USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 29
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ingly able theologian, as well as an able judge and an incorrupt- ible statesman ; " whose library and conversation gave a new impulse to Heman's intellectual progress. Two years later, being left at leisure by an accidental failure to secure a re-engagement with Governor Treadwell, and being encouraged by his pastor, Rev. Jonathan Miller, with the suggestion that he might one day become a minister, he began, under his instruction, the study of the Latin language; and with an intermission of two months, spent in the harvest-field for the sake of health, devoted the sea- son to study. With alternations of farm-labor, teaching and study, Mr. Humphrey went on until the spring of 1803. At that date, he was advised to make an effort to enter the junior class of Yale college the next autumn; and by the most assidu- ous devotion to study, he succeeded in doing so ; in that time reading Horace, mastering algebra, learning the rudiments of the Greek language-even from the alphabet-and enabling himself to pass an examination in two books of the Iliad and the whole of the Greek testament. He passed a creditable college course, and by dint of school-master's work, and that of the librarian of the Linonian Society, graduated without debt; and possessed of a small sum with which to enter upon his professional studies.
Mr. Humphrey's earliest life may be well said to have been of a religious character. So strict, indeed, was his regard for relig- ious duty, that once, having wandered during the forenoon of a Fast-day, with a companion, over the fields and woods, instead of going to meeting, his conscience so smote him that he never tried it again. His biographer, however, considers that it was not until the winter of 1798-9, that he had any marked religious experience. The record of that experience shows it to have been such as that to which the Calvinistic Faith, especially in that earnest time, subjected the strongest natures. "If I was then born again," he writes, " I was born a Calvinist, 'not of flesh nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God, who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy.' I then fully embraced the doctrines of the shorter Catechism, and from this platform I have never swerved."
When he entered upon his classical studies, it was with the view to prepare himself to preach the doctrines so emphatically declared, and at the close of those studies, others of a purely theological character naturally followed. There being then no
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theological seminary in the country, Mr. Humphrey, after remain- ing a few months in New Haven, in charge of a school and at the same time commencing his theological studies under the direction of President Dwight, entered a theological class conducted by Rev. Asahel Hooker in Goshen, Connecticut, in the spring of 1806. In October following, he was licensed to preach by the Litchfield North Association. His first permanent settlement was at Fairfield, Connecticut, where he was ordained March 16, 1807, and remained until May, 1817.
On the 20th of April, 1808, one year after his settlement in Fairfield, Mr. Humphrey was married to Sophia, only daughter of Deacon Noah Porter, of Farmington. His ten years of labor in that town were pleasant but full of effort. Among his successes there, were the doing away with the half-way covenant in the church, and a temperance reform effected by very bold and novel utterances in which he took what was then the unheard of posi- tion of total abstinence.
After leaving Fairfield, and preaching a few Sundays in Hart- ford, he accepted an urgent invitation to visit Pittsfield; the result being the call to settle over the united churches, which we have recorded. 1
This call, Mr. Humphrey hesitated to accept. We quote again from his memoirs, which after recording the coming together of the two congregations under the old roof, proceed thus :
The difficult process of organic reunion was now to be promoted. Mr. Humphrey was invited to undertake the task. He shrank from it. He feared the effect of the severe climate of the Berkshire hills upon his family. Ilis " politics " might be regarded with suspicion. But some one must become their pastor. " I did not wish to go to Pittsfield. Not that I had any objection to the people. They were an intelligent congregation. There was a good degree of active piety in the church, and they had treated me kindly. But the congregation was spread over the whole town-six miles square. They were united but not amal- gamated. A good deal of the old leaven remained. Some of the prominent families stood aloof. And, to increase my perplexity, I was? strongly solicited to return and to be resettled over the church and
1 The foregoing sketch of the life of Dr. Humphrey, before his settlement in Pittsfield, is condensed from an eloquently written volume published by J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, in 1869, and entitled Memorial Sketches of Heman Humphrey and Sophia Porter Humphrey, by Rev. Drs. Z. M. Humphrey and Henry Neill, their son and son-in-law.
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congregation in Fairfield. I was assured of a competent support. But my convictions of duty at length overcame my objections. I became convinced that the call was from a higher source than the voice of the people, and it was not for me to choose, but to obey."
Such was the man who was invited to become the first pastor of the Congregational church in Pittsfield, after its reunion ; and such were the circumstances, and his own personal feelings, under which he accepted the invitation. And with this thorough com- prehension of the situation, he was installed on the 26th of Octo- ber, "in the presence of a numerous and solemn concourse ; " Rev. Dr. Shepard of Lenox, delivering the sermon, Rev. Dr. Hyde of Lee, delivering the charge, and Rev. Mr. Jennings of Dalton, giving the right-hand of fellowship.
By what special human agency, the church and parish were led to so happy a choice of pastor, we are not told ; but probably the whole range of the New England clergy did not afford another . minister so peculiarly fitted to do the work which lay before him. A thorough scholar, a forcible and correct writer, and a speaker of more than common eloquence, he commanded admiration, as well as respect, by his talents. His earlier associations had ren- dered him familiar with the modes of thought, the humors, the prejudices, and the mental capacity - natural and acquired- of rural populations, such as that of Pittsfield then was. He was also practically acquainted with all that pertained to agri- cultural pursuits, and ready at need to skillfully perform any of the labors of the farmer. This, to be sure, was not unusual with the clergy of that day. Most of his clerical brethren could do the same ; but few of them had the tact to avail themselves of it in ingratiating themselves with their parishioners, not only without derogating from the dignity of their profession, but, as he did, adding to the respect inspired by it.1
He had, moreover, the advantage of a most instructive pastoral
1 Many anecdotes of Mr. Humphrey's skill and prudence in winning the disaffected or the indifferent are still related by his parishioners. One of those oftenest repeated is that of his conquering the heart of a farmer wlio had steadily refused to attend the Sabbath services, by visiting him in his harvest-field, and, without a word of professional exhortation, engaging him in conversation upon farming, and then taking his " cradle," cutting a swatlı of grain, as if he had been used only to a farmer's life all his days. Memorial Sketches, p. 72.
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experience in Fairfield, where he succeeded in moulding a parish very much to his own ideal from very crude materials ; doing away with much erroneous practice to which his people had been wed- ded, and introducing, by degrees more or less insensible, means of good to which they had been strangers.
With all these advantages of education and experience, Mr. Humphrey had also the quickest appreciation of character, a keen insight into the springs of human action, a calmness and equanimity which left all his faculties habitually at command, and a shrewdness which applied them with rare adroitness to the management of affairs.
All these high qualities of a governing and organizing mind were in him imperatively ruled by a sense of duty which admit- ted no stint of his labor, and forbade him-for the attainment of any end, however plausible-to swerve one iota in his interpreta- tion of the doctrines which he believed embodied in "the faith once delivered to the saints," or to falter in his administration of the discipline established by the Head of the Church.
All these qualifications were called for in full by the task which awaited Mr. Humphrey in Pittsfield; and, with them all, it was one from which he might well shrink, as he did. But, having once accepted it, he was a man to put all doubts and fears and shrinkings behind him, and to press forward with all his powers to its accomplishment. His method in this is thus partially detailed in the "Memorial Sketches :"
When he assumed the charge of the congregation, " very few of its leading men, such as lawyers, physicians and merchants, were profes- sors of religion." They were, however, regular attendants of public worship. The first object of the new pastor was to win the respect of all for the pulpit. But little pastoral visiting was, therefore, attempted during the first winter. The effects of careful study being realized, systematic visitation began in the opening spring, and was vigorously conducted through the succeeding months. The old methods, so suc- cessful in Fairfield, were adopted. A weekly lecture was established in the out-districts. The Sunday-school, which then began to take a recognized place among the institutions of the church, received much attention. The baptized children of the church were collected, once in three months, for public catechetical instruction. A Bible-class of young women was also established.1
1 The agreement for the formation of this Bible-class is preserved, and shows that it was not exclusively for young women. It is as follows :
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In 1821, Dr. Humphrey addressed the annual meeting of two female charitable societies of the village. Our information regarding these organizations is meager, but their charity appears, by the address, to have been chiefly applied to religious purposes. Dr. Humphrey
BIBLE-CLASS-We, whose names are annexed to this paper, feeling it to be a duty, as well as a privilege, to gain a more intimate knowledge of the Bible, hereby agree to associate for the purpose of attending such recitations, once in a fortnight, as our pastor may assign us, and also to hear such explana- tions and instructions as he may give. * * ** *
PITTSFIELD, May, 1823.
Henry Strong, Dr. II II Childs, James McKnight, James HI. Kellogg, Samuel Colt, Uriah Lathrop, John Mason, Edward P. Humphrey, David White, Robert Colt, George A. Peck, Samuel Crocker, Elbridge G. Frisby, Nelson K. Strong, George R. Whitney, Eliza Lathrop, Ann Childs, Julia Porter, Frances Danforth, Maria Allen, Amelia Simpson, Mary Ann Porter, Martha Gold, Eliza Luce, Sarah Ann Weller, M. Clark, Fidelia Clark, Aurelia Johnson, Ann Burge, Martha Root, Sarah Ann Colt, Mary Ann Brown, Julia Colt, Elizabeth Campbell, Clarissa Colt, Loisa Adams, Louisa Merriam, Aurora Eells, Amelia Danforth, Caroline Allen, Salome Danforth, Mary Bis- sell, Eliza Brown, Harriet Allen, Caroline Colt, Minerva Kittridge, E. M. Seeley, Olivia Porter, Martha D. Bramin, Catherine Smith, Sarah Moore, M. Castle, Charlotte Cady, Abby Warner, Mary Ann Kellogg, Climene Woodworth, Eunice Pomeroy, Parthenia L. Pomeroy, Mary Ann Dickinson, Mary Brown, Mary Dorrance, Elizabeth Jackson, Adelia Merrick, Sarah Chapin, Eunice Rossiter, Nancy Ingersoll, William Goodrich, Christiana Van Valkenburg, Cornelia Dabois, Hannah M. Tyler, Maria Clapp, John Day, James Warri- ner, Amelia Goodrich, John Ayres, Horace Bissell, John B Eldridge, Wil- lianı A. Kittredge, Lemuel Pomeroy, Jr., George MeKnight, Justin Chapman, William W. Ward, Edward Goodrich, Daniel Goodrich, George Colt, Thad- deus Clapp, Peleg Blankinship, Mary Colt, Sophia Warner, Ann D. Childs, Mary W. Childs, Clarissa Lathrop, Cordelia Johnson, C. Colt, Elizabeth Goodrich, Huldah Goodrich, Edith Powell, Chester Woodworth, Levi Thomas, Charles J. Fox Allen, Aurelia Hollister, Newell, Clarissa Strong, Sophronia Kitteridge, - Beebe, Maria Center, Abigail Ayres, Cordelia Blankinship.
There is no mention of the establishment of a Sunday-school in the church-records, but the following paragraph occurs in an article upon " The Sabbath-school in Pittsfield," published in the Sun, of November 15, 1820 : " This is the fourth season of the Sunday-school in this town, and in view of the exertions which have been made, and the good suecess which has attended them, all who wish well to the rising generation, who seek the well fare of society, or who pray for the prosperity of Zion, have abundant cause to thank God and take courage. It is a pleasant part of our duty to give a short abstract of the doings of the school. The whole number of verses, from the Bible, committed to memory, is thirty-three thousand three hundred and fifty-nine; verses of hymns, eight thousand six hundred and twenty-eight ; and of answers in catechisms, twelve thousand seven hundred and twenty ;
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expressed peculiar satisfaction with the Young Ladies' Benevolent Society, which consisted of eighteen or twenty members, who had for more than two years devoted one afternoon or evening in each week to labor, principally with the needle, for charitable purposes; the product of the year 1820 being more than one hundred dollars. The treasur- ers' reports of both societies were such as to call for the speaker's con- gratulations.
Soon all was working smoothly, and success crowned every form of pastoral labor. Oid wounds began to heal, and the congregation became organically one.
Among the measures adopted by Mr. Humphrey in doing away with prejudice against the church and parish of which he was the pastor, two are especially noteworthy, as illustrative of Mr. Humphrey's knowledge of men, and as showing how little his sense of right and expediency was obscured by the prestige of law or custom.
Shortly after his installation, discovering that several persons who did not attend upon his ministry-members of his parish by the law, but not by their own will-were assessed for his support ; he directed the treasurer to remit their taxes, and charge the deficiency which would arise to his own account. He thus relates the incident in a discourse preached in 1855, and entitled "Pitts- field forty years ago :"
Not only were they taxable, but they were actually taxed, whether they ever attended worship with us or not. Some of their taxes may have been abated by the society's committee ; although, if they were, I believe it was not till after I had called on the treasurer, Mr. Dickin- son, when my salary became due at the end of the year, and requested him to strike off some twenty or thirty names from his tax-book, and charge me with the amount of their parish-taxes. I did this by no man's request, or suggestion ; but because I thought it unwise, to say
making together fifty six thousand seven hundred; which, supposing the number of scholars to be one hundred and seventy, gives an average to each of three hundred and twenty-nine. The greatest number committed by any one of the pupils is six thousand two hundred and seventeen ; the next great- est is two thousand six hundred and eighty-three.
During Dr. Humphrey's pastorate there was also established the New Year's morning prayer-meeting, in which, to this day, the people of all the Protestant denominations in Pittsfield, unite at sunrise on the first day of every year, in the First Congregational Church, and which is always an occa- sion of the deepest interest.
37
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the least, for the parish to press the collection. The sums were gener- ally small, to be sure, but large enough to give plausibility to the com- plaints which some, who did not attend our meeting were sure to make. In this way, I believe, everything on that score was kept quiet through- out the town.
A similar disposition is shown in the following letter, which we copy from the town-records :
To the Congregational Parish in Pittsfield-Gentlemen:
In consideration of the scarcity of money, together with the contem- plated extra expenses of the society this season-and to give yon a new proof that I "seek not yours, but you,"-I hereby tender yon the relinquishment, for the enrrent year, of seventy-five dollars of my stip- ulated salary. I should have said one hundred ; but I thought it would be doing more good with a little, to reserve twenty-five dollars, for the benefit of such as may be unable to pay their parish-tax ; and for this last sum I shall hold myself accountable in my annual settlement with your treasurer.
Wishing you every temporal and spiritnal blessing, I am, gentlemen, with great respect, your servant in the gospel of Christ.
PITTSFIELD, April 16, 1821.
HEMAN HUMPHREY.
By acts like these, Mr. Humphrey secured among the people a large measure of added respect both for himself and his office. The assessment of taxes for the support of public worship upon non-attendants, had long been a source of complaint and vexation ; and their relinquishment, in 1818, by the new minister, must have contributed not a little to the harmony of the town, while, by removing the odium which attached to their collection, he broke down a barrier which would have obstructed the approaches by which he hoped to bring back some to the fold from which they had strayed.
The other religious parishes in Pittsfield had not profited, as might have been expected, from the troubles of the Congregation- alists. They were indeed proportionately more feeble than they were at the opening of the century. At one time, indeed, in the course of the controversy, it seemed likely to result in the estab- lishment of an Episcopalian parish, but the opportunity passed ; the return of Mr. Van Schaack to New York, left that denomination without a local leader, and some who had been prominently asso- ciated with him became members of Union Parish, and through
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that door, finally entered the First Congregational Church. The Methodists, who had flourished for a time, had been weakened by dissensions among themselves; and, although they had begun, under the pastorate of Mr. Hibbard and others, to recover their prosperity, had not fully regained their strength. The Shakers do not seem to have obtained any considerable number of prose- lytes since 1796, to compensate for their natural decrease.
Doctor Humphrey, in the address before mentioned, describes the condition of the several religious denominations of the town, as follows :
Of the Baptists there was a respectable society in the west part of the town ; but Elder John Francis had been dead four years, and they remained vacant about nine. Having no meeting-house as yet, of their own, they commonly worshipped in the school-house, and some- times in the Methodist meeting-house, which stood not far from where Mr. Josiah Francis then lived.
There was a considerable number of Methodist farmers, residing chiefly in the West Part. Then, or soon after, there were two branches of that church : the Primitive Wesleyans and the Independ- ents.1
The former worshiped in the meeting-house I have just mentioned, and the seceders in another place farther on towards the mountains. Methodist meetings were also held from time to time, by appointment, in the old school-house, at the east end of the village.
The great body of the people were Congregationalists. In the village, there was not, so far as I could find, a single Episcopalian, or Baptist. As well as I can now remember, Elder Green (who lived near the corner of Newell and Elm streets) was the only Methodist; and he could hardly be said to live in the village.
Such were the little parishes to which Mr. Humphrey was neighbor, in his ministry of six years with the Congregational- ists of Pittsfield.
In that period, some material changes were made in the condi- tion of those parishes, and events of surpassing interest occurred in the history of his own church. The chief among the latter was the first and most remarkable general revival which was ever known in the town. We condense an account from the " Memo- rial Sketches."
1Rev. Mr. Hibbard, who must have been well informed, states that the division of the Methodists took place prior to 1812, and began to be healed as early as 1814, at least.
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In the spring of 1820, revivals occurred in neighboring villages, and the church in Pittsfield was roused to special prayer. The sacrament of the Lord's supper, in May, was celebrated with unusual solemnity. A deep religious interest prevailed during the summer, and resulted in the addition of forty members to the church, in autumn.
The next May, Rev. Asahel Nettleton, the celebrated evange- list, worn down by his exhausting labors, sought rest in a visit to Mr. Humphrey. A general desire to hear him, arose, of course ; and, finally yielding to it, he saw such signs of encouragement as brought his rest to a speedy end. Says Dr. Humphrey :
In two or three weeks we had unmistakable evidence that God had begun to revive His work. Our lecture-room was crowded; men were there who had not been wont to attend our evening meetings, and there was a very marked solemnity in the congregation on the Sabbath. Through the whole month of June, the interest increased among all classes; toward the close, very rapidly. By the middle of July, the work was at its height. It pervaded all classes, and extended to all parts of the town; but principally affected heads of families, and particu- larly the prominent men of the village. The whole face of the com- munity was changed. Religion was the all-absorbing topic of conver- sation. The revival continued all summer. On the first Sabbath of November, the harvest was gathered in ; and a glorious harvest it was. Between eighty and ninety, the rich and the poor, the high and the low, stood up together in the long, broad aisle, and before angels and men, avouched the Lord to be their God, and were received into the Church. Never had such a scene been witnessed in Pittsfield. The joy of the Church overflowed in tears and thanksgiving. I am sure there must have been great joy in Heaven.
" Great care," say the authors of the sketches, "was taken in the instruction of the converts of this revival ; and they, with their children have been among the most honored members of the church, to the present day."
Among the results of the deep religious feeling at this time, and of the teachings which it inclined the people to receive favor- ably, was a very marked change in the tone of society, producing a great restriction of the latitude previously allowed in manners and customs, especially those relating to social life and amuse- ments. In the excitements and new emotions arising from the intensity of this revival, there was also lost the last traces of those
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feuds which had agitated the church in Pittsfield for half a cen- tury, and which otherwise might have lingered for years.
One incident occurred in connection with this revival, which is curiously illustrative of prevailing modes of thought, and of a peculiar antagonism of opinion, which was also developed in another form in the constitutional convention which had just closed its session.
Dr. Humphrey believed that it was essential in order to con- tinue and deepen the religious interest which prevailed, that all secular excitements should be suspended, and that so far as possi- ble, the town should maintain the solemnity and quiet of the Sabbath. He was indignant that this favorable condition was, against his remonstrance, interrupted by a spirited celebration of the Masonic Festival of St. John the Baptist, by Mystic Lodge, on the 26th of June, when an eloquent address was delivered by Rev. Hooper Cumming, D. D., of Albany, after which the Lodge marched in procession to Center's coffee-house, where they dined with the usual festal accompaniments. He determined, however, to substitute for the ordinary celebration of the Fourth of July, solemn religious services. Among the subjects of the revival were most of the elder citizens, whose influence had hitherto been preponderating ; and through them, and by his own efforts, Dr. Humphrey was able to induce the committee of arrangements to assent to his proposition. In the Sun of June 27th, therefore, the following announcement appeared :
Information having been communicated by the committee of arrange- ments for the celebration of the NATIONAL JUBILEE, that the cel- ebration will this year be dispensed with, the public are informed that the day will be devoted to the worship of ALMIGHTY GOD. The ring- ing of the bell at sunrise will be the signal for a prayer-meeting at the lecture-room. At two o'clock in the afternoon, public worship will be attended at the meeting-house, where a sermon will be delivered. Our fellow-citizens of the adjacent towns are affectionately invited to Pitts- field, to join in the exercises. As this joyous anniversary has never returned to the free inhabitants of our beloved country under more auspicious circumstances, whether we regard the civil or religious aspect of things, and, as the lapse of another year has been replete with the manifestations of Divine favor to our own town, it is con- fidently believed that every grateful heart will be disposed to pay its thanksgiving to God for past mercies, and to pray for the continuance of them.
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