for its absent members, owes a most sacred duty to its sister churches.

So far as our observation extends and we believe that the observation of any one carried to any limit, will show that in every congregation there are to be found many sheep that have strayed from their own folds without the knowledge of their shepherds. And thus they remain, — many for months and even years, without any recognition, in their temporary residences, of being members of Christ's Church. Such wanderers are of little or no value to the churches where they worship. They add nothing to their spirituality. Having no ties that are publicly recognized, to bind them, they do little or nothing to sustain the institutions of the gospel. Though more than usually interested in all church affairs, yet it is too much the case that they are giving their influence to the world. They may be found at the communion table for a time; but even this after a time is deserted from the conscious fact that their covenant relations are with another church and another people.

The consequence is that their obligations become weak, their attachment to the church loses its vitality, and they gradually subside into the state of those who belonged to the Laodicean church and finally end in the sad and woful condition of those of whom the angel of the church in Sardis wrote: "These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: I

know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead."

Such members are drones wherever they may be. They are more, — they not only have the credit of doing nothing to advance the interest of Christ's cause where they have located themselves, they are a positive injury to the interests of the church where they worship. The church, then, whose members are abroad grazing in other, pastures, has a duty to perform to its sister churches in this matter, which is sufficiently obvious; and that is either to use every proper method to bring the wanderers home, or constrain them by the most affectionate appeals to their covenant obligations, their love for the Saviour and his cause to remove their church connections and identify themselves with God's church and people where Providence has placed them.

We have thus briefly touched upon a few of the duties of the church in connection with its absent members. Others might be noticed, but enough has been said for our present purpose, which is simply to bring the subject before the churches and their pastors, with the hope of stimulating thought that may lead to an investigation in this department of our church statistics, over the results of which every friend of Christ would have occasion to rejoice.

If such might be the result, we shall feel that we have not written in vain.

THE Congregational Church in Guilford is one of the oldest in Vermont, the churches only in Bennington, Newbury, and Westminster, taking prece

dence of it in point of antiquity. Its records prior to 1779 having been lost, the date of its organization can not be definitely ascertained, but there can be

no doubt that it was organized in 1767, or at the latest, in 1768. The charter of the town, which was granted in 1754, gave the grantees full power to transact all the business of the town, subject only to the British Parliament. Emigrants came in from all quarters, and the town became, and for more than a quarter of a century continued to be, the most populous town in the State. "Yet," says Thompson's "Gazetteer," "there was not a single village in the township, or rather, the whole township was a village. All the hills and valleys were smoking with huts."

The early settlers, many of whom had been educated in the faith of the Puritans, brought their religion with them; and, within a year or two after the first settlement, the congregational church was organized. For many years it was the only church, and to its worship the people with one accord resorted from Sabbath to Sabbath. Those were years of prosperity both to the church and to the town. For some time prior to the settlement of a pastor, this church shared with that in Brattleboro' in the ministerial labors of Rev. Abner Reeve. In 1775, Rev. Ebenezer Gurley was settled as pastor. His ministry was useful, and numerous additions took place; but his untimely death, at the age of twenty-nine, was the first of a long series of calamities which befell the church.

The next pastor, Rev. Henry Williams, was settled in 1778. He was evangelical in his sentiments, but took an active part in political affairs, by which his influence was so much impaired that he had but a short and troubled ministry, which came to an end in about five years. During his pastorate, thirty-eight were added to the church. Dissensions and divisions now prevailed, and for ten years there was little done to maintain the institu

tions of the Gospel. In 1793, Rev. Elijah Wollage was ordained as pastor, and sustained that relation four years and some months, during which time thirty-eight additions took place. For six years after Mr. Wollage left, there was no stated ministry, and only eight members were admitted.

Early in 1803, Rev. Joseph Brown became acting pastor, and continued till August, 1804. Ten persons were admitted to the church by him. In November, 1807, Rev. Jason Chamberlain was invited to the pastorate, and in the succeeding January he was ordained. During his pastorate of three years, twenty-three additions took place. He was an able man, but was tainted with Unitarianism, and his influence upon the church was disastrous. About a year after he left, Mr. Wollage returned, and was acting pastor till near the close of the year 1816. During this period there were thirtyone admissions; twenty-eight of which were the fruits of a revival in 1818, About that time the population of the town began to decrease by emigration, and this depleting process has continued ever since. The church declined with the town, and also suffered loss by the formation of other churches.

In 1818, the number of resident members was fifty-two. Of these, two male and nine female members withdrew, upon the establishment of an Episcopal church, and with them there withdrew many members of the society, by which means the strength and pecuniary resources of the church were so impaired that it began to falter in supporting the institutions of the Gospel.

The supply of the pulpit was only occasional and inconstant, and the ordinances were administered at uncertain periods; till, in 1824, there appears the last record of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and in 1831 the last record of a baptism, prior to 1855. During that long and dreary interval

those who remained faithful hung their harps upon the willows, and wept as they remembered their once prosperous Zion. The communion service was carried by one of the seceding members to the church with which he united, and was not restored when respectful request was made for it; and the house of worship became the property of Universalists.

But the church did not become extinct, nor even lose its organization. When Mr. Wollage retired in 1818, William Gregory was elected clerk, to hold the office till another person should be chosen in his stead, and he continued to discharge the duties of the office till a resuscitation of the church took place in 1855, at which time he was the only surviving male member. In the summer of 1854, Rev. Moses G. Grosvenor was providentially detained in Guilford over the Sabbath, and by request of a few persons preached in a public hall. Afterward he was induced to return there for a few weeks, as the result of which so much interest was awakened that it was resolved to attempt once more the maintenance of stated preaching. He remained as acting pastor two years and a half. The church was re-organized in April, 1855, at which time it was found to consist of only ten members.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered on the second Sabbath in May, after a lapse of more than thirty years. Two were added by profession, and five by letter, and three others were added during Mr. Grosvenor's ministry. An ecclesiastical society was organized, and measures were immediately set on foot to raise funds for building a house of worship. In aid of this enterprise the churches in Brattleboro' and Dummerston Vt., Greenfield and Shelburne, Mass., and Toronto, C. W., contributed to the amount of about $600. The house

was opened for worship on the first Sabbath in September, 1856, and was dedicated 24 September, 1856. Rev. George P. Tyler, of Brattleboro, preached the dedication sermon.

From January, 1857, till September, 1860, the pulpit was supplied principally by missionaries of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society, not less than sixteen of whom preached for longer or shorter terms during that period. An interregnum till May, 1862, then took place, and the church once more became almost extinct by deaths and removals. Mr. Grosvenor again became acting pastor, and remained about three years. The church is now reduced to less than ten resident members.

PASTORS.

1. Rev. Ebenezer Gurley, son of Deacon Jonathan and Hannah (Baker) Gurley was born in Mansfield, Ct., 25 May, 1747, and was descended in the fourth generation from William Gurley, of Northampton, Mass., an emigrant from Scotland. He was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1772, was ordained at Guilford, 28 October, 1775, and died 17 July, 1776. "He was a young man of science, and much respected for his pious and amiable deportment." He married Desire, daughter of Capt. Timothy Dimock, of Mansfield, and by her had one child, who died in Portland, Me.

2. Rev. Henry Williams was born in Stonington, Ct., in 1744, and was ordained at Guilford, 28 October, 1778. Rev. Bunker Gay, of Hinsdale, N. H., preached the sermon from 2 Kings iv.: 40, "O son of man, there is death in the pot." It was at the time when continental currency was greatly depreciated, and the doctrine of the sermon was, that to pay a minister's salary in the depreciated currency is death in the pot, both to

minister and people. Mr. Williams was a violent Yorker, and when Guilford submitted to the authority of Vermont, he found it expedient to depart, with others of the same political faith. He was accordingly dismissed in 1783 and was installed 10 November, 1784, the first pastor of the Congregational Church in Leverett, Mass. The sermon was preached by Rev. Gershom C. Lyman, of Marlboro', Vt. He remained pastor at Leverett till his death, which occurred without a moment's warning, while he was sitting in his chair, 27 November, 1811. He was never graduated at any college. but received the honorary degree of A. M., from Dartmouth College, in 1782. His epitaph says: "He was an ardent preacher, eminent in prayer, a faithful minister of truly evangelical sentiments." His only publication was a Sermon on Secking the Lord, 1809. 3. Rev. Elijah Wollage was born in Bernardston, Mass., about 1769, and was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1791. He was ordained at Guilford, 13 March, 1793. Rev. Allen Pratt, of Westmoreland, N. H., preached the sermon. He was informally dismissed, 11 June 1797, and regularly dismissed, 22 April, 1805. From 1797 till 1811 he was acting pastor at Cambridge, Vt., and elsewhere. In 1811 he returned to Guilford, and was acting pastor nearly seven years. He commenced supplying the pulpit in Rockingham on the first Sabbath in July, 1818; and, after preaching four months, was engaged as acting pastor for four years from the time of his commencement. He was at Putney, N. Y., about seven years, after which he preached at Wheeler and Starkey, N. Y., and died in Starkey, 18 July, 1847. An obituary notice, published at the time of his death, says: "He ever exemplified the truth he so earnestly preached to others by his daily walk and conversation. He fell, as it were, with his ar

mor on, being struck down by an acute and rapid disease, while preparing sermons for the approaching Sabbath." The following is the epitaph on his gravestone: "For more than half a century he proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, and has now gone to receive his reward." He published a Discourse on the Death of Mrs. Catharine Janes, of St. Albans, 1808.

4. Rev. Jason Chamberlain, son of Jason (of Staples) and Abigail (Whiting) Chamberlain, was born 9 February, 1783, in Holliston, Mass., of which town her father was long a resident citizen, and many years a representative in the legislature. His mind was precociously developed. He studied Latin in the common school, pursued other studies with Rev. Timothy Dickinson, of Holliston, and Rev. Caleb Alexander, of Mendon, and was graduated at Brown University in 1804, with the highest honors. His first service in the ministry was in Thomaston, Me., and he preached in several other places for short terms.

He was ordained at Guilford, 5 January, 1808. Rev. Pliny Dickinson, of Walpole, N. H., preached the sermon, and it was published. He was dismissed 26 February, 1811, to become Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages in the University of Vermont. Into this office he was inducted 1 August, 1811, and he retained it about three years. He married, in January, 1814, Elizabeth Williams, of Burlington, Vt., a native of Boston, Mass. In 1814 he went West, and was one of the founders of Jackson, Mo. He retired from the ministry, went into the practice of law, and in 1820 was drowned while going the circuit of the courts in Arkansas.

His publications were a sermon at the funeral of Gen. Henry Knox, 1807; and an Inaugural Oration at Burlington, 1811.

NATIVE MINISTERS.

1. Rev. Avery Williams, son of Rev. Henry Williams, was born 9 January, 1782, and was graduated at Dartmouth in 1804. He studied theology at Princeton, was licensed in November, 1805, and was ordained pastor in Lexington, Mass., 30 December, 1807. Rev. Samuel Kendall, D. D., of Weston, preached the sermon, and it was published. He devoted himself to study and pastoral labors with such unremitting diligence that his health failed, and in the summer of 1813 he was attacked with bleeding of the lungs. In September, 1814, he went South, and spent the following winter in Charleston, S. C., and the vicinity, with so much improvement that he returned home in the spring, and resumed his labors. But his health again failed, and this time so hopelessly that he resigned his pastorate, and was dismissed 6 September, 1815. He began another journey to the South, 26 October, 1815, and traveling by short stages, arrived at Spartanburg, S. C., 20 January, 1816. There he gradually declined, and died 4 February, 1816.

He married a sister of the Hon. George Grennell, of Greenfield, Mass., and by her had two or more children, one of whom, Avery Williams, Jr., became a physician, and settled in Lanesboro'.

a Century Sermon, at Lexington, 1813.

2. Edward Royall Tyler, son of Royall and Mary (Palmer) Tyler, was born 3 August, 1800. His father was "a wit and a poet, and a chief justice," and his maternal grandfather was Col. Joseph Palmer, of the Revolutionary Army. He was graduated at Yale College in 1825, and studied theology at New Haven Theological Seminary. In December, 1827, he became pastor of the Congregational Church in Middletown, Vt. This church was reduced to a very low estate, but during his pastorate it rallied, and to him it owes much of its present vigor. He was dismissed in April, 1832, and in March, 1833, was in-. stalled in Colebrook, where he remained till June, 1836. He then engaged for a while in special labors for the anti-slavery cause, after which he edited a religious paper, and finally established the" New Englander," which he edited till his death, except a very short intermission occasioned by ill health. His death took place 28 September, 1848. tember, 1848. Among his published works were a volume of sermons on Future Punishment, a Congregational Catechism, a sermon on Holiness preferable to Sin, and one on Slavery a Sin per se. He was twice married; in May 1828, to Ann Murdock, daughter of Rev. James Murdock, D. D.; in July, 1831, to Sarah A. Boardman, of

As the subject of Expository Preaching has excited some attention of ate, the opinion of one who has had much experience in the practice of it,

may not be unacceptable. For many years I pursued a regular course of exposition of the sacred Scriptures, making it the exercise for one half of each