USA > Maine > York County > Wells > Historical discourse : delivered Oct. 29, 1851, at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the First Congregational Church (the second in the state) in Wells, Maine > Part 2
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In 1756 Wells was favored with a second revival. It took , place soon after the great earthquake, which is said to have very much affected the mind of Mr. Richardson. He evident- ly became more engaged from that time, and in the course of one year received 41 persons to the church on profession of their faith. After the death of Mr. Richardson Mr. Mose; Hemmenway, a graduate of Harvard College, was employed to preach as a candidate. Having received a call from the church and people he was ordained August 8, 1759. About the time of the settlement of Mr. Hemmenway the affairs of the colonies were thrown into a most perplexing state by the oppressive exactions of the British government. Besides this, the extravagances of a class of self-styled revivalists, who
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arrogated to themselves all the piety in the land, who went about sowing everywhere the seeds of dissension and strife, and from the melancholy defection of vast numbers of their supposed converts, many became disgusted and lost their confidence in the reality of revival. The result was, togeth- er with the political agitation of the country, that the great desideratum of the minister was to keep the peace within his parish. If he succeeded in this he gave the greater satis. faction. The ministry of Dr. Hemmenway was eminently suc- cessful in this respect. It was protracted through more than half a century, and was, as Mr. Greenleaf expresses it, uncom- monly peaceful and happy. Dr. Hemmenway was a profound scholar. The great esteem in which he was held by the learned and good men of his day is manifested in the doc- torate which he received from Cambridge College at a much carlier period of his life, than that college was wont to bestow upon her sons. He was a diligent. and indefatigable student. He fed the people with knowledge. He never of- fered to the people, says Dr. Buckminster, that which cost him nothing. His sermons were "elaborate and profoundly studied. If he failed, he failed in a style and mode of rea- soning above the apprehension of most of his hearers. He enlightened the understanding more than he warmed the heart. In doctrine he was a Calvinist of the old school, a firm believer and faithful instructor in the Assembly's Cate- chism. In avoiding the extra vagaries and excesses of those who addressed from the pulpit only the imagination and pas- sions, he doubtless went to the opposite extreme of address- ing only the intellect, an error quite common with almost all his contemporaries. Dr. Hemmenway was to some extent a controversialist and a faithful defender of the faith of the Pu- ritans against the Arian and Socinian tendencies of the day. Although less successful in the immediate accession of mem- bers to the church than his predecessors, he unquestionably fulfilled an important mission to the church during his pro- tracted and peaceful ministry. God used him in his day for a mission according to the dictates of his own infinite wis-
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dom. And to any who are disposed to charge him with a cul- pable delinquency, I seem to hear the God of Israel say, " My ways are not your ways," etc. It is due to the de- scendants of Dr. Hemmenway that they are found among the most active defenders of an orthodox faith. We know what those are who dwell among us. The branch resident in Lyman is found among the most spiritual and active of the church there. Of the Wells branch may be found two of New Hamp- shire's most profound and devoted ministers. Nevertheless it must be acknowledged that from the time of the revival un- der Mr. Richardson a gradual decline may be traced, and from 55 divine influences were withheld ; and although the people were still favored with a faithful minister no particular atten- tion appeared. In 1810 Dr. Hemmenway's health began to decline, and Mr. White, from Thetford, a theological student of Dr. Brewster, came to Wells in the autumn of that year and preached as a candidate for settlement as colleague with Dr. Hemmenway. Mr. White was an eminently spiritual man. His very look, which I well remember when I was a child, was an impressive sermon. Ile lived as one standing on the brink of eternity. Premonition of the disease of which he died, made him feel that his time was short and that what he did must be done quickly. Some of his first sermons made a lasting impression upon the minds of the people. Ile re- ceived a unanimous call to settle with the people, to which he returned an'affirmative answer, but not till after the death of Dr. Hemmenway. He returned in the spring of 1811, when the minds of the people became more interested and in the course of the summer the attention became general. Mr. White was ordained June 26, 1811. The spirit was evident- ly poured from on high. The Lord gave the word and many . fell before it The seed sown for years before now appeared to spring up and bear fruit. Mr. White being soon taken from his labors by sickness, did not live to gather more than half of those who were hopefully converted under his instru- mentality. Mr. White was a. man of warm heart and deep toned piety. He so spake that many believed, and having
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spoken, he early went to his rest. He died at the age of 33.
Soon after his decease Mr. David Oliphant was employed as a candidate and received a call which he declined. Mr. Greenleaf was next employed. He was ordained March 8, 1815. In the early part of his ministry a goodly number were received into the church, principally the fruits of the revival under Mr. White. During the year 1813 there was an inter- esting revival the fruits of which were gradually received to the church. From 1815 to 1825 there were received 16 males and 64 females. In1826 there was not a single member added. In the autumn of that year the pastor and a brother of the church met in the road. Their conversation turned upon the low state of religion. Before they separated they agreed to make particular families the subject of special prayer, and to converse with individuals as they might have opportunity. God heard the prayers and smiled upon the effort. In Jan- uary at a church meeting held at a private house the work of God assumed a distinct and marked character. A large number were present and an awful solemnity rested upon ... each mind. They felt that they were transacting business for eternity, and that the decisions of that hour might be the decision of an everlasting destiny. It was clear that God had come down to visit and bless his people. The Bible be- came the book of books. It lay open upon the table that the female might glance upon its open page as she pursued her domestic duties, and on the wheel as she spun her yarn. The work continued for months with deep and solemn interest. Converts were multiplied of all ages. But the Bible class was made the field on which the precious rain descended most co- piously. The youth became large sharers in the work. A few united with the church in the spring and summer. On the 2d of September, 1827, 10 males and 22 females, 32 in all, united with the church. From April 12 to Nov. 4, 1827, 77 made a public profession of their faith in Christ. Soon after Mr. Green- leaf received an invitation to preach to seamen in Boston, which he felt it his duty to accept, and was accordingly dis- missed for that purpose. In February, 1829, Rev. William Clark
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was ordained to the pastoral office. He brought to the work all the ardor and zeal of his naturally warm and sanguine tem- perament. He sought out the enemy in all strongholds, and so daring and determined were his assaults, that while he mad- dened the foe, he startled many of the friends of righteousness, temperance and truth. This together with some unintentional- ly unqualified points in doctrine, points on which the fathers were sensitive above almost all else, led to the formation of the Second Parish and church. This is neither the time nor the place to speak of the wisdom or necessity of that enter- . prise. Suffice it to say that the fortresses of iniquity soon ยท began to tremble. Neutrality was out of the question. He was everywhere and at every man. The ingenuous "My dear sir," or "My dear madam," opened the way to the heart. His assaults upon intemperance were with thunder and lightning and the earthquake, and many, many is the man who will re- member him as his saviour from the grave of the inebriate. The temperance reform prepared the way for that pentecostal sea- son which opened upon this people, as the windows of heaven are sometimes opened, in the commencement of a protracted meeting of almost unprecedented power. It occurred May, 1831, and began amidst descending rain. The farmer was compelled to leave his plough and his field. The neighbor beheld neigh- bor wending his way through the pouring rain, and said I also will go with you. The female could not refrain ; she too gathered about her the garment that would best protect her from the fall- ing shower and made her way to the house of prayer. Each was astonished to behold the crowd, astonished at himself that he should be there in such a rain. Conscience whispered the hand of God is in this. And conscience whispered the truth. God was in it, and the rain without was but an emblem of the reign of righteousness about to be given. The preaching com- menced. The arrows of conviction flew thick and fast. God gave the word, and many a stout heart quailed before it.
But why attempt to describe it ? To be just in the descrip- tion one must have been an eye witness. You cannot have for- gotten the scenes that transpired during that solemn, and, in
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some of its aspects, awful convocation. You cannot have for- gotten how you felt and how you prayed then. You cannot have forgotten the day and the scene when one of our now old men, stung by the reflection that he was a sinner, deserving the lowest hell, and condemned already, was forced to cry out for mercy, or rather to kneel before that ancient altar, before the great congregation when the hand and the voice of heaven's am- bassador was lifted up to God in his behalf. You cannot have forgotten the troubled look, the heaving bosom, the tearful eye and the trembling voice of the anxious inquirer while the ques- tion was propounded "What must I do to be saved ?" You cannot have forgotten the trembling crowds gathered at your old parsonage, your thronged morning prayer meetings. You cannot have forgotten the solicitude the parent felt for the child, or the child for the parent. Nor can you have forgotten how good every sermon seemed, whether it were the result of momentary reflection or the result of profound study. Nor yet again can you have forgotten those occasions occurring on al- most all the sacrament sabbaths when so many of you entered into solemn covenant with God. O how did you feel when you made those promises to God that you could never, should never dare to break from. There was doubtless far more of animal excitement in this revival than in any preceding one.
Mr. Clark's ministry continued eight years, during which 149 members were received to the church. Surely "instead of thy fathers," ctc. He was dismissed at his own request that he might occupy a wider field as agent of the Foreign Missions. He was succeeded by Rev. Jonas Colburn. During his minis- try the church was favored with another season of the effusion of the Holy Spirit. From March 11, 1838 to July 30, 1843, 45 members were received to the church. He was dismissed October, 1844, and was succeeded by your present pastor, who was installed Nov. 20 of the same year. Since his in- stallation you have enjoyed one whole year of sabbaths. These years, which embrace the year of sabbaths, while they have been the most laborious, the most painfully anxious and wast- ing to body and mind, have been the most unsuccessful, pro-
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vided the standard of judgment be made the number of hope- ful conversions and the number added to the church. There have been added to the church only ten, and but three of that number by profession, while 16 members of the church have deceased within seven years, and the same number have been dismissed to other churches. Had time permitted I would have been glad to have gone more at length into statistics. But it would not. As our meeting is only in recognition of the 150th anniversary of the church, I have as a matter of propriety kept myself within the religious history of the town.
We pass in conclusion to a consideration of the fourth topic specified in our plan, viz., the obligations resting upon the descendants of such parents to hand down unimpaired the in- stitutions planted by the fathers. Obviously in the first place we owe an amazing debt to such an ancestry. They have placed before us in most respects an example worthy of a most faithful imitation. Had they not been what they were, we should not have been what we now are As the peculiar gestures of the father are acted over again in the child, and as the lip of the little one is still playing the mother's own smile, though she be gone, so the past by wonderful communication infuses something of its own character into whatever follows it. He who has no reverence for the past is an unnatural son mocking at age, foreswearing his own father. So is he whose heart is not warmed with gratitude for such fathers. Turn to the word and testimony ; how readest thou ? " I will be thy God and the God of thy seed. The promise is unto thee and to thy children." Because God delighted in the fathers to love them, therefore "he chose their seed afterthem " Whence come our unparalleled advantages ? Whence comes it that ours are not the habitations of cruelty ? Why are we not groaning under a tyrant's power ? Why is not our conscience surrend- ered to the keeping of an ecclesiastic despot? Why have we a system of free schools and a free press ? Why are not our children Gypsies, taught to roam and steal their daily bread ? Why sit we under our own vine and fig tree, worshipping God, with none to molest us ? There can be but a single answer.
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Under God we owe it to the piety, the strong faith and pro- found wisdom of our fathers. Do we not owe them a debt of gratitude which we can repay only by imitating their example, and by handing down not only unimpaired but much improved by our greater experience, the invaluable institutions they have bequeathed us, to our children and children's children ? Shall we not prove recreant to our sacred trust and invoke the ven- geance of heaven, rather than its benediction, unless we feel and deeply feel and faithfully fulfil our obligations ? Our hands are moulding the future lot of our children, and giving touches and shape to their future prospects. Should we break away from the great and fundamental principles which they so loved and valued ; should we decline from the faithful discipline of the church and undervalue and neglect the gospel in its sim- plicity and purity ; should we suffer the sabbath to decline in its lofty sanctity, and become careless and indifferent whether the rising generation be reared up in the nurture and admoni- tion of the Lord ; should we so live as to grieve the Holy Spirit of God as to cause him to depart altogether from us, why then this result will follow, as surely as the Lord he is God : our children and our children's children will reap the bitter fruits of our moral husbandry for ages to come. Our obligations are great. The holy vows of God are upon us. We cannot shake them off if we would. In a world like this where sin abounds, where a thousand insidious influences are hourly at work ad- verse to the cause of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, vigilance, the most prayerful vigilance, is demanded. We are the recipients of inestimable privileges from those who have preceded us, privileges not conferred for ourselves merely, but for the sake of those who are to succeed us. Ilow, O how, if these privileges should fail to reach unborn generations through our unfaithfulness, can we meet those coming generations at the awful bar of God ! Instead of the fathers you the children are to occupy the seats at the communion table on the next Lord's day. If you are really what you profess to be, think, O think, how soon you will be with your fathers above. And then think whether you can die peacefully until you have seen
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your children gathered into the fold of the great Shepherd. On whom is to devolve the support of these sacraments ? On whom is to devolve the support of those heaven-ordained ordinances which were the glory and salvation of the fathers ? What cause have we expect that our children will take them up and transmit them to their posterity except they be converted to God? How solemn, how momentous our obligations. Men and brethren with what solemn emphasis are we admonished to redoubled diligence and increased fidelity.
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