USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > Historical discourse delivered at the centennial celebration of the dedication of the Stone meeting house, 1774-1874 > Part 5
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From what has been advanced, the condition of the First Ecclesiastical Society in East Haven may be inferred, without entering upon a more detailed statement of its affairs. It will not be inappropriate to speak briefly of the condition of the church. The society is the body, the church the informing and inspiring spirit. From the settle- ment of Mr. Clark, in 1808, numerous and sometimes pow- erful revivals of religion have occurred. His pastorate was almost a continuous revival. In 1821, under the ministry of Mr. Dodd, there was quite an extensive work of grace ; in common with all the churches in New England, this church was visited with a powerful revival in 1831; one of less extent was enjoyed in 1843 ; in 1852 occurred the great work, already described ; one of less power was enjoyed in 1858 ; another in 1866, and another still in 1871. As results of the last four, about two hundred were added to this church. Although not large in point of numbers, nor able in respect to wealth, it has always been distinguished for its stability and its fidelity to the principles and polity on which it was originally founded. At a church meeting, September 3, 1755-after Mr. Street had accepted a call to become its pastor, and before his ordination-" called to discourse of church government, and of ye manner in which they proposed to be governed," it was "Voted and agreed, that Seabrook platform should be the constitution by which they, with their pastor, would be governed." This was signed by the church committee and pastor elect. Again, in 1822, when the fund was founded, it was "Voted, that the interest of said fund be appropriated for the support of a regular Calvinistic minister, on the Saybrook platform, especially as to doctrine, and to be appropriated to no other purpose." With the exception of a single brief period in its history, this church has been equally distin- quished for the unity of sentiment among its members. This has been mainly owing to the fact that, notwithstand- ing the changes that have taken place around them, they have remained steadfast in their adherence to Puritan prin- ciples, and retained, in a remarkable degree, the antique manners and habits of thought. Never may principles less
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noble be inculcated here, or influences less beneficent and elevating go forth from this or any of its sister churches. With fervent gratitude to God, and yet with a commend- able pride, may the descendants of those who laid the foundation of this church, nearly two centuries ago, con- template it, as it stands to-day, far in advance of any period in its past history. The good old ship has encountered severe storms, when she seemed like a wreck, with shattered masts and torn sails, tossed on the billows, and her enemies predicted her ruin ; but, under the protection of divine providence, and with the great head of the church at the helm, she has rode out the tempest, and come forth from all her trials greater in strength, superior in moral power, and brighter in spiritual beauty. In the retrospect of her past, in the contemplation of her present, and in the fore- casting of her future, those who comprise her living mem- bership, with devout thanksgiving and heartfelt gratitude, can say, "The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
This discourse could not, with propriety, be closed, already and unavoidably lengthy, without some reference to the great changes which these silent walls have witnessed during the century of years they have stood like giant warders, keeping watch by day and night, in sunshine and in storm, in peace and war, over the surrounding village and its families. There are here to-day worthy descendants of those who gathered within them a hundred years ago, to dedicate this house to the worship of God. But you come in far different guise, and with different mien. The scenes . around us remain, in all their essential features, the same ; the same skies canopy us ; the same ground they trod upon resounds to our footsteps. But all else, how changed ? Homespun has given place to broadcloth and silks. The very poorest in the community to-day have comforts and conveniences, and even luxuries in their dwellings, uni- known to the wealthiest a hundred years ago. The school- master, too, has been abroad. Some of the most prominent and influential men of those days were unable to write their names ; newspapers and periodicals, there were none ; and
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all the information and culture received by the great mass of the people came through the pulpit. Agriculture and navigation were the chief pursuits. The former was carried on in a very rude and unproductive way, yielding a bare support even to those whose wants were few, and to whom the luxuries, and what are now regarded the comforts and necessaries of life, were unknown. The young men were compelled to resort to the sea for the means of subsistence. From these came some of the "solid men " and "merchant princes" of New Haven, when its foreign trade was most flourishing ; men like Abraham Bradley, Laban Smith, and Jehiel Forbes, whose ability, integrity, and success are still cherished among the mercantile traditions of the city. But, in respect to the latter pursuit, the town has under- gone an entire change. It has now very little interest in navigation, with the exception of that portion included in the village of Fair Haven, which then consisted of here and there a farm-house, with a few oystermen's houses on the banks of the Quinnipiac. The pursuits of the inhabitants are mainly agricultural, and such are the facilities, and so great the improvements made in agricultural implements and modes of cultivation, that in spite of its naturally inferior soil, from being one of the poorest, it has become one of the richest farming towns in the State.
But when the view sweeps more distant fields, how vast the changes, how deep-going the revolutions that have taken place ? With what astonishing rapidity have some of the most important events in the world's history followed each other, like ocean billows-wave impelling wave-till one after another they have broken and disappeared on the shores of time. When these walls were reared, all this wide land was under the sway of Great Britain. The red- cross flag of St. George waved undisputed from Quebec to Savannah, whilst all that vast country lying west of the Alleghanies, and stretching to the golden shores of the Pacific, excepting a narrow cordon of French settlements lying along or near the banks of the mighty Mississippi, was a terra incognita-an unknown land. But scarcely had this house been dedicated, when the storm of war burst
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upon the nation and the struggle for independence com- menced. For nearly eight years the tide of war surged back and forth, from north to south and from south to north, and when it ceased these walls beheld a vigorous nation spring forth, like Minerva from the head of Jove, panoplied for that wondrous career which has replaced primeval forests with teeming cities and waving harvests, and advanced it into the front rank of the nations of the earth. They have seen the throes and convulsions which preceded, and the atrocities that attended, the French revo- lution, out of which was born the universal recognition of the rights of man, which renders impossible the restoration of autocratic or personal government in Europe. They
have seen the rise of the first French empire, the toppling
ยท thrones of despotism, the fiery meteor, which, for twenty years, blazed through Europe, whose brightness was dim- med by the snows of Russia, and finally quenched in blood at Waterloo. They have seen the false glitter and deserved fate of the second empire, whose foundations were laid on the ruins of the old, and which, like the second Jewish temple, caused those who had seen the glories of the first to weep tears of shame for the contrast. They have seen the founding of a mighty empire in India, whose countless millions of inhabitants are subject to the power of a little sea-girt isle in the North Atlantic Ocean, and where the blessings conferred by British philanthropy and British Christianity scarcely compensate for the wrongs inflicted by British ambition and cupidity. They have seen every foreign power driven from the fairest portions of this con- tinent, the downfall of the temporal power of the Pope, and republicanism become the prevailing sentiment, if not the dominant power, throughout Europe. They have seen this young nation, when at the height of its power, and in the full sweep of success, menaced with a danger such as never threatened another. When these walls arose, a century ago, slavery was a legal institution in every Colony. Slaves passed every day within their shadow, and entered their doors every Sabbath. To-day, the foot of the slave does not tread the soil over which floats the starry flag of our
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country. But at what a price was the flaunting lie it once told removed ? and, in truth, does that flag now "wave over the land of the free ?" For every drop of blood drawn by the whips and chains of slavery, a noble life has been sacrificed to save the Union. No; these walls do not look upon the same world they did a hundred years ago! In respect to all material and political interests, in the enjoy- ment and diffusion of the blessings of Christian civilization and culture, it is a more advanced, a nobler, and a better world, than it has been since the fall.
There are other fields where changes have spread wider and gone deeper, affecting not only the outer aspects but touching the inner springs of human life. A century ago, no swift and graceful steamers navigated our long rivers and broad lakes ; no mighty Leviathans of the deep, pro- pelled by enginery of Titanic force, yet working as softly as the breathings of a sleeping infant, ploughed their way across the wide expanse of oceans, in defiance of winds and waves ; no iron rails bound together different parts of the same country and distant lands, upon which rushing trains bore the travel and the traffic of many nations; no electric wires, sweeping over mountains and under oceans, and traversing plains and boundless prairies, carrying messages of politics and science, of business and love, of life and death, and "putting a girdle around the earth in forty minutes." No mighty gatherings were held, pervaded with the primitive spirit of Christianity, to yield obedience to the Saviour's last command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ;" no great organiza- tions, the outcome of the revival of the missionary spirit in the church, and breathing the spirit of the Christian life and heart and love, which aim to uplift the fallen, inform the ignorant, and save the lost. All these have sprung into existence since these walls were reared. They have seen lands, then hermetically sealed against Christianity, opened as miraculously to the ingress of the Gospel as Jericho was made bare to the march of Joshua's army ; Christian mis- sions planted in nearly every portion of the habitable globe, and whole nations converted to Christ. They have seen
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the proud boasts of English deism, French atheism, and German rationalism, falsified, and Christianity come forth from their fierce assaults, stronger, purer, and more resist- less than before. They have seen the wondrous results of modern scientific researches, which give assurance and earnest of an era now dawning upon the world, illustrious for the discoveries of natural science, for the extending the range of human knowledge, and the broadening and deep- ening of human culture, by the revelation of facts, the discoveries of forces, and the development of truths and principles, which have been hidden since the foundation of the world.
Buckle, in his "History of Civilization," brings out into prominence, and illustrates by a variety of examples, the theory that surroundings have great influence in molding the character, and forming the habits, of individuals and nations. This theory is, in the main, correct, though ex- ceptional instances may not be difficult to find. A marked difference of character is always observed between men reared amid the grandeur and magnificence of mountain scenery and those whose lives have been passed on rich and fertile plains; between those who have known only the factitious life of cities and those who dwell amid rural scenes, and in constant contact with Nature's works ; be- tween those whose home is by the sea-shore, who have
" Laid their hand upon the ocean's mane, And played familiar with his hoary locks,"
and those who, far removed from tempest-swept waters, have never witnessed one of the sublimest spectacles the mortal eye ever gazed upon.
Certain traits in the character of the people of East Haven must be traced to some similar influence. They distinguish them from all others, even in the immediate vicinity, and in former years have isolated them and ren- dered them peculiar. It is a matter of surprise to strangers, that although in the immediate neighborhood of a large city, its influence, until recently, has been scarcely per- ceptible on their character, modes of thought, or habits of
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life. On the other hand, the same influence has produced a stability, reliableness, and force of character rarely found. With a large proportion of those who have attended wor- ship here, in their childhood and youth-especially the descendants of the ancient families-the idea of worshiping any where than in the sanctuary of their fathers, or em- bracing an ecclesiastical polity or religious principles, other than those of which the house they reared is the fitting symbol, would be as alien to their sentiments and feelings as the adoption of the heathen practices of the Chinese, or the fetichism of Western Africa. That influ- ence which has been so effective in producing this peculiar character, and stamping upon it those strong traits, which are of great excellence when not in excess, is the direct outcome from the impressions made upon the mind in childhood and youth, by this massive structure.
No one who has been trained in the principles, which for a century have been inculcated here, can look upon these venerable walls without having the emotions of his heart stirred, as he recalls the scenes of which they have been the silent witnesses, the men and women who have walked in their shadow, and the words of truth and elo- quence to which they have listened, from lips now silent in death. More than three generations of its worshipers have passed away : those, who in early childhood were borne hither in parental arms, have tottered here when bending under the weight of years, till the time of their departure came, and then entered the spirit world to join the white robed company, in that purer "temple, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Here, upon infant brows, has been sprinkled the consecrating waters of baptism, and in the same spot, in maturer years, the same children have taken the vows of Christ upon them, fulfilling the solemn obligation assumed for them by believing parents. Here, God has spoken peace to many souls, when struggling in the darkness and doubts of conviction of sin, and poured into them the light and peace and joy of conscious forgive- ness, acceptance, and salvation. Here, those whose lives were destined to mingle in the same current, have stood up
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amid the sacred memories and associations of the place, and plighted to each other the solemn troth of marriage, and gone forth from its doors, hand in hand, to tread the same pathway in life, share its mingled joys and sorrows, its common weal and woe. And when life's limit had been reached, and their life-work done, hither their mortal re- mains have been borne for the solemn service of the dead, ere laid to rest with kindred dust. As the years roll on these memories and associations are continually accumu- lating, and the history of the families that worship here become interwoven with that of the "Old Stone Meeting- house," reared by the toils and sacrifices of the fathers, and by them bequeathed to their descendants-a sacred trust to be transmitted unimpaired to future generations. The family traditions and historical associations connected with the sanctuary of our childhood, are exceedingly ten- der, strong, and lasting. It is the uniform testimony of those who have gone forth from the childhood home, to dwell in distant parts of their own country, or in foreign lands, or are tossed upon the billows of distant seas, that when recalling the scenes of their early life the old meeting- house, whither their infant feet were turned by godly parents, and the rude school-house where they received the rudiments of education, stand out prominent in the fore- ground of the picture, and around them cluster the purest memories and the most cherished associations and affec- tions.
Such, and so powerful and everlasting, are the influences that press upon our minds to-day from the PAST. This meeting-house has a history, of which every descendant of the ancient families of East Haven may be justly proud. As to-day we gather here, on an occasion of such rare interest, imagination will fill these aisles, these seats, and this pulpit, with the forms of those who occupied them in other days-the venerated fathers and mothers in Israel- who toiled, and prayed, and suffered, and then entered on their everlasting reward, whose memory and the savor of their grateful piety are as fresh and green to-day as when they were laid to rest in yonder cemetery. But, is it all
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imagination ? Were the veil that separates the material and spiritual drawn aside this moment by a divine hand, and we " see as we are seen, and known as we are known," what a cloud of witnesses would be revealed to our view, hovering over and gazing down upon this scene, with an interest more intense, and a gratitude more fervent for all God's goodness to his church in the century past, than is possible for unsanctified minds and unglorified souls to feel. Let our emotions go forth responsive to theirs, and our grateful praise arise, because "they labored and we have entered into their labors," and are reaping the rich fruitage of all their toils, and sacrifices, and sufferings.
" Thus, though oft depressed and lonely, All my fears are laid aside, If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died."
But it is not with the PAST alone we have to do, or with which our thoughts and feelings and interests should be associated to-day. It is a law of our being, that we do not and can not live for ourselves alone. All our acts, how- ever unconsciously to ourselves, are inwoven with a net- work of circumstances and events, which, in the providence of God, are destined to have an influence far beyond the immediate sphere in which they are performed, and even the circle of our transient lives. We are links in that mighty chain which connects the historic past with the living present and the unborn future, prophecy with his- tory-the known with the unknown-the seed-germ with the ripened fruitage. The impressions and influences which we carry away from these scenes and these services should make us stronger for our life-work, and better fitted for life's close. The recalling of the memory of the fathers, the recollection of their patient endurance, their zealous patriotism, their unconquerable devotion, their simple, earnest piety, their frugality and thrift, their rectitude and fortitude, have arrested our attention and elicited our admiration. In all the qualities required to constitute a genuine manhood and integrity of character, they were rich beyond any precedent ; and they remain at this day, in
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spite of all the malice and ridicule and prejudice with which the character of the Puritans of New England has been assailed, the best models for our imitation, in all those solid and unobtrusive virtues which make a people strong, vigorous, and truly great. And if such are the impressions and the lessons we derive from this occasion and these services, and if they shall cause us to think more wisely and act more nobly, then will they who shall gather here a hundred years hence, to celebrate the bi-centennial of the "Old Stone Meeting-house," associate our names in honored remembrance with the names of those who, a cen- tury ago, reared this solid structure, and solemnly dedi- cated it to the worship of Almighty God.
At the conclusion of the morning services, the assembled multitude were invited to partake of a collation, prepared by the Committee on Entertainment. Tables were spread under awnings in the meeting-house yard, and also in the new chapel, laden with a great variety of viands, and in ample quantities to satisfy the large number of persons that partook of them. The divine blessing was invoked by Rev. George I. Wood, of Ellington.
The reunion in the afternoon was fully attended. The only disappointment connected with the celebration was caused by the unexpected and necessary absence of Presi- dent Porter. After listening to the reading of letters from many invited guests who were unable to be present, by the Secretary of the General Committee, Isaac S. Pardee, Esq., Rev. Owen Street, of Lowell, Mass., grandson of Rev. Nicholas Street, Pastor of the church in East Haven from 1755 to 1806, gave the following address :
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MR. MODERATOR : It seems proper that the after-dinner speaking should begin at some point not very remote from where the century began.
I propose for my topic the man who was at the head of affairs in the local church in East Haven when this house was built. I confess to some feeling of embarrassment, growing out of the fact that he was my own grandfather. But you will have the kindness to remember, that I had no personal acquaintance with him, as he died nine years before I was born, and hence no partialities of intimacy can disqualify me to speak of him, and I shall certainly " set down nought in malice."
But this very circumstance, of never having seen him, while it relieves me of one embarrassment, creates another. How shall I know what to say of him ? In what way, and to what extent, I have succeeded in overcoming this diffi- culty will appear as I proceed.
In my early days, when I might have gathered infor- mation from many sources, my mind was not awake to the subject. As time wore on, and such inquiries became more interesting to me, I began to question my father ; but from him I obtained incidents rather than characteristics, yet some of the incidents revealed his idiosyncrasies, and were characteristic enough. But bent still on finding out something more, I caught at every opportunity. When I was in college, 1 had occasion to call on Prof. Silliman. Learning my name, he asked if I was a descendant of the Rev. Nicholas Street, of East Haven. On hearing my answer, he rejoined, "he used sometimes to preach for us in the chapel ; I remember him with a great deal of plea- sure.". Some years afterward, when I found inquiries arising which there was no one to answer, I bethought me of Prof. Silliman, as just the man to give me an intelligent and impartial estimate of my grandfather. Accordingly, being favored with an opportunity, I mentioned his former allusion to him, and told him how earnestly I desired to know what impression he gained as to his qualities of mind and his ability as a preacher. "O," said he, "he was a very excellent man ; he used to exchange with Dr. Dwight,
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and preach for us in the chapel." "But," said I, "do you remember him well enough to say what his peculiarities were ?" "O yes," said he, "I remember him well ; he was a very good man." I began now to despair of obtaining the light for which I was seeking.
But sometime after this, when having been in the min- istry myself sometime, I was supposed to have come to years of discretion, my father brought me one day a little package of ancient-looking papers, which he said were my grandfather's sermons, and perhaps might as well be in my keeping. Now the light dawned upon me. Here was material, in part at least, for the knowledge I had so long been seeking. This is the main source of the suggestions which I now offer :
1. I will allude, first, to his industry in the preparation of sermons. I have in my possession not more than fifty sermons, and fragments of sermons, that were written by him; but these were scattered along through different periods of his ministry, and furnish me the material for the following statements. He was in the habit of number- ing his sermons, as well as writing the date. By collating the numbers for the first fifteen years of his ministry, of which I have preserved ten, I find that he wrote in fifteen years 617 sermons-something more than forty a year ; which, while it does not perhaps exceed the average of ministerial work in that line at the present day, is at least equal to it. Ministers, as a class, in this country are hard working men, and he seems not to have been an exception. At the rate which I have found for the first fifteen years, he must have written more than two thousand sermons in his life-time .*
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