An Outline of Baptist History

-17- Massachusetts Baptists. This church was organized in Boston in 1665. It wa s not the first church in Massachusetts, for a Welch church, pastor ed by John Myles emigrated bodily about 1662. It settled eventually in Swansea in 1667. This church has had uninterrupted existence to this day and has been strongly Calvinistic. Treatment of Baptists in New England. Particularly between 1642 and 1649, the New England Baptists were hailed before the Salem court for refusal to baptize their infants. Thomas Painter of Kingham was whipped in 1644. Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard, was compelled to resign his office in 1654, after 12 years of service, because he accepted B aptist views and refused to remain silent about baptism. His employers refused to l et him stay in the house he had built as the president's home even though he o nly asked for permission to remain there for six months. In 1657 he faced two court trials because he would not baptize a daughter born on December 27, 1656. He died February 27, 1659, five years after his removal. Obadiah Holmes was whipped and imprisoned in Boston for havi ng preached against infant baptism to some Baptists in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1651. Thomas Gould, a friend of Dunster refused in 1655 to present a n infant for baptism and was admonished by Charlestown elders. He persist ed in his position and a Baptist Church was organized in his house on May 28, 1 665. Shortly after its organization the members were summoned before the c ourt and ordered to ''desist from such theire meeting and irreligious practices as they would Answer the contrary at their peril." Vedder, p.299. Because they were not the desisting kind, nearly all of them were, at one time or an- other, and several more than once, imprisoned or fined, or both. Gould was the severest sufferer. His health was broken and he died in Octo ber, 1675. The state church in Massachusetts persecuted the Baptists because of a view- point held from the days of Constantine who united the church and the s tate. It was believed that religion could not stand without the support of t he state and it was also taught that the states could not be built without the suppo rt of religion. Baptist people in New England patiently bore their persecution though they s ted- fastly opposed a State church. It is reported that many of them would close t heir eyes and turn their backs or otherwise show disapproval when infants wer e bap- tized. Because the New England Baptists could not accept membership in the state church they were denied, consequently, the privilege of citizenship . They were not permitted to vote nor could they have a voice of any kind in the gove rn- ment, while at the same time they were taxed to support the government. The leaders of the American revolution could stoutly affirm that "taxation without representation is tyranny' but they did not believe this applied to the Baptists. In 1691 a new charter was given by William & Mary which consolidated Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay into Massachusetts. The charter issued sta ted that there would be "liberty of conscience to all Christians, except Papists." . Middle States. New York. The first Baptist minister to labor in New York City, so f ar as is known was Rev. William Wickenden of Providence who ca me in 1656. He was