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 GREENFIELD, CT., 
 
 
 
 
 MAY 18th, 1876 
 
 PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION 
 
 By rev. henry B. SMITH 
 
 SOUTHPORT, CONNECTICUT. 
 1876. 
 
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 ELEBRATION ON LrEENFIELD fflLL. 
 
 Address of Welcome 
 
 — BT- 
 
 DEACON N. B. HILL, 
 
 EEPLT BY 
 
 REV. GEORGE W. BANKS. 
 
 Historical Discourse 
 
 DELiyERED AT THE 
 
 One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
 Formation of Greenfield Church, 
 
 MAY 18, 187G, 
 BY 
 
 Rev. H. b. Smith, 
 
 Pastor of the Church. 
 
 Commemorative Address 
 
 OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE 
 
 Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, 
 
 Fourth Pastor of the Church anb Presibext of Ya.e Co.. bob, 
 
 —BY— 
 
 REV. PROF. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D. 
 
 Chroxicle Print: 
 
 SOUTHPORT, CONNECTICUT. 
 
 1876. 
 

 fe't 
 
Rev. H. B. Smith, 
 
 
 -t^ €l^yl€/ ^^^ ^€l/i4^'l£i^ /^d/^X-t^'i^-a/ </-idC-(M4.'tde^ €1^3^^ 
 
 NATHANIEL B. HILL, 
 JOSEPH DONALDSON, 
 W. 0. MURWiN, 
 JOHN BURR, 
 JOHN MURWIN, 
 JOSEPH BETTS. 
 
 Messrs. Deacon N. B. Hill, Deacon Joseph Donaldson, W. O. Mur- 
 wiN, John Burr, John Murwin and Joseph Betts, 
 
 ^Aau-aA /ue/t€i'te^ -a-i^tc/ -a. A-i-edd^l-e. ■ii/ji€id'^<i i-tzA -t^z^iU/i ■ 
 
 (^y / / ' 
 
 H. B. SMITH. 
 
THE OELEBEATIOIS^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 OHE Ju^dred and Fiftieth ]5NNIversai[y 
 
 GREENFIELD CHURCH. 
 May 18th, 1876. 
 
 The people, uotwithstanding the rain, assembled from far 
 and near in large numbers to celebrate the one hundred and 
 fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Congregational 
 Church on Greenfield Hill. Natives of the place, descendants 
 of former residents, citizens of adjoining towns, and from the 
 cities of iSTew York, New Haven, Bridgeport and Norwalk, 
 ministers, lawyers, physicians and teachers flUed the church to 
 its utmost limits. The benevolent hands of the ladies of the 
 parish had adorned the chui'ch and the pulpit with wreaths 
 and flowers, which were much admired. 
 
 On account of the sickness of Hon. Abram Wakeman, of New 
 York City, Judge Thomas Bradford D wight, of Philadelphia, 
 was called to take the chair and act as president of the day. 
 After a few pleasant remarks from Judge Dwight, he called 
 upon the choir to sing a hymn in the old tune of " Majesty." 
 Then the congregation were led in an appropriate prayer by 
 the Eev. Marcus Burr, of Rockville Centre, Long Island, N. Y., 
 at the conclusion of which the choir, in an admirable manner, 
 sang another old tune to the words, " Before Jehovah's awful 
 throne." Next a cordial welcome was given to all the invited 
 guests by Deacon N. B. Hill, which was gracefully responded 
 to by the Rev. George W. Banks, of Guilford, Conn. Then the 
 choir sang another hymn to the tune of " Northfield." The 
 historical discourse herewith published, giving an account 
 of the settlement of the town of Fairfield, and the parish 
 
6 
 
 of Greeufield, with the history of the church, was theu de- 
 livered by the pastor. The morning services were conchided by 
 the singing of *'Anld Lang Syne." Then the numerous guests, 
 together with the whole congregation, were invited to a bounti- 
 ful collation, provided by the ladies of Greenfield, in the base- 
 ment of the church. 
 
 Having done justice to this repast, the people reassembled 
 in the sanctuary, where the afternoon services were commenced 
 with the singing of an anthem by the choir, after which Prof. 
 Dwight, of Yale College, gave a most discriminating and ad- 
 mirable address concerning the life and character of President 
 Dwight, the fourth pastor of Greenfield Church. Then fol- 
 lowed brief addresses from the neighbgring pastors and others. 
 Eloquent responses were given to the following sentiments : 
 
 "Our Mother, the Mother of Churches," by Eev. Dr. E. E. 
 Eankin, of Fairfield. 
 
 " Our Elder Sister," by Eev. G. J. Eelyea, of Green's Farms. 
 
 " Our Younger Sister," by Eev. G. E. Hill, of Southport. 
 
 " Our Youngest Sister," by Eev. H. W. Pope, of Black Eock. 
 
 " Our Oldest Daughter," by Eev. Mr. Dudley, of Easton. 
 
 To the sentiment of " Greenfield Hill," the Eev. E. G. Hib- 
 barb, a former pastor, responded. Professor Thomas A. 
 Thatcher, LL. D., presented the congratulations of Yale Col- 
 lege, and recommended the refounding of the old academy on a 
 sure basis under the honored name of Dwight Academy. Eev. 
 Dr. Eogers, of New York City, being called upon, gracefully 
 presented the salutations of the oldest church on Manhattan 
 Island, the original church of " New Amsterdam," at the Bat- 
 tery. After the singing of the " Easter Anthem " by the choir, 
 and the doxology, the president of the day made a few parting- 
 remarks, and the public services were brought to a close with 
 the benediction by the pastor. As if to assure us that all is 
 well, the sun came out at the close of the meeting and glad- 
 dened the hearts of all as they returned to their several homes, 
 cheered with the sweet remembrance of a most enjoyable 
 anniversary. 
 
ADDRESS OF ^A^ELCOME. 
 By Deacon N. B. HILL. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 In behalf of the people of Greenfield, I welcome you to 
 Greenfield HiU, to unite with us in celebrating upon this cen- 
 tennial year the 150th birthday of this chiu'ch. We make no 
 apology for this celebration, for it has ever been the custom, 
 among the nations of both ancient and modern times, to 
 commemorate by suitable manifestations of public gratitude 
 events of great importance. The formation of a church 
 here upon this hill was an event of great importance. 
 Though small in its beginnings it has been great in its 
 results, and we look forward to still greater results in the 
 future. Yes, our forefathers did a great work here one 
 hundred and fifty years ago, and we have assembled upon 
 this occasion to view the work of their hands, to go about this 
 bur Zion, "to tell her towers, mark well her bulwarks, that 
 we may tell it to the generations following." We would call 
 our thoughts from the busy present and the ever glorious 
 prospective future and fix them upon the past, reflecting upon 
 all the way which the Lord our God has led us on. To you 
 who once lived here and have wandered away, we welcome you 
 back to the old home to-day; and to you whose fathers or 
 mothers, or grandfathers and grandmothers once lived here, 
 we welcome you back to the home of your fathers. May this 
 day be such an inspiration to you all, that when you shall have 
 had enough of wandering up and down in the earth, or when 
 you shall have acquired enough of its riches, its honors and 
 its glory, you will bring those riches, honor and glory back to 
 this old Greenfield Hill, and here in the home of your fathers 
 enjoy that happiness and find that rest which you will prob- 
 ably find nowhere else. Again, ladies and gentlemen, one and 
 all, I bid you welcome, thrice welcome. 
 
RESPONSE TO THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
 
 By Eev. G. W. BA^KS, of Guilfoed, Ct. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Friends : 
 
 I have been asked by the Committee of Arrangements to 
 respond in a few words to tlie very kind and generons address 
 of welcome whicli lias just been made by Deacon Hill; to re- 
 spond on behalf of the natives and former residents of this 
 parish, who have found homes in other places, but who have 
 come back to-day to mingle with you in the festivities of this 
 anniversary. 
 
 I scarcely think, however, that I am the proper person for 
 this service; so frequent have been my visits during the seven- 
 teen years since I left home, that I feel more like one of the 
 peoi)le here, and can hardly express the feelings of those who 
 have been for many years absent, and perhaps this day have 
 returned for the first time. 
 
 However, I think I can say, with those for whom I speak, 
 that we are not ashamed of our native place. We have wan- 
 dered oft' into other towns and distant parts of the State, into 
 other States and distant x)arts of the Union, and wherever we 
 have met with strangers, who have asked where we came from, 
 and have answered them, almost universally, if they were 
 people of intelligence, they have replied, " Oh ! yes ; Greenfield 
 Hill ! that was where Dr. Dwight went from to the presidency 
 of Yale College ! Was it not ?" 
 
 Such character and fame has that good and great man given 
 to this place ! We are proud of the natural attractions of this 
 place, and the unsurpassed scenery from this beautiful hill. 
 We are proud of the honorable history of this ancient church, 
 and as we shall to-day, led by its pastor, refresh our minds 
 with the facts of that history, and as we shall have our attention 
 called by my honored instructor at old Yale to the character 
 of Dr. Dwight, and the influence he exerted upon his times, we 
 shall go away from this feast of rich things with a higher esti- 
 mate than ever before of the place that gave us birth. No, sir, 
 we are not ashamed of our native place. 
 
9 
 
 Perhaps it is a little immodest for us to say, and yet you will 
 pardon us for saying it, that we have mainly tried to live and 
 act so that the old parish should not be ashamed of us. We 
 have carried out into the various communities where our lot in 
 life has been cast, and into the various employments and profes- 
 sions in which we are engaged, the principles and truths that 
 we have learned in this House of God, or in others that stood 
 upon this site, and these same principles and truths we are try- 
 ing to live up to, and to inculcate in other places ; to put upon 
 other minds the same impress that here was put upon ours. I 
 presume it is safe to say, sir, that the large majority of those of 
 us who have thus gone out, and who are still living, received 
 our training and instruction in these principles from one 
 honored teacher (Eev. Thomas B. Stirrgis). Some of us can say, 
 what verj^ few can say in these days of frequent ministerial 
 changes, that we never had but one pastor. And I can assure 
 you, sir, that to such, it is by no means the smallest part 
 of the pleasure of this joyous occasion, that we are j^rivileged 
 as we come back to welcome that beloved pastor to his native 
 land and to this field of his life's labors ; to see his face once 
 more, to take his hand, and, I trust, before the day is over, to 
 hear, as of old, his familiar voice in this place. We count it no 
 small privilege that by him we learned how to think, and think 
 consecutively, and more than that, to think with reference to 
 our relations to God and to our fellow men, that by his hand 
 our feet were guided into wisdom's ways. And we wish to 
 assure him that the seed which for more than a quarter of a 
 century (more than one sixth j)art of the entire history of this 
 church) he so faithfully sowed broadcast over this field, is yet 
 bringing forth fruit, not only here but in other and distant 
 communities. 
 
 But, sir, the joy of our coming back is tinged with sadness, 
 as we miss from the places that so long knew them, men who 
 were honored and exerted a wide influence for good here — such 
 men as Judge Hill, Gov. Tomlinson, Oapt. Baldwin, Doctor 
 Blakeman, and many others who might be mentioned. To 
 some, probably, who have come back and who used to know 
 every person in the parish, there are but verj^ few familiar 
 faces in this audience; and we are all reminded of the old yet 
 ever forcible words of Scripture, "One generation passeth away 
 and another cometh." 
 
10 
 
 Xevertlieless, the fact that calls us together to-day is a glo- 
 rious one, viz., that the Church abideth. Like some great train- 
 ing school, the generations one after another pass through it 
 into the beyond. For one hundred and fifty years it has held 
 its place on this beautiful hill, like some perennial fountain^ 
 sending forth streams that make glad the city of our God. 
 
 And we believe that for generations yet unborn it shall be 
 what it has been in the past ; that till time shall end the sound 
 of the church going bell shall be heard sweetly echoing over 
 these hills and valleys — 
 
 " And here thy name, God of Love, 
 Our children's children shall adore, 
 'Till these eternal hills remove 
 And spring adorns the earth no more." 
 
 Most heartily, therefore, Mr. Moderator, do we accept the 
 generous welcome that has been extended to us. We shall en- 
 joy the day and its services, and long remember them. This 
 will be a red letter day in our histories, and when at its close 
 we go down from this " Hill of Zion " to our homes and our 
 work again, we will go with the words of the Psalmist in our 
 hearts — " Beace be within thy walls, O ! Jerusalem, and pros- 
 perity within thy palaces." " For our brethren and companions^ 
 sake, we will say peace be within thee." 
 
THE HISTORICAL SERMON. 
 By eev. heney b. s:viith. 
 
 REJIEIVrBEK THE DAYS OF OLD, CONSIDER THE YEARS OF 
 MANY GENERATIONS : ASK THY FATHER AND HE WILL SHOW 
 THEE, THY ELDERS AND THEY WILL TELL THEE. — DeuteronOJliy 
 
 xxxii, 7. 
 
 By this divinely inspired precept we are commanded to keep 
 in mind the history of the past, and call to remembrance the 
 days of our forefathers. In so doing we shall consider the years 
 of many generations. Since the first settlement of this old town 
 of Fairfield eight or ten generations of men have lived, per- 
 formed their several parts and passed onward. Also, six or 
 seven generations have inhabited the hills and vales of the par- 
 ish of Greenfield since the organization of the church, all of 
 whom, excepting the present, have been gathered to their fath- 
 ers. As we review their history, we are reminded that one 
 generation goeth and another cometh in rapid succession. Does 
 not filial obligation require us to recall their noble deeds and to 
 keep them in remembrance ? If the voice of God did not call 
 us to the performance of this duty, filial affection should con- 
 strain us to perform the obligation we owe to a pious and noble 
 ancestry. IsTever should the honorable names of Banks, Burr, 
 Bradley, Hill, Hull, Wakeman, Sherwood, Baldwin, Nichols, 
 Meeker, Jennings, Morehouse, Betts, Ogden, Wheeler, Wilson, 
 Perry and Bulckley be allowed to pass into oblivion. The fami- 
 lies bearing these names have chieflj" composed the inhabitants 
 of North- West Parish from the origin of its settlement until 
 now. In all the towns and parishes of my acquaintance, I know 
 not any where so many have lived and died in the place of 
 their nativity from generation to generation. 
 
 The inhabitants have married and intermarried to such an 
 extent that each family bears some relationship to every otlier 
 in the community. But as the blood has been good, and the 
 origin noble, well may it be perpetuated. A distinguished au- 
 thority, Dr. Dwight, declares : '• That the people of Connecticut 
 
12 
 
 are descended from ancestors distinguished for their wisdom 
 and virtue, and owe, under God, to this fact, the prominent 
 features of their character and the great mass of their blessings ; 
 and no New Engiander can read the liistorj' of his town or 
 State without rejoicing that God has caused him to spring from 
 the loins of such ancestors." As the first settlers of North- West 
 Parish belonged for more than eighty years to the old j)arish of 
 Fairfield, we shall first allude to the history of the town of Fair- 
 field, before considering the history of the society and church of 
 Greenfield. For we claim partnership in all the honors, prosperi- 
 ties and adversities through which Fairfield has passed in its re- 
 markable history. Thankful I am that so many descendants are 
 present to-day from far and near, to rekindle their affection for 
 their ancestral homes and to pay homage to their pious, patri- 
 otic and noble progenitors. I am sorry, however, that the early 
 records of Fairfield were destroyed by fire in the American 
 Eevolution, and that the records of Greenfield Church and So- 
 ciety are so imperfect and incomplete. But 1 have done what 
 I could with the imperfect materials at my command, and with 
 the knowledge within my reach.* 
 
 In common with all the old towns of New England, the first 
 settlement of the town of Fairfield was about 237 years ago, 
 nineteen years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on 
 Plymouth Eock. In this early period the English colonists were 
 greatly excited and disturbed by a warlike and roving tribe of 
 Indians — the Pequots — who roamed about to kill and destroy. 
 The colonists on the Connecticut Eiver suffered such a loss 
 of life and property that they were constrained, for the sake of 
 protection, to war against them. On the 13th of July, 1637, a 
 decisive battle was fought, the English colonists being victo- 
 rious. A portion of the Pequots, pursued by Captain John 
 Mason and his soldiers, fled west of the Connecticut Eiver by 
 a circuitous route to Sasco Swamp, near Southport, where they 
 w^ere secreted by a small tribe of Indians called Unquowas. 
 Here the small army under Captain Mason exterminated or 
 scattered these savages on that memorable day which delivered 
 the colonists of Western Massachusetts and Connecticut from 
 fear of evil. Hon. Eoger Ludlow, who accompanied Captain 
 Mason with the troops in pursuit of the Pequots to Sasco 
 Swamp, was so much pleased with the beauty and fertility of 
 the land that he projected the scheme of a settlement. Accord- 
 
 * Note A — Appendix. 
 
13 
 
 ingly, tlie followiug year, 163vS, he, with some eight or ten other 
 families, removed from Windsor, Conn., to TJnquowa, now 
 called Fairfield. 
 
 Mr. Ludlow was Deputy Governor of Connecticut for several 
 years, and the principal planter. Very soon his small colony 
 was joined by other families from Concord and Watertown, 
 Mass., and soon became numerous enough to form themselves 
 into a distinct township. Then this whole section of country 
 was, to a great extent a wilderness, where dwelt wild beasts 
 and ro^dng savages. Much praise is due to Mr. Ludlow for the 
 part he took in the settlement of Connecticut and of the town 
 of Fairfield, since he was the most distinguished lawyer of the 
 colonies, and assisted in the construction of the first written 
 constitution originated in the new world — one which "was the 
 type of all that came after, even of the Republic itself. 
 
 He made the first purchase of the laud from the Indians, in- 
 cluded in the town of Fairfield, which originally embraced all 
 the territory lying between Stratford and Norwalk, and 
 extending six miles back from Long Island Sound. At a 
 later period the town purchased of the Indians all the laud 
 six miles farther north, including most of the territory now 
 embraced in Fairfield, Easton, Weston, part of Westport, 
 and Bridgeport. The whole six miles, including all the 
 northern section of the old town of Fairfield, as far north 
 as Eeading Centre, was purchased of the Indians for thirty 
 pounds. Then the town v^oted to distribute nearly all the 
 common unoccui^ied land to the individual citizens. This 
 distribution of the land made the long lots, as they were called, 
 and they were deeded to the settlers in width according to each 
 one's assessment in the list of estates, in length, as far as they 
 chose up into the wilderness. Some of the division lines of 
 these long lots at length became roads on which the people 
 travelled, and extended up into the uninhabited country as far 
 as Eeading Centre. Some of these roads have been used as 
 highways from the laying out of these lots till now. These roads, 
 corresponding to the long lots, ran due north, without any regard 
 to the hills or valleys. It is also evident from the town records 
 that these lots extending up into the wilderness were used as 
 pasture lands by the early settlers. "At a meeting of the propri- 
 etors, held January 25th, 1726, it was voted by the major part 
 of said proprietors that there should be a flock of sheep kept 
 
14 
 
 in Greenfield Parish for the summer ensuing, and Charles Hill, 
 Moses Diamond, Jr., and Benjamin Banks were appointed 
 sheep masters to take care of the sheep. Voted also that the 
 place to let the sheep should be at the house where the said 
 parish meet on tlie Sabbath days, and the time to let the said 
 sheep should be Monday and Friday nights." Such sheep mas- 
 ters to take care of the flocks were evidently necessary then to 
 protect the sheep from the ravenous wild beasts, the wolves 
 and bears which roamed over these hills and vales. 
 
 Then the town offered rewards for killing wild beasts. For 
 every wolf killed the Selectmen paid 40 shOlings ; for every old 
 bear 50 shillings ; for every cub or young bear 20 shillings. It 
 was further ordered, that whoever killed a wolf in the town, if 
 they expected to be paid for it, must bring the wolf's head to 
 the Town Treasurer, who should keep an account thereof, l^o 
 wonder, therefore, that the early inhabitants of Fairfield had 
 stockade forts built to protect their families from the ravages of 
 the wild beasts and the more savage Indians. In those times 
 the town kept watch by night and ward by day. 
 
 Among the first settlers of Fairfield and North- West Parish 
 was John Banks, a distinguished lawyer and an extensive land 
 holder. He was afterwards chosen representative to the Gene- 
 ral Court of Connecticut, and appointed to important public 
 offices on the part of the State ; a man of excellent character 
 and public spirit, who had the confidence of the Legislature in 
 a remarkable degree. From him all the Banks of this town are 
 supposed to have descended, and his descendants have become 
 almost as numerous and distinguished as were the descendants 
 of Jacob in the land of Canaan ; and may their virtues never 
 be less. Of equal celebrity and public spirit was Jehu Burr, 
 one of the pioneers of the North- West Parish. In his day he was 
 much employed in public affairs, on account of his ability and 
 character. He was father of Daniel Burr and grandfather of 
 Eev. Aaron Burr, who became president of Princeton College, 
 New Jersey, and one of the most distinguished preachers of the 
 gospel during the colonial period. From Jehu Burr nearly 
 all the Burrs in this section of country have descended, and 
 most of them have been worthy of their pious and noble ances- 
 try. Another of the early and distinguished citizens of the 
 town of Fairfield was Francis Bradley, who had eight sons and 
 one daughter, most of whom settled in the township. His son» 
 
15 
 
 John Bradley, had nine sons and three daughters, who settled 
 in the North- West Parish, afterwards called Greeniield ; from 
 whom have descended some of the most worthy and distin- 
 guished citizens of the town of Fairfield and of the common- 
 wealth of Connecticut. If time would allow, I should love to 
 speak of other pioneers of Fairfield, such as Thomas Hill, Sam- 
 uel Bradley, and many of like celebrity, who, in their day and 
 generation, honored the name and place that gave them birth. 
 
 Previous to the American Eevolution, Fairfield Town was 
 one of the most wealthy and populous towns in the Connecticut 
 Colony, having, in the year 1756, 4,455 inhabitants. On this 
 account, as well as on account of the superior character of its 
 I)eople, Fairfield exerted a controlling political influence in the 
 State and nation. Since the present is the centennial year of 
 our existence as a Eepublic, I must allude to the prominent 
 part taken by your forefathers in securing our American inde- 
 pendence and our national existence. 
 
 Though Connecticut was one of the great producing States 
 during the American Eevolution, both of men and money to 
 carry on the war, yet she has never had her full merit recog- 
 nized in any historical work published, and the same is true of 
 the town of Fairfield, which did more and suffered more, accord- 
 ing to her population, than any town in New England. 
 
 While Generals Warren and Putnam have become world re- 
 nowned for their patriotism and heroism, who has ever heard of 
 Captain Ebenezer Banks, who, like General Putnam, left his 
 plough in the field when he heard of the battle of Lexington ? 
 Then learning that a i)ublic meeting would be held that after- 
 noon on Greenfield Hill, he hastened to the place of concourse. 
 By his exertion, with the aid of others, a company was raised 
 in Greenfield and vicinity and soon started to go the place of 
 conflict. Here is the sword he carried then and through the 
 war, and has uiDon its hilt inscribed his name, Captain Ebenezer 
 Banks, 1760, showing that he owned and carried this sword 
 sixteen years before the declaration of American Independence. 
 But never have the deeds and sacrifices of that patriotic band 
 of soldiers, nor those of General Silliman of Fairfield, or of 
 Major Chapman of Green's Farms and their troops, been ade- 
 quately portrayed on the page of history, though they per- 
 formed an important part in securing the freedom and indepen- 
 dence of the United States. During the American Eevolution 
 
16 
 
 Fairfield was the most pati'iotic township in Southern Connec- 
 ticut, and furnished about the same amount of men and means 
 to carry on the war as New Haven. Hear this testimony to 
 their i)atriotism : 
 
 " Boston, Nov. 24, 1774. 
 Gentlemen — The testimony which the patriotic inhabitants 
 of the Town of Fairfield have given of their attachment to the 
 common and glorious cause of liberty, by their liberal donation 
 of 750 bushels of grain by Captain Thorj), has afforded much 
 comfort as well as seasonable relief to their friends in Boston, 
 who are now suifering under the cruel rod of ministerial tyranny 
 and oppression. Your obliged friend and humble servant, 
 
 Henry Hill. 
 To Jonathan Sturges and others. 
 
 By order of the Com. of Donations." 
 
 Here is a curious manuscript, more than one hundred years 
 old, in which are written the names of those men of Fairfield 
 who were summoned, twelve persons each night, to guard the 
 town and act as watchmen from May 24th, 1776, to Feb. 18th, 
 1777.* On the last page of this pamphlet is this declaration : 
 
 "The foregoing persons were legally warned by a lawful 
 warrant from lawful authority. 
 
 Test, Daniel Sherwood, 
 Constable of Fairfield.^^ 
 
 Also the following charge was given to the constable : 
 
 " Fairfield, 9th of June, 1777. 
 You are desired to deduct from persons noted in this book, 
 who served when warned at the rate of three shillings per night, 
 and to be particularly careful that none be paid who did not 
 serve. Also keep a particular account of every i^erson who 
 neglected going on guard when warned. 
 By order of the Selectmen. 
 
 Test, Thaddeus Burr, 
 
 Selectman.^'' 
 
 The patriotic zeal of the men of this town soon became known 
 to the British soldiers, which led them to destroy the village of 
 Fairfield by fire in that memorable month of July, 1779. At that 
 time the English soldiers burned in Fairfield and Green Farms 
 3 churches, 100 dwelling houses, 77 barns, 19 stores and as many 
 other workshops, and nearly all the buildings in the old town 
 of Fairfield. Greenfield Hill being three miles away, escaped 
 
 * Note B — Appendix. 
 
17 
 
 the terrible and general couflagTation. But of the fear the peo- 
 ])le suffered, and of the sacrifices they made, in common with 
 tlieii' brethren in other parts of the township, no tongue can 
 tell. Still we may now rejoice in their patriotism and suffering, 
 which secured to our State and nation all our social, civil and 
 Christian institutions. 
 
 Returning from this digression I must hasten to speak of 
 affairs pertaining more i)articularly to the North -West Parish, 
 as it was first called. This parish came into being under diffi- 
 culties, on account of the unwillingness of the Fairfield parish 
 to part with any of its supports. The old society could not 
 bear the thought of losing so many worthy members, and so 
 large a proportion of their wealth and strength. As the people 
 in this part of the town had made the Sabbath day's long jour- 
 ney for generations, the inhabitants of Fairfield supposed that 
 they could travel the same road for many years longer. Con- 
 sequently, they strongly opposed their petition to the General 
 Court of Connecticut for separate church i^rivileges. Still the 
 people of this section of the town had their hearts set upon it, 
 as the following petition will show : 
 
 " To THE Honorable General Assembly sitting at Hart- 
 ford the second Thursday of May, 1725. The humble prayer of 
 the inhabitants of Fairfield North Village humbly sheweth, 
 that there are about fifty-five families living north of Fairfield, 
 at a considerable distance from the town, some five or six miles, 
 and the nearest of them about two miles and a half or more, 
 whose lists amount to £4,000, which inhabitants labor under 
 great difficulties on account of their enjoyment of some of the 
 precious means of grace, especially the i)roclaiuiing of the word 
 of life, in the ordinary way and means God uses in the conver- 
 sion and bringing home poor, lost and undone sinners. Not 
 only ourselves are frequently obliged to be absent from di\ine 
 worship, but oiu- poor children are under a kind of necessity of 
 perishing for lack of \dsion, both which are very troublesome to 
 those who are inquiring what they shall do to be saved, and 
 that are hungering and thirsting after Christ and salvation and 
 righteousness in and through him. The distance of the way, 
 especially in bad weather, utterly incapacitates many persons, 
 old and young, to go to the house of God, which makes us 
 willing rather to expend considerable of oar earthly treasure in 
 maintaining the public worship of God among ourselves, than 
 to lose our spiritual treasure and undo any of our jjoor immor- 
 tal souls, esteeming each of them better than a one thousand 
 worlds. 
 
 Hoping and humbly begging and praying that the honorable 
 
18 
 
 gentleuieu of the Assembly will pity us, aud be uiirsing fathers 
 to us, and deal with us as they would be dealt with ; encour- 
 aging of us in our endeavor to honor God and obtain eternal 
 happiness beyond the grave, that they would x>lease to consider 
 there are many places made district societies, the less than we, 
 and nearer the town ; as West Haven, Newiugton, and many 
 others; aud also that the town from which we separate is well 
 able to maintain their minister without us, they having without 
 us £13,000 on their list. If the Honorable General Assembly 
 will be i)leased to hear this, our prayer, we will ever pray, etc. 
 
 Signed by Thomas Hill and sixty other men.* 
 
 On consideration had in the lower house this petition was 
 rejected. 
 
 Test, Theodore Ktmberly, 
 
 Very soon after the rejection another x)etition was presented 
 to the Honorable General Assembly by Thomas Hill and others, 
 asking for a committee to be appointed to view the inhabitants 
 of the parish, and report to the next General Assembly in Octo- 
 ber, 1775. 
 
 Their petition was granted for a committee. That committee, 
 consisting of Messrs. Copp, Lewis and Hawley, reported favor- 
 ably to the General Assembly in October. "At a General 
 Assembly holden at IS'ew. Haven, in his Majesty's Colony of 
 Connecticut, in l^ew England, on the 14th day of October, in 
 the 12th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George, King 
 of Great Britain, 1725, upon the petition of Thomas Hill, of 
 Fairfield, in behalf of himself and other of his neighbors living 
 within the bounds following : South southwest by rear of the 
 building lots in Fairfield, easterly by the Mill Eiver so called, 
 east north-easterly by the parish of Stratfield, north by the 
 north bounds of Fairfield, first brought to this Assembly, hear- 
 ing the reasons offered by Mr. Ebenezer "Wakeman, agent for 
 the old parish in Fairfield, why said Hill and neighbors should 
 not have parish privileges granted them, as well as the argu- 
 ments of said i^etitioners why they should be a parish, do here- 
 by order and grant that said j)etitioners shall be a parish, and 
 are hereby enabled to set up the worship of God among them- 
 selves ; and the bounds aforesaid shall be the bounds of said 
 parish, and so remain until this Assembly shall order otherwise. 
 And it is hereby enacted that said parish shall have and be 
 allowed all privileges as are by law allowed to other parishes 
 in this government." 
 
 * Note C — Appendix. 
 
19 
 
 But the name of the parish was not changed from ISTorth-West 
 to Greeufiehl until two years aft^r, as the following record will 
 show: 
 
 " Connecticut Colony. 
 
 At a General Assembly holden at Kew Haven, in His Majes- 
 ty's Colony of ConDecticut, in iSTew England, on the 12th day 
 of October, in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord 
 George Second, King of Great Britain, 1727. This Assembly 
 orders that the North-West Parish of Fairfield shall be called by 
 the name of Greenfield, and be so recorded." 
 
 From this record you will perceive that Greenfield Parish, at 
 its origin, embraced all the north portion of the town of Fair- 
 field. In the year 1757 some families in the north-eastern sec- 
 tion of the town of Fairfield were organized into the Bai)tist 
 Church and Society of Stratfield, and in the year 1757 several 
 families in Greenfield Parish helped form the Congregational 
 Church and Society in Northfield, town of Weston, and in 1763 
 a large number of families left Greenfield Church and Society 
 and formed the Congregational Church in Weston, now Easton. 
 Since that time the bounds of Greenfield Parish have remained 
 much the same as they were more than one hundred years ago, 
 being four miles square. In Dr. Dwight's day the parish num- 
 bered 1,000 inhabitants, and in 1836 about 1,200. Near the 
 close of the last century flax was extensively raised as an article 
 of commerce in Greenfield and Fairfield, even more than in all 
 New England. Theodore Burr told Dr. Dwight that for ten 
 years, when he was naval officer of Fairfield, there was sent out 
 of the town annually an average of 20,000 bushels of flaxseed. 
 Then could be seen here in Greenfield twenty acres of flax in a 
 single field. But long since flax has ceased to be raised as an 
 article of commerce, and onions have taken its place, and 
 many thousand bushels of the latter are now annually raised 
 for the New York market. Few parts of the world are more 
 fruitful and healthy than the parish of Greenfield. " In my 
 own congregation of 1,000 persons," says Dr. Dwight, " during 
 one year of my ministry here, not a single person died, and 
 during another year only two, and one of those was an acci- 
 dental death." The parish has always been noted for the salu- 
 brity of its climate and the beauty of its scenery. Well has the 
 pen of Dr. Dwight embalmed these characteristics of the place 
 f,,y^ prose and poetry, and made them known wherever the Eng- 
 
20 
 
 lish lauguage is spoken or read. We do not wonder that the 
 muse [inspired liim to portray in poetry the beautiful scenery 
 from his country seat on Greenfield Hill, for a more enchanting 
 spot cannot be found. 
 
 After the removal of Dr. D wight to New Haven his homestead 
 was purchased by Isaac Bronsou, Esq., a gentleman of wealth 
 from New York city, as a summer residence, to which i)lace he 
 retired during a large portion of each year as long as he lived. 
 He greatly improved the place, the parish and the town, 
 by setting out beautiful shade trees. And the same work has 
 been continued by his son, Frederick Bronsou, Esq., and by his 
 grandson, who bears his father's name, and is the present owner 
 of the estate. 
 
 With the first settlement of the State, town and parish, the 
 cause of education received the early attention of the people. 
 They would not allow their children to grow up in ignorance, 
 but desired them to be educated and qualified to become useful 
 and worthy citizens. Therefore, our forefathers reared the church 
 and the schoolhouse side by side, and led their children to these 
 fountains of human and divine knowledge. Ever since, in the 
 land of the Puritans, the church and the schoolhouse have been 
 the light to enlighten the minds and ennoble the hearts of the 
 people. Nay, they have been the fortresses to defend, and the 
 glory to crown the land of our fathers. In Greenfield, from the 
 first organization of the church and society, the educating of 
 the children and the preaching of the gospel have been re- 
 garded of equal importance. At the annual parish meeting 
 provision was made every year for supplying the schools with 
 teachers, and for maintaining the preaching of the gospel. At 
 a meeting held October, 1735, " voted, that there shall be a school 
 kept eleven months in this parish, after this manner : Four 
 months in the centre school ; three months in Hull's Farms, 
 and two months in Lyon Farms; and that the county money 
 shall be divided in proportion to the time above mentioned." So 
 the common schools were annually provided for according to 
 law, at the annual meeting of the school society, for more than 
 a century. 
 
 When Dr. Dwight settled here a new impulse was given the 
 cause of education, especially the higher education of the chil- 
 dren and the youth. Soon after his settlement he started a 
 select school in the southeast room of the dwelling house now 
 
21 
 
 owned and occupied by Mrs. Uriali Hubbell. In due time the 
 select school grew into an academy, and a building was ei;ected 
 on the common east of the church, for the Greenfield Academy. 
 The school grew so popular, and became so famous under Dr. 
 Dwight's instruction, that students flocked to it from aU parts 
 of the United States, from Canada and from South America, it 
 was Dr. Dwight's ambition to make his first class of pupils 
 equal in scholarship to the students of Yale College so 
 that the Greenfield Academy almost became a rival to that 
 institution of learning. Many of his scholars, in after years, 
 became celebrated, and distinguished in all the learned profes- 
 sions. After Dr. D wight, the Eev. Jeremiah Day, D. D., taught 
 the academy for some time, so that Greenfield has really tui- 
 nished two distinguished presidents for Yale College. Some ot 
 the other celebrated teachers of the Academy were Eev. Dr. 
 Samuel Blatchford, Eev. Wm. Belden, Eev. Nathaniel Freeman, 
 Wm Dwight Waterman, Esq., Charles Shelton, Esq., Park 
 Hill, Esq., and many others. But at length, for the want of a 
 permanent fund, the Academy decreased in numbers, and has 
 
 for some years ceased to be. , ^ i «^^- +i 
 
 Could a better thing be done, at the one hundred and fiftieth 
 anniversary of Greenfield Church and Society, by some men ot 
 wealth and descendants of the fathers of this parish, than to 
 endow the old Academy under the honored name of Dwight 
 Academy, from its distinguished founder « A word to the wise 
 
 is sufficient. 
 
 I shall now proceed to speak of the meeting houses which 
 have been occnpied as placets of worship. The first meeting 
 house was built before the parish was formed and the Society 
 estabhshed. The building must have been a very cheap and 
 rude structm-e, still it was used for a house of worship. 
 "At a meeting of the North- West parish it was voted, No- 
 vember 11th, 1725, that the meeting house shall be the 
 place where the parish school shall be kept six months m 
 the year. Also, March 28th, 1726, the parish voted that 
 the house we meet in shall be the place to ordam Eev. 
 John Goodsell. That house was used only temporarily as 
 the place of worship; for at a meeting of the North- West 
 parish, held October 7th, 1726, it was voted that a meetmg 
 house should be built, and be begun the year ensumg, 
 and that the dimensions of said meeting house shall be 52 feet 
 
in length, 42 feet in breadth and 24 or 25 feet between joints. 
 At the same parish meeting it was voted that the meeting- 
 house shall be set and stand half way between Mr. Samuel 
 Whitlock's northeast corner of his home lot and the meeting- 
 house where we now meet. Thomas Hill, John Burr, Moses 
 Diamond and Benjamin Banks were chosen a committee to take 
 care of building the meeting house, and to agree with some 
 person or persons to build the said house. The parish voted 
 December 11th, 1727, that Samuel Thorp and Benjamin Darling- 
 shall have £5 12s. more than their bargain for framing said 
 meeting house." 
 
 '^ In Deceuiber, 1730, voted that Lieut. Moses Diamond shall 
 have power to agree with any persons to carry the work on the 
 meeting house, so far as the parish shall raise money for the 
 same, and to be paid for his trouble. In December, 1736, voted 
 that there shall be a pew built on each side of the pulpit at the 
 committee's discretion. The following year, December, 1737, 
 voted that Moses Diamond, Jr., be a committee to lay out what 
 money is raised for the meeting house, and that Samuel Dia- 
 mond, Jr., and Joseph Banks be a committee to regulate the 
 pewing of the meeting house, and they shall lay out every man 
 his place according to what he has paid toward building the 
 meeting house. In January, 1740, voted that there shall be 
 four braces put in the meeting house, and March, 1742, voted 
 that the meeting house be finished, so far as to lath and plaster 
 under the upper lioor and under the gallerj^ floor, and to. make 
 one seat around the gallery." 
 
 So by degrees the fathers built ^the house of the Lord ; but 
 September, 1743, the parish " voted that those persons who 
 had paid the most toward building the meeting house shall 
 have pews laid out to them in the house, and that every man 
 who has a pew laid out shall be at the charge of building the 
 same." Accordingly, the pews having been built they were ac- 
 cepted, and Joseph Wheeler had pew No. 1 ; Benjamin Banks, 
 1^0. 2 ; Joseph Diamond, No. 3 ; Nathaniel Hull, No. 4 ; Daniel 
 Bradley, No. 5; Benjamin Gilbert, No. 6; John Thorp, No. 7; 
 Joseph Banks, No. 8 ; Samuel Wakempu, No. 9 ; Daniel Burr, 
 No. 10 ; John Gilbert, No. 11 ; Samuel Bradley, No. 12 -, Ben- 
 jamin Sherwood, No. 13; heirs of Eliphalet Hull, No. 14; 
 Joseph Hill, No. 15 ; Jabez Wakemau, No. 16 ; David Wil- 
 liams, No. 17 ; Samuel Price, No. 18. In confirmation thereof 
 
23 
 
 we have consented to set our hands and seals, this 22d day of 
 
 September, 1743. 
 
 Andrew Burr, 
 
 Samuel^ Burr, 
 
 Joseph Wai^et^ian, 
 
 Committee for assigning the seats." 
 
 The parish then "voted that Mr. Samuel Bradley shall get a 
 bell for said Greenfield Meeting House, and said bell shall be 
 lodged at the minister's house of said Greenfield." That was 
 the first bell, probably, that was ever rung to call the people 
 together to the house of God on Greenfield Hill, 133 years 
 ago. 
 
 Seventeen years after, the second meeting house ha^iJlg be- 
 come old and dilapidated, the parish " voted, February, 1760, 
 to build a new meeting house, and to have it stand on the 
 place where stands a monument of stones ; and that Samuel 
 Bradley, Jr., be a committee to apply to the County Court in 
 behalf of the parish to affix and establish the described place 
 for the meeting house to stand on. Also voted, that the dimen- 
 sions of the new meeting house shall be 60 feet in length, 42 
 feet in breadth, and have a good, proportionate well built 
 steeple." In November, 1760, thfe parish voted " that as many 
 l^ews as can with convenience be laid out, on the ground floor 
 of the new meeting house, by joiners that understand the busi- 
 ness, and the spots or places so laid out, shall be fairly sold to 
 the highest bidder, and the money raised to defray the expense 
 of the house. Also voted that those who purchase the spots or 
 places be obliged to build their pews by a limited time, and to 
 build them uniform, all alike." In the following year the spots 
 for pews were sold, as the record shows : 
 
 " We, tlie subscribers, being api:)ointed at the meeting of the 
 10th of Xovember last to sell the spots or pews, then voted to 
 be laid out in our new meeting house for pews to be erected on, 
 have, according to the vote of the parish, at their above said 
 meeting relating to said pews, laid out and sold the above said 
 spots or places for pews in the manner following, namely, with 
 the assistance of Da^id Bradley, Jr. : Beginning at the east 
 side of the south double door, have laid out the spots or places 
 for pew Xo. 1, and so successively laid out and numbered all 
 around the house till we come to the west side of said double 
 door, they beiug No. 26 ; and have also this day sold the above 
 
24 
 
 spots or places, except pew No. 15, for the purposes aforesaid, 
 to the following persons, with the sum of each spot or i)lace 
 annexed to his name, which persons are obliged by the condi- 
 tions of said vendue to have their pews well built and com- 
 pleted, upon their own cost or charge, by the first day of Octo- 
 ber next, or forfeit the same to the Society." Accordingly they 
 were sold as follows : To Gershom Banks, pew No. 1, £14 15s. ; 
 to Samuel Bradley, pew No. 2, £16 10s. The whole amount of 
 the sale of these spots or pews was 489 pounds 12 shillings.* 
 
 At length the third meeting house being completed — Dr. 
 Dwight's church, as it has been called — " the parish voted, at a 
 meeting held October, 1762, to have the old meeting house and 
 second house of worship pulled down, and Mr. Joseph Hill and 
 Mr. Daniel Sherwood were chosen a committee to order the 
 pulling down of said house, and parcel it out and sell it at pub- 
 lic vendue to the highest bidder, in behalf of the parish." 
 
 The new house of worship was much admired in its day, on 
 account of its fair proportions and its tall and elegant steeple, 
 the belfry of the church commanding an extensive view of the 
 Long Island Sound and shore. One historian, Mr. Barber, " de- 
 clares that no other spot in Connecticut can show such a com- 
 manding, extensive and beautiful prospect." In his day, from 
 the belfry of Dr. D wight's church could be seen seventeen 
 churches, five lighthouses, and East Eock, near New Haven. In 
 that meeting house the people of Greenfield worshipped for the 
 long period of eighty-two years. At length, like all other mate- 
 rial things, it grew old, and a new meeting house was demanded 
 for the worship of Jehovah. Soon after the settlement of Eev. 
 Mr. Sturges as pastor, the subject of building a new house of 
 worship was talked about and agitated by the people of Green- 
 field. But how could it be done, when all the pews in the old 
 house were held by deeds derived from their fathers ? It was a 
 difficult thing to get the consent of even a majority of the pew 
 owners to give them up, as a step preparatory^ and necessary 
 to the iDulling down of the old meeting house. Still, after much 
 labor on the part of the pastor, Eev. Mr. Sturges, Governor Tom- 
 linson and others, the consent of a majority of the pew holders 
 was obtained to pull down the old and build a new meeting- 
 house. The committee of the Society, then consisting of Dea- 
 con John Banks, Deacon William B. Morehouse and Mr. 
 
 * Note D — Appendix. 
 
25 
 
 Samuel Betts, took the responsibility of pulling down the old 
 church. Having done the work of taking it down, a new 
 house of worship must be built. Governor Gideon Tomlinson, 
 Doctor Eufus Blakeman, Deacon William B. Morehouse, Dea- 
 con John Banks and Mr, Horace Banks were appointed a com- 
 mittee to superintend the building of the new meeting house. 
 
 While all the members of the church and society contributed 
 generously and worked nobly to secure the new Gothic meeting 
 house, special mention should be made of Deacon John Banks 
 and Deacon Wm. B. Morehouse, who were most active in the 
 laborious work of building that most beautiful house of wor- 
 ship, which was much admired, until five years after its erec- 
 tion the house was entirely consumed by fire, Sunday night, 
 November 14 th, 1853. 
 
 Those persons who had built the Gothic church at great ex- 
 pense, toil and sacrifice, could not help exclaiming, as they saw 
 it in ruins : 
 
 " Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers worshipped, 
 is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste." 
 Some of those who did much towards defraying the exjiense of 
 building that house of the Lord, including several persons of 
 the Bronson family and of the Murray family, have passed on- 
 ward to their heavenly reward. Soon after the burning of the 
 Gothic church Capt. Abram D. Baldwin opened his large house 
 and kindly invited the people of Greenfield to meet there for 
 the winter to worship the Lord their God. 
 
 Though for a time the people were somewhat discouraged 
 and cast down on account of their loss, yet they were not de- 
 stroyed. Under the leadership of their pastor, Eev. Mr. 
 Sturges, aided by his office bearers. Deacon Wm. B. More- 
 house, Deacon John Banks and many others, he said unto the 
 peojile, " Come, let us arise and build." So they strengthened 
 each other's hands for the good work. As $4,000 insurance 
 money was obtained on the burnt building, and $2,500 had 
 been subscribed by members of the church and society, they 
 engaged with new energy and zeal in the work of building 
 the house of the Lord. In the following month of March, 
 1854, the society voted to build a new church ; and none but 
 those who engaged heartily in the work of building this 
 sanctuary, where we are now assembled, can tell what an 
 amount of labor, time and treasure it cost. But those who 
 
26 
 
 did the work aud contributed the mouey kuow what it cost 
 them. May this house long remain as a. lasting monument to 
 their memory. 
 
 In this connection, 1 cannot forbear an allusion to the build- 
 ing of the parsonage at the commencement of my ministry 
 among you, and near the completion of the loOth year of your 
 existence as a church and ecclesiastical society. May the house 
 in which your pastor and his family live, long continue as a to- 
 ken of the generosity of those parishioners who built it. May 
 the builder, Mr. Uriah Perry, aud the building committee, con- 
 sisting of Mr. Morris Murwin, Mr. Oliver Burr, Deacon N. B. 
 Hill, Deacon Wm. B. Morehouse, and all the donors and help- 
 ers in the good enterprise of the building the parsonage, ex- 
 perience the truth of the divine promise that " it is more blessed 
 to give than to receive." 
 
 We come now to notice the history of the organization. of the 
 Greenfield Congregational Church, and to allude to those who 
 have been pastors and ministers of this church. 
 
 The following is the original church covenant, subscribed by 
 the Christian professors of Fairfield Korth-West Parish, alias 
 Greenfield, this day. May 18th, 1726, 150 years ago to-day, em- 
 bodied in a church state by divine allowance : 
 
 " We, underwritten, through the strength of Christ, without 
 whom we can do nothing, and in the presence of God and this 
 assembly, do covenant and promise to deny ungodliness and 
 worldly lust, and live soberly, righteously and godly in this 
 present evil world ; solemnly avouching the Lord Jehovah to 
 be our God, and the God of our seed, giving up ourselves aud 
 ours to be his people, to live to the glory of his great name ; 
 solemnly avouching also the Lord Jesus Christ, the only medi- 
 ator between God and man, to be our Prophet aud Teacher, our 
 only Priest and Propitiation, our Supreme Lord and Law Giver, 
 professing ourselves heartily engaged to a sole dependence on 
 His doctrine, to an entire reliance on His righteousness, to a 
 willing obedience to His government ; solemnly avouching also 
 the Holy Ghost for our Sanctifier and Comforter, to be led by 
 His conduct, to cherish aud entertain His holy motions aud 
 influences, subjecting ourselves to the government of Christ in 
 His church, aud solemnly engaging to walk one with another 
 in brotherly love, watchfulness and communion, and hereto 
 may Christ Jesus our Lord help us. Amen." 
 
 To this covenant subscribed eleven men, namely, John Good- 
 sell, Cornelius Hull, Obadiah Gilburd, John Hide, George Hull, 
 Peter Burr, Daniel Bradley, Theophilus Hull, Jehu Burr, Stephen 
 
27 
 
 Burr, Ebenezer Hull. June 19tli, 1726, fifteen women were re- 
 commended by some of the neighboring churches, most of them 
 from Fairfield church, and added to this church by the consent 
 of the eleven brethren. On the same day at the organization of 
 the church, Wednesday, May ISth, 1726, Eev. John Goodsell, 
 who had been preaching to the people for some months, was 
 ordained as pastor. Mr. Goodsell was born in Stratford, 1706, 
 graduated at Yale College, 1724. He came here, and was or- 
 dained at the age of twenty years. He married Miss Mary 
 Lewis, of Stratford, and they had fifteen children, including a 
 pair of twins, seven sons and eight daughters. Some of the 
 numerous descendants of the Eev. Mr. Goodsell are with us to- 
 day to rejoice in the honorable name which they have inherited 
 from the first pastor of Greenfield church. During the last 
 years of his pastorate he suffered from sickness and infirmity, 
 but departed this life December 26th, 1763, in the 57th year of 
 his age, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. To show 
 the change in the past 150 years, the following fact is related : 
 Eev. Mr. Goodsell, being the owner of a smart horse, and being 
 in want of a pair of gloves, rode horseback to New York city, 
 bought his gloves and came back the same day. There are not 
 many ministers who can do that now. Under his ministry the 
 church prospered and increased in numbers, so that at the close 
 of the first year of his pastorate it numbered 70 members, 31 of 
 whom were added on the profession of their faith. During his 
 long ministrj' here of thirty years, the longest of any pastor, 
 212 persons united with the church by profession, and 256 were 
 received on the half way covenant, as it was called. Of those 
 persons who were baptized and admitted to the church, nine of 
 them were negroes and slaves. 
 
 The farmers in the last century owned slaves in Greenfield. 
 Hezekiah Bradley, Esq., a large farmer who lived in the house 
 now occupied by Mr. Millbank, had more than twenty slaves. 
 One of these, called Nance, was kept in the family for three or 
 four generations, and died in the family of James C. Loomis, 
 Esq., of Bridgeport. At length slavery was abolished by law in 
 Connecticut in 1854, and the churches were delivered from its 
 curse and its stain. In August, 1757, the Society voted to send 
 for Eev. Mr. Burritt, of New Fairfield, to come here and preach 
 as a probationer. The following year. May 30th, 1757, put to 
 vote " Whether the Society is williug that Mr. Jonathan Elmer 
 
28 
 
 shall be recoinmeuded to the association for their advice; 
 whether they think proper to recommend Eev. Mr. Elmer to 
 the Society to preach the Gospel among us, as a probationer." 
 It was voted in the affirmative by a majority of 71 to 9. We 
 suppose the association did not approve of their sending for 
 him, for at a subsequent meeting of the Society, September 2d, 
 1757, it was put to vote " Whether the Society is willing and 
 desirous to have Mr. Pomeroy to preach with us as a proba- 
 tioner, in order to his settlement in the ministry, and it was 
 voted unanimousl}' in the affirmative by 77 persons." 
 
 The committee of the Society, consisting of John Gilbert, 
 Joseph Bradley and Daniel Sherwood, extended the call to Mr. 
 Pomeroy, and he gave an affirmative answer, and December 
 8th, 1757, was ordained pastor. The committee of arrange- 
 ments for his ordination were Capt. Moses Diamond, Capt. 
 Daniel Bradley, John Gilbert, Joseph Bradley, Jr., and Daniel 
 Sherwood. The services of the ordination were : Introductory 
 prayer by Eev. Samuel Sherwood, sermon by Eev. Xoah Wells, 
 ordaining prajer by Eev. Moses Dickinson, charge to the 
 pastor by Eev. Noah Hobart, right hand of fellowship by Eev. 
 Daniel Buckingham, concluding prayer by Eev. Jonathan 
 Ingalls. 
 
 Mr. Pomeroy was born in Northampton, December 14th, 
 1732, graduated at Yale College 1753, and remained one year 
 after graduation in New Haven, as a Berkeley scholar, a favor 
 granted on account of his superior scholarship. Was tutor in 
 Yale College during the years 1756 and '57. His wife was the 
 daughter of Jonathan Law, Governor of Connecticut, and they 
 had one son who was a clergyman, Eev. Jonathan Law Pome- 
 roy, for some years pastor of the Congregational Church at 
 Worthington, Mass. 
 
 Eev. Mr. Pomeroy, second pastor of Greenfield Church for 
 twelve years, was a learned divine, a judicious and excellent 
 pastor, who preached the Gospel faithfully to the people, and 
 died 1770, in the midst of his usefulness, at the early age of 37 
 years, and His body lies buried in Greenfield Cemetery, with 
 those of his parish, to whom he administered the consolation 
 of the Gospel more than 100 years ago. During his ministry 
 two valuable silver tankards were given to the church for the 
 communion service, one by Deacon Thomas Hill, and inscribed 
 " The gift of Thomas Hill, Esq., to the Church of Christ in 
 
29 
 
 Greenfield, A. D. 1764." The other by Deacon Samuel Bradley, 
 and inscribed " The gift of Samuel Bradley to the Church of 
 Christ in Greenfield, A. D. 1768." These vessels have been 
 used at every administration of the Lord's Sacrament to this 
 church for more than 100 years. During Mr. Pomeroy's minis- 
 try, December 13th, 1762, a colony went from Greenfield 
 Church and organized the church in Weston, now Easton. 
 The Easton Congregational Church may be call our eldest 
 daughter, being 113 years old 5 well may we rejoice therefore in 
 her prosperity. After the death of Mr. Pomeroy, May 20th, 
 1772, Kev. Wm. Mackey Tennent was invited to become the 
 pastor of Greenfield Church by the large majority of 83 votes. 
 He accepted the call of the Church and Society. He was the 
 son of Eev. Charles Tennent, of White Clay Creek, Delaware, 
 who was younger brother of the more famous preachers, Eevs. 
 Wm. and Gilbert Tennent. Mr. Tennent was ordained pastor 
 of Greenfield Church, June 17th, 1772 5 Deacon Hill, John 
 Bradley and Samuel Bradley, Esqs., were chosen a committee 
 to provide for the ordination. The services of the ordination 
 were : Introductory prayer by Kev. Samuel Camp, sermon by 
 Eev. Samuel Sherwood, ordaining prayer by Eev. Noah Hobart, 
 charge to pastor by Eev. Moses Dickinson, right hand of fellow- 
 ship by Eev. Noah Wells, concluding xirayer by Eev. Jonathan 
 Ingalls. 
 
 He graduated at the college of New Jersey, 1763, received 
 the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1773 from Yale College, and 
 was moderator of the General Assembly in 1777. His wife was 
 the daughter of the Eev. Dr. John Eogers, of New York city. 
 He was a most worthy minister of the New Testament, and an 
 excellent pastor. During his ministrj^ here he had the confi- 
 dence of his people in a remarkable degree, and kept them 
 together during the war of the American Eevolution, when 
 many churches in the United States were scattered and left 
 without a pastor in a low spiritual condition. Mr. Tennent was 
 a man of great sweetness of temper and politeness of manner, 
 and distinguished for hospitality. The society of Greenfield 
 showed their appreciation of his labor, in increasing his salary 
 from time to time, and in giving him annually forty loads of 
 wood. In this record we have proof of their generosity : 
 " Whereas the war has greatly enhanced the price of all the 
 necessaries of life to that degree that it is impracticable for Mr. 
 
30 
 
 Teunent, our pastor, to support himself aud family ou the 
 nomiual sum we covenanted and agreed to pay him for his yearly 
 salary; and, whereas, in our opinions the enlarging of Mr. Ten- 
 uent's salary by a public rote might not only have a tendency 
 to depreciate the currency, but also be hereafter made a prece- 
 dent of, when the currency shall come to a standard and provi- 
 sions to the old price ; for the above mentioned reasons we, the 
 subscribers, hereby agree to pay to Daniel Sherwood, Jr., com- 
 mittee man appointed by this parish to get subscriptions for 
 Mr. Tennent, what we have severally subscribed and annexed 
 to our names, by the first day of March next, or the same pay 
 and deliver unto Mr. Tennent by said time over and above the 
 nominal sum we have agreed to pay to Mr. Tennent for his 
 yearly salary, in order the better to support himself and family 
 in the difficult and extraordinary times, as witness our hands 
 in Greenfield, the 17th November, 1778 :" 
 
 " Daniel Sherwood, li bushels of wheat ; Cornelius Hull, 4 
 bushels of Indian corn ; Eliphalet Hull, 4 bushels of corn ; John 
 Alvord, 1 pair of women's shoes; John Hull, 20 weight of 
 butter ; Jedediah Hull, 2 bushels of corn and one of wheat ; 
 Albert Sherwood, 2 bushels of wheat ; Joseph Straton, 6 bushels 
 of wheat; John Straton, 1 bushel of wheat; Stephen Straton, 
 6 lbs. of tiax ; Seth Sherwood, 2 bushels of wheat ; James Eed- 
 field, 15 lbs. of pork ; Nehemiah Banks, 40 lbs. of pork ; Oliver 
 Middlebrooks, 1 bushel of corn ; Ebenezer Banks, | bushel of 
 Lisbon salt ; Joseph Banks, 1 barrel of cider ; Eliphalet Banks, 
 1 barrel of cider." 
 
 After leaving Greenfield Mr. Tennent became pastor of a 
 Presbyterian Church in Abington, near Philadelphia, where he 
 died in the beginning of December, 1810, blessed with an assur- 
 ance of the favor of his God and Saviour. 
 
 At a parish meeting, August 28th, 1752, it was voted to give 
 Mr. Abram Baldwin an invitation to preach the coming winter, 
 but he did not accept of it ; for in the following mouth, October 
 29th, 1782, the Society voted to send to New Haven to give Mr. 
 D wight an invitation to preach the gospel to this people. He 
 probably supplied the pulpit afterward most of the time, till his 
 ordination as pastor of Greenfield Church, November 5th, 1783, 
 and his ordination sermon was preached by his uncle, the Eev. 
 Dr. Jonathan Edwards, pastor of a church in New Haven. The 
 committee of arrangements for the ordination of Mr. Timothy 
 
31 
 
 Dwight were : Deacon Joseph Hill, Deacou David Williams, 
 Gershoin Hubbell, Esq., Hezekiah Bradley, Esq., and Nehemiah 
 Banks. 
 
 The services of the ordination Avere introductory prayer by 
 Rev. Justus Mitchell, sermon by Eev. Jonathan Edwards, 
 D. D.,* ordaining prayer by Rev. Andrew Elliott, charge to the 
 pastor hy Rev. Samuel Camp, right hand of fellowship by Rev. 
 Isaac Lewis, concluding prayer by Rev. Jonathan Murdock. 
 
 Dr. Dwight was born at Northampton, 1752, graduated at 
 Yale College 1769, at the head of his class in scholarship, and 
 was tutor in the college from 1771 to 1777, and chaplain in the 
 United States army from 1778 to 1783, and a friend of Wash- 
 ington, representative in the legislature of Massachusetts for 
 one or two years ; then was talked of as a member of Congress, 
 but he preferred to become a minister of Christ and a preacher of 
 the gospel. The people of Greenfield were loth to part with 
 him after he was chosen President of Yale College, and pro- 
 tested before the consociation, that was called to consider the ex- 
 pediency of dismissing him from his pastorate here, so as to 
 accept the presidency of the college. Still all the efforts of 
 Greenfield people to keep him were in vain, though he was 
 settled for life, for the consociation dismissed him August 11th, 
 1795, after a successful pastorate of twelve years.t It was 
 Dr. Dwight's good fortune to honor every position he occupied, 
 and he was undoubtedly the best and greatest divine New 
 England ever produced. 
 
 Judge Roger Minot Sherman, of Fairfield, declared " that no 
 man, except the Father of his country, had ever conferred 
 greater benefit on our nation than President Dwight, the fourth 
 pastor of Greenfield Church." 
 
 To show you his power as a preacher over his hearers, we 
 have been told that on one occasion he happened to preach in 
 the first church at Bridgeport on morality and honesty, and 
 that the next day several of those who had heard him returned 
 the axes, hoes, forks and other implements of husbandry which 
 they had stolen, or taken without leave. As I was told this fact 
 the thought came to my mhid, O ! that Dr. Dwight could arise 
 from his grave and preach to those of our day, in our towns, 
 cities, in the State and National Government, who are disposed 
 to rob the public treasury. After his dismission, the cluirch 
 
 * Kote E — Appendix. f N'ote i^— Appendix. 
 
32 
 
 was without a pastor for teu years. At a meeting of the Society^ 
 November 25th, 1795, it was voted to hire Eev. Mr. Beaiufield to 
 preach with us till the last Sunday iu December. lu the fol- 
 lowing month of April, 1796, the Society voted to hire the Eev. 
 Dr. Samuel Blatchford for one year.* He was an Englishman, 
 a good scholar and a sound theologian ; an acceptable preacher 
 and pastor, and often eloquent iu his address ; but at the close 
 of his engagement here for one year he left Greenfield and went 
 to Bridgeport, where he became pastor of the first Congrega- 
 tional Church in 1797, and was the father of seventeen children. 
 In March, 1800, Rev. Mr. Yates preached as a candidate for a set- 
 tlement, and received a call, which he declined to accept. Also 
 the same year, Eev. Mr. Ten Yeck received and declined a call 
 to settle here. In the following year, February 12th, 1801, the 
 Society gave Eev. Stanley Griswold a call to settle with a salary 
 of $560, but he declined the offer. The call to him was renewed 
 June 30th, 1803, and he consented to preach for about a year, 
 when he baptized fifty persons, eight adults and forty-two chil- 
 dren. He was a Jeflersonian Democrat, and very popular with 
 a portion of the people, and disposed to administer religious 
 ordinances in a broad church way. In after years he left the 
 ministry, removed to Ohio, was there chosen Senator of the 
 United States, and became Judge of the Supreme Court of that 
 State. On the 10th of November, 1801, a call was given to 
 Eev. Mr. Niles to settle in Greenfield, which he declined. Also, 
 June 7th, 1802, an invitation was extended to Eev. Washington 
 McKnight to settle in the work of the gospel ministry in said 
 Society on a salary of $560. He accepted the call, and the day 
 was appointed for the consociation to meet and effect the union, 
 but objections being presented by a minority of the church be- 
 fore the consociation, he withdrew his acceptance of the call, 
 and the church continued to remain without a pastor. But the 
 majority were so exasperated at losing Mr. McKnight, whom 
 they admired, that they voted, September 9th, 1802, " that Mr. 
 Ward should not preach in the meeting house, although he will 
 preach for nothing." At length the Lord sent to them Mr. 
 Horace Holly, and he was ordained pastor of Greenfield Church 
 September 13th, 1805. The committee of arrangements for the 
 ordination were Gershom Wakeman, Abel Banks, Moses Betts 
 and Thomas Wheeler. 
 
 * Note G — Appendix. 
 
33 
 
 The services at tlie ordination were : introductory prayer by 
 Rev. Piatt Buifett; sermon by Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D. ; ordaining- 
 prayer by Rev. Mattbias Burnett, D. D. ; charge to the pastor 
 by Rev. Andrew Elliott ; right hand of fellowship by Rev. John 
 Koyes; address to the people by Rev. Justus Mitchell; con- 
 cluding prayer by Rev. Samuel Goodrich. 
 
 Mr. Holly was born in Salisbury, Conn., February 13th, 1781, 
 graduated at Yale College in 1803, ordained pastor Sept., 1805, 
 and dismissed in September, 1808, after a successful i^ast orate 
 here of three years. He was a distinguished preacher, an elo- 
 quent orator, and the Church and Society increased in numbers 
 and prospered under his administration. During his pastorate 
 there were added to the church forty-nine members on profes- 
 sion of their faith, making an average of sixteen each year. 
 While here he was an evangelical minister of the gospel, but 
 there was a change in his theological views when he became 
 pastor of the Holly Street Unitarian Church, Boston, in 1809. 
 After leaving there, he was chosen President of the Transyl- 
 vania University, Lexington, Kentucky, which office he held 
 nine years. Leaving there, he died on his voyage to jSTew 
 York, of the yellow fever, July 31st, 1827. 
 
 Soon after the dismission of the Rev. Dr. Holly, October 11th, 
 1808, the Society voted to refer a petition to the Legislature of 
 this State, to grant them a lottery for the purpose of raising a 
 fund to assist them in suj)porting the gospel ministry, and 
 appointed Ebenezer Banks their agent for the above purpose, 
 with full power to employ counsel. For the honor of Chris- 
 tianity, I believe the jDetition was not granted. 
 
 In May 17th, 1810, the Society "voted to give Rev. David 
 x^ustin a call to take the oversight of the church, so long as he 
 will accept of a three cent tax for his yearly salary, and so long 
 as the Society shall agree to raise a three cent tax for the pur- 
 pose." 
 
 As he would not accept of the offer, the Society " voted at a 
 subsequent meeting, June 28, 1810, to give Rev. David Austin 
 8500 a year instead of the three cent tax voted at the other 
 meeting, so long as he shall continue in discharge of the gospel 
 ministry with us," which was about two years. He was one of 
 the most popular and eccentric preachers of his day, but his 
 reason is supposed to have been affected by an illness of the 
 scarlet fever while pastor of the Presbyterian church, Eliza- 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 betlitown, IS". J. He believed iu the literal return of the Israel- 
 ites to the Holy Laud, and that the Jews of the United States 
 would assemble at Xew Haven, where he built houses for them 
 and a wharf for their use, and from there, the place of Mr. 
 Austin's birth, he believed the Jews would embark for the land 
 of Israel. But with all his errors and eccentricity, he was liked 
 as a preacher on account of his eloquence, intelligence and 
 amiableness of character, and is still remembered with interest 
 by those who knew him. ]S"ear the close of his hfe he became 
 more rational and scriptural in his views, and died in peace, 
 rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. 
 
 The society gave a call to Eev. Wm. Belden, Aug. 3, 1812, to 
 settle in the work of the gospel ministry with a salary of $500, 
 which he accepted. Gov. Gideon Tomlinson, David Hull, Esq., 
 and Hull Bradley, Esq., were appointed a committee on 
 the part of the Society to arrange for the ordination of Mr. 
 Belden, that took place October 1st, 1812. The services of the 
 ordination were : introductory prayer by Eev. Sylvanus Haight ; 
 sermon by Eev. Mr. Waterman; ordaining prayer by Eev. 
 Isaac Lewis, D. D. ; charge to the pastor by Eev. Hezekiah 
 Eipley, D. D. ; right hand of fellowship by Eev. Herman Hum- 
 phrey, D. D. ; address to the people by Eev. Daniel Smith ; 
 concluding prayer by Eev. John Noyes. He excelled more as a 
 teacher of the youth than as a preacher of the gospel. In both 
 positions he did what he could for the intellectual and spiritual 
 welfare of his flock, over whom the Holy Ghost had made him 
 an overseer, until he was dismissed from his pastorate, April 
 3d, 1721. After his dismission the pulpit was supplied for a 
 time by the Eev. Mr. Mcholson, an Englishman. 
 
 In ISTovember 21st, 1821, a unanimous call was given by the 
 Church and Society to the Eev. Eichard Varick Dey to settle 
 and become their pastor. He accepted their invitation and was 
 ordained here the loth day of January, 1823. The committee of 
 arrangements for his ordination were Abram D. Baldwin, 
 David Hill, Thomas B. Osborn, Hull Bradley and Gershom 
 Wakeman. 
 
 The services of the ordination were : introductory prayer by 
 Eev. l^athan Burton ; sermon by Eev. Stephen W. Eowan, 
 D. D. ; ordaining prayer by Eev. John Noyes ; charge to the 
 pastor by Eev. Nathaniel Freeman; right hand of fellowship by 
 Eev. Edward W. Hooker ; address to the people by Eev. Dan- 
 iel Smith ; concluding prayer by Eev. Henry FuUer. 
 
35 
 
 Being a handsome young man, of commanding presence and 
 natural eloquence, Mr. Dey became very popular and was much 
 admired as a preacher at home and abroad, so that a multitude 
 flocked to hear him, and the old meeting house was not large 
 enough to accommodate the congregation. But, while very 
 popular, he acquired the evil habit of drinking the social glass 
 with some of his distinguished jDarishioners, and before he was 
 aware of it he drank to intoxication. Thus, a most distin- 
 guished preacher and eloquent orator was ruined by intemper- 
 ance. This having become public, the consociation was called, 
 and by that body of ministers and delegates he was tried and 
 deposed from the ministry. Then, in view of his downfall, all 
 beholders were led to exclaim, " How art thou fallen, oh, Luci- 
 fer, son of the morning." After Mr. Dey's dismission the Eev. 
 Samuel Merwin preached the gospel for some time to this peo- 
 ple, and received a call to settle as pastor. 
 
 For a year or two Eev. Chas. Nicholl sup]3lied the pulpit and 
 preached the gospel to the few who assembled to hear him. 
 Then, in the good providence of God, Rev. Nathaniel Freeman, 
 having been dismissed from the pastorate in Easton, came here 
 as acting pastor and continued in that relation to this people for 
 nearly nine years. Amid many discouragements, trials and 
 afflictions, he preached faithfully the gospel here, and during 
 the time was called to part with his much beloved wife and 
 seven of his children, whose bodies lie buried on Greenfield 
 Hill. But, amid much tribulation, he made full proof of his 
 ministry and died in triumph of a living faith, June IStb, 1864, 
 at the age of 76 years, and his body lies buried beside those of 
 his beloved wife and children. 
 
 In 1840 Rev. Eodney G. Dennis, for some mouths, preached 
 the gospel to this people. In. April, 1842, Rev. Thomas B. 
 Sturges was invited to settle as j)astor. The in-s4tation hav- 
 ing been accepted, Deacon Wm. B. Moorehouse, Deacon Seth 
 Jennings, Samuel Betts and Abram D. Baldwin were chosen 
 as a committee of arrangements for the ordination. The ser- 
 vices of the ordination were introductory prayer by Eev. John 
 W. Alvord ; sermon by Rev. Edwin Hall, D. D. ; ordaining 
 prayer by Rev. Ezra D. Kenney ; charge to the pastor by Rev. 
 Noah Coe ; right hand of fellowship by Rev. Lj-man H. Atwater, 
 D. D. ; address to the people by Eev. Theopbilus Smith ; con- 
 cluding prayer by Rev. Chauncey Wilcox. 
 
36 
 
 Accordingly, Eev. Mr. Stiirges was ordained pastor of the 
 church, June, 1842, and continued in his pastorate here for 
 twenty-live years, until June, 1867. His early ministry was 
 blest with a general revival, as the fruit of which forty-two 
 persons united with the church on the profession of their faith 
 in 1843. But I need not speak of the labors and success of the 
 beloved, wise and faithful pastor, who, for twenty-five years, 
 went in and out among you, preaching Christ and Him crucified. 
 The seed that he sowed bore much fruit, not only during his 
 ministry but the year following his dismission under the con- 
 tinued labors of Eev. K. P. Hibbard and Eev. J. D. Potter, 
 evangelist, when a spiritual harvest of sixty persons was gath- 
 ered into the church, so that he that soweth and he that reapeth 
 may rejoice together. 
 
 My predecessor in the pastoral office, Eev. R P. Hibbard, 
 was ordained pastor August 4th, 18G8 ; the society's committee 
 for the ordination was Mr. Walter O. Murwin, Mr. John Burr 
 and Mr. Cyrus Sherwood. 
 
 Services of the ordination were : introductory prayer by Eev. 
 D. E. Austin; sermon by Eev. Edward B. Eankin, D. D. ; 
 charge to the pastor by Eev. Frederick Alvord ; right hand of 
 fellowship by Eev. Martin Dudley ; address to the people by 
 Eev. B. J. Eelyea; concluding prayer by Eev. George W. 
 Banks. 
 
 He was dismissed April 27th, 1872. His character, labors 
 and usefulness are known to all of you. Your present pastor 
 began his labors here, April, 1873, and was installed pastor 
 July 1st, 1873. The Society's committee for the installation 
 consisted of Mr. John Murwin, Deacon Joseph Donaldson and 
 Mr. Andrew Wakeman. 
 
 Services of the installation were : invocation and reading of 
 the scriptures by Eev. Franklin S. Fitch ; introductory prayer 
 by Eev. B. J. Eelyea ; sermon by Eev. James W. Hubbel ; or- 
 daining prayer by Eev. Martin Dudley; charge to the pastor by 
 Eev. E. E. Eankin, D. D. ; right hand of fellowship by Eev. S. 
 J. M. Merwin ; concluding prayer by Eev. Edwin Johnson. 
 
 The years that have been the most fruitful in the ingathering 
 of sheaves into the garner of the Lord were the following: 
 1726, 31 persons ; 1742,16; 1806,28; 1807,11; 1843,42; 1849, 
 17 ; 1857, 12 ; 1868, 60 ; 1875, 14. These were years of revival. 
 
 In the records of Greenfield Church I do not find any mention 
 
37 
 
 of the election of deacons. But among those who have served 
 the church in this important office are the following, namely : 
 Deacons John Hyde, Samuel Bradley, Daniel Banks, Samuel 
 Wakeman, Moses Diamond, Joseph Bradley, Joseph Hill, 
 David Williams, Burr Gilbert, Daniel Bradley, Hull Bradley, 
 Wakeman Lyon, Seth Jennings, Wm. B. Moorehouse, John 
 Banks, K B. Hill and Joseph Donaldson. The two last are 
 the officiating deacons. 
 
 Some of these men, like Deacon Wakeman Lyon, were accus- 
 tomed to read a sermon and conduct the public worship of the 
 sanctuary when the Church and Society were without a minis- 
 ter. These deacons have been evangelical men, who have 
 honored their office and held fast to the faith as once delivered 
 to the saints. Never will it be known, till the final revelation, 
 what they have done for the spiritual welfare of this church 
 and people. Though most of them are dead, they speak for the 
 good of Zion and the glory of God. 
 
 In respect to the Greenfield Sunday School, I find no records, 
 but the school was first organized near the close of the minis- 
 try of Mr. Belden, and was under his superintendence ; after 
 him Mrs. Eunice Wakeman, wife of Abel Wakeman, then 
 their son, Abel Wakeman, had much to do in the care and 
 superintendence of the Sunday school. After them Eev. Mr. 
 Dey and his wife had the superintendence of the school. 
 
 Among the superintendents since have been Governor Gideon 
 Tomlinsou, Eev. John Freeman, Dr. Oliver Bronson, Deacon 
 Seth Jennings, Deacon John Banks, superintendent for seven- 
 teen years; Deacon K. B. Hill, for six years; JMr. N. W^. Ogden, 
 for five years; Mr. D wight Banks is superintendent the present 
 year. Under the wise superintendence of such men, the Sab- 
 bath School has flourished and been a nursery of piety to the 
 Church. 
 
 On this account the members of Christ's spiritual household 
 here, " should nourish and cherish it, even as the Lord the 
 Church." 
 
 On I^fovember 28th, 1809, a Mission Sunday School was 
 organized in Fairfield W^oods, and Deacon Joseph Donaldson 
 was chosen superintendent. For three years the Mission Sun. 
 day School was held in a private house. But in the summer 
 of 1872 a chapel, now called Hope Chapel, was built by contri- 
 butions of the members of Fairfield and Greenfield churches. 
 
38 
 
 and dedicated December lOtli, 1872 — E^v. Dr. Eaukiu perform- 
 ing the dedication services. The Mission Sunday School com- 
 menced with thirteen scholars and five teachers, and has i^ros- 
 X^ered so much under Deacon Donaldson and the associate 
 teachers, that the school had an average membership of fifty 
 j)ersous the last year. 
 
 If my limits would allow and time permit, I might speak of 
 some of Greenfield's most distinguished citizens ; of Gideon 
 Tomlinson, Esq., who was nine years member of the United 
 States House of Eepresentatives, six years member of the 
 United States Senate, and four years Governor of Connecticut, 
 and all these offices he honored. Also I might speak of Walter 
 Bradley, Esq., who was an influential citizen and United States 
 custom house officer for several years and had his office on 
 Greenfield Hill. I might speak of Judge David Hill, who was 
 educated for the gospel ministry, but chose to be a citizen and 
 a leading and influential man of the parish and town, where he 
 held important offices and exerted a controlling influence. I 
 might speak of Capt. Abram D. Baldwin, who was a graduate 
 of Yale College, high sheriff" of Fairfield County, and a most 
 worthy, influential and honorable man. I might speak of Dr. 
 Eufus Blakeman, who was a most useful physician and Judge 
 of Probate Coiu-t for many years in Eairfield. 
 
 I might siDeak of Ephraim ISTichols as a soldier of the American 
 Eevolution, who aided by his patriotism in securing the freedom 
 and independence of the United States, and died in Greenfield 
 at the advanced age of ninety-five years. Also I might speak 
 of his son, the Eev. Samuel Nichols, who graduated at Yale 
 College, and was for many years the successful rector of St. 
 Matthew's Church, Bedford, IST. Y., from whence he returned to 
 his native town, where he lives in a happy and ripe old age, 
 being, with one exception, the oldest man in the parish. 
 
 The oldest man in Greenfield is Mr. Samuel Wilson (gun- 
 smith as he has been called), being ninety-two years old, and 
 the only person I can find who remembers seeing and hearing 
 Dr. D wight preach. 
 
 If time would allow I could speak of Hon. Abram Baldwin, 
 who was a most distinguished lawyer, and chosen, on account of 
 his great learning and ability. Senator of the United States 
 from Connecticut. The following inscription I find on his 
 tombstone in the graveyard on Greenfield Hill : " Abram Bald- 
 
39 
 
 win lies buried at Washington. His memory needs no marble. 
 His country is his monument, her Constitution his greatest 
 work." He helped to form the Constitution of the United 
 States, and died while Senator, on the 4th of March, 1807, 
 ' aged fifty-two years. 
 
 But time will not allow me to enumerate anymore of the 
 honorable men of Greenfield. Still I must mention the names 
 of those who have served as clerks of the Society and furnished 
 most of the important facts in this historical discourse ; such men 
 as Thomas Hill, Moses Diamond, Jr. ; Gershom Banks, Samuel 
 Bradley, Jr. ; Hezekiah Bradley, Aaron B. Bradley, Gershom 
 Wakeman, Moses G. Betts, Samuel Betts, T. M. Banks, Wm. 
 Bradley and Joseph Betts. I must also mention some of the 
 many men in the learned professions who have been phy- 
 sicians, lawyers, and ministers of the gospel. The following 
 physicians have been citizens of Greenfield : Dr. John Hyde, 
 Elijihalet Hull, David Eogers, Aaron B. Bradley, Daniel 
 Wiggins, Hosea Hulbert, Wm. B. Nash, John B. Paterson, 
 Geo. Dyer, Eufus Blakeman, James B. Kissam and Martin V. 
 Dunham. The following were natives of Greenfield, who be- 
 came physicians and practised in various i^laces : Doctors 
 Thomas Bradley, Wm. Wheeler, Ebenezer B. Belden, Nathan 
 Bulkley, John Nichols, David Nash, Nathaniel H. Freeman, 
 Geo. B. Banks, Moses Wakeman, Eansom Lyon, Wm. R. Blake- 
 man, Nathan Wheeler and George Nichols. 
 
 Of the lawyers who have been citizens or natives of Green- 
 field we might mention Hon. John Banks, Jehu Burr, Gideon 
 Tomlinson, Abram Baldwin, Thos. B. Wakeman, Daniel Wake- 
 man, Burr Wakeman, Thomas B. Osborn, Thomas Eobinson, 
 Geo. B. Kissam, Geo. B. Murray, Effingham H. Nichols, John 
 H. Bradley, Abram Wakeman, Edward B. Sturges and Frank 
 C. Sturges. 
 
 Of those who have been natives of Greenfield and clergymen 
 we can name Revs. Aaron Burr, D. D. ; Jonathan Law Pome- 
 roy, Sereno Edwards Dwight, D. D., President of Hamilton 
 College ; Wm. Theodore Dwight, D. D. ; Daniel Banks, Samuel 
 Nichols, David F. Banks, Geo. W, Nichols, Geo. W. Banks and 
 Marcus Burr. 
 
 Most of these men in the learned isrofessions of medicine, 
 law and divinity, were graduates of colleges, and a large num- 
 ber of Yale College, who have honored that institution of learn- 
 ing, as well as the place that gave them birth. 
 
40 
 
 We have uo^v given 5011 a brief bistorical compeudiuin of 
 events pertaiuiug to the Church and Society for the past 150 
 years, but have not time to alhide to the churches of our own 
 and other denominations that have been organized within the 
 limits of the original town of Fairfield. The Fairfield Church 
 was organized in 1G50 ; Green's Farms Church, 1715 ; Trinity 
 Church, Fairfield, 1725 : Baptist Church, Strafield, 1757 : 
 Northfield Church, Weston, 1757 ; Easton Cong. Church, 1763 ; 
 Westport Cong. Church, 1832 ; Southport Cong. Church, 1843 : 
 Black Eock Church, 1849; Methodist Church, Flat Rock, 
 Easton, 1789 ; the West street Methodist Church, Easton, 
 December 12th, 1843 ; Methodist Church, Westport, 1851 ; 
 Methodist Church, Southport, 1810. 
 
 But, leaving these, I must close with some brief reflections. 
 
 From the history of Greenfield Church and Society- we should 
 learn how much we are indebted to a virtuous and God-fearing 
 ancestry. They were of the good old Puritan stock, and planted 
 deep in the soil of New England our intellectual, social and re- 
 ligious institutions. Our Church i)rivileges, our schools of 
 learning, our good government, our material advancement, our 
 growth in arts and sciences as well as our happy homes, are 
 the inheritance received from our ancestors. 
 
 In view of what they did for us and our children, we should 
 keep them in everlasting remembrance. 
 
 I have felt this as I have conversed with the few intelligent 
 and aged fathers and mothers who have told me of what Aour 
 noble ancestors did in their day and generation. Surely we 
 ought to venerate the names and the characters of those who 
 have done great things for us Avhereof we are glad, and for 
 whom we should praise the Lord. 
 
 Again, from the history of Greenfield Church we learn of 
 God's preserving care and of his faithfulness to his people. 
 Though in the past 150 years this church has passed through 
 great changes, trials and tribulations, yet Zion lives here, be- 
 cause she is engraved upon the palm of God's hand, and her 
 walls are ever before him. 
 
 When the prophets, the ofiflce bearers, the fathers and moth- 
 ers in Israel have put off their mortal armor and gone home to 
 their reward, the Great Head of the Church has raised up others 
 to fill their places, and to lab or and pray for the spiritual wel- 
 fare of Zion and for the salvation of the people. In the exist- 
 
41 
 
 ence, growth and present prosperity of the church do we not 
 behokl God's faithfulness, and his preserving care to his cove- 
 nanted chiklren from the beginning until now ? 
 
 Finally, should we not, as members of this church of Christ, 
 be aroused, in view of the inheritance we have received from 
 our fathers, to do with our might the work to which we are 
 called? Should not the past generation who have dwelt on 
 these hill and in these vales, who have done so much for their 
 country and church, arouse us to heroic and godlike action for 
 the good of man and the glory of God ? Surely the past gene- 
 ration of your noble ancestors, your own fathers and mothers, 
 grandfathers and grandmothers, do rise up to-day and address 
 you in an audible language and call upon you in the name of 
 your Lord and Master, and urge yon, from a regard to them, 
 and to your temjioral and eternal welfare, to live for God and 
 for the highest good of the State, the nation and the world. 
 
 Do this, friends and parishioners, and act nobly and worthy 
 of the State, the town and the nation that is your birthright ; 
 then some future historian, who shall write the historical dis- 
 course for the two hundredth anniversary, fifty years hence, 
 will have something to tell of your toils, sacrifices and tri- 
 umphs in behalf of this church and for the temporal w^elfare 
 of this society. Nay, more, beloved ; do your duty, your whole 
 duty to God, to the church, to society and to your State and 
 country ; then future generations will rise up and call you 
 blessed. 
 
 In fine, live for God and for the good of humanity ; then you 
 will individually accomplish the chief end of man and pass 
 safely through the final ordeal, so that the golden gate of the 
 celestial city will swing wide open as you enter triumphantly, 
 to be greeted by those who have gone before to the promised 
 land. Thus, through a Eedeemer's grace " An entrance shall 
 be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting king- 
 dom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." So may it be, be- 
 loved friends, through the grace of our Divine Immanuel, who 
 is " the same yesterday, to-day and forever." 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 Appendix A. 
 
 The facts in this discourse I have chiefly obtained from the- 
 Connecticut Archives, from the records of Greenfield Ecclesi- 
 astical Society, from the historical discourses of Eev. B. J. 
 Eelyea and Kev. Dr. Rankin, and from Ebenezer B. Adams,. 
 Esq., and others. 
 
 Appendix B. 
 
 The following j)ersons were summoned May 24th, 1776 : 
 
 Lieut. Ebenezer Banks, Jr., 
 Ger shorn Banks, Jr., 
 Samuel Smith, 
 Daniel Gershom, 
 John Sherwood, Jr., 
 Elisha Alvord, 
 John Murwin, Jr., 
 
 John Perry, 
 Moses Hill, 
 Mordecai Murwin, 
 Eliphalet Banks, 
 David Banks, Jr., 
 Ephraim Xichols, Jr., 
 Josiah Beardsley. 
 
 3Iay 2Qth, 177G. 
 
 Lieut. Lewis Goodsell, 
 Constable David Down, 
 Joseph Banks, 
 Benjamin Smith, Jr., 
 John Hubbel, Jr., 
 John Down, 
 
 ISTethemiah Gray, 
 Burr Jennings, 
 Jesse Gould, 
 Nathan Gould, Jr., 
 Jesse Burr, 
 Xehemiah Banks, Jr., 
 
 Ezekiel Oysterbanks. 
 And so men were summoned, from night to night, as the 
 record shows. 
 
 Appendix C. 
 
 Thomas Hill, 
 John Bartram, 
 David Williams, 
 Benjamin Gibbard, 
 John Burr, 
 Stephen Burr, 
 Benjamin Franklin, 
 Joseph Darling, 
 
 John Bradley, 
 Joseph Barlow, 
 Joseph Bradley, 
 Samuel Wackman, 
 Joseph Wheler, 
 Ebenezer Lion, 
 Ignatius Xickeuls, 
 William Hill, 
 
43 
 
 Obadiah Gilburd, 
 Joseph Eowlaud, 
 Francis Bradley, 
 George Hall, 
 Samuel Lyon, 
 John Lion, 
 Samuel Lion, 
 Moses Dimon, 
 John Gibbard, 
 Samuel Whitlock, 
 Samuel Bradley, 
 Jacob Gray, 
 Samuel Thorp, 
 John Smith, 
 John Smith, 
 John Smith, 
 Benjamin Lion, 
 Samuel Davis, 
 Thomas Harvey, 
 Joseph Osband, 
 Benjamin Darling, 
 Thomas Turney, 
 Daniel Adams, 
 Elijah Crain, 
 Ebenezer Hull, 
 Abraham Adams, 
 Daniel Burr, 
 
 Joseph Burr, 
 Peter Burr, 
 Daniel Burr, 
 Misemus Gold, 
 Josiah Gilbert, 
 Benjamin Sherwood, 
 Benjamin Sherwood, 
 Joseph Sherwood, 
 Joseph Ogden, 
 Xathaniel Hull, 
 William Mallory, 
 Daniel Williams, 
 Daniel Bulkly, 
 Benjamin Banks, 
 Daniel Bradley, 
 Peter Sturges, 
 Peter Smith, 
 Israel Eoulau, 
 Theophilus Hull, 
 Moses Ward, 
 John Green, 
 John Thorj>, 
 John Hull, 
 Cornelius Hull, 
 Joseph Banks, 
 Jonathan Malory, 
 John Hide. 
 
 Appendix D. 
 
 £ s. 
 
 Gershom Banks had pew No. 1 for 14 15 
 
 Samuel Bradley, No. 2 16 10 
 
 Obediah Hall, No. 3 20 7 
 
 Daniel Sherwood, No. 4 12 2 
 
 Joseph Hill, No. 5 20 7 
 
 Cornelius Hull, No. 6 17 3 
 
 Daniel Sturges, No. 7 10 
 
 Moses Wakeman, No . 8 15 
 
 David Bradley, No. 9 24 
 
 Gershom Hubbel, No. 10 26 12 
 
 Gershom Bulkley, No. 11 23 15 
 
 Jonathan Diamond, No . 12 23 1 
 
 John Jennings (2), No. 13 20 7 
 
 Gershom Bradley, No. 14 20 3 
 
 Reserved for Society, No. 15 
 
 Nehemiah Banks, No. 16 24 
 
 Ebenezer Banks, No. 17 20 10 
 
 Joseph Bradley, Jr., No. 18 27 
 
44 
 
 £ s. 
 
 Joliii Banks, Xo. 19 17 
 
 Samuel Whitney, Xo. 20 15 4 
 
 David Williams, is^o. 21 15 
 
 Benjamin Sherwood, Xo. 22 17 14 
 
 Hezekiah Bradlej, Xo. 23 12 11 
 
 Samuel Bradley, 'jr., No. 24 23 1 
 
 David Banks, :N'o. 25 20 5 
 
 Daniel Bradley, Xo. 26 12 5 
 
 Appendix E. 
 
 Hear what Eev. Dr. Edwards says in praise of your fore- 
 fathers. " Men, brethren and fathers, we congratulate you on 
 the events of this day. You are now to have a minister set over 
 you in the order of the gospel. We congratulate you on your 
 general and firm union in this aifair ; on your apparent just 
 sense of the worth and importance of the stated ministration of 
 the divine word and ordinances among you ; on your readiness 
 to support the ministry, and your willingness to spend of your 
 worldly substance for this end. By your former punctuality in 
 fulfilling your ministerial contracts, it appears you are not only 
 forward to say but also to do. It is common for the preacher 
 on such occasions as the present to press the duty of support- 
 ing the ministry ; but your liberal engagements in the present 
 instance, and your former punctuality in fulfilling your minis- 
 terial engagements, forbid me to say a word on that head. 
 Only pursue the same line of conduct which you have hitherto 
 pursued, and you will acquire honor to yourselves, will be ex- 
 amples to others, and will put it out of the power of your minis- 
 ter to plead necessity for applying himself to secular business, 
 in the neglect of his ministerial work." 
 
 Appendix F. 
 
 " The Committee presented the votes of the Society, signify- 
 ing their unwillingness that the pastoral relation between Dr. 
 Dwight and them should be dissolved. But Consociation hav- 
 ing taken into serious consideration the importance of the call 
 of Dr. Dwight to the presidency of Yale College, and maturely 
 weighed the circumstances, are of the opinion that his election 
 is a sufficient reason for him to desire a separation from his 
 people, and that it is their duty to consent to it. And having 
 made this declaration, we now think it proper that Dr. Dwight 
 should declare what are his views of duty in the case. Dr. 
 Dwight appeared and declared that he conceived it to be his 
 duty to accept of his appointment. Whereupon (the Committee 
 of the Society' declining to make any further opposition to Dr. 
 
45 
 
 Dwiglit's dismission aucl withdrawing') the Council proceeded 
 to the following" vote : ' That Dr. Dwight be dismissed from bis 
 pastoral charge of the Church and Society of Greenfield, and 
 he is hereby accordingly dismissed. When the Consociation 
 reflect upon the great harmony and union which has ever sub- 
 sisted between Dr. Dwight and the Church and Society of 
 Greenfield, from his first settlement among them as their min- 
 ister, it is with great pain that they have dissolved a relation 
 cemented by so many years of love and usefulness. But view- 
 ing the office of President of an University as one of the most 
 important to the interests of society and religion, principles of 
 benevolence which dictate that a less good should give way to 
 a greater, constrained the Consociation to think it the duty of 
 Dr. Dwight and his people, however dear to each other, to con- 
 sent to a separation ; wishing them both grace, mercy and 
 peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is 
 the sincere prayer of the Consociation that the Church and 
 Society of Greenfield may be kept in the same union that hath 
 hitherto prevailed among them, and soon resettle again in the 
 order of the gospel an able and accejitable minister ; and that 
 Dr. Dwight may be made an extensive blessing to society, in 
 training up youth for Church and State. 
 
 " ' The above and foregoing voted as the doings of this 
 Council. 
 
 '' ' Test, JOHN NOTES, Scribe. 
 
 " ' Greenfield, August 11th, 1795.'" 
 
 Appendix G. 
 
 Invitation given to Eev. Samuel Blatchford, D. D. " At a 
 parish meeting April 1st, 1796, voted to hir6 Mr. Blatchford 
 for one year. Voted to give him one hundred and sixty pounds 
 for his services the said year. Voted AValter Bradley, Esq., 
 Daniel Rogers, Elisha and Samuel Bradley, Esq., to make the 
 proposals to Mr. Blatchford. Voted to give $20 to defray the 
 charge of moving Mr. Blatchford to Greenfield. 
 
 HEZEKIAH BRADLEY, 
 
 Parish Clerk.^^ 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 IN COJIMEJIOEATION OF 
 
 Rev. Timothy D wight, D. D., LL. D., 
 
 (Fourth Pcistor of the Church at Greenjield Hill, and afterivards President of Yale CoUegt. 
 
 BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT, 
 
 PROrESSOB IN YALE THEOLOGICAL SEMINAKY. 
 
 On the 19th of May, 1783, the people of this parish, by a 
 unanimous vote, extended au invitation to a young man resid- 
 ing in Northampton, Mass., to become their pastor. According 
 to the custom of the period, he had preached here for a number 
 of Sabbaths, and had spent so much time with the people as to 
 give them sufficient knowledge of his character and gifts. 
 They had, doubtless, heard favorably of him, also, from the col- 
 lege where he had been employed as a tutor for six years, and 
 where he had gained many friends and a high reputation. 
 They looked forward, in all probability, in case of his accept- 
 ance of their call, to a long-continued ministry on his part 
 among them, and to his living and dying in their community. 
 We can realize something of the hopes and fears with which 
 they awaited his decision, for, in these days as well as those, 
 the people of a parish are always thus deeply interested when 
 they are brought to a hearty unanimity in the choice of a min- 
 ister. He gave them his answer, which was a favorable one, 
 on the 20th of July following. The letter containing his reply 
 is found in the records of the church, and is in these words : 
 " I have considered the unanimous invitation given me by the 
 church and congregation of Greenfield to settle with them in 
 the gospel ministry, and the i)roposal they have made me for 
 my support in that office. In answer to this invitation, I beg 
 leave to observe that the unanimity and friendliness of the call 
 are so agreeable, and the proposals so handsome, that I esteem 
 
47 
 
 it my duty to accept of them, and do hereby give my cheerful 
 consent to settle with this church and people on the plan and 
 according to the principles I have uniformly delivered to you, 
 particularly in two sermous, the one from Acts, xx. 26th and 
 27th, and the other from the first to the Corinthians, vii. 14th,* 
 and I desire your constant prayers to Almighty God that I may 
 be a blessing to you." On the 5th of November in the same 
 year he was ordained, the Consociation of the neighboring 
 churches taking part in the work, and giving him the right 
 hand of fellowship. The circumstances leading to the estab- 
 lishment of this pastoral relation, and the solemn service which 
 inaugurated it, were similar to those which had often occurred 
 before that time, and have been often repeated since in the 
 towns of New England. But the minister, who on this day 
 began here the real work of his life, was destined to be one of 
 the leading men of his age, and to be remembered in after times 
 for his power and influence. And for this reason it is that on 
 this occasion, when we are met to celebrate the comj)letion of a 
 century and a half of the history of this church, it has been 
 regarded as fitting that this one of the long line of its pastors 
 should be specially commemorated. 
 
 The young man of whom I have spoken was Timothy Dwight. 
 Born in the year 1752, he was now 31 years of age. He had 
 graduated at Yale College with high honor fourteen years be- 
 fore, in 1769, and after teaching, during the interval, in the 
 grammar school in New Haveu, had been appointed tutor in 
 the college in 1771. Here he continued until 1777. On the 
 3d of March, in this last named year, he was married at the 
 house of Pierrepont Edwards, Esq., of New Haven, to Miss 
 Mary Woolsey, daughter of Benjamin Woolsey, of Dosoris, 
 L. I., and on the 4th of September following he was commis- 
 sioned as a chaplain in the army of the Eevolution. He re- 
 mained in this office until March, 1779, when, in consequence of 
 the tidings of his father's death in a remote part of the country, 
 he offered his resignation, and returned to his home in North- 
 ampton to aid his mother, who had been left with limited means 
 
 * Acts XX. 26, 21. — "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure 
 from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the coun- 
 sel of God." 1st Corinthians, vii. 14. — "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified 
 by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband : else were 
 your children unclean, but now are they holy." 
 
48 
 
 and with a large family of children, of whom he was the eldest. 
 While residing- in Northampton he had almost constantly sup- 
 plied vacant pulpits in the neighborhood, and both in this way 
 and through his duties as a chaplain, he had already had con- 
 siderable experience as a preacher. He had, indeed, been in- 
 vited to take the pastoral office in Oharlestown and in Beverly^ 
 Mass., and, in connection with the latter of the two invitations, 
 it is said that he was promised a professorship in Harvard Col- 
 lege. But, in consequence of the importance of his presence and 
 assistance at home, he had declined these offers. The call from 
 this parish came at a time when he could more easily be spared,, 
 and accordingly, having decided to accept it, he came here with 
 his family, consisting at that time of his wife and two young-^ 
 children, to enter upon his first, and, as it afterwards proved t 
 his only pastorate. 
 
 The date of his installation was two mouths after the final 
 and definitive treaty of i)eace was signed, by which the inde- 
 pendence of the United States was acknowledged by Great 
 Britain, and two years after the last great battle of the Eevo- 
 lutionary war. Only four years before, the adjoining villages of 
 Fairfield and Green's Farms had been burned by the British 
 troops, and even now they had scarcely recovered their old 
 state after this devastation. This parish had a population 
 of 1,000 or 1,100 souls, scattered over a tract of country of 
 about fifteen square miles in extent, with a small central vil- 
 lage of some fifteen houses in the immediate neighborhood of 
 the church. It was, as he describes it himself, one of the small- 
 est parishes in Connecticut in territorial extent, but, consider- 
 ing this fact, one of the most populous. The peoiDle were al- 
 most exclusively farmers. Possessed of an excellent soil and in 
 the midst of delightful scenery, they passed their lives in the 
 simple, yet honorable way which characterized our ]S^ew Eng- 
 land fathers. We can easily picture to ourselves the intelligent 
 and godly people as they assembled on that November day in 
 their plain meeting house, which many of the older persons in 
 this audience will remember, to welcome their new pastor to hi& 
 new office. 
 
 The sermon delivered on the occasion was by the Eev. Dr. 
 Jonathan Edwards, of the Whitehaven Church in New Haven, 
 an uncle of the pastor elect, and the second son of the cele- 
 brated President Edwards. Its subject was, " The Manifesta- 
 
49 
 
 tiou of the Truth the Eud of Preaching." It was based upon 
 the text fouud in Second Corinthians, iv. 2*. Few in this audi- 
 ence, probably, would be interested in a perusal of this ser- 
 mon, but in the portion of it which contains the more special 
 address to the iDastor, occurs a passage which shows the char- 
 acter both of the speaker and of him to whom the words were 
 spoken. In urging upon the new pastor the duty of being 
 faithful in his researches after truth, the preacher said : " Im- 
 provement is by no means at an end ; and those men err ex- 
 ceedingly who lament that they live in this late period of the 
 world, wherein improvement and science have been anticipated, 
 and there is no room left for further discoveries. There is 
 abundant room for discovery and improvement in every science, 
 and especially in theology." When we remember that this in- 
 stallation service took place not only before the first steamboat 
 floated on the waters of the Hudson, but before the idea even 
 of propelling vessels by steam had occurred to Fitch or to 
 Fulton ; when we remember that it was after the lifetime both 
 of the preacher and of the young pastor had ended, that the 
 first railway was constructed, and Avithin the lifetime of their 
 grandchildren that the electric telegraph was invented ; when 
 we remember that the wonderful development of modern 
 science in our land, in all its branches, had its beginning years 
 later than this, we cannot but smile at the thought of those who 
 were bewailing the fact of their li\ing only after all that was 
 to be discovered had already been made known. If those 
 worthy individuals could but return for the day, and come with 
 us who have come from other towns and cities to this place this 
 morning, and if they could go with us as we return to our 
 homes, and see the things which they never dreamed of having 
 become the familiar and essential accompaniments of our daily 
 life, how strange would their old lamentations appear ! If those 
 among them who lived on Greenfield Hill could stand here 
 again, and, while they were looking out upon the same beauti- 
 ful prospect with which they were once familiar, could know the 
 altered mode of life and the thousand iieculiar comforts of these 
 modern days, they would, indeed, feel that the old world had 
 entered into a new existence. But these two men — the elder 
 
 * 2d Cor. iv. 2. " But having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty ; not walk- 
 ing in craftiness nor haudUng the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of 
 the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 and the younger alike — were not among this number. They 
 believed in the future. They hoped for and prophesied a better 
 and larger and higher life for their children's children than 
 tliey knew themselves. And even in theology — while they did 
 not doubt that the truth of God was ever the same — they 
 believed that devout and earnest men would be continually 
 making new discoveries, and would be bringing their human 
 statements nearer and nearer to the divine standard. 
 
 The people of this parish are to be commended for the pro- 
 vision which they made for the support of the new jmstor and 
 his family, for, though the sum may seem small in these days — 
 $500, together with a parish lot of six acres and twenty cords 
 of wood annually (there being a provision of $1,000 for " settle- 
 ment," as it was called) — the salary is said to have been the 
 largest given in the State at that time. Indeed, more than 
 thirty years afterwards, when writing of the condition of the 
 ministry in this respect, at a time when the price of all the 
 means of subsistence had been doubled, this pastor himself 
 says : " The average salary of ministers in Connecticut, inclu- 
 ding all the perquisites annexed to it, does not, I believe, ex- 
 ceed four hundred dollars. There are, perhaps, from six to ten 
 within two hundred and fifty dollars. I know of but one which 
 amounts to eleven hundred dollars." Doubtless the salary- 
 was made as large as possible, because the reputation of the 
 young man whom they called was already so high, and the 
 prospects for his future were so flattering. But the people, if 
 they liad not been of liberal minds and in perfect harmony 
 both with one another and with him, would not have surpassed 
 in their pecuniary offers even the churches of larger and more 
 central towns. 
 
 With such unanimity and such jirovision for his support on 
 the part of the parish, Mr. Dwight began his work here. He 
 had now fully entered on the profession to which he had conse- 
 crated his life, and for which he had given up all the attrac- 
 tions of the practice of law and of the political sphere, thougli 
 these were very great in his case, and though many of his 
 friends, who saw a brilliant career before him if he did so, had 
 urged him strongly to yield to their influence. The life of a 
 village pastor, at all times, is one without much of incident that 
 is interesting to the world at large or to the generations that fol- 
 low. Useful, and bearing in its work upon tke Christian life of 
 
51 
 
 many souls, it is hidden from the public gaze, and when we try 
 to trace out its history, we find that the memory of its facts has 
 paEssed away with the period to which it belonged. For some 
 reason — probably because of the scantiness of the records which 
 he made, owing to the permanent weakness of his eyes — the 
 recorded incidents of this pastor's career in this place are unu- 
 sually few in number. We know, however, that in the course 
 of the years which he spent in Greenfield, he conceived the 
 plan of that system of theology which he afterwards carried out 
 in his ministry in Yale College, and that he preached the 
 greater part if not all of these discourses, in their earliest form, 
 to the people here. They were delivered from brief notes, his 
 custom being not to speak from a carefully written manuscript, 
 but only from a few leading thoughts committed to paper, and 
 with a reliance upon the inspiration of the hour for the language 
 which he should employ. According to the record of an aged 
 person connected with this church, who died a few years since, 
 these sermons or lectures were given on Wednesday evenings ; 
 but if they were, our fathers must have been more ready for 
 instruction in doctrinal theology, in their weekly meetings, than 
 their descendants are. In those days, however, theological dis- 
 cussion was very widesjiread in the community. The New Eng- 
 land mind, we may say, became what it was because all men, 
 high and low, thought both on politics and theology — the two 
 subjects of deepest interest connected with the problems of this 
 life and the life to come. 
 
 It is stated that Mr. Dwight prepared and preached nearly 
 one thousand sermons during the period of his settlement here ; 
 but among them these were the ones that in their subsequent 
 and more perfect form were destined to give him his extended 
 fame. Few churches certainly, even in the larger cities of the 
 country, had the opportunity to listen to such eloquent and 
 powerful presentations of the gospel truths as those which were 
 heard from the pulpit of this church during the twelve years 
 of that pastorate. " The people of the neighboring towns," it 
 is said, " often resorted to Greenfield to hear his discourses ; and 
 an intimation that he was to preach in any particular place 
 rarely failed to attract a full audience." We know, also, that 
 as a Christian teacher he built up the church both in graces 
 and in numbers, keeping them in the happy harmony which 
 had been so conspicuous as they received him at the first, until 
 
52 
 
 the very latest period of his residence with them, and gathering 
 into the fellowship of believers a goodly company, whose reli- 
 gious life was first awakened by his influence. We know, still 
 further, that he gave a new character and life to the village. 
 By reason of his wide and continually widening acquaintance 
 with literary and distinguished men, and his abounding hosi)i- 
 tality, Greenfield became, as one of his sons has said, " the re- 
 sort of learning, of talents, of refinement and of i3iety." " His 
 doors were ever open," says the same person, " to welcome the 
 stranger as well as the friend ;" and he adds, " we believe the 
 instances to be rare in which a single individual has been the 
 centre of such extensive attraction to men of superior character, 
 or so entirely altered the aspect of society around him." It is 
 not strange, then, that the people here were proud of having 
 him among them, and felt honored by the presence of a man 
 whose fame — which, as they saw, must constantly grow 
 greater — would draw the thoughts of many in distant regions 
 to the ijlace where he lived. The charm of his society and 
 conversation, also — the memory of which has come to our own 
 days through the testimony of all who knew him — must 
 have rendered life in this beautiful village a richer and more 
 beautiful thing than it had ever been before. Every man and 
 woman— every child, even — must have delighted in meeting 
 him, for, with an extraordinary faculty of entering into the ex- 
 perience and i^ursuits of all classes and ages, he had always the 
 kindliest and most instructive word to suit the wants of all. 
 Awake to everything that was true and good, he was beyond 
 all question here, as, indeed, he was everywhere, a power in 
 the community which every one was glad to recognize and 
 quick to feel. 
 
 A prominent thing in his history here, and, at the same time, 
 a thing which affected and influenced the parish greatly, was 
 the school which he established soon after the beginning of his 
 pastorate. Ever since the years in which, with very marked 
 success, he had held the tutorship in Yale College, his thoughts 
 and interests had centered largely in the work of teaching. In 
 Northami^tou, after retiring from the army, he had carried on a 
 day school in addition to his other occupations, in which he was 
 assisted by Joel Barlow, who was afterwards the distinguished 
 politician, and who was already gaining some reputation as a 
 poet. We may suppose, therefore, that it was in consequence 
 
53 
 
 of his love for the work of teaching, as well as in order to in- 
 crease his means of support, that he early established here 
 the school which soon became so celebrated throughout the 
 country. It is stated that more than a thousand pupils were 
 educated in this school. They came from all parts of the land, 
 and some of them, in later years, attained high stations in ci^il 
 life. Among these were Henry Baldwin, who was one of the 
 Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Joel 
 E. Poinsett of South Carolina, who became Secretary of War 
 during the administration of President Van Buren. It is to be 
 regretted that no complete list of these pupils has been pre- 
 served, but enough is known to make it manifest that a quicken- 
 ing life was infused into the village by the existence of the 
 school and the ingathering here of so manj- intelligent young 
 people. Nor should we fail to state that the school was de- 
 signed for both sexes, and that, at one time at least, it was de- 
 clared — no doubt with great confidence that no one in any other 
 place would venture to contradict the statement or maintain 
 the opposite — that Dr. Dwight's class of young ladies included 
 the most beautiful ever assembled in a class together. Among 
 these were three daughters of Mrs. Burr, of Fairfield, worthy 
 daughters of a mother whom Dr. D wight himself describes as 
 " adorned with all the qualities which give distinction to her 
 sex, and as possessing fine accomplishments and a dignity of 
 character scarcely rivalled." When we think of these young- 
 men and maidens rambling and playing in company, and talk- 
 ing together of the joyous and hopeful things of life, we cannot 
 be surprised that the record of the aged member of this church, 
 to which I have already referred, should saj', in view of it all, 
 " Those were lively times in Greenfield." He was, perchance, 
 recalling in his extreme old age, with something of fond regret, 
 the delightful memories of the far distant days of his own 
 youth, and thinking, as we all do, when the years are bearing 
 us onward towards the end, of the brave hearts and beautiful 
 souls that we once knew and loved, while they and we were 
 alike full of our early enthusiasm. Certain it is that the 
 presence of such a company, representing the best families in 
 the land, and sent hither for instruction and discipline prepara- 
 tory to their future life, must have changed the character of 
 the place in no ordinary degree. From a quiet parish, with the 
 stillness of the farmer's work, it became full of merry voices and 
 
54 
 
 heattlifiil with tlie inflaeuces of Mgher educatioa. The school 
 was not limited in its aim and plan to the studies introductory 
 to the collegiate course, but young men came even from the 
 classes in Tale College, and placed themselves voluntarily 
 under the charge of so eminent a teacher. 
 
 It is especially noticeable that Dr. D wight enlarged the 
 sphere of instruction for his female pupils, introducing them to 
 the kno'^'ledge of higher branches in literature and learning 
 than had been opened to them in the earlier history of the 
 country. He believed in the nobleness of women, not only as 
 moral but as intellectual beings. He devoted himself to their 
 higher cultivation with as much ardor and energy as he ever 
 gave to that of young men. It is not the least of the glories of 
 his life that he was a leader in this work, and was in advance 
 of his age in regard to it as truly as he was in any sphere of his 
 efforts. He greatly enjoyed the society of refined and intelli- 
 gent women, respecting and honoring them for what they were, 
 and, with readiness and gladness, he contributed from the rich 
 stores of his own learning and thought to make their daughters 
 still more intelligent and refined than themselves. 
 
 So he labored, and such was the result which he accom- 
 plished in this place. But it was not possible that such a man 
 should be limited in his power and influence to his own imme- 
 diate field of labor. He rapidly became one of the most i3rom- 
 inent among the ministers of the State, and was knoAvn and re- 
 spected by the clergy of other States and other denominations. 
 In the year 1787 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity by the College of J^Tew Jersey, at Princeton. This 
 mark of distinction was less common and of greater A^alue at 
 that period than it is in these more recent times. In his case it 
 was bestowed at an unusually early age, for he had only entered 
 upon his thirty-sixth year. The record of his history, however, 
 shows us, in all its parts, that he had not only become more 
 widely known, but had accomi^lished greater results, before he 
 reached the middle point of human life, than even men of ability 
 and eminence often do. I may add here, in passing, that a 
 number of years afterwards he received the degree of Doctor 
 of Laws from Harvard College, and that thus he was recognized 
 as worthy of special distinction by the two leading institutions 
 of learning in the country, besides the one where he had been 
 educated. 
 
55 
 
 By reason of the promineuce which he had gahied he was 
 very influential in the religious and ecclesiastical movements of 
 the day. One amoug these, in which he had a leading part 
 while he was still residing here, was the union of the Presby- 
 terian and Congregational churches according to a plan by which 
 the Western States were left open to the former body alone. 
 Without entering on the discussion of this subject here, and 
 without meaning to assert that he could certainly have foreseen 
 what followed in the succeeding half or three quarters of a cen- 
 tury, I may be permitted to imj that, in my judgment, his posi- 
 tion in this matter was a mistaken one, and that the plan which 
 he favored was a plan by which the grand principles of Congre- 
 gational freedom were wholly surrendered to a centralized 
 ecclesiastical organization everywhere outside of the narrow 
 limits of Xew England. The children and grandchildren have 
 been wiser than the fathers were in this regard, and the council 
 of 1852, whose presiding officer, it may be remarked, was his 
 own son, D;r. Wrn. T. Dwight, finally placed Congregationalism 
 at the West on the same firm foundation which Presbyterianism 
 had gained so long before. 
 
 During his life in Greenfield Dr. Dwight published both of 
 the two longer poems which are known as connected with his 
 name. One of them was written here. The " Conquest of 
 Canaan" had been originally composed before he was twenty- 
 three years of age, having been begun even when he was only 
 nineteen. According to the statement of his son, in his biogra- 
 phy, "proposals for printing this poem were issued in 1775, and 
 upwards of 3,000 subscribers procured ; but the circumstances 
 of the country, just then commencing the war of Independence, 
 which lasted till 1783, postponed its i^ublication." It was finally 
 IDrinted in 1785. Possibly the date of its appearance before the 
 public has given the impression that this poem was a work of 
 his maturer life, and as such has subjected it to criticism. Dr. 
 Dwight was not a poet of a high order, certainly — perhaps, as 
 some one has said, "he was only almost a poet, but not quite." 
 But we must not forget that he and his contemporaries are not 
 to be judged by the standard of to-day. When we remember 
 that poetry had scarcely seen its earliest beginnings in this 
 country at that time, and that the poems of Percival, who wrote 
 more than forty years afterwards, are clearly not to be meas- 
 ured with the works of our own age; when we remember, also, 
 
56 
 
 that everything in that day was so largely under the demoral- 
 izing influence of the style of Pope, and that modern freedom 
 and individuality were quite unknown ; and when we remem- 
 ber that D wight and his companions wrote in their early years, 
 I think they may fairlj' be regarded as worthy of their due 
 measure of praise for what they attempted and achieved. It is 
 almost as idle and unreasonable to pronounce upon them a con- 
 (lemnatory judgment, because they did not reach the standard 
 of to-day, as it would be to criticise the fathers of modern 
 science in this country, who did so great a work for their own 
 time, in comparison with those who are in possession of all the 
 knowledge and discoveries of these recent years. What was 
 the literature in prose in our nation one hundred years ago, and 
 how long is it since our English cousins were first compelled to 
 acknowledge that a book in general literature, worthy of their 
 reading, had been written in America 1 
 
 The other principal i)oem, to which reference has been made, 
 is entitled " Greenfield Hill." It was written mainly in 1787, 
 and, as its author says, '' was begun with no design of publish- 
 ing it, but with the aim merely to amuse his own mind and to 
 gain a temporary relief from the pressure of melancholy." 
 Hence it was composed only at intervals, and was laid aside 
 '' when other avocations or amusements presented them- 
 selves." As its name would indicate, it is founded upon the 
 scenery and life of the village where he lived, but it is not so 
 closely connected with it as to become in any complete measure 
 descriptive of either. There is less of stateliuess, and more of 
 freedom and variety in the style and metre, than in the Conquest 
 of Canaan, and consequently it is more interesting to a reader 
 at the present time. The idea of the poem was, probably, 
 founded upon that of Goldsmith's Deserted Village. The original 
 design was to imitate the style of different British poets, though 
 this design was not fully carried into execution. It does not 
 become this occasion, nor indeed does the time permit, that I 
 should attempt to criticise this poem, or set forth its merits or 
 demerits. I would, however, that every minister in our ancient 
 Commonwealth had the ability to charm away his melancholy 
 hours with poetry- of his own making, that should be even as 
 sweet, and as truly inspired by the Muses, as that which this 
 book contains. And yet, as one of these ministers, and at the 
 same time a descendant of his own, I have to acknowledge that 
 
57 
 
 — Avliatever may have been Dr. Dwight's claims iu this regard 
 for himself — he had not poetry enough in his constitution to 
 transmit it either in his own family or to the apostolic succes" 
 sion to which he belonged. Though both of his poetical works 
 were republished in England, they, neither of them, ever reached 
 a second edition in that country or in this, and 1 presume it 
 may possibly be the fact that not a single copy of the poem 
 called Greenfield Hill can now be found in the parish of Green 
 field Hill. 
 
 In the midst of these employments, and surrounded by his 
 pupils and his parishioners ; occupying his busier hours with 
 earnest labors for the good of others, and his quieter ones with 
 the most refining and elevating mental work ; with the tender 
 love of an honored wife, and the happy voices of his children, 
 four of whom were given to him here, filling his home and his 
 heart with delight, he moved on iu his unostentatious yet most 
 honorable career for twelve years. The people had come more 
 and more fully, as time advanced, to feel that he had created 
 for himself a si)here from which he could not well be spared, 
 and to believe that he would remain with them always. But, 
 doubtless, in his own mind, he had thought of the day as pro- 
 bably coming when some wider field, limited by the bounds of 
 no single parish, should open to him, and we can scarcely hesi- 
 tate to believe that he had known something of the public feel- 
 ing which, for some years, had been turning towards him as the 
 person who should one day fill the highest office in the College at 
 New Haven. Indeed, even as early as 1777, when, at the age of 
 twenty-five, he was just closing his service as tutor iu the col- 
 lege, the students, it is said, had drawn up a petition that he 
 might be made President — a petition which would have been 
 presented to the corporation had it not been for his own inter- 
 ference. It was natural, therefore, that, as the administration 
 of President Stiles was seen to be drawing towards its close, by 
 reason of his advancing age. Dr. Dwight should be pointed out 
 as the i3robable successor, and that he should himself be cogni- 
 zant, in some degree, of this fact. 
 
 When, accordingly, on the 25th of June, 1795, a few weeks 
 after the death of Dr. Stiles, the corporation of the college 
 assembled and elected him to the presidency, it could not have 
 been a great surprise to his own mind. To his ijarishioners, 
 however, if not altogether a surprise, it was a grievous disap'- 
 
58 
 
 pointmeut of their hopes. It cannot be thought strange that 
 they earnestly opposed his acceptance of the offered office, and 
 that when his own reflection upon the subject led him to call a 
 meeting of the consociation of churches to which he belonged, 
 to advise him respecting his course, they unanimously voted 
 "that the inhabitants of this place are unwilling that he 
 should accept of his appointment to the presidency of 
 Yale College, and take a dismission from the people of his 
 charge." A large committee, consisting of twelve x^ersons, was 
 appointed to represent the Church and Society before the conso- 
 ciation, and to urge their claims as against those of the college. 
 This committee, however, was unsuccessful in its effort, for the 
 consociation, Mithout any dissenting voice, advised the dissolu- 
 tion of the pastoral relation and the removal of Dr. Dwight to 
 the new position. The tradition is, that the people here were 
 so outraged in their feelings by this action, that they would 
 never consent afterwards to hear any minister, who took iiart in 
 this decision, preach in their pulpit. We smile, perhaps, at this 
 course of the fathers and grandfathers so many years ago ', but 
 we look upon the whole matter with the knowledge of the past 
 history, and in the light of to-day, while they saw it only as 
 surrounded by the circumstances then present, and without any 
 possibility of foreseeing what was to come. 
 
 l!^ew Haven, which has now become a city of sixty thousand 
 inhabitants, had, in 1790, only about four hundred more than 
 Fairfield. The latter place has continued nearly' as it then was, 
 and this parish is but little larger, I supi:)ose, than in the year 
 when Dr. Dwight began his ministry here. But how little idea 
 of such a change did the men of that day have, or could they 
 have had ! The college, also, in 1795, had but one hundred and 
 ten students. Though it was of importance to the common- 
 wealth, it was a small institution. The consociation, however — 
 as we of this era, who look back upon his life so long after its 
 ending, clearly see — were in the right, and the people of the 
 parish in the wrong. In communicating to the corporation his 
 acceptance of the position which thej^ offered him. Dr. Dwight 
 used the following language : " Allow me, gentlemen, to say, 
 that few undertakings in human life appear to me to be fraught 
 with more difficulties than this one on which I am now ventur- 
 ing. It is a consolation to reflect that, when faithfully pursued, 
 there are not many which are more beneficial to mankind. The 
 
59 
 
 Most High hath been pleased, in his providence to call me to 
 this employment. I feel myself obliged, though not without 
 great diffidence, to obey the summons." Who can doubt that 
 it was, indeed, the Divine summons, and that his obeying it, as 
 he did, was the undertaking of a work most beneficial to man- 
 kind I 
 
 The population of this parish, at the time of his resignation 
 of the pastorate, i:»robably did not exceed thirteen hundred. The 
 graduates of Yale College, during his administration of twenty- 
 two years, including the three succeeding classes who came, in 
 some measure, under his influence, numbered thirteen hundred 
 and one. But these graduates were all men who were destined, 
 in the future, to take prominent positions in the larger or smaller 
 communities where they should find their homes. Many of 
 them were to have a lasting fame and ijower among mankind. 
 When we look at such names as Moses Stuart, and Lyman 
 Beecher, and Nathaniel W. Taylor, and Eleazar T. Fitch, and 
 Chauncey A. Goodrich, and Asahel Nettleton, in the field of 
 theology and religious effort ; or at those of John C. Calhoun 
 in the sphere of statesmanship, or Samuel F. B. Morse in in- 
 vention, or Benjamin Silliman in science, or Thomas H. Gallau- 
 det in creating a new life for those to whom speech is denied, 
 or James A. Hillhouse, and John Pierpont, and James G. Per- 
 cival in poetry, or Alexander H. Stevens and Edward Delafield 
 in medicine, or Theodore Strong and Alexander M. Fisher m 
 mathematics, or Eoger S. Baldwin and Samuel J. Hitchcock in 
 the law, or James L. Kingsley and Ethan A. Andrews in clas- 
 sical scholarshij), who of us can begin to measure the effect of 
 that influence which a man like Dr. Dwight was able to exert 
 upon the world through the stimulating and elevating power 
 which he imparted to them ? Each of these thirteen hundred 
 graduates would become a means of transmitting his teachings 
 and his inspiration to others, and the circle of his life would 
 thus be widened to reach the most distant places, and even the 
 generations of the future, ^o such power could have been real- 
 ized in this church, or in any other church in the commonwealth 
 or the country. The people of this parish would, almost all of 
 them, have lived and died on the soil here, by the very neces- 
 sity of the case ; but among those thirteen hundred graduates 
 nearly three hundred became ministers of the gospel, some of 
 whom carried its message to remote and heathen lands; nearly 
 
60 
 
 seventy became presidents or professors in colleges or profes- 
 sional schools ; and about one hundred held the offices of high- 
 est executive, legislative or judicial trust in the States or the 
 nation. And all of these men, to their latest years, bore with 
 them, as we have abundant testimony, the grateful recollection 
 of what he had done for them, and the impress of his mind and 
 character upon their own. However widely they differed 
 among themselves, they were all united in their admiration for 
 their teacher, so that Tale College became to every one of them 
 indissolubly connected with his name. It would, indeed, have 
 been a loss of one of the grandest opportunities for a man, and 
 of one of the grandest men for an opportunity, which the history 
 of the country has ever known, had this eminent teacher re- 
 mained in the pastoral charge of any church, and declined the 
 invitation which came to him at this critical moment of his life. 
 On the 8th of September, 1795, Dr. Dwight was formally in- 
 ducted into the office of president, and on the following day he 
 began his public duties by presiding at the exercises of the 
 college commencement. The college was, at that time, just 
 closing the first century of its existence as an institution. It 
 was about to enter not only on a new period, but also, in the 
 highest and most complete sense, on a new era of its history. 
 The trustees had said, in their letter which communicated to 
 him his election, " The circumstances of this seminary are such 
 as greatly need a president, and require his presence and exer- 
 tions in office." But even they had, probably, a very inadequate 
 idea of the full significance of their own words. Up to this time 
 it had been a daj" of small things. The institution, as we may 
 almost say, had been a collegiate school rather than a college. 
 The instruction and government had been in the hands of the 
 president, in connection with a small body of tutors who re- 
 mained in office but two or three years, and consequently had 
 no i^ermanent infiuence. Only two professorships had ever 
 been established — that of divinity and that of mathematics and 
 natural philosophy — and, at this time, the latter alone had an in- 
 cumbent. The funds were exceedingly limited. The number of 
 students, as we have already seen, was comparatively small. 
 The course of instruction included none of the natural sciences 
 except astronomy and physics, and even in these branches and 
 in the ancient languages the means at command for studying 
 them, and the progress made by the students, were, as ^dewed 
 
61 
 
 from the staudpoiut of later days, iusiguificaut. Professional 
 education in separate departments of a university, as vre are 
 now familiar with it, had not been provided for and had 
 scarcely been thought of. And yet the opening- era was soon 
 to call for growth and development in all these directions. 
 The man who should be adequate to the emergency must be 
 no ordinary man. He must have the clearness of perception 
 to see farther than those around him, and the earnestness in 
 action which would make him ready for every exigency and 
 every work. In the light of the facts and records of the subse- 
 quent years, unless I am wholly unable to read them correctly, 
 it is clear that such a man was found in President Dwight. 
 
 The presiding officer of a college, according to that arrange- 
 ment of things which has been known in almost all institutions 
 of this kind in our country, has an intimate connection with its 
 instruction, its discipline, its pecuniary interests, and all the 
 Ijlans for its im])rovement and growth. This was, of course, 
 the fact in Yale College at the close of the last century, in a 
 higher degree even than it now is, for then, as we have seen, 
 he stood almost alone, so far as any permanent instructors were 
 concerned, while to-day he is surrounded by more than fifty 
 professors. But no college in any period of its history can 
 make continued and healthful progress,, if its president is 
 characterized by inefficiency or by a want both of energy and 
 wisdom. 
 
 It will be impossible, on the present occasion, to give a com. 
 plete history of Dr. Dwight's administration; but no discourse 
 relating to his career would be, in any measure, complete with- 
 out a reference to some of the things which he accomplished. 
 
 In regard to the plans for the enlargement and progress of 
 the institution, he had scarcely assumed his office before he 
 entered earnestly and enthusiastically upon the consideration 
 of them. It is a fact worthy of notice, that he fixed his thoughts 
 upon a young man in the very first senior class which he 
 instructed, as a person who might well be called to teach in the 
 college the science of chemistry, which was then in its infancy 
 in the countrj-— that he urged the corporation to establish a 
 professorship in this department as early as 1798 — and that, 
 within six years from his accession to office, he had secured the 
 necessary endowment for the purpose, and was enabled to place 
 the person whom he had chosen in the new position. The large 
 
62 
 
 minded comprehensiveiiess with _ wliicli, at tliat early day, he 
 perceived the importance of this branch of learning, and pro- 
 vided for its introduction into the curriculum of study, was only 
 equalled by the sagacity with which he saw, at the age of 
 twenty, the powers and future x)ossibilities of Benjamin Silli- 
 man. In the same year that Mr. Silliman was elected to this 
 professorship, measures were instituted for establishing a pro- 
 fessorship of the ancient languages, and already in the previous 
 year a professor of law had been appointed. Though this last 
 named officer was expected to instruct only the undergraduates 
 in the general principles of law, there is some reason to believe 
 that the idea of a professional school in this department, as a 
 thing of the future, entered his mind. Within eleven years 
 after he came to Xew Haven the first steps were taken towards 
 the founding of a medical school, the organization of which was 
 authorized by the Legislature of the State in 1810, and was 
 completed by tlie ai)pointment of four able professors in 1813. 
 I may add that, when in 1806 the earliest movements were 
 made towards the founding of a theological seminary at Ando- 
 ver, Mass. — the first one established in the country — he was 
 consulted by those most promineutlj^ engaged in the enterprise ; 
 and, according to one who was acquainted with the facts of the 
 case, he did much for the accomplishment of the end. Dr. N. 
 W. Taylor, the person to whom I refer, saj^s that " he entered 
 into the subject with the deepest interest, unfolding his ^iews 
 of the advantages and necessity of such an institution, and 
 that he seemed to exult as an eye witness of its great and 
 blessed results." His participation and interest in that great 
 work are, also, proved by the fact that, when the seminary was 
 formally opened, he was the person invited to preach the inau- 
 gurating discourse. But, to our present i^urpose it is more 
 important, and at the same time a thing still more worthy of 
 notice, that, when these gentlemen came from Massachusetts to 
 get his advice and counsel respecting the institution there, he 
 told them that he " had long had it in his heart to extend the 
 means of a thorough preparation for the ministry in the college 
 at ]S"ew Haven," and that " should the time come when this 
 should be done, and the graduates of Yale should be induced 
 to pursue theological study at a seminary connected with the 
 college, it must not be considered as interfering with their 
 undertaking." Indeed, at an early dsbj, he induced his eldest 
 
G3 
 
 son, who bore bis own name, to invest a certain sum of money 
 wbicb sbould, in tbe course of a few years, pro\ide for tbe 
 estabbsbment of a professorship in theology. There can be no 
 doubt, also, that he fixed in his own mind upon Dr. Taylor as 
 the one who should occupy this position, and that thus, in 
 these two essential points, he laid the plan for the beginning of 
 a theological seminary in New Haven. Moreover, he had 
 classes, from time to time, of graduate students, whom he per- 
 suaded to remain at the college and prepare themselves for the 
 ministry under his charge— in this way, as it were, starting a 
 school, as centered in himself, before it was possible that it 
 should be formally organized. The theological department of 
 the college was not founded, indeed, until five years after his 
 death, but he was as truly its originator as if he had lived to 
 see and rejoice in its progress. 
 
 All this that has been said shows how widely his mind opened 
 itself to consider everything in every department which the 
 coming times would demand, or which could make the college 
 greater or more truly a blessing than it had ever been before. 
 He grasped the idea of a University— a place of universal learn- 
 ing, and a place where the young men of the country should be 
 more perfectly educated for the learned professions, as well as 
 in the general studies which might be preparatory to the life of 
 any cultivated gentleman. Not only did he grasp this idea, but 
 he carefully formed his plans, and stimulated others to interest 
 in them, and put forth most earnest efforts and seized upon 
 every opportunity for their accomplishment, and rested-not for 
 a moment till the end was attained. It is remarkable, also, 
 that, with a wonderful insight into the human mind and charac- 
 ter, and with an equally wonderful foresight of the future, he 
 selected for the new chairs of instruction which were created, 
 a body of extraordinary young men— graduates of the early 
 years of his own presidency— who should assist him in his great 
 work. They were men, in greater or less degree, of a spirit kin- 
 dred to his. He inspired them constantly with his own enthu- 
 siasm, filled their minds with undoubting confidence in and ad- 
 miration for himself, opened to them the vision of great things 
 which floated before his imagination, encouraged them in their 
 every undertaking, and was a tower of strength to them in 
 every hour of their disappointment. They all knew that they 
 could go to him and find hearty sympathy ; that his wide cii^cle 
 
04 
 
 of interest aud kuowledge included the fields in wbicli they 
 were each of them employed ; and that even if, in their own 
 special line, they passed beyond the boundaries of what he 
 knew, his heart was large enough to believe in the value of that 
 which they were reaching after, and generous enough to aid 
 them as if he were wholly within their own sphere of working. 
 What estimate can be ])laced upon the power and helpfulness 
 of such a man in a great institution of learning in any period 
 of its history ? To his colleagues his society and counsel are an 
 incalculable blessing. To the college his influence is an element 
 of the highest life. Surely Dr. D wight was all that has here 
 been represented, if we may believe the evidence of what 
 he accomplished — and not simply this, but also the unvarying 
 testimony of these younger associates, given long after his 
 death and in their own old age. 
 
 The material lorosperity of the college was also an object of 
 his special thought. He appreciated the necessity of far larger 
 means, provided the results desired were to be reached. By 
 private solicitation and public effort he sought to secnre such 
 means, aud on two or three occasions he made powerful appeals 
 to the legislature of the State — a body which has, in almost all 
 cases, whether in his day or in ours, resisted the most eloquent 
 presentations of the cause of our higher institutions of learning. 
 Perchance it has been better for the college that it has received 
 so little from the State. Certainly it is so, if the effect of public 
 gifts would have been to bring it in any measure under legisla- 
 tive control. But, with little or no assistance from the State 
 authorities, the funds of the college were becoming gradually 
 larger, and the buildings of the institution were repaired and 
 increased in number. Within six years after the beginning of 
 Dr. Dwight's presidency the number of students had nearly 
 doubled. In consequence of this great increase a new building 
 for their accommodation was erected, and also another building 
 which afforded new and better recitation rooms, as well as a 
 place for the chemical laboratory aud the library. The library 
 itself was also enlarged, and considerable sums were expended 
 for the chemical and i^hilosophical apparatus. As an illustra- 
 tion of his readiness to aid in everything that should benefit the 
 institution. Professor Sillimau records in his diary that, when in 
 1810 the valuable cabinet of minerals belonging to the late Col. 
 Gibbs was offered to the college to be kept there, if the authori- 
 
05 
 
 ties would provide suitable rooms for it, he " lost no time in 
 laying" the subject before President Dwight," and, he adds, that 
 he " warmly espoused the design, and, without hesitation, 
 acceded to the plan which was suggested." For the effecting 
 of these objects and the enlargement of the means of instruc- 
 tion he contributed liberally himself, for it is said that, though 
 entitled by vote of the corporation as well as by the justice of 
 the case to the salaries of the two offices which he held, namely, 
 that of President and that of Professor of Divinity, he regularly 
 relinquished from one half to two thirds of what he would pro- 
 perly have received from the professorship. " The amount thus 
 relinquished was more than ten thousand dollars." He also de- 
 clined any increase of his salary as president, though it was 
 offered him during the last thirteen years of his official life. 
 That he was a devoted and generous friend of the college, as 
 well as a wise worker for its well being, is manifested by this 
 fact, for he was a man of only moderate means, and at his death 
 he left his family with a limited i)roperty. It has been one of 
 the fortunate things in the history of Yale College, that it has 
 had within the circle of its faculty more than one who, like this 
 eminent man, has contributed liberally of his own means for its 
 success and growth. Indeed, the whole-souled consecration of 
 its officers to its interests of every kind has been one of the 
 greatest sources of its prosperity in the past, and it is most 
 earnestly to be desired that the same spirit may characterize 
 those who shall guide its course in the generations to come. 
 
 In regard to discipline in the college. President Dwight seems, 
 from the very beginning of his official life, to have determined 
 upon a thorough and radical change from the system known in 
 earlier years. With an abounding common sense and an appre- 
 ciation of the altered circumstances of the times, he removed 
 from the college laws the old regulations respecting fines for 
 absence from appointed exercises, and those j)rovisions which 
 placed the lower classes in a kind of subjection to the higher. 
 In place of these disciplinary methods he introduced others 
 which were more adapted to the government of a body of young 
 men in a course of education. Especially he relied, so far as 
 his own relations to the students were concerned, upon his per- 
 sonal power and influence. " I^o jjerson," says the late Profes- 
 sor Kingsley, " ever more thoroughly understood the feelings 
 and passions of young men, and their modes of thinking and 
 
 5 
 
66 
 
 reasoning, or knew better what motives to urge when it was 
 necessary to check their waywardness or to incite them to land- 
 able efltbrts. Whether he had occasion to speak to the students 
 at large, or to portions of them, he always succeeded in produ- 
 cing a conviction of the interest he took in their welfare, in 
 which there was no affectation ; and he addressed, at the same 
 time, their understandings and their consciences with such ap- 
 propriateness and force thah few continued in opposition.'" 
 Having faith in paternal rather than mere governmental dis- 
 cipline, he treated the students as gentlemen and as sons. Such 
 a iiaternal relation was more easily sustained at that period, of 
 course, than it could be now, for the numbers in the college 
 were so much smaller. The successive senior classes, also, were 
 more exclusively brought under his own care and teaching than 
 they are at present. He was, thus, more like Dr. Arnold 
 among his scholars at Eugby than the chief officer of a great 
 university, in our day, is able to be. The power of his person- 
 ality, therefore, on each individual could be greater. But this 
 personal power — whether then or now— is, after all, the great 
 thing, both in discipline and in education ; and he had the keen 
 mental perception to recognize this fact, as well as the rare fac- 
 ulty of using his personal influence with success upon all classes 
 of students. The consequence was that he attached them to him- 
 self and made them his affectionate friends. " The anxiety of 
 President Dwight for the good of his pupils," says Professor Sil- 
 limau, "did not cease with the cessation of his authority over 
 them. He was often known to converse, in the kindest and 
 most paternal manner, with those who, having received the 
 honors of the institution, were about to go out into the world, 
 but concerning whose welfare he was still solicitous ; and such 
 advice, unattended by any academic sanctions, was found in 
 various instances precious to him who was the subject of it." 
 " The great secret of his government was this," says the same 
 gentleman, " it was a sway of influence rather than of coercion." 
 He was a disciplinarian, accordingly, of the highest order, for 
 he exercised discipline without the show of it, and moved the 
 hearts of his pupils like a loving father. 
 
 As an instructor, he had that most valuable gift which we 
 may call magnetic power. He not only imparted knowledge to 
 the students, and presented truth with great clearness before 
 their minds, but he both stimulated them to activity in the 
 
07 
 
 independeut searcli after truth for themselves aud inspired 
 them with enthusiasm iu their work. The young man who 
 goes forth from his college life having his mind crowded with 
 the facts of science or of history, or with the grammar or 
 vocabulary of the ancient languages stored iu his memory — 
 however much he may know — gives no such grand promise of 
 the future as he who has learned to love knowledge for its own 
 sake, and has had awakened within him an unquenchable desire 
 to attain it. The arousing of the pupil's mind into a self-pro- 
 pelling activity is the most desirable end in education. It is, 
 also, the one most diflBcult to be secured; and it is a grievous 
 thing, which we are obliged to confess, that the teachers who 
 know the secret of its accomplishment are only here aud there to 
 be found. But if there is any })oint on which all the graduates 
 of Yale College under Dr. Dwight's administration are harmo- 
 nious in their declarations, it is that he was such a stimulating 
 teacher. As the late Dr. Gardiner Spri Qg said to the alumni 
 of the college iu New York, in 1817, "There is one spot to 
 which you will never turn your thoughts without the recollec- 
 tion of his full-orbed excellence, namely, the recitation room 
 of the Senior Class. I am persuaded that I shall ever account 
 it one of the highest privileges of my life, that my youthful 
 allotment was to listen to the instructions of that memorable 
 chamber.'" 
 
 From the accounts given of bim by some of the leading men 
 who were his pupils, however, it is cleac that he was a lecturer 
 rather than a hearer of recitations ; that he aimed in the class 
 room rather to impart knowledge to the mind of the student 
 than to draw knowledge out of it. It could scarcely have been 
 otherwise with a man who had such varied information, and, at 
 the same time, so irresistible an impulse to communicate to 
 others his own ideas and thoughts. Under the influence of 
 such a teacher, those who are incapable of enthusiasm, or who 
 are determined to neglect their opportunities aud waste their 
 time, may, perhaps, be carried forward less successfully than 
 if they were forced to learn according to some dry routine or 
 machine-like system. But even if tbis be true, the. number in 
 his case who resisted the magnetic intlucnce was very small, 
 wljile the gain for those who were borne along by its quicken- 
 ing power far more than compensated for the losses of such 
 thoughtless and sluggish minds. The young men who were 
 
68 
 
 inspired by him, as one of tliem lias said, " fouud their sum of 
 knowledge daily increased; their moral principles formed and 
 strengthened ; from boys they became nieu, and rose to the 
 full consciousness of manhood." I cannot forbear to add, from 
 the testimony of this same person — Professor Denison Olmsted 
 — who came under his instructions when he was at the very 
 height of his power, a brief description, which will picture him 
 before our minds in a life-like way. 
 
 " Copious and able as were the instructions given by Presi- 
 dent Dwight, in connection with the text books," Professor 
 Olmsted says : " it was in the ample and profound discussions 
 of questions, whether philosophical, political, literary or re- . 
 ligious, that his great powers as a teacher were most fully 
 brought out. In these, according to the nature of the subject, 
 appeared, by turns, the divine, the poet, the statesman, the 
 patriot, the philanthropist. He Avould enter with all his soul 
 into the discussion, bringing forward in luminous order the most 
 convincing arguments, embellishing by rhetorical figures, illus- 
 trating by pertinent anecdotes, enlivening by sallies of humor, 
 and often warming up into a more glowing strain of eloquence 
 than he ever exemplihed in his public discourses. During the 
 reading of the debates of the students he often interspersed 
 remarks suggested by some casual association, wliich led him 
 at a distance from the main point in argument. But it was 
 useful information, however discursive he might sometimes 
 appear ; and, by this practice, he touched upon so many of the 
 exigencies of real life that his pupils have been often heard to 
 say that hardly a day of their subse(iueat li^^es i)assed Avithout 
 their recalling something said by President Dwight. The 
 earnestness with which he engaged in the business of instruc- 
 tion, and in arguing questions in which important truths were 
 to be established, never abated. It might be the twentieth or 
 the thirtieth class of pupils now before him, and he might be 
 reiterating the same ground for the thirtieth time, yet his zeal 
 knew no satiety." Writing soon after the death of Dr. D wight, 
 the same distinguished gentleman said, " Who has ever united 
 in a higher degree the dignity that commands respect, the ac- 
 curacy that nispires confidence, the ardor that kindles anima- 
 tion, the kindness that Avins affection, and has been able at the 
 same time to exhibit before his pupils the fruits of long and 
 profound research, of an extensive and x)rolitable intercourse 
 
69 
 
 with tlie world, and of great experience iu the business of in- 
 struction f This w^as a judgment pronounced when the writer 
 of the words was a young graduate of only four years' standing. 
 In 1858, he confirms the same judgment in the following lan- 
 guage : " After the lapse of more than forty years, and after 
 much opportunity with many eminent instructors, this estimate 
 seems to me entirely just, and President D wight is ever present 
 to my mind as the Great Model Teacher." Truly the presence 
 of such an instructor for twenty-two years in any institution of 
 learning — if he does nothing beyond the work of the lecture 
 room — is a power for good, which can only be fully measured 
 when the results of all the lives, into which his thoughts and 
 teachings have entered, shall be Complete. But how much be- 
 yond this, as Ave have already seen, was accomplished for Yale 
 College by this great and faithful man ! 
 
 Dr. Dwight, however, was not only the President of the Col- 
 lege, with the various duties which belong to that position. 
 He was also the college preacher. The Professorship of Divin- 
 ity, to which the care of the college church, both in preaching 
 and the pastoral oflflce, was assigned, had been vacant for two 
 years when tbe new president was inaugurated. Several at- 
 tempts were made by the Corporation to fill the chair, but with- 
 out success, and in the meantime Dr. Dwight supplied the pul- 
 pit. At length, in 1805 it was decided to elect him to the pro- 
 fessorship, and from that time till his death he discharged all 
 its duties. By leaving the parish where he had been settled for 
 twelve 3'ears, therefore, he did not cease to be a preacher or to 
 have the spiritual oversight of a congregation. On the contrary, 
 he entered upon a similar work to that in which he had been 
 engaged, only in a field where he had the greatest opportunities 
 for usefulness, and where, if successful, his Christian influence 
 was destined to be far reacliing. 
 
 The taste and peculiarities of successive generations dilier in 
 no respect more widely, perhaps, than they do with reference 
 to preaching. The people of to-day, therefore, are unable to 
 judge with entire fairness of the sermons which their fathers 
 heard, or even of those which they heard themselves iu their 
 earlier life. We have a new standard, of which our ancestors 
 knew nothing. To the audiences of his own generation Dr. 
 Dwight was a most effective and eloquent preacher. He broke 
 away from the dr^^ and doctrinal method of the New England 
 
70 
 
 miuisters who i)recedecl liiui, aud liis sermous mark au era iu 
 that progress of preacliing which has resulted in the liighest 
 aud best style of our owu generation. But we may say more 
 than this. The sermons which were published after his death, 
 and which present his system of theology, have been regardet" 
 ever since their publication, as among the ablest productions of 
 the American pulpit. For clearness and felicity of statement, 
 and for force and candor in dealing with objections, they are 
 unsurpassed by any theological writings. In Euglpud, as well 
 as iu our own land, they have exerted a very wide influence, 
 and, in the former country especiary? they have been to so 
 great a degree an element in theological education that almost 
 all prominent English clergymen — at least those not of the 
 Established Church — who come to our shores, bear testimony to 
 what they themselves have owed to their author, " There may 
 have been other preachers,"' says that eminent clergyman, of 
 whose death we have just heard — the Eev. Dr. William B. 
 Sprague — " there may bave been other preachers who could 
 occasionally rise to a loftier height and produce a more over- 
 wbelmiug impression than he 5 but, if there have been those, at 
 least in our own country, whose ministrations were uniformly 
 marked with more vigor and dignity aud attraction than his, 
 we know not where to look for tbem." 
 
 As a theologian he was not an originator or discoverer, like 
 his ancestor the elder Edwards, or his pupil Dr. Taylor, but I 
 suppose that no man in the history of New England, unless it 
 be Edwards himself, has afl'ected theological thinking in a 
 greater degree, or done more to give theology its true place as 
 the queen of the sciences. Dr. D wight, however, as a theolo- 
 gian and as a preacher, aimed at practical results. At the 
 beginning of his official life as president he labored most 
 earnestly and successfully for the overthrow of the iulidel ideas 
 of the time, which had seized upon the minds of the ablest 
 3"oung men, and had so pervaded the college that the church 
 had scarcely any members. His arguments and dlscoiu'ses on 
 this subject were remembered long after the conflict was ended 
 aud the victory secured. But In the quieter period that fol- 
 lowed, even to the close of his career, he i)reached, with all the 
 energy of his soul, for the conversion and the religious ui)bulld- 
 iug of the students. Kevlvals of much i)0wer attended his 
 efforts. The lives of many of his pupils bore witness, in their 
 
71 
 
 own Christian development, to the faithfnhiess of his personal 
 solicitations and his persnasive appeals. Believing- in the infi- 
 nite valne to the soul of its union with God by a living- faith, 
 he thought that education attained its highest end only when it 
 brought the knowledge of spiritual and eternal realities. He 
 consecrated, therefore, all his working and all his life to the 
 securing- of such an education for the hundreds of young men 
 who came within the sphere of his influence. " It was imi^ossi- 
 ble not to love him," says the late Nathaniel Chauncey, Esq., 
 of Philadelphia, for " his prayers and exertions and talents 
 were constantly employed for the good of his charge; his 
 praise, delightful as the approbation of conscience, and reproof, 
 piercing- to the soul, both alike evidently came from the feelings 
 of a father, who taught not only how to live but how to die." 
 
 I may add that Dr. Dwight's influence did not end with 
 what he did or what he taught. It belonged to his very nature^ 
 It had its foundation in himself. Every student who came to 
 Yale College saw in its President a grand specimen of man. 
 He was not greater than some other men, of that generation or 
 of this, in particular lines ; probably he was not the equal of 
 some. But, if we may give any credence to what the fathers 
 have told us, he was one of the most consincnous of men in 
 modern times for the roundness and fullness, the variety and 
 symmetry of his powers. 
 
 He was an ardent lover of music ; a poet of some merit, to 
 say the least, considering the age ; a teacher of extraordinary 
 ability ; one of the first preachers of his generation. He was 
 acquainted with almost every subject, had read extensively in 
 the literature of the English language, was a delighted observer 
 of nature, loved flowers and all beautiful things with the ardor 
 of a child, and opened his mind to be taught in everything use- 
 ful, from the highest to the lowest sphere. He had practical 
 wisdom to devise plans for needed improvements, and practical 
 energy to carry out these plans to their result, to a degree 
 which few have ever smpassed. He had a hoi^eful outlook 
 upon the future and believed that the golden age was yet to 
 come, and he was ready for every necessary effort and sacrifice 
 to make that future possible, as well as to hasten its coming. 
 He was a patriot, with the most ardent love for his country; 
 believing in liberty and abhorring the system which brought 
 human beings into bondage and deprived them of all their dear- 
 
72 
 
 est rights. He was a Christian believer, of the humblest and 
 most earnest kind ', full of love for his fellow men, and ever 
 ready to give them sympathy and help on their way to heaven. 
 With reasoning powers of a high order, with a cultivated 
 imagination, with a conversational ability admired by all the 
 circle of his acquaintance, and by strangers even who met him 
 for the first time, with the manners of a gentleman, and, in a 
 wonderful degree, the bearing and person of a noble man — his 
 form e'"ect and fall of dignitj', his face beaming with intelli- 
 gence and virtue, and his whole appearance impressive and 
 commanding — with all this so conspicuous to every beholder, 
 he must have filled the college with the refinement of his pres- 
 ence ; he must have been, as they saw him from day to day, an 
 example to all his pupils, which they could not but desire to 
 imitate. I would that I might have seen him as he moved 
 about among the x>eople of Greenfield, or as he walked the 
 quiet streets of Kew Haven ; a generous, earnest, thoughtful, 
 benignant Christian preacher and teacher. 
 
 It was such a man that this church, after enjoying his minis- 
 try for twelve years, gave up, at the Divine summons, for the 
 college of this Commonwealth. More than half a century has 
 passed since his earthly career came to its end, and more than 
 three quarters of a century since he closed his labors here. 
 The men whom he knew in Greenfield have all entered into the 
 experiences of the other life, like himself. Even of those who 
 knew him as his pupils at New Haven but a small number still 
 survive. His wife, who came to this place with him in her 
 early life, lived on alone in her widowhood, universally revered 
 and beloved, till she was ninety-one, but it is now thirty years 
 since her departure from this world ; and their children, after 
 long and useful and honored lives, have all finished their work, 
 and are now reunited with him and with her in heaven. So the 
 grandchildren come forward to the places of the grandfathers, 
 and the generations move on in their ceaseless course. But 
 like the everlasting hills, the memory of the past still abides, 
 and we who meet on this commemorative day bless God for the 
 great men of other times. 
 
 There is a beautiful hymn, which was written soon after the 
 close of his ministry here, by the pastor and teacher in whose 
 honor I have spoken — a hymn sung by sweet voices all over the 
 English-speaking world, and destined to be sung more and more 
 
73 
 
 ■widely to the latest time — a true song of the Church, which will 
 give expression to the seiitiiiieut of thousands of the great 
 brotherhood of believers, who will never know of the life of its 
 author. As I hold it in my hand at this moment, in the old 
 manuscript where he wrote its words, and as the passing of 
 these hundred and fifty years in this village church brings to 
 our thoughts the faithfulness of God in the past and His prom- 
 ises for the future, it seems almost as if he stood upon this sacred 
 spot once more, and, with all the ardor of his Christian confi- 
 dence and hope, said, as he did so long ago : 
 
 I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
 
 The house of thine abode, 
 The church our blest Redeemer saved 
 
 With his own precious blood. 
 
 I love thy church, God ! 
 
 Her walls before thee stand, 
 Dear as the apple of thine eye, 
 
 And graven on thy hand. 
 
 If e'er to bless thy sons 
 
 My voice or hands deny, 
 These hands let useful skill forsake 
 
 This voice in silence die. 
 
 If e'er my heart forget 
 
 Her welfare or her woe. 
 Let every joy this heart forsake 
 
 And every grief o'erflow. 
 
 For her my tears shall fall. 
 
 For her my prayers ascend, 
 To her my cares and toils be given 
 
 'Till toils and cares shall end. 
 
 Beyond my highest joy 
 
 I prize her heavenly ways. 
 Her sweet communion, solemn vows. 
 
 Her hymns of love and praise. 
 
 Jesus, thou Prince divine, 
 
 Our Saviour and our King, 
 Thy hand from every snare and foe 
 
 Shall great deliverance bring. 
 
 Sure as thy truth shall last, 
 
 To Zion shall be given 
 The brightest glories earth can yield, 
 
 And brighter bliss of heaven. 
 
 6 
 
1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS i 
 
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