sociation was divided Aug. 29, 1734. Since which, there have been nine ordinations in this district; in every [one] of which, the council assisting, consisted of the consociation, as such. And from the old book of records, reaching back to the year 1725, it appears, that all the ordinations, and all the installments, except one, were in like manner performed by councils consisting of the consociation of said county. Dated in Stamford, March 21, 1761.

NOAH WELLES, Register of the Consociation.

The other consociation to which Mr. Dickinson refers is the original consociation of Litchfield county.*

Ordinations in Connecticut now, in the greater proportion of instances, are performed by consociation, or by councils called from the consociations, within whose limits they take place; and so long ago as 1759, the year before Dr. Stiles made the supposition just mentioned, the General Association recommended that ordinations be performed universally by consociation.

NOTE B, p. 36.

This was deemed a defect by the members of a General Association in 1728, and a remedy was proposed to the district association for adoption, as appears from the following letter sent to them as a circular :

"At a General Association of the colony of Connecticut, convened at Hartford, May 10, 1728.

This association, taking into consideration that in the articles of agreement made and concluded at Saybrook,

Answer to the letter of an aged layman, p. 17.

1708, there is no particular business assigned to the General Association, nor are they thereby expressly invested with any powers, which we apprehend a disadvantage to their being serviceable. We therefore refer it to the particular associations to concur and to consent that the General Association have power and capacity to act and do in the particulars following, viz.

I. To receive appeals from particular associations, and to hear and do thereupon in weighty cases as the particular associations are empowered to do in cases orderly brought to them.

II. To act, advise, and do in matters ecclesiastical which are of such a general nature as cannot be managed in particular associations.

III. As also to propose and offer to the particular associations what they apprehend may be of general benefit to the interest of religion and the service of the churches.

IV. That the delegates chosen for the General Association, to be convened in May, shall stand delegates for the General Association in September following, also annually.

V. That the moderator of the General Association last convened shall have power to call together the General Association when he judgeth the same needful; and the General Association so occasionally convened, shall have the same powers as in the stated conventions of the same.

And desire the particular associations to send their thoughts and determinations upon the premises by their delegates unto the next General Association.

A true copy.

Attest, NATHANIEL Chauncey, Scribe."

The original association of New London, from whose records the foregoing is taken, voted at their meeting, May 29, 1728, "that copies of it [the letter] be taken for a mature thought on them, [the articles,] and [that] the full consideration of them be reserved to the next association." At the next association, Aug. 20, the following answer was prepared, which deserves insertion here.

I. "With respect to the first article, we cannot find by the constitution that any appeals do properly lie from particular associations, inasmuch as they are, only to advise and not to determine; and then further, if any matters do go from the particular associations, they are directed to be brought before the council or consociation of the churches of the county.

II. With respect to the second, we do not fully understand the meaning and extent of the proposal, and therefore don't judge it proper for us to comply with it.

III. With respect to the third, we are of opinion that the General Associations are already possessed of that power.

IV. With respect to the fourth, we think it to be too great an imposition upon the delegates, that they be obliged to stand for the year, and that some impropriety might attend such a practice.

V. And with respect to the last, we are of opinion that the moderator had better advise with two or three of the neighboring elders in calling the association together, as the moderator of the council is directed to do."

As no change was effected in the Platform, the proposed remedy must have been deemed unnecessary by the associations generally.

NOTE C. p. 36.

Several of the early pastors devoted a portion of their labors to the welfare of these heathen,* and when President Wheelock's Indian school was instructed in that part of Lebanon, now constituting the town of Columbia, contributions were made in various places for the support of the pupils. In 1768, the General Association not only expressed their approbation of the school, but their pleasure in hearing of the kind and charitable dispositions entertained towards it by the good and pious people in England; and they have not ceased yet to care for the salvation of the remnants of the aboriginal tribes, scattered as they are in our land.

Among the white inhabitants of Connecticut there was no call for a long time for missionary effort: for the people settled in clusters, were of one denomination, and made provision for supporting religious institutions among themselves. During this period the ministers and churches were not indifferent to the wants of any who were destitute of religious instruction upon their borders, or who enjoyed it in an imperfect manner. In the beginning of the last century, "divers ministers in the eastern parts of the Colony were at the pains and charge of going and preaching in the town of Providence, Rhode Island, by turns." The difficulty of supplying the people there with instruction in this mode, was such, that the association of New London County, in 1722, petitioned his excellency, Gurdon Saltonstall, then governor of the Colony, to grant a brief for "contributions in so many towns and congregations as his wisdom should see meet," for the support of preaching in that place.

Trumbull, Vol. I. pp. 494-5.

When emigrants from Connecticut began to settle in Vermont and New York, they did not take clergymen with them, as their fathers had done when they settled in the wilderness, but went away without providing for the enjoyment of the institutions of the gospel. Their pious friends left behind, became alarmed for the consequences, and in view of their destitution, the General Association, in 1774, deemed it advisable that missionaries should be sent among them; and they recommended it to their brethren to promote subscriptions among their people for the purpose of sustaining these heralds of the cross. The subject awakened so much interest that they held an adjourned session, that they might mature and execute their benevolent design. The occurrence and expenses of the revolutionary war stayed their operations, and in fact, retarded the settlements. But in 1792, the system of 1774 was, in part, revived; annual contributions were obtained through the State; numbers of missionaries took the field; the General Association partly conducted the work themselves, but managed principally by their committee. In 1798 the Association formed themselves into the Missionary Society of Connecticut; and in 1802 the trustees were incorporated with power to possess property to an amount not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars. The specified objects were to Christianize the heathen in North America, and to support and promote Christian knowledge in the new settlements within the United States." From this time the missionary system proceeded under the advantages of a complete organization donations were made to the Society, and contributions were taken up annually in the congregations on the first Sabbath in May. Every year from 1793 until 1830 inclusive, a narrative" was published and exten

66

66