Channels, Fall 2019

Page 34 Guidone • Liberty Further Extended Men were made for more noble Ends than to be Drove to market, like Sheep and oxen. Our being Christians does not give us the Least Liberty to trample on heathen, nor does it give us the least Superority over them. And not only are they gilty of man-stealing that the immediate actors in this trade, But those in these colonys that buy them at their hands, ar far from Being guiltless…if I buy a man, whether I am told he was stole, or not, yet I have no right to Enslave him, Because he is a human Being: and the immutable Laws of God, and indefeasible Laws of nature, pronounced him free. 9 Upon his return to Granville, the Congregational church requested Haynes for his preaching abilities, and he filled the pulpit many times throughout the early years of the War. Haynes established himself in the community as a reputable man, a self-identified mulatto bearing observable spiritual gifts. Haynes felt a calling to preach and hoped for an opportunity to train as a licensed minister. In 1779, a minister of the Congregational church named Daniel Farrand offered to house Haynes, train him for ministry, and serve as his tutor in Latin and Greek. 10 Following Haynes departure for Farrand’s home in New Canaan, Connecticut, Timothy Mather Cooley became the pastor in Granville. Cooley preached for decades and recorded the key influential details about Haynes life in a biography. In his 1837 biography of Haynes, Cooley delivered a concise, highly favorable account of Haynes’ character, patriotism, and spiritual gifts, stating that “he was imbued with a spirit of deep piety; he had a disposition for amusing remark and keen retort.” 11 Cooley printed his recollection of Haynes training and ordination, which reads as follows. By intense study by night, while the school engaged his attention through the day, he in a fewmonths became a thorough Greek scholar. As a critic on the Septuagint and Greek Testament, he possessed great skill. He had now laid up a valuable store of various learning, especially in theology, and by advice of many friends, both ministers and laymen, he made application for license to preach the gospel. Nov. 29 th , 1780, several ministers of high respectability “having examined him in the languages and sciences, andwith respect to his knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel, and practical and experimental religion, recommended him as qualified to preach the gospel.” His credentials have the signatures of Rev. Daniel Farrand, Canaan, Rev Jonathan Huntington, Worthington, and Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., Coventry. His first sermon was preached at Wintonberry, CT. 12 By 1785, Haynes built a reputation as a capable preacher. A congregation offered Haynes a pulpit, on a provisional basis, in Torrington, Connecticut. Haynes persevered as a Connecticut minister for two years and by 1787 received “a comfortable salary.” 13 Haynes proudly bore the titles minister and pastor, and quickly developed a reputation for dynamic public speaking, power, and wit in the pulpit. The congregations in Granville and Torrington served as proving grounds for Haynes to show his capability as an active candidate for the ministry. 9 Haynes and Newman, Black Preacher to White America, 23. 10 Saillant, Black Puritan, Black Republican, 84. North Canaan Congregational Church voted to ordain Daniel Farrand in 1753. Farrand pastored in Canaan, CT for fifty years until his death in 1803. Haynes grew in popularity as a member of the Congregationalist church movement in New England. Farrand and others endorsed Haynes and included him in their pastoral fraternity. Daniel Farrand is not to be confused with his son Daniel Farrand, (1760-1825) a Vermont politician who served as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives and Vermont Supreme Court. 11 Cooley, 61. 12 Cooley, 63. 13 Samuel Orcutt. History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with Biographies and Genealogies (Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell, 1878) 35.