THE

OLD WHITE MEETINGHOUSE;

OR,

REMINISCENCES

OF A

COUNTRY CONGREGATION.

"At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray."

GOLDSMITH.

SECOND EDITION.

NEW YORK:

ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET,
AND PITTSBURG, 56 MARKET STREET.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846,

BY ROBERT CARTER,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern District of New York.

942.83 0 44 1846

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

THE following pages are the records of truth. They are given to the public with a good motive, and the reader will find that "still life" in the country, may furnish scenes of interest as intense and stirring as the realms of fiction.

The writer has aimed at doing good by these sketches. Evils in country congregations, more or less common to all, he has rebuked with an unsparing hand; while in the good pastor and many of his flock, there are bright examples of faith and works, that he has loved to portray for the admiration and imitation of those who may