The secession of this church from the Parish may be dated from the ordination of a "teacher of piety, religion and morality" over the Parish without the choice of the church, Oct. 29, 1818. Such ordination was a new event in the ecclesiastical history of New England.* The consequent secession of the church deeply enlisted the sympathy of the evangelical pastors and churches in all this vicinity. The subsequent loss of the funds, which were the exclusive property of the church, was a serious inconvenience, requiring great sacrifices and a liberal charity. But you have been prospered and enlarged. There was no young man in the church and few young people in the society, when you commenced this enterprise in faith and hope. This house of worship was completed and consecrated to the service of the one Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Dec. 30, 1819. Your present Pastor came to you in July, 1820, and was ordained March 14, 1821. Several years did the fathers survive to enjoy the fruit of their labors, and have departed this life in peace, grateful that it was in their heart to make sacrifices and endure reproach for the name of Christ.

tion was not easy. Besides, it would be a departure from the plan of this volume, which was to confine it to the 17th and 18th centuries. The just popularity of Dr. Bates and his official station have called him to preach before the American Education Society and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, at the ordination of ministers and on many other public occurrences.

* If any one shall hereafter wish to review the history of this unhappy affair, he is referred to the records of the church and of the Parish, to the periodical papers of the day, to the "Spirit of the Pilgrims," pp. 175, 328, of vol. ii.-to" Statement of the Proceedings in the First Church and Parish in Dedham respecting the settlement of a Minister, 1818. 8vo. Cambridge, 1819, by a Member of said Church and Parish," and to Massachusetts Reports, vol. xvi. pp. 488-522. Eminent jurists have protested against the judgment of the Court in the case, and a large proportion of the people of Massachusetts have ascribed it to the bias of religious prejudice.

The character and services of Dea. Samuel Fales, who was a pillar in this church at the time of its secession from the Parish, and who died Sept. 20, 1834, are entitled to a distinct notice. Like Samuel, the ancient prophet, he was called by the grace of God when a child. He maintained secret prayer at an early age, and lived a most exemplary and peaceful life. Retiring in his disposition, slow of speech, distrustful of himself, he still exhibited a fortitude, a liberality and a greatness of soul in the day of trial, which a supreme love to Christ and a near prospect of eternity could alone inspire. By habitual industry and economy in the culture of his paternal estate, he had laid aside a moderate sum of money, which he now expended to honor his Saviour and maintain his cause. Often did he say that " he never did any thing more cheerfully in his life, and that if it were to be done over again, he would not wish to do less, and that he was compensated even in this world a thousand times." It is understood that he expended nearly three thousand dollars in this enterprise, which, when we consider his frugal habits as a farmer, exhibit a remarkable spirit of liberality. His last days were full of peace, hope and joy. His tongue was unloosed. His pious exhortations and counsels were replete with wisdom, which his surviving friends will never forget. As he had defrayed the expenses of the Communion Table during the last fourteen years of his life, so he made provision by a small legacy for the same purpose after his death. He would have left his estate, in part or wholly, to the church, if his deliberate conclusion had not been that the order and purity of our churches are more safe without permanent funds, which are so often perverted from their original design.

His daughter, widow of the late Dea. Joseph Swan, gave to the church two silver flagons and a baptismal font.

"The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." The goodness of God is to be celebrated in reviving the work of his Spirit. The promise is unto you and to your children." The Records of the church during seventeen years since my ordination, exhibit the following statistical facts: 94 were the original members at the time of the secession: 345 have been added, 67 by letter, and 278 on a profession of repentance for sin and faith in Christ: 64 removed by death, 120 transferred by letter to other churches, and 4 excluded: 160 children baptized, and 109 adults: 134 marriages celebrated: 100 usually present in Bible classes, 150 in the Sabbath school: 238 have died in this congregation, and about twice that number within the territorial limits of the First Parish.

Without a further prosecution of the history, there are several topics entitled to our notice. Such are the character of the ministers, the peaceful spirit of the people, the uniform adherence to evangelical doctrine, and to the Congregational discipline and mode of worship, and the terms of admission to the church.

The ministry has been uniformly considered as a divine institution, indispensable to the existence and prosperity of the church. It has been permanent, not by rotation or for a definite term of years. The ministers have been settled for life, and there has been no instance of dismission in consequence of sickness, or removal to another church, or of rejection under the infirmities of age. Nor did they remove, because they were discouraged with difficulties, or because the people thought their usefulness at an end, or because they were fickle in mind or could obtain a more eligible situation. The five ministers, who have departed this life, died in office and in the affections of the people, and their remains slumber among you. In the grave-yard, the pastors and the people lie side by side. The duration of their ministry was comparatively long, extending through 165 years. And such was the unblemished integrity of their character, that nothing appears to their disadvantage, no impeachment, no accredited scandal, no calling of council. All this speaks in praise of the pastors themselves and of the church. They were all men of classical education, trained up to their profession, of good repute for natural gifts and acquired learning. They read the Scriptures in the original languages. Their sermons expound Scripture,

* There have been "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," as in 1821, 1827, 1831 and 1834, in which it is hoped that three hundred individuals have felt the renewing power of the Spirit and been emancipated from the bondage of sin. Several of these have been admitted to churches in other towns.

On June 11, 1835, thirteen members were dismissed from this church, who with others now constitute the "Spring Street Church in West Roxbury.' This Vine, which the Lord hath planted, bids fair to flourish in future years. Rev. Christopher Marsh is its Pastor.

state doctrines, contain plan and method, inferences and application. They made good use of the pen in their preparation for the pulpit, and did not depend on the incidental effusions of the moment. Their sermons were one and two hours long, as measured by a glass in the pulpit. And, at an early period, both men and women were accustomed to take down notes. The necessity of a learned and well educated ministry in the churches led to the establishment of Harvard College, and it was this that drew forth their frequent and liberal contributions for its support and enlargement.

This people have not been given to contention or to change. They were not early divided into sects or parties. They were not rent asunder by the Antinomian controversy, nor infected with the mania of witchcraft. As a body they have been stable and consistent Congregationalists, with liberal views of the rights of conscience, strict in their moral habits, exemplary in their attendance on domestic and public worship, and patriotic in their spirit. The Congregational discipline and mode of worship are in happy accordance with a republican form of government, while their simplicity and scriptural authority give them a fair prospect of being sustained among us for two hundred years to come.

In respect to Christian doctrine, there is no controversy that all the ministers of this church have been strict and uniform in their adherence to the same great principles of the gospel. They have exhibited the same spirit, taught the same catechism, and entered into the same covenant. Their printed sermons sufficiently show the harmony of their faith. None were admitted to the church. before 1793 without giving satisfactory evidences of vital piety. These were, a heart renewed and enlightened by the Spirit, a sincere renunciation of sin, a cordial trust in Christ as the true and only Saviour, an assent to the doctrines of grace, and an exemplary course of life. These credible evidences of personal or experimental piety were to be ascertained, not by the private examination of the pastor or elders alone, but by a public confession before the full assembly of the church. This mode was attended with serious inconveniences, as on the part of illiterate persons and timid females. We may well presume that a written narrative of religious experience was often substituted for a public confession. This was the usage of the New England churches extensively. In the great revival about 1742, during the Rev. Mr. Dexter's ministry, it was left discretionary with the candidate to make his confession before the whole church or before its officers only. But the terms and style of admission suffered no important change until 1793, when it was left to the candidate to make a profession in public or to subscribe to the covenant in private. The form of the covenant, too, was so changed, as to

favor the admission of any, who were not openly infidel or immoral. This last act prepared the way for the disruption of the church in 1818. Many other causes contributed to the same result. Subsequent to the Revolutionary war, there was a lamentable change in public morals. The camp is the school of vice. The Sabbath was desecrated,-the word and ordinances of God were neglected,-public attention was diverted from things spiritual and divine,-infidel principles and pamphlets were imported from France, the pastors of the churches had been chaplains in the army, Harvard College, whence emanated the ministers of the day, became cold in its piety,-the worship of God in the family was widely suspended, and the Spirit in his convincing and sanctifying power withdrew. Some churches became alienated from the true faith, and perhaps all suffered in their vital interests. This church did not escape the contagion of the age. Unconverted persons obtained access to its ordinances, and discipline was relaxed.

In the review, what do we owe to our ancestors? "Whose are the Fathers." It is an honor to claim such a lineage. They were a peculiar people. They are entitled to our veneration for their private virtues and public services. They claim our gratitude and filial respect. Their good example merits our imitation. We ought to beware how we root up what they planted, and break down what they built up. They labored, suffered and bled for us. They exercised self-denial for our comfort, and endured privations to secure to us our literary, civil and religious advantages. This ought to endear to us our Bibles, schools and republican institutions. We ought to carry their plans into execution, so far as we can with a sober judgment and a good conscience. They desired us to receive nothing with an implicit faith in human authority, but left to us the right of private judgment which they claimed, and the same standards of truth to which they resorted. And how can we meet their frowns, if we subvert the church which they founded, divide the Republic which they united, and reject the Saviour whom they adored?

What do we owe to our successors? To transmit to them the equitable laws and free institutions which have been entailed to us, to improve our schools, to preserve our churches pure, to perpetuate a healthful state of public morals, to multiply our Bibles, and to render ourselves worthy of their respect and imitation, are a part of our duty toward them. We can take our children by the hand and lead them to the tombs of our fathers, and tell them the story of their achievements and sufferings. We can enter into covenant with God in their behalf, consecrate them to his service in the precious ordinance of baptism, govern them in his fear, instruct them in the elementary principles

of the gospel, and attend them with our prayers and counsels, till we bequeath to them all share that we may have in the things of time.

And what shall we say to those, who shall celebrate the next Centennial Anniversary in this church? No one of us will be seen in their assembly. Our names and works will be lost in the distance of the past. But records, minute and faithful, will declare facts. We send down to them a volume of the Discourses of the early ministers of this church, some of which had become the food of worms and were soon to be consigned to utter oblivion. Will they wish us to note the signs of the times? Shall we tell them that it is an age of enterprise and bold adventure? that advances in the arts are rapid? that canals are dug and railroads constructed? that our rivers and lakes are navigated, and the wide Atlantic is crossed, by the power of steam? that the last of the red men in these States, being rudely pushed, are slowly retiring into the Western forests; and that free colonies on the shores of Africa invite the return of her emancipated sons from this country? Shall we tell them that it is an age of Bible, Missionary, Education and Tract Societies,-of Asylums and Schools, of Lyceums and Periodical Papers? Shall we tell them that the Sabbath school, designed for the free instruction of all children in divine knowledge, is in extensive and successful operation? Shall we tell them that the Temperance Reform is far advanced? Shall we tell them that names, once known and honored in this town, Lusher and Aldis, Dwight and Wheelock, Belcher and Dexter, Ames and Sprague, Avery and Swan, are now extinct among us? Shall we tell them that while some errors in religion are popular, and a lamentable proportion of the people are greatly indifferent to the welfare of the soul, God in his mercy revives his work, sinners turn to Christ, and the churches are often enlarged? Shall we cordially salute them as the heirs to our goodly heritage, to our Sabbaths and sanctuaries, to our schools and libraries, to our free institutions and equitable laws, to our lands and houses, to our present sources of enjoyment and to our immortal prospects, -in the prayer and devout hope that we and they may prove to be true and worthy sons of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Pilgrims?

In conclusion, it may be remarked, that the enterprise which brought our fathers into this wilderness, only begins to be developed. The rapid settlement of this country seems like the work of enchantment. Cities are founded, where the red men lately pitched their tents. Villages flourish, where the deer nursed its fawn without disturbance, or the wolf howled in the silence of night. Our fathers had no special foreknowledge, and did not comprehend