Posted on 07/30/2014 6:02:15 PM PDT by Pharmboy
Southwick, MA, Congregational Church
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
Why would the Pastor write down all the sins of the congregation?Did the folks know he was recording all this?
SC—ping for the GGG fans.
Pharmboy—nice article.
Wouldn’t it be grand if these records sparked a new revival, and New England would not only find God again, but also the fire of liberty was re-kindled?
Good question. I guess things were different then...would be interested to know if this was the general rule in these churches at the time. Perhaps a Freeper who is familiar with New England church history can tell us.
My goodness! I think of all of the invective Protestants turn against Catholics for the practice of Confession. At least Catholics don’t write the sins down to be read by nosy parishioners and researchers 100’s of years later!
Great. We’ve got the private confessions of church goers from 250 years ago. We can’t get emails from the IRS from 2 years ago.
I don’t think we are supposed to be dragging fights from other threads around
I am speaking in general, not about any other thread. As a Catholic convert I’ve heard it all from my mostly Protestant family. Before I converted to the Catholic faith, I was a member of a Congregationalist Church, and I heard it there too.
I am speaking in general, not about any other thread. As a Catholic convert I’ve heard it all from my mostly Protestant family. Before I converted to the Catholic faith, I was a member of a Congregationalist Church, and I heard it there too.
For Artifacts From Closed Churches, an Afterlife on Staten Island
Fantastic comment! Post o’ the day! You REALLY made me LOL!!
Huh they are pikers...
In 1630 my ancestor was member #21 of the Boston church and in 1632 there “happened in this town (Charlestown) the first known thief that was notoriously observed in the country”...
Since he had everything taken from him that first time to make restitution, the 2nd time his 7 yo daughter was put into slavery until she was 21..
While I have at least ONE slave ancestor in the US, Obama had NONE...
I have seen them be destroyed, lost, covered with mold or just forgotten, said the Rev. Janet Leighninger, the pastor of the Federated Church of Sturbridge and Fiskdale here. And as finances get tighter, as they are everywhere, and as congregations shrink, and they are doing that in many places, it becomes a matter of, Do we do the ministry we are called to do, or do we preserve the past?
PFL
Well, I'm not sure how godly a thing it is to record confessions for posterity, unless the people doing the confessing absolutely insist upon it in which case it should be up to them to go to the trouble.
This wouldn’t have been possible (in principle) after the Constitution. But those were some wild, wooly days.
Peyton Place.....??????
From records held by the New England Historical Genealogical Society etc..
Great story, it did surprise me that it was the NY Times that published it. Thanks.
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