History of the Church of Massachusets-Bay, written by the Reverend Mr. John Wise, a minister of that church, he would have found that the contrary to all he has advanced is the truth. The people of that province held the keys from 1620 to 1650: then the ministers got possession of them by their own vote, which was passed into a law by the General Assembly. The vote was, “There cannot be a minister, unless he is ordained by ministers of Jesus Christ.” Thus commenced ordination by ministers in New-England. The people were alarmed at the loss of the keys, and asked the ministers who had ordained them? The ministers answered, The people. Then, replied the people, we are the ministers of Jesus Christ, you are not ministers; and we will keep the power. A violent contest ensued between the people and the ministers; but the latter, by the help of the General Assembly, retained the power of the keys, and instituted three ecclesiastical courts, viz. 1, the minister and his communicants; 2, the associations; and 3, the synod. There lies an appeal from one to the other of these courts, all which exercise so much ecclesiastical power that few are easy under it. The first court suspends from communion, the second re-hears the evidence, and confirms or sets aside the suspension; the synod, after hearing the case again, excommunicates or discharges the accused. From the last judgment no appeal is allowed by the synod. The excommunicated person has no other resource than petitioning the General Assembly of the province, which sometimes grants relief, to the great grief of the synod and ministers. But the representatives commonly pay dear for overlooking the conduct of the synod at the next election.
The people of Connecticut have adopted the same mode of discipline as prevails in Massachusets-Bay, but call the synod a Consociation.
To show that the synods are not quite so harmless as Mr. Neal reports, I will give an instance of their authority exercised in Connecticut in 1758. A Mr. Merret, of Lebanon, having lost his wife, with whom he had lived childless forty years, went to Rhode-Island, and married a niece of his late wife, which was agreeable to the laws of that province. By her having a child, Mr. Merret offered the same for baptism to the minister of whose church he was a member. The minister refused, because it was an incestuous child; and cited Merret and his wife to appear before himself and his church upon an indictment of incest. Merret appeared; the verdict was, “Guilty of incest.” He appealed to the Association, which also found him guilty of incest. He again appealed to the Consociation, and was again found guilty of incest. Merret and his wife were then ordered to separate, and make a public confession, on pain of excommunication. Merret refused; whereupon the minister read the act of excommunication, while the deacons shoved Merret out of the meeting-house. Being thus cast out of the synagogue, and debarred from the conversation of any one in the parish, it was well said by Mr. Merret: “If this be not to exercise the power of the keys, I know not what it is.” The poor man soon after died with a broken heart, and was buried in his own garden by such christian brethren as were not afraid of the mild puissance of the Consociation.
Mr. Neal says, also, p. 609, after evincing his
jealousy at the growth of the Church of England in New-England: “If the religious liberties of the plantations are invaded by the setting up of spiritual courts, &c., they will feel the sad effects of it.” In this sentiment I agree with Mr. Neal; but, unluckily, he meant the bishops courts, and I meant the courts of synods, composed of his “meek, exemplary, and learned divines of New-England,” but who are more severe and terrible than even was the Star-Chamber under the influence of Laud, or the Inquisition of Spain. The ecclesiastical courts of New-England have, in the course of 160 years, bored the tongues with hot needles, cut off the ears, branded the foreheads of, and banished, imprisoned, and hanged more quakers, baptists, adamites, ranters, episcopalians, for what they call heresy, blasphemy, and witchcraft, than there are instances of persecution in Fox’s book of Martyrology, or under the bishops of England since the death of Henry VIII. And yet Mr. Neal was afraid of spiritual courts, and admired the practice of New-England churches, who only excommunicated offenders, delivering them over to the civil magistrates to torture and ruin. If I remember right, I once saw the Inquisition of Portugal act after the same manner, when the priest said, “We deal with the soul, and the civil magistrate with the body.”
Time not having destroyed the walls of the fort at Saybrook, Mr. Whitefield, in 1740, attempted to bring them down, as Joshua brought down the walls of Jericho, to convince the gaping multitude of his divine mission. He walked several times round the fort with prayer, and rams’-horns blowing; he called on the angel of Joshua to come and do as he had done
at the walls of Jericho; but the angel was deaf, or on a journey, or asleep, and therefore the walls remained. Hereupon George cried aloud: “This town is accursed for not receiving the messenger of the Lord; therefore the angel is departed, and the walls shall stand as a monument of sinful people.” He shook off the dust of his feet against them, and departed, and went to Lyme.
Killingsworth is ten miles west from Saybrook, lies on the sea, and resembles Wadsworth. The town is eight miles square, and divided into two parishes. This town is noted for the residence of the Rev. Mr. Elliot, commonly known as Dr. Elliot, who discovered the art of making steel out of sand, and wrote a book on husbandry, which will secure him a place in the Temple of Fame.
Windham, the second county in the ancient kingdom of Sassacus, or colony of Saybrook, is hilly; but the soil being rich, has excellent butter, cheese, hemp, Indian-corn, and horses. Its towns are twelve.
Windham resembles Rumford, and stands on Winnomantic River. Its meeting-house is elegant, and has a steeple, bell, and clock. Its court-house is scarcely to be looked upon as an ornament. The township forms four parishes, and is ten miles square.