CHAPTER XII.

RESUME OF PRECEDING HISTORY GROWTH, VITALITY AND CATHOLICITY OF CONGREGATIONALISM -ITS SPIRIT OF UNION ITS DEVOTION TO EDUCATION - PRINCELY GIFTS.

We have now surveyed in a cursory manner the entire history of Congregationalism in North America, from 1620-29 to 1878-79; and what have we learned? This, surely that a little one has become a thousand, and a small one a strong people and not this only; a people zealous of good works; a people enterprising and liberal to a noticeable degree; a people who value intellectual culture, and have ever and everywhere been forward and self-sacrificing to secure it for themselves and for all around them; a people who, while loving their own simple and Scriptural church polity, have yet been prompt to unite with good men in efforts to advance the common salvation, quite regardless of their own denominational interests; a people who have ever been ready to sing, with the spirit and the understanding also,

We love Thy kingdom, Lord,

and to rejoice in every manifestation of its progress in the world: in religious revivals at home, and in the extension of the gospel among the unevangelized nations of the earth; and who, to accomplish these most desirable ends, have prayed,

and labored, and given most liberally - their personal services, their sons and daughters, as well as their gold and silver.

All this is claimed for the Christian people whose history has been summarized in these pages; claimed, however, not in the spirit of boasting; not with the thought that we are the people, and that wisdom will die with us; not in unmindfulness of the credit due other evangelical denominations for their work and labor of love which they have showed toward the name of Him whose name is above .every other. It is not in any such spirit, or with any feeling of selfish exclusiveness - which would be utterly foreign to our denominational character-that we claim all these honorable distinctions for Congregationalism; but it is simply as a matter of justice to a denomination of Christians which, though the oldest in the United States, has in many quarters been less known and less understood and appreciated than any of the great religious bodies of the country.

In support of these high denominational claims, we may recall some of the prominent facts recorded in these pages.

On the 21st of December, 1620, the first Congregational church ever seen on this continent landed from the Mayflower, in Plymouth harbor. Of exactly how many members it consisted, cannot now be known; but probably of not more than seventy or eighty, about half of whom died before spring. These were, as good Governor

CHAP. XII.]

CHURCHES IN 1640.

459

Bradford modestly says, "by the blessing of God, the first beginners, and, in a sort, the foundation of all the plantations and colonies in New England;" and, we may add, of all the Congregational churches now scattered, more or less thickly, over forty-two States and Territories, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, some twenty-five hundred miles, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the great lakes, some sixteen hundred miles; and covering an area of more than three million square miles.

Until August 6th, 1629, the Plymouth church was alone in this vast wilderness; but on that day it had the satisfaction of giving the right hand of fellowship to a Congregational church in Salem. Ten months later-June 1-8th, 1630the Dorchester church arrived, and settled at Mattapan, afterwards called Dorchester, and became the third Congregational church in America. On the 30th of July, 1630, two more churches were formed: the Boston church, at Charlestown, and the Watertown church. Three more were added to the list in 1632, and in the course of the years 1633-40 six additional churches were constituted in Plymouth colony, fourteen in Massachusetts, seven in Connecticut, and two in New Hampshire. Thus, in twenty years after the landing of the Pilgrims, thirty-seven Congregational churches had been planted and were flourishing in New England; and a great and wonderful work this was, considering all the circumstances under which

it was accomplished a work which only a pecul iar people, zealous of good works, would or could have accomplished.

In 1645, New England had a population of about fifteen thousand souls, and forty-five Congregational churches. The growth of our churches during the last half of the seventeenth century was by no means rapid; it did not keep pace with the population; though in 1696, with a population of about one hundred and twenty thousand, we had at least one hundred and thirty churches (exclusive of Indian churches).*

The progress of Congregationalism during the two following generations between 1696 and 1759 was very satisfactory, if not very great. Massachusetts and Connecticut each added to their list the same number of churches one hundred and twenty-seven; New Hampshire, thirty; Maine, fifteen; Rhode Island, three; and now, for the first time, we have Congregational churches to report outside of New England -four having been formed in the State of New York; making an aggregate of three hundred and six additional churches.

Between 1760 and 1800 there was a very considerable increase of our churches; though these years included the exciting period which followed the conquest of Canada, the preliminary move

* Compare vol. iv of this History, p. 610, and p. 611, note.

G. B. J.

CHAP. XII.)

INCREASE OF CHURCHES.

461

ments towards the American Revolution, which began as early as 1764, and the war itself, from 1776 to 1782; together with the scarcely less exciting movements attending the adoption of the Constitution and the settlement of the government of the United States. During these forty years of all-pervading political and military interest and excitement, the Congregational churches increased largely in New England, making their way into a new State, which had never before been reckoned among the sisterhood - Vermont; and across the Hudson, into New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Connecticut organized, in this time, thirty-eight new churches; Maine, fortyfour; New Hampshire, sixty-nine; Massachusetts, seventy-three; New York, twenty-two, which still continue on our list; Vermont, seventy-three; Pennsylvania, one; and Ohio, one; making, in all, three hundred and twenty-one churches, which continue to this day.

The population of New England in 1800 was one million two hundred and thirty-three thousand, and of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio about as many more-making a total in these nine States into which the Congregationalists had then found their way, of two million five hundred and twenty-nine thousand seven hundred and ninety-two; or nearly one half the then existing population of the United States.* So

*It is nearly impossible now to ascertain the exact number of churches of the Congregational order formed previous to