The Harvard University librarian and pastor of the church at Northampton, MA until his death was Solomon Stoddard (this is his home). In the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, church membership was necessary for citizenship and Stoddard began a practice of amending the church membership policy as the older generations died out. One practice began on October 5, 1690 when he preached a sermon saying a person could take the Lord’s Supper/Communion regardless of their assurance of salvation. His successor at the Northampton Church was his grandson Jonathan Edwards who was born on this day in 1703.
