USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Salisbury > The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Congregational Church in Salisbury, Conn., Friday, November 23, 1894 > Part 4
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Frequently a church has one layman who is its acknowl- edged representative, sitting in Moses' seat, giving character to its corporate life. Such an one was DEACON ELIPHALET WHITTLESEY in Dr. Reid's day, Dr. Knight in Mr. Kitchel's day, and in this day - we will adopt the custom of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and mention the name of no living man ! Dea. Whittlesey was a pillar in the full sense of the word, a Puritan of the old school, an "Ironsides " redivivus, a man who ruled well his own household, “diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." When it came to matters of judgment, people accorded him the place given to the city of Abel, whereof the Scripture tells us, "They were wont to speak in old time saying, 'They will surely ask counsel at Abel, and so ended the matter.'" So the council " ended the matter," when Deacon Whittlesey
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sat down, after speaking against Dr. Reid's removal. The council were carried by his voice alone, and Dr. Reid's remaining in Salisbury for ever after hinged upon his word. For thirty-seven years he was deacon of this church, and his descendants are still among us, with some of whom it may be said " The blood will tell."
DEACON MYRON HUTCHINSON was another familiar fig- ure in Dr. Reid's day, - a man greatly gifted in language, who would have made a good minister. He was descended from Deacon John Hutchinson, one of the early settlers, whose farm on Barrackmatiff has been held now in the same family for four generations. His father and grandfather wrote the bulk of our town and church records, being town clerks for sixty-nine years between them, and church and so- ciety clerks for even longer. It is Myron Hutchinson's wife, Mrs. Mary Smith H., who, now living at the advanced age of 93, holds the record for our longest church membership, a term of 79 years. In this family the communion service has been cared for, and prepared, for more than a hundred years.
Here, too, deserve mention "honorable women, not a few." Mrs. WILHELMINA REID, wife of Dr. Reid, and mother of three sons and two daughters, is still remembered affectionately by many, all the more tenderly since her youngest son stood in this place and spoke of her quiet, godly life, a life for which her children rise up and call her blessed .* It was a simple but meaning line her husband had graven on her headstone, "She hath done what she could."
Echoes have come down to this age also of the unusual force and piety of Mrs. MARIA HOLLEY and Mrs. HARRIET HARRISON. "They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."
Under Dr. Reid the church reached its high-water mark. In 1847 the number enrolled was 292. In his term the parsonage was builded, largely through the activity of Gov.
* It may not be generally known, but when she realized the need of do- ing something toward temperance instruction, long before the days of lodge work and scientific teaching on alcohol, she subscribed for copies of the Youth's Temperance Advocate and distributed them in our Sunday-school. The distribution has been maintained unto th
DEACON ELIPHALET WHITTLESEY.
DEACON MYRON HUTCHINSON.
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Holley; the church was remodeled; the organ erected. Several legacies were left to the society .*
In 1858, following the financial panic of '57, a revival occurred in Salisbury, in common with the rest of the coun- try. It is remarkable for the light it shed upon Dr. Reid's character. His nature was such that he distrusted occasions of this order, fearing superficial sensation, and at first he showed a marked conservatism toward the interest. But Dr. Reid never shut his eyes to a fact, and when he saw that the Lord and not the devil was in it, he plunged into it, too, with apostolic zeal. Every night he preached at the Acad- emy for weeks, and as a result more than thirty were con- verted and gathered in, some of whom are among our staunchest church timber to-day.
Dr. Reid carried the church through the civil war, preaching with a patriotism unsurpassed, and contributing two sons to the army.
The congregations were always large, filling the galleries and encroaching upon the pulpit stairs. This overflowing congregation to-day must remind the older people of Sabbath mornings forty years ago. One of his hearers once said, "When Dr. Reid stops preaching, I feel as if he had dropped me from a height." On the 23d of September, 1877, he preached his farewell sermon, containing his resignation, on the theme, "The Minister as a Steward of God." The church refused to sever relations with him, and retained him as pastor emeritus. But he did not long survive. Sermons he still wrote to the day of his death : "his hand clave unto the sword." In the following year he was stricken, in the ripeness of his powers, as he had ever prayed it might be: "and Nicanor lay dead in his harness." A very large congre- gation followed his revered remains to the burial, and there he lies among his people, awaiting the fulfillment of that
* They were from Capt. John C. Coffing, a member of the congregation, whose descendants are still among us. One of them inures to the benefit of the Sunday-school, and to that of St. John's and the Methodist as well. Another is for repairs on the parsonage. The third is called the Coffing Fund for the Encouragement of Religion and Morals, which, by its terms, is to double five times before availing to the use of the Congregational Society. It has turned its third double, and, at the present rate of interest, will come into hand between 1915 and 1920, when it will amount to $16,000.
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hope which was ever a favorite in his thought, - the Resur- rection.
Before the death of Dr. Reid, the church had called a young man and settled him on the 20th of December, 1877. The Rev. CORNELIUS LADD KITCHEL was a graduate of Yale, where he took the second honor of his class. He entered at once into the hearts of all this congregation and of the fellowship surrounding. There is a natural delicacy in speaking of one who is still living, but I may be per- mitted to say, that to few men does the expression so fit- tingly apply, "a scholar, a gentleman, and a Christian." New life immediately appeared in the church, and twenty- six were added in 1878, seventeen of them on confession. Under Mr. Kitchel the benevolence of the church was placed upon a systematic basis by the adoption of the weekly envel- ope plan, and thereby its gifts have been increased.
It may be proper, at this point, to speak of the benevo- lence of the church, which, as a whole, presents a gratifying record. The sympathy of this congregation has always been practical. As far back as 1793 we find a collection for home missions, while in December of 1818 appears the first canvass for the American Board. The church has always believed in lending to the Lord, and in making its money go a great ways, even as great a ways as the Cape of Good Hope and "far Cathay." No statistics can be given for the whole century and a half, but for the past thirty-five years the aggregate has been above $50,000, and in several late years the benevolences have exceeded the home expenses.
In Mr. Kitchel's pastorate occurred the death of one of our strongest and most beloved members, DR. HENRY M. KNIGHT. He was the son of a Congregational minister, who preached among the Berkshires, at Peru, where the water falling on one side of the church ridge pole drained into the Connecticut, and that falling on the other side into the Hud- son. But all that fell from Dr. Knight himself, his words, his works, his influence, settled always upon the right side. He was a man of force, a leader and dealer with men. He it was that suggested the nomination of Gov. Holley. He was the founder of the Institution for the Feeble Minded at Lakeville, the only one of its kind in the State, a most humane and hopeful work. He was superintendent of the
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Sunday-school for years, and had a rare gift with children, all of whom loved him instinctively, as well as their parents. In the spiritual interest appearing in the church in 1876 he showed great activity, organizing meetings, marshaling teams, inviting attendance, and speaking that rare "word in season, how good it is!" He was a powerful advocate of temperance, and some think he forfeited his life in conse- quence of responding when ill to a call to lecture upon it. He had an exquisite tenor voice of great clearness and feel- ing, which he used to the glorification of God and to the up- lifting of men. He had long been importuned to take office in the church, but studiously declined. In 1878 Mr. Kitchel preached strongly on the subject of the diaconate, and when soon after the vote of the church fell unanimously upon him, he rose and said with simple dignity, "My feelings incline me to withdraw, but, after our pastor's serinon, I dare not refuse." He died comparatively young, but his was a full and purposeful life.
For
" We live in deeds, not years. . In feelings, not in figures on a dial."
In this period belongs the beginning of a work at Chapin- ville, fostered by the young men of the church, but headed by one master spirit. It was at that time a lawless com- munity, without a Sabbath and without the other nine com- mandments. A Sunday-school was organized, which is maintained to this day. Out of it grew a revival in the winter of '83 and '84, which led to the church membership of over thirty persons in three or more churches about us. Ultimately it led to the establishment of regular preaching services in the chapel, participated in by four of the clergy- men of the town, with entire harmony among themselves and hearers. It is something like the "Christian League of Connecticut." I once wrote Dr. Washington Gladden about it, author of the tract bearing that name, and he replied characteristically that "the Connecticut which is above is slowly coming down to earth." Furthermore there grew out of this effort a renovated chapel, and at length Mr. Jon- athan Scoville made provision in his will for the mainte- nance of the chapel, Sunday-school, and services in per- petuity, by an annuity of five hundred dollars, which meant
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a fund of fifteen thousand dollars in trust. Meanwhile, Chapinville is become a far different and a nobler place.
Mr. Kitchel was hampered by ill-health, and by the exhaustion that inevitably comes to one who counts not his life dear unto himself. After six years he resigned and was dismissed by council in 1883. Sorrowfully and affection- ately the relations were severed, and, as the minutes of the council expressed it, " with painful reluctance." Mr. Kitchel has since been and is now professor of Greek in Yale Uni- versity.
Some months before the dismission of Mr. Kitchel the REV. LEWIS H. REID, already living among us, with his family, was called to serve the church as acting pastor, and for above two years continued in that capacity. He and his have been so identified with the life of this church that we feel as if he belonged to us. It is a curious coincidence that Dr. Lewis Reid and Dr. Adam Reid were not at all related, though bearing the same unusual name, and having the like Scottish ancestry. He has related some of the history of his pastorate, but it is not in his province to mention the love and respect we all bear him, nor to paint the welcome that awaits him when he comes to spend his golden age among us.
In October of 1884 the present pastoral term began.
In the past ten years fall various improvements affecting the material prosperity of the church. The interior was renovated by subscription, and these tablets placed to the memory of two honored pastors, through the munificence of Messrs. Jonathan and Nathaniel Church Scoville. A tablet was also erected to the memory of Gov. Holley and his sons on the north wall. Mr. Nath. C. Scoville also made a be- quest to the Society of ten thousand dollars, which fund bears the name of his mother, a member of the church, Mrs. Lois Church Scoville. Also, through the beneficence of the same family, the adjoining library, bearing their name, with its clock and chime, has been reared. Coincident with these gifts, and possibly suggested by some of them, a spirit of public benefaction was poured out over all these communi- ties. A park has been procured at Lakeville. Salisbury, Sharon, and Kent have erected soldiers' monuments. Shef- field, Falls Village, Sharon, and Norfolk have reared public
DEACON OLIVER JEWELL.
SPACES LESTER GRAHAM.
DEACON JOHN LEWIS VET
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libraries, the last two being of exceptional beauty. In Sharon a clock-tower of fine proportions has been placed; in Norfolk a fountain opened, and a gymnasium, a model of taste and utility. New or highly improved schools have been forwarded in Cornwall, Falls Village, Canaan, Sharon, and Norfolk, while, best of all to us, on Salisbury soil has been planted the noble Hotchkiss School, with a name already assured and a character second to none in the land. All of these things affecting towns right around us affect also our own, affect the church, make life itself more full of meaning and of privilege. Every Congregational church in this Litchfield Northwest Conference has been renovated in the past ten years, some of them more than once. Pilgrim of Canaan builded, paid for, and dedicated a sanctuary in 1888, Norfolk a chapel in the same year, said to be the finest in the state. Warren was struck by lightning in '91 but re- builded in '92. New organs have been procured by Kent, Pilgrim, and Norfolk, while minor improvements are too numerous to mention. It is easy to see where $600,000 have been expended in this corner of the state for public benefits in the past ten years. Meanwhile, the Congregational membership of the Litchfield Northwest Conference is larger to-day by one church, fifty-one people, sixty more in the Sunday-schools, and the benevolences aggregate $700 in advance. Here is no sign of decay in "the old hill towns."
In this period we have been called upon to part with two pillars in the church, Deacon MOSES LESTER GRAHAM and Deacon OLIVER JEWELL, both of them my honored friends and staunch supporters. They were men who gave their best to this church and loved it.
Deacon Graham was born at Canton, Conn., May 7, 1808, where (and at Simsbury) his first 21 years were spent. He came to Salisbury in 1829, and the next year presented a letter from the Canton church, so that he was for fifty-seven years a member of this church. He held many offices in it ; as treasurer, clerk, superintendent of the school, teacher in the same to the day of his death, and for twenty-eight years a deacon. He was a man of gentleness, of fidelity, of in- dustry, of varied reading, devotedly attached to his church, whose history he knew better than any other member. His biographer said, "Probably Dr. Reid reposed more confi-
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dence in Mr. Graham than in any other member of his church, and counselled and advised with him oftener."
Deacon Jewell was born Sept. 2, 1819, in Salisbury, on land which his ancestors and himself have tilled for over a century. He united with this church in the great revival of 1839, when, in the early ministry of Dr. Reid, thirty-seven joined at one time on profession. Among them was Mary Walton, who afterward became his wife. An early tendency to consumption was checked by a journey to the West, and he lived beyond the three score and ten. He was elected deacon Sept. 3, 1852," and filled the office actively and efficiently to the day of his death, thirty-eight years. He was superintendent also many years. When asked his favorite text he took time for reflection, and at length responded, "I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness."
Here, too, we bade farewell as a church to our most dis- tinguished member, ALEXANDER HAMILTON HOLLEY. He had served the State as Lieut .- Governor in 1854, and after- wards as Governor in 1857-8. He it was who founded one of the leading industries of the town, The Holley Mfg. Co. at Lakeville ; also, he was the promoter of banks and rail- roads. He was a man of strong patriotism and of devoted love to his native town. Salisbury was to him what Jerusa- lem was to the Jew, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth." He was the father of two honored sons, one of them holding a unique position in the ranks of American engineers. There have been men of science before this sprung from Salisbury soil; Samuel Moore, grandfather of our venerable church-member, Mr. Silas Brewster Moore, who wrote the first treatise on surveying in America ; Ches- ter Averill, professor of chemistry in Union College; Albert E. Church, professor of mathematics at West Point; but the most eminent of all was Alexander Lyman Holley, whose name is inscribed on yonder tablet, and for whose dis- tinguished services to this country a public statue has been erected in the city of New York. Gov. Holley died with a Christian's faith and with a Christian's honor, a "Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord."
We have parted, too, with other beloved and honored names in this church ; with Mrs. MARIA HOLLEY WILLIAMS, remarkable for her strength of character and pronounced
* His ancestor David Jewell was elected Deacon just 70 years before.
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religious nature ; with Mrs. Lots CHURCH SCOVILLE, another convert of the famous revival under Nettleton in 1815, and mother of a large family, some of whom are still with us; with SILAS WELLS, who carried on his back and planted in our village street those two massive elms in front of drug store and Academy, the man whose face was a smile under- laid with the ten commandments; with Mrs. FANNIE WIL- LIAMS COFFING, in principle and in practice the staunch supporter of the truth ; with Mrs. ELIZA BOSTWICK, a mother in Israel indeed, of whose eleven children ten grew to maturity, all became Christians, and eight united with this church; and with them others, not mentioned, but not for- gotten here. These all died in faith, and yet are living, whose "God is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live unto Him."
When this church built its first meeting-house the General Court directed to have its sills enclose the stake driven into the exact center of the town. The design evidently was to have this church become the hub of the town. Later surveys have located the precise spot a few hundred feet farther to the north, so that the fathers' loca- tion was a trifle out of center, not to say ec-centric. But, in a certain sense, the church has been the most important factor in the life of the town. Identified for sixty years with the town meeting itself, it has been allied also with much of its most honored history and best associations. From its con- gregation have gone forth four governors, two senators, a secretary of war, six congressmen, beside chief justices of states, college presidents and professors. Eighteen minis- ters have been raised up within it, at least two of them missionaries. In the Second Church of Cornwall they keep a record of their ministers' wives, who are trained for martyrdom within it. This registry has been neglected in Salisbury, but the names are remembered of several who were so canonized, and of several more who were willing to be.
We feel a just pride and satisfaction in our churchly an- cestry ; "The glory of children are their fathers." A review of this nature impresses us with a sense of the solidarity of the Kingdom. All of these saints and giants were a part of us, and we of them, and all of Christ. We belong to a great
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past, to a communion that includes Abraham and Moses and David and Paul, to a line that passes through martyrs and prophets, and that numberless company of whom the world was not worthy.
It is true we have not the same constituency to depend upon as formerly. There are to-day in Salisbury six churches occupying the territory originally held by one. Undoubtedly the Kingdom is better served by this division of the town. Let us concede also that there are not as many people of the same forceful character among us as formerly. Still, the present generation has no need to feel apologetic. In our day religious newspapers have greatly widened the Christian horizon ; missionary operations have come to occupy a com- manding place in their prayers and interest; benevolent work has been organized and every church in this con- ference is, so far as the Kingdom of God in general is con- cerned, far more of a factor than it was in our fathers' day. Thus a largeness has been given to the Christian life in our age, and a sense of responsibility outside of our own borders. There is a toleration, also among us, unknown to former generations, and a true catholicity. For every Con- gregationalist repeats with his Nicene fathers, “ I believe in the holy catholic church," the church that is catholic in spirit.
We stand here, then, at the close of the first century and a half, not with suspiration but with inspiration. There never was an age when a Christian counted for more than in our time, or could command a greater radius to his circle. George Fox declared that every Quaker ought to shake the country for ten miles around him; but every Christian in this century can do more than that, can send a thrill across a continent by his consecrated money ; can lay a cable under the sea, binding some heathen heart to his. Our membership is smaller than in 1847, our place in the town life is less marked, but, nevertheless, there are more people in Salisbury and beyond it depending upon us for Chris- tian nurture and for evangelistic support than ever there were ! The sixty-one square miles of Salisbury's area were once coterminous with our parish, but to-day our vineyard has an acreage in four continents.
Thanking God for our past, we thank Him yet more for
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the larger opportunities of our present; may we so live as to thank Him most of all for our future. Renewing the rever- ence and godly fear of our fathers; pledging ourselves to the same faithfulness as they in His service; with devout loyalty to our glorious Redeemer, we stand at this 150th milestone, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things:
And blessed be His glorious name for ever:
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory:
Amen and amen.
OUR CHURCH IN WAR TIME.
BY THOMAS LOT NORTON.
T' HIS introduction* is like music, the music of a first-class orchestra in a third-class theatre - the overture is the best part of the performance. There is a flavor of the orchestra, I think, about such a celebration as this. As our thoughts go back to the olden time and contrast those men and their deeds with these of the present time, theirs seems the nerve-thrilling, soul-stirring overture, and ours the paltry, insufficient performance.
Our minds are filled with the romance and heroism of those who first came to this wilderness, and straightway caused it to bloom and blossom as the rose; and we regard each early hero, each one of the eleven founders of this church, as a John the Baptist, making straight in the desert a highway for our God. Far be it from me to question the truth or propriety of such a conception ! Let those lofty strains echo in the ears of the latest generation ! I only seek here and now to awaken memories of tones but lately vi- brating, which for majesty of movement, harmony of sound, and grandeur of theme equal, if not surpass, those sympho- nies of the ancient time. I speak of the days of '61.
It was something more than rare good fortune, it was a blessed Divine Providence, which placed in this pulpit, at such a time, such a man as Adam Reid. It seems passing strange that a man of foreign birth, who never became a na- turalized citizen of this country, should have had such an ardent love for all its institutions.
He could not have shown greater devotion to the great Republic had he been a descendant of a Mayflower pil- grim ; and on those rare occasions when he permitted him- self to speak in the pulpit on national themes, he spoke of the duties and privileges of American citizenship like one inspired. Indeed, to my boyish imagination Dr. Reid al- ways seemed more than mortal; he was to me a veritable prophet of the Lord !
May I be allowed to say to these ministerial brethren
* See item in report of The News on page 12.
THOMAS LOT NORTON
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present, do not forget the boys, when you are framing your ser- mons! You may never know that you have lodged a thought with them; indeed, they will be extremely careful to give you no hint ; but you can certainly stamp the plastic mind, if you will. I would sooner have cut my tongue out than let anyone know how the cold chills ran up and down my back, as Dr. Reid reasoned of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, but he made his imprint, all the same, and made it for eternity.
I remember a sermon he preached after some of the States had passed ordinances of secession, from the text found in Isaiah 8 : 12, "Say ye not a Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a Confederacy, neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." What scathing denunciations of the plotters against the Union ! What stirring appeals to stand by the old flag! The close of Daniel Webster's great reply to Hayne might equal, but certainly did not sur- pass it.
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