USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Cheshire > Exercises commemorative of the two-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the First Congregational Church in Cheshire Connecticut, 1724-1924 > Part 5
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62
THE OVERFLOW OF TWO HUNDRED YEARS REVEREND SHERROD SOULE, D.D.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
I N the vision of Ezekiel (vide Ezek. 47) the seer beholds a sanctuary. From under the threshold of the sanctuary issues a slender, silvery stream. This stream quickly becomes broader and deeper and results in "a river of God full of water," never failing, and by its irrigating influence causes an arid valley to break forth into rare and abundant beauty and fruitfulness. I never visit an ancient church or view an ancient meeting-house but the vision of the prophet rises up before me as a pillar of cloud and of fire, pointing the way wherein we should walk and proclaiming that the vision as- sures the promise that the people will not perish.
I want to tell about the two-century stream which has is- sued from under the sills of the three sanctuaries habited by this church.
The one spring has had three canopies and the overflow of the fountain has carried far-reaching, fructifying influence, making deserts bloom with the beneficent blossoms of educa- tion, evangelization, political and patriotic service. A spring that can only attain the estate of a stagnant pool possesses neither charm nor extended effect. The spring that over- flows runs clear, and the stream carries freshness and fer- tility and finally the rivulet becomes tributary to some ma- jestic river seeking the sea.
You will have been told in these two days' celebration of the ministers who have struck the rock in this place and of the waters which have gushed forth, forming here an oasis
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where the successive generations have slaked their spiritual thirst and rested beneath the grateful shade, but I am at the close of the celebration to tell you of the overflow of this spring in the valley, and follow along the streams which have irrigated the regions round about, even unto the ends of far- off localities.
The first sanctuary was erected in 1724 with the organiza- tion of the church, and served the purpose of worship until 1738. For fourteen years this canopy covered the flowing fountain-not a long time, but sufficiently long to furnish a famous and far-flowing stream.
In 1718 three petitioners besought the General Assembly for permission to secure the means of grace for themselves, their children and children's children in this place, then a part of Wallingford. The petition was denied, but the peti- tioners were neither silenced nor satisfied.
One of these petitioners was Matthew Bellamy, and, after trying and trying again, success came in 1723, and the urge was more pronounced for he had a son four years old named Joseph, born in 1719. So little Joseph was but five years old when this church was organized, and to it must be given credit for the training and ideals of this promising boy who became the father of a most remarkable man. I do not de- tract from the rare influence of parental counsel and family life, but the church leavened and supplemented these. To few churches is given the honor of raising up one of the most notable of New England divines-a theologian of authority and a preacher par excellence.
The facts and features of boyhood life are too far back and obscure to furnish a detailed background. He was a precocious and proficient scholar in youth, and at the age of sixteen graduated from Yale College, attaining special honors in language and literary attainments. Soon after re-
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ceiving his degree (A.B.) his mind became deeply impressed with the subject of religion. In those days Christian nurture was not deemed sufficient for spiritual regeneration, but a marked epochal, often emotional experience was demanded to assure calling and election. Conviction must precede con- version. There is no evidence that he was a "wild oats" youth, but he went through a required experience which con- firmed him in the belief that he had received "the renewing of the Holy Ghost," and his long, distinguished, devoted life gave evidence of the same. He studied divinity (in part, at least) with one of the four famous theologians the world has produced, Jonathan Edwards,* a native of East Windsor, Connecticut, but then pastor at Northampton, Massachu- setts.
His rare scholarship, earnest zeal and brilliant oratorical qualities so favorably commended him to the brethren that the New Haven Association licensed him to preach when he was but eighteen years of age.
Doubtless his extreme youth kept him from assuming or securing a pastorate, for during the following three years he taught and served as stated supply in several places, one be- ing the parish of Bethlehem, then in the town of Woodbury. Here his preaching so aroused the indifferent, converted the impenitent and edified the saints that the congregation en masse and enthusiastically called him as pastor and a nega- tive would not be tolerated. So in 1740 this young apostle just arriving at majority was ordained and installed to the position of first pastor of the church, which he held for fifty years, and terminated only when he was translated. He must have been known as the boy preacher, and for four years he was a bachelor pastor, when he escaped from the probable
* St. Augustine, Calvin, Edwards, and Horace Bushnell.
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feminine toils in his own parish and married Miss Francis Sherman of New Haven, a maiden of rare accomplishments and fervent piety. She was the mother of seven children who were a credit to the household, and she was a genuine help- meet to her husband for forty and one years when she fell on sleep. Dr. Bellamy, though cast down, was not destroyed, for within a year he married Mrs. Andrew Storrs, a widow of less than a year whose husband had been pastor at Plym- outh (Northbury) nigh unto Bethlehem. She survived him some years and her grave can be seen in the cemetery at Plymouth beside that of her first or former husband. Possibly the reason why Mr. Bellamy remained a bachelor during the first four years of his pastorate was due to the stress and sweep of the great awakening which absorbed New England from 1740 to 1744. Whitefield, the "Billy Sunday" of that age, was swaying the populace by his intense evan- gelical eloquence. Jonathan Edwards, the theological pre- ceptor of Bellamy, flung himself heart and soul into the movement. It was natural that his youthful, enthusiastic, de- voted pupil should enter the lists. His church gave him long and frequent leaves of absence, and he went forth as a flam- ing, zealous apostle among the churches. In two years he preached 458 times in 213 places, not a few outside of Con- necticut, and even of New England. Many thought him the equal, if not superior, of Whitefield over a thoughtful, cul- tivated congregation. He had an impressive personality and presence. His voice was melodious and moving. He had vivid imagination, dramatic power, earnest emotion, logical thought, rhetorical skill and oratorical charm and force. His labors were abundantly blessed, but the high tension was too great to be permanently sustained either by him- self or the people.
In the beginning Bellamy thought that the millennium
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was coming any minute. He had the enthusiasm of inexperi- ence. There is always a reaction from excessive emotion. Like Elijah of old he landed under the juniper tree wearied, dis- appointed and discouraged. A fanatical and censorious spirit developed, threatening the interests of the churches. Igno- rant and conceited men pushed into the pulpits, voicing dis- regard and contempt for established custom and evangelical order. Pride flourished and spiritual quackery abounded. He came back to his own parish a sadder and wiser young man. He published soon after his first and foremost work of many productions, entitled "True Religion Delineated" (1750), a volume not only of protest, but of constructive discrimina- tion and development.
He worked his own field and we find him starting a Sun- day School nearly a century before such became prevalent. The circle of his influence grew wider and more pronounced, and he became one of the theological triumvirate who domi- nated New England, the others being Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Massachusetts (Stockbridge), and Samuel Hopkins of Newport, Rhode Island. It is said that if a group of divines in Boston were in doubt or debate over any question of doctrine or ecclesiastical procedure, the Gordian knot was released by an appeal to Bellamy of Bethlehem, and no exception was taken to his ruling or opposition to his opinion. He was "apt in teaching" and he must have needed some extra pin money to eke out his slender salary. Students from Yale who were rusticated for roistering were placed under his tutelage, and in the list we find the notori- ous Aaron Burr, vice-president of the United States, ad- venturer and soldier of fortune. I am sure Burr never learned his manners nor his morals from Bellamy. The larg- est group of his scholars were proper youth studying di- vinity and some became most distinguished divines. A vol-
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ume, to say nothing of an address, could be written about Dr. Bellamy and his pupils, filled with laconic wit and wis- dom.
He was a sworn foe to Arminianism and Antinomianism, heresies so long since obsolete that most of you do not know what the names mean and I cannot stop to explain. It is re- lated that Dr. Bellamy gave the task to his pupils to set forth in strongest possible manner the advocacy of pure and undefiled Calvinism. Then he would proceed to riddle and re- fute their grounds and arguments by the theories of Socini- anism, Arminianism, Antinomianism and others of like ilk, leaving his pupils floored and floundering. Following this he had the students champion these various heresies and then he charged upon them with the weapons of Calvinism drawn from his ample arsenal, and when the contest was over the pupils were soundly converted and established in the truth for all time, orthodoxally armed for offensive and defensive warfare. His fame and writings were known in Great Brit- ain, especially in Scotland, and in 1768 the University of Aberdeen bestowed on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was bold in his preaching, even to the point of brusque- ness. He advocated abstinence from liquor when it was nei- ther popular nor fashionable and it is said he made his church a temperance society.
One day preaching to his congregation he characteristi- cally declaimed "I don't want anybody who has the rheuma- tism to tell me what has brought it on-it is cider ; and the way to cure it is to stop drinking." That very night the aged divine was seized with violent pain and before morning it had increased so in intensity that he sent for his physician. It proved to be inflammatory rheumatism, and the doctor could not contain his sense of humor, and said "I'm afraid you have been taking a little too much cider." The minister
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never preached on the theme of temperance again. He was called twice to become the pastor of the First, then the only, Presbyterian church in New York City. In the first in- stance the Consociation refused to release him and the sec- ond call he declined. He often expressed the desire that he might fall on sleep suddenly while in the pulpit and be translated in "the twinkling of an eye." This was not to be. A shock rendered one side of his body helpless and be- numbed the brain and dulled the brilliant intellect. Three years and more he lingered and then he went to his reward, having reached the age of seventy and two years and having completed the fiftieth year of his ministry in that one parish. This mighty man was a boy born and brought up in Chesh- ire and in this church.
THE second sanctuary that covered this flowing spring was completed in 1738 and lasted nigh to a century. The overflow was constant and continuous though sometimes checked in volume and the waters thereof occasionally roiled by inevitable domestic disturbances. Human nature cannot keep absolutely perfect for a century. The period was a time of marked growth and prosperity for the community and church in almost every line.
The only irrigating influence of the stream that flowed from under the threshold of this second sanctuary that I have time to tell about is that of the Foot (or Foote) family. The shrine of the tribe was in Colchester, but it multiplied and spread. A descendant by the name of John, a native of North Branford, a graduate of Yale, came to Cheshire to study divinity under the Rev. Samuel Hall, the excellent and eminent first pastor of this church. As an elective to his course he wooed and won the fair daughter of his preceptor, Abigail. He came closer into the family by being chosen as
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colleague with his father-in-law. It is a risky matter to hitch up an aged divine and a fledgling minister in double har- ness. Besides the difference of age they may not be natu- rally gaited alike, and some of the parish who ride or drive prefer the old horse and others favor the colt. Finally all things worked together for good, and the forty and six years of Rev. John Foot's ministry here were fruitful and lasting. Best of all, he founded a home and brought up a family. Of the size of the latter I know not, but its quality can be vouched for by a single specimen at least, Samuel Augustus Foot, born here in 1780. His political life covered nearly twenty years, and consisted of General Assembly of- fices too numerous to mention. Thrice he was elected as Rep- resentative to Congress, once as United States Senator, and then a term as governor of Connecticut. He adorned every office. He was Anti-Federalist to the core. His industry was indefatigable, and his integrity in every line of conduct was unimpeachable.
How well and wonderfully the Foot blood carried on is shown by his three sons, Augustus and Hon. John Alfred Foote of Ohio; and brave and brilliant Admiral Hull Foote.
But the most far-reaching and long-lasting influence of Rev. John Foot for righteousness came in 1798. He was elected as a delegate to the General Association of Congre- gational Ministers. They convened in the little hilltop town of Hebron, twenty-three ministers. Your pastor very likely journeyed that June day with Rev. Dr. Benjamin Trum- bull of near-by North Haven, a veritable father in Israel. At that meeting the delegates organized the Missionary So- ciety of Connecticut, the oldest existing Missionary Society in the United States. This organization founded over five hundred churches outside the commonwealth, in the new settlements northward and westward, which became the
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mothers and mothers' mothers of a multitude of churches, setting the seal and stamp of little Connecticut on the great growing nation. As your time-honored and worthy instru- ment in the state it has planted and watered 159 of the present 324 Congregational churches in Connecticut, sus- taining the remote and rural churches, supplying the means of grace in the many growing manufacturing cities and com- munities, and preaching the gospel in ten different tongues to the foreigners flocking into this state. After 125 years it is still going strong. It conserves the funds of churches not a few, and guards the gifts of the fathers who have fallen on sleep. It is alert to see that no place is without the means of grace and the preached gospel. The executives freely give counsel and lend service to all the churches of the state. The organization of this society over a century and a quarter ago by your pastor was perhaps his great- est achievement, though he and the others with him were wholly unconscious of what that day would bring forth.
The real reason why I am here today is not simply because your committee honored me by gracious invitation, but because of what your second pastor, Rev. John Foot, did one hundred and twenty-six years ago.
Now we come to the third-pavilion period spring, the never failing spring. This points to the present sanctuary, dedicated a century ago, lacking three years. The changes in the commonwealth and community have been many and marvelous. Railroads have come and crisscrossed. Manu- facturing plants have sprung up like mushrooms, but en- during as oaks. Cities have grown big and have gathered heavily from the rural districts, and aliens have descended as an avalanche. Cheshire has sustained and regained its population during the present century in spite of the fact
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that Prospect pared off a portion of your territory and population.
The membership of the church has more than held its own considering the rise of other sects and the coming in of those not blendable into Protestantism. Your golden age is not confined to the past.
As an exhibit of the third sanctuary period I am going to select one known by memory to many, if not most of those present. He is not selected as a sole representative of your product but as a fine type. He serves as contrast or foil to Dr. Bellamy and the Foote family. He was an excellent sample of a Christian Chesterfield. I refer to George Ed- ward Street. Some of you may know more about him than myself, but I knew him more than casually for nearly twenty years. Perhaps some of his kith and kin abide here still but I know not. He was born here in 1835, son of Thaddeus and Martha Davenport (Reynolds) Street. He prepared for college at the ancient and honorable Academy of this place and graduated from Yale College as was proper and fitting for a Connecticut boy in 1858. What he did during the next two years is not recorded, but we find him afterwards in that first School of the Prophets at Andover, Mass., where he received his degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1863. For eight years he served the pastorate at Wiscasset, Maine, and then became the well-known and beloved pastor and pastor emeritus of the Second Congregational Church at Exeter, New Hampshire, until 1903, when he fell on sleep, having fulfilled forty years in the Christian ministry. He became a pastor of leadership and influence in New Hamp- shire. Dartmouth College gave him the well-merited degree of Doctor of Divinity. The American Board enlisted him as a corporate member. He was an excellent preacher, and wise and winning as a pastor. He had the pen of a ready
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writer and possessed no mean literary style, and publica- tions not a few by his hand have been issued. Nature en- dowed him with full stature, handsome, refined features and impressive appearance. He was genial and courteous, polished and urbane, a gentleman par excellence. There is no slightest suggestion that he can be compared as a scholar or theologian with Dr. Bellamy. He is without peers. The Street strain, excellent as it was, cannot compete with the famous Foote tribe, but as a splendid symmetrical specimen of a cultivated, courtly Christian man or minister Dr. Street has few equals, and the place of his birth and the church in which he was brought up may well be proud of the product. He represented in himself the fine old Connecticut Congre- gational stock, and it constitutes a caste that cannot be sur- passed any time or anywhere. George Edward Street typi- fied the Congregational Cheshire constituency of this last century, and he did it truthfully and well. This triumvirate, Bellamy, Foot and Street, is all I can tell you about to- night. Only the limitation of time prevents me from telling of many others scarcely less worthy.
You have quite a chore in the next two centuries to raise up three divines, with the eloquence of Bellamy, the emi- nence of Foot and the elegance of Street, but the question is whether you are to continue the overflow of this gracious spring.
In the vision of Ezekiel which I read to you, and from which I secured the figures employed in this address,-the sanctuary, the sill from beneath which issued the slender stream which became a river irrigating the region round about-the record tells that the seer declared that on both sides of the river should grow all trees for meat, "whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed, it
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shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary."
What has been wrought here in these two centuries has not been the conditions of chance but at the cost of consecra- tion. You will be worthy of your inheritance only as you transmit its grace and glory to succeeding generations. If the spring is still to overflow with religious fertility you must found homes not a few, with honorable fathers and elect mothers, the nurseries of noble youth, where the claims and aims of the gospel ministry are cherished for the career of consecrated children. The constituency of this church should stand for and stand with an educated, Godly minis- try, welcoming a gospel message that grips the conscience and graces the soul. Then the glory of God will dwell in the ark of the covenant of this church and the blessing of God will abide unto you and your children and children's chil- dren and the generations yet to come.
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Five Hundred copies printed under direction of the Yale University Press in December, 1925
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