USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > Book of the First Church of Christ, 1854 > Part 13
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The Fifth Pastor of the church was REV. JOSEPH BAR- KER of Branford, Conn. He was graduated at Yale College in 1771, and was ordained to the pastoral office here Dec. 5, 1781. Four years had passed away from the death of Mr. Conant, while the church and the peo- ple were without the stated ministry of any one man. These were years of great trial to the church of Christ in this land, occurring as they did in the midst of the Revolutionary War. Mr. Barker, of course, entered
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upon his labors here at a very difficult period. He was a man of acknowledged abilities, sound in the faith, clear, forcible, and fearless in preaching the great doctrines of the gospel. He was abundant in labors ; and his ministry was attended with a good degree of success, especially in the first part of it, when his mind and time were less devoted to the public interests of the country than was the case in subsequent years. His death occurred on July 25th, 1815, at the age of sixty-three, and when he was in the thirty-fourth year of his ministry. He was inter- red in the burying ground at this place. Thus, in the fifth pastor, the faithfulness of God secured to the church an evangelical ministry.
The REV. EMERSON PAINE, still living, was the Sixth Pastor of the church. He was graduated at Brown Uni- versity in 1813. His ordination here took place Feb. 14, 1816. Mr. Paine was justly considered a man of distinguished talents and piety. His preaching was of the same character as that of his predecessor. It was highly evangelical, and such as strongly commended it- self to the church. He was settled here in peculiarly trying circumstances, and with reluctance on his own part. After repeated requests to the church to unite with him in calling a council for his dismission, they finally yielded, and it took place on the 4th of June 1822, and in the seventh year of his ministry.
The REV. WILLIAM EATON became the Seventh Pastor 'of the church March 10, 1824. He was graduated at Williams College in 1810, and settled in the ministry in Fitchburg, previously to his installation here. His ministry, which lasted ten years, maintained the same evangelical character with that of his several predeces- sors. At his own request he was dismissed, April 1,
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1834. He was afterwards settled, successively, in Char- lotte, Vermont, and Hardwick in this State. His health failing him at the latter place, he sought a dismission from his charge, gave up the ministerial work, and died soon afterwards at West Brookfield, in 1840, aged fifty- six.
It is now only to be added that the present Pastor, who is the Eighth, was installed here Oct. 28, 1835, after a previous settlement of twenty years over the First Church and Parish in Portsmouth, N. H. Of the char- acter of his own ministry, he can of course, say nothing. But he trusts that from the view he has given of the character and labors of his predecessors, he has made it appear, that in them, God gave to this church a truly evangelical ministry in token of his faithfulness to the covenant, which he entered into with its founders.
3. The third proof of the same truth, is found in the consideration that God has in his Providence, from time to time, given to the church, in connection with the people, suitable places for his worship, for the preach- ing of the gospel, and for the administration of its ordin- ances.
The First Meeting House was situated near the dwelling of the, late Dr. Sturtevant. It was prob- ably standing there at the organization of the church, and was occupied during the ministry of Mr. Fuller, and remained till the year 1700.
The Second House was erected on what is now called the Green, and near the location of the present school house. That house was occupied during the whole of the ministry of Rev. Mr. Thacher, and was the scene of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit on the minds of this people in the years 1741, '42 and '43.
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The Third House was built on a site a few rods north-east of that where we now worship ; and is recollec- ted by many of the present generation. It was in that house, that the Rev. Messrs. Conant, Barker and Paine preached during the whole of their respective minis- tries.
Our present House of worship was erected in the year 1829, and is by far, the largest, most costly, and most convenient of the whole number.
Let no one say that Houses, well adapted to the public worship of God and to the administration of the ordin- ances of the gospel, are not proof of the divine favor. We might well ask what was the first temple at Jerusa- lem, built under the direction of Jehovah, with such great preparation, and at such vast cost, during the reigns of David and Solomon ? True, there is an impor- tant sense, in which "The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." He is a spirit. His habi- tation is in "the heavens." He is the omnipresent Jehovah, not confined to space. But he condescends to the children of men ; and, in an important sense also, he does dwell in these Houses, which he suffers us to build for his worship. And of every such place, it may be said now, as it was by the prophet Habakkuk, " The Lord is in His holy temple."
The thought of the divine presence in our houses of wor- ship ought to make every one of them a solemn place ; and the goodness and faithfulness of God to this church and people are to be acknowledged in all those earthly temples, which they in their different generations, have been permitted to erect for the honor of his name.
4. But I come in the fourth place to call your atten- tion, my hearers, to a still more interesting consideration
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in proof of the faithfulness of God to this church. He has attended the various means of salvation, which I have enumerated, with the gracious operations of his Spirit, on the hearts of the church and people during these one hundred and fifty years.
The merciful design of the gospel is the conversion and salvation of sinners ; and the object of the outward institution of the christian church is to receive convert- ed sinners into a covenant relation to God and one another, for their sanctification and growth in grace ; so that the influence of the church, and especially the ordi- nance of the ministry, may bring the power of the gos- pel to bear on the minds and hearts of the unconverted part of the world.
But the whole power of the gospel, through the min- istry, which God has connected with the church for such infinitely important ends, is to be traced to the effica- cious workings of the Holy Spirit.
Here we see that all church organization, all creeds, covenants, and ordinances, all houses of worship, all preaching of the word, are nothing and accomplish noth- ing in sanctifying and saving souls, without the accom- panying energies of God's gracious Spirit ; so that, after all, the bestowment of this divine influence is the great- est gift of God to man, and the crowning blessing of the gospel of his grace to a dying world.
We are prepared then, my brethren, to see how great has been the loving kindness and faithfulness of God to this church in bestowing such measures of divine influence upon their own minds, and upon the minds of this people for these many generations.
The ministry of Mr. Fuller, after his ordination, was very short ; and on account of the loss of the records
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which has been mentioned, little can be known how much it was instrumental of accomplishing.
The same may be said of the ministry of Mr. Palmer, which lasted about ten years. Little, indeed, could be hoped from the preaching of even evangelical truth, where the life of the preacher was a contradiction to his doctrine. Still, God as a sovereign, sometimes uses very unworthy instruments to accomplish his holy purposes ; and, as the records now show that some were members of the church at the time when Mr. Palmer's ministry closed and Mr. Thacher's began in 1709, who were not among the original founders, we must conclude, that there were some additions to the church during that dark, short period of its history ; but how many, and when made, and the names of them all, can probably never be known.
After the settlement of Mr. Thacher, the Holy Spirit seemed to return, and his gracious influences were given to attend the ministry of that faithful preacher and godly pastor with very encouraging, though with differ- ent degrees of success at different times, till the com- mencement of the Great Revival, which was in 1741; a period long to be remembered in the christian history of this country, Scotland, and some other parts of Protest- ant Europe. The number admitted to the church during Mr. Thacher's ministry was about four hundred and thirty ; of whom one hundred and twenty-five were received in the year 1742, as the principal fruits of the revival.
Is it not always safe for us to estimate the faithfulness of a minister, or any other servant of God, by the appar- ent success which attends his labors, at any given time : and equally erroneous is it for us to calculate the amount of good, of which any man is the instrument, by
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considering the results of his influence as they appear during even his whole life; for the works of every one who has died in the Lord, do follow him ; and it is sometimes the sovereign appointment of God, that his servants should be instrumental in preventing sin rather than in promoting holiness. These remarks apply with much force to the ministry of Mr. Conant, who succeeded Mr. Thacher. These two men died at nearly the same age, and after a ministry of nearly the same length. They preached the same great christian doctrines and duties ; they appeared to be influenced by the same spirit ; they were alike laborious in their work ; they seemed to aim equally at the glory of their divine mas- ter. But very different were the apparent results of the ministry of the latter from those of the former. Mr. Thacher was permited to see during his ministry the addition of about four hundred and thirty to the church ; while Mr. Conant was allowed to see that of about seventy only.
It is indeed true that God is a sovereign, and that he has mercy where he will have mercy ; yet there is such a general uniformity in his manner of accompanying the right use of the means of salvation with the efficacious influence of his grace, that wherever the results in one case differ materially from what they are in another, we may often discover some of the reasons of the difference. And so it is, I apprehend, in the cases before us. There are two important reasons, why the ministry of Mr. Conant should be instrumental of accomplishing less immediate or apparent good than that of Mr. Thacher. One is, that the religious susceptibilities of the people were greatly exhausted when his labors began. The out-pouring of the Holy Spirit had been very copious.
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The revival had taken deep hold of the minds of chris- tians and taxed their spirtual energies to an uncommon degree. Great numbers of sinners, old and young, had been converted. A sealing influence was set in that revival upon the labors and prayers and covenant faithfulness of the minister and the church for a long antecedent period. Before the revival they had been sowing in tears; when it came, for three years they reaped in joy. When Mr. Conant came among the peo- ple, he found and had to administer upon just such a state of things as we have often seen exist in New England, after a powerful revival of religion. The human mind is so constituted that intense religious excitement ex- hausts its powers of feeling and acting. It is so with individuals, it is so with churches and with larger commu- nities. The Revival of a century ago was uncommon= ly powerful, and it took the minds of those, who came under its greatest influence, as was the case here, many years to come back to the same susceptibility which existed at its commencement.
But there was another cause which operated power- fully in preventing the success of Mr. Conant's ministry. A few years after his settlement the public mind began to be uncommonly occupied with political subjects. The difficulties which the colonies had with the mother country, were of a serious character. The excitement soon became intense, and it continued and increased till the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, in the third year of which Mr. Conant died. It is easy to see that political subjects must have greatly absorbed other interests. The public mind was turned away from the subject of religion, and even christians and chris- tian churches suffered greatly in their spiritual interests.
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In the two considerations now mentioned, we may see some obvious reasons, why Mr. Conant's ministry should not have yielded as much apparent fruit as that of other men, who preached the same truths, and labored in the same spirit of evangelical fidelity. Indeed, it would have been a great achievement of his ministry if it had barely saved the church from going over to moral and religious errors, in such a day of trial and darkness as he lived in. But it accomplished more than this. It kept the church and people on the Lord's side ; and his labors were such as his successor might well rejoice to enter into.
Mr. Barker commenced his ministry a little before the close of the Revolutionary War. When that event took place, the public mind soon sought and found the rest it had been many years deprived of. True, the revolu- tionary times had had the effect of corrupting the pub- lie morals, as well as the public religious sentiment. But when peace came, the people had time to rest, time to think. It became more practicable to gain their attention to religious truth. Ministers found more encour- agement in preaching the gospel. Accordingly, in the first thirteen years of Mr. Barker's ministry, there were as many admitted to the church as in all the thirty-two of that of Mr Conant. It was different, however, in the years which followed, and which brought the history of the church down to 1806: during those twelve years there was an addition to it of only thirty-three.
But God was about to remember mercy again for this ancient church, and to show that he had not forgot- ten his faithfulness to its many generations. In the years 1807 and'S, a new and powerful revival was enjoyed. As the fruits of it, there were gathered into the
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church in those two years, and in 1809 the number of sinety-five. The whole number admitted to the church during Mr. Barker's ministry was two hundred and forty-four.
The number admitted during the short ministry of Mr. Paine, which was a little more than six years, was twelve.
In 1823, while there was no settled minister, another precious out-pouring of the Spirit was granted; and seventy-two were added to the church in that year.
Mr. Eaton's ministry commenced in 1824, and ended in 1834; during which time there were some seasons of special revival. In the three years of 1829, '30, and '31, forty-one persons were added to the church; and the whole number admitted during his ministry was sixty- one.
Some special effusions of the Holy Spirit were enjoy- ed by us here in 1840 and '41; and there were added to the church in those two years, the number of fifty. The whole number added duringt he present ministry,- that is, from 1835 to 1845,-is one hundred and seven, nine of whom were added the past year.
In consequence of the loss of the early records of the church, it is impossible to state with accuracy the whole number of admissions. The names of about ten hun- dred and fifty, however, have been ascertained, which would make the average of annual admission seven members for the whole period. Such, my hearers, are the general results experienced from the organization of this church one hundred and fifty years ago, and from the preaching of the gospel here during that period. More than one thousand persons have, by these means of grace, been brought to make a public profession of the name of Christ, and to take the vows of God upon them. How
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many of them will, in the great day appear to have been real converts, the books then to be opened will show. And those books will show also, how many other persons, of the different generations here, during this century and a half, who, although they never confessed Christ before men, have actually accepted the salvation offered them by his ministers. Nor can I fail here to add that other reflection, still more affecting,-which is, that those books will show how many of these generations, who had the offer of eternal life thus made to them, rejected it and perished !
If it should be asked where such of these church members, as have departed this life, actually closed their mortal course,-the answer would be that most of them lived and died in this place. Their bodies have returned to the dust, and are mouldering in the several burying grounds of the parish. But some of them were dismiss- ed at different times to aid in forming the churches in the west and north precincts of the town, and in Halifax. Others also have been dismissed to join other churches in this and other States; and others again have died in near or distant places, while they retained their mem- bership here. How many of the whole number are now living it is impossible to say. Two hundred and fifty- seven of them are still actual members of this church. But you see what a great proportion have passed away from all mortal scenes, and are "fixed in an eternal state."
If time did not fail me, and if there were not, as I have already mentioned, in a course of preparation, such a historical notice as will give you the fullest details concerning the church, its ministers, its deacons, its houses of worship, and other things of like interest,
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together with a complete list of its members, I should love to dwell on such particulars,-as I am persuaded they will go still further to illustrate the very precious truth, which it has been my object this day to present to your minds ; which is The faithfulness of God to this church during the century and half, which is now just expiring. But I have already trespassed much on your patience, and must hasten to a close with such reflections as the sub- ject and occassion obviously suggest. Let me, however, here remark; that in the statements already made, especially as to dates and numbers, I have endeavored to be exact; but I cannot hope to have attained to per- fect accuracy in this respect. That could hardly be expected in consulting so many accounts, especially as they are sometimes not a little contradictory.
REFLECTIONS.
1. Our first reflection is on the offering of gratitude, which is due from us this day to God for his condescending, patient and faithful care of our beloved church.
One hundred and fifty years have now passed away since eleven men and nine women, having hope in the Lord Jesus, and dwelling in this town, stood up near this spot, to engage in all those covenant transactions, by which was laid the foundation of one of the many thousand churches of Christ on earth. And oh, my christian friends, what a Faithful God has this church found its great covenant Head to be ! How condescending to it in its low estate; how patient and forgiving toward it in all its backslidings ; how gracious in giving it such meas- ures of the Holy Spirit ; how faithful in keeping it to
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this day, built, as we trust it is, on the sure foundation which God hath laid in Zion.
Let us, then, joyfully present the offering of thanks- giving and praise to our adorable and "faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand gener- ations." Such a grateful tribute is his just due. Let it be offered by every heart.
2. A second reflection is on the humiliation, which becomes us, at this time, in view of any departures from the purity and simplicity of our fathers, either in doctrine, spirit, discipline, order or manner of living, of which we are consciously guilty.
It is a serious thing, my brethren, for us to belong to a church, whose founders and members of former gener- tions were such as we know ours to have been. The guilt of any who have gone before us is not chargeable upon ourselves. We have nothing to answer for except our own defects and our own sins. But is there not occaion for us to be humble, when we reflect how little we love "the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood," and how few sacrifices we make for its welfare ? For the orthodoxy of its faith, for the purity of its practice, for the faithfulness of its discipline, we are responsible. Now are we not sensible, that we have some low views of christian truth, order, discipline, and practical living ? Do we feel that, as a church, and as individuals, all is right with us? Are we what our fathers were ? Have we the same zeal for the honor of our Saviour, which they manifested ? Are we as conscien- tious in " walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless," as they were ? Surely we see
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great occasion to be humble, when we address ourselves with such questions as thesc. How strict were they in observing the Sabbath ! How constant in their attend- ance at the sanctuary ! How faithful in maintaining family prayer, and in giving daily instruction from the Scriptures to their households, as well as in all the other duties of family religion ! What a high privilege did they regard it to consecrate their children to God, in the holy ordinance of baptism, therein following the exam- ple of believers under the ancient dispensation, and thereby binding themselves with the welcome obliga- tions of bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! The present generation may imagine, that they have advantageously gotten rid of what they call the austerity of their Pilgrim Fathers, and that they better understand the philosophy of religion, and the liberality as well as the liberty of the gospel. But the signs of the times and the evils in the churches, give strong intimation that their imaginations are vain. Let us, who belong to this church, search our hearts, and try our ways by that holy standard which God has ap- pointed. Let us humble ourselves for all our backslid- ings and failures of duty, penitently confessing them, and seeking forgiveness of Him " whose mercy endureth forever."
3. We ought to listen to the call there is for more zcal and devotedness to the service of our covenant-keeping God. When we first avouched the Lord to be our God, my friends, we then entered into engagements, which can never be broken; we made vows, from which we can never go back. When we finally entered this church, whether it was at our first profession of the name of Christ, or by the removal of our relation from some
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other church, we solemnly consecrated ourselves to t service of Christ here. We promised the brethren and sisters who then consituted the church, that we would walk with them in the truth of the gospel, that we would labor with them in the spirit of Christ, and that if it should be God's will, we would die with them in the hope of a future eternal union in his kingdom. We knew what this church was, and something of what it had been; certainly we knew for what purposes it pro- fessed to live. Many of those with whom we thus en- tered into solemn covenant, are removed from the church below, as are also the hundreds of those who were members here before themselves. But the church remains ; the confession of faith remains; the covenant remains ; the glorious objects for which it was instituted remain; our own vows remain. Yes, my Christian friends, we here came into one branch of the family of Christ; we deliberately chose this church as our earthly home. We promised to serve Him who has made it, hitherto, such a pleasant home for our weary souls ; a home, which is a delightful emblem of that eternal rest where we hope to see his glory more, and love and serve and enjoy him better. I come, then, my beloved breth- ren and sisters in the Lord, to call upon you this day,-as I would call upon myself,-while the church is now enter- ing on the second hundred and fifty years of its exist- ence, to wake up to the claims which the Saviour has upon your love and your service. Those pious men and women, who first started this church into existence, a century and a half ago, then gave it a Christian charac- ter, which a faithful God has enabled it ever since to sustain ; and you, my friends, are now going to start the church again on the course of another similar period.
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Oh, where will you be, when those hundred and fifty years are ended ? Where ? In glory, I hope and pray, with all the members of the church, who in the whole three hundred years, shall be found to have been " faith- ful." But, be faithful yourselves, or that glory will not be yours. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ! Oh, can there be a higher, nobler, holier object, for which to live ; or any better service, in which to labor and even to die ?
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