previously scoffers at religion, were the first to become "believers." "In many places, people would cry out in time of public worship under a sense of the overbearing guilt and misery, and the all-consuming wrath of God, due to them for their iniquities; others would faint and swoon under the affecting views which they had of Christ; some would weep and sob, and there would sometimes be so much noise among the people in particular places, that it was with difficulty that the preacher could be heard." In some few instances, it seems, that the minister was not allowed to finish his discourse, there was so much crying out and disturbance.

There is no doubt that this revival was of great importance to the cause of true religion, and on the whole greatly advanced its interests. The state of society was very much benefited by its influence. But there were very great excesses and improprieties committed by heated and over-zealous persons during its continuance, which were productive of very unhappy effects. Bodily agitations and outcries were encouraged by Davenport and others, and pronounced unmistakeable signs of conversion. These men pretended to know by some divine perception communicated to them from above, who were true Christians and who were not; and not unfrequently would publicly declare other ministers of the gospel unconverted, who to all appearance, were men of as much grace and piety, at least, as themselves. These proceedings gave rise to many errors, which sprang up in the churches. They did not seem to follow truth, or reason, or indeed any fixed rules of conduct, but were wholly governed by inward impulses, pretending, as before mentioned, to know the state of men's hearts by some spiritual, instinct, quicker and surer than the old common sense, Bible process of learning the state of the heart from a man's character and conduct in life. "Another phenomenon of the times," says Dr. Bacon in his "Historical Discourses," was the class of itinerating ministers, who either having no charge of their own, or without call, forsaking their proper fields of labor, went up and down in the land making their own arrangements and appointments, and operating in ways which tended more to disorganize than to build up the churches. I do not mean such men as Wheelock, Pomeroy, Bellamy and Edwards himself, who went where they were invited, and calculated to demean themselves everywhere with Christian courtesy and propriety, and whose preaching wherever they went-certainly the two latter-was much better than the preaching of Whitefield, for every purpose but popular excitement. I mean those men of far inferior qualifications, who, moved by an unbalanced excitement, or by

the ambition of making a noise, or by the irksomeness of regular and steady toil, "shot madly" from their appropriate spheres, if they had any, and went wherever they could find or force a way among the churches, spreading as they went, denunciation, calumny, contention, spiritual pride and confusion."

Mr. Bellamy, and Mr. Graham, of Southbury society, favored the work then going on, and spent much time in preaching in all parts of the colony. They were very popular, and their labors were generally acceptable to their brethren, and useful to the people. They were not noisy preachers, but grave, sentimental, searching and pungent.1

In 1741, a council of ministers from all parts of the colony met at Guilford, and passed various resolutions relating to the existing state of affairs, one of which pronounced it disorderly "for a minister to enter into another minister's parish and preach, or administer the seals of the covenant, without the consent of, or in opposition to the settled minister of the parish." This was followed by an act on the part of the General Assembly, in May, 1742, prohibiting any ordained or licensed minister to preach or exhort, in any society not under his care, without the invitation of the settled minister, and a major part of the church and society, on pain of being excluded from the benefit of the law for the support of the ministry; also to prohibit any one, not a settled or ordained minister, from going into any parish to teach and exhort the people, without like permission, on penalty of being bound to good behavior; and there was a further clause, that if any foreigner, whether licensed to preach or not, should offend in this particular, he should be sent as a vagrant, by warrant, from constable to constable, out of the colony. This was entitled "an act for regulating abuses and correcting disorders in ecclesiastical affairs."

This law was aimed at the whole movement, in order to discountenance and overthrow it. Notwithstanding this, two associations bore witness to the " Awakening" as a glorious work of God. These were the association of Windham county, and the association of the eastern district of Fairfield country. In the latter district, were the four ministers from the four societies of Woodbury, viz: Anthony Stoddard, of the first, John Graham, of the second, Joseph Bellamy, of the third, and Reuben Judd, of the fourth, who were present, and bore affirmative testimony.

1 Dr. Trumbull.

Dr. Bellamy's church also, in reference to this law, had a meeting, and passed the following vote:

"June 18, 1742. At a church meeting unanimously voted and agreed, that whereas an act prohibiting the ministers of Christ preaching in another ministers parish without the consent of the major part of the church there, as well as of the minister has been passed by our Genl Assembly:

"Voted by the Ch of Christ in Bethlehem A general and universal invitation to all approved, orthodox preachers and ministers of the gospel, that manifestly appear friends to the present religious concern in the land, that they would, as they have opportunity, come in to the help of the Lord among us. The same publicly concurred with by the pastor."

We can gain a slight conception of the difficulties which surrounded the first settlers of this society, by the prices paid for provisions, and other articles necessary for sustaining life, and later from the extreme difficulty which attended the building of a second meetinghouse. In 1747, Mr. Bellamy's salary was £190, payable in wheat at 12s. per bushel, rye at 9s. and Indian corn at 7s. per bushel. In 1754, we learn by a vote of the society that "27 shillings were paid for a Lock & Kee for the Meeting House." The settlers here, as in the "ancient society" were hardy, enterprising, self-denying men, and nearly all of them were of large stature, and athletic frames. Their traits of character are indicated by their readiness to encounter the labors, perils and privations to which they were subjected in the settlement of the wilderness. The men of the present day may smile at the idea of our fathers thinking so much of a journey from the seacoast, or even from Woodbury to Bethlem, as we are told they did. But they forget the obstacles and dangers they had to encounter. They forget that there were then no public roads; no vehicles which could be employed for the transportation of their goods. There were no steamboats, nor railroads, running with the swiftness of the wind in all directions. The first females, as well as the males, went on foot, or on horseback, through a trackless wilderness, guided by marks upon the trees, or feeling their way wherever they could find room to pass. In the midst of the first drear winter, their provisions gave out, and the inhabitants had to take their way through the pathless forests to the older settlements for food to sustain themselves during the remaining winter months. Samuel and John Steele went to Farmington with a hand-sled, and returned loaded with ears of corn for their pressing necessities. The men of the present day can not imagine the dangers and difficulties that surrounded those early pioneers, exposed to all the perils and privations of the interior forests. But they were men fearing God, and putting their trust in His

promises. That fourteen families in the wilderness, before they had had time to provide for their own pressing wants, should undertake to support a preacher of the gospel, shows the enduring confidence, the lofty trust of those men of iron nerve.

It is related that the first currant bushes ever planted in this society were brought from Guilford, by a Mrs. Parks, on horseback. So in the first society, the first elm tree ever set out was used as a whip to drive a horse from Stratford to Woodbury. It was employed by an ancestor of the late Reuben Walker, for the purpose indicated, and then stuck down in a wet place north of John Bacon's house. It became in time the enormous tree so well known to the inhabitants of the town, which was struck by lightning about two years ago, and so much injured that it has since fallen down. That tree had watched over the town as a sentinel through all its varying interests-through prosperity and adversity—and it is a pity it could not have been preserved as a matter of historical interest.

The first house in the society after a time was deemed too small for its accommodation. Accordingly on the 4th of January, 1764, when there were about one hundred within its limits that paid taxes, they voted to build a second church. On the 28th of the next month, they voted again to build the house, "and to begin and go on moderately and Little by Little." At the same time it was voted that no tax higher than four pence on the pound should be paid at one time, till the house was completed. But this was soon violated, and more than once they laid a tax of more than 1s. on the pound. They then adjourned for the purpose of viewing a place of location, and set their stake 66 at the north-east corner of Mr. Daniel Thompson's lot, next to the Rev. Mr. Joseph Bellamy's House." This location was on the common in front of the residence of the late Hon. Joseph H. Bellamy, grandson of the pastor. On the 24th of May following, Samuel Jackson, Archibald Kasson and Lieut. John Steele, were chosen building committee, to take charge of building the house, on the spot thus selected, and approved by the county court; the house to be "60 by 43 feet, and just as high as ye Meeting House in ye old Society." Three years later, the society voted to "hire the Meeting House raised, and to give each man 4s. per day, that shall raise ye Meeting House, they find themselves all but RHUM, and their wages shall go towards their Meeting house Rates." By a vote of the society, October 20th, 1768, directing the society's committee to "seat the new Meeting House," "and dignify the Pues" therein, we learn when it was finished and ready for worship. In December, 1793, a tax of

sixpence on the pound was laid to build a steeple, provided money enough to purchase a "good decent bell and a Lightning rod" for the same should be raised by subscription. Eighty pounds were soon subscribed, and the bell was obtained. In September, 1774, the society

"Voted that the singers may sit up Gallery all day, if they please, but to keep to their own seat, the men not to infringe on the women pues."

From this it appears, that at this date the old method of performing this part of divine service by the congregation was not yet dispensed with in this society, but for what reason it was necessary to pass a solemn vote to keep the males from infringing on the ladies' rights, does not appear.

On the 28th of February, 1764, "the people of Woodbury Farms1 by their representatives, Barzillai Hendee, Oliver Atwood and Christopher Prentiss, petitioned to be admitted into Bethlehem society, and were admitted on condition that they would help build a Meeting House in Bethlehem center." This request was made as this society was the most convenient place at which to attend church. Perhaps the fame of the pastor had not a little to do in inducing them to make this application to their Bethlehem neighbors.

As will have been seen by what has preceded, the church in Bethlehem, under the ministrations of Mr. Bellamy, was generally prosperous. There were several occasions of revival of religion, and a considerable number of members were added to his church. It is not possible now to relate the particulars concerning them, as the records of the church throw no light on the subject, and no accounts of them have ever been published.

Rev. Dr. Bellamy, who became so celebrated as a divine, and who was in very many respects extraordinary, not only as a minister but as a man, was a native of Cheshire, in this state. He was educated at Yale College, and graduated at that institution in 1735, at the age of sixteen years. Soon after this he became a religious youth, and at the age of eighteen, a minister of the gospel. It was a spectacle not often to be met with, at the present day, to see a youth of eighteen years, traveling from place to place, and preaching to the acceptance of his hearers, in the various Congregational pulpits of this state. In this manner he itinerated for about four years, as he was not settled in Bethlehem till he was about twenty-two years of age.

1 Litchfield South Farms probably.