USA > Rhode Island > Bristol County > Bristol > Historical sketches of the First Congregational Church, Bristol, R.I., 1689-1872 > Part 7
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the wonders of redeeming love, and songs of praise burst forth on every side. The Lord Jesus held His court there, presented an indictment to the conscience of many a sin- ner, made him plead guilty, and then discharged him with full and free forgiveness. The scenes enacted there made a new swell of joy in heaven, and brought glory and praise to the divine head of the Church."
As in the Revival of 1812, so in this the work was shared by all the Churches in town, and a delightful spirit of Catholic union prevailed. Bishop Gris- wold, the Rector of St. Michael's Church, had, under his charge, several students for the Ministry, among whom was the venerable Stephen H. Tyng, Sr., D. D., of New York city. Being suddenly prostrated by sickness, the responsibility of guiding inquirers, holding conference and prayer meetings, etc., de- volved largely upon these students who, under the blessing of the Spirit in this remarkable work, received an impulse and a tone of piety which, in subsequent years, distinguished them as Evangelical preachers and earnest winners of souls. The name of Dr. Tyng especially is familiar to all, and the thrilling watchword, " Stand up for Jesus," uttered by his son in a dying hour, furnished the inspiration of one of the sweetest songs of Zion, sung in every land and language where the story of the Cross is told.
ERECTION OF "THE HALL."
Conference meetings and lectures were first held in private houses and in the Pastor's study or par-
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lor ; but at length the time arrived when a room in a private house no longer answered the wants of the people and resort was had successively to several halls.
The first hall used for this purpose was owned by Joseph Brown, Esq., and stood near the present site of the Methodist Church on State street. It was in the second story, and was also used as a school room by Mr. Wyatt Manchester until his decease. The lower story was used for storing lumber. This was known as the " Blue Hall," until it was sold, re- moved to " the Neck," and made over into a dwell- ing house.
On leaving the " Blue Hall," a small hall in the second story of another building on State street was rented for a short time, but it proving too strait for the wants of the people it was abandoned, and the Court house on the Common was obtained for use, excepting when needed for Court business.
This arrangement not proving satisfactory, meas- ures were taken in the spring of 1821 to erect a Conference Hall. This was completed early in the winter of 1821-2, at a cost of about seven hundred and twenty dollars, under the supervision of Benja- min Wyatt, Benjamin Norris, and Giles Luther, as a Building Committee. It was located near the Parsonage, on the north side of Bradford street. It was a plain structure, measuring forty by thirty feet, with ten feet walls and an arched ceiling. It was furnished with plain wooden seats, but originally the seats on either side of the desk were considerably
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higher than the rest, and were occupied by the elder and more prominent members of the Church. One of the builders wished to have it called " Puritan Hall," and cut those words with considerable care on what he designed for the corner stone, but another with iconoclastic tendencies broke the stone in pieces with a maul, so the edifice was ever spoken of as simply "The Hall."
This Hall served the congregation for more than forty years, and was the scene of many seasons of spiritual refreshing. The farewell meeting held in it, 1870, February 20th, was one of peculiar interest. The room was filled to overflowing. The time was occupied with grateful reminiscences connected with the Hall, and with praise and prayer. After two hours thus occupied, all who had been converted in this Hall or by impressions received in it were re- quested to rise, and about one-third of the entire assembly responded. It was a most affecting. testi- mony to the goodness of God experienced within those hallowed walls.
ISAAC LEWIS, D. D .- EIGHITHI PASTOR.
After the dismission of Mr. Mann, the hearts of the people turned to the REV. ISAAC LEWIS, D. D., whose labors in the Revival of 1812 were so signally blessed, by which he was greatly endeared to them. With hearty unanimity he was called to the Pastoral office and installed 1828, November 12th. He re sided on Hope street, in the house now owned and occupied by the heirs of the late Major Jacob Bab-
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bitt. He remained in office until a failure of voice compelled him to retire, much to the regret of his people, 1831, September 28. After his dismis- sion he resided in the family of his daughter in New York.
DR. LEWIS, and a brother ZECHARIAH, were twin sons of the Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D., Sr., born in Wilton, Conn., 1773, January 1st, and were both graduated at Yale College in 1794.
The father was a son of a worthy and respectable farmer in Huntington, Conn., born in 1746, and graduated at Yale College in 1765. His conversion was during his junior year in college under the fol- lowing remarkable circumstances : At that time the whole college was poisoned through the villainy of certain French neutrals. These fellows had taken mortal offence at the conduct of a few wild students, and, though every reasonable effort at reconciliation was made they refused to be reconciled, meditating the most deadly revenge. To accomplish their pur- pose they contrived to visit the kitchen at which the food of the students was prepared, and infused a large quantity of arsenic into one of the dishes that was to be placed before them. A deadly sickness came over all who had eaten of the dish, but by an immediate resort to medical aid most of them were cured, a few were so much affected that they died shortly after. Very soon after this the evangelist Whitefield visited New Haven, and preached in the College Chapel, and made use of this event as a solemn admonition. A profound impression was
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made upon the whole college, and many of the stu- dents were hopefully converted, among them the subject of this notice. After graduation he pursued theological studies under the direction of the Rev. Samuel Buell, of East Hampton, L. I., and of his pastor the Rev. Mr. Mills, of Huntington. Receiv- ing calls to settle at Newport, R. I., and Wilton, Conn., he accepted the latter, and was ordained 1768, October 26th, and was married the same year to Hannah, eldest daughter of Matthew Beale, of New Preston, Conn., a lady every way suited to the sta- tion to which her marriage introduced her. During the Revolutionary struggle he espoused his country's cause with great zeal, served seven months as chap- lain to one of the Connecticut regiments, and after the State troops were disbanded was appointed chap- lain in the Continental army, but his people being unwilling to spare him again he declined the appoint- ment. A few years subsequent to this he labored arduously for a season in a missionary tour to the destitute fields in the vicinity of Dorset, Vt. During his residence in Wilton, he was invited to take charge of a congregation in South Carolina, but de- clined it, chiefly on the ground of his " strong dis- approbation of the system of slavery." Becoming satisfied that the prevailing practice of " the half- way Covenant " was wrong, he took a stand against it, occasioning dissatisfaction among his people and finally leading to his dismission in June, 1786, after a Ministry of nearly eighteen years. On the day of his dismission he was invited to preach at Green-
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wich, Conn., and was soon after called to the Pas- torate which he accepted, and was installed 1786, October 18th. After a highly successful ministry, by which he was greatly endeared to his people, he was dismissed, at his own urgent request, on account of the infirmities of age, 1818, December 1st, but he continued to dwell among his people, and to labor for their welfare as his strength would allow until his decease, 1840, August 27th, at the advanced age of nearly ninety-five years. In 1792 he received from his alma mater the degree of Doctor in Divinity. In 1816 he was chosen a member of the corporation of Yale College. He had a prominent agency in many of the benevolent movements of the day, and was connected with most of the prominent societies then existing for the extension of the Gospel and the promotion of the great interests of humanity. Dr. Lewis and his wife were the parents of nine chil- dren, six sons and three daughters. Of the five sons who lived to maturity, three were educated at Yale College, two entered the Ministry, and three were lawyers. Their mother died 1829, April 13th.
ZECHARIAH, one of the twin brothers, studied theology at Philadelphia, Pa., and was, at the same time, a private tutor in the family of General Wash- ington. In 1746 he was licensed to preach, but accepted the office of tutor in Yale College, where he continued until a failure of health compelled him to resign in the summer of 1799. Not recovering health sufficient to enter upon the Ministry, he became edi- tor of "the Commercial Advertiser " and "New
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York Spectator," and remained in this employment till about the year 1820. He was subsequently cor- responding secretary of the "New York Religious Tract Society," and of the " United Foreign Mission Society ;" and commenced and for several years edited the " American Missionary Register." He died at his residence in Brooklyn, N. Y., 1840, November 14th, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
DR. LEWIS, our Pastor, pursued his theological studies at New Haven, under both Presidents Stiles and Dwight. He was ordained 1798, May 30th, and in 1800 was installed over the First Presbyterian Church in Cooperstown, N. Y., from whence he was called, in 1806, to the Presbyterian Church in Goshen, N. Y., and from there came to Bristol in 1812. After his brief but fruitful labors here, he officiated as stated supply in the Churches of New Rochelle and West Farms, N. Y., until he was called to succeed his venerable father at Greenwich, Conn., being in- stalled on the day of his father's dismission, 1818, December 1st. After a remarkably successful Minis- try of a few years he resigned his charge, and was soon after settled as the eighth Pastor in the line of succession over this ancient Church.
In 1844 he was honored with the degree of Doctor in Divinity by Delaware College. In 1827 he preached the Election Sermon at New Haven, Conn. Several sermons and public addresses were published, includ- ing the Ordination sermon of Rev. Joshua Knight, at Sherburne, Mass., 1804, two or three occasional ser- mons preached at Bristol, and an address before the Fairfield County Bible Society in 1844.
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A man of excellent talents, of elevated Christian character, of fine expressive countenance, of urbane and gentlemanly manners, and of richly endowed and well furnished mind, he commanded the respect of all. As a preacher he was sound in doctrine, able and eloquent in appeal. As a Pastor he was faithful, and won the hearts of all who received his kind and Christian ministrations. He died at New York, 1854, September 23d, in the eighty second year of his age.
His Ministry in Bristol, though brief, was dis- tinguished by another of those seasons of great spiritual refreshing which characterized this period, resulting in large accessions to the membership of the Church.
THE REVIVAL OF 1830.
Though from advancing years the natural force of Dr. Lewis had in a degree abated, the recollection of his past services secured for him a warm welcome to the hearts of the people who were ready to co- operate with him in every good word and work. The thoroughly evangelical character of his preaching, his fidelity in pastoral labors, the sweet influence of his christian example, the kindly and prayerful co- operation of the Church prepared the way for a third general Revival in 1830, of a similar character and extent to the two which had preceded it. Re- specting this great work of grace, we make no special record of incidents or details, but it is grate- fully remembered by the surviving subjects of it as
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a precious season of interest throughout all the Churches, and affecting nearly every family in the town. The converts, numbered by hundreds, were of all ages and several of them were far advanced in life, who, having passed through the previous sea- sons of refreshing without submitting themselves to God, felt that this was a last call to them, and un- less they now yielded to the Divine claims their day of grace was over.
Thus has God blessed this Church and town with repeated and remarkable Pentecostal seasons, and his blessing has rested upon the community at all times. Surely He is faithful that hath promised, and His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. With what gratitude should we acknowledge his goodness, with what penitence should we acknow- ledge our sins before Him, with what earnest faith should we consecrate ourselves and all that we pos- sess to His service.
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VIII.
THE BUILDING STILL GOING FORWARD. 1830-1872.
JOHN STARKWEATHER .- NINTH PASTOR.
The ninth Pastor in the succession was the REV. JOHN STARKWEATHER, a native of Worthington, Mass. ; a graduate of Yale College, 1825, and of Andover Theological Seminary. The call, voted on the 21st of November, 1831, was unanimons, and with cordial harmony he was duly installed on the 14th of December following. For a time this unani- mity of feeling continued, but at length there arose considerable dissatisfaction and want of confidence which was expressed in a written communication to the Pastor, signed by twenty-one male members. On the 29th of December, 1834, the matter was mu- tually referred to an Ecclesiastical Council, who advised the dissolution of the Pastoral relation, which advice was accepted.
During his brief Ministry twenty-two were added to the Church, and the Manual which has been in use to the present time was prepared and published.
THOMAS SHEPARD, D. D .- TENTH PASTOR.
Soon after the dismission of Mr. Starkweather, efforts were made to secure the services of the REV. THOMAS SHEPARD, late of Ashfield, Mass., and by a
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unanimous vote of the Church and Society he was called to the Pastoral office, 1835, April 1st. Ac- cepting the call he was duly installed on the 30th of April following.
DR. SHEPARD was a native of Norton, Mass., born 1792, May 7th ; graduated at Brown Univer- sity 1813, and at Andover Theological Seminary 1816 ; was employed until 1819 as a missionary and teacher in the State of Georgia ; and on the 16th of June, of that year, was ordained as Colleague Pastor with the venerable Nehemiah Porter over the Church, in Ashfield, Mass. After a successful ministry of about fourteen years, during which two hundred and seventy- four were admitted to his Church ; he was dismissed 1833, May 8th. After his dismission from Ashfield, he was employed as an agent for the American Bible Society about two years, from which service he was called to the Pastorate here. In 1853 he received from Brown University the Degree of Doctor in Divinity. In 1846 he was elected a corporate mem- ber of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
A Parsonage was early in his Ministry erected on Bradford street, which he has occupied with his family ever since. A few years ago Mrs. Sarah W. Shepard, the sharer of his joys and burdens, was called to her home above. A devoted wife and mother, a faithful friend to all, and especially kind to the poor, a decided Christian in all the walks of life, her memory is cherished gratefully by the people among whom she passed her useful life.
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On the 7th of May, 1865, he resigned the active duties and responsibilities of the Pastoral office, and asked that a successor might be chosen. His resig- nation was accepted, with the understanding that he would continue to live among his own people until called up higher, and the use of the Parsonage was tendered him during the remainder of his life. He still lives among us as the retired Pastor universally respected and beloved.
During his Ministry several seasons of unusual religious interest transpired. In 1837, 1838, 1842, 1846, 1852 and 1858, the Holy Spirit's power was manifested in the quickening of God's children and the conversion of many souls. These seasons are gratefully remembered by all who were participants in them.
ERECTION OF THE THIRD HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
Early in 1855, the subject of erecting a new House of Worship was agitated, and, after some delibera- tion, it was decided to proceed to build. The fol- lowing gentlemen were chosen a Building Commit- tee, under whose supervision the work was success- fully accomplished : William B. Spooner, Messadore T. Bennett, Josiah Gladding, Stephen T. Church, and Nathan Bardin.
The House is located on the corner of Bradford and High streets, fronting on the latter. It has three entrances in front and a rear entrance at the south-east corner leading to the library and pulpit, and also leading to the chapel recently built. It has
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a tower on the north-west corner eighteen feet square with buttresses extending upward about eighty feet, surmounted with belfrey and turrets. The full di- mensions of the house are as follows : Length, one hundred and one feet ; width, sixty-seven feet ; walls, twenty-eight feet high in the clear, and thirty-nine feet from the floor to the apex of nave of the main arch. The style of architecture is gothic. The trimmings and buttresses are of pure granite ; the filling up is of a stone somewhat different in quality, presenting a pleasing variety in figure and color. The roof is covered with slate and tin. The interior is finished with groin arched ceiling with eight pend- ants or corbels for springing the arches, and from which depend the chandeliers. The pews, number- ing one hundred and fourteen on the main floor, are circular, trimmed with black walnut, and neatly up- holstered. The pulpit, communion table and chairs are of black walnut, harmonising well with the gen- eral style of the house. The recess back of the pulpit is richly frescoed as are also the arches in the ceiling of the roof. The organ, made by Messrs. Hook, of Boston, is finished to correspond with the interior of the Church. The case is gothic, thirty- four feet high and fourteen feet wide. It has thirty- two registers or stops, and is of superior tone and capacity. The orchestra is dropped within a few feet of the main floor, and harmonizes in style with the pulpit at the opposite end. The entire floor of the Church is richly carpeted, and the whole interior is lighted with gas. The architect was Seth H.
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Ingalls, and the master builder was William Ingalls, both of New Bedford, Mass.
The House stood complete and ready for dedica- tion in November, 1856. On the 23d, farewell ser- vices of an interesting character including an histori- cal discourse by the Pastor, founded on Psalm xlviii. 12-13, were held in the old House, and on the 25th the new House was dedicated to Almighty God with appropriate services including discourse by the Pastor, founded on Psalm Ixxvii. 13. These were oc- casions of special interest to the congregation who requested copies of the discourses for publication, which request was complied with. The following extracts from these discourses will show the anima- ting spirit of Pastor and people :
"In taking leave of these venerable walls within which our fathers have sat and listened to the messages of salva- tion for seventy-two years, where venerable men of God, some of whom have ceased from earth and gone to their final reward. have been trained for the kingdom of glory, where the praises of God have been sung by lips which are now responding to angelic harps around the throne, many affecting thoughts crowd themselves upon our minds. This has been the birth-place of souls. Here, blind eyes have been opened to behold the light of truth, as it shines in the face of Jesus. Here deaf ears have been unstopped to listen with rapture to the messages of mercy through atoning blood. Here multitudes have set out in the christian race, for the prize of an unfading crown. Oh! how hallowed to memory is such a place. But it has done its work, and in the revolutions of time it is meet that it should give place to another, and a more com- modious and more attractive house of worship. And while
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the very dust of this sanctuary will ever remain precious in our eyes, may our united prayers ascend to God, that the glory of the latter house may exceed the glory of the former. The materials of its walls are imperishable. Long, long will it resist the corroding tooth of time. Cen- turies will not impair those granite foundations, scores of generations will worship in its courts, and thousands of the sanctified pass up to the purer devotions of heaven."
" What is this new and stately edifice, this pulpit, these pews, yonder orchestra, these frescoed arches? What but one common passage way to the grave, the judgment seat, the retributions of eternity. If they all could speak to us, would not their united voice be "Prepare to meet thy God?" Oh if these buttresses and turrets and pillars and arches and gildings had a tongue to speak for Him, to whose service they are this day dedicated, they would say to you in tones unearthly, 'let not the novelty of these imposing scenes divert your minds one moment from the great question, What must I do to be saved?' Consecra- ted stone or wood or mortar wrought into the highest state of architectural symmetry and beauty cannot save you. Yonder organ with its deep and silvery tones, this pulpit with the highest eloquence that shall ever grace it, cannot, of themselves, work out your salvation. Except ye repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,-except ye give your heart to God and live to His glory, ye must live and die without hope. No external privileges can super- cede the necessity of the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."
" See that you refuse not Him that speaketh to you to- day through these scenes and services. Bring no strange fire to offer on this altar. Come up hither with the sacri- fice of an humble and contrite heart. Listen to the Word as those who must give account. Pray with a fervent spirit. Make melody in your hearts unto the Lord. In a word, worship God in spirit and in truth. And after a few
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more Sabbath suns shall have arisen and set, you will have offered your last prayer, have sung your last hymn of praise, joined in your last communion service, your seat be occupied by another, and your spirit, if purified in the blood of the Lamb, will pass away to the Sanctuary above,
Where the assembly ne'er breaks up And the Sabbath ne'er shall end."
CYRUS P. OSBORNE .- ELEVENTH PASTOR.
After the retirement of DR. SHEPARD, several per- sons were heard as candidates for settlement until the 11th of September, 1865, when the Church voted unanimously to call the REV. CYRUS P. OSBORNE, in which action the Society also concurred, and on the 2d of November following, he was duly ordained and installed as the Eleventh Pastor in the succession.
Mr. Osborne was born in East Boston, Mass., graduated at Harvard College, 1859, and at Andover Theological Seminary, 1862. He continued in the Pastoral office until 1870, June 6th, when, at his own request, he was dismissed, that he might avail him- self of a favorable opportunity to visit Europe and the Holy Land.
His ministry, though brief, was fruitful in good results. An interesting revival of religion was en- joyed in 1866-67, during which season a large number of young persons professed conversion, and over a hundred united with the Church on profession of faith.
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PAYMENT OF THE DEBT.
One leading object in the organization of the Catholic Society was to secure a permanent fund for the support of the Ministry. With much self-denial a fund was started which promised to be of very material aid by a prospective increase from year to year. But the event did not justify the hopes thus entertained. Eighteen years later the fund seems to have shrank somewhat, for in the settlement with Dr. Wight a note of one thousand dollars was given by the Society. This beginning of debt was a bad precedent too easily followed in subsequent years, until it rolled up in round numbers to six thousand dollars. On the 22d of March, 1864, a member of the Society, who has since rested from his earthly labors, liberally offered "to pay one-half the debt himself if the Society would raise by subscription a like sum." This offer set the people to thinking, but did not arouse them sufficiently to secure the de- sired end until the fall of 1867, when, at a meeting in " the Hall," on the evening of September 17, about forty members of the congregation being present, the ball was set in motion by a liberal sub- scription, a committee was appointed to canvass the parish, and in a few weeks the requisite amount was secured. Great was the rejoicing over this result, and a meeting of the people for thanksgiving and praise was appointed, which was attended by large numbers and is spoken of as "the Jubilee meet- ing."
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