American History notes, part 21, Religious Liberty in Colonial America

 

Religious Liberty in Colonial America

 

First, let’s understand the difference between two groups of people who played a profound part in the formation of religious liberty in this country. Because religious freedom, not capitalism which has become socialism, nor any other of the freedoms which people whine about being threatened or stolen today, is the greatest legacy of America and the situation here has been unlike any other major country in history. When we are called to appreciate what we have, it is freedom of conscience and freedom of worship that shines as a beacon of uniqueness in the world and needs to be appreciated more.

 

Puritans were essentially seeking to purify the Church of England from inside and did not wish to break away from the communion of their mother. In spite of Morison calling Separatists “left wing Puritans” they believed that the Church of England was apostate and wanted to establish independent congregations apart from their mother church. They were profoundly influenced by the so-called “Anabaptist” groups of church history from the second through the sixteenth century who did not believe in infant baptism but in the baptism of the believer and the title “Anabaptist” means re-baptizer. Re-baptizing adult believers was illegal in countries dominated by political Christianity just as refusing to baptize your infants was. Infant baptism is not the same as infant dedication which is a symbolic act whereby the parents solemnly promise to raise the child in a Christian manner. Infant baptism is supposed to impart salvation to the child (bringing him or her into the community of believers) who then must be taught to act as a Christian, eventually perhaps to be confirmed in his or her belief and faith and then is always in danger of losing their salvation if they don’t act correctly or receive forgiveness at the hands of a priest. This doctrine varies greatly between different churches such as Roman Catholic or Church of England as to the exact means of imparting grace and the time of one’s salvation and what it takes to lose salvation and return to the ranks of the infidels who are going to Hell.

 

The Separatist wing of the Church of England had given birth to two churches in particular – the Scrooby congregation and the Gainsborough congregation. Both churches left for Holland in search of liberty. The Scooby flock wound up in Leyden under John Robinson. They eventually wound up in America in 1620 as whom we know as The Pilgrims. The Gainsborough congregation, led by their pastor, John Smythe, and his assistant Thomas Hellwys, were doctrinally influenced by Mennonites in Amsterdam.

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Some claim that Smythe performed baptism upon himself and then on the other members of his congregation, having all, as was the practice, been baptized as babies in the Church of England. This produced some confusion as it was not accepted by all and when Smythe died there was a church split and Hellwys took part of the flock back to England and this became the first “General” Baptist Church in England, officially formed in 1611.

 

These Baptists are to be distinguished from Southern Baptists, which were formed 200 years later under different circumstances and for different reasons which we will discuss later along with the formation of other denominations of Christianity in the USA.

 

Roger Williams, whom we mentioned in our last class, had come into contact with these people through his relationship with his employers although it is unclear exactly how this happened and I find many conflicting accounts of his relationship with the General Baptists of the Gainsborough congregation. Williams felt called to New England and because of his credentials, having studied theology, classics, and languages at Cambridge was welcomed in Boston to preach. He left, with his wife, for New England in 1630. Boston, in the 1630’s was ruled by a court of 25-30 deputies chosen from membership in the Congregational Church. The Boston Court was a church court, a perfect marriage between the church and the magistrates who enforced the law.

 

Williams’ Separatist viewpoint that the Church of England was dead wrong and that only separation from it put him on a collision course with the authorities. While back in England the men of the Boston Court would have been philosophical allies of Williams but not in America where they believed they had established the “City of God” or “the Kingdom of Heaven” on earth. Back in England Roger Williams, Thomas Hooker, and the preacher John Cotton had together attended a famous meeting in Sempringham. According to historian, James Ernst, these men debated theology on the trip and their fundamental differences were laid down.

 

The famous John Winthrop, previously mentioned would go on to say that Roger Williams “hath broached new and dangerous opinions against the authority of the magistrates”. His opinions were not new, however. The ideal of some Anabaptist groups that human government was inherently evil, dominated by Satan, (2 Corinthians 4:4), particularly when it attempted to enforce by temporal punishment church doctrine, was not new. Law and human authority was to be respected and followed (Romans 13) when it did not conflict with God’s law (Acts 5:29).

 

In the New World, Williams seemingly anti-authoritarian stance branded him as “divinely mad”. He moved around preaching at various churches always standing precariously at the edge of the law. In 1634 King Charles I gave a commission to Archbishop Laud and others to revoke all the charters given to the new colonies and new ones were written up. Permission was granted for tithes to be collected as taxes for the support of clergy. In other words, the preacher would be paid as an employee of the state with fines, imprisonment, or death being imposed as punishment for failure to do so. In

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1635 the Boston court demanded that all men aged 16 and older had to take the “Oath of the Freeman” which on the surface appeared to separate themselves from control by the Church in England but in reality made them abide by the laws of New England in both civil and religious matters.  You had to be a member of the Congregational Church. One became a church member by being baptized as an infant.

 

This church-state marriage remained in place in Massachusetts for over 160 years, even past the American Revolution. The results of this were homes stolen, property confiscated, and banishment. There were beatings and imprisonments, whippings and hangings. Roger Williams preached against taking the oath was called before the Boston Court in April of 1635 but refused to retract his statements.