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 20
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The advice of the legislature was brought in, while the council were hearing the case. Immediately a committee, consisting of Mr. Mills, moderator of the council, Mr. Whee- lock, Mr. Bellamy, and two of the lay members, was ap- pointed to " confer with the honorable the Governor, Deputy Governor, and the worshipful assistants now sitting in court." The committee represented to the upper house, how often the
* See the confession in Trumbull, II, 346.
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separating party had proposed to Mr. Noyes a mutual council, and how often he had refused or evaded the offer. To this the Governor and his council replied by advising that the offer should be renewed once more, and by intimating that once more would be enough.
Next, the same committee, with one minister added,* was sent to confer with Mr. Noyes on the proposal for a mutual council. The report of the committee was, that Mr. Noyes would not comply with the advice of the Assembly. Yet while the council was in the act of hearing that report, a written communication from Mr. Noyes was presented, in which he declared his purpose to call his Church together, that they might consult on the advice of the Assembly ; and to confer with the committee of the parish ; and to prosecute the business as fast as Providence would allow.t This letter was deemed unsatisfactory and evasive ; and a communica- tion, signed by a committee of the separate Church, was conveyed to Mr. Noyes by a committee of the council, to tell him that they did not trust him, and that they wanted prom-
* The minister added to the committee when sent to Mr. Noyes, was the Rev. John Graham of Southbury, a man rather more unlikely to persuade or conciliate, than either Bellamy or Wheelock.
t The oral report of the committee was-" Mr. Noyes told them ' he had a great regard to the fifth commandment, but he did not thank the Assembly for what they had done. I look upon the Assembly as infallible as the pope. Such a council is inconsistent with the constitution, contrary to the light of nature ;' -- and directing himself to one of the said committee said, 'What if you and I had a difference, and you should choose three men, and I choose three, and they should strip and fight it out ; what good would that do?' He said ' he liked government, but did not like arbitration : where do you find any ground in Scripture for it ?' The said committee returning, reported as above to the council, and declared it to be their judgment that Mr. Noyes would not comply, and that what he said was a sufficient intimation of his non-compliance."
The reader will naturally inquire whether it was generous or just in the council, to bait and worry an irritable old man, by sending a committee, some of whom (as Bellamy, Wheelock and Graham,) were especially ob- noxious to him ; and then to act, not upon his written reply, but upon the violent expressions which the committee had caught up in the heat of their debate with him. Mr. Noyes was undoubtedly wrong; the only question is, whether the committee and the council were perfectly right.
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ises more distinct, and pledges more irrevocable, He had not-so they told him-expressly declared his own compli- ance with the advice of the legislature ; he had not proposed to call his Church together immediately, nor had he fixed any time for that purpose. To this Mr. Noyes's answer, as given in writing, was plain, and for aught that I can see, explicit. " Gentlemen, I have read your paper of this day, and in an- swer say, The advice of the honorable Assembly is to the Society and Church in this place, whose minds I do not know. So far as it concerns me, I purpose to prosecute it, and to lay it before my Church as soon as Providence will allow me, and confer with the Society's committee on the af- fair." Yet the committee who waited on him, and who brought back this written answer, insisted in their report, that when in conversation they told Mr. Noyes that this seemed to leave the matter in doubt, and therefore desired him expressly to say for himself, whether he would on his part comply with the advice of the Assembly, and expressly promise to lay it before the Church, he refused to give them any other promise ; and upon this testimony, the council voted that Mr. Noyes's answers were evasive.
The next step in the council was to give a formal judg- ment on the controversy between the separates and their op- ponents, declaring that the ground on which the separates had withdrawn and erected themselves into a distinct Church was right ; and that the confession which they had so lately offered as to the manner of their withdrawal, was sufficient. Mr. Bird was then examined and approved; and, in the face of another communication from Mr. Noyes, again assuring them of his intention to comply with the advice of the legis- lature so far as he was concerned,* the installation was per- formed.
* Mr. Noyes's letter, as preserved on Mr. Bird's records, is as follows :
" To the Rev. Mr. Jedediah Mills, &c.
" Gentlemen :
" Perceiving that what I have wrote is not rightly understood, I again say, I have no mental reserves. I look upon it my duty to prosecute the ad-
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This proceeding did not prevent Mr. Noyes from fulfilling his promise of compliance with the advice of the Assembly. Early in the ensuing week, the Church having already acted, there was a meeting of the Society, at which it was voted, that the Society "do fully acquiesce in said advice and deter- mine to prosecute it ;" and thanks were voted to the General Assembly for their care. A committee* was appointed to act for the Society in the nomination of a council, and in deter- mining what particular questions should be submitted to the council. It was also voted, that if the parties should not agree in the nomination of a council, the General Assembly should be requested either to appoint a council of their own selection, or to cause one to be nominated by the several con- sociations in the colony. A committee was also appointed on the part of the separate Church. The committees agreed in the nomination of a council, but they could not agree as to the particular questions upon which the council should be called to judge. At that point, the proposal was frustrated.+ A year and a half after these proceedings, this Church adopted a solemn vote, reciting the origin of the separation under the conduct of James Davenport, the forbearance which this Church, according to the advice of the "Grand Council at Guilford," had exercised towards its separating members,
vice of the honorable Assembly. Shall do it to my utmost : purpose to call a church meeting, the beginning of the week. I have sent for the Society's committee, to speak with them this evening. Let there be no misunder- standing. In great haste, I am, gentlemen, yours, &c.
JOSEPH NOYES.
" P. S. I hope you will do nothing to defeat the advice."
This letter came when the council were just ready to move to the meeting house, and " after a short debate," was voted to be " now unseasonable."
* " Rev. Mr. Thomas Clap, Dea. Isaac Dickerman, John Hubbard, Esq., Dea. John Hitchcock, Dea. Jonathan Mansfield, Capt. Jonathan Alling, and Mr. Chauncey Whittelsey, together with the Rev. Mr. Joseph Noyes."
t The account of these proceedings is compiled from the records of the Society, and from those of the White Haven Church. Dr. Trumbull's entire story of the separation at New Haven, (II, ch. 14,) is little else than a tran- script, with verbal alterations, of the first twelve pages in Mr. Bird's book of records. He appears not to have consulted any other document.
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and the censure passed upon them by the consociation of the county,-and declaring that all who had joined the separate Church, or who had communed with them, had cut them- selves off from this Church, and that the Church was there- fore discharged of " any farther special inspection over them."
All this while the new Church, under the ministry of a man in the prime of life, whose style was popular, whose elo- cution was impressive, and whose preaching insisted much on those great topics and grounds of spiritual religion which are in all ages most interesting to the human mind, was con- tinually gaining upon the old Church, in its old meeting house, under the ministry of an old man, whose preaching, dry in style, and dull in delivery, was, at the best, "non- committal" in respect to those ever litigated doctrines which are the grand objective motives of Christian piety. In Janu- ary, 1753, it was proposed that a new meeting house should be erected. But the law required, in order to the erection of a meeting house, a vote of two thirds of the inhabitants of the Society ; and such a vote, by reason of the opposition of the separate party, could not be obtained. It was resolved therefore to petition the General Assembly for a special act en- abling the Society, or such part of it as the legislature should think proper, to tax themselves for that purpose. The separate Church determined to meet them with a counter memorial, praying to be released from all taxes for the support of Mr. Noyes. The petition of the Society was so far successful, that the erection of the meeting house was commenced in the ensuing summer, the location being fixed by a committee of the legislature. But although the undertaking was for- warded by the generosity of individuals, and by large and repeated donations from the funds of the Church ; such were the difficulties to be encountered, that the new brick meeting house was not finished till three or four years afterwards.
While the ecclesiastical affairs of New Haven were in this unhappy condition, the general controversy originating in the great religious excitement of the age, was becoming more complicated. In a few years from the beginning, it was
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plain that there were three distinct parties in the field. First, there were those who went all lengths for itineracy and lay preaching, for outcries in worship and bodily agitations, for denunciation of ministers, and separation from the regular Churches, for enthusiastic impulses as the rule of judgment, and for every other extravagance. The chief leader, if not the father of these, James Davenport, was, in the year 1744, by the blessing of God on the endeavors of Messrs. Williams and Wheelock of Lebanon, recovered from his delusion, and brought to a penitent confession of the extravagances into which he had been led. But he found, as such men always find, that he could not undo the mischief he had done. He could recover but few of those whom he had been the means of leading into delusion. They generally pronounced him a fallen man ; they declared that he was under the influence of others, and that he had lost the Spirit of God.
Another party included all those who, with Edwards and Bellamy, acknowledged the hand of God in the revival of religion, and endeavored to convince all that the work was indeed of God, and that its effects and results, however they might come far short of what had been hoped for, and how- ever they had been marred by the workings of human im- perfection and folly, were greatly to be rejoiced in ; but who at the same time felt themselves bound, to bear testimony as they had occasion,-though I cannot but think that some of them testified too sparingly,-against the extravagances and errors which had been so disastrously mingled with the work of God, whether by their own agency or by that of others. This was the middle party ; and this was continually gain- ing ground, especially in Connecticut.
A third party was that of which Dr. Chauncey, of Boston, may be considered the leader. It included those who for- getting that the opposite of wrong is not always right, thought that the one great duty of the times was to oppose the new light and the new measures. They were men whose oppo- sition to extravagance became itself extravagant ; and whose fears that some credit might accrue to Whitefield, or Ten-
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nent, or Davenport, or some other revivalist, led them insen- sibly to take dangerous ground, to undervalue all zeal for the conversion of men, to oppose all the forms of religious ac- tivity, to think lightly of that kind of preaching which has the most direct tendency to affect the popular mind, and to be more and more disgusted with what seemed to them en- thusiasm, extravagance and cant, till some of them, and par- ticularly Chauncey himself, became apostles of the most de- structive heresies.
With this third party Mr. Noyes appears to have had too much sympathy. If I mistake not, his sense of personal injury, his love of old steady times, and his disgust, had made him too much like one of those old school men of this day, whose discourse is ever of the degeneracy of the times, and who are alive only with anxiety and panic about the progress of extravagance and error. This too tended to the prosperity of the separating Church. The people,-the best part of the people,-who knew what God had wrought ; who knew how many family altars had been erected in con- sequence of the revival, how many thoughtless giddy souls had become serious and devout, how much vice had been checked, and the knowledge and study of the Scriptures had been promoted,-could not be made to sympathize perma- nently with such feelings. And on the other hand, the new Church having for its distinctive character opposition to Mr. Noyes's ministry, had less and less sympathy with the ex- travagances which attended its origin, and grew in grace as it grew in stature.
The religious disputes of the day were carried into politics, as of course they must be where the Churches are subject to political regulation. At first the legislature made severe laws to repress the itinerating preachers and the lay exhorters, and to keep every pastor from invading other men's parishes. Un- der these laws, a man no less considerable than Samuel Fin- ley, afterwards president of the College of New Jersey, was seized by the civil authority for preaching in Milford, and was carried as a vagrant out of the colony. But such pro-
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ceedings, of course, produced a reaction. The new light side soon became the side of liberty, the side of " the democracy," the side of those who were deemed the vulgar, against those who considered themselves as belonging to a higher class in society. Of course it was the growing side. In a few years, the "political new lights" began to command a formidable influence in the General Assembly of the colony.
It was not long before the College began to feel the pressure of this state of things. The students and officers of the Col- lege, had always worshiped in this congregation, and attend- ing upon a separate meeting, even in vacation, had been treated in the laws of the College, and in the administration of the laws, as a serious offense .* But now many of the students began to have decided preferences about the place of worship, and many parents, placing their sons here, shared in the growing prejudice against Mr. Noyes. The President and the Corporation had been greatly opposed to the "new light"' party, and particularly to the separate meeting here. One of the Fellows, Mr. Cooke of Stratfield, a leading agi- tator, had been called to account before the Corporation, for some of his proceedings, probably for his part in organizing the separation here ; and he had found it expedient to resign his seat at the Board .; But gradually, the President, and the other members of that body appear to have become con- vinced that Mr. Noyes was at heart opposed to receiving a colleague ; and that he had art enough to defeat all efforts to that end. What then was to be done? The College was losing its favor with the public ; and was there no remedy ? A timid man, or a man of less grasp and force of mind, would probably have petitioned the legislature for liberty to form the students into a distinct congregation, and to organize a Church in College, and might thus have exposed the institu-
* The well known case of David Brainerd, will be noticed on a subsequent page. For the case of John and Ebenezer Cleaveland, (of whom John was the grandfather of the Rev. E. L. Cleaveland, of this city,) see Trumbull, II, 129.
t College Records.
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tion to the greatest dangers. But President Clap conceived the bold idea of asserting this right as by the common law inseparable from the existence of a College, and as conce- ded, therefore, by the charter that allowed the institution to become a College. All parties seem to have been taken by surprise, and opposition to the plan, both in the corporation and out of it, though earnest, was ineffectual. In 1753 pub- lic worship was commenced in the College Hall; and efforts were made with great vigor to obtain the means of supporting a Professor of Divinity, who should be the pastor of the Col- lege congregation. In pursuing this object, the President be- came of course Mr. Noyes's earnest opponent. The great argu- ment for raising funds, was that the College must have better preaching than Mr. Noyes's, more instructive, more awaken- ing, more orthodox. Mr. Noyes though a member of the corporation, and for a long time the secretary of that body, was vilified before the legislature and elsewhere, as an Ar- minian, and almost, if not quite, a Deist. That he was an Arminian, never was proved, and certainly cannot be dis- proved. We may presume that as he found himself the ob- ject of increasing odium and denunciation, on the part of those whose rallying cry was 'Orthodoxy,' he was increas- ingly disposed to differ from them on all sorts of questions. At one time, an attempt was made to bring him before the College corporation, that he might be examined as to his the- ological views, and thus be convicted of heresy. Of course he met the attempted usurpation with an obstinate resistance. For resisting it successfully, he deserves to be had in respect- ful remembrance.
In 1755, the Rev. Naphtali Daggett was elected Professor of Divinity in the College, and entered on the duties of that office. The following year, an earnest effort was made by the people, "with Mr. Noyes's good liking" to make him colleague pastor here, and thus to bring back the College to this congregation. When that proposal had been declined, it was immediately followed by a request that the professor should preach in the pulpit of this Society, half the time.
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The attempt failed, because the corporation could not be moved from the purpose of maintaining public worship al- ways within the walls of the College. I need not say how much the true interests of this Church, as well of the Col- lege, were promoted by this arrangement.
One point which this negotiation clearly demonstrates, de- serves a moment's consideration. The Church and Society, and their minister, are commonly reported to have been in those days entirely Arminian. Professor Daggett was a preacher of the most " proved and approved" Calvinism. Yet Mr. Daggett's preaching was " to the very good liking of the said Mr. Noyes, and the people in general ;" and Mr. Noyes, to obtain the aid of so orthodox a divine, freely offered to re- linquish half his salary. The Society was not satisfied with merely offering a call. Having referred to the great desire which the corporation of the College had expressed, especially for the sake of the students, to have orthodox principles incul- cated, " as contained in the Confession of Faith owned in the Churches of this colony, and in the Assembly's Catechism," they adopted a solemn declaration in these words ;- " That they esteem themselves to be, and always to have been set- tled and built upon the ecclesiastical constitution of this col- ony, both in doctrine and discipline, which doctrine is that contained in the said Confession and Catechism; and that they are not only willing but desirous that the same princi- ples and no other, be preached in the pulpit,-and the same shall by no means be offensive to us." Does not this indicate that the bitter controversy of the age was maintained by fac- tion and passion, quite as much as by any radical or irrecon- cileable difference of principle ?
At this time, the long continued ecclesiastical controversy in the town was manifestly approaching a crisis. It began to be feared on one side, and hoped on the other, that the "new lights" would ere long become the majority. The Society in its meetings began to manifest a desire to be peaceably rid of them. On the 10th of February, 1755, it was " voted that application be made to the General Assembly for relief ;"
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and "that the General Assembly be humbly requested to enact, either (1) that those persons who have dissented as aforesaid, and their adherents, be disenabled to act or vote in any meeting of this Society, in any matter that respects the ministry and the building or repairing the meeting house of the Society ; or (2) that the said dissenters and their adhe- rents be set off from this Society so as that said Society may meet and vote respecting the matters aforesaid, exclusive of and without taxing or having regard to said dissenters and their adherents, in such way and manner as said General As- sembly shall see fit." The "new lights" not only voted against this proposal, but entered a formal protest against it. It seems that this application was unsuccessful. A year after- wards when the attempt to settle Mr. Daggett was in pro- gress, it was voted that "this Society is willing that those inhabitants who ordinarily attend on the ministry of Mr. Bird, should be exempted from paying any part of such taxes," as might be laid for the settlement and support of Mr. Daggett ; "and that they and their posterity be made a body corporate or ecclesiastical society, provided, they will apply to the General Assembly therefor, and be set off from this Society." A few days afterwards, a large committe was appointed, representing both parties, to "project some method or plan to divide the Society in some just and reasonable manner." This committee does not appear to have arrived at any result. In March, the necessity of laying a tax for the completion of the new meeting house, was made the oc- casion of a memorial to the legislature for relief ; but against this Mr. Bird's adherents protested.
The grand obstacle all along, in the way of a division, was the hope which the separates cherished, of getting the property not of the Society only, but of the Church also, into their own hands. Secession and liberty would not satisfy them. They judged that they had a right to at least an equal share of the lands and funds, which the Society lad acquired from various sources. They felt too that they had as good a right as any body to the peculiar endowments, and even to the sacramental vessels, of the Church from which
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they had seceded. None in these days would think of such a claim. They never would have thought of it, if they had been at liberty to secede when they first desired a separation.
At the annual meeting in January, 1757, it was once more resolved that application be made to the General Assembly to have the inhabitants divided into two ecclesiastical socie- ties ; and at the same time it was ordered, that all the inhab- itants have liberty to enter their names with the clerk at any time before the first of May, "declaring to which party they choose to belong, by the general distinction of Mr. Noyes's party and Mr. Bird's party," so that the division into two par- ties might be made according to what is now called " elec- tive affinity." In regard to the property it was resolved, " that the General Assembly be desired, upon hearing the parties, to judge and determine how the same ought to be disposed of." Mr. Jared Ingersoll of this Church, and Mr. Samuel Cooke of the separate Church, were appointed agents in behalf of the Society to present the petition. The meet- ing was adjourned to the second Monday in June ; and be- fore that time, it was expected that the legislature would act on the petition.
The enrolling of the names of all the inhabitants accord- ing to their party preferences was immediately commenced ; and when it was finished, it appeared that the "new lights" were the majority. By some means, the General Assembly was induced to continue the Society's memorial from the May session to the session in October. At the adjourned meeting in June, it was voted by the new light majority, that the memorial be withdrawn. It was also voted to "elect and call" Mr. Bird to be "a minister of this Society," and that the new light meeting house "be the place of public worship for the present." Mr. Bird accepted the call ;* and
* I transcribe from the Society records, Mr. Bird's letter accepting the call. The address of the letter is, "To Messrs. David Wooster, James Pierpont, and William Greenough, committee from the First Society in New Haven. To be communicated."
" Gentlemen,-The notice you have taken of me, and the respect you have shown me, in given me a call to the work of the ministry among you, is acknowledged with gratitude. I have calmly and deliberately considered
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