USA > Vermont > History of the Baptists in Vermont > Part 10
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WEST CLARENDON
There was occasional preaching in West Clarendon also by Elders Eastman, Cornell, Skeels and others. In 1789, Elder Isaac Beals was settled as pastor, whose labors resulted in the ingathering of large congregations and the melting down of opposition, and in securing occasional conversions. At length it pleased God to pour out his Spirit and convert a large number. A meeting-house was erected in 1798, and things wore the aspect of prosperity, but as in many cases, it was the forerunner of heavy trials. The church be- came divided, the society disbanded, and in less than four years
from this time this church was prostrate and in ruins. From 1802 to 1808 was a dark time in West Clarendon. Little attention was paid to the public worship of God. In 1808, the neighboring town of Ira was visited by an extensive revival and its influence extended into Clarendon. Large numbers professed conversion and united with the churches in Ira and East Clarendon. At length, in 1812,the Clarendon members of the Ira church united together and con- stituted a new church at West Clarendon, consisting of eighty-nine members. Its first pastor was Elder Daniel Tinkham. Under his
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labors the church seemed to prosper for several years. He was dis- missed in 1817. Nathaniel Culver, after being ordained, next be- came their pastor. He was with them about four years. Then Elder John Peck preached to them more or less for several years. The struggle in reference to Free Masonry occurred in the mean- time, which very much reduced and disheartened them. From this discouragement they did not rally, and before 1845 were extinct as a church.
DANBY
About the year 1780, Hezekiah Eastman, then a licentiate, came to this place and preached and gathered a church. He was soon after ordained, and being the first ordained minister in town, he took possession of the rights reserved by charter for the first settled minister. This church was one of the constituent members of the Vermont Association. In 1789, it reported one hundred and nine members. Mr. Eastman did not remain long after his ordina- tion, and sold out his ministerial right, and so involved himself in circumstances not the most favorable to himself, and not most favorable to the cause. After this there was some more preaching in town, but the church soon became extinct.
Hezekiah Eastman is described as a person of great natural ability. His education did not extend beyond the rudiments of a common English education, but he was a close student of the Bible, and a careful observer of men and things, and having thorough physical training he was prepared to endure great hardships. He met appointments in other towns and was obliged to travel many miles, sometimes on horseback and often on foot, over bad roads and through wilderness to meet appointments. His meetings were held in log houses and were generally large.
It is related that while he was preaching at a certain place, one Deacon Mott came in at the front door very late, causing a dis- turbance to the hearers, and Mr. Eastman himself was somewhat disturbed, and remarked that those coming in at the eleventh hour should enter the back door, which would cause less disturbance. Deacon Mott replied, "that the Bible taught that those that came
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in at the eleventh hour are just as good as those who came in at the first hour, and that he had come in the strait and narrow way, and who so entereth in any other way is a thief and a robber."
In 1833, Elder Packer visited Danby and made some effort to awaken an interest. The effort seemed to be blessed, a number pro- fessed conversion and were baptized, and soon after a church of twenty-one members was constituted. They enjoyed occasional preaching from different ministers for a time, and afterward en- joyed the services of licentiates, and in 1839, the church reported forty-four members. It soon met with discouragements. Some of its members moved away and it ceased to report to the Association and became extinct.
ARLINGTON
The Baptist church in Arlington, after due examination of her Articles of Faith, and Covenant, was constituted August 27, 1812, and received into the fellowship of the Baptist churches by the Ecclesiastical Council, then and there convened, from the fol- lowing churches: First Baptist church in Shaftsbury, Elder Isaiah Mattison, Deacon Nathaniel Hall; East Shaftsbury, Cyprian Downer, a licentiate, Deacon Daniel Smith; Fourth Shaftsbury, Deacon Ebenezer Clark, Jacob Galusha, Charles Dyer, Oliver Whipple, Russell Loomis; Manchester, Elder C. Chamberlain, Jacob Thomas, Samuel Pettibone, Salem, N. Y., Samuel M. Plumb, licentiate, Deacon Stephen Estee, James Lake, James Hastings, Cambridge, N. Y., Benjamin Smith, Leonard Center.
The church then consisted of fifty members residing in the towns of Arlington, Sunderland and Sandgate, who were previously members of Baptist churches and thus became a distinet church. Their names, Hull Curtis, James McKee, Currine McKee, Moses McKee, Aruba McKee, Jonas Galusha, Electa Galusha, Sarah Washborn, Lydia Bartlett, Amos Woolman, Mary Hinsdale, Abner Evarts, Isaac Whitehead, Hepsibah Pollard, Sally Pollard, Benajah Cook, Caleb Andrews, Ruonril Andrews, Sarah Canfield, Elisha King, Philip Marble, Jr., Sally Marble, K. Griffin, Reuben Beebe, Elizabeth Beebe, Moses B. Sherwin, Lucy Sherwin, John
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Baron, Sally Baron, Rhoda Temple, Lydia Perkins, Amos Baron, Mary Baron, Eunice Baron, Anna Annin, David Allen, Polly Allen, Lillis Wheat, Laura Aylsworth, Clarissa Aylsworth, Nathan Skin- ner, Jeptha Beebe, Sarah Beebe, Rufus Spencer, Hulda Spencer, Mary Ward, David Mattison, Jr., Rhoda Curtis, Persis Folsom, Abigal Baker, Hannah Curtis, Elizabeth Elsworth.
On the same day after the council adjourned, the church ap- pointed Moses McKee, moderator, and Elias King, clerk, and then adjourned to the 10th of September, at the house of Jeptha Beebe. September 10, met agreeable to adjournment and elected dea- cons, Hull Curtis and Moses McKee; Elisha King was chosen clerk.
The preceding is taken from the church records, and from them we learn that at different times there were added to the church, in about twenty years, over a hundred and twenty more members. During that period, and perhaps a few more, the ordinances of the Gospel were enjoyed and much of the time the services of a Gospel preacher. Some severe trials were passed through-many of the most efficient members removed to other parts and several died. Most of the time they enjoyed a good degree of harmony, but roots of bitterness did spring up. The efficient members were few and constantly diminishing: opposition from without was powerful, in wealth and influence; the love of many waxed cold. The church ceased to report to the Association after 1836. In its last report it expressed fears that its candle would be removed, and that fear was soon after realized.
CHAPTER VIII ADDISON COUNTY ASSOCIATION
On the 13th of November, 1833, a Convention was held in Whiting (as tradition has it, for the minutes of that body do not give the place of meeting), for the purpose of organizing a new Association in Addison County. Nine churches were represented by their delegates. Elders Henry Green, Isaac Sawyer, Anthony Case, Aaron Angier and Jehial Wright were invited to a seat with them.
The Convention resolved that it was expedient to form such an Association, appointed a committee to draft a constitution and rules of decorum, and appointed H. H. Haff to preach the in- troductory sermon, and B. Carpenter to write the circular letter.
Agreeably to appointment, delegates from the churches repre- sented in the Convention, and also from Cornwall and Charlotte churches, not there represented, met at the Baptist meeting-house in Panton, and organized the Association by choice of Rev. B. Carpenter, moderator, and Rev. S. Fletcher, clerk. The churches thus associated were: Whiting, with one hundred members, Rev. W. Moore, pastor; Middlebury, sixty-three members, Rev. H. H. Haff, pastor; Bristol, eighty-two members, Rev. Henry Green, pastor; Ferrisburg, seventeen members, Rev. John A. Dodge, pastor; Monkton, forty-nine members; Bridport, one hundred and thirty-eight members, Rev. S. Fletcher, pastor; Addison, one hundred and thirty-six members, Rev. B. Carpenter, pastor; Pan- ton, eighty-six members, Rev. J. Tenbroek, licentiate; Weybridge, fifty-seven members, Rev. J. Wright, pastor; Cornwall, eighty- three members, Rev. A. Case, pastor; Charlotte, thirty-five men- bers. Total membership, seven hundred and forty-one.
All the churches constituting the Addison Association had been connected with the Vermont Association, and their with-
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drawal to form an Association by themselves appears to have been the result of the Anti-Masonic controversy. Several efforts had been made by the churches holding the most radical disciplinary sentiments on this subject, to have the Vermont Association de- clare itself in favor of excluding members of the Masonic Fraternity from the churches. The Association declined to pass the desired resolution, considering it better to leave the settlement of that vexed question with the individual churches. This unsatisfactory action unquestionably had much to do with the call of the Conven- tion which decided to organize a new association.
The first resolution passed in the new organization put it on the desired platform. "Resolved, that this Association recom- mend to the churches composing it to deal with such as practice speculative Freemasonry (if any there be) as they would with those that practice other moral evils." The history of the Associa- tion, and of the individual churches, indicate that a ruling common purpose of the body was active opposition to existing moral evils, of which Freemasonry was considered one, by public discussions in their annual sessions, and by vigorous disciplinary measures in the several churches. At the first session, R. B. James, agent of the Moral Reform Society, New York, and O. S. Murray, agent of the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society, were present and participated in the exercises.
Their second resolution, after several addresses on the subject, was, "Resolved, that, in the opinion of this Association, the prin- ciples of the American Seventh Commandment and Female Moral Reform Societies, do fully accord with the Scriptures, and their measures are well calculated to prevent licentiousness, and that we consider the publication of McDowall's Journal peculiarly adapted to promote the objects of these societies; and for this pur- pose recommend it to the patronage of our churches and the public generally." From the beginning, for many years, slavery, licen- tiousness, intemperance, war and kindred topics, received a large share of attention in the annual sessions and the resolutions passed are in language plainer and stronger than most of such declarations in the other associations.
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A peace resolution passed at the session in 1837, is worthy of record, being advanced enough to satisfy the most ardent advocate of peace measures. "Resolved, that the precepts and example of our Saviour teach peace on earth and good will to men; that he laid down his life in obedience to the principle of non-resistance- of rendering good for evil, leaving vengeance to the Lord; that his precepts are to be obeyed and his example to be imitated, by all his followers. Resolved, therefore, that all war and fighting is sinful, and consequently to be immediately abandoned, forever abstained from, and always reproved by every follower of Christ; Resolved, that to be in preparation for war is not the way to pre- vent war, but, on the contrary, directly calculated to induce it. therefore, it is the duty of all christians to discountenance and testify against all military trainings,-the keeping of standing armies,-the building of fortifications,-the establishment and maintenance of institutions of learning for teaching the art of war- and all means and measures by which the unchristian, irrational practice is perpetuated."
From the beginning the Association made special effort to incite the churches to active interest in all the benevolent and mis- sionary enterprises of the time. The churches were urged to form themselves into charitable societies, and to take immediate meas- ures to raise a definite sum per member for benevolent purposes. They were advised to observe the evening of the first Monday in each month as the Missionary Concert of Prayer, and every Satur- day evening as a Concert of Special Prayer, for a revival of religion in the churches of the Association.
Prompt efforts were made to secure a fund for the benefit of widows and orphans of deceased Baptist ministers. At the meet- ing in 1836, a fund of $850 was raised fort his purpose, and annually. contributions were made and dispensed under the management of trustees. The Bible cause and Ministerial Education and other branches of work were not neglected in the discussions and plans of this body.
The opening years of the Association were full of promise. In 1835, the churches of Orwell, Cornwall and Addison received an unusually large number by baptism. The year following was still
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more encouraging. Addison received forty-three by baptism and three by letter; Bristol, eighty-three by baptism, and nine by letter; Charlotte received thirty-six new members, more than doubling its former membership; Whiting received thirty-one new members, and the total number of baptisms in the Association that year was two hundred and twenty-seven, the largest accession in its history.
The Panton church was revived in 1839 and received seventy- two converts.
From 1836 there begins the history of a steady and sorrowful decline. The Association, which in 1836, numbered one thousand, one hundred and ninety-five, was in 1865, reduced to three hundred and forty-five, or less than one-third the number which it had once attained. The annual reports from the churches were extremely depressing. Now and then there were hopeful indications, but for the most part indications of weakness, trouble and decline.
The causes of decadence were many. One unavoidable cause was the emigration of the younger and vigorous members to the west or to the cities. The proportion of losses to be credited to this cause have no doubt, however, been sometimes overestimated. Other more destructive causes were at work.
The extreme Anti-Masonic sentiments which prevailed in these churches gave them frequent trouble. Sympathy with Free- masonry was as hateful to them as heresy, and the discovery of it in a member, and especially in a minister, was like a spark in powder.
In July, 1830, the church in Bristol, after declaring Masonry incompatible with the religion of Jesus Christ, had resolved that "we cannot receive nor fellowship any person in this church that has anything to do with Speculative Freemasonry, directly or in- directly, in supporting or upholding the same." Parties were formed in a way that made neutrality untenable. Good members were highly excited about the possible connivance of the pastor with that system. The grievance with the church was "for keeping Elder Hendee to preach on account of Masonry." Elder H. stated to the council that he was once a Mason, but now avoided all as- sociation with that obnoxious fraternity. Yet he could not unite in the exposure and indiscriminate denunciation against them, but
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had attempted to maintain a strict neutrality. The council finally "Resolved, that the minority has had cause of grief with the church that they had not required of Elder H. a full and frank expression of his disapprobation of Freemasonry, as he ought to have made. Resolved, that the minority ought to be satisfied with the expression Elder H. has this day made." Elder Hendee closed his labors October 1, 1831.
From the earliest days of Vermont Baptist History, Free- masonry was regarded with undisguised suspicion by many in the churches. It was questioned whether a christian ought to become a Mason, and whether churches should fellowship any person who was a member of that secret order. But about 1827, excitement on that subject became acute. A man named Morgan, a printer, had published for gain, a book in which the harmless secrets of the order of Freemasons, of which he was a member, were divulged. Public curiosity caused this book to have an immense sale. Soon after its publication, Morgan announced another volume which was to re- veal unimagined horrors; but before the book appeared Morgan disappeared, and neither ever came to light. Now arose the ques- tion, "What became of Morgan?" and it rent the nation for a time into two embittered and angry factions. "Morgan," said the Free- mason, "died and was buried in the natural and ordinary fashion."
"Morgan," said the Anti-Masons, ":hat martyred patriot, was dragged from his home by Masonic ruffians, taken in the dead of night to the shores of Niagara river, murdered, and thrown into the rapids." It is impossible for anyone to conceive the utter delirium into which the people in some parts of the country were thrown by the agitation of this subject. Books were written : papers were established. Exhibitions were gotten up in which Masonic ceremonies were caricatured. Families were divided. Fathers disinherited their sons, and sons forsook their fathers. Elections were influenced, not in towns and counties merely, but state and national.
There were Masonic candidates and Anti-Masonic candidates in every election in the northern states for at least two years after Morgan vanished. It was seriously believed among the Anti- Masons that the Masons were bound to protect one another in
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doing injustice; even the commission of murder and treason did not, it was said, exclude a man from the shelter of his lodge. It was alleged that a Masonic jury did not dare, or would not, condemn a prisoner, who after the fullest proof of his guilt had been obtained, made the Masonic sign of distress. It was said that a judge re- garded the oath which made him a Freemason as more sacred and more binding than that which admitted him to the bench. "It is in vain," said the Anti-Masons, "for one of us to seek justice against a Mason, for a jury cannot be obtained without its share of Masonic members, and a court cannot be found without its Masonic judge." This is a secular account of Freemasonry excitement, taken from James Parson's "Life of Horace Greeley." Naturally this excite- ment affected the churches. It divided the Vermont Association and was the cause of the withdrawal from it of the churches that immediately formed the Addison Association. In this Association the hostility to Masonry was particularly fatal to the peace of the churches, and among the causes of the decline and extinction of some of them.
The Advent excitement in this Association was violent and more destructive here than in any other part of the State. William Miller was a member of the Orwell church and licensed by it to preach. He was permitted to lecture freely among the churches of the Association, and a large number of members embraced his doctrines. But, not content with differing with their brethren, they became schismatics, denouncing all who did not embrace the same views. They stigmatized the churches as "Babalon," "the mother of harlots," and the "abomination of the earth." "The wise" were called to come out of them and touch not the unclean thing. They forsook the churches and its ordinances and defamed both alike. They desired to be separated from the churches and would not walk with them, and accordingly after a time were expelled. The churches sometimes failed in forbearance, but in the main their exclusion was a necessity.
Another breeder of discord and destruction was Orison S. Murray, who was a member of the Orwell church until expelled. He had been licensed in 1837 by this church to preach. He was the anti-slavery leader of the Association. But mingling with his anti-
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slavery views other dogmas opposed alike to the word of God and the peace of the churches, he drifted farther and farther from the simplicity of the Gospel until he made land at last in open infidelity. He drew some disciples after him, and this Association furnished some who embraced his pernicious heresies. On this account ex- pulsions were necessary.
There were still other causes for decline. Rev. T. H. Archibald, in his semi-centennial address before this Association in 1883, spoke with utmost frankness upon these causes, and since his address was adopted and printed in the minutes, his judgment appears to have been endorsed by the Association as historically correct. He says, "An influence far more fundamental and far reaching was at work, and that was the worldliness of the members generally. This spirit manifested itself in many directions. One of these was an utter failure to provide an adequate support for the ministry. The As- sociation has had not a few able men in the pastorate of the different churches, but they were so inadequately supported that they were either compelled to resort to secular labors for a livelihood, or to leave the Association for other fields, where those who waited upon their ministry were willing also to communicate to them in temporal things. The names of M. D. Miller, J. Tenbroek, W. G. Johnson, J. Wescott, Benjamin Brierly, Ahira Jones, I. Keach, A. Angier, and others that might be mentioned, show clearly that there might have been no dearth of ministerial service. But they were often hampered by their pecuniary necessities and took their departure, literally starved out, to bless other communities with their work of faith and labor of love.
"Such men as E. H. Gray, D. D., E. B. Smith, D. D., M. M. Dean, were the spiritual children of these churches, but they could have no hope of sufficient support if they tarried where they first received spiritual life, and they left the people who would never fully appreciate their work, and afford them such means of living as would enable them to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word."
Historical sketches of the churches were read before the Association, from year to year, beginning in 1852, in the following order, Bridport, Orwell, Bristol, Monkton, Charlotte, Panton,
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Whiting, Addison, Waltham, Middlebury, Ferrisburgh, Cornwall and Shoreham.
These were printed in the minutes of the Association and are interesting and valuable sources of information concerning the early life of these churches. They were written with remarkable plainness and abundantly confirm what has been said concerning the causes for the declension of the Association in membership and strength. The judicial function of the church was conscien- tiously exercised, but not always with discretion, and was some- times overtaxed by a trivial fault-finding disposition. Several elements of weakness will appear in a single incident, quaintly told in the history of the Middlebury church. "While Elder Nathaniel Kendrick labored with the church his support was so little that he taught school. He was much attached to the church, and left because he felt compelled to, saying in effect that he would submit to the most homely fare if he could be permitted to preach to the church in Middlebury." The reason he left was like this: "A certain Diotrephes (we will call him), became a member of the church. Seth Langdon, a most exemplary man, was appointed deacon. Diotrephes coveted the office and frequently entered complaint against Deacon Langdon in the church, but the precise cause of the complaint against the deacon has not transpired farther than that Deacon Langdon was exalted and Diotrephes abased. He left the meeting, also declaring he "could not walk with the church so long as Mordecai sat in the king's gate." He also alleged that the deacon's wife was unfit for the duties that devolved upon her. Whether Diotrephes met the fate of Haman we leave others to decide, for both Diotrephes and the Deacon's wife soon died, and we may suppose that the Deacon obtained a wife, who, in the estimation of Diotrephes, was fit to share in the honors and duties of deaconship, for the Deacon soon afterward married his widow.
Elder Kendrick felt the disturbing influence of this modern Diotrephes, and though no one could say aught against his charac- ter or ministry, though he had a good report of those without, the male members showed uncommon apathy when the time for raising a new subscription arrived. On the other hand the sisters were
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very anxious for him to remain, and four of them went out with their subscription papers and raised the stipulated salary without any aid from the male members of the church. It was a sore trial for Elder Kendrick to leave the church, but he had accepted an- other place before he knew that his salary had been raised.
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