History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

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108 History of Swansea
The Non-Sectarian Christian Church
Swansea was settled by men who believed in liberty of
conscience. Probably it was the only town within the territorial
jurisdiction of the Pilgrims, which recognized the right of free
thought. While all desired freedom for themselves, nearly all
in that age would "use the sword of the civil magistrate to
open the understandings of heretics, or cut them off from the
State, that they might not infect the church or injure the
public peace.
John Myles, the first minister of the town, while exposed
to persecution in his native land, had learned the lesson of
tolerance. Not only did the town in its organic capacity
concede freedom of religious opinion, but the church of which
he was pastor, although composed of Baptists, admitted to
communion all persons who (the original covenant declared),
"by a judgment of charity, we conceive to be fellow-members
with us in our head, Christ Jesus, although differing from us
in such controversial points as are not absolutely and essentially
necessary to salvation. " The successors of Mr. Myles
were Calvinistic Baptists, and the church covenant was
changed to harmonize with their views. That church is the
oldest congregation of the Baptist denomination in the State
of M assachusetts.
Perhaps the erection by the town of the "new meetinghouse
on the lower end of New Meadow Neck" (in what is now
Barrington, R. I), in 1680, may have been one reason why the
inhabitants of the "easternmost part of the town upheld a
religious meeting" at a more accessible place. Although
services were maintained from "about the year 1680," there
was no formal church organization until 1693. In the original
record book (very plainly written and still in excellent condition)
the church is styled simply a "Church of Christ in
Swansea." No doctrinal tests were made conditions of
admission, but all Christians were recognized as possessing
equal rights in the "household of faith." Perhaps there was
then no other church in all the earth which received as members
all Christians irrespective of divergent opinions concerning
the various points of speculative theology. In 1725,
nearly half a century after the "meeting" was established and
a third of a century after the church was organized, it was
decided to receive members only by the ^'laying on of hands."
The church was then ecclesiastically independent. From the
year 1803 to 1819 it was represented by "messengers" in the
"Yearly Meeting of the Six-Principle Baptists." After a
connection of sixteen years with that body the church with-