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Transcriber's Note:

Small capitals have been rendered in full capitals. Italics are indicated
by _underscores_. Two ligatures and two superscripts have been removed.
A transliterated Greek word is indicated by =equal signs=.

Apparent typographical errors and inconsistent hyphenation have been
corrected.

Footnote 4 is missing, while Footnotes 5 and 6 identical.

The first line of the text accompanying an illustration comprises the
signature of the person portrayed. Any attributions are reproduced in
following lines.

Chapters XI to XIX comprise biographical notes on Universalist ministers.
These are separated by two spaces.




FIFTY NOTABLE YEARS.




  "And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death; but an
  infinite Ocean of Light and Love flowed over the Ocean of Darkness;
  and in that I saw the infinite Love of God."--GEORGE FOX'S JOURNAL.

  "Universalism was the evening star of the church as the night of the
  dark ages came on, and appeared as the morning star at the dawn of
  the Reformation."--THOMAS WHITTEMORE, D. D.

 [Illustration: Hosea Ballou.
 Painted by H. Pratt.
 Engd. by J. Andrews & H. W. Smith.]




 FIFTY NOTABLE YEARS

 VIEWS OF THE

 MINISTRY OF CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM

 _DURING THE LAST HALF-CENTURY_.

 WITH

 Biographical Sketches.

 BY JOHN G. ADAMS, D. D.

 ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS.

 BOSTON:
 UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE.
 1882.


 _Copyright, 1882_,
 BY UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE.

 UNIVERSITY PRESS:
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.




PREFACE.


Every intelligent reader of that expressive line of Longfellow, "Let
the dead past bury its dead," understands that if "the _dead_ past"
may be buried, as it deserves to be, the _living_ past will be
remembered, recorded, celebrated, honored in all time to come. It is
well, always, that we have our eyes open to this fact.

Among the many voices heard in the discussions going on in the
religious world during the last half-century, has been that of
Christian Universalism. It is still speaking more emphatically and
widely than ever. A brief and comprehensive notice of its
manifestations is surely worthy of consideration at the present time.
It is the intent of this volume to keep in sacred remembrance some of
the preachers and defenders of the Gospel of God's impartial grace,
who in times when it was frowned upon and misrepresented in and out of
the churches, had the Christian courage and loyalty to avow and
maintain it. They have made the past not "dead," but gloriously alive
in their faith and works.

In addition to the biographical sketches here given, other kindred
matter of interest to the general reader will be presented, such as
the rise and progress of the Universalist church in America; its
growth in agreement with the genius and civilization of our republic;
its place in the reformatory work of the last fifty years; its present
status; its educational resources and aspects; its definite organized
work; its missionary spirit and intent, with an outlook into the
future.

The reader will understand that the views here taken are from the
standpoint of a New England minister's observation, and do not embrace
particulars which a wider survey might have included.

Furthermore, the author would say, that in the account of ministers
here given, nothing like a complete biographical encyclopaedia is
intended; hence, he does not consider himself responsible for what is
not in the volume, but presents it as it is, with a thankful heart
that he is able in this humble effort to vindicate the faithful dead,
and to address the living in behalf of that cause which they honored
and promoted.

J. G. A.

MELROSE HIGHLANDS, November, 1882.




CONTENTS.



CHAPTER I.

THE WORLD'S PROGRESS.
                                                                      PAGE

 The Century just passed.--Last Half-century and Changes in it.--Words
 of Rev. Dr. Macleod and Governor Long.--Moral Progress; Hopeful
 View.--Enlargement of Religious Thought.--Christianity a Universal
 Religion.--Words of Dr. Uhlhorn and Dean Milman.                       13


CHAPTER II.

CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM.

 The Name; what it indicates.--Ancient Universalism.--Dr. E. Beecher's
 Testimony.--Statements of Others.--Mr. Lecky and Dr. Shaff.--
 Universalism of the Present Time.--In Europe.                          19


CHAPTER III.

UNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.

 Its Rise with the Republic.--Declaration of Independence.--Its
 Christian Signification.--Mr. Bancroft's Statement.--Spirit of the
 Constitution of the Republic.--Nature, Unity, Interest, and
 Destination of the one Family of Man.--Speech of Dr. T. Whittemore.--
 Murray in Faneuil Hall.                                                23


CHAPTER IV.

EARLY ADVOCACY OF UNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.

 Murray and De Benneville.--Universalists as a separate Sect, and
 Reasons for it.--Statement of Rev. Dr. J. H. Tuttle.--Murray's
 Associates in the Ministry.--Their Characteristics.--Statement of
 Rev. Dr. J. Smith Dodge.--Description by Rev. Dr. A. D. Mayo.          30


CHAPTER V.

GROWTH.

 Ministers at the beginning of the Present Century.--Statement of Rev.
 Dr. Miner.--Educational Aids and Publications.--Murray Centenary
 Fund.--Woman's Centenary Aid Association.--Theological Changes.--
 Calvinism, Arminianism, Universalism.--Evidences of the Influence of
 the Latter in these Changes.--Orthodox Concessions.                    36


CHAPTER VI.

UNIVERSALISM, UNITARIANISM, RATIONALISM.

 Liberal Christianity.--Indecision of Unitarians respecting the
 Salvation of All.--Ballou on Atonement.--Bold Vindication of their
 Faith by Universalists.--Tribute to Unitarianism.--Its Defects.--Mr.
 Parker's Influence.--Difficulty in answering a Question.--Disavowal
 of Mr. Parker's Rationalism by Universalists.--Resolutions of Boston
 Association.--Mr. Parker reviewed by Rev. O. A. Skinner and Rev. Dr.
 Lothrop.--Discussions respecting Christian Fellowship.--Dr. Ballou's
 Article in Universalist Quarterly; never Answered.--Mr. R. W. Emerson
 and his Testimony to Universalism.                                     42


CHAPTER VII.

REFORM MOVEMENTS AND UNIVERSALISM.

 Universalist Reform Association.--First Meeting, and Festival
 Addresses.--Continuation of Meetings, a Feature of Anniversary
 Week.--Anti-Slavery Resolutions.--Festivals in Faneuil Hall.--
 Rendition of Burns; Notes of Freedom on the Occasion.                  50


CHAPTER VIII.

NEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY; UNIVERSALIST PROTEST.

 Mr. Garrison and His Associates.--Marlboro Chapel, "Eloquence
 dog-cheap there."--The Debaters.--Rev. John Pierpont and his
 Remarkable Plea.--Wendell Phillips's Reply to it.--Mobs in Boston and
 at Concord, N. H.--Denunciatory Spirit.--Anti-Sabbath Convention.--
 N. P. Rogers and the "Herald of Freedom."--Momentum of the
 Anti-Slavery Reform.--Political Changes.--War of the Rebellion and
 Downfall of Slavery.--Universalist Churches in this Reform.--Protest
 of Ministers against Slavery.                                          58


CHAPTER IX.

REFORMATORY PROGRESS.

 The Temperance Reform.--Its Rise and Course in the Past; Its Present
 Aspects.--The Peace Question.--War Spirit of the Past contrary to
 Christianity.--Growth of the Christian Idea.--Peace Publications.--
 Sumner's Oration.--National Disputes can be settled by Arbitration;
 Instances.--Victor Hugo's Words.--Treatment of Criminals.--Capital
 Punishment.--Position and Work of Woman.--Other Questions.             66


CHAPTER X.

THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH AND ITS WOMEN.

 Some of the Gifted Authors.--Women Workers in the Churches, Pulpits,
 and Educational Institutions.--Organized Effort.--Woman's Centenary
 Aid Association.--Its Work in the Centennial Year.--Tribute from the
 "Christian Leader."--Work of the Association since.--Mrs. C. A. Soule
 and the Scotland Mission.--Church in Glasgow.--Circulation of Church
 Literature.                                                            79


CHAPTER XI.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS.

 Hosea Ballou.--Hosea F. Ballou.--Massena Ballou.--David  Ballou.--
 Moses Ballou.--Hosea Ballou, D. D.--Levi and W. S.  Ballou.--
 Edward Turner.--Sebastian Streeter.--Russell Streeter.--Thomas
 Jones.--Paul Dean.--Walter Balfour.--John Bisbe.--Thomas Whittemore,
 D. D.--Benjamin Whittemore, D. D.--Dolphus Skinner, D. D.--Warren
 Skinner.--Otis A. Skinner, D. D.--Samuel P. Skinner.--Joseph
 O. Skinner.--Nathaniel Stacy.--Stephen R. Smith.--Sylvanus Cobb,
 D. D.--Menzies Rayner.                                                 84


CHAPTER XII.

 Thomas F. King.--Thomas Starr King.--Abel C. Thomas.--S. W.
 Fuller.--William A. Drew.--I. D. Williamson, D. D.--Kittredge
 Haven.--John Boyden.--John Moore.--Henry Bacon.--D. K. Lee, D. D.     129


CHAPTER XIII.

 George Bates.--Ezekiel Vose.--Lemuel Willis.--John H. Willis.--
 Theodore Clapp.--John A. Gurley.--Enoch M. Pingree.--Thomas
 J. Greenwood.--Elbridge Gerry Brooks, D. D.--Ebenezer Fisher,
 D. D.--Rev. Seth Stetson.--William Bell.--Calvin Gardner.             152


CHAPTER XIV.

 Josiah Gilman.--Emmons Partridge.--William I. Reese.--Albert A.
 Folsom.--William C. Hanscom.--Merritt Sanford.--Alexander R.
 Abbott.--Henry C. Leonard.--Abraham Norwood.--Charles Spear.--
 James W. Putnam.--James W. Dennis.--Henry B. Soule.--Obadiah H.
 Tillotson.                                                            168


CHAPTER XV.

 Elhanan W. Reynolds.--Nathaniel Gunnison.--John M. Austin.--Tobias H.
 Miller.--Martin J. Steere.--Franklin S. Bliss.--Russell Tomlinson.--
 De Witt C. Tomlinson.--Levi C. Marvin.--Giles Bailey.--John E.
 Palmer.--William W. Wilson.--William R. Chamberlain.                  181


CHAPTER XVI.

 Samuel C. Loveland.--David Pickering.--George Rogers.--Lewis F. W.
 Andrews.--Charles W. Mellen.--Henry A. Eaton.--W. A. P. Dillingham.--
 John G. Bartholomew, D. D.--E. H. Chapin, D. D.--Joseph D. Pierce.--
 Thomas J. Carney.--James M. Cook.                                     199


CHAPTER XVII.

 A. W. Bruce.--Frederick A. Hodsdon.--Ezekiel W. Coffin.--Edward A.
 Drew.--Norris C. Hodgdon.--S. P. Landers.--John Nichols.--Robert
 Killam.--Charles H. Webster.--Asa P. Cleverly.--Thomas J. Whitcomb.--
 George W. Whitney.--Robinson Breare.                                  221


CHAPTER XVIII.

 Zadoc H. Howe.--Willard C. George.--Mark Powers.--L. L. Record.--
 H. H. Baker.--James W. Ford.--E. H. Lake.--L. B. Mason.--Lafayette
 Barstow.--Stillman Barden.--T. J. Tenney.--C. H. Dutton.--Robert
 Bartlett.                                                             232


CHAPTER XIX.

 Rufus S. Pope.--W. M. De Long.--W. B. Linnell.--Joshua Britton.--
 George Messenger.--John T. Goodrich.--Franklin C. Flint.--Hope Bain.--
 Woodbury M. Fernald.--C. P. Mallory.--Elvira J. Powers.--Fanny U.
 Roberts.--Prudy Le Clerc Haskell.--_Living Ministers_: C. F. Le
 Fevre, D. D.--Lucius R. Paige, D. D.--A. A. Miner, D. D.--Thomas J.
 Sawyer, D. D.--Thomas B. Thayer, D. D.--William S. Balch, D. D.--
 William H. Ryder, D. D.--Birthplace of Rev. H. Ballou.                257


CHAPTER XX.

EDUCATIONAL AIDS.

 Universalism and Education.--Tufts College.--Lombard University.--St.
 Lawrence University.--Buchtel College.--Clinton Liberal Institute.--
 Dean Academy.--Goddard Seminary.--Westbrook Seminary.--Green Mountain
 Perkins Institute.--Other Aids.--The Sunday School.--Church
 Literature.--A Sensible and Urgent Appeal.                            293


CHAPTER XXI.

THE LAITY.

 Needed Support of the Ministry; how the Laity can render it.--
 Instances noted.                                                      302


CHAPTER XXII.

THE PRESENT OUTLOOK.

 Changes.--The Episcopal and Congregational Churches.--The Beecher
 Family.--Congregationalists at Plymouth in 1865.--Question of the
 Divine Responsibility.--Dr. Patton, Rev. John Miller, Miss Elizabeth
 Stuart Phelps.--Orthodoxy at Andover.--Questions respecting it.--
 Expedients to avoid the Admission of Universalism.--Prophecy of
 Rev. Dr. Hosea Ballou.--A late Acknowledgment of its Truthfulness.--
 Spirit of Inquiry among the Sects.--Spurgeon's Words.--The World and
 Church moving.--Growth of our Nation during the Last Half Century.--
 Words of Hon. R. C. Winthrop at Yorktown.--Work of the Universalist
 Church Now and Henceforth.--A Positive Faith.--The Creed Question
 noted.--A True Christian Life.--Missionary Inspiration and Action.--
 Conclusion.                                                           307




LIST OF PORTRAITS.


                                                                      PAGE

 REV. HOSEA BALLOU                                          _Frontispiece_

  "   HOSEA BALLOU, D. D.                                               95

  "   THOMAS WHITTEMORE, D. D.                                         111

  "   OTIS A. SKINNER, D. D.                                           116

  "   SYLVANUS COBB, D. D.                                             124

  "   JOHN MOORE                                                       147

  "   HENRY BACON                                                      148

  "   ELBRIDGE G. BROOKS, D. D.                                        161

  "   EBENEZER FISHER, D. D.                                           163

  "   LUCIUS R. PAIGE, D. D.                                           259

  "   ALONZO A. MINER, D. D.                                           262

  "   THOMAS J. SAWYER, D. D.                                          268

  "   THOMAS B. THAYER, D. D.                                          275

  "   WILLIAM H. RYDER, D. D.                                          283

  MR. THOMAS A. GODDARD                                                298




FIFTY NOTABLE YEARS.




CHAPTER I.

THE WORLD'S PROGRESS.

  "Even now, after eighteen centuries of Christianity, we may be
  involved in some enormous error, of which the Christianity of the
  future will make us ashamed."--VINET.

  "Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
  And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns."

  TENNYSON.


"The world moves." This is one of the confident sayings of those who
believe in human progression. It is an ordination of Divine Providence
from the beginning that man should realize mental and moral growth
through the successive generations of his earthly life. And this
divine purpose has been manifest in the past history of our race. They
who think, taking the amplest view of the present condition of
mankind, any former time was better than the present, do not
rightfully discriminate. "If," says Sydney Smith, "you say that our
ancestors were wiser than we, mention your date and your year."
Enlightened humanity cannot be content with its present attainments.
Its purest and highest aspirations respond to that clarion word of
Christian heroism, "Let us go on unto perfection!"

Of all the centuries of human history which have yet been numbered,
none have been more notable than the one in which we are living. Since
its commencement some of the most remarkable changes that can be
recorded of any age or period have taken place. Education, art,
science, human government and enterprise, religious thought, all have
made progress. Nations have changed, men have changed, if not in
nature, yet in convictions respecting man's capability, obligation,
and destiny. The Old World and the New have witnessed these
transformations.

It is of the changes indicative of human progress within the middle of
the present century that I desire to speak in this volume; for during
this period there seems to have been a more rapid succession of them
than ever, evincing the capability of our race for an advancement to
which no philosophy of the past or present has been able to set
bounds. There have been, during this time, nobler revolutions than
those effected by war, by the downfall of governments and
dynasties,--revolutions more excellent and enduring. We mean those
wrought by human thought, investigation, discovery, and invention. Apt
and forcible are the words of Dr. Norman Macleod, written at the close
of the year 1869: "In a few hours the century will have lived its
threescore and ten years. I question if since time began,--with the
exception of three or four great eras, such as the calling of Abraham,
the Exodus, the birth of Christ, the Reformation, the invention of
printing, or, it may be, the breaking up of the Roman Empire, the
birth of Mohammed or of Buddha,--such an influential period has
existed. The invention of the steam-engine, the discovery of gas,
telegraph, chloroform, with the freedom of slaves, the British
acquisition of India, the opening up of the world to the Gospel, the
translations of the Scriptures, will make it forever memorable."
Equally expressive are the words recently spoken by the chief
magistrate of Massachusetts: "Think of what has been done in the
matter of education, of public schools, of universities of learning
for both sexes and all races. In science we have unlocked the secrets
of the earth, the air, and the sea, and made them not merely matters
of wonder, but handmaids of homely use. In all matters of comfort, of
use, of elegance, of convenient living, of house and table, and
furniture, and light, and warmth, and health, and travel, what
thorough and beneficent advance equally for all, shaming the petty
meanness with which, unjust alike to the old times and the new, we
inveigh against the new times and overrate the old!"[1]

And what, more especially, of moral revolution and progress during the
last half century? The indications are evidently hopeful and cheering.
Human nature is indeed the same, but it has been under new and better
influences in modern than in more remote time. Human governments have
improved, and even the worst of them are better now than they were
fifty years ago. Human laws have been rendered more human and less
barbarous. Sympathy for the poor, the degraded, the sinful, has been
more truly awakened, and is at this moment in more active operation
than at any previous time. The moral obligations of political rulers,
and those who sustain them, have been perhaps more vigorously
discussed during these years than in any other fifty years preceding;
so that there seems now a more favorable opportunity than at almost
any previous day this side that of the Jewish Theocracy, to impress
this truth upon the public mind, that if individuals should have
consciences and a sense of responsibility to God, so should
communities; that "righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a
reproach to any people." Religious toleration also has increased. The
rigid sectarianism of the past has been giving way, so that now the
hunters of heresy, and the executioners of those who held it, are read
of rather than seen. The false deity which even some Christians have
worshipped in the past, and the false humanity with which they have
supposed themselves endowed, have been in some good degree exchanged
for more rational conceptions of God the Father, and of man the
offspring. And this change is daily going on; never was it more
perceptible than at the present hour.

We should manifest an unpardonable blindness in noting these evidences
of human advancement, if we were to leave out of the account the most
significant of all forces in it,--we mean _Christianity_.

This we regard as the foremost power in the spiritual progress thus
far realized in our world, and which promises to effect for the race
its highest exaltation. Refinement and barbarism have more or less
marked the history of the world in the past; they do still; but where
does the light of civilization shine brightest among the nations? The
answer is, where the Christian religion, in its true spirit, most
widely prevails. And it is the increasing prevalence of it which gives
us the assurance of that consummation of the Redeemer's work with men,
when they all "come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man; unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ."[2]

Christianity is a universal religion. Herein is its pre-eminence. It
is for man everywhere and in all time. No other religion has so
clearly asserted this claim for itself, and no other promises to do so
much for mankind. True, it has had to make its way against the errors
and prejudices and corruptions of the world. It has been mixed with
human errors, and has been professed, taught, and practised in too
many instances by those who have failed to realize clearly the
heavenliness of its spirit, and its far-reaching, regenerative, and
overcoming power. Its earliest promulgators failed to see at first
this grand characteristic of its universality. An able Christian
historian has written: "Nothing is more remarkable than to see the
horizon of the Apostles gradually receding, and, instead of resting on
the borders of the Holy Land, comprehending at length the whole world;
barrier after barrier falling down before the superior wisdom which
was infused into their minds; first, the proselytes of the gate, the
foreign conformists to Judaism, and, ere long, the Gentiles themselves
admitted within the pale; until Christianity stood forth, demanded the
homage, and promised its rewards to the faith of the whole human race;
proclaimed itself in language which the world had as yet never heard,
the one, true universal religion."[3]

Rev. Dr. Gerhard Uhlhorn, of Germany, in his able work, "The Conflict
of Christianity with Heathenism," speaking of the early development of
Christianity in the Roman Empire, calls it the first step to its
universalism. "Itself passing out from the ancient narrowness into a
world-wide breadth of thought and life, the old world became capable
of accepting the Universalism of Christianity."[4] The old world and
the new have yet many steps forward to take in this pathway of a
continually increasing brightness.

[1] Oration of Governor Long before the municipal authorities and
citizens of Boston, July 4, 1882.

[2] Eph. iv. 13.

[3] Milman's "History of Christianity."




CHAPTER II.

CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM.

  "Universalism is a living movement, organized out of the grandest
  ideas and spiritual facts of the universe; gathering into itself the
  richest and mightiest moral forces, and working towards the most
  positive practical ends; and a man is a Universalist, and is the
  better off for being a Universalist, only as some sense of what
  Universalism thus is, and of the force of its motives, and the
  reality of its work, flows down, a quickening power, into his
  being."--E. G. BROOKS, D. D.


The name _Universalism_, as connected with Christianity, has been
especially notable during the present century. But the principles
which it implies were averred by the Christian church in its earliest
days. It signifies God's unchanging paternal interest in all his
children; an interest insuring his just dealing with them for their
obedience or disobedience of his beneficent laws, and their final
release from sin, and life in righteousness. Under its present name,
Universalism is comparatively recent; its special church history being
comprehended in something more than a century. But its principles and
doctrines are as old as the Christian records, and are found in the
Old Testament teachings. Just as all the sects in Christendom, though
belonging to modern times, profess to trace whatever they may deem
essential back to the Apostles, so believers in Universalism make the
same reference, as one of their number has well stated it: "If we have
no business here because we came so late, our neighbors must fall
under the same condemnation. In mere assumption we are neither younger
nor older than they."

The Universalist Church claims the New Testament as the basis of its
doctrines. It cites the Gospels, the Apostolic History and the
Epistles, Christ, and his first ministers, as authority for its
pretensions. After the apostles, its lights appear in the early
centuries of the Christian era. Dr. Edward Beecher, in his able work,
"The Scriptural Doctrine of Future Retribution," shows that at about
the time of Origen, out of the six theological schools in Christendom,
four taught Universal Salvation as the faith of the Christian
Church,--the one at Caesarea, the one at Antioch, the one at
Alexandria, the one at Edessa. That eminent light of the early church,
Origen, who so ably and successfully maintained the claims of
Christianity against the abusive attacks of the heathen Celsus, was a
Universalist. So was Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, and Gregory
Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neocaesarea; and so were the most distinguished
by piety and learning of the masters of the great theological seminary
of the early Church, the Catechetical school at Alexandria. Doederlein
said that "the more profoundly learned any one was in Christian
antiquity, so much more did he cherish and defend the hope that the
suffering of the wicked would at some time come to an end."[5] And
Hagenbach, commenting on a remark of Augustine, says, "that even that
great father of Orthodoxy admitted a relative cessation of damnation."
Also, Gieseler affirms, "A belief in the unalienable power of
amendment in all intelligent beings, and the limited duration of
future punishment, was general in the West, and among the opponents of
Origen."[6] Of the very time when the influence of Origen was so great
in the Church, and when, there can be no good reason to doubt, the
doctrine of universal salvation was held by many, if not the majority
of Christians, Mr. Lecky, in his history of "Morals in Europe," says,
"The Christian community exhibited a moral purity which, if it has
been equalled, has never for a long time been surpassed."

Dr. Schaff says of the condemnation of Origen, which included the
doctrine of universal restoration, "It was a death-blow to theological
science in the Greek Church, and left it to stiffen gradually into a
mechanical traditionalism and formalism."

The increased light shed upon ecclesiastical history during the
present century shows most clearly the growth of this faith from the
first centuries of the Christian era to the present time. It has
increased with the mental and moral progress of mankind, with its best
civilization.

What is written for these pages will represent especially the rise and
progress of the Universalist Church in America. It is proper, however,
to say that the faith it represents has had growth also in other
lands. It has long been known in Great Britain, where a few churches
have made a distinct avowal of it, while individuals scattered here
and there have had strong interest in it. The Unitarians of England
generally avow it. In the Established Church, faith in the doctrine of
endless punishment is not demanded as a condition of church-membership,
while some of its most distinguished leaders have advocated with
marked ability the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God in full agreement
with the doctrine of the final reconciliation of all souls to him. We
meet with Universalism in its essential elements in Neander, the
eminent Christian historian, and in commentators and scholars in
England and on the Continent. The faith is expressed in the poetry of
Wordsworth, Tennyson, and others.[7] The able ministers Coquerel
(father and son) were advocates of it in the Reformed Church in France
(Paris). The leaven of this faith is in individuals; the doctrine is
often held and openly avowed from the pulpit and through the press, as
well as in private by a large number of persons in various communions,
who may have but little knowledge of each other, or of the advocacy of
this faith elsewhere through special organizations.

[5] Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., chap. 16.

[6] Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., chap. 16.

[7] For evidence of the many utterances of the Universalist idea in
the literature of the past, the reader is referred to the volume
entitled "A Cloud of Witnesses," by Rev. John W. Hanson, D. D.,
Chicago, 1880.




CHAPTER III.

UNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.

  "Christianity is recognized as a democratic element, profitable for
  all conditions of men, as the Declaration of Independence and our
  Constitution are the palladium of our civil and religious
  rights."--DR. J. W. FRANCIS, author of "Old New York."


Universalism in America took its rise with the Republic. The coming of
John Murray to our shores, and the proclamation of the gospel of
universal grace, was but a little time previous to the issuing of the
Declaration of Independence by the American colonies. These colonies
had come to the full and bold utterance with which the Declaration
opens: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness." Through ages of light and of darkness this
sacred truth had had but little growth or power in the human mind. But
it was there, and was not to die there. It lived through all the
world's change, commotion, and revolution, and the set time had now
come when it should have a clearer and stronger expression and
demonstration than our old or new worlds had yet known. This
declaration of our fathers signified the inestimable value of man--of
every man--to himself, his fellow man, and his God. It asserts the
doctrine of human equality, not that all men have the same
intellectual or moral capacities, or should possess an equal amount of
property, or be invested with the same political privileges; but the
religious doctrine that all are of "one blood," children of one
Father, protected by one Providence, made to aid, to bless and build
each other up in truth, justice, and righteousness henceforth while
the world stands. It signifies human equality and human rights in
their broadest and most rational sense. As wrote Alexander Hamilton:
"All men have one common origin, they participate in a common nature,
and consequently have one common right. No reason can be assigned why
one man should exercise any pre-eminence among his fellow creatures,
unless they have voluntarily vested him with it." It was this
conviction, based on a principle, that carried our fathers through the
Revolution, and gave to us that Constitution which was afterwards the
work of their hands.

The object of this Constitution is explicitly declared, "To form a
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity,
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." This
signified not the growth and strengthening of a sentiment that would
justify the building up of one class upon the subjugation of another.
We have a statement of the whole truth in the emphatic language of Mr.
Bancroft, as he speaks of the intent of the framers of the Declaration
on which our Constitution is based. "The Declaration, avoiding
specious and vague generalities, grounds itself with anxious care upon
the past, and reconciles right and fact. The assertion of right was
made for the entire world of mankind, and all coming generations,
without any exceptions whatever; for the proposition which admits of
exceptions can never be self-evident. And as it was put forth in the
name of the ascendant people of that time, it was sure to make the
circuit of the world, passing everywhere through the despotic
countries of Europe; and the astonished nations, as they read that all
men are created equal, started out of their lethargy, like those who
have been exiles from childhood, when they suddenly hear the dimly
remembered accents of their mother tongue."[8]

It was meet and right that when this great word went forth to awaken
the nations to a new realization, there should be heard at the same
time in our land the trumpet notes of that gospel which proclaims the
unbinding of the heavy burdens of humanity, liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. As Dr. Benjamin
Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (and a
believer in Christian Universalism), in a letter to Rev. Mr.
Winchester, alluding to Rev. John Wesley, writes: "His writings will
ere long revive in support of our doctrine--for if Christ died for
all, as Mr. Wesley always taught, it will soon appear as a necessary
consequence that all shall be saved.... At present we wish liberty to
the whole world. The next touch of the celestial magnet upon the human
heart will direct it into wishes for the salvation of all mankind."

This new political life, upon which our nation entered, signified the
equality, true sonship, brotherhood, capability, and earthly
destination of man. It meant democracy, not the democracy of numbers
merely, nor of political parties struggling for supremacy and the
spoils of the victors, but a democracy having in view a common
good--the greatest good of all. It means intelligence, thrift,
education, and religion for the masses; it means this for one people,
means it for all nations of mankind. Precisely this is signified by
the re-affirmation on these western shores of that gospel anciently
proclaimed to the Athenians by the Christian apostle: "God, that made
the world ... hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell
on all the face of the earth, ... as certain also of your own poets
have said, For we are also his offspring."[9] A common humanity, a
common interest and destiny, are declared.

It is a common humanity with which Christ is in sympathy; which makes
him who would be highest in the Divine estimation the servant of all;
which recognizes the Golden Rule, directs the strong to bear the
infirmities of the weak, and men everywhere to be helpers one of
another, because their interests are not antagonistic, when the laws
that govern their nature are clearly understood. They have unity:

  "What binds one, binds all,
  Love of things true and right."

Men have, too, a common interest under the Divine guardianship.
Wherever there is a man, there is a being in whose soul God has
implanted aspirations after himself, a propensity to religion, a
feeling after him which may be misled by superstition, or overlaid by
ignorance, or elevated by knowledge into purest piety, but which is
yet there. Wherever he exists the Sovereign Power holds him in
discipline, demands an account from him at his tribunal of impartial
justice, and will not permit him to go out of his hands. To whatever
heights he ascends, God still encompasses him; into whatever depths he
may fall, he is still held by the guardian beneficent power.

One destiny, also, is affirmed of this great body of humanity; a
blessing instituted in the beginning, including all families,
kindreds, nations. No divine favoritism towards one over another do we
see. The law and the prophets point towards this universal grace of
God to man. Israel and the Gentile world shall alike share it. The
apocalyptic vision opens it up to the eye of faith. "And every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying,
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."[10] What is
this but the fact, and the ultimate completeness and glory of the
unity of the race? One Father, Brotherhood, Saviour, Homage, Destiny.

Other theologies had made distinctions and endless separations in
representing mankind; had denied, as they still deny, this fraternal
relationship, this positive family connection; had represented God
rather as an arbitrary sovereign than loving Father, and the Divine
government a wilful monarchy instead of a just and merciful
dispensation under which each soul is of equal value, and the good of
one is the good of all. Unbelief has said, as in the language of
Spinoza: "The right extends as far as the force of the natural right
or law, _jus et institutum naturae_ is nothing more than the rules of
the nature of each individual." The divisions and contentions, classes
and castes, the impositions, frauds, and oppressions which have more
or less marked the social relations of mankind, all come of this
pernicious error growing out of the unchecked selfishness of the human
heart. Christian Universalism forever contradicts this error. It
affirms that the great body of humanity is one, and that it is death
to sunder it. "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;
if one rejoice, all rejoice together; for the body is not one member,
but many."[11] In the affirmation of the Gospel, religious bigotry and
exclusiveness find a constant reproof; undue boasting, arrogance, and
pride are hushed by this grand conviction that "One is our Father who
is in heaven, and all we are brethren." The broadest philanthropy is
awakened everywhere in man. The world becomes the one great field of
effort for the enlightenment, relief, upraising, and perfecting of
humanity. In the strong and noble words of another: "Universalism and
the Revolution began to rise together. They were rocked together in
the same stormy days, in the cradle of American liberty.[12] The
banner of Universalism is love. Let that banner be lifted up. It shall
symbol yet the true idea of the Declaration of Independence, 'All men
are created equal.' I look forward to the time when our flag shall
wave in unsullied glory, not over smoking ruins, at the mast-head of
our battle-ships, on bloody fields, from the parapets of our forts,
merely; but the stars and stripes and the white banner together,
floating over slaves redeemed, sinners converted, evil statutes
abolished, the people united, and the North and the South one."[13]

[8] Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. viii.

[9] Acts, xvii. 24, 28.

[10] Rev. v. 18.

[11] 1 Cor. xii. 14, 26.

[12] When Rev. John Murray first preached in Faneuil Hall, Nov. 26,
1773, he discoursed from this appropriate text: "If the Son therefore
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."--John, viii. 36.

[13] Rev. T. Whittemore, D. D. Speech at Faneuil Hall Festival, 1858.




CHAPTER IV.

EARLY ADVOCACY OF UNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.

  "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
  of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
  God."--ISAIAH, xl. 3.


Rev. John Murray, from England, landed on the shore of New Jersey in
1770. He came hither much oppressed in spirit on account of severe
afflictions in England, and had determined not to place himself before
the public again as a preacher. His published biography tells us how
differently the arrangements were made by Providence respecting him.
It is a remarkable record, that of his meeting with Thomas Potter, who
declared that he had been long waiting for the minister who had now
come, that he must preach in the new meeting-house which had been
builded for him; and who, in face of the preacher's refusal to comply
with his request, declared that the wind would not change for him to
leave in the vessel until he had delivered his message. After a severe
mental conflict the stranger consented to preach on the following
Sunday. Due notice was given, and the house was filled with attentive
listeners.

There had been some other preaching of Universalism in different
places in America previous to this time, as there were here and there
those who cherished the faith and made public avowal of it. Dr. George
de Benneville, a fugitive from France because of religious
persecution, established himself near Germantown, Pa., as a physician,
and being a devout believer in Universalism, took occasion often to
advocate it in public, with much effect. This beginning on the part of
Mr. Murray, however, opened the way to a systematic, permanent
movement, and led to the establishment of Universalist churches. He
preached much in New England, and was settled in Portsmouth, N. H.,
and afterwards in Boston, where he remained pastor of one church for
nearly thirty years. In his preaching at first, Mr. Murray did not
design to establish a separate sect. He was welcomed by ministers and
their followers into orthodox pulpits, until his outspoken views
respecting the salvation of the race raised a strong opposition
against him, which made him an object of persecution, and marked him
as the propagator of a dangerous heresy. Thus excluded from Christian
communion and fellowship by other sects, it was but reasonable and
just that the believers in Universalism should assume for themselves
the rights and privileges of a distinct and independent Christian
fraternity; so that other sects were responsible for the separation of
this branch of the Christian church from themselves. It has been
justly said by another:--

  "If there was sin in this schism, in this separate religious
  organization, it was a sin for which the other sects of those times
  should bear the blame. They turned us out of doors, because we dared
  express our earnest solemn opinions, and we had only these two
  alternatives,--to stay out of doors or go in at those which were
  hung on Universalist hinges. Does anybody to-day condemn us because
  we chose the latter? We do not uncharitably condemn them for the
  course they took; they acted, in most cases, conscientiously; and it
  was, perhaps, a providential necessity of the times that the two
  elements should separate; that the two classes of Christians,
  holding views so opposite, should walk apart for a while. Denied the
  fellowship of other churches at the start, we have tried to be
  content with the fellowship of Christ; and we neither desire nor ask
  for any other until we are deemed worthy of it. That we can endure
  to be called heretics, even infidels, that we can stand alone, and
  yet live, and grow, and win the respect of the best part of the
  world, is already demonstrated. Our great anxiety in the future will
  be to show to all right-minded people, by our life rather than our
  word, that we are Christians, that this last form of Protestantism
  is only more genuine, because nearer the truth, than the first."[14]

Contemporary with Mr. Murray during his early ministry in America were
Elhanan Winchester, a highly gifted and effective minister; Thomas
Jones, formerly of the Lady Huntington connection in England, and
afterwards settled at Gloucester, Mass.; Adams and Zebulon Streeter,
Caleb Rich, Thomas Barnes, Noah Parker, Noah Murray, George Richards,
William Farwell, Joab Young, Hosea and David Ballou, Edward
Turner,--most of these preachers in New England; Abel Sargent in
Western Pennsylvania, and a few others. Dr. Joseph Priestley was for a
time in Philadelphia, where he advocated the doctrine of the final
restoration of all souls; and Rev. Dr. Mayhew and Rev. Dr. Chauncey,
although not identified with the work of the ministers already
mentioned, had made distinct avowals of this same faith. A remarkable
fact in connection with the history of most of these men is, that they
were not from theological schools, nor largely endowed with literary
qualifications. They were men of clear mental perceptions, were well
versed in the Bible, ready and apt in their references to it, of
sincere convictions, and of indomitable will. They went forth in
readiness for whatever encounters might await them, never fearing what
theological forces might appear in their way, so long as they felt
assured that "the sword of the Spirit" would not fail them, and that
they should be made "strong in the Lord," and victorious in his might.
Well has it been written:--

  "It will be brave reading when somebody shall display to us how the
  faith came quietly to exist at far distant points, Pennsylvania, New
  York, New England, variously born of widely different antecedents,
  but gradually converging to a general likeness by the time John
  Murray came to be the nucleus around which all should centre, an
  organic but unorganized mass, without form but not void. Then will
  follow the long history of separated and desultory warfare with the
  established prejudices and partialities of the Christian sects,
  during which every verse of Scripture was discussed, every doctrine
  examined from the base, every conventional habit of thought dragged
  to the light and called to account, every inch of theological ground
  stubbornly fought over. All this while there were annual meetings
  called the General Convention and recognized as a centre of
  denominational union, but they were little more than voluntary
  mass-meetings; all authority was jealously reserved to societies or
  local Associations, with the largest liberty of individual
  preference, and Universalists, like Israel under its Judges, did as
  seemed good in every man's sight. Men in less deadly earnest, or
  dealing with doctrines less profound and fundamental, would have
  formed a close compact early in their history. But it was in the
  nature of the case that these revolted thinkers should be shy of new
  bonds, and that these divers searching the deeps should think little
  of the surface. It was only when there came to be multitudes born in
  the faith, with intellectual habits and social affinities based on
  Universalism, with established worship and gathered congregations
  scattered across the continent, that the imperative need of a firm
  union for work and discipline was felt; and to reach this point had
  taken almost a hundred years."[15]

As time passes, and new phases of the church representing the
Universalist faith appear, and new advocates of it arise, these days
of its first advocacy in our land may lose their significance to many
minds in the increasing attractions connected with the same church in
the present time. But he who would see most clearly the hand of Divine
Providence in the breaking of the light of this new dispensation upon
our shores, will hold in just and sacred estimation this "day of small
things," when these faithful ones stood forth to declare its glad
tidings. So graphically have the words of another given the deserved
tribute to their works, that we gladly record them in these pages.

  "The early defenders of Universalism were plain, earnest men,
  aroused to the exertion of all their energies by the presence of a
  great thought. The truth of God's universal love and benevolent
  purpose in creation possessed them. They saw it everywhere,
  prefigured in Hebrew types, predicted by the prophets, implied in
  every word of Jesus, enforced in every letter of his apostles. They
  taught it in all places, and by all methods, in parish churches and
  district school-houses, in fields and workshops, in pulpits with
  stones flying about their heads, in rooms filled with the odor of
  nauseous drugs, in face of the reckless slander of the undignified
  and the quiet contempt of the dignified portion of the clergy. They
  were armed at all points, like the old war engines that, overturned
  every moment, always stood right side up. They turned the tables
  upon the literal Calvinistic interpreters, and held a text to floor
  every opponent. They were not moved by ridicule, for they possessed
  a keen sense of the ludicrous, and knew well how to expose the
  absurdities of the piebald theology of the churches. To the threats
  of their opponents they opposed Hudibrastic rhymes; to their
  missiles, words like old Murray's, 'While I have a "thus saith the
  Lord" for every point of doctrine which I advance, not all the
  stones in Boston, except they stop my breath, shall shut my mouth or
  arrest my testimony.' To the arguments of their adversaries, a logic
  like that of Ballou, simple as the talk of a little child, strong as
  the tramp of a giant. There were varieties of opinion among them;
  they had not all come up to the mount of their elevation by the same
  path, but the sublime truth 'God is Love' burned like an undying
  flame in their souls, and united them like brothers. Thank God that
  the sleep of the church was awakened by these strong champions.
  Nobly they spake their words in days when it was a disgrace in the
  eyes of men!"[16]

[14] Rev. J. H. Tuttle, D. D.

[15] Rev. J. Smith Dodge, D. D.

[16] Rev. A. D. Mayo, Sermon at Funeral of Rev. Thomas Jones of
Gloucester, Mass., 1846.




CHAPTER V.

GROWTH.

  "Day by day the doctrine of the eternity of evil is being driven
  into its native night before a higher view of the nature of God, and
  a nobler belief in Him as the undying righteousness."--REV. STOPFORD
  A. BROOKE.


At the beginning of the present century, thirty years from the time of
Mr. Murray's first preaching in America, there were a few more than
twenty preachers of Universalism here. By the year 1813 there were
forty; in 1840 there were four hundred and sixty-three. At the present
time our church "Register" reports the number seven hundred and
thirty. And this increase of ministerial force is not the most
noticeable fact in connection with the advancement of this faith.
Other instrumentalities are to be taken into the account. As the
preacher at the centenary meeting of the National Convention stated:
"Our lists, latterly, have been more closely pruned; our parishes have
been greatly strengthened; our bases of operations have been
fortified; our clergy have made great advances in devising liberal
things; and our laity, possessing far greater wealth, and holding far
higher social positions than formerly, more nobly respond, and with
greater alacrity, to the far-sighted demands now so frequently made
upon them. There are scores of our parishes in the various sections of
our Zion, any one of which can now be moved to a greater work for a
worthy object outside its own interests, than could our whole church
twenty-five years ago."[17]

Educational improvements have also contributed to this favorable
change. At first there were no theological seminaries nor academies in
aid of this faith. In process of time these grew up and were made
serviceable in the promotion of it, so that now not less than seven
academies, five colleges, including three professional schools, two of
divinity and one of law, having an aggregate property of more than two
millions of dollars, are to be counted among its working forces. The
publications in the interests of this faith have had large increase.
Books, pamphlets, tracts, weekly and monthly journals, and the
"Quarterly," commentaries on the Scriptures, together with
well-sustained publishing houses, are additional influences constantly
in operation to aid the efforts of the ministry. The Murray Centenary
Fund, projected in 1869, is designed to aid in the education of the
clergy, the circulation of denominational literature, and in church
extension. This Fund amounted, Oct. 1, 1880, to $121,757.29. The
Woman's Centenary Aid Association was organized in 1869 to assist in
raising the Murray Fund, and was incorporated Sept. 18, 1873. It is
supported wholly by voluntary contributions and annual memberships.
These are all evidences of life and advancement, and indicate a larger
increase in the future, which may be realized with a zeal in operation
like that which has effected the change already noted.

Of the theological changes realized since the opening of the present
century, what shall we say? and all of them indicating an approach to
this very faith of which we are speaking. When Murray and his
contemporaries entered upon their work in America, the old Calvinistic
theology had almost undisputed sway here; and for fifty years
afterwards it was more or less so. But since 1830 up to the present
time, including the middle of this century, the advancement in
theological thought has been as marked as have these other changes and
signs of progress to which we have alluded. True, Arminianism came in
with the Methodistic movement, and made vigorous warfare upon the old
theology, with its "five points" so tenaciously adhered to. But
Methodism held fast that abominable dogma, eternal punishment, and
failed to see God's purposes any more effective in the final salvation
of souls than did Calvinism with its full assurance of the salvation
of "the elect" only. The Arminian deity seems to have had no fixed
purpose as to the number of the finally redeemed. Though he foreknew,
he was not pleased to ordain, or in the words of Dr. Adam Clarke: "I
conclude that God, although omniscient, is not obliged, in consequence
of this, _to know all that he can know_."[18] The God of Calvin,
though having a determinate will, appeared as a tyrannical sovereign;
the God of Arminius, as lacking in purpose and in power. The one made
the salvation of a certain number sure; the other left all in
uncertainty, because so much depended solely on the will of the
creature. The two systems summed up, however, amounted to
Universalism. The one affirmed that every soul for whom Christ died
would be saved; the other, that Christ, "by the grace of God, tasted
death for every man."[19] Opposed as were the two sects representing
these theologies, in the beginning, they have settled down into quite
a fraternal compromise during the last half century. Pulpit exchanges
are free among their ministers, and, although here and there some of
the old peculiarities of Calvinism occasionally find utterance, the
statement of a noted Congregationalist minister seems to express the
thought of both parties, "Election means, whosoever will; reprobation,
whosoever wont."[20]

It was in face of what were deemed the main errors of both these
theologies that Universalism stood forth as the vindicator of God the
just and merciful Father of all his children, their Judge and Saviour,
through Christ who gave himself a ransom for all, and whose own
expressive statement of the result of his ministry was, "And I, if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."[21]

It has been during the ministry of this faith in the present century
that the leading doctrines of the theology formerly prevalent in our
land have been questioned, investigated, and in many minds outgrown.
Who now believes in the endless suffering of infants? a doctrine
deemed unquestionable in the churches a century ago. Even the
existence of it at that time, in face of the most stubborn facts, has
been denied by those whose parents and grandparents heard it from the
Christian pulpit. Who assents to the doctrine of the total depravity
of human nature, its inability "to do a good deed or think a good
thought," and its utter odiousness in God's sight? What considerations
and reconsiderations are there of that doctrine of atonement which
involves the assumption that God was so incensed against his sinful
children that Christ, the second and more merciful person in the
Godhead, came into the world and died to appease the wrath of God and
render it possible for him to be merciful to the delinquents; and how
much more emphatic is the conviction finding utterance, so eminently
expressive of Christian Universalism, "God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved."[22] And the doctrine of endless punishment, how, during the
time of which we are speaking, has this been questioned in the
churches of our land. It has been seen that the divine character is
involved in this doctrine, and that one of the most difficult of all
theological works is to vindicate this character in the light of it.
Formerly, it was deemed little short of impiety to question the
justice of God when this horrible doctrine was represented as an
indication and vindication of it. To cite emphatically the passage in
Matthew (xxv. 46), "These shall go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into life eternal," was considered evidence enough
that the divine justice could and would be signalized in the utter
banishment of great numbers of his children from him, world without
end. To question the exegesis of the passage as generally given--the
original meaning of the word rendered "everlasting" and "eternal"--was
regarded as a direct affront to the human wisdom of the past that had
sanctioned it; and to declare such an explanation of it as derogatory
to "the Eternal Goodness," was to question the veracity of the High
and Holy One! But the thoughts of men have kept at work; inquiry has
gone on; the old explanation has been most confidently and
emphatically denied, and a more reasonable and consistent one given.
Even the most respectable orthodoxy itself has conceded that the
_aionian_ punishment here set forth is not necessarily to be
understood as implying endless duration, and that in the argument
henceforth against the doctrine of universal restoration, this old
interpretation of the text need be no longer urged.[23] We have
reserved a more extended view of this subject, however, for the close
of this volume.

[17] Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner, Discourse at Gloucester, September, 1870.

[18] Comm. on Acts, ii. 23.

[19] Heb. ii. 9.

[20] Rev. H. W. Beecher.

[21] John, xii. 32; 1 Tim. ii. 4.

[22] John, iii. 16, 17.

[23] Dr. Taylor Lewis.




CHAPTER VI.

UNIVERSALISM.--UNITARIANISM.--RATIONALISM.

  "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
  Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."--EPH. ii. 20.


Since the growth of the Universalist faith during the present century
in our country, that phase of Liberal Christianity denominated
Unitarianism has had its rise. It was an outcome of the Arminianism in
orthodox churches. It advocated the doctrine of the Unity of God, in
opposition to that of the Trinity as held by most of the churches in
New England.[24] It also rejected the doctrine of total depravity,
affirming that man had within him the germs of goodness, and needed
the work of Christian culture to insure his true religious growth and
perfection. Respecting the destination of man beyond the grave it had
no uniform affirmation. Its leading ministers--Drs. Channing, Dewey,
Gannett, and others--were undecided as to this great question. Dr.
Channing uttered his protest against "the horrible thought" of
interminable suffering, as affirmed by the dominant sects, while his
statements respecting the wasted and ill-spent life make it an
"impassable gulf from our Creator and from pure and happy beings,--a
consuming fire and undying worm." Dr. Gannett has similar opinions:
"Self-reproach, exclusion from the happiness of heaven, removal from
the favor of God; to live but to suffer, to feel one's self at
variance with all that is true and good and beautiful in the universe;
what more it is, eternity will disclose." Rev. Mr. Alger thinks no
fair critic can say that =aionios=, eternal or everlasting, when
applied to punishment, means absolutely endless, nor, on the other
hand, that it does not so mean. The late Rev. E. H. Sears writes that
"it is the average opinion of Unitarians that Restoration is not a
doctrine of Revelation." The American Unitarian Association said:
"While we do generally hold to the doctrine of the final universality
of salvation as a consistent speculation of the reason and a strong
belief of the heart, yet we deem it to be in each case a matter of
contingency, always depending on conditions freely to be accepted or
rejected." The editor of the "Monthly Religious Magazine"--the
principal of that class published by Unitarians--writes, in 1870:
"Unitarians do not believe in Universal Restoration as a doctrine of
Revelation fairly yielded by the interpretation of the Scriptures.
This, we mean, is the average opinion. They do not think the Bible
gives any verdict as to the final salvation of all mankind." Dr.
Dewey, in later times (as in his discourse in the volume of "Pitt
Street Chapel Lectures"), has defined the doctrine of the Paternity of
God so as to seem in agreement with that of the final salvation of all
souls. And at the present time perhaps the largest number of Unitarian
ministers would not hesitate to give their assent to this doctrine on
philosophical or scriptural grounds.

For the full and clear affirmation of the doctrine of the Fatherhood
of God and the Brotherhood of Man,--the former giving assurance of a
merciful care of God's offspring, and the latter of the final union,
and not separation, of the great human family,--we are indebted to the
fathers of Universalism in our land,--Murray, the Ballous, the
Streeters, and their contemporaries. The Universalism which they
declared and defended was that of the absolute and universal reign of
Divine love,--love that is ever calling the child to obedience and
happiness, and warning him against the inevitable and dire
consequences of transgression; love that sent Jesus Christ into the
world as the world's Regenerator, unto whom every knee shall bow, and
whom every tongue shall confess to be Lord to the glory of God the
Father; love that can and will overcome all hatred, make an end of
sin, destroy death, and bring in everlasting righteousness. This is
the Universalism that has led the way in this great advance and change
of theological thought, in the New England and other churches, which
is so widespread at this hour. It did not wait for public opinion to
be ready for it, but went out on its mission, confronting as
determined an opposition as has ever met any rising sect since the
apostolic days. Its first advocates, and most of those who have
succeeded them, have had a definite theology, a positive faith to
affirm. They have declared it to the world as the best, the
pre-eminent faith, standing not in the wisdom of men but in the power
of God; and have asked, as they are still asking, all the churches and
all the world, to show them a better if they are able to do so.

The sincere believers in this faith of the Gospel are glad to welcome
all other Christians who would work with them in the eradication of
religious error and the enlightenment of men by "the Word of God, that
liveth and abideth forever." For what the Unitarian Churches have done
of this work they have reason to be thankful, and would heartily
co-operate with them in every effort to this desirable and heavenly
end. The literary culture and scholarship contributed by Unitarians to
the theological thought of the last half-century, as also the faithful
and efficient work which they have accomplished, are, we think, justly
appreciated by Universalists. They would render to all their dues,
while they would humbly but righteously claim their own. It has been a
subject of regret on their part,--this was inevitable,--that in
consideration of the Rationalism, so-called, which has so marked this
period, Unitarians could not have taken a more positive and united
stand in regard to the Divine authority of Christianity, as made known
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Since Rev. Theodore
Parker avowed his Rationalism, and began his Sunday worship service in
Boston, it has seemed to most Universalists, as it has to not a few
Unitarians, that a more definite theology and an avowed basis of its
claims have been called for on the part of those who would displace
old errors and establish the older truth of the Christian Gospel; so
that when the question is honestly asked, as it often may be, "What is
the difference between Universalism and Unitarianism?" the answer need
not necessarily be _another question_, "What kind of Unitarianism?"
Such a diversity of opinion as must abound where there is no
theological basis of Christian fellowship in any sect or fraternity,
must fail to give it that concentrated power of Christian truth so
evidently needed to turn a perverted world right side up in its
religious faith and life.

The Universalist Church has all along been aware of this need of a
substantial basis of Christian faith in order to its vitality and
success. When the Rationalism of Mr. Parker was attracting the
attention of the public, a vigorous discussion came up in the
Universalist journals of the time, whether a man should be sustained
as a Christian minister who denies the peculiarly divine character of
Christ and the account given of his miracles in the Scriptures, and of
his resurrection from the dead.[25] The adjourned session of the
"Boston Association" at Cambridgeport in December, 1847, gave special
attention to this subject. The resolution presented at a former
session a few months before at Lynn, and now again reported, was
this:--

  "_Resolved_, That this Association express its solemn
  conviction that, in order for one to be regarded as a Christian
  minister with respect to faith, he must believe in the Bible account
  of the life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of the
  Lord Jesus Christ."

The resolution was sustained by a very large majority of the clergy
and laity. It was a plain and honest utterance, and gave the Christian
world to understand the position of the Universalist Church in regard
to authoritative Christianity.

As might have been expected, there was still much discussion as to the
grounds of true Christian fellowship. It was followed up quite
earnestly for a time by Universalists. The question of chief interest
was, "Is not the faith of the heart (affections) of more importance
than the faith of the intellect?" Shall not the _good man_ have
Christian fellowship whatever his theological opinions may be? In the
light of the apostolic statement, "The letter killeth, it is the
spirit that giveth life," is not the spirit of primary interest, and
the letter comparatively inconsequential? To which it was replied that
the spirit of a religion is to be most clearly understood by the
letter which explains it; that the faith of the intellect and that of
the heart should correspond, in order to the most perfect Christian
discipleship; that the good man may be found in all religious
communities, but that a good Mohammedan or Brahman could not properly
claim _Christian_ fellowship, not receiving Christ as the
pre-eminent teacher of divine truth. Dr. A. P. Peabody, of the
Unitarian Church, very fairly stated the subject in a discourse given
by him at the time of which we speak:--

  "One question is, whether those who take opposite views of the
  authenticity of the Christian miracles shall recognize each other as
  good men; and the other, whether they shall give each other
  countenance as Christian teachers. The former question I am prepared
  to answer with a cordial _yes_; the latter, with an
  unhesitating and an unqualified _no_."[26]

About the same time there appeared in the "Universalist Quarterly" for
October, 1846, from the pen of its able editor, Rev. Dr. Hosea Ballou,
an article on "The Faith requisite to Christian Fellowship." The
subject is sounded to its depths, and presented in all its bearings,
clear as light, and plain and conclusive as logic can make it; and all
in a spirit of the utmost candor. It has never been answered.

It may not be improper to speak in this connection of one who, in the
beginning of his public life, appeared as a minister in the Unitarian
communion, but who afterwards very conscientiously left the ministry
and became a literary author and public lecturer, and who acquired a
fame everywhere acknowledged in the civilized world as one of its
eminent lights and leaders, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson. As an author,
lecturer, and reformer he has made an indelible impression on the
minds of men during the last half century. The foremost thinkers
acknowledged their indebtedness to him. In his earlier days many of
his statements indicated pantheistic opinions. His discourse before
the Divinity School in Harvard University in 1838--so clearly and ably
replied to by Rev. Dr. Ware--seemed a singular questioning of the
personality of God, and his statements in reference to the personal
immortality of the soul hardly indicated a strong Christian hope of
this blessing. But in his later expressions of opinion we are
differently taught. His biographer says of him:[27] "He is not a
sceptic or a rationalist in the philosophic sense, and has no real
affinity with any of these schools of thought." His own words,
indicative of the Deity, are: "Nature is too thin a screen; the glory
of the Creator breaks in everywhere. There is no chance, no anarchy in
the universe." Of the divine beneficence he says, "We see the steady
aim of benefit in view from the first. Melioration is the law. The
evils we suffer will at last end themselves, through the incessant
opposition of Nature to everything hurtful." And of immortality, "All
great natures delight in stability; all great men find eternity
affirmed in the very promise of their faculties. The being that can
share a thought and a feeling so sublime as confidence in truth is no
mushroom; our dissatisfaction with any other solution is the blazing
evidence of immortality." And of the divine ruling: "Every wrong is
punished; no moral evil can prosper at last; the good is absolute, the
evil only phenomenal." And of the significance of Christ, this
language is emphatic: "You must not leave out the word Christian, for
to leave out that is to leave out everything."

All these declarations, as we apprehend them, are in perfect accord
with the teaching, spirit, and assurance of the Universalism of the
New Testament. In the grandest conceptions to which their author has
given utterance, we know of nothing that reaches beyond this, and it
is for this that we welcome him as a witness to the truth of the
Christian Gospel.

[24] The volume on the Atonement, issued in 1805 by Rev. Hosea Ballou,
was the first of any note, in this country, in which the subordination
of Christ to the Father was maintained. Dr. Mayhew and Rev. James
Freeman, of Boston, had already preached anti-Trinitarian views in
that city, and Dr. Priestley and a Mr. Butler had preached them in
other parts of the country. But Mr. Ballou's circumstances had not, it
is likely, allowed him to know what these men believed and
taught.--REV. DR. A. P. PUTNAM, in "Religious Magazine,"
April, 1871.

[25] Mr. Parker's views were the subject of special note and examination
on the part of the Universalist journals. A candid and able
review of his opinions was given in "The Universalist Miscellany" of
April, 1845, by the editor, Rev. O. A. Skinner. Rev. Mr. Lothrop, of
the Brattle Square Church (Unitarian), delivered and published a strong
discourse in opposition to the Rationalism of Mr. Parker.

[26] Anti-Supernaturalism, a sermon delivered July 13, 1845, before the
Senior Class of the Divinity School, Harvard University.

[27] Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, by G. W. Cook.




CHAPTER VII.

REFORM MOVEMENTS AND UNIVERSALISM.

  "Universalism is the ultimate of every expansive thought, of every
  comprehensive sympathy, of all action that embraces man as man, and
  works in faith for the world's redemption."--REV. E. G. BROOKS, D. D.


The increasing interest awakened by the discussion of such topics of
reform as peace, temperance, human freedom, the treatment of
criminals, and others involving the moral uplifting and advancement of
mankind, very naturally had its effect upon the Universalist Church.
There were not a few in it who saw very clearly that the great Gospel
in which they believed was in the world to do a regenerative work with
the human family; that its first word to every one to whom it came was
the call to reformation of character and life; that it was a direct
and perpetual opposition to all that hinders this work, and that
therefore they who profess to be its friends and advocates should
embrace every opportunity of applying its heavenly forces to the
diminishing of human wrong and the establishing of the reign of
righteousness in the earth. As other churches were awakened and
agitated on these reform questions, so was this one, and in due time
it took its stand and made its manifestations in a way creditable to
its profession, and in accordance with its hopeful and catholic faith.

One of the organizations for the furtherance of this work of Christian
reform instituted by this church was that of the Universalist Reform
Association. The first direct action taken in reference to the subject
was at the session of the Massachusetts Universalist Convention in
Hingham, June, 1846, when the following resolution offered by Rev.
C. H. Fay, of Roxbury, was unanimously adopted:--

  "_Resolved_, That this Convention recommend to the
  Universalists of New England to form an Association to be known as
  the New England Universalist Reform Association, which shall meet
  annually in Boston during 'Anniversary Week,' having for its object
  the collection of such statistical information relative to the
  various reform movements of the age as illustrates not only the
  progress of Christianity as we understand it, but the best means of
  promoting and applying it."

A committee was chosen to carry the resolution into effect. An
appointed sub-committee issued a circular, urging upon all interested,
attention to the main objects of the Association, which were:--

  "1. To consider the influence of Universalist sentiments in the
  various reform movements of the age. It must be evident that these
  sentiments are not _essentially_ confined to the sect which
  openly professes them. We hold that they lie at the foundation of
  every true effort for the prevalence of Temperance, Love, Peace,
  Freedom, and all movements which recognize the Paternity of God and
  the Brotherhood of Man. To establish the truth of the ultimate
  connection of these doctrines with all the philanthropic action of
  our age, to collect statistics and facts which demonstrate it, and
  to exchange sentiments upon the subject, constitute one great object
  of the Association.

  "2. To assume our appropriate position in relation to these reforms;
  to exert our legitimate influence in them; and to show in our
  actions the practical conclusion of Universalist premises,--that he
  who believes in God's universal Paternity and the Brotherhood of the
  race cannot in any way countenance War, Intemperance, Slavery, or
  Capital Punishment, but consistently opposes and strives to abolish
  them all.

  "The time of holding the meeting, too, deserves consideration. It is
  on Anniversary Week, a week when almost every moral question now
  agitating the civilized world is represented and discussed in
  Boston. Hitherto we have sent out no such influence on this occasion
  as we believe we may exert if our power shall be concentrated and
  put in operation. We see not why our Reform meetings may not be
  among the most interesting of all now held during this well-known
  season."[28]

And they were. They began successfully, and were steadily and
profitably held, up to 1859, during years when these vital moral
questions were more intensely considered and debated in New England
and throughout our land than at any previous period. Very carefully
prepared and able reports were year by year presented to the
Association, and resolutions involving the merits of these reformatory
topics freely and amicably discussed. Often in other meetings,
conventions, associations, conferences, where ecclesiastical matters
claimed the chief attention, the introduction of these reformatory
subjects would cause uneasiness and elicit much fault-finding on the
part of those opposed to the introduction of such agitative themes
into these meetings of the church. But at the yearly assemblings of
the Reform Association the largest liberty was taken by all who
desired to express their opinions on these great questions of the day.

The first meeting was a success. It was held in the Second
Universalist Church, School Street, on Thursday, May 27, 1847. Four
addresses were given on these subjects, Peace, Criminal Reform,
Temperance, and Human Freedom, and appropriate resolutions discussed
and adopted. In connection with this session a social festival was
held on Friday morning, and was an occasion of unusual enjoyment to
all who took part in it. The historian, Richard Frothingham, Esq.,
presided, and made an admirable opening address. He was followed by
others, among them Chapin, then of rising fame. Pretending to have in
hand only "skirts and fragments of ideas," he magically forms them
into completeness, and endues them with power. He speaks of
Christianity and Reform:--

  "Christianity has not changed or added anything to itself. But we
  find in it latent truths; we discern new meaning in old truths. His
  eye had rested that very morning upon the passage which Jesus read
  in the synagogue at Nazareth: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
  because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he
  hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to
  the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
  liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the
  Lord.' What a profound meaning does this passage receive now, in the
  light of these stirring reforms! How does the truth open before us,
  vast and deep as the blue heaven over our heads! Christianity
  authorizes and animates these social movements. Its social spirit
  and its labors of love make us live more in a year than elsewhere in
  a lifetime. The early fathers of our faith began their labor in the
  early morning, when the light of the truth they announced just
  tinged the mountain-tops; and now, as they are about vanishing from
  our horizon, the full effulgence shines upon their gray hairs, and
  makes them a crown of glory!"

The venerable Ballou made the concluding speech. His words were
modest, sweet, and patriarchal. From that ancient saying of Jesus,
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid
in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened," he brought
out fresh and comprehensive words inspired by the scenes of yesterday
and to-day, and eloquently urged home the admonition to his
denominational children around him, that they should seek to
accomplish all their reformatory work in the spirit of Christian love.
He concluded, and at the word of the president "The Brave Old Oak" was
sung, and responded to by the applause of the audience.

From year to year, as these meetings occurred, there was a strong
interest in them. They were meetings where freedom of speech was
welcomed and enjoyed. The most searching inquiry was invited, and the
_pro et contra_ of every resolution offered was presented in all the
earnestness in which the debaters deemed it their privilege to
indulge. The resolutions at the first meetings of the Association
indicate its Christian basis. They are expressive of "gratitude to God
in view of the development of our faith in all the great reform
movements of the time; that we recognize the Word of God, especially
the New Testament scripture, as the basis of all genuine reform; that
an age as prolific as is the present in schemes for the improvement of
the race, including such variety, from the most reasonable to the most
Utopian, demands of every Christian the most candid and prayerful
discrimination, that all his endeavors may be wisely directed; that in
these movements we discern the promise of a better time coming, and of
the kingdom of God upon the earth; that as religious sentiment is the
controlling element of man's life, therefore the only true reform is
that which seeks to influence men through the medium of religious
faith."

In discussing topics involving the morals of politics and the great
interests of the American Republic, the members of all political
parties were regarded as on equal ground. The minister in these
meetings had no hesitancy in preaching the morals of politics as he
understood them, whatever the opinions of his parishioners at home
might be. The religion of Christianity was "mixed" with politics as
the larger quantity, and wrong, as wrong, arraigned wherever it might
be found in church or state, in social or individual habit or life.
Our public servants in their high places were deemed subjects of note
and animadversion, if their conduct seemed to call for it, in the
spirit of the prayer offered by the elder Dr. Beecher in Faneuil Hall:
"O Lord, preserve us from speaking evil of our public servants, and
especially save them from such wrong conduct as may call for such
speaking on our part!" A resolution passed at the first meeting of the
Association states "that, while the early Christians were only
_subjects_, American citizens are the _constituents_ of civil
government; and in all ages Christians are bound to act the Christian
principles in all their relations."

During the anti-slavery excitement, when the hunters for fugitive
slaves were desecrating the ground of New England, and members of
Congress in their interests were repealing the Missouri Compromise,
and many of the ministers of New England were bold enough to
remonstrate with them for such action, these most emphatic resolutions
were freely debated and unanimously adopted by the Association.

  "_Resolved_, That the clergymen of New England, in their
  Protest against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, have pledged
  themselves anew to freedom and the laws of God; that this
  Association cordially approve the course of those who signed the
  Protest, or otherwise labored to prevent the desecration of that
  vast territory which had been consecrated by solemn compact to
  liberty forever; and we request those Christian ministers who
  refused to sign that Protest to review their position in regard to
  this subject.

  "_Resolved_, That the men from the North, and especially from
  New England, who have voted for the iniquitous Nebraska Bill, have
  proved themselves traitors to the cause of freedom and to the most
  hallowed traditions of our fathers, and that their conduct deserves
  the united, unqualified, perpetual reprobation of all friends to
  human rights, which reprobation should be emphatically expressed at
  the ballot-box."

The annual festivals held in those days in Boston by the Universalists
were essentially pervaded by the spirit of this Association. The
sentiments, songs, and speeches on these occasions were alive with the
reformatory inspiration of the Christian Gospel. The signs of the
times were clearly recognized by the speakers, and whatever the
especial excitement of the day might be, it was sure to find a
sympathetic tongue and ear at the festival table. The festival in 1854
occurring about the time of the rendition of Anthony Burns, the
anti-slavery feeling was at white heat. When the company entered
Faneuil Hall and were taking their seats, some sensitively
conservative brethren could not suppress the expression of their
wishes that no allusion might be made to that event in the addresses
about to follow. But the current was so irresistibly in one direction
that these fearful pleadings were as the smallest eddies therein. The
notes of freedom made the old hall ring.

[28] This circular was signed by the sub-committee, Rev. J. G. Adams
and Rev. E. H. Chapin.




CHAPTER VIII.

NEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.--UNIVERSALIST PROTEST.

  "What concord hath Christ with Belial."--2 COR. vi. 15.


The New England Anti-Slavery Society was one of the most vigorous and
persistent bodies that ever appeared on these western shores as a
reformatory institution. Its chief leader was the indomitable
Garrison, who had vowed that on the vexed question of American slavery
"he would be heard," and whose "Liberator" was making its journeys
from a Boston press throughout the land; hailed and patronized by a
goodly company in the North, denounced as incendiary at the South,
where a large sum was offered for the head of its editor. He had
sympathetic companions of a persistency equal to his own: Wendell
Phillips, Edmund Quincy, Samuel E. Sewell, N. P. Rogers, Stephen C.
Foster, John Pierpont, Theodore Parker, Parker Pillsbury, Frederick
Douglass, and C. L. Remond, among the men of New England, and the
Tappans of New York, and representatives at the annual gatherings from
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Lucretia Mott and Abby Kelley
(afterwards Mrs. Foster) were among the women expounders of this
gospel of freedom, and "Anniversary Week" in Boston was made
especially notable by their gatherings at Marlboro Chapel and Faneuil
Hall. No matter what other meetings on that week were dull, there was
always an exuberance of liveliness at the Anti-Slavery Convention.
"Eloquence is dog-cheap at Marlboro Chapel," said Ralph Waldo Emerson;
and it was. No better could be heard on the continent. The hardest and
boldest resolutions were usually up for consideration, denouncing
slaveholders and all their abettors, political, ecclesiastical, of
whatever standing or profession. Church and state alike were subjects
of their maledictions. Their defiance of all opposition had a clarion
ring in it. Nothing pleased them more than to have their positions
questioned or assailed. The adventurous wight who was willing to
appear as a condemner of their doctrines was the very one for whom
they were looking, and for whose presence and opposition they were
profoundly thankful. Their meetings were electrifying. Such debates
and orations, such questionings and rejoinders! Such hymns and
spiritual songs, too, sung often by the Hutchinsons to the old tunes
of "Amherst," "Lenox," and "New Jerusalem!" We hear them now; they
brought the shouts and tears.

We remember a scene in Marlboro Chapel one afternoon during
Anniversary Week. There came up for debate the question: "Does the
Constitution of the United States justify slavery?" Rev. John Pierpont
took the negative, and very logically maintained it for more than an
hour. He appeared in the greatness of his strength, and at the close
of his argument proposed to those of his auditors who wished, to
question his statements. And never was seen a hungrier company of
interrogators than then and there came upon him. But he was unmoved as
a sea-rock in the midst of the breakers. His side of the question was
not popular with most of the speakers and their sympathizers there,
and he was subjected to a most searching cross-questioning. But he
came out triumphantly (as it seemed) through it all. When three or
four would speak at once, he would say: "One at a time, friends; the
miller's rule holds,--first come, first served. I desire to hear you
all." The afternoon sunshine suddenly blazing in from one of the
windows upon his face, he aptly remarked: "Some subjects are involved
in impenetrable darkness; but here we seem to have a super-abundance
of light!" When the last inquirer had been answered, the speaker
asked: "Are you all through?" And no other one questioning, he said:
"And now, after the fashion of the good old divines, I come to the
'Improvement';" under which head he carefully and briefly reviewed the
substance of the debate. It was a masterly plea.

But the end was not yet. There was an evening meeting. Again the hall
was filled, to listen to a reply to Mr. Pierpont by Wendell Phillips.
The orator was in his best mood, and his silvery speech kept the
audience spell-bound. It was a complete refutation of the arguments
adduced in the afternoon. A clergyman sitting near to Mr. Pierpont
said to him: "How can his arguments be answered?" to which the latter
replied: "I should like to see the man who could tell me!" So Greek
met Greek in those stirring and stormy days.

It was an up-hill movement, this anti-slavery agitation. It called out
spirits of more colors than those mentioned in "Macbeth." The
opposition was intense. Garrison's life was in peril in the streets of
Boston in 1835, and a little company of his sympathizers, including
the poet Whittier and George Thompson, the English philanthropist,
were closely followed in the streets of Concord, N. H., one evening,
that they might be seized by certain mobocratic ones, and subjected to
an immersion in some liquid coloring of transient, if not indelible,
black; but the hounded ones escaped, preserving white men's
complexions. They were not to be put down by mobs nor frightened by
any human opposition. They had the spirit of Luther as he went to the
Diet at Worms. Though the pro-slavery "devils were thick as the tiles
on the houses," they proposed to fight them in the name of God and
humanity.

Politicians could do nothing with them, and the churches generally
discarded them. There was no love lost, however, between them and the
churches. The churches did not give them credit for the good they were
seeking to do, and they had no words of approval for the humanity of
the churches. Even the National Constitution was denounced as "a
covenant with death and an agreement with hell," and the churches were
accused as upholders of this covenant. So they reasoned, not always,
however, in that charity which the New Testament commends. There were
those in the churches as strongly opposed to slavery as
themselves,--but they were slow to recognize action against it outside
of their own organizations,--who could say, as did Dr. Gannett of the
Unitarian Church:--

  "In principle I am with you. But there are those with whom you are
  connected, persons who seem to me so to distrust the goodness of all
  others who differ from them, and to look down upon all such with so
  great a consciousness of moral superiority, that I feel myself when
  in their presence to be in a situation not unlike that of a criminal
  before his accuser and judge."[29]

At one time they held an Anti-Sabbath Convention for a few days, in
Boston, during which they said many hard things against the sanctity
of this seventh-day worship-time, evidently because they could thus
castigate the churches for refusing to discuss freely on this day the
crying sin of American slavery. It seemed a pity to hear such harsh
denunciations by the speakers who were advocating a righteous cause,
against an institution that had done so much towards the world's true
civilization. But this was one of their methods of carrying on the
reform.

A leading spirit in this movement in the "Granite State" was Nathaniel
P. Rogers, for a few years the editor of the "Herald of Freedom,"
issued at Concord, N. H. He was a lawyer of Plymouth, Grafton County,
and a member of the Orthodox Church in that town, and was a descendant
of him who was burned at Smithfield, and had the martyr spirit of his
noted ancestor. He was a scholarly, witty, and affable man, and
wielded as facile a pen as any editor in New England. In many of his
descriptive sketches he gave to the scenery of New Hampshire a
fascination equal to that with which Sir Walter Scott invests the
lochs and hills of Scotland. His plea with Mr. Webster, the great
Senator from Massachusetts, to let "his lion voice in one Numidian
roar" be heard from his place in Congress on the abomination of
American slavery and the claims of American freedom, once read, could
never be forgotten. When his "Herald of Freedom" was first issued,
some of the stage-drivers from Concord refused to carry it out to the
subscribers; but this hostility, through the personal influence of the
editor, soon ceased. Its columns were opened to all sorts of radical
sayings against the churches because of their presumed hostility to
human freedom; but as the columns of the paper were free, there were
sometimes sound and strong answers to them. Mr. Rogers, worn out with
mental toiling and anxiety, was called from the earthly life in the
midst of his years.

And so this work of the anti-slavery reformers went steadily forward
with increasing momentum, till a more general awakening took place all
over the land. The churches were becoming more and more alive to it,
and the politicians could in no wise evade it. The seed of
"Free-Soilism" sown, "Know-nothingism" sprang up, and one of the two
leading political parties became the party of Freedom--of "free soil,
free speech, free men." The passage and attempted enforcement of the
Fugitive Slave Act, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, had
served to bring about this result. Hence the election of Mr. Lincoln
to the Presidency, secession, war, the downfall of slavery. These
first agitators lived to see the end they had striven for attained.
They had _been heard_, and a stronger than they had heard, and
had answered them, and an imploring and struggling nation, "in the day
of his power!" Now could one of the first of our poets sing:--

          "Ring and swing
    Bells of joy! On morning's wing
  Send the song of praise abroad!
        With a sound of broken chains
        Tell the nations that he reigns
  Who alone is Lord and God!"

Of course the Universalist churches could not evade this controversy
between freedom and slavery. Their very faith invited and encouraged
it. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man are doctrines
which forever stand in opposition to the presumption that man can own
property in his fellow man. Of all the Christian sects, Universalists
were the last who could countenance in the light of their beneficent
faith the abomination of American slavery. If other theologies gave
cause for the aspersion that "God was the greatest slaveholder in the
universe," because it was his intention to keep in spiritual bondage
and sufferings great numbers of his offspring world without end,
Universalism affirmed that this whole human creation now groaning and
travailing in pain shall be delivered from its bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God.[30] Could this
church, bearing its own significant name, be silent, then, when the
test time came? Nay, it was a golden opportunity for her to speak and
act. She uttered her voice, firmly, freely, faithfully. True, there
were conservatives at first in this church as in others, who dreaded
the consequences of the agitation of this subject, who deemed it a
political question rather than a religious one, and feared not only
discord and division in the churches because of it, but a disruption
of the national union. This timidity wore off in due time, and this
manifesto went forth from the Universalists of Massachusetts and other
States in 1845. It is a "protest against American slavery," and is
signed by three hundred and four Universalist clergymen. The reasons
stated as the basis of the protest are these:--

  "1. Because slavery denies the eternal distinction between a man and
  property, ranking a human being with a material thing. 2. Because it
  does not award to the laborer the fruits of his toil in any higher
  sense than to the cattle. 3. Because it trammels the intellectual
  powers and prevents their expansion. 4. Because it checks the
  development of the moral nature of the slave; denies him rights and
  therefore responsibility. 5. Because it involves a practical denial
  of the religious nature of the slave. 6. Because it presents an
  insurmountable barrier to the propagation of the great truth of the
  Universal Brotherhood and thereby most effectually prevents the
  progress of true Christianity. 7. Because the essential nature of
  slavery cannot be altered by any kindness, how great so ever,
  practised toward the slave. 8. Because the long continuance of a
  system of wrong cannot palliate it, but on the other hand augments
  the demand for its abolition. 9. Because we would in all charity
  remember that peculiarities of situation may affect the judgment and
  moral sense; still, we must not forget that no peculiarity of
  situation can excuse a perpetual denial of universal principles and
  obligations."

[29] Memoir of Dr. Gannett, by his son, p. 294.

[30] Heb. viii. 21, 22.




CHAPTER IX.

REFORMATORY PROGRESS.

  "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places
  plain."--ISAIAH, xl. 4.


The half-century just passed has been notable for the progress of
thought in reference to the significant reforms now claiming public
attention. Foremost among these is that of


_Temperance._

In no other period of the past has its work been so marked and
cheering. In Great Britain and America its manifestations were almost
simultaneous. Intemperance was seen to be a monstrous national vice,
and societies were formed for the suppression of it. Abstinence from
distilled liquors was at first the pledge taken; but subsequent
discussion of the subject induced the next and safer step forward, of
total abstinence from all intoxicants. From 1834 to 1838 nearly the
whole of the original societies through England and Scotland extended
their principles on the new and broader declaration, and worked with
renewed enthusiasm.[31] The same course was taken in our own country,
and similar effects followed. The new pledge was consistent, because
it struck at the root of the evil.

The Temperance reform enlisted the sympathies of Universalists in the
beginning. It was a vindication of the Gospel of enlightened and pure
manhood, maintaining its supremacy over the sinful inclinations and
indulgences "that war against the soul." Indeed, one of the first
avowed advocates of the practice of total abstinence, as early as
1778, was the well-known and honored Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a firm believer in
Christian Universalism. He not only advocated this practice himself,
but was especially interested in commending it to the attention of two
religious bodies in Pennsylvania, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians,
at their annual meetings. When in later days the attention of the
Christian churches was called to the consideration of this reform, no
more zealous friends of it were found than those among Universalists.
The Universalist ministry was well represented, and its services
welcomed by others. An instance is remembered of a deserved tribute,
given in his peculiar quaintness of speech, by the elder Dr. (Lyman)
Beecher, to Rev. Edwin Thompson, at an annual meeting of the
Massachusetts Temperance Society. Mr. Thompson was State agent for the
Society, and had been very active in its work during the year; so that
a speaker alluded to him as having been in that time "the main spoke
in the wheel." "Indeed," said Dr. Beecher, "it seems to me that he has
been the hub, and all the spokes, and a considerable part of the rim!"

The reform in our country was quickened by the "Washingtonian"
movement, which involved the reformation of the inebriate, and his
work to redeem others from the destroyer. Although there were
backsliders in this, as in all reformatory movements, yet the number
of the saved justified a thousand times the interest taken in the
great work itself. It was an indication of what might be done
everywhere and in all time by Divine aid, and human will at work
relying upon it. It seemed also to emphasize the truth that men,
however far overcome by wrong habit, are not to be given over as
irreclaimable. It was in accord with the grand idea that there are no
lost ones so far astray as to be beyond the mercy which sent Him into
the world, who said, "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick."

Legislation took higher and stronger ground in reference to the evil
of intemperance. The subject went into politics more than ever. The
doctrine of prohibition gained advocates. A law favoring it was passed
in Massachusetts, and afterwards in Maine. Prosecutions and law-suits
followed, and appeals went up to the highest courts to test the
constitutionality of the law. This was affirmed by them, just as the
framers of the law knew that it would be. Despite all sophisms and
evasions, the common sense of every man will settle down into the
conviction that the people of a nation, if they would be really strong
and free, must employ every safeguard against this giant evil, that
has so constantly outraged and cursed our world.

The rising of the women of the West, in 1873, to suppress the
demoralizing work of the liquor-saloons, was an outspoken,
providential protest against these scourges of our civilization.
Jeered by the thoughtless, and insulted and cursed by the dealers in
the death-poison, it was an indication that made the traffickers in
strong drink thoughtful, the friends of woman to take new note of her
righteous demands and of her reformatory power, and every true soldier
in the temperance army to put on new courage in view of the many
instrumentalities which God is able to raise up in aid of His
redeeming work with His children. One result of the Woman's Crusade
has been the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Unions in
all parts of our land.

The signs of progress in this reform are more significant than ever.
The popularity of the Prohibitory Law in Maine; the Prohibitory clause
just put into the Kansas and Iowa Constitutions, and proposed in other
States; the numerous Reform Leagues; the proposal to institute in our
Congress a thorough investigation in reference to the bearing of this
question of liquor-making and vending on the industrial, social, and
political welfare of our nation; the continued discussion of the
effects of the use of intoxicants by leading statesmen, scientists,
and medical professors of our age, and the bringing out of new facts,
all showing the vital importance of the Temperance reform; and, also,
the evident tendency of these movements, as apprehended by the
devotees of the liquor interests themselves, moving them, as at a
recent convention of brewers in Washington, to avow their
determination to defeat, if possible, by all practicable means, the
legal, moral, and especially the religious endeavors put forth against
the evil by which they are enriched at the expense of the prosperity,
happiness, and peace of so many millions of our land,--these facts are
unmistakable indications of still greater achievements in the days and
years to come.

Like most reforms, this one must work a long way on to its completion.
The evil against which it contends is deep-seated and far-reaching.
Appetite, avarice, and the drinking usages of society are its
strongholds. But all these are not impervious to the inroads of the
right upon them. The public conscience is awake to the demands of this
reform as it never was before. When that is more truthfully and
generally educated, moral suasion will have freer course, and
restrictive laws will find a stronger support everywhere.


_Peace._

The history of our race is one of warfare. "Wars and fightings" have
been realized among men from the beginning, and the world has not
outgrown the sanguinary strife. Even during the time of which we are
speaking in these pages, when so much has been done for the mental and
moral enlightenment of mankind, these murderous human contentions have
been going on in the Old World and the New. Our own nation has passed
through one of the darkest passages of its history. The war of the
Rebellion came of a war that existed previous to the withdrawal of the
Southern States of our Union, the war of slavery,--for slavery itself
is war always, an outrage on the rights of human beings, perpetrated
by members of a common brotherhood. And thus one war opened the way to
another. They who were warring upon others could no longer bear to
have their wrong-doings questioned, but claimed the right to multiply
and perpetuate them. So came secession, so came the fratricidal
contest. The majority of the nation did not seek war, did not desire
it. But the Unionists of the nation deemed themselves justified in
resisting the efforts of the secessionists to dismember the nation,
and so through a defensive warfare sought to preserve the Union. It
was a terrible ordeal, and although the abomination of slavery was
swept away, it was at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, of a
vast amount of treasure, of suffering as yet unrevealed, and of a
lamentable demoralization. The Almighty brought out of it a new order
of things with our nation, by abolishing human bondage and placing
freedom in the ascendancy. The new order, however, is not yet fully
effected. It will take time, wisdom, patience, mutual forbearance,
sympathy, and fraternal help to secure this result.

But one reform aids another. A higher view of the claims of human
freedom will tend to effect a clearer perception of the great claims
of the human brotherhood. If man is too good to be enslaved by his
fellow-man, he is too good to be destroyed by him. If human freedom is
sacred, so is human life. And we are sure that this grand conception
has been very clearly realized, and as clearly affirmed, during the
middle of the present century.

In the midst of the world's conflicts during this time, the advocates
of peace principles, on both sides of the Atlantic, have not been
inactive. They have had a hearing, if a limited one, in Christendom.
Peace associations have been more operative than before, and the
pulpit and press have made new appeals to the public for the promotion
of peace principles. Excellent publications in essay, sermon, or
oration have been issued from the press. We hear of one Sunday, in
1845, when one hundred and twenty peace sermons were preached in the
city of London. Our philanthropic countryman, Elihu Burritt, has done
much for this cause. One of the ablest and most admirable of appeals
in behalf of "peace on earth and good will to men" was given in 1845,
in Boston, by Charles Sumner,--who may be justly reckoned as one of
the brightest lights among philanthropists and statesmen of the
present century,--on "The True Grandeur of Nations." Moved by the
threatening aspect of affairs between the United States and Mexico,
the orator denounced the war system as the ordeal by battle still
unwisely continued by international law as the arbiter of justice
between nations, and insisted that this system ought to give way to
peaceful arbitration for the settlement of international questions, as
the private ordeal of battle had given way to such substitutes in the
administration of justice between individuals. "The oration attracted
unusual attention, led to much controversy, and was widely circulated
both in America and Europe. It was pronounced by Richard Cobden to be
'the most noble contribution made by any modern writer to the cause of
peace.'"[32]

The delusion that wars must always be expected more or less with
mankind is a vagary of barbarism, and not a true Christian thought.
Rather is the poet right, when he says:--

  "War is a game, which, were their subjects wise,
  Kings would not play at."

Wars may be lessened, may be outgrown in human society. There are
better ways of settling human disputes than by an appeal to arms.
Facts in the history of our own nation prove it. Here are a few of
them:--

In 1794, the question of the Northeastern boundary between the United
States and the dependencies of Great Britain was settled by
arbitration.

In 1822, the question of restitution or compensation for slaves found
on board of British vessels during the war of 1812. The matter was
referred to the Emperor of Russia, and his award accepted by both
nations.

In 1858, a difficulty between the United States and the government of
Chili and Peru, was referred to the arbitration of the King of the
Belgians, and settled by his award.

In 1869, the claims of the United States and Great Britain to landed
property in and about Puget Sound were adjusted by peaceable
reference.

In 1871, the well-known Alabama claim, which caused so much ill
feeling between the United States and England, and threatened to
involve the two countries in a terrible war. President Grant,
referring to the settlement of this claim, said in his message of Dec.
3, 1871:--

  "This year has witnessed two great nations, having one language and
  lineage, settling by peaceful arbitration disputes of long standing,
  which were liable at any time to bring nations to a bloody conflict.
  The example thus set, if successful in its final issue, will be
  followed by other civilized nations, and finally be the means of
  restoring to pursuits of industry millions of men now maintained to
  settle the disputes of nations by the sword."

Is this good possible? Assuredly, if good is able to prevail over
evil, right over wrong, love over hatred. And what does the Christian
Gospel signify but this: "Peace on earth and good will toward men"?
This "good will" shall come, if Christians will do their duty by
insisting on the practicability of it. The undercurrent of a better
feeling is gaining force as the great truth of the Brotherhood of Man
is more deeply and extensively realized. If the present toiling-time
is dark, there is light beyond it, the unerring prophecy of the time
when "nations shall learn war no more."

As said Victor Hugo, at the Congress of Peace in Paris, in 1849:--

  "A day will come when the only battle-field shall be the market open
  to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas; when a cannon shall
  be exhibited in public museums just as an instrument of torture is
  now, and people shall be astonished how such a thing could have
  been. A day shall come when those two immense groups, the United
  States of America and the United States of Europe, shall be seen
  placed in presence of each other, extending the hand of fellowship
  across the ocean, exchanging their produce, their commerce, their
  industry, their arts, their genius, clearing the earth, peopling the
  deserts, meliorating creation under the eyes of the Creator, and
  uniting, for the good of all, these two irresistible and infinite
  powers,--the fraternity of men and the power of God."

In agreement with the foregoing statements in reference to the reform
movements of our time, we may note more briefly certain other
indications of the increase of that spirit which would lessen the
afflictions and wrongs and promote the well-being of society.


_The Treatment of Criminals_

has been a subject of much thought and discussion during the
generation just passed. It has been, and still is, an open question
among the more thoughtful, whether the subject of the proper treatment
of criminals has been regarded aright. We may justly plead for
benevolent sympathy without being the apologist of crime. Conscience
must be remembered as well as the cry of pitying tenderness, and
punishment must have a meaning, or the distinctions of right and wrong
are lost. "It will be a sad day," as one has truly said, "when those
who violate our laws are more pitied than blamed." Christians are
bound by their religion to labor for the prevention of crime, and for
the strict application of all righteous laws to the criminal; to
impress as they can the awfulness of sin on their own and on other's
consciences, and to recall the fallen back to virtue, shamed by his
sin, and resolute and strong in the working of a regenerated will,
thus vindicating and imitating "the goodness and severity of God." The
treatment of convicts in our prisons at the present time is generally
more in accordance with these considerations than in the past, when
severity was deemed more needful as applied to criminals who were
subjects of total depravity, than a proportionate mercy, which
regarded them not only as lost ones, but as capable of a possible
restoration to their rightful Owner and Almighty Friend. The reform
schools in our different States are working in this Christian
direction. The subject of

_Capital Punishment_

has elicited much attention during the time of which we are speaking.
It has been discussed in newspapers, pamphlets, legislatures, pulpits,
and lyceum halls. Some of our States have abolished the gallows,
others are agitating this subject in their legislatures. The present
governor (Long) of Massachusetts, in his annual messages of the last
two years, has recommended the abolition of the death penalty. A large
number of ministers of the Universalist Church have constantly
affirmed their opposition to it. Rev. Charles Spear published a
sensible work on the subject, and Rev. Hosea Ballou, D. D., thirty
years since, gave the whole question a very thorough investigation, in
reply to Rev. Dr. Cheever of New York, and others.[33] Michigan was
the first State in the Union to abolish the death penalty, and a late
Report makes the statement that, with a population of 1,500,000, no
man has been executed in the State during the last thirty-five years,
and that a less number of murders have been perpetrated during the
last ten years, in ratio to the population, than during the same
decade in any other State where public or even private executions have
prevailed.[34] Capital punishment has also been abolished in Maine.


_The Position and Work of Woman_

has also been a subject of deep and widespread interest. Christianity
has ever given to woman a place denied her by all other religions. As
Christian thought has had freer course, and Christian theology and
practical work new and brighter development, the relations of woman to
the welfare and progress of human society have been more clearly
understood and appreciated. Her rights in law are now more plainly and
justly defined, and the importance of her equal education with the
other sex admitted and emphasized. She is prominent and indispensable
as a teacher, all over the land; she is a graduate of the college and
a professor there; she is a successful practitioner in the legal and
medical professions; she is an ordained minister of the Gospel; she is
a merchant, a book-keeper and accountant, an editor, an artist, a
mechanic, a farmer, and has more than average success in all these
departments of activity. Her right to the ballot is slowly but surely
coming to a settlement, which it will take time and thought on her
part (for when _she_ asks for the ballot it will be hers), and
enlightened legislation to effect. Where she has exercised this right,
none but favorable results have been witnessed.[35] Our State
legislatures are called upon to give attention to the subject, and a
committee of our national Congress have just decided to report a
proposed amendment to the Constitution, declaring that "the right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of sex, and giving
Congress the power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the
provisions of this article." If Congress will agree to propose this
amendment, and three fourths of the States will ratify it, woman
suffrage will be legalized.


_Other Questions._

The philanthropic and successful efforts in behalf of the blind, the
deaf and dumb, and feeble minded, of fallen women, and orphan
children, are becoming more and more apparent every year, all in
cheering accord with that restorative mercy and power evinced in Him
whose mission was to relieve the sorrows and remove the afflictive
evils that beset mankind. And no more unmistakable evidence of the
decline of that horrible doctrine of endless suffering for the wicked
can be realized, than the instituting and maintaining societies for
the suppression of cruelty to animals. Surely, the Father of our
spirits will not be less merciful towards any of his children, than
these children are justly called upon to be to the inferior creatures
of his forming hand! These are some of the signs of Christian progress
during the last half-century. _Laus Deo!_

[31] Chambers' Miscellany.

[32] New Amer. Enc.

[33] Universalist Quarterly, Vol. VI. No. 4, October, 1849.

[34] "Gospel Banner," Augusta, Me., June 10, 1882.

[35] The Governor of Wyoming affirms that woman suffrage is an unqualified
success in the Territory.




CHAPTER X.

THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH AND ITS WOMEN.

  "Help those women which labored with me in the
  churches."--PAUL, Phil. iv. 3.


The Universalist Church is much indebted to its faithful women. Taking
into consideration its comparative numbers, no other church in America
has been more signally favored in the genial and healthful influence
of its writers who have borne the honorable name of Woman. They have
been instrumental in spreading the doctrines of the primitive Gospel
and the moral bearings of their religion before the world in most
attractive and impressive forms, and have disabused the public in its
wrong estimate of the character and ability of the advocates of
Universalism and the tendency and influence of its principles.

Among those worthy to be remembered in this goodly company, who have
passed from the present life during the last half-century, we may
mention the gifted sister poets, Alice and Phoebe Cary, Mrs. Sarah
Broughton, Mrs. Julia H. Scott, Mrs. Sarah C. E. Mayo, Mrs. Charlotte
A. Jerauld, Mrs. Henrietta A. Bingham, Mrs. Elmina R. B. Waldo, Mrs.
Luella J. B. Case, and Mrs. E. H. Cobb.

Among the living we may note the names of Mrs. Catharine M. Sawyer,
whose contributions to our church journals are so well known; Mrs.
Mary A. Livermore, who in her past connection with our church work and
literature has gained such a high reputation with her voice and pen,
as well as in her deeds of benevolence and mercy during the war of the
rebellion; Mrs. Julia A. Carney, whose hymns and instruction books
have made her name so familiar in our Sunday-schools and homes; Mrs.
Caroline A. Soule, whose consecrated words and works have secured her
a name which the church of her love will hold in righteous estimation;
Mrs. Nancy T. Munroe, Mrs. Lathrop (formerly Mrs. Bacon), Mrs. E. M.
Bruce, Mrs. J. L. Patterson, Mrs. S. M. Perkins, Mrs. P. A. Hanaford,
Miss Carnahan, Miss Remick, Miss Minnie S. Davis,--but it is difficult
to know where to draw the line in this counting. Others might be
named, would space permit, who have made their contributions to the
literature of the church. The older and well known retain "their
wonted fires," and the new and younger are coming to succeed and honor
them. Some of our women are speaking our best and most practical words
in our churches, prayer and conference and missionary meetings; in our
Sunday-schools, conventions, and associations; in our pulpits, as
evangelists and pastors; in our educational institutions. If the
Universalist Church has not at this hour as brilliant a presentation
of Christian literature from the pen of its women as it had thirty
years since, there never was more of the practical and available
talent of woman in it than at the present time; never so much
organized effort on their part as now.

This effort seems to have taken new form and life since the Centenary
Year of the church came round,--1870. Previous to that date, the
history of many a new movement, many a new parish or church, had been
the history of woman's fidelity in the inception, progress, and
success of the enterprise. It was but natural, then, that in the
inspiration awakened by the approach of this centennial year, the
women of the church should be aroused to new and still greater effort.
And thus it was that the "Woman's Centenary Aid Association" was
organized at Buffalo, N. Y., in September, 1869. The organization was
effected, and the main work under it was to aid in the raising of the
proposed "Murray Fund," of $200,000. The total amount raised by that
Association for this object, in all the States and elsewhere,
deducting comparatively moderate expenses, and placed in the treasury
of the United States Convention for the Murray Fund, was $35,000.
Nearly 13,000 women thus became members of the Association. The fact
was a new and cheering manifestation. The "Christian Leader," a
Universalist journal of New York city, thus alluded to it:--

  "If our women need no eulogy, we need the satisfaction of making a
  warm, explicit confession of our admiration of their attempt, and
  our gratitude for what they have done. They can well afford to
  dispense with the acknowledgment, but we cannot afford not to make
  it. It becomes us here to raise no question as to woman's fitness
  for certain employments and political prerogatives, hitherto the
  prerogatives of the rougher sex. But should we reach what some call
  'extreme views' on the several points, and should our zeal bring us
  onto the platform as a champion thereof, the sledgehammer we should
  wield is, _the work of the Universalist women in their Centenary
  Year_. God bless and make us grateful for our women!"

Since that time the Association has taken the title of the "Womans'
Centenary Association" (dropping the word "Aid" used in the beginning
in reference to its work in connection with the United States
Convention). It has much other work of its own now. Its tract
publishing and circulation, its Scotland Mission, its endowment of
women professorships in one of our colleges, its special gifts for the
aid of theological students, the helping of needy and worthy parish
organizations, establishing Sunday-schools in waste places, and
assisting to sustain them and other beneficent works, are included in
its ministries. Every year's report of its doings has spoken to the
public of the utility and effectiveness of its work.

In May, 1875, Mrs. Caroline A. Soule, the first President of the
Association, sailed from New York city for Scotland, on a mission of
observation, as a company of believers there had for some time
received aid and encouragement from the Association. She passed
several months in Scotland, preaching in Dunfermline, Glasgow,
Larbert, Dundee, and other places, and organized the "Scottish
Universalist Convention." She also assisted at the dedication of a
little church in Stenhousemuir, the only Universalist Church edifice
in Great Britain. Three years afterwards she went, by approval of the
Association, as a preacher and missionary. After preaching awhile in
Dundee and Glasgow, in 1879 she organized, in the last-named place,
the "St. Paul Universalist Church," and established a Sunday-school
and church library. Great numbers of tracts and many books (twenty
barrels of closely-packed matter) were circulated as helps in her
work. The rite of ordination was conferred upon her by the Scottish
Convention. During her work in Scotland she has proved, by her
fidelity, self-sacrifice, and persistence in her work during many and
severe discouragements, her qualifications for a Christian missionary
worthy to be recorded among the most devoted of any in the other
churches who have been strengthened and honored by the accomplishment
of devoted women in their missionary fields. Her work is a noble
beginning of that which may continue to be done by the Universalist
Church, if it shall possess a zeal commensurate with the magnitude of
that pre-eminent Gospel to be "preached to every creature," which it
is called of God to maintain. Christian Universalism and woman, "what
God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."[36]

[36] For a more ample view of the position and work of the women of
the Universalist Church, we refer the reader to the volume recently
given to the public by Mrs. E. R. Hanson, entitled "Our Women
Workers." Chicago, 1882.




CHAPTER XI.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS.

  "Insignificant as the denomination of Universalists may now appear
  in the eyes of the world, it is not to be doubted that the time is
  coming when it will occupy in this country, and throughout all
  Christendom, a much more commanding position, and men will ask for
  the beginning of what they shall then see, and love to read the
  story of our present struggles and victories."--REV. T. J. SAWYER, D. D.


It is within the first century of our national republic, just passed,
that this great faith in the universality of God's love and of the
work of Christian salvation with man, has gained a prominence in the
churches which it had not known since the earlier times of
Christianity. It is of the last half century, in connection with the
history of this faith, however, that I would more particularly speak,
as it is within this period that the work of its promulgation in our
own country has been especially realized, its public advocates
multiplied, and their ministries extended in many of the States of our
Union. Its publications and other educational forces have increased,
and, as we have seen, it has identified itself with some of the most
significant reforms of the age. Many of its friends and
representatives have been among the worthy and excellent of the times
in which they have lived, and not a few of its public advocates
deserve to be honorably and thankfully remembered in the present and
the future for the contributions they have made to the progress of the
church in the knowledge of Christian truth and the realization and
enjoyment of the Christian life. It is one of the enjoyments connected
with the preparation of these pages, that the writer may call them up
in memory and speak of them as they appear to him, and note some of
their characteristics, and pay them that tribute of respect and honor
which they so justly merit.

Though others may appear as their successors in the same high calling,
they can scarcely be more faithful or effective in their labors than
have these earnest defenders of the Abrahamic faith who have been
foremost in its promulgation during the past generation. If many of
them now rest from their labors, their works surely follow them, and
their names deserve tender and thankful remembrance by their survivors
in the church for whose prosperity and honor they so hopefully,
bravely, and faithfully taught and wrought.

It should be understood that, in the succeeding sketches of ministers,
it is not the intent of the writer to present anything like a full
record of all who have faithfully served in this capacity in our
country during the time of our church history comprehended in these
pages. A complete biographical encyclopaedia cannot be compassed in so
limited a space. It is from his own particular standpoint of
observation and recollection that the writer presents his testimony.
Furthermore, it is mainly to those now departed that these references
are made.


The BALLOUS have been conspicuous in this conflict of religious
opinions during the present century. Foremost among the family of
preachers, most of whom have departed, stands acknowledged Hosea the
elder, one of the strongest theologians of the past or present in New
England. He lived through half the present century, being nearly
thirty years old when he entered it, and was vigorous to the last at
the age of eighty-one. The statement of his life-history is not a new
one now. The four ample volumes containing it, by Dr. Whittemore, have
been extensively read, and will be for years to come. But having known
and revered him, it is an unspeakable pleasure to the writer to state
his impressions of the man and the preacher.

HOSEA BALLOU (a native of Richmond, N. H.), came from the home of
a worthy Baptist clergyman, whose means of living and supporting a
large family were small. He had but meagre opportunities for
education, but employed what he had to the best advantage, and became
a school-teacher in early manhood. He joined the Baptist Church when
quite young, but afterwards grew out of its theology, and became
convinced of the truth of Universalism. Discouraged in his first
attempts as a public speaker, he grew more confident, and soon
attracted much attention, wherever he appeared, as an advocate of his
faith. His pastorates were in Barnard, Vt., Portsmouth, N. H., Salem
and Boston, Mass. He died in the last-named city, June 7, 1852, after
a pastorate of more than thirty years. His two sons, Hosea F., of
Vermont, and Massena B., of Stoughton, Mass., have served in the
ministry many years.

Mr. Ballou was gifted with great logical clearness, aptness, and
force. His preaching was plain, scriptural, and often fervent, and no
one could bring home to the hearer the great themes of the Divine
Fatherhood and Human Brotherhood more effectively than he. Wakeful
indeed must be the theological opponent who could evade the force of
his logic. He employed the Socratic method, by drawing the objector
out, so that his own statements would confound or confute him. Many
valiant ones of the opposite faith were there who could readily assail
and denounce his doctrines, where his replies could not reach them,
but who would be very sure to keep at a respectful distance from that
"sword of the Spirit" which he wielded with such consummate skill.

Of the published works of Mr. Ballou, none have evinced more mental
clearness and vigor than his volume on "Atonement," issued in
1805.[37] Its plainness and adaptedness to the common reader, its
sharp logic, and above all its apt and convincing appeals to the
Scriptures, render it a timely helper everywhere and always, in the
discussion of the theologies which have assumed the Christian name,
and which are now being so closely scrutinized. Every reader and
student of theology understands something of the old theory of
Atonement so long dominant in the Christian Church, so exceedingly
perplexing to honest and independent inquirers, so hard to be
vindicated by its ablest advocates, and so surely sowing the seeds of
scepticism and infidelity in many minds. Volume after volume has
appeared in defence and attempted illustration of it. Sin an infinite
evil, being a violation of infinite law, and therefore the law
requiring an infinite sacrifice, short of which no atonement could be
made; the transgression of Adam bringing the whole human race into the
same situation of sin and misery, and subjecting them all to the
infinite penalty of an infinite law, which they had violated in their
parent before they individually existed. In view of this penalty,
which was endless suffering, God himself, to placate his own wrath
against the delinquents, assumed a body of flesh and blood, and
suffered the penalty of the law by death,--not that God himself
actually died, but the human body in which he came,--this is deemed
the infinite sacrifice by which it is possible for a part of mankind
to be saved. "Divines of the greatest ability," writes Mr. Ballou,
"and of the first rank among the _literati_, have drained the last
faculty of invention in plodding through the dark region of
metaphysics to bring up a Samuel to explain the solecism of
_satisfying an infinite dissatisfaction_."

Now let us note how the author of "Atonement" quietly sets forth this
absurdity. It is all comprehended in a single page of the volume:--

  "We will state it as it is often stated by those who believe it,
  which is by the likeness of debt and credit. The sinner owed a debt
  to Divine Justice, which he was unable to discharge; the Divine
  Being cannot, consistently with his honor, dispense with the pay,
  but says, 'I must have what is my just due;' but as the debtor has
  not ability to pay the smallest fraction, Divine Wisdom lays a deep,
  concerted, mysterious plan for the debt to be discharged. And how
  was it? Why, for God to pay it himself!

  "Our neighbor owes us a hundred pounds; time of payment comes, and
  we make a demand for our dues. Says our neighbor, 'My misfortunes
  have been such that I am not the possessor of the smallest fraction
  of property in the world; and as much as I owe you I am worse than
  nothing.' I declare to him positively that I will not lose so much
  as a fraction of the interest, and leave him. A friend calls, and
  asks me how I succeeded in obtaining my dues of my neighbor. I
  reply, 'My neighbor is not, nor will he ever be, able to pay me any
  part of my demand.' My friend says he is sorry that I should lose my
  debt. I answer, 'I shall not lose it. I have very fortunately, in my
  meditations on the subject, thought of a method by which I can avail
  myself of the whole, to my full satisfaction; and I think it is a
  method which no person in the world but myself could ever have
  discovered.' My friend is curious and impatient to know the secret,
  never before found out. The reader may guess his confusion on my
  telling him, 'that as I have that sum already by me, I am now going
  to pay up the obligation before the interest is any larger!' This
  has been called the Gospel plan, which contains the depths of
  infinite wisdom."

What could be plainer, and how could the justness of this
representation be questioned? Questioned it was, of course, not by any
attempt at elaborate examination and refutation, but by a sermon now
and then given out from some Orthodox pulpit, by some honest minister,
entrenched behind the prejudices of his hearers, and altogether
disinclined to meet the whole question in the broadest daylight of
investigation. Out of this plain exposition, and others like it, since
made, have come the examinations, and statements, and restatements,
and amendments, and improvements of the orthodox doctrine of
Atonement, which are keeping astir at this hour the pulpits and
schools of theology all over the land and across the seas.

Many are the anecdotes of Mr. Ballou given in the biographies already
before the public. Were we to attempt a selection, we should be at a
loss where to begin. We have one in mind, given us by Rev. Moses
Ballou, which we have never seen in our religious journals. A Mr.
Buckman, a relative of Mr. Ballou, had taken it upon him as a matter
of conscience, with very little mental preparation, to be a preacher.
He had a good deal of self-assurance, and, withal, strong love of
approbation. Being in company with Mr. Ballou, at one time, he was
anxious to get an approving word from him, and said, "Brother Ballou,
I am awfully tried with myself." "Ah!" said Mr. Ballou, "Why so? What
is the trouble?" "Why," said Mr. Buckman, "it is this: to think that I
should ever try to preach, and know so little. Now, what do you think
about it?" "Why," said Mr. Ballou, hesitating a little, "if you really
want to know my mind, I think--_that--if you knew a little more, you
would never try again_!"

How welcome was he at the great meetings of the church,--conferences,
associations, conventions. He was usually called upon to give the
discourse at the close of the meeting. And it was often a feast to
hear him, as he would dwell upon the excellency of the divine
attributes, the "exceeding great and precious promises," and the plain
and reasonable precepts of the gospel. A prophetic word of good cheer
would be spoken by him at such times. He would see, and make others
see, the clouds receding, and the clear day opening in the blue and
golden sky beyond. However acceptably others had preached before him,
the expectation was that somehow his discoursing would give finish and
sanction to them all. And it was so. At Barre, Vt., where the General
Convention met in 1831, excellent discourses were delivered by able
ministers present, and so rich and varied were the topics dwelt upon,
that the query was somewhat humorously proposed, "What will Father
Ballou have to say after all this?" Judge of our interest and delight
when the modest man arose, and in the most quiet way proposed for his
text the words of Elihu, in Job, xxxvi. 2: "Suffer me a little, and I
will show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf." And such a
vindication of the character of the gracious Father of all in face of
the aspersions cast upon it by his weak and erring children! It was
simply electrifying.

The late Rev. Theodore Clapp, D. D., of New Orleans, and a minister in
the Unitarian Church, once related that, being present in a gathering
of Unitarian clergymen in Boston, the conversation turned on the
changes which had been effected in the theology of New England, and
the question who, of all her great divines, had wrought the most and
greatest changes. Of course Channing had the most advocates; but there
were some who named Edwards, Emmons, Hopkins, and other doctors of the
Orthodox Schools. At last Dr. Clapp, who had remained silent, was
appealed to. "Gentlemen," said he, "you have not yet named the man!"
"What!" replied all in astonishment, "not named him!" "No, gentlemen,
you have not yet named him." "Why, who can it be? We have named every
preacher of eminence in New England." "And yet, gentlemen, you have
not named _the_ man." "Well, who do you say he is?" With great
impressiveness, Mr. Clapp uttered the name. "Hosea Ballou has effected
more and greater changes in the theological opinions of the people of
New England, than any man dead or living." There was silence for a
time, and the discussion was not renewed.[38]

Mr. Ballou was a vigorous writer. His "Treatise on the Atonement,"
"Notes on the Parables," and volumes of sermons, are among his best
offerings to the public. The first-named book ought to be read
throughout Christendom. He was through his professional life a welcome
contributor to the periodicals of the church. He has stood and will
continue to stand high. His imposing statue at Mount Auburn will look
out upon generations mentally and spiritually blest through his
truthful ministries.


The eldest son of Mr. Ballou, Rev. HOSEA FAXON BALLOU, was born in
Dana, Mass., April 4, 1799, and died in Wilmington, Vt., May 20, 1881.
At the age of thirty he became desirous of entering the ministry, but
hesitated from anxiety as to the support of his growing family. He
began the study of theology, however, and in 1832, after a few months
with Rev. Benjamin Whittemore, preached with success three times in
the vicinity of Boston, and was called to Whitingham, Vt. He was
ordained at Boston, June 30, 1833. After a pastorate of nearly
twenty-five years at Whitingham he went to Wilmington, where he was
pastor until, in 1872, the infirmities of age led him to abandon the
pulpit, after a ministry of forty years without the loss of a single
Sunday. In person Mr. Ballou was tall, erect, and strong, bearing a
marked resemblance to his distinguished father in face and form as
well as in mental characteristics. His sermons evinced a high order of
intellect and cultivation. During the last seventeen years of his
residence in Whitingham, he held the office of town clerk, and in
Wilmington was twice elected to the Constitutional Convention and once
to the State Legislature. He was President of the Wilmington Savings
Bank for seven years before his death, and occupied many other
positions of honor and trust. He reared a large family of children,
and it has been said of him, in truth we may believe, that during the
past fifty years no man in Southern Vermont exerted so wide an
influence over religious opinions.


Another son of Mr. Ballou, MASSENA B. BALLOU, was pastor of the
Universalist Church in Stoughton, Mass., for twenty-five years, and
now resides in that town, at an advanced age.


An elder brother of Hosea was Rev. DAVID BALLOU, of Munroe, Mass.,
a man of remarkable acuteness as a reasoner, and quite as sound a
theologian as the more distinguished one just noticed, but whose
success as a preacher was much less, because of the want of that ease
and fluency in the delivery of his discourses which his brother
possessed. But those who knew him well have borne witness to the
excellence of his character and his great ability as an expounder of
the Word of the Gospel.


His son, Rev. MOSES BALLOU, held a prominent place in our church as
one of its talented ministers, and as a writer of more than ordinary
ability. He was born in Munroe, Mass., March 24, 1811. Educated at the
academy at Brattleboro, Vt., he began preaching at the age of
twenty-two. One of his earliest charges was at Bath, N. H. He was
subsequently settled at Portsmouth, where he had pastorates twice. He
had charge of the churches at Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven,
Conn., and in later years removed to New York city, where he was
pastor of the Bleecker Street Church. He then came to Philadelphia,
and took charge of the Church of the Restoration. Failing in health,
he gave up his work in that city, and removed to Atco, N. J. His
friends there erected for him a small church edifice, where he held
service when able so to do. He died in Philadelphia, May 19, 1879.

He was the author of two books,--one the "Memorial of Rev. Merritt
Sanford;" the other, "The Divine Character Vindicated," a review of
Rev. Edward Beecher's work, entitled "The Conflict of Ages." This
last-named volume indicates the masterly mental strength of the man.
Dr. Beecher himself, we are informed, acknowledged it to have been the
ablest of any reply made to his work. It has never yet been read by
Universalists as it deserves to be. Mr. Ballou was not only a strong
and logical writer, but an earnest and eloquent preacher. Dr. T. B.
Thayer writes of him:--

  "In his best days, when in the vigor of his manhood, physically and
  mentally, few men could hold a thoughtful and intellectual audience
  to closer attention than he; and even those who differed from him
  theologically acknowledged the ability with which he maintained his
  positions, and were little disposed to enter the lists of
  controversial argument against them. And at times when the great
  truths of the Gospel seemed, in the midst of his speaking, to dawn
  upon him in new and larger revelation, he would break into speech
  that thrilled his hearers, and lifted them for a space into the
  fellowship of the angels.

  "He knew for a good while that the end was approaching, and he was
  ready. Death was to him only the door that opened into the new
  immortal life, which was almost as presently real to him as the life
  he was living here. And when, at the last, his life-long friend,
  Rev. James Shrigley, said good-bye to him, he exclaimed, 'Why say
  good-bye, when we shall meet again to-morrow?'"


 [Illustration: H. Ballou 2d.
 From a Dag.
 H. W. Smith Sc.
 J. H. Daniels Pr.]

Of all the worthies in this company of church leaders of which we are
speaking, not one of them is entitled to a higher place than HOSEA
BALLOU, D. D., or "2d," as he was called before the doctorate was
conferred upon him. A rare man was he, a clear-headed and closely
logical thinker, an untiring student, one of the soundest of
preachers, and humblest and noblest of men. We have no fear of using
language too strong in our statement of his character, its
pre-eminence and worth. An editor of a volume of his discourses has
given it, on the title-page, from Laman Blanchard:--

  "His thoughts were as a pyramid up-piled,
  On whose far top an angel sat and smiled,
  Yet in his heart was he a simple child."

He was of Guilford, Vt., born there in 1796. His parents were
Baptists, but the thoughtful and studious boy, before the age of
nineteen, had embraced Universalism. He began early the study of Latin
and Greek, and gave much attention in later days to ecclesiastical
history. He was pastor in Stafford, Conn., and in Roxbury and Medford,
Mass. He was for some years one of the editors of the "Universalist
Magazine," and afterwards of the "Quarterly," a publication which
under his supervision was a most creditable addition to the literature
of the Christian Church. His most valuable contribution to this
literature is his "Ancient History of Universalism," the result of
long and patient research in a new field of inquiry, and which proved
to be a work of acknowledged merit. It settled at once and for all
time the loose statement that Universalism was a new doctrine, not
known to any extent in olden times. Some of the brightest lights in
the Christian Church are recognized as its early advocates. Harvard
University, of which he was for some years a trustee, conferred upon
him its honorary degree of D. D.; and Tufts College, for which he had
anxiously pleaded and diligently labored, elected him her first
president. "His scholarship," writes another, "was not only general
and varied, but exact in details, and frequently astonishing by its
minute acquaintance with things and events out of the ordinary
channels of information; and his knowledge was so unostentatiously
held, and kindly and modestly imparted, that it required special
inquiry to elicit it, and seemed but natural to him. His gentle
manners and readiness to impart information, and his mild and loving
spirit, won for him the esteem of all who became acquainted with him,
so that their admiration of the scholar and teacher were often lost in
their affection for the friend."


Two brothers of Dr. Ballou, LEVI and WILLIAM S., were for years
preachers and pastors in New England. William resided in the West for
a time, where he died in 1865. Levi was pastor of the Universalist
Church in North Orange, Mass., for nineteen years. Clear-minded,
gentle, and yet forcible men were they, making good proof of their
ministry.


Rev. EDWARD TURNER was for years one of the ablest ministers in the
Universalist Church. He was born in Medfield, Mass., July 28, 1776,
and was in early life sent to the school of the celebrated Hannah
Adams and her sister. In 1786 his family removed to Sturbridge, Mass.,
and in his seventeenth year he was at Leicester Academy. He was
educated under "orthodox" influence, and used to say that he "held the
minister in such fearful reverence that he would jump over the wall to
hide himself if he saw that he must meet him on the road." The towns
in the section of Worcester County in which he lived were among those
where Universalism was first preached. Oxford, especially, was one of
its strongholds, the first Convention having met there when he was ten
years old. In such a neighborhood he could not have lived long without
hearing something of the "strange doctrine," but all that is known is,
that he is said to have been a Universalist as early as his sixteenth
or seventeenth year. He began to preach in 1798, when, at the age of
twenty-two, he preached his first sermon at Bennington, Vt. He first
appears in the public records of the Universalists in 1800, when it is
stated that a Letter of License was given him by the General
Convention. From this time until 1824 his name appears in the records
nearly every year. He is mentioned in the records of the Convention
for 1803 as of Sturbridge and also of Charlton, from which it is
inferred that both these towns had societies of which he was pastor.
In 1809 he removed to Salem, Mass. Here he remained till June, 1814,
when he accepted a call to Charlestown, Mass. In March, 1824, he
accepted an invitation to Portsmouth, N. H., where he continued till
the spring of 1828. He was afterwards minister in Charlton, his old
home, and at Fishkill Landing, N. Y. In 1841 he removed to Jamaica
Plain, to a home left by a son-in-law, where he passed the remainder
of his days. He was twice married. He occasionally preached up to the
last. He was present as one of the bearers at the funeral of his old
friend and co-worker, Mr. Ballou, June 9, 1852, and departed this life
Jan. 24, 1853.

With the opinions of the elder Ballou in regard to future (or
no-future) punishment he had no sympathy; and an estrangement somehow
grew up, which led him to connect himself, later in life, with the
Unitarians, instead of remaining with those in the Universalist
ministry, such as H. Ballou, 2d., the Streeters and Skinners, Rev. L.
Willis, Thomas F. King, and others, whose opinions coincided with his
own. A severe illness in 1811 wrought a marked change in him. Before
this he was quite robust and erect, afterwards he appeared more
feeble. Previous to this sickness, like Mr. Ballou, he had been
exclusively an extemporaneous preacher, and is said to have been one
of the "rousing" sort,--live, vehement, electric; but from this period
his whole manner changed, and his ordinary preaching became subdued,
languid, what is called "moderate," at times, perhaps, even heavy. Dr.
E. G. Brooks, in an excellent biographical notice of him, says:--

  "He had immense latent power. At times, when kindled by some great
  occasion, or stirred by opposition or some peculiar circumstance,
  this came out. Then he preached with all his old fire, and sometimes
  rose into impassioned and commanding eloquence. 'All the fountains
  of the great deep' within him 'were broken up,' and thought and
  feeling came in a flood. Rev. Russell Streeter writes me, 'On
  Convention occasions he was, on the whole, _second to no one_.' My
  parents tell me that he was 'sometimes _very_ animated.' They speak
  particularly of one sermon in Portsmouth, called forth by some
  bitter outbreak of opposition, when he preached with surpassing
  effect. Others report similar instances. Doctrinal sermons in
  abundance he preached, but even those most argumentative and most
  sharply controversial were flavored with a religious meaning and
  reasoned to practical ends. He never preached a sermon that was
  _merely_ doctrinal, but always made dogmatic discussion subordinate
  to moral impression. Though in a mistaken estimate of duty, as we
  believe, he separated from us, his name can never be taken out of
  our records as one of the worthiest of our early heroes, nor his
  work cease to be an occasion of gratitude and honorable pride to us,
  nor his reverent and saintly character fail to be one of the most
  precious portions of our denominational inheritance."[39]


The STREETER brothers are to be numbered in this "company of the
preachers." SEBASTIAN was for more than thirty years pastor of the
First Universalist Church, on Hanover Street, Boston. He was a
minister of marked character, light-framed, nervous, dark-eyed, of
quick movement, clear and strong-minded, voluble in speech, affable,
at home everywhere, especially in the pulpit.

Under many disadvantages, he laid for himself the foundation of a
professional education. He intended to qualify himself for the law,
but a superior wisdom and will called him to the Christian pulpit. At
the age of eighteen, while a school-teacher in New Hampshire, he was a
talented advocate of Christian Universalism. At twenty-two he preached
his first discourse. He travelled extensively as a missionary in
Maine, encountering the reproach which awaited the advocacy of his
faith in those days in many parts of New England, and having the honor
of being stoned once while preaching in a Christian house of worship,
and by a zealous member of a church. With him, however, opposition was
an incentive to new earnestness in his work. He was singularly gifted
as a preacher. He despised all garishness and affectation, and was
usually full of his theme. There was in him a latent fire of
eloquence, which when kindled stirred his audience to the depths of
their souls. The writer calls to mind occasions of his preaching: one,
while the hearer was standing in the doorway of a church at a meeting
of the General Convention in Vermont. The pulpit was between the doors
that opened upon the faces of the congregation. The preacher was in
the heat of his discoursing on the words of Jesus, "And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." There were no
indifferent listeners, and but few dry eyes to be seen. The
remembrance has often been an inspiration. The other was at the
session of the Rockingham Association, in Nottingham, N. H., in 1833.
Mr. Streeter delivered the occasional discourse, an able and a timely
one. He was speaking of reforms and reformers, and was all aglow with
his theme. He thus came to a climax:--

  "We know of a revivalist and reformer infinitely superior in skill
  and power to those of all sects combined; one who will continue to
  move onward, 'conquering and to conquer,' till he has 'renewed a
  right spirit' in every heart, till he has reformed fully and forever
  the countless millions of our race. Yes, blessed be God, we know his
  name. It is Jesus of Nazareth; the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; the
  Son of God; the Saviour of the world!" ["Amen!" from a brother
  minister.][40] The preacher responded: "Hallelujah! Glory to God in
  the highest! Jesus will make all things new. Let heaven proclaim his
  honor; let earth echo and re-echo his praises; and let eternity
  respond them through the long and lofty roll of its interminable
  ages!"

Said Mr. Streeter to a friend, one Monday morning:--

  "I had something tender to put into my sermon yesterday morning. As
  I was going to church, a poor woman came to me to borrow a dollar to
  get bread for her children, and, as I handed it to her, she offered
  me a small locket containing a braid of hair from the head of a
  little child she had buried a week ago. 'Take back the locket,' said
  I; 'it is too sacred for my hands; but keep the dollar, you are
  welcome to that. It does me more good to give it than you to receive
  it, and you can have more if you need.' Then she wept, and said she
  was a poor widow, living in such a street near by, and her poor
  children had not had a mouthful since yesterday noon, and she had
  nothing to buy them bread. I knew by her looks that she told me the
  truth, but to satisfy her I went and saw where she lived, and saw
  her children, and gave her more money, and told her I would look to
  her wants again to-morrow. Then I went into the pulpit, and put the
  incident into a sermon, and I haven't preached so well, nor enjoyed
  the service so much, for many a day."

His heart was often overflowing with such charities as this, through
all his ministry.

He was the life of a conference meeting, and his Friday evening
conferences in the Hanover Street vestry were never forgotten by those
who attended them. As a pastor, he was always welcomed in the homes of
his parishioners, sharing as he did their joys and sorrows with the
sympathy of a brother and friend. As an officiating attendant at
weddings, he was exceedingly popular, and his yearly marriage list,
for a long time, exceeded in numbers that of any other clergyman in
Boston. On funeral occasions, he was eminently a "son of consolation."
There was such an unction in his usual manner of preaching--a manner
so peculiarly adapted to the services of the Sabbath--that a brother
minister who highly respected him, quaintly suggested that
_Sabbathstrain_, rather than Sebastian, might properly be used as his
name. As another has written of him: "He was an intensely magnetic
man. It was not simply what he said, but the spiritual unction with
which he uttered the truth, that won and held you."[41]

Mr. Streeter lived to the age of eighty-four. In his last days he
suffered intensely from asthma, which had long afflicted him. He has
left the example of a true and noble life to the churches.


Rev. RUSSELL STREETER was a younger brother of Sebastian, and a man of
much mental vigor,--sharp, witty, and logical. He had quite a number
of ministerial settlements in New England, and in them all was noted
for his ability as a preacher, for his peculiarities of character, and
his good qualities as a neighbor and citizen. He was the first editor
of the "Christian Intelligencer," a Universalist weekly paper,
published at Portland, Me.; was minister in that city for some years,
and afterwards, much later in life, went to pay the society a long
pastorate visit of six and a half years, which proved very agreeable
to pastor and people. He died at Woodstock, Vt., Feb. 15, 1880.

Mr. Streeter was a subject of impulses. When in the happy mood, no
one, it seemed to us, could preach a more acceptable sermon than he.
When not in this favorable frame of mind, he would not always do
justice to himself. We can never forget a discourse (the closing one)
at a Conference in Orford, N. H., from the text, "Behold how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." The
sermons previously delivered were timely, and had been well received,
and he was fully in the spirit of them all, and felt that he had the
strong sympathies of his hearers. His words "dropped like the rain,
and distilled as the dew." Doctrine, illustration, exhortation,
application, all were excellent, and there was an unction in the whole
discourse that left upon the audience impressions most highly
favorable to the faith he was setting forth. On another occasion, at
the closing of a session of the New Hampshire Convention, at Lebanon,
he was the last preacher of the occasion. Very able and impressive
discourses had been delivered by five other ministers. Mr. Streeter,
in an apparently extemporaneous effort, took special notice of the
matter and manner of them all, and of the characters of the speakers;
and when he alluded to the sermon of the young and beloved Hanscom, as
"an eloquent appeal from one whose hollow and sepulchral tones seemed
to indicate that the youthful and faithful speaker was nearing the
tomb," the effect was exceedingly impressive.

During the editorial career of Mr. Streeter with the "Christian
Intelligencer," he proved himself an able and effective writer, and
did much to call attention to the religious principles which he
advocated. While in Portland, he was neighbor to Dr. Edward Payson, of
distinguished memory in the Congregational Churches; a very zealous
advocate of Christianity, as he understood it, and who regarded the
Gospel as promulgated by Mr. Streeter as a pernicious and deadly
heresy. Mr. Streeter was somewhat fond of looking after him, and
noting what he considered to be some of his errors in doctrine. One
evening the two happened to greet each other at a meeting where Dr.
Payson presided and which Mr. Streeter attended. Soon theological
questioning and cross questioning took place, and some very strong
denunciatory words were used by the Doctor, who was evidently much
excited. Mr. Streeter was cool and keen in his replies, and soon
pushed the Doctor into a very close corner, causing him to contradict
himself, and to appear to his friends and all present to great
disadvantage. It was a triumph of temper as well as of theological
ability. The Doctor, saintly man as he surely was, evidently felt the
force of his neighbor's replies to him.

Mr. Streeter was an able writer. His "Familiar Conversations" have
been much read. They were adapted to the time in which they were
written, and so were some of his works on the revival movements of the
Orthodox Churches in New England and elsewhere, thirty or forty years
ago. His little volume entitled, "The Latest News from Three
Worlds,--Heaven, Earth, and Hell," was a scorching satire upon the
extravagances connected with these movements. Scriptural argument and
strong logic are mixed with keenest wit, mirthfulness, tenderness, and
rhetoric most glowing and redundant. The ministers and churches to
whom these reviews were addressed must have seen themselves in no very
commendable light in that glass. Those who have once read the book
attentively are not likely to forget it. While engaged in the
"Burchard War" in Vermont, he published a pamphlet entitled, "Mirror
of Calvinistic Fanaticism; or, Jedediah Burchard & Co., During a
Protracted Meeting of Twenty-six Days in Woodstock, Vt." It was an
effective issue.

During most of his ministry, Mr. Streeter was a zealous and successful
advocate of the temperance reform. His addresses were always lively
and interesting, full of anecdote, ludicrous hits, and quaint sayings.
He was popular in all places and with all sects in this work, and many
who would hardly consent to hear him advocate his religious sentiments
realized much enjoyment in listening to his defence of temperance
principles. On one occasion he was in the pulpit with a clergyman
whose sense of self-dignity was "above the ordinary," and who
evidently had no strong inclination to be the subject of a joke. While
Mr. Streeter was addressing the meeting, he took occasion to describe
the different mixtures of strong drink which were in use almost
everywhere previous to the temperance reformation. "The last article
of all," said he, "added to perfect the dram, was--was--really,
strange to say, but I have just now lost the name! Will some one
please to mention it?" "Nutmeg!" exclaimed the dignified clergyman
near him. "That's it!" responded Mr. Streeter. "He's well informed in
these matters, I'll warrant you."

We have heard an account of his attendance, in Western New York, at a
meeting where a Methodist and a Universalist were to preach in the
same meeting-house one Sunday. The Universalist was to speak in the
morning, and the Methodist in the afternoon. In the last sermon the
preacher was very severe in his treatment of Universalists and their
doctrine. Mr. Streeter, seeing that there would be no opportunity for
a rejoinder to his statements, asked his ministering brother the
privilege of taking his place in offering the closing prayer, in
which, in the most reverential, solemn, and emphatic manner, he
briefly noted what he considered the misrepresentations of the last
speaker, and left upon the audience an impression decidedly favorable
to his own faith. The whole exercise, quaint as it was, was so
remarkably able and timely, that all criticism of it seemed to be
silenced.


Rev. THOMAS JONES was a successor of Rev. John Murray, at Gloucester,
Mass. He came from the Methodists in England, and once belonged to the
Lady Huntington connection. He was a veritable Welshman, honest,
kind-hearted, blunt in speech, and unique in his method and style of
sermonizing. His discourses were most positive statements of
Universalism, and abounded in Scriptural quotations. Some one wittily
said of Father Balfour, that so great was his reliance on the
authority of the Bible, that he would go to it to find out whether a
suspected bank-note were counterfeit or not. A parishioner of Father
Jones remarked of him, that he could hardly get through saying grace,
even at a Fourth of July festival, without repeating the passage, "For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." He had
a long settlement in Gloucester, and died there at a ripe old age
(eighty-three), Aug. 20, 1846. The discourse at the funeral was
delivered by Rev. A. D. Mayo, the officiating minister and pastor at
the time. He paid a just tribute to the honored old Christian soldier,
and to the early defenders of our faith in America.


Rev. PAUL DEAN received fellowship as a Universalist minister in 1805.
He afterwards preached extensively in Vermont and New Hampshire, and
moved to Whitestown, N. Y., in 1810. He traversed frequently large
portions of Central and Western New York, and held several successful
discussions,--two, particularly, with Rev. Mr. Lacy, then a Methodist,
afterwards an Episcopalian Bishop. He removed to Boston in 1813, and
in 1823 his friends left the First Church, and built for him the
church in Bulfinch Street, now Unitarian. About 1828, he withdrew from
the fellowship of the Universalists, and, with a few others, formed
the "Massachusetts Restorationist Association." On its decline he left
Boston, and settled in Framingham, in 1840. He was an eloquent and
popular preacher, and was for many years an active Freemason, holding,
during the greater part of his manhood, the highest offices of that
Order in the United States. He died in Framingham, of paralysis, Oct.
5, 1860, aged seventy-seven years.

In his early ministry, Mr. Dean, while in Central New York, was
subject to the oppositions which others of his fraternity sometimes
encountered. On one occasion, an over-zealous woman was so highly
incensed at the expectation of his coming to the house where she
resided, that she had in preparation a kettle of hot water with which
to greet him, but was prevented by others from effecting her evil
design.


An honest and clear-minded man was Rev. WALTER BALFOUR, who came from
his native Scotland to Charlestown, Mass. He was first a
Congregationalist, and afterwards a Baptist, and an acceptable
preacher with both sects; a Greek and Hebrew scholar, and well
instructed in sacred literature. A most conscientious believer was he
in the old theology of Scottish orthodoxy. He had never dreamed that
Universalism could be true. But he was a reader and thinker, and
especially inclined to the good use of his logical powers. He read the
works of American orthodox authors, among whom was Professor Stuart of
Andover, for whose opinions he had profound respect. The Professor
became engaged in a controversy with the eminent Unitarian, Dr.
Channing, and Mr. Balfour followed up the discussion with deep
interest. In his attempts to set forth Christ as equal with God, the
Professor cited the words of the Revelator (Rev. v. 13), where "things
in heaven, in earth, and under the earth" (a periphrasis for the
universe), are said to bow the knee to Jesus, and ascribe blessing,
honor, glory, and power to him. "If this be not spiritual worship,"
says the Professor, "and if Christ be not the object of it here, I am
unable to produce a case where worship can be called spiritual and
divine." Mr. Balfour read and pondered. He had not doubted the
Trinity, the equality of Christ with the Father. But what is the
import of this statement, that the universe is offering spiritual
worship to Christ? Is this the Professor's meaning? Would he thus avow
the truth of Universalism? He becomes anxious on the subject;
addresses a respectful but earnest letter to the Andover teacher,
asking an explanation of this statement; awaits patiently an answer,
but none comes. Writes again and again, still receiving no reply.
After nearly a year and a half, his last appeal is made. An equivocal
answer came, expressing unwillingness to reply to anonymous newspaper
writers! Frivolous pretension, and in discreditable contrast with the
honesty and sincerity of the inquirer. Bound to oppose Universalism,
as the creed of the Institution compelled him to, why would not the
Professor seek to save this inquirer from its fatal enticements? But
the Professor's neglect was the inquirer's opportunity. He continued
his inquiries, and the result was his conversion to the Universalist
faith, his life interest in it afterwards, and the writing of volumes
in its defence, which aided in disseminating a knowledge of it widely
throughout the land. Thus Andover inadvertently, through the
unwillingness of this its teacher to save the honest inquirer from
error, gave to the Universalist Church one of its ablest, most
devoted, and worthy ministers and defenders. That is a part of its
history henceforth.


A minister of marked character, and of much service to the
Universalist Church, was Rev. JOHN BISBE. He was a Massachusetts man,
and graduated at Brown University, in 1814. He was a student of law
for a short time in Taunton, and while employed as a teacher in New
Hampshire, became acquainted with Universalism, and subsequently a
preacher of it. His reading was extensive, and his knowledge of the
English language quite thorough. In ordinary conversation he expressed
himself with a striking precision. He preached first in Connecticut
and Western Massachusetts, and was settled in Hartford, Conn., from
1824 to 1827, when he became pastor of the Universalist Church in
Portland, Me. He was an impressive preacher, with no attempt at the
sensational. His personal appearance was notable: a thin man, of
stiff, perpendicular carriage and measured walk; with light hair, pale
face, and very dark eyes, almost a glittering black. The distinguished
literary author, John Neal, said of him:--

  "I have heard Mr. Bisbe repeatedly, and the more I hear him the
  better I like him. He is fervid, free, and powerful, uses lofty and
  generous language, and where he fails to reason, it would appear to
  be not so much from a want of metaphysical power as from a habit of
  disregarding it. From his appearance you would not expect much; but,
  notwithstanding this, he is decidedly the most eloquent preacher in
  our part of the country. He is, moreover, a man of exceedingly happy
  erudition."

The editor of the "Eastern Argus" wrote of him as:--

  "A distinguished and talented preacher, of transcendent powers of
  mind and eloquence in the pulpit; eloquence that moved and burned as
  he breathed it, and that sunk deep into the heart through the
  understanding as well as the passions of his audience."

He took especial interest in the church institution, in the
Bible-class for scriptural exposition, and in all that pertained to
personal religious culture and the work of Christian charity. He died
March 1, 1829, aged thirty six. The death scene was indicative of the
strength and joy of his faith.

Soon after Rev. Thomas F. King came to Portsmouth, N. H., he became
acquainted with Mr. Bisbe. He had a high admiration of the talents and
worth of the man before they met. Previous to the introduction, Mr.
King had been told of the stiffness and precision of Mr. Bisbe in his
salutations of others, and was humorously inclined to use a little of
the same precision in their first greeting. The effect, to an
observer, was amusing in the extreme. But both parties preserved their
dignity.


 [Illustration: Thos. Whittemore.
 H. W. Smith.]

Among the foremost of the advocates of this old and new Gospel in New
England, we may justly name the sturdy and indefatigable THOMAS
WHITTEMORE. He began earthly life with the present century, Jan. 1,
1800. He came up from life's humblest walks. His parents educated him
religiously in moderate Calvinistic sentiments, but he grew out of
them and became sceptical, until his attention was arrested and his
mind deeply impressed by the preaching of Rev. Hosea Ballou, in
Boston. An acquaintance with Mr. Ballou turned his attention to the
ministry, and he became a diligent student in preparation for that
calling. His first sermon, written upon the bench at intervals between
his working hours, was preached in Roxbury, his dress for the occasion
providentially coming in to him, as he was too poor to obtain it
himself. His first pastorate was in Milford, his second and longer one
in Cambridgeport, Mass., in which place he had his home until his
death. His work as editor of the "Trumpet" was a long and vigorous
one, and the volumes that came from his pen beside this weekly
periodical were of much value to the Christian Church. Historical,
exegetical, musical, were they, all for the good of the Christian
cause, in whose interest it was his delight to work. He was a proud
banner-bearer of his church. Universalism was to him the Alpha and
Omega of theology and religion. He saw nothing that could take its
place, and held no fellowship with those who were disposed to
compromise its claims. His editorial pen was alive with clear
scriptural expositions, watchful warnings against the religious errors
of the times, and bold and defiant defences of what he accepted as
Christian truth. His "Modern History of Universalism" is a book of
rare merit, and his "Commentary on the Apocalypse" one of the plainest
and most sensible ever given to the public, and one which theological
critics of the dominant sects have been wary enough to let alone. His
four volumes of the life and writings of Rev. Hosea Ballou make out a
valuable epitome of the history of Universalism in Massachusetts and
in other parts of New England, from the beginning to the middle of the
century. He had ready wit, a never-failing flow of spirits, and a
genial temperament, which drew to him hosts of friends. His preaching
was always popular with the masses,--scriptural, logical, often
strikingly illustrated, if occasionally in a homely way, fervent and
telling with his congregations. He was a welcome evangelist all over
New England. He was a man of rare business qualifications also. He
rendered much civic service to the State as legislator, and was highly
efficient as president and director of bank and railroad corporations.
He was stricken with paralysis more than a year before his decease,
and never regained his vigor. He departed this life in 1861, in his
sixty-second year.[42]

Mr. Whittemore is remembered as a controversialist, and with those who
beheld him chiefly in this light his other qualities may not have been
fairly estimated. His very position as a Christian theologian was
aggressive. He came into the field to face what he deemed religious
error, and to give it battle, asking only that freedom of thought and
expression which Christian faithfulness demands. During his active
life, years ago, a ministering brother (Rev. T. J. Sawyer, D. D.)
wrote of him:--

  "Perhaps some may think him wanting in refinement and grace, and
  others, I know, regard him as at times bolder and plainer than
  necessary. That he deals severely with some of his opposers is
  certain, yet, with all his severity, there is a frankness and
  manliness which challenges the respect even of his enemies. Then it
  is but just to remember the school in which he has been disciplined.
  He who has been called to stand at the head of the prominent
  Universalist press of New England for the last twenty years must
  have learned ere this to defend himself and his course. It has been
  no warfare for paper hats and silk gloves. The head needed a helmet
  of steel, and the hand must know how to grasp the sword and spear.
  Reflect for one moment on the Batcheldors, the McClures, the Cooks,
  the Matthew Hale Smiths, with whom Mr. Whittemore has been called to
  contend, and then tell me if the old soldier has not come out of the
  fight with charity and kindness worthy of admiration. Paul fought
  with beasts at Ephesus; Whittemore has been scarcely more fortunate
  in Boston. Upon the whole, Mr. Whittemore is a man whose life and
  character deserve high consideration. He is supposed by some to be
  too much a party man, and to consult with too much exclusiveness the
  interest of the denomination of which he is so prominent a member.
  Perhaps it is so, but if this charge is sustained against him, I
  hope I may be included in the same condemnation."[43]

Mr. Whittemore's strong traits were: 1. Positiveness of interest in
the Christian Gospel. He had a positive faith to promote and defend.
He seemed to realize the force of Paul's statements: "I know whom I
have believed." "Therefore we are always confident." 2. Fervor. He
believed in Christian earnestness and zeal; was more afraid of frost
than of fire in the churches. 3. Industry. This in him was
indomitable. One of his sayings was, "Dead fish float with the
tide,--live ones swim against it." He was one of the living ones, who
stemmed opposition and wrought victories. The grand words of our poet
Fields are illustrative of him,--

  "Souls that freed from prison bars,
  Struck the blows themselves have won,
  Grappling with their evil stars,
  Stand, like Uriel, in the sun."


Another minister of the same ancestral family was Rev. BENJAMIN
WHITTEMORE, D. D., born in Lancaster, Mass., May 30, 1801; died in
Mattapan, Boston, April 26, 1881. He was educated at the academies in
Lancaster and Groton, and became in early life a convert to
Universalism, mainly through reading the writings of Rev. Hosea
Ballou. He felt impelled to enter the ministry. He had successful
pastorates in West Scituate, Mass.; Troy, N. Y.; South Boston, Mass.;
and Norwich, Conn. In 1843, he took possession of the old homestead in
Lancaster, where he remained ten years without pastoral charge, but
working in various ways for the promotion of the Christian cause. He
was instrumental in establishing a Universalist society in Fitchburg,
Mass. In his later years he became blind, but, in spite of this
infirmity, he continued to preach occasionally, repeating his hymns
and Scripture lessons from memory. He was always heartily engaged in
his work. As an expositor of the Scriptures he possessed eminent
ability, and in preaching, his logical method and aptness enabled him
to express his convictions with great force. He was a sturdy defender
of Christianity against the objections of the doubting and
unbelieving. He received the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology, of
Tuft's College, in 1867. His wife was Mandana, the third daughter of
Rev. Hosea Ballou. They were united in life for nearly sixty years.
His intellect was unclouded to the last, and "his faith grew brighter
as his spirit took its flight."


An eminent and effective "defender of the faith" was Rev. DOLPHUS
SKINNER, D. D., whose death took place in Utica, N. Y., in 1869. He
was born in Westmoreland, N. H., in 1800, and passed his minority in
labor on a farm, attendance at a neighboring academy, and keeping
school. His theological studies were with Rev. S. C. Loveland, of
Reading, Vt., and he entered the ministry in 1823. The most of his
life was passed in Utica, N. Y., where as preacher and editor he
proved himself one of the ablest promulgators of the Universalist
faith in the land. The "Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate," of
which he was for many years editor, had a large circulation. He was a
very popular preacher in Central New York. Of commanding person, with
a voice of great volume and softness, with the readiest use of
language, he was a favorite with the people. His discourses were
strong, doctrinally and practically, and his ministries at funerals
were exceedingly satisfactory. During his ministry of forty years, he
preached over five thousand discourses. He was the author of valuable
books and pamphlets. His letters to Drs. Aiken and Lansing, and his
discussion with Rev. Alexander Campbell, evince much ability. He was a
Christian reformer. The "Clinton Liberal Institute" has been greatly
indebted to his timely and unwearied exertions for its prosperity. He
was a Christian patriot also, and took a lively interest in the
political welfare of his country. The termination of his earthly life
was peaceful. "I am an old soldier," said he to his physician, "and am
about to receive my discharge." After a night of quiet from his
protracted pain, he entered that morning which opens the resurrection
life to man.


A brother of Dolphus was Rev. WARREN SKINNER, who passed the great
part of his life in Vermont, and who was well known there, and in most
of New England, as a talented and useful minister. His personal
appearance was, like that of his brother, imposing, and his
discoursing, if a little heavy in manner at times, always methodical
and sound. He was a staunch friend of Universalism, and had great
faith in its evangelizing power. During some part of his ministry he
was a useful expository writer in the church journals. He did much
valuable missionary work, and lived to a ripe old age in full
possession of his mental powers. He gave a son to the ministry, Rev.
Charles A. Skinner, now of Somerville, Mass.


 [Illustration: Otis A. Skinner.
 J. A. J. Wilcox, Boston.]

Rev. OTIS A. SKINNER was an honor to the church. His native place was
Royalton, Vt., but he came forth as a minister from Langdon, N. H., at
the early age of nineteen. He was apprenticed to a clothier for a
while before his ministry began. From his first school days he was
thoughtful and studious, and succeeded in gaining a very good English
education, beside giving some attention to the Greek and Latin
languages. He was for some time a student with Rev. S. C. Loveland, of
Reading, Vt. The writer first saw him at Kingston, N. H., at the
session of the Rockingham Association, in 1828. He was just
twenty-one, and a most attractive young man to behold, a sweet
sunshiny glow in his comely countenance, which seemed most agreeably
set in his golden ringlets of hair. We heard him preach then, at a
private house, to a very good audience in the evening. He stood in
front of the old family clock, and gave us a very sensible and
well-arranged discourse from the text, "He that goeth forth and
weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps. cxxvi. 6). It was full
of the plainest Universalism. He was soon settled in Woburn, Mass.,
where he gave a good account of himself, and afterwards in Baltimore,
Md., where he was united in marriage with Angela, eldest daughter of
Rev. Sebastian Streeter. He had a vigorous ministry in that city,
including a public theological controversy with Rev. Mr. Breckenridge
of the Presbyterian Church. From Baltimore he came back to
Massachusetts, and settled in Haverhill, where he edited for a time
the "Gospel Sun," as he had edited the "Southern Pioneer" in Baltimore.

A new Universalist society having been formed of worshippers in
Boylston Hall, Boston, he was invited to become its pastor. So
prosperous was his ministry, that a church edifice was soon erected in
Warren Street. Here his pulpit services and pastoral work were very
acceptable. He became a publisher of valuable books, and again the
editor of a monthly journal, "The Universalist Miscellany." In 1846 he
became pastor of Orchard Street Universalist Church in New York city;
and in 1848 consented to be agent for raising $100,000 for the new
college (now Tufts) proposed to be erected in Medford, Mass. For seven
years he was in this laudable work, giving it his faithful attention
in addition to his duties as pastor of the Warren Street Church, to
the ministry of which he had been invited again most unanimously. No
man could have been in his "labors more abundant" than he in this
canvassing for the new college. He solicited everywhere, and
especially among those of like faith with himself. Indifference, the
averted eye or "cold shoulder," chilled not his ardor. He drew, by his
persuasive words, dollars from pockets that seemed at his first call
firmly closed against him. He succeeded in securing the amount needed
for the endowment of the college and its necessary expenses,
superintended the erection of the buildings, and at times when the
means could not otherwise be readily obtained, paid the workmen from
his quarterly pastor's income. One of the proudest days of his life
was that on which the corner-stone of the college was laid. Since
then, the institution has prospered; larger endowments have given it
strength, faithful teachers have honored it, and its sons have gone
forth bearing with them the evidences of the scholarship which can be
secured to its students. Beautiful for outward situation, a literary
Mount Zion of the Universalist Church in New England, it gives promise
of yet increasing prosperity. But never will it outgrow its
indebtedness to its first financial agent, who wrought so
indefatigably, nobly, and successfully in its behalf.

In 1857 Mr. Skinner was induced by family considerations to move West.
After residing in Elgin, Kansas County, Ill., for a few months, he was
invited and persuaded to become president of Lombard University, at
Galesburg, Ill. Here again was work for him, as the college needed
much exertion that it might prosper. And he aided it essentially. But
the task was too heavy, and after two years' hard service his health
gave way. The death of his brother Samuel occurring at Chicago, he was
called upon to give attention to his financial affairs. This was an
additional burden too great for him to bear, but still his spirit for
a while seemed proof against his bodily weaknesses. He removed to
Joliet, and took upon him more than two healthful men could perform.
He would preach to his own congregation in Joliet on Sunday morning,
then ride five miles to Lockport and preach at one o'clock, thence
nine miles to Plainfield and hold a service at three, and then return
home to meet a crowd of listeners in his own church in the evening.
This, added to his missionary work in the adjoining country towns,
including funeral services on other days of the week, together with
his business perplexities in the settlement of his brother's estate,
proved too much for him. The end of this useful earthly life was near;
fever set in, and did its work rapidly. It was the Christian
believer's death scene. His faith was strong, his hope bright, his
face and thought were turned heavenward. The last interview with a
beloved daughter was inexpressibly touching,--her heroic self-control
and his calm, heavenly resignation. His departure was the Christian
saint's triumph. It occurred Sept. 18, 1861.

There was nothing of the flashy or sensational in the ministry of Mr.
Skinner. He was a plain, logical, practical preacher, "in doctrine
showing uncorruptness," an able expounder of the Scriptures, and a
faithful looker-up of religious error. His strictures on the
revivalism of Rev. Mr. Knapp in Boston, and his review of Rev.
Theodore Parker's theology, in the "Universalist Miscellany," were
good evidences of his fidelity to the New Testament Gospel and the
intent of its work with mankind. As a pastor he was not to be
excelled. He knew his flocks at their homes, and personal attachments
to him as a friend, adviser, and companion were very strong. He was in
this calling one of the models. He received the degree of A. M. from
Harvard University, and that of D. D. from Lombard.


Of his brother Samuel P. we may say that he was a man of more than
ordinary endowments. He was for a time in the ministry, and preached
some in New England. He afterwards became editor of the "New
Covenant," in Chicago. He was a quiet and sensible preacher, and
excelled as a writer of clear, compact, and well-arranged expositions
of Scripture, many of which enriched the columns of his paper.


Rev. JOSEPH OBERLIN SKINNER was of Piermont, N. H., born there in
1816. He came into the ministry through much hard study and striving.
Trained in the old theology of New England, he became a believer in
Universalism by being first awakened to a consideration of its
doctrines by the preaching of Rev. John Moore. In 1834 he went to
Lowell, Mass., and was for a time employed in a cotton-mill. He was
encouraged by Rev. T. B. Thayer, then pastor of the First Universalist
Church in that city, to enter the ministry, and was afterwards a
student of theology in the family of Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, of Malden,
Mass. He was minister in Holliston, Framingham, Dudley, and Concord,
Mass.; in Ludlow and Chester, Vt.; in Nashua, N. H.; in Malone, N. Y.;
in Montpelier and St. Albans, Vt.; and in Waterville, Me., where he
died of paralysis, in 1879. He was for a time associate editor of the
"Christian Repository," published at Montpelier, Vt. His labors were
many and successful. His literary accomplishments were of a high
order, and he was a faithful and impressive preacher. At the last of
life he was confined to his bed for more than eleven months, helpless,
but in quiet resignation to the Divine will. When asked if the faith
with which he had comforted others was sufficient for himself in this
great trial, he answered in the affirmative, adding, "I do not want
any _new_ revelation; I am satisfied with what we now have." He was a
frequent contributor to the denominational and secular papers, wrote
many articles for the "Universalist Quarterly," and prepared a history
of the Masonic lodge of Waterville, which was very highly appreciated
by the members of that order. He was for many years the accurate and
able editor of the yearly "Universalist Register." In recognition of
his scholarly attainments, Colby University, in 1872, conferred upon
him the honorary degree of A. M.


NATHANIEL STACY, born in New Salem, Franklin County, Mass., came to
manhood at the close of the last century, and, after hard toiling in
early life, with but small educational advantages, he concluded from
sincere convictions of duty to become a preacher of the faith which he
had embraced in early life. He was small and feeble bodily, but of
sanguine temperament and great firmness and persistence of will. He
was encouraged by Rev. Hosea Ballou to leave a secular avocation and
prepare himself for the ministry. His first sermon was preached with
much diffidence on his part, but he was encouraged to persevere in his
efforts, and soon came to be a very acceptable speaker wherever he
appeared as an advocate of his faith. He itinerated much in
Massachusetts and Vermont, and afterwards much more in the Middle and
Western States. No preacher of the Gospel was ever more engrossed in
his work than he. All the vicissitudes of an itinerant's life were his
for many years. Yet his ardor never waned, and his hopefulness helped
him to meet all discouragements and surmount all obstacles. He was a
veritable Christian apostle, and was welcomed everywhere by young and
old wherever he came as a messenger to the churches. Many remember his
ministry with deepest satisfaction, and his name stands high in the
church as one of the most truthful and devoted of its evangelists. His
autobiography was published in quite a large volume, in Columbus, Pa.,
in 1850. It is full of interesting incidents and apt and able
expositions of the faith of the Gospel. Mr. Stacy departed this life
at Columbus, Pa., April 4, 1869.


Rev. STEPHEN R. SMITH. Of this eloquent and honored minister, his
biographer, Dr. T. J. Sawyer, writes:--

  "Few men have risen to a higher position in the denomination of
  Universalists, exerted a wider influence, or wrought out a brighter
  or more enviable fame. He was born and educated in the humblest
  circumstances. Being early led by the force of his own convictions
  to embrace an unpopular faith, he soon found himself impelled by a
  stern sense of duty to consecrate his life to its promulgation and
  defence. His health, never the firmest, was soon shattered by
  incessant application to study and the hardships endured in the
  early planting of Universalism in Central and Western New York, so
  that a large part of his life was spent and his work done under this
  great disadvantage. But the soul that burned within him was superior
  to bodily infirmity, and flashed and blazed forth from a frame so
  attenuated and slender that even those most familiar with him were
  astonished by the vigor and sweep of his transcendent intellect, the
  youthful play of his fancy, and the strokes of his wit. Nor was his
  moral character inferior to his intellectual endowments. Seldom does
  one meet with a warmer heart or a sterner integrity than
  distinguished him."[44]

His pastorates were in New Hartford, Clinton, Albany, and Buffalo,
N. Y., and Philadelphia, Pa. He was born in Albany, in 1788, and died
in Buffalo, in 1850, aged sixty-one. It was truly said of him at his
death, "But one individual in the denomination can expect higher or
more heartfelt tributes of love and reverence." His eloquence in the
pulpit was often compared with that of Henry Clay in the halls of
Congress. It was the delight of the writer to hear him three times at
meetings of the United States Convention, the last in Boston in the
School Street Church, from the text, "And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men unto me." The discourse was radiant with
the truth, and electrifying with the spirit and power of the Gospel.


 [Illustration: Sylvanus Cobb.
 J. A. J. Wilcox, Boston.]

A sturdy theologian, as well as a conscientious Christian was that
stalwart man from one of the villages of Maine, the Rev. SYLVANUS
COBB. The title "D. D.," when conferred upon him, was significant. He
was an able theologian. His words in discourse were weighty, his
sentences often as ponderous as those of Dr. Johnson, and if called to
controversial work, Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" was an
illustration of him:--

  "You could hear him swing his heavy sledge
  With measured beat and slow."

If warmed up in exhortation or appeal, he was grandly fervent. He
never evaded the toughest theological problem proposed to him for
consideration, but seemed always in readiness to attempt a solution of
it. His "Compend of Divinity" is an elaborate work, his "Commentary on
the New Testament" an excellent helper in the family and
Sunday-school, and his discussions with Dr. Nehemiah Adams and Rev.
C. F. Hudson, involving the questions respecting endless punishment
and the annihilation of the wicked, are highly creditable to him as a
Christian theologian. As editor of the "Christian Freeman" for
twenty-five years, and as a temperance and anti-slavery reformer, he
waged a good warfare for the right. He was pastor in Waterville, Me.,
and in Malden, Waltham, and East Boston, Mass.

During the three years of his service as a lecturing agent of the
Middlesex County Temperance Society, he was entertained more or less
at the houses of clergymen. On one occasion, in Dracut, at the house
of a Presbyterian minister, he was thus questioned by his friend: "I
have been thinking, my dear sir, about your doctrine, and it seems to
me, even if it is true, it is hardly expedient to preach it, for all
men will finally be saved, whether it be preached or not. But if it
should prove to be an error, the consequences of believing it will be
terrible." "You have reasoned erroneously," replied Mr. Cobb, "from
having assumed that my doctrine exerts not so good a moral influence
as yours. Here is your mistake: you believe that we are here forming
characters for eternity, and that we carry with us into the future
life and retain there the moral dispositions and affections which we
cultivate in this life. Now if this doctrine of yours proves true, I
shall be an eternal gainer from the faith I cherish here, because it
produces supreme love to God, sweet reconciliation to his government,
and a cheerful, happy state of mind. I would greatly prefer to bear
through eternity the mind and character formed by my religion, than
such as yours must naturally produce. Yet I am not expecting the
heaven of eternity as a reward. I am more than paid for loving and
serving God here; I feel that I am God's poor debtor; and I trust in
his grace forever." "I was not expecting such an answer as that," was
the sole reply of the questioner.

Mr. C. departed this life in East Boston in December, 1866.


In 1827 Rev. MENZIES RAYNER entered the Universalist ministry from the
Episcopalian church. He was born at South Hempstead, L. I., Nov. 23,
1770. His advantages for learning were principally derived from
private instruction. He showed early signs of superior abilities. When
very young he became a convert to Methodism, and before the age of
twenty-one commenced preaching as an itinerant. He was ordained at
Lynn, Mass., by Bishop Asbury. He continued to itinerate according to
the rules of the Methodist Church for more than two years, when he
received and accepted an invitation to settle with the Protestant
Episcopal Church in Elizabethtown, N. J., where he was ordained as a
minister in that church by the Right Rev. Bishop Provost of New York.
After a pastorate of six years in that place, he accepted a call to
the rectorship of the Episcopal Church in Hartford, Conn., where he
continued ten years. He next removed to Huntington, Conn., and took a
joint rectorship of that town and New Hartford (now Munroe). He
remained there sixteen years, when from close and prayerful inquiry
and study of the Scriptures he became convinced of the truth of the
doctrine of Universal Salvation. He asked and obtained an honorable
dismissal from Bishop Brownell of that diocese. Through all his
subsequent life he continued to enjoy the respect and esteem of
several distinguished clergymen of that church. So much Bishop
Brownell pledged to him at the time of his withdrawal.

Soon after becoming known as a Universalist, he was called to the
pastorate of the church in Hartford left vacant by the removal of Rev.
John Bisbe to Portland, Me. He continued in Hartford four years, when
he was earnestly solicited to remove to Portland and take charge of
the society there left without a pastor by the death of Mr. Bisbe. He
accepted the call, and remained there four years, excepting one
winter, which he spent in North Carolina, where, and in intermediate
places, he preached the Gospel. Afterwards he had pastorates in Troy
and Lansingburg, N. Y., and preached in Schenectady, Fort Ann,
Hartford, and other places. For a year and a half he ministered to the
Bleecker St. Universalist Society in New York city. He resided in that
city until his death, which occurred Nov. 22, 1850. He retained his
mental vigor until a few days before his departure at the age of
eighty.

"Father Rayner," as he was familiarly called, was a remarkable man.
His mental powers were of a high order, his social qualities made him
always attractive, his wit was keen, but he had great tenderness and
depth of feeling. His appearance in the pulpit was venerable and
apostolic, and his preaching clear, powerful, and convincing. He gave
to the world some printed works, which exhibit the clear and logical
character of his mind. While at Huntington, he published a review of a
sermon on Regeneration, by Dr. Taylor, of New Haven, and another of a
sermon by Dr. Tyler, of Southbury, on the "Perseverance of the
Saints." This was replied to by Dr. Tyler, who was again reviewed in a
pamphlet of sixty pages, which closed the controversy. While at
Hartford, he edited a paper called the "Inquirer," and at Portland the
"Christian Pilot." While at the latter place, he delivered "Nine
Lectures on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus." He also
published a review of a missionary sermon by Dr. Tyler, and a sermon
entitled "St. Paul a Universalist."

While Mr. Rayner was with the Episcopalians, frequent theological
discussions took place in the ministerial circles. On one occasion,
among other questions considered, Mr. Rayner proposed this: "Has every
human being a just reason to be thankful for the gift of existence?"
He cautioned all who would answer it directly, "Yes" or "No," to
consider very carefully before giving the answer, because of one other
question which might follow. But all present were agreed in the
decision that every man had just cause for thanksgiving for the life
conferred upon him. "Now," said Mr. Rayner, "answer me this: If any of
the human race are to be doomed to unending misery, have such ones any
cause for such thankfulness?" "Why, Brother Rayner, you are a
Universalist," said one of the ministers. "But that has nothing to do
with the question," was the response; "you are all agreed, I see, in
your answer."

[37] A new edition of this valuable work, with an Introduction by Rev.
Dr. Miner, Mr. Ballou's successor in the Boston pastorate, has just been
issued by the Universalist Publishing House in this city. It ought to
have a new and a larger circulation than ever. The writer owes his
conversion to Universalism, by divine grace, to the reading of this book.

[38] Account by Rev. A. B. Grosh.

[39] "Universalist Quarterly" for April and July, 1871.

[40] Rev. A. C. Thomas.

[41] Rev. A. J. Patterson, D. D.

[42] For a more particular account of Dr. Whittemore, the reader is
referred to his Memoir, by the author of this work. Universalist Publishing
House, 1878.

[43] "Universalist Miscellany," Vol. VI., p. 290.

[44] Memoir of Rev. Stephen R. Smith. By Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer,
D. D. Boston: Published by Abel Tompkins, 1852.




CHAPTER XII.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  "Go forth, all hands! God's fallow lands
    Need ploughmen, seedmen, reapers!
  Plough deep and long; uproot old Wrong;
    Turn Sin, turn Slaveries under;
  Sow Wisdom, Lowliness, Freedom, Holiness,
    And reap in joy and wonder!"

  REV. D. K. LEE, D. D.


Rev. Thomas F. King was a minister of rare qualities. He came up from
the humble walks of life, and by hard study and the improvement of
every opportunity for mental culture, became a scholar of excellent
acquirements. He was an enthusiastic believer in the Gospel, and one
of its most eloquent preachers and defenders. He was especially
acquainted with the evidences of natural and revealed religion, and
well prepared to present them for the consideration of sceptical
minds. His voice was rich, deep, and musical, and as a reader he could
hardly be excelled. This, aside from their intrinsic merits, made his
discourses strongly impressive. An instance is cited of a disaffected
hearer who had concluded not to attend his meetings any more, finding
himself at the door of the church one morning, after the service had
opened, in expectation of hearing a stranger preach. Mr. King was
there, reading the Scriptures,--the invitation in Isaiah's prophecies,
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," &c. The hearer
stood still, listened, attempted to leave, and was held fast. Again he
started, but the words reached him, "Incline your ear, and come unto
me; hear, and your soul shall live!" Further resistance was useless.
His place in the sanctuary was taken again, and held afterwards while
he lived. Mr. King had a large, warm, sympathetic heart, and made the
joys and sorrows of his people his own. He was the life of the social
circle, and his fund of anecdote and good humor usually insured him a
warm reception everywhere. He had an unusually rich bass voice in
singing. His pulpit services were pervaded with a profound reverential
spirit. He was pastor in Hudson, N. Y., Portsmouth, N. H., and
Charlestown, Mass., in which last-named place he departed this life,
Sept. 13, 1839. His death was a Christian's triumph.


Of his eminent son, THOMAS STARR KING, what can we say that
most readers do not already know? and yet the man and his life will
always bear noting and will never fail to be admired. He was born in
the city of New York, Dec. 17, 1824. He early manifested singular
aptitude for study and deep conscientiousness. His education was
desultory, but with his quickness of apprehension he acquired Latin
and French at an early age. At fifteen, on the death of his father, he
became the head of the family, and worked for their support as a clerk
and school-teacher. In the mean time he was an untiring student of
metaphysics and theology. One of his historians, Mr. E. P. Whipple,
writes of him:--

  "He mastered the results of the great German and French critics of
  the Bible. To many of our present young students exegesis
  practically means _exit Jesus_; but King, in all his eager quest of
  truth, and dutiful acknowledgment of the service which the great
  German theologians had rendered to the rational interpretation of
  the Scriptures, never lost his original hold on Christ Jesus as the
  express image of God,--as the Son who reveals to us the Father,--as
  the ideal embodiment of a perfected Humanity. Such a person had a
  natural call to the ministry."

His first sermon was preached in Woburn, in the autumn of 1845. In the
summer of the next year he was invited to the pastorate of the
Universalist Church in Charlestown, then made vacant by the removal of
the Rev. E. H. Chapin to Boston. He accepted the call, and enjoyed a
busy and happy ministry there, until his urgent call to become the
minister of the Hollis Street (Unitarian) Church in Boston. The first
invitation he declined, and made a voyage to Fayal to recruit his
health which had been impaired by his incessant labors. The invitation
was renewed on his return home, and he was installed in his new place
in December, 1848. This course on his part was not agreeable to many
of his Universalist friends, but they had no doubt that it was
conscientiously taken by him, and most of them always retained their
good will and heart-fellowship for him. They knew that his work would
be mainly in the right direction always; and they were not disappointed.
As a public literary lecturer, he was among the foremost in the land.

In April, 1860, Mr. King took charge of the Unitarian Church in San
Francisco, Cal. He saw a field there which he deemed it an opportunity
to occupy, both as a Christian minister and an American patriot. He
entered with his whole soul into the defence of the national cause and
in opposition to the traitorous intent of the secession conspirators.
In the pulpit and on the platform he vindicated the national honor and
pleaded for the maintenance of the national Union. As his biographer,
Mr. Whipple, writes: "As far as regards the keeping of California
loyal to the Union during the civil war, he ranks at least in the
first file of its eminent citizens. His reputation was not confined to
the Pacific coast, but extended over the whole country."[45] He
literally wore out his life in this great and glorious field of
exertion. Diphtheria came finally, and he passed into the higher life,
March 4, 1865. His words at the last were: "I feel all the privileges
and greatness of the future."


One of our ablest theologians and most devoted ministers was Rev. ABEL
CHARLES THOMAS, born in Exeter, Berks Co., Pa., July 11, 1807. He was
of Quaker lineage, his grandfather Abel having been a distinguished
preacher of the Society of Friends during fifty-six years. It was of
Rev. A. B. Grosh, then of Marietta, Pa., that he received his first
knowledge of Universalism. In 1827 he went to Philadelphia as a
printer, and was there encouraged by resident ministers, Rev. S. R.
Smith, and Rev. T. Fisk, to enter the ministry. He preached his first
sermon in the Lombard St. Church in November, 1828. In the following
January he became publisher and co-editor with Mr. Fisk of the "Gospel
Herald and Universalist Review" in New York city, writing editorials,
putting them in type, conducting the correspondence, and as he says,
"writing his sermons on a pine board by night," for he had begun his
ministerial labors April 5, 1829, preaching in a small frame
meeting-house on Grand St. In less than a year from the delivery of
his first sermon, he responded to a cordial invitation to become
pastor of the Lombard St. Church, Philadelphia, which connection
continued with mutual interest of pastor and people for ten years. In
1834 and 1835 a discussion took place between Mr. Thomas and Rev. Ezra
Stiles Ely, D. D., which was afterwards issued in book form, and has
probably been more widely circulated and had a more permanent interest
and usefulness than any other theological discussion in our country.
It gave to Mr. Thomas a fame which will always be connected with his
memory. Visiting New England after the discussion had closed, he
received a most cordial and enthusiastic welcome, and preached in many
places to large and deeply interested congregations.

Mr. Thomas removed to Lowell in the autumn of 1839, and took charge of
the Second Church. Here he and his co-laborer, Rev. T. B. Thayer,
started the "Star of Bethlehem," a vigorous weekly publication in
support of the Universalist faith. While living here, he established
the "Lowell Offering," a new movement for that time, and which
elicited much interest in this country and in England. After three
years' active and efficient work in Lowell, and after a few months'
travel for his health, he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he organized
a society and was one of eight men who built the first Universalist
church in that city. From Brooklyn he went to Cincinnati, O., in 1844;
but declining health and overwork obliged him to resign his charge in
1847. After a year's rest he returned to his old parish in
Philadelphia. Twelve years later he was induced to go out as a
missionary of Universalism to England and Scotland; the required funds
were promptly raised, and accompanied by his family, in May, 1852, he
sailed for England. His time was spent chiefly in London and
Edinburgh, though he preached in all the principal cities of the
United Kingdom, and made careful investigation of the religious aspect
of affairs there. At the close of a year's labor he was joined in
London by his co-worker in Lowell, Rev. T. B. Thayer, and wife, and
for six months they travelled together on the Continent. He then
returned to Philadelphia, and resumed his labor there.

During the late war, with its manifold excitements and fatigues, the
visiting and caring for the sick and wounded in the hospitals, and his
active interest in assisting the soldiers constantly passing to and
fro, made serious inroads on his long-enfeebled frame, so that he was
obliged to resign his charge in 1863. He removed to Hightstown, N. J.,
where he preached two years, one sermon a Sunday, as a labor of love.
He then spent two years in Bridgeport, Conn., preaching in Danbury and
other places as his strength permitted. In the spring of 1867 he
purchased a farm at Tacony, Philadelphia, which was thenceforth his
home.

Mr. Thomas was the author of several volumes besides the "Ely and
Thomas Discussion;" his "Autobiography," "The Gospel Liturgy," "The
Songs of Zion," "A Century of Universalism," &c. He wrote also some
very useful and popular tracts,--among them "213 Questions without
Answers," which has had a wider reading and attracted more attention
than any other tract ever issued from our press. It has had a
circulation of at least a million copies. The questions are strong,
awakening, and searching.

Rev. T. B. Thayer, D. D., makes this brief but truthful statement of
the character of Mr. Thomas:--

  "As a teacher, he was a man of wonderful gifts. His sermons were
  largely doctrinal, expository, and defensive, as the position of our
  church at the time he began preaching demanded. He was clear, terse
  and logical, and original in the statement and discussion of his
  subject, with just enough of quaint Quaker phrase to give it spice,
  yet alive with the beauty and the glow of the poet's vision and
  illustration; and sometimes, when a sudden burst of feeling and
  inspiration came upon him, he rose to the highest demands of
  oratory, his eloquence became electric, and, like a full-charged
  battery, thrilled the entire congregation, until every heart beat
  with the pulses of his own faith and fervor. As a controversialist,
  he had few equals. His discussion with Dr. Ely, as an exhibition of
  the Universalist argument, was, and still is, the best and most
  persuasive work of the kind in our denominational history, and
  admirably displays the skill, logic, fairness and manly courtesy of
  Mr. Thomas as a debater. As a Christian gentleman, he was
  distinguished for the grace and courtesy of his manners, for his
  thoughtful kindness towards all, for his remarkable conversational
  gifts, and for the personal magnetism by which he attracted to
  himself all with whom he came in contact, young and old, strangers
  and friends alike."

For the last three years of his life he was confined to his home, and
quietly passed on in full assurance of the immortal life, Sept. 27,
1880. Mr. Thomas was married Feb. 14, 1843, to Miss M. Louise Palmer,
of Pottsville, Pa., who survives him, and is one of the active and
efficient "women workers" of our church.


Contemporary with Mr. Thomas during his ministry in Philadelphia was
Rev. SAVILLION W. FULLER, who became pastor of the Callowhill Street
Universalist Church in that city in 1833. We are indebted to Mr.
Thomas, who, in his "Autobiography," has given us a truthful though
brief account of the worthy man:--

  "His mind was comprehensive. His power of analysis was displayed
  alike in sermonizing and conversation. His perception was quick, his
  reflection rigid, and his stern conscience denounced what logic
  condemned. As a public speaker he was unequal. Sometimes he was
  tame, at others mightily stirring by forcible thought embodied in
  unusually glowing language. The average placed him in a high rank
  among the eloquent men of the age. In every respect of social
  nobility I never knew his superior.

  'He bore through suffering, toil, and ruth,
  Within his heart the dew of youth,
  And on his lip the smile of truth.'

  He carried sunshine into all circles of the young and the old, the
  literary and the religious. Even the house of mourning seemed
  radiant in his visitations of loving trust. His keen wit was without
  asperity, and his ardent zeal was uniformly tempered by charity. His
  beaming face was a true index of the inner man."

He united with Mr. Thomas in a letter to four distinguished clergymen
of Philadelphia, inviting them to lecture in the Universalist churches
in that city on points of doctrinal difference between the parties.
The result of the invitation was, finally, the Ely and Thomas
discussion.

An instance in illustration of Mr. Fuller's aptness in emergencies is
given in the "Companion and Register" of 1858. Entering the
stage-coach for Utica one day, he found it full of passengers, among
whom was a somewhat noted "revivalist" of that time, and his friend, a
deacon. Mr. Fuller soon became disgusted with the coarse, brow-beating
dogmatism of the revivalist toward the unassuming passengers, and took
up the argument against him. Enraged at being foiled in controversy
and overmatched in wit, the elder poured out a torrent of abusive
language, when Mr. Fuller arrested his vulgar tirade by saying in a
dignified and authoritative tone, "Stop, sir! Not another word from
your lips! Why, sir, you are making a mere blackguard of yourself. Not
another word, sir!" (arresting the reply before it could be
commenced). "Not another word, I tell you! Why, you have already
disgraced yourself and your profession, and, if allowed to continue,
would disgrace the company you are in and the very horses that draw
you along!" The mortified man shrunk into his corner, cowed by an
imperiousness as much excelling his own in energy and power as it
towered above him in dignity and truth.

But his deacon was determined not to be put down thus, and spoke up
with much spirit, "Sir, this is a free country, and others have a
right to speak as well as yourself." "Most certainly, my dear sir,"
said Mr. Fuller, with one of his beaming looks and in his blandest
tones, "most certainly, sir; and I hope you will _exercise_ your
right." "Yes, sir; and I _mean_ to exercise it, sir; I'll let you
know, sir, that I shall speak as much as I please, sir," said the now
enraged deacon. "That's right," replied the very courteous Fuller,
"speak on, my dear sir; we wish to hear _you_ speak." "Yes, sir,"
continued the choking deacon, "and I'll let you know that you can't
shut _my_ mouth, sir." "Oh, no, sir,--Heaven forbid that I should
attempt it--I want _you_ to speak--so, speak on, sir--we like to hear
you." "Yes, sir, and I won't ask your permission, neither! I'll let
you know, sir, that _you_ are not my keeper, sir!" said the deacon,
now almost bursting with rage. "Certainly not, sir," was the very
quiet but smiling reply, "certainly not, sir,--I am a _pastor_, _not_
a keeper of _swine_." A prolonged, hearty laugh from the passengers
finally died away, and "there was a great calm." The deacon reclined
in sullen silence, and the remainder of the journey was enlivened by
pleasant and profitable conversation between Mr. Fuller and the other
passengers.


Rev. WILLIAM ALLEN DREW, most of whose life was passed in Maine, was
born in Kingston, Mass., Dec. 11, 1798. He fitted for college in early
life, but adverse circumstances compelled him to abandon his studies
and go to Bath, Me., in 1813, where he was employed as a clerk for two
years. He then spent four years at work on a farm in Hallowell. In
1819 he accepted an invitation to take charge of Farmington Academy,
and remained in that position five years. He preached his first sermon
in Farmington, Oct. 1, 1821, and was fellowshipped the same year. He
remained in Farmington as teacher and preacher until 1824, when he
began preaching in Belfast, and removed there Jan. 1, 1825. He
remained there two years, preaching also in Camden, in Thomaston, and
in other towns in the vicinity. In December, 1825, he began the
publication of a religious paper called "The Christian Visitant,"
which was afterwards merged in "The Christian Intelligencer,"
published at Portland by Rev. Russell Streeter, and Mr. Drew was
associated with him in the editorial work. In January, 1827, he
removed to Augusta, in which place he had his home during the
remainder of his life. The "Intelligencer" was removed to Gardiner at
the same time, and he became its sole editor. From 1831 to 1833 he
published "The Christian Preacher," a monthly journal of sermons. He
established the "Gospel Banner" in 1835, and edited it with marked
ability until 1857. After his connection ceased with the "Banner," he
was editor of the "Rural Intelligencer" for a few years, and was at
different times connected with the "Maine Cultivator," the "Augusta
Courier," and perhaps some other papers. He was a contributor to the
"Gospel Banner" even after the burden of years and infirmities pressed
heavily upon him. He was eminently fitted for the editorship of a
public journal.

Mr. Drew organized the First Universalist Church in Augusta in 1833.
He was ordained its pastor when the meeting-house was dedicated, Nov.
26, 1835, preached to it constantly, and performed pastoral labors
until 1848. Rev. Dr. Quinby, who published a biographical sketch of
him after his decease, writes:--

  "As a writer and editor he had few equals. His pen was ever ready,
  he never tired. Many of his productions bore the marks of great
  research and deep thought, though evidently written in the midst of
  a pressure of other occupations. His theology was plain and
  straightforward. All could understand him. His descriptions of
  scenes and places were vivid, natural, and generally true to the
  life. He had many admirers as a controversialist. Possessing a wide
  range of thought, good knowledge of the Bible, a well-balanced and
  discerning intellect, a ready wit, and naturally exceedingly
  sarcastic, he was a stalwart defender of Universalism in Maine, and
  proved himself competent to any emergency."


Rev. ISAAC DOWD WILLIAMSON was one of the ablest advocates of the
Universalist faith. He was born in Pomfret, Vt., April 4, 1807, and
died in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1876. In early life he learned the
clothier's trade, and had no other schooling than that of the common
district school; but his ardent thirst for knowledge, his force of
character and enthusiasm made amends for lack of external aid. He was
troubled with many doubts in his thoughts about religion until, at
about the age of fifteen, Ballou's "Treatise on the Atonement" was put
into his hands. He read it with avidity, and was greatly enlightened
and encouraged. He had hitherto thought that all sorrow and suffering
were inflicted by God in anger upon his children for their sins. The
first sermon from a Universalist to which he listened was delivered by
Rev. Kittredge Haven, from the text, "Whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Heb. xii. 6).
It lifted him out of his doubts and sent him away rejoicing. He went
into a solitary place and wept for joy, and upon his knees vowed that
if God would spare his life, and he could ever be qualified, he would
enter upon the work of the ministry, a purpose which he followed out
most faithfully. He preached his first sermon Oct. 1, 1827, in
Springfield, Vt. After supplying the pulpit a short time in Langdon,
N. H., he settled in 1828 in Jaffrey, N. H., and was ordained by the
Franklin Association, at Townsend, Vt., Sept. 10, 1829. In June of the
same year he removed to Albany, N. Y., where he lived seven years.
From 1837 to 1851 he resided as pastor in Poughkeepsie a year and a
half, in Baltimore two years, in New York city three, in Philadelphia
three, in Mobile two winters, in Memphis, Ky., in Lowell, Mass., one
year. From Lowell he removed to Louisville, Ky., remaining there two
years, from there to Philadelphia, where he spent three years, which
was his last regular pastorate, although he supplied in Cincinnati
after his return from Philadelphia. He was with Rev. C. F. Lefevre,
editor of the "Gospel Anchor" at Troy, N. Y., about 1830, a paper
afterwards merged in the "Religious Inquirer," published at Hartford,
Conn., Mr. Williamson continuing to edit it. He was one of the editors
of the "Herald and Era," published at Louisville, Ky., and was for
about ten years connected with the "Star in the West" as joint
proprietor and editor, though for several of his last years performing
no editorial labor.

Dr. Williamson, through most of his life, was afflicted with asthma in
its severest form, but his vigorous will enabled him, in spite of it,
to perform much labor. He delivered nearly 4,000 sermons, published
nine volumes, beside many pamphlets, and for forty years was connected
with our periodicals. He once crossed the Atlantic, and preached the
Gospel of Impartial Grace in Great Britain. He took seven voyages of
2,000 miles coastwise by sea on the same errand. In his voyage to
Europe, one of his fellow passengers was Washington Irving, then on
his way to Spain. Mr. Williamson conducted the religious services on
board the vessel, one Sunday morning, discoursing on the Paternal
character, purposes and requirements of God, in accordance with
Christian Universalism. After the service, Mr. Irving, who had been an
attentive listener, cordially thanked the preacher for his sermon,
adding emphatically, "These, sir, are my views, and I am trying to
live in agreement with them."

Mr. Williamson was a prominent and highly respected member of the
Society of Odd Fellows, lectured far and wide in exposition and
defence of their principles, and went to England mainly in their
service. He was for many years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of
the United States, and the ritual now in use by the Order was largely
from his pen. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity
from Norwich, Vt., University, in 1850. The writer of this sketch
first heard Dr. Williamson preach at the session of the Universalist
General Convention held in Strafford, Vt., in 1832. The subject was
"Lukewarmness rebuked;" the text, Rev. iii. 15: "I would thou wert
cold or hot." No noisy, declamatory appeal was it, no clap-trap effort
reminding the audience of the "smartness" of the one to whom they are
listening; but a clear, strong, earnest statement of the greatness of
the Truth of God and of its pre-eminent claims upon the attention,
love, and consecrated zeal of every believer in its unsearchable
riches. In illustration (not profuse), in persuasiveness and
application, it could not have been improved. The large old church was
filled, the audience were in closest attention to the end, and many
were the silent, sympathetic "amens" in response when his words were
ended. The discourse afterwards appeared in the "Gospel Preacher," a
monthly publication issued at Augusta, Me.

The "Rudiments of Theological and Moral Science" may be considered the
summing up of Mr. Williamson's theological thinking during his
ministry. It is a notable vindication of the Divine Sovereignty, a
sovereignty infinitely glorified in the Divine Paternity. Although
some of its reasonings savor too much of what is called fatalism to be
accepted as practically healthful when men are called upon to "work
out their own salvation with fear and trembling," it is in the highest
degree helpful and hopeful to all of weak faith who need to realize
that God has will and purpose of his own, and works within his
children "to will and to do of his own good pleasure." God's
beneficent sovereignty was to him the adamantine foundation of the
Gospel. As strong and effective by voice and pen as the ministry of
this good man has been, there were those at the beginning of it who
were inclined to wonder at his attempt to enter this profession.
Light-minded critics uttered their innocent witticisms, and sober
well-wishers of our denomination very plainly hinted to him that he
might possibly do quite as much service to it in some other line of
effort than that of preaching! But all this to the pure-minded young
soldier of the Cross was but an incentive to renewed exertion. They
who doubted knew not that the Lord had called him, and had purposed
for him a life of honorable labor in his holy service. Father Ballou
used to say, "When the Lord undertakes to make a minister, he always
makes a good one." Dr. Williamson was thus made. He has given "full
proof" of his ministry, and now having gone "up higher," his works
will follow him.


One of the ministers of a long pastorate in Vermont was Rev. KITTREDGE
HAVEN. He was of a family of nine sons and two daughters, and was born
in Framingham, Mass., Feb. 24, 1793, and died in Shoreham, Vt., May 4,
1877, aged 84. His father removed in 1802 to Cambridge, and in 1810 to
Boston, where he established himself in a crockery store. The subject
of this notice was providentially drawn to attend the ministry of Rev.
Paul Dean, under whose preaching he was converted to Universalism,
sang in his choir at his installation as colleague with Rev. John
Murray in 1813, studied for the ministry with Mr. Dean, and in his
pulpit preached his first sermon in July, 1819. In the spring of 1820
Mr. Haven made a preaching tour into Maine, spending one Sabbath in
each of the towns of Waterville, Brunswick, Livermore, Winthrop and
Turner, and in Portland three Sundays. After returning to Boston he
received a letter from Turner, inviting him to become a pastor there,
but he declined the call. Soon afterwards he took a journey into
Vermont, and in Dec. 1820 settled in Bethel, on a salary of $5 per
Sunday, which was the customary pay of a young preacher in those days.
He was ordained at Kingsbury, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1821, by the Northern
Association, embracing Vermont, a part of Canada, and all that part of
New York which bordered on Lake Champlain. Two ministers only besides
himself were present on that occasion, Rev. S. C. Loveland and Rev.
Robert Bartlett. In 1829 Mr. Haven moved to Shoreham, and there he
remained until death, preaching there regularly thirty-seven years,
and occasionally, every year, from Jan. 1, 1825, to Jan. 1, 1870,--in
all forty-five years.

Mr. Haven was an earnest and effective preacher. He was not especially
noted for learning or eloquence, but was a plain, vigorous, and
scriptural advocate of the Gospel. His preaching was a continuous
stream of truth flowing forth in a strong and fervent delivery from
the beginning to the close of his discourse. He possessed excellent
judgment, sterling integrity, an amiable and Christian spirit, and
unostentatious piety. He won and secured the respect of all men by his
kindness of heart, his gentlemanly manners, and pure life. He made
Universalism respected wherever he was known. Congregational ministers
even called him evangelical. He left an honored name to his children
and to the church which he had faithfully served for fifty years. He
was uncle of the late Bishop Gilbert Haven of the M. E. Church.


The ministry of Rev. JOHN BOYDEN was one of the most useful and
honored of any in our churches. He was born in Sturbridge, Mass., May
14, 1809, and died in Woonsocket, R. I., Sept. 28, 1869. He attended
the public schools in his native town during his youth, and engaged in
teaching schools winters before he reached his twentieth year. In 1829
he resolved to enter upon the calling to which he had for some time
felt drawn, and began his studies for the Christian ministry under the
direction of the elder Rev. Hosea Ballou. His first sermon was
preached in Annisquam, near Gloucester, Mass. In the following year
(1830), he was ordained at Berlin, Conn. It was his first settlement,
and he remained there four years. He next located at Dudley, Mass.,
where he continued as pastor until 1840, when he removed to
Woonsocket, where he had before preached occasionally, and became the
first pastor of the new society in that place, which had just erected
a church. His pastorate here reached nearly the limit of thirty years.

As a preacher, he was plain, sound, and forcible. He never attempted
great things in the way of sensational effort. He had too much good
sense, and too refined notions of propriety to do that. His eloquence
was in the sincerity, truthfulness, and earnestness of his statements
and appeals. He was a clear and strong reasoner, and had always good
illustrations of his subject at hand. Incidents from his own
experience were often made most timely and impressive in his
discourses. He was pointedly doctrinal and thoroughly practical in his
sermons, generally using great simplicity and plainness of speech, but
always giving evidence of a deep heart interest in the message he was
delivering.

As a minister of Christian consolation he seemed pre-eminent. In this
respect no preacher perhaps was more acceptable to our people. His
calls to attend funerals, sometimes at long distances out of his own
parish, were many. Old friends, who had long known him, when bereaved
and afflicted were thankful to hear his voice speaking to them the
comforting words of divine truth.

He was a true Christian reformer. All through his ministry this had
been his character. Clear in his perceptions, sound in his judgments,
consistent in his positions, and with an adamantine firmness in his
adherence to principle, he was always ready to give his word and
influence in aid of the reforms of the times. As an advocate of
temperance and human freedom, he was surpassed by none in his
faithfulness.

How his own people loved him! and how long and closely and happily
were they united! That silver wedding celebration of the pastoral
union in 1864; what evidence it gave of that unity of the spirit which
can bind a good pastor and an appreciative people for so long a time
with interest deepening as years increase, and which is such a reproof
of the many injudicious calls and frequent resignations which afflict
too many churches! What a golden halo is set around this long
settlement of the faithful pastor and his loving people.


 [Illustration: John Moore.]

Rev. JOHN MOORE was another of the worthy and beloved of this
ministerial company. He was born in Strafford, Vt., Feb. 5, 1797, and
was early nurtured in the Puritanic theology of New England. Soon
after he had passed out of his teens he became acquainted with the
faith of the Universalist church. It answered to the true call of the
manliness that was in him, and soon became an inspiration to his
spiritual powers. He grew in its light, and his soul expanded in its
genial atmosphere. Reading, meditation, and the culture of his mental
powers soon opened the way for him into the ministry, the work of
which he entered upon with hesitancy, not from lack of zeal in its
interest, but from modesty as to his qualifications for the great
calling. The counsellings of friends encouraged him, and his first
messages were received with favor, and he became one of the most
acceptable ministers and missionaries in Northern New England. Of
noble personal appearance and gentlemanly demeanor, full of plainness
and common sense in his discoursing, a clear expositor to the inquirer
after Christian truth, and a son of consolation to those who sought
its hopes in their sorrows, he was welcome wherever he appeared as a
representative of our faith. His pastorates, nine in number (viz. in
Lebanon, N. H.; Danvers, Lynn, and Lowell, Mass.; Hartford, Conn.;
Troy, N. Y.; Strafford, Vt.; and Concord, N. H.), all gave evidence of
his fidelity. As a moral reformer, he stood well without the church as
well as in it, and as a man he was esteemed and loved wherever known.
Even the politicians conferred upon him the nomination for the
gubernatorial chair of New Hampshire; not so much because of his
service to them as a partisan, as from the fact of the excellences in
him that were above all mere party considerations, and which gave them
the assurance that his honest and sturdy manliness would prove an
honor in any position he might be called to fill. It afterwards
appearing that his residence in the State had not been quite long
enough to render him eligible to the office, another nomination was
necessarily made. His death was sudden. He fell, of heart disease,
near his home in the city where he had his last pastorate, lamented
wherever his name and ministry were known. A public journal wrote of
him, after his departure, "As a man, he was the very one that Diogenes
with his lamp was looking for."


 [Illustration: Henry Bacon.
 J. Andrews & H.W. Smith.]

Rev. HENRY BACON.--How shall we write of that minister of all work, of
versatile genius, nervous temperament, indomitable will, constantly
alive in his love of Universalism, rooted and grounded in its
theology, and full of its healthful and hopeful spiritualism as the
sea is of water! He was a Boston boy, of the old North End, born June
12, 1813; a hearer of Dean and Streeter and Ballou in his youth, and
taught at home by precept and example in the excellency of the
knowledge of the Gospel of limitless grace. He was a born minister,
for it was as natural for him to think and speak and write
Universalism as it was to breathe God's air. He entered the ministry
early in life (1834), and was successively pastor of the societies in
East Cambridge, Haverhill, and Marblehead, Mass; Providence, R. I.;
and Philadelphia, Pa. He was for many years editor of the "Ladies'
Repository," a monthly publication issued at Boston by Mr. Abel
Tompkins; and his prolific pen often sent out sermons, tracts, and
pamphlets in advocacy of the faith of which his soul was so full. As
another (Rev. John Boyden) said of him: "He was a living encyclopaedia
of current facts, and a living philosopher to arrange and expound
them." The Universalist Reform Association appointed him their
Corresponding Secretary, and an annual report on the topics usually
embraced in their discussions was expected from him, because, as one
remarked, "He got hold of everything."

He consecrated himself to his labors, and in them he was abundant. The
poet Quarles describes him:--

  "Thy life's a warfare, thou a soldier art,
  Satan's thy foeman, and a faithful heart
  Thy two-edged weapon, patience thy shield,
  Heaven is thy chieftain, and the world thy field."

His preaching gave evidence of his consecration to his work. It seemed
as though he could never tire of the pulpit service. He was always
ready to speak for God's truth. His words were earnest, full, and
strong; his illustrations inexhaustible; and there was an unction in
all he said which gained the sympathy of every hearer susceptible of
religious emotion. Up to the last of his working he loved the pulpit,
and stood up in it until exhausted nature would allow him to remain
there no longer. And when he withdrew with reluctance from that sacred
place, it was to finish his work in the retirement of his home, to
give his dying testimony to a life full of the beauty and strength of
divine truth. He departed this life in Philadelphia, March 19, 1856. A
biography of him by his wife has been given to the public.


Another of the saintly ministers of our church was Rev. DAY KELLOG
LEE. He entered the Christian ministry early in life, and, although
his educational advantages in the beginning were not many, he was so
close and constant a student as to become an expert in literature and
science, as well as an able expounder of the Christian faith. He was
one of those who felt that he was called upon to preach, and that he
must not be kept too long from entering upon his work. The text of his
first sermon indicates his anxiety in this regard: "Let me go, for the
day breaketh." Gen. xxii. 36. And he went out into the fields of the
Lord to be his faithful and profitable servant. Astronomy was a
favorite study with him. His sermons were often illustrated and
beautified by his presentation of its facts, and he came to be a most
acceptable lecturer on the science itself. He had seven pastorates in
New York and Massachusetts, and in them all was deeply loved for his
admirable character and intense interest in his calling. He was a son
of song, and put his soul into his verse. What can be sweeter than his
tribute to the beloved poet and author, Mrs. Scott, inserted in her
"Memoir"?

  "To say I'd pressed her hand, 't was not for me--
    To share her friendship, it was not my gladness;
  'T was ne'er the blessing of these eyes to see
    The form whose slumber wakes this note of sadness.
  But O! I weep for those who yet remain,
    To know so bright a spirit hath ascended!
  Fond of that lyre, enraptured of its strain,
    I weep to hear its melodies are ended!

  "Short years ago, in boyhood's rosy morn,
    When Aspiration seemed its measure brimming,
  Longing for joys that crown the spirit-born,
    I heard the lays of life that she was hymning.
  Who that hath drunk those melodies that rose
    Sweet as the murmur of celestial fountains,
  Hath not in fancy pictured her with those
    Whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains!

  "The seraphs all had joy in fuller streams,
    When her pure lips their symphonies were swelling;
  They'll want her there, while God's own glory beams,
    And while the ransomed keep their starry dwelling,
  To hymn the beauty of immortal mind,--
    For, of that world, mind is the greatest splendor,--
  Lift holier anthems as new bliss they find
    And drink new life as loftier praise they render."

He was a writer of attractive volumes containing Tales of Labor;
"Summerfield, or Life on a Farm," "The Master Builder, or Life at a
Trade," and "Merrimac, or Life in a Factory;" works of merit, which
have been extensively read. His modesty, conscientiousness, devotion
to duty, and religious spirit, all serve to make blessed his memory, a
memory that can never be dwelt upon but with affection by those who
knew most of him in life. In 1868 St. Lawrence University conferred
upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He passed suddenly but
peacefully away from the earth, in New York city, June 2, 1869, aged
53. His son, Rev. Charles F. Lee, is at present pastor of the
Universalist church in Charlestown, Mass.

[45] The mother of Mr. King was a woman of keen intellect and of many
virtues, and her talented son held her in highest esteem. As his popularity
in California was increasing, there was a serious talk at one time
of sending him as senator to Congress. The mother, hearing of this,
wrote in a letter to her son: "Be on your guard. Don't let Satan take
you to the top of Mt. Shasta, and _show you Washington_!"




CHAPTER XIII.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  "There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their
  praises might be reported.... Their bodies are buried in peace; but
  their name liveth evermore. The people will tell of their wisdom,
  and the congregation will show forth their
  praise."--ECCLESIASTICUS, xliv. 8, 14, 15.


Rev. George Bates, one of the faithful ministers of Maine, was born
there in the town of Fayette, in 1798. In early life he was a
mechanic, but in due time, as Rev. W. A. Drew wrote of him, "He laid
down the sledge of Vulcan, and put on the Gospel harness." He was a
student for a time in the family of Rev. Hosea Ballou, at Boston. He
was pastor in Livermore, and afterwards for twenty-five years in
Turner, Me. It is worthy of note that after a suit at law, in which
the town recovered the ministerial fund against the Congregational
society, the people of Turner, by legal votes, dismissed the clergyman
of that church, Rev. Allen Greeley, and settled Mr. Bates as the
town's minister. With true liberality, on acquiring possession of this
fund, the town parish made a _per capita_ distribution of it to all
the societies in Turner, that each might enjoy its proportional share
of support from the same fund.

Mr. Bates was one of the best of country pastors. He was at home
everywhere, and a welcome visitor in most homes where he went. He was
clear and scriptural in his expositions, and in his discourses "a
workman that needed not to be ashamed." He was a minister of
consolation far and near, and had many calls to officiate on funeral
occasions. No clergyman in Maine was more respected and honored than
he. His departure took place at his home in Lewiston, Me., Jan. 24,
1875, at the age of 77.


EZEKIEL VOSE. A small, lame, modest, but wide-awake-looking man was
this minister, as the writer remembers his first meeting him in
Northern New Hampshire. He came from the First Universalist Society in
Boston, and settled in St. Johnsbury, Vt., preaching there and in many
other places in Vermont and New Hampshire for some years. He had
enjoyed only common educational advantages, but was a studious man and
a strong and clear thinker. He wrote but little. His preaching was
usually extemporaneous, not always very methodical in plan, but
usually successful, especially in making his subject plain. He could
say a great many things in one of his missionary discourses, and would
bring them in quite miscellaneously. But they were usually things
which proved interesting to his hearers, especially to those who had
seldom, if ever, listened to ministers of our faith. Long remembered
will be a discourse which he gave in the writer's hearing one winter
evening in Dorchester, N. H. A large corner school-house was packed
full, and the speaker stood in one corner with his little Bible in
hand. His text was, "Prove all things;" and so wide was his range in
topics, and so many things did he undertake to prove, and so long, and
rapidly and earnestly did he talk to that attentive audience, that it
seemed as though no man in the same time could come nearer than he to
a compliance literally with the direction of the text! He was a
sincere, humble, warm-hearted Christian. Every one who knew him
thought and spoke well of him. From St. Johnsbury he moved to Orleans,
Mass., and afterwards to North Turner, Me., where, after a busy and
useful life, he died in 1861, aged 67.


Rev. LEMUEL WILLIS of Windham, Vt., was born April 24, 1802. His
father was a convert to Universalism as taught by Rev. Elhanan
Winchester, and the son was educated in the same faith. At an early
age he became the student of Rev. S. C. Loveland, of Reading, Vt., and
in July, 1822, preached his first sermon. His first professional
labors were in Washington, Stoddard, Marlow and Acworth, N. H. His
subsequent pastorates were at Troy, N. Y. from 1826 to 1828; then in
Salem, and afterwards in Lynn and Cambridgeport, Mass. and Portsmouth,
N. H. At the time of his death, Dr. G. H. Emerson wrote of him
justly:--

  "He always preached well. There was in his preaching a good basis of
  thought, with a practical application, and a tone of fervent piety.
  But he had and has no 'earthquake' gifts. The city did not run mad
  because Lemuel Willis preached. We have heard one of his supporters
  say that he does not remember one sermon that would be called poor;
  but in all his Salem ministry he never once startled his hearers.
  His manner is best described by the word _impressive_. Steady work,
  steady power, and ever-increasing influence, and the _radiation_
  more than the example of a good life, made him successful in the
  purest sense of this much abused word. But not alone in Salem, but
  everywhere, Mr. Willis did good in his character of minister.
  Literally he was all minister. He cared to know only Christ and Him
  crucified. And to this end all personal interests were subordinate.
  Not alone in the pulpit, but on the street, in the house, at the
  private gathering, he was the minister. But as he never put the
  minister off so he never put the minister on. It was his nature to
  be a minister and he could never seem to be otherwise."

Mr. Willis seemed the embodiment of a dignity, not offensive but
agreeable. It is said that on one occasion he was in company at a
store in Salem with one of the orthodox pastors of that city, who was
a very animated and cheerful man in conversation. After they had left
the store, a gentleman who had quietly listened to them both, on
asking the proprietor what clergymen they were, was told, and was
asked to "guess" which one was the Orthodox and which the
Universalist. His decision was directly contrary to the facts. Mr.
Willis departed this life at his home in Warner, N. H., July 23, 1878.


A younger brother of Lemuel, Rev. JOHN H. WILLIS, was born in Windham,
Vt., March 6, 1807. At the age of eleven he became deeply interested
in a Calvinistic Baptist revival, and was immersed in the Connecticut
River in very cold weather, when the ice, a foot thick, had to be cut
away for the purpose, and soon afterwards joined the Baptist church in
Chesterfield. By reading and reflection he became an intelligent and
zealous Universalist. He was a good scholar, and taught school
successfully when quite young. He worked as a mechanic for some years,
and in 1830 went to Salem, Mass., where his brother Lemuel was then
settled, and after studying a year under his direction he began to
preach, speaking in several places in Worcester County, to the
acceptance of the people. He was ordained at Greenwich, Mass., Nov.
23, 1831. He was pastor for varying periods at Dana, Greenwich,
Petersham, West Boylston, Annisquam, Wakefield, Irving, Orange and
Warwick, Mass., in Brattleboro', Cavendish and Chester, Vt., and in
Stafford, Conn. In 1850 he was elected to the Mass. Legislature, and
was for several years station-agent at Irving on the Vermont and
Massachusetts Railroad. Yet amid his secular labors and cares he still
preached and lectured often, especially in behalf of the Temperance
reform. He was noted to the end of his days for his spiritual fervor
and religious enthusiasm. He died Oct. 9, 1877, at the house of his
daughter, Mrs. W. R. Shipman, at College Hill, Mass., aged seventy
years.


There went out from New England a talented advocate of the
Universalist faith in the person of Rev. THEODORE CLAPP, a native
of Easthampton, Mass., and a graduate of Williams College, in the same
class with William C. Bryant. His theological studies were pursued at
Andover, Mass., and he was licensed as a minister of the Presbyterian
church in 1817. He became pastor of the First Presbyterian church in
New Orleans, succeeding the brilliant Sylvester Larned, whose fame as
a pulpit orator was far extended. Mr. Clapp proved a fitting successor
of him, and achieved great celebrity for his pulpit gifts. Henry Clay
pronounced him the most natural pulpit orator he had ever heard. His
church in New Orleans was usually crowded.

Some twelve years after his settlement in New Orleans changes occurred
in his theological opinions, which led to the dissolution of his
relations with the Presbyterian Church. He was deposed from his
ministerial office for heresy, and was afterwards known as an
independent minister, cherishing Universalist and Unitarian opinions.
This change of relations however did not alienate his parish from him.
The church building at an earlier date had passed into the hands of
the well-known Hebrew millionnaire, Judah Truro, and by his liberality
Mr. Clapp occupied the church and preached to his old hearers. His
services will long be tenderly remembered in New Orleans. During
twenty seasons of epidemic cholera and yellow fever, Mr. Clapp was at
his post of duty, and by his ministry of consolation carried comfort
to the great multitudes stricken by the pestilence. His
"Autobiographical Recollections" is largely devoted to these memorable
seasons, and is one of the most interesting volumes ever published. In
later years of his life he felt compelled by failing health to
relinquish the work of the ministry, and in 1866 departed this life in
Louisville, Ky., aged 74. Of him it was said by Dr. Alexander Campbell
that he could not believe the doctrine of endless misery if he tried:
"You have too much benevolence," added the Doctor. He read this in the
face of Mr. Clapp, in the soft lines, and in the warm and benignant
glow, that told of a heart full of sympathy and pity.


A stirring and industrious laborer in the propagation of the
Universalist faith was Rev. JOHN A. GURLEY, of Connecticut. At the
early age of twenty he was preaching in Maine, and after a short
settlement in Methuen, Mass., he purchased a denominational paper, the
"Star in the West," and went to reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became
pastor and editor in that city. He did much missionary work,
journeying into distant States and Territories, holding discussions
and preaching wherever he had opportunity, the circulation of his
paper constantly increasing. His bodily powers becoming weakened by
over-exertion, he deemed it advisable to change his mode of life
somewhat, and disposed of his paper and ceased to preach. He
subsequently became an active politician, served two terms as
representative in Congress from Ohio, and was at the time of his death
the appointed Governor of Arizona. Although apparently a frail man, he
was capable of great endurance, and few of his years have put more
diligent work into a life. He was emphatically an executive man, and
had the faculty of making all his plans and movements tell to
advantage. He was fond of theological debate, and during the
presidency of the elder Dr. Beecher at Lane Seminary, he sought to
draw out that noted man in a statement of his arguments against
Universalism. He received promises more than once from the doctor that
his request should be answered to his entire satisfaction, but the
fulfilment of them was never realized. Mr. Gurley was a genial man and
an attractive companion. He made many friends in his life, and will
not be forgotten by the Universalists in Ohio, who regretted that he
could not have devoted the last of his life solely to the interests of
the church.


Rev. ENOCH M. PINGREE was by birth a New Englander, born in Littleton,
N. H., but through some of the most important years of his ministry a
laborer in the West. He was one of the born ministers, and had good
opportunities for study at the Methodist Seminary in Newbury, Vt. At
this school he was an earnest advocate of the Universalist faith,
which rendered him unpopular with most of the students and teachers.
He distinguished himself in the lyceum and debating society, and
exerted such an influence as to call out the professors to defend
their cause against the arguments and bold positions of this ardent
youth. After preaching a little in New England, he started for the
West, in 1837. He was pastor in Cincinnati and Louisville, and a
missionary in various places in the Western States. Here he became
developed from a quiet and diffident man into a bold and confident
advocate of his sentiments. He became a public debater, and "waxed
valiant in fight" in many controversies. His published discussion with
Dr. Rice, an able and distinguished Presbyterian divine, does him
great honor. He was a busy, sympathetic, and faithful pastor, also a
ready thinker, fluent speaker, and rapid writer. His industry was
untiring, and it wore him out at last. In discussion he was candid as
well as strong, never descending to any low or unmanly reference to
his opponent, no matter how much abused, nor attempting to take
advantage of the prejudices of the people. Religious discussions were
matters of purest conscience with him. His ministry was brief, but one
of intense vigor and action. Greatly beloved by multitudes of friends,
he departed this life in 1849, at the early age of thirty-three.


Rev. THOMAS J. GREENWOOD, before his entrance upon the work of the
ministry, held the position of overseer in one of the mills in Lowell,
at the beginning of the growth of that city. He was born in Newton,
Mass., and was a fairly-educated, strong-minded, and trustworthy man.
An attempt had been made to establish a Universalist Society in
Lowell, and Mr. Greenwood was deeply interested in it. The mill
authorities were opposed to the movement, and intimated to this their
employee that his heresy could not be favorably regarded by them, and
that if he continued to be its active supporter, they and he must part
company. His conscience was true to principle as the needle to the
pole, and he readily accepted their terms, and turned away from their
service to enter and honor another, to which he afterwards gave the
most of his life. He had profitable pastorates in New England, his
last three having been in Dover, N. H., and Malden and Saugus, Mass.
His good reputation was in all our churches, as a ready and vigorous
writer, an eloquent preacher, a loving and industrious pastor, and,
more than all, a royal man. A faithful biographer (Rev. A. J.
Patterson, D. D.) has written of him:--

  "He was the central figure in the entire community where he dwelt.
  His manly, dignified presence, his genial manners, his willing,
  helpful hand in every worthy cause, his charity towards other sects,
  his kindness to the poor, his pity for the erring, his sympathy in
  chambers of sickness and towards all kinds of suffering, his words
  of more than human comfort at the open grave, and withal his rare
  good judgment and solid common sense in everything, caused him to be
  respected and consulted far beyond the circle of the church. He was
  devoted to all public interests, served several terms in the
  Legislature of Massachusetts, and was once nominated for the
  National Congress from his district."

He departed this life in Malden, Sept. 12, 1874.


 [Illustration: Fraternally Yours, E. G. Brooks.]

Rev. ELBRIDGE GERRY BROOKS, D. D., was born in Dover, N. H., July 29,
1816, and died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 8, 1878. During his infancy
his parents removed to Portsmouth, where he passed the years of his
boyhood. He was a strong, healthful youth, and was blessed with
parents who were devoted to his highest welfare, and whose exemplary
religious characters made a deep impress upon his after life. Just
previous to his ninth birthday, a sad accident occurred, by which his
leg was so severely injured that amputation became necessary. He bore
the painful operation with manly fortitude, and during the consequent
confinement saw many of the pleasing visions of his coming life
dispelled. When he recovered, however, his brave nature did not brood
over his misfortune, but his heart was made more tender by it, and as
he grew older was filled with a strong religious interest, and he
early decided to devote himself to the Christian ministry. His pious
parents, rejoicing in the zeal and enthusiasm of their crippled boy,
did all in their power to encourage his aspirations and to have him
suitably fitted for his chosen calling.

At that time, Rev. T. F. King was settled in Portsmouth, and,
discerning the rare promise of his young friend, gave him hearty and
effective encouragement. After acquiring such knowledge as the
Portsmouth schools could give him, he was aided by his faithful pastor
in the further pursuit of his studies, and at the early age of
nineteen he began to preach. His first sermon was delivered in
Portsmouth, and gave great satisfaction to those who heard it. He was
first settled in Exeter, N. H.; then in Amesbury, Mass., where he was
ordained, Oct. 19, 1837; then in East Cambridge, Mass.; then in
Lowell, and, in 1846, took charge of the parish in Bath, Me. In 1850
he returned to Massachusetts and settled in Lynn, where he remained
nine years. In 1859 he was called to the Sixth Church in New York,
where he remained eight years, and until he was chosen, in 1867,
General Secretary of the United States Convention. His duty in this
new capacity was to direct and take the lead of the missionary
enterprises and to visit all sections of the country. His labors were
manifold and arduous, but very efficient and successful, until his
health became impaired, and he was obliged to resign his office and
return to his family. After resting a few months, and partially
recovering his strength, he accepted, in November, 1869, an invitation
to the Church of the Messiah in Philadelphia, to which he gave the
last years of his useful life, and where he joyfully resigned that
life April 8, 1878.

As a preacher, Dr. Brooks was in the front rank of
our ministers. As another has written:--

  "He was entirely consecrated to his work, and in the pulpit he spoke
  as one having authority. His sonorous voice and majestic bearing
  were in perfect harmony with his clear and forcible presentation of
  his thought, and emphasized his urgent appeals to the conscience of
  his hearer. He was by nature an ardent reformer, and was always true
  to his convictions. He could not keep back the smallest fragment of
  what he believed to be God's truth. He early threw himself, heart
  and soul, into the anti-slavery cause, and during the war of the
  rebellion his clarion voice gave no uncertain sound."

He was a clear and vigorous writer. His two volumes, "Universalism in
Life and Doctrine," and "Our New Departure," evince this. They are
valuable additions to our church literature. He was one of our best
organizers. Seldom absent from our conventions, and nearly always
serving on executive boards and important committees, nearly every
department of our church work received an impression from his hand. In
1867 Tufts College conferred on him the degree of D. D.

It has been truly said of him:--

  "He was born into Universalism. He was cradled in its arms. He was
  taught it at his mother's knee. He believed it from his earliest
  conscious years. He never was influenced by any other faith. What he
  was it made him. Let no man say it is not the power of God unto
  salvation, while we can point to such examples of its influence in
  life and death. He has gone to that home which his faith made so
  real to many souls."


 [Illustration: Ebenr. Fisher.
 H. W. Smith.]

Rev. EBENEZER FISHER, D. D., has won honorable distinction in the
Universalist Church. He was born in Charlotte, Me., Feb. 6, 1815, and
died in Canton, N. Y., Feb. 21, 1879. His father was one of the
pioneers of Eastern Maine, and the son passed his early years in a new
country, in the midst of hardships incident to such a condition. With
the exception of a single term at the Readfield Seminary, he had no
advantages beyond what were afforded by the common schools of his
native town. His early religious training was in the Orthodox church,
against whose gloomy doctrines his whole soul revolted. When about
sixteen years old a few Universalist books and papers were put into
his hands, the perusal of which, in connection with the Bible, brought
him "out of darkness into marvellous light," and he gradually formed
the purpose to fit himself for the Christian ministry. He sought and
obtained fellowship of the Maine Convention in 1840, and in 1841
settled at Addison Point, Me., until in April, 1847, he accepted a
call to Salem, Mass., where his pastorate was eminently successful. In
November, 1853, he removed to South Dedham (now Norwood), where he
remained until 1858, when he was appointed President of the
Theological School at Canton, N. Y., and thenceforth he gave his time,
labor, thought, and strength to a work for which he proved himself
peculiarly fitted. For more than twenty years he was the honored head
of the first Universalist Theological School, and during that time one
hundred and three students were graduated, who are now scattered over
the country, and bearing testimony to his faithful teaching, his rare
devotion to duty, his profound scholarship, and his eminence in all
Christian virtues. However marked may have been the results of his
labors in other fields, his work in the Theological School was the
most important and conspicuous, and will be his most enduring
monument. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him in 1862 by
Lombard University. Rev. I. M. Atwood, D. D., his successor as
President in the Canton Theological School, thus truly and graphically
presents him to us:--

  "A grand man, made up in a large and noble fashion, with paternal
  benignity in his face and a note of sonorous warning in his voice,
  able, acute, aggressive, unmovable, the sturdy strength and wintry
  rigor of his nature relieved by a certain charm of tenderness which
  affected one like the scent of sweet flowers amid the majesty of the
  primeval woods; in his preaching a strain of deep sincerity which
  made the hearer feel the solemn reality of those things about which
  there is so much superficial prattle,--a great, brave, patient
  spirit, loyal to the truth, trustworthy as a star, and of such a
  breadth and strength of moral build as made him an imposing
  Christian force in the community,--such to our thought was Ebenezer
  Fisher, who fell asleep Friday morning, Feb. 21, 1879, having just
  passed his sixty-fourth birthday.


A well-remembered elder of apostolic aspect and spirit was the Rev.
SETH STETSON, born in Kingston, Mass., in 1776, and dying at the age
of ninety-one in Brunswick, Me. He was reared in the faith of the
Puritan fathers, near the old Plymouth rock; learned the trade of a
ship-carpenter, emigrated to Maine, gave himself to much study,
entered the Congregationalist ministry, and was pastor in Maine and
Massachusetts for some years. When the Unitarian controversy arose in
New England, he became deeply interested in it, accepted Unitarianism
as the truth of God, preached it as a missionary, and soon saw clearly
the doctrine of the salvation of all men as a revelation of the
Scriptures. He was minister of this faith in Charlestown and Salem,
Mass., and afterwards had several pastorates in Maine. His heart and
life were full of the spirit of the great Christian Master.
Universalism to him was not only a divine word, but a regenerative
power. The love which it inculcated he possessed and exercised. His
heavenly spirit beaming from his pleasant countenance and pervading
his sweet conversation made him welcome everywhere. What the New
Testament says of another was applicable to him: "A good man, and full
of the Holy Ghost, and of faith."


Rev. WILLIAM BELL, son of a Calvinistic clergyman, was for many years
an active advocate of the Universalist faith. The rigid theology of
his father had the tendency to push him into Deism, until the light of
the greater Gospel broke upon his mind. After years spent in
mechanical pursuits, with a moderate education, under the instruction
of the senior Rev. Hosea Ballou, he began to preach, obtained
fellowship, and spent the first ten years of his ministry in New
Hampshire and Vermont. Subsequently he became editor of the "Watchman
and Christian Repository," at Woodstock, Vt., and in after years of
the "Star of Bethlehem," in Lowell, Mass. He preached much up to his
seventy-eighth year, retaining his vigor of body and mind. He was
plain and direct in his style as a preacher, keen in his expositions
of what he deemed error, a good logician, strongly doctrinal in his
discourses, and deeply religious in feeling. One of the last occasions
of his speaking in public was at the Centennial Convention in
Gloucester in 1870. Near the close of his life he wrote a strong and
searching letter to Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in review of a sermon on
future punishment published by him. He died in Boston in 1871.


"An able minister of the New Testament" was Rev. CALVIN GARDNER, a
native of Hingham, Mass., and pastor in Charlestown, Duxbury, Lowell,
and Provincetown, Mass., and for twenty years in Waterville, Me. In
early life he wrought at his trade in one of the mechanic arts.
Becoming interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation, he entered
the ministry in 1825. He was a reader and thinker, a sound theologian,
and forcible preacher. He was always welcomed at associations and
conventions, and listened to with interest by those who came to be fed
with the plain and wholesome food of the Gospel. He was a genial
companion and high-minded man. He passed suddenly away by death while
seated in a store which he had entered but a little while before.




CHAPTER XIV.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  The weapons which your hands have found
    Are those which Heaven itself has wrought,
  Light, Truth and Love;--your battle-ground
    The free, broad field of thought.

  WHITTIER.


Rev. Josiah Gilman was another of the sturdy mechanics who came from
the forge, and after his best endeavors to gain a tolerable
preparation for the ministry, entered it, if not with much mental
culture, yet with a heart full of love of the new faith into which he
had grown out of that theology which one of the Beecher sisters has
said evinces "an awful mistake somewhere." He was always alive with
his theme. His work in the pulpit was as strong and as faithfully done
as any which he had wrought out upon the anvil. He was a useful
missionary. No one could have been more conscientious than he
respecting the religious qualifications of a Christian minister. His
own character was the best illustration he could give of his ideal.
That was above reproach.

Mr. Gilman had a stentorian voice when excited in speaking, but was
often slow in speech, and to some hearers might seem at times wanting
in animation. It is related that while preaching in a country place in
New Hampshire one hot summer afternoon, a part of his audience being
hard-working haymakers, his discourse became somewhat quiet in its
manner, so that an evident drowsiness had taken hold of some of the
listeners. The speaker, perceiving it, suddenly paused for some
seconds, and then bringing his clenched hand down quite loudly upon
the desk before him, exclaimed good naturedly, "Come brethren, wake
up! and let us take another view of this subject." The call was
effective, and both speaker and hearers were in sympathetic
wakefulness to the end. The good man departed this life in Lynn,
Mass., in 1858, aged 67.


Another comer from the anvil, a strong, cheery, blunt, warm-hearted
man, deeply in love with the truth of the Gospel, and running over
with zeal in his advocacy of it, was Rev. EMMONS PARTRIDGE. He was
superintendent of the Sunday school in the First Universalist church
in Providence, R. I., while Rev. David Pickering was its pastor. He
entered the ministry with but little scholarly preparation for it; but
somehow, by divine grace, he did quite an acceptable work as a
missionary and as pastor of a number of societies. God chooses his own
instruments in his work, and this minister was one. Without the graces
of oratory, he was a plain and often instructive preacher, because he
was usually highly charged with his subject and eager to declare it to
his hearers. If his illustrations were sometimes homely, they were
usually to the point, and if they excited a smile carried a
conviction. He was ready in expedients, if these were necessary, to
win the good will of his neighbors who might be strongly prejudiced
against his theology. "I had hard work," said he, "to get the kind
attention of one man. I tried many ways: but at last, as we were both
very much interested in raising rare kinds of poultry, I opened his
heart towards me by occasional exchanges of choice eggs with him!" He
could meet pulpit embarrassments coolly and more successfully than
others might have done. Lecturing one evening in his pulpit at
Watertown, Mass., he came to a place in his manuscript where the
matter was confusedly mixed. The leaves had been wrongly stitched
together, and he vainly tried to put them in order. Despairing of
this, he quietly and quaintly remarked, "Well, this is strange. I
thought I put these leaves in as they ought to be, but they are so
mixed that I can't make anything out of them. I think I will say the
rest without the notes!" and he did, to the satisfaction as well as
amusement of the audience. He died somewhat advanced in years, highly
esteemed by all who knew him.


Rev. WILLIAM I. REESE began to preach in Central New York, in Onondaga
County, and was ordained at the session of the Cayuga Universalist
Association in 1824. For a few years he was the minister of the
Universalist societies in East and North Bloomfield, and then of the
church in Portland, Me. He went to Buffalo on call of the church there
in the early spring of 1834, and there in the succeeding summer his
earthly ministry suddenly came to a close. It was the second year of
that terrible visitation, the Asiatic cholera, and the city to which
he had only just removed was awfully ravaged by the sweep of the
dark-winged pestilence. Unfalteringly at his post of duty in all those
dark days, devoting himself to loving ministries among sick and
suffering and dying people, showing himself everywhere an angel of
mercy and consolation, he fell a victim at last to the desolating
scourge, and in the prime of his grand manhood, the good fight fought,
the faith kept, the course finished, he passed on to receive his
crown, and to be enrolled among the brightest and most faithful of
ministering spirits.


Rev. ALBERT A. FOLSOM, an active and devoted minister, was born in
Exeter, and passed his early life in Portsmouth, N. H. He had
settlements in Maine and Massachusetts, and departed this life, aged
39, at Springfield, Mass., in 1849, after a ministry there of five
years. He was very acceptable to his congregations, in all his
pastorates. He had a rich voice, subject to a wise control, was a
ready speaker, and could acquit himself in a most happy manner. He
often had texts handed him when entering the church, which he
discussed to the evident satisfaction of his hearers. He was social
and companionable, and his views of life and Providence were very
hopeful. In his home he was a light and blessing. No minister ever had
warmer friends than he.


WILLIAM CUTTER HANSCOM, a sincere and zealous young man, a clerk in a
prominent dry goods store in Portsmouth, N. H., left his secular
pursuits to prepare himself for the ministry in the study of the Rev.
T. F. King of that town. He was soon known as an acceptable preacher,
and, receiving ordination, was called to two pastorates, the first at
Newmarket (Lamprey River village) N. H., the second at Waltham, Mass.
He had much mental ability, was a vigorous and rapid writer, and an
energetic and enthusiastic speaker. He was greatly beloved by a large
number of friends, and his pastorates were a joy to him and of much
profit to the churches. He was an evangelist in the true sense of the
word. His career was short, as he was cut off by consumption, at
Cambridgeport, and was buried at Waltham, in 1838. But his pathway was
an illuminated one, and its light lingers in many memories. He
departed at the early age of twenty-three.


Rev. MERRITT SANFORD, born in Readsboro, Vt., and religiously educated
in the Methodist church, became by attentive reading and much anxious
thinking a believer in that divine goodness which will bring all souls
at last in conformity to its will. With but ordinary means of
education in country schools, he grew, by close mental application to
study, to be a scholar of very considerable acquirements, and entered
the ministry at the age of twenty-three. He was minister in New
Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. He was a quiet but
forcible preacher, because of the soundness, strength, and aptness of
his discourses. He was continually growing mentally and spiritually,
was deeply conscientious and devout, and left a fragrant memory
wherever he sought to do his work. He closed his earthly life after a
short illness, in Warren, Mass., in May 1849, aged 37.


Rev. ALEXANDER R. ABBOTT, who was somewhat advanced in life when he
gave himself to the ministry, was a native of East Livermore, Me. His
early life was that of a hard toiler, his advantages for obtaining an
education were limited, but his thirst for knowledge overcame his
early deficiencies. With little if any aid from others, he became
proficient in French and Latin and the mathematics, and for many years
was successfully employed in teaching. His first sermon was preached
while residing in Lowell, Mass., in 1844, and his ordination took
place in the following year. His first settlement was in Bath, N. H.
For a time he was employed as a missionary, to preach in destitute
places within the limits of the Boston Association. Afterwards he was
settled successively in Newburyport, Mass., Pawtucket, R. I.,
Gardiner, Me., South Dedham, Mass., Hudson, N. Y., and Rockland, Me.
He was an indefatigable student, and a clear, strong preacher. No
useless verbiage encumbered his discourses. He grappled with the
hardest questions in theology, and brought light out of them. His last
sermon before the Maine Convention is remembered as a clear and
masterly treatment of one of the problems which has greatly occupied
the religious thought of the day. He stirred the consciences of his
hearers. He was outspoken as an anti-slavery man, when to be so was to
incur the hostility of men of both political parties, and endanger his
success in the places of his settlement. The temperance cause always
found in him a firm, consistent, and able advocate. And while he was
thus efficient in performing the more rugged duties of his calling, he
was equally well-fitted, by the tenderness of his heart, for the more
sympathetic offices of the ministry. The death of Mr. Abbott, at
Rockland, Me., in 1869, was occasioned by disease of the heart,
aggravated by the fracture of a limb. He was conscious and composed to
the last.


Rev. HENRY C. LEONARD came into the ministry at Haverhill, Mass.,
where he had studied under the direction of Rev. Henry Bacon. He was
born in Northwood, N. H., April 25, 1818, and died at Pigeon Cove,
Mass., March 7, 1880. His earliest labors were on Cape Ann, at
Gloucester and in other neighboring places. He was afterwards settled
four years in East Thomastown (now Rockland), Me. He then removed to
Orono in 1847, where he remained about eight years, and then went to
Waterville, in 1854. At the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he
closed his labors in Waterville, and accepted the position of chaplain
in the Third Maine Infantry. He was afterwards transferred to the
Maine Eighteenth Infantry, and then to the First Maine Regiment of
Heavy Artillery, where he remained, greatly beloved by officers and
soldiers, till his term of service expired in 1864. He was publicly
pronounced by Gen. Howard the most faithful chaplain he ever saw.

In 1865 he took charge of the Universalist Society in Albany, N. Y.,
where he remained three years. He moved to Philadelphia in 1869, and
was pastor of the Lombard St. Church two years. He then returned to
his home at Pigeon Cove, Mass., intending to remain there permanently.
But he was called to be pastor at Deering, Me., and was Professor of
Belles-lettres at Westbrook Seminary at the same time. His last
pastorate, at Annisquam, Mass., began in December, 1875. He preached
for the last time Sept. 28, 1879. He was for a time editor of the
"Gospel Banner" and of the "Universalist." He published a volume of
sermons entitled "A Sheaf from a Pastor's Field;" also a little work
called "Pigeon Cove and Vicinity."

Mr. Leonard was a writer of rare accomplishments. Had he chosen
literature for a profession, and cultivated more fully his rare poetic
gifts, his name might have been prominent among the writers of the
country.

He was an enthusiastic lover of nature, and delighted to dwell in her
outer temple. He had a sunny nature, and wherever he lived, won hosts
of friends by his geniality and radiant joyousness of heart. The
truest, most cultivated and intelligent of all denominations welcomed
him to their companionship, and recognized the purity of his life, the
elevation of his thought, and his rare intellectual endowments.


Rev. ABRAHAM NORWOOD began preaching in Annisquam, Mass., and was
ordained in 1833. He had been a student with Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, in
Malden. He was a member of the Congregationalist Church in early life;
but, finding himself dissatisfied and troubled with his theology, he
gave much attention to the study of the Bible, and became thereby a
firm believer in Christian Universalism. He had a clear and vigorous
intellect, and great aptness in setting forth his opinions. He was
settled in South Dennis and Marblehead, Mass., in Fiskville, R. I., in
Canton, Mass., and in Salisbury, from 1845 to 1855. He then went to
Meriden, Conn., and acted as State missionary, with rare fidelity, for
six years. He was widely known in Connecticut, and, after the close of
his regular ministerial labors, served the town of Meriden in several
positions of trust. He was warmly interested in education, and a
faithful and devoted laborer in the Temperance cause. Besides his work
as a preacher and pastor, he wrote and published two books,--"The Book
of Abraham," and "The Pilgrimage of a Pilgrim." While marked with the
quaintness of the author, they are direct and telling in their setting
forth of Christian truth.


Rev. CHARLES SPEAR was a remarkable man; a printer by trade, a
philanthropist by nature, a self-sacrificing Christian by divine
grace. He was quiet and unostentatious, but persistent as fate in his
work. He was a Massachusetts man. He commenced life in humble
condition, and his constant liberality to every object and form of
distress kept him poor. His high religious zeal and strong
philanthropy forced him into the ministry, and into ministrations
especially connected with human degradation and suffering: the
abandoned, the outcast, the down-trodden, the intemperate, and
especially the prisoner, were his parishioners. His absence of mind,
forgetfulness of self, and disregard of (if not inability in)
pecuniary matters, often subjected him to painful embarrassments when
from home; but that Providence on which he relied for aid as for
guidance, always provided friends and means to deliver him. Mr.
Spear's work on Capital Punishment, and his larger one on the "Titles
of Jesus," are readable and valuable books. Besides these, his
literary labors produced "Voices from Prison," and a periodical called
(like himself) "The Prisoner's Friend," extended through several
years. Had he belonged to almost any other denomination than the
Universalist, he would have been much more widely known and more
highly praised during life, and his death would have been announced
and his funeral attended with greater eulogy and higher honors.
Previous to his death he had been chaplain in the St. Elizabeth
Hospital in Washington, D. C., where he died in April, 1863. His wife
was a faithful helper in his hospital work. His funeral services in
Washington were attended by a Presbyterian (Dr. Sunderland). The body
was removed to Boston for burial.


Rev. JAMES W. PUTNAM, who died in Danvers, Mass., where he had been a
beloved and successful pastor, was a man of admirable qualities. He
was just past forty when he departed. Rev. Dr. Miner said of him, in
an address on the funeral occasion, that he had known the deceased
twenty-four years before, when a pupil in New Hampshire,--a boy in
years, but a man in character:--

  "As a pastor for sixteen years in one parish, where he constantly
  grew in strength, in the affections of his people, in the
  opportunities for public usefulness, serving not only his parish,
  but the town, the sure test of his worth is to be seen. His
  character was so well rounded, so complete, so efficient in all
  particulars, that no one trait seemed to predominate over another.
  He was very modest and unassuming. When Tufts College conferred an
  honorary degree upon him, it was so unexpected that, though he saw
  the statement in the papers,--saw his own name,--he did not suspect
  that it meant himself, but some other person! He had given the
  highest evidence of his hold upon his people. Twice he represented
  the town in the legislature, an experience which often breaks the
  pastoral relation and sows the seed of disaffection. But he came
  back from that official service to a united parish."

His settlement in Danvers was his only one. Calls to other parishes
with strong financial inducements were declined. He felt that the
pastoral relation should be broken as seldom as possible, a
consideration which, if more generally regarded, would be of great
blessing to many churches.


Rev. JAMES W. DENNIS was pastor in Stoughton, Mass., for ten years. He
was justly and highly esteemed. Much afflicted with a painful and
fatal disease, he had great conflict of mind because of his inability
to meet all his duties as he desired; the sympathies of his people
were strongly enlisted in his behalf, and they shared with him in some
measure his trials. He died in the triumphs of the unfailing hope of
the Gospel, and was buried by his friends of the church in the
cemetery which his own words had helped to consecrate. "It was an
affecting sight," writes one, speaking of his funeral obsequies, "and
a sure testimony of the profound esteem in which he was held. Little
children, tearful women, and strong men were bowed in deepest grief. I
shall never forget the appearance of one old patriarch who approached
the coffin with tottering steps, laid his hand upon the head of the
deceased, and then placing it upon his own forehead, turned away with
an expression of the deepest sadness, as though he had lost a treasure
never to be replaced in this world. I saw him again at the cemetery,
standing at the door of the sepulchre, with eyes suffused, his gray
hairs fluttering in the wind, and his head bowed in the attitude of
prayer." Mr. Dennis died in 1863, aged thirty-eight.


Rev. HENRY B. SOULE was of Dover, Duchess Co., N. Y. He was another
instance of "the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties" in his
youthful days. He was determined to educate himself, and through much
anxiousness and privation and toiling he found his way in 1835 to
Clinton Liberal Institute in New York, where he was afterwards a
tutor. The next year he was encouraged to prepare for the ministry by
his kind and honored friend, Rev. S. R. Smith. His first work as a
pastor was at Fort Plain, N. Y. He was subsequently at Troy, Utica,
and in 1844 removed to Boston and became assistant pastor with Rev.
Hosea Ballou. Here he proved himself adequate to his position. His
sermons were forcible, well arranged, and calculated to convince the
understanding and enlist the affections. A year's pastorate in
Gloucester was a happy one. Then he was minister in Hartford, Conn.,
where his first sermon was preached to forty-one, his second to
sixty-four hearers, and his last to a crowded house. In 1852 his
ministry in Lyons, N. Y., commenced. At the end of its first month he
had suddenly departed,--a victim of that fearful disease, small-pox.
But his bright life shed its radiance back upon many souls who had
been blest by his ministries, and his name has since been an honored
one in our churches. His widow, who survived him, has won an honorable
reputation in our church by her literary publications, and by her
devotion to our missionary interests under the auspices of the Woman's
Centenary Association, of which she was the first president, and in
whose employ she has for three years labored faithfully as a
missionary in Scotland. An interesting biography of her husband was
prepared by her and given to the public in 1852.


Rev. OBADIAH H. TILLOTSON, of New Hampshire, was an active worker in
the ministry; a successful pastor in Worcester, Mass., Hartford,
Conn., Northfield, Vt., and in other places. He departed this life in
1863. He was a ready speaker, and was ardent and resolute in his
ministerial work. "His ability," writes a friend, "as a public debater
was signally shown in a protracted discussion (in Worcester) with a
religious opposer who was put forward to defeat him if possible. Four
nights the contest went on, and the result was a complete success. He
more than met the expectations of his friends, and the opponent
afterwards acknowledged that of all his contests (and he was a
gladiator) Mr. Tillotson was the strongest opponent he had ever met.
There was much of sunshine in his soul, and it beamed out upon others
in his social life. For a time he studied and practised law, but his
old love for the ministry returning, he entered it again with renewed
zeal, and continued earnest and faithful in its work unto the end."




CHAPTER XV.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  "Thus bravely live heroic men,
    A consecrated band;
  Life is to them a battle-field,
    Their hearts a holy-land."

  TUCKERMAN.


A highly-esteemed minister of our faith, and a vigorous and stirring
advocate of Christian reform, was Rev. ELHANAN W. REYNOLDS. Although
his career as minister and author was not long, the most valuable
years of his life were given to the work of promulgating the Gospel.
He was settled as pastor in Java, Sherman, Buffalo, Jamestown,
Watertown, and Lockport, N. Y.; in Norwich, Conn.; and Lynn, Mass. He
was a highly acceptable preacher, and wielded a fruitful and facile
pen. His little volume, "The Records of Bubbleton Parish," is one of
much interest in showing as it does the trials of Christian ministers
and parishes because of the discordant elements in them, and in the
vividness with which some of the characters in the particular parish
at Bubbleton are drawn. But his best work, and one that evinces
unmistakably the strong qualities of the writer's intellect and the
soundness of his orthodoxy in morals, is his volume entitled "The True
Story of the Barons of the South; or, the Rationale of the American
Conflict," issued in 1862. It is a compact but lively presentation of
the origin and growth of American slavery, from its inception with the
Virginian colonists to the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion.
It is an unequivocal statement of facts, and an irresistible appeal to
Americans for the overthrow of the gigantic abomination of slavery,
and the defence and maintenance of that freedom signified in the
immortal Declaration sent out by our Revolutionary fathers from this
nation, to all the other nations of the earth. It is one of the
trumpet-calls to duty among the many that gave inspiration and life to
that desperate strife which sent American slavery to "the receptacle
of things lost on earth." Mr. Reynolds is worthy of honorable
remembrance as one of the heroes of that strife. A discriminating
writer has said of him: "As a preacher he was strong and often
brilliant; as a scholar his explorations were extensive, and his
acquisitions the gold refined from innumerable heaps of dross,
patiently searched out; and as a writer he was master of a style which
would have been his passport to the first literary circles of
America." He died at Milwaukee, Wis., August 31, 1868, aged
thirty-nine years.


Rev. NATHANIEL GUNNISON, a native of New Hampshire, was ordained to
the ministry in 1837. He had entered it through much painstaking, and
was thoroughly in earnest in his work. He was pastor in New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, and Maine, and for eight years in Halifax, N. S., in
which place he met with marked success. At one time the bishop of the
Episcopalian church assailed him, and, not having a correct knowledge
of our doctrines, laid himself open to a searching review from Mr.
Gunnison. The controversy was a prolonged one, both oral and written,
and the result was that the Episcopal church lost ground and members,
and the Universalist church realized a corresponding increase. The
civil war in our country broke out towards the close of Mr. Gunnison's
pastorate. Halifax being in strong sympathy with the South, he stood
almost alone in his defence of the North, and gave offence to some of
the leading members of the society by his zealous exertions for the
North while acting as Deputy Consul of the United States. He
subsequently removed to Maine, where he died of paralysis in 1871,
while in the midst of his active labors. His son, Rev. A. Gunnison, of
Brooklyn, N. Y., pays this touching tribute to his honored parent:--

  "At the age of fifty-seven, the pastor of whom we speak was
  paralyzed. Upon the early morning of the Sabbath, the secret blow
  fell upon him, but yet he went to his work, and with half his body
  dead went through his Sabbath service. Then came the weary months of
  battling with death. Disease was stayed by the vigor of an
  unconquerable will, and dragging his heavy limb, with right arm
  lifeless at his side, he took up again the burden of his work....
  The other day, in the lumber of a storage room, we found the old
  trunk which contained the sermons of this veteran preacher, and
  there upon the top a package of huge MSS. written in rude fashion,
  unlike the singularly clear penmanship of the remaining mass. These
  were the sermons written after the fell shock came to him, for at
  fifty-eight years of age, finding that never again could the
  accustomed hand hold the pen, the old man had with his left hand
  learned to write, and until the last, week by week, the fresh sermon
  came quick and vital from a brain which would not cease to work."

His busy ministry of thirty-four years was a Christian success.


Rev. JOHN MATHER AUSTIN was, on his mother's side, a descendant of the
Mathers distinguished in early colonial times, of which Cotton Mather
is best known in history. He was born in Redfield, Oswego Co., N. Y.,
Sept. 26, 1805, and died in Rochester, Dec. 20, 1880. The first
fifteen years of his life were spent in Watertown, N. Y., to which
place his parents moved during his infancy. He learned the art of
printing in early life, and while employed in it in Troy, N. Y., he
became a member of the Universalist society in that place. His
interest in religious truth became here stimulated to activity, so
that he studied for the ministry, and received fellowship at the
Hudson River Association in 1832. His first pastorate was in
Montpelier, Vt., his next in South Danvers (now Peabody), Mass., when,
after a pastorate there of nine years, he was settled in Auburn,
N. Y., in 1844. In 1851 he resigned his pastorate in Auburn, and took
the editorship of the "Christian Ambassador," then published at that
place.

In 1861 Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State during the
administration of President Lincoln, and a firm friend of Mr. Austin,
tendered him the consulship of the West Indies, which was declined.
The consulship of Prince Edward's Island was afterwards offered him,
which was also declined. In 1863 a commission was sent him, signed by
Secretary of War Stanton, by which he was appointed paymaster in the
army with the rank of major. Mr. Austin was reluctant to relinquish
his work in the ministry, but after much persuasion he entered the
governmental service and remained until 1866, when he was mustered
out. After leaving the army he resumed his labors in the ministry,
preaching occasionally until 1875, when the disease began to develop
which ultimately caused his death.

For many years Mr. Austin was probably the most prominent preacher in
Central New York. He was a profound theologian, and a preacher and
debater of great power. His theological discussion at Genoa with Rev.
Mr. Holmes of the Methodist church gave him a wide notoriety. So ably
conducted was it on the part of Mr. Austin that, it was said, many who
heard him were converted to his views.

Secretary Seward at one time began to write a life of John Quincy
Adams, which was neglected and finally abandoned for want of time to
complete it. At the request of Mr. Seward, Mr. Austin undertook and
finished the work. He was the author of several books of merit; among
them, "A Voice to the Young," "Austin on the Attributes," "Golden
Steps for the Young," and "A Voice to the Married." Mr. Austin had
excellent traits of character. His mind was keenly logical, his
emotional nature was deep and strong, and his social qualities were
eminently attractive.


Rev. TOBIAS H. MILLER. A rare man was he, of clear intellect,
unfailing memory, tenderest sympathies, always thinking, always ready
to talk, and always talking well. He was deeply religious, but his
religion was of the cheerful, hopeful kind. He was born and had his
early rearing in "the old town by the sea"[46]--Portsmouth, N. H., and
was blessed with the watchful care of a pious and faithful mother. He
was early instructed in the Puritanic orthodoxy of New England, and
grew up to be an approved expounder of it. For a time he was editor of
the "Observer," the Orthodox weekly journal of New Hampshire, and was
a kind of active adjutant-general of the forces of that division of
the church militant in his native State. He was always to be trusted
in his work, and was held in high esteem by all his brethren as by all
who best knew him. In later life his Scriptural investigations led him
to accept the doctrine of Universalism as the truth of God, in which
doctrine he continued as an acceptable preacher to the end of his
days. His espousal of Universalism did not lessen the respect of his
former brethren for him. They never seemed to doubt the purity of his
motives nor the excellency of his Christian character. He stood in
their pulpits from time to time during his later years.

He was a devoted Christian reformer. He became interested in the
"Washingtonian" temperance movement in Portsmouth in 1841, and
whenever opportunity offered gave his word and work to promote the
cause of total abstinence from all intoxicants. In the anti-slavery
agitation his voice was raised for freedom, and soon after the
Proclamation of Emancipation made by President Lincoln he repeated, in
the Universalist pulpit in Portsmouth, an address which he wrote and
delivered nearly thirty years before on the subject of slavery, which
showed how accurately he had forecast the future and how his early
auguries had been fulfilled.

Being a practical printer, soon after his arrival at manhood, while in
Newburyport in the office of the "Herald," he formed the acquaintance
of John G. Whittier and William Lloyd Garrison. With the latter he
stood side by side at the printer's case, and a strong life-long
friendship grew up between them. Mr. Garrison says of him:--

  "He was a very Benjamin Franklin for good sense and axiomatic
  speech, in spirit always as fresh and pure as a new-blown rose. His
  nature was large, generous, sympathetic, self-denying, reverent.
  From his example I drew moral inspiration, and was signally aided in
  my endeavors after ideal perfection and practical goodness. He was
  as true to his highest convictions of duty as the needle to the
  pole."

Mr. Miller was a terse and ready writer. A journalist speaks of him as
one "who with a stroke of his pen would illumine dark themes and
confound vain philosophers, and who blended the clear vision of a
Franklin with the modesty of a child." He was born Aug. 10, 1801, and
died in Portsmouth, March 30, 1870.


Rev. MARTIN J. STEERE was originally from Rhode Island. He was for
nearly twenty years a minister of marked ability and excellent
reputation in the Free Baptist Church, and for some time the editor of
its weekly journal, "The Morning Star." Given to scriptural
investigation, he anxiously, but slowly and cautiously, reasoned
himself into Universalism. Convinced that this was the New Testament
Gospel, it was his desire to make known the pre-eminent faith to
others who might be seeking religious truth. He soon issued his
"Footprints Heavenward; or, Universalism the More Excellent Way;" a
volume in the form of letters, addressed to his former brethren in the
ministry, relating his travail of mind in search of Christian truth,
and stating some of the evidences which led him to see "the truth as
it is in Jesus." The work has been read with interest and profit by
many. In 1859 Mr. Steere received the fellowship of the Universalist
Church, and subsequently had pastorates in Maine, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut. He was a vigorous thinker, plain, direct, and impressive
in his discoursing, and deeply devotional in spirit. One who knew him
has written: "The continued tone of his spirit was restorative to the
perplexed and desponding; his piety was cheerful, his deportment
humble. His religion was his life." His death, in the triumph of
Christian faith, occurred at Athol, Mass., in January, 1877.


Rev. FRANKLIN S. BLISS was born Sept. 30, 1828, in Cheshire, Mass.,
and died March 23, 1873, in Greensboro, N. C., whither he had gone for
the benefit of his health. At the age of ten he removed with his
family to Lanesboro, Mass., where two years afterwards his mother
died. At the age of eight an illness so affected his eyes that he
became nearly blind, and when he began to regain his sight his hearing
became impaired. At the age of sixteen, finding he could see by using
very powerful glasses, he applied himself to close study. Being soon
prostrated, twice by fever, the foundation was laid for infirmities
which attended him ever after. He became a believer in Universalism
while on a sick bed, but did not avow his sentiments until some time
afterward, when he resolved to enter the ministry. His family were at
first strongly opposed to this course on his part, but they all
afterwards became pleased with his success and reputation as a Gospel
minister. After some time spent in school-teaching, in 1853 he entered
the Liberal Institute at South Woodstock, Vt. (then under the charge
of Rev. J. S. Lee), at which time he was described as a pale-faced,
feeble-looking young man, but with a firm will and settled purpose to
do the most and the best that was possible under the circumstances.
His decision of character, concentration of purpose, and love for the
work of his chosen profession, overcame all impediments, compensated
for lack of health, and rendered him eminently successful and useful
as a Gospel minister. He was ordained at Enfield, N. H., in 1855, in
which place he ministered for two years. Subsequently he removed to
Barre, Vt., where he labored for fifteen years, with exemplary
fidelity and abundant success. In him we have a striking instance of
the inward force of Christian character to overcome bodily infirmities
and accomplish wonders in that ministry whose most eminent apostle
said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me."

In the winter of 1871, Mr. Bliss sought release from pastoral labor
and care, and for some time tried a southern climate for aid. But the
hope proved illusory. His earthly work was done, and well done. A
friend with him at the departure writes: "I wish you could have
witnessed his last days--and his beautiful death. It was glorious."


Rev. RUSSELL TOMLINSON had a long and unbroken pastorate of
twenty-seven years in Plymouth, Mass. He was born in Newtown, Conn.,
Oct. 1, 1808, and died in Plymouth, March 4, 1878. In his early
ministry he entered the field as a missionary in Western New York,
where he labored for two years, travelling on horseback hundreds of
miles, and preaching wherever opportunity offered, receiving slender
compensation for his services, and often none at all. He was settled
at Le Roy, Buffalo, Ridgeway, and Rochester, N. Y., before his removal
to Plymouth. He resigned his charge in the latter place in 1866, and
thenceforth devoted himself to the practice of medicine of the
Homoeopathic School, to which he had previously given much study,
obtaining a fair practice and a good reputation.

Mr. Tomlinson was a very positive man, of strong will and inflexible
purpose. He was of such dignified demeanor that strangers were likely
to suppose him cold and austere in his nature; but those who knew him
intimately speak in highest terms of his kind and tender heart, that
was instant in response to any appeal from the unfortunate, the sick,
or afflicted. After his decease, instances of his unostentatious
charity came to light that were never suspected by his nearest
friends. He was strongly interested in the temperance reform, and was
through life an earnest and unflinching worker in that cause. He was
interested and active in educational enterprises, serving for many
years on the school board of Plymouth, and under Governor Boutwell he
was appointed a member of the School Board of Massachusetts. He was a
preacher of no ordinary talent, an honest and devout Christian, a
faithful worker in the Church, to the end that he might induce men to
become followers of Him whose religion is not in "the letter that
killeth, but in the Spirit that giveth life."


Rev. DE WITT CLINTON TOMLINSON was born in Gaines, Orleans County,
N. Y., Aug. 24, 1824, and died at Wedron, Ill., July 27, 1881. He
prepared for the ministry at Clinton, N. Y., under the supervision of
Rev. Dr. T. J. Sawyer, and began to preach in 1846. He had twelve
pastorates in New York and at the West, also one in Boston, Mass.,
during twenty years of his ministry. He was at Chicago, Ill., in 1880,
and maintained his residence there until his death. He was a vigorous,
fervent, and faithful man. With a physique that seemed to defy fatigue
and disease, he was able to do a vast amount of pastoral and other
work. He had a peculiar aptness for the financial work of the church.
He was employed in soliciting aid successively for the Canton
Theological School, for the Murray Fund, and for Buchtel College in
Ohio, and his labors for each were successful. His last employment was
as State Superintendent for Illinois, in which he was engaged nearly
up to the time of his death. In the midst of his strength and
usefulness, he was stricken with disease at a grove meeting, where,
although slightly indisposed, he preached what proved his last sermon.
His work had been well done.


Rev. LEVI C. MARVIN, born in Alstead, N. H., in 1808, was one of those
energetic men who achieve their position in life by their own unaided
efforts. His first work in a literary course beyond the common schools
was done in an academy in Chesterfield, N. H., in the fall of 1828.
The next year he is a teacher in Rhinebeck, N. Y. In 1831, being
invited by Rev. I. D. Williamson to enter his household, as a student
of theology, he accepted, and after some months commenced preaching.
He was ordained in 1834. The next year he removed to Newark, N. J.,
where he had a pastorate of more than three years, when he went to
Missouri, and took up his residence in Arrow Rock, Saline County. A
few years later found him a resident of Booneville, Cooper County,
where he held a discussion with Rev. Mr. Slocum, a Presbyterian. The
discussion embraced twelve lectures on each side, and extended with
unabated interest through six weeks. In 1848 he removed to
Jacksonville, Ill., where he had a discussion with Rev. C. W. Lewis,
Methodist. In 1850 he became a resident of Springfield, Ill., where he
made the acquaintance and secured the warm personal friendship of the
late President Lincoln. From that place, in 1856, he returned to
Missouri, and made in Clinton his permanent home. After his return he
had two public discussions: one at Springfield, Ill., with Rev. Mr.
Johnson, Campbellite, and the other at Georgetown, Mo., with Rev.
W. W. Suddath, Presbyterian.

Mr. Marvin was an exceedingly hard toiler. Much of his ministry was
spent as an itinerant, with but small remuneration, so that extra
efforts in teaching school were necessary on his part. His moral
uprightness, his genial nature and social qualities were of the
highest order, and secured him many friends. During the rebellion he
was a strong Union man,--the only man in the county where he lived who
gave a vote for Abraham Lincoln for President. His efforts in behalf
of the Union awakened a bitterness of feeling often endangering his
person and life. During that period he was for two sessions a member
of the Legislature of Missouri. At one session he was chosen Speaker
of the House. At the same time his brother, Hon. A. C. Marvin, was a
member of the Senate and acting Lieutenant-Governor. On one occasion
the two houses met for the transaction of some special business, when
the unusual scene occurred of two brothers presiding over the joint
session. He was a strong, pure-minded, and conscientious Christian
reformer, religiously and politically. His last days of long
confinement and much pain were cheered with the hopeful light and
comfort of that Gospel which he so loved to commend to his fellow-men.
He died July 5, 1878.


Rev. GILES BAILEY, born in Acworth, N. H., in 1815, was a diligent
scholar and an able preacher. He acquired considerable knowledge of
the classics, receiving instruction from Hon. Horace Maynard. At the
age of seventeen he began a successful career as a school teacher in
Vermont and New Hampshire, and was through life warmly interested in
educational movements. After pursuing his theological studies with the
late Rev. Lemuel Willis, he was ordained in Winthrop, Me., in 1840. He
was settled in Winthrop for two years, then moved to Brunswick, where
he remained seven years, then lived three years in Oldtown, three in
Dexter, two in Claremont, N. H.; then returned to Maine, and lived
eight years in Gardiner and two in Belfast, and finally, in the fall
of 1869, he removed to Reading, Pa., where after nearly nine years of
faithful labor, he closed a noble and useful life.

Adherence to right and principle was a marked feature in the character
of this "good minister of Jesus Christ." He was strongly interested in
all reform movements, and the energetic boldness of his position on
the anti-slavery question is well remembered by his associates. His
addresses on that subject were so filled with burning indignation and
tender pathos, that all hearts were stirred by his eloquence. In
addition to his regular work as a preacher and pastor, he was a
frequent and valuable contributor to our denominational papers. He
wrote, many years ago, a series of letters over the signature of
"Lucius," for the "Christian Ambassador," which attracted much
attention. They revealed unusual literary ability and grasp of
thought, and excited much curiosity in regard to their authorship. For
a time he occupied the editorial chair of the "Universalist." He has
left a clean, manly, and luminous record.


Rev. JOHN E. PALMER, who lived to the great age of ninety years, was a
native of Portsmouth, N. H. He was by trade a printer, and became a
convert to the doctrines of the "Christian Baptists," under the
ministrations of the noted Elias Smith. He began to preach in the
fellowship of that sect, and was ordained in 1809. The earlier years
of his ministry were spent in Warren, N. H., and Danville, Vt. It was
while living in the latter place that he outgrew his early belief in
endless punishment, and came to an undoubting faith that God will have
all men to be saved. He was suddenly arrested by a circumstance which
called his attention to a comparison of his own faith with that of the
"more excellent way" in which afterwards his footsteps were directed.
A very respectable young man, who had never been converted, while on a
fishing excursion, was drowned. It was a deeply afflictive blow to the
surviving family and friends. Mr. Palmer knew that he should be called
upon to preach the funeral sermon. He was greatly distressed. What
could he do? The apostles, he saw, had a faith which enabled them to
comfort those who were "in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they
themselves were comforted of God." Had he that faith? He says: "I
slept not a wink that night. I walked the house, I read my Bible, I
prayed for light; and I never preached the doctrine of endless woe
again."

In 1819 Mr. Palmer was called to the charge of the Universalist
Society in Barre, Vt., where he labored for eighteen years, scattering
the seed of truth over a wide region, for he was an indefatigable
missionary all through his life. On leaving Barre, he lived two years
in Waitsfield, Vt., and then gave himself to missionary work in
Northern Vermont and New Hampshire. One who was well acquainted with
his ministry writes of him:--

  "We can vouch for the devout, evangelical spirit of his services,
  the logic of his sermons, the perspicuity of his style, his fluency
  of speech, the impressiveness of his delivery. He spoke always
  extemporaneously, but his discourses were always coherent, sound,
  and clear. There was an evident sincerity and earnestness in the man
  that attracted the hearer's attention, and there was a natural
  tremulousness in his voice that gave a peculiar pathos to his
  discourses. There were in his words a certain indefinable grace and
  force which are the gift of God, and not communicable by art or
  learning. He was a man of deep religious feeling. Though he had
  decided opinions, yet he was the soul of candor and forbearance in
  his treatment of 'those of the contrary part.' He was a faithful and
  true witness."


Rev. WILLIAM W. WILSON was of Stoddard, N. H., born in 1819. An
accident, by which he lost one of his hands at the age of thirteen,
turned his attention to books and study. He was educated in the
Orthodox faith, as it is called, but was awakened to a special
interest in the subject of religion by listening to the preaching of
Rev. J. V. Wilson (not a relative) in his native town. Acquiring an
academic education, and becoming a believer in Christian Universalism,
he began to preach at the age of twenty-two. He was ordained in 1842
at Laconia, N. H., preaching in that town about two years. He was
afterwards two years in Centre Harbor, four years in West Haverhill,
Mass., five years in Dover, Me., and in Southbridge, Mass., eight
years. In 1867 he went to Chatham, Mass., but was compelled by
ill-health to resign his charge. In 1870 he removed to Oxford, Mass.,
but after two years was again compelled to rest. In 1873 he was
stricken with a partial paralysis, and from that time, though not
entirely helpless, was unable to go on with his ministerial work.
However, he never ceased to take a deep interest in the welfare of his
parish and of the denomination. He was a great sufferer during the
last days of his life, but was constantly hopeful in the light of his
holy faith. He departed this life June 19, 1874. He was quite well
known to our clergymen in New England, and beloved and honored for his
many virtues and for his faithful ministry. He was a Christian
reformer, was genial and utterly sincere in all his work, and leaves a
fragrant and blessed memory.


Rev. WILLIAM R. CHAMBERLIN, born in Brookfield, N. H., Nov. 2, 1816,
was a man of marked ability, and a very acceptable preacher. In early
manhood he was a successful school-teacher. He was ordained as a
preacher in Dighton, Mass., in 1847, and was induced to go to
Abington, Va., and engage in missionary work in that State. For two
years he preached in the Virginia backwoods,--in its highways and
byways, in school-houses, mills, and log cabins,--enduring great
hardship, encountering many dangers, risking his life from violence,
and depending for support solely on Divine Providence. In the autumn
of 1849 he went to Cincinnati, O., and for twelve years was employed
as a book-keeper. But though engaged during the week in secular
pursuits, his activity in behalf of his faith did not in the least
decline. He connected himself with the Second Universalist Church in
that city, and for three years was superintendent of its Sunday
school. Subsequently he became superintendent of the school at the
First Church, and held the position for seven years. It was in this
capacity that he was eminently useful and happy. His influence over
children was unbounded; they were irresistibly drawn to him. He had a
most fertile imagination, and was ever ready with stories such as
children love to hear. He laughed and wept by turns, and with these
emotions the school was always in close sympathy. He had all the gifts
of an improvisatore of the olden time.

Uneasy in his work out of the ministry, in 1867 he laid aside his
accountant's pen, and entered it again. He was settled successively at
Mendota, Ill.; Vinton, Council Bluffs, and Dubuque, Iowa; and at
Clinton, N. Y., at which last place he closed his earthly life. His
work in Clinton was very successful. He attached his people to him by
his amiable disposition, his unselfish spirit, and devotion to his
work. His sermons were always compact and often highly polished.
Intellectual and cultivated people always admired and enjoyed them.

When in 1873 he went on a kind of missionary tour to England and
Scotland, wherever he preached, his sermons were highly spoken of, and
it is known that they impressed on those who heard them a high idea of
American Universalism.

For the last three or four years of his life he was a great sufferer
from an incurable disease, but he worked steadily on until nearly the
end. His last service was held in his own house, in March, 1876, when
he arose from his sick-bed and gave the right hand of fellowship to
twenty-one persons, baptizing seven, and consecrating the babe of a
friend. The announcement of his physician that his end was near he
hailed with joy, and thus entered into the heavenly rest.

[46] See Harper's Monthly Mag. for October, 1874.




CHAPTER XVI.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  "Like angels sent from fields above,
  Be yours to shed celestial light."

  A. BALFOUR.


Rev. Samuel C. Loveland resided nearly all his lifetime in Vermont. He
was born in Gilsum, N. H., in 1787. His opportunities for schooling
while young were but few, but he improved them, as he had a strong
desire for study. He wished to be eminent as a scholar and linguist,
but from force of circumstances was self-taught. His parents had
become deeply interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation about
the time of Mr. Winchester's return from England, who preached a few
times in the region where they lived, and was followed soon by several
others. He early participated with them in their religious views and
feelings, and in due time became anxious to enter upon his studies for
the ministry. To this end he began the study of Greek. But as there
were no books in those days with English notes and definitions, it
became requisite first to study Latin. Finding a part of an old Latin
Bible, with a grammar and dictionary he plodded on through several
chapters. By close application he was able generally to read out a
whole verse in _half a day_. Words that he could not trace were
carefully noted down for further developments to bring to light. At
length he was enabled to read the Greek Testament. He received
fellowship at the General Convention at Cavendish, Vt., 1812. He
afterwards studied Hebrew, and prepared and published, at great labor,
a Greek and English lexicon of the New Testament. The degree of A. M.
was conferred on him by Middlebury College. He afterwards made himself
quite well acquainted with several other languages, Chaldee, Syriac,
Arabic, &c. At one time he published a work in defence of Universalism
entitled "The Christian Repository," which was commenced at Woodstock,
Vt., in 1821. The work afterwards passed into other hands, and was for
years the weekly Universalist journal of the State. In the latter part
of his life he commenced a reply to an infidel work by Robert Taylor
of England, entitled "The Diegesis," in the columns of the "Star in
the East," issued at Concord, N. H. A few ably written chapters were
issued, when he was forced to relinquish the work in consequence of
failing health.

In 1827 and onward he became interested in political affairs, which
for a time lessened his influence as a preacher. But he was
conscientious in this step. His course was successful and honorable.
He represented the town of Reading, Vt., in the State legislature, and
his county in the council; he was a judge of the county court, and
held several other offices of honor and responsibility. During the
last ten or more years of his life he devoted his whole time to his
books and the ministry. He died at South Hartford, N. Y., of
paralysis, April 8, 1854, leaving the record of a true and noble
Christian life.


Rev. DAVID PICKERING was a native of Richmond, N. H., the birthplace
of the elder Hosea Ballou. He joined the Freewill Baptists at an early
age, and was very active in their meetings and in the promotion of
their church interests. He was led to embrace the doctrine of
Universalism under the preaching of Rev. Paul Dean, in Barre, Vt. He
entered the ministry in 1809, a very acceptable and much admired
preacher. His first settlements were in Shrewsbury, Vt., and Lebanon,
N. H. He was afterwards in Hudson, N. Y., and in 1823 took charge of
the First Universalist Society in Providence, R. I., where he remained
eight or ten years. As a preacher and writer he had few equals. He
compiled and published a hymn-book, and conducted and edited with much
ability a Universalist paper, entitled "The Christian Telescope," from
1824 to 1828; also one volume of "The Gospel Preacher" in 1828. While
in Providence, he delivered a course of lectures in favor and in
defence of "Revealed Religion," which were issued in book form, and
are very creditable to the author, and a valuable contribution to the
Christian Evidences. Rev. James Wilson, pastor of the Broad Street
Congregational Church in Providence, had made some very severe
statements against Mr. Pickering's ministry, and advised his people by
all means to keep themselves away from it. When, however, this volume
was published, he read it attentively, and took occasion to say to his
congregation that, whereas he had warned them against the preaching of
Mr. Pickering, he wished to call their especial attention to this
book, and assured them that the reading of it would be really
profitable to them. Mr. Pickering was very agreeable in social life,
and had many warm friends. He had some severe trials in his last days,
and departed this life in Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 6, 1859.


From 1830 to 1846 Rev. GEORGE ROGERS was an active itinerant and
sometimes pastor in different States of the Union. He was at first
with the Methodists, and came into the Universalist ministry, in the
vicinity of Philadelphia, in 1830, preaching his first Universalist
sermon in the Lombard Street Church, where Rev. A. C. Thomas was
pastor. He was for a time settled in Brooklyn, Pa., then he itinerated
in the States of New York and Connecticut; and afterwards journeyed
West, and ministered to the Universalist Society in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Here the field of his labors widened indefinitely. His "Memoranda," a
volume full of incident and adventure, issued in 1845, gives us the
account of his varied experiences in city, town, country place, and
wilderness; from New England to New Orleans, from Pennsylvania to the
then farthest West, preaching the Gospel of God's impartial grace in
all available places and at all available times; holding discussions,
meeting rebuffs of bigotry and the pitiable opposition of ignorance
and sectarian hate; but in all and through all self-possessed,
patient, never losing heart in the mission on which he was persuaded
his heavenly Father had sent him. His "Memoranda" is an admirable book
for the family library.

Mr. Rogers had great aptness in adapting himself to circumstances in
his pioneer work. Sometimes a belated hearer would drop in when he was
half through a discourse, and interrupt him with the honest question
as to his text and topic, that he might better apprehend the speaker's
message; a request which the preacher would very kindly answer, and
then proceed with his discoursing. Once, when preaching in Lexington,
Ky., he was greatly disturbed by people going out after he had begun
his sermon. Suddenly stopping in his discourse, he said: "My friends,
I have always noticed that people who go out of church during service,
as a rule have more brains back of their ears than they have in front
of them; and if you don't believe it, just notice the next person that
goes out!" It is needless to say that no persons put their heads up
for examination after that.

Under similar circumstances, when once preaching in Baltimore, he
said: "My friends, if any person here tonight finds himself in better
society than he is accustomed to keep, I hope he will try to endure it
until the services are out!" As in the former instance, this sharp
rebuke was effectual.

It is seldom that profanity receives so sharp and witty a reproof as
was administered by Mr. Rogers to a Tennessee boatman. One day, when
seeking for a place where he could safely ford a small river, he
sought information from a person whom he saw upon the opposite side,
and the following dialogue ensued:--

_Rogers._--"Hollo, stranger! Can you tell me if there is any place about
here where I can safely ford?"

_Stranger._--"Go to hell!"

_Rogers._--"What is that you say?"

_Stranger._--"Go to hell!"

_Rogers._--"What? Where is that place you speak of? I am a stranger in
these parts; can I reach it tonight?"

This witty retort so amused the stranger that he courteously told Mr.
Rogers that he was the ferryman, and that if he would drive back to
the ferry he would take him across. When subsequently he offered the
ferryman the accustomed toll, it was flatly refused. "No," said the
ferryman, "I take no toll from you. You are the funniest man I ever
rowed across this drink. I take no toll from you." Thus a witty answer
turned away wrath.

He was in presence a modest, meek man, with thin voice as a speaker,
but clear and profound in his discoursing, and in religious debate
wary, keen and pointed in his reasoning, and, like Apollos, "mighty in
the Scriptures." Soon after his last visit to New England, in 1846,
his death took place in Cincinnati. Rev. A. C. Thomas, who was present
at his departure, writes: "The valley of death was radiant by reason
of the glory beyond. We conveyed his body to the quiet burial ground
in Delhi, near Cincinnati. I had introduced him to the Universalist
ministry, and it fell to my lot to deliver the funeral sermon. A
monumental obelisk was placed on his grave."


Among the active ministers of Universalism in the Southern States from
1831 to 1875 was Rev. LEWIS F. W. ANDREWS, M. D., a son of Rev. John
Andrews, an eminent minister and journalist of the Presbyterian
Church. He was favored by his father with the advantages of a
classical education, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at
Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. He practised as a physician in
Cleveland, Ohio, and in the region round about Pittsburg, Pa. His
attention was first called to the claims of Universalism on hearing a
sermon by Rev. J. C. Waldo, in Augusta, Ky. Mr. Andrews had requested
the preacher to discourse on the parable of the Sheep and Goats. He
did not suppose the minister able to give a reasonable interpretation
of it in the light of the Universalist faith. He was greatly
disappointed, however, and though he came a doubter, he remained to
accept thankfully and joyfully the doctrine of the preacher, for he
professed to have been converted by that sermon. He soon afterwards,
by the aid of Rev. Mr. Waldo, then of Cincinnati, entered the
ministry, and in 1832 became pastor of the Second Universalist Church
in Philadelphia. In 1834 he travelled extensively in the South,
visiting New Orleans, Mobile, and Montgomery. In the last-named city
he gathered a society and started the "Gospel Evangelist," a paper
which was subsequently moved to Charleston, S. C., and Dr. Andrews
became pastor of the Universalist Society in that city. In 1836-7 he
was senior editor of the "Southern Pioneer and Gospel Visitor," then
published in Baltimore, Md., it having been founded in 1832 by Rev.
O. A. Skinner. After this removal to the far South, Dr. Andrews
published the "Evangelical Universalist." Like that persistent
itinerant, George Rogers, he journeyed extensively in the Southern
States, preaching wherever a door of opportunity was opened to him.
The "Universalist Register" said of him: "In labors abundant, in long
and frequent missionary journeys, and in the midst of opposition and
great tribulations, he, like our other Southern preachers, had to
fight his way in the promulgation of the doctrine of a world's
salvation. Dr. Andrews was steadfast in his Universalism to the last.
He was generous, free-hearted, liberal, almost to a fault. His
prodigal generosity tended to improvidence. The marked trait of his
mind was activity. All he could know he grasped at a glance. Hence,
though not profound, he was ready for all encounters." He died
suddenly at his home in Americus, Ga., March 16, 1875, in the
seventy-third year of his age.


Rev. CHARLES W. MELLEN was a worthy minister and pastor in
Massachusetts for twenty-seven years. Simple and unostentatious in his
manners, he was thoroughly consecrated to his work. A clear and strong
writer and impressive speaker, his discourses were characterized by
sound sense and earnestness. He worked from love of his calling. He
was hopeful and active in the temperance and anti-slavery reforms, and
was a son of consolation in his ministries with the sorrowing,
afflicted, and bereaved, who looked to him for sympathy. He passed
from this life in Taunton, Mass., while pastor there, in 1866, aged
forty-eight.


Rev. HENRY A. EATON came into the ministry after having been a devoted
and faithful member of the Universalist Sunday-school in Malden,
Mass., during the pastorate of Rev. J. G. Adams. He was born in South
Reading (now Wakefield), Mass., Nov. 27, 1825, the youngest of seven
children, and lost his mother at an early age. He was an apt scholar,
but at sixteen was compelled to earn his livelihood, which he did by
serving in a store for two years, and afterwards by setting up for
himself in Newburyport. Resolving to enter the ministry, he left his
secular employment, and spent some time in Dr. T. J. Sawyer's
Theological Class in Clinton, N. Y., and studied also with his
brother, Rev. E. A. Eaton, until he preached his first sermon. He
first settled in Hanson, Mass., afterwards at East Bridgewater,
Milford, East Cambridge, and Waltham, Mass., and in Meriden, Conn.
Overworking and injured health compelled most of these changes, for in
each place he was much esteemed for his labors and beloved by many
friends. The illness and decease of his worthy wife, at East
Cambridge, and his devoted attention to her night and day, exhausted
his vital powers, and bronchitis, followed by haemorrhage from the
lungs, finally compelled him to abandon the ministry. He retired to
Worcester, and engaged in business for the support of himself and
children, struggling manfully with various difficulties. Having
provided for his children, and arranged all his affairs, he calmly met
death, cheered and strengthened by the unfailing hope of the Gospel,
May 26, 1861, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. He was a man of
deep consecration, of most attractive social qualities, whose memory
will be sacredly cherished by those who best knew him. His only son,
Rev. Charles H. Eaton, is the successor of Rev. Dr. Chapin in the
ministry of the Fourth Universalist Church in New York city.


Rev. W. A. P. DILLINGHAM was a son of Maine, and a graduate of the
Harvard Divinity School. He had pastoral settlements in Augusta,
Waterville, Dover, and Norridgewock, Me., and Portsmouth, N. H. For a
time he became interested in the Swedenborgian Church, and entered its
ministry, but without changing his views as to the final destiny of
men. While in this connection, he writes: "I never preached the
eternity of the hells, nor any doctrine inconsistent with the divine
benevolence, and I never heard Universalism or Universalists attacked
or spoken of in derogatory terms as to their moral influence by some
church people, without putting in a square defence of those whom I
knew only to respect, and who had treated me with a consideration
beyond my deserts." In due time he returned to his own church, with
the honest confession that he had found no better, more conscientious,
spiritual, intellectual, or tolerant people than those he had left.
While in Waterville, he represented the town for two years, and was
chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives the second year. Other
positions of public trust were held by him, all of which he honored.
He was active in business, "fervent in spirit," and devoutly
religious. Few men had better qualities for a public speaker. With a
tall, dignified, imposing presence, and a voice of extraordinary
compass, richness, and power, his speech was impressive and effective.
He was suddenly stricken down with acute pneumonia, and died in 1871,
aged forty-six.


A comparatively brief but very active ministry was that of JOHN GLASS
BARTHOLOMEW, D. D. He was born in Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y., Feb.
28, 1834. He had the benefit of a good common school and academical
education, was a lover of books and of intellectual effort. His
parents being Universalists, he was sent to the Clinton Liberal
Institute, and after a time prepared himself for the ministry. He
first preached in his native town in 1853 to great acceptance, those
who heard him being quite convinced that he had not mistaken his
calling. After preaching for a few years in Upper Lisle, Broome Co.,
in Oxford, Chenango Co., N. Y., and in the city of Aurora, Ill., he
became pastor of the Universalist Society in Roxbury, Mass., where his
ministry continued from July, 1860, to January, 1866. During this
pastorate the parish was carried prosperously through a season of
peculiar trial, and the membership of both the church and society
considerably increased. In the year last named he accepted the
invitation of the Greene Avenue Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., to become
their minister. The expectations of those who had called him were
high, and his pulpit efforts fully met them, but adverse circumstances
prevented that prosperity all were desiring. The church building was
inadequate to the occasion, and a failure to unite with a remnant of
the old "Church of the Restoration" so disheartened the minister that
he turned to a new field of work to which he had been invited in
Auburn, N. Y. His ministry here was highly successful. His influence
reached beyond the city in which he labored, rendering his work
peculiarly attractive. He subsequently removed to Syracuse, where for
some months he highly enjoyed his pastorate. His biographer, Dr. I. M.
Atwood, writes of him: "Crowds flocked to his ministrations, and he
seemed animated by extraordinary energies. But gradually he became
aware of some insidious malady repeating its attacks on his vigorous
constitution." He sought various means to master it, but in vain. Once
or twice he rallied, under new treatment and diet, and came up
surprisingly. He made a visit of two weeks to his old friends in
Roxbury and Boston, but was all the time failing, and with difficulty
reached his home in Newark, N. J., where he departed for the better
life, April 14, 1874. His mind was on his work to the last, but the
unfailing hope cheered and sustained him. He was a preacher of
remarkably magnetic power.


One of the most noted of Christian ministers in the present century
was Rev. EDWIN HUBBELL CHAPIN, D. D., LL. D., of the Universalist
Church. He was born in Union Village, Washington County, N. Y., Dec.
29, 1814, and died Dec. 26, 1880, in the city of New York. In his
childhood he became a resident, with his parents, of Vermont, where he
received his academic course of studies in Bennington. His father, a
rigid Calvinist, trained his son in the traditional theology of their
ancestors; but the creed proved too narrow for him to be satisfied
with it. In 1836, while with his father (an artist), who was on a
professional visit to Utica, N. Y., he first had access to a
collection of books teaching a more consistent interpretation of the
Scriptures, which he read with avidity. He attended the church of our
larger faith there, and in due time became convinced that Christian
Universalism was the Gospel of the New Testament. After attending to
the study of the law for a short time, he gave it up, and accepted the
position of associate editor of the "Evangelical Magazine and Gospel
Advocate." His powers as a speaker and thinker soon becoming evident,
he was urged to enter the ministry, which after much serious and
anxious reflection he concluded to do, and began his preparation
accordingly. His first sermon was delivered in a barn at Litchfield,
and he continued preaching in the vicinity until his ordination in
1837. In May, 1838, he became pastor of the "Independent Christian
Church," composed of Universalists and Unitarians, in Richmond, Va.

In 1839, on his way to the meeting of the General Convention, Mr.
Chapin attended the funeral of Rev. Thomas F. King, at the
Universalist Church in Charlestown, Mass., where Mr. King had been
pastor. Complying with an invitation to preach in the church in the
evening, the result was an invitation for him to supply the pulpit for
three months. In December, 1840, he was installed as pastor there. He
was next invited to become colleague of the venerable Hosea Ballou, in
the School Street Church, Boston, and was installed there Nov. 28,
1845. Finally, he became pastor of the Fourth New York Society, and
remained so until his death. He first occupied the pulpit of the
Murray Street Church, but this proving too small, the society moved to
All Souls Church in Broadway, where it grew to such proportions that a
new and costly edifice was erected at the corner of Fifth Avenue and
Forty-fifth Street, dedicated Dec. 2, 1866, and named the "Church of
the Divine Paternity." During the years of his matured strength he
ministered to his people, while thousands of every name and creed came
from near and far to listen to his eloquent words. Here on Palm
Sunday, March 21, 1880, he preached the last time on earth. And here
on December 30 was gathered the most august assembly that ever sought
to honor the memory of an American clergyman, every Christian sect of
the city being represented at the altar by its ablest divines, while
great numbers of men and women of all denominations turned away unable
to gain admittance to his obsequies. In the other churches where he
had been pastor, memorial services were held.

The public life of Dr. Chapin was one of incessant action. He was not
merely a church preacher. As another has written of him:--

  "His was a divided throne between the pulpit and the platform. For
  many years he was active in the temperance and other reforms, and
  his magnetic eloquence made him sought by all associations of the
  kind that desired the presence of a crowd and a stirring and
  persuasive appeal. Then for five-and-twenty years he was one of the
  most prominent of a long catalogue of lecturers whom every lyceum
  must hear."[47]

In his memorial address in Boston, Dr. Miner thus alluded to the
aptness and force of his appeals:--

  "I remember on one occasion, in the suburbs of Boston, when, after
  discussing in a somewhat general way the great waste occasioned by
  intemperance, he asked his auditory to reflect upon the waste that
  would be involved in gathering up the cereals of the Commonwealth,
  converting them into whiskey, taking the whiskey down to the end of
  Long Wharf, knocking in the heads of the barrels, and spilling the
  whole into the dock; and, said he, 'would it be any less a waste if
  you were to strain that whiskey through human stomachs, and spoil
  the strainer?' What more telling exhibition of the vital diabolism
  of the whole business of making and drinking whiskey than is
  involved in that simple illustration."

The address of Dr. Chapin before the Peace Congress at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1850, surpassing every other of the occasion
in eloquence and power, made his name known through Europe, and placed
him among the greatest orators in the world. His religious character
was deep and strong, an embodiment of consecration to Christian
principle.

The volumes containing Dr. Chapin's sermons, orations, and addresses
are so many, and their character in substance and style so uniformly
attractive, that we hardly dare venture on quotations from them, even
if space were allowed us. As a specimen, however, we present his
strong and glowing words in conclusion of his Fourth of July oration,
in 1854, at the Crystal Palace, in New York city.

  "Men constitute eras. Washington himself was the embodiment of the
  Revolution, and may fitly personate to other men and other ages the
  principles of that movement. But let not even the greatness of
  Washington overshadow the merits of the least of those who labored
  and sacrificed in that early struggle. Come up before us to-day from
  many a battle-ground, from many a post of duty; from the perilous
  enterprise and the lonely night-watch! The pageant of this hour
  sinks from my sight. This temple of industry, with all its emblems
  of civilization, dissolves into thin air. These tokens of a great
  and prosperous people pass away. This magnificent city dwindles to a
  provincial town. I am standing now upon some village green, on an
  early summer morning, when the dew is on the grass, and the sun just
  tips the hills. I see before me a little band clothed in the garb
  that is now so venerable. There are the cocked hat, the continental
  coat, the well-worn musket. They have turned away from their homes;
  they have turned from the fields of their toil; they have heard the
  great call of freedom and of duty, and before God and man they are
  ready. Hark! it is the tap of a drum, and they move forward to the
  tremendous issue. That drum-beat echoes around the world! That
  movement was the march of an irresistible Idea--the Idea of the
  spiritual worth and the inalienable rights of every man; out of
  which grow the stability of nations, and the unity of the world."

A more positive and thorough expositor of the doctrine of Universalism
could not be heard from the pulpit than Dr. Chapin. This has been
acknowledged on all hands by those who were most constant and
attentive listeners to him. But the great aim of his ministry was to
make men know and feel the power of the inner life of the Gospel. He
distinctly states this in the first published volume of his
discourses:--

  "The great end of preaching is to reform the life, to reconcile man
  to duty and to God. The great principle to be propagated and
  established in the souls of men is not this or that particular
  _ism_, but the spirit of Christ. Without this no denomination
  can be right, no society can flourish, no soul can live."

Mr. Chapin was a poet as well as an orator. Some of his hymns, long
used in our church services, are of great merit, having the beauty of
Moore with the spiritual fervor of Charles Wesley. The writer takes
pleasure in transcribing one of them for these pages, which was
written from a sense of duty, and at the close of a very hot day in
July, when we had been very diligently at work on the new Hymn Book,
compiled by us jointly for Mr. Abel Tompkins, publisher, in 1845. We
were about to make up the last package of matter for the press. The
writer had prepared one or two hymns expressly for the book, while
such of Mr. Chapin's as had a place in it, were selected from papers
and church service programmes of the time. He was urged to write one
then wanted for the miscellaneous department of the book, the subject
to be, "During or After a Destructive Storm." Wearied as he was, he
consented, and standing at the desk, wholly absorbed in his theme,
soon brought out the following, which speaks for itself:--

  "Amid surrounding gloom and waste,
    From nature's face we flee,
  And in our fear and wonder haste,
    O nature's Life, to thee!
  Thy ways are in the mighty deep,
    In tempests as they blow;
  In floods that o'er our treasures sweep;
    The lightning and the snow.

  "Though earth upon its axis reels,
    And heaven is veiled in wrath,
  Not one of nature's million wheels
    Breaks its appointed path.
  Fixed in thy grasp, the sources meet
    Of beauty and of awe;
  In storm or calm, all pulses beat
    True to the central law.

  "Thou art that law, whose will thus done,
    In seeming wreck and blight,
  Sends the calm planets round the sun,
    And pours the moon's soft light.
  We trust thy love; thou best dost know
    The universal peace,
  How long the stormy force should blow,
    And when the flood should cease.

  "And though around our path some form
    Of mystery ever lies,
  And life is like the calm and storm
    That checker earth and skies,--
  Through all its mingling joy and dread,
    Permit us, Holy One,
  By faith to see the golden thread
    Of thy great purpose run."

The closing of the life of this eminent man was in accordance with his
whole ministry. At his funeral services in the Church of the Divine
Paternity, Rev. Dr. Armitage, of New York city, in a most impressive
address to the congregation, took occasion to speak of an interview
with him in his extreme weakness:--

  "'Doctor, do you realize now the sweetness of the promise of Christ
  in your broken condition?' He looked at me with the simplicity of a
  babe; but I saw a tear moisten his eye and a little tremulousness
  mingled with his voice, and he said, 'My dear brother, what should I
  do without Christ. Christ is everything to me now.' So he spoke of
  the loving Redeemer. I said, 'Well, then, may I have this
  consolation, Doctor, of knowing that you, who have been in the
  ministry so long, labored so hard, done so much to lift up other
  minds and pour consolation into disconsolate hearts, that you to-day
  realize the same breadth and fulness and sweetness of consolation in
  Christ that you have ministered to others?' He simply made this
  answer: 'Doctor, Christ to me is all in all.'

  "I asked him if it would be pleasant to have a word of prayer. He
  made an effort to rise, as if he greeted the proposition with great
  joy. I said, 'No, Doctor, you can't rise; do nothing; lie quietly,
  and I will kneel at your side with my hands in yours. Let us give
  each other to God our Father to-day.' He said, 'Well, we will.' I
  bent at his side, and with such simplicity and brotherly love and
  confidence in God as I could summon, sought the blessing of heaven
  upon him. He joined in the prayer; he buried his brow in one hand,
  and held my hand with the other. He seemed to glow with love. I
  asked the Lord to give him strength, and, if possible, to spare him
  to the church, and presented those wishes at the Throne of Grace
  which any of your hearts would prompt under similar circumstances.
  At the close of a brief prayer, as I said, 'Lord, Lord, grant these
  things to thy servant, for Jesus Christ's sake,' holding my hand
  with a firm grip, and lifting up his eyes towards heaven, in the
  same ringing, fervent, strong voice that you have heard so often
  from his lips, his whole nature said, 'Amen.'"

In 1856 Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary degree of
Doctor of Divinity, and Tufts College that of Doctor of Laws in
1878.[48]


During twenty-five years Rev. JOSEPH D. PIERCE was pastor of the
Universalist Church in North Attleboro, Mass. He was born in North
Scituate, Mass., Nov. 15, 1815, and died in North Attleboro, Nov. 16,
1880. During his minority his educational advantages were limited to
the public schools. After serving an apprenticeship as a carpenter, he
entered the Derby Academy in Hingham. He taught in the public schools,
devoting his leisure to reading and study. Resolved on entering the
ministry, he began his preparatory studies with Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d,
in Medford, Mass. His first sermon was preached in East Boston, in
1839. He then supplied the pulpits in South Dedham and East Boston for
a year, and was ordained in 1841. He was first settled at Hartland,
Vt., where he also taught school, remaining until May, 1845, when he
was called to North Attleboro. After a pastorate here of one year,
failing health induced him to abandon regular preaching and engage in
teaching. He became principal of the Attleboro Academy, continuing to
some extent his pastoral work, and occasionally supplying at West
Wrentham. In 1850 he took charge of the Universalist parish in
Claremont, N. H., where he preached, teaching school also most of the
time for five years. He also served as a member of the school
committee in that town, and discharged the duties of his office with
such marked ability and benefit to the schools that, upon hearing of
his intent to remove to Massachusetts, a deacon of the Baptist Church
said, "We cannot get along without him." By a unanimous invitation
from the parish in North Attleboro, he was again settled there in
1855, where he remained until his death. He was representative of
Attleboro in the State Legislature for 1868, and served his
constituents with credit. He was an untiring student, logical in
thought and method, and an effective preacher. He had great modesty,
and never sought for oratorical display. His heart and hand were given
to every good work. He was feeble in health, and endured much physical
suffering. He once said that he had not known a waking hour free from
pain for fifteen years, yet his religious trust and unsubdued spirit
sustained him through a life of unremitting toil.


Rev. THOMAS J. CARNEY, of Dresden, Me., was a minister of varied
experiences, and a useful laborer in the Gospel field. He was taught
the gospel of universal grace and salvation in the home of his
childhood. He travelled over the States extensively in youth, and
visited the West Indies, and afterwards studied for the ministry. The
last years of his life were spent as pastor and missionary in
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He extended his journeyings and
missionary work to Missouri and Kansas, and visited New Mexico. He was
a man of strong convictions, and an earnest advocate of the doctrine
which he loved. He made many friends, and well deserved them. Four
church edifices are standing as monuments of his faithfulness. He was
fatally injured by a fall from his horse, and died at Buffalo, Ill.,
in 1871. His wife was, before her marriage, Miss Julia A. Fletcher, a
well known and very acceptable writer in our church and to the public.


Rev. JAMES MUNROE COOK was born in Marcellus, Onondaga County, N. Y.,
Nov. 24, 1818. He was a favorite in the family circle, and kindly
regarded by his schoolmates and teachers. At an early age he was a
diligent student of the Scriptures, and before he was fifteen years of
age was not unfrequently engaged in defending the doctrine which he
afterwards preached, and laboring to show to unbelievers its
consistency and attractiveness.

In 1837 he came to Rochester, N. Y., and commenced his studies for the
ministry with Rev. George Sanderson. He was a diligent student, and
had a remarkably retentive memory. His first sermon was preached in
Gates, near Rochester, in October, 1837. He had pastorates in Chili,
Churchville, Perrinton, and Victor, N. Y. In November, 1845, he
entered upon his duties as pastor of the Second Universalist Society
in Providence, R. I. Through discouraging circumstances in the
beginning of his work here, he went forward with great faith and
earnestness, and realized a successful ministry. His pastorate in
Providence continued four years, when, in November, 1849, he took
charge of the Universalist Society in Baltimore, Md. His good
reputation in Providence had preceded him, and he was warmly welcomed
by his new friends. They were highly pleased with his pulpit
ministries, and the services in the church were well attended, and his
popularity in the city was increasing. But the society had a heavy
debt upon it, and looked to Mr. Cook as the chief instrumentality in
the removal of it. He saw what was before him, and realized the
discouraging magnitude of the work. But he would not shrink from what
was expected of him, and entered upon the effort with a bravery that
overcame all obstacles, and secured the end desired,--the removal of
the debt. But, alas! the strain had been too great; his strength gave
way, and in the midst of his usefulness he was called to the higher
life. He died in calm resignation, and in strongest hope of entering
his final and immortal home.

Of his ministry, Rev. Dr. Thomas Whittemore, at the time of his death,
in 1850, wrote:--

  "As a preacher he excelled in certain respects. He was a man to move
  the masses. He spoke without writing, and delivered his message of
  divine truth with great power. He aimed not at elegant words and
  polished sentences, but to speak the truth in demonstration of the
  spirit. He aimed to reach the heart. He would keep the attention of
  a thousand people fixed intently upon his theme through a long
  discourse. His sermon, delivered in the Warren Street Church, during
  the session of the United States Convention in Boston, in 1845, is
  an illustration of the truth of what we say. There an immense
  auditory listened to him with the greatest interest for a long time,
  for they were unconscious of its rapid flight. They caught his
  feelings, they rejoiced with him, they wept with him, and at the
  close the general expression of the people was, '_that_ was the
  Gospel, _that_ came from the preacher's heart and reached our
  hearts.'"

Cut off in the midst of his years, his memory is a blessing for what
he was enabled during his short life to accomplish.

[47] Rev. Dr. T. J. Sawyer.

[48] For a more particular acquaintance with the life and character of
Dr. Chapin, the reader is referred to the excellent Memoir of him by
Rev. S. Ellis, D. D., just issued by the Universalist Publishing House.




CHAPTER XVII.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  "As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
  hand."--JESUS.


A fervent and devoted servant of the Christian Master was Rev.
A. W. BRUCE. Born in Bennington, Vt., he was taught the
Methodist faith, and held it until his nineteenth year, when by his
own diligent investigations he became a believer in Universalism.
After practising as a physician for a short time, he entered the
ministry, and became an indefatigable and successful worker therein.
He was ordained in 1843, had settlements in New England and in three
of the Western States, and died in Lafayette, Ind. in 1871, leaving a
good name in the churches and with all who knew of his work for human
reform, and were co-operators with him.


Rev. FREDERICK A. HODSDON was a native of Berwick, Me. In his
childhood his parents removed to Kenduskeag, where his early years
were mostly spent. When but eighteen years of age, he was the subject
of religious impressions, and gave himself by personal consecration to
the service of Christ. He became a Universalist in spirit as well as
in belief, and resolved to devote his life to the ministry. He was a
student with Rev. J. B. Dods and Rev. S. Cobb, D. D. His first
settlement was in Readfield, Me., his next in Danvers, Mass., his
third in Goffstown, N. H., and from his labors here there came the
church now existing in Manchester. He was next in Kenduskeag, his old
home, where he purchased a place of residence, and was for a time
pastor of the society there. In 1839 he preached the sermon at the
dedication of the Universalist church in Belfast, and was unanimously
invited to become pastor of the society; but was obliged to decline on
account of previous engagements. A few years after he accepted a
second invitation to the place, where his ministry was very
prosperous. In 1849 he acted as General Agent for the Maine
Universalist Missionary, Educational, and Tract Societies. In 1850 he
accepted a call to New Haven, Conn., where his labors were highly
successful. Failing health compelled him to resign his charge, and
return to his home in Maine. He did not however, relinquish the work
of the ministry, but preached at times in different places, until, on
recovering his strength, he was induced to become again minister of
the society in Belfast, where he continued for most of the time until
he was obliged to abandon the active work of his calling. He was for a
little time Chaplain of the 24th Maine Regiment, and minister to the
Second Society in Portland. Before his departure he had a long and
painful sickness, through which his strong faith sustained him. He
died Aug. 19, 1869, aged 64 years.

Mr. Hodsdon was one of the most faithful and honored of our ministers.
His convictions were strong, his motives the purest, his preaching
clear, earnest, and convincing. A devout man himself, he made others
devout and prayerful. The cause of vital religion prospered under his
ministry. Of attractive and commanding personal appearance, courteous
in manners and Christian in spirit, he won the hearts of old and
young, and made hosts of friends wherever he resided or was known. The
savor of his noble life still lingers in the churches which enjoyed
his ministrations.


Rev. EZEKIEL W. COFFIN was one of the truly faithful of the
ministerial fraternity. He came from Gilead, Me., where he was born
August 14, 1810. His parents were Methodists, but in his youth his
attention was called to the doctrines of Universalism by the preaching
of Rev. Sylvanus Cobb. He afterwards resolved to devote himself to the
ministry. He was a student with Rev. Mr. Averill of Eddington, Me.,
and was ordained June, 1840. He was first settled at Centre Harbor,
N. H., for four years; then at Weymouth, Mass., then at Canton St.
Church, Boston; afterwards at North Attleboro, Annisquam, Beverly and
Shirley, Mass., Jaffrey, N. H., Bryant's Pond, Me., Orange, Mass.,
West Concord, Vt., and Bernardston, Mass. His ministerial life
included about forty-three years.

Those who knew Mr. Coffin bear ample testimony to his many excellent
traits, both as a minister and a man; that he lived the doctrine which
he taught, and that in his last sickness "he gave the whole community
a lesson of patience and resignation in suffering." His illness
extended over a period of three and a half years, and was very
painful; but he never lost his faith and courage. After he had become
so helpless that he could not walk, or even stand, he still continued
his work. Faithful friends bore him in his chair to the pulpit on each
returning Sunday, and for more than two years he thus,--like Father
Murray in his last preaching days,--delivered his testimony while
sitting. Weak in body, but strong and upraised in spirit, he gave his
testimony to his people inspired with that glorious apostolic
assurance, "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this
is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you."


Rev. EDWARD AUGUSTUS DREW was for a few years a useful minister. He
was born in Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 22, 1845, and died in Lynn, Mass.,
Oct. 11, 1874, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. He was very
studious from early life. Graduating from the High School in his
native town, he entered Tufts College in the autumn of 1863. To assist
in defraying his expenses, he was obliged to teach during the winters,
and by his ambition and perseverance he took many prizes, besides
graduating at the head of the class of 1867. He then became a teacher
of the ancient languages in the Medford (Mass.) High School, where he
remained two years. In 1869 he became Principal of the Green Mountain
Institute, now known as the Green Mountain Perkins Academy, at South
Woodstock, Vt. He afterwards took the position of Chase Classical
Instructor at Dean Academy, which he occupied until the summer of
1871, when the conviction that he should enter the ministry induced
him to enter Tufts Divinity School, where he graduated in June, 1872.
He was first settled as pastor of the Universalist Church in
Newburyport, Mass., and in one year afterwards became pastor of the
Second Universalist Society in Lynn, where he remained until his
death. His labors were blessed with excellent results, but his course
was impeded by failing health. Another has written of him:--

  "He was highly appreciated and esteemed as a preacher of the Gospel.
  His manner was pleasing, his language well chosen, his thoughts
  clearly presented, his illustrations appropriate, often the fruit of
  his scholarly reading and taste; and there was a blending of the
  doctrinal, practical, and spiritual in his discourses that made his
  preaching both instructive and inspiring, and adapted to interest
  and benefit all classes of hearers. Outside of his own church he was
  greatly esteemed and beloved."


Rev. NORRIS COLEMAN HODGDON was born in Epping, N. H., Aug. 22, 1818.
His means of education in the beginning of life were limited, but he
was fond of books and study, and earnest and persevering in his search
for knowledge. After becoming a conscientious believer in the faith of
Universalism, he made every effort to strengthen his own convictions,
and to awaken the attention of others to the claims of Christian
truth. He preached his first sermon July 23, 1841. He then preached a
short time in Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn;
went to Maine in 1843, and was ordained in Paris, December 28, of the
same year. He preached in that vicinity for a short time, and then
awhile in Ludlow, Vt. He was afterwards settled in East Randolph,
Chester, Jacksonville, and Vernon, Vt., in Kingston, N. H., Harvard,
South Dedham, Marlborough, and Foxborough, Mass. His last settlement
was for one year in Pittsfield, Me. While living in Vernon, Vt., he
compiled and published a book called "A Denominational Offering from
the Literature of Universalism." It contains extracts from different
writers in exposition and enforcement of the doctrine and spirit of
Universalism, and has been well received. While attending a meeting
near Wilton, Me., in 1877, he was stricken with paralysis, from which
he rallied, and was able for a while to read and write and visit his
friends. He moved to Benton after his illness, where he passed the
last years of his life. He was a faithful, earnest man and minister.


Rev. S. P. LANDERS, of Central New York, entered the ministry in 1836.
He was for a little time in Andover, Mass., and in 1841 began his work
as pastor in Worcester, where he laid the foundation of the
Universalist church in that city. He afterwards resided in West
Cambridge (now Arlington), preaching on Sundays, and devoting his
other time chiefly to his favorite pursuit, horticulture, and to the
interests of a private seminary established by members of his own
household. He was highly esteemed for his many virtues. "His whole
family," writes his daughter, "are Universalists, and have been since
Universalism as such has been known in the land. In his native town
(Afton, N. Y.) half the Universalists are named Landers, or are
related to them."


Rev. JOHN NICHOLS, of Cohasset, Mass., had pastorates in different
places in Massachusetts, and in Claremont, N. H. He was pastor in
Holliston nine and in Beverly ten years, and while in the former place
represented the town in the Legislature of 1848-9. He was a
pure-minded, warm-hearted, toiling man. In every one of his
settlements he wrought a good work, and the influence of his character
and deeds made not only the minister, but the cause he represented,
respected. He was in sympathy with every moral reform, but was called
suddenly away. While preaching his last discourse in Beverly, he was
stricken with paralysis, from which he never recovered, his farewell
sermon being thus his farewell to earthly scenes.


Rev. ROBERT KILLAM was another faithful, modest, and earnest man.
His pastorates were in three considerable towns in Massachusetts. He
closed his earthly work in West Scituate in 1866, aged seventy-six. He
was a Bible Christian, a plain and clear expositor, practical in his
preaching as in his daily conduct. Another writes of him: "He early
saw and illustrated the duty of applying the Gospel to all the affairs
of life. He joined the advancing hosts in the grave questions which
have convulsed the nation, his countenance aglow with youthful fire
when he argued the equal rights of man."


Rev. CHARLES HENRY WEBSTER was born in Georgetown, Mass., Dec. 5,
1817. He was from early life fond of books and study, and determined
if possible to obtain a liberal education. But at the age of eighteen,
while attending school at Bradford (Mass.) Academy, he was
accidentally injured in one of his eyes, and did not fully recover for
some years. He was afterwards able to prepare for the ministry at
Clinton, N. Y., and was first settled at Beverly, Mass.; afterwards at
East Lexington, South Dedham, East Boston, Chicopee, Mass.; at Auburn
and Lewiston, Me.; at Collinsville and Granby, Conn. At the last-named
place he lived nine years, acting for two years as State Missionary.
In December, 1864, he was appointed chaplain of the 29th Maine
Regiment, and served to the close of the war. His son, a young man of
much promise, died of wounds received in the service. Mr. Webster's
first wife was Miss Mary Buckminster, of Georgetown, Mass.; his
second, Mrs. M. C. Granniss, a lady long and favorably known to the
denomination by her contributions to the "Ladies' Repository" and
other periodicals. Upon his second marriage he went into secular
business, still continuing to preach as opportunity offered. He died
of pneumonia, after great suffering, March 8, 1877, in his sixtieth
year. He was one of the true and brave spirits who endured obloquy and
repudiation by family and friends because of his fidelity to his
religious convictions, and was made more than victor in his persistent
and devoted life.


Rev. ASA P. CLEVERLY did good service in the ministry. Ordained in
1834, he became the pastor of societies in Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. He had not the wide recognition of some ministers, but his
character was pure, and the best results of faithful Christian
exertion were found in every parish in which he labored. The pastors
following him had cause to speak in praise of the good works of their
predecessor. He died in Boston in 1871, aged sixty-four.


Rev. THOMAS J. WHITCOMB was born in Hanover, Mass., June 4, 1801, and
died in Canisteo, Steuben County, N. Y., Feb. 9, 1877. He attended for
a while the academy in the neighboring town of Hingham, and studied
for the ministry with Rev. Paul Dean, in Boston. He was ordained in
Washington, N. H., in June, 1827. In 1830 he was at Hudson, N. Y., and
was afterwards located at Schenectady, Victor, Cortland, Newport,
Springville, Buffalo, and Alexander, N. Y., and, in 1844-46, at
Hightstown, N. J. In 1868 he went to live in Cambridgeboro', Crawford
County, Pa., where he resided four years. He then removed to Canisteo,
and remained there until his death. He has left an excellent name as a
citizen, minister, and pastor. Rev. Dr. Le Fevre, who knew him well,
says:--

  "Brother Whitcomb was not what is termed a sensational preacher, nor
  did he possess rhetorical powers, but he was a good preacher, and
  left on his hearers the conviction of his earnestness and
  devotedness. As a disciple of the Master, he followed his direction
  'Go preach the Gospel!' That was the sum and substance of his
  message. In his pastoral relationship he was very efficient."


Rev. GEORGE W. WHITNEY, born in Nashua, N. H., March 27, 1843, was
another of our worthy ministers called away from his earthly work in
the prime of his usefulness. He received his early religious training
in the Congregational Church, when after his eighteenth year becoming
an attendant at the Universalist Church, of which Rev. J. O. Skinner
was pastor, he embraced the doctrines there taught, and subsequently
entered upon the study of divinity. His first sermon was preached on
the day of his majority, at West Windsor, Vt., where he preached part
of the time in 1865. He was afterwards located as pastor in
Westminster, Beverly, and Quincy, Mass., and in 1878 assumed the
pastorate of the parish in Augusta, Me., remaining here until the
progress of his disease (consumption) forced him to resign. He
preached his last sermon Jan. 9, 1881, concluding a rich and
successful ministry. He had the inborn elements of a Christian
minister. He was a logical, ready, and gifted speaker, but his great
strength lay in his earnest and sympathetic nature, which found out
the best qualities in his hearers and roused them to action. When
conscious that his life-work was ended, he saw the approach of death
with calmness; his sufferings seemed but to develop greater
spirituality. In one of his last letters to a friend, he says: "Never
until these days of trial and sickness has the spiritual and divine
been so real, or my faith in another life so strong." He died in
Waltham, Mass., May 26, 1881.


Rev. ROBINSON BREARE came into our ministry from England. He was in
early life a member of the Wesleyan Church there. In 1832 he was
inducted into the ministry of that church, having been examined by the
Rev. Richard Watson, the author of Watson's "Institutes." In 1839 he
was sent as a missionary to Halifax, N. S. In 1841, while engaged in
the work of a revival in his church, a Universalist book was put into
his hands, and after a careful reading of it, and long and prayerful
inquiry and meditation, he became a believer in the Gospel of God's
impartial grace and salvation. And there in Halifax, in the face of
persecution by his former parishioners, in spite of the severance of
all former friendships, he began, in painfulness and trial, the work
of building up the Universalist Church. From that time, the work has
gone steadily forward. Our church in Halifax is as true and
substantial as any that exists in the Province.

Mr. Breare remained in Halifax until the first church was built. He
then came to Massachusetts, where he labored from 1844 to 1853. In
this last-named year he came to Ohio, where he successfully canvassed
for the "Star in the West." Afterwards, for two years, he was employed
as missionary by the Ballou Association. In 1856 he came into Gallia
County, where he lived during the remainder of his days, having his
home at last in Wilkesville, Vinton County. He was loved and honored
wherever known, and no man, it would seem, could have had a more
complete consecration than he to the Christian cause. With his
immovable faith in Universalism, he united the enlightened and fervent
zeal of a true Christian revivalist.




CHAPTER XVIII.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.

  Workman of God! O lose not heart,
    But learn what God is like;
  And in the darkest battle-field
    Thou shalt know where to strike.

  LYRA CATHOLICA.


Rev. Zadoc H. Howe, of Maine, after receiving an academical education in
Readfield, Me., prepared for the ministry, and was ordained in 1846.
After a service of some years in his native State, he removed to
Monroe, Madison County, Wis., where, after preaching a year and a
half, he was compelled by failing health to suspend his labors. A
severe bronchial trouble, making public speaking difficult, was the
cause of frequent removals. For the last six or seven years of his
life he was postmaster of Monroe. During the war of the Rebellion he
was appointed chaplain of the 5th Wisconsin regiment, but was obliged
after a few months to resign. He was a gentle and pure-souled man,
with keen intellectual powers. One who knew him well, has written of
him:--

  "In theology, as in his theories of reform in general, he was very
  radical, holding firmly and conscientiously to the naturalistic
  views of the so-called liberal wing of the theologians, and did not
  feel himself in complete harmony with the policy of the Universalist
  denomination. Yet embracing with his whole heart its fundamental and
  distinguishing tenets, his soul was all aflame with noble and
  generous impulses."


Rev. WILLARD C. GEORGE was one of the preachers of Maine, having had
pastorates there in Bremen, Dresden, and Calais. He was one of the
most modest of men, of feeble voice, but a speaker who was very
acceptable to his hearers, because of the good thoughts brought out in
his discoursing. Convinced that his health required a change of
occupation, he adopted the medical profession, making a visit to
Europe to gain information from foreign sources that might aid him in
his new vocation. On his return home he published a book of his
travels and observations abroad. He was a successful practitioner in
several places, and finally returned to his native town, Norway, Me.,
where he died in October, 1869, aged fifty-seven. He was not only a
sound theologian, but was well versed in the physical sciences, upon
which he frequently lectured. He never abandoned his purpose to return
to the ministry as soon as his health would allow. He was a devoted
Christian, and gave his life to much of the good work which
Christianity requires.


Rev. MARK POWERS began his preparation for the ministry with Rev.
L. H. Tabor, then of West Charleston, Vt., in February, 1854, and in
July, 1855, was ordained at Washington, Vt., where for four years he
lived, preaching there and at Strafford, twenty miles distant. He
afterwards removed to Strafford, where he continued to preach for six
years, making in all ten years of labor in the latter place. He then
removed to Gaysville, Vt., where he continued for four years, and from
thence to West Concord, which was his last settlement. In Strafford he
induced the Universalists to buy out the Free Will Baptists, who
claimed to own one half of the meeting-house, and to repair it, and
was thus instrumental in giving them a house of their own, and freeing
them from the constant annoyance to which a union house had subjected
them. Essentially the same thing was accomplished while he lived in
Gaysville, while the effort there resulted also in a better edifice.
In West Concord, his ministry, though short, was successful. His
sermons were sound, his spirit excellent, and the result of his
teaching every way good. In the autumn of 1870 Mr. Powers attended the
Centenary Convention at Gloucester, Mass., where he was taken with a
haemorrhage of the lungs from which he never recovered. He died in
June, 1872.


Rev. LEWIS LEONARD RECORD was born in Minot (afterwards Auburn), Me.
He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1845. In 1850 he was ordained, and
was settled as a preacher in Houlton, Me., in Scituate and Anisquam,
Mass. In 1863 he went into the army as chaplain of the 23d
Massachusetts regiment of volunteers, and served eleven months. While
with the army in North Carolina he was attacked with the yellow fever,
from the effects of which he never recovered. When his strength was
somewhat restored, he engaged in missionary work, and did good
service, especially in Biddeford and Saco, Me., preparing the way for
a new house of worship in that locality. In 1870 he moved to
Marlboro', N. H., where he labored earnestly and successfully until
July, 1871, when he was compelled to desist from labor, and from that
date he steadily declined until his death, which took place in
Marlboro, Dec. 7, 1871, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. At his
burial the clergymen of different denominations in the town acted as
pall-bearers. He was highly respected, and his whole being was
consecrated to the cause of the Gospel.


Rev. HENRY H. BAKER was born in Minot, Me., Nov. 24, 1811, and died
of paralysis in Rochester, N. Y., Sept. 28, 1881. He was aided by
friends in obtaining an education with the expectation that he would
become a Methodist preacher; but being converted to Universalism in
his school days, he was unable to comply with their wishes, and
desired to enter the ministry of his newly-adopted faith. Being
restrained from this by the fear of alienating his friends, he
determined to study medicine; but after devoting a year to this, he
yielded to his stronger impulse, and by advice of Rev. D. T. Stevens,
then of Lewiston Falls, Me., abandoned medicine and began the study of
divinity. He was ordained in 1841. His first pastorate was over the
societies of Windham and Gray, Me., where he preached on alternate
Sundays for two years. He was afterwards settled over the parishes in
Elliot and Kittery, Me., in Essex and Georgetown, Mass., in Ludlow,
Vt., in Hammond, Fort Plain, St. Johnsville, Fordsbush, Argusville,
and other neighboring towns, N. Y., one year in Orange, Mass., and six
years in Middleport, N. Y. After this he lived in Rochester and
preached in Conesas, when his health declined, and he preached only
occasionally as his health would permit. He was a member of the
Massachusetts Legislature from Georgetown while he lived there in the
winter of 1850-1. He was an earnest, sincere, and faithful servant of
the Christian Master.


Rev. JAMES W. FORD was born in Orford, N. H., in 1796, and died at
Kendall's Mills, Me., Dec. 16, 1861, aged sixty-five. He was educated
for the medical profession, and gained a good reputation as a
physician, having served in that capacity in Westbrook and Waterville,
Me. His love of Universalism, however, gradually led him into the
ministry. He appears as a new minister in 1841, at Claremont, N. H. He
was at Morristown, Vt., from 1842 to 1844; at Glover, Vt., 1844 to
1847; at Winchester, N. H., 1847 to 1851; at Springfield, Vt., 1851;
at Springfield, Mass., 1852 and 1853; at Holyoke, Mass., 1854-5; at
Norway, Me., 1856 to 1860; at Kendall's Mills from 1860 until his
decease. Wherever he resided he was respected as a physician and
minister. After an illness of several months he passed away quietly
and peacefully, leaving a family and numerous friends to cherish his
memory. He was buried with Masonic honors, and two Methodist clergymen
assisted in the funeral services.


Rev. E. H. LAKE was born in Haverhill, Mass., and moved to Lynn when
fifteen years old. He soon became constant at church and active in
conference meetings. In 1839, when only seventeen, he commenced
preparing for the ministry, and soon after began preaching in
school-houses in the surrounding towns. He was afterwards settled
successively in Middleton and Bridgewater, Mass., and East Kingston
and Westmoreland, N. H. About 1850 he removed to South Carolina on
account of failing health, and travelled extensively in that State,
North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. He wrote
much for the Universalist paper of that region, held several public
discussions, published a book, and did the full work of a very strong
man. He was a ready speaker, earnest, keen, yet pleasant, and had a
retentive memory. He was difficult to manage in controversy, but was
always orderly, respectful, and kind to his opponent. He had purchased
a small farm of 100 acres in Magnolia, N. C., where he resided with
his family. He had seemed to be on the borders of the grave with
consumption for two years, but still kept actively engaged in his
profession, and died while on a visit to Rev. A. Bosserman, then just
released from prison in Richmond, in the autumn of 1862, aged about
forty years.


Rev. L. B. MASON died in May, 1864, in Madison, Wis. He was favorably
known as a minister and highly esteemed in New England. He was at one
time pastor of the Second Universalist Church in Lowell, Mass. From
this city he moved to Haverhill, Mass., and was pastor of the
Universalist Church in that place several years. From Haverhill he was
called to the pastorate of St. Paul's Church in Chicago. He became
proprietor and editor of the "New Covenant," and conducted the paper
with much ability and discretion. After the breaking out of the
Rebellion, he became chaplain of the 12th Wisconsin Regiment, but the
hardships and exposure incident to the position were too much for his
frail constitution, and he was compelled to resign his office in the
autumn of 1863, after having faithfully served his regiment from the
day of its organization. His men loved him devotedly, and testified to
his faithfulness as a chaplain. But he came home quite broken in
health, though afterwards preaching and working when many men of
feebler determination would have been utterly discouraged. On one or
two occasions he fainted in the pulpit when officiating, but still
persisted in his work till within a few weeks of his decease.


Rev. LAFAYETTE BARSTOW died in Orono, Me., Nov. 10, 1865, aged
forty-three years. In his youth he was connected with the Universalist
Church in Chicopee, Mass., where he won the confidence and respect of
his brethren. In 1850 he went to Oregon, where he remained several
years. Returning to the East, he entered Tufts College, and was
afterwards called to the pastorship of the Universalist Society in
Orono, Me., where he labored with diligence and success for eight
years, closing his only pastorate with his earthly life. Ex-Governor
Washburn, for several years one of his parishioners, wrote in regard
to his death and the loss to the Orono Society and to the
denomination:--

  "In the community where he lived his place will not be easily
  supplied. He had become, as it were, an integral part of the life of
  Orono. His well-known form will be missed upon the street, the light
  of his genial face, radiant with spiritual beauty, will be a joy in
  its homes no more, but his memory will be sweet and precious to all,
  of whatever religious name or party, who have known him intimately."


Rev. STILLMAN BARDEN was a fervent and devout man. Born in Stoddard,
N. H., he commenced his ministry in 1839, and labored with but little
cessation for twenty-six years. Most of his ministry was in
Massachusetts. He was settled as pastor in South Reading, Orleans,
Beverly, Marblehead, and Rockport. His whole ministerial, domestic and
social life, was one of Christian fidelity. Not preaching to large
congregations of people, never receiving a large salary, he was,
nevertheless, truly successful in securing the best results of the
ministry. His religion was intensely practical. He was active in the
cause of Temperance, and the Anti-slavery cause had not a well-wisher
more ardent or conscientious. He loved the prayer and conference
meeting, and was always ready with a warm and suggestive word to give
it effect. He was much interested in the science of mineralogy, and
had gathered quite a large and valuable cabinet of choice specimens.
He died in Rockport, Mass., Aug. 7, 1865, aged fifty-three years.


Rev. TIMOTHY J. TENNEY was a native of Weare, N. H., and came into the
ministry from the instruction of Rev. T. F. King, of Portsmouth,
N. H., in 1834. In 1836 he moved to Maine, where in Fryeburg and
neighboring towns he labored successfully for nearly four years. He
was afterwards minister in Norway and Denmark, and then in St.
Johnsbury and in Glover, Vt., where he closed his earthly career. So
good was his health generally that he failed in no one instance to
meet his appointments on account of illness, until at the very last of
his days. He died in Glover, Vt., Oct. 8, 1854. He was an able and
devoted minister of the New Testament, a conscientious and faithful
man, true to his own convictions. He was a Christian reformer, always
the active friend of Temperance, Freedom, and Peace. His son, Rev.
C. R. Tenney, is at present pastor of the Universalist Church in
Stoughton, Mass.


Rev. ORREN PERKINS, born at Savoy, Mass., Aug. 11, 1823, preached his
first sermon at South Adams, and was ordained at Bernardston, by the
Winchester Association, in June, 1847. He was settled at Bernardston
four years; afterwards had a short pastorate at Wilmington, Vt., and
then moved to Winchester, N. H., where he remained twelve years. For
five of those years he was a member of the State Legislature, being
three years in the House and two in the Senate. He was also for ten
years State superintendent of schools. Later, he took charge of the
Academy at Cooperstown, N. Y., with which he was connected some years.
He was settled at West Concord, Vt., the last two years of his life,
and left there for Chicago, where he was to be employed in editorial
work on the "Star and Covenant." He had a peculiarly sensitive and
nervous temperament; and during the last few years was subject to
great depression of spirits, caused by the loss of his property and
the almost total failure of his voice. A gloomy cloud hung over him:
he felt that his usefulness was at an end, and his mental anguish
became insupportable. In a moment of frenzied despair his mind,
affected by hereditary insanity, gave way, and he freed himself from
the earthly life. He was much beloved, and his life was blameless. He
was an accurate scholar, a very successful teacher, and an able and
interesting writer. He died at Chicago, Ill., Oct. 30, 1880. He leaves
a widow, Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (one of our woman preachers), and three
daughters.


Rev. CHARLES HEMAN DUTTON was born in Ogden, Genesee County, N. Y.,
Oct. 5, 1823, and died in Hamilton, Ohio, July 17, 1877, in his
fifty-fourth year. His family removed to Rochester, N. Y., when he was
seventeen years old; and he was a student in the Rochester Collegiate
Institute. His thoughts at an early age had been turned to the
ministry through the preaching of Rev. J. M. Cook. His studies
preparatory to the ministry were very meagre; a few months were spent
with Rev. Mr. Hammond of Rochester, and a few more with Rev. S. R.
Smith, then of Buffalo. He was licensed as a preacher in 1843, when he
was scarcely twenty years old. He was pastor in Essex, Canton,
Marblehead, and Lowell, Mass. Afterwards he resided in Rochester and
Leroy, N. Y., in Springfield, Marietta, and Hamilton, Ohio, in which
last-named place he died. He was credited, in the various places of
his residence, with a vigorous intellect, superior pulpit talents,
gentlemanly manners, and the conscientious and faithful performance of
his duties as a minister of the Gospel. His Christian faith grew
stronger and stronger as the outward man failed.


Thirty years since, there was a minister of the Universalist faith in
New Hampshire and Vermont, "a plain, blunt man," with no pretensions
to a classical education, but speaking in words of most expressive
English, with "the Bible at his tongue's end,"--Rev. ROBERT BARTLETT.
He was one of the pioneers, who preached the Gospel as opportunity
occurred, in any place--school-house, barn, parlor, kitchen, church,
or in the open field. He was always astir, and always full of his
theme, "the Gospel of Universal Grace and Salvation." In the country
places, rather than in cities, he seemed most at home. Once, it is
said, when appointed to preach an occasional Convention sermon, at the
yearly assembling, in a large and beautiful church, he seemed in his
simplicity and modesty so overpowered by the thought of the occasion
as to be able to make only a faint demonstration of his speaking
powers. But in his usual Sunday services in the rural places and with
plainest surroundings, he would preach the word of the primitive
Gospel "in demonstration of the spirit and with power." He is
remembered, by not a few who have heard him, as such a preacher.

In recent time Mr. Bartlett disappeared from public notice; his work
being done, and the infirmity of years resting upon him. He recently
departed this life in Boston, January, 1882, aged nearly ninety. The
funeral was attended by Dr. Miner, who in his youth had often listened
to his preaching. The remains were taken for burial to Laconia, N. H.




CHAPTER XIX.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS.--_continued._

  "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ."--2 COR. v. 20.


Rev. Rufus Spur Pope, pastor of the First Universalist Society in Hyannis,
Mass., died in that place June 5, 1882. He was born in Stoughton,
Mass., April 2, 1809. His father removed from Stoughton to Dorchester,
and thence to Marlboro, where the son spent his youthful days in
agricultural pursuits. He received his education in the common schools
and in the Marlboro Academy. While young he was drawn toward the
ministry, and his love for it continued to the end. He spent some time
in theological studies with the late Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, D. D., in
Malden; and in 1833 preached his first sermon, in South Dedham.
Besides his settlement in this place, he had pastorates in Milford,
Sterling, and Hardwick, covering a period of ten years. In 1843 the
society in Hyannis invited him to be their pastor. Accepting the call,
he labored in this place faithfully thirty years. After closing his
work here, he ministered to the church in Orleans three years, and
briefly supplied some other parishes. His health has been gradually
failing for some years.

Mr. Pope was a public man in more than one sense. He served Barnstable
for years very faithfully and acceptably as one of its school
committee, and was for two years representative from the town in the
State Legislature. He filled for some time the office of Register of
Probate for Barnstable County, and was for several years postmaster of
Hyannis. He was an active and much respected member of the Masonic
fraternity.


Rev. WILLIAM M. DE LONG was born in Pittsfield, Otsego County, N. Y.,
Sept. 2, 1815, and died in Binghampton, N. Y., Oct. 30, 1877, aged
sixty-two years. He was the youngest of a family of five brothers and
nine sisters. When he was nine years old the family moved to Hastings,
Oswego County. His mother became entirely blind by an inflammation in
her eyes, and by reason of afflictions, of hard times and many
children to provide for, the family was reduced to abject poverty. The
father died soon after removing to Hastings, and the family was broken
and scattered. The mother moved to Clark's Mills, near Utica, where
she died in 1830, when William was fifteen years old. He lived a year
in Sanquoit, with a friend of the family, and while there heard Rev.
W. Bullard and Rev. Dolphus Skinner preach a few Universalist sermons,
in which young De Long became deeply interested, as well as in reading
the "Magazine and Advocate," and for this reason was dismissed from
the machine-shop at Unadilla Forks by its proprietor, a Mr. Abel
Stillman, who, however, reconsidered his unreasonable conduct, and
reinstated Mr. De Long, who worked there long enough to acquire the
money to pay for a year's tuition at Hartwick Seminary. He afterwards
attended the New Berlin Academy. His faith in Universalism grew with
his increased facilities for study, and in August, 1835, he preached
his first sermon. He was ordained July 20, 1837, and preached under
different engagements at Lebanon, Oran, and Binghampton, in New York.
In 1841 he joined Rev. George Rogers in a missionary tour through Ohio
and Indiana. For many years he itinerated over a large circuit in New
York and Pennsylvania. He was twice married, first to Miss Mary Ann
Ashcroft, who died in 1870, and in 1871 to Miss Mary Jane Swart, an
acceptable preacher of the Universalist faith, who survives him. There
is a good account of her in "Our Woman Workers," by Mrs. Hanson.

In 1873 Mr. De Long began to suffer from a paralytic affection, from
which he could get no relief. These sentences, written and signed by
him a short time before he had lost the power of guiding his pen, show
the strength of his faith: "I know that God is, that my Redeemer
liveth, and that we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. This is the source of my consolation."


Rev. W. B. LINNELL was born in Birmingham, England, in 1804, and died
in Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 6, 1868. His first settlement in the
ministry was in Springboro, Ohio, in 1844, where he continued for
seven years. He afterwards had a settlement in Fairfield, Ind.; Mt.
Pleasant, Ia.; and Oquawka, in which last place he remained until the
breaking out of the war. He then enlisted in the service of his
adopted country as chaplain of the 10th Illinois regiment. Health
failed him, and he returned to his home, after enduring the hardships
of camp life for nearly a year. After recovering his health, he took
charge of the church in Vevay, Ind. He was one of the pioneers of
Universalism in the West, and did good service as a Christian
minister. Having much of the missionary spirit, his appointments were
always numerous, and they were made many weeks ahead. As a preacher,
though not particularly brilliant, he was always efficient. He
inherited the traditional shrewdness and humor of the Yorkshire
people, who were his ancestors, in such a degree as to make him a
marked character among his brother ministers. He was kind and
tender-hearted to a fault, yet his will was unbending, and when his
mind was once made up it was difficult to change him.


Rev. JOSHUA BRITTON came from Westmoreland, N. H., where he was born
Aug. 14, 1803. His early life was spent upon a farm, where he had but
limited opportunities for attending school. But he diligently improved
those that offered, and at the age of eighteen began a successful
career as a teacher, which extended over ten years, pursuing his
studies at the same time, and still adding to his stores of knowledge.
He had from youth a serious and devout mind, and was always a regular
attendant on public worship. He was inclined to the faith of the
Presbyterian Church until about the age of twenty-three, when he had
opportunities for hearing the doctrines of Universalism advocated and
defended by the late Rev. Dolphus Skinner, and others. He became
deeply interested, and his intelligent mind eagerly drank in the new
views presented. His faith grew stronger with the lapse of time, and
he finally resolved to enter the ministry. He preached his first
sermon in 1831, and was ordained at Burlington Flats, N. Y., June 6,
1832. He was settled over parishes in the State of New York till 1839,
when he was in Chesterfield, N. H., for a year. He spent the next ten
years in Dudley and North Chatham, Mass.; then three years in Stoddard
and Richmond, N. H. He removed to Vermont in 1853, and preached in
Brattleboro, West Concord, Lyndon, and Bradford for the next fifteen
years, when he went to Fort Atkinson, Wis., which was his home for the
remainder of his life. He was a faithful and excellent pastor; he had
a mild and loving heart, and won many friends. If not one of the
greatest ministers intellectually, he was one of the best spiritually,
and his life was a pure and useful one. He died at Fort Atkinson,
Wis., Oct. 30, 1878.

An instance illustrative of the orderly habits of the man was, years
ago, related to the writer. The books in his library were always
exactly in their places, and the backs of them in a straight line. At
one time an exchange minister, who had the free use of the library
during a Sunday's tarrying, had failed to replace the volumes he had
taken down according to the rules of the proprietor. When Mr. Britton
entered the study on his return home, while his brother was yet there,
the first kindly salutations were scarcely over when the projecting
volumes were all noted and quickly adjusted by their owner. A singular
and timely suggestion.


Rev. GEORGE MESSENGER was originally from Berkshire, Mass., removing
from thence to the State of New York, and afterwards, in 1838, to
Springfield, Ohio, where he ever after lived, a widely known and
highly respected citizen. He was licensed as a preacher at Madison,
N. Y., in 1824, and ordained, at Eatonsbush, N. Y., Oct. 12, 1826. He
was an itinerant preacher, and much interested in the prosperity of
the church where he resided. As one of the trustees of Buchtel
College, he gave much of his time and attention to the supervision of
the erection of the college building. For the last few months of his
life he was very hard at work at Akron, and while thus engaged
contracted a sickness which terminated in death. "It may be said of
him," wrote the editor of "The Star in the West," "that he died a
martyr to the work which had enlisted his sympathies, namely,
establishing Buchtel College on a permanent basis. He subscribed
largely and liberally to the fund for its erection, and was an
unceasing worker in its behalf. His widow, since his death, has been a
substantial helper to the institution. She endowed the chair of Mental
and Moral Philosophy, in memory of her husband, to the amount of
$25,000; and has also contributed largely to the expenses of the
institution, and given again and again for various special
purposes."[49]


Rev. JOHN TEMPLE GOODRICH, of Middlefield, Otsego County, N. Y., born
in 1815, studied theology with Rev. Stephen R. Smith. In 1836, when
less than twenty-one years of age, he was settled as a preacher in
Oxford, Chenango County, N. Y., where he remained about twelve years.
In 1850 he was called to the pastorate of the Universalist Church at
Canton, N. Y., where he remained for five years, doing good work there
and in neighboring places. An affection of his throat induced him to
accept a call to Reading, Pa., where he labored two years, and where
his influence was strong and extended as it had been elsewhere. After
this he was persuaded to return to Canton, and take the agency of the
new Theological School and College projected at that place, and served
in that capacity for five years, successfully, preaching in the mean
time in Canton and elsewhere. It was largely through his efforts that
the New York Legislature appropriated $25,000 to the Canton schools.
Released from this work, he became pastor of the Eighth Street Church,
Philadelphia, where he remained four years, when he left them out of
debt and himself out of health. After an interval spent in travelling,
he went to Wilmington, Del., and supplied that missionary station for
about two years.

While he lived in Canton, he held an oral discussion with Rev. Mr.
Wheeler, Baptist, which continued several evenings, and was a marked
success on the part of Mr. Goodrich. In Wilmington he held a written
controversy with Rev. Mr. Hoffman, a Presbyterian minister, a success
also. Years before this, he had held a written and oral discussion
with Rev. Mr. Dyer, a Presbyterian, of Preston, N. Y., which gave the
cause of Universalism an impetus in that place. Mr. Goodrich was not
combative, and would not seek a controversy, nor would he shrink from
one if duty called him to engage in it. He was devotedly attached to
his family, and was anxious to close up his secular concerns, and
settle down over some parish where the labor required was such as his
health would enable him to perform. With this intent he left home on
the 25th of September, 1871; went to Fulton, then to Watertown, to
Rochester, and to Chicago, where he was seen by acquaintances, and
where his name was entered on the register of the Metropolitan Hotel,
for room No. 36, on the 5th of October, and where it afterwards
remained, with bill unsettled. He, with many others, perished in the
dreadful conflagration at that time.


Rev. FRANKLIN CHARLES FLINT was born in Nelson, N. H., June 16, 1836,
and died in Shrewsbury, Mass., March 23, 1876. In 1840 his family
moved to Hancock, N. H., and in 1842 to Shrewsbury, Mass., where he
worked on his father's farm and attended a district school. At an
early age he was quite studious, and desired a classical education. He
went through his preparatory course at Thetford (Vt.) Academy, and in
1857 entered Amherst College. But, after spending two years there, he
left, entered at Tufts, and graduated in 1861, the third in a class of
twelve, with a philosophical oration. He was enabled to work his way
through college by gaining, in a competitive examination, one of the
scholarships granted by the State of Massachusetts to Tufts College,
and by what he could earn in teaching school during his vacations.
Upon graduating, he took charge of the high school in Westboro, Mass.,
and in the mean time turned his attention to theology. He preached his
first sermon at Groton (now Ayer Junction). In 1863 he preached in
Dana and vicinity, teaching meanwhile a select school. In 1864-5 he
taught a select school at Hyannis, Mass., and afterwards was assistant
in the academy at Dudley. In 1865 he removed to Chatham, on Cape Cod,
where he was ordained, July 31, 1866. In 1867 he became pastor of the
Universalist Society in Southbridge, Mass., where he proved himself a
faithful minister, a useful member of the school committee, an
efficient worker in the temperance cause, and by his active interest
and co-operation in every good work, and by his frank and genial
manners, won the respect and good will of the people in and out of his
parish. In 1874 he took charge of the Willow Park Seminary, at
Westboro, Mass., but resigned after one year. He preached for short
periods at Oxford and Rockport. In 1874 he prepared for the press a
memoir of the late Rev. W. W. Wilson, one of his predecessors in the
pastorate at Southbridge. In 1875 he took charge of the Universalist
Society in Attleboro, Mass., but failing health compelled him to
resign the position in March, 1876. His people voted him leave of
absence, hoping he might recover, and he went to his father's in
Shrewsbury, but he rapidly grew worse, until death came to his relief.
His record is with that of "the faithful in Christ Jesus."


Rev. HOPE BAIN was a Scotchman by birth, from Aberdeen. His father,
once an officer in the British navy, removed with his family to
Maryland, and died in Baltimore in 1812. The son served during the war
of 1812, young as he was (fifteen), as a member of a Baltimore company
of volunteers attached to the 5th regiment, and was in the battles of
Bladensburg and West Point. He was at first a Presbyterian, and member
of that church for many years. In 1830 he was appointed an agent to
labor in West Tennessee, and in the valley of the Mississippi, for the
American Sunday-School Union. He became a Universalist in 1847, and
was ordained a preacher at Norfolk, Va., in 1848. He was for fifteen
years a teacher in Virginia. He moved to North Carolina, in December,
1851, and preached, before the war of the Rebellion, in twenty-six
counties, and, after the war, in six other counties. His last sermon
was in Goldsboro, in 1875. Anticipating his approaching departure, he
said that at the age of eighty-one he could not expect to remain here
much longer, nor did he desire to. He was nearing a home where he
should be united to loved ones gone before. He was widely known in
North Carolina. He was a Union man in the strictest sense, thoroughly
loyal to the government during the late war, which alienated from him
many of his former associates and hearers, but he never wavered in
devotion to his country, and to the cause of the Christian Gospel.
Although without pecuniary resources, he continued to preach wherever
there was an opening, and with little or no remuneration labored
faithfully and steadfastly in the ministry as long as health and
strength lasted. His faith uplifted and sustained him as he passed
from these earthly scenes.


Rev. WOODBURY M. FERNALD was for several years a prominent preacher
with the Universalists. He was born in Portsmouth, N. H., March 21,
1813, and died in Boston, Mass., Dec. 10, 1873. He was ordained at
Portsmouth, N. H., in 1836. In 1838 he was pastor at Cabotville (now
Chicopee), Mass. In 1840 and 1841 he was located at Newburyport, and
while there published a volume entitled "Universalism against
Partialism," an able statement of the contrast set forth. He was next
in Stoneham as pastor for three years. In 1854 he removed to Boston,
and becoming interested in the works of Swedenborg and the writings of
Andrew Jackson Davis, he was after a while ordained as a Swedenborgian
minister. He was so fascinated by the New Church doctrines as to
become alienated from his former associates and lost to their
ministry. He published, in 1854, a "Compendium of the Theological and
Spiritual Writings of Swedenborg," and in 1859, "God in His
Providence," in which he implicitly renounced the notion of "the
eternity of Hell," and put forth a Universalist view of human destiny,
turning Swedenborg's principles against the Seer's own conclusions,
and making those principles the ground of an assurance of Universal
Restoration. He published afterwards other works, evincing much
ability. His sincerity was never doubted.


Rev. CALEB PERIN MALLORY was a minister of the Universalist
faith in Canada during most of his life. He died at Huntingville,
P. Q., July 13, 1882, aged seventy-one.

He was born in Eaton, C. E. His early training was under the influence
of the theology after the kind taught by Calvin and Arminius. Being of
a thoughtful and studious disposition, however, he came to see in the
teachings of the New Testament strong and unmistakable evidences of
the Gospel of Universalism. When about thirty years old he appeared
before the public as an advocate of it. Rev. L. H. Tabor, who
officiated at the funeral, gave the following account:--

  "As nearly as I can learn, he preached some three years in various
  places to good acceptance, and was ordained at Glover, Vt., Sept.
  19, 1843, and in just one year from the time of ordination (Sept.
  19, 1844), was installed at the request of several brethren residing
  in as many of the eastern townships over which he was installed. For
  several years he preached regularly at Huntingville and other places
  in the vicinity, and for over forty years had attended funerals and
  weddings, baptizing children and adults as the disciples of Jesus,
  the Saviour of the world. He was a Christian reformer, ready for
  every good word and work. No one man could have been taken from that
  community whose departure will be felt more. And when we saw the
  multitude that gathered at his burial, with weeping eyes, we were
  led to say,'Behold, how they loved him.' It was said, by good
  judges, that there were a thousand people at his funeral, some
  coming the distance of fifty miles.

  "Brother Mallory was a man of great energy of character, often
  travelling and preaching under such adverse circumstances as would
  have discouraged others of less inherent power. His compensation for
  services has been comparatively small, but, sustained by the
  ministry of the reconciliation, he fainted not, occupying till the
  Master came."


In the yearly Universalist "Register," the names of nearly thirty
women are given as ministers,--evangelists or with pastorates,--in the
Universalist Church.[50] Among the number of those who have served in
this capacity, the record is made of the death of the following:--


Mrs. ELVIRA J. POWERS. She came into the ministry from the Canton
Theological School as a licentiate of the New York Convention. At the
end of six months she was compelled to give up her work on account of
ill-health, and was not able afterwards to resume it. During the war
of the Rebellion, in the office of nurse, she rendered good service,
and wrote an interesting book of her experiences, entitled "Hospital
Pencillings." A friend and former pastor speaks of her personal worth
in very strong terms. "In fidelity to her conviction of duty, in her
industry, zeal, and integrity, in her constant sacrifice of the
superficial and temporal for the profound and eternal, her life was a
great success." She died in Worcester, Mass., Sept. 21, 1871.


Rev. FANNY UPHAM ROBERTS, daughter of Frederic and Hannah R. Cogswell,
both of whom were preachers in the "Christian Connection," was born in
South Berwick, Me., in June, 1834. She joined the Congregational
Church in Northwood, N. H., and was for some time a superintendent of
a Baptist Sunday-school. She had, however, from a child been
acquainted with the Universalist faith. In 1870 she began to give
lectures in public on lyceum topics, and not long afterwards commenced
preaching in Kensington, N. H., and Wells, Me. In the spring of 1871
she removed to Kittery, Me. (where she had been ordained), and
preached there until April, 1875, when from loss of voice she resigned
her post, and went to Minnesota, hoping to regain her health. But the
change of climate failed to arrest her disease, and she steadily
declined until death came to her relief. She died in Winona, Minn.,
Aug. 26, 1875. Her friends testify to her vigor of mind, her goodness
of heart, and the graceful modesty and sweet womanly dignity that ever
shone out in her life. An intelligent member of the Universalist
congregation of Portsmouth, N. H., once informed the writer that in
listening to her discourses, as he did occasionally, he was forcibly
reminded of the logical clearness and strength of the elder Ballou.


Rev. PRUDY LE CLERC HASKELL was born in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 6, 1844,
and died in Oxford, O., Dec. 27, 1878. In her youthful days she was
thoughtful, intelligent, and studious. Her parents were Universalists
in sentiment, and her mind was impressed by the influences of their
religious faith. An only brother, who had intended to enter the
Universalist ministry, died in a Southern prison during the war, and
she felt herself called to take the place which he would have filled.
She was ordained at Madison, Ind., Oct. 14, 1869, where she preached
two years, and succeeded in gathering the scattered remnants of a
former congregation into a living form. She then went to Mt. Pleasant,
Iowa, and labored there successfully for two years, greatly endearing
herself to the people; but the climate proving unfavorable to her, she
was obliged to leave and return to the home of her parents in Aurora,
Ind. She was afterwards settled at Mt. Carmel, Ind., at Jeffersonville
and Newtown, O., and at Covington, Ky. She was an attractive and
interesting preacher, and very popular as a pastor. While residing in
Covington, she was united in marriage to Mr. Cassius L. Haskell, who
afterwards entered the ministry. She had been married but a single
year when her earthly life ended. The remembrance of an evening with
her at a meeting in Mt. Carmel, O., is very vivid in the mind of the
writer. She had been deeply interested in a new church organization
there, and had induced a good number of young believers to become
members. Her welcome and counsel to them were pervaded with the
Christian spirit.


_Living Ministers._

It has been thought advisable to append to this record of the departed
the names of a few of the living ministers, now advanced in years, who
have earned an honorable reputation by their works during the time
included in the survey here taken. It would have been agreeable to the
writer if the number of such could have been increased, but this was
forbidden by the limits prescribed to this volume. Besides, as already
stated, it will be understood that this historical sketching is by no
means exhausted; that there is another and a larger roll of those
passed on, who have done faithful service in the redeeming army, as
there is a noble company of the living who are yet adding their good
work to the history of the church, and whose names and deeds may in
some future day be truthfully and gratefully given to an appreciative
public. For this brief review we are able to take of the faithful dead
and living, let us be thankful.


One of the most aged living ministers of the Universalist Church is
Rev. CLEMENT FALL LE FEVRE, D. D., of Milwaukee, Wis. He was born in
Berkhamstead, County of Hertfordshire, England, Nov. 12, 1797. He was
christened in the parish church, as was the poet Cowper, who was a
native of the same county. The father of Mr. Le Fevre was a clergyman
and graduate of Oxford University, and was acquainted with the
distinguished poet, and always held his works in high estimation. In
1814 Mr. Le Fevre had a commission in the British navy as second
lieutenant of the Royal Marines, and was appointed to a frigate and
sailed for Halifax. His war record was a short one, however, for with
the peace of 1815 he was put on half-pay. He was never in any
engagement with the enemy, and, as he writes, "my sword was never
stained with American blood, and theirs was never stained with mine,
and that I consider the better." Having no particular employment, he
was for some time adrift as to a life-calling, but subsequently
inclined to his father's profession, and in nautical phrase "bore up
for a parson." His father was educating some young men for the
Universities, and the son joined in their classes. Having by this
means obtained some knowledge of Latin and Greek, he received
ordination, and was adopted by the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts. This was in the year 1821. His appointment
was to a church in Canada, in the diocese of Quebec, where he remained
until the close of the year 1829, when, rejecting the doctrine of the
Trinity and endless punishment for the sins of this life, he withdrew
from the ministry and communion of the Church of England.

He next removed to New York, and made his home at Hempstead, L. I.,
the native place of his wife; and here and at several places on the
island and in the city of New York he frequently preached. In 1830 he
received fellowship of the Universalists, at the New York and
Philadelphia Association, met at New Brunswick, N. J. He was next
pastor four years in Troy, N. Y., six in New York city, four in
Hudson, and six in Milwaukee, Wis. In the last-named place he
purchased a farm and settled down for the enjoyment of a permanent
home. Although having no special pastorate, he has been doing much
missionary work, has constantly attended the meetings of the church,
and often written for its publications. His health at this present
writing is quite firm for one of his years, a slight failure of
eyesight and a partial paralysis of the right hand being his principal
infirmity.

Mr. Le Fevre enjoys a deservedly high reputation. His pulpit talents
have always been appreciated by his congregations. His discourses have
indicated a keen and well-balanced mind, logical force, and ripe
scholarship. In social life he has always exerted a salutary
influence; his wit and humor being admirable accompaniments of his
gentlemanly dignity and sympathetic spirit. He has proved a valuable
acquisition to the church whose pleasure it is to make this truthful
record of him.


 [Illustration: Lucius R. Paige.]

Rev. LUCIUS ROBINSON PAIGE, D. D., is, with two exceptions,[51] the
oldest living minister in the Universalist Church. He was born in
Hardwick, Mass., March 8, 1802, and was educated in the public schools
of his native village. On reaching his majority he began his work as a
preacher, and did some effective missionary work as a layman. In 1825
he was ordained, and was settled at Springfield, Mass., where he
remained four years. During this time, his faith being assailed by two
ministers of the Methodist church, Rev. Timothy Merritt and Rev.
Wilbur Fisk, Mr. Paige entered into a controversy with them, and
proved himself an able advocate and defender of the Christian Gospel.
The debate still exists in pamphlet form, and is one of the most pithy
and searching that can be found. The spirit and behavior of the
bigoted opponents of Universalism are strikingly illustrated, as well
as the readiness and efficiency of the assailed one to meet and to
deal with them. Mr. Paige was next minister in Rockport, and removed
from there to Cambridgeport, where he was installed pastor of the
First Universalist Society July 8, 1832. He held this position until
1839, after which he took no pastorate, but continued to preach
frequently for more than twenty years afterwards, and has been active
in the ministry until within a few years.

In 1833 he published his "Selections from Eminent Commentators," a
work showing most conclusively the admission on the part of orthodox
writers of the very ground taken by Universalists in their explanation
of many passages of Scripture supposed to stand in opposition to
Universalism. It was a strong call upon all candid inquirers after
Christian truth, and has made its impress in the progress of Christian
thought since it was issued. In 1838 he published "Questions on Select
Portions of the Gospels," designed for Sunday schools and Bible
classes. His greatest work, however, is his Commentary on the New
Testament, the first volume of which was published in 1844, and the
last in 1870. The work is the result of sound judgment, careful
research and close thought, and is a monument of the steady and
untiring industry of the writer. It has been highly acceptable to
those on whose behalf it was prepared. While engaged upon it, he also
contributed to the denominational papers, and gathered materials for
the history of Cambridge, which was published in 1877.

He has also been actively engaged in secular pursuits. He was town
clerk from March, 1839, to January, 1840, and from March, 1843, to
May, 1846, and city clerk from May, 1846, to October, 1855, and
representative in the General Court in 1878 and 1879. He was treasurer
of the Cambridgeport Savings Bank from April, 1855, to April, 1871,
and has been cashier and president of the Cambridge Bank. He received
the degree of A. M. from Harvard in 1850, and D. D. from Tufts in
1861. Although he has retired from business, during the past few years
Dr. Paige has given much attention to the preparation of a history of
his native town, Hardwick, and after many years of hard work the task
is completed and the manuscript is now ready for the printer. He is a
member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and one of the oldest
on the roll; also of the American Antiquarian and Phi Beta Kappa
societies.

As a Mason he has stood high. He joined the Order in Little Falls,
N. Y., in 1824, became Worshipful Master of the Hardwick Lodge in
1826, having previously been exalted to the Royal Arch degree at
Greenwich, and having joined the Knights Templars in 1824. He is now
the oldest Past Commander of the Knights Templars within the
jurisdiction of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He became Steward of
the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1848, and deacon
in 1850. The year following he was elected right worshipful deputy
grand master. Upon retiring from that position, he became a permanent
member, and is now the oldest surviving permanent member of the Grand
Lodge. In 1861 he received the thirty-third degree Scottish, and was
at once admitted a member of the Supreme Council. Here he served as
Secretary two years, and Minister of State three years. He is now, as
he has been for nineteen years past, resident representative of the
Supreme Council of Belgium.

One of the most noticeable events in the life of Dr. Paige was that of
the celebration of his eightieth birthday, in the vestry of the
Universalist Church in Cambridgeport, on the evening of March 8, 1882.
A large company was assembled, and after a feast at the tables, very
impressive exercises followed. Rev. O. A. Safford, pastor of the
Universalist Church, presided, and introduced Dr. Paige to the
company, who heard from him a very appropriate and affecting address.
The assembly was then addressed by Mayor Fox of Cambridge, Rev. Dr.
McKenzie of the Congregational church, Rev. Drs. Sawyer, Adams, Miner,
and Capen, Rev. C. A. Skinner, J. A. Jacobs, Esq., the city clerk, and
Capt. J. W. Cotton. A letter, expressive of his sincere and hearty
respect for Dr. Paige, was read from Professor Longfellow. A handsome
illustrated copy of Longfellow's Poems was presented to the doctor,
bearing this inscription: "Presented by a few old friends, with their
congratulations and best wishes on the 80th anniversary of his
birthday."


 [Illustration: A. A. Miner.
 J. H. Daniels Pr. Boston.]

On Monday, May 1, 1882, the Columbus Avenue Universalist Church
celebrated the thirty-fourth anniversary of the pastorate of Rev.
ALONZO AMES MINER, D. D., LL. D., who entered upon his duties as a
colleague of the late Rev. Hosea Ballou, pastor of the Second
Universalist Society in Boston, in place of Rev. Dr. E. H. Chapin,
called to New York. Mr. Miner was born in Lempster, N. H., Aug 17,
1814. His ancestors on both sides were distinguished by good sense and
firm physical constitutions. His remote American forefather, Thomas
Miner, landed at Boston in the same year with the elder Winthrop
(1630), and removed to Connecticut with the company of the younger
Winthrop about 1646. His grandfather, Charles Miner, served in the
Revolutionary War, and removed to New Hampshire soon after its close.
Thomas Miner, his ancestor, was a descendant of Henry Bulman of the
Mendip Hills, Somersetshire, England, who furnished Edward III., when
on his way to embark for the wars of France, with an escort of one
hundred men, selected from his servants and from the men employed in
his mines. For this service the king honored him with a coat of arms,
and changed his name to Miner.

Dr. Miner was so feeble in his youth that it seemed doubtful whether
he would grow up into mature life. But good care and judicious
training wrought a change for the better, which was doubtless aided by
a vigorous will. His education was gained at village schools and
academies in New Hampshire and Vermont. He began teaching between
terms when he was sixteen years of age, and in 1835 took entire charge
of the Scientific and Military Academy at Unity, N. H. His first
discourse in the pulpit was delivered in February, 1838. In 1839 he
received ordination, and was settled in Methuen, Mass. In 1842 he
removed to Lowell, where he became an efficient yoke-fellow with the
pastor of the First Universalist Church, and where they made good
proof of their ministry in the pulpit and through the press. Dr. Miner
remained in Lowell as pastor of the Second Society until the removal
of Rev. E. H. Chapin from Boston to New York, when he was called to
take his place as colleague with Rev. Hosea Ballou at the Universalist
Church in School St. On the death of Mr. Ballou, he became pastor of
the church, which office he still retains. His health failing him
partially in 1851, he visited Europe, and on his return found that his
church edifice had been remodelled during his absence, at a cost of
$20,000. Subsequently, in 1872 the building in School Street was put
to secular uses, and the edifice now occupied on Columbus Avenue was
erected at a cost of $150,000. During his long pastorate, two
colleagues have been settled with him, Rev. Roland Connor, for a short
time, and Rev. Henry I. Cushman, now pastor of the First Universalist
Church in Providence, R. I.

In 1862, after the decease of Rev. Dr. Ballou, President of Tufts
College, Dr. Miner was chosen to this office, and took upon himself
its duties in connection with his work as pastor in Boston. His energy
seemed adequate to this double task for a time, until it became
evident to him and his friends that the interests of both college and
parish required his main attention to be given to but one of them. He
chose the parish, to the great satisfaction of its members, and Rev.
E. H. Capen, one of the alumni of the college, was elected its
president.

Through his past life-course Dr. Miner has been one of the most
indefatigable of toilers. As a Christian minister and reformer he is
widely known. His pulpit talents are of the highest order. His clear,
strong, and readily modulated voice, his sharp logic, often "on fire,"
his good scholarship, his aptness not only in making his points, but
in the elucidation of them; his thorough acquaintance with the
evidences of his faith, and especially with the scriptural proofs of
it; his directness in striking at the wrong, as he perceives it, with
most telling blows, and his uncompromising adherence to what he
considers the right, are sure to gain him a respectful and serious
hearing wherever he comes before the public. His many published
discourses evince his power as a theologian, and his little volume,
"The Old Forts Taken," embodies a searching review of some of the
over-confident statements of Rev. Joseph Cook on the religious signs
of the times. It would have been well for Christian truth, and for
some of the churches professing it, whose representatives so readily
applauded many of the stirring and sensational words of Mr. Cook at
the moment of their utterance in Boston, could they have listened also
to a close and rigid questioning of them by Dr. Miner. The
Universalist Church generally, we think, would be quite willing to
abide by the presentation of its faith and the claims of it, by him.
At a conversation circle, embracing members of the "Radical Club,"
held in Boston within a few years, where all shades of religious
opinion were represented, the question "Is Christianity a Finality?"
or, in substance, can any religion superior to it be given to man? was
proposed for consideration. After various discussions on the subject
from the purest orthodoxy to the most radical "liberalism," Dr. Miner,
who had come in while the subject was under discussion, was invited by
the chairman to speak. His statements were very readily made, viz.
that the Christianity of the New Testament included the best religion
conceivable by man, meeting his deepest spiritual wants, answering his
highest aspirations after the purest life here, and his most anxious
hopes respecting the future of himself and the race. All this is
presented, and its complete fulfilment with all souls assured through
Christ, the promise of whose mission is, that ultimately "God shall be
all in all." If Christianity is true, therefore, it will have no
successor. The discussion was at an end.

As a Christian reformer Dr. Miner has gained a deserved prominence. He
has been outspoken on the subject of Capital Punishment, advocating
its abolishment, and in the Anti-slavery war proved himself one of the
veterans. It is in the Temperance reform, however, that he has taken a
strong and marked interest. As an advocate of Prohibition he is one of
the leaders in the land. The pamphlet on Prohibition, published in
1867, containing his arguments on the subject before the Massachusetts
Legislative Committee in the Representatives' Hall, is one of the most
readable documents of the times.[52] His ready answers to the
questions proposed to him, and his telling questions pressed upon the
advocates of liquor license laws, on that occasion, evinced a mastery
of the situation not often realized. In temperance conventions and
conferences he has often some searching criticisms on the city
officials in their evasions of the laws respecting the liquor traffic;
and on every available occasion when called to speak on the moral
needs of the State and the moral responsibility of the people, he is
quite sure to give a few ringing notes emphasizing the temperance
reform. Dr. Miner has been for ten years past President of the
Massachusetts Temperance Alliance.

As an educator Dr. Miner has done good work. He began it early, and
has never lost interest in it. As president of the college, a member
of the State Board of Education, and Chairman of the Board of Visitors
of the Normal Art School, he has been true to it constantly.

His business talent is well known. He is a safe and far-seeing
financier, to whom the interests of the busy movers "on 'change" are
somewhat familiar. In all financial plans and operations demanding his
action he is especially and effectively at home. He is President of
the Universalist Publishing House, and is still one of the trustees of
Tufts College. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Harvard
College, and that of LL. D. by Tufts soon after his resignation of the
presidency of that institution. He was one of the "Hundred Boston
Orators;" having been called to deliver the oration before the
authorities and citizens of Boston, July 4, 1855.

The positiveness and persistence of Dr. Miner have sometimes had the
effect to alienate rather than conciliate those who might conscientiously
differ from him in their convictions of right and duty. It is to be
lamented, however, that where we find one possessing his degree of
positiveness in what he believes to be right, we are more or less
"troubled on every side" by those who are only half-men because of the
low policies and expediencies by which they are governed. His
confidence in the right seems instinctive; as he says, "A mountain can
be tunnelled; a principle never." A Boston secular journal just now
speaks of him:--

  "His honesty nobody has ever questioned. If he hit hard, he hit
  where he believed hard hitting was warranted and indispensable. It
  is fortunate for the world, perhaps, that he took a liberal side in
  theology. Had he been a Calvinist, he would have been as
  uncompromising as any one of those Puritan inflexibles who drove
  Baptists into Rhode Island and Quakers into eternity; had he
  embraced Catholicism, heretics would have fared the worse for it,
  and he could hardly have found his fitting place anywhere short of
  the college of cardinals, with its possibilities toward the chair of
  St. Peter. By the same qualities that make him a terror to his
  enemies, he binds his followers to him with hooks of steel."[53]


 [Illustration: Thomas J. Sawyer.
 F. T. Stuart Boston.]

Rev. THOMAS JEFFERSON SAWYER, D. D., was born in Reading, Windsor Co.,
Vt., Jan. 9, 1804. His father was one of the earliest settlers of the
town, having removed with his father's family from Pomfret, Conn. The
son enjoyed very good advantages for acquiring a common-school
education, and at the age of eighteen had gained such a mastery of the
branches then taught in such schools as to become a teacher, in which
capacity he served three or four months every year until he entered
his profession. He entered Middlebury College in the autumn of 1825,
having completed his preparation after he was twenty-one, and
graduated in 1829. As there were no theological schools to aid him, he
went to study with Rev. William S. Balch, then at Winchester, N. H.,
who was soon called to Albany. Mr. S. remained in Winchester through
the winter, preaching occasionally, reading the Iliad of Homer, and
studying such theological works as he had opportunity to find.

In April, 1830, he went to New York, and took charge of a small
society there in Grand Street. The chapel in which he preached had
been built and was for several years occupied as an Episcopal church.
It was afterwards purchased by the Universalists.

In 1832 Mr. Sawyer entered upon his ministry with his people in a new
place, a church on Orchard Street. The church was built three or four
years before by a small society of the Reformed Dutch Church, from
which the property fell into the hands of two enterprising builders
who had been the contractors for it when it was erected. It was rented
to Mr. Sawyer for two years. He was then a young minister of scarcely
two years' standing in New York, and had entered the ministry only two
years and a half before. He had been married six months and had no
cash investment. Four members of his congregation became his security
for the payment of the rent, and he in turn pledged for their security
the whole income of the church,--pew-rents, collections, and all.
Under the circumstances he was assuming quite a responsibility. The
income of the society had been small, and its receipts now were not
equal to the rents alone. Besides, Universalism in New York had
suffered greatly through the defection of Abner Kneeland, and the
consequences of his lamentable course were still fresh in the memory
of all. Divisions and heart-burnings still existed, and the prospect
was not greatly encouraging to the new adventurers. Yet it was seen
that, if success was to be realized, a new movement, as independent as
possible of the old issues, must be made. Hence this piece of wise
policy in securing a new location, and beginning church-life under new
auspices. It was a bold step, but a good Providence had directed it.
Mr. Sawyer writes of it:--

  "I well remember the joy we all experienced when we entered the
  Orchard Street Church. The transition from the little Grand Street
  chapel which we had previously occupied was striking enough. The
  church was large, very large, to my unpractised eyes. True, it had
  no side galleries, as it had afterwards, and was in every respect
  inferior to what it became, but I doubt if Solomon, when he first
  entered his majestic temple, felt more deeply impressed with its
  greatness or its awful sanctity than I did on the day when we first
  occupied this church. It seemed to me a goodly place, where, as I
  hoped, Universalism was to be revived and restored in that great
  city."

There were prophecies of failure on the part of some friends, but the
persistence and faithfulness of the young pastor (encouraged by his
companion, whose whole heart was in her husband's work) and his brave
adherents, by God's blessing, wrought success.

In 1832 the city of New York was visited fearfully with the cholera.
It was suggested by some that the church should be closed during the
epidemic, and the members of the congregation were one day desired to
remain after service to express their opinions on the subject. Many
were about to leave the city, and thought the church might be closed
for two or three months and the pastor dismissed to the country. At
last Captain Packard, a somewhat eccentric but warm-hearted and worthy
man, rose and said that he should remain in the city, and if ever he
needed the support and consolations of religion, it was during such
seasons as they had already entered. If the pastor felt alarmed and
desired to leave, he of course would not complain, yet he should
greatly desire to come up to the house of his heavenly Father to
listen to his word and worship at his altar. This settled the
question, and the Orchard Street Church was open regularly, morning
and afternoon, through the whole of that gloomy and trying season. And
in this case, as always, the path of duty proved in the end the path
of greatest advantage. Many--perhaps a large part--of the churches in
the city were closed, and the pastors gone. The minds of the people
were seriously impressed, and the Gospel of infinite grace proved
itself well fitted for such an emergency. The Universalist church was
uniformly well attended, and great good was accomplished by its
ministrations. The society continued to increase. Old friends, whom
circumstances had alienated or caused to stand aloof from the
movement, returned one after another and forgot their former
difficulties and discontent. The best of feeling existed among the
members and greatly encouraged all hearts.

Though the Reformed Dutch Church gave up their new house on Orchard
Street, yet no sooner had it come into the possession of Universalists
than the members of that communion began to express a most lively
concern for the interests of religion. Dr. Sawyer writes:--

  "The 'Christian Intelligencer,' their religious journal, soon began
  to pay some attention to Universalism; and Dr. Brownlee, one of the
  boldest, if not one of their ablest, men and ministers, commenced a
  course of lectures against the doctrine. The lectures were repeated
  in the Dutch churches in the city, and briefly reported in the
  'Intelligencer.' An attempt was made to get them repeated in the
  Orchard Street Church, but failed. The Doctor was quite too busy to
  permit it. His lectures were regarded by his friends as exceedingly
  able and altogether irrefutable. He possessed a great deal of
  assurance, and made assertions with vast boldness and emphasis. As a
  reasoner he was but a third or fourth rate man. The ad captandum was
  his forte, and among those who knew nothing of Universalism, and
  undoubtingly believed in endless misery, his reasons were
  satisfactory if not convincing."

The lectures were closely examined by Mr. Sawyer before large
congregations. It was a grand opportunity, and he improved it. This
review was afterwards given to the public through the press. The
attack intended to check the spread of Universalism served to increase
and strengthen it. During Mr. Sawyer's subsequent pastorate of
thirteen and a half years, other controversies followed. With Rev. Mr.
Slocum, a Presbyterian clergyman, he held a discussion that occupied
fourteen evenings, and added twenty families to the Universalist
congregation. He answered Rev. Mr. Remington, a Methodist clergyman,
and reviewed Rev. Dr. Parker's lectures on Universalism. These
lectures of Mr. Parker had been preached and published in Rochester
some years before, and were, without essential alteration, repeated in
several churches in New York. Mr. Sawyer happened to possess the
Rochester copy of the production, and very much to the astonishment of
many he replied to the learned Doctor's lecture on the very evening
after he had delivered it in the immediate neighborhood in the
morning. Another debate was also held by Mr. Sawyer with Rev. Mr.
Hatfield, the substance of which was published in a small volume
entitled "Universalism as it is." It was a rule with this sentinel on
the Universalist watch-tower in that city never to allow any
antagonist of "the faith," whose position and character deserved
attention, to pass unnoticed or unanswered.

The Orchard Street Church was emphatically a success. After Mr. Sawyer
left it in 1845, it enjoyed the effective pastorates of Rev. Otis A.
Skinner, since deceased, and Cyrus H. Fay (still useful and honored
among our older ministers), and others. It has probably done more for
the diffusion of Universalism than any other single society in the
State. All the societies in its immediate neighborhood, Bleecker
Street, Murray Street, Fourth Street, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg, were
first formed by members of Orchard Street, and may be regarded as
offshoots from that parent stock. It labored not merely for itself,
its own ease or aggrandizement, but for the good of the cause, a
veritable missionary institution.

In the autumn of 1845 Mr. Sawyer removed with his family to Clinton,
Oneida Co., N. Y., and took charge of the Clinton Liberal Institute.
He succeeded in converting it into a Universalist school, and opened
in connection with it a primitive theological school from which he
sent out about twenty-five students, more than twenty of whom are
still in the ministry well and successfully employed. At the close of
1852 he returned to New York, and, having preached for what was
formerly called the Dry Dock Society a year, he returned to his old
parish and continued with it until the spring of 1861, when, on the
breaking out of the Rebellion, and the volunteering of his oldest son
on his farm at Clinton, and on account of parish affairs in that
distracted time, he resigned and went to Clinton, where he remained,
preaching for the parish there until January, 1863, when he again
returned to New York, and took the editorial charge of the "Christian
Ambassador." This paper was founded by Philo Price in 1831, under the
name of "The Christian Messenger," of which Mr. Sawyer was the
theological editor for several years. It passed under several names,
and is now published at Boston as the "Christian Leader," united with
the Universalist weekly formerly issued in this city.

In the autumn of 1865 he removed his family from Clinton to Star
Landing, N. J., and took possession of a farm he had just purchased
there. Here he remained, managing the farm and preaching occasionally,
until the autumn of 1869, when he came to College Hill, Mass., and
assumed the duties of Professor of Systematic Theology in the Divinity
School, to which he had some time before been elected. He was one of
the original trustees of Tufts College, having called the educational
convention held in New York in 1847, which resulted in the
establishment of the college. He was also chiefly instrumental in
calling the first meeting in New York city to consider the necessity
of establishing a theological school, which resulted in the founding
of the Canton Theological School and the St. Lawrence University, of
which he was also one of the original trustees, and for several years
President of the Board. He received the honorary degree of S. T. D. at
Cambridge, in 1850.

Among the published works of Dr. Sawyer are his Letters to Dr. W. C.
Brownlee and to Rev. Stephen Remington in review of their Lectures
against Universalism; the Occasional Sermon delivered before the
United States Convention of Universalists in New York, September,
1841; "Endless Punishment, its Origin and Grounds Examined, with other
discourses," 1845; Review of Rev. E. F. Hatfield's "Universalism as it
is," 1841; Two Discussions with Rev. Isaac Wescott on Universal
Salvation; "Who is Our God? The Son or the Father?" a Review of Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher, 1859; a preface to the Philadelphia edition of
Petitpierre on "Divine Goodness," in 1843; "Endless Punishment in the
Very Words of Its Advocates," Boston, 1879; an article in the North
American Review, one of a series on the subject of Endless Punishment,
in the March and April numbers of 1878. Besides the Occasional Sermon
already noted, he has preached two others before the United States
Convention, one in Middletown, Conn., and the other at Rochester,
N. Y., in 1876. From the beginning Dr. Sawyer has taken a deep
interest in the literature of Universalism. He has written much for
the "Quarterly" and for the other church periodicals. He was
instrumental in originating the Universalist Historical Society, which
has now a very valuable library at Tufts College.

Dr. Sawyer has been an incessant and faithful toiler; and in all his
work, whether as preacher or teacher, has sought the promotion of the
Gospel of Universal Grace. His adherence to the work and advancement
of the Universalist Church has been steady and unfaltering, and his
defence of the Christian Revelation as an authoritative dispensation
from Heaven through Jesus Christ, clear and unequivocal, in admirable
contrast with the flippant rationalism and scepticism which have in
too many instances found expression under the names of "Liberal
Christianity" and "Free Religion."

There is a church edifice in New York city in 127th Street, near
Lexington Avenue, which represents the Second Universalist Society of
New York, organized in 1828. It was completed two years ago, and is
called the "Sawyer Memorial Church."


 [Illustration: Thos. B. Thayer.
 F. T. Stuart Boston.]

Among the older living ministers who have made themselves specially
and constantly useful in the Universalist Church during the last
half-century, no one is deserving of more grateful notice than Rev.
THOMAS BALDWIN THAYER, D. D. He was born in Boston, Sept. 10, 1812.
Having received the usual rudimentary training and experience of
boyhood, he successively passed through the grammar schools of his
native city, and at an early period in youth he entered the Latin
school under the direction of Mr. B. A. Gould. The young student had
testimonials that his diligence was observed with marked approval. He
entered college at Cambridge, where by permission he was to pursue his
studies for the first year, without college rooms, under the tutorship
of Mr. F. P. Leverett, the distinguished author of the Latin lexicon.
For certain reasons he was induced at the end of his first year to
abandon a collegiate course, and from the duties of a college student
he very soon entered the Hawes Grammar-school in the capacity of an
assistant. Soon after this, Mr. Leverett, resigning his position as
principal of the Latin School in Boston, opened a private institution,
mainly with a view to prepare students for college, and invited his
former pupil to become his assistant, which invitation Mr. Thayer
accepted. It was while connected with this school that his purpose to
devote himself to the work of the ministry was formed.

His first engagement to preach was with the Universalist Society in
South Dedham (now Norwood), where he supplied the pulpit for several
months. This made his work quite arduous. His duties in his school and
those in the growing parish kept him constantly and closely employed.
In June, 1832, Mr. Thayer received Letters of Fellowship from the
Boston Association, and was ordained by the same body in the following
December. In April, 1833, he accepted an invitation from the First
Universalist Society in Lowell, and entered upon a pastorate there,
which he kept for twelve years. While in this city, as another has
written:--

  "Encouraged by the large congregations which regularly attended on
  his preaching, he was moved to consider whether it were not possible
  to meet the inquiring spirit of the people by a course of sermons
  under circumstances which would give opportunity to present the
  leading doctrines of Universalism to a larger number of persons than
  could be accommodated in a church. This thought was communicated to
  some of the leading members of the society, and after due
  consultation, followed by prompt action, it led to the experiment of
  a series of sermons in the capacious City Hall. The immense room was
  filled with attentive hearers throughout the entire course. He then
  proposed that, in conjunction with his own labors in the church,
  regular preaching should be held four or five Sundays in the City
  Hall, and that a subscription of fifty cents from each person
  friendly to the project should defray the expenses incident thereto.
  Rev. J. G. Adams was engaged to supply the specified time. The
  result was that to this day the meetings have never been
  discontinued. The germ was originated, which, under the ministry of
  Rev. Zenas Thompson, developed into the Second Society, now
  worshipping in the beautiful edifice on Lowell Street."[54]

From Lowell Mr. Thayer removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1845. His six
years in this city were years of great usefulness to his church and
beyond its limits. He connected himself with the Odd Fellows, and
became editor of the "Golden Rule," a paper published in the interest
of the fraternity. In 1847 he gave a series of lectures on "Social
Progress," which were reported in part for the N. Y. "Tribune," as
also a series of lectures on the "Dangers of City Life," especially in
reference to young men. He was active in advocating social reform, the
efforts for juvenile vagrants, and for the moral elevation of the poor.

Dr. Thayer has remarkable qualifications for a Christian minister,
teacher, pastor, and writer. His sermons are always alive with
thought, easily and earnestly delivered, doctrinally strong and clear,
practically pointed, and plain; a mixture often of forcible
_preaching_ (not reading) from manuscript, and freest extemporaneous
outpouring, sweet and fresh with the heavenly fragrance of the Gospel.
In his Scripture readings at the opening of the church service, he is
usually very acceptable to the hearers, interspersing the reading with
explanatory words and brief practical inferences.

Dr. Thayer is well known as an author. In the early days of his
ministry he published a volume entitled "Christianity against
Infidelity," an able and a timely offering to the public,--a strong
and candid appeal to the reader in behalf of the Christian Gospel from
the Universalist standpoint. The work was some years afterwards
enlarged, embracing the objections to historical Christianity by
Strauss and Renan, and replies to them. A republication of this work
would be timely now, in this season of theological thought, of
religious drifting and doubt, of indifference and scepticism. His
"Theology of Universalism" is a work of great merit, as also his
admirable volume "Over the River." They deserve a place in the library
of every minister, and should find a home in every Universalist family.

His most valuable work, however, has been done as editor of the
"Universalist Quarterly." His qualifications for this service are
striking. In addition to the able discussions in the publications from
the pens of other authors, the department containing the editor's
outlook into the religious world, his notes and comments on the times,
and his discriminating notices of new publications, is of itself a
rich and welcome entertainment to all who are familiar with the pages
of the Quarterly, a review reflecting great honor upon the
Universalist Church, and which the Universalist fraternity cannot
afford to lose or neglect.

After closing his ministry in Brooklyn, Dr. Thayer had a second
pastorate in Lowell with his old society, during which a severe
calamity came to him. He was thrown from a carriage by a frightened
horse, and so badly injured that for some time his survival seemed
very doubtful. His many friends were deeply anxious, and the strain
upon his physical system was intense. But through all this terrible
sorrow his faith and hope sustained and inspired him, and the lessons
of his sickness and Christian endurance were to many souls more
impressive than any they had ever received from his pulpit
ministrations. It was a cheering event to hosts of friends that he was
gradually restored to the calling he so much loved, though with the
effects of the accident upon him which must go with him through life.
He afterwards removed to Boston, and was for a few years the
much-esteemed pastor of the Shawmut Universalist Church in this city.
Since his resignation there he has frequently supplied pulpits in the
vicinity of Boston, always to great acceptance. At the present time he
is engaged principally in his work with the pen.

Notwithstanding the unquestionable qualifications of Dr. Thayer as a
public speaker, he is usually inclined to distrust himself, but no one
of our ministers, when called upon to present any question of
importance at the public assemblings of the church, is more acceptable
than he. His lively musical notes of Christian truth and earnestness
are sure to awaken a response in the souls of the listeners.


Rev. WILLIAM STEVENS BALCH, of Elgin, Ill., is one of the oldest of
the Universalist ministers now in active service. He was born in
Andover, Vt., April 13, 1806. He received fellowship as a minister, of
the General Convention at Saratoga, N. Y., in September, 1827, and
ordination in Claremont, N. H., in June, 1828. His first location was
in Windham County, Vt., boarding in Dummerston, preaching in
neighboring towns one Sunday in each month, travelling on foot to the
several stations, and receiving the payment of five dollars per
Sunday. He remained there preaching in nearly every town in that
region, until invited to his first settlement in Albany, N. Y.,
January, 1831. Being after a time worn down with over-exertion, he
felt obliged to leave, and was settled next in Watertown, Mass., to
which place he had been invited before going to Albany. His health
soon improved, and he found himself in the receipt of a salary of
$450. But again his health failed, and he was induced to remove to
Claremont, N. H., in April, 1832. He preached there half the time, and
supplied in Hartland and Springfield, Vt., and Newport, N. H., until a
new church in Claremont was finished. Here he was very actively
employed, not only as a pastor, but in doing missionary work in every
direction.

In September, 1835, at the General Convention held in Hartford, Conn.,
he was recommended by Rev. Dolphus Skinner to a committee of the
society in Providence, R. I., which was there to find a preacher "not
committed to Restorationism or Ultra-Universalism," in reference to
which _isms_ the parish was quite divided. Mr. Balch consented to
supply three Sundays, not as a candidate, for he desired to live in
the country. He was, however, invited and urged to settle there, which
he did, after some hesitancy, in March, 1836. His ministry proved a
successful one. In two years the large church was crowded, and a
second society was formed in the city. In 1842 he was invited to go as
a candidate to the church in Bleecker St., N. Y. He declined, but soon
after received a call to become the pastor there. Having become
interested in what was known as the "Dorr" movement, and freely
expressing his wish to have a "Republican form of government" by a
Constitution, and seeing a political storm brewing, he accepted the
call from New York, and settled there in November, 1842.

In 1848 he visited Europe, intending to go to Palestine. The troubles
of that year made it difficult to go further than Rome. In 1852 he was
asked by two men, not of his church, with whom a third joined, to go
abroad if he wished, with full permission and means to journey as far
and stay as long as he pleased. He was wise enough to accept the
generous offer, and travelled extensively in Europe, extending his
journey to Palestine, across the Desert, and through Egypt to Nubia.

After seventeen years' hard work in preaching, lecturing, and writing
on religious and moral reform topics, he became quite worn down, and
resolved to take life a little more leisurely for his body's sake, an
exceedingly difficult course for him. He went to Ludlow, Vt., in 1859,
preaching there half the time, and supplying other places, lecturing,
and really working as hard as when in New York city. He then had
another removal, to Galesburg, Ill., where he preached five years, and
again resolved to retire, and removed to Hinsdale in 1870. But he
still preached. In 1871 he was urged to come to Elgin, Ill., where the
minister's work was still before him. In 1877 he entered the plea of
old age and resigned, purposing a visit to California. Meantime he was
invited to preach a Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa. The result was another
pastorate. He refused to "settle," but consented to supply a few
Sundays until the society could obtain a pastor. He continued three
years and three months, not removing his family, but _staying_ there.
His ministry gave great encouragement to the church in Dubuque.

In 1880 Mr. Balch visited California; in 1882 the City of Mexico; and
last winter Florida. At the present time his health is quite firm. As
he writes of himself, "I am comfortably situated, use no glasses
except in dim light; and am fairly content in contemplating the past,
still busy with the present, and hopeful of a happy and immortal
future."

When in Providence, R. I., Mr. Balch gave a course of "Lectures on
Language," which were published in 1838. He also wrote a "Grammar of
the English Language, explained according to the Principles of Truth
and Common Sense," published by B. B. Mussey, Boston, and passing
through four editions. In 1849 his volume "Ireland as I saw it" was
issued, and in 1881 "A Peculiar People," the first edition of which
sold in eight weeks. He is the author of a "Sunday-School Manual,"
published in 1837.

The business capacity of Mr. Balch was evinced in his raising funds
for the Theological School at Canton, N. Y., taking charge of the
location, plan, and rearing of the buildings, and selection of a
principal. He afterwards completed the raising of a large fund for the
institution, obtaining also $10,000 for the library, and securing the
valuable libraries of Dr. Credner, and Rev. S. C. Loveland. He devoted
much time to the business of making the "Christian Ambassador" of New
York a denominational paper, and placing it on a sound financial
basis. His work in these particulars was well and faithfully done.

Mr. Balch has always been a very ready and popular speaker with the
masses. The graces of oratory he has not sought, but his talking power
seems inexhaustible. Although in favor of fraternal organization for
the good of the cause, yet his ideas in reference to creeds and to
centralized authority are not accordant with those of many others of
his brethren, who hold in high estimation the work he has done in the
spirit and in the truth of the Gospel.


 [Illustration: W. H. Ryder.
 Black. Phot.
 H. W. Smith.]

Among the long and successful pastorates in the great city of the
West,--Chicago,--we may note that of Rev. WILLIAM HENRY RYDER. He is
a New England man, having been born in Provincetown, Mass. (the son of
Capt. Godfrey Ryder), July 18, 1822. During the early life of the son
it was supposed that he would become one of the fraternity of seamen,
as his worthy father had been. But this seems not to have been the
Providential intent. The parent did his part in sending the lad to sea
in a vessel bearing his own name, "William Henry," but the experience
of a shipwreck cured the young sailor of what nautical tastes he might
have possessed, and turned his attention in another direction. He
became anxious for the life of a student, and in his eighteenth year
entered Pembroke, N. H., Academy. He was a diligent and progressive
scholar, and while at this institution decided as to the profession
upon which he afterwards entered. At the age of nineteen he preached
his first sermon in Manchester, N. H., and during the year following
he preached frequently in Concord, in the same State.

Leaving the school in Pembroke, he entered Clinton Liberal Institute
(Clinton, N. Y.), then in care of a learned and efficient teacher, Dr.
Clowes. He preached frequently during his stay there. In the autumn of
1843, soon after he was twenty-one, he was invited to take charge of
the Universalist Society in Concord, N. H., to which place he removed,
and in November of that year was united in marriage with Miss Caroline
Frances Adams, who has proved a worthy and faithful helper to him in
all the experiences connected with his profession. His ordination took
place in December, 1843. His ministry here was successful. The society
had been formed under the ministry of Rev. J. G. Adams while doing
missionary work in New Hampshire, in 1834. Faithful men and women had
kept it alive through changes and vicissitudes until it realized a new
prosperity under Mr. Ryder, which has continued to the present time.

After two and a half years of successful labor here, he accepted a
call to the neighboring city of Nashua, a larger and more promising
field, which he occupied to good effect. While giving great
satisfaction to his people, he became deeply impressed with the
conviction that his ability to serve the church in the capacity of a
Christian teacher according to his own ideal would be made greater by
a more thorough course of study than he had yet been able to take, or
than he could take with the cares of a pastor upon him. He therefore
determined to spend a year and a half abroad in study and observation.
Resigning his charge in Nashua, he sailed from New York to England.
Landing at Kinsale, Ireland, and exploring the lake region of
Killarney, he passed on to Dublin, and crossed the channel into
England, where he tarried awhile, visiting places of historic
interest, and making the acquaintance of several persons who were
specially interested in his own faith and profession. While in London
and vicinity, he was cordially greeted by the Unitarian ministers
there, and preached in two of their churches. He soon crossed to the
Continent and came to Berlin, where he applied himself diligently in a
course of study under German instructors for seven months. He next
extended his travels to Palestine, visiting Jerusalem and many other
noted places there. He also visited Athens, Constantinople, Cairo, the
Pyramids, Malta, Naples, Rome, Florence, Geneva, and Paris, from which
last-named place he went again to Berlin. He was absent a year and a
half.

Soon after his return to his native land he was called to the
pastorate in Roxbury, Mass. Here he had a successful ministry of ten
years, not only fully sustaining the high reputation which the church
had long enjoyed, but giving it new inspiration and vigor by the high
and truly evangelical tone of his ministry. In 1860 he was called to
that great city of the West, Chicago, then twenty-seven years old, and
containing 150,000 people. He took charge of St. Paul's Church at a
time when just such a helper and director as he proved to be was
needed. His discriminating mind and firm will and patience and
steadiness of action, worked effectively in building up the cause of
Universalism in his own church, and giving it an honorable reputation
in that great and growing city. And out of the city and through the
State and the whole West the influence of his teaching and work as a
representative of the Universalist Church has been justly acknowledged.
He has done work for the Christian cause that deserves to be kept in
perpetual remembrance. In the pulpit, as a pastor, as an earnest
worker in all matters affecting education, reform, and the public
weal, he has been found constant and faithful.

In 1860 Harvard conferred upon him the degree of A. M., and in 1863
Lombard University the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1868 he made a
second visit to Europe, and brought home many treasures of art which
were subsequently destroyed by fire in the two great conflagrations
with which Chicago was visited. The fire that destroyed St. Paul's and
his own beautiful residence on an adjoining lot imposed great
responsibilities upon him, which he assumed and discharged with
admirable skill. He visited New England and returned with $40,000 with
which to repair the shattered fortunes of St. Paul's Church; and such
has been his administrative skill, that, notwithstanding the heavy
financial reverses to which the parish was subsequently subjected,
their grand church, worth $200,000, is now without an incumbrance. Dr.
Ryder himself suffered great loss by the fires, but it is pleasant to
record what one who knows says of him, that he is still "in possession
of 'enough and to spare.'"

Dr. Ryder's life has been crowded with duties. As a preacher and
pastor and man of business he has made his mark on public opinion and
human life during the forty years just closing. He has thoroughly
identified himself with the faith and work of the Universalist Church.
As an expositor of its faith he has always been clear and positive,
and as an advocate of its work unmistakably emphatic. Organized church
work, State work, national work, mission work--home and foreign, he
has continually urged. The zealous and faithful women-workers of the
church have always found in him a warm, hearty, and outspoken advocate
on all occasions when and where his word of good cheer has been asked.
As a preacher, another has thus truthfully spoken of him:--

  "He has rare power. A model pulpit voice, deep, sonorous; a manner
  of wonderful impressiveness; a personality behind his words that
  makes every word tell; and long years of sagacious work without
  mistakes re-enforcing what he says, so that it is safe to say that
  no man's word in any Chicago pulpit, on any question before the
  people, goes as far as his in impressing the public mind."[55]

Dr. Ryder has what another has termed "an impressive presence," not in
bodily size, but in a pleasant dignity which is attractive rather than
imposing. An indication of cool self-confidence is in every word and
action. He is thoroughly in earnest as a public speaker, and as
thoroughly sincere and fearless in maintaining what he believes to be
the right of the subject under consideration. A capital instance of
this quality in him was given in the discussion of a topic that came
up at the United States Convention during its session in Lynn in 1875.
He had been invited to speak of "The Needs and Methods of Spiritual
Awakening," and used great plainness and force of speech in reference
to what he deemed some of the spiritual failures of professed
Universalists which needed amendment. His matter was well considered,
and his words were stirring and strong. An attempt was made to pass a
vote of censure. He had discharged a duty laid upon him, and deserved
the thanks of his hearers, even though they had not assented to a word
he uttered, if they were convinced--as doubtless all were--that he
honestly believed what he said and discharged a conscientious duty.
His defence and vindication of himself were admirable. The attempt to
censure so significantly failed that the author of the resolution very
readily withdrew it. A chronicler of the occasion wrote that it was
worth a long journey to listen to that "outpouring."

During the war Dr. Ryder was a strong helper of the Union cause,
active, eloquent, and untiring in his support of the government in
manifold ways.

In addition to his other agreeable personal characteristics, Dr. Ryder
is well known to those most intimate with him as a genial, courteous,
and warm-hearted friend and companion. All his pastorates bear
testimony to the love which the children and youth bore him, because
of the interest in their welfare which he so constantly manifested.

In April, 1882, Dr. Ryder resigned his position as pastor in Chicago,
and has since, with his companion, made a voyage to Europe. It is not
his intention to take upon him the duties of another pastorate, but he
will doubtless be always in readiness to aid as he may the interests
of the church to whose prosperity his life thus far has been so
constantly devoted.


_The Birthplace of Hosea Ballou._

In concluding the accounts of ministers here given, it seems
appropriate to add a brief reference to an event of recent occurrence,
to which the attention of the Universalist public had been specially
called. We refer to the meetings held under the direction of the
"Cheshire Association," on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 18th,
19th, and 20th of August, 1882, in Richmond, N. H., the birthplace of
Rev. Hosea Ballou, and in honor of this distinguished and venerated
man. During these days, discourses were preached by Rev. Quincy
Whitney, Rev. S. S. Fletcher, Rev. Dr. S. H. McCollester, Rev. Dr.
A. A. Miner, and Rev. Dr. G. H. Emerson. Multitudes were in
attendance, and the occasion was deeply impressive, and is
significantly historical. Appended to a special account of the great
gathering, Dr. Emerson, editor of the "Christian Leader," presents the
following description of the birthplace of Mr. Ballou. We are glad to
give it a place in this volume:--

  "Stratford-upon-Avon has its one interest for the great world in the
  happy fortune of giving to every age the Bard who, in the faculty
  for putting an almost inspired wisdom into verse that is not simply
  matchless, but at a vast altitude above that of every other poet who
  has spoken the Saxon tongue,--William Shakespeare. The little town
  of Ayr would be nothing but a Scottish post-village but for the
  circumstance that Robert Burns first breathed within its borders.
  But first Stratford and then Ayr, for the English-speaking world,
  rise to an importance simply unique, above every hamlet upon the
  British Isles, London and Edinburgh hardly excepted.

  "Those who with us fully believe that the future is to honor Hosea
  Ballou with a niche in the temple of fame, as the peer of the elder
  Edwards, and as hardly the second of Franklin, who find in the
  'Treatise on the Atonement' the quarry where Bushnell has polished a
  few boulders, will further agree with us that the gazetteer of the
  coming century will put into conspicuous type, and honor with some
  detail of description, the New Hampshire farming town where Hosea
  Ballou was born. The compiler of Lippincott's did not know its claim
  to distinction, when he summarily disposed of Richmond, N. H., as 'a
  post-township in Cheshire Co., 53 miles S. W. of Concord.'

  "In a recent attendance upon the grove meeting, not the least among
  the inducements to make the journey was the opportunity to see the
  homestead where Hosea Ballou first took the breath of life, and to
  explore some of the vales and hills his boy feet must have trod more
  than a century ago.... As we enter this little village, a church at
  our right, half a century old, is the Universalist church,--the
  members of which have nearly all left, to be good parishioners at
  Winchester, Keene, and other more thriving and distant neighborhoods.

  "A little farther on, at our left, is a 'meeting-house,'--it is true
  to that classic cognomen. It is black with age. It seems hardly
  strong enough to keep timber, board, and shingle together. It cannot
  be less than a century and a half old. The very sight of it takes us
  back to a former and very primitive age. The glass is held to the
  sash by bits of tin,--the putty got tired long ago and 'let go.' We
  cannot enter, but we can look through the windows. On the north side
  is the great, square pine pulpit, possibly one that never knew the
  smell of paint. The square pews have high seats from which only
  tolerably long limbs can touch the knotty floor. There is no grace
  of form, no cunning device of architect, nothing to woo a trained
  fancy. In and of itself, it is a hulk that only cumbers the ground.

  "Why, then, did we look often, long, and spell-bound upon this
  wretched old rookery, and see therein a fascination not to be noted
  in the Capitol at Albany or the mammoth and costly post-offices of
  New York and Boston? The answer is in the history. More than a
  century ago, Rev. Maturin Ballou preached regularly from that pine
  pulpit. Among the regular auditors, possibly the most thoughtful of
  them all, his little legs dangling from the rough benches, sat his
  little son--Hosea.

  "On the morning of Sunday, our friend and host, Mr. L. Martin, says
  to his pastor of many years, the Rev. E. Davis: 'Take my horse and
  carriage, and show these people where Hosea Ballou was born.' 'These
  people' include Dr. Miner, Rev. Mr. Stone, of Canton, Rev. Q.
  Whitney, and the editor of the 'Christian Leader.' Mr. Davis knows
  the way, but in Mr. Bowen, who owns the farm contiguous to the once
  Ballou territory, he finds and calls a pilot and village
  antiquarian. Perhaps a mile east of the Keene and Richmond road, a
  mile and a half from the Universalist church on the hill, right at
  the foot of 'Grassy Hill,' we find a strictly modern house, and a
  very old barn, and a much older corn-house,--less now by a good
  sample than it was before we saw it. It is a one-story house, with
  modern windows, and three small chimneys. Mr. Bowen explains: 'That
  house contains the frame within which Hosea Ballou was born, and the
  form of the interior is substantially the same.' He was confident
  that the three chimneys were the same in material as the one big
  chimney of the old structure. Of the corn-house near by, Mr. Bowen
  says: 'That is just the same, only it is older and is now going to
  decay.' Knoll, stream, valley, plain, and high hill to the east,--in
  the woods of which run the fence or wall that bounded the Ballou
  farm: upon these time can have wrought but little change. We saw
  them upon that Sunday morning as Hosea Ballou saw them,--as child,
  as boy, as youth, as man. From that quiet spot, so rural, so out of
  the way, so completely in the backwoods, almost hidden by precipice
  and hill, came the acorn, the oak whereof is now strong and
  vigorous,--we trust with healing in its leaves. The little boy
  entering that corn-barn to get fodder for his father's horse, cows,
  and oxen,--is that the same whose stalwart form first rose before us
  in the School Street pulpit forty years ago; whose eloquent tongue
  set the blood thrilling in our youthful veins; whose majestic
  bearing seemed to us--what it was--that of an Apostle? "It has been
  our good fortune to look upon the Forum where Cicero declaimed in
  orations that yet thrill; to traverse the Colosseum where Trajan had
  a private box; to walk the streets of Pompeii whose pavements were
  trodden by resident Greeks and strangers centuries before the advent
  of Jesus.

  "But there is an ample niche in our memory left. We place therein,
  to recall reverently, gratefully, and with weird association, our
  visit, on the morning of August 20, 1882, to the birthplace of Hosea
  Ballou, Richmond, N. H., 'twelve miles from Keene, due south.' The
  town of hill, vale, and forest is largely deserted by man. Farms
  that once waved with corn are now covered with forests of pine. The
  locomotive has never been seen--hardly heard--within its borders.
  But its history is precious. For what it was, for what it
  bequeathed, it shall live in history and in song."

[49] "Our Woman Workers," p. 353.

[50] The first Universalist woman who appeared in the pulpit as a
preacher of the Gospel was Miss Maria Cook, who preached before the
Western Association in Bainbridge, N. Y., in June, 1811. She is spoken
of by Rev. Stephen R. Smith, in his "Historical Sketches" (Vol. I.
pp. 31, 32). Notwithstanding the good impressions made by her as a
speaker, there were those who deemed "so extraordinary an undertaking
as an evidence of mental alienation!" A more enlightened and
candid judgment in reference to this subject has since prevailed.

[51] Rev. Thomas G. Farnsworth of Waltham, Mass., ordained in 1822,
and Rev. Alvin Dinsmore of Woodland, Cal., ordained in 1823.

[52] "Argument on the Right and Duty of Prohibition." By A. A.
Miner, April 2, 1867.

[53] Boston Transcript of May 1, 1882.

[54] Rev. G. H. Emerson, D. D., Ed. in "Christian Leader."

[55] Rev. J. W. Hanson, D. D.




CHAPTER XX.

EDUCATIONAL AIDS.


The Universalists, like some others of the Christian sects in America,
were at first destitute of the educational forces which have so
signally aided and strengthened the more popular churches of the land.
They had no colleges, no academies, or theological schools at their
command. Although some of their ministers were very respectable
scholars, giving good evidence of their literary attainments in their
pulpit instructions, and now and then an uncommon genius would appear,
making his talents specially available as a writer or preacher, the
larger number were more notable mainly for their plain good sense,
their reasoning powers, their very intimate acquaintance with the
Scriptures, and their aptness in the use of them in the defence and
advocacy of their faith. These last named qualifications gave the
Universalist minister a vantage-ground in the elucidation of his
faith, which often rendered it impossible for a theological opponent,
however well trained as a scholar, to sustain himself in an attempted
vindication of his opinions. If, therefore, Christian truth could be
thus clearly and impressively set forth by those of but limited
educational resources, how much more effective might it prove if
thoroughly prepared and armed with a ripe and ready scholarship? This
consideration, as was to have been expected, in due time moved some of
the wisest and best friends of the Universalist Church to take steps
towards the accomplishment of this object.

And not for the ministry only was this advantage sought. Those who
were needed to sustain the ministry were equally involved in the
attainment of it. Every Christian sect has been elevated and sustained
in a great measure by giving its support to educational
institutions,--the college, the divinity school, the academy. If an
educated ministry is one of the great aids in sustaining Christian
truth and the Christian Church, so is an educated laity. Both would
have their religion represented and upheld by the highest educational
supports and influences of modern civilization.

Besides, Christian Universalism is a child of the light. It is "not of
the night nor of darkness." It would send out its inquiries everywhere
into the universe in its readiness to "prove all things and hold fast
that which is good." It would stand face to face with all the
questionings that come up in science, history, philosophy, fully
persuaded that all these, truthfully consulted, will more and more
confirm its great doctrines of God, the divine law and its operations,
the divine purposes and their fulfilment, the reign of righteousness
and its final triumph over all evil, as made known through Christ, the
Head, Guide, and Emancipator of Man. Hence it could not be otherwise
than that the enlightened Universalist should be the earnest advocate
and friend of educational institutions.

A notable evidence of this interest was seen in the instituting of
Tufts College in Medford, Mass. It was a timely generosity that gave
it being on that pleasant hill which "the centuries had piled and
planted to be the candlestick on which Charles Tufts should set the
light of this institution."[56] It was incorporated in 1852, and
opened for students in 1855. Its prosperity has been of steady growth,
its funds have multiplied and its endowments increased; the last
report of the President (E. H. Capen, D. D.) showing it to be "no
longer an experiment, but a power." The aggregate assets of the
college at the present time, including the buildings and one hundred
and twenty acres of land, are not less than $1,000,000. With a Faculty
of great practical efficiency, and with the close personal intercourse
of teachers and pupils, no institution of the kind in America affords
better facilities for a thorough education. In connection with the
college is the Divinity School, with its able and devoted instructors.
A professorship in the school was endowed by Charles Packard, Esq., of
Boston. An elegant chapel near the main college building is soon to be
ready for use, at a cost of $25,000, the gift of Mrs. Mary T. Goddard,
of Newton, Mass.

Lombard University, at Galesburg, Ill., is another institution,
founded by Benjamin Lombard, of Galesburg. The university building is
of brick, three stories high, with spacious rooms. It has libraries of
about 5,000 volumes; an extensive mineralogical cabinet, including a
rare collection of shells; a valuable philosophical and chemical
apparatus, and a permanent fund of about $100,000. Young men and women
are admitted alike to all classes and all courses of study. Rev. N.
White, Ph. D., is President, as also of the Theological Department in
connection with the university. All departments of the university are
open to the students of theology without charge.

St. Lawrence University is at Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. It has
two fully organized departments. 1. The collegiate, comprising the
usual four years' classical course, and a four years' scientific
course. Rev. A. G. Gaines is president and Craig Professor of
Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. Young men and women are admitted to
the institution on the same conditions. 2. The theological, of which
Rev. I. M. Atwood, D. D. (the successor of the late Dr. Fisher) is
president. Competent and faithful teachers are in both schools. The
location and surroundings of the school are favorable to uninterrupted
study. A good number of well-educated and useful ministers have gone
out from Canton.

Another college worthy of special attention is Buchtel, Akron, Summit
Co., Ohio. It was founded by the Universalist State Convention of
Ohio, and was named in honor of Hon. John R. Buchtel, its most
generous and devoted benefactor, and was opened to students of both
sexes, Sept. 11, 1872. The curriculum of study embraces: 1. A complete
classical course of four years; 2. A thorough philosophical course of
four years; 3. A full scientific course of four years. There is also a
preparatory course of three years for each of the above courses. Rev.
O. Cone is president of Buchtel, who has a company of able teachers
with him. There are thirty-two perpetual scholarships of $1,000 each;
and four professorship endowments (two for women), two of $25,000, and
two of $20,000 each. The outlook from the institution was never more
promising than at present, and its friends were never more devoted to
its interests. Its generous founder has lived to see this child of his
many anxieties and strong affection one of the great joys of his
lifetime; and he richly deserves it. The college was lately freed from
debt. Its total capital is $290,000.

Clinton Liberal Institute has been of good service. It was founded in
Clinton, N. Y., in 1831, and removed to Fort Plain, N. Y., in 1879,
and came into possession of the buildings and grounds formerly known
as the Fort Plain Seminary and Collegiate Institute. It was the first
academic institution set up by Universalists, and has had a steady
success from the beginning. Charles V. Parcell, A. M., is president,
and has with him a full corps of competent teachers. The amount of its
property is $100,000.

One of the most convenient and beautiful educational buildings in New
England is Dean Academy, at Franklin, Mass. It was incorporated in
1865, and derives its name from the late Dr. Oliver Dean of Franklin.
The edifice with the outbuildings is valued at $200,000, is lighted
with gas and heated by steam, and has every modern improvement and
convenience for the comfort of the pupils. Its principal is Lester L.
Burrington, A. M., Chase Professor of Latin and Greek. The institution
is well endowed and is increasing in prosperity. It is an honor to the
Universalist denomination as well as to its venerable founder, and
deserves to be widely patronized and vigorously sustained. The edifice
stands upon land once owned by the distinguished Orthodox divine, Dr.
Nathaniel Emmons, formerly the minister of the town.

Goddard Seminary is situated in the beautiful village of Barre, Vt.,
six miles from Montpelier. The school is for both sexes, and offers
three complete courses of study, viz. the college preparatory, of
three years; the ladies' collegiate, of four years; the English
course, of four years. The seminary is well supplied with anatomical
models, skeletons, charts, globes, stereopticon, table and gas
microscope, and apparatus for the illustration of physiology,
astronomy, philosophy, and chemistry. The cabinet contains an
excellent collection of minerals, fossils, and natural history
specimens, and superior facilities are offered for the study of
natural science.

 [Illustration: Thos. A. Goddard.
 H. W. Smith.]

This institution bears the name of one whose generous encouragement
was given it in the beginning,--Mr. Thomas A. Goddard. He was a member
of the Second Universalist Church in Boston, and during the long
pastorate of Rev. Hosea Ballou was the faithful superintendent of its
Sunday-school. Prosperous in business, he was always liberal in his
contributions to the church and its charities, which in a large city
were ever making appeals to him. From the time of the first movements
for the founding of Tufts College, he was among its most interested
and generous helpers, and was one of the first treasurers of the
institution. When, a few years since, the infant seminary at Barre
became embarrassed, a devoted friend, acting as its agent, determined
to make a vigorous effort in its behalf. He came to Massachusetts, and
calling on Mrs. Goddard, whose husband had aided the school in the
beginning, the result was Goddard Seminary.

Westbrook Seminary and Female College is a boarding-school for young
men and women, near Portland, in Deering (post-office Stevens Plains),
Me. The institution began to be talked of as early as 1830. A generous
citizen of Westbrook, Mr. Zechariah Stevens, had resolved to donate
land ample enough for the school buildings and the needed adornment
around them. How his gift has been improved, the present attractive
appearance of the seminary declares. The institution was chartered in
1831, and opened in 1834. It has had friendly aids from time to time,
one of them being Hersey Hall, the gift of Gen. S. F. Hersey of
Bangor. Common and higher English courses, a college preparatory, and
two collegiate courses for ladies are provided. The school-building
contains the chapel, recitation-rooms, library, laboratory, and
cabinet of minerals. Rev. J. P. Weston, D. D., is president of the
institution.

Green Mountain Perkins Institute is situated in the village of South
Woodstock, Vt. It was incorporated in 1848, and has since been in
successful operation. The school is for both sexes, and offers three
complete courses of study. The classical, of three years, includes
Greek and Latin sufficient to prepare students for admission to any
New England college. The ladies' collegiate for four years is offered
to those wishing to take an extended course in Latin, French, and
German, and higher English. The school has gained a good reputation.

In this presentation of the principal educational institutions founded
and sustained mainly by the Universalist public, it is seen what
influences may go out from them to the honor of the Universalist
Church, the promotion, of literary culture, scientific enlightenment,
and Christian civilization.

It may be well here, as we speak of educational aids, to recognize the
instrumentality of the Sunday-school, which has found such a good
degree of encouragement from the friends of Christian Universalism. It
has been an outgrowth of the increased conviction among them of the
duty of instructing the rising generation in the truth and life of the
Gospel. From the beginning of the present century in America this work
has been recognized, the Universalists in Philadelphia and Boston
manifesting their special interest in it.[57] Growth in this work has
been gradual but encouraging, and the Sunday-school is now one of the
cherished institutions of the Universalist Church. Its interests are
widely and earnestly discussed, and the means for its advancement
through the children's paper and teachers' "Helper" promise good
results, if wisely utilized in the future. Although still needing
improvement, the Sunday-school may be regarded with this church, as
with others bearing the Christian name, as an indispensable aid in the
moral advancement and religious culture of the children and youth on
whom will rest the responsibilities of the church in the years to
come. The Sunday-school cause was never more generally and unitedly
encouraged by Universalists than at the present time.

Another educational aid worthy of note is that to be found in the
circulation of the literature of the church; its periodicals, books,
pamphlets, and tracts. These have thus far done excellent work in
reaching and awaking interest in religious truth where the living
preacher has not gone. A hundred-fold more can this be done by a just
appreciation of this great instrumentality,--the Press. It is always a
power in the advocacy of any cause; it will be in its tendency to
deepen and strengthen the loyalty of Universalists to the church they
represent. An active and clear-sighted agent of one of our Western
colleges just now writes:--

  "In my work for the college, the closest readers of our church
  papers are the ones who have responded most readily to the call for
  help. Loyalty to our church among them is the rule, while among
  those who do not take a paper, he is the exception, only, who
  responds to the call. Nothing else can be so powerful an ally of the
  preacher in keeping the people informed of our schools and colleges
  and all other interests; and that Universalist family which refuse
  to take a church paper for the pittance which our Western organ
  costs,--_four cents a week_,--not only lose much of interest
  and enjoyment, but thereby advertise their own indifference to the
  best interests of the church.

  "Strenuous efforts should, for these reasons, be put forth by the
  ministry and other agencies to place a church paper in every
  Universalist home throughout the land."[58]

The appeal here made will apply to any locality. And more than this.
These readers of the church publications are themselves to seek a
larger distribution of this means of Divine enlightenment to others.
Ignorance of Christian truth at home and abroad,--in our own land and
in lands less blessed with heavenly knowledge,--is constantly calling
for this educational work on the part of those who are permitted to
live in the light and cherish the hopes of the Gospel of God's
impartial and efficient grace.

[56] Wilmot L. Warren, Esq.; Address before Alumni, June 20, 1882.

[57] See an article in the Universalist Quarterly for October, 1882,
entitled "The Universalist Origin of American Sunday-schools," by Rev.
Richard Eddy.

[58] Read at the Ohio Convention, by W. F. Crispin, Financial Agent
for Buchtel College.




CHAPTER XXI.

THE LAITY.

  "All the members have not the same office. One body in Christ, and
  severally members one of another."--ROM. xii. 4, 5.


Although in the biographical sketches contained in this volume those
of the ministry are made conspicuous, the writer is sensitively aware
of the fact that many devoted and honorable laymen, who have
faithfully and essentially sustained the ministry, are equally worthy
of record for their works' sake. A separate volume, such as we are not
able to make up, would be required to do them justice. We take
occasion, however, to speak a word in way of sincere and grateful
tribute to these good and strong helpers, through whom the ministry
has received inspiration and strength.

No sect can live mainly on the dignity, or piety, or learning, or good
reputation of its ministry. Leaning too much on these, it will grow
formal and cold; will fail to become an active force among the masses,
in the midst of the opposing hosts of this great world around it. To
sustain a ministry as a kind of moral or spiritual convenience, to
wait upon it chiefly to be entertained, or to be satisfied with the
respectable precision with which its functions are performed, and thus
to keep in "good standing" with the Christian community and the
observant world, is different entirely from the intent of that great
spiritual enterprise which the New Testament upholds.

It was a significant saying of the rebuilders of the ancient temple,
that "the people had a mind to work." Leaders, priests, prophets,
master-builders were aided by others on every hand, and so the work
went successfully on. It must be thus in the uprearing and
strengthening of the walls of the Christian Zion. With the diversities
of gifts, there is to be the one spirit, one will and endeavor, and
the one glorious end constantly in view. The direction of the apostle
to the Church at Rome gives us the true idea: "We, being many, are one
body in Christ, and every one members one of another." He used the
well-known illustration of the limbs and members of the human body to
describe the several offices and functions in the Church; setting the
right estimate on the diversity and unity of those who composed it,
giving to all their places and to each its share of the essential
life-work to be done.

Of the true and faithful "women-workers" of the Universalist Church we
have freely spoken; to the fidelity of the good and faithful men we
would as readily testify. Names we may not mention, for, these once
given, we should be unable to decide where to close the record. But
this we can say,--and every faithful minister will bear witness to the
truth of our statement,--that among his experiences none have been
more uplifting than those connected with the co-operation of true
souls who have waited on his ministry, and given their ready counsel
and sure and steady support. The minister of the city with his
incessant toils and cares, the country pastor in his quiet rounds of
duty, or the missionary-evangelist having his preaching-stations at
long distances from each other, all have been doubly blessed in their
anxious and unremitting toils in the Lord's field by the cordial
smiles and welcome greetings and generous encouragements of the lay
friends who, by spirit and action, have been all the time bidding them
"God-speed" on their way.

"How shall they hear without a preacher?" is a very sensible New
Testament question. How shall the preacher be sustained and blessed by
his hearers? is another of equal weight and timeliness. A society or
church is to be formed; a Sunday-school organized; ways and means
instituted to secure a financial basis to carry on the work of the
church. Where rests the responsibility, and where the directing and
sustaining force, but in the few, perhaps, who are to be depended upon
in every such movement, and who give confidence and courage to others
who are gladly willing to do their parts with them.

A low tide comes in society affairs; adversities have been realized,
and the faint-hearted are prophesying failure. Who but the few
"stand-bys" are among the hopeful and helping; those always readiest
with their money, always in their places at the worship service, or in
the conference meeting or the Sunday-school? What would be the courage
of the minister but for this loyal church-guard ever to be depended on?

A church edifice is to be built, or a church debt cancelled? Who shall
lead in the business? the minister? Yes, if he can more conveniently
than any other one. But what shall his "lead" be without followers? On
whom does he most rely? On those laymen who are only waiting for his
word to begin the work. Their generous zeal will awaken new interest
in others, and this "striving together" of minister and people will
insure success.

A pastor is out on a mission of private charity. The case of a poor
widow, or sick and needy husband and father, or some suffering and
desponding one needing help and comfort, is tugging at his
heart-strings, and the immediate resources of his pocket are not equal
to the demand. What then? He knows just where to go, directly,
quietly, to the counting-room, or store, or farmhouse of that layman
whose religion makes him glad to "do good and to communicate," and
whose worldly store gives him opportunity thus to bless himself as he
confers a blessing on others.

A college needs an additional endowment. Money is required. The
president or some other friend of the institution goes forth in
confidence that, on a truthful representation of the needs, certain
ones will listen with interest and liberally respond to the call, and,
as the annual report at the next Commencement declares, he is not
disappointed. He has consulted the laymen.

The General or State Convention makes its annual call upon the parish
for its apportioned contribution to the funds for the general work of
the church, and its extension beyond existing parish lines; for
missionary operations in the waste places, that they may be blessed
with the light and joy of the Gospel. Who will be sure to meet truly
and promptly this call? The loyal layman who has made himself
acquainted through the church journals and from his minister in the
pulpit with the just and holy demands of this enterprise, and who has
never indulged himself in laying back from it, saying, "We have enough
to do to meet our own parish expenses!" No, he and such as he now
cheer the heart of his minister, and make glad sister parishes, and
add credit to the whole church.

A blessing like this cannot be too highly prized, cannot awaken too
strong a thanksgiving. A faithful ministry the church must have or
fail. But this ministry, to be strong and prevail, must have for its
fresh inspiration the hopeful eyes and ready hands and throbbing
hearts of a constant and loyal laity.




CHAPTER XXII.

THE PRESENT OUTLOOK.

  "No man can be assured of his own salvation, except he see the same
  salvation in the same Saviour for all men, as well as for himself;
  which is to love his neighbor as himself."--RICHARD COPPIN.[59]


That the errors connected with what has been deemed the Orthodoxy of
the past are passing away is undeniable. We have been noting this on
every page of this volume. The Christian pulpit and the religious and
secular press are bringing out new confirmations of it continually.
Take two indications; first, the emphatic utterances coming from the
Episcopal Church in England and America. It is Rev. Charles Kingsley
who writes: "I preach to you a Son of God who has declared everlasting
war against disease, ignorance, sin, death, and all which makes men
miserable. Those are his enemies, and he reigns and will reign, till
he has put all enemies under his feet, and there is nothing left in
God's universe but order and usefulness, health and beauty, knowledge
and virtue, in the day when God shall be all in all." It is Canon
Farrar at Westminster Abbey who is awaking deep interest in his
vigorous exposures of the hideousness of the old ideas of a wrathful
God who would punish some of his simple offspring hereafter "without
relief and without end." His volumes entitled "Eternal Hope" and
"Judgment and Mercy," are full of references to the opinions of others
in the past, who have opposed these errors,--although most of them are
not new to readers and students of Universalist literature,--and are
among the harbingers of that coming day when the absurdities which he
assails shall be numbered among the things that were. His admissions
of the force of the arguments of Universalist writers are such as will
awaken new inquiry in many directions, notwithstanding he takes
occasion to affirm of himself most distinctly, "But I am not a
Universalist." We can only say that, if he is not, he is doing no
small share of a work which will tend to make others avowers and
defenders of this faith. Others of the ministry in England, like the
late Dr. Maurice, Rev. Frederick Robertson, and Rev. Stopford Brooke,
have given their testimonies in behalf of these higher and clearer
views of Christian theology. In America, such men as Drs. Holland and
Phillips Brooks, are advocates of the improved theology, the
last-named explicitly affirming his faith in the final salvation of
all souls. Dr. Heber Newton, rector of the Anthon Memorial Episcopal
Church at New York, in his sermon on the death of the late Rev. Dr.
Chapin, said that--

  "Dr. Chapin, knowing the feeling of the church against the new ism,
  boldly became its preacher, for he recognized its great and noble
  mission. That sin had its recompense, he never doubted, but his
  doctrine of 'God is love,' was so eloquently preached that the
  theologians reconsidered their doctrines of retribution. Even the
  Episcopal Church, he says, in recently reviewing the articles,
  struck out the one about eternal punishment. When Universalism began
  its mission, religion so to speak, had become ossified and rigid,
  and it was necessary, to meet the advanced thought of the age, that
  some change be made in it. The force that wrought this change,
  developed outside of the Orthodox Church, and it has been
  instrumental in banishing much of the barbarism and cruelty of
  expression which Christians borrowed from the Pagans."

The Presbyterian and Methodist Churches have had their experiences in
the agitation of these questions involving the acceptance or rejection
of the leading points of theology held by them in the past. But the
freest and boldest utterances on this subject seem to have come from
the Congregationalist Churches. Members of the Beecher family have
been quite conspicuous in their allusions to the old and abhorrent
doctrines of Calvinism; as for instance, Mrs. Stowe, in her
"Minister's Wooing" and "Old Town Folks;" her sister Catherine, in her
emphatic saying, that, as this theology is set forth, "there must be
an awful mistake somewhere;" Dr. Edward Beecher, in his "Conflict of
Ages" (a work ably reviewed by Rev. Moses Ballou); and Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher, who has just now affirmed that he will never more preach the
horrible doctrine of endless punishment. After repeating a statement
he had made, that the dogma of endless suffering is the cause of
increasing infidelity, Dr. Edward Beecher says, that "Universalism is
no longer restricted within denominational lines, but is now diffused
more widely than some suspect," that "the preaching of the doctrine is
largely neutralized by a latent Universalism within the walls of
evangelical churches," that some of the clergy "dare not investigate
the dogma (endless suffering) in an impartial, scientific method, lest
they bring themselves into conflict with the creed they are expected
to defend;" and closes thus: "Meanwhile the creed-doctrine of an
endless punishment is seldom discussed from the pulpit, and never
willingly heard by the pews." Significant indeed is the closing of his
volume on the "Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution:" "Even admitting
that the doctrine of eternal punishment is the word of God, it seems
to be forgotten that allegations may be attached to it that shall make
it to be not the word of God, but the greatest falsehood in the
Universe."

At the Congregationalist Convention in Boston in 1865 the difficult
problem came up to be solved, "how they could state what they
themselves had come to believe, without appearing to deny what the
fathers believed." Assembled at the old Burial Hill of the Pilgrims in
Plymouth, they affirmed their adherence to the "substance of the
Westminster and Saybrook Confessions of Faith." To clothe this
"substance" in verbal forms, making it a true statement of the old
theology of Puritanism, and at the same time a living thing of to-day,
would seem to be an undertaking resulting in as great a confusion of
tongues as in any instance recorded in the history of the past. To
keep intact the theology of the past in their churches is an
impossibility.

For, let us understand that the most thoughtful among the theologians
of nearly all the churches are now beginning to feel the force of the
question hitherto hushed down, as it has been boldly asked or even
whispered in the face of the theology of the past: What is the Divine
responsibility in the creation of man? It is the question asked by
Hosea Ballou, in his youth, of his father, a Baptist minister: "Would
it be an act of goodness on my part to create a human being,--had I
the power,--knowing that his existence would prove an endless curse to
him?" a question which the father was unable to answer, and which the
son did not press strongly upon him. This question, though familiar
enough to Universalists and long made a ground of argument concerning
human destiny, has usually been evaded by the supporters of the
popular theology, as beyond the reach of human reason. They have
regarded the inquiry as to the responsibility of God in the creation
of man as irreverent on the part of his feeble offspring. But the
question has been considered and earnestly examined, and the
discussion of it has elicited the most outspoken opinions as to the
result of the investigation.

Rev. W. W. Patton, D. D. of Howard University, has recently spoken
very definitely on this subject, although he acknowledges that it has
not been a legitimate one to be decided upon by the theologians of his
school. He affirms that the Divine reason like our own (we being made
in the Divine image) includes the eternal, unchangeable, and
imperative idea of right, the practical synonym of which is
love,--love being that which always, everywhere, and in all beings,
expresses the right or sums up duty. He reaches the conclusion that
God chooses love as the rule of his activity, that when he creates
rational sensitive beings, by that very fact he put himself
voluntarily into a relation which calls upon him to act upon the
principle of love, which gives them a right to expect that he will so
act.

It is an answer to the question of Abraham, "Shall not the judge of
all the earth do right?" and of Paul, "Is God unrighteous?" In
agreement with this reasoning of Dr. Patton, is that of Rev. John
Miller of Princeton, N. J., who just now affirms:--

  "A deformed God is a great light gone out from any religion, and is
  the chief ally of infidelity. God is not to be worshipped because he
  is powerful, any more than Satan is; but because he is moral. If he
  wrongs me in bringing me into being, he is no sovereign to me."[60]

In the same strain comes this testimony from Miss Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps, of Andover, in a late number of the "North American Review:"--

  "The Bible meets us squarely upon the deepest and the highest
  question which the finite intellect has the right to ask: What,
  having made us at all, is God's moral attitude toward us? When he
  thrust into space this quivering ball of pain and error, did he mean
  well enough by it to justify the deed? Profounder than all our
  philosophy, wiser than all our protest, comes the sublime and
  solitary answer: 'He so loved the world that He gave his only Son.'
  This magnificent reply, which theology has distorted out of its
  grand and simple proportions, to which science has refused its
  supreme reasonableness, the true human heart and the clear human
  head have accepted. The contortions of faith and the malice of doubt
  have almost equally united to shake the hold of this great
  re-assurance upon the world. The world will have it in spite of
  both. The world will have it, because it is the best it can get; and
  by all the iron laws of common sense it will keep the best till God
  or man can offer it something better."

Even so. Amen!

At the present time the orthodoxy of Andover Theological Institution
is assuming new and strange aspects. During the recent discussions
respecting the invitation to Dr. Newman Smyth to accept a
professorship at the institution, this avowal on the part of the
professors still in their places there is given to the public:--

  "It cannot be denied that the doctrines of eternal punishment and of
  the judgment have lost their proper place in the teachings of the
  pulpit. That method alone can restore them to a reflective age which
  refuses to put into them more than our Saviour left in them, and
  which brings them into accord with the knowledge of divine truth
  which the spirit of Christ is ever developing in his Church.
  Christianity educates men to ever higher, broader, more truthful
  conceptions of God. The questionings of to-day in Christian hearts
  respecting the doctrine of eternal punishment are a consequence of
  the elevating and spiritualizing power of the Gospel. The Church
  should seek out positions that can be held. It should be in advance
  of its enemies."

This change, it is affirmed by the Andover professors,--

  "... is a natural development of principles which the New England
  theology has especially cultivated. These principles have gained
  their rights only by hard conflicts. At every stage the cry of
  heresy has filled the air, but they have won the day. They have
  banished the dogmas of guilt for Adam's sin, of infant damnation, of
  passive regeneration, of the universal perdition of the heathen.
  They have been attended all along by concessions,--concession of the
  dogmas that all men sinned in Adam, that Adam was their federal
  head, that the death of Christ was only for the elect; concession
  that 'elect infants' who die in infancy include all such; that we
  cannot fix the time when moral agency begins; that none who die
  before this point is reached are excluded from salvation; and so on,
  through ever-advancing modifications. The path of New England
  theology is thus strewn with concessions,--concessions to _an
  advancing knowledge of God's Word_, concessions _to truth_!"[61]

Very explicit language, surely. And yet, in direct conflict with it,
there is the fact that the Andover creed, to which all professors of
the institution must give their assent, involves the doctrines of the
Trinity and Vicarious Atonement; that "by nature every man is
personally depraved, destitute of holiness, alike opposed to God; and
that, previously to the renewing agency of the Divine Spirit, all his
moral actions are adverse to the character and glory of God; that,
being morally incapable of recovering the image of his Creator, which
was lost in Adam, every man is justly exposed to eternal damnation; so
that, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;
that God of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, selected some
to everlasting life, and that he entered into a covenant of grace, to
deliver them out of this state of sin and misery by a Redeemer." Yes,
the Andover creed declares there is a final separation from the love
of God, which cannot wrest the erring soul from the grasp of death,
cannot bridge the grave, cannot descend into the depths and bring up
to life and light its own offspring. Christ himself may declare, "I
will draw all men unto me;" the Andover creed says, No! No salvation
for the soul that has entered death's dark realm. No matter that
Christ has the keys of hell, he cannot rescue! No matter that the time
has been foretold when "death and the grave shall be destroyed," when
"there shall be an end of sin," when pain shall no longer pierce and
tears no longer flow; in opposition to all this the Andover creed
tells us, as an essential part of Christian faith, as one of the
inspiring strains of the Gospel message, that "the wicked" whom Christ
came to save, "will awake to shame and everlasting contempt, and with
devils be plunged into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone
for ever and ever."

How are these theological contradictions to be explained? Infidels are
sneering at this double-dealing; honest Christians are asking, "What
is to be the issue of this conflict? Why do not these religious
leaders state plainly where they stand, and what they would have the
churches accept and affirm as the truth of God?" The question has been
aptly asked, "Is the moral sense at Andover Institution paralyzed? The
situation is perfectly clear to every honest barber, shop-keeper, or
shoemaker, and it makes a hundred infidels where the 'Age of Reason'
makes one."[62] It is a matter for congratulation that the Christian
world has been moved, that its thought has been so largely modified,
and that it is our great honor "to stand at the centre, however men
may hesitate to acknowledge it, towards which these lines of influence
are tending."[63] But why, we must ask, are not these professed
friends of Christian truth in all the churches more in readiness to
acknowledge this indication, and plainly state what they think of it?
Why hesitate and stand in the shadow of their old errors, when it is
so clearly evident that they can be no longer successfully maintained,
and which do not represent their real opinions? Why not say outright,
"We were mistaken in accepting and teaching these doctrines of total
depravity, election, and reprobation, infant and endless damnation,
and have come to see that God is the Father of all men, and that in
all his dealings with his children he will act in strict conformity
with his paternal justice and love?" Are we to conclude that there is
with them the plague of a confused moral sense, which hinders the
honest and prompt avowal, on their part, of the truth of that Gospel
of Divine grace "that bringeth salvation to all men?"

To avoid the admission of the truth of Universalism, there are not a
few who seem disposed to tarry at the half-way ground of the doctrine
of the annihilation of the wicked, as though in these desperate cases
of sinfulness the saving resources of the Infinite love were
exhausted, and God could make no better disposition than this utter
destruction of those created in his own image, and capable of knowing,
serving, and enjoying him forever. Strange that God's children can so
limit his saving love and power! Is there any instance of sinfulness
that cannot be reached by that grace which so much more abounds than
any transgression of men?

Another conclusion which inquirers reach is that of the indefiniteness
in which this question of the ultimate results of the Divine
government is involved. As though, on a subject of such unspeakable
interest as this to every mortal, there could be indefiniteness in a
Revelation involving the truth of man's origin, duty, and destiny! Why
not indefiniteness in this Revelation as to the being of a God and his
attributes, as to man's whole duty, as to the objects of Christ's
mission, as to the immortal existence of _any_ souls? No! the eminent
Christian apostle will teach us all better, as he does in his lofty
assurance of the extent of God's claims on his children and his
paternal interest in them: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord."[64] Everlasting thanks to heaven for the definiteness
respecting this great question, which the advocates of Christian
Universalism have constantly maintained. These hesitancies, haltings,
evasions, policies, will have their day, and through them and after
them the truth of the Gospel will find its open avowal and
vindication. Here is the prophecy, years since made by one of the
ablest and worthiest of Christian ministers. "Whoso readeth, let him
understand."

  "A few generations more, and the system you have advocated will be
  among the things that are only remembered. You will abandon it, but
  by degrees; as the truth increases you will begin by first exploding
  the old notion that infants are damned, and by avowing the salvation
  of all who die in early life. Then you will proceed to reject so
  much of your doctrine as to allow that a very small part of mankind,
  here and there an individual, will be sent to hell. And continuing
  the work, you will at length determine that even these will there
  suffer no other pain than the remorse of conscience; next, that
  their remorse will be no greater, in degree, than what is
  experienced in this world. And finally you will give up the
  remainder, first, in confidential whispers among yourselves, and
  then, after the common people shall have generally led the way, you
  will come out boldly, and preach God as the Father of all and the
  Saviour of all."[65]

Many a one not now ready to acknowledge the claims of the faith of the
Universalist Church has this, mainly, as his reason for it, that it
has not been for centuries past the popular faith of the churches in
Christendom. There are great numbers of Christians who have in reality
no more plausible reason why they are not better acquainted and more
in love with this faith. Whenever they have heard it spoken of it has
been in such words as to lead them to regard it as a modern
innovation. Beyond this they have not looked. Convinced of this, they
have not desired to look farther. But they should. A faith making such
pretensions and appeals ought to be looked after. Men are not wise and
humane; they are not lovers of their race and its truest well-wishers
in the Christian sense; they are not in readiness to rejoice in view
of the widest and most thorough dispensation of Divine grace, in the
most extensive and effectual work of salvation through the "One Lord
Jesus Christ," while they regard with indifference the affirmation
which the Gospel makes of this very work with all souls. Is it true?
This ought to be the eager inquiry of everyone professing faith in the
significance of the second commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself." Where this love pervades the heart, will not that heart
seek every evidence that can be offered in proof of this most
desirable of all results, the reconciliation of all souls to the
Divine administration, the Divine love regenerating, uplifting, and
glorifying all God's offspring? We press these questions home, without
a word of apology, to every lover of Christ and the Christian cause.

If these hesitating ones of whom we speak would take up the
examination, they would find that some of the clearest and noblest
minds of the past have given their assent to this very faith, and that
the doctrines in opposition to it are not to be regarded as past
questioning when they have been sanctioned by generations involved in
as much mental and moral darkness as most of those which have preceded
us.

Christ came to teach positive truth, and his religion invites the
largest and freest inquiry as to its claims. And so this theology of
the past will be investigated. It is undergoing the process now in
minds and in the midst of institutions where this old conviction of
the superiority and sacredness of the past has been revered as it
never can be again. All the sects are more or less affected with this
contagion of inquiry. It will not be suppressed. To silence it for a
season is but allowing it to accumulate greater force with which it
shall again make itself manifest. Said a speaker, a few years since,
in a Methodist Conference in New York city:--

  "What reason can be given for the difference in manifestation of
  conviction of sin between our day and the times of our fathers?
  Whereas we used to preach to sinners that an endless hell awaited
  all who died in their sins, we now leave the fact almost wholly out
  of sight. We say we believe that when men thus die they go to a
  place of everlasting burnings, where the Almighty tortures them
  alive as long as he the Almighty lives. If we believe this, why do
  we not preach it now? Why do not our editors write about it, and our
  bishops thunder it from their pulpits till the people tremble?"

A brother minister present took exception to these remarks. He thought
that the Christians made by what were termed the "reformed methods" of
the day are as abundant in good works, and their lives redound to the
glory of God full as much as was the case under the machinery of fifty
years ago. "We do not propose to go back on the operation of the Holy
Spirit to-day, because he acts now in ways different from those of
old." A sensible conclusion. The churches are growing,--growing out of
unreasonable doctrines which had their origin in the darkness of the
olden time, and which must vanish away as the full day of Christian
truth comes in to gladden the waiting world.

Christianity will stand all this controversy. It was made to. It is
not only the wisdom and the love, but the power of God, and that
endures and triumphs. It needs of itself no alteration. While it can
suit itself to all the shifting phases of human history, it is of
itself, like its author, "without variableness or shadow of turning."
It has the same fulness and adaptiveness now that it ever had. Says
Rev. Mr. Spurgeon:--

  "Men in the days of Whitfield looked back to the days of Bunyan, and
  men in the days of Bunyan wept because of the days of Wyckliffe,
  Calvin, and Luther; and men then wept for the days of Augustine and
  Chrysostom; men in those days wept for the days of the apostles; and
  doubtless men in the apostles' days wept for the days of Jesus
  Christ; and, no doubt, some in the days of Jesus Christ were so
  blind as to wish to return to the days of prophecy, and thought more
  of the days of Elijah than they did of the most glorious days of
  Christ. Some men look more to the past than to the present. Rest
  assured that Jesus Christ is the same that he was yesterday, and
  will be the same forever."

Verily so; and what he is, it is our business in the present to
ascertain. How much of his fulness may we now be able to comprehend?

And so again we say, "the world moves," the church moves, the spirit
of the All-wise and Almighty is moving upon the heart of humanity. Man
advances. This is the Divine process. For long centuries there may be
but little, comparatively, accomplished; then a new activity will be
realized. We do not expect to go back to the Dark Ages again. The very
last half-century, as we have seen, has been more marked with progress
than any other before in the world's history. Our own nation has given
signal evidence of this. Our Declaration of Independence has an
increased luminousness at the present hour. That the next half-century
will have equal advancement, we are not sure; but all signs are
hopeful that there will be more growth, continued improvement. One
thing seems evident in reference to our own nation, which is, that the
religion of the Gospel is needed in it more than ever before, to meet
its increasing needs, and to give it strength of character and
permanent life. Truer words were never spoken than those by the orator
at the Yorktown Centenary celebration during the past year:--

  "No advanced thought, no mystical philosophy, glittering
  abstractions, no swelling phrases about freedom,--not even science,
  with all its marvellous inventions and discoveries,--can help us
  much in sustaining this republic. Still less can any Godless
  theories of creation, or any infidel attempts to rule out the
  Redeemer from his rightful supremacy in our hearts, afford us any
  hope of security. In that way lies despair! Commonplace truths, old
  familiar teachings, the ten commandments, the sermon on the mount,
  the farewell address of Washington, honesty, virtue, patriotism,
  universal education, are what the world most needs in these days,
  and our own part of the world as much as any other part. Without
  these we are lost. With these, and with the blessing of God, which
  is sure to follow them, we may confidently look forward."[66]

If we are reading the signs of the present and the indications of the
future aright, we readily conclude that it is but early day yet in the
history of humanity,--we mean in its moral and spiritual history.
Gross darkness, fearful wrong, appalling sin yet afflict and demean
it. If we have the gain of the past to encourage us, if we would be
aids in the world's progress, the new instrumentalities of the present
which we possess must be used as though we had full faith in their
power, that is, in the Divine indications that are in them. If the
true millennium is yet afar off, it is advancing. So should we be, not
as children of the night, nor of any darkness of the past, but of the
Christian day, which has had its heavenly breaking, and whose rising
bids us to be risen also, and to be moving on! We are debtors to the
past, how great we can never fully realize. We are equally debtors to
the future. What can we now do for its largest blessing, its permanent
life?

Seeing that these errors, delusions, and wrongs of the past are to be
dissolved, what is the work of the Universalist Church now and in the
time to come? The answer is ready. It is to magnify its office, to
extend the spirit and life of its holy faith. It is false to its trust
if it fail to do this. It is to advance, "strong in the Lord, and in
the power of his might." To boast of its grand conceptions of truth,
its reasonable interpretations of the Bible, of its pre-eminence in
any way, and still to have no quickening power in the work it is
called to do, is not to seek advancement and success, but to court
disappointment and failure.

This highly-favored church, then, should offer to the acceptance of
the world,--

1. A positive faith. At this peculiarly transitional time in the
Christian Church history, great watchfulness and discrimination are
needed on the part of those who are regarded by the majority of the
churches as "liberal Christians," because this word "liberal" is often
quite vague in its meaning and covers very many phases of belief and
unbelief, scepticism, and credulity. A candid and able writer of the
Unitarian fraternity has just given to the public these very timely
and wholesome suggestions:--

  "Liberal Christians will make a fatal mistake if they dream of
  gaining strength and influence by statements so nebulous and so
  universally inclusive that even those who deny all spiritualities
  can ally themselves with them, and speak from their pulpits. If they
  intend to form a debating club or a school of philosophy, they might
  naturally and wisely pursue such a policy. But if they wish to form
  a church, with a faith to offer to the world, and a positive and
  definite work for a definite end, such a course is self-destructive."

  "The effort of liberal Christianity should have been to strengthen
  the things that remain. Instead of that, its work has tended too
  much to minimize faith and to maximize doubt. Everything has become
  the subject of dissection, almost nothing the object of enthusiasm
  and trust. That religious body whose supreme function is criticism,
  however skilful it may be in special work, will never be a
  regenerating power in human society."[67]

Well said. And this leads us to speak directly and freely on the
subject of creeds as connected with all Christian churches, and
especially as involving the policy and duty of the so-called Liberal
churches. We know that at the present time many are cutting themselves
away from old creeds, such as have held them and their ancestors
before them; when there is more religious inquiry abroad than ever
before, and when it is becoming quite fashionable to speak lightly of
all creeds, and to intimate that, on the whole, the church and the
world may get along about as well without them as with them,--perhaps
much better without them. It is well, as this impatience of creeds is
increasing, "to think soberly," if possible, on the whole matter.

What is a creed? Let us "begin at the beginning,"--the dictionary.
Creed comes from the Latin _credo_, and signifies to believe. It is "a
summary of Christian belief, or of the articles of faith. Any
profession of that which is believed; a statement of the articles of
belief, as the _creeds_ of political parties." All religionists have
creeds of some kind; from the most liberal to the most exclusive of
them. Take the most radical "free religionist" you can find, and ask
him, immediately after you have heard him berating creeds and
adjudging all as bigots who would be bound by them, what he believes,
and as surely as he says anything, he will state to you _what_. And
this is his creed, whether he calls it so or not. He might as well
deny that he has a head by calling it something else, or by not
allowing it to have any name. A creed he has, if he believes anything.
The same of all men.

What, then, is the objection to creeds? Why, that the Church has been
full of bad creeds, narrow creeds, unreasonable creeds, contradictory
creeds, creeds dishonorable to God and to humanity. There is no doubt
of this; and the evil still abounds. But what then? Away with all
creeds? You cannot do it. A creed you will have, at last, after all
you have thought and said and done against having one. It is
inevitable.

Most of the creeds of the Church, for centuries past, have contained
doctrines revolting to the common sense and to the holiest affections
of mankind. The Church and the world are outgrowing them, and they
must be put away. There will be no rest nor peace for those who hold
and defend them until they are put away. But what more? Will there be
nothing instead of these falsehoods, in the forms of human creeds? Are
there no TRUTHS to take the place of them? Every reasonable mind
concludes that there are. Better views of God and man will be taken,
more reasonable and scriptural doctrines will be accepted, and these
will go to make up the new creeds. If these new creeds have errors in
them, then there will be new siftings in the controversies that will
be continued on the old apostolic principle, "Prove all things; hold
fast that which is good." Notice; _to be continually questioning_ is
not the great object of Christian investigation. There is something
_to be held fast_. It is that truth which will commend itself to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. This will constitute the
perfected Christian creed at last, just as surely as that "every knee
shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father."

Because the churches have not yet the right creed is no reason why
they may not be seeking for it, and may not one day find and adopt it.
We do not mean, of course, that all minds can be alike, but that all
minds will unite in acknowledging certain truths, such as the Divine
Paternity, the Human Brotherhood, the necessity of personal holiness,
the divine and human mission of Jesus, the immortality, holiness, and
happiness of mankind. If these are truths, as we believe they are,
they will constitute a part, at least, of the Christian creeds of the
churches.

To what, then, does this sweeping denunciation of creeds amount? May
not much of it be of very questionable utility and soundness? We know
that good and wise men talk thus. But are good and great men, even,
always sure of being right in their statements and conclusions? One of
our distinguished public men, Mr. Wendell Phillips, said in his
discourse on "Christianity a battle, not a Dream," that the New
Testament was nothing but the New Testament, and that "nothing like a
creed could be tortured out of it,--nothing like Universalism,
Catholicism, or Unitarianism." We have as little faith in the
torturing process as he; but we utterly deny that a Universalist creed
cannot be clearly and undeniably found in the New Testament. We have
already stated a part of it. If the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood
of the race, the unceasing obligation of man to love God and his
fellow-creatures, the lordship and mission of Christ the Saviour of
the world, the immortality of all mankind, are not positive doctrines
of the New Testament, then no doctrines, no precepts, no principles
can be proved from it. This is the very question at issue between
Universalists and those who deny that their faith has its foundations
in the New Testament. We are ready to stand on this issue with all who
will meet us there as honest inquirers after truth.

A gifted and highly honored member of the fraternity of Friends took
occasion some time since to speak lightly of an attempt on their part
to "tinker a creed" for themselves. And why might they not do it? If
not satisfied with their present statement of faith they have a right
to search for that which will enable them to make a better one.
Tinkering! What are we all doing in our investigations and conclusions
but just this? Rather poor workmen, most of us; but here, in this
great workshop God has given us, we have a right to keep hammering and
welding away,--a right and a duty to see how perfect a piece of work
we may show as the result of our patient and persistent labor. Newton
deemed himself but a picker-up of pebbles, while the great ocean of
truth lay all unexplored before him. Our best searching will only give
us indications of that truth which is infinite. Yet this is no reason
why we should not be looking for it, and stating it when we think we
have found it. God will accept even our homeliest work, when honestly
done.

  "When done beneath his laws,
  Even servile labors shine."

So, in reason's name, do not let us be afraid of "tinkering" on
creeds, any more than we should be ashamed to be diggers, hammerers,
furnace-workers and explorers in the fields of science. Truth will
come of it all; truth that shall be worked into a good creed at last.

Universalists have a creed. Its articles, we believe, are reasonable
and uncontradictory, commending themselves to the clearest intellect
and to the holiest affections of mankind. Their principal creed or
"Confession" is a short one, yet remarkably comprehensive. It can be
and is enlarged, and in this form adopted in many of the churches. The
world asks what Universalists believe. They have been in existence as
a sect long enough to tell them; and ought to be in readiness to do
this. Yea, anxious to do it, because of their convictions of the need
of this truth in the understandings and hearts of men. Our Unitarian
neighbors have been much troubled with the fact that many of their own
people, especially their younger ones, have not known what Unitarians
believed,--what were the articles or doctrinal statements of their
creed. Just one thing, surely, that they and others ought to know. If
Universalists have had any defect of this kind, it should cease to be
with them, especially if they have definite convictions of Christian
doctrines such as the Divine Paternity, the Brotherhood of Man,
Christ, the Holy Spirit, Regeneration, Retribution, Forgiveness,
Atonement, Salvation, Immortality. If they have not definite
convictions respecting them, let them say so, honestly, as in the
hearing of all men. Otherwise, let them have a positive creed to state
and defend.

A positive creed, we say. For, to have a creed made up of statements
that are questionable in the minds of its defenders, is to have
anything but a New Testament--a truly Christian creed. The Apostles
had no such creed. Their creed reads thus: "To us there is one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we by Him.--Christ is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.--Now is
Christ risen, and become the first fruits of them that slept.--God
will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the
truth. God shall be all in all." With them these were not questions
open for self-settlement in their minds, but truths of which they were
thoroughly convinced, and in the promulgation of which they were most
thoroughly in earnest. This is the Christian ministry now needed, not
a ministry made up of inquirers and sceptics mainly, who are "ever
learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth," but of
those who have settled convictions of what the truth of God is, and
who are in readiness to state and maintain a creed which they believe
to be every way in accordance with reason, with the Scriptures, and in
answer to the most earnest and anxious inquiries of the human soul.

"But creeds are binding," says one. Of course they are if we believe
them to be the truth, and are truthful ourselves in the acceptance and
use of them. But _how_ are creeds binding? Erroneous, evil creeds
bring the souls who hold them into bondage. We understand this. But
what about true and good creeds? It appears to us that these give
liberty, aye, the largest liberty. Jesus says, "Ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free." Who says, in the light of
this statement, that the truth of Christ adopted in a creed tends to
bondage? God's truth, dear reader, is binding on you, and on us all,
according to our convictions of it. What freedom do you desire? That
which will give you indulgence in perpetual scepticism, unsettlement
in regard to anything? Call you this liberty? We regard it as about
the worst of bondage; because we are thus in uncertainty; we have no
permanent habitation in God's love and life. We have, indeed, the poor
liberty of an outcast, but not that of "a child at home." This last is
a liberty which a creed embracing Christian truth will allow us. We
want no greater. It will help us in all our interpretations of God and
His works and ways in the universe which is open before us.

Two considerations, then, we may bear in mind; one is, that of the
reasonableness and propriety of Christian creeds. This indiscriminate
denunciation of them is not wise. It is one of the flurries of the
present age, but will not endure the long run of theological
investigation. Creeds may not all be written, but they will exist,
even with those who denounce them. The logic of fact and human
experience effectually settles this, so that a further superfluity of
breath on this subject does not seem to be really needed. A faith in
the unseen that is most in accordance with nature, human intuitions,
sound philosophy, and the Word of God, is the one after which all
souls may rightfully seek.

Next, of the Universalist creed, let us understand that it is not only
a theological affirmation, but a constant teacher of the most thorough
virtue,--a call to the purest, highest, and most heavenly life. The
Universalist Church needs nothing so much as to be vitalized by its
spirit; the world needs nothing more than this vitality for its
present salvation.

2. And this leads us to speak, briefly, of the true Christian life
which this Church should seek to commend to the world. Here is the
Apostle's direction which opens to us most clearly the practical
influence of the faith of the gospel: "For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world."[68] It is the indwelling heavenly
love, the love which Christianity is ever indicating and proving, that
will find its expression in the true Christian believer. It is the
practical interpretation of that text from John, "We love him because
he first loved us."[69] It is the faith with works, proving its
spiritual vitality. It is at war with sin and wrong; it comprehends
the scriptural statement, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." And
it realizes how evil is to be overcome and put away. It aims to live
here and now as it becomes the soul born of God to live, "soberly,
righteously, godly." What words more expressive of its life can be
given? They sum up the whole of the Christian life.

This religion which the Christian Gospel recommends is reverential and
worshipful. The flippant inquiry of atheism of olden or modern time,
"What is the Almighty that we should pray to him or serve him?" it
answers, rationally and emphatically, "The Lord he is God; serve him
with gladness; for he is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth
endureth to all generations." Worship is the natural utterance of the
true believer as he looks upward to the Father. Forms of worship are
means by which his adoration finds expression. Monotony, routine,
repetitions, drony formality, will not be in the offering, for the
reason that his whole soul is seeking God, and finds the enjoyment of
his holy presence and ineffable light.

This religion is affectional and emotional. It is intellect awakened
into love; it is sober thought seeking most earnest expression; it is
logic on fire. Those who have no taste for the emotional in religion
have only a partial conception of the most effective expression which
the Christian religion seeks, and in which it may properly and
profitably indulge. The needy, empty-souled, impulsive world-masses
are not to be reached and warmed, uplifted and inspired, by clearly
exact and well-stated and well-worked-out theological problems. The
multiplication table is true, and useful, but we do not look for any
spiritual inspiration in it. The religion that has most blessed the
world is a religion that appeals to and draws out the affections;
that, while it repudiates imprudent zeal and fanaticism, insists on
that earnestness which everywhere meets us in the New Testament
Gospels and apostolic records and epistles; which reaches men's hearts
and convinces them of their need of heavenly aid; awakens the question
asked by the converted soul, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and
realizes the significance of those apostolic declarations, "Be filled
with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto God the
Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto the Father, in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ." All this signifies living interest, fervor
of spirit, emotional, wakeful expression.

This religion is, moreover, eminently practical. It is not only ready
to say, "Lord, Lord!" but to do the Lord's work as well. It forecloses
this inconsiderate criticism sometimes heard, "Why all this wordy
demonstration and noise about religion? Good works are of a thousand
times more avail; the best religion is to do good." True, indeed, and
this is what Christianity is constantly teaching. No one taught it
more forcibly than Jesus himself. The parable of the Good Samaritan is
emphatic on this point, that the reputed unbeliever who did good was worthy
of more praise than the most punctilious professor of religion who was
deficient in the essentials of the Christian kingdom,--Justice, Mercy,
and Love. "What doth it profit, though a man say he have faith and
have not works? Can faith save him? For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also."[70] But good works do
not exclude these other manifestations of the true religion. "These
ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

3. Once more: this religion is reformatory and progressive.
Reformation and progress are words always indicative of the Christian
dispensation with man; the call to holiness and the response to it,
growth in God's grace, new achievements,--never resting in present
attainments, but ever striving with fresh inspiration for new
accomplishments in the heavenly course. Most religions (especially
under the Christian name) have some of these characteristics; but the
religion nearest to that which Christ taught and exemplified will have
them all. To secure the highest blessings of the Christian kingdom,
the churches must be based on the principles, and conform to the
requirements, of this kingdom. The Universalist Church must. Its true
prosperity has been and will be in accordance with its fidelity in
this particular. One of its earnest preachers of the present time has
truly said:--

  "Opinions as faith will never serve to build up any Christian
  character. There is not a saved soul in any paradise anywhere which
  was ever saved by any opinion. It is only when opinions become
  faith--become rooted forces of the soul--that they have any
  effect."[71]

It should have the Christian missionary inspiration and action, should
open its eyes to the magnitude and glory of the missionary outlook
which no faith short of that of Christian Universalism presents to
every lover of this humanity now groaning in bondage, and waiting "for
the manifestation of the sons of God." It should rise to a new and
grander conception than has been realized by those who have borne to
souls in the darkness of heathenism the limited doctrines of human
wisdom. "Go ye INTO ALL THE WORLD, and preach the Gospel TO EVERY
CREATURE." To no other church in Christendom does this great text of
the ages speak more explicitly than to the Universalist. It has the
truth of the Human Brotherhood, which all the world should understand
and embrace, for which all heathendom is waiting, and to which in the
long run it will come if this favored church is true to its heavenly
calling. That it may be thus true, it is not to deceive itself with
any false ideas of the leavening process which is to go on in other
churches, while it is inclined to do the least and not the most to
keep the leaven in healthy and constant operation. When Rev. Otis A.
Skinner was canvassing New England to raise the first one hundred
thousand dollars for Tufts College, he was met with such suggestions
as this from certain ones who professed friendliness to the success of
his movements: "Is it really necessary to make this attempt to build a
new college? Why not keep quiet, and wait until the time comes when
Harvard College will fall into our hands?" Supposing such
short-sightedness and apathy had prevailed, where would Tufts College
with all its benefits have been to-day? Universalists should be about
their own church missionary business. It is theirs, and no others are
called upon to do it for them. Dr. Edward Beecher, in his "Records of
the Church in the Third Century,"--many of whose members were avowed
believers in the final reconciliation of all souls,--states that they
were among the most zealous and devoted Christians of that age in
personal piety and in active missionary labors. They sent out the
Gospel to the remotest shores of the then known world. Here is the
same world to be reached by the messengers of this very Gospel to-day.
"How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach
except they be sent?" No corner of the earth is exempt from the
benefits of this message; no means should be left unemployed to send
it forth. Are Universalists acquainted as they might be with the
missionary work that has been already done by the other churches
around them? Are they familiar with their reports and other
publications involving the missionary enterprise, showing what good
they have accomplished in opening the Christian Scriptures and aiding
a Christian civilization in other lands? Do they realize that if these
missionaries have propagated errors in theology, they have cleared the
way in part for a better dispensation of Divine Truth by the
translations of the Bible into other languages, which they have made?
These are important considerations, and Universalists will do well to
act upon them.

As the Lord liveth, the now "open questions" will one day be settled,
and settled on the side of the Divine Beneficence. The love of God in
Christ has come into the world, and will not go out of it until its
work is here done; love that is long-suffering, that rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; that beareth, believeth, hopeth,
and endureth all things, and that never faileth; love that will bring
the last lost one home, that will obliterate all the hells, and people
all the heavens in the universe.

[59] These significant words of an advocate of Universalism more than
two centuries ago are in striking agreement with those of an advanced
orthodox thinker of the present time. "It should never be forgotten
that in the Biblical philosophy of salvation the life of the
individual is bound up with the life of the whole, and reaches its
fulness and completion only in the liberty for which the whole
creation waits."--"The Orthodox Theology of To-day;" by Rev. Newman
Smyth, D. D.

[60] Article in the "Universalist Quarterly," for July, 1882, "The
Divine Responsibility," by Rev. C. W. Biddle.

[61] Published opinions of the Professors of Andover Theological
Seminary, April 10, 1882.

[62] "Christian Leader."

[63] Rev. A. A. Miner, D. D.

[64] Rom. viii. 38.

[65] Rev. Hosea Ballou, D. D. Reply to Dr. Hawes's Arguments against
Universalism. It was nearly a half-century ago that these words were
written. And now at this very time there comes this echo of them in
confirmation of the truth of the prophecy: "Little by little the pulpit
shrinks from the mediaeval theology. Ministers first gloss it by new
interpretations, then they prudently hold it in suspense, then doubt it,
then cast it away." Rev. H. W. Beecher, in "North American Review,"
July, 1882.

[66] Oration of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop at Yorktown, Va., October 19,
1881.

[67] Rev. F. B. Hornbrooke, in Unitarian Review, August, 1882.

[68] Titus, ii. 11, 12.

[69] 1 John, iv. 19.

[70] James, ii. 14, 26.

[71] Rev. James Pullman, D. D.


University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fifty Notable Years, by John G. Adams

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