Farewell to the First Congregational Church in Norwalk, Conn. (bound with other addresses)

and temper render it, that people should be con- ciliatory, and sometimes yielding. It is seldom allowed to people to be so unanimous in feeling that all may have their own way. Yet in public interests there is room for great agreement. Christians have similar principles, tastes, hopes, experiences. They have one Lord, one faith, one Baptism. It is rather natural that there should be a good degree of unanimity in things pertain- ing to their spiritual interest : and it is wonderful how readily people can agree when they earnestly desire to do so, and when no one is determined to drive on his own way or else abandon Zion. Ah, they are bad people who will forsake public wor- ship, and break their covenant, because they are a little displeased, and because their views and feel- ings have not been so much regarded as they think they should have been. I said they are bad peo- ple ; I recall it. Good people are sometimes left to act very badly. I would rather say, it is bad conduct, of which no child of God should ever allow himself to be guilty. Be of one mind; be reasonable ; be conciliatory : and there is no rea- 14 son in the world why the harmony, which has been so well-nigh unbroken among you for more than twenty years, may not last as long as any of you live. At all events, this is a divine injunction. Be of one mind. " Live in Peace." — what wars and .fightings have attested the fallen nature of man ! What animosities have arisen even in the churches of Christ, and destroyed their peace ! How brethren have been separated by feuds ! How members of the same church or the same family have embit- tered their whole lives, ruined their usefulness and their character, by quarrels arising often from mere insignificant and unworthy causes ! How natural it is to fallen man to have wrath or bitterness rise up in his heart, upon ill-usage, or even to be stirred up to revenge ! How deadly these quarrels are to piety ! How they drive away the gentle Dove, the Holy Spirit! What foUy people perpetrate in anger ! What advan- tages they give to Satan ! Now as it is neces- sary to fallen man never for a single day to omit 15 the petition, Lead us not into temptation, so it is necessary, everywhere, perpetually to repeat the exhortation in churches, Live in peace. What house divided against itself can stand? Bu where Christians determine- that they will live in peace, it is wonderful how easily they accomplish it. There is one remedy for the worst evils — save for departure from the truth, and for such unrighteousness as it is sin to tolerate ; and that remedy lies in the single word Foegive. Suffer long. Be patient. If nothing else will suffice, then bear, and forgive. The fruit' of righteousness is sown in peace to them that make peace. Peace- makers shall be oalled the children of Grod. If these injuctions are complied with, then under a divine warrant the apostle promises the divine blessing. ' ' And the God of Love and Peace SHALL be with tott." As Christ is the Prince of Peace, so Grod is the Grod of Peace. He loves those who study the things that make for peace. The Grod of love loves them who live together in love. When he giveth peace, who then can cause trouble ? What 16 can disturb us when the peace of Grod, whicli passeth knowledge, shall keep our hearts and minds ? In the world we may have tribulation, but in Christ we shall have peace. Calm trust, hope, consolation, a blessing from God that cheers the heart ; that maketh the soul rich and addeth no sorrow : rich reward for them that keep the commandments of God ! Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall oflfend them. And now, dear brethren, I come to the words which, on account of their home application, pain me more than any words that I have been called to utter these three and twenty years, "Finally, brethren, farewell !" Finally ! Long have I preached the Gospel to you ; and I have the testimony of a good con- science that I have endeavored to preach it simply and purely. Ye are my witnesses that I have not preached myself, but Jesus Christ. And now standing before you, perhaps for the last time, perhaps never to meet again with some of you till we meet at the Judgment, I testify to you that the Gospel which I have preached to you 17 is true. Oh, how many of the fathers and mothers in Israel have I attended on their death beds, and seen the hope and comfort which this Grospel gave them in a dying hour ! And I enter- tain no doubt that many of these dear friends of my youth are now rejoicing in heaven. Many of your sons and daughters I have attended on their death-beds. And they have felt that the hope of this Grospel robbed death of its terrors, and' the grave of its gloom. I have seen the power of this Gospel in times of revival, when many were inquiring what they must do to be saved. I have witnessed its power when Grod was striving with the solitary sinner alone. You have in many and many a case, witnessed its transforming power. Brethren, the Gospel which has been preached in this church for more than two hun- dred years, without one discordant voice or note, is true. Other foundation can no man lay than is laid. The soul and its eternal interests are things of too great moment to trust to any other than to the chief corner stone, elect, precious, which God hath laid in Zion. 2 18 It grieves me that some to whom I have preached the Gospel from the beginning of my ministry here, are yet without its consolations, and without any part in its eternal benefits. Dear friends, you ought not so to be. You have no right to withhold your souls from Christ and from the truth, for a single hour. You need not. Where wiU this neglect of the Gospel end ? When will you at length believe and obey the Gospel? Shall I ever hear concerning you, the joyful intelligence that such or such a one is rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God ? ''Finally V After so many years, at last comes the end of my labors here. They have been years of more peace and comfort, of more for- bearance and kindness on the part of the people, than I ever expected to enjoy in the ministry of the Gospel ; for which, first, I thank the Lord ; and then you, my kind friends, whose forbearance and kindness have relieved me from so many of the shades that have fallen upon so many others in the ministry of the Gospel ; and from which I had no reason to expect an exemption. Nor do 19 I thank you alone. My heart goes out in grateful remembrance to the fathers and mothers of many among you, who are now mingled with the dead. As I have thought of leaving you, and my heart has been very sad, my thoughts have wandfered over these pleasant valleys and hills, and entered dwelling after dwelling, and recalled the pleasant and profitable hours which I have spent in the society of these ; or as my ears have again seemed to hear their voices in our meetings for prayer, my soul has been full. There is not a dwelling in this congregation where, from the beginning down to the present hour, I have not felt at home. There is not a soul among the living or the dead, whom I have not been able to regard as a friend ; not one among you, whom it will not give me pleasure to see once more, if the Lord shall ever allow me to revisit the scenes where the best part of my life has been spent ; or if I shall hereafter be permitted to see any of you in the place which I expect hereafter to call my home. But this is a- changing as well as a dying world. 20 Few among you have not been called to partings which have concerned you more nearly than this. Here none of us has a continuing city. Let us not deceive ourselves with that word " i^ma%." This is not the end. "We are certain to meet once more ; I to give an account of my stewardship, you of the profit you have made by the Grospel. If we part, then, it is indeed final. The Lord grant that we may all be in readiness for that day. But, Finally, brethren, farewell. My wishes, my prayers for your welfare are sincere ; as I doubt not are yours for mine. What lot is before any of us in this world we know not. It is a world of trouble ; it is a world of death, because it is a world of sin. Our best wishes for each other's welfare all fulfilled, may not secure us from sorrows. Let us gird ourselves for usefulness. Let us quit us like men, and be strong. Let us bear trials and endure sorrows in patience ; and then our lot will be well, for all things work together for good to them that love God. There is a better world. Let us all try to meet there. 21 Let us mind not present sorrows, but look at the end, and anticipate a happy meeting in Heaven. Any path is well that ends there. Let us trust in Grod, and he will bring us safely through, and that by the best path, though it should not seem to be the smoothest. Children of the Sabbath School ; and you teachers, — helpers in the work of the Grospel, — with much affection, I bid you farewell. Members of the choir, and you who have been so in years that are past — I bid you farewell. I cannot part with you without recording a fact sin- gular in the history of choirs, that for many years not only have your posts been filled with uniform regularity, — not only have you cultivated sacred music with a success which I have not observed anywhere to be surpassed, but for many years we have been almost entirely free from troubles and difficulties on account of, or among, the choir. The Lord reward you and bless you. From the heart I bid you an affectionate farewell. To the members of the church, and of the Society, — to the few aged survivors of a genera- 22 tion who are mostly gathered to their fathers, — to those of my own age, who have here advanced with me, step by step, from youth up to the bor- ders of age, — with kind wishes, with prayers for your future good, and for your eternal salvation, I bid you an affectionate farewell. 0, our Grod ! whom we have imperfectly served, and against whom we have sinned, — whose patience has not been exhausted, nor whose mer- cies clean gone for ever, — we thank and praise thee for these years of unbroken harmony. We thank and praise thee for the spiritual blessings granted to this congregation, till now the years of its history are numbered by centuries. We com- mit ourselves, we commit each other, we commit our beloved Zion to thee, and to the Word of thy grace. Thy hand shall lead us, thy right hand shall hold us, during the remaining days of our pilgrimage. When these are over, then let us meet in Heaven, to praise thee for our redemp- tion, for ever and ever. Amen. ^ Cammtation for the 01ain. FUNERAL SERMON PEEACHBD IN -THE FIRST CONGEEGATIONAL CHURCH, NORWALK^ CONN., DEC. 5, 1853. BY REV. EDWIN HALL, D.L. • NOEWALK: PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE NORWALK GAZETTE. ilLAES 1852. William Lockwood, the subject of Ibe following Funeral Sermon, fell off from tlie wharf at Norwalk Bridge, in a state of intoxication, on the evening of December 1st, 1852. Several heard his cry for help ; some were deceived as to the direction from which it came ; some thought it one of the innumerable noises so frequently heard about the Bridge. It was then low tide. His tracks were seen in the mud of the harbor, where he had wandered about for some time, vainly seeking to escape. He was drowned by the rising tide. SERMON Jek. !x. 1. "Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a- fountain of tears, that 1 might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people."