History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 148

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 148

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"The present membership of the church is 119,- males, 40; females, 79."

CHRIST CHURCII.#

"The present town of Redding is one of the few places in the old colony of Connecticut where the Episcopal ministry is entitled to the distinction of having been first on the ground, laying foundations and not building upon those already laid. The Church of England was not planted in New England without strenuous and bitter opposition from the Puritans, who were first in the field. By old English law, in- deed, that church was established in all the planta- tions; yet it is manifest from the records of the colonial legislation of the charter government of Con- necticut that previously to 1727 the church of which the king was a member was not recognized as having a right to exist. Congregationalism was the estab- lished religion, 'in opposition to which there could be no ministry or church administration entertained or attended by the inhabitants of any town or planta- tion, upon penalty of fifty pounds for every breach of this act ;' and every person in the colony was obliged to pay taxes for the support of this establishment.

" In this uncongenial soil the Anglican Church of Connecticut was planted,-strange to say, not by for- eign-born missionaries, but by seceders from the min- istry of the Congregationalists. The pioneers in this movement were Timothy Cutler, rector of Yale Col- lege ; Daniel Brown, tntor ; James Wetmore, of North Haven; and Samuel Johnson, of West Haven, a former tutor in the college. These gentlemen, after a professedly careful and prayerful examination of the subject of church order, discipline, and worship, which resulted in a conviction that the English Church followed most closely the teaching of the Scriptures and the practice of the church of the first ages, sent to the trustees of the college a formal state- ment of their views and declared for Episcopacy,-to the no small surprise and consternation of their col-

leagnes in the college and church. The four went to England for episcopal ordination, where Brown died. The three survivors returned in 1722, as inis- sionaries of the 'Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,' Jolison only being sent to Connecticut. The ante-Revolutionary history of the church at Redding Ridge is mostly to be found in the archives of this society, as published in the 'Doen- mentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Connectient,' and the Rev. Dr. Beardsley's ' His- tory of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut,' from which sources, mainly, this sketch has been compiled.

" A letter was addressed to the secretary of the S. P. G., dated Oct. 19, 1722, signed by John Glover and twelve other heads of families in Newtown, Thomas Wheeler, of Woodbury, and Moses Knapp, of Chest- nut Ridge, thanking the society for the services of the Rev. George Pigot, missionary at Stratford, and earnestly soliciting the appointment of a missionary for themselves at Newtown.

" The next year, 1723, Mr. Pigot was transferred to Newport, R. I., and the Rev. Samuel Johnson, his snccessor at Stratford, 'accepted all his missionary duties in Connecticut.'

" In 1727 the Rev. Henry Caner [prononnce Can- ner] was sent to Fairfield, of which town Chestnut Ridge was a part. After having named in his report the several villages or hamlets in the vicinity of his station, he says, 'Besides thesc, there is a village northward from Fairfield about eighteen miles, con- taining near twenty families, where there is no mmin- ister at all, of any denomination whatsoever; the name of it is Chestnut Ridge, and where I usually preach or lecture once in three weeks.' In 1728 he says there are four villages 'about Fairfield,'-Green Farms, Greenfield, Poquannuck, and Chestnut Ridge, three of them about fonr miles distant, the last about sixteen. The same year the name of Moses Knapp appears as a vestryman of the church at Fairfield.

" In 1729, ' Moses Knap, Nathan Lion, and Daniel Crofoot' objected, in a meeting of the [Presbyterian] 'Society of Redding' ' against' the 'hicring' any other than a minister of the Church of England. These three names appear again in the list of Mr. Beach's parishioners in 1738. The Rev. Dr. Burhams [ Church- man's Magazine, 1823] says, ' The first churchman in Reading was a Mr. Richard Lyon, from Ireland, who died as early as 1735.' He also says, on the authority of 'an aged member of the Church in Reading,' that ' Messrs. [ Richard ?] Lyon, [Stephen] Morehouse, [Moses] Knapp, [Joshua] Hall, [William] Hill, [Daniel] Crofoot, and {Lieut. Samuel] Fairchild ap- pear to have composed the first Church in Reading.' Nathan Lyon died in 1757, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. Mr. Caner reported in 1728 seven families at Chestnut Ridge, the number reminding us of the 'House of Wisdom' with its 'Seven Pillars,' as the first Puritan organization at New Haven was named. " Mr. Caner was succeeded at Chestnut Ridge,

* Contributed to Todd's history by Rev. Alanson Welton.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

in 1732, by the Rev. John Beach, a pupil of John- son in Yale College, and afterwards Presbyterian minister at Newtown for several years. As Mr. Beach was a resident of East Redding for about twenty years, and pastor of this church full half a century, his history is substantially that of the parish, or mission, over which he presided. His pastorate was the longest of all the ante-Revolutionary clergy. He was born in Stratford, Oct. 6, 1700; graduated from Yale at the age of twenty-one, and licensed to preach soon afterwards. He is said to have been selected for the Presbyterian pastorate at Newtown as a ' popular and insinuating young man,' well fitted to check the growth of Episcopacy, which was there thriving under the ministry of Caner and Johnson. Many churchmen must have 'joined in settling him with Presbyterian ordination,' for in 1722 they claimed to be a majority of the population, whereas, for some time after his 'settlement,' Mr. Johnson ministered to only about five families. 'From these visits . frequent and earnest discussions resulted between the two teachers, the influence of which was soon evident to Mr. Beach's congregation.' After two or three years of patient study and meditation he alarmed his congregation by his frequent usc of the Lord's Prayer, and still more by reading whole chapters from the Word of God. Next he ventured to condemn a cus- tom, common in their meetings, of rising and bowing to the minister as he came in among them, and in- stead of which he begged them to kneel down and worship God. At length (in January, 1731), 'after he had been a preacher more than eight years, he told them from the pulpit that " from a serious and prayerful examination of the Scriptures, and of the records of the early ages of the church, and from the universal acknowledgment of Episcopal government for fifteen hundred years, compared with the recent establishment of Presbyterian and Congregational discipline," he was fully persuaded of the invalidity of his ordination, and of the unscriptural method of organizing and governing congregations as by them practiced. He therefore, "In the face of Almighty God," had made up his mind to 'conform to the Church of England, as being apostolical in her minis- try and discipline, orthodox in her doctrine, and primitive in her worship.' He affectionately ex- liorted them to weigh the subject well, engaged to provide for the due administration of the sacraments while absent from them, and spoke of his intended return from England in holy orders. So greatly was he beloved that a large proportion of his people seemed ready to acquiesce in his determination. But the others, in evident alarm and consternation at this 'threatened defection from their ranks,' held a town- meeting 'to consult' as to 'what was possible to be done with the Rev. Mr. John Beach, under present difficulties ;' 'voted to have a (day of) solemn fasting and prayer; .. . to call in the Ecclesiastical Council of Fairfield to direct and do what they shall think

proper, under the . . . difficult circumstances respect- ing the Rev. Mr. Beach, and the inhabitants of the town of Newtown; also that the first Wednesday of February (1732) be appointed for the fast.'

"The council met, and in spite of Mr. Beach's re- monstrances proceeded to depose him from the min- istry. 'From this resulted a printed discussion' be- tween him and his deposers, which ultimately helped rather than hindered the Church of England.

" Mr. Beach returned from England in Episcopal orders, and took charge of the Newtown and Red- ding mission in the autumn of 1732. From this pe- riod his history and that of his mission may be more accurately told in the language of his own letters to the secretary of the S. P. G.

"'NEWTOWN IN CONNECTICUT, August 7th, 1735.

"' REVEREND SIR: I think it my duty to acquaiut the venerable Society with the present state of my parish, although the alteration since my last has not been very considerable. I have baptized twenty- nine children and admitted twenty-five persons more to the communion, so that the number . . . now at Newtown, Reading, and the places ad- jacent is ninety-five. I preach frequently and administer the Sacrament at Ridgefield, ... about eighteen miles distant, ... where there are about fourteen or eighteen families of very serious and religious people who have a just esteem of the Church of England. and are very desirous to liave the opportunity of worshiping God in that way. I have con- stantly preached ono Sunday at Newtown, and the other at Reading; and after I have preached at Reading in the day-time, I . . . preach at Newtown in the evening ; and although I have not that success I could wish for, yet I do, and hope I always shall, faithfully endeavor (as far as my poor ability will allow) to promote that good work that the vener- able Society sent and maintained for me. I am, Rev. Sir,

"' Your most humble servant, "'JOHN BEACH.'

" As a specimen of his manner of defending himself against personal attacks we have the following from a controversial pamphlet, in reply to John Dickinson, of New Jersey, in 1736 :

"' I have evened the scale of my judgment as much as possibly I could, and to the best of my knowledge I have not allowed one grain of worldly motive on either side. I have supposed myself on the brink of eternity, just going into the other world to give up my account to my great Judge; and must I be branded for an antichrist or heretic, or apostate, because my judgment determines that the Church of England is most agreeable to the Word of God? I can speak in the presence of God, who knows my heart better than you do, that I would willingly turn Dissenter again, if you or any man living will show me reason for it. But it must be reason (whereby I exclude not the Word of God, which is the highest reason), and not sophistry and calumny, as you have hitherto used, that will convince a lover of truth and right.'

" In 1739 he says,-

"' I have one hundred and twenty-three communicants, but they live so far distant from each other that commonly I can administer to no more than about fifty at once, which occasions my administering it the more frequently ; and, though I meet with many discouragements, yet I have this satisfaction, that all my communicants (one or two excepted) do adorn their profession by a sober, righteous, aud godly life.'

" In 1743, some three years after Whitefield began his famous 'revival of Puritanism,' Mr. Beach says,-

"' My people are not at all shaken, but rather confirmed, in their principles by the spirit of enthusiasm that rages among the Indepen- dents roundabout ns; and many of the Dissenters, observing how stead- fast our people are, . .. while those of their own denomination are easily carried away with every kind of doctrine, have conceived a much better opinion of our Church than they formerly had, and a considerable number in this colony have lately conformed, and several churches are now buikling where they have no minister. .. . Were there in this

605

REDDING.

country but one of the Episcopal order to whom young men might apply for ordination without the expense and danger of a voyage to England, many of our towns might be supplied which must now remain destitute .* My people are poor, and have but few negro slaves, but all they have, I have, after instruction, baptized, and some of them are communicants.'

" In October of the same year he says,-

"' I beg the venerable Society's direction in an affair I am just now perplexed with. There are about twenty families . . : at New Milford and New Fairfield, which are about fifteen miles henee. I preach to them several times a year, but seldom on the Lord's day. They fre- quently eome to church at Newtown; but, by reason of the distance, they can't attend constantly, and their families very seldom, and when they can't come to church they meet together in their own town, and one of their number reads some part of the common prayer and a ser- mon. They are now building a church. . . . But the Independents, to suppress the design in its infancy. . . . have lately prosecuted and fined them for their meeting to worship God according to the common prayer. . . . The case of these poor people is very hard ; if, on the Lord's day, they continue at home, they must be punished; if they meet to worship God according to the Church of England in the best manner they can, the mulct is much greater; and if they go to the Independent meeting, . . . they must endure the mortification of hearing the Church vili- fied.'

" After the death of the Rev. Joshua Honeyman, missionary at Newport, R. I., in 1750, the church of which he had the care petitioned the society that Mr. Beach might be sent to them as their minister. The petition was granted, but Mr. Beach felt constrained, on account of feeble health, to deeline the appoint- ment, fearing, as he said, that 'the people might complain that a worn-out man was imposed upon them.'

"The first church on Redding Ridge, which was built in 1733 and was quite small, was in 1750 replaced by another on the same site, fifty feet long and thirty- six wide, surmounted by a turret, which in 1797 was replaced by a steeple, in which was placed the first bell. This church, according to the style of the pe- riod, was furnished with square, high-backed pews, with seats on their four sides; so that some of their occupants had to sit with their baeks to the minister. And though others doubtless besides Bishop Jarvis 'could see no necessary connection between piety and freezing,' there was no heating-apparatus in the churches until considerably past the beginning of the present century. 'Trinity church, New Haven, had no means of being warmed until 1822, and none of the rural churches were supplied with stoves until a much later period.' Many persons in the rural dis- triets were in the habit of walking several miles, barefooted, to church in summer, and probably did not feel the lack of shoes a great privation. So com- mon was it for men to go to church without their coats that the first time Bishop Seabury preached in New Haven a dissenting hearer reported that 'he preached in his shirt-sleeves.' Often the family was mounted, the parents with a child in arms to be christened, upon one horse, and the older children upon another. Sometimes the whole family were clustered together upon the ox-cart or sled, and thus they went up to the house of God.

* This letter is dated at " Reading, in New England," as all his pub- lished reports are, between 1740 and 1760.

"In 1759, three years after the breaking out of the 'Old French War,' Mr. Beach, writing from 'Reading, Connecticut, in N. England,' says,-

"' My parish is in a flourishing condition, in all respects, excepting that we have lost some of our young men in the army; more, indeed, by sickness than by the sword, for this countrymen do not bear a cam- paign so well as Enropeans.'

"Dr. Johnson's playful remark to his son, that Mr. Beach had always these seeming inconsistencies, to be always dying, and yet relishing mundane things,' would seem to indicate that his friend was not really so near death's door as he often imagined himself; for example, in 1761, when he says, 'My painful and weak state of body admonishes me that, although this may not be the last time of my writing, yet the last cannot be far off;' and he had supposed himself a ' worn-out man' several years before.

"Writing from 'New-Town, Oct. 3, 1764,' he re- ports,-

"' My congregation at Reading has increased very little for some years past, by reason that many who were wont to attend there, though living at a distance of 6, 8, or 10 miles, have lately built [each] a small church near them, where they can more conveniently meet; viz., at Danbury, Ridgbury, North Fairfield, and North Stratford; which was very much retarded the growth of the congregation at Reading, which . . . now consists of abont 300 learers at one time.'

Under date of April, 1765, he says,-

"' I am now engaged in a controversy with some of the Independent Ministers about these absurd doetrines, the sum of which is contained in a tliesis published by New Haven Collego last September. . . . They expressly deny that there is any law of Grace, which promises eternal lifo upon the condition of faith, repentance, and sincere obedience; and assert justification only by the law of innocence and sinless obedienee. Thoughi my health is small, and my abilities less, I make it a rule never to enter into any dispute with them unless they begin, yet now they have made the assault, and advocate such monstrous errors as do subvert the Gospel, I think myself obliged by my ordination vow to guard the people as well as I eau against such strange doctrines.'

" Again he writes in October of the same year, after the publication of that preeursor of Revolution, the memorable 'Stamp Aet' of 1765,-

"' My parishes continue much in the same condition as iu my last. I have of late, taken pains to warn my people against having any concern with seditious tumults with relation to the stamp duty enjoined upon us by the Legislature at home; and I ean with truth and pleasure say, that I cannot discover the least inclination towards rebellions coudnet in any of the Church people.'

" A year later he says,-

"'For some time past I have not been without fear of being abused by a lawless set of men who style themselves the Sons of Liberty, for no other reason than that of endeavoring to cherish in my people a quiet submission to the civil government. . .. It is very remarkable that in part of this Colony, in which many missions aud Church people abouud, thero the people are vastly more peaceable and ready to render obedience to the Government of England ; but where there is no mission and few or no Church people, they are continually caballing, and will spill the last drop of blood rather than submit to the late Act of Parliament.'

" In 1767 he says,-

"' It is some satisfaction to me to observe that in this town [Newtown] of late, in our elections, the Church people make the major vote, which is the first instance of this kind in this Colony, if not in all New Eng- land.

" Again in 1769,-

"' There are in these two parishes about 2400 souls, of whom a little more than half profess the Church of England. Ilere are about fifty negroes, most of whom after proper instruction have been baptized ....

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Here are no heathens or infidels. I commonly haptize ahont 100 chil- dren in one year, among them some hlack children. My actual commu- nicants are 312. Here are no Papists or Deists.'

"In 1771 he writes,-

"' In Reading, my hearers at once are abont 300. There is a meeting of Presbyterians ahout two and and a half miles from our Church, in which the congregation is not so large as ours. In a manner all . . . who live near the Church, join with us; scarce any go by tho Church to meeting.' 'The Church' (he says in I774) 'stauds not in the centre of the town, hut on one side to accommodate the Church people, who live near, though out of the bounds of Reading.'

"One of the most interesting of his reports is that of May 5, 1772:

"'It is now forty years since I have had the advantage of being the venerable Society's Missionary in this place. . . . Every Sunday I have performed divine service, and preached twice at New Town and Reading alternately ; and in these forty years I have lost only two Sundays through sickuess, although in all that time I have been afflicted with a constant cholic which has not allowed me one day's ease, or freedom from pain. The distance between the Church . . . is between eight and nine miles, and no very good road ; yet I have never failed . . . to attend at each place according to custom, through the hadness of the weather, but have rode it in the severest raius and snow-storms, even when there has been no track, and my horse near siuking down in the snow-hanks, which has had this good effect on my parishioners, that they are ashamed to stay from Church on account of bad weather. . . . I have performed divine service in many towns where the Common Prayer had never been heard, nor the Holy Scriptures read in public, and where now are flourishing congregations of the Church of England ; and in some places where there never had heen any public worship at all, nor sermon preached by any teacher, of any denomination.

"' In my traveling to preach the Gospel, once was my life remarkably preserved, in passing a deep and rapid river. The retrospect of my fa- tigues, lying on straw, &c., gives me pleasure ; while I flatter myself that my labor has not been quite in vain ; for the Church of England people are increased more than 20 to 1, and, what is infinitely more pleasing, many of them remarkable for piety and virtue; and the Independents here are more kuowing in matters of religion than they who live at a distance from the Church. We live in harmony and peace with each other, and the rising generation of Independents seem to be entirely free from every pique aud prejudice against the Church.'

" In a previous report he said,-

"'They who set up the worship of God according to our Liturgy, at Lanesboro', at Nohletown, and Arlington, proceed chiefly from my parishes. But notwithstanding these frequent emigrations, my eongre- gations increase.'

" His last report, which was made about six months before his death, is dated Oct. 31, 1781, and is as fol- lows :

"' It is a long time since I have done my duty in writing to the ven- erahle Society, not owing to my carelessness, hut to tho impossibility of conveyance from here. And now I do it sparingly. A narrative of my troubles I dare not now give. My two congregations are growing, that at Reading being commonly about 300 and at New Town ahout 600. I bap- tized about 130 children in one year, and lately 2 adults. New Town and the Church of England part of Reading are, I believe, the only parts of New England that have refused to comply with the doings of Congress, aud for that reason have been the butt of general hatred. But God has preserved us from entire destruction.

"' I am now in the 82d year of my age; yet do constantly, alternately, perform and preach at New Town and Reading. I have been 60 years a public preacher, and, af. er conviction, in the Church of England 50 years; but had I heen sensible of my inefficiency, I should not have undertaken it. But now I rejoice in that I think I have done more good to- wards men's eternal happiness, than I should have done in any other calling.

"'I do most heartily thank the venerable Society for their liberal support, and beg that they will accept of this, which is, I helieve, my last bill, viz .: £325, which, according to former custom, is due.'* At

this age I cannot well hope for it, but I pray God I may havo an op- portunity to explain myself with safety; hut must conclude now with Joh's expression : " Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends !"' '

" Tradition has preserved a few incidents in his ex- perience during the war of Independence.

"In the autumn of 1775 several officers of the militia, liaving collected a number of soldiers and volunteers from the different towns in Western Con- neeticut, undertook to subdue the Tories. They went first to Newtown, where they put Mr. Beaeh, the se- lectmen, and other principal inhabitants under strict guard, and urged them to sign the Articles of Asso- ciation prescribed by the Congress at Philadelphia. When they eould prevail upon them neither by per- suasion nor by threats, they accepted a bond from them, with a large pecuniary penalty, not to take up arms against the colonies, and not to discourage en- listments into the American forces.

"Shortly after the declaration of independence- i.e., July 23, 1776-the Episcopal clergy of the colony, fearing to continue the use of the Liturgy as it then stood,-praying for the king and royal family,-and conscientiously scrupulous about violating their oaths and subscriptions, resolved to suspend the public ex- ercise of their ministry. 'All the churches were thus for a time closed, except those under the eare of Mr. Beach. . .. He continued to officiate as usual' (as himself testifies) during the war. 'Though gentle as a lamb in the intercourse of private life, he was bold as a lion in the diseharge of public duty : and when warned of personal violence if he persisted, he de- elared that he would do his duty, preach, and pray for the king till the rebels eut out his tongue.'

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 148

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572