Dr. Smalley studied with Dr. Bellamy; Dr. Emmons studied with Dr. Smalley. What an illustrious line! The ministerial lives of the three last were, respectively, fifty, sixty-two and seventy-one years, after licensure. Their combined ages were two hundred and fifty-three years. They preached the Gospel one hundred and sixty-five years. They were active pastors, without colleagues, one hundred and fifty-five years. They trained two hundred students at least for the ministry, and gave to the press several hundred publications. But the length of the labors of these men, wonderful as it seems in these days, is not altogether exceptional. There have been two hundred and forty Congregational ministers reared in Connecticut who have had a ministry of half a century and over. Dr. Smalley was surrounded by men of this class. On the south-west, in Southington, Rev. William Robinson was settled forty-one years. On the south, in the parish of Kensington, Rev. Benjamin Upson, D.D, forty-seven years, followed by Rev. Royal Rohbins, forty-five years. On the east, in Newington, Rev. Joshua Belden was settled sixtysix years, and an active pastor fifty-eight years; and Rev. Joab Brace, D.D., sixtyone years, and an active pastor fifty-one years. These two ministers also followed each other. In Farmington, on the north, Rev. Noah Porter was settled sixty one years, and was an active pastor fifty-five years. Then, in the bordering towns, and a little further away in the same Association, were many other half-century pastorates-Rev. Dr. Chapin, of Rocky Hill, sixty years, and Dr. Perkins, of West Hartford, sixty-six years, and so on. Dr. Smalley exercised his commanding influence through his preaching, his students and his books. In 1769 he published two sermons on Natural and Moral Inability, which widely circulated in this country and in Great Britain. In this treatise he made a substantial contribution to the theological thinking of his age, and one which will always remain. It was a position which brought upon him furious charges from the older Calvinists, who held to the moral ruin of man's entire nature, but the "new light" made its way. Dr. Emmons has preserved an amusing record of his first experience with this new-divinity man: "When I first went as a pupil to Dr. Smalley I was full of old Calvinism, and thought I was prepared to meet the doctor on all points of his new divinity. For some time all things went on smoothly. At length he began to advance some sentiments which were new to me, or opposed to my former views. I contended with him, but he quietly tripped up my heels and there I lay at his mercy. But I had no thought of giving up so. I arose and commenced the struggle anew, but before I was aware of it I was floored again. Thus matters proceeded for some time-he gradually leading me along to the place of light and I struggling to remain in darkness. At length he gained the victory: I began to see a little light; it was a new point and seemed distant; by degrees it grew and came nearer. From that time to this the light has been increasing, and I feel assured that the great doctrines of grace which I have preached for fifty years are in strict accordance with the law and the testimony." * Congregational Quarterly, July, 1873. NEW ENGLAND STATISTICS. 233 CHAPTER XI. GENERAL SUMMARIES. T is impossible at the present time to set forth a full statis clergy connected with them, at the close of the colonial period. The necessary data do not now exist. A few fragmentary items have, however, been gathered, after considerable research, which will afford tolerable satisfaction. They are statements in regard to particular sections. New England. From a discourse preached by Rev. Ezra Styles, D.D., before the Congregational clergy of Rhode Island, April 23, 1760, a number of interesting particulars have been collected respecting the ecclesiastical condition of New England.* The following, as he supposed, was the condition of the different sects. Jews, 70 persons; Moravians, 70 persons; Episcopalians, 2,100 families, or 12,600 souls. There were 27 Episcopal missions, including two "itinerances." The 27 missionaries, with three other ministers, officiated in 47 churches and places of divine worship. Six or seven of the congregations were large, others were small, some not exceeding fifteen or twenty families each. Friends, 16,000-a large estimate; Baptists, 22,000. "At present," said Dr. Styles, "the Congregationalists have about 530 churches, which double in less than thirty years. The aged ministers now living have in their day seen 130 churches increase to 530. In 1643 the 15.000 souls in New England were cantoned into 34 churches. In 1650 there were 40 churches and 7.750 communicants. Perhaps there may now be (1760) 60,000 to 70,000 communicants. In 1696 there were 130 churches, of which 35 were in Connecticut. Now there are 530 churches, of which 170 are in Connecticut, hence the period of doubling for the churches is thirty years at furthest. In 115 years we have increased 500 churches upon 34 churches." * See American Quarterly Register, August, 1834, pp. 20-26. Accompanying this discourse there is a list of the clergy of New England, each given by name with his residence and denominational relations, from which the following table has been compiled. CLERGY IN NEW ENGLAND IN 1760. Province of New York in 1771.* The number of inhabitants in the colony was estimated at 130,000. Dutch Reformed.-There were 23 Dutch Reformed ministers, who had congregations all of which were considerably large. Most of the ministers had two, and some three churches. There were besides 24 vacant congregations, some of which were of respectable size, and were able to support the Gospel if they could have obtained ministers. Presbyterians.-There were 45 Presbyterian clergymen in the province, most of whom had fixed charges, and three of whom had none. Many of the congregations were large. There were 15 vacant congregations. Considerable numbers of Presbyterians were scattered in the new settlements who were not collected into congregations. Episcopalians.-There were 21 clergymen in the colony, some of whom had large congregations. The churches in New York City, "as a corporation, had a very large estate in lands in and adjoining the city, granted them by Lord Cornbury," the greater part of which, however, some persons for a time claimed as their right; besides a large tract of land in Gloucester County, which they held free of encumberance. This tract consisted of 25,000 acres, and was granted March 31, 1770. Lutherans.-There were 3 Lutheran ministers in the colony, and 10 vacant congregations. Anabaptists.-There were 12 Anabaptist ministers in the province, and 4 vacant congregations. * American Quarterly Register, August, 1834, pp. 26, 27. STATISTICS OF The middLE STATES. 255 There were also 2 French Protestant congregations, 3 Moravian, 17 Quaker meeting houses, I congregation of Jews, and a number of separate or lay preachers. There were no Roman Catholics, as the public exercise of their religion in the province was prohibited by law. The Middle States, in 1759.* Presbyterians.--This body previously consisted of two synods, the New York and Philadelphia; but in May, 1758, they were united in one, and called the New York and Philadelphia Synod. The following were the presbyteries and the number of ministers in each : -- Dutch Reformed.-One coetus, or synod, with 20 ministers. Baptists. In New York, 3; New Jersey, 5; Pennsylvania, 4 ministers. Episcopalians.-In New York, 7 ministers; New Jersey, 5; Pennsylvania, 4 ministers. English Missionaries in America, in 1762.* The Society for Propagating the Gospel employed the following number of missionaries in this country; Total, 68 missionaries, besides about a dozen school-masters. In 1775 all the foregoing denominations had considerably increased. Rev. Robert Baird, D.D., who devoted very close attention to this subject, gave the following statistics of the number of ministers and churches at that time as the result of his investiga *American Quarterly Register, August, 1834, p. 26. tions. It is doubtful whether any thing more satisfactory can now be found: STATISTICS OF CHURCHES AND MINISTERS IN THE UNITed States, 1775.* NOTE.-The number of Indians in New England in 1675, according to Mr. Bancroft, was about 30,000; but the white population, according to the above estimates, was not much less than 70,000 at that time. The foreign increment for eighty years before the Revolution was not large. Savage (Introduction to his Genealogical Dictionary) says: "I suppose that n neteen twentieths of the people of these New England colonies in 1775 were descendants of those found here in 1692." The proportion was probably not much larger in other colonies. Dr. Franklin thought that of the one million English souls in North America in 1751 not eighty thousand had been brought over the sea. * Religion in America. By Rev. Robert Baird, D.D. New York; Harper & Broliers. 1856. P. 210. † Added by the author of this volume. From Seaman's Essays on the Progress of Nations. New York: Charles Scribner. 1852. | History of the United States. Vol. II, p. 93. Pp. 579-583. |