USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Little Compton > The Two-hundredth anniversary of the organization of the United Congregational Church, Little Compton, Rhode Island, September 7, 1904 > Part 3
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But it is the more properly spiritual work of the church under this man's leadership for which his pastorate will ever be memorable. The church sends a conciliatory letter to the seventeen members who have withdrawn, and some of them resume their former relation. It is now voted that the name of the church be The United Congregational Church. A great revival comes in 1849-50. One Sunday is especially memorable for its solemnity. And as to the fruitage of the revival, I will let the report of the church to the State Conference this year speak: "Membership, 207. Amount raised for benevolent purposes, $400. A powerful work of divine grace has been vouchsafed to this church the past year, which has affected all ages and classes, and greatly increased the strength and numbers of the church. Sixty-five have already been added by profession, and others stand propounded, and others still will soon make a pro- fession. Congregations on the Sabbath increased and Sab-
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bath School flourishing."1 But the good man resigns in 1856 on account of ill-health. At the request of his people, he takes some months' rest, but returns still of the opinion that he must go. He is loath to leave, and the people are loath to have him leave. Not since the death of the la- mented Mase Shepard have they been so deeply saddened at the prospect of parting with their pastor. He, however, in 1857 takes final leave of his loving flock, who tell him that "in times of distraction and trial, he has been a wise coun- selor; in times of affliction, a great comforter; in times of prosperity, a most efficient aid." Webster, Clay and Cal- houn have gone. The Republican Party has been born, de- termined to resist the further extension of human slavery in America. The country is drifting toward civil war. For a time Mr. Beane is principal of the seminary at Beloit, Wisconsin, and later preaches some years at Norton, Mass., whence, in 1865, he is called to his eternal rest.
The leadership of the church now passes to Nathaniel Beach. This gentleman comes here from Milbury, Massa- chusetts. He is a good preacher, a faithful pastor, and a social man among the people. It is said that no man ever came to town who made as good prayers as does Mr. Beach. He always says the right word to the sick. He does not, however, believe in women's speaking in meeting. Nor has he any fondness for the new theology. His Bible class num- bers from thirty to forty members. The benevolences are systematized in 1861 and the church votes to take period- ical collections for the different objects. The pews in the church which hitherto have faced southward now face north- ward. The church decides to have all the old records trans- cribed and appoints Isaac B. Richmond and John Church a committee to attend to the matter. The membership in 1863 is one hundred and fifty-one. The Sabbath School numbers one hundred and seventy-three. The same year Mr. Beach reports to the State Conference as follows : "While there has been some increase in the Sabbath School, and hopeful indications at times in our community, we must report another year of spiritual dearth,-must say as
(1) Minutes of the Evangelical Consociation of Rhode Island, June, 1850.
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Simon once said to the Master, 'We have toiled all night and have taken nothing'-nothing from the world into the church. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, have choked the word and rendered it unfruitful another year. But still there are those among us who labor and pray in hope that in due time we may be able to cast the net on the right side of the ship and gather a multitude for Christ."1 In another report to the State Conference he says that "the Sabbath School and the prayermeeting and the contribu- tions to the benevolent objects all feel the depressing in- fluence and prolonged spiritual declension. There is a lack of brotherly love a disregard of covenant obligations -a neglect of the prescribed discipline of Christ's church- a general apathy and worldliness." This pessimistic tone pervades most of the annual reports of the church to the conference during this pastorate, so that quite naturally in 1866 the pastor persuades the church to supplement gospel with law by defining that clause in the rules that refers to "immoral conduct and breach of expressed covenant vows" as being "the use of or traffic in intoxicating liquors as a beverage; the occupation of the hours of the Lord's Day with ordinary secular labor; or with visiting, or riding for pleasure; dancing and card playing and social amuse- ments." Mr. Beach resigns in 1867. His pastorate has covered the period of the Civil War when the national con- science has been illumined as never before and when men and battlefields have been making their names sacred in the annals of free government. He has received about fifty members into the church, and the dismissing Council speaks of him as "a Christian gentleman, a ripe scholar, and a la- borious and faithful Christian minister."
From 1867 to the present time no less than seven pastors successively lead this church; and their periods of service are as follows: George F. Walker, 1867-72; Augustus M. Rice, 1873-75; William D. Hart, 1875-89; Thomas F. Norris, 1889-91; James Lade, 1892-98; Charles D. Crawford, 1898- 1900, when the present pastor takes up the work. The
(1) Minutes of the R. I. Conference of Congregational Churches, June, 1863.
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church and society vote to pay Mr. Walker a salary of ten hundred and fifty dollars, together with the use of the par- sonage place. But the minister, besides being a writer and preacher of ability, is somewhat of a mechanic; and soon after his arrival in town he expresses his desire for a new parsonage. In accordance with this wish, the old parson- age place is sold, land is bought and the present parish house built. Then as he and his people walk about Zion, they conceive the idea of raising the church, putting a ves- try underneath and building the tall steeple; and the same is undertaken. Mr. Walker helps shingle the renovated ed- ifice and he himself relates that one day the fog' is so thick that he nails the shingles right on it. The new parsonage place becomes the scene of many delightful old ladies' par- ties in strawberry time. The rules of the church are re- vised and the church manual reprinted; and in 1871 the Sunday afternoon service that has come down from a for- mer time is, by vote of the church, discontinued. The pas- tor resigns in 1872 and a Mr. Wheeler is then offered thie largest salary that has ever been offered any minister to come here-twelve hundred and fifty dollars, together with the use of the parsonage,-but he declines the call.
Of the next four pastors and the work they did it would be pleasant to speak at lengtli, did time per- mit; but they are all here and will speak for them- selves. Suffice it for me to say that Mr. Rice is remembered as a vigorous and spiritual preacher, and one who does much to start some people in the Christian life; that Mr. Hart is recalled as a gospel preacher, a devoted and wise pastor, and one who beautifies the parsonage grounds, does considerable to improve the singing and the Sunday School, organizes the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor and materially adds to the church membership; that Mr. Norris is still thought of as one who has served as a youth in helping put down the Re- bellion, comes to this place full of the energy and enthusi- asm of the mission fields of Kansas, and always has a good sermon; and that Mr. Lade while here preaches practical
(1) At times the fog in Little Compton is very dense, completely enveloping the town.
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sermons, renders efficient service as chorister and is a faith- ful visitor at the homes of the people. Reverend Charles D. Crawford, after graduating from college, completes his theological course at the Yale Divinity School. He serves as pastor of a church in Colorado and one in Kansas City, and then comes to Little Compton. He is a deep thinker, an earnest preacher, a sympathetic pastor, and a Christian gentleman. He is not puffed up, does not behave himself unseemly, seeks not his own, is not easily provoked, vaunts not himself, rejoices in the truth, and is very helpful and kind in his visits to the sick.1 And the rest of the acts of these men, and of the church which they led, behold! they are written in God's Book of Life! The present pastor comes to town in the autumn of 1900. Two preaching services on the Sabbath are maintained. The church man- ual is revised and reprinted. Over twenty members are re- ceived into the church. Land is purchased, sheds built, and other improvements made.
Thus, during the two hundred years of the existence of our church men of varying individuality have preached from this pulpit. Some have been able expounders of the word of God. Others have excelled as pastors. This one has been conservative in theology; that one more liberal. Here was one who was aggressive on questions of moral re- form; there one who moved more slowly. And yet if all of these fifteen men, from Richard Billings down to the speaker, were here, not one of us could say to another, "I have had no need of thee;" for is it not true that the selfsame Spirit has worked in and through all these leaders, speak- ing the gentle word here, the strong word there; sounding the conservative note at this time, the progressive at that time; that so, in this place, in the lives of succeeding gene- rations of men and women, there might be reproduced all the elements of character that the Man of Galilee exempli- fied who was gentle as a mother and yet strong as the great reformer; and who, while believing that God did verily speak unto Moses and the prophets, himself knew the Father at first hand? And as the minister to-day looks
(1) Mr. Crawford passed away in New York City in May, 1904.
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through the records of the church during this long period, seeing the prominent family names, some of which are now locally extinct; as he sees pass before him the great throng who in this town have fought the good fight and kept the faith, and have here helped create, conserve and direct a strong and righteous public sentiment, while he is fully convinced that the members of this church during the two hundred years since its organization, in common with Christ's disciples everywhere, "have been touched with the feeling of our infirmities" and that "their hearts have often burned within them" as their shepherds "talked with them by the way," he yet cannot help saying of those shepherds, dead and living, "Blessed were your eyes when you saw and knew these men and women in Israel." And yet it will not do for an ancient church merely to thirst for the glad days of the past. For two things are demanded of every such church located in a New England town. First of all, both pastor and people must be able, intelligently and reverently, to appreciate the Past-since God has been in that Past- and understand what the men and women of New England have accomplished during the last two hundred and fifty or three hundred years, and the terrible sacrifices involved. Then they must be able to discern the potentialities of the Present, and know how these are to be changed into living facts. For during all the years since the first Puritan walked these shores and while our fathers were bringing forth in Yankeeland a civilization grand as the world has ever seen, the words of Scripture have always been true that "What is seen hath not been made out of things which appear."
The people who worship in this historic place are now to begin the ascent of the third century of the noble career of their church. The world-view that greets their eyes differs materially from that which Pastor Billings and his people beheld. Then men had made no extensive critical study of the Bible. They knew little of the marvelous reve- lations of science. The ethnic religions had not been made to shed much light on the thought of the Apostle that whom the Athenians worshipped in ignorance, him Paul was de-
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claring unto them. The racial, political and commercial movements, which in our time are vehicles for a mightier inflow of the life of God, had not assumed present propor- tions. The larger joy of Christian toleration was not un- derstood. Today all this is changed. God has said to humanity, "Take up thy bed and walk;" and humanity, having obeyed, can never again adjust herself to the isola- tion of the past. The Church of Jesus Christ, having moved out from her fastnesses, will never return. And right here is the opportunity for the Puritanism of the fathers, baptized into the breadth of the Gospel, to teach the Sovereignty of God, a stricter interpretation of the moral law, a more faithful observance of the Lord's Day and those germinal truths that lie at the heart of the Christian religion. And let no one imagine that he can get along without that which made the fathers great and good. For it is the duty of every generation to seek the good the past did not have and keep the good the past did have. To teach this truth, to interpret in the spirit of Christ the wonderous ways of providence in our modern world, to have all men see and act out the truth that through the worship of the living God man's nature is attuned to the Spiritual Order that out of it messages may come and blessings flow-such is a part of the work which this church will continue to do through coming generations.
O! branch of the Church of Christ in Little Compton! For two hundred years thou hast proclaimed the gospel to the people of this town. Thou hast brought forth many no- ble sons and daughters. Thou hast taught them how to go, and they have leaned on thy arm. Thou hast baptized them, pointed them to God, married them and spoken words of comfort to them when dying. Thou hast been one of God's Good Samaritans going through all this region and binding up the wounds of poverty, unbelief and suffering. In thy day great things have been done in the earth. Wash- ington has come and gone. Franklin has chained the light- ning. Morse has invented the telegraph. This stalwart nation has risen and become a mighty power. The Union
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has been saved. The slave has been freed. The gospel has been preached to all the world. But thou hast not been a silent witness to these movements of Providence. Thou hast seen, thou hast thought, thou hast spoken. Thy min- isters and thy people have preached righteousness. Lo! they have seldom refrained their lips. And thou hast planted abroad the Larger Compton. Thou hast sent Bishop Brownell, Professor Shepard, Ray Palmer, and George W. Briggs to do the Lord's work in the wider world. And thus may it ever be! May it please God to give thee, O! mother of so many of the faithful, power to witness to His truth in coming time! May he permit thee to live to see this nation free from every curse that maketh an abom- ination and a lie and the whole earth filled with the knowl- edge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea! May he give thee many worthy sons and daughters in the future, as in the past, who shall love the place of his sanctuary and es- tablish here his work! For, as Lowell has written,
"I might as well
Obey the meeting-house's bell, And listen while Old Hundred pours
Forth through the Summer-opened doors, From old and young. I hear it yet, Swelled by bass-viol and clarinet, While the gray minister, with face
Radiant, let loose his noble bass.
If Heaven it reached not, yet its roll Waked all the echoes of the soul, And in it many a life found wings To soar away from sordid things. Church gone and singers too, the song
Sings to me voiceless all night long, Till my soul beckons me afar, Glowing and trembling like a star."(1)
(1) " Credidimus Jovem Regnare," by James Russell Lowell.
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ADDRESS
BY REV. AUGUSTUS M. RICE.
IT is difficult for me either to express or repress the emo- tions which arise as I once more stand in this place and re- call the facts that one of the original proprietors of this town of Little Compton and original members of this church, whose bones still lie beneath a brown-stone slab not a stone's throw from this pulpit, was my first New Eng- land ancestor; and also that, kneeling here, with the hands of the elders resting on my head, and the voice of the sainted Dr. Blodgett of Pawtucket sounding in my ear as he offered the ordaining prayer, I was set apart to the work of the gospel ministry. When I note the relation between these two facts so far apart in time and reflect upon the changes which have passed upon all things beneath the sun during the two hundred years between, I seem to see in this church a most impressive example of the survival of the fittest.
I can note but three things which in this town are at all the same as they were two hundred years ago; the ocean whose waves have never ceased to wash these shores through all the changeful years; the rocks which line these shores and stand as bulwarks to defend them against the encroach- ment of the waves, and this church of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ him- self being the chief corner-stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple of the Lord. All else has changed. The primeval forests as well as the original inhabitants have given place to many suc- cessors. Six generations of men have in turn occupied the earth since this church was founded. Governments, cus- toms, laws, habits and methods of living have suffered many transmutations since that early day. The men who
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founded this church saluted another flag than the one which now drapes these walls; they swore allegiance to the sov- ereign who ruled across the seas; they dwelt in homes far different externally and internally from ours. What would the founders of this town think of the homes which now adorn these shores and dot these green fields about us? The costumes they wore, the utensils of their home life both indoors and out are the rare curios we are invited to in- spect at the Hall this afternoon. What knowledge has this generation of pot-hooks and trammels? What boy or girl can tell you without a dictionary what a skillet or a runlet was used for?
Speaking of a runlet recalls a story told me by Gen. Na- thaniel Church which illustrates the change in customs from those elder days and may also have a bearing on one of the statements made in the historical discourse by the pastor. Gen. Church said: When I was a boy we had what was called the "minister's wood-hauling." Just be- fore cold weather in the fall there was a day appointed when the men went with their axes and oxen and carts out to the minister's wood lot and chopped down wood enough to last the minister a year, and hauled it to his house. It was great sport for us boys to go out with the men and see them cut down the trees. About the middle of the fore- ncon the minister would come out on his horse with a run- let strapped to his saddle and say, "I thought I would come out and see how you are getting on and bring you a little something to refresh you." Then he would get off his horse, take down the runlet, and, handing it with a cup to some one, would say. "You can all take a drink, but don't drink too much." Then they all took a drink, but they never gave me any. After talking a short time, the minis- ter would ride away, saying, "I hope you will have a pleas- ant day and no accidents." The men would go back to work and presently they would get very lively. One would say to another : I stump you to cut down that tree before I do this one. And the axes would fly, and the way the trees would come down was a wonder to the small boys. I
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was several years older before I saw any connection be- tween that runlet and the way those trees came down.
I tell this story as it was told to me nearly thirty years ago, with no disposition to controvert the statement quoted by the historian to the effect that the Rev. Mase Shepard never used and never gave to others any intoxicating drink. General Church did not say what that runlet. contained. He was not permitted to know. It might have been water from the spring, or some other liquid. Each one can draw his own conclusions. It is, however, quite plain that the Rev. Mr. Shepard knew how to use woodhauling day to the best advantage for his own woodpile. He may very well, for all that, have been an active participant in the temper- ance reforms of a hundred years ago. The church has sur- vived and been found worthy to survive the passing of many customs prevalent in public and social life because it has been the most potent instrument in their removal.
This church has survived from generation to generation because of the beneficent work it has done for each one of them successively. When churches fail to do that, they, like other things, pass away. This church has always ex- erted a beneficial influence on the social life of the town. Whatever may be true of city churches, the country church keeps all classes of people in helpful touch with one an- other. At the church they meet and greet one another every week, inquire after the welfare of all, interchange bits of innocent neighborhood gossip, and go home with a stronger feeling that they are members one of another. Be- ginning as children in the Sunday School the young people here became acquainted; in the church choir and the church social they met under circumstances which tended to pro- mote mutual respect and esteem, and, in many cases, unions which resulted in lifelong happiness to all concerned, in pure and pious homes without which no community can es- cape degeneracy.
This church has been a place where the rich and poor for six generations have met together to worship that God who is the Maker of them all. For that reason alone it deserves to survive. It has been the conservator of the Christian
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Sabbath-a day set apart from worldly pursuits and pleas- ures, for rest and the worship of God. Without such a Sabbath any community, however intelligent, will lapse into barbarism gross or refined. This church has been the custodian and defender of a Holy Bible which is the Word of the living God whose truths alone can make man free, whose precepts alone can make him godlike. By the pub- lie reading, teaching and proclaiming of that Word this church has brought it into vital and saving contact with the minds and hearts and lives of the people of this town; for that purpose it was founded by the fathers, and for doing that work it has no substitute. This church has stood for spiritual realities, has kept alive in this community faith in an invisible God and an unseen world. Always and everywhere among men the strong drift has been toward materialism. Force and phenomena are what science and philosophy are principally occupied with. Men learned in such matters find it much easier either to ignore or deny the existence of aught else than to demonstrate or even ad- mit it.
" The stars, they tell us, blindly run, A web is woven across the sky. From out waste places comes a cry And murmurs from a dying sun."
This church, however, stands for just the opposite of all such teachings and tendencies. For two hundred years it has here taught that the stars do not blindly run; but that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. There is no web woven across the sky; but we all are dwelling under an open Heaven with whose great Ruler we may have loving and unbroken fel- lowship, and the angels of God are continually ascending and descending on missions of love and mercy to the chil- dren of men.
The cries of the destroyer and the destroyed are not the only voices heard from out waste places. For God's ten- der mercies are over all his works; not a sparrow falleth without our Father: he opens his hand and supplies the
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needs of every living thing, giving to all their meat in due season. For every cry of pain heard among his creatures there are a thousand notes of gladness. And although in this age there is pain and travail for all creatures, we live in hope of a better day, when the sun, instead of being a dy- ing orb, shall shine with a splendor sevenfold his present brightness; for the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea, when sin and death shall disappear and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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