Morning journal and courier., 1889-09-09
GuILFoRD,s aSorH BIRTHDAY.

 Formerly East Guilford, Be-
 gins the Celebration by an Historr
 cal Address Delivered xesterday Morning In the Congregationai
 Church ny tho Pastor, Rev. James A.. Gallup-The Ecclesiasticn1 Hfs-
 tory of Madison Rchearscd-A Tri-
 buse to the sturdy Names That Mad.
 ison Has Given to the Counsry-The
 Church Beautiful Decorated.
 In connection with the 250th anniversary celebration of the town of Guilford, an his- torical discourse was delivered in the First Congregational church of Madison yesterday morning by It's pastor, Rev. James A. Gal lup. Madison was @ part of the town of duilford for the frst 1S7 years after its set- tlsment. It was known as East Guilford at that time and, in 1926, 1t took the name of Madison and became town by itself. The Congregational church was organized in November, 1707. Before that time, for more than half century, the planters living with- in the present limits of the town of Madison attended church with the first society in duilford. As the number of inhabitants of East Guilford, now Madison, increased, It was deemed important that church should be established within their own bounds. Ac- cordingly on April 6, 17s3, liberty to form distinct society was granted by the town of Guilford. The pastors of the First church in Guilford, while East Guilford was con- nected with 1t, were as follows: Rev. Henry Whitfield, from June 10, 1643, to September 9, 1850; Rev. John Higginson, from Ssptem- Der 6, 1858, to 1860; Rev. Joseph Elliot, from March 15, 1865, to May "A, 1894; Rev. Thomas Ruggles, from November 20, 1895, to June 1, 172S. It was during the ministry of Mir. Ruggles that tine east farmers became distinct society, under the name of East Guilford. The first regular pastor of the new church was Rev. John Hart, who was ordained in November, 1707. His death oc- cured on March 4, 1731. The pastors who have succeeded him to the present time are: Rev. Jonathan Todd, ordained October g, 17ss;
 f Rev. z. John kliIott, ordained November 9, i7sl; 1895; died a September m % 50. isse. ''N -e'e' ~ Roy. samuel Fisk, ordained Juno 8, 1857; died fS Kev. | James ] A. Gallup, installed November g, Yesterday morning the old church was gaily decorated with flowers and other bright emblems. Behind the pulpit was stretched a large piece of canvass upon which was paint large trunk of a tree. The branches which ran out from 1t bore the names of the several parishes which have emsnated from the original old Guilford society. Long before the hour for service the church was filled to | It's utmost capacity. Seats were brought in and placed in the aisles and about the crowd- ed galleries to accommodate the crowd that | Hocked to the old Madison church. Large numbers of people had driven over from Guilford and the neighboring towns to at- | tend the anniversary services. Over on one | of the side galleries stood the coat of arms of | the State of Connecticut, and opposite over the other gallery stretched the motto, eve are the heirs of all ages"
 The pastor, Rev. James A. Gallup, in read ing the opening scripture, read from Bible three hundred years old. In beginning his discourse the pastor chose the following as his text:
 | man, but he that built all things is Godn
 Extended extracts from his remarks are here given:
 You have all doubtless seen footprints in the solid rock. Geology teaches us that that rock was once soft and yielding substance, and that some bird or beast, long since dead | whose very species may be extinct, stepped upon that rock in it's plastic state, and the impress of that foot was left graven In the rock forever.
 After the lapse of ages, science traces out the form aud proportions of the ancient beast and bird by these simple indelible footprints. As of the rock and it's footprints 60 of the society and it's institutions. There are certain marks or characteristics that re- main like the footprints of former age. By | the study of these historic marks we come to know something of the form and proportions | and the men who impressed themselves upon that early plastic and formative age of bee ginnings.
 The men who wrought that age upon that plastic material are dead, but their sturdi- | ness of character for wisdom, moral upright | ness and a far-seeing and benevolent regard | for the future lives in the institutions they have planted remains. By their footprints we come to know the men their nobility and their spirit and the grandeur of their work, whom | we honor as fathers and founders of our cherished institutions. Both in church and state, generations come and go. The cen.
 turiss open and close, but these institutions
 whose rock foundations are personal free dom and responsibility, go on forever.
 Such builders are immortal. Their works follow them and speak after they are dead. They have stamped their own lineaments up, on the age in which they lived, and each sue cssdng age trans rnits the life it has received reinforced by what itself has wrought, to sue. ceeding ages, and thus father and children are bound together by an electric bond of sympa thetic life.
 The House Is comprehensive term denot. ing not only Q building which shelters us, but often the people who are sheltered, the build ing or the household as we'll as it's institutions I which mature and develop, it's divers forms | of activity and enjoy ment. Architecture 1T substance and type runs through all language
 It builds men, society, governments and in
 stitutions.
 We often speak of our fathers as builders
 Every house Is built by some man. It didn'
 happen. It was not produced ty chance
 Some man who had genius, a plau, energy
 to accomplish the work was the founder. To T lIs xsf brAst fathers added a divine architect whose pIe | sides over and directs all. They believed 1T God as 0 director and in him our thought | go back to our fathers of two and & half cen
 turies ago, who landed upon these shore
 amid these wilds and built for themselve
 and their posterity, a school, store, shop
 state and church, institutions that sti
 live and bear upon them the past fruits o
 the fathers.
 In sketching the ecclesiastical history o Guilford, or Madison, Rev. Mir. Gallup be gan with the present condition of the Con
 gregational church and his own term as pas tor and worked backward. The history
 said he, is 50 unique that may group its IS years of existence around its six pastors wh have filled out this period. My own pastor
 ate began in October, 1865. was officiall installed November 2, 1865, now nearly twen ty.four years ago. found on my coming | church large in numbers, we'll instructed , steady and zealous. It has been enlarged,
 chapel built, and other improvements made | These improvements, including other out lays were at an expense of SIS, ,000 II Mr. Gallup then gave many interestin
 statistics of his term of service. Continuin he said. A town we suffer in commo with all northeast towns from depletion c inhabitants. Our young men go to the cit f les and leave only elderly people or vacar !, house behind. Madson's elegant shore fs cilities have lately been discovered, an
 more than half o hundred cottages now lin
 our beach.
 ,I The pastorate preceding was filled by Re,
 Samuel Fisk, who was ordained June | 1857, and died May %, 1864, at Fredericks . burg from wound received in the first ba 7 tie of Antietsm. He was born in Massaohu
 setts February 23, 1928, of old Purita stock. At school he was always taking e, tra studies and was @ leader in energy an enterprise. Pleasantly and wit filled all hi . actions, often creeping into his sermons. He entered Amherst college in 1844 an | graduated in 184S with second honors. A | his installation in this church Rev. Joh ! Todd preached the sermon, Rev. Burdet , Hart gave the charge and Rev. Henry Vic
 gave the right hand of fellowship. He el D listed as private in the Fourteenth reg
 ment on August 23, 1869. He was electe
 lieutenant and afterward captain of Compar
 G. His remains were buried at Shelbur
 Falls, his native Place.
 q Rev. Samuel Nicholas Shepard was u