servation; and from that moment I know they have never ceased." His youngest sister, his mother, his brother's wife, and several others of the family were brought to hope in God's forgiving mercy; and before any breach was made in the domestic circle, all were members of the church but two.

His first sermon was preached November 10, 1792, at Hadlyme, in the pulpit of his venerable friend under whose tuition he had been fitted for college. In January succeeding he commenced his labors at New-Salem, a small village about seven miles from his father's house, and continued there till the last of May. His preaching was almost immediately attended by manifest tokens of the presence of the Holy Spirit. A revival of great power commenced, and a church was gathered where there had not been one for more than forty years. In New-Salem, and the parts of East Haddam and Lyme adjacent to it, about one hundred were hopefully added to the Lord.

In the early part of June, 1793, he commenced preaching at Farmington as a candidate for settlement. The manner in which he was there received, and the circumstances which prevented his becoming the pastor of the church, may be seen from the following extract of a letter from the Rev. NOAH PORTER, D. D. then a member, now the minister, of the congregation to which Mr. GRIFFIN was called.

"There are few men whom I remember with more affection than Dr. Griffin. He was the first minister of Christ of whose preaching I have any distinct recollection, or from whom I received any deep and permanent sense of divine things. I was twelve years old when he preached in this

town; and I remember his person, attitude, dress, modulations of voice, and some of his texts and illustrations, as though they were presented but yesterday. Simplicity and impressiveness you know were remarkable characteristics of his preaching. All was on a level with the capacity of a child. It was not till two or three years after this that I began to consider myself a christian; but the impressions of truth which I received from him have probably contributed more to make me what I am, (so far as there is any thing good belonging to me,) than what I have received by means of any other

man.

"In the year 1796, a committee of the church, of which the late Governor Treadwell was a member, was appointed to draw up a compendious history of the church from its origin' to that time. This was done by Gov. Treadwell; and the extract which I am about to give you, contains the answers to some of the inquiries suggested in your letter. For several years previous to Dr. Griffin's introduction to this pulpit, the society had been divided; and the mutual animosities of the parties were sometimes violent; first relative to Mr. Olcott, for some years pastor of the church; and after his dismission, relative to Mr. Jonathan Brown, a candidate for the ministry, who preached here immediately before Dr. Griffin, and had warm admirers in the society, but to the greater and better part of the church was unacceptable. 'Mr. Brown,' the record says, 'preached here till March, 1793,' and adds, 'After he had left us several efforts were made by his friends to recall him, but without success. The society then invited Mr. Edward Dorr Griffin to supply the pulpit. He accordingly supplied it until December then next, with great ability and reputation; when, having been invited by the society, the church called him to the work of the ministry almost unanimously; and temporalities being adjusted, he accepted the invitation in April, 1794; and in May following a council was called to ordain him. But a formidable opposition, consisting chiefly of those who felt aggrieved at the loss of Mr. Brown and of those who differed from Mr. G. and the church on the VOL. I.

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PREVIOUS TO HIS SETTLEMENT, &c.

subject of baptism and the doctrines of grace, remonstrated before the council; which, after a hearing, determined not to proceed, principally by reason of objections against some of the members of the council, and against the form of the contract between the society and Mr. Griffin. Wherefore, as no decision was had on the merits, the church in the month of June following voted to call a second council to ordain Mr. Griffin, with which vote the society concurred. Accordingly another council was convened; and the opposers persevering in their efforts, laid in sundry unfounded charges against Mr. Griffin, and the proofs not being prepared, the council adjourned: and being again convened, and the evidences taken, Mr. Griffin was acquitted with honor, and his character fully vindicated. But the gloomy prospect before him induced Mr. Griffin in that stage of the business to request the council not to proceed to ordain him, if they judged he could fairly be released from the obligations of his contract; and accordingly the council, on consultation, thought proper to proceed no further.'"

In July and August, 1794, he preached several sabbaths at Middlebury, Conn. where he introduced meetings on week days as usual, and was instrumental of the hopeful conversion of several individuals. He also supplied three other places for a short time previous to the commencement of his labors at New-Hartford. In referring to his views at that period of life, he says,

I felt it to be a principal recommendation of a place as my residence, that the people would allow me to hold as many meetings as I pleased. I held extra meetings in every place where I preached, which was a new thing at that day. What then appeared strange, bating some youthful indiscretions, has long since become the general usage. I had an opportunity to see the whole field of death before a bone began to move. And no one who comes upon the stage forty years afterwards can have any idea of the state of things at that time.

CHAPTER II.

HIS RESIDENCE AT NEW-HARTFORD.

Mr. GRIFFIN was ordained and installed pastor of the congregational church at New-Hartford, June 4, 1795, having supplied them for some months in the capacity of a candidate. Almost immediately after he commenced his labors, there was an increased attention to religion among his people, and a revival of considerable power succeeded, which resulted in the addition of about fifty persons to the church.

On the 17th of May, 1796, he was married to FRANCES HUNTINGTON, daughter of the Rev. Doctor JOSEPH HUNTINGTON, of Coventry, and niece and adopted daughter of Governor SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, of Norwich, Conn. formerly President of Congress, and one of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence. Doctor H. and Governor H. were brothers, and married sisters. Governor H. had no children; and Mrs. GRIFFIN'S mother dying when she was two years old, gave her and her brother SAMUEL (afterwards Governor of Ohio,) to her sister and her sister's husband the Governor, who brought them up as their own children, and made them their heirs.

In the year 1797 he commenced a regular journal of his christian experience, which he continued, not however without frequent and sometimes protracted interruptions, till the close of life. Under date of July 12th of that year, he writes thus:

This day ever memorable to my soul for the commencement of these memoirs, has been set apart as a day of secret prayer and fasting. It has pleased God, I hope, to return to me after a painful absence of several months, and after I had almost despaired of so great a blessing. May I be humbly thankful all my days that the Lord, as I hope, has come to look up and bring home his long lost wandering sheep. May the pains of absence teach me to wander no more. Alas, how have new relations, and the new cares of a family state, drawn my mind away from God. There are more dangers in every pleasing earthly scene than the inexperienced are aware of. Adversity, I find, is a much safer state than prosperity. May adversities uninterrupted be my lot, if a humble dependance on God and sweet communion with him can be enjoyed on no easier terms. Sure I am that the possession of the whole world for the same space of time could not produce so much happiness, as the absence of God for fourteen months past has produced misery. The conclusion is, that all the world cannot countervail the loss of God. I have now lived in God's world more than twenty-seven years. It is just about six years since, I hope, he effectually turned my attention to religion; and yet (with regret I say it) I have never kept any journal of God's dealings with me before now. By this neglect I believe I have lost much. May God enable me to be more faithful in future. I find none of my own exercises committed to writing, except a covenant which contains sundry resolutions, bearing date April 20th, 1793, with a space left to insert new ones; all which, with some small alterations, I will transcribe, and now solemnly renew in the presence of God.