South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865 · scan page 164

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154  THE    EX-PARTE    COUNCIL.
"  In  the  year  1857  tlie  number  of  members  admitted  to  the  [South]
Church  was  forty-seven."
There  must  be  some  mistake  here,  as  the  mimber  of  per-
sons admitted  in   1^57  was  only  sixteen.     Probably  the
year  1858  is  intended;  but  even  in  that  year,  according  to
the  Church  records,  only  42  were  admitted,  and  according
to  the  tabular  statement  in  the  Congregational  Quarterly,
43.     The  number  mig/it  have  been   47,   or  even  greater,
speaking  after  the  manner  of  men,  but  for  the  fact  that  at
the  most  interesting  period  of  the  revival,  our  then  minister
was  absent  from  bis  charge  for  nearly  a  month,  on  a  preach-
ing expedition  to  the  West.     While  the  South   Cliurch,
under  the  faithful  labors  of  its  pastors,  has,  with  the  bless-
ing of  God,  received  in  the  year  1863  about  as  many  mem-
bers as  it  did  in  the  memorable  year  before  mentioned,  (the
year  of  the  great  revival  throughout  the  land,)  most  other
Churches  have  languished.     Indeed,  for  the  last  five  years,
the  statistics  of  the  Churches  generally,  so  far  as  we  have
had  opportunity  to  examine  them,  show  but  a  melancholy
record.    The  last  report  (18G3)  of  the  General  Association
of  Connecticut  contains  a  paper  by  Rev.  Dr.  Cleaveland,  of
this  city,  which  says:— "In   1859,  one  hundred  and  ten
Churches,  with  14,184  members,  gained   not  one  from  the
world.      In  1860,  one  hundred  and    thirty-six   Churches,
with  19,323  members,  were  alike  fruitless.     In   1861,  one
hundred  and  forty-six  Churches — more  than  hall  our  whole
nunibei- — with  19,685  members,  received  not  one  by  profes-
sion."    It  further  appears  from  the  same  document,  that  in
1859,  1860   and  1861,   tl)o  aggregate  nuiuher  of  members
admitted  by  profession  into  all  the  Congregational  Churches
of  Connecticut,  was  597  less  than  the  number  of  deaths.
The  statistics  of  the  years  1862  and  1863  are  not  presented
in  the  same  way,  but  we  doubt  if  they  will  prove  any  more
favorable.     Indeed,  we  expect   they  will  show  a  further
diminution.     Dr.  Cleaveland  barely  hints  at  what  may  be
one  of  the  causes  of  this  declension,  when   he  says,  "  It
becomes  us  to  be  on  our  guard  lest  any  of  the  great  doc-
trines of  grace  which  in  all  ages  have  been  the  wisdom  and

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Silent Grounds Collective, Church Burial & Death Records, CH-P004-0164. South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865, printed page not verified, PDF page 164. Hallock, Gerard, 1800-1866; digitized copy contributed by University of California Libraries https://archive.org/details/historyofsouthco00hall/page/n168/mode/1up Accessed September 8, 2026.

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