Morning journal and courier., 1889-06-12
NORTH HAVEN ANNALS.

I S0oSSA o We have watched the young society step by
 step coming up into line, independent, fear- less, bsholden to no one, yet obedient and God fearing. We rejoiced when the hard grinding struggle seemed about to close, and 1 when the last tax was laid, and too, our
 hearts were in closest sympathy with them I the first Lords day on which they offered
 their vows at this their new altar. Precisely | when this latter event occurred we cannot
 say, but as the building was near comple-
 ton in the winter of 1721 we may conclude
 it was occupied in the spring or early sum-
 mer of the following year.
 Nothing is said about It's dedication; it is ! unlikely there was any. The blessing or ln- animate objects in that day obtained little or no favor with the mass of the settlers, but we ! shall do no violence to their memory when \ we believe it was with devout thankfulness they entered their new temple and for the l first time invoked the Lord of hosts to meet | with them and make their humble structure | his dwelling place through all all their gen. erations. Little did they think on that first | Sabbath how short would be their stay with ! in those walls, nor how abundantly the lord | would bless and build up the Zion they had planted.
 Reader, If you are citizen of this village, Y y
 the next Sabbath morning tread slowly while you look out over the old market-place of | other days. If the June sun be shining, re- member that 1t shone on as fair scene one
 hundred and sixty-seven years ago. Picture the little church, the central figure in the
 landscape; see the fringe of noble oaks about ! it, old then, the frame in which it is set.
 Mark the stiffness; no rumble of wagon, no I rush of cars, no sound even of human voices. The breeze blows, the leaves tremble, the | birds sing, but this is not noise; it brings rest, it seems but silence, it is the breathless ! expectation of waitiEg in natures great ea- | thedral for some solemn service to begin. ! Listen1 Whati drumt Yes. Wonder through | the trees comes Nathaniel Thorp with his ! drum beating the "second call" He has made the circuit of the parade two hours be-. fore as warning, and into that announce
 ment he entered with surprising deftness and vigor, but now, as the time draws on for the people to gather, he lessens the volume of his I strokes somewhat and will not distract the ! attention of the approaching worshippers by ! overmuch zeal. It is near the hour of ten. Here and there across the fields and adown | the streets 10 the people are gathering; some ! are on horseback, but mostly on foot, and ! they have come from the sBlew Hills," from \ "The Pines," from "Muddy River" from \ "Whartons Brook" and from the "Half | Mile" Their dress how quaint, their man. ' ners how formal their very speech how singu- lar. Life, life, is terrible earnest thing with ! them, and it's grim front echoes back from | their faces the sternness of the foe they are fighting. We may not gossip with them for I they are but shadows, but we can watch the wondrous panorama. From the north comes Bradley, Blaksly, Ives and their neighbers; from the east, Smith, Todd and others; from the south, Crockett, Barns, Beach, Sanford,
 Cooper, etc.; from the west, Granniss, Hea- ton, Futile, Humaston, Yale. Last of all | with eyes bent down, slowly pacing up the parade comes their pastor. The beat of the drum grows fainter as he hears the sacred place, and as he passes over the threshold it ceases; the drummer follows, the door closes
 and preacher and people are before each oth- CT and their God.
 Davis in his history of Wsllingford aptly
 says: "The imagination cannot but revert to these occasions with an admiration toned
 down almost to holy reverence. There in
 the midst of silent wilderness, the hardy
 toilworn settlers and their wives and daugh-
 ters are gathered, listening with bowed heads to the fervent prayer of their pastor that the God of Israel would endue his servants with courage and counsel to lead them in the days of their peril. The curious Indian paused at the door and was filled with awe as the white man addressed the Great Spirit. Far away from the busy haunts of men they seemed and felt nearer God-more alone with God-than ever before." And the ever eloquent Bacon, who so well understood them, tells us, "They love the word that comes from the lips of their pastor. They love the order of the house. To them each sermon, every prayer, every tranquil Sab bath is the more precious for all that it cost them"
 Quaint old Sternhold and Hopkins voiced this peoples piety when they wrote in the church psalmody of that age:
 "Goe walk about all Syon hill, yea round about her And tell the towers that thereupon are bulded on
 roe;
 And mark you well her bulwarks all, behold her That ye may tell thereof to them, that after shall For this is our God, forevermore is hee;
 Yea and nd unto the death asoe our guider shall hee
 But we must leave this realm of shadows and fancies and turn again to the more stern and unimaginative surroundings of this people. There is a peculiar clause in the "call" which the society extended to Mir. Wetmore which under the turn of events that followed. seems significant After re- hearsing their wish that he become their pastor, they add. "- supposing he desire to lead them on in ye methods ye New Haven church have or doth now practice"
 The question has been asked when did Mr. Wetmore begin to turn from Congrega- tionalism to Episcopscyi Could he as an honest man and servant of the Lord have ac- cepted the post offered him unless positively certain he could comply with the conditions lfor there were conditions) of the call Ger tainly not. The clergy of the colonies were it's strength and its defence. They were to be sincerely believed and implicitly trusted. and we must do MT. Wetmore the justice to acknowledge that at his ordination he fully endorsed the belief of the church over which he was placed. Moreover the "councils" called on such occasions to examine and set tie candidates were uncommonIy inquisitive as to the orthodoxy of their ranks, and had tn6 kAA nA his belief it would have worked to his dis comhture. No, we must either accord Mr. Wetmore sound in the creed he upheld or 8 dissembler of the most subtle dye; the latter view is not worthy of @ thought.
 But however sincere at his ordination, the feeling and purposes of Mir. Wetmore began to undergo change immediately thereafter. The roseate hue of the affairs of the new church in the spring of 1722 commenced to deepen during the summer, going through all the gradations from lightest to darkest tone, and at lest in the late fall, shading of the midst of which suddenly leaped a liyid bolt of lightning, the surohsrged wrath of the people, which smote their pastor hip and thigh and ended his career among them.
 But we let it tell its own tale.
 "At a meeting of ye society November ye 9-1722.
 To Mir Wetmore,
 Reverend Sir:
 This society, being grieved at sundry things that have happened among us, upon which the major part of ye society did signi- fie their dissatisfaction by sending paper of that nature to yourself, and ye just article ln ye aforesaid paper was what we have heard and soc explain this article: We heard that you douted ye validity of your Presbyte- rian ordination, and that you did say you did count Episcopal ordination preferable, and we alsoe heard that you have highly commended the church of England, as we call it, to some among us, and eignifed Low Esteem on this way of church man. agements that we have bin conversAnt in, which we esteem to be good argument that yourself is persuaded that way to be ye best, or else we esteem such practices to be very rong: The next thing is what we see and it is this we see that many wise and Reverend men among us are grieVed at ye declaration made by yourself and others, We also see yourself to be Compan. ion of them that have Declared themselves to be fully persuaded in ye afore- said way or preparation and how can two walk together Except they are agreed. The next thing is what we have reason to fear,