USA > Vermont > History of the Baptists in Vermont > Part 13
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which he went out with a number of the members to join the Adventists. Ira Bently was ordained pastor, August 12, 1843, but continued only a short time. S. P. Warren, a licentiate, was ordained March 23, 1848, and he too made but a brief stay. E. W. Allen began leadership in 1858.
The Advent excitement greatly reduced the ranks of the church, and, in 1860, there were but four men and fifteen women members.
The name of the church was changed by vote of the church, September 17, 1817, to The New Haven and Weybridge church. The church became extinct in 1876.
RUPERT
Elder Warren, of Salem, labored here one-fourth of the time from 1794 to 1797, and other ministers occasionally. A church of thirty-three members was organized in 1803, and Alvin Wales was ordained pastor. A very extensive and powerful revival attended his ministry, and a large number were added to the church. In 1804, the membership was one hundred and two. Elder Wales left in 1809. Rev. Werden P. Reynolds became pastor in 1813. Twenty-one were baptized in 1815, and fifty-three in 1817, and ten received by letter. In 1818, fifteen new members were re- ceived and the total membership became one hundred and seventy- two. Declension followed. Some of the members became Camp- bellites. In 1830, when Elder Wait became pastor, the church was reduced to about thirty members. But the Spirit was again poured out. In the spring of 1831, Daniel Mattison, a young man of dissolute habits and skeptical opinions, given to profanity and intemperance, astonished the church by telling a christian experi- ence and requesting baptism. Mr. Mattison convinced the most incredulous of his sincerity and of the genuineness of his conver- sion. He manifested much zeal in religion and was quite useful. This case, as might be expected, created quite a sensation. Not long after, the church commenced a protracted meeting which was greatly blessed. The power of God was manifest in the conversion of many. Among those who were baptized as the fruit of this
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revival were Milo Frary, Horace F. Davis and Daniel Mattison, all of whom entered the ministry. Daniel Mattison died at Mere- dith Village, N. H., after a brief but eminently useful ministry. About this time Elder E. S. Soulard united with this church. He had formerly been a Methodist preacher. Elder Linus J. Rey- nolds was licensed by this church in 1825. Elder Wait continued in the pastorate four years, and was followed by Elder G. W. Free- man. In 1841, the church numbered eighty-four. The year previous it had taken down its old meeting-house and erected a new one, on the same site. Up to 1818, the church had been con- nected with the Vermont Association. For some reason its name does not appear again in the minutes of that Association. In 1848, it united with the Shaftsbury Association, and under its name in the digest of letters is this quaint report: "The church in Rupert report themselves to the Shaftsbury Association this year, for the first time. Having learned the necessities of this body, and having respect to its age as well as its feebleness, they have kindly come to cast in their lot with us. They record, with devout thanksgiving, the merciful dealings of Divine Providence with them during their history as a church. They call to mind great deliverances, and their hopes are enkindled when they think of all God has done for them. Their congregation on the Sabbath is full. Instead of a Sabbath school they have an exercise in Bible study on Sabbath evening, which most of the congregation join. They say 'our sympathies are with the various objects of benevol- ence sustained by the denominations.'"
The next year (1849), Elder A. Harvey had resigned, and Rev. N. Combs was preaching for them. The Association met with them that year. In 1850, they were without a pastor and, owing to the sparseness of the population, they were having difficulty in sustaining the Sunday school. They assembled regularly to read the Scriptures, and to exhort and pray. In 1850, they were still destitute of a pastor, and sent only a verbal report to the Association; the membership was seventy-eight. This was the last report given to the Association. The church doubtless became extinct not long afterwards.
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BRIDPORT
On March 8, 1804, four brethren and four sisters, who had lately been baptized, entered into covenant to maintain the forms and obligations of a distinct church, and were duly recognized as the Baptist church in Bridport. The revival of which this was one of the fruits, was due to the preaching of Elders Samuel Rogers, Henry Chamberlain, Abel Woods and other ministers, who visited and labored with this people. At the first meeting of the church twenty-two Baptists, resident in the vicinity, united with them by letter, and Cabell Smith was chosen clerk. A meeting-house was soon erected of which the Congrega- tionalists owned one-third and the Baptists two-thirds. Elder Chamberlain was chosen pastor in 1806, and continued to serve till 1812, when Elder Elisha Starkweather took up the work and served four years. At this time a parsonage and farm was pur- chased, which the minister was to own if he occupied it, and applied in payment all of his salary for a certain time. Embar- rassed by this property, the prospects of the church for a time declined and it had but occasional preaching by Elder Chamberlain. In 1815, a Baptist Female Society was organized with thirty-three members. In 1820, the church united with the Methodists in erecting a meeting-house at the village for the accommodation of members of the church in Addison and Cornwall living near, who would bear most of the expense and bring large accessions of strength. About this time, Elder Ravlin and Elder Ephraim Sawyer supplied alternately.
In 1821, there was a general awakening, and forty were added to the church. Jonathan Merriam was next pastor, ordained January 29, 1825. Mr. Merriam's work was distinctively educa- tional. He believed, to use his own terms, "that mental and moral cultivation must go hand in hand if we are to raise up an intelligent, consistent and active race of christians." By his efforts a Sunday school and Bible class was organized, the first in the town, and to this work he gave special attention with marked success. In the winter of 1829, under very deep convictions as to his responsibility for souls, Mr. Merriam gave himself to prayer and labor to the
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limit of his strength, and had the pleasure of seeing the church quickened and some fifty converted, of whom twenty-eight were baptized. The Masonic excitement, which was intense at that time, limited the extent of this revival. Mr. Merriam, with the consent of the church, traveled extensively in 1831, as the Mission- ary agent of the American Sunday School Union, but resumed his church work in December, after a somewhat protracted sickness.
A protracted meeting was held in the fall of 1831, and resulted in a general revival. Mr. Merriam baptized sixty converts. In seven years he baptized one hundred and twelve, and had the joy of seeing the church walking in harmony, growing in intelligence and christian philanthropy, and warmly supporting the principle of temperance in the infancy of its mission in the State.
In 1833, he removed, and his place was supplied by Elders Kimball, Fletcher, Green and Harvey successively. Meanwhile an active emigration reduced the church to forty-four members, and proportionably lessened the size of the congregation and of the Sunday school.
In 1837, Elder E. D. Towns was ordained, and labored for a time with some success. About 1849, the prospects of the church appeared so dark that several meetings were held in which the wisdom of disbanding was considered. The final result of these prayerful inquiries was a unanimous resolve, "that we would re- main aboard Zion's ship and try to keep her planks together in this place a few years longer, until we were borne over the billows and anchored safely in the port of eternal rest." About this time Elder J. K. Wright visited Bridport, and supplied the church half the time. They united in building a house of worship on the original site in the westerly part of the town. The membership at that time numbered sixty-two. The little church continued its walk some twenty years after its decision to keep together. Elder Wright served them eight years; C. R. Green, four; W. H. Blais- dell, three. Covenant and prayer meetings were sustained, often when there was no preaching. Two places of worship were kept up at times, but following the pastorate of Elder Blaisdell the church ceased sending reports to the Association, and about 1875, became extinct.
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CHARLOTTE
This church was organized in a private house in Charlotte, May 6, 1807. It consisted of nineteen members, who were dis- missed from the church in Monkton for this purpose. During the same season nineteen more were added by baptism and letter. In October, this church united with the Vermont Association con- vened in Bridport. Its first deacon was S. Gibbs; clerk, U. Palmer. Of its subsequent history, little is available more than the annals of its pastorates and a few items connected with them. Elder N. Dana was settled in 1808, and served two years. In 1810, Elisha Starkweather was ordained and remained several years. In 1817, John Howard was settled as pastor, when a brighter day began to dawn after seven years of trials, in which her membership dimin- ished nearly one-half. Artemas Arnold officiated from 1821 to 1823. About this time Elder J. A. Dodge commenced labor with the church and continued with them for many years, when not other- wise supplied. In 1825, A. Covil was licensed to preach. In 1826, thirteen were added by baptism; among the number was Amos Clark, who afterward served the church as deacon. In 1828, Brother D. Tucker was chosen deacon. In 1831, Elder E. Mott accepted the pastorate and a revival season followed. In 1834, the church united with the Addison Association. In 1836, M. D. Miller preached half the time, and thirty-six were added to the church. Amos Clark was ordained as deacon, also Milo Fuller, from the church in Keeseville, was received and appointed deacon. M. Flint was pastor from 1837 to 1841.
Charles Fuller was licensed in 1838. Elder J. Tenbroek began a very prosperous pastorate in 1841, continuing till 1845, during which time forty were added by baptism, and others by letter, bringing the membership to seventy-six. J. M. Driver succeeded him, serving till 1850; Lyman Smith, 1850-1854; E. W. Allen, 1856; J. A. Dodge, 1860; G. W. Bixby, 1861; L. Smith, 1862-1865; S. F. Dean, 1867-1868; A. Jones, 1869-1872; H. D. Hodge, 1873- 1876; I. Sawyer, 1877-1878; C. A. Votey, 1879-1881; R. Nott, 1884-1886; J. Freeman, 1888-1889; A. H. Murray, 1890-1893; H.
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ILSLEY MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH A gift to the Middlebury Baptist Church from Col. and Mrs. Silas A. Ilsley, in memory of his father, Rev. Silas Ilsley.
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T. Slocum, S. H. Carr, 1898-1905; T. R. Edwards, 1906; Thomas Davison, 1907-1911. Membership in 1912, thirty-seven.
MIDDLEBURY
The pioneer Middlebury church was organized in the court house, December 18, 1809. The churches represented in the council were Cornwall, New Haven, Shoreham and Monkton. The pastors: Henry Green, Lemuel Phelps, Abel Woods and Isaac Sawyer.
Elder Nathaniel Kendrick became their pastor, continuing in that relation from December, 1810, till June, 1817. 'He enjoyed the confidence and respect of the community in a great degree, and during the seven and a half years of his pastorate over ninety members were added to the church. But difficulties arose which seemed to hinder his usefulness, and he removed from Middlebury, greatly to the loss of the church. Elder Isaac Bucklin succeeded him, but found it impossible to smooth perfectly the path of the brethren and sisters. Elder Henry Green took great interest in the church, and occasionally went from Cornwall to help them in their destitution.
In October, 1826, the church became discouraged, and called a council of sister churches to consider the propriety of disband- ing. The council met in the old Episcopal church. Elder Henry Green questioned each member separately, respecting religious feeling, daily walk, prayer and so forth. Of the five ministers composing the council, three favored disbanding the church, and two, Elders Green and Elias Hurlbut, opposed it. Elder Green pithily remarked that he believed that the child was alive, and he was opposed to burying it before it was dead; and he thanked God that there was one brother who thought with him. He said, "I feel that there is life in the church, and we ought to nourish it." Elder Hurlbut carried the case of the church to the Convention; assistance was obtained, and Elder Haff was settled as pastor. The church revived courage, several were added, and a general appearance of prosperity was manifested.
It reported a membership of ninety in 1843, but from that time it declined, till in 1852, it became extinet.
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In 1879, thirty Baptists in Middlebury were organized into the present Middlebury church. Rev. Charles Hibbard was secured as pastor. Rev. T. H. Archibald became deeply interested in the enterprise of re-establishing Baptist interests in Middlebury. For many years the State Convention made liberal appropriations for its support. But the Baptist church seemed overshadowed by other churches, and its growth and prosperity retarded by many apparently insuperable difficulties. Serious doubts were some- times entertained as to whether further expenditure of Convention funds on this field were wise. But whenever the question of abandoning the church was seriously considered there were always some who, like good old Henry Green, saw signs of life in the child and were not willing to bury it before it was dead.
During Mr. Hibbard's pastorate, of about four years, a par- sonage was secured and paid for, and a new church edifice erected. and the church started on a hopeful career. In 1884, Rev. A. DeF. Palmer was secured as pastor. Two years later came a revival and ten were added by baptism, three by lecter and two by restora- tion, and the membership became fifty-seven. Mr. Palmer was succeeded, in 1889, by Rev. A. A. Cambridge, who remained three years, and was followed by Rev. T. G. Lyon. During this pastorate, a Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor of thirty-eight members was formed, and a Junior Society of twenty members, greatly increasing interest in the church. Mr. Lyon resigned in September, 1894, and was followed by Rev. D. W. Lyman, in 1896. Mr. Lyman resigned in May, 1897, and Mr. A. B. Potter was or- dained pastor in September, 1897. The years 1899 and 1900 were saddened by the death of the senior deacon, and the serious illness of the other deacon, and by the death of Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Archi- bald, who had for many years been deeply interested in the welfare of the church. Rev. E. O. Taylor was pastor from 1901 till 1905, when Rev. Geo. R. Stair was secured by the special efforts of Superintendent W. A. Davison. The church entered upon a re- markable period of progress. The attendance upon congregations greatly increased; the Sunday evening congregations numbered two hundred. The prayer meetings became deeply spiritual. The Lord put it into the heart of Col. Silas A. Ilsley to befriend
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the church. By his generosity the floating debt was cancelled; a thousand dollars given as an endowment; a Brussels carpet obtained; a parsonage given the church, valued at six thousand dollars; new hymnals furnished the church; and the pastor's salary in- creased from six hundred to one thousand dollars. Eighteen were added to the membership by baptism, and the next year thirteen more by baptism and otherwise, raising the membership to seventy- one. The prospects of the church were so encouraging, and Col. Ilsley's heart so moved, that he built a costly and attractive marble church edifice, on one of the most eligible sites in the place, as a memorial to his father, Rev. Silas Ilsley. All this was done abso- lutely unsolicited. Mr. Stair's pastorate continued prosperous. In 1907, he was assisted by Evangelist Hafer, and as a result of special effort, thirty-three were received by baptism, the member- ship becoming one hundred and six. In 1909, twenty-five per cent of the membership were heads of families. Mr. Stair became deeply interested in the Chapman-Alexander evangelistic services of 1809, and resigned to enter evangelistic work. Rev. A. E. Harriman was secured as his successor. Twenty-seven were added to the church that year. In 1910, the State Convention was entertained by the Middlebury church and had the delightful evidence of answers to the prayers of the faithful, and the satis- faction of knowing that the expenditure, through a series of years, of about ten thousand dollars on this field, had not been in vain. It was well that it did not become weary in this well doing.
Mr. Harriman was succeeded, in 1910, by Rev. R. B. Esten.
The Middlebury church reported in 1912, a total membership of one hundred and twenty-three; resident members, eighty-four. Home expenses three thousand, four hundred dollars. Contribu- tions, three hundred and thirty-nine dollars. Sunday school, one hundred and twenty-two members. Church property, sixty- nine thousand dollars.
FERRISBURG
A council met November 13, 1816, at the house of Ashbell Fuller in Ferrisburg, to take into consideration the propriety of
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organizing into a Gospel church a small band of believers, consist- ing of Brother J. P. Hyde, formerly member of the Essex and Jericho church, at whose request the council was called, with several others. On examination it was found that but four of the appli- cants for a council were members of other churches, the others were recent converts, the fruit of the occasional labors of Elders Cham- berlain, Howard and Butler. The council proceeded to examine these as candidates for baptism. Those presenting themselves were Moses Hinds, William Walker, Ashbell Fuller, Jr., John A. Dodge and Luther Carpenter. Sisters, Betsy Walker, Lucy Fuller, Seraih Fuller, Nelly Luce. These nine gave good evidence of regeneration and the council voted to receive them after baptism. They were accordingly baptized the next day, and with J. P. Hyde, Fred E. Fuller, and sisters Sally Fuller and Eleanor Clinton, were organized and acknowledged as a Baptist church. The church prospered. Before the close of the year, twenty-three converts had been baptized, and additions continued at frequent intervals. In March, 1817, Ephraim Butler was ordained pastor, and a com- mittee was appointed to secure a suitable place of worship near the center of the town. In 1818, many valuable members took letters and removed to other parts, and quite a number became the subject of church censure and discipline.
At a covenant meeting in April, it was voted to give Brother J. P. Hyde and John A. Dodge "liberty to exercise their gifts in speaking for the edification of the church." Elder Butler, at his own request, was dismissed March 20, 1819.
November, 1821, the church ordained John A. Dodge as pastor. He continued in office till 1838. Elder J. H. Wright suc- ceeded him. In June, 1841, the church, having secured an inter- est in the brick meeting-house at Ferrisburg Center, discontinued worship in the schoolhouse near James Hodge's and to the end of their existence as a church assembled in this place.
In August, 1841, Theodore Lyman was elected the last clerk. Under the occasional labor of Elder Wright, the little band con- tinued to struggle on against fluctuating influences incident to time, until the work of emigration and death had so diminished
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their number that, in 1854, their existence as a church ceased. Their aggregate membership during a period of twenty-nine years was one hundred and nineteen, of which the greater part united by baptism.
COL. SILAS A. ILSLEY Vice President of Convention Board
CHAPTER X
REVIVALS
The early history of the Baptists of Vermont is marked by many "seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," by which christians were encouraged, and souls in large numbers "were added to the Lord." It has been truthfully said of our early ministers, "They went up and down our rivers and streams among the new settlements and small hamlets and had wonderful success. To follow them in their letters is like breathing the balm of the primeval forests through which they used to travel. There is an atmosphere of Apostolic piety and zeal about them. They endured labors and encountered difficulties hardly less than those which Judson and his companions overcame. The evangelization of Vermont is due to a consecration, and a missionary spirit identical in kind and equal in enthusiasm to that which sent Judson to Burma."
In the year 1799, there was a very remarkable manifestation of renewing grace in the south western portion of this State. Of this, Rev. Caleb Blood, of Shaftsbury, gives an account in Backus' Church History of New England.
In the early part of 1798, Mr. Blood was greatly affected by the low state of religion among the people and began to pray earnestly for the outpouring of the Spirit, and the salvation of souls. Soon was manifest an abundant answer to prayer. One was baptized in July, four in August, and seventeen in September. The good work went forward in power, and on February 21, 1799, he had baptized one hundred and fifty since the preceding May. The work was not confined to one church. All the churches in Shaftsbury were refreshed. In about two months after the work began the whole town was greatly revived. The churches in Shaftsbury had not been in the most cordial fellowship, but their
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differences were removed. They met together at the communion table in cordial fellowship. Seventy were added to the West church and thirteen to the East church. When one remembers the scanty population of the town at this time, this number of conversions must be regarded as a most remarkable exhibition of saving grace.
In the Massachusetts Baptist missionary magazine of May, 1804, Rev. Sylvanus Haynes gives an account of a remarkable revival in Middletown. During several years there had been a remarkable spread of error and infidelity. Unusual stupidity and contempt of religion prevailed, and even professed christians had become uncommonly dull and inactive. The churches, too, were wading through scenes of sorrowful trials, and everything looked dark and discouraging. In the spring and summer of 1800, a spirit of prayer was awakened. Mr. Haynes speaks of his own intense anxiety and burden for souls, and of his special engagedness in preaching the acceptable year of the Lord.
In the spring, an aged woman in the west part of the town was taken sick, whose remarkable exercises of mind, conversation, and death (which was in August following), deeply and lastingly impressed some of her grandchildren and their discourse had effect on other youth. By this time some christians began to be aroused, and about the last of October some conferences were attended. In November, the conferences were frequent and began to be crowded. In December, the work continued to spread. Some opposed and blasphemed and ridiculed the work. On Thanksgiving evening, December 5, a great uproar was made in the town, and many were baptized in a way of solemn mockery; but christians prayed, and the Lord wrought in such a manner that in a short time the work spread into almost every part of the town, and seemed to bear down all opposition before it. Gaming tables and ball chambers were greatly deserted; while conferences, lectures, and Lord's Day meetings were thronged. In the con- ferences all ages and sexes, down to little children, used greatest freedom in expressing their views and feelings. Although the work was so powerful, yet it was remarkable for its regularity. There was no confusion in the meetings, and scarcely the least degree of
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disorder in the whole work. The greater part of those who spoke in conferences, talked as candidly as though they were under oath, and people had to be perfectly still to hear them. About the last of November, 1800, they began to come forward for baptism and church membership. The severity of weather was no impediment to the ordinance. The church, which numbered fifty-two members when the work began, numbered one hundred and fifty-six before a year had passed. Forty-one of these were young, unmarried persons. About twenty-eight were under the age of twenty, and three under ten.
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