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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
Edith and Maude Wetmore
in memory of their father
George Peabody Wetmore
B.A. 1867

HISTOEY OP "WEST.FIEL.D,

SERMON,

BY REV. JOHN\^LDEN,
PASTOR OF THE CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, WESTFIELD, MASS.

DELIVERED JANUARY 28, 1851,

AT THE REMODELLING OF THEIR HOUSE OF WORSHIP.

PC^LISHKD BY BEq,UEST OP THE CHURCH,

#

SPRINGFIELD:
GEOKGE W. "WILSON, PRINTER;
CORNER OP MAIN AND STATE STREETS.
1851.

13t

SERMON.

O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LOUD, FOR HE IS GOOD.  Psalms evil. 1.
Few, perhaps, in any age or clime, knew more of the
goodness of God as displayed in his works, or felt more
sincerely the obligation of rendering thanks unto him for
his goodness and mercy, than he who was inspired to write
our text.
Let us notice a few instances of God's goodness which
demand our special gratitude.
L The goodness of God. is displayed in the work qf
Creation and Redemption. Both display more of the per
fections of Deity than any other two achievements of
Jehovah revealed to man. In the one, we hear his voice
in godlike sublimity, saying in the midst of chaotic confu
sion, "Let there be light." At another stroke of his power
the firmament of heaven appears, gemmed with countless
suns and systems, each fixed in its orbit to roll on and be
admired by created intelligences, so many badges of his
eternal power and wisdom. The material universe with all
its indescribable glories, God did not intend to enjoy alone,
and hence he jibrmed man immortal like himself, to be a
participator of the scene.

Awhile, he enjoys the rapturous view and the holy festivi
ties of paradise; but in an evil hour transgression drives
him out, a subject of disease, sorrow, and death. This
opened the way for the richest display of divinity the
universe has ever seen, in the /plan of redemption by the
death of Christ. But did not the morning stars sing to
gether, and the sons of God shout for joy over the infant
universe ? "W'^hat greater work has God ever performed ?
Be it, that the work of creation displays the grandeur of
Omnipotence in forming innumerable worlds and hanging
them upon nothing, so balancing them by two forces, that,
in all their immense revolutions, they could not deviate in
the least from their orbits ; be it, his wisdom and benevo
lence shine in so shaping their form, that light and heat by
their diurnal revolutions are aflforded their inhabitants for
their comfort and happiness ; ,be it, as astronomers tell us,
that this vast world is but a speck in the immensity of the
Creator's works, and. should it be annihilated it might not
be missed by other worlds; that within our solar system are
worlds more than a thousand times larger than ours : that a
sister planet is encircled by a ring that would enclose five
hundred worlds as large as our own ; that scattered over the
universe are innumerable suns a million times larger than
our earth, with their countless groups of planets revolving
round them; be it, that the universe is boundless to human
comprehension ; that the throne of God is in the centre of
his vast domain ; that ten thousand times ten thousand
worlds revolve round his throne as their ultimate centre ;
-that our sun, which has one planet that revolves round it in
an orbit of about one hundred millions of miles, carrying
also a whole family of worlds, herself five hundred times
larger than all of them, is flying in her orbit around that
throne, attended by constellation after constellation in their
tremendous sweep through the immensity of space, at ye-

locities already discovered of 880,000 miles per hour. At
such a universe, no wonder the angels of light, as they
looked out of the windows of heaven on the immensity of
God's creation, sang and ' shouted for joy.'
But another work of the same Almighty hand raises
greater wonder in heaven, and a loftier, sweeter song on
earth, from the same happy throng. At the ushering in of
the infant Redeemer, Heaven pours a light on the dark
hills and plains of Judea, to the amazement of the artless
shepherds, and Heaven's eternal choir descends and sings,
" Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will
to men." Glory in the highest is now the song. Let a
note be struck as much higher as the work of redemption
surpasses that of creation. In the work of creation matter
was brought from chaos into organized forms ; but inv the
work of redemption, souls are raised from a condition worse
than nothing to themselves, up to the dignity of the sons of
God. And over the eternal benefits derived, the redeemed
will sing the angel's song, " Glory to God in the highest,"
when sun, and moon, and stars, have set in eternal night.
The one could be accomplished by a word without resist
ance ; the other was begun almost coeval with man's trans-
gressionand was consummated on Calvary, so far as Christ's
death was concerned, amid agonies that appalled the mate
rial universe, \«ith earth and hell in opposition from the first
to the last.
In the one, God appears in his majesty, forming Count
less worlds from nothing, and garnishing them in splendor,
making mountains and vales, streams and oceans, sing his
greatness ; in- the other, he appears in humility for our in
struction, taking upon him the form of a servant, conde
scending to be smitten for our oflTences, led as a lamb to the
slaughter, bruised for our iniquities, and crucified for our
sins. In the one, he attracts the admiring gaze of a world

as they behold the circumambient heavens sparkling with
worlds, the bow of promise with its brilliant hues, the
burnished clouds, the fruits of earth, and the flowers of tho
field ; in the other, he appears in no form of comeliness, to
be desired by a depraved world. In the one, God's terres
trial benevolence shines in forming the mind and body fear
fully and wonderfully, in adapting all the physical laws to
make them happy, in the innumerable forms of variety, in
the changing seasons adapted to all the senses ; in the other,
eternal beneficence appears, in preparing a way more richly
to bless the soul here and forever. In the one, he has hid
den valuable laws of matter to be discovered by man for his
good through all coming time ; in the other, he has magnified
the most valuable of all laws, crushed and trampled upon by
man, and thereby opened an inexhaustible fountain to bless
souls for ever and ever. In the one, he glorified his power
amid cherubic legions ; in the other, he laid aside the glories
of eternity, and consented to be dragged by a merciless
rabble from tribunal to ti-ibunal, arraigned as a criminal and
condemned as a malefactor, and executed as a miscreant.
In the one, he gives life to innumerable beings ; in the other,
he voluntarily laid down his own life.
" Heaven wept that man might smile, Heaven bled that man
Might live forever."
The one, was accomplished in six days ; the other, although
almost as many thousand years have rolled away, is not yet
completed. Two advents of the immaculate Redeemer to this guilty
world were needful. "In the first he suffered what finite
beings can never comprehend. Yet the moment the Saviour
rises from this world of sin from Mount Olivet, decked in a
cloud of glory, angelic escorts attend him upward, heaven's
everlasting doors are lifted up, and the King of glory takes
his throne, while the heavenly hallelujahs in swelling peals

are heard around him. John had a vision of the heavenly
oratorio, and gives us the following report : — " I beheld, and
I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne,
and the beasts, and the elders, and the number of them
was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." In
the last advent, having finished the work of intercession, he
will come as the Judge of this vast world, and wind up the
drama of time. Angels will attend him ; heaven earth and
hell will be moved, his elect will be gathered, his bride rob
ed for immortality, and death and hell chained to his char
iot wheels, and he in triumph ascend with his saiiits, as the
universal conqueror, while bursting {)raises are heard in all
worlds but one.
His first advent was to make an atonement for sin, his
second will be to sweep from the earth every vestage of ini
quity. In the first, the ungodly triumphed, in the second
they will be fearfully destroyed. At the first, saints were
persecuted, scattered and slain ; in the second, they will tri
umph and take their crowns and eternal honors. The first
was the seed-time of the Gospel, the other will be the har
vest of Ihe world. Christ died for our sins ; where is there
a parallel to this ? He died to avert the consequences of
sin ; for without the shedding of bjood there is no remis
sion ! In the plan of redemption, love and mercy were
brought to light as they never had been before. ' No won
der the commemorative part of the Sabbath should pass
from the seventh to the first day with no fuller explanation.
The elect angels had seen power and justice displayed by
the Almighty, but no mercy followed a part of their once'
happy brotherhood when they were cast down to hell,
" Reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the

judgment of the great day." No wonder they desire to
look into this ocean of mercy shoreless and fathomless, be
cause finite beings can never comprehend Infinity.
" "With joy, with grief, that healing hand I see,
The skies it formed, and yet it bled for me." •
II. From the earliest ages God's goodness has been
manifested in h^riending his saints. It cheered Abel and
Noah, Lot and Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their
conflicts. , When his people needed divine help, he often
stepped forth frora the hiding place of his power, and mi
raculously aided them. In the pillar of a cloud by day, and
in the pillar of fire by night, in the desolating plagues on
Pharaoh arid his host, and in their final overthrow in the>
march of the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt to their
entrance into Canaan, amidst hunger and thirst, savage beasts
and savage men, God's goodness was strikingly manifest in.
protecting them, even to the destruction of their foes. At
the hand of Moses he sends water from the flinty rock,
and at the hand of Joshua he stops the sun in the heavens.
One angel he sends to deliver Daniel from the lion's den, and
another angel walks in the flaming furnace as a comforter,
while the God of angels is delivering the three Hebrew
worthies. The gift of tongues at the day of pentecost, and
the opening; of prisons closed upon his followers, are among
some of the many miraculous displays of infinite goodness
to man.
God has often given skill and foresight to persons of his
own selection, to accomplish his designs. Thus Moses was
prepared to be Israel's leader. Bezaleel and Aholiab were
taught to build the tabernacle, and Hiram was endowed
with extraordinary skill to build the temple. Thus too Ne
hemiah was armed with the whole panoply of heaven, to
lead back the poor captive Jews, and rebuild their ruined

9
city, and in after dtiys Paul was raised up as a leading mis
sionary with a boldness and zeal that never failed him, and
Peter was taught by a vision to spread the gospel through
the Gentile world.
Leaving Scriptural history, we have abundant other proofs
of God's goodness to his church. No sooner had the apos
tles began their work of mercy than all Paganism was in
arms against the religion of Jesus. The Emperor Caligula,
holding supremacy over all Christians as he supposed, order
ed every house of worship to be closed on the penalty of
the death of the whole Jewish nation. The church theri
so feeble, had not God interposed, had all been slain. But
he suddenly called this inhuman monarch from earth, and
the churches had rest throughout Judea and Galilee and
were greatly multiplied. Nero like a fiend of darkness
next arises to destroy the saints, and in the sixty-sixth year
of the Christian era, slew the apostle Paul, but God cut
short his days. Though God came out in judgment against
the Jews, overthrew their city, and destroyed more than
a million of them, ¦ yet in a miraculous manner, almost
every Christian was spared. Though the emperors Trajan,
Julian, Nero, Dioclesian and Caligula caused the blood of
saints to flow like water, still the church spread rapidly. It
was God who stopped the mouths of lions, burst the bars
of prisons, and palsied the arm of her persecutors. Why
did not Constantine, though the professed friend of the
church, destroy it by uniting it with State ? Why did not
Mahomet with all his hostile military retinue, break in pieces
the httle kingdom ? Why did not the blood thirsty Inquisi
tion with its prophetic iron teeth destroy the followers of
fhe Lamb ? In thirty years she did destroy one hundred
and fifty thousand, but a remnant was spared. In the midst
of Papal darkness and cruelty, God raised up a Martin Lu
ther. With a purpose inflexible, and a soul filled with the
love of God, unmoved at Papal anathemas, he wielded the
2

10
sword of truth, and the first blow that he struck made the
beast roar with a wound destined to be fatal. About this
period, in the valley of Piedmont at the foot of the Alps,
there lived a large number of Waldenses, who alone on
earth maintained pure religion, having never swerved from
the faith and practice of the apostles. Catholic persecution
at last burst upon them. Four hundred of them were
smoked from the caves on the side of the mountain where
they had concealed themselves, and were butchered in the
snow. Two hundred and fifty of these Waldenses left for
the shores of England in the eleventh century, and because
they would not submit to the Pope, they were branded with
red hot irons in their foreheads, and scourged through the
streets of Oxford. All were forbidden to receive them into
their houses, and through the inclemency of the winter
most of them perished.
But through the goodness of God, Chtistianity spread
rapidly in the British empire, and with it Papal superstition
and oppression raged. I cannot stop to detail death upon
death that rolled the garments of saints in blood, and
carried terror and dismay through the nation. Suffice it to
say, through God's blessing, the wrath of man was made to
praise him; for the flames that burnt her martyrs, lighted
up a holy light that will never go out. It was that persecu
tion that sent the Church to the wilds of America. Here
she has spread with such a rapidity, that, in contemplating
her march we are as those who dream ; and she will spread,
till, like the tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, her height
has reached the heavens and her. beauty the ends of the
earth. What reason have we to thank God and take cour
age, for the Church has corae forth from racks and dungeons^
persecution and death, with her garments made white in the
blood of the Lam|b ; and amid all her trials she has sung,
"O, give thanks unto the, Lord, for he is good," and she
will sing that soul-satisfying song down through the mil-

11
lenium ; she will sing it at the gate of death and the gate
of heaven, and 'then the echo will die away in her eternal
song.
, IIL The goodness qf God has been richly displayed in
the history qf this town.* Less than two hundred years
ago, this town was a howling wilderness. No voice of the
white man broke the silence of the morning. . No hum of
business, no beautiful works of the- artist, no ties of civil
ized friendship, no true praise to God was here. And yet
there was a praise more pure than the contaminated praises
of men. It was not the war-whoop of the savage, nor his
horrid orgies around, the council fire ; it was not the howl
of the wolf, the growl of the bear, or the scream of the
catamount. It was nature in her solemn wildness. It
was the waving of the primeval forest. It was the whis
perings of the breeze, falling into this vale, from the cloud-
Ccipt mountains around it. It was the ceaseless murmurings
of our streams in nature's great anthem. But God has
purposes to accomphsh here, and thither he sends the
white man in the midst of dangers to reclaim the wilderness.
Westfield (or Warromoco, as the Indians called it),
embracing once what is now Southwick and Russell, was
the strong-hold of the savage. The great abundance of
salmon, bass, shad, and trout, with which our rivers
abounded, together with bears, deer, moose, and other
game that filled the forest, rendered this perhaps the most
desirable spot in New England for the Indians. A little
south of this village, in the part now called Squawfield,
there is abundance of evidence from the arrows and other
articles the Indians use, that they cultivated, to some de
gree, that part of this valley. A number of those relics
* For the historical facts I am indebted to Rev. Dr. Davis' His
torical SketGhes,-,and to the Town and. Church Records.

12
are preserved, among other curiositiesj ia our Academy.
To leave a home like this, was not without' a struggle.
The King of England gave all the land embraced in this
town and Springfield, to the inhabitants of Springfield, and
they gave successive grants to individuals to settle in this
place. In 1658, a tract of land was officially granted to Thomas
Cooper, on condition he improved it within one year, and
continued so to do for the space of five years. This land
lay near the county bridge. In 1660 a similar grant was
made to Deacon S. Chapman, of land adjoining Cooper's.
In 1661 a grant was made to Capt. Pincheon, Robert
Ashley, and George Colton, of land lying between the
rivers, embracing probably what is now our village. In
1669. this town was incorporated, and called Westfield,
from the fact it was then the most westerly plantation in
New England.
Similar grants were made to Isaac Phelps, Capt. Cook,
Mr. Cornish, Thomas, Dewey, J. Noble, David Ashley, John
Holyoke, John Ponder, and John Ingersol. These men
lived near the confluence of Great and Little Rivers. They
took up their residence here in ]666.
The first regular meeting on the Sabbath was held in 1667.
Tradition has it, that a httle previous to all this, three young
men, set up a trading-house with the Indians on the eastern
border of this town, spent one summer here, and were
never heard of more. Though each man had a separate
tract of land, such were those perilous times, they had to
cultivate it in common. Near the junction of Great and
Little Rivers they erected a fort in which they lodged by
night, and to which they fled by day in case of alarm* A
tract of land about two miles ia extent was strongly en
closed. In 1690 the- town- assembled, raised a sum of
mon^y by w,hich they sent some of their bravest sons to
destroy the savages, who were constantly harrassing them.

13
Houses at this time were occupied as forts in different parts
of the town. A balustrade was erected upon the roof, from
which they could fire upon the enemy.
We, who are situated in our peaceful homes, ought never
to forget those dark and trying days of our fathers, and that
this beautiful vale was bought with their blood. In those
mournful days, never to be forgotten by a grateful posterity,
our fathers were only a few families in the all surrounding
wilderness, the haunt of the bear and the panther, and men
more savage than they. A few habitations of civilized men
were found in Northampton, Hadley, Springfield, and in
Windsor, Ct. All the West and the immediate vicinity was
a forest, filled, fOr aught they could know, with thousands
of hostile savages. They could not rely on these places
for help, almost as .helpless as themselves. Surely they
could not then say with England's gifted bard,
" There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on fhe lonely shore."
No; at every step in the forest there was enough to
make the very flesh crawl ; for the catamount might be
waiting to bound upon them from above, and the savage
might be hidden behind the tree, to give the more sure and
deadly blow. Even these beautiful streams that then
environed them, murmured daily and nightly, danger and
death every where. With their fire arms by their side,
they felled the forest and tilled the earth, and slept in their
log houses, while in turn some were standing as sentinels.
No great harm befel the first settlers until Philip's war in
1675. A more able, artful, and furious warrior than Philip
rarely haunted the forest. H« was seldom seen by^ the
white man, except in the distant council-fire, the bloody
massacre, and in the conflagration of cottages and forts.
Probably there was not a-settlement of the English in all
New England unknown to him and his warriors, and their
purpose was their utter extermination.

14
Near the spot where our paper-mill now stands, our
fathers erected a grist-mill and saw-mill. , And as the in
habitants of Springfield frequented these mills, many of
them were slain on their way. In this town, the houses of
Cornish and Sackett, Fowler and Lee, were laid in ashes
by the Indians. Loomis and Bentley, and a Miss Sackett,
were among captives known lo have been taken. A num
ber were killed, but their names are not left us. Grey Lock,
by wl^ose consummate subtlety, two of the above captives
w^re taken, ^ is the only Indian that patrolled, this region,
whose name was known. Now at Pochossuck, then at the
Shepard lane crossing, around the ,fort, nay, everywhere, hos
tilities awaited our fathers. , Their lives were in danger
constantly. Can we wonder that this feeble band, scantily
fed and clad, with no mortal arm to protect them, were on
the eve of despair, and about to give up their homes and
flee for safety ?
Such was the fact, and a less noble and courageous race
would have done it. But He who was the sole slay of our
afflicted sires in those trying days, intervened, and held back
the blood-thirsty savage, sent reinforcements and gave them
fin^l success. Some other of the first permanent settlers
were Sackett, Ashley, Fowler, Weller and Neal, from whom
some of our valuable citizens have descended. In the
Frpnch and Indian wars, a draft was made on Westfield for
soldiers, and some of her sons perished in those battles.
Among the number. Major Noah Ashley stands pre-eminent.
He fell in 1775 between Fort Edward and Lake George.
No raan in our early history stood so prominent as a civilian,
as the Hon. Wm. Shepard. Under Gen. Abercrombie at
the age of 22, he received the commission of Captain, and
continued in the French war six years ; was in the battles
fought at Fort William Henry, Ticonderoga, Crown Point,
Isle aux Noix, St. Johns, and Montreal. In 1775 he held
the ofiice of Lieut. Colonel, arid stood high in the confi-

15
dence of Gen. Washington, in'the revolutionary struggle.
In 1780 he was appointed General, and held that rank to
the close of the war. When the war was over, like the
Roman Cincinnatus, and our immortal Washington, he re
tired here to his farm. He was chosen one of our State
Senators and Representative to Congress, and held the office
of Deacon 28 years. We love to chronicle the success of
good men, and embalm their names in grateful remembrance.
This town from the first, was -favored with men who felt
deeply the importance of education. For many years they
gathered all their children into one general school, and em
ployed a man, as a general thing who could teach the Clas
sics, and rewarded him more liberally than is common at this
day. It is believed no child was left too ignorant to read
or write.
The Westfield Academy was chartered in 1796, and
opened for pupils in 1800. It has usually stood among the
highest of Academies in the State. Its funds are about
^5000. Many thousands have been educated there, many
of whom are among the -brightest ornaments of the worid.
Not far from fifty have been liberally educated from this
town, many of whom have stood high in the church and
state. The Normal School was located here in 184d, and the
present edifice was erected in 1846, at an expense of about
$6000. About one hundred and thirty towns in eleven
counties have been represented, and we are confident it will
not suflfer in comparison with any institution of the kind in
existeiice. God has owned and blessed it temporally and
spiritually, and may his blessings never be withdrawn.
The religious history of this town is fraught with deep
interest. The first religious exercises of the primitive set
tlers were conducted by a Mr. Holyoke.' A Mr. Fiske
preached for a time as a candidate for settlement. For
more than half a century the inhabitants were assembled for

16
worship, at the beat of a drum. The first meeting-house
is supposed to have stood in what is now the bed of Little
river. A second house was erected in 1720, which after
wards was burnt. The present Congregational Church was
erected in 1805. In 1679 the present Congregational
Church was organized. The first pastor, Rev. E. Taylor,
was settled the same year. He died in 1729, For four or
five years previous to his death, he was unable to preach.
His successor was the Rev. N. Bull, who was ordained in
1726, and died in 1740. Rev. J. Ballentine, the next pas
tor was ordained in 1741, and died in 1776. Rev. N. At-
water, the next pastor was ordained in 1781, and died in
1802. Rev. T. Knapp, the next pastor was ordained in
1803, and died in 1847. The present pastor. Rev. Dr.
Davis, was ordained in 1836. During the ministry of these
clergymen, there were added to the church as follows :
through the labors of Mr. Taylor, 189 ; through Mr. Bull,
226 ; through Mr. Ballantine, 412 ; through Mr. Atwater,
123 ; through Mr. Knapp, 65^ ; through Dr. Davis, 429.
The present number of the church, is 429.
The first Baptist Church collected in this place, was or
ganized in 1784. Its pastor was Rev. Adam Hamilton.
Owing to misconduct, he was deposed from the ministry,
and the httle church he gathered were soon scattered. Their
house of worship stood near the County Bridge. A new
Church was organized in 1806, with eighteen members.
The house they occupied was about half a mile east of our
present place of worship. Rev. A. Hawks was their first
pastor. In 1812, a revival brought sixty into the church.
After this they were destitute of a pastor for some time. In
1818, Rev. C. Green was ordained and remained with it as
pastor one year. Rev. D. Wright was the immediate suc
cessor of Mr. Green, and remained their pastor about seven
years, and was followed by Rev. A. Sraith. Owing to a
variety of causes, a secession of twenty members took place

17
in 1833, who formed themselves into what is now our church,
under Mr. Smith as their pastor. In 1836 this new church
settled Rev. D. Wright as their pastor; and he remained
with them four years. The meeting-house in which we are
now assembled, was erectedin 1838. Rev. C. Van Loon
was settled over this church in 1839, and dismissed in
eighteen months. Rev. F. Bestor was settled in 1840, and
dismissed in 1 841. Rev. C. "Van Loon was re-settled here in
1842, and after less than a year's labor, left on account of ill
health, and soon died in the State of New York. Rev.- A.
Colburn, his successor was settled in 1842, and dismissed in
1843. Rev. N. M. Perkins was settled in 1844, and
di^issed in 1848. Rev. J. Alden was settled in 1849.
During Rev. Mr. Wrights ministry, the chuirch; previous to
the secession, reached nearly to 200 members. The old
tjhurch from which the secession was made", has long since
ceased to act in a church capacity, and has become almost
extinct, as might have been expected from the inactive polt-
.cy pursued. During Rev. Mr. Smith's ministry, seventeen
were added. During Rev. C. Van Loon's ministry, 81.
During Mr. Colburn's stay 48 were added. During Mr.
Perkins' labors, 34. During the present pastor's labors, 511
The present number is about 165.
The Baptist Church at the West Farms, was, organized in
1819, and their meeting-house was built in 1820. Rev. D,
Wright was their first pastor who has been succeeded by
Mfessrs. Childs, Bestor, Day, Smith, and Uriderwood. Dur
ing the settlement of some of these pastors, there have been
revivals and a goodly number added. Present number, 66,
The Methodist denomination commenced their worship
in this town about 1794. The first preacher was Dr. Rob-
berls, who was followed by the Rev. J. Taylor. Westfield
was at this time included in the Granville Circuit. A
church was fifst organized at the Wiest Parish, in- 1806, and
a. meeting-house built ift 1829. The Methodist church in
3

18
this village was organized inJ812, with seventeen members.
Their meeting-house on Main street, was built in 1834.
The house of worship they now occupy, was built in 1842.
" From 1795 to 1812, this village was a circuit station, and
hence we cannot find out the number added to this particu
lar station from their records. I can therefore only give the
different preachers who have been settled here. The fol
lowing I believe is a perfect list in the order of their settle
ment, both for the Centre and West Parish. No notice is^
taken of their reappointments to return, which happened in
large number of instances. Commencing with 1812, the
following are the list : Rev. R. Harris, Thorp. P. Muzzey, C.
Culver, B. Goodsit, S. Dayton, B. Hibbard, D. Miller, C.
Carpenter, T. Clark, R. Soeny, A. M. Cain, S. Eighmy,
Hatfield, G. Pierce, N. Rice, P. C. Oakley, J. Allen, E. Os
borne, C. F. Pelton, L. Mead, J. Nickson, E. Qtis, J. Has
kell,' D. Lisleei, S. Esten, T. W. Tucker, E. Scott, P.
Townsend, W. Smith, Benj. McLowth, J. Mudge,, T. W.
Gile, M. Traftori, H. S. Degon, J. Ricketts, N. Merrill, M.
Raymond, J. B. Husted, G. F. Cox, S. Best, and J. H.
Twombly, their present pastor. The present number of the
Central Church is 237, and that of the West Parish about 50.
In 1843 a number seceded from the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and formed a Wesleyan Methodist Church. Their
preachers were Rev. E. Scott, E. Brewer, J. L. Gross, C. O.
Town, and J. Wright. They occupied the old Methodist
mefeting-house where they met for worship. The number of
their Church is now 19.
Thus it appears that we have seven church organizations
with an aggregate of almost a thousand professors. Ofthe
five Churches which now observe the ordinances, we have
nominally 947 members.
It is not a little remarkable, that the Congregational
Church have buried all their past pastors in this town, and
neither of the other Churches have buried one in their

19
m^idst. For 105 years the Congregational Church was the
onjy church in this town. Many were her early trials, great
her responsibility, and manifold her success,- My impres
sions are, that during her entire history, as much liberality
of views, and kindness of action has prevailed, as is gener
ally found. She has kept steadily on in her duties, has, not
been fickle in regard to her pastors ; and she has seen other
churches rise and fall in her presence apparently unenvied,
untihin the aggregate^ they have surpnssed her in numbers,
and we cannot doubt hut that she prays for their spiritual
welfare. Doubtless the prosperity of either qf tliese village
churches, aids the others, and the wane of either darkens
the prospects of the rest. It requires all thjs seraphic, com
bined power of ardent piety in them all, to keep religion in
the ascendant, in these degenerate times. While all, rivalr'
ship and boasting is excluded, we can say with gratitude tP
God, that since the Methodist and Baptist Churches erected
their present houses of worship in this village, they have
been abundantly blessed ; nor can we see that they will ^suf
fer in comparison whh the Congregational Churchj taking her
whole history into view.
And now, situated as we are, upon a soil rich and ferjilfi,
and adapted to all fruits grown in New England; — surrpijind-
edas we are by natural scenery seldom equalled, and scarce
ly surpassed on earth, with a quiet, flourishing, and a beau
tiful village in the midst of it, a village where aristocracy
find^it difficult to marshal herself — a place spught out ag an
asylum of science by the State, vyh^re they h^ve chartered
two Institutions of learning, and move that all, a place owh-
ed and blessed - of God remarka{?ly with precious revivals
from time immemorial, if any people have occasipn to thank
God for his mercies, we are that peopl^. We as a c.hiji-ph
have tibundant reason to thank,, God for pqst, mercies.
Within the last twelve years this church has more than trip-
pled its members, and tried to bear her p?^it, with, C^hristi^n?

20

around her, in blessing the place and the world. Shall we
not, my brethren, henceforth maintain a closer walk with
God, and press on with unwavering Steps to the bloodless
conquest of the world ? We have great reason for gratitude

.-*",'¦

that there has been such great harmony and rea(il4|eis on the
part of our Church and Society, to meet' the exjjeiises of our
repairs so promptly,
'It becomes us now, after all the anxiety and toil pertain
ing to the improvements made in this sanctuary, to enjoy
them by consecrating them all to G^od. The offering is
none too good for Him who ga-ve his all for us. God forbid
we should idolize any thing that is here. Let us rather hum
bly and thanjifully give it to Him who eternally owned it.
To God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we now conse
crate all' we hgve done, to improve this sanctuary and im
plore the blessing of the whole Trinity to rest upon us and
our offering. May the Almighty Father ever throw around
us his protecting arm and light up our path-way to eternity.
May the Son, our blessed Redeemer, here see the travail of
his soul, and be ever enthroned in the hearts of his followers
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and sinners drawn by
his deathless love, be brought by the spirit of all grace, to try
the efllicacy of his atoning blood.
May the Holy Spirit ever be here to enlighten, to sanctify
and comfort and save. By his power may souls be awaken
ed — stubborn wills subdued, the tempted succored — the
weak supported — the self righteous rebuked — and prodigals
in all their wretchedness and woe brought back»to their
Father's house.
Finally, we make the consecration to the Church of God.
Here may her faith, and her love, and her songs, and her
prayers abound. Here may the Spirit constantly descend to
refresh and comfort her, and enable her to act prayerfully and
nobly her part, until she is called from her militant state ta
rest forever in the Paradise of God.