HARTFORD, CONN, Proceedings. an H TLH i TWO HI'NDRKDTII ANNIVERSARY of thp: Second Church of Christ IN 1 1 A I J T F OKI) FEBRUARY 22, 1870. PROCEEDINGS AT THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE Second- Cliurcli of Christ DsT HARTFORD, February 22d and 23d, 1S70. " The House of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and tha ground of the truth." 1st Tim. 3 : 15. IF'-iaTolislaeel Toy tlie Ola-ULi-ola HARTFORD, APRIL, 1870. O r^ ( , \ Case, ^ ^ ^ *v,^k Lockwood & Brainanl, VJ,-* jr'-V Printer!, r'Px V y Hartford, Conn. *L J BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, At a meeting of the Committee of the Second Church of Hartford, January 13th, 1870, it was unanimously decided to " appropriately celebrate the forth-coming bi-centennial anni- versary of the establishment of this church/' The following persons were chosen, as a Committee of Arrangements, to make all suitable preparation for the celebration, viz : EDWIN P. PARKER, Pastor. Peter D. Stillman, Ashbel W. Barrows, Loren P. Waldo, George S. Gilman, Frederick R. Foster, Edwin D. Tiffany, Charles L. Lincoln, Thomas H. Welles, Samuel Dodd, Charles T. Webster, Marshall Jewell, Hrnry C. Robinson, George W. Moore, Jonathan F. Morris, Sam. C. Colt, Henry A. Cooley, Willtam Blatchley, Edwin E. Marvin. GEORGE F. HILLS, Clerk. Sub-committees, on invitations and public services, on church decorations, on entertainment, and on finance were appointed. More than one hundred letters of invitation were sent to different churches and distinguished gentlemen in various portions of the land, inviting them to be present and participate in our anniversary exercises. All the churches of all denominations in Hartford, were also specially and form- ally invited. A general invitation to " all persons who have ever, at any time, been members of* this church or congrega- tion," to be present at the celebration was Avidely published. A liii.ii- the churches that personally responded to the invita- tion, were those in Hartford, West Hartford, East Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield, the First Church in Middle- town, the First Church in New London, the First Church in Now Haven, the Church in Yale College, the Church in Farminffton, the First Church and the Memorial Church in Springfield, the Old Church in Hadley, the Eliot Church in Roxbury, and the Tabernacle Church in New York City. Rev. Leonard Bacon, D.D., Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D., Rev. Win. Patton, D. D., Rev. Charles E. Linsley, and many others were present, as specially invited guests. Very grateful let- ters were received from the following gentlemen, who ex- pressed their regret at being unable to be present, viz : Rev. Prof. A. Phelps, D. D., Rev. Pres. Samuel Harris, D. D., the Rt. Rev. J. Williams, Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D., Rev. E.R. Beadle, Rev. C. D. Helmer, Rev. J. M. Manning, Rev. J. P. Thompson, D. D., Rev. Pres. T. D. Woolsey, D. D., Rev. Enoch Pond, D. D., Rev. Walter Clark, D. D., Rev. Pres. Joseph Cummings, D. D., Rev. Samuel Spring, D.D., Rev. H. P. Arms, D. D., and Rev. S. G. Buckingham, D. D. Arrangements were made for services on Tuesday and Wed- nesday, February 22d and 23d, as follows : Tuesday after- noon, the Historical Address, by the Pastor of the Church. Tuesday evening, a social gathering and collation in the church parlors. Wednesday morning, at 9 1-2 o'clock, a prayer meet- ing ; and at 10 1-2 o'clock, a Re-union in the church, with speeches and old-time singing. Wednesday afternoon, the Holy Communion. Wednesday evening, a closing discourse by Rev. 0. E. Daggett. In the Good Providence of God. the two days on which our services were held, were delightfully clear and pleasant, and the spacious rooms of the church edi- fice were crowded at every meeting. To the arduous work of decorating the church, much time and toil had been given by many members of the congregation, and the result of their labors elicited universal admiration. The Hartford papers gave the following description of the decorations : The church is a perfect bower of beauty. Along the sides of the galleries run festoons of laurel and pine, looped up at regular distan- ces over medallions containing the names of the former pastors of the church, and the date of their pastorate. The names are in brilliantly illuminated letters, and each is enclosed with a wreath of laurel. In front of the organ-loft the festoons are held by stars and crosses, and in the centre is a large lyre Avith strings of gold. The pillars are entwined with heavy wreaths, and large festoons hang from the center of the ceiling to the four corners. From the center hangs a heavy wreath ending in a large anchor and cross combined, emblematical of Faith and Hope. The gas brackets are festooned with laurel, and wreaths and crosses are over all the doors, and run over the cornices of the windows. The crowning glory is around the altar and pulpit. Here the large center window is filled in with a white panel, on which is written in large German text the original covenant, and the names of the original members of the church. On one side of this is the Apostles' Creed, and on the other the Lord's Prayer, both framed with heavy wreaths of evergreen. Un- derneath the " Covenant" is the name of the present pastor: REV. EDWIN POND PARKER, worked on a white ground, with immortelles of various colors. On -he pulpit stand two century plants, while pots of callas, came- lias, carnations, and other blooming plants, are bestowed around with lavishness. The pulpit is festooned with evergreens, and in front of it stands a large white marble vase, filled with magnificent roses, heliotropes, orange blossoms, pinks, and other highly perfumed flow ers, whose sweet incense rises heavenward and fills the sanctuary. The vase is surmounted with a cross composed of two hundred white rose buds, nestling amid green leaves. No more elegant or tasteful decorations have ever been seen in this city. The public services began at two o'clock P. M., on Tuesday, and long before that hour the church was crowded in every part. The Rev. Charles Seymour, a member of the church, offered the prayer of invocation. A large choir of fine singers, under the direction of Mr. Irving Emerson, (organist of the church) sang the Te Deurn. Rev. Dr. Field of New Loin Ion read the 8th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, and the 3d chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. The choir then sang " Glorious things of thee are spoken." Rev, 0. E. Note. — Several fine photographic view* of the interior of the church and iis decorations were taken by Mr. E. P. Kellogg, of Hartford. Daggeti oflfered prayer. The hymn, "Christ is made the sure foundation," was sung. Then followed the Historical Address by Rev. E. P. Parker, after which the hymn, " The Lovely form of God's own Church," was sung, and a brief prayer, ending with the benediction, was offered by Rev. J. Aspinwall Hodge, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hart- ford, when the vast audience that for more than two hours had listened with no signs of weariness to the extremely in- teresting exercises, dispersed, not, however, without many hand-shakings, and cordial greetings, and congratulations, and mutual benedictions. In the midst of his discourse, Mr. Parker paused for a few moments and requested the whole congregation to rise and join with the choir in singing " Old Sherburne," " While Shepherds watched their flocks by night," The old strains touched many hearts, and wakened many sadly-sweet memories of long ago. The discourse of the Pastor is herein published by the Com- mittee of the Church. Large portions of it were necessarily omitted in delivery, but no part of the whole carefully pre- pared address could be left out in this publication. Of this discourse, the Committee of the Church fully believe what the Hartford Courant of Wednesday, February 23d, says of it : " It will be a very valuable contribution to the Ecclesiastical history of the State ; and it is fortunate for the church and the community that its preparation fell into such capable hands." HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. We are assembled in the House of God to-day, to celebrate the two-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of that branch of the Catholic Church which has its home and wor- ship in this place. The present members of this church and congregation, upon whom the Providence of God has laid the very pleasant duty of preparing for this bi-centennial jubilee, do most cordially welcome to the services of this celebration, all who have hon- ored our Zion by coming hither to rejoice with us because of her. We pray you, join us in praising God for his gracious preservation and tender care of this church through two cen- turies, during which time the light of its testimony for " the faith once delivered to the saints," has not ceased somewhat to shine. Join us also in no less fervent prayers that in the years and ages of the future, this church may still abide stead- fast in the Apostles' doctrine, and its light continue to shine more and more brightly unto that perfect day, when the glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters fill the sen. In fulfilling the duty laid upon me, of preparing for this occasion some account of the origin and history of this church, I have chosen to refrain, for the most part, from sentimental reflections, which can be of no permanent value, and rather to give all diligence to the preparation of a strictly historical narrative. The difficulties to be encountered in the prosecu- tion of this purpose may be the better appreciated when it is understood that there are no records of this Ecclesiastical Society, prior to the year 1707, in existence ; nor any records 8 of this church from the year 1731 to the year 1800. The church records from 1(370 to 1731, are comprised in a frag- ment containing little else than an account of the organiza- tion of the church, and a list of admissions and baptisms. Concerning this ancient document, and the very important facts it reveals, I shall speak in due time. I hasten to grate- fully acknowledge the valuable assistance I have received from the Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, and from C. J. Hoadly, Esq., of this city. By the courtesy of Mr. Trumbull, I have had free use of copies of the " Lansdowne Manuscripts," which shed a flood of light upon the great controversy out of which t his church (and several others as well, and among them the Old South Church in Boston,) grew, and which have but recently been brought forth from their strange hiding-place in the British Museum. a The Second Church in Hartford was organized on the 12th of February, (0. S.) 1669-70, or (N. S.) on the 22d of Feb- ruary, 1670. Its founders were very respectable men and women, who, with their children, withdrew from the First Hartford Church. The reasons for their withdrawal are found in certain dissensions that for a long time profoundly agitated, and finally divided the First Church. For eleven years the Old Hartford Church flourished in great peace under the able and judicious ministry of Mr. Thomas Hooker, who, with Mr. Samuel Stone, the teaching Elder, led a flock of Christian people hither, through the wilderness, from Newtown, (Cambridge,) in the year 1636. Mr. Hooker died in 1647, universally lamented, and Mr. Stone, " These papers consist of various letters written in the time of the great con- troversy in the Hartford Church ( 1656-1 G60), by the different parties in the ehureh. and by several distinguished ministers of New England, who took an active inter- est in the troubles here. In the Second Volume of the Conn. Hist. Coll. (which is now in press, and will soon he published,) these valuable papers, together with others that bear on the same matter, may be found ; Page 50, &c, &c, — " Papers relating to the con- troversy in the church at Hartford." In my numerous references to them, I shall mention that page of the volume on which the [/articular paper referred to begins. Thus " Lansd. Mss., page 54," means " Second Vol., Conn. Hist. Coll., page 54," on which page will be found that one of the Lansdosvne papers to which reference is made. 9 the " Doctor Irrefragabilis," of whom Cotton Mather says :— " The foundation of New England had a precious jem laid in it when Mr. Stone arrived in these regions," — was left alone in the ministry of the church here. Not many years had elapsed after Mr. Hooker's death, when a controversy arose in the church, having Mr. Stone and a majority of the brethren on one side, and a strong and respectable minority on the other side, the origin of which, says Mather, " has been rendered! almost as obscure as the rise of the Connecticut river," and the consequences of which he likens to the annual inunda- tions of the same river, " for it overspread the whole colouy." b These contentions had their roots deep in certain wide-spread diversities of opinion on several important ecclesiastical ques- tions, but were greatly intensified and complicated by local jealousies and personal antagonisms. They continued un- checked by all means devised for their healing, waxing more and more serious, involving many churches far and near in their confusion, filling all New England with disputations, and resulted, at length, in the withdrawal of many members ot the Hartford Church, some of whom, in 1659, removed up the river to Hadley where a settlement was made and a church was formed, and others, eleven years later, organized the Second Church at Hartford. Councils, Synods, and Courts ineffectually strove to extinguish this " fire of the altar," from which " there issued thunderings and lightnings and earth- quakes through the colony. " d The controversy was all the more deplorable as springing up in a church of " such emi- nence for light and love." The troubles in the Hartford Church had a deeper ground than any mere local or personal disagreements. They were the first public outbreaking^ of an inevitable general ecclesiastical controversy which had long been preparingin New England. Mr. Hooker, in his day, seems to have had vague apprehensions of coming troubles. " Me would frequently intermix most affectionate warnings of the declensions which would quickly befall the churches of b Magnalia, Vol. 1 : 436 ; Trumbull's Hist, of Conn., Vol. 1 : 310. c IFist. of Hadley, pages 11-21 ; Hubbard's N. E., page .317. d Magnalfa. Vol. 1 : 436. 10 New England." In 1650, Mr. Stone predicted that "the churches would come to be broken by schism, and sudden cen- sures, and angry removes * * * in the churches, prayers againsl prayers, hearts against hearts, tears against tears, tongues against tongues, * * and horrible prejudices and underminings." e There were certain glaring inadequacies of the prevalent ecclesiastical system and order, the popular feeling of which was greatly embittered by political consider ations. f There was an ultra-calvinistic theology at which Calvin himself would have stood aghast, which, having with difficulty repressed the Antinomianism for which it was chiefly responsible, soon found itself compelled to make some half- way provision for the people generally who desired to do all that was in their power towards God, but whom it was impos- sible to blame for not being regenerate, since they were lit- erally like clay in the hands of the potter.* What could men and women do, from whom the gift of regeneration was in the sovereignty of God withheld, and to whom the arbitrary tests and evidences of regeneration w r ere like high walls and barred gates around the Lord's Table, but promise a diligent use of the means of grace? And on promising this, should they not be admitted to the outer-court of the church, that under its nurture and discipline grace might perchance descend upon them, or at least upon their children ? There was also, espec- ially in Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies, a continual and baneful interference of the civil government with ques- tions of church doctrine and discipline, which, under the plea of protection and support, wrought manifold and irremediable mischief. Under the ecclesiastical aristocracy that everywhere obtained in such a way as to subject all citizens to the burdens of taxation for the support of gospel institutions and ordi- nances, while only church members could have a voice or a rote in the election of church officers and ministers, a deep Magnalia, Vol. 1 : 436. - Palfrey's Hist, of X. E., Vol. 2 : 492. ■• The operation of the half-way covenant was, to propagate and confirm the bad theology in which it originated ; and the bad theology, as it grew, promoted religious declension." It was as Mr. Street said, " an uncouth way, and very unpleasant divinity." Bacon's Hist. Dis., page 183. 11 and general restlessness and discontent grew up. Added to these things, there was a party in the churches, and especially among the ministers, that was looking and planning and endeavoring for a national church system, or "parish way" of church extension and discipline. Some local and personal differences at Hartford (for Mr. Stone had far more of the " flint-stone " than of the ' ; load- stone " in " his management of principles,") afforded the weak spot on the quiet surface of this underlying confusion of conflicting principles, through which the serious dissatisfac- tions broke forth in force and fury to cover the colonies with disputations, and to subvert, at length, the old order of things in the churches. It is conceded by all who have investigated the matter, that the main points on which this controversy turned and proceeded, were " the new qualifications for bap- tism and church membership," and " the rights of the broth- erhood, "s In the second and third generations of the New England colonies, a condition of society was developed that clearly enough required some re-adjustment of the church order and discipline. The real necessity was not suspected ; namely, — such a re-formation of dogmatic and especially of experimental theology as, a century later, Jonathan Edwards wrought. Both inside and outside the churches manifold complaints were ex- pressed. Hitherto, according to almost universal custom, bap- tism had been administered to such believers only as gave credible evidence of regeneration and were judged fit to par- take of the Lord's Supper, and to their children. But many of the elderly and godly men now saw with deep solicitude many of their children refraining from a profession of regene- ration, and the children of these in turn, excluded from bap- tism. h How to continue their posterity under the covenant of grace and within the pale of the church, and yet not endanger the purity of the church itself, was the problem. sTrumbull's Hist, of Conn., Vol. 1 : 310, 322. ^Trumbull's 1 1 i - 1- , Vol. l : 312; Magnalia, Vol. 2: 277; Palfrey's Hist.N. E., Vol.2: 487; Dr. John Elliot's Hist, of Ma-.; Coll. of Mass. Hi-. Soc, Vol 2 12 M;in\ of the children of the first settlers of the country who had now become parents, and also many recent immigrants who were not professedly regenerate, for several reasons, — partly owing to the undue if not superstitious importance they attached to the outward administration of baptism, and partly because they desired for themselves and their children the social and civil privileges of a church-standing, strove earnestly with those who were endeavoring to bring in a new practice that should allow not only communicants, but all baptized people of fair moral character, on owning the covenant, to offer their children in baptism.' This new practice involved also the right of such half-way members of the church to par- ticipate in the election of church officers, and the whole ques- tion was greatly complicated by grievances and demands of a political nature which it is impossible to set forth here. Thus the question respecting the administration of baptism (involving many other serious questions also) became the great question on which all New r England was for years pro- foundly agitated. A "new way" was advocated and urge dJ This " new way" was the beginning of what was subsequently known as the "half-way covenant," and how utterly superfi- cial and inadequate a remedy for the crying wants of the times it was, the history of its disastrous operation in the churches of New England during the next hundred years, abundantly shows. All accounts agree that this question first came prominently into dispute in the Hartford church. k Rev. Mr. Stone was one of the earliest and warmest advocates of the reforming and enlarging measures. In 1650 he wrote to Richard Mather of Dorchester on the subject. Mr. Mather was very active in introducing the new practice, as many letters written to and by him, concerning it, show. 1 A majority of the 'Hubbard's New England, page 562 ; Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 1 : 311; Cong'l Quarterly, July, 1862. JHubbard, page 562; Dr. John Elliot's Hist. Mass. kPalfrey's His*. N. E., Vol 2 : 487 ; Trumbull's Hist, Vol. 1 : 310; Hubbard's N. E., 316, 562, 570. the letter of Mr. Stone, and for letters of Richard Mather, Mr. Prudden, and Mr. Rogers of Ipswich, on the subject, and for the action of the Dorchester 13 Hartford church sustained Mr. Stone. But a strong minority, comprising some of the most influential men in the town, hav- ing already disagreed with Mr. Stone on some points of disci- pline, resolutely resisted the innovations, as did also most of the churches in the colony. 111 As the controversy proceeded, and years of strife passed by, and councils, and synods, and courts took up the bitter troubles, the original grounds of difference became obscured, and secondary questions came into prominence. For fourteen years the minority party stood in an attitude of dissent and remonstrance, yielding neither to the dictation of Mr. Stone, nor to the authority of two synods, nor to the pow- erful influence of the General Court, but always and inces- santly pleading that they might be allowed to join other churches (Farmington or Wethersfield) where they could worship with a good conscience, or to form themselves into a distinct church." It is quite certain that the breach through which all the after troubles found their way, was caused by the somewhat obstinate endeavor on the part of Mr. Stone to introduce the practice of some new principles of church order and discipline which were conceived, by a large minority of his people, to lie innovations dangerous alike to the purity of the churches and to the old congregational way of church order. Mr. Stone defined Congregationalism as "a speaking aristocracy in the face of a silent democracy ! " His ideas of church government " bordered more on Presbyterianism and less on independence, than those of the first ministers of the country in general." There is good reason for believing that these un-congregational ideas of Mr. Stone, together with his obstinate and rigorous persistence in enforcing them, had quite as much to do in dividing the church at Eartford,as the differences in opinion concerning baptism. and Ipswich churches, consult Felt's Ecclesiastical History of N. E., Vol. J. pages 38, 49, 88, 92, 135, 141. All agree that the practice they desire and urge is an entirely new one. - Trumbull's Hist., Vol. L: 318; Eubbard's N.E., 316. " Lands. Mas., pages 54, 56,68. Trumbull's Hist., Vol. I : -ill. 14 Jusl how, and in what precise forms the original misunder- standings first publicly appeared, is uncertain. One writer says that •• the origin of them appears to have been a difference be- tween the Rev. Mr. Stone and Mr. Goodwin, the ruling elder in the church, upon some nice points of Congregationalism. It semis some member had been admitted, or baptism adminis- tered, which Elder Goodwin conceived to be inconsistent with the rights of the brotherhood, and the strict principles of Con- gregationalism, "p Hubbard says the first appearance of dis- turbance was on the occasion of the call of a minister to take Mr. Hooker's place, when it was proposed to give baptized non- communicants the right of voting in the election of a minister. " Some of the inhabitants, holding more strictly to the former principles of discipline, could not well bear it that any, in whose real piety they were not satisfied, (as not being con- firmed members in the church,) should partake of any higher privileges, civil or ecclesiastical, than formerly belonged to non-members." "And not long after, there arose another dif- ference in that colony, which was occasioned through the en- deavours of some of their ministers for enlarging of baptism, and extending the right of membership to children before their admission into full communion. "q The same writer says explicitly, that these differences, that were first started in Connecticut, about the enlarging of baptism, ended in the dividing of some of the churches and congregations, and evi- dently refers to the Hartford church. It is certain, beyond all question, that the new way of " enlarging baptism" and of extending church-membership-, although, under the authority of Synods and Courts and the pressure of a strong public senti- ment, it gradually came into such favor that this Second ( !hurch, from the very first days of its existence, was ready or obliged to practice it, was a chief cause of the dissensions in the old 1 1 art ford church. These dissensions, as they pro- ceeded through a course of years, outgrew the original ques- tions in dispute, took hold of other points of difference, and perpetuated themselves in new, but no less angry forms. i' Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 1 : 310. m Hubbard's N. F.» 315, 316, 562; Palfrey's Hist. N. E., Vol. 2 : 437. 15 I have thus touched the real, moving- causes of that long and sad controversy out of which this church came into exist- ence, — out of which, as it extended far and wide, several other distinct churches came forth. Of the manifold com- plications of that controversy in its several stages of develop- ment through fourteen years, there is no time or need to speak. Over against Mr. Stone and a majority of his church, a powerful and influential minority with whom most of the Connecticut churches heartily sympathized, stood steadfast for the liberty and purity of the churches, and for the old Congregationalism of Hooker and the Cambridge Platform, stoutly resisting those innovations that finally issued in the disastrous practice of what is well known in the history of the New England churches, as the "half-way covenant." 1 " I shall now, as briefly as possible, sketch the progress of the controversy in Hartford up to the date of the formation of the Second Church. Hull's Diary, (Boston, 1656,) relates: "Great breach of love and union in the church at Hartford last summer, which continued to the end of the winter now past, notwithstanding- all endeavors there, and also by letters from hence, to have gained a reconciliation." During the years 1654 and 1655, several local councils had endeavored to compose the troubles in the Hartford church, but their labors had proved fruitless. s (1656.) In the month of March, 1656, some formal com- munications passed between the two parties in the church. Two letters from the dissenting party, signed by (Gov.) John r Sce Bacon's Hist. Discourses, pages 108, 182; Cong'l Quarterly, July, 1862; Baron's Norwich Discourse, passim. It did not merely provide thai baptized per- sons growing up in the bosom of the church with blameless characters, * * might offer their children for baptism without being required to be in full communion ; hut it also provided that such persons, as a condition preliminary to the baptism of their children, should make a certain public profession of faith ami obedience, including a formal covenant with God and the church, which, at the same time, was understood as implying no profession of Christian experience I I hie was a grave theological error hardening and establishing itself in the form of an ecclesiastical system. Ahridged from Bacon's Norwich Discourse. — Contributions to Heel. Hist, of Conn., 21. •Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 1 : .111 ; History of Hadley, page l t. 16 Webster, John Cullick, George Steele, Nathaniel Ward, An- drew Warner, John White, Thomas Bunce,and some fourteen others, and addressed to the church, are preserved. 1 In the first of these letters, dated March 12th, these gentlemen say they have seriously considered what had been presented to them in certain papers received from Mr. Stone and several of the brethren, but have been unable to derive satisfaction therefrom. Their doubts and difficulties are on the whole in- creased. They cannot recognize Mr. Stone's official acts since lie lias " laid down his place," &c. &c. u They entreat their brethren to forbear doing what will expose them to offensive or doubtful conduct, and urge the calling of a mutual and dis- interested Council. If this be not granted, then they ask a dismission, "the thoughts whereof in many respects is ex- ceeding bitter to us, but any condition is better to us (though bitter) than that which doth expose us to sin." On the 18th, the church replied to this letter, but the reply is not found. On the 20th, the same dissenting brethren wrote to the church in answer to their paper of the 18th, protesting against an ex parte Council, and urging that a mutual Council be called, each party to nominate a certain number of Elders. They desire that the Council should be made up of gentlemen from the < 'onnecticut and New Haven colonies. If such a Council cannot be agreed upon, then they desire dismissions to some approved church or churches of Christ, and instance the part- ing asunder of Paul and Barnabas when they could no longer walk together. They intimate that if neither of these requests be -ranted, then they shall be compelled to withdraw in some other way. On the 20th of May, the General Court, taking ii]i the matter upon the presentation of grievances, appointed a committee to advise with the Elders of the colony about the troubles, and to ask their help in drawing up an abstract of them to be presented to the General Courts of the United Colonies. v 1 Lansd. Mss. in Second Vol. of Conn. Hist. Coll., pages 54 and 56. u Lansd. Mss., page 58. Mr. Stone's speech on laying down his place. ' Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 1 : 281. 17 On the 11th of June, 1656, a Council of ministers of Con- necticut churches, together with some from the colony of New Haven, was held in Hartford. It is quite certain that no churches of Massachusetts were represented in this Coun- cil, although Dr. Trumbull expresses a different opinion. w John Davenport asserts that this Council was called by " the whole church at Hartford unanimously," the minority party yielding some of their scruples, and consenting to what the other party insisted upon.* The result of this Council was decidedly in favor of the minority party, and they stood by it. and appealed to it.y The other party refused to submit to its: decision, and Mr. Stone several times afterwards referred to. it in a contemptuous manner, declaring its result to be "can- celled and of no force." 2 From John Davenport's letter to. the church at Wethersfield, we learn that this Council decided: that in case the difficulties should break out anew, the church, should grant dismissions to the aggrieved brethren, and that Mr. Stone and his party violated their express agreement, and refused to abide by the decisions of the Council, a A remark- able letter from John Higginson of Guilford confirms Mr.. Davenport's assertions, gives an elaborate account of the whole matter, quite fully justifies the dissenting brethren, and. severely condemns the obstinate course pursued by Mr. Stone. b These letters of Davenport and Higginson should be care, fully perused by those who desire to look thoroughly into this whole affair. In the month of August several distinguished Elders from Massachusetts — John Wilson, Richard Mather, Samuel: Whit- ing, John Sherman, and John Norton — addressed a letter to Capt. Cullick and Mr. Goodwin at Hartford, designing through them to reach all the aggrieved brethren. They refer to the want of success of the late Council, and are unable "with Longer silence to behold the wound of so famous a sister "Trumbull's Hist., Vol.1: 297.311; Hist. Hadley, 19; Conn. Hist. Col!.,. Vol. 2: 60— Note, by J. Hammond Trumbull. 'Lansd. Mss., pages 08, 88, 93. >' Lansd. Mss., page 08. 'Conn. Col. Rec., Vol. 1 : 291, 317. • Lansd. Mss., page 88. h Lansd. Mss., page 93. c Lansd. Mss., page 59. 2 18 church and mother in Israel, still bleeding, if not ulcerating," Ac They propose a conference of all parties, at the Bay ; or if thai may not be, they suggest their willingness to come in I [artford " for the obtaining of a conference between your- selves. Mr. Stone and them." "Suffer not Hartford's praise to liccome an occasion of Christ's prejudice ! Alas! alas! so it is. besides this burning of yours, divers congregations amongst us, in this jurisdiction, are for the present as so many Meribahs and Taborahs, whose smoke we fear doth more than appear in the sight of the Canaanites." And so the lamentation continues until the reverend gentlemen cry out, " Our bowels ! our bowels ! we are pained at the very heart, we cannot hold our pen ! " Again, in September, the Elders from the Bay addressed a letter to the church at Hartford, d in which they say they cannot go to Hartford till Spring, and exhort the church in pathetic terms, to forbear action, and cultivate unity, and cover all matters of difference with silence until then. The Committee appointed by the General Court in May, had meanwhile attended to their duty, made a report, and their questions had been forwarded to the Bay Court, together with a proposition for a Synod of Elders from all the colonies to consider several questions that concern the churches. Where- upon, in October (14), the Massachusetts General Court ad- vised a General Council, and sent letters to the several Courts, desiring their ministers to meet in such a Council, at Boston, in June, 1657. e (1657.) So matters stood until on the 24th of February, 1656-7, the General Court of New Haven returned a spirited answer to this request, giving their opinions on the questions ;tt issue, but declining to send their ministers to the Council. They were utterly opposed to the project, thought Connecticut ministers and legislature could settle their own troubles, and more than intimated that the proposed Council was set on foot by restless spirits who were determined to make serious changes both in civil government and in church discipline/ d Lansd. Mss., page 64. • Mass. Records, 3 : 419; Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 1 : 314. New Haven Col. Rec, Vol.2: 195, 198; Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 1: 315 ; Ba- con s Norwich Discourse, page 19. 19 But Connecticut and Massachusetts were determined to have the Council. On the 26th of February, the General Court of Connecticut appointed four Elders (Warham of Windsor, Stone of Hartford, Russell of Wethersfield, and Blinman of New London) to attend the Council at Boston " on the 5th of June next, to confer and debate the questions formerly sent to the Bay Court, * * * with such divines as shall be sent to said meeting by the other colonies. "s Pending this proposed S} r nod at Boston, the Connecticut Court desired the Elders " who formerly transacted the differences in the Hartford church," (June 11, 165G,) to give a meeting to those Bay Elders who had previously offered to "come up hither." 1 ' They also desired that the former Council (June, 1656) should be convened, to see if, in the interim, they could not compose the differences. Thus three distinct assemblings were pro- posed : 1st, an immediate re-convention of the Council of June, 1656 ; 2d, a conference of the two parties in Hartford with the neighboring Elders and with those Bay Elders who had offered their services; 3d, a General Council in Boston, on the 5th of June next. Gov. Webster, Mr. Cullick, and Mr. Steele, who were of the dissenting party, stoutly objected to these propositions. They appealed to the Council of 1656, to which Mr. Stone and his party refused submission, and declared that so long as the wisdom and authority of its decisions were not successfully impeached, it was useless to call other Councils. They also objected to the imposition of a Council by legislative authority.* On the 14th of March, the dissenting party addressed a letter to Mr. Stone and the church, in which the same senti- ments that Gov. Webster and others had uttered in the Gen- eral Court, were expressed. They set forth how after much condescension and self-denial they had "obtained a Council of persons suiting and annverin^ your propositions ami de- sires." They refer to the fact that this same Council " con- curred with us and strengthened our thoughts." They beseech s Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 1: 288. h Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 1: 2pl. *Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 1: 291; Trumbull's Hist, Vol. 1: 315. 20 their brethren to yield to that counsel that is already given, or else. •• grant us our dismission, * * that so both you and we may be in a capacity to enjoy the good things of Christ asunder, which we have now so long time been deprived of in our being together."' On the Gth of April, John Norton and other Elders and messengers of the Bay churches, set out from Boston for Hart- ford, " to endeavor a reconciliation amongst them in those parts, for their breach hath been the occasion of much division in sundry churches in these parts." The Boston church observed the 16th of April as a day of fasting and prayer for the Hartford church. On the 23d of April, letters came from Hartford to Boston, saying that " the work of reconciliation went very slowly for- ward. "J On the 6th of May, Mr. Norton returned to Boston, bringing word "that the Lord had graciously wrought the church at Hartford to a re-union, and a mutual promise to bury all former differences in silence for the future." This pacification was superficial and short-lived. It is worthy of remark that during the sessions of this Conference at Hartford in April, 1657, at the desire of John Eliot, who was present from Roxbury, the Podunk Indians were assembled that he might preach the Gospel to them. Mr. Eliot preached to them, and asked them if they would accept Christ as their Saviour. But their chief men replied with great haughtiness that they would adhere to their own religion. k In the month of June (4-19) the General Council or Synod nut at Boston, and discussed the questions previously pro- pounded by the Court of Connecticut. The result of their deliberations, drawn up by Richard Mather of Dorchester, was published two years afterward in England, and was enti- tled, "A disputation concerning church-members and their 1. Mrs., page 68. i Conn. Col. Rec, 1: 290; Hull's Diary, in Archreologiea Americana, 3: 179, 180. For Mr. Stone's confession of some errors and failings, made at this con- ference, seeLansd. Mss., page 71. k Trumbull's Hist., vol. 1 : 494. 21 children, in answer to twenty-one questions." 1 When it is re- membered that these questions came from Connecticut, and were drawn up as the heads of the troubles in the churches there, and especially in the Hartford church, all doubt as to the real roots of the difficulties in the Hartford church van- ishes. A copy of these questions and answers was formally presented to the Court of Connecticut by Mr. Stone, and they were then distributed among the churches.™ In their answer to the tenth of the twenty one questions, this Synod gave an endorsement of the half-way covenant notion. The result was, not the reconciliation, but the greater disturbance and division of the churches. Most of the churches regarded it as an innovation of most dangerous nature, and violently op- posed it. n Especially in Hartford, the church was thrown into greater contentions than ever. The dissenting party, com- prising some of the most influential men both in the town and in the church, having exhausted all means of procuring letters of regular dismission proceeded to withdraw from the church, with a view to joining the church at Wethersfield. Whereupon Mr. Stone instituted disciplinary proceedings against some of them.* In November the withdrawers addressed the church in a letter, dated the 11th day, in which they declared, "that having long lived in the fire of contention, using and seeking means to the utmost that we might have quenched the flame, and we, finding ourselves scorched more and more therewith, have been forced by Mr. Stone's breaking of our pacification, after all other trouble, to flee from that which we could neither quench nor bear." The grounds of their withdrawing were enclosed in a paper dated October 26th, which is not found. This declaration was published and read in several churches. p 1 Hubbard's N. E., 563-569. Mather's Magnalia, vol. 2: 278. "' Conn. Col. Kec, vol. 1 : 302. n Congregational Quarterly, July, 1862. Trumbull's Hist., vol. I : 318, 319. *"The breach at Hartford again renewed; God leaving Mr. Stone, their offi- cer, to some indiscretion, as to neglect the church's desire in the celebrati >f the Lord's Supper, and to proceed to some acts of discipline inward the form :rly dis- senting brethren." Hull's Diary, 183. Lansd. Mas., page 77. p Lansd. Mss., page 79; 78, note by J. II. Trumbull. 22 (in the 4th of December nine gentlemen of Mr. Stone's party issued a "presentment" to the General Court, of the offences of the withdrawers, characterizing their late declara- tion as "a defamation of Mr. Stone and the church at Hart- ford," accusing them as utterly unreasonable in their with- drawing, and invoking the interference of the civil authority to prohibit them from removing from the church. q It is noteworthy that two of the nine men who subscribed this presentment — George Stocking and George Graves — were afterwards among the original members of the Second Church. In the same month the withdrawers wrote to Governor Eaton and Rev. John Davenport of New Haven, stating their griev- ances. 1 " It appears that there had been proceedings before the governor and the magistrates, and a bitter contention was raging. (1658.) In the month of February, 1657-8, the with- drawers sent a circular letter to the churches, in which they announced that they had propounded themselves to the Weth- crsfield church for communion with them. 8 On receiving their application, the Wethersfield church asked advice of other churches as to whether these withdrawers from Hartford might be properly received by them. John Davenport of New Haven, sent a long and important answer, in which he states the case of the withdrawers with great adroitness, justifies their action, is severe upon Mr. Stone, and declares that his church will stand by Wethersfield church if they shall receive the Hartford brethren. 1 John Higginson of Guilford, also made reply. His letter is a very able and admirable one." It is a complete and intelligent justification of the withdrawing brethren, and reflects severely upon Mr. Stone's obstinate con- duct. "The dissenting brethren have submitted to the judg- ment of the Council in both parts of it. * * Mr. Stone and the church there have not submitted to the judgment of the Council in either part of it. * * This oppo- sition to the Council by Mr. Stone hath been the blameablc cause Lansd. Mss., page 79. * Lansd. Mss., page 86. Lansd. Mss., page 82. t Lansd. Mss., page 88. 1 Lansd. Mss., page 93; 96, no e by J. H. Trumbull. 23 of the continuance, and increase, and multiplying of those contentions and disorders that have been since the Council, as also it hath given such * a wound to the Congregational way, that except Mr. Stone's repentance for it be as publickly known as his sin in so doing," &c. "I see not where the dissenting brethren are to be blamed for desiring this dismission, but Mr. Stone and the church are to be blamed for not granting their dismission."' The church at Hartford had not appealed to the civil author- ity in vain. In the month of March (11th) the General Court ordered that no persons in their jurisdiction should in any way imbody themselves into church estate without the consent of the Court and the approbation of the neighboring churches. It was also ordered that the Hartford church should cease from all further prosecution against the with- drawers, and the withdrawers were forbidden to prosecute their propositions to join the Wethcrsneld church or any other church. v The elders of the colony were desired to meet the Court on the 24th of March, to assist in devising some means for settling the troubles. This wretched bat peremptory in- terference of the civil authority wrought only mischief. It prohibited the minority party from either forming themselves into a new church, or from joining other churches, and shut them up under a church rule and in a church relation that had become simply intolerable. It postponed the organization of the Second Church twelve years, and sent some of the best men of the town up the river to Hadley. In May, Captain Cullick and Elder Goodwin petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for the grant of a plantation, purposing to remove, with others, out of the jurisdiction of Connecticut. Their petition was granted. w In the month of August the Court ordered the two parties to state their differences in writing, and discuss them. Fail- ing to agree, then they were each to cheese three elders, whose decision, after a full hearing, was to be final. If either v Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 1 : 312. w History of Hartley, 18, 19. For a Bcrics of questions presented to the Court by Mr. Stone, on 25th of March, see Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 1 : 317. For a com- plaint made to the Court against the withdrawers, see Conn, Col- Rec,, vol. 1 ; 318. 24 party refused to choose, then the Court would choose for them. The withdrawers accepted the proposition, and chose Mr. Da- venport, Mr. Norton, and Mr. Fitch. The church refiised to choose, and the Court chose for them.* These elders were requested to meel in Hartford by the 17th of September. The questions for disputation were drawn up by Mr. Stone, on his part, in Ins most aggravating style,y but the whole endeavor fell through, as Dr. Trumbull says, by the fault of the church. 2 (1(359.) In March, 1658-9, the General Court took measures for convening another Council on the 3d day of June. a On the 18th of April the withdrawers and their friends met at Goodman Ward's house in Hartford, and signed an engagement to remove themselves and their families into Massachusetts. b On the 3d of June, according to previous appointment, a Council of elders and messengers from Boston, Cambridge, Charleston, Ipswich, Dedham, and Sudbury, convened at Hartford, whose endeavors for peace were so far encouraging, that the Court requested its members, and in addition thereto, the ciders and messengers of Dorchester and Watertown churches, to be present at another Council in Hartford on the 19th day of August. Dr. Trumbull is quite certainly mis- taken in saying that this Council assembled again in Hartford at the appointed time. It came together, not in Hartford on the 19th of August, but in Boston, on the 26th of September. Both the Hartford parties appeared by their representatives. The result was blessed with what was supposed to be a sweet re-union, and satisfaction to both parties. d In view of this 1 Conn. Col. Rec , vol. 1 : 320, 321. y Lansd. Mss., page 104. ' Trumbull's Hist., vol. 1 : 321. » Conn. Col. Rec, vol. 1 : 334. » History of Hadley, 19. Cmn. Col. Rec, vol. 1 : 339. Trumbull's Hist., vol. 1 : 321. The" Boston iind Roxbury churches declined to participate in this Council. John Wilson and others for the Boston church, and John Eliot and Isack Gooch for the Roxbury church, wrote to the General Court of Connecticut, declining the service, for the - that neither of the two parties in Hartford had asked them to come, and they believed that such a Council would have no weight and do no good. For this letter, dated "Boston 19 th of 3 d month, 1659," see the forthcoming Becond volume of Conn. Hist. Coll., page 108, and also page 110, note by J. H. Trumbull. * Hull's Diary, 188. Hubbard's N. E., page 570. Rev. Mr. Hubbard, of Ips- wich, was himself a member of the Council. ■lo good result, the General Court of Connecticut proclaimed a day of public thanksgiving throughout the colony. e For several years there seems to have been a good degree of peace in Hartford. Many of the withdrawing party had removed out of Connecticut; some of either party had left this world, and the Council of 1659 in Boston effected a con- siderable, though not a thorough pacification. (1660.) In 1660, Mr. John Whiting was ordained as col- league of Mr. Stone in the Hartford church. (1662.) Concerning the famous Synod which was held in Boston, in 1662, to affirm more explicitly and authoritatively the decisions of the Synod of 1657 respecting church mem- bers and baptism, and which, after many sessions, sanctioned and authorized the half-way covenant, there is no special oc- casion for remark here. The two questions there discussed and answered, were, (1st,) "who are the subjects of baptism ?" and (2d,) "whether, according to the word of God, there ought to be a consociation of churches, and what should be the manner of it ?" So much opposition had been manifested among the churches to the new measures for enlarging bap- tism, and effecting a strong church government, that this Synod was called as necessary to the authorization and estab- lishment of the reforming principles.*" (1663.) On the 20th of July, 1663, Mr. Samuel Stone de- parted this life, after " feeding the flock of our Lord fourteen years with Mr. Hooker, and sixteen years after him."s (1664.) Mr. Joseph Haynes began his ministry in Hart- ford, as the colleague of Mr. Whiting, in 1661. Both these e Conn. Col. Rec., vol. 1 : 343. The long result of this Council, drawn up, doubtless, by the able hand of Jonathan Mitchell, has been, until recently, in man- uscript amon^ the "Hutchinson papers," in the Massachusetts Eistorical Society. I am spared the necessity of giving any abstract of it here, fur the entire " Result" will soon appear in the pa^es of the 2d vol. Conn. Hist. Coll. Sec page 112, and the note by J. II. Trumbull. f For the history of this Synod whose results newly inflamed tie- churches, the reader is referred to an able article by Dr. II. M. Dexter, in the Congregational Quarterly, July, 1802, and to Mather's Magnalia, Vol. 2: 27'.). e Life of Mr. Stone in Mather's Magnalia, Vol. 1 : 434. It is -:ii' Conn. Col. Rec., Vol. 1 ; 438, 27 Church. There was an open rupture between the two min- isters. A letter from John Davenport to Governor Winthrop,' dated June, 1666, reveals a sad condition of things. "The peo- ple grow woefully divided, and the better sort are exceedingly grieved, while the looser and worser party insult, hoping that it will be as they would have it, viz : that the plantations shall be brought into a parish way." Mr. Haynes, when it was his turn to preach, sent three of his party to tell Mr. Whiting that on the next lecture-day he would preach about his way of baptizing, and begin the practising of it on that day. Mr. Whiting testified against it, and refused his consent. A stormy meeting was held. The aged Mr. Warham of Wind- sor attempted to speak, but was rudely silenced. The two ministers arranged for a public dispute, the result of which is unknown, but Mr. Haynes and " his way of baptizing," which gave great offence to many, were in the majority, and the " congregational way," was seriously compromised by his con- duct. A Synod, or Assembly as it was afterwards called in deference to the prejudices of many, of all the elders and ministers in the colony was appointed for the third Wednes- day in May, 1667. Four ministers from Massachusetts (and among them was Mr. Mitchell, the ablest advocate of the re- forming measures) were to participate in the assemblyJ A series of seventeen questions, substantially the old ones of 1657, were drawn up for discussion. The object of this coun- cil -was to prepare the way for the more willing and general reception by the Connecticut churches of the measures sanc- tioned by the Synod of 1662. The assembly of ministers con- vened according to appointment, and after some discussion adjourned until autumn. But they never met again. As it seemed likely that they would not agree in endorsing the Synod principles, measures were taken to prevent their re- assembling. k (1668.) The General Court of May, 1668, appointed a Com- 1 Davenport's letter to Gov. Winthrop, in Mas^. Eist. Cull., 3d Series. J Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 2: 54, 55. k Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 1 : 482. 28 mittee of four eminent divines, "to consider of some expe- pedient lor our peace, by searching out the rule and thereby clearing up how far the churches and people may walk to- gether within themselves and one with another, in the fellow- ship and order of the Gospel, notwithstanding some various apprehensions among them in matters of discipline respecting membership and baptism.^ This is the first gleam of light! Something like sense and wisdom at length appears in the ecclesiastical intermeddling of the Court, and it is not unlikely that this is to be attrib- uted to the good judgment of Governor Winthrop. (1669.) After this aforementioned committee had made their report, and in accordance with its wise suggestions, the I General Court in May, 1669, declared that while the Congre- gational churches should still be countenanced and approved in their profession and practice, yet, " to persons of worth for prudence and piety amongst us who are otherwise persuaded, * * * allowance of their persuasion and profession in church ways or assemblies should be given, without disturb- ance." 111 This most important order of toleration was a virtual re- peal of the act of March, 1658, forbidding separate church assemblies, &c. The long-looked for way was now clearly open to the minority in the Hartford Church to organize themselves in a distinct estate. Without delay their petition for liberty to form a new church was presented, and in Octo- ber, the General Court directed the Hartford Church " to take some effectual course" that Mr. Whiting and his party " might practice the congregational way without disturbance cither from preaching or practice, diversely to their just of- fence, or else to grant their loving consent to these brethren to walk distinct, according to such their congregational princi- ples." 11 In the vote for this written order, four magistrates and fourteen deputies dissented. Hartford was now to have a second church. No other town in New England, save Boston, 1 ( onn. Col. Rec., Vol. 2 : 84. m Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 2 : 107, 109. Palfrey's Hist., Vol. 3 : 1 IS. n Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 2 : 120. 29 had as yet more than one church. " This winter," says Brad, street's journal, " Hartford Church divided, Mr. Whiting and his party refusing to hold communion with Mr. Haynes. * * * Mr. Haynes and those with him being looked upon as Presbyterians." The new order of toleration cut both ways, for within a month from the time when the Second Church in Hartford was formed, the party in the church at Windsor that dissented from the strict Congregationalism of old Mr. Warham, embraced their opportunity, and withdrew, and in March, (1669-70,) Mr. Woodbridge was ordained as minister of the " Presbyterian party" of Windsor. On the 22d of February, 1670, (N. S.) Mr. John Whiting the senior pastor, with thirty-one members of the Hartford Church and with their families, formed the Second Church in this town. A full account of this transaction is con- tained in a paper which was read before the council on that day. " Having had the consent and countenance of the Gen- eral Court, and the advice of an ecclesiastical council to en- courage us in embodying as a church by ourselves, accord- ingly, upon the day of completing our distinct estate, (viz: Feb. 12th, 1669,) this paper was read before the messengers of the churches, and consented to by ourselves, viz :P "The holy providence of the Most High so disposing, that public opposition and disturbance hath of late years been given both by preaching and practice to the Congregational way of church order, by all manner of orderly establishments settled, and for a long time unanimously approved and peaceably practiced in this place ; all en- deavors also (both among ourselves and from abroad) with due pa- tience therein, proving fruitless and unsuccessful to the removing of that disturbance; we whose names are after mentioned, being advised by a council of the neighbor churches, and allowed also by the Hon- °N. E. Hist, and Genealogical Register, 10: 44. i" The caref'u! reader of this document cannot fail to perceive beneath the veil of it .-> courteous language, the outlines of tlic old and protracted controversy. 30 ored General Court, to dispose ourselves into a capacity of distinct walking in order to a peaceable and edifying enjoyment of all God's holy ordinances; we do declare, that according to the light we have hitherto received, the forementioned Congregational way (for the sub- stance of it) as formerly settled, professed and practiced, under the guidance of the first leaders of this church of Hartford, is the way of Christ, and that as such we are bound in duty carefully to observe and attend it until such further light (about any particular points of it) shall appear to us from the Scripture as may lead us with joint or general satisfaction to be otherwise persuaded. Some main heads or principles of which Congregational way of church order are those that follow, viz : " First, That visible saints are the only fit matter, and confedera- tion the form, of a visible church. " Second, That a competent number of visible saints (with their seed) embodied by a particular covenant, are a true, distinct, and en- tire church of Christ. "Third, That such a particular church being organized, or having furnished itself with those officers that Christ hath appointed, hath all the power and privileges of a church belonging to it ; in special — 1st, to admit or receive members ; 2d, to deal with, and if need be reject, offenders ; 3d, to administer and enjoy all other ecclesiastical ordi- nances within itself. " Fourth, That the power of guidance or leading, belongs only to the Eldership, and the power of judgment, consent, or privilege, be- longs to the fraternity or brethren in full communion. " Fifth, That communion is carefully to be maintained between all the churches of Christ, according to his order. " Sixth, That counsel in cases of difficulty is to be sought and submitted to according to God. " The Covenant read and consented to the same day, was as fol- loweth : " Since it hath pleased God, in his infinite mercy, to manifest him- self willing to take unworthy sinners near unto himself, even into cov- enant relation to and interest in him, to become a God to them and avouch them to be his people, and accordingly to command and en- courage them to give up themselves and their children also unto him : •• We do therefore this day, in the presence of God, his holy angels, and this assembly, avouch the Lord Jehovah, the true and living God. even God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to be our God, 31 and give up ourselves and ours also unto him, to be his subjects and servants, promising through grace and strength from Christ, (without whom we can do nothing,) to walk in professed subjection to him as our only Lord and Lawgiver, yielding universal obedience to his blessed will, according to what discoveries he hath made or hereafter shall make of the same to us ; in special, that we will seek him in all his holy ordinances according to the rules of the gospel, submitting to his government in this particular church, and walking together there- in with all brotherly love and mutual watchfulness, to the building up of one another in faith and love unto his praise : all which we prom- ise to perform, the Lord helping us through his grace in Jesus Christ. "Those that consented to the above written covenant upon the day mentioned, were, BRETHREN IN FULL COMMUNION. John Whiting, James Richards, Thomas Bull, Robert Webster, George Grave, Sen'r, George Stocking, James Ensing, Tho. Bunce, Sen'r, Tho. AVatts, James Steele, Joseph Nash, John Cole, Andrew Benton, Benjamin Ilarbert, John Biddall. SISTERS IN FULL COMMUNION. Frances Stebbing, Sibilla Whiting, Susanna Bull, Sarah Bunce, Agnis (?) Stocking, Margaret Watson, Eliz: Watts, Sarah Ensing, Sarah Grave, Margaret Nash, Sanford, *Bethia (?) Steele, Hannah Benton, Sarah Biddall, Susannah Arnold, Christian Ilarbert, Whaples, Anne Cole. * The name Bethia is incorrectly attached to Mrs. Steele's name. Bcthiah Steele, James Steele's sn-,, ml wit;-, came from Middlctown and joined this church in 1685! The woman mentioned in this list was James Steele's first wife, and her name is now unknown. Frances Stebbing, as being a godly and venerable mother in Israel, was placed at the head <>f the sist srs, even above Sibilla Whit- ing, th" pastor's wife, — a most delicate testimonial to the esteem in which she was held. 32 " The children of the church, or members not yet in full commun- ion, that personally manifested their desire of joining with us in our distinct estate, and accordingly owned the covenant, were, Sarah Richards, Susanna Bunce, Eliz: Warren, Hannah Eston, Sarah Worthington, Eliz: White, Sarah Merold?, Mary Seamer, Mary Mekins, Lydia Smith, Ruth Bull, Lydia Cole, Hannah Benton, Hannah Smith, Sarah Biddall. Nathaniel Standly, John Church, John Marsh, Stephen Hosmer, Thus. Bunce, Jun'r, John Seamer, Jacob White, John Eston, John Day, Joseph Bull, Jonathan Bull, David Bull, John Bunce, John Wilson, Samuel Hubbard, John Watson, Thos. Halee, Arthur Smith, Jonathan Gilbert, John Biddall, Joseph Biddall. These " children of the church," "members not in full communion," not only came forward to " own the covenant," but some of them were married people who immediately thereafter brought their children to baptism, as will be shown. On the same day the church chose Mr. Whiting for their pastor, and upon his acceptance he was immediately " re-or- dained " with prayer and the imposition of hands by the Rev. Joseph Elliot and the Rev. Nath'l Collins,* the other mes- sengers of the churches approving what was done by affording the right band of fellowship. It has already been mentioned that two of the founders of this church, — George Grave, and George Stocking, — had previously been conspicuous in their opposition to the withdrawing party. The last name on the * Brother of Mrs. Whiting. list of original members is Anne Cole. Bnt Anne Cole had a sad distinction in her earlier days, as a letter of her pastor, dated December, 1682, informs us.'i In the year 1662, she, then living in her father's house, was taken with strange fits, wherein her tongue was improved by a demon in most won- derful ways, so that she even talked in Dutch to the astonish- ment of Mr. Stone and other godly men who strove to relieve her. Finally, after a poor, old, ugly, ignorant (and probably crazy) woman had confessed herself in covenant with Satan, and had been hung together with her husband, and several Dutch people had evinced their guilt by obstinately floating in water (instead of sinking in it as all innocent people should do,) and had fled the country, poor Anne Cole had abatement of her sorrows, became a sensible woman, married Andrew Benton, became a good christian, helped form this good old; church, obtained a good report, and doubtless died in peace, in due time. In another letter (October, 1683,) Mr. Whiting gives a pa- thetic account of the tragical end of the son of Rev. Samuel Stone. He was a man of fine gifts and culture, and was edu- cated for the ministry, but fell into a " course of notorious drunkenness." On the 9th of October, 1683, early in the morning, lie was found dead " in the little river that runs through the town of Hartford." In the darkness of the night. after a day of dissipation, his uncertain feet had missed the bridge, he had fallen down upon the rocks, rolled into the water, " and there lay dead at break of day." In another letter; (October, 1682,) Mr. Whiting mentions a fearful sickness that prevailed in Hartford at that time, one of the numerous victims of which was Rev. Isaac Foster, successor of Mr. i See Mather Papers, in Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. 8, where several letters of Mr. Whiting may be found. See also Inerea hang the common bell. (First Ecc. Soc. Rcc.) •Dec. 25, 1716, roted by the First Church, that all the boys under 16 years old shall .-it below, some in the guard seats and some in the alley. Sam'l Shepard and Tho. Day to sit in guard to take care of the boys there. 40 ham. In mi interleaved almanac of 1692, (shown to me by George Brinley, Esq., of Hartford,) the Rev. James Pierpont, 4th minister of New Haven, writes under date of March 11th, as follows : — "I went to Hartford to transact with the new church about my brother Benjamin's settlement, and returned the 19th." It would seem from this item that Rev. Benj. Pierpont was talked of in Hartford as Mr. Whiting's successor in L692. Mr. Buckingham could not then have been settled here in 1G90, as has been heretofore assumed. Indeed, the recently discovered records of the church prove that he began his ministry here in 1694, the church having been without a settled pastor for nearly five years. He graduated at Har- vard in 1690. Mr. Buckingham labored as pastor of this church for thirty-seven years, — or from 1694 till November 19th, 1731, the day of his death. Not long before his settle- ment here, Rev. Timothy Woodbridge was settled over the First Church. These two ministers labored side by side in good accord for nearly forty years, and died together, as it were, Mr. Woodbridge surviving Mr. Buckingham only six months. The second pastor of this church was one of the most emi- nent ministers in Connecticut, — a gentleman of engaging manners, superior abilities, and exemplary character. By request of the Governor and Council, he served as Chap- lain in the expedition of 1710 against Port Royal, and in that of 1711, against Crown Point, his place being supplied by public charge, and his services requited by the sum of six pi muds in money per month. Subsequently the sum of ten pounds was granted him in consideration of his readiness to go into the expedition, and the good service he did, and also, in consideration that he served the most part of the time alone. a In May, 1719, both the Hartford ministers were chosen as representatives from this town to the General Assembly, prob- acy because they had so stoutly resisted the removal of the collegiate school fromSaybrook to New Haven, instead of to Wethersfield or Hartford. b Mr. Woodbridge was not permit- .« Conn. Col. Rec, Vol. 5 : 255, 265, 287. His diary during this service was published in 1825. b Trumbull's Hist. Vol. 2 : 30. 41 ted to take his seat, on account of some disrespectful remarks he had made concerning the civil authorities. As Mr. Buck- ingham did not take his seat, it is probable that he was in the same condemnation. During the pastorates of Woodbridge and Buckingham, both the Hartford churches were very zeal- ously practising the half-way covenant. In 1696* nearly all the young people in the First congregation subscribed the cove- nant proposed to them. The ministers were in the habit of going among the people once a year and drumming them up to this duty. They came in large numbers, presented their children for baptism, and that was the end of it. d They made no pretence of conversion, did not come to the Lord's Supper, and the number of communicants was very small. The Hart- ford North Association, in 1711, passed several resolutions with a view to checking the alarming declension in morals and religion. Their recommendations were numerous, but the chief duty insisted upon was that of urging the people gen- erally to "own the covenant." These resolutions were read in the Second church of Hartford, and proposed to the peo- ple, December 30th, 1711. e A day of fasting and prayer en- sued. The people were urged to own the covenant very much as they are urged in temperance meetings to sign the pledge. It was an easy way of fulfilling all righteousness, and a short road to reformation. Over one hundred persons came for- ward to subscribe, and went their way. Some knowledge is thus given us of the condition of things under Mr. Bucking- ham's ministry, and of the means that were used for the ref- ormation of society, the revival of religion, and the edifica- tion of the church. f In the year 1715, the pastors of the c Fragmcnt of Col. Rcc. Mss., C. J. Hoadly, Esq. *By certain votes of the First Society in Dec, 1696, and in the next month, it appears that the project of paying " the minister's rate in a joint way unto tin ministers that belong to the north ami south meeting houses ami churches in Hartford," was discussed in both societies, and committees were appointed by either society to treat of the matter, with what resultis unknown. — First Kcc. Soc. Records. d Trumbull's Hist , Vol. 2 : 497-*. "Dr. Trumbull refersin this connection to the "Records of the South Church in Hartford." Vol.2: 18, 19. These records are not found. 1 In the winter of 1710-11, the Conn. River was not frozen over below Hart- ford, nor for several miles above it. 42 ( lonnecticul churches reported a great scarcity of Bibles, great neglect of public worship, of catechising, and of family dis- cipline, and an alarming abundance of most every mention a- ble form of evil, whereupon vigorous reforming measures were adopted by the Legislature. s In bis election sermon, entitled, "Moses and Aaron," preached May 9th, 1728, Mr. Buckingham made some pointed allusions to " some who have risen up among you speaking perverse things, blaspheming the constitution and order of your churches, * * * who unchurch the best and great- est part of christians, and leave you with the best of your flocks to unconverted mercies, * * * merely for the sake of non-agreement with them in a few unscriptural rites and notions." The reference to several cases of separation from the "standing order," and to the gradual growth of the Epis- copal church in Connecticut, is unmistakeable. One hundred and forty persons were admitted to full com- munion during the pastorate of Mr. Buckingham. Twenty- five were admitted in 1712. About eight hundred and fifty children were baptized during the same period. 11 In 1727 an effort was made to re-unite the two Hartford churches. The First Church were about to build a new House of worship, and the small and uncouth South Meeting house needed to be replaced by some larger and better building. At a meeting of the First Society, in January, 1726-7, to con- sider of building a new meeting house in place of that which then stood on what is now the State House yard, it was voted, " as it would be more for the honor, comfort, union, and ease of the town, and for the more easy and honorable support of the ministry amongst us, that one meeting house may be be built for the meeting of all the people that belong to the two societies, &c, &c, that his Honor the Governor, Capt. Eezekiah Wvllys, Capt. John Sheldon, andDea. Thomas Rich- ards be a committee from this society, to propose the premises to our friends of the new church, and endeavor that a meet- ing of said society may be gained, to see if they are of our * Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 2: 20, 21. 1 Old church records. 43 mind, and whether they will join with us to build a house for the public worship of God, and unite into one society." 1 The new church were not willing, and after a protracted contro- versy between "those of the North side " and " those of the South side" in the First Society, as to where their new house should be located, it was finally decided to build " on the south-east corner of the burying-lot," and there in 1737, the "brick meeting house" was erected where the Center Church edifice now stands. The successor of Mr. Buckingham was the Rev. Elnathan Whitman, son of Samuel Whitman who was minister at Farmington from 1706 till 1751. He was settled as pastor over this church on November 29th, 1732, in which office he labored for about forty-five years, until his death which oc- curred in March, 1777. During six years of this time, he was assisted by a colleague of whom we shall presently speak. Mr. Whitman was a portly, dignified, noble man, and one of the most godly ministers this church has ever had. There are no records of the church, during the period of his min- istry, in existence. For several years prior to the date of Mr. Whitman's settlement here, the state of religion throughout New England had been lamentably low. The bitter fruits of the half-way covenant system were being gathered in anguish of spirit and despair of heart. A cold, lifeless morality and the use of empty forms of religion were characteristic of the churches. The ministers also were often mere moralizers and ordinance-servers. In these days of alarming declension, the great revival, in which Jonathan Edwards took so conspicuous a part, and to the increase of which Whitfield's wonderful eloquence con- tributed so much, began. The measures that had broughl sad disaster upon the churches were rebuked by the Holy Ghost, and began to be abandoned. Jonathan Edwards sound- ed the note of deliverance,J the Gospel of regeneration began to be preached again, and all the dry bones of (lie valley com- menced to stir with mysterious life. Whoso would warm his 1 Letter of C. J. Hoadly, Esq., in Hartford Courant, Jan. 18, 18fi8. 3 Edwards maintained, "That none ought to be admitted t" the communion and privileges of meml>ers of the visible church of Chris! in complete standingi 44 cold heart, and quicken his sluggish pulses, and be translated, as it were, into a sweet and celestial region, let him read the wonderful narrative of this " great awakening," which Mr. I'M wart Is wrote while as yet the songs of rejoicing angels had not ceased, and his great mind was full of a music that was like theirs. Preaching began to be powerful as it dwelt now on the dying love of Christ, the sovereign grace of God, the necessity of regeneration and pardon through faith in Jesus the crucified. Multitudes came forward, not to sign pledges and own covenants, and use rites, but to ask " what must I do to be saved," or to testify of God's renewing grace. Great assemblies that came together (as at Enfield to hear Edwards) in irreverence and carelessness, were shaken so that their de- monstrations of concern filled the house. Connecticut was more remarkably the scene of powerful revivals than any part of the whole country. k During the year 1740, 1741, 1742, nearly every part of the colony was reached and blessed by the glorious work. Among the ministers who most favored the work (while others opposed it) was Mr. Whitman of this church. His lot was cast in with Mills, and i'omeroy, and Wheelock, and Bellamy, and doubtless his own church was among those that were abundantly refreshed. In January, 1749, the South society applied to the County Court to fix a site for a new meeting house. The place fixed upon not proving acceptable, the General Court, in May, 1752, appointed a committee to select a location, and they reported a site " in the highway, a little north of the house of Mr. Joseph Buckingham." 1 The Second Meeting house of this society was erected on the site thus determined, about the year 1754. There is no record of the exact date of its comple- but such as are, in profession and in the eye of the church's christian judgment, goldy or gracious persons." (Works, Vol. 4.) " The doctrine here maintained by our dear and reverend brother, was brought over hither by the pious and judicious fathers of this country from the Puritans in England, and held by them and their successors in our churches above three score years without dissension." (Rev. Messrs. Thomas Prince, John Webb, Thomas Foxcroft, and Mather Byles in a preface to Edward's Inquiry.) k Trumbull's Hist., Vol. 2 : 156. 1 Conn. Col. Ree., Vol. 8 : 107-113. 45 tion or dedication. It is well remembered by many now liv- ing among us. One gentleman in this city well remembars one event that occurred in it during Dr. Flint's ministry. He was a boy then, and one summer Sunday, during a long prayer, he thought he might steal a look out of the open window unnoticed. He put his head out, and suddenly the raised sash fell down upon his shoulders and held him fast in a ridiculous attitude, until he was released by others. An admirable ground-plan of the building has recently been drawn by Capt. Nathaniel Woodhouse, who for some years worshiped in it. It stood in the highway, directly across Buckingham Street, which was then wide enough to allow road-way at either end of the building, its longest side on Main Street, with an entrance at the south end, a porch at the north or steeple end, and a main entrance on Main Street. At this time (1756) the population of Hartford, including both East and West Hartford, was only a little more than three thousand. In July, 1762, Mrs. Anne Burnham bequeathed to this so- ciety the house and homestead where she then resided, con- taining about five acres of land. This property extending on Main Street from Buckingham to Park Street, had belonged to her son, Joseph Buckingham. He had intended to give it to the church, but died suddenly before completing a convey- ance of the property, and his mother piously executed his pur pose. m In this same year the Protestant Episcopal Church was planted in Hartford, and the first organization of Christ Church was effects I. When Mr. Whitman had been pastor of the church about thirty-five years, his health became so much impaired that it seemed necessary to settle a colleague pastor. At a meeting of the South Society, January, 1767," it was voted to invite the Rev. Win. Patten to become the colleague pastor of this church. It was voted to lease him one acre of land for 999 years " at the rate of one pepper corn of land per, annum, ra Records of Second Ecc. Soc. n From this date the records of the society are complete. 46 rent," and also to give him the sum of three hundred and fifty pounds, lawful money, as a settlement. This money was to be paid in labor and materials to build a house and barn. Should Mr. Patten cease from the ministry here on his own account within ten years, two-thirds of the settlement should be returned, if he should go away at the end of twenty years, one-third was to be returned. If he should remain thirty years, the settlement should be his un- conditionally. His annual salary was fixed at one hundred pounds. Mr. Whitman had eighty-five pounds, annually, and the use of the Parsonage land secured unto him by the so- ciety. Mr. Patten accepted the call, and on the 23d of Sep- tember, 1767, was installed. In the 144th number of the Connecticut Courant, there is a letter which sets forth with unusual particularity the details of this installation, and gives the entire text of Mr. Whitman's charge to his colleague. It reads much like one which Dr. Hawes would have written, and is of course good. The ser- mon was by Mr. Wheelock of Lebanon, and Mr. Lockwood of Wuthersfield gave the right hand of fellowship. "The whole was conducted with decency and decorum." In the next issue of the Couranl a few "lines" were printed, addressed " to the author of the charge inserted in the last " issue of that paper." " Behold the venerable seer began ! Strange the attention and the listening ear ! As when the dying father calls to his bed, His children bidding his last farewell. Solemn the charge, instructive every line, While flowing tears bedewed the hearer's cheeks. Blessed man ! for spotless sanctity renowned, Loved by the good and by the guilty feared, X" railing pen can sully your deserts, Nor blot your name from the celestial roll, Unfading crowns and laurels ever green, Immortal prizes wait for you above." We gladly believe for dear old Mr. Whitman's sake, that these lines contain far more truth than poetry. Conn. Courant, Sept. 28, 1767. The Courant was established by Thomas Green, in Oct. 1764. 47 This same year Mr. Thos. Seymour was appointed to read the Psalm, and Mr. James Bunce was added to the committee for seating the meeting house. The following document may be worth noticing : Hartford, May 30th, 1767. Whereas, a challenge was given by fifteen men south of the great bridge in Hartford, to an equal number north of said bridge, to play a game of cricket the day after the last election, the Public are here- by informed that the challenged beat the challengers by a great ma- jority. Now ?aid north do hereby acquaint the south side that they are not afraid to meet them with any number they shall choose, and give them the liberty of picking their men among themselves, and also the best players both in the West Division and Wethersfield. Witness our hands (in the name of the whole company). William Pratt, Niell McLean, Jr. One striking event, at least, occurred in the summer of 1771, when the meeting house and steeple were struck and badly damaged by lightning. In 1773, it was voted in the society, " that the reading of the Psalm, as heretofore practiced, shall be omitted." There is evidence that from this time forward much attention was given to the instruction of the people in the "art of psalmody." In the summer of July, 1772, very serious charges of in- temperance were formally made by certain members of the church, against Rev. Mr. Patten, and an investigation of them was demanded and became necessary. The society voted in favor of an enquiry into the general " uneasiness " thai pre- vailed respecting Mr. Patten. The charges were preferred by Daniel Steel, Jonathan Welles, and James Bunce, " for our- selves and the rest of the members of said church.'* An Ecclesiastical Council met in Eartford, at the call of Mr. Whitman, on October 6th, 1772, to hear and judge of this complaint. Rev. Solomon Williams was moderator, and EteV. Enoch Huntington, scribe of the Council. Twenty-three dis- tinct articles of complaint, with specifications of time, place, and circumstances of offence were laid before the council. 48 The trial held on a long time, but finally after having fully lica i and of his son, Rev. Jos. Steven Bucki • ElizaBuckn Bo ton, 1851. 50 In May, 1783, the Society, desirous of obtaining a minister " of eminence and distinction as the surest way to mutual edification and influence, and being of the opinion that it is not inconsistent or contrary to the Gospel Plan to make ap- plication to any gentleman in the ministry (examples of which have been frequent) to remove and settle here," extended a call to Rev. Mr. Nathan Williams of Tolland. The call was declined, and Mr. Williams remained at Tolland till 1827, when he died aged ninety-four, his wife surviving him six years and dying at length, aged ninety-five. In 1784, January 7th, the Rev. Benjamin Boardman was invited to become the pastor of this church. Besides the use of the parsonage house and grounds, he was to receive the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds lawful money, an- nually, " during the time that he and the major part of this church and society shall be mutually agreed in each other, which is the only bond of christian community!" Mr. Board- man replied that he considered the invitation a call of Provi- dence, and would accept it, provided the stipulation for salary should read, instead of so many pounds, &c, " four hundred Spanish milled dollars," and provided these Spanish dollars should be made sure to him by some provision for the punc- tual payment of the same. He was installed May 6th, 1784. " The council convened at the house of Capt. Aaron Bull, whence the church, with sundry respectable characters marched in order to the meeting house." Rev. Dr. Goodrich preached the sermon, and Rev. Mr. Strong gave the right hand " in a polite and elegant manner." The following " little bill " will serve to show with what good cheer the min- isters comforted themselves on solemn church occasions. On the back of the bill is written, " Ordination : eight pounds al- lowed and order given on treasurer in full." " 1784. The South Society in Hartford, to Israel Seymour, Dr.* May 4th, to keeping ministers, &c. " " to 2 mugs tody, - - £0— 2— 4 " to 5 segars, - — 5-10 " " to 1 pint wine, - - — 3 — 1 Israel Seymour's tavern stood where Trinity College now stands. 51 May 4th, to 3 lodgings, - - - — — 9 May 5th, to 3 bitters, - - - — 0—9 " ' ; to 3 breakfasts, - - - 0—3—6 " " to 15 boles punch, - - 1-10 — " " to 24 dinners, - - - 1-10—0 " " to 11 bottles wine, - - 3—6—0 " " to 5 mugs flip, - - - 0—5-10 " " to 3 boles punch, - - 0—6—0 " " to 3 boles tody, - - - 0—3—6 £8—3-1 1 Received by me, Iskaki. Seymour. In this same year the city of Hartford was incorporated. In 1786 an important bequest involving lands of considera- ble extent and value was made to this society by Mr. William Stanley." Mr. Boardman had served as Chaplain during the war of the Revolution, and tradition says, that by virtue of having been able to make himself heard in prayer at great range, he had earned for himself the Roundheadish soubriquet of " Big- Gun-of-the-Gospel Boardman." From his portrait which hangs in the Historical Rooms, we should infer that, physi- cally at least, he was able to pray at any reasonable length or distance. Of the seven years of his active labors here very little is known, save that they were years in which the society was struggling under unusually heavy financial burdens, and the church was lying in a very low and unpromising condition. The "four hundred Spanish milled dollars " were iml paid punctually. In 1789 the salary was reduced twenty-five per cent., and the society was greatly in debt to their pastor. This same year the First Baptisl Church in Hartford was organized, though their house of worship (on the corner of Temple and Market Sis.,; was not erected (ill nine years later. In April, 1790, Mr. Boardman requested a dismission: Some arrangement was made between him and the society, "The details of tins legacy it is nor accessary to enumerate. The will specially provided for the purchase of a tankard of a certain size and shape for the com* munion table. This tankard was u»-d at the Bi-centennial Communion Service. 52 I iy which he was to retire from all duty and responsibility as minister, although there was no formal dismission by an Ec- clesiastical Council. Rev. Mr. Boardman died on the 12th of February, 1802. The population of Hartford, in 1790, including both East and West Hartford, was about four thousand, having in- creased one thousand in thirty-four years. On the 3d of February, 1791, with Mr. Boardman's hearty concurrence, the society unanimously invited Mr. Abel Flint, who had been preaching here some months, to settle as their pastor. The church concurred in this action. He was to have the use of the Parsonage house and grounds, and for a salary, the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds, annually, for seven years, and after that time, the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds. Rev. Mr. Flint was ordained as Pastor of this church on the 20th of April, 1791. Rev. D. D. Hitch- cock of Providence preached the ordination sermon. The following document will interpret itself. (On back.) " Expense of Mr. Flint's ordination. 16 men to dine 1 clay, and 40 the 2d day. April 20, 1791." -South Society to Thos. Seymour, Dr., for the expenses attending the ordination of Mr. Flint, April 19 and 20, 1791. To ")0 lemons at 10s., .... £0-10 — " 3 gallons of wine of D. Bull, - - - 0-16-10 " 1 gallon of ditto, of G. Burnham, - - — 6 — 6 " 1 ditto of cherry rum, - 0-10 — " 1 gallon of best spirits, - — 6 — " 2 quarts of brandy, .... — 3 — li 1 large loaf of sugar, 16 lbs. at Is. 6c?., - 1 — 4 — " 1 brown sugar, half quarter, 10s., - - 0-10 — " half barrel of best cyder, ... i> — Q — o " 60 wt. of best flour, .... 0-12— " 24 lbs. of butter, -- 0-18 — " 10 doz. eggs at 6c?., .... o — 5 — q " 1 bushel of apples, - - - - () — 3 — 1 " spices, ---... 0—6—0 K raisins, , - - - - it — 3 — " 3 lbs. of coffee, - 2 4 " 1 lb. of tea, - - - - - — S — 53 To 18 lbs. best beef, .... £0—6—0 " 2 qrs. veal, &c, .... 0-15-10 " 1 turkey, ..... 0— G— 8 " 1 doz. fowls, .... 0-12—0 •• 3 hams at Cxi, ..... 0-18—6 " vegetables, ----- 0—8—6 " pickles, 2s. Gd., ----- 0—2—6 " pipes, Is. 6c?., .... — 1 — 6 " tobacco, 4s. 3c?., ----- — 4 — 3 " 2 bushels oats, .... 0—3—0 " hire of attendance, - 1-16 — <» " hire house cleaned, ... — 4 — " walnut wood, ----- — 3 — " extra trouble, .... 3 — — Total, .... £16-15—7 The catalogue of members of the church, and also the rec- ords of the church from the date of Mr. Flint's ordination are complete. Here may be inserted the following action of the church in 1794 : — " Voted, as the unanimous opinion of this church, that it is unnecessary for those who have once made a public profession of religion by owning the covenant of this church for the purpose of having their children baptized, to own the covenant again previous to coming to the commun- ion. And that whenever any such persons shall be desirous of becoming members in fall communion, all that is required of them is that they signify their desire to the Pastor, to be communicated to the church." When Mr. Flint took charge of this church, it was Dearly exhausted. There were but twenty-seven members, — three less than ;it the beginning, in 1670. In eight years only six- teen persons joined the church on profession of faith. Butiu the years 1798 and 1799, quite a powerful revival of religion was experienced in this town, and the church thenceforth started on a new career. Twenty-six persons were admitted by profession, in 1799. v The city of Hartford began to show signs of an increasing enterprise and prosperity. In L792, the Hartford Banfc was 'Conn. Evangelical Mag. for 1808. 54 established. In 1704, the erection of the State House was commenced. In the ten years from 1790 to 1800, the popu- lation of the town increased from four thousand to more than five thousand, gaining more by over three hundred in that time than it had gained in the preceding thirty-five years. In 1808, another revival occurred, as a result of which more than sixty persons were received into the " two Presbyterian churches" of Hartford, in the month of June. The interest continued into the autumn, and more than one hundred and twenty persons were then received to these churches, besides many who were then (November) propounded for admission. There were many who bitterly deprecated the new practice of holding evening meetings ! In 1808, thirty-seven persons were admitted to this church, and in 1809, twenty-nine were received, on profession of faith. w Among the admissions in 1808, stands the honored name of Thomas Tileston, after- wards Deacon, than whom no man of his generation obtained a more goodly report. His memory is still sweet and pre- cious, like that of Dea. J. Hubbard Wells who came after him. In 1814 the church took measures for building a chapel in which to hold religious meetings, and two years later the chapel was finished and occupied. It stood "on the north side of (old) Buckingham St.," at some distance westward from the meeting-house. The year 1818 marks the birth-time of the Sunday School in Hartford. There were at that time only four churches in the city ; the First and Second Congregational, Christ Church, and the First Baptist. On the 20th of April a meeting was called to consider the propriety of establishing a Sunday School. Rev. Abel Flint was chosen chairman, and Seth Terry, Esq., clerk. 1 It was unanimously resolved by the gentlemen present, that meas- ures should be taken to establish a Sunday School in Hartford. At a subsequent meeting, on the 5th of May, " The Hartford " Three of those who joined the church at this time, the present pastor has buried. One man who joined in 1808, is still living, — Mr. Levi Stillman. 1 Statistics of Hartford S. S. Soc. Z. Preston, Hartford. 55 Sunday School Society" was organized, whose officers were to be a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and nine Directors, who were to constitute a " Board of Managers." Rev. Mr. Flint was chosen President, Mr. Seth Terry, Clerk, and among the Directors were Rev. Elisha Cushraan, James M. Goodwin, and Rev. Joel Hawes, who on the 3d of March had been settled in the First Church. Four different schools were formed, which were to meet at nine o'clock A. M., and at half past one o'clock P. M., of each Sabbath. Mr. Elijah Knox was appointed Superintendent of the school at the South Church, and eight teachers were chosen for it. Thomas Tileston and Horace Goodwin were appointed its visitors. Committees were selected to visit families and influence them to send their children. About five hundred scholars were gathered in these four schools the first summer. The sessions were discontinued during the winter, but were re-commenced in April of 1819, when an annual meeting was held at which Mr. Flint delivered an ad- dress. The Sunday Schools were managed by this Union Sunday School Society until the autumn of 1820, when it was deemed best for the future, that each parish should manage its own school, and the Society ceased its operations. A.bou1 this time a great revival visited this entire region. The in- terest seems to have been almost simultaneous over this whole, district of country. >' Nineteen out of the twenty churches in the North Consociation of Hartford County were refreshed. More than one thousand souls were added to the churches, besides hundreds who were hopefully converted. In Unit ford the interest was especially remarkable. The whole city was shaken. Fourteen persons were received in this church in L820, and in 1821 fifty-three were received. In 1820 the First Methodisl Episcopal Church in this city was organized, and a house of worship \\;i- erected on Trum- bull street. A great excitement was created in the parish during tin- year 1-S22, by an attempt which was made by ;i set of free- thinkers in the Society, to get control of the fumU Of the ( ihristian Spectator, Vol. ■'! : 551. 56 Society and, in fact, to put the whole church establishment in the hands of the Universalists. The Society's Committee were active in this discreditable but abortive scheme. Mr. Flint was now in delicate and declining health. By being violently thrown from a wagon, he had received a shock thai affected his mind somewhat, as well as his health, and he was thenceforth inadequate to the full discharge of his minis- terial duties. The following letter explains itself. " Hartford, 27th May, 1822. Rev. Doct. Flint, Sir : — As Committee of the Second Ecclesiastical Society, we would respectfully represent that a large proportion of the members of said Society, believing in the universality of the atonement and of the final restitution of all men, have ex- pressed their desire that a clergyman agreeing with them in sentiment, should be permitted to preach in the meeting-house of the Society one-half of the Sabbaths previous to our next annual meeting. The equity of this proposition may be con- sidered conclusive, from the consideration, that as they a re- members of the same Society, and subject to the like burthens with their other christian brethren, so also are they entitled to equal privileges, and of course have an equal claim with those who differ from them in sentiment, to hear the Gospel preached according to their understanding of the Scriptures. We are, respectfully, Reverend Sir, yours, &c, Signed, Elisha Shepherd, 1 ~ ... „ Sylvester Wells, } Committee. ' To this Doct. Flint replied, two days after, as follows ; — •• To the Committee of the Second Ecclesiastical Societv of Hartford : Gentlemen :— Your letter of the 27th was duly received, and after mature reflection and consideration, I submit to you the following reply. According to the established usages of our country from its first settlement to the present time, and. as far as my infor 57 mation extends, of all other christian countries, it is consid- ered as the right, the privilege, and the duty of a minister. regularly ordained and installed in a church and society, to have control of the Pulpit belonging to the Parish on the Sab- bath, and at such other times as he may have occasion to oc- cupy it. In exercising this right, however, and in discharg- ing this duty, he is bound by certain restrictions, a principal one of which ii that he do not encourage what he considers as fundamental errors to be taught to the people of which he has the charge ; and that he do not admit, voluntarily, into the pulpit, preachers who inculcate a system of religion ma- terially different from that one on which the church and society were founded. I do not therefore, Gentlemen, consider my- self authorized to comply with your proposal, and were I to comply, I should betray the trust committed to me when 1 took charge of the Second Church and Society of Hartford. The Society was incorporated, I believe, in the year 1669,and at that time and ever since, the Society, and the Pastor for the time being, have been considered believers in the general system of doctrines adopted by the Consociated Churches of Connecticut. This system of doctrines is fundamentally dif- ferent from that which, in your letter, you propose that 1 should consent to have taught for one-half of the Sabbaths, in the pulpit committed to my charge thirty-one years ago the lasl month. You will therefore perceive, Gentlemen, thai by com- plying with your proposal, I should be guilty of a gross viola- tion of my ordination vows. I should give my sanction to what I believe, to what the church believes, and to whal a re- portable portion of the parish believes to be a dangerous error, and 1 should drive several hundred people from the house where they have been accustomed to meet to worship God on the Sabbath, where, according to the laws of the country, the) have a right to meet, and from which they cannol be debarred, except by an exertion of arbitrary power. Permit me therefore to observe to you, Gentlemen, thai I. and those who act with me in this business, claim no righl to dictate to others what religious sentiments they shall em- brace, and we trust that we are re;iii\ as much opposed to 58 religious persecution as those who say so much concerning love and good-will to all men. All that we claim and all that we ask, is to be left to the unmolested enjoyment of our own opinions, and to the oc- cupancy of a house of worship that was built by our fathers for persons of our general system of sentiments, our right to which we conceive we have not forfeited. If any members who have been members of the Society, have materially altered their sentiments, we are certainly willing they should enjoy their own opinions ; but we believe they have no right, how- ever numerous they may be, to what, upon every just and honest principle belongs to people of a different persuasion. I hope, Gentlemen, you will maturely consider what I have written, and if it should not produce conviction in your minds that I am correct, I shall at least have discharged my duty, and I must leave the event to the wise disposal of that Provi- dence which controls all things. Yours, with due consideration, Signed, Abel Flint, Pastor of the Sec. Church and Soc, Hartford, May 29,1822." But this courteous, firm, and perfectly unanswerable reply stirred up a determination to carry the point by stratagem and force. A singular and scandalous scene occurred in the South meeting-house one Sunday evening in the summer of 1822. Taking advantage of the illness of the Pastor, it was determined to put Rev. Mr. Carrique, a Universalist preach- er, into the pulpit on Sunday evening. The project was noised abroad, and the church was filled at an early hour. The choir (in which were several ladies who still live with us,) did what their voices could to prevent the disgrace. They sang on, and on, and on, tuning up afresh with good orthodox psalmody so often as the reverend interloper seemed likely to get a chance to speak, until they were silenced by authority. One of our oldest and most honorable citizens was present, and on the same evening wrote down an account of this affair, which reads as follows : — " Rev. Mr. Carrique, a Universalist preacher, came into the house before the bell rung, accompanied by Dr. Wells and 59 Elisha Shepherd, and Mr. C. went into the pulpit. The house was well filled. There had been a meeting appointed by Dr. Flint ; the Rev. Mr. Smith had been invited to preach by Dr. Flint, who was absent ; the choir had been singing for some time. Soon after the bell commenced ringing Mr. Smith came in and went into the pulpit. Dr. Wells followed him up. After some whispering between Dr. Wells and Mr. Smith, he got up and stated to the people that he had come there to preach, that he was a stranger and did not understand the difficulties in the Society, but had been requested by Dr. Flint to preach for him in that place, and he should preach unless he was forbidden. He told the committee, (Dr. Wells and Mr. Shepherd,) that he could preach in the chapel or out doors, if he could not preach there. Dr. Wells then arose in the pulpit and said that the Society ought to know that the time for which the agreement was made with Dr. Flint, that he might use the house Sabbath evening, ended in March; that Dr. Flint had been informed on Saturday afternoon that a large number of the Society were desirous to hear Mr. Car- rique preach, and that Dr. Flint had notified bis people to meet here when he knew that Mr. Carrique was to preach ! Rev. Mr. Smith then said, 'do yon forbid my preaching ? ' 'No,' said Dr. Wells, 'I did not say so.' Mr. Smith replied, 'then I will preach, if I am not forbidden.' lie then took hold of the Bible. Dr. Wells then said, 'we expeel Mr. Car- rique to preach.' Mr. Smith then said. ' I will go to the chapel and preach there, as I cannot preach here." There was now great commotion in the house, ninny voices calling on Mr. Smith to preach. Mr. Smith said, 'If I am forbidden to preach by the committee, I wish them to say so.' Mr. Shep- herd said, 'I wish you would not preach, I wish you would go away.' The noise and confusion were very much increased, and Mr. Smith soon lefl the house, the people following him. Dr. Wells then called lor Squire Niles, and he came into a pew near the pulpit. Dr. Wells requested Mr. Carrique to begin the service. lie began reading a Psalm, and there was so much noise made by the people going <>nt. that he was obliged to stop. Dr. Wells then, in a loud voice, said that 60 religious services had commenced, and any person who made a disturbance, would be prosecuted according to law ; Squire Mies bad the Statute book, and, if necessary, would read the Riot Act. Three-fourths of the people then went to the chapel, headed by the good old Deacons Hempstead and Til- eston. z Thus ended the attempt of the Universalists and infidels to obtain possession of the good old South Church and its fund. After this the people came out in their strength and their enemies were scattered. I was present, and wrote the preceding account at the time. B. Hudson, Jr." a At a meeting of the Society held in the Meeting House on the 23d of September, (1822) the following vote was submit- ted to the meeting by Dr. Sylvester Wells, viz : "Whereas the inhabitants of this society are divided in their religious opin- ions, not only as to matters of faith, but also as to what de- scription of preaching has the most salutary and beneficial ef- fect upon the community, &c, &c. * * * Wherefore, Voted, That the committee of said society are hereby em- powered and directed to open the meeting house of said soci- ety to such minister or ministers of the Gospel, sustaining a fair moral character, to preach therein, as they may think ex- pedient, a portion of the time not exceeding one-half of the Sabbaths from this period to the next annual meeting of the society : Provided, that the preaching which may be author- ized or permitted by virtue of this vote, shall not subject said society to any expense or charge whatever, and provided fur- ther that when any preaching may be authorized or permitted in said house, on the Sabbath, in pursuance of this vote, the committee shall give at least ten days notice thereof to the Rev. Dr. Flint." 1 Joshua Hempstead, who had resigned his office as Deacon in 1818. :i Two other letters bearing on this affair, one from the Committee of the Soci- ety to Mr. Flint, and one from the Rev. Mr. Carrique to Mr. Flint, are in my possession, but are not of sufficient importance to warrant their introduction here. They furnish additional evidence of Dr. Flint's faithfulness and courage. Mr. Hudson's account is abundantly confirmed by many persons who were eve- witnesses of the disgraceful scene. 61 " After a short discussion on the above vote, the question was taken, and decided in the negative by a large majority." 1 ' In a letter written by Mrs. Ruth Patten, (widow of Rev. Win. Patten, and then eighty-four years old) dated " Hart- ford, May 30th, 1823," the following information is com- municated: — "Dr. Flint has of late been quite an invalid, — goes out but little, appears dejected and unhappy. About sixty of his parishioners have signed off to join the Universal- ists, who are building a splendid church south of the State House. Many other buildings are going up : much anima- tion expressed on every subject but religion." In June, 1823, the First Roman Catholic Church of Hart- ford, (St. Patrick's) was gathered in Talcott St. In the month of November. Dr. Flint requested to be dis- missed from his pastoral office. He was accordingly dis- missed by an Ecclesiastical Council, on the 13th of Jan. l s 2 t. Rev. Abel Flint was born in Windham, August 6th, L765, graduated at Yale in 1785, was settled in Hartford, in April. 1791, where belabored for nearly thirty-three years. All who were members of the church at the time of his dismission, had been admitted during his ministry, save Mr. Thomas Sey- mour, who died in 1820. There can be no question that the ministry of Mr. Flint was a very Laborious and faithful one. He was certainly a man of greal industry ami influence. He wis one of the founders of the Connecticut Missionary Society . and for twenty-four years was Secretary of its Hoard of Trus- tees. He was prominent in organizing and managing the Connecticut Bible Society. Dr. Strong and he. for seven years at least, were the chief editors of the C cticui Evan- gelical Magazine. II- assisted in preparing the once famous "Hartford Selection *' of hymns, which was extensivel} used. He was prominent in founding and fostering the Sunday School Society. Our present [nstitute Librarj maj be traced hack to his primitive, provision for the wants of the parish in respect of reading. His published discourses are numerous, including an election sermon, preached May, L816, a discourse b Urc. Of SeC. ECC. Sue. 62 on the death of Washington, and several funeral and ordina- tion sermons. His treatise on Surveying is well known. He translated many of the sermons of Bourdaloue and Massilon. He published also " a spelling, pronouncing, and parsing dic- tionary, designed for the use of schools." He was of com- manding presence and dignity, every inch a gentleman of most urbane manners. As a reader and speaker he was dis- tinguished, and his appearance in the pulpit was very impres- sive. Previous to his dismission, he had engaged the Rev. Joel Harvey Linsley to preach here for several sabbaths, and his services proved so acceptable, that on the 21st of Jan., (only eight days after Mr. Flint's retirement) the society unanimously voted to call him to be their Pastor, offering him the use of the Parsonage house and land, and a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum. The church immediately concurred. Mr. Linsley accepted the call, and was ordained over this church on the 25th of February, 1825. d This same year the North Church, (now the Park church,) which had been organized in September, 1824, dedicated their meeting house. Mrs. Patten, writing about this time from Hartford, says, — " The new Con- gregation (North Church) appears like a new married couple. Their house is perfectly neat, aisles carpeted, no gallery ex- cept a small one above the pulpit for singers, and just such a minister as they want. e I think at the South (Church) they have a proper man for them. * * Having gained consid- erable knowledge of human nature, connected with strength of nerves, he appears peculiarly calculated for their minister. Poor Mr. F. ! (Flint) it appears his life is nearly concluded. c During the war of 1812, on a certain Lord's day, some soldiers were in the gallery of the Second Church. When Dr. Flint announced his text— "Fear God, honor the King," one of the soldiers, who had more patrioiism than wisdom, arose in his seat and startled the congregation by exclaiming, " Fear God, honor the President, sir!" He was removed, but the good Doctor's gravity was sorely tried, and on reaching home he indulged in irrepressible laughter. A daughter of Dr. Flint, (Mrs. Norton,) who was permitted to be with us at our anniversary, distinctly remembers and vouches for this story. 1 Rev. Prof. Fitch, of New Haven preached the sermon, and Rev. Joel Hawes gave the right hand of fellowship- » ■ Rev. Carlos Wilcox. 63 He boards * * nearly opposite bis former dwelling. We must leave him in the hands of' his Lord and Master." Shortly after, on the Tth of March. l s 2~>. Mr. Flint died, in the family of Col. Elijah Terry, in the old wooden house next north of St. Peter's Church, and his funeral sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Thos. Bobbins, of East Windsor. "His character was represented in a fair and honorable light." At a special meeting of the Second Ecclesiastical Society of Hartford, held January 29th, 1825, it was unanimously voted to build a new meeting house, and all the necessary measures for carrying into execution this vote were taken. On the 11th of April, 1827, the new brick meeting house, within whose walls we are now assembled, was solemnly dedicated to the worship and service of God. The dedication sermon was preached by the Pastor. Dr. Spring, Dr. Perkins, and Rev. Joel Hawes also participated in the services. In 1828, (February 2,) the church appointed a committee to revise the articles of faith and covenant. We have been unable to find the report of this committee. It is undoubt- edly true, however, that at this time, the original covenant of the church was set aside for another longer and decidedly in- ferior one. But recently (February, 1870,) this church lias voted to go back to the old covenant, and to-day we stand on the original platform whereon Mr. Whiting and his little com- pany gathered to form this church, two hundred years ago. In 1830, the Pastor's salary was raised to the sum of one thousand dollars, and the very liberal appropriation of two hundred dollars was made lor music. The population of the town at this time (including last and West Hartford,) was nearly ten thousand. In 1831, the church voted in favor of the projecl of form- ing a new church in the city, and in L832, the Fourth Con- gregational Church was organized. Meanwhile events had occurred which had bo far weakened the bond of unity between Mi-. Lineley and :i portion of his people, that in the Spring of L832, he intimated his purpose 64 of asking a dismission. By a vote of thirty-seven to five, the church requested him not to do it. In July, he sent a formal requesi for dismission to the church, which was not granted, but afterwards, as he urged his request, a Council was called by whose action his pastoral relation was dissolved on the 21st of August, 1832. Dr. Linsley's labors in this church, though not of long continuance, were abundantly fruitful. His praise was in all the churches. He was distinguished for his wisdom and efficiency in promoting and conducting revivals of relig- ion. During the eight years of his ministry, more than one hundred and fifty persons were added to this church on pro- fession of faith : — in 18*27, forty-four persons, and in 1831, seventy-six. Many of the present active members of the church were gathered in as fruits of the revival of 1830. Rev. Joel Harvey Linsley, D. D., than whom this church never had a saintlier minister, was born in Cornwall, Vt., July 15th, 1790, and graduated at Middlebury College in 1811. After serving two years as Tutor in the College, he resumed his previous law studies, and in 1815 was admitted to the bar. He pursued the practice of the law for seven years in Middlebury, when he felt constrained to abandon his profession for that of the ministry. After several months of missionary labor in South Carolina, he was settled in Hart- ford, in 1823, and remained here until August, 1832. In 1832 he was settled over the Park Street Church in Boston, and in 1835 became President of Marietta College, Ohio. In 1846 he became Pastor of the church in Greenwich, Conn., and labored there to the end of his life. He fell asleep on Sabbath morning, March 22d, 1868. He was " a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost ;" — pure, guileless, earnest, and devoted. Mourning that he was not permitted to grace this anniversary with his venerable presence, we, as a church, bless God to-day for his faithful, fruitful labors here, and gratefully cherish his precious and holy memory.*" '" " The Rev. Mr. Parker, in his excellent address, properly commended the Rev. Dr. Linsley, formerly of the South Church, for his saintliness and efficiency as a minister of Christ, but omitted to mention the fervent piety and abundant labors of Mrs. Linsley. She was truly a help-meet for him, and was one of the best specimens of a good pastor's wife that Connecticut ever furnished. She did almost 65 On the 25th of Nov., 1832, the Church voted to extend a call to Rev. Cornelius C. Vanarsdalen, of Brunswick, X. J. r to become their Pastor. The Society concurred, ami offered him a salary of twelve hundred dollars. Mr. Vanarsdalen ac- cepted the call, and was installed here on the 27th of Dec, 1832. Rev. Joel Hawes preached the installation sermon, which was published. After an uneventful ministry of about four years, Mr. Vanarsdalen was, at his own request, dismissed from his pastoral relation, March 22d, 1836. In the month of May, 1836, the Rev. Wm. Patton, of New York, was unanimously and repeatedly invited to settle here, but his services were not secured. In Feb., 1837, the Rev. 0. E. Daggett was unanimously in- vited to become the Pastor of this church,? and the sum of twelve hundred dollars annually was offered him as a salary. The call was accepted, with the understanding that the pulpit should be supplied by the Society five weeks in each jrear, should the Pastor desire it. Mr. Daggett was ordained ami settled here, April 12th, 1837. An examination of the church catalogue suffices to show that the years of his ministry in this church were years of great in-gatherings to the fold of Christ. The memorable revival of 1838 occurred meanwhile. "It came- upon the churches like a gradual, mighty wave, not un- desired or unsought, but unexpected, till it lifted us all and bore us up for some five months." None was ever more gen- eral ami powerful in Hartford. That year this church received one hundred and fifty persons on profession of faith, fifty- four of these were males. At the communion in the month of May, one hundred and ten persons joined the church by profession. There were also other, less remarkable, seasons of religious interest. In 1H41 , thirty were received by pro- fession of faith, and at the communion in May, 1843, fifteen as much for the Lord as her devoted husband, and her memory i embalmed in the hearts of a large number of our citizens." Rev. Dr. Brace, in the Religious Herald. Rev. Charles E. Linsley, a son of the former Pastor of this chun with us in our anniversary, an honored guest. s Mr. Daggett began to preach lure in June 1836, as a supply, and continued his services until hia ordination, so that his actual ministry here «a> longer by on< year than his pastorate proper. 5 66 were received. In the years between Mr. Daggett's ordina- tion and dismission, the whole number added to the church was three hundred and seven, of whom one hundred and four- teen were males; and the clear gain in numbers, over all re- movals, was one hundred and fifty-seven. Previous to the year 1838, the only lecture room was the western part of the basement of the church. After the great revival, another "church-room" was neatly prepared and fit- ted up, just over the vestibule of the church, and directly in the rear of the choir gallery. It is difficult for us of to-day to comprehend how the unusually fruitful ministries of two such pastors as Dr. Linsley and Dr. Daggett, should have been so brief. But it is certain that in those days there was "an unhallowed leaven" in this society. A disagreeable if not evil spirit of discontent and faction was continually mak- ing mischief, and bringing discredit upon what, on the whole, was a living and faithful church. There was less growth in this district, at that time and for years after, than in any other part of the city. It languished in that kind of torpor and backwardness that always bring forth thorns and thistles. Then, as now, and ever, it was possible for a few unreasonable and restless people, to bring to nought the desires and devices of a great majority of sensible and earnest Christians. In the summer of 1842, Mr. Daggett asked to be dismissed. As the church by an overwhelming majority declined to grant his request, he stood in his place another year, when, as he insisted on a dismission, a Council was called, by whose ac- tion his pastoral relation was dissolved, June 23d, 1843. Rev. 0. E. Daggett was born in New Haven, Jan. 14th. 1810, graduated at Yale College in 1828, was ordained and installed in Hartford April 12th, 1837, was installed in the First Congregational Church in Canandaigua, X. Y., Jan. 30th, 1845, and in Yale College Church, Oct. 31st, L867, where he still labors. In Oct., 1843, Rev. Joseph H. Towne, of Boston, was called to the pastorate of this church, but without success. 67 In Nov., 1844, special endeavors were made to induce Rev. Adam Reid, of Salisbury, Conn., to settle here, bul they were unsuccessful. In April, 1845, Rev. Walter Clarke received an invitation to become the Pastor of this church. The call was accepted, and Mr. Clarke was installed, June 4th, 1845. Rev. Edward W. Hooker, of East Windsor, preached the installation ser- mon. Dr. Hawes made the installing prayer, Dr. Porter gave the charge to the Pastor, and Dr. Bushnell the right hand of fellowship. In the spring of 1847, measures were taken to build a new Lecture-room. The chapel was dedicated on the evening of Sept. 14th. In the year 1853, extensive alterations and re- pairs of the church edifice were made, by which the audience room was considerably enlarged and improved, and put into substantially its present form and arrangement, although since that time, the building has been thoroughly renewed in its appearance both internally and externally. Early in 1859, Mr. Clarke asked to be dismissed from his pastoral relation. His requesl was granted, and bytheaction of an Ecclesiastical Council, held in Hartford Jan. 28th, L859 his dismission was declared, to take effect on the 31si of Jan. Under his ministry of almosl fourteen years, greal changes occurred in this city. Tins South District began tosbxwi signs of unwonted growth and enterprise. In L840 the population of Hartford (including East and Wesl Hartford.) was about thir- teen thousand. In I860, the population of Hartford alone was nearly thirty thousand. There were several seasons of unusual religious interesl during the ministry of Mr. Clarke. In 1852, fifty-five persons were received to the church on pro- fession of faith. Jn the year L858, sixty-three were ad- mitted. Rev. Walter Clarke, I). I)., was horn in Middletown, Conn., April 5th, l s l_'. was settled over the church in Canterbury, 68 Coiin., in May, 1841 ; was installed as Pastor in this church, June 4th, 1845; in Mercer St. church in New York city, Fcb- liuuv, 1859, and in the First Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, February, 1861. He is personally known to most, if not all the members of this congregation, and it is a chief matter of regret with us to-day, that we are deprived of his presence on this occasion. In May, 1859, Mr. Charles D. Helmer was invited to be- come the Pastor of this church, but declined the invitation, as he had previously declined a similar invitation from the North Church. In October of the same year the present Pastor received and accepted a call to settle here, but did not begin his labors until the new year. He was ordained and installed on the evening of Jan. 11th, 1860, Drs. Hawes, Clarke, Spring, and Harris, and Rev. Messrs. Burton, Webber, and Drummond of ►Springfield, participating in the services. Concerning him and his ministry in this church, another may, in due time, write. He counts it only too high an honor that he is permitted to stand in the line of so long and noble a succession of minis- ters as have, from the first, served God in this church, and, on this occasion, to bring into review and grateful celebration the names, and virtues, and labors of his godly predecessors. The duty of writing the history of this ancient church was so clearly laid upon me by Providence, that not even the pain- ful consciousness of unfitness could justify me in declining it. Whatever may be the degree of my success, 1 have certainly done my best, not to be interesting or entertaining on this oc- casion, but to search out and gather up whatever facts might serve my single purpose, into a plain and orderly narrative that should have, at least, the merit of thoroughness and ac- curacy, and so be, perchance, of some permanent value for the people of this parish. One who comes across the continent from California by rail- road, may not presume to give a comprehensive report of the 69 diverse regions through which his narrow belt of travel runs. So, having followed one particular and narrow line of investi- gation, we have completed our journey over these tracts of time, two hundred years in breadth. Stopping here and there on the route for a moment only, and ever hurrying forward with all speed, as must needs be, only a scanty report, based on a very limited range of observation, can be made of the old-time country in general. That land of "The Long-Ago" is a pleasant land in which to sojourn for awhile. In its twi- light solitudes all is still, and quiet, and restful, and a grateful sense of sacredness and mystery is shed abroad. All things are simple, quaint, and natural there. The ground is holy, for there are the living roots of all the wide-spreading pros- perity of the present age, there are the graves of those holy and heroic men and women, by whose weary toils, and sacri- fices, and sufferings, were sown in tears the precious seeds of all the wide-waving and golden harvest we are reaping with songs. A kind of sweet converse have I had with the good and rev erend men I have met in these old ways. From many a dim and quaintly written page they have smiled upon me. and I have learned a new honor for the fathers and forefathers. Hut be sure of this ! The promised land has not been reached as yet ! The Golden Age is yet to arrive ! Coming down from the year 1670 to the present time, at every station on the road, there are to be seen new signs and splendid prophecies of progress. The unnatural, perhaps then inevitable union of church and state which was the source of most of the woes that afflicted the early colonial churches, ha- Ion-- since been sundered. What hard, and narrow, and poor conditions of life were suffered then ! What privations, exposures, and igno- rance abounded ! Under the outward semblance of a com- pulsory religion, whal sly and serious hypocrisies ! I uder a pernicious system of severe restraints, what mischievous ec- centricities and abnormal types of character were developed! The people of those former days had their lull share of Btrife, and vice, and sin, and suffering. The"g I old times ' were, after all, comparatively dark, dismal, undesirable tun.-. No! 70 only do we live in the midst of material comforts that make our world a new world and our life therein a new life, but we are in the enjoyment of an intellectual light, of a social wel- fare,and of a civil and spiritual freedom, of which the ancients never dreamed. As well as they we know what true religion is, and a thousand times better than they we know what it is not .' Let us thank God and take courage. The fact of a church that is two hundred years old, that dates almost from the first settlement of a wilderness, representing at first the faith and hope of a feeble company of colonists, but living on from age to age as a continuous power for good, gradually gathering into its fold and embracing with its ministrations of mercy and comfort generation after generation, and amid all vicissitudes, still uplifting its holy psalms whose echoes float on in the past forever, touches both our imagination and veneration. Here is the consciousness of an organic life through which the spiritual and moral forces of the distant past act upon us and quicken us. Here dwell the subtle in- spirations of holy memories and associations. Hence "the repose of history" is shed upon our present life. Amid all the revolutions and changes of two centuries, this church has stood unshaken, where its founders placed it, upon the broad and sure "foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." "Without inter- ruption the worship of God has been maintained, the old gospel of the cross preached, and the ordinances of the church administered in her sanctuaries. Pious hands have guarded and kept burning night and day the holy fire that, two hund- red years ago, was kindled upon her altar. Dear, ancient Church ! thou art compassed about with a great cloud of wit- nesses ! God bless thee forever ! Till the Son of Man shall come again in glory mayest thou stand secure on the old foundations, and thy light still shine more and more ! We pray for thy peace, our Jerusalem ! " Peace be within thy walls ! prosperity within thy palaces ! For ray brethren and companions' sakes I will now say, Peace be within thee I" FESTIVAL EXERCISES. Tuesday evening had been set apart for social entertain- ment, and invitations had been given to all past and presenl members of the parish, and to guests from abroad, to be present. A bountiful collation was spread in the parlors of the church, and a score or two of the young ladies of the Society, dressed in the garments of their grandmothers, waited upon the table and served the throng of people with a liberality worthy of the good dames whose mantles they wore. In the upper room of the chapel an old-fashioned dinner table was spread, and the curiosities there displayed attracted universal attention and interest. There were vegetables of all kinds, gigantic doughnuts, pork and beans in a greal iron pot, johnny cake baked in the "old testament " way, vasl expanses of deep, rich pumpkin pie, immense Loaves of rye-bread, and many other old time articles of diet. The utensils on the table were in keeping with the feast. There was the greal pewter plat- ter brought over by Theophilus Eaton, fust Governor of New Haven colony, — a platter which puts to shame all modern Crockery. Then; were pewter mugs and teapots, and some china ware two centuries old, candlesticks, spectacles, and inkstands, while hard by stood old spinning wheels, andirons, &c, &c. There was a large old family Bible of VfDCLX . the last part of the date having been torn away. This Bible is in the possession of Mrs. Julius Gilman, having been given 72 to her by Mrs. Fanny Stedman, lately deceased. Mrs. Sted- man was in the line of descent from Gov. Webster. This old Bible has been in the hands of the Webster family for over two hundred years. It is an interesting relic, and con- tains a curious map of the world. Several of the family have been sailors, and the old Bible has safely made several voyages. Later in the evening the people gathered in the church, and after spending some time in the interchange of social greet- ings and congratulations, and in admiring the beautiful deco- rations, they took seats, and, led by the Pastor, enjoyed a de- lightful hour of singing. This was one of the unpremeditated but pleasantest parts of the whole celebration. Old and young- sat down together in the freest possible way, and lifted up the songs of the church with an unction that is rare indeed. The spirit of God seemed to be sweetly present, and many hearts were moved and many eyes were moistened. About ten o'clock the people quietly dispersed, and the gathering so free, and delightful, and memorable in all respects, was ended. It is not possible to describe such scenes, over which a deli- cate and indescribable charm hovers and floats, and the power of which every heart confesses. We felt ourselves encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses, we breathed in an atmosphere of love, and our songs seemed to come back to us in sweet re- sponses from the world of long ago and from the world above. The home and family feeling was perfect and complete. Many former members of the church and parish were present, some of them aged men and women, and to them especially the house of God was as the gate of heaven. On Wednesday morning, at 9| o'clock, a prayer meeting of great interest was held in the Sunday School room, which was conducted by the Rev. T. L. Shipman of Jewett city, who formerly preached some months in the old South Meeting House. At half past ten o'clock an immense audience filled every nook and corner of the church edifice, to attend the re-union service. One of the chief attractions of this service was an old-fashioned orchestra of violins, bass viols, flutes, clarionetts, &c., &c, which had been gathered to lead a large 73 chorus in singing the old tunes of long ago. The whole choir was under the direction of Mr. Irving Emerson, the organist of the church, who succeeded admirably in carrying out the ideas of the Pastor. His Excellency, Marshall Jewell, the Governor of the State, and a member of this church, was expected to preside at Ibis meeting, but at a late hour a telegram from New Haven an- nounced his unavoidable detention there and his regrets. The Pastor conducted the exercises, and called upon the Rev. A. C. Adams of Wethersfield to offer prayer. Old " Invitation" was then sung : — " Come, my beloved, haste away, Cut short the hours of thy delay, &c." After making a brief address, Mr. Parker read from the church records to the effect that in 1825, Joseph Webster was appointed delegate from this church to attend a Council in New Haven, called to examine and install the Rev. Leonard Bacon, and then introduced Dr. Bacon to the audience. Dr. Bacon's Remarks.* As I saw, last evening, those who wore what they consider- ed to be obsolete styles of dress. I was touched with a feeling which made me realize how Long it is since I was young. It seemed to me that I did not observe one costume that went back of my remembrance. Even the gentleman who wore the long-tailed coat seemed like an old acquaintance, lor I remember well when young men came home from college with the long and narrow skirts of their coats hanging down be- hind them to the calves of their legs. The old-time costumes of those ladies, too. who thought they were arrayed in almosl antediluvian fashions, seemed fresh as well as familiar. In a word, I was mad*; to feel thai my personal recollections run * The report herein given of this speech, and of th thai folio not profess to give much more than the substance of whal was said bj the di - tinguished gentlemen in their unwritten bul eloquent remarks. Thej are • but not fully reported. 74 back to times which are now commonly considered quite re- mote. As I listened to the historical address yesterday, the greater part of that story of two hundred years seemed like a I lid are of events and times which I remember as a part of my own life. To my thought the period over which my per- sonal memory ranges, has more of the world's progress in it, more true advancement of that kingdom which is not of this world but which is to subdue the world, than all the years that lie behind it since the year of our Lord 1670. It lacks five months of fifty-eight years since my first re- membered view of Hartford, — then a beautiful village that proudly called itself a city. The State House, the Bank, and the North Meeting House (now called the Center Church), and here and there a venerable mansion, now long ago trans- ferred to strangers, are almost all that remains of the Hart- ford that I then saw with rustic admiration. So long ago I remember the South Meeting House, standing, according to an old Connecticut fashion, in the middle of the street at the intersection of two roads, and closely resembling, within and without, any ordinary wooden meeting house built in the last century. Not to weary you with merely personal recollections, I will venture to give out one thought connected with the Historical Discourse of yesterday, and illustrated by all the progress of the Congregational Churches in Connecticut, through conflicts and controversies, through storms and calms, and through the ebbs and flows of doctrine and of discipline. My thought is this : — Our Congregational churches, with all the mutual in- dependency inherent in their organization, are one in the unity of their spiritual life, and in their strong tendency to fraternal intercommunion. With no external bond that may not be sundered in a moment, they are one ecclesiastical com- monwealth through all the vicissitudes of their history. When Boston was not yet seven years old, and Hartford had hardly received its name, New England came near to being wrecked in a theological controversy on certain transcendental ques- tions growing out of John Cotton's sublimated Calvinism, — a controversy in which a strong minded woman was the chief 75 agitator, and in which therefore, though the question of woman suffrage was not raised, there was some foreshadowing of woman's rights. So sharp was the contention, that New Eng- land seemed on the verge of ruin ; but, under the providence of God, our infant churches and our infant commonwealths were rescued from that peril, partly at least, by the Pequot war. suddenly bringing them down from their " battle above the clouds" in the dimmest heights of theological speculation, to rough contact with the realities and duties of this "sublunar sphere." The controversy in which this Second Church in Hartford originated was of a different sort, ecclesiastical rather than theological, — a controversy incidental to the develop- ment of the Congregational church-polity, and to the adjust- ment of the relations between ecclesiastical order and the civil commonwealth. The troubles in the Hartford church, and the endeavors to suppress them, became the occasion of bring- ing out into discussion and controversy throughout New Eng- land, some serious questions on which comparatively latenl diversities of opinion had existed from the beginning. The story of those troubles so well narrated yesterday, il- lustrates one characteristic by which Connecticut was distin- guished from the New Haven Colony. In Connecticut, the civil government was continually meddling with the churches. while in theNew Haven Colony there was another arrangement. Old John Davenport had taken care, in the institutions which he founded, that there should be no chance for the State to govern the Church ; and when the ureal hope of his life had failed, and his little commonwealth had been absorbed by Connecticut, he said in his grief, thai k - in New Eaven Colony, Christ's interest was miserably lost." Be sav thai the con- stant intermeddling of the State with church affairs, foreto- kened the coming in of a system which he distinguished from strict and simple Congregationalism, by calling it the " parish way." He had semi that parish way in Eolland as well as in his native country, and he greatlj preferred the " more excellent way," in which the New England Churches walked al the beginning. 76 The fact is that though all the earliest churches of New England were instituted on a Congregational platform, there was already a reaction, caused by influences that came from Old England. Indeed the habits of thinking that tended to such a reaction, came over in the great Puritan migration. The pioneer Pilgrims, who made their settlement at Plymouth two hundred and fifty years ago, were not mere Puritans, but Separatists. They had long before renounced the institution called the Church of England. They recognized no church organization superior to the free congregation of believing worshipers. The idea of a national church co-extensive with the jurisdiction of a nation, and having either Pope or King, or even a General Assembly, was preposterous in their view, and was repudiated as the very body and soul of anti-Christ. But when the great migration came over which founded Bos- ton, ten years later, another element entered into the life of New England. The leading minds in that migration were simply Puritans, members of the reforming party in the na- tional church. Their separation from the church of England Avas identical with their separation from the soil of England. It is not strange that in that great migration there came into New England some ideas more congruous with the theory of a national church than with the theory which impelled the Pil- grims to separation from the ecclesiastical arrangements in their native country. Out of these shreds of the old world system came the reaction against simple Congregationalism. The troubles in the Hartford Church were somehow connect- ed with that reaction. The personal and local difficulty spread out into a general controversy and discussion, and so the reaction went on, till the Synod which assembled in Bos- ton in 1662, gave its approval, by a large majority, to the scheme afterwards known as the " half-way covenant." What was the sequel ? Did the churches of New England divide into two hostile sects ? No ! in a few years every church had come into the practice of " the half-way cove- nant," and the controversy between " Synodists " and " Anti- Synodists," was a thing of the past. 77 The churches went together. As there was no organic and governed unity, there was no place for organized disunion. For twenty years or more, the churches differed on a ques- tion, not of christian faith or christian morals, but of disci- pline and polity, and at last, not by any compact, bul by the force of tendencies which neither party adequately under- stood, they were agreed in their practice. In Connecticut the reaction against simple Congregation- alism went very far. The name Presbyterian became the or- dinary designation of our clergy and our churches, and there were those among the pastors who appear to have used that name, not heedlessly, but with an intelligent purpose. In the days of the half-way covenant, whatever else was neglected, the baptism of children was well attended in. Look- ing into the records of an old church in Fairfield County, nol very long ago, I saw something to this effect. The minister, in his old age, recorded his regret that he had not kept an accurate registry of baptisms, and therefore supplied that de- ficiency by certifying, once for all, that, according to his best knowledge and belief, everybody then living in the parish was baptized, except a few Indians in a remote corner. The prevalence of a practice borrowed from the theory of national churches and incongruous with the spiritual Christi- anity which is the vital foree of Congregationalism, was at last arrested by what is commemorated in our traditions as "The Great Awakening," which had its distinct beginning under the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, at Northampton. As in similar awakenings, so in that there were enthusiasms and extravagances, mistakes both practical and tli etical, many human indiscretions, and much fanaticism, marring God's work. Of course there was agitation I painful conflict- like the convulsive struggles that s stimes accompany the recover} of life in a case of suspended animation. Old topics in the- ology were reconsidered in new Lights, and in those di ions, the underlying theology of the half-way covenant, and of all its outgrowth, was called inquestion. We can see how it happened that in the elaboration and gradual prevalence ol 78 the system which then went by the name of "New Divinity."' the practice of the churches, admitting confessedly unregen- erate persons to sacramental privileges, was gradually changed. The old notion, tacitly assumed and acted upon, was that if a man had learned the catechism, and was ready to bind himself by covenant to an outward conformity with the recognized standard of good morals, he had done all he could do, and as for any inward experience of religion he must pa- tiently wait, — and that having done all he could, he might have the benefit of baptism for his children, and, whenever he desired it, the benefit of the Lord's Supper for himself. But the Great Awakening, with the theological discussions that followed it, brought in a very different view, — namely, that if a man to whom the Gospel has been preached is un- regenerate in heart, his deficiency in that respect is not his misfortune but his fault. When Edwards, and the New Eng- land theologians of his school, had hammered out on the anvils of controversy their doctrine about the worthlessness of " unregenerate doings," and the sinfulness of unregenerate waiting, the practice of the half-way covenant gradually ceased in one church after another, and full half a century ago the last traces of it vanished. Similar to this has been the story of other and later con- troversies. Differences of opinion have sometimes been ac- companied with painful feelings of alarm, and have even ex- pressed themselves in denunciation. But our characteristic freedom of thought and discussion makes no permanent divis- ion. Under the polity which substitutes the comity of the churches and their free communion with each other, in the place of a common government over the churches, parties are only temporary. Each of our controversies, ancient or re- cent, has had its stormy day, and then has been followed by a calm. The testimony of all these ages is that our churches, •• distinct as the billows yet one as the sea," are held together in a vital unity safer and stronger than any outward bond of coercive authority. I must not sit down without saying a few words concerning those deceased pastors in this church, whose persons and min- 79 istries I remember. When I first saw the old meetinghouse, the Rev. Abel Flint (afterwards, by the favor of Onion College, Dr. Flint,) was performing his ministry here. His name was already venerable to me, for I had read it again and again in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, and it stands to-day written with his own hand on the title page of the pocket bible which he gave to my father setting out for his mission in the wilderness. The first time I spoke to the majesty of Dr. Flint, was when I went to his house to be examined for admission to the Grammar School. He was one of the Trustees, and to him the office was no sinecure, for he often came to sec how the school was going on, and to examine us in our Latin or < rreek. The boys rather liked toseehim come, — we liked his beaming face, and his sonorous voice, for there was evidenl kindness under his impressive dignity. He was a man whom nobody could meet on the pavement without taking particular notice of him. To see him marching up Main Street with his ivory- headed cane, in his clerical dress which was antique even then, would gladden the eyes of a modern Ritualist. 1 remember the black coat of a somewhat Quakerish cut, the black japan- ned buttons, the knee-buckles and shoe-buckles, the blue cloak too, that enveloped his stately figure in colder weather, and the broad-brim hat on the short, snow-white hair which, by contrast, made his smoothly shaven face seem more florid. We heard yesterday how critical was the time of his ministry here, and how successful he was, taking the church at a ti when it was smaller than ever before, and leaving it larger than it had everbeen before. Ee was more a man of culture than of genius, with a polished style of writing, with a grace- ful and impressive oratory, and with a perfeel observance of all pulpit proprieties. Ee was fastidiously correel in his pronunciation, and his example in all doubtful words was con sidered authoritative. I remember thai when Dr. Gallaudel returned from Europe, and the Asylum was aboul to be com- menced, there was a great religious meeting, in whal is tiov called the Center Church, to inaugurate the enterprise. On that occasion, from the lips of thai accomplished and < ; 80 speaker, I first heard the word deaf pronounced def. Evi- dently that was the accepted English pronunciation. (I am so old that I say deaf, and always shall.) But Dr. Flint was not too stiff to learn, and in his part of the services that eve- ning, he was learning the new pronunciation. The phrase "deaf and dumb," came in of course, very frequently, and sometimes, inadvertently, he said deaf, and then when he thought of it, he said def. But from that time forward, I dare say, he always used the new pronunciation. The last time I saw him was when I happened to be here at the ordin- ation of his successor. It could not but be in some respects a sad occasion to him, but he rejoiced in it. Well might he rejoice, leaving the church as he did, and longing for its pros- perity in the future. Of all the men that I have known famil- iarly, it seems to me that Joel Harvey Linsley was most man- ifestly characterized by " godly sincerity," — by christian sim- plicity, grave and sweet, — by kindness of spirit tempering a healthy abhorrence of whatever is mean and wrong, — by earnestness to do the Master's will, — by all spiritual graces adorning and sanctifying the native strength of a mind well disciplined in various studies. My first acquaintance with him was when he came to Andover, not long before his ordin- ation, for a few weeks of study after his relinquishment of the legal profession, and from that time to the end of his long and ever busy life, I loved him. His pastorate here, though not a long one, was an eminent and timely blessing to this ancient church. Here may his memory ever shed a saintly frao-rance ! At the close of Dr. Bacon's remarks, the old tune " New Jerusalem" was sung: — "From the third heavens where God resides. That holy happy place, &c.," The Pastor then introduced the Rev. 0. E. Daggett, D. D., former Pastor of the church, of whose extremely interesting- remarks only a brief and fragmentary report can be given. 81 Dr. Daggett's Remarks. He said though he was ordained pastor of this church in 1837, he came to Hartford in 1824, and was a school boy in the Hopkins grammar school preparatory to entering Yale College. He spoke of the early efforts alluded to by other speakers to take this church from orthodoxy, and said he had understood that there were in the congregation men who were rough and profane, yet who said that funds given for ortho- doxy should not be given for anything else. He inferred from this that men who are not of the church, often feel more in- terest in it than they are sometimes willing to confess. It was thirty-four years ago when he yielded to a call of the church, though he had furnished a stated supply for several months before. The first time he came he heard Dr. Patten preach three times in one Sabbath, for the people in those days could hear three sermons as well as they can now hear one. It was not in this pulpit that he preached, but in the old ma- hogany* affair, which has been cut down and is now used in the lecture room : and he wanted t<> put in a protest against these remodeled pulpits, in front of which no communion table is kept, probably for architectural effect, though he believed the symbols of the Lord's Supper should be kept in view. In those days he was on exc lingly pleasanl terms with Dr. Hawes, with whom he often look long walks for exercise, ami exchanged with him on such occasions, that a lady of his church once asked why il always rained when Dr. Hawes preached for him. He alluded to Dr. Linsley as a model pastor. Did you ever think thai ministers have no pastors? Oh,thatthej might always have sonic one on whom they could lean and in times of tribulation say, " Pray lor me." This he enlarged somewhat upon in a touching manner, saying Dr. Ian- ley was jnsl such a man a. he would have lor hi- pastor. Dr. Vanarsdalen, also a former pastor, was alluded to, as a child of impulse, whose course waa clouded, yet a mi f generous impulses, full of tenderness. When he. < the speak 6 82 er) left the church it had 406 members, and of all of them, just five-eighths had become members during his pastorate. The whole number of admissions was 307, an average of 51 each year, and of these 218 were by profession. The season of his pastorate was one of fruitfulness, and it is noticeable that of the admissions to the church in 1838, one-half were baptized. During his ministry, 116 were baptized, an average of 17 a year. In May, 1838, 110 persons were added to the church on profession. He proceeded to give a very interesting ac- count of the great revival of that year, when the spirit of God pervaded all the churches, and he mentioned the singu- lar fact, that in five months while this revival lasted, there was not a case of serious sickness or one of death in the church, and in each one of the congregations God subse- quently took one of the ingathered flock to himself. At the close of these remarks, the old tune " Complaint " was sung : " Spare us, O Lord, aloud wc cry, Nor let our sun go down at noon, &<•.," Rev. Horace Bushnell, D.D., was then introduced, and spoke briefly, as follows : Dr. Bushnell's Remarks. Recollections appear to be the kind of contributions most demanded here, and most naturally given, as they are certain- ly most appropriate to the occasion; but I have none to give. My friend, Dr. Bacon, thought he could remember a good part of these two centuries, but I am so much older than he, that I don't remember anything. I have an indistinct recollec- tion that when I came in hither, as a boy, to get sight of so great a city, I saw the old wooden Meeting House standing out, hereabouts, in the street, but whether it was a whole thousand years back, I would not trust my memory to say. As brother Parker went on yesterday in the faithfully re- cited story of his Discourse, picturing the stormy times of our church fathers in their little, new-born, scarcely settled com- munity, and showing out of what contentions, embittered by what asperities, this Second Church took its separate form and began a history of its own, I could but say, " this is their Book of Judges,"— shewing how Israel, just planted and not yet settled in any terms of order, fell backward into comparative anarchy, how their manners and moralities ran low, and how the joints of society were loosened for a fearful lurch towards barbarism. It reminded me sharply as need be of what I once under- took to show, under "Barbarism the first Danger," for a text ; — that there is a transitional age in the history of every new people, commonly in the second or third generations, when they wear a sadly deteriorated look. But there is a re- covery shortly, and the barbaric excesses of the Judges give way to the finely advanced, new era of Samuel and David. So it has been in all our New England communities, and so it shortly began to be here, as the story was given, in our wretch- edly distracted church community of Hartford. But God mercifully bridged the gulf for us, and finally brought us safe over out of a troubled past into a goodly present, where < in Id- took the ascendent again ; — permitting us to dwell in peace, behold the decencies, and share the amenities, and take confi- dence in the recovered moralities of life. And having thus come up out of our rough, wild age, and the dangers included in so great poverty and coarseness of life, how shall we better thank God, than to ask how we may best turn off another danger, on the other side, from our children, — how we may save them from being precipitated into the fearfully worse dangers of luxury, dissipation, godless unbelief, and profligacy . •lust a word now in regard to the unmentioned people of the story. Our brother Moore, referring, in the prayer meeting this morning, to the large gaps in the church records which the Historical Discourse deplored, reminded us that whole gene- rations in the membership were thus Losl ; who the} wereand where their dust reposes never < an be known. Bui it' we hud their names, scarcely more would be known. The body of Moses, — where was it laid ? And if his name too had been hidden as his body was, would he not still have lived in his people by all his works ? So these unmentioned onesofyour 84 church-story are living in you here to-day, — as truly they that were in the gaps of the records, as they whose names are pre- served. These names tell you little, and it is only a very few of them, four or five in a generation, that ever come out to be so much as spoken by their syllables. And yet all these unmentioned, or scarcely mentioned ones are yet truly alive, so much even as they once were here, and for one, I love especially to give them greeting at such times ; for it is their special merit, it may be, — their self-forgetting and unforward modesty — that has veiled them. And what more could their names signify, when all they did and were is alive in you, now waiting to be owned and cherished by your tenderest homage ? Another point is to be remembered : — Considering the lact that our generations increase in a geometrical ratio, there are probably now as many as one or two hundred thousand peo- ple somewhere living, that were issued from this flock, and who, as you may say, were born here, though they know you not. Some of them never heard of this South Church, but they have South Church ingredients in them, that for these generations past have been distilling from such works and prayers as could fitly be a propagated blessing. Put now these last unmentioned and the unmentioned of the old time together, and imagine how they will sometime meet, and how you yourselves will meet them as the before and after of your story ! When you all stand face to face in this great time coming, what a bringing together will it be ! You will make how many beautiful discoveries, that will put your hearts ringing with joy, and it will be a gathering together into what high brotherhood of love and acknowledged obliga- tion for eternity ! Mr. Parker then, in a few words, returned thanks to all who have contributed in any way to the perfect success of the anniversary exercises ; to the multitudes who have come nj> hither to our jubilee ; to the people who have labored so de- votedly and patiently to make all suitable preparations for this (!) £