USA > Connecticut > Contributions to the ecclesiastical history of Connecticut > Part 24
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The experiment, for more than half a century, shows that the population of our state, influenced directly or indirectly by our Congregational ministry and churches, is not a soil in which Unitarianismn easily takes root.
2. Nor is it more congenial to the doctrine of Universal Sal- vation. People professing this are an omnipresent sect. Though they dwell in the presence of all their brethren, their institutions throughout Christendom are of a fluctuating charac- ter. In no part of the world have they been, it is conceived, more unstable than in Connecticut. The boon which their theory proposes may be had without institutions, without ministrations, and even without faith during the present life. Why should men tax themselves for what all may have, and all will have, whether they will or not, without money and without price ? No one doctrine in the whole catalogue of errors has been more generally or constantly denounced, ex- posed and refuted by the Congregational ministers and churches of Connecticut than that of Universal Salvation. Still, so con-
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venient and welcome a hiding place does it present from the call to immediate repentance and faith, backed by the doctrine of an endless reprobation, which may, any moment, become irretrievable, that individuals will often be found loosely con- nected with orthodox congregations, or living in their neigh- borhood, who try to believe, or profess to believe, that none of the human race will be subjected to endless punishment. Such individuals, by experiment, find that it is no more prac- ticable to shelter themselves from the appeals of the Gospel, honestly expounded, under the doctrine of universal salvation, than by an open profession of infidelity.
Occasionally, in the past, here and there in a parish, attempts, with short lived success, have been made to gather a congre- gation of Universalists for public worship. A rich individual, or a combination of a few such, has had the temerity to build a church. The outlay, with rare exceptions, has proved an entire failure. The stock in it has been found not to pay. The zeal for an antagonistic Gospel has been quenched by the subsequent and prospective experience of a prolonged ministra- tion ; the house, with debt hanging over it, has gone into the hands of some other denomination, or has been converted to some secular use. To prevent such a catastrophe, resort has sometimes been had to a metropolitan policy. A church has been built in a populous town, and little streamlets of a liberal Christianity, so called, have been caused to run into it from many surrounding towns. By this device an institution, feebly sustained by the population of the place where it is, has kept itself in public observation and sustained public worship for some length of time.
Murray, in his day, visited Connecticut not unfrequently, and tarried and labored in much hope and with some effect. If he gathered any church or congregation, it did not survive him in any distinct and permanent existence. Winchester died at Hartford. On his death bed he sought counsel from the dis- tinguished pastor of the North Church in that city. Dr. Strong testified that he manifested amiable affections, though lament- ably deluded concerning one point of doctrine.
No Congregational church in the state has ever apostatized to Universalism. Some few churches have at times suffered
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from the infection of its doctrines, but no one has ever been extinguished. Very few of the pastors of our churches have been suspected of being even covertly tinctured with this heresy. Dr. Joseph Huntington, pastor of the church in South Coventry, who died more than half a century ago, preserved a reputation for orthodoxy until the close of his life. But he left a posthu- mous manuscript, in which he advocated the restoration of all men to holiness and salvation. His family divulged the fact, and submitted the disposal of the writing to the discretion of a company of ministers, by whose advice it was published, and soon received its quietus from a refutation by Dr. Strong, of Hartford, entitled " Benevolence and Misery."
The theory of this sect, if theory it can be said to have, has undergone a very considerable change within twenty or thirty years past. During the early stages of the appearance of Universalists among us, they were ambitious to preach Calvin- istic doctrines, until they came to the final point of the repro- bation of a part of mankind. Orthodoxy was their grand proselyting argument. The reply of Congregationalists was, that the nearer a scheme of theology came to the truth, the more dangerous it was, if, in the end, it ignored or denied the great sanction of the divine law and Gospel. In late years Uni- versalists seem to have relied very little on the atonement, or on the efficacy of any grace peculiar to the Gospel ; but, in com- mon with infidels, they counsel men to confide in the uncove- nanted gentleness and mercy of God. He is too good to inflict lasting evil upon his creatures.
Formerly, Universalists presented themselves in two divis- ions : Redemptionists, who ridiculed the fear of any punish- ment after death, and Restorationists, who inculcated the ex- pectation of future punishment, which would be remedial, and would be successful in reclaiming all men to holiness and happiness. The great mass of the population of this state have, at all times, been preserved from confidence in either of these snares. Their distrust was well expressed by the cele- brated Mr. Pierpont Edwards, who said to Mr. Dodd, of Hart- ford, that neither the doctrine of no punishment after death, nor that of a limited punishment was salutary for man while in this life ; " for," said he, " we are such rascals, that while the
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Gospel, in its true import, is preached, we can hardly live to- gether ; but, were the doctrine of universal salvation generally credited, earth would be turned into a hell before the time."
3. About ninety years ago a secession from the Congrega- tional churches actually occurred of people who formed them- selves into churches of a distinct denomination called Sepa- rates.
After Whitfield had passed through the country, and great effects had been produced by divine grace attending his minis- trations, other ministers, especially one from Long Island, un- dertook to be his followers. They had his zeal, but not all of them his discretion. Some of the Congregational churches welcomed, and some of them discouraged and even withstood these itinerants. They were not sent, but they ran. They, perhaps without mistake, regarded some of the pastors who de- barred them from their pulpits as cold and unenterprising in the work of the ministry. Some of the members of our churches and congregations, disregarding the counsels of their ministers, were determined to hear and follow these new preachers. As a consequence, divisions occurred, separate con- gregations for worship were instituted ; some of these assumed permanence, and in some few of them churches were formally established. The churches, from which large secessions were made, were enfeebled ; some of them dwindled for a long time, but none of them became extinct ; all of them, by our domes- tic enterprise, have been restored to prosperity and strength.
The new churches, called Separates, or, as they preferred, Strict Congregationalists, were not a new sect in the main elements of evangelical doctrine. They were New Lights in common with many of the old churches and ministers. But they justified their separation from the churches from which they withdrew on other grounds. They objected to the ordination of ministers by councils, or, as the Gospel has it, " by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery." Each of their churches ordained its own pastor. They objected to the support of the ministry by taxes authorized and regulated by civil law, and adopted what we have initiated, the voluntary policy, thus making an advance, which we concede to them, in religious liberty. They abhorred the civil enactments which
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authorized and regulated our associations and consociations, which enactments have, long since, become obsolete, and have left these institutions to rest, as they should, on the voluntary principle.
But two Congregational churches, as churches, in the state became Separates-that of Torrington and one in the south of Middletown. These reverted, one soon and the other after no long time, to their original connection with Congregation- alists. The churches which were instituted as the result of sep- aration, continued for one generation, some of them for two : they then found it impossible to obtain ministers, their senti- ment concerning ordination was corrected, the obnoxious civil enactments passed away, and they said that the reasons for their separation had ceased to exist, so they were merged again into Congregationalism, and, as a sect, are no longer known. They went out from us, but they were of us: their return was natural, pleasant to us, and honorable both to their candor and to our common religion.
4. Millerites, a sect of Second Adventists, have, within a few years, flashed upon Connecticut, as they have upon many parts of the country, and in many places have gained more adhe- rents than they have in this state. They hold, in common with Christians at large, the doctrine of the second coming to this earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The distinctive feature of the sect is, that they know and foretel the precise time of " the coming," fix the day, and when the event nullifies their pre- diction, they appoint the day again and again. They gain very few, if any, proselytes from our Congregational churches. and few from people instructed in our Sabbath schools or con- gregations. Individuals constitutionally fanatical, and without mental strength or culture to detect or resist imposition, have given in their zealous adhesion to the faith that the day of the Lord is at the door, and that it is as clearly revealed and pre- cisely known as any day of any future month. To them it has availed nothing that Christ said, " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels which are in heaven ; neither the Son, but the Father." These people have had the calamity, and mortification of having their religious expectations again and again disappointed; and, as the
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coming of the judgment was to bring with it the end of the world, the real believers, those who were actually deluded, part- ed with their property, and brought themselves and their fam- ilies into want and distress. Less of this folly and suffer- ing has been experienced in this state than in many other parts of the country. Hardly any, perhaps none, of the mem- bers of our Congregational churches have become spectacles of this kind, and very rarely have any people who have sat under the preaching of our ministry become the victims of this delusion.
5. Spiritualism has ventured within our borders, as it has into other parts of this country and other lands. It is a matter of jugglery, rather than a religion. Still, as it pur- ports to bring intelligence from the world of the dead to peo- ple now on probation, it has the audacity to take precedence of the Bible as a basis of faith. The Bible commits the instruction of this world to the scriptures, and to living men, who expound and inculcate them, but ignores the teachings of dead men. Spiritualists fear not that their names will be taken from the Lamb's Book of Life, because they add to what is written in God's finished revelation.
Their assemblies are brought together more commonly for amusement, curiosity, and the detection of imposition, than to express veneration to God, or to engage in religious rites. Con- gregationalists find little occasion or motive to refute the pretence that intelligence is communicated by the dead to the living, for were the concesssion made to Spiritualists that through a medium they get communications from the un- seen world, it is sufficient to ask what are these communi- cations ? No doctrines, no precepts of God, are brought to this world by what assumes to be a new revelation. Friv- olous, and often absurd sayings of dead men, some of whom, while living, were respected, and some of whom were not respected for their veracity, are impudently reported. Were the sum total of all that has been paraded as communica- tions from the dead written in a book, that book would not contain anything which would improve the morals of this world, or increase the knowledge or consolation of men now
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living, and soon to die. So confident are people instructed in our congregations and schools, that the apostles of spiritualism seek money, a sickly admiration, a renown tottering though it be on imminent exposure, and not the salva- vation of their disciples, that this new version of fanaticism is regarded as too impotent to make any inroad upon our religious denomination.
We have, in this country, the fulness of religious freedom. We have been abundantly warned that without a general con- fession of faith our churches will be swallowed up by wild doctrines and disorder ; but, counselled as we are by the expe- rience of more than two centuries, we feel a strong assurance that these churches, organized as they are, connected and uni- ted as they are, will still rest upon Christ as their foundation, rejoicing in their integrity and peace.
ERRATUM .- Page 250, line 37, for "initiated" read " imitated."
[There have been also two small sects of religionists of the same class with the above who ought not to be passed by wholly unnoticed in this place,-especially as they belonged to Connecticut, and were mostly, if not wholly, confined to our borders. A few words are demanded concerning them from this circumstance, rather than because of their numbers or im- portance.
ROGERINES *.- This sect took their name from John Rog- ers, their chief leader. They first appeared in New London County about 1720. They took it upon themselves, as fanatics frequently do, to utter special denunciations and anathemas against the regular mimstry, however useful and godly. Rog- ers, it is said, once met Dr. Lord of Norwich Town, at the door of his meeting-house, and accosted him after his usual manner of vulgar abuse with these words, as he took off his hat, displaying a majestic wig : " Benjamin, Benjamin, dost thou think that they wear white wigs in heaven?" Dr. Lord passed him and took no notice of the insult. The prin- cipal distinguishing tenet of this sect was, that worship per- formed on the first day of the week was a species of idolatry which they ought to oppose. They held it also to be their special
* Trumbull's Hist. of Conn .. vol. II., pp. 38-40.
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mission to destroy priestcraft. In carrying out their peculiar notions, they used a variety of measures to disturb those who were assembled for public worship on the Lord's day. They traveled about in small companies, and entered churches and other places of worship in a rude and boisterous manner, and sometimes engaged in different kinds of manual labor in order to break up and interrupt the religious services. Though claiming the right to dissent from the views of the ministry and churches among whom they had sprung up, they seemed to have no true idea of religious liberty and toleration, as was evident from their constant disturbance of the peaceful wor- ship of others.
SANDEMANIANS .- This sect originated in Scotland. They received the name of Glasites after John Glas; but in England and in this country, they were called Sandemanians after Rob- ert Sandeman. They held as one of their distinguishing tenets, in the language of Mr. Sandeman, that " the essence of justity- ing faith is nothing more nor less than the bare belief of the bare truth." By this they meant nothing more than mere specu- lative or intellectual belief ; for, practically, they admitted all to their church privileges who avowed such faith, although in their lives they gave no evidence of vital piety. They also administered the Lord's Supper weekly ; had love feasts, in which all were required to partake, dining together at each other's houses in the interval of divine service ; they gave " the kiss of charity " in admitting new members and at other times ; they had a weekly collection before the Lord's Supper for their necessary expenses and for the poor. They made much of mutual exhortations ; abstinence from blood and things strangled ; washing each others' feet ; community of goods so far as the wants of the poor and of the church required ; the unlawfulness of laying up treasures upon earth, or setting them apart for any future uncertain use,-all which things they un- derstood to be taught in the scriptures. They held to the plu- rality of elders in each church, and the need of the presence of at least two elders in all cases of discipline and at the Lord's Supper ; the want of learning or engagement in trade being no disqualification for the office. They were intolerant toward other Christians, and were not disposed to admit strangers to
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their worship. They declared that they took the Bible for their guide, discarding articles of faith and a paid ministry. They regarded the lot as sacred, and disapproved of all common forms of its use. In all their transactions, unanimity was re- garded as essential. Their worship was orderly and to some extent, perhaps, profitable ; but some of their principles led them into error and disorderly practices.
Mr. Sandeman was invited to come to this country by some who had heard of his views ; and, after forming a few socie- ties, he died at Danbury in 1771. Three or four of the neigh- boring ministers were favorably impressed by his views and came under his influence. Much trouble was caused thereby in Danbury and Newtown. A majority of the church in Danbury became Sandemanian, and that in Newtown became so weaken- ed as to be reorganized with nine members in 1799. In 176S. the Fairfield East Association, who had taken a decided stand against the innovation, stated publicly that as a body, they were tinctured with Sandemanianism. See the Historical Sketch of that body in this volume. The influence of the Sandemanian views has not spread, though they have not be- come extinct so rapidly as might have been expected. There is still a small community of them at Danbury. See Andrew Fuller's Works ; Historical Sketch Fairfield East Consoc .. 1859 ; Sprague's Annals, 1. 297 ; Relig. Encyc.]-Com. of Pub.
SUMMARY OF DECISIONS OF THE COURTS OF CONNECTICUT IN ECCLESIASTICAL CASES .*
If a society vote to hold their annual meetings upon a certain day in each succeeding year, a meeting held on the day so fixed, without further notice, is not legal, even after a practice of holding them thus for fifty years .- 4 Day, 62; East Granby, 1809.
The formation of a second ecclesiastical society within the limits of a town, vested all the rights which the town in its ecclesiastical capacity.before had in the remaining inhabitants of the town as a first society ; and a voluntary release from the first society to the second of a portion of the lands sequestered for the use of the ministry, and held by the town, vested a good title in the second society to the land released for such uses .- 4 Day, 360 ; Suffield, 1810.
The pastoral office with which a minister, duly called by an ecclesiastical society, and set apart to the work of the gospel ministry, as pastor of such society and of the church therein, thus became vested, was an office not determinable at the will of either party, but for the life of the incumbent.
What acts or omissions of the incumbent create a forfeiture of the pastoral office, and thereby incapacitate him for the per- formance of pastoral duties, is a question not within the pro- vince of a court of law to determine-it being exclusively within the cognizance of an ecclesiastical tribunal.
The offering and attempt of a minister to preach, who was prevented by the society by a vote, and by a commitee shutting
* It was expected that a paper would have been prepared " on the rights and rela- tions of pastors, churches and societies," to which this abstract of the " Decisions of the Courts" was to have been appended. The pressure of other duties has rendered it impossible for the gentleman who had it in charge to furnish the paper in season for the present volume. This is much to be regretted, sinee ignorance or misunderstanding on the subject is a source of mnuch evil. The artiele may be given to our churches soon in another form.
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him out of their meeting-house, was held equivalent to the actual performance of that pastoral duty .- Whitney vs. Brook- lyn, 5 Conn., 405, 1824.
An ecclesiastical society, established by local limits, before the adoption of the constitution of this state, is not by that constitution, and the subsequent laws relating to religious societies, divested of its local character.
The statute of 1702, exempting from taxation all such lands, tenements, hereditaments and other estates as had been or should be given, for the maintenance of the ministry of the gospel, extends to money at interest given for that object. The government has contracted that all such property shall be for- ever exempt from taxation, so long as it is applied to such uses ; and has no constitutional right or power to rescind or impair such contract. It was held, therefore, that a tax laid by the town of Woodbridge on such funds in the society of Bethany, then in that town, was illegal.
It seems that the private property of the members of an ecclesiastical society, duly organized, may be taken on a legal warrant against the society .- Atwater vs. Woodbridge, 6 Conn. 223 ; 1826.
Where funds were subscribed to be appropriated to the support of a minister, to be approved by the association, within whose limits the subscribers lived-and he was ordained by the consociation, within the same limits (the ministers present and concurring being a majority of the members of the associa- tion)-and was ever afterward recognized by the association as a member, it was held, that this condition of the subscrip- tion was complied with .- Somers vs. Miner, 9 Conn., 458 ; Woodbury, 1833.
The committee of an ecclesiastical society, appointed under the statute "for the year ensuing," continue to hold their offices after the expiration of the year, until suspended by the appointment of another committee.
To constitute a legal meeting of an ecclesiastical society, having a committee, it must be warned by that committee.
The power given by statute to an ecclesiastical society, to
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prescribe the mode of warning its meetings, does not enable it to dispense with a warning by its committee.
Where the clerk of the society, there being a committee, affixed the names of the committee to a warning, and posted it upon the public sign post, without either the previous authority or subsequent ratification of the committee, it was held that such warning was ineffectual .- Bethany Society vs. Sperry, 10 Conn. 200 ; 1834.
The members of an ecclesiastical society, without local limits formed by voluntary association, pursuant to the 13th section of the statute, relating to religious societies, are not individually liable for the debts of such society .- Jewett vs. Thames Bank, 16 Conn. 511; Norwich Falls Soc., 1844.
The name of a voluntary ecclesiastical corporation, formed under the laws of this state, without a special legislative act of incorporation, is arbitrary, and a change or alteration in its name does not affect its identity .- Trinity Church, Portland. vs. Hall, 22 Conn., 125 ; 1852.
Since the adoption of our present state constitution, how- ever it may have been before, it is not competent to the legislature to divide an ancient, local or territorial ecclesiastical society, into two or more such societies, or divide the fund owned by such ancient society, for the support of the ministry, and to assign a part of such fund to a new society, formed out of the ancient one .- 23 Connecticut, 255; Port- land. 1854.
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HALF CENTURY MINISTERS.
The following list, collected from the church reports chiefly, compared with Dr. Sprague's Annals, and Dr. Allen's Biogra- phical Dictionary, is intended to give the names of all minis- ters who were born in Connecticut, or here received their early education and license to preach the gospel, who attained to the ministerial age of fifty years. The list contains the names of two hundred and fifteen ministers, of whom twenty-two were supposed to be living July 1st, 1860, and only forty-one have not ministered to our churches. Of this latter class there are probably others who have been in the ministry fifty years, but the fact has not been ascertained. Of nine the age is put down as 49, but probably by reckoning from the date of their license, as Dr. Sprague does, the most of these attained the full period of 50 years. Many more were in the ministry nearly fifty years. The average of the whole is about fifty-five years. Five in italics, not counted above, did not continue in the Congregational ministry, though once pastors.
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