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Sabbatarian
Churches of God in
Rhode Island
—Our Heritage
Interior view of Sabbatarian Church
of God Meeting House in
Newport
. Note two plagues of Ten Commandments behind
pulpit (photo, Newport Historical Society)
In Revelation 1:1-3, 17-20 the seven candle sticks are separate, denoting seven distinct Church Era's (verse 20).
This is a prophecy of the Seven Era's of the
Church
of
God
. In this study we will be looking at the
5th Era or Candle Stick of the Sabbatarian Church of
God.
There are two distinct signs of a Sabbatarian Church of
God:
1) The name, "
Church
of
God
." These are the passages where the Bible name for the Church
appears, first as “Church of God”: Acts
20:28, I Cor.1:2, 10:31-32, 11:22, 15:9, II Cor. 1:1, Gal. 1:13,
I Tim. 3:5. "Churches of God": I Cor. 11:15-16, I Thes.
2:14, II Thes. 1:4.
2) The observance of the 7th Day Sabbath: Mark
2:27-28, Gen. 2:1-3, :7, Ex. 16:13-27, 20:8-11, Luke 4:14-16, :31-32,
:44, Acts 13:13-16, :44, 16:13, 17:2, 18:4). [This is how Sabbatarian
Church of God believers look at the Sabbath Command.
Sabbatarian
Churches of God in
France
and
Holland
Leading up to the Sardis Era of the Sabbatarian Churches of God
we have the Thyatira Era of these Churches of God. Revelation
2:18-24. The Thyatiran Era was an era with great works and
extreme persecution. This persecution was part of an overall
persecution corresponding to the "1260 days in
the wilderness" of Revelation 12:6, which turned out to
be 1260 years of persecution from 325 A.D., the edict of Constantine
to 1585 A.D. (1585 being the year Mary, Queen of Scots was
executed.) She was the final Catholic threat to the British
throne, although she never got a chance to rule on it.
[click on http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/BaptistHistory.htm to
read about the amazing origin of the Baptist Churches.]
In a book by Tamar Davis, written in 1851, called "A History
of Sabbatarians" a people who lived in the valleys of southern
France
around
Lyons
are described. Here is some of what was said about them. "From
the earliest the inhabitants in the valleys about the Pyrenees
did not profess the Catholic faith, neither was it embraced by
the inhabitants of the
Alps
. It also occurred, one Valdo, in the 9th century, a friend and
advisor of Barigarius, and a man of wealth, talent and piety,
who had many followers, possessed himself of a Bible by which
he was led to perceive the errors and corruptions of Rome, which
he severely denounced. Moreover it came to pass that about 130
years after, a rich merchant of Leone, whose name was Waldo (Peter
de Waldo), openly withdrew from the communion of Rome and supported
many to travel and teach the doctrines believed in the valleys." All
these people, though different in their origin and different
no doubt in some minor points of faith and practices of worship,
are called Waldenses, as a general term. According to pope Gregory, "These
people came from
Rome
and they were supposed to be Jews. And that they were supposed
to be Jews who migrated from
Rome
in the days of the Apostles to the valleys of southern
France
." (These would have been Jewish believers
in Jesus, being driven out of
Rome
shortly after the death of John, the apostle.)
A quote from a 'father' Gretchner, who was a Jesuit Priest back
about 1250 A.D. states, "Moreover all these heretics despised
the fasts and feasts of the Church, such as Christmas, Easter and
Sunday. In short, all approved ecclesiastical customs for which
they do not find a warrant in the scripture. They say also that
God enjoined rest and Holy meditation upon the 7th day and that
they can not feel justified in the observance of any other." So
these people kept the Sabbath and they refused to keep any other
'holidays'. Also we find in the writings that they were severely
persecuted. It says,
"...Also driven from Dauphiny, Waldo sought refuge in Piccardy, where
also his labours were abundantly blessed. Persecuted thence, he fled into
Germany
and carried with him the glad tidings of Salvation." It
was also in
Germany
that Waldo died...
Sabbatarian Churches of God in
England
Some other of the beliefs of these people
were: "They were against war, against capital punishment,
against oaths of any kind. And they expressed their opposition
to bearing arms, and to war in all its' operations..." They
were called Jews and Semi-Judaizers. They were forced somewhat
out of
France
, and they spread into
Poland
, into
Lithuania
and into
Russia
. They did not go directly to
London
. There is always one thread, of the
Church
of
God
, that God keeps active. But there are many threads, like the
end of a rope that has unraveled, going in all directions. The
real difficulty in tracing the history of the Sabbatarian Churches
of God is that you've got to find the right thread. So the threads
that went into
Poland
,
Lithuania
and
Russia
eventually died out spiritually, and
at times physically. These Waldenses also rejected all politics,
and were known to observe Passover on the 14th of Nisan, as the
early Apostles did. They were virtually wiped out in
France
, with over 2 million Sabbath-keepers being killed by the order
of the Catholic Church in
France
. The Waldensians in
Holland
were known as the Lollards, and their preaching and numbers were
spreading out to the surrounding areas. So we find Waldensian Sabbatarian Churches
of God believers were also present in the
Netherlands
. Two chief Waldensian ministers in
Holland
were Walter and Raymond Lollard. Whether
their real last name was actually Lollard or not isn’t
clear, since “lollard” is taken from the English “lollen” or “lullen” which
means to mumble or speak softly [i.e., lullaby]. This
practice described the Waldensian practice of memorizing Scriptures
and then repeating them. Walter and Raymond came from
Holland
to
England
in 1315. Perhaps
as a result, “Lollards”
was the name given to Waldensian people in
Holland
. In 1320 John Wycliffe
was born. He became
an
Oxford
scholar and theologian who held the Bible in highest esteem. He translated most of the Bible into English,
his followers finishing his work. What
most don’t realize is that he associated with Walter and
Raymond Lollard and their associates, although he himself remained
a Catholic all his life.
From the Encyclopedia
Britannica, 11th Edition we get “Lollards: The organization must have been strong in numbers,
but only those who were seized for heresy were known by name,
and it is only from the indictments of their accusers that
their opinions can be gathered. The preachers were picturesque figures
in long russet dress down to the heels, who, staff in hand,
preached in the mother tongue to the people in the churches,
and the graveyards, in the squares, streets, and houses, in
garden and pleasure grounds, and then talked privately with
those that had been impressed.”
Being Waldensian, Walter and Raymond taught about full immersion into
water for Baptism, and about the Biblical Sabbath and Holy Days,
and they taught upwards of hundreds, maybe even thousands. In
the 1400s, the Lollards became a driving force in
England
, making good use of Wycliffe’s translation and other translations
that were coming along. These Lollards successfully planted the
Sabbatarian Church of God seed in
England
. Obviously, over the next several hundred
years these seeds grew. Now
by this time the Thyatiran Era was just about dead in
Europe
. The 'Baton' was being passed to a new Era of the Sabbatarian
Churches of God, called in Revelation 3:1-6 the 'Sardis Era'. This
Sardis Era was to be the
Church
of
God
in
England
and then
America
during the 1st two-thirds of
America
's history. Thus in 1585
England
became free, once and for all, from the yoke of Catholicism, with
the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Once the
Sabbath-keeping
Church
is rooted in
England
, everything in
Europe
is destroyed and virtually wiped out. There were very few segments
of Sabbath-keepers left in Europe once they were rooted in
England
. By the 1300s, some had fled into
Holland
and were called Lollards. By the year 1600, there were 11
Sabbath-keeping
Church
congregations around
London
. Three of the main Churches of God, the 'Cripple Gate Church of God',
and the 'Mill Yard Church of God', and the 'Bell Lane Church of
God.'
The names of their ministers for this period of time were:
- Theopolis Brayborn, who
wrote a book about the Sabbath in 1597. (the old Worldwide
Church of God had a copy of this book)
- Edward Stinnet
- Samuel Stinnet, Edward's
son.
- John Trask
- James Ockford
- John James
The Church of England proved to be just as oppressive in persecutions
of any religious dissenters. This included all the Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God in
England
. Here is the reason why. Oliver Cromwell unseated Charles I of
England
. Cromwell eventually died, and 2 years later Charles II came to
the throne in 1661 A.D. Charles II believed that there was a group
of people out to take the throne from him. He called these people
the Fifth Monarchy men. Fifth Monarchy men were a group of political
agitators who believed and knew of the 4 prophesied world-ruling
Empires or 'Monarchies' prophesied to occur in Daniel chapter 2
[i.e., the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, Alexander the
Great's Greek Empire and the Roman Empire], and the Fifth Monarchy,
which was to be the Kingdom of God set up on earth by Christ, at
His 2nd coming. These agitators wanted to start setting
up this 'Fifth Monarchy' in their own time--the 1600's. [They failed
to realize, as the Jews also failed to realize in 70 A.D., that
the Roman Empire was prophesied to have seven resurrections
before the
Kingdom
of
God
would be set up on the earth by Jesus Christ. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm ] So,
for obvious reasons, Charles II was very paranoid about Fifth Monarchists
and brought about severe persecutions on anyone or group who
professed a belief in a literal
Kingdom
of
God
being set up on earth. The Sabbath-keepers, members of the 'Churches
of God' around
London
all held a firm belief in the literal 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ
to set up a literal
Kingdom
of
God
on the earth. The Churches of God weren't political agitators for a
Fifth Monarchy but they nonetheless fell under severe persecution from both
the Church of England and Charles II. John James, the minister of the Cripple
Gate Church of God was beheaded on November 26, 1661 to set an example to show
what would happen to all who wanted to continue to believe in a Fifth Monarchy.
John James' head was stuck on a stake just outside of the building used by
his congregation, after his body had been drawn and quartered. From Fletcher’s “The Incredible
History of God’s
True
Church
”, chapter 10, we get: “John James was arrested and brought to
trial, found guilty under the new law against non-conformity. He
was sentenced to the barbaric fate of being hung, drawn and quartered. It was said that ‘This awful fate
did not dismay him in the least. He
calmly said
“Blessed be God, whom man condemneth, God justifieth!” In his final words to the court he simply
asked them to read the following scriptures: Jer. 26:14-15 and Psa. 116:15. In
keeping with the gruesome custom of the time, after his execution his heart
was taken out and burned, the four quarters of his body fixed to the gates
of the city and his head set up on a pole in Whitechapel opposite the alley
in which his meeting house stood.”
Along with this, in the 1660's the infamous Clarindon Acts were passed.
The 1st one stated that everyone in
England
had to take an oath of supremacy and allegiance to the Church of
England. Members of the Sabbatarian Churches of God could not do
this. The 2nd Act stated that no more than 6 people could assemble
together for religious purposes except in the Church of England.
In 1664, the 4th or last of the Clarindon Acts was passed which
stated that no preacher or teacher that refused to take the oath
of allegiance was to be allowed within 5 miles of any city or town.
This included all the ministers of these Sabbatarian Churches of
God in the area. So the Church was in trouble. Church services
now had to be held in secret for awhile. This all but destroyed
the
Church
of
God
in
England
. This is where the 'thread' is going to go to
America
.
The Name of the Church
In looking up the history of the
Church of God in New England it must be remembered that history
books list all Sabbatarians prior to 1818 as '7th Day Baptists'
even though that particular name was NOT adopted by the Sabbatarians
in Rhode Island until 1818. Prior to 1818 they called
themselves "
Church
of
God
, Keeping the Commandments of Christ."
God’s
preparation of a new land
Long in advance, in
America
, a haven was being prepared for the Sabbath-keepers, through a
man named Roger Williams. Rhode
Island Sabbatarian Church of God believers, take special note.
“Roger was born to a
Puritan family in
London
,
England
in about 1603. His father, James Williams (1562-1620),
was a merchant of
Smithfield
,
England
. His mother was Alice Pemberton (1564-1634). Under
the patronage of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), the famous jurist,
Williams was educated at Sutton’s Hospital and at the
University
of
Cambridge
,
Pembroke
College
(B.A., 1627). He seems
to have had a gift for languages, and early acquired familiarity
with Latin, Greek, Dutch, and French. He
gave John Milton lessons in Dutch in exchange for lessons in Hebrew. Some
time before the end of 1630, Williams decided that he could not
labor in
England
under the Archbishop William Laud’s rigorous (and High church)
administration, and adopted a position of dissent. He
turned aside offers of preferment in the university and in the
Established Church, and instead resolved to seek in
New England
the liberty of conscience denied him at home.
Removal to
America
In 1630, Roger and Mary Williams set sail for
Boston
on the
Lyon
. Arriving on February 5, 1631, he was almost
immediately invited to replaced the pastor,
who was returning to
England
. Finding that it was “an unseparated
church,”
Williams declined, instead giving voice to the separationist views
he had surely found in
England
. Among these, Williams asserted that the
magistrate may not punish any sort of “breach of the first
table [of the Ten Commandments],” such as idolatry, Sabbath-breaking,
false worship, and blasphemy and that every individual should be
free to follow his own convictions in religious matters. The
first idea---that the magistrate should not punish religious infractions—meant
that the civil authority should not be the same as the ecclesiastical
authority. The second
idea---that people should have freedom of opinion on religious
matters---he called
“soul-liberty.” It
is one of the foundations for the United States Constitution’s guarantees
of non-establishment of religion and of freedom to choose and practice one’s
own religion. William’s use
of the phrase
“wall of separation” in describing his preferred relationship between
religion and other matters is credited as the first use of that phrase, and
potentially Thomas Jefferson’s source in later speaking of the wall of
separation between church and state.
The
Salem
church, which through interaction with the
Plymouth
colonists had also adopted Separationist sentiments, invited Williams
to become its teacher. His
settlement was prevented by a remonstrance addressed to Governor
Endicott by six of the
Boston
leaders. The
Plymouth
colony then received him gladly, where he remained for about two
years. According to Governor Bradford, “his
teachings were well approved.”
Relations
with the American Indians
Williams’ respect for the Indians and his willingness to deal with
them on a basis of equality won their lasting friendship. He insisted always that any land settled
by Europeans should be purchased fairly from the local tribe. Williams was also a vocal opponent of
the forced conversion of the Natives to Christianity calling
it one of the most
“monstrous and most inhumane” acts forced upon the Native peoples
and a
“violation of Christian principles”.
While in
Plymouth
, Williams spent much time among the Indians, his “soul’s
desire” being “to do the natives good.” He
wrote: “God was pleased to give me a painful, patient spirit,
to lodge with them in their filthy, smoky holes….to gain
their tongue.” During his early years in
New England
, he mastered the language of the natives to a remarkable degree.
Life at
Salem
, Exile
Toward the close of his ministry at
Plymouth
, Williams’ views began to place him in conflict with other
members of the colony. The
people of
Plymouth
quickly realized that they found his ways of thinking, particularly
concerning the Indians, too advanced and he left to go back to
Salem
.
In the summer of 1633 Williams arrived in
Salem
and became unofficial assistant to Pastor Skelton. In
August, 1634, (Skelton having died), he became acting pastor and
entered almost immediately into controversies with the Massachusetts
authorities that in a few months resulted in his exile by law from
Salem after being brought before the Salem Court for spreading “diverse,
new, and dangerous opinions” that questioned the Church.
He was formally set apart as pastor of the church in May, 1635, against
the earnest protests of the
Massachusetts
authorities. An outline
of the issues raised by Williams and uncompromisingly pressed [by
him] includes the following:
- He regarded
the Church of England as apostate, and any kind of fellowship
with it as grievous sin. He
accordingly renounced communion not only with this church but
with all who would not join with him in repudiating it.
- He denounced
the charter of the Massachusetts Company because it falsely
represented the king of
England
as a Christian [man did this guy have courage], and assumed that
he had the right to give to his own subjects the land of the
native Indians. He disapproved of “the unchristian
oaths swallowed down” by colonists “at their coming
forth from Old England, especially in the superstitious Laud’s
time and domineering.” He drew up a letter addressed to
the King expressing his dissatisfaction with the charter and
sought to secure for it the endorsement of prominent colonists.
In this letter he is said to have charged King James I with blasphemy
for calling
Europe
“Christendom” and to have applied to the reigning
king some of the most opprobrious epithets in the Apocalypse.
- Equally
disquieting was Williams’ opposition to the “citizens’ oath” which
magistrates sought to force upon the colonists in order to
be assured of their loyalty. Williams
maintained that it was Christ’s sole prerogative to have
his office established by oath, and that unregenerate men ought
not in any case to be invited to perform any religious act. In
opposing the oath Williams gained so much popular support that
the measure had to be abandoned.
- In a
dispute between the Massachusetts Bay court and the Salem colony
regarding possession of a piece of land (Marblehead) claimed
by the latter, the court offered to accede to the claims of
Salem on condition that the Salem church make amends for its
insolent conduct in installing Williams as pastor in defiance
of the court of ministers. This demand involved the removal
of the pastor. Williams
regarded this proposal an outrageous attempt at bribery and
had the
Salem
church send to other
Massachusetts
churches a denunciation of the proceeding and demand that the
churches exclude the magistrates from membership. This
act was sharply resented by magistrates and churches, and such pressures
was brought to bear upon the
Salem
church as led a majority to consent to removal of their pastor. He never entered the chapel again,
but held religious services in his own house with his faithful
adherents. [This guy had guts of a special variety.]
Settlement
at
Providence
In June, Williams arrived at the present site of
Providence
,
Rhode Island
. Having secured land from the natives,
he established a settlement with twelve “loving friends and
neighbors” (several settlers had joined him from
Massachusetts
since the beginning of spring). Williams’ settlement
was based on a principle of equality. In 1640, another agreement was signed
by thirty-nine freemen, expressing their determination “still
to hold forth liberty of conscience.” Thus
a government unique in its day was created---a government expressly
providing for religious liberty and a separation between civil
and ecclesiastical authority (church and state). The
colony was name
Providence
, due to Williams’ belief that God had sustained him and
his followers and brought them to this place….In 1643, Williams
was sent to
England
by his fellow citizens to secure a charter for the colony. The Puritans were then in power in
England
, and through the offices of Sir Henry Vane a democratic charter
was obtained. In 1647, the colony of
Rhode Island
was united with
Providence
under a single government, and liberty of conscience was again
proclaimed. The area became a safe haven for people
who were persecuted for their beliefs---Baptists, Quakers, Jews,
and others went there to follow their consciences in peace and
safety. On May 18, 1652,
Rhode Island
passed the first law in
North America
making slavery illegal.
“2nd Baptist Church in America, at Newport,
Rhode Island (congregation of John Clarke and Obediah Holmes)”
About 1639, Williams was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman and immediately
proceeded to baptize Holliman and eleven others. Thus was constituted a Baptist church
which still survives as the
First
Baptist
Church
in
America
, in the city of
Providence
, Colony of Rhode Island. At
about the same time, John Clarke, Williams’ compatriot in
the cause of religious freedom in the New World, established a
Baptist church in Newport, Rhode Island….Williams remained
with the little church in Providence only a few months. He became convinced that the ordinances
having been lost in the apostasy could not be validly restored
without a special divine commission, making the following statement
upon his departure from the sect:
There is no
regularly constituted
church
of
Christ
on earth, nor any person qualified to administer any church ordinances;
nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the Great Head
of the Church for whose coming I am seeking.
He assumed the attitude of a “Seeker” or “Come-outer,” always
deeply religious and active in propagation of Christian truth,
yet not feeling satisfied that any body of Christians had all
of the marks of the true Church. He
continued on friendly terms with the Baptists, being in agreement
with them in their rejection of infant baptism as in most other
matters.” [excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_%28theologian%29 ] So
for you Sabbatarian Church of God believers in Rhode Island,
Roger Willaims is not only the founder of your State, the State
of Rhode Island, but the original author of religious freedoms
in the United States, later showing up in the 1st Amendment
of the Constitution of the United States. He
also legislated the laws in the Charter
of Rhode Island that guaranteed protection and freedom to believe
and worship as led by one’s conscience, so long as it did
not go against the public good. As we now read, this guaranteed a safe
haven for the establishment of the Sabbatarian Churches of God
in
America
.
The following statement in the Charter of Rhode Island is as follows: "Now
know you, that we being willing to encourage
the hopeful undertakings, and to secure them in free exercise and
enjoyment of all the civil and religious rights, appertaining to
them. NO PERSON SHALL HEREAFTER BE MOLESTED, PUNISHED, DISQUIETED,
OR CALLED INTO QUESTION FOR ANY DIFFERENCE IN OPINION IN MATTERS
OF RELIGION WHO DO NOT DISTURB THE CIVIL PEACE."
Rhode Island
was the only colony where freedom of religion was truly practiced.
Roger Williams left this church he helped found either 4 months
or 4 years later, depending on which source you want to believe.
He was no longer associated with the Baptists. He was by his own
admission a religious seeker. (
Rhode Island
was called
Rogues
Island
by Puritans: http://www.snarkout.org/archives/2001/11/25/ .)
Sabbatarian
Churches of God in
Rhode Island
(
Newport
Historical Society)
In 1664 Steven Mumford, a successful businessman, and his wife
Ann, both members of the 'Bell Lane Church of God' and both
in their early 20's came to Newport, Rhode Island. The Wanton
Lyman-Hazard House probably was his house. According
to the Newport Historical Society: “The oldest surviving
house in
Newport
, the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House was built for Stephen Mumford
in ca. 1697. Mumford
was a merchant and founding member of
Newport
’s Seventh Day Baptist congregation. The House passed to Mumford’s son,
Stephen Mumford Jr. and then was sold to Richard Ward, a lawyer who became
the governor of the colony of
Rhode Island
in 1741. During the
Revolution, Ward’s son Samuel also was elected to that office.” The
location of this house was mentioned in a will left by his son,
also named Steven Mumford. Steven Mumford is buried at the
Old
Colonial
Cemetery
, down
Farewell Street
. He died in 1707. His wife Ann died in 1697/8. He was 68 years
old when he died. One year later, or in 1708, the Churches of God
in
Rhode Island
gave up the yearly observance of Passover on the 14th of Nisan
and switched to monthly and/or bimonthly 'breaking of bread'.
When Mumford landed with his wife in
Newport
there was no Sabbatarian Church of God in
America
to attend so he and his wife observed the Sabbath alone in their
home and fellowshipped on Sundays with the members of the local
Baptist
Church
. This
Baptist
Church
was the second
Baptist
Church
founded in
America
. Soon, 9 other Baptists started to observe the Sabbath with Steven
Mumford and his wife Ann, in their home.
Their names
were:
William Hiscox
Roger Baster
Samuel Hubbard and his wife Tasey
Rachel Langeworthy (their daughter)
Nicolas Wild and his wife and
John Solmon and his wife.
Around 1669 Nicolas Wild and his wife and John Solmon and his wife
rejected the Sabbath and went back to Sunday observance solely.
(It is one of the Bible doctrines that if someone leaves or renounces
the Church and its beliefs, once having become a baptized member,
he or she is not to be fellowshipped with. Most
Sabbatarian Churches of God view themselves as “the
True
Church
”.) Mumford and the others fellowshipped with the Baptists on Sunday,
now these four were among the Baptists they were fellowshipping with. And now,
according to the '
Bell Lane
'
Church
of
God
, they had a serious problem. it was one thing to meet and fellowship with people who never
knew the Truth, but to meet with someone who knew the Truth and
then rejected it was forbidden by the Church's teachings. So they
wrote to the Bell Lane Church and Edward Stinnet. (The old Worldwide
Church of God had a copy of this letter.) Edward Stinnet wrote
back and said, "You are not to meet with these people,
they have rejected God's Holy Sabbath Day." So now they
were only attending with the Baptists sporadically. They never
made an uproar in the
Baptist
Church
, and never created confusion in the
Baptist
Church
. But none-the-less, this avoiding of the other 4 must have created
some friction with the Baptist Church they fellowshipped with,
for on December 11, 1671 Obediah Holmes, assistant pastor of the
Baptist
Church
in
Newport
, gave a sermon attacking the Sabbath. Ruth Burdick was the only
Church member attending. [Ruth Burdick is the ancestor of a friend
of mine, a former member in one of the congregations of the Worldwide
Church of God. He is now the elder of the small independent Sabbath-keeping house-church I currently attend in North-Central Massachusetts. Burdick’s, many of them pastors, virtually fill their main graveyard in Westerly Rhode Island, as you’ll see in the next section.] She went directly to Steven Mumford's house and
told the others.
So
they met on December 16, 1671 to talk with John Clarke the Baptist minister,
and Obediah Holmes, and asked,
"What should be done to rectify this problem?" They were told,
"Reject the Sabbath or you can no longer commune with us." Finally
Tasey Hubbard spoke up and said, "This is what I say, we must keep
God's 7th Day Sabbath no matter what the consequences." Their fate
was sealed. On December 23, 1671 these seven remaining members founded the
1st Church of Sabbath-keepers in
America
. They did not call themselves 7th Day Baptists. They adopted NO
official name or doctrines, but simply agreed to follow everything
in the Bible.
What have we witnessed here?
Now something needs to be
said here about what many believe about the
these early Sabbatarian believers who called themselves “the
Church
of
God
, Keeping the Commandments of Christ”, ‘”the
Church,” or simply
“Sabbatarians”. Going
back to the Inquisitions instituted in
France
during the 1100s, Waldensian Sabbatarians and Sunday observing
Ana-Baptists alike were being slaughtered at the behest of the
pope. Remnants of these two groups did end up
in
England
, not just the Sabbatarian Lollards. These
Lollards and those who followed preached up a storm, preaching
both the gospel and the need for Sabbath observance, and their
preaching was effective. Even though these two groups were separate
and never a part of each other doctrinally, but because the Sabbatarians
often fellowshipped in Baptist congregations, it was thought they
were another extraction of the Baptists. Some
church historians, viewing recent historical evidence of this Baptist/Sabbatarian
Church of God mixing have interpreted the facts this way, labeling
the Sabbatarians as just another form or persuasion of Baptist. But I beg to differ. I offer that Baptist churches apparently
proved to be very fertile grounds for Sabbatarian evangelism, drawing out
converts while fellowshipping in their midst. Also,
some wish to lump Baptists in with all the other British Protestants,
which came from the Separatists and Puritans. Baptists themselves in
England
were never Separatists. Separatists,
by definition were those who had been in the Church of England
but felt compelled to separate out of the Church of England. Baptists had never, ever, been a part of
the Church of England. Baptists
had come from
France
along with Sabbatarian believers, and again, had never been a part
of the Church of England. So
Baptists could never be Separatists, even though they were often
lumped in together with them. What we see in the actions of Stephen
Mumford was that he was merely following an evangelistic practice
that was already extant in
England
, that of fellowshipping with Sunday observing Baptists and then
winning some of them over as converts to Sabbath worship. In
fellowshipping with Baptists, there was one less major doctrinal
error to wean their new converts of, and that is infant baptism. The Baptists and Sabbatarians both believed
in adult immersion for baptism. All
the other Christian persuasions, Separatist, Puritans and Church
of England believed in infant baptism, usually by sprinkling water
on the infant being baptized. To
convert Sunday observing Christians, whether real or the nominal
ones from the Church of England, involved a major doctrinal makeover
and re-education of this new convert. But to convert a Baptist into becoming
a Sabbatarian Church of God believer involved merely the change
of one’s day of worship from Sunday to Saturday, and sometimes
including the Holy Days of Leviticus 23 in place of Christmas and
Easter. So Sabbatarians
fellowshipping with Baptists didn’t make them a part of the
Baptists. It made the
Baptists a target of Sabbatarian evangelism, and this is what we
observe first hand taking place in
Newport
,
Rhode Island
. Although Sabbatarian pastors were adept
at evangelizing the unsaved masses, as the Lollards proved, they
also used this method, both in
England
and in the Colony of Rhode Island. In
a way, this form of evangelism was similar to
the way the apostle Paul would go into Jewish synagogues and preach Christ
to the Jews, and with much success. As
the synagogues in Asia Minor proved to be fertile ground for the
Apostle Paul, likewise the Baptist churches proved fertile ground
for Sabbatarian evangelism, as Sabbatarians fellowshipped within
their midst. Also in one historical account, it says
that Stephen Mumford was a member of a Baptist congregation in
Tewksbury
,
England
, based on an early letter discovered from Mumford to someone in
this congregation. But
in the history article written about Mumford by the Seventh Day
Baptists themselves, an Edward Townsend of the old Natton church,
near Tewksbury, became the pastor of the Cripple Gate Church of
God congregation in 1727, so this congregation in Tewksbury was
probably Sabbatarian, because these Churches of God would never
appoint a Baptist pastor over one of their Sabbath observing congregations. Some
church historians have tried to call Mumford a Baptist citing this
letter he wrote to a congregation in
Tewksbury
,
England
. But all subsequent evidence points elsewhere. Quoted
from “THE TIMES OF STEPHEN MUMFORD”,
an article written by the Seventh Day Baptists and available online, “Stephen
Mumford was a member of the Bell Lane Seventh Day Baptist Church
[Bell Lane Church of God, as it would have been called in 1664],
and so he could not but witness to his faith among the Baptists
of the New World. He persuaded a number that the Fourth
Commandment should still be kept, and they had to separate when
they found it impossible to continue in fellowshipping with the
other Baptists who opposed the truth for which they stood. Thus
he was the human instrument used by God to establish our denomination
in
America
where it succeeded in taking root and in expanding, while unfortunately
the cause declined in the country from which he came.” As
a matter of fact, Mumford had strong ties to the Bell Lane Church
of God. Around 1674 “Stephen
Mumford returned to
England
to report the actual conditions in
Rhode Island
and invite others to this haven of rest. He succeeded in persuading William Gibson
to return with him….Gibson became assistant to
the first pastor of the
Newport
church, William Hiscox, one of the first converts made by Mumford. When Hiscox died in 1704, having been
pastor for 33 years, Gibson succeeded him. It
was under Gibson that the
First
Seventh
Day
Baptist
Church
[
Church
of
God
, Keeping the Commandments of Christ, Meeting in Hopkinton] was
organized in 1708 as the denomination began to move westward.” This
William Gibson had been an active member in the “Bell Land
Church of God.” [ibid, see http://www.seventh-day-baptist.org.au/library/books/mumford.htm .]
Map of Historic
Sites and
Ancient
Cemetery
on
Farewell Street
,
Newport
,
Rhode Island
The Church records are to be found in 3 old books in the Newport Historical
Society vaults:
- The Church in
Newport
, 1692 (a copy of the oldest)
- The Church, 1708 (original
from 1708)
- The Church in
Westerly
, 1708 (a copy).
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