USA > Connecticut > Contributions to the ecclesiastical history of Connecticut > Part 19
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In this connection it may not seem perfectly in place to refer to the legislation of Connecticut on the subject of temperance ; still, the legal and moral action have been so closely connected that it cannot well be passed without notice. Neither the Congregational ministers or churches, nor any other class have ever asked for the aid of legislation to compel men to be tem- perate. Severe as were the early laws of Connecticut upon habits and morals, no restraints have been laid by law upon drinking, but there have been upon selling. From the earliest period, the state adopted the English excise system, licensed individuals to keep public houses and sell spirituous liquors to
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lodgers and travelers. Revenue was thus raised to the state and publie houses were regulated by law ; and as men of good morals were required to keep them, deacons and members of churches became, to a considerable extent, in Connecticut, the licensed keepers. Over all the rest of the community was a strong prohibitory law, guarded strictly by the selectmen and town constables. But here, under this solemn commission, the infernal traffic held its revelries for two centuries. Here were manufactured out of sound men and useful fathers and sons, all that long line of drunkards who went in terrible pro- cession, year after year, to the grave, dragging down with them and after them many a promising and lovely household. The license system held its monopoly of Satan's business until Maine broke its power and cast it off in 1851. Connecticut followed in 1854. The law in this state took effect on the first of August, and never, perhaps, was there a greater revolution in publie morals and domestic comfort than was experienced throughout the state. At a publie meeting in the city of New York, in the winter of that year, Gov. Dutton, then governor of the state, testified that not a grog shop to his knowledge, had been found open in the state since the law came into force ; that no drunkard had been publicly seen in the streets ; that erime had been materially diminished ; that hundreds of families which had been great sufferers had been comfortably supplied ; that publie security had greatly increased, and that opposition to the law was scarcely heard of. In these opera- tions of the law, the ministry and the churches of all denomi- nations greatly rejoiced ; the Sabbath was saved from deep desecration, Sabbath-schools were filled up with children from once drunken families, and the sanctuaries opened their portals to men who had long spent their Sabbaths in the dram-shop, or at home in stupid sensuality. The law still remains unre- pealed and unimpaired ; and if "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," so is it of the enforcement of the law. If good men grow weary of watching their sacred trust-if violations there are-(and what law of God or man is not daily broken ) -if public officers, secretly unfriendly to the law and in secret alliance with offenders, have winked at the violation, and there have been few prosecutions-if politicians and office-seekers,
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desirous of revolution, have heard all the complaints of the disaffected and drawn them in their train, and threatened its overthrow ; and fears of political changes have kept even the best friends of the law from action-if the large towns and cities filling up with a foreign population and subject to constant and great excitements seem to be beyond control, yet the great principles of temperance are firmly fixed in the minds of the people : the law spreads over the state its broad, protecting shield-it gives license to none, for a price, to do evil-it stamps with its true mark, before all men, that traffic which is a traffic in the souls and bodies of men-it deters all good men, conscientious men, from engaging in it-it enables very many of the towns of the state and all who please to keep themselves perfectly free from it; and if the moral and Chris- tian community do their duty-if the church sets an example of entire disuse in all her habitations and labors-if the pulpit speaks out its thunders, and the Sabbath-schools, those blessed nurseries of good, train up the children and youth to a right observance of the moral and physical laws of the great Creator, the future of Connecticut, will, it is believed, be becoming the glorious inheritance which the fathers have given.
Do any flauntingly say, all has been humbug, delusion, im- position ! Connecticut is as bad as ever ; there is more drink- ing than ever! More than ever ? Is it so ? Where are those large rum distilleries, and those mammoth Warehouse-point gin-distilleries, and those one thousand cider mills, and the three hundred cider-brandy distilleries of former days ? Where the mugs of cider which were on every dinner table, and the decanters of wine and brandy which were on every sideboard, at every ministerial meeting, at conventions and ordinations, at births and baptisms, weddings and funerals ? Where the friendly greetings of every visitant and traveler, and almost every man on business, with something to drink ? Where the bottles under every tree in the hay and harvest field, in the workshop and shipyard, at raisings and huskings ? and where the regular rum rations in every stone-quarry, and on board every coaster and merchant ship ? and where the 594 miserable, bloated, tottering drunkards in nine small parishes in one county ? Gone ! nearly all gone ! The plague spots of the
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days of our fathers are wiped out, though enough remains to move our fears and call for repentance. What the cause has poured into the bosom of the churches, what of health and wealth, what of physical energy, what of moral power, what of ability to tread all enemies under their feet, and what higher enjoyments of the presence of their great Head and His Holy Spirit can never be known. A Congregational minister, or a member of a Congregational church, and the same may be said of some other denominations in Connecticut, now habit- ually using intoxicating liquors, or giving or selling them to others as a beverage, is a rare spectacle. Thanks be to God for the timely redemption.
TEMPERANCE PUBLICATIONS ISSUED IN CONNECTICUT BETWEEN 1806 AND 1840 .*
Fatal Effects of Ardent Sprits, a sermon by Ebenezer Porter, of Washington, Litchfield county, 1806. Address on Intemperance, by the Fairfield Consociation, 1812. Entire Abstinence the only Infallible Antidote, by Calvin Chapin, D. D., 1826. .
Six Sermons on the Nature, Signs, Evils and Remedy of In- temperance, by Lyman Beecher, D. D., of Litchfield, . 1826. Address before the Canterbury Temperance Society, by Daniel Frost, Esq., Norwich Falls Society, by W. Hines, 1827. .
1826.
Article on total Abstinence in the Christian Spectator, by Rev. Joshua Leavitt, 1828.
Address at Haddam, by Linus Parmelee, Esq., 1828.
- -Before the Middlesex Society, by Charles Griswold, Esq., 1828. Total Abstinence from Ardent Spirits : an Address delivered by request of the Young Men's Temperance Society of New Haven. By Leonard Bacon, Pastor of the First Church in New Haven. 1829. Letter of Asahel Nettleton on Temperance and Revivals, . 1829. Temperance Destructive of National Welfare, by Rev. Joel Mann, Suffield, ยท . 1829.
Evil and Cure of Intemperance, a sermon, by the Rev. Erastus Ripley, 1829.
Putnam and the Wolf, or the Monster Destroyed, an address
at Pomfret, by Rev. John Marsh, 1829.
*This Catalogue, though made with much care, is doubtless imperfect .- Com. of Pub.
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Appeal to the Professors of Religion on the Use of Ardent
Spirits, by Rev. John Marsh, 1829. Address to the Middlesex Temperance Society, by E. Selden, Esq., 1829.
The Rum Drinking Christian, a short sermon, by Rev. John Marsh, 1830.
Only This Once, a short poem, by Mrs. L. II. Sigourney, 1830.
Address before the Wintonbury Temperance Society, by Francis Gillette, Esq., 1830 Address at Norwich, by Rev. C. W. Denison, 1830.
Address to the Young Mens' Temperance Society, at New Haven, by Rev. J. S. Stone, D. D., 1830.
Report of the Connecticut State Temperance Society, 1830. Report of the Hartford County Society, 1831. Appeal to Christians on Using and Vending Ardent Spirits, by Rev. Joseph Harvey, 1831. Bible Doctrine of Temperance, by Rev. G. T. Davis, Hart- ford, 1831.
The Upas Tree. a hymn, by Mrs. Sigourney, 1831.
Address before the Hartford County Society, by S. Sargent, M. D., 1831.
The Only Safe Expedient, a sermon, by the Rev. Samuel Spring, of East Hartford, 1832.
The Christian Rumseller in his Closet, by Mrs Sigourney, 1832.
The Intemperate, a tale, by Mrs. Sigourney, 1833.
Offence of Strong Drink, a sermon, by Rev. Edwin Hall, D. D., Norwalk, 1834.
Second Declaration of Independence, by Rev. John Marsh, 1834.
Prize Essay on Sacramental Wines, by Rev. Calvin Chapin, D. D., of Rocky Hill, 1835.
Rev. Joseph Harvey's Remarks at a County Meeting, 1837.
Discourse on the Traffic in Spirituous Liquors, by Rev. Leonard Bacon, Pastor of the Frist Church in New Ilaven, 1837.
Is it Right to Use Intoxicating Liquors at the Present Day, a sermon, by Rev. Samuel Andrew, Woodbury, . 1840.
PASTORS AND STATED SUPPLIES.
BY REV. GEO. P. PRUDDEN, WATERTOWN.
It has been a custom, nearly uniform from the beginning of the churches of this state, to have their ministers duly install- ed over them as Pastors.
To some extent, however, an opposite course obtains. In some quarters there is a disposition to supersede this ministry of pastors, by a ministry of stated supplies ;- men employed to perform the duties of a pastor, but not inducted, in any ap- propriate way into the pastoral office.
That it is eminently fit and proper, that one who in any church exercises the functions of a Pastor, should be duly in- ducted by some appropriate form of installation into the pas- toral office, the following considerations will perhaps evince.
I. The ofice is one involving important responsibilities, which ought, by a process of installation, to be recognized and pointed out. A pastor is one appointed to the spiritual over- sight of a flock of Christ's ransomed sheep ; one whose duty is, " to feed a church of God, which He purchased with His own blood." To him is committed as a trust, that "ministry of reconciliation," through which in Christ Jesus sinners are be- ing reconciled to God.
Such a position is one of very great responsibility. The issues involved look forward through an eternity for their full development.
And the trust is committed to the hands of one who is a mere man, subject to all human frailties and imperfections. That such a one is to receive such a trust, renders it eminently fit and proper that he should, on receiving it, be reminded in some public way of the responsibility, and of his duty. He should enter upon it through some appropriate process, in which he is required openly to accept the trust involved, and is openly charged, and openly covenants to be faithful to
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its duties. The customary services of an installation consti- tute such a process ; and to dispense with them entirely, with- out providing any substitute, as is done by those whose minis- ters are mere stated supplies, must be beyond measure unwise and inexpedient.
II. The scriptural theory or the pastoral office seems to in- volve the necessity, not only of election to it, but of introduction into it.
A pastor is an officer in a local church. Hence it is emi- nently fit and proper, that the church to whom he is to minister, should by their vote designate to the office the man of their choice.
But the doctrine of the gospel is, that such a pastor holds an office, and a trust, committed to him not by the church, but by God himself. The pastoral office is Christ's, and has to do with the enlargement of Christ's kingdom on the earth. Paul's charge to some who held the office, was, " take heed to your- selves, and to the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers." This teaches us, that however he may be voted, nominated or appointed to the office, the trust that the true pastor receives, is one committed to his hands by the Ho- ly Ghost. The vote appointing him comes from the church and congregation to which he ministers, but the office com- mitted to him is from above.
Those who compare the office of a pastor to that of a busi- ness agent of a mercantile house, regarding him as employed by the congregation, for a definite salary, to do a certain work for them, entirely mistake the nature of the office. The work of a pastor is work for Christ. He cannot be a faithful pastor except as he daily asks his Lord and Master in reference to the work, "Lord what will thou have me to do." Whatever he clearly discerns to be the will of Christ, in reference to that work, he is to do, whether it be the wish of those who pay his salary or not. The church elects and employs him, and supports him for this express purpose, that he may do the work of Christ among them.
Since such is the nature of the pastor's office, since it is an office that comes from Christ-the oversight of a flock com- mitted to him by the Holy Ghost, it is not only eminently fit
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and proper, but exceedingly important, that when one assumes this office, there should be, in addition to this vote appointing him, some religions service that will fitly represent to him the office and trust which he receives from above.
That there should be such a service is a direct inference from the nature of the office. The scriptures have not dis- tinctly taught us what this service shall be ; leaving that to human discretion ; but when the churches by a custom that has been observed with great uniformity for generations and centuries, have established such a service-a service precisely adapted and peculiarly appropriated to the end in view, this custom, among those with whom it is established, is to be re- garded as a divine ordinance.
It is not divine in the sense that it may not be changed, but divine as human governments are a divine ordinance. The nature of the pastoral office proves it to be the divine will that there be some process of induction into it that shall represent the fact that the office is from God, and when such a process has been established by usage, it may be regarded as the di- vine will that it shall not be set aside, except as something else is substituted equally fitted to the same end.
If serious evils have blended with the ordinary process of installation, they should be changed ; if sinful usages have crept in, they should be reformed. But if not, if the customary services are eminently fitted to the end in view, so much so that human wisdom can devise nothing fitter, then to set them aside entirely, without any substitute, to remove from what is virtually the pastoral office whatever points to its re- lations to God, must be to treat with contempt these relations, and therefore must be plainly contrary to the will of God.
Serious evil has come, from mixing up this question with that of permanency of pastors. With many, the one great ar- gument for pastoral installations is that thus the ministry will be rendered more permanent. With many, agaiu, this very permanency which it promises to give, is the one great argu- ment against such installations. All this, however, is a diver- sion from the real issue. The question of permanency is a distinct question, standing on its own merits. And however desirable it might be, were this possible, that every pastor
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should remain for life in his first field ; yet long usage has set- tled it, as the decision both of ministers and churches, that it is neither desirable nor expedient that a pastor shall remain in any field beyond the time, when, from any cause whatever, his usefulness has ceased. This decision, however, does not in any degree weaken the position that he who acts the part of a pastor, should be properly inducted into the pastoral office.
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III. The opposite custom is liable to serious evils and dan- gers, against which every church ought to be on its guard. At these, our space will allow merely a glance.
1. This custom of receiving a ministry of mere stated sup- plies, will cause men to be employed in the pastoral office, who have not in any publie way been charged with its responsibili- ties, nor instrneted into its duties, nor required to make promises of fidelity.
2. It will tend to degrade the office of pastor by giving prevalence to the idea that it is simply a business relation, founded upon a mere business contract between the acting minister and those who employ him.
3. It will tend to weaken and corrupt the church, by throw- ing the choice of the officiating pastor into the hands of the Society and perhaps of a mere society's committee, thus de- priving the church of its just share in electing its pastor, and exposing it to be under the ministrations of one not chosen with any reference to its own edification.
4. It will tend to interrupt that beautiful fellowship of the churches, which exhibits and expresses itself so fitly in the various councils that have to do with the settlement and dis- mission of pastors. One most pleasant result of the present system of installations, is, that it tends to bring the neighboring Pastors and churches into full acquaintance with a new pastor at the beginning of his ministry.
5. It will expose the churches to be imposed upon by un- worthy ministers. An installing council requires a stranger, coming into any neighborhood, at once to show his credentials.
6. It will expose the churches to the assault of unexpected heresies. A church and congregation who have simply heard a minister preach a few Sabbaths, have no means whatever of assuring themselves that he is not holding in reserve fatal er-
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rors. In this matter they can by no means afford to dispense with the safeguard of an appropriate examination before an installing council.
For these reasons, among others, it is to be hoped that the churches will adhere to past usage in this matter, and earnestly seek for themselves pastors duly installed, rather than mere stated supplies.
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HISTORY AND RESULTS OF THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF RAISING THE SALARIES OF MINISTERS IN CONNECTICUT.
BY REV. HIRAM P. ARMS, NORWICH TOWN.
In the first settlement of the state all the inhabitants were substantially of the same faith. They all had a common in- terest in maintaining the institutions of religion. All were therefore justly required to contribute according to their ability for the support of the church as well as the state. Both were constituent parts of the same commonwealth. Not only were the men of that day required to support the ministry of the es- tablished church, but they were bound, under a penalty of three pounds for every instance of voluntary neglect, to attend publie worship on the Lord's day, and on days of fasting and of thanksgiving appointed by the civil authority.
At an early day, however, provision was made that all sober orthodox persons, dissenting from the Congregational churches, should be allowed peaceably to worship in their own way. Still they were required to contribute to the support of " the standing order."
As the number of dissenters increased, complaint was made of the injustice of taxing men to support a church on whose ministry they did not attend. The Separates made this a mat- ter of conscience, and refused to pay the assessment. Some of them consented to be imprisoned rather than pay their ecclesi- astical tax. Underlying the action of the Separates, with all their fanaticism, was the principle of true religious liberty. But the Christian world was not then prepared for its full de- velopment. The Congregational churches, however, were the first of all established churches, to respect the rights of the mi- nority, and to release dissenters from contributing to the sup- port of the state religion.
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Methods of raising the Salaries of Ministers.
In 1727, Episcopalians were by law allowed to draw from the public treasury, for the support of their own ministry, a sum equal to that which they had paid. They were also permitted to impose a tax upon their members to meet the expenses of their separate organization.
Two years later, in 1729, Quakers and Baptists, on certain conditions, were exempted from the support of the Congregation- al churches. In 1784 this exemption extended to all dissent- ers of whatever denomination. Every man was required to contribute to the support of public worship, somewhere, accord- ing to his ability, but he might choose his own place of wor- ship, and lend his support to the ministry which he preferred.
These laws continued in operation without material altera- tion till the session of 1821.
Meantime, as other denominations increased, much dissatis- faction was expressed at the prominence given to the Congre- gregational churches. They still constituted a church estab- lishment, and as such were subject to not a little undeserved odium.
By the revision of 1821, all denominations of Christians are put upon the same footing. No man is now a member of any ecclesiastical society till he voluntarily connects himself with it. Formerly, one would withdraw from a society by lodging a certificate with the clerk that he belonged to another society, -but he could not " sign off " to nothing. At present a man may withhold his support from all religious institutions, and enjoy the collateral advantage of them, at the expense of his neiglibors.
Societies still have authority to impose a tax upon the prop- erty of their members, and some continue to do so, though most depend on voluntary contributions in one form or an- other. Various methods are employed to meet the annual ex- penses of our societies. The most common mode is, by the rent of pews from year to year to the highest bidder. Some- times a valuation is apprised on the pews, and the applicants bid for a choice. In a few of our churches where pews are owned by individuals as real estate, resort is had to subscription or taxation.
Formerly, and within the present century, the seats were assigned by a committee of the society to the different families
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according to some not very definite rule of dignity,-a process which was called "dignifying the seats." This was always a source of not a little dissatisfaction, which is avoided by our modern method.
It was feared by good men, that the repeal under our present constitution, of all laws which were designed to favor the Congregational churches, and which required all men to con- tribute to the support of public worship somewhere, would prove disastrous to the cause of religion. These fears have not been realized.
The voluntary system has been found by experience to work better in every respect than taxation. It has lopped off many of the dead branches which were unsightly in themselves and impeded the growth of our churches. It allows men who are not of us to go out from us, and exhibit themselves in their true characters. It has relieved the Congregational churches from the odium which attached to them as creatures and pro- teges of the state. In the mean time, it has infused into them new life, and very much increased their strength and efficiency.
AMOUNT OF SALARIES.
Our churches have been disposed, from the first, to give a comfortable support to their ministers-not to surround them with the luxuries of life, but to provide for their reasonable wants. At the union of the two colonies of New Haven and Connecticut in 1665, the united colony contained about 1700 families, eight or nine thousand inhabitants, who enjoyed the instruction of about twenty ministers, an average of one to every eighty-five families. Some of the stronger churches had two ministers, a pastor and a teacher, besides ruling elders. In some of the new plantations thirty or forty families sustain- ed a minister.
The salaries of these ministers would range from fifty to one hundred pounds. In addition to their salaries they were accustomed to receive, at the time of their installation," a set- tlement " of two hundred pounds or more, which, invested in a homestead, formed an important item in their means of sup- port. They were also exempted from taxation. If any min- ister felt himself aggrieved by too scanty allowance, although
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it was matter of agreement, he might apply to the General As- sembly, whose duty it was to order his society to furnish him suitable maintenance.
By the revised statutes of 1821, ministers were allowed to hold property to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars exempt from taxation. This law has since been repealed, and no discrimination is now made in favor of ministers. Nor have they any reason to complain of this.
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