,80' 
 
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 Centennial 
 
 irst Congregational Cfturcb 
 
 Kccscoiik, n. y. 
 
 
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 LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON. N. J. 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 S. G. Ayres. 
 
 Dh isioni 
 
 M.J/so 
 
 S.\-iioiij,./L!jt.( <--' 
 
 A3 
 
First. Congregational Church, Keeseville, N. Y. 
 
1323 
 
 One Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ORGANIZATION 
 
 Of THE 
 
 First GonAreAational Ghurch 
 
 KEESEVILLE, N. Y. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 Church organized at Port Douglass 1806 
 
 Church moved into Keeseville 1828 
 
 First Pastor Called 1829 
 
 First Church Edifice Erected 1830 
 
 United with Champlain Presbytery 1845 
 
 Second Church Edifice Erected 1852 
 
PASTORS AND MINISTERS. 
 
 Rev. Cyrus Comstock 
 
 Rev. Chester Armstrong 
 
 Rev. James Gilbert 
 
 Rev. Solomon Lyman 1829 — 1834 
 
 Rev. A. D. Brinkerhoff 1834—1838 
 
 Rev. John Mattocks 1838—1856 
 
 Rev. John R. Young 1857—1858 
 
 Rev. Selden Haynes 1858—1860 
 
 Rev. Asa Hemenway I860 — 1864 
 
 Rev. H. E. Butler 1864—1880 
 
 Rev. L. H. Elliott 1881—1884 
 
 Rev. C. H. Newhall 1885—1887 
 
 Rev. A. C. Bishop 1887—1904 
 
 Rev. Christopher R. Hamlin .... 1904—1905 
 
 Rev. William Cullen Taylor 1905 
 
PRESENT OFFICERS. 
 
 PASTOR 
 Rev. William Cullen Taylor 
 
 DEACONS 
 Aaron C. Andrews 
 
 Warner R. Garritt 
 
 Charles M. Hopkins 
 
 TRUSTEES 
 Charles H. Prescott 
 
 Lemuel B. Davis 
 
 Henry S. Kingsland 
 
 CHURCH CLERK 
 Charles M. Hopkins 
 
 TREASURER 
 Henry S. Kingsland 
 

 o 
 
 o 
 O 
 
PROGRAM 
 
 SUNDAY 10:30 A. M. 
 
 Organ Voluntary— Sonata J. Lemmens 
 
 Holy, Holy, Holy 
 
 Invocation 
 
 Responsive Reading — Portion 18 
 
 Hymn 832 
 
 Scripture Reading 
 
 Anthem— "Praise ye the Father" 
 
 Prayer 
 
 Hymn 355 
 
 Offering 
 
 Hymn 48 
 
 Sermon— Debts and Dividends Rev. William Cullen Taylor 
 
 Prayer 
 
 Hymn 503 
 
 Communion Service 
 
PROGRAM 
 
 SUNDAY 7 P. M. 
 
 Organ Voluntary — Andante in F. — Wely 
 
 Hymn 711 
 
 Scripture Reading 
 
 Anthem — " Great and Marvellous " 
 
 Prayer 
 
 Hymn 776 
 
 Address— The Mission of the Church, Rev. William Fraser 
 
 Prayer 
 
 Hymn 793 
 
 Benediction. 
 
PROGRAM 
 
 MONDAY 2 P. M. 
 
 Organ Voluntary — Fantasia, Whitney 
 
 Hymn 111 
 
 Scripture 
 
 Prayer 
 
 Hymn 112 
 
 Greetings— Our Former Members 
 
 Anthem — " O be Joyful in the Lord " 
 
 Historical Sketch, Miss Justina Thompson 
 
 Hymn 625 
 
 Greetings — Our Former Pastors 
 
 Greetings — Our Presbytery, Rev. Joseph Gamble, D. D. 
 
 Rev. Cornelius S. Stowitts, D. D. 
 
 Hymn 496 
 
 Greetings — Our Neighbors Rev. W. E. Millington 
 
 Rev. E. J. Guernsey 
 
 Hymn 651 
 
 Benediction. 
 
 Reception and Banquet, 5 to 7:30 p. m. 
 
PROGRAM 
 
 MONDAY 7:30 P. M. 
 
 Organ Voluntary — Chorus of Angels Clark 
 
 Hymn 411 
 
 Scripture 
 
 Anthem — " Recessional " 
 
 Prayer 
 
 Hymn 903 
 
 Address — American Presbyterianism, Rev. Joseph Gamble D. D. 
 
 Hymn 692 
 
 Address — How the Pulpit Looks from the Pew, 
 
 Hon. W. C. Watson 
 
 Centennial Hymn 
 
 Benediction 
 
CENTENNIAL HYMN. 
 
 Words by W. C. T. 
 
 One hundred years are past: 
 O'er which thy love has cast 
 
 Its quickening ray. 
 Thy purposes proved best: 
 Thy providence gave rest; 
 Each promise stood the test, 
 
 Through all the way. 
 
 II 
 
 God over all: Most High! 
 
 Thy church through years gone by 
 
 Stands, to this hour. 
 Here altar-fires have burned; 
 Oft has the Spirit yearned; 
 Souls to the Christ have turned; 
 
 •Saved, by His power. 
 
 III. 
 
 God of this favored hour; 
 Vouchsafe to us thy power 
 
 Now, to excel. 
 Love's sacrifice we make; 
 Faith's victories we take: 
 Forward! for Jesus' sake, 
 
 His praise to swell. 
 
 IV. 
 
 LORD God of ages vast; 
 Our present and our past 
 
 Prove Thee our guide. 
 Our future, all unknown 
 We trust to Thee, alone : 
 Since Thou art on the throne 
 
 We safe abide. 
 
 V. 
 
 God of this hundredth year; 
 Giver of all most dear; 
 
 Thee we adore. 
 Thy wisdom lights our way 
 Thy strength is now our stay 
 Let goodness crown this day 
 
 Like those of yore. 
 
 Tune " America." 
 
REV. WILLIAM CULLEN TAYLOR 
 
 1905 — 
 
 The Present Pastor. 
 
Centennial Sermon 
 
 Debts an& 2>iY>i&en&8 
 
 Rev. William Cullen Taylor. 
 
 A 
 
 (Text Luke 12-48, last clause.) 
 "And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be 
 required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they 
 ask the more." 
 
 PASTOR was once asked as he stood, unrecog- 
 nized, on the corner of a street where a new 
 church edifice was being erected: "When will this 
 building be completed?" "In about six months," 
 he replied. " Will the congregation be in debt?" 
 continued the stranger. "Oh, yes; awfully," ans- 
 wered the thoughtful man, " sometimes it frightens me to 
 think of it." Then came the question, " Why did you begin 
 when you had not the money?" Again the man of God ans- 
 wered, " Oh, we have money enough, we shall have no such 
 debt as that, but think, think, how much a church like that 
 is going to owe to the community and to the world. How 
 they will look to us for man's love and God's grace." 
 
 As I think of our church and society, with its accumulated 
 history of an hundred years, its century of prayer and praise, 
 of giving and going, of sacred seed sowing and holy harvest- 
 ing; years in which those who have passed on before you, 
 have brought their treasure and their tears, their labor and 
 their life, and have fitly framed them together into a holy, 
 spiritual temple in the Lord, whose centennial anniversary 
 you now observe, I feel constrained to say to you today, " You 
 are most overwhelmingly in debt." 
 
 Life for life is the principle of the entire plan of redemp- 
 tion. In all true conversion, consecration and usefulness, life 
 goes for life — life must be sown if life is to spring up. The 
 highest example of this principle is furnished by the Lord of 
 Glory, who gave his own life's blood in sublime cost and 
 payment for our joys and privileges. 
 
 A church with a century of history behind it is in pos- 
 session of elements of strength, whether it recognizes it or 
 not, that cannot be disparaged and cannot be overlooked It 
 may be weak in financial ability, its enrolled adherents may 
 
 11 
 
be few numerically, but it possesses the dynamic power of 
 life: Seed life, that has fallen into the ground and died, as a 
 corn of wheat; believing life, that has embedded itself in the 
 soil of precious promises; sacrificing life, that has not with- 
 held itself from the earth of disagreeable service, but has 
 been willing to be lost in the toil and to be so absorbed, over- 
 whelmed and even forgotten in its labor for God and man 
 that it buried itself for seed, and because it died it abides not 
 alone but issues in harvests. Out of its inertness spring 
 throbbings of activity; out of its singleness appear blade, ear, 
 and full corn in the ear; out of its seeming loss and ruin 
 come gain and reproduction. You have larger, stronger, 
 richer life today because others have laid down their lives, 
 others have suffered that you might reign, others have paid 
 the penalty and price and have left you well nigh hopelessly 
 in debt; and it is the history of the lives now all out of 
 sight, hidden in the soil of an hundred years that encloses 
 all the promise of a new productiveness. 
 
 If any of you have read the report of experiments 
 made a few years since in order to ascertain the 
 dynamic power of seeds you must have been aston- 
 ished at the results. A tiny seed sprouting under 
 a sidewalk and lifting a large flagstone completely out of 
 its place Is a marvelous illustration of the might of 
 nature's hidden life. But the spiritual forces that have been 
 planted in the soil of long ago have not lost their germinat- 
 ing power. Cannot some of you to-day almost feel the throb- 
 bing pulses of the lives that were? Are you not stirred by 
 the uplifting voices of prayer that, though long since hushed, 
 seem to echo and re-echo about the resting places of your 
 sleeping dead? Is there nothing in the past history of 
 saintly, sacrificing lives that has thrilled your souls and in- 
 spired your hearts until it has lifted you, a living power, 
 from beneath the flagstone hindrances of your present walk 
 in life and set you forth a petaled blossom or a ripened 
 fruit? 
 
 It is related that Corregio, as he gazed for the first time 
 on Raphael's "Saint Cecelia," was so stirred by the vision, 
 so uplifted and inspired by the conception of that greater 
 master of painting, that he exclaimed: "Oh, thank God, I, 
 too, am a painter." As you, in thought today, trace some of 
 the outlines of God's providence and fill them in with the 
 warm, beautiful and varied colors of God's grace, until 
 the historic picture of the century past is laid in all its 
 mysterious beauty upon the canvass of your memory; then 
 seat yourself upon the Ebenezer stone, upon which you 
 
 12 
 
have already inscribed, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us," 
 and as you gaze wonderingly and admiringly upon the vis- 
 ion, while all the light of your past sacred history shall 
 stream in to gild even its glory, let your heart exclaim: 
 " Thank God I, too, am a Christian," and because you are 
 a Christian, a Christian church, with a century of Chris- 
 tian history, you are Christian debtors. 
 
 Under the spell of Him who came " not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister," Paul struck out the formula of his life — 
 " I am debtor," and he also wrote for others and for us, " We 
 that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak." 
 Every Christian enters the new life immediately and over- 
 whelmingly in debt. When the coin of his life has been 
 stamped by the image and superscription of Christ, at that 
 moment it is fit for circulation — that moment it is current 
 money face to face with debt. It is not that the world owes 
 him, but the bestowments and bounties of Providence, ac- 
 cumulated perchance through years of history together with 
 the added endowment of riches of grace, cause the balance 
 to rush across the ledger and the Christian is in debt. He 
 owes. He ought to pay. And if it is true that obligations 
 multiply with the flow of historic years — then because we 
 have received the physical, intellectual, pecuniary, religious 
 and spiritual accumulations we are debtors. 
 
 Our text declares the principle that possession requires 
 bestowment. To whomsoever much is given of him shall 
 much be required. Under this law of divine economics some 
 Christians and some churches such as ours need to be incited 
 to heroic zeal, that they may put forth all their energies to 
 pay their debts. We who are strong in the historic heritage 
 of the past, the ennobling enthusiasm of the present, and the 
 precious promises for the future OUGHT not to seek to shift 
 the responsibility, but apply ourselves to discharge our in- 
 debtedness. Christ bowed before the authority of an " ought." 
 " Ought not Christ to have suffered." Ought not we to pledge 
 ourselves to an honest heroic effort to pay our debts? 
 
 A heathen father led his little son to the temple of his God 
 and placing a sword in one hand made him lay the other on 
 the bleeding sacrifice and swear eternal hatred to Rome. That 
 oath became the moulding force of the boy's being. To hum- 
 ble Rome was henceforth the sole object of his life. The 
 fertility of his mind, the energies of his body, all the enthusi- 
 asm of his Spirit was concentrated therein. He spent years 
 in discipline; turned his back upon ease and pleasure, stud- 
 ied the art of war, trained soldiers. At last Rome felt the 
 power of his oath; a hundred thousand veterans lay dead upon 
 
 13 
 
the field, and Rome was crushed and bleeding under the feet 
 of Hannibal of Carthage. Not in the temple of a heathen 
 god but of the Eternal King, not on a slain beast, but over 
 the emblems of the broken body and shed blood of our cruci- 
 fied Redeemer; not pledged by heathen ancestry, hut sum- 
 moned to the altar by the sacred voices of those who " being 
 dead yet speak " and also in obedience to the trumpet tones 
 of the Macedonian cry of a world's need — pledge ye yourselves 
 to sacred obligations — The debt is yours. 
 
 Ube Dtrt&en&s 
 
 But who of you can rightly estimate all this wealth of 
 Providence and grace, accumulating through these one hun- 
 dred years and hope to pay it back in quality or kind? A 
 hundred years of Christian debt if ordered to be paid at once, 
 in tall, would bankrupt any church. You cannot pay it if you 
 would. Tis far too large a debt, and then your creditors are 
 gone. Thus your debt becomes an investment, a trust fund, 
 given for your use, a loan upon indefinite time, a talent for 
 which you are expected to render usury, a heritage to which 
 you are to add your part and leave a larger legacy to those who 
 follow, a capital or stock in religious trade, upon which you 
 are expected to pay large dividends of better, higher things. 
 Those to whom you owe the debt are gone. Those to whom 
 you are to pay the dividends are here. 
 
 Holding up now the thought of debtorship — a conception 
 full of self-denial, toil, faith, effort, prayer, suffering and 
 strife; full of patience, lifelong, death-ending; study it earn- 
 estly, let your heart he swayed by its grandeur; behold its 
 inimitable majesty; then like one who stands upon the race 
 course with body forward, muscles tense, nerves quivering, 
 eyes upon the goal, waiting for the signal, answer to the 
 world — •" As much as in me is," yea as much as in me can be 
 of grace, life and power. I am ready, eager, anxious to press 
 to the mark; to respond to God's high call to the larger, on- 
 ward, upward life. 
 
 A call for dividends is a demand for increase; a requirement 
 for added increments of life; a levy upon the earnings of the 
 present from the investments of the past. Tennyson says: 
 " I held it truth, with him who sings, 
 To one clear harp in divers tones; 
 That men may rise on stepping-stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things." 
 
 To these higher, better things, I would call your attention; 
 and my message is especially to you upon whom in special 
 
 14 
 
ways this responsibility devolves. You are in the dividend- 
 producing period of lite " I call unto you, because ye are 
 strong, not to dream dreams, but to see visions and to gain 
 victories." 
 
 I. I call you to declare the dividend of a hallowed — I might 
 almost say — a halo-ed life. I have no sympathy with the 
 conceptions of some artists who picture the saints with a 
 nimbus or halo about their heads; but I do believe there is 
 such a thing as an invisible yet all pervasive atmosphere that 
 softens and beautifies the life; changes the world around us, 
 removes the commonplace, and lights all the way with the 
 halo of the Master's presence. 
 
 The life that springs out of the experiences and histories 
 of the past ought to be superior to the past. The " now time " 
 is a season of special privilege and old ideals and old am- 
 bitions should fade away in the glory of " the light that now 
 shineth." A Christian who is content to keep his pound in a 
 napkin, or hide his talent in the earth, should be ashamed of 
 himself. To be satisfied with an " average life," or content 
 with " former experiences " in view of this sacred heritage 
 is little less than disgraceful. 
 
 If we would realize this more abundant life we must learn 
 to discriminate between the workings of the flesh and the 
 fruit of the Spirit. The curse of many a life and of many a 
 church to-day is service rendered in the energy of the flesh. 
 
 Observe how in our plans we begin with our own sugges- 
 tions and after our plans have been matured we turn to God 
 asking Him to help in that which we according to our own 
 understanding, have originated; whereas we should have 
 waited for His direction, content to let Him guide and plan, 
 while we stand beside Him and hand Him the implements of 
 service, or lie deep down beneath the roadway — the wire 
 which shall carry His message in His way. 
 
 Notice again how in our way of looking at our work we 
 manifest the power of the flesh life. We present ourselves 
 as ready and waiting for a chance to show what we can do, 
 and the friction of mere human effort and ambition stimu- 
 lates our activity. The question is not whether men shall 
 work or not, but how they shall work to a purpose. Some, like 
 Moses get too strong and too impulsive for God. How memor- 
 able is that incident in the life of Hudson Taylor when God 
 spoke to him and said: "I am going to evangelize inland 
 China and if you will walk with me I will do it through you." 
 (See Phil. 2: 12). 
 
 Observe once more how the flesh life is ever striving after 
 consecration. Every month it will say " I want to be more con- 
 
 15 
 
secrated " and the energies are incited to new resolves and 
 more vigorous efforts which are really but determinations of 
 the flesh and can be sustained only by the oft repeated ex- 
 ercises of our own energy. True consecration must be wholly 
 of God. Dividends of higher, holier life are made possible 
 only in union with the Divine Life. The capital stock of 
 heroic self-sacrificing Christian ancestry is great, precious, 
 almost priceless, but the dividends of hallowed — yea " halo-ed" 
 living are declared only as you trade with divine resources 
 and are drawing revenue from investments that give returns 
 " according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." — Phil. 
 4: 19. 
 
 A story is told by S. D. Gorden, about a man who was rid- 
 ing on horseback through a bit of timber land in one of the 
 states of the South. It was a bright October day, and he 
 was riding along enjoying the air and view, when all at once 
 he came to a clearing in the trees and in the midst of the 
 clearing an old cabin almost fallen to pieces, and in the door- 
 way of the cabin an old negress stood. Her form was bent 
 nearly double with the years of hard work; her face dried up, 
 and deeply bitten with wrinkles, and her hair white; and the 
 traveller called out cheerily " Good morning, Auntie, living 
 here all alone?" and she looked up with her eyes brighter 
 because of the thought in her heart, and in a shrill voice said, 
 " Jes' me 'n' Jesus, Massa." The traveller said a hush came 
 over the whole place, there seemed a halo about the old 
 broken down cabin and he thought he could see somebody 
 standing by her side looking over her shoulder at him, and 
 His form was like that of the Son of God. Her poor mean, 
 limited, world had changed as in a moment. She had dis- 
 covered the philosophy of life. The glory light was on every- 
 thing. The jagged and sharp lines which age had written on 
 her face were softened and smoothed down and the life was 
 hallowed, yes " halo-ed." The loneliness of the woods was 
 changed by the consciousness of Her Master's presence. 
 
 II. I call you to declare the dividend of better praying. Out of 
 the relationship of living in His presence will spring the de- 
 votion of better praying. Not as servants shall we seek our 
 pay, not even as friends shall we importune for loaves, but 
 as children shall we ask and receive from Him who knows 
 how to give, for " If ye then being evil, know how to give 
 good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your 
 Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that 
 ask Him?"— Matt. 7:11. 
 
 " I want you to spend fifteen minutes every day praying for 
 foreign missions," said a pastor to some young people in 
 
 16 
 
his congregation. " But beware how you pray, for I warn 
 you it is a very costly experiment." " Costly?" they asked 
 in surprise. " Aye, costly," he cried. When Carey began to 
 pray for the conversion of the world it cost him him- 
 self; and it cost those who prayed with him very much 
 Brainerd prayed for the dark-skinned savages, and after 
 two years of blessed work it cost him his life. Two stu- 
 dents in Mr. Moody's summer school began to pray the 
 Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers into the 
 harvest, and lo! it is going to cost America five thousand 
 young men and women who in answer to this prayer have 
 pledged themselves to the work. Be assured that it is a 
 dangerous thing to pray earnestly unless you are willing 
 to help answer your own prayers. You will find that it 
 will cost you labor and may be life. You cannot pray 
 aright and withhold your money. You cannot withhold your 
 children. Yea, your very life will be no longer your own 
 when your prayers begin to be answered. 
 
 A young lady once asked: " Is it not as well to talk about 
 God as to talk to God?" " Is it not as well to talk about 
 mother as to talk to mother," was the answer. "No! no!" 
 replied the daughter, " for mother talks back." And so does 
 God. And we do not give time enough to hear His answer. 
 We rush hurriedly into His presence; we hustle and work 
 incessantly, but while we may have expressed our desires 
 to God, we have failed to ascertain His thought for us. In 
 the secret of His presence our souls should hide, listen, wait; 
 and if we are to bear the image of the Master on our face 
 we must remember that such an image never starts up in 
 the lenses of the soul without " time exposure." There are 
 no " snap shots " in the art of divine photography. Beloved, 
 hasten not, but expose the sensitive plates of your inner 
 life to the Divine Light until the image of the Son of God 
 is fixed upon the soul and shines out upon the face. 
 
 The one hundred years' history of a church born and 
 nurtured by prayer demands that the ever-increasing divi- 
 dends of prevailing, sanctifying prayer be faithfully de- 
 clared. 
 
 III. Once more I call upon you to declare the dividend 
 of better going. At four different times Jesus picked out a 
 group of men and sent them on a special errand. About the 
 middle of His second year He commissioned twelve for a 
 special work. Six months before His death He chose 
 seventy others and sent them out by twos as His advance 
 agents. On the evening of His resurrection day He again 
 commissions ten men for a special mission, and about six 
 weeks later — the last time the disciples were with Jesus — 
 He again commissions a group of eleven men for a special 
 service that He wished them to perform. In each of these 
 four commissions you find the same ringing word — " Go" — 
 " Go ye." A growing Christian is always a going Chris- 
 
 17 
 
tian. A growing church is always a going church. " Go" 
 is the keynote of the Christian lite. A true follower of 
 Jesus Christ will have — always has — must have — ithe spirit 
 of " go" in him. 
 
 A dying world is waiting for the onward movement of a 
 hallowed, earnestly praying church. Missions is the mean- 
 ing and purpose of the church. Missions is the mission of 
 the Holy Spirit. The great commission is a sacred obliga- 
 tion. It tests our discipleship. " Ye are my friends if ye do 
 whatsoever I command you." It proves the sincerity of our 
 love. It is not a request, but a command, plain, direct, inex- 
 orable. It has nothing to do with our inclinations. Its au- 
 thority cannot be disregarded. We must carry the Gos- 
 pel as an evangelizing agency to the ends of the earth. If 
 we cannot " go" we must " let go" or " help go," and the sac- 
 rifice in " letting," " helping" or " sending" ought to be 
 commensurate with the " going." Missions — going as those 
 sent of God — not apologetically, but energetically; this is 
 the supreme purpose of every church, the chief business 
 of every disciple. " The church is the palm tree that has but 
 one bud." The world is her field; the evangelization of the 
 race her object; to go her cardinal obligation; saved souls 
 the required dividend. 
 
 In the Ashantee rebellion, when the commander of a cer- 
 tain English troop was unwilling to select personally the given 
 number of men desired to undertake an extra hazardous work, 
 he said that he would turn his back upon them and ask every 
 man who would volunteer, to step out one pace from the line. 
 When he again faced them the line was unbroken. "What!" 
 he exclaimed, " is there not a man among you ready to volun- 
 teer in this hour of your country's need?" " If it please you 
 sir," replied a member of the ranks " the entire company 
 has volunteered and every man is a pace forward from the 
 line on which he stood before." 
 
 Beloved! God calls for volunteers. The voices of the past 
 one hundred years cry " Forward." " Advance " is the 
 watchword — to advance is the only way to secure the victor- 
 ies already won. 
 
 What say you? While to-day your pastor's face is turned 
 toward the past, shall it be that when to-morrow he faces 
 the future, he shall find every member of this church a pace 
 ahead, volunteering for a better service than before, and in 
 the power of the Holy Spirit saying to the Great Captain of 
 our Salvation. Here am I— behold me — send me. 
 
 What shall your answer be? 
 
 May we not say as Dr. Matheson sings 
 "O cross that liftest up my head, 
 I dare not ask to fly from thee; 
 I lay In dust life's glory dead; 
 And from the ground there blossoms red 
 Life that shall endless be." 
 
 18 
 
REV. JOHN MATTOCKS 
 1838—1856 
 
(Sreetings**=©ur jformer fIDembers 
 
 We have received a number of letters from absent mem- 
 bers and dear old friends and wish we could publish them in 
 full, every blessed one, but lack of space renders this im- 
 possible, so we have been obliged to select a bit here and 
 there as best we could. 
 
 If the writers could have heard those letters read on that 
 centennial day in the dear old church of their early love, 
 perhaps they would understand how much they were appre- 
 ciated, and as each familiar name fell upon our ears, mem- 
 ory brought before us the dear faces and voices so vividly, 
 as if they stood with us in the flesh, and the pews had other 
 occupants than those who filled them that day. 
 
 Dear little Sue Goodrich (we know it is Mrs Robinson now, 
 but it is not probable she has "growed") wrote us such a 
 beautiful letter that it is hard to leave one bit of it out. She 
 says: "When I read the announcement in the Republican of 
 the Centennial celebration of the old church in Keeseville, 
 such a homesick longing came over me to be there once 
 again, it seemed as though I could not endure the thought 
 that I was not to enjoy the privilege. 
 
 Mr. Hemenway was pastor when I first knew the church, 
 and after he left a wise Providence sent us Mr. Butler, and 
 I remember his ordination and installation. I see again his 
 first baptism, a beautiful young girl kneeling before her 
 young pastor. The Father's hand since then has been laid 
 very heavily on that bowed head. :Soon another from the 
 same family, one very dear to the writer came out from 
 her young companions and acknowledged her risen Lord. 
 And soon it seemed as if the very Heavens had been opened 
 to pour us out a blessing, sixty uniting at one time, a semi- 
 circle extending across the church and a little later thirty 
 more were added. Is it any wonder Mr. Butler loves that 
 church and people? It was like a big harmonious family, 
 all with one accord, old and young, looking to him as our 
 spiritual counsellor. 
 
 And then the old-time picnics! Down at the mouth of the 
 river — up on Prospect Hill — and at the river bend. 
 
 " Oh the tender grace of a day that is dead, 
 Will never come back to me!" 
 
 19 
 
My name is no longer found on the Keeseville church roll, 
 but my heart has never withdrawn its allegiance, and often I 
 am tempted to say in the words of the Puritan maiden, Pris- 
 cilla, 
 
 " Kind are the people I live with, 
 And dear to me my religion, 
 
 But I almost wish my self back in Old Keeseville." 
 
 And now I am going to close this letter with a request, an 
 easy one to grant, or I would not ask it. When you close the 
 celebration may I select the last song? In memory of dear 
 Mrs. Butler, let it be her brother's (Dr. Rankin) beautiful 
 hymn, " God be with you till we meet again." 
 
 We would say to the writer that the request was granted, 
 all joining with heart and voice in singing those tender 
 words. 
 
 Mrs. M. A. Adgate is another friend from whom it is always 
 such a pleasure to hear and we expected a treat from her and 
 are not disappointed. 
 
 Mrs. Adgate writes: "Both myself and husband have a pe- 
 culiar interest in the old church as my husband's great grand- 
 father and my own grandfather were among its founders, and 
 I think there has never been a time in the hundred years 
 when there have not been individuals of both families among 
 its members. My earliest recollections are connected with 
 this church. Mr. Mattocks was in the pulpit then and I 
 remember that he always preached an interesting sermon 
 even to a child, his language, plain and simple, such as any 
 one could understand. I suppose Mr. Mattock's long occu- 
 pancy of the pulpit may be called the golden age of the 
 church, for as I look back to that time, it seems to me there 
 were very few unoccupied pews. 
 
 Mr. Charles Morris was superintendent of the Sunday 
 School and my teacher was Miss Josephine Peabody, then 
 a beautiful young girl. 
 
 I remember the Sunday morning when dainty and beautiful 
 in her white crape shawl and white bonnet, Orpha Bushnell 
 stepped quietly out of a front pew just before the sermon 
 and was united in marriage to Mr. Marsh, much to the sur- 
 prise of most people in the church. 
 
 I remember, too, the day Mr Mattocks came back after 
 many years and preached a sermon so full of love and affec- 
 tion that it thrilled us all. 
 
 Many are the sermons which come to my mind, helpful, 
 uplifting, or consoling. I might mention one by Rev. H. E. 
 Butler, that most spiritual of ministers. He had been in ill 
 health and had gone to the seaside for convalescence. When 
 
REV. ASA HEMENWAY 
 1S60— 1S64 
 
he came back to us he was so imbued with the splendor of the 
 sea and the greatness of Him who made it, that he preached 
 a sermon, which I for one, have always remembered. 
 
 How many years, I wonder, did Dr. Thomas sit wrapped 
 up in his long cloak with a black shade over his eyes, to 
 listen to the Word, which needed a continual refreshing to 
 keep his courage up. 
 
 Of those who have long since gone to their reward some 
 have left behind the memory of lives so beautiful and un- 
 selfish, that they are a continual incentive to good for those 
 left behind, and today the church in reviewing the hundred 
 years of its life may chiefly take pride in the devoted and 
 unselfish lives which have been passed under its influence — 
 in the pulpit as well as out of it. 
 
 Mrs. Juliette Potter Mattocks sent us her greetings and 
 then, which was far better, decided to come herself. It was 
 indeed delightful to have her with us on this occasion and 
 her presence added much to the interest of the anniversary. 
 
 Rev. A. P. Bissell, says, " while the limitations of space 
 prevent my presence with you in body I shall be with you in 
 thought and heart sympathy. 
 
 Mrs. Ada V. Olcott writes: "The dear old church of Keese- 
 ville has always the first place in my affections and the many 
 changes of an eventful life will never efface its memory from 
 my heart. 'God's love and peace be with thee.' " 
 
 In a very pleasant letter from the " Brigham Sisters " (Mrs. 
 Goodrich, Mrs. Cutler and Mrs. Hazleton), Mrs. Cutler tells 
 us an interesting little incident of fifty years ago. 
 
 " Nearly fifty years ago I, Sarah Brigham Cutler, came to 
 Anamosa, Iowa, and united with the Congregational church. 
 It was then a struggling missionary church. Two years later 
 I went back to Keeseville and found the church had a new 
 communion set. I asked that I might take the old one back 
 with me. I was permitted to do so and it was very thank- 
 fully received. Last summer I visited my old home in Ana- 
 mosa and found they were still using the same. It had been 
 replated and looked very nice. An old gentleman and his 
 grandson united with the church on profession of their faith. 
 The hour seemed very sacred and solemn to me. 
 
 We had a communion season using the same service that 
 more than a half a century ago so many of our loved ones 
 now in glory joined with us in using at communion." 
 
 We would like to tell Mrs. Cutler that very recently we 
 had another new communion service, individual cups this 
 time, presented by one of our members. 
 
 From our dear Mrs. Bishop comes these words: " My heart 
 and my kindest wishes will be with you as they always are, 
 and as one of the absent members I send this message: The 
 Lord bless thee and keep thee and make His face to shine 
 upon thee." 
 
 21 
 
Rev. Warren H. Landon from his home in California sends 
 across the continent his message: 
 
 " It is hard to realize that a generation has gone since I 
 regularly worshipped with you, but my recollections of church 
 life and activities are vivid and delightful It would be such 
 a real pleasure to meet with you and hear Mr Butler preach 
 again; and Judge Watson's voice would sound very good to 
 me. May you enter upon your second century of church life 
 waiting on the Lord with increasing faith and larger expec- 
 tations." 
 
 Through the unhappy mischance of a misdirected letter, 
 Mr. Fred P. Allen failed to receive his invitation to the Cen- 
 tennial services. We regret this very much as Mr. Allen has 
 friends here who remember him and other members of the 
 family and who would have been so glad to see Eim or hear 
 from him. His father, Mr. Anson H. Allen, published the first 
 newspaper in Keeseville, in 1825, we believe. 
 
 In a letter to a friend he says, " I am sorry I did not re- 
 ceive the invitation to the anniversary till too late. I am very 
 much interested in the old church to which my mother be- 
 longed and to which she took me to Sunday School I might 
 perhaps, have arranged to be present, if not I should surely 
 have sent my greeting. I remember so well Rev. John Mat- 
 tocks, who was pastor when I was a boy, and the good dea- 
 cons, Barnes, Ticknor, Adgate and Davis, the two latter hav- 
 ing been my Sunday School teachers. Judge Watson, who 
 spoke, was a classmate of mine and sat at the same desk 
 with me at the old Academy. When anything further of the 
 proceedings or addresses is published, I shall be glad to se- 
 cure them." 
 
 From all parts of our country have come to us so many 
 messages, brimful of love for the dear old church and heart- 
 longing to be with us, that it is hard to mention only the 
 names of those who so fondly remember the church home 
 of their childhood and earlier years. Such greetings and 
 remembrances have come from 
 
 Mary E. Comstock, New York City. 
 
 Mrs. Lydia Fowler, Kalamazoo, Mich. 
 
 Miss Anna Fowler, Kalamazoo, Mich. 
 
 Mrs. L. E. Goodrich, Dexter, Mich. 
 
 Mrs. Mary C. Adgate, Maywood, Ills. 
 
 Mrs. Susan Fowler Morgan, Fort Wayne, Ind. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Andrews Rowe, Elgin, Ills. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Davis Munroe, Rutland, Mass. 
 
 Mrs. M. E. Carleton, Montpelier, Vt. 
 
 Miss Lizzie McKellou, San Jose. Cal 
 
 Henry J. Northrup, Detroit, Mich. 
 
 Mrs. Martha Arnold Barnes, West Toledo, Ohio. 
 
 George A. Hopkins, Trumansburg, N. Y. 
 
 Mrs. Emma L. Kingsland, Maywood, Ills. 
 
 Dr. Brewer Mattocks, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 
 22 
 
REV. L. H. ELLIOTT 
 1881—1884 
 
(5ueetings^©ur jformer pastors 
 
 Four former pastors are still living. Of these Rev. L. H. 
 Elliott was the only one present. He was cordially wel- 
 comed by the congregation and found not a few among 
 them who had known him and served with him. Mr. El- 
 liott assisted the present pastor at the communion service 
 on Sunday morning and spoke interestingly and helpfully 
 on Monday afternoon. 
 
 He recalled the experiences of the past and the welcome 
 given him by the church when he came to them as their pas- 
 tor. He made mention of several loyal and loving friends 
 who had been of special value to him; and whose prayers 
 and talks were ever to be remembered as sources of strength 
 and encouragement to him in his ministry. He referred touch- 
 ingly to Deacons Davis and Andrews, both of blessed mem- 
 ory, but both gone, while another Deacon Andrews is still 
 living and doing grand service for the church he loves. 
 
 The others sent their written greetings which are given 
 herewith: 
 
 ^Letters 
 
 Rev. C. R. Hamlin. 
 
 Hlllsboro Bridge, N. H., Oct. 17, 1906. 
 
 My dear Foimer Fellow-Workers, 
 
 And present fellow-workers for that matter; for are we not 
 still engaged in the same labor, working for and under one 
 Master and pressing towards a common goal? 
 Greeting: 
 
 What a splendid thing it is to have kept the light of the 
 Gospel of Christ burning 100 years. No one but God knows 
 the full glory of your record. How many noble men and wo- 
 men you have sent out to leaven the lump in other places! 
 How many shipwrecks of character your steady light has pre- 
 vented. How many pastors' hearts your loving sympathy 
 has cheered! The Master looks down approvingly upon you, 
 or rather is present with you as a loving, cheering, inspiring 
 force and fellowship on this your first centennial. 
 
 23 
 
How I wish I could be with you, although unworthy the 
 honor of this recognition for the temporary work I did. My 
 removal was instrumental under God in His bestowal upon 
 you of your present effective leader who seems near and 
 known to me despite the fact that I have never met him. 
 
 My closing word to you is that loving message the Master 
 gave to a church long ago, and far away, but which I am sure 
 has been recorded as signifying He still repeats it to His 
 churches today which are not great in number, but faithful 
 and true. 
 
 Rev. 3: 7-8. 
 
 Grace, mercy and peace be with you all. 
 Faithfully yours, 
 CHRISTOPHER ROBERT HAMLIN. 
 
 Rev. C. S. Newhall. 
 
 2627 Piedmont Ave., 
 
 Berkely, Calif., Oct. 17, 1906. 
 Rev. W. C. Taylor, 
 
 Keeseville, N. Y. 
 Dear Mr. Taylor: 
 
 Your note of Oct. 2 reaches me in this far away California 
 City across the Bay from San Francisco. 
 
 We are too far away to allow of Mrs. Newhall and myself 
 being present at your anniversary on the 4th of November. 
 We can only send our greetings and good wishes. 
 For ourselves: We are all in good health. 
 The oldest son (Charles) has graduated from the Univers- 
 ity and is at work as chemist with the Pacific Cement Co. at 
 Cement, Cal. 
 
 Luther is in his senior year at the University. 
 Katherine is a Sophomore at the nearby Mills College. 
 They are all "grown up." 
 
 Doubtless after the anniversary exercises, or in connection 
 with them, there will be interesting printed reports. We 
 shall be glad if we can see them. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 C S. NEWHALL. 
 
 24 
 
REV. C. S. XEWHALL 
 1885—1887 
 
Rev. H. E. Butler. 
 
 To the Friends who may gather at the Centennial of The 
 Congregational Church, Keeseville, N. Y. : 
 
 In sending my greetings to you at this time, it will be natu- 
 ral that I should be led back to the beginning of my life 
 among you, and that I should speak with most interest of those 
 persons and scones which for almost seventeen years were so 
 closely interwoven with my life. I shall not, of course, at- 
 tempt a history of those years. That has become a part of 
 the history of the church, and will be treated as it deserves 
 by one who is fully competent to do the work assigned. It 
 will therefore be to only a few of the more prominent inci- 
 dents as they have been impressed upon my memory, that 
 I shall direct your attention. The first acquaintance that I 
 had with Keeseville was begun by a letter received at my 
 home at Essex, Vt., inviting me to occupy the pulpit on the 
 succeeding Sabbath day. I responded saying that I would do 
 so, and on the succeeding Saturday evening I sat on the 
 front seat of "Sam Cook's" four horse coach, and was gaily 
 driven along with others to the door of the Adirondack Hotel, 
 where before I had a chance to alight, I was met by that man 
 with whom I was afterward on the most intimate terms for 
 many years, till he finally died almost in my arms, and was 
 afterward carried out to burial by the hands of the many 
 friends whom he had easily made as he had passed along his 
 earthly ways. His name will, I think, instinctively rise in 
 your minds before I mention it, Edmund H. Garfield. His 
 picture hangs upon the wall of my room as I write. I 
 never passed a freer Sunday than that. I knew only one 
 man in the audience and he was a college fraternity brother, 
 Hiram Carleton, to whom I was indebted, as I afterward 
 learned, for an introduction to a Keeseville audience. I did 
 not think whether I should please the people or not. I had 
 given myself to the Lord's work, and thought or cared little, 
 as to where that work should be done. But besides this, I 
 was spending the weeks at the dear home of my boyhood 
 from which I had been separated for seven years, and had 
 brought to that home as my wife, one in whose presence 1 
 was to be supremely happy, and who was to be the light 
 and life, and inspiring hope of that home which I afterward 
 was asked to begin among you, of this church. 
 
 I preached I suppose as well as I could. I stayed at the home 
 of Mr. Garfield, and went with him and Mr. Watson through 
 the Chasm as it existed in those days. And then I went back 
 
 25 
 
to my Essex home without the slightest anxiety as to whether 
 I should ever return. 
 
 But in a few days the request came for me to return. I 
 came, and I stayed for almost seventeen happy years, until 
 I felt that the same Father who had brought me to you was 
 asking me to go away. 
 
 So many things occur to me as I write, that I confess I do 
 not know what to select. If I omit some of which you think 
 I should speak, you will pardon me I am sure. Sometimes 
 the very abundance of material causes one to fail in a mental 
 effort. 
 
 The first person whom I received into membership in the 
 church was Miss Emma S. Learned, at whose marriage to 
 Edmund Kingsland, and at his burial and that of her daugh- 
 ter, Kate, and her son, Edmund, I afterward officiated. 
 
 The first child baptized was Mabel Andrews, daughter of 
 your well beloved Aaron and Martha Andrews. Dear Mabel 
 gone in the bright maturity of her years to join the many 
 waiting ones " over there." 
 
 My first funeral was at the home of Dr. McLean, Miss 
 Sarah Minor, who had for some time been an inmate of their 
 home. My first burial was of two little children side by side 
 in the same casket, children of Mr. Carpenter, buried in a 
 corner of the cemetery at Ausable Chasm. And my first mar- 
 riage was of a couple whom I had never before seen, who 
 came for that purpose from Wilmington. I easily remember 
 my fear at that time that I might make some mistake in the 
 proper form and my gladness when I found that they were 
 not among my regular parishioners. I remember too the de- 
 termination which I came to at that time, not to hold the Al- 
 mighty Father responsible for all the matrimonial joinings 
 to which I should give an official sanction. 
 
 But I cannot go over all the paths whither the items just 
 named would lead. Funerals and weddings not only in 
 Keeseville, but in Peru and Clintonville, Ausable Forks, Port 
 Kent and Plattsburgh, over winter drifts and under summer 
 suns such would be your course if I should try to retrace all 
 our ways. 
 
 Do you remember Father Place? Do you remember his 
 prayers in the old vestry? Ah, but I must take you into his 
 dying chamber. It was the gate of heaven to me. I knelt 
 beside his bed, and in an almost childish way asked the 
 Father to help an old man in his passing on out of human 
 sight. And when I had finished the departing saint laid his 
 thin hands on my bowed head, and poured out his own soul 
 to the God whom he was soon to see, asking His blessing to 
 
 26 
 
rest on one whom he called his pastor, and whom he had 
 already learned to love in his work. It was as holy a scene 
 as an old Bible describes. It was the same God whom an 
 Apostle worshipped. It was such a blessing as a sainted old 
 patriarch whose name is written in a holy book, asked to 
 descend upon his children. 
 
 Will any of you I wonder, be reminded of the picnics and 
 Sunday school celebrations we used to attend in those days? 
 Wouldn't you like to get the old " bunch " together again and 
 go out to Mr. Goodrich's or Deacon Davis' or to Mr. Pope's, 
 when the winter snow lies deep upon the ground? But if 
 you do, please don't image that Mr. Pope is to be obliged to 
 give you all, such a nice pitcher full of sweet cider as he used 
 to lay before his pastor and his wife when we would go there 
 to spend the day. Or perhaps you would like to taste Mrs. 
 Heman Matthews' doughnuts, and Mrs. Marsh's fig cake again 
 down at Baggs' Grove. Yes, and if you will drop into the old 
 parsonage again before it had gotten all its modern improve- 
 ments, perhaps you could find a piece of Mrs. Macomber's 
 pie left, or Mrs. Arnold's rice pudding, and possibly if you 
 timed it just right the parson might ask you to sit with him 
 and his family and take a liberal slice from the last "spare 
 rib" which Deacon Adgate brought in the day before. Or if 
 it should suit you still better we might take a ride to " Moun- 
 tain Home," where I am sure your appetite would demand a 
 liberal slice of Mrs. Andrews' " fried pork " with its luscious 
 " milk gravy." Or if this was too near, then I would take 
 you to " the Patent " where with the Tanners and the Walk- 
 ers you could stretch yourselves upon the green grass and 
 eat of good things to your stomach's content. Please do not 
 think by this mention of names that I have reached the end. 
 I am limited by your committee to ten minutes, and my time 
 is now " up " I am sure. But though my time is up, I am not 
 done and am going right on as though your chairman's bell 
 had not " called me down." For I want to tell you how two 
 other events have worn deep into my soul substance. 
 
 When I had been preaching four years I went one June day 
 to a Presbytery at Fort Covington. I was worn with work 
 when I started and did not sleep much during the nights I 
 was there. When after two days I got out of the stage at 
 Malone to take the train, I found I could not move one of my 
 feet very readily. When I got to Plattsburgh, both of them 
 were involved, and when I reached home, I could with diffi- 
 culty walk into the house. That was the beginning of an 
 illness which taxed the skill of every physician in town, and 
 was afterward reported in a medical journal. The paralysis 
 kept on for two or three more days, when I could move only 
 
 27 
 
my head slightly as it lay upon the pillow. I recall vividly 
 my feeling one night, that before the morning should dawn, 
 the probabilities were I should not be able to speak, if indeed 
 I had not gone away from the world. But I simply said to my 
 Father: "It is in your hands and care, do what you think 
 best." And then I slept as well as usual, and waked in the 
 morning sure that the crisis had come and passed. And so it 
 had. But it was months before I began labor again. I shall 
 never forget the men who watched with me during some of 
 those nights. Two, perhaps three, of them may be listening 
 now to my words. And I shall never cease to honor the 
 church, which after the first few weeks came to me by its 
 committee and said, " We don't want you to worry about the 
 church and the pulpit, we will take care of it all, and don't 
 you give it one anxious thought." And they did. Mr. Wat- 
 son was the main sermon reader and Deacons Adgate, Davis, 
 Andrews and Morris sustained by their prayers. Mrs. Hough- 
 ton and Mrs. Marsh, Misses Thompson and Prescott, yes the 
 whole host of glorious names comes before me, and makes 
 me wish the ten allotted minutes were at least lengthened 
 to sixty minutes. But what I want most to say in this con- 
 nection is that not a single man, woman or child was lost 
 to the congregation by that prolonged trial. It was wonder- 
 ful. Everything went on as usual. The pastor's salary was 
 paid promptly, as when he was doing full work. Ephraim 
 rang the bell, Mr. Wham opened the church doors, and Dr. 
 Hopkins led his choir. It showed unmistakeably that God 
 was with His church. It showed the temper and make up of 
 the people. It was a matter for angels to rejoice over, and 
 it has drawn forth from him who writes to you at this hour. 
 the most profound and grateful thanks of his busy life. 
 
 And now, having dwelt upon these delightful scenes, in 
 which nothing of deceit, but everything of the most open 
 character has been discovered, must I turn to something quite 
 different? Does the common honesty which is supposed to 
 belong to one who would be a faithful chronicler, demand that 
 I should in my review bring to your notice a web of — I hate 
 to call it deceit — but what can I label it — which was woven 
 around the parsonage thirty-two years ago, and which will, I 
 think, in many ways stand unparalleled in the history of the 
 Congregational Church? And must I say that in this the name 
 of one must be specially mentioned, whom I early learned 
 to love and revere, and whom as I look forward to the life 
 beyond I am exceedingly anxious again to meet? And shall I 
 say that it involves not only Deacon Adgate and his family, 
 but as I have reason to believe every other man, woman and 
 child in what was then my loved and honored church and 
 
congregation? Nay, did it extend still further and were my 
 brothers in the ministry engaged in it, and my many friends 
 outside of what I called my own church engaged in that 
 scheme to deceive an unsuspecting young man, who so 
 thoroughly trusted all of them? Let me recall it to your 
 memory. It was on the fifth day of May, 1874. A few days 
 before, the parson, his wife and children, had been invited 
 tq spend the day at the home of his beloved Deacon Adgate. 
 They had looked forward to that day, for it was to them the 
 gladdest anniversary in the life of the parents. It took them 
 back to the day and the hour when their lives had become 
 one, and they had gone out with a loving trust and abund- 
 ant hope in their hearts which had more than been realized, 
 and which in consequence had caused this day to be observed 
 as the if possible gladest of their lives. So when the deacon 
 drove up early in the forenoon, and took them to his home it 
 was with a delight in their hearts, to which the deacon, 
 his wife, and children, did their best to contribute. The day 
 passed happily. The supper was eaten rather earlier than 
 usual. But there seemed to be no hurry on the part of their 
 kind hosts to be relieved of their guests. And the parson and 
 his wife, began to suggest that it was getting rather late. At 
 last the ride home was begun. But what was their astonish- 
 men when they came to the parsonage to see it brilliantly 
 lighted and the forms of many people flitting before the open 
 windows. Yes, and there was the voice of laughter and gay 
 song, as if it was a joy day to the uninvited ones within. 
 And in all this the parson did not discover the slightest ex- 
 hibition of surprise on the part of the deacon. They all went 
 in, and as if it were their own home the uninvited ones, wel- 
 comed the usual occupants of the home and soon invited them 
 to a well-laden table and began to display a succession of won- 
 derful gifts. I said a little time ago that the conduct of the 
 Congregational church during their pastor's illness in '68 was 
 wonderful. He ought to have been prepared for a scheme 
 of this wonderful sort which now greeted him, but he was 
 not, and the dear wife who had given ten bright years of 
 her beautiful life to the care of the work with that church 
 was equally surprised, and she who never knew a thought of 
 deceit had — she soon found — been made a victim. A large 
 quantity of beautiful crockery had been unloaded in her ab- 
 sence at her home, and bright beautiful articles suitable for 
 either pleasure or use, had been placed in almost every room 
 in the house. And now I cannot look at my watch without 
 a possible reminder of the wish that " my life may be as 
 full of happiness " as was the contents of a package handed 
 to me at that time " full of ticks " and last night when I 
 
 29 
 
could not sleep, and I struck a match I was reminded by the 
 little utensil in which they were held, of that old scene in the 
 Keeseville parsonage so many years ago. And now though 
 they have been taught the beauties of many years in heaven, 
 I do not suppose one of the many gone there from those who 
 engaged in that " surprise " have ever had so much as a 
 moments regret for the part they took on that occasion. 
 
 May I tell you of another of the surprises to which my 
 life among you gave occasion. 
 
 This time it concerned a single individual, but it was a 
 revelation of his character. I had occasion upon a time for 
 more money than I had within my reach. I had a neighbor 
 who it was supposed had considerable at his disposal. I went 
 to him and expressed my desire, ending by asking if he would 
 sign a note with me at the bank for a hundred dollars. He 
 heard me patiently, and then, at his reply I confess I was 
 embarrassed. It was to the effect that he could not do it. 
 And then without a suspicion on my part of what was com- 
 ing he said, " No I cannot sign a note with you. I never do 
 that, but I will let you have a hundred dollars myself." I 
 thanked him and offered to sign a note right then. " No, he 
 said, pay me when you can, as well as not, and don't worry." 
 My impression is that he refused it when I offered to repay. 
 You can guess that his name was Silas Arnold. 
 
 Do any of you remember Aunt Tamar or Ben Lewis? 
 Tamar so old that a century would not count her age. And 
 Ben, did you know of his last illness? I used to visit him 
 often in his humble home. One day I discovered that he was 
 very near his end. I knelt and prayed at his bedside. 
 " Marse," he said, " I'se made my peace with God, I ain't 
 'fraid ter die. Der good Lawd has fergiven my sins fer Jesus' 
 sake. I'm ready." And then I saw there was something more 
 that he wanted to say. There was a sadness plainly visible. 
 " Marse," he said, " dere's one ting troubles me." " Tell it all 
 out to me," I said, " Well, Marse, its jes dis, I ain't got no good 
 close to be buried in, deys all worn out." And then I took his 
 hand in mine and said, " Don't you worry one bit I will see 
 to that, you shall have a good suit of clothes when you are 
 to be laid in the grave." The next day he was dead, and we 
 got him, perhaps, the best suit of clothes he ever had, and he 
 was robed for the grave, and the young men, some of them 
 possibly hearing this to-day, helped to carry his body out for 
 its resting in the grave. Do any of you know where he was 
 buried? If so won't you carry some little flower and lay it 
 upon his grave next spring when the flowers are again in 
 bloom, and don't forget Ephraim and Dr. Thomas. 
 
 30 
 
So many things occur to me as 1 write that I don't know 
 but the best way would be for me to write a volume of Keese- 
 ville Tales to be added to the one already in existence. 
 
 But before I am done I want to say a word about the de- 
 lightful fraternity which existed among the pastors of the 
 different churches in Keeseville during my seventeen years. 
 For a good portion of the time we had a weekly Monday min- 
 isters meeting composed of the pastors of the four Protestant 
 churches, and this good feeling extended to the Catholic 
 churches as well. Some of the good friends, which I then 
 had were from the Catholic as well as the Protestant church 
 and their pleasant memory continues to the present time as 
 I find every year on my return. 
 
 I must surely beg pardon. My " ten minutes " have gone 
 into twenty or more, and material crowds upon me, and 
 names are calling to me as if with persistent demand that 
 they should be remembered on this occasion. 
 
 I must not conclude without a sincere voice of praise to 
 Almighty God for the measure of success He gave to the 
 work of those years. I began with the feeling that I was 
 simply His servant, and He my employer. The message was 
 given me, all I had to do was to deliver it. The men and 
 women who were there unsaved He bid me tell the way. 
 The minister's duty according to the thought of those old 
 times was as simple as possible. It was not considered neces- 
 sary for him to know how to play golf, nor was it necessary 
 for him to show his gracefulness upon the waxed floor of an 
 " assembly " room. But he belonged to the people every 
 day in the week, for whatever service he could render in 
 making life brighter, better and purer. During the years 
 we are reviewing two hundred and seven persons were re- 
 ceived into membership in the church. Of these fifty-three 
 were received in the year 1S67 and forty-six in 1877. 
 
 A few words more and I am done. It is with an unspeak- 
 able sadness in my heart that I attempt to speak them; 
 but it is an act of simple justice to the memory of one 
 who thoroughly gave her consecrated life to the work God 
 had called her to do among you. She did not share that 
 sentiment which in these later years I am hearing very often, 
 that the pastor's wife has nothing to do with the pastor's 
 work in and among his people. She gave her life to the 
 church in the fullest degree, and it is with the feeling 
 that these greetings would be incomplete if I did not add 
 hers to them today, for I believe that she is here along 
 with the many others who have gone from your midst, and 
 that no words of loving remembrance will be spoken by the 
 tongue of any one present which will contain more of holy 
 
 31 
 
affection and prayer for God's blessing to continue to rest 
 upon you than are those which will be heard in the spirit 
 stillness of your own hearts. And I want to say with a 
 profound thankfulness in my heart that whatever of suc- 
 cess our common Father gave me here or elsewhere, I owe 
 under Him to the woman He gave me as my associate in 
 the work of my life. 
 
 I thank you again for your generous appreciation of our 
 work in all our years and shall continue to pray God's 
 blessing to rest upon you so long as I may live here, and 
 when gone beyond we will gather the old friends who are 
 already gone and pray as fervently as in the older days 
 for God's love to abide with you all and bring you all at 
 last safe to His loving arms. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 H. E. BUTLER, 
 
 32 
 
REV. H. E. BUTLER 
 1864— 1S80 
 
Zbc 5ton> of a "fcunbreb IPears 
 
 •historical Skctcb 
 
 By Miss JusOtaa Tthomipson. 
 
 O. F the life of every individual, community or 
 I nation there are always two histories, the one out- 
 ■ ward and visible, the other inward and unseen and 
 yet the more important of the two, since in the 
 invisible are the springs and motives from which 
 the actions and words of the other grow and make 
 their mark on the world for good or ill. So in the story of a 
 church, the unknown life, the souls awakened, the hearts 
 renewed, the characters formed, the burdens lightened, the 
 sorrows sanctified, the sweet memories of childhood as well 
 as of olden years, this side of the history could it be told 
 aright would be the interesting part of to-day's anniversary, 
 but as this cannot be, to give a few facts and figures, mention 
 a few honored names that have come down to us from the 
 past, is about all that we can hope to do. 
 
 We all know that Calvanism early took deep root in New 
 England where, as in grand old Scotland and Switzerland the 
 very spirit of religious freedom dwells on the mountains and 
 hills, and there it found a congenial soil in which to grow and 
 from which to send its beneficent influence throughout the 
 land. 
 
 Transplanted thither in the hearts of those who knew in 
 their own lives what sacrifice meant, men and women who 
 had given up home and friends and worldly wealth and were 
 ready to give up life itself for the right, this creed moulded 
 to a large extent the character of those early American Colo- 
 nies. Those old Pilgrim fathers and mothers were not given 
 much to sentimentalism. They were a people of deep, earnest 
 conviction and conscience, indeed conscience was so promi- 
 nent a feature in Calvinistic morality that John Quincy Adams 
 called the Puritan colony of New England, "a colony of con- 
 science." They felt in their inmost being that life was short 
 and its responsibilities great, and their religion was their life. 
 And so as Mr. Butler said, it was doubtless due to the fact 
 that so many of the first settlers of this village came from 
 New England that a Congregational Church was so early 
 established in this region. The simple unostentatious form 
 
 33 
 
of worship, the intense devotion to the principles of individual 
 liberty and the supreme exaltation of the Divine Sovereignty, 
 elements which characterize that church, were such as to 
 cling to the hearts of those who in early life had received 
 them, and it was not strange that they could not long be con- 
 tent until the church of their early love had been regularly 
 established, and thus only four years after the incorporation 
 of the town of Chesterfield, in a log house near Port Douglass, 
 eleven men and women met one day for this purpose. 
 
 In the quaint words of the old chronicle, 
 
 "Let it be remembered (and the glory be the Lord's) that 
 on the fifth day of November, one thousand, eight hundred 
 and six, according to a previous appointment made for the 
 purpose, the following persons, namely, Matthew Adgate, 
 Samuel Whitney, Erastus Strong, David Wright, Martha 
 Strong, Eunice Adgate, Hannah Adgate, Nabby W. 
 Strong Anna Adgate, Theodosia Arthur and Ruhama Leavit 
 together with the Rev. Jonathan Hovey, pastor of the Church 
 of Christ in Waterbury, and Rev. Jonathan Hovey, Jr., pastor 
 of the Church of Christ in Waybridge, both in the State of 
 Vermont, did meet at the dwelling house of Samuel Whitney 
 in Chesterfield, with a view and for the purpose of forming a 
 visible Church of Christ in the said town of Chesterfield. 
 That after joint supplication at the throne of grace for light 
 and divine assistance, the said Matthew Adgate, Samuel 
 Whitney. Erastus Strong, David Wright, Martha Strong, 
 Eunice Adgate, Hannah Adgate, Nabby W. Strong, Anna 
 Adgate, Theodosia Arthur and Ruhama Leavit, did severally 
 for themselves and publicly agree and sign in the presence of 
 each other a confession of their faith and belief in the 
 Christian doctrine and scheme of salvation as contained in 
 the Old and New Testaments or Sacred iScriptures of truth 
 and did likewise at the same time and place and in the pres- 
 ence of each other and said pastors, agree and sign a cove- 
 nant to regulate their lives, to watch and care for each other 
 as a visible Church of Christ in the world." 
 
 Thus was born a hundred years ago to-day the Congrega- 
 tional Church of Keeseville, earnest purpose and reverent 
 faith hallowing its cradle, and have we not a right to believe 
 that the mutual covenant entered into on that day received 
 the Divine approval and was fraught with blessings to future 
 genorations? 
 
 For several years after the organization of the church, these 
 members had to depend on their own resources for the main- 
 taining of public worship, and though no people have a higher 
 reverence for the ordained minister of the gospel, yet it was 
 
 34 
 
quite in accordance with their creed to feel that it was per- 
 fectly valid and regular for them to call on Judge Adgate to 
 read a sermon and preside at their meetings or Dea. Sam'l 
 Whitney to lead in religious services. 
 
 Occasionally a missionary from the Vermont Domestic 
 Missionary Society came into this New York wilderness and 
 would gather the people together for worship wherever they 
 could. 
 
 Among these pioneer missionaries were Rev. Cyrus Corn- 
 stock, Rev. Chester Armstrong and Rev. Chas. Gilbert. 
 
 Father Comstock, as he was called, was one of the remark- 
 able men of his day although the region in which he labored 
 occupied a very small place on the map of the world. Born 
 in 1765, early apprenticed as a shoemaker, but soon recogni- 
 ing a call to different work, he entered as a student the 
 Academy at North Salem, N. Y., and then taught school for 
 six years. Prof. Taylor Lewis, in an interesting sketch of him, 
 entitled, "My Old School Master," says that "from him I 
 learned my first lessons in reading and spelling, receiving at 
 that early day an impression of truth and goodness which has 
 never left my memory." 
 
 Mr. Comstock studied for the ministry and entered upon 
 the work of an evangelist under the auspices of the Congre- 
 gational Society of New England. 
 
 To preach in school houses in remote settlements, to 
 build up feeble churches, to seek the neglected sheep in the 
 wilderness, sleeping often in the rude cabins of those moun- 
 tain regions, to minister to the wants of the poor, and to bring 
 comfort and encouragement to the lowly, this was his mission. 
 Material aid as well as spiritual, he brought these people, 
 having used his money and credit to save from starvation 
 many of the inmabitants of the Upper Ausable Valley during 
 what was known as the " famine year," 1816, a year in which 
 there was frost every month and a consequent failure of 
 crops. 
 
 Hon. Robt. S. Hale said, "I came to this county to com- 
 mence my law studies when Mr. Comstock was 80 years old 
 and I could not fail to be impressed with the simplicity and 
 purity of his life, his thoughts, his language, the absoluteness 
 of his faith and the saintliness of his character." His last 
 days were spent on a farm in the town of Lewis, where he 
 died Jan. 8th, 1853. On the tablet which marks his resting 
 place are these words: "He was the father of the Congrega- 
 tional Churches of this county, most of which were gathered 
 by him as a missionary. A faithful minister, he exemplified 
 the Christian graces in a long and useful life. He has gone 
 to his reward." 
 
 35 
 
Rev. Chester Armstrong preached for a time at different 
 places in Chesterfield, and after him Rev. Chas. Gilbert for a 
 few months. 
 
 Services were held by these ministers at the home of 
 Samuel Whitney, in the school house at Port Douglass, in the 
 school house south on what was then called Norton's hill, and 
 in school district No. 3 near the residence of L. B. Davis, and 
 sometimes in summer, when the house was too small for 
 those who came together, Dea. Whitney's barn became their 
 tabernacle. 
 
 The earliest record of the church in the hand-writing of 
 Judge Adgate, dates back to 1809, and it is evident that even 
 in those days there were some who deviated from the strict 
 path of Christian conduct, and it is also evident that when 
 this did occur that there were men brave enough to expose 
 the wrong and rebuke the offender. 
 
 During this period Judge Adgate and Mr. Whitney officiated 
 as deacons, and in 1811 Marcus Barnes was added to their 
 number and later on, Curtis Woodruff, Joseph Reynolds, 
 Myron Ticknor, staid, sober, reliable pillars of the church — 
 somewhat ponderous in their dignity, perhaps, but earnest, 
 deliberate, sincere men, hating evil and upholding the right 
 as they saw the right. 
 
 Judge Adgate came to Ausable Chasm in 1792, having had a 
 large tract of land granted him for services in the Revolu- 
 tionary War, and iu 1802 the whole territory comprising the 
 counties of Essex and Clinton was divided into but four 
 towns, Judge Adgate's tract, I am told, lying mostly in Essex 
 Co., and thus although there was no lack of land for a church 
 site, yet for some time it was difficult to tell where the inter- 
 ests of the region would finally center, as people settled at 
 Peru, the Union, Clintonville, Birmingham Falls and all about 
 before locating to any extent in what is now the village 
 proper, but the fine water power of the Ausable river was the 
 magnet which attracted them and decided the matter, and as 
 saw mills, factories and other industries began to appear, of 
 course men came too, and Keeseville continuing to grow in 
 importance, the place of stated meeting of the church was 
 moved in 1828 to the "Old Yellow iSchool House" on "Acad- 
 emy Hill." 
 
 It is a curious fact that the first place of worship of all 
 denominations in those earlier days was located on a hill 
 
 When the church came to the village it numbered fifty 
 members, but during that year and the following one it was 
 largely increased by the addition of new comers to the town. 
 
 Of course with the growth in numbers, the question of a 
 minister could not fail to become one of great interest and 
 
 36 
 
importance, and accordingly, after much discussion and due 
 consideration, a call was extended to Rev. Solomon Lyman, 
 which he accepted, and in 1829 became the first pastor of the 
 church, which office he held till 1S34. In 1S31-32-33 a series 
 of " protracted meetings " were held which resulted in large 
 additions to the membership. 
 
 It was during the pastorate of Mr. Lyman that the people, 
 having had no permanent abiding place for 24 years, decided 
 to build a house of worship, and an elected few from their 
 number were authorized to find a suitable location and appoint 
 a building committee to attend to the business. This com- 
 mittee consisted of Martin Pope, John Brigham, Henry 
 Mather, Joshua Aiken and Joseph Reynolds. 
 
 The work was begun immediately, and on July 15th, 1830, 
 the corner stone was laid. The Keeseville Herald, our first 
 village newspaper, published by Anson H. Allen, says of this 
 event: "On Saturday last the corner stone of the first Con- 
 gregational Church of Keeseville was laid with appropriate 
 ceremonies. The building is to be of the Gothic order, of 
 stone, 50 by 70 feet. Mr. Lyman made an address upon the 
 occasion which he has given us for publication in which he 
 said: "It is but a few years since this place was regarded by 
 the passing traveller as too forbidding in appearance to be 
 selected for human habitation, but now a numerous population 
 calls for those means, civil, literary and religious which adorn 
 and bless society." Mr. Davis G. Moore of Danville, Ills., has 
 kindly sent me some pages from his memories of this first 
 church building. In 1826 his parents came into this region, 
 bringing with them letters from their old church in New 
 Hampshire to the one here retaining their connection with it 
 for half a century or more, all of their family of ten children 
 having been baptised in the old church edifice. Mr. Moore 
 says: "My earliest recollections are of the old stone building, 
 a structure of medium height, standing back from the street, 
 with a considerable yard in front, its southern gable cur- 
 mounted by a bell-tower and tall spire, — with double doors in 
 the center — always painted green, and a fan-shaped fixed 
 shutter over the doors. 
 
 The basement was entered through a doorway on the east 
 side and contained a vestibule and one large audience room, 
 used for Sunday school, prayer meetings and miscellaneous 
 gatherings. It certainly fulfilled the scripture injunction in 
 at least one particular, it was founded on the solid rock. My 
 own most vivid remembrances of the church are connected 
 with that lower room; having reached the mature age of 
 nearly five years, it was decided that I might attend Sunday 
 
 37 
 
school, and on one Sunday noon I walked with fear and tremb- 
 ling the length of that room to the seat of the youngest class, 
 a trip to me then that was greater than the length of the 
 largest cathedral. 
 
 In the main audience room the pulpit was at the north end, 
 raised several feet above the floor and reached on either side 
 by a stairway with a railing. The singers' gallery and organ 
 loft extended across the south end of the room, where the 
 choir, with hymn book in one hand and tune book in the other, 
 sent up to heaven the united praise of the whole congregation, 
 the people in the pews at the same time rising to their feet 
 and calmly turning their backs to the preacher, literally "faced 
 the music." 
 
 The pews of the eld church were apparently planned to be 
 sufficiently uncomfortable to check any tendency to drowsi- 
 ness during service, the backs of the pews being at right 
 angles to the seats and the oval strip on the top of the backs 
 projecting far enough to warn the sitter against attempting 
 any position but that of strict uprightness. 
 
 The plastering was laid directly on the stone walls of the 
 old building and in the extreme cold weather of our northern 
 winters, when the room became thoroughly warm (which did 
 not always happen) my boyish vision was greatly edified in 
 watching the tiny rivulets of melting frost which trickled 
 lown the walls. 
 
 As the building was erected in the early years of the organi- 
 zation of the society, its construction must have cost those 
 pioneers an amount of labor, anxiety and self-denial which we 
 of later generations are quite unable to realize. 
 
 How many exhortations to shun the ways of evil and lead 
 "sober, righteous and godly lives" were given from the pulpit 
 of the old building — how many earnest, fervent prayers of 
 sincere Christian men and women went up from within its 
 walls only the great Master knows." The old bell was sold 
 and may still be doing duty somewhere and the weather vane 
 still shows " which way the wind blows " on the Horse Nail 
 Co.'s building across the street. 
 
 When the church edifice was completed, only four of the 
 original members were alive to enter it, and it does not 
 require much imagination to understand the joy of those 
 Christian hearts as they realized that at last their beloved 
 church had a home. 
 
 The society had been organized under the laws of the 
 State and the record of organization mentions Joseph Rey- 
 nolds, Joshua Aiken and Wm. Peters as the first elected trus- 
 tees, Percival Morse, the first clerk; Samuel Moore, collector, 
 and John Brigham, treasurer. 
 
 38 
 
The pastor's salary was fixed at $500. After Mr. Lyman 
 closed his labors here, Rev. A. D. Brinkerhoff was invited to 
 fill the pulpit, which he did for four years. During these 
 years, also, large numbers were added to the membership, 
 seventy uniting in one year. 
 
 A few of the old entries on the church books about this 
 time may be of interest. 
 
 Mar. 1830. At a meeting of the society, Mr. H., a member, 
 was excused from assisting in the support of the gospel, hav- 
 ing given satisfactory reasons therefor. 
 
 Oct. 1S30. Asa D. Moore was appointed collector for the 
 society and voted that he receive 5 per cent, of all he may 
 collect. Perhaps some of our present day collectors would 
 vote for such an arrangement as that. 
 
 Oct. 1832. Voted that the trustees cause holes to be cut 
 through the partition in the lower part of the house between 
 the posts and that the stoves be put up and that the pipe from 
 them be carried over the aisles and out at the north end of the 
 house. 
 
 Nov. 1832. Voted to levy a tax on pews according to value 
 to pay for stove-pipes, fuel and oil for lighting, and that David 
 Wait be employed to teach a singing school, and voted also 
 that T. A. Tomlinson, R. Keese and John Brigham be the 
 committee to hire said singing master. 
 
 Oct. 1837. Voted that the thanks of the society be pre- 
 sented to Martin Pope for a donation of $500.00, and at the 
 same time the wish of the society was expressed that no town 
 meetings be held in the church. 
 
 A little later it was voted that Joseph Reynolds take the 
 care of the church building, furnishing fuel, lights and bell- 
 ringing for $150 per annum. 
 
 After Mr. Brinkerhoff left, the church for a short time was 
 supplied by different ministers, among them Rev. H. D. 
 KitcheH, afterward president of Middlebury College. 
 
 Oct. 1838. "It was voted unanimously to give Rev. John 
 Mattocks a call to become our pastor." 
 
 Justinian Holden was clerk of the church and Dea. Joseph 
 Reynolds chairman of the meeting by which the call was 
 extended to him. 
 
 Mr. Mattock had been educated for the law and a brilliant 
 career was open to him in that profession with his father, who 
 was governor of Vermont, but he was converted and this 
 changed the current of his life. With characteristic prompt- 
 ness he turned to the higher life to which he felt the call, and 
 four weeks from the time of his conversion had begun his 
 study for the ministry. From the very beginning of his 
 Christian experience he threw himself heart and soul into the 
 
 39 
 
work. Not long before his death a friend said something to 
 him about daily consecration. "Daily consecration," he said. 
 "I do not know what you mean, I consecrated myself forty 
 years ago, once for all." 
 
 Can it be that this is one reason why so many of us lead 
 such useless, fruitless lives, the consecration is not "once for 
 all," and we so often have to go back to the beginning that 
 we make no progress? 
 
 Mr. Mattocks, at the time he came here, was only twenty- 
 four years of age, but both by natural ability and education 
 was well fitted for his calling, and with youthful enthusiasm 
 devoted himself to it. He was ordained Jan. 15, 1839, Rev. A. 
 D. Brinkerhoff preaching the sermon. 
 
 All through his ministry his influence over young men was 
 specially marked and remains to the present day, having 
 borne abundant fruit in many noble and useful lives. Mr. 
 Moore said of him, "I knew but one pastor, that sturdy son of 
 Vermont, Rev. John Mattocks, who for eighteen years was 
 such a power for good, not only in his own church, but 
 throughout the entire community. Others there were, but his 
 presence and personality so completely filled my mind that I 
 cannot now recall any other." 
 
 As a preacher, he was simple, direct, going straight to the 
 mark for which he was aiming, never using the sensational in 
 word or manner to impress his hearers. 
 
 He largely identified himself with the interests of the vil- 
 lage, especially those of education. Excelling as a scholar in 
 Natural Sciences, it was his custom to give lectures on those 
 subjects on Wednesday afternoons at the Academy, which 
 was greatly indebted to him in other directions also, for 
 co-operation and aid. During his pastorate, the church edifice 
 having been found too small for the needs of the congregation, 
 was taken down and the present one erected in its place. 
 
 "Rev. John Mattocks, Joseph Goulding, Nelson Kingsland, 
 Oliver Peabody, Abram Kingsland, Chas. Morris and S. F. 
 Spencer were the building committee." 
 
 Mr. Mattocks, out of his own private fortune, was by far the 
 largest contributor to the expense of the new building. The 
 contract for the mason work was given to Solomon Townsend, 
 and for the wood work and interior finishing to Nelson Kings- 
 land. 
 
 The church was dedicated Feb. 19, 1852. While the build- 
 ing was in process of erection, the Methodists kindly offered 
 the pastor and people the use of their church, which offer was 
 gratefully accepted, and Mr. Mattocks preached there every 
 other Sabbath. 
 
 40 
 
In 1S56, after a ministry of 18 years, Mr. Mattocks thought 
 best to accept a call to the First Presbyterian church of St. 
 Paul, Minn., where the same useful life was continued, till 
 death suddenly called him home, in the sixty-second year of 
 his age. In a ministerial life of thirty-seven years he served 
 but two churches, eighteen being spent here and nineteen in 
 St. Paul. Two hundred and eighty were added to this church 
 during his life here. 
 
 In 1849 Mr. Mattocks preached the consecration sermon of 
 Evergreen Cemetery, which sermon, through the courtesy of 
 his son, Dr. Mattocks, is one of the most valued possessions of 
 the Ladies' Auxiliary; we have the hymn too, sung on the 
 occasion, also a composition of Mr. Mattocks. 
 
 The church was organized as a Congregational church, and 
 for many years was connected with the Consociation of 
 Essex County, but in 1S45, through the influence of her pas- 
 tor, it became a member of the Presbytery of Champlain, 
 and has so remained ever since. 
 
 Feb. 1815. The Presbytery addressed a circular letter to 
 those churches within its bounds, or within the counties of 
 Essex, Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence, which were of the 
 Congregational order, but some of them served by pastors 
 belonging to the Presbytery, inviting them to join the Presby- 
 tery under a plan of union recommended by the General 
 Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the General Conso- 
 ciation of Connecticut, the chief feature of which was, that 
 each church might send a delegate to Presbytery with all the 
 rights of the eldership of that body, the church in turn sub- 
 mitting to Presbyterial supervision of its acts and records. 
 
 The following minutes is from the records of the Presbytery. 
 
 "The meeting of Presbytery was held at Clintonville, N. Y., 
 Feb. 4, 1845. 
 
 The Congregational Church of Keeseville presented, through 
 the moderator, a request to be taken under the care of Pres- 
 bytery. Their articles of faith and records having been found 
 in order, the request was granted, and Bro. Justinian Holden, 
 delegate from that church, took his seat as member of Pres- 
 bytery. 
 
 Rev. John Mattocks, pastor of the church, was moderator at 
 the time, having been chosen Jan., 1S45. 
 
 To the lady who was organist, for I do not know how many 
 years, somewhere about this time. Miss Lucia Throop, I wish 
 to pay at least a slight tribute of personal respect and affec- 
 tion. She was my first Sunday school teacher, and I remem- 
 ber her as a woman of unusual independence of character, 
 decided opinions and fearless in the expression of them. She 
 knew what she believed, as well as in whom, and it seems to 
 
 41 
 
me as if she were formed of the stuff of which martyrs are 
 made, faithful unto death, and I would class her among the 
 Puritans of England or the old Covenanters of Scotland. 
 
 After 1856, for some months, the church was supplied by 
 different clergymen, and then Rev. John Young began his 
 labors here, remaining a little over one year, but that a very 
 fruitful one, as there was a remarkable religious awakening, 
 and eighty-five were added to the membership. 
 
 Mr. Young was followed by Rev. Selden Haynes, who in 
 Dec, 1858, was installed, filling the pulpit till Dec, 1860. 
 
 Rev. Asa Hemenway came to be our minister, remaining 
 with us till May, 1864. A saintly man, indeed, was he in all his 
 walk and conversation. His youthful strength and vigor had 
 been spent as a missionary to Siam, but the quiet, Christian 
 example, and the pure consistent life of every day, had the 
 influence that such a life never fails to have. It is a pleasant 
 thought that the same lips which told us the "old, old story" 
 had told it also to the dusky sons of another race far over 
 the sea, and perhaps beside the river of life, some from this 
 fold and some from that distant one, together may meet the 
 pastor who led them to the cross. 
 
 In 1864, another young man, fresh from the seminary at 
 Princeton, came to this, his first charge. A young man of fine 
 scholarship and exceptional ability as a preacher, and never 
 did pastor find his way more quickly into the heart and 
 affection of a people, a place which he has retained to the 
 present day with the few who are left. Rev. H. E. Butler 
 came well equipped for the labors he had undertaken. Heart 
 interst in the work, unusual reserve force, enthusiasm and 
 genuine affection for his people made him an ideal minister. 
 The key-note of his life was found in the text of his first ser- 
 mon after accepting the call extended to him, "For I determ- 
 ined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and 
 Him crucified." 
 
 Mr. Butler was ordained by the Presbytery of Champlain, 
 Jan. 1865, Rev. M. R. Herrick of Malone preaching the sermon 
 on the occasion, and installed in Sept. of the same year, Rev. 
 M. H. Buckam , President of the University of Vermont, 
 preaching the installation sermon. 
 
 The period of Mr. Butler's pastorate was one of the most 
 prosperous in the history of the church, both spiritually and 
 financially. There were additions to the membership every 
 year of his stay among us, over two hundred in all, the Sab- 
 bath school, so far as the records tell, was larger than ever 
 before, there was a flourishing young people's association and 
 the various benevolent interests were liberally sustained. Dr. 
 
 42 
 
Butler, during some of the years among us was paid a much 
 larger salary than any other ever has been. 
 
 The vestry was remodelled at an expense of over $700, and 
 on this room $3,500 were expended in changes and repairs, and 
 a parsonage was purchased and fitted up for the pastor's home. 
 Dr. Butler was an encouraging preacher, one who had the 
 faculty of bringing out the best in people. Some one has said, 
 "Tell a man that no good which he can do is of any value and 
 depend upon it he will take you at your word," he never did 
 that. If there was wrong to be rebuked it was done, but if 
 there was good to be commended, that was also done. Then, 
 too, Mr. Butler always gave his congregation the credit of 
 being capable of understanding and appreciating his very 
 best, (which cannot be said of all ministers) and he gave it 
 to us. 
 
 Two or three entries on the church book at this time will 
 show the feeling of pastor and people on some of the ques- 
 tions of the day, suggesting the query as to whether we are 
 advancing along these lines or retreating. 
 
 During a time of special religious interest it was "Resolved, 
 that in view of the judgment of this church in all its past his- 
 tory, and in view of the special circumstances of religious 
 interest in which we are placed, that we deem it highly inex- 
 pedient and directly calculated to produce harm for any mem- 
 ber of this church to countenance or aid by presence or other- 
 wise the masquerade ball soon to take place." 
 
 In consequence of the above resolution the ball was given 
 up by its managers. 
 
 April, 1880. At a special meeting called to consider the 
 relation of the church to the question of temperance the fol- 
 lowing resolutions were introduced and passed.: 
 
 "In view of the present aspect of the temperance cause in 
 this village and the deep and quickened sentiment concerning 
 it throughout the land, this church feels called upon to define 
 its position thereto. We do, therefore, declare it as our belief 
 that the use, manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks as a 
 beverage is contrary to the spirit of God's word, is productive 
 of terrible evil and therefore a sin for which a holy God will 
 call them to account who are guilty. 
 
 "Without questioning in any degree the right of private 
 judgment upon points of public wisdom and prudence, we feel 
 that the time has come when all our members should unite 
 with the most thorough determination to give no sort of con- 
 sent to, or acquiescence in this evil, but should do everything 
 in their power to uproot and destroy it as a fearful foe." 
 
 Mr. Butler was with us in some of the trying scenes of the 
 civil war. Many of us remember his sermon on the assassina- 
 
 43 
 
tion of Pres. Lincoln, which was published by request. This 
 church, with thousands of others throughout the land, fur- 
 nished its defenders of the flag — Major Peabody, Henry M. 
 Mould, Philip McLean, Henry Northrup and Col. Thomas, 
 whose lifeless remains were brought here from the filed of 
 battle for a patriot's burial. To that funeral service, held in 
 this church, came such a throng of men and women, eager to 
 show their respect for the dead soldier, that a great number 
 could not even find standing room. 
 
 To the home of this pastor was brought his fair young bride, 
 and hearts were opened to her also in royal welcome. She 
 received so cordially all who came, and to husband and child- 
 ren she made it the sweetest spot on earth. I see her now, 
 oh, so plainly, as she, with Mrs. Houghton, of blessed memory, 
 came to me in the first great sorrow of my life, came with 
 sweet, sympathetic words and kindly help. I know the pastor 
 in his western home was very sure of the sympathy of this 
 people when she crossed the river to join the little daughter 
 who had gone before. The children, too, were born here, so 
 perhaps it is not so strange that Dr. Butler, during the years 
 he has spent among others who loved him, has never lost his 
 interest in or affection for the old church and its members, 
 and we hope the years may be many in which he can still 
 return to us, if but for a few weeks, and that his words, 
 tender, helpful and comforting may exert all their old time 
 influence. 
 
 The words of the "Country Parson" seem specially appro- 
 priate in this case. " Oh! if the clergyman with less now of 
 physical strength, yet preaches with the added weight and 
 solemnity of his long experience the same blessed doctrine 
 now after forty years that he preached in his early prime, 
 then I think that even the most doubtful will believe that the 
 principle and religion of such men are a glorious reality! The 
 sternest of all touchstones of the genuineness of our better 
 feelings is the fashion in which they stand the wear of years." 
 
 Dec. 1S80. In spite of the most earnest protest from the 
 whole congregation, Mr. Butler thought it wise, after a min- 
 istry of nearly seventeen years, to resign his charge here and 
 accept a call to Jacksonville, 111. 
 
 Dr. Butler was unusually fortunate in the deacons associated 
 with him, but only a word of loving remembrance can be given 
 to them, only a mention of names all of which are now 
 engraven on the tablets of the cemetery. 
 
 Dea. Marcus Barnes, with the rich, ripe experience which 
 belongs to the aged Christian, his office as deacon dating back 
 to almost the beginning of the church. Dea. Daniel Adgate, 
 who that ever heard that humble, reverent voice in prayer, did 
 
 44 
 
not feel as if he were in the very audience chamber of the 
 Most High? Dea. Jonathan Davis, with the words so often on 
 his lips, "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none 
 of his." Dea. Cyrus Andrews, with the quiet, gentle influence 
 that so often speaks for the Master louder than words, and 
 Dea. Chas. Morris, with his saintly face and more saintly life, 
 a man whose name, even to this day, always comes first to the 
 thoughts and lips of those who knew him, when they would 
 think or speak of a "perfect man." 
 
 In passing, a word of just tribute to one other man, one who 
 had charge of the financial interests of the church, was one of 
 its trustees and its treasurer for many years. Most men when 
 they drop out of life make but a ripple upon the surface and 
 are soon forgotten, but the place of Mr. E. H. Garfield in this 
 society has never been filled, though the grass of thirty sum- 
 mers has grown upon his grave. A business man, who, as he 
 did, put the interests of the church before his own, is not com- 
 mon in this world. His pastor, speaking of him a few weeks 
 ago, said: 'As I look back upon the years of his life when I 
 was here, I think he was one of the noblest men I ever knew." 
 
 All these gone from sight, but the influence of such men 
 lives on and is an inspiration to those who still tarry. 
 
 Rev. L. H. Elliot became, by acceptance of the call extended 
 to him, our minister in 1881. A true shepherd, a man genial, 
 kindly and thoughtful for the welfare of all within his reach, 
 bringing sunshine into the homes he entered, a man too, with 
 the courage of his convicitions, denouncing the wrong without 
 regard to the consequences. Mr. Elliot was greatly interested 
 in mission work and we used to think he wanted a great deal 
 for the cause, but oh, dear, he was in that respect, nothing to 
 what we have now. Mr. Elliot closed his labors here April, 
 1S84, becoming the efficient and successful head of the Ver- 
 mont Bible Society, which position he has held ever since. 
 
 Following Mr. Elliot, Rev. C. S. Newhall came into our 
 church life in 1S85, filling the pulpit for two years. After- 
 wards, for a time, a home missionary, now at the head of the 
 Forestry Commission of California. 
 
 From Unadilla in 1887 another came to continue his life 
 work with us and a feeling of special tenderness comes with 
 thought of him since in this home he finished that life work 
 and went from the church militant to the church triumphant. 
 Everybody in the community knew Rev. A. C. Bishop so well, 
 respected and loved him so much that the memory of each will 
 bring before him the character and life of the man better than 
 words of mine, yet we are glad to remember that he was our 
 minister for sixteen years, years of devoted service to his 
 Master and this people, years of blessed precept and ex- 
 
 45 
 
ample, and sixteen years of more harmonious relations be- 
 tween pastor and people could not be, so free from all the 
 friction often found in that connection. As Dr. Butler said of 
 him, " He was a man who did not confine either his labors 
 or his love to his own church. He was interested in all that 
 made the village better, a pleasanter home, or a happier rest- 
 ing place. He had been here so long that everybody knew 
 him and so had come to that inheritance which only the pas- 
 tor can attain who has lived long enough in one place for all 
 to learn his ways and understand his life. The modern pastor, 
 whose average parish life is only about three years can never 
 know the depth and warmth of affection which grows up after 
 the church and her minister have become thoroughly acquaint- 
 ed. Many a church is suffering simply for lack of acquaint- 
 anceship with its pastor. It takes time and patience and for- 
 bearance, and the church at Keeseville is fortunate in the 
 possession of these qualities, more than fifty years of its life 
 having been passed in united work with but three men. It 
 is a record of which any people may be proud and which is 
 given to few." 
 
 The Christian Endeavor Society was organized two years 
 after Mr. Bishop came. Back in 1875 a " Young People's Asso- 
 ciation " was formed with a constitution and regularly elected 
 officers and this constitution was adapted to the needs of the 
 new society, but was subsantially the same with the addition 
 of the C. E. pledge. Its first officers were: 
 C. M. HOPKINS, Pres. 
 CLIFFORD ANDREWS, Vice Pres. 
 MISS BESSIE McLEAN, Treas. 
 MISS JENNIE WHITNEY, Sec. 
 
 The society has been a great help to the young people and 
 through them to the church. For over a year after the death 
 of Mr. Bishop our pulpit was without regular supply different 
 ministers preaching for a Sabbath or two, and Rev. C. R. Ham- 
 lin for a few months, meantime prayer from interested Chris- 
 tian hearts ascended to the Lord of the vineyard that he would 
 send us such a man as we needed and we trust that it was in 
 answer to that prayer that in July, 1905, Rev. W. C. Taylor 
 came into our church life and if we may judge the future by 
 the short past, no mistake was made in this matter. 
 
 Mr. Taylor will be the first pastor of our second centennial 
 and we hope the historian of future generations will do him 
 ample justice. 
 
 I have spent much time with the ministers, too much, per- 
 haps you will think, but is not the life of a church so inter- 
 woven with and influenced by the life and character of its 
 preachers, that to tell the story of one, tells it of the other? 
 
 46 
 
Given an easy going careless minister, (and there are such), 
 and you will soon have a careless, easy going, church. Of 
 course I refer to the rank and file of the ordinary congrega- 
 tion, for there is in every Christian church a blessed " little 
 flock '* that will hold fast to its integrity no matter what the 
 environment, but the usual occupant of the pew is very much 
 influenced by the occupant of the pulpit. 
 
 Do we differ so much from the old Israelite who, when he 
 had a good king did that which was right, and when he had a 
 bad one did that which was evil? Human nature is very much 
 the same in Jew and Gentile and so I think it must be due 
 to the fact that we have had so many good ministers, that 
 there have been so many good people here. It is not strange 
 with the pastors and Sunday School teachers we have had that 
 the thoughts of some young men should be turned to the min- 
 istry and we are glad that we can say that seven, who were 
 members of this church have entered upon that work and 
 some of them making their mark in it. 
 
 Curtis Woodruff, son of one of our earlier deacons entered 
 the Episcopal ministry. 
 
 Joseph Whitney, one of our members in 1S39, also gave him- 
 self to the work. 
 
 Allen Page Bissell, an unusually fine scholar is still en- 
 gaged in the Master's service at West Union, O. 
 
 Joseph Cook, whose name is known throughout most of the 
 civilized world, when a young student at Keeseville Academy 
 came under the influence of Mr. Mattocks, was converted and 
 united with this church in 1853. After completing his theo- 
 logical course he preached one year at Lynn, Mass., and then 
 turned his attention to lecturing and authorship, preferring 
 these to pastoral work. Died 1901. 
 
 Henry O. Finch, son of Martin Finch of this village, after 
 finishing his course at the University of Vermont, spent one 
 year in his father's law office. 
 
 After conversation and prayer with his pastor, Mr. Butler, 
 he decided to take up the work of the ministry, completed his 
 theological course at Yale, became acting pastor at Guilford, 
 Conn. He was not ordained, but was expecting soon to be, 
 when one morning he was found dead upon the beach near 
 his home. 
 
 This was one of those strange Providences we so often see 
 in life. Only 26 years of age, an unusually prepossessing 
 young man, giving great promise of future usefulness. In the 
 one year of his pastorate he had gathered a bible class of 
 eighty young men. This class to perpetuate his memory or- 
 ganized themselves into what they named the " Finch Bible 
 Class." 
 
 47 
 
Many of us remember the sorrow felt in the town when 
 the news of the calamity reached us, and the throng which 
 filled this room to show their affection for him and to listen 
 to the loving words of the pastor, who had welcomed him 
 into the church. 
 
 Warren Hall Landon, who was principal of our schools for 
 two years, was another who went into the blessed work. 
 After preaching several years at Portland, Ore., he entered 
 as professor, a theological seminary at San Anselmo, Cal. 
 
 Rev. A. C. Ferrin was one of our deacons for two years, and 
 very active and efficient in the Sabbath School. He is now 
 filling a pulpit at Lowell, Mass. 
 
 We may with gratitude rejoice, I think, that there are so 
 many men and women, too, scattered throughout the land, 
 who are influencing lives for good and working each in his 
 sphere for the spread of the Gospel, who had themselves been 
 influenced by the truth as preached in this church. 
 
 We know that a Sabbath School was connected with the 
 church at least as far back as 1828, for Deacon Barnes said 
 he used to ride five miles to the " Old Yellow School House," 
 attend two services, morning and afternoon with a Sabbath 
 school during the intermission, then return in time to attend 
 another in his own district reaching home at " early candle 
 light." 
 
 Unfortunately we have no record of its early officers or 
 teachers, the first we do know being in Mr. Mattocks' day. 
 He acted for a time as his own superintendent, followed by 
 Gilbert Thayer, then principal of Keeseville Academy. It was 
 a flourishing institution in those days and has always been 
 maintained as one of the main pillars of the church. It 
 reached, perhaps, its greatest prosperity, at least so far as 
 numbers constitute prosperity, in Mr. Butler's day, there being 
 then over two hundred members enrolled. 
 
 Among the many faithful, efficient teachers we have had, 
 there are three, all of whom have gone from earthly sight, 
 who seem to stand out with special distinctness, women of 
 culture and supreme devotion to the interests of this church. 
 There was no work, however difficult, which would promote its 
 welfare in any direction, but hand and heart were ready to 
 undertake it. I speak of them in connection with the Sabbath 
 School specially because it was there we saw them most often 
 and there, perhaps, their most permanent work was done. 
 Mrs. Marsh had charge of the infant class for years and I am 
 sure lasting impressions were made on those young minds, 
 it could not be otherwise. Mrs. Houghton and Mrs. George 
 Kingsland had classes of young girls and the memory of those 
 
 48 
 
loved teachers and the precious truths they taught will linger 
 with them while life shall last. 
 
 The school has something to be grateful for in the fact 
 that we have had so many competent men at its head from 
 Mr. Mattocks down to our present beloved superintendent, 
 Mr. A. C. Andrews. Among those who have acted in this ca- 
 pacity we have but a few names recorded. Mr. Gilbert Thayer, 
 Joseph Reynolds, Deacon Charles Morris, E. F. Bullard, Dr. F. 
 M. Hopkins, Edmund Kingsland 2nd, after whom, thirty years 
 ago Mr. A. C. Andrews was elected to the office which he has 
 filled ever since and which we hope he will continue to fill for 
 years to come. Mr. Andrews ever since he has been at the 
 head of the school, has given his heart's devotion, thought and 
 prayer to its welfare and from the oldest teacher to the 
 youngest child of the infant class he is loved and respected. 
 
 I do not know when we began to be interested in missions, 
 but I think it must have been in our youth as no church is 
 likely to grow and prosper without such interest, but no 
 record was kept of the work previous to 1867. Since that time 
 nearly $6000 have been given to home and foreign missions. 
 
 The ladies have a society which was organized by Mrs. L. 
 H. Elliot and which has been maintained ever since, and mis- 
 sion work is also done in the Sabbath school and C. E. society. 
 
 Besides what is given to missions, the church contributes 
 to the boards of Ministerial Relief, Publication, Education, 
 Church Erection, The General Assembly Fund and Synodical 
 Aid. 
 
 A great company has since the beginning been connected 
 with us, 109S members have been on our church roll. Over 
 two hundred are reported as buried here. Between four hun- 
 dred and five hundred have taken letters to other church 
 homes and quite a large number have neglected to ask for 
 such letters and one hundred and thirty-three names are still 
 recorded here. 
 
 It is difficult to find a stopping place, there are so many 
 more it would be so pleasant at least to mention. There is 
 Ephraim Tenney, our old bell ringer, it seems as if no sketch 
 of this church would be complete without his name, for no 
 more devoted lover of it ever stood within its walls. John 
 Wham, the kindly ol man who was our sexton for so many 
 years, the first one I remember, and then too, dear old Father 
 Place, who had Watt's hymns from cover to cover at his 
 tongue's end and never failed to embellish his prayers and 
 exhortations with some of that immortal poetry. I wonder 
 if the blessed old man is singing them now? 
 
 There are so many faces from memory's picture gallery that 
 come thronging before one— so many loving, helpful words 
 
 49 
 
spoken by lips now silent — so many kind, brave deeds of hands 
 now folded forever which it is pain to pass by. 
 
 Our pastors' wives, who have always been such a blessing 
 to this church and have done so much for its prosperity and 
 welfare, the voices of the old choir and its leader whose music 
 comes floating softly back sometimes in the quiet hours of 
 the night, and then too the years of patient unrewarded ser- 
 vice of our present organists, Mr. C. M. and Miss Nellie Hop- 
 kins of all these it would be only just to speak a word of 
 grateful recognition. 
 
 And thus we come to the close of our first century of church 
 life, with its successes and its failures, its faults and mis- 
 takes, rejoicing in the good done, hoping for forgiveness for 
 the wrong, bidding farewell to the years that are gone with 
 something akin to the sadness with which we take leave of a 
 friend we shall never see again, and yet knowing that we can 
 look into the face of the future with hope and courage since 
 the same Pilot will still be at the helm. 
 
 I wish to thank those friends who have assisted me with 
 facts in the preparation of this paper and especially am I 
 indebted to Rev. H. E. Butler. Some thirty years ago or more 
 upon the completion of extensive repairs in this room, Dr. 
 Butler gave us a historical sketch of the church down to that 
 time. From that sketch with his kind permission I have 
 quoted and as he had sources of information which I had 
 not it was of great use to me. 
 
 My thanks are also due to Mr. Davis G. Moore for recollec- 
 tions of the old church which add much to the interest of 
 the story. 
 
 "Our father's God! from out whose hand 
 The centuries fall like grains of sand, 
 We thank Thee for the era done, 
 And trust Thee for the opening one. 
 
 " Oh make thou us through centuries long 
 In faith secure, in love be strong, 
 And, cast in some diviner mould, 
 Let the new cycle shame the old!" 
 
 50 
 
REV. A. C. BISHOP 
 
 1887—1904 
 
Ibow tbe pulpit looks from tbe pew 
 
 Hon. W. C. Watson. 
 
 My old Friends and Neighbors: 
 
 I ask, How does the pulpit look from the pew? And I ans- 
 wer it looks high. 
 
 And one reason why it looks high is because it is high. 
 
 The church itself is high, literally and figuratively. 
 
 This church, in situation, not so high as her sister churches 
 throughout New England; where the highest and most in- 
 accessible hills seem to have been usually selected for the 
 site of the village church. And having been once placed there 
 has been kept there with that pertinacity which has always 
 characterized the obstinate and beloved Yankee. In case of 
 these churches, why such a site was selected I am not sure. 
 Perhaps because it was a good place to catch the first sight 
 of a maurauding Indian; perhaps because, as Charles Lamb 
 said of the fir trees of his boyhood, it seemed to be nearer 
 Heaven than the surrounding country. 
 
 But, whatever the reason, there she sits like a city set on 
 a hill, whose light cannot be hid. And her patient worship- 
 pers, in theory if not in practice, climb this unnecessary 
 height every Sunday: A penance, which would have been 
 spared them if the edifice had been as wisely placed as this 
 building was by the founders of the First Congregational 
 Church of Keeseville. 
 
 And as we have intimated that the pulpit is higher rela- 
 tively, than the church itself, or at least so regarded by the 
 pew, I shall not I think, be considered irrelevant in showing 
 how very high the pulpit is, if I begin by showing how high 
 the church is, or how high it has always been regarded by 
 the community. 
 
 In respect to the Christian church at large, I do not suppose 
 her noble position in the world cau be better established than 
 by stating the slanders she has received from her enemies. 
 
 They say she is rich, or rather, that her members are rich, 
 unlike her founder or his immediate followers. 
 
 Well, Christian men are sometimes subject to that obloquy. 
 A Christian man cannot be untrammelled unless he has been 
 thrifty. A man cannot at the same time be empty and full 
 and an empty bag cannot be made to stand upright. And yet 
 when Christian men have been solicited to make contribu- 
 
 51 
 
tions for feeding the starving, for founding libraries, or estab- 
 lishing colleges, I have never heard them criticised for being 
 too rich, or complained of for contributing tainted money. 
 
 They say that Christians are clannish. Perhaps they are. 
 But if they were more so they would be better Christians and 
 better men. 
 
 If they listened to the voice of their Master, "Forsake not 
 the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some 
 is," the prayer meeting would be attended though the theater 
 was deserted. 
 
 Theatres are built without bells. 
 
 It is easier for most to find the theatre than the church. 
 
 They say the Christian Church contains hypocrites. So it 
 does. Christ had twelve disciples, and one of them was a 
 devil. And though a mild astonishment is expressed at find- 
 ing one hypocrite in the church, none at all is experienced at 
 finding a thousand of them out of the church. 
 
 The slanders of the Christian Church are innumerable. 
 
 And what is true in general is true in particular. The 
 abstract and the concrete conform. 
 
 What has been said of the position of the Christian Church 
 in the world is equally true of the position of this church in 
 this community. 
 
 Although this is the centennial anniversary of this church, 
 I am obliged to admit that I do not recall distinctly the condi- 
 tion of this church and its surroundings a century ago. 
 
 I do, however, recall them half a century ago, better than 
 I do the events of last week. 
 
 Dear old Keeseville of that early time, what a place you fill 
 in my memory! In this charming village my friends and 
 kindred lived. Here my boyhood days were spent. Your 
 streets were not so shady then as now, but they were busier. 
 Then, as now. Poke o' Moonshine loomed in the distance, so 
 did Fordway Mountain. Far away sat old White Face with 
 the snowy cross upon her breast, and near by smiled Prospect 
 Hill, from whose rounded top it seemed to my childish eyes 
 we might see all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of 
 them, and we did see Lake Champlain, white with snowy sails, 
 and the steeples of Plattsburgh and Burlington; and in the 
 far north the eye of faith, not mine, saw Montreal and the 
 twin towers of Notre Dame. 
 
 You chuckle headed boys, you smiling girls, once I knew you 
 all, now I cannot find you. 
 
 "You grew in beauty side by side 
 You filled these homes with glee, 
 But now you are scattered far and wide 
 O'er mountain, dale and sea." 
 
 62 
 
Dear old Keeseville church, what a place you hold in my 
 heart! I recall you well from turret to foundation stone. 
 You were built of stone, you were built to last a century, and 
 are fulfilling your mission. You were, and are, no unfit em- 
 blem of the Christian religion and the Presbyterian faith. 
 
 Of the Presbyterian faith I say, for if you are a Congrega- 
 tional Church, you belong to the Presbytery of Champlain, 
 and I remember, during one-fifth of your existence at least, 
 it was said of you that you were a Congregational Church 
 with a Presbyterian minister. 
 
 Nothing can be mentioned about you in my early days that 
 I do not remember. Up in your tower cooed the pigeons; 
 there hung the bell, and with Bphram Tenney's faithful hand 
 on the rope below, on week days, at noon, it called the labor- 
 ers of the village from work to dinner, and set the neighbors' 
 dogs to rivaling its stentorian notes with their frantic howls, 
 and at nine o'clock at night it rang a curfew, which closed 
 the village stores and shops, and sent the kids, (in those days 
 we called them children) home to their beds — a duty which I 
 sometimes thought it ought to have performed for their 
 fathers. 
 
 And on Sundays, in those days, it called us mornings, after- 
 noons and evenings, to worship, and on Wednesday evening 
 to prayer meeting — a summons which then (different now I 
 suppose) was not always obeyed by everybody. 
 
 At irregular and uncertain times, by a custom which I pre- 
 sume does not now prevail, it stirred our souls to hear it 
 ring, for we knew that some sick neighbor had gone to his 
 eternal rest, and we stood with bated breath and parted lips 
 to hear it toll — thrice three for a man, twice three for a 
 woman, once three for a child, and then with measured stroke 
 and slow, it indicated the number of the years of their age. 
 
 Once I heard it toll twice three and then it gave twenty- 
 nine strokes, and though long afterward I discovered that 
 "Earth hath no sorrow, which heaven cannot cure." I then 
 thought the world had faded away and all its hopes and 
 aspirations had gone from me forever. There too, at a later 
 day, was the village clock, whose brazen mandates told the 
 hour, and though not always directed by the movements of 
 the planets, regulated all the clocks in the country side, and 
 informed the forgetful sun of the true hour for his risings and 
 settings. 
 
 Then below was the great audience room of the church, 
 where 600 people could sit in the pews, if they would, but 
 rarely did. There was the organ loft and gallery where Dr. 
 Hopkins led and our beloved friends sang, who now alas; are 
 members of the choir invisible. 
 
 53 
 
And below all was the basement, in which was the minis- 
 ter's study, and the chapel, where the prayer meetings were 
 held, and where Henry Ward Beecher and I together, for a 
 time preached, with our ministrations differing in some 
 respects from those of the average preacher — as only one of 
 us was ordained, our sermons were shorter and better and 
 we received no pay. But candor compels me to say that on 
 one occasion, after I had read a sermon of Beecher's, Deacon 
 Andrews offered the closing prayer, asking Almighty God to 
 enable us to sift that sermon and keep what was good and 
 throw the rest away. 
 
 But it is not with such predatory excursions against the 
 ranks of sin, nor such irregular and semi occasional pulpit 
 occupations that we have now to do. 
 
 In a general way the pulpit stands for the minister, the 
 pews for the hearers. 
 
 The pulpit is above the pews, but not more so in most 
 respects than the minister is above the hearers. 
 
 In our denomination the relation of the minister to his 
 people has always seemed to me somewhat peculiar. With 
 us, in theory, God calls him to his work; but unless some 
 church repeats the call, he is a shepherd without sheep and 
 cannot consider himself to be effectually called. 
 
 There was a time when the Congregational minister was a 
 power in more respects than he is now. 
 
 The New England minister has led troops out to battle 
 against the Indians. He has stood at the poles on election 
 day, and his frown has defeated one candidate and his smile 
 has elected another. 
 
 Business projects have been begun or discontinued because 
 he approved or disapproved them; and maidens have rejected 
 their suitors because he directed them to do so. 
 
 Nothing but the grace of God prevented him from becoming 
 a tyrant, and even that sometimes seemed inadequate to the 
 task; for his pulpit was perhaps what it has been sometimes 
 called, "A Coward's Castle." 
 
 But all that sort of thing had passed away before the cen- 
 tennial of this beloved church began; and I do not believe 
 that within the time of the oldest of us, in respect to the 
 domestic, or political affairs of his parishioners, any carping 
 criticism could fairly complain of the conduct of any minister 
 of the First Congregational Church of Keeseville. And I 
 trust there has never been a time when it could be said of us 
 what was once said by an old friend of mine in this com- 
 munity, in respect to his church, that he liked his church bet- 
 ter than he did any other church, because it never meddled 
 with politics or religion. 
 
 54 
 
A preacher is not bound to forget that he is a man because 
 he is a minister, nor bound to deny that there are ways out- 
 side of any Christian church where God is served and 
 humanity advanced. 
 
 You know that the apostle, John, once came to our Lord 
 and said, "Master we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, 
 and we forbade him because he followeth not with us." But 
 Jesus said unto him, "Forbid him not, for he that is not 
 against us is for us." 
 
 There is no good cause, not even the cause of moral reform, 
 which is generally thought to have nothing of Christ in it, 
 with which a minister of the Gospel need be ashamed to be 
 identified However, no touch but that of Christ has ever 
 been found able to heal all infirmities and take away all 
 diseases; and the minister of the Gospel, who in his pulpit 
 preaches any other doctrine than Christ and Him crucified, 
 has attempted to substitute morality for religion and his pul- 
 pit no longer looks high from the pew 
 
 I am far from being of those who hold that there are dif- 
 ferent standards of right and wrong, so that what is wrong 
 in a priest is right in a parishoner; yet no observing man 
 will deny that things which may be said or done with pro- 
 priety in the house should not always be published on the 
 housetop And still the pulpit of that worldly minded min- 
 ister, who does not show by his life and conversation that he 
 has been with Jesus, no longer looks high from the pews. 
 
 The minister has been engaged to preach the word of life 
 and not to set a good example it is true; and the doctrine of 
 some religious denominations has been pushed so far as to 
 hold that " a bad man may be a good priest;" and yet the pul- 
 pit of that minister whose daily life is not better than the 
 daily life of those around him, no longer looks high from the 
 pews. 
 
 There have been features in the relationship of pulpit with 
 pew, of pastor with people, which have been very diverse in 
 diffrent denominations of the Christian Church. 
 
 The theory, if not the practice, in England and at an early 
 day in this country seems to have been that when once es- 
 tablished it was to be a lifelong relationship; and could no 
 more be separated than husband and wife could be 
 
 Then another great protestant denomination seems to have 
 made them parts of a great machine; and has held that for 
 a period of two years (now I think extended to five years) 
 every such relationship should cease, and every minister 
 should be parted from his church through the whole domin- 
 ion of a conference; on the ground that there are in the 
 whole community all degrees of able minister, and all degrees 
 
 55 
 
of weak minister. And that a church which had had a poor 
 minister for two years had earned a good one, and that a 
 church which had had a good one for two years ought to 
 be willing to transfer its good luck to a less fortunate church, 
 and they have sometimes said that these periodic changes 
 were really found to be less frequent with them than the 
 voluntary changes made in our church, and that by reason 
 of being periodic, they were always anticipated, and were 
 therefore made without friction, producing no jealousy or 
 envy and not wounding the feelings of either pastor or people. 
 
 I concede that there is much force in this reasoning. 
 
 Yet it would seem to me that it breaks down all senti- 
 ment and affection between the pew and the pulpit. 
 
 To insist on these brief connections and certain separations 
 in the church has some resemblance, in theory at least, to the 
 reasoning which would prevail if men should say that there 
 are all degrees of good husband and good wife, and all de- 
 grees of bad husband and bad wife, so that the members 
 of the pair which had been well mated ought to always hold 
 themselves in readiness to exchange with a pair which had 
 been ill-mated 
 
 In this good old church where pastors have repeatedly 
 ministered in this good old pulpit for close on to a score of 
 years, and sometimes till death did them part, the doctrine of 
 violent separation of pastor and people will not be likely 
 to prevail. 
 
 What are the duties of a minister? He baptizes, he mar- 
 ries, he buries, he receives to the Lord's table. All his relations 
 with his people and his duties to them, are tender, sacred and 
 holy, not like those existing between a modern shepherd and 
 his sheep, who scares them with his voice, who drives, but 
 never leads, who persuades them with sticks and stones, and 
 throws the lame and the sick to the dogs. 
 
 But like those between the Oriental shepherd, and his flock, 
 who led them and was followed by them, who bore the sick 
 upon his shoulders and carried the lambs in his bosom. 
 
 And to take the old minister out of the pulpit is to lose 
 the influence of a lifetime — and to put a stranger in his place 
 is like substituting a hireling for the shepherd whose the 
 sheep are not, and whom they will not follow for they know 
 not the voice of a stranger. 
 
 "Without intending to speak slightingly or disparagingly of 
 any other minister or of any other pulpit, I must be permitted 
 to say that I reckon this pulpit to be as high as any in the 
 land, and hold the Presbyterian or Congregational minister 
 (chips of the same block to my thinking) in learning, ability 
 
 56 
 
and devotion to equal the same class of ministers in any 
 other Christian Church. 
 
 Brilliant individual exceptions I have known — but I think 
 that as a whole surely no class of ministers in the whole 
 world can be fairly said to surpass, if they can to equal them. 
 
 Here in this Keeseville church will you say today, that 
 you have ever known one of your ministers, of whom, in the 
 pulpit, on the platform, or the street, you have been ashamed, 
 or whose lance should be lowered before any other of the 
 clergy? 
 
 Perhaps this is partisan and spoken unadvisedly, but I 
 think I shall be excused, here at our family gathering, if I 
 should indulge in a little buncombe; and while exalting the 
 banner of the Cross over every type and symbol, should ven- 
 ture to lift up the bonny blue banner of Presbyterianism, 
 which, having crossed the sea with the Covenanters, still 
 smells of the heather and the Pentlands, and waves as fresh 
 and fair today as it did among the sunny hills of France, or 
 the salt marshes of Holland, in those days which tried men's 
 souls, when it cost something to be a Presbyterian. 
 
 The pulpit looks high from the pew. The minister looks 
 tall to the congregation. But the pulpit never looks so high 
 and the minister never looks so tall as he does to us when 
 we are children. The shepherd seems bigger and stronger to 
 the lambs of the flock than he does to the old sheep. 
 
 Where the minister is of the right type, the child loves 
 him, he admires him, he reckons him to be " the glass of 
 fashion and the mould of form," he reveres him, and woe to 
 that minister who disappoints such expectations, and by his 
 hypocracy, his frivolity or crime blasts the faith of childhood 
 and ruins the saving strength of his example. 
 
 Often the minister to the reverent mind of the little child 
 stands next to Deity, and perhaps sometimes gets a little 
 nearer than that. 
 
 I remember a little boy of four years old, who, reared in a 
 rural home, had perhaps never seen a minister, and while 
 waiting with his little companions to be baptised, gazed with 
 inexpressible admiration upon the city clergyman when 
 he came out in all his clerical splendor to perform his func- 
 tion, and then the little boy catching hold of his older broth- 
 er's hand, exclaimed in an audible whisper: 
 
 "Henry is that God?" 
 
 And indeed is it too much to say in a general way, that the 
 only sowing of the Gospel seed, which is at all likely to bear 
 fruit, is where it is sowed in the heart of a child. 
 
 However faithful the minister, however earnest, however 
 eloquent, when his words are addressed to any other than 
 
 57 
 
the children of the congregation, with an almost deadly uni- 
 formity, the seed falls upon stony places or among thorns; 
 and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches 
 choke the Word and it becomes unfruitful For though it may 
 be said that in rural churches it is not often that great 
 riches draw the minds of the hearers away from Christ, it 
 must be borne in mind, that it is not the greatness of the 
 riches, but the love of them that ruin For many of the rich- 
 est servants of the Lord have shown themselves the most 
 humble and useful — Like Abraham, father of the faithful; 
 like Zaccheus, who was rich, but humble, and Carnegie, found- 
 er of libraries and builder of churches 
 
 The love of riches, the thirst and craze for riches, the heart 
 burning, the consuming rage, the frantic hungering for riches 
 which drive out from the human heart all love for God and 
 fellow man, is perhaps found oftener among those whom fail- 
 ures have stranded and left poor than among those whom 
 success has blessed and fortune has enriched. 
 
 It is not in the adult heart that the best soil has been found 
 for the planting of the Gospel. 
 
 The reverence for God. the innocence of our earlier years, 
 the trust and confidence of childhood are the best conditions 
 for the beginnings of a Christian experience that has yet 
 been found 
 
 And the day of Pentecost in the early times, the blessed 
 revivals which have sealed the faithful labors of the stal- 
 wart pastors of this church, when adults as well as children 
 have flocked Into the fold of Christ, are really only the ex- 
 ceptions which prove the general rule. 
 
 Men and brethren, descendants of those noble men and 
 women, who among circumstances of great labor and close 
 poverty, laid the foundations of this church and congrega- 
 tion, let me speak to you freely of the Apostle John, not the 
 beloved disciple John of early times, but that John Mattocks, 
 who once filled this pulpit for near a score of years, was a 
 burning and a shining light in this church, and during all that 
 time a leader in every good work in this community. 
 
 In my album at home I have the portraits of four John 
 Mattocks, all now dead but one. No. 1 was an eminent law- 
 yer and judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Vermont, 
 also at one time Governor of Vermont. 
 
 No. 3 was my own friend and companion, who sat with 
 me at the feet of Gamaliel and listened, with more or less 
 attention, while George A. Simmons taught us law, and No. 
 4 was his son whom I have never known; while No. 2 was 
 the first pastor of this church that I ever saw, and who surely 
 
 58 
 
made this pulpit look as high from these pews as any occupant 
 which it has ever had. 
 
 I have heard something of Jack Mattocks when he was a 
 student in Middlehury College, and so I have heard some- 
 thing of Saul before he was called Paul. 
 
 Mr. Mattocks had a noble face, and attracted attention 
 everywhere, whether walking about these streets, chatting 
 with everybody as was his custom, or sitting as moderator of 
 our Presbytery. 
 
 The first time I can especially recall him was in 1852, when 
 I saw him standing on the roof of this church, then in process 
 of rebuilding, describing the work to some visitors. 
 
 He was something more than the pastor of this church, 
 he was the founder or promoter of everything which he 
 thought would help Keeseville in the present or the future. 
 He had a genial manner that popularized him in society and 
 gave him a standing and influence not universal with clergy- 
 men. 
 
 He was handsome and attractive. He was manly himself 
 and loved manly traits in others. He had the faculty of 
 bringing out the best in everybody He was witty himself 
 and the cause of wit in others. 
 
 Next to this church, Keeseville Academy was the apple of 
 his eye. For a long period, without reward, or the promise 
 or hope of reward, he addressed the students of that school, 
 on part of one afternoon of each week, and lived to see 
 many of them useful and some of them eminent in various 
 walks of life. The illustrious clergyman, Joseph Cook, 
 whom we used to call Flavius Josephus Cook, was once one 
 of those students, and has repeatedly sr.id to me in his majes- 
 tic manner " under God, to John Mattocks and to one other 
 (whom he chose to name) I owe all I am." 
 
 Before Mr. Mattocks time, Keeseville had a little grave 
 yard, over back of where Ed. Garfield used to live, which 
 was overrun with weeds and briars, where the thin grave 
 stones from time to time broke off and tumbled down, and 
 the boys cracked butternuts on the fallen monuments. It 
 was not a credit to the village, and its cramped confines 
 were sure to become inadequate to its needs, for the grave 
 yard grows though the village decays. 
 
 But Mr. Mattocks had one most unclerical trait, he had $20,- 
 000. A useful characteristic in the founder of an enterprise, 
 and with his help and under his guidance and the aid of 
 everybody, warmed up by his contagious enthusiasm " Ever- 
 green Cemetery " was established, the most charming rest- 
 ing place for the dead that northern New York affords. 
 
 59 
 
The exquisite mingling of flowing brook and minature lake, 
 of shaded grove and curving bank, of grassy mound and 
 blooming flowers have been evolved from that summer day's 
 work when John Mattocks led in the consecration of that 
 God's acre, himself preaching the sermon and furnishing the 
 hymn which the choirs of the village sang, and which I can 
 never hear or read without emotion. 
 
 Mr. Mattocks, like his eminent father, had a legal rather 
 than a clerical mind. His student days had been spent in 
 preparation for the bar, and it was while studying law after 
 his college course was ended, that he attended a revival 
 meeting, and was so sure that he heard God's voice calling 
 him to the pulpit, that he obeyed the heavenly call, and 
 turned from whatever forensic triumphs he had a right to 
 anticipate, to the comparative obscurity of the life of a 
 country clergyman. 
 
 It was thought by some that his legal training sometimes 
 gave an indiscribable dryness to his sermons. But he was 
 always able to rise to the height of a great occasion and 
 his addresses to children were masterpieces. 
 
 He had learned of Christ and had adopted His methods, 
 and knew well that analogy, (even Bishop Butler's analogy 
 of the Christian religion) was not proof, but illustration. He 
 knew that the parable, like analogy, was not intended to 
 prove, but to make clear, and was demonstration and not 
 argument. 
 
 Parables were our Lord's method of teaching. He taught 
 in parables, and without a parable he taught not. The fowls 
 of the air, the fish in the sea, the grass the flower, the 
 shepherd and the sheep, the sower and the seed, everything 
 in nature around Him. were made by Him to furnish com- 
 parison, to yield instruction and illustrate truth. 
 
 And when John Mattocks talked to children, his texts were 
 the things about him, and one such child, who has heard a 
 thousand sermons and forgotten them all; after more than 
 fifty years, will recall today a parable of his. 
 
 It was short. It was entertaining. It has been remembered. 
 He did not, like others, feed the sheep thinking he was feed- 
 ing the lambs, but he put their food low where they could 
 reach it. 
 
 I was a little child in a little Sunday school in a small vil- 
 lage, and we went with this Sunday School on the little steam- 
 boat "Winooski " to an excursion in a grove. 
 
 We landed at a wharf at what was in those days " Port 
 Jackson," but now is " Valcour," where Joseph Sibley has 
 built his summer home and peppered and salted the hills 
 around with little yellow houses 
 
 60 
 
We were a little school and we knew it. A little boy, sup- 
 ported on either side by little girls holding ribbons, carried a 
 banner on which was inscribed the words: "By whom shall 
 Jacob arise, for he is small?" Big boys jeered at us and 
 said it was plain that I was Jacob; because I was small, they 
 stepped on my heels and hurt me But Mr Mattocks came and 
 stopped the persecution and led us into the grove, where, 
 after grace was said, we ate chicken sandwiches and drank 
 lemonade till a literary young lady of the company remarked 
 that we must have " sufficied our sufficiency." Mr. Mattocks 
 then preached a sermon. Children, he said, Look around you 
 and what do you see? Trees, Trees, some of them are old 
 and some of them are young, some of them are big and some 
 of them are little, some of them are crooked and some of 
 them are straight. 
 
 Which do you like best the crooked ones or the straight 
 ones? The straight ones. The old crooked trees will never 
 be made straight — you cannot do it. No man can ever make 
 them straight. God is omnipotent, He can do all things. It 
 will not do to say that He cannot make these old crooked 
 trees straight again; but He never will. 
 
 What a pity these crooked old trees did not grow up as 
 straight as the others! When they were little they were 
 straight, why did they grow up crooked? Something hap- 
 pened to them that gave them a twist. Perhaps the wind 
 blew the little tree over. Perhaps a cow stepped on it. 
 Perhaps a stone rolled on it. But, however it occurred, it got 
 turned aside when it was little, and now it is grown up and 
 must stay crooked for ever. 
 
 Children: "Youth is the time to serve the Lord, the time 
 to insure the great reward." 
 
 A bad boy will make a bad man, and he will be quite sure 
 to always remain a bad man. Turn to God now, while you 
 are young. Be good and helpful to all about. Love Christ, 
 who was once a little child like you, and He will shield you 
 from temptation. He will keep you from sin and you will be 
 among men, what that straight old maple over in the edge of 
 the grove is among trees, good men and women now and 
 happy forever. 
 
 That was a good sermon for a child to hear It must have 
 been, for I, who forget many things, remember that. 
 
 And when I see a gnarled and crooked tree now I feel that 
 under other circumstances it might have grown up fair and 
 straight. And when I see men or women, sour, crabbed, 
 vicious and criminal, I say they may have been born good, 
 and untoward circumstances, rather than a wicked heart 
 
 61 
 
have made them bad. I feel like the saintly Baxter, who 
 seeing a murderer drawn out on a sledge to be beheaded on 
 Tyburn Hill, exclaimed, " But for the grace of God, there goes 
 Richard Baxter." 
 
 I thank John Mattocks for his parable and for the wise 
 thoughts he planted in the heart of a little ignorant child so 
 long ago. 
 
 And you of today may be sure that the pulpit of this church 
 with John Mattocks in it, seems to my memory to have been 
 a very high pulpit indeed. 
 
 In conclusion let me say, This church has lasted for a cen- 
 tury and I feel sure that it will last for a century more. 
 
 But who shall dare to say that any human institution will 
 endure for a hundred years? Who indeed? Yet who shall 
 say that it is a human institution? 
 
 On communion days you have heard the minister proclaim: 
 " This is the Lord's table and not ours " and so we may say 
 of this church, " It is God's church and not ours." 
 
 It was established by this power. It has been preserved by 
 His Providence. With Him a thousand years are as one day 
 and one day as a thousand years. 
 
 What He has done in the past He will do in the future. 
 
 Deacon Barnes, Deacon Davis, Deacon Adgate, Dearon Mor- 
 ris, were the deacons of my boyhood. They were all here 
 then. They are here no longer, they have passed away, 
 they have gone to their reward. So have most of their 
 contemporaries. 
 
 They each in their lives followed the Lord they loved, 
 and their Master will not condemn them where their services 
 were unequal wheu their capacities were so; any more than 
 you and I would complain of a pint cup because it would 
 not hold a quart. 
 
 The Church still lives. 
 The Church still lives, 
 for deacons come and deacons go, but the Church of Christ 
 lives on forever. 
 
 Great antiquity has been claimed for the Presbyterian 
 church. Learned men have said that the Apostle Timothy 
 was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, 
 and some scholars have even contended that in every essen- 
 tial respect that church conformed to the Presbyterian 
 church of today. That it was founded upon a rock and had 
 the promise of our Lord himself that the gates of hell should 
 not prevail against it. 
 
 But from the discussion of these learned points of contro- 
 versy a layman may well refrain. 
 
 62 
 
And yet shall we not venture to entrust for another cen- 
 tury to Almighty God the destinies of this First Congrega- 
 tional Church of Keeseville, and dare to hope that pastor 
 and people will then, as now be found faithful to each other, 
 so that in the year of our Lord two thousand and six the 
 pulpit of this church will still look as high from the pew 
 as it does today.