USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 40
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Mr. Willis, though a graduate in 1715 of the Connecticut Collegiate Institute at Saybrook (later Yale College), was a strong adherent of the Cambridge Platform (1648) as distinguished from the Saybrook Platform (1708), which quite pleased his people for twenty-six years. But by that time friction arose in the parish ; Saybrook adherents made trouble. "Separatist" movements were under way and, in spite of the powerful revivals of the Great Awakening, the pastorate came to an end in 1750.
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But about the time of the founding of this strong daughter of the Norwich church, a new pastor came to that church, Rev. Benjamin Lord, who was ordained November 20, 1717, also, at the first, a strong opponent of the Say- brook Platform. On April 30th of that same year the church had voted to sustain itself by contributions rather than by the old State-Church rate, anticipating the Old First at New London by ten years. We note a revival in 1721 and great activity during the times of the Great Awakening, which was judiciously favored by Mr. Lord, who, however, revolted at many of the eccentricities that arose.
The Lisbon church (Newent) was organized in 1723 with Rev. Daniel Kirkland, whose pastorate lasted until 1752.
We now turn back again to the southern part of the county and to the First Church at New London. The remarkable ministry of Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall terminated by his election to the governorship. It was followed by the still more fruitful ministry of Rev. Eliphalet Adams, extending from 1709 to 1753. He was the last pastor ordained by the township, showing the changing order, as church and State began to be separated. Three hundred and eighty-seven persons were added to the church membership during this long ministry. The powerful revival interest incident upon the Great Awak- ening impressed itself upon the old church, especially in 1740-41. The Half- Way Covenant, introduced into the church during the previous pastorate, still continued, although there was a manifest difference between those ad- mitted on deep conviction during the revival period. The children of all those living exemplary lives and whose ancestors had made a "serious pro- fession of religion" were baptized.
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In October, 1772, the North Parish (Montville) was constituted a dis- tinct parish, the church organized, and Rev. James Hillhouse installed as pastor. He continued in this position for fifteen years. His successor, Rev. David Jewett, was ordained October 3, 1739. A dance (strange to say) and a supper gave this occasion the title of the "Ordination Ball."
The East Lyme (Niantic) church was organized in 1724, its parish being known as "The Second Ecclesiastical Society of Lyme," with Rev. George Griswold as pastor. This minister, of high social rank and a graduate of Yale College, was a strong preacher and widely useful as a spiritual leader.
On January 23, 1727, the Old First Church of Christ in New London formally broke away from the old order of township direction and organized the "First Ecclesiastical Society of New London," an incorporated body which took over the financial responsibility for the conduct of the church, as distinguished from the old plan of universal taxation for the support of the ministry. The other churches of the county did the same. This placed the churches of other denominations on an equal footing financially and the new day was ushered in.
In 1727 a "Relief" law was passed by the General Assembly of the Colony, exempting the members of the Church of England from compulsory attendance on the Puritan State-Church and payment of minister's rates, provided there was a regularly ordained Church of England minister estab- lished and performing the duties of his office.
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The revolution or evolution involved in this change went down to the roots of the matter. It did not come suddenly, but spread steadily all over the county, the Colony (later State) and New England. It was in harmony with the growing democracy, and came as a matter of justice and common sense. We have noted all along the tendencies to break away from the old established order of things, as "Separatist" congregations sprang up in almost every section of the county. Good Yankee common sense prevailed. A glimpse of it is seen in the provisions of the "Saybrook Platform," where other possible types of religious organization were clearly in mind. The close proximity of Rhode Island, with its broader handling of this same problem from the first, doubtless had a strong influence. The lack of a Biblical New Testament precedent for the old New England order was a weakness. Doubt- less, too, the mighty upheaval of the Great Awakening had much to do with the structural change of organized church life. A new individualism pervaded the community, and the church life felt the transformation. A State-Church more and more seemed an inconsistency. Other denominations were pressing in, even though their adherents were asked to pay the church tax for the regular ministry. Two Baptist churches and one Episcopalian church were already firmly established within the county and others came thick and fast. The story, whose brief outline we are following, now breaks up into strictly denominational divisions, which we must trace out one by one.
III. THE CONGREGATIONAL DENOMINATION IN NEW LONDON COUNTY
The Congregational churches in the territory of what is now known as New London county, at the time of the gradual transition from the position of a State-Church to the independent status of its sister denominations, num- bered about a score, the most of which were under the leadership of strong pastors. These took over by natural inheritance all that had been developing in the religious activities in more strictly pioneer days. The advantages in this situation clearly outbid the disadvantages and gave the denomination a powerful leadership with all its responsiblities.
It is hard to date the beginnings of the transition, for this was largely left to local conditions. The movement seems to have been accelerated by the "Great Awakening" and the sense of fair-dealing with the groups of worshippers outside the State-Church. Out of it all came, among other things, our Congregational autonomy. Its story begins clearly in the Colonial period (1737-1783). From then to 1852 came the period of theological conflict, the establishment of theological seminaries, reconstruction after the Revolu- tion, evangelical revivals, revived study of the Bible through Sunday schools, and the upbuilding of missionary societies for home and foreign work and the beginnings of systematic efforts for the well-being of the negro (1846). With the Albany Convention (1852), Congregational polity began to realize its continent-wide responsibilities. The Connecticut churches had anticipated much that later became constituent elements in this denominational self- consciousness, and for that very reason in New London county and in the
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State found it a little harder to adjust themselves to the more radical central- ization adopted by the whole denomination in recent days.
Rev. Eliphalet Adams at the time of the transition was in the heyday of his ministry at the First Church of Christ in New London. He was a man of peace and good will and of much learning. He spoke the Indian languages and preached on all possible occasions for the Mohegans, Pequots and Niantics. He received into his church several of the Mohegan sachems. Benjamin Uncas, third of the name and sixth Sachem, he received into his own family. He cooperated with Samuel Occum in the establishment of Indian schools. August 31, 1735, the First Church meeting house (the Saltonstall building) was struck by lightning during the service, with one fatality and others seriously injured. After some controversy the building was repaired in 1746 and served the organization for another half century (1785). Under Mr. Adams' kindly handling, the Rogerene troubles quieted down. His preaching was sought for all over the colony. He was methodica!, tactful and constructive. Under such a ministry the church survived easily the withdrawal of "Separatists" and the sharing with the Episcopal church of St. James founded in 1725, in the religious life of the community.
Indeed, in 1724 Mr. Adams had been invited to the presidency of Yale College, of which he had been a trustee since 1720. Two years after that (1722) President Timothy Cutler, D.D., and one of his principal coadjutors, had embraced Episcopacy. After debates "that shook Congregationalism throughout New England" (said President Quincy of Harvard), it was de- cided that the teachers at Yale in the future must assent to the Saybrook Platform. A strong man was needed to head the College, and Mr. Adams was elected president. However, he declined the honor and went on with the pastorate.
His name does not appear as one of the lights of the Great Awakening. He was not unsympathetic, and was glad to see great good come to his parish and the county from the movement. But his wisdom and serenity were much exercised to curb the eccentricities that abounded in the meetings held under the leaders of that type. In 1741 Mr. Adams found himself in the midst of a powerful revival interest, and eighty-two persons were received into the church. The Separatist movement in New London grew out of the eccentric preaching of John Davenport, and some one hundred withdrew from the First Church. Only the personal force and wisdom of Mr. Adams prevented a fatal schism. Along with this conserving work he yet had a rare breadth of spiritual and practical earnestness. He was active in helping build a rector's house at Yale, and also encouraging a Congregational move- ment at Providence, Rhode Island, lending a hand wherever he could promote a good work or word. His long and faithful ministry came to a close with his death in 1753. He had been for many years acknowledged "in every respect the most superior person" in the Colony of Connecticut.
The story of the Old First in New London from the death of this beloved pastor and citizen (1753) to 1835, takes the church through the greatest political and theological controversies of America, including the French and Indian war, the American Revolution, the founding of the United States of
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America, the War of 1812, the unexpectedly firmer grasp of slavery on the expanding Republic, the consummation of the freedom of the Church from the State, and the great schism among the churches of New England resulting in the "Unitarian" defection, as well as the beginning of the splendid record of the "orthodox" churches in the establishment of the Home and Foreign Missionary enterprises, the founding of schools and colleges and theological seminaries, and the upspringing of notable spiritual awakenings that far more than made up for all the losses.
The pastorate of Rev. Mather Byles, Jr., in the First Church in New London (1757-68), was chiefly marked by the fact that he was the first pastor in the county to be inducted into his office in the modern Congregational way. A brilliant man, he lacked the judicial temper of his predecessor and soon had awakened the animosity of the Rogerenes, who broke out in vigorous rebellion against his drastic methods of law enforcements. But the real cause of the brevity of his ministry in New London was a strong leaning to Episcopacy, which at last led him to resign and seek Episcopal ordination.
The still shorter pastorate of Rev. Ephraim Woodbridge (1769-76), a grandson of the first pastor of the Groton church, was marked by his stren- uous opposition to the Half-Way Covenant and his exaltation of the principle of church membership based on genuine conversion. A revolutionary spirit was in the air, and a spiritual decline manifest throughout the country. All denominations lost ground in New London as well as everywhere. Young Woodbridge heroically set himself against all the obstacles. But the death of his wife and his own physical frailty were too much for him, and he died September 6, 1776.
A long interval occurred before a successor was found (1776-87), during which the building of a new meeting house was gotten under way (1785) to be finished and dedicated under the ministry of Rev. Henry Channing (1787- 1806). New London by the first United States census (1791) had 2,465 inhabitants, of whom 138 were blacks and of these 95 were slaves. This pastorate was notable for its relapse to the extreme into the Half-Way Covenant heresy on the part of minister and people. Church membership involved simply a record of good moral character. The number of members at the beginning was down to twelve males and forty-seven females. Mr. Channing received in all two hundred and forty-five persons and baptized five hundred and seventy-five, going thus the limit of comprehensiveness. On another page may be found the form of admission to membership used. which was accounted to be "Unitarian" in principle by his orthodox brethren all over the county. At the same time considerable care was taken as to cases calling for discipline of conduct not befitting a Christian. In 1798 the church entered heartily into the formation of the Missionary Society of Connecticut. The Unitarian tendencies of Mr. Channing led to considerable feeling in the church, leading to hesitancy of financial support and finally to his resignation in 1806. It is interesting to note that the dismissing council voted "they unanimously and affectionately concur in recommending him as a minister in regular standing in the church of Christ."
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Turning to the north of the county, we find the long pastorate of Rev. Benjamin Lord at Norwich Town coming to its close in 1784. For six years he had been assisted by Rev. Joseph Strong, who now entered upon another half-century of service. This was a most critical era of reconstruction, in which the Norwich church rendered signal assistance to all the pastorless churches in that whole region. Mr. Strong was a man of a most genial temperament and held firmly to the new orthodoxy in the reaction from the Unitarian movement. The church entered into all the strong forward move- ments of this new evangelical Congregationalism, especially into its missionary zeal. From 1829 until his death in 1834, Mr. Strong had Rev. Mr. Everest as colleague. Mr. Everest resigned in 1836, and the church called Rev. Hiram P. Arms, who was installed in 1839.
The Franklin church kept its strong leadership under the pastorates of Rev. John Ellis and Rev. Samuel Nott, which stretched over a century, beginning in 1753. During that time the Franklin church sent forth men and women of national and international reputation. Indeed, few regions in New England during that period were so fruitful in character and human achievement as the northern townships of New London county. During the storm and stress of the Revolutionary days-as someone has expressed it- "the Land Office in Lebanon was for the nonce the capital of the United Colonies." The Bozrah church was established in 1739, the Hanover church in 1766, Jewett City (Griswold 2nd) in 1825, and Mohegan church in 1832.
The pastorate of Rev. Abel McEwen, D.D., at the First Church in New London (1806-1854), brought that venerable organization into the use of its present imposing edifice and into the modern life of the denomination. Beginning with a reaction from the latitudinarianism of his predecessor, the ministry of Dr. McEwen struck a strong, virile note at a time when religion in New London county was perhaps at its lowest ebb and a majority of the churches pastorless, he being at the beginning the only settled pastor, as he used to say, "in a territory fifty miles long and twelve miles broad." He instituted the weekly prayer-meeting. A "Sessions House" was built on the site of the present Parish House on Union street (1819) to accommodate all the social activities of the church, especially the newly established Sunday school. The church, under the leadership of Dr. McEwen, threw itself into the Home Mission work in the county. In 1815 the Consociation of New London County was organized, this being the last county in the State to do so, "two uncompromising conservators of independency" having died. The year following (1816), the Domestic Missionary Society of Connecticut was formed under the lead of Dr. McEwen and Rev. Mr. Hart, of the Griswold church. Pastors rapidly began to be called to the churches. The world-call for missions was not unheeded, and in 1819 a member of this church, Harriet Lathrop, married Rev. Mr. Winslow, and they sailed for Ceylon as foreign missionaries. In 1821 the ladies of the church formed the Foreign Missionary Society. Mr. Asa Otis became a member of the church in 1834, and eventually left to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions over a million dollars.
The spiritual quickenings that came with these varied enterprises showed
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themselves in large and stable accessions to the church. Several notable revivals stirred the waters. At length it became manifest that the "Old First" could not handle the growing responsibilities. The story of the found- ing of the Second Congregational Church in New London is most refreshing. The members of the First Church practically built the new edifice, and started off this fourth daughter in a strong way. During necessary repairs on the old church, the daughter welcomed the mother church to its services for several months. Whereupon, leaving the new organization to carry on its work unfettered, Dr. McEwen started again to put his own church in working order under the new conditions. The empty seats were soon filled and both churches went on rejoicing. The pastorate closed with the building of the modern church edifice, which remains as peculiarly the monument to this remarkable spiritual leader. It expresses the solidity of his character. possibly suggesting, too, a certain reserve and stiffness in a rather puritanical aspect of his earnest career. His resignation from the pastorate came in 1854, with graciousness after nearly fifty years of most active and fruitful ministry. He remained for six years an honored worker in the church and county, when (1860) he was gathered to his fathers, honored and lamented by the whole community.
The water privileges of the upper end of the Thames estuary gradually brought Norwich into trading connection with the whole world. About the Landing Place there grew up a community called Chelsea, which finally required church privileges of its own. In 1751 such an organization was effected. The growth was slow, and it was not until 1761 that a regular minister was settled over the new parish, Rev. Nathaniel Whittaker. His pastorate was interrupted by a long absence in England as an agent seeking funds for Moor's Indian Charity School of Lebanon, Connecticut, and later Hanover, New Hampshire. Rev. Ephraim Judson succeeded to the pastorate in 1771. He too had an interrupted ministry, being called off as chaplain during the Revolutionary War and being much of the time in poor health. This intermittent service came to an end in 1778, and for eight years there was no successor.
In 1786 came the division of the huge township of Norwich, taking away all the upper and eastern portions of the "nine-mile" tract. The year follow- ing, Rev. Walter King was installed over the Second Church, as the Chelsea organization began to be known. The meeting house was burned in 1793, and Mr. King's congregation enjoyed for some months the hospitality of the neighboring Episcopal church during the rebuilding. Mr. King was a man of deep earnestness. In 1811 a controversy over the academic question of marrying a dead wife's sister led to the dissolution of the pastorate.
A brief ministry of Rev. Asahel Hooker was followed by that of Rev. Alfred Mitchell in 1814, who started the series of powerful spiritual leaders, making the Second Church of Norwich a worthy competitor in good works with the First Church in New London. It grew rapidly in numbers, wealth and standing in the county. Its readiness to be the leader in a new era of Congregationalism was indicated in every turn. Mr. Mitchell took an active part in all constructive missionary politics. The Second Church was notable
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especially in standing back of the Sunday school work begun in Norwich in 1815. The death of the pastor in 1831 was a severe blow to the church.
The short pastorate of Rev. James T. Dickinson prepared him for the Foreign Mission field in 1834. The Rev. Alvan Pond succeeded in a ministry of twenty-nine years (1835-65), a period of steady growth for the church and community. Soon it appeared that one church could not care for the religious life crowding in, and in 1842 what was called the Fifth Society was formed by a colony of ninety-eight persons going out, who organized what was known for over eighty years as the Broadway Congregational Church, now again, with the mother church, making the United Church. That the new venture did not seriously deplete the strength of the mother church is seen in the fact that the fire of 1844 destroying its edifice did not keep its strong constituency from building of granite on its present site what was at the time the finest church structure in the county. With its membership ever growing in influence, culture and spiritual and evangelical progressiveness, the Second Church of Norwich became a power in Eastern Connecticut. Then followed the pastorate of Rev. Malcolm McG. Dana, D.D. (1864-74), which carried on the strong work of the church. The feeling that its help- fulness to the community would be increased by removal to the suburban district near the Academy led to marked differences of opinion with the majority of his parishioners, and in 1874 Dr. Dana resigned and, with one hundred and five of his old members, formed the Park Congregational Church. Rev. William S. Palmer, D.D., came to the Second Church in the autumn of that year (1874) and began a fruitful ministry of fifteen years. The difficulties at the opening of the pastorate were gradually overcome. Dr. Palmer began with two hundred and forty members and closed with three hundred and fifty- one. During his ministry the Christian Endeavor Society was organized, and special work was done for the Chinese. Dr. and Mrs. Palmer did a strong and wide work, and their influence was felt in the State and the denomination at large. The pulpit was supplied for three years by Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon, D.D., when Rev. Cornelius W. Morrow was installed.
As we have seen, the year 1842 was notable in Norwich for the establish- ment of what became the Broadway Congregational Church. No new church enterprise in the county ever started off with better opportunities. The short pastorate of Rev. Willard Child (1842-45) was succeeded by the epoch- making ministry of Rev. John P. Gulliver, D. D. (1846-65). With a genius peculiar to himself, he took hold of his problem in harmony with his brethren in the ministry and worked it out from the community standpoint. The story of his local work for education is told at length elsewhere and may not be repeated here. A disastrous fire in 1854 led to the building of "Broadway" Church, now the home of the United Church. Under his lead the church stepped out into the larger life of the denomination and has ever since played a strong part in its life at home and abroad.
Dr. Gulliver's successor was Rev. Daniel Merriman (1868-75), who carried on the tradition of strength and breadth, as also did his successors, Rev. L. T. Chamberlain (1877-83) and Rev. Nelson Millard, D.D. (1884-87). In 1888 began the powerful pastorate of Rev. Lwellyn Pratt, D.D., who had
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already in a variety of spheres accomplished a life work. He gathered up the lines of service developed by his predecessors and added yet more of his own, increasing in power for nearly a score of years. In 1906 he laid down the burden of labors which were too much for his weakening physique, but remained a loved adviser until his death in 1913.
Side by side with the development of these two urban churches, the old First at Norwichtown had gone on its way under the pastorate of Rev. H. P. Arms, who lived to preach an emeritus sermon on the fortieth anniversary of his ministry in 1876. Since that date the Old First at Norwichtown has gone on her steady way, holding a strong position in the Association.
The Park Church started off on her vigorous life, as we have seen, under the pastorate of Dr. Dana in 1874. Her beautiful house of worship, in a superb location, adjoining the group of the Academy buildings. with a pow- erful ministry under Dr. Dana (1874-78), Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon, D.D., and Rev. Samuel H. Howe, D.D., have made the Park Church a bright light in the Association and State and throughout the denomination.
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