Morning journal and courier., 1891-12-22
pLYmoUTH,s CELEBRATION.

F OC4lHok A1lVNs Its COntinuation-Sever Former |
 Pastors Present-Interesting His- l
 torical Sketch With Personal Rem- 1
 iniscences of Many of the Members. l
 The Plymouth church of Milford con tnued yesterday its celebrating of an oc- casion of great interest to its members, viz: the one hundred and fiftieth anni- versary of thestime the church was dedi- cated. The church has always been 8 strong one, and has been for the last few years passing through season of unpar- alleled prosperity. The jubilee opened Sunday, the 20th, as mentioned hitherto, with sermon by Rev. Dr. Lewis o. Bras tow of the divinity school in Yale university, from the text, 'tPeace be With in Thy Walls," Psalms 122; 7-9. It was sermon congratulating the members of this church upon their long history and greet other churches. In the afternoon there were speeches by four different pastors: Rev H. H. Morse of the First church of Milford, Rev. McMillan of the Methodist Episcopal church, Rev. Joel s. Ives of Stratford, Rev. H. w. Hunt of Orange. They all spoke words of congrat- | ulation and praise to the members of the | old church.
 Yesterday afternoon Rev. MT. Upson, | the present pastor of the church, read 8 | historical sketch of the church since it's l foundation.
 It is an off-shoot of the first church in Milford. There is 8 paper in possession of the church which is signed by thirty heads of families and which states that if that number "remain steadfaat in the faith" they would set up the worship of God in house of their own. The l immediate cause for the existence of the church was a trouble which certain mem- | bsrs of the First church had with 8 Rev. l MT. Whittlesey, at that time pastor of the First church. On the first Sunday in De- cember, 1S41, meetings were first opened
 in private house. The church was first
 formed as Presbyterian church and no
 tice is found in the early records, given at Presbyterian society. This was to be at
 Stratfeld, now Bridgeport. The Presby-
 tery of New Brunswick sent letter con- gratulatory at this time. Those that came | out of the First church to form the Ply | mouth church were men of soberness and l solidity of mind The step was taken
 after due consideration. The salary of the first minister is interesting on account of
 it's quaintness-9100 pounds and fire wood.
 Rev. Dr. Griffin prepared the his
 torical paper and read the last hail
 of it. The First church, from which this
 one derives it's existence was organized ir
 New Haven Aug. 27, 1649. When the
 first edifice of the Plymouth church wal
 formed number of men banded together
 and subscribed to build "pulpit." Al
 several hundred dollars was subscribed
 the inference is that 'pulpit" with oul
 forefathers meant church entire. IT
 1747 we find the society as fully equipped
 as Presbyterian church, with Job Prud
 den as pastor. The paper traced the his
 tory of the church through the storm
 that accompanied it's birth. One very in
 teresting incident was related. Aaro1
 Burr was at that time vice president o1
 the United States. He had been to Bostol
 to transact some government business
 and had got back to New Haven ol
 left for New York, travelling wit
 great pomp for those days. A
 Ie was passing by the little Presbyteria,
 church in the town of Milford certai
 Deacon Higby came out of the church an' stopped the equipage by his authority a
 tithing master of the village. Vice-presi
 dent Burr at once perceived the humor o
 the situation and told him that he woul ! have to lay any complaint he might hay , before tho United States government as h , was the vice-president. The deacon let tn
 equipage pass. In 1776 Ca good old yea of revolution" friendly relations wer , established between the two churche , which had been at variance for so long There was the custom of rising at the CT , trance and exit of the minister in tn
 church at this time. The custom is sti perpetuated in the senior bow at Yale. The paper brought the history of tn church down to 1850, with a sketch C each minister. After this time just tn dates of the different ministers, thinkin that the memory of most might exten ) back that far. The pulpit was tasteful 5 decorated with honse plants, and pictur l of the old church edifce was hung i ) front. In the rear of the church is 8 cal l met made out of the wood of the steeple ( l the old church. The first steeple on th
 old church, by the way, was blown owe l in the terrific gale in September, 172s | In this cabinet is the old communion SCI l | vice which was used when the church wa 7 first formed, also several souvenir spoons . made out of some historic old silver, wit l designs of the Milford Memorial Bridge. 8 Rev: George A. Grifins was preser = with the society, of which he was paste B from 1865 -'S5-a period of twenty year also William A Sco6eld, 8 former pasto1 : A letter was read from Rev. N. G. Axte ] of Evanston, H., deploring his inabilit to be present, and wishing the churc 8 every spiritual blessing.
 This evening the anniversary will clos Q with concert in which the choir chorr l will participate, assisted by soloists bot
 vocal and instrumental.
 tsOur Chauncey.',
 8 A new and original book entitled, "Or
 Chauncey," collection of after-dinnt {, rhymes by Isaac H. Bromley. It is gotte j, up in fancy illustrated style and presen n g very attractive appearance. The arti
 tic work is by O. D. Gibson and Da ,, Beard. These rhymes were delivered , : the banquet of the New York Yale Alum ' nj association January 23, 1891. For sa
 at Judd's.