USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Sanbornton > Addresses and proceedings at the centennial anniversary of the Congregational Church, in Sanbornton, N.H., November 12 and 13, 1871 > Part 4
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How ready and anxious he was to do anything in his power to bring so sad a state of things to an end, is seen in what comes immediately after : "Apprehensive of the evils which will be the probable consequences of continuing in such a state, and desirous to do all in my power to prevent them and to promote the peace and prosperity of the Church and Society to which I have so long ministered, I have been induced to give up that which I have ever considered as entitling me to support in case of sickness, or of age. I therefore propose to give up the contract with the town on the following condi- tions, viz : that my poll and estate be exempted from taxes dur- ing my life."
He then addresses himself to the church and congregation, whom he calls "Friends and Brethren," reminds them, in tender and touching words. of his lengthened ministry among them, refers to the severe afflictions by which a wise and sover- eign God has brought his labors to a close, and urges them, in most earnest terms, to look for another pastor without delay, giving them excellent counsel how to proceed. He enjoins
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upon them in particular " the due observation and sanctifica- tion of the Holy Sabbath," warning them of the sad results of Sabbath desecration, and recommending to the heads of fam- ilies to use their authority and influence in the matter, with all under their care. He brings his letter to a close as follows :
" And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. May he preserve you from the evils to which you are exposed, pour out His Spirit and unite your hearts in Christian truth, love, and holiness, build up His cause and interest among us, smile upon and succeed your exertions to obtain an able and faithful minister of the New Testament, who may be a rich blessing to you and your children.
Finally, brethren, be perfect, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of peace shall be with you.
(Signed,) JOSEPH WOODMAN. SANDBORNTON, April 22nd, 1806."
On the 22d day of April, 1806, a special town-meeting was assembled in the meeting-house on the hill, and Deacon Samuel Lane, Dr. Samuel Gerrish, and Major Jeremiah Tilton, a com- mittee appointed for the purpose, waited on Mr. Woodman, in the house still standing, and shaded by the fine old elms which to some of us seem no larger than when we were little children, and returned with that noble epistle in their hands. If the reading of it did not touch the hearts and moisten the eyes of the strong men in that special town-meeting, then we have judged wrong as to their character. That it had the effect which Mr. Woodman so earnestly desired, is very cer- tain; for the meeting accepted unanimously its terms, and immediately voted to raise two hundred dollars for supplying the desk of the Congregational Society the present year, and chose Jeremiah Sanborn, Dr. Samuel Gerrish, and Brad- street Moody, as a Committee of Supply.
That the letter of Mr. Woodman made a happy impression seems evident from the fact that it was printed in elegant style for that time, and distributed through the town.
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The last record in the Church Book relating to Mr. Wood- man, is of a very gratifying character, as follows :
At a church-meeting Oct. 14, 1813, " Voted, that brother Ebenezer Sanborn, Jr., and Moses Emery, be a committee to obtain subscriptions for the purpose of purchasing grave- stones for the late Rev'd Joseph Woodman, former Pastor of this Church."
No time was lost in any delay to seek a new pastor, as was to have been expected of a congregation that had settled their first four years before the frame of their meeting-house was raised. How many ministers and who, supplied the pul- pit as candidates, we do not know. It is certain that a Mr. Daniel Staniford preached, and made so good an impression that his name was given to the eldest child of Benjamin P. Sanborn, born some time after.
The people had heard a favorable account of a young man in Massachusetts, who had graduated at Cambridge the year before, and had spent about three months in the study of the- ology with the Rev. Jonathan French, at Andover ; that ar- rangement being all there was at that time of the Andover Theological Seminary. His name was Abraham Bodwell. The town sent " Squire Emery " all the way on horse-back to Andover, seventy miles, to invite Mr. Bodwell to come to Sanbornton and preach as a candidate. "Squire Emery " made so favorable an impresssion upon him that he assented, notwithstanding the fact that overtures, looking to a settle- ment, had been made to him from Haverhill and Newbury. It must have been near the beginning of June in the year 1806, when he came. The forests were in all their leafy beauty, the birds were singing among the branches, and the hills and mountains around and far away must have appeared exceeding grand in comparison with the tamer landscape of eastern Massachusetts. He brought with him his licensure · to preach, as follows :
" STONEHAM, April 30th, 1806.
This may certify that Mr. Abraham Bodwell, A. B., of Methuen, offered himself to the Westford Association to be
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examined and approbated as a Candidate for the work of the Gospel Ministry. And the Association having carefully at- tended to his moral character, his Church standing, his knowledge of theology, and the various requisite qualifica- tions ; do cordially approbate him as a Candidate, and unani- mously recommend him as a person well qualified to preach the Gospel, wherever he may be called in divine providence to labor.
PAUL LITCHFIELD, Moderator, Attest, FREEGRACE RAYNOLDS, Scribe.
The time of probation was about three months, and the number of sermons preached was twenty-three. On Sunday, August 24th, two very close and pungent sermons were preached from the text, "Israel doth not know ; my people doth not consider." On Friday of the same week a meeting of the church was held, the first business of which was the appointment of a committee to confer with Mr. Woodman, and learn whether he would prefer to continue his relation as Senior Pastor, or to be dismissed. The committee waited on him, and brought back for answer that he requested dis- mission. The church acceded to his wish, then voted, " To give Mr. Abraham Bodwell a call to settle here as Pastor of said Church. Also :
That Josiah Emery present this vote to the selectmen of this town, and request them to call a meeting of the quali- fied voters (in ministerial matters) to see if they will join this Church in settling Mr. Bodwell as Pastor of this Church and Congregation, as soon as they shall think it convenient."
The town-meeting was held on Tuesday, 15th of September, and a vote was passed " to give Mr. Bodwell a call to settle in the Gospel ministry in this town." A committee of five- Dea. Samuel Lane, Nathan Taylor, Esq., Dr. Samuel Gerrish, Jeremiah Sanborn, and Joshua Lane-were chosen to inform Mr. Bodwell of the town's vote, and treat with him on terms of settlement. Two weeks later, on Wednesday, September 30th, the town met again, when the committee of five re- ported the following contract : "That the town of Sanborn-
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ton pay Abraham Bodwell $450, annually, for preaching and attending to all the duties incumbent on a settled minister of the Gospel in said town, until two-thirds of that part of the town generally denominated Congregationalists, shall wish to discontinue the salary, and it shall be discontinued in one year after a regular notification, in writing, from the town to said Bodwell, purporting such wish; and the said Abraham Bodwell contracts to attend to all the duties before mentioned, until he shall give the same regular notice to the Selectmen or clerk of said town, at the expiration of which time he shall be released from this contract."
This report was accepted by a vote of the town, and the same committee was re-appointed " to wait on Mr. Bodwell, inform him of the vote of this meeting, and likewise to make arrangements for the ordination." What the arrangements were we only know in part. Invitations were sent to the churches in Canterbury, Concord, Gilmanton, Methuen, Ha- verhill, and Newbury. The day fixed was the thirteenth of November, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of the first pastor, and, as we suppose, of the organization of the church. It was a high day in Sanbornton, that thirteenth of November, sixty-five years ago to-day.
A goodly number of pastors and delegates were present, in- cluding the Rev. Messrs. Smith, of Gilmanton, Patrick, of Canterbury, McFarland, of Concord, and Perley of Methuen. The ample house of Dr. Benaiah Sanborn, in which the pas- tor elect had his home, was the scene of large and most gen- crous hospitalities. Most, if not all, the ministers from abroad were assembled there, and how they looked and what some of them said and did, is well remembered still by sur- viving members of the family. At the appointed hour, all wended their way to the meeting-house on the hill. An or- dination in those days, like a grand military review, was an attraction to all the towns around. The beautiful green slope in front of the meeting-house was covered with peddlers' wa- gons, and tents. By far the larger part of the multitude as- sembled cared nothing for religious service, and yet the house was so crammed that it was thought necessary to shore up the
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galleries, lest they should fall. So great was the num- ber of those who wished to get in but could not, that the appearance is described by one still living as having been like that of bees hanging from a hive on a hot summer day. The man who says this was a lad thirteen years old at the time, and after trying in vain to get into the meeting-house, he went to see a show which was going on at the same time in the large square house of Mr. Harper, which large square house some of us remember to have seen burn down, early on a cloudy summer evening, a good while ago. The house now occupied by Mrs. Wadleigh is on the same site. In that great square house there was also, on that day, a counter, behind which stood a grandson of Master Perkins, one of the fine young men of the congregation, then twenty-two years of age, and who stands erect among us to-day, the oldest member of the church and the oldest man in the town, who has lived eighty- seven years from his birth, in Sanbornton-a longer time, as he believes, than any other man has lived in the town, though many have died here at a greater age.
And what did he do behind that counter on that ordina- tion day ? Measured out rum to saints and sinners ! It was the custom then. The godly ministers assembled would hardly have thought they could properly install the young pastor without the cheering influence of ardent spirits. And years afterward, when the young pastor had become a father, his son, then a little boy, remembers pleasant days on which he was permitted to go in the chaise with him as he rode over the parish, and how, at each successive house where he called, the good people, anxious to show their great respect and love for their minister, offered him spirits, and would have been offended if he had refused ; and how cautiously he only sipped, lest such oft-repeated kindness should prove more than he could bear.
The ordination sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Mc- Farland, of Concord, from the words, "The grace of God that bringethi salvation hath appeared to all men." Titus, ii., 11.
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This is all we know of the public services of that day. When the early sunset came the meeting-house was empty, the peddlers' carts and tents and show-men all were gone, the throng was dispersed, and the stillness of night settled down upon this young village and this glorious landscape.
The Rev. Joseph Woodman, first pastor of the church, had been dismissed, and Mr. Abraham Bodwell, whose labors were to extend over the long period of forty-six years, had been settled in his room.
Sanbornton was at that time a place of considerable enter- prise, and a center of trade to a circle of towns around. On pleasant summer mornings people were seen on their way to the stores from distances of ten and twelve miles, with butter and cheese and fresh-laid eggs, to barter for tea and coffee and sugar and calico and snuff.
The meeting-house was well filled on the Sabbath with a congregation of sober, earnest, and intelligent men and wo- men, coming from all parts of the town, and none were more constant than those who drove five miles up and down these invigorating hills. How full those great square pews used to be, morning and afternoon, summer and winter! Many of us remember what a merry sight it was to us children, at a more recent period when, on bright cold winter days, the con- gregation poured out from that old meeting-house, in which there had been no fire save what our mothers and grandmoth- ers brought in their little foot-stoves, and packed themselves by families in their ample sleighs, single and double, and went down the hill to the music of their many bells, in long pro- cession, at a rate of speed which made it plain that the horses were as glad as the children who had sat shivering on the cold hard seats, that meeting was done.
If the two sermons preached by my father on the last Sab- bath of his probation, and to which I have already referred, are a sample, as no doubt they are, of what came after, then his ministry was faithful and earnest in no common degree. He presented habitually, as though he believed them with all his heart, the great fundamental doctrines, ruin, redemption, and regeneration.
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I can remember, when a child, being so moved by the ear- nestness and solemnity of his appeals to the impenitent, as I sat in the pew at the right hand of the pulpit, that I strug- gled hard to conceal my emotions, fearing that all around would see, and was glad when Monday came, that I might go to school and to play and forget. That he was deeply anxious for the salvation of his people, and that his anxiety grew un- til it was almost more than he could bear, is a fact of peculiar interest to us. I well remember listening, when very young, to a conversation between my father and a very godly minister, who was a visitor at the house, but whose name is forgotten, on the great revival which wrought such a wonderful change in this town in the year 1816. The thing which made the deepest impression upon me was the statement, by my father, that his anxiety for the salvation of his people became so in- tense that it was agonizing, insomuch that it seemed to him at last that he could not live unless the Spirit of God was poured out upon the congregation.
And thus, without any revival measures, or any special means, through the faithful preaching of the word by the or- dained pastor, and in answer to his earnest prayers, the Spirit was poured upon them from on high, and the whole town was shaken. Quietly and powerfully the work went on until more than a hundred were hopefully converted to Christ, many of whom were fathers and mothers, among the most respectable and influential members of the congregation.
From July to the end of the year 1816, the records of the church are of exceeding interest. On the fourteenth of July ten fathers and mothers were admitted to the church on pro- fession of their faith, and five of them were baptized. Two weeks later sixteen children of these parents were baptized. On the eleventh of August fourteen were admitted on profes- sion, mostly heads of families, and on the eighth of September forty-one persons were received, and seventeen were baptized, of whom thirteen were children. Thus onward to the end of the year, twelve being admitted on the tenth of November, the last communion Sabbath of the year.
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The full results of that outpouring of the Spirit of God will not be known till the day of judgment. We may confidently say that its blessed effects are felt to the present time, not only in this church and congregation, but by the whole town. There were other seasons of special religious interest during the forty-six years of my father's ministry, but none compar- able to the great awakening of 1816. The entire number received by him to the fellowship of the church in the forty- six years of his ministry, was three hundred and seven, and the number of baptisms, four hundred and eighty-four, mostly children. I think you will sustain me in the assertion that the character of my father's preaching was eminently adapted to promote sound conversion It was not superficial nor sen- sational, but Biblical, discriminating, and searching ; not to the speculative understanding, the proud and .self-sufficient reason, but to the conscience and the heart. The fruits of this have been manifest, and are manifest to-day, in the sound- ness in the faith of the church, its purity of discipline, and its steadfastness in all good ways. During the entire century of its existence, indeed, this church has been little troubled with crotchets and isms, and has manifested the soundness and vigor of its spiritual life in the rapidity of its recovery from any mild attacks of religious weakness or derangement. It had at one time an attack, very mild indeed, of perfection- ism, called in our day the " higher Christian life," (it is all the same thing) ; but the body of the Church was too sound and healthy to be affected by it. Hardly did it get through the skin ; and it was very severely let alone. Neither were blisters applied nor purgatives administered, but the body was nourished up in sound doctrine, as aforetime, and in a won- derfully short time almost every trace of the malady dis- appeared.
I think you will not only bear with me, but add your testi- mony to the fact, when I say, that I have never known a man who equaled my father in the faculty of holding his tongue. How he combined the utmost meekness of spirit and for- bearance of demeanor with a declared decision and firmness of principle, like the great granite mountains round about us,
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was to me a mystery, and it is a mystery still. I am quite sure that this whole town of Sanbornton would rise up to-day and bear emphatic witness, that this singular combination of gentleness with decision, was largely the secret of his influenee and usefulness.
The first Sunday school was formed in the year 1819. One half of the brief intermission of one hour was devoted to it, and the chief exercise was the repeating of portions of Serip- ture, and the hymns of Dr. Watts. I am by no means sure that the present methods are, on the whole, any improvement upon that. Of one thing, at least, I am sure, and it is, that I would not exchange the benefits derived from being compelled by my most excellent mother, sorely against my will, to com- mit to memory many portions of the Word of God, and not a few of Watts' unequaled hymns, to repeat to my teacher on the Sabbath, for any advantages likely to flow from many of what are pronounced the marvellous improvements of our time.
It might have been expected that such a church as this, and such a community as the people of Sanbornton, would enter with decision and carnestness into the great temperance reformation which brought such unspeakable blessings to our whole nation nearly half a century ago. That they did so, some of us are old enough to remember.
You will permit me to refer to two particular things con- nected with the movement in this town. As to the first, I quote from the very interesting discourse preached by your present pastor at the funeral of my beloved mother :
" Up to the time of the great temperance reformation in the day of Jonathan Kittredge and Lyman Beecher, it was cus- tomary to furnish liquors at all social entertainments, and all the guests partook, ladies as well as gentlemen. The custom was nowhere more fixed than in the very best society in San- bornton. To inaugurate a change required no small degree of courage. The pastor and his wife conferred earnestly to- gether, and came to the united and firm conclusion that it was their duty, however painful (and it was very painful), to set the example. The opportunity soon came. A large
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party was at the house, including the leading families in the congregation. In every similar instance previously, spirits had been brought in at a set time, and had been regarded as an indispensable part of the entertainment. In the present instance the set time came, and it was evident that no change in the good old custom was expected. But they had made their decision fully, finally, and in the sight of God, and there was no wavering. It is well remembered how hearty and earnest was the concurrence of Mrs. Bodwell with her husband, and how profound was the satisfaction she expressed in doing what seemed to be right, even at the risk of giving offence to their best friends. It is believed that this was the first instance of the kind in the society or in the town. How readily the example was followed, and how soon the custom was banished forever from the best families in Sanbornton, is well known to you all."
The other incident is the fact, recently mentioned to me by your senior deacon, that the principles of that great reforma- tion took so strong a hold on the conscience of some of the men who were pillars in this church, that they found no rest until they had abandoned the use of tobacco as well as ardent spirits, and that cost them much the severer struggle of the two. Such men would go to prison and to death for Jesus Christ, and this church has never been without such.
In connection with the educational interests of this com- munity, a very important movement was the incorporation of twelve men by the legislature of 1825 as the "Trustees of Woodman Sanbornton Academy." The members of this church were foremost in the movement, foremost in the rais- ing of funds, and foremost in all measures to sustain the school and to give it a high character.
The benefits it conferred upon the town were incalculable. Some of us who have come from our distant homes back to dear old Sanbornton, our earliest home, to-day, are here to bear witness on this point. For myself, I owe it to Wood- man Sanbornton Academy that it was a possible thing for me to secure a liberal education and become a preacher of the
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gospel. That it was possible even so, furnishes proof that your pastor, my father, was at onee a most unworldly man, and an excellent financier ; for I have heard him say that the full amount of his salary, four hundred and fifty dollars, was paid to him only a single year ; and how it dwindled, year by year, I need not say : and yet, with no other source of in- come, he paid off seven hundred dollars of debt after he came to Sanbornton, and bought his land and built his house, and during all the earlier period of his ministry exercised a gen- erous hospitality toward the members of his own congrega- tion, and toward all wayfaring brother ministers and their families. And here I am minded to tell you a fact, which is, that in New England the ministers of the gospel have always been, and are to-day, as a class, of all men the most unworldly, the most hospitable, and the best financiers. If you will search this you shall find it so.
I must say something of the man whose name the academy bore. He was the youngest child but one of your first pastor, and was born March 25th, 1790. My father says of him, in his semi-centennial discourse : " He was a Boston merchant, upright and successful in business, and greatly honored and beloved in the religious community as a man of warm heart, large Christian enterprise, and beautiful devotion in the ser- vice of Jesus, his Divine Master. He was a Christian indeed, eminent for piety and active exertions in the cause of God." Mr. Woodman had much to do with the founding of the acad- emy which bore his name, and in securing to it a high Chris- tian character. Doubtless, had his valuable life been pro- longed, he would have done much more to build up the insti- tution and make it permanent. He was also one of the founders and original members of the Union Church, in Bos- ton, of which Dr. Nehemiah Adams has been so long the hon- ored pastor, and which was established especially for the maintenance of sound doctrine, at a time when good men were alarmed because of the prevalence of religious error. Mr. Woodman died in the summer of 1826, after a very short and severe sickness, and went to his everlasting reward, leav- ing many to mourn over the heavy loss to the church of God.
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There is another word to be said in regard to the meeting- house on the hill. At a special town-meeting, convened on petition, May 12, 1834, it was decided to adhere to the action taken at the previous March meeting, namely : " to relinquish their right in the town meeting-house." One week later, on the 19th of May that is, men were on the ground to take it down ; and on the 24th day of September in the same year, you were assembled in this place to engage in the service of dedication, when a sermon was preached by my father from the text, " And the house which I build is great, for great is our God above all gods." 2 Chron., ii., 5. In it he says : "It is worthy of remark, that there never has been any controversy between different denominations, respecting the house first erected, nor any other house of worship in the town. Though there have been different denominations for more than forty years, yet, through the kind providence of God, the house first erected was occupied by the Congrega- tional Church and Society until last May, when it was taken down for the purpose of building this new house. The tak- ing down of the old house commenced on the nineteenth of May last, the frame of which composes a great part of the frame of this house. In accomplishing this enterprise no ac- cident has occurred, no one of the workmen has been injured so as to be detained from his work a single moment. And now we have to acknowledge the good hand of our God upon us : our eyes behold what we desired ; the house is finished, and we are assembled for the solemn purpose of dedicating it to the worship of the one living and true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
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