USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Williamstown > Centennial discourse, delivered in Williamstown, Mass., November 19, 1865 > Part 3
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limited property to the public good, the very superior privileges in education and in religion which this town so long enjoyed would not have existed.
The increase of population and of all kinds of business which followed the successful American Revolution was accompanied by a large addition to the wealth and comfort, and I may add, the luxuries of the people. They began to build comparatively ele- gant houses. During the revolution the log houses had begun to give way to substantial frame dwellings. The first two frame houses erected are still standing-the one now occupied on Main St., by Mr. Waterman, and the other the Smedley house. It is said that so many men were absent on the battle field that the women of the settlements were obliged to assist in raising the frame of the first, while in the following year Mr. Smedley was assisted in the same work by his neighbors of Bennington. The roof of the latter was no sooner in place than the house was crowded in every part by families flying from the terrors which darkened the whole region north and west of us, as the cloud of war rolled on from Canada to Lake George and Saratoga.
Among the elegant private residences which arose here not long after the revolution, were those now occupied by President Hopkins, by Daniel Dewey. Esq., and by-Mr. John Cole. The principal public buildings were the west college, the Mansion House and this church. The first meeting house was built by the Proprietors in 1768, and was occupied as a house of worship un- til 1798. The old church was removed farther back and stood for many years almost immediately opposite the present residence . of Dr. Sabin, and was used as a Town Hall. The list of sub- scribers to the new house has been preserved and shows the spirit of our public men-the highest subscriptions being 100 pounds and the average 50 dollars. The building itself was in a very high style of church architecture and was built in the most substantial manner-according in fact with the best residences of the most prosperous men connected with the congregation.
I am inclined to think too that the beautiful church edifice was not an unfair representation of the improved religious spirit of the people. Three years after our first Pastor's death in the cause of American Independence, the Rev. Seth Swift was in- stalled as his successor. He was a man of God, eminent for his love of the truth and his devotion to the duties of his high office.
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Ile is described as " warm and open in his temper, evangelical in his religious views, serious in the general tone of his intercourse with his people, decided in his opinions, and prudent and ener- getie in his measures." During his pastorate large accessions were made to the number of communicants, and the people of the town were brought under the power of a much higher chris- tian life. I have heard my own father and mother, who made a profession of religion under his ministry, describe some of the scenes of that great revival of religion which lifted the church up into the very atmosphere of Heaven and gathered so many scores of all classes and ages into the fold of God ; taking religion itself out from those dead forms into which it is ever sinking through the unbelief and worldliness of fallen men, and making it a living power and a constant joy in the heart. It can never be forgotten that while such men as James Richards and Samuel I. Mills and Gordon Hall and others were here praying into existence the American Board of Missions, they themselves were receiving some of their holiest impulses from this church while imparting to it through their most intimate and constant fellowship with its mem- bers their own enlarged views and sublime purposes. Gordon IIall was indeed converted here, having united with this church on confession of his faith in 1806, and it was in such circumstan- ces that he joined that holy band who gathered under the haystack for prayer. The next year, i. e., in 1807, and after a ministry of nearly 28 years, the following sad and yet triumphant entry was made in the Records of the church respecting its Pastor.
" February 15, 1807, at about 9 o'clock, A. M., Rev. Seth Swift, our much esteemed, dearly beloved and very faithful and labori- ous Pastor, died in the midst of great usefulness, while God was pouring out Ilis spirit here and giving him many seals of his ministry."
The revival was not checked by the death of the Pastor, but continued to move on with solemn and majestic power under the ministrations of President Fitch, who supplied the Pulpit over six years, the church seeming truly to comprehend its great mis- sion on earth and especially to manifest its deep and cordial sym- pathy with those early and sublime movements which under the guidance of the "missionary band" in the college contemplated the subjection of the whole world to Christ. This church became from that time a missionary church.
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In the summer of 1813, the Rev. Walter King, a graduate of Yale College, and who had already been a Pastor in Norwich, Conn., for twenty-four years, was installed over this church. In an obituary notice of him published in the " Panoplist," he is de- scribed as a " sound divine, a solemn and searching preacher, and eminently a man of prayer." His ministry here was very briet but characterized by a tone of humble piety and of gentle purity of life, which render his memory very fragrant and pleasant to those who knew him. He was suddenly attacked with apoplexy while conducting the ministrations of the pulpit, and survived but a few hours after being carried to his home. His widow long remained among us, and if her cotemporaries could testify to-day of her character, there would be but one voice in relation to the sweetness of her christian spirit, and the meekness and fortitude with which she bore the trials of her protracted widowhood.
In this connection I cannot refrain from mentioning the names of some of those remarkable christian women who for so many years gave tone to the social life of this town, and who by the labors of their fingers and the hospitality of their tables, and their large gifts in money, were ever helping on some candidate for the sacred office, and sending their well-stocked boxes to the mis- sionaries in distant lands. There were many such. The church will never cease to praise God for them, while our constant pray- er should be that their daughters may walk in their steps so far as they followed Christ. Among them we remember particular- ly Mrs. Mchitabel S. Bardwell, to whose house the missionary prayer meeting was transferred from the haystack, and where on Saturday evenings so many candidates for the missionary field gathered for prayer ;- and Mrs. Ruth Benjamin, to whose house the same meeting was transferred when the infirmities of age no longer permitted Mrs. Bardwell to receive them, and who before she herself departed to glory had the honor and happiness of sec- ing her son and her granddaughter going forth as active laborers in the foreign missionary canse; and the two Mrs. Whitmans, whose names are associated with every good enterprise in the town and church and college-every Tuesday evening, for a score of years, witnessing their rooms crowded with those who loved to pray, and every year testifying to their cheerful gifts of hundreds and sometimes of thousands of dollars to the church, to home and foreign missions and to the beloved college. Who
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can ever forget the holy repose and joyful hope with which the eldest of these two sisters awaited the coming of her Lord-re- joicing in the exalted christian character of her son Seymour Whitman, Esq., who was one of the strongest pillars of the church from early manhood to the day of his death, and who all too soon for the church and the town followed his mother to the world of glory.
And there was Mrs. Deacon Skinner whose house was the home of a bright and cheerful hospitality, where the young peo- ple met such a cordial welcome and the old people found their spirits quickened by her genial wit and hearty good will. Ilow quick was her step, and how full of grace her manners, and how unvarying her faith in God her Saviour though suffering so many years the bereavement of widowhood and though left childless amid the infirmities of extreme old age ; and how hard it was to believe that we could get on as well without her, even when the Lord called her in her ninety-fifth year to Himself.
I may mention also the names of Mrs. Professor Kellogg and Mrs. Jesse Sabin and Mrs. Daniel Noble and Mrs. Gershom T. Bulkley and Mrs. Solomon Bulkley and Mrs. Keyes Danforth and Mrs. Robbins Bulkley and Mrs. Samuel Bridges and Mrs. Lyman Hubbel and Mrs. Christopher Penniman and Mrs. Eliza Noble Brewster These are only a part of those who were most promi- nent and active in every good work-and yon will pardon me for saying that next to seeing my own dear mother's name in the early records of the church, I glory in finding it year after year in the Missionary Herald as treasurer of this consecrated band of christian women sending their gifts to the end of the world.
The ordination and installation of the Rev. Ralph W. Gridley are among my earliest recollections in connection with the church. I think of him in the sick room and at the funeral of my young brother William, and afterwards performing the same duties for my grandmother Noble. I remember his fervent appeals in the conference room and in the pulpit, and I cannot forget that he laid his own gentle hands upon my head when I was ordained in this pulpit. To-day, as I attempt to gaze through the mists of more than thirty years, there rises before me his light form, with his per- son so neatly and modestly attired, his manners so simple and.sin- cere, and his piety so deep and ardent. In the pulpit, though he stood in the shadow of some of the most eloquent and successful
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of American preachers, yet by the people of his flock his remark- able fluency of speech, and his sermons full of the Holy Scriptures and of a rich christian experience, were ever appreciated. He was the first to detect any new pulsations of spiritual life in the church, while his Heart leaped to meet any response from inquiring souls to his solemn appeals. How tender was his regard for the poor of his flock, and how welcome in the chambers of the sick and the dying ! Who among the bereaved ever failed to hear from his lips the words of Heavenly consolation? How untiring were his libors as he went from one district to another of his charge and how many scores and hundreds were gathered by his faithful toil into this happy fold. During his pastorate of nearly 18 years over 600 persons were received into the church, being an average of more than 30 a year. ยท
The attractions of a new field in the enterprising West, whither some of the most faithful and efficient of his flock had already gone, and where, free from a theological controversy which was then shaking so many of our souls, he hoped for still greater use- fulness, finally separated him from this charge. Though success- ful in his new home in Illinois, his heart still lingered among these scenes. But the Master had higher service than could be found in the church on carth, and he was soon transferred to the com- panionship of Angels and the reward of the faithful. His minis- try of so many years will ever remain a bright and memorable period in the history of this church, while its fruits will not cease to be gathered here for many generations yet to come.
But while this church was ever by its pastors and membership a source of pure and powerful influence, I desire to recognize the vital connection which in all these years ever existed between the church and the college. While the college gave distinction to the town, it imparted to the church through its eminent President and Professors, and its choicest young men, the very elevated tone and enlarged views by which they were distinguished. Who can estimate the value of such princes among good and strong men as Presidents Fitch and Griffin? The first was indeed the acting Pastor of the church for more than six years. Inaletter written some months after Mr. Swift's decease, President Fitch writes to a friend, " I have preached abont fifty sermons here, besides all the cares and distresses which have attended me in my family and dis- charging all my college duties. Scarcely time has been left me to
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take my necessary food and rest, and I am still involved in this scene of constant care and labors,-too much for any one man to perform." It was in this manner that he continued to labor, and the constant revivals that blessed the church from 1805 to 1813 were felt in the college in such power that a large number of the students were converted and brought into the ministry-among them Gordon Hall, the first of our missionaries in character as well as in time, the Rev. Prof. Chester Dewey, and the Rev. Charles Jenkins.
It is worthy of remark that these revivals beginning in the church never failed to reach the college. They were in fact one -heart beating responsive to heart -- and all feeling that the con- version of a young man in college not only saved a soul from death, but ordinarily raised up a new ambassador for Christ, and perhaps a missionary of the cross.
The same state of things existed during the Presidency of Dr. Griffin. From the very beginning, he felt identified with the church in all its efforts, and co-operated with it in the most earnest and efficient manner. For several years he filled this pulpit half of the time, our Pastor preaching every third Sabbath in "Southpart," and on the other Sabbath enjoying with us those wonderful dis- courses which had electrified Boston in former years, and which shall ever remain an imperishable monument of pulpit eloquence. During those great revivals which he was wont to say "saved the college," there seemed indeed to be no limit to his power of en- durance or to the zeal which in the winter vacation sent him forth into our streets visiting from house to house, heseeching men to be reconciled to God. Who of us who heard them can ever for- get that course of Sabbath evening sermons in the old white school house, continued through several months, and accompanied by constant conversions and the increased christian strength of the scores of young converts who hung entranced upon his lips ? In the history of this church and college in all coming time, the names of Presidents Fitch and Griffin will stand out not only on the mar- ble in the college cemetery which so appropriately records some of their virtues, but in letters of immortal beauty on the souls of those connected with this church who have gone forth to their life work under the inspiration which they here received.
Another man associated with them both in christian toil and in sympathy with the church was Prof. Chester Dewey. How ten-
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der was his heart. How cool and discriminating his judgment. How much in advance of his time, when, in 1823, he organized the young men of college into a society for the abolition of Ne- gro Slavery ! IIe was a man who with amazing power mingled a divine philosophy with his lectures and experiments in the lecture room, and by the keenness of his wit and the pertinency of his an- ecdotes fastened truth immovably in the soul. I shall never forget the time when at the close of a lecture on chemistry he told us . the story of Bruce and the spider, and applied it to us in the great matter of securing for ourselves the crown of life. On the Sabbath day he not unfrequently stood in this pulpit and poured out from his full heart such solid sentences and paragraphs of christian doctrine, and with such fullness and pathos in his solemn and yet winning voice, that its tones are still sounding like Heaven's trum- pet in my ears.
And can we pass over another name-Prof. Ebenezer Kellogg, who lingered so long among us, and whose gentle virtues shone only brighter and brighter with the advancing years ! How ex- act was his knowledge, how pure his taste, how observant of those little things which make up so large a part of the realities of life. How noiseless was his tread as he went about busier and more anxious for others than for himself. If a spring were loose in the machinery of college or the church or town was he not the first to detect it, and the most resolute and patient though the most unostentatious to remedy the wrong ? How persistent and faithful for many years as Superintendent of the Sabbath school, and how devoted to all the interests of the town and church as well as the college. And when his gentle hands were finally paralyzed in death, how many threads were soon tangled that his fingers had so skillfully guided, and how many props fell down that he had so long kept in their places. His memory will be green here when the row of beautiful elms, extending from the church to west college, which he planted with his own hands, shall in the coming centuries be dry and dead with age andreturn to the earth which they now shade and adorn.
And among the sad memories which cluster around me in con- nection with the college, is that of Prof. William A. Porter. Ilis mind, all brilliant with the learning of the ancient and modern classics, his person so attractive for its manly beanty, and his man- ners so full of refinement and polished grace, seemed to be but a
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shining mark by which the great Archer, Death, might guide more surely his resistless arrow. When we laid him away in the darkness of the tomb, it seemed to me that the world was shrouded all over in a pall of mourning; and if it had not been for the bright hopes of the immortal life which illumined his last hours, life itself would have appeared to me not worth living.
And should I forget the name and character of another so well and so long known among us in college and in this church, Prof. Edward Lasell ? Though I was one year in advance of him in college, yet I was very intimately associated with him there for three years, and afterwards we were brought into still closer fel- lowship as Tutors. We became earnest inquirers on the subject of personal religion at the same time, and stood side by side in the public confession of Christ in this church. He was the first scholar in his class, and when he was made a Professor in the col- lege, his lectures were said to be very brilliant and attractive to the snecessive classes who enjoyed them. He was a thoroughly honest and upright man, and in all his relations to the church and town he was eminently faithful and useful. He was stricken down in the fullness of his manhood, but his memory is still en- shrined in all our hearts.
And in connection with these and other just men, whose spir- its are now in Heaven, what thoughts of past holy Sabbaths rush upon us-those old still days when the people came forth from all these surrounding hills, and wound their way along so rever- ently on foot, on horseback, and in every variety of wagon and carriage, single and double, going up like the tribes of old to the temple of God. And when they reached the village all the church goers there hurried from their honses; and then as the bell began to toll the students might be seen crowding the gravelled walk and hurrying up the steps of the church to their place in the gal- lery, and to the four large pews assigned them below. How rev- erently the families stood up in their places when the minister made the prayer of invocation. Then when the opening hymn had been read the choir arose, fifty strong, extending around three sides of the gallery, the choicest of our young men and maidens mingled with those of graver years, and pouring forth the grandest strains of that old music which has not been im- proved by all the changes with which men have tinkered it, just as they have tried to improve the poetry of the divine Watts and even the Psalms of David himself.
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Then there were the conference meetings so full of spiritual life-where the church received and imparted some of its highest holy impulses, and where the deacons magnified their office in prayer and exhortation. And who can forget those venerable deacons of the good old times ? The first who held that office are indeed but dimly seen through the shadows of the past. Deacon Wheeler and Deacon Meacham passed away long be- fore our remembrance; though we can never forget the son of the latter, whose sweet voice led us in our sacred songs, and whose meek and holy life was such an honor to the church, and whose grandson, Capt. Meacham, now holds with a firm grasp the pleasant old home. And Deacon Stratton who was so mighty in the Scriptures, living before the days of popular commentaries ; and who by comparing scripture with scripture, and especially by taking the Old Testament as the divine key of the New, un- locked the treasures of the " unsearchable riches of Christ."
And Deacon Ford who by his pure and quiet life at home where amid peculiar domestic trials he trained his family for God, and by his fidelity as an officer of the church for so many years illus- trated the virtues of a good and holy man, and left the impress of his excellence on the church and on his children and children's children who are to-day with us.
And Deacon Skinner! Is there one of those who once knew him who cannot now see him as he stood up to pray for Zion ? his voice gradnally rising to a shrill and trembling note and then breaking into tenderness while the tears came coursing down his venerable cheeks! How clear and strong were his views of christian truth, and how firmly he stood here as a pillar in the temple of God. How pleasant it is to know to-day that while his three younger sons attained to honorable positions in the pro- fession of law and were all like himself officers in the church of Christ, his three eldest sons also around whom his deepest anxie- ties were gathered, did for many years before their death exhibit a character unstained by vice, and proved to the world the bles- sings of that covenant which secures the favor of God to the children of good men after them.
And is it proper for me to omit in this record of the past my own venerable father ? IIe always seemed to me to have many thoughts and cares for the kingdom of God to one for himself and his more immediate temporal interests. Living in compara-
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tive independence and leisure on the estate inherited from his father, he spent much of his time in reading Edwards and Em- mons and Baxter and William Mason and Doddridge and Thomas Scott, and in watching over the interests of the church and the town-using the office of a deacon well in guiding the erring and stirring up the good, and proving himself a useful citizen and an upright Justice by turning lawsuits into arbitrations, while he himself set the example of kind forbearance towards unfortunate debtors by making it a rule during his long christian life never to sne a man for debt. His children all knew and deeply felt that he was a holy man living not for this but a better world, and that what he most desired for them was not wealth or position but character and usefulness.
And Deacon Smedley-the descendant of that Capt. Smedley whose name heads the list of the first settlers of the town. Ho was a man as firm in his opinions as he was upright in his life ; as tenacious of the "old ways" of doctrine and measures as he was attached to the Bible and every thing good and true. Ilc loved his closet and the quiet of his own home too much perhaps in his last years, though his regularity and punctuality in coming to the public worship of God were so established for three-score years that when his well-known carriage made its appearance in the village all the people knew that it was time for them to go to the house of God. Ilis mantle has fallen upon his two surviving sons, one of whom, James Smedley, M. D., is now so acceptable and useful in the office of deacon so long held by his honored father. A son of the fourth generation from the settlement of the town now cultivates the ancestral acres which have never passed out of the possession of the family and are increasing in beauty and fertility with the passing years. May the Hoosie as it continues to roll through those rich meadows see no stranger with another name walking as lord upon its banks and gathering the rich harvests there from year to year. Let there be one sa- cred place left among us where the proprietor can say " here my fathers from the beginning lived and died before me."
And Deacon Taft who answered so well the inspired descrip- tion of this important officer in the christian church, " grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy luere, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience," "ruling his children and his own house well" and " having used the office
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of a deacon well purchased to himself a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." IIis oldest son is a Ruling Elder in a Presbyterian church, and his youngest, C. R. Taft, is and has been for many years the Postmaster of our town.
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