USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The churches of Mattatuck : a record of bi-centennial celebration at Waterbury, Connecticut, Novermber 4th and 5th, 1891 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17
I have noticed that those who spoke this fore- noon are mentioned on the programme as repre- senting certain bodies from which they came, and as bringing therefore delegated greetings. It is not my privilege to represent anybody but myself, and I therefore bring no greetings except my own, which I bring most heartily on this occasion. I was grievously disappointed that I could not be present from the beginning of the exercises, to fill my mind and heart from the fulness of the stream, rather than to catch some of the rivulets. I can bring to you, with my greetings this afternoon, no prepared address, but must speak almost im- promptu, and from the heart rather than the head. My mind has been so occupied during the last few days with things of the present that I have had no opportunity to gather up thoughts concerning the past. I have been dwelling, as was said this morn- ing, amid the scenes of a heresy trial. The words "General Assembly," in the paper prepared by Miss Prichard, which was read this afternoon, sounded singularly familiar to me as words that have been heard over and over again during the last few days, and that have been lingering in my mind during the wakeful hours of last night's weariness. But it was a different "assembly " from that to which the writer referred, for my mind reverted to the New York Presbytery and the trial scenes of the day. And I wish to say in this con- nection that while I have not the slightest sym- pathy with the vagaries (for so they have seemed
210
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
to me) which have issued from New York as a centre during the past few years and especially the past few months, nevertheless I do not dread such occurrences so much as many might. The moral atmosphere needs clearing up occasionally. I have confidence that the light thrown upon old truths by the progress of divine inspiration in the present-an inspiration differing from that of the Scriptures in degree and in quality but not in its source, coming from the Holy Ghost into true hearts-that this will encourage those why are yet to come to make still further progress in the knowledge of that truth the essential features of which constitute the faith delivered once for all to the saints ; and I shall gladly walk in the middle way of intelligent and devout confidence in the word of our God which abideth forever, which is preached to you in the gospel as it was proclaimed two hundred years ago, here in Waterbury, and has been ever since.
Now, my memory and my associations are not with this long past of which you have been hear- ing, nor with the children of the mother repre- sented here in these tablets upon the walls, but they are with the present organization, with the generation that has not altogether passed away, and with those who are still among the happy and useful living. It is only a quarter of the period you are celebrating, almost but not quite a quarter, which my knowledge of this place covers. It is nearly fifty years since I came to this place, and was regarded as a boy preacher. A lady said to me this afternoon, "When you came here you found a great many friends, and when you left here you
2II
THE REV. DR. ELLIOT'S ADDRESS.
still had those friends." If my memory serves me rightly, I can assent to that without reserve; I can say with truth that I left behind me none but friends. It was the happiest period of my Chris- tian and ministerial life. In responding to Dr. Anderson's invitation to visit you, I said that there was no place in my memory so dear to me as Waterbury. I cannot think of it, much less speak of it, without being so moved that my utterance becomes almost indistinct. So warmly, so gently, with so kind appreciation of my limited powers, undeveloped yet, and with so large a hospitality, did they entertain me during the few years that I and my household were here-a hospitality poured out lavishly on me and mine-that it was to me a wonderful expression of the grace of God in the people and the grace of God to me personally. The years were few, but they were full of spiritual interest. I cannot but recollect that many who are here to-day in the fulness of years and usefulness, stood up in their youth, together or singly, to mani- fest their acceptance of Christ under my ministry. As I have visited here at different times, one and another has come to me with some grown-up girl or boy, or some newly married couple, and said, " Do you not remember these ? These are my chil- dren whom you baptized in childhood," or, "whom you admitted to the church." You can well con- ceive, then, that my thoughts, taking hold upon what is to me a remote and yet a near past, are filled with satisfaction as I greet you to-day.
I remember so well those who were officers in the church at that period; indeed, I could not possibly forget them. They were more than my supporters
212
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
in my ministry. They were themselves the respon- sible workers, under whom and with whose ·con- stant counsel I labored. They were men of mark, modest but faithful workers, wise and earnest. Some of them were good looking men, and others not so good looking. Some were of ordinary man- ner and others of eccentric manner, but their pray- ers still sound in my memory and in my heart,- prayers offered in the lower room, where, gloomy as it was, and oftentimes damp and disagreeable, we yet gathered with an unfailing interest. Their prayers lifted us above all thought of their appear- ance and their manners. They gathered around the young preacher, eager not for him but for his Master, and together we watched the progress of affairs, together we prayed for souls. There were times of special religious interest, when we were aided by other ministers; and there were times when, after such aid, the work of the Spirit of God was visible through several months, and, as the result, an ingathering of fruit. No ingathering so extensive as those mentioned here as taking place in the early history of the church, none so exten- sive as some that have marked the church at times since, but all of them seasons in which (I think I can say it with truth) the conversions were such as stand the test of time. And so we walked together until weariness of the flesh, and the outcropping of a disease, the beginning of which had been sup- pressed, as I hoped, before I came, brought an end to my ministry.
I recollect (and must be pardoned again if I men- tion it, for I speak not with forethought, but on the impulse of the moment)-I recollect the meet-
213
THE REV. DR. ELLIOT'S ADDRESS.
ing in the room below, to receive the paper which I had sent to the society, asking to be released. (I had already sent one to the church, the other I sent according to due order to the society.) I recollect how Greene Kendrick rose and said, "That paper must be meant for me, for as I look around me I observe that I am the only member of the society present who is not a member of the church. I take that paper to myself therefore, and I have this to say, that while Mr. Elliot and I have differed on a great many points, there has never been a harsh word or an unkind thought between us." And so we parted, compelled, as I think, by the providence of God, and not driven away, as alas! too many ministers have been driven, by dissensions and oppositions, with bitterness of spirit on either side. I thank God frequently, as I recall these scenes, and I thank God again to-day, that I can thus speak,-not for my own sake merely or chiefly, but for the sake of the people and for the honor of Christ in them. It was not I, my dear friends, but your predecessors and those that still remain who were then included in the First church; it is to you I must give the credit of those years of har- mony and spiritual life. May God bless you for it, as he has blessed and rewarded those from among your number who have gone up on high.
And now, can I in a few words add anything that shall not be personal either to myself or to you, but shall have a more general bearing upon such an occasion as this ?
I have just been reading a singular book, a book not without faults and yet with no little power, entitled, " The Strange Adventures of Phra the Phoni-
214
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
cian," by Edwin Arnold, the son of Sir Edwin Arnold, the well known poet and critic who is now upon our shores. It relates the adventures of a Phoenician merchant, a man of mighty physical prowess and of great mental capacity, who, long, long ago, entered upon a strange life, or rather, a series of lives; landing upon the shores of Britain in the time of the Druids, marrying the queen of the country, engaging actively in the events of the period, dying apparently under the Druids' sacred axe, but reviving four or five hundred years after- ward at the time of the Roman invasion; mingling again in the scenes of that age, and again passing into unconsciousness; reviving in the time of the Normans, to die apparently and to live again in the time of Edward the Third; and yet again in the time of Elizabeth, in which time he writes his history, and his long career really ends. It is a series of lives in one life. Glimpses which are extremely vivid are given of British history dur- ing all that period, and through it all moves the spirit of Phra's first bride, who occasionally reap- pears to him and has spiritual converse with him. When he speaks to her of the time that is past, she says, "What is that word ? I do not remember it. Time? Oh! I recollect; but to us these are epi- sodes; when we passed away we left behind us our hour-glasses and our calendars. It is time no more in the spirit land."
And so, as we have been reviewing the two hun- dred years of this church's existence-a period in which no one life has lived on, but in which the life of the church under its ever living Master has been perpetuated, reappearing in successive gene-
215
THE REV. DR. BUSHNELL'S ADDRESS.
rations and in the various scenes of Christian activ- ity and Christian conquest-I have thought to my- self, We have had glimpses of an age vital in its influ- ence upon Christ's kingdom as represented here to- day; and although not yet in the spirit world we can feel that this long age is after all but an episode in the great cycles of eternity. We shall stand by and by where our hour-glasses and our calendars have no place. We shall stand there to review the scenes which, although not marked in their regular succes- sion as they are in earthly histories, are surely mark- ed in their importance and in their pre-eminent sig- nificance as connected with the kingdom of Christ. Oh that we, and they who have passed on before us into the great "general assembly" of the church made perfect beyond these scenes, may, as we come to that review, feel and say from the heart, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake."
ADDRESS BY REV. GEO. BUSHNELL, D. D.
It is entirely contrary to my judgment that I should stand up here to prolong these services. I think we have had about all we can carry away. It has been rich and delightful; it has warmed my heart not only toward the Waterbury of to-day, but toward the future of this place, and of other places of which this may be taken as a type.
I ought perhaps to say that I have discovered something that I did not know before in the char- acter of your honored pastor. I have looked upon
216
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
him always as a master of thought, and my errand in Waterbury was to hear his historical address. But I find that he is a master of men, as well. Last Friday, I received a note from him, informing me of this meeting, and giving me an outline of the programme. I told him in my reply that I was glad there was so little room for me, that I should be most happy to come here and enjoy this occasion, and that if my friends desired to see my face and hear my voice I could offer the concluding prayer, and that would perhaps be enough in view of the full programme marked out. What was my sur- prise, on coming here yesterday, to see that I was announced for an address ! But I have yielded to his requirement; I have come, as we obey the great elemental forces of society.
I was not aware that this was a " mother church" to such an extent as it seems to be. I judge from the indications on these walls that this bishopric is about the biggest we have in the Congregational field, and I am glad that the churches included in it have such a splendid report to present. We think of these outside churches in New England as dry- ing up; we think of them as places of little conse- quence; but I am sure that no one can have heard the addresses presented here by these churches to- day without being convinced that that is an entire misapprehension. These churches have been and are sources of intelligence and power to the coun- try, and the work done by their pastors is worth commemorating.
In this connection let me say that I expect great things from the historic spirit which seems to have broken out here. I have always thought of Water-
217
THE REV. DR. BUSHNELL'S ADDRESS.
bury as a busy hive of industry; I have thought of it in connection with sounding brass rather than with that sort of delightful scholarship which goes back to the origin of things, apprehends them, sets them in a clear and impressive light, and enables us to understand what we have, and what we may expect to be. This matter of history is beginning to engage the attention of the bright men of the country; and what materials of interest we have ! Take this case,-the origin, so distinctly visible, of the sons of men and women who came here to make a plantation,-persons whose names are known and whose characters can be traced. Our history does not run back into mythology or into tradition; it is a clear spring from the ground, which we can follow until it reaches the affluent ocean. If we will only be patient, there is going to be a great deal of surveying of beginnings, and there will come out of it a vast amount of courage and strength for our people. If we knew what was proper for us here, and what God was giving us for the future, we should feel that we had a heritage which we ought ever to hold in highest honor, and whose lessons we should most patiently and faith- fully learn.
One of the impressions made on my mind by these services is that in this country we have to depend largely, for the promotion of religion and of good government among our people, on processes of training. What we have seen illustrated in this history is the influence which came from the original settlers, and which has been growing as families have multiplied and children have been born unto them, and the associations of the place
10
218
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
have been gathering about them. We have seen that in the turbulent times of the church, in times of great excitement, there was a shrinking back on the part of a large proportion of our people-per- haps our wisest and best people-from such meas- ures as some were adopting and such results as they thought were being secured. I do not think that is altogether wise. I think we ought not to be afraid of a little excitement. It is better that the church should be aroused, and the whole community stirred, even if there should be some unpleasant consequences, than that men should slumber on undisturbed. But I say (with the approval, I doubt not, of your judgment, and I think in harmony with our principles and our system) that after all we are to depend chiefly upon those influences which we denominate training. We have all found out, I suppose, where we received the best impulses of our lives. It was not from books; it was not from any great occasion; it was from that faithful influence which began to flow around us in our first conscious moments. It was this that stimulated and guided us and made us wise; if there is any- thing good in us, it came out of that faithful process. Well, then, look ahead ! If we are going to have training in religion, it is coming from two books, which are ultimately one book; we are to be trained by the stress and force of the truths and influences which originate from the two revelations of God. We are to be taught and trained,-and our children and all our people. And it would seem that the Old Testament has something to do with this thing; for here is the origin of Christianity. Christianity did not spring immediately out of the
219
THE REV. DR. BUSHNELL'S ADDRESS.
ground; it is the outgrowth of a previous system; and the thing for us to aim at is, first of all, to grasp the system of truth which in the ancient favored nation bore such fruit and so wonderfully prepared the way of the Lord, and to use this in the training of our people, our legislators and our families and our churches. We must therefore be careful not to cast discredit on the Old Testament. Nor do we need to. In order to satisfy problems which have arisen, we need not believe that the revelation of the law of God was made at the end of the history of the Jewish people, or somewhere after the Babylonian captivity, instead of at the beginning. I understand very well that moral law involves, more or less, an antecedent growth, and that there were applications of the law given by Moses which were developed in after ages; but I have not yet seen any reason for putting the giving of the Mosaic law forward to the time of the Baby- lonian captivity. When do you form laws and con- stitutions for a people ? Is it not at the beginning ? Admitting that a growth occurs occasionally, there is something which enters in at that critical stage when God has the people most in his power, that stamps the character and rules the life. Grant that in Jewish history there were developments after- wards; they may have been of the nature of con- cessions,-the gracious feeling of God towards men in their weakness and sin. I do not think we ought to settle down to the idea that we can turn history end for end. How would it look, to turn your his- tory end for end ? How could we conceive of it? What would it amount to? No; we want the law of God for the training of our people. You and I
220
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
needed it in our early life; we had it, and it was good for us. You train a child aright, not when you enforce your own wishes upon him, but when you interpret for him the principles of eternal right, and get his young mind to accept them. And the training, as a process of any urgency, ceases when the child has come to accept these principles, and to live them, and to govern himself by them. He now issues from the family a self-governed member of the church, and a self-governed mem- ber of a free state. So, we cannot afford to throw away the idea that ethical teaching, moral train- ing, must enter into the beginnings of life and the origin of communities, and must run through his- tory alongside of the other dispensation, that of the gospel of Christ.
A word, now, which I think has come to us while we have been here, in regard to that gospel of Christ. We all understand that a great change has come over the preaching and thinking of the church in these days. Dogmatic preaching is not relished; nobody cares to preach very much in that way; and it is because we have discovered that we do not know half as much as we thought we did, and that when you put truths into propositional forms you do not add to their force, you take it away. We have come to understand that the gos- pel of Jesus Christ is-if I may so say-a law of spiritual life, a principle of spiritual life; no, not a law, not a principle, but a living source of everlast- ing life to men. That is what gives dignity and beauty and power to the gospel. Now, we accept it; all our thinkers accept this idea; but are we making it practical,-first, in our own life and the
22I
THE REV. DR. BUSHNELL'S ADDRESS.
life of the church, in the training of the church, in the preaching of the church ? Is it all keyed to this new conception of the gospel as a divine, spir- itual life, emanating from God, flowing over and uniting all mankind in the family of God ? I think we have a great deal yet to do in regard to this application of the gospel. It is not enough to say a man repents; we want a repentance that is unto life and flows on with a deepening and extending and ever refreshing spiritual power; and the ques- tion is, how to secure it? That is the problem before the church, and on this historical occasion it is well to look at it. I believe that the prospects of this congregation and this church, of this town and the churches here represented, for the next few years will depend upon the ability and the faithfulness with which we apply the gospel as a source of life to men. If we fail in this, it will be a bad failure.
I am talking too much; but it has struck me with great power since I have been here, that in build- ing up churches and in building up communities very much depends upon sympathy. When I was a boy in college, I had occasion, on a snowy day in winter, to pass through Waterbury on foot. When I reached here I was too tired to go farther, and was ill withal; so I endeavored to find my way to some tavern or place of public entertainment. I found one, but they could not receive me; and I do not know that I cared very much, for it didn't look inviting. But as I was talking the matter over, one of your citizens overheard me. Seeing that I was in a strait, he took me to his home, kindly cared for me, nursed me in a little sickness
222
EARLY AND LATER PASTORS.
which followed, and then sent me on my way. And from that hour I always had a kind heart towards Waterbury. And so, to-day and yesterday, the impressions which have been liveliest in me have been those that came from looking in the faces of some of my old friends. No words can explain it to you; you cannot understand what the feeling is until it springs up within you; and it springs up quickly enough if you can look into the living eye and face of a friend.
Well, now, this old church has been going on its way, and I know a little something about it. I was pastor here some six years, and it wasn't the pleas- antest part of my life either; for we were in the turmoil and throes of civil war, and there was war right through this church. It was not violent; nobody was hurt; but it was war all the time. There was no sympathy; there was a want of homogeneity in the congregation, there were dis- cords stirred up by great events. Your young daughter, over the way, started under very different auspices. In that church there was homogeneity. The young men who came forward and subscribed to the fund for establishing that church signed, I suppose, for freedom and for peace and for a better chance; and they probably got it. But the fact I want to impress upon your minds is the astonish- ing growth of that church, on this great principle of human sympathy. You must warm a congrega- tion into one spirit, if you are going to do very much with it. When there is sympathy run- ning from heart to heart and eye to eye, it is an easy matter to preach. Then, words tell, and prayer is a delightful and uplifting exercise.
223
THE REV. DR. BUSHNELL'S ADDRESS.
There is such a tremendous waste in the conflicts of churches that we ought by all means to guard against them, remembering that a church is but a household on a larger scale, and that if there be any opposition in the household there is no com- fort nor power; the real object for which it exists is sacrificed.
Let us, then, take home to our hearts from this beautiful anniversary the thought that the gospel has in itself an inexhaustible power for moving the minds and hearts of men, for toning up society, for bringing the most diverse materials into accord and sympathy with one another; and let us apply that gospel, let us make it the study of our lives to develop it, and so to instruct the peo- ple of God.
In conclusion, I offer my congratulations to this beloved pastor and his flock, on the success of this anniversary. I am sure it has been delightful to you all, and is destined to bear great fruit.
V.
REMINISCENCE AND CONGRATU- LATION.
ADDRESS BY THE REV. J. L. R. WYCKOFF,
PASTOR OF THE NORTH CHURCH IN WOODBURY.
As an observer of these interesting exercises during the past two days, and standing just a little outside of the circle of churches that have been specially represented here, there are one or two things that I should be glad to say-before I begin.
The last speaker of the afternoon, Dr. Bushnell, gave Dr. Anderson a new title and called him a " master of men." I should be glad, and I am sure it would meet with your hearty approbation, to give him an additional title, that of "master of ceremo- nies," particularly of bi-centennial ceremonies. He certainly is to be congratulated, for he seems to have been in league with the clouds, and so has secured bright and propitious weather, and he is further to be congratulated, in that he has been permitted to say, speaking in the name of his church, "Here am I, and all these children whom thou hast given me." It seems to me a very unusual thing that exercises of this sort, involving a participation on the part of so many, should have been carried for- ward without his being compelled to apologize for a single absentee. And in all these extended exer- cises there has not been a single dissonant note either from the great organ above us or from any lesser " organ " on the platform.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.