USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > History of the First Congregational church, Stonington, Conn., 1674-1874. With the report of bi-centennial proceedings, June 3, 1874. With appendix containing statistics of the church > Part 16
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the pulpit, the doors of this venerable Church must be closed, that the fires which through all these years had burned so brightly upon its altar must be quenched, and that this good old mother would be obliged to break up housekeeping and live in an upper chamber of some one of her daughters. But, my friends, it is hardly necessary for me to say that this prediction failed of real- ization ; and it is with profound gratitude that I am permitted to mention, as a cheering sign of the times, that upon the first Sabbath of her entering upon the third century of her existence, she receives from the very heart and strength of our society no less than twelve persons to her fellowship and communion, and, thanks to our beloved brother who presides over our jubilee to- day, and in whose veins courses the unalloyed blood of a Puritan ancestry, the old Road Church stands in a condition, financially, rather to be envied than otherwise : and I venture here the pre- diction that when two hundred years more, with all that is event- ful in their history, shall have passed away, there shall be found upon this consecrated spot a Church and a people dedicated to the worship of the Most High God. True, these walls that en- close us to-day will have been replaced by others more costly and beautiful, these familiar faces that we to-day behold with so much pride and affection, will have been forgotten, but their noble deeds of love and devotion to this Church, and its well-being, will that day be told, in words of affection, and a generation yet unborn will trace the deeds and honor the memory of our Couch, our Stanton, our Wheelers, our Palmers, and others, not less faithful, as to-day we honor and revere the historic names that adorn these galleries. Permit me, then, once more, my friends, to welcome you to our happy home, and to express to you the devout wish of a mother's heart that she and you may catch a new inspiration from this hour and this occasion, that she and you may buckle on still more firmly the whole armor of Christ, and be prepared for a joyous welcome to that other home, that home of many mansions, beyond the skies. And now I hasten on to read our first sentiment of greeting to our oldest daughter.
9. SENTIMENT : -
North Stonington ! Our first-born, the beginning of our strength, nestled in a beautiful nook, near the great hill of the Indian, with motherly joy we greet thee.
RESPONSE, by Rev. J. R. Bourne, Pastor : -
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MR. MODERATOR,-It is with excusable pride that your Church summons her daughters to celebrate with her this anniversary. And it is with pleasure that we respond to add our rejoicings and good will.
Coming as children to our mother's home, we feel that it is well to say a few words of what has transpired in the absence, and something of the present condition of the oldest daughter, situated under " the great hill of the Indian."
Seasons of joy have been followed by times of trial, like every other earthly life ; and although the good has been mixed, so has the evil. No night came that did not break into day, and no cloud was so heavy that faith could not discern its silver lining.
It was very gratifying to me, when upon searching our records to know the circumstances attending the origin of our church, to find that the separation of daughter and mother was not in this case, as in that of so many others, amid hard feelings and bitter words.
The number of those who, February 19th, 1727, asked and re- ceived dismission from you to incorporate themselves into church estate, was of the mystical number seven. The Scriptures use seven also to denote perfection ; and wherever they desire to in- dicate any indefinite number. Thus these seven stand prophetic of the great number who were benefited by this act. These seven were embodied into church estate three days later, and their first pastor was set over them. His ministry was short, scarcely five years, and he was taken from " the land of the dying to the land of the living." He left a Church of thirty-six members. Mr. James Fish was the next pastor, who lived nearly fifty years, and died among his people. The great awakening occurred under his ministry, and the day that eighty united with the Church he writes in the record, " In this great and glorious day of grace were ad- mitted in one day the following persons," hardly thinking that the sad record must be made at a little later time in a side note on the same page, " Since departed from us to the Baptists, Sep- arates, etc." As your historian went on with his history this morning, I was struck with the similarity of the lives of mother and daughter in some striking particulars. Each have had, if I mistake not, the same number of pastors; each have been rent by division, although the occasion with you was concerning the site where the meeting-house should stand, with us it was through
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the instrumentality of Mr. Davenport, to whom allusion was made by the historian of the morning. His influence was such that ninety-two members withdrew, carrying with them four hundred of the congregation. A church was formed which called itself the Strict Congregational Church. It existed for seventy-one years. After Pastor Fish's death, his Church had little preaching and no stated ministry for thirty-six years. Then both houses of these two churches being worthless, the two societies united to build a Union House, nearly half way between the others. The two churches worshipped together ten years, till Rev. Mr. Ayre, a descendant of the Strict Congregational, was instrumental in uniting the several bands into one Congregational Church again. The united membership was sixty. From this the Church has gone on, till at the present time her members count one hundred and seven, her Sabbath-school one hundred and ten, the only Sabbath- school, Mr. More, of Berlin, the statistical secretary of the Gen- eral Conference, says that he is aware of, whose numbers exceed the membership of the church. He also told us that if our town was decreasing in population, the membership of the churches was increasing in proportion to the inhabitants ; by which we judge, either that the non-professors form the majority of those who were, or that the Church is more successful in its ministries.
Thus much I thought it well to say of what has transpired in the one hundred and forty-seven years since you became our mother. Were there time and it were best, many other incidents might be mentioned. But I have mentioned enough to satisfy our venerable mother that her daughter has followed her pre- cepts and used her opportunities with some degree of faithful- ness.
A few years since we had the misfortune to lose the benefactions of friends which formed a fund to aid in the support of the Gos- pel ; but thanks to the same benevolent hand which reached forth to aid you, we were placed in better circumstances than before. We do not wonder that the name of Stanton is honored among you, and gladly unite our gratitude with yours for his disinte- rested beneficence.
Accept our congratulations on the health and vigor which you manifest to-day at the great age of two hundred. We wish you many years of usefulness in the future. In all the record of the past you have proved your right to exist in that you have shown
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your life occupied with deeds having the stamp of the Master upon them ; and while the future may never add churches as your children, may many a church have occasion to bless you for the carefully trained son or daughter, who is to them a pillar and an ornament in the Church of Christ. When a church ceases to exert itself to eradicate evil and plant good, it has no right to live, simply because it can live ; when the spirit of Him who de- nied Himself for others is wanting, all is gone that is valuable, whatever may remain behind. As you have in the past proved yourself deserving of the name of Church, may no visions of ease nor comfort tempt you to forget the great command, Go - teach ; then when all work is over, and the day of reckoning comes, you will be ready to receive with a grateful smile, " Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
10. SENTIMENT : -
Second Congregational -- Stonington Borough. - Dweller at the haven of the sea, greatly outstripping thy mother, in num- bers and influence, we glory in thee, as our strong staff and beautiful rod.
RESPONSE, by Rev. H. A. Wales, Pastor : -.
The second daughter brings greeting from her home by the sea to her aged mother. She is happy in the vigorous age of that mother. May she live yet another century, and another, until a second bi-centennial shall call her daughters to their old home.
We are pleased to bring to you our word of cheer. Our home is an exceedingly pleasant one, and therefore we are loth to leave it on ordinary occasions. But this is no common day. Here are the representatives of six generations, and our blood mingles freely with all that has made your story so noble. We all love to dwell upon a history so grand. The names which you have blazoned as frescoes upon the panels of your Church are ours as well as yours. Even as our country boasts the names of John Milton and William Shakespeare, so does the Church of which we are members boast a Noyes, a Rosseter, an Eells, a Woodruff, a Hart, and a Whittlesey. They are ours, as they are yours, and we take part in the pride which magnifies their lives to-day.
We have listened during the morning to much of history, both local and general ; but even as no one is satisfied with having the newspaper read to him, so we are not satisfied with hear- ing, - we must talk a little for ourselves.
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We were grown to mature womanhood when we began keeping house for ourselves. Our membership numbered ninety-four when we organized as a separate Church on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1833, forty-one years ago. The Rev. John C. Nichols was installed as our pastor on the 15th of the next May. Four other pastors have been installed as bishops of the Church since, and we have received admissions to the number of five hundred and four. We now number one hundred and eighty-four. During this time we have had eleven deacons, of which number only two are at present acting.
We thank you for the compliment in the sentiment which introduced us to notice. We hope ever to be a strong staff and beautiful rod to you ; but we know that only He who has given us strength thus far, can continue our vigor and growth and cause us to shine as the stars for ever and ever. Let us know that you are praying for our success in winning souls to Christ, and we will continue to be as strong and beautiful as the daughters of Zebulon which dwelt " at the haven of the sea."
11. SINGING-Hymn 1151. "Watchman, tell us of the night." 12. SENTIMENT :
Pawcatuck, - taking root on the State border, beside the river with its ceaseless hum of water and machinery, we welcome thee, as our growing and hopeful child."
RESPONSE, by Rev. Asher H. Wilcox, Pastor : -
The Congregational Church at Westerly comes with her sisters to congratulate our honored mother on her two hundredth birth- day. We wish you " many happy returns." We rejoice to find you on this festal occasion so hale and vigorous. You seem to have no thought as yet of abating the energy with which you have wrought for the Blessed Master all these two hundred years. When another century has rolled away, and our bodies sleep in silent dust, may our children and our children's children gather around you to celebrate in gladness and thanksgiving your Tri- Centennial day.
But I suppose you would fain hear some account of your grow- ing and hopeful child. You settled her on the Connecticut border, and there, on this side of the gleaming Pawcatuck, she found a pleasant inheritance. On this side she has built her house and lengthened her cords and strengthened her stakes; but she was
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not content with this. She found inviting fields to cultivate on the other side of the river. She stretched out hands of Christian fellowship and love to the sons and daughters of the Roger Wil- liams State. It has come to pass that this vine of your planting has flourished so, that the borders of two States rejoice in the shadow of her branches and enjoy her pleasant fruits. You showed your wisdom, dear old Bible-reading mother that you are, when you set us " by the rivers of water." For we are, and trust that we shall long be, " as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river ; and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."
In the kindly sentiment with which you greet us to-day, you allude to the ceaseless hum of water and machinery to which our ears are accustomed when at home. Yes, with busy hands and hopeful hearts we make the flashing waters toil to clothe the naked. Where once the Indian paddled his canoe and gathered wild grapes by the river's side, and answered foemen with the shrill war-whoop, we have set up a thousand looms and spindles, and now a whoop which it seems to me would have frightened an Indian so that he could not give the war-whoop- the shriek of the steam gong - summons our young men and maidens to the pleasant scenes and golden rewards of peaceful industry. Mean- while we ply, more silently yet not the less patiently, a different industry. As a Church we try to make our influence felt. Our work, seen in the comfort we bring to the bereaved and sorrowing, in the instruction we offer to those who lack, in the shining gar- ments of peace, and truth, and righteousness which we weave for the souls of men.
But you forgot to mention that you set us not only by the river side, but by the side of " the everlasting hills." Your child who dwells on the State border has not neglected the Bible, so com- mended to her by your precept and example. She has said with the Psalmist, " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help." She has read in Deuteronomy of " a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." And so we have gone up upon the hill by which you established us, and torn from its rocky beds, not iron or brass, ex- actly, to be sure, but the enduring granite of which the monu- ments of heroes are built.
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The Congregational churches and ministers of New England were never slack in teaching and defending the principles of civil as well as of religious liberty. No class of men have understood better than they that a free Church cannot flourish except in a free State. None have seen more clearly than they that the prin- ciples of religious liberty are the very foundation and corner- stones of civil freedom. So whenever Liberty has called, the members of our churches have been among its staunchest defend- ers. They have cheerfully laid down their lives on many a hard- fought field that Liberty might live. No Sabbath comes but what we see in our places of worship those whose husbands, brothers, or sons are absent because they have been enrolled in the glorious company of the nation's martyrs.
We who remain fashion now our rugged granite into a colossal statue which, planted on the sod of Antietam, once red with the blood of our heroes, shall inculcate for ages to come the senti- ment, not dearer to any among the sons of men than to Congre- gationalists, " Dulce est pro patria mori." So may it ever be. May the members of all our churches always feel that where Lib- erty is unmolested, it is sweet to live for Christ ; but when Lib- erty is imperiled, it is sweet to die for our country. It was " that disciple whom Jesus loved," who has written that " we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
The statistics of our formation and growth are as follows : The Church was organized on the 14th of February, 1843, at the house of Jesse L. Moss, Esq., in Westerly. The ministers pres- ent at the council were, Dr. McEwen, of New London; Dr. Tucker, of Providence ; Rev. Nehemiah B. Cook, of the First Congregational Church, Stonington ; Rev. Timothy Tuttle, of Ledyard ; and Rev. Mr. Parker, of Providence.
The Church has had the following named pastors : Rev. S. B. Goodenow, Rev. Joshua Brown, Rev. James D. Moore, Rev. Mr. Whitmore, Rev. A. L. Whitman, Rev. E. W. Root, Rev. A. H. Wilcox.
It began with thirty-two members, of whom twenty-two were from the First and Second Congregational Churches in Stoning- ton. Of the two hundred and ninety-five persons connected with this Church, sixty-three have been removed by letter, thirty-eight by death, eleven by discipline, leaving our membership at present at one hundred and eighty-three.
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While there have been several seasons of general religious in- terest in our community, in which our Church has shared, and by which she has been benefited, still it is her pride that she has grown by a constant and steady growth. She rejoices in the let- ters received from time to time from her absent members, full of affection and honor for the spiritual home which they have found with her; and it is believed that as no one of the four churches which have sprung from the Stonington First has a larger mem- bership at present than we, except the Stonington Second, which is ten years older, so no one of the Congregational churches in this State or Rhode Island keeps up a closer relationship with its absentees.
Such, so far as statistics can show it, is the condition of your " growing and hopeful child," who dwells on the shore of the Paw- catuck. But it seems to me that we should not forget on such an occasion as this that it is the character more than the extent of our influence which makes us all proud to-day to be Congrega- tionalists and your descendants.
Other denominations have equaled, perhaps surpassed us in zeal ; certainly they have outstripped us in growth. But I think they will all cheerfully and even thankfully concede that we have a right to claim to-day that the greatest educating force which America has yet seen is Congregationalism. Witness Yale, and Harvard, and Amherst, and Williams, and Dartmouth, and Bow- doin. Witness Bangor, and Andover, and East Windsor, and New Haven. Witness Edwards, and Taylor, and Bellamy, and Hopkins, and Emmons, and stout old Lyman Beecher. These colleges, these seminaries of theological learning, and these men, have, under God, done more, it seems to me, to make the influ- ence of our churches precious above all price than any other hu- man instrumentality. No man values Christian zeal more than I ; but zeal without knowledge gives us the ravings and immoral- ities of the slave cabins and plantations of the South.
It is the glory of Congregationalism that in the last two centu- ries it has shown the world a type of Christian who will not rest, unless he has a religion which means freedom on the one side and education on the other. It is because you, our Mother Church, have taught such a religion for two hundred years that we revere and honor you to-day. We look back along those years to your
11
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own childhood and youth, and glory as we see that you link us to the principles and precepts of pilgrim fathers.
No wonder that you are still strong and fair, for you had your organization from men who built for eternity as well as time. May you flourish more and more as you go down the centuries, teaching on every side those precious doctrines of religious and civil freedom which are the only sure foundation of the state, and which you learned from the lips of men whose iron valor made tyrants tremble, and whose stainless piety made them worthy of a place among the true saints.
" Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God, Came with those exiles o'er the waves, And where their pilgrim feet have trod, The God they trusted guards their graves.
" And here Thy name, O God of love, Their children's children shall adore, Till these eternal hills remove, And Spring adorns the earth no more."
13. SENTIMENT :
Mystic Bridge. - The child of our age, we hail thy rising with special pride and affection. May the little one become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation.
RESPONSE, by Rev. William Clift, Pastor : -
We congratulate our honored mother upon this auspicious day, and upon the thousands of her children that rise up to-day to call her blessed. But did I hear correctly that you wish your little one in the Mystic Valley to become a thousand ? Deacon Williams, in his address of welcome to the churches to which you have given birth, wanted to know if we saw any decrepitude in your bearing, any wrinkles in your face, any dimness of vision, any abatement of the natural force which might be looked for in an old lady, upon whom two centuries have closed. If I heard aright the sentiment you propose looks a little as if you did not take the papers, or failed to read them carefully. Possibly you begin to need spectacles, or a new fit in the glasses which may have served you well in past generations, but now need a higher magnifying power to aid your vision. There must be failing eye- sight, or something worse, if you have not heard that your little
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one has already become a thousand. True, that section of the family that bears your name has not quite reached that number, but your children go wooing early after leaving the old mansion, and seek alliances in honorable marriage to suit themselves, as is meet. As descendants of the old Pilgrim stock, they have stood ready to receive any new light which might break forth out of the Word. You sent them forth with the open Bible, teaching them to read, and obey what they found therein. You taught us freedom of worship as to its substance and form, and that men taught of the Spirit and enlightened by the Word were not likely to go far astray in the essential things of religion. You held quite tenaciously to democracy in church government, and you should not wonder that so many of your children have found shelter in the Baptist fold. They are Congregationalists still, only of a moister type, and hold the precious truths of the Gospel with a firmness that honors your motherhood. As they grow in Christian knowledge, and culture, they put less depend- ence upon water, and more upon grace. The rolling billows of Jordan have shrunk into a small fountain under a roof, and it would not be strange, in the ecclesiastical changes which are going forward, if the baptistery should shrink into a bowl hold- ing water enough to make the outward sign of the inward wash- ing of the Holy Ghost.
You taught free will as well as election, and some of your chil- dren have been so much concerned with keeping their own free wills under the power of divine grace, that they have not had much time to talk about election. They sing free grace and dying love with the Methodists ; and it is good to be there. Though followers of Wesley, they are none the less followers of our dear Lord, and are an honor to the mother that bore them.
You were thought to be somewhat stately and grand in your ideas of worship and church observance, in the early days, when you belonged to the Standing Order, and looked upon prayer- meetings and exhorters as a little irregular. Some of your chil- dren carry the flavor of these old memories in their bones, and worship with the Episcopalians. Why should they not, if they can get nearer to the Master with the help of liturgies ?
You were always sound on Sabbath-keeping, - precise enough to be burlesqued in that piquant romance, the Blue Laws, written by Samuel Peters, which so many, who ought to know better,
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have mistaken for veritable history. Well, some of your children still emphasize the Sabbath, and make it the principal feature in their religious housekeeping. You may think them over-zealous on this point, but the Church could not afford to part with their testimony to the perpetuity and divine authority of the Sabbath.
So, with these various shades of opinion about church order and discipline, and the non-essentials of religion, we dwell in peace in our valley, singing from the heart that hymn of Wes- ley, -
" Let saints below in concert sing With those to glory gone ; For all the servants of our King In heaven and earth are one."
"Even now by faith we join our hands With those that went before, And greet the ransomed blesséd bands Upon the eternal shore."
I hardly know how to account for the spiritual thrift and cul- ture that have grown up in the Mystic Valley. It may be a matter of destiny, illustrating the truth that
" Westward the star of empire takes its way."
It may be a matter of blood, showing that your most thrifty and enterprising sons and daughters turned their faces toward the setting sun. You know Capt. George Denison and Ann Borodel settled at Pe-quot-sé-pos, and the bones of the latter are with us unto this day. Not many years ago they were disin- terred for removal to the Elm Grove Cemetery. The plain woman that your fathers and mothers buried in 1712 was found to be a lady inheriting bishop's lands. This sight of the bones of our first mother has been not unlike that of the burial of the Moabite in the grave of Elisha. The touching of those royal bones has put new life into us, and made us more thrifty and devout ever since. As I have the honor of a pedigree running back to Ann Borodel on my mother's side, I favor the theory of blood in ac- counting for the great prosperity of your little daughter. What might have happened if her husband's bones had been buried with us, and we had touched them also, I will not venture to pre- dict. The Masons also settled at the mouth of our river, and very early made their mark on Pequot Hill, where our poet laureate,
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