History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

In 17^0j soon after the decease of Rev. Mr.
Angier, the town, which before the iucorporation
of Weston had been divided into tliree precincts,
was re-divided into two, witli independent ecclesiastical
organizations, each society building its own
house. .
The West Precinct (Mr. Angler's) purchased
tlie old Newton meeting-house in 1721, wiiich they
set up a little north of Waltham Plain, near the
old Livermore homestead, since known as the Lyman
Place. The Eastern Precinct (Mr. Gibbs's)
in 17iJ.'3 built their house on School-house Hill,
afterwards known as Meeting-house Hill, the an-
cient Strawberry Hill. This structure gave place
to that built at the corner of Mount Auburn and
Common streets. In May, 1754, before its com-
pletion, the new house was burned to the ground.
The historic edifice in. which were held the sessions
of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, built
on the same spot, was completed in February, 1755.
Until lS:i7 this was the only meeting-house in
Watertown. It was enlarged in 1819, but was
taken down in 1837, a new edifice having been
completed and dedicated September 7, 1836. This
was destroyed by the great fire of 1841. The
present house, erected on the site of the latter, was
dedicated August 3, 1842.
The first church of Watertown, organized July 30,
1630, was the only one in the town for sixty-six
years. It was the first to adopt independency, to
which it adhered for a long time more strictly than
did either of tiie otiier churches, standing alone, in
this respect at least, until after the arrival of Eev.
John Cotton. For more than ten years, and until
the ordination as his colleague of Mr. Jolni Knon les,
December 9, 1640, Rev. George PhiUips was its
sole pastor.
Trouble soon arose in the congregation. In
1631 Elder Richard Browne, the same who afterwards
opposed arbitrary taxation, avowed and
defended the opinion that the churches of Rome
were true churches, a view in which Pastor Pliillips
concurred. An idea more repugnant to the zealous
Puritan could hardly be imagined, although it seems
entirely consistent with the enlarged and liberal
mind of Mr. Browne. Governor Winthrop, Deputy-
Governor Dudley, and Elder Nowell visited Watertown
on two difi'erent occasions, to discuss the
startling proposition, and it was declared to be an
error. A temporary reconciliation was effected, but
Browne was dismissed from office in 1632. Rich-
ard Browne had been an officer in a church of
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settlers, and was the first ruling elder in the
Watertown church. After his dismission his fellowcitizens
manifested their esteem by sending him
as a commissioner to Wethersfield to heal the dis-
traction in that colony. He was their representa-
tive in the first court in 1634, and in most of the
subsequent ones until 1657, when he removed to
Charlestown, where he died in 1659. He was a
man of more than ordinary ability and of marked
independence of character. It was Browne's com-
plaint to the assistants that caused them to write
to England in disapproval of Endicott's act in
cutting the cross from the king's colors, which he
argued would be regarded in England as an act of
rebellion that would draw down tlie royal displeas-
ure upon the colony.
In 1612 Nathaniel Briscoe, a rich tanner of
Watertown, wrote and privately circulated a pam-
phlet against supporting the ministry by taxation.
For this grave offence he was summoned before the
court, and, acknowledging his fault, was fined £10.
A letter of Briscoe, who had returned in disgust
to England, dated London, September 7, 1652, in
which he says, " I am partly promised a place in
the Tower of £50 per annum, but had we liberty
of conscience with you I had rather be there with
£20 per annum," fell into the hands of tlie colo-
nial government. As this letter freely censured
tlie course of parliament, and as it was at once sent
to the speaker of that body with an indorsement
by Secretary Rawson and Rev. John Wilson, it is
not unlikely that Briscoe's "place in the Tower"
was promptly provided. Another example of the
means then supposed to be efficacious in the sup-
pression of iieresy was afforded in the case of Jolin
Stowers, of Watertown, who in 1643 was fined for
reading an Anabaptist book. From all these
facts— from the independence of its church, from
its opposition to arbitrary taxation, from Salton-
stall's manly rebuke of the Boston ministers, and
from the outspoken criticisms of Rev. Mr. Phillips,
Elder Browne, and others, upon the course of the
Puritan government — it is evident tiiat an un-
usually catholic spirit, as well as just ideas of civil
and religious liberty, prevailed among the first
settlers of Watertown.
Rev. George Phillips, " a godly man, especially
gifted, and very peaceful in his place," was a native
of Rainham, in Norfolk, England, and n'as edu-
cated at Cambridge, where he received the degree
of A. M. in 1617. At the university he was dis-
Separatists in London. He was one of the first tinguished for piety, talent, and remarkable pro-