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Ee thigh hs zhurt was nie pure, and that i's being worn to put a sufficiens boy conversation,” for In the angina, Correspondence (still extant,) between Mr. Clap, and Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, on the subject of the former's refusal to baptize the infant of the latter, there is assigned no reason for such refusal, but a distrust on the part of Mr. Clap of the christian state of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols. "Glad would I be," (writes Mr. C., in a letter dated July 9, 1724,)" to hope that you are converted from sin to God in Jesus Christ; and repent with a repentance unto life, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Therefore I advise you, once more to pray to God: cry for grace; try to give yourself to the Lord, according to his holy covenant, hop

ing in Christ for assistance and acceptance, and examine if things are well between you and your soul, that you may be suitably prepared, openly to renew your covenant with God, and your unbaptised child may have the seal of the covenant.'

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This course on the part of Mr. Clap gave offence, and was the commencement of a fire that continued to burn for many years. The Church and Congregation revered their pastor; and admired him as a truly pious and evangelical apostolic preacher, but were displeased with his rigid principles of discipline and church government.

In July 20, 1724, the Church addressed a respectful application to their pastor, soliciting his consent to their having recourse to other churches for sacramental privileges, if bodily weakness was the only reason of his denying or withholding them, but without success.

Their next step, (July, 1725,) was to propose a colleague as a means for allaying all uneasiness; this Mr. C. declined, or rather evaded giving a direct answer. The Church and congregation were determined, and the services of Mr. Bass were obtained for a short season-and after him, Mr. John Adams. Mr. Clap after a whilet utterly refused any association with Mr. Adams, and entirely occupied the pulpit on the Lord's days, not giving any opportunity to the other to preach. This exasperated the people to such a degree, that nearly half of both church and congregation withdrew, and met in a separate place under Mr. Adams' ministry. In 1728, an exparte council of churches was convoked, which met on the third of April, which, "after solemn supplications to God for his gracious presence and direction, and after a calm and strict inquiry, and the best information they could obtain from the aggrieved brethren of the church and congregation, and others concerned, came to the following result, unanimously agreed in upon mature deliberation :

"Although we would thankfully commemorate the kind providence of our glorious Lord, in bringing the Rev. Mr. Clap to this place, making him the happy instrument of founding a church here according to the Gospel, and manifesting a gracious presence of the holy spirit in the success

*This must have been some time in 1727.

+ Winter of 1727-8.

In January, 1696, Mr. Nathaniel Clap, of Dorchester, in Massachusetts Bay, (a graduate of Harvard College,) by the advice of the ministers of Boston, came to Newport, and preached till his death. It was not, however, till the year 1720 that a church was gathered and organized, and Mr. Clap was ordained and installed its pastor, Nov. 20. The church consisted of the following fourteen male members at its organization, viz :-Nathaniel Clap, John Reynolds, Thomas Brown, Cuthbert Campbell, Ebenezer Davenport, William Sanford, Richard Clarke, Job Bissel, Joshua Statson, Kendall Nichols, John Mayhem, James Cary, Nathan Townsend, and John Labeer.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered for the first time, by Mr. Clap, on the first of October, 1721, about eleven months after his ordination. His church having, by additions since its organization, increased to thirtyone members in full communion. The reason for the long interval after the gathering of the church, before the use of the sealing ordinance of the supper, is not known. On the first Lord's day of the following April, it is probable it was again celebrated, as notice was given of the intention of the church so to do.

The Church under Mr. Clap's ministry flourished, and additions were gradually made to its numbers for about three years, when the sacrament of the supper ceased to be administered by the pastor, under the influence of an honest but mistaken conscience. And at the same time he refused to administer the ordinance of baptism to a child of Mr. Kendal Nichols, who was a communicant, as was also his wife. He thought his church was not pure, and that its members were "not of sufficiently holy conversation," for the holy ordinances.

In the original correspondence (still extant,) between Mr. Clap, and Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, on the subject of the former's refusal to baptize the infant of the latter, there is assigned no reason for such refusal, but a distrust on the part of Mr. Clap of the christian state of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols. "Glad would I be," (writes Mr. C., in a letter dated July 9, 1724,)"to hope that you are converted from sin to God in Jesus Christ; and repent with a repentance unto life, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Therefore I advise you, once more to pray to God: cry for grace; try to give yourself to the Lord, according to his holy covenant, hop

ing in Christ for assistance and acceptance, and examine if things are well between you and your soul, that you may be suitably prepared, openly to renew your covenant with God, and your unbaptised child may have the seal of the

covenant.

This course on the part of Mr. Clap gave offence, and was the commencement of a fire that continued to burn for many years. The Church and Congregation revered their pastor; and admired him as a truly pious and evangelical apostolic preacher, but were displeased with his rigid principles of discipline and church government.

In July 20, 1724, the Church addressed a respectful application to their pastor, soliciting his consent to their having recourse to other churches for sacramental privileges, if bodily weakness was the only reason of his denying or withholding them, but without success.

*

Their next step, (July, 1725,) was to propose a colleague as a means for allaying all uneasiness; this Mr. C. declined, or rather evaded giving a direct answer. The Church and congregation were determined, and the services of Mr. Bass were obtained for a short season-and after him, Mr. John Adams. Mr. Clap after a whilet utterly refused any association with Mr. Adams, and entirely occupied the pulpit on the Lord's days, not giving any opportunity to the other to preach. This exasperated the people to such a degree, that nearly half of both church and congregation withdrew, and met in a separate place under Mr. Adams' ministry. In 1728, an exparte council of churches was convoked, which met on the third of April, which, "after solemn supplications to God for his gracious presence and direction, and after a calm and strict inquiry, and the best information they could obtain from the aggrieved brethren of the church and congregation, and others concerned, came to the following result, unanimously agreed in upon mature deliberation :

"Although we would thankfully commemorate the kind. providence of our glorious Lord, in bringing the Rev. Mr. Clap to this place, making him the happy instrument of founding a church here according to the Gospel, and manifesting a gracious presence of the holy spirit in the success

*This must have been some time in 1727.

Winter of 1727-8.

of his labors, and therefore would honor him highly in the Lord, yet withal we cannot but say we find sorrowful occasion to remark upon his want of a due conduct in several late instances, which is matter of great grief to us, and we think justly offensive to his brethren, and to the churches of Christ."

The council then went on to say that, as Mr. Adams had received a valid call to the colleagueship with Mr. Clap, they affectionately and earnestly advised Mr. C. and his friends to consent to Mr. Adams' ordination, and if they would not, they recommended the aggrieved party to form a separate church under Mr. Adams' ministry. And recommended both parties to use the same house of worship for the time being, one in the morning, and the other in the evening, with their respective pastors.

Mr. Clap persisted in refusing to associate with Mr. Adams, and accordingly a new church was organized, and Mr. Adams was ordained their pastor April 11, 1728. The Lord's supper was administered on Lord's day, May 11, 1728-the church consisting of twenty-one members, viz John Adams, Pastor.

Richard Clark, died 1750, aged 86.

John Raynolds, died Jan. 30, 1757, aged 90.
Nathan Townsend, died Sept. 18, 1756, aged 79.
Deacon Job Bissel, died Jan. 9, 1753, aged 80.
James Carey, died May 7, 1761, aged 81.
Kendal Nichols, died Sept. 18, 1767, aged 81.
Ebenezer Davenport, died Aug. 4, 1776, aged 85.
Mary Davenport, died Oct. 1, 1763, aged 70.
Mary Mumford,

Mehitabel Treby,

Mary Nichols,
Martha Pitman,

Rebecca Raynolds,

Agatha Townsend,

Widow Harris,

Alice Twaits,

Martha Warkman,

Wife of James Gardner,

Mrs. Webb, and

Mrs. Bissel.

This was the origin of the second Congregational Church of Newport.

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