USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > A historical discourse delivered in Norwich, Connecticut, September 7, 1859, at the bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of the town > Part 2
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tTrumbull, Col. Rec. i, 374.
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those freemen that were presented to the Court in October, from Norwidge, shall be accepted and sworn by o' Worp" Deputy Gou"."#
In this independent republic of Norwich, every thing appears to have been managed by the whole body politic. We can hardly consider Mr. Fitch as an ecclesiastical head, for he was so thoroughly im- bued with the principles of congregationalism, that at his ordination in Saybrook, the lay brethren laid hands upon him, although two ministers, Rev. Mr. Hooker and Rev. Mr. Stone, were present. Much less can we consider Major Mason as the civil head of the town, for during the early period of the Norwich set- tlement, the nominal Governor, John Winthrop, was absent in England, soliciting a charter for Connecticut, and of course the actual Governor was Major Mason, who thus, and otherwise, was so much engrossed with the affairs of the General Court, that he could not even attend to the local duties of a townsman.
Happy are we, my friends, to-day, at the opening of a third century, that the successor of Mason as the Chief Magistrate of Connecticut, is another citizen of Norwich; happier still are we to know that none could fill that chair more worthily. Since the con- queror of the Pequots was the governor of the state, one other Norwich man has held that honorable
* Trumbull, Col. Rec. i, 406.
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post, and he was a signer of the Declaration of In- dependence.
But although Fitch and Mason were not the rulers. they were certainly the leaders of the infant settle- ment. To them we are chiefly indebted for the plans which shaped the early institutions of the town, and still affect, far more than we usually remember, our social organization. Plymouth may point to Elder Brewster and Miles Standish; Hartford to Hooker and Haynes; New Haven to Davenport and Eaton; it is our privilege to remember that the pastor and the statesman of Norwich were kindred in spirit, and not inferior in power to any of the early worthies of New England. The rude stones which marked the graves of the original settlers buried in this town, have been permitted to perish. Is it not that the loss may incite the present generation to erect a more fitting memo- rial of our forefathers, and especially of those two men. the representatives of Church and State, the chosen guides of a brotherhood of freemen ?
You are all aware that the infant colony made choice of what we know as the "meeting house rocks." as the central point of their settlement. At the foot of this cliff they set apart, for the house of God, land which forms a part of the present "up town green." To this, more land was afterward added, while the other significant buildings of a New England town. the
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. court house, the school house, and the house of enter- tainment, in due time were grouped around it. From this point of departure they projected one road near the banks of the Yantic, up toward what we call " Bean Hill," (sometimes called, on the early records, the "road to Connecticut,") and another toward the cove, which, on account of swamps, was necessarily directed at a greater distance from the river, and passed along in front of the Coit and Lathrop houses. Near the site appropriated to the meeting house, the home lot of Rev. James Fitch was placed, and across the road was the land of Major Mason, on which the old court house now stands. To the east of Mr. Fitch's land, were the home lots of Simon Huntington and Thomas Tracy, and (on the corner) of Christopher Huntington. Then, on the road leading south, were the home lots of Adgate, Olmstead, Backus, Bliss, Reynolds, and opposite the Bliss lot was that of Thomas Leffingwell.
Returning to Major Mason's lot on the town plot. we find, in succession, between the road leading to Bean Hill and the water, the lands of Waterman, Bingham, John Post, Birchard, Wade, Bowers, Gager, Thomas Post, Edgerton, Backus, Caulkins, Griswold, Allyn, Royce, Baldwin, Tracy, and Pease. Several of these homesteads have never been deeded, and remain in the possession of the original families, although in some such cases the name of the first
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proprietor has disappeared. On one home lot, at least. and possibly more, the original name is found to this day. I refer to the homestead of Bliss. Bliss in 1659; Bliss in 1859 ; no bad motto for a Norwich home.
A new division of land was made in April, 1661 ; another in 1663; still another in 1668; and the final division was made in 1740. The present road running near the river, in front of the residence of Hon. Jomm T. Wait, was at first only a foot way, six feet broad. laid out by town order.
New families soon came to identify their fortunes with those of the prosperous colony, and many names. still held in honor among you, were added to the roll of proprietors. It is interesting to find that the son of Miles Standish, the son of Governor Bradford. the grandchildren of Elder Brewster, the niece of Governor Winslow, and still others of pilgrim fame at Plymouth. were early enrolled as inhabitants of Norwich. A little later came the son of the Rev. John Lothropp. pastor of the first congregational church in London. and long a prisoner for his faith. So, too, came the descendants of another martyr, not less famous, Rev. John Rogers, the precise number of whose children having long been disputed by the students of the New England primer, has at last been determined in chan- cery by our distinguished "cousin," late Chancellor of New York. Bushnell, Rockwell, Knight, Perkins, E !- derkin, Roath, Rudd, Flint, and Coit, are among the
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other names which may be mentioned as early found in town.
It is not difficult to imagine the simple occurrences of the first half century, aided by the facts which come to us on the records of the town. Early encourage- ment was given to the miller, the fuller, the smith, and the ferryman, to pursue their respective occupa- tions, and in 1680, for the first time, a merchant is spoken of. The church had frequent meetings, and at periods not far apart the accepted freemen assembled to deliberate on such important business as the laying out of roads, surveying boundaries, investigating the character of new men who desired to be received as citizens, negotiating with the Indians, electing dele- gates to the general court, or appointing fit incum- bents to the local office of townsmen. Occasionally, Major Mason would come home from a distant journey with interesting stories of the people he had met, or the whole community would be excited by the print- ing of a sermon by Mr. Fitch.
The worthy minister, in addition to his labors as pastor of the church, acted continually as a missionary to the Indians. He mastered their language and preached in it, at times encouraged in his apostolic labors " for the heathen," as he called them, and at other times almost if not quite discouraged. An in- teresting account of his work, written by himself in 1674, and addressed to Rev. Daniel Gookin, may be
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found in print.# Can any one doubt that the interest in foreign missions for which this town has been noted. was awakened by Mr. Fitch, and has been fostered ever since by the sight of that needy band still taught in the mission chapel at Mohegan ?
I have already said that the first manuscript records of the church have perished. One curious printed document has lately been discovered, bearing date in 1675, which is interesting in its relation to the history of these times. The only complete copy with which I am acquainted, belongs to Mr. George Brinley, of Hartford, who has kindly permitted mne to bring it before you. It is an old fashioned duodecimo of 133 pages, printed in 1683, bearing on its title page the autographs of Increase Mather and of Mather Byles. It contains three distinct treatises; the first, "an ex- planation of the solemn advice, recommended by the council in Connecticut colony to the inhabitants in that jurisdiction"; and the third, "a brief discourse proving that the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath." Both of these are attributed to Mr. Fitch. Appended to the former is " THE COVENANT, which was solemnly renewed by the church in Norwich, in Con- necticut colony, in New England, March 22, 1675." The volume is introduced by a letter from Increase Mather "to the reader," in which he says that " the reverend and worthy author had no thought of pub-
* See the Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1st Ser. i. 208.
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lishing. these brief and nervous discourses until such time as others did importune him thereunto," and pro- ceeds to comment on their scope and character.
The circumstances which attended this "renewal" are worthy of mention. The war with King Philip was, then raging. Norwich, though much exposed by its situation on the frontier, had freely contributed more than its quota to the active army; so freely, indeed, that the general court sent on from Hartford ten men, from New Haven eight, and from Fairfield eight, "to lye in garrison at Norwich," as a guard to the inhabitants. So great was the danger in those days, that the watch in each plantation was ordered, " at least an hour before day, to call up the inhab- itants, who should forthwith rise and arm themselves, march to the fort, and stand guard against any assault of the enemy until the sun be half an hour high in the morning." Under these circumstances, on the 13th of March, 1675, Mr. Fitch addresses the council in Hart- ford .*
After acknowledging the receipt of a letter from the council, with their order for a fast day, he continues, " blessed be the Lord who hath moved your hearts in so necessarie and seasonable worke. We intend, God willing, to take that very daye, solemnly to renew our covenant in our church state, according to the example in Ezra's time, and as was sometimes practised in
* Trumbull, Col. Rec. ii, 417. See note H.
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Hartford congregation by Mr. Stone, not long after Mr. Hooker's death. If other churches doc not see cause to doe the same, yet wee hope it will not bee offen- sive ; but doe verily conclude if y' be rule for yt prac- tise, this is a time wherein the Providence of God does in a knocking and terrible manner call for it."
The covenant evinces the same spirit, and to some extent it employs the same phrases as this letter. After a general recognition of the displeasure of God. as displayed "by blasting the fruits of the earth and cutting off the lives of many by the sword, laying waste some plantations and threatening ruin to the whole," the covenant is renewed in seven particulars. which may be condensed as follows:
1. All the males who are eight or nine years of age shall be presented before the Lord in his congregation every Lord's day to be catechised, until they be about thirteen in age.
2. Those who are about thirteen years of age, both male and female, shall frequent the meetings appoint- ed in private for their instruction, while they continue under family government or until they are received to full communion in the church.
3. Adults who do not endeavor to take hold of the covenant shall be excommunicated.
4. Brethren shall be appointed to admonish those parents who are negligent of their children.
5. The Lord's supper shall be celebrated once in every six weeks.
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6. Erring brethren are to be rebuked.
7. Finally, " seeing we feel by woful experience how prone we are soon to forget the works of the Lord, and our own vows; we do agree and determine, that this writing or contents of it, shall be once in every vear read in a day of fasting and prayer before the Lord, and his congregation; and shall leave it with our children, that they do the same in their solemn days of mourning before the Lord, that they may never forget how their fathers, ready to perish in a strange land, and with sore grief and trembling of heart, and yet hope in the tender mercy, and good will of him, who dwelt in the burning bush, did thus solemnly renew their covenant with God: and that our children after us, may not provoke the Lord and be cast off as a degenerate offspring, but may tremble at the commandment of God, and learn to place their hope in him, who although he hath given us a cup of astonishment to drink, yet will display his banner over them, who fear him."
Such was the spirit of Norwich, in 1675.
Who among this audience has not had his enthu- siasm quickened by the glowing tributes of Macaulay to the Puritans, or the eloquent eulogies by Bancroft ? But this little volume, a library in itself, shows that your own ancestors were men of the character which these historians describe. "In his devotional retire- ment the puritan prayed with convulsions, and groans
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and tears. He was half maddened by glorious or terrible allusions. He heard the lyres of angels or the tempting whispers of fiends. But when he took his seat in the council or girt on his sword for war, these tempestuous workings of the soul had left no perceptible trace behind them."
There is abundant reason for asserting that Mr. Fitch and his associates were men of action equal to their piety. £ In the colonial records, their names ap- pear continually in connection with measures for pro- tecting this portion of the country. The Norwich soldiers were many and brave, and the story of their achievements, during the exciting time of King Philip's war, will always prove that their religion was not alone in repose, their fighting was not without faith.
At the close of the century, after a ministry in Say- brook of fourteen years, and in Norwich of almost forty years, unbroken by dissension or separation, sup- ported by the grateful sympathy of devout and faith- ful men, Mr. Fitch gave up his pastoral duties, under the infirinity of age and weakness, retired to his chil- dren at Lebanon, and in 1702, at the ripe age of four score years, was gathered to his fathers. The Latin epitaph on his tombstone at Lebanon well indicates his character, and Cotton Mather, in all his affluent use of epithets, could apply to him none truer and more fit than "The Holy and Acute !" #
We may here consider that the first period of Nor-
* See note G.
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. wich history terminates. Forty years had passed, a new generation had entered upon the stage, the fathers were gone. We pass accordingly from the settlement to the development of the town.
Mr. Fitch had been unable to preach regularly for some years before his death, and much difficulty had been experienced in obtaining a successor in the ministry. There were candidates enough-perhaps as many in proportion as in these later days-but the church had been too well served to be readily con- tented with an untried pastor, and besides, unless I mistake the allusions of the early records, the spirit of pure congregationalism, fostered by Mr. Fitch, and displayed unmistakably in after times, was even then so apparent that a minister, inclined to favor the presbyterian order, might hesitate before accepting the pastoral office in that church. A son of Rev. James Fitch, afterwards distinguished as Rev. Jabez Fitch," of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was first sent for and brought home from "the college," but he did not decide to remain. Mr. Henry Flynt .; another recent graduate of Harvard College, was also invited to become the minister; and so was Mr. Joseph Coit .¿ a little younger in college than the two just named; but they both declined. Mr. Emery and Mr. Morgan were likewise spoken of as candidates. At length,
* Harvard Coll. 1694. t Harvard Coll. 1693.
# Harvard Coll. 1697.
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(December 6th, 1699,) Rev. John Woodward, of Ded- ham, Mass., was ordained as pastor, and remained in that office for seventeen years. It was during hi- ministry in 1708, that the famous Saybrook platform was adopted, and he was a scribe of the synod by which it was drawn up. On returning to Norwich. he naturally desired to have his own church adopt with heartiness this platform, and acknowledge a system of consociation among churches which would render them less independent and more presbyterian than they had previously been.
Mr. Fitch, so early as 1668, had been at the head of a council appointed by the general court, for the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs, which appears to have been pacific in its influence, and to have con- firmed the pure congregationalism of the day .; But the synod of 1708 was very different in its influence. and the Saybrook platform led to unfortunate dis- cussions, both here and elsewhere, between ministers and people. In Norwich, notwithstanding the au- thority of the general court, the wishes of the Gov- ernor, and the influence of the scribe of the synod, the church remained true to the Cambridge platform, and decided to acknowledge no ecclesiastica! authority but
* Harvard Coll., 1693. These were the days when Connecticut contril- uted nen and money to the institution at Cambridge. Yale College was not founded till 1700.
t Trumbull, Col. Rec. ii, 84, 109.
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God and their own judgment. I will not attempt to go over the details of this unfortunate controversy. It resulted (in 1716) in the withdrawal of Mr. Wood- ward from his connection with the church, and his removal to East Haven, where he lived in retirement till his death in 1746.
The troubles in the church were healed by calling to the pastoral charge a singularly judicious man, the Rev. Benjamin Lord," a native of Saybrook, who had been a student and tutor in Yale College. He was ordained in this place in 1717. A man of learning and wisdom, as well as devoutness of heart, he suc- ceeded in securing the confidence of all parties to such a degree, that we have his own assurance of his inabili- ity to tell which was most friendly to him. "In his pastoral intercourse," says Dr. Samuel Nott, "he was an example of dignity, affability, affection, and fidelity."
During the ministry of Dr. Lord, two religious ex- citements pervaded the community. The first to which allusion is made was caused by the Rogerenes, who originated in New London, and deemed it their special mission to abolish priestcraft and Sunday.t 'Their feeble influence in Norwich is worthy only of this passing mention. Not so with "the Separates,"
* Yale Coll. 1714. See note I.
t See Dr. MeEwen's Half Century Discourse, New London, 1857, and Miss Caulkins's New London.
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who, at a later day, made serious trouble, not in Nor- wich alone, but throughout eastern Connecticut. in the churches of the established order. The general history of this movement has been so often described that I shall only refer to those incidents which are of interest in connection with this town .*
When "the great awakening" of the last century began, Dr. Lord visited Northampton, in 1735, that he might listen to the eloquence of Jonathan Edwards. and be an eye witness of the results which followed his powerful sermons. Upon his return to Norwich. he reported what he had seen and heard, to his people. "on whom," says Dr. Trumbull, " it had a great effect." An exhortation for the communion service, preserved by one of his descendants, is indorsed, in his own hand- writing, with a record which clearly shows the depth of'his own feelings in December, 1735. Five years later, Whitefield began his preaching in New England, and the revival of 1740 followed. Dr. Lord is men- tioned by Trumbull, among " the reverend gentlemen who most favored the work in Connecticut," at this time, " while others opposed it with all their power ;" but he is not included among the four clergymen "who were most zealous and laborio is in the cause. who took the most pains and spent the most property in the service of their master." He was probably one of the moderate men, really desirous of the advance-
* See note K.
t Hist. of Conn. ii, 157.
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ment of religion, who neither approved of the extrava- gance sometimes displayed by Whitefield and often manifested by his indiscreet follower, James Daven- port ; while, on the other hand, he heartily rejoiced in the awakening of careless men to a concern for their highest welfare. In his own church he appears to have taken a medium position between those who displayed fanaticism and those who were repelled to the other extreme of coldness and displeasure. Many of the proceedings of the zealous were injudicious, and some of them appear to us irreverent, if not blasphemous.
The church endeavored to check these irregularities; but those who were censured were only driven to a farther distance. They refused to pay their rates for the regular minister or to attend the services which he conducted. They openly opposed the existing laws of the state, and determined to hold "separate" meetings. We therefore find that not only an eccle- siastical but a civil arm was raised against them.
As early as 1742, there are indications of this de- termination to interfere with the established church order. The church records of this year have a ref- erence to " the dreadful expressions " made by an ex- cited zealot at a night meeting; and some imprison- ments were made by the civil authorities.
But it was not until 1745 that the controversy be- tween "the new lights" and "the old lights" assumed
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a serious character. A separate meeting was then begun at the house of Hugh Calkins, and attended by several members of the church, male and female. Among the number were Elizabeth Backus, (widow of Samuel,) and her son Isaac, who afterward became a distinguished Baptist minister, and is well known as the author of a history of New England, chiefly devoted to ecclesiastical affairs.# Some of the private papers of Rev. Dr. Lord, which have recently been discovered and are carefully preserved by his suc- cessor, the Rev. Mr. Arms, contain minute details in respect to the action of the church at this time. Not only are the records of the meetings full, but the formal citations of the delinquent members are pre- served with the indorsements of the brethren by whom they were returned. Regular church meetings for purposes of discipline were held at frequent intervals. Every separating brother and sister appears to have been privately warned of his error, and (unless he renounced it) to have been cited to appear before the church. There, in solemn assembly, the reasons of each one's separation were deliberately heard, and a minute of them made. They were afterward, one by one, discussed by the brethren, and a vote taken in respect to their sufficiency. The "half-way covenant " was clearly one of the stumbling blocks of the se- ceders.
* See Hovey's Life of Isaac Backus, Boston, 1858.
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This sad controversy continued about ten years from 1745, but was most serious during the first two. Several churches were established, but none of them were long continued. "Most of the members," says Miss Caulkins, "returned to their ancient home and were received with cordiality. Among these was the venerable deacon Griswold. It created considerable emotion in the meeting house, when, for the first time after his secession, his gray locks were seen in the old man's seat." We can now see the cause of these diffi- culties, and the permanent good which came from them. The revival was only the occasion which brought out a hostility long existing to the rigorous exactments of the statutes of the state, in respect to ecclesiastical affairs and the maintenance of the estab- lished order. The repeal, in 1743, of " the act for the relief of sober consciences," and the consequent pro- ceedings of the legislature, intensified this opposition. "At the same time," says Dr. Trumbull, "the severe and extraordinary act of the colony, enforcing the constitution by law, which never was designed and was undoubtedly inconsistent with the right of con- science, gave further ground of disaffection to the constitution, and of separation from the standing churches."
There can be no doubt that the whole movement of the Separates, while it may be characterized as revolutionary, and perhaps fanatical, led throughout
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the state to a recognition of the principles of civil and religions liberty in which we all rejoice. Those who differ from the existing churches now, have all the freedom they desire. That point has been settled . for ever. But it should not be supposed that the Separates caused our present freedom ; they were only the occasion, as we have said, of changes in the laws. Such changes would certainly have been made if these exciting movements had not provoked them. The germ lay farther back than the days of the little congregation in the Grover house;# even farther back than the early separation of the Puritans in the days of non-conformity. It was at least as old as Luther.
Important as these ecclesiastical discussions un- doubtedly were, they did not occupy our fathers to the exclusion of politics and business.
The development of trade -even commerce with foreign countries, of which " up town" was the em- porium; the subsequent and consequent growth of Chelsea, or " the landing ;" the difficulties which arose in respect to building a bridge across the cove; the long protracted Mohegan controversy ; the organiza- tion of new ecclesiastical societies; the beginnings of Bozrah, Lisbon and Franklin ; the manumission of slaves ; the mission of Samson Occum and the Rev.
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