Jonathan Fisher - The Blue Hill Congregational Church

The Blue Hill Congregational Church

• Fisher's Meetinghouse

No one can hope to understand Jonathan Fisher unless they realize that first and foremost he was a Calvinist minister. He lived his life in obedience to the precepts of his religion and did his utmost to defend the faith as he understood it. In his writings, his artwork, but perhaps most of all in the example of his life he strove to center his attention on his religious duties.

The Calvinist's believed that the chief end of man was "to know and do the will of God". Fisher constantly chided himself for his pleasure in "temporal" matters such as painting, mathematics, etc. which he believed took away from his primary religious responsibilities both to himself and his congregation.

In Jonathan Fisher's time the Calvinist religion was strong throughout New England. It was a stern religion, even by the standards of the day. Calvinists believed that God is infinite and transcendent. To know the will of God is man's supreme end. This will is known to man through the scriptures, whose writers were "sure and authentic amanuenses of the Holy Spirit". While God is the source of all good, man is guilty and corrupt from birth. To redeem man, the Son of God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ

When man is united to Christ, the benefits of salvation are achieved. This union is achieved only through the special operation of the Holy Spirit in the faithful. This assurance which the believer has of salvation rests on the divine choice of the man to salvation; and this falls back on God's eternal sovereign purpose, whereby He has predestined some to eternal life and some to eternal death. The former he calls to salvation, and they are kept by him in progressive faith and holiness.

The Calvinist Church is universal, with the multitude gathered from diverse nations agreeing on the tenants of one common faith. This universalism may explain why Fisher campaigned so strongly for better treatment for Native Americans. He was also very active in the attempt to eliminate slavery by proposing that slaves be purchased from their owners and sent back to Africa as free men and women.

The pastor played a central role in the Calvinist Church. He not only administered the sacraments, but also was responsible for maintaining church discipline - admonishing, or even excommunicating those who failed to abide by church doctrine. Over time and as new sects such as the Baptists entered the Blue Hill region, the severity of the Calvinist doctrine became less acceptable to the congregation. Fisher however, never wavered from his sense of duty. "Father" Fisher as he liked to be called spent his years supporting and maintaining the faith that he first embraced as a young man.