DISCOURSES COMPRISING A HISTORY OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN PROVIDENCE. DELIVERED JUNE 19, 1836. AFTER THE CLOSE OF A CENTURY FROM THE FORMATION Brooks BY EDWARD B. HALL, PASTOR. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. PROVIDENCE: PRINTED BY KNOWLES, VOSE & CO. NOTE. THE Discourses here offered call for a word of preface. The first century of the existence of this church expired in 1828. Circumstances prevented then the usual notice of the fact. The church being unwilling to let the occasion pass entirely, requested me to notice it. The present has been thought an appropriate time, as the first day when we again assemble in the house of our solemnities, after a temporary suspension for repairs and alterations, and as the year, and nearly the month, which mark the close of two centuries from the settlement of this town and state. I have only to ask, that the errors of statement or inference into which I may have fallen, may be ascribed to the circumstance of my yet new connexion with this Society, and my very recent acquaintance with the facts which I am called to present. These facts have been drawn from imperfect records, and different, perhaps not always accurate, sources. But it is my happiness, and chief ground of confidence, that they have been submitted, in substance, to the judgment of one still among us, whose knowledge and accuracy are known to all. * JOHN HOWLAND, |