USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > Thirteen historical discourses, on the completion of two hundred years : from the beginning of the First Church in New Haven, with an appendix > Part 15
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 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
During the depth of winter, the alarm was somewhat less urgent ; but on the 7th of February, (17th, N. S.) "it was propounded that now the winter season, which had hindered the finishing of the fortification about the town, wearing off, it [the fortification] might go forward again and be perfected ; and that the present state of things as to the war, calls for attendance to that work, especially the Narragansetts appear- ing in such hostility : and the last intelligence from the Coun- cil at Hartford was, that the enemy doth scatter into several bodies to disperse themselves into the country ; and they be- ing hungry will seek for supply : and the consideration of what damage may come, should hasten us in our duty to be in the use of means for our safety."
On the 6th of March, the fortification being not yet com- pleted, it was ordered, for the sake of obtaining " a supply of wood to finish the line," " that every team in the town and farms, except those on the east side of the East river, do each of them bring to the work one load of suitable wood, and those that have not teams to help to cut it, and to bring it at the farthest on the 8th and 9th days of this month." At the same time an order was made " that no Indian be suffered to come into the town to see the fortifications, or take notice of any of our actings and motions ; and that by the consta- ble, warning be given them that not any of them may come
166
into the town, nor unto any English houses ; and that if any Indian come into the town, he be apprehended and sent back again, yet what may be to avoid any misusage of them." All persons able to bear arms were ordered to bring their arms, with a sufficient quantity of powder and shot, to all meetings for public worship ; " only the dwellers at the farms had liberty in bad weather to leave their arms, and so secure them that the enemy get them not." The distress of the time was augmented by sickness, which made it necessary at a meeting in April, to reduce their nightly watch.
In the course of the ensuing summer, the war was brought to a conclusion. In the east, however, the war continued several years longer, till most of the settlements in what is now the State of Maine had been swept away, and the coun- try recovered by the savages.
The two years of war with King Philip, were the most disastrous and dreadful years in all the history of New Eng- land. Desperate as was the struggle a century later, in the war of the revolution, that conflict with the most powerful nation on earth, involved less of suffering, and less expendi- ture of treasure and of life, in proportion to what were then the resources of the United States, than was involved in the war with Philip. At the close of the war, more than six hundred of the inhabitants of New England, including no small part of the flower and strength of the colonies, had fallen in battle or been murdered by the enemy. There was hardly a family or an individual that was not mourning the loss of some near friend. Every eleventh man in the militia had fallen; every eleventh family throughout New England had been " burnt out." The cultivation of the soil had been in a great measure suspended ; all resources were exhausted ; and every colony and town was loaded with debt .* In all the conflict, and in the ensuing distresses, not the least assist- ance did the colonies derive from the parent country. Nay, at that very time, the profligates in the court of Charles II,
* Trumbull, I, 350.
1
167
were plotting how to seize and divide the spoils of weakened and impoverished New England.
The first and most obvious effect of war is to exhaust and impoverish. It is this which the suffering country feels at the time, with the keenest sensibility. Upon this the histo- rian dwells in his narrative, with the most copious illustra- tions. But how soon do such effects pass away, when once the cause has ceased. The
" Grass o'ergrows cach mouldering bone,"
upon the battle-ground,-the corn waves again in the field where the fires of the enemy spread devastation,-the ruined home is rebuilt,-the empty storehouse is replenished,-new affections spring up, new joys and griefs occupy the minds of survivors ; and, in a little while, how few are the visible traces of the storm that swept the land, and left it filled with horror.
But war has other effects, deeper, more to be dreaded, more enduring. It demoralizes and barbarizes the people. What passions does it awaken and nourish! What habits does it form ! How does a population long trained to war loathe the industry, and despise the virtues of peace ! Wrath, fury, rapine, are the virtues of war. And the more desperate the conflict, the nearer it is brought to every man's hearth, the deeper and more abiding will be those unseen but dire- ful influences .* Where the young men finish their schooling
* If any reader doubts what is meant by the demoralizing and barbarizing tendency of war, let him read what Hutchinson has recorded in a note, as illustrating the exasperation of the people at the period now under review. " Mr. Increase Mather, in a letter to Mr. Cotton, [of Plymouth,] 23d, 5mo. 1677, mentions an instance of rage against two prisoners of the Eastern In- dians, then at Marblehead, a fishing town, which goes beyond any other I have heard of. 'Sabbath day was se'night, the women at Marblehead, as they came out of the meeting house, fell upon two Indians that were brought in as captives, and in a tumultuous way, very barbarously murdered them. Doubtless if the Indians hear of it, the captives among them will be served accordingly.' The Indians had murdered some of the fishermen in the East- ern harbors of the province." Hutch. I, 307.
168
in the camp, no matter how severe the discipline, or how righteous the cause, what can be expected but corruption ?
War also resists and even corrupts the influences of reli- gion. When war in a righteous cause, war for liberty and for existence, rouses a people to enthusiasm, it makes religion not its ally only, but its handmaid. And pure religion can- not but be the sufferer by such a servitude. All the history of Christianity is a melancholy illustration of this. When did religion "pure and undefiled" prosper,-when did it es- cape corruption, and the paralysis of its salutary powers, in a country agitated with war? The gospel is the religion of peace ; and in peace only, does it yield those leaves which are for the healing of the nations.
The desperate war with Philip, and the more prolonged conflict with the Eastern Indians, had much to do with the decay of the primitive glory of New England. The country recovered without difficulty from its impoverishment and ex- haustion ; population spread rapidly over the regions from which the vanquished barbarian had fled ; but the pure stern primitive morals, and the power of evangelical doctrine, suf- fered a continued decay.
As I trace this history from one period of distress and con- flict to another, the thought is continually presenting itself, How great the expense at which our privileges have been ob- tained for us! We dwell in peace and perfect safety. The lines are fallen to us in pleasant places. Beauty, comfort, light, joy, are all around us. The poorest man among us, . has within his reach immunities and blessings without num- ber, means of improvement and means of enjoyment, to which the far greater portion of mankind, even in the most favored communities, have hitherto been strangers. And how little of this has been obtained by any effort or any sacri- fice of ours. We have entered into other men's labors. We are enjoying the results of their agonies, and the answer to their prayers. They subdued the wilderness, and planted a land not sown ; that we might dwell in a land adorned with culture, and enriched with the products of industry and art.
169
They traversed with weary steps the pathless woods, where the wild beast growled upon them from his lair; that we might travel upon roads of iron, borne by powers of which they never dreamed, and with a speed that leaves the winds behind. They encountered all that is terrible in savage war, and shed their blood in swamps and forests ; that we might live in this security. They, with anxiety that never rested, and with many a stroke of vigilant or daring policy, baffled the machinations of the enemies who sought to reduce them to a servile dependence on the crown ; that we might enjoy this popular government, these equal laws, this perfect liberty. They came to the world's end, away from schools and libraries, and all the fountains of light in the old world; that we and our children might inhabit a land, glorious with the universal diffusion of knowledge. They were exiles for truth and purity, they like their Savior were tempted in the wilderness ; that the truth might make us free, and that the richest blessing of their covenant God might come on their posterity. All that there is in our lot for which to be grateful, we owe, under God, to those who here have labored, and prayed, and suffered for us.
So it is every where. While every man is in one view the arbiter of his own destiny, the author of his own weal or woe ; in another view, equally true and equally important, every man's lot is determined by others. Every where in this world, you see the principle of vicarious action and vica- rious suffering. No being under the government of God, ex- ists for himself alone ; and in this world of conflict and of change, where evermore one generation passeth away and another generation cometh, the greatest toil of each succeed- ing age is to provide for its successors. Thus, by the very constitution and conditions of our existence here, does our Creator teach us to rise above the narrow views and aims of selfishness, and to find our happiness in seeking the happiness of others. Such is God's plan,-such are the relations by which he connects us with the past and with the future, as well as with our fellow actors in the passing scene ; and the
22
.
170
mind which by the grace of the gospel has been renewed to a participation " of the Divine nature," throws itself sponta- neously into God's plan, and learns the meaning of that motto, "None of us liveth to himself and none dieth to himself." The believer, created anew in Christ, and knowing him and the power of his resurrection, knows also "the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." (Phil. iii, 10.) In this spirit an apostle exclaimed, "I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ." (Col. i, 24. )
Look about you now, and compute if you can, how much you are enjoying of the purchase of other men's toils, the re- sults of their patience and steadfastness, and the answer to their prayers. The debt is infinite. All that you can do to discharge it, is to stand in your lot, for truth, for freedom, for virtue, and "for the good of posterity."
DISCOURSE IX.
FROM 1684 TO 1714 .- JAMES PIERPONT .- CAUSES OF PROGRES- SIVE DECLENSION, AND ATTEMPTS AT REFORMATION .- FOUND- ING OF YALE COLLEGE .- FORMATION OF THE SAYBROOK CON- STITUTION.
PSALM cxIv, 4 .- One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
As soon as New England began to recover from the ex- haustion and impoverishment consequent on the war with the Indians, the people here were greatly in earnest to obtain a reestablishment of the gospel ministry among them. It was a favorable circumstance for them, while their late di- visions were not yet entirely healed, that their attention was excited by the prospect of obtaining for their minister, a man of great eminence in that day, who in some respects resem- bled their former pastor. That man was the Rev. Joshua Moody of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, then called Pis- cataway.
New Hampshire, less favored in its origin than the other New England colonies, was at that time subject to a royal governor,-a creature of King James II, practicing, in the four towns of New Hampshire, the same violations of right and liberty, which his master was practicing on a grander scale in England. To such a governor, the pastor of Ports- mouth had become greatly obnoxious, by the fearless free- dom of his preaching, and by his resoluteness in maintaining a strictly Congregational church discipline. A member of his Church was strongly suspected of having taken a false oath, in a matter relating to the seizure and escape of a ves- sel. The man thus charged with perjury, was able in some way to pacify the governor and the collector; but in the Church, the supposed offense was made a subject of investi- gation. Mr. Moody, as pastor, requested of Cranfield, the
172
governor, copies of the evidence which had been taken in the case by the government. The governor not only refused this request, but declared that the man having been forgiven by him, should not be called to account by any body else, and threatened the pastor with vengeance if he dared to pro- ceed in the matter. But Mr. Moody did not believe that the right of a Christian Church to inspect the conduct of its own members, or the duty of a Church to execute discipline upon offenders, depended on the will of governors or kings ; and to him the wrath of Cranfield was a small matter in compa- rison with the reproaches of his own conscience, or the dis- pleasure of God. Having consulted his Church, he preached a sermon on the sin of perjury ; and then the offender was tried, found guilty, and at last, by God's blessing upon the ordinance of church discipline, brought to repentance and a public confession. The governor, indignant at this manly proceeding, had yet no way to execute his threat of ven- geance but by some indirect method. He accordingly made an order, that all the ministers within the province, should admit all persons of suitable age, and not vicious in their lives, to the Lord's supper, and their children to bap- tism ; and that if any person should desire to have these sa- craments administered according to the liturgy of the Church of England, his desire should be complied with. The min- ister who should refuse obedience to this order, was to incur the same penalties as if he were in England and a minister there of the established church. Cranfield's next step was, without any loss of time, to send a written message to Mr. Moody, by the hands of the sheriff, signifying that he and two of his friends intended to partake of the Lord's supper the next Sunday, and requiring that it be administered to them according to the liturgy. To this demand, Mr. Moody returned the prompt denial which was expected; and the consequence was, that for the double offense of refusing to conform to the order of the liturgy, and of refusing to pro- fane the Lord's supper by administering it to such men as Cranfield and his minions, he was prosecuted, convicted and
173
imprisoned. For thirteen weeks he remained in close con- finement ; and he was then released only under a strict charge to preach no more within the province, and a threat of farther imprisonment if he should .*
During the progress of this controversy at Portsmouth, the Church here "had intelligence from some friends, that Mr. Moody was attainable if he were looked after." Thereupon the Church considering Mr. Moody to be " a man, by report, singularly fit for the ministry," "wrote a letter to be con- veyed to him by Mr. Whiting of Hartford." At the next town meeting, which was on the 17th of March, 1684, the town was informed of these proceedings, by deputy governor Bishop, and " their concurrence in the matter, to procure Mas- ter Moody if he can be had," was requested. It was stated that, as at the latest intelligence he was known to be a pris- oner, and as it was doubtful whether the letter had reached him before his imprisonment, the Church had thought con- venient to send a messenger, and in this proceeding desired the town's "loving concurrence, and that there might be unity and peace." "I hope," said Gov. Bishop, "we shall all agree, and desire an able ministry in this place for the good of our souls, as it is hoped that this man may be such a one." "Mr. Jones also spake much to the same effect, to do things in peace, and to get up to our former state and pu- rity, which we had in the time of Mr. Davenport, especially. He also acquainted the town with a letter he received from Mr. Whiting, respecting Mr. Moody." After debate, and some objection to the expense of sending a messenger " so far, at uncertainties," it was agreed to concur with the Church in inviting Mr. Moody to come as a minister to this place, and to commit it to the Church to send to him either by a messenger or by a letter.t
The Church, thus empowered by the town, sent Mr. Jones, who was one of their most eminent men, and Mr. James Hea- ton, who was the son in law of their former minister, Mr.
* Belknap, Hist. of New Hampshire, I, 204.
t Town Records.
1
174
Street, as their messengers to treat with Mr. Moody. The result was, that Mr. Moody, having seen one of the messen- gers at Portsmouth about the time of his release from prison, in the month of May, and having afterwards conferred with both of them at Boston at the time of the election there, de- clined the invitation, because he still felt himself bound to his former people, and "would try the providence of God, if he might not preach near them, and they have liberty to hear him."
The negotiation with Mr. Moody being thus terminated, the messengers, at the advice of several ministers in Boston, and of other friends, went so far beyond their commission as to make an application to Mr. James Pierpont to come and preach as a candidate for the pastoral office. Mr. Pierpont was then about twenty five years of age. He had graduated less than three years before, at Harvard College. But it is evident that, notwithstanding his youth, he was regarded as competent to the work of the ministry in any of the Churches of New England.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Heaton, the messengers of the Church, having returned, made a statement of the results of their mission, at a town meeting, on the 9th of June. They in- formed the town that Mr. Pierpont, upon their proposal, and the advice and encouragement of his friends, " had engaged to come, and be here the first Sabbath in August next. Mr. Jones also informed, that the report they had of Mr. Pierpont was, that he was a godly man, a good scholar, a man of good parts, and likely to make a good instrument :- also, that they had agreed with him to send a man to come up with him, and a horse for him to ride up upon." After " a large debate," the doings of the messengers were harmoniously ratified .*
Accordingly, in the month of August, the young candi- date made his appearance. At the town meeting in Septem- ber, Deacon Peck appeared in behalf of the Church. Hav- ing alluded to their sorrowful and afflicted state, in being so
*. Town Records.
175
long destitute of pastoral ministrations, and to the failure of former efforts, he adverted to the fact that another man, " and he hoped he might say of God's sending," was then with them. The Church, he said, were well satisfied with this man, and were desirous " that the town would concur with them in encouraging him, and that there might be a mainte- nance provided, he being at Mrs. Davenport's to his con- tent."* A great recommendation of the candidate was,- " He is a man of peace, and desires peace in Church and town, and would rejoice to hear of it, and that there may be no after-troubles." The Deacon went on to say, "The Church hath had some consideration of differences that have been in the Church, and do see that there have been miss- ings and swervings from the rule, and will own them before the Lord, and to that end have agreed to keep a day of fast- ing and prayer in the public congregation, wherein to confess our sins before God, and beg pardon, and to seek his favor, and that his presence would be with them as in the former times. They hoped the town would willingly join with them in keeping the day, to humble our souls before the Lord." It was also desired " that the town would declare their concurrence by their agreement, and now appoint some persons as their committee, to go to Mr. Pierpont to encour- age his settlement with us, that the Lord may return again to us in a settled ministry, for the good of us, our families, and of posterity."
Mr. Jones followed with similar remarks. "It was true that since God took from us our teaching officers, we have had our miscarriages. And the Church hath lately met, and reflected on things and times past, and do see that they have dishonored God, and hindered the good of our neighbors, and, as Deacon Peck hath informed you, have made prepa- ration for a solemn day of prayer, and to acknowledge that which hath been grievous to others, or stumbling to any ;
* 'This Mrs. Davenport was widow of the son of the first pastor,-daugh- ter of Rev. Abraham Pierson of Branford,-sister of the first Rector of Yale College,-and mother of Rev. John Davenport of Stamford.
176
and have desired the town to join with them, in their prayer to God, that he would pardon our sins, and be with us in set- tling the present instrument. And he doubted not but that the grounds for keeping [the fast] agreed upon, would be satisfying to all; so that we may hope for God's presence and blessing on the ministry, for the good of all concerned. God is about a great work in the world, and hath guided Mr. Pierpont to preach those things that are suitable. And if God give the Church and town to go on together, it will be a great means."
The conclusion of the matter, " after some moderate de- bate," was, that the town appointed " Mr. William Jones, John Nash, Dea. William Peck, Mr. John Hodson, and Mr. Thomas Trowbridge," to go to Mr. Pierpont as their com- mittee, " to congratulate and give him thanks for his love in coming to us, and [to assure him that] they did well accept his labors in preaching the gospel, and have found that God hath been, and hope will be with him, and do desire his going on in that work, that the Church and himself may have such experience and trial of each other, [as] to proceed in convenient time to settle in office in the Church in this place, if it may be the good will of God."*
All these proceedings were not the only preliminaries to the settlement of Mr. Pierpont. At a meeting on the 6th of January, it was agreed, that a home-lot and house and other lands should be provided for Mr. Pierpont, on condition of his settling in office in the Church. The means of building the house were to be obtained by voluntary contributions. The magistrates and townsmen were made a committee to obtain the necessary funds, to plan the house according to the funds raised, and to oversee the building. The neces- sary amount was pledged in money, materials and labor, with- out difficulty or delay. On the 30th of January, the plan of the house was ready, and was ordered to be submitted to Mr. Pierpont for his approbation. The lot was purchased, and
* Town Records.
177
the building was immediately commenced. When it was finished, it was one of the most commodious and stately dwellings in the town. For more than a century, it stood a monument of the public spirit of the generation by whose voluntary contributions it was erected. As the people were bringing in their free-will offerings of one kind and another, to complete and furnish the building, one man desiring to do something for the object, and having nothing else to offer, brought on his shoulder from the farms two little elm sap- lings, and planted them before the door of the minister's house. Under their shade, some forty years afterwards, Jon- athan Edwards-then soon to take rank, in the intellectual world, with Locke and Leibnitz-spoke words of mingled love and piety in the ear of Sarah Pierpont .* Under their shade, when some sixty summers had passed over them, Whitefield stood on a platform, and lifted up that voice, the tones of which lingered so long in thousands of hearts. One of them is still standing, the tallest and most venerable of all the trees in this city of elms, and ever the first to be tinged with green at the return of spring.t
The ordination of Mr. Pierpont took place on the second , day of July, 1685,¿ after he had been with the people about eleven months as a candidate. The great number of bap- tisms which are recorded as following very rapidly after his ordination, makes it probable that at that time the "halfway covenant" principle, which had been recommended by the synod of 1662, and to oppose which, in Boston, where it ori- ginated, Mr. Davenport had relinquished his ministry here,- was introduced into this Church. Yet by what act of the Church such a change was introduced, by what considera- tions, or by whose influence, the Church was led to adopt
* For an illustration of this remark, see Dwight's Life of Edwards, 114. t The tree stands before the mansion of the late Judge Bristol, in Elm street. I am obliged to add, that investigations made since this discourse was written, have thrown some doubt upon the time when the tree was planted, though still it is undoubtedly the oldest in the city.
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.