History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

54 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1728.
of them ;
the unregenerate were admitted as communicants,
and the record of baptisms ceased. This occurred
in 1677, and the practice was not revived till five years
after the death of Mr. Stoddard.
Religious Awaken- His labors Were very successful and many
^^^^^ were added to the church. Five times
witliin the term of his ministrations, was
there a liberal outpouring of the spirit. Revivals of relig-
ion occurred in 1679, 1683, 1712, and 1718. The most remarkable
of these "harvests," as he called them, were the
second, third, and fourth, though many were admitted at
other times. ^ During the next nine years, there was a time
of stupidity and immorality among the young, and conten-
tions between the "Court and Country Party," which the
influence of the aged pastor was powerless to assuage. This
was undoubtedly the time alluded to by Mr. Edwards, in
the passage heretofore quoted. The whole number of members
admitted during the fifty-seven years that Mr. Stoddard
occupied the pulpit here, was six hundred thirty.
His Influence. Solomoii Stoddard was a man of great learning
and undoubted piety, and he also possessed
business talents of no mean order ; consequently he
soon commanded the respect, confidence, and esteem of his
people. Not only did he win the love and good-will of his
townsmen, but his talents soon gave him the position of
leader among the churches in Western Massachusetts, and
he "possessed, probably, more influence than any other
Clergyman in the province, during a period of thirty
years." ^
The Distinguishing A characteristic feature in the pastorate of
Peculiarity of his Mr. Stoddard was the peculiar doctrine
which he advocated concerning the admis-
sion of adults to the Table of the Lord. Though he was
not the originator of the practice, yet he defended the prin-
1 " And he was favourM with a more than ordinary Presence of God in his Work,
and many Seals of his Ministry; in the Course of which there were three remarkable
Seasons, in which the Spirit of God so movVl upon the Hearts of his People, that it
became almost the general cry of the place, What must I do to be saved ?"—Boston
Weekly News Letter, Feb. 20, 1729. Obituary probably written by Rev. Jonathan Edwards.
3 Dwight's Travels, vol. i, p. 331.