George W. Grisevich
The arrival of Thomas Hooker and his congregation from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636 marked the founding of the Connecticut Colony. Their religious conviction served as a unifying force, and much of their daily activity was in some way affected by it.
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It was very difficult to separate civil and ecclesiastical interests.
The Cambridge Platform,
adopted by a synod in 1648 as the constitution of New England Congregationalism, put it clearly:
Church government stands in no opposition to civil government of commonwealths, nor any way intrencheth upon the authority of civil magistrates in their jurisdiction; nor any whit weakeneth their hands in governing, but rather strengtheneth them and furthereth the people in yielding more hearty and conscionable obedience unto them, whatsoever some ill affected persons to the ways of Christ have suggested, to alienate the affections of kings and princes from the ordinances of Christ; as if the kingdom of Christ in his church could not rise and stand, without the falling and weakening of their government, which is also of Christ: wheras the contrary is most true, that they may both stand together and florish, and the one being helpful unto the other, in their distinct and due administrations.
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The uniqueness of the Puritan settlements, combined with the uncertainties of wilderness life and congregational organization, led to an unusually close association between the spiritual and political authorities.
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It was hoped by the founding fathers that this association would mean a flourishing society. Distrust would lead to the opposite. This relationship was most sensitive, since the power and authority of spiritual and political life were complementary.
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(A discussion of Puritan social attitudes and their relationship to government and law in Connecticut can be found in Unit I of this volume).
At first Baptists were not a coordinated, organized denomination. The Baptist movement was isolated and incidental, as compared to the dominant thrust of Puritanism. Baptist distinctives took hold among people who were already well grounded in the Reformation principle of biblical authority. Believer’s baptism and rejection of infant baptism, coupled with an evangelical zeal to reflect a New Testament pattern of church organization, set Baptists apart from Congregationalism.
At first New England Congregationalism was not alarmed by these principles, and healthy discussion was frequently encouraged. However, as further divisions among the Puritans emerged, like Hooker’s exodus to the Connecticut Valley, councils were called to clarify doctrine, faith, and order so that there would be civil and ecclesiastical harmony. Councils such as the Cambridge Council (1648) and Boston Council (1680) were significant in that the Puritan ecclesiastical and political patterns were in the process of being developed in “new” England.
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Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Congregational Puritanism’s roots were to sink deeper and deeper in the “Canaan” or “New Israel” of the New World.
That which is called the establishment in Connecticut cane into being quite naturally because of the religious convictions of the settlers. In the late 1630’s, the Puritan churches relied increasingly upon civil authority to safeguard and protect that which they cherished in the spiritual realm. They believed from the very beginning that civil and ecclesiastical cooperation was necessary. A mutual assistance in the context of moderate separateness was their interpretation of an orderly commonwealth.
This is the background of Baptist beginnings in Connecticut. These circumstances must be taken into consideration for a clear understanding of the formation of Baptist groups there and the pressures exerted to discourage their growth. The story of Baptist efforts to attain the complete separation of church and state is only half told if the all-embracing influence of the dominant ministry of Puritan Congregationalism is overlooked.
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