USA > Ohio > Licking County > Granville > The history of Granville, Licking County, Ohio > Part 15
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The first record of his absence from the pulpit on account of his illness was May 4th, 1817, when Rev. Ebenezer Wash- burn officiated in his place. Eighteen days before his death he received the sacrament. The following minutes on the Records of his Presbytery was entered to his memory : "The Presbytery, with deep regret, are called to record the death of the Rev. Timothy Harris, one of their members, who departed this life on Thursday, the 28th of March, 1822."
A beautiful marble slab in the old burial lot of the Licking Company, bears the following inscription :
1
200
REV. TIMOTHY HARRIS.
Rev. Timothy Harris was born in Williamstown, Mass., March 15th, 1781, graduated at Middlebury Coll., Aug. 21st, 1805, licensed to preach the gospel, May 27th, 1807, ordained & installed the first Pastor of the Congregational Church in Granville, O., Dec. 14th, 1808.
He died beloved & lamented. March 28th, 1822. During his ministry of 14 years, 150 united with the church. Well done, good & faithful servant.
201
REV. AHAB JINKS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Rev. Ahab Jinks was the son of a Friend, or Quaker, and he was successively farmer, merchant, preacher, justice of the peace, and judge. As preacher,he was Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational and Episcopal. He came to Granville in the fall of 1821; Mr. Harris then being unable to preach, though still pastor of the church. He preached his first sermon to the Granville church, October 27th, 1821. One of his hearers thus describes him : He " was a man of more than middling size ; his aspect comely and prepossessing ; a clear, distinct voice ; possessing a strong, retentive memory, good native genius, with a mind well stored with useful knowledge for his limited means ; frank, open, generous in his disposition ; with a judgment unstable and wavering, connected with passions headstrong and unsubdued."
There had been no regular preaching for a year. The peo- ple were pleased with Mr. Jinks, and invited him to preach two months on probation. He assented, returning to Gran- ville after a short absence, the middle of November. It be- came known that it inconvenienced him to remain on uncer- tainties, as he must remove his family from Dayton, and it was exceedingly desirable to decide his future residence before doing so. In these circumstances, about the middle of December a meeting of the Society was held at the hotel of Mr. R Granger, at which a majority thought it expedient to give Mr. Jinks a call to become their pastor. The Church was not as well represented at that meeting as the society, and some of the church who were present opposed the action taken. Nevertheless Mr. Jinks proceeded to remove his family to the place, arriving near the close of the year.
All things continued satisfactory, however, until the spring of 1823. Mr. Jinks was minded to build him a house, and the people were minded to help him. An adequate sub-
23
202
SUNDAY HOUSE - BUILDING.
scription was raised, a building committee appointed, and the contract for building given to Col. Lucius D. Mower. Owing to sickness and other hindrances the work was unseasonably delayed. Saturday, November 22d, (1823), the walls still ·lacked four or five feet of proper height. The masons, having other jobs on hand, felt the necessity of urging the work. The design of prosecuting it upon the Sabbath began to be broached. Three of the hands being church members dis- suaded from the step, telling the rest by no means to work on the Sabbath. When Mr. Jinks was approached concerning the matter his reply was in substance that "if any work could be considered a work of necessity that was one." It is subsequently recorded that supposing himself was one of the responsible workmen, he would not have acted on that opinion, and that he charged his son, who was tending mason the week previous, not to go near the building that day.
The masons, however, on Sabbath morning went to work. The people assembling at the hour of worship were amazed to hear the click of the trowel and the shuffling of bricks, and to see the work going busily on. Some remonstrated with the workmen, and all but two left the premises. "Some of the church went to converse with Mr. Jinks before meeting. Mr. Jinks justified their working on the principle of necessity, and their feelings were wounded." "Some went home and some staid in the street until Mr. Jinks closed his forenoon services." This was the beginning of troubles that rent the Church into four parts before they were ended.
The result was the dismissal of Mr. Jinks. All parties uniting in the vote. He preached once more, and at the close of the service absolved the people from obligation for his support. He then turned to the Episcopal Church, and in 1826 began with a few followers to read the Episcopal ser- vice. Others of his friends, however, formed a Presbyterian Church and invited him to preach for them, raising a sub- scription for his support of $310. It was in the summer of 1826 that, being engaged in raising tobacco, he is said to have
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203
REMOVAL TO DELAWARE.
employed and paid his men on the Sabbath; regarding it necessary, as from the backward spring the season was far advanced and the young plants were not set out.
When the time for which he was employed was expired, in February, 1827, he left Presbytery and connected himself with the Episcopal Church, reading service every Sabbath. He was elected magistrate by the citizens of Granville, and began to think of running for Congress. But he finally returned to Presbytery, made acknowledgements and obtained a letter of dismission to the Columbus Presbytery, and removed with his family to Delaware, O. He preached for a time to the church in Genoa Township, Delaware County. Afterwards he was elected Associate Judge of Court of Common Pleas. He died in the State of Illinois.
204
REV. JACOB LITTLE, D.D.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Rev. Jacob Little, D.D., was the son of Jesse Little and Martha Gerrish Little, of Boscawen, N. H. His paternal and maternal ancestors were among the earliest settlers of that town, residing on Little Hill, and were Christian people. He was born May Ist, 1795. He united with the Congregational Church, in which his parents and other relatives were active members, June 25th, 1815. His youth was spent amid the ac- tive out-of-door duties of New England farm life. His father owned a second piece of land several miles from home and high among the hills. Thither, in his boyhood, he used to go to labor, taking with him a supply of food and conveniences ; and after working hard all day he would lie down in a shanty and sleep sweetly, rising early to renew his labors, thus gain- ing time for several hours of evening and morning toil, · which else would be consumed in going and coming to and from the family home. He early commenced to study with his pastor, Dr. Samuel Wood, D.D. His academic studies were finished at Meriden Academy. He entered Dartmouth College, from which he graduated, August 21st, 1822. From college he went to Andover Theological Seminary. While there he wrote a dissertation on the religion of the Grand Lama, which was read before the Society of Religious Inquiry of the Seminary, and afterwards published. After finishing his course at Andover he was ordained as an Evan- gelist at Goffstown, and soon after began to preacli at Hoosick, N. Y. Here his labors were greatly blessed, par- ticularly his Bible Class instructions. About "eighty were hopefully converted, and the young people traced their awakening to that Bible Class." In 1826, having married Lucy, daughter of Capt. Joseph . Gerrish, June Ist, he came to Ohio and located at Belpre, in Washington County.
Mr. William Slocomb, during his missionary visit in
205
ENTERS UPON HIS LABORS.
August, 1826, spoken of in the annals, had called the attention of some of the Granville Church to Mr. Little as a promising young man, and one suitable for their pastor.
Mr. Little visited Granville, but the first Sabbath had a very sparse congregation. He visited among the families, and a favorable impression was made on both sides. A call was offered him, and he agreed to accept it.
He began lıis labors June Ist, 1827. His tact and geniality succeeded in bringing all parties into harmony. Where one was disaffected, a special visit was almost sure to bring him over. Every one was made to feel that he was specially relied upon to bring about a better understanding among the people. The old divisions were healed, and God's blessing followed.
A call to the pastoral office was made September 11, 1828, after fifteen months' acquaintance, the call was accepted, and Mr. Little was installed.
He entered with zeal and energy upon a well planned course of labors. As a pastor he was rarely equalled. It was a principle with him to visit, at least once a year, every indi- vidual who came to hear him preach. His parish extended from two to four miles in every direction. At one time his church numbered four hundred members. There must have been families enough to require of him a visit almost daily to observe this rule and to make the extraordinary calls which would also arise in so large a congregation. As a preacher, he gave his people a good variety, bringing out of his treasure things new and old. He made the sanctuary attractive. His Bible classes, held on alternate Sabbath evenings in the vil- lage and on one of the streets leading out of town, were meant to bring under the influence of the church and the means of grace administered by his hands, all the families of the town- ship, and even beyond, who were willing to be thus influenced. The people responded to this influence by coming to his Sabbath services In early times they would come pouring into town in double lumber wagons, on horseback or on foot,
.
.
206
HIS SECOND MARRIAGE.
coming thus a distance in some cases of four miles or more. Afterward large, open, spring buggies would bring the fam- ilies. No one thought of staying at home unless sickness or the care of little ones required it. The streets were lined with conveyances for a square or more each side of the church. Within, the family seats were comfortably filled, and the galleries were sometimes crowded. About 1840, it was not unusual to look in vain for a vacant seat in the galleries. The choir numbered about sixty singers. The morning sermon was always written ; a doctrinal discourse, on some weighty subject, on which he had bestowed much thought. The afternoon brought the congregation out again, the intermis- sion having been (in the later years) occupied by the Sabbath School. The second sermon was generally delivered from brief notes, but was well studied.
The revivals which blessed Mr. Little's labors were a fea- ture of his ministry. They occurred on an average as often as every three years. [See chapter XXXV, Granville Plan of Union Church.]
In his entire pastorate of thirty-seven and one half years Mr. Little received six hundred and sixty-four converts.
Mrs. Lucy Little died during the sickly season of 1834, Sunday, October 5th, her husband also being too sick at the time to see her. [See Annals.]
On Wednesday, the 23d of March, 1836, Mr. Little married his second wife, Miss Ann D., daughter of Hon. Thomas M. Thompson, one of his parishoners. The marriage was on this wise. Mr. Little requested a special attendance at the Wed- nesday conference, then held at four o'clock, P. M., giving out " Domestic Relations" as the subject that was to be consid- ered. Special invitations were sent to some, and a general curiosity was awakened. In response to his notice there was a full meeting, Mr. Garland being in the desk with Mr. Little. The usual programme being through, Mr. Little stepped from the desk, and taking Miss Thompson, who sat conveniently near, led her in front of the desk, and Mr. Garland, some-
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207
A TEMPERANCE ADVOCATE.
what embarrassed, performed the marriage ceremony, much to the surprise of those present.
He was from the first a prominent temperance advocate. When he came here the temperance reformation had just begun. He had felt its influence in the east, but it had not yet reached the western frontier. He introduced the subject into the pulpit, and in 1828 the first temperance organization was brought about.
Mr. Little was appreciated away from home. At the annual commencement in July, 1855, Marietta College con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. His sermons on public occasions were often asked for publication.
Mr. Little was appreciated also by his own people through most of his long pastorate, and that appreciation still lingers with a glow of affection in the breast of many a disciple. Toward the last of his life in Granville, however, there were some alienations and unkind criticisms, which made a deep impression upon his aged heart. Better were it that a people among whom thirty-seven years of unusual fidelity, earnest- ness and laboriousness had been expended, had borne a little longer with those infirmities and reaped a little longer from those labors, infirm though they might have been. Then might the parting have been in friendship, and that setting sun have gone down with one cloud less to shadow it.
In 1863, he was called to take part in the instruction at Lane Seminary, in a course of lectures on Pastoral Theology. Subsequently he published a long series of articles on the Pastoral Office, in the C. C. Herald.
He resigned his pastorate December 4, 1864, and went im- mediately to a piece of wood land in northern Indiana, lying about three miles from Warsaw, where he lived a retired life until failing strength admonished him to lay aside his cares, and he went to spend his last days with his son Charles, in Wabash, Indiana.
At Warsaw he lived two and a half miles from church, and
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208
HIS UNTIRING INDUSTRY.
because it was unsafe for him to manage his horses, he and his wife walked that distance to church, for a large part of the time, constantly.
At seventy-two years of age he preached to a church twenty-seven miles distant for a year, and never missed an appointment. At seventy-four, he supplied the church at Warsaw a year. The last occasion on which he occupied the pulpit was at the installation of his son Charles.
He died December 17th, 1876, aged eighty-one years, seven months and sixteen days.
One of Dr. Little's prominent traits was his untiring in- dustry. He had an energy that quailed at nothing, and a perseverence that knew no failure. The light of his study window was the first to shine in the early morning, having been the last also to be extinguished at night. He always had manual labor of some sort on hand for himself and boys. By dinner time an ordinary day's work was done.
He was very methodical in his work. The day was sys- tematically arranged in routine duties-study, manual labor, visiting, etc .; so also was the year.
He had a physique that enabled him to accomplish far more than the average man. He inherited a good constitu- tion. It was early inured to activity and steady toil in mountain air. He required little sleep. Five hours seemed to suffice him, and he could rarely lie longer than six hours. Retiring at ten, he was awake and restless at three or four.
He was of good mental endowment. His cast of mind was of the Aristotelian rather than the Platonic mold. He sought for and laid hold of facts, from which he deduced principles. His brain was prominent at the base, and his mental operations were likewise wide at the foundation. He was not stubborn ; but as long as he was upheld by facts, a pyramid were as easily overturned as he to be moved from his positions.
His piety was deep, but of an unostentatious kind. He had laid himself on God's altar. His prayers were constant
209
AN ORGANIZER.
and fervent and he had a depth of desire beyond all that he .seemed able to express in words. His public prayers were brief, but very comprehensive, and like everything else, sys- tematic.
He was a master workman and an adept in setting others to work. In his prayer meetings he would name from three to half a dozen to make remarks on a specified subject, and they were so trained that few declined to express their views. when called on. He developed the lay talent to a wonderful degree, and availed himself in all departments of labor of the aid of others.
210
PLAN OF UNION CHURCH.
CHAPTER XXXV.
The history of the Congregational Church up to 1821 has been given in the annals as being largely identical with the history of the colony ; and subsequently up to 1827, in con- nection with Mr. Jinks' pastorate. Of the four elements into which the Congregational Church had become separated, viz .: the Congregational, First Presbyterian, Second Presbyterian, and Episcopal, the first three were about to come together . again, while the fourth continued in a separate organization.
In these circumstances a paper was circulated through the three churches to ascertain the preferences of the members as to a form of organization. Fifty-seven preferred the Pres- byterian form; nineteen, the Congregational; and thirty- seven, a union of the two; that is, to be Congregational with the right of appeal to Presbytery. Originally the church was Congregational, and so remained in its internal polity, except through the brief period of its troubles preceding 1827, until the year 1872. But its early pastor, Mr. Harris, although a Congregationalist, found himself and church so isolated in Christian fellowship, that he thought it best to unite with Presbytery and have his church, in conformity with the spirit of the "Plan of Union," represented there also by a delegate. Mr. Little, likewise a Congregationalist, took the same view of the situation; and so did the church as a body. The number, in 1827, preferring the Presbyterian polity "was a majority of the whole by one half a vote," but the medium ground was chosen from the spirit of conciliation which reigned among them; and hence, the church became a Plan of Union Church.
The printed Articles of Faith, with Scripture proofs, to- gether with the Form of Government which had been adopted by the Congregational Church at the first, was adopted by this organization; and the minutes of the two Presbyterian Churches were ordered to be consolidated for the use of the
211
CONFERENCE OF CHURCHES.
re-united church. Historically they desired to stand as the continuation of the church of the colony.
Lemuel Rose, Amasa Howe, and Silas Winchel became the deacons of the new church.
In 1828, July 7th, the church united with others of like faith in the Licking County Conference, there being ten in all. They met from place to place about once a quarter, taking the churches in turn, and spending two days in a place, receiving reports from all and uniting in religious ser- vices. A prayerful spirit was always developed, and the most effective preaching was always enjoyed. Generally conver- sions resulted. These conferences were continued unil 1834, and were a means of greatly strengthening the churches uniting in it.
From 1828 to 1831 there was an almost uninterrupted revival, and 1832 followed with one of the most pungent works ever known in Granville. During the year 1828, seven- ty-seven persons united on examination, and in 1831, one hundred and seven, and between the two seasons of interest, fifteen.
A description of the revival of 1831 from Mr. Little's own pen, will give an impressive view of the scenes so often wit- nessed in the history of this church. It was in connection with one of the meetings of The Conference of Churches, and the weather was very propitious.
"The Church was in a high state of activity, going out in the intervals of worship & bringing in the impenitent. The state of the atmosphere was but a representation of feeling among christians. All the air was love. Almost every member had a high degree of religious enjoyment for many days. It seemed almost as if Heaven had come down & filled the hearts of men. * Sick families had the Spirit of God, & conversions in their houses at home. In all this engagedness there was not one late [continued] meeting. * Long exercises were regarded as detrimental to revivals. No inquiry meeting * * was over an hour. At the close of the sermon all were exhorted to now seek an interest in Christ.
212
REVIVAL OF 1832.
"It was stated that the choir would sing four stanzas, & at the commencement of the fourth, one of the ministers would leave the pulpit and go to the inquiry room, [in the Methodist Church about twenty rods distant,] & all who were resolved to now seek an interest in Christ, would go with him. They were requested to make up their minds whether they would now seek Christ, while the first three verses were being sung, so that the great question would be decided by the time they reached the fourth. Here followed a time of suspense & anxiety that can not be described.
" At that day, going to the inquiry meeting meant something. Who would rise before the audience & their companions in sin ? * * * * * * * * *
"While parents were agonizing in prayer, the countenances of their children, alternating from red to white, betrayed the struggle within. Some were afraid to have the third verse end, & the voices of some singers faltered. But it ended, & the min- ister rose, & simultaneously some rose from all parts of the house & went with him. The eyes of many were eager to see the course their children & friends would take. Seeing a cloud of more than seventy youth & young married people, the flower of our population, bending their way to the inquiry meeting, both ministers and people freely wept. A good portion of the singers covered their eyes & let such as could, finish the fourth verse."
There were two hundred inquirers during this meeting and "from one hundred & thirty to one hundred & fifty were hope- fully converted during the year. The converts were remarkably clear & happy, & it was found expedient for two months to give them a separate inquiry meeting, where they had some of the happiest meetings which are enjoyed this side of heaven,"
The following table will give the numbers added on the several occasions similar to the above during the history of the Church :
In 1808 were added 40, Mr. Harris, Pastor. 1818
" 1822 1828
53, 84, 116, 24, 25, 21,
66 Jinks
Little 66
1831
66 1832 1835
66
213
EVANGELISTIC WORK.
In 1837 were added 82, Mr. Little, Pastor. 66 1840
1842
66
44, 23, 56, 18, 21, 30, 31, 30, 28,
66
66
66 1847
1851
1862
66
66
66
1866
1869
66
1874
Dudley 66
1879
.. Hervey
6
The church early became a practical temperance society ; resolving, April 9thı, 1831, " unanimously, That no person be received into this church who drinks, buys, sells, or manu- factures ardent spirits, except for medicinal or mechanical purposes." It has ever since stood in the van guard of the cause of temperance.
About 1833, it was very active in sustaining Sabbath schools in all the region around. Seventy or eighty members of the church were engaged in this work, sustaining eighteen Sabbath schools that embraced eight hundred scholars, with a constant attendance of five hundred. Ten young men were looking forward to the gospel ministry.
At the same time there was great assiduity in supplying the region around with Bibles and with religious literature. No head of a family in the church neglected family worship, and from sixteen to twenty social meetings were held in different parts of the parish.
In 1832, the church was incorporated. Two hundred fam- ilies were represented in the church at this time.
In 1838, there were five hundred and sixty-eight church members in the township, this church having four hundred and fifteen. This was the year of the great agitation in the Presbyterian church consequent upon the exscinding of the New School Synods containing five hundred ministers and sixty thousand communicants. But this church being of one mind was not greatly affected by the movement. The tem- perance pledge was at this time one that required abstinence
Beach
66
66
66
214
SUSPENSIONS - INNOVATIONS.
from all that intoxicates, instead of ardent spirits ; i. e., from fermented as well as distilled liquors. The subscribers num- bered three hundred. It was called the teetotal pledge.
In 1839, the church was obliged to suspend one of its members for " being perfect and breaking the Sabbath."
In 1840, the practice of sending a lay delegate to Presbytery seems to have fallen into disuse, but being invited by a letter from Presbytery the church resumed the practice.
In 1841, the church voted, only eight being opposed to it, to raise the funds for church expenses by taxation of the membership on the basis of the grand list. The experiment did not prove so satisfactory as to be continued long.
In 1844, April 24th, strong anti-slavery ground was taken by the church, in two series of resolutions. In the same year, the fruits of the so-called Millerite excitement began to appear. The church was obliged to take action against several of Miller's adherents for unchristian conduct, who were suspended during the year following.
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