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A paper read at Litchfi eld, Connecticut,
September 29, I902 at the I5oth Anni'Versary of the Litchfield County Consociation
and Associati ons
BY

THE REV. ARTHUR

GOODENOUGH

"Remember the days of old, consider the
years of many generations; ask thy father,
and he will show thee; thine elders and
they will tell thee.'' -Deuteronomy 3 2: 7

I'

NORFOLK
Ll RARY
. NORFOLK, CONNECTICUT
I 9 0 3

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I

WISH to-day to say a few of the many
things that might well be said of the
Congregational
churches in Litchfield County.
These churches have given
to the world many noble men and women,
well worthy of mention, and have been
served by many ministers whose names are
written large on the pages of history, but
of these I leave others to speak. Ministers
come and usually go, the churches stay.
Ministers give advice or instruction to the
churches, the churches take what they
please of either.
The churches choose
their ministers, and have much to do with
making or unmaking them.
No minister
has a large influence for good in any com3

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CONGREGATIONAL

CHURCHES

munity without the faithful support of a
working church.
The Saybrook platform of I 708 organized the churches in the various counties of
Connecticut into Consociations, which met
regularly to consider the interests of their
constituent churches, had charge of the installation and dismission of pastors, and were
standing courts with jurisdiction
in all
church trials.
These Consociations were
peculiar to Congregationalism
in Connecticut and were prevalent for about I 60 years.
They are sometimes spoken of in these later
days with disparagement
as representing a
kind of semi-Presbyterianism
contrary to the
principle of our order.
Their actual working was productive of much good to the
churches and their Consociations were much
loved by many good and wise men.
While
many of the original Massachusetts churches
went over to Unitarianism, there was not a
single instance of this kind in Connecticut,
and the different result was probably due to
the Consociations.
The Consociation
of
Litchfield County and the Association of
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LITCHFIELD

COUNTY

Ministers which occupied the same territory, were organized in I 7 5 z. In September, 1791, they divided into the South and
North Consociations and Associations. The
fact that the original history of our churches
goes back only 1 5o years tells us that Litchfield County is only a youthful fraction of
the State. Our history is an outgrowth'
and development from the older history of
other Connecticut
churches, though we
claim a character and influence that are
distinctively our own. The earlier settlements were mainly in the southern towns
of our county.
There farming land was
more fertile, and until this last fifty years
they had a larger population and more
wealth.
They were .theologically and ecclesiastically more conservative
in their
beginning because of their earlier settlement, and also because their inhabitants
came more largely from New Haven Colony, which was the most rigid in its ideals
and methods of all the Puritan colonies.
It had insisted that only church members
could become voters, and that there should
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CONGREGATIONAL

CHURCHES

be a most thorough examination as a prerequisite to church membership . The fear
of the effect which the Connecticut laws
would have in relaxing the government of
their churches and causing their deterioration was one of the objections which New
Haven Colony had to being merged in
Connecticut.
The churches in Litchfield North Consociation being settled later and from Hartford and Windsor were freer and more
varied in their ideals and methods.
The
purpose of the Consociation
had been to
maintain orthodoxy and uniformity.
Our
fathers from the beginning believed in brother hood, fellowship and freedom of conscience, but they first of a11 were anxious
for truth and safety.
In their ideal of
brotherhood they aimed at complete agreement in belief and practice.
They were
greatly disturbed by Christians who differed
from them in opinion, or who advocated
changes in rules by which the churches had
been safely governed.
If they were mistaken in some of their aims it was not be6

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cause it is blameworthy to be cautious, but
because they did not sufficiently trust the
God who was guiding them to guide also
those who should come after them.
If we
are sincere and single-hearted
in our desire
to do the right we find we can trust our
Heavenly Father to make the path of duty
plain before our feet, but we are all very
liable to think that others will need to be
kept in the right way by very rigid rules,
and that guide-boards
must be set up at
every step for their benefit.
We should
strive for a faith sufficiently Calvinistic to
believe that God's hand is guiding his
people safely even through their own foolish mistakes and failures, and that He may
be trusted to guide those who come after
us as well as he has guided our fathers and
is guiding us.
One hundred and fifty years ago the influence of Whitefield and the Great Awakening was moving strongly on the churches
and Separate Congregational Churches were
being formed.
In I 7 5 z a Separate Church
was organized in Canaan, which had a mem7

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CHURCHES

bership of about I oo, and in 176 2 moved
as a whole to Stillwater, N. Y. The church
in Salisbury at its first organization refused
to accept the Saybrook platform, and when
Mr. Lee was installed as its first pastor
members of Consociation who took part in
the service were censured for their action.
Mr. Robbins, the first pastor in Norfolk,
was a liberal by inheritance.
His father,
the Branford pastor, was cut off from fellowship by his Consociation for disregarding parish boundaries and preaching to a
Baptist congregation.
The Norfolk pastor
was influential in organizing the neighboring churches, and their creeds bear witness
to a wise restraint which commends itself
to our time.
Mr. Roberts, of Torrington, and Father
Mills, of Torringford, were men of practical
character, not much hampered by theological or ecclesiastical trammels.
These men were illustrations and also in
part causes of a liberalizing tendency in the
Litchfield North Consociation which was
by no means so prevalent in Litchfield South.
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A dependence on mines and manufactures
in the northern towns also promoted the
development of even the religious character
of the people along business lines.
The
great men, and especially the great theologians of the eighteenth century, belonged
to the southern part of the county.
A
hundred years ago the town of Litchfield,
as a great educational centre, had taken on
a cosmopolitan character, and in the first
half of the nineteenth century gave us Horace Bushnell and the Beechers.
The leaders in missionary work, both home and foreign, belonged mainly to the North Consociation.
Such names as Mills, Baldwin,
Sturtevant, Finney, Gaylord, Cowles, etc.,
show the part these northern churches had
in the aggressive religious work of the missionary age. The change from consociations to conferences, which belongs to the
history of the last fifty years, illustrates the
greater conservatism of Litchfield South.
This change had a two-fold origin.
It
sprang from the desire for a state organization in which the churches could be repre9

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sented and cooperate in the common work,
and from the " Home Evangelisation movement "-both
were the natural outgrowth
of modern conditions.
There had been in
former times suggestions of a State Consociation, but it had not commended itself as
desirable.
In earlier times the State legislature sufficiently represented the churches
and had sufficient control of them to satisfy
the layman's point of view. The liberfl.l
element which objected to the judicial authority of the consociations did not want
that authority strengthened by their federation in a central body. The ministers were
satisfied with the General Association, and it
gave advice to the Church with a large degree of authority.
The rise of the modern
beneficent and missionary societies made it
desirable that our churches should organize
more closely for consultation and control of
those large enterprises which were appealing
to us for aid. The desire for Home Evangelization, for making the churches more
effective in their own parish fields, became quite general m Connecticut
from
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COUNTY

18 57 onward, and worked toward the same
end. In the earlier times the churches were
responsible each for its own town or parish.
They were supported by town taxes, and
attendance on public worship was compulsory. The coming in of other denominations and of the Separate Congregational
churches gradually destroyed the efficiency
of that system, and in 1 8 1 8 the system itself
was given up by the state. The consequence
was that each church became a voluntary
association and came to feel itself responsible
only for members of its own congregation.
By 18 50 there were found in most towns
neighborhoods in which no meetings were
held for religious purposes, and of which
the inhabitants attended no churches.
A
little less than fifty years ago there was a
general awakening on this &ubject. Christians
began to inquire if it was their duty to send
missionaries to convert the heathen abroad,
what was their duty towards their neighbors
who were without the Gospel ? Ministers
began to realize that they were not simply
commanded to preach the Gospel to those
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who came into their congregations, but to
" go " and preach to everyone.
They held
neighborhood meetings and enlarged their
pastoral work.
They soon found that more than ministers were needed, and that the churches
must preach the Go spel to make it effective.
They began to appeal to their
churches to appoint committees for visiting
and for neighborhood meetings and Sunday
school work.
In 1859 a Committee
reported to the General Association in favor
of a plan for enlisting the churches of the
State in this work.
To promote this object Rev. Leonard W. Bacon was, in 186 I,
employed as a State missionary.
Among
other things he interested himself in organizing conferences of the churches for
fellowship and the discussion of practical
questions. A Litchfield North Conference
was formed at that time, meeting under the
auspices of the Association and covering the
same field. The Standing Committee of
the Association arranged for such a Conference in connection with each annual meet12

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ing from 1861 to 1873. The Consociation
at its annual meeting transformed itself for
the most part into a similar Conference.
On November 13, 1867, the General
Conference of the Congregational churches
of Connecticut was formed in New Britain,
"for the purpose of fraternal intercourse
and of co-operation and mutual incitement
in all the evangelizing work of Christian
churches." Its chief Committee for several
years was a Committee of Fellowship and
Work, to promote Home Evangelization
and report on its progress and methods.
The General Conference was made up of
delegates from local organizations of the
churches.
The Consociations could be
represented if they so desired, and the Litchfield South Consociation continued to represent the main body of its churches.
In
Litchfield North several of the churches
had already withdrawn from the Consociation, and refused to return to it on any
condition.
It removed from its constitution
the claim to judicial authority and authorized its churches to call councils for install13

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CHURCHES

in g and dismissing pastors, but the name
seemed to carry with it something of old
authority, and its rules and customs of procedure might not be changed without possibilities of controversy.
So two conferences were formed for fellowship and the
work of evangelization in the fall of 1 868.
The Litchfield North Consociation continued for several years to hold an annual
meeting, which
has been discontinued
though the Consociation still exists and can
be called together if the constituent churches
so wish.
Perhaps a personal incident may be allowed as illustrating the way in which selfishness is liable to overreach itself. When
the division of the Litchfield North Conference was under discussion, I, as pastor of
the Ellsworth church, objected strenuously,
on the ground that Norfolk would naturally
go into the North-East Conference, and declared that I would rather go across the
county at any time than attend a meeting
without Dr. Eldridge.
After consideration
it was decided that the division must be

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made, but that Norfolk should be put in the
North-West Conference.
When two years
later I became pastor in Winchester I realized that I had only myself to blame for
the absence of Dr. Eldridge from the fellowship meetings in which I had a part.
In the early days of the Conference most
of the churches organi zed themselves in a
business way to carry the Go spel to all
within their pari sh bounds.
Monthly or
quarterly visiting of families, tract-distribution, neighborhood meetings, neighborhood
Sunday Schools, invitations to the church
services were the order of the day. The
Conference met frequently as a whole or in
groups for stimulus or discussion of methods.
There has been a reaction from the spirit
and method of those days. The new methods
seemed after a time to grow formal and most
of the churches dropped them.
The Conferences meet less often, and often discuss
less vital themes.
The Christian Endeavor
movement has absorbed some of the enthu$iasm formerly given to the Home Evangelization movement, and even that has had

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CHURCHES

its local reactions.
Notwithstanding
these
reaction s there ha s been some real gain.
The churches know that they exist not
simply to enjoy religion and give their
member s a ticket of admi ssion to heaven,
but to pre ach the Gospel, and to serv e men
for the Maste r' s sak e. They know that the
pastor is not merely employed to serve the
church which pay s hi s salary: that he is
appointed of Christ to lead the church in
its service to the community, and to the
whole world.
I have dwelt on these detail s
because I believe that the Home Evangelization and Christian Endeavor movements
have been outward suggestions of what is
essential and vital to the inward life of all
our churches.
I do not believe the Conference system will be complete until it
reaches the inter-denominational
federation
of our churches in all practical Christian
work, but every change which has helped
to take the churches out of a merely dogmatic and formal condition into a real grapple with the work of the world is something
for us to rejoice in and help onward.
It
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COUNTY

seems to me essential to the very existence
of our small country churches under present conditions that their members should
be made to feel that they do not join a
church simply to secure their personal salvation, but to take a hand in the work of
saving with Christ's help every man, woman, and child in the community.
This is
what Christians are for. It is what Consociations, Conferences, Associations, Unions
and Conventions are for. There has been
during the last fifty years a progressive
change in the ideal of church life. We
have not given up creeds or church polity,
but the emphasis is no longer on creeds or
polity but on Christian service.
We are
seeking first of all the Kingdom of God
tprough service to all men for Christ's sake,
and the ideal church is striving to bring the
whole community within the range of its
possible influence into complete spiritual
subjection to the living Christ.
It remains briefly to notice the changes
in church membership which have been
taking place in the last fifty years. The
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boundaries of the Litchfield Consociations
have never been precisely co-terminous with
those of the county.
Terryville has always
had its fellow ship in New Haven County
and Sherman in this county, the congregations in both cases being drawn from both
sides the county line. T wo churches over
the New York State line in Amenia and
Millerton were formerly members of the
Litchfield North Consociation, but are now
outside our fellowship.
In the statistics I
give I hold to county lines, except that I
count Sherman among our churches and do
not count Terryville.
In I 8 52, fifty years
ago, there were in this field 4 I Congregational Churches, with a reported membership of 6,5 I 8.
In I 902
there are 48
churches, eight having been formed within
fifty years and the First in New Hartford
having become extinct.
These 48 churches
had at the beginning of the year 7, Io 5
members, an aggregate gain of 587.
Of the 41 churches reported fifty years
ago, one has died, one reports the same
membership,
thirteen have gained I, I 60

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COUNTY

members, twenty-six have lost 1,471, or on
the average about one-third of their former
membership.
The eight new churches have
a membership of 886.
The churches in
the growing manufacturing
villages have
increased rapidly in number and wealth ;
the rural churches have quite generally decreased in membership and in ability to pay
their ministers a comfortable salary.
In
some cases a fund has been created which
helps to meet current expenses.
In others
salary has been reduced or help received
from the Missionary Society of Connecticut. In some parishes it is possible that
the loss of our churches is made up by the
growth of those in other denominations,
but in most of them there has been no gain
to compensate.
Wherever the children of
the church have gone there has been a new
accession of Christian life and power, but
there is present loss to us.
This is not pleasant to think about, and
is not compensated for by the increased
strength of large churches in the manufacturing villages.
What can we do about it?

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CONGREGATIO NAL CHURCHES

I feel sure of but two effective remedies.
They have been alread y suggested, and perhaps rightly developed and used may be sufficient for the need . They are practical
church fellowship, and training the particular
churches to recognize and fulfill their obligations to preach the Go spel continuously
to all in the community . In a real fellowship among Christian churches, the strong
will as a matter of course help the weak
financially and otherwise.
So far as any
church is living for itself alone, seeking
simply to receive and enjoy the benefits of
the Gospel, financial help is liable to develop
a pauper spirit, and may work injury as
well as benefit.
If once each church becomes in reality what it is now becoming
in theory, a detachment of Christ's army,
not only "holding the fort" for him, but
fighting to conquer the world for him, with
special responsibility for every man in his
own community, the difficult field held
with a small force will rightly be counted
a post of honor, and for its support the
common resources will flow out freely and
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COUNTY

safely.
If we think only of what the
Litchfield County churches have been doing
for their own maintenance we shall have a
very inadequate conception
of their real
work and worth.
So many have gone out
from us to achieve distinction in the service
of the wide world, that if a great man lives·
anywhere who was not born in Litchfield
County, it calls for explanation.
Not only
the twenty-nine
missionaries
of the A.
B. C. F. M. who went from the county
in the first fifty years of its history, and
the much larger number who have carried
the gospel banner in the front of all onward movements in this country are to be
counted as the gift of our churches to the
progress of Christendom.
Men and women
of power have been going in a constant
stream to lead toward higher and better
things in all departments
of the world's
work.
Our churches have less growth at
home because they have been contributing
of their best to other communities.
Statistics tell so little that I have not gone into
this matter thoroughly,
but selecting the
2.I

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church at Harwington as the one that has
lost most in membership among us, I find
that in the last ten years she has given 51
more members to other churches by letter
than she has received by letter.
In the
same ten years the Second Church in Waterbury ha s received by letter 59 more than
she has given, and the South Church in
New Britain 9 5 more.
Such gifts must be
counted and weighed to know what the
country churches are doing.
A present day
theory claims that by such giving of its be st
life the quality of the stock left behind de:..
teriorates-that
having given of her be st
this county will soon have nothing left
worth giving.
I do not believe it. Those
who are going out from us to-day at twenty
years of age are not as distinguished as those
who left us fifty years ago and are seventy years
old, but where they have had the training of
our churches I have no doubt they are every
way the equals of those who have had fifty
years more in which to do their work and
make a name.
In working up the history
of a little country church that for ten years
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COUNTY

had been steadily losing in membership, I
was cheered to learn that in that time it had
furnished deacons to six other churches of
our order, most of them large churches,
and a class leader to a prominent Methodist
church.
It is work worth doing.
These
churches need a larger courage and a clearer
outlook on their real mission, but they have
a grand place yet to fill in the history of
the world that is to be. Just trying to maintain themselves they might fail, but taking
possession of their own communities
for
Christ as a step toward conquering the world
for Christ these churches will prove their
right to continue.
Litchfield County is
not simply a glory shining from the past,
but a promise of great ana . good things yet
to come.
We have reason to believe
that the old Puritan stock taking root in
the villages and cities and the far-off regions
will still give a good account ·of itself, but
we cannot afford to give up a single county
parish hallowed by association with the
great names of other days.
2.3