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VOLUNTARY MAINTENANCE

MINISTERS

PLTMOUTH AND MA8SA0HUSEHS BAT COLONIES.

^^. ^ . ^. V; ^•

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THE USE OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM

IN THE

MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS

IN THE

COLONIES OF PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS BAY

DURING THE EARLIER YEARS OF THEIR

EXISTENCE.

By SAMUEL SWETT GREEN.

The Historical Portion of the Keport of the Council of the American

Antiquarian Society presented at the Semi- Annual Meeting

of the Society held in Boston, April 28, 1886.

• Wotrnttv, Pa)fii.si*, %. ^. %

PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON,

311 Main Street,

1886.

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Ittr

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MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS.

The subject which has been selected for the historical
portion of the Report of the Council is the use of the
voluntary system \n the miiintenance of ministers in the
colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay during the
earlier years of their existence.

Both Pilgrims and Puritans supported their ministers by
voluntary contributions for several years after coming to
America. They did this, too, largely from principle and
not merely because it was convenient to do so. No histo-
rian has brought together the statements of early writers
and the facts in the history of the two colonies which afford
the proof of these two propositions.

In Boston the plan of maintaining ministers by voluntary
payments was never given up, and has been in use during
the entire period covered by its history.* In most other

I " The right to levy taxes for the support of the ministry which prevailed in
country parishes until quite a recent date was never exercised in the town of
Boston."— History of the First Church in Boston, by Arthur B. Ellis, p. 79, note.

"These early laws were made when King's Chapel alone represented the
Church of England in the province; and as that was in Boston where from the
beginning the ministers were maintained by a voluntary contributiony no
injustice was done to its members by Taxation ."—Annals of King's Chapel, by
H. W. Foote, vol. I., p. 440. See, also, Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts
(1628 to 1750), third edition, 1795, v. I., p. 376, and Winthrop's History of New
England, new edition, vol. I., p. 141.

For accounts of methods in use in Boston in early times for raising money
needed in paying the salaries of ministers, see Lechford's Plaine Dealing, p. 18
(Ed. in collections of Mass'tts Hist. Soc, 3d ser., vol. 3, p. 77, Trumbull's ed.,
p. 48) ; Winthrop's Hist, of New England, vol. I., pp. 144 and 382; An Histori-
cal Sketch of the First Church in Boston, by Rev. William Emerson, pp. 160-1;
History of Second Church, by C. Bobbins, p. 11 (note). Compare, also. The
Way of the Churches of Christ in New England, by J. Cotton, London, 1645, p.
69; Josselyn's Account of Two Voyages to New England, in Colls, of Mass'tts
Hist. Soc, 3d ser., vol. 3, p. 331, and Letters from New England, by John
Dunton, Ed. of the Prince Society, p. 70. Rev. Dr. E. E. Hale was reported in
the Boston Daily Advertiser of February 18, 1884, as having said in a lecture
given at about that date (while speaking of the custom once in vogue in Boston,
of using a portion of the money collected at church on Sunday in rendering

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portions of the colony of Massachusetts Bay the system of
supporting the clergy in this way was discontinued in a
few years. At a somewhat later period it was also given
up in the Plymouth Colony. Some of the residents in both
colonies refused to aid, of their own accord, in paying the
salaries of ministers. After a while the majority of the
inhabitants, both in Massachusetts Bay and in Plymouth,
concluded to make it obligatory upon aWjo do so.

Both colonies from the beginning enforced attendance at
meeting as persistently as the people of Massachusetts
to-day adhere to the policy of compelling children to go to
school. Public religious instruction was regarded as neces-
sary to the well being of the community. It was thought,
too, that as everybody had the benefit of the teachings of
ministers, everybody should help support them, notwith-
standing some persons might not consider their instructions
beneficial or might object to help pay their salaries on the

compensation to ministers), that his own grandfather, a minister in Boston,
received payments from this source and had money ** paid to him every Sun-
day, in the proper proportion, from the contents of the contribution box of that
day, so that it came to him in the very sixpences, shillings and pistareens which
the parishioners had put into the box." The minister referred to by Dr. Hale,
writes that gentleman, is Rev. Oliver Everett, pastor of the New South Church.
Mr, Everett became the settled minister of that church in 1782.

An act of the Province of Massachusetts Bay passed at the session of the
General Court begun and held Oct. 12, 1692, provides "that every minister,
being a person of good conversation, able, learned and orthodox, that shall be
chosen by the major part of the inhabitants in any town, at a town meeting
duly warned for that purpose (notice thereof being given to the inhabitants
fifteen days before the time for such meeting), shall be the minister of such
town ; and the whole town shall be obliged to pay towards his settlement and
maintenance, each man his several proportion thereof." Boston was not
excepted from the operation of this law. But besides the fact that that town
had more than one church it had supported its ministers by voluntary contri-
butions, heretofore. At the session begun Feb. 8, 1692-3, " upon further con-
sideration of the said section or paragraph in said act, and the impracticable-
ness of the method therein proposed for the choice of a minister in divers
towns wherein there are more churches than one, and inconveniences attending
the same not so well before seen," it was amended and in its modified form '
arrangements were made for the choice of ministers by the churches with the
concurrence of the m^or part of the congregation entitled to vote in town
affairs and for their settlement and maintenance by taxation, and this provision
was added to the law, namely, that nothing therein " contained is intended or
shall be construed to extend to abridge the inhabitants of Boston of their ac-
customed way and practice as to the choice and maintenance of their ministers."

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ground that they did not care for their services. The fol-
lowing passage from Hutchinson's History reproduces the
sentiments of most of the residents of both colonies after
the earlier method of ministerial support had been set aside
in favor of taxation. Writing towards the close of the
seventeenth century ''the late Governor of Plymouth, Mr.
Hinkley, complained of this, as one great grievance, that
not being allowed to make rates for the support of the min-
istry the people would sink into barbarism." ^

In the year 1618, while James the First was King of
Great Britain, the learned .John Selden (who during the
reign of James's successor, Charles the First, was com-
mitted to the tower to punish him for the part which he
took in supporting the remonstrance of the commons against
the levying of duties known as *' tonnage and poundage"),
was summoned before the High Commission Court to
answer charges preferred against him for publishing his
History of Tithes. He was accused of denying in that
work that tithes are founded in divine right, and although
he did not make such a denial in direct terms, it seems
probable that he arranged the materials of his history so as
to lead to a similar conclusion. He did not deny, how-
ever, the legal right of ministers to enjoy tithes. Still he
was condemned, his book was suppressed, and he made to
apologize for having published the sentiments contained in it.

Four centuries before the time of Selden, in the beginning
of the thirteenth century, Francis of Assisi organized the
order of friars which received his name. The members of
this order were not only forbidden to hold property as
individuals, the rule with monks in the Catholic church,
but also as members of a religious corporation.

John Wyclif, who died just two hundred years before
Selden was born, maintained strenuously that the condition
of priests should be that of poverty (without mendicancy,
however), and vigorously opposed ecclesiastical endow-

i History of Massachusetts, 3d ed., vol. I., p. 319, note.

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ments by individuals and subsidies to the church from the
state. Wyclif was also ready to adopt to a certain extent
the voluntary principle in regard to the payment of tithes.
He would not relieve the people from the support of the
ministry. He would have them urged to pay tithes, even
excommunicated if they persistently refused to pay them.^
But he would have tithes used very largely for relieving
the distresses of the poor, and allow out of them only a
meagre support to priests and have the parishioners with-
hold even this small compensation after having decided in
an orderly manner that the priests are unfaithful in respect
to the discharge of their duties.^ *' Think ye wisely," says
the great reformer, *' ye men that find" (maintain) "priests,
that ye do this alms for God's love, and help of your souls,
and help of Christian men and not for pride of the world to
have them occupied in worldly office and vanity."^

The work from which this extl'act is taken ''exhorts the
laity to support worthy priests, and such only ; admonish-
ing them, that if they furnish the means of subsistence to
men of an opposite character, they will be found partakers
in all the sin, mischief, and punishment attendant on the
course of unfaithful stewards."^

From a passage in The Great Sentence of the Curse
Expounded it would seem, indeed, that Wyclif sometimes,
at least, felt that it would be best that tithes should be
given up altogether rather than that those abuses of their
products which he saw around him should be tolerated.
"If," writes he, "tithes were due by God's commandment,
then everywhere in Christendom would be one mode of

1 Always, however, " on the condition that the discipline is exercised for the
good of the sinner and not for the greed of the priest," writes F. D. Matthew
in his introduction to the English works of Wj'clif , hitherto unprinted, pub-
lished by the Early English Text Society, p. XXXVIH. or p. XXXIX.

2Ibid., p. XXXVIII. or p. XXXIX.

8De Stipendiis Ministrorum. Tracts and Treatises of John De Wycliffe,
D.D. Edited for the Wycliffe Society by Robert Vaughan, D.D., p. 43.

* Analysis of W y differs De Stipendiis Ministrorum in Tracts, and Treatises,
etc., just referred to, p. 43.

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tithing, but it is not so. Would God that all wise and true
men would inquire whether it were not better for to find
good priests by free alms of the people, and in a reasonable
and poor livelihood, to teach the gospel in word and deed
as did Christ and his apostles, than thus to pay tithes to a
worldly priest, ignorant and negligent, as men are now
constrained to do by bulls and new ordinances of priests.'' ^

Honorable Arthur Elliot states in his recent volume
entitled «'The State and the Church," that the provision by
tithes for the support of religion is of no very early institu-
tion in Christian countries and that it does not appear to
have been known before the end of the fourth century.^

He differs from Dr. Morgan Cove, Prebendary of Here-
ford, who suggests in his Essay on the Revenues of the
Church of England, written in 1816, that the institution of
tithes must have been contained **in some unrecorded
revelation made to Adam and by him and his descendants
delivered down to posterity." ^

The plan of supporting ministers by giving them the
right to take tithes, after a time became general throughout
Christendom.^

The payment of tithes was ordered in England *<by
ecclesiastical councils at the end of the eighth century ; and
on the Continent of Europe at about the same time, was
prescribed by an ordinance of Charlemagne."*

Tithes have never been abolished in England, but by the
Tithe Commutation Act passed in 1836, they were generally
changed into semi-annual money payments.

During the few years which preceded the appearance of
Selden's great work considerable interest seems to have
been manifested in England in discussing the grounds on
which the institution of tithes rests, and in that period
several treatises were put forth to prove that it is founded
in divine right. Jeremiah Stephens, in a preface to the

1 Analysis of Wycliflfe^s De Stipendiis Ministrorum, Chapter XVII. Quoted
in Tracts and Treatises, etc., p. 40.

2 Page 85. s Elliot, p. 86. * Page 85. 5page86.

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work of Sir Henry Spelman, in which the maintenance of
tithes is earnestly advocated, published in 1646, states that
that work was prepared a long time before that date.
Spelman's smaller work on tithes, which is attached to his
De non temerandis egclesiis, was printed in 1613, Tithes
were collected as usual during the existence of the Com-
/ monwealth, both under Presbyterian rule and when Inde-

pendency was in the ascendant.

The long parliament, indeed, in 1649 voted that tithes
should be taken away as soon as another maintenance for
the clergy could be agreed upon, and this action led to
petitions praying that this affair might be brought to an
issue. ^ The plan of exacting tithes was still continued,
however. The clergy became alarmed by the action of the
little parliament (Barebone's) , 1653, because they '*saw
their wealth menaced by the establishment of civil marriage
and by proposals to substitute the fi'ee contributions of
congregations for the payment of tithes."^ There was a
decision against tithes in that body, but immediately after
it was reached the parliament passed out of existence and
the old method of supporting ministers remained.^

The constitution of 1657 maintained an established clergy
in the enjoyment of tithes or other settled stipends.^ Crom-
well, himself, favored the maintenance of ministers by the
imposition of tithes. Tithes, however, found a staunch
opponent in John Milton.. In his Defensio Secunda, which
was published in 1654, he says that persecution in the
church ** will never cease, so long as men are bribed to
^ preach the gospel by a mercenary salary, which is forcibly
extorted, rather than gratuitously bestowed, which serves
only to poison religion and to strangle truth." ^ The paro-

1 History of the Puritans, by Daniel Neale, new edition by Joshua Toulmin,
pub. by Charles Ewer, Boston, and E. W. Allen, Newburyport, 1847, vol. IV.,
p. 86. Harper & Bros., 1844.

2 A Short History of the English People, by J. R. Green, Harper & Bros.,
1880, p. 566. 8 Page 567. 4 Milton, by Mark Patterson, p. 119.

,fi Prose works of John Milton, Bohn's edition, 1848, p. 293.

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chial clergy, he says, **are stuffed with tithes in a way
disapproved by the rest of the reformed churches; and
they have so little trust in God, that they choose to extort
a maintenance, rather by judicial force, and magisterial
authority, than to owe it to divine providence, or the grati-
tude and benevolence of their congregations."^ In his
Considerations touching the likeliest means to remove
hirelings out of the church, etc., published in 1659,
Milton writes ''So that when all is done, and belly hath
used in vain all her cunning shifts, I doubt not but all true
ministers, considering the demonstration of what hath been
here proved, will be wise, and think it much more tolerable
to hear, that no maintenance of ministers, whether tithes or
any other, can be settled by statute, but must be given by
them who receive instruction ; and freely given as God
hath ordained. And, indeed, what can be a more honora-
ble maintenance to them than such, whether alms or willing
oblations, as these ; which being accounted both alike as
given to God, the only acceptable sacrifices now remaining,
must needs represent him who receives them much in the
care of God, and nearly related to him, when not by
worldly force and constraint, but 'with religious awe and
reverence, what is given to God, is given to him ; and
what to him, accounted as given to God."^ ''Nothing,"
says Mark Patterson, "was more abhorrent to Milton's
sentiment than state payment in religious things. The
minister who receives such pay becomes a state pensioner,
a hireling. The law of tithes is a Jewish law, repealed
by the Gospel, under which the minister is only main-
tained by the free will offerings of the congregation to
which he ministers. This antipathy to hired preachers was
one of Milton's earliest convictions. It thrusts itself,
rather importunately, into Lycidas (1636), and reappears
in the Sonnet to Cromwell (Sonnet XVI., 1652), before it

1 Prose works of John Milton, Bohn's edition, 1848, p. 275.

2 Prose works of John Milton, vol. III., p. 34.

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is dogmatically expounded in the pamphlet Considerations
touching means to remove Hirelings out of the Ohurch
(1659), Of the two corruptions of the church by the
secular power, one by force, the other by pay, Milton
regards the last as the most dangerous. Under force,
though no thanks to the forcers, true religion oftimes best
thrives and flourishes ; but the corruption of teachers, most
commonly the effect of hire, is the very bane of truth in
them who are so corrupted."^

Let us now return to the years when James the First
was king, and consider the utterances and proceedings of
the contemporaries of our Pilgrim fathers who agi'eed with
them in matters of faith and church polity. On the
occasion of the accession of James to the throne of England,
which occurrence took place March 24, 1602-3,^ the exiles
in the Separatist church at Amsterdam presented to the
king a memorial in which they asked to be suffered to live
in peace in their native land without being urged to ''the
vse or approbation of any remnants of poperie & humane
traditions. "3 Failing to obtain the privileges asked for
they submitted, writes Dr. Dexter, ''a supplementary peti-
tion, noting : The Heads of differences betiveen them and
the Church of England^ as they understood it.^'^ Under
the seventh head they asserted as their belief '*That the
due maintenance of the Officers aforesaid " (pastors, teach-
ers, elders, deacons and helpers), ''should be of the free
and voluntary contribution of the Church, that according to
Christ's Ordinance, they which preach the Gospel) may live
of the Gospel) : and not by Popish Lordships and Livings,
or Jewish Tithes and Offerings. And that therefore the
Lands and other like revenewes of the Prelats and Clergie
yet remayning (being still also baits to allure the Jesuitcs

1 Milton, by Mark Patterson, pp. 119, 120.

2 According as old or new style is employed in designating the year.

3 Apologie, etc. (to be referred to hereafter) , p. 34.

* Congregationalism of the last three hundred years as seen in its literature,
etc., by Henry M. Dexter, p. 306.

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and Seminaries into the Land, and incitements vnto them
to plott and prosecute their wonted evil courses, in hope to
enjoy them in tyme to come) may now by your Highness
be taken away, and converted to better vse as those of the
Abbeys and Nunneries have been heertofore by your maies-
tyes worthie predecessors to the honor of God and to great
good of the Realme." ^ A third and still more elaborate
supplication followed. To none of the petitions did the
king respond favorably, and *'the ' Vice-Chancelour, the
Doctors, both the Proctors, and other the Heads of Houses
in the Vniversitye of Oxford,'" says Dr, Dexter,^ ''pub-
lished a quarto of forty-four pages,^ principally directed
against a 'Humble Petition' presented by 'Ministers of the
Church of England desiring Reformation of certaine Cere-
monies & abuses of the Church,' but in which they turned
aside to attack these other petitioners, stigmatizing them as
'absurd Brownists,'^ having a 'selfe conceited confidence,'*
and holding 'pestilent and blasphemous conclusions.'^
This led in 1604 to the issue of An Apologie or Defence of
svch Trve Christians as are commonlie (but vniustly) called
Brovvnists, etc.,''' in which the exiles published their three

1 Congregationalism in the last three hundred years, etc., pp. 307, 308.

2 Congregationalism^ etc., p. 309.

8The Answere of the Vice-Chancelour, the Doctors, etc., of the Vniversity of
Oxford, etc., to the Humble Petition, etc., Oxford, 1603, 4to, pp. XII., 32.

*Answere, etc.,II. sibid. « Ibid., 12.

7 [F. Johnson and H. Ainsworth.]— An Apologie or Defence of Svch Trve
Christians as are commonly (but vniustly) called Brovvnists: against such
imputations as are layd vpon them by the Heads and Doctors of the Vniversity
of Oxford, in their Answer to the humble Petition of the Ministers of the
Church of England, desiring reformation of certayne Ceremonies and abuses of
the Church, 1604, 4°, pp. XVI., 118. This work is No. 264 m Collections towards
a Bibliography of Congregationalism, an Appendix to Dexter's Congr^ational-
ism, &c. Copies of it are very scarce. In this country one may be found in
our own library and others in the Prince Library and in the library of Harvard
• College. Dr. Dexter also owns a copy of it, as does Mr. Charles Deane. The
extracts which I shall give from the work were kindly made for me by Dr.
Dexter from his copy by his own hand. The extracts to follow from Ains-
worth's Covnterpoyson and from J. Smyth's Paralleles, Censvres, Observations,
etc., were also made for me in the same kind manner, by Dr. Dexter, from copies
in his possession. I do not know that there is another copy in this country of
the latter work besides the one here used. No other is mentioned as owned in

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petitions, and replied at length to the attack of the Oxford
Doctors."

In the reply several of the positions maintained by the
Amsterdam Separatists are stated with fulness. The
seventh of these opens with the paragraph recited above as
the seventh head in the Heads of difference, &c., contained
in the supplementary petition presented to King James.
Then follow a number of references to passages in the
Bible and an account of the reasons which induced the
y writers of the Apologie to declare the voluntary system to
be the correct method for use in maintaining ministers.
A copy of the references to Scripture and of the reasons
is given in a note.^

America in the Collections, etc., mentioned above, in which Smyth^s work is
numbered 352. Ainsworth's Covnterpoyson is No. 338 in the same list. A
copy of this rare book may be found in the Prince Library. The extract to be
given in this essay has been made, as stated before, from a copy belonging to
Dr. Dexter, of later date, however (1642), than the original edition (1608). A
copy of the later edition, dated 1642, may be seen in the Congregational
Library, Boston.

11 Cor. 9. 7-14. Oal. 6. 6. 1 Thess. 5. 13. 1 Tim. 5. 17.18. compared with
Prov. 3. 9. 10. and with Num. 18. 8-32. Deut. 18. 1-5. and 25. 4. 2 Chron.
31. 4-21. Nehem. 13. 10-14. Mai. 3. 8, 9, 10. Heb. 7. 5, 12. Luke 8. 3. and
10. 7. Rom. 15. 27. Rev. 17. 16.

1. Because Christ hath ordeyned, that so it should be now in the tyme of
the Gospell. 1 Cor. 9. 14. Gal. 6. 6. 1 Thess. 5. 13. 1 Tim. 5. 17. 18.

2. Because the Law of Tithes did cease with the chaunge of the Leviticall
Priesthood. Heb. 7. 12. and els why did Christ ordeyne another maintenance
f or the Ministery of the Gospell, difi'ering from (yet proportionable vnto) that
which was for the Priesthood vnder the Law? 1 Cor. 9. 13, 14. Or why
should this ceremonie of the Law, be vnabolished by Christ, more than the
rest? Num. 18. 24. with Heb. 7. 5, 12, and 9. 10. and 10. 1. Gal. 5. 1. 2. 3.
Col. 2. 8-17.

8. Because God, vnder the Law, would not have his Ministers the Priests
and Levites to have any part or inheritance, as the other Israelites had, in the
Land of Canaan; but himself was their inheritance. Of & by the oflTerings &
altar of the Lord they were susteyned. Deut. 10. 8, 9. & 18. 1-5; losh. 13.
14. 33. According to the equity whereof, is the maintenance of the Ministerie
of Christ now to be. 1 Cor. 9. 13. 14. Where note also, that as the Ministers
of the Gospell ought, in respect of their Ministerie, to have their due mainten-
ance appointed by Christ (that they may, as the other before, be encouraged in
the Law of the Lord, and better attend to their function and Ministerie :) so
may they not for it now, any more than at that tyme, devise or require any

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Rev*. Richard Bernard, a clergyman of the Puritan branch
of the Church of England, published in 1608 a work
entitled «' Christian Advertisements and Counsels of Peace.
4^1so Disswasions from the Separatists Schisme, commonly
called Brownisme, &c." This book created a sensation
among the Separatists and was replied to by the Teacher
of the "Ancient Church" at Amsterdam, Henry Ains worth,
and by John Smyth, who at first was connected with the
same church but in about the year 1607 seceded from it
with a number of followers and formed a second church.^

Bernard stated it to be a position of the Separatists
'' That ministers should onely Hue of voluntarie contribu-

other than is ordeyned by the Lord himself. For which, see the Scriptures
alledged before in the Position itself.

4. Because Princes are bound not onely to see the true Ministerie and wor-
ship of God established and inainteyned, according to his word : but also to take
away and convert t-o other vse, the demeanes revenewes and maintenance of any
false Ministeries and vnlawfuU ecclesiasticall functions within their Dominions.
2 Chro. 31. chap, with Deut. 17. 18, 19, 20. Esa. 49. 23. and 60. 3. 10. 11. 12.
Psal. 2. 10. 11. 12. 1 Tim. 2. 2. with Reve. 17. 16.

5. Because there should els still remaine such a maner of maintenance, as
by which any Ministerie that should be received in the Land, though never so
Popish or vnlawfull, might be mainteyned. Contrarie to Prov. 3. 0. 10. Rev.
17. 16. and 18. 11. Psalm. 16. 3. 4. with Exod. 20: 4. 5. 6. 1 Cor. 9. 14. and 10.
19. 20. 21. 22. Ephes. 5. 11.

6. Because there is no more warrant in the word of God for the Lordships
and Livings of the Prelates and Priests to be continued, then for the Abbey
Lands of the Fryers and Nunnes to be restored.

7. Because by the ordinance of Christ, it should still be seen, that the Main-
tenance of the Ministers belongeth vnto them for preaching the Gospell, and
commeth from the people of love and dutie in that behalf. 1 Cor. 9. 14. 1
Thess. 5. 13. Gal. 6. 6. 1 Tim. 5. 17. 18. Whereas that which is now had in
the Land is such, as the Prelates and Priestes do exact (and the people are
constreyned to yeeld it vnto them) be they never so vngodly, vnlearned, &c.
Besides that the lesuites & Seminaries, and other the like, are by this meanes
stirred vp to attempt and follow still their wicked and treasonable practises,
hoping for a day when their Religion may in the full thereof enioy them againe :
As is before noted in the Position it self.

iThis second church, says Dr. Dexter, was founded on "substantially the
same basis of general faith, but with many differences of what we should think
minor details." Early in 1609 Smyth was cast out of the second church with
about forty followers, who sympathized with him on account of changed
views, and appears to have remained the pastor of his little excommunicated
company until his death in 1612. See H. M. Dexter's Congregationalism, etc.,
p. 313.

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tion^ and not either of set stipends or tithes^^ and replied to
it by saying ''This is against the wisedom of God, who
allowed a setled maintenance vnder the Law : and there is
nothing against it in the Gospell."^

Ainsworth's answer to Bernard on this point is as follows :
^^Ans. God in wisdome appoynted tithes^ first f mites ^
& other particulars for his Priests liuelihod uder the law :
Christ in wisdom appoynteth noe such for his ministers
under the gospell ; but Pope JPaschalis about 827 yeares
after Christ* decreed that tithes should be giuen to the
priests. This Popes wisdome Mr. Ber. preferreth before
Christs. It cannot be deneyed but tithes were a part of
the Law, and that Christ abolished the legal Priesthood ;
whervpon it followeth by the playn doctrine of the Gospel,
if the priesthood be changed ^ then of necessity must there be
a change of the law. Heb. 7. 12. But Mr. Bern, had
rather any shadow should be done away than this of Tithes^
for it hath much substance with it : and there be moe siluer-
smithes of Demetrius minde which sayd,^ Sirs ye know^
that by this craft we haue our goods. But what sayth one
of their own ancient Martyrs against Mr. Bernards predeces-
sors :* This Priesthood is blown so high and borne vp in
pride and vagne glory of their estate and dignity^ and so
blinded with worldly covetousnes that they disdayne to follow
Christ in uery meeknes and wilfull pouerty, liuing holily^
and preaching Gods word truely freely and continually^
taking their liuelihood at thefreewil of the People; of their
pure almosey wher and when they suffice not for their true
and busy preaching to get their sustenance with their hands.
To this true sentence grounded on Christs own liuing, and
teaching of his Apostles, these foresayd worldly and fleshly

1 Christian Advertisements and Counsels of Peace. Also disswasions from
the Separatists Schisme, commonly called Brownisme, which is set apart from
such truths as they take from vs, and other Reformed Churches, etc., by R.
Bernard, 1608, p. 156. Rev. Dr. Dexter has a copy of this work.

2 Qii, 19, ch. 1. Decimas populo. 8 Acts 19: 15,
^Acts and monuments, WUiCu Thor. in his testament.

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priests^ will not consent effectually^ &c. If this martyr
were now aliue, the Clergie of England would sooner con-
demn him for a Brownist than approue of his doctrine ;
albeit now that he is dead, they garnish his toomb."^
John Smyth replied to Bernard as follows :
^^Ans, We reject it, for we hold it lawful for the Elders
of the Church to receave weekly, monthly, or yeerely a
pencionof the Church for their labors, al that we teach con-
cerning the mayntenance of the ministerie is this.

1. That it is vnlawful for the Elders of the Church to
challendg at the hands of them that are infidels & vnbe-
lievers, tithes & offerings as you do.

2. Wee hold that tithes are either Jewish or popish,

3. That the officers of the visible Church may receave
any gift of any Frend that is without, & live of it.

4. That the officers of the Church in the necessity of
the Church ought to work for their living, as Paul made
tents.

5. That the officers of the Church may challendg mayn-
tenance of the Church, if the Church be able to yeeld it.

6. That also the poore of the Church may require mayn-
tenance vppon the same grounds for we are al members one
of another, & have al things common in vse, though not in
possession : al these particulars are plaine by these Script-
ures, Heb. 7. 12. & 9. 9. Act. 2. 44. 45. 1 Cor. 9. 1-
15. Gal. 6. 6 & 4, 9. 10. Col. 2. 16. 17. 20. 21.

This is the substance of that wee hold herein and there-
fore Mr. Bern, you do vs open wrong in this point also.

ParalleleSy Oensures^ Observations, aperteyning to the
sixteenth Section,

** Mr. Bern. pag. 156. of the Sep. Schisme avoucheth that
to deny tithes, & a set mayntenance to Ministers is contrary
to the Lords wisdom, who vnder the law appointeth tithes
a set maintenace, & ther is nothing against it in the gospel :

1 Covnterpoyson, etc., by H. Ainsworth, originally published in 1608. This
extract as stated before is from the edition of 1642, p. 115.

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I answer with the Apostle, the old Testament (I doe not
meane the writings of the Law, the Prophets, & the
Psalmes) and the ordinances thereof are abolished: The
bond woeman and her Children are cast out, Gallat. 4. 30.
and if ther bee a chandg of the Preisthood ther must needes
bee a chandg of the law, Heb. 7. 12. Wherefore seing
set stipends by tithes were a part of these worldly ordi-
nances of the old Testament, of those impotent & beggarly
rudiments, of that yoke of bondage whence Christ has set
vs free : it followeth that set mayntenance by tythes is
abolished by Christ : & as the liberty of the gospel is to be
carefully preserved in other things, as in that of circumcis-
ion, of the pasover, of the preisthood, of the Sacrifices and
the rest. So must it bee carefully preserved even in this
particular of set maintenance by tithes, for if any Mosaicall,
impotent, beggerly rudiment, or worldly ordinance : if any
part of the yoke of bondage may be joyned with "Christ,
why not all ? if not all, why may any ? Againe wheras you
say there is nothing against set mayntenance by tithes in
the New Testament, I demaund two things : 1. Vhither
Christ hath not abolished the Mosaical ordinances & brought
in the New Testament? & whither this be not contrary to
set maintenance by tithes? 2. Whither wee ought not to
have somthing for set mayntenance by tithes in the New
Testament, (if it must be retayned) that wee vppon fayth
may submit vnto it? Seing that whatsoever is not of
Fayth is sinne : So that this speach of yours, viz : ther is
nothing against it in the gospel, is both false, & if it were
true, yet is insuflScient, seing that it is not a good plea to
say ther is nothing against it, except wee can also say, that
ther is somthing for it: & thus much for this point."^
Bernard answered^ the arguments contained in the books of
Ainsworth and Smyth.

iParalleles, Censvres, Observations, &c., by J. Smyth, 1609, p. 120.

2 Plaine Euidences : the Church of England is Apostolicall ; the Separation
Schismaticall, directed against Mr. Ainsworth the Separatist, and Mr. Smyth
the Se-baptist, etc., 1610.

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Then John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrims, joined
in the controversy and replied to both of Bernard's works,
in a book published in 1610 and entitled A justification of
Separation from the Church of England, &c. He says
'*To conclude this point, since tithes and offerings were
appurtenances unto the priesthood, and that the priesthood
both of Melchizedec, and Levi are abolished in Christ, as
the shadow in the substance, and that the Lord hath
ordained that they which preach the gospel, should live of
the gospel, we do willingly leave unto you both your
priestly order, and maintenance, contenting ourselves with
the peoples voluntary contribution, whether it be less or
more, as the blessing of God upon our labor, the fruit of
our ministry, and a declaration of their love and duty.
Psal. ex. : 4; Heb. vii. : 17 ; viii. ; ix. ; 1 Cor. ix. : 14."^

Besides the testimony of Henry Ainsworth in favor of
the system of supporting the ministry by voluntary pay-
ments, there has come down to us an account of the Sun-
day services in the «' ancient church" at Amsterdam of
which that learned man was the Teacher, from which we
find out what was one at least of the means resorted to in
raising money to pay the salaries of the officers of the
church. The order of Sabbath services appears in a work
by Richard Clyfton,^ who states that when the other exer-
cises had been engaged in, a *' collection " was ** then made

1 The Works of John Robinson, published by John Snow, 36 Paternoster
Row, London, 1861, vol. 2, 467. Mr. Robinson refers the reader of his book to
the writings of Ainsworth and Smyth. In the edition of his works (1851)
which I have used, notes in the portion of the book from which the quotation
has been made refer to the specific works of those authors from which extracts
have just been given, namely, the Covnterpoyson and Paralleles. Although
these are undoubtedly the works the perusal of which Robinson recommends,
there is no reference to them specifically in the original edition of Robinson's
Justification, &c. (1610), or in the first reprint of the work (1639). So Rev.
Dr. Dexter informs the writer of this report. Mr. Robinson does, however, in
the original edition of his book refer specifically to position 7 of An Apologie,
etc.

2 An Advertisement concerning a Book lately published by C. Lawne and
others, against the English Exiled Church at Amsterdam, etc., by R. Clyfton,
1612.

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as each one was able for the suppoii; of the officers, and the
poor."

After the Pilgrims came to Plymouth they were without a
pastor, present among them, for about ten years. William
Brewster, their Elder, partially supplied the place of such
an officer. The writer of this report nowhere finds any
statement to show that Brewster received compensation for
his ministerial services. Perhaps he had no salary. The
planters who came to Plymouth and certain merchant
adventurers in England, as is well known, formed a joint
stock partnership before the Pilgrims came to this country
which continued according to agreement for seven years.
The compact^ entered into by the parties engaged in the
enterprise contains no stipulation regarding the plans to be
followed in supporting the ministry of the colony. That
support appears to have been rendered voluntarily until the
year 1655. There was a close connection at Plymouth
between church and state, but in that respect the colonists
seem to have abstained from the use of force and to have
adopted the plan in use in Amsterdam in conformity with
the teachings of their revered pastor, John Robinson.

One method of supporting the gospel which was in vogue
in Amsterdam seems to have been employed at Plymouth,
namely, that of taking up a contribution as a part of the
Sabbath services.

If the officers of the church had salaries it seems proba-
ble that a portion of the money raised in this way was
given to them as in Amsterdam and in Boston.

Governor Winthrop and Rev. Mr. Wilson of Boston
spent a Sunday at Plymouth in the autumn of 1632, and
the services of the church there on that day are described
by the former in his journal, under the date of October 25.
He says that in the afternoon, after several persons had
spoken, ''the deacon, Mr. Fuller, put the congregation in

1 Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Colls, of the Mass'tts Hist. Soc,
4th Ser., vol. III., p. 45.

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mind of their duty of contribution ; wherepon the Govem-
our and all the rest went down to the deacon's seat and put
into the box and then returned."^

The first constraining law in regard to ministerial support
enacted in Plymouth Colony, was passed the fifth day of
June, 1655. It provided as follows, for occasion when it
should appear that there was a real "defect" in regard to
P^ the due maintenance of ministers on the part of ''hearers : "
1^ "the Majestrates shall use all gentle meanes to p. suade
them to doe theire duty heerin. But if any of them shall
not heerby bee reclaimed but shall persist through plaine
obstinacy against an ordinance of God that then it shalbee
in the power of the Majestrate to use such other meanes
as may put them upon their duty."^

A law was passed June, 1657, which provided "That in
whatsoever Towneship there is or shalbee an able Godly
Teaching Minister which is approved by this Government
that then four men be chosen by the Inhabitants or incase
of theire neglect chosen by any three or more of the Majes-
trates to make an equall and just proportion upon the
estates of the Inhabitants according to their abillities to
make up such a convenient maintenance for his comfortable
attendance on his worke as shallbee agreed upon by the
Church in each township where any is with the concurrrance
of the rest of the Inhabitants if it may be had or by the
Majistrates aforesaid incase of their apparent neglect and
that destresse, according as in other just cases provided,
bee made upon such as refuse to pay such theire propor-
tions which is in justice due. But in case there bee any
other way whereby any township doe or shall agree that

1 History of New England from 1630 to 1649, by John Winthrop. Vol. I.
pp. 109, 110.

2 The compact with the Charter and Laws of the colony of New Plymouth,
Ac, published under the supervision of William Brigham, 1836, p. 99. Records
of the Colony of New Plymouth, edited by David Pulsifer, p. 64.

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/ may effect the end aforesaid this law not to be binding to
them."i

In explanation of the necessity of resorting to compulsory
support of ministers, Francis Baylies says "A wild spirit
(engendered perhaps in England,) had gone forth, which
proclaimed war upon carnal learning, and relied for relig-
ious instruction upon the miserable crudities of 'gifted
men,' upon whose minds it was fondly hoped a divine
influence was operating, which superseded the necessity of
' book learning,' and that the word of the Lord might
as well proceed from the lips of such rude, unlettered
expounders, as from such as had by their midnight lamps
and painful watches, mastered all the intricacies of the
primeval languages of the scriptures, and expounded the
holy writings after a critical investigation of their analogies,
and a careful comparison of the evidence."^

However much this consideration may have influenced
the colonists, it is easy to see that other causes could not
but have operated to bring about a change in the early
policy of the Plymouth Colony. Thus the religious enthu-
v' siasm of some of the settlers must have subsided. Differ-
ences must have arisen about the advisability of adopting
plans proposed from time to time. The penuriousness of
some men must have shown itself in small contributions.
Many men who had no real interest in the particular tenets
of the Pilgrims, but who lived in the colony, would dislike
to pay a tax for the support of ministers unless obliged to
do so.

It must have become evident in the course of time that
if it were considered imperative that everybody should be
brought under the direct influence of religious organizations
which should uphold a specified kind of theology and

1 Records published under supervision of William Brigliam, p. 102. Records
edited by David Pulsifer, p. 67.

2 An historical memoir of the colony of New Plymouth, by Francis Baylies,
with some corrections, &c., by Samuel G. Drake, vol. I., Part II., pp. 94, 95.

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church polity it would become necessary to resort to gen-
eral taxation to pay for their maintenance. Many persons
would shirk the payment of taxes if the way to do so were
open to them. Others who paid taxes would complain if
their neighbors did not pay them. All persons might have
the benefit to be had from the religious institutions ; all
should therefore aflbrd them pecuniary support. The fact
that some of the inhabitants did not value the gospel privi-
leges that were provided should not be considered since it
was believed by the majority of voters that the welfare of
the community depended upon the establishment and main-
tenance of that kind of religious institutions which had
hitherto been supported.

. Having considered the plans and motives of residents in
the Plymouth Colony in which the Separatist traditions of
Amsterdam and the teachings of Robinson were influential,
let us now turn to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose
founders had not been subjected to Separatist influences
before coming to America, but had sprung from the Puritan
branch of the Church of England. What practice prevailed
among the early settlers of this colony, and what principles
guided them, in respect to the plans in vogue for rendering
compensation for the services of ministers. The agree-
ments^ made with the first ministers of the first church in
the colony of Massachusetts Bay, namely, the one at Salem,
can easily be had in print. They are dated April 8, 1629.
The ministers were Reverends Messrs. Skelton and Higgin-
son. We have also readily accessible the compact made
with Rev. Mr. Bright,^ February 2, 1628-9, who came
from Great Britain to America under agreement to serve
the first body of emigrants, but who did not enter into
active ministry under that agreement. From these docu-
ments we learn the amount of the compensation which the
ministers were to receive, but they give no information

1 Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, by A.
Young, pp. 209-12. 2 ibid., p. 207.

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regarding the plaiis to be adopted in raising the money,
etc., needed in paying the salaries. Reverends Messrs.
Warham and Maverick were chosen in England the minis-
ters of the company of emigi'ants who came to Dorchester,
but nothing appears anywhere to show how the money
needed for their support was to be obtained.

At a General Court of. the Governor and Company of
Massachusetts Bay held in London, October 15, 1629, it
was agreed «*That the charge of the ministers now there,
or that shall hereafter goe to resyde there, as also the
charge of building convenyent churches, and all other
publique works vpon the plantacon, bee in like mann*^
indifferently borne, the one halfe by the Companyes ioynt
stock for the said tearme of 7 yeeres, and the other halfe by
the planters."^ The expression «' tearme of 7 yeeres" will
be explained by quoting from the record of the proceedings
of the same meeting another paragraph, as follows : ''That
the companye's joint stock shall have the trade of beavo*"
and all other ffures in these pts soly, for the tearme of 7
yeares from this day, for and in consideraeon of the charge
that the joynt stock hath vndergone already, and is yett
annually to beare, for the advancm* of the plantacon." ^

Hutchinson says that no notice was taken in the colony
of the provision in the oi'der of the General Court that one-
half of the compensation of ministers should be paid out of
the joint stock.^

At another General Court held (February 10, 1629-30),
before the transfer of the Charter of the Company to this
country it was propounded that as money was needed that
could not be conveniently paid out of the joint stock, in the
''furtherance of the plantacon" "that a comon stock should
bee raysed from such as beare good affeccon to the planta-
con, & the p pagacon therof, and the same to bee employed
only in defraym* of publique charges, as maintenance of

1 Records of the Governor and Company of Mass'tts Bay, p. 55. 2 ibid.
8 Hist, of Mass'tts, vol. I., p. 20.

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ministers, transportacon of poore famylyes, building of
churches & ffortyfycacons, & all other publique and neces
sary occasions of the plantacon."^

After the arrival of the immigrants in this country bring
ing with them the charter, the first order passed at the first
Court of Assistants, holden at Charlestown, August 23,
1630, provided that houses for Rev. Messrs. Wilson and
Phillips should be built at the ''publique charge." The
second order of that court directed that Mr. Phillips should
have a salary of forty pounds a year or its equivalent, and
Mr. Wilson twenty pounds "till his wife come ouer."
"All this to be att the comon charge, those of Mattapan
and Salem onely exempted."^

At a Court of Assistants held in Boston, November 30,
1630, "It is ordered, that there shalbe 60* collected out
of the se'u'all plantacons followeing, for the maintenance of
Mr. Wilson & Mr. Phillips, vzs: out of Boston, 20*;
Watertown, 20*; Charlton, 10*; Rokesbury, 6*; Mead-
ford, 3*; Wlnnettsemett, 1*."^

Salem and Mattapan (Dorchester) are not included in
this levy because they had ministers of their own for whose
support provision had already, presumably, been made.

Although we thus find the Court of Assistants imposing
a tax for the support of the ministry under date of Novem-
ber 30, 1630, we find no evidence that another tax was
levied to pay the salaries of ministers until 1638, when the
following law was passed by the General Court, which
assembled on the sixth of September in that year.^

1 Records of the Governor and Company of Mass'tts Bay, p. 68.

2Ibld. p. 73. 8 Ibid. p. 82.

4 Joel Parker does not seem to have appreciated the effort that was made in
Massachusetts Bay to support ministers by voluntary contributions, after the
beginning of things here. He says in a lecture before the Lowell Institute,
delivered under the auspices of the Massachusetts Historical Society, " The
Puritans being satisfied with the mode of supporting ministers by a tax,
which we have seen was originally adopted at the first meeting of the Court of
Assistants in the Colony, continued it by subsequent enactments,'' &c. (Lec-
tures delivered in a course before the Lowell Institute in Boston, by members

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Google

"This court takeing into consideration the necessity of an
equall contribution to all comon charges in towues, &
observing that the cheife occation of the defect hearin
ariseth from hence, that many of those who are not free-
men, nor members of any church, do take advantage there-
by to w**^ draw their helpe in such voluntary contributions
as are in vse, —

It is therefore hearby declared, that ev'^y inhabitant in
any towne is lyable to contribute to all charges, both in
church & comon welth, whereof hee doth or may receive
benefit ; & withall it is also ordered, that every such inhabit-
ant who shall not volentarily contribute, p portionably to
his ability, w*^ other freemen of the same towne, to all
coKQon charges, as well for vpholding the ordinances in the
churches as otherwise, shalbee compelled thereto by assess-
ment & distres to bee levied by the cunstable, or other
officer of the towne, as in other cases." ^

of the Massachusetts Historical Society, p. 415.) True, but a period of several
years intervened between the action of the first Court of Assistants and the
passage of the law of 1638.

1 One year earlier, however, at a General Court held at " Newetowne " on
November 20, 1637, it was ordered by a special act that money should be raised
in " Neweberry " by a public tax to pay a debt that had been incurred by the
town in "building of houses for their minisf*."— (Records, &c., vol. I., p.
216.) In the original records of the town of Wateitown the first entry, which
is under the date of 1634, is as follows : " Agreed, that the charge of the Meet-
ing House shall be gathered by a Rate justly levied upon every man propor-
tionally unto his Estate."— (Bond's Genealogies, &c., of Watertown, 2nd ed.,
1860, p. 995). 1635 [? 36] , Aug. 7th, we find this entry also : " Agreed, that the
charges of the new meeting house being a Rate of 80 lbs. shalbe levied as other
generall levies for the Country."— (lb., p. 995.) Con vers Francis in his Histori-
cal Sketch of Watertown (Appendix, p. 137), says: "The support of the
ministers had before " (that is, before the time of the appearance of Briscoe's
book, in 1642), "been drawn from voluntary contributions." Probably a
different plan was pursued by some of the towns in raising money to build
meeting-houses from what was pursued in collecting funds for the support of
ministers. In Boston, meeting-houses seem to have l>een paid for by voluntary
contribution in very early times. Thus Winthrop says in 1632, that " The
congregation of Boston and Charlestown began the meeting-house at Boston,
for which, and Mr. Wilson's house they had made a voluntary contribution of
about one hundred and twenty pounds." — (Winthrop's History of New Eng-
land, vol. I., p. 104) . Winthrop also notes the procedure in Boston in regard
to building a meeting-house a few years later (1639). He says: "Their old

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It would seem from an examination of the laws of the
colony that, after the steps taken at first to raise money to
pay the salaries of ministers by taxation, there was a period
of several years when voluntary contributions were relied
on for the support of the ministry. This conclusion is
corroborated by the statements of early writers and by the
impressions which a student i'eceives in reading the older
portions of the histories of the towns in Massachusetts,
which were first founded, and of the history of the Common-
wealth, and works which throw light on the doings and
faith of our ancestors here.

In the case of Giddings vs. Browne, in which Samuel
Symonds, a justice, gave judgment in Ipswich in favor of
the plaintiff, which case was appealed to Salem Court and
by the advice of that Court and the consent of the parties,
stated for action to the General Court, and decided by it ;
Samuel Symonds, in stating at length (in 1657) the grounds
on which his judgment rested, after giving the substance of
the law quoted above as passed by the General Court in
1638,* proceeds as follows: ''Before this recited law was
made, though some churches, or townes rather, did agree
how much yearely maintenance the minister should have, yet
it was not rated, at least in any compellable way, by the
towne, but men did pay their proportion in a way of volun-
tary contribution. But some (especially non members)
some of them did grow slacke ; and so the burthen grew too
hevy upon church members, &c. And upon consideration
it was found lawful! to make a law to compell everyone to
beare his owne share ; forasmuch as by hearing the word

meeting-house, being decayed and too small, they sold it away, and agreed to
build another, which workmen undertook to set up for £600. Three hundred
they had for the old, and the rest was to be gathered by voluntary contribution,
as other charges were."— (History of New England, vol. I., p. 382). Writing
in 1640, he says that the new meeting-house " cost about £1000. which was
raised out of the weekly voluntary contribution without any noise or complaint,
when in some other churches which did it by way of rates, there was much
difficulty and compulsion by levies to raise a far less sum.'*— (lb., vol. 2, p. 28).
1 Records, &c., vol. I., p. 240.
3

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and publique prayer, &c., he did or might receive a benefitt
and (in a way of God) be received as a member with the
rest, and yet the law was framed soe, as such churches as
chose rather to goe in a voluntary way of weekly contribu-
tion or soe, might soe continue, notwithstanding this law,
as some churches in this country doe to this day."^

In the standard treatise on Massachusetts Ecclesiastical
Law, written by Edward Buck, the author in describing
the support given to the gospel here does not go back of
the law of 1638, but only refers the reader for an account
of plans in earlier use (p. 24) to an article in the Congre-
gational Quarterly, vol. I., p. 158.^

1 Hutchinson Papers (Edition of the Prince Society), vol. II., pp. 6 & 7.

2 In the following extracts glimpses may be obtained of the plans in use in
the colony for raising the salaries of ministers in years immediately succeed-
ing the passage of the law of 1638.

In March, 1642-3, Winthrop writes " The churches held a different course in
raising the ministers' maintenance. Some did it by way of taxation, which
was very offensive to some."

Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, in a note on p. 50 of his edition of Plaine Deal-
ing, writes, ** When Roger Williams " (1644) " objected to the * constraint laid
upon all consciences ***** to come to church and pay church duties '
(Bloudy Tenent, C. Ixix.) Mr. Cotton replied, * I know of no restraint at all
that lieth upon the consciences of any in New England to come to church.
* * Least of all do I kuQW that any are constrained to pay church duties in
New England. Sure I am none in our own town are constrained to pay any
church duties at all. What they pay they give voluntarily, each one with his
own hand, without any constraint at all but their own will, as the Lord directs
them' (Bl. Tenent Washed, 146). In his rejoinder, Williams says: 'For a
freedom of not paying in his [Mr. Cotton's] town, it is to their commendation^
and God's praise. Yet who can be ignorant of the assessments upon all in
other towns,' etc. (Bl. Tenent yet more bloody, 216). It is not easy to
reconcile Mr. Cotton's general denial with Winthrop's statement, (ii., 93), that
some churches raised their ministers' maintenance by taxation, * which was
very offensive to some ; ' or with his account of the prosecution of * one Briscoe
of Watertown, who * * * being grieved ***** because himself
and others, who were no members, were taxed, wrote a book against it,' which
he 'published under hand;' for which offence the court fined him £10, and
'one of the publishers' £2, in March, 1648,— not long before Roger Williams
sailed for England (where he printed the Bloudy Tenent).

Hooker (Survey, ii., 29, 32) regarding it the duty of * Every one that is
taught' to contribute, argues that such contribution should be enforced, not by
the civil magistrate, but by the discipline of the church ; * In case any member
shall fail in this free contribution, he sinnes in a breagh of the knowne rule of
the Qospell; it appertains to the Church, to see the Reformation of that evill,

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After the passage of the law mentioned above as having
been enacted by the General Court in 1638, the history of
legislation in Massachusetts Bay Colony until 1660 is as
follows: 11th November, 1647, the General Court pro-
vided that town rates might be laid for the purchase of
a habitation for a preaching elder and his successors.
Kecords, &c., vol. II., p. 217.

At a General Court begun August"* 22, 1654, it was
ordered "that the County Court in euery shire shall, vppon
information given them of any defect of any congregation
or towneshipp w^'^in the shire, order and appointe w* majne-
tenance shallbe allowed to the ministers of that place, and
shall issue out warrants to the select men to assesse, and
the counstable of the sajd toune to collect, the same, and to
distrejne the sajd ^ssessm"' vppon such as shall refuse to
pay." Vol. IV., Pt. I., p. 199.

At a General Court held May 6, 1657, committees for
different counties were appointed to examine into the truth
of the complaint that there was great suffering in the
families of **diuerse re'u'end ministers of Gods word w*'* in
this jurisdiccon." Vol. IV., Pt. I., p. 286.

At a General Court, October 23, 1657, the returns of
the several committees were ordered to be transmitted to
the Courts of the Counties to which they belonged in order
that wants that had appeared might be relieved. Vol. IV.,
Pt. I., p. 314.

At a General Court, May 30, 1660, it was ordered
*' that the County Courts in theire respective precincts doe
dilligently & carefully attend the execution of such orders
of this Court as concernes the majnetenance of the ministry,
^gjc." * * ''and that for the future, there may be no
neglect hereof, president of each County Court shall duly
from tjme to tjme give it in charge to the grand jurjes of

as of any other scandall.' And he makes it the duty of the deacon, if any
member fail to perform this duty, to admonish, and in case he reform not, to
* follow the action against him ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ and bring him to the censure of the
church.' Ibid., 37." (164«).

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theire respective courts to present all abuses & neglects of
this kinde, & that w*** all care & dilligence the same be
redressed," &c. Vol. IV., R. I., p. 417.

Please glance at two or three steps, not yet mentioned,
taken by the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay in their passage
from the voluntary to the compulsory system of ministerial
support. They are interesting, for they show minds in the
process of change.

In the synod held at Cambridge in 1637, to consider
matters connected with the Hutchinson-Wheelwright con-
troversy, "There was a motion made * * by the gov-
ernour," (Winthrop) "that whereas there was a difference
among the churches about the maintenance of their minis-
ters, it might be agreed what way was most agreeable to
the rule of the gospel ; but the elders ^id not like to deal
in that lest it should be said, that this assembly was
gathered for their private advantage."^

The General Court, however, took hold of the matter
and November 20, 1637^ decided to send out the following
letter ;

"To the Elders & Brethren of the Church of God at
/\^ Whearas complaint hath bene made to this Courte
that a different course is houlden in the churches of this
iurisdiction for raising a treasury for maintenance of minis-
ters, & whearvpon some minist^s are not so comfortably
pvided as were fitting, —

It is desired, that the severall churches will speedily
inquire hearinto, & if neede bee to conferr together about
it, & send some to advise w*^ this Courte at the next session
thereof, that some order may bee taken hearin according to
the rule of the gosple./

p Ciir. Inc.- Nowell, Sec'^et./"^

1 History of New England, by John Winthrop. Vol. I., p. 288.

2 Records, &c., vol. I., p. 216. A curious fragment has been preserved con-
taining a record in the handwriting of Rev. John Fiske, sometime assistant
preacher with Hugh Peters, pastor of the first church in Salem, of a church
meeting held in Salem in 1637, in which this desire for an inquiry by the
elders and brethren of the churches in Massachusetts Bay Colony appears to

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As the result of the dissatisfaction in regard to the
existing ways of maintaining ministers shown by the motion
made in the synod and the inquiries sent to the elders by
the General Court, the law mentioned above as passed in
1638 was enacted.

In September, 1644, the Commissioners of the United
Colonies propounded to each General Court the following
recommendation : «*That those that are taught in the word
in the seu'all plantacons be called together, that euery man
voluntaryly set downe what he is willing to allow to that
end & use, and if any man refuse to pay a meete' pporcon,
that then hee be rated by authoryty in some just & equall

have been under consideration. The record is given in the Historical Collec-
tions of the Essex Institute, vol. I., p. 30, and is as follows : —

"At a XX meeting" "Salem 1637" "A qu ppounded to ye xx, by ye
desire of ye Magist of yis *try.

What way or course is best to be taken of ye xxs for Mrs. mayntenance, &
ye cbntinuance & upholding of xx ordinances? R. ye xx hath taken it into yr
'sideration." Following is a modernized form of the record as given by Daniel
Appleton White, in New England Congregationalism, &c., p. 25:—

" Salem, 1637. At a Church Meeting. A question propounded to the Church
by the desire of the Magistrates of this Country.

What way or course is best to be taken of the Churches, for ministers' main-
tenance, and the continuance and upholding of Church ordinances? R. The
Church hath taken it into their consideration."

Our associate. Rev. Dr. Lucius R. Paige, in his History of Cambridge, pp.
253, 254, states that." There are still preserved two folio volumes, which may
be styled Church Books, chiefly devoted to financial affairs, containing a particu-
lar account of receipts and disbursements by the Deacons, together with some
historical notices. From these books something may be gleaned concerning the
condition and work of the church." " The first entry in the Record proper
is somewhat mutilated, what is supposed to be lost is here supplied, but
enclosed in brackets. * [An account] of the moneys by contri [butiou] upon
the first day of [the week for] the supply of the wants of the Church of Christ
and the needy people of Cambridge since the second day of the tenth month
in the year of Christ 1638.'"

Not any of the money raised by contribution, as accounted for in these
books, appears to have been used to pay the salaries of ministers. Is it not
possible that these books, which were opened in the same year with the passage
of the law compelling inhabitants of towns to help pay for the support of
ministers, and within two or three months of the date of its passage, were
brought into use in consequence of the change from the old way of support by
voluntary contribution to compulsory maintenance which made the time a
convenient one for starting new accounts in new books?

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way, and if after this any man w*hold or delay due payment
the ciuill power to be exercised as in other just debts." ^

In a summary by Hubbard of the Platform of Discipline,
adopted by the Synod in 1648, item No. 9 is as follows :
''For the maintenance of the ministers of the church, all
that are taught are to communicate to him that teacheth, in
all good things ; and in case of neglect, the majistrate
ought to see that the ministry be duly provided for."
(Hubbard's History in Colls, of the Mass'tts Hist. Soc,
2ndSer., vol. 6, p. 539). ^

In the statement of his reasons for the judgment given
by him in the case of Giddings vs. Browne, referred to
above, Mr. Justice Symonds gives the circumstances which
seem to have been the immediate cause of one of the later
enactments which has been before mentioned. *' There is
yet," he says, "I conceave, a concluding

This case judgment (in the like case) in the generall
was tried at a court, I referr to the record itselfe (but till an
county court understanding man, then an inhabitant of Wey-
at Boston, and mouth [as I am informed] mentioned it since
found against the passing of my sentence in the case in ques-
the town. tion) it was out of my mind. I remember the

substance of it, and I suppose so doe many more.
That towne of Weymouth did generally agree to provide an
house and meet accommodations for the use of the ministry,
to remaine for posterity. The matter came into the generall
court. Mrs. Richards stood out, and not many (if any more
besides) and although the court did soe well like their ay me,
or the thing (in itselfe considered) as may by and by appeare,
yet it was judged in court that they could not justly impose
payment upone one, or more persons, not consenting. One
Dyer^ was then deputy of that towne, and did prosecute in

1 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, vol. 9, being vol.
I. of Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England.

2 See Ecclesiastical History of Mass'tts in Colls, of Mass'tts Hist. Soc., Ist
Ser., vol. 10, p. 29.

8 Thomas Dyer was deputy from Weymouth, 164&-47-50-53-54, &c., A.

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behalf of the towne : Yet herein the court gave a testimony
of their good liking in respect of the townes intent, viz. in
that way to provide for the ministry. And accordingly the
law was framed, and enacted for the future, that very court.
This provision was not to give away, but to remaine to
posterity, and the like provision was for every towne in the
country ; and that which a great part, if not the greater part,
of Ipswich have desired and do still stand for." ^

The law which it is here stated was made in consequence
of the agitation of the Weymouth case is either that passed
in 1647 or the one enacted in 1654.

Although by the law of 1638 it was made incumbent
upon all citizens to pay their proportions of common civil
and religious expenses, it will be noticed that it was not
until 1654 that the General Court went so far as to super-
vise the action of towns, and to see to it that the salaries
of ministers were suitable in amount.

Individuals did not fail to oppose the recommendation
and adoption of compulsory taxation for the support of
ministers.

Thus, we learn from a note in the margin of the record in
which the recommendation of the Commissioners of the
United Colonies, recited above, is given that (in 1644),
''Mr. Browne desired further consideracon about the 2
last clauses of this conclusion,"^ that is to say, about the.
clauses which recommended rating " by authority" and
compulsory collection of rates.

So, too, Mr. Briscoe of Watertown made a protest
against compulsory payment. Winthrop, writing in 1642-
3 (1-5), says: ''The churches held a different course in
raising the ministers' maintenance. Some did it by way of
taxation, which was very offensive to some. Amongst
others, one Briscoe of Watertown, who had his barn burnt,
as before mentioned, being grieved with that course in their

1 Hutchinson Papers (Edition of the Prince Society), vol. II., p. 13.

2 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 9, p. 20.

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town, the rather because himself and others, who were no
members, were taxed, wrote a book against it, wherein,
besides his arguments, which were naught, he cast reproach
upon the elders and officers."^

Hubbard had no patience with Briscoe. He says : '* he
that shall deny the exerting of the civil power to provide
for the comfortable subsistence of them that preach the
gospel, fuste potius erudiendus quam argumento,'^^

It is noticeable that Winthrop could only say, in March,
1643 (new style) that ''some" churches resorted to taxa-
tion to raise money for the support of ministers. His
language suggests naturally the inference, that in several
towns the voluntary system of maintenance was in vogue a
number of years after the passage of the law of 1638.

Why did the men of Massachusetts Bay refrain from a
compulsory collection of ministers' salaries for several years
after coming to this country?

...^ Was it merely because it was convenient to do so or
were they guided in the matter by principle also ?

Mr. Hubbard takes the former view. Referring un-
doubtedly to the action of the General Court in 1654, he
says: "And whereas the plantations of New England had
never as yet been acquainted with the way of paying tythes
(which none of the reformed churches ever yet condemned
as unlawful, although it was not looked upon as the most
convenient for the towns and plantations of New England),
for the support of the ministry in the several towns, it was
now left to the power of every county court throughout the
whole jurisdiction, to make sufficient provision for the
maintenance of the ministry, in the respective towns of the
colony, and to rectify any defect, upon complaint of any
such, for want of means whereby comfortably to subsist." ^

But Mr. Hubbard was probably mistaken in regard to
this matter, as he has been shown to have been in many

1 History of New England, by John Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 112.

2 A General History of New England, by William Hubbard (Collections of
the Mass'tts Hist. Soc., 2nd Ser., v. 6, p. 412). » Hubbard, p. 551.

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other cases. Attention has again and again been called to
the fact that whatever may have been the intentions of the
earliest colonists of Massachusetts Bay before leaving Eng-
land, and on the eve of their departure, as soon as they
came to Salem and Charlestown they adopted the plans
which were in vogue in the Plymouth Colony in forming
their churches and in administering ecclesiastical affairs.

Edward Winslow says that some of the chief men of
the plantations *' advised with us," meaning the men at
Plymouth '' (coming over to be freed from the burthensome
ceremonies then imposed in England) how they should do
to fall upon a right platform of worship, and desire to that
end since God had honored us to lay the foundation of the
Commonwealth and settle a church in it, to show them
whereupon our practice was grounded.

* * m * ^^

We accordingly showed them the primitive practice for our
warrant, &c." ^

John Cotton acknowledges that some of the first comers
to Massachusetts Bay might have helped ** their theory by
hearing and discerning their practice at Plymouth."^

Deacon Fuller of the Plymouth Church, while profession-
ally engaged as a physician among the new comers to
Massachusetts Bay, had conferences with those men who
were in authority both at Salem and at Charlestown and
with Rev. Mr. Warham of Mattapan (Dorchester) and
others, about the proper forms of ecclesiastical organization,
and while he and Mr. Warham differed in regard to the
qualities which are requisite to make men eligible to mem-
bership in a church, he evidently found in Gov. Endicott
and Gov. Winthrop men who were very appreciative of
the ecclesiastical methods in use in Plymouth.

Whether the settlers in Massachusetts Bay took the
constitution and methods of the church at Plymouth for a

iWinslow's Brief I^^arratioii in Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrim* Fathers,
p. 386. 2 Cotton's " Way," &c., p. 16.

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model or not, this much is certain, that after consultation
of their leaders with men from the latter colony they
reached the conclusion that the plans adopted in the elder
settlement, in the organization and maintenance of its
church, were in accordance with the teachings of the New
Testament.

It is unnecessary to treat this matter fully, because the
statements of the earlier historians in regard to it, such as
Bradford, Hubbard^ and others, have been carefully weighed
and the whole subject of the influence of the Plymouth
church in moulding the constitution of the churches in
Massachusetts Bay has been ably handled by our late asso-
ciate, Dr. Young,^ and by those living authorities in early
Plymouth and Massachusetts history, our learned associates.
Doctors Dexter^ and Deane.^

It is interesting to remark one of the details wherein the
practice of some of the churches in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony in regard to raising money for the support of the
gospel, resembles the procedure of the *' ancient church" in
Amsterdam, and that of the Mayflower church which
commonly agreed with it in ecclesiastical matters. Thus,
money needed for church purposes was raised in some of
the churches here largely by a contribution taken up on
Sunday.

While, perhaps, these contributions were meant prima-
rily, in many of the churches, to serve as a convenient way
of obtaining money for relieving the necessities of the

1 Mass'tts Hist. Colls., 2nd sen, v. 5, pp. 117 and 186.

2 Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, by Alexander
Young, p. 386.

8 Congregationalism of the last three hundred years in its literature, etc., p.
415 et seq,

4 Proceedings of the Mass'tts Hist. Soc. for October, 1870, pp. 398-400 (on
Governor Bradford's Dialogue, &c.). See also Lecture of William Brigham in
Lectures delivered in a course before the Lowell Institute in Boston, by mem-
bers of the Mass'tts Hist. Soc, pp. 179, ISO.

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poor,^ in some of them a portion of the Sabbath contribution
was used in affording compensation to ministers.

Lechford in his Plaine Dealing gives an account, which
has become very familiar to students of the early ecclesiasti-
cal history of Massachusetts, of this contribution as it
occurred in the order of services in the First Church in
Boston. In describing the exercises in that church in the
afternoon of the Sabbath, he says, when Baptism is ended
"follows the contribution, one of the Deacons saying.
Brethren of the Congregation, now there is time left for
contribution, wherefore as God hath prospered you, so freely
offer. Upon some extraordinary occasions, as building
and repairing of churches or meeting-houses, or other
necessities, the ministers presse a liberall contribution,
with effectuall exhortations out of scripture. The magis-
trates and chiefe Gentlemen first, and then the Elders and
all the congregation of men and most of them that are not

iMr. Trumbull quotes from T. Welde's An Anstoer to W. B, dtc»jl644y the
following passage in a note to p. 49 of his edition of Lechford's Plaine Dealing :
" This weekly contribution is properly intended for the poore, according to
1 Cor. 16. 1. Yet so as (if there be much given in) some churches doe (though
others do not) appoint the overplus towards the ministers maintenance. 2.
This is not given in by the people according to their weekly gaines [as Rath-
band had stated,] but as God hath blessed them with an estate in the generall,
... 3. Nor is this dispensed to the Ministers (in those churches where any
part of it is so given) though by the hands of the Deacons, yet not for propor-
tion as they please, .... but by the Church, who usually, twice in the
year or oftener, doe meete to consult and determine of the summe to be
allowed for that yeere to their ministers, and to raise it, either for the Churches
treasurie . . . . or by a contribution to be then made on purpose.— (Welde,
&c., p. 59).

In an account which has been preserved of the order of Sabbath worship in
the church made up of th6 persons who had withdrawn from the " ancient
church " in Amsterdam, under John Smyth, the writers speak of the last act in
the morning services as follows : " Then the I. speaker cocludeth wth. prayer
as he began with prayer; with an exhortation to cotribution to the poore, wch.
collection being made is also cocluded with prayer." — (Dexter's Congregation-
alism in Literature, &c., p. 334).

The fact that the " poore " only are mentioned here as recipients of the
money received in the Sunday contribution should be coupled with the follow-
ing statement: "Smyth (Life & Death, etc., 11.) declares— as a simple fact
and not a boast—* That I never received of them [his flock], all put together,
the value of fortie shillings! to my knowledge since I came out of England:
and of Mr. Helwis not the value of a penny.' "—(Ibid., p. 323, note.)

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of the Church, all single persons, widows, and women in
absence of their husbands, come up one after another
one way, and bring their offerings to the Deacon at his
seate, and put it into a box of wood for the purpose, if it
bee money or papers ; if it be any other chattle they set it
or lay it downe before the Deacons, and so passe another
way to their seats againe. This contribution is of money,
or papers, promising so much money : I have scene a faire
gilt cup with a cover, offered there by one, which is still
used at the Communion. Which moneys, and goods the
Deacons dispose towards the maintenance of the Ministers,
and the poore of the Church, and the Churches occasions,
without making account, ordinarily." ^

This account of Lechford, although written a short time
after the passage of the law of 1638, by which a limited
compulsion was exerted as regards the payment of ministe-
rial dues, undoubtedly describes what he had seen before
the passage of that law^ and the practice which had existed
for several years in Boston.

It is to be noted that the men of Massachusetts Bay in
adopting the church polity which had been in use in
Amsterdam and Plymouth, and in generally conforming to
it even in details, were guided by principle, and believed
that they were copying the pattern which had been revealed
in the New Testament as the will of God respecting the
administmtion of the Church of Christ.

It is to be presumed that in making use of the voluntary
system for the support of the ministry they proceeded in
this spirit and equally with the brethren of Amsterdam and
Plymouth, believed that in accepting this incident, as well
as the other features of the ecclesiastical polity which they

1 Lechford's Plaine Dealing, Ac, Mass^tts Hist. Soc's Colls., Ser. 3, vol. 8, p.
77. Ed. of J. Hammond Trumbull, p. 48.

2 Lechford arrived in Boston in the summer of 1638, and returned to England
in August, 1641.— (J. Hammond TrumbulPs Introduction to Plaine Dealing,
pp. XVIII., XXXV. and XXXVI., Boston, Wiggin and Lunt). His " To the
reader" is dated Clements Inne, Jan. 17, 1641 (old style).

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had introduced into the colony they were following the
scriptural model. That is to say, the voluntary system of
collecting ministers' dues, in use in the early days of the
colony, was adopted and sustained, not merely because it
was convenient, but in great measure from considerations
of duty.

The question whether the institution of tithes is ordained
of God as the divinely appointed plan for securing to minis-
ters a maintenance under the dispensation of the Gospel, as
we have seen in an earlier part of this paper, was under
discussion in England at the time when the Pilgrims, then
in Holland, were considering the project of coming to
America. Increase Mather in ''A Discourse Concerning
the Maintenance Due to those That Preach the Gospel,"
etc., writing in 1706, stated that most of the *' Reformed
Divines" answered this question in the negative,^ and
instanced as writers who took this view such men as P.
Martyr, Zanchy, Daneus, Rivet and Voetius. He gave the
same answer to the question himself. But more radical
views began to be held than those of the advanced writers
of the latter part of the sixteenth and the earlier part of the
seventeenth centuries. By the middle of the latter century
they had culminated in the beliefs which found expression
in the unreserved utterances of Milton in favor of the intro-
duction of the system of unadulterated voluntaryism in
respect to ministerial support.

Some of this author's most outspoken sentences have
already been quoted.

A little later in the seventeenth century the "great
dissenter," John Owen, whom Increase Mather speaks of
as "that incomparable author,"^ avowed similar sentiments
and gave in bis adhesion to the same system. His words
are as follows: "We take it for granted that the way of
ministerial maintenance is changed under the New Testa-

1 Page 49 or 50. 2 Some Remarks on a late Sermon preached at Boston in New
England, by George Keith, M. A., Boston, 1702," p. 8.

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ment ; but that the law of maintenance is taken away, is
the highest folly to imagine, it being so expressly asserted
by our Savior himself and his apostles, Luke X : 7 ; I.
Cor. IX. But here it is thought lies the disadvantage ;
that whereas the priests under the Old Testament had a
certain portion which was legally due to them, and they
might demand it as their own, it is now deferred to the
voluntary contribution of them who have the benefit of their
labor. But he is unworthy the name of a minister of the
gospel who is not satisfied with what our Lord hath ordained
in every kind. This way is the most honorable way, and
that which casts the greatest respect upon them.

4k * * it 4lt Ht

Our apostle tells us that our Lord hath ordained, that those
who preach the gospel shall live on the gospel ; and all
obedience to his ordinances and institutions must be volun-
tary. If they will not do so, their best way is to leave his
service^ and take up with that which is — more honorable !"^
So much for the convictions and writings of reformers in
England and on the continent of Europe. Evidently a
change had come in the views of many who held that
the system of tithes was the divinely ordained plan for the
support of the ministry in the Christian church. First,
preachers and theologians denied that tithes were imposed
by the command of God under the new dispensation.
Their successors denied that compulsory support of minis-
ters was allowable under the teachings of the gospel. Not
only did the little band of Pilgrim writers maintain such
radical views ; other English and Continental authors of the
class of thinkers whom the Puritans of New England
looked to especially for guidance and instruction were
coming to accept similar conclusions. Many of the men
who first came to Massachusetts Bay must have been cogni-
zant of the advanced views respecting ministerial support

1 An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, &c., by John Owen, D.D.
Revised, abridged, &c., by Edward Williams, D.D. Boston: Samuel T. Arm-
strong, 1812, p. 310. This exposition was written in 1668-1684.

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that were ripening in England at the time of the foundation
of the colony, and some of them, it is probable, regarded
them with sympathy, and were inclined, if partly for con-
venience, largely, too, from principle, to adopt the volun-
tary system for the payment of the salaries of ministers.
Men who held such views soon found a powerful friend in
a notable personage who before long became a resident in
the colony, namely, the great Puritan divine and leader,
John Cotton. The same year that he arrived in Boston we
find Winthrop writing as follows in his journal: "After
much deliberation and serious advice, the Lord directed the
teacher, Mr. Cotton, to make it clear by the scripture, that
the minister's maintenance, as well as all other charges of
the church, should be defrayed out of a stock, or treasury,
which was to be raised out of the weekly contribution ;
which accordingly was agreed upon."^ '

The first work which Mr. Cotton wrote after coming to
Massachusetts that related to the methods in use in New
England respecting ecclesiastical polity, was dated: "25,
11 m. 1634 " and entitled: "Questions and Answers upon
Church Government, etc." In this work he suggested an
order to be observed in worship, and made a place in it for
a collection to be taken up " for the support of the ministry,
the need of poor saints, and the furthering of all outward
service of the church."^

From another passage in Winthrop's journal we learn
that in 1639 " (3) 2.7 Mr. Cotton preaching out of the 8
of Kings, 8, taught, that when majistrates are forced to
provide for the maintenance of ministers, etc., then the
churches are in a declining condition. Then he showed,
that the minister's maintenance should be by voluntary
contribution, not by lands or revenues, or tithes, etc, ; for
these have always been accompanied with pride, conten-
tion, and sloth, etc."^

1 History of New England, by John Winthrop. Vol. I., p. 144.

2 Congregationalism in Literature, by H. M. Dexter, p. 423 and note.
8 History of New England, vol. I., p. 355.

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Mr. Cotton earnestly advocated the use of the voluntary
system in the payment of ministerial dues on moral grounds.
He was, it needs not to be stated, a man of great influence
in Massachusetts,, and his opinion was taken here on all
important questions and held in the highest estimation.
The language of Hubbard does not seem to have been
very extravagant when he said of him *'that whatever he
delivered in the pulpit was soon put into an Order of Court,
if of a civil, or set up as a practice in the church, if of an
ecclesiastical concernment." ^

Winthrop tells us that at a meeting of the Governor and
Council, September 17, 1633, to consider about Mr. Cotton,
it was even proposed '' that (keeping a lecture) he should
have some maintenance out of the treasury."^ It was only
upon ''second thoughts" that ''divers of the council did
after refuse this contribution."

Mr. Cotton exerted a powerful influence in moulding the
ecclesiastical institutions of the Bay Colony, and may
properly be regarded as a representative of the views
respecting such matters which were held at Plymouth, also.
His influence began to be felt as soon as he (jame to Boston,
three or four years after the arrival of the first settlers
in the colonj'. His support, undoubtedly, strengthened
greatly the party here which contended that it is a duty to
raise the maintenance of ministers by voluntary contribu-
tions. It was not so eflfectual, however, in this as in most
other ecclesiastical matters, for while the 'constitution of our
churches and the ecclesiastical usages, generally speaking,
which he was so important a factor in fonning and estab*
lishing remained comparatively permanent, he found him-
self powerless to stem the tide which (excepting in Boston
and some other places)^ set, determinedly, in an opposite

1 General History, &c., Coll8. of the Mass'tts Hist. Soc, 2nd Ser., vol. V., p. 182.

2 Hist, of New England, &c., vol. I., p. 133. See, also, Emerson's An histori-
cal sketch of the First Church in Boston, p. 19.

8 " First Parish. 1639. There is a voluntary and quarterly contribution of the
town to support the ministry. This was continued about 18 years."— (Annals

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direction from the one he desired in respect to the princi-
ple of voluntaryism in the maintenance of the ministry.

The names of two other men who were not in full sympa-
thy with the majority of the colonists and who were yet
not without influence among them, will occur to all students
of the history of Massachusetts as having been, while resi-
dents here, presumably, friends to the plan of supporting
ministers by voluntary contributions, namely, Henry Vane^
and Roger Williams.^ The former was a staunch friend of
religious and civil liberty, and in this country and after-
wards in England said noble words and did glorious deeds
in their defence. His views regarding the encouragement
of the freedom of thought in religious matters were far in
advance of those of Cotton. He argued and labored for an
entire separation of Church and State. Surely, then, he
must have heartily agreed with his friend in his convic-
tions respecting the allowance of freedom of action in
regard to contributions towards the support of the ministry.

We wiir conclude this report with one or two extracts
from The Hireling Ministry, &c., by Roger Williams.
This friend of absolute voluntaryism was the instructor
and pupil of John Milton,^ and sympathized heartily with
that reformer in his antipathy to a ministry that is supported
by compulsion. In the State which he founded, religious
freedom was made a corner stone^ and the support of the
ministry was rendered voluntary.

of Salem, by Joseph B. Felt, 2nd ed., 1849, vol. 11., p. 619.) See, also,
Winthrop^s Hist, of New England, vol. II., p. 112. *' Cotton Mather in 1726
wrote :— * In some Churches the salary of the minister is raised by a voluntary
contribution, especially in Populous Places, and where many strangers resort;
but in others a Tax is levied for it.'— (Ratio Disciplinae, pp. 20-22," Footers
Annals of King's Chapel, vol. I., p. 449.

1 Orations and Essays, by Rev. J. L. Diman, D.D., pp. 127, 128. 2 ibid, p. 191.

8 See letter of Roger Williams to John Winthrop of Connecticut, dated at
Providence, July 12, 54 (so called) , in memoir of Roger Williams, by James
D. Knowles, p. 264.

* See covenant signed by early settlers of Providence, Records of the Colony
of Rhode Island, p. 14. See, too. History of New England, &c., by Isaac
Backus, new edition, edited by David Weston, vol. II., p. 513.
4

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The words of Roger Williams are as follows : '* Secondly,
as to the Labourer worthy of his Reward^ I answer, we
find no other patterned in the Testament of Christ Jesus ^
but that both the Converting (or Apostolicall Ministry)
and the Feeding (or Pastorall Ministry) did freely serve
or minister, and yet were freely supported by the Saints
and Churches^ and that not in stinted Wages, Tithes^
Stipends^ Sallaries, &c. but with larger or lesser supplies^
as the Hand of the Lord was more or lesse extended in his
weekly blessings on them."^

'*And therefore 1 do.e humbly conceive, that it is the
will of the most High^ and the expresse and absolute Duty
of the civUl powers to proclaim an absolute freedom in all
the Nations, yea in all the world (were their power so
large) that each Towne, and Division of people, yea, and
person^ may freely enjoy what worship, what ministry,
what maintenance to afibrd them, their soul desireth."^

1 The Hireling Ministry, etc., by Roger Williams, London, 1662, p. 9. 2 ibid.,
p. 19.

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