It  is  evident,  thus,  I  think,  that  certainly  for  more
than  ten  years  before  the  dedication  of  the  meeting-
house whose  anniversary  we  commemorate,  this  region
was  undergoing  a  vigorous  spiritual  awakening  which  was
pressing  upon  the  community  not  merely  the  claims  of
personal  religion,  but  the  wider  interest  of  the  advance-
ment of  the  kingdom  of  God.  In  this  quickening  and
enlargement  of  the  spiritual  vision  the  pastor  of  this
church  was  conspicuously  a  leader,  and  we  may  believe
that  the  new  meeting-house  was  but  one  symptom  and
expression  of  that  reapprehension  of  spiritual  values
which  so  conspicuously  marked  the  time  of  its  erection.
Its  enlarged  size  and  more  ornate  appearance  as
compared  with  its  relatively  humble  predecessor,  and
the  substitution  of  the  more  enduring  brick  for  the
wood  of  which  that  building  was  constructed,  bespeaks
not  merely  the  growth  of  Hartford  in  population  and
in  wealth,  but  the  increasing  hold  which  religion  was
taking  upon  the  people  of  this  community.  It  stands  to
us  a  perpetual  witness  of  their  awakening  faith  and
zeal.
From  point  of  view  of  modern  conceptions  of  what
is  appropriate  to  religious  activity,  the  life  of  this  church
at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  the  meeting-house  seem
singularly  barren  and  one-sided.  Doubtless  the  interest
felt  in  the  development  of  personal  religious  character
was  more  intense  than  at  present.  Men  were  strenuous


ANNIVERSARY   EXERCISES.  4!

with  themselves,  and  in  their  conception  of  what  was
required  in  personal  surrender  and  consecration  for
entrance  upon  a  religious  life,  to  a  degree  which  our
age  too  little  appreciates.  The  period  was  introspective.
