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HISTORY OE WESTFIELD. 
 
 SERMON 
 
 BY REV. JOHN ALDEN, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, WESTFIELD, MASS. 
 
 DELIVERED JANUARY 28, 1851, 
 
 AT THE RE.MOUELLING OF THEIR HOUSE OF WORSHIP. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD: 
 
 GEORGE W. WILSON, PRINTER, 
 
 CORNER OF MAIN AND ST.VTE STREETS. 
 I S O I . 
 

SERMON. 
 
 O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD. — Psalms cvii, 1. 
 
 Few, perhaps, in any age or clime, knew more of the 
 goodness of God as displayed in his works, or felt more 
 sincerely the obligation of rendering thanks unto him for 
 his goodness and mercy, than he who was inspired to write 
 our text. 
 
 Let us notice a few instances of God's goodness which 
 demand our special gratitude. 
 
 I. The goodness of God is displayed in the work of 
 Creation and Redemption. Both display more of the per- 
 fections of Deity than any other two achievements of 
 Jehovah revealed to man. In the one, we hear his voice 
 in godlike sublimity, saying in the midst of chaotic confu- 
 sion, "Let there be light." At another stroke of his power 
 the firmament of heaven appears, gemmed with countless 
 suns and systems, each fixed in its orbit to roll on and be 
 admired by created intelligences, so many badges of his 
 eternal power and wisdom. The material universe with all 
 its indescr bable glories, God did not intend to enjoy alone, 
 and hence he formed man immortal like himself, to be a 
 participator of the scene. 
 
Awhile, he enjoys the rapturous view and the holy festivi- 
 ties of paradise ; but in an evil hour transgression drives 
 him out, a subject of disease, sorrow, and death. This 
 opened the way for the richest display of divinity the 
 universe has ever seen, in the plan of redemption by the 
 death of Christ. But did not the morning stars sing to- 
 gether, and the sons of Gud shout for joy over the infant 
 universe ? What greater work has God ever performed ? 
 
 Be it, that the work of creation displays the grandeur of 
 Omnipotence in forming innumerable worlds and hanging 
 them upon nothing, so balancing them by two forces, that, 
 in all their immense revolutions, they could not deviate in 
 the least from their orbits: be it, his wisdom and benevo- 
 lence shine in so sha|)ii)g their form, that light and heat by 
 their dinrdal revolutions are afforded their inhabitants for 
 their comfurt and happiness ; be it, as astronomers tell us, 
 tliat this vast world is but a speck in the immensity of the 
 Creator's works, and should it be annihilated it might not 
 be missed by other worlds; that within our solar system are 
 worlds more than a thousand times larger than ours : that a 
 sister planet is encircled by a ring that would enclose five 
 hundred worlds as large as our own ; that scattered over the 
 universe are innumerable suas a million times larger than 
 our earth, with their countless groups of planets revolving 
 round them ; be it, that the universe is boundless to human 
 comprehension ; that the throne of God is in the centre of 
 his vast domain ; that ten thousand times ten thousand 
 worlds revolve round his throne as their ultimate centre ; 
 that our sun, which, has one planet that revolves round it in 
 an orbit of about one hundred millions of miles, carrying 
 also a whole family of worlds, herself five hundred times 
 larger than all of them, is flying in her orbit around that 
 throne, attended by constellation after constellation in their 
 tremendous sweep through the immensity of space, at ve- 
 
locities already discovered of 880,000 miles per hour. At 
 such a universe, no wonder the angels of light, as they 
 looked out of the windows of heaven on the immensity of 
 God's creation, sang and ' shouted for joy.' 
 
 But another work of tlie same Almighty hand raises 
 greater wonder in heaven, and a loftier, sweeter song on 
 earth, from the same happy throng. At the ushering in of 
 the infant Redeemer, Heaven pours a light on the dark 
 hills and plains of Judea, to the amazement of the artless 
 shepherds, and Heaven's eternal choir descends and sings, 
 " Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will 
 to men." Glory in the highest is now the song. Let a 
 note be struck as much higher as the work of redemption 
 surpasses that of creation. In the work of creation matter 
 was brought from chaos into organized forms ; but in the 
 work of redemption, souls are raised from a condition worse 
 than nothing to themselves, up to the dignity of the sons of 
 God. And over the eternal benefits derived, the redeemed 
 will sing the angel's song, " Glory to God in the highest," 
 when sun, and moon, and stars, have set in eternal night. 
 The one could be accomplished by a word without resist- 
 ance ; the other was begun almost coeval with man's trans- 
 gression and was consummated on Calvary, so far as Christ's 
 deatli was concerned, amid agonies tliat appalled tlie mate- 
 rial universe, with earth and hell in opposition from the first 
 to the last. 
 
 In the one, God appears in his majesty, forming count- 
 less worlds from nothing, and garnishing them in splendor, 
 making mountains and vales, streams and oceans, sing his 
 greatness ; in the other, he appears in humility for our in- 
 struction, taking upon him the form of a servant, conde- 
 scending to be smitten for our offences, led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter, bruised for our iniquities, and crucifieJ for our 
 sins. In the one, he attracts the admiring gaze of a world 
 
as they behold the circumambient heavens sparkling with 
 worlds, the bow of promise with its brilliant hues, the 
 burnished clouds, the fruits of earth, and the flowers of the 
 field ; in the other, he appears in no form of comeliness, to 
 be desired by a depraved world. In the one, God's terres- 
 trial benevolence shines in forming the mind and body fear- 
 fully and wonderfully, in adapting all the physical laws to 
 make them happy, in the innumerable forms of variety, in 
 the changing seasons adapted to all the senses ; in the other,, 
 eternal beneficence appears, in preparing a way more richly 
 to bless the soul here and forever. In the one, he has hid- 
 den valuable laws of matter to be discovered by man for his 
 good through all coming time ; in the other, he has magnified 
 the most valuable of all laws, crushed and trampled upon by 
 man, and thereby opened an inexhaustible fountai/i to bless 
 souls for ever and ever. In the one, he glorified his power 
 amid cherubic legions ; in the other, he laid aside the glories 
 of eternity, and consented to be dragged by a merciless 
 rabble from tribunal to tribunal, arraigned as a criminal and 
 condemned as a malefactor, and executed as a miscreant. 
 In the one, he gives life to innumerable beings ; in the other, 
 he voluntarily laid down his own life. 
 
 " Heaven wept that man might smile, Heaven bled that man 
 Might live forever." 
 
 The one, was accomplished in six days ; the other, although 
 almost as many thousand years have rolled away, is not yet 
 completed. 
 
 Two advents of the immaculate Redeemer to this guilty 
 world were needful. In the first he suffered what finite 
 beings can never comprehend. Yet the moment the Saviour 
 rises from this world of sin from Mount Olivet, decked in a 
 cloud of glory, angelic escorts attend him upward, heaven's 
 everlasting doors are lifted up, and the King of glory takes 
 his throne, while the heavenly hallelujahs in swelling peals 
 
are iieard around liini. John had a vision of the heavenly 
 oratorio, and gives us the following report : — " I beheld, and 
 I heard the voice of many angels round about the tiirone, 
 and the beasts, and the elders, and the number of them 
 was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of 
 thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
 and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." In 
 the last advent, having finished the work of intercession, he 
 will come as the Judge of this vast world, and wind up the 
 drama of time. Angels will attend him ; heaven earth and 
 hell will be moved, his elect will be gathered, his bride rob- 
 ed for immortality, and death and hell chained to his char- 
 iot wheels, and he in triumph ascend with his saints, as the 
 universal conqueror, while bursting praises are heard in all 
 worlds but one. 
 
 His first advent was to make an atonement for sin, his 
 second will be to sweep from the earth every vestage of ini- 
 quity. In the first, the ungodly triumphed, in the second 
 they will be fearfully destroyed. At the first, saints were 
 persecuted, scattered and slain ; in the second, they will tri- 
 umph and take their crowns and eternal honors. The first 
 was the seed-time of the Gospel, the other will be the har- 
 vest of the world. Christ died for our sins ; where is there 
 a parallel to this ? He died to avert the consequences of 
 sin ; for without the shedding of blood there is no remis- 
 sion ! In the plan of redemption, love and mercy were 
 brought to light as they never had been before. No won- 
 der the commemorative part of the Sabbath should pass 
 from the seventh to the first day with no fuller explanation. 
 The elect angels had seen power and justice displayed by 
 the Almighty, but no mercy followed a part of their once 
 happy brotherhood when they were cast down to hell, 
 " Reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the 
 
8 
 
 judgment of the great day." No wonder they desire to 
 look into this ocean of mercy shoreless and fathomless, be- 
 cause finite beings can never comprehend Infinity. 
 
 '■ With joy, with griefj that healing hand I see. 
 The skies it formed, and yet it bled fnr nif "' 
 
 II. From the earliest ages God's goodness has been 
 manifested in befriending his saints. It cliecred Abel and 
 Noah, Lot and Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their 
 conflicts. When his people needed divine help, lie often 
 stepped forth from the hiding place of his power, and mi- 
 raculously aided them. In the pillar of a cloud by day, and 
 in the pillar of fire by night, in the desolating plagues on 
 Pharaoh and his host, and in their final overthrow in the 
 march of the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt to their 
 entrance into Canaan, amidst hunger and thirst, savage beasts 
 and savage men, God's goodness was strikingly manifest in 
 protecting them, even to the destruction of their foes. At 
 the hand of Moses he sends water from the flinty rock, 
 and at the hand of Joshua he stops the sun in the heavens. 
 One angel he sends to deliver Daniel from the lion's den, and 
 another angel walks in the flaming furnace as a comforter, 
 while the God of angels is delivering the three Hebrew 
 worthies. The gift of tongues at the day of pentecost, and 
 the opening of prisons closed upon his followers, are among 
 some of the many miraculous displays of infinite goodness 
 to man. 
 
 God has often given skill and foresight to persons of his 
 own selection, to accomplish his designs. Thus Moses was 
 prepared to be Israel's leader. Bezaleel and Aholiab were 
 taught to build the tabernacle, and Hiram was endowed 
 with extraordinary skill to build the temple. Thus too Ne- 
 hemiah was armed with the whole panoply of heaven, to 
 lead back the poor captive Jews, and rebuild their ruined 
 
city, and in after days Paul was raised up as a leading mis- 
 sionary with a boldness and zeal that never failed him, and 
 Peter was taught by a vision to spread the gospel through 
 the Gentile world. 
 
 Leaving Scriptural history, we have abundant other proofs 
 of God's goodness to his church. No sooner had the apos- 
 tles b'egan their work of mercy than all Paganism was in 
 arms against the religion of Jesus. The Emperor Caligula, 
 holding supremacy over all Christians as he supposed, order- 
 ed every house of worship to be closed on the penalty of 
 the death of the whole Jewish nation. The church then 
 so feeble, had not God interposed, had all been slain. But 
 he suddenly called this inhuman monarch from earth, and 
 the churches had rest throughout Judea and Galilee and 
 were greatly multiplied. Nero like a fiend of darkness 
 next arises to destroy the saints, and in the sixty-sixth year 
 of the Christian era, slew the apostle Paul, but God cut 
 short his days. Though God came out in judgment against 
 the Jews, overthrew their city, and destroyed more than 
 a million of them, yet in a miraculous manner, almost 
 every Christian was spared. Though the emperors Trajan, 
 Julian, Nero, Dioclesian and Caligula caused the blood of 
 saints to flow like water, still the church spread rapidly. It 
 was God who stopped the mouths of lions, burst the bars 
 of prisons, and palsied the arm of her persecutors. Why 
 did not Constantino, though the professed friend of the 
 church, destroy it by uniting it with State ? Why did not 
 Mahomet with all his hostile military retinue, break in pieces 
 the little kingdom? Why did not the blood thirsty Inquisi- 
 tion with its prophetic iron teeth destroy the followers of 
 the Lamb ? In thirty years she did destroy one hundred 
 and fifty thousand, but a remnant was spared. In the midst 
 of Papal darkness and cruelty, God raised up a Martin Lu- 
 ther. With a purpose inflexible, and a soul filled with the 
 love of God, unmoved at Papal anathemas, he wielded the 
 
10 
 
 sword of truth, and the first blow that he struck ;nade the 
 beast roar with a wound destined to be fatal. About this 
 period, in the valley of Piedmont at the foot of the Alps, 
 there lived a large number of Waldenses, who alone on 
 earth maintained pure religion, having never swerved from 
 the faith and practice of the apostles. Catholic persecution 
 at last burst upon them. Four hundred of them were 
 smoked from the caves on the side of the mountain where 
 they had concealed themselves, and were butchered in the 
 snow. Tw^o hundred and fifty of these Waldenses left for 
 the shores of England in the eleventh century, and because 
 they would not submit to the Pope, they were branded with 
 red hot irons in their foreheads, and scourged through the 
 streets of Oxford. All were forbidden to receive them into 
 their houses, and through the inclemency of the winter 
 most of them perished. 
 
 But through the goodness of God, Christianity spread 
 rapidly in the British empire, and with it Papal superstition 
 and oppression raged. I cannot stop to detail death upon 
 death that rolled the garments of saints in blood, and 
 carried terror and dismay through the nation. Suffice it to 
 say, through God's blessing, the wrath of man was made to 
 praise him ; for the flames that burnt her martyrs, lighted 
 up a holy light that will never go out. It was that persecu- 
 tion that sent the Church to the wilds of America. Here 
 she has spread with such a rapidity, that, in contemplating 
 her march we are as those who dream ; and she will spread, 
 till, like the tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, her height 
 has reached the heavens and her beauty the ends of the 
 earth. What reason have we to thank God and take cour- 
 age, for the Church has come forth from racks and dungeons, 
 persecution and death, with her garments made white in the 
 blood of the Lamb ; and amid all her trials she has sung, 
 " O, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good," and she 
 will sing that soul-satisfying song down through the mil- 
 
11 
 
 leniuni ; she will sing it at the gate of death and the gate 
 of heaven, and then the echo will die away in her eternal 
 
 song. 
 
 III. The goodness of God has been richly displayed in 
 the history of this toivn.* Less than two hundred years 
 ago, this town was a howling wilderness. No voice of the 
 white man broke the silence of the morning. No hum of 
 business, no beautiful works of the artist, no ties of civil- 
 ized friendsiiip, no true praise to God was here. And yet 
 there was a praise more pure than the contammated praises 
 of men. It was not the war-whoop of the savage, nor his 
 horrid orgies around the council fire ; it was not the howl 
 of the wolf, the growl of the bear, or the scream of the 
 catamount. It was nature in her solemn wildness. It 
 was the waving of the primeval forest. It was the whis- 
 perings of the breeze, falling into this vale, from the cloud- 
 capt mountains around it. It was the ceaseless murmurings 
 of our streams in nature's great anthem. But God has 
 purposes to accomplish here, and thither he sends the 
 white man in the midst of dangers to reclaim the wilderness. 
 
 Westfield (or Warronoco, as the Indians called it), 
 embracing once what is now Southvvick and Russell, was 
 the strong-hold of the savage. The great abundance of 
 salmon, bass, shad, and trout, with which our rivers 
 abounded, together with bears, deer, moose, and other 
 game that filled the forest, rendered this perhaps the most 
 desirable spot in New England for the Indians. A little 
 south of this village, in the part now called Squawfield, 
 there is abundance of evidence from the arrows and other 
 articles the Indians use, that they cultivated, to some de- 
 gree, that part of this valley. A number of those relics 
 
 * For the historical facts I am indebted to Rev. Dr. Davis' His 
 torical Sketches, and to the Town and Church Records. 
 
12 
 
 are preserved, among other curiosities, in our Academy. 
 To leave a home Uke this, was not without a struggle. 
 
 The King of England gave all the land embraced in this 
 town and Springfield, to the inhabitants of Springfield, and 
 they gave successive grants to individuals to settle in this 
 place. 
 
 In 1658, a tract of land was officially granted to Thomas 
 Cooper, on condition he improved it within one year, and 
 continued so to do for the space of five years. This land 
 lay near the county bridge. In 1660 a similar grant was 
 made to Deacon S. Chapman, of land adjoining Cooper's. 
 In 1661 a grant was made to Capt. Pincheon, Robert 
 Ashley, and George Colton, of land lying between the 
 rivers, embracing probably what is now our village. In 
 1669 this town was incorporated, and called Westfield, 
 from the fact it was then the most westerly plantation in 
 New England. 
 
 Similar grants were made to Isaac Phelps, Capt. Cook, 
 Mr. Cornish, Thomas Dewey, J. Noble, David Ashley, John 
 Holyoke, John Ponder, and John Ingersol. These men 
 lived near the confluence of Great and Little Rivers. They 
 took up their residence here in 1666. 
 
 The first regular meeting on the Sabbath was held in 1667. 
 Tradition has it, that a little previous to all this, three young 
 men set up a trading-house with the Indians on the eastern 
 border of this town, spent one summer here, and were 
 never heard of more. Though each man had a separate 
 tract of land, such were those perilous times, they had to 
 cultivate it in common. Near the junction of Great and 
 Little Rivers they erected a fort in which they lodged by 
 night, and to which they fled by day in case of alarm. A 
 tract of land about two miles in extent was strongly en- 
 closed. In 1690 the town assembled, raised a sum of 
 money by which they sent some of their bravest sons to 
 destroy the savages who were constantly harrassing them. 
 
13 
 
 Houses at this time were occupied as forts in different parts 
 of the town. A balustrade was erected upon the roof, from 
 which they could fire upon the enemy. 
 
 We, who are situated in our peaceful homes, ought never 
 to forget those dark and tryini^ days of our fathers, and that 
 this beautiful vale was bought with their blood. In those 
 mournful days, never to be forgotten by a grateful posterity, 
 our fathers were only a few families in the all surrounding 
 wilderness, the haunt of the bear and the panther, and men 
 more savage than they. A few habitations of civilized men 
 were found in Northampton, Hadley, Springfield, and in 
 Windsor, Ct. All the West and the immediate vicinity was 
 a forest, filled, for aught they could know, with thousands 
 of hostile savages. They could not rely on these places 
 for help, almost as helpless as themselves. Surely they 
 could not then say with England's gifted bard, 
 
 " There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, 
 There is a rapture on the lonely shore." 
 
 No ; at every step in the forest there was enough to 
 make the very flesh crawl ; for the catamount might be 
 waiting to bound upon them from above, and the savage 
 might be hidden behind the tree, to give the more sure and 
 deadly blow. Even these beautiful streams that then 
 environed them, murmured daily and nightly, danger and 
 death every where. With their fire arms by their side, . 
 they felled the forest and tilled the earth, and slept in their 
 log houses, while in turn some were standing as sentinels. 
 
 No great harm befel the first settlers until Philip's war in 
 1675. A more able, artful, and furious warrior than Philip 
 rarely haunted the forest. He was seldom seen by the 
 white man, except in the distant council-fire, the bloody 
 massacre, and in the conflagration of cottages and forts. 
 Probably there was not a settlement of the English in all 
 New England unknown to him and his warriors, and their 
 purpose was their utter extermination. 
 
14 
 
 Xear the spot where our paper-mill now stands, our 
 fathers erected a grist-mill and saw-mill. And as the in- 
 habitants of Springfield frequented these mills, many of 
 them were slain on their way. In this town, the houses of 
 Cornish and Sackett, Fowler and Lee, were laid in ashes 
 by the Indians. Loomis and Bentley, and a Miss Sackett, 
 were among captives known to have been taken. A num- 
 ber were killed, but their names are not left us. Grey Lock, 
 by whose consummate subtlety, two of the above captives 
 were taken, is the only Indian tiiat patrolled this region, 
 whose name was known. Xow at Pochossuck, then at the 
 Shepard lane crossing, around the fort, nay, everywhere hos- 
 tilities awaited our fathers. • Their lives were in danger 
 constantly. Can we wonder that this feeble band, scantily 
 fed and clad, with no mortal arm to protect them, were on 
 the eve of despair, and about to give up their homes and 
 flee for safety : 
 
 Such was the fact, and a less noble and courageous race 
 would have done it. But He who was the sole stay of our 
 afflicted sires in those trying days, intervened, and held back 
 the blood-thirsty savage, sent reinforcements and gave them 
 final success. Some other of the first permanent settlers 
 were Sackett, Ashley, Fowler, "Weller and Xeal, from whom 
 some of our valuable citizens have descended. In the 
 French and Indian wars, a draft was made on Westfield for 
 soldiers, and some of her sons perished in those battles. 
 Among the number, Major Xoah Ashley stands pre-eminent. 
 He fell in 1775 between Fort Edward and Lake George. 
 No man in our early history stood so prominent as a civilian, 
 as the Hon. "\Vm. Shepard. Under Gen. Abercrombie at 
 the age of 22, he received the commission of Captain, and 
 continued in the French war six years ; was in the battles 
 fought at Fort William Henry, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, 
 Isle aux Xoix, St. Johns, and Montreal. In 1775 he held 
 the office of Lieut. Colonel, and stood high in the confi- 
 
15 
 
 dence of Gen. Washington, in the revolutionary struggle. 
 In 1760 he was appointed General, and held that rank to 
 the close of the war. When the war was over, like the 
 Roman Cincinnatus, and our immortal Washington, he re- 
 tired here to his farm. He was chosen one of our State 
 Senators and Representative to Congress, and held the office 
 of Deacon 28 years. We love to chronicle the success of 
 good men, and embalm their names in grateful remembrance. 
 This town from the first, was favored with men who felt 
 deeply the importance of education. For many years they 
 gathered all their children into one general school, and em- 
 ployed a man, as a general thing who could teach the Clas- 
 sics, and rewarded him more liberally than is common at this 
 day. It is believed no child was left too ignorant to read 
 
 or write. 
 
 The Westfield Academy was chartered in 1796, and 
 opened for pupils in 1800. It has usually stood among the 
 highest of Academies in the State. Its funds are about 
 ^5000. Many thousands have been educated there, many 
 of whom are among the brightest ornaments of the world. 
 Not far from fifty have been liberally educated from this 
 town, many of whom have stood high in the church and 
 
 state. 
 
 The Normal School was located here in 1844, and the 
 present edifice was erected in 1846, at an expense of about 
 $6000. About one hundred and thirty towns in eleven 
 counties have been represented, and we are confident it will 
 not suffer in comparison with any institution of the kmd in 
 existence. God has owned and blessed it temporally and 
 spiritually, and may his blessings never be withdrawn. 
 
 The religious history of this town is fraught with deep 
 interest. The first religious exercises of the primitive set- 
 tlers were conducted by a Mr. Holyoke. A Mr. Fiske 
 preached for a time as a candidate for settlement. For 
 more than half a century the inhabitants were assembled for 
 
16 
 
 worship, at the beat of a drum. The first meeting-house 
 is supposed to have stood in what is now the bed of Little 
 river. A second house was erected in 1720, which after- 
 wards was burnt. The present Congregational Church was 
 erected in 1805. In 1679 the present Congregational 
 Church was organized. The first pastor, Rev. E. Taylor, 
 was settled the same year. He died in 1729. For four or 
 five years previous to his death, he was unable to preach. 
 His successor was the Rev. N. Bull, who was ordained in 
 1726, and died in 1740. Rev. J. Ballentine, the next pas- 
 tor was ordained in 174 Ij and died in 1776. Rev. N. At- 
 water, the next pastor was ordained in 1781, and died in 
 
 1802. Rev. T. Knapp, tlie next pastor was ordained in 
 
 1803, and died in 1847. The present pastor. Rev. Dr. 
 Davis, was ordained in 1836. During the ministry of these 
 clergymen, there were added to the church as follows : 
 through the labors of Mr. Taylor, 189 ; through Mr. Bull, 
 226; through Mr. Ballantine, 412; through Mr. Atwater, 
 123 ; through Mr. Knapp, 657 ; through Dr. Davis, 429. 
 The present number of the church, is 429. 
 
 The first Baptist Church collected in this place, was or- 
 ganized in 1784. Its pastor was Rev. Adam Hamilton. 
 Owing to misconduct, he was deposed from the ministry, 
 and the little church he gathered were soon scattered. Their 
 house of worship stood near the County Bridge. A new 
 Church was organized in 1806, with eighteen members. 
 The house they occupied was about half a mile east of our 
 present place of worship. Rev. A. Hawks was their first 
 pastor. In 1812, a revival brought sixty into the church. 
 After this they were destitute of a pastor for some time. In 
 1818, Rev. C. Green was ordained and remained with it as 
 pastor one year. Rev. D. Wright was the immediate suc- 
 cessor of Mr. Green, and remained their pastor about seven 
 years, and was followed by Rev. A. Smith. Owing to a 
 variety of causes, a secession of twenty members took place 
 
17 
 
 in 1833, who formed themselves into what is now our church, 
 under Mr. Smith as their pastor. In 1836 this new church 
 settled Rev. D. Wright as their pastor, and he remained 
 with them four years. The meeting-house in which we are 
 now assembled, was erected in 1833. Rev. C. Van Loon 
 was settled over this church in 1839, and dismissed in 
 eighteen months. Rev. F. Bestor was settled in 1840, and 
 dismissed in 1 8 4 1 . Rev. C. Van Loon was re-settled here in 
 
 1842, and after less than a year's labor, left on account of ill 
 health, and soon died in the State of New York. Rev. A. 
 Colburn, his successor was settled in 1842, and dismissed in 
 
 1843. Rev. N. M. Perkins was settled in 1844, and 
 dismissed in 1848. Rev. J. Alden was settled in 1849. 
 During Rev. Mr. Wrights ministry, the church, previous to 
 the secession, reached nearly to 200 members. The old 
 church from which the secession was made, has long since 
 ceased to act in a church capacity, and has become almost 
 extinct, as might have been expected from the inactive poli- 
 cy pursued. During Rev. Mr. Smith's ministry, seventeen 
 were added. During Rev. C. Van Loon's ministry, 81. 
 During Mr. Colburn's stay 48 were added. During Mr. 
 Perkins' Labors, 34. During the present pastor's labors, 51. 
 The present number is about 165. 
 
 The Baptist Church at the West Farms, was organized in 
 1819, and their meeting-house was built in 1820. Rev. D. 
 Wright was their first pastor who has been succeeded by 
 Messrs. Chikls, Bestor, Day, Smith, and Underwood. Dur- 
 ing the settlement of some of these pastors, there have been 
 revivals and a goodly number added. Present number, 66. 
 
 The Meihodist denomination commenced their worship 
 in this town about 1794. The first preacher was Dr. Rob- 
 berts, who was followed by the Rev. J. Taylor. Westfield 
 was at this time included in the G;auville Circuit. A 
 church was first organized at the West Paiish, in 1806, and 
 a meeting-house built in 1829. The Methodist church in 
 3 
 
 V 
 
18 
 
 this village was organized in 1812, with seventeen member?. 
 Their meeting-house on Main street, was built in 1834. 
 The house of worship they now occupy, was built in 1842. 
 
 From 1795 to 1812, this village was a circuit station, and 
 hence we cannot find out the number added to this particu- 
 lar station from their records. I can therefore only give the 
 different preachers who have been settled here. The fol- 
 lowing I believe is a perfect list in the order of their settle- 
 ment, both for the Centre and West Parish. No notice is 
 taken of their reappointments to return, which happened in 
 large number of instances. Commencing with 1812, the 
 following are the list : Rev. R. Harris, Thorp. P. Muzzcy, C. 
 Culver, B. Goodsit, S. Dayton, B. Hibbard, D. Miller, C. 
 Carpenter, T. Clark, R. Sceny, A. M. Cain, S. Eighmy, 
 Hatfield, G. Pierce, N. Rice, P. C. Oakley, J. Allen, E. Os- 
 borne, C. F. Pelton, L. Mead, J. Nickson, E. Otis, J. Has- 
 kell, D. Lislee, S. Esten, T. W. Tucker, E. Scott, P. 
 Townsend, W. Smith, Bcnj. McLowth, J. Mudge, T. W. 
 Gile, M. Trafton, H. S. Degon, J. Ricketts, N. Merrill, M. 
 Raymond, J. B. Husted, G. F. Cox, S. Best, and J. H. 
 Twombly, their present pastor. The present number of the 
 Central Church is 237, and that of the West Parish about 50. 
 
 In 1843 a number seceded from the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and formed a Wesleyan Methodist Church. Their 
 preachers were Rev. E. Scott, E. Brewer, J. L. Gross, C. O. 
 Town, and J. Wright. They occupied the old Methodist 
 meeting-house where (hey met for worship. The number of 
 their Church is now 19. 
 
 Thus it appears that we have seven church organizations 
 with an aggregate of almost a thousand professors. Of the 
 five Churches which now observe the ordinances, we have 
 nominally 947 members. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable, that the Congregational 
 Church have buried all their past pastors in this town, and 
 neither of the other Churches have buried one in their 
 
19 
 
 midst. For 105 years the Congregational Church was the 
 only church in ll)is town. Miny were her early trials, great 
 her responsibility, and inaniftjld her success. My impres- 
 sions are, that during her entire history, as much liberality 
 of views, and kindness of action has prevailed, as is gener- 
 ally found. She has kept steadily on in her duties, has not 
 been fickle in regard to her pastors ; and she has seen other 
 churches rise and fall in her presence apparently unenvied, 
 until in the aggregate, they have surpassed her in numbers, 
 and we cannot doubt but that she prays for their spiritual 
 welfare. Doubtless the prosperity of either of these village 
 churches, aids the others, and the wane of either darkens 
 the prospects of the rest. It requires all the seraphic com- 
 bined power of ardent piety in them all, to keep religion in 
 the ascendant, in these degenerate times. While all rival- 
 ship and boasting is excluded, we can say with gratitude to 
 God, that since the Methodist and Baptist Churches erected 
 their present houses of worship in this village, they have 
 been abundantly blessed ; nor can we see that they will suf- 
 fer in comparison with the Congregational Church, taking her 
 whole history into view. 
 
 And now, situated as we are, upon a soil rich and fertile, 
 and adapted to all fruits grown in New England — surround- 
 ed as we are by natural scenery seldom equalled, and scarce- 
 ly surpassed on earth, with a quiet, flourishing, and a beau- 
 tiful village in the midst of it, a village where aristocracy 
 finds it diflicull to marshal herself-— a place sought out as an 
 asylum of science by the Slate, where they have chartered 
 two Institutions of learning, and mo e that all, a place own- 
 ed and blessed of God remarkably with precious revivals 
 from lime immemorial, if any people have occasion to thank 
 God for his mercies, we are that people. We as a church 
 have abundant reason to thank God for past mercies. 
 Within the last twelve years this church has moie than trip- 
 pled its members; and tried to bear her pa. t with Christians 
 
20 
 
 around her, in blessing the place and the world. Shall we 
 not, my brethren, henceforth maintain a closer walk with 
 God, and press on with unwavering steps to the bloodless 
 conquest of the world ? We have great reason for gratitude 
 that there has been such great harmony and readiness on the 
 part of our Church and Society, to meet the expenses of our 
 repairs so promptly. 
 
 It becomes us now, after all the anxiety and toil pertain- 
 ing to the improvements made in this sanctuary, to enjoy 
 them by consecrating them all to God. The offering is 
 none too good for Him who gave his all for us. God forbid 
 we should idolize any thing that is here. Let us rather hum- 
 bly and thankfully give it to Him who eternally owned it. 
 
 To God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we now conse- 
 crate all we have done to improve this sanctuary and im- 
 plore the blessing of the whole Trinity to rest upon us and 
 our offering. May the Almighty Father ever throw around 
 us his protecting arm and light up our path-way to eternity. 
 
 May the Son, our blessed Redeemer, here see the travail of 
 his soul, and be ever enthroned in the hearts of his followers 
 as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and sinners drawn by 
 his deathless love, be brought by the spirit of all grace, to try 
 the efficacy of his atoning blood. 
 
 May the Holy Spirit ever be here to enlighten, to sanctify 
 and comfort and save. By his power may souls be awaken- 
 ed — stubborn wills subdued, the tempted succored — the 
 weak supported — the self righteous rebuked — and prodigals 
 in all their wretchedness and woe brought back to their 
 Father's house. 
 
 Finally, we make the consecration to the Church of God. 
 Here may her faith, and her love, and her songs, and her 
 prayers abound. Here may the Spirit constantly descend to 
 refresh and comfort her, and enable her to act prayerfully and 
 nobly her part, until she is called from her militant state to 
 rest forever in the Paradise of God. 
 
w'^'? 
 
 "^. 
 
 IIISTOllY OF WESTFIELD. 
 
 r 
 
 S E R M K 
 
 BY REV. JOHN ALDEN, 
 
 If PASlOIl OF THE CENTRAL BAPTIST CHUliClI, WESTFIELD, MA«S. ''^j 
 
 I 
 
 DELIVERED JANUARY 28, 1851, 
 
 AT THE REMODELLING OF THEIR HOUSE OF WORSHIP. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 1^ 
 
 SPRINGFIELD: 
 
 G E R G E W . WILSON, P R I N T E R, 
 
 CORNER or MAIN AND, STATE STUEETS. 
 
 1851. 
 
2 
 
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 m 
 
 CONGRESS 
 
 LIBRARY OF 
 
 014 079 731 5^