Morning journal and courier., 1890-10-10
tor. Said the youthful preacher in closing hia iuoY1asaioned address:

his lmpasEloned address:
 not srsSssS h this % % ieo 1 te ss en elevated light to guide lost wanderers to the to be resting place for our souls, to which we will often come to renew our strength for the
 apu pus pit een ses spars % for the of the gospel May the truth, the whole truth from aed I spot May those se seats gallsryo dsyoted 1 to an ,,I ,important useful and and occupied by those who shall sing the praises of | God with the spirit and the understanding also. | On all these slips let nothing be inscribed but | with attentive and devout worshippers, those ] who shall not only be hearers, but also doers of ourselves our % and n our % sanctuary M ~ to God Arise strength
 Just six months after the dedication MT. l Griggs received call from the Congrega- tional church in Millbury, Mass. In some manuscript notes made by him O he says he was inclined to accept, for the want of adequate support by his society, but that salary to eight hundred dollars annually and promised to build parsonage he was induced to remain.
 To accomplish the latter end it was de- cided to form Parsonage Association" The capital was between $2, 800 and S, ,O00. It was divided in shares of ten dollars each and though no list of the stockholders has yet been found it comprised the majority of the members of the church. Only a few names have been ascertained. These were Solomon A. Orcutt and wife, Jude B. Smith, Deacon Byard Barnes, John Todd, Richard Mansfield, Barzillai Bradley, Jason Dicker- man, Jacob Bassett, Joel Humaston and wife (the two latter twenty shares each), Eleazer Warner, Perit Sanford, etc., etc.
 The land on which to erect the parsonage was bought of James H. Thorpe, Novem- Der 8, 1886. Captain William Todd was the master mechanic. The building was put up in the winter and spring following It cost not far from $2, 700, and into it the mer of 1887. Two children, Maria and Catherine, had been born in the brick house on the "corner."
 It was now the flood tide of happiness for preacher, for people, for church. For tune, however fickle elsewhere, had seemed | to favor this community. Only the year provious-1S35-th Second Ecclesiastical society had erected new brick church, (the present structure.) There was peace, | thrift and enterprise in and around the community His church was visibly strengthened. In 1887 it received thirty | nine members, in 1840 one hundred and thirty members. The total admissions during his pastorate were two hundred and twenty-six.
 l It would be pleasant to finger 8 while l amid an innumerable number of incidents connected with this loved mans life, but | such cannot be; sentence must suffice; every person who ever looked upon him will endorse it's accuracy. It was written when the sun of his life had set at Bristol,
 but it was equally true at the. beginning of
 his career. "Some men talk with their ] face, and as in the preface of book we 1 get an insight from it of what is to follow. l Dr. Griggs face was impressive. It Il seemed to carry large honesty, an en- gazing suitability, 8 boundless good will all which seemed like open doors to ad- init you to his confidence and sympathy
 It was 8 beaming face. It warned and cheered one to look upon it. He loved men. He found their hearts. How many have said i've could not help loving him. Men who never went to church loved to talk with him and give him their confidence" @.
 But these relations were not always to
 continue. A lesson was in store for pas
 tor and people that sunshine could never
 teach. The cloud that carried the storm
 which eventually beat the fercest. on the
 heart of the man of God arose first in his
 own ambition. Happy as he was, the area
 of the little country parish became circum-
 scribed as he stood in other pulpits by
 exchange with his brethren in the minis,
 try.
 His merit as preacher was not passing
 unnoticed. He had already declined g
 lege" and other flattering invitations to
 change his field of labor. At length
 there came call from the First church in
 Wethersfeld, Conn.,, which he felt he
 could not refuse. Accordingly he rendered
 his resignation to his people in December,
 1844, alleging their enfeebled financial
 condition as his excuse. This they would
 not accept as just reason and returned
 his paper to him.
 But the leaven of unrest was working
 His great heart yearned to reach a wider
 field. His desire was for the salvation o1
 hundreds instead of tens.
 Coupled with this feeling was his knowl
 edge also of small element of disaffectior
 in his church. This was magnifed and
 held prominently before Mr. Griggs by 6
 woman who shall be nameless here, but te
 whose rattling tongue the final outcome
 was afterwards clearly traced.
 This hostility was small in the begin
 ming, small in the middle and small at tho
 end, but little as it was it smote on the
 sensitive soul of the pastor bitterly. H.
 falsely reasoned in his grief that his use
 fulness was forever impaired, and the dag
 zling field of city church swinging into
 view at that critical moment seemed
 providential happening @
 Colonel Eleazer Warner, his trusted
 counselor, labored as no one else could tt : allay the disquiet of his pastors mind. |
 is said Deacon Warner so far succeeded il
 this as to secure the assurance from hin
 that if the church was absolutely unani
 nous in his favor he would live and di,
 with them, as he had expected to do. ) A church meeting was then called a
 once. The authorities felt reasonably sur, ) the most favorable expression could be SC l cured There was an overwhelming at ) tendance and the test was made amid tn, 1; intensest interest, but to the consternatio1 , of the assemblage there was found two
 negative votes. These were cast by Man
 ming B. Bassett and Willis Futile, botl
 gentlemen of influence.
 All hope was now at an end. MT. Grigg
 received his dismission July 30, 1845. T Followed by the prayers of his ittl,
 country flock, who never forgot him 1T } all his subsequent wanderings, he entered
 upon his field of duty as pastor of tn, Chapel street church in New Haven, Au gust 6, 1845. Here he remained two year
 and then removed to Millbury, Mass, thu ) responding to the "call" made him iron |
 there eleven years before.
 He remained in Millbury little nor,
 than nine years and then went to Bristol ) Conn.,, February, 27, 1856. Here h'
 preached thirteen years or until failing , health warned him to retire from such ac , tive service. In 1870 he engaged with tn, American Education society, continuing a their agent little more than four years l Then followed period of nearly sever } years of occasional supplies in pulpit preaching, says his biographer, in this in terval, two hundred and fourteen times
 altogether his ministerial service amount
 to forty-eight years.
 . Few preachers have been so honored a was Dr. Griggs by the publication of hi sermons. In all, seventeen of these dis
 courses were printed, besides his Look ing Glass for High Churchmen," "Infan ; Baptism Explained and Defended" ant Letters to Theological Student" In ad ; dition to these were numerous papers pub
 lished in the periodicals of the day. O. the above, the sermons intimately associ ated with this people were: Dedication O ) the New Meeting House." Discourse a
 the Funeral of Joseph Foote, D. c. D. "Sermon at the Funeral of Dea. Eleaze ) Warner" and Discourse at the Funeral O Dea. Byard Barnes"
 He died in Bristol, Conn.,, January 28 1883
 If unusual prominence in this history has been given this devoted servant o God, in view of the brief time he minis .1