyning or partaking of the authorite of manie churches mette togither in peace, for redresse and deciding of matters, which cannot well be otherwise taken up," is the unique definition of a council, in the first book published in the interests of Congregationalism. This volume, with its long title, so characteristic of the age in which it was written — "A Booke which Sheweth the Life and Manners of all True Christians, and how unlike they are unto Turkes and Papists, and Heathen Folke" was written in 1582 by the founder of our faith and practice, Robert Browne, while an exile in Holland. This little book of one hundred pages gives in substance the present doctrine held by the members of the Pilgrim churches.

Two years later, in another tract, he wrote, "Furthermore thei particularlie agreed off the manner .... for seeking to other churches to have their helpe, being better informed, or to bring them to reformation." In these two declarations we find the two great principles upon which the Congregational denomination rests. Modifications many and radical were to be made from time to time; but there has always been a return to the primitive faith and practice. The complete independency and sovereignty of the local, single church, and, secondly, the fellowship of the several churches as manifested in conference, having no authority over the constituent elements, Congregationalists believe to be the pattern given in the Scriptures.

The familiar history of early Independency in England, with all its vicissitudes, need not here be repeated. Suffice it to say, the Pilgrims longed toi leave Holland and migrate to Virginia, a colony of the Crown. And, in order that they might obtain the necessary permission and charter, two of their number. Deacon John Carver and Robert Cushman, bore to London what are termed the "Seven Articles" of their faith and practice. The sixth refers to the polity of their struggling churches, then only four in number. "Wee beleeve y no sinod, classes, convocation or assembly of Ecclesiasticall Officers hath any power or awthoryty att all but as ye same by ye Magestraet geven unto them." These articles were written by John Robinson, the pastor, and Willyam Bruster, the ruling elder, of the Church in Leyden. The prejudices of the King and his counselors were not entirely overcome by this confession of their simple faith in Christ and willing submission to the King's authority. An ambiguous promise that they could go to Virginia, and would not be molested so long as they obeyed the laws, was all they were able to obtain. With this, however, they prepared to cross the stormy sea. Obstacles seemed to rise against them. Former friends proved false. Financial plans almost innumerable failed. At last, less than half the Leyden Church sailed in July,

1620, for England, where many and vexatious hindrances almost discouraged the strong-hearted among them.

After two unsuccessful attempts to sail, the brave remnant of the original band finally embarked on one ship. Upon sighting land, before leaving the vessel, they entered into a Compact. The church members were already bound by a strict mutual covenant. This compact was a civil, not a religious instrument; and yet it was in full accord with the spirit of the faith of the Pilgrims. Nine years later, when the first Puritan church was organized in America, we are not surprised that it was in entire agreement with the principles of faith and polity cherished and upheld by the Independents. The following is their covenant : "We covenant with the Lord and one with another, and doe bynd ourselves in the presence of God, to walke together in all His waies, according as He is pleased to reveale Himself unto us in His blessed Word of Truth." Not content with this, they entered into a much more explicit covenant seven years afterwards. The sixth article of this confession is a positive ratification of the principle of fellowship. "Wee bynd our selves to studdy the advancement of the Gospell in all truth and peace, both in regard to those that are within, or without, noe way sleighting our sister churches, but useing theire counsell as need shall be."

The Pilgrims, who were Separatists, led the way to America. Those who followed from England in much larger numbers were Puritans, who had no intention of leaving the Church of England. Doctrinally, they were all stanch Calvinists; but in polity they were very far apart. A very considerable element craved greater freedom in both Colony and Church than they had found in Massachusetts. These ambitious spirits found full exercise for their powers, in 1638, in the exodus from the Bay to Connecticut. Thus fully one fourth left the original settlements to found a new State in the wilderness. The new colony acted as a safety-valve. Possibly grave issues were avoided by the emigration westward. The exceedingly erratic, though able, Roger Williams aroused intense feeling. So threatening had become the antagonism to his indiscriminate condemnation of the churches and their toiling pastors, something had to be done. As he had not heeded a timely warning, the magistrates met on October 9, 1635, and the court passed the following sentence: "Whereas, Mr. Roger Williams . . . . hath broached and dyvulged dyvers newe and dangerous opinions, against the aucthoritie of magistrates, as also writt letteres of defamation, both of the magistrates and churches here, and that before any conviccon, and yet mainetaineth the same without retraccon, it is therefore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall dep'te out of this jurisdiccon within sixe weekes nowe nexte ensueing." He went to Rhode Island and formed the Baptist Church, but long before his death renounced it and all communion with the churches. Thus ended the life of a man described by Prof. G. P.

THE NEWTOWN SYNOD ii

Fisher as "restless, contentious, and precipitate in judgment and action."

To this banishment of Williams we may trace influences which have left their mark to this day upon American Congregationalism. Claiming that he was persecuted unrighteously, Williams appealed to all the churches. In the face of a common danger, the churches were quick to seek fellowship. Mutual responsibility and help alone could cure the growing evil. This sentiment resulted in the passing of a law by the General Court of Massachusetts in March, 1636, that no association of men should be a church "without they shall first acquainte the magistrates, and the elders of the greater p'te of the churches in this jurisdiccon, with their intencons, and have their approbacon herein." Thus, by law, what was essentially a council, composed of church members, was necessary in the organization of any church. This escape out of a dilemma was never forgotten. A crisis had been successfully met and safely passed. To the people of the Colony the enactment commended itself, and it remained no dead letter upon the statutebook. Within a month, the Dordihester people petitioned for the prescribed approval.

A year before the above action was taken by the Court, a family had arrived from England, by the name of Hutchinson. The husband and father, William, Winthrop has described as "a man of very mild temper and weak parts, wholly guided by his wife." She was a woman of very superior talents, of engaging personality and superabundant ambition. She was warm-hearted, generous and impulsive. Skilful in nursing, she ministered freely to the sick. A former parishioner of the Rev. John Cotton at St. Botolph's in Boston, England, she continued his ardent admirer. Religion was the one theme of supreme interest, and, undoubtedly with the best intentions, she invited the women regularly twice a week to her home. The gatherings grew in numbers and influence. The doctrines and work of the churches were more and more freely criticized. Leading men there were who encouraged her; but all, high and low, came to fear her tongue. She had great antipathy to higher education and declared the ministers of the Colony were wandering from the true faith, "preaching a covenant of works instead of a covenant of grace." Finally, she openly claimed the Holy Spirit was revealing to her the only true faith. Gov. Henry Vane, and others high in the Colony and Church, were her earnest supporters. Her following, however, was almost entirely in Boston, where a minister branded as "antichrists" all who did not accept her views. It was far more than a tempest in a teapot. Excitement and feeling ran so high that the civil magistrates became thoroughly alarmed. January 19, 1637, was observed as a day of fasting and prayer because of the dissensions. Meetings of pastors had before been repeatedly held in the hope of allaying the strife. In the following spring, this unfortunate theological controversy was the chief issue of the campaign, which resulted in the defeat for reelection of Vane, the Hutchinsonian candidate.

The defeat of "the covenanters of grace" embittered them. Something had to be done, and done at once; the Colony and the churches were drifting upon the rocks. The pastors of the churches not in Boston, remembering the beneficial results of conferences between the magistrates and the ministers, now petitioned the Court to call a ''synod" constituted of "all the teaching elders through the country" and of "messengers from the churches." That it might be thoroughly representative, "sundry elders were sent for from other jurisdictions." In the meantime, Vane had suddenly and unexpectedly sailed for England, and the active, influential head of the "reformers" had no successor.

August 30, 1637, in a small frame meeting-house in Newtown (now Cambridge), there gathered at the call of the Court the first general conference of the Congregational churches in America. Rev. Peter Bulkeley of Concord, New Hampshire, and Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford, Connecticut, were elected moderators. John Higginson was the choice of the body for scribe. The personnel of the synod carried great weight with the public. During the twenty-four days of the session, nearly all the pastors of New England were in attendance, and an equal number of influential laymen. "Some men new come out of England, not yet called to any place here," were also invited to sit in the synod.

The debates were exceedingly earnest, for the Hutchinsonian party was ably represented in the persons of the Boston delegates, who finally protested, claiming no jurisdiction for the synod, and a few of them left the assembly, not to return. Upon Rev. John Cotton, the esteemed pastor of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, the odium did not lightly fall. "Solemn speeches were made with tears/' says Cotton Mather, "lamenting that they should in this important matter dissent from a person so venerable and considerable in the country." As the synod proceeded, greater unanimity was manifest, until, at the last, the result was obtained with few dissenting voices. Rev. John Cotton did not sign the declarations, but he tacitly accepted them. The doctrines declared false and injurious were Antinomian and recalled the abuses of the Anabaptists, the radicals of the German Reformation. The Hutchinsonian doctrine of perfection was also very similar in its spirit to those of the Familists of the seventeenth century, led by David George, who claimed to be a second David. Anne Hutchinson taught that "The resurrection is not of the body, but is the rising of the soul to a new spiritual life, through its union to Christ, and that it takes place, therefore, at conversion." Perfect holiness was another tenet of the faith of this Boston School, and to support it they used the Scriptures freely. It was evident to the members of the synod that Mrs. Hutchinson was the soul of the movement. In a sentence, she is portrayed by Leonard Woolsey Bacon in his admirable "History of American Christianity" as "a clever woman, with a vast conceit of her superior holiness, and with the ugly censoriousness which is a usual accompaniment of that grace, demonstrating her genius for mixing a theological controversy with personal jealousies and public anxieties/'

The Council found as much trouble in stating the heresies placed under the ban, as it did in declaring their condemnation. "Eighty-two erroneous opinions and nine unwholesome expressions" were denounced. Passages of the Scriptures, which had been perverted in interpretation, were cited, and their true meaning stated. It was also declared that disputes in and around the church edifice after services ''by private members" were unjustifiable. Church members who did not respond and obey the summons of the Church might be proceeded against though absent. Finally, members who did not agree with their own churches in matters of doctrine should not be granted letters of dismission to other churches. Meetings solely for women, addressed by women on doctrinal matters, were declared to be unwise and inexpedient.

The Colonial officials were as much pleased with the outcome of the synod as the members of the churches. It had brought peace and quietness to distracted communities. The government paid all the expenses of the synod, including board and traveling. Governor Winthrop proposed that the synod convene annually. This was favored by some of the ministers; but, for reasons unknown to us, it was never acted upon. It would have been a long step indeed toward Presbyterianism. Another suggestion also made was, that the synod express its desires as to the best methods for providing regular stipends for the clergy. This, also, received no favorable actfon, "lest it should be said that this assembly was gathered for their private advantage."

Upon the dissolution of the council, a few seemed determined to continue the undesirable controversy. And the Court in the following month, after trial, banished Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and her relative, the Rev. John Wheelwright. He went to the frontier in New Hampshire ; she, with her family and a score of sympathizers, to Rhode Island. Five years from the time of banishment, having gone to the Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island, she and her family were murdered by the Mohawk Indians, where New York city now stands. Unconsciously, she had called into practice a principle, that of fellowship, which was to be a corner-stone in the building up of a great church.

The Second General Council of the Congregational Churches in

America, Held in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

September 1, 1646 — August 25, 1648.

Moderators,

Preachers, REV. EZEKIEL ROGERS, REV. JOHN ALLIN.

Robert Browne, the protagonist of modern Congregationalism, recognized fully the principle of church fellowship, ''that since all local churches belong to the one family of the Lord, they necessarily owe to each other sisterly affection and activity." This eminently democratic and yet helpful spirit of the one church to the other suffered for a time an eclipse. Barrowe inculcated very decided Presbyterian tendencies. But these Barrowist churches did not increase rapidly. Dexter has told us, "When the Mayflower sailed, in all probability, there could not have been in existence more than three Barrowist churches besides that at Leyden." Henry Jacob, a noble soul, had gone out of the Established Church, and eventually, had organized in Southwark, London, in 1616, the strictly people's church which is now the mother church of the thousands bearing the name Congregational in the British Isles. At the time, 1637, of the first general synod in the Colonies, the leaven of this Southwark organization was working, but not many others of the same ecclesiastical polity had as yet been formed.

For a time after the sailing of the Plymouth Pilgrims, social and political conditions in England impelled large emigration to America. The Puritans, however, rather than the Pilgrims were in the majority. Thus, in doctrine, the early settlers were united. They were all Calvinists. But in their views as to the true polity of the church, they differed widely among themselves. Consequently, there was an earnest desire to bring about harmony, not so much in faith, for as to that they were agreed, but in the proper forms of organization for the churches. The "covenants" adopted in this period, by the several churches, throw much light upon these efforts to insure harmony. They were not unmindful of the duty they owed one to the other in each church, as the covenant of the Salem people proves : "Wee promise to walke with our brethren and sisters in this Congregation with all watchfullness and tenderness, avoyding all jelousies, suspitions, backbyteings, censurings, provoakings, secret risings of spirite against them." With equal ardor they sought fellowship among the several churches. The members of these churches had left the mother country more as Nonconformists than Separatists, and they remembered the strength of the Establishment in spite of the many evils of a State Church.

When the early churches came to be organized in America, however, the Pilgrim church at Plymouth was the pattern generally adopted. The Colonists tried to conserve the many commendable features of the churches from which they had come, and yet make sure of the liberty which they craved. We have seen that tlie pure Congregational type was not making much headway just at this time in England. Whatever this polity might be in theory, it did not offer success in practice. Presbyterianism, in other words, promised to gather to itself all protesting elements. Leaders in Great Britain, conscious of the trend among themselves, looked with amazement and evident concern upon the opposing tendencies which prevailed in America. In 1636, this unrest had found expression in "A Letter of Many Ministers in Old England, requesting the Judgment of their reverend Brethren in New England concerning Nine Positions." These inquiries all referred to church polity and forms of worship. In due time, at the request of the ministers of the Colonies and in their behalf, Rev. John Davenport, pastor in New Haven, answered their inquiries very fully. No doubt, to a degree he disarmed their criticism and allayed their fears. But the answer called forth a rejoinder from the English brethren in 1640, written by one Rev. John Ball. A reply was also' made to this by two of the ministers of New England.

About the time the "Nine Positions" were forwarded to the colonists by the Puritans of Old England, another much longer and more comprehensive treatise was sent, entitled, "Thirty-two Questions," dealing with almost every phase of faith and practice. A learned and exhaustive reply was returned to England, written by Rev. Richard Mather. In 1843, together with writings of similar character, it was printed in London. This was the date of the calling of the Westminster Assembly, without the approval of the King, Charles I. The infamous regime of William Laud, the King's favorite, embittered many against the crown. The Scotch had arisen in the ^'Solemn League and Covenant" to protect their cherished faith. The Star Chamber and its darksome deeds were renounced. In July of the preceding year, 1642, Parliament had appointed the Committee on Public Safety and called out the militia. Soon the entire country was ablaze with civil war. The next step, Parliament united with the Scots in the League and Covenant, and uniformity in religion was established in England, Ireland and Scotland. But it was the Presbyterian form which was thus established by law. Two thousand Episcopalian rectors, who refused to subscribe, were deprived of their livings or pastorates. Parliament did not give up its control of the churches of the land, though a system had been entrenched which recognized no bishop. At no time since the first coming of the Pilgrims to America were the issues of the churches on this side of the sea so wrapped up in the destiny of those in the old country. It is simply impossible to intelligently comprehend the trend of events in the colonies at this period without following the course of history in England.

The Roundheads, or Puritans, continued to gain in the war with the King. The Independents, under the leadership of that sagacious genius, Oliver Cromwell, were soon in control of the army, and at Marston Moor in a pitched battle in 1644, the Royalists were routed. In 1646, Charles surrendered; the following year, the army took the King into custody. Subsequently he was tried, condemned, and beheaded January 30, 1649. England was a free Commonwealth governed by the House of Commons. Independency had triumphed over all her enemies. But just what form this was to take in the churches, and what the ecclesiastical influence was to be upon the American colonies, was yet to be determined.

In the church in Newbury, Massachusetts, where Thomas Parker and James Noyes were respectively pastor and teacher, serious trouble arose because their spiritual guides determined to assume more power than the members felt was just or right in a Congregational church. Remembering the beneficial results of consultation in the past few years in the Colony, a conference of the ministers was called to meet in Newtown, or Cambridge. How it was called, or by whom, we do not know. But on September 4, 1643, about fifty of the pastors gathered in the recently erected college building. The conference was not of a synodical character, in that the lay element was in no wise represented. Rev. John Cotton and Rev. Thomas Hooker were elected moderators. No official deliverance was made known, but certain resolutions were adopted expressing the conviction that in the business meetings of the local church, the votes of the laity were essential in admitting or excluding members ; that stated conferences were necessary. Or, as it was defined by an eye-witness and probable participant, "That consociation of churches, in way of more general meetings, yearly; and more privately, monthly or quarterly ; as consultative synods ; are very comfortable and necessary for the peace and good of the churches." The deliberations of this informal conference were communicated to the distracted Newbury church ; but, unfortunately, with no apparent results. The trouble continued as before.

Nor was the unrest confined to the one church in Newbury. All the churches in the colonies were more or less disturbed by the disquieting influences constantly emanating from Old England. Something had to be done. Twenty-two months after the above ministerial conference was held, another convened at the same place as before. Nearly all the ministers of the colonies were present. At their request. Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford had prepared for approval "A Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline." It deals entirely with polity : "The church is totum essentiale, is, and may be before officers. There is no presbyteriall church (i.e. a church made up of the elders of many congregations appointed classickwise, to rule all those congregations) in the New Testament. Consociation of churches should be used, as occasion doth require. Such consociations and synods have allowance to counsell and admonish other churches, as the case may require. And if they grow obstinate in errour or sinfuU miscarriages, they should renounce the right hand of fellowship with them. But they have no power to excommunicate. Nor do their constitutions binde formaliter and juridice."

At the time of which we now write (the close of the second quarter of the seventeenth century) the population of the Massacht^etts Colony was fifteen thousand. But only 1708 had become citizens. Some of those who had not been able to comply fully with the prescribed provisions in order to obtain the rights of suffrage were among the influential men of the Bay region. Appeals were sent by such to the authorities in England seeking redress. If citizenship was to depend upon membership in the church, and membership in the church was to be conditioned by the polity of the church, and the standing of the church was to be defined in part by its relation to other churches, it was evident that these various questions should be authoritatively settled at once. Prof. Walker, in speaking of the period and its problems, says, "There was no standard by which the relations of one church to another could be determined ; none which decided whether a certain course of action was Congregational or not. Whether the creation of such a standard was strictly in accordance with the original principles of Congregationalism may be questioned : but there can be no doubt that it was a logical and necessary step in development if Congregationalism was to, be enforced by the civil government as an exclusive polity.''

When, therefore, a number of the ministers of the Bay petitioned the General Court at its meeting in May, 1646, to issue a call to the churches to assemble by their representatives in a synod, the request met with almost

2(y THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

universal approval in the churches. The prayer of the petitioners was granted and the call issued. Outside of the churches, however, criticism was keen and outspoken. In the Court itself, there was not full unanimity of opinion. The magistrates, all along in sympathy with the ministers, had no scruples. But some of the deputies challenged the right of the Court to command the churches; and the original order was reconsidered and modified. Passed in its final form, the churches were invited to convene a synod.

The call issued by the Court is an interesting document indeed, because it photographs the prevailing state of tTie church. It is far too long to quote entire, but its substance is as follows : "That there be a public assembly of the elders and other messengers of the severall churches within this jurisdiction, who may come together and meete at Cambridge, upon the first day of September now next ensueing, then to discusse, dispute, and clear up by the word of God, such questions of church government and discipline in ye things aforementioned, or any other, as they shall thinke needfull and meete, and to continue so doing till they, or the major part of them, shall have agreed and consented upon one forme of government and discipline, for the maine and substantiall pts therof, as that which they judge agreeable to the Holy Scriptures."

When the synod was called to order, it was found that, with the exception of four, all the twenty-nine churches of Massachusetts were represented. The twenty-two churches in Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven also approved of the synod and were represented in most cases by delegates. Opposition to the synod was confined almost wholly to the Boston church, which dicussed for two weeks the propriety of sending representatives. Finally, Wilson and Cotton went, saying, "They thought it their duty to go notwithstanding, not as sent by the church, but as specially called by the order of the court." Later, the church voted, "that the elders and three of the brethren should be sent as messengers."