The Newtown bee., 1896-01-31
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Fairfield County Chat.
BETHEL.
THE OLD CHURCH IN PLUMTREEs.

''We the subscribers, being ap pointed by the town of Danbury on petition of Capt Hezakiah Benedict and other petit toners to designate place in Bethel to erect house on for public worship have agreed on spot of land surrounded by highway in said Bethel little west of the schoolhouse in Plumtrees, so called, and have staked out the same 26 feet east and west and 24 feet north and south. Dated, Danbury, December 2G, l791.-[ Major Taylor, Eli Mygatt, Ben iamin Hickok, Selectmen." The above building was located on point of land south of the present saw mill. This church was called Sandemanian or Glassite and was occupied by few fam flies who withdrew from the old society and became followers of Robert Sande- man, who came from Scotland to Boston and afterward lived and died in Danhury. A few years ago the writer visited his grave in the old Wooster cemetery and copied the following from the grave stone: "Here lies the body of Robert Sandeman, a native of Perth, North Britean, who in the fear uf continual op- position from all sorts of men long and l boldly contended for the ancient faith, 1 that the bare works of Jesus Christ with out deed or thought on the part of man
 is sufficient to present the chief of sinners
 spotless before God. To declare this
 blessed Truth as testified in the Holy i Scriptures, he left his country, he left his friends and after much patient suffer- i ing finished his labors at Danbury, April }, TITO, age B years." Rev L F. Hick- ok, D. D., in a sermon delivered before the church and society at Bethel, Novem- Der 30, 1860, explained the doctrine as follows: "Their distinctive doctrinal pe- culiarities were mainly in their views of saving faith: That an intellectual assent to the Gospel, or. as favorite expres- sion, ''the bare belief of the bare truth,
 without deed or thought on the part of the sinner,'' was starting point to the Christian experience and the only cobdi tion of Gospel salvation. The sinner must believe, as the first step, that Christ died for him in particular, and the faith of the parent was security for the chil- dron to the third and fourth generation" The members of the Plumtrees church as far as is known were Samuel HOyt and wife, Thomas Hoyt and wife, Isaac Vii liams and wife, Hezeklah Benedict and wife, in all dozen families and perhaps more with their sons and daughters. You are probably indebted to one of Plum trees oldest residents and also the writer, who both come within the saving grace of the ancient doctrine. Our grandmoth CTS used to relate to us few of the cus- toms and sayings. They greeted each other with 8 kiss. The preacher was called proclaimer. After the usual ser vice it was customary to have dinner and probably very good dinner. The best of everything was provided for the occasion. The knack of getting up a good dinner was also handed down to the third and fourth generation. If a news paper was taken by any member he was asked to read the ferin (foreign) news. At the close of the meeting before part ing, the question was asked who will fur nish the gutin (food) for next Sundays dinner. It was also customary to part with kiss. Boy like we used to ask our grandmothers how they got along with the old men who used tobacco and drank cider. They would always give us a good natured laugh and tell us they did not think much of the tobacco chewers and cider drinkers. The old Sandeman- ian church was occupied 8 generation by good people and then went into disuse as church but was occupied as dwell ing for another generation and then re- moved. What few members were left in Plumtrees went to Danbury. From last reports but three members are left to pro- claim the ancient doctrines of Robert Sandeman.