The Founding of the Third Church in Boston

Abstract

T t HE founding in i669 of the Third Church in Boston as a result of a split within the First Church was part of a controversy which lasted for several years and had widespread effects. When the choice of the Reverend John Davenport to succeed John Wilson as minister of the First Church in i667 offended a substantial number of members, they protested without effect and then unsuccessfully sought an orderly dismission from the church. Thereupon, with the support of other churches and of the civil authorities they seceded from the First to found the Third, or Old South, Church. The hostile factions continued to argue, the General Court took up the affair, and an election was fought over it. Not until i672 was an uneasy peace attained in a struggle which had divided both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of Massachusetts.' Most historical accounts of the origins of the controversy have viewed it as one incident in the wider debate in New England provoked by the recommendations of the Synod of i662 in favor of the Half-Way Covenant, which created a new category of church members and extended baptism to their children.2 Congregations often divided over the Covenant and strong ministerial statements were printed for and against it. Since John Davenport was the Synod's greatest opponent, his call to the Boston church outraged those of its members who accepted the Covenant. Not only would Davenport gain an influential pulpit from which