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Yesterday, I was able to give the New England Study Tour students from Midwestern Seminary a tour of my former church in Middletown Springs, Vermont, and I told them a little about perhaps Middletown’s most storied pastor. You’ve never heard of him (more than likely), but the Rev. Henry Bigelow was the pastor of Middletown from 1805 to 1832. I am intrigued greatly by the man and encouraged by his ministry, described in a historical artifact I found in our church archives today. This is from “A Historical Discourse delivered at the Centennial Celebration of the Congregational Church in Middletown, Vt, June 22, 1881 by Rev. Osborne Myrick, Pastor of the Church”:

Though the youthful pastor began his ministry under great misgivings, there were soon evident tokens of the Holy Spirit’s presence in awakening sinners under the pointed, faithful preaching of the gospel.There were several seasons of deep religious interest, the most remarkable was in 1817, which extended to both churches, and pervaded the whole town, meetings being held in the schoolhouses. There were very few that were not the subjects of conviction or conversion . . . Large additions were made to both churches.

The spread of that revival is detailed by Joshua Taylor in his Accounts of Religious Revivals in Many Parts of the United States from 1815 to 1818.

The Rev. Myrick goes on to detail the conversion of a prominent lady in the town whose descendants were in the church during his tenure, which I’m sure was a delight to hear about by the family at the time. He then goes on to detail a devastating discouragement in the case of church discipline that divided the church and, in his words, “fell almost as a deathblow upon the church” and “almost bankrupted some of its members, and most of all, greatly discomfort[ed] the pastor, if not shorten[ed] his days.”

But just as the light of revival brightened Henry Bigelow’s first decade of ministry at Middletown, it brightened his last, as well. Myrick writes:

The revival of 1831 was near the close of Mr. Bigelow’s ministry, when he was greatly broken in health but mellowed in spirit. He died while gathering into the church the precious fruits of this revival . . . Mr. Bigelow died June 25, 1832, after preaching here a little over twentyseven years, or after 26 years and 9 months of his pastorate. His grave is here, the only one of any that have administered to this church . . .

But what was the man like?

Mr. Bigelow was well-read, and sound in theology and positive in matters of doctrine and discipline. His personal address in the pulpit was said to be commanding. He was endowed with great freedom and ability in prayer, and entered heartily into his subject, and was often affected to tears while preaching.

Can you imagine having your ministerial tenure bookended by revivals?

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