USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Granville > Centennial of the Baptist Church in Granville, Mass. 1790 - 1890 > Part 3
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It is worthy of note that our Mrs. Rockefeller of New York is the great-granddaughter of Stephen Spellman, one of the first members of this church. This is the man to whom Dr. Cooley refers in his address whose prayers, for his son at the Thanksgiving ball, were answered in such a manner that balls were not in fashion in Granville for a whole generation or more. I should be glad to chronicle the names of all the men who have served the church as deacons, but am able to mention only one more, Mr. Collins, who served the church for twenty-five years, and whose wife still lives and is a member of the church. The present deacons are Jacob S. Root, elected in 1851, Orville Carpenter was elected December 31, 1864, but asked the church to release him; whereupon, they voted not to do so, and he has served since. William H. Spell- man was elected deacon in 1868. These three are with us as deacons to-day.
The church has had a good succession of clerks.
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Father Felton was clerk for a number of years, and few men write a plainer hand or keep a better record. Brother John A. Root was also clerk for a number of years. The present clerk is T. A. James.
The other offices of the church have been filled by faithful men from the beginning. Father Felton, in his closing address, speaks particularly of the efficiency with which the singing has always been conducted. No church of its size has had better singing than this, and the chil- dren more than sustain the reputation of the fathers. For thirty years Mr. Augustine Holcomb served the church as chorister, and many are the testimonials of his fidelity and zeal in keeping up the standard of music. He gave both time and money without stint.
In December, 1866, a committee was chosen to procure a church organ, and it was put in place in January, 1867. In the year 1874, a proposition was made by Mr. Hol- comb, the chorister, to add to the back of the church room enough for a choir gallery. Accordingly, this was done, to the great improvement of the church and ad- vantage of the choir.
Up to 1873, the church had owned no parsonage; each minister living in his own or a hired house. An attempt was made to purchase as early as 1867, but it failed. In this year (1873) a committee was appointed to see what could be done. Three buildings were available : Father Felton's property, Edgar Holcomb's, and the academy . building. It was finally decided to purchase the latter
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and put it in order; and so the church has a good house for its ministers.
In the year 1801, this church was admitted into the Danbury Association, Connecticut. This association cov- ered a large section of the state of Connecticut, and reached across the lines into New York and Massachu- setts. Delegates from this church were sent to Middle- town, to the association, one year. In 1810, they were dismissed from the Danbury to unite with the Westfield association, but, for some reason, did not until 1825- the Southwick church joining at the same meeting. Since then this church has sustained a vital connection with the association, and, with the exception of two or three years, sent delegates and letters. It has been its privilege to entertain the association three different times : in 1839, 1867, and 1880.
The Sabbath-school was organized about 1835, and chiefly through the efforts of two young men, who were students at Suffield, and came as supplies : John Higby (afterward pastor) and William Reed. The Bible that lies upon the desk was the gift of Mrs. Clarissa Root Ban- croft, of Hartford, Connecticut.
The church has always been careful to maintain and carry forward disciplinary measures when it seemed best for the interest of the cause of Christ. But I am glad to note that, after going through the records of three or four churches, I find that this church has had less of such work than others. All that she has done has been with great
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kindness to offenders and a desire to save them from making shipwreck.
Her history has been marked by seasons of revival, with rejoicing, and by seasons of mourning for the desola- tions of Zion. In 1844, three Saturday afternoons in suc- cession were observed as seasons of fasting and prayer, with confession of sin; and, in 1870, the church voted to set apart fifteen minutes each day (beginning at 7 o'clock a. m.) to pray for a revival.
The beginning of her missionary work dates back over fifty years. The church was not strong financially, and many Christians and some ministers were not very ardent supporters of missions in foreign lands at that time, but the rather opposed such work. This church could only with difficulty meet her own expenses, and for a season was helped by the convention. But there was more than one who felt that if charity began at home it did not stop there, and that scattering meant increasing. Regular con- tributions to the various benevolent objects began in 1847 ; since which time the church has kept pace with other churches in the work. One brother writes me of meetings he attended over fifty years ago, in the old church, in which the burden of prayer was that God would open the doors of other lands to his church. In one of these meetings he made his first offering-of twenty-five cents ; since which times he has been permitted to give many dollars, and all the doors are open. One of our
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missionaries to Burmah is the daughter of one of the pastors : Miss S. J. Higby.
The money for the current expenses of the church used always to come by subscription. In the earlier days there was, I find, a male and a female subscription. But all money raised was through voluntary offerings. The method of suppers was never resorted to in the olden time. But if a man made a subscription he was expected to pay it, and in case of default was most likely to see the sheriff. One young man was pressed to pay, and his father came to his rescue and offered to settle if the suit was withdrawn. The sum received was fifteen dollars, and what to do with it was the question: and, as the church owed a small debt on the new building, it was voted to apply what of this money was left, after paying expense of suit, to the debt. No record is left of the balance. I fear the debt was not helped much, unless court bills and justice fees were smaller than now.
But time fails me to tell of many interesting things during the life of this church. I have thought I should like to have been present at some of her feasts. When I read of Uncle John Vassar in a covenant meeting, I did not wonder the clerk wrote : "A very precious season."
But the fathers who labored are for the most part gone. On March 2Ist, 1851, the last of the little band that kin- dled this light-Abigail Gillett-died, aged seventy-six years ; and, on one page and one date-the evening of September 12th, 1846-I read the following : "Died, at
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six o'clock, Rev. Silas Root, and, at eleven, Dea. Elijah Spellman." The deacon's last appearance in the church reminds a brother of the patriarch who "worshiped lean- ing on the top of his staff." "They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." During the century, three hundred and five persons have been con- nected with this church. The present membership stands at 101-one for every year and one to begin the new century.
Soon after this church came the Congregational church in West Granville-1797. Later on came the Methodists. These churches each have good houses to-day, and good men to serve them. The relations between this church and the others have always been pleasant. Union ser- vices are held on stated occasions, and a spirit of love and peace prevails. We may be thankful as Baptists that, if these cannot say with us, "One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism," they are more than half-way covenanters, for they subscribe to two-thirds, and pray on, "'till we all come into the unity of faith."
Thus have I attempted to record what I could of your past life and experience, brethren of the Granville church. Your history marks a most wonderful epoch in human affairs and in the church of God. The year of your birth the first census of the United States was taken. From the five to six millions of the colonies we have pushed on and up to a probable sixty millions at this present time. Seven years before you, a cobbler by the name of William
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Carey was baptized in the river Nen. Three years before you, he became pastor of the Baptist church in Moulton, England. Two years after your church was organized, he stirred the association at Nottingham to enthusiasm on missions by his two sentences, "Expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God." This was in May, 1792, and in October the "Baptist Society for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen" was organ- ized. Three years after your birth, Dr. Thomas and Carey wept upon each other's neck, though strangers, at the prospect before them, and, on June 13th, put to sea in the Kron Princess Maria. Two years before you, a little boy was born in Malden, and before you had completed a quarter of a century that boy set foot in Rangoon as the pioneer of American Baptist missions in Burmah. When you joined the Westfield association, he doubtless lay a prisoner at Oung-Pen-la for Jesus' sake. To these beginnings you bore witness. And this church has wit- nessed the triumphs of the cross until we count about 1,400 churches, about 3,000 missionaries and workers, and nearly 140,000 converts, in our churches in foreign lands. And you have witnessed like advances at home. When you came into this association, there were 1,309 members in the nineteen churches, who gave for benevo- lent objects $121.26. Though some of the church lights of the early days have gone out, we have to-day twenty- four churches, with 4,401 members; and last year they gave, for all mission work, $8,359.18. These are only
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intimations of what this church has been witness to and a helper toward.
And now, brethren, your face is to the future. May this review inspire you to consecration and diligence. We must press to things before.
The fathers' prayers have been answered, and the gos- pel to-day journeys swiftly to the last dark place. We cannot pierce the future. We must march into it step by step. We must work day by day. But, oh ! let us watch, while we work, for the break of the millennial day !
Our good Dr. Ashmore has reminded us of the possi- bilities of the next ten years in finishing up the work of getting the gospel to all people. To sleep or falter now is to prove ourselves unworthy the name we bear and unde- serving the place we hold. There is a strange but almost universal feeling on the part of good men that we tread on the very edge of a new dispensation; and not a few ears are listening for the sound of chariot-wheels, and not a few eyes looking aloft for an opening heaven and de- scending Lord.
I congratulate you that you live at this time, and bid you enter upon the new century with your eyes eastward ; for I tell you,
O'er the distant mountains breaking
Comes the reddening dawn of day. Rise, O rise ! from sleep awakening ;
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Rise and sing, and watch and pray ; 'T is the Saviour On his bright returning way.
With that blessed hope before us, Let no harp remain unstrung ; Let the mighty advent chorus Onward roll from tongue to tongue : Christ is coming ! Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come !
DEDICATION SERMON.
BY REV. A. S. BROWN.
TEXT, First Kings, 5-17: "And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones to lay the foundation of the House."
I want you to observe, first of all, the character of this wisest of all of Israel's kings as a builder. Whether he officiated as a ruler of God's chosen people or a temple builder, it was with the same consummate skill and wis- dom. Hence he taught his and all succeeding genera- tions the necessity and importance of laying, deep and. well, a good foundation, whether it is that of a temple or a noble character. That much depends upon the depth and breadth of foundation, for strength to support the superstructure, is obvious. True, much of this founda- tion-work is down out of sight; hence the greater tempta- tion to slight it, by working into it some, if not much, imperfect material, to the everlasting damage of the whole building. Israel's king took good care that the founda- tion, down out of sight, should be worthy of the grand temple above and in sight. He was an honest builder ; nothing but the best material would he accept. " Great
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stone, costly stone, and hewed stone, to lay the founda- tion of the house." He built for the present, he built for the future, he built for time; he built for eternity, he built for man, he built also for God ; no poverty of construction anywhere, from the cellar to the attic, from foundation to roof; else it would dishonor the royal builder and the eternal God to whom it was dedicated.
When the state capitol building at Hartford was in pro- cess of erection, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars being expended, the builder called a halt, that the foun- dation might be laid with greater strength to insure per- manency to the whole structure. How often do we hear these moral and spiritual builders ask for great stone, of doctrinal or ethical facts, something rugged, yet broad and liberal ? But never mind the costly hewed stones. This is only foundation-work, out of sight. The all-im- portant part comes later. Hence their ethics and theol- ogy are not nicely joined together ; great crevices left, that are sure to admit of, and receive, an immense amount of the sand-plaster of unwise speculation and materialistic philosophy, that will not stand the pressure and burden of elaborated and established truths, like the thin brick- walled blocks of upper New York, laid on no other foun- dation than a clay bottom, many of which collapsed, ere they were completed. The first storm that struck them, hurled some into ruin. How many are laying the mud- sills of hope on the shifting sand of a false philosophy, while others, like King Solomon, will admit of nothing
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but the true and the tried to find a place in this founda- tion work. Great corner-stones for strength of character, costly stones of watchful painstaking care, hewed stone for beauty, and symmetry of construction ; no coarseness or unsightly angularities, to offend the pure and refined anywhere. He who would lay a good educational foun- dation must secure the great stones of thorough disci- pline and primary training, if in the moral foundation there is a failure to get the hewed stone of temperance, chastity and virtue ; whatever else may enter, it is a fail- ure. Thus, in religion, there must be the costly stones of faith in the atonement; the substitutionary offering of the Son of God, a vicarious sacrifice for our sins, " my sins." The faith that grasps these facts, and rests there, is a good foundation against which the storms of modern science or materialistic philosophy cannot prevail. Ob- serve the "perfection in God's work; " turn your eye which way you will, the beauty of perfection is visible everywhere, in creation, in government, in redemption, or grace. Scrutinize it as you will, perfection every- where, whether you take the microscope and view the living web of a fly's wing, capable of two thousand mo- tions a minute, or sweep the heavens with the telescope until, with wonder and amazement at the order and beauty of perfection, you cover your face with shame and confusion at your moral and spiritual disorder, and cry with Kepler, "Great God, I only think thy thoughts after Thee." Every atom is as perfect as this Western hemis
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phere, every dew-drop that glistens in the morning sun, on the blade of grass, holds all the elements of the mighty ocean that washes our New England shores. No unim- portant things, however small, in God's creation ; no non- essentials in His government and grace. The invisible often display a greater degree of beauty than the visible. While we admire the beautiful contour of the human form, yet we know that vivisection would disclose greater mar- vels of construction within. God takes great care with the out-of-sight work. You say that tree is beautiful, with its upreaching branches, and outreaching boughs; but if you would see the marvels of its construction and beauty, get under the bark and see the fibrous wood, with its ten thousand channels, through which the sap is forced up and out to the farthest limb and branch. If you would find the source of its strength, get under the ground, and trace out the wonderful ramification of rootlets that ab- sorb and drink in the proper nourishment. Ah, God's unseen foundation-work, in the small as well as the great things of nature, are perfect.
We often, especially the young, get impatient in this foundation-work; hence undue haste, often to the mar- ring of an entire life service. Read the story of creation, and you will find there is "no haste in God's work." Who can tell the countless ages God was employed in erecting this physical temple for man's habitation, and storing it with all the necessaries for his enjoyment ? “ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,"
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but who can tell how long ages ago "in the beginning " implies ? Untold ages before man, in anticipation of his wants, God stored these mountain ranges with iron, cop- per, gold and silver, for the corner-stones of commerce, and the medium of exchange. He stored these great coal vaults with an inexhaustible supply of coal, against the day of his need. It was no after-thought with God. See- ing the end from the beginning, He knew man's needs, and made provision for his comfort.
I knew a young man in one of our New England cities who courted and married a lady without making any pro- vision for the future, only thinking of the present. When they returned from their wedding tour, they were made happy to find the father had anticipated the young peo- ple's needs and furnished a house from cellar to attic, and supplied the pantry with provisions, the library with books, and the cellar with coal. " If we, being evil, know how to give such good gifts to our children, how much more does our Heavenly Father know how to give all good gifts, every needed blessing, to those who trust him?" Per- fection is also seen in God's government ; everything in perfect order. Seed time and harvest, day and night, all His gifts are timely and in order. He does not scatter His providences around, as the autumn leaves are scattered in a November gale, but with marvelous accuracy, as oc- casion requires. How much more is this true in God's work of grace ? He laid the foundation of man's redemp- tion down deep as human needs, and broad as is re-
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quired for whosoever will, to build upon, and rest in safety, against the storm that is to try every man's work of what sort it is.
We may get a lesson from God's procedure. He did not wait until the hour of our deepest need came, before He made provision for us. I love to think God had me in His thoughts, His purpose and plan, long ages before I was, in the council chamber of Jehovah. He thought of me, not only as a part of His creation, but as a subject of His love, a trophy of His matchless grace. I came in the redemption plan, although why, I know not. God's love sought and found a reason.
Our life may, and often does, seem like a tangled skein, without a good beginning or an intelligent ending. No defi- nite plan is seen to us ; but God sees and knows. He has a purpose in us for His glory. Infinite love, omniscient wisdom, eternal faithfulness are the "great stones, hewed stones, costly stones of our salvation."
Something after this fashion are we to build, for it is God's plan ; first by laying a sure foundation. Most all the failures of life are the direct result of carelessness, or, worse still, a disregard for these first things, foundation work; out of sight, true, but of vast importance, even more than the roof, however ornamental it may be, for on it rests the whole burden of the entire structure. In Hartford, in 1886, a large building was erected. A clay bank, cut down perpendicular, and a brick wall, placed within a few inches of it, without any firm stone foundation.
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When the rains began to descend in the spring the clay bank gradually came against it, nor did it stop until the whole side of the building was pushed in and ruined. Thus, with many spiritual builders, who secured no great stone of Bible doctrine for a tried foundation, on which to rest as an assured fact; and when some outside pressure is brought to bear against them, they are moved from their supposed stronghold and find themselves seeking other foundations for convenience. Thus, in the course of a natural life, they have held tour or five different the- ological views, and rested easy, as to security, in none. It is our business to build well, for we are building for God; to know whereof we affirm, and on what our faith rests ; else we are despoiled of usefulness to any great extent as laborers together with God. Like taking a young fruit tree from its native soil and planting it in the nursery, then removing it to the orchard, and soon find it standing out of row with the rest, it must be pulled up and transplanted the fourth time. If it is not dead by this time, it is surely the possessor of a more tenacious life than most of us possess spiritually. At least, we are safe in our predictions that no fruit will be found on its branches. Let us bring great stone, costly stone, hewed stone, and lay deep and well a good substantial doctrinal foundation, on a tested, tried, and proven sure basis of Bible truth, so as not to be obliged to pull up our stakes and move to a broader platform, or find, when all too late, that we are on the shifting sand. Paul says: "Other
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foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ ; " no safety anywhere else. It is dangerous to get any imperfect material into our moral or spiritual structure ; it will prove a blemish, and we shall suffer loss, " Though saved as by fire " a scar, a blemish, that will mar its beauty forever. Under the dome of the state cap- itol an imperfect stone, or granite block, was found in- sufficient to hold and sustain the immense pressure ; hence it cracked, and made an unsightly blemish. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars damage was claimed ; so great a damage was a single flaw. The building was in no danger of falling, for it was on a good foundation ; but its beauty was marred. Alas! how many are building on a good foundation, but .allow questionable, if not altogether imperfect, material to find a place in the super- structure ? Creeds, and practices of men, rather than the sure doctrines of Jesus Christ, it mars and damages the whole spiritual edifice, and in so far will suffer a commen surate loss.
Beloved, let us strive for a large, substantial, inner expe- rience. 'Dig deep until we strike the artesian streams of God's grace ; then shall we have a perpetual, overflowing, fountain of joy and gladness. It is said Xavier made in- numerable converts in India, by going through the streets with a pail and brush sprinkling the people as he passed along. Oh, friend, we need a deeper work of grace than that. A more sure foundation, if we would hold on, hold up and hold out to the end. We need to be baptized
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into the almighty grace of God, until the crimson tide has rolled over us, and we are dyed in the deep color of ever- lasting love ; thus it is also true in building up a church ; it must be founded on nothing less or more than God's eternal truth, as revealed in His word. Its doctrines, its ordinances, its practice, must be the great stones, costly stones, hewed stones for her foundation. What laxity is often exhibited in too great haste to build rapidly, almost losing sight of the necessity of building well for the future. In our late war, sometimes the enemy would bring the Union army to an unexpected and sudden engagement, when in haste the Union troops would roll up a fort of cotton bales for a defence. Well, now, cotton bales are good material for rapid building, but cotton forts are of little account; will give promise of shelter from the storm of lead, but will soon go down ; while shot and shell and cannister, hurled against the forts of stone masonry, will rattle from their impregnable walls, like beans from the slopes of Gibralter. What we want is great living stones, made gloriously alive by the power of the Holy Ghost, built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ. This is the only wise method, for it is God's plan.
" Be ye strong," spiritually strong, doctrinally sound, practically unwavering, substantially immovable. Make the inner and unseen as perfect as the outer or seen ; a pure heart, as well as clean hands, before God, for the
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thoughts of the heart are all known to Him, as well as the acts of the hands.
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