F 144 
 .E4 IC32 
 Copy 1 
 
 The Centennial Anniversary of the Burning of 
 
 the Church Edifice of the First Presbyterian 
 
 Church of Ehzabeth, New Jersey. 
 
 • n 
 
 Caldwell and the Revolution; 
 
 A lllSrOKlCM. SKKTCll Oh TIIK 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHUP OF ELIZABETH, 
 
 I'l-lMK H> .VNH DUKING T 
 
 HE NVak '>!■ niK Kkvoi.ution ; 
 
 r.EiMC A niscoi'RSli deuvbkhu on 
 
 SUNDAY, JANUARY 25th, 1880, 
 
 ItY 
 
 REV. EYERARD KEMPSHALL, D. D. 
 
 Tastor of the Church. 
 
 .rinted by onlcv ..f the Board ,.f Tn,.toe«. 
 
 Kl-lZAliKlH, N. J.: 
 
 irii/aLctl. Daily Journal. Cor. Inroad and Jersey ^.r.c>s. 
 
 i8So. 
 
The Centennial Anniversary of the Burning of 
 
 the Church Edifice of the First Presbyterian 
 
 Church of EUzabeth, New Jersey. 
 
 " Caldwell and the Revolution;" 
 
 A HisTDKKAi. Sketch oftiik 
 
 FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHUI[CH OF ELIZABETH, 
 
 Prior to and during thk War of thf. Revolution ; 
 
 BEING A DISCOfRSE DELIVERED ON 
 
 SUNDAY, JANUARY 25th, 1880, 
 
 REV. EVERARD KEMPSHALL, D. D. 
 
 I'ASTOK OF THE CllURCH. 
 
 Printed bv OnU^i' of the I)()ard of Trustees. 
 
 Kl.lZAiJKTii, N. [. : 
 Klizahcth Daily Journal, Cor. Droad and Jersey Streets. 
 
 1 8So. 
 
E 4 K'3.^ 
 

 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 The following is an extract from the minutes of a 
 meeting of the Session of the First Presbyterian Chm'ch 
 of ElizaV)eth, N. J., held January 5th, 1880: 
 
 '' On the last Sabbath of this month, being the 25tli 
 inst., occurs the one hundredth anniversar y of the burn- 
 ino- of the churcl^edifice of this congre"gation. It was 
 set \)n fire by British soldiers, or T)y Tory refugees, 
 on the night of January 25, 1780, and was totally 
 consumed. , ^ . 
 
 In the judgment of Session it is eminently fitting 
 that some "proper commemoration of so interesting an 
 event, in the history of the town and of the church, 
 shouh'l be made ; thei'efore, it is hereby 
 
 Besolved, That the Pastor be respectfully requested 
 to preach a discourse on the evening of the 25th inst., 
 upon the historv of the First Church, up to and during 
 the War of the American Revolution, and to arrange 
 for such other services on that day as may appear in 
 his judgment to be proper." 
 
 In pursuance of this action of the Session, a dis- 
 course was delivered on the morning of Sunday, Jan- 
 uary 25, ])y Reverend Professor Cameron, of Princeton 
 College, on " Jonathan Dickinson and the College of 
 New Jersey," and in the evening a discourse by the 
 Pastor on " Caldwell and the Revolution." 
 
 The church was appropiiately draped for the occa- 
 sion with American Hags and other insignia. 
 
Professor Cameron's discourse was deliveivd in the 
 presence of a large and interested congregation. 
 
 In the evening the church was thronged by citizens 
 of lilizabeth and the vicinity, all available sitting and 
 standing room being taken within a few moments after 
 the doors were oj)ened. The other Presliytei'ian con- 
 gregations in tlie city were invited to })artici|»ate in 
 the evening service, and their cliurches were ch»sed. 
 
 In the evening a choir of about thirty voices, under 
 Mr. W. C. Williams, led the music. An opening i)iecH, 
 " Before Jehovah's Awful Throne," was sung. Pro- 
 fessor Cameron invoked the Divine V)lessing, and the 
 congregation then sang Hymn 124, ''Praise Ye Jeho- 
 vah V Name." Rev. E. C. Ray, of the Third Presby- 
 terian Church, I'ead the Song of Moses and the 127th 
 Psalm, and Rev. Dr. W. C. Roberts, of Westmin^tei- 
 Church, offered i)rayer. The choir then sang Men- 
 delssohn's chorus, "Judge Me, O (rod." Then fol- 
 lowed the sermon on " Caldwell and the Revolution" 
 })y Rev. E. Kempshall, D. D., Pastor of the church. 
 
 After tlie sermon. Rev. Hugh Smyth, of tlu^ Second 
 Presbytei-ian Church, offered the closing prayer, and the 
 clioir and congregation sang " America," closing witii 
 the Doxology. R«^v. Mr. Street, of Connecticut Farms, 
 })ronounced the IxMiediction, and tlie exercises were 
 closed. 
 
 The Session of the churcli sul)se(|uently ])assed a 
 resolution ivijuesting a co})y of the discourse delivereil 
 bv the Pastoi- on this memorable occasion for |)ul>licM- 
 tioii, and that the Trustees proceed to have the same 
 ])ublished in ]»ani]>hlet form. 
 
 In accoi-dance with the i-e(|uest of the Session, the 
 Trustees iiave caused this jiMiuphlet to be piinted. 
 
 4 
 
"Caldwell and the Revolution." 
 
 "AiuJ ihe clnldren of Judali prevailed, hecmif^e they relied upon 
 the Lord God. of tlieir fathers.- — 2 Chron. xni, 18. 
 
 On the niglit of the 25th of January, 1 780, just one 
 hundred years ago to-day, tlie church edifice which 
 stood upon the spot where we are now assembled, was 
 destroyed by fire. Tradition relates that the firing of 
 the building was the act of a Tory refugee, whose 
 parents were lionored members of this church. It may 
 be quite possible that, in the absence of positive evi- 
 dence as to the person by whom this crime was com- 
 mitted, it was attributed to Cornelius Hetfield, Jr., be- 
 cause of the well-known intensity of his hatred for the 
 patriots, and his readiness to engage as guide to any 
 marauding party from Staten Island, which was during 
 the Revolutionary War the stronghold of the British 
 forces near New York, and the refuge of Tories and 
 deserters. The New Jevaey Journal (the first number of 
 
 The aim of the writer in this discourse has been simply to present a succinct 
 statement of leading facts of interest in the history of this church, during the cen- 
 tury which elapsed from its origin to the destruction of the ehurch edifice in 1780 ; 
 together with other incidents of local interest more immediately related to the War 
 of the Revolution. For most of the>^e facts the writer wishes to make acknowledg- 
 ment, in the fullest manner, of his indebtedness to the Rev. E. F. Hatfield, D. D. 
 in his most excellent work, "The History of Elizabeth." This general expression 
 of obligation is made here, as it was not convenient to make it in everv instance in 
 the progress of the discourse. 
 
wliicli appeared Fel). KJtli, 1770) of tlie 27tli Jaiiuai y, 
 1 780, makes the following statement : 
 
 "A party of the enemy consisting t)f al)out three 
 hiiii(ire(l infantry, under the command of Col. Van 
 Buskirk, of the new levies, and al>oiit sixty dragoons, 
 said to Ije under the command of Capt. Steward, with 
 several refugees, the whole in numl)er nearly 400, 
 crossed on the ice fi'om Staten Island to Trend )ly''s 
 Point, about three miles from Elizabeth Town, last 
 Tuesday night. From thence they were conducted by 
 C'ornelius Hetfield, Job Hetfield and Smith Hetfiehl, 
 their principal guides, the nearest and most retired 
 route to Elizabeth Town. They entei'ed the town in 
 two divisions before ihe alarm was sounded. As soon 
 as the troops that were in town (consisting of alxtut 
 sixty men), perceived theii- (hmger, tiiey retreated; liow- 
 ever, they took a Major (Major Williamson), who was 
 commandant of the place, and two or three captains 
 that lodged in town that night, and a few troops. 
 They then set fire to the Presbytei'ian Meeting and 
 Court House, Avliicli were consumed ; plundered, in- 
 sulted, and took off, some of the inliabitants, and 
 retreated with great |)recij)itation b}' the way of l)e 
 Hart's Point, whose house they likewise consum<^d." 
 
 Washington speaks of tlie tn-ent two days after as 
 "the late misfortune and disgrace at Elizabeth Town.*" 
 Tlie father of Cornelius Hetfield, Jr., had been a 
 Trustee, and was then an Elder of the church. " As 
 the son had destroyed their church edifice, so the father 
 opened the dooi's of a large 'Red Storediouse/ on the 
 south side of the creek, near West Water Street, that 
 belonged to him, which was fitted u]) for the purpose 
 and used thenceforward as a meeting-house. This ivn- 
 egade son was a luaM of great energy of character, and 
 of conunanding influence among the refugees. During 
 the previous two years he had resided on Sttiteii Island, 
 
continually watching opportunities to molest and cap- 
 ture liis former friends and neigh])ors." He Avas after- 
 ward tried for the murder of one Stephen Ball during 
 tlie war, and barely escaped being hanged. In this 
 connection M^e may add, that in an unsuccessful attempt 
 to capture Gov. Livingston, tlien residing here (in the 
 house now occupied by Col. John Kean), and Maxwell's 
 brigade, made by the British on the morning of Feb- 
 ruary 25th, 1779, the barracks and the Presbyterian 
 parsonage, then used as barracks, were in the rage of 
 the enemy at their disappointment, set on tire and 
 burned down. This desti'uction of the parsonage in- 
 voh-ed the irreparal^le loss of all the church records, 
 save a few account books which were lodged in some 
 other place. The school-house, or Academy, adjoining 
 the Presbyterian burying-ground, which had been used 
 for storing provisions for the troops, w^as also fired and 
 destroj^ed. These acts of wanton destruction of prop- 
 erty which would be regarded as sacred under the 
 ideas which obtain now in civilized warfare, may serve 
 to illustrate the reckless, unscrupulous, malicious 
 character, and we may add, the fruitlessness of the 
 attacks which were made b}^ the British upon Eastern 
 New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. We may 
 form a very fair idea of the external • appearance 
 of the church-buildinor which was standinof here 
 in 1780, from a description given by Captain Wm. 
 C. DeHart in his "■ Passages in the History of 
 Elizabeth Town.'' "The Court House was a small, 
 frame, shingle-covered building, which had never been 
 adorned with paint, and in the same condition and style 
 of architecture was the adjacent Ijuilding, the Presby- 
 terian Meeting-house, both of which respectively occu- 
 
])ie(l tin; gromul wliereon now stinid tlic stiMictuiv:^ 
 tlevottnl to the same object. The church was oiiia- 
 inented 1)V a steeple surmounted by a ball and weather- 
 cock, fui-uislicd al>o with a clock. It \vas the most 
 cons})icu()us and the most valuable Ijuildini;- in the 
 town, hallowed as the structure in which theii- ])ilo:rim 
 fathers worshi])ed God, and in which they themselves, 
 so many of them, had been consecrated to (Jod in bap- 
 tism, and in which the great and revei'ed Dickinson, 
 the honored Spencer, and the still more ivnowned 
 Whitfield had j)reached God's word." 
 
 There is good I'eason for Ijelieving that the (xcnei-al 
 Assemblies held undei- thePro})i'ietors, sat in this liousc; 
 and that so also did the Supreme Court. In 17()7, the 
 pulpit was ornamented by the ladies with an "elegant 
 set of curtains, which co.st twenty-seven j)ounds ster- 
 ling." For many years there was a j^art oi the church 
 not seated, probably reserved as a lobl)y for the accom- 
 modation of those who attended the Legislature and the 
 Courts. The precise date at which the first church- 
 edifices was erected on tliis sj)ot, cannot be ascer- 
 tained. In the early settlemeiit of the town, tlie 
 " town-house" and the " meetini»;-house" were one. It 
 is more than pi'obal)le that one of the first public con- 
 cerns of the original Associates was the building of 
 their " meetingdiouse." As early as February IDtli, 
 lIK).'), they held a " meeting-court," at which the whole 
 town was present, and sixt3'-five men took the oath of 
 allegiance and fidelity to King Chai'les II, A iiouse-of- 
 worship had most likely l>een ])uilt before this date; 
 nothing can now be determined as to its size, cost, or 
 arraiii^ement. 
 
 In a letter .'iddrcssi'd to the I'Ji-jiln'tli l^^ithj .Imi rii<if 
 
of May 1-2, IHT.'i, Dr. Hatiield says: "Tlnwgli the 
 kiiidness of a friend in Pliiladelphia, I have recently 
 come into possession of an original document, purport- 
 ing to be an agreement or contract between the buildmg 
 committee of ^the congregation and the carpenters by 
 whom the old Meeting-House that was burned down 
 in 1780 was built." The agreement which follows 
 bears date "this twenty-fourth day of February, Anno 
 Domini, 172?,-4, and in the tenth year of our sovereign 
 Lord King George, &c.," and is signed by John 
 Thompson, Nathaniel Bonnell, Joseph Woodruff, David 
 Morehouse, Nathaniel Bonnell, Jr. "A committee 
 chosen by the Presbyterian Society of Elizabeth Town 
 for taking care of building a Meeting-House for said 
 society." " It will thus be seen," as Dr. Hatfield adds, 
 "that the house was built in the summer of 1724, and 
 was 58 feet in length and 42 feet in width; and that 
 the audience room\vas 24 feet in height. === * An 
 addition to the length in the rear of 16 feet was made 
 in 1 766, so that its final dimensions were 74 by 42 feet. 
 
 The lot on which the house was built included 
 the present burying-ground, and extended on the West 
 to the river (so called), and contained about eight acres. 
 When the church property was surveyed in 1766, the 
 Trustees afiirmed " that the first purchasers and asso- 
 ciates did give the aforesaid tract of land for the use 
 of the Presbyterian Church, the record of which, on 
 or about the year 1719, was either lost or destroyed." 
 This statement was admitted by the Town Committee, 
 and has constituted the only title of record to the 
 present church property for over a century and a half. 
 The meeting-house occupied the site of the present 
 church but, as it was much smaller, it did not cover 
 
iiuu-li, if any, iiiniv than tlu' tVoi.t Iialf, tlu^ otiici- halt 
 coiitaininLf the LC>'fi^'«^ of in >st of th.' tii-st s(4th-rs. 
 (Iraves vvei'e sometimes dug nmhM- thi^ floor of tin- 
 chiircli, a cMist(>m familiar to the early settlers, and made 
 dear l)y association with the hahits of their ancestors 
 in P^ni^hind, so that nearly the whole area of tiiis 
 church in which we are no\v nathei'iMl, is pi'ithaMx' oc- 
 ciij)ied with the dust which awaits the ai'diangelV 
 trump, of the first two or thrc^e £i:enerations of the 
 j)eo[)le of the town. It is j)rol>al)le that foi' a Ioiilj 
 time the chuich and adjoininti* l)urial-<i'i'ound was not 
 enclosed, or if at all, oidy in a rude wav. In 1 7(Il\ 
 immediately after the settlement of Rev. Mr. Caldwell, 
 it was voted by the Trustees thai "the l)urial-<j:round 
 l»e enclosed with a close, cedar-board fence; also aofreed 
 that a neat ]»ale-fence l)e built to enclose a court-vaid 
 in the fiont and south end of the chui'ch.'' 
 
 We may leather some idea of the a])|)earance of the 
 interior of the church at the time it was destroyed, from 
 the directions mven by the Trustees to the new sexton, 
 William Woodruff, elected Maich, 1 TdO : " Once evei'\ 
 three months the. alleys below the puljjit-stairs and 
 gallery-stairs must be washed out and well sanded. 
 P\)r evening lectures you are to get the candles, such 
 as the Trustees shall direct, and illuminate the cliuich 
 in every part, and at the conclusion of pra^'er befoic 
 sermon, you are immediately to go u}) and snuif the 
 pul})it candles and the rest of the candles in the church. 
 When you judge the sermon to be about half tinished, 
 you are once moi'e to snuff the candles in the jiul|>if. 
 and at the Clerk''s desk." (The most serious ol»jection 
 to this rule, Avouhl be the suspicion tliat the sexton 
 might be open tt» outside inlluences to snuff the candles 
 
prciuaturcly.) "' Vou Jire to be very careful of the silk 
 hangings and cushions, that they receive no injury by 
 (lust spots. You are to see that the pulpit door be 
 always ojiened ready for the minister's entrance, and 
 the bible opened on the cushion. You are to prevent, as 
 much as in you lies, all undue noises and disorders, and 
 suffer no ivhite hoys or girls to be standing or sitting 
 on the gallery or pulpit stairs, and if at any time you 
 cannot prevent unruly behavior dui'ing divine service, 
 you ai-e immediately to step to one of the Magistrates 
 or Elders present, and inform them of the same. You 
 are weekly to wdnd up and regulate the church-clock." 
 Such, as nearly as we ai'e able to present it to you, was 
 the venerable church edifice in its external and internal 
 appearance, and in its surroundings. " The church in 
 which Caldwell preached," says Dr. Murray in his notes, 
 "was cheerfully yitJded as a hospital for sick and 
 disabled and wounded soldiers, as some of the aged 
 ones yet among us testify ; it was its bell that sounded 
 through the town the notes of alarm on the approach 
 of the foe; its floor was not unfrequently the bed of 
 the weary soldier, and the seats of its pews the table 
 from wdiich he ate his scanty meal." 
 
 Sad, sad indeed, to the hearts of parents and chil- 
 dren who were wont to gather here to worship the 
 God of their fathers, were the tidings which on the 
 2Gth of January, 1780, rapidly spread throughout the 
 scattered congregation, that, of the dear old church, 
 nothing now^ was left but a hea}) of ashes. But the 
 faith in God and the love of liberty, which had been 
 tauo-ht for generations in that vene^-able edifice, were 
 lodged in the hearts of that congregation l>«iyond the 
 reach of the Tory's torch. And the cowardly act of 
 
wanton th'stiuction ot" the iiuuse-of-worship s(j dear to 
 them, only fired their hearts to more absolute sacrifice 
 of whatever should be demanded to make good be- 
 fore the world that Declarati<Mi of Independence of 
 British rule to which one of theii' own members had 
 signed his name, and nerved titeir anm to strike with 
 heavier blow, until by God's blessing, independence 
 achieved, they could again erect over the ashes of their 
 dead, and over the ashes of tlieir humble *' meetintr- 
 house,'' a house of worsliip. None will question that 
 the character of the men wlio laitl the foundations of 
 tile Colonies which Vjecame the United States of 
 America, lia<l very much to do in determining the views 
 and principles of their descendants who united in tlie 
 grand struggle of the Revolution. This was emphati- 
 cally the case in regard to the early settlers of Elizalutli 
 Town, one of the first points occupied in the histoiy 
 of New Jersey. On the 28th day of October, KJIM, 
 a tract of land, a])()ut 500,000 acres, emijracing the 
 whole of what ai'e now the counties of Union, Morris, 
 and })art of Essex and Somerset, was purchased of the 
 Indians by John Baker, John Ogden, John Bayley and 
 Luke Watson, who acted foi' themselves and their 
 associates. This |)urcliase was made by these men, 
 wlio were lesidents of Long Islantl, with reference to 
 a sj)eedy settlement upon the purchase. *' It is safe 
 to conclude," says Dr. Hatfield, "that ground was 
 broken for the settlement of the town as early as in 
 November, l<»r)4, and tliat in the spi-ing of Kid.') a 
 considerable number of the associates for whom the 
 land had been j)urchased, arrived with their wives and 
 cliihb'en, and took possession of their new homes in 
 Achtei* Koi,'' the name yfiven by the Dutch to Newaik 
 
Bay, meaning "l)eliin(l the bay/' and also extended to 
 the region West of the North River. The same year, 
 1()()4, tlie Duke of York having by patent from Charles 
 II. the riglit of sale, conveyed to Lord Bei'keley and 
 Sir George Carteret, who were of the Court of Charles, 
 the territory lying to the West of the Hudson and 
 East of the Delaware, known as Nova Caeserea, or New 
 Jersey (after the isle of Jersey, of which Carteret's 
 fathei- was Deputy Governor.) Capt. Philip Carteret, 
 a distant relative of Sir George, was sent out to be- 
 come Governor of the territory foi- the Proprietors. 
 He ai'rived at what is known in history as Elizabeth 
 T()^vn Point in August, 1()(J5, and was well received by 
 Ogden and his associates, from whom he purchased an 
 interest in the land, recognizing the validity of the 
 grant made by Gov. Nicholls, which confirmed to Ogden 
 and his friends the pui'chase from the Indians. At this 
 time, as is probable, the to^Yn received its name Eliza- 
 beth Town from ' Eli zabe th,' the name of the wife 
 of Sir (ieorge Carteret. Philip Carteret, who was 
 henceforth called Gov, Carteret, was a young man of 
 a))<)ut 20 years of age when he ai'rived. He married 
 in 1()81 the widow of Capt Lawrence of Long Island; 
 she had at that time seven children ; two of them died 
 here in 1(587, and were buried in the church-yard ; 
 their monuments may be seen to-day set in the rear 
 wall of this l)uilding, and serve as history written in 
 stone, of exceeding interest. In the plan for the gov- 
 ernment of New Jersey, conveyances and agreements 
 were laid do\vn " to and with all and every of the ad- 
 venturers, and all who shall settle and plant there," 
 which instrument accorded " the utmost freedom of 
 conscience, consistent with the preservation of the pub- 
 
 13 
 
lie* pt'.'ice ami order, in matters jieitaiiiing to ndi^ioii, 
 and provided every practicable safeguard for ])olitical 
 fi-eedom." It committed the work of legislation and 
 taxation to a L':'gislatnre, of which the popular )»ranch 
 were to l)e chosen directly by the people; and thus early 
 established in this favored Colony the doctrine, for 
 which a century later the combined Colonies so strenu- 
 ouslv and successfully contended, that there shall be 
 no taxation lu'ithout representation^ that the^^t^o^y/? must 
 liave a direct voice in the raising and expending of 
 money for gov^ernment, a doctrine of which John 
 Bright said the other day in a speecli, that in eoiitciid- 
 ing against it in the war of the American Revolution, 
 " the folly, the tyranny of George III. and his minis- 
 ters, and the ])erverse obstinancy of their majority 
 in Parliament, laid the foundation of the American 
 Kepublie/"' A doctrine thus handed down by their fore- 
 fathers, the men and women who worshijx'd the God 
 of their fathers in the old church of 17H(), trueto 
 their sacreil trust, maintained with unyielding stead- 
 fastness througln)ut eight years of wai", at the sacrifice 
 of husltands and sons, of their Pastor and his wife, of 
 their house of worship, tiieir |)arsonage, an(l in in- 
 stances not a few, of theii' own homes; and in the end 
 tlieij prevailed " because they relied u})on the Lor<l 
 (io'd of their fathers." 
 
 The early settlers of this town were almost 
 wholly New Englanders, fi-om Long Island and 
 Connecticut. At a town meeting of the Freeholders 
 and inhabitants of Elizabeth Town, held Fclnuaiy 
 r.nh, Kid,'), it was i-esolved " that the afoi'esaid town 
 shall consist of four score families for the ]>resent,'' 
 These constitute<l the <>iiginal A^^'>i'iiitt'.<\ tlieii- names 
 14 
 
to tilt' liuiiilx'l' of sixty-live Jll-c ;i]>])('ii(l('(l to tlic oatli 
 ot" allt'n-iam'c to Kiiii^- ( liailcs II., taken at tlie same 
 town meeting. A biogmpliical sketch of eacli of these 
 Associates, founders of the town, is given in Dr. Hat- 
 tieliTs liistoiy, tlie remarkal»l<' result of long, patient 
 and minute investigation, foi* which very few men 
 were so extraordinarily (jualified as he. " Of these 
 men'' he says, " a large pro])oi'ti()ii, nearly all, had 
 l)rouglit their wives with them ; some of tliem had 
 several children also ; a small number were consider- 
 ably in yeais. The most of them, however, wer9 
 young, vigorous, I'obust men, between the ages of 
 twenty-five and forty, just the men to lay the founda- 
 tions of many generations." The town Avas founded, 
 not by Carteret, but by Ogden, Watson, Baker and their 
 perscnial friends. Among them we find names such as 
 Ogden, Ci-ane, Mosse (or Moi-se), Tucker, Price, Bunnell, 
 Whitehead, Heatlifield (or Hatfield), Meacker, Barbel-, 
 and others, wdiicli have l)een familiar " as household 
 words" in this community for two centuries. Tliey 
 wei-e neiglil)ors and friends who had intei'uiarried, and 
 Avhen they met here they met as old accpiaintances, as 
 one peoj)le. " The ])lanters of this town liad, the most 
 of them, l)een nurtur(Hl under the Commonwealth. 
 They had learned almost from their earliest days to ab- 
 jure the divine right of kings, and to regard the H(mse 
 of Stuai't with holy aversion, as invaders of the vested 
 rights of the people, and as essentially imi:>erious 
 despots. They had been trained to the largest libei-ty 
 in government. They met and deliberated, made and 
 administei-ed the laws, and took measuivs for the wel- 
 fari^ of the ])eo])le, with none to molest or 'make them 
 afraid.' The descendants of such men were the ])atriots 
 
of till.' Ilrvohitioiiarv Wur. C'arteivt and his company, 
 on tlie otliei" liand, were Monai'cliists ; diligently and 
 saereillv taui^-lit to believe in the divine riii'lit of kind's : 
 to l)e jealous for the loyal prerogative; to liate and 
 abjure i)oth Ci'oniwell and the Commonwealth; t<» 
 look with (*ontem})t u])on the 'round-heads/ and to make 
 sport of Puritan strictness in religion anil morals."" 
 
 Thus was established in the early settlement of the 
 town, what might be called a Court pai'ty. Collisions 
 between them and theii- descendants, with the more 
 democratic sons of New England, were to l)e ex})ected ; 
 and they came in the days that tried men''s souls in the 
 struggle for Independence. Bitter, bitter in(h'e(l were 
 the o])positions of sentiment, and severe the retaliatoi-y 
 acts which divided in this conununity for many years, 
 kinsmen and fellow citizens. On the one hand, loyalists 
 and refugees escaping to Staten Island, to be under the 
 British flag; and on the other, Caldwell and the (h*- 
 voted patriots who followed his leading; defending as 
 best they could from behind stone and rail fences, or on 
 open field, through sununer heats and winter snows, 
 through loss of property and of life, the (hK-trincs and 
 traditions so dear to their ancestors, which wei-e «'m- 
 bodied in the Declaration of Tn(le])endence. 
 
 ( >iie of the most infiuential foundei's of the town, 
 the man who left the strongest im])rint of his own 
 sterling cliai'actei" up(»n the little coniniuiiity, and oiic 
 whose numerous descenchuits to this (hiy makt* mention 
 of Avith honorable ])ride, was John Oodkn, one of the 
 four original Patente<*s. He was born in Stamford, 
 Connecticut, and caiiic to thi'^ place from Xnith:iiiipt(»n, 
 Long Island. " lie was among the very first, witli his 
 five full grown bovs, John, Jonathan. l>avid. Joseph 
 
and Bt'iijaiiiiii, to remove to the new jxiivliasc and ei'ect 
 a dwelling. A true patriot, and a genuine Christian, 
 he devoted liimself while living to the ])est interests of 
 the town ; and dying, l)e(|ueathed to his sons the work 
 of completing what he had so fairly and effectually in- 
 augurated, the i><t(iJ)1isliiiicrit of a ri(/orous plcmtation 
 foujidcd 01) the pviiicipJen of civil arid reli(/ious lihertyy 
 Having sought to trace up to their fountain head, 
 — viz., the character of the men who laid the foundation 
 stones of this community, — those influences which 
 wrought through successive generations to make the 
 congregation which worshiped on this spot in 1780 
 almost a unit in supporting the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, it will be necessary to pass more rapidly over 
 the events which followed, and to confine our attention 
 for a few moments more immediately to the concerns of 
 the church itself. It cannot be determined with ex- 
 actness who served the people as Pastor, or pulpit su})- 
 ply, for the first few years fi'om the date of the first 
 settlement. Dr. Hatfield says " it is safe to conclude 
 that Mr. Jeremiah Peck came to this town from New^ark 
 as early as 1()68, on invitation of the people, to serve 
 them in the ministry of the gospel, and that he is to be 
 regarded as the first Pastor of the clnu'ch in this place." 
 In the autumn of KiJH, he accepted a call to Green- 
 wich, Conn. He was succeeded in 1 080 by Rev. Seth 
 Fletcher. He came from Southampton, and became 
 Minister of this town in the summer or autumn of 1C8(). 
 His death occurred in August, 1082. For five years 
 subsecpient to his death, the church was without a 
 Pastor. On September 3()th, 1087, the Rev. John Har- 
 riman was installed Pastor of this church ; he died here 
 in August, 1 705, and his monument stands in the ad- 
 
 17 
 
ioiiiiiiL!- cliuivli-vard. Soon after his eiitcriim- on the 
 pastoral work here, lie o])eiie(l an account with every 
 one of tlu' subscribers t(> his sup])ort. These accounts 
 were kept in two })ooks; the second, from 1()1)4 to 1 7()o, is 
 now in j)ossession of the Session. The whole nunil>cr of 
 actual sul)scri})(']-s was 1 24. The subscriptions amounted 
 to ,£H8 1 Is. 0(1. A very small ])art only of the subscrip- 
 tions were })ai(l in cash, the most of them are ci'edited 
 with ])roduce, meat, grain, and vegetables; many of 
 them with labor })y the day on the farm, or in l)uikling 
 oi' repairing his house or barn. The work of a Pastor 
 was evidently not so circumscribed as at the present 
 (hiy. Besides preaching, pastoral visitation, farming, 
 cai-rying on a flour mill and a cider ])ress, Mr. Harriman 
 iiad an agency for furnishing glass to his neighbors. 
 He surveyed lands now and then, he attended the Leg- 
 islature as a I)e])uty through four years, and like most 
 of his ])rofession in those days, he ke])t a boarding- 
 school ; he dealt also considerably in real-estate. We 
 Wnd the following entry in his account book, suggestive 
 of an institution then almost universally recognized in 
 tlie Colonies, tiie wi])ing out of wliicli has but just cost 
 our counti'v, in blood and treasure, a price immeasui'ably 
 beyond that of the Inde})endence of the Colonies — and 
 to aid in tliis glorious result, not a few liere carrit'd a 
 nnisket un(h'r the old flag before us — I mean sJarcri/. 
 " We bought file negro Toney, August 14th, 1(!07, of 
 (MiarlesTooker, Jr., for ,£4S," and again " October 2()th, 
 1701, bought of Mr, James Evert an Indian girl named 
 Ilagar, for i:il> lOs.^' Dui'ing the conflict fiom HIHH 
 to 1 70'2, between tlie inhabitants of the town and tlie 
 so called Pro])rietors, which was at one time so l»itter 
 as to be pro])erly called ''revolutionary," and wan 
 i8 
 
03 
 
 teriuiuated l»y the arrival of a royal cominissioii in 1 
 bringing to a' perpetual end the Proprietary Govern- 
 ment of East Jersey, Mr. Harrinian stood bravely forth 
 as the rei)resentative of i)opular rights, and in his dis- 
 courses from the pidpit, as well as in his daily inter- 
 course with the i)eople, set the example of resistance to 
 oppression, and maintenance of the just rights of the 
 peo])le, which was followed so zealously by Caldwell 
 
 in 177(). 
 
 During the ministry of Rev. Samuel Melyen, who 
 succeeded Mr. Harriman, the first Episcopal congrega- 
 tion of this town was gathered ; the Ei)iscopal portion 
 of the connnunity having been contented for forty 
 years to worship with their Puritan neighbors, ])eside 
 whom also, when their life-work was done, they were 
 content to lie in the old church-yard, where to-day occa- 
 sionally are interred, l)eside the dust of their honored 
 ancestors, the descendants of Episcopal families, resi- 
 dent here before the foundations of St. John's Church 
 
 were laid. 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Melyen was short. The church 
 did not remain long without a Pastor ; for on the 29th 
 of Septeml)er, 1709, Jonathan Dickinson was ordained 
 and installed as pastor of this church.* He was born 
 April 22, 1088, at Hatfield, Mass. His early life was 
 mostly spent in Springfield. Yale College went into 
 operation in 1702; young Dickinson entered the Col- 
 lege the same year, and was graduated in 1700. Con- 
 cerning his theological studies, and his licensure to 
 preach^ we have no information. He came here in 
 1708, being then not .luite twenty-one years of age. 
 
 * The following sketch of the life and work of Dickinson was not delivered 
 with the discourse, but is inserted here in or.ler t. complete the h.story of the 
 church during the century. 
 
 19 
 
lie was oidaiiicd, after jnvacliiiig lieiv foi- a slioi-t tiiii;', 
 Uy a Council of Congregational Ministers from Stani- 
 for-1, Fairfield and Norwalk, Ct. His field of lal.or 
 • xtended as far to the West as AVestfield. ''Neither 
 cimrch nor minister was yet to ]>e found in tlie regions 
 hm'ond toward the setting sun. It was the extreme 
 l)ordei- of civilization. It was a weighty charge to he 
 laid on such Noiitliful sli(>ul(h-i-s. Quietly and dHig.Mltl^• 
 he applied liimself to his work, and liis ])rofiting pie- 
 sently a])peared to all. It was not long before he tool< 
 rank among tlie fii"st of his ])rofession." 
 
 Pi'cvious to] )ickinson"'ssettlenientasPjistoi\ thischurch 
 Iiad Ixt'U Independent or Congivgational, in Its foiin of 
 H'overmnent ; n(^t until forty years aftei- its organization 
 was the first Pres])ytery, the Preshytery of Pliila lelj^hia, 
 constitute(h Dickinson, wliose sym})athies were prol)- 
 al)lv (piite decidedly with Preshyterianism, jiroceedecl 
 with a wise caution in the matter of bringing his chuivh 
 into connection with Pres])ytery, for his peoj)h^ '' were 
 thorougli Puritans and men of s})irit, and slow to part 
 with wha! they conceived to he tlieii' rights." It is 
 j)rol)al)le that lie unite(l with the Preshytei-y of Pliila- 
 <h-lphia in tlie Spring of 1717, and tliat the cliuivh soon 
 after joined the sanie Preshytery. In tlie following 
 year, Se])teml>er !!•, \7\X, it i> noted in the records of 
 S\nod that " Mr. l)ickiiis(»n delivere(l one pouinl twelve 
 shillings from his congregation of Klizaheth Town for 
 the fund 'for ])ious uses.'"' "This," says Di'. Hatfield, 
 ''was ntidouhtedly tlie first contribution for Presby- 
 terian piiiposi'> ever made by this congregation." The 
 cliuich was repiesented in Synod for tlie first time in 
 17'J1, b\ one of their eldei-s, Pobei't ( )gden, a gi-andson 
 (»F " ( )ld John ( )i'-den.'" It is worthv (►f ivmaik in 
 
passiiio-, that luiving been chosen Mo(hM'ator of Synod 
 foi- that 3'ear, in his o])ening sermon before Synod the 
 folh)wing year lie disc-iissed the (question of ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction; a "vexed question" at that time between 
 those who favored on the one hand the more rigid, or 
 on the other the more lil)eral ai)i)lication of the Pres- 
 byterian system. In a paper which was prepared by 
 Dickinson, and nnanimously adopted ])y Synod, "the 
 ])ower of the keys is accorded to the church officers, 
 and to tliem only ; care is taken to distinguish between 
 legislative acts l)inding on the conscience, and orderly 
 regulations conformed to God's word ; and tlie right of 
 a])]ieal from the lower to the liiglier Court is admitted." 
 We mention this as showing that the same jealous 
 i-egard for the rights of the peoi)le, ecclesiastical as well 
 as civil, which had characterized this congregation from 
 its infancy, was still maintained by Pastor and people, 
 and continued to exercise a moulding influence which 
 told most effectively upon the attitnde of the congre- 
 gation when the hour arrived in which their descend- 
 ants ^vere called u])on to decide for or against the 
 Declaration of Independence. The influence of Dickin- 
 son, and his hold upon the confidence and respect of 
 the chnrch at large, increased every year. His consti- 
 tutional love of liberty, and unAvillingness to impose as 
 binding upon others, creeds or confessions which he him- 
 self could freely adopt, led him to oppose with all 
 the Aveight of his great influence in the Synod of 1720 a 
 jiroposition to re(piire of every minister and candidate 
 a heai'ty assent to the Westminster Confessions an 1 
 Catechisms. But he succeeded, as ])efore, by the exer- 
 cise of ])ractical wisdom and Christian forbearance in 
 uniting: the action of Synod in favor of the measure 
 
]»r(>]M»sr<l 1»\- liiiii, :m(l kii()\vn afterward a< ''the 
 A(l()})ting Act." 
 
 Ill tli<* controversy with the East Jersey Pio- 
 l>rietors, lie took an active pai't in aiilinu" his 
 j>e()])le in defending their chiiins to theii- j)roj)erty, and 
 lH(>ved himself to l>e "an invaliiahle counseh>r and 
 oru:anizei' in (h^fense of popuhir rii^^hts ; ever standing 
 with his peoph' in all the straits and trials growing out 
 of tile litigations with which they were so sorely dis- 
 tiirlu'd/*' Amidst his arduous labors as a Pastor, he 
 found time to give some attention to the study of medi- 
 cine, and " ac(juii-e(l a high rejHitation as a Physician." 
 
 Dickinson sought to o])])ose, with all his ability, the 
 s])ii-it of scepticism which was ])revalent at that tini":*, 
 being made fashionable through the wiitings of Hol)})es 
 and Tindal, and others. He jireached a series of dis- 
 courses u])on "The Reasonableness (►f Christianity" 
 wliich wei-e published in 1 7H'2, and are spoken of a< 
 " truly admirable discoui-ses, learned, disei-imiiiating and 
 h»gical ; full of i)itli and ])ower; pointe<l and im]>res- 
 sive." As a controvei'tist, both in matters of 
 reliirious (h>ctrine and forms of church-Li-ovei-nment, 
 Jonathan Dickinson had few eipials in the cliurcli in 
 his (la\'. His wi'itings were widely circulated, and as 
 wi(hdy praised. In 1788 he })ublished "The Reasona- 
 bleness of Nonconformity to the Cliurch of Knglaiid, 
 in Point (kf Worshi])," and in 1711 " The True Scrip- 
 tui'e Doctrine concei-ning s<»nie inip(M'tant Points ot 
 Christian Faith." This w«>rk lui'^ repeate(lly been 
 i<-printed in (Jrt^at Bi-itain and America. In oi'der to 
 meet the feeling of o]»])osition to " the great awakeii- 
 iiiLr," he jirepared and jmblished at Boston in 174'2 "A 
 l)is|)lav of (xotTs S})ecial (ii-ace, in a familial' dialogue 
 
 22 
 
])etween a minister and a gentlemen of his congrega- 
 tion, about the Work of God in the Conviction and 
 Conversion of Sinners." "No contemporaneous pub- 
 lication " says President Green, " was probably as much 
 read or had as nuich influence;' In 1745 he wrote 
 " Familiar Letters to a Gentleman, upon a variety of 
 Seasonable and Important Subjects in Religion." This 
 book has remained among the standard works on the 
 evidences of Christianity, and the doctrine of God's 
 sovereiijn grace in the redemption of man. It has been 
 fre(piently reprinted at home and abroad, and may be 
 found to-day on the catalogue of the Presbyterian 
 Board of Publication. Many of his discourses upon 
 special occasions, and pami)hlets upon interesting topics 
 of the day, were also published at different times. 
 
 Notwithstanding the multitude of subjects which 
 claimed his attention as a Pastor and author, he became 
 deeply interested in tlie condition of the Indians in 
 New Jersey and the adjacent Provinces. After his 
 removal to New Jersey, David Brainerd, the devoted 
 Apostle to the Indians, "found in Mr. Dickinson a 
 faithful counselor and devoted friend, and in his house 
 an ever-welcome home. Here — during his last winter 
 on earth — he remained for nearly six months, in so low 
 a state much of the time that his life was almost 
 despaired of." 
 
 It was mainly through the influence of Mr. 
 Dickinson that an effort was made toward estab- 
 lishing a Collei^e in New Jersey. It is stated that 
 he had for years taught a classical school himself, or at 
 least had received young men into his family who were 
 studying for the ministry. The project of a College 
 was laid before Synod in 1 739, and a conunittee was 
 
 23 
 
a])i)olnt('<l, of wlilcli Mr. Dickinson was a ineinl>ei-, to 
 obtain aid from (Ireat Britain. An a|)})lication for "a 
 Cliarter to incorporate sundry persons to form a Col- 
 lege'' was made and granted under the great seal of 
 the Province of New Jersey, October 29, 174(). Under 
 tliis Cluirter Mr. Dickinson was ap])ointed one of the 
 ''Trustees of the said College." On Ai)ril 20, 1747, 
 the following notice a])])eared in the New York Weekly 
 /\)stJk)t/: "This is to inform the Publick, That the 
 Trustees of the Colledge of New Jersey, have ap- 
 pointed the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Dickinson, President of 
 tlie said Colledge; which will be (>])ened the fourth 
 week in May next, at Elizabeth Town; at which time 
 and place all Persons suitably (pialitied, may be admit- 
 ted to ail Academic Education," 
 
 At the time specified, the first term (^f the College of 
 New Jei'sey was 0])ened at Mr. Dickinson's house, on 
 tlie south side of the old Rah way Road, directly West 
 of Race Street. Among the first graduates of the 
 Institution — wliich as Princeton College, stands to-day 
 in the very front rank of American Colleges, an honor 
 to the State, and the o})ject of a just ])ride and aft'ec- 
 tion on the })art of its numerous {dunini — were the 
 Rev. Hugh Henry, Richard Stockton of Princeton, 
 and Rev. Daniel Thane, afterward Pastor of the clnirch 
 of Connecticut Earms. These had all been under tlie 
 instruction of Mr, Dickinson. 
 
 The laying of tlie foundations of this noble Institution 
 seems to have been reserved in tlic jiro\ idciu-c of (i«»d, 
 for the crowning work of a life of eminent usefulness. 
 On the seventh day of Octol>er of the same year, 1747, 
 having finished his work (m earth, lie entered into rest. 
 Eor forty years lie had served Christ as Pastor »»f this 
 
 24 
 
cl„>rcl, A n,i.n endowe.l of (io'l with g.vat am] 
 unusually versatile talent, liis life-work bore testimony 
 t<, the nnreservedness of his consecration ot al his 
 ,afts to the service of Christ through the church he 
 ty»\ As an expression of the esteem m which he 
 was heia by his contemporaries, we feel constramexl to 
 ,„ake room, p«t here, for the following notice of his 
 aeath aiul burial ^vhich appeared m the New \ork 
 Weekly /'ost n>!l of October 12, 174, : 
 
 Elizabeth town in New Jersey, Oct. Id. 
 
 J av^vfortvYears and was the Glory and Joy ot 
 
 rT Hm l^Wmsly a^ naW an<l 
 
 It. in iii"^ J^^ 1 • -(^..J Endowments wliicli con- 
 
 SrV^a :':;Ujt .ami vamable^ Ma. a good 
 
 ^^r of his Heav|.y M;.te,, m t e Lig . w^ 
 lia flimeared as a btai oi svipeaiui ^^'■^ 
 
 . !;" of i'is "superi,.,' Accomplishments, which afforde,l 
 
a t":iv()i-al>l<' Piospcct of "lis tutiiic Flourisliinu' and 
 Pr()s])erity iiudei- his Ins])ection. His iviiiains weiv 
 (l('(viitly iiitcniMl lit-re Yesterday, when the Kev. Mi'. 
 Piersoii, of Woodliridiiv, ]>reaelie(l liis fiiiieral Sernioii, 
 and as lie li\(Ml (h-siicd of all so iicnci" an\' Person in 
 these Parts died more lamented. ( )iir fathers whcic 
 are thev and tlie Pro])hets, do they live forevei'^ 
 
 To the above t('stim(»ny nia\ lie adilc<l such words 
 as tiiose of Jonathan Kdwards who called him "the 
 late learned and very exeelleiit .Mr. Jonathan Diekin- 
 son." The Rev. Dr. Bellamy called him "the u'reat 
 Mr. Dickinson.'' Tlie Kev. Dr. John Erskiiie, of 
 Hdinltni'uh, said, ''The British Isles have j)roduced no 
 such writers on divinity in the eiiihteentli century as 
 Dickinson and Edwards.'' " It may l>e douhted,'' says 
 Dr. S|)rai:;ne in his "Annals," " wliether with tlie siiiu-le 
 exception of the elder E(h\ards, Cahinism has ever 
 found an alder or more etiicient champion in tliis 
 countiN than Jonathan Dickinson," " Ilis name," says 
 Dr. Hatfield, " duriiiii" the neai'ly forty years of his 
 ministrv, li'ave the town itself a |)romincnce l»otli in 
 the |)ro\ince and in the country." 
 
 The Rev. Klihu Sj)cnccr l)e»i'an to su|»pl\' tlic 
 pulpit in the spriiiii' of 171**. H«^ remained Pastor of 
 this church al>out seven y»'ars. Sot»n after his dej)ar- 
 ture, Rev. Al>raliam Kettletas su]»j>lie»l the pulpit. 
 His ministrv c(Hitinued nearly three and a half years. 
 The accounts of the treasurer (►f the i-oni:rei:ation, 
 Samuel Woodruff', sliow that the salary of Mi-. Kettle- 
 tas was paid l>\ rei^ulai- wcekK contriluitioiis on the 
 Sabl)ath. Tliey also sli(»\v that in the s|)rinL:df 17.')!), 
 the Ix'lfrv of the church \\ as ]»i'o\i(led \\ith a town- 
 ilock, pi'oi»al)lv for the liist time ; at w hose expense 
 it was piovided is left to conjecture. It hail 
 26 
 
l)ut one fjicv, fortunately for tlie coniiminity, and 
 therefore could not acc'0]n])lish the marvelous Init 
 disa])])ointino- feat, of jn-esentino- at a given liour 
 of tlic day four different in(h'xes of time upon 
 foui- different faees, as luis })een fre(|uently done 
 l>y the ingenious eontrivanee whieli at ])i'esent 
 oeeuj)ies its phiee. The same old account book tells 
 other tales. In sevei-al })laces is found a charge as fol- 
 h)\\s: ''To one (juai't of rum Is. 4d., su])])lied to the 
 men re])airing tlie old church," and in "June '24th 
 1758, two (juarts of nun at 2s. Sd., foi- ye people to pry 
 up the slee])ers." We presume that — to borrow Dr. 
 Hatfiehrs expression elsewhere — it might ]>e " left to 
 conjecture" wliethei- the ivference in this charo-e is to 
 " slee])ers" in the })ews who might require a little ])rY- 
 ing up, or, as is moiv })ro])able, to give Dr. Hattiehl's 
 owii construction, to the fact "that the tloor of 
 the old edifice had begun very seriously to feel the 
 effects of age." Ml'. Kettletas resigned" his pastoral 
 charge in July, 1 7(10, and was succeeded, after a vacancv 
 in the pulpit of a year and a half, by the Rev. James 
 Caldwell. Mr. Caldwell was a Virginian, born in 
 Charlotte County, in what was then a wilderness, in 
 Aj)ril, 1 7?)4. The place was generally known as the 
 Caldwell settlement. It may be interesting to add 
 that a niece of his was the mother of the Hon. John 
 Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina, the well-known 
 Senatoi- and prominent statesimui of the South. M:'. 
 Caldwell graduated at the College of New Jersey wiis 
 licensed to preach the gospel by tlie Pres>)ytery of Ne^v 
 Brunswick in 1 7(iO, and acce])ted a call from this church 
 in November, 1 7(;i. He was at that time in the twentv- 
 seventh year of his age, "a young man of ])repossessini,' 
 
aj;pearance, and of more than onlinai-y promise as a 
 preacher of the gospel." Mr. Cahlwell \va> married 
 just one year after his entering u])on liis pastoral c-harge, 
 to Hannah, daughter of John Ogden of Newark. Her 
 father was the great-grandson of the John ( )gden of 
 wlioin we Iiave s]»oken as one of tiie first settlers of the 
 to\s n. Duiing the iii'st year of his settlement the 
 " Apostolic WhittiehT' j)reached.here twice on the Sab- 
 l)ath of Novem])er 27th, ITfio, a-< he iiad (h>ne befoiv in 
 the days of Dickinson, and as had also David Brainerd 
 often <lone. We may icmark in j)a.ssing, that 
 we can trac;- up to about tiiis date the origin 
 of two customs in oni- churches, viz., th;* raising 
 of the curivnt expenses of the ehureh by ji-w- 
 r.^nts, and singing ])y choirs. Up to this time current 
 expenses had ])een met by Sabltath collections, and all 
 singing in the churches was eongn^gational, led by a 
 Precentor. In May, 17(»7, it was resolved '' to offer 
 the ])ews in the enlargetl building at public \tMidue, 
 aii'reeable to certain fixed rates, the rents to ))e paid 
 (piarterly.'' ''TIkmv were few country chuivlies with ;i 
 choir before 1 7().') oi 1770, and they certainly did not 
 become common until the time of the American devo- 
 lution.'' It may be worthy of remark as illustrating 
 the c^•clical ten l.^ncy of all things in tli/ affaiis of men, 
 as in the world (►f natui'e, that dui-ing the century em- 
 braced within the dates of 1770 and 1S7(»', all the 
 known iiictliods of conducting and aiding the musical 
 |>art of church service, inclu ling large voluntary choirs, 
 a selected ([uartette choir Avith liberal salary, organ, 
 bass-viols (the introduction of which so aroused at the 
 time the riu'hteous indignation of oiu' of the oldest 
 Kldeis of the church), and clarionets, with otlni' bi-ass 
 
 iS 
 
iiistniiiu-iils, liavc been tj'i('(l ])y (his climvli ; ivturniiig 
 at last to tlie "old way of the fathers," congregational 
 isiiigiiig with a Precentor. If, however, the theory of 
 cyelit'al movement l)e correct, we may " exj)ect al)ont 
 this time" as the Farmers'' Almanac has it, " a change 
 of some kind." 
 
 We must hasten to entei- u})()n the stormy period of 
 the War of the Eevohition, in which Pastor and people 
 in this old historic chui-ch were to take so signal a part. 
 The j)arish of Mr. Caldwell included the whole of 
 Elizabeth Town, and the town included nearly the 
 whole of the present Union County; the towns of 
 Union, Springfield, New Providence, Westfield, 
 Plaintield, Kaln\ay, Linden, and Clark, having since 
 been organized <mt of the ancient territorial domain 
 of Elizabetlitown, The old l)ook to which I have 
 i-eferred, shows that in 177(), there were thi'ee hundred 
 and forty-five j)ew-rentei's and subscri])ei"s in the con- 
 gregation. The Ruling Elders at that time were 
 Cornelius Heatfield, John Potter, Samuel Williams 
 and Benjamin Winans; Isaac Woodruff, Jonathan 
 Willijuns, Caleb Halstead, David Ogden, Isaac Arnett, 
 Jonathan Pi'ice, Trustees. In the congregation, at the 
 oj telling of the Pevohition, were such men as William 
 Livingston, the noble Governor of the State, who, 
 through a storm of oldoipiy from 'some of his former 
 friends, and of bitter and unrelenting hatred and plot- 
 tings against his life on the part of the Tories and the 
 British, remained steadfast in his devotion to the cans/ 
 of freedom, to the final victory. Elias Boudinot, who 
 served on the Staff of (xeii. Livingston ; ^^'as appointed 
 by Congress Conimissary-(Teiieral of ])risoners; was 
 Member of Congress in 1 77S, 17K1 and 1 7S2 ; chosen 
 
 29 
 
President of Congress Nov. 2, \7^'2, and when the 
 treaty of peace with Great Britain was ratified, Aj)ril 
 loth, 1783, he had tlie honor of affixing to it liis si^^- 
 nature. He received from Vale College in 17'.M) the 
 degree of Doctor of Laws; Avas a Trustee (»f tlic College 
 of New Jersey for twenty-three years, and in ISHi the 
 first President of the American Bil)le Society. In for- 
 warding from Philadelphia, while Sui)erintendent of the 
 Mint, as a gift to the Trustees of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, a pair of elegant and costly cut-glass chande- 
 liers, he said, in his letter hearing date Fel). 2()th, 
 ISOO, of the church: "The many ha])])y Iu>ui-s I have 
 sj)ent there, make fhe remend»rance of having heeii one 
 of theii' SocietN', among the substantial j)leasures of m\- 
 life,''"' In the congregation at this time also, was .M»ia- 
 ham Clark, one of the Signers of the Declaration of In- 
 dej)endence ; he had long been a member of the Chuivh, 
 and was (Mie of its Ti'iistees fiom 1 7''^() to 171M). He 
 was ch(»sen seven times as a delegate from New Jersey to 
 the Continental Congress. Here, also, were the Hon. 
 Kobei-t Ogden (Sj)eaker of tlie Assend)ly at an earliiM' 
 (lav), with his tlu'ee sons, Robert, Matthias and Aaion, 
 the last two distinguished Dtlicfi's in the I'. S. Ai-ni\ ; 
 the Hon. Ste])hen Crane, S]>eaker of tln^ Asst-ndily ; 
 Elias Dayton, and his son Jonathan, both of them sul»- 
 seciuently irt'iHM'al otficers (►f tlie Ai*mv, and the lattei- 
 Speaker of Congress; AVilliam Peartive Smith, one of the 
 most distinguished ci\"ilians of the day ; ( )livci' S|»tiicer 
 and Francis Barber, both of them Colonels of the Jer- 
 sey Bi'igade, from whom (ten. Maxwell, Commandant 
 of tlu' Brigade, received on all (K-casi(His, and some of 
 tlitiu of a ti'\ ing natui-e, most zealous and elHcieiit co- 
 opei'atioii ; and otln-i' <\\i-\\ dexoted patiiots. not a few. 
 
"From tliis one congregation went forth (yver forty com- 
 iin'ssioited ofuns of tlie ('ontinental Army, not to speak 
 of non-connnissioned officers and ])rivates, to figlit tlie 
 } tattles of Independence." The names of thirty-nine of 
 them are given in a foot-note in Dr. Hatfiehl's History. 
 An honor roll, of which the old Fii'st Church, with 
 all her childi'en, has a right to l)e pi'oud to-day ! These 
 were the men who, Avith their neighbors and friends 
 their wives, children and gi-andchildivn were worship- 
 iiig the God of their fathers in the venerable shintrle- 
 (•()vere<l church, when, upon their ears fell the an- 
 nouncement, startling as the alai'iii-bell at night, that 
 the British Pai'liament had passed, in March 1 7()4, a 
 ]-esoluti(m declaring the intention of Government to 
 raise a revenue in America ])y a duty on stam])ed pa- 
 per. Of these men, Dr. Hattield says : "Tlie love of 
 civil and religious liberty and the hatred of des})otism, 
 they had inherited as almost their only heritage.'" But 
 there ^vas a special reason why this odious Stam])-Act 
 aioused in this comnuniity a ]^eculiar determination to 
 resist its enforcement to the bitter end ; for in it was 
 violated a fundamental ])rinci])le of the Constitution 
 under which they and their fathers had been born and 
 uurtui'ed. It was ])rovided by the concessions of Bei'k- 
 ley and Cai'teret, in respect to the Governor and Coun- 
 cil, that "they are not to impose, noi" sutfer to be im- 
 posed, an}- tax, custom, subsidy, tallage, assessment, oi- 
 any other duty whatsoever, u])on any colour oi ]«(- 
 tense, ui)on the said province and inhabitants thereof 
 other than what shall be imposed by the autliority and 
 c<msent of the General Assend)ly.'" When, therefore 
 the ringing voice of James Otis, of Massachusetts Col- 
 ony, was hear<l ])roclaiming throughout the Colonies 
 
tin- <l()('ti'iiit- that "Civil Li'overiiniciit is of (lod, :iii<l the 
 oiiiiiiial possessoi's of |)o\\('i' iwv the \\li<»h' |)e(.)])l(:*, and 
 tliut uiidt^r th(^ Bi-itisli Constitution the Colonists en- 
 jovp<l the riu;ht in their local leLfislatures of (lorefiiiiKj 
 themselrex''^ — a doctrine which was soon condensed into 
 the ])()])ulai' aj)othegni, "no rejuv-st^ntation, no tax," — it 
 is no sti'anL[;e tliin^' (\\ hen j)ai'ties arose, as at onc(^ 
 they did, those on the one side, called Whiu's, Patriots, 
 Sons of Li})ertv ; those on the otiiei". Loyalists, Tories 
 and Fi'iends of Govei'nnient,) that the "Sons 
 of Lil)ertv " were found here, liotii niunei-ous 
 and ready for ])roni|)t action. The Act was to 
 take effect Novenibei* 1st, 1 Td"), Imt not a stani]) was 
 U) be f(MUi<l in the town, nor was it safe eitliei- to offer 
 foi' sale, or to use one, as the following extract from a 
 New York j)a])ei- .of Fel»iMiary 'iTth, 1 7<I(», wonld 
 ])lainly indicate : " A large gallows was erected in 
 Elizahethtown last week, with a rope ready fixed 
 thereto, and the inhabitants there vow and declare that . y 
 the first |>;'i'son that either takes out or distrllmtes a 
 >tainpe(l paper, shall be hung thei-eon without jndge 
 or jui'v." 
 
 When the vindictive Act (►f the Bi'itish Parliament, 
 closing the ])ort at Boston, in retaliation foi- the " Bos- 
 ton Tea Part^■ " \Nas j)assed, the patri(>tic s])ii-it of the 
 ( 'olonists hroke foi'th in a llame of angry resent- 
 ment.^ Nowhere was the spirit of resistance 
 to tyranny more manifest than in this town, i 
 which hecame fiom that time the heail(|uarters 
 of the |)atriot movement in New -Jersey. Then was 
 heard fi'oni Sabbath to Sabbath in the old Chui'ch, 
 fi'om the Pastor, the earnest ]>rayei' to Almighty (iod, 
 the Puler of Nations, and the Defender of the I'ii^ht, 
 
that lie would give to the congregation assembled here, 
 unity in counsel, and courage of heart to do and to 
 dare in defense of the sacred principles of lil)ei-ty be- 
 (pieathed to them in trust by theii- ancestors. And as 
 the cloud ap])eai'ed which was soon to roll up, black 
 with the coming storm of war, and charged with the 
 lightnings of man's wn-ath, which woidd, })efore it was 
 })asse<l, swee]) aw^ay Pastor, and Church and Parsonage, 
 in a common destruction, Caldwell [)oui-ed out from his 
 [)ulpit in eloipient utterances, words of faith in God, 
 and nncompi'omising devotion to the cause so dear to 
 his own heart. Nor did his words fall on eai-s unwill- 
 ing to hear, or hearts unsympathetic with his fervent 
 ap})eals. On the contrary, that people, well ti'ained in 
 the doctrines and promises of God's word, and l)eliev- 
 ing in the "God of their fathers," came forward, as it 
 were with one hand and one ])ur])ose ; and at the very 
 opening of the contiict, with the calm determination of 
 men who* had counted the cost, consecrated their all 
 a /rc^f-^r/''/ offering upon the altar of devotion to princi- 
 ple; and then taking down from the wall the old flint- 
 lock musket, and looking it over carefully, patiently 
 awaited the events of the future. Nor <lid they have 
 to wait long. Blood . Howed at Lexington, Mass., on 
 AVednesday, the lOthof A])ril, 1 77.'). That "blood 
 cried from the ground," and its voice was heard in 
 every handet and every home of the United Colonies. 
 The tidings reached New Jersey on the following day ; 
 the whole C(»mmunity was aroused, the excitement was 
 intense. Patient endurance of wrong at the hands of a 
 Government which the Colonists had dearly loved, and 
 from ^vhich they had a right to expect fostering care, 
 had now ceased to be a vii'tue. The sacred cause of 
 
 33 
 
AnK'i'icaii Tii(l('])(Mi(l('iic(' had retvived its first l)a]>tisiii 
 of ])lood. " < )li, what a liloiioiis iiioi-iriiiu- is tliis," cx- 
 claiiiied Samuel xVdaius, of Massachusetts, wlieii he 
 lieard tlie icuns at Lexinicton- '' It was not safe," says 
 Dr. Hatfield, in that lioui- when the echo passed over New 
 Jersey, ''to breathe a word in Elizabethtown aij^ainst 
 the ])atriot cause/' When th^ tidinucs of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence reached this town "the tjfreat 
 majority of the ])eoi)le hailed it with joy, and acce])ted 
 the arbitrament of the sword with calm determination; 
 some, however, took the first oppoi-tuiiity to connect 
 themselves, openly and violently, with the cause of 
 rovaltv." By the occu])ati<)n in the Sununer of I77(), 
 of Statcn Island, by the British under Gen. Howe, this 
 town was l)rouii'lit into the vcm'V foi'c-front of the ficM 
 of conflict, and so continued throui^hout the \vai'. As 
 an illustration of the spiiit which ins])ired ])arents and 
 children alike, in that liour of anxiety, and uncertainty 
 concerniui^ the future to which this Dec1arati(»n of 
 Independence would ine\ita))ly connnit tlie ])eople, I 
 caiuiot refrain from (pioting- an anec(h>te found in a 
 Pliiladel])liia ]>a])er of Aui^ust lOth, 177(>: "On tlie 
 late alai'ui at Eli/abethtown July 'id, when an inunedi- 
 ate attack of the Bi'itish reu'ulars was i'Xpecte(l. and 
 every man capable of beai'inu" arms was suimnone(l t(> 
 defend it, tliere were three or four youni^- men, brothers, 
 ii^oini:; out from one house, wluMi an elderlv laih, mother 
 oi' irrandmother to the V(muiu- men, with a resolnte 
 cahnness, encoura^'ed and assistt-d them t(» aim. \\'hen 
 thev were just setting out, she addressed them thus : 
 ' Mv cli^ldren, I have a few words to say to you. You 
 are pnng out in a just cause, to flight for the riirhtsand 
 liberties of \'our countiy ; you lia\"e my biessiuLT and 
 
 34 
 
pravers, that God will protect and assist you ; l.ut it you 
 fill' His will be done. Let me beg of you, my child- 
 ren' that if you fall, it uniy be Hkemen, and that it you 
 are' found 'on the battle Held, it may be with your 
 vvoiinds ill your breast, and not in your back. Such 
 -.vas the spirit of the Christian mothers, who sat iii 
 God's house on this hallowed ground, in the days ot 
 Caldwell and the Revolution. God grant that in this 
 uoble union of piety and ardent patriotism, the 
 children who shall from generation to generation 
 occupy these seats, may prove themselyes worthy ot 
 
 such mothers. . i ;„ 
 
 The Fourth of July, lT7(i, was celebrated in 
 this town in the following manner, as .given in a 
 newspaper of the day, "One of the *nemy s armed- 
 sloops of fourteen guns, having this evenmg mn up 
 near Elizabethtown Point, was attacked from the shore, 
 with two twelve-pounders, a great number ,.t her men 
 killed, slie set on fire, and entirely destroj-e,! As 
 
 this occunvd within two or three hours of the adop- 
 tion of the Declaration of Independence, it was prob- 
 ably the first military exploit of the new-born nation 
 and an auspicious omen of its career In Ap"'. 
 177(i Col Dayton's regiment, that had been quartered 
 1,1 to;vn, i'ecei;-e.l orders to imarch tortile relief ot the 
 ai-my besieging Quebec. As most "* j'^ ;<J,-;;^,-: 
 ,„a„y of the privates, were members of Mi. (.akU\el s 
 congregation, a strong .lesire was expressed tliat^ he 
 should' serve as Chaydain. Lieut. Elnier, m his Diary 
 April mh, says: "Members ot the Presbj^enaM 
 meeting, met a'bout Mr. (Caldwell's going to QueVc 
 with us, which was agreed on after some _ debata 
 " Parson Caldwell," or the " Fighting Chaplain, as he 
 
\v;is cmIUmI })y the British, who liad rcMsoii hotli to fcnr 
 and liate him for his j)ow(-ri"ul iiiHiuMU't' in aidiiiu" tln^ 
 patriot cause, was from that time forwai'cl to the eh>se 
 of his life, occupied more or less continually, in the 
 sei'vice of his country. ''lie was at once tlie ardent 
 pati-iot, and the faithful Christian Past(H-. The Sab- 
 l)ath found liini, whether at home or in the camp, 
 ready to j)roclaim the (xospcl, with its messages of 
 mercy and comfort, to his fellow men ; \vhile he was 
 ever watchful at- other times to use every op})oi"tunity 
 to promote the spiritual \V(^lfaie of citizens and soldici's. 
 He was held, therefore, in the highest esteem Ijy othcers 
 and men, confided in by all, and i-eofarded with enthu- 
 siastic love l)y the rank and file/' No one, consc- 
 <piently, save his pai'ishicmer. Gov. Livingston, was more 
 feared and hated by the Tories and the British, (xladly 
 would thev have kidnapped him if they could. Doubt- 
 less it was owingto a full a])})i"eciation of this fact, that 
 he was wont, as Dr. McDowell relates, when returning 
 from active service to pass a Sunday with such of his 
 fiock as could l)e gathered in the old Red Store House, 
 to make ready for opening the seivice by laying his 
 cavalry pistols upon the])ul])it cushion, ready for inune- 
 diateuse if required, while sentinels were statioiiecl at tiu^ 
 doors to give warning. As the result of the disaxti'ou-^ 
 cam])aign on Long Island, New York City wa^ abar.- 
 doned by the American army on September ir)th, 177(), 
 and occuj)ied by the British. Then l)egan the I'etreat 
 of Washington's army into New Jeisey. A dark, sad 
 (lav, was that i^Hth of November 177(1, when Washing- 
 ton, with the wreck of his ai'my, not more than :>,.')()() in 
 nund)ei', entcMvd this town, then almost desei'ted, and 
 was followed, as the rear guard of the Amei-ican army 
 36 
 
left, ])y the advance guard of Lord Cornwallis. On 
 the ()th of Deceniher, Wasliinc^ton writes to Congress, 
 "By a letter of the 14th ultimo from a Mr. Caldwell, 
 a clergyman and a staunch friend to the cause, from 
 ElizaV)ethtown, I am informed that Lord Howe was ex- 
 pected in that town to pul)lish ])ardon and peace. 
 ^: :i: :.=: jj^ ^jj^, lauguagc of thls good man, ' The 
 Lord deliver us from his mercy.' '' 
 
 The dawn of a brighter dayfoi- the patriot cause was 
 at hand. On the 2()th of December, 1776, Washington 
 captiu'ed a force of nearly a thousand Hessians at Tren- 
 ton ; and on the morning of July l^d, 1777, surprised 
 and captured Princeton. Gen. Maxwell followed up 
 these victories by coming down from the Short Hills, 
 with his Jersey Brigade, and driving the British out of 
 Newark and Elizabethtown. When Caldwell and his 
 people returned to their homes in January, 1777, after 
 an exile of six weeks, " they found everything in ruins ; 
 their houses ])lundered, their fences broken down and 
 consumed, their gardens laid waste, their fields an 
 open common, and their records, both public and pri- 
 vate, destroyed." Gen. Maxwell, in accoixlance with 
 Gen. Washington's proclamation, recpaired all who 
 would not take the oath of allegiance, to take them- 
 selves and their families off immediately to the enemy. 
 It was a hard case, as the line ran, in some instances, 
 between jDarents and their children, as well as between 
 In'others and sisters. 
 
 During the }'ear 1 77H, which was one of unusual (juic t 
 for the peo})le of this town, an illicit traffic was carried 
 on between the refugees on Staten Island and in New 
 York, and their ohl neighl)ors, who had managed to re- 
 main in the town. In ]'ej)ly to directions from Wash- 
 
 37 
 
liigton tliat this tiling tinii<t he stoj)pe<I, Gov. Living- 
 ston wrote,- " Of all those who have applied to nie for 
 recommendations to the commanding officer at Eliza- 
 bethtown to go to New York, not above one in twenty 
 ap])eared entitled to that indulgence, and many of 
 them were jis venomous Tories as any in tliis eouiitiy. 
 It is either fi'om a vain cui'iosity (extremely j)iv(h)mi- 
 nant in women) cloaked with the ])retense of securing 
 theii" debts or eifects, in which they seldom if 
 ever succeed, or foi- tlie sake of buying tea and 
 trinkets, (for which they would as soon forfeit 
 a second Paradise, as Eve did the first for the f()rl)id<U'n 
 fruit) that they are per])etually ])rom])ted to these idle 
 ramldes. The men ai'e still moiv seriously miseliievous, 
 and go with commercial motives/' It is ]>ut siiii])le 
 justice to narrate an incident or two on the other side, 
 as showing in the ])atiiot women of the Revolution 
 something more than " a vain curiosity ;" and our first 
 illustration shall l)e taken from tlie family of (lov. Liv- 
 ingston himself, whose ehk^st (huigiiter, when on tlie 
 ni^rht of P\*bruarv 24th, 1 770, the British enih^avoivd to 
 take by sur})rise and captuiv hei- fathei- (who fortu- 
 nately had left home oidy a few hours before), and l)i-eak- 
 ing into the house at midnight demanded from her liis 
 j)a})ers, had sufficient presence of mind to lead them 
 into the library and show them a (hawer of intercepted 
 letterfi front London, taken in a British vessel, ])art of 
 wliicli tliey pocketed, and then eai'ried off tlie I'emain- 
 (U'r, with the drawer itself; thus a(h'oitly saving others 
 of great value, such as the I'aidei-s were in search of. 
 Another ]»roof that conrtKii' and iri^e econoniif were 
 fombined in the \vomen of tliosc da\s, is foun<l in the 
 fact that while tlie .Vcadeni\', then ust'd as u st(»re-house, 
 3S 
 
and standing on the s])()t now occupied })y oui- Lecture- 
 room, was })urning, having been fired the same night 
 witli tlie just mentioned attem})t to capture Gov. Liv- 
 ingston, a Mrs. Eg})ert, with a few of her female neii>;h- 
 bors, rescued from the Inirning })uihling twenty-six 
 barrels of fiour. With a l)rief reference to tlie im])or- 
 tant events which occurred in the month of June, 17H(), 
 \ve shall l)ring to a close this narrative of facts and in- 
 cidents ilhistj-ative of the days of Caldwell and the 
 Revolution. On the (Jth of June, 17H(), Gen. Knyp- 
 haiisen, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in and 
 around New York, undertook the execution of a care- 
 fully prepared plan for ca])tiu'ing or driving out of New 
 Jersey the pati'iot army. His confident expectation 
 was that he would capture Maxwell's Brigade, stationed 
 at the Short Hills just ])ack of Springfield, and then 
 })roceed against AVasliington, still in camp at Moiristown. 
 The British troo])s, about five thousand strong, crossed 
 the Sound and landed at Elizabeth Town Point, and 
 ])assing u]) Water Street, entered the town just at sun- 
 rise. The spectacle nuist have been an imposing one 
 to the inha})itants of the town, unaccustomed as they 
 were to " the jxmip and circumstance of war.'' Gen. 
 Stirling, l)eing the youngest general, led the advance; 
 Gen. Knyphausen followed at tlie head of tlie division. 
 "An eye witness of the ])assage of the troo])s through 
 the village descri))es it as one of the most ])eautiful 
 sights he ever beheld. In the van marched a S(]uadron 
 of di-agoons of Simcoe's regiment, known as the 
 Queen's Kangers, with drawMi swords and glittering hel- 
 mets, mounted on very large and handsome horses : 
 then followed the infantry, composed of Hessians and 
 English troo])s, the whole body amounting to nearly 
 
 39 
 
six thousand men, and ever\' man, lioisrmaii and toot, 
 clad in new uniforms, eompleti^ in ])ano])ly, and Li^or- 
 geous witli ))urnislic(l l»ra>^s and jioli>li('<l stt-el." But 
 '' let not him that prth^li on his Iiarness Ixtast liimself 
 as he tlnit j)utteth it off." Quiekly tidinirs weiv sent 
 of the ajtproaeli of the enemy. Tlie til'st reception they 
 had was from twelve iiK-n wlio lia<l l»een stationed at tlie 
 Crosss Roads to iii\'e waiiiiuLi' <>f the ajtj>roacli of tlie 
 enemy ; as thev <h'ew neai', these men fii-etl uj)ou tlie 
 advancinii" otHcei's, and (len. Stirliuii" ftdl fi'om hi-; lioi'se 
 sev(M-tdy wounchMl, tliey tlien ))eat a hasty retreat; an 
 einlite<'n-|»ouiid( r signal-yun on I^ospcct Hill, l>aek of 
 Si^'ingfield, wastire<l; tlie tard)ai'r«'l on the siiiiial-pole 
 was lighted ; and as the note of ^\■arnilll:• reached their 
 ears, tiie militia, comp(>sed of the old farmers and 
 their stalwart sons, instantly drojtjx'd the scythe in tiie 
 held, an<l sciziiiLi- the musket from its i-ack on tlit^ wall, 
 l>ejj:an to o-ather touether. There wci'e no feathers in 
 their hats, noi* u'ilt iaittons on tiieii- home-spun coats, 
 nor Hasliintr JKuouets on tlieii- old fowlinir pieces ; hut 
 there was. in their lieaits, the resolute |>urp(»se to defend 
 their homes and their liheitx at the ])rice of their lives; 
 and l>y the h(d]> of (iod, they meant to drive these foi"- 
 eiii'U mercenaries, Hessians and men of Waldeck 
 an<l Anspach, hired l>y (leoiye III. t<» hutchei- his own 
 siihjects, fioni Jersey soil as soon as the\ had set foot 
 upon it. A/x/ thcii <//</ it And if occasion should 
 ever recjuire they can -do it auain. So severe was the 
 anno^■ance caused li\ the flank attacks of the unskille(| 
 militia, and so deteniiiii<'(l the icsistaiice made 1>\ the 
 small force of rei:-iilars uiidei' Ma.xwell, that the eiiemv 
 ^vere )>roUi:ht to a halt, and the British Commander 
 hearinu: of the advance of the whole of Washiniiton's 
 40 
 
foi'ce to the Short Hills, a retreat was decided upon and 
 liegiin at night fall. 
 
 In this retreat an act of fiendish barbaiity was per- 
 formed, which brought sore atlliction upon Mi-. Cald- 
 well and his iiock, and intensified to the utmost bitter- 
 ness the feeling of animosity toward the British 
 soldiers on the pai-t of the inhabitants, many of whom 
 were engaged in the battle. I i-efer to the cruel and 
 deli])erate nuu'der of Mi's. Caldwell, the wife of the 
 Pastor, who was at that time occup^dng the parsonage 
 at Connecticut Farms with her family of nine children, 
 having been removed thither by Mr. Caldwell for 
 safety. She was sitting in a back room with her chil- 
 dren about her, when a British soldier approached the 
 house, and thrusting his musket through the window, 
 shot her dead upon the spot. The few dwellings in 
 this hamlet were plundered of everything portable, and 
 then, together with the Presbyterian Chui'ch, were 
 burned to the ground. The expedition proved a miser- 
 a])le failio'e. The large force of finely mounted and 
 splendidly armed soldiers that in the morning had 
 marched up Watei" Sti'eet in such magnificent and im- 
 pressive an-ay, had been met, checked, and finally 
 turned l)ack, ]>y a comparative handful of undisciplined, 
 but bra^'e, resolute, determined men ; and that same 
 night, through mud and marsh and in a violent storm 
 of rain, the British forces, chagrined and disgusted to 
 the last degree, regained the point at which they had 
 landed in the morning. </Tlie same experiment was re- 
 newed on the 2?)d of the same month. A force of 
 about five thousand men under Gen. Clinton, crossed 
 over from Staten Island, and passing thi-ough the scene 
 of the I'ecent defeat of Knyphausen's forces, they reached 
 
 41 
 
Springfield, where, through the 8tiine means of giving 
 waining so successfully used before, they found ready 
 aii<l waiting to give them a like cordial reception, about 
 a thousand men. Continentals and militia combined. 
 A severe engagement followed, in tlie midst of which, 
 as it is related, Caldwell, finding that the militia, were 
 out of wadding for theii* muskets, galloped to the Pres- 
 byterian Church, \\ hicli was near, and returning with 
 an armful of liynm-l)ooks, thre^\■ them u])on the groimd, 
 exclaiming, "Now ])ut Watts into them, ])oys!'' Now, 
 as before, heai'ing of the ap])roach of Washington, the 
 Britisji set fire to the dwellings and to tlie chureh- 
 edifice, and hastily retreated, galled upon flank and 
 rear })y the em-aged and ])ursuing militia, who followed 
 them nearly to tlieii' fortifications at the Point. The 
 wdiole of these exploits, fr(nu the 7th to the 23d, 
 occui reel w ithiii the territorial limits of the Old Borouo^h, 
 and among those who contributed, on both occasions, 
 most zealous and effective service, might have l)een 
 foimd the ])ati'iotic Pastor of the old First Church, and 
 a large jnojxn'tion of the male meml)ers of his congre- 
 gation. Gen, Washington was delighted with .their 
 services, and thus wrote : " The militia deserve eveiy- 
 thing that can be said ; on both occasions they flew to 
 arms universally, and acted with a sjiirit tMjual to any- 
 thing I have seen in the course of the war." 
 
 From this time forth the ])eople were mostly j)ermit- 
 ted to remain at home in the cultivation of their fields, 
 and in the j)ursuits of trade. Cornwallis surrendered 
 to Wasliington at Yorktown, Octol)ei" 28d, 1781, and 
 the war of the Revolution ^^•as ])ractically at an end. 
 A treaty of ])eace, based on a full acknowledgment of 
 the Indej)endence of the United States, was signed on 
 
 42 
 
thy oOtli of Novt'iuher, 1 7H2, at Paris, ))y i-e})reseiita- 
 tives of Great Britain and the United States. Tlie joy 
 %vhich tilled all hearts throu^'hout the United Colonies 
 at the surrender of Cornwallis, was nowhere more sin- 
 cere or more ahonndini*: than in this old Borono;!!, which 
 had been called to make so many and so severe sacri- 
 fices for the common cause. But that joy was destined 
 soon to l>e overshadowed by another dark cloud of 
 affliction. One month after that event which crowned 
 Avith ackno^vledi^ed success their long struggle for 
 libei-ty, Rev. Mr. Caldwell, who had become more and 
 more endeared to the whole comnumity, and was well 
 known and beloved throughout the Province of New 
 Jersey, was on the •24th of November, 17H1, cruelly 
 murdered while attending upon a lady who had come 
 over from Ne^^' York for a visit to her friends in Eliza- 
 l)eth Town, and had landed at the Point. He was shot, 
 Avithout cause or pi'ov(U'ation, by a man named Morgan, 
 A\dio had been enlisted as a twelve-months man in the 
 Continental service, and was then acting as a sentinel 
 at the landing at Elizabeth Town Point. In the al)- 
 sence of any ascertained motive for so l)ase a deed, it 
 was (juite generally believed that the man had been 
 bril)ed by British gold. He was tried by court-martial 
 and executed u})on the gallows; but he never made any 
 confession of his ol)ject, or of what influenced him to 
 the deed. During the funeral services of Mr. CaldwtU 
 the whole town' suspended business, and expressed i:i 
 unmistaka])le manner the dee]) sorrow that filled all 
 hearts. Surely among the many trying scenes through 
 which the i)eople of this congregation Inid been called 
 to pass during the War of the Revolution, none could 
 have been more touching and saddening than that which 
 
 43 
 
ocviinvd at tlu' fiiiivral, wlii^Ji '' aftei- all iia. 1 t:ikt^ii tlieir 
 la-it look and 1> 'to;- ' tlr.' coffin was closed, Ella > Bou- 
 (linot caine foi-wai'd, leading' nine oiplian cliildi'Hn, and 
 ])lat'ing them ai'ound the bier of their paivnt, made an 
 address of siirjiassinLj ]):ttho'; to tl^e multitude in theii- 
 hehalF. It wa-^ an hour of dec}) ;Mid powerful eiuotioii, 
 and the procession slowly moved to the gi'ave, weepim^ 
 as tliey went/' Thus had this ])eo]de been called "to 
 sow in tears," from the day that they rose up a>< one 
 man, with their beloved l*a<tor at their hea 1, in i'esj)onse 
 to the call from Lexington, <lown to the day when just 
 as victoi-y had cj-owned their sacritices, they laid their 
 Pastor, cut off in the vigoi- of full mnulioo I, to rest in 
 the old church-yard. 
 
 But these tears weiv a precursor of a " i-ea])ing in 
 joy," not oidy from the ])rivilege now restoiVvl of i-etui'U- 
 iug in peace to their homes, ajid once morv' settinir 
 about ivbuilding their house of worshi]), which they 
 soon did, but fiom a mo-*t ])reciou«; ba])t!sm of tlie power 
 of tlie Holy S})irit from on high ; as if the "God of iheii- 
 fathei's," u})on whom they had relied in all their trials, 
 would own with the highest tokens of divine favor the 
 faith in God which had sustained them. It is relate<l 
 that from the time of conunencijig the wnvk of 
 erecting the church in w hieh we are now a<;send>led, 
 down to its dedication, in an unfinished state, that is 
 from Julv, 17S4, to January, 17^(1, the c<nigi-egation 
 wa>^ visited witii a sj)eeial outpouring of the Sj)ii-it of 
 God. And from that day on to tliis hour, (io.l, the 
 God of the covenant, the "Goil of tlieir fatheis,'' lias gone 
 before this ju-ople, leading them on fr<nn generation to 
 L^eneration in the wa\ of lovinu'-kindness and tender 
 merc\' ; iii'anting to them the incstiniabh' blessing of 
 
 44 
 
(Iwelliiii;- togetluM- in ''the unity of the Spirit .mikI in the 
 l)on(l of pence;" renewing, from time to time, those 
 seMsons of spii-itnal harvesting' after years of patient 
 sowing of the seed of divine truth ; and ]:>ermitting ns 
 in tliis (hiy and generation to ])e so riclily tlie recipients 
 of Idessings, temporal and spiritual, vouchsafed to us 
 in ansAver to the prayers, l)equeathed as a precious 
 legacy, of Cxod-fearing, Christ-loving men and women, 
 who through two centuries have worshiped God on 
 this sacred spot, and having served their day and 
 generation have "fallen on sleep." 
 
 And now the task assigned me by the Session of this 
 cliurch, and cheerfully accepted, so far as I might be 
 aide to meet it, of j)re])aring a discourse which shouhl 
 give in general outline tlie history of this church from 
 the time of its planting down to the destruction of the 
 church-edifice in 1 7^0, including such events as were of 
 leading interest to this town during the peiiod of the 
 War of the Revolution, is completed. Who can begin 
 to estimate the influence foi- good upon this community, 
 and upon the siu-rounding countiy, of this church, 
 wh^^^'h has just entered u])on the third century of its 
 history! From time to time the Mother Chiu'ch has 
 sent off C(jlonies to lay the foundations of other Pres- 
 byterian churches in this town and vicinity. To-day as 
 they are represented here by their Pastors and members, 
 we declare to them our unfeigned joy over their pro-i- 
 ])ei"ity, and a>^sure them of our earnest prayers to our 
 Heavenly Father that " grace, mercy, and peace, from 
 Go;l our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" may abide 
 with them, one and all, even unto the end. 
 
 You cannot wonder that the very walls of this ven- 
 eralde Church are deal" to hei- childi'en, not alone to 
 
 45 
 
tlio.-if now \v()i'sliij)iiig Iit^iv, l)ul to those who ;'/"t' i-. - 
 moved far away to other parts of the land ; and tliat 
 every foot of tlie ohl grave-yard adjoining, where lies 
 the dnst of ths' l)iiried generations of theii- forefatliers, 
 is to them saeivd soil. God grant that the genei'ation 
 now worshiping here, yea, and all that may follow, 
 may be as sonnd in doctrine, as fervent in piety, as 
 loyal to their God, and a^ true to tlicMr country in tlie 
 hour of hei' ])eril, as were they who here worshiped 
 God one hnndred years ago, from whose li])s may have 
 gone foi'th the very woi'ds of the j)i'o})liet, " Our holy 
 and our beautiful house where our bithers ])raised thee 
 is burned u]) with fire, and all oui' pleasant things are 
 laid Avaste ;" l)ut who, nevertlieless, "strong in the 
 Lord and in the power of his might" did maintain their 
 stmggle in the sacred cause of a nation's fi-eedoni, 
 through all losses and trials, and in the end "j)revailed, 
 because they relied u])on tlie Loi'd God of tlieir fathers/'* 
 
LiBRftRV OF CONGR^-^- 
 
 « nil 111 Mf MP I 
 
 
 
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