"Thus bravely live heroic men,A consecrated band;Life is to them a battle-field,Their hearts a holy-land."Tuckerman.
"Thus bravely live heroic men,A consecrated band;Life is to them a battle-field,Their hearts a holy-land."Tuckerman.
"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 AmericanConflict," 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 asearching 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 Austinwas, 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 remaineduntil 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 instructedin 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 stronglife-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. Steerewas 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 withinterest 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. Blisswas 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 hewas 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 Tomlinsonhad 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 Homœopathic 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 Tomlinsonwas 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 Yorkand 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. Hislast 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 ofletters 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 prayedfor 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. Wilsonwas 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 hisnative 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 greathardship, 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 theyimpressed 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.
[46]See Harper's Monthly Mag. for October, 1874.
"Like angels sent from fields above,Be yours to shed celestial light."A. Balfour.
"Like angels sent from fields above,Be yours to shed celestial light."A. Balfour.
"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 inhalf 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 Pickeringwas 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 severetrials in his last days, and departed this life in Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 6, 1859.
From 1830 to 1846 Rev.George Rogerswas 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 preacherwould 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 hecourteously 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, inAugusta, 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. Themarked 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. Mellenwas 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. Eatoncame 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 firstsettled 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 hæmorrhage 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. Dillinghamwas 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 theirmoral 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 ofJohn 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. Complyingwith 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 temperanceand 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 ifspace 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 allhands 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 particularism, 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:—