The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-05-12
SECONDCENTURY OF FAIRFIELD
 CONSOLATION
At Anniversary Celebration In Which Congregational Ministers Participated Interesting Papers
 Are Read.

Rev. B. N. Packard -Dr.
 Palmer, Former Bridge
 port Pastor, Presides.
 The 2OOth anniversary of the Con- sociation of Fairfield was celebrated yesterday afternoon and evening in ] the First Congregational church. Pa pers were read by Rev. Frank s. Child, Fairfield, upon "The Council at Strat- field''; by Rev. E. N. Packard, Strat- ford, on ''The Standing Order and Re ligious Liberty in Connecticut; by Prof. Williston Walker, Yale Univer- sity, on ''The Saybrook Platform and Connecticut Congregationalism", and by Rev. Joseph Selden of Greenwich, on 'The Liberal Tendencies of Con | gregationalism." These papers con- | stituted reasonably complete review | of the history of Congregationalism in | Connecticut, and fairly complete pie ture of the struggle for religious toler- ance which eliminated in the constitu- | tion of 1918.
 Rev. Charles L. Palmer of New Ha- | ven, long a pastor in this city, pre- | sided as the senior minister of the Consociation. At the morning session there was Scriptural reading by Rev. Morgan Millar, Olivet church, and prayer was offered by Rev. L. F. | Berry, Stamford. At the conclusion | of the session supper was served to the pastors and delegates in the North chapel by the women of the church. The evening service began at 7:30 | o'clock, and was presided over by Rev. w. H. Holman, Southport, senior min ister of the Fairfield West Consocia- ton. Rev. w. I. Maurer, pastor of the West End church, read the Scrip lures, and Rev. G. D. Egbert of Nor walk offered prayer. The paper by Prof. Williston Walker was heard with | interest.
 Rev. E. N. Packard, stratford, on ''The Standing Order and Religious Liberty in Connecticut said in part:
 Our subject takes us back to old, unhappy, far-off things and battles long ago,-to struggle that went on for more than a century within the bounds of this colony between the Es- | tablished Congregational Churches and ! various forms of dissent from it.
 ''The Saybrook Platform was adopt ed in 1706 and immediately erected in- ] to the law of the colony. The Leg ! islature declared that all the churches within this government that are or shall be united in doctrine, worship and discipline be and for the future shall be owned and acknowledged es- tablished by law
 | Church and State were never more closely united although the General | Court passed at once a Federation Act, for sober dissenters', yet the term
  | attitude towards all who should ven- ture to seek other methods of worship and discipline
 | But five distinct religious bodies in their turn and without agreement with l each other, in long years of vexatious | conflict, wrested from the Standing Order the rights of Christian Freemen now acknowledged everywhere. | "Of the five contestants against the l system we might first mention the Quakers, although they had substan- tially won out their liberties from | physical persecution when Penn was in high favor at the English court, in | 1705 The law against heretics in | fidels and Quakers was annulled in 1705 but it was not until 172s that these people could have their own ser vices without paying double tax. 1.-The Baptists appeared early in New England and their prosecutions are part of another chapter in colonial history. In 1865 Massachusetts first allowed them to become churches. In | 1704 our General Court refused them permission to build a church and when | they ventured to do this at Groton | they were fined. flogged and impris oned. As time went on, however, they gained their rights. Apart from the main body of Baptists there were | Seventh Day Baptists, Rogerine Bap- | lists and Rogerine Quakers. Two brothers Rogers gave the name to the sect.
 ..The establishment of Episcopapcy in the colony opens a most interesting | chapter in our history since it was ~within the bounds of our Consocia-. tions that they gained their first foot | hold. At Stratford which included a large part of this county, their first | church was established in 1707, and some time after 17S4 Bishop Seabury, | their first American Bishop, confirmed | his first class at Stratford.
 Tn 1727 the Episcopalians petition | ed the General Court to be relieved of double tax, on the strong ground that as the fathers had left England | to escape supporting the English | Church they ought not to make a sim liar demand here in this colony. Ease | ment was granted in 50 far that taxes might be set off to sunnort the rectors | of Episcopal churches and those who SO paid should not pay for the Stand l ing Order at the same time. But pet | ty abuses and annoying prosecutions | followed, since the collection and dis | bursement of taxes was in the hands of the town officers who were of the | Standing Order. When Mansfield, Yale 1745, sailed to England for or | ders, it is said that his sister prayed | that he might be drowned at sea. l "There appeared in the southeastern | part of the State number of churches called Separates or New Lights. They repu6iated the Saybrook Platform and under the influence of the powerful revivals cried out for a more simple, spiritual kind of preaching and church | life.
 ''rhe Separates after forty years in the wilderness disappeared after gain | ing a measure of recognition at law. After the Revolution. in 17S4, the | Saybrool1 Platform faded out of sight | in the revised laws of the State. Our | Standing Order allied itself closely l with the Federal Party and lost ground in public favor. In the new | constitution of Connecticut in ISIS, all religious bodies were placed upon the same level of privilege and the Stand ing Order was no more-