WITHDRAWN I "Dei ^ . "^ A'ictpt '(Tll^ gift ctf Thomas N. McCarter '88 WITHDRAWN -4i lirst |mIjBtui:ui Cljurrlr, f £ioarIi, g. |. Gorncr-stone laid, Sept. 1787. Opened for worship, Jan. 1, IV.n. FIRST CHURCH IN NEWARK. HISTORICAL DISCOURSES, RELATING TO THE i'xx^t '$xt$Wnm Chwrclf in ^tMl ; OaiGINALIiT DETJVERED TO THE CON'GREG ATION OF TUAT CHURCH DURING THE MONTH OP JANUARY, 1851. BY JONATHAN F. STEARNS, D. D., PAGTOR OF TII3 CHURCH, WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, NEWARK : PRINTFD AT THE DAILY ADVERTISER OFFICE. 1853. Entered according to Act of Congress A. D. 1858, by Jonathan F. Stearns, in the Clerk's ofQce of the District Court of the United States, in and for the State of New Jersey. PREFACE. These Discourses were prepared, originally, without the remotest reference to publication ; indeed, the writer had no intention, at the beginning, beyond the preparation of a single practical discourse, founded on a slight glance at the history of the congregation, the early part of which he then supposed had been traced with sufficient minuteness and accuracy by another hand. But this supposition was soon found to be erroneous ; and, as he proceeded, the materials so gi'ew upon his hands that he was insensil^ly led to extend his narrative to the space of four pulpit discourses. In preparing them for the press, it seemed necessary to pay more regard to completeness and accuracy than had entered into the original plan. In order to this, much must be added, and many obscure points care- fully re-examined. The labor incident to such inqui- ries no one knows who has not tried the experiment. The materials must be collected from the widest spaces, and brought into true connection with each VI PREFACE. other by the most careful consideration of times and circumstances. The determination of a date may often require to be "pursued -through volumes, pamphlets, records and obscure manuscrij)ts, the examination of which will cost days of toil, and access to them be ob- tained only by the tardy process of correspondence, or by visiting in person remote places. And after all, perhaps, the result is one which the ordinary reader will either not notice, or regard as a mere matter of course. In the pursuit of these objects, most of the discourses have been entirely re-written. Some of them have been extended to a length manifestly incompatible with their original design. Details have been de- scended to, which, however valuable in a local history, as contributing to complete the picture of the men and the times, seem hardly suitable to the dignity and sacredness of the pulpit. And as scarcely a third of the matter now presented was contained in the dis- courses as delivered, the writer has hesitated whether he should not abandon the original plan, and give the work the form of a continuous narrative. But, besides the necessity of re-casting the whole, should that change be adopted, the present form seems to have some advantages, at least for the people specially con- cerned ; and he has concluded to let it stand as it is. PEEFACE. vii The sources from wliicli the facts have been drawn are generally indicated by foot-notes, especially in the earlier periods. Besides various well-known histories, genealogical publications, pamphlets, , and again in 1670, Jona- ditions. Town Records, pp. 15, 17. than Sargeant had lands granted him "for 62 THE CHURCH CONGEEGATIONAL. man's observation taught liim to regard tlie Puritan race generally in East Jersey ; and yet "bold defenders of their rights. The same promptness, energy and good management marks their entire procedure, and the same fidelity to all the claims of justice, and religion. The men who, in conjunction with their worthy pastor, laid the foundations of this ancient Church, have shown by all the traces of them which remain, that they were men who united strong practi- cal common sense with the purest morals and devoted piety. But it is time for us to pass to matters more strictly ecclesiastical. The Church, organized as we have seen in Branford, Conn., in the year 1644, and transferred to Newark in 1667, was unquestionably at this period settled in the Congregational order, and that of the most primitive and distinguishing type. The ministers of New Haven Colony, who were present at the framing of the Cambridge Platform, adhered to that foundation, and were averse to any material deviation from its provisions. What were the methods of public worship and religious instruction pursued in Newark, besides the regular services of the Sabbath and a stated lecture, we are not informed. Had we their rec- ords, we should doubtless learn that, as in the Church- es of the mother Colony, the people " were strict in their admission of members to full communion," and " those who were admitted generally made a public re- lation of their Christian experiences, by which they gave satisfaction to the Church of their repentance, HOUSE OF WOESHIP EEECTED. 63 faith, and sincere friendsliip to tlie Eedeemer."* It was tlieir purj^ose to appoint a ruling elder, and with that view a lot of ground was set apart for his use. But as we find no other traces of such an officer, and the land after a few years was granted piece by piece to other settlers, it is probable that that feature of an- cient Congregationalism was never adoj^ted in New- ark.f The first movement towards the erection of a house of worship was made on the 10th of September, 1668, when the town voted to " build a meeting-house, as soon as may be ;" and, " for the better carrying it to an end," made choice of five men, namely. Deacon Ward, Sergeant Harrison and his son John, Sergeant Edward Riggs and Michael Tompkins, " with full power for the management of the building," promising " to lend them their best help according to their pro- portions," whenever due warning should be given, and requiring each man to work at least two days, if called out, or give satisfactory reason to the contrary. Pres- ently after this, a bargain was made with three of the men — Deacon Ward, Sergeant Harrison and Sergeant Riggs — to build the house for a certain sum, and build it soon and well, " with some abatement in the price if * Trumbull, Hist. Conn., vol. i, p. 313. vol. i, p. 283. " This power of govern- t "The business of the ruling elder was ment in the elders," says the Cambridge to assist the pastor in the government of Platform, " doth not in any wige prejudice the Church. He was particularly set the power of privilege in the brotherhood; apart to watch over all its members, to as neither the power of privilege in the prepare and bring forward all cases of brethren doth prejudice the power of gov- discipline, to visit and pray with the sick, ernment in the elders; hut theijtnay sweet- and in the absence of the pastor and Ij agree together." "No Church act can teacher, to pray with the congregation be consummated without consent of and expound the Scriptures." Trumbull, both." 64 ASSISTANT PASTOE. they can afford it." The building was to be of very humble dimensions, 36 feet in length, 26 in breadth, and 13 feet between the joints, " with a lenter to it all the length, which will make it 36 feet square." * By the 12th of March following, the timber was cut and hewn and the frame of the house ready to be raised ; and Thomas Luddington and Thomas Johnson were contracted with, for five pounds, to accomplish that part of the work, with the town's help. Then a supply of nails must be provided " for the closing in of the meeting house," and this they determined to do by joint contributions, each man being required to say how many he would undertake to furnish. The whole business was now put into the hands of the " towns- men ;" but it was not till more than a year and a half later, that the house was ready to receive a permanent floor, and even then it seems to have been but partially completed.! Meanwhile, the venerable pastor was becoming ad- vanced in years, and his eldest son, a young man of great promise, having finished his studies in College, * That every one may form his own and be sure of the punctuation in this ex- notion of the shape of this primitive edi- tract, it might be easy to describe the fice, I transcribe the following from the form of the house very exactly. As it is, Town Record: "Item. The town hath much must be left to conjecture, p. 10. bargained with Deacon Ward, Sergeant f The flooring was to be done in a very Richard Harrison and Sergeant Edward substantial manner. "The town agreed Riggs, for the sum of seventeen pounds, to with Thomas Johnson about his flooring build the same meeting bouse according half the meeting house for four pounds; to the dimensions agreed upon, (i. e. those of good chestnut or oak, of two inches and already stated,) with a lenter to it all the a-half plank, and they are to find and do length, which will make it thirty-six foot all, to edge and lay down the floor on square with the doors and windows and seven good sleepers; and in like manner flue boards on the gable ends." Could they have bargained with John Brown, we ascertain the precise angle of the root, Mr. Burwell, John Baldwin and Joseph determine what are meant by flue boards, Riggs, to do the other half." Records, p. 32. ASSISTANT PASTOE. 65 and begun to preach, liad been solicited unanimously by the people of Woodbridge to become their minis- ter * Unwilling to lose the services of so desirable an assistant, the town, immediately upon this, " by their unanimous vote declared their freeness to desire and call Mr. Abraham Pierson, junior, to be helpful to his father, in the exercise of his gifts in the ministry, for the space of a year ;" and, for his encouragement, al- lowed him for the year the sum of thirty pounds. This was done on the 28th of July, 1669 ; and the re- sult was, that the proposals from Woodbridge were not accepted, and Mr. Pierson continued to assist his father, on the terms specified, a little more than two years. On the 14th of J^ovember, 1671, ten pounds were added to his salary and lands allotted to him " on condition that he settles and abides with us a consider- able time, carrying on the work of the ministry." But * By the favor of Wm. A. Whitehead, forded by the constable, John Smith. The Esq., author of the "History of New Jersey application to Mr. Pierson was not, how- under the Proprietors," I am permitted to ever, favorably considered by him. The insert the following extract from " Contri- advanced age of his father, who was the butions to the Early History of Perth Am- pastor of the Newark congregation, ren- boy and the Surrounding Country," yet in dered the services of an assistant neces- manuscript, referring to Mr. Pierson : sary, and measures were in progress to " The first movement towards obtaining secure the son in that capacity. The ap- the services of a clergyman [in Wood- plication from Woodbridge probably bridge] was on the 8th June, 1669, when brought the matter to a conclusion, as the a Committee was appointed to go to New- ensuing month Mr. Pierson was regularly ark, as messengers from the town, to de- employed as an assistant minister." clare to Mr, Pierson, junior, that the in- The settlement at Woodbridge was one habitants were all willing and desirous of the very oldest, and should have been that he would be pleased to come up to mentioned on p. '22, in connection with them and help them in the work of the other towns of nearly the same date. Men ministry; and anticipating an acceptance, from Newbury, Mass., purchased Ihe tract Kobert Dennis was appointed to enter- on the llih of December, 16G6, (See Bill tain him with "meat, drink and lodging," in Chancery, p. 121. Answer to Bill in and when on the west side of the Creek — Chancery, p. 37,) and gave it the name of called in the records Papiack Creek — their junior minister. Rev. John Wood- similar accommodations were to be af- bridge, a lineal ancestor of the writer of this narrative. 66 PASTOB AND TEACHEE. by tHs time tlie work liad come to devolve cliieily upon tlie junior minister, and it was tliouglit desirable tliat Ms relations to tlie people should be more close and permanent. Accordingly, a vote was passed in tlie town meeting, on the 4tli of March, 16*72, "that the Church should call Mr. Abraham Piei:son, junior, to be joined with his father, in time convenient for the or- derly effecting it ; and they have agreed," it is said, " upon his taking office, he shall have and enjoy his accommodations granted him," that is, his lands, &c., "upon the same tenor and terms that other men in our town generally hold the same."* And so, " upon good experience of him," testifies one of his parishioners, " he was called and ordained to be our teacher."f During the space of seven years, the town main- tained two ministers at an annual expense of one hun- dred and twenty pounds, with the exception of one year, in which, in consideration of hard times and many expenses, the ministers agreed to remit twenty pounds, and accept jointly the sum of one hundred. J * We find it recorded under date of Jan- kneading trough, and two joint stools, for- 1, 1671-2, that " Mr. Pierson hath the con- raerly belonging to the said Lawrence sent of the town given him to buy the Ward, deceased." Query. Is this the house, or any part of the lot, that belongs chair now preserved as a curious relic, in to Elizabeth Ward."— Rec, p. 41. Turn- Yale College, and called Rector Pierson's ing to the Town Book of Surveys, Deeds, chair? &c., we find John Catlin and John Ward, + Obadiah Bruen. (See Memoirs of turner, administrators of the estate of Matthias Bruen, p. 12.) Primitive Con- the late Deacon Lawrence Ward, convey- gregationalism made provision for two ing to " Abraham Pierson, Jr., Clericus," ministers in each sonsiderable Church — "with consent of Elizabeth Ward, relict pastor and teacher — with distinct offices, of Deacon L. Ward, the dwelling-house, Here the father seems to have been the well, yard, barn, garden and orchard, pastor, and the son the teacher, with one acre and three roods of land, % It is doubtful whether the reduction contained by and adjacent to the same, here agreed upon ever took place, as the according to a bill of sale beaiing date, town voted the next year that " the vote Feb. 1, 1671-2, as also one great wain- made Feb. 6, 1676, concerning the minis- scot chair, one chest, two hogsheads, one ters, shall be now void and of none effect." DEATH OF ABRAHAM PIEESON, SENIOR. 67 On tlie nintli day of August, 1678, tlie venerable Abraliam Pierson, senior, departed this life. He had been emphatically a pilgrun, ha^Tiig no fixed abode during most of his earthly life. Where he was born, who were his parents, what was his early education, when and in what circumstances he first gave his heart to the Saviour, when and precisely where he was set apart to the sacred office and began to preach the everlasting Gospel, we are not informed. Precisely in what spot his honored bones rest, no record tells us, and no stone points out. But his life, full of piety to God and service to his fellow men, has left behind it precious memorials. As early as the 10th of August, 1671, he made preparation for his departure, by dis- posing of worldly affairs, " being firmly persuaded," as he said, " of the everlasting welfare of my soul's estate ; and my body's resurrection to eternal life by Jesus Christ, my dear and precious Redeemer." His will breathes throughout, the spirit of domestic aftection and fervent piety. Nor can we doubt that when the last hour came, it found him still resting peacefully in the same confidence. " He left behind him," says Cot- ton Mather, "the character of a pious and prudent man — a true child of Abraham — and now safely lodged in Abraham's bosom."* His name deserves to (Town Records, p. 6G.) The occasion of pant, Capt. Sanford, was confiscated and it seems to have been a severe loss, to sold during the continuance of the Dutch which the people had just before been power, and afterwards restored by the subjected, by purchasing from the Dutch Proprietary government, without remu- authorities during the time of their sway, neration to the purchasers. See Town the tract of land lying between the Records. Passaic and Hackensack, called Barbadoes * Magnalia, B. iii., ch. 8, " In sinu Abra- neck. This tract, for which they had hae," is the writer's own language. He been before in negociation with the occu- adds the following " Epitaphium : Terris 68 . ABPwAHAM PIEESOISr, JUNIOR. be kept fragrant, and surely it will be as long as Cliristian piety and holy energy and zeal are lield in estimation, and tlie Cliurcli, of whicli lie was the first pastor, knows how to value her brightest ornaments * About seven weeks after this event, the town met and made arrangements for the permanent support of their now sole pastor. The agreement was made with great unanimity — "every planter being called upon hy name ;" and the salary, being fixed at eighty pounds a year, with a supply of firewood, and freedom from taxation, appears not to have been altered during the remainder of Mr. Pierson's ministry. Abraham Pierson, junior, the second pastor of this Church, was born in Lynn, Mass.,f in 1641, graduated at Harvard College in 1668, and was called to be as- sistant minister here on the 28th of July, 1669. His term of service was a long one, amounting in all to about twenty-three years ; nearly three years as assist- discessit suspirans gaudia coeli. Patriam Thomas Pierson, Jr. There was an Abra- Piereonus scandit ad astra suam." ham Pierson living on the allotment of * Mr. Pierson married a daughter of Thomas, junior, who died in 1756, at 80 Key. John Wheelwright, of Exeter, N. H., years of age, and was probably his son. (see Thompson's Hist. L. I., vol. 1, p. 337,) Thomas Pierson, senior, was probably a Ts-ho was a brother of the famous Ann near relative. He was married to Mary Hutchinson. They had four sons — Abra- Harrison, daughter of Eichard Harrison, Iiam, Thomas, Theophilus and Isaac— of at the same time and place with Abigail wbom the last two were to have each " one Pierson and Mr. Davenport. His name Lalfof the homestead." Four daughters appears among the original subficribers, 3tte mentioned in his will, and one had and from an old deed in the Town Book probably died before him. They were Abi- as well as from the Records, we learn that gaa, married Nov. 27, 1662, at Branford, to he was a weaver by trade. (See Town a son of Rev. John Davenport, and whom Book, p. 8.) His will was made in 1698, lie calls "my choice and precious daughter and proved in 1702. His sons were Sam- Davenport ;" Grace, married to Samuel, uel and Thomas. Samuel was admitted a aon of Robert Kitchel ; Mary, who is men- planter in January, 1686-7, on condition iioned in the will by that name ; and Su- of " submitting to all wholesome town Sanaa and Rebecca, whose names are to orders." (Town Records, p. 109.) be found in the Branford Town Records. t Thompson's Hist. Long Island, p. 337. Thomas was called, by way of distinction. ABEAHAM PIERSON, JUNIOE. 69 ant to his fatlier, six and a half as Lis father's col- league, and a little less than fourteen as the sole pas- tor. He was a regularly installed pastor of this Church, about twenty years. During the most of this period, both, before and after his father's death, great harmony and affection seem to have marked the intercourse of the minister and people. The annual appropriations for his support were made without dispute, in the same way as for other expenses of the town, and the people spoke of him as following in the steps of his honored father in godliness, and congratulated them- selves, that though God had embittered their comforts by taking their elder shepherd to Himself, He had not left them destitute of spiritual enjoyments, but had given them a faithful dispenser of the word of God — " a young Timothy," a man after God's own heart, well rooted and grounded in the faith, and one "with whom they could comfortably walk in the doctrines of the faith."* * Town Records. Life of M. Bruen, p. God's own heart, well rooted and ground- 12. The following letter, written by ed in the faith, one with whom we can Obadiah Bruen to his children deserves comfortably walk in the doctrines of the notice, both as giving some facts relating faith. Praise to our God. to the history of the Church, and as illus- " Upon good experience of him, he was trating the character of the writer, who called and ordained to be our teacher, Mr. was one of its most honored founders. Abraham Pierson, who follows in the steps of his ancient father in godliness. Praise " Dear and loving Son and Daughter- to our God. " Hoping of your health, with yours, as " Loving son, I would entreat you when we are at present Praise to our God. your own occasion serves going to New "It hath pleased God hitherto to con- London, that you would make some in- tinueour lives and liberties, though it hath quiry for me about some land I have in pleased him to embitter our comforts by the General Neck, thirteen acres, and six taking to himself our reverend pastor, acres in two parcels, both lying near to Aug. the 7th, 1G78, Mr. Pierson. Goodman Rogers, his farm. I am inform- " Yet hath he not left us destitute ed Goodman Rogers his sons have made of spiritual enjoyments, but hath giv- improvement of it before I heard any en us a faithful dispenser of the Word thing of it, being far off. I know not of God — a young Timothy — a man after what course to take in it; it is an incivil Yo GLANCE AT THE CONGREGATION. Let us now cast a glance upon the little assembly, as they were when the appurtenances of the house of worship were completed, and the settlement in the fuU tide of its youthful prosperity. We will select for the purpose the year 1682, and take some bright Sabbath morning early in June, when the strawberries are red among the green grass, the birds singing in the mead- ows in a full chorus, and the apple blossoms scarcely yet fallen in the orchards, for which Newark had even then become noted. On the west side of Broad street, then as now the principal avenue through the town, and nearly opposite the site of the present First Pres- byterian Church, with an irregular marshy pond ex- tending nearly to Market street on the north-west, and a few graves marking a small burying-place on a little eminence not far in the rear,* stood a low and somewhat part, and an ill precedent ; yet for peace " Will you remember our respects to and quietness's sake, if he will purchase Mr. and Mrs. Fitch, and love to all Chris- both parcels I adhere thereunto. I esti- tian friends, as your opportunity will per- mate both parcels at ten pounds. When mit. So praying for you, that your spir- you know which of his sons it is, I pray itual and temporal comforts may be con- yoa know of him how long he hath im- tinued to you and yours, I rest proved it, and why he would deal so un- " Your loving father, worthily, to make discord among friends. " Obadiah Beden, Know of him what he intends to do, and " and mother, •whether he means to hold it in such «u "Sarah Bruen." unrighteous way, or come to some com- "Extracted out of the original, under position. When I hear from you, and Mr. Bruen's handwriting, 'per Ebenezer understand the state of things rightly, I Hile, Recorder, July 2, 1681." ■will accordingly apply myself to make N. B. The above is taken from the Life some issue. of Rev. Matthias Bruen, and is said to "It would much rejoice us to see you have been copied from the Records of face to face, but Providence otherwise dis- New London, Conn. It is a full length posing, I desire to hear from you as often portrait of the Newark Puritans, or rather as opportunity will permit. Your brother, a daguerreotype likeness. Very kind John Bruen, and his wife, desire remem. loving people, as worthy Peter Watson brance of their dear love to you, also your declared, yet not unmindful of their tem- sister Hannah and her husband desire the poral rights. same. All in health, praise to our God, * The following description of the with their children. Our dear love to you ground on which the Church stood, is given both. by Dr. Macwhorter in his manuscript FIRST MEETING HOUSE. '71 singular looking wooden edifice, without chimney or cupola, spreading out to the breadth of thirty-six feet square on the ground, and at most sixteen feet high in front beneath the eaves, and somewhat less in the rear ; the roof sloping down the back side near to the ground, and covering an appendage called a " lenter" or lean-to, ten feet wide, after the manner of some of the old farm houses, of which remnants may still be found in the country. There it stood, with the gable ends north and south, and the broad-side " nigh front- ing on a square with the street," in the precise sjiot which Mr. Pierson the elder. Deacon Ward and Mr. Treat had assigned for it. It is oue first meeting HOUSE* — the place of worship and the place of busi- ness — the theatre of all important transactions, civil, military and religious, in the town of Newark, during the first forty years of its existence. There the towns- men " after lecture"f held their regular stated meetings, history : " Behind it," that is, the Church, burying place, for what reasons not " and between that and the hollow or now known, though a number of the first swamp, upon the brow of the hill, was dead were buried there. This knoll is not the old or first training ground. Beyond now so much as claimed by the Church, the hollow or swamp was the burying though the svramp or pond, which divides place, on a rising knoll or tongue of land, it from the next knoll, eastward, is." which divided this from a greater swamp * The old Puritanical word " meeting- or pond, westward of which the land rose house," is an almost literal translation into another bill, then presently sunk into into plain Saxon English of the word a flat and brook, called "the watering "synagogue" — the source from which the place." This last hill was the original Christian Church derived the model of its burying ground; but long since, more warship. It was preferred to the word than one hundred years ago, it, some way, " Church," because the latter had been ap- became private property, has been occu- propriated in our English Bible to desig- pied and cultivated as such, and not a nate the body of Christian people, whether trace of a cemetery there remains." general or local. Again, he speaks of the same ground as t It is recorded, Jan. 1, 167G-7, that " poor land, chiefly swamp, comprehend- "John Baldwin, junior, Thomas Pierson, ing three small knolls of high and dry junior, Thomas Pierson, senior, John Cat- land fit for a cemetery. The western knoU liu, William Camp, Azariah Crane and of the three was early relinquished as a George Day are chosen townsmen for the T2 FOETIFIED SANCTUAEY. and there, on any alarm, tlie brave soldiers of tlie little community assembled witli their arms at beat of drum,'"' to defend their homes and altars, their little ones and their wives. And now we notice two rudely constructed appendages, at two corners of the sacred edifice. Tliey are called, in military phrase, '•''fiankers^'' made with palisades, or sharpened stakes, driven near together in the ground, and so placed, that the sol- diers sheltered behind them, may command the sides of the house in every direction. They were construct- ed in the year 16T5, when Philip's war was raging in New England, and the terror of Indian butcheries, so appalling to the people of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, could hardly fail to have communi- cated an alarm to their friends and relatives, even in this distant settlement. The house itself, as we shall see on entering it, has been fitted for defence ; for at the same period the town gave orders to have it lathed and the walls " filled up with thin stone and mortar as high as the girts" — a work on which all the men of the town above sixteen years of age, in companies of twelve, each day, wrought in their turns, carrying their arms with them as did the Israelites when they re-built their temple, to be ready against sudden sur- year ensuing. These townsmen are ap- date of March 22, 1679-80, we find the pointed to meet every lecture day in theaf- following : " It is agreed that the drum ternoon." (Newark Town Records, p. 63.) being begun to be beaten at Joseph Riggs's Accordingly we find a record commencing gate, and so all the way up the street as thus: " After lecture the 1st of May, 1678, far as Sergeant Harrison's gate ; and at the it was thought meet to send two letters to ceasing of the beating of the drum, three Holland, one to Anthony Colve, and the guns being distinctly fired off; it shall be other to the Court of Admiralty," kc. sufficient warning for all such as are in the Do., p. 69. military list forthwith to meet at the meet- ly * Newark Town Records, p. 78. Under ing house in their arms." SABBATH MOENINGS. ^3 prises.* The House of God was tlins the house of re- fuge for the people ; and there, had the savage foe burst upon them, would the women and children of the town have assembled for protection, close by God's holy altar. Smile not, if I apply, even to this rude and lowly edifice, words used with reference to a more am- ple and costly sanctuary. " Walk about Zion, and go round about her ; mark ye well her bulwarks ; con- sider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following." Though without either towers or palaces, not Zion itself was more sacred. The holy morning has now dawned. Nearly oppo- site the Church, stands the residence of the late senior pastor, now occupied, we may presume, by his aged widow, with her two younger sons, Theophilusf and Isaac, already grown to man's estate, who, having been carefully taught, according to their father's direction, " to read the English tongue and write a legible hand," are employing diligently the sacred hours in studying the " new English Bible," or perusing " the good Eng- lish book out of his library," " such as they by the * Newark Town Records, p. 57. " Town the women, children, provision and ammu- meeting, Aug. 28, 167.5. — It is agreed that nition, in case of imminent danger by the the meeting-house shall be lathed and Indians. Mr. Whitehead observes, p. 78, filled up with thin stone and mortar be- "It is doubtful if these were generally, if tween the girts, and the charge hereof at all, provided." The people of Newark shall be levied as the town shall agree. however responded at once by their action> " Item — It is also agreed for the better to this as to all other laws of the Prov- securify of the town, all the men above 16 ince. The law was passed in November, years of age, shall from day to day as their At a meeting eaily the nest January, turns come, attend this work about the "Capt.Swaine, Sergeant Johnson and Ser- meeting-honsc till it be finished, and bring geant Harrison, are chosen by vote to their arms with them. Twelve men are join with the commissioned officers to con- appointed to appear in a day." sider about and contrive for the fortifica- The General Assembly, in the year 1675, tions belonging to our town." (Rec. p. 59.) ordered fortifications to be provided in eve- t Theophilus was born March 15, 1659, ry town, and a house therein for securing and of course was now 23 years of age. 74 ASSEMBLING FOE WORSHIP. advice of tlieir motlier" were to choose, as a special legacy to them from that same venerable saint.* All along up and down the street, stand, on either side, at regular intervals, the quiet homes of the plant- ers, and everywhere through the open windows, may be heard the voice of prayer and psalm-singing at the domestic altar, or the low hum of youthful voices studying or reciting the much prized catechism. • The hour of public worship now approaches, and the deep tones of the village drum, beaten along the the broad grassy street by one of the young men, gives the signal to make ready.f It beats again ; and now, the doors opening, out come in every direction the grave fathers and mothers of the community, the stur- dy sons and comely daughters, with the cheerful and yet sober little ones, all in their best attire, and such as never sees the light except on Sabbath days, and for the sake of decency in God's worship. Down through the cross streets, and some on horseback from the far distant Mountain, J where the settlement was already extending itself, they pour along in pleasant family groups, and meet a united community at the house of prayer. Let us enter with them the sacred enclosure. Di- * Abraham Pierson, senior's, will. mer as before, upon condition that he beats t The custom of calling the worship- the first drum at least as far up as the saw pers together on the Lord's day with a pit in the corner of Sergeant Harrison's drum was so common among the early lot." (Newark Town Records, p. 32.) settlers of New England, that there can X "Town meeting, December 12, 1681. be little doubt that such was the practice It is voted that there shall be surveyors here. The drummer seems to have risen chosen to lay out highways as far as the to the dignity of a town officer, for we mountain if need be," &c. (Newark Town read, under date of January 2, 1670, that Records, p. 89.) " the town chose Joseph Johnson for drum- CONGREGATION SEATED. "75 rectly opposite the street door stands tlie simple pulpit, under the sloping roof of the low " lenter." * There are no pews claimed as private property by families or individuals, but seats ranged through the middle, and along the sides of the house, and every man, woman and child take the seats specially assigned to them by the town's Committee, appointed for that purpose.f We can hardly suppose there would be no inward heart-burnings among these staid Puritans in regard to the post of honor or obscurity which each person must occupy. But the Committee are good and true men, and, according to their best judgment, they have per- formed the delicate task set them, and arranged the whole congregation " according to office, age, estate, in- firmity, and descent or parentage." J In a seat below the pulpit, facing the congregation, sit the two worthy officers of the Church, Deacon Michael Tompkins and Deacon Eichard Lawrence ; for their venerable prede- * I think there is little doubt that this "Feb. 19. — Ite77i.^T\ic town doth em- was the arrangement of the pulpit. The power the committee already chosen to Kev. Mr. Sewall, of Burlington, Mass., in- carry on the seating the meeting house forms me that he remembers an ancient with as good prudence as they can." (p. house of worship in his native town of 74.) "July, 1680. It is agreed that the Marblehead, Mass., corresponding to that middle part of the meeting house, which above described, and that the pulpit was is yet to be seated, shall have three seats arranged under the roof of the lean-to. of aside." (p. 80.) t The Town Records contain the fol- t " Town meeting, Feb. 18, 1679-80. lowing notices of the process of preparing Concerning seating persons in the meeting this portion of Sabbath conveniences, house, it was agreed that persons should " Town meeting, Feb. 12, 1678-9. Item, be placed according to office, age, estate, It is agreed that the meeting house shall infirmity, and descent or parentage. By be seated in convenient time for our cou- estate is meant that estate as persons pur- venience in meetuig together for God's chased and took up land by, together with worship." ^'Item. — The townsmen. Thorn- the present estate, comparing all these to- as Luddington, Captain Swaine and gether. Mr. Ward, Mr. Johnson, Deacon John Brown, junior, are chosen to con- Tompkins, Richard Harrison, Stephen trive for the most decent and convenient Davis, Thomas Huntington and John way (as they think) to seat it; also, as Brown, jr., are chosen a committee to this near as they can, report what it will cost." work." (Newark Town Records, pp. 77, pp. 71-2. 78.) 76 SUPPEESSION OF DISORDEK. cessor, Deacon Ward, lias 1been sleeping quietly now these ten years in the little churcli-yard, wliere his old pastor rests beside him, waiting for the glorious morn- ing of the ResmTection. The front seats are filled " as far as practicable with men and women ;" for the youth and children must not occupy the preferred jDlaces * The- young people of the congregation are ranged behind ; and since, being separated from their parents and by their posi- tion somewhat out of the reach of admonishing looks, they are inclined sometimes to forget the sanctity of the place, and " misbehave themselves in the time of worship, by whispering, sleeping and the like," a special officer ap23ointed by the tcwn — Azariah Crane, some time after Deacon Azariah Crane,f is the man for this half year — has them in charge, with powers extending likewise to any of larger growth who may be disposed to offend, " to see that they do carry themselves rev- erently" both in and about the House of God in the time of worship. J * " Town meeting, February the 2-lth, the Church of Christ in Newark aforesaid, 1681-2. Item. — It was agreed that the my silver bowl, to be used for the service foremost seats inthe meeting house shall of God forever, in the town of Newark be occupied with men and women so far aforesaid." He had sons — Nathaniel, Aza- forth as conveniency will admit." (Town riah, John and Robert.^ — (S". H. Congar. Records, p. 91.) For a time he seems to have resided on t Azariah Crane, son of Jasper Crane, his out-lands at "the mountain." senior, was probably elected to the office % Newark Town Records. Under date of Deacon, on the decease of Deacon of Nov. 24, 167'J, we find the following: Tompkins or Deacon Lawrence, about the "Item — There being complaint that many, year 1690 or '91. He married Mary, as are grown persons, as well as boys, do daughter of Robert Treat, and resided on misbehave themselves on the Lord's day, the home-lot of his father-in-law, on the in the time of public service, both in the south-east corner of Market and Broad pieeting house and without by the house streets. He is supposed to have been the sides, also by sleeping, whispering and last survivor of the original subscribers of the like ; wherefore the town hath chosen the Fundamental Agreements. He died Thomas Pierson, jr., and Samuel Potter to in 1730, aged 83. In his will, he gave " to use their best care and endeavor to restrain WORSHIPPERS ARMED. TY The men are armed ; for tlie town voted, only a short time before, that a watch should be kept in the night and a ward on Sabbath days ; and gave direc- tions, not as on other occasions, that " one-fourth of the town shall cany arms to meeting on the Lord's day," but that " every soldier do bring his arms every day of public worship, well fixed, and also his ammuni- tion." Two warders and one sentry stand to guard against surprises ; and the chief military officers, Cap- tain Samuel Swaine* and Lieutenant John Curtis, have the charge of the whole matter. In the pulpit stands the reverend divine, with whose name and history hitherto you are already fa- miliar. In his person he is somewhat taller than the middle stature, " a fleshy, well-favored and comely looking man,"f and now arrived at the mature age of thirty-seven years. You perceive in him one of the best specimens of the first growth of the American Colonies ; born in the country, educated at its own University, and destined to perform an important part in its literary and religious history. What were the words of truth he then uttered, what the psalms they sang, and what the prayers they offered, is now known only to the Omniscient. The sweet odor of their sim- ple worship has gone up as incense to the throne of like disorder in time of public worship, * Capt. Swaine must have had vivid by rebuking such persons as behave them- impressions of Indian atrocity — his own selves irreverently, within or without the sister having been seized and cairied off the house ; and if they are such grown by a fierce Fequot chief, at Weathersfield, persons as will not be restrained by their many years before. (See Trumbull's Hist, rebukes, then they are to present them to Conn., vol. 1, p. 115.) the authority." p. 7G. t Letter to President Stiles. Y8 PECULIAR PEIVILEGES. Jehovali, and tlie instructions given left tlieir traces only on tlie hearts of tlie listeners. HigUy favored of the Lord seemed this little assem- bly of devout worshippers. In all this region, God had not dealt so with any people. There were a few Christian congregations in the neighboring settlements, indeed in every town occupied by New England emi- grants " there was a meeting-house where they wor- shipped publicly every week," and one or two of these had had ministers, but they were dead ; and now, as to their praise it is declared by a contemporary, "the people meet together every Sabbath day, and read, and pray, and sing psalms in their meeting- houses." But more than one contemporary bears wit- ness, that not a settled preacher is to be found in all East Jersey who follows no other employment, save in one town, Newark.''^ They love the Sabbath, they love the sanctuary, they well appreciate, and regard with honor and aifection, their learned, pious, and truly excellent mimister. And though, in coming to this new settlement, and planting here, in a wilderness * This was said in 1684, but was equally one town — Newark." Peter Watson, wri- true two years earlier. A joint letter of ting to his brother John, in August of the David Barclay, Arthur Forbes and Gawen same year, says : " There are here very Laurie, written to the Proprietors in Scot- good religious people ; they go under the land, March, 1G84, says : " There be peo- name of Independents, but are most like pie of several sorts of religion ; few very to the Presbyterians, only they will not zealous. The people being mostly New receive every one to their society. We England men, do mostly incline to their have great need of good and fliithful min- way ; and in every town there is a meeting isters, and I wish to God there would bouse where they worship publicly every come some over here ; they can live as well week. They have no public law in the and have as much as in Scotland, and country for maintaining public teachers, more than many get. We have none but the towns that have them make way within all the Province of East Jersey, within themselves to maintain them. We except one who is preacher in Newark." know none that bath a settled preacher ("Model of the Government," see White- that follows no other employment, save head, pp. 291, 302.) DEATH OF FIRST SETTLEES, 79 tenanted hitherto only with savages and wild beasts,* the institutions of religion, they have been required to make many sacrifices, and still, as their garrisoned Church testifies, are subjected to some troubles and fears, their blessings far outweigh all their disadvan- tages, and praise to the Giver of all good, forms a large part, both of their public and their j)rivate devotions. But I must hasten to the close of this bright portion of our early history. The ministry of the two Pier- sons extended over just a quarter of a century, and all the while time was working its gradual changes. A few names of considerable note were early added to the original settlers,f while some who appeared at first among the number went back soon, or removed to other settlements.^ Meanwhile, death had been clos- ing up the earthly account of the revered fathers of * Wolves and bears must have caused hearing their yells about me, and telling no little trouble to the settlers, especially that I was afraid of them, the country peo- the former, if we may judge from the ef- 2>^ lavghed at it." The snakes, too, the forts made to destroy them. One of the worthy Scotchman thought but a mere earliest town acts was the offer of a bounty cu-cumstancc ; for, he continues, "nothing for the killing of wolves. From fifteen to can come near them but they give warn- twenty shillings was the reward for a ing with the rattlinr/ of their tails, so that grown wolf, and five shillings for a bear people may either kill them or go by them cub. There were 1 aws to the same efiect as they please." ("The Model of the made by the General Assembly. But as Government," see Whitehead, p. 298.) to the town's bounty, the savage beast f Among the early additions to the set- must be caught and killed within the tlement were Robert Bond, who came from town's bounds, or else no pay was to be Elizabeth town probably in 1673, John received for either wolf or bear. Sergeant Morris, Bartholomew Goodrich, JJavid Eiggs seems to have exercised his martial Ogden, who came from Elizabethtown prowess in this direction, and had a " wolf about 1677, John Gardner, Richard Fletch- pit" somewhere within the bounds of the er, Matthew Williams, John Brown, jr., settlement. (Town Records, pp. 5, 76, 91, Anthony Oleff or Olive, John Mackleson, 103.) James Johnstone, a Scotchman, John Cockburn, Samuel Potter, Patrick writing to his friends at home, says the Falconer (merchant), John Wilkins, John wolves " are nothing to be feared, neither Couch, Zophar Beach, (tailor), John Con- are the country people afraid to be among dit. them all night, in so much that I ofttimes J Among those whose names are men- going wrong and lying out all night, and tioned as if intending to become settlers, 80 DEATH OF FIEST SETTLERS. the community. When Kobert Treat retm^ned to Connecticut in tlie year 16*72, Deacon Ward, Sergeant Riggs,* Robert Kitcliel, and Hugli Roberts, were al- ready among the dead. Matthew Camfield, and prob- ably Delivered Crane, departed this Hfe during the year following ; Stephen Freeman died in 1675 ; John Harrison, son of Sergeant Richard, in 1676, and Josiah Ward in or before 1677. All these preceded theu* aged senior pastor, and were, j^erhaps, attended by him to the grave. Jasj^er Crane, Sen., Martin Tichenor, George Day, Samuel Swaine, and Obadiah Bruen fin- ished their course, it is supposed, about the year 1681. Sergeant Richard Harrison, John Ward Turner, Thom- as Huntington, and John Rogers, about the years 1683 and '84. Joseph Walters died in 1688, and Jo- seph Riggs in 1689. John BroAvn, senior, John Bald- win, junior, Stephen Davis, Samuel Kitchel,f Michael Tompkins, and Richard Lawrence, were among the harvest which death reaped in the years 1690 and '91. Patrick Falconer, a near neighbor and special friend of the second Abraham Pierson, fell in the prime of but who either never came, or went back they at one time had in mind to establish very soon, are Mr. Leet, Mr. Thomas Mor- on the basis of the Hopkins fund ?) ris, Mr. Webster, Thomas and Aaron * Edward Riggs, Sen., or Sergeant Ed- Blatchley, John Bostwick, Eleazar Rogers, ward, died previous to January, 1670-71, John Rockwell, Robert Lyman, Azariah when his second division of land was laid Beech, John Gregory, John Brooks, out to his widow. Town Records, p. 35. Thomas Harrison, Joseph Horton, and Edward and Joseph were his sons. Goodman Cole. John Catlin sold his land t Samuel Kitchel died April 26th, 1690. to Henry Lyon, about 1682. John Rogers, His children named in the will are, Sam- senior, died in Mil ford, 16S3 or '84. Jere- uel the eldest son, to whom he gave a dou- miah Peck sold his lands to Mr. Wilson in ble portion, Elizabeth, wife of Seth Tomp- 1674, and removed to Elizabethtown. kins, Abigal wife of John Ward, sou of (Qu^ I')/— Was this the Jeremiah Peck of Sergeant John; Mary, wife of a Josiah whom Trumbull speaks, vol. 1, p. 292, as Ward ; Susanna, wife of Jonathan Bald- having been selected by the people of New win, and Abraham, who seems to have Haven for the teacher of the College which been a minor, afterwards Deacon Abraham Kitchel of Whippany. DEATH OF FIRST SETTLERS. 81 life, in the year 1692,* a few montlis only before tlie close of this period. John Ward, senior, Thomas John- son,f Ephraim Pennington, Thomas Lyon, Ebenezer Camfield, John Brown, junior, John Crane, and Ste- phen Bond, stayed but a little longer, and were all gathered to their rest, in and about the year 1694. The virgin soil of the old burying ground, unbroken by the hand of the husbandman, was now becoming thick sown with the precious seed of the Resurrection ! And how died they ? It were hardly to be expected we should hear their departing testimony, since the me- moir of none of them has been written, except as they unconsciously chronicled their own. And yet we have a specimen. Sweet is it to learn that so many of these noble men died as they had lived, in the same faith and holy devotion which had been the spring of their worldly prudence and enterprise ; leaving to their pos- terity, in the same instruments which conveyed the title to their lands and houses, signed and sealed before witnesses, with their own hands, the precious legacy of their unshaken piety. * Patrick Falconer is called a vierchant. t The tomb-stone of this most active In the old burying-ground there is a stoue and useful settler is still standing, and with this inscription : " Here lyeth the bears the following inscription : body of Patrick Falconer, who died June " Here lyes the body of Mr. Thomas 27, 1692, aged 33 years. Johnson, who died November the 5, 1694, aged 64." "Here lyeth the reliques That of his wife, who died three days Of a real saint, before him, is also standing, and is in- Who suffered much for Christ, scribed as follows : And did not faint; «Here lyes the body of Mrs. EUena And when his race was run, Johnson, who died November 2, 1694 Ending his story, aged 61." He sweetly past through death The body of their son Joseph, the drum- To endless glory." ^^^^ ^^^ ^jj^^ -^^ 173^^ ^t ^^^ advanced (Sec Monumental Inscriptions by Dr. age of 83, lies not far off. John S. Condit.) 82 HOLT DYING. On tlie loth of Marcli, 16Y2-3, old Matthew Cam- field " sick and weak in body," records as Ms dying act of self-devotion, "I give my body to the dust, and soul to the Lord Jesus Christ." In early June follow- ing, the green turf was already growing over the last resting place of this venerable patriarch.* Jasper Crane, senior, shrewd, enterprising, ever active old Jasper, on the first day of October, 1678, perceiv- ing that he had made his last earthly settlement, and had but one remove more to be undertaken, thus de- clares his determination to address himself to his dying duties, " I, Jasper Crane, dwelling within the province of New Jersey belonging to the town of Newark — being aged in years and weak in body, yet well in un- derstanding and memory — I do at this time think it my Christian duty to set my house in order,' and I do dispose of all my worldly goods as foUoweth." Some time between this date and the 28th of October, 1681, this veteran pilgrim crossed the river on his way to the land of spirits.f Samuel Swaine, happening to be in New York, when disease seized him, and death seemed to be not far, thus testified the readiness of his spirit to answer the last summons, "I, Samuel Swaine, being in perfect * He died between the date given above, of October the same year, it is probable and the 6th of June following. — ^S". H. Con- that he died not far from the date of the ^ar. inventory. Jasper Crane, Sen., had four + October 28th, 1681, John Ward and sons Delivered, or Deliverance as it is Thomas Pierson apprized the inventory sometimes written, Azariah, John, and of his estate as presented to them Jasper, Jr., of whom the first three were for that purpose by his sou. Delivered original subscribers ; and the last became Crane, and his son-in-law, Thomas hardly less distinguished than his father Huntington. As his name appears in a in the affairs of the church and town, list rendered in town meeting, by a com- Delivered Crane died early, and is said to mittee previously appointed, on the 19th have left no issue. HOLT DYING. 83 sense and memory, not knowing how long the Lord will continue the same mercy to me, being weak under His good hand of Providence, and willing to be at His dispose ; therefore, for life or death, do leave this as my last will and testament."* Next, Richard Lawrence, perceiving that the infirm- ities of age were now creeping over him, made his last will and testament, Dec. 10th, 1686, acknowledging in nearly the same words used by his old friend Crane, the summons he had received from heaven, " to set his house in order ."f Old Michael Tompkins " being" he said, "infirm in body, and subject to many changes, and not knowing the time of my departure out of the world," began on the 30th day of January, 1688-9, to get his affairs in readiness. Before the end of March, 1691, both the good deacons had gone to their long^ home.J John Baldwin, junior,§ Joseph Biggs, || John Brown^ * Samuel Swaine made his will in New § John Baldwin, Jr.'s, will is dated Dec. York, the 17th of March, 1681-2. It may 21, 1688, and sworn to Nov. 28, 1689. His be presumed perhaps that he died in that children mentioned in the will are, Han- illness, as his name appears for the last nah Ticheuor, and John, yet under age. time on the records, in the Hist made in He mentions William Camp as his uncle. 1680. His wife Johanna died prior to Dec. The inventory of his estate bears date 5, 1690. Town Records, p. 87. Town Book, Jan 30, 1688-9. Town Book, p. 14. P- 35. II Joseph Riggs's will beai-a date Jan. 1, t Richard Lawrence's will is dated the 1688-9, and was sworn to Nov. 27, 1689. 10th of December, 1686, and sworn to His children being all minors were left in March 30th, 1691. His children mentioned the cai-e of their mother, to whose use for in the will are, Bethiah, wife of Stephen herself and them the whole estate was left Bond, Mrs. Bruen, wife of John Bruen, and during their minority, except two guns Sarah, to whom was left the dwelling and one sword. Their names are John, house and furniture.— Town Book, p. 10. Samuel, Zophar and Elizabeth. After J Michael Tompkins made his will Jan. their mother's decease, John was to have 30, 1688-9, which was sworn to by his ex- the homestead Samuel and Zophar the ecutors, Dec. 4, 1690. He must have died land at the mountain, and Elizabeth what- prior to the latter date. His children men- ever her mother should choose to bestow, tioned in his will are, Jonathan, Micah, The sword and hunting gun were be- Seth, Mary Rose, Abigal Dalglesh, and queathed to John, and the other gun given Elizabeth Bishop. (See Town Book, p. to Samuel. Town Book, p. 13. •^**) 1 John Browne's will is dated Decern- 84 HOLY DYING. and David Ogden,* all left behind their dying testi- mony in nearly the same words. " First, I bequeath my soul unto the hands of Almighty God, hoping for salvation from the riches of His grace, by the alone merits of Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood. Also, I commit my body to the earth, decently to be buried, and there to rest until the resurrection of the just." Nor was that venerable veteran, Lieut. Ward, or John Ward, senior, a soldier, not of his country only, but of his Heavenly Captain, surprised without his armor when the hour came for his last conflict. Nov. 21st, 1694, he left his dying testimony: ^''Imprimis. I commit my soul immortal unto God who gave it, to glorify Him, and to be glorified by Him for ever more. I give my body to the dust, of which it was made, to be decently and honorably buried, in hope of a better resurrection by Jesus Christ, Who shall change this vile, frail, and corruptible body of mine into the like- ness of His own glorious body, according to the work- ing whereby He is able to subdue all things to Him- self, that so I may be ever with the Lord, which is far best of all."t Thus calmly, confidently and holily did the patri- ber 17, 1689. He died November 5, 1690. Children mentioned are David, the eldest, The children named are, eldest son John, Josiah, and Svraine. His wife, Eliz- John, Joseph, Thomas, Daniel vrho was abeth is appointed executrix. Town Book, to have the homestead, Esther, Mary p. 16. Pierson, Hannah Eiggs, Phebe Dod, and + John Ward, Sen., or Sergeant Ward, Elizabeth Freeman. His loving brother, afterwards Lieut. Ward, when in the Ephraim Burwell, is one of the appointed year 1672 Lieut. Swaine was promoted to overseers. See Town Book, p. 20. the captaincy, probably died not far from * David Ogden's will is dated Dec. 26, Nov. 20, 1694, the date of his will. (Rec- 1691, and sworn to Feb. 27th, 1691-2. ords at Trenton, copied by Mr. Congar.) SACKED GROUND. 85 arclis of this community pass aw^aj from the turmoils of the world. Fit epilogue for such a drama as they had been enacting ! Fit end for such a life as theirs ! " So fades a summer's cloud away, So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ; So gently shuts the eye of day, So dies a wave along the shore." — Mrs. Babbatjld. The wastes of time have not left us the departing words of most of the others ; but doubtless what we have here is but a sample of the entire community. Dear, honored sires ! No costly monument crowns the turf where they slumber, and no pretentious pan- egyric has applauded their merits. All unconsciously, and only in the records of their ordinary business transactions, they wrote from day to day their own memoirs, epitaphs and eulogy. Thrice hallowed be the spot where their honored dust moulders. Some old mortality come yearly and with pious care remove the gathering moss from their headstones. Let the turf be green, and the choicest foliage wave its shad- ows above it. Let it be sacred to piety and filial reverence, and no unhallowed foot intrude within its enclosure. Let the ground be made the most beauti- ful and attractive in our city, as it is the most replete with holy memories ; and let the generations, as they rise, learn to hold in special honor and affection, the old graveyard where the fathers lie waiting for the resurrection of the just ! But I am perhaps dwelling too long on these pathetic memorials. It only remains that I record the closing event of this period, the dissolution of the pastoral 86 DISMISSION OF THE MINISTER. relations of tlie Kev. Abraliam Pierson, junior. The removal of so many of tlie first settlers liad doubtless operated to change in some degree, the public senti- ment of the community, and meanwhile a new race had sprung up, and new elements from abroad come in to modify it still further. But however that may be, dissatisfaction arose at length between the people and the pastor, out of some differences of views respect- ing Church government, the precise nature and merits of which cannot now be determined. Mr. Pierson, it seems, was not pleased with the strictly Congregational plan on which the Church had been settled, but pre- ferred a moderate form of Presbyterian government.* * Dr. Macwhorter says, ia his manu- script history, that Mr. Pierson, after his father's death, "was for introducing more rigid Presbyterianism into Newark, in which he was encouraged by four men fi'om Scotland, who had fled from the persecu- tions and troubles there under Charles H. Their names were Young, Nesbit, Clisby, and Douglass, who for their zeal and piety had been admitted by the first settlers to great privileges in the town. Meanwhile," he adds, "in the progress of the settle- ment, many had come to the place from Connecticut, with strong habits in favor of the Saybrook platform, from whence arose an opposition to Mr. Abraham Pier- son, and his measures and party, so that he finally thought it expedient to leave the town, and remove." Several errors are to be noticed in this statement. In the first place, Presbyterianism in New England at that day did not stand related to Congregatisnalism, as the more rigid, but as the less rigid system. The party who were accused of Presbyterian leanings, were those who opposed the Puritan plan of restrict- ing the privileges of baptism and church membership. Such was the case with Mr. Stone of Hartford, and Mr. Rusael of Weathersfield, both of whom led the way in calling the Council of 1657, with which the New Haven men were so much displeased ; while, on the other hand, those who strenuously insisted on the restrictions re- ferred to, among whom in Connecticut were Governor Webster and the other ag- grieved brethren of Mr. Stone's church pursued their opposition in the name of strict and original Congregationalism. It is in accordance with this view that we find a Scotchman writing to his friends from New Perth, in 1664, commending the people of East Jersey, as very much like the Presbyterians, "only," he says " they will not receive every one into their society." In the next place, those who came from Connecticut prior to Mr. Pierson's dismis- sion, in 1692, could not have come "with strong habits in favor of the Saybrook Platform," since that Platform did not come into being till 1708, sixteen years later; nor, if it had, would those who were inclined to favor it, have been op- posed to Mr. Pierson's innovations on that account, as the Saybrook Platform was nearer to his views than the previous practice. There is, furthermore, some apparent CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION. 8*7 Unquestionably he was not extreme in tliese prefer- ences, as his whole character and subsequent life indi- cate. Where the blame lay we are not competent to determine. Dr. Macwhorter throws it chiefly on the pastor, though the merciless edge of his sarcasm does not sj^are the people. " Matters were peaceable in the town," he says, " and went well in the Church while the father lived, but soon after his death some became uneasy with the young man. His abilities, and the pride of directing were far beyond any thing that the congregation had been accustomed to witness."* But Mr. Dickenson, of Elizabethtown, who undoubtedly knew the facts, as he was a pupil of Mr. Pierson in Yale College, and graduated under his presidency, as- cribes it to an unreasonable jealousy on the part of the people. In reply to some reflections on the conduct of the Presbyterians l^y an Episcopal minister, after misapprehension in Dr. Macwhorter's ter's statement respecting the meeting of statement respecting the emigrants from two contradictory elements — from the old Scotland. Excepting Douglass, none of hive in Connecticut on the one hand, and the names mentioned appears in any from Scotland on the other, and its in- list of settlers, or in any town trans- fluence in producing division and dissatis- actions, until about the time of Mr. faction in the Church— is substantially Pierson's dismission. The name of Rob- correct, notwithstanding the errors of its ert Young first appears in the records details. in 1G90. James Clisby was admitted a * Century Sermon, p. 10. The spii-it of planter in March, 1G93-4. Dr. M.'s Cen. this statement is manifestly incorrect. Mr. tury Sermon gives 1670 as the date of Pierson was neither as far superior in abil- their arrival in Newark; but if they were ities to his father, nor as far inferior in here so soon, they certainly could not have other respects as this would imply. Nor been " admitted to great privileges in the was he at this time entitled to be called a town" till a much later day. None of their young man, having reached the mature names, except that of Douglass, appear age of 37 years when his father died, and among the signers of the agreement to that of fifty-one or two at the time of his pay Mr. Pierson's salary, when there was dismissal. Dr. M. is mistaken, too, in a diflBculty respecting that matter in 1(588. supposing him to have been dismissed Scotchmen however were here, and one of soon after his father's decease. During them, probably, viz., John Cockburn, was at least ten years of his sole pastorate we among those signers. On the whole, how- hear not a note of disturbance or disafifec- ever, it seems probable that Dr. Macwhor- tion. 88 CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTIOI*'. speaking of tlie liarmonious co-operation of Congrega- tionalists and Presbyterians in New England, "who liave always," lie says, " lived together as united brethren," he thus refers to the case now before us : " Some of the people of Newark have, indeed formerly, been culpable for managing a controversy with their worthy minister upon these points, and I hope your putting them in mind of it, may conduce to their hu- miliation, if there be any of them yet living. But then they did not imitate the disposition of the people of New England in this opposition to that worthy gen- tleman, who removed from their abuses to New Eng- gland, was there received with great kindness and love, and advanced to the rectoral charge of their col- lege, in which he lived and died in the highest honor and esteem among them all, notwithstanding his Pres- byterian principles. In a word, as both Presbyterians and Congregationalists were from the beginning em- barked upon the same bottom, so have they yet reason to conclude, notwithstanding their lesser trifling differ- ences in their sentiments, that they have all the same common interests to pursue." It is not improbable that the truth lay somewhere between these two apparently opposite judgments. The people were liable, from their early histor y to be too strenuous on points of ecclesiastical government ; and the minister may have erred in attempting to in- troduce in such a community, modifications for which the body of the people were not prepared. Traces of the dissatisfaction may perhaps be detected in the records of the town, wherein it appears that on CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION. 89 one occasion tlie usual vote to collect the pastor's sal- ary " by a rate," was afterwards " desisted from," and recourse had to a voluntary contribution; and that during the last two years of his ministry, the amount agreed upon was not collected in any way * It is due, however, to the honor of the town to add, that not- withstanding this temporary stopping of the supplies, all arrearages were collected and paid in full after his dismission.f * " Jan. 2, 1687-8. Iterrir-The way of rating as formerly, which was after desist- ed from, and agreed to pay the minister by contribution for the year 1687." " Jan. 9, 1687-8. It is fully and unani- mously consented unto by every planter now present, all being called by name, that they will from time to time pay or cause to be paid yearly, in their full pro- portion, equally, in a rate that may be agreed on by the major part of the town, to the maintenance and allowance now agreed upon for the upholdmg and preach- ing of the Word in our town, and eighty pounds by the year is agreed upon to be allowed to the present minister, with his fire-wood, and to be rate free. jVoie — It is to be understood that every man that doth now subscribe to this agreement, he pay- ing his proportion in the rate, shall not be liable to be prosecuted to make payment for any that may be deficient in non-pay- ment. In confirmation whereof, we have hereunto set our names. John Ward, sen., John Bruen, Thos. Johnson, Samuel Free- man, John Curtis, John Baldwin, jr., Seth Tompkins, Micah Tompkins, Sam'l Tiche- nor, Edw. Ball, Edw. Riggs, Sam'l Kitchel, John Cockburn, Anthony OlifF, Joseph Riggs, Theophilus Pierson, Azariah Crane, Samuel Uarrison, Daniel Dod, Stephen Davis, Samuel Plum, sen., John Crane, Nathaniel Ward, John Browne, sen., Zech- ariah Burwell, Ephraim Burwell, Thomas Browne, John Tichenor, Joseph Browne, John Browne, jr., Joseph Walters, Eben- ezer Camfield, Matthew Camfield, Robert Dalglesh, Francis Lindly, Samuel Pierson, Jasper Crane, Joseph Harrison, Thomas Pierson, Samuel Dod, George Harrison, Samuel Lyon, Thomas Richards, David Ogden, Samuel Rose, Richard Lawrence, Jonathan Sargeant, John Baldwin, sen., Hans Albers, Jonathan Tompkins, Joseph Johnson." " Town meeting, April 2, 1692. It is voted that Mr. Pierson shall be paid his salary for that time which no rates have been made proportionable to the rate made for two years together, viz. : '88 and '89." Town Records, pp. Ill, 112, 116. i The period above referred to was one of great political disorder. Sir Edmund Andros had received a commission as Governor of all New England, including New York and New Jersey. He assumed the government of this Province in 1688, the Proprietors having made a formal sur- render of their patent to King James on the condition that their rights to the soil should be respected. Of this event several old deeds and wills of the Newark people bear witness, by being dated at "Newark, in the government of New England." (See Newark " Town Book.") But the Revolution in England had led to the seizure of Andros, and the subversion of his offensive government in New Eng- land. Deputy Governor Hamilton doubt- ing about his powers, had gone to England for instructions. Governors were appoint- ed whom the people " scrupled to obey," and during several years, viz., from 1689 to 1692, they were left without any gov- 90 CHAEACTER OF ABEAHAM PIEESON, JUNIOE. The date of tMs event was somewhere between the 23d of January,* and the 2d of April in the year 1692. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Pierson sold his house and lands in Newark, and returned to Connecti- cut, where he settled as pastor of the Church in Kil- lingworth, in the year 1694. A few years later, on the institution of Yale College, he was appointed its first rector, and his people being unwilling to part with him, the trustees established the college tempora- rily at Killingworth, where he continued in the exer- cise of both offices till his death, which took place on the 5th of March, 1707, in the sixty-sixth or sixty- seventh year of his age.f The character of Mr. Pierson seems to have fallen in no respect behind that of his excellent father. Trumbull says of him — "He had the character of a hard student, a good scholar, and a great divine. In his whole conduct he was wise, steady and amiable. He was greatly respected as a pastor, and he instructed and governed the College with general aj^probation." There is no doubt that he was a thorough Calvinist, or he would not have been appointed as the first Pres- ident or Eector of Yale College. An early tradition ernment whatsoever, except that of their the following: "It is voted, that the sol- own local authorities. Of the troubled diers be paid their wages for the time state of affairs the Newark Town Records they were out." How much inflnence show tokens in the vote of March 25th, these disorders may have had in discour- 1689-90, already referred to, appointing a aging the people in their ecclesiastical af- committee "to order all affairs in as pru- fairs, must be left to conjecture. (See dent a way as they can for the safety of Whitehead, pp. 112-131. Newark Town ourselves, wives, children and estates, ac- Book. Newark Town Records.) cording to the capacity we are in ;" and at * See Patrick Falconer's will, the beginning of the next year, we find t Trumbull, vol. 1, p. 488. CONCLUSION. 91 represents him as an excellent preacher, and an ex- ceedingly pious and good man ; and particularly as " very kind and charitable to the poor and indigent, who in a special manner lamented his death."* Such were the beginnings, and such the men who made the beginnings of this ancient Church and con* gregation. It was my intention to pursue the sketch, and bring it down near to the present time. But the matter has so grown upon my hand, that I shall be obliged to defer the rest to some other ojDportunity. Let me close to-day with one or two reflections sug- gested alike by the text, the subject of discourse, and the present occasion. " One generation passeth away." So we find it. " The fathers" of this Church, " where are they, and its prophets, do they live for ever V All who shared in its early toils have been done with earth more than a century, and their memories we are able to restore only from obscure vestiges. Even the generation which stood here when the aged Macwhorter sum- moned his flock fifty years ago, to " consider the days * In a letter, said to have been written bers that he was a very kind, charitable to President Stiles of Yale College, in 1788, man to the poor and indigent, who in a " by Abr'm Pierson, son of Ab'm Pierson, special manner lamented his death. She son of Rector Pierson, son of Abr'm Pier- also remembers his having care of a col- son, pastor of a Church on L. I.," it is lege." Lambert says, p. 151, "After Mr. said, " that an aged woman of ninety states Pierson graduated, and before he settled that she has seen said Mr. Abraham Pier- in Newark, he resided for some months in son, and heard him preach often. He was Milford, and it is thought pursued his the- something taller than a middle size, a ological studies with Mr. Newton. He fleshy, well formed and comely looking married while in Milford, Abigal Clark, man ; and she remembers that the people daughter of George Clark, farmer, and set very much by him, and esteemed him sister of Sarah, the mother of Governor an exceeding pious good man, and an ex- Law." cellent preacher. Particularly she remem- 92 CONCLUSION. of old and tlie years of ancient times," where are they now ? Almost all gone ! And is the generation of which we form a part destined to a different lot ? The dying of another year, another half century, speaks to us of dying time, dying opportunities, a dying life ! We are all going, and if not prepared for our depart- ure soon, it is very certain that we never shall be. But we are reminded also by the same sacred Word that "another generation cometh." The world will not cease its course because we are gone. Other forms will occupy this house of prayer, other voices will sound the praises of the sanctuary, and another tongue will speak of the love of Jesus, and point the way to heaven in this pulpit. At least so we trust it may be. So it will be, through God's grace and Providence, if we are faithful in the work assigned us. Even now we see the young plants scattered among us, who will flourish as we trust, when we are removed, strong, healthful, fair and fi*uit producing trees in the garden of our God. Another generation cometh ! Alas, many of the present race of men have had the offer of salvation and rejected it; and even the professed chris- tians of the present age are far below the true mark, both in the intensity and the completeness of their piety. Let them pass away then, if it must be so, and a new and better era dawn upon the Church and the world. Another generation cometh ! O yes, and we will take courage, as we see their glowing counte- nances intent on listening to the Word of Life in the sanctuary, in the Sabbath school, and at the family altar, in the hope that they will prove themselves a coiircLusiON-. 93 purer, holier, more completely Christian race of men than were any of their fathers. So shall the promise be secured to us, " The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts." DISCOURSE NUMBER II. EccLESiASTES, 1 : 4. One generation passeth away and another generation cometh. Some may ask, where is tlie propriety of inquiring so minutely into the experience of long buried gene- rations. Since " tlieir love, and their hatred, and their envy have now perished, neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun," why not let their names and their history too pass into oblivion ? We reply, the seeds of the present are to be found in the past. The world, with all its circumstances, opinions, customs, laws, ruling our present condition and shaping our future destiny, are what they are in consequence of the actions and characters of those who have gone before us. We ourselves are what we are, because of influences which have distilled upon us, like the silent dew, through the atmosphere of a thousand generations. In the past therefore we have a practical interest, and must look narrowly at its characters and events, in order to understand well either our circum- stances or ourselves. In the former discourse we traced the history of this 96 SECOND GENEEATIOlSr. congregation through the first quarter of a century of its existence. We come now to a period in which the means of information are less abundant, and the evi- dence of prosperity in the congregation less steady and unequivocal. The generation of the fii'st settlers was fast passing away. A few -names already familiar to us, are still found among the leadei*s of the commu- nity,* but its affairs have chiefly fallen into the hands of the children, or of those who, when the settlement was begun, were recorded under the designation of. " young men."f Azariah Crane, only twenty years of age when he signed the fundamental agreement, was now, I suppose, the deacon of the Church ; and his broth- er, Jasper, then too young to be mentioned in the pub- lic affairs, had become one of the most active citizens. John Treat, son of the chivalric Captain Robert, and brother-in-law of Deacon Crane, then only seventeen years of age, was now prominent among the " towns- men," and with Jasper Crane, junior, serving from year to year as a representative of the town in the Provin- cial Legislature. John Curtis, who was twenty-five years old at that time, had become one of the most re- spected fathers of the community. Jonathan Sargeant and Daniel Dod, then likewise among the " young men" * Among the old men who still took " the town agreed that a rate of £80 should part in public affairs at the beginning of be made for the minister forthwith for the this period, were Mr. Ward, who died year past by Deacon Ward and Mr. Samuel soon after, Mr. Thomas Johnson, Thomas Kitchell," direction was given to the same Luddington, Zechariah and Ephraim Bur- official worthies that they should " speak well, Thomas Richards, Edward Ball, Ben- to the young men in our town that are for jamin Baldwin, William Camp, andThom- themselves, and to see what they will vol- as Pierson, senior. untarily pay to the minister."— Records, + When the salary of good old Abraham p. 9. Among the number so designated Pierson, senior, was fixed in 1668, and were several of the names above men- tioned. EEV. JOHN PRUDDEN. 9*7 were now high in office and influence ; and the frequent recurrence in all important matters, of the names of Samuel and Joseph Harrison, Theophilus Pierson, Jo- seph Johnson, Seth Tompkins, Nathaniel Ward, Jabez Rogers, reminds us of the prophetic promise, " instead of thy fathers shall be thy children." In the progress of this history we shall have less occasion hereafter to speak either of individuals, or of the community in its civil and social relations. The next minister was the Rev. John Prudden, who was called to the office by a vote of the town, and sig- nified his acceptance of the invitation with its terms, at the town meeting, August, 23, 1692. The choice appears to have been unanimous and cordial. " It was consulted, consented and unanimously agreed," says the record, " that Mr. John Prudden should be called to be their minister," and in testimony of their disposition to show all due respect to the sacred office, notwithstand- ing any adverse inferences which might be drawn from the untunely dissolution of the former ministerial con- nection, the people covenanted that " in case he should come and settle among them in that work, they would freely and readily submit themselves to him and to his dispensations and administrations, from time to time, in the discharge of his ministerial office, as God should assist and direct him therein by His Word and Spirit, for their spiritual good and edification."'^' Mr. Prudden was a College classmate of his imme- diate predecessor, Abraham Pierson, junior, and a * Town Records, pp. 116, 17. 98 KEV. JOHN PRUDDEN. fellow townsman, and doubtless an intimate compan- ion, in his boyhood, of a large portion of the original inhabitants of Newark.'^ His father was the Rev. Pe- ter Prudden, a genuine Puritan, born and educated in England, where he began to preach ; and, about three years after his arrival in this country, having declined several invitations to settle in Massachusetts, was or- dained as the first pastor of the Church in Milford on the 18th of April, 1640. Trumbull says of him, that " his ministry was attended with uncommon success ; and when he came to this country it seems that many good people followed him, that they might enjoy his ministrations. He had the character of a most zealous preacher and a man of most excellent spirit. He had a singular talent for reconciling contending parties, and mantaining peace among brethren and neigh- bors."t The younger Prudden was the second son in a nu- merous family J — born at Milford, Nov. 9, 1645, and left an orphan by the death of his excellent father, at the early age of 11 years. Graduating at Harvard College in the year 1668, he was invited, in the Spring of 1670, to preach for the term of one year in Jamaica, Long Island, where " a convenient pew" was ordered by the town to l)e built for him to preach in. There he remained, officiating under a temporary arrange- ment, till January 1674, when, regarding himself as under no obligation to continue his services, he quietly * See Harvard College Catalogue ; also t Thompson's HLst. Long Island, vol. ii, Lambert Hist. Col. New Haven, p. 152. p. 102. t History of Conn., vol. i, p. 22i. EEV. JOHN PRUDDEN. 99 told tlie people he was engaged to another congrega- gation, and took liis leave.''^ After an fibsence of about two years, more eifectual and permanent provis- ions having been made for his support, he resumed his labors and continued in the service of the Church in Jamaica till 1691, a short time before his removal to Newark. It has been said that on his coming to this place, perhaps in consequence of it, " the town received an- other large accession of people from Milford."f The records of Newark show, that not long after this event, a company of eleven men — one of whom, James Clisby, was a Scotchman, and four others Dutchmen, if we may judge from their names — were on the same day admitted as planters. J About this time the old meeting-house, constructed originally, as we must suppose, in not the most durable manner, was needing considerable repairs. As early as November, 1688, the townsmen had received direc- tions to get it repaired, so as " to keep out the wet and cold for the present, and also to repair the seats and provide cedar shingles to cover it, when the Spring comes suitable." But, it is very likely, that when the * Prime's Hist. Long Island, p. 313. 1G93. John Cooper first appears in 1694; + Lambert's Hist. New Haven, p. 152. James Nutman in 1695 ; Thomas Hayes J Mar. 5, 1 G93-4. Newark Town Records, in 1696; Samuel Ailing, called afterwards p. 120. The persons above referred to are Lieut. Samuel Ailing, or Samuel Ailing, Joseph Wood, Caleb Ward, Uendrick Esq., father of the Deacon of the same Hendrickson, Tunis Johnson, Hans Hen- name, came in 179S ; Joseph Peck in 1699 ; drickson, Bostyan Vangiese, Garret Lay- John Medlis in 1700. The Tuttles— Ste- dicker, Eleazar Lampson, James Clisbe, phen, Joseph and Timothy, children of Jonathan Tichenor and William Brant. Stephen Tuttle, of Woodbridge— appear Other prominent individuals were added in Newark in the year 1725. — ,S'. // Cungur. about the same period. Robert Young I find nothing in the Records to sub- had leave given him to purchase land in stantiate the above statement of Lambert. 100 RET. JOHN PRUDDEN. Spring came, tlie pressing necessity was less felt ; for it is not till after tlie lapse of four years, when the settlement of a new minister may have given a new spring to parochial enterprise, that the actual procur- ing of seven hundred shingles for the purpose, gives the first token that the work is to be performed in good earnest.* The salary assigned to Mr. Prudden was much smaller than that of either of his predecessors, and de- notes either a decay of pecuniary means, or of the spirit of liberality and love for the institutions of the gospel, on the part of the people.f It was fifty pounds an- nually, and " his firewood free." However, the town took care to pay the expenses of his transportation, and provided for him " accommodations ;" that is, as the word was then understood, a dwelling-house, with its appurtenances, and the lot of land occupied by it. These were given him, on certain easy conditions, as his own property ; and " a rate" having been ordered, to raise the sum necessary for the purpose, two com- mittees were appointed, the one to j^ut him in posses- sion of the before named accommodations, and the other, consisting of two divisions, corresponding to the two ends of the town, north and south, " for to see af- ter the bringing of the wood to Mr. Prudden, and for * Towa Records, pp. 113,118. "Thorn- hath liberty to set up a saw-mill, with as Brown 500, Jasper Crane 200 of shin- liberty to have use of timber in any com- o-les for the meeting house." mon lands, provided he shall let any of the t That the spirit of self-interest was in inhabitants have boards f/s c/^ra/) as others, pretty vigorous exercise about this period, and before strangers." Town Records, p. take the following indication: "Town 121. meeting, June 19, 1695. Thomas Davis EEV. JOHN PEUDDEN. 101 to call out the people for tliat purpose whenever there is need for his supply therein."* The ministry of Mr. Prudden was short — only seven years — though he continued to preach to the people several months longer. He was not a young man when he came to Newark — having already served in * The followiug extracts from the Rec- ords may serve to ilhistrate the method of conducting affairs of this sort at the pe- riod iu question: "It is also consulted, voted, and-con- sented to and agreed by the said inhabit- ants then convened, for Mr. John Prudden's encouragement to come and settle among us, and that he may the better attend upon the work of the ministry as Ms hisi- ness, and for the more comfortable susten- ance of his family in his attendance there- on, that he shall have fifty pounds per annum and his firewood free, to be paid yearly, according to several contributions voluntarily subscribed by them, to Mr. Prudden or his order, so long as he shall continue vrith them employed in the min- istry. It is moreover voted and agreed, that Mr. Prudden shall have and hold such a propriety and other conveniences, for his accommodations in the town, as shall be agreed upon between him and the committee appointed to treat with him, viz : Mr. Ward, Mr. Johnson, John Curtis, Azariah Crane, Jasper Crane, Thomas Lud- dington and Stephen Bond, nominated and empowered for that purpose." — p. 116. "Aug. 23, 1(192. The result of a treaty between Mr. John Prudden and a com- mittee chosen, constituted aud empowered by the inhabitants and freeholders of Newark to act in their behalf, is as follow- eth, viz : It is concluded and agreed by the said committee, that Mr. Prudden shall have and hold the accommodations purchased of Mrs. Falconer [the widow of Patrick Falconer] for his own propriety, to him and his heirs forever, he paying or causing to be paid the two last payments, indented for with Mrs. Falconer, except- ing only five pounds, which the town is to discharge, beside what is already done in prime bill of debt made to the said Mrs. Falconer, as wituesseth our hands sub- scribed, Mr. John Prudden. Committee in behalf of themselves and their neighbors: Mr. John Ward, Mr. Johnson, John Cur- tis, Azariah Crane, Jasper Crane, Thomas Luddington, Stephen Bond." Records, p. 117. " Town meeting, Oct. 1 G92. It was voted whether the charges for purchasing that accommodations that was Mrs. Falconer'."^ aud the charge of transporting Mr. John Prudden should be equally levied on every person's estate, and it was agreed, with a unanimous consent, that it should be so. Secondly, it was also voted that the charge for the payment and transport should be charged by a rate according to our own agreement formerly made, that is, by heads and stock." Query — was this the agreement of January 9, 16S7-8 ? " Third- ly, it was voted that Mr. Johnson and Jas- per Crane should give Mr. Prudden pos- session of the accommodations that was purchased of Mrs. Falconer." — p. 1 17. " It was voted that Zechariah and Ephraim Burwell, for the south end of our town, and Samuel Harrison and Nathaniel Ward for the north end, [be a committee] for to see after the bringing the wood for Mr. Pierson, and for to call out the people for that purpose, when there is need for his supply therein." — p. 117. " Town meeting, Jan. 2, 1G92-3. Benja- min Baldwin, Jabez Rogers, William Camp and Seth Tompkins are chosen to collect the mone_y that is gathered by the subscriptions in Newark for the mainten- ance of the ministry in the year 1692." — p. 117. 102 MR. prudden's dismission. tlie ministry more than twenty years, and, having a large property, wliicli freed Mm from the necessity of labor, he may have begun to find the cares of office in so large a congregation too heavy for him, and desired a release.* Several months before he resigned his charge, measures were taken to procure for him an assistant, and an unusually large sum of money was raised in order to meet the additional expense.f Difficulties, however, of some kind, undoubtedly ex- isted in the congregation at this time ; and an eccle- siastical council was convened, the result of whose de- liberations was so far satisfactory, that " the town did vote their full compliance with and acquiescence in that issue ;" withal signifying that they would " take sufficient care to defray the whole charge of this their journey and trouble till they return."^ That these difficulties were not such as seriously to disparage Mr. Pruddeu in the eyes of his people, may be inferred * The elder Pruddeu had an estate in and Jasper Crane are chosen for to treat the country, valued at £924, and left a and agree with Mr. Wakeman and Mr. landed interest in England of £1,300 ster- Pruddeu, and if Mr. Wakeman will not ling. (See Trumbull's Hist. Conn., vol. come, then some other for a year." — p. i, p. 294, note.) Lambert says: "The 126. Pruddens in New Jersey shared half of X "Town meeting, June 9, 1699. "Item the interest money received from the — It is agreed upon by vote that we will Prudden estate in England." (See Lam- send for the Hon'd and Rever'd Council of bert's Hist. Col. New Haven, p. 151, note.) Elders, and [request them] to favor us + The following is the record bearing with a sight of those papers wherein the on this point, viz: "Town meeting, Jan. issue of the late difficulties so far is con- 2,1698-9. lUim — It is agreed by vote that tained. Item — The town did vote their the town will raise £100 in a way of a rate full compliance with and acquiescence in for the upholding of the worship of God that issue. /;!«»— The Rev. Mr. Prudden amongst us for a year. It-em — It is voted and Mr. John Brown are chosen by vote for to know whether the town would have to return our thanks to the Rever'd Coun- Mr. Wakeman, if he could be obtained, cil for their faithful and painful services for to join with Mr. Prudden in helping him for our settlement, signifying that we will to carry on the work of the ministry ; and take sufficient care to defray the whole if he cannot be obtained, then some other, charge of this their journey and trouble Item—^v. Pierson, Mr. Treat, Mr. Curtis, till they return." Town Records, p. 127. MK. PKUDDEN's DISMISSIOl^. 103 from the fact tliat tliey made choice of him, with oue other, to convey their vote of thanks to the Reverend Council " for their faithful and painful services ;" and at the same town meeting commissioned three of their most prominent men to express to him their thanks for his past services, and their desire, testified by a very full vote, for his continuance among them, and his ser- vice in preaching to them, till God should favor them with some other supply. This vote was passed June 9, 1699. Never was a pastoral connection dissolved with greater manifestations of kindness and good under- standing between the parties. His full salary was continued to him as long as he should continue to preach ; and an order made " that all persons from sixteen to sixty years of age shall give to Mr. Prudden each of them one load of wood for the year ensuing^ whether he serve the town in the ministry another year or no."* But Dr. Macwhorter intimates that his ministry had not been an easy one, owing to the dis- satisfaction of the minority with his views and those of the " predominant party" in respect to ecclesiasti- cal government ; and as he is represented " not to * Newark Town Records. Item — God shall furnish us with some other sup- Capt. Curtis, Mr. Treat, Mr. Pierson and ply. Item — It is agreed that we will al- Thomas Richards are chosen by a full low him for his further ministry according Tote to return our thanks to the Reverend to what he formerly had in proportion to Mr, Prudden for his hitherto services the time we have occasion to use him as a amongst us, with a signification that we minister. /i!wi— It is voted that all per- will speedily pay off our arrears due to sons from 16 to 60 years of age shall give him by our particular subscriptions, and Mr. Prudden each of them one load of by a full vote declare our desire of his con- wood for the year ensuing, whether he tinuance among us, and his services at serve the town in the ministry another present in preaching the Word to us till year or no." Records, pp. 127-8. 104 PAESONAGE LANDS. have been a popular preacher," it is possible that a de- cline of interest in his preaching, on the part of the people, may have been among the causes of his resig- nation. It is to the period of Mr. Prudden's ministry that the origin of the Church property, or title to the " par- sonage lands," is usually referred. The original Pro- prietors, in their Concessions, while they engaged never to exercise the " right of patronage and power of ad- vowson," granted by his Majesty to the Duke of York, and by him transferred to them, " thereby to infringe the general clause of liberty of conscience," empowered the General Assembly of the Province by their act to appoint as many ministers or preachers as they should see fit, and establish their maintenance ; at the same time giving liberty beside, to any person or persons to keep and maintain what preachers or ministers they should please. This power seems never to have been exercised by the General Assembly; and at a subsequent period, namely in the year 16*72, when, disagreements ha\dng arisen, it was thought proper to abridge the powers of that body, the Lords Proprietors, in the instrument al- ready referred to, which purports to be an " Explana- tion of their Concessions," and a " Declaration of the true intent and meaning" of the Proprietors in making them, transferred this authority from the General As- sembly to the Governor and Council, subject hoAvever to the previous nomination and choice of the people in the several corporations.* In furtherance of their * Grants, Concessions, &c., pp. 12-34. PAKSONAGE LANDS. 105 design, to see that religious institutions should be maintained on the freest practicable terras, a grant of two hundred acres of land was made in the beginning "to each parish for the use of their ministers," free from all rents and other charges whatsoever. The people of this congregation being then the only parish in the town, early availed themselves of this grant. In the month of October, 1676, a warrant was taken out for the survey of two hundred acres of land and meadow in proportion, for the purposes of a parsonage, and " also so much as shall be convenient for landing places, school house, town house, meeting house, market places, Slq. ; in pursuance of which warrant, two hundred and twelve acres were surveyed the same year, includ- ing three acres for a burying place, three for a market place, and six for a training place.* I find no evidence that any use was made of these lands for religious pur- poses, except the erection of a house of worship and the burial of the dead on one of the smaller tracts, until after December 10th, 1696, when a deed was ex- ecuted by the Proprietors, conveying all the above named reservations, with their appurtenances, to John Curtis, John Treat, Theophilus Pierson and Robert Young, their heirs and assigns for ever, " to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the old settlers of the town of Newark, their heirs and assigns for ever," to be for the several uses expressed in the deed, and for "no other use or uses whatsoever," they paying annually "six pence sterling money of England, on every five and twentieth day of March, for ever here- * Bill in Chancery, pp. 91-93. 106 REV. JABEZ WAKEMAN. after." It is under the title conveyed by this deed, if I am rightly informed, that all that part of the church property which came from the original settlers of the town has been held ever since. Mr. Prudden continued to reside in Newark after his dismission, as long as he lived. He never assumed another pastoral charge, but lived on the best of terms with his former parishioners, preaching for them, at their request, whenever they had no stated minister, and fulfilling important trusts connected with their re- ligious and secular interests. He died in the year 1*725, at the advanced age of eighty years, having outlived two, and sat under the ministry of three of his succes- sors in the sacred office ; and his remains lie in the bu- rying ground in the rear of this church, to which they were removed from their original resting place a few years ago.* The fourth pastor was the E-ev. Jabez Wakeman, a younger son of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, who was installed as pastor of the Church in Fairfield, Conn., in the year 1665, and removed by death between March and October, 1692.f Jabez Wakeman was about fourteen years of age when his father died, and in the will, direction is given that he be kept at school, and enter college the next August. The delay of a year however, seems to have occurred, for we find by the catalogue of Harvard College — " the college," as the * The following is the inscription on the parted this Life Dec. 11th. 1725, Aged 80 tombstone of Mr. Prudden — but whose yrs. muse presided at its composition I am not " Nor grace nor favour fill my reins. Loe informed. room for y' there yet remains." " Here lyes y Body of y" Rev^ Mr. John t Trumbull, Hist. Conn. Prudden, Minister of y° Gospel, who de- MR. wakeman's settlement. lOY will denominates it, that he was graduated in the year 1697. About a year and four months after this date, the people of Newark wishing to obtain an assistant for their worthy pastor, had their attention turned towards this young graduate, and appointed a commit- tee to treat with Mr. Wakeman and Mr. Prudden for that purpose. But the resignation of Mr. Prudden, which took place early in June following, gave a new aspect to affairs, and shortly afterwards, measures were adopted to secure Mr. Wakeman's services as a candi- date for the pastoral office. He was first engaged to preach in that capacity for a year, but scarcely was tlie year half out, before the ardor of the people pressed the question to an issue, and at a meeting held on the 15th of April, ITOO, "it was particularly inquired of every person, whether they desired Mr. Jabez Wake- man to be called to the pastoral office in this town, and they every one manifested their willingness thereto, and also voted the same."* In the preliminary arrangements for the settlement of Mr. Wakeman, we discover the first evidence of separate concurrent action of the Church and town in religious affiiirs. On the dismission of Mr. Prudden, the town appointed a committee of three men, "to join with such as the Chwcli shall ap][)oint^ in speedily look- ing out for another person to be on trial, in order to settlement in the pastoral office," and again, shortly after, another committee "to join with the Church committee, to treat with Mr. Jabez Wakeman about * Town Records, p. 131. 108 CHARACTER OF MR. WAKEMAN. his taking tlie office of pastor upon liim." This was in the years 1699 and ITOO. The salary of Mr. Wakeman was, at first, £60, but it was soon after raised to £80, the same with that of the two Piersons ; and whereas Mr. Prudden's had been paid "according to several contributions voluntarily subscribed," the people now returned to the old prac- tice, and agreed that the above named sum should " be raised by way of a rate."* A subscription was also raised to procure for him a "settlement," that is a homestead or " accommodations," as in the case of his predecessor ; in pursuance of which, a house and its appurtenances were purchased, and presented to him, by a deed of gift, " as the town's act and deed."f Mr. Wakeman became the sole pastor of this con- gregation at the early age of about twenty-one years. He was a young man of great promise, amiable, ac- complished, and remarkably popular in the pulpit. The attachment of the people to their young and talented pastor, aj)pears to have been deep and tender. Under his ministry the congregation became so much increased, that additional accommodations were re- quired for public worship, and the town ordered a gallery to be built across the north end of the meeting * Upon closer examination, I am satis- plan, it was voted that the way of rating fied that the rate referred to was levied for the salary " should be as the major part only on the estates of those who had vol- of the subso-iho's should agree upon." I untarily agreed to be taxed for the pur- find no evidence of a tax levied indiscrim- pose. The record is very explicit respect- inately and without consent of parties for ing the " settlement," that though the deed the support of the minister, after the first of gift was to be delivered to Mr. Wake- deviation from the original practice in the man as the town's act and deed, the money case of Abraham Pierson, junior, in the to procure it should " be raised by way of the year 1687. Town Records, p. 133. rate upon the estates of i\iQ sulscrilers." t Besides the accommodations mention- In apparent accordance with the same ed above, we find the following under date MR. wakeman's death. 109 house.* But the hopes of the people and the fair earthly prospects of the young minister and liis family, were destined to an early reverse. In the autumn of the year 1704, that fearful malady, the dysentery, pre- vailing in a fatal form among the jjeople, invaded his family. His little son, Samuel, a child of two years old, and an only one, died on the 29th of October; and only nine days later, the Either followed, leaving a childless widow, and a disappointed ilock to shed their tears over his early grave.f Mr. Wakeman died on the 8th day of October, 1Y04, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, after a short min- istry of between four and five years. In his will, dated four days before his death, in which he speaks of him- self as " brought very low under the afflicting hand of God," and not knowing how soon my change and dis- solution may happen," he disposes of his " house and homestead," in case of his wife's decease without issue or re-marriasre, " to the use and benefit of the town of Newark," in the hands of seven named trustees, or their surviving substitutes, and manifests his attach- ment to the sacred office, by the following item : " My of Nov. nth, 1701 : " /fern. — It is agreed t During the ministry of Mr. Wakeman, upon by vote, that Mr. Wakeman shall or about the time of his decease, theie died have laid out to him sixty acres of upland, of the old settlers, Samuel Plum, June 13, and ten acres of meadow, in the bounds 1703-4, aged 79 ; Captain John Curtis, of Newark, if it can be found, if he settle September 17, 1708, aged 62 ; (See Dr. among us to be our minister, and Mr. John J. S. Gondii's Monumental Inscriptions,) Curtis is chosen to lay out the land above Samuel Rose, 1700 ; Jonathan Tomp- said. kins, in or before 1700 ; Thomas Pierson, * The building of the gallery was first senior, and John Baldwin, senior, 1702; ordered by vote, Nov. 1702, but as late as Henry Lyon, Francis Linle and William March, 1703-4, a committee was appointed Camp, 1703 ; Mrs. Mary, wife of Azariah "to contrive and oversee the building of Crane, and daughter of Robert Treat, 1704. it." Town Records, pp. 134-5. — S. 11. Congar. 110 CONGREGATION DESTITUTE, library of books, I will and bequeath unto the first of my father Wakeman's house and family, who shall be brought up at the University, and be fitted with learn- ing to be serviceable to God and His church, in the work of the ministry." In the introduction, he disposes of himself according to the custom of the times, and manifests his pious feeling in the following words: " Itnprimis. — I commit my soul immortal to God who gave it, to glorify Him, and to be glorified by and with Him for -ever. My frail and corruptible body, made of the dust, I will to be decently buried, in hope of a glorious resurrection unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ, my only Redeemer and Saviour, who was de- livered for my' offenses, and raised again for my justi- fication ; that I may, both soul and body, glorify God for ever. Amen." It affords me pleasure to be able to add, that the precious remains of this beloved min- ister of Christ, are " decently buried" in the rear of this church ; to which place they were removed with pious care, and for the sake of greater security, a few years since, having been only once disturbed during a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years * After the death of Mr. Wakeman, the congregration remained destitute of a settled minister five or six * The following is the inscription on the " By him lies his son, Samuel, died Sept. tombstone of Mr. Wakeman. For its La- 29, 1704, ^tatis 2d." tinity, it is presumed, neither he nor " the There are two tablets, the lower, and College" is accountable : probably the earlier one, is in capitals, and " Here lye the Remains of y= Revd. Mr. as far as it is legible, reads thus : Jabez Wakeman, the faithful Pastor of " th y= body, Jabesh Wakeman, whas y" Church of Christ in this place, who De- our ReV Pastor, who deceased, Oct. 8, parted this life, Oct' 8"." 170-i. ^tatis 26. 1704, in y<= 26 year of his age." " Hoc sunt tumulo Wakeman venerabi- The J^tin is the same as on ihe other, lis ossa." REV. SAMUEL WHITa^ESEY. Ill years. Mr. Prudden was immediately invited to re- sume the pulpit till some other supply could be pro- cured, and the town voted " to be in the speedy use of means to seek for a man to supply the vacancy of the pastoral office." But no suitable person seems to have been found for a candidate, until after the lapse of a full year, when the town voted that their commit- tee "should make their application to Mr. Samuel Sherman, to preach the Word amongst us for proba- tion." But after a few months some facts tpanspiring connected with his former history, of the nature of which we are not informed, the negotiations were ab- ruptly terminated, by a vote to have " no further treaty with Mr. Sherman upon the account of a settle- ment among us."* Theophilus Pierson, younger brother of the second Abraham Pierson, was now appointed "to be the town's messenger to send, to endeavor to get a man upon trial," and a committee of five men appointed, with Mr. Prudden at their head, " to give Mr. Pierson power, direction and instruction in that matter, in the town's behalf." Mr. Samuel Whittlesey was the next candidate. " It was voted and agreed upon," says the record, under * "The question was asked the town, "Item. — Mr. Pierson was chosen by vote says the record, whether they were satis- to be the town's messenger to send, to en- ficd with the information that the Church deavor to get a man upon trial in the work had from Mr. Sherman's own mouth con- of the ministry among us. Item. — Mr. ceniing the place from whence he came. Prudden, Mr. Jasper Crane, Deacon Crane, It was consented to by vote that they were. Robert Young and Joseph Harrison were /few.— Eliphalet Johnson, Mr. Jasper chosen by vote to give all power, direction Crane, Mr. Pierson and Deacon Azariah and instruction in that matter in the Crane were chosen by vote to return the town's behalf." Records, p. 138. town's answer to Mr. Sherman above said. 112 LORD CORNBURT. date of May lYth, 1706, "to improve Mr. Samuel Whittlesey in tlie work of tlie ministry among us for tlie space of a year." The result of this improvement was a determination, on the part of the ]3eople., to seek his settlement among them. Some difference of opinion probably existed at this time, in regard to the proper sum to be assigned for the support of the new minis- ter, and it was voted March 31st, 1707, "that the ma- jor part should rule the minor in fixing the sum for Mr. Whit^esey's salary." Accordingly, the salary was fixed at £65, with the additional intimation that the town " would, and were willing to he Tielpful to Mr. Whittlesey, in procuring a settlement for him in con- venient season." Mr. Whittlesey saw fit to decline this invitation, and was soon after settled as the second pastor of the Church in Wallingford, Conn. He ap- pears to have occupied the pulpit here somewhat more than a year. The period in which these transactions took place was one of great political agitation. The Proprietary government finding itself unable to maintain its au- thority and secure the public order, made a formal surrender of its powers into the hands of the Queen, on the 15th of April, 1702, who thereupon commis- sioned Edward, Lord Cornbury, her own cousin, as her Captain-General and Governor-in-chief of the Province of New Jersey, and sent him hither with her instruc- tions to form a new government, embracing both the two former divisions of the Province. The private character of Lord Cornbury was as mean and contemptible, as his administration of the govern- LOED CORNBUBY. 113 ment was arbitrary and oppressive. " It was no un- common thing for liim," says a writer quoted in Smith's History, " to dress himself in a woman's habit, and then patrol the fort in which he resided. Such freaks of low humor exposed him to the universal contempt of the people ; but their indignation was kindled by his despotic rule, savage bigotry, insatiable avarice, and injustice, not only to the public, but even to his private creditors."* This detested and detestable young nobleman, re- garded it as hk special mission in the New World to promote the interests of the Church of England ; and although the Queen had expressly instructed him " to permit a liberty of conscience to all persons except Pa- pists, so they might be content with a quiet and peace- able enjoyment of the same," his overweening zeal seized upon some expressions having manifest reference to clergymen of the Established Church, whom he was not to allow to preach without either a certificate from the Bishop of London, or a license from himself, and made them the pretext for vexatious restrictions and exactions upon the old and long established Presbyte- rian and Congregational churches.f It marks sufficiently the oppressive spirit of this ad- ministration, by whose vexatious measures both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs, the most peaceful citizens were * Hist. New Jersey, p. 352. tlie English parliament, both in the impo- t Force's Uistorical Tracts, vol. iv. No. 4. sition of taxes and the regulation of eecle- " It must be admitted," says Graham, siastical affairs." This pledge of freedom Hist. North America, p. 464, "that the from interference in religious matters was colonization of this province was under- their grand inducement to make the set- taken on an assurance, which the settlers tlement. Whence then could the Queen were entitled to credit, of their being com- or her oflacers derive the right to molest pletelj exempted from the jurisdiction of them ? 8 114 EEV. FRANCIS MAKEMLE. well nigh stung to open rebellion, that such an item as the following, which I extract from the Newark Town Records, should have found place among the transac- tions of one of the most ancient, respectable and law- abiding congregations in the land. "Oct. 30, 1V05 — It was agreed upon by vote, to petition my Lord Corn- bury for license, that we may have leave to get and settle a man in the work of the ministry of the Gospel, according to our own persuasion."* That this precaution was not adopted without rea- son, is manifest from what took place two years after- wards, in the case of Rev. Francis Makemie, a highly respected member of the first presbytery ever estab- lished in this country. This excellent man was seized by order of the Governor, for the alleged offence of preaching in the city of New York without a license, carried about the country, from Newtown, on Long Is- land, through Jamaica to New York, and there thrust into prison, where he was detained six weeks. After a long trial, the jury returned a verdict of " not guilty," and when questioned by the court concerning their reasons, simply replied that "they believed in their conscience, they had done the defendant justice," and that he " had not transgressed any law." Thereupon the court ordered the prisoner to be discharged ; not however without first throwing upon him the whole costs of the prosecution, including fees to the sheriff for arresting him, and the high sheriff for committing * The Record adds, " Item. — Mr. Prud- personate the town in signing the petition, den, Mr. Pierson and Sergeant John Mor- Mr. Pierson is chosen to prefer it to my ris are chosen by vote to draw a petition. Lord Cornbury." Records, p. 136. It is voted that the Clerk of the town shall EEV. FRANCIS MAKEIHE. 115 him to prison, togetlier with £12 12s. to tlie prosecut- ing attorney — tlie wliole amounting to somewhat more than £80* — and the impoverished Presbyterian minis- ter was permitted to pursue his journey to New Eng- land, with such funds as might be left him, or as his friends might furnish, musing at leisure, although nothing daunted, on the perils of Presbyterian church extension within the bounds of my Lord Cornbury's government. In this outrageous transaction, the members of this congregation did not escape their share of annoyance. The persecuted minister had, it seems, found sympa- thizers, if not helpers among them. During his impris- onment therefore, in order if possible to elicit some- thing to his disadvantage, that might be available in the trial, an order was given to Major Sandford, one of the Governor's council, to examine, on oath, Jasper Crane and several others, concerning private conversa- tions supposed to have been held between Makemie and " sundry of his friends," at Mr. Crane's house. The inquisition however, brought to light no dangerous secrets.f It is a relief to know, that scarcely a year elapsed after this outrage, before the Queen, listening to the complaints of her injured subjects, divested the un- worthy official of his abused j^ower, declaring that she " would not countenance her nearest relations in op- pressing her people." * Force's Uistorical Tracts, vol. iv. No. for the above statement, Mr. Crane's rcsi- 4, ed. Washington, 1846. dence is said to be in " Mw- York-Town t Force's Historical Tracts, vol. iv. No. in Emt- Jersey,''' but there can be no doubt 4. In the edition to which I have referred I suppose as to the place intended. 116 REV. NATHANIEL BO WEES. But, to proceed with the narrative : On the failure of their endeavors to obtain Mr. Whittlesey, the town resolved to send to New England for a minister.* This had been, from the l^eginning, the great clerical hive ; and from this source, if from any, the right man might be expected. Theophilus Pierson was accordingly again deputed to undertake this journey and make the necessary inquiries ; and on his return he made report " that with good advice from the elders, he made ap- plication to Mr. Nathaniel Bowers, when he received encouragement, that if the town would signify their desire therein, he would give us a visit."f On hearing this report, the town at once resolved to accede to the proposition implied in it ; and, to testify their cordial- ity in the matter, ordered a messenger to be sent to meet him at Hudson River, and conduct him to New- ark. After preaching to the people one Sabbath, Mr. Bowers was invited " very unanimously — not one to the contrary," to occupy the pulpit for a year on trial ; and near the expiration of that period, a call was given him to assume the pastoral office, and a committee ap- pointed to make the arrangements for his ordination. In the stipulation for the support of Mr. Bowers, we * " Tovra meeting, March 21, 1708. Mr. progress he had made in that matter ; that Pierson was chosen by vote to go to New with good advice from the elders, he made England to endeavor to procure a minister; his application to Mr. Nathaniel Bowers, and the committee that was before chosen, of whom he received this encouragement; viz: Mr. Pierson, [Mr. Prudden?] Deacon that if the town would signify their desire Azariah Crane, Mr. Jasper Crane, Sergeant therein, he would give us a visit ; which JosephHarrison, Robert Young and Lieut, was put to vote, and very unanimously Samuel Ailing, were appointed to give voted that there should be a messenger him his instructions in the management of sent to Hudson's river, on the 16th June, that aflFair." to wait upon him to Newark." Records, + "Junes, 1709. Upon Mr. Pierson's pp. 140-1. return he made a report to the town of the EEV. NATHANIEL BOWERS. 117 find tlie first notice of a parsonage liouse — perhaps tlie same wliicli liad been given to Mr. Wakeman, and re- conveyed for the use of the town by his wilL The salary assigned to him after his settlement was .£80, and the use of the parsonage — " he keeping it in re- pair."^' The Rev. Nathaniel Bowers was the fifth pastor of this Church. Of his origin, parentage, education and early history, I have no knowledge, except that he came from New England. As his name does not ap- pear among the graduates either of Harvard College or Yale, he must have been educated in the old coun- try, or not have received a collegiate education.f The dates of his ministry may be very accurately stated. He arrived in Newark on the 16th of June, 1709, and was installed as pastor of the Church in the autumn of * The salary here named, was raised Assembly." Parish and town seem from " by way of rating," as in the case of Jlr. that date to have become practically sepa- Wakeman ; the record says, "according rated, though not nominally, to our former way of rating for the min- t The Eev. Mr. Guernsey, formerly pas- ister." But here there is no room for tor of a church in Derby, gives me the doubt as to what was meant by that ex- following account of a couTersation with pression ; for a committee was appointed the late Professor Kingsley, of Yale Col- "on a lecture day," June 28, 1710, "to lege: "Prof Kingsley says that Bowers, deliver the subscription to Mr. Bowers, of Derby, went westward, and was met by which was drawn up and signed by tlie a delegation of the congregation he went greater part of the town, for the payment to serve at the New York State line. He of his yearly salary;" and, subsequently, did not give his name, nor did he name an order is given that "a list of the estates the place to which he went. Of his sub- of the mhscriberx" should be given in to sequent history he knows nothing." The the assessors, for that purpose. After this name of the Derby Bowers was John, and period, special assessors and collectors he removed, as Trumbull says, to Rye; were appointed annually for the minister's but the resemblance of the circumstances rate ; and from and after the year 1714, above slated to those recorded in the New- when the town charter was obtained, the ark Town Records, leads me to suspect business of raising money fjr religious that the Professor's information had con- purposes is always transacted at special founded two things, and that Nathaniel, of town meetings, and those meetings are Newark, may have been the man he had not recorded, like those at which the or- in view. I insert the tradition, hoping it dinary civil affairs of the town are trans- may furnish a clue to the true origin of acted, as called " pursuant to an act of Mr. Bowers. 118 SECOND HOUSE OF WORSHIP. 1710. Whether this was his first settlement, as the term " ordination," used in the Records, seems to im- ply, or whether that word may have been used loosely for installation, may be a matter of doubt. His age — already past thirty-five years — would seem to favor the latter supposition. Mr. Bowers occupied the pul- pit a little more than seven years, and was the pastor of the Church about six.^" His death occurred in the month of August, 1716, in the 43d year of his age, ^nd his remains lie in the rear of this Church, by the side of those of Prudden and Wakeman.f It was just before the commencement of Mr. Bow- ers' ministry, viz : in the year 1708, that the second house of worship has been usually said to have been erected. Such is the statement of Dr. Macwhorter ; and such also was the aj^parent testimony of the vane upon the steeple, which bore upon it, within the mem- ory of many now living, the figures 1708. One fact, however, seems strongly to oppose that opinion. The records of the town, covering that period, though they contain several votes relating to ecclesiastical affairs, make no allusion to any such enterprise ; and as the statement of Dr. Macwhorter was founded upon tradi- tion nearly a century after the event, and the figures * During the ministry of Mr. Bowers, Condit's Monumental Inscriptions. — Mr. or the vacancy which preceded it, a lew S. If. Congar. more deaths of first settlers appear to f The epitaph of Mr. Bowers is as fol- have taken place. Samuel Lyon died in lows : " Here lyeth the body of the Rev. 1706; Jonathan Sargeant in 170'J ; Zecha- Mr. Nathaniel Bowers, pastor of the church riah Burwell about 1712. The tomb-stone in this place, who died August 4, Anno of John Treat bears the following inscrip- Domini, 1716, in the 43d year of his age." tion: "Here lyes interred the body of He left a widow, Hannah, and one son, John Treat, Esq., aged 65 years, who de- Nathaniel, who was a seaman. — S. H. Con- parted this life August the 1st, 1714." Dr. gar. SECfOND HOFSE OF WOESHIP. 119 on the vane may liave derived their origin from the same source, it seems probable that the true date is somewhere between the 12th of April, 1714, and the 10th of August, 1*716, when a vacancy occurs in the records. I am the more inclined to this conclusion, as one of the first entries made subsequently to that ])e- riod, is the choice of " two men to seat the three men that were chosen to seat the meeting house,"* showing that, for some reason or other, the important and deli- cate office of "seating," had just been formally dis- charged — the agents in the work alone remaining to be disposed of by still other authorities. The edifice, to which I now refer, was built of stone, about forty-four feet square, and had a bell in the steeple as early as the year liTSS.f Of this edifice Dr. Macwhorter observes : " It was an exceeding great ex- ertion of the people to erect it, and it was the most elegant edifice for public worship at that time in the Colony, however mean it may now be considered. There were considerable difficulties and contentions in the society to get it as large as it was. It was hardly believed that the inhabitants of the town would ever be so numerous as to fill it." The tradition which he * The two men referred to are Mr. James the old yard where formerly stood Whip- Nutman and Lieut. John Morris. " In pany Church, said to have been the first the old burying ground, on the lot of the settlement made west of the Newark Nutman family, is the grave of the Rev. mountains." — S. If. Cougar. Mr. John Nutman, who died in 1751, aged f March 11, 1734-5. A committee was 48. According to a notice in the New appointed " to take care of the ringing of Jersey Historical Collections, p. 3S0, he the bell, and sweeping the meetinghouse." was minister of a Presbyterian Church in Two years later, it was voted '' that Han- Whippany, from 1780 to 1745, probably nah Shingleton should sweep the meeting called by the emigrants to that region, the house, jyroyirfcfiJ she sweeps it clean, and for Campfields and Kitchels, and Lindleys, the same wages as it was done for last and Cranes, from Newark, who sleep in year." 120 FIEST CHUKCH IN" OEANGE. relates, that " when the walls were kuee high, all the inhabitants, men, women and children, could have sat upon the same," does not accord with known facts re- specting the number of people in the town about that time, and must therefore be regarded as somewhat le- gendary. It is said that nearly thirty years elapsed before the inside was entirely finished. This house stood on the west side of Broad street, a little to the north of the spot occupied by its predecessor, and being converted into a Court House after the year 1791, was standing, within the recollection of many who are now living. On the death of Mr. Bowers, a vacancy occurred in the pastoral office of about two years, during which time, as Dr. Macwhorter relates, a Mr. Buckingham occupied the pulpit, as a candidate for settlement, and created great divisions among the people. Of his his- tory and character, we learn nothing, except the simple statement that in process of time he " returned to New England, where he obtained a settlement, lived useful, and died in reputation."* It was in the latter part of this interval, that the first separation from the old Church, for the formation of a new congregation, took place. The original boundaries of the township, which extended, as ex- pressed in the deed, " to the foot of the great moun- tain called Watchung," were, by a subsequent purchase of the Indians, as we have before noticed, in the year 1678,t enlarged to the top of the mountain, embracing * Dr. Macwhorter's Century Sermon. + March, 1677-8. Newark Town Rec- ords. REV. JOSEPH WEBB. 121 the territory now occupied by the towns of Orange, South Orange, Bloomfield, Belleville and Clinton. In the year 1681, an order was given for laying out the highway as far as the mountain.^^ How rapidly the settlement was extended in that direction cannot ac- curately be determined. As late as the year 1696, only two or three families are spoken of as residing there. But in 1^15, Azariah Crane, one of the Dea- cons of this Church, and Edward Ball, one of its ear- liest members, speak of themselves as having been " settled " there many years.f And in or about the year 1718, the inhabitants of that part of the town having become somewhat numerous, formed a distinct religious organization, which was known at first and for many years as the "Mountain Society," and afterwards as the " Second Church in Newark." It is now the First Presbyterian Church in Orange. The Rev. Joseph Webb — the sixth pastor — was, as I suppose, a son of the Rev. Joseph Webb, of Fairfield, Connecticut, one of the ori§;inal founders of Yale College, of which he was many years a trustee, and who died in the year 1Y32. Mr. Webb was a graduate of Yale College of the year 1715. He was introduced here by a letter from Mr. Andrew, proabably the Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford, a rel- ative of some of the old settlers of Newark, his father's associate in the government of the College, and its temporary Rector at the time of his own graduation. This letter being read in town meeting and " well ac- * Newark Town Records. t Newark " Town Book." 122 OEDINATION" OF MR. WEBB. cepted," it was voted, December 16, 1718, to agree with Mr. Webb for tliree-quarters of a year on trial, and " to give him, for tlie time, at the rate of seventy pounds a year." Whether this became his permanent stipend after his settlement, and whether a parsonage house was furnished him as in the case of some of his predecessors, the record of no further act of the town remains to inform us. His salary, however, was raised regularly, from year to year, by a tax upon estates during his whole ministry. We learn from Dr. Mac- whorter, that he was ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia on the 22d of October, 1719,* and that the ministers present at his ordination were Messrs. Joseph Morgan, Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, son of Rev. Abraham Pierson, junior,f and Robert Orr. He also states that Mr. Webb was settled here with * This accords with the published min- den, Morgan, Orr and Dickinson, before a utes of the Synod ; Mr. Webb's name not great assembly." Minutes of the Pres- appearing either as present or absent till bytery of Philadelphia, p. 43, note, the meeting in September, 1720. He died in 1770, and his remains lie t Rev. John Pierson, son of Abraham buried in Hanover, where his tomb-stone Pierson, jr., was born, probably in Newark, now bears, as Mr. Congar informs me, in the year 1689, and graduated at Yale the following inscription : College in 1711. In the year 1717 he was " The Rev. Mr. John Pierson died Aug. ordained over the congregation at Wood- 23, 1770, Aetatis 81, who was a minister bridge, as appears from the following of the Gospel about 57 years. He was an "Memoranda: Mr. John Pierson having eminent Divine ; an excellent casuist; a performed those acts of trial assigned him, faithful, searching preacher ; a devout and viz., preached a popular sermon, from steadfast Christian ; an undaunted re- Tit, iii : 8, delivered an exegesis on that prover ; a peculiar economist ; stem in question, an ju stificatio nostra sit ab cc- his behaviour, yet benevolent and kind. ternoaut iji temj>ore pt'cestUa, answered to He passed many scenes of life without a many questions touching theological mat- blemish in his behaviour. ' The memory ters, and also discovered his skill in the of the just is blessed.' " original languages ; all which being done Mr. Pierfon, as will be seen hereafter, to satisfaction, the said Mr. Pierson was was for many years associated with the ordained and set apart to the work of the pastors of this church in the most impor- ministry at Woodbridge on the 29th day tant ecclesiastical transactions, of April, 1717, by Masters Andrews, Prid- INTRODUCTION OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 123 great unanimity, and for some years there was much tranquility and comfort in tlie town. As this is the first instance, which occurs in this his- tory, of an ordination by act of Presbytery, it seems proper to inquire here for the origin of Presbyterian- ism in this Church. In common with most of the Churches of New England, it was established origin- ally on a Congregational basis. Dr. Macwhorter, as we have seen, stated it, as a tradition, that the first pastor was inclined to Presbyterianism ; but the posi- tion which he occupied among parties, strongly indi- cates the contrary — since the party with which he identified himself, and of which he might be regarded as a leader, was the one farthest removed from Pres- byterianism, according to the understanding of that day. With his son, the second pastor, the case was different. His leanings, as we have already shown, were towards that system ; but the people were then strenuous for their old usages, and though a small party, chiefly from Scotland, were already among them favorable to his ^dews, the jealousy of the majority went so far as to break the pastoral relation. The next three ministers were unquestionably Congrega- tional.* Indeed, except in the traditions above re- ferred to, we find no trace of any Presbyterial rela- tions until about the time of Mr. Webb's ordination. * Dr. Macwhorter says, " it may be ob- came to Newark, and after the ministry of served that these three last ministers, cdii- both the other two was closed; and so cated in Connecticut, and under the Say- tar as its influence went, its manifest ten- brook platform, seem to have been Con- dency must have been to prepare the way gregationalists." Here is the same mis- for the introduction of Presbyterianism, take noticed before, rcspectinj^ the in- rather than to retard it. (See Trumbull's fluence of the " Platform." It was not Hist. Conn., vol. i, pp. 482, 487, 488.) framed till just before the last of the three 124 INTKODUCTION OF PKESBYTEEIANISM. To explain the mode in wliich tlie change probably took place, it is necessary to take into view the history and early relations of these two denominations in our country. The Congregational was for many years the only one which had a distinct organization. But, throughout New England, there was, from the earliest times, not a few, both of ministers and people, who were more or less inclined to Presbyterian views.* Nor does there appear to have been, between the two parties, except in particular instances, any considerable degree of partizan feeling. The Congregationalists resented the charge of hostility towards the Presbyte- rians, and appealed to their known practice as witness- ing the contrary. As early as the year 1634, a party in Scotland, among whom were distinguished individ- uals of the Presbyterian Church, proj^osed to emigrate to New England, with the ex^^ress design of establishing their own form of government and worship, to whom the people of Massachusetts promised a hearty welcome and the free exercise of their Presbyterian preferences.f * Dr. Hodge states, on the authority of lestation or disturbance, and have and Cotton Mather, that 4,000 emigrants of find as good respect from magistrates and this class arrived prior to 1640. (Const, people as other elders in the Congrega- Hist., p. 89.) tional or primitive way." " So 'tis well t See " Hypocrisy Unveiled," by Ed- known, that before these unhappy troubles ward Winslow, in Young's " Chronicles of arose in England and Scotland, there were the Pilgrims," pp. 402-3. " The next as- divers gentlemen of Scotland that groaned persion cast upon us is, that we will not under the heavy pressure of those times, suffer any that differ from us never so lit- wrote to know whether they might be tie, to reside or cohabit with us : nomttlie freely suffered to exercise their Presbyte- Fresliyterian government, tcJdch difereth rian government amongst us; and it was so little from us ; to which I answer, our answered affirmatively that they might, practice witnesseth the contrary, for 'tis And they sending over a gentleman to Veil known that Mr. Parker and Jlr. Noyes, take a view of some fit place, a river called who are ministers of Jesus Christ at New Meromeck, (Merrimac,) near Ipswich and berry, are in that way, and so known, so Xewberry aforesaid, was shewed their far as a single congregation can be exer- agent, which he well liked, and where we cised in it ; yet never had the least mo- have four towns settled, and more for INTRODUCTION OF PEESBTTERIANISM. 125 And, thoiigli tliis company were providentially de- tained, and tlius tlie organization of a distinct Presby- terian Clmrcli probably delayed, it was no secret that the Congregational Churches contained Presbyterian elements, and were modified more or less in their con- stitution, by deference to Presbyterian predilections. The system of Church policy called the Saybrook Plat- form, which subsequently came to prevail in the Churches of Connecticut, was probably intended to occupy a middle ground between the two systems.* Such was the state of the case, when a large emigra- tion of the Scotch and Huguenots began to occupy the Middle and Southern States. In New Jersey, the Scotch began to arrive in great numbers from and af- ter the year 1682, when the twenty-four Proprietors- half of whom were of Scotland, assumed the direction of the Pro™ce.f About the commencement of the aught I know ; so that there they might century later, Presbyterianism in its corn- have hid a complete Presbytery, and plete form was introduced into that region whither they intended to have come. But by causes entirely independent of both, meeting with manifold crosses, being half The Presbj^tery of Newburyport flourish- seas through, they gave over their intend- ed on that ground for nearly thirty years, ments; and, as I have heard, these were and at the present moment, I believe, the many of the gentlemen that first fell upon only churches of that denomination in the late covenant in Scotland." In the Massachusetts are the two Presbyterian records of the General Court of Massachu- Churches of that city, setts, September, 1634, is found the fol- * Trumbull says (Hist. Conn., vol. i, p. lowing: "It is ordered that the Scottish 487,) "Though the Council were unani- and Irish gentlemen who intend to come mous in passing the platform of discipline, hither shall have liberty to set down upon yet they were not all of one opinion, any place upon Merrimack river, not pos- Some were for high consociational gov- sessed by any." (See CoflQn's History of ernment, and in their sentiments nearly Newbury, pp. 12, 13.) It would seem as Presbyterian ; others were much more if this spot about the mouth of the Mcr- moderate, and rather verging on Indepen- rimack, thus devoted to Presbyterianism dency, but exceedingly desirous of keeping by the Congregational fathers, had had an the unity of the spirit in the bond of aflSnity for Presbyterian institutions ever peace, they exercised great Christian con- since. The settlement of Parker and descension and amicableness towards each Noyes there had no connection whatever other." with the incident above stated; and a t Whitehead, pp. 88,103. 126 INTEODUCTION OF PEESBYTEEIANISM. eighteentli century, Presbyterian Churclies of a decided character began to be organized. The first Presbytery ever formed in this country was that of Philadelphia, which originated in the year 1Y05 or 1Y06,* and con- sisted at first of seven ministers, all but one of whom were of Scotch or Scotch-Irish origin.f From this time, the current in this region set in an opposite di- rection from that which it had taken in New England. The Presbyterian elements, being the stronger, ab- sorbed the Congregational ; and, one after another, the old Congregational Churches of East Jersey, with their ministers, most of whom had been educated in New England, joined the Presbytery and adopted the Presbyterian government and discipline. This they could do, without abandoning any of their fundamen- tal principles. J The chief difference recognized had reference to the admission of persons to sealing ordin- ances and the degree of power which should be given to elders and synods ; and that was readily ad- justed, probably to the satisfaction of both parties. In doctrine, both stood upon the same platform. The * Minutes, p. 6. ings towards his Congregational brethren + Hodge's Constitutional History, p. 8S. may be judged of by apassage in his will, Among the fathers of the Presbyterian wherein he gives his library " to Mr. An- Church, none stand more prominent than drews, and after his decease or removal, Prancis Makemie and Jedediah Andrews, to such minister or ministers as shall suc- pastor of the First Church in Philadel- ceed him in that place and oflBce, and to phia; the former a native of Scotland or such only as shall be of the Presbyterian the north of Ireland, the latter of Massa- or Independent persuasion, and none else." chusetts; the former, by all his habits and Foote's Sketches of Virginia, p. 57. preferences, a thorough Presbyterian ; the X The extract already made from the latter inclined, from early education, to writings of Jonathan Dickinson shows Congregational usages. The affection of the views with which he entered the Pres- these two excellent men towards each byterian Church. He considered both de- other is an example to all parties in the nominations as 'embarked on one bottom.' Church they fouiaded. Makemie's feel- THE CHURCH JOINS THE PRESBYTERY. 127 cliurcli in Woodbridge became connected witli the Presbytery as early as lYOS, though it still retained some of its Congregational usages ; and that of Eliza- bethtown appears, with its pastor,* at the forming of the first synod, called the Synod of Philadelphia, in 1111. The precise time at which this church united with the Presbytery, owing to the loss of records, f cannot now be ascertained. Dr. Macwhorter says it was in 1716 ; but the records of that period are still extant, and contain nothing to confirm his tradition. It is hardly probable that it took place during the ministry of Mr. Bowers ; though the incipient steps towards it may have been taken during the contentions about Mr. Buckingham, when, as we are informed by the the same authority, one of the j)arties applied to the Presbytery for advice. However, the way had been preparing for such a step from the very first introduc- tion of the Presbyterian polity in this region. Scotch families, and probably with decided Scotch predilec- tions, formed a part of the population of Newark be- fore the close of the seventeenth century, and were in- termingled extensively by marriage with the families of the first settlers.J We have already noticed that Francis Makemie, the father of the Presbyterian Church, had friends and partizans in Newark, when he first visited this part of the country in 1708. As the * Minutes, p. 46. Jobn Ward, senior. James Clisbe mar- + The minutes of the Presbytery of ried Elizabeth, daughter of Zeehariah Philadelphia from 1717 to 1733 are lost. Burwell. Robert Young, a daughter of Hodge's Const. Hist., p. 193. Benjamin Baldwin ; and James Nutraan a X Samuel Nesbit married a daughter of daughter of Rev. John Prudden. (New- Samuel Harrison, and granddaughter of ark Town Book.) — S. JI. Cougar. 128 STATE OF THE PRESBYTEEIAN CHUECHES. deatli of Mr. Bowers, tlie last of tlie Congregational ministers, wliicli occurred just about tlie time of the formation of tlie first synod, left tlie way open for any new arrangement which, might seem desirable, the probability is, that the people availed themselves of the first favorable opportunity to connect themselves with what they doubtless regarded as in the fullest sense their sister Churches in this and the neighboring Prov- inces. The change, if change it may be called, grew out of the course of events, and was natural, easy, and excited little discussion. The first appearance of Mr. Webb in the Synod was in the year 1*720 ; and from that time to the present the Church has been very regularly represented, both in the Presbyteries and other judicatories with which from time to time- it has been connected. Indeed, both in its internal and external relations, it has been, during that whole period of a hundred and thirty years, one of the most consistent and thoroughly Pres- byterian of the Presbyterian Churches. The Presbyterian Church at large, during Mr. Webb's connection with it, was still in a feeble and forming state. A large part of the territory occupied by its members might be regarded as missionary ground. Most of the congregations were probably small, and the supply of ministers was inadequate. Very soon after its formation, the Synod had commenced a small fund for the relief of the destitute, but finding their own resources altogether insufficient, they made application by letters, in the year 1718, to the Pres- DIFFICULTY ABOUT CANDIDATES. 129 byteiy of Dublin, the Synod of Glasgow, and the Dis- sentmg Ministers of London, for their assistance. Suc- cessful in this effort, their next recourse was to re- newed exertions among themselves. Accordingly, in the year 1719, the year of Mr. Webb's ordination, a letter was addressed to the several congregations con- nected with the Synod, containing the following lan- guage : " Inasmuch as it seems to us unreasonable and unjustifiable to apply to other places in this affair, and ourselves, who are more immediately concerned, to hold our hands, we determined to request the charity of our respective congregations in the premises, that they would yearly make a collection for the car- rying on of the said noble and pious design of plant- ing and spreading the everlasting Gospel in these Provinces." It is a matter of satisfaction to find by the minutes of the Synod, that among the eight, who, in response to this call, brought in the first annual con- tribution for so worthy a purpose, the name of our own congregation stands recorded.* No small difficulty was experienced about this time in ascertaining the character of candidates who offered themselves for employment as ministers of the Gospel. Most of them were foreigners, and some brought only doubtful credentials. Others, who at first promised fair, disappointed the expectations of their brethren. Among the number was a candidate by the name of "Walton, who, having been guilty of miscarriages here in Newark, was suspended, by the Presbytery to which * See Minutes, pp. 56, 63. 130 DIFFEEENCES ABOUT GOVEENMENT. he belonged, from tlie functions of the ministry. The affair coming up in the Synod in the year 1722, he be- haved himself very contemptuously ; but after consid- erable conference, as he seemed more disposed to sub- mit to discij)line, the Synod appointed one of their number to read his confession and acknowledgment to the congregation among whom the offences were com- mitted, and on condition of his personally and j)ub- licly assenting to it as his own, authorized their com- missioner to take off the suspension. But when the appointed time came, the commissioner to whom this duty was assigned, being unable to be in Newark on account of sickness, thereupon the delinquent candi- date assumed the responsibility of reading his own confession and absolving himself. In consequence of this procedure new difficulties arose, and the process of discipline was continued for some time ; until at length the recreant minister disowned the Synod's au- thority, and in an angry manner broke away from their connection. It does not appear, however, that the affair caused any serious disturbance in this con- gregation."^^ About this time some serious difference of opinion respecting the government of the Church threatened to disturb the peace of the Synod. One portion of the members, among whom were the leading ministers of this vicinity, leaned to the largest safe and pratica- ble liberty ; w^hile the other were probably more anxious to secure the benefit of a strong and vigorous • * Minutes, p. G8. Gillespie's overture. 131 system. At tlie meeting of the Synod in 1721, the Rev. George Gillespie, of White Clay, a native of Scotland, offered an overture, the effect of which was to give to each member free opportunity to bring in any proposition which he might see fit, with a view to its being enacted into a law or standing rule, called, in the technical phraseology of the times, an act^ by the Synod.'"' Startled by a proposition which seemed to open the way for unlimited legislation, and perhaps apprehending its design to be the introduction of a more vigorous government than had hitherto been practiced, six of the members, among whom were the moderator, E,ev. Jonathan Dickinson, and the clerk, Kev. David Evans, immediately upon its adoption by the Synod, entered their protest against it. Mr. Webb was among the subscribers to this protest. The Synod received it, appointed one of their number to answer it, and laid it aside for future action. Fortunately, a spu'it of mutual conciliation seems in a high degree to have animated these revered fathers of the Presbyte- * Dr. Hodge, in his Constitutioual His- by 'twould be no trouble to lose some of us. Yet I can't think this to be the thing ultimately designed, whatever smaller glances there may be at it. I have no thought that they have any design against me in particular. I have no reason for it. This business lies heavy on my mind, and I desire we may be di- rected in it, that we may not bring a scan- dal on our profession. Though I have been sometimes an instrument of keeping 136 ADOPTINa ACT. ter consultation, these men brought in a minute, which, with some debate was adopted. It contains a decision on the main question in the following words : "All the members of this Synod, or that shall hereafter be ad- mitted into this Synod, shall declare their agreement in and approbation of the Confession of Faith with the larger and shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, as being, in all the essential and necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine, and do also adopt the said Confession and Catechisms as the confession of our faith." As to the determination of the question, what were to be regarded as necessary and essential, that was left to the Synod or Presbytery, as the case might be, after hearing the scruples of the candidate. With a mutual pledge tcr use no opprobrious terms or allow any abatement of fraternal kindness on account of differences in extra essential and not necessary points of doctrine," these worthy men at once proceeded to bring forth their scruples, and having adjusted that matter, all present, with a single exception, declared the said Confession and Catechisms to be the confession of their faith ; and the Ado])tmg Act became thence- forth a fundamental article of the Constitution of the them together when they were like to fall tested business than any other minister to pieces, I have little hope of doing so of our number. I am afraid of the event, now. If it were not for the scandal of a However, I will endeavor to do as near as division, I should not be much against it ; I can what I understand to be duty, and for the different countrymen seem to be leave the issue with Providence. most delighted in one another, and to do " P. S. Ten days ago was buried Mr- best when they are by themselves. My Mai. Jones, an old Welch minister. He congregation being made up of divers na- was a good man, and did good. He lived tions, of different sentiments, this brings about 11 miles from this town." me under a greater diflBculty in this con- (See Hodge's Const. Hist., p. 168.) ADOPTING ACT. 13Y Presbyterian Church.'^' " Tlie Synod," observes tlie re- cord, " observing tliat unanimity, peace and unity wbicb appeared in all their consultations and determinations * The Adopting Act of 1729 is so im- portant a feature in the history of the Presbyterian Church in these United States, as to deserve a place in every local history of the Church covering the same period. It stands on record thus : " The Committee brought in an overture upon the affairs of the Confession, which after long debating upon it, was agreed upon in Tkw verla. "Although the Synod do not claim or pre- tend to any authority of imposing our faith upon other men's consciences, but do pro- fess our just dissatisfaction with, and ab- horrence of such impositions, and do ut- terly disclaim all legislative power and authority in the Church, being willing to receive one another as Christ has received us to the glory of God, and admit to fel- lowship in sacred ordinances all such as we have grounds to believe Christ will at last admit to the kingdom of Heaven, yet we are undoubtedly obliged to take care that the faith once delivered to the saints be kept pure and uncorriipt among us, and so handed down to our posterity. And do therefore agree that all the ministers of this Synod, or that shall hereafter be ad- mitted into this Synod, shall declare their agreement in, and approbation of the Con- fession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechism of the Assembly of Di- Tines at Westminster, as being in all the essential and necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine, and do also adopt the said Confession and Catechisms as the Confession of our Faith. And we do also agree, that all the Presbyteries within our bounds shall always take care not to ad- mit any candidate for the ministry into the exercise of the sacred function, but what declares his agreement in opinion with all the essential and necessary articles of said Confession, either by subscribing the said Confession of Faith and Catechisms, or by a verbal declaration of their assent there- to as such minister or candidate shall think best. And in case any member of this Synod, or candidate for the ministry shall have any scruple with respect to any article or articles of said Confession or Cat- echisms, he shall at the time of his making said declaration, declare his sentiments to the Presbytery or Synod, who shall, notwithstanding, admit him to the exer- cise of the ministry within our bouuds, and to ministerial communion, if the Syn- od or Presbytery shall judge his scruple or mistake to be only about articles not essential and necessary in doctrine, wor- ship or government. But if the Synod or Presbytery shall judge such ministers or candidates erroneous in essential aud ne- cessary articles of faith, the Synod or Presbytery shall declare them uncapable of communion with them. And the Syn- od do solemnly agiee, that none of us will traduce or use any opprobrious terms of those that differ from us in these extra es- sential and not necessary points of doc- trine, but treat them with the same friend- ship, kindness and brotherly love, as if they had not differed from us in such sen- timents." Minutes, p. 92.) In the afternoon of the same day, it is recorded, that " All the nanisters now present, except one, who declared himself not prepared, after proposing all the scru- ples that any of them had to make against any articles and expressions in the Con- fession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assem bly of Divines at Westminster, have unanimously agreed in the solution of those scruples and in declaring the said Confession and Cate- chims to be the Confession of their Fiiith, excepting only some clauses in the twen- tieth and twenty-third chapters, concern- ing which the Synod do unanimously de- clare that they do not receive those arti- cles in any such sense as to suppose the civil magistrate hath a controlling power over Synods, Ac." (Minutes, pp. 92-8.) 138 ADOPTING ACT. relating to the affair of tlie Confession, did unanimously agree in giving thanks to God in solemn prayer and praises." The adoption of the Directory for Worship Discipline and Government, appended to the Confes- sion, as " agreeable in substance to the Word of God," and " to be observed as near as circumstances will al- low," followed of course, and was assented to without opposition.* Although the name of Mr. Webb does not appear in any of these transactions, owing to the fact that he was absent from the meetings in which they took place, there can be no doubt as to the views which he entertained or the position which he would have as- sumed had he been present. What Dickinson and Pierson had assented to, and Pemberton called " our happy agreement," could hardly fail to have been agreeable to their intimate associate, Mr. Webb. The act was evidently designed to be a compromise, or rather to establish just the position in which both par- ties were prepared to unite. It exhibits much care in the selection of words, and being written, as I suppose, by Mr. Andrews, contains obvious coincidences in lan- guage and thought with his letter already referred to. * Letter from the Rev. Ebenezer Pern- upon what terms, you will see by the en- berton, of New York, to the Rev. Dr. closed prints, two or three of which I Coleman at Boston : send you for yourself and those to whom " Reverend Sir — When I had the pleas- you have a mind to communicate them, ure of seeing you at Boston the last sum- The conclusion of the Synod was ordered mer, I was expressing my fears that the to be published, that our happy agreement subscription controversy would be the might be Jis universally known as our cause of a great disturance and division debates. 1 desire an interest in your in our Synod. But I have now the satis- prayers, and am faction of acquainting you that Provi- Your most obed't servant, dence has been better to us than our fears. Eben'r Pemberton. The storm is blown over, and the debate New York, Sept. 30, 1729. is peaceably and satisfactorily ended, EXPLANATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS. 139 But the current of opiuion in tlie body was evidently setting strongly towards a more unqualified subscrip- tion than had hitherto been agreeable to the men of New England origin. Moreover, it seems probable that theii' own minds may have drifted gradually in the same direction. In the year 1730, an act explana- tory was adopted, which, although the language is not perfectly clear, was taken as intended to limit the pro- posing of scruples, and the distinction of essential and non-essential to the case of those who subscribed in the first instance. And again, in the year 1736, a still more explicit one followed, declaring expressly " that the S^Tiod have adopted and still adhere to the West- minster Confession, Catechisms and Directory, without the least variation or alteration, and that without any regard to said distinctions." Nor did Mr. Andrews who was present, at the time, nor any of his associates who were absent, at any subsequent meeting, as far as we know, present any protest against the decision. Either some modification of their former views, or a conviction that it was unwise to insist further, led the party to which the pastor of this Church belonged, silently to acquiesce ; though the leanings of the two parties were obviously not changed, and may be plainly discovered, both during the difficulties of a later pe- riod, in which, while the one insisted on the adopting act, " according to the latest explications," the other still referred to it as it was in its original form ; and in the final happy adjustment of those difficulties, which did scarcely more than repeat the same cautious words 140 PEESBYTEET OF EAST JEESEY. on wliicli botli parties had. united in tlie first instance.* The Presbytery of Philadelphia, as I have already observed, was for several years the only existing one in this country. When in the year 1*7 1*7, it branched forth into four others, and so formed a Synod, the Churches in this vicinity remained in, or became attached to the parent body. But in the year 1733, that body having increased in numbers, became again divided, and a new Presbytery, called the Presbytery of East Jersey, was created, comprising, with some others, all the Churches, within the limits of the Province bearing the same name. The records of this ancient Pres- bytery, with which this Church continued in connec- tion under that name about five years, are now, it is supposed, irretrievably lost. Some causes of disquietude seem to have arisen in this congregation about the year 1726, on account of which the Synod, on an application from Mr. Webb, appointed commissioners, consisting of Messrs. Morgan, Anderson, Pierson, Gelston, Dickinson and Andrews, to meet at Newark on the fourth Wednesday of Octo- ber in that year, " to act with the full power of the Synod in all matters that may be laid before them in respect to that congregation, and bring a report of what they do to the next Synod." What the difficul- ties were, or how they were adjusted, we are not in- formed, except that the transactions of the committee were brought in by their report at the next meeting * Minutes of the Synods of New York and Philadelphia, pp. 286-7. INTRODUCTION OF EPISCOPACY. 141 of tlie Synod, according to dii'ection, and " read and approved."* About this time a Dutcli congregation was estab- lished at Second R,iver, now Belleville, which was then within the bounds of Newark. We find it spoken of in the beginning of the year 1727, as "the new Church and congregation there erected," and at that time, that and the Church of Aquackanunc were both conjoined in one body in their ecclesiastical affairs, " and under one minister to dispense the Word and ordinances of God unto them."f Hitherto no separations had taken place in this Church except on local grounds. The people, says Dr. Macwhorter, had always been of the same denom- ination. "There were no sectarians or public divis- ions among them." But divisions and contentions of a very serious character were now at hand. It was towards the latter part of Mr. Webb's min- istry, that the earliest Episcopal congregation, viz. : that now known as Trinity Church, was organized. Elements of E23iscopacy had been scattered in the province, probably from the beginning, especially after the commencement of Lord Cornbury's administration, when the Rev. George Keith, a minister of the Church of England, made a tour through this part of the coun- try, and published an account of his observations. Even then, the neighboring settlement of Elizabethtown, the original seat of government of the province, and, on that account, particularly subject to Enghsh influ- ence, seemed to the zealous missionary to present a * Minutes, pp. 83, 84. t Town Book, 2d part, p. 159. 142 EPISCOPAL CHUECH FOEMED. hopeful aspect. "Many of tliat town," lie tells us, " having been formerly a sgrt of Independents,* are be- come well affected to the Church of England, and de- sire to have a minister of the Church of England sent to them."f In Newark it does not appear that any public services, according to the rites of that Church, were performed earlier than the year 17294 In 1731 however, a missionary, writing from Elizabethtown to his patrons in England, reports, that not only there, " but also at Neicar\ Whij)pany and in the mountains, where he sometimes goes and preaches to a numerous congregation," he finds his hearers increasing ; and what can hardly fail to provoke a smile from those who have given attention to the history of the Church in Newark, during a period of sixty-five years previous, gravely adds, that " he finds a general disposition in the people to be insteucted and settled in the Cheis- TiAN FAiTH."§ It docs not appear however, that they became settled into a permanent congregation, or had any thing beyond an occasional service in the Episcopal form, from some transient minister, imtil several years later. The sudden crystallizing of the elements thus pre- pared, appears to have been due to a case of disci- pline, which arose in this Church, and of whose merits, we of the present day are incapable of forming an in- * By " a sort of Independents" he prob- any earlier than the latter part of 1730 ? ably means Congregationalists. § Centennial Discourse by Rev. M. H. t Keith's Journal, p. 78. Henderson, p. 11. This missionary was I Centennial Discourse by Rev. M. H. the Rev. Mr. Vaughan. Henderson, 'p. 11. Query. — Were there COL. JOSIAH OGDEN. 143 dependent judgment.* Col. Josiah Ogden,f a distin- guished member of the Clmrcli, was accused of vio- lating the sanctity of the Lord's day, by laboring in the fields to save his wheat, when it was exposed to serious loss by long continued rains. The Church cen- sured him, and although the Presbytery reversed their decision, deeming the case one of virtual necessity, and that with ardent endeavors to keep the peace of the town and prevent a separation, the breach had become too wide to be healed, and the aggrieved thereupon began " to declare themselves dissatisfied with the Presbyterian form of church government." Thus "originated," according to Dr. Macwhorter, but per- haps we may say more correctly, thus was brought into a distinct and permanent form, the Episcopal Church in this place. The precise date of this event is not ascertained. Dr. Macwhorter says it was in the years 1*732, '33 and * I can find no traces of an Episcopal count of the first formation of a congrega- congregation here, even of a temporary lion of that order is correct ? character, prior to the occurrence here re- i Col. Josiah Ogden, as before noticed, ferred to, except what is stated above from p. 33, note, was the son of David Ogden Mr. Henderson's discourse. Humphrey's and Elizabeth Swaine, daughter of Samuel Historical Account, extending to the year Swaine, previously married to Josiah 1728, and published in 1730, makes no Ward. He was a man of influence and a mention of Newark among the visitations man of substance. His tombstone, which of the Episcopal missionaries. He men- still remains, bears the following inscrip- tions Amboy, Shrewsbury, Freehold, Eliz- tion : " Here lies interred the body of Col . abethtown, Kahway, Piscataway, Wood- Josiah Ogden, who died Jlay 17th, 1763, bridge, and some other places of less note in the eighty-fourth year of his age." (Con- in East Jersey, but nowhere do I find the dit's Monumental Inscriptions, p. 137.) name of Newark. Indeed, in his map dated In his will, emulating perhaps in his new 1730 he inserts Newark as a place to which ecclesiastical attachments, the liberality missionaries have not been sent. May it of Deacon Azariah Crane towards (he old not then be fairly concluded that the first Church, he makes the following bequest: missionary ettbrts made here, were made " I give to the rector, church-wardens and at the precise date of Mr. Vaughan's re- vestry of Trinity Church in Newark, my port, cited above from Mr. Henderson's silver cup or porringer with two handles, discourse, and that Dr. Macwhorter's ac- to the same, for and to the only use of said Church." — Copied hy Mr. tS. II. Cim. 19, vol. i.) "In September, 17S6, with many fears and doubts about my qualifications, (being un- der clouds with respect to my spiritual state,) I offered mjself to trial, and was approved as a candidate for the ministry. My first sermon was preached at Green- field, and immediately after I came to the Jerseys. I can hardly give any account why I came here. After I had preached some time at Hanover, I had a call by the people of Newark, but there was scarcely any probability that I should suit their circumstances, being young in standing and trials. I accepted their invitation with a reserve, that I did not come with any views of settling. My labors were universally acceptable among them, and they manifested such great regard and love for me, that I consented to accept of the charge of their souls. "A. D. 1738-39. January the 25th I was set apart to the work of the ministry by fasting, prayer and iPiposition of hands. God grant that I may ever keep fresh in my mind the solemn charge that was then given me, and never indulge trifling thoughts of vehat then appeared to me of such awful importance. The ministers who joined in this solemn transaction were Mr. Dickinson, who gave the charge, and Mr. Pierson who preached. Mr. Dickinson, who presided at this work, has been of great service to me by his advice and instruction, both before and since my ordination." The Records of the Synod contain the .following notice, under date of May 24th, 1738: "It is reported that Mr. Charles Tennent, in the Presbytery of Newcastle, Mr. Aaron Burr and Mr. Walter Wilmot, in the Presbytery of New York, were after the usual trial, ordained since the last Synod, and that they did all of them adopt the Westminster Confession, Ac, accord- ing to order of this Synod." — Minutes, p. 135. 156 THE GEE AT AWAKENING. ble for that wonderful religious impulse wliich, extend- ing over almost tlie whole of our country, and consid- erable portions of Great Britain, lias justly been de- nominated "the great awakening." The mighty work began at Northampton and other places, as early as the year 1734, when Burr was yet a youth in college, and he had felt as we have seen, the power of God in it in the awakening and conversion of his own soul. Having entered on his work here, under a deep sense of his own weakness, and the most solemn impressions of the responsibility of his charge,* God was pleased to honor him as an eminent instrument in carrying forward his work of grace, not only among the people of Newark, but in other parts of the land. In a letter from a gentleman in New York to a friend in Glas- gow,f in the year 1T41, he is mentioned with Gilbert and William Tennent, Ebenezer Pemberton and three others, as one of seven ministers whom " the good Lord hath stirred up and spirited," to water the seed sown by Whiteiield in this region. Nor was it only as an ApoUos watering and tending the plants which other men had sown, that God was pleased to employ him. About a year and a half after his ordination, in the month of August, 1739, before Whitefield made his first visit to this part of the coun- try, a remarkable revival of religion took place in this congregation. It began among the youth, and increas- ing steadily from month to month, seemed by mid- * Memoir Col. Burr, p. 18, agent for the Church in Scotland. (See + Letter from Dr. John Nichols, physi- Gillies's Hist. Col., vol viii, p. 133. cian in New York, to Nicholas Spence, REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 157 winter to have changed the entire face of society. The vices and folHes which before jDrevailed, were univer- sally abandoned ; religious conversation took the place of social merriment, devout attention appeared in all their public assemblies, and a deep anxiety about their eternal welfare became manifest in the countenances of many. Early in the spring, the adult portion of the congregation, who had hitherto, with a few exceptions, remained apparently unaffected, began to feel the power of the same sacred influences, and " the whole town were brought under an uncommon concern about their eternal interests."* All this time the heavenly gift seemed confined wholly to Newark. In the neighboring congregation of Elizabethtown there was great religious insensibility. Whitefield had visited and preached among them dur- ing the autumn, and not a single known conversion followed his ministrations. The excellent j^astor of the Church redoubled his efforts, but apparently to no purpose. " Though we had," he writes, " continual accounts from Newark of the growing distress among their people, their young people especially, our con- gregation remained secure and careless, and could not * At this juncture, Mr. Dickinson, of in Neiv Jersty. Gal. iv : 6. And hecavse Elizabethtown, preached a sermon here, ye are sons, God Itath sent His Son into entitled: your hears, crylnrf Abha Father. Boston, " Tlie Witness of tJie Spitxit. A Sermon N. E. Printed and sold by S. Kneeland preached at Newarl; in New Jersey, May & T. Green, in Queen street over against 7fh, 1740, wherein is distinctly shown in the prison. 1740." what way and manner the Spirit himself This sermon, a copy of which is now in learetJi witness to the aAo]}tion of the chil- possession of the writer of these dis- dren of God, on occasion of the wonderful courses, is eminently faithful and discrim- progrcss of converting grace in those inating, and was doubtless in the truest parts. By Jonathan Dickinson, M. A., sense, a Tract for the Times. The text minister of the Gospel at EUzdbethtown, is from Romans, iii: 16. 158 EEVIVAL OF RELIGION. he awakened out of their sleep." In such a man as Dickinson, whose joy was doubtless unfeigned in view of the success with which God was crowning the efforts of his young brother, for whom he seems to have en- tertained the warmest affection, such apparent deser- tion of his own flock could not but have been the source of keen affliction. " You will easily conceive," he says, " that this must be an afflicting and discour- aging consideration to me, that when from other places we had the joyful news of so many flying to Christ, I had yet cause to complain that I labored in vain, and spent my strength for nought." But just as the reli- gious feeling in Newark began to show signs of abate- ment, the Divine Spirit seemed to manifest His power among the people of Elizabethtown. A numerous con- gregation of the youth of the tOAvn being assembled, " I preached to them," says the pastor, " a plain, prac- tical sermon without any special liveliness or vigor, for I was then in a remarkably dead and dull frame ;" but so deep and sudden was the impression made, that " the inward distress and concern of the audience dis- covered itself by their tears, and by an audible sob- bing and sighing in all parts of the assembly." About sixty persons gave evidence by their subsequent lives, of a radical change of character during this re^dval. Meanwhile the congregation at Newark had not been wholly deserted. Catching the sacred flame, from the fire which had been kindled on a neighboring altar, this Church experienced during the following winter, the winter of 1 '7 40-1, a more general and ef- fectual manifestation of divine influence than in the WHITEFIELDS FIRST VISIT. 159 previous instance. Professors of religion were induced to examine closely the foundation of tlieir liopes, and many of tliem became convinced tliat tliey liad hith- erto only a name that they lived. Many converts were added to the number of Christ's followers, espe- cially among the elder class, and there seemed to be very few in the whole congregation who were not more or less sensibly affected. " There is good reason to conclude," says an eye-witness, " that there were a greater number now brought home to Christ than in the former gracious visitation."* This is the first among a long series of similar Divine visitations which the wastes of time have preserved to us. In the month of November, 1*740, Whitefield made his first visit to Newark. At his arrival in Newport, Khode Island, Mr. Burr was in that region, on a visit for the benefit of his health, and probably accompanied him to Boston. It is certain that he Avas in Boston during the visit of the famous preacher, and heard him preach, both in the churches and on the common, to thronging thousands.f About a month after Mr. * Gillies's Historical Collections, vol. ii, the 23d went to hear him preach in Mr. p. 142 etc. Webb's church, but the house was crowd- + Mem. of Col. Burr, p. 18. "InNovcm- ed before Mr. Whitefield came. The peo- ber, 1839, I was on a visit to my friends pie,- especially the women, were put into in New England, and again in March 1740. a fright, under a mistaken notion, that the In the following August I was in a de- galleries were falling, which caused them dining state of health, and by the advice to hurry out in such a violent manner that of my physicians visited Rhode Island, many were seriously injured, and five From thence I proceeded to Boston on the killed. The same day Whitefield preached 19th of September. I heard Mr. White- at Mr. Gee's church. In the evening he field preach in Dr. Colman's church. I preached at Dr. Sewall's cliurch. On Sat- am more and more and more pleased with urday I went to hear him in the Com- the man. On the 21st heard him preach mons ; there were about eight thousand in the Commons to about ten thousand hearers. He expounded the parable of people. On Monday visited him, and had the Prodigal Son in a very moving man- Bome conyersatioQ to mj satisfaction. Ou ner. Many melted iuto tears. On the itli 160 BURR IN BOSTON-. Burr's return, Wliitefield preacliecl to tliis congrega- tion. His own record of the fact is as follows:* " Rode after sermon" (he had been preaching from a wagon that morning on Staten Island) " to IN^ewark. Preached to a considerable congregation, but with lit- tle influence. However at night the Lord manifested forth His glory. In coming down to family-prayer where I lodged, and perceiving many young men around me, my very soul was, as it were, melted down with concern for them. After singing, I gave a word of exhortation. But how did the Word fall like a hammer and like fire ! What a weeping was there ! One poor creature in particular was ready to sink into the earth." One of the Tennents was at this time in the company, and the remainder of the evening was spent, with Whitefield lying on the bed in great ex- haustion, in hearing Mr. Tennent give an account of one of his recent preaching excursions.f An incident, which probably occurred during this visit to Boston, and is related in a letter from a j^erson in that place to a minister in Glasgow, deserves notice here, as illustrating Mr. Burr's character as a preacher, and his influence in promoting the progress of the great revival. A young lady of great wealth and ac- complishments, a favorite in all gay company, but very of October, being on my return to New ton, morning after morning, three or four Jersey, I arrived at Fairfield, where I re- thousand people hanging in breathless mained two days with my friends." Jour- silence on the lips of the preacher, and nal of A. Burr. weeping silent tears." Philip says, (see Life and Times of Geo. * Whitefield's Journal, p. 423. London, Whitefield, p. 419,) that again, in 1754, 1756. " President Burr accompanied him [White- f Whitefield's Journal. London edition, field] to New England, and saw at Bos- p. 423. BUKE AS PASTOE. 161 tlioiiglitless on tlie subject of religion, was passing by Mr. Prince's meeting-liouse, on lier way to some cere- monious visit, wlien lier attention was arrested by see- ing great multitudes flocking into tbe house ; and learn- ing on inquiry, that there was a lecture there that morn- ing, she determined to go in and see what they were doing. Mr. Burr " mounted the desk." Seeing noth- ing remarkable in his appearance, she regarded him with contempt, " thinking such a person could not say any thing worth such crowding after," and would have left the assembly at once, had not decency restrained her. "But she soon found," says the narrative, "what she never felt before, for the Spirit of God accompa- nied the word in a most powerful manner," and the result was a complete change in her life and character. She died about four or five years afterwards, in the triumph of faith and hope.^' As a pastor, Mr. Burr was eminently faithful and assiduous. Of winning manners and distinguished skill in finding out and opening the avenues of the heart, he employed his address, learning and activity for the promotion of the moral improvement and spiritual welfare of the souls committed to him. " To examine into the condition of his flock," says an eminent civilian who well knew him,f " to watch against essential er- * Gillie's Historical Collections, p. 828, Mr. Aaron Burr, of New Jersey. By Wil- 329. Ham Livingston, Esq. + Governor Livingston. See bis Eulogy " ' of comfort no man speak, on the death of Mr. Burr, a copy of which Let's talk of graves, and worms, and epi- is to be found in the Library of the Mass. taphs ; Hist. Soc, in Boston, with the following Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes title : Write sorrow in the bosom of the earth.' "A Funeral Eulogium on the Kevcreud " Shakspeare. 11 162 BURR AS PASTOR. rors, to instruct tlie ignorant, to revive the disconso- late, to animate the penitent, to reclaim tlie relapsing, to confirm tlie irresolute, to liumble tlie arrogant and immoral, were Ms constant and most delightful em- ployments." " He was none of those ' downy doctors' who soothe their hearers into delusive hopes of divine acceptance, or substitute external morality in the room of vital godliness. On the contrary, he scorned to pro- claim the peace of God till the rebel laid down his arms, and returned to his allegiance. He was an am- bassador that adhered inviolably to his instructions and never acceded to a treaty that would not be rati- fied in the Court of Heaven. He searched the con- science with the terror of the law, before he assuaged its anguish with the balm of Gilead, or presented the sweet emollients of a bleeding Deity. He acted, in short, like one, not intrusted with the lives and for- tunes, but the everlasting interests of his fellow-mor- tals, and therefore made it his business to advance the divine life, and restore the beautiful image of God, dis- figured by the apostacy of man." With such personal and ministerial qualifications, joined with social and literary accomplishments of the highest order, and an example which justified the re- mark of the distinguished eulogist just referred to, "Stat sua cuique, Dies, breve et irrepara- gyrical, and somewhat inflated; but that bile Tempus the estimate of character is not exagger- Omnibus est vitae, sed famam estendere ated, may be seen by comparing it with factis the plainer compositions of Caleb Smithy Hoc virtutis opus. and the writers of the obituary notices. I " New York, printed. Boston, rsprinted know of no character concerning which all by Green & Russel, in Queen street, for J. the testimony more fully agrees in its ap- Winter, in Union street, mdccltiii." plause. The style of this performance is pane- CALL TO NEW HAVEN. 163 that '' what he preached in the pulpit he lived out of it," it is no wonder that the devotion of the people to their eloquent pastor was strong and fervent. At an early period in his ministry, Mr. Burr was so- licited to resign the charge of this Church, and remove to another field of service. Several difficulties existing in the First Church in New Haven, Mr. Dickmsou, it is said, had ad^^sed the people to end their troubles by settling a colleague. Accordingly, in the month of June, 1'742, they presented a call to Mr. Burr to become their assistant pastor with the Rev. Mr. Noyes ; and in pursuance of this call, a committee was appoint- ed, with President Clap at their head, to go to Newark and lay the call before Mr. Burr, and prosecute it be- fore the Presbytery to which he belonged, with direc- tions likewise, " to treat with the good people of New- ark and obtain their consent to Mr. Burr's removal to New Plaveu." All we know of the result of this appli- cation is that it was unsuccessful. Probably the good people of Newark could not be induced, even by the persuasive powers of President Clap, to give their con- sent to a bereavement of so serious a character. In- deed, such was the strong and mutual attachment be- tween Mr. Burr and his people, as to forbid the thought of such a change, except under the pressure of the most urgent reasons. Through all his ministry there sub- sisted between him and them the most entire harmony. They regretted, it is said, even his occasional absence from them, " though the pulpit was not meanly sup- plied by another ;" for so high was theii* appreciation 164 DAVID BEAINERD. of liis eminent services, " that tliey scarce conlcl have a tolerable relish for any change of spiritual fare."" It was in the early part of Mr. Burr's ministry, that David Brainercl, a name illustrious in the annals of piety, received ordination in the house of worship be- longing to this Church, as missionary to the Aborig- ines of our country. Mr. Burr, with Dickinson and others, distressed in view of the neglected condition of the heathen in the very midst of them, were in corres- pondence with the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, and had secured from them the promise to support two missionaries to labor in that field. Brainerd was the second person selected and appointed by the Society's correspondents for that work. We find him here on the 19th of March, 1*743 in great spiritual distress ; but he records in his jour- nal, that " he had some sweetness in conversation with Mr. Burr, and in praying together," and exclaims, in view of the privilege, " O blessed be God for any en- livening and quickening seasons."f Brainerd had been expelled from college, where his standing as a scholar would otherwise have entitled him to the first honors of his class, for what must now be acknowledged to have been only a trifling indiscretion. As commence- ment approached, the anticipation of the scene was very oppressive to him. His friends made every exertion to have him restored, and Mr. Burr, commissioned by his associates in the Indian mission, made a journey to New Haven for the exj^ress purpose. But though * Funeral sermon by Rev. Caleb Smith. t Edwards' Works, vol. s, p. CD. New York edition. BEAINEEDS ORDINATION. 165 Brainerd had pre2:)ared and offered a most humble confession, lameutmg his fault, and seeking forgiveness, the authorities of the College were inflexible, and his degree was denied him, except on the condition of his remaining in college another year, which he could not do without breaking up all his plans of missionary ser- \dce. Mr. Brainerd came to Newark on the 29th of May, 1744, and spent about two weeks here, and at Eliza- bethtown, and in New York. The Presbytery met at Newark, on the 11th of June, and in the afternoon of that day, the young candidate preached his probation sermon, from Acts xxvi: 17, 18. "Delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles," &c. The next day at ten o'clock, having passed through his trials with universal approbation, he was set apart to the work of the ministry, and Mr. Pemberton, of New York, preached the ordination sermon, from Luke xiv : 23. " And the Lord said. Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in," &c. These facts deserve notice, both because the pre- cious name of this sainted missionary should be cher- ished as a sweet odor in every Church whose history is connected with his memory, and because the connec- tion of Brainerd with Burr and his associates had an assignable influence on the subsequent course of affairs in this congregation.* About the time of Mr. Burr's ordination, some * I refer particularly to the establish- the prime of life, and removal to Prince- ment of the College in Newark; the mar- ton; the ministry of John Brainerd, &c. riage of Mr. Burr, and his dismission in 166 PRESBYTERY OF NEW YORK FORMED. changes took place in the external relations of the Church. The large and flourishing Presbytery of East Jersey was increased still further by the addition of the small Presbytery of Long Island, which had be- come so reduced, as to be unable to maintain advan- tageously its separate existence, and received the new designation of the Presbytery of New York. With this body so denominated, the Church continued iu connection during seventy-one years.^' At the same meeting of the Synod, namely, in 1738, several Churches pre^dously belonging to the Presby- tery of East Jersey were detached from it, and with some others taken from that of Philadelphia, erected i-ito a new body, under the name of the Presbytery of New Brunswick. It was composed chiefly, if not wholly, of men warmly engaged in promoting the great re^dval already s]3oken of; and being formed into a separate body, they began to prosecute with great vigor the plans and methods by which that remarka- ble movement was characterized.f These proceedings had an important influence upon the course of aftairs w^hich we must now proceed to consider. The period of Mr. Burr's ministy was distinguished by an event sadly memorable in the history of the Presbyterian Church, and to which his relations and * See Minutes of the Synod of Philadel- time into our Lord's viuejard." (Journal, phia, p. 184. p. 281.) It was even rumored, at one t Whitefield says, under date of Nov. time, that Whitetield had a plan to brin^ 25, 1739 : " It happens very providentiallj'' out young preachers from England, and • that Mr. Tennent and his brethren are ap- have them ordained by this Presbytery, iu pointed to be a Pi-esbytery by the Synod, order to supplant those pastors of churches so that they intend breeding up gracious whose piety and ministerial zeal he re- youth and sending them out from time to garded as deficient. THE GREAT SCHISM. 167 those of tlie Presbytery to wliicli tliis Churcli belonged, were such as to reflect the highest honor on their wis- dom and piety. I refer to what has been denominated THE GEEAT scHis:\r. The revival of religion before re- ferred to, had both given rise to a new system of measures in the Churches which had felt its power, and created an obvious necessity for a more copious suj^ply of ministers than could be readily obtained in the existing state of learning and piety in the country. The consequence was that some serious irregularities disturbed the order of the Church, and some men were introduced into the sacred office, whose proficiency in learning did not correspond with their zeal and fer- vency. To those who were not in full symj^athy with the movement, these evils gave serious offence, and furnished both the occasion and the pretext for oppos- ing in some instances, the work itself In the year 1T3T, an act was passed in the Synod restricting itine- rant preaching, and prohibiting the members of one Presbytery to preach within the bounds of another Avithout an explicit permission. In the year fallowing, the Synod enacted that no Presbytery should ordain or license any candidate for the ministy, who could not furnish a diploma from some European or New England College, without first subjecting him to an examination with respect to his scholarship, before a commission of the Synod. As these regulations, how- ever proper in themselves, had the effect to counteract the most efficient measures which had been resorted to by the friends of the revival, and were supposed by them to be designed for that purpose, they of course 168 CAUSES OF THE SCIHSM. regarded them witli great repugnance. Some modifi- cation were made, but tlie opponents of tlie restric- tions were not satisfied. The Presbytery of New Brunswick, in wliicli the influence of the Messrs. Tennent was jprominent, threw themselves back upon their reserved rights, and the okl controversy on Mr. Gillespie's overture, so happily settled in 1722, by the adoption of Mr. Dickinson's articles, was in a measure revived. Alleging conscientious objections to the acts of the Synod, this Presbytery claimed the legal right not to be bound by them, and thereupon actually pro- ceeded to grant licenses to one or more candidates without the required examination. Matters went on in this way — the irritation all the while becoming greater, and the l^reach between the two parties wider and wider — till the year 1741, when the advocates of the restrictions, weary of opposition, determined on settling the whole affair in a summary manner, by the ejection of their refractory brethren. A long and se- vere protest was introduced into the Synod, in which the authors of it, declaring themselves " grieved at our very hearts with the dreadful divisions, distractions and convulsions which all of a sudden have seized this infant Church," of which all they say, their protesting brethren, that is the New Brunswick Presbytery and their associates, were the " direct and proper cause, by their unwearied, uuscriptural, anti-j)resbyterial, unchar- itable and abusive practices," proceed to assert in the most formal and solemn manner, that these brethren have no right to be considered members of that body, on account of " principles and practices which render ATTEMPTS AT MEDIATIOISr. 169 all union witli tliem in ecclesiastical matters monstrous and absurd ;" and to declare furtlier, tliat if these brethren sliall still be allowed to sit and act, " wliat- soever shall be done, voted or transacted by them con- trary to our judgment, sliall be of no force or obliga- tion to us, l^eing done or acted by a judicatory, consist- ing in part of members who have no authority to act with us in ecclesiastical matters."* All this while, it must be remembered, the accused party had had no trial, and not one of the charges on the ground of which they were thus declared out of the pale of the Presbyterian Church had been legally proved. On a trial of strength, the adherents to the party thus pro- testing being found to be in the majority, the minority were compelled to withdraw. The members of the Presbytery of New York were all absent when these violent proceedings took place. But the next year they made their appearance in the Synod, and, with that noble champion of truth and right, Jonathan Dickinson, at their head, commenced a vigorous effort to heal the melancholy breach. A conference was proposed and ordered, but the c^uestion now arose, who should be the judges in the case. The ejected members insisted on excluding all who signed the offensive protest, which would throw the power of deciding mainly into the hands of the New York Pres- bytery. The protesting l^rethren would neither allow the ejected members nor the absentees of the last year * This protest, which is too long to be a long series of mutual irritations, may inserted here, is a singular proof of the carry even good men. Its language is ia extent to which party spirit, influenced by the highest degree harsh and vituperative. I'rO NEW YORK PKESBYTERY PROTEST to act in tlie matter, insisting that they themselves were the Synod when they adojoted the j^rotest, and had acted as such, and would be called to account, neither by absent members nor by any judicature on earth. One of their number declared his judgment in favor of submitting to a review in the Synod as now met, but whether he intended the ejected members should be admitted to a vote in that review, his re- corded oj^inion does not affirm. Finding all attempts to secure a reconsideration ineffectual, the ISTew York members now entered their solemn protest against the whole transaction, as illegal, unprecedented, " contrary to the rules of the Gospel, and subversive of our excellent constitution ;" declar- ing, moreover that " the excluded members ought to be owned and esteemed as members of the Synod, un- til thej^ are excluded by a regular and impartial pro- cess against them, according to the methods presented in Sacred Scripture, and practiced by the Churches of the Presl^yterian persuasion." This protest they de- sired should be recorded in the minutes for a perpet- ual memorial Nor did they stop with this. Very earnestly did this noble body of men, constituting the flower of the whole Synod, labor for reconciliation. That the party who had been ejected were wrong in many respects, they freely acknowledged. They were by no means disposed to justify their disorderly intrusions into other congregations than their own, their censorious judgments of the spiritual state of men of unimpeached standing in the Church, and especially their refusal to submit to the regulations of the S}Tiod AND EEMONSTEANCE. 17 1 in respect to tlie examination of candidates for the ministry.'" But they had strong sympatliy with them as men zealous for the promotion of living piety ; they believed the right was on their side in the matter now immediately in contest ; and could not allow them to "be censured by the highest judicatory of the Church, much less ejected from its membership, without the process of a legal trial. At a meeting convened in Newark, in the Spring of 1743, they presented a very able and temperate paper, kindly but faithfully ex- pressing their views of what was wrong in both parties, urging a reconciliation, and proposing as a last resort, that another Synod should be created by a mutual agreement ; so that all the members having free per- mission to choose between the two bodies, both j^arties might be able to labor in their spheres for the com- mon cause, and be at the same time on friendly rela- * The following extract, furnished me torunintoat the present day that we ought by the kindness of Rev. Richard Webster, not to encourage: 1. Their being led by from a letter of Mr. Burr to Dr. Bellamy, impressions and impulses made on their shows the cautious wisdom with which minds with or without a text of Scripture, this class of men were aocustomed to and taking their own passiousaud imagin- watch every evil tendency which they dis- ations for the operations of God's Spirit, covered mingling itself with the great re- 2. Giving heed to visions, trances and rev- ligious movement of the age : elations. 3. Speaking of divine things "June 28, 1742, Beloved Brother^I with an air of levity, vanity-, laughter, &c. have so many thiugs lyiug on my mind 4. Declaring their judgment about others that I know not how to communicate openly and freely in their absence, wheth- them with pen and ink. I long to have er they are converted or not. 5. Making you alone a few hours, that I might un- their own feelings a rule to judge others bosom myself freely ; but 'tis good to have by. 6. For laymen to take upon them to no will of our own. 'Tis glad tidings of exhort in a public assembly. V. Separa- groat joy we hear from Southberry. But ting from their minister under a notion of some things that I have heard from there his being unconverted. . . Things with us I don't see through, which in some meas- are much as when I saw you. I have had ure damps my jo}-. The bearer has given a few intervals of nearness to God, but me more satisfaction. Glory be to God, alas! how short. But Oh, how sweet and that He carries on His work in any way, pleasant. ' Let Him kiss me with the I do rejoice, and will rejoice. However, kissesof His mouth, for His love is sweeter there are some things that persons are apt than wine.' " 172 SEPAEATIOK CONSUMMATED. tions. But liere again tlieir efforts failed. Tlie ejected bretliren would listen to no terms till the illegal protest should be withdrawn. The members of the other party would make none which do not include satisfaction for the past, promises of amendment for the future, and an undoing of all that had been done contrary to their judgment. On these conditions alone would they allow the ejected brethren to take a seat in " our Synod ;" and as to the mutual agreement to form a new one, that would be, they judged, to perpetuate schism, and therefore could not be done. The proposals of the Presbytery of New York being thus unanimously rejected, another paper was presented, signed by four ministers!, of whom Mr. Burr was one, in which they declared that while they had no unbroth- erly treatment from the Synod to complain of in rela- tion to themselves, they could not consent to sit and act as the Synod of Philadelphia, while the members of the New Brunswick Presbytery and their adherents, who were as truly members of the Synod as themselves, were denied a seat in it. The next year all the members of the New York Presbytery were absent. Some further efforts were made to bring about an agreement, either to renew the union, or separate on terms deemed equitable by both the parties; but these proving ineffectual, the Presbytery of New York having determined to make common cause with the aggrieved party, united with the two Presbyteries into which the former Presby- tery of New Brunsv/ick had now grown, and founded in the month of September, 1T45, the Synod of New SYNOD OF NEW YOEK FORMED. ITS- YoiiK.* This Syuod held its first meeting at Eliza- bethtowu, and chose for its first Moderator, the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson. Thus was consummated the First Great Schism in the Presbyterian Church. * Minutes, p. 232. The Presbyteries composing the new S3'nod were those of New York, New Brunswick and New Cas- tle. Of the Presbytery of New York were present the following ministers: Messrs. Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, Ebcn- ezer Pemberton, Simon Horton, Aaron Burr, Azariah Horton, Timothy Jones, Eliab Byram, Robert Sturgeon. The platform on which it established itself is as follows : "The ministers and elders before men- tioned, first considered and agreed upon the following articles, as the plan and foundation of their Synodical union : "1. They agree that the Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, be the public con- fession of their faith, in such manner as was agreed unto by the Synod of Phila- delphia in the year 1729, and to be inserted in the latter end of this book. Arid they declare their approbation of the Directory of the Assembly of Divines at Westmin- ster as the general plan of worship and discipline. " 2. They agree that in matters of dis- cipline, and those things that relate to the peace and good order of our Churches, they shall be determined according to the major vote of ministers and elders, with which vote every member shall actively concur or pacifically acquiesce; but if any member cannot in conscience agree to the determination of the majoritj-, but sup- poses himself obliged to act contrary thereunto, and*the Synod think themselves obliged to insist upon it as essentially ne- cessary to the well-being of our Churches, in that case, such dissenting member promises peaceably to withdraw from the body, without endeavoring to raise any dispute or contention upon the debated point, or any unjust alienation of affection from them. "3. If any menber of their body sup- poses that he hath any thing to object against any of his brethren wilh respect to error in doctrine, immorality in life, or negligence in his ministry, he shall not on any account propagate the scandal until the person objected against is dealt with according to the rules of the Gos- pel and the known method of their disci- pline. " -i. They agree that all who have a com- petent degree of ministerial knowledge, are orthodox in their doctrine, regular in their lives, and diligent in their endeavors to promote the important designs of vital godliness, and that will submit to their discipline, shall be cheerfully admitted into their communion. "And they do also agree that in order to avoid all divisive methods among their ministers and congregations, and to strengthen the discipline of Christ in the Churches in these parts, they will mair. tain a correspondence with the Synod of Philadelphia, in this their first meeting, by appointing two of their members to meet with the said Synod of Philadelphia, at their next convention, and to concert with them such measures as may best promote the precious interests of Christ's kingdom in these parts. "And that they may in no respect en- courage any factious separating practices or principles, they agree that they will not intermeddle with judically hearing the complaints, or with supplying with ministers and candidates such parties of men as shall separate from any Presbyte- rian or Congregational Churches that are not within their bounds, unless the matters of controversy be submitted to their juris- diction or advice by both parties," At the same meeting they prepared and adopted "a testimony tothe workof GSod's glorious grace, which has been carried on in these parts of the land." Minutes, pp. 282-3. 174 OLD SIDE AND NEW SIDE. Two distinct bodies noAv existed side by side, hold- ing the same doctrine and the same jDlatform of Church government, free to rival each other in their operations on the same field, and having no other connection than that of an occasional more or less friendly correspond- ence. They were called, and had been from the be- ginning of their di\dsions, in the current language of the day, the Old Side and the New Side. The Old Side were still the Synod of Philadelphia, and the New Side formed the Synod of New York. As such they remained separate till the year 1758, a period of thirteen years. With the history of this Church, at the period now under review, are connected the organization and the early fortunes of the College of New Jersey. This institution, like most of our most eminent lit- erary institutions, owes its origin entirely to religious considerations, and grew out of the religious necessities of the times and circumstances to which we have just referred. From the first settlement of the Province, the want of an adequate suj)ply of well qualified ministers had been bitterly felt in this region.'''' The dependence of the Churches was, chiefly, on the two Colleges of New England, together with such individuals as might emi- grate from Euroj)e after completing their education. To meet this deficiency, the venerabler William Ten- nent, senior, established under his own care, at Ne- * The letters of the early Scotch settlers the encouragement of the Plantation, is speak of this deficiency more than once, [that] you would be instrumental to send James Johnstone, of Spotswoode, in his us over some ministers, who, I dare en- letter to his brother, John Johnstone, gage, shall ever after be thankful," &c. druggist in Edinburgh, Dec. 12, 1784-, said. Model of the Government, Whitehead, p. " What I most earnestly desire of you, for 29y. COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY. 175 shaminy, a classical and tlieological scliool, which ob- tained, from the building in which it was kept, the name of the " Log College."* The supposed inade- quacy of the instruction received in that institution^ together with the views and feelings which marked its spirit and distinguished the preachers who came forth from it, was undoubtedly one of the causes of the jeal- ousy which ended in the disruption of the Presbyte- rian Church. As the scenes of the great revival passed along, and the necessity of more numerous and more fervent preachers to meet the wants of the peo- ple on the one hand, and the mischiefs of employing men of inadecpiate cpalifications on the other, became more and more apparent, the two parties were contin- ually reproaching each other, the one complaining of deficient piety, and the other of deficient education in their candidates introduced into the Gospel ministry. To meet the difficulty, some efforts had been made in the Synod before the separation, to establish a liter- ary institution adequate to the wants of the times. An overture to that effect was introduced in the year lY-SO, and a committee, consisting of Messrs. Pemberton, Dickinson, Cross and Andrews, were appointed, with directions that two of their number should be sent to Europe to prosecute the affair, if possible, and if it should be necessary, that Mr. Pemberton should go to Boston "pursuant to this design." This committee entered * Log College, by Dr. Archibald Alexan- broad, and to me it seemed to resemble der, p. 14. Wliitefleld, in his journal, p. the schools of the old prophets." In a 280, under date of Noveuiber,17;J9, speaks note he adds inl75C: " This is now in- of this school as follows : "It is a log house, creased to a large College now erecting in about twenty feet long, and near as many the New Jerseys." 176 ORIGIN OF THE COLLEGE. upon their work, and laid out plans for its prosecution, ^'but the war breaking out," say the minutes, ^'be- tween England and Spain, the calling of the Synod was omitted, and the whole affair was laid aside for that time." It was resumed subsequently, and an in- stitution founded, but it never rose above the dignity of an academy. Immediately after the separation, the Synod of New York, who were certainly no less deeply sensible than their brethren of the value of education, finding the school at Neshaminy in a state of decline, began to take measures for the institution of a College within their own boundaries. One of the motives which urged on the design is said to have been the ill treat- ment which the devoted Brainerd received at Yale, aided perhaps by the dissatisfaction shown by the offi- cers of that institution towards the ministers who now composed the Synod, for having ordained David Brainerd after they had expelled him from their Col- lege. Indeed, it is asserted, on the authority of very direct tradition, as a remark of Mr. Burr, that " if it had not been for the treatment received by Mr. Brain- erd at Yale College, New Jersey College never would have been erected."* The germ out of which the College ultimately grew, was planted at Elizabethtowu, under the care of the Kev. Jonathan Dickinson. This distinguished divine and scholar — the leader of his party in the old Synod, and the first moderator of the new — having been ac- * Log College, by Dr. Alexander, p. 127. FIRST CHARTER. lYY customed, as is supposed, for several years, to carry on, in connection witli tlie duties of his ministry, a school for instruction in classical studies, had at this time under his care, a considerable number of young men who were pursuing a regular course of liberal educa- tion. Measures were accordingly adopted, as soon as practicable, to obtain a charter, and erect this school into a college. Such a charter was granted, and passed the great seal of the Province of New Jersey, under the administration of John Hamilton, President of Hi3 Majesty's Council, and officiating as Governor after the decease of Governor Morris, on the 22d of October, 1746.* The persons to whom it was granted were Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, Ebenezer Pember- ton and Aaron Burr, ministers of the Gospel, and some others, probably in part laymen, whose names I have not been able to ascertain ; and the name of the institution so incorporated was "The College of New Jersey." The trustees thus empowered and encour- aged, lost no time in carrying the worthy purpose into execution. On the 9th of February following, they notified the public of their appointment through the press, declaring their intention to open the College during the Spring, some time in May at latest, and in- viting applications for admission from all persons duly qualified by their studies. Before the end of April * The following extract from the State this Province of New Jersey tested by Records at Trenton, is published by Dr. John Hamilton, Esq., President of His Green, in the notes to his Discourses, p. Majesty's Council, and Commander-in- 283. chief of the Province of New Jersey, the "Mem. of a charter for a college. A 22d of October, 1740." The charter itself charter to incorporate sundry persons to never was recorded, found a college passed the great seal of 12 178 PEESIDENT DICKmSON. they published another notification, fixing the time and place of opening, and making known to the public the formal appointment of the E-ev. Jonathan Dickin- son as President of the intended institution.* There can be no reasonable doubt that the College was actually organized during the last week in May, 1747, at Eliza- bethtown, and that Mr. Dickinson having accepted the appointment, then and there entered upon the duties of his office. But these fair and hopeful beginnings were destined to a speedy disappointment. President Dick- inson officiated in his new station only four months and a-half, when he was seized with a pleuritic disease, and died on the 7th of October, 1747, in the 60th year of his age.f The unanticipated event disconcerted the * The notification, which is to be found in the " New York Gazette, revived in the weekly Post Boy," under date of Feb- ruary 9th and February 16th, 1746-7, is as follows : " Whereas, a charter with full and am- ple privileges, has been granted by His Majesty, under the seal of the Province of New Jersey, bearing date the 22d of Oc- tober, 1746, for erecting a college within the said Province, to Jonathan Dickinson, John Pierson, Ebenezer Pemberton and Aaron Burr, ministers of the Gospel, and some other gentlemen, as Trustees of the said college, by which charter equal liber- ties and privileges are secured to every denomination of Christians, any difierent religious sentiments notwithstanding. The said Trustees have therefore thought proper to inform the public that they design to open the said College the next opring, and notify any person or persons who are qual- ified by preparatory learnmg for admis- sion, that some time in May next at latest, they may be there admitted to an academ- ical education." The following is from the same paper, tinder date of April 27th, 1747 : " This is to inform the public that th« Trustees of the College of New Jersey hare appointed the Rev. Mr. Dickinson President of the said college, which wiU be opened the fourth week in May next, at Elizabethtown, at which time and place all persons suitably qualified may be ad- mitted to academic education." This notice is inserted in each success- ive paper up to the 25th of May, when it ceases to appear. t The following obituary notice, which I find in the New York Gazette and Week- ly Post Boy, under date of Oct. 12tb, 1747, illustrates the character of this distin- guished man whose name has been so of- ten mentioned in connection with this his- tory, and whose influence was so impor- tant and valuable over the course of af- fairs in this congregation. " Elizabethtown in New Jersey, Oct. 10. " On Wednesday morning last, about 4 o'clock, died here of a pleuritic illness, that eminently learned, faithful and pious minister of the Gospel, and President of the College of New Jersey, the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Dickinson, in the 60th year of his age, who had been pastor of the First Presibyterian Church in this town for near- ly forty years, and was the glory and joy STUDENTS KEMOVED TO NEWARK. 179 plans, caused an abrupt suspension of the infant enterprise, and led subsequently as we sliall see here- after, to a new organization, on a new and independ- ent basis. On the decease of Mr. Dickinson, the pupils, eight in number, were removed to Newark, and placed under the care and instruction of Mr. Burr.* He, like Dickinson, had been in the habit of instructing in the classic languages, and as early as 1^46 had under his direction a large Latin school. After receiving Mr. Dickinson's students, he still continued the charge of his own, employing one or more assistants, as he had before been accustomed to do, and the school went on in this undefined shape, probably without the appointment of another president on the part of the trustees of the College, about the space of a year. of it. In him conspicuously appeared whentheRev. Mr.Pierson,ofWoodbridge, those natural and acquired moral and spir- preached his funeral sermon, and as he itual endowments which constitute a truly lived desired of all so never any person in excellent and valuable man, a good scholar, these parts died more lamented. Our an eminent divine, and a serious devout fathers where are they and the prophets, Christian. He was greatly adorned with do they live forever?" the gifts and graces of his Heavenly Mas- * The number has been heretofore stated ter, in the light whereof he appeared as a at about twenty. Such is the statement star of superior brightness and influence of Dr. Green, p. 296. He took his esti. in the orb of the Church, which has sus" mate from the fact, that according to the tained a great and unspeakable loss in his catalogue, nineteen persons took their first death. He was of uncommon and very degrees within four years from the date of extensive usefulness. He boldly appeared the removal. But it is too much to as. in the defence of the great and important sume that all the graduates of the first truths of our most holy religion and the three classes had been under the care of Gospel doctrines of the free and sovereign Mr. Dickinson. Nothing is more corn- grace of God. He was a zealous promoter mon than admission to advanced stand- of godly practice and godly living, and a ing, even in well established colleges, bright ornament to his profession. In Thus in March, 1750, the three classes of times and cases of difficulty he was a 1751, '52, and '53, contained only twenty- ready, wise and able counsellor. By hia five students, yet the number of graduates death our infant college is deprived of the in those classes amounted to thirty-one. benefit and advantage of his superior ac- See letter to Joseph Shippen, and compare complishments, which afforded a favorable triennial catalogue. The estimate above prospect of its future flourishing and pros- given is on the authority of Mr. Burr's perify under his inspection. His remains obituary, and may I presume, be relied were decently interred here yesterday, upon. 180 GOVERNOR BELCHER. But the noble design of establishing a College on an adequate and permanent foundation had not been abandoned. The same year in which Mr. Dickinson died, and not far from the same date, that distinguished patron of learning and religion, Jonathan Belcher, as- sumed the government of the Pro\dnce.* The infant seminary immediately engaged his attention, and se- cured his most cordial encouragement. As early as the 31st of May, 1748, we find him in correspondence with President Edwards, from whom he had before that date received a communication respecting it.f Deploring the religious errors which he fears are gain- ing ground in the New England Colleges, " in destruc- tion of the doctrines of free grace," and commending the new enterprise, which he denominates an embryo college, as "a noble design, and destined, if God pleases, to prove an extensive blessing," he says : " I Isave adopted it as a daughter, and hope it may in time become an alma mater to this and the neighbor- Boring Provinces." He was at that time getting ad- vice and assistance in the draught of a " charter," and, expressing his cordial thanks to the illustrious New England theologian for his kind hints, promises, like Mary, " to keep all these things, and ponder them in Ms heart " addina^ the assurance that so far as God should enable him, he would exert himself in every * Governor Belcher arrived in New Jer- Governor-in- chief of the Province of New 3ey about the end of the summer of 1747. Jersey, to the Council and General Assem- The New York Gazette and Post Boy, un. bly of said Province, on Thursday, the der date of August Slst, contains a notice 20th of August, 1747." of " The S'-peeoh of His Excellency, Jona- t Life of President Edwards. Works, l&an Belcher, Esq., Captain General and vol. i, p. 2G7, ed. New York, 18C0. NEW CHARTER. 181 way to bring the College to maturity. Smith, in \m history of New Jersey, speaks of the charter given by Governor Belcher as an enlargement of the old one, but both its history and its terms indicate the con- trary. It is in all respect an original document, con- taining other privileges, and conferred upon a new selection of trustees. No former charter was recog- nized in it, and the probability is, that although the former charter had been accepted and acted upon for a time, and though the Trustees in announcing that fact to the public, were free to denominate it " a char- ter with full and ample privileges," yet the hopes raised by the accession of Governor Belcher to the chair of office, a friend of the Presbyterians beyond all who had preceded him in that station, had induced them on the decease of President Dickinson, to let the old charter fall into disuse, in order to try what might be accomplished by a new beginning. The procedure, whatever may have been its character and motives, did not give universal satisfaction. It is well known that the change of men to whom the power of direct- ing the College was intrusted — some who had been named in the old charter or elected under it, being left out, and others, among whom were the governors of the Province for the time being ex-officio^ introduced, was such as to give great offence to some of the earliest promoters of the enterprise, and one of them at least, Gilbert Tennant, was for a considerable time resolved to have nothing to do with the undertaking."'' The charter which Governor Belcher prepared, and * Edwards' Works vol. i, p. 275. 182 COLLEGE EE-OEGAISIZED. under wMch tlie College was at lengtli re-oi*ganized, and now flourislies, was granted in tlie month of Sep- tember, 1T48. A small majority of tlie trustees named in it, convened at New Brunswick, on tlie ISth of Oc- tober, and, liaving accepted the charter, and chosen a clerk, the president of the board" bemg absent, adopted an address of thanks to Governor Belcher, which had been drawn up by Mr. Burr, and adjourned to meet at Newark during the following month. The organization of the College thus incorporated, took place at Newark, in the house of worship belong- ing to this congregation, on Wednesday, the 9th day of November, 1748, of which a full account I under- stand is preserved in the College records.* The Gov- ernor, who was ex-officio president of the board of trustees, and several other members not present at the preliminary meeting, having been qualified, the clerk certified that he had duly notified every member of the corporation, " and then took the oath of office as the charter requires." Thereupon the Rev. Aaron Burr was unanimously chosen President of the College, and the vote of the trustees being made known to him, says the record, "he was pleased modestly to accept the same," and took the oath of office required by the charter. A class of seven young men, namely, Enos Ayres, Benjamin Chestnut, Hugo Henry, Israel Reed, Richard Stockton, and Daniel Thane, all but one of whom afterwards became ministers of the Gos- pel and he one of New Jersey's most distinguished jurists, having abeady completed their studies and * Discourses of Dr. Green, note, p. 301. FIRST COSIMENCEMENT. 183 been examined and approved as qualified to receive their first degree, it was voted, that " the Commence- ment for graduating the candidates go on this day." To the people of this congregation, that day must have been one of intense interest, and those who can remember how important an event was even an ordi- nary Commencement in the quiet villages of former days, may imagine the profound excitement which must have prevailed here, when the hopes cherished for years by the best men being at length realized, the people saw a well chartered college spring into being in the midst of them, and theii' own beloved and almost idolized pastor placed at the head of it, and presiding with princely grace and dignity over the distribution of its first honors. The exercises of the occasion commenced in the fore- noon, with prayer by the President, and publicly reading the charter in the meeting-house. In the af- ternon, the President delivered a " handsome and ele- gant Latin oration," and the students having performed their parts in the " customary scholastic disputations," received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His Ex- cellency " was pleased to accept of a degree of Mas- ter of Arts," and then after a salutatory oration pro- nounced by Mr. Thane, the whole was concluded with prayer by the President. The evening was spent by the trustees in adopting a code of laws for the College, and making arrangements for its future stability and advancement. Thus was the College of New Jersey, after long ex- ertions and hopes deferred, at length brought to a full 184 BURR AS PRESIDENT. and permanent organization. Hitherto it liad existed rather in purpose than in realization — in noble efforts frustrated at the very moment of attainment, and re- quiring to be attempted anew. Here, however, it had reached a point from which there was to be no re ceding ; and its progress has been from that time con- tinually onward. The illustrious Dickinson, who stood foremost in the incipient measures which resulted in its establishment, and for a few months presided over it in its incipient or tentative stage, deserves the highest place on its escutcheon, as its projector and father. But considered as a permanent institution, established upon a legal basis, the organization to which I have referred was doubtless its true beginning ; and of this institution, so established, Aaron Burr must be allowed to have been the first President.* * The writer is by no means disposed upon the duties of his oflBce during the to detract in the least degree from the last week in May of that year The writer credit due to the distinguished man whose hopes he may have contributed something name, with an affectionate reverence which to fix that honored name in its place by a cannot forego the honor of such a name, is more satisfactory tenure, placed in the College catalogue as the first Still, however, it is due to another name in the series of its Presidents. It was not a whit the less worthy of honor, that placed there, as he understands, on the the relation of each to an institution of authority of tradition only. Dr. Green which our country is justly proud, should says of that period of the College history : be accurately stated. The representation "Who were the trustees named in that given above is the only one which will charter, or appointed under it, when or harmonize the somewhat discordant test!., where they met, or at what time and in monies which have been given respecting what manner Mr. Dickinson was appoint- the origin of the College, ed, cannot now be known, and it is useless It is worthy of remark, that the Rev. to conjecture." The pamphlet entitled Caleb Smith, the son-in-law of Mr. Dick- " History of the College of New Jersey, inson, his pupil in divinity, and assistant by a Graduate," takes the same ground, in the instruction of that very classical and makes the same representation. But school out of the College grew, is perfect- the extracts given above, from the New ly silent in regard to the fact of his Presi- York Post Boy, supply in a good measure dency, both in his sermon at the funeral of the deficient evidence, and enable us to Mr. Burr, and his prefoce to Mr. Burr's ser- affirm that Mr. Dickinson was appointed mon on the death of Gov. Belcher, which some time between the 16th of February led him to speak of the history of the in- and the 27th of April, 1747, and entered stiiution. Mr. Burr himself is equally si- BURR AS PRESIDEJSTT. The College remained in Newark after its organiza- tion about eiglit years, during the first seven of which Mr. Burr officiated as its President, in connection with his duties as pastor of this Church. During the first three years of his Presidency he had no salary except what he received, as before, from the congregation of which he was pastor. But though the embarrassments of his situation were discouraging, no buildings having as yet been erected for the accommodation of the Col- lege,* the students being dispersed in private families, the public academical exercises generally performed in the County Court House,f and the circumstances in many respects exceedingly unfavorable to the moral habits and literary improvement of the young men ; lent in the sermon just referred to. The tombstone of Mr. Dickinson, where a great man is apt to bear all his honors, simply speaks of him as the pastor of the Presby- terian Church in Elizabethtown. All the contemporary notices which speak of him as President, are of the most ephemeral and casual sort. On the other hand, Gov. Belcher is repeatedly applauded, in the most formal and official manner, as the founder of the College ; and yet Governor Belcher could have had no connection with it during Mr. Dickinson's life, as he came into the Province only a few weeks previous to his decease. President Finley, in his history of the College, published by order of the Trustees, in 17G4, to which, says Dr- Green, quoting the words from Johnson, "regard is to be paid as to the narrative of one who writes what he knows, and what is known likewise to multitudes besides," speaks expressly of Mr. President Byrr as the first who officiated in that station, and the town of Newark as the place at which THE College was first opened. (See Notes to Dr. Green's Discourses, pp. 803, £04.) These statements and representations seem to me to require something like the interpretation which I have given above, viz : that the College over which Mr. Dick. inson presided, and which is connected with the present by no continuity of re- cords, officers or legal authority, was not regarded by contemporaries as having at- tained, strictly speaking, a permanent or. ganization ; and that which was subse- quently organized in Newark, under Gov- ernor Belcher's auspices, though it admit- ted to its honors the pupils who had before prepared themselves for their degree, was looked upon as, strictly speaking, a new beginning. This view seems to be ex- pressed very explicitly by Governor Liv- ingston, in his Eulogy on Mr. Burr, where he says : " To his unparalleled assiduity, next to the Divine blessing, is doubtless to be ascribed the present flourishing condi- tion of the College of New Jersey, which* from a nure private undtrtaklng, is become the joy of its friends, and the admiration and envy of its enemies." * "Nullum habens adhuc domicilium." See Burr's Oration on the death of Dr. Doddridge, Sept. 17ri2. t History by President Finley. See Notes to Dr. Green's Discourses, p. 304. 186 BUER AS PRESIDENT. yet the indomitable energy, vigilance and perseverance of the excellent President overcame all obstacles, and the College flourished, during that period, beyond the most sanguine expectations of its warmest friends * Funds for its maintenance were at first entirely want- ing, and not easily to be obtained. The General As- sembly of the Province, from which its charter was obtained, took no interest in its welfare, and the appeal of the trustees for " countenance and assistance for its support," met from them no favorable response. But from what is recorded respecting Mr. Burr's character and circumstances, it may be presumed that he con- tributed freely from his own pecuniary means to pro- mote its interests ; and we know that, by the weight of his influence and his personal efforts, he was able to accomplish much, in securing for it the patronage of the liberal here and in other parts of the world. It was through his agency that subscriptions were ob- tained in Boston, among which was the sum of £100 from Col. Alvord, justly denominated by a student at the time, " one of the greatest benefactors the College is blessed with." His intense interest in the object is pleasantly illustrated by what the same student says of the effect produced upon him by hearing that the College had won £200 in a lottery, that " it hath given the President (who hath been sick these four or * The testimony of Governor Livingston upon a solid basis, and at length rearing it on this point has already been quoted, p. up to that respectable condition and flour- 186, note. That of Rev. Caleb Smith, in his ishing state in which we have the satisfac- funeral sermon, is equally explicit. "He tion to see it now. Forgive me the word must be allowed," he says, " under God to fleurishing, since his auspicious influence have had a principal hand in bringing it is no more." [the College] into existence, then fixing it BUEE AS PKESLDENT. 187 five days,) sucli a pleasure, that his spirits are greatly- refreshed, which were before very low."* Nor was it only in the pecuniary interest of the in- stitution that the influence of the President was distin- guished. Inclined to literary pursuits from his child- hood, and having already attained to no mean emin- ence, he applied himself at once on entering upon his new station, with new closeness to the branches of study to be taught in it ; and, having " a singular turn for instruction," his success in this department was eminent.f At this period he had never more than two tutors, and sometimes only one, to assist him. Besides the government of the College, in which he excelled, exercising generally a mild discipline, but resorting to severity with much decision whenever occasion required it ;J and the pains he took to cultivate the hearts of his pupils, that he might send them out good Christians, as well as good scholars, in which he is said to have had great success ;§ we find him teaching personally the higher branches of mathematics, and giving lessons in * Letterof Joseph Shippen to his father pp. 16, 17. "Instead of turning every in Philadelphia, dated Newark, 18th June* branch of learning into inexplicable mys- 1750. tery, the common pride of pedagogues, he + Funeral Sermon by Rer. Caleb Smith, set the most intricate points in the clear- " With what dignity and reputation," says est light," &c. Governor Livingston, " did he sustain the J On this point Governor Livingston office of President! Sensible how import- speaks as follows : "With the same ease ant to the public, and through the whole he secured the obedience and love of his thread of our existence, is the early cul- pupils. He had the art of leading the will ture of the human mind, he considered under invisible chains, and making reason himself, with the painter of old, as de- no less prevalent than authority. Who. signing far eternity. He had the most en- like him, could punish an offence, not only gaging method of instruction. Not infe- without the resentment, but with the ap- rior to the extent of bis capacity was his probation of the delinquent?" &c.— pp. 1^ facility in communicating. No man had a 19. happier talent of expressing his senti- § Smith's funeral sermon, Livingston's ments, or calling latent truth from her Eulogy, and the obituary notices of Mr. dark and profound recesses." Eulogium, Burr speak the same language. 188 BUEE AS PEESIDENT. the calculation of eclipses. About the year 1751, the use of a philosophical apparatus was secured, containing an orrery, electrical machine, tainty ; for tlie records of tte Cliurcli and Presbytery being both lost, those of the town of Newark, on which we have rehed hitherto, do not cover the eccle- siastical affairs of this period. From those of the Synod, and from other corroborating circnmstanceSy the most satisfactory conclusion is, that he took the pastoral charge of the congregation almost imme- diately after he left the mission. President Edwards found him here in the autumn of 1755, preaching as a " probationer for settlement," in wliicli capacit}- he had been employed " ever since Mr. Burr's dismission from that place on account of his business as President of the College."* At a meeting of the Synod, held in Newark, " the day after Commencement," in the au- tumn of 1756, he was appointed with several others to supj^ly, for a few months, some destitute congrega^ tions in North Carolina ; but, for reasons not stated, did not fulfill that . commission. The next Spring a commissioner from the congregation at Newark ap- peared in the Synod, and " asked for some supplies in their destitute condition," which request was granted. And as, in the year following, viz., in the Sjmng of 1758, it is on record that " the Synod does appoint the Pres- bytery of New York to supply Newark during the w^hole of the time of Mr. Brainerd's absence from them,"f we infer that the destitute condition of this Church at that time must have been owing to the absence of Mr. Brainerd, on whose services they were regarded as having a claim, and for Avhose return they * Work?, vol. i, pp. 55C-4. New York ed., 1830. + Minutes, pp. 275-283 214 ME. beaineed's eemoval. were waiting in expectation. The graves of two of liis little cMldren, buried here the following autumn, attest the presence of his family, probably his own, at that ipe- riod.* The circumstances of his leaving Newark, to re- turn to his mission, are even more explicit. " Mr. Brain- erd applied to the Synod for advice," say the Minutes, under date of May, 1759, " whether it was his duty to leave his present charge at Newark and resume his mission to the Indians." "Arguments on both sides were fully heard," and the decision arrived at was, that "though he had a very comfortable settlement at Newark, yet the Synod, through an earnest desire to promote the kingdom of Christ among these poor In- dians, advised him to give up these temporal advan- tages, and settle as a missionary among these poor In- dians ;" " with which advice," it is added, " he readily and generously complied." In coming to this decision the Synod declare themselves " tenderly affected with the case of the Newark congregation," whose haj)py and hopeful settlement seems to have been frustrated by this act of Christian duty.f The only doubt thrown over this matter, arises from the fact that Dr. Macwhorter, in his historical notices, never mentions the ministry of John Brainerd ; and what is still more singular, though the latter was re- * Their tombstones, which were stand- Monumental Inscriptions, p. 167. ing not long since, bear the following in- t Minutes of the Synods of New York scriptions : ^"•^ Philadelphia, pp. 294-299. It is add- " Miss Sophia Brainerd, elder daughter ed, under date of May 18, 1759 : " Mr. of the Rev. John Brainerd, died Sept. 8th, Brainerd being removed from New York, 1758, in the 6th year of her age." it is ordered that Messrs. Woodruff, Ket- " David Brainerd, only son of the Rev. tletas, Darby and Cummings supply there John Brainerd, died Sept. llth, 1758, in each one Sabbath, if need be." the 2d year of his age." MINISTRY OF ]ME. BEAINEED. 215 leased from liis clicarge, witli the affectionate condolen- ces of the Synod towards a bereaved congregation, on the 18th of May, and the former succeeded to the same charge in the month of June following, yet the whole matter is completely ignored. You would not gather from the three distinct narratives written by Dr. M., the slightest hint that John Brain erd ever spent a Sabbath in Newark. On the contrary, the whole period occuj^ied by his ministry — a period of nearly four years — is represented as one of unhappy contention, mutual recrimination, and division between rival candidates. " Some blamed the Presbytery," he says, " for taking away their minister ; others reflected upon their neighbors for consenting to his dismission, and by one means and another, they were divided among many candidates, until their mortifications and uneasinesses subsided by time, and they quietly united to call their present minister, who preached his first sermon here June 28tL, 1759."* One of two conclu- sions seem inevitable. Either the Minutes of the Synod of New York are not reliable, or the historian, who wrote many years after tlje facts referred to took place, must have forgotten events of which lie was al- most an eye-witness in his early youth. That there was a close relation of some sort between Mr. Brainerd and this people, during the period just now designated, cannot be douljted ; and, notwithstanding the difliculty which I have stated, my judgment inclines strongly to the conclusion that he was, for a short time at least, * Centurv Sermon, p. 22. 216 EEV. ALEXANDER MACWHORTEE. the regular pastor of this Cliurcli.'^' Mr. Brainerd's ministry was unquestionably a short one. He returned to the care of the Indian mission, and continued in that service during the whole or nearly all the remain- der of his life. In the year 1754 he was chosen a trustee of the College of New Jersey ; was moderator of the Synod in the year 1762, and sustained from time to time important offices connected with that body. He died, March 21, 1781, at Deerfield, Cumberland county, N. J., and " lies buried under the middle aisle of the old parish church there, where he last minis- tered, and where a slab of marble shows his epitaph."f The next pastor of this Church was the Rev. Alex- ander Macwhorter, who was born in the county of Newcastle, in the State of Delaware, July 15, 1734, O. S. His ancestors emigrated from Scotland, and set- tled in the North of Ireland, where both of his grand-parents on the maternal side, perished by Papal violence in the great Irish massacre in 1641, during the civil wars of Charles the First. His grand-mother, then an infant, escaped from the scene of butchery by being hid by her nurse, and was the only survivor of the entire family. J His father, Hugh Macwhorter, was a linen merchant in the north of Ireland, whence he emigrated with his family to America about the year ITSO, and, settling * In this opinion I do but concur with t I etterfrom Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D. that of the late Dr. Archibald Alexander, D., of Philadelphia, in the " Log College," p. 76, and of Dr. J See Dr. GriflSn's Funeral Sermon. Hodge in his " History of the Presbyterian " They were hanged," says Dr. G., "on a Church," the latter of whom expressly tree before their own door." See also Life calls Mr. Brainerd " the pastor of the of Dr. Rogers, by Dr. Miller. Church in Newark," p. 347. '3Y j:;/.F'iyiiN /. '. (^y/ty/Xyi ^i^A^^ EAELY LIFE. 217 in Delaware upon a large farm, became an elder in tlie Clinrcli afterwards under tlie care of Rev. Mr. Rodgers, since known as Dr. Rodgers, of New York.* The eldest son, Alexander, a youtli of great promise, botli for talents and piety, wko had spent two years at the University of Edinburgh, and had now nearly completed his stud- ies for the ministry, dying a few years after the emi- gration, his name was transferred to the youngest son, who was born about the time of his brother's death. '' The first time," says Dr. Miller, " that Mr. Rodgers, after entering on his pastoral charge, assembled the children of a particular district in his congregation, to catechise them, it was at the house of Hugh Macwhor- ter, a wealthy and respectable farmer in his neighbor- hood. The children were so numerous that a room of ordinary size would not contain them, and it was thought best to collect them in a spacious barn, on the farm, near the dwelling-house of Mr. Macwhorter." Among the rest, came young Alexander, the youngest son of the Avorthy elder, to present himself to the kind notice of his youthful pastor, and to be catechised by him in that barn. " The prudence, the good sense, the readiness in reply, and the highly promising character which this youth exhibited, first drew the attention, and afterwards the special regard and friendship of Mr. Rodgers, and laid the foundation of an afl^ection- ate union ])etween them to the end of life.^'f Alexander Macwhorter was the youngest of eleven children, and was trained by his excellent ])arents in * The name of Hugh McQuarter ap- t Mem. of Dr. Rogers, p. 71, 72. pears in the minutes of the Synod in 1738. 218 CONYEESIOISr AIS^D EDUCATION". tlie principles and duties of piety. It was their prac- tice to devote the Sabbath evenings especially to the religions instruction of the children, and Alexander had often l^een taken alone into the woods or into some private a2:)artment, to hear the fervent and tear- ful entreaties, and join in the importunate prayers of parental love and solicitude. At the age of fourteen, he, with three ether chil- dren, all of whom lived and died in the faith in which they had been nurtured, was left, by the death of their excellent father, to the sole care and training of their widowed mother; and immediately after this, the Avhole family removed to North Carolina. Here he first awoke to a full consciousness of his religious needs, under the influence of a sermon from a " New Light" preacher by the name of John Brown, after- wards for many years a minister in Virginia, the theme of which was the second verse of the seventh Psalm.* Deep and long continued were his convictions of sin and his dread of the wrath of God. " He used," says Dr. Griffin, " daily to repair to a copse of pines near his brother's house, where he resided, and there, to use his own expressive words, ' would dash himself on the ground, looking for the earth to open and swallow him up.' " But it was not till after he had left North Car- olina and returned to the neighborhood of his native place, in order to pursue his education — a period of two or three years — that he found peace by believing in Christ. This was while he was at a public school at * " If he tura not, he will whet his sword : he hath bent his bow and made it ready." ENTRAIN'CE . ON THE JIINISTRY. 219 West Nottingliam, Cecil coimty, Maryland, under tlie care of tlie Rev. Samuel Finley, afterwards President of the College of New Jersey, with whose Church he was soon after received into communion. Mr. Macwhorter entered the College of Xew Jersey at Newark, in the year 175G, at the age of 22 years, joining the Junior class f' and, the College having 1)een removed to Princeton in the autumn of that year, he received his first degree during the following summer, a few days after the decease of President Burr, and was one of the first class that were graduated in the College at that place. True to his filial aftections, young Macwhorter was now about to return to North Carolina, and take counsel concerning his future course with that aged parent, to whose early maternal faith- fulness he owed so much of his character and promise. But Jane Macwhorter was no more ; and on receiving the afilicting news he abandoned the design. Having completed his studies in divinity, under the direction of the Rev. William Tennent, of Freehold, N. J., he was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, then sitting at Princeton, in the month of August, 1758. The schism in the Presbyterian Church had just been healed, by the amicable union of the two Synods into one body, by the name of the Synod of New York and Philadeljihia.f At the second meeting of this body, in * "Thus," savs Dr. GriflBn, "he began after the labors of more than half a cen- his public career in science in the very tury." (Funeral Sermon, p. 11.) place which was destined to be the scene t This Synod held its first meeting at of his future usefulness. The ground on Philadelphia, May ^J, 17.38, and Rev. Gil- which his youthful feet trod was reserved bert Tennent was choses as its first Mod- to be the resting place of his weary limbs erator. The articles of agreement on 220 ENTRANCE ON THE MINISTRY. May, iVoO, tlie san>e meeting wliicli decided on Mr. Brainerd's removal from Newark, Messrs. Macwliorter,, Kirkpatrick and Latta were appointed to preacli, for several months each, to destitute congregations in Vir- ginia and North Carolina ; and that no failure in the mission might take place, the Synod gave peremptory orders that the young men should be at their posts at. a specified time, and that the Presbyteries with which they were connected, should " take care that these gen- tlemen fulfill their aj)pointinent, and neither prescribe nor allow them employment in our bounds, so as to disappoint this, our good intention."'^ which the union was formed, are too long to be inserted here, but deserve care- ful study in connection with the history ot the Presbyterian Church. The object, as state! in the preamble, was " the compro- mising those differences which were aiji- tated many years ago with too much warmth and animosity," "the healing of breach, that so its hurtful consequences may not descend to posterity," " that all occasion of reproach may be removed," that we may carry on the great designs of religion to better advantage, "to prevent future breaches of like nature, &c. The tirst and second articles are the folllowing : " I. Both Synods having always approved and received the Westminster Confession of Faith, and Larger and Shorter Cate- chisms as an orthodox and excellent sys- tem of Christian doctrine founded on the Word of God, we do still receive the same as the Confession of our Faith, and also adhere to the plan of worship, government and discipline contained in the Westmin- ster Directory, strictly enjoining it on all our members and probationers for the min- istry, that they preach and teach accord- ing to the form of sound words in said Con- fessions and Catechisms, and oppose all errors contrary thereto." "II. That when any matter is deter- mined by a major vote, every member shall either actively concur with, or pas- sively submit to such determination ; or if his conscience permit him to do neither, he shall, after sufficient liberty modestly to reason and remonstrate, peaceably with- draw from our communion without at- tempting to make any schism ; provided always that this shall be understood to ex- tend only to such determinations as the body shall judge indispensible in doctrine or Presbyterian worship." As to the "protest" of 1741, the Synod of Philadelphia declare " that they never judicially adopted the said protest, nor do account it a synodical act, but that it is to be considered as the act of those only who subscribed it." To guard effectually against any renewal of hostility, the Synod close the agree- ments with the following item : " that all former differences and disputes are laid aside and buried, and that no further in- quiry or vote shall be proposed in this Synod concerning these things ; but if any member seek a synodical inquiry, or declaration about any of the mat- ters of our past differences, it shall be deemed a censurable breach of this agree- ment, and be refused, and he be rebuked accordingly." — Minutes, pp. 285-8S. * Minutes, p. 293. INSTALLATION AT NEWARK. 221 Accordingly Mr. Macwliorter, with his chissmate, Mr. Kirkpatrick, was ordained at Cranberiy, by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, July 4th of the same year.*^ But the ordinances of divine Providence over- ruled even the strict and peremptory orders of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia ; for the congre- gation in Newark being now vacant, Mr. Macwhorter was employed to preach for them for a single Sabbath, and at once all eyes were fixed on him for the future pastor. At the very meeting of the Presley tery at which he received ordination, with a view to his dis- tant mission, commissioners from Newark presented their urgent request for his services, and Mr. Tennent lending his influence in their favor, the plan of the mission was suspended; and on the reception of a united call from the peoj^le, he was installed during that same summer, at the age of twenty-five years, as the pastor of this Church.f In the minutes of the Synod at their next meeting, the only notice taken of this disregard of their stringent order, is the very quiet record that " Mr. Macwhorter's reasons for not going to Virginia, according to the aj)pointment of the Synod last year, were sustained. "J Mr. Macwhorter was married in the month of Octo- ber, 1758, shortly after he received license to preach, to Mary Gumming, daughter of Robert Gumming, Esq., of Freehold, N. J., a respectable merchant, high sheriff of the county of Monmouth, and related by marriage * Funeral Sermon bv Dr. Griffin, p. 14. He preached his first sermon here, June t Minutes, p. 293. Funeral Sermon. 28, 1759. X Minutes, p. 20?. 222 COIS^TENTION BETWEEN CHUECHES. to tlie family of liis revered instructor, Rev. William Tennent.* They liad five children, viz. : Mary, mar- ried to Samuel Beebe, merchant of New York ; Ann, married to Kev. George Ogilvie ; Alexander Gumming, counselor at law, in Newark ; John, counselor at law in the same place, who died suddenly a few months be- fore his father ; and Hugh Robert, who died in infancy. We have already noticed the violent contentions which arose during the ministry of Mr. Webb, in con- sequence of the introduction of Episcopacy into this hitherto Puritan community. But "this pious bustle," says Dr. Macwhorter, " was not altogether about reli- gious principles."f Pecuniary claims were also involved in it, and the question, who were the rightful owners of the Ghurch property, was the subject of no little jealousy at the period in which he commenced his min- stry. There were now four distinct congregations within the limits of Newark, besides parts of others, and all of them, since the incorporation of the Trustees of this Ghurch, legally distinct from the town. Two of the new congregations, namely, the Moun- tain Society and the Ghurch of England, as they were then designated, laid claim to an equal j^ortion wdth * Funeral Sermon by Dr. GrifEn. Dr. second marriage with Miss Noble, daiigh- G. adds, "Robert Gumming, Esq., was ter by a former husband of Mrs. Tennent. twice married. By the first marriage he By her he had four children : the eldest had three children , the eldest was Alex- was Catharine, married to the Rev. Philip ander, who was a minister of the Gospel Stockton ; the second was Ann, married for several years m the city of New York, to the Rev. William Schenck; the third and afterwards in the Old South Church was John Noble, now General Gumming, in the town of Boston, where he died, 1TG3; of this town; and the fourth was Peggy^ the second was Lawrence; the third was who died unmarried." Mary, (Mrs. Macwhorter.) He formed a t Manuscript History. PAESONAGE PROPERTY. 223 the First Cliiircli iu the inheritance, which as they af- firmed, had descended from their common ancestors.. The congregation of the First Church, on the contrary, maintained that they were the only rightful and legal representatives of the old Town of Newark, considered in its ecclesiastical capacity ; and, since the grant from the Proprietors, under which the land came into their possession, was expressly that of so much land "/or each parisTi^^^ and they, being the only parish then ex- isting in the town, had availed themselves of its pro- visions ; and since the deed, securing the lands in the hands of trustees, " for the only proper use, benefit and ]3ehoof of the old settlers of the town of Newark," was in pursuance of that grant, those who continued with the gld congregation had the exclusive right to the property. The process of separation between civil and eccle- siastical affairs, which had been going on gradually for more than half a century, was now nearly consum- mated. The ministers had ceased to be elected, and their salaries to be voted in the town meetings; and the town had virtually, though not formally, relin- quised its control over the parsonage property. Mean- while, the old Church had become incorporated, with power to take and hold what were its just rights in its own name ; and the oi'iginal patentees, all of whom were members of that Church, being now dead, and the heir of the last survivor of them living at a dis- tance from Newark, a manifest propriety, not to say necessity, had arisen for making some new and more permanent disposition of the jiroperty in question, 224 paesonactE propeety. Accordingly, by a concurrent act of tlie Town and the lieir of the patentees — the only parties capable of act- ing in the matter according to any supposition — the title was vested in the Trustees of this Church. " At a town meeting on the 12th of March, 1760, it was voted unanimously that the Trustees of the First Pres- byterian Church be authorized to procure a deed of conveyance from David Young, heir-at-law of the last surviving patentee, for the said parsonage lands, in trust, in order that they may be the better enabled to take care of the same for the said Church," which deed the Trustees lost no time in obtaining, on the very next day, in due form of law. Now followed a series of efforts with a view to re- verse this procedure. The opposing party came into the town meeting, the year following, and proposed resolutions declaring dissatisfaction with what had been done, and directing that the lands should "be equally divided in quantity and quality" among the three congregations ; and, these resolutions being car- ried in the affirmative, a committee was appointed to divide and allot the lands accordingly. Four out of six of the committee proceeded to their work. But when the plan of division had been drawn out with much care,* and was reported to the town the next year, with the proviso that four months should be al- lowed for hearing objections before it should stand in force, the majority rejected it, "even with the limita- * The plan was drawn by " the Hon. be "a draught of an entry proposed to be David Ogden, Esq., at the request of made at a town meeting held at Newark,' ' SDme of the committee," and purported to &c. (See Town Records.) PAESONAGE PEOP^ETY. 225 tion above mentioned," says tlie record, " it being a very full town meeting."* Meanwliile, tlie Trustees obtained the opinions of several very eminent lawyers, to tlie effect, that both by tlie vote of tbe town and by tlie deed of convey- ance from tlie representative of tlie original patentee, tbeir title to the property was sound ; and, moreover, tbat tlie present First Presbyterian ChurcK were the only true and rightful representatives of the old set- tlers mentioned in the original grant.f * The occasion of this specific statement in the record, seems to have been a dis- pute which had taken place between the parties, as to the fairness of the two former votes. Those dissatisfied with the first vote alleged, that it was obtained, "during the time of the small pox being in town, when but very few of the inhabitants were present;" and their opponents rejoined, that there were "at least two hundred per- sons present" when that vote "was so unanimously" carried ; and "insisted upon it" that the second vote "was not fairly obtained, a majority being at that time in the negative." (See Town Records.) t Among the gentlemen who became responsible for these opinions, were Wil- liam Livingston, William Smith, William Smith, junior, John Morin Scot, and Wil- liam Patterson. " I take it for granted,'' says the gentleman last named, " that the old settlers mentioned in the letters patent and the society incorpoi'ated and known by the name of the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church in Newark, are the same persons under difi'erent descriptions. I am of opinion that the Trustees hold in fee for the use of the old settlers or First Presbyterian Church, in exclusion of all others. This is the specific use'carved out by the original Proprietors, and this use must be religiously observed ; they have indeed designated the use and identified the persons who shall take it, in a very clear manner, and their reasons for both ai-etoo obvious to stand in need of recital." It may be observed here, that this opin- ion seems to coincide very exactly with that of Chief Justice Shaw, of Massachu- setts, in the case of Heman Stebbing vs. Calvin Jennings. He is speaking of "the case of a town acting at the same time as a town and parish, of which," says he, " there are, or recently were, hundreds of instances in the Commonwealth. In that case one corporate organization is com- monly used for both purposes." He thea supposes the case of a separation for the forming of a new congregation. " After the separation," says he, "all those rights, duties and obligations which belonged to the town in lis 2)bAp^^r who are not fit to come to t|i^,lv0rd,'p;j^pperi ,iiSp;ftgi are in Mr. Stoddard's sc^?)ae ^ that . ]iinj^ljleYe^^w9Ugl^^ to attend both ordinance^,^; -^ few, are of the sentiment I have meant to express in this paper, and we c^ri'ir^t up to bur sentini^;nts^fit.' ,li have been strugglltig t6 acjt upon principj^^;bt^|'c^% in hardly any thing, get -matter^ brought to my iiiind;' 244 IMPROVEMENT IN DISCIPLINE. Our Cliurclies I look upon in a most ragged, shattered condition. May God pour out His Spirit, and grant us a reformation, botli in discipline and doctrine."* At tlie period to wHcli I now refer, Dr. Macwhorter began a vigorous effort to produce a reformation. "One evening," says Dr. Griffin, "in the autumn of 1785, wlien the Dr.'s mind was deeply impressed witli divine things, he expressed to two of his friends in a private conversation, in which he was unusually tender and communicative, his concern for the want of disci- pline, and the looseness which prevailed in the Church, which he attributed to what has been called the half way practice. It is still in the recollection of those persons in what a solemn and indignant manner he deplored this practice, which he averred was contrary to the usage of the primitive Church and the opinion of the best fathers." In this conversation, Dr. G. adds, "he proceeded in a distinct manner, to sketch the plan which he approved ; which was precisely the same that the Session afterwards sanctioned."! Meanwhile a similar dissatisfaction had been awakened in the minds of a portion of his people. Remonstrances and resistance followed and the im- patience of a few, who could not wait for the tardy movements of reform, created difficulty, and even led to secession, and finally with some other causes resulted in an attempt to found a separate religious society. J The * Extract of a letter furnished by Rer. worth and many eccentricities. Among Richard Webster. the good enterprises which he attempted, + Funeral Sermon, p. 28. was the forming of an association for X The leader in this movement was "relieving the immediate wants of the Moses N. Combs, a man of considerable poor, schooling poor children, and to con- niPEOVEMENT IN DISCIPLINE, 245 pastor, tlioiigli he did not approve of these measures, pursued the object in a more regular way, with equal resoluteness. He reasoned against the offensive prac- tice, both in public and private, and at length, although man)'- were strongly attached to the old custom, and many were fearful of an innovation, the Session came unanimously to the decision, that, " from that time no persons should own the covenant with a view to offer their children in baptism, and to neglect the Lord's Supper; and that the examination of candidates for admission to communion, which had been left to the minister only, should in future be conducted before the Session."* I have already spoken of the deficiency of Dr. Mac- whorter's means of support during the continuance of verse about the things that concern the applied for restoration, and on proper ac- kingdom of God." Zealous for the re- knowledgments, were restored to member- formation of the Church, this association ship in the church. sent a committee to the Session, praying * See Dr. Griffin's Funeral Sermon, them to fake measures to abolish the of- p. 24. The vote, as it stands on the Min- fensive practice ; but not succeeding as utes of the Session, is not as explicit on they wished, a portion of them withdrevF the first point as Dr. Griffin states it, from communion. For a time they at- though it may be presumed, the effect of tended worship and were admitted to oc- it was in accordance with his representa- casional communion with the church in tion. It bears date March 28, 1794, and Orange, and afterwards commenced sepa- is in the form of a series of resolu- rate worship in Newark. One of the com- tions, recommended for the adoption of plaints they made against the Church was the Church. Among them are explicit its uniting with those who were not church provisions for an examination of candi- members in supporting public worship, dates for sealing ordinances before the building meeting houses, &c., all which Session, the exclusion of immoral men they regarded as being " unequally yoked and unbelievers from both sacraments, with unbelievers." Mr. Combs was a tan- the determination to exercise discipline ner and shoemaker by trade, and at one more faithfully than before, and the deo- time was very successful in business, and laration " that (baptized) children are became rich. He erected a wooden build- members of the Church, and that parents ing for the use of his society, and became shall be accountable for the behavior of their preacher. "Silver was showered theii- children till they shall arrive to the upon him," he said, " so plentifully that years of maturity ; then the children shall he did not know what else to do with it." be dealt with fer immoralities as other The society did not keep together many members of the Church." (Records, vol. years, and several of its members at length i, pp. 47-48. 246 DEFICEENCT OF FUNDS. the war. The precise amount of his nominal salary at that time, I do not know ; but it seems to have been irregularly paid for some years after. The mode of gathering it was chiefly that of voluntary subscription. But though various methods were adopted to quicken delinquents, the subscriptions often fell far into ar- rears in respect to payment. Twice, viz., in the years 1785 and 1*786, the Trustees adopted the somewhat singular expedient of requesting the minister to call a meeting of the congregation, and " preach a sermon on that day," " that a state of the funds may be' laid be- fore them, and some mode fallen into to increase the same." Partly as a means of eking out a scanty in- come, Dr. Macwhorter was in the practice of teaching a small school. But on the 16th of March, 1786, the day, as a comparison of dates shows, on which the Trustees had requested the sermon to be preach- ed, the congregation after desiring Dr. Macwhorter " to leave the chaii' and go out, as there was some bu- siness to be done which referred personally to him," voted "that Dr. Macwhorter's salary be raised to three hundred pounds a year, and that he be requested to give up his school, or get an usher, that he may be enabled to visit his congregation more." To avoid irregularities in future, it was also then voted, " that this salary be raised by tax."* * See Records of the Trustees. The sup- Thursday, to provide the said wood," aud ply of firewood, probably from the par- it is further ou record, " that a motion waa sonage land, seems to have been a sepa- made and seconded, that a vote should be rate matter, and to have been provided taken whether a supper should be fur- still in a voluntary way. At a meeting nished on that day for those who assist ia called for the purpose of consulting about getting the said wood. It was accordingly it on_the 8th of November, 1793, 1 find a taken, and it passed in the negative." vote appointing a particular day, "next HOUSE OF WORSHIP EEPAIRED. 24T The second house of worsliip had now become man- ifestly inadequate to the wants of the congregation. Dr. Macwhorter states that in less than fifty years after its erection it became too small to contain com- fortably the j^eople. In the year IT 55, a proposition was made to repair and enlarge it, but " after consult- ing various architects," the decision was only to repair it and give it a new roof, and this decision was carried into effect the following year.* The people however, were not satisfied with what had been done. Various meetings were held on the subject, esj^ecially during the period extending from 1*768 to 1773. At length, in the year 1774, under the stimulus given to the sj)irit of enterprise by the religious improvement al- ready referred to, the erection of " a new and large * It is scarcely to be wondered at that Misses used to cut as they passed up the people should have felt great reluct- the aisle with rustling silks and tossinga tance to demolish this venerable edifice, of the head, to take the undisputed place associated as it must have been, in their of preferment. The rest of the house wasi minds with so many memorable scenes, seated with long benches, and in the mid- There the college of New Jersey had been die aisle descended the bell rope, where cradled ; there David Brainerd had been the sexton stood to perform his duty in the set apart to the office of his heroic minis- midst of the congregation, try; there Whitefield had poured forth A tradition ofthe preaching of Whitefield his melting eloquence, and there the Spirit in the old house is thus related by Rev. Ste- of God had displayed in wonderful scenes, phen Dodd, of East Haven, C t. " The his converting power. The building, as I second wife of Moses Farrand was Dorcas have stated, was about forty-four feet Prudden. She told me that once when Mr. square. The pulpit stood on the west side, Whitefield came there to preach she was between two windows. Before the pulpit twelve years old, and as he came up and was a seat for the leader of the singing, entered the pulpit, she eyed him with dis- where for many years, tradition says, trust, but before he got through his Mr. John Treat Crane, a great-grand- prayer herself and all the congregatioa sonof Governor Treat, presided with great melted down, and the sermon filled the admiration. On each side of the pulpit house with groans and tears. The next was a large square pew ; one was occupied time he came, as soon as he entered the by the minister's family and the other by pulpit, the assembly were weeping. It such families as by a kind of general con- was so great that the pulpit window was sent were regarded as the aristocracy of taken out, and he preached through the the town. An aged man tells me how window to the people in the burying well he remembers the figure which the ground.'' 248 PEESENT CHUECH EEECTED. cliiircli" was undertaken in earnest. Tlie subscription agreed upon was immediately filled to tlie amount of j£2000, a site was selected, materials brought together and trenches for the foundations actually dug. But the breaking out of the war just at that time, frus- trated the plan ; it was abandoned, and the materials provided were soon scattered and lost."^' But the war was now ended ; and the affairs of the congregation being once more in a prosperous state, the good design was resumed. The foundations were commenced in the month of September, IVSY. Tradi- tion informs me, that when the appointed day came, the male members of the congregation assembled on the ground, and took their stations according to age and office. The pastor standing at the north- east corner made a short address and offered a prayer. Then he broke the ground, by taking out with his own hand the first spadeful of earth. Deacon Caleb Wheeler, standing by his side, took the next, and then the rest followed in their turns till the whole were at work, and the opening of the trenches was completed in a few hours. The erection of this large and beau- tiful edifice, a very serious undertaking for the people as they were then situated, was due in a great measure to the indomitable zeal and perseverance of Dr. Mac- * It was to stand on "school-house hill," the bell on an ox team, and buried it in that is, as I learn, on the south side of the woods known as the " short swamps," Market street west of Broad, where was near the highway now known as Elm then a considerable elevation. Dr. M. street, and about a mile from Mulberry says, the people were not perfectly agreed street. When the peace was resto red, the about the location. On the breaking out good Deacons disinterred the concealed of the war, it is said, the Deacons, — Caleb treasure and brought it to town again, and Wheeler and Ebenezer Baldwin,— loaded probably used it for the benefit of the new all the metal which had been collected for edifice. NEW 3I0DE OF ELECTING TRUSTEES. 249 wliorter. "So zealous was lie to serve and animate the congregation," says Dr. Griffin, "tliat during the following winter, he was daily in the forests selecting timber which had been given him, and encouraging the workmen." And when we consider how the work was carried on, namely, by joint contributions of labor and materials from the whole congregation, it is truly wonderful, that an edifice of such beauty of propor- tions and completeness of finish should have been accomplished.* Truly it stands a noble monument, both " of the generosity and public spirit of the so- ciety," and not less " of the love and indefatigable ex- ertions" of one of the most illustrious of its pastors.f The house was ready for permanent use, and first reg- ularly opened for public worship on the first day of January, 1791.$ A few years after the completion of this edifice, viz., in the year 1794, the change was made to which I have already alluded, in the mode of electing the Trustees under the charter. The Session to whom the whole power was intrusted by that instrument, en- gaged to call together the congregation on the first * Dr. Macwhorter himself, with an air t Funeral Sermon, p. 25. of exultation by no means to be cen- J A tablet inserted in the front wall of sured, thus describes it : " Its dimensions the tower bears the following inscription, are one hundred feet in length, including said to have been written by Hon. Wm. the steeple, which projects eight feet. The Peartree Smith. steeple two hundred and four feet high ; ^dem banc amplissimam cultui Divino two tiers of windows, five in a tier on each dicatam, ex animo religioso et munificen- side; an elegant large Venetian window tia valde pra^clara, Nov Arc.e habitantes, in the rear behind the pulpit, and the cura sub pastorali rev. Alexandri Mac whole finished in the inside in the most whorter, S. T. D. primum qui posuit handsome manner in the Doric order." saxum, construxerunt, auno salutis, 1787 ; "From the best estimate lean obtain," Amer. Reipub. Foederataeia. Acspicante he adds, "it cost about £9000 York cur Deo, longum perduret in ^vum. rency." 250 CHUECH IN BLOOMFIELD FORMED. » day of January annually, for the purpose of clioosing such men as a majority of its members should prefer, and agreed to confirm their appointment. And the practice has conformed to this arrangement to the present time. In the year 1794, the first prehminary steps were taken for forming another Presbyterian Church within the boundaries of Newark, viz., in what is now the town of Bloomfield, then distinguished by the name of Wardsesson.* Apj^lication for this purpose was made to the Presbytery by " a number of the members of the congregations of Newark and Orange, and some other people in that vicinity ;" and the reason alleged was " that many, by reason of their distance from any place of public worship and other difficulties, were unable to attend statedly upon the administration of the word." A committee appointed to confer with the applicants, and also with members of the two pa- rent societies, reported that " the committees from New- ark and Orange being fully heard, made no objection to the measure, but in a very christian manner ex- pressed their concurrence." Whereupon the Presbytery proceeded to erect the petitioners " into a distinct con- gregation of the Presbyterian Church, by the name of the "Third Presbyterian Church of the township of Newark." The petition was signed by ninety-eight heads of families ; but how large a portion of them went out from this congregation I have not the means of determining. * See Minutes of the Presbytery of New York. HIGH STANDING OF DR. MACWHOETER. 251 I have already spoken of Dr. Macwliorter's useful- ness to the Churcli generally, and tlie higli place which he occupied in the esteem and confidence of his breth- ren during the earlier period of his ministry in this Church. The same is true, in a still more eminent de- gree, during the later period. In the prosperity of the College of New Jersey, of whose Board of Trus- tees he was a member from his fii'st election in 17T2, till his death, and whose friends had at one time fixed their eyes upon him as a candidate for the office of President, he took a warm and active interest. In the Spring of 1802, at the advanced age of 68 years, he undertook a mission to New England, to solicit bene- factions on its account — the CoUege edifice having then recently been destroyed by fire — and was successful in procuring more than |T000 for the repairing of the loss.* For many years he was a member of the Synod's committee for the distribution of the sums ap- propriated for the education of " poor and pious youth" in that institution. Indeed, almost all the principal committees appointed at this period, are found to con- tain his name. He is said to have been a skillful peace- maker, and therefore was often commissioned with others to adjust difficulties as they arose in different parts of the Presbyterian body. Of the committees which arranged a Plan of Union, or an agreement to hold an annual convention by delegates, with the Con- sociated Churches of Connecticut in 1T67, and a fra- ternal connection with the Dutch and Associate Re- * Dr. Griffin's Funeral Discourse, pp. 19, 25. 252 GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONSTITUTED. formed Clmrclies in I'TSS, lie was a member, and was x)ften appointed by tlie Synod to conduct its corres- pondence with foreign bodies* " He never appeared in his might," says Dr. Griffin, " so perfectly as in a deliberative assembly, especially when his cautious and penetrating mind had leisure to examine well the bearings of the subject. Thor- oughly versed in all the forms of Presbyterial busi- ness, with a skill at management rarely surpassed, he filled a great space in the judicatories of our Church. His voice was listened to with profound respect, and the counsels suggested by his superior wisdom enlight- ened and swayed our public bodies." In the year 1Y88, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, held its first annual meeting. The purpose of forming it began to be entertained in the Synod as early as the year 1*785. After long deliberation and revision, the plan was adopted ; and the Presbyteries having been rearranged and the whole body divided into four Synods, the Assembly was appointed to meet at the time above specified, in the city of Philadelphia, and the Synod of New York and Philadelphia was dis- solved. In the arrangements for the formation of this body, Dr. Macwhorter had a principal agency .f * See Minutes of the Synod of New next meeting to be inserted in our direc- York and Philadelphia, pp. 373, 505, 50S. tory." I find no traces of its introduction t While the plan was under considera- on the Minutes of the Synod, but it is re- tionin the Presbytery of New York, in the corded at length in those of the Presby- month of May, 1788, a committee of that tery, and is curious as indicating the body, of which Dr. M. was chairman, views entertained at that time on a very brought in the draught of a chapter on important point of Christian duty. Among the reciprocal duties of ministers and peo- the duties of the minister we find the fol- ple, "to be laid before the Synod at their lowing: he "shall ordinarily preach to his GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONSTITUTED. 253 His name stands second on a committee, of which Dr. Witherspoon Avas chairman, to whom was committed " the Book of Discipline and Government," " with pow- ers to digest such a system as they shall think to be accommodated to the state of the Presbyterian Church in America;" he was also appointed on the committee to revise the Westminster Directory of "Worship ; and he exerted a prominent influence in allaying the dissatisfaction which in some cases arose out of the proposed measures.'^' He was early chosen as one of the Trustees of the Assembly, and continued to hold a place in that Board till a short time before his decease. Of the four Synods provided for in the formation of the new body, that which contained the Presbytery people twice on the Sabbath, except in reply. It is replete with Christian wis- such congregations where it is most proper dom and fraternal affection, and deserves in the winter season that there should be to be read with care, as a fine specimen of but one service." " He shall visit the sick Christian expostulation. After answering and afflicted when sent for." Respecting their alleged objections to the continuance pastoral visitation, it is ordained, "that if of their past connection, and begging the his congregation consists of notmoie than brethren of the Suffolk Presbytery to re- fifty families, he shall visit them once consider their resolution to withdraw, it every year; if more than fifty, and not proceeds as follows: "You well know more than one hundred, he shall visit the that it is not a small thing to rend the whole once in two j-ears; if of more than seamless coat of Christ, or to be disjoined one hundred, and not more than two hun- parts of that one body, His Church. We dred, he shall visit the whole in three are all members one of another; there years," &c., "in the proportion of fifty fam- should be no schism in the body, but we iiies every year." Among the duties of should comfort, encourage and strengthen the people, are those of " due attendance one another by the firmest union in our on public worship and the catechetical in- common Lord. We are Presbyterians, struction of their minister," causing "their and we firmly believe the Presbyterian families to attend on the ministerial visit- system of doctrine, discipline and Church ation in an orderly manner," and " when government, to be nearer to the word of they are sick sending for their minister." God than that of any other sect or denom- * The Presbytery of Suffolk went so far ination of Christians. Shall all other as to address a letter to the Moderator of sects and parties be united among them- the Synod "praying that the union be- selves, for their support and increase, and tween them and the Synod might be dis- Presbyterians be divided and subdivided, solved." On hearing it, the Synod ap- so as to be the scorn of some and the pointed Dr. Macwhorter to draw up a prey of others?" 254 BAPTIST AND METHODIST DENOMINATIONS, of New York was directed to liold its first meeting in tlie First Presbyterian Cliurcli in the city of New York, on the 29tli of October, 1*788, and was organ- ized accordingly under tke name of the Synod of New YoEK AND New Jersey. With tliat body tliis Clinrcli remained connected till its division by act of tlie As- sembly in tke year 1823, a period of 35 years. During tke latter part of Dr. Macwborter's ministry, two new denominations of Christians became organ- ized in Newark. The origin of the First Baptist Church is thus described by its present pastor : "A few of the members of the Church at Lyons' Farms, who were living in the town of Newark, obtained permis- sion of the Church to which they belonged to hold services in a school house in a part of the town now known as South Broad street — still holding the rela- tion of a branch of the Farms Church. They hired the school house for one year." On the 6th of June, 1801, a company consisting of nine persons " were con- stituted into a regular Baptist Church, and were soon incorporated, assuming the name of the First Baptist Church of Newark." Their first house of worship, erected in Academy street, was dedicated on the 16th of September, 1806.* " The Methodist Episcopal Church had no house of worship until the year 1808. Previously to that time, religious services were held under the direction of that denomination with more or less regularity, as far back, it is said, as 1799, Their places of assembhng were * See Semi-Centennial SermoD, by the Rev. Henry C. Fisb, June, 1851. INFLUENCE OF DE. MACWHORTEE. 255 first the old Court House, wliicli stood opposite the site of the First Presbyterian Church, and the building in the southern part of the city, long known as the White School House. The Rev. David Bartine is spoken of as having preached the first sermon ever delivered in this place by a Methodist." In 1808, the number of persons had increased to fourteen, at which time " the design of building a Methodist church in the town of Newark was adopted," and the first Meth- odist house of worship, called Wesley Chapel, was dedicated the following summer.'' Dr. Macwhorter's influence on this community was distinguished for its strength and permanence. I have already referred to three remarkable seasons of awakening in the congregation during his ministry. A fourth occurred in the year 1796, in consequence of which thirty or forty persons were added to the Church ; and still a fifth, in the year 1802, the particu- lars of which I omit to mention here, as it perhaps be- longs more properly to the ministry of his successor. He presided over the congregation during some of the most eventful periods, was associated in his work with some of the most eminent men that have belonged to it, and has done more jDerhaps than any one else to impress the features of his own character upon its his- tory. When he departed this life, most of the church whom he left were his spiritual children, and a large proportion of them had received baptism in their childhood at his hands. " He had lived," as he said, " to see two worlds die." * Communicated by the Rev. S. Y. Monroe, present pastor of the Clinton street Methodist Church. 256 CHARACTER OF DR. MACWHORTER. The cliaracter of Dr. Macwliorter, if not remarkably brilliant, was certainly distinguisbed for its strength. His aspect, says Dr. Griffin, " was grave and venerable, and strongly expressive of the properties of his mind. His dej)ortment was affectionate, paternal and digniJ&ed ; calculated to inspire respect and depend- ence, and to repel the approach of presumptuous fa- miliarity ; yet in conversation he was pleasant, and often facetious." His judgment was ever sound, his penetration keen, his perseverance indomitable, his ac- tivity deliberate, but always well-directed, and there- fore generally successful. He is reported to have been an excellent classical scholar, with some knowledge of the Hebrew and Syriac languages. Well read in di- vinity, he understood the foundations on which his faith rested. With a firm adherence to the doctrines of his own Church, he was little disposed to contend with those who differed from him in their relio^ious opinions. An aged man tells me, that when some preachers of another denomination began to hold meetings in his parish, and some of his elders came to him in alarm to consult what was to be done, he re- plied in terms often used by men of wise Christian moderation, " let them alone ; we must out-preach them, and out-pray them, and out-live them, and so they cannot do any harm."* As a preacher, he is said to have been " pungent and popular" in the early part of his ministry ; but in the latter part, when his ardor was abated, his preaching was instructive, " solid, judi- * Mr. Isaac Nichols, now the oldest member of the Session. LAST DAYS OF DR. MACWHOETER. 257 cioiis, and often moving." "In the services of the sanctuary, and in all his parochial labors, he added to faithfulness great method and punctuality ; and with a uniformity peculiar to himself, was always the same." He was a good pastor, loved his people, and delighted to make their interests his own. During the latter part of his life, his growing infirm- ities required the aid of a colleague in the pastoral office. In the month of October, 1800, " a call from the First Presbyterian congregation in Newark for Mr. Henry Kollock to undertake the pastoral office in the said congregation as a colleague and assistant minister with Dr. Macwhorter was laid before the Presl^ytery by Judge Boudinot, a delegate from said congregation." This call Mr. Kollock declined, and was afterwards settled at Elizabethtown. During the year following, the want was supplied, as we shall hereafter notice more particularly, by the installation of the Rev. Ed- ward D. Griffin. As his life drew towards the close, Dr. M. had a strong desire to revisit the scene of his nativity ; and, in the Spring of 1806, made an excursion to Delaware for that purpose. All was changed. He was dej^endent on the information of strangers, in learning where was the spot in which his infancy was nurtured. An old half-filled cellar was the only trace of it. None knew him, none remembered him, and only one aged person had retained any recollection of the family. " He re- quested only to be supplied," says Dr. Griffin, " with a glass of water from the spring that used to slake his boyish thirst, that he might sav, ' I have tasted that 17 258 LAST DAYS OF DR. MACWHORTEE. spring again ;' and this desire fulfilled, lie hastily- turned and left the scene forever." About seven months before his death, he received a severe injury from a fall, from which he never recovered. He took leave of the Presbytery, in a letter excusing his ab- sence, in the month of April, 1807.* The short inter- val which remained was one of severe affliction. Shut out from the sanctuary, and disabled for the duties it had long been his delight to perform, he saw his youngest son suddenly removed, by a disease so rapid in its course that ere the news of his illness could reach the aged and enfeebled parents, he was numbered with the dead. Then the companion of his life, with whom he had shared all its vicissitudes for nearly fifty years, closed the scene of her sufferings, and stepped into the grave before him. Mrs. Macwhorter died on the second day of April, 1807. But the faith which this venerable patriarch had so long professed and preached, showed its power to sus- tain his own soul amidst all his complicated afflictions. When his son was smitten to the grave, like Aaron, the good old man held his peace ; and when the mother followed, her death served but to sever the last tie that bound him to earth, and make him also ready to be gone. His last words breathed an entire confidence in God's faithfulness. He said, " I die slow." " I have no "* See minutes of the Presbytery of New sions, expressing an apprehension that on York, under date of April, 1807. " A account of his declining health, he might message was received from Dr. Macwhor- not be able to meet with them more, and ter by Mr. GrifBu, informing the Pres- communicating to them his paternal and bytery that he was prevented by indispo- affectionate salutations." sition from attending their present ses- DEATH AND FUNEEAL. 250 despondency ; deatli and I have long been intimates." " Blessed be God, I have a steady hope." After join- ing in prayer with his young colleague, on whom the duties of his sacred office were now exclusively to de- volve, and on whom he had already bestowed his pa- ternal blessing, he extended both Jiis arms at full length towards heaven, and then suffering them to fall quietly, expired without a struggle, on the 20th day of July, 1807, at the age of seventy-three years and five days. • " Thus lived and tffis died," adds his eulogist, " Dr. Alexander Macwhorter, after ha\dng served this peo- ple in the gospel ministry forty-eight years." Who will not join in the review, his fervent ejaculation, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." The death of Dr. Macwhorter created a profound sensation in the community of which he had so long been an honored member. The next day the Trustees of the Church met at the house of their President, Hon. Elisha Boudinot, and passed resolutions as follows : " It having pleased the all-wise Head of the Church to remove from earth, and take to Himself, our late Avorthy and respected pastor, the Rev. Doctor Alexan- der Macwhorter, this board, in order to manifest the gratitude they feel for his long, faithful services amongst us, and the high respect they entertain for his memory, do unanimously resolve — " That they will take the charge of his funeral on themselves, and that the same shall be conducted in 260 FUNEEAL SOLEMNITY. siicli a manner as to reflect credit on the Cliurcli, as well as to express tlie feelings wliicL. they are certain the whole congregation entertain, on this melancholy occasion."* They also resolved, that the pnlpit and other parts of the church be hung with black, and the Session and Trustees wear crape on their left arm during three months. A committee being appointed to carry these resolutions into effect, expresses were sent to invite every member of the Presbytery, in New York and this State, with other clergyme#and the inhabitants of the neighboring towns ; and the procession for the funeral was ordered as follows : " 1. Kev. Mr. Griffin and two clergymen. 2. Corpse and pall-bearers. 3. Physicians. 4. Members of the family. 5. Session of the Church as mourners. 6. Trustees as mourners. Y. Clergy. 8. Inhabitants." The funeral took place on the 22d of June, 1807, and the sermon, afterwards published by request of the trustees, was preached by the Eev. Dr. Griffin, col- league and successor of the deceased, from Psalm 112 : 6 — "The righteous shall be in everlasting remem- brance." A marble tablet was afterwards inserted in the wall, on the inside of the church, near the pulpit, where we now find it, bearing a tribute to the memory of the deceased, written, it is said, by the same hand, in the following terms : "Sacred to the memory of the Eev. Alexander MacwhoPvTee, D. D. In him a venerable aspect and See Record. EPITAPH. 261 dignified manners were united witli a strong and saga- cious mind, richly stored with the treasures of ancient and modern learning. For a long course of years, he was among the most distinguished supporters of liter- ature and religion in the American church. He was a zealous asserter of his country's rights, a wise counsel- lor, a pious and skillful divine, a laborious, prudent and faithful minister, and a great benefactor of the congregation over which he presided forty-eight years. To his influence and zeal the congregation is greatly indebted for this house of God, the foundation-stone of which he laid, Sept., 1787. In gratitude for his distinguished services, and from an affectionate respect to his memory, the bereaved Church have erected this monument. He was born 15th July, 1734. He de- parted this life 20th July, 1807, aged 73 years. The memory of the just is blessed." DISCOUESE NUMBER IV. ECCLESIASTBS i : 4. One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh. As I annnounce this passage for tlie fourtli time, as tlie tlieme of my discourse, and remember, that I have already during these few weeks, passed over in review, and endeavored to live for the moment in the lives of eight successive generations of ministers who have oc- cupied the pulpit here, and ministered to the congre- gation in which I now stand, an indescribable awe takes possession of me. I seem to see sweeping on before me, "the innumerable caravan" of which the poet speaks, " that moves" " To that mysterious realm where each shall take Their stations in the silent halls of death." and I cannot forget that I, and you too, my beloved hearers, are treading with them in the same long pro- cession. As we are now full of life and activity, look- ing back with eager interest to learn the history of the past, and forward with hope and enthusiasm to anticipate the better day^ that may be coming, or re- coil before the prospect of evils, the signs of which we think we already discern in the horizon, so were they, each in his own period ; and each in turn filled the KEV. EDWAED DORR GRIFFIN. 263 world and time with his own consciousness. And as they have passed, one after another into the land of silence, I seem to hear a still voice gently breaking that silence, and saying to you and me " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." We pass now to the tenth in order in the succession of pastors, namely the Eev. Edward Dorr Griffin, a name associated with some of the most thrillinoj events in American ecclesiastical history, and destined to be remembered with honor and affection as long as dis- tinguished talents well directed are accounted valuable, or ardent zeal and warm-hearted piety held in admira- tion in the Church. Mr. Griffin was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, Jan. 6, 1*770. His father, Mr. George Griffin, was a wealthy farmer, of a strong mind and good education ; and his mother, whose maiden name was Eve Dorr, was a sister of Eev. Edward Dorr, of Hartford, Con- necticut, whose name she gave to her son. From a very early age, Mr. Griffin's parents des- tined him to the ministry ; and while yet a child of only four or five years, he was the subject of deep religious impressions. But though once and again strongly exercised on the subject of religion, and once to such an extent, as to venture for a time to hope he was a true Christian, his conversion does not appear to have taken place till after the close of his course in college, when he had abandoned the purpose with which his early training and his parents' wishes had 264 EARLY LIFE OF MR. GRIFFIN. inspired liim, and, according to liis own account " de- voted himself to tlie law, and made up his mind to be a man of the world." The means of awakening him to a just sense of his spiritual need, was a severe illness with which he was overtaken in the gayest period of his life. Having given his heart to God, he now resolved to resume his original purpose, and devote himself to the service of Christ in the w^ork of the ministry. Mr. Griffin graduated with the first honors of his class at Yale College, in 1*790, became a member of the Church in Derby in the Spring of 1*792, and having pursued his theological studies under the di- rection of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, son of the first Pres- ident Edwards, at New Haven, was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Association of New Haven West, on the 31st of October, 1*792. On the 10th of No- vember following, he preached his first sermon, and having supplied several pulpits for a larger or shorter period, in New Salem, Farmington, Middlebury, and other places, in one of which he received and accepted a call, but did not actually settle, he was ordained as pastor of the Church in New Hartford, June 4, 17,95. On the iHh of May, 1*796, he was married to Frances Huntington, daughter of Kev. Joshua Huntington, D. D., of Coventry, and adopted daughter of her uncle. Gover- nor Samuel Huntington, of Norwich, Connecticut. He remained in New Hartford, carrying on the work of the ministry with great success, till some time in the year 1800, when he took a journey on account of his wife's health, and spent the winter following in the INSTALLATION IN NEWARK. 265 vicinity of Newark. The people of Orange, wliere he preached during a part of this period, and where fifty persons were added to the Church under his ministra- tions, were desirous of inviting him to become their pas- tor, but on the reception of a call from the First Church in Newark, his pastoral relation to the Church in New Hartford was dissolved, and he was installed as col- league pastor with Dr. Macwhorter, by the Presbytery of New York, on the 20th of October, 1801, in the thirty-second year of his age. Dr. Macwhorter pre- sided. Dr. McKnight preached a sermon from 2 Cor. ii: 16, the last clause, and Dr. Eodgers gave the charge to the people.* Dr. Griffin took the charge of this congregation in the full spirit of a new era in the Church's history, which he fully l^elieved began to dawn about the time of his entrance upon the ministry, and was des- tined to culminate only in the meridian of millenial glory. This belief he lost no opportunity of express- ing in the strongest terms. "In the year 1792," said he, " three series of events commenced, which needed not a fourth to fill the earth with the knowledge of glory of the Lord. First, the series of missionary and charitable efforts. The first missionary society in modern times was established that year, in Kittering, in England. Secondly, the series of revivals of reli- gion. The first in this continuous succession, com- menced that year. I had the privilege of witnessing it myself, and know assuredly that no intermission has * Minutes of the Presbytery of New York. 266 ANIMATING PRESAGES. occurred from that day to tliis. Thirdly, the series of judgments intended to destroy the nations which had given their power and strength to the beast." " These three series," said he, in 181 Y, "have been widening and rising higher during every year." That year, " 1*792," was a year from which to reckon dates in his computations of the progress of rehgion, all his life. You might know the year of our Lord, in which many of his most celebrated public discourses were written, from the number of years, mentioned as having passed since the commencement of the great and glorious change which seemed to fill all his anticipations. Add the number mentioned to the number 1*792, and you have uniformly the exact date in the ordinary compu- tation. The consideration of this fact, as it seems to me, is indispensible to a correct understanding of the true character of this illustrious man's career as a Christian minister. This belief acting upon a lively imagination, an enthusiastic temperament, a powerful intellect and an affectionate and devoutly pious heart, is the true key to many of the peculiar excellencies, and to what some may be disposed to mention as the peculiar de- fects of his character and actions. It nerved his strength, it fired his eloquence, it animated his hopes anew, when his heart would otherwise have sunk under discouragement, it made him bold in discarding obsolete customs, and regardless of trifling difficulties, in carrying into effect what he considered as the best measures for the conversion of men, and the advance- ment of the kingdom of Christ. In the ardor of ANIMATING PRESAGES. 26*7 youthful inexperience, it may have sometimes led him to place too low an estimate upon the labors of those who went before him. It»ted him to speak of his own history and experience ; not " so much in the spirit of self exaltation, as in order to testify in the ears of all men, to what his own eyes had seen of the wonder- ful works of God. The present is not the time or the place to discuss the correctness of this belief, nor to show how it came to pass that the hopes of those good men that shared it have experienced a degree of disappointment. Un- questionable it is, that the period to which it had reference, was distinguished by a most remarkable series of efforts, having in view the spread of the gos- pel through the world ; and a most remarkable series of religious impulses in which, from place to place, the Spirit of God seemed marching in his strength, and pouring out without measure his converting influences. With these impulses Dr. Griffin's whole ministry was in an eminent degree identified. His own new birth lay among the very beginnings of them, and one of the earliest decisive manifestations of their power, as he supposed, was in his own father's house. " I saw the darkness," said he, "before the dawn." "I saw the field of death before the bones began to move." No sooner did he begin to preach, than converts began to be numbered by hundreds. This was the case in New Salem, when he was preaching there before his ordination. It was the case in East Hartford during his ministry of five years in that place, and in Orange, 268 EELIGIOFS EXPEEIENCES. where lie spent tlie winter just before his invitation to Newark. Nor was the case different after he became the pas- tor of this Church. His ministry here, though barren of external incidents, was exceedingly rich in spiritual fruits. I have already spoken of a revival of religion, which occurred during the next year after he entered upon his pastoral duties. It continued two years, and about a hundred and thirty persons were in conse- quence of it added to the Church on profession, of whom one hundred were received in the course of twelve months. We shall notice other cases of the same kind as we proceed. In the Spring of 1803, Dr. Griffin's own mind was the subject of some memorable religious experiences. " As I was walking in the streets of Newark," says he, " pondering upon my sins, a flash of light came across my mind, sending home a conviction of sin which in- stantly deprived me of hope. The following dialogue then took place with myself: "Well, go to Christ as you direct others to do. But He is away beyond the hiEs, and I cannot get to hiiH. Well, ask Him to bring you to him. But the prayers of the unregen- erate cannot ascend above the clouds. I have nothing to stand upon to begin." " I felt then," says he, " to- tally undone, helpless and hopeless. I died then as Paul did on the plains of Damascus. Instantly the scene changed. I was composed in a moment, and seemed to lie down at God's feet, and rest every issue on His will without a struggle." "This," he said, speaking of the case long afterwards, " I have learned INTERVIEW WITH EICHAEDS. 26'9 from the reflections of seven and twenty years, to call tlie dernier resort." Tlie event changed the whole character of his exj)eriences and preaching, and made them permanently, as he declares, " more full of Christ." About this time Dr. Griffin was in the habit of making preaching tours in the neighborhood of New- ark, and even to a considerable distance in the sur- rounding region, leaving the pulpit, 1 presume for the time, in the care of his venerable colleague. In one of these excursions, he met with Mr. Richards, who sub- secpiently became his successor, and with him spent the night in pleasant and mutually profitable religious conversation. Mr. Griffin expressed doubts as to his own piety, and lamented that he always found it diffi- cult for him to feel that he deserved eternal punish- ment. Richards replied, that Christians obtain this sense hy seeing that God is so unspeakably lovely, that no conceivable punishment is great enough for sinning against Him ; and that he had himself seen God's holiness, purity and justice to be so glorious, that it appeared that if men should never commit an outward sin, they would deserve to be eternally damned for not lovinsj him." In the course of this conversation. Griffin obtained a new view of the divine holiness, its "purity, grandeur, aAvfulness and sweetness." " I saw," says he " that I had been search- ing for deliverance on the wrong side of the room, in seeking a sense of the evil of sin, from examining what I had done, rather than what God is." Then they turned to discourse upon the atonement. Griffin again unburdened his heart, and spoke of a difficulty he had 2t0 THE PAESONAGE HOUSE. found in apprehending Christ as a proper substitute. Whereupon Richards disclosed to him a distressing conflict which he had formerly had on that point, and which was cjuieted by a transporting view of Hebrews vii: 26; "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." At this, the agitation of Griffin's mind become relieved, and he fell asleep. " "When I awoke," he adds, " that same glorious High Priest was before me, just as He is expressed in He- brews vii: 26." Such was the early Christian inter- course of these two eminent brethren in the ministry, whose labors in the capacity of sower and reaper in the same field, were destined to mingle their results in the world of blessedness. And what influence even this casual conversation may have had, in shaping the character, and determining the eternal state of hun- dreds in this congregation, will be known only by the disclosures of the last day. The present parsonage house, on Mulberry street, was built about this time, for the accommodation of the junior pastor and his family. The old one was a stone building of two stories high, and stood upon the west side of Broad street, a little below the corner of William street. The date of its erection I have not been able to determine. The land on which the present house stands was purchased of the Rev. Aaron Burr, about the time he left Newark, and up to the time now referred to, had been used as a pasture for cattle. In the days of Mr. Griffin and his immediate successors, the grounds about the house were exten- EEVIVAL OF 180Y. 271 sive, and the garden spacious. The house was first occupied in the summer of 1804, of which event I find the following notice in the pastor's journal, in the form of a prayer for the divine blessing : " O God, may this new habitation be the scene of peace and of heavenly communion for years to come. Here, in retirement from the world, may we cultivate the sweets of do- mestic enjoyment and the calm delights of religion, while we enjoy the innocent amusements of the gar- den, and contemplate the beauty of Thy works," The garden alley in which he was accustomed to walk, he endeavored to consecrate, as he tells us, to divine med- itation.* During the ministry of Mr. Griffin, as in that of his predecessors, there was no Sabbath School, and no lecture room for the accommodation of week day meetings. The pastor catechised the children in the church, in school houses, or at their homes, and prayer meetings were held in similar circumstances. The weekly evening lecture had not then been established. In the Spring of 1807 commenced a very powerful effusion of divine influences. A deep impression had been made upon the congregation, by the death of Dr. Macwhorter, and it was confirmed and made more intense through the labors of the Rev. Gideon Black- burn, who preached here several times with great ear- nestness. Nothing extraordinary appeared however, till early in September. The Friday previous to the administration of the Lord's Supper, was observed as * Several large trees now standing on are a venerable weeping willow in front of the parsonage ground, are said to have the house, and a tall and partly decayed been set out by Dr. Griffin, Among them magnolia tree in the garden. 272 EEVIVAL OF 180T. a day of special fasting and prayer, in which the con- gregation at Orange joined. The attendance on the meeting on that occasion was unusually full, and the ser\dces of the Sabbath were peculiarly solemn. The next morning, as appears from the account given by Judge Boudinot, in almost every house into which the pastor entered in making his customary visits, the family appeared like Cornelius of old, ready to receive the word of truth, and soon melted into tears. " It was not long," says the same eminent authority, " be- fore the blessed work pervaded every part of the so- ciety. No age was exempted. We have had instances of persons, between sixty and eighty, some of whom had led moral lives, and trusted they were going to heaven, who were brought to see that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." God also in his sovereign mercy, was pleased to ordain praise from the mouth of infants. The pas- tor maintained frequent lectures during the week, be- sides meetings of private societies in different parts of the village. His pastoral visitations were frequent, and productive of signal benefit. "This work," said he, " in point of power and stillness, exceeds all that 1 have ever seen." Judge Boudinot testified to the same fact. " Although our church has been crowded," says he, " I have frequently shut my eyes for the experiment, and I should not have known that there was a person in the house but the sj^eaker and myself, from any thing I heard." " Our opposers," he adds, " have been outrageous. Some have attributed it to human means, although I believe there never was an awakening in DR. GEIFriN's REMOVAL. 2^3 whicli there was less reason for Jiuman boasting or pride to rest upon. Our blessed Saviour seemed to take tbe work into His own liauds, to wear tlie crown and receive all tke glory." Among tlie means of carrying on tlie work of piety, in use at this time, was a society of Christian laymen, formed just at the beginning of the events referred to, for the purpose of united prayer for the Divine blessing on the labors of the pastor, and called, in al- lusion to the uj)holding of Moses's hands during the war with Amalek, " the Aaron and Hur Society." Nor was the sacred influence confined to a single congrega- tion. It was felt in Orange and Newark at the same time, and during the month of March, 1808, ninety- seven persons joined the Church in Newark, and seventy-two that in Orange. The v/hole number added to this Church in consequence of that revival is sup- posed to be between one hundred and fifty and two hundred persons. But Dr. Griffin's ministry in this Church, recent as it was, was now drawing to a close. As early as the year 1805, he had been invited to leave his post, for the purpose of taking charge of the First Reformed Dutch Church in Albany ; but that call, though it cost him no little doubt and perplexity, he at length judged it his duty to decline. But now, two invitations, hav- ing both peculiar claims, pressing themselves simulta- neously upon his attention — the one to the chair of Pulpit Eloquence in the Theological Seminary in An- dover, and the other to become the stated preacher in the new church in Park street, Boston — the path of 18 274 FAEEWELL SERMON. duty seemed plain ; and, Having first obtained the con- sent of liis people, lie was released from his pastoral charge in April, 1809, and took a solemn leave of his flock in a farewell sermon on the 28th of May follow- ing. The text, from which he preached on this occa- sion, was Acts XX : 32 — "And now, brethren, I com- mend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is aljle to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." " I had hoped," he says, " to be permitted to go hand in hand with you to the grave, to attend some of my brethren in their chambers of death, to die at last in your arms, to be buried among my dear Church, and to rise with them in the resurrection. One year ago, I thought nothing but death could divide us. But God had a different purpose. You have seen it, and owned it, and submitted to it, Avith a spirit of meekness which has done honor to your Chiistian profession. Through the whole of this trial, you have given me no other reproaches but your tears. From you, as a congrega- tion, I have never received a single act of unkindness. On the contrary, you have protected me when I have been assailed ; you have spread yourselves before me as a shield ; you have carried me in your arms to the throne of grace. If I forget this kindness, let my right hand forget its cunning." During the eight years of his ministry in this con- gregation, less than two of which he was the sole pas- tor, sixty-two persons were received into the Church from other Churches, and three hundred and seventy- two on a profession of their faith. When he came SUBSEQUENT LIFE. 2T5 liere, the Churcli consisted of two liunclred and two members, one liiiudred and forty of whom were alive when he left it. During his ministry, the number had more than doubled, including, when he took his dis- mission, five hundred and twenty-two persons. The subsequent career of Dr. Griffin belongs to other histories than that of this congregation. But his old people did not forget him, nor he them, when he was removed from their connection. When the tongue of slander assailed him, in the high and perilous station to which he was transferred, they came warmly to his rescue, bore their testimony to the excellence of his character, assured him of their continued affection and confidence, reminded him of the calumnies which had been borne by other servants of Jesus, and even their Lord himself, and bade him not be discouraged, but set his face like a flint and hold out to the end. And when, in the providence of God, he returned to New- ark to occupy another pulpit and stand in other and somewhat delicate relations to them, both they and their new pastor maintained towards him the kindest feelings, and enjoyed with him the most fraternal in- tercourse. Dr. Griffin left Newark, May 29th, 1809, carrying with him five young men who had consecrated them- selves to the work of the ministry under his influence, and were now desirous of availing themselves of his instructions in his new sphere of service. He was in- augurated to the office of Professor in Andover, on ^ the 21st of June, and held that station two years, preaching at the same time on the Sabbath to the 376 DEATH OF DE. GEIFFIISr. cliiirch m Boston. But finding it impossible to fulfill the duties of both, offices, lie resigned Ms Professorsliip and was installed as pastor of tlie Park street Cliurcli, Boston, July 31st, 1811. In tlie summer of 1815, lie left Boston, and became tlie pastor of tlie Second Pres- byterian Churcli in this city, where he remained about six years. In October, 1821, he assumed the Presi- dency of Williams College, whose duties he discharged with eminent success about fifteen years. And now, the evening of life drawing on, he returned to Newark, to which he still looked amidst all his changes, as the home of his affections ; and, becoming an inmate of his eldest daughter's family,* he passed the little remnant of his days in domestic love and cheerfulness, and died in hope, November 8, 1837, in the 68th year of his age. His funeral sermon was preached in this house, by the Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York, to a very large assem- bly, and his remains lie, by the side of those of his ex- cellent wife, who went to her rest just before him, in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, on the borders of Newark. Dr. Griffin's chai'acter, both as a man and a minister, has been drawn by an able hand, and to that picture I * Since writing the above, I hare occa. acquaintance. Her piety was sinoere and sion to record the lamented death of this ferrent, and her works of benevolence un- excellent and accomplished lady. She was tiring. It was by efforts of Christian bom at Orange, N. J., April 4, 1801, and kindness in ministering to a dying stran- married at Williamstown, Mass., to Dr. ger that she contracted the disease which Lyndon A.Smith, Nov. 20, 1823. Removing closed her valuable life. Her funeral so- ■ffith her husband to Newark in 1827, she lemnities were attended in the house soon after connected herself with the First where she had so long been accustomed Presbyterian Church, of which she contin- to worship, and a numerous concourse of ued a devoted and eminently useful mem- friends testified by their tears how greatly ber till her decease, Jan. 11, 1852. The and how extensively she was beloved, genius and intellectual attainments of Mrs. Dr. Griffin left two daughters, the younger Smith were of a high order. Gentle, un- of whom married to the Rev. Robert assuming, warm-hearted, and uucensori- Crawford of North Adams, Mass., is still ous, she was eminently endeared to all her living. cnAEACTER OF DE. GEimisr. 277 must refer yon * He was a man of large stature, botli in body and mind, his person being in lieiglit six feet and three inches, and in every respect finely propor- tioned. His reasoning powers were acute, his imagina- tion soaring, his elocution impressive. In his habits of study and action, he was systematic and persevering, always endeavoring to perform well whatever he un- dertook. In the social circle, he was easy and com- panionable. In the ordinary intercourse of life, kind, generous, uncensorious and forgiving. He was simple- hearted and unsuspecting as a child ; and with a warm and sanguine temper, together with a much better un- derstanding of human nature in its broad general fea- tures, and of the ordinary avenues to the human heart and conscience, than knowledge of the ways of the world and the sophistries of artificial life, he sometimes adopted measures w^hich gave offence when he did not dream of it, and was exposed to uncharitable construc- tions in his most guileless and innocent actions. Hence he had some warm friends, and some bitter enemies. In his religious intercourse as a pastor, Dr. Grifiin had a remarkable facility. He attached great importance to pastoral visitations. I have already referred to his success in this department of service, during the great revival. Judge Boudinot speaks of it as having been more blessed than his public sermons. A distinguished manufacturer in this city,f who sat under his ministry while he was pastor of the Second Church, has told me that he used to insist on having all the apprentices * See memoir of Dr, GriflBn, by Dr. t William Rankin, Esq. Sprague, of Albany. 278 EEY. JAMES EICHAEDS. in his large establisliment called in, when he came to the house on a pastoral visit, and would converse spe- cially with them all, one after another, on the subject of personal religion. But it was in the pulpit, and as a preacher chiefly, that Dr. Griffin attained the highest eminence. His voice was remarkably flexible, and was j)erfectly under his own control. On the deep guttural tones, it thrilled you like the pedal notes of an organ ; yet it could soften, with perfect ease, to suit the sentiment to be expressed, into the gentlest and most soothing utterances. His style was free, not ex- act ; and though he wrote his discourses, his manner in the pulpit was unembarrassed, and his gestures fre- quent and eftective. There is said to have been great inequality in his ordinary discourses, as indeed there is in those which have been given to the public. But his preaching was ever glowing with di\dne truth earnestly expressed, and in his best efforts there was much to justify even the strong expression which has been ap- plied to him — " the prince of American preachers." The removal of Dr. Grriffin from Newark, in 1809, did not leave the flock to which he had ministered, without a shepherd. Already his successor was on the ground with his family, and prepared to assume the charge as soon as he should relinquish it. The Rev. James Richards was the next pastor of this Church. He was born at New Canaan, Conn., October 29, l^GT. He was the son of James Richards, a farmer of excellent character, and a descendant of Samuel Richards, who came to this country from "Wales, during the reign of Queen Anne. His mother ^ V >'9 / ^/t ,£i' >■ -i^^ ME. EICHAEDS'S EAELY LIFE. 279 was Rutli Hanford, a most excellent Christian woman, and j)ecnliarly skilled, it is said, iii the management of her children. She was a woman of vigorous intelleci, and many commanding as well as endearing qualities. James was the eldest of nine children ; feeble in body during his childhood, but remarkable even then for his fondness for study. When only thirteen years of age, he undertook the charge of a common district school, and with such success, as to secure the offer of the same post for the second time. It was his early wish to obtain a public education ; but as his father was not prepared to encourage and sustain the attempt, he ap^ prenticed himself at the age of fifteen to the business of cabinet and chair-making, together with house paint- ing, in which capacity he labored for a short time in a cabinet maker's shop in the city of New York. Mr. Richards had been religiously educated, 'and like Griffin, was the subject of deep religious impres- sions in his childhood. But at the age of nineteen, convictions of sin broke in upon him, as he relates, in the midst of mirth and levity. The pangs of his soul were very sharp for three days, after which he obtained relief in the apprehension of an all-suffi- cient Saviour, from reading the impressive sentiments of the thirty-eighth Psalm, as paraphrased by Dr. Watts. He was made to see, as he testifies, his own impotence, whereas before, he had been accustomed to suppose the whole matter of conversion was in his own hands ; and was alarmed in view of the enmity which he now felt in his heart towards God. But at length his heart melted, and the salvation which he before 280 MR. EICHAEDS'S EAELY LITE. hated became liis joy and liis song. " I was born an Arminian," said lie, " and lived an Arminian, but ob- stinate freewiller as I was, I was at lengtli brought to ' lick the dust ' at God's footstool, and accept of salva- tion by grace." Mr. Richards's own conversion was immediately fol- lowed by earnest efforts on his part for the conversion of others, and such was the zeal and fervor, with which he pursued this object, and especially the free- dom he displayed in speaking at meetings of confer- ence and prayer, that in the low state into which reli- gion had at that day fallen in his native region, it excited some surprise, and was the occasion of many remarks. He united with the Church in Stamford, Conn., on the l7th of September, 1786, and immediately began to look forward with strong desires to the work of the Christian ministry. With many discouragements and interruptions, he completed his preparatory studies through the assistance of two excellent female relatives, and entered Yale College in the year 1789. But, at the close of his freshman year, his studies were inter- rupted, first by want of pecuniary means, which com- pelled him to leave College, and afterwards by severe illness; so that, although his diligence and persever- ance overcame most of the obstacles of a private edu- cation, he did not go through College with his class, but received his degree of Bachelor of Arts out of course, in the year 1794. In the year 1793, he was li- censed to preach the gospel by an association in Fair- field county, Connecticut, and having preached for a MESriSTEY AT MOKEISTOWN. 281 time in Wilton, and tlien in Ballston, Shelter Island and Sag Harbor, lie commenced the work of the min- istry in Morristown in June, 1794, and was ordained as pastor of the Chnrch in that place, by the Presby- tery of New York, on the first of May, 1*795. Dr. Macwhorter preached the ordination sermon, from Acts XX : 24. Dr. Rodgers presided, and Mr. Austin gave the charge to the people. About the time when he received license to preach, young Richards, it is said, passed through Newark, and called at the parsonage with an introduction to Dr. Macwhorter. But, being a stranger, somewhat diffident and little used to society, his manners, it is likely, did no justice to his real character. Dr. Mac- whorter seemed to regard him with little favor, sub- jected him to a rather severe examination, spoke some- w^hat sternly of his apprehended deficiencies, and sent him away with a discouraged and sorrowful heart. It was his testimony, however, in later life, as I am told, that the inter\^ew, trying as it was, did him good, and was a lesson to him in regard to his future intercourse with young men. The ministry of Mr. Richards in Morristown was signally successful. It was a difficult and laborious station, but his diligence and wisdom surmounted all obstacles, and the excellences of his character secured for him universal love and respect. In three memora- ble instances, his labors were attended with peculiar manifestations of Divine influence, first in the year ITOI, again in 1803 and '4, and lastly, in a manner more remarkable than in either of the former in- 282 EEMOVAL TO ISTEWAEK. stances, in 1808. In the last instance, between seventy and eighty persons were converted, w^ho united with the Church in that and the following year. • Meanwhile, the expenses of Mr. Richards's family were increasing, and his salary had become inadequate to supj^ly their wants. Many of the people saw this, and acknowledged it, and several attempts were made to remedy the evil, but without success. This result was a severe trial to him. It mortified him exceeding- ly, and at first preyed upon his spirits. But he wisely resolved not to dwell upon the dark side of the pic- ture, but to give himself anew to the duties of his ministry, to serve God and his peoj^le with all his strength, and wait for the further movements of God's providence. Nor did he want long. The applications which were made to him, after the removal of Dr. Griffin, to take the charge of the Church in Newark were urgent, and sustained by what appeared strong reasons. The people of Morristown came to the res- cue, by providing cheerfully for an increase of his sal- ary. But it was too late. Other reasons had come to light in favor of his removal ; he had already given the people here some encouragement ; and, when a call was unanimously offered him, the path of w^isdom and duty seemed plain, and, with the consent and appro- bation of the Presbytery, he accepted it, and his con- nection with the Church in Morristown was dissolved. Mr. Richards was installed as pastor of this Church on the Tth of June, 1809. Dr. Romeyn, of New York, preached the sermon, from Acts xxiv: 24, 25. Dr. Rowe presided and gave the charge, and Dr. Miller, of PEESBYTERY OF JERSEY. 283 Princeton, gave tlie exliortation to the people. It ap- pears, from an entry in Lis journal, that tlie perform- ances were peculiarly excellent and appropriate, and were heard with no small degree of feeling, and with universal approbation. "It was under a strong con- viction of duty," he records, " that I took leave of my people at Morristown and accepted the call to this peo- ple. The Lord grant that I may not be left to myself" He delivered his introductory sermon on the 12th of June, from I. Corinthians, iv: 1, 2. A few months after the installation of Dr. Richards, viz., on the 14th of November, 1809, the Presbytery of New York, with which this Church had been con- nected ever since its formation in 1738, a period of seventy-one years, was divided into two, by erecting a portion of its Churches into a new Presbytery bearing the old name, and changing the name of the remaining portion, of which this Church was one, into "The Presbytery" of Jersey." Its first meeting under the new arrangement, was held in Morristown, April 24th, 1810.* The First Church had been hitherto, during nearly a century and a half, the only Presbyterian Church in * The Presbytery of Jersey was not a constituted a Presbytery by the name of new body, but the Presbytery of New the Presbytery of New York, &c. Besolved York under a new name; and that, as further. That the remaining part of the I have already had occasion to notice, was Presbytery of New York be hereafter a continuation of the ancient Presbytery knowu by the name of the Presbytery of of East Jersey, formed in the year 1733. Jersey.' Whereupon, Rtsdved, That as This the record shows. " The following the present Moderator is one of the mem- extract from the Minutes of Synod was bers set off to the nnv Presbytery, Mr. received and read : ' That so much of the Hillyer be appointed Moderator of this Presbytery of New York as lies on the Presbytery to come into office on the cast side of Uudson river, Ac, and so second Tuesday in January next." Se« much of the Presbytery of New York as Minutes of I'res. of Jersey, lies west of Ilampstead Plains, &c., be 284 PLAT?" FOR NEW CHUECHES. tlie town of Newark, except those of Orange and Bloomfielcl, wliicli liad now become separate towns. But tlie time had come, when the need of greater facilities for the accommodation of a large and growing population, was manifest to all. Accordingly, as early as the Spring of 1809, about the time of Dr. Griffin's dismission, the business of church extension was entered uj)on with commendable zeal and enter- prise. At a meeting of the congregation, held in this house, April 8th, incipient steps were taken to that effect, and a large committee was " aj^pointed to draw a plan. The committee reported at an adjourned meeting, on the 18th of the same month. Whereupon " it was resolved, that, from this congregation, a separate and distinct congregation should be set off, and meas- m^es taken to invest it with all the powers and privi- leges of a body politic." For the encouragement and promotion of the design, it was also resolved, that when the new congregation should have become incor- porated and have built a meeting house, not less than fifty feet by seventy on its base, in a good and substan- tial manner, and should have called and settled a min- ister, this conQ:re2:ation would convev to them, with 7 */ / the reserve only of their own house of worship and the land occupied by it, two-sevenths of their real es- tate for the support of the gospel forever. At the same time, as it was plainly j)erceived that the day was not far distant when even this j^i'O'^'ision would be insufficient to meet the wants of a rapidly increasing population, the congregation proceeded, with a liberality and forethought which can not be too PLAN FOR NEW CHURCHES. 285 mucli admired, to agree that whenever it should be deemed advisable to establish a third Church, the same 2:)ro visions, subject to the same conditions, should be made for the furtherance of that enterprise. Some difference of opinion seems to have existed at this time, as to the place where the second Church should be located ; the people both in the north and the south end of the town claiming the preference. To accommodate this disj^ute, it was determined by vote of the majority, that the people of the south end should have the first opportunity ; jprovided, however, that if they should not proceed immediately to the erection of a house of worship, and have the walls raised " as high as the water table" within six months from the date of the resolution, the obligation to divide the pro23erty in their favor should be void ; and that thereupon the people of the north end might commence the work, with the promise of the same privileges, provided they should have advanced to the same point, in the course of nine months from the close of the first period. Accordingly, the people in the south part of th« town commenced the work, and, by the end of the time sj^ecified, had fulfilled the conditions on which they were entitled to the first claim. But just at that point, the zeal of the people in that neighborhood was diverted into another channel, the enterprise was sus- pended, the design failed, and the materials which had been collected were at length dispersed. After waiting through the remainder of that year, the people in the north part of the town began to make arrangements for building a Church in theii* own 286 SEC02q"D prespytepjan chuPwCH. neigliborliood. The corner-stone of the present Second Presbyterian Chiircli was laid on the iTth of June, 1810, by the Rev. Samuel Whelpley ; and, the edifice having ])een completed and dedicated, the Trustees chosen, and the Rev. Hooper Gumming, son of one of the leading members of the new congregation and a former pupil of Dr. Griffin at Andover, ordained and installed, ninety-three persons were dismissed in a body with recommendations from this Church, on the 9th of October, 1811, and organized into a new Church on the 8th of November following. The conditions of the resolutions of 1809 being now fulfilled, on the part of the Second Church, this con- gregation deemed themselves obligated to fulfill their part of the engagement; but, as the division of the real estate between the two congregations seemed not expedient at that time, a temporary arrangement was agreed upon, by which, instead of the two-sevenths of the whole real estate, which had been pledged, one- third of the whole income should be annually set apart for the second congregation. The w^hole transaction, which resulted in the estab- lishment of the Second Presbyterian Church, took place with the entire approbation, and was forwarded by the active assistance of Dr. Richards. At the ser- vice of organization, he delivered an address, founded on the Avords of Hebrews xiii : 1 — " Let brotherly love continue ;" in which he afiectionately and solemnly re- minded the persons about to be embodied, of their ob- ligations to God and one another, and exhorted them, with special earnestness, to the exercise of brotherly FIR^T SABBATH SCHOOL. 287 love. For a little time, as I am informed, tlie two pas- tors exercised a sort of joint ministry in tlie two con- gregations, officiating in eacli other's pulpit in tlie after- noon of every Sabbath ; but this arrangement being found on the whole undesirable, was soon abandoned. During the ministry of Mr. Richards, the first Sab- bath School in this congregation was established, under the superintendeucy, as I am told, of Moses Lyon, and held its meetings, for a time, in the gallery of the church. The first lecture-room, a low brick building, much smaller than the present one, and standing on the same spot, was erected in the year 1813.''' The present pulpit was l)uilt in the year 1818 ; and the old one, a small octagonal structure, standing separate from the wall at a distance of several feet, and surmounted by a " sounding board," was j^resented to the Presby- terian Church in Paterson. Dr. Richards' ministry, especially the early part of it, seems to have been hardly less fruitful in conver- sions than that of his i:>redecessor. About the close of the first year, a few were gathered into Christ's fold under its influence. But, between the years 1812 and 1813, there w\as a very marked revival of God's work. It commenced, as we are informed by his journal, in the early part of the winter. The first Sabbath in January was a day of peculiar solemnity. In the ad- ministration of the Lord's Suj^per, the declining atfec- tions of professed Christians seemed greatly revived. * There is a vote of the Trustees, bear- purpose of lecturing, prayer meetings, &c., ing date April IG, which thus refers to the resolved that this Board aid and assist in proposition: " The Sessions being desir- the same." ous of having a large room erected for the 288 EEYIVALS. Some souls, lie records, liave been a^^akened, and others have found joy and peace in believing. The next day intelligence came that, both in the Second Church and in the Church at Elizabethtown, a similar manifestation of God's presence had been enjoyed. The coincidence seemed to predict the happiest results. An extract from the same journal, under date of Feb- ruary 6th, shows the power and progress of the Heav- enly influence. " More than seventy persons appear now under serious im]3ressions, and asking the way to Zion. About fifteen are entertaining hopes of being converted, several of the cases striking, and affording a delightful prospect." On the 28th of February, twelve persons were propounded as candidates for church membership ; and at the communion in March following, thirteen were admitted on profession of their faith. At the same time, about the same number are spoken of as indulging the hope that they had recently been born again, and about ninety as still under strong religious impressions. The means of describmg this and other similar spiritual harvests, which were enjoyed about this period, are, unhappily, exceedingly scanty. There was one, more remarkable than any of its pre- decessors, between the years 1816 and 1817, among the fruits of which, sixty-nine were added to the Church at one time ; and the number received during nine months amounted to one hundred and thu'ty-five. When Dr. Eichards first took the charge of the con- gregation, the number of communicants was about 530, and, in the course of fourteen years, 556 were added to it — 332 by profession, and 227 by certificates PEEVALENCE OF INTEMPEEANCE. 289 from other cliurclies — making, in all, 1086 to wliom, in tlie course of that period, he statedly administered the sacred ordinances. During his ministry, the Church contained the largest number of communicants that ever belonged to it at one time, viz., about seven hun- dred, and that, notwithstanding the dismission of the large colony that united in the formation of the Second Church. It is said to have been, at the time referred to, viz., about the year 1817, the largest Presbyterian Church in the United States, except the First Church in Philadelphia. Six young men connected with it were, during Dr. Richards's ministry, licensed to preach the gospel. But, even this bright picture of spiritual success, has its reverse. The occasions for church discipline, during the ministry of Dr. Kichards, were very numerous. About thirty cases stand on record, as having occurred within the first seven years — chiefly for the sin of in- temperance. That desolating pestilence, which s]3read so fearfully among the people of our country about that period, and seemed to threaten the destruction both of social order and the Church of God, diffused its noxious influences into this favored communion. But nobly did the pastor and Session meet the demands of the alarming exigency. A very considerable por- tion of their time, for several years, must have been taken up in attending to cases of this sort. About forty persons w^ere, during Dr. Richards's ministry, sol- emnly deprived of church privileges for unchristian conduct ; and death and removals in various ways, had 19 290 DISCOUEAGING APPEAEANCES. reduced tlie number, at the time when he resigned his charge, to about five hundred and twenty. The latter 2:)art of this period appears to have been a season of unusual discouragement and religious de- clension. Accordino; to a statement of Dr. Richards himself, during the two years which preceded his dis- mission, only seven persons were received into the Church ; and, during five years, although the congrega- tion was so large, only thirty made profession of their faith, and many of these were but the gleanings of former revivals.'^ He speaks of the Church, in an ad- dress delivered at a church meeting on the 23d of July, 1823, as having had already " an awful sifting ;" " while the train seems to be laid," he continues, " to sift it still more. It is distressing to look within the precincts of the Ohurch, and let the eye pass round from one to another. It is dark as night to look with- out, and notice the state of the congregation and the town." The address to which I have referred, appears to have been designed to stir the consciences of the congregation, by presenting the dark side of the pic- ture in its darkest shades. But Dr. Hichards was not a man to exaggerate facts, even for the sake of doing good ; though his sorrowful remembrance of the brighter days, and keen desire for their return, might make the present seem darker, comparatively, in his eye, than it would have seemed to a less interested ob- server. But Providence had now other work for him to per- * From the same statement I learn that receired into the Second Church, within the same period only ten had been EEMOVAL OF DE. EICHAEDS. 291 form, in another and still more responsible station. By his constant devotion to study, lie had made large attainments in theological knowledge ; and by his care- ful and discreet management of affairs entrusted to him, public and private, he had acquired a reputation which marked him as one of the first men in the Church, in respect to qualifications for the head of a theological institution. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1823, having been a second time solicited to take the professorship of theology in Auburn Theological Seminary, he accepted the appointment, and having resigned his charge here, was inaugurated to that oflice October 29th, 1823 ; having served this congrega- tion in the ministry a little more than fourteen years, and just commenced the fifty-seventh year of his age. | It does not belong to us to trace his life and services after he left Newark. He took the chai'ge of the Sem- inary when under great ' embarrassment. He left it strong and prosperous. Having fully answered the expectations of its most sanguine friends, and attained a rank second to none among theological teachers, he died in his 76th year, full of honors, August 2, 1843. The character of Dr. Hichards, as well as that of Dr. Griffin, has bern drawn with skill and discrimina- tion, by those who knew him well, and had access to the best means of judging.^ It will not be necessary for me to do more than glance at some of its most ob- vious features. His most distinguishing traits were ejs"- EEGY, SAGACITY and PIETY. His early youth illustrates * See '• Bii'g:rM])hical Skptch" by Rev. indebted in compiling the abore account Samuel II. Gridley, to which I am largely of Dr. R.'s ministry. 292 CHAKACTER OF DR. RICHARDS. well tlie quiet and indomitable perseverance with wMcli lie pursued an object on wliicli lie had deliberately fixed his purpose. But for this feature of his character, he would never have emerged from the farm or mechanic's shop, much less have surmounted all the obstacles which hedged up his way to the attainment of a liberal education. The same quality was displayed in all his theological studies, and in all his public and private enterprises. His reputation for sagacity is well under- stood by those who remember his ministry here. He seldom, if ever, made a serious mistake in judgment, in respect either to characters or events. Hence, he was often resorted to for counsel, not only by his own people, but by his brethren in the ministry, and all classes of his acquaintance. To the combination of these two traits of character may be referred the firm- ness which always distinguished him in trying cir- cumstances. His sagacity made him clear and con- fident in his judgments. He saw the right way early, and had no occasion therefore either to waver or re- cede. His energy made him fearless of opposition, and determined to carry out his convictions, whatever difficulties might betide him. Hence the justness of the observation said to have been made of him by an intimate acquaintance : " To a steady opposition, he was the most impracticable man I ever knew." And hence the confidence expressed on one occasion, and doubtless felt on many, when he was known to have enlisted in an enterprise, " Then it will go ! It will go !" Dr. Eichards was never a party man, never an extreme man; and yet, with all his moderation, he PARALLEL BETWEEN EICHAEDS AISTD GEIFFIlSr. 293 was pre-eminently a decided man. Violent combatants sometimes murmured, tliat they could not fix him upon either side ; yet lie could fix himself, and knew his own position ; and neither the one or the other found it easy to push him to the wall. The piety of Dr. Richards was ardent, constant, unpretending, and emi- nently sincere. He walked with God, and amidst all the agitations and enticements of the world, had his heart above it. The names of Richards and Griffin both fill a high place on the records of the Church. Both were, in their day, among the greatest lights of the Christian ministry. And yet it would be difficult to find two such illustrious peers, occupying the same ground and conversant with the same scenes and events, in whom, with so many points of beautiful resemblance, there are so many others of striking and as beautiful con- trast. Look only at their countenances — their per- sons; they are princes, both of them — tall, stately, majestic — yet how very diiferent seems the style of their majesty. In the characteristics of their minds and courses of action, we find the same combined har- mony and diversity. Both were eminent as joreachers. Richards, says Frelinghuysen, was sound, practical, in- structive, often eloquent. Griffin, we may rejoin, was always eloquent, and when instruction was his special aim, eminently instructive. From the one, you would be likely to receive the most deep and soul-thrilling impressions of truth ; from the other, the most precise and accurate explanations of its nature and bearings. S94 PAEALLEL BETWEEN EICHAEDS AND GErFFEST. Griffin used language rhetorically, and of course some- times loosely. Richards was anxious to express his exact thought and shade of thought, whatever else he might sacrifice. Griffin's style was sometimes too ornate ; Richards's occasionally too homely. Both wrote and re-wrote their best productions ; Richards with reference to being understood, and Griffin in or- der to produce a better and stronger effect. In respect to the excellence of theu' performances, Richards might be said to occupy a high table-land, where he expatiated with the stride of a giant, — never soaring, never descending. Griffin ascended peaks not reached by ordinary mortals, yet sometimes slumbered in the vales, distinguished only by the still lingering glow caught above in his more favored moments. In accom- plishing the object of their efforts, both were eminently successful ; the one carried the garrison by storm, the other could maintain a long siege and starve the enemy out of his strong-holds. In their intercourse with mankind. Griffin was simple-hearted and unsuspecting ; Richards wary, far-reaching, and on the alert. The one was easily circumvented by the arts of the hostile ; the other never committed himself to any man, and always saw and could defeat the most cunning strata- gem. To use his own expression, as related to me by an acquaintance, he cut the cords by which they man- aged their machines so far off, that they could not tell where to find the ends, and so could not tie them again. The memory of both these men will long be cherished in the community where they ministered, SYNOD OF NEW JERSEY. 295 first in succession, and then side by side in lo\dng brotlierliood. This Church could not have spared the gifts and services of either of them. Richards, I ap- prehend, has left his impress on the character of the people the more deeply of the two ; but then his min- istry was nearly twice as long as that of his predeces- sor. Griffin was instrumental in bringing into the Church the larger numbers, in proportion to the time ; but then, as he observed, he was here in harvest time, whereas his brother who followed him, came " in the fall of the year." In theological views, both occupied nearly the same position, — that of New England di- vines of the old school — the school of Edwards, and Bellamy, and Smalley, and Dwight. .Both were earnest revivalists, yet strenuously opposed to all fanaticism and wild-fire. Both used the gifts which God had given them to the same end — ^the glory of Christ — and the dissemination of the knowledge of Him crucified. I have now come with you, my friends, to the period when the history of the illustrious dead gives place to that of those who are still living and acting on the stage of life. The time has not come to speak of their character or estimate the results of their labors. I will simply mention a few general facts belonging to the succeeding period, and then bring my narrative to a close. The same year in which Dr. Richards was dismissed, the Synod of New York and New Jersey was divided. The old Synod including the Presbyteries of Hudson, North River, New York and Long Island, took the 296 EEV. WILLIAM T. HAMILTOIST. name of New Yor\ and a new one was constituted, consisting of the Presbyteries of Jersey, New Bruns- wick, Newton and Susquehanna, and taking the name of the Synod of New Jersey. The first meeting of the Synod of New Jersey was held in the First Church of Newark on the 21st of October, 1823, at 10 o'clock, A. M., and was opened with a sermon by the Rev. John WoodhuU, D. D., of Freehold, from Phill. iii, 8. After sermon, and the organization of the body, the Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., was chosen Moder- ator, and the R^v. Geo. S. Woodhull and the Rev. John McDowell, were chosen Clerks.* With this Syn- od the Churches in Newark now became connected. The successor of Dr. Richards was the Rev. William T. Hamilton, an Englishman by birth, who received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from the Col- lege of New Jersey in the year 1825. After preach- ing to the congregation for a time, a large portion of them were disposed to invite him to become their pastor ; but yielding to the wishes of others of their number who were desirous of hearing another candi- date, they became divided in their preferences, and af- ter a violent struggle, in which the interference of the Presbytery became necessary, determined to separate and form a new congregation. For this purpose, a large number seceded, built a new house of worship, settled the Rev. Joshua T. Russell as their minister, and constituted what is now known as the Third Pres- byterian Church. The new organization took place in * Furnished from the Kecords, by the the Synod of New Jersey. Eev. Ravaud K. Rodgers, present Clerk of THIED PRESS YTEEIAN CHURCH. 297 the Session-room of tlie First Cliurch, from which its original members — 56 in number — ^had received certifi- cates of dismission for the j^urpose, on the 8th of June, 1824. The circumstances which led to this measure were infelicitous. But the measure itself was one for which the condition of the community had long been ripe. The old house of worship was crowded, and the con- gregation already overgrown. Dr. Richards had seen the need of a new church for a long time, but knew not how to effect the object ; and I atn told that, when one of the j^eople lamented the division in his presence, he expressed his satisfaction at the event, observing that what could not be brought about by peaceful means, had been accomplished by contention, and that the result was an occasion for thankfulness. That some kindly feeling prevailed, even in the midst of strife, is manifest from a vote of the Session, which I find on record, directing their clerk to inform the Session of the Third Church, that it would be "perfectly agreeable" that they should occupy the house of worship of the First Church, until their own should be completed, every Sabbath afternoon, unless circumstances should thereafter require some other ar- rangement ; and to proj^ose that the two congregations should alternately occupy the house for a third service on Sabbath evenings. On the 15th of November, 1824, seventy-two persons, members of the First Church, were dismissed and "affectionately recom- mended " to the fellowship of the Third Presbyterian 298 FINAL SETTLEMENT OF CKUECII PEOPERTY. Church in Newark, now under the pastoral care of Mr. Russell. The new Church, having fulfilled the conditions of the vote of 1809, providing prospectively for the es- tablishment of such a Church whenever it should be •deemed desirable, now presented their claim to the portion of the church property promised by that vote. The congregation of the First Church responded af- firmatively ; and, after some negotiations between the parties, respecting the precise amount to be appro- priated, two-sevenths of all the real estate owned in 1809, except the church and lecture-room and land oc- cupied by them, were set apart for their use. Meanwhile, the Trustees in their various divisions and appropriations of the property, had made no at- tempt to convey a j)ermanent title. It was supj)osed they had not the power. But as it now seemed de- sirable that a final settlement should be eftected, ap- plication was made to the Legislature of the State; and an act obtained, bearing date November 4, 1825, entitled " an act for the relief of the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church in Newark." This act, after setting forth the original source and intent' of the church property, and the apj)ropriations which had been made by the Trustees of the First Church " gra- tuitously," and " in pursuance of the wishes of the con- gregation," clothed the said Trustees with full power to make conveyance of the lands included in those appropriations to the several Churches mentioned therein, namely, Trinity Church in Newark ; the First Presbyterian Church in Orange, and the Second and PEESBYTERY OF NEWARK. 299 Third in Newark, according to tlie terms before agreed upon between tlie parties ; " the same to be held solely and forever for the support of the Gospel in the said congregations, or religious societies respectively, and for no other pur230se." The deeds of conveyance were accordingly ordered by the Board of Trustees, to the two first-named Churches, in August 1826, and to the others in the month of May following. Mr. Hamilton was invited to become the pastor of this Church, in pursuance of a vote of the congrega- tion at a meeting held on the 17th -of June, 1824, at which Dr. McDowel, of Elizabethtown, presided. His installation by the Presbytery of Jersey, took place on the 27 th of July in the same year. In the autumn of the year 1824, the Presbytery of Jersey, which had existed under that name fifteen years, was divided by the Synod of New Jerse}^, at its own request, into two Presbyteries, the Peesbyteet OF Newaek, and the Presbytery of Elizabethtown, of which the former held its first meeting at Jersey City, November 2, 1824. The property belonging to the old Presbytery, consisting of books, money for pur- poses of education, ring, he remained through the warm season ; and in the Autumn, having been advised by his physicians, that his health would again require him to spend the Winter in a warmer climate, he re- signed his pastoral charge, and was dismissed October 22, 1834. He was soon after settled in Mobile, Ala., where he still remains. The successor of Dr. Hamilton was the Rev. Ansel D. Eddy, a graduate of Union College in the class of 1817, and formerly the pastor of a Church in Canan- daigua, N. Y. Having received a unanimous call, he assumed the charge of the pulpit in the month of July, and was installed on the 11th of August, 1835. In the year 1838, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church became divided into two bodies both claiming its name and rights. J The Synod of * Records of Newark Presbytery, p. 346. I To state the causes of this unhappy + Records of Newark Presbytery, p. 373. separation, would require more space than 302 STisroD OF new toek and new jersey. New Jersey declaring its adherence to tlie one, and tlie Presbyteries of Newark and Montrose sending their commissioners to tlie other, the two Presbyteries were excluded from the Synod, the latter in October, 1838, and the formel' during the following year* Thereupon a new Synod was formed, called the Synod of Newark, which held its first meeting in this house, October 15th, 1839, and was opened by a sermon from the Rev. Dr. Hillyer, from Genesis xiii : T, 8, 9. The Rev. Barnabas King was chosen as its Moderator, In the following Spring, this Synod and that of New York were united in one body, and took the name of the Synod of New York and New Jersey. It held its first meeting in the city of New York, on the third Tuesday in October 1840, and the Rev. Dr. Fisher preached the opening sermon from 1 Cor. xv: 58 With this body the Church is still in connection. f can be given to it in the present narrative, the Presbytery of Newark be enjoined be- and the writer has no disposition to enter tween that time and the meeting of the into the mournful details. Both bodies General Assembly, 1839, to decide its adhere to the same standards of doctrine course in reference to the attendance of its and discipline. May they both learn "how Commissioners on the body claiming to be good and how pleasant it is for brethren the General Assembly of the Presbyterian to dwell together in unity " Church, and v?hicli convenfid iu (lie Fi.''st * The action of the Synod respecting the Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, in Presbytery of Newark, was as follows: May, 1838, and should that Presbytery Oct., 1838. "Resolved, That the Presby- send Commissioners," Ac, "and whereas, tery of Newark be enjoined between this the said Presbytery of Newark did send time and the next General Assembly, to Commissioners to the said Body, in May decide on its course iu regard to this sub- last, as appears by the printed Minutes of ject ; and if that Presbytery shall send said Body, therefore, by said act and res- Commissioners to the Body appointed to olution, the Presbytery of Newark is no meet ui Mav next, by the Body calling it- longer connected with this Synod." — Min- self the General Assembly, which met in utes for 1839, copied by tie present stated the First Presbyterian Church in May clerk, the Rev. R,. K. Rodgers. last, the .«aid Presbytery shall be consid- f See Minutes ; for extracts from which ered thenceforth as no longer in connec- I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev. lion with this Synod." — Minutes, p. 21. John N. Lewis, present stated clerk of the. 1839. "Whereas, the Synod at its last Synod of New York and New Jersey, meeting in Morristown, resolved, That NEW CHUECHES. 303 During the ministry of Dr. Eddy, tlie Second Free Presbyterian Cliurcli was formed. Seven persons were dismissed from tliis Cliurcli to assist in founding it, on the 24tli of May, 1836, and it was organized with about forty members. Its existence was of short duration. On the 31st of January, 1837, a commission of the Presbytery then in session, organized a new one, com- prising most of its members, together with others, which took the name of the Central Presbyterian Church, by which it is still known. The Rev. Charles Hoover was the same evening installed as its pastor. The services took place in this house, and Dr. Magie, of Elizabethtown, preached the sermon. The Rev. George C. Lucas, the present pastor, was installed in the summer of 1849. In the Spring of 1847, Dr. Eddy took a voyage to Europe, and was absent during the summer. Soon after his return, he resigned his charge, and was dis- missed by the Presbytery, February 22d, 1848. Before this time, several attempts had been made to organize another congregation, to meet the pressing wants of a growing community. In the course of the summer following the dismission of Dr. Eddy, seventy- two persons, fifty-nine at first, and nineteen afterwards, were dismissed from this Church to begin a new enter- prise under the direction and ministry of their former pastor. The Fifth Presbyterian, which has since changed its name by the direction of the Presbytery, to that of Park Presbyterian Church, was accordingly organized in Library Hall, on the 2d of April, 1848. The Rev. A. D. Eddy, D. D., was installed as its pastor, 304 NEW CHUKCHES. Jtine 1, 1848. The Rev. Jonatlian B. Condit, D. D., preached the sermon from Rom. xi: 13.; "I magnify my office."* During the year 1848, and subsequently, five per- sons were dismissed to aid in establishing the Sixth Presbyterian Church ; which was organized with thirty- six members, October 1, 1848. A commodious house of worship was erected for their use, and dedicated to the worship of God, December 26th, 1849. The Rev. William Aikman, its first pastor, was installed the same day. His brother, the Rev. Robert Aikman, preached from 1 Cor. i: 21. Another detachment of seven was sent out duriusi: the same year, to aid in forming the High street Pres- byterian Church, which was organized in the house of worship of the Third Church, with thirty-eight mem- bers, on the 16th of September, 1849. The Rev. Mr. Poor was installed as its first pastor, November Tth, 1849. The services took place in this house, and the sermon was preached by the Rev. George L. Prentiss, from 1 Cor. xiv: 20.f The present pastor took the charge of this pulpit, on the 28th of October, and was installed by the Presbytery of Newark, December 13th, 1849. The Rev. Henry B. Smith, Professor in Amherst College, j preached the sermon from Col. ii: 9. J * Its house of worship, of which the cor- J Since the settlement of the present ner stone was laid in the summer of 1849, pastor, two new Presbyterian Churches was completed and dedicated in the month have been organized ; the German Church, of August, 1851. by a commission from the Presbytery of + The dedication of its house of worship Newark, in the summer of 1852, and the a beautiful edifice of stone, took place in South Park Presbyterian Church, on the the month of September, 1852. 20th day of March, 1853. To assist in the STATISTICAL SUMMARY. 305 The history of the Church, reckoning the time from the commencement of its first pastor's ministry in this place, in October, 1667, to January 1, 1851, embraces a period of one hundred and eighty-three years and three months. During that time the number of its jDastors who have comj^leted their ministry, including the short and somewhat uncertain ministry of Mr. Brainerd, is thirteen ; and their several terms of ser- vice, as nearly as I am able to fix them, are as- follows : 1. Abraham Pierson, senior, from October 1, 1667 to August 9, 1678 — a little short of eleven years. 2. Abraham Pierson, junior, from July 28, 1669, to about April 2, 1692 — twenty-two years and eight months. Of this period he Avas assistant minister two years and seven months, colleague pastor six years and five months, sole pastor thirteen years and eight months. His whole pastorate was twenty years and one month. «* 3. John Prudden, from August 28, 1692, to June 9, 1699 — nearly seven years. 4. Jabez Wakeman, from November 16, 1669, to October 29, 1704, about five years, of which time he was the installed pastor probably about four years. T). Nathaniel Bowers, from June 16, 1709, to Au- formation of the latter, twentj-nine per- ination ia the city of Newark now corn- sous were dismissed and recommended prises ten regularly organized Churches, from the First Church, including one of including one German and one colored its elders; and the services of organization congregation, besides two or three mis- took place in its house of worship. The sionary stations. EcT. James r. Wilson, D.D., was installed The Third Church withdrew from the as, the first pastor of the new Church, Presbytery of Newark and joined that of October 25, 1853; sermon by Rev. Samuel Elizabcthtown, belonging to the other Fisher, D. D. The Presbyterian denom- General Assembly, in the autumn of 1851. 20 306 STATISTICAL SU4VIMAEY. gust, IYI6 — seven years, viz., six years as pastor, and one as candidate, 6. Joseph Webb, from December 16, 1719, to No. vember 1736 — nearly eighteen years, viz., seventeen years as pastor, and one as candidate. 7. Aaron Burr, from December, 1736, to the autumn of 1755 — 'nineteen years, viz., eighteen years as pastor, and one as candidate. 8. John Brainerd, from the autumn of 1755, to May, 1759 — three years and a half, including a season of absence, whose length is not ascertained. 9. Alexander Macwhorter, D. D., from the summer of 1759, to July 20, 1807, excluding less than two years, when he was absent in North Carolina — forty-six years. 10. Edward D. Griffin, D. D., from October 20, 1801, to April 27, 1809 — seven and a half years, viz., five years and nine months as colleague with Dr. Mac- whorter, ^nd one year and nine months as sole pastor^ 11. James Richards, D. D., from June 7, 1809, to the autumn of 1823 — a little more than fourteen years. 12. William T. Hamilton, D. D., from July 27, 1824, to October 22, 1834 — ten years and three months. 13. Ansel D. Eddy, D. D., from August 11, 1835, to February 22, 1848, twelve years and five months. Of this number, four have died in the service, and their remains lie buried among you. One laid down the office of the ministry but remained among the people, serving them whenever there was occasion, during a long life, and is also buried by the side of his STATISTICAL SUMMARY. 307 parishioners. Three were called away much against the will of the people, to take responsible stations in literary or theological institutions, and one to become a missionary among the Aborigines of America. One was dismissed on account of ill-health, requiriug a dif- ferent climate ; and of the remainingthree, one is now the pastor of a new congregation in the same city. From its beginning, in 1667, to 1719, the Church belonged to the Congregational or Independent order. Since that time it has been connected with the follow- ing Presbyterian bodies, viz : Presbytery of Philadelphia, from 1719 to 1733. " East Jersey, " 1733 to 1738. '" New York, " 1738 to 1810. " Jersey, " 1810 to 1824. " " Newark, " 1824 Synod of Philadelphia " 1719 to 1745. " " New York, • ." 1745 to 1758. " " N. Y. and Phila., " 1758 to 1788. " " N. Y. and N. J., '' 1788 to 1823. " " New Jersey, " 1823 to 1839. " " Newark, " 1839 to 1840. " " N. Y. and N. J., " 1840 General Asseml)ly of the Presbyterian Church, from 1788 to the present time. Thus have the wlieels of time, rolling steadily along, brought us down to the present eventful period — eventful to us at least, beyond all other periods. In long succession, wg have seen one generation pass away and another come, till at length we find oui'sel/ves occupying the same places, surrounded by the same 308 • CONCLUDING REMARKS. objects, and engaged in the same pursuits with those whose history ■ we liave been endeavoring to trace. Many affecting lessons might l)e drawn from this re- view, local and limited as its sphere is. But they will force themselves I am sure, spontaneously on your at- tention, and you will scarcely need any suggestions from me. Where are the men now, who in successive a2:es have called this First Church in iS^ewark our Cliurcli — the men who went through the perils of the war with Macwhorter, and rejoiced to behold the rising honors of the infant College with Burr — who wept at the untimely end of the beloved Wakeman, grew tired of the unpretending services of worthy Messrs. Webb and Prudden, measured their strength of will success- fully with the younger Pierson, or followed his good father, ripe in years and honors, to the grave? Where are the men whom the eloquent Griffin awakened and turned to righteousness, or who withstood rebelliously his thrilling appeal to their consciences — the men whom Bichards taught, and built up in the most holy faith, or who hardened their hearts under liis foithful ministry, and so " treasured up unto themselves wratli against the day of wrath T Where, O where are they now ? Almost all gone. Their race is run, their mis- sion finished, their record ^^'ith all its good or ill, its faithfulness or neglect, has passed the broad seal of time, and cannot be altered in a single syllable or pen stroke. We^ as I have intimated, are enacting our his- tory. Some future hand will trace the history of this congregation, and gathering up what we have pre- COJSLCLTTDING EEMAEKS. 309' served of the past, will carry it on tliroiigli your lives and throngli mine, and tell our cliildren and onr chil- dren's children, who we Avere, and what we either did or left undone. In less than seventeen years from this time, this con- gregation will celebrate its second centennial anniver- sary. That, we may well believe, will be a great day here, if the Church lives and flourishes as we trust it will. Then a large portion of the present race will have left the stage. My ministry will, in all proba- bility, have ended — perhaps for years. And these scenes, fresh still in the memories of the elder class, will come up as matters of history. And what will they say of us ? What report will ])e given of the period beginning with November 1849, and ending God knows when ? Shall it be a period over which the devout shall love to linger ; a period of holy de- votion and blameless lives on the part of those who pro- fess the faith ; of sweet refreshings and anticipations of heaven, and of sacred zeal and energy guided by wisdom, in the service of the blessed Kedeemer ? Shall they say of it, " during that period, religion flouiished ; prayer meetings were well attended, for all loved to be there ; the Sabbath-school was flourishing, and the children were never so well instructed in the knowledge of Christ ; the young men and young women cheered each other in the paths of virtue and holiness, and strengthened each other's hearts in resisting evil; Christian morals, though they had languished, soon revived, and were strenuously promoted ; large contri- 310 COJS^CLUDING REMARKS. biitions were made to all tlie branclies of Cliristian be- nevolence, and the First Cliurcli in Newark was, be- yond all former experience, a burning and a shining light in the community ?" Shall our record be, that, blessing our endeavors, and answering our prayers, the Sj^irit of the Lord came down with power among us, and the refreshings from on high experienced in the days of Burr, and Macwhorter, and Richards, and Hamilton, were fairly eclij)sed by the superior power, steadiness, and purity of those which were enjoyed during this period ? Shall this be the history of our times, brethren, when we lie beneath yonder clods of the valley? Or shall it be, that during that period, religion languished, the Church grew negligent, dis- cord and jealousy prevailed among brethren. Chris- tians had a bad name among their fellow citizens, gen- uine conversions were very few, and had not the Lord in His great mercy, raised up another and more faith- ful race of men, that venerable congregation would have had by this time, not even a iicmie that she liveth ? My very soul, brethren, trembles with solicitude, as I consider how the time is flying, and Avhat characters each movement of its telegraphic points is jotting down upon the records of eternity. It is not that we cherish ambition. Fame is the veriest bubble that wise men have ever thought it. But the memory of the just is blessed ; and they that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars in the firmament of our God for ever and ever. The judgment of ^^osterity is some- thing to be thought of, but the judgment of the last CONCLUDING REMAEKS. 311 great day is more momentous. Then shall we, with all that .have gone before us, be weighed in the balance ; and what if then, we of the present age should be found wanting ? Let us address ourselves, brethren, to the Lord's work, and lay out our whole strength to accomplish it- Trusting in God, and girded with might by His Spirit, let us endeavor to make our period bright with souls redeemed and Christian jewels multiplied and polished. That one sentence, " Well done, good and faithful," uttered from the lips of our Master, will be an ample reward. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. APPENDIX. Complete and accurate catalogues of Elders, Deacons and Trustees can- not be made, for want of records. Those which follow are presented as the best which could be obtained in present circumstances, and must stand sub- ject to correction, should further discoveries be made. During the period which no record of the Church covers, a few names of Elders have been called from the minutes of the Synod. ELDEHS. In Synoil. Died. Age. Caleb Ward, - - - 1720 - - 1736 - - 66 Samuel Farrand, - - - 1726 - - 1750 - - 69 Samuel Ailing, sen.,* - - 1727 prior to 1732 - - 64 Samuel Ailing, jr., - - - 1737 - - 1793 - - 95 John Ogden, - - - 1743 - - 1795 - - 87 Neheraiah Baldwin, - - 1765 - - 1765 - - 4a Joseph Riggs, - - . - 1766 - - 1799 - - 79 Nathaniel Camp, - - - 1767 - - 1780 - - 82 Dr. William Burnet, - ' - 1768 - - 1791 - - 61 The following names arc taken from the Church records. The dates of decease, and ages, have been derived from other sources : Elders. John Ogden, Esq., - Ebenezcr Baldwin, - Job Foster, ... Moses Farrand, ... Elihu Crane, David Burnet, ... Ephraim Morris, ... Stephen Baldwin, ... Jonathan Baldwin, - Abiathar Dod, Eleazer Bruen, ... * On page 140, note, the name of John Ailing is menlionod. On reflection, I doubt whether he was an elder for this Church. Chosen. Died. Age. - - 1795 - - 87 - - 1801 - - 77 - - 1793 - - 60 - 1805 - - 77 - - 1786 - - 60 - - 1800 - - 64 - 1816 - - 74 1794 - - 1816 - - 85 1794 - . . - — 1794 - - 1821 - - 80 314 APPENDIX. Elders. Joseph Clisbe,* David D. Crane,t Isaac Ailing, Jabez Baldwin, Joseph Keen, J Joseph Conger, Nathaniel Beach, James Tichenor, Moses Roberts, § Isaac Nichols, Oliver Wade,|| Stephen Hays, jr., II - Joseph C. Hornblower, Halsted Coe,** William Tuttle, Obadiah Woodruff, - Hugh McDougal,tt - Moses Smith, Jesse Baldwin, John Poinier, Isaac N. Beach, Aaron Nichols, Archibald Woodruff, Peter Jacobus, Charles C. Wimams,H John Taylor, Uzal J. Tuttle, Samuel P. Smith,f § - Caleb Baldwin, Jr.,||l| Joseph N. Tuttle, - Demas Colton, Preserved H. Porter, Cornelius I. Jacobus, * Removed to the State of New York in 1800, and became an Elder there, t Dismissed to the Third Church, 1824. X Removed to the Second Church. § Dismissed to the Third Church, 1824. II Removed to SpringSeld about 1816. IT Licensed to preach, 1825. Chosen. Died. Age. 1794 - - . — - - 1838 - 75 1799 - - 1819 - 70 1799 - - 1820 - 67 18Q2 - . . — 1802 - - 1820 - 60 1802 - - 1808 - 53 1802 - - 1839 - 08 1808 - - 1853 - 87 1808 - . 1811 - - 1822 - 40 1811 1811 1816 - - 1832 - 73 1816 - - 1847 - - 65 1820 - - 1842 - 74 1820 1820 - - 1833 - 52 1824 - - 1839 - 81 1824 - - 1834 - 66 1824 - - 1835 - 45 1832 1832 1832 1882 1843 1843 1843 1843 1852 1852 1852 1852 ••■* Dismissed to the Second Church, 1825. +t Dismissed to the Third Church. XX Removed West. §§ Removed to form the South Park Church, 1853. Ill Removed to Orange, 1851.^ APPENDIX. 315 DEACOXS. Chosen. Died. Age. Lawrence Ward, - - - - - lOG'J - - — Michael Torapldn.s, - - - - - 1690 - - — Richard Lawrence, - - - 1601 - - — Azariah Crane, - - - 1730 - - 83 Joseph Cauficld, - - . - - - 1733 - - 52 James Wheeler,* - - - - - 1747 - - 63 Samuel Alling,=^ - - - -^ - - 1793 - - 1)5 Stephen Baldwin, - - - - - 1783 - - 70 Caleb Wheeler, - . - - - - 1793 - - 70 Ebenezer Baldwin, - - ,- - - 1801 - - 77 Stephen Baldwin, - - - 1794 - - 1816 - - 74 Ephraim Morris, t - - - 1794 - - - - — Isaac Ailing, - - - 1802 - - 1819 - - 70 James Tichenor, - - - - - 1839 - - 68 Isaac Nichols, - - - 'Obadiah Woodruff, - - 1824 - - 1842 - - 74 Aaron Nichols, ... - - - William Tuttle, - - - - - 1847 - - 65 Jos. C. Hornblower, - - 1852 John Taylor, - - - 1852 * From an old deed I learn that James Wheeler and Samuel Ailing were Deacons as early as 1744. + Removed to Bloomfield. TRUSTEES OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEWARK. Ihose designated by small capitals tcere Presidents of the Board. Appointed. Appointed. CuKisTOPnER Wood, - - 1753 Caleb Camp, junior, - 1781 John Crane, - u Joseph Baldwin, - 1781 Nathaniel Camp, - i( Joseph Alling, prior to 1783 Joseph Camp, - u Alexander Eagles, - 1783 Jonathan Sei-geant, - u Elisha Boudinot, - 1784 Joseph Riggs, - (I John Johnson, - 1780 Israel' Crane, - 11 Isaac Ailing, - 1787 Sam'l Pennington, res igned 1 781 Joseph Davis, - 1788 Thos. Canfteld, K " Nathaniel Beach, - 1793 Caleb Wheeler, prior to 1781 Daniel Johnson, - 1787 Samuel Curry, " 1781 Jesse Baldwin, - 1787 Benjamin Coe, " 1781 Nathaniel Beach, - 1793 316 APPENDIX. Trustees. Appointed. Trustees. Appointed. Abraham Ward, - 1790 John Poinier, - 1820 John Burnet, - 1795 James Bruen, - 1820 Joseph Brown, - 1790 Aaron Nichols, - 1822 Joseph Camp, - 1790 Caler S. Riggs, - 1823 Caleb Wheeler, - 1797 Frederick S. Thomas, - - 1820 Nathaniel Camp, - 1797 William Pennington, - - 1827 John N. Curaming, ^ - - 1798 Philo Sanford, - 1828 Samuel Whitaker, - 1798 Peter Jacobus, - 1828 Samuel Hay, - 1801 Isaac Baldwin, - 1832 Moses Roberts, - 1801 Jedcdiah J. Baldwin, - - 1833 Jeremiah Baldwin, - 1802 John W. Poinier, - 1833 Moses Baldwin, - 1802 Gabriel Tichenor, - 1834 Stephen Hays, - 1802 James 11. Robinson, - 1835 Joseph T. Baldwin, - 1805 Joseph A. Halsey, - 1830 Tsaac Andruss, - 1800 P. 11. Porter, - 1830 Robert B. Campfield, - - 1809 Moses B. Coe, - 1837 Nehemiah Baldwin, - 1809 Lyndon A. Smith, * - - 1838 James Hedden, - 1811 Joseph N. Tuttle, - 1841 David Nichols, - 1811 Samuel H. Pennington, - 1841 Lewis Thibou, - 1811 Charles S. Macknet, - 1840 Uzal Sayres, - 1812 Demas Colton, - 1851 Silas Condit, - 1812 Horace H. Nichols, - 1851 David Tichenor, - 1815 Ira M. Harrison, - 1852 Caleb Carter, - 1817 Algernon S. Hubbell, - - 1853 Moses Smith, - 1818 William Shugard, - 1853 John Taylor, - 1820 Sjame of the persons in the above list served but a single year ; others two or three years. Some were re-elected several times, with greater or less intervals. The Bulding Committee who had charge of the erection of the prese nt house of worship,, were — Caleb Wheeler, Caleb Camp, Nathaniel Camp, Joseph Banks, William P. Smith, Samuel Hayes, Benjamin Coe, Joseph Davis, Moses Farra-nd, Isaac Plum, Abiel Camfield, Abraham Ward, Isaac Ailing, Daniel Johnson. . ■ rmiii.'Mmt mmmmtmmna /" :v<.\^ ^ \\ s i'. H CttNirrir. drl NEWORKE on PESAYAK T OWNE ,,_ 1666 _ 1680. R E F E R E N C E S To tlic Town Plot and Ilouie Lots of the First Settlers of Pesayak Tovvne —New "Work, or Newark— in 106(3-1080: A Deacon Lauranco Ward B John Catlin. [1] C Samuel Kitchell. D Josiah Ward. E John Rogers. F Robert Kitchell. Ir Jeremiah Pccke. // Obadiah Rrneii. 1 The Seaman's Lot. [2] In the North E.vst Section. J Thomas Richards K John Harrison. L Aaron Blatchl}-. M Stephen Davis. JV Samuel Plum. O P Q John Crane. The Boatman's Lot. Robert Lymon. John Davis. [3] In tue Nokth West Section. A Lieutenant '^•Awwml Swaine. B Serjeant Richard Harrison. C Edward Pall. /> John Morris, in 100.*^. E John Ward, senlot. F Matthew Camfield. (t Abraham Picrson, j ;/ n io r. II Jasper Crane. / Thomas Pierson, soiior. J Benjamin Baldwin. Tv Thomas Tluntins-ton. L Alexander Munrow. M The Elders' Lo*. [4] iV John Ward, j?/i('r, the turner. O Dcdcon Richard Laiuancc. P Delivered Crane. (J Hans Albers. li Samuel Rose. S The Miller's Lot. [5] T Samuel Dod. r Daniel Dod. V The Corn Mill. Tn the S(U tm E.vst Section. A rVj*^;/« Ifobcrt Treat. [i«] E (leorge Day. B Abraham Pier.son, .sf^n'or. F Nathaniel AVheeler. ^7 Robert Denison. ff Joseph Riggs. D Thomas Johnson. II William Camp. il8 EEFERENCES. / Martin Tichenor. J Stephen Freeman. K John Curtis. [7] L John Baldwin, senior. M Thomas Staples. X John Baldwin, junior. Deacon Michael Tomkins. P Jonathan Tomkins. Q Ephraim Pennington. It Seth Tomkins. .S' The Tailor's Lot. [8] T 'Thomas Pierson, junior. U Samuel Harrison. V John Browne, 7 «?n'c>r. W Edward Riggs. X Huo-h Roberts. In the South West Section. A The Meeting House Lot. B Captain Treat's extra. G John Johnson. D Parsonage Home Lot. E John Browne, senior. F Stephen Bond. G Zachariah Burwell. n Ephraim Burwell. / Thomas Ludington. J John Brooks. K Thomas Lyon. m L Joseph Johnson. [10] M John Treat. N John Gregory. [12] [11] Henry Lyon. P Joseph "Walters. Q Samuel Camfield. E Robert Dalglish, (Douglass.) s Francis Linsley. T Matthew Williams. [13] U Walter's second division. NOTES. [I] In 1G93 granted to the Rev. John Prudden. [2] In 1G73 granted by the town to Ebenezer Dod. [8] In 1G70 Jonathan Sergeant's " by exchange." [4] Granted to John Ward, junior, and John Johnson, in 1678, for their sons. [5] In 1683 one-half Richard Harrison's "by exchange." [f')[ In 1673 Azariah Crane's, the son-in-law of Captain Robert Treat. [7] "John Curtis hath for his home-lot six acres, be it more or less, being bounded with Stephen Freeman, north ; John Bauldwin, senior, south ; the highway west, and y'' town swamp east, about two or three rods in y"" swamp east." — {Toron Boole.) On this tract is the present parsonage of the First Presbyterian Church. It 1756 it was the property of Mr. Burr. In 1738 it was Mr. "Webb's. [8] In 1672 granted to Samuel Lyon. ]9] "All that small tract allotted for the burying-placc taking in the pond and meeting-house, being seven chains in length and four in breadth, bounded west by John Treat, south by John Johnson, north and east l)y highways."— r(?w?i Patent, 1696. [10 J " Item. Mr. Robert Treat had given him two acres of land in j' town l)lot, near the frog-pond, in lieu of his great and expense with y° Indians about purchasing y' lands, which is bounded with y' high- ways west and north, and y' pond and swamp east and south." — Toini Booh. [II] "A home lot, in length ten chains, breadth at the east and middle three chains lacking six feet, and at the west end four chains and three-quarters." — {Town Patent.) On this stood the parsonage house occupied by Mr. Burr, and in which Dr. Macwhorter died. 320 . j^OTES. [12] III 1688 the Town sold to Henrj- Lyon " that home lot that was for- mei-ly John Gregory^ bj^ exchange, that lyeth next his own consist- ing of seven acres, for Ten Pounds, seven pounds whereof he is to pay by discharging the Town of their country rate, and three pounds he is to procure shingle nails for, as soon as he can, or to do his true endeavour to get them." — Town Eecord. [13] In 1G80, ten aeres, part of a second division. The road to " the landing-place," now Fulton street, was laid out in 1070, and again in 1735. High street was laid out and staked "as the path runs" in 1G95, two rods wide. The line of asterisks indicate the location of the common fence for the protection of " the neck," of which each planter maintained his just propor- tion as determined by a committee. The engraver has made the biook from the town swamp run into the river, which is incorrect. The sketch on the left hand represents the second meeting-house, in which David Brainerd was ordained. That on the right, with armed men watch- ing, the first meeting-house, " 36 feet square." The number, size, form and position of the windows and doors in the latter is uncertain. ^? \ r> NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM THIS ROOM ^