Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/251

 CHAPTER XVII THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH The Nucleus of the Congregational Church in Rev. Mr. Mjles's Church — Influence of Rev. Samuel Luther — Congregational Meeting- House and New Town — Rev. James Wilson, First Pastor — Rev. Samuel Torrey — Rev. Peleg Heath — His Ministry — Church Mem- bership — Marriages — Half-way Covenant — Ministerial Recerds — Rev. Solomon Townsend — His Remarkable Ministry — Rev. Samuel Watson — Rev. Luther Wright — Great Awakening — Organization of the Sunday School — Rev. Francis Wood — Rev. Thomas Williams — Rev. B. R. Allen — Rev. Charles Peabody — Rev. Forrest Jeff erds — Rev. Silas S. Hyde — Rev. Francis Horton — Rev. William House — Rev. John Colwell — Rev. Norman Plass — Officers of the Church and Sunday School. THE early history of the Congregational Church in Har- rington is associated with that of the Baptist Church organized by Rev. John Myles, and six others in 1663, which was, as we have seen, liberal in its policy. Its " Holy Cov- enant " declared, "As union in Christ is the sole ground of our Communion each with other, so we are ready to accept of, receive to, and hold communion with all such, as by a judgment of charity we conceive to be fellow members with us, in our head, Jesus Christ, though differing from us in such controversial points as are not absolutely and essen- tially necessary to Salvation." Arrested, fined, and forbid- den by the laws of Plymouth Colony to meet for worship in Rehoboth, the small company of Baptists organized a church and built their first meeting-house a short distance from the southerly line of Rehoboth, on the north side of Hundred Acre Cove, within the present Town of Barrington. The neighborhood to Providence was favorable to the spread of the principles of religious toleration through Rehoboth. That town, though of the Congregational order, showed its