Joseph Harvey, and Rev. Cyrus Yale. Only three of the thirty-six delegates are now living. The two days in that secluded brick school-house devoted to prayerful deliberation were marked by the absence of party-spirit and unmistakable tokens of the divine presence. The result was the organization of the Conn. Pastoral Union, and shortly after the Theological Institute of Connecticut. At a session of the Legislature in the ensuing spring an act of incorporation was obtained, allowing the trustees to hold property to the amount of fifty thousand dollars. Upon the petition of the trustees in 1859 the charter was so amended that the Institute could hold any real or personal estate, provided the annual income thereof should not exceed twelve thousand dollars.

The location of the Seminary at East Windsor was chiefly due to the generous aid proffered by Mr. Erastus Ellsworth, who had recently retired to that town after a prosperous business career in New York. If other friends have made larger donations to the Institute, no one is better entitled to be called its foster-father. In its early days of weakness and subsequent perils Erastus Ellsworth promptly responded to every call that taxed his purse, time, patience, or capacity as a man of affairs. On the 13th of May, 1834, the cornerstone of the seminary edifice was laid by the venerable Dr. Perkins of West Hartford, and two professors were inducted. into office: Dr. Bennett Tyler, Professor of Theology, and Dr. Jonathan Cogswell, Professor of Sacred History. During the previous winter fifteen students had received instruction from Dr. Tyler. On the 14th of the following October the Professor of Biblical Literature entered on his duties. The regular course of instruction now began, sixteen students being in attendance. Two stories of the seminary building were ready for use, and about two thousand volumes, chiefly given by Connecticut pastors, had been placed on the shelves of the library.

In their first report to the Pastoral Union the trustees advert to the "prayerful solicitude and trembling hope" with which the resolution was adopted "under an imperious sense

of duty to the Great Head of the Church and implicit reliance upon his blessing, to proceed to the establishment of a new seminary for the education of young men for the gospel ministry." With limited means and under great discouragements the guardians of the young enterprise found their first year's experience fitted to "excite their gratitude and animate their hopes." "The increasing confidence and favor of the Christian public" was noted with special gratification. The whole amount of subscriptions to May 1st, 1835, was thirtythree thousand seven hundred thirty-three dollars. The largest donation was that of $1,250 from Mr. David N. Lord of the city of New York. A large proportion of the gifts by which the current expenses of the Institute were met during its first years was in small sums by persons of moderate means. For a time the trustees judged that when the cost of buildings had been defrayed an income of $3,000 annually would be sufficient, and that it would be better to obtain this sum by yearly subscriptions than to aim at permanent endow

ments.

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Could any one expect that the establishment of a second theological seminary in Connecticut would escape hostile criticism? In the fall of 1834 the theological Professors of Yale College published a statement denying that any good reason could be assigned for the new enterprise. This called out an Appeal to the Public in behalf of the Institute." The trustees defended their action on the ground that the theological school at New Haven was under the entire control of a corporation, nearly one-half of whose members are such men as one political party or another happens to choose for State officers. By a change in recent years the alumni choose six members of the corporation. It is not apparent that this measure increases the security of the Theological Department. Reference was also made by our trustees to the feeling of insecurity awakened among the churches by the disclosure of the fact that three of the Professors in the New Haven Seminary were not required to give their assent to any confession of faith. The Professor of Theology was indeed bound to declare "his free assent to the Confession of Faith and Eccle

siastical Discipline agreed upon by the Churches of this State in the year 1708." This refers to the Saybrook Platform, which in doctrine is identical with the Assembly's Catechism. But, to the surprise of the public, it was now announced that Dr. Taylor "had certain knowledge, from personal intercourse with the founders (of his professorship), that if he had embraced every minute doctrine of the Confession it would have been considered a decisive disqualification for the office." Consequently it was claimed that, while the Professor of Theology held and taught doctrines at variance with the creed, he could not be impeached, because his assent had been given only for substance of doctrine.

A still more weighty reason for their action was assigned by our trustees. It was the deep and wide-spread dissatisfaction produced by the publication and defense of the New Haven views. These have been already stated.

A subordinate motive for organizing a new seminary was the growing demand for more adequate physical exercise by candidates for the sacred office. Extended investigations had lately shown that an alarming percentage, fully one-half, of those who deserve the character of close students, injured themselves by neglect of bodily exercise. An early grave or chronic weakness and disease were the penalty to be expected in the case of many promising aspirants for the ministry. To check this fearful loss of consecrated talent it was resolved to provide ample means for manual labor in the new school of the prophets.

The prejudices of many good people were roused against the Institute by the persistent accusation that it was divisive in its aims and spirit, and foretokened the breaking up of existing ecclesiastical relations in this state. The answer was that no such purpose was entertained. It was said: "While we concede to our brethren who differ from us the right to think for themselves and to inculcate their own opinions, we ask them to allow us the same privilege. To say that the founders of the Seminary had a right to form and publicly avow their own religious principles; to say that they had a right to consecrate a portion of their property to the

defense and diffusion of these principles, and to guard the sacred deposit against perversion as they have done in their statutes, is only to claim in their behalf a participation in the privileges common to every protestant and to every citizen of a free country." One individual who was active in the formation of the Pastoral Union and in measures immediately following did indeed favor a radical policy. No one, however, seconded his proposal to withdraw fellowship from the New School brethren. The intimate friends of Dr. Joseph Harvey could not have been surprised by his advocacy of an extreme measure. Excelled by few men in personal attractions, an able preacher and polemic, he inherited a morbid, nervous organization, that often taxed the patience of his friends, and best explains certain intellectual caprices that made him a doubtful coadjutor in any undertaking. At an early day he suddenly ceased to cooperate with the Pastoral Union and connected himself with the Presbyterian Church.

It has been well said that "earnestness and fidelity to convictions everywhere carry a cross. The men who conscientiously identified themselves with the Institute in its early days were well aware of the grave difficulties surrounding the enterprise. With few exceptions the press was either adverse or indifferent. Without a periodical to repel calumnious misrepresentations the trustees and faculty for the most part suffered in silence under the scourge of unscrupulous tongues and pens. The seclusion and incongenial surroundings of the Seminary, its moderate equipment in funds, books, teachers, and constituency offered abundant material to unfriendly critics. Their opportunity to prejudice the public mind was not lost. If a candidate for the gospel ministry set his face towards East Windsor, he did not fail to encounter warnings and dissuasives to which young men are keenly alive. That the number of students, compared with older seminaries, continued to be small was not surprising. That within the first few years thirty-four were in attendance was justly and devoutly recognized as a special token of divine favor. So also was their continuance, with so few exceptions, till the end of the course, in view of the odium that lessened their chance for a

fair start in life. An early graduate after a long interval thus adverts to his experience: "Our numbers all told were few, and class distinctions, however informal and loosely held, narrowed still more the area of our restricted intimacies. Most of us were fresh from our large college associations with their varied excitements, and we found it hard to settle ourselves down into the narrow grooves in which our seminary life seemed to drag itself along. And the outside neighborhood was nearly as contracted as the Seminary. The families that cared for an acquaintance, though cultured and hospitable, were still infrequent and scattered. Both from within and from without a pressure was put upon us sometimes annoying and always troublesome. We were young men with aspirations for usefulness and ambitious of success. We were desirous to know and obey the truth, but at the same time did not want, if we could help it, to be put without the pale of popular sympathy and support." Gradually, as one small class after another came before ecclesiastical bodies for license or ordination, popular prejudice subsided. Judged by its average pupils it appeared that the Seminary was not belligerent, but contented itself with teaching the same evangelical truths that had long been the strength and inspiration of New England Congregational churches.

The limited views of our first Board of trustees were illustrated in two particulars. Instead of planning at the outset for a library that any competent judge would deem suitable for a public institution, they seemed to regard a few thousand volumes, chiefly such as could be spared from a pastor's study, as sufficient. The want of standard works in every department was a continued source of lamentation. In 1836, through the influence of Dr. John Todd, then pastor in Groton, Mass., one thousand dollars from the estate of Deacon Stone of Townshend was appropriated to the increase of the library. Not long after Mr. Abner Kingman of Boston Highlands, in gratitude that his pastor decided not to accept a professorship tendered him by the trustees of the Institute, made a handsome donation of carefully selected books neatly bound. Besides these gifts the trustees expended less than