Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/163

Rh prejudice any other Church, and shall give as any reasonable satisfaction respecting their principles, we knew not but they may be permitted by this government so to do." The worthy magistrates of Plymouth have not told us how these few Baptist brethren "disturbed the peace" of quiet old Rehoboth. Ancient Rehoboth, that roomy place, was not big enough to contain this church of seven members, and we have to-day to thank the spirit of Newman and the order of Plymouth Court for the handful of seed corn, which they cast upon the waters, which took root in Swansea and has brought forth the fruits of a sixty-fold growth. Dr. Mather says of the church, "There being many good men among those,—I do not know that they have been persecuted with an harder means than those of kind offices to reclaim them."

With a firm trust in God and in the truth of their principles, the little band of Baptists set out as exiles from Rehoboth to find a place of habitation and comfortable rest. South of Rehoboth lay Sowams, the land of the Indians, and into it they came to establish their homes, to build their meeting-house, and make a home for the new church in the wilderness.

To fix the precise location of this first Baptist meetinghouse in Massachusetts is of great importance, and I have given much attention to the matter and am fully satisfied as to the correctness of the position. The spot where the house was located is on the road leading to the house formerly occupied by Joseph Allen on Nockum Hill, and now owned by George H. West, Esq. This road leads from the main road from Warren to Providence across New Meadow Neck and turns to the southwest to Nockum Hill, about half a mile south of the site of Munroe's Tavern. Rev. Mr. Tustin, in his historical discourse, delivered at the dedication of the Baptist Church in Warren, May 8, 1845 (page 83), says, "After the action of the Court in the removal of the church from Rehoboth, these exiled brethren erected their first meeting-house, about three miles Northwest of