USA > Connecticut > Contributions to the ecclesiastical history of Connecticut > Part 17
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from those who have been or were at the time, members of the Sabbath school.
And very gratifying it is to mark the steady progress of the Sabbath school system, not only in the character and extent of its influence, but in the methods and subjects of its instruction. At first the chief aim was to gather the poor and the neglected into the schools and teach them the common rudiments of learning, and to commit texts of Scripture with the catechism to memory. Soon the better classes of society, observing the happy influence of this mode of instruction, sought to place their children in Sabbath schools, and now the youthful mem- bers of our first families are found, in large proportion, in these nurseries of Bible knowledge and early piety. At first those who taught were hired to do their work, as was the fact in the schools established by Mr. Raikes in Gloucester, and for a time this practice seems to have been common. To John Wesley, in 1785, is attributed the credit of introducing the present sys- tem of unpaid teaching, and of exclusive religious instruction. Now the whole work is by a voluntary agency, and teachers, prompted by benevolence, rejoice to engage in this method of doing good. At first only small children were thought to be proper subjects of Sabbath school instruction, and almost any one, who could be obtained, was deemed qualified to instruct them. Now thousands of our youth, over eighteen years of age, with large numbers of adult persons, are found in the Sabbath school, and a full share of the best talent in our churches is engaged in the business of instruction. At first, and indeed for a long time, there were very few helps in the work of Sabbath school instruction ; the Bible, always in place, and the catechism being almost the only books in use. There were no appropriate Sunday school books, or teachers, or libraries, and few commentaries that were suited to aid in the work to be done. But in process of time, a Sabbath school literature of a high character has grown up ; hundreds, not to say thousands of Sunday school books, excellently adapted to interest, aud instruct the young, have been published and as- sorted into libraries ; and these, with the numerous helps now afforded the teacher, to assist him to understand the Bible and the best mode of communicating its precious truth to the young
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mind, leave scarcely anything to be desired in the way of ex- ternal appliances to make our Sabbath school apparatus com- plete. At first, the object of Sabbath schools searcely rose higher than to keep children out of mischief, or teach them to recite from memory passages of Scripture, in the hope that perchance some good influence might emanate from the exer- cise. But this low aim has long since passed away, and one much more elevated and spiritual has taken its place. The object now in every well conducted Sabbath school is to teach the young the way of salvation, to lodge in their minds the saving truths of the gospel, and bring them all into the fold of the good shepherd. This is as it should be, and corresponding have been the tokens of God's approbation.
Such are some of the marks of progress in the system of Sabbath school instruction. And they are certainly very en- couraging. But the system, though greatly in advance of what it was only a few years since, is still far from being perfect. There are, no doubt, defeets, both in organization, mode of teaching, and books, which more experience will discover and correct ; and happy will he be, who shall be enabled to do anything to add to the completeness and efficiency of a system which has been and is productive of wide spread and most beneficent results.
The phrase "well conducted Sabbath school " occurs in what is said above. Were I to describe such a school it would be in this wise ;- the superintendent, who is in fact the motive power at the center of the whole machine, should be a man well qualified for his place, intelligent, kind, genial, warm-heart- ed, with aptness and skill to discern character, and adapt himself to different temperaments, and earnestly devoted to his work, from the love of it. He should be surrounded with a band of in- telligent, faithful, cooperative teachers of different ages and of both sexes, who shall be prompt and punctual in their places, thoroughly prepared in their lessons, and ready to meet their classes with hearts of love and words of kindness, earnestly de- siring to win them to Christ. The scholars should be taught, both at home and in the school, to be always in season, ready to meet their teacher and listen to his instruction the moment the exercises commence ; and it should be understood both by
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teachers and pupils, that the hour they spend together is not to be spent, as it sometimes is, in small talk, or in telling sto- ries to entertain and amuse, but in the serious, earnest study of the Bible, in order to communicate and learn its truths, and so become wise unto salvation. Measures should be adopted by visitation, or otherwise, to draw all the children and youth of the congregation into the school, with as many others of adult age as can be persuaded to attend ; and then all should be or- ganized in well assorted classes, and each class furnished with a well qualified teacher, suited to their different ages and char- acters. The pastor should feel a deep and lively interest in the school ; he should look upon it as the right arm of his ministry ; as the pleasantest and most hopeful part of the gar- den he is called to cultivate ; and encouraging all who labor in it by his counsels and presence, he should tenderly nurture the plants gathered there, that they may grow and bring forth fruit unto eternal life. With the pastor, the parents of the scholars, and all the members of the church should join their influence ; the one instructing and preparing the children at home in the lessons which are appointed in school, and all remembering both scholars and teachers in their prayers, and all coming to- gether at the monthly Sabbath school concert, which should by all means be kept up, to unite in mutual counsel, sympathy and supplication, for the blessing of God to rest upon the good work and crown it with success in the salvation of those for whom this labor of love is performed. Added to all, the mis- sionary element should enter prominently into the manage- ment of the school, and all the members of it should be taught from their earliest age to feel an interest in the poor and per- ishing, wherever they are, and to contribute their mites, from time to time, to aid in sending to them the blessings of the gospel.
Something like this is the idea in my mind of a well con- ducted Sabbath school. I would, of course, have it well fur- nished with a teacher's library, and a library of judiciously selected books for the scholars ; and then I would concentrate upon it the united, intelligent, Christian influence of superin- tendent, teachers, pastor, parents, members of the church, and all, in the one great object, of making the school a school for
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training up immortal beings to serve God and their generation on earth, and to inherit everlasting happiness in Heaven.
What proportion of the Sabbath schools in the state, or in connection with our denomination, realize in any good measure this idea of what they should be, I have no means of knowing. But I cannot avoid thinking, that a Sunday school conducted after the model here presented, or coming near to it, would send a constant flow of increase both of piety and of members into the churches, first training its pupils for the communion of the church on earth, and then transferring them to the com- munion of saints above. And the time will come, I am sure, when this will be the process of nurturing the rising genera- tion ; it will commence in early and faithful parental instruc- tion in the family ; then pass into the Sabbath school to be advanced there ; and next into the church, to be car- ried still further on; and finally be perfected in Heaven, in the happy reunion of parents, children, teachers, pastors and all who have heartily aided in the good work, with the great family of the redeemed in Heaven. Such a day is yet to rise and bless the church and the world ; and happy they who con- tribute anything by their prayers and efforts to hasten so glo- rious a consummation !
REVIVALS OF RELIGION.
The history of special revivals of religion in Connecticut need not be written here. Contemporaneous memoirs of two impor- tant periods are preserved in Prince's Christian History, (2 vols. Boston 1743, 1744,) and in the Connecticut Evangelical Maga- zine, (Hartford, 1800-1814.) Tracy's "Great Awakening " sums up with much ability the memoirs of the former period, and the late Dr. Tyler re-edited the materials which had been collected in the successive volumes of the Evangelical Maga- zine, but had ceased to be generally accessible. Both these works are published by the Congregational Board of Publica- tion. In this article nothing more is proposed than briefly to indicate the distinct periods of spiritual reviving in our churches, the extent of those revivals, the means which liave been used, and some of the results.
Probably all our churches have been visited, at one time or another, with special revivals of religion. Some of them have been blessed in this way very frequently. The first general awakening which makes its mark distinctly in our religious his- tory was about the year 1740, commencing in some churches four or five years earlier, and continuing for several years. That movement began at Northampton, Mass., in 1735, under the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, and extended into various parts of New England. The formalism of the preceding age, the general use of the half way covenant, and at last the Stod- dardean principle that the Lord's Supper is to be used as a means of regeneration, had brought into full communion in the churches a body of confessedly unregenerate men. Edwards and others saw that in faithfulness to that class of hearers, it was necessary to preach to them such truth, and with such personal application, as they had not been wont to hear. His sermons on justification by faith, and his sermons proving that "every mouth shall be stopped," had a powerful effect, and several persons were wrought upon in a remarkable manner, -some to all appearance savingly converted. According to Tracy's account, the report of this state of things at North-
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ampton spread into other towns; great numbers went to North- ampton to see for themselves, and not a few of them from various places were awakened aud apparently brought to re- pentance. The revival began to be general in Suffield and in Windsor about the same time as at Northampton. Edwards himself preached in some places in Connecticut, as at Enfield in July 1740, what was noted as his Enfield sermon, " Sinners in the hands of an angry God." The work had spread before this into almost all the region. It was " ren:arkable " at East Windsor, and " wonderful " at Coventry. Similar scenes were also witnessed at Lebanon,. Durham, Stratford, Huntington, New Haven, Guilford, Mansfield, Tolland, Hebron, Bolton, Preston, Groton and Woodbury. Prince's "Christian History," contains accounts of the revival in fourteen churches, written or subscribed by their pastors ; thirty churches in Connecticut are mentioned as having shared in the blessing.
Among a portion of the ministers, and of the churches, there was great opposition to this revival, or rather to some of its ac- companiments. The measures adopted by some excited their fears, and the extravagances practiced led them to use all the caution and influence in their power, in opposition. Resulting from these and other causes, there was a great decay of revi- vals for many years after. At the close of the great revival of 1740, James Davenport, and others misled by him, fell into grievous fanatical excesses, rent asunder churches, and occa- sioned much confusion in the estimate of many who did not sufficiently discriminate, thus bringing all revivals into suspi- cion and discredit. After that, the rise of the Separate churches, growing partly out of opposition to the revival, and occasion- ing much controversy not favorable to high religious feeling ; the civil troubles of the times, in the old French war from 1756 to 1763, the revolutionary war from 1775 to 1783 ; the gradual restoration of domestic tranquility on the conclusion of peace ; the agitation of questions concerning the establishment of a general government ;- all constituting so many exciting and important public matters, crowded upon the attention of the people, and thereby the things of true religion were kept in the back-ground and there were scarcely any revivals in the land. These causes partly account for the infrequency of
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special effusions of the Spirit, without ascribing it wholly to the judgment of Heaven for opposition, from differences of views and spirit, to the great awakening. Considering all the exciting topics of the times, and the state of the people in their civil and ecclesiastical affairs, it had been strange if revivals had been as numerous from 1750 to 1790, as before and since.
But even in those troublous times, the churches were not wholly forsaken. There were here and there revivals, which made considerable additions to their membership, 10, 20, 30, and in one instance in 1774, 85. There were some revivals in 1783, several in 1768-9, and others from 1780 to 1785.
But the era of modern revivals dates from the year 1792. During all the closing years of the last century and as many of the present, revivals were very general, not only in this state, but throughout New England. Dr. Griffin says, " from that date I saw a continued succession of heavenly sprinklings, until I could stand at my door in New Hartford, and number fifty or sixty congregations laid down in one field of divine wonders." The Evangelical Magazine contains ac- counts of these works of grace during that period, in every part of the state. There were also revivals in many more places, concerning which no accounts were published.
Since that revival period at the beginning of the century, these seasons of refreshing have been frequent. Particularly the years 1816, '21, '26, '31, '38, '49, '53 and '58, and in many cases, years preceding or succeeding these, have been the most favored.
The great Awakening originated under the preaching of Edwards as already stated. Among the chief instruments of furthering the work were pastors Parsons of Lyme, Wheelock of Columbia, Pomroy of Hebron, Bellamy of Bethlem, Gris- wold of East Lyme, Croswell of Ledyard, and others. These and others labored more or less beyond the bounds of their own parishes, as they were invited to aid other pastors. Whit- field made one rapid tour across the state from Spring- field by Hartford and New Haven to New York. The fervor of Parsons, who learned quickly by experience the dangers of the times, the zeal of Wheelock and Pomroy, and the activity and wisdom and doctrinal depth of Bellamy, gave a pow-
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erful impulse to the work. They found kindred spirits in both clergy and laity to cooperate with them.
In 1755 and for several years after, circular fasts were adopt- ed as means for awakening and promoting attention to true re- ligion, in some parts of the State. Several churches by their ministers, delegates and members voluntarily attending, went from church to church to hold seasons of fasting and religious services for the reviving of true religion ; and these means proved instrumental of much good.
In the revivals of 1792 to 1808, the means used were little else than the official preaching of the doctrines of the cross, with such illustrations and applications as resulted from the thoroughly Calvinistic views advanced by Bellamy and Smalley, and taught by them and by Backus, Hooker and others of a kindred spirit, to their pupils in theology. Dr. Bellamy died just before these last revival days, Dr. Backus in the midst of them, and Smalley and Hooker lived several years after. But their teachings and the kind of preaching which characterized the ministry of Griffin, Hallock, Mills, Gillett and many others might well result in a general revival. Other states also shared in the divine effusions of these days.
Next came in 1813, and till after the revival of 1831, the la- bors of Dr. Nettleton. His judicious and well-directed efforts in aid of pastors and the almost unexceptionable measures and influence he used, are well known, though in the view of some his itinerating has furnished an example and occasion for other evangelists, destitute of his wisdom and respect for the settled ministry, to run into excesses and extremes in their measures, productive of infinite mischief for the time being, rendering the ordinary means of grace inefficient in following their ex- citements, causing many men to lose all respect for revivals and thus doing incalculable and lasting evil, though not with- out some partial good.
In 1821, there seemed to be no immediate cause of the re- markable awakening, in the special efforts of ministers and Christians, but while they were mourning over the low state of Zion, suddenly the Lord appeared to build up Zion in his glory.
In 1826-7, conferences of churches were held-pastors and
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particularly laymen of several churches visited particular churches in turn, and attended public meetings for conference and prayer.
In 1831, and for a few years following, continuous or pro- tracted meetings for some days were held, and when wisely and cautiously conducted, were productive of much good. The extravagances and extreme measures practiced in some other states never accorded with the staid habits and religious principle of our churches and people, and were but seldom adopted. From that time,-after these meetings had passed away, occasional itinerant evangelists have labored in here and there a church, assisting its pastor during a time of religious interest, but more frequently pastors have aided one another, as the most judicious and unexceptional method.
The revival of 185S seemed to be chiefly originated and carried on by means different from any preceding, by prayer and conference meetings, with comparatively a small number of extra meetings for preaching, and without the special ex- citement or influence of evangelists or noted preachers of any kind. Not that prayer meetings had been little used before, but they had not been the main dependence and chief means of influence. Daily prayer meetings first commenced in New York, became common in very many of the cities and villages of this state, as throughout the land. The Spirit of the Lord descended and largely blessed these seasons of spiritual commu- nion, together with the means of personal conversation with the unconverted, and the ordinary preaching of the gospel on the Sabbath and occasionally on other days. It is thus demon- strated that these diversities of gifts and of operations, are of one Spirit that worketh withal, in his own way, so that God and His grace are alone to be honored and have all the praise.
The results of revivals in Connecticut it is easy to tell. Since the controversies of the great awakening and the disorders of Davenport and the Separates, the measures adopted having been for the most part wise and spiritual, the results have been most happy. Not a single church is known to have been excepted from the blessing of these divine effusions of grace. Some- times ten or twenty, and sometimes 100, 150 and even 200 in a single congregation have been the reputed converts in these
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seasons of religious interest. Men, women and children have come to see themselves as sinners, in the light of the divine law, and been led by the spirit of God, through the truth and the motives of the gospel, to penitence for sin, and to lead a new life,-a life of penitence and prayer and godliness. Ex- perimental religion has thus been proved before the eyes of the irreligious, the worldly, the universalist, the sceptic, and the infidel of every town and neighborhood in the state, to be a solemn and blessed reality. These classes have had the purity and consistency of the new life in men, once their companions and sympathizers to preach to them of the reality of true re- ligion. Many have thus been convicted and ultimately conver- ted to God. On the whole, these Connecticut revivals, in the main pure and genuine, have been the life of spirituality, and the sources of perpetuity to our churches. We have now no regular supply of church members by probation, or a half-way covenant, or confirmation at a certain age, to replenish our churches. The most of our flocks owe their perpetuity, in- crease and prosperity, some of them their very existence to re- vivals. None look at them in doubt or with discredit. Though a perpetual revival is a beautiful theory, ordinary revi- vals are a blessed reality. May they always, and with increas- ing frequency and power bless our land and our fallen world.
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR BENEVOLENT PURPOSES.
Among the inquiries of the circular to the churches, for facts and statistics, were the items and amount of charitable donations for a single year. Replies were received from 224 churches and the amount of their contributions $90,870, or an average of $406 each. Allowing but one-sixth of this aver- age for the remaining 60 churches, the amount raised and paid for benevolent objects is $95,000 ; which will very soon reach $100,000, if it be not as much the current year. It requires only three-eighths of said average to make that amount. This is exclusive of the support of the Gospel, and many other ex- penses for the poor, sabbath schools, and a few pastoral libra- ries, and other items frequently referred to, but not named. The sum raised for all these objects in many of the churches equals the expense of public worship, including salaries ; and in a few of the more wealthy churches much exceeds that amount. From nothing, fifty years ago, the churches have gradually advanced to this standard, and yet it seldom has arisen to the point of real self-denial of luxuries, much less of any of the comforts of life, to save a perishing world. Though inqui- ries have been repeated on this subject, the failure of obtaining complete returns has been owing principally to the want of a record of contributions. Some few reports have made no al- lusion to this topic; but in no instance has it been said that there are no benevolent contributions made. There is occa- sion for gratitude to God, that all our churches acknowledge the obligation of practical benevolence. Though in a consid- erable number of them, there is need of training in the habit of giving ; yet in the most of those reported, it was said that such offerings were made as often as from four to six times in a year, and in a few, for some object, nearly every month. It is noticeable that where contributions were small, the reason fre- quently assigned was, that the church had no stated minister through the year ; showing that the great causes of benevo- lence mainly depend for their prosperity upon the interest taken
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in them by pastors and upon the efficiency of the ministry. It was intended to tabulate the donations, or at least to give the ag- gregate for the several objects ; but the amount of other materials for this volume, and the imperfection of returns in this first at- tempt in this direction, has precluded both. The lessons learned however, from these data, are not without great value. The in- fluence of the ministry, and the ability of the church in the work of providing means for the salvation of the world, when a high standard of benevolence, and true self-denial shall be reached, by doubling the amount now given, or still further multiplying it, show our high responsibility to the great Head of the Church, and together with the calling forth of true faith in the proph- ecies and promises of God, hold out to the humble Christian the great hope of the perishing millions.
CONNECTION OF THE CONGREGATIONAL MINIS- TERS AND CHURCHES OF CONNECTICUT, WITH THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE TEMPE- RANCE REFORMATION.
BY REV. JOIIN MARSH, D. D., NEW YORK.
As in the dawn of morning it is difficult to determine which ray of light is first in the work of illumination, so in a great social and moral reform, it is often impossible to decide who first aroused the community to a sense of the existing evil, or first prompted in turning back the tide of desolation. Both Massachusetts and Connecticut may well contend for pre- cedence in the temperance movement ; and among the good men of Connecticut who early bewailed the ravages of the destroyer, we may never know which first of all eried, " How long, O Lord, holy and true ! Cannot the plague be stayed ?". but certain it is that no impression had before been made upon the public mind like that produced by a sermon preached by Rev. Ebenezer Porter, of Washington, Litchfield county, in the winter of 1806, on the discovery of a man lying dead in the snow, with a bottle of spirits at his side. The discourse was entitled " Fatal Effects of Ardent Spirits." Text, Isaiah v. 11. " Woe to them that rise up early," &c. After describing the sin, intemperance, in all its bearings, showing that it destroyed industry and health ; produced poverty ; impaired reason ; unfitted men for all the duties and comforts of life ; led to gaming, swearing, talebearing, extinguishing the best sensibilities of the heart and producing a miserable death, the preacher made a solemn appeal to various classes, inquiring, What is to be done ? He computed that one in every fifteen of all the deaths in the year was caused by the use of ardent spirits. No man in Connecticut had ever fallen in a duel, but thousands had fallen by strong drink.
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