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HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY 
 
 IN EAST WINDSOR, 
 
 FROM ITS 
 
 FORMATION IN 1752, TO THE DEATH OF ITS SECOND PASTOR, 
 
 REV. SHUBAEL BARTLETT 
 
 IN 1854. 
 
 WITH A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF REV. MR. BARTLETT, AND HIS 
 
 FAREWELL DISCOURSE, PREPARED FOR THE FIFTIETH 
 
 ANNIVERSARY OF HIS SETTLEMENT. 
 
 HARTFORD 
 
 PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND CO. 
 1857. 
 
■v 
 
 f$> :,. " 
 
HISTORY 
 
 FIRST ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY IN EAST WINDSOR. 
 
 The sanctuary in wliicli to worship God, and the 
 school-house in which the youthful mind is to receive 
 the rudiments of education, have ever been the true 
 insignia upon the standard of the Pilgrims, and 
 wherever we find their descendants establishing a 
 settlement we shall see amid the trees of the vast 
 forest, or on the hill-top of the open country, the 
 spire of the meeting-house pointing up to the eternal 
 dwelling-place above, and its humble attendant nest- 
 ling in some bye corner or near the highway path. 
 They have never been noted for the beauty of their 
 architecture nor for the pleasantness of their loca- 
 tion, and have long been the jest of the heartless 
 writer and the ignorant traveler, but to those who 
 can sympathise in the true dignity and happiness of 
 man, and can understand his dependence upon a 
 pure heart and an understanding mind, there is a 
 beauty in their tasteless architecture and a grandeur 
 in their unpretending simplicity. To the native of 
 
New England however, they have charms that touch 
 the tenderest chords of his heart. They are the 
 near associates of that loved spot where his youth 
 was matured. They are part of the " home of his 
 childhood," and wherever else may be his residence 
 in after years, that home with all its hallowed 
 associations will still keep a clasp upon his heart and 
 maintain its moral sway. 
 
 Many have already gone out from us, and are con- 
 tending on the battle-field of life over the broad area 
 of our country, and others are preparing to go. To 
 such this unpretending narrative will contain sub- 
 jects of deep interest. May its perusal bring up 
 wholesome thoughts of past days, and recall those 
 lessons from the Word of God which you once lis- 
 tened to in our old Scantic meeting-house. 
 
 The rapidity with which towns spring into exist- 
 ence at the present day forms a striking contrast to 
 their progress one hundred years ago, and the pres- 
 ent generation would have but an imperfect idea of 
 the struggles and hardships endured by their ances- 
 tors should they judge them by what their eyes now 
 witness of the process by which churches are founded 
 and societies collected for their maintenance. Es- 
 pecially would this be the case in reference to the 
 parish of which this record pretends to be a memo- 
 rial. 
 
 Only those whose memories can reach back to the 
 latter part of the last century can realize the im~ 
 mense strides which our whole country has made in 
 the progress of social power, and it is only by recall- 
 ing from the page of history events which to us now 
 
appear almost fabulous recitals, but wliicli only date 
 back from the middle of the last century, that we 
 can bring home to our perception the fact of the 
 mighty development of wealth, and refinement, and 
 social comfort. 
 
 In the year 1754 we were a part of the vast British 
 empire. We acknowledged allegiance to a sovereign 
 across the sea, and humbly prayed His Majesty for 
 every privilege we needed, and willingly yielded our 
 purses to his 'call, and fought under his standard 
 against his enemies. 
 
 The native Indians were then in the very heart of 
 our country. They encircled within their hunting- 
 grounds the finest and most fertile portions of it, 
 and their numbers were so many and their power so 
 significant that they were alike feared and courted 
 by the opposing forces of the civilized armies which 
 in that day made our fair land the field of warfare. 
 
 In 1754, Washington was a young man just emerg- 
 ing into notice, an officer under the king, traversing 
 with dauntless courage the wilds of the West, and 
 training himself unconsciously for the splendid posi- 
 tion he was in maturer years to occupy in our strug- 
 gle for liberty and right. 
 
 Seventeen hundred and fifty-four was the epoch 
 of Braddock's defeat. In 1757 occurred the re- 
 markable massacre by the French and Indians at 
 Fort William Henry. In 1759 the immortal Wolfe 
 fell at the storming of Quebec, and that fortress, 
 with the vast possessions of the French in the north- 
 ern portion of America, fell into the hands of the 
 British. 
 
6 
 
 In 1765 the memorable Stamp Act was passed^ 
 and received the royal signature, and the first spark 
 of that fire which finally kindled the blaze of the 
 Kevokition, was struck out, and the lion aroused in 
 the hitherto passive breasts of our sires. 
 
 Six years after the incorporation of the town of 
 East Windsor, at a meeting of the inhabitants con- 
 vened on the first Monday of August, 1774, to delib- 
 erate on the dangerous situation of the liberties of 
 the American colonies and the distressed condition 
 of the town of Boston, Erastus Wolcott, Esq., was 
 chosen moderator, and after the subject was largely 
 discussed, the following resolution was unanimously 
 passed : 
 
 " That the measures which the British crown and 
 parliament of late years have thought proper to 
 adopt in relation to the colonies of America, in the 
 opinion of this town, wear a very threatening aspect 
 to their liberties and tranquility, and deserve the 
 most serious attention. 
 
 The Act for raising a revenue, for His Majesty, in 
 America, to defray the expense of the administration 
 of justice, and the support of civil government, and 
 the defense of His Majesty's dominions in America, 
 was made not only on principles subversive of the 
 darling privilege of the English constitution, in 
 taking away the property of the subject without his 
 consent, but also with the further view to place it in 
 the power of the crown to support a government in 
 America independent on the people, and His Majesty 
 undertaking to increase and pay the salaries of some 
 of the American officers, who appeared most forward 
 to favor the views of the crown, out of his American 
 revenue, that used to be done by the people without 
 any expense to the crown, affords ample proof of 
 
such a design, and that the court and government 
 of Great Britaui design to have the government of 
 the colonies entirely in their own hands. The situ- 
 tion of our affairs is truly distressing, but in the 
 opinion of this town it ill becomes the offspring of 
 those that have done and suffered so much in the 
 cause of liberty to give up the most valuable bless- 
 ings of life ; but we ought to exert ourselves with 
 great firmness, union, and resolution, to avoid the 
 oppression that threatens us. We ought, 
 
 1st. In the first place most devovitly to look to 
 Him, whose throne is in the heavens, for help and 
 deliverance. 
 
 2d. That in the management of this unhappy 
 controversy we ought to treat His Majesty, our 
 rightful sovereign and his parliament, with a be- 
 coming conduct and expressions of loyalty and re- 
 spect. 
 
 3d. We entirely approve of, and very much re- 
 joice, that there appears to be such unanimity of 
 sentiment in the colonies. 
 
 4th. That we judge it of the greatest importance 
 that the several provinces, cities, towns, and each 
 inhabitant thereof, lay aside all party and selfish 
 views, and firmly abide by the decisions of our del- 
 egates about to assemble in Congress. 
 
 5th. In the opinion of this town every man that 
 from lucrative motives, prejudice, or other mean 
 and narrow views, shall counteract these measures, 
 ought to be looked upon as a traitor to his country, 
 and treated not with violence on his person, but 
 with neglect and all the proper marks of disesteem 
 which such a character deserves, and be made sen- 
 sible of his ill conduct by denying the benefits of 
 society, of commerce, and the common advantages 
 of civilized life. 
 
 6tli. That we look upon it to be our duty ten- 
 derly to sympathize with and liberally to contribute 
 
8 
 
 to the relief of such as or shall be reduced to waut 
 in this struggle for liberty, and to do all in our 
 power to encourage and strengthen those that ap- 
 pear for the support of it ; and the inhabitants of 
 this town do hereby agree, resolve, and engage, to 
 conduct themselves in this important crisis of affairs, 
 agreeable to the sentiments and duties set forth in 
 the above-mentioned particulars. And that 
 
 William Wolcott, Erastus Wolcott, Charles Ells- 
 worth, Jr., Esq., Captain Ebenezer Grant, Benoni 
 Olcott, Lemuel Stoughton, Daniel Ellsworth, Jr., 
 Edward Chapman Grant, be a committee to keep a 
 correspondence with the towns of this and the neigh- 
 boring colonies, and to promote and forward such 
 contributions that shall be made in this town for the 
 relief of the poor in Boston under their present 
 distress." 
 
 How far off, almost in fairy land, do our minds 
 now place these events and the state of society which 
 this record brings back, and yet all these occurred 
 since the formation of our ecclesiastical society in 
 1752. The physical aspect of the parish then had 
 not much to recommend it, almost a continuous 
 forest spread over its eastern section, with only a 
 few cleared spots where settlers had felled the trees 
 and were cultivating the openings which their own 
 hands had made. The beautiful undulations of its 
 surface, the rolling hills, and winding streams, and 
 rich meadows, which now please the eye and afford 
 a picturesque home-view to almost every location 
 throughout its whole area, were then hidden be" 
 neatli the spreading arms of the giant oaks. 
 
 As early as 1736, settlers began to select favorable 
 spots for location amid the forests — some choosing 
 
their position where the land was favorable for grain, 
 some where the large pines afforded means for the 
 manufacture of tar, and others amid marshy places 
 where the grass grew rank, for the purpose of gath- 
 ering hay to winter stock, the sowing of grass-seed 
 being an improvement in agriculture not then known 
 to them. 
 
 From all that can be now learned of the charac- 
 ters of those who first settled the north parish of 
 East Windsor, we must judge them to have been 
 men of strong resolution, untiring industry, and of 
 religious habits. They were men who did not fear 
 the wilderness, who could stand with their axes 
 amid the vast forest and fell tree by tree to make a 
 clearing where the grain was to be raised for their 
 sustenance, and the habitations to be erected in 
 which they and their children were to dwell. They 
 were not mere speculators, who sought to make the 
 most out of the land they occupied in the shortest 
 possible time, and then to remove and try their luck 
 upon some other uncultivated spot ; but they seem 
 to have settled with a design to make a life-stay of 
 it, contenting themselves with a bare living for the 
 first few years, and enlarging their incomes as they 
 extended their clearhigs and brought more land into 
 a state of cultivation. The houses which they 
 erected were not log-houses such as have formed 
 the first houses of settlers in the far west, but they 
 were frame buildings of small size, made comforta- 
 ble without any pretension to ornament. Many of 
 the original settlers purchased large tracts of land, 
 which have sufficed even to the present day for 
 
10 
 
 division among their descendants, so that in very 
 many locations among ns the present owners can sit 
 beneath the shadow of the trees that sheltered their 
 forefathers, and cultivate the soil where their great- 
 great-grandfathers labored . 
 
 This one fact tells its own story to our hearts, and 
 should be treasured by those who enjoy the privilege 
 as a distinguishing characteristic. In a country 
 where land can not be entailed, and the possessions 
 which the fathers obtained by industry and skill can 
 be scattered by the prodigality of the children, sur- 
 rounded too by influences that strongly tend to em- 
 igration in quest of easier fortunes, it should be a 
 matter for honest pride to many a family among us 
 that the inheritance they now call their own has 
 been the home of their fathers and their father's 
 fathers, and almost every spot of it hallowed by asso- 
 ciations with the loved and honored dead. Such 
 land may have its nominal value on the assessor's 
 books, but we doubt very much whether its owners 
 ever calculated what its real value in dollars and 
 cents might possibly be, for in their hearts they have 
 entailed it to their children and their children's chil- 
 dren, and may it thus descend for long, long time 
 to come, an heirdom that reminds each succeeding 
 possessor, of prudence, and industry, and steady 
 habits, and a stimulus to the practice of the virtues 
 which have preserved for them a permanent home ; 
 and however lightly in this day of change and bustle 
 many may esteem the spot of earth where they and 
 their fathers have been reared, and rejoice in the 
 fact that they feel no local ties and hold themselves 
 
11 
 
 as citizens of the world at large, and are ready to 
 plant themselves wherever the prospect of gain pre- 
 sents the most alluring offer — there is still a virtue 
 and a rich reward in the cultivation of that filial 
 piety that clings to the home of our childhood and 
 the land of our birth. 
 
 It is difficult at this distant day to ascertain ex- 
 actly the religious character of the first settlers here, 
 but from the best information which can be obtained, 
 they were a church-going people, for we learn that 
 they were in the habit of attending regularly those 
 places of worship nearest to their different locations. 
 Those who lived in the north visited the old church 
 in Enfield, and those who settled in the middle and 
 southern portions of the parish, attended the church 
 of Dr. Edwards, situated near the old burying 
 ground at East Windsor Hill, now within the bounds 
 of South Windsor. This church has long been 
 taken away, but the grave-yard still retains the 
 remains of many of the fathers and mothers of our 
 parish. Sabbath after Sabbath they traversed the 
 foot-paths through the woods to that place of wor- 
 ship, and in death they were carried through the 
 same paths for many miles on the shoulders of neigh- 
 bors and acquaintances to the depository of the 
 dead near the house of God.* 
 
 * One of our oldest inhabitants remembers that at the death of a 
 young lady, whose relatives had been buried in the old cemetry on 
 East Windsor Hill, the corpse was carried from the house he now 
 occupies in Ireland street, upon the shoulders of tlie bearers to the 
 place of interment, a distance of seven miles ; several sets of bear- 
 ers relievino; each other. 
 
12 
 
 The first record we have of the present first 
 society in East Windsor, is dated 25tli day of June^ 
 1752. A meeting legally warned convened on that 
 day at the house of Mr. John Prior. Captain John 
 Ellsworth was chosen moderator, and the following 
 votes were passed : 
 
 " Voted, That Captain John Ellsworth, David Skin- 
 ner and Joseph Harper, be society's committee. 
 
 Voted, By more than two-thirds of the inhabitants 
 of the north society, entitled by law to vote, to build 
 a meeting-house in and for said society. 
 
 Voted, That they would apply themselves to the 
 county court, to see where the meeting house should 
 be. 
 
 Voted, That Samuel Watson, an inhabitant of 
 said society, be the agent for said society to apply 
 to the county court for a committee to affix a place 
 where the meeting-house shall be." 
 
 October 30th, 1752, at an adjourned meeting of 
 the society, the following resolution passed : 
 
 " Voted, That they would raise five hundred pounds, 
 old tenor currency, for the building of a meeting- 
 house, to be put into the hands of the committee for 
 that purpose." 
 
 The county court, according to request, appointed 
 a committee", and said committee made report, but 
 it appears not to have been satisfactory, for on the 
 10th of Dec, 1752, at a meeting then held, in which 
 Captain John Ellsworth was moderator, and Ammi 
 Trumbull clerk, we find the following resolution 
 passed by a vote of ten majority : 
 
 " Voted, That they would apply to the county court 
 to laying objections against the report of second com- 
 mittee of said court ordered by said court to affix a 
 
13 
 
 place for a meeting-liousc, and to apply to said 
 court for another committee — and that Erastus Wol- 
 cott be employed to find the center of society, and 
 to make a new place if necessary. 
 
 Fo^efZ, -That Benjamin Osborn be an agent for 
 said society in laying their objections before the 
 county court." 
 
 During the delay necessary to fix upon a suitable 
 spot for the erection of their place of worship, the 
 inhabitants of the parish were not willing to be 
 without the preaching of the gospel within the 
 bounds allotted to them, and we find the following 
 resolution on record : 
 
 " At a meeting of the north society in Windsor, le- 
 gally warned, voted Captain John Ellsworth mod- 
 erator. 
 
 Voted, To raise one hundred pounds, old tenor 
 money, to hire preaching at Mr. John Prior's. 
 
 Voted, That one-quarter of said hundred pounds, 
 should be spent in preaching at Mr. Nathaniel Ells- 
 worth's. 
 
 Voted, That Benjamin Osborn should go to hire 
 a minister to preach to said society." 
 
 At the expiration of a year from the time of their 
 first meeting for the purpose of erecting a house of 
 worship, the difficulties attending the setting a stake 
 at the place where it should be located were sur- 
 mounted, and on the 22d of June, 1753, we find 
 the following vote : 
 
 " Voted, That a person be appointed to go to the 
 county court, now sitting at Hartford, to get the 
 place where the last committee set the last stake, as 
 
 9. 
 
14 
 
 a place for a meeting-house to be recorded.* And 
 that Joseph Harper be their agent for that purpose." 
 
 At the same meeting it was also 
 
 " Voted, That Mr. Caleb Booth should go for Mr. 
 Pot wine to preach." 
 
 In August we find the following important res- 
 olutions : 
 
 " Aug. 20th, 1753. At a meeting of the north 
 society in Windsor, legally assembled, Captain John 
 Ellsworth being moderator, 
 
 Voted, To give Mr. Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, 
 a call to preach with us on probation, in order to 
 settle with us, with the advice of the association. 
 
 Voted, To build a meeting-house, the same 
 length and breadth as the meeting-house in the 
 second society, and twenty-one feet high between 
 joints. 
 
 Voted, Jonathan Bartlett, Samuel Allyn, and 
 Ammi Trumbull, be a committee to employ men 
 to get timber for said building." 
 
 After a trial of two months it was decided that 
 Mr. Potwine should be called as their pastor. The 
 
 * The following record was made at the June term of the county 
 court, 1753. 
 
 " We, the subscribers, being appointed in November last, a com- 
 mittee to repair to the north society in Windsor, view their circum- 
 stances, hear all persons concerned, and affix and ascertain a place, 
 in our opinion, most suitable and commendable whereon "to build a 
 meeting-house for divine worship in said society, having reported to 
 said court in January last, the said society having applied to us to re- 
 view and further consider their case, did, on the 6th day of May, 
 inst., repair to said society and review their circumstances and hear 
 all persons concerned, and having advantage of a new plan of said 
 society which gave a different representation from that which we be- 
 fore used, in reconsideration, have, in the presence of a large number 
 
15 
 
 meeting for that purpose was held on the 22d Oct., 
 1853, and Joseph Harper was moderator of the 
 meeting. 
 
 " Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine a call to set- 
 tle with lis in the work of the ministry. 
 
 Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, 
 two thousand pounds in money, old tenor, as it now 
 passes, as a settlement. 
 
 Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine five hundred 
 pounds for his yearly salary. Equal to grain, wheat 
 at forty shillings per bushel, rye at thirty shillings 
 per bushel, and Indian corn at twenty shillings per 
 bushel, old tenor, and to add to it as our lists rise 
 until it amounts to six hundred poimds old tenor 
 money. 
 
 Voted, That Joseph Harper and Mr. David Skin- 
 ner be a committee to treat with Sir Thomas Pot- 
 wine about settling with us. 
 
 Voted, To alter the shape of the meeting-house, 
 that it should be forty-seven feet in length, thirty- 
 five in breadth, and twenty-one in height between 
 joints. 
 
 Voted, That Ebenezer Bliss go to Lieutenant 
 Watson and Daniel Clark, in the name of the 
 society, to purchase of them and take a deed for the 
 same, of one and a half acres of land." 
 
 of the inhabitants of said society, set down a stake in the lot of 
 Lieutenant Samuel Watson, about 36 rods near south from the new 
 dwelling-house of Mr. Daniel Clark in said society, and are now of 
 opinion that the place where we have now set the stake is the most 
 suitable place whereon to build a new house for divine worship for 
 said society, and will accommodate the inhabitants thereof. 
 NATHANIEL OLCOTT, ^ 
 ZEBULON WEST, [ CommiUee. 
 
 STEPHEN CONE, ) 
 
 June term, 1753. 
 
16 
 
 This was designed for the spot on which the 
 church should be erected and where the stake had 
 been placed. 
 
 Our forefathers had doubtless more correct ideas 
 of the true relation in which a pastor and his people 
 stand to each other than many societies of the pres- 
 ent day, and the record which now follows ought to 
 be engraven on the hearts of all ecclesiastical socie- 
 ties, and should be a ruling principle in all their 
 agreements for the support of the ministry. The 
 reason which called for the resolution is not given, 
 but the fact of its having been placed upon their 
 records goes far to illustrate their character as men 
 and Christians. 
 
 "At a meeting of the north society legally assem- 
 bled on the first day of February, 1754, 
 
 Voted. That if what we have already voted for 
 Sir Thomas Potwine's salary should be insufficient 
 for his support, that we will add to his salary as his 
 circumstances call for and our abilities will admit of.^"* 
 
 In 1758 a new agreement was entered into between 
 the Rev. Mr. Po twine and his people, in which, at his 
 request, the sum to be paid to him annually was to 
 be sixty pounds so long as he should continue their 
 minister. He had also the use of the glebe land, or 
 minister's lot, and a yearly provision of wood. As 
 this seems to have been an arrangement satisfactory 
 to both parties, we may conclude that the sum, small 
 as it appears to us, was sufficient in that primitive 
 period of our country, for its purpose. 
 
 We find, however, much to the credit of the so- 
 ciety, when, at a subsequent period, in consequence 
 
17 
 
 of the high price of the necessaries of life during the 
 terrible years when our young nation was in the 
 deadly struggle for her independence — upon an ap- 
 plication by Mr. Potwine for assistance, we find the 
 following record : 
 
 " 27th Dec, 1799. Voted, To raise fourteen hun- 
 dred and forty pounds money to be paid to the Rev. 
 Thomas Potwine, in addition to his stated salary the 
 current year, on account of the high price of the 
 necessaries of life." 
 
 What was the actual value of the amount desig- 
 nated as fourteen hundred and forty pounds is not 
 now easily determined, but as they also raised one 
 hundred and eighty-eight pounds for the purchase of 
 his wood for that year, which had usually cost five 
 pounds, we can suppose it to have amounted to forty 
 pounds — an addition to his regular salary of two- 
 thirds. 
 
 There is also an excellent testimony borne for the 
 society by its records in the promptness with which 
 the salary to their minister was paid. Regularly as 
 the year came round his receipt is attested as in full 
 for the amount agreed upon. 
 
 The following rules of church discipline were de- 
 fined for settlement of Mr. Potwine at a meeting of 
 the society on the first April, 1754 : 
 
 " Voted, To settle Sir Thomas Potwine in the fol- 
 lowing manner, viz. : 
 
 1st. The Word of God is the only infallible rule 
 of church discipline. 
 
 2d. That the church will have a manual vote in 
 this house. 
 
 3d. That whenever we shall have occasion to 
 
 9* 
 
18 
 
 send a messenger, that we will choose him by 
 proxy. 
 
 4th. That whenever we shall have occasion for a 
 council, that the church shall choose them. 
 
 5th. We do agree to leave the examination of 
 ' those who desire to join in full communion with the 
 minister. 
 
 6th. We do agree that those who have a desire to 
 join in full communion have liberty to make relation 
 of their experience in the church and congregation, 
 upon their admission to the church." 
 
 Mr. Potwine, having accepted the terms offered 
 him as a settlement, it was concluded that on the 
 1st day of May, 1754, he should be solemnly or_ 
 dained as their pastor. 
 
 .And the following votes were passed at the meet- 
 ing held on the 1st April preceding : 
 
 " Voted, To ordain Sir Thomas Potwine at Lieu- 
 tenant Samuel Watson's. 
 
 Voted, That Captain John Ellsworth proceed for 
 the ministers that shall ordain Sir Thomas Potwine, 
 and the rest of the ministers that shall come to or- 
 dination, and the messengers. 
 
 Voted, That Caleb Booth, Ezekiel Osborn, Jona- 
 than Bartlett, Samuel Watson, David Skinner, John 
 Gaylord, Ebenezer Bliss, Benjamin Osborn, and 
 Ammi Trumbull, provide for people that come to 
 ordination." 
 
 No building had as yet been erected for public 
 worship, but the people, anxious to have the minis- 
 tration of the ordinances and a servant of God as 
 their leader and teacher, procured the use of a pri- 
 vate house for that purpose, and the one most appro- 
 priate then on account of its size and capacity for 
 accommodating a number of people was that which 
 
19 
 
 is now in possession of Mr. Joel Prior, situated in 
 Main street. The ordination of Mr. Potwine was 
 celebrated under the roof of a barn then newly 
 erected and never as yet used. Of course none are 
 now living who witnessed that scene, but the account 
 of it the writer has received from an old lady, who 
 very distinctly remembers what her mother told her 
 about it, who was present and with her babe in her 
 arms. The ceremony was performed upon the barn 
 floor. A table answered for a desk, and benches 
 made of rough boards, with a few chairs for the more 
 distinguished ministers, were their seats. Boards 
 were laid across the bays as standing places for the 
 women and older people, while upon the beams 
 above perched the younger and most elastic. This 
 barn is still standing. 
 
 It would be gratifying to be able to give some 
 particulars of the ministry of Mr. Potwine, but un- 
 fortunately no records have been preserved that can 
 throw light upon it ; nothing pertaining to church 
 matters can be known except from tradition. How 
 many were added through his long ministry can 
 only be known now when the last great account 
 shall be made up. 
 
 In about one year after his ordination, the house 
 for worship was completed,* and the congregation 
 
 * The house of worship was not probably in a finished state when 
 first occupied, for we find on record the following resolutions in 
 reference to it : 
 
 "Dec. 18th, 1759, voted that Joseph Allyn, Johnathan Bartlett> 
 and Ammi Trumbull, be a committee for finishing the lower part 
 of the meetino'-house. 
 
20 
 
 joyfully assembled together for the purpose of con- 
 secrating it as a holy place where they could meet 
 to sing the praises of Jehovah, to bow together in 
 prayer before him, and to sit beneath the droppings 
 of the sanctuary, and listen to the teachings of His 
 servant from the holy scriptures. 
 
 It was erected as nearly at the center of the par- 
 ish as could be agreed upon, although in the opinion 
 of many, who lived on what was called the river 
 road, " too far in the woods." The site chosen was 
 the one occupied by the present place of worship. 
 The building was after the fashion of many of that 
 day, where the society was not large or wealthy. 
 It was a plain, oblong building, of small size, as 
 the dimensions already given testify, and without 
 any steeple or ornament. A door opened from the 
 east and south, and with its galleries could probably 
 accommodate from two to three hundred persons. 
 Not long after the erection of the church a small 
 building was put up near the present site of the 
 
 " Voted, That the lower part of the meeting-house be finished with 
 pews." 
 
 Again, at a meeting held 21st Dec., 1767, Deacon Lampson Wells 
 being chosen moderator, and James Harper, John Thompson, and 
 Lemuel Stoughton, society's committee — 
 
 " Voted, To raise twelve pounds to glaze the meeting-house, to be 
 paid in grain, viz : wheat at four shillings, rye at three shillings, and 
 Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and the society's committee 
 to take charge of the glazing." 
 
 Again, at a meeting held 11th Dec, 1769 — 
 
 " Voted, To raise eighty pounds to be expended in finishing the 
 meeting-house, to be paid in grain, wheat at four shillings, rye at 
 three shillings, and Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and 
 Lemuel Stoughton, Johnathan Bartlctt, and Simeon Wolcott, to be 
 a committee to lay out the money and see to the work." 
 
21 
 
 dwelling-house of Samuel W. Bartlett,Esq.,for the ac- 
 commodation of those who lived too far from the place 
 of worship to be able to return to their homes during 
 the interruption of public worship at noon, where 
 they could take refreshment such as they had 
 brought with them, or, if the winter season, have 
 the benefit of a fire, and replenish their foot-stoves 
 for the afternoon service, a warm meeting-house 
 being in those days an interdicted luxury. This 
 building also answered a very useful purpose for 
 those females who might have no convenience for 
 riding to church, and were of necessity often com- 
 pelled to encounter sand and dust if the season was 
 dry, or snow and mud at other times — a change of 
 the nether garments was necessary, and here it 
 could be effected. 
 
 Going to church was in those days a matter of 
 course. None staid at home but the very aged and 
 the sick ; and they went in that way which happened 
 to be most convenient, for the most part on horse- 
 back.* The husband and the wife, the brother and 
 sister, the lover and his lass, each pair on the same 
 horse, and often a little one in the arms of the 
 mother or father. One hundred horses have been 
 counted thus passing in line along one of the most 
 
 * Some of the roads were inconvenient even for that mode of con- 
 veyance. At the top and bottom of the long hill which ascends from 
 Mr. Osborn's mill to what is now called Prospect street, horse-blocks 
 were erected at which the riders could dismount and mount — the hill 
 was so steep and rugged they were obliged to lead their horses going 
 up or down ; and some persons now living remember well seeing 
 these blocks. 
 
22 
 
 frequented roads, of those who had been attending 
 the house of God. 
 
 Weather did not then determine the numbers 
 who should be in their seats in the Lord's house. 
 The soaking rain and the driving storm of snow 
 were matters of little account with the hardy ances- 
 tors of this settlement, the men who with their own 
 sturdy arms had made a clearing for their families 
 amid the forest, and the women who with their own 
 hands wove the garments in which their husbands 
 and themselves were clad, were not the persons to 
 look either to the heavens above or the earth be- 
 neath to ascertain whether it would do to " venture 
 out to-day." Moreover, going to church was con- 
 sidered an indispensable duty, none turned their 
 backs upon the house of God, and it was no uncom- 
 mon thing for neighbors to question each other if 
 for one or two Sabbaths any were absent from their 
 place. Alas ! that the good habit should ever have 
 been laid aside. 
 
 With this practice continued, as the parish in- 
 creased in numbers, we can readily understand how 
 at the end of fifty years the house which had accom- 
 modated the fathers became too small for their de- 
 scendants. The seats could not contain the congre- 
 gation, and the stairs which led into the galleries, 
 as well as the outer steps at the doors, were often 
 filled with those who could find no other resting- 
 place. 
 
 Whether the spiritual condition of the people may 
 be judged by this crowding to the house of God, 
 can not now be so clearly ascertained as we could' 
 
23 
 
 wish. That there was a good degree of vital relig 
 ion we may hope. Prayer-meetings Avere regularly 
 kept up in different parts of the parish, and in these 
 exercises the hands of the pastor were greatly 
 strengthened by the energy and devotion of his 
 venerable father who had removed to this town. 
 He went from house to house and held meetings 
 that were well attended, and was constant in his 
 labors both in regular attendance through all 
 weathers and in direct conversation with individ- 
 uals. And so much was he esteemed for these 
 labors of love, that the people of their own accord 
 erected for him a small house in the center street 
 of the parish, that he might have a permanent 
 home among them. 
 
 The first notice we have of any necessity for a 
 new meeting-house is from the record of a meeting 
 held the 19th day of Dec, 1796. The society was 
 called together " for the purpose that the inhabit- 
 ants of said society may show their minds respecting 
 the necessity of building a new meeting-house, and 
 to do any business lawful and proper to be done 
 relating to the building of said house." 
 
 But two votes were passed at this meeting ; one 
 appointing James Chamberlin moderator, and the 
 other to adjourn the meeting to the first Monday 
 of March following, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon. 
 
 At the meeting held in March, the question was 
 put by the moderator — 
 
 " Will you do anything respecting the building a 
 new meeting-house in this society ? 
 The society answered in the negative." 
 
24 
 
 Five years elapsed before any move was again 
 made in reference to erecting a new house or re- 
 pairing and enlarging the old one. On the 21st 
 day of April, 1801, a meeting was held of the sec- 
 ond society in East Windsor, "legally holden at the 
 meeting-house in said society. 
 
 " Voted, Captain Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. 
 
 Voted, To build an addition to the meeting- 
 house in said society of about 21 feet in length, and 
 the same height and breadth with the body of said 
 house, on the north part of said house ; to build a 
 new roof facing the opposite way from what the old 
 one now stands ; to niove the pulpit to a proper 
 place; to lill the new part with pews, excepting 
 proper alleys ; to move any pews that it shall be 
 necessary to move ; to plaster all parts of said 
 house that shall be necessary ; to new cover the out- 
 side of said house and paint it ; to underpin the 
 said house decently with three tier of stone, includ- 
 ing many of the old underpinning stone as can be 
 used ; and to procure suitable step-stones ; all to be 
 done within twenty months from this date. 
 
 Voted, That Messrs. John Morton, Thomas l^ot- 
 wine, Jr., and Stoddard Ellsworth, be a committee 
 to carry the above vote into execution. 
 
 Voted, To raise four cents on the dollar on the 
 list of 1800, to enable said committee to carry into 
 execution the above described building." 
 
 Nothing had been done towards the accomplish- 
 ment of the resolutions passed at the meeting in 
 April, when the society again met in October of the 
 same year, except collecting materials for the work ; 
 nor is there a record of any motion having been 
 made to rescind or alter the votes which had been 
 
25 
 
 passed ; nor is any mention made in reference to the 
 matter, except the following vote : 
 
 " Voted, That the inhabitants of this society or 
 any individuals be permitted to build a cupola or 
 steeple to the meeting-house in this society, provided 
 it be done entirely by subscription, and provided no 
 tax be laid to defray the expense of the same." 
 
 A difference of opinion is, however, known to 
 hava arisen, and perhaps a little too much per- 
 tinacity was manifested on each side ; the breach 
 became seriously wider and wider, and the members 
 on either side of the question were determined to 
 stand by their expressed opinion. At the close of 
 one of their meetings in which many hard words 
 had been sent back and forth, and in which it had 
 been decided by a majority of voters that an addi- 
 tion should be made to their present house of wor- 
 ship, it was very evident that the minority felt sorely 
 grieved, and one of them was heard to express the 
 opinion "that the addition would never be made." 
 Whether it was spoken under prophetic inspiration 
 or otherwise is of little consequence now. 
 
 In the edge of evening of that same day, 5th 
 Oct., 1801, the families living in the vicinity of the 
 meeting-house were aroused by the cry of fire ! and 
 to their dismay soon found that the sacred building 
 which had been the subject of so much contention, 
 and the innocent cause of much asperity of feeling, 
 was involved in flames. The fire had originated 
 upon the west end of the house, and when first 
 discovered it is said might soon have been extin- 
 guished ; but the efficient help at the right time 
 3 
 
26 
 
 was wanting, and the dry material soon fed the 
 flame beyond the power of any means within reach 
 to extinguish it, and in a few hours a heap of ashes 
 and charred timbers alone remained of the place 
 where for half a century the inhabitants of the second 
 parish of East Windsor had worshiped. To some, 
 doubtless, it was rather an agreeable sight than oth- 
 erwise ; there could now be no patching or adding 
 to be done ; a new house must be had to woi'ship 
 in, or none at all ; but to very many it brought dis- 
 may and sorrow of heart. The old building had 
 been their "first love." It was associated with the 
 memory of departed ones. It was their holy house. 
 Sabbath after Sabbath they had gathered there from 
 their earliest days ; there they had sung the praises 
 of Jehovah, had bowed in solemn prayer, had lis- 
 tened to words of exhortation, and there perhaps 
 had received the first breath of spiritual life. No 
 other place could be to them what that had been, 
 and as the unsparing flames wrapped in their furious 
 embrace the sacred building, and sent their lurid 
 glare far up on the overhanging clouds and on the 
 distant hill-tops, the tears of heartfelt sorrow broke 
 forth, and lamentations were heard in many a 
 household. It seemed to them like the triumphing 
 of the wicked ; like the tread of the demon of evil 
 upon their sacred Zion. 
 
 But perhaps to no one was the intelligence " that 
 the church was on fire " so heart-rending as to him 
 who had administered at that sanctuary for the last 
 fifty years. Mr. Potwine had now become an old 
 man. He had reached the farther shore of time, 
 
27 
 
 and the mists from eternity's vast ocean were begin- 
 ning to gather around him. Advanced in life and 
 weakened by disease, he was in no condition to bear 
 such a trial. To him, above all others, that old 
 edifice was precious. It had been the place of his 
 life's labor ; the post where his master had stationed 
 him in the days of liis early manhood, and in which 
 he had been kept to his old age ; it was associated 
 with all the memories so dear to a true pastor of 
 the flock of Christ. He had there proclaimed a 
 Saviour's dying love ; administered the elements 
 commemorative of that Saviour's ato;iing sacri- 
 fice ; witnessed the power of the truth upon those 
 who listened to his message from the heights of 
 Zion. It was the one spot to which for fifty years his 
 mind turned with deep interest, and with which 
 were connected his duty here and his crown here- 
 after. He is said to have lost his usual elasticity 
 of mind, his spirits drooped, and his bodily infirmi- 
 ties increased in power, until the hour came which 
 closed his trials and his stewardship. 
 
 Now that time has worn away the prejudices of 
 those opposed to the erection of a new building, and 
 in favor of enlarging the old one, those of them who 
 are now alive doubtless believe that it has resulted 
 in good. And in what way could an old church be 
 so properly disposed of as to be burned to ashes and 
 mingled again with the dust ? Better far thus to be 
 removed when no longer appropriate for that use to 
 which it had been consecrated, than to have its 
 pews converted into barn-yard fences, and its pulpit 
 and sounding-board into hen-coops. 
 
28 
 
 A period of darkness now ensued. The minds of 
 many in the society were sadly embittered. The 
 daring and wanton act which had been perpetrated by 
 some rude hand could not be forgotten. More than 
 one individual was suspected and openly charged 
 with the crime, and at length a prosecution was 
 commenced against several who had been members 
 of the society. They of course denied the charge ; 
 and those connected with them by friendship or 
 family ties, were greatly aroused and violently 
 embittered against the society, and withdrew their 
 names from its list of members. It was a time of 
 contention and consequent darkness. Some now 
 living can no doubt recall the scene as one of severe 
 trial to the lover of Zion ; as a time when Satan 
 seemed to have gained the ascendency, and was 
 about to root up the good seed which had been sown 
 here by the preaching of the Word, and the prayers 
 and tears of God's people. 
 
 The trial in the courts lasted for some time, but 
 the result of it is now of little consequence. Most, 
 if not all, of those concerned in either side, have 
 gone before a higher tribunal, and the troubled 
 waters have long since subsided ; we would not 
 raise a ripple on their calm surface. 
 
 Whatever division of feeling existed within the 
 society, there seems to have been a decision of pur- 
 pose with a large majority in regard to the erection 
 of a new place of worship. At the regular meeting 
 of the society in the following April, Captain Heze- 
 kiah Bissell being chosen moderator, it was 
 
 " Voted, To build a meeting-house in this society^ 
 
29 
 
 at a place where the Honorable General Assembly 
 or County Court shall affix — by a majority of the 
 whole except two — and that Caleb Booth, Esq., be 
 agent in behalf of this society to proffer a memorial 
 praying said Assembly or Court, as occasion may 
 require, to appoint, order, and affix the place where- 
 on said meeting-house shall be built, and also to 
 apply to said Assembly for their resolve appropri- 
 ating the materials and money provided for repair- 
 ing the old meeting-house, lately burnt in this 
 society, to the purpose of building a new one. 
 
 Voted, To raise five mills on the dollar on the 
 list of 1801, for the purpose of defraying the ex- 
 penses." 
 
 The expense referred to was more particularly 
 intended for carrying on the law-suit ordered to be 
 commenced against those suspected of having fired 
 the old meeting-house. 
 
 Also, 
 
 " Voted, That John Stoughton, Jr., be collector 
 to collect the said tax." 
 
 On the 26th day of May, 1802, a meeting was 
 held '' for the purpose of taking into consideration 
 the doing of the Honorable General Assembly com- 
 mittee in affixing the place whereon to build a 
 meeting-house in this society, and for acting 
 thereon." 
 
 " Voted, Captain Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. 
 
 Voted, That provided said Assembly shall ratify 
 the doings of said committee, we will build a meet- 
 ing-house on said place. 
 
 Ninety-one in the affirmative and twenty-three 
 in the negative." 
 
 Voted, To adjourn this meeting to the 31st day 
 of May, instant, at 2 o'clock, P. M." 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 On the 31st May, accordingly, the society again 
 assembled ; Captain Hezekiah Bissell moderator. 
 
 " Voted, To raise two cents on the dollar on the 
 list of 1801, towards defraying the expense of build- 
 ing the new meeting-house, wiien the General As- 
 sembly have affixed the place, in addition to the four 
 cent tax already voted and appropriated to the build- 
 ing of said house, by said Assembly, payable on the 
 first day of October, 1802. 
 
 Voted, Messrs. John Morton, Thomas Potwine, 
 Jr., and Job Ellsworth, be a committee to carry 
 the building of said meeting-house into effect. 
 
 Voted, To build said meeting-house of the fol- 
 lowing dimensions : fifty-six feet in length and forty- 
 seven feet in breadth, and a proportionable height, 
 to be determined by the committee appointed to 
 build said house ; and to erect the frame, and cover 
 the outside, and lay the lower floor, by the first day 
 of October, 1802, or as soon as may be. 
 
 Voted, That John Watson, Jr., be the collector 
 to collect the four cent tax voted 21st April, 1801. 
 
 Voted, That Joseph Lord be collector to collect 
 the two cent tax voted this day." 
 
 The committee chosen by the society seems to 
 have possessed a very commendable degree of energy 
 in carrying out their resolutions, for in one month 
 from the date of their last meeting the house was 
 raised, and we suppose in some state of forwardness, 
 so mucli so that at a meeting legally w^arned and 
 held on the 2d of July, 1802, they felt it necessary 
 to pass a vote and take measures for protection 
 against any evil disposed persons who might attempt 
 to injure it. The following resolution speaks for itself: 
 
 " Voted, That Samuel Styles, Jeremiah Lord, 
 and John Felshaw, be agents in behalf of this 
 
31 
 
 society, and tliej are hereby authorized and ap- 
 pointed to take care of the new meeting-house, 
 lately erected in this society, and to commence a 
 prosecution or prosecutions against any person or 
 persons who shall attempt or commit any trespass 
 on said meeting-house, in any wise injuring the 
 same, and to make presentment to proper authority 
 for any breaches of law or for any threats that have or 
 that shall be uttered respecting said house, and pros- 
 ecute the same to final judgment and execution." 
 
 The last vote for raising the yearly salary of Rev. 
 Mr. Po twine, was passed by the society at their reg- 
 ular meeting in October, 1802. Caleb Booth, Esq., 
 was chosen moderator, Ebenezer Watson, society's 
 clerk, and Caleb Booth, Hezekiah Bissell, and Noah 
 Allen, society committee. 
 
 '' Voted, To raise two hundred dollars for the 
 Rev. Thomas Potwine's salary for the current year. 
 
 Voted, To raise sixteen pounds, sixteen shil- 
 lings, to get the Rev. Thomas Potwine's wood for 
 the year ensuing, to be paid to the following named 
 persons, in proportion as they have undertaken to 
 get said wood : 
 
 To Daniel Osborn, 
 Hezekiah Wells, 
 Daniel Chapin, 
 Hezekiah Bissell, 
 Jolmathan Clark, 
 Henry Wolcott, 
 Paul Hamilton, 
 David Bancroft, 
 Alexander Yining, 6 
 Joseph Button. 
 Caleb Booth, 
 Johnathan Button, 2 
 
 4 
 
 cords at 
 
 8 
 
 shillings, 
 
 4 
 
 u 
 
 8 
 
 a 
 
 4 
 
 u 
 
 8 
 
 4; 
 
 8 
 
 Li 
 
 8 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 2 
 
 u 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 2 
 
 u 
 
 8 
 
 (.i 
 
 2 
 
 a 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 g,6 
 
 a 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 2 
 
 u 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 4 
 
 a 
 
 8 
 
 u 
 
 n,2 
 
 cords." 
 
 8 
 
 ii 
 
 42 
 
 
32 
 
 This method of supplying the wood for Mr. Pot- 
 wine had been adopted first at a meeting of the 
 society in November, 1794, at which time an in- 
 spector of the wood thus to be provided, was ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 Soon after this meeting in October, 1802, the 
 society was left destitute of a pastor by the death 
 of the Rev. Mr. Potwine.* They did not however 
 
 * Mr. Potwine died ia November, 1802, about one year after the 
 burning of the meeting-house. The following record of his last 
 hours of life was made at the time when the scene occurred : 
 
 " For more than ten days preceding his death, Mr. Potwine was 
 exercised with great bodily distress, but patient and resigned to the 
 hand of God. So great was his weakness that he was unable to 
 converse in that length of time ; but while the lamp of life was glim- 
 mermg in the socket, and every moment expected to be his last, on 
 the morning of the Lord's day, Avhich was the day before his death, 
 to the surprise of his mourning family and many people who called 
 in to take a last and affectionate farewell of their beloved pastor, on 
 their way to the place of public worship, at that moment he was 
 favored with a short revival, his departing spirit recalled, and with 
 an audible voice he asked them to unite with him in prayer ; and in 
 the following words poured forth the desires of his heart. 
 
 " Almighty God and Heavenly Father ! be pleased to be with us on 
 this Thy holy day, to keep us from sin and all evil, and guide us in 
 duty. Will God be with me. Thy servant, who is soon to be laid in 
 the consuming grave. Merciful God ! be with me in my d3'ing mo- 
 ments, to uphold and support me. Put underneath me Thine ever- 
 lasting arras of mercy ; and support me 1iy Thy free, rich grace ; and 
 receive my departing spirit to Thy blissful presence. Will God be 
 with my dear and mourning wife in her great trials, and support her 
 by Thy Holy Spirit. Will God sanctify my death to ray dear chil- 
 dren, for their spiritual and everlasting good. And may my death 
 be sanctified to my beloved church and people when I am laid in the 
 dust. Unite them in one heart and one mind to serve the living and 
 true God. Preserve them from Will worship ; and may they in 
 truth and sincerity love and serve Thee. May they be united in 
 harmony and peace. Bless the whole Israel of God ; and have com- 
 passion on the immortal souls Thou hast made ; through the mei-its 
 of Thy dear Son, our Lord and Saviour, and to Him, with the 
 Father and Eternal Spirit, be ascribed everlasting praises. Amen." 
 
 The last words which Mr. Potwine was heard to utter, were, 
 
 " Christ is my all and in all." 
 
33 
 
 relax in any of their efforts to finish their meeting- 
 house, ah'eady erected, or to provide for themselves 
 and families the stated preaching of the gospel ; and 
 . it is highly gratifying to perceive how promptly and 
 systematically they went on amidst the difficulties 
 with which they were surrounded. They had now 
 no spiritual leader. Many who had been members 
 of the society either withdrew their aid or united 
 in opposition ; but the business of the society went 
 steadily on. 
 
 A meeting was legally warned, and held on the 
 10th day of January, 1803. Captain Hezekiah Bis- 
 sell was chosen moderator ; when it was 
 
 " Voted, That Caleb Booth be and he is hereby 
 appointed agent for this society to apply to the 
 association for advice and assistance in procuring 
 a candidate to preach the gospel to them on pro- 
 bation. 
 
 Voted, To raise two cents on the dollar, on the 
 list of 1802, for the purpose of paying the expenses 
 on the meeting-house, already arisen, and likewise 
 to build a pulpit." 
 
 In March following, a meeting was held by ad- 
 journment from that held 10th of January, which 
 was again adjourned to the third Monday of March ; 
 and on the third Monday the society again assem- 
 bled, but the only resolution passed was the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 '^ Voted, To dissolve this meeting." 
 
 And the Rev. Mr. McClure, the pastor of the south church in 
 East Windsor, chose them as the text from which he preached his 
 funeral sermon, November 17th, 1802. 
 
 Colossians iii. 2.—" Christ is all and in all." 
 
34 
 
 That there was some difficulty, appears evident 
 from these frequent meetings, without any action. 
 There was, however, a majority of determined friends 
 to religion and good order, for on the twenty-eighth 
 day of March, instant, another meeting was legally 
 warned, and held, at which considerable business 
 was transacted. 
 
 " Voted, Captain Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. 
 
 Voted, Assael Stiles, clerk. 
 
 Voted, Asael Stiles, Treasurer. 
 
 Voted, To finish off the new meeting-house in 
 this socitey complete by the first day of December 
 next ; the stairs in the steeple to be included in fin- 
 ishing said house. 
 
 Voted, To raise six cents on the dollar, on the list 
 of Aug. 20, 1802, to defray the expense of the same, to 
 be paid at three several payments, viz. : \ first of 
 Oct., 1803 ; ^ first of October, 1804 ; i first of Octo- 
 ber, 1805 ; and that the rate-bills be immediately 
 made out, that any persons so disposed may pay 
 their proportions at once. 
 
 Voted, That John Morton, Job Ellsworth, and 
 Thomas Potwine, be the committee to finish said 
 house. 
 
 Voted, That Joshua Allen be a collector to col- 
 lect said tax." 
 
 The above meeting was adjourned to the 6th day 
 of June following, when the following vote was 
 
 " Voted, To raise five mills on the dollar, on the 
 list of 1803, to defray the expense of hiring a cler- 
 gyman to supply the pulpit in this society. 
 
 Voted, Mr. Joshua Allen collector to collect the 
 above tax." 
 
 Mr. Booth had been successful in procuring a can- 
 
35 
 
 didate, the Rev. Slmbael Bartlett ; and the above 
 tax was laid for the purpose of paying him for his 
 services. 
 
 After preaching some months as a candidate, Mr. 
 Bartlett received a call from the society to settle as 
 their Pastor. 
 
 The preliminary meeting for that purpose was 
 held on the 28th day of November, 1803 ; Captain 
 Hezekiah Bissell, moderator. The vote was passed 
 to call Mr. Bartlett by a large majority, eighty-four 
 voting in the affirmative, and twelve in the negative. 
 The terms of settlement were 
 
 Five hundred dollars to be paid him as a settle- 
 ment, and a yearly salary of four hundred and 
 fifty dollars, so long as he should be able to supply 
 the pulpit, and if disabled from preaching, one-half 
 the salary to be deducted. He was also to have the 
 use of the minister lot. 
 
 These terms were accepted by Mr. Bartlett in a 
 communication which he made to the society, dated 
 Hartford, 12th January, 1804, and which is now on 
 record — the substance of which is as follows : 
 
 He accepts the Cambridge platform in matters of 
 church discipline, and especially as expressed in the 
 following rules : 
 
 1st. The Word of God is the only infallible and 
 unerring rule of church discipline. 
 
 2d. The church shall have a manual vote in the 
 church. 
 
 3d. That whenever the church shall have occa- 
 sion to send a messenger, they shall choose him by 
 ballot. 
 
36 
 
 4th. That whenever there shall be occasion for a 
 council, the church shall choose them — except it be 
 an occasion when business is to be transacted be- 
 tween the minister and the people, in which case the 
 council shall be chosen mutually by the minister 
 and by the church. 
 
 5th. The church agrees to leave the examination 
 of those who have a desire to join, with the church, 
 in full communion, as to their qualifications with 
 the minister. 
 
 6th. That those who have a desire to join in full 
 communion, have liberty to make a relation of their 
 experience, in the church and congregation, upon 
 their admission into the church. 
 
 Under these principles of discipline the church 
 and Mr. Bartlett bound themselves — which agree- 
 ment being laid before the society at an adjourned 
 meeting held the 9th day of January, 1804, it 
 was 
 
 " Voted ^ That the constitution and coevnant into 
 which tne church have entered with Mr. Bartlett 
 respecting church government and discipline, be 
 recorded at large. 
 
 Voted, That it is the will of this society, that 
 Mr. Shubael Bartlett should be ordained in tliis 
 society, to the work of the Gospel ministry, on the 
 '15th day of February, 1804. 
 
 Voted, That Caleb Booth, Hezekiah Bissell, and 
 Noah Allen, be a committee to make the necessary 
 provision for the Reverend clergymen who shall be 
 invited as counselors, and to attend the Reverend 
 gentlemen in council in behalf of this society." 
 
 Thus under the kind care of Providence was the 
 
37 
 
 society carried through all the trying scenes attend- 
 ing the wanton destruction of their old meeting- 
 liouse — the loss by death of their old minister — and 
 the erection of a new, larger, and more perfect build- 
 ing, and the settlement, by almost unanimous vote, 
 of a new pastor in the prime of life, and well recom- 
 mended by the churches for ability, piety, and pru- 
 dence. 
 
 The last tax raised for the completion of the meet- 
 ing-house, was voted at an adjourned meeting held 
 on the 10th day of December, 1804 — Captain Hez- 
 ekiah Bissell being moderator. 
 
 " Voted, To raise two cents five mills on the dol- 
 lar, on the list of 1804, to enable the committee to 
 complete the meeting-house, to be paid on the 1st 
 day of May, 1805. 
 
 Voted, Phinehas Blodgett collector, to collect the 
 above tax." 
 
 In 1841 the question l^egan to be agitated, what 
 should be done to make our meeting-house more 
 decent as a place of worship ? It had never been 
 whitewashed or painted within since its erection. It 
 had become not only unsightly in appearance, but 
 really filthy. The square pews along the wall of 
 the galleries, which had been assigned to the younger 
 portion of the congregation — a very unhappy device 
 — had attracted more and more the notice of those 
 who had the respect to the proprieties of worship, 
 in consequence of the facility afforded the young and 
 thoughtless in conduct unbecoming the house of God, 
 disturbing the serious minded, and effectually hin- 
 dering whatever good they themselves might be in 
 
 4: 
 
38 
 
 the way of receiving. The square pews below were 
 also not so convenient nor agreeable as they had 
 been when square pews were fashionable. The 
 seats were too narrow and the sides too high, and as 
 cleaning the house and painting it would not remedy 
 this evil nor some others which began to be more 
 apparent as the subject was examined, it was seri- 
 ously agitated at last to make a thorough alteration 
 or to build anew. 
 
 On the 28th of October, 1841, at a meeting of 
 the society called for the purpose of considering the 
 subject, it was unanimously resolved that a commit- 
 tee be appointed to make thorough examination of 
 churches in the vicinity which had been remodeled 
 within a few years ; to recommend some plan for 
 action ; and to ascertain at what cost such change 
 as they should present, might be accomplished. 
 This committee consisted of Chester Belknap, Esq., 
 John W. Stoughton, Esq., and Azel S. Roe. 
 
 On the 13th of December, 1841, this commit- 
 tee made a report in accordance with their judg- 
 ment, and presented a draft of the alteration pro- 
 posed to be made, with an estimate of the expense. 
 Whereupon it was voted that leave be given to 
 Daniel Chapin, Esq., John W. Stoughton, Esq., and 
 Mr. Stephen Potwine, in conjunction with the socie- 
 ty's regular committee, to make such alteration ac- 
 cording to the plan proposed, provided it could be 
 done without any expense to the society. 
 
 Of course the vote thus passed had in view to 
 make the proposed alteration by subscription, as 
 some members were not in favor of any change, and 
 
39 
 
 did not like to be taxed for an object they did not 
 approve. Two thousand dollars were required to 
 do the work. At once a paper was handed for sub- 
 scription, and in a day or so about one thousand 
 dollars was gained, and after great exertions it at 
 length arose to twelve hundred dollars; when the 
 hopes of the most sanguine friends of the measure 
 began to flag. There seemed to be insuperable dif- 
 ficulties in the way. Many were ready to give some- 
 thing if it was to be accomplished ; but they felt no 
 favor to it, and would not aid unless it became very 
 evident that the thing would succeed. At length 
 an ardent friend to the measure proposed to double 
 his subscription, which already amounted to one 
 hundred dollars — others joined with him and offered 
 to increase theirs — thus three-fourths of the sum 
 was ensured, and those who did not wish to enjoy a 
 benefit which they had no hand in providing, came 
 forward, and the amount was soon completed. 
 
 The accomplishment of the proposed plan resulted, 
 we believe, in very general satisfaction. It afforded 
 a neat and convenient place for worship, and also a 
 commodious room for the Sabbath school, and pre- 
 vented the necessity of polluting our sanctuary by 
 such meetings as are not connected with the worship 
 of God. 
 
 The new room was consecrated by the venerable 
 Pastor, Rev. Mr. Bartlett, by a solemn act of wor- 
 ship, in which all the congregation arose, and by 
 his and their act, dedicated it to the service of Jeho- 
 vah, to be a temple purely for prayer and praise and 
 holy teaching. 
 
40 
 
 BELL AND CLOCK. 
 
 The bell and clock were presented to the society 
 as a donation, and the following is the first notice of 
 them on record : 
 
 " At a meeting of the second ecclesiastical society, 
 legally warned, and held on the second day of Octo- 
 ber, 1809 : 
 
 Voted, Caleb Booth, Esq., moderator. Asahel 
 Stiles, society clerk. Captain Noah Allen, Deacon 
 Daniel Porter, and Lieutenant John Morton, society 
 committee. 
 
 Voted, That whereas sundry individuals belong- 
 ing to the second ecclesiastical society in East Wind- 
 sor, have provided, by free donation, a bell and also 
 a clock, for the use and benefit of said society, and 
 have freely presented the same by their committees ; 
 therefore. 
 
 Resolved, That this society cordially and grate- 
 fully accept the donation and return them their 
 sincere thanks for the same, and also to the respect- 
 ive committees for their trouble and attention to this 
 business." 
 
 The bell and clock were no doubt put into their 
 respective places immediately, for we find provision 
 made for ringing the bell and taking care of the 
 clock, at this same meeting, in the following vote : 
 
 " Voted, To raise twenty-two dollars, to be paid to 
 Mr. Thomas Tar])ox for rhiging the Ijeli and taking 
 care of the clock." 
 
 The reo'ulations for rinoingr the bell were not made 
 
 O CO 
 
 until 1812. At a meeting held in October of that 
 year, it was 
 
 " Voted, That the following shall be the regula- 
 tions for ringing the bell : 
 
 The bell shall be rung at 12 o'clock in the day, 
 
41 
 
 and nine at night, five minutes each time. After 
 ringing the bell at nine at niglit, to toll the day of 
 the month. 
 
 It shall ring every Sabbath morning at half past 
 nine o'clock, fifteen minutes. It shall ring at meet- 
 ing time five minutes, and then toll until the min- 
 ister comes and enters the desk. 
 
 In like manner before a lecture. 
 
 It shall ring for a death five minutes ; for a male 
 above ten years old, it shall strike three times three 
 strokes ; for a female over ten years of age, it shall 
 strike three times two strokes ; and for a child under 
 ten years of age, three strokes ; and then it shall 
 strike the age of the person deceased ; and then it 
 shall be tolled fifteen minutes. It shall be tolled at 
 a funeral when requested. 
 
 It is not to be tolled for a death after the sun 
 is down." 
 
 We find no mention made of stoves for warming 
 the meeting-house until 1825. At a meeting held 
 in October of that year, Mr. Chester Belknap being 
 moderator, it was 
 
 "Voted^ To give liberty to the inhabitants of the 
 second society in East Windsor, to put a stove or 
 stoves into the meeting-house, provided they shall be 
 the property of the society so long as the society 
 shall suffer them to remain in said house." 
 
 Nothing, however, was done in accomplishing what 
 now seems ^uch an absolute necessity for comfort in 
 the house of worship, until another year had passed. 
 
 A meeting was held on the 25th day of December, 
 1826, which was adjourned to the 2d day of January, 
 182T, when Timothy Ellsworth, Esq., being chosen 
 moderator, it was 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 " Voted, To raise three-fourths of a cent on a dol- 
 lar, to defray the expenses of putting up stoves and 
 pipes into the meeting-house — to provide fuel for 
 the same, and a man to attend to the stoves." 
 
 SEATING THE MEETING-HOUSE. 
 
 The first notice in regard to pews is recorded at a 
 meeting of the society in December, 1759, when a 
 committee was appointed to finish the meeting-house 
 with' pews. Whether the committee completed the 
 work, is doubtful, for no mention is made of their 
 doings, nor was any money voted for that purpose. 
 In 1769, eighty pounds was raised for the purpose of 
 finishing the meeting-house, and Ensign Lemuel 
 Stoughton, Captain Jonathan Bartlett, and Simeon 
 Wolcott, were appointed committee to carry tjie vote 
 into effect. The next year, 10th day of December, 
 1770, is the first notice we have of seating the meet- 
 ing-house, so that in all probability the pews were 
 not completed until that period. 
 
 The persons selected for that purpose were James 
 Harper, Simeon Wolcott, John Thompson, Jr., En- 
 sign Lemuel Stoughton, and John Prior ; and the 
 meeting was adjourned to the first Monday in Feb- 
 ruary following, for the express purpose of hearing 
 their report. The report was accepted. 
 
 In December, 1785, a committee was again ap- 
 pointed for the same purpose ; and at an adjourned 
 meeting held on the second Monday of January fol- 
 lowing, the report of that committee was heard and 
 accepted. The persons appointed for that purpose 
 
43 
 
 were Captain Hezekiah Bissell, Major Lemuel Stoiigh- 
 ton, Captain Caleb Booth, Joseph Allen, Esq., and 
 Ebenezer Watson, Jr. 
 
 In December, 1790, it was 
 
 " Voted, That the committee that seated the meet- 
 ing-house the last time, be a committee to seat those 
 persons who have come into the society since the 
 meeting-house was last seated." 
 
 In January, 1794, a committee was again ap- 
 pointed to seat the house, and on the 1st April fol- 
 lowing their report was accepted. 
 
 The last order for seating the old house was made 
 at a regular society meeting held on the 6th day of 
 October, 1800. 
 
 Samuel Stiles, Samuel Bartlett, Thomas Potwine, 
 Jr., Benjamin Loomis, James Chamberlaine, Stod- 
 ant Ellsworth and John Pasco were the committee 
 appointed for that purpose. The meeting was ad- 
 journed to the first Monday of February following, 
 to hear their report. 
 
 At that adjourned meeting the following question 
 was put to the society by the moderator, Capt. 
 Hezekiah Bissell : 
 
 " Do you accept the doings of your committee in 
 seating the meeting-house ?" 
 
 " Voted in the affirmative." 
 
 After the erection of the new meeting-house, in 
 1802, nothing was done in reference to seating the 
 house for twenty-four years. When the congrega- 
 tion took possession of the new pews they probably 
 seated themselves according to some principle which 
 had been established during their occupancy of the 
 
44 
 
 old house. It must, at least, have been an arrange- 
 ment satisfactory to the larger part of the society, 
 or it would not have been continued so long without 
 some attempt to alter it. The first notice of any 
 movement on the subject is recorded at a meeting 
 of the society held the 2nd of October, 1826. 
 
 At that meeting Timothy Ellsworth, Esq. was 
 chosen moderator, and Capt. Simeon Barber, Lieut. 
 Eli Morton and Daniel Chapin, society's committee. 
 
 " Voted, That the society's committe be directed 
 to embrace in their warning at the next annual meet- 
 ing, to see if the society will lease the pews in the 
 meeting-house in this society for one year — or 
 whether they will do anything relating to selling the 
 pews or seating the meeting-house." 
 
 The society, however, seems to have been greatly 
 divided in opinion on that subject, as well as otliers^ 
 and after several adjourned meetings the matter was 
 finally dropped until 1832, when at the regular meet- 
 ing, held on the Jth of October, of that year, Jona- 
 than Bartlett, Esq., being moderator, Chester Belk- 
 nap, Esq., clerk and treasurer — Simeon Barber, 
 John Bissell, Esq., 2nd, and Moses Osborn, society 
 committee." 
 
 The following resolution was passed : 
 
 " Voted, To lease the pews for one year to raise 
 money to defray the expenses of the society the cur- 
 rent year and to discharge the debts now due from 
 the society. 
 
 Voted, That Messrs. Moses Osborn, John Bis- 
 sell, Esq., Ira Wells, Samuel Bartlett, Esq., and 
 Simeon Barber, be a committee for the above pur- 
 pose." 
 
45 
 
 This committee made report at an adjovirned meet- 
 ing held in November, which was accepted, and the 
 sale of the pews accordingly made — and this metliod 
 of seating the meeting-house has been since usually 
 adopted with slight variations. 
 
 SINGING. 
 
 Attention to singing, as a part of the worship of 
 the sanctuary, has always been held among this peo- 
 ple as of great importance, and very early in the 
 history of the society we find the subject alluded to 
 and provision made for its maintenance. 
 
 At a meeting of the society in December, 1758, 
 among other resolutions for the good of the society, 
 we find the following : 
 
 " Voted, To raise eight pounds to hire Mr. Beal 
 or Mr. Wilson to teach us to sing." 
 
 What method these gentlemen adopted in their 
 term of instruction we can not now say, but it ap- 
 pears some years afterwards, the society thought it 
 necessary to pass a resolution which would seem to 
 indicate that tl^e service had been performed pretty 
 much " ad libitum." 
 
 At a meeting of the society in April, 1771, it was 
 
 " Voted, To introduce singing by 7'ule in the con- 
 gregation." 
 
 This resolution it would seem did not meet with 
 approbation, for at a meeting of the society next 
 year it was in effect rescinded, as follows : 
 
 " Voted, Not to act upon the article of singing in 
 the congregation." 
 
46 
 
 There were, doubtless, wise men among them, who 
 as soon as they perceived what testy folks singers 
 were, resolved to let them have their own way — 
 either to sing in unison or each one on their own 
 hook, merely insisting upon the following regulation, 
 which should be in force for one year : 
 
 " Voted, To sing in the congregation without 
 reading line by line, a part of the time, not exceed- 
 ing one half, until the next annual meeting of the 
 society." 
 
 At the next annual meeting it was 
 
 " Voted, To continue the singing in the congre- 
 gation as agreed upon at the last meeting." 
 
 No further attempt was made to interfere with the 
 singing until 1794. 
 
 At a meeting of the society, held in January of 
 that year, the following resolution was passed : 
 
 " Voted, To raise one farthing on the pound on 
 the list of 1793, for the purpose of hiring a singing- 
 master to instruct in the rules and art. of singing 
 Psalms, so that singing in Divine worship may be 
 performed decently and orderly in this society." 
 
 The peculiar wording of this resolution rather 
 leaves an impression upon the mind that things 
 were ilot in respect to that department of the exer- 
 cises just as they should have been. And the society 
 appears now to be in earnest to correct the evil, for 
 at the next annual meeting another farthing on the 
 pound was raised, and Major Caleb Booth empow- 
 ered to hire a singing-master for the winter. 
 
 Again in 1796, a vote was passed to raise one-half 
 penny on the pound for the purpose of hiring a 
 teacher " to learn the inhabitants of this society the 
 
47 
 
 rules of singing psalms in the congregation," and 
 Daniel Osborn was appointed a committee to carr}' 
 the resolution into effect. 
 
 The last singing school for the benefit of worship 
 in the old church, was in the winter of 1800 and 
 1801. 
 
 At a meeting held 6th October, 1800, it was 
 
 " Voted, To raise two mills on the dollar, on the 
 list of 1800, for the use of hiring a singing-master 
 the ensuing winter. 
 
 Voted, That Capt. Asahel Stiles should procure a 
 singing master." 
 
 Since the erection of the last meeting-house, and 
 during the ministry of Mr. Bartlett, singing schools 
 were enjoyed every few years ; the pastor himself 
 always attended them, for he not only took great 
 deliglit in sacred music, but he believed that the 
 meeting together of the younger part of the congre- 
 gation to engage in this exercise had a happy influ- 
 ence on their minds, and he has often been heard to 
 say that he could date the beginnings of several 
 revivals of religion from the close of the singing- 
 schools. His prayerful watch over them did, no 
 doubt, much to prevent the evils which have come 
 upon other ecclesiastical societies from this source. 
 Long may our choir remember that they have been 
 subjects of most intense interest in the prayers not 
 only of him who has lately been buried from their 
 sight, but doubtless of him also who first proclaimed 
 the gospelin this place. 
 
 Nearly a century had elapsed since the formation 
 of the society and the settlement of their first pas- 
 tor, the Rev. Mr. Po twine. For almost half a cen- 
 
48 
 
 tury he had held his station, until the infirmities of 
 age laid him aside, and the hand of death finally 
 separated him from the people of his charge. His 
 successor, the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, although a young 
 man at his settlement, in 1847, began to feel the in- 
 firmities of age, and both himself and those over 
 whom he was placed, became impressed with the fact 
 that an associate in his labors would be conducive to 
 his own comfort, and the welfare of his people. After 
 taking the matter into serious consideration, he 
 placed in the hands of the society's committee the 
 following communication : 
 
 " To Messrs. Ira Wells, John Bissell, and A. C. 
 Stiles, the Committee, and Chester Belknap, Clerk 
 and Treasurer of the First Ecclesiastical Society in 
 East Windsor, 26th May, 1847. 
 
 " It has been proposed by some of you, and some 
 others, of my pastoral charge, that in considera- 
 tion of my advanced age, and gradually increasing 
 infirmities by reason of age, there should be sought 
 and settled with me a colleague pastor to aid me in 
 the arduous and multiplied duties of the pastoral 
 office among this people. 
 
 " With my sober judgment and my heart I ap- 
 prove of this plan, and hereby express to you, as 
 officers of this society, my free and full consent 
 that this should be done as soon as witli proper 
 watchfulness and prayer, and with appropriate labors 
 on the part of all concerned, it may please God in 
 his holy and wise Providence to permit. Praying 
 that all concerned may have all needed help from 
 God in this important matter, and the continued 
 blessing of the great Head of the Church, I am, my 
 beloved brethren and friends. 
 
 Your affi3ctionate Pastor, 
 
 Shubael Bartlett." 
 
49 
 
 This letter was laid before the society at a meet- 
 ing warned for tlie purpose 24th August, 1847, 
 when the following resolutions were passed : 
 
 " Voted, That the Society deem it expedient to 
 concur in the proposition of our Pastor as commu- 
 nicated in the above letter. 
 
 Voted, That a committee of three persons be 
 chosen to act in unison wdth a committee of the 
 church to carry into effect the above resolution. 
 
 Voted, That the present society's committee act 
 for that purpose — consisting of Ira Wells, John Bis- 
 sell and A. C. Stiles." 
 
 The two committees of the church and society, 
 selected two of their number, John Bissell, Esq. 
 and John W. Stoughton, Esq., to look out for and 
 select some person as a suitable candidate, and they 
 having invited the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews to 
 preach as such to the people, a decided expression 
 in his favor was almost immediately made, and at 
 a meeting regularly warned for the special purpose, 
 on the 22nd July, 1848 — Nelson S. Osborn being 
 chosen chairman, and Fayette W. Blodgett, clerk 
 " pro tem," the following resolutions were passed : 
 
 " Voted, That this society in common with the 
 church as expressed by their vote, do entertain the 
 fullest confidence in the character, talents and quali- 
 fications of the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews to fill the 
 place of associate pastor with the Rev. Shubael 
 Bartlett over this church and people. 
 
 Voted, That we do hereby concur with the 
 church in a unanimous invitation to Rev. Samuel 
 J. Andrews, to settle with us as an associate pastor 
 
60 
 
 in the ministry with the Rev. Shubael Bartlett, over 
 this church and society. 
 
 Voted, That this society, as a compensation for 
 his services, offer to pay Mr. Andrews the sum of 
 seven hundred dollars per annum, in equal sums, at 
 the end of every half year during the time of his 
 settlement with us. 
 
 Voted, That the proceedings of this meeting 
 and the action of the committee appointed to carry 
 them into effect, together with the answer of Mr. 
 Andrews, be officially communicated to the Rev. 
 Mr. Bartlett, our pastor, and that they express to 
 him the undiminished feeling and esteem of this 
 society." 
 
 The committee thus officially instructed, presented 
 the proposals of the church and society to the Rev. 
 Mr. Andrews, and they had the satisfaction of doing 
 it with the unanimous vote of both the church and 
 society. The following letter was received in reply : 
 
 " HousATONic, August 3rd, 1848. 
 
 To the Committee of the First Congregational 
 Society in East Windsor : 
 
 Gentlemen : — Your letter informing me of the 
 action of your church and society was duly received, 
 and I hereby accept the invitation to become your 
 associate Pastor. 
 
 I trust that the great Head of the Church will 
 make this relation, if in his good pleasure it shall 
 be formed, a source of blessing to us individually, of 
 good to his church, and of glory to his name. 
 I am, truly yours, 
 
 SAMUEL J. ANDREWS." 
 
' 51 
 
 To Messrs. Daniel Chapin, ) Committee 
 
 John W. Stoughton, S of the 
 Chauncey Ellsworth, ) C/iKrch. 
 
 And to Ira Wells, ) 
 
 John Bissell, > Com. of the Society.^' 
 A. C. Stiles, ) 
 
 III October following, Mr. Andrews was solemnly 
 ordained and installed to his sacred office, and com- 
 menced his peculiar and responsible duties for which 
 by nature, and more especially by the grace of God 
 he was in an eminent degree qualified. 
 
 The last act of the society in reference to their 
 old pastor, the Rev. Mr. Bartlett, is recorded at a 
 meeting held in November 1854, as follows : 
 
 " Whereas, In the Providence of God our highly 
 esteemed minister, Rev. Shubael Bartlett, has been 
 removed by death, and the society being desirous to 
 make a lasting expression to his memory, therefore, 
 resolved, that as a token of respect to the deceased, 
 to the aged and highly esteemed widow and other 
 members of the family, the sum not exceeding one 
 hundred dollars be appropriated by this society for 
 the erection of a suitable monument to the memory 
 of the deceased." 
 
 SCHOOL SOCIETY. 
 
 Next to the establishment of religious worship in 
 a community, the school-house ranks as most im- 
 portant, and the records of this society show from 
 its commencement a commendable interest in that 
 subject. 
 
 The first amount raised by tax for schooling was 
 twenty pounds, while the salary paid to Rev. Mr. 
 Potwine was sixty pounds. This was in 1753, 4, 5, 
 
52 
 
 6, and so od, increasing every few years in amount 
 until 1782, when the same amount was raised for 
 schooling as for the minister's salary. After that 
 year we cannot define the exact amount raised, as a 
 tax was laid of two pence on the pound on all rate- 
 able property in the town, and thus thereafter con- 
 tinued until 1795. The subject of schooling was 
 taken charge of with the same care and interest as 
 the support of the ministry. Some resolution con- 
 nected with the schools was passed at every regular 
 meeting. The whole bounds of the society were 
 separated into districts, and persons living in one 
 district could not have the advantage of the school 
 out of their boundaries although possibly much more 
 convenient, without a vote of the society, as the fol- 
 lowing extracts from the records will show : 
 
 At a meeting of the society held the 11th Dec, 
 1769, 
 
 " Voted, Daniel Osborn shall belong to the south 
 school in the street for three years from and after 
 this date, and that his school-rate shall be set to that 
 school." 
 
 Again, a few years later, it was 
 
 " Voted, That Daniel Osborn shall belong to the 
 south 'district of schooling in the street, one year 
 from date, and his money to be set to that school for 
 said limited time — and that Samuel Osborn, Jr., 
 shall belong to the middle district of schooling east 
 of Scantic, in the woods, and his money spent in 
 said school accordingly." 
 
 The first school-houses appear to have been erected 
 in Main-street, of which there were two, probably 
 erected at nearly the same time. The first regular 
 
"53 
 
 districting of the whole parish took place in 1766. 
 A committee consisting of Ebenezer Bliss, David 
 Skinner and Lemuel Stoughton, was appointed for 
 that purpose, and their report is dated 27th Feb., 
 1766. The substance of it, so far as can be gathered 
 from the instrument on record, is as follows : 
 
 " That tliere shall l)e four schools, viz : 
 
 1st. On the west side of Scantic River to compre- 
 hend all north of the meeting-house, west of said 
 river to a mile and a half from the Great River. 
 
 2nd. East of Scantic, to comprehend all east of 
 said river, south of the center line and west of the 
 land called ' sequestered land.' 
 
 3rd. To comprehend all east of Scantic River, 
 north to Enfield. 
 
 4th. To comprehend all west of Scantic River, 
 and south of the meeting-house, a mile and a half 
 from the Great River." 
 
 Those who understood the bounds of the parish, 
 will be able to estimate, from these data, the distan- 
 ces which their ancestors when children, had to 
 travel through storms and cold to the places where 
 the rudiments of their education must be obtained ; 
 to some of them, at least, it was a practical illustra- 
 tion of " knowledge being obtained under diffi- 
 culties." 
 
 The teachers must also have had their share of 
 patience and industry, and been willing to do much 
 for small pay — for at this period, thirty pounds was 
 all the money raised for the 'support of schools, and 
 that was paid in grain — wheat 4^, rye Ss, and Indian 
 corn 2s per bushel. 
 
 In December, 1770, a committee was appointed 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 " to view the situation of the two districts of school- 
 ing in the street, and if they think proper, that thej 
 should be divided and made into three districts." 
 The persons appointed were all Bissels, — " Mr. Noah 
 Bissell, Lieut. Aaron Bissell, and Mr. David Bis- 
 sell" — and the meeting was adjourned to the follow- 
 ing February. 
 
 But at the adjourned meeting the report was not 
 accepted. 
 
 In December, 1771, a new district was set off 
 east of Scantic, viz. : 
 
 " Voted, To make a district of schooling of the 
 south-east corner of the society, extending north of 
 Ketch Brook, to include Simeon Barber and Roger 
 Loomis, and extending west to the east end of the 
 three mile lots, including Jerijah Bissell who lives 
 on the east end of said lots, and to extend east and 
 south to the bounds of the society.'' 
 
 In February, 1772, a reconsideration took place of 
 the " Bissell Committee," whose report in reference 
 to a division of the street districts had the year 
 before been rejected. 
 
 The vote passed is as follows : 
 
 " Voted, To establish the doings of Messrs. Noah 
 Bissell, Aaron Bissell, and David Bissell, appointed 
 by the society to view the situation of the two dis- 
 tricts of schools in the street." 
 
 The report, however, which they made, it will not 
 be necessary to relate here, for although it was ac- 
 cepted and ordered to be put upon the records of 
 the society, it appears not to have been universally 
 approved, and as their laws when passed do not 
 
55 
 
 seem to have been of the character of the Medes 
 and Persians, they in a very short vote at their next 
 meeting nullified the proceedings, viz. : 
 
 " Voted ^ To make but two districts of schooling 
 in the street." 
 
 As there had been two previous to the appoint- 
 ment of the " Bissell Committee," it amounts to the 
 same as deciding to let things remain in statu quo — 
 and thus matters remained until 1781 — when a 
 Committee was appointed to arrange all the districts 
 as they thought best and report to the society. On 
 the 31st December, 1781, the committee made re- 
 port, of which we give the opening and the close : 
 
 '' To the inhabitants of the third society in East 
 Windsor convened in society meeting. 
 
 Gentlemen : — ^ Whereas, at your last society meet- 
 ing you made choice of the subscribers as a commit- 
 tee to view and consider the circumstances of the 
 school districts and see if increasing the number of 
 the districts will be best and advisable — therefore, 
 having viewed, heard the pleas and arguments, and 
 considered the case, now beg leave to report our 
 opinion on the premises." 
 
 After dividing the parish into six districts — three 
 on the east of Scantic and three on the west — and 
 running the several boundaries, they close as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " All which is submitted to your \ Wishing you 
 better wisdom by your most > the blessing 
 obedient humble servants, ) of peace. 
 
 Aaron Bissell, \ 
 
 Am AS A LooMis, > Committee.'*^ 
 
 Thomas Foster, \ 
 
56 
 
 The above report was accepted with the following 
 alterations, viz. : 
 
 " That Samuel Bartlett be set and belong to the 
 school district north of the highway between Israel 
 Stiles and said Bartlett — and that John Bartlett be 
 set and belong to the south district of schools west 
 of Scantic River in the woods — and that William 
 Bartlett, now lining at Scantic Mills, belong to the 
 school district east of Scantic River, as reported." 
 
 At a meeting of the north society, held in Decem- 
 ber, 1789, a petition was presented from the inhab- 
 itants of Warehouse Point to be set off as a distinct 
 school district. The petition was granted and the 
 bounds defined as follows : 
 
 " Beginning at the north-west corner bounds of 
 East Windsor, then running south along the line of 
 Connecticut River to the south side of a lot of land 
 lately owned by Timothy Thrall, then east by the 
 south line of said land within forty rods of the Cov- 
 entry road, then north the same distance from said 
 road to Enfield line, then west to the first-mentioned 
 bounds." 
 
 In December, 1793, at a meeting of the society, 
 it was 
 
 " Voted^ That the south-east district of schooling 
 commonly called Ketch-Mill district be divided, and 
 the Ketch-Brook as it runs through said district be 
 a dividing line of said district." 
 
 The last act which appears upon record of this 
 ecclesiastical society in reference to common schools, 
 is dated 9th day of November, 1795. The usual 
 two pence on the pound was voted for the use of 
 schooling for the coming year, and the usual com- 
 
57 
 
 • 
 
 mittee of twelve persons chosen to collect the money 
 and superintend the schools. Some change, no 
 doubt, took place by act of Legislature which took 
 the management of schools from the society as an 
 ecclesiastical body, for we read no more concerning 
 schools in any of their records. 
 
 SOCIETY FUND. 
 
 The first mention of any fund for the support of 
 the Gospel ministry in this parish, appears to be a 
 sum left by Capt. Samuel Stiles. 
 
 At a meeting of the society on the 4th day of 
 October, 1813, the following resolution was passed : 
 
 " Voted, That the society committee be directed 
 to receive the sum of one thousand dollars given to 
 this society by the last will of Capt. Samuel Stiles, 
 deceased, and dispose of the same according to the 
 tenor of said instrument." 
 
 And, year by year, after this, we find the interest 
 of this fund used in part for the payment of the min- 
 ister's salary — at first as an addition to the regular 
 salary on account of the high price to which the 
 necessaries of life had risen, and thus it was con- 
 tinued until 1820. 
 
 The next addition to the fund appears to have 
 been received from the State and is called the State 
 Fund — the record concerning it was made at a 
 society's meeting held the 6th day of October, 1818, 
 as follows : 
 
 " Voted^ That the State Fund received at Hart- 
 ford in December last, by the society committee, and 
 
58 
 
 interest amounting to one hundred and seventy- 
 seven dollars, be put at interest and remain as a fund 
 for the support of the Gospel ministry in this society 
 during the pleasure of this society." 
 
 At an adjourned meeting held on the 2nd day of 
 January, 1827, we find the first notice of the Bart- 
 lett Fund : 
 
 " Voted, To accept of the donation given by Mr. 
 Samuel Bartlett, of one thousand dollars, to the 
 second society in East Windsor, under its restric- 
 tions." 
 
 The following extract from the will of Mr. Bart- 
 lett, will show the nature of the donation and the 
 restrictions above referred to : 
 
 " And wishing to perpetuate a regular Gospel min- 
 istry, I will that my executor pay as a donation which 
 I now make to the second ecclesiastical society in East 
 Windsor to which I belong, the sum of one thousand 
 dollars under the following restrictions, viz. : That 
 this donation shall be kept at annual interest until 
 principal and interest shall amount to four thousand 
 dollars, and when the whole sum shall amount to 
 the aforesaid sum of four thousand dollars, the 
 interest arising thereon shall be applied annually 
 towards paying the minister's salary in the society, 
 leaving the principal of four thousand dollars entire 
 with the following conditions being complied with, 
 viz. : 
 
 1st. That said society keep and maintain a decent 
 meeting-house in which to perform public worship. 
 
 2nd. The said meeting-house to be the sole and 
 entire property of said society. 
 
 3rd. That said society shall not at any time be 
 destitute of an ordained minister more than two 
 years, which minister shall be a learned man of true 
 
59 
 
 orthodox principles according to the sense in which 
 our forefathers maintained the same. 
 
 4th. They shall not pay any of the interest arising 
 on this donation to hire a minister of different prin- 
 ciples, — but if at any future period of time shall 
 neglect or refuse to comply with the above conditions 
 and restrictions, then and in that case said donation 
 shall be forfeited by said society to my executor or 
 his heirs to sue for and recover the said donation to 
 his or their use." 
 
 This fund reached the amount specified in the 
 will of Mr. Bartlett, (four thousand dollars) in 1849, 
 and the income from it has been since that period 
 appropriated for the purpose to which it was conse- 
 crated by the devisor. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting of the society held 13th 
 of October, 1845, a committee previously appointed 
 for the purpose of making a permanent lease of the 
 parsonage lot, reported as follows : 
 
 That they had leased to Mr. Daniel Chapin the 
 " ministry lot of land " for the term of nine hundred 
 and ninety-nine years from April, 1845, for the sum 
 of fourteen hundred and seventy dollars ninety-three 
 cents. 
 
 And the society's committee was instructed to pay 
 the interest on said amount of fourteen hundred 
 and seventy dollars and ninety-three cents to Rev. 
 Shubael Bartlett, annually, on the first day of De- 
 cember in each year, subject to the regulations of 
 settlement of Mr. Bartlett. 
 
 At a meeting of the society held in October, 1854, 
 this fund was appropriated as follows : 
 
 " Voted, That the fund belonging to the first 
 ecclesiastical society in East Windsor, arising from 
 
60 
 
 the sale of the ministry lot (so called) and amount- 
 ing to fourteen hundred and seventy dollars «and 
 ninety-three cents, be applied to liquidate the indebt- 
 edness of this society in building their parsonage- 
 house and purchasing land of the same, and that 
 said fund shall not be appropriated for any other 
 purpose whatever." 
 
 NAMES OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 East Windsor, when first set off as a town, in- 
 cluded South Windsor and Ellington, and the pres- 
 ent East Windsor. The present society of East 
 Windsor, from 1752 to 1768, was called the sixth 
 society in Windsor. After the original town of East 
 Windsor was incorporated, A. D. 1768, this society 
 was denominated the third society in East Windsor. 
 A. D. 1786, Ellington was set off as an incorporated 
 town ; after which period we have been known as the 
 second society of East Windsor, until A. D. 1846, 
 when a separation having taken place by the incor- 
 poration of South Windsor, as a distinct town, we 
 have been distinguished as the first society in East 
 Windsor. 
 
S K E T C H 
 
 %iit of %± m^M iartlrtl 
 
 We all have our spheres of usefulness, which, by 
 a wise Provideuce we are educated to fill ; and be it 
 larger or smaller, the area of a kingdom or a parish 
 of five miles square ; the sentence of approbation by 
 the great Judge will be not according to the ampli- 
 tude of the influence, but to the faithful occupancy 
 of the part allotted. The ten talents improved may 
 indeed receive a tenfold recompense, but the pos- 
 sessor of the five if faithful to his trust, will hear 
 the same " Well done good and faithful servant," 
 and receive the same glorious invitation " to enter 
 into the joy of his Lord." 
 
 In attempting to sketch the life of one who filled 
 no large place in the public eye, I am relieved from 
 any necessity of embellishment, in an endeavor to 
 present striking deeds in their most effective form, 
 or brilliant speeches with all their powerful accom- 
 paniments of time and circumstance. Those who 
 will read these lines consecrated to affection, and for 
 6 
 
62 
 
 whom they were written, will want nothing but a 
 plain delineation, a fair and honest portraiture of 
 their old Pastor, to make it acceptable to them, and, 
 if the writer shall succeed in doing this, the object of 
 his effort will be fully accomplished. 
 
 The Rev. Shubael Bartlett, the subject of this 
 memoir, was born at Lebanon, in the State of Con- 
 necticut, 2nd of April, 1778. 
 
 His father, Mr. John Bartlett, was a deacon in 
 the Congregational church at Lebanon, under the 
 pastoral charge of Rev. Dr. Ely. In a direct line 
 he could trace his ancestry to John Alden, who 
 landed at Plymouth in December, 1620, and the 
 whole line of pedigree runs through those who were 
 professedly pious persons. 
 
 Mr. John Bartlett was a man in plain circumstan- 
 ces, working with his own hands at the shoemaker's 
 trade ; but training his family in the fear of God, 
 and had the pleasure of beholding his children walk- 
 ing in the ways of righteousness and professing faith 
 in Jesus Christ. In his declining years, having lost 
 his wife, and his children being scattered abroad, he 
 left Lebanon and closed his life at the house of his 
 son. Rev. Shubael Bartlett, at East Windsor. 
 
 I find in the diary of Mr. Bartlett this record : 
 
 " If ever I was born again, I have reason to hope 
 that it was some time in the springing of the year, 
 A. D. 1794." 
 
 He united with the church in June of the same 
 year, so that he must have made a profession of re- 
 ligion when he was sixteen years of age. 
 
His mind was soon after this turned towards the 
 ministry, and he commenced studies preparatory to 
 entering college under the Rev. Zebulon Ely, and in 
 September, 1796, entered the freshman class at Yale 
 College. 
 
 His means for a collegiate course were mainly 
 provided by himself, in part by teaching, together 
 with some perquisites received by him for services in 
 the College. His father could spare but little from 
 his income for such purposes, and in those days there 
 were no benevolent societies to offer assistance to 
 young men in the arduous undertaking of a colle- 
 giate course. The rock had to be broken then by 
 resolute and sturdy blows. 
 
 From an old friend of his, and a long tried friend 
 of the people of God, I have received this aacount 
 of him in those days of his youth. 
 
 " I have known Mr. Bartlett ever since the year 
 he first came to New Haven ; he was quite young, 
 tall and prepossessing in his appearance, and of 
 pleasant polite manners, and remarkably steady and 
 correct in all his deportment. He was then a pro- 
 fessor of religion, and it was a very uncommon thing 
 in that day for one so young to be willing to be 
 known as a follower of Christ — but he maintained a 
 consistent walk and had also the respect of his class-, 
 mates — and it required a great deal of prudence and 
 grace for one situated as he was to avoid giving un- 
 necessary offense by too strict a walk or yielding so 
 far to the views and feelings of the irreligious as to 
 compromise his Christian principles. He was much 
 respected in College as well as by those with whom 
 he associated in the city. And he has ever been the 
 same. I have known him for more than fifty years, 
 and esteem his friendship very highly." 
 
64 
 
 This testimony is from one who never flattered, 
 and who had every opportunity for judging. 
 
 That it was a peculiarly trying time for a professor 
 of religion, may be imagined from the fact that he 
 was the only member of the freshman class who was 
 pious. There was not one professor in the sopho- 
 more class ; but one in the junior, and but eight or 
 ten in the senior. There was in the College what 
 was called the Moral Society, and the year Mr. Bart- 
 lett entered college, he with the other professors of 
 religion were expelled from it, as being too strict in 
 their principles. 
 
 The close of the last century may well be termed 
 the period when infidelity triumphed, when pure 
 religion was scoffed at and made to hide her head 
 and weep in secret places. 
 
 In the College the sacred ordinances of Chris- 
 tianity were ridiculed, and on one occasion on a 
 Communion Sabbath, some of the stu.dents in the 
 dining hall cut the bread in pieces to represent the 
 sacred emblem of Christ's body and impiously offered 
 it to a solitary professor who was dining with them, 
 intending thereby to wound the feelings of the youth 
 just from the table of his Lord. 
 
 Nor was the state of things much better in the 
 city. It is believed that between 1796 to 1800, there 
 were in New Haven, exclusive of the College, but 
 three persons under the age of twenty-five years pro- 
 fessors of the Christian faith. Religion was cast 
 aside as unfitted for the freedom of youth, and no 
 greater breach of politeness could be committed, 
 than to introduce the subject in the social circle. 
 
65 
 
 Well was it for the best interests of the College, 
 and the church at large, that there was at the head 
 of that institution in that dark and memorable 
 period, a Champion of Christ, distinguished alike as 
 a scholar and a man of devoted piety, — one who 
 could meet the adversary with weapons of his own 
 as well as with the panoply of the gospel. 
 
 To his wise and careful management ; to his 
 prayers and powerful arguments ; to his bold attacks 
 upon the very citadel of infidelity, the corrupted 
 heart ; may be attributed, under God, the glorious 
 change which took place in the year 1802, and which 
 converted that hot-bed of Satanic plants into a nur- 
 sery for the Church. 
 
 The name of Dwight must ever have a high place 
 among those great and good men, who in that day 
 of the enemy's power, stood forth mightily for the 
 truth. 
 
 Through such a period for the trial of faith and 
 constancy, our pastor in the days of his youth was 
 safely carried ; and in the revival which occurred 
 while he was still there, preparing for the ministry, 
 he took a very decided and active part, and enjoyed 
 the unspeakable pleasure of beholding those who 
 had once ridiculed religion, coming to him to ask 
 " what they should do to be saved." 
 
 Having finished his collegiate course in the year 
 1800, he commenced studying for the ministry under 
 Dr. Dwight, and in the course of the year 1802, was 
 licensed to preach the gospel. The following extract 
 from his diary on the occasion of writing his first 
 sermon, will be read with deep interest by those who, 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 knowing him for many years as a preacher of the 
 gospel, will be able to testify how truly the just 
 thoughts and feelings contained therein were sus- 
 tained to the very last : 
 
 " Sept. 23rd, 1802. I am now writing my first 
 discourse, which (God willing) I shall preach to my 
 fellow-men. God grant that I may feel the worth 
 of precious souls ; that I may feel how important it 
 is to be an ambassador of Christ to my fellow-men. 
 In this exalted calling may I never seek after glory 
 from men. May I seriously and certainly consider 
 that the eye of an all-seeing and infinitely holy God 
 is upon me and that the day is very fast approach- 
 ing when I shall have to give an account to the 
 Judge of all the earth of the manner in which I 
 have labored in the heritage of God. Let me never 
 attempt to proceed one step in my own strength. 
 Assist me Lord my God by thy grace, and direct 
 me by thine unerring counsel. May I be sensible 
 that without Thee I can do nothing. But may I 
 firmly trust in Thy grace with a confident assurance 
 that I can do all things which God may require of 
 me through Christ strengthening me. Let thy 
 strength gracious Redeemer, be made perfect in 
 my weakness." 
 
 This extract will suffice to show the frame of mind 
 that marked his early years, his humility, his trust 
 in God, and his dependence on divine grace alone 
 for the accomplishment of his mission as a minister 
 of Christ, and on the divine blessing alone, for what 
 of earthly good he hoped to enjoy. 
 
 Having completed his studies for the ministry in 
 the winter of 1802, he visited Hartford for the pur- 
 pose of recreation, and then for the first time be- 
 
67 
 
 came acquainted with her who was destined to travel 
 by his side all the rest of his life's journey — who was 
 to be the light of his home — liis comforter in sorrow 
 — his wise counselor and the delight of his heart 
 until its earthly emotions should forever cease. 
 
 We all know how blessed was that union — what 
 rich fruits resulted from it for his usefulness as a 
 pastor and his comfort as a man. 
 
 In January 7th, 1803, Mr. Bartlett received an 
 invitation from the second society in East Windsor, 
 to prea^ch as a candidate, the church being then left 
 destitute by the death of their former pastor. Rev. 
 Thomas Po twine. 
 
 Soon after this invitation he came and supplied 
 the pulpit for several months. Towards the close of 
 the year a call was voted by the church and society, 
 and handed to him for acceptance. Mr. Bartlett 
 did not immediately decide, for at the same time 
 other societies were in communication with him in 
 reference to a settlement, and on many accounts pre- 
 ferred more eligible claims for his acceptance. 
 
 The second society in East Windsor did not then • 
 present the favorable aspect which it now does. It 
 had many of the roughnesses of a new settlement. 
 Much of the land in the parish was covered with 
 forests. The houses of most of the farmers were 
 plain, unfinished buildings ; but little attention had 
 been paid to the higher branches of education, and 
 there were many things uncongenial to the taste of 
 one who had for the most of his life mingled with 
 society where the best advantages were enjoyed. 
 
 Dr. Dwight had not only been his teacher, but he 
 
68 
 
 had also on many occasions proved himself an inter- 
 ested friend. Mr. Bartlett therefore resolved to lay 
 the case before him. The Dr. knew the parish, and 
 he well knew the character and qualifications of his 
 pupil. He believed that it was a place where he 
 could do much good — where his conciliatory man- 
 ners, his modest spirit, and his prudent piety, would 
 be of great use in healing discords, inspiring lauda- 
 ble ambition, and refining the exterior of society, as 
 well as improving the heart. 
 
 He also gave him some valuable advice in refer- 
 ence to his own personal walk among his people — 
 knowing as he did that parties were, in hostile array 
 against each other. He cautioned him against tak- 
 ing sides with either ; not even, if possible, to know 
 anything of the cause of dissension, and to use all 
 means in his power to heal every breach and to 
 enlist in one common effort to build up the society 
 all within the bounds of the parish. 
 
 And we have reason to believe that Mr. Bartlett 
 not only acted upon this advice, but that his conduct 
 had the most happy influence upon the people of his 
 charge. 
 
 Having accepted the call, on the 15th February, 
 1804, he was solemnly ordained in the new meeting- 
 house as pastor of the church and people. 
 
 He was already married, and with his wife and 
 one child, immediately began preparations for a per- 
 manent location, by erecting for himself a dwelling. 
 Mrs. Bartlett's father was not a man of wealth, but 
 he had accumulated some property, and was not a 
 little ambitious that his only child should have a 
 
69 
 
 good '' setting out." He had given her the best 
 education that the day afforded, and was proud to 
 know that she was respected and beloved in every 
 circle that she visited. A minister would not have 
 been the choice for a daughter by any father who 
 cared supremely for worldly advantage. But her 
 choice had pleased him, for reasons of more con- 
 sequence to her happiness, than any amount of 
 worldly wealth or fame ; and, therefore, with great 
 pleasure he anticipated doing his best to furnish her 
 abode wherever it might be. 
 
 Mrs. Bartlett knew well what were the wishes of 
 her father in reference to the style in which he ex- 
 pected she should be established. And knowing 
 how much he thought of having his only child, the 
 pride of his heart, living with all those conveniences 
 and agreeable things about her to which she had ever 
 been accustomed, and in as good style as any of her 
 companions in the city, it was no small trial to 
 lier to make known to him the very different views 
 she had formed on the subject. But one day when 
 he requested her to go with him and make her 
 own choice between two pieces of furniture he had 
 been looking at for her, she complied, of course, 
 and even decided which of the two she preferred. 
 It was as fine an article as was then manufactured, 
 and if all things were to be in accordance with it, 
 her house would certainly be furnished as well as 
 the most fastidious taste could desire. 
 
 On returning home she resolved at once to unfold 
 her own views and wishes. 
 
 " How much do you suppose, Father, (she asked 
 
70 
 
 him) it will cost you to furnish my house as you 
 intend doing ?" 
 
 " Probably hundred dollars." 
 
 " Would you have any objections, Father, to let me 
 supply myself with just such articles of furniture as 
 will be absolutely necessary to live in a very plain 
 way, and use the rest of the money in building a 
 house, that we may have a home of our own ?" 
 
 It was a startling proposition, and one which his 
 feelings at first rebelled against. But he soon saw 
 the propriety of it, and fell in with his daughter's 
 wishes. A piece of ground was purchased at East 
 Windsor, not far from the church. It was then 
 covered with woods, and the trees had to be cut 
 down to make room for the dwelling and garden. 
 The frame was raised on the 3rd of July, 1804, and 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett with their babe of ten months 
 old, moved into their new house in the following 
 December. 
 
 Thus to be particular about such a matter as thp 
 building of a dwelling and the commencement of 
 house-keeping by a newly married pair, may to some 
 appear rather too small a concern to be forced into a 
 biography. But all who have ever enjoyed hospi- 
 tality beneath that roof, who have known anything 
 of the order, peace, and heavenly quiet there en- 
 joyed, will think differently. 
 
 That home was destined to be a place where a 
 Christian family should for fifty years shed its beau- 
 tiful light, — where parents and children should live 
 in uninterrupted harmony, where the morning and 
 evening sacrifice should send up its incense, and the 
 fire on God's altar there never be allowed to go out 
 
71 
 
 during half a ceiituiy — and here it may be expected 
 that some especial notice be taken of her who was 
 emphatically the Christian mother and mistress of 
 her husband's home. True she is yet among us 
 and I would not do aught by a personal reference to 
 wound feelings that have ever shrunk from noto- 
 riety, — yet she too has reached the shore of that 
 vast ocean on which her long loved partner has just 
 launched, — her life-work too is drawing to its close ; 
 she sits alone in her deserted mansion, and as her 
 life has been devoted to the good of others, it surely 
 can not pain her now to hear what others think of 
 the character she has borne, nor to know that the 
 track she has left through her long life is bright even 
 to its closing days with the graces of the Christian, 
 woman. 
 
 It needed no little sacrifice of worldly ambition 
 in the hey-day of her youth, to leave the enticing 
 scenes of a city where she was caressed and loved, 
 to take a place where she must labor with her 
 own hands and accommodate herself to straitened 
 means and moderate her wishes to suit the views 
 and feelings of those among whom her husband had 
 chosen to labor ; to leave a home where every wish 
 was gratified, for a station where all her energies 
 must be exerted to please others and those whose 
 habits of life were of necessity dissimilar to those in 
 which she had been educated. But she counted the 
 cost and began her life's service with a cheerful 
 heart. 
 
 Mr. Bartlett held his house as he did all his tem- 
 poral blessings, as a steward for God. He felt that 
 
72 
 
 he had no right to say who should come and who 
 should not come to enjoy its hospitality ; but whom- 
 soever the Lord should send, his duty was to open 
 his heart and his house to him, to bid him welcome 
 in his Master's name, trusting that the great Provi- 
 der would enable him to sustain the burden. He 
 never courted company, nor made a preference of 
 the rich to the neglect of the poor. In the country, 
 as all know who live there, wanderers are continu- 
 ally calling in — wretched outcasts who by improvi- 
 dence or misfortune have lost a resting place on 
 earth and have " no certain home." In general 
 every house is open for them to give them a meal 
 and then let them go on their desolate way. To 
 such as these, peculiar attention was always paid at 
 this Christian dwelling. Mrs. B. would always re- 
 ceive them in her kind and pleasant way, provide 
 for them of the best she had, and then taking her 
 seat by the poor stranger in that peculiar way which 
 she had of drawing out the secrets of those who 
 were in trouble, without injuring their feelings, 
 learn the cause why they were thus thrown upon 
 the world, — and then she would pour in the oil of 
 consolation and endeavor to raise their drooping 
 spirits, and to put hope into their hearts, and many 
 a poor downcast soul has gone away blessing her for 
 kind words, and apparently encouraged to take a 
 new start in life. But oftentimes she would do 
 much more than this. If it was evening when they 
 came, or on the edge of the Sabbath, a bed would 
 be provided for them, and if their clothing was rag- 
 ged and filthy, as it often was, the stores of cast off 
 
73 
 
 garments would be overhauled, and decent clothes 
 given to them — they would be called in to worship 
 with the family, and invited to the sanctuary, and 
 to enjoy the rest of the Sabbath with them in their 
 quiet home. And this was not done only once or 
 twice ; numberless are the instances where the 
 hungry and houseless have thus been comforted, 
 and also the naked clothed. Could all who have 
 thus from this poor Pastor's house been provided 
 for, be gathered together, their number would doubt- 
 less astonish even the generous donors themselves. 
 
 Some years elapsed before their house was fin- 
 ished according to its original design, and it was not 
 until the summer of 1826 that the back rooms were 
 lathed and plastered. The following extracts from 
 Mr. Bartlett's diary will show how he viewed his 
 home and his habit of looking upon all domestic 
 comforts to be conducive to his usefulness as a 
 minister : 
 
 " 1826, 3rd June. I have had many little cares 
 the past week in reference to our exertions in en- 
 deavoring to finish three of our rooms in the house 
 that have never yet been lathed and plastered, — 
 may a divine blessing attend us in these exer- 
 tions — may we be enabled to love and serve the Lord 
 more diligently and faithfully in the house which he 
 hath given us in proportion as it is rendered more 
 convenient and comfortable." 
 
 " Friday, 23rd of June. Our men have white- 
 washed all the plastered rooms in the house and 
 painted three rooms. Oh let us not be permitted to 
 do these things to our earthly abode in the pride of 
 our hearts, nor to gratify our selfish feelings, but for 
 the honor of God the giver of our house and the 
 T 
 
74 
 
 Father of all blessings, realizing the need in which 
 we stand of a house not made with hands eternal in 
 the heavens." 
 
 The character which Mr. Bartlett was enabled 
 through so many years to sustain as a man was that 
 of a consistent Christian. He was remarkable for 
 an evenness of deportment as well through his youth 
 as in his maturer years, and to the very close of his 
 life. He seemed always to realise his accountability 
 to God for all his conduct towards his fellow-men, 
 and for all the motives of that conduct. He not only 
 believed it to be wrong to indulge in harsh censure 
 of his fellows, he felt that it was beneath the Chris- 
 tian's character to indulge even harsh thoughts. 
 
 In all his most private concerns he felt that it was 
 his privilege as a child of God, to have the care and 
 counsel of his Heavenly Father, and thus connect- 
 ing the care and the will of God with his daily in- 
 terests and his daily duties, he may be said truly to 
 have traveled the path allotted to him with the sen- 
 sible presence of his Almighty Friend, hallowing 
 every scene and making even its darkest passes radi- 
 ant with the light that streameth from heaven. 
 
 To walk steadily in the strait and narrow path — 
 to bear a pure, unspotted Christian character 
 through a long life, amid the countless temptations 
 which the world presents at every step, is no light 
 matter — few are enabled to do it, and it can only be 
 accomplished by leaning steadily on the arm of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 It may therefore be profitable for us as we look at 
 this Christian man, to open the 'book where he has 
 
75 
 
 left on record the secret thoughts of his heart, that 
 we may learn what were his views of life, what his 
 thoughts of duty to God and man, and what the 
 main-spring of all his conduct. 
 
 The following extracts taken from his diary, have 
 been selected as appropriate to display his views and 
 feelings on the great subjects of his duty to God 
 and to man as a Christian and a minister of Jesus 
 Christ : 
 
 " When shall I acquire the divine art of using 
 time, of living to my God, for my fellow-creatures, 
 and for myself ! When shall I possess that firmness 
 of mind which shall enable me to act at all times as 
 if I realised that I am acting for eternity ! When 
 shall I be so firmly and constantly habituated to the 
 paths of virtue and the ways of wisdom, that no art 
 or insinuation of a vain world shall draw me aside 
 from my duty ! " 
 
 " Few bring back at eve immaculate, the manners of the morn. 
 Something we thought is blotted, we resolved, is shaken, we re- 
 nounced, returns again." — Dk. Young. 
 
 " Thus we have to lament at the close of every day 
 our frailty, our wont of perseverance in the execu- 
 tion of our resolutions. When will the time come 
 when I shall in every respect do my duty and have 
 no cause to repent of my folly ! " 
 
 " Another day is numbered with my past hours I 
 Shall I wish to recall it, that I may have an oppor- 
 tunity to spend it again, hoping that I shall improve 
 it to better advantage ! My frailty forbids the wish. 
 Is not such a wish like the promises of those who 
 when lying, as they supposed, upon a bed of death, 
 have solemnly engaged that should they ever be re- 
 stored to health they will live more devoted to God 
 than they hitherto have done, that they will make 
 the salvation of their souls the only important busi- 
 
76 
 
 ness of their spared lives, and yet when recovered 
 from their sickness have been more thoughtless than 
 ever." 
 
 " Such is the frailty and wretchedness of man. 
 But blessed be God he can give strength to the 
 weak, and enable them to overcome a vain and delu- 
 sive world and the great adversary of man. None 
 need despond who with all humility place their 
 whole dependence on his almighty grace." 
 
 " Another week is added to the past weeks of 
 
 my life. What a diary does my conscience now wit- 
 ness for this portion of my time? Might I have 
 done more good than I have done ? Do I wish to 
 spend every week of my life in the same manner ? 
 Did I rise in the morning in such season as I ought ? 
 Did I spend the mornings in such a manner as I 
 ought ? Were my reflections in the evening such as 
 were proper and effectual ? How did I behave to 
 those who injured me ? Did I remember the great 
 and important duty of forgiving injuries ? 
 
 May my conscience be a faithful monitor at all 
 times. 
 
 May I never allow an action or word in myself, 
 for which I should think lightly of another. 
 
 May I ever be ' slow to anger,' and ready to for- 
 give, and think favorably of the failings of others." 
 
 " How fair, how excellent, how lovely is the 
 
 queen of heaven. Religion I How perfectly does 
 she by her principles support the soul under all its 
 afflictions. How heart reviving and refreshing her 
 influence ! How pure the joys which she bestows ! 
 Shall one hour of her pleasure be given for all the 
 riches this earth can boast ? The humble and holy 
 soul disdains to make the comparison." 
 
 " How sweet are my hours of retirement ! 
 
 When withdrawn from the business and noise of the 
 world I can look into my own heart and examine 
 the state of aflairs with my soul, survey my past 
 
77 
 
 actions and form resolutions of amendment in future. 
 But may I never put confidence in my own strength, 
 and rely solely on Him who is infinite in power." 
 
 The social arrangements which Mr. Bartlett estab- 
 lished in his family were all regulated in subser- 
 viency to the divine precepts. 
 
 The government of his family was far from being 
 rigid ; he treated his children with the greatest 
 familiarity, entering into all their plans, examining 
 with them, all the reasons for or against a certain 
 course, and encouraging them under every circum- 
 stance to make perfect confidents of both their pa- 
 rents. He was in the habit of conversing freely 
 with them especially as they drew near to adult 
 years, on the peculiar temptations to which they 
 would be exposed, and thus guarding them against 
 concealed dangers. His views in reference to their 
 education for life, were somewhat peculiar ; he did 
 not feel it his duty to mark out for his children the 
 business they should follow, but rather threw them 
 upon their own resources, advising with them and 
 aiding them all in his power in that course which 
 they seemed to prefer, and urging them at the 
 same time to mark the leadings of Providence and 
 thus endeavor to find out what was God's will con- 
 cerning them. His great desire for them was that 
 they might be useful, that they might glorify God, 
 in whatever station they were placed. 
 
 He kept a strong hold of his children by prayer, 
 bearing them continually on his heart before God 
 and more especially so if any peculiar circumstance 
 in the life of either of them excited his interest. 
 7* 
 
78 
 
 The morning and evening worship in his family^ 
 was always attended to with peculiar emphasis. 
 The members of the family and persons providen- 
 tially there whether as visitors, or laborers, were 
 always expected to be present. A portion of scrip- 
 ture was read in course by each one present, and 
 then the notes and practical observations by Dr. 
 Scott. A hymn was then sung, and the Head of 
 the family or some one whom he might name led in 
 prayer. Mr. Bartlett often took such opportunities 
 for throwing out some remarks of his own, having 
 reference to any peculiar circumstance which might 
 have occurred or Avas about to occur. If it was 
 evening, and he had been away through the day, he 
 would recount the scenes he had witnessed, and 
 notice any peculiar providences which had affected 
 him, thereby adding much to the social interest of 
 the scene. He took great delight in singing, and at 
 times when the hymn was peculiarly striking, would 
 sing the whole of it a second time, or a part of it. 
 
 On the Sabbath, in addition to these exercises at 
 the evening prayer, for many years and until all his 
 children had grown up and nearly all removed to 
 homes of their own, the whole, present, were ques- 
 tioned through the Shorter Catechism. 
 
 This was a custom which had been handed down 
 through many generations, and which has been very 
 generally in use among Christians in our country 
 until within the last thirty years. But we doubt 
 much whether a " more excellent way " has been 
 adopted in its stead. It might, at times, appear to 
 be a tedious and unnecessary repetition of the same 
 
79 
 
 truths, but it brought those truths before the mind ; 
 they became " fixed facts " in the memory, and there 
 was by this mean a store laid up that the Spirit of 
 God could at any time apply to the heart, and we 
 hesitate not to say that whatever has been the cause 
 for the present neglect of this part of family disci- 
 pline, it need be able to point to a great deal of posi- 
 tive good accomplished in order to atone for the loss 
 to Christian families of this old Puritan custom. 
 
 At an early age, all Mr. Bartlett's children, nine 
 in number, have become hopefully pious and mani- 
 fest in all the different places where their lot is cast, 
 the same love for the truth as was instilled into 
 them by their training at home. 
 
 A few extracts from his daily record of events, 
 will close this part of our view of his character and 
 habits. 
 
 " 18 — , October, 24th. We have been this after- 
 noon and evening, very much pressed with company 
 and cares, so that we did not retire to rest till 
 eleven o'clock. Before going to rest we retired with 
 our sons who we expect will go from us in the morn- 
 ing to return to college, and spent a season of special 
 instruction and special prayer with them.'' 
 
 " October 25th. Our sons set out on their journey 
 a little before eight o'clock. May the God who 
 guarded us through the dangers and snares of youth, 
 and fed us all our life thus far, and the Angel of the 
 covenant that redeemed us from all evil, bless the 
 lads, and let our name be named upon them, and the 
 name of our fathers, so far as we and our fathers 
 are the children of the God of Abraham." 
 
 Mr. Bartlett's style of preaching was not calcu- 
 
80 
 
 lated to please a fastidious taste ; he had never 
 studied to adorn his discourses with the graces of 
 elocution even from the first, and perhaps regarded 
 with too much indifference the manner in which the 
 truths which he wished to enforce were presented. 
 It doubtless seemed to him all sufficient if he could 
 say to his hearers, thus saith the Lord — and from 
 a desire to make every proposition as plain as possi- 
 ble, he enlarged upon each particular more perhaps 
 than was necessary for the best effect ; and yet who 
 can say that more finished compositions, a style more 
 in unison with the refined taste of later years, 
 would, upon the whole, have accomplished a greater 
 amount of good ? 
 
 The 'truth may be telling upon our hearts and 
 consciences and doing its silent work there, although 
 we may be weary of hearing its reiteration ; and 
 perhaps not many country parishes can number 
 through a course of fifty years, ten subjects of divine 
 grace on an average, annually gathered into the 
 church through the instrumentality of the usual 
 preaching of the gospel. The effect of his ministra- 
 tions has been rather conservative that quickening ; 
 it has encouraged a quiet, orderly, and moral condi- 
 tion among his flock ; it has encouraged fathers to 
 be industrious in their avocations, kind and forbear- 
 ing in their families, and mothers to be diligent in 
 training their little ones to reverence the word of 
 God, and the institutions of religion. 
 
 During the last twenty-five years of his ministry, 
 subjects of distracting interest have been agitated 
 throughout the church in our land. The most 
 
81 
 
 prominent of these have been temperance and aboli- 
 tionism. The minds of men have been w^rought upon 
 by those who have suffered either cause to absorb all 
 other considerations, until divisions, and jealousies, 
 and bitterness against brethren, have disturbed the 
 peace of many congregations and rent them asun- 
 der. But we have been preserved from these calami- 
 ties ; distinguished as an advocate for temperance, 
 and setting a Christian example in that respect, long 
 before temperance societies were thought of; he 
 stood on the same calm and steady platform while 
 the storm was raging abroad and encouraged his 
 hearers to acts of self-denial and to abstinence from 
 every thing that could injure their usefulness as men 
 and Christians, while he made no sweeping denun- 
 ciations, nor abused those who could not enter 
 wholly into his views. 
 
 He had little faith, however, in temperance re- 
 formation nor in any other kind of reformation that 
 was not the fruit of a change of heart, so far as in- 
 dividuals were concerned, although it was his hearty 
 wish that the use of intoxicating liquors, as a bever- 
 age, might be abandoned by the whole community. 
 
 He hated slavery, and thought of it as an evil, a 
 great evil ; a dark spot upon our fair land ; and he 
 ever prayed that God in his wise providence, would 
 order events for the removal of the curse, and yet he 
 saw no such promise of good in the abolition move- 
 ment, that authorised him to throw the firebrand of 
 discord among his people, by waking up their pas- 
 sions on the subject. His great idea on all such 
 matters was, " disseminate Christian principles, 
 
82 
 
 wake up the love of Christ in the minds of all, and 
 the moral taints of society will melt away before it." 
 
 His preaching was rather practical than doctrinal. 
 He did not, indeed, keep back the prominent articles 
 of our faith, but they were never brought out in 
 their startling boldness, so as to lead the minds of 
 his hearers to revolt at them or to create a disputa- 
 tious spirit. He was fully conscious that " we now 
 only see in part," that many things " were hard to 
 be believed," and could never be made quite clear 
 in our imperfect state — but " to love the Lord with 
 all our heart and our neighbor as ourself," to repent 
 heartily of sin, to lay hold on Jesus as the great 
 Saviour of the soul, to do works meet for repentance, 
 and to walk by faith on the Son of God. These 
 were within the grasp of the mind and upon these 
 he dwelt. 
 
 But his preaching was not the only power which 
 he used to accomplish the work committed to him. 
 In his own language, in the discourses appended to 
 this sketch, he has made a beautiful appeal to the 
 flock of his charge in the summing up of his minis- 
 terial labors — " I have thus been before you breth- 
 ren as a minister of Jesus Christ, as a pastor, as a 
 father, a husband, a neighbor, a friend, and a 
 man." I have glanced at his services in the pulpit, 
 and their results are before those who will read this 
 sketch. We have not indeed been stimulated to do 
 mighty things in attempts to batter down the king- 
 dom of Satan, but we have in general, been at peace 
 among ourselves, and perhaps present at this day as 
 
83 
 
 fair a sample of an orderly Cliristian community as 
 can be found in any district of the same size. 
 
 In his ministrations as a pastor, he appeared among 
 his people in the same character as when standing 
 in the sacred desk, the same gentleness of manner, 
 the same Christian courtesy, the same serious, devout 
 instructor. He never put off the ambassador of 
 Christ when mingling with the family circle, at the 
 firesides of his people. He had a word of encour- 
 agement for the desponding, a word of exhortation 
 to the thoughtless, and to those who openly trans- 
 gressed, his reproof and admonition were adminis- 
 tered in the spirit of humility and love. Nor had 
 he any partiality. All received from him the same 
 tokens of his kindly feelings. He looked upon his 
 flock as a father upon his children ; all might not 
 equally meet his approbation, but all shared in his 
 heart's interest. 
 
 He had a very happy way of introducing subjects 
 of serious moment in occasional visits, and no family 
 of his people perhaps ever felt under any unpleasant 
 restraint by his presence, or felt obliged to converse 
 about serious things because their pastor was present. 
 In visiting the sick he was untiring when he thought 
 his visits were agreeable. In this matter he had 
 made a change from the habit of his earlier years. 
 It had been his custom, when first settled, and for 
 many years, to call upon all persons in his parish 
 whom he heard were attacked with dangerous sick- 
 ness, but finding at times, that physicians had for- 
 bidden any visiting at the side of the patient's bed, 
 or that some other minister of Christ had been 
 
84 
 
 called in, he adopted the plan of waiting until sent 
 for, or until his prayers from the sacred desk had 
 been requested, and pursued this plan in general to 
 the last. 
 
 On funeral occasions he was always prompt to the 
 hour appointed, and from his sympathizing manner 
 seemed to enter deeply into the feelings of the 
 mourning family. His remarks on such occasions 
 were generally much to the point. He never said 
 flattering things about those for whom he had no 
 hope, but leaving them in the hands of the great 
 Judge, endeavored to turn the attention of surviv- 
 ing friends towards preparation for their own de- 
 parture, — and perhaps all who have been familiar 
 with his ministrations in the house of mourning will 
 respond to the assertion that he was more happy on 
 such occasions than most ministers whom they have 
 had opportunies of hearing, or than he himself was 
 in his more studied services in the pulpit. Nor was 
 it only in the house of mourning that Mr. Bartlett 
 was enabled to appear before his people with appro- 
 priate and timely services — his forte was perhaps full 
 as distinguished when called upon to perform the 
 nuptial rite. It was, indeed, apparently, the duty 
 most congenial to him. He had a peculiar reverence 
 and regard to the marriage relation, having himself 
 enjoyed more happiness in the wedded life than falls 
 to the lot of most men, he encouraged it in others, 
 and looked upon it as the foundation of all that was 
 good and pleasant in the social state, and who that 
 has noticed his manner on such occasions does not 
 remember the pleasant aspect of his countenance, 
 
85 
 
 ■the pressure of his warm grasp of congratulation, 
 and the earnest instructions which he often dealt out 
 to those whose fate for life he had linked together. 
 It has been a custom among this people on taking 
 possession of their new abode, to invite the pastor 
 with other friends, that a blessing might be invoked 
 upon the dwelling and its occupants — a happy cus- 
 tom, and long may its observance be continued. 
 To such invitations he responded with all his heart. 
 Home was to him the name next dearest to heaven, 
 the concentration of earth's blessings, and the place 
 where the happiest preparation can be made for use- 
 fulness here and blessedness hereafter. His prayer, 
 therefore, at such times was no formal exercise, his 
 words were the effusions of his heart, the outpour- 
 ings of his earnest desires for heaven's richest bless- 
 ings to descend and rest there ; and we cannot think 
 such offerings have been in vain, nor that those 
 dwellings thus consecrated have not received and 
 are not now receiving, the answers to his sincere 
 requests. 
 
 There is one more duty connected with his pasto- 
 ral service, that ought not to be passed over without 
 mention. It was not a public service ; it was pev- 
 formed alone, in the retirement of his study, in his 
 wakeful hours of night. When his people were 
 busy in their fields or enjoying the peaceful slumber 
 that ''a day of toil has earned." Then family by 
 family, name after name, would he borne by him to 
 the throne of grace — not one was forgotten, but 
 consecutively, at different times, made the special 
 subjects of his intercession. Any that he had met 
 
86 
 
 through the day with whom he had conversed, or 
 transacted any business, whether the interview had 
 been agreeable or of a trying nature, he made a 
 point of praying for them in an especial manner. 
 
 In all his dealings with his people, whether as a 
 neighbor, or in any matter of business, those who 
 knew him can testify to his ardent desire to act upon 
 purely Christian principles, and to set an example 
 of forbearance and liberality. He never bargained 
 with any of his flock, leaving it to their sense of 
 justice as to the price of any commodity which was 
 brought to him for sale, or which he wished to pur- 
 chase of them. 
 
 His belief in a particular Providence was very 
 strong. It entered into all his arrangements both 
 of a public and private nature, and his views of the 
 manner in which we should seek the care of Provi- 
 dence, were peculiarly just. It was to consult the 
 Lord at the very beginning. If his children or him- 
 self were agitating any new step, he would arrange 
 nothing, conclude upon nothing until he had com- 
 mitted the matter to the Lord, and then watch care- 
 fully for every intimation of the divine will. If it 
 was a journey, and it had been decided upon, then 
 his petition was for direction in appointing the time 
 of departure and for a blessing on all the circum- 
 stances. As his children, in turn, reached adult 
 years and might be called upon at any time to act 
 upon their own responsibility, he has been heard to 
 say that he made even an afternoon's visit by them 
 to a neighbor, a subject of prayer. " We know not," 
 he would remark, " what an hours' call away from 
 
87 
 
 home may result in ; the whole after course of their 
 life may be changed by it," and as those who strictly 
 mark the dealings of Providence, behold many won- 
 derful instances of divine interposition, he could also 
 recount remarkable answers to his strong petitions 
 for the aid of his covenant God. 
 
 One instance of a public nature as connected with 
 the interests of the ecclesiastical society over which 
 he was placed, may here very properly be mentioned. 
 It was many years ago ; the principal actors have 
 all gone to give up their account. A violent oppo- 
 sition to the well-being of the society had been ex- 
 cited mainly by the ill-will of one man. He had, 
 however, in his day, quite an amount of influence, 
 and there was no inconsiderable number of people 
 belonging to the society ready to do his bidding. A 
 meeting had been appointed. The friends of reli- 
 gion and of good order were greatly alarmed, and on 
 the day of the meeting, many of them called at the 
 house of their Pastor, on their way thither, and ex- 
 pressed their fears that the enemy would triumph. 
 His heart, however, still clung to the hope that the 
 Lord would frustrate all the designs of the wicked, 
 and he encouraged them to trust likewise, and to be 
 fearless in duty. As the hour approached for the 
 meeting, large wagon loads of persons evidently bent 
 upon mischief passed furiously along, and when op- 
 posite the Pastor's house, gave full vent to their 
 feelings in shouts and laughter. 
 
 It was indeed a trying moment, and the great ad- 
 versary appeared ready to overpower the friends of 
 Christ. 
 
88 
 
 When the hour had arrived for the meeting, Mr. 
 Bartlett went into his study and there like Israel of 
 old, wrestled with the Angel of the covenant. Time 
 passed unheeded by him, and while yet upon his 
 knees, the wagons began to pass on their way from 
 the assembly, and presently he was called for from 
 his retirement. At once he came, and was met by 
 a cordial grasp of the hand, from one of those who 
 had parted from him in so much despondency — " Mr. 
 Bartlett" — the tear had started, and the good man 
 found it difficult to get out his words — " Mr. Bart- 
 lett, I believe you must have been praying for us. 
 It seems all like a miracle — the enemy that was so 
 bold and threatening without, had nothing to say at 
 the meeting, and they could do nothing. The 
 friends of the church feel stronger now than ever. 
 The Lord be praised." 
 
 He was a wise counselor, and a true friend to all 
 his people who came to him in their difficulties. 
 He faithfully kept their secrets, and gave such ad- 
 vice as his Christian principles dictated, in all cases 
 endeavoring to throw oil upon the waters of strife, 
 and to give true consolation to the wounded spirit. 
 Perhays none ever went to him under any circum- 
 stances of trouble that did not go away with a 
 lighter heart, with their sore spirits soothed by his 
 calm and kind manner, and his gentle exhortations 
 to trust in God and serve him with a pure heart. 
 
 His treatment of those who lived in the open vio- 
 lation of some of the commandments of the Lord, 
 was of such a nature as never to drive them from 
 him. He rebuked their sins as he had opportunity,, 
 
89 
 
 while his kind and affectionate notice of them, when 
 they came in his way, disarmed them of all hard 
 feelings, and caused them to respect in his person 
 the religion he professed. Often has the writer 
 heard such persons speak of him with much rever- 
 ence, and while calling professors of religion in 
 general, "all to naught," they would say, "If all 
 men were like Mr. Bartlett, they might believe there 
 was something in religion." A poor excuse indeed 
 for their own disobedience, and an evidence that 
 they could discern between the righteous and the 
 wicked. In this he doubtless walked in the foot- 
 steps of his master who went about among publi- 
 cans and sinners, and while warning them to flee 
 from the wrath to come, ceased not to pity their dis- 
 tresses, and did them good as he had opportunity. 
 
 His attention to the children of his flock was also 
 a peculiarity in his ministrations that has done much 
 in accomplishing his work, and implanted an inter- 
 est for him in the hearts of very many which will 
 never die away. He never passed a child without 
 especial notice, and for many years could call any 
 child among his people by name. 
 
 He walked before his people a living example of 
 true religion. His path was a plain, steady path of 
 unaffected piety. The tongue of scandal was never 
 heard against him, it could find no stain upon his 
 pure character, to feed its malignity. He never 
 wandered into a dubious path, nor did an act of 
 questionable character. He loved his people — he 
 did his best for tlieir temporal and eternal welfare, 
 
90 
 
 and his record is in many hearts on earth, and we- 
 doubt not, well registered in heaven. 
 
 Fifty years is a long period in the relations of life, 
 and seldom is it exceeded, — and the providence of 
 God had determined that the pastoral connection of 
 his Servant to the people he had so long watched 
 over, should be brought to a close, and its results 
 sealed up. 
 
 The last public services which Mr. Bartlett per- 
 formed were in the month of Dec. , 1854. An appoint- 
 ment had been made for the consecration of a house 
 of worship, at Broad Brook. It was a stormy day, 
 one of the worst of the season, and he being the only 
 minister present on the occasion, all the service de- 
 volved upon him. On the following Sabbath he was 
 invited to preach there, and although then suffering 
 from his previous exposure, he went through the 
 duties of the day. A severe attack of influenza 
 succeeded, from which he appeared partially to re- 
 cover, and from which his physician hoped he would 
 be finally relieved in the opening spring. By those 
 who were about him, however, fears began to be en- 
 tertained that the disease was gradually undermin- 
 ing his constitution. 
 
 To himself these signs were not so evident — he 
 felt no pain — his appetite was good, and his mind 
 enjoyed its usual elasticity. Life had many endear- 
 ments to him even on the shore of eternity — his 
 house was still the abode of pleasantness and peace, 
 — ^his children and friends still had a warm place in 
 his heart — the faces of his people had the same 
 charm as ever, and above all she was about him, who 
 
91 
 
 had been the object of unchanging aifection from 
 the time when in youth he won her love. Her smile 
 still gladdened him, and her winning ways were even 
 more sacredly dear to him than ever. No wonder 
 then if his heart still lingered where he had been so 
 long, and enjoyed so much. 
 
 But when the returning spring brought no vigor 
 to his system, and his wasting frame began to assure 
 him that his food did not impart its accustomed 
 nourishment, he readily yielded to the sign that his 
 Master had no more work for him here, and that it 
 was his will that he should depart hence. The as- 
 surance changed not the current of his feelings — it 
 broke not one tender chord that bound him to life. 
 He had held every friend, and all other blessings, as 
 the gifts of his Heavenly Father, and was fully pre- 
 pared to acquiesce in the command, to strike his 
 tent and bid adieu to the scenes of earth. 
 
 His worldly matters were easily arranged, and he 
 had but little to do in putting his house in order — 
 for he had lived wisely — no debts had been incurred, 
 and although he knew that at his death his beloved 
 wife would be dependent upon the little property 
 they had by prudence preserved, he would not allow 
 a word of distrust to be spoken in his presence. 
 
 He had no special preparation to make on his own 
 account. — he had been doing that for sixty years, and 
 had no new arrangements to trouble himself with. 
 He conversed freely about the event that was ap- 
 proaching, with the same calmness as was usual 
 with him in reference to any concern in life. 
 
 By degrees he gave up his duties as the head of a 
 
92 
 
 family, as he had done those of the pastor of his 
 flock, having placed in the hands of his colleague, 
 the Rev. Mr. Andrews, the book of records belong- 
 ing to the church, which for fifty years he had faith- 
 fully kept. The morning and evening service at the 
 family altar was the last duty he resigned, having 
 continued it for some time after he was too feeble to 
 stand ; his usual posture at family prayers. Still he 
 was not confined to his bed, nor did he relinquish 
 his interest in the affairs of his household, although 
 he had ceased to regulate ; but expressed continued 
 satisfaction in having all things go on as they had 
 ever done. 
 
 Letters from his children had been a source of 
 great comfort to him for many years ; as the most of 
 them were far away, and the only communion they 
 could hold together* was by writing. This pleasure 
 he enjoyed to the last ; and when the letters were 
 read to him, he sympathised apparently as much in 
 all their expressions of love for him, and their Heav- 
 enly Father, as he ever had ; and to all of them he 
 would dictate some word of comfort and encourage- 
 ment. 
 
 At length the hour arrived that he could " go no 
 more in and out," in that abode where he had so 
 
 long dwelt. On Sabbath morning, the he 
 
 arose as usual, and dressed himself, but soon laid 
 aside his garments and composed himself upon the 
 bed, from which he felt he was no more to arise. 
 Hearing what had taken place, the writer of this 
 immediately repaired to his bed-side, for he knew 
 that his hour must be near at hand. 
 
93 
 
 " My Dear Son : — 1 am glad to see yon — you are 
 dear to me as the rest of my children," and opening 
 his arms gave him an affectionate embrace. 
 
 I am going, my son, the way of all the earth, l)ut 
 all the days of my appointed time I will wait until 
 my change come — I have great peace of mind — 
 greater than I can express. Oh, the goodness of the 
 Lord ! I can not tell how much I enjoy, and have 
 ever enjoyed since the first hour I put my trust in 
 the Lord." 
 
 As soon as it was known that his end was near at 
 hand, all his children who could leave their homes, 
 flocked to him, that they might with their own hands 
 minister to his weakness, and day and night they 
 were about his bed, attending to every wish, admin- 
 istering to every necessity, and doing all that loving 
 hearts could do, to smooth each roughness from his 
 path, and make his passage into eternity as easy as 
 mortal love could make it. 
 
 It was a dying scene undisturbed by regrets or 
 remorse — they had been brought up in love and obe- 
 dience — they had walked together in harmony and 
 peace — all had been trained to submission to the 
 divine will— and though the tears would fall as they 
 bent over his emaciated frame, yet they were only 
 such as love must weep when dear earthly ties are 
 sundering. 
 
 His people, too, flocked in to see him and offer 
 their aid. Some of them at the first he was able to 
 converse with and bid farewell ; but as his weakness 
 increased, the effort to speak aloud became too pain- 
 ful to allow of this privilege, and it was thought 
 best to deny admission to his room, and in one or 
 
94 
 
 two instances with great reluctance this was ad- 
 hered to ; but when the dying pastor heard that some 
 of his people had been there and gone without see- 
 ing him, he requested that all who came might be 
 permitted to take their last look at him in life, 
 although he could not speak to them ; and many a 
 sad but much loved countenance passed before him, 
 and doubtless received his blessing although he lay 
 mute as in the attitude of death. 
 
 His brethren in the ministry came also to say fare- 
 well to one who had so long stood with them on the 
 walls of Zion ; and he rejoiced to see them and to 
 listen to their prayers. To one of them who had in 
 his petition, prayed that God would sustain his serv- 
 ant " through the dark valley of the shadow of 
 death," Mr. Bartlett remarked when his friend arose 
 and stood by him, 
 
 " Brother , I believe you have misquoted 
 
 that passage of scripture — it is ' the valley of the 
 shadow of death ' — not the dark valley." 
 
 The error was at once acknowledged. 
 
 "And you do not find it so. Brother Bartlett?" 
 " Oh no ! far from it — blessed be God, it is not 
 dark— Oh no ! " 
 
 And blessed be God, let all say, who have hope in 
 Jesus Christ. That valley lieth too near the con- 
 fines of his own glorious habitation. Shadows in- 
 deed rest upon it, but there are always beams of liglit 
 streaming through the dark mantle, and throwing 
 their heavenly radiance around the trembling spirit. 
 Oh no ! It is not dark to those who have com- 
 mitted the keeping of their souls to Jesus. 
 
95 
 
 And on Jesus, this servant of God kept a firm and 
 steady hold to the very last. No fear, no doubt, no 
 cloud, dimmed his clear vision, or troubled his pass- 
 ing spirit. He watched with a firm look the steady 
 approach of death, marking his own pulse, and fol- 
 lowing the life current as it drooped and retrograded 
 to the heart. 
 
 And thus he sunk to rest. 
 
 At length, the day arrived which was to witness 
 the last tokens of affection by a whole parish, to him 
 who had been for fifty years their spiritual teacher, 
 their warm friend, and their honest adviser. 
 
 It was a beautiful summer morning, and by eleven 
 o'clock, all who were able to leave their homes, be- 
 longing to his own parish, had assembled at the old 
 meeting-house, and with them many from neigh- 
 boring parishes, for his name was revered far beyond 
 the bounds of his own charge. 
 
 Relations and intimate friends had gathered 
 within the mansion where the deceased lay, with 
 many of the neighboring clergy. By one of the lat- 
 ter a prayer was offered in the house of mourning, 
 and then the coffin, with its sacred deposit, was 
 borne off towards the house of God. 
 
 As the sad procession reached the church, it 
 passed through a double row of those who wished 
 to pay the highest token of respect to the remains of 
 the departed. They were uncovered, and their 
 drooping heads manifested the real sympathy their 
 hearts felt — and as the precious burden was borne 
 up the stairs and into the. aisle, many a strong arm 
 was stretched forth to aid in bearino- it with as little 
 
96 
 
 disturbance to the pale, cold sleeper, as could pos- 
 sibly be. 
 
 Beneath the desk where the deceased had so often 
 ministered, sufficiently elevated for all to see, the 
 corpse was placed at rest. 
 
 The choir sung its funeral ode. A prayer was 
 offered up by the Rev. Samuel J. Andrews, the as- 
 sociate pastor of the church, followed by a discourse 
 from the Rev. Dr. Tyler, of East Windsor Theologi- 
 cal Institute, and the services closed by a prayer 
 from Rev. Dr. Bedell, of Hartford. 
 
 The religious service being over, the coffin-lid was 
 turned down and an opportunity offered to all pres- 
 ent for a last view of him they had known and 
 loved in life. In solemn procession the whole con- 
 gregation passed before the silent dead — and as they 
 cast their eye upon those well-remembered features, 
 many an aged one would pause and take a lingering 
 look, and then with clasped hands and falling tears, 
 pass on their way. Death had robbed them of one 
 whose place in their hearts could never be filled 
 again. 
 
 Once more the lid of the coffin is closed, and 
 closed forever — and the long procession follows to 
 the grave. 
 
 Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, and the mortal 
 remains of the beloved pastor are shut away from 
 human view, while his flock departs each to his sepa- 
 rate home, to ponder on the closing scene of that 
 connection which had bound them to the departed 
 for more than half a century. 
 
SERMON 
 
 [The following sermon was prepared by Mr. Bartlett for the fiftieth 
 ■anniversary of his pastoral charge. Indisposition prevented his deliver- 
 ing it at the time, nor was he ever able so to do. The Sabbath after his 
 funeral it was read to the congregation by his son-in-law, the Rev. Sam- 
 uel R. Brown.] 
 
 HEBREWS, 13: 7, 17. 
 " Remember them wuich have the rule over you, who have 
 
 SPOKEN UNTO TOU THE WORD OP GOD. ObEY THEM THAT 
 HAVE THE RULE OVER TOU AND SUBMIT YOURSELVES, FOR 
 THEY WATCH FOR YOUR SOULS AS THEY THAT MUST GIVE 
 ACCOUNT, THAT THEY MAY DO IT WITH JOY AND NOT WITH 
 GRIEF." 
 
 Fifty years ago, according to the united invitation 
 of the church and society which then existed in this 
 place, I took, with divine help I hope, the infinitely 
 important office of a spiritual watchman over their 
 souls, under the great watchman of Israel. On that 
 interesting day, my watchmanship here was all in 
 prospect, — all in the future. Now, fifty years of it 
 are past and have become a deeply interesting his- 
 tory in the book of records of the heart-searching 
 "Judge of all the Eo.rth." 
 
 The first sermon that I preached in this same 
 house, as the ordained pastor of the church and 
 congregation then here, was from those solemn 
 words addressed by Jehovah to his prophet Ezekiel, 
 and recorded in the 33d chapter and 7th verse of the 
 9 
 
98 
 
 book written by that prophet, thus, '' So thou, oh ! 
 son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the 
 house of Israel ; therefore thou shalt hear the word 
 at my mouth, and warn them from me." 
 
 In all my ministrations of instruction and warn- 
 ing in all the " concerns of life and godliness," in 
 private and in public, amongst this people, it has 
 been my endeavor, with watchfulness and prayer, 
 relying on the aid of the Holy Spirit, to speak and 
 act according to the principles contained in those 
 words. The same principles of truth are compre- 
 hended in the words of the apostle which I have 
 chosen for my text on the present occasion, though 
 they were put upon record, as the word of God, six 
 hundred and fifty-two years after those were written 
 by the prophet. 
 
 It is the word of God alone which gives authority to 
 any pastor, to any spiritual watchman. If any speak 
 not according to this word, as God sees it, it is be- 
 cause that so far as they deviate from it, as he sees 
 it and has revealed it, there is no light of truth in 
 them. "And have ye not spoken a lying divination ? " 
 saith God to such, " whereas ye say the Lord said it ; 
 albeit I have not spoken." If in my professed 
 preaching to you in public, or in my professed teach- 
 ing you in private, I have spoken anything to you 
 which was not, in His sight, according to the word 
 of God in its purity, you are under no obligation to 
 obey it. 
 
 My object in addressing you on this occasion is, 
 as far as I am able, to give you, with the help of 
 God, a history of my watch over this church and 
 
99 
 
 people, and of the eflfects of my watchful care and 
 labors over those whom the great watchman of Is- 
 rael has committed to my care, during fifty years 
 past, that is, from the fifteenth day of February, in 
 the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred four, to the 
 fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord, 
 eighteen hundred fifty-four. 
 
 In the forms of language used in the sacred scrip- 
 tures, we are taught that it is proper to call the 
 church and congregation, or Ecclesiastical Society, 
 assembled here to-day, the same church and society 
 who met in this sacred house fifty years ago, by 
 whose desire I took upon myself, under Grod, the 
 office of a spiritual watchman ; although almost all 
 who were twenty years of age then, and many who 
 were under twenty, are either gone into eternity or 
 to other places for the enjoyment of the privileges 
 of the gospel, or to other places, (painful thought,) 
 habitually to neglect these precious privileges, or to 
 be led astray from the right way by those who teach 
 the " inventions of men " instead of the word of 
 God. 
 
 There are but six men now living and members of 
 this society who were living and acting members of 
 the society fifty years ago, and were then over twenty- 
 one years of age. (Messrs. Daniel Phelps, John 
 Bancroft, Daniel Allen, Stephen Potwine, Gains 
 Booth and Lawrence Bissell,) and there is but one 
 member of the church, (Mrs. Wareham Crane,) 
 now living, that was a resident member of it fifty 
 years ago. And not one of you who hear me to-day, 
 who is not more than fifty years of age, lieard the 
 
100 
 
 first sermon I preached in this sacred house as the 
 Pastor of this church and society. Oh, how changed 
 the places and conditions of those who are gone of 
 this assembly who gathered to hear the preaching of 
 the gospel in this house fifty years ago ! and how 
 changed the faces and conditions of those that re- 
 main of that assembly and are here this day ! 
 
 On the tenth day of January, fifty-one years ago 
 the present winter, eight weeks after the death of 
 their revered and beloved pastor, Mr. Thomas Pot- 
 wine, this society held a meeting in which they ap- 
 pointed an agent, (Caleb Booth, Esq.,) to go to the 
 Hartford North Association to ask their advice con- 
 cerning the procuring of a candidate to come and 
 preach to them on probation as their future pastor, 
 if the Lord should direct it to be so. Nine days after 
 this, after this advice had been asked and received, 
 this agent came to me with the request that I would 
 come and preach to this people on those conditions. 
 
 The ministers of this association were then engaged 
 supplying this destitute church and people, endeav- 
 oring, as far as they were able, to make up the sal- 
 ary to the widow of their deceased pastor till the 
 first of May, the end of the year, as was the custom 
 in those days. 
 
 As soon as the way seemed to be opened by Di- 
 vine Providence, I came and preached several months 
 among you, during the last few weeks of which time 
 your fathers prepared and brought to me an invita- 
 tion that I would take, under the great and good 
 Shepherd, the charge of a pastor over them. 
 
 After due time spent in secret meditation and ask- 
 
101 
 
 iiig the advice of human friends, studying tlie lan- 
 guage of God's Providence and asking for His wis- 
 dom to guide me, I sent an affirmative answer to 
 your invitation, — that I was willing to become, with 
 the help of God, your spiritual watchman. 
 
 You have my answer in full in the records of your 
 society, which I need not here repeat. Very soon 
 after this the time was appointed and other prepara- 
 tions made to have my ordination take place on the 
 fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord^ 
 eighteen hundred four. 
 
 A day which has been, ever since its appointmenty 
 a solemn day to my mind and my heart for fifty year& 
 past, and a day which I shall remember when you 
 and I and many who have gone before us into eter- 
 nity, shall appear at the last day of time, at the 
 judgment seat of Christ ; yea, a day which I and 
 many others will remember during all the ages of 
 eternity with more and more vivid interest. 
 
 Among other preparations for my ordination, this 
 church and society cheerfully, and I was told unan- 
 imously, according to my request and according to 
 the custom of our forefathers and apostolic example, 
 appointed and kept a day of fasting and prayer a few 
 days previous ; and it is proper that I should here 
 introduce the vote of the church in reference to this. 
 
 " Voted, that in concurrence with the desire of 
 the pastor elect, and agreeable to the pious custom 
 of our forefathers on like occasions, to set apart 
 Thursday, the 9th day of February next, to be ob- 
 served as a day of fasting and prayer preparatory to 
 the ordination ; to implore the presence and aid of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, the great head of the church, 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 that he would humble us under the late frowns of 
 His Providence, and make us sensible of our entire 
 dependence on Him ; that He would ' heal our back- 
 slidings and love us freely ; ' that He would own 
 and abundantly bless this His own institution ; that 
 he would pour out His spirit and blessing on His 
 servant, the pastor elect, and on this church and so- 
 ciety, that they may become a holy, and in that way 
 a happy people ; that the pastor elect and this church 
 and society may be mutual blessings to each other 
 for a great while to come. Voted to invite the soci- 
 ety to join with us herein." 
 
 This vote was prepared and recorded by one who 
 was, at the time it was passed, one of the fathers in 
 the church, (Mr. Samuel Bartlett,) and according 
 to the spirit of the prayer here expressed, very great 
 blessings have been bestowed upon the descendants 
 of the good man who wrote it, and upon many oth- 
 ers who have been connected with them in the en- 
 joyment of the privileges of the gospel, by the rich 
 grace of God in Christ. The season of fasting and 
 prayer was kept with solemnity, and at the ap- 
 pointed time the ordaining council assembled, (not 
 one of which is now alive on the earth,) the pastor 
 elect was examined and unanimously approved by 
 them, and the solemn services of the ordination were 
 performed to the edification of a numerous assembly, 
 by far the greatest part of which are now in eternity. 
 
 This ordaining council did not convey to me any 
 authority over this people, as your pastor or spiritual 
 watchman. The iSeaning of their transactions is, 
 that having examined me as to my qualifications to 
 preach the gospel and administer its ordinances, and 
 perform the duties of a pastor, and the invitation of 
 
103 
 
 this people that 1 would dwell permanently among 
 them to do these services, and my hearty compliance 
 with this invitation, they gave it, and thus publicly 
 sanctioned it, as their judgment that the Providence 
 of God plainly called me, by the influence of his 
 word and spirit, to take the office of a spiritual watch- 
 man over those who had invited me to do so and 
 over others connected with them. Now since I was 
 not self sent, but approved by the best judges which 
 the nature of the case allowed, amongst my fellow 
 men, as one qualified by the providence and by the 
 spirit of God to be a minister of Jesus Christ, 
 among you, and with godly sincerity and as far as I 
 have preached the truths of the gospel and adminis- 
 tered its ordinances without any dangerous criminal 
 additions or diminutions of human inventions, I have 
 had, for fifty years past, and still have authority in 
 the visible church of Christ, not from men, but from 
 the truths of God, which, with his help, I have 
 preached and loved and obeyed among you. And 
 from these truths I have authority from their divine 
 author, and this is the authority to which the apostle 
 Paul exhorts mankind to submit, and the disobedi- 
 ence to which will cause " grief" when men give up 
 their account at the last day. 
 
 " Indeed," says an eminently godly minister, 
 '' the exercise of authority by evangelical pastors, 
 consists not in giving laws or publishing doctrines of 
 their own inventions, or in exercising any authority 
 of their own, but in explaining, establishing and de- 
 fending the laws and doctrines of Christ, and incul- 
 cating them on the consciences and hearts of men by 
 
104 
 
 Christ's sole authority ; and exemplifying them in 
 their holy faith and holy conversation, according to 
 what they have received by their commission, and 
 can prove that they have received them from Him 
 as contained in his word. All pretences to author- 
 ity in and from the church beyond this, is really an 
 usurpation, an anti-christian lordship, instead of be 
 ing entirely subordinate, as it ever ought to be, to 
 the authority of Christ." 
 
 I thought, at that season of solemn fasting and 
 prayer, mentioned above, that the Spirit of God did 
 guide our fathers, and whoever of others then united 
 with them in their solemn supplications at that 
 time ; and fifty years of experience have confirmed 
 me in my judgment, that it pleased God to help our 
 fathers and others with them to pray for those bless- 
 ings which he has been pleased from that time to 
 this day to bestow on us and our children, and others 
 who have enjoyed with us the blessings of his re- 
 deeming love. Whatever I speak to you to-day, 
 mentioning what I have spoken and done rightly 
 amongst you during fifty years past as a watchman 
 under Christ, over the souls of my charge, I have 
 done with the help of his grace, and the praise of it 
 all belongs to God, and trust that God helps me to 
 feel the highest joy concerning it, when the glory of 
 it is all ascribed to him. 
 
 I have habitually taught you in public and in pri- 
 vate, that the right performance of sacred music, 
 that is, the singing of '' psalms and hymns and spir- 
 itual songs," is an highly important part of true re- 
 ligion, for instruction and comfort to the soul ; and 
 
105 
 
 that we mav Imve the full benefit of it, it ought to 
 be done skillfully and in the fear of God as the 
 Psalmist David directs. And for the honor of God, 
 and my great gratification, this church and society 
 have been in the way of making special efforts to 
 perpetuate and increase useful skill among your- 
 selves in this department. And for this purpose you 
 have hired, once in a few years, either from amongst 
 yourselves, or from abroad, a skillful teacher of 
 sacred singing. And it has been my practice gener- 
 ally, till within a very few years past, when you have 
 thus hired a teacher, to meet with the choir and 
 learn to sing with them and give them some appro- 
 priate instructions concerning the temper of heart 
 and frame of mind with which we ought to sing 
 sacred songs so as to be accepted of God in our sing- 
 ing ; and to close these meetings with prayer. And 
 so happily has the blessing of God attended these 
 special efforts to increase our practical skill in sing- 
 ing sacred songs, that in as many as in eight or ten 
 instances, during my ministry among you, a special 
 revival of religion has very soon followed these 
 special seasons of the revival of our practical skill 
 in singing songs of praise to God. In these songs 
 of Zion, we sing the doctrines, the laws, the warn- 
 ings, the precepts and instructions which teach the 
 scheme of truth contained in the word of God, so 
 far as they are faithfully drawn from the fountain of 
 God's written revelation — yea they teach us the way 
 of salvation by Christ ; and much of the saints' ex- 
 perience in their pilgrimage through this world, and 
 their triumphant entrance immediately after death 
 
106 
 
 with the spirits of just men made perfect in holiness, 
 into the active and glorions employments of their 
 eternal home in the heavens. Of these precious 
 seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, 
 that is, revivals of religion by which this church has 
 been continued, and from time to time, within fifty 
 years past, been greatly nourished, increased in num- 
 bers, and enriched in its useful influence at home 
 and abroad, I shall endeavor to speak more particu- 
 larly during my address to you this day. 
 
 When I took my station among you as your pas- 
 tor, the clerk of the church put into my hands the 
 book of church records, which I have used ever 
 since, containing a list of the names of the men 
 only, who were then members of the church. 
 
 The number was thirty-two. It stands recorded 
 in the hand- writing of the clerk of this church, fifty 
 years ago, that the records of this church from its 
 first formation till the death of its first pastor. Rev. 
 Thomas Potwine, which took place November 15th, 
 1802, are all lost. 
 
 As I had opportunity I sought out the names of 
 those women who were then members of this church, 
 which are found to be twenty-four ; so that the 
 whole number of the members then was fifty-six. 
 Since that time five hundred and twenty-four have 
 been added : four hundred and fifty-two from 
 amongst ourselves, and seventy-two by recommenda- 
 tion from other churches. Of these, one hundred 
 and seventy-six have been regularly dismissed and 
 recommended to other churches. Five have been 
 excommunicated as incorrigible apostates, and one 
 
107 
 
 hundred and fifty-two have died. Some of the rest 
 have gone to places unknown to us, and have lost 
 their regular standing with us. So that there are 
 not more than one hundred and sixty-four who are 
 regularly members of this church at the present 
 time. 
 
 Fifty years ago there was but one house for public 
 worship within the limits of this ecclesiastical society, 
 and there were but two till 1827 ; and at one time 
 during that period, there were two hundred and 
 ninety members of this church. But now there are 
 six houses for public worship within our limits ; 
 two Congregational, two Episcopal, and two Metho- 
 dist — and some of the members of our former con- 
 gregations have, of course, gone from us to aid in 
 building up the others. 
 
 The first revival of religion which I enjoyed with 
 you of any considerable extent, was in the years of 
 our Lord 1807 and 1808, when from the fruits of it, 
 between thirty and forty hopefully new-born souls 
 were added to this church. Some of the oldest 
 members of this church who are now living, remem- 
 ber it with gratitude to God, as influencing them to 
 make a public profession of their faith in Christ. 
 
 The judgments of God manifested in permitting 
 embarrassments in the commercial concerns of the 
 nations of Europe, with whom our nation was neces- 
 sarily and essentially connected, which greatly em- 
 barrassed, and straitened, and afflicted us in our 
 daily necessities and comforts in the departments of 
 food and raiment, greatly tried the people of God, 
 and brought them often to the throne of grace as 
 
108 
 
 the only source of relief, and then the rumors of 
 war, and after a few years, war in reality, between 
 these United States and England, with all its horrors 
 and sufferings ; waste of the bounties of God, cruel- 
 ties and wrong, heaven-provoking crimes ; a war 
 considered by many of the wisest men in our country 
 wholly unnecessary, was permitted to come upon us 
 as a mysteriously righteous scourge of God. And 
 soon after the close of these scenes of horror, our 
 righteous and holy Sovereign saw fit to visit us with 
 some very afflicting instances of sickness and death. 
 These mingled judgments of God were the means, 
 under the Holy Spirit's influence, of bringing his 
 people to search the scriptures with increasing fre- 
 quency, and to feel the word of God, whether read 
 or heard, with increasing power upon the conscience 
 and the heart. Under such influences the word of 
 God was preached with increasing plainness, and was 
 powerfully applied to the consciences of sinners, to 
 bring them to feel their guilty character and lost 
 condition, and to see that there was no way for them 
 to escape the just and eternal wrath of God, but to 
 trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour 
 of sinners. Under these influences Christians were 
 restored from their departings from God, and ex- 
 cited to pray more fervently, and with increasing 
 strength of faith and importunity, and to hope for 
 answers to diligent and persevering prayer, from 
 Him who taught and helped them to believe, that 
 He is both able and willing to give the Holy Spirit 
 to those who sincerely ask for his influences to carry 
 on his work of convincing and converting sinners, 
 
109 
 
 and of strengthening the faith and all the holy affec- 
 tions of the children of God. 
 
 The last week in August, and the first week in 
 September this year, the year of our Lord 1816, 
 sinners amongst ufe began to make known their con- 
 victions of sin, which some of them had felt, but 
 had kept to themselves for weeks, and earnestly to 
 inquire, saying, "what shall I do to be saved ?'^ 
 There were no extraordinary means used to produce 
 or to continue this precious season of refreshing from 
 the presence of the Lord, except that Christians 
 spake oftener one to another and prayed more fre- 
 quently and with greater importunity, and the word 
 of God was preached more frequently and more 
 pungently than when there is no revival of relig- 
 ion ; because the Holy Spirit was especially with us 
 to move us effectually to put our reason and con- 
 science and the affections of our hearts to their 
 proper uses in the service of God, and the enjoy- 
 ment of the blessings of his redeeming love. This 
 precious revival of pure religion, by the rich grace 
 of God, continued for nearly two years. It was the 
 effect of the still but powerful working of the Holy 
 Spirit, doing the work of reconciling sinners to God 
 by his own appointed means, guiding them " into all 
 truth," strengthening them in duty in their ap- 
 pointed stations, and ripening them for eternal, active 
 usefulness and happiness in his service. 
 
 This revival was the most extensive in useful in- 
 fluence, the most thorough, and of the longest con- 
 tinuance and the most unmingled with special trials 
 of any that I have ever experienced among this peo- 
 10 
 
no 
 
 pie. It continued from its first public appearance 
 in August, 1816, for nearly two years, till by its 
 precious fruits, more than one hundred hopeful con- 
 verts were added to this church by profession, from 
 the congregation here. Many of them were then 
 heads of rising families, who have since that happy 
 scene, brought them up " in the nurture and admo- 
 nition of the Lord," and had the joy of seeing many 
 of them walking in the truth. And a considerable 
 number of them who were then unmarried, have 
 since that precious harvest season, become heads of 
 families and brought up children in the fear of the 
 Lord, who are now in various parts of the world, 
 exhibiting the light of the Christian example to 
 " glorify our Father who is in heaven." For more 
 than a year during that revival, I was strengthened 
 of God to preach twice every Sabbath, and some 
 Sabbaths three times, without any help from my 
 reverend brethren abroad, except three or four Sab- 
 baths, and generally twice and sometimes three times 
 during the week. During this time of refreshing, 
 we enjoyed the preaching of the gospel except on 
 the Lord's day, either in the district school-houses 
 or at private houses, and wherever the gospel was 
 preached, whether in private or public, there were 
 full and solemn assemblies, many of whom seemed 
 heartily desirous to be fed with the food of divine 
 truth, because they were led by the Spirit of God. 
 Indeed, it seemed for many weeks as though the 
 sensible presence of God, the holy, lieart-searching 
 God, filled the minds of the whole church and the 
 whole congregation, which was then very numerous, 
 
Ill 
 
 so that every one was ready to say, " Lo God is here 
 of a truth." Every one who came to hear the gospel 
 preached was ready to speak on their personal obli- 
 gations to become reconciled to God. But the fruits 
 of this revival were not confined to the private, per- 
 sonal experience and domestic duties of its happy 
 subjects, though it built up many a family in the 
 practice of family prayer, and seasoned with the love 
 of God the scenes of many family circles, and 
 brought many souls to the practice of praying in 
 secret, to their Father who seeeth in secret and re- 
 wardeth openly. As effects of this happy increase of 
 the power of religion amongst this people, their hearts 
 were enlarged, and their hands were happily opened 
 to the works of Christian benevolence at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 Other churches, and other people also, at this 
 time, felt their hearts enlarged to go about doing 
 good. Until after the year 1818, I believe there 
 was no public contribution for any purpose, per 
 mitted to be gathered in this State without special 
 leave from the Legislature. That leave was granted 
 annually in May, for a number of years, only for a 
 contribution to the Connecticut Missionary Society. 
 But about that time that prohibition was wisely re- 
 moved, and the spirit of Christian benevolence was 
 allowed to pursue its happy course as freely in pub- 
 lic as in private. And since that, tlie precious prin- 
 ciple of the religion of Christ, the love of doing good, 
 has devised and sustained, under God, a great variety 
 of benevolent enterprises, both by public and private 
 aid, by which many branches of his heavenly vine 
 have been planted ; many houses for his public wor- 
 
112 
 
 ship have been builded ; many young men have been 
 qualified and sustained as faithful ministers of 
 Christ ; many millions of copies of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures have been sent and read among the destitute, 
 and millions of souls saved from the evils of sin, by 
 being reconciled to God, and prepared to be forever 
 happy and useful in loving and serving him. 
 
 The first contribution for missionary operations 
 that was gathered amongst you after I became your 
 pastor, was in May, 1804, and was $22.46. The 
 first contribution gathered in this society for Foreign 
 Missions, was a private donation from the Ladies' 
 Benevolent Society, of six dollars, in 1817, and the 
 first public contribution for that object was at a 
 prayer meeting, in 1819, when ten dollars was con- 
 tributed ; and the same year the Female Benevo- 
 lent Society contributed to the same object, thirty- 
 five dollars ; and in 1821, the Men's Benevolent So- 
 ciety contributed to the same object, $107.00. And 
 now the various other benevolent societies that were 
 formed for extending the blessings of the gospel 
 amongst the destitute and perpetuating them 
 amongst others, call forth your offerings to the Lord, 
 to aid in their prosperity; societies for publishing 
 and circulating the Bible in our own language, and 
 in a great variety of other languages ; societies for 
 publishing and distributing other books and other 
 printed papers in a great variety, containing the 
 truths of the written word of God ; societies for the 
 preparation of young men for the ministry of the 
 gospel, and other societies and means operating in 
 brotherly love with these, to promote the reconcilia- 
 
113 
 
 tion of sinners to God, have received your cheerful 
 contributions, while the Holy Spirit, by these instru- 
 mentalities, has reconciled to God, and established 
 in the way of salvation from sin, hundreds of thou- 
 sands of souls both in the heathen and in civilized 
 nations, and the way has become opened for the free 
 preaching of the gospel to almost every nation on 
 the earth. 
 
 This church and society have contributed for fifty 
 years past, annually, more or less to this cause of 
 Christian benevolence, and more especially for thirty- 
 six of these years, since 1818, when the way became 
 greatly enlarged for such modes of doing good. I 
 need not specify your doings in these things for each 
 year, for of these things we must give account of our 
 stewardship, each of us at the last day of time. 
 
 You have given during these years, from twenty- 
 two dollars, to a little more than four hundred dol- 
 lars in a year. 
 
 These exertions of the friends of Christ has the 
 Holy Spirit made effectual for wonderfully increas- 
 ing the light and power of the gospel during the last 
 fifty years, both in Christendom and in heathen na- 
 tions, by which the works of darkness and counsels 
 of the wicked have very extensively been brought to 
 light and defeated. One whole nation of idolaters 
 has been brought to submit to Christ as his rightful 
 subjects, to their rightful Sovereign. This increase 
 of the influence of the gospel amongst the nations, 
 has made the social intercourse among the nations 
 and families of the earth vastly greater and more 
 useful and happy, and is happily preparing the way 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 for God the Father in Christ to reconcile the world 
 to himself and to give to Christ his Son, " the hea- 
 then for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of 
 the earth for his possession." These wonders of 
 God's working, I have witnessed with you and 
 pointed out to you " the signs of the times," as God 
 has revealed them before us by his providence in the 
 light of his word, and you have read of them in the 
 sources of knowledge he has brought to you for that 
 purpose. And how often during the time of my 
 watchful care over your souls, have you been ready 
 to exclaim in your social scenes with your compan- 
 ions in the kingdom of Christ, " What hath God 
 wrought!" What wonders is he still working! 
 and what still greater wonders will he hereafter 
 work to glorify his name and honor Christ in the 
 redemption of sinners. 
 
 As one of the precious fruits of the revival of 
 Christian benevolence amongst us in the years 1816 
 and 1817, that house for an academic school and 
 various other uses of the highest importance to the 
 families of this people was planned and built, and 
 has under God's providence proved a source of ines- 
 timably precious blessings to us for the training of 
 our youth in useful literature and science, for our 
 happy preparations for singing to edification, and 
 comfort for those concerned in our songs of praise 
 in the house of God ; and a place where innumera- 
 ble blessings from God have descended upon us m 
 the religious meetings which in a happy variety of 
 forms have been enjoyed there for thirty-six years 
 past. 
 
115 
 
 The changes which I have witnessed and expe- 
 rienced amongst you during fifty years past, liave 
 been very many, and some of them very great. 
 Changes all under God's providence by his goodness, 
 grace, justice, mercy, power and wisdom, by his 
 word, and by his Holy Spirit. What changes in his 
 church ! and this society ! in your characters, in 
 your conditions and in your prospects ! what changes 
 in your numbers, in your ages, in your earthly pos- 
 sessions, in your earthly homes ! in the individuals 
 that compose your daily family circles, in the con- 
 struction and furniture of your dwellings, in the 
 comforts of your apparel, in the comforts of your 
 means of traveling in summer and in winter ! What 
 changes have you enjoyed amongst your flocks and 
 herds, in your gardens, and your fruit trees and your 
 fields ; in the useful arts, in your skill, and in your 
 instruments of labor, and in many other things, 
 which are means of comfort to you at home and 
 abroad. What changes has God wrought for us 
 during these years by his wise and kind providence, 
 by our instrumentality in the construction, the con- 
 veniences and comforts of this sacred house in sum- 
 mer and winter, for our public worship and service 
 of him, for the honor of his great name ! What 
 changes has he wrought amongst us in our social 
 scenes in public, and in private, at home and abroad, 
 by leading us to the practice of habitual abstinence 
 from the use of strong drink as a beverage ! And 
 what increase of knowledge of himself, of his works, 
 and his word, has he wrought by his own appointed 
 means ! What an increase of comforts and conven- 
 
116 
 
 iences hath God wrought by his teaching of mankind 
 during these years, in means of traveling and of 
 the conveyance of the various productions of the 
 earth, the fruits of human labor and skill ; of mate- 
 rials for building of every kind ; of machinery for 
 every useful purpose. And what wonderful im- 
 provements have, by the agency of God, by his ap- 
 pointed means in the preparation and transmission 
 of manuscript and printed instructions in every de- , 
 partment of knowledge, been brought into use. 
 Fifty years ago, six miles an hour was considered 
 great speed for the transmission of messages. But 
 now intelligence is cenveyed by the rapidity of light- 
 ning, by the skill which God has given to man, in 
 these things. But the most important changes 
 which have been witnessed amongst us have been 
 produced by the sins of mankind which have hard- 
 ened their hearts against God, and shut their souls 
 out of heaven ; by the Holy Spirit's influence mak- 
 ing sinners willing to love God, and drawing their 
 hearts to forsake their sins and consecrate themselves 
 joyfully forever to the service of God ; by the death 
 of Christians, removing them from earthly stations 
 of great imperfection in knowledge, in holiness and 
 happiness, to the perfection of all those among the 
 " spirits of just men made perfect," in the glories of 
 heaven, and by the death of sinners unreconciled to 
 God, removing them from all the privileges of a state 
 of probation, from all hope of good, to the regions of 
 endless despair and anguish ! Considering these 
 things which have been witnessed amongst us, dur- 
 ing the time hitherto of my watching over you, my 
 
117 
 
 beloved brethren and friends, how can we refrain 
 from exclaiming amidst manifold emotions of unut- 
 terable joy and grief, anticipating the scenes of the 
 judgment day, " What hath God wrought ! " 
 
 The gracious enlightening and sanctifying influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit, operating by the instrumen- 
 tality of the word of God, creating the hearts of sin- 
 ful men new in Christ Jesus, are the causes which 
 perpetuate and the causes which increase the church 
 of God in this sinful world. God is in Christ recon- 
 ciling the world unto Himself. " He is constantly 
 in some part or other of His visible church carrying 
 on this work of reconciling sinners." Though He 
 reconciles more sinners in a given time and in a 
 given place than in others, it is God's prerogative, 
 as a righteous and holy Sovereign, to reconcile sin- 
 ners to Him when and where He pleases. But He 
 has been pleased to bless His church in all past ages 
 of it, with seasons of refreshing, which we properly 
 call revivals. Of these I have noticed, in my records 
 during my ministry among you, eleven. These, 
 like all others of the like kind, have been seasons 
 when the children of God are moved by His spirit to 
 pray more consistently and fervently than is common 
 with them, and when He influences sinners to think 
 on their ways, with godly sorrow for sin, and with 
 humble faith in Ciirist sincerely devote themselves 
 to His service forever. With the blessing of God, I 
 have enjoyed these seasons ; and my heart is still re- 
 freshed when I remember them, in my hours of re- 
 tirement. During such seasons, I hope that myself 
 and my beloved wife, almost sixty years ago, began 
 
118 
 
 to love and serve our Heavenly Master, and during 
 such seasons, within thirty-five years past, I hope all 
 my children began to love Christ, as the Saviour of 
 sinners, with love which will never cease, yea, and 
 that I shall meet hundreds more of souls of my pas- 
 toral charge who began to love Christ in these sea- 
 sons of refreshing, who by the redeeming love of 
 God in Christ, will give up their account with joy 
 with me at the final judgment day. 
 
 There is one more season of the special revival of 
 religion amongst the people of my pastoral charge, 
 which for certain reasons I wish to mention and 
 somewhat particularly describe. It is that which 
 began in the summer, and progressed in the fall, and 
 was continued through the winter of 1831 and 32, 
 and was accompanied in some part of its progress 
 with extraordinary means, that is with a season of 
 four or five days in succession of daily preaching of 
 the gospel. Such measures were customary in the 
 churches in this region at that time. That season 
 took place in the last week in October, 1831. I kept 
 a particular journal of the scenes of that revival, of 
 my own public and private labors ^ and of the labors of 
 the many others who came professedly to help me. 
 But the wearing and fatiguing influences of my labors 
 during that season, upon my body, and my mind, 
 and my heart, I never attempted adequately to des- 
 cribe, but am relieved from the attempt by leaving 
 them to be described as He shall see fit, at the great 
 and last judgment day, by the omniscent Judge. 
 
 I observed the effects of the spirit of prayer upon 
 some of the people of God, for the salvation of sin- 
 
119 
 
 ners in the summer and autumn of that year, and 
 the people of God enjoyed the comfort of hoping that 
 six or seven sinners had become reconciled to God, 
 among whom was one of my own children, before 
 the last week in October, when the extraordinary 
 measures were introduced among us. 
 
 I never have heard of but one instance of hopeful 
 conversion during that week of greatly increased 
 means. 
 
 After these scenes I proceeded, with the help of 
 God, with my pastoral duties on the Lord's days and 
 on other days, preaching and teaching both publicly 
 and from house to house, with very little help of 
 preaching from others, for almost three months, till 
 the 22d day of January, 1832, when Mr. Barrows 
 came to assist me. Up to this time there were prob- 
 ably among us a little over fifty hopeful conversions, 
 and from this time forward till the close of this revi- 
 val, in the next summer, there were added to these 
 probably between forty and fifty more, and from this 
 harvest season there were almost eighty added to 
 this church. God has so wrought upon the hearts 
 of sinners amongst us in reconciling them to him- 
 self, that there has seldom a year past during these 
 fifty, when there has not been one or more born hope- 
 fully into his spiritual kingdom here. 
 
 But it is proper that I mention the fundamental 
 doctrines which God has helped me to teach from 
 His word during the past time of my watchmanship 
 here, which He has been pleased to bless for the 
 redemption of sinners and their advancement in ho- 
 liness. 
 
120 
 
 I have taught the existence and infinite perfection of 
 one only living and true God, the Creator, Sovereign 
 Ruler, Supreme Judge of the world, rightful propri- 
 etor and disposer of all creatures and things, and of 
 each individual, as the foundation of all true relig- 
 ion. And that the book which we, by God's teach- 
 ings, call the Holy Scriptures, contains a perfect sys- 
 tem of truth, all sufficient for mankind in their state 
 of probation in this world, able to make wise unto 
 salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, 
 all who heartily believe and obey them ; affording 
 all needed profit for doctrhie, for reproof, for correc- 
 tion, for instruction in righteousness, and to render 
 the subjects of God's forgiving love in Christ perfect 
 and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 
 That this sacred book teaches that the only living 
 and true God exists in three persons who are called 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, existing so 
 distinctly that the Son speaking himself, says to the 
 Father, " I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven 
 and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the 
 wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes , 
 even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." 
 And speaking of the Holy Spirit, Christ says, " When 
 He, the Spirit of Truth shall come, He shall guide 
 you into all Truth ; He shall glorify me, for He 
 shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you." 
 Each of these persons in the Trinity is represented 
 as acting separately for himself : "As they ministered 
 to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, sepa- 
 rate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto 
 I have called them." And yet Paul says that he 
 
121 
 
 was called by Jesus Christ to the work of the minis- 
 try. Thus the three persons in the Trinity act inde- 
 pendently of each other, but always in perfect har- 
 mony, always as divine ; at other times they act to- 
 gether, communicating the same blessings at the 
 same time, and yet always act as one supreme, per- 
 fect God. I have taught you also, from the Holy 
 Scriptures, the character of man, — that man at his 
 first creation was holy and happy, in the service and 
 enjoyment of God. 
 
 And that very soon after his creation he fell from 
 this holy and happy state and character, by volunta- 
 rily transgressing the known, plain, just, good and 
 perfect law of God, by the influence of Satan, a re- 
 bellious angel ; and that by this sin was introduced, 
 all the evils of death to the bodies and souls that 
 ever have been or ever will be experienced by our 
 race ; and that the natural fruit of voluntarily trans- 
 gressing the law of God is death to all real happi- 
 ness and death to all hope of happiness. 
 
 But I have, by divine command, also, with joy un- 
 speakable, taught you that God, the Father, " so 
 loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believetli in Him should not perish 
 but have everlasting life," and that at the time 
 appointed. He actually bestowed this gift accor- 
 ding to His promise, in the birth, life, preaching, 
 miracles and sufferings and death, as the vicarious 
 substitute for sinners of mankind, that He might 
 make complete atonement for sin " so that God can 
 be just and justify him that bclieveth in Jesus," and 
 that on the third day after his death He rose from 
 11 
 
122 
 
 the dead, appeared for forty days amongst his disci- 
 ples, setting the things of His kingdom in order ; 
 and finally proclaiming His power in heaven and on 
 earth, as mediator and as the only Redeemer of sin- 
 ners, commissioned His apostles to go into all the 
 world and preach the gospel to every creature, among 
 all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Fa- 
 ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teaching 
 them to observe all things whatsoever He had com- 
 manded them, closing His commission with this prom- 
 ise : " Lo I am with you always, unto the end of the 
 world." 
 
 It is by virtue of this commission that I have 
 preached the gospel of Christ unto you these fifty 
 years, and that I preach it to you under these solem- 
 nities to-day. I have felt authorized to offer salva- 
 tion freely, in the name of Christ, to every one who 
 came to hear me and to every one whom I met in 
 public or private who will come to Christ; and to 
 entreat all to be reconciled to God. And there is 
 another doctrine which I have preached to you which 
 is painfully true, that the nature of sin is such that 
 when mankind are left to themselves they will not 
 come to Christ that they might have life ; and that 
 sinners, if left to themselves, will waste their w^hole 
 life in sin, and fall, at death, under the just wrath 
 of God where they will perish forever in their own 
 moral corruption, and will justly bear the blame of 
 their own destruction. 
 
 I have taught you also, from the word of God, 
 that He has published and is constantly carrying in- 
 to execution His purpose of redeeming love for a 
 
123 
 
 great multitude, which no man can number, of all 
 nations, and people, and languages of our race, by 
 the effectual influences of the Holy Spirit. He 
 brings them as voluntarily and freely to renounce 
 the love of sinning as they ever indulged it, and to 
 bind themselves effectually and forever to His holy 
 service and His love, and effectually provides that 
 nothing in the universe shall ever separate one of 
 them from this union to God in Christ. This change 
 is called regeneration. I have taught you, from 
 God's word, that every redeemed sinner is received 
 into eternal favor with God in Christ, not for the 
 merit of their own works, but only by faith in the 
 perfect righteousness of Christ, which He has gra- 
 ciously prepared for them and freely gives them 
 for their justification ; and that God requires and 
 receives, as the fruit of redeeming love, from every 
 reconciled sinner, repentance, godly sorrow for every 
 transgression of His holy law, as the proper evidence 
 of the sincerity of his faith in the righteousness of 
 Christ for his justification. 
 
 The sanctification of sinners, whom Christ redeems, 
 begins with the first holy exercise which they put 
 forth, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, at the instant of 
 their regeneration, and progresses through all the 
 after scenes of their spiritual life on the earth, and 
 is perfected as soon as the soul enters the heavenly 
 state, at the death of the body. 
 
 I liave set before you, from the word of God, the 
 duty of all men every where to repent of their sins, 
 in view of the day wliich he hath appointed in the 
 which he will judge the world in righteousnes by 
 
124 
 
 that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath 
 given assurance to all men in that he hath raised 
 him from the dead." And that is the day when I, 
 as your spiritual watchman, and the souls which God 
 hath committed to my pastoral care, to whom I have 
 spoken the word of God, shall give up our account, 
 either with joy or with grief. I have taught you 
 that every one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ 
 with faith which works by love and purifies the 
 heart, shall enjoy eternal life with him in heaven, 
 and that every one who does not believe on him shall 
 not see life, but that the wrath of God abide th on 
 him. I have shown you, from the word of God, the 
 duty of all men to become reconciled to God, and to 
 bring themselves with humble dependence on his 
 gracious help to love him and serve him as their 
 righteous Lord and Sovereign forever — and that it is 
 especially the duty of all sincere believers in Christ, 
 as soon as they have had opportunity, properly to 
 examine themselves, to appear publicly under the 
 tokens of his appointment, as faithful witnesses for 
 him and his gospel, always abounding in his work of 
 seeking to win souls to him. And that it is the 
 duty and privilege of those who are Christian pa- 
 rents, to consecrate their children to God, and bind 
 themselves publicly by his appointed tokens, to give 
 them a faithful religious education, and to " bring 
 them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," 
 showing themselves to be by grace the faithful chil- 
 dren of faithful Abraham, of whom God says " see- 
 ing that Abraham shall surely become a great and 
 mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall 
 
125 
 
 be blessed in him, for I know him that he will com- 
 mand his children and his household after him, and 
 they shall keep the way of the Lord to do jus- 
 tice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon 
 Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." And 
 these blessings were promised to be bestowed upon 
 Abraham, and upon his believing spiritual seed of 
 both Israelites and of all other nations by the means 
 of God's appointment in the faithful religious edu- 
 cation of children in the family by the principles of 
 the gospel ; for these were the great truths which 
 were by God's appointment, to bless Abraham, and 
 to bless his spiritual seed to the end of human fami- 
 lies on the earth, according to the w^ords of Paul by 
 the Holy Spirit, " And the Scripture foreseeing that 
 God would justify the heathen through faith, preach- 
 ed before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee 
 shall all the families of the earth be blessed, so then 
 they which be of faith are blessed with faithful 
 Abraham." And many of you, my brethren and 
 friends, who are Christian parents and I hope myself 
 and my beloved wife with you, have by the gracious 
 help of God, brought up our children according to 
 his command, in our faniilies, and have had the joy 
 of seeing them walking in the truth, as I hope I 
 have all mine, nine in number, in their childhood 
 and early youth, and that for this rich grace we shall 
 give up our account together with joy. Brotherly- 
 love in the family of Christ, or the love of Chris- 
 tians, as such, our Lord and Master teaches us to be 
 an essential doctrine to be believed and practiced 
 
 amongst his disciples. '' By this shall all men know 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to 
 another." Indeed, so important does Christ consider 
 this, that he has most plainly taught us that accord- 
 ing to this principle the whole race of man will be 
 divided into two classes before the judgment-seat at 
 the great and last day — see the proof of thi^ doctrine 
 in Christ's own description of the scenes of the last 
 judgment, in the 25th chapter of Matthew, when 
 that decision of our whole race shall be made, then 
 indeed shall all men know who are the disciples of 
 Christ and who are not. 
 
 There are other principles of truth which I have 
 abundantly taught you, clearly comprehended in 
 these and intimately blended with them, all of which 
 it is not necessary that I should here explicitly men- 
 tion. The principle of benevolence, or good will to 
 all mankind, I will here mention. This is called in 
 the New Testament Scriptures, charity, and it is 
 called, also, " the bond of perfectness." This prin- 
 ciple is fully taught by this command of God, and 
 is binding on all mankind at all times. It is this : 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 
 This command of God contains a bond of uni- 
 versal love amongst ratio'nal creatures. It is the 
 perfect obedience of the holy Angels to this which 
 produces the perfect happiness of their society in the 
 service of God and with each other. And this 
 " bond of perfectness," is that which will produce 
 the eternal peace and happiness amongst all redeem- 
 ed sinners, and holy Angels. And it is their diso- 
 bedience to this which produces all the social evils 
 
127 
 
 which exist amongst sinful men and sinful angels, 
 both in this world, and in the eternal world. 
 
 I have also taught you, from the word of God, the 
 nature and the importance of the institution of mar- 
 riage ; of the visible church, and of civil government, 
 which God hath established for the safety, the comfort 
 and usefulness of mankind in his service, and the 
 reconciliation of sinners to himself during their state 
 of probation in this world. I have also taught you, 
 from the word of God, and by my example, the obli- 
 gations of all men, especially of those who possess the 
 written word of God, to " remember the Sabbath 
 day, to keep it holy." And to help you heartily and 
 practically to observe this holy law of God, I have 
 very often, repeated to you and to your children, 
 in public and in private, from the word and the 
 providence of God, the tokens of his high and 
 pointed displeasure and wrath against those who 
 profane the Sabbath day, and the expressions of his 
 full and hearty favor to all who love and remember 
 it and keep it holy according to his commandment. 
 
 I have taught you these doctrines and the kind of 
 doctrines combined with them, and proved them 
 with the help of God, from his holy word, during 
 these fifty years. I have preached them to you with 
 plainness of speech in this sacred house, in your 
 school-houses, and in your dwelling-houses, on the 
 Lord's day, and on other days ; and I have taught 
 them to you at your beds of sickness, at funerals, 
 on wedding occasions, at pastoral visits from house 
 to house, ancU at many other opportunities, when I 
 have met you at my house and at your houses, and 
 
128 
 
 in the highways and in the fields ; and often with 
 tears and much entreaty, and prayed yon " in Christ's 
 stead to be reconciled to God," And through all 
 these scenes you have witnessed my frailties and 
 many of my sins ; and I ask you to pity my frailties 
 and forgive my sins, as I ought to yours, for Christ's 
 sake, and hope I do. I have endeavored with the 
 help of God, to teach you by my example, while I 
 have preached to you, the doctrines and precepts of 
 his word. Thus I have set before you my example 
 as a father, a master of a family, as a neighbor, as a 
 member of the visible church, and as a subject of 
 civil government, and as a friend and as a man, 
 teaching you by actions in harmony with the word 
 of God, that I am heartily, practically, and happily 
 trying the way which I have taught you as the right 
 way to heaven. 
 
 It has pleased God to give me remarkably com- 
 fortable health since my childhood. I have been 
 able every day to rise from my bed, put on my 
 clothes, walk about and attend to some active, useful 
 labor with my hands and my mind. And for forty 
 years after I begvin my ministry among you, I 
 think I was not unable by sickness for more than 
 three Sabbaths to attend public worship, nor unable 
 to preach during these forty years, more than six 
 Sabbaths. And in not more than four or five instan- 
 ces during these years, was I unable by sickness, to 
 go and visit the sick, or attend a funeral when I was 
 requested to do so. I say these things not to praise 
 myself, but to praise God for his loving kindness 
 
129 
 
 which helps me to say them, and helped me to enjoy 
 the blessings of which I have here spoken. 
 
 But whilst it has pleased God to spare my health 
 so remarkably, and to restore it often when partially 
 taken away for a short time, he has called me to 
 witness many deaths within the limits of this society. 
 During my ministry I have kept an account of all 
 the deaths within the limits of this society, which 
 came to my knowledge, and the number that I have 
 recorded amounts to twelve hundred and one. These 
 have been, of various ages, from one hundred and 
 one years, to only a few hours. These have been 
 of a great variety of characters and conditions, in 
 this life, but • God has fixed each of them at death 
 in an eternal state either of glory and joy or of woe 
 and despair. For twenty years from the beginning 
 of my ministry, I was called to attend the funerals 
 of almost all who died here, and the greatest part 
 almost every year since that time. A precious num- 
 ber of these we have committed to their graves with 
 a firm and good hope through grace that they have 
 gone to be with Christ in eternal glory and joy. 
 Others we have committed to their graves amidst 
 distressing doubts concerning their eternal state. 
 But we shall meet all these at the judgment-seat of 
 Christ, and witness them giving up their account 
 either with joy or with grief with all the rest of the 
 human race. 
 
 Thus we see how the scenes of time are most inti- 
 mately connected with the scenes of eternity ; and 
 how necessary it is that we become reconciled to 
 God here, and by a life of holiness whicli God will 
 
130 
 
 approve, that we may be at peace with him at death, 
 and meet him with joy in the scenes of the world to 
 come. It is a source of unspeakable joy to me as I 
 am drawing daily near to the eternal world, that I 
 have enjoyed with you who love Christ, the sight of 
 a goodly number, some hundreds I hope, and many 
 of you who hear me to-day among them, while many 
 others of them have gone with other redeemed sin- 
 ners, to be with Christ, abandoning the love of the 
 world as their portion, and with godly sincerity bind- 
 ing themselves to be the Lord's, '' growing in grace," 
 and shining in works of righteousness and Christian 
 benevolence as lights in the world. 
 
 But alas, my brethren and friends, our joy is min- 
 gled with grief. For we have seen some of whom 
 we are afraid that labor has been bestowed upon 
 them in vain ; who have appeared by profession, on 
 the Lord's side, and at times, by their apparent blos- 
 soms, they have promised some good^ fruit ; but 
 afterwards wholly disappointed our hopes, by plainly 
 showing that they had only " a name to live while 
 really they were dead." 
 
 And some others in the congregation we see, who 
 give no evidence that their hearts are reconciled 
 to God, and yet are exposed every day to death, and 
 to all the sufferings of God's displeasure, to his just 
 and eternal wrath. 
 
 Thus, my brethren and friends, for fifty years, I 
 have habitually taught you the doctrines of Jesus 
 Christ, and him crucified. By the preaching of the 
 gospel in thousands of discourses, by the adminis- 
 tration of the Lord's Supper, almost three hundred 
 
131 
 
 times, and by the administration of baptism to six 
 hundred and eighty-eight siibjeets ; one hundred 
 and three adults and five hundred and eighty-five 
 children. I have set before you the distinguishing 
 doctrine of the religion of Christ, that the shedding 
 of his blood once for all hath obtained the remission 
 of sins for all the multitudes of the " churcli of God 
 which he hath purchased with his own blood." 
 How often, by signs of his own appointment, hath 
 " Jesus Christ been evidently set forth crucified 
 among you." How aggravated will be the suffer- 
 ings of those who rememljer for eternal ages that 
 they have perished in their sins from the midst of 
 the ordinances of God, because they would not 
 " come to Christ that they might have life ! " 
 
 During my ministry among you for these fifty 
 years past, I have officiated to join in the bonds of 
 the marriage covenant, five hundred . and twenty- 
 three couple ; four of these were of my own chil- 
 dren. This institution of God, under his provi- 
 dence, is the source of all the useful, kind, and ten- 
 der affections amongst our race, and is the founda- 
 tion of all the useful enterprises among mankind in 
 this world, and comprehends under its influence all 
 that vast system of means by which sinners are 
 reconciled to God, and the church is prepared for 
 heaven. 
 
 And while I have watched over your souls, under 
 the watchman of Israel, as one who must give ac- 
 count, you have, according to written agreement and 
 often beyond that, as you have seen the need of my 
 numerous family, you have ministered of your free 
 
132 
 
 will offerings to supply our necessities and furnish 
 us with many precious comforts to relieve my anxi- 
 eties and in various ways to help me in my duties to 
 your own souls, and thus, and by many other tokens, 
 you have manifested your high esteem and love to 
 me for my work's sake. 
 
 And for all your kindness and all the other kind- 
 ness of God to me and my family, through these 
 many years which we have experienced amongst you, 
 I joyfully take this opportunity to express my thanks 
 to you, and above all, to God, who, for Christ's sake 
 hath so extensively blessed us together in the enjoy- 
 ment of the privileges of the gospel. 
 
 It is proper that I should state, on this occasion, 
 that it will be one hundred years on the first day of 
 next May, since this church was organized, and its 
 first pastor, Rev. Thomas Potwine, was ordained ; 
 and that I am the second pastor of this church. Mr. 
 Potwine officiated as sole pastor here, forty-eight 
 years, six months and a half, and my ordination 
 took place just one year and three months after his 
 death ; and I officiated as sole pastor of this church 
 until seven months of the forty-fifth year of my min- 
 istry had passed away, when an associate pastor, 
 Rev. Samuel J. Andrews, was ordained here in 
 September, 1848. Since that time I have preached, 
 administered the sacraments, joined persons in mar- 
 riage, visited the sick and officiated at funerals, made* 
 pastoral visits and performed other duties belonging 
 to a minister of tlie gospel, at home and abroad, as 
 I have been requested and as I have had strength 
 given me, so that having obtained help of God I 
 
133 
 
 continue until this time, testifying among you, my 
 beloved brethren and friends, the things of the king- 
 dom of God." When 1 began my ministry among 
 you, the deacons of this church were two men in 
 advanced years. Deacon James Harper and Deacon 
 Oliver Barber. Deacon Harper died in 1808 at the 
 age of eighty-five years, and Deacon Barber died at 
 the age of eighty-four, in 1820. Deacon Noah Allen 
 was ordained to this office in 1809, and died in 1824, 
 sixty-seven years of age. Deacon Daniel Richard- 
 son was ordained in 1818 and removed from this 
 state in 1829 and died in 1847, between sixty and 
 seventy years. Deacon Ira A¥ells was ordained to 
 the office of Deacon among us in 1823. Deacon 
 Anson Bissell was ordained to this office in 1825, 
 and removed his relationship from us to the third 
 church in East Windsor in 1832. Deacon Erastus 
 Buckland was set apart to his office in the church in 
 1830 and died in 1848. Deacon Azel S. Roe was 
 ordained to that office among you in 1833. Thus I 
 have been personally acquainted and taken aftection- 
 ate counsel with eight deacons in this church during 
 my ministry among you, who have ministered during 
 the fifty years past, the symbols of Christ's body and 
 blood to the members of the church and ministered 
 to the wants of the poor members, all but three of 
 whom. Deacon Bissell, now in Ohio, and the two 
 who yet live among us, have, we joyfully hope, gone 
 to be with Christ and " the spirits of just men made 
 perfect" in the glorious mansions prepared for them 
 in His Father's house. 
 
 Thus, my beloved brethren and friends, with the 
 12 
 
134 
 
 help of God, I have exercised my care over you, 
 watching to warn you of dangers and to teach you 
 the way of eternal safety, amidst the innumerable 
 dangers, snares, temptations and sins of this 
 changing, rebellious, dying world. Some of you 
 have lived fifty years with me amidst the privileges 
 of the gospel, and have during these years experi- 
 enced the joyful beginning and the sure and happy 
 progress in your souls of the work of God's redeem- 
 ing love ; and you will find in your happy experi- 
 ence of His care over you, that all things that you 
 experience and witness by His gracious appointment 
 " work together for your good " and will ripen you 
 for the '' inheritance of the saints in light." 
 
 But who will write and preach fifty years from 
 this time, the history of the effects of the gospel 
 amongst the members of this church and of the re- 
 ligious society connected with it; and if it should 
 be written and preached then, who of this assembly 
 here to-day will be present then and hear it ? 
 
 I came among you, in the beginning of my care 
 for your spiritual welfare, in the vigor and strength 
 of youth, in the twenty-sixth year of my life. You 
 have seen me amidst labors and cares and much so- 
 licitude for the salvation of your souls, strengthened 
 " by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," ascending 
 to my meridian life among you. Since that, amidst 
 cares and labors more and more weighty and com- 
 plicated, you have seen me declining toward the 
 hour of my setting sun, attended with the signs of 
 old age, and though in my seventy-sixth year, still 
 
135 
 
 blessed by the mercy and loving kindness of the 
 God of our fathers with very comfortable degrees of 
 health of body and vigor of mind. Still I find that 
 my strength of body, at my present age, is materially 
 different from that which I possessed even six years 
 ago, and that now, much oftener than ten years ago, 
 I have to say, in view of scenes of bodily exercise, 
 " the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." But 
 we all, whether young or old, daily live and move 
 in the scenes of the world, amid changing, decaying, 
 dying men. 
 
 The word and the providence of God, with migh- 
 ty emphasis, call us to look forward to death and 
 the final judgment and eternal scenes as things which 
 we must inevitably experience, and for which we are 
 bound, by infinitely precious obligations, to be hap- 
 pily prepared. Let us now, my brethren, as we are 
 closing this review of the past fifty years, seeking to 
 be guided by the word and spirit of God, in our im- 
 agination look forward to the last day of time. The 
 great work of reconciling sinners to God, by the me- 
 diation of Christ, is done ; all the dead, small and 
 great, stand before God, and all that are alive on the 
 earth when this last day is ushered in, are changed, 
 and all the race of man is arrayed before Him to re- 
 ceive their allotment for eternal ages. The day of 
 the revelation of the righteous judgment of God is 
 come. '' The Son of Man has come in his glory as 
 Judge of all the earth." " He sits upon the throne 
 of his glory" to establish the results of His admin- 
 istration as mediator. He separates the vast multi- 
 tude into two classes, the righteous and the wicked. 
 
136 
 
 The righteous are on His right hand and the wicked 
 on His left. "And the King says to them on His 
 right hand, come ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
 the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 
 of the world." "And to those on the left, depart, 
 ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil 
 and his angels. And these shall go away into ever- 
 lasting punishment, and the righteous into life eter- 
 nal." Dear brethren and friends, are we now com- 
 forted with a " good hope through grace," that we 
 shall stand with joy as the children of the kingdom, 
 at that day, on the right hand of our Judge ? 
 
 May God grant to each of us all the needful grace 
 to be so reconciled to Him in time that we shall 
 spend eternity with joy, in His presence, with tlie in- 
 numerable company of those " who have washed 
 their robes and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb." Amen. 
 
r 
 
tA"0 
 
CONGRESS