USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 47
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
inhabitants of the town of Lancaster was held in Col. Jonas Wilder's barn to take action about settling a gospel minister. A committee was appointed for this purpose, with Colonel Wilder as chairman. Rev. Mr. Thompson was retained for a time, and received a vote of thanks from the town for his services. In 1790, Rev. Benjamin Bell was hired at a salary of three hundred bushels of wheat annually, with the privilege of three weeks' vacation.
In 1791 a Mr. Thurston preached. During that year action was taken with regard to building a meeting-house. A committee was appointed to find a suitable spot, and after reporting, were author- ized to lay out six acres on the " plain above the sand hill " as the meeting-house plot.
This committee consisted of the seven following names: Cols. Edwards Bucknam and Jonas Wilder, Capts. John Weeks and David Page, Lieuts. Emmons Stockwell, Joseph Brackett, and Dennis Stanley.
A plan having been adopted, the following method of raising the necessary funds was recommended :
" That the pews be sold at public vendue. That each person give his note to the committee, who shall be authorized to receive the pay and appropriate the same. That the whole sum be divided into four parts, to be paid the four next succeeding years. That four shillings on the pound be paid in cash or salts of lye, and the rest in wheat at four shillings per bushel, or beef at seventeen shil- lings and sixpence per hundred weight, with this restriction, that the committee shall receive each man's equal proportion of timber, boards, clapboards, shingles, etc., if good and merchantable, and delivered when the committee shall call for them."
These conditions were accepted by the people, and Lieuts. Em- mons Stockwell, Jeremiah Wilcox, Capt. John Weeks, Jonas Wilder, Jr., and Jonas Baker were appointed as building committee.
The meeting-house was ready for occupancy in 1794. Its site is known as " meeting-house hill," where it stood until 1845, when it was removed to the foot of the hill near Isreals river, and has since been used as a town hall, though the ownership is vested in the Masonic fraternity, by whom it has been remodeled and enlarged.
The first settled pastor was the Rev. Joseph Willard, a broad, liberal-minded man, who had served in the War of the Revolution. He was descended from one of the best families of New England. His father was the Rev. John Willard, D. D., of Stafford, Conn., and his uncle was the Rev. Dr. Joseph Willard, president of Har- vard college, and his great-great-grandfather, the Rev. Samuel Willard, was vice-president of the same institution. His brother, the Rev. John Willard, was settled over the Congregational church in Lunenburg, Vt., in 1802, the year of its organization, and remained its pastor for many years. And so it happened that the two broth-
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THE CHURCHES.
ers, Joseph and John, were for a long time contemporary pastors of neighboring churches.
The Congregational church of Lancaster was organized on the 17th of July, 1794, under the leadership of Parson Willard, who was installed as its pastor on the eighteenth of September of that year, the churches of Conway, Rochester, and Fryeburg, Me., being rep- resented in the council.
The original members of the church were twenty-four in number, and their names are given as follows: Jonas Wilder, John Rose- brooks, Elisha Wilder, Joseph Brackett, Jonas Baker, Samuel Phelps, Nathaniel Sheperd, Phineas Bruce, Reuben Lamson, Joseph Wilder, Elizabeth Wilder, Mehitabel Wilder, Sarah Rosebrooks, Mary Brackett, Lydia Rosebrooks, Mindwell Clark, Betty Baker, La- vina Phelps, Deborah Weeks, Persis Everett, Elizabeth Saunders, Polly Wilder, Sarah Stanley, Ruth Stockwell.
These names are appended to the short and simple creed and covenant, which was doubtless drawn up by Mr. Willard, who acted as clerk of the church till his resignation in 1822. The creed was sufficiently indefinite to admit to membership all who called them- selves Christians, whether Armenians or Calvinists, Orthodox or Liberals. The doctrine of the trinity is vaguely stated in the first article, which reads :
" We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ, as the sole Saviour of the world, and in the Holy Ghost, as the comforter and sanctifier of the people and Church of God."
There is no doubt that this broad creed represented the broad- ness of the pastor's mind, and its breadth may have seemed to him necessary in order to include all the diverse religious views of the members. This latitudinarian creed, however, did not prevent the development of two factions within the church, the one orthodox and the other liberal. Mr. Willard, adhering to his liberal views, refrained from expounding doctrinal themes in the pulpit, and his mind seemed singularly free from doctrinal thoughts. For this rea- son his ministry was wanting in that power and aggression which was deemed so essential in those days. A strong creed, with a man of strong convictions behind it, built up many a strong church in those early days, for the people were trained by the great Puritan divines to think their thought after them. But here was a weak creed, vague in its doctrinal teachings, with a pastor who held lib- eral notions respecting some of the evangelical tenets, and the result was that the church lacked cohesion and strength. Notwithstand- ing Mr. Willard's excellent character, which every one respected, he failed to hold the people together, and they on their part failed to give him an adequate support. It was stipulated that he should
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
receive fifty pounds a year to be increased to eighty pounds as soon as the growth of the town should warrant it. Instead of being increased, it gradually fell off, and he complains in his letter of res- ignation in 1822 : " For a number of years I have received upon an average considerably short of $200 per annum, which, you must be sensible, is far from being an adequate support." Three years before this he wanted to resign on account of troubles in the church, but was overruled by some of the members who wished him to make a further trial. Matters, however, grew worse rather than better. To quote again from his letter of resignation,-" It is unhappily the case that this town is very much divided in religious sentiment, one crying out for Paul and another for Apollos." The records of these years show also a deterioration in public morals. Intoxication was not uncommon even in the church, and one of the deacons was con- strained to resign on account of the " too free use of ardent spirits." Discipline had also to be exercised in respect of other and more delicate matters. No wonder that Parson Willard was discouraged ! He had allowed persons to come into the church on their simple subscription to the creed, without special inquiry into their motives, and the piety of the body was at a low ebb. The elements of dis- union which were destined a few years later to separate it into two rival bodies, were already at work in the congregation.
The large and influential council which met to dissolve the pas- toral relation, October 16, 1822, came to the unanimous conclusion that Mr. Willard's request should be granted. The council found that " his health was much impaired, that his salary was inadequate to the support of a clergyman, and above all it was evident that the people were in a scattered, divided, and broken condition, and that the prospect of Mr. Willard's usefulness was very small." At the same time the council felt called upon to reprove the people : "It is not in our hearts to condemn you," they said, "but we very readily say that had every one done his duty, it is our opinion that things would not so soon have arrived to their present state."
So far as intemperance is concerned, it should be borne in mind that the drinking customs of that day were different from what they have come to be since. Liquors were kept on the sideboard in almost every home where they could be afforded, and even elergy- men counted it no disgrace to take a friendly glass.
At the time of Mr. Willard's dismission the church, with all its faults, had some members of deep and earnest piety. They deter- mined to meet statedly on the Lord's day and invite others to meet with them, and when they had no preaching, " to maintain the pub- lic, solemn worship of God by attending to praying, singing, and reading sermons, hoping to meet with a blessing from on high, and in this way to keep together agreeably to covenant obligations."
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THE CHURCHES.
Notwithstanding her trials, this old first church was yet destined to be the mother of churches. From worshipers within her walls the Methodists were largely recruited, as were the Unitarian and Episcopal congregations in later years.
After the dismissal of Mr. Willard the people sought to secure a new pastor without delay. Their attention was directed to the Rev. James R. Wheelock who, after a pastorate of four years at Newport, had recently been dismissed from his charge. He seemed a most desirable candidate, and the people after hearing him preach, gave- him a call. In this call some of the families in Guildhall united and assumed part of the salary. He was to receive in all $450 a year, the people of Guildhall paying $113 as their portion, in considera- tion of which Mr. Wheelock was to preach every fourth Sunday in that town. In regard to the $337 to be raised by the people of Lancaster, it was agreed that a third should be paid in cash, and the remainder in wheat, rye, oats, pork, beef, butter, and cheese. Of the amount to be paid in Guildhall, the pastor was to be content with a fourth part in cash.
In accepting the call, Mr. Wheelock asked the people to provide him, in addition to the sum specified, a suitable parsonage and twenty-five cords of hard wood, annually. To these terms he sup- posed the people had acceded, and so did the council which was called to install him, Jan. 27, 1824. But at this point an unfortu- nate misunderstanding occurred. Probably the people did intend to provide him a parsonage, for they had said as much in their letter of invitation; and had the new pastor succeeded in winning the hearts of his people, all might have gone well. But this he failed to do. He was a man of fine scholarship and of upright character ; a grandson of the first and a son of the second president of Dart- mouth college; and yet, before a single year had closed, he was constrained to ask for a dismission. The people had done nothing to secure him a parsonage, and virtually withheld their sympathy and support, complaining that he was formal and stiff in his bear- ing and Calvinistic in his theology. And yet, this act was one of the links in the chain of cause and effect. The church, as we have seen, was weakened by factions within itself. The liberal party would take no interest in Mr. Wheelock's Calvinistic views, and the orthodox party were too feeble to sustain him alone, and they had no heart to make the effort.
The end of this unfortunate pastorate left the church feeble and discouraged. It is almost pitiable to see the people turn again to good old Parson Willard and reëngage him for $150 a year, with the privilege of reading his old sermons. But the preaching days of this godly man were nearly over. He died suddenly on Sunday morning, July 22, 1826, and lies buried in the old cemetery, where
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
a plain white marble slab marks his resting-place. His death was lamented by all, and his name will ever hold an honored place in the history of the church and the town. That the church did not enjoy greater spiritual prosperity during his long ministry was due in part to his loose theology and in part to the opposite and irrecon- cilable views of its members.
For the next three years little interest was manifested, and things were allowed to drift. A good man of the name of Orange Scott came this way, a Wesleyan Methodist, who preached in the town church for about a year, and succeeded in gaining the good-will of all the people and also in strengthening the cause of Methodism in the town.
The next minister was the Rev. John Fitch. Mr. Fitch resided in Guildhall, where he taught the Essex county grammar school, often spoken of in those days as the Guildhall academy, since re- moved to Concord, Vt.
In 1829 the church engaged the services of the Rev. Luke A. Spofford, who is most honored in the person of his son, Ainsworth R. Spofford, the distinguished bibliographer and librarian of con- gress. During his pastorate of three years, Mr. Spofford built with his own hands the house now occupied by Mr. Cyrus D. Allen, which was long used as a parsonage.
In 1832 there was a revival in the church, owing to a protracted meeting, in which no less than eight of the neighboring clergymen took part. These meetings were directed by a Mr. Holt, who sup- plied the pulpit for a short time. As a result of this awakening more than forty persons united with the church. This made the outlook more hopeful than it had been for years. But there were breakers ahead, though scarcely visible at the time.
One of the eight men just spoken of as assisting in the revival was the Rev. Andrew Govan, a Scotchman from Barnet, Vt. The people liked him and called him to the vacant pastorate. Though he was eccentric and a rigid Calvinist, he had a strong personality, and the church was much quickened during his three years' pastor- ate. He labored hard to stiffen the old creed in the interests of Calvinism. He was especially anxious to emphasize the doctrine of regeneration by inserting the words of Titus 3 :5,-" He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." The liberal party strongly opposed this revision of the creed, and succeeded in fighting it off. This movement, obstinately pressed by Mr. Govan, and persistently resisted by the liberals, resulted in the discomfiture of the former, who was constrained to resign August 25, 1835. Twenty-seven had joined the church dur- ing his pastorate of three years.
The orthodox members now resolved to secede from the church,
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THE CHURCHES.
which they did under the leadership of the Rev. Edward Buxton, a young man just beginning his ministerial work. On Friday, Sep- tember 23, 1836, thirty-eight members of the church convened in the court-house and drew up and signed a strong Calvinistic creed, in which all the evangelical doctrines were stated unequivocally. The article on the Trinity was changed so as to read as follows :
" We believe that God is revealed in the Scriptures, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and that these three are one, and in all divine attributes equal."
This action of the church was ratified by a council which met October 12, 1836, and thus was formed
THE ORTHODOX CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF LANCASTER.
The new creed was signed by the following persons: William Farrar, Porter G. Freeman, John Wilson, Horace Whitcomb, John C. Howe, John Wilder, Ephraim Wilder, James Stone, Samuel L. Whidden, Gilman Wilder, Edmund C. Wilder, Daniel Stebbins, Edward Spaulding, John Stalbird, Sarah Cady, Persis Everett, Edna Porter, Elizabeth Smith, Olive B. Holkins, Mehitabel Wilder, Mary S. H. Stickney, Tryphena Farrar, Abigail A. Bergin, Lucinda Baker, Catharine J. Whitcomb, Lydia Howe, Mercy Freeman, Mary N. Whidden, Rhoda Wilder, Sophronia Denison, Rebecca Denison, Ruth E. George, Harmony Moore, Amanda Stebbins, Sarah Ann Moore, Mary Jane Moore, Sarah White, Lydia Bellows, Martha Phil- lips, Anna Bergin, Louisa Stebbins, Persis Fayette Weeks, Julia J. Joslyn, Sally B. Stalbird, Ann L. Whidden, and Clarissa Hemenway.
At the meeting of the council the following article relating to tem- perance was adopted and put on record :
" In view of the evils brought upon the community and upon the church by the use of distilled liquors, we promise to abstain wholly from the use and sale of them, except as a medicine."
It is needless to relate the excitement and bitter personal feeling which followed this act of secession, or to mention the gulf of sepa- ration between the mother church and the seceders which required seven years to bridge over. The seceders, in order to justify them- selves in their unwonted course, requested Dea. William Farrar, a lawyer by profession, to draw up a paper setting forth the reasons therefor, and this is the substance of what he prepared :
" In our judgment such a step was required of us that we might be faithful to the Saviour, to whom we feel bound by the highest possible obligations. The grounds of these obligations we believe to be set forth in the following funda- mental doctrines of the Gospel :
" The sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners ; the divinity of Christ, by which he thought it not robbery to be equal with God; the atonement which he
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
made for the sins of the world, by suffering in the sinner's stead, the just for the unjust ; the total destitution of the human heart by nature of true holiness ; the necessity of a radical, instantaneous change of the disposition of the heart from sin to holiness by the special influences of the Holy Spirit in order to salvation ; and that the present life is the only period in which any of the human race may receive the grace of regeneration, which is essential to salvation.
"Such being our view of the Christian doctrines, from which we infer that men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father, how could we remain in a situation in which we should be compromising with those who either reject or lightly esteem these doctrines? While systematic and persevering efforts are mak- ing to introduce into the churches a system of faith which rejects these doctrines, we could not be satisfied with anything short of a full and unequivocal declaration of them. The light which is to guide souls to heaven must be held forth dis- tinctly.
"How could we retain our membership in a church in which the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel were so obscurely stated or implied in the articles of faith that they were constantly subscribed by persons who entirely rejected them? The church had refused to incorporate into its articles a single verse of Scripture [Titus 3 :5] expressing the necessity of regeneration and the sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners.
" Now when we saw that this state of things caused error to prevail and the love of many to wax cold, and that some in the church were assisting to raise a standard which we believe to be another Gospel; and when, in fine, we were per- suaded that said church could not be extricated from such a state of things under the existing organization, was it not to be expected that we should earnestly desire to be reorganized? As we could see no way to accomplish this result without secession from the said church, we have therefore seceded from it and formed our- selves into a new church, known by the name of
"THE ORTHODOX CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN LANCASTER."
As we might expect in such a condition of things there was grief as well as bitterness. There were those who deeply regretted this division in the Congregational body and one or two spasmodic ef- forts were made for a re-union. To this end we find recorded a meeting of the mother church on the 16th of March, 1837, at which a committee was appointed to see if a union could not be brought about. Among the prominent male members of the old church at this time were Richard Eastman, Adino N. Brackett, Gorham Lane, Charles Baker, John Mason and Seth Savage. Nothing came of this movement and no further action was taken for several years. Only time and the grace of God could soften the asperities of temper and heal the hearts so sorely wounded. Meanwhile the new church moved on under the leadership of good men and in 1839 a church edifice was commenced. The mother church soon ceased to hold meetings owing to the impossibility of maintaining a separate organ- ization.
Mr. Buxton, who had led the secession movement of the new church, accepted a call to Boscawen (now Webster) where he spent the remainder of his life, preaching his forty-fifth anniversary ser- mon in 1882.
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THE CHURCHES.
After him came the Rev. C. W. Richardson, who preached for a short time, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Edward Burke, a young man from Woodstock, Vt., who was here during the building of the new meeting-house, and preached the sermon at its dedication. He was regarded as an able preacher but failing health soon com- pelled him to withdraw from the ministry. The new church edifice was completed and ready for occupancy in 1840. The names of the building committee were Gen. John Wilson, Presbury West, and Solomon Hemenway. The Rev. Clark Perry, a man remembered chiefly for his pro-slavery principles, next supplied the pulpit. His health soon gave way and his brother, the Rev. David Perry of Hollis, took his place in accordance with an invitation of the church under the date of April 14, 1843. He labored earnestly to bring the two alienated churches together again, and in a union meeting, held November 20, 1843, the following resolutions were adopted :
Resolved : That we deeply deplore the division, and consequent alienation of feeling among those in this place who profess love to the Saviour, and are in principle Congregationalists.
Resolved : That to evince our sincere desire for the restoration of peace and Christian feeling, on honorable and Christian principles, we hereby certify our willingness to disband the church organization to which we respectively belong, and submit, if necessary, the principles on which a new organization shall be formed, to a council mutually chosen.
All the members of the old church and all but seven of the new church were in favor of this plan.
Accordingly a clerical council was called which advised the re- union on the basis of a new and modified creed, a compromise between the first and the second. In this third creed the doctrine of the Trinity is expressed as follows :
" We believe that in these Scriptures there is revealed a distinction in the Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that this distinction though in- comprehensible to us, is yet perfectly consistent with the Unity of the Divine Being."
These articles of faith were adopted December 29, 1843, and sixteen members of the old church were added to the new organiza- tion. Seven of the seceeding members at first refused to sign the new statement of belief but subsequently all came into harmony. The creed has stood unchanged to this day. Thus were the two churches quietly dissolved into a third. For a time the old differ- ences seemed to be adjusted, and during Mr. Perry's pastorate there was but little friction. Still the reconciliation was but superficial ; the original causes of discord slumbered deep within the body, and the day of final and irrevocable separation was only postponed. Mr. Perry was dismissed January 20, 1847. " He was an energetic man with a good spice of self-appreciation in his nature."
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.
After a time the church agreed to call the Rev. Stephen A. Bar- nard, who began his ministry here May 9, 1847. Mr. Barnard had been a Unitarian minister, and was ordained in that church at Wilton in 1830. Finding, as he said, that men were not converted by vague teachings, he became a Congregationalist. While here it would seem that he preached what are known as the evangelical doctrines ; yet one can hardly avoid the feeling that his mind was biased in favor of Unitarian views. At any rate the Unitarian element in the church gained in strength and boldness during his seven years' pas- torate, and that party appeared to be satisfied with his statement of religious doctrines. It was feared by the orthodox members that the liberal party would make an effort to seize the church property, and in order to forestall such an attempt, they took action them- selves as quietly as possible, and on the 30th of July, 1852, John W. Lovejoy, Porter G. Freeman, and others met and formed them- selves into a corporate society under the name of -
THE LANCASTER ORTHODOX CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH SOCIETY.
This action caused bitter feeling, and the Unitarian party hoped even then to get possession of the church property. After Mr. Barnard's dismission May 29th, 1853, they were sufficiently influ- ential to secure preachers of their own order to supply the pulpit. The contest became exciting as well as bitter. On the first of Jan- uary, 1854, the liberals hired the Rev. George M. Rice, a Unitarian minister, to supply the pulpit for an indefinite period. This was more than the orthodox party could stand; they felt that the church was rapidly drifting away from sound principles. A crisis was inev- itable. Mr. Rice had preached six successive Sundays; it was now the second Sunday in February ; on that day Dea. Seth Adams rose in the meeting and announced that the Rev. Isaac Weston of Cumberland, Me., would occupy the pulpit the following Sabbath. The day came and Horace Whitcomb, a strong man of military bearing, was stationed near the pulpit to see that Mr. Weston was not interfered with. There the two ministers met, each expecting to preach. It was a critical moment, but through the courtesy of Mr. Weston, it was arranged that Mr. Rice should occupy the pul- pit in the morning and he in the afternoon.
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