The Congregational Church

AS the first settlers on the St. John River who came in 1762, were mostly members of the Congregational Churches in New England, it naturally followed that they should set up the same form of worship in their new homes. In 1763, a number of these settlers, Jonathan Burpe, Elisha Nevers, Richard Esty, Daniel Palmer, Jervis Say, Edward Coye, and Jonathan Smith, drew up and signed their names to what is called "a Church Covenant," in which they expressed their adherance to the principles of Religion contained in the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and also of the New England Confession of Faith, and expressed their intention, as respecting church discipline, to adhere to the method contained in the platform agreed upon by the Synod at Cambridge, New England, in the year 1648. Jonathan Burpe, whose name heads the list of these signers of the Church Covenant, was the Deacon of the church, and at the head of all church movements in Maugerville, up to the time of his death in June, 1781. Deacon Burpee was the ancestor of the late Isaac Burpee, who was -Minister of Customs in the Government of the Hon. Alexander McKenzie.

For the first ten years of its existence the Maugerville church had no settled Minister, but the settlement was frequently visited by clergymen, and, in their absence, the public worship of God was kept up by the Deacons and Elders on the Sabbath, by praying and reading sermons, and by singing.

In 1769 the Rev. Thomas Wood who was for ten years Dr. Brenton's assistant in St. Paul's Church, Halifax, made a missionary tour on the St. John River. On the 2nd July he conducted service and preached to the English families at the mouth of the river, and baptized four children. On the following Sunday, July 9th, he had service at Maugerville, to more than two hundred persons. He stated in his report to the Society for Propogat-ing the Gospel, that owing to the fact that the congregation was composed chiefly of Dissenters from New England, and had a Dissenting Minister among them, only two baptisms took place, but, he added, " if a prudent Missionary could be settled among them I believe all their prejudice against our forms of worship would banish. "

In 1770 David Burpe, then a young man of 18, kept a diary in which he briefly noted down the principal occurrences of his life from day to day. From that we learn that Mr. Zephaniali Briggs was preaching in Maugerville, from May to August of that year. Mr. Briggs was, doubtless, a Congrega-tionalist Minister from New England. Services were conducted by him at private houses, at Mr. Palmer's, Mr. Barker's, Mr. Smith's, Mr. Quinton's, Mr. Never's, Mr. Anderson's and Mr. Burpe's.

The promise made by the members in the Church Covenant, to discharge the duty of "Brotherly watchfulness toward each other" seems to have been religiously observed in Maugerville. A great many entries in the early records of the Maugerville church are devoted to matters of discipline. A few examples will suffice to illustrate this:

"August the 29th day, 1773. Then the Church appointed a meeting to be held at the house of Mr. Moses Pickard on the 7th day of September, and chose Mr. Richard Estey, Daniel Palmer and Humphrey Pickard, a committee to talk with Israel Kenny concerning his being charged with scandalous sins.

"September the 7th day, 1773. The Church met at the house of Mr. Moses Pickard to see if they could be satisfied concerning the crimes alleged against our brother, Israel Kenny, but had no satisfaction. The meeting was adjourned to the 22nd day of September.

"The Church met together on the adjournment of the meeting on the 22nd day of September, 1773. Then Israel Kenny made his acknowledgement before the Church for his offence, and was restored to their charity again.

"On the 22nd of September, 1773, brother Benjamin Brown then having things laid to his charge before the Church, which caused him to be suspended till they were satisfied.

"March the 15th day, 1774. Then the church being met together at a legal meeting, our brother Benjamin Brown confessed his faults and was restored to their charity again."

It may be of interest to note that Israel Kenny, who acknowledged himself before the church in September, 1773, as guilty of "scandalous sins" was elected a ruling elder of the Church in June, 1775.

The year 1774 was a very important one for the Maugerville Church, for it gave them their first settled minister, Rev. Seth Noble, a person whose acquaintance the Halifax authorities were anxious to cultivate three years later. I transcribe from the faded page, written by Daniel Palmer, Church Clerk, the minutes relating to Mr. Noble's selection and call.

"At a meeting held by the subscribers to a bond for the support of the preached Gospel, among us, at the house of Mr. Hugh Quinton inholden on Wednesday, ye 15th of June, 1774. Firstly, chose Jacob Barker, Esq. Moderator in said meeting.

21y, gave Mr. Seth Noble a call to settle in the work of the ministry among us.

31y, to give Mr. Seth Noble as a settlement, providing he accept of the call, one hundred and twenty pounds currency.

41y, voted to give Mr. Seth Noble a yearly salary of sixty-five pounds currency, so long as he shall continue our minister to be in cash or furs or grain at cash price.

51y, Chose Esqrs. Jacob Barker, Phinehas Nevers, Israel Perley, Deacon Jonathan Burpe, and Messrs. Hugh Quinton, Daniel Palmer, Moses Coburn, Moses Pickard, a committee to treat with Seth Noble.

61y, Adjourned the meeting to be held at the house of Mr. Hugh Quinton on Wednesday, ye 29th instant, at four of the clock in the afternoon, to hear the report of the committee.

Met on the adjournment on Wednesday, ye 29th of June, 1774, and voted as an addition to the salary of Mr. Seth Noble, if he should accept our call, to cut and haul twenty-five cords of wood to his house yearly, so long as he shall continue to be our Minister. The meeting dissolved. "

These terms were very liberal, considering the time and the circumstances of the people, and Parson Noble accepted them. In addition to his settlement money and salary, there was also for him in prospect, the grant of one of the Maugerville lots, reserved for the first settled minister of the place, but for certain excellent reasons, to be hereafter stated, the lot did not go to Mr. Noble, but to a minister of the Church of England. In 1775, the people of Maugerville were busy erecting a meeting house, which was also to serve as a residence for their pastor. In January, 1776, it was so far advanced that it was being clapboarded,. for in David Burpe's account book, under that date, is a charge against the meeting house for work done by Messrs. Plummer and Bridges, for him, at clapboarding one-third of the east end. All would have been well with Parson Noble and his flock, if he had been content to attend strictly to their religious welfare. But Noble was from New England, where the clergy had always been accustomed to exercise a large share of authority in secular affairs, and he was also what some people in New England called a " patriot" and the majority of those in Nova Scotia a "rebel."

Noble began to stir up his flock to join with their friends in New England, in throwing off the authority of Great Britain. He wrote a letter to General Washington setting forth the great importance of the capture of Western Nova Scotia, and proposing to assist in such an enterprise if it should be undertaken. At length, on the 24th of May, 1776, a meeting of the inhabitants of the River St. John was held at Maugerville, at which a committee was appointed "to make immediate application to the Congress or General Assembly of the Massachusetts Bay, for relief under their present distressed circumstances." This rebel committee consisted of twelve persons, ten of whom were prominent in the church. Jacob Barker, who presided at the meeting, was a Justice of the Peace and a ruling elder of the church. Phineas Nevers and Israel Per ley were also justices, and both were church members. Daniel Palmer, Edward Coye, Israel Kinney and Asa Perley were ruling elders. Moses Pickard, Thomas Hartt and Hugh Quinton were church members. The two remaining members of the committee, Asa Kimbal and Oliver Perley were probably church members also, but I have not been able to establish that fact. Without them, the connection between the church and the rebel movement is sufficiently clear.

This committee drafted several resolutions which were passed by the meeting, the most important of which was that it is our minds and desire, to submit ourselves to the Government of Massachusetts Bay, and that we are ready with our lives and fortunes to share with them the event of the present struggle for Liberty, however God in his Providence may order it. "The meeting also voted" that we will have no dealings or connection with any person or persons for the future that shall refuse to enter into the foregoing or similar resolutions. " Under this threat these resolutions were hawked around the country with a result which is thus stated by the rebel committee!: "If it be asked what proportion of the people signed the resolutions, it may be answered there is 125 signed and about 12 or 13 that have not, 9 of whom are at the river's mouth. '* I make up the roll of honor of those who refused to sign as follows : William Hazen, Thomas Jenkins, James Simonds, Samuel Peabody, John Bradley, James White, William McKeene, Zebedee Ring,

Peter Smith, Gervas Say, Lewis Mitchell, Darling, John Crabtree, John Hendrick, Zebulon Estey, John Parlee, Joseph Howland, Thomas Jones, and Benj. Atherton.

Parson Noble joined with Allan in the expeditions from Maugerville for the purpose of carrying Fort Cumberland, and afterwards had to fly to Maine to escape the consequence of his rebellious conduct. He never returned, and there is no record of any other Minister having taken his place, but in 1784, he had the assurance to write to the Maugerville people and claim his salary for the seven years that he had been absent. The Maugerville church replied to his letter by utterly refusing to recognize any claim on his part against them. They also declined to remove to Maine, which he had urged them to do. In regard to this matter they say:

"But with regard to the growth of immorality in this place, we acknowledge and lament it, and the gloomy prospect we have of future generations growing up in the utmost dissipation fills us with grief and discontent, and we would willingly forego many of the conveniences of life for the sake of better company or to see religion flourish here, as it once did. But are we to throw away the fruits of many years of painful industry and leave (with precipitation) the place where God in His Providence had smiled upon us, both in our spiritual and temporal affairs and, destitute of support, cast ourselves into a place where the necessaries of life are hardly to be obtained, unless we could find a place where vice and immorality did not thrive, or at least where vital piety did flourish more than here. "

These who are familiar with early New England history, will recognize here the same old cant, about the degeneracy of the times which caused Hubbard, the Puritan historian, to say that the golden age in Massachusetts only lasted ten years. Yet in 1635, the first grand jury in Massachusetts presented one hundred offences, and this in a population of not more than three thousand persons. The same ratio of crime would give New Brunswick more than 10,000 indictable offences annually. And, in 1637, the Synod that was called to settle the religious dispute in Massachusetts, which threatened to wreck the Commonwealth, found that there were eighty erroneous opinions which had become 4isseminated in New England.

On the first of June, 1788, two Missionaries, Messrs. James and Milton arrived from England.

They had been sent out by the Countess of Huntington, and were warmly welcomed. The people of Maugerville made provision for their board and lodgings at once, until the following June, and at that date, the Rev. Mr. James became their settled minister. The ministry of Mr. James closed in 1791. The cause of his removal from the Maugerville congregation, is rather obscure, but he appears afterwards to have gone over to the Church of England. In 1794, Mr. Boyd was preaching at Maugerville, and his Ministry seems to have lasted until 1797. Then there is a gap in the church records until 1805, and another gap between that and 1811, when a Mr. Eastman was preaching at Maugerville. In 1814 the Maugerville people were applying to the London Missionary Society for a minister, but this application does not appear to have been successful.

In 1819, they extended a call to the Rev. James Thompson, of Miramichi, but nothing came of it. At length after one or two other failures to secure a suitable minister, application was made to Scotland, and the Reverend Archibald McCallum was sent out. He seems to have arrived at Maugerville in the latter part of 1820 or the beginning of 1821. He was living in the County of Sunbury as late as ths year 1842. At that time the Rev. James B. Ambler was settled in the City of St. John as a Colonial Missionary, in connection with the Congregational Union of England and Wales. The Congregationalists have never had more than two or three ministers at once in this Province. In 1855, the Rev. Charles McKav was Minister of St. John, the Rev. Thomas Lightbody, Minister at Sheffield, the Rev. Mr. McCallum, Minister at Cardigan, and the Rev. George Stirling, Minister at Keswick Ridge. At present the only Congregationalist Ministers settled in the Province are at Keswick Ridge and St. John. At the last census the number of Congregationalists in New Brunswick was 1040 and they were mostly in Charlotte, St. John, and York. There were only 67 Congregationalists in Sunbury-Queens where the Congregationalist Church had its origin in this Province.

THE HAZEN GOVERNMENT