66 the General Court at Hartford in 1638.1 The idea of a 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people,' was conceived in Congregational churches; was by them urged and developed into a practical scheme, and without them would never have been realized. The blessings of our Republic have come to us through Congregationalism and through the men who found in its faith and polity the principles of self-government, together with unswerving loyalty to God." 2 Did early Congregational churches attempt any missionary work? Yes, among the Indians. It was begun by Thomas Mayhew and his son at Martha's Vineyard in 1643. In 1646 two persons from each church were assigned to "spread the gospel among the Indians," and John Eliot began to gather them into villages. Similar work was done in Connecticut. In England a society to carry it on was organized, and in 1661 contributed more than six hundred pounds. In 1674 more than four thou 6 1 "Mr. Hooker . . . maintained that the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people,''that the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own allowance,' and that they who have power to appoint officers and magistrates have the right also to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place unto which they call them.' On the 14th of January, 1639, all the freemen . . . assembled at Hartford and adopted a written constitution in which the hand of the great preacher is clearly discernible. . . . It was the first written constitution known to history, that created a government.” — Beginnings of N. E., p. 127. 2 A. E. Dunning, Congregationalists in America, p. 276. 8 Eliot's first sermon to the Indians was preached in a hut on the banks of the Charles River near Watertown. sand "Praying Indians" were gathered in seven churches. David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards were missionaries among them in Stockbridge. Though this work was interrupted by the Indian wars, it continued till near the middle of the eighteenth century, when the Indian tribes virtually disappeared from New England.1 V Who was John Robinson? John Robinson (1575-1625) was a graduate and fellow of the University of Cambridge, a clergyman of the English Church, and probably teacher of the Pilgrim Church at Scrooby. He was its pastor at Amsterdam and Leyden and nominally at Plymouth, though he died in 1625, before he was able to come to New England. He was a distinguished author, a man of great learning, rare tolerance, and broad views, who prompted the Pilgrim Fathers to settle in America and enencouraged them with his letters.2 In his memory the National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States erected in 1891 a tablet on the exterior walls of St. Peter's Church, Leyden, underneath which he was buried, and opposite to which stood his house. Who was William Brewster? William Brewster (1560–1644) was a man of fair classical education, good judgment, wide knowledge 1 See Hist. Cong'l Churches in U. S., pp. 164–170. 2 Beginnings of N. E., p. 72; Hist. Cong'l Churches in U. S., pp. 57, 61, 64, 71, 72; Genesis of the N. E. Churches, Chap. XII. of the world, and master of the Post Station at Scrooby on the highroad from London to York. He was the ruling elder of the Pilgrim Church, under whose guidance it came to Plymouth, and its only substitute for a minister during the trying years from 1620 to 1629. He has been called the most eminent person in the movement" that brought the Congregational church to New England.1 66 Who was William Bradford? William Bradford (1588-1657) was a member of the church at Scrooby, the governor of Plymouth Colony for thirty years and its historian, to whom we owe most of our information. 1 Brewster entered St. Peter's, or Peterhouse, the oldest college at Cambridge, but his name is not on the list of graduates. His patron and friend was Davison, Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State, under whom he went to court, and had served on a diplomatic mission to Holland, and by whom he was entrusted with the seal of Flushing after its surrender. He was living in the large and dilapidated house at Scrooby, as his father had done since 1675, and was about forty-five years old when the Pilgrim Church was organized, probably at his instigation. Of all the Pilgrims, he had the largest experience of public life, had seen the most of the world, had been in closest touch with politics and statesmanship, and had personally known and seen most of the glories of the age of Elizabeth. Mr. Edwin D. Mead says, "If we had the original draft of the compact signed on board the an even chance that we should find it in his hand." Spenser was seven years older than Brewster; Sir Philip Sidney was six years older; Sir Walter Raleigh was eight years older; Shakespeare was four years younger; Brewster was twenty-seven when Mary Queen of Scots was executed, and twenty-eight when the Spanish Armada was destroyed. See Pioneers of Religious Liberty in America, First Lecture. Mayflower,' it is Who was John Endicott? John Endicott (1589-1665) was the governor of the colony at Salem, through whose influence a Congregational church was established. Who was John Winthrop? John Winthrop (1588-1649) was a wealthy gentleman, a graduate of Cambridge, a lawyer, and the first governor of Massachusetts. Who was Roger Williams? Roger Williams (1599-1683)1 was a graduate of Cambridge, and pastor at Salem, but was banished from Massachusetts for holding and proclaiming extreme and illegal views of liberty before the people could receive them, and which the magistrates thought dangerous. He settled in Rhode Island, where he continued to trouble the magistrates, but became a Baptist and founded the first Baptist church in America, from which, however, he withdrew within a few months. Who was Thomas Hooker? Thomas Hooker (1586–1647) was a graduate of Cambridge, who for twenty years had been a popular and influential preacher in the English Church. He was pastor of the first church in Newtown (now Cambridge), Massachusetts, from which he and a large proportion of its numbers withdrew and founded the First Church in Hartford in 1636. He was the author of many works, and “the father of the Connecticut Constitu 1 See Beginnings of N. E., p. 114. tion," 1 which " marked the beginnings of American democracy. 2 Who was John Cotton? 66 John Cotton (1585-1652) was a brilliant graduate of Cambridge, who, after being rector for twenty years at St. Botolph's Church, Boston, in the most magnificent parish church in England,” came to Boston, Massachusetts, when he was fortyeight years old, and became teacher of the First Church. Who was Richard Mather? Richard Mather (1596-1669) was for seventeen years a clergyman of the Church of England, but emigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, and became pastor of the church at Dorchester and a leader in developing the young Congregationalism of his time. Who was John Eliot? John Eliot (1604-1690) was a graduate of Cambridge, who came to Massachusetts in 1631, and was for fifty-seven years teacher of the church in Roxbury. He became proficient in the Indian language, into which he translated the Bible, and several other books, and is known as the great missionary and apostle to the Indians. Who was John Davenport? John Davenport (1597-1670) was a graduate of Oxford, and had been vicar of a church in 1 Life of Thomas Hooker, by G. L. Walker, pp. 123–128. |