196 



CIVIL HISTORY OF VERMONT. 



Part II. 



EARLV FRIENDS OF THE CHURCH. 



MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH- 



learned and able men to illustrate and 

 maintain the grounds of her faith, wor- 

 ship and discipline — without a class of 

 pious, active and studious young men 

 rising up to assume the solemn duties of 

 the ministry — and at the same time crush- 

 ed beneath prejudice, how could she in- 

 crease ? The writer confesses, with un- 

 feigned satisfaction, his admiration of those 

 excellent and steadfast men — clergymen 

 some, laymen many — who, "shoulder to 

 siioulder," by tlie help of God, kept alive 

 the cause of the Church when it seemed 

 to be hopeless, and from utterly becoming 

 extinct, preserving it to better times. Chit- 

 tenden, Ogden, Pardee, the Hards, the 

 Canficlds, the Hawleys, Wooster, Gid- 

 dings, Squier, Whitlock, Chipman, wor- 

 thy names ! ! 



As respects Christian piety, a faithful 

 and consistent attention to tlie various 

 demands of duty both public and private, 

 it is not to be supposed, that under exist- 

 ing circumstances the Cliurch was in ad- 

 vance of surrounding sects. The times 

 did not demand " a forth-putting piety," 

 as now. It is stated by a respectable cler- 

 gyman, who commenced his labors near 

 that period, that the great doctrines of 

 grace were but little understood by either 

 the clergy or the laity. It is a " liard 

 saying" to leave on record, without some 

 attention to circumstances. Quite proba- 

 bly among subjects frequently discussed 

 were those connected witli the visible pe- 

 culiarities of tlie Church, because these 

 were the occasion of repeated attacks. 



The number of communicants in all the 

 parishes was small. According to the 

 Rev. Mr. Bronson, who came into tiie 

 Diocese in 1802, we might set down, for 

 Arlington, Manchester and Sandgate, 

 2() "pious communicants" — Pawlet and 

 Wells, !.■)— Shelburne, Fairfield, Bethel 

 and Weathersfield, '30 — with scattered in- 

 dividuals in other places sufficient to make 

 up 80 or 90 in all. 



The Church is much indebted to the 

 pious and self-denying labors of the Rev. 

 Bethuel Chittenden, who, witnessing witli 

 sorrow her desolation, at the age of fifty 

 )'ears forsook his secular pursuits, and 

 with such preparation as a high order of 

 natural talents, with little time and poor 

 advantages, could secure, entered into 

 Holy Orders. He was ordained by Bishop 

 Seabury; labored a few years at Tinmouth 

 and neighboring places ; and at length re- 

 moved to Shelburne, where he remained 

 till his death in 180D — visiting occasion- 

 sionally Fairfield, Weathersfield, Bethel, 

 Pawlet, Wells and Rockingham. He may 

 be said to have " died with his harness on 

 him." On a Sunday morning, while sit- 



ting in his chair with his people assem- 

 bled around him, and tibout to engage in 

 tlie solemnities of the holy communion, 

 his spirit suddenly took its flight to other 

 worlds. He was a man of strong good 

 sense — fond of controversy and skilful in 

 it — but not of a classical education. 



The Rev. Daniel Barber ofllciated sev- 

 eral years at Manchester ; but the pros- 

 pect of a speedy recovery of the Church 

 lands failing, he became discouraged and 

 left the Diocese. In advanced age, worn 

 down with domestic trials, he went over 

 to the Roman communion, in which he 

 died. 



The Rev. John Cosins Ogden render- 

 ed most valuable services to our infant 

 Churches. A veteran churchman recol- 

 lects his making a journey on foot from 

 Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 100 miles, 

 in order to visit them. 



The Rev. Amos Pardee, a clergyman 

 of worth and consistency of character, 

 spent a few j'ears among the Churches in 

 the south west part of the Diocese. He 

 left in ISOl. 



Tiie writer is constrained, though with 

 sorrow, to mention the names of two oth- 

 er individuals, who for a time bore no in- 

 considerable part among the friends of 

 the Church — the Rev. James Nichols, who 

 resided at Sandgate, and the Rev. Russell 

 Catlin, who resided at Hartland. The 

 former was a man of talents and elo- 

 quence ; the latter possessed neither. It 

 is painful to think of, and better not to de- 

 scribe, the latter days of either. 



Such is a brief account of the Protes- 

 tant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of 

 Vermont down to the close of the last cen- 

 tury. It might be said she dwelt in tents, 

 for we cannot find, that she possessed a 

 single finished temple. But we shall have 

 the pleasure of witnessing a better state 

 of things as we advance. 



Before we proceed with our sketch, we 

 think it proper to give some account of 

 the landed estates granted for purposes 

 connected with the Church. And not to 

 recur to the subject again, we will throw 

 together here all the particulars we think 

 it important to give. With pleasure we 

 acknowledge ourselves in this much in- 

 debted to the Rev. Mr. Bronson. 



After the close of the French war and 

 the establishment of peace on the Cana- 

 dian frontier, Benning Wentworth, gov- 

 ernor of New Hampshire, whose jurisdic- 

 tion was supposed to cover the territory 

 now known as the state of Vermont, caus- 

 ed a considerable portioft of that territory 

 to be survej^ed out into townships. Each 

 townf^hip being divided into seventy eciual 

 shaves, the governor, in settling the terms 



