Sermons in the Style of First Three Ministers, James, Huntting, Buell
East Hampton's first settlers were also its first churchgoers, Puritans who, for their first four years here, met for worship without a church building or a minister. Some of the descendants of that congregation now belong to the church that evolved from it, the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, which, like the town itself, is celebrating its 350th anniversary this year.
The Rev. John Ames, minister of the Presbyterian Church, decided an appropriate way to mark the milestone this winter would be to give a series of sermons in the style of three of East Hampton's first religious leaders.
"It just seemed like an obvious thing to do," said Mr. Ames, who holds a doctorate in American church history.
He gave the first sermon, styled after the Rev. Thomas James, on Jan. 11. The next, in the style of the Rev. Nathaniel Huntting, will be presented on Feb. 8, and the last, inspired by the Rev. Samuel Buell, on March 8.
The early records of the Town Trustees mention the church quite a bit. After all, Mr. Ames pointed out, "the same people who tended to the pond and the sheep pound tended to the church." However, there is no record of any sermon given by the church's first minister, Mr. James, who came here in 1652. His successor had to model his first special sermon on two others, which he called "typical" for New England Puritans at the time.
One was called "A Modell of Christian Charity," (charity "in the old Christian sense of love," said Mr. Ames). It was delivered by John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, on the ship Arabella in Boston Harbor in 1630. It spoke of the structure of society, "which was not all that democratic as people think," said Mr. Ames.
The second, "An Errand Into the Wilderness," was given in Connecticut in 1670 by Samuel Danforth, and was largely a criticism of the community for failing to live up to its Puritan ideals. Mr. Danforth castigated his congregation for drunkenness, selfishness, mistreatment of Indians, and failure to help the poor to better themselves, although, said Mr. Ames, Thomas James himself was actually "very much in the pockets of the wealthy" and might not have worried himself overmuch about the poor.
The Jan. 11 sermon did not last nearly as long as it would have in the 17th century, Mr. Ames said. Three hundred and fifty years ago, it was "typical" to spend about six hours of each Sunday in worship.
Music - its presence or absence - is another big difference between services then and now. Puritans sang psalms and nothing else, Mr. Ames said, in strict meter and unaccompanied by instruments. On Jan. 11, three songs were sung from the Scottish Psalter.
What was not different, however, was the minister's garb. Presbyterian ministers, like their Puritan antecedents, wear academic gown, clerical collar, preaching tabs, and academic hood: the normal street dress of professors in the 17th century. All ministers then were university graduates.
In February, inspiration from the sermons of Mr. Huntting will recall the church's early 18th-century era, when sermons got shorter and the minister was less strict about the psalms. Mr. Huntting's records are the church's oldest, Mr. Ames said. Even if none of his actual sermons survive, his writings are clear as to the concerns of the day, Mr. Ames said.
A portrait of Mr. Huntting hangs in the narthex of the church.
March's sermon modeled on the Rev. Samuel Buell will recall East Hampton in the second half of the 18th century, by which time the church had made its transition from Puritan to Presbyterian. A large number of Mr. Buell's sermons have been preserved, Mr. Ames said.
Today's church sermons are "not all that different," said the minister, "in terms of content" - they simply have "more modern emphases."
What was true in the 17th century that is just as true today, Mr. Ames said, is "the providence of God in the life of this church, this community. You can't celebrate the 350th anniversary of this church without making that point."