LIBRARY 
 
 ANNEX 
 
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 pq CORNELL 
 
 13 0^3 UNIVERSITY 
 
 (i4> LP^ARY 
 
P . ■ ^If* 
 
 THE 
 
 PAST AND THE PRESENT, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY 
 
 OP THE 
 
 OF BRANFORD. 
 
 A 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVERED JULY 7th, 1858, 
 By the Rev. TIMOTHY P GILLETT, A, M., 
 
 PASTOR OP THE CHUBCH. 
 
 NEW HAVEN: 
 
 _ MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR, PRINTERS. 
 
 97 CHAPEL STREET. 
 
 1858. 
 
 
I Cornell University 
 W Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924010360877 
 
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 ^,.,.-'-y-^^^'"- 
 
 
Vthe 
 PAST AND THE PRESENT, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY 
 
 OP THE 
 
 OF BRANFORD. 
 
 A 
 
 SEMI-CENTENNIAL DISCOURSE, 
 
 DELIVERED JULY 7th, 1858, ^ 
 
 By the Ret. TIMOTHY P. GILLETT, A. M., 
 
 PASTOH OF THE CH0ECH. 
 
 NEW HAVEN: 
 
 MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR, PRINTERS. 
 
 97 CHAPEL STREET. 
 
 1858. 
 
Beanpobd, Oct. 23, 1858. 
 
 To OtTK ESTEEMED PASTOE, THE KeV. TiMOTHT P. GiLLETT, 
 
 Dear Sir, — Believing it would be gratifying and useful to many of the people 
 among whom you have so long and faithfully labored as Pastor, and also to 
 many of- your friends in Branford and other places, to have your valuable semi- 
 centennial Discourse in a permanent form, we would respectfully request a copy 
 thereof for publication. 
 
 Very affectionately, yours, 
 
 AUGUSTUS BLACKSTONE, 
 NATHANIEL P. MINER. 
 
 To Messes. Blaokstone and Miner, 
 
 Gentlemen, — In compliance with your request I herewith transmit a copy of 
 the Discourse delivered on the 7th of July, 1858, for publication, if you think 
 proper so to do. 
 
 Respectfully, yours, 
 
 TIMOTHT P. GILLETT. 
 Beanpoed, Oct. 26th, 1858. 
 
 ORDER OF THE EXERCISES. 
 
 Reading select portions of Scripture, by Rev. Geoege I. Wood. 
 
 Singing, 100th Psalm, 2d part. Tune, Denmark. 
 
 Prayer, by Rev. Geoeoe I. Wood. 
 
 Singing, 78th Psalm, 2d part. 
 
 Sermon. 
 
 Prayer, by Rev. Hbnet Robinson. 
 
 Singing, 121st Psalm, 4th part. Tune, Lenox. 
 
 Benediction. 
 
 N. B.— The illness of the Pastor prevented the exercises being held on the 
 15th of June, as was at first intended. 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
 
 Augustus Blackstone and Nathaniel P. Minek, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Connecticnt. 
 
 n 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 PSALM LXXVIII: 2—7. 
 
 "SayIUGS op old, which we have heard and which ons FATHEES HAVE 
 
 TOLD OS. Wb will not HIDE THEM FROM THEIR CHILDREN, SHOWING TO THE 
 
 SENERATIONS TO COME THE PRAISES OF THE LoED, AND HIS STRENGTH AND HIS 
 WONDERFUL WORKS THAT HE HATH DONE. FoE HE ESTABLISHED A TESTIMONY 
 
 IN Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded oue 
 fathers, that they should make them known to their children ; — that 
 the generation to come might know them, even the children which 
 should be born, who shodld arise and declare them to their children; 
 that they might set their hope in grod, and not forget the works op 
 God but keep his commandments. 
 
 Every attentive reader of the Bible must have observed the 
 frequency with which the inspired writers, or speakers, allude to 
 God's past dealings with the world and the church for the pur- 
 pose of giving instruction to the present and coming generations. 
 Thus Moses and Joshua, at the close of their ministrations, and 
 among the last labors of life, recount before the people of their 
 charge, the praises of the Lord, his strength and his wonderful 
 works in their behalf. The same course was taken by Samuel 
 when he reproved the Israelites for their ingratitude and called 
 them to repentance. We have similar examples in the writings 
 of David and of Ethan the Ezrahite ; — in the sermons of Peter 
 and Paul, and in the defense which Stephen, the martyr, made 
 before the Jewish Council. God's past dealings with the church 
 and with its enemies, — his mercies and his wonders are brought 
 into view to incite men to penitence for sin, and to call forth grati- 
 tude for divine favors ; — to induce men to fear him and place their 
 hope in him. The text is a striking instance of this kind. 
 The title of the Psalm is, " A Psalm to give Instruction" — and 
 Asaph calls on his people to give ear to it, as though he had said 
 what our Lord afterwards said : " He that hath an ear, let him 
 hear what the spirit saith unto the churches." He was about to 
 
repeat sayings of old, and they were weighty matters, worthy to 
 be transmitted to posterity. 
 
 It will be remembered that when God gave his laws, his ordi- 
 nances and his promises to the ancient church, it was with the 
 solemn charge to teach these things diligently to the children. 
 The church of God and of his Christ is not a provision for one 
 age, any more than a constitution of civil government is an ordi- 
 nance for one age ; but it is to be continued and preserved from 
 generation to generation to the end of the world, subject to amend- 
 ment or alteration only by the great law giver. 
 
 There are then two things of which we are required to obtain 
 correct knowledge, to preserve that knowledge and communicate 
 it to the generation which may come after us. The first is the 
 testimony which God has established in Jacob ; the law which he 
 has appointed in Israel ; — all the doctrines, the precepts, the 
 promises and the privileges which he has given to the church ; all 
 the revealed truths which he has connected with the plan of re- 
 demption. The second thing is, the leading providences of God 
 concerning these doctrines, truths, promises, and privileges ; — 
 whether these providences are those which give prosperity or 
 adversity to the church ; whether they relate to seasons of revi- 
 val, — to the " outpourings of the- s'pirit" and the conversion of 
 sinners, or the periods of declension or diminution. In a word, 
 the history of the church and the religious state of God's people 
 should be carefully studied and known, and as carefully declared 
 to the present generation, that they may know and understand 
 them, and, in turn, faithfully make them known to their children. 
 
 The object of all this is also clearly stated :— " That they might 
 set their hope in God, and not forget his works, but keep his com- 
 mandments." This was to be done that they might be induced to 
 imitate the faith and obedience of their pious ancestors, and 
 avoid the sins which are sure to bring divine judgments on the 
 disobedient ; — that they might be induced to choose him as their 
 portion and set their hope in him for their own salvation ; for 
 their present help in every time of trouble ; and for the perpetu- 
 ation and the prosperity of his church in a world of opposition, 
 of error and ungodliness. 
 
 Mr. Scott well remarks : " The truths and precepts and the 
 works of God, which have been recorded and transmitted to us by 
 
our progenitors, form a sacred deposit, which we must hand down 
 to posterity." And who will deny that we are bound to hand it 
 down entire, uncorrupted and even enlarged by our own experi- 
 ence of the dealings of God with his church and with men in our 
 own day. 
 
 Having thus alluded to the general purport of this passage of 
 Scripture, I invite your attention while I apply it to the present 
 solemn, and, to me, interesting occasion. The audience are well 
 aware that the speaker has recently completed a pastorate of fifty 
 years among this people. Few of my brethren in the ministry 
 live to see a day like this, and few are the churches or societies 
 which are called to assemble on occasions like this. Owing to 
 removals by death or dismission, the number is small who remain 
 pastors of the same church and congregation for half a century. 
 But, having obtained help from God, I continue among you to 
 this day ; and I wish to occupy the passing hours in reviewing 
 the past ; considering the present, and directing your thoughts 
 and my own to the future, in reference to our prospects both for 
 this life and that which is to come. 
 
 Give ear, then, my people, to sayings of old ; to things which 
 we have heard and known ; — things which our fathers have told 
 us ; things which the past history and experience of our ancestors 
 and our own knowledge tell us ; to judgments and mercies, which 
 have been shown you and your fathers ; to the dealings of God 
 with you from the beginning ; these let us declare to the children 
 and to the generation yet to come that they may fear God. Let 
 us to-day speak of his strength and his wonderful works towards 
 the people of this town, and, especially, of this church. 
 
 The tract of land, which for almost two centuries constituted 
 the town of Branford, was purchased of the town of New Haven, 
 in the year 1644, by colonists or immigrants from Wethersfield. 
 The settlers in New Haven had purchased it of the Indian Sachems 
 in 1638.* Totoket, the original name, seems to have been given 
 
 * September 1, 1640. Totoket, or Branford, was granted to the Eev. Samuel 
 Eaton, brother of Theophilus Eaton, Governor of New Haven Colony, provided 
 he obtained a suflScient number of his friends to settle it. He went to England 
 for that purpose, but was persuaded to remain and preach at Durbenfleld and 
 Stockport, in England. As he failed of fulfilling his engagement, Branford was 
 sold to Wm. Swain and others, of Wethersfield. 
 
by the Aborigines, to a range of mountains running through the 
 northern part of the town, and from them applied to the whole 
 tract. Its present name is said to have been derived from Brent- 
 ford, or Burntford — a village in England, near London. Proba- 
 bly some of the first settlers came from that place, who, after resi- 
 ding temporarily in other places, finally fixed their residence here. 
 It does not appear that there were among them any persons of 
 great wealth or superior rank. But they were men of strict Puri- 
 tan principles, — men of stern integrity and zealous for religious 
 liberty, so far as its principles were then understood. The doc- 
 trines of their creed were Calvinistic, or those which were em- 
 bodied shortly after in the Cambridge and Westminster Confes- 
 sions of. Faith. In church polity they were Congregationalists, 
 holding the doctrine of parity, or of one order in the ministry, and 
 that all ministers are of equal official rank ; and that each paro- 
 chial church is an ecclesiastical body complete in itself, with 
 power to elect its own pastors and deacons, — to decide on the 
 proper qualifications of those who offer themselves for admission 
 to membership with them, and to receive, to discipline and exclude, 
 as the majority shall judge to be agreeable to the laws of Christ, 
 the only head, law-giver and king of the church. They further 
 held to the propriety of asking advice from other churches, reserv- 
 ing the right to follow or reject such advice according to their 
 judgment of expediency. In common with other colonists of that 
 age, they acted on the scheme of carrying the gospel and its ordi- 
 nances, education and its advantages, with them, and having the 
 church, the minister and the school, coeval with their settlement. 
 It was not with our fathers as it too frequently is with emigrants 
 at the present day ; for now it is the world first, and, with many, 
 the world only. They run away from the gospel, the sanctuary 
 and the Sabbath, and the friends of the Redeemer have to carry 
 the gospel and the means of salvation to them, as much as they 
 do to the heathen. 
 
 There are no records known to exist showing when a church 
 was organized here, but there are records which show the labors 
 and expenditures of the people to secure these institutions of 
 Christ and the education of the young. So early as the first of 
 October, 1644, the salary of Mr. John Sherman as preacher be- 
 
gan, and the records show that he was remaining here in 1646, 
 though prohably not as settled minister.* 
 
 The first regular pastor was Abraham Pierson, whose name 
 appears on the Town Records in 1647. He was born in York- 
 shire, England, graduated at the University of Cambridge, in the 
 year 1632, and like many others of the first ministers of New 
 England, he was ordained and preached for some years in his na- 
 tive country. He came to New England in 1639, and joined the 
 church in Boston. Shortly after he took up his abode at Lynn, 
 but the next year he removed with a company of emigrants and 
 settled Southampton, on Long Island. This probably was in 1641 . 
 This company had been organized into a church, and he was 
 constituted their pastor previously to their removal from Lynn. 
 On finding that the colony of Connecticut claimed jurisdiction over 
 them, he, in 1647, with a part of his congregation, removed to 
 Branford, in the colony of New Haven, and there united with the 
 settlers from Wethersfield. He was pastor of the church here 
 about twenty years. It appears that the settlement received a 
 new impulse from the accession of Mr. Pierson and his associates, 
 and the town continued to prosper and increase; — the people 
 dwelt together in harmony until John Winthrop of the Connec- 
 ticut Colony obtained from King Charles II. a new charter for 
 Connecticut. That charter included within its limits the colony 
 of New Haven and also New York. New Haven had not been 
 consulted in this arrangement, and the consequences were, long 
 and bitter contentions between the jurisdictions of Connecticut 
 and New Haven. In these controversies, Mr. Pierson, who had 
 acquired great influence among his people, and who was much 
 beloved by them, took sides with Mr. Davenport, of New Haven, 
 
 * The Rev. John Sherman was a native of Dedham, Eng., educated at Eman- 
 uel College, came to New England in 1634-5 — preached at Watertown, as an 
 assistant to Rev. George Philips, but soon removed to the colony of New Haven . 
 Probably he came with the emigrants from Watertown to Wethersfield, and with 
 the Wethersfield people to Branford, as he was recioned with them in the division 
 of lands. After preaching at Branford, at Milford, and other places in New 
 Haven colony, he returned and settled at Watertown, where he died in 1685, 
 aged 72. He was a man of superior intellectual endowments ; was the best 
 mathematician in the country, and left voluminous manuscripts on the Science 
 of Astronomy. Mr. Sherman was the father of twenty-six children by two 
 marriages.— Babbee's Histobical Colleciions. 
 
8 
 
 against the union ; and so strong were his feelings, that when 
 the event took place, he, with many of his people, resolved to re- 
 move from the colony. Arrangements for this purpose were com- 
 menced, an agreement made and signed on the 30th of April, 1666, 
 hy Mr. Pierson, a part of his congregation, and some prominent in- 
 dividuals from Guilford, New Haven and Milford, which they called 
 "A plantation covenant," the first article of which was as follows : 
 
 " That none shall he admitted as free men or free burgesses but 
 such planters as are memibers of some or other of the congre- 
 gational churches ; and that none but such be chosen to the mag- 
 istracy or to carry on any part of civil judicature, or as deputies 
 or assistants ; to have power to vote in establishing laws or re- 
 pealing them, or to any chief military trust or office." 
 
 This was a fundamental principle in nearly all the first settle- 
 ments of New England ; but Winthrop's charter rejected it, and 
 gave the right of freemen to others besides members of congre- 
 gational churches. Probably no person, at the present time, will 
 advocate the views of the early settlers of New England on this 
 point ; or justify the wish to vest all civil as well as ecclesiasti- 
 cal power in the church, or rather in those who are members of it ; 
 but it admits of a question whether such a policy would be more 
 disastrous to social improvement and happiness, than the one now 
 so much in vogue with many ; — that evangelical religion disquali- 
 fies a man for any civil office. Verily the pendulum has vibrated 
 to the opposite extreme, and if we cannot judge whether it be for 
 the better or the worse, — posterity will. 
 
 Mr. Pierson, accompanied by a large part of his fiock, left Bran- 
 ford, about June, 1667, and settled in New Jersey, at a place they 
 called Newark, then a wilderness, now a region of cities, of enter- 
 prise, of manufactures, of literature, and what is more, of evan- 
 gelical religion. Whatever faults those settlers had, they certain- 
 ly had piety and enterprise and sterling worth. The Cranes— 
 the Wards— the Harrisons — the Dodds — and others who left 
 Branford, are names which will not be forgotten. Mr. Pierson, 
 with all his isms and his mobility was no mean man. " A man 
 of high character and commanding influence — a godly and learn- 
 ed man" says Gov, Hutchinson, who personally knew him. " A 
 man," says Cotton Mather, " who, wherever he came, he shone.'' 
 Newark was the fourth colony he had planted, or essentially aided 
 
in planting, within twenty-eight years, and there he remained with 
 his people, under a code of laws of his own choice, greatly beloved 
 and honored until his death, on the 9th of August, 1678. His 
 eldest son, afterwards the first President or Rector of Yale Col- 
 lege, was for some years, colleague-pastor with his Father. This 
 son was born at Lynn, in 1641, and died at Killingworth, now 
 Clinton, in 1708. 
 
 Dr. Trumbull, the " venerable Historian," states that "Mr. Pier- 
 son carried away the church and town records of Branford after it 
 had been settled about twenty-five years, and left it almost without 
 inhabitants." That the church records were carried away is prob- 
 ably true ; and it has been supposed they are lost. This how- 
 ever is not certain. That Branford was entirely without an or- 
 ganized church and settled minister for about twenty years, is also 
 true. But that Branford was left almost without inhabitants is 
 doubted. Documents will show that there were inhabitants left, 
 and inhabitants who valued the gospel, its truths and ordinances. 
 And the Town Records were not removed. 
 
 The same year in which Mr. Pierson left Branford, an instru- 
 ment was signed by forty-seven freeholders, who remained, affirm- 
 ing their attachment to the congregational order, urging remaining 
 professors to go forward to the settlement of a minister, and prom- 
 ising to aid in his support. Probably a few of these men after- 
 wards removed to Newark, and some of them might have signed 
 the instrument at a later period. The people who were left, acted 
 nobly in manifesting their attachment to the gospel and its insti- 
 tutions ; and their firm purpose to adhere to the principles which 
 had inspired and guided them in their first efforts to establish a 
 settlement here. As early as 1669, two years after Mr. Pierson's 
 removal, we find them giving to Mr. John Bowers, as their min- 
 ister, a salary of £40 ; one day's work from each freeholder, and 
 furthermore the use of certain tracts of land. There were twenty 
 who voted in this measure, and but twenty-three, including Mr. 
 Pierson, who signed the compact for removing to New Jersey. 
 In 1671, and again in 1673, they gave Mr. Bowers "a call to 
 settle with them for the purpose of carrying on the gospel min- 
 istry." This last invitation he accepted, but for reasons now 
 unknown, he was not installed. He was afterwards minister suc- 
 cessively at Derby, and at Rye in the province of New York. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Prom 1680 to 1684 the people, with some interruptions, em- 
 ployed Mr. Samuel Mather, as their minister, and invited him to 
 settle with them as their pastor ; but the " General Court" order- 
 ed him away to Windsor, and Mr. Mather obeyed. The people of 
 Branford remonstrated against this interference, but it was in vain. 
 
 In 1681, the town unanimously petitioned the General Court 
 for liberty to embody into a church such as were suitable subjects. 
 The request was not granted. October 11th, 1687, they renewed 
 the petition, and leave was given. They had previously given Mr. 
 Samuel Russell, a son of the Rev. John Russell, of Hadley, 
 Mass., and a graduate of Harvard, an invitation to settle with 
 them as their minister, and he had given an answer in the affirma- 
 tive on the 12th of September, 1687. 
 
 The year 1688 forms an important era in the history of this 
 town. After the efforts, trials and discouragements of more than 
 twenty years, during which the people, somewhat like Israel of 
 old, " abode many days without Ephod and without Teraphim," 
 we find them commencing a record of church proceedings under 
 a regular church organization. It begins thus : 
 
 " Branford, March 7th, 1687-8. The afternamed embodied in 
 ch'h covenant, 
 
 Sam" Russell; W"" Maltby, Bleazar Stent, Sam" Pond, Jn° 
 Frisby, Jn° Tainter, Peter Tyler." These were the seven pillars. 
 " And the same time adjoined, Dan' Swain, Aaron Blatchly, Tho' 
 Sarjeant, Sam" Betts, and women : Bliz Barker, Hannah Maltby, 
 Sarai Blatchly, Miriam Pond, Dorcas Tainter, Eliz Stent, Han- 
 nah Wheadon, Eliz Pamer, Hannah Frisby, Deliver" Rose, Mary 
 Betts, Ruth Frisby, Sarai Page, Sarai Gutsill, Jane Tyler." A 
 little band of twenty-six, who laid the foundation of many gene- 
 rations, by whom the gospel, its truths and ordinances, have been 
 perpetuated and spread to the salvation of many.* It would seem 
 
 * It may be gratifying to some to cast their eye on the Covenant adopted by 
 the church at its organization, A copy of it follows : 
 
 " It having pleased God of his grace to call us up to y' visible profession of 
 religion, and being now by his providence called to unite together, for y carry- 
 ing on y' ordinances of God amongst us. We do therefore w"" selfabasement 
 and sense of our great unworthiness, yet in obedience to y= gospel of our Lord 
 Jesus, — We do this day before God and his .people give up ourselves and ours 
 first unto God and then one to another to walk together in attendance to all the 
 
11 
 
 that the Lord of the vineyard said of the remnant left after the 
 Exodus of 1667 : " Destroy it not for a blessing is in it." In April 
 following, seven more -were added to their number, and Mr. Bus- 
 sell was spared to his people through a long and prosperous min- 
 istry. Additions were made to the church every year with only 
 five exceptions. The whole number added were 237 — 96 males, 
 141 females. The baptisms recorded are 870, of whom only 33 
 were adults. He left no record of deaths, and only a fragmentary 
 notice of marriages, which commenced in 1716. 
 
 There is no record or tradition remaining of any seasons of 
 special attention to religion like those which are now technically 
 called revivals, during his pastorate. The influences of the spirit 
 seemed to descend like the gentle and constant dew rather than in 
 the copious shower ; yet there were years marked by accessions 
 which in these days would be deemed fruits or indications of a 
 revival. In 1701, there were fifteen additions to the church. 
 The same number in 1714, and in 1715 there were twenty-six. 
 Mr. Russell's ministry closed with his life, June 25th, 1731. He 
 died at the age of seventy-one. His pastorate was forty-three 
 years and three months, and was obviously a useful one. For the 
 last six years of his life his health was such that he was able to 
 preach but little if any. The society cheerfully employed an 
 assistant, and continued Mr. Russell's salary until June 1730, 
 when, with his consent, they voted to give him, during life, the 
 income or use of certain society's lands on Indian Neck, his fire- 
 wood and thirty pounds salary. He lived about a year after this 
 arrangement. He was a man of more than ordinary talents, and 
 was highly respected by his ministerial brethren. He took an 
 active part in forming and introducing into the churches that 
 ecclesiastical code or formula, usually called The Saybrook Plat- 
 form or Confession of Faith. He was one of the leaders in those 
 movements which resulted in the establishment of Yale College ; 
 and it was in his own dwelling, — in the large south parlor, with 
 its small windows, which some of you and myself well remember, 
 
 duties and enjoyment of all the privileges of the cov' of grace, that are to be attend- 
 ed and enjoyed in particular visible ch'hs, — making the script' to be our rule. We 
 do declare it to be o'' purpose (as God shall assist,) both in our principles and 
 practice in all substantials, to walk in a consonance w"' y' ch'hs of Christ w''' 
 whom we hold communion. 
 
12 
 
 that the convention of ministers met, bringing their donation of 
 books, and founded the institution, which, from such a feeble in- 
 fancy, has grown to its present strength, and which is wielding a 
 mighty influence throughout the land and over the world. He 
 was one of the trustees from 1701 to 1731. 
 
 During his pastorate, the inhabitants of the town became too 
 numerous and too widely dispersed to be accommodated in one 
 meeting house, and in 1725, the town was amicably divided into 
 two parishes. The North Farms received the name of North 
 Branford, and the southern part was called the Old or South So- 
 ciety. The church was also divided ; and though no record is 
 known to exist of the names, the number, or the location of those 
 who were dismissed from the old to form the new church, yet no 
 reasonable doubt exists that location was the basis of the divis- 
 ion. The North Farms had enjoyed the privilege of a separate 
 meeting — more or less of the time, especially in the winter sea- 
 son—for nearly twenty-five years, previous to this division. In 
 process of time, the North Society found it convenient to divide, 
 and the church in Northford, or the third church in Branford, was 
 organized. All these movements were made in friendship and 
 harmony. They went out from us, not because they were not of 
 us, but because they needed room. The friendship and harmony, 
 — the kind Christian intercourse and confidence between these 
 churches and their pastors has never been seriously interrupted, 
 and it is still the growth and increase of the little band who ad- 
 joined to the seven pillars on the 7th of March, 1687-8, and who 
 in every age have been sending forth their sons and daughters to 
 strengthen and bless other churches and communities throughout 
 the land. 
 
 But I have somewhat departed from the order of events. After 
 several unsuccessful efibrts to obtain a pastor, the South Society 
 in Branford gave an invitation to Mr. Philemon Bobbins, of Cam- 
 bridge, to settle with them in the gospel ministry. The invitation 
 was given October 9th, 1732. He signified his acceptance of it 
 on the 27th of December, and was ordained on the 7th of Feb- 
 ruary following, forty-five years wanting one month after the re- 
 organization of the church. 
 
 "The Rev. Mr. Samuel Whittlesey, of Wallingford, made the first 
 prayer, and preached a sermon from Ezekiel iii, 17, 18, 19. Then 
 
13 
 
 the Rev. Mr. Jacob Hemingway, of East Haven, made a prayer 
 and gave me the charge ; then the Rev. Mr. Samuel Russell, of 
 North Guilford, made a prayer ; then the Rev. Mr. Isaac Stiles, 
 of North Haven, gave me the right hand of fellowship ; then I 
 named the Psalm 118th, 4th part, and gave the blessing." I 
 quote the record to show the customs of that day, and the style 
 in which ministers are spoken of. 
 
 Mr. Robbins was a son of Nathaniel Robbins, and grandson of 
 Nathaniel Robbins, who emigrated from Scotland, and settled in 
 Charlestown, Mass. He graduated at Harvard College in 1729. 
 " During his ministry at Branford, he experienced more than the 
 ordinary vicisitudes of the pastoral life," — was highly and de- 
 servedly popular with the great majority of his people. He died 
 suddenly, while sitting in his study chair, on the 13th of August, 
 1781, in the seventy-second year of his age, and forty- ninth of his 
 ministry. The testimony is that he had preached as usual on the 
 Sabbath previous to his death. According to his own records, 
 the number of church members, at the time of his ordination, was 
 125 ; 43 males, 82 females. The additions during his ministry 
 were 204 ; 68 males, 136 females. The baptisms administered 
 among his own people were about eleven hundred. 
 
 Though there was some religious excitement here in connection 
 with the labors of Tennant and Davenport, little permanent fruit 
 for good was produced. As it was in the ministry of Mr. Rus- 
 sell, so additions were made to the church yearly from 1733 to 
 1779, with the exception of five years. The greatest number 
 was in 1733, when 28 were added, and in 1734, when 15 united 
 with the church. It should be borne in mind that his ministry 
 included the periods of the French wars, and the war of the Rev- 
 olution, — seasons peculiarly unfavorable to the prosperity of the 
 church and of vital piety. This may in part account for the 
 small increase of the church ; or rather a small decrease of its 
 numbers. 
 
 But the most extraordinary feature in the sayings and doings 
 of old which occurred during his ministrations, was the attempt 
 made to depose and silence him for heresy, or new light-ism. I can- 
 not detail that history now. Trumbull has done it in pa,rt. Suffice 
 it to say the Legislature had passed an act making it a penal of- 
 fense for one minister to preach or administer gospel ordinances in 
 
14 
 
 another minister's parish without his consent. The penalty was 
 the forfeiture^of salary. Mr. Robbins ventured to transgress, or 
 to do what was construed to be a transgression of the statute, by 
 preaching to some persons known as Baptists in the outskirts 
 of Wallingford. This was done at their earnest and repeated 
 solicitations. He also preached for the Separates at Haddam 
 and Middlefield, and baptized some individuals among them. 
 For these doings, and for some alleged errors in doctrine, he was 
 arraigned on the complaint of a few of his people who were insti- 
 gated by persons from without, and after a protracted trial of two 
 years, and much agitation, he was formally deposed from the min- 
 istry. His church and people now took the case into their own 
 hands. Instead of using the liberty which the law of the Legis- 
 lature gave them, they paid their minister's salary with more 
 cheerfulness and punctuality than before. Instead of admitting 
 the charges of error tiled against him before consociation, the 
 church, nem. con., met and rebutted them thus : " We are of 
 opinion that what is contained in the articles against the pastor of 
 this church, respectipg doctrine and principles, is very wrongfully 
 and injuriously charged, and disagreable," contrary to " the known 
 course and tenor of his preaching. We think Mr. Robbins 
 preaches the doctrines of grace more clearly than in some of the 
 first years of his ministry among us ; and yet we have too much 
 reason to fear that our uneasy brethren and neighbours, especially 
 some of the principal of them, are dissatisfied on account of those 
 doctrines : which doctrines, for our part, we think are clearly 
 revealed in the word of God, and adhered to by the reformed 
 churches, as appears by their confessions of faith and catechisms ; 
 and we trust God has and will implant them in our hearts, and 
 enable us to maintain them as long as we live." No very pleas- 
 ant decision for such men as Whittlesey and Stiles, who, twenty- 
 three years before, had ordained and given the right hand of 
 fellowship to young Robbins, and whose new light was now so 
 brilliant as to give pain to their visual organs. He was ecclesias- 
 tically silenced and deposed. His flock would not submit. They 
 voluntarily withdrew from the compact into which they had enter- 
 ed with the neighboring churches about thirty-eight years before. 
 They retained their minister and loved him the more for his trials 
 and his increased soundness in the faith. His opponents appealed 
 
15 
 
 to the Assembly for aid to quell or to awe this rebellious spirit. 
 The Assembly, in May, 1748, cited the Society to appear before 
 them and answer to the complaint. The Society appointed John 
 Russell, Esq., and Samuel Barker to be their agents or attorneys, 
 to appear before the Assembly and show reasons why the prayer 
 •of said petition should not be granted. The Assembly, after 
 hearing the parties, appointed a council of seven ministers from 
 different parts of the colony, requesting them to repair to Bran- 
 ford, and hear the parties, and endeavor to make peace in the 
 Society. On hearing the decision of the Assembly, the Society 
 liere voted to request and entreat the ministers so appointed by 
 the Assembly, together with messengers from their respective 
 •churches, to meet at Branford, on Wednesday, the 29th of June, 
 1748. But the council never met. Though requested again in 
 July — that they would be pleased to come and attend to the busi- 
 ness of their appointment, they came not. Being let alone, the 
 difficulties died out. The days of Mr. Bobbins were thenceforth 
 spent in peace with his people, — in the love and confidence of his 
 •church and of the whole community. Without any formal act of 
 restoration, he was called gradually into the councils and associa- 
 tions of his brethren. 
 
 He was a man of popular rather than splendid talents. He 
 usually preached from short notes or skeletons ; is said to have 
 been a ready extemporizer and of uncommon gifts in prayer, 
 (rod carried the church and society through this storm and saved 
 them from the errors and fanaticism which so fearfully scathed 
 some sections of New England, under the wild extravagances of 
 Davenport and other itinerants. " Destroy it not for a blessing 
 is in it." 
 
 Hitherto there had been but one denomination of Christians in 
 Branford. Through all this period, the only church organization 
 was the Congregational. Some Episcopalians there undoubtedly 
 were among the early settlers, and some whose preferences were 
 for that form of Christianity ; but they either worshipped with 
 the Congregationalists, or went abroad for baptism and confirma- 
 tion. They lived in harmony with Mr. Bobbins, and, in some 
 instances, as one of their number informed me, applied to him to 
 baptize a child, and were satisfied with the validity of baptism so 
 administered. 
 
16 
 
 But another feature of our ecclesiastical history is now to be 
 delineated. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain some 
 person to settle with them, the church and society gave a call to 
 Mr. Jason Atwater, a native of Hamden, and a graduate of Yale 
 College.* The vote was not unanimous, and the council which 
 convened for the purpose of his ordination, judged it inexpedient 
 to proceed, and adjourned without ordaining him. This council, 
 the Consociation, met on the 17th of February, 1784. Both the 
 church and society renewed the call on the 5th of March, 1784, 
 and on the 10th Mr. Atwater was ordained by the Consociation, 
 but neither the church nor society were unanimous. Some of the 
 dissatisfied persons withdrew from the society, and uniting with 
 others, an Episcopal society was organized June 2d, 1784. They 
 met for religious services occasionally in private houses, until 
 May, 1786, when the first Episcopal church edifice was erected, 
 and so far completed as to be occupied for divine worship. It 
 was not consecrated until September 17, 1832. In building, they 
 were aided to some extent by persons of the Congregational soci- 
 ety, and the two denominations have moved onward in compara- 
 tive harmony, undisturbed, except by the claims of the Episco- 
 palians to a part of the lands purchased of the Indians and 
 sequestered for the use of the first Congregational society in Bran- 
 ford, in supporting the ministry of the gospel among them. In 
 other respects the ministry of Mr. Atwater seems to have been 
 one of peace and ordinary prosperity. The society gave him 
 £300 as a settlement and £100 as a yearly salary. According to 
 his records, there were sixty members in the church when he 
 took the oversight thereof. Perhaps there were a few more who, 
 as non-residents, were not enumerated, or who had been received 
 during the vacancy between Mr. Bobbins' death and his own ordi- 
 natioii. During his pastorate seventy-eight were added to the 
 church ; forty-three of them in the first year of his ministry. 
 The baptisms one hundred and eighty-seven. He died of con- 
 sumption, June 10th, 1794, after a pastorate of ten years and 
 three months. 
 
 * The first call of the society was giren on the third Monday of November, 
 1783 ; a second vote, renewing the invitation, was passed on the 8th of Decem- 
 ber. The vote of the church is dated December 9th, 1783. 
 
17 
 
 On the 20tli of July, 1795, the society "voted to extend a call to 
 Mr. Lynde Huntington to settle with them in the work of the 
 gospel ministry." The church concurred in the invitation on the 
 7th of August following. The offer made him was £300 settle. 
 ment, £95 yearly salary, and firewood sufficient for his own use 
 " so long as he shall continue to preach in said society." The votes 
 were unanimous. He accepted the call, and was ordained Oct- 
 28, 1795. Mr. Huntington was a native of Norwich ; he gradu- 
 ated at Yale College in 1788. His talents were of a superior 
 order,— or as Dr. Trumbull, who knew him well, once remarked 
 to the speaker, he stood next to the first man in the Association, 
 and bade fair for eminence and usefulness. He entered on his 
 work with earnestness ; with a plainness in preaching and per- 
 sonal fidelity, which, as some of my hearers may still remember 
 commended him to their consciences, though it might have been 
 unwelcome to unrenewed hearts. He was strongly attached to 
 to the doctrines and practice of the Puritans, and at the very com- 
 mencement of his ministry, the church united with him in setting 
 wholly aside the practices of what has, not unaptly, been termed 
 'TAe Halfway Covenant," — language which perhaps the juvenile 
 part of my hearers do not understand, while we who are older 
 almost wonder that the practice ever gained currency in evangeli- 
 cal churches. It was in substance this : Baptized persons, of 
 good moral character, though they considered themselves unre- 
 generate and unqualified to come to the Lord's Supper, were 
 allowed to enter into covenant with the church, place themselves 
 under its watch, and offer their children for baptism if they chose ; 
 but were not expected to come to the communion until they 
 expressed repentance and faith in Christ, or gave satisfactory 
 evidence of a change of heart. This practice, which I believe 
 was introduced into Connecticut by the church in Hartford, and 
 which, for more than a century, was a very common one, had 
 gradually gone into disuse in this church, and throughout the Con- 
 gregational churches ; yet when it was formally set aside, it caus- 
 ed some dissatisfaction, not in the church, but in the society. 
 The highly Calvinistic tone of Mr. Huntington's preaching dis- 
 turbed some also ; and the result was that a few withdrew and 
 united with the Episcopalians, or removed from the place. 
 
 Mr. Huntington's ministry was closed by his death, of con- 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 sumption, Sept. 20, 1804, His pastorate was eight years and 
 eleven months. The additions to the church, under his ministry, 
 were forty-eight — eleven males and thirty-seven females. The 
 baptisms were one hundred and twenty-one. The aged still re- 
 member and revere him. 
 
 [The speaker here paused, while the congregation united in 
 singing the 71st Psalm, L. M., four stanzas.] 
 
 Lord, I have put my trust in thee ; 
 
 Turn not my confidence to shame ; 
 Thy promise is a rock to me ; 
 
 A tower of refuge is thy name. 
 
 Thou hast upheld me from the womb ; 
 
 Thou wert my strength and hope in youth ; 
 Now trembling, bending o'er the tomb, 
 
 I lean upon thine arm of truth. 
 
 Though I have long outliv'd my peers, 
 
 And stand amid the world alone, 
 A stranger left by former years, 
 
 I know my God, by him are known. 
 
 Cut me not oflf in mine old age. 
 
 Forsake me not in life's last hour : 
 The foe has not forgot his rage, 
 
 The lion ravens to devour. 
 
 Up to this period the people of Branford had retained, far be- 
 yond many, the habits of puritan simplicity and plainness in fujr- 
 niture, dress, and modes of living ; and they were considered as 
 somewhat behind the age in modern improvement and progress. 
 The state of society was less artificial, formal and heartless, than 
 in the more modernized habits of intercourse between man and 
 his neighbor. 
 
 There now occurred a vacancy in the pastoral office of three 
 years and nine months. During this interval the people employed 
 many candidates, but gave to only one — Bennet Tyler — an invi- 
 tation to settle, and he declined accepting it. On the second 
 Monday of December, 1807, the society passed a vote directing 
 their committee to supply the pulpit with some person at the ex- 
 pense of the society. The tradition is that they were directed to 
 employ some one who had never preached here, because they were 
 already divided into parties, in consequence of the numerous can- 
 
19 
 
 didates ■who had supplied them. The next morning, at an early 
 hour, application was made to me, a perfect stranger to every, 
 individual in the parish. On the second day of January, 
 which was as soon as as a previous engagement would permit, I 
 came among you, and, having obtained help from God, I have 
 continued here to this day ; if not a wonder to many, I am to 
 myself. I have outlived almost all my peers, and all save one 
 both of ministers and delegates who composed the venerable 
 council which ordained me. The vote of the church, at a meeting 
 held April 8th, 1808, acquiescing and joining in a previous call of 
 the society, made me to settle with them in the work of the min- 
 istry, was represented as unanimous. The invitation of the soci- 
 ety, offering a salary of $500 annually, and the privilege of cutting 
 firewood on the society's lands, until from continued ill health or 
 infirmity, I was no longer able to perform the duties of a gospel 
 minister among you, was passed with four dissentients. These 
 afterwards became cordial friends. On the 15th of June, 1808, 
 my ordination took place, and this flock was solemnly committed 
 to my care. My duty was not to know anything among you save 
 Christ and him crucified ; and I hope it has been a controling 
 object to fulfil that duty. In preaching, I have not shuuned to 
 declare unto you all the counsel of God. How far the word of 
 truth has been rightly divided, and how far each one, old and 
 young, has had his appropriate portion given in due season, the 
 Master will judge. I have great reason to be humble for my 
 unfaithfulness and deficiencies, and to ponder solemnly, with the 
 deepest feelings of soul, on the inquiry. Have any of this people 
 perished in consequence of my being a minister of the gospel 
 here ? Have all been saved, who might ha>ve been saved, if their 
 minister had been more faithful with them ? I have been with 
 you, my beloved people, in weakness and fear and much trembling. 
 True, we have lived in outward peace and harmony. Nothing 
 which has occurred has produced any outbreaks between us as 
 pastor and church ; minister and society. And if an individual 
 has occasionally taken umbrage at my conduct, or from any cause 
 been alienated, I believe that in nearly every case the alienation 
 or the hostility has died away, and usually friendship has suc- 
 ceeded. I know not that one unfriendly feeling now exists. 
 ****** 
 
20 
 
 At the time of my ordination, there were some things favor- 
 able to a peaceful and successful ministry, and some unfavor- 
 able and forbidding. Among favorable circumstances, besides 
 the harmony and unanimity of the call, the important labors of 
 my predecessor, Mr. Huntington, had prepared the way for 
 peace. He had been sowing precious seed, and it was ready to 
 spring up and bear fruit. The battle between the docti-ines of 
 grace and the laxer creed of the Arminians, had been fought 
 and won. Those who disliked the doctrinal sentiments of the 
 Puritans, and their simple modes of worship, had withdrawn, 
 and your present pastor has found no let or molestation in 
 preaching doctrines or duties as found in our standards of Faith 
 and the word of God. No one has ever whispered in his ear, 
 " You must not preach this or that doctrine, lest you give 
 offence and cause division." 
 
 Among things unfavorable was a habit, — still too frequent, — 
 of neglecting public worship in unpleasant weather, I well 
 remember that the third Sabbath of my preaching here, was in 
 a slight degree stormy, and no occun-ence, from that hour to 
 this, has moi-e disheartened me than the thin attendance in the 
 house of God on that day ; and had not previous engagements 
 required my stay, I should, in despondency, have left at once ; 
 under the prospect, if I remained here, of having to speak to 
 empty seats whenever the atmosphere was cloudy. 
 
 Again ; the small number of professors in the church was an 
 unfavorable circumstance. True, there were ninety-seven mem- 
 bers, resident and non-resident, and among them twenty-nine 
 males, but they were mostly aged, and there had been no revi- 
 vals of religion here for many years. The great work of 1799 
 did not reach this people ; nor, in fact, this region, unless Guil- 
 ford was an exception. I found but two members, if my recol- 
 lections are correct, who were personally acquainted with 
 special seasons of the effusions of the Holy Spirit ; one aged 
 widow, hopefully converted under the preaching of Whitefield, 
 at Wethersfield, and one younger in life, a subject of the work in 
 Northington, now Avon, 1799. At the time of my ordination, 
 there were revivals in New Haven, East Haven and Guilford, 
 and they were of great power. They materially changed the 
 religious and moral aspect of those communities. But this place, 
 
21 
 
 throughout the whole period, remained unmoved. We were 
 much as the royal Psalmist wished the mountains of Gilboa 
 might be, without rain or dew. And as tradition reported, 
 though incorrectly, that there had been opposition to Mr. White- 
 field here, the remark made respecting Litchfield, by its minister, 
 or by Tapping Reeve, would sometimes recur to our minds. The 
 people there had opposed Whitefield's coming among them to 
 preach, and the remark was, that there was no revival in Litch- 
 field until the last of his opposers was dead. The inquiry was, 
 might it not be so with this people. For long years, the bless- 
 ing was withheld from us. But we have reason, with deep 
 humility and gratitude to praise the God of all grace that it was 
 not always and wholly withheld. During the first six years of 
 my pastorate, there were additions to the church every year, — 
 few indeed, and without any general interest on the subject. 
 There have since been eight periods of more than the usual 
 manifestations of Divine grace in the awakening and hopeful 
 conversion of men. First, in 1814, there was a partial revival, 
 twelve only were added to the church, but several of the subjects 
 made a profession afterwards. In 1819-20, there were twenty- 
 two additions ; in 1821-22, there were fifty-two additions ; in 
 1831, there were seventy-two ; in 1840, there were fifteen ; in 
 1842, there were twenty-three; in 1851, there were seventy. 
 The present year there have been forty-nine. 
 
 The whole number added by profession since my ordination 
 is 409. The present number of members is 231. (The records 
 show 1,000 additions in 170 years, or since the reorganization.) 
 The number of baptisms among you, 584— minors, 482 ; adults, 
 102. I have performed 306 marriages, attended more than 
 750 funerals. The whole number of deaths on my record 1,166. 
 
 I will here briefly allude to three other events which have 
 materially changed your ecclesiastical relations and prospects. 
 
 One is the introduction of a new Constitution of civil govern- 
 ment, permitting every person to withdraw from any ecclesi- 
 astical society, with which he had been previously connected, 
 merely on certifying his intentions to the clerk of the society ; 
 and further providing that no one, coming of age after tiie 
 adoption of that constitution, shall be a legal member of any 
 ecclesiastical society until he joins it by a formal act. Many, 
 
22 
 
 taking advantage of the constitution, withdrew from the society, 
 and some from public worship ; and many who have since come 
 of age, have joined no society, though they may be holders of 
 pews and worshippers with us. This fact, though it has not 
 diminished the numbers of our Sabbath congregations, has 
 greatly diminished the legal numbers of the society. 
 
 The second change to which I alluded is the rise and organ- 
 ization of the Baptist church and society, which occurred in or 
 about 1839. 
 
 The third is the great change in the employment of the peo- 
 ple, and consequent changes in the population. Fifty years ago, 
 this was essentially an agricultural community. Your hills and 
 plains were owned and cultivated by farmers, with three or 
 four merchants in a small way, and mechanics enough to supply 
 the wants of the people, and some seafaring men, who, if not 
 youth, had generally homesteads and lands of their own. Now, 
 while the cultivation of the land has greatly increased, manu- 
 facturing of various kinds has been introduced, and with it a 
 population less stable. Some of these men and their families 
 are among our most estimable citizens. Another part are with- 
 out dwellings of their own ; changing their abodes as the pros- 
 pects of business vary, and many of them disinclined to connect 
 themselves with any religious organization— not a few of them 
 connected with a religious hierarchy, hostile to the feith, the 
 religion, and all the pi'inciples of the Puritans. 
 
 Let us now look at some other changes which have come 
 over this place since its settlement, and especially within the 
 last half century. 
 
 The Aborigines are all gone. Your ancestors were sur- 
 rounded by Indians, and mingled with them daily; but the 
 proud, independent people of the forest have dwindled away. 
 I remember the last of them, and the only one who lived here 
 ■when 1 came, Lydia, in her lone wigwam, was all. I have seen 
 her once or twice at the week day lecture, sitting at the door 
 and listening to the preacher, but she was away with the last 
 prayer. She died at the age of 68. 
 
 There is, I believe, no record or tradition that the Branford 
 Indians made war on our people, or offered any violence to 
 them. Their lands were bought and paid for, besides the price 
 
23 
 
 paid to New Haven for the township, and the town passed laws 
 protecting them in all their rights, and prohibiting individuals 
 from purchasing their reservations, lest fraud should be prac- 
 ticed on them. The forest and the thicket have been cleared 
 away, and the lands brought under cultivation. It is no longer 
 the crooked footpath and the hlazed line of trees by which our 
 fathers wended their way from settlement to settlement, or 
 from the rustic home to the house of God,— but generally the 
 open, and frequently the well made highway, by which the in- 
 tercourse of neighbor with neighbor is kept up, your produce 
 carried to the market, and " the tribes go up to the sanctuaries." 
 I wonder not that our fathers, where they could, . avoided the 
 thicket and the swamp, through fear of a lurking foe ; but 
 I have, a thousand times wondered, as I passed some close 
 copse or dell, and paused to think on the amazing goodness of 
 their covenant God in protecting them from death, when for 
 miles together their way was all through copses and thickets, 
 and where, within ten feet from their path, or from the borders 
 of their fields, an enemy, who delighted in stratagem and sur- 
 prise, might lie or stand in perfect concealment. 
 
 And how vastly has the product of your lands increased. 
 The overplus has increased five, if not tenfold, within the last 
 fifty years. 
 
 With your maratime interests it has not been so. The time 
 was, and that within the memory of men hving when I came 
 here, when the shipping business and the West India trade 
 from Branford were greater than from New Haven. The har- 
 bor here was better and safer. The Dutch, sagacious and en- 
 terprising, had discovered this long before Daniel Swain, of 
 Wethersfield, and his company bought Totoket. They had also 
 estabhshed a trading house here, and opened a lucrative traffic 
 with the Indians. Their location is still known as Dutch House 
 Point and Dutch House Quarter. But the people of Branford 
 met with great reverses in the old French wars. Their ships 
 were captured or lost, their spirit of enterprise broken, and the 
 improvements made in New Haven harbor gradually removed 
 the shipping business from this place. 
 
 Branford has long been noted for producing good seamen ; 
 but many of them were lost in the war of 1756, and more in 
 the war of the Revolution, by capture, sickness and exposure 
 
24 
 
 in the prison ships. I may here remark, that most of the people 
 of the South Society, as well of the North, entered with ardor 
 into the war of the Revolution, and furnished a full quota of 
 men, by voluntary enlistment, both for land and sea service. 
 
 I have spoken of improvement in roads : the change is still 
 greater in the modes of conveyance. Fifty years ago the com- 
 mon mode of conveyance was on horseback. There were 
 then but four or five ordinary chaises in the place, and one 
 of these without a top— two, or possibly three, double horse 
 wagons, — one single wagon and one truck, and that I believe 
 was the whole list. I leave you to fancy how the people went 
 to the house of God, for they did go thither, and that in far 
 greater proportion, if not with more devout feelings, than the 
 people go now, with all their increased facilities. I need not 
 repeat what my brother* here, from North Branford, has so 
 well told in his discourse on the early settlement of that town. 
 One thing, however, if I mistake not, he has omitted, "the 
 Sabbath day houses" of early times, and even of our own re- 
 collections. These were little buildings put up on the skirts 
 of the public green, and in some instances, as was the case 
 here, hard by the house of God, single or double, and de- 
 signed to accommodate one or more families. Sometimes a 
 kind of patriarchate, and the whole family circle of two or three 
 generations spent the intermission of the Lord's day in them. 
 Here the provisions were deposited in the morning ; in the win- 
 ter season a good fire made, — the light refreshment eaten at 
 noon, — and then the Bible, or some approved sermon book, 
 produced and read ; or perhaps the doctrines and principles of 
 the morning discourse discussed. Possibly some one of less 
 serious mood might talk with his neighbor of worldly matters, 
 or the news of the day, but these family gatherings, in those 
 small, unpainted, unpretending houses, were far more in accor- 
 dance with the idea of remembering the Sabbath day to keep 
 it holy, than some of the gatherings of the present day, when 
 modern progress has swept away these appendages of our 
 earthly courts. 
 
 Look at the changes in education. It will be remembered 
 that our fathers carried with them the school as well as the 
 
 * Kev. George I. Wood, ■who was present and offered the introductory prayer. 
 
25 
 
 church,_the school master as well as the minister. The prin- 
 ciple was,— a common school education for every child At 
 first there was but one school, and that supported in part by the 
 town. In some cases the person employed to preach was also 
 employed to teach the school. Probably three or four months 
 m the year was deemed sufficient to acquire the necessary edu- 
 cation. As the settlements spread, schools were multiplied. 
 Haifa century ago there were five districts in the South Society 
 and five indifferent-school houses. Reading, writing and arith- 
 metic were taught. That was all which the law required to 
 entitle school societies to a share of the public money. There 
 were no select, or grammar schools, until vour present pastor 
 commenced one. You have now eight districts, and ordinarily 
 one, sometimes two, select schools. The requisite qualifications 
 of teachers have been increased, and the branches in which 
 pupils are taught are quite sufficiently multiplied for utility. 
 But I feel constrained to say this great subject has been itoo much 
 neglected, and that it is still undervalued. Branford has raised 
 but few publicly educated men. Northford, the younger daugh- 
 ter, has in this far excelled the parent. 
 
 There have been great changes in the style of living. The 
 Puritan simplicity which prevailed here fifty years ago, has 
 nearly disappeared from your dwellings, your furniture and 
 your wardrobes. In many cases the changes are for the better, 
 in some cases they are, at least, of doubtful utility. In your 
 dwellings, or rather the dwellings of your fathers, there were 
 no carpets,* no mahogany or rosewood furniture besides a few 
 antique articles, which perhaps came originally from the mother 
 country, and which had, in some instances, been handed down 
 from generation to generation. Now all your houses are car- 
 peted, and your furniture and wardrobes are quite expensive 
 enough, and gorgeous enough for those who wish to live in 
 Christian simplicity, and within their income. 
 
 In your dwelling houses there have been great changes. 
 Many of the ancient ones have been taken down and replaced 
 by others greatly improved in style and accommodations, and 
 many new ones erected, exhibiting both an appearance of 
 
 * Since the discourse was deliyered, the writer has been informed that in one 
 parlor a Brussels carpet was placed, in the year 1807. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 thrift and an improvement of taste. There has been an almost 
 entire change in the mode of warming your dwellings. Fifty 
 years ago there were no stoves in use here, except one or two 
 called Franklins, for stores. They began to come into use 
 about forty years ago ; large in size, uncouth in appearance, 
 and withal expensive. Their use now is all but universal. 
 Their patterns often ornamental, their conveniences increased, 
 and the expense diminished threefold. 
 
 There have been great changes and improvements in church 
 edifices. The Episcopalians have taken down the former ill 
 proportioned one, which had become too strait for them, as well 
 as distasteful, and erected a larger, more modern, and more 
 expensive building, on our right hand. The Baptists have 
 erected a new and commodious one on our left. Our own well 
 remembered edifice, after having served the church, the society 
 and the town, for a century, has disappeared, and you, my 
 people, have been able to erect the present building for the 
 worship of our God and our fathers' God. The enterprise was 
 undertaken and has been carried through with uncommon har- 
 mony and satisfaction, — and with the rents of the present year, 
 your debts will be cancelled. The cost has been about $9,000, 
 and you as a society, or perhaps I should rather say, as a 
 church and a congregation worshipping with us, and one in 
 sentiment and heart with us ; you have far greater ability than 
 you had fifteen years ago to build another house, beautiful, con- 
 venient and well proportioned, like this. 
 
 I will not weary your patience by speaking at length of your 
 former church edifices. This is the fifth. The first was erect- 
 ed within the old burying ground, and tradition says it was 
 enclosed by a stoccade to protect its worshippers from the In- 
 dians. The three others have been erected on this eminence — 
 a location beautiful in itself, and capable, at a little expense and 
 good-taste, of being made far more so. 
 
 A few words as to your burying grounds, where sleep the 
 first settlers and their descendants through all these generations 
 for two hundred and fourteen years, — where sleep those who 
 laid here the foundations of liberty and education and religious 
 institutions, — where sleep almost all who took part in mv settle- 
 ment, and who constituted the fathers, the mothers and elders 
 of the flock given me in charge to feed and to take the over- 
 
27 
 
 sight thereof,— where sleep all except four who were members 
 of the church at that period, and only one of them now belongs 
 to us. I, of course, would not deny that some have removed 
 and have died abroad. These hallowed resting places of the 
 dead need your consideration and your care, for there, or in 
 similar narrow and long homes, we too must lie and moulder 
 and rest until the resurection. 
 
 From the first settlement of the town until the 30th of Novem- 
 ber, 1810, the centre burying ground was the only one where 
 the people of the South Society buried their dead, and proba- 
 bly, for about eighty years, the only one in the town. Here lie 
 the remains of Mr. Russell, of his companion and his flock ; 
 indeed, of all your former pastors and their wives, except Mr. 
 Pierson. From this spot, so full of the dust of the dead, will 
 rise your pastors, with many of their people, and meet at the 
 judgment seat, each one to give his account unto God. But 
 Hot all will rise from this spot. Some who dwelt here, and 
 were members of this church or society, have their resting 
 place in the ocean or the battle field ; and Branford men and 
 women will rise to the judgment of the great day from every 
 State and territory of this vast republic. Persons who were 
 once of my flock, are now scattered throughout the land. But 
 the trumpet of the archangel will bring us all before God. 
 
 On the above named 30th of November, the burying yai-d on 
 Mill Plain was opened, and a young man, Ammi Beach, aged 
 twenty, was buried there. On the 18th of June, 1812, the first 
 grave in Damascus burying ground was opened, and again a 
 youth in years, though a married person, Mrs. Lucretia Day, aged 
 nineteen, was buried. How rapidly have these sequestered spots 
 been filling up, while the central one has been twice enlarged ! 
 These hallowed grounds need a more tasteful culture. 
 
 I am reminded, this day, that not only the church members 
 but the members of the society who constituted my early 
 charge, are mostly with the dead. Of persons then in the mar- 
 riage relation, only four couples remain unbroken, and only 
 two of them have belonged to this society. Of men belonging 
 to us, who had been previously married, seven yet survive. 
 Of females, twelve. In my attendance on almost eight hundred 
 funerals, I have been called, in seasons of bereavement and 
 mourning, into nearly all your families, except those who are 
 
28 
 
 young, and thus I have been called to share in your sorrows as 
 well as your joys, I have witnessed suffering and death in 
 almost every form except murder. 
 
 During my ministry, I have written nearly four thousand 
 sermons, besides hundreds, perhaps thousands, of unwritten 
 and extempore discourses, and a reference to my Bible shews 
 that texts have been selected from every book in the sacred 
 volume. Thus I have not shunned, intentionally, to declare unto 
 you all the counsel of God. 
 
 In conclusion, then, we have these results. During these 
 fifty years, notwithstanding all reverses and misfortunes, you 
 have increased in property and conveniences and ability to 
 support religious institutions. In some features, the church has 
 greatly changed. There then was not a male in it under thirty- 
 four years of age, nor a female under twenty-seven years. 
 Now one-third of the members are young, and some under 
 twenty years of age. Among the male members of the church, 
 fifty years ago, there were but three who ever assisted me at 
 our lectures or religious conferences, though I have heard 
 others of them pray in their famiUes. Now it is far otherwise. 
 Then there was no religions literature or religious papers for 
 the young, or for families, except the Connecticut Evangelical 
 Magazine, at that time in its infancy, and Hannah More's Moral 
 Tracts. Such helps every family and every child may now 
 have. There were no missionary societies except those for 
 home missions, and it was thought a very generous thing to 
 raise by contribution ten dollars a year to aid in sending the 
 gospel to our new settlements in Vermont, or a few miles west 
 of the North River. Now the friends of Christ work for his 
 cause through collections for Foreign Missions, Bible and Tract, 
 and Seaman's Friend Societies, and other organizations, and 
 instead of ten dollars, this people have, in some years, raised 
 hundreds — though, painful to say, there has been recently a sad 
 falling off, and what is done is done by comparatively few. 
 There are too many who do not yet know " That it is more 
 blessed to give than to receive." 
 
 I rejoice and thank my God, that you have so far prospered 
 in your worldly interests and spiritual concerns. The number 
 of professing Christians in this church has more than doubled — 
 notwithstanding large and almost yearly emigrations. And be- 
 
29 
 
 sides these, there are large numbers in the Episcopal and Bap- 
 tist churches. The professed disciples of Christ have increased 
 in far greater proportion than your Protestant population. And 
 so it has been in the congregations around us. I thank those of 
 you, both of the church and society, who have co-operated with 
 me and gone along with me,— some from the very beginning of 
 my ministry, — hand in hand to the present hour. I grate- 
 fully acknowledged the cordiality and readiness with which you 
 have welcomed me to your houses and your hospitalities during 
 these fifty years ; and it has ever been my lot to be affection- 
 ately and kindly welcomed by Episcopalians, as well as my 
 own people. You have borne with my imperfections and 
 errors, and we have no bitter contentions to regret here to-day 
 as we review the past, and think of the future solemn meeting, 
 and of what the results of that meeting may be to each of us. 
 
 May the great head of the church, who has cared for you 
 hitherto, direct you in your choice of a future pastor, to a good 
 man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, and through his min- 
 istrations may much people be added to the Lo^d, I know that 
 the public taste in respect to preaching has much changed; 
 and that societies and churches too have changed in their de- 
 mands for ministerial qualifications. A committee from the 
 church, or society, or frequently an individual of his own ac- 
 cord, now-a-days, goes to the professors of a theological sem- 
 inary, or to some prominent minister, and inquires for a candi- 
 date. One is recommended. Then commences a string of 
 interrogations : 1st. Is he a popular man and a good speaker ? 
 2d. Has he pleasant social qualities ? 3d. Is he a man of supe-. 
 rior talents — a smart man ? 4th. Can he live on a small salary ? 
 And lastly, when all these are satisfactorily answered, with hat 
 in hand and foot on the threshhold, — I suppose, Sir, he is pious ! 
 Need it excite any surprise that mutations in the pastoral office 
 are frequent, if piety in a minister is the last qualification which 
 parishes, and even churches, seek? 
 
 Give your minister an honorable support, that he may not be 
 burdened with care for the things of this life, and constrained 
 to attend to your work instead of his own. You have given 
 me all which it was stipul.-ited to give, and which was thought 
 fifty years since to be sufficient to support a small family ; and 
 though the expenses of living have been doubled, my salary has 
 
30 
 
 remained the same. I have asked no more, and my people 
 have offered no more, though for the last twenty years my 
 expenditures have probably exceeded my salary. 
 
 I have a few words to say to the members of the church. 
 You have all come into the church during my pastorate, and I 
 regard you as the seals of my ministry. Some of you have 
 been my pupils in secular branches of education, aS well as in 
 the bible class. A few of you have grown old along with your 
 pastor, and more of you in younger years have cheered him on 
 in his work. I rejoice in the hope that you may live to comfort 
 and help some future pastor, and, for a long time to come, aid 
 in sustaining all the interests of Zion here. ***** 
 
 Ye young disciples, be earnest, sincere, whole-hearted Chris- 
 tians. Cherish the great doctrines of the Bible as they have 
 from the beginning been held by this church. Sustain all the 
 institutions of the church. Patronize the benevolent institutions 
 which have for their object the extension of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom in the earth, and the social, moral and religious wel- 
 fare of man. Aim to do good and not evil in your day ; and 
 while you cherish the spirit of Catholicism, and welcome to 
 your communion all professing Chistians, of every name, who 
 hold to the great doctrines of experimental religion, as this 
 church has long and ever done, — forsake not the foundation of 
 the prophets and apostles, — the great principles of salvation by 
 grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, and the 
 renewal of the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Would that I could see all of this beloved flock openly on 
 the Lord's side, — all of you professing and consistent Christians ; 
 but the Lord hath not granted this desire of his servant. There 
 are some of the congregation who are not indulging hope that 
 they are renewed persons. I acknowledge your friendship for 
 me ; the support and the sympathy which some of you have 
 manifested in times which have tried men's souls. I trust 
 you will not deny that I have aimed to win you to Christ ; that 
 I have urged duty upon you, and besought you to be reconciled 
 to God ; and it is painful to leave you without being able to 
 count you as seals of my ministry, or as a part of my crown of 
 rejoicing, if, through the infinite mercy of God, I should not be a 
 castaway, but be found, at last, a sinner saved by grace. Would 
 that I could truly say I have faithfully used all appropriate 
 
31 
 
 means to win you to Christ, and that if any perish I am free 
 from their blood. But I have to plead forgiveness for my sins 
 and " short comings ;" and though I must leave you impenitent 
 and classed with the world, allow me still to plead with you to 
 submit yourselves unto God, and to plead with God that even 
 yet divine mercy may reach you, and that from other ministra- 
 tions, and other lips, the preaching of Christ and him crucified 
 may avail to your salvation. You surely form a precious part 
 of the flock, endeared to me by a thousand recollections, — en- 
 deared by the thought that you have so often and so long been 
 seen in the house of God, enjoying the means of salvation ; and 
 my heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may be saved, 
 by embracing Jesus Christ, so freely offered to you. 
 
 I see another class in the congregation to whom I would 
 affectionately speak a parting word. There are some living 
 among us who have not connected themselves with any reli- 
 gious society. I have occasionally been with you, especially in 
 your seasons of sickness and bereavement, and to no part of 
 the community have I more cheerfully and gladly extended 
 ministerial services than to you, and I can bear witness that 
 you have never manifested any feelings of unfriendliness to- 
 wards me ; that you have often welcomed me to your houses ; 
 have expressed yourself grateful for my attentions ; have re- 
 spectfully listened to my counsels, and permitted me to speak 
 freely to you of your spiritual concerns. I may say that you 
 have often been the subjects of my anxious desires. But, fel- 
 low travellers to eternity, while I regard your souls as precious 
 as the souls of any other portion of this community, I fear your 
 melancholly condition is that you are not saved, and that you 
 will never be saved if you continue to neglect the institutions 
 of the gospel and forsake the house of God. I do, therefore, 
 at the close of these fifty years, earnestly and affectionately 
 urge you to attend to the things of your peace, and invite you 
 to come to Christ, as your only refuge and only hope. 
 
 I see some here to-day who were formerly with us, but who 
 have gone from us to make their home in other places : some 
 who were once members of this church ; some who, in their 
 youth, were my beloved pupils. I am glad to see your faces 
 once more, and to have this opportunity to greet you before I 
 die. I rejoice in all your prosperity, and welcome you to these 
 
32 
 
 scenes of your childhood and youth. Join with us in praising 
 our fathers' God and our God for all his goodness and grace to 
 this church and this people, and then go to your chosen abodes 
 and chosen employments, if lawful ones, and there act worthily 
 for Christ and his cause in the world. May the communities 
 where you live be better for your example and your influence. 
 And aim equally with those who still abide in the old home of 
 the colony of 1644, to prepare for the greater gathering, when 
 the first settlers and the subsequent settlers of Totoket, with all 
 their descendants of every generation, — all the emigrants and 
 their offspring, spread as they now are, over this broad land, 
 and into the isles of the sea, in South America, in the father- 
 land, in Asia and Africa, loo, — shall all meet this God in whom 
 they, and we also, set our hopes, — to give, each for himself, the 
 account of his stewardship ; and to receive his reward, for 
 good or for evil, according to the deeds done in the body. 
 How solemn will be that gathering before the judgment seat of 
 Christ ! How rapturous, if we are found among the ransomed 
 of the Lord, who shall return and come to Zion, with songs 
 and everlasting joy upon their heads ; if we, on that day, shall 
 obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
 away ! And how overwhelming, if we, — if any, either pastor 
 or people, of the dwellers on these hills and in these vales, — 
 any of the worshippers within these and your former hallowed 
 walls, shall then fall under the frowns of a rejected Savior and 
 into the everlasting ruin which awaits all who have neglected 
 the great salvation. 
 
 It now only remains, that with affection and hope, and yet with 
 fear, I pray that the angel of God's presence may go before you 
 still, and lead you into greater religious prosperity. * * * * 
 
 Your fathers set their hope in God and clave to his word, and 
 he prospered them. Ponder on the things he has done for them, 
 for their children and their children's children, and let the review 
 induce you also, my beloved people, to set your hope in God ; 
 and do not forget his works, but keep his commandments and do 
 them. So shall it be well with you. The God of love and peace 
 be with you. The God of revivals and of salvation bless you, 
 and the spirit of grace rest upon you all — Amen. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 104.B63G47 
 
 The past and the present, in the secular 
 
 3 1924 010 360 877 
 
 
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