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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE; 
 
 
 I UN 14 191P 
 
 DELIVERED OCT. 29, 1851, AT THE Ah. ^. 
 
 One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary 
 
 OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE 
 
 , 
 
 
 First Congregational Church, 
 
 (THE SECOND IN THE STATE,) IN 
 
 WELLi, fif AINE, 
 
 By REV. JAS. R. CUSHING. 
 
 ' '8^v*"*' 
 
 PORTLAND 
 
 1851. 
 

DISCOURSE. 
 
 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children -whom thou mayest make 
 frinces in all the earth. — Ps. 45 : 16. 
 
 »^UCII is the prediction of the royal psalmist respect- 
 ing the christian church. He commences the psalm with a 
 glowing description of the excellency and dignity of the 
 Messiah, her founder and head. "My heart," he says, "is in- 
 diting a good matter/' or more literally, boileth or bubbleth up 
 a good word. "I speak of the things which I have made touch- 
 ing the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.'' 
 "He was," says Bishop Home, "full of the divine spirit, 
 which inspired him with the good word or the glad tidings 
 of salvation. The sacred fire enclosed in his heart, expanded 
 itself within, till at length it broke forth with impetuosity 
 to enlighten and revive mankind with the glorious predic- 
 tion touching the King, the Messiah; and this was uttered 
 under the guidance of the spirit, as the pen is directed by 
 the hand that holds it " Having spoken of the King, the 
 head of the church, of his spiritual beauty and eloquence, 
 for grace was poured into his lips ; of victories and power 
 over his enemies; of his throne and sceptre; of his right- 
 eousness, royal robes and palace, all glorious within, he 
 introduces the church as his spouse. He describes her dress 
 and appearance, foretells her future prosperity when nations 
 would bring their choicest gifts and lay them at her feet. 
 Next he sets forth her altars with her numerous atten- 
 dants and the universal joy ami gladness consequent upon 
 the grand solemnization of her nuptials and the precious and 
 abundant fruits of the union. " Instead of thy fathers shall 
 be thy. children whom thou mayest make princes in all the 
 earth." He assures the spouse of the church an illus- 
 trious and royal progeny of believers, who should become 
 kings aud priests unto God, and reign ever on earth as in 
 
reality the most honorable persons inany land. They were 
 to reign, however, not so much by actually wielding the 
 sceptre of dominion, or by wearing the badges, and sit- 
 ting upon the throne of royalty, as by the broad and deep 
 moral power of their principles. Through all ages, a numer- 
 ous succession of converts should arise out of this new and 
 sacred relation between the Messiah and the church, whose in- 
 fluence for the good of mankind should reach from sea to 
 Bea and from the river to the ends of the earth; thus clearly 
 indicating that the time would come when the church, how- 
 ever much despised and oppressed, should, of her sons, fur- 
 nish kings and riders through all nations, as well as innum- 
 erable heirs of an eternal kingdom in Heaven. That the 
 true church is to become universal, is to possess the king- 
 dom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom 
 under the whole heavens, is confirmed both by promises and 
 prophecy. The last verse of the Psalm is in point: I will 
 make thy name to be remembered in all generations : there- 
 fore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. This 
 verse shows Dr. Scott, "That Christ and the church are im- 
 mediately and expressly intended throughout the Psalm. 
 The language is peculiarly emphatical and can mean nothing 
 less than all succeeding generations to the end of the earth, 
 and likewise to endless ages in Heaven " And there can 
 be no reasonable doubt but that this will be verified in the 
 event. To nothing else on earth are there such glorious and 
 transcendent promises made as are made to the true church. 
 And, oh, if these promises were only engraved upon her 
 heart, as they are engraven upon the divine heart, what sor- 
 row after a godly sort, what carefulness, yea, what clearing 
 of themselves ; yea, what indignation ; yea, what fear, yea 
 what vehement desire, yea what zeal, yea, what revenge would 
 be wrought into the heart of all her members that in all 
 respect* they might approve themselves to be clear in every mat- 
 ter, which should, in the least, stain her beauty, or mar her 
 honor or retard her growth. 
 
 In the humble hope of stirring up 3 r our minds by way of 
 
remembrance, I have desired to speak to you, my brethren, on 
 this occasion, with no ordinary depth of interest. Today we 
 occupy an important position, a position which renders it 
 
 peculiarly proper and important to reflect not only upon the 
 love and fidelity of God to the chuich, but upon the days 
 and years that are now numbered and finished. Today 
 one hundred and fifty years ago, this church was organized 
 and ieceived from the hands of a small council composed of 
 the ministers from Newbury, Dover, Portsmouth and York 
 their first regularly ordained minister. But the fathers where 
 are they ? One generation of them after another has passed 
 away, and long, long before another century and a half has 
 been numbered, we shall all have been laid by their side in 
 the solemn silence of the grave. As you have most of you 
 the history of this church, as iiravrn up by a much abler 
 hand than mine, in your possession, there will be no necessity 
 of my occupying your attention with anything more than an 
 incidental allusion to the past, and that only as it shall be 
 found necessary in order to illustrate and enforce the truth 
 of the text. That the fathers have long since been numbered 
 with the dead ; and thai you, many of you their lineal 
 descendants, are now here before God is proof that "instead 
 of thy fathers shall be thy children." In pursuing the subject 
 thus introduced I propose 
 
 I. In the first place to call your attention to the charac- 
 ter of the fathers. 
 
 II. In the second place to notice the promise, "Instead of 
 thy fathers shall be thy children." 
 
 III. The advantages of having such an ancestry. 
 
 IV. The obligations resting upon us to hand down unim- 
 paired the institutions and' influences they have left us. 
 
 In the first place we are to notice the character of the 
 fathers. 
 
 We cannot think as we should think, nor feel as we should 
 feel, nor be what we should be, without frequent and pro- 
 tracted communings with the characters that have lived 
 before us, without serious reflection on the events that are 
 
6 
 
 already registered in the chronicles of time. It might be 
 reasonably supposed that a godly ancestry would prove a 
 great blessing to their descendants, were there no lads to 
 demonstrate it. For they whom tlie Lord has delighted in, 
 to love them, live not unto themselves, but for their generation 
 and their posterity. It seems needless to say that the fathers 
 and founders of these Eastern states were pious men, who 
 for conscience sake sought a resilience in this land that they 
 might enjoy the religious privileges which were denied them 
 in the land of their nativity. About the year 1600 the coun- 
 ties of Lincolnshire and Lancastershire in old England were 
 visited with a revival of vital religion. Many of the lathers 
 were partakers of its spiritual benefits. From that time they 
 came to prize religion in its vitality above all earthly con- 
 siderations Our ancestry were subjects of a revival of pure 
 and undelilcd religion. Their history is not enveloped in an 
 absurd mythology nor lost in an extreme antiquity We 
 know the men and their communication. Their records are 
 recent and authentic. We are familiar with the names of 
 the adventurers by whom this land was discovered and set- 
 tled, and by whom our civil and religious institutions were 
 planted and defended. The places from which they came, 
 the time when and the object for which they came 
 are all on record. Plymouth, the place where the first per- 
 manent European settlement was made, is a name familiar 
 with the youngest of our common school children. They were 
 a part of the congregation which, with Rev. John Robinson 
 their pastor and an orthodox congregational minister, Bed 
 from England to Holland, in consequence of persecution in 
 their native land. But after a residence of a few years in 
 Holland, finding their children, whom they wished above 
 all things to train up in the nurture and admonition i^f the 
 Lord, exposed t« various temptations from the pernicious 
 amusements by which they were surrounded, and that they 
 might enjoy a larger religious liberty, they, alter much 
 prayer and mutual consultation, determined on a removal to 
 this land. Unlike the settlers of South America, or the 
 
more recent settlers of California, gold was not their object. 
 They were actuated by a pure and lofty religious interest. 
 That they might escape from the errors of Rome and enjoy 
 civil and religious liberty, train up their children in the way 
 they should go, and for God and His church, and transmit 
 to them and their posterity a pure religion and a scriptural 
 mode of worship, they were willing to endure deprivation, 
 hardship and exile. They were a reading and reflecting 
 people, a people of pure morals, of rigid honesty, of patient, 
 self-denying industry. They had great courage and strong 
 faith. They were men of prayer. They believed in its effi- 
 cacy, and hence they entered upon no enterprise except 
 such as they could commend to. heaven by prayer. They 
 sanctiGed the holy sabbath. Even when famine stared them 
 in the face, they felt it far safer to trust in the God of the 
 sabbath than ' to engage in any questionable or doubtful 
 expedients for a supply. They gathered their children and 
 households about them for morning and evening prayers. 
 This delightful exercise at an early period was almost uni- 
 versal. So important was it viewed that those who neg- 
 lected it had very little reputation for intelligence or charac- 
 ter. This service proved a bond of union, a means of order 
 and a source of knowledge. Besides family worship, they 
 often assembled for mutual exhortation and encouragement. 
 So fearful and anxious were they for the young that they 
 often observed whole days of fasting and prayer, in which 
 they pleaded with God to revive his work among their 
 children. Believing that God was a covenant keeping. God, 
 that he would be true to his people, and had made the 
 richest promises to them and their posterity, they entered into 
 covenant with, and dedicated their children to him in the 
 ordinance of baptism, thus binding themselves to instruct 
 and govern them, that they might plead the more ear- 
 nestly his promises of grace and mercy in their behalf. 
 Oh if we could now look into the register kept in heaven 
 might we not find thousands of prayers recorded against our 
 names! They catechised their children. They built school- 
 
8 
 
 houses for them and planted churches ', were prompt in p-ufr- 
 lic worship. We have the solemn and explicit testimony of 
 ministers, statesmen and historians that religion was the 
 grand cause why these Eastern territories were first settled. 
 They were also as eminently patriotic as they were religious. 
 To prepare them to la} r the foundations of many generations, 
 like the Jews in Egypt, God subjected them to a course of 
 the severest and most rigid discipline. To lay such founda- 
 tions it required men sound in judgment, practical in wis- 
 dom, and sincere in piety ', men who had courage and pa- 
 tience, who could brave dangers, endure hardship ; men who 
 could be content with coarse fare, coarse apparel, and rude 
 dwellings. And just such were the fathers. They were the 
 right sort of men and the right sort of women to engage in 
 the work for which God had fitted them. They were in fact 
 the only men on earth who could or would have made New 
 England what it is. Would pagan or infidel parents have 
 trained up such a race of children? Would papists have 
 left to their descendants a family altar, a sanctified civil and 
 religious liberty, and an unshackled press ? Would they 
 have planted free schools, and trained the young to reading, 
 and especially to the reading of the Bible ? Would they 
 have instilled into the infant mind the rights of conscience 
 and the principles of our holy religion ? Let the degraded 
 condition of Mexico and all papal countries testify. The 
 rejected, the wronged and oppressed Puritans were the only 
 people under the sun who, except by miracle, could or would 
 have reared up for their posterity such institutions as the 
 fathers of this land have left for us. And tlie religion of 
 the Puritans was the only religion given under heaven among 
 men, which could have sustained them amidst such hard- 
 ships, sacrifices and labors as they were called to endure 
 while subduing, in the face of a most subtle, insidious and 
 bloodthirsty foe, the mighty wilderness which spread ail 
 over this land. But God was their God and they were his 
 people. They sought his honor and he sought their welfare. 
 In doctrine they were generally Calvinists, in church gov- 
 
9 
 
 ernment Congregationalists ; doctrine and government essen- 
 tially republican and democratic. Beginning with the prin- 
 ciples and genius of the gospel, they drew from them the 
 fundamental elements of a free government, mild yet firm, 
 individual yet general : a government modeled not for the 
 aggrandisement of the few and the debasement of the 
 many, but for the defence and perpetuity of the rights of 
 all. Having secured these at an amazing cost of labor and 
 time and blood and treasure, they have laid themselves down 
 in death and gone to their rewards. We leave them to no- 
 tice 
 
 II. Some of the advantages derived from such fathers. 
 It would be culpable in us to refer merely to farms cleared 
 of the forest, to barns and dwelling houses erected by their 
 hands and vessels constructed at their cost. These are of 
 comparatively small moment. Far richer was the real inher- 
 itance they left. Let the Egyptians glory in their pyra- 
 mids, the Greeks in their sculpture, the Roman or Italian in 
 cathedrals and paintings, we have a more glorious and en- 
 during heritage from our ancestors. Our government, the 
 union of these states, constitutes an enviable item in the 
 grand legacy bequeathed to us by our fathers. To their 
 careful study of the Bible, their faith in God, their humble 
 piety, united with their noble patriotism we owe it that 
 our government was formed after a divine model, rather than 
 after the aristocracies of the old world. An elective govern- 
 ment of necessity places all power with the body of the peo- 
 ple. And here is its true and legitimate source. All offices 
 of trust and profit are open to each individual who has the 
 energy and enterprise to qualify himself for them. Taxation is 
 nowhere allowed beyond what is necessary for the welfare 
 of the great whole. The poor man's house is his castle, and 
 except for crime no man may forcibly enter it unbidden. 
 The president may no more enter it, except at the will of the 
 owner, than the obscurest beggar. I would, but I am warned 
 of the want of time, speak of many things which endear this 
 legacy to us as of the greatest value. 
 
10 
 
 Next to our government our common school system should 
 be recognized as an invaluable advantage. For even the preach- 
 ing of the gospel is of comparatively little value among the 
 ignorant and unenlightened people. Our missionaries can 
 do little for the benefit of those to whom they bear the tid- 
 ings of salvation, until they have poured the light of science 
 into the mind on which they would operate. Under this admir- 
 able system no child need be shut up in the more than iron 
 bondage of ignorance. Says an able writer, " this system is 
 simple in its structure, but uniform, universal and efficient in 
 its operation. Its parallel is hardly to be found in the legis- 
 lation of the earth." If the question be asked where does the 
 great body of the people acquire its taste for reading, its general 
 intelligence and talent for business, the answer is at hand. 
 It is the peculiar glory of the fathers that this system was 
 so early adopted, and it is immensely to the credit of their 
 children that they are carrying it forward with increasing ef- 
 ficiency. 
 
 The next grand bequest of the fathers I may mention 
 with a just pride I allude to a permanent and learned 
 ministry. With a good government and an intelligent peo- 
 ple the value of the ministry is greatly enhanced. I cannot 
 so well say what I wish to say on this subject, as in the 
 language of another. " The fathers established churches with 
 their first settlement on these shores. They took their house- 
 holds with them to the place of worship on each returning 
 sabbath. They provided for the support of an able, devout 
 and intelligent ministrv. They expected that the priest's lips 
 would teach knowledge. They waited at the gates of wis- 
 dom with reverence and prayerfulness. The Word of God 
 was read and expounded. Hymns of praise were sung. 
 Prayers were offered, and the sacraments were administered. 
 These services were renewed every sabbath, and from year 
 to year. No one can tell in this state of being, how wide- 
 ly extensive and how deepl}' operative is this system of di- 
 vine ordinances. The conscience becomes enlightened, the 
 understanding enlarged, the heart subdued and the passions 
 
11 
 
 restrained. Saints are confirmed and sinners are converted. 
 Thousands of minds are strongly affected from sabbath to sab- 
 bath. These means of knowlege and salvation, divinely or- 
 dained and approved, do much to mould and stamp the char- 
 ter of a people. And to the pure and salutary influence of 
 this divine system were we subject in our early years. Much 
 of our talent and moral virtue may be traced to this source. 
 Nor should we think this item overrated if we could look into 
 the actual condition of pagan lands. Truth is pure. Error is 
 contaminating. Idolatry renders base and abject, but Chris- 
 tianity elevates." 
 
 Of the four original proprietors one was a clergyman — un- 
 der the sentence of banishment, to be sure, but doubtless a 
 good man. The Bible, the daily companion and counsellor of 
 the Puritan, was left by the fathers to their children. This of 
 itself was an invaluable legacy. I might speak of the example 
 of the fathers also as a most precious bequest, for they being 
 dead still speak, but I need not. The advantages derived 
 from these are admirably summed up by the Hon. Abbot 
 Lawrence, our present Minister to England. In a speech in 
 Galway, Ireland, he says, "Give the people universal educa- 
 tion — and I beg to be understood on this point, living, as I 
 do in a country that is ruled by self government, a govern- 
 ment of the people and from the people — our only security 
 lies in universal education founded on religion. I would 
 teach every man, woman and child to read and write; place 
 the Bible in their hands and the people will take care of 
 them." 
 
 III. We pass in the third place lo the promise of God that in- 
 stead of thy fathers shall be thy children. Has God kept this 
 promise? We think he has and with wonderful fidelity. God is 
 a covenant-keeping God. Blessings promised to the fathers 
 do descend to their children. Says Moses to the Israelites, 
 "Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers, that is, in 
 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to love them, and he chose their' 
 seed after them." And again he said, "0 that there were such 
 an heart to fear me." God loved the fathers of New England, 
 
12 
 
 and hence he has suffered no weapon forced against them or 
 their children to prosper. Now has God kept the promise, 
 "Instead of thy fathers" etc. ? Let us look at it in the 
 light of the New England church, and of this church. Here 
 was formed, 150 years ago, the second church in this state. 
 Now there are 225 of our own denomination, with about 1700 
 members and 166 pastors. Look over the church and see 
 what God has wrought. Look at New England and see what 
 God has done. Look over these United States, and see what God 
 has done. Look at the great West. See there what God is doing. 
 Wherever the pure New England element is found, wherever 
 their descendants are found', there are found the school, the 
 church and the Bible. And who are the leading men in 
 these churches? Who are their ministers? Search out their 
 genealogy and you will find Puritan blood running in almost 
 all their veins. In Western New York the leading element 
 in church and state is a Puritan element. The hardy emi- 
 grants from New England plunged into its dark, dense for- 
 ests, and have in less than (ifty years converted them into 
 a fruitful field and planted them with churches of the living 
 God. Go West, and there you will find the descendants of 
 the Puritans the salt of that fertile land. Who have planted 
 their colleges and who are their teachers ? New England 
 men. Who are the teachers of Western children-? Turn to 
 the records of the society recently formed for the supply ol 
 teachers at the West, and there you will find tha name of 
 many a New England daughter baptised in childhood into the 
 sentiment of the fathers, and baptized in heart by the Holy 
 Spirit. Go to California. You will find crime there in its most- 
 naked and deformed features. Where will you look for justice ? 
 Where for those who are a terror to evil doers and the security 
 of such as do well ? You will find it in their vigilance com- 
 mittee of a 1000 men, a majority of whom are the sons of the 
 Puritans. Grant that technically their proceedings are illegal. 
 In all my heart I believe that in that same illegal body there is 
 concentrated more of stern justice and of good government 
 than can be found in the nominal officers of state. Go to Ore- 
 
13 
 
 gon. Whose hands arc rearing their houses of worship? Chil- 
 dren of my past Sunday school are there. The sons of Maine- 
 are there, preaching the gospel and wielding the pen and the 
 press. It is estimated that the lineal descendants of the Pu" 
 ritana now amount to atwut four and a half millions. These 
 are exerting an influence on every sea and all through our 
 land. God has kept his promise. Instead of the fathers the 
 children have been multiplied a 100 or a 1000 fold. Look at 
 our church or rather at the town. Of the four original proprie- 
 tors one was a clergyman, Rev. John Wheelwright, under cen- 
 sure, to be sure, but a good man doubtless. It is now a little 
 over 208 years since the first permanent settlement was made. 
 During that whole period this part of the town has been des 
 titute of a ministry of our denomination but a traction over 
 22 yejars. There was some irregularity attending the original 
 church in the place. As the records have not come down to 
 us, if any were kept, we arc not able to specify what the irreg- 
 ularity was. From 1664 to 1690 six ministers were employed, 
 viz., Joseph Emerson, Jeremiah Hubbard, Robert Payne, John 
 Bass, Percival Green and Richard Martin. At an early period 
 a meetinghouse was built, and a parsonage also. It is proba- 
 ble, says Mr. Greenleaf, that the people here were destitute of 
 preaching for several years toward the close of the century. At 
 that time almost every settlement in Maine was broken up by 
 the savages, and that at Wells narrowly escaped. In 1701 the 
 religious affairs of the town assumed a more distinct and pros- 
 perous shape. On the 29th of October, 1701, the church was or- 
 ganized and Mr. Samuel Emery ordained. His ministry con- 
 tinued 24 years. The church adopted the baptismal form and 
 covenant signed by the following male members : John Wheel- 
 wright, William Sayer, Josiah Littlefield, Jon. Littlefield, Sam- 
 uel Hill, Joseph Hill, Daniel Littlefield, Natli'l Clark, Thomas 
 Boston, Nathaniel Clayes, Jas. Adams, and Jeremiah Storcr. 
 This was wholly discontinued about a year after the settlement 
 of Mr. White. Although there appears to have been no special 
 revival during his ministry, he received into full communion 
 56 members by profession and 13 by letter. Dec. 15, 1725, Mr. 
 
14 
 
 Samuel Jeffords was ordained over the church. TTig ministry 
 cvas evidently a spiritual ministry. lie was a young man, being' 
 only 21 at the time of his settlement. The beginning of Mr. 
 Jeffords' ministry was prosperous, and a considerable number 
 were admitted to full communion within a year after his ordi- 
 nation. From the year 1740-42, the period so memorable 
 throughout all New England for the wonderful revivals with 
 which almost all the churches were favored, the labors of Mr. Jef- 
 fords seem to have been greatly blessed. Within three months 
 from Jan., 1741, 39 persons were admitted to the church, and 
 during the whole season of awakening 71 persons were re- 
 ceived to the church. Instead of the fathers were the chil- 
 dren. From the known character of Mr. Jeffords it. is to be 
 presumed, says Mr. Greenleaf, they all gave satisfactory 
 evidence of a change of heart. In 1750 the second church 
 in Wells, now Kennebunk, was formed of members ■ from 
 this church resident there. Mr. Jeffords died at the age of 
 48, and the 26th year of his ministry, greatly lamented by 
 all. After his decease Mr. Samuel Fayrweather was invited 
 to settle with the people. lie returned an affirmative an- 
 swer, but owing to a strong minority against him the coun- 
 cil called for the purpose declined ordaining him. February 
 27, 1754, Rev. Gideon Richardson was ordained over the 
 church, but lived only four years. 
 
 In 1756 Wells was favored with a second revival. It took 
 place soon after the great earthquake, which is said to have 
 very much affected the mind of Mr. Richardson. lie evident- 
 ly became more engaged from that time, ami in the course 
 of one year received 41 persons to the church on profession 
 of their faith. After' the death of Mr. Richardson Mr. Mose* 
 Ilemmenway, a graduate of Harvard College, was employed to 
 preach as a candidate. Having received a call from the church 
 and people he was ordained Augusts, 1759. About the time 
 of the settlement of Mr. Ilemmenway the affairs of the 
 colonies were thrown into a most perplexing state by the 
 oppressive exactions of the British government. Besides this, 
 Lhe extravagances of a class of self-styled revivalists, who 
 
15 
 
 wrogated-to themselves all the piety in the land, who went 
 •bcrt sowing everywhere the seeds of dissension and st nfe 
 and from the melancholy defection of vast numbers of their 
 supposed converts, many became disgusted and lost their 
 confidence in the reality of revival. The result was togeth- 
 er with the political agitation of the country, that the great 
 desideratum of the minister was to keep the peace within his 
 parish If he succeeded in this he gave the greater satis- 
 faction. The ministry of Dr. Ilemmenway was eminently suc- 
 cessful in this respect. It was protracted through more than hall 
 a century, and was, as Mr. Grecnleaf expresses it, uncom- 
 monly peaceful and happy. Dr. Ilemmenway was .a ^ profound 
 scholar! The great esteem in which he was W**^ «* 
 learned and good men of his day is manifested m the doc- 
 torate which he received from Cambridge College at a much 
 earlier period of his life, than that college was wont to 
 bestow upon her sons. He was a diligent and indefatigable 
 student. He Ted the people with knowledge. He never oi- 
 fercd to the people, says Dr. Bnekminster, that which cost 
 him nothing. His sermons were'elaborate and profoundly 
 studied If he failed, he failed in a style and mode of rea- 
 soning above the apprehension of most of his hearers He 
 enlightened the understanding more than he warmed the 
 heart. In doctrine he was a Calvinist of the old school a 
 firm believer and faithful instructor in the Assembly s Cate- 
 chism. In avoiding the extra vagaries and excesses of those 
 who addressed from the pulpit only the imagination and pas- 
 sions, he doubtless went to the opposite extreme ot address- 
 ing only the intellect, an error quite common with almost all 
 his contemporaries. Dr. Ilemmenway was to some extent a 
 controversialist and a faithful defender, of the faith of the Pu- 
 ritans against the Arian and Socinian tendencies of the day. 
 \lthou«-h less successful in the immediate accession of mem- 
 bers to the church than his predecessors, he unquestionably 
 fulfilled an important mission to the church during his pro- 
 tracted and peaceful ministry. God used him in his day for 
 a mission according to the dictates of his own infinite wis. 
 
16 
 
 dom. And to any who are disposed to charge him with a coT- 
 pablc delinquency, I seem to hear the God of Israel say, 
 " My ways are not your ways/' etc. It is due to the de- 
 scendants of Dr. Hemmenway that they are found among the 
 most active defenders of an orthodox faith. We know what 
 those are who dwell among us. The branch resident in Lyman 
 is found among the most spiritual and active of the church 
 there. Of the Wells branch may be found two of New Hamp- 
 shire's most profound and devoted ministers. Nevertheless 
 it must be acknowledged that from the time of the revival un- 
 der Mr. Richardson a gradual decline may be traced, and from 
 55 divine influences were withheld ; and although the people 
 were still favored with a faithful minister no particular atten- 
 tion appeared. In 1810 Dr. Ilernmenway's health began to 
 decline, and Mr. White, from Thetford, a theological student 
 of Dr. Brewster, came to Wells in the autumn of that yca.r 
 and preached as a candidate for settlement as colleague with 
 Dr. Hemmenway. Mr. White was an eminently spiritual 
 man. His very look, which I well remember when 1 was a 
 child, was an impressive sermon. lie lived as one standing on 
 the brink of eternity. Premonition of the disease of which 
 he died, made him feel that his time was short and that what 
 he did must be clone quickly. Some of his first sermons made 
 a lasting impression upon the minds of the people. lie re- 
 ceived a unanimous call to settle with the people, to which 
 he returned an'affirmative answer, but not till after the death 
 of Dr. Hemmenway. He returned in the spring of 1811, 
 when the minds of the people became more interested and in 
 the course of the summer the attention became general. Mr, 
 White was ordained June 26, 1811. The spirit was evident- 
 ly poured from on high. The Lord gave the word and many 
 fell before it The seed sown for years before now appeared 
 to spring up and bear fruit. Mr. White being soon taken 
 from his labors by sickness, did not live to gather more than 
 half of those who were hopefully converted under his instru- 
 mentality. Mr. White was a man of warm heart and deep 
 oned piety. He so spake that many believed, and having 
 
17 
 
 spoken, he early went to his rest. He died at the age of 33. 
 Soon after his decease Mr. David Oliphant was employed 
 as a candidate and received a call which he declined. Mr. 
 Greenleaf was next employed. He was ordained March 8, 
 1815. In the early part of his ministry a goodly number were 
 received into the church, principally the fruits of the revival 
 under Mr. White. During the year 1813 there was an inter- 
 esting revival the fruits of which were gradually received to 
 the church. From 1815 to 1825 there were received 16 males 
 and 64 females. Inl826 there was not a single member add>?d. 
 In the autumn of that year the pastor and a brother of the 
 church met in the road. Their conversation turned upon 
 the low state of religion. Before they separated they agreed 
 to make particular families the subject of special prayer, and 
 to converse with individuals as they might have opportunity. 
 God heard the prayers and smiled upon the effort. In Jan- 
 uary at a church meeting held at a private house the work 
 of God assumed a distinct and marked character. A large 
 number were present and an awful solemnity rested upon 
 each mind. They felt that they were transacting business for 
 eternity, and that the decisions of that hour might be the 
 decision of an everlasting destiny. It was clear that God 
 had come down to visit and bless his people. The Bible be- 
 came the book of books. It lay open upon the table that 
 the female might glance upon its open page as she pursued 
 her domestic duties, and on the wheel as she spun her yarn. 
 The work continued for months with deep and solemn interest. 
 Converts were multiplied of all ages. But the Bible class was 
 made the field on which the precious rain descended most co- 
 piously. The youth became large sharers in the work. A few 
 united with the church in the spring and summer. On the 2d 
 of September, 1827, 10 males and 22 females, 32 in all, united 
 with the church. From April 12 to Nov. 4, 1827, 77 made a 
 public profession of their faith in Christ. Soon after Mr. Green- 
 leaf received an invitation to preach to seamen in Boston, 
 which he felt it his duty to accept, and was accordingly dis- 
 missed for that purpose. In February, 1829, Rev. William Clark 
 
18 
 
 was ordained to the pastoral office. lie brought to the work 
 all the ardor and zeal of his naturally warm and sanguine tem- 
 perament. He sought out the enemy in all strongholds, and so 
 daring and determined were his assaults, that while he mad- 
 dened the foe, he startled many of the friends of righteousness, 
 temperance and truth. This together with some unintentional- 
 ly unqualified points in doctrine, points on which the fathers 
 were sensitive above almost all else, led to the formation of 
 the Second Parish and church. This is neither the time nor 
 the place to speak of tho wisdom or necessity of that enter- 
 prise. Suffice it to say that the fortresses of iniquity soon 
 began to tremble. Neutrality was out of the question. lie 
 was everywhere and at every man. The ingenuous "My dear 
 sir," or "My dear madam," opened the way to the heart. Ilia 
 assaults upon intemperance were with thunder and lightning 
 and the earthquake, and many, many is the man who will re- 
 member him as his saviour from the grave of the inebriate. The 
 temperance reform prepared the way for that pentecostal sea- 
 son which opened upon this people, as the windows of heaven 
 are sometimes opened, in the commencement of a protracted 
 meeting of almost unprecedented power. It occurred May, 1831, 
 and began amidst descending rain. The farmer was compelled 
 to leave his plough and his field. The neighbor beheld neigh- 
 bor wending his way through the pouring rain, and said I also 
 will go with you. The female could not refrain ; she too gathered 
 about her the garment that would best protect her from the fall- 
 ing shower and made her way to the house of prayer. Each 
 was astonished to behold the crowd, astonished at himself that 
 he should be there in such a rain. Conscience whispered the 
 hand of God is in this. And conscience whispered the truth. 
 God was in it, and the rain without was but an emblem of the 
 reign of righteousness about to be given. The preaching com- 
 menced. The arrows of conviction flew thick and fast. God 
 gave the word, and many a stout heart quailed before it. 
 
 But why attempt to describe it ? To be just in the descrip- 
 tion one must have been an eye witness. You cannot have for- 
 gotten the scenes that transpired during that solemn, and, in 
 
19 
 
 some of its aspects, awful convocation. You cannot have for- 
 gotten how you felt and how you prayed then. You cannot 
 have forgotten the day and the scene when one of our now old 
 men, stung by the reflection that he was a sinner, deserving 
 the lowest hell, and condemned already, was forced to cry out 
 for mercy, or rather to kneel before that ancient altar, before the 
 great congregation when the hand and the voice of heaven's am- 
 bassador was lifted up to God in his behalf. You cannot have 
 forgotten the troubled look, the heaving bosom, the tearful eye 
 and the trembling voice of the anxious inquirer while the ques- 
 tion was propounded "What must I do to be saved?" You 
 cannot have forgotten the trembling crowds gathered at your 
 old parsonage, your thronged morning prayer meetings. You 
 cannot have forgotten the solicitude the parent felt for the 
 cliiM, or the child for the parent. Nor can you have forgotten 
 how good every sermon seemed, whether it were the result of 
 momentary reflection or the result of profound study. Nor yet 
 again can you have forgotten those occasions occurring on al- 
 most all the sacrament sabbaths when so many of you entered 
 into solemn covenant with God. how did you feel when 
 you made those promises to God that you could never, should 
 never dare to break from. There was doubtless far more of 
 animal excitement in this revival than in any preceding one. 
 Mr. Clark's ministry continued eight years, during which 
 149 members were received to the church. Surely "instead of 
 thy fathers," etc. He was dismissed at his own request that he 
 might occupy a wider field as agent of the Foreign Missions. 
 He was succeeded by Rev. Jonas Colburn. During his minis- 
 try the church was favored with another season of the effusion 
 of the Holy Spirit. From March 11, 1838 to July 30, 1843, 
 45 members were received to the church. He was dismissed 
 October, 1844, and was succeeded by your present pastor, 
 who was installed Nov. 20 of the same year. Since his in- 
 stallation you have enjoyed one whole year of sabbaths. These 
 years, which embrace the year of sabbaths, while they have 
 been the most laborious, the most painfully anxious and wast- 
 ing to body and mind, have been the most unsuccessful, pro- 
 
20 
 
 vided the standard of judgment be made the number of hope- 
 ful conversions and the number added to the church. There 
 have been added to the church only ten, and but three of that 
 number by profession, while 16 members of the church have 
 deceased within seven years, and the same number have been 
 dismissed to other churches. Had time permitted I would 
 have been glad to have gone more at length into statistics. 
 But it would not. As our meeting is only in recognition of 
 the 150th anniversary of the church, I have as a matter of 
 propriety kept myself within the religious history of the town.* 
 
 We pass in conclusion to a consideration of the fourth topic 
 specified in our plan, viz., the obligations resting upon the 
 descendants of such parents to hand down unimpaired the in- 
 stitutions planted by the fathers. Obviously in the first place 
 we owe an amazing debt to such an ancestry. They have 
 placed before us in most respects an example worthy of a 
 most faithful imitation. Had they not been what they were, 
 we should not have been what we now are As the peculiar 
 gestures of the father are acted over again in the child, and 
 as the lip ofthe little one is still playing the mother's own smile, 
 though she be gone, so the past by wonderful communication 
 infuses something of its own character into whatever follows 
 it. He who has no reverence for the past is an unnatural Bon 
 mocking at age, foreswearing his own lather. So is he whose 
 heart is not warmed with gratitude for such fathers. Turn to 
 the word and testimony; how rcadest thou ? "1 will be thy 
 God and the God of thy seed. The promise is unto thee and 
 to thy children." Because God delighted in the fathers to love 
 them, therefore "he chose their seed after them " Whence come 
 our unparalleled advantages ? Whence comes it that ours are 
 not the habitations of cruelty ? Why arc we not groaning 
 under a tyrant's power ? Why is not our conscience surrend- 
 ered to the keeping of an ecclesiastic despot ? Why have we 
 a system of free schools and a free press ? Why are not our 
 children Gypsies, taught to roam and steal their daily bread ? 
 Why sit we under our own vine and fig tree, worshipping God, 
 with none to molest us ? There can be but a single answer. 
 
21 
 
 Under God we owe it to the piety, the strong faith and pro- 
 found wisdom of our fathers. Do we not owe them a debt of 
 gratitude which we can repay only by imitating their example, 
 and by handing down not only unimpaired but much improved 
 by our greater experience, the invaluable institutions they have 
 bequeathed us, to our children and children's children ? Shall 
 we not prove recreant to our sacred trust and invoke the ven- 
 geance of heaven, rather tlian its benediction, unless we feel 
 and deeply fee! and faithfully fulfil our obligations? Our hands 
 are moulding the future lot of our children, and giving touches 
 and shape to their future prospects. Should we break away 
 from the great and fundamental principles which they so' loved 
 and valued ; should we decline from the faithful discipline of 
 the church and undervalue and neglect the gospel in its sim- 
 plicity and purity ; should we suffer the sabbath to decline in 
 its lofty sanctity, and become careless and indifferent whether 
 the rising generation be reared up in the nurture and admoni- 
 tion of the Lord ; should we so live as to grieve the Holy Spirit 
 of God as to cause him to depart altogether from us, why then 
 this result will follow, as surely as the Lord he is God : our 
 children and our children's children will reap the bitter fruits 
 of our moral husbandry for ages to come. Our obligations are 
 great. The holy vows of God are upon us. We cannot shake 
 them off if we would. In a world like this where sin abounds, 
 where a thousand insidious influences are hourly at work ad- 
 verse to the cause of righteousness, temperance and judgment 
 to come, vigilance, the most prayerful vigilance, is demanded. 
 We are the recipients of inestimable privileges from those who 
 hive preceded us, privileges not conferred for ourselves merely, 
 but for the sake of those who are to succeed us. How, how, if 
 tin bc privileges should fail to reach unborn generations through 
 our unfaithfulness, can we meet these coming generations at 
 the awful bar of God ! Instead of the fathers you the children 
 are to occupy the seats at the communion table on the next 
 Lord's day. If you arc really what you profess to be, think, 
 think how soon you will be with your fathers above. And 
 then think whether you can die peacefully until you have seen 
 
22 
 
 yonr children gathered into the fold of the great Shepherd. On 
 whom is to devolve the support of these sacraments ? On whom 
 is to devolve the support of those heaven-ordained ordinances 
 which were the glory and salvation of the fathers ? What 
 cause have we expect that our children will take them up and 
 transmit them to their posterity except they be converted to 
 God ? How solemn, how momentous our obligations. Men 
 and brethren with what solemn emphasis are we admonished 
 to redoubled diligence and increased fidelity. 
 
PHOTOMOUNT 
 
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