Connecticut Historical Collections

To the research of a gentleman who is himself a descendant by both parents froni two of the original families, we are indebted lor the data wliich form the basis of the foregoing history of the I'ise and })ro- gress of the town of AVaterbury during the first foity years. The popu- lation at that period was probably about three hundred. In the notes before us, this antiquarian observes : " During the last thirty years, the inhabitants maintained among thein a constantly preached gospel ; and although surrounded with difficulties, dangers, and niisforiunes, and deprived of all the conveniences and most of the comforts of life, (agreeable to our present ideas,) yet they persevered, and we are now reaping the harvest of their labors. To their honor be it said that our ancestors would not suffer in a comparison drawn between them and their posterity. They were moral, religious, industrious and resolute. Under their circumstances little progress could be made in literature ; but they were calculated to elicit more thought, and more exertion, both of body and mind, and those qualities combined make the man." Samuel Hopkins^ D. D. an eminent divine, was born in this town Sept. 17th, 1721. " He lived with his parents, emjiloyed in the labors of agriculture, until he entered his fd'teenth year ; and such was the purity of manners among the youth of this place, that he never hearil irom any of them a profane exjiression. After having been jilaced for a short time under the tuition of the Rev. John Graham ofAN'oodbmy, ho entered Vale College in September, 1737, antl was graduated in 1741. While a member of this institution he made a public profession of religion." " After he was graduated iu September, 1741, he retired to his father's house, and lived a recluse for a number of months, except when he could hold intercourse with persons zealous in religion. In December he went to Northampton, Massachnsetls, to pursue the study of divinity with Mr. Edwards, and while with him was led to con- sider the proper effects and evidences of tliat renovation of soul, which he believed to be necessary in order to receive the blessings of the gospel, and for the first lime be- came satisfied that he was a Christian. Alter he was licensed to preach in May, 1743, he still continued at Northampton, engaged in his theological studies, preaching occasionally, without any pecuniary compensation, in the neighboring towns. From December of this year till May, 1743, he preached to a new society in Simsbtiry, Con- necticut. In July he went to llousatonnoc, now Great Harrington, Mass., where he was ordained Dec. 28, 1743. At this time there were only liiirty families in ihe place. Here he continued till Jan. 18, 176'.), when he was dismissed by an ecclesiastical coun- cil. This event was occasioned by the diminution of his society and the want of sup- port. An Episcopal church had been established in the town in order to escape the tax for the maintenance of a minister of the gospel. Mr. Hopkins was again settled in the ministry at Newport, Rhode Island, April 11, 1770." "Thewarofthe devolution interrupted his benevolent labors. In Dec. 177G, when the British took possession of Newport, he left the town, and retired to his family, which he had before sent to Great Barring'ton. During the summer of 1777 he preached at Nswburyport, to a congregation which was thought to be ihc largest in America, 34 266 WATERUUllY. Its pastor, the Rev. Mr. Parsons, died a short lime before. lie afterwards labored in tlie fjospei of Jesus Christ in Canterbury aud Siainl'ord, Connecticut. In llie .spring of 1781) lie returned to Newpurl, which had lieea evacuated by llic Hrilisli in the fall of the preceding year. He Ibund his churcii and coutrregalion much diniinislied. The town had been so long in the hands of the enemy, thai many, who had rennjved, had become established in other places, and were llais prevented Irom reluming. The meeting house liad been made a bairacU for soldiers, and had been mucli injured, and the bell had been carried away. Thai porlioii of liis I'ornier society, which had re- mained in the town, had become so impoverished, that he had no prospect of a main- tenance. Yet such was his benevolence, that he preachetl to them a year, supported entirely by a (tiw generous friends, and when he received a pressing invitation to set- tle at Aliddleborough, the request of his people induced him to decline il. From thi.s lime till his death his maintenance was derived entirely from a weekly conlribiitioi* find the donations of his friends. But he was contented with his humble circumstan- ces, and in a situation, whicii would have tilled most minds with the greatest anxiety, he cast him.self upon the providence of God, and experienced through acouise of years many remarkable interpositions in his favor. Hi.s wants were alway.s snpjdied. On the 10th of January, 17'J0, a paralytic allection deprived him of ihe use of liis limbs,, although his mental powers were lui injured. Hul he afterwards lecovered fr(Jin this attack^ .so as to be able to preach. He died December 20, ItiOIJ, in the eighty third year of his age." " Dr. Hopkins was a di.stinguishcd divine. His mind was discerning, and his ap- plicalion was almost uneijualled. He sometimes devoted to hisstudies ej;.;htecn hours in a day. With respect to his views of divine truth, he end)raced ihe Calvinistic doc- trines; and it is principally by the consc(|ucnees which lie drew from these doctrines, that his name has been rendered famou.s. He fully ailniitted the (Jalvinislic doctrine of the entire dcfiravity of the human heart and the sinliiliiess of all the doiugs of the iinregeneratc; but his discerning mind perceived liie discordance between ihisdoctrine and the preaching of some of the Calvinistic divines, who exhorted the unregenerate as such to perform certain acts as the appointed way to obtain that grace, which should renew their hearts and make tliem holy. If men before conversion could ilo nothing that was pleasing to God, he concluded they could do nothing to procure the inllu- ences of the Holy Spirit. Instead therefore of exhorting sinners to use ihe means of grace in order to obtain the divine assistance to enable them to repent, when it was ac- knowledged that in the use of the means of grace they would be entirely sinful, he thought It a sacred duty, incumbent on the ministers of the gospel, to imitate the preaching of the Lord Jesus, their Master, and to call upon men immediately to re- pent and yield themselves to the love of God. He thought that religious advantages, if ill the use of them the unregenerate were not convertt'd, would but increase guilt, as it) this case there would be a greater resistance to the truth. i\nolher sentiment, wliicli is considered as one of the peculiar sentiments of Dr. Hopkins, is ihat the ina- bilitv of sinners is moral and not natural ; but this is only saying, that their inability consi^ts in disinclination of heart or opposition of will to what i.s good. Combining the Calvinistic doctrine, that God ha.s foreordaineil whatsoever comes to pass, with his views of the nature of sin as consisting entirely in the iniention or disposilion of ihe mind, he inferred, that it was no impeachment upon the character of the most right- eous Disposer of all events to say, not merely that he decreed the existence of sin, but that he exerted his own power to produce it. The design being benevolent, he con- tended that no more iniquity could be attached to this act, than to the bare permission of sin. This is another of his peculiarities. From his views of the nature^of holi- ness, as consisting in disinterested benevolence, he also inferied, that a Christian should be willing to perish for ever, to be for ever miserable, if it should be necessary for the glory of God and th« good of the universe, ihat he should encounter this destruc- tion. Instead of the Calvinistic doctrine of the strict imputation of Adam's sin and of the righteousness of Chri.st, he chose rather to adopt the language of scripture in say- ing, that on account of the first transgression men were made or constituted sinners, and that men are justified on account of the righteousness of Clirist, or through the re- dempiion, which there is in him. " Dr. Hopkins published three sermons, entitled. Sin through divine interposition an advantage to the universe, and yet this no excuse for sin or encouragement to it, 1751), the second edition of which was published in Boston in 1773, and anolher edition about the same time in Edinburgh; an inquiry concerning the promises ol' ihe gospel, wheth- er any of them are made^ to the exercises and doings of per.sons in an unregenerate state, coniaining remarks on two sermons bv Dr. Mayhew, 17(55; a sermon on the di- vinity of Christ, preached in Boston, HCH; two sermons on Ilomans vii. 7, and John i. 13, 1768, republished 17'J3 ; the true state and character of the unregenerate, slnppeil of all misrepresentation ami disguise, being an answer to tiie reverend Mr. Mills, 17GD; aiiimadversions on Mr. Hart's late dialogue, 1770 ; an inquiry into the nature \V A T E U li U U Y . 2G7