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 An Historical Discourse ^ 
 
 HLL1VLKED AT 
 
 WKST BROOKFIELD ; MASS., 
 
 OS OCCASION OF THE 
 
 <§ne Dunbricb anb Jiftidlj ^tmtoflrsarjj 
 
 FIRST CHURCH IN BROOKFIELD, 
 
 OCTOBER 16, 18G7. 
 
 By SAMUEL DUNH A M 
 
 PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 WITH A POEM AND APPENDIX 
 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: 
 
 SAMUEL BOWLES & COMPANY. PRINTERS. 
 
 18C8. 
 

Pastor of the Church from 1771 to 1818. 
 
An Historical Discours 
 
 DBL1VEKBD AT I 
 
 WEST BROOKFIELD, MASS., 
 
 ON OCCA8TOH OF TI1K 
 
 ®nt fvmtat) an* |ift'utlj &timij«sar}| 
 
 FIRST CHURCH IN BROOKFIELD, 
 
 OCTOBER 10, 18 67. 
 
 By SAMUEL DUNHAM, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 w 
 
 ITH A POEM AND APPENDIX 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: 
 
 ; AMU EL BOWLES & COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 
 1867. 
 
k 
 
Pre fa tory Note 
 
 In the preparation of the following Discourse, the records of Town, 
 Parish, and Church, have been thoroughly explored, and every other 
 available source of information consulted, whether manuscript or 
 printed, monumental or traditionary. Many important biographical 
 and other items have also been obtained by means of a somewhat ex- 
 tensive correspondence. 
 
 With the facts, carefully sifted and compared, spread out before him, 
 the author has diligently aimed at impartiality of judgment, accuracy 
 of statement, and exactness in statistics and dates. And it is confidently 
 believed that what he has thus patiently sought, has, to a good degree, 
 been attained. S. D. 
 
 West Brookfield, November 5, 1867. 
 
Discourse. 
 
 Deuteronomy xxxii. "'. 
 "REMEMBER l III. DATS OP <M.I>. CONSIDER THE FEARS OF MAW GENERA- 
 riONS; LSK THY FATHER, AM) HE WILL SHEW THI I :: 1IIV ELDERS, AND 
 
 rill'.V WII.I. TELt TIIliL'." 
 
 Just one hundred and fifty years have passed away since 
 the First Church in Brookfield was founded. We are met 
 here within this house of God to-day to commemorate that 
 event. From the widely diverging paths into which our varied 
 preferences and pursuits have led us, we are gathered once 
 more around the venerable Mother to pay that tribute of re- 
 spect which is due to her hoary age. And it seems quite in 
 keeping with the object of our assembling, as being well fit- 
 ted to foster and deepen our reverence, and strengthen the bond 
 of our filial attachment, that we should together recount some 
 of the more important incidents of her long and honorable ca- 
 reer. May it not, likewise, fully accord with our own cher- 
 ished and sacred regard for the past, and prove a source of 
 fresh inspiration and incitement for the future, to " remem- 
 ber the days of old," and " consider the years of many gen- 
 erations ; " — thankfully tracing, meanwhile, the finger of God 
 in our history. 
 
 Scarcely had the wild Indian ceased to hunt the game of 
 the surrounding forests, and to catch the fish of these neigh- 
 boring ponds and brooks, — scarcely had the echo of his sav- 
 age yell died away among these hills, when a Church of Christ 
 
6 
 
 was here constituted, and the glad note of the Gospel was 
 sounded forth from the lips of the living preacher. It was at 
 that time the only church in all this region of country includ- 
 ing a circuit of many miles on either hand. 
 
 Of the seventy-three Congregational Churches now in 
 Worcester County, not one had then been formed, save the 
 First Church (the Old South) in what is now the City of 
 "Worcester, and that was organized only the previous year in 
 1716. This Church, — a little hardy, brave band of men, fear- 
 less of danger, true to Puritan principles, and loyal to Christ, 
 stood absolutely isolated and alone, surrounded only by a broad 
 and desolate waste infested with wild beasts and savages. 
 
 The maintenance of the ordinances of religion in the midst 
 of this wilderness, remote from the centres of population, and 
 exposed to the barbarity and cruelty of the sons of the forest, 
 was but in harmony with the devout and heroic spirit and 
 conduct of the Pilgrim Fathers, and early settlers of this 
 Colony, who, for the sake of enjoying their liberty, and of 
 walking according to the faith and order of the Gospel, aban- 
 doned the land of their nativity for the rock-bound shores and 
 rugged soil of New England. 
 
 From the first settlement of old Quaboag* in 1660, there is 
 reason to believe that God had been publicly worshiped here, 
 with the exception of about a dozen years, from 1675, when 
 the entire town was burned, and the inhabitants dispersed by 
 the Indians, to about the year 1687, when the scattered set- 
 tlers began again to return. 
 
 The fifteen years previous to the dispersion were years of 
 peace and evident prosperity ; so that the " several inhabit- 
 ants of Ipswich " to whom the first grant of land here was 
 
 * The name was changed to Brookfield on becoming a township in 1673. 
 
made, had grown to a little community of twenty families, 
 who had been enabled to build for themselves a sanctuary in 
 which they might hold public worship on the Sabbath. 
 
 Indeed this original grant of the General Court in May 20th, 
 1660, was made only upon condition that there should be 
 twenty families resident here within three years, and that, 
 within the same time, there should be settled " an able minis- 
 ter,'' such as the Court should approve ; " and that they make 
 due provision in some way or other for the future ; either by 
 setting apart of lands, or what else shall be thought meet for 
 the continuance of the ministry amongst them." 
 
 From an Historical Address* by Henry A. Sykes, A. M., 
 of Suffield, Connecticut, it appears that Mr. John Younglove, 
 the first minister of that town, " had preached at Quaboag 
 (Brookfield, Massachusetts,) for some time previous to Philip's 
 war," and that after the destruction of this settlement by the 
 Indians in 1675, " he went to Hadley and taught the town or 
 grammar school, till he was invited to Suffield," where he com- 
 menced his labors sometime during the year 1679, or early in 
 1680, and where "he continued until his decease June 3, 
 1690." Of Mr. Younglove as a minister, " little is known ; 
 he was no doubt an educated man, though it is not known 
 that he was a graduate of any college, his name not being 
 among those of the graduates of Harvard, then the only col- 
 lege in America." 
 
 There is also an obscure tradition, though no certain evi- 
 dence, of the existence of an organized church at this early 
 period. We are left much in the dark respecting that portion 
 of our history ; for, doubtless, the flames that were kindled 
 
 * Proceedings on the occasion of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary 
 of the decease of the Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, at Suffield, Conn., 1859, p. 43. 
 
by the treachery of King Philip's Indians, and which de- 
 stroyed the town, consumed likewise its most ancient records. 
 
 From a petition of the inhabitants of Brookfield to the 
 Honored General Court, assembled at Boston, in November 
 1698, it appears that for a time previous to that date, they 
 were destitute of the stated ministrations of the Gospel. In 
 that petition* they show " That it is an intolerable burden to 
 continue, as we have done, without the preaching of the word." 
 They further say that they " are not able at present to main- 
 tain the worship of God;" that they " are but twelve fami- 
 lies " — s0 glow was the resettlement of the town after the war 
 that drove the first settlers from their chosen home — and that 
 they " are not of estate sufficient to give suitable encourage- 
 ment to a minister," though, be it said to their credit, they 
 were " ivilUng to do to the outside of [their'] ability.'''' 
 
 In answer to their petition it was " ordered that there be 
 twenty pounds paid out of the public Treasury of this Prov- 
 ince, towards the support of an orthodox minister for one year 
 to commence from the time of the settlement of such minister 
 amongst them." 
 
 According to Mr. Foot's Historical Discourse, tradition re- 
 lates that Mr. Thomas James, a native of England, minister 
 of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and afterwards a missionary 
 at East Hampton, Long Island, preached the first sermon in 
 this town. " Previously to 1713, a Mr. Smith had been em- 
 ployed here as a minister." In 1715 the records show that 
 Mr. Daniel Elmer, a graduate of Yale College in 1713, in 
 a class of three, had, for a time, been carrying on the work 
 of the ministry, supported in part by the General Court. But 
 in that year he relinquished his labors here, and was succeeded 
 by Mr. Thomas Cheney. 
 
 *For the petition in full, see Appendix, Note I. 
 
9 
 
 PASTORS, PASTORATES, AND CONNECTED HISTORY. 
 But it was not till the third "Wednesday in October (the 
 10th, day) 1717, that this church was formally organized, and 
 Mr. Cheney solemnly ordained its first pastor. The terms 
 of his settlement had been agreed upon about a year and a 
 half before : 
 
 " Att a meeting of the Inhabitants of Brookfield, on April y e 5th, 1716 ; 
 Voted y* Thomas Barnes be moderator for s d day. Voted that Edward 
 Walker, Senr., Joseph Banister, and Elisha Rice, doe further Discourse 
 Mr. Cheney as to his proposals in order to a settlement in s a Place to 
 carry on y e work of the Ministry." 
 
 Mr. Cheney's proposals in his own handwriting were soon 
 obtained, while the people were yet assembled, and " were 
 read in town meeting," in the words following : 
 
 " Gentlemen, as to y e Dementions of y e House and Barn you propose 
 to Build for me in case I should settle amongst you, it is my mind and 
 desire with Respect to my House, y' y e length may be 42 foott, the wedht 
 20 foott ; as to y e stud fourteen foott stud ; and as to y e barn, that it 
 may be 30 foott long, and 20 foott wide, w' a lentow [leanto] on one 
 side. 
 
 This from your servant, 
 
 Thomas Cheney. 
 
 As to y e Glass, Nails and Iron, I will provide and procure myself so 
 far as is necessary to s d House and Barn. 
 
 Thomas Cheney." 
 
 Having considered the above proposals, — 
 
 " The Inhabitants Voted firstly, To Give Mr. Cheney for his salery, 
 fifty-two pounds yearly for three years, and to Rise forty shillings a year 
 untill it comes to seventy pounds, and there to stay. 
 
 Secondly, Voted y l Mr. Cheney Have all the Land y 4 the Committee 
 Proposed to give Him. 
 
 Thirdly, Voted To Build him a House and Barn, according to y° De- 
 mentions y* he has given; Mr. Cheney providing Glass, Naills, and Iron. 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Fourthly, Voted to Break up, and fence, and fitt to sow Eight acres of 
 Land ; four acres upon the Hill ; two acres to be planted oat with or- 
 charding this year, and four Acres To be "Broke up on the plain this year, 
 the other two acres to be done within four years. 
 
 Fifthly, I oted to gett Mr. Cheney twenty-five cord of wood yearly his 
 
 lifetime. 
 
 Sixthly, J r oted to give Mr. Cheney each man one day's work yearly, 
 
 for six years, His House and Barn to be built in four years ; always 
 
 Provided Mr. Cheney be our ordained Minister. 
 
 THOMAS BARNES, Moderator:' 
 
 The above was " Aproved and alowed by the Committee for Brook- 
 field, May y e 16th, 1716, Provided Mr. Cheney be their settled minister 
 three years." 
 
 Samuel Partridge, ' 
 John Pynciion, 
 Samuel Porter, 
 Ebenezer Pomroy 
 
 Committee 
 
 for 
 Brookfield. 
 
 As to the amount of land which the Committee proposed to 
 o-ive Mr. Cheney, and which was voted by the town at the 
 above meeting, we find the following record : — 
 
 " At a meeting of the Committee for Brookfield March 28, 1716, 
 the Committee taking into consideration a grant made to the first settled 
 minister " [that is the first minister who should be settled] " made De- 
 cember 9, 1714 of all y e land lying in Brookfield between Mr. Willson's 
 ami Mr. Younglove's land, the Committee did this day gratft to Mr. 
 Thos. Cheney now minister in s d place — all the land aforesaid between 
 s' 1 Willson and Vounglove's lott, and the 20 acres of meadow belonging 
 to s d lott, and also 8 or 10 acres on the plain, and also we grant to him s d 
 Cheney 100 acres of land in s d place to be taken where he shall chuse 
 — always provided Mr. Cheney become a settled minister in s d place. 
 The first grant not to enterfeir upon a grant made for a Highway made 
 November, 1715." 
 
 In addition to these several grants the Committee, in the 
 autumn of the same year (October 12, 1716) took the follow- 
 ing action: — 
 
 'i Whereas about 3 years Since the General Court allowed to the 
 Ministry in Brookfield twenty pounds ; of which sum Mr. Elmore (El- 
 
1J 
 
 hut) who left the Ministry there so as he had but one-half part of s<> 
 sum payd to him, there Remayns ten pounds of s d sum or donation ; the 
 
 C mittee Judge it i te this last part be payd to Mr. Thomas Cheney 
 
 the present minister, as part of his sallery, and have given order to Luke 
 Hitchcock Esq. to gel the Money for him." 
 
 Provision having thus been made for Mr. Cheney's support, 
 in the following summer (July 16, 1717,) the call was made 
 out, and arrangements made for the ordination : — 
 
 " Att a meeting of the Inhabitants of Brookfield by order of the Com- 
 mittee for si place Bareing date June y e 28th, 1717. 
 
 Voted, That the Reverend Mr. Thomas Cheney shall he ordained 
 minister for the Town. 
 
 I'otcd, The third Wednesday in October next is apointed and sett 
 apartt for Mr. Cheney's ordination. 
 
 Voted, That Mr. Tilly Merick and Joseph Banister aQuaint Mr. 
 Cheney with the Town's mind, and as to the day aGreed upon for his 
 ordination, and now made Return y' Mr. Cheney consents thereto. 
 
 Voted, That Tilly Merick, Joseph Banister, Thomas Barnes and 
 Thomas Parsons Doe take care that sutable Provition be made for such 
 Elders and Messengers as may be called to assist in our ordination. 
 
 J oted That y e Town Celebrate and Sett apart a Day of fasting and 
 Prayer to Implore God's presents w' us in this solemn and weighty mat- 
 ter, which day is left to Mr. Cheney to appoint. 
 
 Full and clear votes. 
 
 Test. THOMAS GILBERT, Moderator." 
 
 This action on the part of the town received the hearty sanc- 
 tion of the Committee, and won from them expressions of satis- 
 faction " in the unanimity " of the people " in so Good a work," 
 with the hope that they might " have further ocation to Eejoice 
 in their Good settlement." 
 
 The ordination took place as arranged, the Sermon being 
 
 preached just one hundred and fifty years ago to-day by Rev. 
 
 Solomon Stoddard* of Northampton, on " The duty of GOS- 
 
 *Solomon Stoddard was born in Boston : was graduated at Harvard College 
 in 1662, in a class of six : was ordained pastor of the church in Northampton, 
 Massachusetts September 11, 1G72 ; and died February 11, 1729, aged eighty- 
 six. He was grandfather of his colleague and successor, Jonathan Edwards. 
 
12 
 
 PEL MINISTERS to preserve a PEOPLE from COR- 
 RUPTION." It was printed. 
 
 Mr. Cheney was born at Roxbury * (Massachusetts) in 1690, 
 and was graduated at Harvard College in 1711. He is des- 
 cribed as an acceptable preacher, and as sustaining the charac- 
 ter of a good man, and a faithful minister. He lived in har- 
 mony with this people for a period of more than thirty years, 
 and died December 11, 1747, aged 57. f 
 
 But he had lived to see the " Great Awakening" of 1740, 
 and to reap some of the glorious fruits of that stupendous 
 work of Grace. It is a fact which had no equivocal bearing 
 upon the early spiritual life and enlargement of the church 
 that in the autumn of 1740 (October 16,) Whitefield on his 
 way from Leicester to Northampton to see Mr. Edwards, 
 halted here for a night, and, before he left, preached with stir- 
 rino- effect to the inhabitants of this town. It was his second 
 visit to America, and his first preaching tour through New 
 England. And although he was then a young man of less 
 than twenty-six years, and had spent but a few months upon 
 our shores, his fame had spread as if by magic all over the 
 land. Just at that time he was the man about whom more 
 was said and written, good and bad, than about any other 
 man in the country. 
 
 It is not strange that the people of this quiet place had a 
 curiosity to see so great a prodigy, and to listen to his far- 
 famed eloquence. They sought to give him a hearing in their 
 little house of worship. But Mr. Cheney shared the common 
 prejudice of the ministers of that day, and, fearing the results 
 of so unusual and irregular a proceeding, would not at first 
 
 * Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. I. p. 173. 
 
 tilts grave is at Brookfield (South Parish), a few rods from the entrance at 
 the right. 
 
13 
 
 suffer the meeting-house to be opened. At length, however, 
 so great became the press of the people, he was constrained 
 to- yield. But by this time the assembly had become so nu- 
 merous as to exceed the capacity of the house, and, hence, 
 they withdrew to an open field near at hand, and there with a 
 rock* for his pulpit, and the canopy of heaven for his sound- 
 ing-board, the youthful preacher poured forth that simple, fer- 
 vid eloquence of his which fell so sweetly upon the ear, and so 
 mysteriously moved and melted the heart. 
 
 As the result of that sermon, by the blessing of God, some 
 sinners were awakened, and there followed a revival in whose 
 labors Mr. Cheney bore an active and efficient part, and the 
 church received a large accession to its membership. 
 
 Thus early in our history was the fostering care of a kind 
 Providence made signally manifest, and the first pastor of 
 this ancient church graciously permitted, in the closing years 
 of his life, to see the flock of God materially strengthened, 
 and the borders of this Zion perceptibly enlarged. 
 
 The last subject of this revival died in 1819, aged one hun- 
 dred years and seven months. f 
 
 About the time of Mr. Cheney's death, a considerable num- 
 ber of the members of this church were, according to Mr. Foot, 
 dismissed to constitute the church in Western $ (Warren). 
 
 The people were not long satisfied to be without a settled 
 minister ; for, among the loose leaves of the old Town Rec- 
 ords, we find, under date October 25, 1748, this vote — "That 
 
 *The rock on which Mr. Whitefield is supposed to have stood during his 
 sermon is on Foster's Hill, in a field north-west of the late residence of Mr. 
 Baxter Barnes. 
 
 t Mercy Banister, widow of Thomas Banister. 
 
 1 Mr. Foot's Historical Discourse on Brookfield, p. 16. 
 
14 
 
 Thursday comforteen night be set apart for fasting and prayer, 
 to God for his Directions with Respect to the setling a Gospel 
 Minister amongst us in this place." 
 
 The following month, November 28, the town " voted to 
 concur with the vote of the church in their choice of Mr. 
 Elisha Harding to be their minister." The terms of his set- 
 tlement as fixed December 22, were as follows : 
 
 •■ Voted, That there be given and granted to Mr. Elisha Harding for 
 lii< encouragement to settle in the Gospel ministry in said town the sum 
 of one thousand pounds old tenor currency. 
 
 2dly. }'<<>,;/, That there be given and granted to the said Mr. Elisha 
 Harding tor his yearly salary and support during the time of his contin- 
 uance in the ministry aforesaid, the sum of five hundred pounds old 
 tenor currency, accounting the same as though to be paid in Indian corn 
 at _:i»-. per bushel, and rye at :'.0s. per bushel, and wheat at 40s. per 
 bushel, and so the five hundred pounds to be diminished or increased 
 yearly in proportion to the prices of those commodities as they shall 
 yearly rise or fall and be commonly bought or sold in said town; pro- 
 vided lie release to the town all right to the ministry lands, or, in case 
 he inclines to have the improvement thereof, he have the liberty thereof, 
 allowing and paying as much as any other person or persons w T ould give 
 therefor." 
 
 On the 13th day of September, 1749, Mr. Harding was 
 solemnly constituted second pastor. The sermon, entitled 
 •■ A Monitor for Gospel Ministers,"* was preached by Eev. 
 Nathan Bucknam,f of Medway, from Col. 4 : IT, which was 
 published. Mr. Harding was graduated at Harvard College 
 in 1745. He was in College with our honored ciiizcn Jcde- 
 diah Foster, who was graduated the previous year. He is 
 described as " a gentleman of o-rcat benevolence ;" as "a man 
 of singular probity and solid learning;" as "one, who from a 
 
 * A copy of this sermon as originally published at Boston in 1749, is the 
 property of .lames Parker, Esq., of Springfield. 
 
 | Rev. Nathan Bucknam was graduated at Harvard College in 1721 ; was 
 Bettled minister in Medway over 70 years where he died in 1795 aged 92. 
 
15 
 
 child had known the Holy Scriptures, and made them much the 
 
 matter of his study." " Hi- public ministrations were serious 
 and adapted tn edify and benefit Ids hearers." 
 
 In 1750, March 29, — so rapid had been the growth of the 
 
 town. — a second parish was incorporated, now known as North 
 Brookfield;* and within its hounds a church was organized 
 May 28, 1752, which took the distinctive name of the " Si c- 
 ond Church of Christ in Brookfield," more recently called the 
 '•First Church in North Brookfield, " of which Rev. Mr. 
 Cushing is the present pastor. 
 
 The following year (1753) the people fell into a most un- 
 fortunate dispute about the location of a new meeting-house 
 which they proposed to erect. The contention waxed so warm 
 and impetuous at length, as to result in a second sunderino- of 
 the parish, and the incorporation of the third or South Parish 
 November 8, 1754. A church, with thirty-nine members, 
 was there formed April 15, 1750, known at present as the 
 k - Evangelical Congregational Church of Brookfield,"* of which 
 Rev. Mr. Coit is the present pastor. In consequence of the 
 commotion and troubles incident to this last division of the 
 parish, Mr. Harding, at his own request, was dismissed May 
 8, 1755, having sustained the pastoral office not quite six years. 
 
 Two years and a half elapsed, and the third pastor, Mr. 
 Joseph Parsons, was settled. He was a son of Rev. Joseph 
 Parsons of Bradford, Massachusetts, and was graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1752, Among those who were in college 
 at the same time with him, we find, in the class immediately 
 preceding, the name of Eli Forbes, afterwards Dr. Forbes, 
 
 * North Brookfield was incorporated a town in 1812. 
 
 • When the first parish was set oft' a separate township in 1848, it received 
 the name of West Brookfield, and the third parish retained the original name 
 of Brookfield. 
 
16 
 
 the first pastor of the church in the North Parish, and in the 
 second class that followed him, the name of Nathan Fiske, 
 afterwards Dr. Fiske, the first pastor of the church in the 
 South Parish. These three college mates labored here many 
 years side by side as pastors of the three churches of Brook- 
 field. 
 
 Mr. Parsons was ordained November 23, 1757. The gentle- 
 men assisting in his ordination were Rev. Messrs Joseph Par- 
 sons of Bradford, David White of Hardwick, Joshua Eaton 
 of Spencer, John Tucker of Newbury, and Isaac Jones of 
 Western (Warren). By the terms of the agreement between 
 him and the parish, he was to receive one hundred and eight 
 pounds lawful silver money as settlement, one half to be paid 
 in one year, and the other half in two years, and a salary of 
 fifty pounds lawful silver money the first and second years, 
 fifty-five pounds the third, and sixty pounds the fourth year 
 until the eighth year, when it was to be increased by six pounds, 
 thirteen shillings and four pence, for the remainder of his 
 ministry. Also, from the first, there was to be given him thirty 
 cords of good wood brought to his door annually, to com- 
 mence when he should begin housekeeping and to continue 
 during his ministry. All this on condition that he should re- 
 lease to the precinct all right and claim to the revenues of the 
 ministry lands. 
 
 These so called ministry lands, thus having been alienated 
 from their original intention, were in the following year, De- 
 cember 21, 1758, by a committee appointed and empowered 
 for the purpose, divided among the three precincts or parishes 
 of the town ; and, as a final disposition of the portion belong- 
 ing to the first parish, it was sold, and the interest of the 
 money arising from the sale appropriated towards the support 
 of the minister. 
 
17 
 
 In this same year, it must he noted, there sprung up with- 
 in the church :i serious evil, in the introduction of what was 
 termed thehalf-way Covenant; an evil which, at that period, 
 and in subsequent years, gained considerable currency among 
 the churches of this Commonwealth, as also in other parts of 
 New England. V>y the civil constitution of Massachusetts in 
 those days, none but church members had a right to vote, or 
 to hold civil offices. As early as 1630 it was ordained " that 
 none but church members should be admitted to the freedom 
 of the body politic."* 
 
 The early framers of the Government, in their laudable zeal 
 to establish a Commonwealth upon a solid Christian basis, 
 were led into the error of so mingling the affairs of Church 
 and State as, in the event, to secure, with the blessing of a 
 religious state, a more than counterbalancing evil — apolitical 
 and secular church. From the first, the government of Mas- 
 sachusetts adopted a religious test of citizenship. Hence, as 
 a natural consequence, so strong and universal was the desire 
 to share the privilege of suffrage, and such was the eagerness 
 of men then as now to enjoy the honors of civil office, that a 
 mighty pressure was brought to bear upon the churches to 
 induce them to receive as members such as had not the proper 
 qualifications for church membership, that is, persons who 
 were wholly ignorant of experimental religion, and who laid 
 no claim to a Christian character. Thus powerfully appealed 
 to, this church, among others, was betrayed into the folly of 
 resorting to the expedient of a form of covenant, by " owning " 
 or assenting to which any person, not of an immoral character, 
 who had been baptized in infancy, might be recognized as a 
 
 * Barber's Historical Collection- of Massachusetts, p. 19. 
 3 
 
is 
 
 member, vrith the privilege of availing himself of the ordinance 
 of Baptism for his children, though not required to partake of 
 the Lnnls Supper. This pernicious practice, which prevailed 
 in this church nearly sixty years, during which time about 
 one hundred persons " Owned the Covenant," and were ad- 
 mitted to membership, wrought no little mischief, as we shall 
 have occasion to see at a point farther on in our history. 
 
 In 1768 the health of Mr. Parsons had so far declined that 
 he was obliged to suspend preaching ; and ere long he was 
 compelled by reason of bodily weakness to abandon his minis- 
 terial labors altogether. He lived in feebleness some three 
 years, until January 17, 1771, when he died in the fourteenth 
 year of his ministry, and the thirty-eighth year of his age. His 
 dust sleeps beneath the sod of the Old Burying Ground, over 
 which, since the day of his burial, there have swept the rude 
 blasts of a hundred winters. The spot is marked by a suita- 
 ble stone, erected, in accordance with a vote of the parish, soon 
 after his decease. Also in the new Cemetery we find another 
 stone sacred to his memory, erected, likewise, by vote of the 
 parish. Upon it we read, " He was an example of patience 
 and resignation, and died strong in faith and full of hope, 
 ' The memory of the just is blessed.'" 
 
 Mr. Parsons is said to have been " distinguished for the 
 vivacity of his descriptions, the accuracy of his reasoning, and 
 the persuasiveness of his exhortations." His ministry was 
 eminently a peaceful one. The Records assure us that "the 
 greatest harmony prevailed between him and the people dur- 
 ing his life." 
 
 The fourth pastor was Rev. Ephraim Ward. He was born 
 :it Newton, I Massachusetts,) in 1741, and was graduated at 
 Harvard University in 17G3, in a class that produced several 
 
ID 
 
 men of distinction, among whom was Joshua LTpham, a oa- 
 
 tive of Broukfickl, who afterwards became Judge of the Su- 
 preme Court in the Province of New Brunswick.* 
 
 Mr. Ward was ordained here October 2'A, lTTl.f The 
 churches assisting in his ordination were the Second and 
 Third in Brookfield, the churches in AYestern (Warren), 
 Ware, Spencer, Sturbridge, Newton, AYeston, Waltham, 
 and the First Church in Dedham. The sermon on the 
 oca-ion was preached by Rev. Jason Haven, A. M., pa.-tor 
 of the First Church in Dedham, from I. Thessalonians 5 : 
 1_, 13, and was "Printed by Richard Draper in Newbury 
 street," Boston. 
 
 The early part of Mr. Ward's pastorate fell upon a dark 
 and stormy period in the history of the country. But, not- 
 withstanding the civil commotions which, during the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle, disturbed the peace, and threatened the 
 existence, of so many churches, the most uniform and perfect 
 harmony prevailed between him and his people throughout 
 his long and useful ministry. This happy circumstance was 
 probably due, in no small degree, to Air. Ward himself. For 
 he was a man of an exceeding mild and amiable disposition, 
 and, by his great kindness and affability, he won the high es- 
 teem and cordial affection of his people, and, indeed, of all 
 who knew him. "He possessed," says his biographer, "a 
 peculiar talent for cultivating peace. Though he was ready 
 to extend the hand of discipline, when the honor of his Mas- 
 ter's cause required it ; yet he never resorted to coercive meas- 
 
 *He died in London in 1808, while on an official mission to the British < k)v- 
 
 eminent. 
 
 tFor the proposed terms of Mr. Ward's settlement, and his reply accepting 
 the same, see Appendix, Note II. 
 
20 
 
 urea till all other expedients to reclaim the delinquent had 
 failed."* Dr. Phelps, who was associated with him in the 
 ministry for a time previous to Mr. Ward's death, makes this 
 comprehensive and significant remark : " He had no enemies, 
 and "/I the congregation respected and loved him." 
 
 As might be expected, 31 r. Ward's labors here were not 
 without visible fruits. Although, until near the close of his 
 active labors, there was no year that was specially marked by 
 revival, yet the catalogue shows a steady growth of the church, 
 from year to year, throughout his ministry. Scarcely a year 
 passed, whether in time of war or of peace, but that there were 
 some accessions to the church, and on several different years 
 the number received wns such as to indicate a high degree of 
 religious interest in the community. In the year 1775, for 
 instance, ticenty-four were admitted on profession of faith ; in 
 L776, nineteen; in 11 80, thirteen; in 1806, nineteen; in 1807, 
 fifteen; in 1808, eighteen. In 1814 there occurred a revival 
 of considerable extent and power, though " it was confined 
 principally to that part of the parish called Kagged Hill." 
 During that year fifty-six were added to the church upon profes- 
 sion. In the gathering of this precious harvest, however, Mr. 
 Ward was not permitted actively to engage. He had been 
 forced by a partial loss of sight to relinquish his labors for the 
 most part, particularly his public ministrations, in the Fall of 
 1813; after which "the pulpit was supplied for a considerable 
 time by the aid of the neighboring clergy," until the Summer 
 of 1814, after which several candidates were employed. 
 
 On the day of the forty-fifth anniversary of his settlement, 
 October 23, 1816, he had the pleasure of welcoming a col- 
 league, Rev. Mr. Phelps, to whom he might entrust the sa- 
 
 4 Sketch appended to Rev. Mr. Stone's Funeral Sermon. 
 
2\ 
 
 cred interests of the church and parish, which had become bo 
 greatly endeared to his heart. Bui he was not suffered long 
 to enjoy this new relation. I/ittlc more than a year had 
 passed when he was seized with paralysis, and deprived of 
 the power of utterance. But he soon so far recovered his 
 speecli as to be able to furnish abundant assurance of the 
 consolation and joy he felt at the prospect of Heaven; and 
 the following month, February 9, 1818, in the seventy-eighth 
 year of his age, having sustained the pastoral office for nearly 
 half a century, he fell asleep in Jesus. Thus, at the end of 
 one hundred years of our church's history, closed the labors 
 of only its fourth pastor. His funeral sermon was preached 
 by Rev. Micah Stone, pastor of the church in the South Par- 
 ish, from Hebrews 13: 7 and was entitled, "A Christian Peo- 
 ple's Remembrance of their Deceased Pastor." It was pub- 
 lished. In this discourse Mr. Stone says of Mr. Ward, " As 
 a preacher he was evangelical, plain, and practical. He held 
 a very respectable standing among his brethren in the minis- 
 try, and in all the neighboring churches. His apparent sin- 
 cerity and piety, with the amiable spirit, the sound sentiments, 
 and practical tendency of his discourses, rendered him accept- 
 able and edifying." " A distinguishing excellence of our 
 departed friend was, that he was a minister out of the pulpit, 
 as well as in it. He was naturally kind and social in his feel- 
 ings, and maintained a familiar and friendly intercourse with 
 his people. He readily sympathized with them in their joys 
 ami sorrows ; and was much disposed to benefit them by his 
 private instructions and prayers. His affability and polite- 
 ness endeared him to their hearts, and favorably disposed them 
 to religion and its services. Of him we may truly say he 
 
 'Allur'd tu brighter worlds and led the wav.*" 
 
*>•> 
 
 I taring his ministry the church was strengthened by a total 
 accession of iiii;i:i: eundred and seventy-eight mem- 
 bees. 
 
 Among the publications of Mr. Ward is a sermon preached 
 at the funeral of Rev. Nathan Fiske, D. D., 1799 ; and a ser- 
 mon from II. Peter 1: 13, delivered on the Thirty-Second 
 Anniversary of his own Ordination, October 23, 1803, and 
 " published at the general request of the hearers." It is note- 
 worthy, as indicating the growth of the population of the 
 parish since that time, and perhaps, also, as showing the 
 present increased rate of mortality, that, during those thirty- 
 two years of his ministry, there were, according to the last 
 named Discourse, but " three hundred and twenty-eight 
 deaths, reckoning several who died in the army in the late 
 Revolutionary War, and including several strangers who died 
 in this place," — an average of only about ten deaths per year, 
 while in these recent years, the average annual mortality has 
 risen to nearly forty. It is, moreover, a significant fact that, 
 within the same period of thirty-two years, five hundred and 
 five children were baptized, or an average of nearly sixteen 
 annually ; whereas, at the present time, not more than four 
 or five children each year receive this Scriptural Seal ; — be- 
 traying thus a strange laxity on the part of the church in 
 these days in reference to Infant Baptism, and revealing a 
 wide and unwarrantable departure, in this particular, from 
 the faith and practice of our fathers ; — a case which, it is to 
 be regretted, is not without its parallel, in numerous instances, 
 among the professedly pedobaptist churches of the land. 
 
 Rev. Eliakim Phelps, the fifth pastor, was born at Belcher- 
 town, Massachusetts, March 20, 1790. His parents were 
 Dea. Eliakim and Margaret (Combs) Phelps. He wasgrad- 
 
23 
 
 listed at Union College, Schenectady, in l s l 1, where he also 
 pursued his theological studies : and was licensed to preach 
 by the Consociation of Windham County, Connecticut, Sep- 
 tember, 1815. He was ordained, as we have already noticed, 
 associate pastor with Mr. Ward, October 23, 1816. The Ber- 
 mon was preached from II. Corinthians 5: 20, by Ivev. Dr. 
 Morse* of ( harlcstown. 
 
 At the time that Mr. I 'helps received the call to settle here, 
 the Halt-way Covenant was .-till in force, although it seems to 
 have fallen into disuse two years previously, in 1814. But 
 Mr. Phelps made it a condition of his acceptance of the call 
 that that covenant should be abolished. Accordingly there 
 stands upon the church books this gratifying record, dated 
 August 23, 1810. 
 
 " At a meeting of the First Church of Christ in Brookfield, convened 
 by previona notice for the purpose, voted unanimously that the covenant 
 commonly called the Half-way Covenant, or the covenant allowing the 
 privilege of Baptism to those who entered into it, should be entirely done 
 away. No person in future should be admitted into it ; but, those who 
 have enjoyed it, should be permitted to enjoy it one month from the date 
 hereof." 
 
 But, as Dr. Phelps says, " the evil did not end with the 
 voting it out." The pernicious effects of the custom became 
 particularly apparent during the great revival which soon at- 
 tended the labors of Mr. Phelps in 1818. This church, like 
 many others, at that time was composed largely of heads of 
 families, a considerable number of whom came in on the Half- 
 way Covenant plan, without any experience of the renewing 
 
 ♦Jedidiah Morse, T). D., known as "the father of American geography," 
 was born at Woodstock, Connecticut in 17G1 ; was graduated at Yale College 
 in 1783, and died at New Haven in 182G. Prof. Morse, the inventor of the 
 Telegraph, is his sen. 
 
24 
 
 and sanctifying influences of grace in their souls. As a conse- 
 quence, u when the revival came, there were ' great searching* 
 of heart ' in the church as well as omZ." And, "one of the 
 most marked features of that revival,** as Dr. Phelps says he 
 has ever considered it, "was the number of conversions in the 
 church. 1 ' This revival, as being the first which occurred in 
 the history of the church, of such manifest power, and so gen- 
 eral in its extent, deserves a somewhat particular mention. It 
 should, however, be previously said, as having, doubtless, per- 
 formed an important part in preparing the wag for the revival, 
 that the Monthly Concert of prayer had been introduced in 
 1816 ; also a meeting for prayer weekly on Wednesday even- 
 ing and a third service on the Sabbath. Prior to this time, 
 meetings for prayer, with the exception of small neighborhood 
 meetings, were, for the most part, unknown ; they were, at 
 least, an anomaly. Respecting the introduction of the Sab- 
 bath evening service, Dr. Phelps says, "The people of Brook- 
 field, when I went among them, were in the habit of observ- 
 ing Saturday evening as holy time, or rather not observing 
 Sabbath evening. Their custom was, as they were dressed in 
 their go-to-meeting suit, to spend Sabbath evening in social 
 chat among the neighbors. It was easy to see that whatever 
 of seriousness might have been impressed on their minds by 
 the services of the day, was almost sure to be banished and 
 destroyed by the gossip of the evening. To meet this state 
 of things, I determined to try the effect of a third service for 
 the evening. It worked well. It finally grew into a custom, 
 and for the greater portion of my ministry I had three services 
 on each Sabbath. I think that God owned and blessed the 
 third service quite as evidently as either of the others." 
 
 In the Fall of 1817 there were some tokens of a revival, 
 
25 
 
 and six or seven were made hopeful subjects of o-race. In 
 the course of the year ten were added to the church. Three 
 years before, also, there occurred, as we have Be n, a -cason, 
 of special religious interest with very marked results. Bat, to 
 quote Dr. Phelps' own words again: 
 
 "A revival, in the form and aspects in which it developed itself in 
 l s l s. was, t<> most of the people, a new thing; and it encountered no 
 ^i 1 1 r 1 1 1 degr< f opposition. Some of the church-members refused, at 
 
 first, to let their families attend our meetings. The Bchool-house where 
 we held them was closed against us. and the p wersof darkness seemed 
 
 to be putting forth the utmost of their strength to stop the work. But 
 it was of Qod, and it went forward. I was myself a mere novice in 
 revivals; and the Holy Spirit, compassionating my weakness, seemed to 
 take the work into his own hands ; and a very thorough and delightful 
 work it was It continued in greater or less power for more than a year. 
 Fifty-three were added to the church in one day (December 13, 1818.) 
 and the whole number of conversions, including some who joined other 
 churches, was, probably, not less than one hundred." 
 
 Dr. Phelps evidently understates the number ; for our cat- 
 alogue shows an accession to our own membership, during 
 1818 and 1819, of one hundred and thirteen, who may prop- 
 erly be reckoned as the fruits of that work of grace. And 
 during his entire pastorate of ten years there were added in 
 all one hundred and sixty-eight, of whom one hundred 
 and forty were on profession. 
 
 In the year 1819, April 9, our present Confession of Faith 
 was adopted by a unanimous vote of the church, and ordered 
 to be printed for the use of the members. 
 
 The Covenant now in use is the same, with the exception of 
 a ^e\v unimportant verbal alterations, which was adopted when 
 the church was first organized.* 
 
 * The Covenant may be found in the Appendix. Note II 
 4 
 
26 
 
 In 1823 we find Mr. Phelps laboring outside the limits of 
 his own parish, in connection with a revival in the city of 
 Boston : and, at a meeting of this church in August of that 
 year, "it was announced that individuals of Park Street 
 Church, Boston, had presented to the First Church in Brook- 
 field a ' Bible for the Desk,' in consideration of services ren- 
 dered in the revival, by the pastor of the First Church in 
 Brookfield, whereupon it was unanimously — 
 
 Resolved, That the church received with lively sentiments of grati- 
 tude this expression of Christian kindness and attachment, and cordially 
 return their thanks for the same." 
 
 It was further voted that the pastor be requested to transmit 
 a copy of this resolution to the donors, and also that it be in- 
 serted in the Records of the Church. 
 
 March 21, 1826, Mr. Phelps proposed a dissolution of his 
 ministerial relation, in order to accept the position of Principal 
 of the Female Classical Seminary which, at that time, and 
 for some years, existed and flourished in this place. This re- 
 quest being granted, he preached his farewell sermon June 
 18th, although the formal dissolution of the pastoral relation 
 did not take place until the 25th day of October following. 
 
 Not long afterwards he accepted an invitation to become 
 Principal of the Female Seminary at Pittsfield. The pastor 
 of the church there being laid aside by sickness, Mr. Phelps 
 was placed in charge of the pulpit. There followed almost 
 immediately an extensive work of grace, during which, it was 
 judged, at least three hundred souls were converted to Christ. 
 Encouraged by this seal of the divine blessing upon his preaeh- 
 ing, he was led at once to sunder his connection with the 
 Seminary, and in 1829, he accepted a call to the Presbyterian 
 Church, Geneva, New York, where he had a most successful 
 
27 
 
 pastorate of six years, daring which time more than four hun- 
 dred members were added to the church. An at lad; of cholera 
 in L834 so far broke down his constitution, and impaired hia 
 health, that he was compelled, at length, to relinquish his 
 charge, and retire from the active duties of the ministry. In 
 the autumn of the following year he was elected Correspond- 
 ing Secretary of the American Education Society for the 
 Southern field, with his residence in Philadelphia : the duties 
 of which office he continued to discharge till 1847, and the 
 next year removed to Stratford, Connecticut, where he hoped 
 to spend his days in retirement. But less than three years 
 afterwards, he returned to Philadelphia, where he continued, 
 preaching, much of the time, for some years, though without 
 a charge. At present he is residing with one of his sons in 
 Jersey City, Xew Jersey, where he enjoys " good health " 
 and " great comfort and peace of mind " in the seventy-eighth 
 year of his age. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was con- 
 ferred upon him in 1842 by his own Alma Mater. 
 
 The publications of Dr. Phelps are, a Sermon preached at 
 the funeral of Judge Dwight Foster in Brookfield, 1823 ; an 
 Oration delivered on the 4th of July at Geneva, Xew York, 
 1832 ; a Tract entitled " Lydia Sturtevant, or The Fatal Res- 
 olution," 1833 ;* three Adresses, delivered respectively at 
 Xew York, Boston, and Detroit; and a number of articles in 
 the Philadelphia Observer of whose editorial department Dr. 
 Phelps had charge for about two years. 
 
 The same day on which Mr. Phelps was dismissed, (Octo- 
 
 *A prize tract, one of ten to which prizes of $50 each were awarded out of 
 more than five hundred competitors. It had a sale of 140,000 within the first 
 six months. It is a true narrative of a case that occurred in Brookfield during 
 his ministry here. 
 
28 
 
 ber 25, 1 x -' ; . ) the -ixth pastor, Rev. Joseph I. Foot was or- 
 dained. Mr. Foot was born November 17, 1790, at Water- 
 town, ( lonnecticut ; was graduated at Union College in 1821, 
 and studied theology at Andover Seminary. At his ordination 
 Rev. Thomas Snell, D. D. of North Brookfield made the in- 
 troductory prayer; the sermon was preached from I. Corinth- 
 ians 3 : G, by Rev. Ileman Humphrey, D. D., President of Am- 
 herst College; consecrating prayer, by Rev. Micah Stone of 
 Brookfield, South Parish ; charge to the pastor, by Rev. Tim- 
 othy M. Cooley, D. D. of Granville ; right hand of fellowship, 
 by Rev. Munson Gaylord of Western (Warren) ; charge to 
 the people, by Rev. John Fiske of New Braintree ; and con- 
 cluding prayer, by Rev. Eliakim Phelps, former pastor. 
 
 A powerful work of grace soon followed the labors of the 
 new pastor, and the year 1827 is one of the memorable revival 
 years in our history. During that year seventy-six were ad- 
 mitted to the church on profession of faith. 
 
 After a pastorate of five and a half years, in which time ONE 
 hundred and twenty-two were added to the church, of 
 whom twenty-five united by letter, Mr. Foot was dismissed, 
 at his own request, May 1, 1832. 
 
 The following year he assumed the charge of the church 
 in Salina, New York, where he labored two years. In 1835 
 he accepted a call from the church in Cortland in the same 
 state, and continued his labors there till 1837. He accepted 
 an invitation to the pastorate of the church in Knoxville, 
 Tennessee, in 1839 ; and, two months afterward, was chosen 
 President of Washington College in that state. In the fol- 
 lowing March he received from the College the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity. " On Monday, the 20th of April, 1840, 
 as he was riding to Washington College to be inaugurated 
 
29 
 
 president, his horse took fright as he was descending a hill, 
 and he was violently tin-own against a rock; by which oc- 
 currence three of his ribs were broken, and his lungs pierced 
 by the splinters. He lingered in great distress for twenty- 
 two hours. On the next day, at 4 o'clock, P. M., the day 
 before his expected inauguration, he expired in the forty- 
 fourth year of his age." 
 
 Mr. Foot's "Historical Discourse on Brookfield," delivered 
 on the day of the annual Thanksgiving, November 27, 1828, 
 and subsequently published with a valuable Appendix of 
 forty-eight pages, is a lasting monument of his faithful re- 
 search, and a rare acquisition to the annals of this ancient 
 town. 
 
 The seventh pastor was Rev. Francis Horton. He was 
 born in Boston, November 29, 1803 ; prepared for college 
 chiefly under the instruction of Rev. Enoch Pond of "Ward, 
 now better known as Dr. Pond, Professor at Bangor, (Me.) 
 Theological Seminary, and was graduated at Brown Univer- 
 sity in 1828. He studied theology with Rev. S. Holmes of 
 New Bedford : was approbated to preach by the Old Colony 
 Association, and ordained December 2, 1829, at Dartmouth, 
 Massachusetts, where he labored in the ministry about two 
 years. He was installed pastor of this church August 15, 
 1832, three months and a half from the day of Mr. Foot's dis- 
 mission. The Council met for the examination of the candi- 
 date the previous evening, and organized by the choice of 
 Rev. John Fiske of New Braintree, moderator, and Rev. 
 Joseph S. Clark of Sturbridge, scribe. The installation ser- 
 vices occurred the next day in the forenoon, a prayer-meetino- 
 having been held the same morning at sunrise, with reference 
 to the occasion. The parts performed were as follows : prayer 
 
30 
 
 by Rev. Augustus B. Reed of Ware, First Church ; sermon 
 by Rev. Thomas Sncll, D. D. of North Brookfield; installing 
 prayer by Rev. John Fi.-ke of New Braintree ; charge to the 
 pastor by Rev. Joseph Vaill of Brimfield ; right hand of fel- 
 lowship by Rev. John "Wilder of Charlton ; charge to the peo- 
 ple by Rev. Micah Stone of Brookfield, South Parish ; con- 
 cluding prayer by Rev. Charles Fitch of Western (now 
 Warren). Other churches represented in the Council were 
 Ware (East) and Millbury. 
 
 The relation thus happily formed continued for nine years 
 and one month, when by mutual council, at Mr. Horton's 
 own request, it was dissolved September 15, 1841. The 
 winter following he spent at the South, for the benefit of his 
 health. 
 
 In 1843 he was elected pastor of the Orthodox Congrega- 
 tional Church in West Cambridge, and retired from that of- 
 fice in 1854. Early in the year 1856, he received a call to 
 the pastoral care of the church in Barrington, Rhode Island, 
 which was duly accepted ; and there his labors are still con- 
 tinued. He has published " A Biography of Jane Bailey," 
 and " Fire-Side Lectures for Sabbath Evenings." 
 
 During the ministry of Mr. Horton here, the church was 
 greatly blessed and strengthened. One hundred and 
 NINETY were added to the church, of whom one hundred 
 and forty were received on profession of faith. Two seasons 
 of deep and special religious interest were enjoyed, — in 1835 
 and 1839. But the year 1835 deserves especially to be com- 
 memorated as one of " the years of the right hand of the Most 
 High," when God poured out his Spirit mightily, and gra- 
 ciously turned the feet of many into the way of life. In that 
 one year, eighty-nine made a public profession of their faith, 
 
31 
 
 and united with the church. This Beems to have been a cul- 
 minating point in the prosperity and growth of the church. 
 The largest membership that the church has ever had was at 
 the close of the year L835, after all the sheaves of* that pre- 
 cious harvest had been gathered in. There were, at that time, 
 three hundred and eighty-one members. By frequent " times 
 of refreshing from the presence of the Lord " the church, for 
 many years, previously, had been very perceptibly increasing 
 in numbers, beyond all the annual losses from deaths and re- 
 movals. For instance, Mr. Phelps found the church in 1816 
 with two hundred and thirty-six members ; saw that number 
 swelled to three hundred and forty within three years ; and 
 left the church in 1820 with a membership of two hundred 
 and ninety, — a total gain, during his pastorate, of fifty-four. 
 Mr. Foot immediately took the church with two hundred and 
 ninety members ; saw it increased within two years to three 
 hundred and sixty-six ; and left it in 1832 with a membership 
 of three hundred and forty-two, — a gain, during his entire 
 pastorate, of fifty-two. Mr. Ilorton found the church with 
 three hundred and thirty-six members ; and was permitted, 
 in a little more than three years, to see the number rise to 
 three hundred and eighty-one. But from that time, notwith- 
 standing the revival of 1839 brought an accession of twenty- 
 nine members, the yearly losses more than balance the gains, 
 so that Mr. Horton left the church in 1841 with a member- 
 ship of three hundred and forty-five, — a total gain of only 
 nine, or one member for each year of his pastorate ; although 
 it should be said that the average yearly losses by death and 
 ordinary dismission, during those nine years, were very un- 
 usually great. 
 
 From the year 1835 onwards, the records show a o-radual 
 
32 
 
 decrease in the membership of the church for a period of nearly 
 thirty years ;* though not all of those years, by any means, 
 were without some cheering tokens of the divine blessing. 
 The cause of this lapse into spiritual coldness, and of this long 
 decline will soon appear. 
 
 Four months after the dismission of Mr. Ilorton, January 
 L2, L842, the eighth pastor was settled, Rev. Moses Chase. 
 The brief period of Mr, Chase's pastorate forms a black 
 chapter in the history of this church, the particulars of 
 which it would neither be pleasant nor profitable to recall. 
 Suffice it to say that the troubles and distresses of that most 
 unhappy period grew out of the fierce antagonisms that 
 were engendered by the new anti-slavery movements of the 
 time. The conservative wing of the church, headed by a 
 strong-willed, disputatious, and not over discreet pastor, 
 arrayed against a less number of earnest, determined, and 
 somewhat excited radicals, will indicate, in a word, the pain- 
 ful attitude of affairs. The strife at first heated, soon be- 
 came bitter, and even violent. The church seemed almost 
 wholly to have forgotten her covenant with God and with 
 each other ; and God would appear well-nigh to have for- 
 saken the church. 
 
 It is unnecessary to say that the cause of religion languished 
 here ; the heart of this people " waxed gross ; " their ears grew 
 " dull of hearing ;" and the Lord's chosen became " an aston- 
 ishment and a hissing" in the community, — until, at length, the 
 state of things became so intolerable that the church, failing 
 to secure the concurrence of the pastor in the calling of a 
 Mutual Council, was obliged to resort to the extraordinary 
 
 > a complete table of the annual accessions and removals, from the year 
 1816 to the present time (1867) see Appendix, Note III. 
 
33 
 
 measure of an Ex-parte Council, by whose advice Mr. Chase 
 was dismissed October 28, L843, after a dreary pastorate of 
 twenty-one and a half tempestuous months. 
 
 Although since those unpropitious years, God, in greal 
 mercy, has revisited his people, and aenl upon them repeat- 
 edly the refreshing showers of his grace, yet, of the deplor- 
 able evils entailed upon the church by the hot haste and rash 
 measures <>f that stormy period, some unwelcome traces are 
 visible to this day, after the lapse of a quarter of a century. 
 
 But while we remember with unfeigned grief, the sore 
 misfortunes which then befell the church, it affords us great 
 gratification, and is an occasion of devout thankfulness to God, 
 that previous to that time, through the long succession of one 
 hundred and twenty-five years, the church had enjoyed almost 
 an unbroken peace. To an unusual degree, this church and 
 community had borne the character of a united, happy, and 
 prosperous people. Dr. 1 'helps, alluding to the time when he h 
 entered upon his ministry here, says : — " The church and par- 
 ish had long been distinguished for the peace, quiet, and harmo- 
 ny which had existed among themselves. It was often said to 
 me. by ministers and others, that they regarded "West Brook- 
 field as the best congregation in the country. They were pro- 
 verbially a ministerial people ; and I found them so during the 
 whole of my residence among them." Let us hope that such 
 is to be our record in the years and generations to come. 
 
 For a short time after Mr. Chase's dismission, he minis- 
 tered to a portion of the church and congregation who wor- 
 shiped in what was called Mr. Lamson's Hall. But, in less 
 than a year, we find the church again united in harmonious 
 action with reference to the settlement of another minister. 
 
 A- regards the personal history of Mr. Chase, I have nt- 
 
terly failed to obtain any satisfactory information. "Whence he 
 came, where he was educated, whither he went, and whether 
 or not he now survives, has not been definitely ascertained. 
 He is believed, however, still to he living with his family at 
 Platteburgh, New York. 
 
 The ninth pastor was Rev. Leonard S. Parker. He was 
 born December 6, L812, at Dunbarton, New Hampshire; 
 fitted for college at the Boston Latin School, and entered 
 1 Dartmouth ( lollege in 18:52 ; but, on account'of ill health, left 
 before the time of graduation. In both of these institutions, 
 as a scholar he ranked first in his class. He studied four 
 years at Oberlin Collegiate Institute ; was approbated to 
 preach by the Lorain County Association, Ohio, in 1837, 
 and was ordained as an Evangelist at Fitchville, Ohio. De- 
 cember 16, of the same year. He was installed first pastor 
 of the Congregational Church in Mansfield, Ohio, September 
 9, 1888, where he continued a little more than two years. 
 December 28, 1840, he was installed pastor of High Street 
 ( 'lunch, Providence, Rhode Island and was dismissed by 
 reason of failure of health, October 9, 1843. He was in- 
 stalled pastor of this church December 19, 1844. The public 
 exercises were as follows: — 
 
 Invocation and reading of the Scriptures by Pev. (now Dr.) 
 Nahura Gale of the East Congregational Church, "Ware; 
 sermon by Rev. Thomas Snell, D. D. of North Brookfield : 
 installing prayer by Rev. John Fiske, D. D. of New Brain- 
 tree : charge to the pastorby Rev. D. R. Austin of Sturbridge ; 
 right hand of fellowship by Rev. Lyman ^Ylliting of Brook- 
 field (South Parish); address to the people by Pev. Levi 
 Packard of Spencer; and concluding prayer by Pev. James 
 Kiniliill nt ( >akham. 
 
35 
 
 Mr. Parker's ministry here was begun under the most 
 trying and discouraging circumstances. He found both 
 the church and the society rent in twain on the subject 
 of slavery, and the whole community in a pitiable state 
 of agitation. Among his first acts as pastor was the in- 
 troduction of a series of resolutions upon slavery, condemn- 
 ing in the strongest terms that system of oppression as 
 "a flagrant Bin in the Bight of God, and an enormous injury 
 to man."* These resolutions were adopted by the church, 
 January 1 ,; . 1 B45. 
 
 But the fires of passion could not in a moment be staved. 
 It was a time of " Btrong delusion *' in this whole region of 
 country. Under the cloak of zeal against the system of slav- 
 ery, a fierce attack was made in many quarters upon the sa- 
 cred institutions of religion. Conventions professedly called 
 in the interests of anti-slavery, partook largely of the char- 
 acter of anti- Christian conventions. The Bible was sub- 
 jected to an unfair criticism ; the sanctity of the Sabbath 
 called in question ; the Church grossly slandered, and the 
 Ministry maligned. 
 
 It was in this, as in too many churches of the Common- 
 wealth, a time of great spiritual dearth. From July 7, 1839, 
 to November 1, 184<>, a period of more than seven years, in- 
 cluding the last two years of the ministry of Mr. Horton, the 
 whole of the ministry of Mr. Chase, and nearly the first two 
 years of the ministry of Mr. Parker, there was not one addition 
 to the church by profession. No other such period can he 
 shown in our entire history ; no time half 60 dark, distressing 
 and mournful for the cause of Christ and the prosperitv of 
 Zion. But, thanks to Sovereign Grace under the gentle and 
 discreet administration of Mr. Parker rancor of feeling was 
 
36 
 
 greatly Bubdued, and happier days began to break upon this 
 Badly divided and sorely afflicted people. 
 
 In the latter part of 1840, four persons made a profession of 
 their faith, and joined the church. In 1848 there came a 
 refreshing which must have been truly delightful after the 
 barrenness of the preceding years, and nineteen were gathered 
 into the church as the fruit. The total accession to the church, 
 during Mr. Parker's pastorate, was sixty-eight, of whom 
 twenty-seven were admitted on profession. He was dismissed 
 April 7, 1851, having held the pastoral office a little more 
 than six years. 
 
 He was installed pastor of the Winter Street church, Hav- 
 erhill, June 1, 1853 ; and was dismissed March 26, 1860. 
 The following year, February 20, he was installed over the 
 First Church in Derry, New Hampshire, where he yet re- 
 mains. 
 
 The publications of Mr. Parker, aside from stated corres- 
 pondence for the weekly religious press, are ; " Thoughts 
 on Temperance,'* Providence, 1841 ; " A Farewell Sermon," 
 Providence, 1843 ; " A Plea for Missions," West Brookfield, 
 1846 ; "A Good Name " — two Discourses addressed to the 
 Young Men of West Brookfield, 1848 ; and " A Sermon on 
 the day of the Annual State Fast," Derry, 1865. 
 
 The church remained without a pastor for about a year 
 and a half, when the tenth pastor, Rev. Swift Byington, suc- 
 ceeded to the office. He was ordained and installed here 
 November 17, 1852. The council was composed of messengers 
 from the churches in New Braintree, North Brookfield, Brook- 
 field, Warren, Ware Village, Spencer, Oakham, Old South 
 Church, Heading, and Pine Street Church, Boston; also Kev. 
 Messrs. Gilbert and Grannis of West Brookfield. 
 
37 
 
 The ordination services were as follows: — Invocation and 
 reading of the Scriptures by Rev. T. <i. Colton of Ware 
 Village; prayer by Rev. John Fiske, I >. 1 ». of New Brain tree; 
 sermon by Rev. (now Dr.) Henry M. Dexter of Boston; 
 ordaining prayer by Rev. Levi Packard of Spencer; charge 
 to the pastor by Rev. Lyman Whiting of Reading; righl 
 hand of fellowship by Rev. C. dishing, colleague pastor 
 North Brookfield ; address to the people by Pev. Thomas 
 Snell, D. D. of North Brookfield ; and concluding prayer by 
 Rev. - 1 aim's Kimball of Oakham. 
 
 Mr. Byington was born in Bristol, Connecticut, February 
 4, 1821 : studied at Bast Hartford, Connecticut, Philadelphia 
 and Providence, Pennsylvania, as a boy; fitted for college 
 with Rev. Merrill Pichardson, now of "Worcester : and was 
 graduated at Yale College in 1847. His Theological studies 
 were pursued at New Haven and Andover ; and he received 
 his license to preach at East Haddam, Connecticut, in 1849. 
 Although his whole ministry here was, he says, " an effort 
 not to reap, but to sow deeply good seed," yet it pleased the 
 Lord of the harvest to permit him to see at least some of the 
 fruits of his own faithful labors. At two different seasons, 
 particularly, there were cheering indications of the Spirit's 
 presence and power, when God crowned his efforts with suc- 
 cess, and gave him souls for his hire. In 1854 fifteen^ and in 
 1858, — the last year of his ministry, — seventeen, were added 
 to the church on profession of faith ; and, during the six 
 years in which he ministered to this people, the church re- 
 ceived an aggregate of seventy members, forty-sis of whom 
 united by profession. At his own request, the pastoral 
 relation was dissolved November 1, 1858. After leaving 
 this place, he preached in North ambridge six months, 
 
38 
 
 three years in North Woburn, and served one year as 
 acting colleague pastor with Dr. Blagden, of the Old South 
 Church, Boston. In 1SG4, July 6, he was installed pastor 
 of the ( 'ongregational Church in Stoneham, where he still 
 continues t<» labor. 
 
 Within eight months from the dismission of Mr. By- 
 ington, the eleventh pastor, Rev. Christopher M. Cordley, 
 was settled. He was born in Oxford, England, January 
 2, 1821 ; removed at an early age to Nottingham, and, 
 when about twelve years old, emigrated with his parents 
 to this country, while employed as clerk of a store in Ann 
 Arbor, Michigan, he prepared himself, with little help from 
 others, for "Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, at 
 w 1 1 i < • 1 1 institution he was graduated in 1844 with the high- 
 est honors of his class. Having devoted the next three 
 pears to the study of theology at New Haven and An- 
 dover, he spent the winter of 1847 and 1848 in preaching 
 ;il Montreal, Canada. In August 1849 he was ordained in 
 Hopkinton, New T Hampshire, and was called from the pas- 
 torate of that church to "West Randolph, Massachusetts, 
 where he w T as installed in March, 1852, and whence he was 
 dismissed in November, 1858. He was installed pastor of 
 this church June 28, 1859. 
 
 The services of the installation were as follows : Invoca- 
 tion and reading of the Scriptures by Rev. William. H. 
 Beecherof North Brookfield, (Union Church) ; prayer by 
 Rev. A. E. 1'. Perkins of Ware; sermon by Rev. R. S. 
 Btorrs, D. D. of Braintree; installing prayer by Rev. 
 Mai tin Tupper of Hardwick; charge to the pastor by 
 Rev. Joseph Will, D. D. of Palmer; right hand of fellow- 
 ship by Rev. C. Cushiug of North Brookfield; address to 
 
39 
 
 the people by Rev. Swift Byington, former pastor; con- 
 cluding prayer by Rev. 8. S. Smith of Warren. 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Cordley here was brief, and not 
 altogether happy. Ee retired from the pastoral office, 
 June 23, 1862, three yea!--, wanting five days, from the 
 day of his installation, during which time there were 
 thirty-bight accessions to the church, of whom eight only 
 were admitted upon profession. But, during his short 
 pastorate. Mr. Cordley rendered the church an exceed- 
 ingly important service. By untiring patience and untold 
 labor, such as none but a man of his energy would ever 
 have consented to endure, and with characteristic accuracy 
 and ingenuity, he prepared and published a complete cat- 
 alogue of the members of this church, with an alphabet- 
 ical index, from the year l~.">s to lsi',1. embracing the 
 entire period concerning which we have anything that 
 can be called records. 
 
 By the aid of this catalogue, we can easily find out the 
 full name of almost every person who has united with this 
 church, whether by profession or by letter, during the last 
 hundred years; when and whence each was received, and 
 when and how dismissed, together with dates of marriages 
 and deaths. Considering the meagreness of our earl}* rec- 
 ord-, the work thus accomplished is a marvel. It is 
 something which not one man in ten thousand would ever 
 have undertaken, or, if they had undertaken, would ever 
 have completed. It will long stand a witness of his per- 
 Bevering industry. It has proved of essentia] service in 
 the preparation of the present discourse : and it is not too 
 much to say that by the production of that catalogue Mr. 
 Cordley conferred upon the church a lasting benefit, for 
 
II) 
 
 which hie name deserves to be had in perpetual remem- 
 brance by successive generations. 
 
 From this place he went to Lawrence, Massachusetts, 
 and w;i> installed pastor of the Central Church in that city 
 in October, 1862 ; where, after a protracted and painful 
 illness, he died June 26, 1866, aged forty-five years. Mr. 
 Cordley was a man of exceeding independence of mind, 
 of inflexible firmness, and of great daring. By his breth- 
 ren in the ministry he was highly esteemed as an able 
 and faithful minister, an accomplished scholar, an earnest 
 Christian, and a man of rare personal worth. 
 
 From a manuscript biographical sketch and obituary, 
 prepared by Professor Park of Andover, soon after Mr. 
 Cordley's decease, and to which I am indebted for most 
 of the facts already presented in relation to his personal 
 history, I take the following extract having reference to 
 the last sickness of our departed brother: — "In the prog- 
 ress of his disease, his trust in his Redeemer remained 
 unfaltering, and he moved forward like a brave soldier 
 with the assurance that the last enemy that shall be de- 
 st roved is death. His mind was often wandering, but the 
 name of Jesus would call it back to its old paths. In his 
 delirium he would be sometimes agitated, but the voice of 
 prayer would soothe him into rest; and when the halls of 
 his reason seemed to be left vacant, one of the sweet songs 
 of Zion would call his reason back to its deserted home." 
 
 The present pastor was graduated at Yale College in 
 1860; studied theology two years at Union Seminary, 
 New York, and a third year at Andover, where he was 
 graduated in 1863. On the 12th, of April of that year, — 
 four months previous to graduation, — he commenced to 
 
II 
 
 preach in this pulpit, and from thai time, for nearly a year 
 and a half, continued to ad as stated Bupply till the day 
 of his ordination as pastor October I. L864, a call having 
 ended the previous March. The council was or- 
 ganized by the choice of Rev. C. Cushing, moderator, 
 and Rev. .1. Coit, scribe. The public services of ordination 
 as follows: — [nvocation by Rev. John II. G-urney of 
 New Braintree; reading of the Scriptures by Rev. E. L. 
 a ar of Warren; prayer by Rev. F. X. Peloubet of 
 Oakham; Bermon by Rev. K. C. Jones of Southington, 
 Connecticut; ordaining prayer by Rev. L. 8. Parker of 
 Derry, New Hampshire; charge to the pastor by Rev. 
 Luther Keene of North Brooktiuld: right hand of fellow- 
 ship by Rev. Joshua Coit of Brookficld ; address to the 
 people by Rev. Swift Byington of Stoneham; and con- 
 cluding prayer by Rev. Francis Horton of Barriugton, 
 Rhode [eland. 
 These last years have heen crowned with God's good- 
 ;n a peculiar manner, and have been freighted with 
 most precious hlessings to the church. As already intima- 
 ted, for nearly thirty years previous to 1864, the member- 
 ship of the church steadily diminished. Although within 
 that time, there were, as we have seen, several happy sea- 
 sons of spiritual quickening, yet those revivals were not 
 of sufficient extent and power to repair the ordinary yearly 
 waste from removals and deaths; so that on January 1, 
 L86 k the church had hecome reduced to two hundred and 
 twenty-nine members. By the decea.-e and dismission of 
 several, and by the erasure of some twenty-live names of 
 persons who had been many years absent and unreported, 
 this num - .-.till further reduced {<> <m hw 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 ninety-one, which was the membership of the church when 
 the presenl pastor was ordained.* 
 
 In the winter of 1863 and 1864 God kindly poured out 
 Hi- spirit in gentle and delightful showers, which con- 
 tinued to be distilled upon us through the succeeding 
 spring, .and into the summer, so that on the first Sabbath 
 in November 1864, at the first communion after his ordi- 
 nation, and the first time he ever officiated at the Lord's 
 table, the pastor had the undeserved privilege of welcom- 
 ing twenty-Jive persons, — mostly young, — to the sacra- 
 mental cup and loaf, and the happy fellowship of believers. 
 As the fruit of that revival, or of the interest awakened 
 and continued by it, eighteen more were subsequently re- 
 ceived, making in all forty-three. But the revival of the 
 present year is especially worthy of record. A short time 
 previous to the Week of Prayer, — the first week in Jan- 
 uary — there were some signs of increasing fervor and ex- 
 pectancy on the part of the church. The Week of Prayer 
 was observed by holding meetings in rotation in the several 
 districts of the town, at each of which a number of breth- 
 ren from the other districts, with the pastor, were present. 
 By these meetings, and the accompanying personal efforts, 
 the religious interest was quite sensibly increased, and the 
 attention of a few impenitent persons arrested. This in- 
 terest continued very gradually to deepen and extend with 
 most happy results, until the middle of March, when the 
 revival was greatly promoted by a Protracted Meeting 
 commencing on Wednesday, March 13, and continuing 
 three days, during which the pastor received efficient co- 
 Appendix, Note IV. 
 
i;; 
 
 operation and aid from hie brethren in the ministry from 
 neighboring towns. 
 
 Thia meeting was followed, on the succeeding Saturday 
 and Sunday, by the earnest and judicious Labors of Rev. 
 I. P. Langworthy of Chelsea ; who also assisted the pastor 
 on one subsequent Sabbath. By the signal blessing of 
 upon the direct, pungent preaching, upon the frequent 
 prayer meetings, inquiry meetings, and extraordinary per- 
 sonal efforts, of that memorable work, many became 
 anxious for the salvation of their souls, and not a few 
 found peace at the cross. From that time onward, for 
 many gracious weeks, the spirit of God moved upon this 
 pie with a mighty energy. Great fear came on many, 
 and among thou some who had long rebelled against God, 
 and had oven denied the truths of revelation, Religion 
 was the almost universal topic of conversation : and this 
 whole community felt the pulse of a quickened life. 
 
 As the rich fruit of this work of grace sixty-three per- 
 sons, of an average age of thirty-four years, have already 
 connected themselves with the church by profession. Of 
 these fifty-one were received on the first Sabbath in July — 
 a day long to be remembered, — thirty-five are head 
 families, nine of whom are above >ixtv years of age, and 
 one is more than seventy years. 
 
 The whole number received into the church during the 
 years of the present pastorate is one hundred and 
 thirty-two, of whom one hundred and six were on pro- 
 fession of faith. The membership of the church, at this 
 time, is thret hundred and two. The oldest surviving mem- 
 ber is ninety-four years old, the youngest, twelve. 
 
 Respecting the whole number who have belonged to the 
 
14 
 
 church from its first existence, of those who were received 
 during the first forty years of our history, only forty-seven 
 names have been saved from oblivion. Since the year 
 1758, there have been admitted one thousand two hundred 
 and ninety-eight different persons, making a total cata- 
 logue at the present time, of one thousand three hundred 
 and forty-five names. Of this number, so near as can be 
 determined, not more than six hundred and fifty are 
 living to-day. More than half have already passed on 
 into eternity. 
 
 THE DEACONS OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Deacon Henry Gilbert stands at the head of the list. He 
 is supposed to have been a descendant of Sir Humphrey 
 Gilbert, who was an English navigator, and half-brother of 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, born in Dartmouth in 1539, and some- 
 times called the "father of western colonization." He was, 
 undoubtedly, the first man who received the office of deacon 
 in this church. By special vote passed December 14, 1721, he 
 w:is privileged to occupy, in the then new meeting-house, "a 
 pue next to y e ministry pue." He was probably among the 
 pioneer settlers of Brookfield, and was evidently one of the 
 foremost men of the place in his day ; for we find him often 
 associated with Hon. Jedediah Foster as a leader in the more 
 important measures of Town and Church at that early period, 
 lie died August 17, 1740. 
 
 Deacon John Gilbert, son of Deacon Henry Gilbert, ap- 
 pears also to have held the office from the first year of the 
 existence of the church. The second vote that appears upon 
 the church records now extant, bearing date May 14, 1758, 
 relates to him ; when it was "Voted to send to assist in the 
 
I.-. 
 
 ordination of Mr. Nathan Fiske. Mr. Jedediafa Poster and 
 Deacon Gilbert were chosen delegal r rhi> Ie the first 
 
 mention made of a deacon on our existing records. He con- 
 tinued in the office for half a century, resigning October 1 !. 
 17i'>7. one hundred years ago almost to a day. I !<• died J one 
 L2, L779, aged ninety. He was undoubtedly the man who 
 occupied what is called "Gilbert's Fort." 
 
 Joshua Dodge, though called deacon, probably never held 
 that office in this church. The earliest vote of the church 
 that has come down to ns, is dated .May 12, L758, and is 
 in the words following: — "A'oted that Joshua Dodge, a mem- 
 ber of y church of England, shall have y° privilege of occa- 
 sional communion." Thirteen years later, in 1771, by special 
 permission, he was also allowed "to act with y e church in v 
 choice of a minister,'' he having "promised that he would be 
 at proportional ile charge- with the people." lie died April 
 23, 1793, at the age of ninety-two. 
 
 I 'eacon Joseph Jennings is mentioned as early as 1721. On 
 December 14 of that year the town voted that he "have a 
 pue next to Deacon Henry Gilbert's." 
 
 Deacon Comfort Barnes died January 17, 1748, aged forty- 
 two years. 
 
 1 Vacon John Cutler. The date of his election to the office 
 in this church cannot be determined, but his name appears, 
 May 28, 17o J, among the twenty-six male signers of the cov- 
 enant at the organization of the Second Church of Christ in 
 Brookfield, now the First Church in Xorth Brookfield. In 
 December 1753, he was chosen first deacon of that church.* 
 
 *Dr. Snell's "Historical and Centennial Discourses," p. u-. -j'.i. and his 
 Appendix, (C). 
 
L6 
 
 ilc is supposed shortly afterwards to have removed from the 
 town : but when or where he died has not been ascertained. 
 
 Deacon Jedediah Foster, was born at Andover, Massachu- 
 setts; was graduated at Harvard University in 1744, and 
 shortly after settled in Brookfield. He was elected deacon 
 October 18,1750. The record of this date reads: — "At a 
 church meeting Jedediah Foster, Esq., was made choice of for 
 a deacon. Suspended his answer till y e church consented to 
 introduce Tate and Brady's Psalms upon trial ; then gave it in 
 the affirmative." Deacon Foster was not only the chief man 
 of his time in matters of Church and Town, but also stood in 
 the front rank of the men of the Commonwealth and Country. 
 In 1751 he was appointed Major of forces raised for the defence 
 of the country against the threatened invasion of the French. 
 He was a member of the "Provincial Congress," and, when 
 hostilities commenced with Great Britain, he was elevated to 
 the office of Colonel. In 1755, he became a member of the 
 Supreme Council, and afterward Judge of Probate and of the 
 Supreme Court. In March, 1779, in the Convention at Cam- 
 bridge, he was a member of the Committee chosen for the 
 purpose of drafting a Constitution. Through his life, he 
 enjoyed the confidence of the inhabitants of this Town and 
 County, perhaps beyond any man who ever lived here, unless 
 it be his own son, the Hon. Dwight Foster, who held succes- 
 sively and with honor the offices of High Sheriff of Worcester 
 County, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Mem- 
 ber of Congress, and United States Senator. Yonder hill 
 which bears his name is not more enduring than the fame 
 and deeds of him who lived upon it. He resigned his office 
 as deacon December 12, 1776, and died three years later, Oc- 
 tober 17, 1770, aged fifty-five. Dr. Nathan Fiske, pastor of 
 
the Third Church in Brobkfield | South Pariah ), preached hie 
 funeral sermon, which was published. With great difficulty 
 one can now decipher upon the time-worn stone that marks hie 
 resting-place in the Old Burying Ground, the inscription: — 
 
 "The boast of Beraldry, the pomp of Power, 
 •■ And all thai Wisdom, all that Wealth e'er gave, 
 
 •• Await alike the ine\ itable hour ; 
 •■ Tin' Paths of Glory lead but to the < rrave." 
 
 Deacon Thaddeus Cutler united with this church Novem- 
 ber 1, 1761, and was elected deacon .March 13, 1763. On 
 September 20, 17G7, he declined to continue longer in that 
 office, when thanks for past services were voted him by the 
 church. Scarcely more than three months after being relieved 
 from his official duties, he was released from earth. lie died 
 January '2, 1768. 
 
 Deacon Othniel Gilbert became a member of this church 
 September 7, 1766, and was chosen deacon October 14, 1767. 
 In November 1788, "on account of Infirmity of Body," he re- 
 tired from the office, having discharged its duties twenty-one 
 years. He died February 6, 1795, in the sixty-eighth year of 
 his age. 
 
 Deacon Thomas Rich was received into this church by 
 letter from New Braintree in 1759, and was made deacon 
 October 14, 1767. Six or eight years later he removed to 
 Western (Warren), where he died February 16, 1803, aged 
 seventy-four. 
 
 Deacon Joseph Cutler was " descended from Sir Gervase 
 Cutler, of Xorfolkshire, England, three of whose sons, accord- 
 ing to tradition, came over to this country previous to 1640," 
 and was father of the late Hon. Pliny Cutler, who, for many 
 years, was a successful merchant in Boston, and .i dea< on of 
 
18 
 
 the < >M Smith < Ihurch in that city, and who died in this town 
 Augu.-t i t,of the present year. He united with this church 
 .May 23, 17 , 'L.'. He was chosen deacon October 9, 1776, and 
 " took 7< matter under consideration." He signified his ac- 
 ceptance of the office not till December 12, of the same year, 
 <>n tlir resignation of Judge Foster. "His views and habits 
 w ere of the strict Puritan stamp. All work of man and beast 
 upon his farm ceased on Saturday afternoon, an hour before 
 sunset ; the men shaved themselves and prepared for holy time 
 before the sun went down ; the work withindoors was also 
 completed, even to the preparing of the food for the following 
 day ; and from the going down of the sun on the eve of the 
 Sabbath to the going down of the sun on the Sabbath day, no 
 work, excepting that of absolute necessity and mercy, not even 
 the making of a bed nor the sweeping of a room, was allowed. 
 The whole time was devoted to rest, and to the solemn duties 
 of religion. Although he lived three miles from the place of 
 worship, yet he was ever promptly there, with all his family, 
 morning and afternoon ; neither heat, nor cold, nor storm, be- 
 ing able to turn his steadfast steps from the sanctuary of 
 ( rod." ' At his own request, "on account of age, and infirm- 
 ity of body," he was released from the duties of his office June 
 20, 1809, and died August 20, 1825, aged eighty-six. Upon 
 his tombstone w t c read : — 
 
 •• In God's own arms he left the breath, 
 
 Which God's own Spirit gave, 
 His was the noblest road to death, 
 
 Ami his the sweetest -rave." 
 
 1 >eacon Levi Gilbert united with this church May 28, 1775; 
 was chosen deacon December 11, 1788; and died in office 
 
 •Portraits of Eminent Americans, Vol. I. pp. 827, 328 
 
Ill 
 
 April 5, L816, iii the sixty-sixth year of bis age. The dab 
 thai indicates the place of his burial telle as: — 
 
 •• Bumble and meek a lowly path be trod, 
 And while he uVd on earth, he walk'd with God; 
 Good without show, obliging without art, 
 Bia speech the faithful language of his heart; 
 His hope was grace, and his delighl was prayer, 
 Hia aim a : < » ! may we enter there." 
 
 Deacon Samuel Barnes became a member of this church 
 November 29, 17 s '.'. and was elected deacon June 20, 1809. 
 He resigned the office "on account of age and infirmity," 
 November 10, 1819, and died January 27, 1833, at the age 
 of seventy-five. 
 
 Deacon John Ross united with this church July 16, 1780. 
 He was elected to the office of deacon June 20, 1809, and re- 
 linquished its duties November 27, 1828. He died October 
 10, 1846, aged eighty-seven. 
 
 Deacon Nathan Bucknam Ellis was a son of Asa Ellis a 
 deacon of the church in East Medway, and Margaret Buck- 
 nam, a daughter of Rev. Nathan Bucknam, who was pastor 
 of the church in East Medway for more than seventy years. 
 He removed to this place from East Medway and joined this 
 church November 4, 1792. He was chosen deacon July 3, 
 1810 ; and died September 6, 1819, in the fifty-sixth year of 
 his age. It was he who, in conjunction with others in this 
 parish, set up a fulling-mill, and carried on a somewhat ex- 
 tensive business for those days, and especially excelled in the 
 art of coloring cloth. Whitney* in his History, published 
 in 1793, makes special mention of this Company. He Bays : 
 •• About five thousand yards of cloth are annually dressed at 
 
 iry of the County of Worcester, p. 79. 
 
50 
 
 these works. These meD have obtained the art of coloring 
 Bcarlet, \\ hich competent judges pronounce e<iu;il to any which 
 i- imported; an art which tow in this Commonwealth have 
 attained unto." 
 
 Deacon John Wood united with this church December 7, 
 1817, and was chosen deacon November 10,1819. lie re- 
 signed the office .March 14, 1832, and was dismissed April 7, 
 L833, and recommended to the First Presbyterian Church in 
 Geneva, New York, at that time under the pastoral care of 
 Rev. ( now Dr.) Eliakim Phelps. In the Fall of 1835 he re- 
 moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and thence, in June, 1837, 
 to Iosco, Livingston County, of the same state, where he was 
 one of the first s< t tiers, (his son being the first) and the sec- 
 ond land owner in the town. The first relit/ions meeting ever 
 held in Iosco was held in his house. In the Spring of 1845, 
 he removed to the town of Putnam in the same County, and, 
 in September following, united with the church in Pinckney, 
 of which he was chosen deacon in August 1818, and continued 
 in that office until a short time before his death. lie died 
 suddenly of heart disease March 23, 1864. His remains sleep 
 by the side of those of his wife in Pinckney Church-yard. 
 
 Deacon Josiah Cary, son of Josiali and Mary (Moulton) 
 Cary, was received into this church August 3, 180C, and was 
 chosen to the office of deacon November 10,1819. He re- 
 signed March 14, 1832, and in 1835, March 4, his relation 
 was transferred to the Presbyterian Church, Princeton, New 
 Jersey. In 1838, he removed to New York City, and was 
 a member of the family of his son, Pev. J. Addison Cary, 
 until the death of the latter in 1852, when he removed to 
 Missouri, and lived with his daughter, wife of Rev. A. V. 
 Schenck, until his death March 8, 1861. lie died at Saint 
 
51 
 
 Charles, Missouri, "in the fall assurance of a blessed immor- 
 tality," aged Beventy-seven. 
 
 Deacon Alfred White, son of Asa and Anna White, and a 
 lineal descendant in the fifth generation from Peregrine White, 
 was born in this town July 25, L785; united with this church 
 May 23, l v l ;, >: ami was chosen deacon November LO, L819. 
 
 Although, for a number of years past, relieved fr the active 
 
 duties of the office, he still occasionally officiates at the Lord's 
 table. He is one of the oldest surviving members of the 
 church, as also among the oldest citizen- of the town, l'.nr. 
 notwithstanding his advanced age, he is an habitual attendant 
 upon the public worship of God's house on the Sabbath, and 
 is here with us to-day, not an unmoved spectator of these 
 commemorative services. An occasion of solemn and tender 
 interest, and of grateful recollections, on the l"»th of Febru- 
 ary last, was the celebration, in the vestry of this church, of 
 \tieth anniversary of his marriage. 
 
 Deacon William Spooner was one of the fifty-one persons 
 who united by profession with this church December 13, 1818. 
 lie was elected deacon November 27, 1828. He was dis- 
 missed April 7, 1833, to the church in Oakham, whence he 
 was received again July 30, 1837. In 1851 he removed to 
 Springfield, Massachusetts, where he died February 13, 1865, 
 in his sixty-eighth year. His remains were brought to this 
 town, and deposited in the cemetery here, the funeral services 
 being conducted in this church. At his grave we read the 
 Bimple, fitting inscription, " There is sweet rest hi Heaven." 
 
 Deacon Reuben Blair, Jr., was also among the fifty-one who, 
 here in these aisles, united with the church on the same Sab- 
 bath, December 13, 1818. He was chosen deacon January 
 27, 1833, and died August -. 18.59, aged seventy-four. 
 
■ )1 
 
 Deacon Jairus Abbott, was received into this church from 
 the church in Western ( Warren ), -January 21, 1827, and was 
 chosen deacon -January 27, 1833. In May 12, 1834, he was 
 dismissed to the Evangelical Congregational Church in the 
 
 South Parish (now Brookfield'), where he died March 18, 
 1850, at the age of threescore and ten years. 
 
 Deacon Josiali Henshaw, son of Josiali and Sarah (Phipps) 
 Henshaw, united with tliis church September 29, 1816, and 
 was elected to the office of deacon January 27, 1833. Of an 
 ardent temperament, and of radical views and feelings, a warm 
 friend of the enslaved negro, an earnest advocate of freedom, 
 and impatient of delay, in the anti-slavery excitement of 1840 
 and onwards, he was easily led into some errors of opinion and 
 indiscretions of conduct, which brought him into unhappy col- 
 lision with the majority of the church, resulting, finally, in his 
 excommunication, January 26, 1843. 
 
 Deacon Baxter Ellis, son of Deacon Nathan B. and Thank- 
 ful (Barritt ) Ellis, united with this church in August 1818, 
 and was chosen deacon June 16, 1845. He retired from the 
 active duties of the office June 5, 1851, and died October 8, 
 1866, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 
 
 Deacon Jacob Dupee, son of Elias and Abigail Dupee, was 
 born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, November 11, 1800. He 
 removed to this town in 1827 ; was hopefully converted in 
 the revival of 1835, and united with this church May 3, of 
 the same year. He was chosen deacon June 16, 1845, and is 
 still discharging the duties of the office. 
 
 Deacon Liberty Sampson, son of Daniel and Achsah 
 ( Snow ) Sampson, united with this church by profession Jan- 
 uary 6, L839, and was elected to the office June 16, 1845. 
 Mi- died I h toher 15, 1858, aged thirty-eight. 
 
53 
 
 I ir;i i Solomon I .. Harms -.'.n of Ezra and Lucy ( ( 'arutli ) 
 
 Barnes, united with this church by letter from Ware I Wesl ). 
 May 7. L837. In November 1854 he was chosen deacon, the 
 duties «>t' which office he is Btil] performing. 
 
 Deacon Moses Hall, son of Moses and Elizabeth Hall, was 
 born in Spencer, Massachusetts, November I. I Mil, and re- 
 moved to this town in 1840. In duly 1*5:',, he united with 
 this church, and was chosen deacon in November of the fol- 
 lowing year. On removing from the place, he resigned the 
 office, and his resignation was accepted April 9, 1863. He 
 was recommended to the Congregational Church in Wethers- 
 field, Connecticut, May 31, 18G4, whence he was received 
 again May 5, 1 865.* 
 
 Deacon Samuel Newell White, son of Deacon Alfred and 
 Sarah < ( rilberl I White, united with this church May 3, 1835, 
 and was chosen deacon July 1, 1859. lie resigned the office 
 February 1, I s ' >7. 
 
 1 teacon Enos Gilbert son of Bethucl and Chloe (Hill ) Gil- 
 bert, united with this church March ;> >, l^')' 1 , and was elected 
 deacon April 21, 1865, the church, on the same day, having 
 previously voted to limit the term of service to five years. f 
 He still retains the office. 
 
 HOUSES OF WORSHIP. 
 
 The first meeting-house in Brookficld was situated on 
 Foster's Hill, about half a mile southeast of the house in 
 which we are now assembled. It stood on the north side of 
 the old road to Brookfield (South Parish), about equally 
 distant from the house of the late Mr. Baxter Barnes, and the 
 one now owned by Mr. D. II. Richardson. 
 
 ♦He was re-elected deacon November 1, 18 
 
 tThis vote wa3 rescinded November 1, 1867, 
 
What were the dimensions of that rude, primitive structure 
 we have no means of determining. It must have been built 
 very Boon alter the first settlement of the town ; for it was as 
 early as lii7."», on that dread night of August 4th — only fifteen 
 years alter the original grant was obtained from the General 
 Court, — that the meeting-house, sharing; the common fate of 
 the town, was laid in ashes by the Indians. 
 
 Forty years passed away before another house of worship 
 was erected. The place in which the people met during; the 
 thirty years that elapsed after their return from dispersion by 
 the savages, and before the building of the second meeting- 
 house, cannot now be ascertained. From their constant ex- 
 posure to the attack of Indians, it is conjectured that, accord- 
 in- to the customs of isolated settlements at that time, they 
 met in some fortified place. As Gilbert's Fort was in the 
 centre of the settlement, it seems probable that, for many 
 vears, the inhabitants gathered there for public worship. 
 
 For a few years previous to the building of the second 
 meeting-house, however, it is altogether likely that they met 
 in a house which stood nearly opposite to the residence of the 
 late Mr. Baxter Barnes on Foster's Hill. A building called 
 the town-house stood in that place ; and, after the comple- 
 tion of the second meeting-house, it was given to Rev. Mr. 
 ( lienev, on the condition that he would release the town from 
 that part of their contract in which they had agreed to build 
 liim a house. 
 
 The second meeting-house stood on the same site as the first. 
 
 < )n the 22d <>f November L715, "The inhabitants of Brook- 
 field agreed with the consent of y e Committee to build a meet- 
 ing-house wherein to carry on y e worship of God ; in form 
 and manner as followeth: viz. 45 foott in Length, and 35 
 
56 
 
 footl in wedht; and to put in Galery piecee bo \ they may 
 fcuild Galeriea when they Bhall have ocation; and to carry 
 on the building of 3 d house as Par as they can conveniently 
 with v Labour, and what shall be Required in money for 
 v carrying of - 1 work to I"' Raised by a Towu Rate, and 
 if any person or person- Refuse to Labour, Having suit- 
 able warning by y" Committee Hereafter mentioned, shall 
 pay their proportion in Money. The [inhabitants Likewise 
 agree to gett ^Timber this Winter."' At the Bame meet- 
 ing the Committee reported thai they "unanimously agree 
 that the inhabitants build a meeting-house wherein to at- 
 tend the worship of God, which shall be sett up and erected 
 in said place where formerly the meeting-house was built, 
 near old John Ayres' house-lott lying near about the centre 
 of the town." 
 
 January 4, 1717, a tax of thirty pounds was voted for glass 
 and nails for the meeting-house, and eight pounds for win* 
 dow cases, and other public uses. Yet, four years later, the 
 house seems not to have been quite completed, for under date 
 April 18, L721, we lind the following unique vote, showing 
 at least a rather doubtful solicitude for the physical comfort 
 of the good deacons' wives of those days: "Granted a pue to 
 be built on the left hand of the pulpit to be for the Deacons' 
 wives, 8 d wive8 to set in the pue during their mitral /it',." 
 
 Also, on December 14, of the same year, 
 
 "Voted, That the select men layout the land about the meeting- 
 house, as it i- ( Granted upon Record. 
 
 •• Voted, To build up the Beats in the body of y" meeting-house with 
 good Btrong plain » 
 
 •• Voted, To build a ministry pue on y" Right hand of y"pulpit, to 
 the stairs of y pulpit, to y middle stud in y window. 
 
 " Voted, That Henry Gilbert have a pue next to y* ministry pue. 
 
56 
 
 ■ I oted, That Deacon Joseph Jennings have a pue next to Deacon 
 Henry < rilbert's, 
 
 ■ I oted, That he that hath a pue granted in the meeting-house do 
 pay to the town Treasurer forty .-hillings for cadi pue by the first day 
 of April next coming, or else to forfeit their pues; and the money so 
 paid in to I"' laid out to finish the meeting-house." 
 
 A careful regard was had, in those times, for age, and social 
 rank and worth, as is shown by the following action of the 
 town dated January 13, 1727: 
 
 • Voted, That the Committee v shall he chosen to seat y e meeting- 
 house shall have regard to age (where it is honourable), and to estate, 
 taking v" list y 1 Mr. Cheney's last Rate was made by for a rule, having 
 also regard to men's servicefidness in the town. 
 
 " Voted, That it shall he left to five men to seat the meeting-house. 
 
 '• Voted, That Elisha Rice, Samuel Barnes, Joseph Brabrook, Thomas 
 Gilbert and Samuel Wheeler be of s d Committee to seat y e meeting- 
 House. 
 
 " Voted, That the fore seat in y 6 front Gallery shall he equal with 
 y" third scat in y e Body, and y e fore seat in y e side Gallery shall be 
 equal with y e fourth seat in y e Body of y e meeting-house." 
 
 Thus a man's wealth and standing in society were pretty 
 accurately indicated by the relative position of the seat which 
 he occupied in the house of God, where " the rich and poor 
 meet together." 
 
 About forty years after the second meeting-house was built, 
 it would appear to have suffered violence at the hands of some 
 evil-minded and lawdess men. For in a meeting of the town 
 held September 30, 1754, " The question was asked by the 
 moderator whether the town will effectually impour a com- 
 mit toe to prosecute those persons who have demolished the 
 meeting-house in the first parish, called the old meeting-house, 
 in any Court, General or Executive, to final judgment and 
 execution," or take any other measures for the settlement of 
 the affair ; which received a negative vote. 
 
57 
 
 The third meeting-house was built in L755, and Btood near 
 the spot where we are met to-day. January 22, L755, the 
 first Precint 
 
 I to " pn 1 to Build a meeting-house for Publics Worship 
 
 at the turning of the County Rode Dear the north-east corner of a 
 Plow-field belonging to John Barnes, being on the Plain in Baid first 
 Precinct. 
 
 " I"'"/, That Baid meeting-house be built with timber and wood. 
 
 " I bted, That the i ting-house ahal] be forty-five feet in Length, 
 
 and thirty-five feet in width." 
 
 July L5, IT.".''., 
 
 "Voted, To sell the pew flour in the meeting-house to the Inhabi- 
 tants of - Precinct, preference to be made to those Persons who pay the 
 largest tax, provided they will give as much as others. 
 
 •■ Voted, That seventeen Pews shall be made upon the flour of Baid 
 meeting-house, and No More, adjoyning to the wall of Baid house. 
 
 "Voted, That Ahner Gilbert be appointed to take Care of the 
 
 Doors and Sweep the i ting-house, and if He except, he shall Sweep 
 
 Baid house twelve times a year from this time, and oftener if need 
 be, and that lie shall receive as a reward twelve shilling at the end of 
 the year." 
 
 This is the first intimation of the existence of a sexton. 
 June 28, 1756— 
 
 •• Voted, To build a Pulpit, Deacon's seat, and Ministerial Pew ; also 
 to build a body of seats having a Convenient Alley between them, and 
 room on the hack Side tor a tear of Pews between the body of scat- and 
 the Alhy before the Pews in the frunt Part of the meeting-house." 
 
 In September ; '>. 1 759, it was 
 
 ■ I oted, To Bell the front Gallery in the meeting-house to make into 
 Pews. 
 
 ■■ Voted, To Build the Gallery Btairs, Lay the Gallery floors, Build 
 the Brestwork, and three Beats in the front, and two seats in each of the 
 Side < lalereys." 
 
 March 24, 177". ( Saptain Thomas Gilbert was appointed to 
 provide a "Cushing for the pulpit, such as he sluill think 
 
58 
 
 proper, and < lharge the Precinct therewith." The luxury of 
 a cushion having been introduced into the pulpit, the next 
 tiling was to put upon the rough interior of their sanctuary a 
 higher touch of art. It was voted, November 14, 1761, 
 " That the meeting-house shall be Lathed, Plaistered and 
 whitewashed at the charge of said Precinct next year." 
 Forty pounds were ordered to be raised for that purpose. 
 As yet no liquid chime of Sabbath bell had broken here the 
 stillness of the day of holy rest, or ever spoken its winning 
 k - welcome to the house of prayer." 
 
 That sweet and soul-awakening sound was reserved for a 
 later generation. In a warrant for a meeting, to be held No- 
 vemher 9, 1789, of "all the freeholders and other Inhabitants 
 qualified by law to vote in Town meetings, living within the 
 limits of the First Parish," there was an article, — "To see if 
 the Parish will grant any money for the purpose of purchas- 
 ing a Bell for the use of the Parish." But, at the meeting, 
 the matter seems to have been passed over in silence ; no 
 action was taken upon it. 
 
 The next year (November 1, 1790) the Parish voted to 
 choose a committee of five men to draw a plan for enlarging 
 the meeting-house. This committee subsequently reported 
 kL that eight feet be built at each end of the meeting-house, 
 and built into pews. &c.;" but the report was negatived. 
 The opinion, doubtless, prevailed that the better policy would 
 be to build anew. For, two years afterwards, it was decided 
 to repair the old house by simply "patching the Ruff;" and. 
 at the same time ( ( October -'•', 1792,) they voted "to build a 
 meeting-house for Publick worship on the land given to the 
 firsl precincl in Brookfield by the late Lieutenant John Barnes 
 lor that purpose." 
 
< >n the I Tth of I December following, it waa agreed " to ex- 
 cept one of the Plans for a meeting-house presented by the 
 committee chosen lor that purpose," and — 
 
 •• Voted, Thai the meeting-boose be built by the Bale of the pews, 
 if the same shall be sufficient, if not, the remaining sum to be sat 
 on the Polls and Estates of the Precinct" 
 
 A committee of Beven waa chosen to superintend the sale 
 of the pews, (as delineated in the plan adopted) and the 
 building of the house : which committee subsequently I Janu- 
 ary 29, IT'.';'.) reported that they had sold the pewa for eleven 
 
 hundred and -even pounds. Arrangements were further 
 made for procuring timber and other material-, and March LO, 
 179 I. it was •• voted to set the new meeting-house partly where 
 the old one now stands."" 
 
 Two months later the parish voted " that the new meeting- 
 house stand on fiat stones on the soil, as the ground is now 
 Staked out, and that the committee ask and provide for as 
 many hand- as shall be needed for raising the new rneeting- 
 house." Accordingly, the house in which we hold these serv- 
 ices to-day soon began to rise ; was finished the following 
 year, and dedicated November 1", 1795, the sermon on the 
 occasion being preached by Rev. Enoa Hitchcock, D. D. of 
 Providence, Rhode I.-dand. The original dimensions of the 
 house, aa would appear from the plan which it was voted to 
 adopt, were, length sixty-three feet, breadth fifty feet. 
 
 The old meeting-house was removed, so as to give place to 
 the new. to "the south corner of the lot of land formerly 
 owned by Nathaniel Gilbert, late of Brookfield, deceased." 
 and waa devoted to town and parish uses. In 1809 it was 
 sold at "publick vendue" for the sum of one hundred and 
 eighty-six pounds. 
 
60 
 
 In the Spring of 1798 a second attempt was made to 
 procure a bell, but, like the first, resulted in failure. But a 
 better Buccesa was achieved the following year, when the 
 parish raised the sum of four hundred dollars — half by sub- 
 scription and half by tax — for the purchase of a Bell and an 
 Bight Day Clock for the new meeting-house ; the surplus 
 money, should any remain, to be "appropriated to procure 
 furniture for the Desk and Desk Window in said meeting- 
 house." A bell of six hundred and seventy-one pounds 
 weight was duly purchased of Mr. Paul Revere at Boston, 
 and was "raised and hung," the whole at an expense of 
 three hundred and forty-four dollars and fifty-six cents. For 
 lack of funds the project of obtaining a clock was abandoned. 
 ( A clock, at that period, was an expensive piece of furni- 
 ture.) It may be a matter of interest to know that the cost 
 of transporting the bell from Boston to Brookfield, a dis- 
 tance of seventy miles, in those days of slow locomotion, 
 was four dollars and fifty cents — pretty lean wages, one 
 would think in these times of inflated currency, as the work 
 must have consumed at least two or three days of time for 
 man and team. The present bell was purchased in 1855. 
 The first introduction of stoves here, as elsewhere, evidently 
 did not meet with universal favor. The parish voted, De- 
 cember 8, 1818, " to raise the sum of one hundred and fifty 
 dollars for the purpose of erecting two stoves in the meeting- 
 house." But they immediately reconsidered this action, and 
 voted "that individuals belonging to the parish he permitted, 
 if they choose, to place a stove or stoves in the meeting- 
 house." How soon thereafter this desideratum was obtained, 
 doea not appear. 
 
 In \*l\y measures were taken to procure an organ, which in 
 
Ill 
 
 due time, was accomplished. Thia instrument was replaced, 
 in 1856, by a new and better one, which is .-till in use. 
 
 In l s - v . turty-throe years from 1 1 1 « - time of its erection, 
 this huii-.' w:i- thoroughly remodeled, at an outlay, apart 
 from stoves, chandelier, and other incidentals, <>i' live thousand 
 four hundred and Bixty-one dollars and Bixty-eighl cents. It 
 was turned around to a right angle with its former position, 
 
 and moved back about a rod in the rear «>f its original Bite. 
 An addition was also built <>n each side of the old porch, the 
 extent df the building, making the body of the house eighty 
 feet in length, with a capacity, including gallery, for eight 
 hundred sittings. Instead of the former cupola, a steeple 
 ninety-two feet in height was erected, bearing the same vane 
 that crowned the old meeting-house. Besides, a projection 
 of -ix feet, with four pillars, was added in front ; anew base- 
 ment story was made, sixty-five by fifty-two feet, which, in 
 I s I 1 1, was finished at a cost, inclusive of furniture for the 
 vestry, of four hundred dollars, and divided into two apart- 
 ments — one for a Vestry, and the other for a Town-house, 
 which continued to be so used until our new and spacious 
 Town Hall was completed in the spring of 1860. This 
 house, as thus remodeled, was dedicated January 1, 1839. 
 The introductory prayer on the occasion was offered by Rev. 
 Mr. Smalley, of Worcester ; reading of select portions of 
 Scripture by Rev. Micah Stone of South Brookfield ; sermon 
 by Rev. Hubbard AYinslow of Boston; prayer of dedication 
 by Rev. John Fiske of New Braintree; concluding prayer by 
 Rev. Dr. Snell of North Brookfield. 
 
 This house was again thoroughly retouched in 1*40, and 
 yet other alteration- made a few years later, in the early part 
 of the ministry of Mr. Byington, through the enterprise and 
 
62 
 
 energy of the ladies, as evinced by the following: At a 
 me. tin- of the directors of the "Union Society" of West 
 Brookfield in the Spring of 1854, it was 
 
 •■ l oted, Thai the Aid Bociety present, gratuitously, to the parish all 
 the improvements they have made in the interior of the meeting-house, 
 and embracing the pulpit, fourteen globe lamps, and clock." 
 
 In response to which the parish 
 
 "Eesohed, Thai they accept the same ; and that, in consideration of 
 
 the courtesy and generosity of the Union Society in thus presenting 
 those valuable and ornamental fixtures, the thanks of the parish be ten- 
 dered tn said Society, and that this resolve be entered on the records of 
 the parish." 
 
 During the present year also, a few hundreds of dollars 
 have been expended upon the exterior for painting and other 
 needed repairs. The work of thoroughly renovating and 
 beautifying the now marred and dingy interior has been re- 
 served till after the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary only 
 because the anniversary came one year too soon. It is confi- 
 dently expected that the year 1868 will find us within a sanc- 
 tuary rendered far more elegant and attractive by the intro- 
 duction of some of the more modern improvements in church 
 architecture. 
 
 MINISTERS FROM THE CHURCH AND PARISH. 
 
 Enos Hitchcock was born in 1744 ; was graduated at 
 I larvard College in 17G7 ; and was settled as colleague pastor 
 with Rev. Mr. ( 'hipman of Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1771, 
 where he continued nine years. 
 
 In 17*<) he became chaplain in the revolutionary army, 
 which office he held till 178:). In that same year, (October 
 Let, I he was Installed pastor of the Benevolent Congregational 
 ( l.mvh of Christ, in Providence, Rhode Island, which after- 
 
63 
 
 wards became a Unitarian church. In 17> v he reoeivcd the 
 degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1802 his health failed, and 
 mi the -Till of February of the following year, consumption 
 terminated his life, al the age of fifty-nine, in the twentieth 
 year of his ministry al Providence. 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock prepared a catechism, called "The Parent's 
 Assistant," and published several books upon education. 
 Among his publications is "A Discourse delivered at the 
 Ordination of the Rev. Jonathan < n mi1<1 to the minis terial 
 office in the Christian Church, at Standish, September 18, 
 IT'. 1 -"'." II'' also preached the Bermon at the dedication of 
 this house, November 10, L795. 
 
 Joshua ( Irowell, son of Joshua and Mary ( Field I ( Irowell, 
 was born September 15, 1TTT. Bis parents were both mem- 
 bers of this church until their death. He studied for a time 
 at Leicester Academy, and also at Salem. He was converted 
 under the labors of Bev. Elijah Bachelor, a Methodist minis- 
 ter win. preached on circuit at the house of Wido^ Crowell, 
 < Joshua's mother, ) on " Ragged Hill ;" soon became a Meth- 
 odist itinerant preacher, and labored successfully for a Dumber 
 of years in -.vera] of the New England States, until L809, 
 soon after which lie removed to Ware, where he resided for 
 many years, partly engaged in secular pursuits. The last 
 few years of hi- life were spent with his daughter in Stur- 
 bridge, where he died duly 21, 1858, in the eighty-first year 
 of his age, and fifty-seventh of his mini-try. He was one 
 of the founders and trustees of the Wesleyan Academy, 
 Wilbraham. 
 
 Asa Kent was born May'.'. L780. Early consecrated to 
 
 Grod by a devotedly pious mother, in tin- hope that he would 
 
 become a preacher of the gospel, at the ape of eighteen he 
 
64 
 
 yielded his heart to Christ; at twenty-one was licensed to 
 exhort, and was immediately employed on the circuit in Ver- 
 mont. The following year he was placed on another circuit 
 in the same State, and revivals in various places attended his 
 labors. Afterwards he was stationed at various points in 
 Vermont; still later in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Bristol, 
 lihode Island. 
 
 In 1814 he was made Presiding Elder over the New Lon- 
 don District, which office he held four years. Subsequently 
 he preached at several important centers, as Providence, Xew 
 Bedford, Newport, Charlestown, until 1838, when increasing 
 infirmities compelled him to abandon the labors of a ministe- 
 rial charge. He removed to New Bedford, where he lived, 
 beloved and revered, the remainder of his days. 
 
 In 1840 he was chaplain to the house of correction in New 
 Bedford, and after that, for four years, preached regularly 
 once a Sabbath in some of the churches, and gave instruction 
 in a Sabbath school. During his life he often enriched the 
 columns of the Methodist religious journals with the produc- 
 tions of his ready pen. His days were filled up with useful- 
 ness ; and, calmly trusting in the atonement of Christ, he 
 died at New Bedford, September 1, 1860, aged eighty. 
 
 Charles Gilbert, son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Gilbert, 
 was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801, a classmate and 
 intimate friend of Daniel Webster, with whom, after leaving 
 college, he used to hold friendly correspondence. But death 
 made him an early victim, and he died March 12, 1805, at 
 the age of twenty-seven. His grave is in the Old Burying 
 Ground. On his tombstone we read : " He had a collegiate 
 education ; had completed his theological studies, and com- 
 menced a preacher of the Gospel with pleasing prospects 
 
65 
 
 of success and usefulness; l>ut they were Boon blasted by 
 death." 
 
 Caleb Sprague Henry, son of Silae Henry, was born at 
 Rutland, Massachusetts, Augusl _. L804, and removed with 
 hi- father's family to West Brookfield in 1^1 ; ">. The main 
 facts in his history arc to be found in Appleton'e New Ameri- 
 can Cyclopedia. He was graduated at Dartmouth College in 
 L825; studied theology at Andover and New Haven; was 
 licensed t<i preach by the Brookfield Association in 1828, and 
 was settled the following year as Congregational minister, at 
 Greenfield, Massachusetts. From 1832 to 1835 he was asso- 
 ciate pastor with the venerable Dr. Perkins, ut West Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut. In 1834 he published a pamphlet on the 
 "Principles and Prospects of the Friends of Peace." About 
 this time he also established a journal called the "American 
 Advocate of Peace," which, after the first yen-, became the 
 organ of the American Peace Society. In 1835 he was 
 ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church, by Bishop On- 
 derdonk of New York; soon after which he became Professor 
 of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy in Bristol College, 
 Pennsylvania; which position he retained until 1837, win u 
 he removed to New York City, and, in conjunction with 1 >r. 
 Hawk-, established the Xew York Review. The same year 
 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by 
 Geneva College, New York. He edited the Review until 
 1839, when he became Professor of Philosophy and History 
 in the New York University. In 1847, in addition to the 
 duties of his professorship, he took the rector-hip of St. 
 ( lenient'- Church, New York. His health failing from over- 
 work, he resigned the care of the church in 1851, retaining 
 however his professorship, and performing, for some part of 
 
66 
 
 the time, the duties of the chancellorship of the University 
 also. In L852 ill health compelled him to resign his profes- 
 sorship, Bince which time, by the direction of physicians, he 
 has lived in the country. His present place of residence is 
 Newburgh on the Hudson. 
 
 1 >r. Henry has published, besides the works already men- 
 tioned, a translation of Cousin's Lectures on Locke's "Essay 
 on the Human Understanding," with notes and additional 
 pieces, the work appearing under the title of "Cousin's Psy- 
 chology," (1834,) and since revised and enlarged; also, a 
 "Compendium of Christian Antiquities" (1837); "Moral 
 and Philosophical Essays" (1839); an "Epitome of the His- 
 tory of Philosophy," translated from the French (1845) ; 
 "Guizot's General History of Civilization, with Notes;" 
 "Household Liturgy;" Taylor's "Manual of Ancient and 
 Modern History," revised, with a chapter on the History 
 of the United States (1845) ; "Dr. Oldham at Greystones 
 and his Talk There" (1859) ; "Considerations upon the Ele- 
 ments and Conditions of Social Welfare and Human Progress" 
 ( L860) ; an Oration on "Patriotism and the Slaveholder's 
 Rebellion" (1861); "Politics and the Pulpit," and many 
 articles in the "Continental Monthly," and other journals, 
 numerous addresses, etc. 
 
 Lucius Watson Clark, son of James and Jerusha (Marcy) 
 Clark, was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, July 2, 1801 ; re- 
 moved with his parents to this place in 1812; was converted 
 mulcr the ministry of Rev. Mr. Phelps in the revival of 1818, 
 and united with this church December 13, of that year. He 
 w:i~ graduated at Brown University in 1824; pursued his 
 theological studies with Dr. Ide of Medway ; was licensed to 
 preach by the Mendon Association in 1820 ; was ordained 
 
67 
 
 pastor of the church in Wilbraham, < Massachusetts, I in 1 829, 
 where he continued three pears. Fie was afterwards, for five 
 years pastor al Plymouth, and five years al Amesbury; after 
 which, on account of insufficient health, he labored only as 
 temporary supply. Some eighl or nine years previous to his 
 death, he removed to Middlebury, Vermont, where he died 
 of lung fever after only a few days' illness, January 2, L854. 
 
 Prom an obituary published in the Boston Recorder soon 
 after his death, I take the following brief passage : — "As a 
 man, a friend, a < Ihristian, they only knew his worth, who knew 
 him well. Reliable, conscientious, ami generous even to a 
 fault; frank in his words, transparent in his motive-, steadfast 
 to principle, and to duty; kind, sympathizing, and true to his 
 Master ; a meek, humble and prayerful follower of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, whose earnest desire was that God be honored 
 and men redeemed." Almost his last work on earth was to 
 address a company of grieving mourners from the inspiring 
 words, •• Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from 
 henceforth : yea saith the spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labor.- : and their works do follow them.*' 
 
 John ( '. Nichols, son of Isaac and Abigail ( ( hitler I Nichols, 
 was horn November 17, 1801. In the summer of 1818, he 
 united with this church, and is still a member of it, having 
 never removed his relation. He was graduated at Yale ( !ol- 
 in 1824; pursued his theological studies at New Haven; 
 was licensed by the New Haven West Association in i 
 and. for three year- following, was a Home Missionary in 
 Canada. In the meantime, — in 1831, — he returned to tin- 
 states, and was ordained in North Brookfield for his mission- 
 ary work. 
 
 In 1834 he was installed pastor of the Second Church in 
 
68 
 
 Stonington, Connecticut, and was dismissed in 1839. In 1840 
 he became pastor of the First Church in Lebanon, Connec- 
 ticut, where, in 1 85 5, he discontinued hia labors on account of 
 failing health. Soon afterwards he removed to Old Lyme, 
 Connecticut, and there he has remained ever since, teaching 
 and preaching, as health and opportunity have permitted. 
 
 Sewall Lamberton, son of Samuel D. and Lucy E. Lam- 
 berton, was born August 6, 1818. He was hopefully con- 
 verted at the age of thirteen, and, the following year, was 
 admitted to the communion of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. During the years 1835 and 1836 he held license as 
 an exhorter, and, in that capacity, labored more or less in 
 different towns. April 24, 1837, he was licensed to preach at 
 Chicopee Falls ; after which his time was devoted to study 
 and the work of the ministry, laboring at South Iladley, 
 Palmer and Wilbraham, this State; and in Norwich, Enfield, 
 East Windsor, Colchester, Haddam, and South Windsor, 
 Connecticut, until bodily infirmity obliged him to relinquish, 
 for the most part, ministerial duties. 
 
 In connection with his earlier labors, he spent two and a 
 half or three years at the AVesleyan Academy, Wilbraham. 
 In duly, 1844, he became connected with the Providence 
 ( lonference, and received his first ordination by vote of that 
 body. Much of the time for twenty years past, he has been 
 unable to perform regular ministerial service. Within that 
 period he has spent several years in Southwick, preaching 
 more or less for the different churches of that town. For 
 the lasl five years he has lived in AVestfield, where he still 
 continues to preach occasionally. 
 
 Solomon B. Gilbert, son of Ezra and Ruth (Barnes) Gil- 
 bert, was born January 25, 1811 ; entered Amherst College 
 
69 
 
 in L832, where having remained one year, he went to Bangor, 
 Maine; Btudied for a time in the preparatory department, 
 then entered the Theological Seminary in thai place, where 
 he waa graduated in 1887. He was licensed t<> preach :i 
 
 short time previously by the Penobscot Association in Ban- 
 gor. He was ordained a- an Evangelist al Lyman, Maine, 
 November 1~>. 1 s "u. Prom thence he went to Newfield in 
 tli«' same State where lie was installed pastor in the spring 
 of 1841. Three years later he accepted a call to Kenne- 
 bunkport, Maine, where he preached withoul settlement till 
 the Bpring of I s IT. when he removed to Western New York 
 and had charge of the church in Parma and Greece two 
 years, and of the church in Fairport three years. In 1852 
 he returned to Massachusetts; subsequently spent a few 
 months in Augusta, .Maine, for the benefit of his health, 
 acting meanwhile as city missionary, and in February, 1853, 
 was installed pastor of the church in Prescott, Massachusetts, 
 where he remained one year, when he accepted a call to 
 Wendell, Massachusetts, and was installed in November, 1 B5 1. 
 In December of the following year he went to Lyme, Ohio, 
 where he preached until May 1857, when lie was taken sick 
 with congestion of the lungs, and died on the twenty-second 
 of that month, after an illness of but one week. His remains 
 repose in the cemetery at Lyme. Through life of a delicate 
 constitution, his bodily sufferings during his last sickness 
 were great, but his soul was at peace, and "he died praising 
 the Lord." 
 
 William B. Bond, son of Thomas and Jemima (Bush) 
 Bond, was born January 12,1815; removed to Springfield 
 at about the age of eleven year- : fitted for College at "Westfield 
 Academy, and at a boarding-school in South Iladlev, the 
 
7<) 
 
 principal of which was Rev. David lv. Austin, afterward 
 pa8toi of the church in Sturbridge. Jt was in this school 
 thai he experienced religion, in the summer of 1831. He 
 was graduated :it Amhersl ( '<>llege in 1835; studied theology 
 t w . . years in Lane Seminary, Ohio, and graduated at New 
 York in 1S:V.I; was licensed to preach by the Third Presby- 
 tcrv in New York, April 8, of the same year, and ordained 
 pastor of the Congregational Church in Lee, Massachusetts, 
 March 18, 1840, where he labored successfully during a 
 ministry of about seven years, and was permitted to see a 
 general revival of religion, as the result of which nearly one 
 hundred persons united with the church by profession of 
 their faith. lie was installed pastor of the Second or North 
 ( longregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, October 
 15, 1847, where he remained about eleven years, during 
 which time the church w r as blessed with two seasons of 
 special religious interest, and about one hundred and twenty- 
 five persons were added to its membership. On account of 
 a failure of health, he was unable, for several years there- 
 after, to assume any charge. In February, 1865, he became 
 acting pastor of the First Congregational Church, in Palmer, 
 in the village of Thorndike, which still continues to be his 
 field of labor. 
 
 Josiah Addison Cary, son of Deacon Josiah and Betsey 
 < Henry) Cary, was born March 29, 1813. He united with 
 this church September 2, 1 S -T, when but fourteen years of 
 He prepared for college at Hadley and Amherst acad- 
 emies, and was graduated a Amherst College in 1832, rank- 
 ing among the foremost of his class for talent, scholarship, 
 and piety. He had set his heart upon the missionary work, 
 but the providence of God ordered otherwise. Soon after 
 
71 
 
 leaving college, he was appointed a professor in the New STork 
 Institution for the deaf and dnmb. WTiile thus engaged in 
 thai [nstitution, he, al the same time, carried <>n hi.- theolog- 
 ical Btudies, and was graduated al the Union Seminary in 
 L837. In L839 he was licensed to preach by the Third Pres- 
 bytery of New V«>rk: was ordained as an Evangelist :it the 
 Mercer Street Church in 1844; and installed in L849 pastor 
 of a Dutch Reformed Church, worshiping in Bleeker Chapel, 
 New York, -till continuing, however, to discharge his duties 
 as instructor of the drat' and dumb. Bui these combined 
 labors overtasked his strength, and alter a little more than a 
 year he was obliged to resign his pastorate in consequence of 
 impaired health. In the Bpring of h s -"»l he \i-ited the Island 
 of < luba, winner returning alter an absence of two months 
 with little benefit t<> his health, he was induced, by the hope 
 that a change of residence might prove beneficial, to accept 
 the appointment of superintendent of the Ohio Deaf and 
 l>uinl> Asylum at Columbus. But this hope was a delusive 
 one: I'm- he had discharged the duties of his new and import- 
 ant trust less than one year, when lie was thrown upon a -iek 
 bed from which he never rose, lie died greatly lamented, at 
 Columbus, August 7. L852, having given nineteen years, or 
 lust "lie halt' of his lite, to the instruction of the unfortunate 
 deal' mute. .Mr. Cary was a man of more than ordinary ex- 
 cellence of mind and character. In what estimation he was 
 held by those who knew him i- Bhown in various articles 
 published, and resolutions passed, .-"<>n after his death. At a 
 convention of the instructors of the deaf and dumb held at 
 Columbus, among other resolutions that were adopted, were 
 
 the following : — 
 
 "Resolved, That we deeply deplore the death of the Rev .1. A.ddi- 
 
72 
 
 lary, the Superintendent of tlic Ohio Deaf and Domb Asylum, 
 both on account of his many amiable qualities which were so constantly 
 manifested in all the relations of life, ami that distinguished success 
 which had attended his labors for the intellectual, moral and religious 
 improvement of deaf mutes. 
 
 "Resolved, That we will ever treasure among the most saereil trusts 
 of our memories the virtues of the departed, believing that bis life pre- 
 sented a model as teacher and superintendent, rarely equalled, and 
 never surpassed." 
 
 By the Board of Directors of the New York Institution in 
 which Mr. Cary was for many years professor, it was 
 
 " Resolved, That in the lamented decease of Professor Cary, in the 
 midst of his career of usefulness, the science of deaf mute instruction 
 has been deprived of one of its most able and accomplished advocates, 
 the cause of Christian benevolence of an earnest and devoted supporter, 
 and the circle of his attached friends of one universally beloved for the 
 many virtues of his personal character." 
 
 He died in the triumphs of faith, testifying, in the hour of 
 his dissolution, to the sustaining power of the Christian reli- 
 gion. A son of Mr. Cary is now a member of Yale College. 
 
 William B. Stone, son of Francis and Hannah Stone, was 
 born in North Brookfield, January 2-4, 1811. He removed 
 with his parents to this parish when he was six years old. 
 Through the influence of a Christian mother his mind was 
 often seriously impressed, yet he experienced no deep and 
 permanent change until, at the age of sixteen, under the 
 preaching of Rev. Mr. Foot, his heart yielded to the claims 
 of Christ, and he, together with twenty-four others, united 
 with this church March 4, 1827. From the time that he 
 consecrated his heart and life to God, he had a strong desire 
 to preach the Gospel, but was not permitted to commence 
 preparation for that work during his minority. At the age 
 of twenty-two he began the study of Latin and Greek in 
 
preparation for college, teaching or laboring, meanwhile, a 
 portion of each year, in order to procure pecuniary means for 
 his education. Re pursued his preparatory studies, for the 
 most part, at Hadley Academy; and was graduated at Am- 
 herst College in 1839. Be studied theology for a time at 
 Andover, and completed his theological studies with Rev. 
 George Trask of Warren. He was licensed topreach by the 
 Brookfield Association in L841 j was ordained pastor of the 
 Evangelical ( longregationa] ( Jhurch, ( rardiner, Massachusetts, 
 February 23, L842, where he remained until August, 1850, 
 when, partly by reason of ill health, and partly in conse- 
 quence of the solicitation of his parents, he retired from the 
 ministry, and took up his residence in this town, where he 
 still lives, and is known as a thorough-going and prosperous 
 farmer. 
 
 Austin Phelps, son of Rev. Dr. Eliakim and Mrs. Sarah 
 (Adams) Phelps, was born in West Brookfield January 7. 
 L820. He was fitted for college by Rev. Dr. Dewey of Pitts- 
 field, and Rev. Justus French of Geneva, New York; entered 
 college at Geneva in L833, when but thirteen years old, and 
 was graduated with the highest honors at the University of 
 Pennsylvania in 1 S ".T. 
 
 1 b- was hopefully converted under the ministry of Rev. Al- 
 bert Barnes, of Philadelphia, and joined the church of which 
 he was pastor, in the summer of 1838. Be Btudied theology 
 partly in private, but mainly at the Seminaries in New Fork, 
 New Haven, ami Andover. He was licensed to preach by 
 the Third Presbytery, of Philadelphia, in 1839, and on March 
 31, 1842 was ordained pastor of Pine Street Church, Boston, 
 and closed his labors there in May, 1848, which was his only 
 pastorate. 
 
 10 
 
71 
 
 In September of the same year lie was inaugurated Profes- 
 sor of Sacred Rhetoric at Andover, and has held that position 
 ever since with marked ability and success; during which 
 time more than five hundred pupils have enjoyed his instruc- 
 tions. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from 
 Amherst College in 1846, when only twenty-six years of age. 
 
 He was married in September 1842 to Elizabeth, eldest 
 daughter of Professor Moses Stuart of Andover. She died 
 in November 1852. She was the authoress of "The Sunny 
 Side," etc., and a writer of great promise. In April, 1855, he 
 was married to her sister Mary Stuart, who died in September, 
 185G. His present wife, to whom he was married in June, 
 1858, is Mary, youngest daughter of Samuel Johnson, Esq., 
 of Boston, and grand-daughter of Captain Howe, formerly 
 well known as a citizen of South Brookfield. 
 
 Although yet in middle life, the productions of Professor 
 Phelps' pen are already somewhat numerous, and by no 
 means wanting in merit. He was joint editor, with Pro- 
 fessor Park and Dr. Lowell Mason, of " The Sabbath Hymn 
 Book," which is now used in the " Service of Song " by more 
 than a thousand churches ; joint author, with Professor Park 
 and Rev. D. L. Furber, of " Hymns and Choirs," which is a 
 History and General Discussion of Hymnology r . 
 
 That valuable little book, "The Still Hour, or, Commun- 
 ion with God" is also from his pen. It was originally a 
 sermon prepared for his people in Boston in the ordinary 
 course of his ministry there. The great popularity of this 
 work is shown by the fact that it has had a circulation of 
 more than forty thousand in this country, and more than sixty 
 thousand in England and France. 
 
 A more recent publication of his is "The New Birth." 
 
7--» 
 
 Add to these, various articles in the Bibliotheca Sacra; an 
 oration before the Porter Rhetorical Society of Andover; a 
 Bermon before the Pastoral Association of Massachusetts; 
 a sermon before the Massachusetts Convention of Consrreffa- 
 tional Ministers, and the Election Sermon before the Legisla- 
 ture of Massachusetts in 1861. 
 
 Besides, Professor Phelps has frequently preached at Ordi- 
 nations, Dedications, and on other public occasions. And 
 yet, with characteristic humility, he writes: "A retrospect 
 of one's life, from the 'silent Bhore on which I seem to my- 
 self to have been walking, in my infirmity, these five years 
 post, does on awaken Belf-gratulation." 1 lis religious history, 
 he says, " contains nothing of value to others but the old story 
 of a faithful Saviour." He adds : ".My purpose to be a min- 
 ister, I trace back distinctly to my earliest years in Brook- 
 field. It was breathed into me by the example and prayers 
 of my father and mother. As (iibbon says of Christianity, 
 ' it was in the atmosphere ' of my early home. In fact, I bus- 
 pect that I was born with it." 
 
 Nathaniel Spear, eldesl son of Nathaniel and Sarah < Ar- 
 nold ) Spear, was born September 4, 1814. From the age of 
 sixteen he served an apprenticeship of five years to the tai- 
 lor'- trade, at the expiration of which time he commenced a 
 course of study, and at the age of twenty-four was prepared 
 tor college. But, on account of the failure of his health, he 
 abandoned his purpose of gaining a liberal education, lie 
 removed into Western New York, where he was largelv in- 
 strumental in establishing a new church. After a time he was 
 called to labor in the employ of the Bible Society, and at 
 length, under the auspices of the American Tract and Bible 
 Societies in conjunction, he was engaged for six years in 
 
76 
 
 presenting the cause of these Societies among the churches 
 of north-eastern Pennsylvania, since which time the Pres- 
 bytery of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, ( O. S.,) has 
 ordained him pastor of three churches within the hounds of 
 that Presbytery, and under the care of the Domestic Mis- 
 sionary Society. These churches are at Eohrsburg, Sugar 
 Loaf and Orangeville, the latter being his place of residence. 
 
 Harrison Otis Ilowland, son of Southworth and Esther 
 (Allen ) Ilowland, was born January 25, 1813. He prepared 
 for college at Leicester Academy : was graduated at Amherst 
 College in 1811, and at the Union Theological Seminary, 
 New York city in 1844. lie was ordained in Ashland, New 
 York, in 1840, and has since been pastor of churches in 
 Warner and Chester, New Hampshire, and in Girard, Erie 
 County, Pennsylvania, where he now resides, though not as 
 settled pastor. 
 
 "William Ware Howland, half-brother of the preceding, 
 w T as born February 25, 1817. His mother was Mary Ware, 
 daughter of Dr. Samuel Ware, who, for more than fifteen 
 years, was pastor of the First Church in Ware. lie was 
 graduated at Amherst College in 1841, and at Union Sem- 
 inary, New York, in 1845. In the autumn of the same 
 year he was ordained at South Iladley, and sailed from 
 Boston as a missionary to Ceylon under the auspices of the 
 A. B. C. F. M. From that time to the present — a period 
 of twenty-two years — he has been stationed at Batticotta. 
 In the meantime he has once visited this country. Letters 
 from him frequently appear in the columns of the " Mission- 
 ary I braid." Two of his sons, William and Samuel, are 
 now members of the Sophomore class in Amherst College. 
 
 Edwin Gilbert, son of Harvey and Phydema Gilbert, was 
 
77 
 
 born February 11. 1 v l!I: studied :it Chester, Farmii 
 and Austinburgh, Ohio, and completed his Btudies with II"- 
 ratio Foote at Quincy, Qlinois, in the Bummer of L850; and 
 in the autumn following was ordained at Payson, Qlinois. 
 tie had Itch recommended as a minister the previous year, 
 ami from that time until the tall of 1852 preached at Con- 
 cord, Morgan County, Illinois. In L857and L 858 he preached 
 at Hampden, Ohio ; in 1859 at Geneva in tin' Bame State, 
 where he died May 13, 1860, at tin' age of thirty-six. 
 During x 1 1 « ■ last fifteen years of his life lu- was a great Buf- 
 ferer from a complication of diseases, terminating in softening 
 of the brain. In a lucid interval, on his birthday in Febru- 
 ary I860, he said, "Christ is precious. I am not sorry I 
 have preached < 'hri.-t : but when my work is all done, I wanl 
 t<> go home." 
 
 Joshua M. Chamberlain, son of Eli and Achsah Chamber- 
 lain, was born in 1825; was graduated at Dartmouth College 
 in 1 855, and at Andover Theological Seminary at 1858. 
 Marly in the following year Ik- went to Dubuque, Iowa, and 
 tor a time supplied a pulpit in that city. In l s ';<i he became 
 pastor of the Congregational Church in Des Moines, Iowa. 
 from which relation he was, at his own request, dismissed in 
 Since that time lie has been agent tor the American 
 Missionary Association in tin' same Mate, and is, at present, 
 engaged in collecting rands for Iowa College. 
 
 Edward Payson Thwing, son of Deacon Thomas and 
 Grace ( Barnes I Thwing, although not born until a tew years 
 after his father removed from this place, yet seems so 
 thoroughly identified with us as to chum here a notice. lie 
 ■was born August 25, 1830 at Ware Village. In his seventh 
 vear lie was a member of the primary department of Wesl 
 
Brookfield Academy, then under the charge of Mrs. C. P. F. 
 Wheelock, afterward Mrs. Jesse Bliss. In November, l s: '>7, 
 be removed with his father's family to Boston, his father 
 having entered upon his missionary labors in that city the 
 previous January. It was at about this time, when he was 
 Beven years of age, that he gave his heart to Christ. Having 
 studied at the Eliot Grammar School, and the High School 
 of Boston, and two years at Monson Academy, he entered 
 Harvard University, where he was graduated in 1855, and 
 the summer of that year he spent in foreign travel. He 
 was graduated at Andover Theological Seminary in 1858 ; 
 having been licensed to preach by the Middlesex South As- 
 sociation in December 1857 ; was ordained pastor of the St. 
 Lawrence Street Church, Portland, Maine, September 22, 
 1858, whence, after four and a half year's labor, he was re- 
 leased to accept a call to Quincy, (Massachusetts,) where he 
 was installed November 19, 1802, and where he closed his 
 pastoral connection on account of impaired health, July 1, 
 1867. He has published "Bible Sketches," (1854,) a small 
 volume written while he was in college; "Leaves from a 
 Tourist's Journal," a serial on foreign travel, in ten numbers, 
 published in the Waverly Magazine, Boston; sermons — 
 "Death of the First Born;" "Royal Bequest;" "A Voice 
 from the Battle-field;" "Public Worship," and three other 
 discourses which appeared in the Home Monthly, Boston, of 
 which Mr. Thwing was editor for upwards of a year. Also 
 a Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Grace W. Thwing, (1805,) 
 and the "History of Beechwood Church," (1867.) 
 
 Leander T. Chamberlain, son of Eli and Achsah Cham- 
 berlain, was born in 18o7, and was graduated at Yale College 
 in 1863, with the highest honors of his class. After gradu- 
 
70 
 
 ationhe was, for three years, in the employ of the United 
 States government, a- paymaster in the Davy, al < allao, 
 Smith America, Bince which time he has been pursuing his 
 theological studies at New Baven and Andover, and is oow 
 a member of the Seminary in the latter place. 
 
 - \i;i: ATI! SCHOOL. 
 The Sabbath School dates its origin as early as l s 17, 
 when, through the agency of a few individuals, prominenl 
 amon* whom was Mr. Thomas Thwing,* classes were formed 
 for the study of the Bible, in the interval of divine worship. 
 At first these little groups met in private houses, and for a 
 time, also, in a .-hop then standing near the house now 
 occupied by Mrs. Otis Rawson. Subsequently they came 
 together in the < >1<1 Center School-house. It was not 
 till 1819 that the school assembled in this house, when 
 classes were formed in the different pews, ( which, at that 
 time, were little square pens with seats on all sides,) and 
 the affairs of the school began to be conducted in a more 
 systematic way. 
 
 The exercises then consisted chiefly in the recitation of 
 verses of Scripture, beginning with the first chapter of 
 John. As an incentive to effort, the pupil- were to try who 
 would repeat the greatest number of ver-es. At the close of 
 
 that Beason, a general meeting was held, and a sermon was 
 preached by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Phelps, from the text in 
 Deuteronomy 6:7 — "And thou shah teach them diligently to 
 thy children." The records of the school were also read : the 
 
 * Since deacoa of the Easl Congregational Church, Ware, rind for more 
 than thirty yean City Missionary in Boston. He died May .3, 1807, aged 
 seventy-five. 
 
80 
 
 Dumber of verses which each Bcholar had committed was 
 announced publicly, and the names of individuals who had 
 committed the largest number were honorably mentioned. 
 
 The first item that appears upon our church records in 
 relation to the Sabbath School, and showing a more complete 
 organization, is dated May 4, 1821, when it was voted — 
 "Thai Captain J. Smith, Deacon J. lloss, J. Ilinshaw, 
 Thomas Bond, Esq., Solomon Gilbert, Thomas Thwing, and 
 Deacon A. White, be a Committee to take the oversight of 
 the Sabbath School for the ensuing season." It was not till 
 a vet later date that the first superintendent, Deacon Josiah 
 ( Jary, was chosen. 
 
 For a number of years the school was continued only 
 through the summer. In its earliest years, it encountered 
 no little opposition. The whole system of Sabbath School 
 instruction was then it its embryo. It was almost wholly a 
 a new enterprise in this country, and this was the first school 
 in this part of Massachusetts. A strong prejudice existed 
 :iL r ain>t it, and it commenced, as Doctor Phelps says, "with 
 a load of odium upon it. The first that had been heard of 
 the Sunday-School, was as a sort of literary ' soup-house'' 
 for the children of the poor, and for those only who lived in 
 the Hirge cities. Some efforts of the kind had been attempt- 
 ed in Boston. But it was not considered as adapted to the 
 country villages at all." Several of the good Christian peo- 
 ple of this place "were very much opposed to it, as a desecra- 
 tion .it the Sabbath;" and it was not till after two or three 
 .Masons of successful operation "had shown to the people 
 what the practical working of the thing was, that some even 
 of the church would let their children attend." It has long 
 aince come to be a popular institution, looked upon as an 
 
81 
 
 almost indispensable auxiliary to the instructions of the fam- 
 ily and the pulpit, and, in some sense, is regarded as th 
 of tit,- Church. 
 
 The Sunday School Concert, held on the second Sabbath 
 evening of each month, is of comparatively recenl origin, and 
 i- an exceedingly interesting feature of the school. During 
 the present year the Bchool has received a considerable acces- 
 sion to it- numbers; and among them a class of the n 
 
 rts, composed of men mosl of whom axe past middl life^ 
 bo that the Bchool now consists of three hundred and el 
 members. And whereas at first the school had no boo! 
 any sort, Other than the Bible, it now has not only the more 
 modern appliances of question books, and singing-hooks, but 
 al.-o a choice library of five hundred and fifty volumes, a 
 large portion of which are new. 
 
 MISSIONARIES AND MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 
 
 This church, during the last half century, has not been 
 wanting in the Missionary spirit. It was among the very 
 earliest in the country, and the first in this part of Massa- 
 chusetts, to introduce the Monthly Missionary Concert, fifty- 
 one years ago. This meeting was formerly held on the first 
 Monday evening of each month: but for years past, has 
 occurred, as at present, regularly on the first Sabbath evening 
 of the month : and generally secures a large attendance. 
 
 In the year 1824, the Auxiliary Foreign Missionary So- 
 ciety of the Urookfield Association was formed in this place. 
 It- annual meetings alternate among the several towns em- 
 braced within this Association, and occur on the third Tues- 
 day after the first Monday in October of each year. Our 
 
 yearly contributions to the American Board are made through 
 11 
 
82 
 
 this Auxiliary Society ; and, from the time of its organization 
 tn the present year, our contributions for that object have 
 amounted to six thousand and eighty-four dollars and nine- 
 teen cents. 
 
 In another place under the head of "Ministers from the 
 Church and Parish" we speak of Uev. Messrs. Nichols and 
 Spear, members of this church, as having labored on Home 
 Missionary ground; and of Bev. William W. Ilowland as 
 now successfully engaged in the Foreign field in Ceylon, where 
 for the last twenty-two years, he has preached the Gospel to 
 the inhabitants of that Island. But, besides these ordained 
 Missionaries, this church has made yet other contributions 
 of its members to that great work, — " the healing of the 
 nations." 
 
 Daniel Chamberlain, son of Deacon Daniel and Lydia 
 Chamberlain, removed to this town from Westborough in 
 180G ; united with this church by profession in 1814 ; and 
 was closely identified in 1819 with the first mission to the 
 Sandwich Islands. Opukahaia (Obookiah) of the "Mission 
 School" at Cornwall, Connecticut, had died the previous 
 year : but he had not lived in vain. Though not himself 
 permitted to return and preach the Gospel to his own coun- 
 trymen, there had been awakened in the minds of others in 
 this country an interest and sympathy which gave birth to 
 tin' great enterprise of converting those Islands to God. 
 
 " In the summer of 1819, Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurs- 
 ton, students in the Theological Seminary at Andover, offered 
 themselves to the American Board for this service. They 
 were ordained at Goshen, Connecticut, September 19. 
 Others offered themselves as assistant missionaries; a mission 
 church was organized in the vestry of Park Street Church, 
 
Boston, < October L5. The public instructions of the Pruden- 
 tial Committee were given by the Secretary, Rev. I >r. Wor- 
 p, the same evening, and on the 23d of the same month, 
 (October 1819,) — forty-eight years ago — the company sailed 
 from Boston in the brig Thaddeus, Captain Blanchard," * and 
 reached the Islands early in the following April. In this 
 company there were as members of the mission seventeen 
 persons, among whom, besides the ordained missionaries 
 Bingham and Thurston, with their wives, there were three 
 natives of the felands, also a physician, a mechanic, a cate- 
 chist, a printer, and a farmer. It was in this last capacity 
 that Mr. Chamberlain went, accompanied by his wife and 
 four children. After an absence of about five years he re- 
 turned to this place, and soon after removed to Westborough 
 where he died in February I860, — the same year in which 
 the American Board completed the first half century of its 
 existence. He is remembered as a very ingenious man, a 
 devoted Christian, and a most valuable member of society. 
 
 Miss Adaline White, daughter of Deacon Alfred and Sa- 
 rah < Gilbert) White, was born September 25, 1809; united 
 with this church March 4, 1827; sailed July 4, 1834 for 
 Singapore, Siam, where she was married to Rev. Ira Tracy, 
 January 15, 1835. On account of the feeble health of her 
 husband, they returned to this country in August 1841. 
 Four year- later they removed to Streetsboro, Ohio, where 
 she died .March 3, L851. Her only surviving child, Alfred 
 Edwards Tracy, was born in West Brookfield, July 2, L845, 
 and is now in the Junior Class at Amherst < iolle&e. 
 
 Miss Sarah <i. White, daughter of Deacon Alfred and 
 
 • Newcoml lia of Missions, | 
 
84 
 
 Sarah (< rilberf ) 'White, was born September 14, 1813 ; united 
 with this church May 3, 1835; was married to Rev. Asa B. 
 
 Smith, March 15, j and that same day set out on a mis- 
 
 sion to tin- ( Oregon Indians, going as far as New li ork by stage. 
 From Fort Independence they started May 1, in company 
 with the missionaries Messrs. Eells, Walker and Gray, and 
 their wives, and on the last day of September reached Fort 
 Vancouver, beyond the Rocky Mountains, then in Western 
 Oregon, but now embraced within the limits of Washington 
 Territory. They made this long tedious journey on horse- 
 back, escorted by Indian fur traders. Much of the time they 
 were surrounded by hostile Indians, and were compelled to 
 endure great hardships. Having spent a few years in mis- 
 sionary labor among the Indians of Oregon, they went thence 
 to the Sandwich Islands Mission ; where they labored some 
 two or three years, and then, by reason of Mr. Smith's fail- 
 ing health, they returned by way of China, reaching home 
 in 184G. They brought with them three children, daughters 
 of Mr. Locke of the Sandwich Islands Mission, the two eld- 
 est of whom were adopted by Mr. Smith, and the youngest 
 by an uncle. The eldest is now married to Rev. Elijah 
 Harmon. About two years after their return, Mrs. Smith 
 removed with her husband to Buckland, Massachusetts, where 
 she died May 27, 1855. 
 
 The name of Rev. Samuel Ware Bonney appears also upon 
 our Catalogue as having united with the church May 7, 1837, 
 and as having been dismissed soon after to Danbury, Con- 
 necticut. There is, however, some reason to question whether 
 he ever belonged to this church. His widowed mother re- 
 sided here for a few years, and was a member of this church 
 about two veins and a half, from July, 1845, to December, 
 
85 
 
 1847. But there Beems to be do certain evidence thai her 
 son was ever connected with as. A word respecting him, 
 however, may not be out of place. He was a boh of Rev. 
 William and .Mrs. Sarah ( Ware) Bonney; was born in New 
 Canaan, Connecticut, in l v l">: in 1832 he was in the em- 
 ployment of the Messrs. Merriam, publishers, al Springfield, 
 (Massachusetts.) In \^'>~ he was engaged in teaching at 
 Poughkeepsie, New York. He afterwards Btudied :it the 
 New York [Jniversity, and at Lane Seminary, Ohio; re- 
 ceived an appointment as missionary of the American Board, 
 and in 1846 began his labors at Canton, China, where he 
 continued to labor with great devotion and self-denial, and 
 with marked Buccess, until his death, which occurred July 
 27, L864. At a meeting of the Canton Missionary Confer- 
 ence, held on the third of the succeeding month, the follow- 
 ing among other resolutions, was adopted: — 
 
 •■ That while we mourn our loss, it is felt that the life and death of 
 our brother gave abundant cause i'<>r thankfulness to our Lord and 
 Saviour, for the grace given him, in the fulfillment of his ministry, and 
 in his dying testimony." 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 I should Beem to depreciate the value of our free institu- 
 tions and republican government as connected with the prog- 
 ress of Christ's Kingdom in our land and world, and to be 
 strangely unmindful of the noble part which the Christian 
 Church has performed in the preservation of those inestimable 
 blessings, particularly in the recent mighty civil conflict of 
 the nation, did I not in closing, at least barely mention the 
 well know and tried patriotism of this church and people, as 
 an important additional element of their wide and beneficent 
 influence. 
 
86 
 
 In May 1776, two months previous to the Declaration of 
 Independence, the inhabitants of this town pledged their 
 almost unanimous support to the Continental Congress if 
 they should see fit to declare the colonies independent of 
 < creal Britain ; and during the entire war of the Revolution, 
 they did not fail to redeem their pledge. And the man who 
 through that whole period, was foi-emost in the deliberations 
 and acts of the town, as in loyalty to his country, was the 
 Hon. Jedediah Foster, a deacon in this church. But espe- 
 cially during these late years of peril, disaster and bloodshed, 
 there has been no backward response to the urgent calls of 
 the country, either on the part of our church or community, 
 whether in men or money, whether in clothing for the desti- 
 tute, or food for the hungry, or in timely ministrations to the 
 siek, the wounded and the dying. Our hand, moreover, is 
 even now wide open to welcome the long oppressed to the 
 rights and privileges of citizens, and, at the same time, gen- 
 erously to dispense to the needy among them of our kindly 
 Christian charities. 
 
 Whether in time of war or of peace, we are solemnly 
 bound to be true to the instincts of patriotism and philan- 
 thropy, and to the higher promptings of our religious faith. 
 
 Such is an imperfect review of our long, and not uneventful 
 history. From this summary of the events of a century and 
 a half, we find that whatever may be the sources of regret 
 as we revert to the past on this Anniversary Day, they are 
 far outnumbered and outweighed by the many occasions for 
 joy and devoutest thanksgiving to God. 
 
 This ancient Church has had its severe, though brief, trial 
 sea-Mil., its short-lived days of darkness and sterility; but it 
 has also had its long and happy periods of prosperity and 
 
-7 
 
 abundant fruitfulness. Like the veteran Boldier, not without 
 wounds and Bears has it fought its battles and won it- victo- 
 ries. r>ut these visible marks of violence only make the more 
 clearly manifest that merciful and marvelous interposition by 
 which the Church has been preserved. To one baptism of 
 Buffering, <<"<1 has sent a Bcore of the joyful baptisms of the 
 Holy Ghost; bo that the hearts of hundreds have Ihtc Inch 
 made to leap for joy, and their tongues loosed in the praise 
 dt' redeeming grace. 
 
 A precious, -acred trust is this, and exalted, blessed privi- 
 leges these, which our pious fathers have bo carefully per- 
 petuated and handed down to us. But in proportion to the 
 greatness and Bacredness of tin- blessings we have inherited 
 from the past, bo great and solemn is our obligation to cherish 
 those blessings in our own day, and to deliver them over in 
 all their fulness to coming generations. 
 
 In view of our numerous past and present mercies, OUR 
 RESPONSIBILITY INDEED IS GREAT. From the heights of 
 these one hundred and fifty years of Gospel privilege the 
 eyes of tive generations of godly men look down upon us. 
 And upon their lips to-day is the question, well-nigh solemn 
 as the eternity to which they are now mostly gone, "AYill 
 you transmit unimpaired to posterity this noble heritage, 
 which, through much hard toil, and many tears and prayers, 
 we have committed to you?" 
 
 Yea, rather, from the bosom of eternity itself, there seems 
 to fall upon our ear at this memorable hour, in accent- oi 
 heavenly earnestness, the united voice of the hundreds whose 
 feet have reverently trod these earthly courts, but who now 
 walk the golden Btreets, Baying, " Watch 3-0, stand fast in 
 the faith, quit you like men, be Btrong." " Earnestly con- 
 
88 
 
 tend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." 
 •• L >ve thifl dear old ( 'hureli of Christ unto the end. Stand 
 by her in the time of her trial. Seek her purity, her peace, 
 her prosperity, her continual growth. Pray that she may 
 keep her garments unsullied, her name without reproach, not 
 ID the present merely, hut down through the years and cen- 
 turies to come, until at last the Bridegroom shall 'present it 
 to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing.' " 
 
P o e in 
 
 M E M OR] A LS <> K BROOK V I E L I) 
 
 Bi Ki:\. FRANCIS HORTON, OF BARRINGTON, R. I. 
 
 ANALYS - mian A>n Gkatulatiob — Scenery \ni> Associations — Scenery still, 
 
 >'i i.tivmion. abb children — Thb Village, with its Walks, its Sabottjabi lbs 
 
 Sabratii IfOBAI ABB InDISTRIU. HaiiI" ■ ~ > — FavuM U.I.E ABB I'iMUiH I 
 
 SCRROUNDING9 — 1 v •. LKXBK — BlWOBIC 
 
 — Rkuoious Dbageb — Exokllbboi 01 Domsni Cbabaorb and 
 
 Trunin'} — W'irtiiy Ancestors axd Ministers — Success of the Present Pastor- 
 Hi- -.AND THEIR I M I ITN'K, ESPECIALLY THE I.\>T — AFUD- 
 
 ■•-. Vabioto and Personal — Fbaxbbbal Grbribos — Abtigipatjobs, lbb Pbatxb 
 por Posznin , 
 
 God of eternity, whose power 
 
 Preserves as, and our fathers blest, 
 Be with as at this hallowed hour, 
 
 Aii'l lei as in Thy presence rest 
 Sere would we oome with praise and prayer, 
 
 Thy gracious goodness to confess, 
 Whose favor children's children share, 
 
 In tru-t Thou wilt <>ur offspring bless. 
 \- pilgrims to a holy Bhrine, 
 
 We gather joyously t" greet 
 I". i'h other, as in olden time, 
 
 Thrice happy thus once more to meet. 
 12 
 
90 
 
 A festival is this of years, 
 
 A jubilee of grateful kind, 
 When- minglings of smiles and tears 
 
 Refresh the heaven-aspiring mind. 
 No vain regrets or glooms we bring, 
 
 No sad remembrances of strife, 
 But rather one glad offering 
 
 To Him who is our spirit's life. 
 His may we be, a blessed band 
 
 Of brotherhood by heavenly birth, 
 All journeying to the better land 
 
 Whose paradise is not of earth. 
 
 Still cherish we this favored scene 
 
 Of toils, and friendships, griefs, and joys, 
 Though brighter visions intervene, 
 
 Of bliss that bath no dark alloys. 
 Fond memories of the past we trace, 
 
 'Mid plains, and hills, and sculptured stones, 
 And trees that with their grandeur grace 
 
 These sacred sites, and dear old homes. 
 Vdii river, gentle as of yore, 
 
 Glides peacefully towards the sea, 
 Repeating fondly o'er and o'er 
 
 Sweet strains of Nature's minstrelsy. 
 Nor less the birds that flit above, 
 
 Or skim the surface of that stream, 
 In. warbling tones of truth and love, 
 
 Gladden the meadows fresh and green. 
 Yon lakelet in its beauty lies 
 
 As when our fathers dwelt around — 
 A molten mirror of the skies — 
 
 How clear, how tranquil, how profound! 
 
9] 
 
 I k thither, at the twilight hour, 
 
 The sunset or the moonlight —• -. - n < - . 
 Ami feel the pacifying power 
 
 Alluring t" the world unseen. 
 There gase upon the vault of night, 
 
 Whence stars Look down on shadows here, 
 Discoursing of those realms of light 
 
 Tlwt canopy our dusky sphere. 
 What wondrous influences blend, 
 
 To bless the soul on heaven intent ; 
 And pilgrims on the earth befriend 
 
 With sweet provisions for content. 
 
 Bach hillside sloping towards the plain, 
 
 I l.i- sightly homesteads nestling there, 
 With garden spots, and fields of grain, 
 
 And ripened fruits, all fresh and fair ; 
 And chubby children issuing thence, 
 
 In quest of berries or of flowers, 
 Blest samples of fair innocence, 
 
 Enjoy the glad autumnal hours. 
 Goodness ! what glories flood the fields, 
 
 Where lawn-, and groves, and orchards lie, 
 And every acre .- how yields 
 
 [ts affluence 'neath the sunny sky ! 
 Whose is the heart that does not rise 
 
 In gratitude to God above, 
 Whose favor and whose grace supplies 
 
 Such proofs of His paternal lov< 
 
 Then look again — the village green 
 
 Smiles cheerfully the church around, 
 While numerous shops and dwellings seen, 
 
92 
 
 Say thrift, and skill, and taste abroad. 
 The Bhaded walks across the plain, 
 
 Broad avenues beside, well trod, 
 Aiv traveled not alone for gain — 
 
 All leading to the house of God. 
 Thither assemblies oft convene, 
 
 For praise, and preaching, and for prayer, 
 Where generations past have been, 
 
 In search of heavenly guidance there. 
 Glad voices greet the day of rest; 
 
 Hearts weary with their worldly care, 
 Or sorrow-stricken and distressed, 
 
 To Zinn's altars here repair. 
 The Comforter, the Paraclete, 
 
 Whose nlHce is to heal the soul, 
 Thus meets men at the mercy-seat, 
 
 Willing and waiting to make whole. 
 what a balm the Sabbath brings, 
 
 To spirits seeking fresh supplies 
 Of holy inilueucc at these springs, 
 
 Whose source is found in Paradise ! 
 
 The week day world is tranquil here — 
 
 Of riot and of ranting void ; 
 Nor child nor matron need e'er fear 
 
 With violence to be annoyed ; 
 Save such excess as sin and crime 
 
 May bring to any spot of earth, 
 Where baser passions in their time 
 
 Incontinently spring to birth. 
 What industries are well supplied ; 
 
 What habits savoring of health ; 
 No! nursing indolence, or pride, 
 
Vet nourishing the common wealth ! 
 No ministries to public rice, 
 
 Destructive of the social weal, 
 ( >r schemes of crushing avarice, 
 
 The doings of the day reveal. 
 Thus labor hath it- recompense, 
 
 Work of the Lusty brawn <<r brain, 
 Ami all have healthful competence, 
 
 The landlord, and the humblesl Bwain. 
 
 Extend the view, on either side, 
 
 Which trade or travel may incline, 
 Ami Bee the prospect opening wide, 
 
 No artist's pencil ran define ; 
 The hills ascend — their summits climb — 
 
 An. I gaze around where'er yon stand ; 
 < Observe what elements combine 
 
 To beautify and bless the land ! 
 sunny Blope, and graceful swell, 
 i pasture, with its lowing herd, 
 Each rivulet, and mossy well, 
 
 Salute- you with a welcome word : 
 ■' Pause, pilgrim, ami enjoy the sight ; 
 
 Communion hold with Nature here, 
 I 'rink in the fullness of delight, 
 
 Which dignifies this earthly sphere ; 
 Nor deem it strange that those who trod 
 
 These path- aforetime, in their prime, 
 Held converse with Almighty God, 
 
 'Mid flush of scenery so smblime!" 
 
 \ • I where are they — the stalwart men — 
 That traversed thus these hill- and plains? 
 
94 
 
 Whose like we ne'er may Bee again, 
 
 Save as posterity remains ; 
 And worthy women, meei in mein, 
 
 Of aspect and of movement bland, 
 What wives and mothers thru were seen, 
 
 The joy and glory of the land ! 
 Daughters of Brookfield, ever fair; 
 
 With health and energy endowed, 
 I domestic jewelry most ran-. 
 
 Of which the dwelling may be proud. 
 Sisters and sons, with grateful sires, 
 
 The labors of the homestead share, 
 While neither to the fame aspires 
 
 Of uselessness or ennui there. 
 All love the country — well they may ; 
 
 Its atmosphere, its trees, its fields. 
 The summer and the spring so gay, 
 
 And golden fruits that autumn yields. 
 Here winter hath its hearty joys, 
 
 With 1 ks, and friends, and music blest, 
 
 While each his industry employs 
 
 To render happy all the rest. 
 
 Thrice fifty years their course have run, 
 
 Eventful in their various date. 
 Since godly fathers here begun 
 
 The history we commemorate. 
 Scarce had fierce savages retired 
 
 Prom streams and grounds they loved so well, 
 When friendly spirits prompt aspired 
 
 In Christian fellowship to dwell. 
 No respite to their toils and cares, 
 
 Would those heroic men afford, 
 
95 
 
 Nor ceasing from their alms and prayers, 
 
 United!) t" serve the Lord — 
 Till place was found for worship free, 
 
 Amid these pleasani vales and woods ; 
 Provision for society, 
 
 [nstead of wastes and Bolitudes. 
 Honor to those who sought to lay 
 
 Foundations for religion pure, 
 And t" posterity convey 
 
 A heritage of good bo sure. 
 
 Their culture of the mind, no less 
 
 Than ground that needed earnest toil, 
 To rescue from tin- wilderness, 
 
 And render it a fruitful Boil, 
 Secured at once most constant '-are, 
 
 And stead} exercise of skill, 
 The harvest Health of -"ul to share, 
 
 Which was their wisdom and their will. 
 Thus, near the church the school-house rose, 
 
 However humble, Mill at hand ; 
 As with religion learnii 
 
 Enriching liberally the land. 
 E'en then what Bportive games were seen, 
 
 When children Bprightly, fresh, and fair. 
 Tripped gaily o'er the village green, 
 
 With guileless face, and flowing hair. 
 The spelling-1 k was uol foi . 
 
 Nor Testa at perchance, though rare, 
 
 As issued from their humble cot 
 
 The little groups so free from care, 
 To meet the Mistress of the day, 
 
 Whose smile was Bure, whose word was rule. 
 
96 
 
 Who favored knowledge more than play, 
 
 Within her well-taught, simple school. 
 True, John was roguish now and then. 
 
 And James too restless to sit still, 
 \ 1 1< t Mary missed her page or pen, 
 
 [Now obsolete the gray goose-quill. ] 
 Some stolen glances, too, were paid — 
 
 Ever, of course, against the rule — 
 From loving youth to blushing maid. 
 
 The merest accident at school ; 
 Still study was the main pursuit, 
 
 Good learning and good manners taught, 
 The young idea how to shoot," 
 
 Was foremost in the teacher's thought. 
 Slight rivalries perhaps arise, 
 
 As pupils on success intent 
 The head to keep, and win the prize, 
 
 Nor suffer social detriment. 
 These have their stimulus, to aid 
 
 The indolent in quest of lore, 
 Inspiring those of various grade, 
 
 To lessons never learned before. 
 Fond intimacies ere long grow 
 
 To richer ripeness in the heart, 
 Till schoolmates are constrained to show 
 
 Reluctance evermore to part. 
 These signify their several choice, 
 
 In tokens never meaningless, 
 Each Causing other to rejoice 
 
 In wedlock sure their lives to bless. 
 The nuptials finally are sealed, 
 
 With fitting rites and general "dee, 
 And friendly feelings are revealed 
 
enerous hospitality. 
 Thus families arise and Bpread — 
 Society it- ranks extend 
 
 ThOUgh fond Mill- il|n|i aillnll^ till- ili'.l'l, 
 
 The fairest and the best of friends I 
 
 \ el other strains our theme requires : 
 
 Time run- t<«> rapidly to waste ; 
 And we are following our bj 
 
 In paths no more to be retraced. 
 They had their Sabbaths, blessed days, 
 
 And sermons from the wise and good, 
 Sweet seasons oft of prayer and praise, 
 
 When worldlings dared not intrude. 
 So had they Bacraments of grace, 
 
 Such as their children >till sustain, 
 Tin- sacred font, in time and place, 
 
 Sen iag the covenant the sum- ; 
 Symbol of cleansing and of cure, 
 
 Pure water Bprinkled on the brow, 
 Doth nil of simple form insure, 
 
 Availing to the Bervice now. 
 Christ's table Bpread with bread and wine, 
 
 Choice elements, expressive still, 
 Perpetuates the feast divine 
 
 < >t those who seek to do bis will. 
 What numbers here have followed him, 
 
 < Obedient to his blest command, 
 Whose spirits pure have entered in. 
 
 And joined tin- bright celestial band. 
 
 There dwell they with tin- sainted hi 
 
 Whi.- i earth was wont t" rise 
 
 tht r, Son, anil Holy < Ihost, 
 
 1 above tin- sl 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 Those holy men who trod these ways, 
 
 lu paths of pleasantness and peace, 
 Whose memory we rightly praise, 
 
 Whose influence will never cease — 
 Well bore the burden of their day, 
 
 Working with all their might and main. 
 Foundations here in truth to lay, 
 
 The cause of virtue to sustain. 
 What care had they to leave behind, 
 
 Nut lands alone, and dwellings good, 
 But nurture for the immortal mind, 
 
 Substantial spiritual food ! 
 Such training children had in course, 
 
 From saintly mothers and from sires. 
 As told the nature and the source 
 
 Of their intense and kind desires. 
 Born of the Spirit from above, 
 
 A ltd blest with teachings so divine, 
 Tt was the prompting of pure love, 
 
 To let their bright example shine. 
 How intimate with Heaven were they : 
 
 How conversant with sacred truth, 
 Which was their study day by day, 
 
 The rule of lite, the guide of youth. 
 Happy those homes whence daily prayer, 
 
 In grateful offering arose 
 To Him whose tender mercies spare, 
 
 And give at night serene repose. 
 
 What favored families were thcii>. 
 
 Whose parentage was so replete 
 With blessings for themselves and heirs. 
 
 Forth Bowing from the mercy-seat. 
 
99 
 
 Ancestral honors well we prize, 
 
 Ami Booial benefits oo less, 
 From " parents passed into the Bkies," 
 
 Who wrought such works of righteousness. 
 1 ' ihers besides, for Bcores of years, 
 
 Glad ti'li!r_ r - here of grace proclaimed 
 With weary watchings, toils and tears, 
 
 ( >t' whom we need ool be ashamed. 
 Successive pastors reverence claim, 
 
 Who fed this flock in days "t' yore, 
 Whose record is enduring fame, 
 
 To live when time shall In- no more. 
 One still survives, whose hoary head 4 
 
 It gladdens us :itV<--li to see, 
 Though most are numbered \siiK the dead. 
 
 Who waited on his mini-try. 
 
 II !- the privilege to wait 
 
 A little longer '>n these sh< 
 Eire passing to that higher b! 
 
 Where is the Lamb whom he adores. 
 Others there are who since have Bt I 
 
 On Zion'a walls as watchmen here, 
 Whose influence, however g I. 
 
 It may not be their choice to hear. 
 I rerally have Bought to know 
 
 Their high commission from above, 
 And clearly to the ] pie Bhow 
 
 The riches <>t' eternal love. 
 Qf (}od — of man — of Christ — of heaven, 
 
 taught right tenderly, and true ; 
 I way to have our sins forgiven, 
 
 .. tlliakmi Phelps, D. D. 
 
TOO 
 
 And i" begin our lives anew. 
 Ah. well they harmonized in this, 
 
 What every human soul musl be, 
 To enter through the gates of bliss, 
 
 Ami dwell with God eternally. 
 Nor less do they in heart rejoice 
 
 At Zion's increase and Buccess, 
 Praying with one consent and voice, 
 
 That God will still his servant bless. 
 This latest leader" may he crown 
 
 With glory's signal coronet, 
 When he shall lay his armor down, 
 
 With trophies at our Savior's feet. 
 Bistoric incidents we trace, 
 
 In scenes of joyance and of grief, 
 As blessings have enriched the place, 
 
 ( )r trials called for large relief. 
 Seasons of grace have been enjoyed, 
 
 In measure more than we can tell, 
 When God and men have been employed 
 
 In saving sinful souls from hell. 
 The spirit hovering around, 
 
 lias startled slumberers to think, 
 And made them hear the dreadful sound, 
 
 As standing on that fatal brink, 
 Whence fierce destruction flashes wrath, 
 
 And echoes vengeance at each breath, 
 Sweeping the guilty mortal's path 
 
 With warnings of eternal death ! 
 A nun there comes a welcome voice, 
 
 Winning the trembling heart to rest, 
 
 *Rev. Samuel Dunham. 
 
Mil 
 
 Ami bids it make the bappy choioe, 
 
 Ami be with grace and glory blest. 
 \\ hat looks of loveliness has I l> 
 
 Who agonized for human guilt, 
 And hung upon that cursed tree, 
 
 ^ lure blood, most precious blood was spill ! 
 Was it for us he bled and died — 
 
 The harmless sufferer for sin — 
 The Son of < lod thus crucified 
 
 That we might endless glory win ! 
 •i dearest service evermore, 
 
 Submission sweet, and faith, and love, 
 Axe due to Jesus o'er and o'er, 
 
 In realms below, ;iml realms above ! 
 All praise to that eternal plan 
 
 Which Sovereign Goodness saw and chose, 
 By which to save rebellious man, 
 
 Ami reconcile malicious foes ! 
 Strains such as these have often rune 
 
 From many ransomed souls forgiven, 
 Whose offerings of the heart and tongue, 
 
 Have raised their incense pure to heaven. 
 
 happy hours of praise and prayer, 
 
 When converts from the world have come 
 Like little children, to declare, 
 
 What love divine for them hath done ! 
 Their tongues are loosed, their lip- unsealed, 
 
 Their heart- with gratitude o'erflow ; 
 The blessedness to be revealed, 
 
 I- such a- only Christians know. 
 have their sympathies expressed, 
 
 In joys the stranger feeleth not, 
 
Or anxiousness for souls distressed, 
 
 Once felt, not easily forgot. 
 Yet harvest times have often come. 
 
 Ingatherings of goodly grain, 
 To this our temporary home, 
 
 So recently refreshed again. 
 Thanks to the Lord whose loving power, 
 
 The blessing in advance has sent 
 To consecrate this festive hour 
 
 As one of mutual content. 
 Third jubilee of years — how blest ! 
 
 The period we celebrate, 
 Is worthily the pilgrim's rest, 
 
 In prospect of a purer state. 
 
 Let not our lyre refuse a strain 
 
 Of plaintive melody the while, 
 Though little more of time remain 
 
 Than friendly parting with a smile. 
 While Providence hath largely blest 
 
 Our various resiliences here, 
 It hath not been unbroken rest, 
 
 Void of affliction, or of fear. 
 No — clouds have come o'er brightest skies, 
 
 And sorrow visited each heart; 
 Grave memories of grief arise, 
 
 In which we shared a mourner's part. 
 What shadows have each threshold crossed, 
 
 Where sunlight had been bright before ; 
 What treasures bave our dwellings lost, 
 
 That nought on earth can e'er restore. 
 Parents and children have been borne 
 
 In turn to yonder sacred spot, 
 
103 
 
 Leaving more lonely "in'~ to mourn 
 
 Sad vacancies in >t booii forgot. 
 Sisters and brothers too, how fond, 
 
 Have separated at the grave, 
 Not solaced with a thoughl beyond, 
 
 But the Redeemer's power t" save. 
 Others more dear have gone the way 
 
 Whence no returning t"< » .t ~t ••) i- come ; 
 And widowed mourners see do day 
 
 When Beems it as before .-it home. 
 How many mingle thus their tears, 
 
 ( >'er sorrows which each heart can feel, 
 That e'en the silenl lapse of years 
 
 I [as no effects e power to heal ! 
 
 The youngesl from the cradle dear, 
 
 How Badly is it laid aside 
 In that receptacle so drear, 
 
 Where many of its class abide. 
 Yet few the families exempt 
 
 Prom sorrow over children fled, 
 And silencing of merriment, 
 
 That such are numbered with the dead. 
 Forgive the strain, the gentle sigh, 
 
 Parental fondness, if you please, 
 That brings some moisture to the eye, 
 
 In sympathy with scenes like these. 
 Three little graves are side by side. 
 
 In yon inclosure near the gate, 
 With tablets severally supplied 
 
 Tn mark the name, the age, the date : 
 A sister and two brothers thi 
 
 Sleep peacefully b n< ath thi sod, 
 
In after ages to appear 
 
 Among the riBen saints of ' rod. 
 Our infant offspring, why deplore, 
 
 When suddenly removed from Bight? 
 Faith Bays, " Nbl lost, bul gone before," 
 
 To regions of celestial light 
 Thither lei us henceforth aspire, 
 
 With purer ardor for the prize, 
 All cherishing devout desire 
 
 To dwell with them ahove the skies. 
 
 Fraternal greetings we exchange 
 
 With friendly spirits here at home, 
 [ngathered from an ample range, 
 
 Whence various duty calls to roam. 
 This mother church her children dear 
 
 Invites beneath the old rooftree, 
 Together thus their hearts to cheer, 
 
 And hind in bonds of charity. 
 Daughters of comeliness and strength, 
 
 Surround her here on every hand, 
 "Whose goodly influence at length 
 
 Extends, how widely in the land ! 
 E'en foreign shores are sometimes trod 
 
 By those who go far hence to teach 
 The lively oracles of God, 
 
 \ 1 1 1 1 bis incarnate love to |ireach. 
 Welcome, right welcome, all who come 
 
 To celebrate this festal day, 
 Which calls a mother's children home, 
 
 Their grateful offerings to pay. 
 ^ es, welcome all to this repast, 
 
 So rich in sacred memories 
 
III.-, ' 
 
 Well gathered from the fruitful i 
 
 To give u.- plenteous supplies. 
 Here lei the hand, the heart, the voice, 
 
 Their friendly sentiments express, 
 A. ti' 1 each in other's joy rejoice, 
 
 With pore unbounded thankfulo 
 Thus as the moments -rli'l*- apace, 
 
 Le mores the Autumn's golden sun, 
 No cloud shall cross our cheerful f 
 
 Till day's delightful work i< done. 
 
 "\\ hat though :i< Dow do more we n 
 
 To take such retrospect of time — 
 Or gather round this Bacred seat, 
 
 Where memories so sweet combine? 
 A larger company ere long 
 
 Will greel as od the Bhining shore, 
 And join in one triumphant - 
 
 That there we meet to part do morel 
 All bail the prospect, ever bright, 
 
 Of meeting in thai world above, 
 When- all is purity and light ; 
 
 All righteousness, and peace, and love 
 Still would we breathe a fervent prayer, 
 
 That those who follow in our train 
 May evermore most largely Bhare 
 
 These priceless blessings that remain. 
 May obildreD's children here eojoy 
 
 Rich benefits of Gospel grace, 
 And mightiest energies employ 
 
 To renovate and save the r 
 Thus may the blest succession run, 
 
 In ages future as the i>a?t ; 
 
 n 
 
1 106 
 
 Nay, brighter, like the shining sun, 
 
 Each generation till the last. 
 Then come with joy each golden year, 
 
 To celebrate this jubilee, 
 Till nations shout the triumph here, 
 
 Which earth has sighed so long to see ! 
 
Appendix. 
 
 ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 A i a meeting of the Congregational Church in Weal Brookfield, 
 Massachusetts, held at the conclusion of the preparatory lecture, Friday 
 afternoon, July •">, lsii7.it was voted to celebrate the One Bundred and 
 Fiftieth Anniversary of the formation of the Church, to occur on 
 Wednesday the sixteenth day of the succeeding October ; and at the 
 same time the following persons were rhosen a Committee to make all 
 necessary arrangements for the occasion, viz : 
 
 Aver* Ki i p, John M. Fai.es,* 
 
 Abner C. (.11 wv Raymond (.Y.mmixgs, 
 
 Ki v. SAM1 1 i l»i miam, WARREN A. I'.i \m:, 
 
 Dea. Blosi - H \i.i.. Ch lrles E. Smj i a, 
 
 Adolphus Hamilton, Dea. Alfred Whits, 
 
 Sherlock D. Livermore. 
 
 In the evening of the day on which the above Committee were chosen, 
 they met. and organized by the choice of Rer. 8. Dunham, chairman. 
 and S. D. Livermore, secretary, and voted to submit the whole matter 
 of the arrangements to the consideration of a Bub-committee of three, 
 who should report at a future meeting. .Messrs. Dunham, Gleason, and 
 Hall were appointed to that service. 
 
 The Committee subsequently met and voted that the pastor be invited 
 to deliver an Bistorical Discourse, ami to procure the writing of an 
 Anniversary Hymn, and a Poem. 
 
 •Died suddenly of heart disease Friday morning after the Anniversary, Octo- 
 ber 18, 1S67. 
 
L08 
 
 They also Leaned a circular letter, inviting former Pastors, Ministers 
 reared in the parish. Members and Friends of the Church generally, to 
 be present and participate in the exercises of the celebration. 
 
 They further determined to have a general collation, and chose a 
 Committee on Collation, consisting of the following named gentlemen : 
 
 Edward T. Stowell, Dea. Samuel N. White, 
 
 Wilu vm Paige, William Adams, Jr., 
 
 Joseph B. Bailey, Warren A. Blair, 
 
 Curtis Gilbert, Lyman II. Chamberlain. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements likewise elected John M. Tales a 
 Committee on Finance ; appointed the officers of the day, and prepared 
 the order of exercises. 
 
 The Celebration fell upon the delightful season of Indian Summer, 
 and proved to be one of Nature's balmiest days. The occasion drew 
 together a large assembly from a wide region of country, and perhaps 
 exceeded in interest and enjoyment the expectations even of the most 
 sanguine. 
 
 OFFICERS OF THE DAY. 
 
 PRESIDENT, 
 Rev. FRANCIS HORTON. 
 
 VICE PRESIDENTS, 
 Dea. GEORGE MERRIAM, Rev. ELIAKIM PHELPS, D. D., 
 
 Dea. JACOB DUPEE, ADOLPHUS HAMILTON, Esq., 
 
 Dea. ALFRED WHITE. 
 
 committee of reception, 
 
 S. D. LIVERMORE, A. C. GLEASON, 
 
 C. E. SMITH. 
 
 chief marshal, 
 HARRISON BARNES. 
 
 assistant marshals, 
 EBENEZER B. LYNDE, GEORGE W. BILSS, 
 
 LEWIS GLEASON, JOSEPH S. GLEASON, 
 
 I II A M. SOUTHWORTII, GEORGE W. STONE. 
 
1(1!) 
 
 ORDER OF EXERCISES. 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 Voluntary -Anthi m. 
 
 Turn — Dt nmark. 
 
 Before Jehovah's ;i» fnl throne, 
 
 Vr n.ii ions, bow with Bacred joy : 
 Enow thai the Lord ia < rod alone ; 
 
 I te can create] and be destroy. 
 
 Ill— sovereign power, withoul onr aid, 
 
 Made us of clay, and formed us men ; 
 And when, like wand'ring slice]., we strayed, 
 
 He broughi as to bis fold again. 
 
 Wc arc his people, we bis care. 
 
 Onr Bonis, and all our mortal frame: 
 Whai lasting honors shall we rear, 
 Almighty Maker, to thy name ? 
 
 We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs, 
 
 High as the heaven onr voices raise ; 
 And earth, with ber ten thousand tongues, 
 
 Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise. 
 
 Wide as the word is thy command, 
 
 Vagi as eternity, thy love : 
 Firm as a rock thy truth shall stand. 
 When rolling years shall cease to move. 
 
 Invocation and BEADING 01 i BE S< ttlPI I Rl -. by Rev. Joshua Coit, 
 of Brookfiuld. 
 
 Sim, inc. 
 Heavenly Father, graciously hear us ; 
 
 Hear the petitions we offer before Th( 
 Let thy mercy resl upon 
 Heavenly Father, graciously hear as; 
 1 1 r our prayer, Hear our prayer. 
 
 Praybb, by Rev. 1.. S. Parker, of Kerry. New Hampshire. 
 
110 
 
 Annivi.i:sai:y IIymx. 
 [Words by Miss Carrie A. Parker, of Derry, New Hampshire.] 
 
 Tunc — Dedham. 
 
 Thrice fifty years have swiftly flown, 
 
 Since first a little band 
 Of Christian laborers set this vine, 
 
 And trained with loving hand. 
 
 The Lord hath visited His vine 
 With showers of heavenly grace, 
 
 And blessed His waiting children's eyes 
 With shining of His face. 
 
 The precious seed in weakness sown, 
 
 And watered well with tears, 
 Hath grown unto a noble tree, 
 
 And generous fruitage bears. 
 
 "While humble souls have watched and prayed, 
 
 And with temptation fought, 
 God harth made bare his own right arm, 
 
 And great deliverance brought. 
 
 His hand hath loosed the captive's bonds, 
 
 He bade the slave go free ; 
 His voice the heathen nations calls 
 
 To Christian liberty. 
 
 And now his still, small voice is heard 
 Through our redeemed land : 
 " Go, Christians, in my vineyard work, 
 Nor longer idle stand." 
 
 Not the anointed ones alone, 
 
 As preachers, now are sent ; 
 But all whose hearts have felt His love, 
 
 And wills to His have bent. 
 
 Instead of sires, the children stand ; 
 
 To us may grace be given 
 To follow them in faithfulness, 
 
 And share their joy in Heaven. 
 
 Histohical Discourse, (in part,) by llev. S. Dunham. 
 
Ill 
 
 IhMN. 
 
 v./. 
 
 \ i change of time shall ever shock 
 
 My t rust, ' ' Lord, in th 
 For thou hast always been my Book, 
 ^. sure defence to me. 
 
 Thou my delh 'rer art. ( > < rod; 
 
 My trust is in thy power : 
 Thou art my Bhield from foes abroad, 
 
 My safeguard, and my tower. 
 
 l'.i ni i-i. i ion, by Rev. I>r. Phelps. 
 
 Eta i ( On \ i iow. 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 IIyMX — Till (.'lit K' H- Wl I I "MI ■ 
 
 Children of Zion! what harp-notes are stealing, 
 
 >,, -,,i'i o'er <>ur senses, so soothingly sw 
 'Tis tin' music of angels, their raptures revealing, 
 
 That you have been bro'1 to tin' Holy One's feet. 
 Children of Zion ! we join in their welcome, 
 Avrt to lie low at that blessed retreat. 
 
 Children of '/.\<<w ! no longer in Badni 
 
 Refrain from the feasl that your Savior hath given; 
 Come, taste of the cup of salvation with gladn< 
 
 And think of the banquet >till Bweeter in hei 
 Children of Zion ! our hearts bid you welcome 
 
 I the church of the ransi d, the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 Children of Zion! we joyfully hail 
 
 Who've entered tin- sheep-fold thro' Jesus, the <loor; 
 While pilgrims on earth, tho' the tor may assail you, 
 
 Press forward, and soon will the conflict be o'er. 
 Children of Zion! oh! welcome, thrice welcome ! 
 
 Till we meet when' the loo .-hall oppress you no more. 
 
 Historical Papers : The Deacons and Meeting-Houses, by 1: 
 Dunham. 
 
112 
 
 IIV.M.V. 
 
 Tune — Ohnutz. 
 
 Far clown the ages now, 
 
 Much of her journey done, 
 The pilgrim church pursues her way, 
 
 Until her crown be won. 
 
 The story of the past 
 
 Come up before her view ; 
 How will it seem to suit her still — 
 
 Old, and yet ever new ! 
 
 It is the oft-told tale 
 
 Of sin and weariness, 
 Of grace and love yet flowing down 
 
 To pardon and to bless. 
 
 No wider is the gate, 
 
 No broader is the way, 
 No smoother is the ancient path, 
 
 That leads to life and day. 
 
 No sweeter is the cup, 
 
 Nor less our lot of ill : 
 'Twas tribulation ages since, 
 
 'Tis tribulation still. 
 
 No slacker grows the fight, 
 
 No feebler is the foe, 
 Nor less the need of armor tried, 
 
 Of shield and spear and bow. 
 
 Thus onward still we press 
 
 Through evil and through good, — 
 Through pain and poverty and want, 
 
 Through peril and through blood. 
 
 Still faithful to our God, 
 
 And to our Captain true, 
 We follow where he leads the way, 
 
 The kingdom in our view. 
 
 Address, by I! v. Eliakim Phelps, D. D., of Jersey City, New Jersey. 
 Rem irks, by Rev. I>. S. Parker, of Derry, New Hampshire. 
 
L13 
 
 Eistoricai.Sk] kii: Mini-t. m from the < luircli and Parish, by I 
 
 S. Dunham. 
 
 Ih mn. 
 
 Tune — ( 'iiroiititioh. 
 oh ! 'twa> a joyful Bound to hear 
 ( >ur tribes devoutly say : 
 " Up, Israel, to the temple l>. 
 Ami keep your festal Way : " 
 
 A' Salem's courts we must appear, 
 
 With our assembled pow 
 In strong and beauteous order ranged, 
 
 lake her united to* 
 
 Oh. pray wo then fur Salem's peace ! 
 For they shall prosperous be, 
 
 Thou holy city of our God, 
 "Who hear true love to thee. 
 
 May peace within thy sacred walls 
 
 A constant ^uest be found; • 
 With plenty ami prosperity 
 
 Thy palaces be crowned. 
 
 Poem: Memorials of Brookfield, by Rev. F. Horton, of Barrington, 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 Remarks, by Eon. Amass Walker, of North Brookfield. 
 
 Prayer, by Rev. William B. Bond, of Pain 
 
 Error. 
 
 Tun t — I) ism ission. 
 Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing, 
 
 Bid us all depart in peace ; 
 Still on gospel manna feeding, 
 Pure, seraphic love increase ; 
 Fill each breast with consolation, 
 
 Dp to thee our voices rai 
 When we reach that blis>t'nl station, 
 Then we'll give thee coble praise. 
 And we'll sing Hallelujah, 
 To God ami the Lamb; 
 Hallelujah forever, — Amen. 
 
 Benediction, by Bey. Mr. Horton. 
 15 
 
Ill 
 
 THE COLLATION. 
 
 Through the efficient exertions of the Committee who were entrusted 
 with the task of providing the entertainment, this part of the day's ex- 
 ercises was rendered a complete success. 
 
 Previous to the day, this Committee appointed and made skillful dis- 
 position of the following ample corps of assistants, to superintend and 
 aid in the distribution of the refreshments, viz : — 
 
 Anson Giffin Jr., Mrs. E. B. Taintor, Mrs. W. A. Marcy, Mrs. San- 
 ford Adams, Mrs. B. P. Aikin, Mrs. Doct. Blodgett, Mrs. Doct. Forbes, 
 Mrs. L. II. Chamberlain, Mrs. M. J. Miller, Mrs. Sarah J. Rawson, Mrs. 
 (.. \V. Bliss, Mrs. Enos Gilbert, Mrs. W. A. Blair, Misses Abbie C. 
 Blackmer, Eugenia Taintor, Ella G. Paige, Maria Reed, Ida E. Reed, 
 Laura A. Giddings, Ida R. Giddings, Emma Rawson, Emma Sprout, 
 Nettie Jackson, Clara J. Dane, Susie Beaman, Carrie M. Gleason, Annie 
 Brown, Ann Elizabeth C. Gleason, Lottie M. White, Anna E. Bruce, 
 Mary Jones, Julia Mirick, Lottie Miller, Arvilla Stone, Alice A. Rich- 
 ards, Messrs. Eddie I . Livermore, Alfred C. White, Frank L. Bailey, 
 Alvin W. Gilbert, Augustus N. Makepeace, Charles S. Southworth, 
 Albert W. Bliss. 
 
 At the close of the morning services, all who were present were in- 
 vited to repair to the Town Hall, where a plentiful supply of provisions, 
 of divers sorts, was in readiness, having being brought, by previous 
 request, from every quarter of the town. The large audience was mar- 
 shaled at the church, and proceeded to the hall in the following order : — 
 Committee of Arrangements ; President and Officers of the day; Clergy 
 and Invited Guests ; Strangers and Citizens generally. 
 
 The blessing having been invoked by Dr. Phelps, the appeals of 
 hunger were sated by a repast which, as the Worcester Daily Spy of the 
 next morning said, " was bountifully sufficient, good and well arranged, 
 and set forth to the satisfaction of all who were privileged to partake." 
 
 At a meeting of the Church, held November 1, 1867, it was voted 
 that measures be taken for publishing the doings of the anniversary 
 celebration, and the following persons were appointed a Committee on 
 puMication: — A. C. Gleason, S. D. Livekmore, Dea. J. Dupee, Rev. 
 S. Duniiam, W. A. Blair. 
 
 This Committee subsequently met, and by vote requested Rev. S. 
 
L16 
 
 Dunham bo prepare an Appendis Box ti ■ l authorized him to 
 
 take the general superintendence of the publication. 
 
 II I CKB rBOU 001 IBMOB B1 u. 
 
 Comm.isw I VII II .'1 M \-~Mlll -il i-. l!\i ■ I i i\ i 1>i i- w:i mint, 1 
 
 Boston, October 1 f. 1867. J 
 My I tear Sir:— I am disappointed in Calling to make mj 
 Bach as to permit me to vi-it yon on Wednesday. The One Hundred 
 and Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of your church is of it- 
 self a mosi interesting even! even in a Commonwealth which n 
 
 itemed to call anoient. Added to this* is the equal interest attached 
 to the old town of Brookfield which was for so many years scarcely 
 second in political importance in the County of Wore* 
 
 The town and the church in their historical relations cannot easily be 
 separated; and it becomes to me a source of unfeigned regret that I 
 cannot unite with yon in commemorating the titriking reminiscences 
 which upon the present occasion will l>e awakened. 
 
 I am, my Dear sir, with great respect and esteem, 
 Most truly, your obedient servant. 
 
 ALEX. II. BULLOCK. 
 The Rev. Samiki, DmfHAM. 
 
 LETTER FROM REV. ACSTIV PIIKI.I'S, 1). |>., PfeOfBBMB ]\ TIIK TIIKO- 
 L06IC M. Bl MIS \KY AT \\l>o\ i;k. 
 
 Axdovsr, M.i--.. September 18, 1867. 
 Rfv. s. Dukham: Dear Brother: — I am sorry that (cannot attend 
 
 the Celebration at West Rrookfield, but the state <>f my health puts it 
 out of my power. My father, I think, will be there, and would doubt- 
 less be read] to till any gap, should Buch a thing occur, — which is not 
 probable, four chief concern probably will be to Btop the talkers! 
 
 I would, with great pleasure, be present, and speak just five minutes, 
 watch in hand, — if my health would permit me to 
 
 Very truly yu, us, AUSTIN PHELP& 
 
 i.i.rni; rBOM tMT. OALB B2KASU1 iii:m;v, d. D., 01 M:\vr.i ih.h, 
 
 NSW V"i;i<. 
 
 rTawBUBOH, N. Y., October, 14, 1867. 
 My Dear Sir: — Tour kind invitation to the Celebration of the One 
 Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of ti ( 
 gational Church in West Brookfield reached me in due season, but '_ r "t 
 mislaid until to-day I found it. I had meantin d the day fixed 
 
 for the festival; and now I perceive it is so neat at hand that I am 
 
116 
 
 afraid this will not reach you before the clay. I am the more sorry 
 because events have occurred which will render it impossible for me to 
 be present. It would give me great, very great pleasure to be there on 
 the occasion. It is the church of my early childhood. The venerable 
 image of Father Ward is one of the liveliest recollections of my childish 
 days, — his white wig, his benignant face, his exquisite courtesy. 
 
 It was in that old white building on the north side of " the plain " 
 that I first went to the Holy Communion. Of that church my vener- 
 able father was for many years a member. In the burial ground lies the 
 body of my mother, and I suppose, of many more whom I once knew. 
 
 All these and many other associations with West Brookfield, would 
 make it very pleasant for me to visit the place. I am sorry I cannot 
 do so now. I live in the hope of doing so yet at some future day. 
 
 Very truly and respectfully yours, C. S. HENRY. 
 
 S. D. Livermore. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM REV. JOSEPH VAILL, D. D., OF PALMER. 
 
 Palmer, September 20, 1867. 
 Dear Brother Dunham : — You allude to the anticipated Anniver- 
 sary. It would give me great pleasure to be present, and I shall make 
 an effort to do so. A special adjourned meeting of the Corporation of 
 Amherst College is to take place about that time. If it does not occur 
 on that week, I know of no obstacle to prevent my attendance. 
 
 I am truly and fatcrnally yours, JOSEPH VAILL. 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 The following petition is taken from the Appendix to Mr. Foot's His- 
 torical Discourse on Brookfield, as being peculiarly appropriate to be 
 preserved in connection with a history of the church : 
 
 The petition of the inhabitants of Brookfield to the Honored Gen- 
 eral Court assembled at Boston, November 1698, humbly showeth: — 
 
 First, That we seem to be called of God to continue our habitation 
 in this place ; we are low in the world, and it would be a breaking thing 
 to our estates to remove to any other plantation. And the land here 
 is very capable of entertaining a considerable body of people ; though 
 inhabitants have been slow to come to us by reason of the war, yet 
 the land is very encouraging, capable to afford a comfortable subsist- 
 ence to many families. 
 
 Second, That it is an intolerable burden to continue as we have done, 
 without the preaching of the word. God doth require not only family 
 worship, but his public worship. It is the ordinance of God that, on 
 
117 
 
 the Sabbath day, there should be an holy convocation ; and thai his word 
 be preached by thoee who are able and faithful; and our necessities 
 
 put us upon it earnestly to desire it: both we and onrchildre »ed 
 
 the inst nii-t i< »ns. rebnkei and • the word; the dark- 
 ad deadnese of our own hearts, together with the many snares 
 that are in the world, are an experimental conriction to us that we i 1 
 
 all those helps and advantages that Cod hath sanctified fur our <4ood. 
 
 Third, That we are nol able at present to maintain the worship of 
 Cod: we are hut twetoi families, and are uot of estate sufficient to give 
 suitable encouragement to a minister: we are willing to do to the 
 outside of our ability ; but though as much as can be expected t'mra us, 
 it will not amount to such a sum as a minister may reasonably require 
 for his labor. 
 
 Fourth. That if this Bonored Court would please to pity as, and grant 
 us some help for 8 few years, for the maintenance of a godly, able min- 
 ister, besides the advantage that it maybe to these few families that 
 are here, it would be a means of bringing many other inhabitants to us, 
 whereby we shall be so far assisted that we may of ourselves be able 
 to uphold the worship of God, and not In- burdensome to others. 
 
 Under these considerations we humbly beg, that this Bonored Court 
 would exercise compassion to us. and assign some relief to us out of 
 the public treasury, which we shall look upon, not only as a testimony 
 of your seal for the worship of God, but also of your tender compas- 
 sion to the souls of those whom God hath made you fathers of : and 
 your petitioners shall pray, &c. 
 Read November 28, 169& 
 In answer to the above petition, — 
 
 Ordered that there be twenty pounds paid out of the public Treasury 
 of this Province, towards the support of an orthodox minister for one 
 year to commence from the time of the settlement of such minister 
 amongst them. 
 
 Sent up to the Honorable the Lieutenant Governor and Council for 
 Concurrence. Nmiiamii. Bttibud, Speaker. 
 
 SlGHKD. 
 Samuel O. Owen, Thomas Barnes, 11 rvey Gilbert, 
 
 Stephen Gennings, JnaWw James IV: 
 
 Samuel Davie, William Barnes, Thomas Parsons, 
 
 Thomas Rich, Abyan Bartlett, Daniel Price. 
 
 Jon. Clary. ph -Marks, John Pettee. 
 
 1 in Council, November 24, 1698, arid roted a concurrence with 
 the Represents) 
 
 Isaiah Addim. i"\. Secretary. 
 
118 
 
 NOTE II. 
 
 Terms of settlement as proposed to Mr. Ward, and his answer of 
 
 acceptance. 
 
 At a legal meeting of the first precinct in the town of Brookfield on 
 Monday the 26th day of August, 1771, the parish passed a vote of con- 
 currence with the church in the choice of Mr. Ephraim Ward of Newton 
 for the minister of the church and congregation ki this place. And then, 
 
 " Voted, That upon the said Mr. Ward becoming the ordained minister 
 of this Church and Congregation, there be given, granted and paid to 
 him the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds lawful money of this Prov- 
 ince as a settlement, to enable him to settle in this place as a minister, — 
 the one half to be paid to him at the end of one year from the day of 
 his ordination, and the other half in two years from said day. 
 
 Voted, That upon condition the said Mr. Ward shall become the or- 
 dained minister of this Church and Congregration, and upon condition 
 the said Mr. Ward shall not claim any right or interest arising from 
 the ministerial land now sold, that there be given, granted and paid 
 to the said Mr. Ward, the sum of sixty pounds as a salary for the first 
 year, and the like suni for the second year, at the end of each year ; 
 and the sum of sixty-six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence for the 
 third year ; and the last mentioned sum every year afterwards, during 
 his carrying on the work of the Gospel ministry in this precinct, — the 
 said salary to commence at the day of his acceptance of this grant and 
 closing with the terms thereof, the money to be computed at the rate 
 of six shillings and eight pence per ounce silver ; but to be paid in the 
 then current money of this Province. 
 
 Voted, That in case the said Mr. Ward shall, for one year together 
 during his ministry, be rendered unable to perform the publick duty of 
 his office personally, he shall be allowed the one-half of the above- 
 granted salary, and no more, during his continuance in the relation of a 
 minister to this people, unless he shall be restored to health, and per- 
 form said duty. 
 
 Voted, That there be given, granted and delivered to said Mr. Ward 
 at his dwelling-house annually in said precinct thirty cords of fire-wood 
 during his continuance'in the ministry here, to commence when he shall 
 begin house-keeping, the said wood to be eight feet in length. 
 
 Voted, That the foregoing grants and this contract is upon the ex- 
 press condition the said Mr. Ward shall make no claim to any ministerial 
 land in this town, or the incomes arising by the sale thereof ; but the 
 same shall be and remain with the people to enable them to pay the 
 salary before granted." ' 
 
119 
 
 Mr. Ward signified baa acceptance of the above terms, September 
 
 13th, in tlic following words: — 
 
 " To Jedidiah F rotor of a meetin*/ inthefrtt precinct in 
 
 BrookJUld, to be communicated. 
 
 blemen :— After the mosi mature, deliberate consideration (the 
 tame would admit) of the general invitation yon have given ne to settle 
 among you. ami take upon me the pastoral care of the ( horch and Congre- 
 gation in this precinct, considering the enconragemenl yon gave as a set- 
 tlement, and the sum yon offer aa a salary, although not agreeable to my 
 expectations, and attended with some peculiar restrictions, "yei for the 
 sake of the peace of the Bociety, and hoping for the continuance of your 
 friendship and affection, I accept of your proposals, and do hereby signify 
 my closing with the terms thereof Praying that, by the divine aid and 
 assistance, I may faithfully discharge the important trust when committed 
 tome; wishing thai grace, mercy and peace may be multiplied in this place; 
 and that we may long be mutual blessings and comforts to each other in 
 this life, and finally meet and rejoice together in endless happiness, 
 
 I remain, Gentlemen, your sincere friend and humble servant, 
 
 id'URALM WARD. 
 Brookfeld, first precinct, September 13, 1771." 
 
 NOTE III. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL AND PRESENT COVENANT OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 You do now in the presence of the great and holy GOD, the elect 
 Angels, and this assembly of witnesses, cuter into a solemn and per- 
 petual covenant, never to be forgotton, never to be broken. 
 
 You sincerely ami cordially give up yourself to that GOD whose 
 name alone is JEHOVAH; taking GOD the Father to be your GOD 
 and Father, GOD the son to be your only Saviour and Redeemer, 
 GOD the Holy Ghost to be your Sanctifier and Comforter. 
 
 You submit yourself to Christ, and accept him as the Prophet, Priest, 
 and King of your soul, the Great Head of the Church, and the only Media- 
 tor of the covenant of grace; promising that by the assistance of the Holy 
 Spirit you will keep the covenant of the Lord inviolably; that you will 
 cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and Gospel obedience; — and will 
 endeavor to reform your life as to all known Bin, whether open or secret ; 
 — will live in the conscientious discharge of all duty toward GOD and 
 man: — walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
 blamelessly; — that you will endeavor that the inward temper of your 
 mind be conformed to GOD's will and word; — and that you will follow 
 the excellent example which Christ lias gel you for the rule of your life. 
 
 You also give up yourself to this Church in the Lord ; and freely 
 
120 
 
 covenant and bind yourself to walk as a regular member of Christ's 
 church ; to obey them that have rule over you in the Lord — to read 
 ( if )D's word, and to live in the practice of social and secret prayer, and 
 in diligent attendance on the word preached, and ordinances adminis- 
 tered : and relying on the grace and all-sufficiency of Christ, which are 
 sufficient for you — You promise to walk according to what you now 
 know, or shall know to be your duty. 
 
 Do you sincerely and cordially consent to the covenant now proposed? 
 
 We then receive you as a sincere disciple of Christ and a member of 
 the same church with ourselves, promising, so long as GOD shall con- 
 tinue you among us, to watch over you with meekness and brotherly 
 love ; and may the Lord add to the numbers and graces of his church , 
 and finally bring us all to join the general Assembly, and Church of the 
 First-born, whose names are written in heaven. Amen. 
 
 NOTE IV. 
 
 The number of members of which the church was composed when 
 Mr. Ward's ministry commenced, in 1771, is not ascertained. We gather 
 from the Catalogue about ninety names. But as the record of admis- 
 sions begins only fourteen years earlier, (in 175S), many names are un- 
 doubtedly lost. 
 
 The following table, carefully compiled by Mr. Cordley (former 
 pastor) from the Catalogue prepared by himself, and continued by the 
 present pastor, indicates the annual increase or decrease in the member- 
 ship of the Church during each pastorate for the last half century, be- 
 ginning with the year 1816. 
 
 Mr. Phelps was settled October 23, 1816. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Month. 
 
 Additions. 
 
 Removals. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1816 
 
 October 23, 
 
 
 
 236 
 
 1817 
 
 January 1, 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 236 
 
 1818 
 
 January 1, 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 238 
 
 1819 
 
 January 1, 
 
 57 
 
 6 
 
 289 
 
 1820 
 
 January 1, 
 
 65 
 
 14 
 
 340 
 
 1821 
 
 January 1, 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 339 
 
 1822 
 
 January 1, 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 339 
 
 1823 
 
 January 1, 
 
 
 6 
 
 333 
 
 1824 
 
 January 1, 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 322 
 
 1825 
 
 January 1, 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 312 
 
 1826 
 
 January 1, 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 303 
 
 1826 
 
 October 25, 
 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 L".Mt 
 
 Mr. Phelps was dismissed October 25, 1826. 
 
12] 
 
 Mr. Fool was totted October 25, L886. 
 
 Yonr. 
 
 Month. 
 
 Additions. 
 
 Bain 
 
 
 1827 
 
 January 1, 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 290 
 
 1828 
 
 J;inuar\ 1, 
 
 B4 
 
 18 
 
 88] 
 
 1829 
 
 January 1, 
 
 18 
 
 8 
 
 886 
 
 1880 
 
 January 1, 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 864 
 
 L881 
 
 January 1, 
 
 11 
 
 16 
 
 359 
 
 1882 
 
 . January 1, 
 
 5 
 
 l'J 
 
 ;;t;> 
 
 1882 
 
 May 1, 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 ;.v: 
 
 Mr. Foot was dismissed May 1, IS:}-'. 
 Mr. Ilurton was settled August 15, 1832. 
 
 Y.:.r. 
 
 Month. 
 
 Additions. 
 
 Romovals. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1882 
 
 August 1") 
 
 
 4 
 
 888 
 
 
 January 1 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 886 
 
 1884 
 
 January 1 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 January 1 
 
 8 
 
 21 
 
 310 
 
 
 January 1 
 
 89 
 
 28 
 
 881 
 
 1887 
 
 January 1 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 :■■::, 
 
 
 January 1 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 January 1 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 351 
 
 1840 
 
 Jannaiy 1 
 
 29 
 
 21 
 
 359 
 
 1841 
 
 January 1 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 348 
 
 1MI 
 
 (ember 
 
 15, 11 
 
 14 
 
 846 
 
 Mr. Ilorton was dismissed September 15, 1841. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Month. 
 
 1842 
 1842 
 
 January 1, 
 January Vl, 
 
 Additions. Removals, 
 
 Members. 
 
 340 
 340 
 
 Mr. I baae was wtUed January 12, 1842. 
 
 
 M.mth. 
 
 1848 
 
 January 1, 
 October 27, 
 
 Additions. , Removals. 
 
 13 
 
 Members. 
 
 881 
 
 31» 
 
 Mr. Chase was dismissed October 27, L843. 
 
 Month. 
 
 Renv 
 
 Mamberm. 
 
 1844 
 
 1-11 
 
 nary l. 
 
 1 i r 19, 8 
 
 14 
 
 818 
 
 if. 
 
122 
 
 Mr. Parker was settled December 19, 1844. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Month, 
 
 Additions. 
 
 Removals. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1845 
 
 January 1, 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 802 
 
 L846 
 
 January 1, 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 808 
 
 1847 
 
 January 1, 
 
 ia 
 
 16 
 
 299 
 
 L848 
 
 January 1, 
 
 6 
 
 it; 
 
 289 
 
 18 19 
 
 January 1, 
 
 21 
 
 13 
 
 297 
 
 1850 
 
 January 1, 
 
 2 
 
 1G 
 
 288 
 
 1851 
 
 January 1, 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 280 
 
 is:, 1 
 
 April 7, 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 281 
 
 Mr. Parker was dismissed April 7, 1831. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Month. 
 
 Additions. 
 
 Removals. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1852 
 
 1852 
 
 January 1, 
 November 17, 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 11 
 
 269 
 
 264 
 
 Mr. Byington was settled November 17, 1852. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Month. 
 
 Additions. 
 
 Removals. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1853 
 
 January 1, 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 203 
 
 1854 
 
 January 1, 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 267 
 
 1855 
 
 January 1, 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 278 
 
 1856 
 
 January 1, 
 
 7 
 
 22 
 
 258 
 
 1857 
 
 January 1, 
 
 o 
 
 13 
 
 248 
 
 1858 
 
 January 1, 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 240 
 
 is 58 
 
 October 28, 
 
 19 
 
 is 
 
 211 
 
 Mr. Byington was dismissed October 28, 1858. 
 
 Fear. Month. Additions. Removals. 
 
 Members. 
 
 1859 January 1, 
 
 is:..) June 28, 3 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 239 
 287 
 
 Mr. Cordley was settled June 28, lsi.l'.t. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Month. 
 
 I860 
 1861 
 L862 
 
 January 1, 
 January 1, 
 January 1, 
 June ' 23, 
 
 Additions. 
 
 15 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 Mr. Cordley was dismissed June 23, 1862. 
 
 Removals. 
 
 IS 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 Members. 
 
 217 
 238 
 288 
 234 
 
123 
 
 
 ill. 
 
 
 i:< in 
 
 
 1863 
 1864 
 
 January 1, 
 
 January '• 
 October 4, 
 
 •> 
 
 1 
 
 S'J* 
 
 191 
 
 Mr. Dunham was settled October I, 1864. 
 
 
 M.mih. 
 
 Additions. Rem 
 
 1866 
 1866 
 1867 
 1867 
 
 January 1, 
 January 1, 
 
 January 1, 
 
 1 lecember 1, 
 
 20 
 
 10 
 
 78 
 
 Members. 
 
 218 
 281 
 281 
 
 The lithographic likeness of Rev. Mr. Ward accompanying this 
 pamphlet, has been kindly furnished at considerable expense by his 
 grandson, George L. Ward, Esq., of Cambridge. 
 
 • Of these hoenty-fomr wero stricken from the roU.haTing been absent mai 
 
 without taking letters of dismission and recommendation to other churches. 
 
i 
 
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