Robert & Zachariah Walker Research Paper

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    PURITANISM: THE CHANGEovER Two GENERATTONSBY

    JILL WALKER

    History 200December L4, 1988

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    ?he advent of the walker family l ine into America commencedwhen the winthrop Fleet weighed anchor at Boston, in 1630, TheWinthrop F1eet, heralded as br inging rr the Great Emigrat ienrr l 1othe Americas, consisted of eleven vessels carrying seven hundredpasseng'ers, two of whom were Robert and sarah walker ofManchester, Lancashire, England. John winthrop described thevoyage in detai l . Accord. ing to his journal , the f leet set sai lfrom the rsle of wight, in the three hundred. and fif ty tonArbel la. on Thursday, June L7, most of the ships in the winthropFleet arr ived safely at salem Harbor. short ly af ter landfa1lr LDexpedit ion was sent to Massachusettes Bay, and Boston wasfounded..2 Robert and sarah immigrated. to Boston with theexpedit ion.

    By L632, Boston was a thr iv ing pur i tan colony. rn the sameyear Robert and sarah joined the church of Boston. Robert wasmade a freeman lone who enjoys furr pr iv i leges as a c i t izenl May4, 1634. on February 14, r f f is /6 they had their f i rs t chi Id,El ishua. The walkers had ten more chi ldren before sarah d. ied. .3within this s ingle generat ion, the walkerrs witnessed dramat icchanges in Puri tan rel ig ion. The second chi ld, Zechar iah, wasthe product of this dynamic and changing puritan society. Hisfather represented the oId order of orthod.ox puritan ideals.while Zechariah opened new doors of puritan theorogy andtolerance, Robert ardently clung to the ol-d. order. rn twogenerat ions' the end of an old era and the beginning of a new erawere witnessed"

    within the puritan hierarchy, the preacher, not a man of

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    great wealth ' rather one of inf luence, was at the helm. This wasthe case with Robert walker. Robert emigrated from England as asirnple l inen webster. However, by 1669, thir ty- f ive years af terbecoming a freeman, he had. founded the Third church of Boston,better known as the old south church. The doctrine taught in thechurch was the epitome of orthodox Puritan ideals. Neither Robertnor his church ever strayed from these tradit ional puritanbeliefs , oy the quest of creating an ideal puritan community.4

    The ideal puritan society embodi_ed.an active, God_fearingcongreg'at ion. The church rested at the center of the puritantown and sour. puritan ideals believed the health of the townwas direct ly proport ional to the hearth of i t rs members. ,Thehealth of society d.ernandedunremitt ing effort to l ive accord. j-ngrto Godts 13avs.rr5 Laxi ty and. indi f ference wourd destroy thesociety ' rndian raid.s, s ickness and fai led crops were the directresul t of unworthiness. The id.eal of being ,your brotherrskeeperrr was at the forefront of puritan pract ices. Rerigion,however, was not the only means of control the puritan clergy hadover i t ts members.

    Although the primary reason for their d.eparture from Englandwas to gain rerigious freedom from the English government, thechurch played a rarge role in the pol i t ical af fairs of thecolony. ' t rhel pur i tan church was not just a nour isher ofindividual faith but an inportant instrument of social csn r.61. rr6The stat,e continuarly enforced puritan ideals. rA11 theinhabitants of the the town were required by Iaw to attendserv ices, to l is ten to the word of God as preached by the

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    minister, to heed hi-s moral instruct ion, and to try in every wayto l ive as a Christ ian shsuld.rrTThe General Assembly was the prirnary ecclesiast ical bodywhich legisrated and enforced the col0nial laws. The duty of theAssembly was to act in r the civ i rr Author i ty .heere establ i -shedhath both power and Libberty to see the peace, ordinances andrures of christe bee observed in every church according to hisi463d.rr8 fn the beginning, the Assembly,s organizat ion was merelya panel which set t led rel ig ious disputes. An exampre of this isfound in the Winthroprs Journal .

    The congregation at Boston wrote to the elders andrethrei oi trre "rrnt"rr"" "t-pii io,itrr, salem, etc., forheir advice in three quest, ionl i--r . 'whethe; ;;" personight be a civil magi"trate and a ruring elder at the;:-;":iil"r 2. rr n5t, then ,r,i"r, shoul' re iiia down?church?rter there might be divers pastors in in. sameHowever, in the Assemblyrs zeal to save the sours of i ts saints,rules and regulat ions were enforced which were not onlyrel ig ious, but also secular in nature and consequence. rn 1676the Assembly decreed no sport ing events to occur on the sabbath.Further, laws were enacted in which coronial ci-t izens werepunished for not observing the fast day, an4 fines were incurredfor non-attendance at Sabbath meetings. i lThe assembly did notconf ine i tsel f to set t l ing complaints that came before i t ; i t sawitsel f as d.uty-bound t tol promote the word. of God., r19 A1r of

    these strict puritan idears were the principles after whichRobert walker patterned his l i fer ds well as the church hefounded.Robert warker believed that proveable conversi-on was a must

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    for admittance into any puritan church. r 'To alr puri-tans thecornerstone of their rel igion was the experience of conversionwhich set them apart and. conferred upon them the special virtuesand responsibi l i t ies of the eIect . r l r This is i r lustrated by theacceptance of samuel sewall into the oId. south church. sewalldeliberated over his choice to join the ord south church, andafter much conversation with Rev. Thomas Thacher, from January22, 1676/7 to March 21, 1677, did he decide he was worthy.

    Remember, since I had thoughts of joining to thechurch, r have been exceeding toim6nted in *y-*irrasometimes with my own unfitn5s= r"a want of Lrace: yetthrough i-mportunity of friends, "rra hope that God rnightcommunicate himseri to me in-lhe ordinlnc;;- i ortereamyself , and was not refused. 12Even after he had received this strong confirmation, he sti l l hadto prove himself worthy in front of the clergy. He recountedhow he was treated before he was interviewed on his conversionexperience.

    And now that scrupre of the church vanished, and rbegan to be more lfraid__or my="ri. And on saturdayGoodrnan walker fRobert walkeil .u*. in, ,no-"=.a to u"very famil iar with me. But ha said n"trr i"g ;;-;ycoming into the church, nor wished God to ir,ow me gracetherein, dt which r was almost overwhelmed, as thinkingthat he deemed me unfit , for i t . a"a r "ouid hardry sita t the Lordrs Tab1e.r3 vv**s *sron March 30, 1677, sewaI l recorded his convers ion experience asgiven to the ministers.

    r together with Girbert, core, was admitted into Mr.Thacherrs church, making a soiemn covenant to take theL. Jehovah for our God, and to wark in Brotherry Loveand watchfulness to Ed. i f icat ion. Goodm. cole f i rs tspake, then Tt then the Relat ions of the women wereread: as we spake so were we adnit ted; . lhen al l togethercovenanted. prayed before, and af ter.14

    Thereaf ter sewal l was received with kindness and love. He

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    remained a devout member untir his death, and had the priviregeof seeing his son, Joseph, become a pastor. sewalr and Robertwarkerrs orthodox beriefs were becoming ext inct , however. As thecol0nies matured and the rnajor puritan enigrat ion ended,Puri tanism began to rose j- t rs pol i t ical control andcongregat ional idea1.The loss of power of the Puritan rel igion was due to theending of the prirnari ly puritan imnigrat ion, the populat ion

    expansion and the att i tude of American born children. Becausehe puritans strove to estaurish inJ-n"ini i i"--""t-Jrrrv . churchut an ent i re-society in-accordance , i i r , their v iew of Godrsork' they had never had much dirf icuity discovering evidence ofonconfornity around' hem. one =ourc"-6t-"""J"ii*irXa always beenhe inrlux ir " trre pr-vrl:: l: il;i;;""rs who rria--not stronsel igious mot ives toi coming. -5Many irnmigrants started coming to America, not for rel igiousfreedom, but for economic reasons. Henry Sewal l , Samuel Sewal l rsfather, irnrnigrated more to start a catt le ranch, than to escaperel ig ious persecut ion. The pynchon family was also economical lydriven' rrThe Pynchons, observed the letter of their faith whileleading lives that to some seemed contrary to the spir i t ofplac ing serv ice to God before al l e lse. 1116 As a resul t of a lesspious people entering the colony, the puritan idear decayed.

    Further, the American-born children were less devoted toPuritan ideals, because they had not experienced the persecuti-ontheir fathers had frorn the Anglican church. second generat ionchi ldren were less zealous in their protect ion of the idearswhich their oppressed fathers had fought to maintain,

    The expansionist nature of agrarian society contributed inthe weakened the cohesiveness of the society. As farmers forged

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    into the wilderness to open new lands, the central i ty of theparish T^/asweakened. The farmerst distance from the church ledthem to desire their own minister, which resulted in an entirelyseparate tax system to pay the minister. This new tax policy wasnot accepted without opposit ion from the clergy and townsman, whosaw the communar society being undermined. rThe idealcohesiveness of the puritan community, in which the congregatj_onvoluntari ly supported. a ninister and alr those in the townremained under his spir i tual guidance, early began to undergochange. rr lT

    Although the deacon had been calIed the rfcement ofsociety, rr18 he now was the catalyst in destroying the society.The deacon had become the center of f inancial confl ict , in theway of taxation, and became invol-ved in provinciar theologicaldisputes. Many preachers started formulat ing their own idealsfor membership, which Ied to an irreparable schism among many ofthe parishes. Zechariah walker was not exempt, from the wave ofnew adrnit tance theology.

    zechariah Walker was ordained. the rninister of the stratfordchurch in Fairf ierd. county, in approximately ]669/70.19 Duringhis administrat ion in stratford, Zechari-ah came in direct,confl ict wit 'h another deacon over the issue of membership. Theincident was a case of orthodox puri tanism vs. LiberaLPuritanisrn.

    The orthodox point of view held that membership should begranted only after proveable conversion had occurred. Further,children could onry be baptized., and parents take part in

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    communion, if the conversion had been reached. yet, increasinglyless convers ions were experienced, and, as a resul t , fewerchildren were baptized. Members pleaded with the GeneralAssembly to ease the reguirements for membership so theirchi ldren could be bapt ized. This plea 1ed to the establ j -shmentof the Half-way covenant, of 1662, which stated. that rrhalf-waymembers of adults baptized as children fbut who had not undergoneconversionl provided they owned the covenant and Ied. decent l ivescould have their own children baptized and subject to the watchand care of the church.u2o

    The inst igat ion of this policy red. to other, more lenientpol ic ies establ ished. by indiv idual rninis ters. one type of fered.baptism to adults and their children who had never been membersof the church in any sense. Another, pred.ominant in woodburyrI 'threw membership open to arl men and women who led. decent, godlyI ives. rr21 The Half-way covenant only festered the sore ofgrowing discontent among orthodox and I j-beral puritans. , ,TheHalf-way covenant in ]-662 became a source of contention inconnecticut, dividing congregations over the merits of theirrninisters and leading sometimes to spli ts and the formation ofnew churches.n22 The Harf-way covenant lead direct ly to thefounding of Woodbury und.er the rninisterial policy of ZechariahWalker.

    A Mr. Blackman had been the pastor for the Stratford parishfor many years. He was advanced in years and needed replacement.The congregation chose rsrael chauncey to be his successor, butr f the new minister refused to accede to the freemenrs demand for a

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    more incrusive church membership, with the result that theninor i ty opposi t ion cal- led a minister of i ts own, Zechariahwarker -n23 For a t ime, the two pastors shared. church house andcongreqation' This plan soon feI l by the waysid.e, because walkeroften preached longer than his allotted t ime. The congregationunder chauncey became so frustrated they approached Major Gou1d,one of the rnagistrates, with the issue. He ad.vised warker tol init his sermons to three hours. Although Zechariah heeded thiscounsel, animosity continued between the two groups an4 Governorwinthrop persuaded zechariah and his congregiat ion to sett le on agranted tract of 1and. .24 By May 5, 1670, Zechariah walker hadbeen ordained the Reverend of the f irst church in woodburyrLi tchf ield. , Connect icut . 25

    Zechariah became known for his less tradi t ional pol ic ies andwas popular among those who desired less strict membershippol ic ies ' rrThe trad' i t ion is, that Mr. walker and his church werenot so independent, in their principles, as the church ofstratford; and that Mr. walker was a more experi-mental, pungentpreacher, than Mr. chauncey.u26 Further, many of Zechariah,sfarni ly moved into woodbury, obviously preferring his policy ofleniency.

    zechariah marked a new breed. of Puritan Reverend., which leadeventual ly to the diss ini lat ion of the fai th. This is not ,surprising, although his father was a staunch puritan, because ofthe changing t ides in rel ig ious theological pol icy. Americans inthe succeeding generat ions, behind the f i rs t pi lqr im set t lers,were ress pious and more capital is t ic in their aims.

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    The one theme that runs through the deveropment ofreligion in connecticut is trr6 wi=i. t" impose ord.er onthe individual churches. The desire of the g.overnmenLwas to have as nearry -al arr-encompassing crrrlrcrr aspossible, free of troublesome ai==L"t, pol iced bycounty-wide institutionar -controls, supported bycompulsory taxation, and dedicated'to tire pro*otion ofnorality and good order in trre-cornmunity. -wh;t'clerical readers sought was .r irpo=ed orthodoxy thatwould guard men and *omen from thl mortal dangers oferror in bel ief. . .Graduar- ly thowen"rl connecticut waspushed toward greater rerili6us ireeaon forProtestants, and the two rirgest r"rigi""s factionsbecame pol i t ic ized, thus furi .her aestioyi"g-th"^senseof community with which the purit i"" nai r5qrrr.zl-"--The rives of zechariah and Robert warker marked an age of changein the Puri-tan society. A change which deviated from staunch,inposed orthodoxy, to lenient and tolerant riberalisrn.

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    NOTES1. charles Edward Banks, The pranters of the commonwealth(Balt i rnore: Genealogica .2. James Kendal l Hosmer, LL.D.,American Histery, y?I : 1,of New Encrland. 163Q:r646 l l lew vork: Barnes and Nob1e,Inc. , 1908) 23-24, 50, SZ. '3 ' Donald Lines Jacobus, cgrp._ald gd. , History and Genealogy1n;lEIfrorixGenealogical pubr ishing-Eo. l -Ec. , , ,s76), 6374. Ibid. , 6375, Robert J. -Tay1or,(Mi l l lwood, Ny: xt@, to8.6,7.8.o

    Ibid. , Lo8-l_09.rbid. , 108.rbid., 113James Kendall Hosmer, LL.D.,

    M. HalseyGiroux,

    alefrcan Htstory, vol. i ,u.i -s^-^--Ei=to".r oI *"Lgtrgf.r,a, iaffiBarnes and Nob1e, Inc. , fgOA) gS.10 . Robert J.__Taylor, (Mi11wood,NY: KTO press, 1979) | I17.11. Albert, E. Van Dusen,gonnecticut Hislory to rz@Connect icut: The pequot press, L97Si, 5.

    Samuel Sewal l ,1, ed. byStraus andSamuel Sewa11,

    , VoI .

    29, Vol.

    t2.

    13. 1, ed. by l t .Giroux, Inc. ,

    Halseyr973),

    Thomas39-40.

    Straus andt4. rbid. , 40.15. Benjamin W. T-,abaree, Colonial Massachuset ts: A History,(Mi l1wood, Ny; KTO press, ISZS), 106-107.16. rbid. , 107.

    ,e_Thomas (New york: farr-ar,Inc. , 1973), 39.

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    17 - Robert J. Taylor, colonial connect icut : A History(Mi l lwood, Ny: f fO press, fg7g), 110.18. Ibid. , 109.19 . Benj aryin- Trumburr , D: D. , .A -complete History of connecticut :c iv i t ana gcctesiasi ical , vol . 1, 2 (New London: H.D.Ut1ey, l_898), AZL.20. Robert J. Taylor, coroni-ar connecticut: A History(Mil lwood, Ny: KTO press, fgZgl, f fZ.27. rbid., 119.22. rbid., l_11.23 Benjamin_Trurnburr, D:D. , .A gomplete History of connecticut:cini l . r td e""t.=i." i" don: H.D.Ut,Iey, 1898) 394.24. rbid. , 394.25. rbid. , 454.26. Ibid. , 394.27. Robert J. Taylor,(Mi l lwood, Ny: Press, 1979) ,

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    BIBLIOGRAPHYBanks, Charles Edward. .Balt imore: eenealogictr-Fubirshca co., 1961.

    +mer+cal Historv. vo1. rl INew England, 1630-1649.1908.Jacobus, Donald Lines, comp. OfHaven. New Haven: R;l landJacobus, Donald Lines, comp. and ed.

    Genealogical publ ishing. co. ,Labaree, Benjamin W.Mi11wood, Ny: XfO press,Pierce, Richard D., ed.Massachuset ts. VoI .Boston I , 1630-I860.1961.[Roberts, Gary Boyd] .

    New York: rBarnes and Nob1e, Inc. ,

    . VoI . 1, Bal t imore:fnc. , 1976.

    a ConnectHooker, 1935.

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    3, Balt imore: eenealogical Publ ishing Co., Inc.Sewal l , Samuel. a

    9ee ., 1993. Vol.. Vo1.1,Edited by rrr. f f i New York: Farrar, Straus andGiroux, Inc. , i -g73.

    Ut ley, tB9B.Van Dusen, Albert E.

    ;The Peguot press, 1g7\

    Trumbul1, Benjamin, D:D.9iyi l ang^n""1.=i z, New London: H.D.Puri tans Against the Wilderness:Chester, Connect icut :