The First Church and Parish in Dedham is a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was the 14th church established in Massachusetts. Amelia Shenstone is the minister.
History Dedham was first settled in 1635 and incorporated in 1636. On July 18, 1637, the Town voted to admit a group of very religious men that would radically change the course of the town's history. Led by John Allin, they included Michael Metcalf, Thomas Wight, Robert Hinsdale, Eleazer Lusher, Timothy Dalton, and Allin's brother-in-law, Thomas Fisher. Dalton was invited to settle in "civil condition," but it was made clear he was not going to be made the town's minister over Allin. He and Thomas Carter quickly sold their land holdings and left town, Dalton to become a teaching officer in the church of what is today Hampton, New Hampshire, and Carter to the pulpit in Woburn, Massachusetts. Ezekiel Holliman, on the other hand, recognized that as a religious liberal that he was not going to be welcome in town and so moved to Rhode Island with Roger Williams.
Establishment While it was of the utmost importance for the founders, "founding a church was more difficult than founding a town." Meetings were held late in 1637 and were open to "all the inhabitants who affected church communion... lovingly to discourse and consult together [on] such questions as might further tend to establish a peaceable and comfortable civil society and prepare for spiritual communion." On the fifth day of every week they would meet in a different home and would discuss any issues "as he felt the need, all 'humbly and with a teachable heart not with any mind of cavilling or contradicting.'"
After they became acquainted with one another, they asked if "they, as a collection of Christian strangers in the wilderness, have any right to assemble with the intention of establishing a church?" Their understanding of the Bible led them to believe that they did, and so they continued to establish a church based on Christian love, but also one that had requirements for membership. In order to achieve a "further union", they determined the church must "convey unto us all the ordinances of Christ's instituted worship, both because it is the command of God... and because the spiritual condition of every Christian is such as stand in need of all instituted ordinances for the repair of the spirit." The group would meet for worship under a large tree in the forest, believed to be near the site of the current church.
It took months of discussions before a church covenant could be agreed upon and drafted. The group established thirteen principles, written in a question and answer format, that established the doctrine of the church. In the summer of 1638, Allen, by common consent, was asked to organize a church and chose Wheelock as his assistant.
Once the doctrinal base was agreed upon, 10 men were selected by John Allin, assisted by Ralph Wheelock, to seek out the "pillars" or "living stones" upon which the congregation would be based. They began to meet separately and decided six of their own number—Allin, Wheelock, John Luson, John Frary, Eleazer Lusher, and Robert Hinsdale—were suitable to form the church.
The group began to meet separately and, one by one, beginning with Allen, they would leave the room so that the others could elect or reject them. They decided that six of their own number--John Allen, Ralph Wheelock, John Luson, John Fray, Eleazer Lusher, and Robert Hinsdale—were suitable to form the church. John Hunting, who was new to the town, was also deemed acceptable.
One of the original ten, Edward Alleyn, was considered a borderline case. Timothy Dalton had questions about Alleyn's activities in the Watertown church and Francis Austin cited personal "offenses and distastes" but, having been satisfactorily addressed, Alleyn gained approval to proceed.
Two of the 10 were not found acceptable to be founders. Joseph Kingsbury, who was "stiff and unhumbled," went into a "distempered, passionate flying out upon one of the company" during his questioning. After that, Kinsgbury and Thomas Morse, members of the original ten, agreed at the end of the discussions to suspend their candidacies for the time being. Anthony Fisher took some time to "see and be humbled" for the "pride and height of his spirit," but he was eventually accepted. Some further questions arose that could not be answered, however, and so his acceptance was rescinded.
The eight men then submitted themselves to a conference of the entire community. The group of eight were led by Allin, and the church membership was essentially only members of his party until 1640.
The group sent letters to other churches and to magistrates informing them of their intention to form a church. The Great and General Court responded by saying that no church should be gathered without the advice of other churches and the consent of the government. As they did not believe they needed the approval of any outside body to gather a church, they wrote to the governor seeking an explanation. He confirmed that there was no intent to abridge their liberties and that gathering a church in the manner they proposed was not unlawful.
Finally, on November 8, 1638, two years after the incorporation of the town and one year after the first church meetings were held, the covenant was signed and the church was gathered. Guests from other towns were invited for the event as they sought the "advice and counsel of the churches" and the "countenance and encouragement of the magistrates."
At the first service, Wheelock began with a prayer and then Allen spoke to the assembly. Each of the eight members then made a public profession of faith. Allen then asked the invited church elders to confer and address the congregation on what they had observed. Rev. Mr. Mathers of Dorchester then spoke to say that they saw nothing objectionable and closed with "a most loving exhortation." The church elders then extended the right hand of fellowship to the new congregation.
Early years On the Sunday after Allen's ordination, he informed the congregation that any children of church members who had not yet been baptized could receive it on the following Sunday. John and Hannah Dwight brought their daughters, Mary and Sarah, and they became the first people to be baptized in the church. Communion was distributed on the Sunday after that.
Widows who cared for the meetinghouse were church officers. Deacons began being elected in 1650 with Henry Chickering and Nathan Aldus the first men elected to the role. Their role was to sing psalms and to hold the collection boxes as congregants filed before them to drop in money for the poor. The magistrates and "chief gentleman" went first, followed by the elders and male members of the congregation. Then came single people, widows, and women without their husbands.
Though Allen's salary was donated freely by members and non-members alike his salary was never in arrears, showing the esteem in which the other members of the community held him. In the 1670s, as the Utopian spirit of the community waned, it became necessary to impose a tax to ensure the minister was paid. There were 106 taxpayers assessed for paying the minister's salary in 1678. A fine of five shillings for not sitting in the correct pew also helped raise funds for the church.
Prior to Jason Haven becoming minister, the church had very infrequently enforced a provision requiring anyone who had sex before marriage to confess the sin before the entire congregation. The first records of such confessions took place during the pastorate of Samuel Dexter, and they were rare. Such confessions increased dramatically during Haven's term, however. During his first 25 years there were 25 such confessions, of which 14 came during the years 1771 to 1781. In 1781, he preached a sermon condemning fornication and the then-common practice of women sleeping with men who professed their intention to marry. The sermon was so long and memorable that decades later, in 1827, congregants still remembered the ashamed looks on the faces of those gathered and how uncomfortable many were.
A woman was suspended by the church in 1735 for her evil speaking, reviling, and reproachful language.
Seeing the success the Anglican Church down the street had renting out land, First Church began renting out lots around the meetinghouse. A notice appeared in the Columbian Minerva on January 6, 1801:
A number of House Lots in Dedham will be leased for 999 years at public vendue on the premmises, on Monday the ninth day of February next at one of the clock PM, being laid out upon the land belonging to the Rev Mr Haven's Church near the Court House and Meeting House. The soil is good, the situation excellent for mechanics and such as wish to live retired in a pleasant village on the banks of the Charles River."
Among those who rented land were Deacon Martin Marsh, who built the Norfolk House, and the owners of the competing Phoenix Hotel. By 1818, it was bringing in about $800 a year.
Membership At first, only "visible saints" were pure enough to become members. A public confession of faith was required, as was a life of holiness. It was not good enough just to have been baptized, because then "papists, heretics, and many visible atheists that are baptized must be received." A group of the most pious men interviewed all who sought admission to the church. To become a member, a candidate must "pour out heart and soul in public confession" and subject every innermost desire to the scrutiny of their peers. Those who did not meet the requirements could not join the church, nor receive communion, be baptized, or become an officer of the church.
Once the church was established, residents would gather several times a week to hear sermons and lectures in practical piety whether or not they were members. By 1648, 70% of the men and many of their wives, and in some cases the wives only, had become members of the Church. There were about 70 members in 1651, including 75% of homeowners.
Between the years of 1644 and 1653, 80% of children born in town were baptized, indicating that at least one parent was a member of the church. Servants and masters, young and old, rich and poor alike all joined the church. Non-members were not discriminated against as seen by several men being elected selectmen before they were accepted as members of the church.
While in early years nearly every resident of the town was a member of the church, membership gradually slowed until only eight new members were admitted from 1653 to 1657. None joined between 1657 and 1662 or from 1668 to 1671, when the existent record ends.
By 1663, nearly half the men in town were not members, and this number grew as more second generation Dedhamites came of age. The decline was so apparent across the colony by 1660 that a future could be seen when a minority of residents were members, as happened in Dedham by 1670. It was worried that the third generation, if they were born without a single parent who was a member, could not even be baptized. The number of infant baptisms in the church fell by half during this period, from 80% to 40%.
To resolve the problem, an assembly of ministers from throughout Massachusetts endorsed a "half-way covenant" in 1657 and then again at a church synod in 1662. It allowed parents who were baptized but not members of the church to present their own children for baptism; however, they were denied the other privileges of church membership, including communion. Allen endorsed the measure but the congregation rejected it, striving for a pure church of saints.