 |  | |
 |
|  |
 |  | |
| | |
|
| |
| | |
|
|
Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Among the minor sects that developed in New Jersey during the Colonial period were the Seventh Day Baptists and the Universalists. The former sect was founded in 1707 at Piscataway by dissenters from the local
Baptist congregation. Although the sect was weakened in 1789 when the
Shrewsbury church as a body moved to Salem, West Virginia (then part
of Virginia), its national headquarters are still in Plainfield.
In 1770 the Reverend John Murray established the Universalist Church
of America. Murray, it is said, was wandering through the woods of
southern New Jersey after a shipwreck, when he came upon a lonely
church in the woods. Instructed by one Thomas Potter, who had built the
church with his own hands in order to expound the universal fatherhood
of God, Murray forthwith preached the first Universalist sermon in America. At about the same time Moravians emigrated from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Hope, but according to historians, "by trusting too much to
the honesty of those with whom they had business, suffered in their pecuniary affairs. In 1808 they returned to Pennsylvania."
Methodism started later than most of the other major sects. Although
George Whitefield had held evangelistic meetings in New Brunswick in
1740, there was no real impetus toward that faith until 1770 when Captain Thomas Webb of the English Army set up an active group at Burlington. The following year a society was organized in Trenton, where in
1773 the first Methodist church was built. The most important force in
the early period of the church was Bishop Francis Asbury, who toured the
southern part of the State with remarkable success in organizing congregations.
The Revolution found Roman Catholics incensed by Crown persecutions; Quakers, Baptists, and Presbyterians opposed to England; while the
Episcopalians, a good proportion of the noncombatant members of the
Society of Friends, and some east New Jersey Calvinists remained loyal.
The revolutionary clergy apparently played an important part in the war,
for Royal agents' reports frequently contained reference to "rascally ministers" and "perfidious preachers."
The constitution of 1776 was accounted a liberal document by its framers. In guaranteeing freedom of religious worship, it stated, however, that
no Protestant should be denied either civil rights or trial by jury on account
of his religion. It was not until the adoption of a new State constitution in
1844 that laws excluding Roman Catholics from public office were repealed.
The membership of Christian denominations increased rapidly between
the Revolution and the Civil War. Methodists inaugurated their celebrated
camp meetings which by 1820 were common affairs; these culminated in
the establishment of Ocean Grove in 1869, a religious resort where even
now on the Sabbath the gates are closed and bathing and automobile
traffic are prohibited on this day. The Episcopal and Baptist Churches enjoyed corresponding growth, and Roman Catholic membership was greatly
increased by immigration following the Irish famine of 1845.
|
|
|
Return To |
|
|
