{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45034/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45034","id":"gutenberg_45034","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45034","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Universalism","Universalist Church -- Biography","Universalists -- Biography","Universalists -- United States -- History"],"text":"Transcriber's Note:\n\nSmall capitals have been rendered in full capitals. Italics are indicated\nby _underscores_.\n\nApparent typographical errors and inconsistent hyphenation have been\ncorrected.\n\nFootnote 4 is missing, while Footnotes 5 and 6 identical.\n\nThe first line of the text accompanying an illustration comprises the\nsignature of the person portrayed. Any attributions are reproduced in\nfollowing lines.\n\nChapters XI to XIX comprise biographical notes on Universalist ministers.\nThese are separated by two spaces.\n\n\n\n\nFIFTY NOTABLE YEARS.\n\n\n\n\n  \"And I saw that there was an Ocean of Darkness and Death; but an\n  infinite Ocean of Light and Love flowed over the Ocean of Darkness;\n  and in that I saw the infinite Love of God.\"--GEORGE FOX'S JOURNAL.\n\n  \"Universalism was the evening star of the church as the night of the\n  dark ages came on, and appeared as the morning star at the dawn of\n  the Reformation.\"--THOMAS WHITTEMORE, D.\u00a0D.\n\n [Illustration: Hosea Ballou.\n Painted by H. Pratt.\n Engd. by J. Andrews & H. W. Smith.]\n\n\n\n\n FIFTY NOTABLE YEARS\n\n VIEWS OF THE\n\n MINISTRY OF CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM\n\n _DURING THE LAST HALF-CENTURY_.\n\n WITH\n\n Biographical Sketches.\n\n BY JOHN G. ADAMS, D.\u00a0D.\n\n ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS.\n\n BOSTON:\n UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE.\n 1882.\n\n\n _Copyright, 1882_,\n BY UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE.\n\n UNIVERSITY PRESS:\n JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nEvery intelligent reader of that expressive line of Longfellow, \"Let\nthe dead past bury its dead,\" understands that if \"the _dead_ past\"\nmay be buried, as it deserves to be, the _living_ past will be\nremembered, recorded, celebrated, honored in all time to come. It is\nwell, always, that we have our eyes open to this fact.\n\nAmong the many voices heard in the discussions going on in the\nreligious world during the last half-century, has been that of\nChristian Universalism. It is still speaking more emphatically and\nwidely than ever. A brief and comprehensive notice of its\nmanifestations is surely worthy of consideration at the present time.\nIt is the intent of this volume to keep in sacred remembrance some of\nthe preachers and defenders of the Gospel of God's impartial grace,\nwho in times when it was frowned upon and misrepresented in and out of\nthe churches, had the Christian courage and loyalty to avow and\nmaintain it. They have made the past not \"dead,\" but gloriously alive\nin their faith and works.\n\nIn addition to the biographical sketches here given, other kindred\nmatter of interest to the general reader will be presented, such as\nthe rise and progress of the Universalist church in America; its\ngrowth in agreement with the genius and civilization of our republic;\nits place in the reformatory work of the last fifty years; its present\nstatus; its educational resources and aspects; its definite organized\nwork; its missionary spirit and intent, with an outlook into the\nfuture.\n\nThe reader will understand that the views here taken are from the\nstandpoint of a New England minister's observation, and do not embrace\nparticulars which a wider survey might have included.\n\nFurthermore, the author would say, that in the account of ministers\nhere given, nothing like a complete biographical encyclop\u00e6dia is\nintended; hence, he does not consider himself responsible for what is\nnot in the volume, but presents it as it is, with a thankful heart\nthat he is able in this humble effort to vindicate the faithful dead,\nand to address the living in behalf of that cause which they honored\nand promoted.\n\nJ.\u00a0G.\u00a0A.\n\nMELROSE HIGHLANDS, November, 1882.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE WORLD'S PROGRESS.\n                                                                      PAGE\n\n The Century just passed.--Last Half-century and Changes in it.--Words\n of Rev. Dr. Macleod and Governor Long.--Moral Progress; Hopeful\n View.--Enlargement of Religious Thought.--Christianity a Universal\n Religion.--Words of Dr. Uhlhorn and Dean Milman.                       13\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nCHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM.\n\n The Name; what it indicates.--Ancient Universalism.--Dr. E. Beecher's\n Testimony.--Statements of Others.--Mr. Lecky and Dr. Shaff.--\n Universalism of the Present Time.--In Europe.                          19\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nUNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.\n\n Its Rise with the Republic.--Declaration of Independence.--Its\n Christian Signification.--Mr. Bancroft's Statement.--Spirit of the\n Constitution of the Republic.--Nature, Unity, Interest, and\n Destination of the one Family of Man.--Speech of Dr. T. Whittemore.--\n Murray in Faneuil Hall.                                                23\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nEARLY ADVOCACY OF UNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.\n\n Murray and De Benneville.--Universalists as a separate Sect, and\n Reasons for it.--Statement of Rev. Dr. J.\u00a0H. Tuttle.--Murray's\n Associates in the Ministry.--Their Characteristics.--Statement of\n Rev. Dr. J. Smith Dodge.--Description by Rev. Dr. A.\u00a0D. Mayo.          30\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nGROWTH.\n\n Ministers at the beginning of the Present Century.--Statement of Rev.\n Dr. Miner.--Educational Aids and Publications.--Murray Centenary\n Fund.--Woman's Centenary Aid Association.--Theological Changes.--\n Calvinism, Arminianism, Universalism.--Evidences of the Influence of\n the Latter in these Changes.--Orthodox Concessions.                    36\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nUNIVERSALISM, UNITARIANISM, RATIONALISM.\n\n Liberal Christianity.--Indecision of Unitarians respecting the\n Salvation of All.--Ballou on Atonement.--Bold Vindication of their\n Faith by Universalists.--Tribute to Unitarianism.--Its Defects.--Mr.\n Parker's Influence.--Difficulty in answering a Question.--Disavowal\n of Mr. Parker's Rationalism by Universalists.--Resolutions of Boston\n Association.--Mr. Parker reviewed by Rev. O.\u00a0A. Skinner and Rev. Dr.\n Lothrop.--Discussions respecting Christian Fellowship.--Dr. Ballou's\n Article in Universalist Quarterly; never Answered.--Mr. R.\u00a0W. Emerson\n and his Testimony to Universalism.                                     42\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nREFORM MOVEMENTS AND UNIVERSALISM.\n\n Universalist Reform Association.--First Meeting, and Festival\n Addresses.--Continuation of Meetings, a Feature of Anniversary\n Week.--Anti-Slavery Resolutions.--Festivals in Faneuil Hall.--\n Rendition of Burns; Notes of Freedom on the Occasion.                  50\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nNEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY; UNIVERSALIST PROTEST.\n\n Mr. Garrison and His Associates.--Marlboro Chapel, \"Eloquence\n dog-cheap there.\"--The Debaters.--Rev. John Pierpont and his\n Remarkable Plea.--Wendell Phillips's Reply to it.--Mobs in Boston and\n at Concord, N.\u00a0H.--Denunciatory Spirit.--Anti-Sabbath Convention.--\n N.\u00a0P. Rogers and the \"Herald of Freedom.\"--Momentum of the\n Anti-Slavery Reform.--Political Changes.--War of the Rebellion and\n Downfall of Slavery.--Universalist Churches in this Reform.--Protest\n of Ministers against Slavery.                                          58\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nREFORMATORY PROGRESS.\n\n The Temperance Reform.--Its Rise and Course in the Past; Its Present\n Aspects.--The Peace Question.--War Spirit of the Past contrary to\n Christianity.--Growth of the Christian Idea.--Peace Publications.--\n Sumner's Oration.--National Disputes can be settled by Arbitration;\n Instances.--Victor Hugo's Words.--Treatment of Criminals.--Capital\n Punishment.--Position and Work of Woman.--Other Questions.             66\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH AND ITS WOMEN.\n\n Some of the Gifted Authors.--Women Workers in the Churches, Pulpits,\n and Educational Institutions.--Organized Effort.--Woman's Centenary\n Aid Association.--Its Work in the Centennial Year.--Tribute from the\n \"Christian Leader.\"--Work of the Association since.--Mrs. C.\u00a0A. Soule\n and the Scotland Mission.--Church in Glasgow.--Circulation of Church\n Literature.                                                            79\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS.\n\n Hosea Ballou.--Hosea F. Ballou.--Massena Ballou.--David  Ballou.--\n Moses Ballou.--Hosea Ballou, D.\u00a0D.--Levi and W.\u00a0S.  Ballou.--\n Edward Turner.--Sebastian Streeter.--Russell Streeter.--Thomas\n Jones.--Paul Dean.--Walter Balfour.--John Bisbe.--Thomas Whittemore,\n D.\u00a0D.--Benjamin Whittemore, D.\u00a0D.--Dolphus Skinner, D.\u00a0D.--Warren\n Skinner.--Otis A. Skinner, D.\u00a0D.--Samuel P. Skinner.--Joseph\n O. Skinner.--Nathaniel Stacy.--Stephen R. Smith.--Sylvanus Cobb,\n D.\u00a0D.--Menzies Rayner.                                                 84\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n Thomas F. King.--Thomas Starr King.--Abel C. Thomas.--S.\u00a0W.\n Fuller.--William A. Drew.--I.\u00a0D. Williamson, D.\u00a0D.--Kittredge\n Haven.--John Boyden.--John Moore.--Henry Bacon.--D.\u00a0K. Lee, D.\u00a0D.     129\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n George Bates.--Ezekiel Vose.--Lemuel Willis.--John H. Willis.--\n Theodore Clapp.--John A. Gurley.--Enoch M. Pingree.--Thomas\n J. Greenwood.--Elbridge Gerry Brooks, D.\u00a0D.--Ebenezer Fisher,\n D.\u00a0D.--Rev. Seth Stetson.--William Bell.--Calvin Gardner.             152\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n Josiah Gilman.--Emmons Partridge.--William I. Reese.--Albert A.\n Folsom.--William C. Hanscom.--Merritt Sanford.--Alexander R.\n Abbott.--Henry C. Leonard.--Abraham Norwood.--Charles Spear.--\n James W. Putnam.--James W. Dennis.--Henry B. Soule.--Obadiah H.\n Tillotson.                                                            168\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n Elhanan W. Reynolds.--Nathaniel Gunnison.--John M. Austin.--Tobias H.\n Miller.--Martin J. Steere.--Franklin S. Bliss.--Russell Tomlinson.--\n De Witt C. Tomlinson.--Levi C. Marvin.--Giles Bailey.--John E.\n Palmer.--William W. Wilson.--William R. Chamberlain.                  181\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n Samuel C. Loveland.--David Pickering.--George Rogers.--Lewis F.\u00a0W.\n Andrews.--Charles W. Mellen.--Henry A. Eaton.--W.\u00a0A.\u00a0P. Dillingham.--\n John G. Bartholomew, D.\u00a0D.--E.\u00a0H. Chapin, D.\u00a0D.--Joseph D. Pierce.--\n Thomas J. Carney.--James M. Cook.                                     199\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n A.\u00a0W. Bruce.--Frederick A. Hodsdon.--Ezekiel W. Coffin.--Edward A.\n Drew.--Norris C. Hodgdon.--S.\u00a0P. Landers.--John Nichols.--Robert\n Killam.--Charles H. Webster.--Asa P. Cleverly.--Thomas J. Whitcomb.--\n George W. Whitney.--Robinson Breare.                                  221\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n Zadoc H. Howe.--Willard C. George.--Mark Powers.--L.\u00a0L. Record.--\n H.\u00a0H. Baker.--James W. Ford.--E.\u00a0H. Lake.--L.\u00a0B. Mason.--Lafayette\n Barstow.--Stillman Barden.--T.\u00a0J. Tenney.--C.\u00a0H. Dutton.--Robert\n Bartlett.                                                             232\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\n Rufus S. Pope.--W.\u00a0M. De Long.--W.\u00a0B. Linnell.--Joshua Britton.--\n George Messenger.--John T. Goodrich.--Franklin C. Flint.--Hope Bain.--\n Woodbury M. Fernald.--C.\u00a0P. Mallory.--Elvira J. Powers.--Fanny U.\n Roberts.--Prudy Le Clerc Haskell.--_Living Ministers_: C.\u00a0F. Le\n Fevre, D.\u00a0D.--Lucius R. Paige, D.\u00a0D.--A.\u00a0A. Miner, D.\u00a0D.--Thomas J.\n Sawyer, D.\u00a0D.--Thomas B. Thayer, D.\u00a0D.--William S. Balch, D.\u00a0D.--\n William H. Ryder, D.\u00a0D.--Birthplace of Rev. H. Ballou.                257\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nEDUCATIONAL AIDS.\n\n Universalism and Education.--Tufts College.--Lombard University.--St.\n Lawrence University.--Buchtel College.--Clinton Liberal Institute.--\n Dean Academy.--Goddard Seminary.--Westbrook Seminary.--Green Mountain\n Perkins Institute.--Other Aids.--The Sunday School.--Church\n Literature.--A Sensible and Urgent Appeal.                            293\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nTHE LAITY.\n\n Needed Support of the Ministry; how the Laity can render it.--\n Instances noted.                                                      302\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE PRESENT OUTLOOK.\n\n Changes.--The Episcopal and Congregational Churches.--The Beecher\n Family.--Congregationalists at Plymouth in 1865.--Question of the\n Divine Responsibility.--Dr. Patton, Rev. John Miller, Miss Elizabeth\n Stuart Phelps.--Orthodoxy at Andover.--Questions respecting it.--\n Expedients to avoid the Admission of Universalism.--Prophecy of\n Rev. Dr. Hosea Ballou.--A late Acknowledgment of its Truthfulness.--\n Spirit of Inquiry among the Sects.--Spurgeon's Words.--The World and\n Church moving.--Growth of our Nation during the Last Half Century.--\n Words of Hon. R.\u00a0C. Winthrop at Yorktown.--Work of the Universalist\n Church Now and Henceforth.--A Positive Faith.--The Creed Question\n noted.--A True Christian Life.--Missionary Inspiration and Action.--\n Conclusion.                                                           307\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF PORTRAITS.\n\n\n                                                                      PAGE\n\n REV. HOSEA BALLOU                                          _Frontispiece_\n\n  \"   HOSEA BALLOU, D.\u00a0D.                                               95\n\n  \"   THOMAS WHITTEMORE, D.\u00a0D.                                         111\n\n  \"   OTIS A. SKINNER, D.\u00a0D.                                           116\n\n  \"   SYLVANUS COBB, D.\u00a0D.                                             124\n\n  \"   JOHN MOORE                                                       147\n\n  \"   HENRY BACON                                                      148\n\n  \"   ELBRIDGE G. BROOKS, D.\u00a0D.                                        161\n\n  \"   EBENEZER FISHER, D.\u00a0D.                                           163\n\n  \"   LUCIUS R. PAIGE, D.\u00a0D.                                           259\n\n  \"   ALONZO A. MINER, D.\u00a0D.                                           262\n\n  \"   THOMAS J. SAWYER, D.\u00a0D.                                          268\n\n  \"   THOMAS B. THAYER, D.\u00a0D.                                          275\n\n  \"   WILLIAM H. RYDER, D.\u00a0D.                                          283\n\n  MR. THOMAS A. GODDARD                                                298\n\n\n\n\nFIFTY NOTABLE YEARS.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE WORLD'S PROGRESS.\n\n  \"Even now, after eighteen centuries of Christianity, we may be\n  involved in some enormous error, of which the Christianity of the\n  future will make us ashamed.\"--VINET.\n\n  \"Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,\n  And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns.\"\n\n  TENNYSON.\n\n\n\"The world moves.\" This is one of the confident sayings of those who\nbelieve in human progression. It is an ordination of Divine Providence\nfrom the beginning that man should realize mental and moral growth\nthrough the successive generations of his earthly life. And this\ndivine purpose has been manifest in the past history of our race. They\nwho think, taking the amplest view of the present condition of\nmankind, any former time was better than the present, do not\nrightfully discriminate. \"If,\" says Sydney Smith, \"you say that our\nancestors were wiser than we, mention your date and your year.\"\nEnlightened humanity cannot be content with its present attainments.\nIts purest and highest aspirations respond to that clarion word of\nChristian heroism, \"Let us go on unto perfection!\"\n\nOf all the centuries of human history which have yet been numbered,\nnone have been more notable than the one in which we are living. Since\nits commencement some of the most remarkable changes that can be\nrecorded of any age or period have taken place. Education, art,\nscience, human government and enterprise, religious thought, all have\nmade progress. Nations have changed, men have changed, if not in\nnature, yet in convictions respecting man's capability, obligation,\nand destiny. The Old World and the New have witnessed these\ntransformations.\n\nIt is of the changes indicative of human progress within the middle of\nthe present century that I desire to speak in this volume; for during\nthis period there seems to have been a more rapid succession of them\nthan ever, evincing the capability of our race for an advancement to\nwhich no philosophy of the past or present has been able to set\nbounds. There have been, during this time, nobler revolutions than\nthose effected by war, by the downfall of governments and\ndynasties,--revolutions more excellent and enduring. We mean those\nwrought by human thought, investigation, discovery, and invention. Apt\nand forcible are the words of Dr. Norman Macleod, written at the close\nof the year 1869: \"In a few hours the century will have lived its\nthreescore and ten years. I question if since time began,--with the\nexception of three or four great eras, such as the calling of Abraham,\nthe Exodus, the birth of Christ, the Reformation, the invention of\nprinting, or, it may be, the breaking up of the Roman Empire, the\nbirth of Mohammed or of Buddha,--such an influential period has\nexisted. The invention of the steam-engine, the discovery of gas,\ntelegraph, chloroform, with the freedom of slaves, the British\nacquisition of India, the opening up of the world to the Gospel, the\ntranslations of the Scriptures, will make it forever memorable.\"\nEqually expressive are the words recently spoken by the chief\nmagistrate of Massachusetts: \"Think of what has been done in the\nmatter of education, of public schools, of universities of learning\nfor both sexes and all races. In science we have unlocked the secrets\nof the earth, the air, and the sea, and made them not merely matters\nof wonder, but handmaids of homely use. In all matters of comfort, of\nuse, of elegance, of convenient living, of house and table, and\nfurniture, and light, and warmth, and health, and travel, what\nthorough and beneficent advance equally for all, shaming the petty\nmeanness with which, unjust alike to the old times and the new, we\ninveigh against the new times and overrate the old!\"[1]\n\nAnd what, more especially, of moral revolution and progress during the\nlast half century? The indications are evidently hopeful and cheering.\nHuman nature is indeed the same, but it has been under new and better\ninfluences in modern than in more remote time. Human governments have\nimproved, and even the worst of them are better now than they were\nfifty years ago. Human laws have been rendered more human and less\nbarbarous. Sympathy for the poor, the degraded, the sinful, has been\nmore truly awakened, and is at this moment in more active operation\nthan at any previous time. The moral obligations of political rulers,\nand those who sustain them, have been perhaps more vigorously\ndiscussed during these years than in any other fifty years preceding;\nso that there seems now a more favorable opportunity than at almost\nany previous day this side that of the Jewish Theocracy, to impress\nthis truth upon the public mind, that if individuals should have\nconsciences and a sense of responsibility to God, so should\ncommunities; that \"righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a\nreproach to any people.\" Religious toleration also has increased. The\nrigid sectarianism of the past has been giving way, so that now the\nhunters of heresy, and the executioners of those who held it, are read\nof rather than seen. The false deity which even some Christians have\nworshipped in the past, and the false humanity with which they have\nsupposed themselves endowed, have been in some good degree exchanged\nfor more rational conceptions of God the Father, and of man the\noffspring. And this change is daily going on; never was it more\nperceptible than at the present hour.\n\nWe should manifest an unpardonable blindness in noting these evidences\nof human advancement, if we were to leave out of the account the most\nsignificant of all forces in it,--we mean _Christianity_.\n\nThis we regard as the foremost power in the spiritual progress thus\nfar realized in our world, and which promises to effect for the race\nits highest exaltation. Refinement and barbarism have more or less\nmarked the history of the world in the past; they do still; but where\ndoes the light of civilization shine brightest among the nations? The\nanswer is, where the Christian religion, in its true spirit, most\nwidely prevails. And it is the increasing prevalence of it which gives\nus the assurance of that consummation of the Redeemer's work with men,\nwhen they all \"come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of\nthe Son of God, unto a perfect man; unto the measure of the stature of\nthe fulness of Christ.\"[2]\n\nChristianity is a universal religion. Herein is its pre-eminence. It\nis for man everywhere and in all time. No other religion has so\nclearly asserted this claim for itself, and no other promises to do so\nmuch for mankind. True, it has had to make its way against the errors\nand prejudices and corruptions of the world. It has been mixed with\nhuman errors, and has been professed, taught, and practised in too\nmany instances by those who have failed to realize clearly the\nheavenliness of its spirit, and its far-reaching, regenerative, and\novercoming power. Its earliest promulgators failed to see at first\nthis grand characteristic of its universality. An able Christian\nhistorian has written: \"Nothing is more remarkable than to see the\nhorizon of the Apostles gradually receding, and, instead of resting on\nthe borders of the Holy Land, comprehending at length the whole world;\nbarrier after barrier falling down before the superior wisdom which\nwas infused into their minds; first, the proselytes of the gate, the\nforeign conformists to Judaism, and, ere long, the Gentiles themselves\nadmitted within the pale; until Christianity stood forth, demanded the\nhomage, and promised its rewards to the faith of the whole human race;\nproclaimed itself in language which the world had as yet never heard,\nthe one, true universal religion.\"[3]\n\nRev. Dr. Gerhard Uhlhorn, of Germany, in his able work, \"The Conflict\nof Christianity with Heathenism,\" speaking of the early development of\nChristianity in the Roman Empire, calls it the first step to its\nuniversalism. \"Itself passing out from the ancient narrowness into a\nworld-wide breadth of thought and life, the old world became capable\nof accepting the Universalism of Christianity.\"[4] The old world and\nthe new have yet many steps forward to take in this pathway of a\ncontinually increasing brightness.\n\n[1] Oration of Governor Long before the municipal authorities and\ncitizens of Boston, July 4, 1882.\n\n[2] Eph. iv. 13.\n\n[3] Milman's \"History of Christianity.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nCHRISTIAN UNIVERSALISM.\n\n  \"Universalism is a living movement, organized out of the grandest\n  ideas and spiritual facts of the universe; gathering into itself the\n  richest and mightiest moral forces, and working towards the most\n  positive practical ends; and a man is a Universalist, and is the\n  better off for being a Universalist, only as some sense of what\n  Universalism thus is, and of the force of its motives, and the\n  reality of its work, flows down, a quickening power, into his\n  being.\"--E.\u00a0G. BROOKS, D.\u00a0D.\n\n\nThe name _Universalism_, as connected with Christianity, has been\nespecially notable during the present century. But the principles\nwhich it implies were averred by the Christian church in its earliest\ndays. It signifies God's unchanging paternal interest in all his\nchildren; an interest insuring his just dealing with them for their\nobedience or disobedience of his beneficent laws, and their final\nrelease from sin, and life in righteousness. Under its present name,\nUniversalism is comparatively recent; its special church history being\ncomprehended in something more than a century. But its principles and\ndoctrines are as old as the Christian records, and are found in the\nOld Testament teachings. Just as all the sects in Christendom, though\nbelonging to modern times, profess to trace whatever they may deem\nessential back to the Apostles, so believers in Universalism make the\nsame reference, as one of their number has well stated it: \"If we have\nno business here because we came so late, our neighbors must fall\nunder the same condemnation. In mere assumption we are neither younger\nnor older than they.\"\n\nThe Universalist Church claims the New Testament as the basis of its\ndoctrines. It cites the Gospels, the Apostolic History and the\nEpistles, Christ, and his first ministers, as authority for its\npretensions. After the apostles, its lights appear in the early\ncenturies of the Christian era. Dr. Edward Beecher, in his able work,\n\"The Scriptural Doctrine of Future Retribution,\" shows that at about\nthe time of Origen, out of the six theological schools in Christendom,\nfour taught Universal Salvation as the faith of the Christian\nChurch,--the one at C\u00e6sarea, the one at Antioch, the one at\nAlexandria, the one at Edessa. That eminent light of the early church,\nOrigen, who so ably and successfully maintained the claims of\nChristianity against the abusive attacks of the heathen Celsus, was a\nUniversalist. So was Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, and Gregory\nThaumaturgus, bishop of Neoc\u00e6sarea; and so were the most distinguished\nby piety and learning of the masters of the great theological seminary\nof the early Church, the Catechetical school at Alexandria. Doederlein\nsaid that \"the more profoundly learned any one was in Christian\nantiquity, so much more did he cherish and defend the hope that the\nsuffering of the wicked would at some time come to an end.\"[5] And\nHagenbach, commenting on a remark of Augustine, says, \"that even that\ngreat father of Orthodoxy admitted a relative cessation of damnation.\"\nAlso, Gieseler affirms, \"A belief in the unalienable power of\namendment in all intelligent beings, and the limited duration of\nfuture punishment, was general in the West, and among the opponents of\nOrigen.\"[6] Of the very time when the influence of Origen was so great\nin the Church, and when, there can be no good reason to doubt, the\ndoctrine of universal salvation was held by many, if not the majority\nof Christians, Mr. Lecky, in his history of \"Morals in Europe,\" says,\n\"The Christian community exhibited a moral purity which, if it has\nbeen equalled, has never for a long time been surpassed.\"\n\nDr. Schaff says of the condemnation of Origen, which included the\ndoctrine of universal restoration, \"It was a death-blow to theological\nscience in the Greek Church, and left it to stiffen gradually into a\nmechanical traditionalism and formalism.\"\n\nThe increased light shed upon ecclesiastical history during the\npresent century shows most clearly the growth of this faith from the\nfirst centuries of the Christian era to the present time. It has\nincreased with the mental and moral progress of mankind, with its best\ncivilization.\n\nWhat is written for these pages will represent especially the rise and\nprogress of the Universalist Church in America. It is proper, however,\nto say that the faith it represents has had growth also in other\nlands. It has long been known in Great Britain, where a few churches\nhave made a distinct avowal of it, while individuals scattered here\nand there have had strong interest in it. The Unitarians of England\ngenerally avow it. In the Established Church, faith in the doctrine of\nendless punishment is not demanded as a condition of church-membership,\nwhile some of its most distinguished leaders have advocated with\nmarked ability the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God in full agreement\nwith the doctrine of the final reconciliation of all souls to him. We\nmeet with Universalism in its essential elements in Neander, the\neminent Christian historian, and in commentators and scholars in\nEngland and on the Continent. The faith is expressed in the poetry of\nWordsworth, Tennyson, and others.[7] The able ministers Coquerel\n(father and son) were advocates of it in the Reformed Church in France\n(Paris). The leaven of this faith is in individuals; the doctrine is\noften held and openly avowed from the pulpit and through the press, as\nwell as in private by a large number of persons in various communions,\nwho may have but little knowledge of each other, or of the advocacy of\nthis faith elsewhere through special organizations.\n\n[5] Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., chap. 16.\n\n[6] Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., chap. 16.\n\n[7] For evidence of the many utterances of the Universalist idea in\nthe literature of the past, the reader is referred to the volume\nentitled \"A Cloud of Witnesses,\" by Rev. John W. Hanson, D.\u00a0D.,\nChicago, 1880.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nUNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.\n\n  \"Christianity is recognized as a democratic element, profitable for\n  all conditions of men, as the Declaration of Independence and our\n  Constitution are the palladium of our civil and religious\n  rights.\"--DR. J.\u00a0W. FRANCIS, author of \"Old New York.\"\n\n\nUniversalism in America took its rise with the Republic. The coming of\nJohn Murray to our shores, and the proclamation of the gospel of\nuniversal grace, was but a little time previous to the issuing of the\nDeclaration of Independence by the American colonies. These colonies\nhad come to the full and bold utterance with which the Declaration\nopens: \"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are\ncreated equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain\ninalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the\npursuit of happiness.\" Through ages of light and of darkness this\nsacred truth had had but little growth or power in the human mind. But\nit was there, and was not to die there. It lived through all the\nworld's change, commotion, and revolution, and the set time had now\ncome when it should have a clearer and stronger expression and\ndemonstration than our old or new worlds had yet known. This\ndeclaration of our fathers signified the inestimable value of man--of\nevery man--to himself, his fellow man, and his God. It asserts the\ndoctrine of human equality, not that all men have the same\nintellectual or moral capacities, or should possess an equal amount of\nproperty, or be invested with the same political privileges; but the\nreligious doctrine that all are of \"one blood,\" children of one\nFather, protected by one Providence, made to aid, to bless and build\neach other up in truth, justice, and righteousness henceforth while\nthe world stands. It signifies human equality and human rights in\ntheir broadest and most rational sense. As wrote Alexander Hamilton:\n\"All men have one common origin, they participate in a common nature,\nand consequently have one common right. No reason can be assigned why\none man should exercise any pre-eminence among his fellow creatures,\nunless they have voluntarily vested him with it.\" It was this\nconviction, based on a principle, that carried our fathers through the\nRevolution, and gave to us that Constitution which was afterwards the\nwork of their hands.\n\nThe object of this Constitution is explicitly declared, \"To form a\nmore perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity,\nprovide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and\nsecure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.\" This\nsignified not the growth and strengthening of a sentiment that would\njustify the building up of one class upon the subjugation of another.\nWe have a statement of the whole truth in the emphatic language of Mr.\nBancroft, as he speaks of the intent of the framers of the Declaration\non which our Constitution is based. \"The Declaration, avoiding\nspecious and vague generalities, grounds itself with anxious care upon\nthe past, and reconciles right and fact. The assertion of right was\nmade for the entire world of mankind, and all coming generations,\nwithout any exceptions whatever; for the proposition which admits of\nexceptions can never be self-evident. And as it was put forth in the\nname of the ascendant people of that time, it was sure to make the\ncircuit of the world, passing everywhere through the despotic\ncountries of Europe; and the astonished nations, as they read that all\nmen are created equal, started out of their lethargy, like those who\nhave been exiles from childhood, when they suddenly hear the dimly\nremembered accents of their mother tongue.\"[8]\n\nIt was meet and right that when this great word went forth to awaken\nthe nations to a new realization, there should be heard at the same\ntime in our land the trumpet notes of that gospel which proclaims the\nunbinding of the heavy burdens of humanity, liberty to the captives,\nand the opening of the prison to them that are bound. As Dr. Benjamin\nRush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (and a\nbeliever in Christian Universalism), in a letter to Rev. Mr.\nWinchester, alluding to Rev. John Wesley, writes: \"His writings will\nere long revive in support of our doctrine--for if Christ died for\nall, as Mr. Wesley always taught, it will soon appear as a necessary\nconsequence that all shall be saved.... At present we wish liberty to\nthe whole world. The next touch of the celestial magnet upon the human\nheart will direct it into wishes for the salvation of all mankind.\"\n\nThis new political life, upon which our nation entered, signified the\nequality, true sonship, brotherhood, capability, and earthly\ndestination of man. It meant democracy, not the democracy of numbers\nmerely, nor of political parties struggling for supremacy and the\nspoils of the victors, but a democracy having in view a common\ngood--the greatest good of all. It means intelligence, thrift,\neducation, and religion for the masses; it means this for one people,\nmeans it for all nations of mankind. Precisely this is signified by\nthe re-affirmation on these western shores of that gospel anciently\nproclaimed to the Athenians by the Christian apostle: \"God, that made\nthe world ... hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell\non all the face of the earth, ... as certain also of your own poets\nhave said, For we are also his offspring.\"[9] A common humanity, a\ncommon interest and destiny, are declared.\n\nIt is a common humanity with which Christ is in sympathy; which makes\nhim who would be highest in the Divine estimation the servant of all;\nwhich recognizes the Golden Rule, directs the strong to bear the\ninfirmities of the weak, and men everywhere to be helpers one of\nanother, because their interests are not antagonistic, when the laws\nthat govern their nature are clearly understood. They have unity:\n\n  \"What binds one, binds all,\n  Love of things true and right.\"\n\nMen have, too, a common interest under the Divine guardianship.\nWherever there is a man, there is a being in whose soul God has\nimplanted aspirations after himself, a propensity to religion, a\nfeeling after him which may be misled by superstition, or overlaid by\nignorance, or elevated by knowledge into purest piety, but which is\nyet there. Wherever he exists the Sovereign Power holds him in\ndiscipline, demands an account from him at his tribunal of impartial\njustice, and will not permit him to go out of his hands. To whatever\nheights he ascends, God still encompasses him; into whatever depths he\nmay fall, he is still held by the guardian beneficent power.\n\nOne destiny, also, is affirmed of this great body of humanity; a\nblessing instituted in the beginning, including all families,\nkindreds, nations. No divine favoritism towards one over another do we\nsee. The law and the prophets point towards this universal grace of\nGod to man. Israel and the Gentile world shall alike share it. The\napocalyptic vision opens it up to the eye of faith. \"And every\ncreature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,\nand such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying,\nBlessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth\nupon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.\"[10] What is\nthis but the fact, and the ultimate completeness and glory of the\nunity of the race? One Father, Brotherhood, Saviour, Homage, Destiny.\n\nOther theologies had made distinctions and endless separations in\nrepresenting mankind; had denied, as they still deny, this fraternal\nrelationship, this positive family connection; had represented God\nrather as an arbitrary sovereign than loving Father, and the Divine\ngovernment a wilful monarchy instead of a just and merciful\ndispensation under which each soul is of equal value, and the good of\none is the good of all. Unbelief has said, as in the language of\nSpinoza: \"The right extends as far as the force of the natural right\nor law, _jus et institutum natur\u00e6_ is nothing more than the rules of\nthe nature of each individual.\" The divisions and contentions, classes\nand castes, the impositions, frauds, and oppressions which have more\nor less marked the social relations of mankind, all come of this\npernicious error growing out of the unchecked selfishness of the human\nheart. Christian Universalism forever contradicts this error. It\naffirms that the great body of humanity is one, and that it is death\nto sunder it. \"If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;\nif one rejoice, all rejoice together; for the body is not one member,\nbut many.\"[11] In the affirmation of the Gospel, religious bigotry and\nexclusiveness find a constant reproof; undue boasting, arrogance, and\npride are hushed by this grand conviction that \"One is our Father who\nis in heaven, and all we are brethren.\" The broadest philanthropy is\nawakened everywhere in man. The world becomes the one great field of\neffort for the enlightenment, relief, upraising, and perfecting of\nhumanity. In the strong and noble words of another: \"Universalism and\nthe Revolution began to rise together. They were rocked together in\nthe same stormy days, in the cradle of American liberty.[12] The\nbanner of Universalism is love. Let that banner be lifted up. It shall\nsymbol yet the true idea of the Declaration of Independence, 'All men\nare created equal.' I look forward to the time when our flag shall\nwave in unsullied glory, not over smoking ruins, at the mast-head of\nour battle-ships, on bloody fields, from the parapets of our forts,\nmerely; but the stars and stripes and the white banner together,\nfloating over slaves redeemed, sinners converted, evil statutes\nabolished, the people united, and the North and the South one.\"[13]\n\n[8] Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. viii.\n\n[9] Acts, xvii. 24, 28.\n\n[10] Rev. v. 18.\n\n[11] 1 Cor. xii. 14, 26.\n\n[12] When Rev. John Murray first preached in Faneuil Hall, Nov. 26,\n1773, he discoursed from this appropriate text: \"If the Son therefore\nshall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.\"--John, viii. 36.\n\n[13] Rev. T. Whittemore, D.\u00a0D. Speech at Faneuil Hall Festival, 1858.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nEARLY ADVOCACY OF UNIVERSALISM IN AMERICA.\n\n  \"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way\n  of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our\n  God.\"--ISAIAH, xl. 3.\n\n\nRev. John Murray, from England, landed on the shore of New Jersey in\n1770. He came hither much oppressed in spirit on account of severe\nafflictions in England, and had determined not to place himself before\nthe public again as a preacher. His published biography tells us how\ndifferently the arrangements were made by Providence respecting him.\nIt is a remarkable record, that of his meeting with Thomas Potter, who\ndeclared that he had been long waiting for the minister who had now\ncome, that he must preach in the new meeting-house which had been\nbuilded for him; and who, in face of the preacher's refusal to comply\nwith his request, declared that the wind would not change for him to\nleave in the vessel until he had delivered his message. After a severe\nmental conflict the stranger consented to preach on the following\nSunday. Due notice was given, and the house was filled with attentive\nlisteners.\n\nThere had been some other preaching of Universalism in different\nplaces in America previous to this time, as there were here and there\nthose who cherished the faith and made public avowal of it. Dr. George\nde Benneville, a fugitive from France because of religious\npersecution, established himself near Germantown, Pa., as a physician,\nand being a devout believer in Universalism, took occasion often to\nadvocate it in public, with much effect. This beginning on the part of\nMr. Murray, however, opened the way to a systematic, permanent\nmovement, and led to the establishment of Universalist churches. He\npreached much in New England, and was settled in Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H.,\nand afterwards in Boston, where he remained pastor of one church for\nnearly thirty years. In his preaching at first, Mr. Murray did not\ndesign to establish a separate sect. He was welcomed by ministers and\ntheir followers into orthodox pulpits, until his outspoken views\nrespecting the salvation of the race raised a strong opposition\nagainst him, which made him an object of persecution, and marked him\nas the propagator of a dangerous heresy. Thus excluded from Christian\ncommunion and fellowship by other sects, it was but reasonable and\njust that the believers in Universalism should assume for themselves\nthe rights and privileges of a distinct and independent Christian\nfraternity; so that other sects were responsible for the separation of\nthis branch of the Christian church from themselves. It has been\njustly said by another:--\n\n  \"If there was sin in this schism, in this separate religious\n  organization, it was a sin for which the other sects of those times\n  should bear the blame. They turned us out of doors, because we dared\n  express our earnest solemn opinions, and we had only these two\n  alternatives,--to stay out of doors or go in at those which were\n  hung on Universalist hinges. Does anybody to-day condemn us because\n  we chose the latter? We do not uncharitably condemn them for the\n  course they took; they acted, in most cases, conscientiously; and it\n  was, perhaps, a providential necessity of the times that the two\n  elements should separate; that the two classes of Christians,\n  holding views so opposite, should walk apart for a while. Denied the\n  fellowship of other churches at the start, we have tried to be\n  content with the fellowship of Christ; and we neither desire nor ask\n  for any other until we are deemed worthy of it. That we can endure\n  to be called heretics, even infidels, that we can stand alone, and\n  yet live, and grow, and win the respect of the best part of the\n  world, is already demonstrated. Our great anxiety in the future will\n  be to show to all right-minded people, by our life rather than our\n  word, that we are Christians, that this last form of Protestantism\n  is only more genuine, because nearer the truth, than the first.\"[14]\n\nContemporary with Mr. Murray during his early ministry in America were\nElhanan Winchester, a highly gifted and effective minister; Thomas\nJones, formerly of the Lady Huntington connection in England, and\nafterwards settled at Gloucester, Mass.; Adams and Zebulon Streeter,\nCaleb Rich, Thomas Barnes, Noah Parker, Noah Murray, George Richards,\nWilliam Farwell, Joab Young, Hosea and David Ballou, Edward\nTurner,--most of these preachers in New England; Abel Sargent in\nWestern Pennsylvania, and a few others. Dr. Joseph Priestley was for a\ntime in Philadelphia, where he advocated the doctrine of the final\nrestoration of all souls; and Rev. Dr. Mayhew and Rev. Dr. Chauncey,\nalthough not identified with the work of the ministers already\nmentioned, had made distinct avowals of this same faith. A remarkable\nfact in connection with the history of most of these men is, that they\nwere not from theological schools, nor largely endowed with literary\nqualifications. They were men of clear mental perceptions, were well\nversed in the Bible, ready and apt in their references to it, of\nsincere convictions, and of indomitable will. They went forth in\nreadiness for whatever encounters might await them, never fearing what\ntheological forces might appear in their way, so long as they felt\nassured that \"the sword of the Spirit\" would not fail them, and that\nthey should be made \"strong in the Lord,\" and victorious in his might.\nWell has it been written:--\n\n  \"It will be brave reading when somebody shall display to us how the\n  faith came quietly to exist at far distant points, Pennsylvania, New\n  York, New England, variously born of widely different antecedents,\n  but gradually converging to a general likeness by the time John\n  Murray came to be the nucleus around which all should centre, an\n  organic but unorganized mass, without form but not void. Then will\n  follow the long history of separated and desultory warfare with the\n  established prejudices and partialities of the Christian sects,\n  during which every verse of Scripture was discussed, every doctrine\n  examined from the base, every conventional habit of thought dragged\n  to the light and called to account, every inch of theological ground\n  stubbornly fought over. All this while there were annual meetings\n  called the General Convention and recognized as a centre of\n  denominational union, but they were little more than voluntary\n  mass-meetings; all authority was jealously reserved to societies or\n  local Associations, with the largest liberty of individual\n  preference, and Universalists, like Israel under its Judges, did as\n  seemed good in every man's sight. Men in less deadly earnest, or\n  dealing with doctrines less profound and fundamental, would have\n  formed a close compact early in their history. But it was in the\n  nature of the case that these revolted thinkers should be shy of new\n  bonds, and that these divers searching the deeps should think little\n  of the surface. It was only when there came to be multitudes born in\n  the faith, with intellectual habits and social affinities based on\n  Universalism, with established worship and gathered congregations\n  scattered across the continent, that the imperative need of a firm\n  union for work and discipline was felt; and to reach this point had\n  taken almost a hundred years.\"[15]\n\nAs time passes, and new phases of the church representing the\nUniversalist faith appear, and new advocates of it arise, these days\nof its first advocacy in our land may lose their significance to many\nminds in the increasing attractions connected with the same church in\nthe present time. But he who would see most clearly the hand of Divine\nProvidence in the breaking of the light of this new dispensation upon\nour shores, will hold in just and sacred estimation this \"day of small\nthings,\" when these faithful ones stood forth to declare its glad\ntidings. So graphically have the words of another given the deserved\ntribute to their works, that we gladly record them in these pages.\n\n  \"The early defenders of Universalism were plain, earnest men,\n  aroused to the exertion of all their energies by the presence of a\n  great thought. The truth of God's universal love and benevolent\n  purpose in creation possessed them. They saw it everywhere,\n  prefigured in Hebrew types, predicted by the prophets, implied in\n  every word of Jesus, enforced in every letter of his apostles. They\n  taught it in all places, and by all methods, in parish churches and\n  district school-houses, in fields and workshops, in pulpits with\n  stones flying about their heads, in rooms filled with the odor of\n  nauseous drugs, in face of the reckless slander of the undignified\n  and the quiet contempt of the dignified portion of the clergy. They\n  were armed at all points, like the old war engines that, overturned\n  every moment, always stood right side up. They turned the tables\n  upon the literal Calvinistic interpreters, and held a text to floor\n  every opponent. They were not moved by ridicule, for they possessed\n  a keen sense of the ludicrous, and knew well how to expose the\n  absurdities of the piebald theology of the churches. To the threats\n  of their opponents they opposed Hudibrastic rhymes; to their\n  missiles, words like old Murray's, 'While I have a \"thus saith the\n  Lord\" for every point of doctrine which I advance, not all the\n  stones in Boston, except they stop my breath, shall shut my mouth or\n  arrest my testimony.' To the arguments of their adversaries, a logic\n  like that of Ballou, simple as the talk of a little child, strong as\n  the tramp of a giant. There were varieties of opinion among them;\n  they had not all come up to the mount of their elevation by the same\n  path, but the sublime truth 'God is Love' burned like an undying\n  flame in their souls, and united them like brothers. Thank God that\n  the sleep of the church was awakened by these strong champions.\n  Nobly they spake their words in days when it was a disgrace in the\n  eyes of men!\"[16]\n\n[14] Rev. J.\u00a0H. Tuttle, D.\u00a0D.\n\n[15] Rev. J. Smith Dodge, D.\u00a0D.\n\n[16] Rev. A.\u00a0D. Mayo, Sermon at Funeral of Rev. Thomas Jones of\nGloucester, Mass., 1846.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nGROWTH.\n\n  \"Day by day the doctrine of the eternity of evil is being driven\n  into its native night before a higher view of the nature of God, and\n  a nobler belief in Him as the undying righteousness.\"--REV. STOPFORD\n  A. BROOKE.\n\n\nAt the beginning of the present century, thirty years from the time of\nMr. Murray's first preaching in America, there were a few more than\ntwenty preachers of Universalism here. By the year 1813 there were\nforty; in 1840 there were four hundred and sixty-three. At the present\ntime our church \"Register\" reports the number seven hundred and\nthirty. And this increase of ministerial force is not the most\nnoticeable fact in connection with the advancement of this faith.\nOther instrumentalities are to be taken into the account. As the\npreacher at the centenary meeting of the National Convention stated:\n\"Our lists, latterly, have been more closely pruned; our parishes have\nbeen greatly strengthened; our bases of operations have been\nfortified; our clergy have made great advances in devising liberal\nthings; and our laity, possessing far greater wealth, and holding far\nhigher social positions than formerly, more nobly respond, and with\ngreater alacrity, to the far-sighted demands now so frequently made\nupon them. There are scores of our parishes in the various sections of\nour Zion, any one of which can now be moved to a greater work for a\nworthy object outside its own interests, than could our whole church\ntwenty-five years ago.\"[17]\n\nEducational improvements have also contributed to this favorable\nchange. At first there were no theological seminaries nor academies in\naid of this faith. In process of time these grew up and were made\nserviceable in the promotion of it, so that now not less than seven\nacademies, five colleges, including three professional schools, two of\ndivinity and one of law, having an aggregate property of more than two\nmillions of dollars, are to be counted among its working forces. The\npublications in the interests of this faith have had large increase.\nBooks, pamphlets, tracts, weekly and monthly journals, and the\n\"Quarterly,\" commentaries on the Scriptures, together with\nwell-sustained publishing houses, are additional influences constantly\nin operation to aid the efforts of the ministry. The Murray Centenary\nFund, projected in 1869, is designed to aid in the education of the\nclergy, the circulation of denominational literature, and in church\nextension. This Fund amounted, Oct. 1, 1880, to $121,757.29. The\nWoman's Centenary Aid Association was organized in 1869 to assist in\nraising the Murray Fund, and was incorporated Sept. 18, 1873. It is\nsupported wholly by voluntary contributions and annual memberships.\nThese are all evidences of life and advancement, and indicate a larger\nincrease in the future, which may be realized with a zeal in operation\nlike that which has effected the change already noted.\n\nOf the theological changes realized since the opening of the present\ncentury, what shall we say? and all of them indicating an approach to\nthis very faith of which we are speaking. When Murray and his\ncontemporaries entered upon their work in America, the old Calvinistic\ntheology had almost undisputed sway here; and for fifty years\nafterwards it was more or less so. But since 1830 up to the present\ntime, including the middle of this century, the advancement in\ntheological thought has been as marked as have these other changes and\nsigns of progress to which we have alluded. True, Arminianism came in\nwith the Methodistic movement, and made vigorous warfare upon the old\ntheology, with its \"five points\" so tenaciously adhered to. But\nMethodism held fast that abominable dogma, eternal punishment, and\nfailed to see God's purposes any more effective in the final salvation\nof souls than did Calvinism with its full assurance of the salvation\nof \"the elect\" only. The Arminian deity seems to have had no fixed\npurpose as to the number of the finally redeemed. Though he foreknew,\nhe was not pleased to ordain, or in the words of Dr. Adam Clarke: \"I\nconclude that God, although omniscient, is not obliged, in consequence\nof this, _to know all that he can know_.\"[18] The God of Calvin,\nthough having a determinate will, appeared as a tyrannical sovereign;\nthe God of Arminius, as lacking in purpose and in power. The one made\nthe salvation of a certain number sure; the other left all in\nuncertainty, because so much depended solely on the will of the\ncreature. The two systems summed up, however, amounted to\nUniversalism. The one affirmed that every soul for whom Christ died\nwould be saved; the other, that Christ, \"by the grace of God, tasted\ndeath for every man.\"[19] Opposed as were the two sects representing\nthese theologies, in the beginning, they have settled down into quite\na fraternal compromise during the last half century. Pulpit exchanges\nare free among their ministers, and, although here and there some of\nthe old peculiarities of Calvinism occasionally find utterance, the\nstatement of a noted Congregationalist minister seems to express the\nthought of both parties, \"Election means, whosoever will; reprobation,\nwhosoever wont.\"[20]\n\nIt was in face of what were deemed the main errors of both these\ntheologies that Universalism stood forth as the vindicator of God the\njust and merciful Father of all his children, their Judge and Saviour,\nthrough Christ who gave himself a ransom for all, and whose own\nexpressive statement of the result of his ministry was, \"And I, if I\nbe lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.\"[21]\n\nIt has been during the ministry of this faith in the present century\nthat the leading doctrines of the theology formerly prevalent in our\nland have been questioned, investigated, and in many minds outgrown.\nWho now believes in the endless suffering of infants? a doctrine\ndeemed unquestionable in the churches a century ago. Even the\nexistence of it at that time, in face of the most stubborn facts, has\nbeen denied by those whose parents and grandparents heard it from the\nChristian pulpit. Who assents to the doctrine of the total depravity\nof human nature, its inability \"to do a good deed or think a good\nthought,\" and its utter odiousness in God's sight? What considerations\nand reconsiderations are there of that doctrine of atonement which\ninvolves the assumption that God was so incensed against his sinful\nchildren that Christ, the second and more merciful person in the\nGodhead, came into the world and died to appease the wrath of God and\nrender it possible for him to be merciful to the delinquents; and how\nmuch more emphatic is the conviction finding utterance, so eminently\nexpressive of Christian Universalism, \"God so loved the world, that he\ngave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not\nperish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the\nworld to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be\nsaved.\"[22] And the doctrine of endless punishment, how, during the\ntime of which we are speaking, has this been questioned in the\nchurches of our land. It has been seen that the divine character is\ninvolved in this doctrine, and that one of the most difficult of all\ntheological works is to vindicate this character in the light of it.\nFormerly, it was deemed little short of impiety to question the\njustice of God when this horrible doctrine was represented as an\nindication and vindication of it. To cite emphatically the passage in\nMatthew (xxv. 46), \"These shall go away into everlasting punishment,\nbut the righteous into life eternal,\" was considered evidence enough\nthat the divine justice could and would be signalized in the utter\nbanishment of great numbers of his children from him, world without\nend. To question the exegesis of the passage as generally given--the\noriginal meaning of the word rendered \"everlasting\" and \"eternal\"--was\nregarded as a direct affront to the human wisdom of the past that had\nsanctioned it; and to declare such an explanation of it as derogatory\nto \"the Eternal Goodness,\" was to question the veracity of the High\nand Holy One! But the thoughts of men have kept at work; inquiry has\ngone on; the old explanation has been most confidently and\nemphatically denied, and a more reasonable and consistent one given.\nEven the most respectable orthodoxy itself has conceded that the\n_aionian_ punishment here set forth is not necessarily to be\nunderstood as implying endless duration, and that in the argument\nhenceforth against the doctrine of universal restoration, this old\ninterpretation of the text need be no longer urged.[23] We have\nreserved a more extended view of this subject, however, for the close\nof this volume.\n\n[17] Rev. Dr. A.\u00a0A. Miner, Discourse at Gloucester, September, 1870.\n\n[18] Comm. on Acts, ii. 23.\n\n[19] Heb. ii. 9.\n\n[20] Rev. H.\u00a0W. Beecher.\n\n[21] John, xii. 32; 1 Tim. ii. 4.\n\n[22] John, iii. 16, 17.\n\n[23] Dr. Taylor Lewis.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nUNIVERSALISM.--UNITARIANISM.--RATIONALISM.\n\n  \"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,\n  Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.\"--EPH. ii. 20.\n\n\nSince the growth of the Universalist faith during the present century\nin our country, that phase of Liberal Christianity denominated\nUnitarianism has had its rise. It was an outcome of the Arminianism in\northodox churches. It advocated the doctrine of the Unity of God, in\nopposition to that of the Trinity as held by most of the churches in\nNew England.[24] It also rejected the doctrine of total depravity,\naffirming that man had within him the germs of goodness, and needed\nthe work of Christian culture to insure his true religious growth and\nperfection. Respecting the destination of man beyond the grave it had\nno uniform affirmation. Its leading ministers--Drs. Channing, Dewey,\nGannett, and others--were undecided as to this great question. Dr.\nChanning uttered his protest against \"the horrible thought\" of\ninterminable suffering, as affirmed by the dominant sects, while his\nstatements respecting the wasted and ill-spent life make it an\n\"impassable gulf from our Creator and from pure and happy beings,--a\nconsuming fire and undying worm.\" Dr. Gannett has similar opinions:\n\"Self-reproach, exclusion from the happiness of heaven, removal from\nthe favor of God; to live but to suffer, to feel one's self at\nvariance with all that is true and good and beautiful in the universe;\nwhat more it is, eternity will disclose.\" Rev. Mr. Alger thinks no\nfair critic can say that \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2, eternal or everlasting, when\napplied to punishment, means absolutely endless, nor, on the other\nhand, that it does not so mean. The late Rev. E.\u00a0H. Sears writes that\n\"it is the average opinion of Unitarians that Restoration is not a\ndoctrine of Revelation.\" The American Unitarian Association said:\n\"While we do generally hold to the doctrine of the final universality\nof salvation as a consistent speculation of the reason and a strong\nbelief of the heart, yet we deem it to be in each case a matter of\ncontingency, always depending on conditions freely to be accepted or\nrejected.\" The editor of the \"Monthly Religious Magazine\"--the\nprincipal of that class published by Unitarians--writes, in 1870:\n\"Unitarians do not believe in Universal Restoration as a doctrine of\nRevelation fairly yielded by the interpretation of the Scriptures.\nThis, we mean, is the average opinion. They do not think the Bible\ngives any verdict as to the final salvation of all mankind.\" Dr.\nDewey, in later times (as in his discourse in the volume of \"Pitt\nStreet Chapel Lectures\"), has defined the doctrine of the Paternity of\nGod so as to seem in agreement with that of the final salvation of all\nsouls. And at the present time perhaps the largest number of Unitarian\nministers would not hesitate to give their assent to this doctrine on\nphilosophical or scriptural grounds.\n\nFor the full and clear affirmation of the doctrine of the Fatherhood\nof God and the Brotherhood of Man,--the former giving assurance of a\nmerciful care of God's offspring, and the latter of the final union,\nand not separation, of the great human family,--we are indebted to the\nfathers of Universalism in our land,--Murray, the Ballous, the\nStreeters, and their contemporaries. The Universalism which they\ndeclared and defended was that of the absolute and universal reign of\nDivine love,--love that is ever calling the child to obedience and\nhappiness, and warning him against the inevitable and dire\nconsequences of transgression; love that sent Jesus Christ into the\nworld as the world's Regenerator, unto whom every knee shall bow, and\nwhom every tongue shall confess to be Lord to the glory of God the\nFather; love that can and will overcome all hatred, make an end of\nsin, destroy death, and bring in everlasting righteousness. This is\nthe Universalism that has led the way in this great advance and change\nof theological thought, in the New England and other churches, which\nis so widespread at this hour. It did not wait for public opinion to\nbe ready for it, but went out on its mission, confronting as\ndetermined an opposition as has ever met any rising sect since the\napostolic days. Its first advocates, and most of those who have\nsucceeded them, have had a definite theology, a positive faith to\naffirm. They have declared it to the world as the best, the\npre-eminent faith, standing not in the wisdom of men but in the power\nof God; and have asked, as they are still asking, all the churches and\nall the world, to show them a better if they are able to do so.\n\nThe sincere believers in this faith of the Gospel are glad to welcome\nall other Christians who would work with them in the eradication of\nreligious error and the enlightenment of men by \"the Word of God, that\nliveth and abideth forever.\" For what the Unitarian Churches have done\nof this work they have reason to be thankful, and would heartily\nco-operate with them in every effort to this desirable and heavenly\nend. The literary culture and scholarship contributed by Unitarians to\nthe theological thought of the last half-century, as also the faithful\nand efficient work which they have accomplished, are, we think, justly\nappreciated by Universalists. They would render to all their dues,\nwhile they would humbly but righteously claim their own. It has been a\nsubject of regret on their part,--this was inevitable,--that in\nconsideration of the Rationalism, so-called, which has so marked this\nperiod, Unitarians could not have taken a more positive and united\nstand in regard to the Divine authority of Christianity, as made known\nin the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Since Rev. Theodore\nParker avowed his Rationalism, and began his Sunday worship service in\nBoston, it has seemed to most Universalists, as it has to not a few\nUnitarians, that a more definite theology and an avowed basis of its\nclaims have been called for on the part of those who would displace\nold errors and establish the older truth of the Christian Gospel; so\nthat when the question is honestly asked, as it often may be, \"What is\nthe difference between Universalism and Unitarianism?\" the answer need\nnot necessarily be _another question_, \"What kind of Unitarianism?\"\nSuch a diversity of opinion as must abound where there is no\ntheological basis of Christian fellowship in any sect or fraternity,\nmust fail to give it that concentrated power of Christian truth so\nevidently needed to turn a perverted world right side up in its\nreligious faith and life.\n\nThe Universalist Church has all along been aware of this need of a\nsubstantial basis of Christian faith in order to its vitality and\nsuccess. When the Rationalism of Mr. Parker was attracting the\nattention of the public, a vigorous discussion came up in the\nUniversalist journals of the time, whether a man should be sustained\nas a Christian minister who denies the peculiarly divine character of\nChrist and the account given of his miracles in the Scriptures, and of\nhis resurrection from the dead.[25] The adjourned session of the\n\"Boston Association\" at Cambridgeport in December, 1847, gave special\nattention to this subject. The resolution presented at a former\nsession a few months before at Lynn, and now again reported, was\nthis:--\n\n  \"_Resolved_, That this Association express its solemn\n  conviction that, in order for one to be regarded as a Christian\n  minister with respect to faith, he must believe in the Bible account\n  of the life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection of the\n  Lord Jesus Christ.\"\n\nThe resolution was sustained by a very large majority of the clergy\nand laity. It was a plain and honest utterance, and gave the Christian\nworld to understand the position of the Universalist Church in regard\nto authoritative Christianity.\n\nAs might have been expected, there was still much discussion as to the\ngrounds of true Christian fellowship. It was followed up quite\nearnestly for a time by Universalists. The question of chief interest\nwas, \"Is not the faith of the heart (affections) of more importance\nthan the faith of the intellect?\" Shall not the _good man_ have\nChristian fellowship whatever his theological opinions may be? In the\nlight of the apostolic statement, \"The letter killeth, it is the\nspirit that giveth life,\" is not the spirit of primary interest, and\nthe letter comparatively inconsequential? To which it was replied that\nthe spirit of a religion is to be most clearly understood by the\nletter which explains it; that the faith of the intellect and that of\nthe heart should correspond, in order to the most perfect Christian\ndiscipleship; that the good man may be found in all religious\ncommunities, but that a good Mohammedan or Brahman could not properly\nclaim _Christian_ fellowship, not receiving Christ as the\npre-eminent teacher of divine truth. Dr. A.\u00a0P. Peabody, of the\nUnitarian Church, very fairly stated the subject in a discourse given\nby him at the time of which we speak:--\n\n  \"One question is, whether those who take opposite views of the\n  authenticity of the Christian miracles shall recognize each other as\n  good men; and the other, whether they shall give each other\n  countenance as Christian teachers. The former question I am prepared\n  to answer with a cordial _yes_; the latter, with an\n  unhesitating and an unqualified _no_.\"[26]\n\nAbout the same time there appeared in the \"Universalist Quarterly\" for\nOctober, 1846, from the pen of its able editor, Rev. Dr. Hosea Ballou,\nan article on \"The Faith requisite to Christian Fellowship.\" The\nsubject is sounded to its depths, and presented in all its bearings,\nclear as light, and plain and conclusive as logic can make it; and all\nin a spirit of the utmost candor. It has never been answered.\n\nIt may not be improper to speak in this connection of one who, in the\nbeginning of his public life, appeared as a minister in the Unitarian\ncommunion, but who afterwards very conscientiously left the ministry\nand became a literary author and public lecturer, and who acquired a\nfame everywhere acknowledged in the civilized world as one of its\neminent lights and leaders, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson. As an author,\nlecturer, and reformer he has made an indelible impression on the\nminds of men during the last half century. The foremost thinkers\nacknowledged their indebtedness to him. In his earlier days many of\nhis statements indicated pantheistic opinions. His discourse before\nthe Divinity School in Harvard University in 1838--so clearly and ably\nreplied to by Rev. Dr. Ware--seemed a singular questioning of the\npersonality of God, and his statements in reference to the personal\nimmortality of the soul hardly indicated a strong Christian hope of\nthis blessing. But in his later expressions of opinion we are\ndifferently taught. His biographer says of him:[27] \"He is not a\nsceptic or a rationalist in the philosophic sense, and has no real\naffinity with any of these schools of thought.\" His own words,\nindicative of the Deity, are: \"Nature is too thin a screen; the glory\nof the Creator breaks in everywhere. There is no chance, no anarchy in\nthe universe.\" Of the divine beneficence he says, \"We see the steady\naim of benefit in view from the first. Melioration is the law. The\nevils we suffer will at last end themselves, through the incessant\nopposition of Nature to everything hurtful.\" And of immortality, \"All\ngreat natures delight in stability; all great men find eternity\naffirmed in the very promise of their faculties. The being that can\nshare a thought and a feeling so sublime as confidence in truth is no\nmushroom; our dissatisfaction with any other solution is the blazing\nevidence of immortality.\" And of the divine ruling: \"Every wrong is\npunished; no moral evil can prosper at last; the good is absolute, the\nevil only phenomenal.\" And of the significance of Christ, this\nlanguage is emphatic: \"You must not leave out the word Christian, for\nto leave out that is to leave out everything.\"\n\nAll these declarations, as we apprehend them, are in perfect accord\nwith the teaching, spirit, and assurance of the Universalism of the\nNew Testament. In the grandest conceptions to which their author has\ngiven utterance, we know of nothing that reaches beyond this, and it\nis for this that we welcome him as a witness to the truth of the\nChristian Gospel.\n\n[24] The volume on the Atonement, issued in 1805 by Rev. Hosea Ballou,\nwas the first of any note, in this country, in which the subordination\nof Christ to the Father was maintained. Dr. Mayhew and Rev. James\nFreeman, of Boston, had already preached anti-Trinitarian views in\nthat city, and Dr. Priestley and a Mr. Butler had preached them in\nother parts of the country. But Mr. Ballou's circumstances had not, it\nis likely, allowed him to know what these men believed and\ntaught.--REV. DR. A.\u00a0P. PUTNAM, in \"Religious Magazine,\"\nApril, 1871.\n\n[25] Mr. Parker's views were the subject of special note and examination\non the part of the Universalist journals. A candid and able\nreview of his opinions was given in \"The Universalist Miscellany\" of\nApril, 1845, by the editor, Rev. O.\u00a0A. Skinner. Rev. Mr. Lothrop, of\nthe Brattle Square Church (Unitarian), delivered and published a strong\ndiscourse in opposition to the Rationalism of Mr. Parker.\n\n[26] Anti-Supernaturalism, a sermon delivered July 13, 1845, before the\nSenior Class of the Divinity School, Harvard University.\n\n[27] Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, by G.\u00a0W. Cook.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nREFORM MOVEMENTS AND UNIVERSALISM.\n\n  \"Universalism is the ultimate of every expansive thought, of every\n  comprehensive sympathy, of all action that embraces man as man, and\n  works in faith for the world's redemption.\"--REV. E.\u00a0G. BROOKS, D.\u00a0D.\n\n\nThe increasing interest awakened by the discussion of such topics of\nreform as peace, temperance, human freedom, the treatment of\ncriminals, and others involving the moral uplifting and advancement of\nmankind, very naturally had its effect upon the Universalist Church.\nThere were not a few in it who saw very clearly that the great Gospel\nin which they believed was in the world to do a regenerative work with\nthe human family; that its first word to every one to whom it came was\nthe call to reformation of character and life; that it was a direct\nand perpetual opposition to all that hinders this work, and that\ntherefore they who profess to be its friends and advocates should\nembrace every opportunity of applying its heavenly forces to the\ndiminishing of human wrong and the establishing of the reign of\nrighteousness in the earth. As other churches were awakened and\nagitated on these reform questions, so was this one, and in due time\nit took its stand and made its manifestations in a way creditable to\nits profession, and in accordance with its hopeful and catholic faith.\n\nOne of the organizations for the furtherance of this work of Christian\nreform instituted by this church was that of the Universalist Reform\nAssociation. The first direct action taken in reference to the subject\nwas at the session of the Massachusetts Universalist Convention in\nHingham, June, 1846, when the following resolution offered by Rev.\nC.\u00a0H. Fay, of Roxbury, was unanimously adopted:--\n\n  \"_Resolved_, That this Convention recommend to the\n  Universalists of New England to form an Association to be known as\n  the New England Universalist Reform Association, which shall meet\n  annually in Boston during 'Anniversary Week,' having for its object\n  the collection of such statistical information relative to the\n  various reform movements of the age as illustrates not only the\n  progress of Christianity as we understand it, but the best means of\n  promoting and applying it.\"\n\nA committee was chosen to carry the resolution into effect. An\nappointed sub-committee issued a circular, urging upon all interested,\nattention to the main objects of the Association, which were:--\n\n  \"1. To consider the influence of Universalist sentiments in the\n  various reform movements of the age. It must be evident that these\n  sentiments are not _essentially_ confined to the sect which\n  openly professes them. We hold that they lie at the foundation of\n  every true effort for the prevalence of Temperance, Love, Peace,\n  Freedom, and all movements which recognize the Paternity of God and\n  the Brotherhood of Man. To establish the truth of the ultimate\n  connection of these doctrines with all the philanthropic action of\n  our age, to collect statistics and facts which demonstrate it, and\n  to exchange sentiments upon the subject, constitute one great object\n  of the Association.\n\n  \"2. To assume our appropriate position in relation to these reforms;\n  to exert our legitimate influence in them; and to show in our\n  actions the practical conclusion of Universalist premises,--that he\n  who believes in God's universal Paternity and the Brotherhood of the\n  race cannot in any way countenance War, Intemperance, Slavery, or\n  Capital Punishment, but consistently opposes and strives to abolish\n  them all.\n\n  \"The time of holding the meeting, too, deserves consideration. It is\n  on Anniversary Week, a week when almost every moral question now\n  agitating the civilized world is represented and discussed in\n  Boston. Hitherto we have sent out no such influence on this occasion\n  as we believe we may exert if our power shall be concentrated and\n  put in operation. We see not why our Reform meetings may not be\n  among the most interesting of all now held during this well-known\n  season.\"[28]\n\nAnd they were. They began successfully, and were steadily and\nprofitably held, up to 1859, during years when these vital moral\nquestions were more intensely considered and debated in New England\nand throughout our land than at any previous period. Very carefully\nprepared and able reports were year by year presented to the\nAssociation, and resolutions involving the merits of these reformatory\ntopics freely and amicably discussed. Often in other meetings,\nconventions, associations, conferences, where ecclesiastical matters\nclaimed the chief attention, the introduction of these reformatory\nsubjects would cause uneasiness and elicit much fault-finding on the\npart of those opposed to the introduction of such agitative themes\ninto these meetings of the church. But at the yearly assemblings of\nthe Reform Association the largest liberty was taken by all who\ndesired to express their opinions on these great questions of the day.\n\nThe first meeting was a success. It was held in the Second\nUniversalist Church, School Street, on Thursday, May 27, 1847. Four\naddresses were given on these subjects, Peace, Criminal Reform,\nTemperance, and Human Freedom, and appropriate resolutions discussed\nand adopted. In connection with this session a social festival was\nheld on Friday morning, and was an occasion of unusual enjoyment to\nall who took part in it. The historian, Richard Frothingham, Esq.,\npresided, and made an admirable opening address. He was followed by\nothers, among them Chapin, then of rising fame. Pretending to have in\nhand only \"skirts and fragments of ideas,\" he magically forms them\ninto completeness, and endues them with power. He speaks of\nChristianity and Reform:--\n\n  \"Christianity has not changed or added anything to itself. But we\n  find in it latent truths; we discern new meaning in old truths. His\n  eye had rested that very morning upon the passage which Jesus read\n  in the synagogue at Nazareth: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,\n  because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he\n  hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to\n  the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at\n  liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the\n  Lord.' What a profound meaning does this passage receive now, in the\n  light of these stirring reforms! How does the truth open before us,\n  vast and deep as the blue heaven over our heads! Christianity\n  authorizes and animates these social movements. Its social spirit\n  and its labors of love make us live more in a year than elsewhere in\n  a lifetime. The early fathers of our faith began their labor in the\n  early morning, when the light of the truth they announced just\n  tinged the mountain-tops; and now, as they are about vanishing from\n  our horizon, the full effulgence shines upon their gray hairs, and\n  makes them a crown of glory!\"\n\nThe venerable Ballou made the concluding speech. His words were\nmodest, sweet, and patriarchal. From that ancient saying of Jesus,\n\"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid\nin three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened,\" he brought\nout fresh and comprehensive words inspired by the scenes of yesterday\nand to-day, and eloquently urged home the admonition to his\ndenominational children around him, that they should seek to\naccomplish all their reformatory work in the spirit of Christian love.\nHe concluded, and at the word of the president \"The Brave Old Oak\" was\nsung, and responded to by the applause of the audience.\n\nFrom year to year, as these meetings occurred, there was a strong\ninterest in them. They were meetings where freedom of speech was\nwelcomed and enjoyed. The most searching inquiry was invited, and the\n_pro et contra_ of every resolution offered was presented in all the\nearnestness in which the debaters deemed it their privilege to\nindulge. The resolutions at the first meetings of the Association\nindicate its Christian basis. They are expressive of \"gratitude to God\nin view of the development of our faith in all the great reform\nmovements of the time; that we recognize the Word of God, especially\nthe New Testament scripture, as the basis of all genuine reform; that\nan age as prolific as is the present in schemes for the improvement of\nthe race, including such variety, from the most reasonable to the most\nUtopian, demands of every Christian the most candid and prayerful\ndiscrimination, that all his endeavors may be wisely directed; that in\nthese movements we discern the promise of a better time coming, and of\nthe kingdom of God upon the earth; that as religious sentiment is the\ncontrolling element of man's life, therefore the only true reform is\nthat which seeks to influence men through the medium of religious\nfaith.\"\n\nIn discussing topics involving the morals of politics and the great\ninterests of the American Republic, the members of all political\nparties were regarded as on equal ground. The minister in these\nmeetings had no hesitancy in preaching the morals of politics as he\nunderstood them, whatever the opinions of his parishioners at home\nmight be. The religion of Christianity was \"mixed\" with politics as\nthe larger quantity, and wrong, as wrong, arraigned wherever it might\nbe found in church or state, in social or individual habit or life.\nOur public servants in their high places were deemed subjects of note\nand animadversion, if their conduct seemed to call for it, in the\nspirit of the prayer offered by the elder Dr. Beecher in Faneuil Hall:\n\"O Lord, preserve us from speaking evil of our public servants, and\nespecially save them from such wrong conduct as may call for such\nspeaking on our part!\" A resolution passed at the first meeting of the\nAssociation states \"that, while the early Christians were only\n_subjects_, American citizens are the _constituents_ of civil\ngovernment; and in all ages Christians are bound to act the Christian\nprinciples in all their relations.\"\n\nDuring the anti-slavery excitement, when the hunters for fugitive\nslaves were desecrating the ground of New England, and members of\nCongress in their interests were repealing the Missouri Compromise,\nand many of the ministers of New England were bold enough to\nremonstrate with them for such action, these most emphatic resolutions\nwere freely debated and unanimously adopted by the Association.\n\n  \"_Resolved_, That the clergymen of New England, in their\n  Protest against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, have pledged\n  themselves anew to freedom and the laws of God; that this\n  Association cordially approve the course of those who signed the\n  Protest, or otherwise labored to prevent the desecration of that\n  vast territory which had been consecrated by solemn compact to\n  liberty forever; and we request those Christian ministers who\n  refused to sign that Protest to review their position in regard to\n  this subject.\n\n  \"_Resolved_, That the men from the North, and especially from\n  New England, who have voted for the iniquitous Nebraska Bill, have\n  proved themselves traitors to the cause of freedom and to the most\n  hallowed traditions of our fathers, and that their conduct deserves\n  the united, unqualified, perpetual reprobation of all friends to\n  human rights, which reprobation should be emphatically expressed at\n  the ballot-box.\"\n\nThe annual festivals held in those days in Boston by the Universalists\nwere essentially pervaded by the spirit of this Association. The\nsentiments, songs, and speeches on these occasions were alive with the\nreformatory inspiration of the Christian Gospel. The signs of the\ntimes were clearly recognized by the speakers, and whatever the\nespecial excitement of the day might be, it was sure to find a\nsympathetic tongue and ear at the festival table. The festival in 1854\noccurring about the time of the rendition of Anthony Burns, the\nanti-slavery feeling was at white heat. When the company entered\nFaneuil Hall and were taking their seats, some sensitively\nconservative brethren could not suppress the expression of their\nwishes that no allusion might be made to that event in the addresses\nabout to follow. But the current was so irresistibly in one direction\nthat these fearful pleadings were as the smallest eddies therein. The\nnotes of freedom made the old hall ring.\n\n[28] This circular was signed by the sub-committee, Rev. J.\u00a0G. Adams\nand Rev. E.\u00a0H. Chapin.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nNEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.--UNIVERSALIST PROTEST.\n\n  \"What concord hath Christ with Belial.\"--2 COR. vi. 15.\n\n\nThe New England Anti-Slavery Society was one of the most vigorous and\npersistent bodies that ever appeared on these western shores as a\nreformatory institution. Its chief leader was the indomitable\nGarrison, who had vowed that on the vexed question of American slavery\n\"he would be heard,\" and whose \"Liberator\" was making its journeys\nfrom a Boston press throughout the land; hailed and patronized by a\ngoodly company in the North, denounced as incendiary at the South,\nwhere a large sum was offered for the head of its editor. He had\nsympathetic companions of a persistency equal to his own: Wendell\nPhillips, Edmund Quincy, Samuel E. Sewell, N.\u00a0P. Rogers, Stephen C.\nFoster, John Pierpont, Theodore Parker, Parker Pillsbury, Frederick\nDouglass, and C.\u00a0L. Remond, among the men of New England, and the\nTappans of New York, and representatives at the annual gatherings from\nPhiladelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. Lucretia Mott and Abby Kelley\n(afterwards Mrs. Foster) were among the women expounders of this\ngospel of freedom, and \"Anniversary Week\" in Boston was made\nespecially notable by their gatherings at Marlboro Chapel and Faneuil\nHall. No matter what other meetings on that week were dull, there was\nalways an exuberance of liveliness at the Anti-Slavery Convention.\n\"Eloquence is dog-cheap at Marlboro Chapel,\" said Ralph Waldo Emerson;\nand it was. No better could be heard on the continent. The hardest and\nboldest resolutions were usually up for consideration, denouncing\nslaveholders and all their abettors, political, ecclesiastical, of\nwhatever standing or profession. Church and state alike were subjects\nof their maledictions. Their defiance of all opposition had a clarion\nring in it. Nothing pleased them more than to have their positions\nquestioned or assailed. The adventurous wight who was willing to\nappear as a condemner of their doctrines was the very one for whom\nthey were looking, and for whose presence and opposition they were\nprofoundly thankful. Their meetings were electrifying. Such debates\nand orations, such questionings and rejoinders! Such hymns and\nspiritual songs, too, sung often by the Hutchinsons to the old tunes\nof \"Amherst,\" \"Lenox,\" and \"New Jerusalem!\" We hear them now; they\nbrought the shouts and tears.\n\nWe remember a scene in Marlboro Chapel one afternoon during\nAnniversary Week. There came up for debate the question: \"Does the\nConstitution of the United States justify slavery?\" Rev. John Pierpont\ntook the negative, and very logically maintained it for more than an\nhour. He appeared in the greatness of his strength, and at the close\nof his argument proposed to those of his auditors who wished, to\nquestion his statements. And never was seen a hungrier company of\ninterrogators than then and there came upon him. But he was unmoved as\na sea-rock in the midst of the breakers. His side of the question was\nnot popular with most of the speakers and their sympathizers there,\nand he was subjected to a most searching cross-questioning. But he\ncame out triumphantly (as it seemed) through it all. When three or\nfour would speak at once, he would say: \"One at a time, friends; the\nmiller's rule holds,--first come, first served. I desire to hear you\nall.\" The afternoon sunshine suddenly blazing in from one of the\nwindows upon his face, he aptly remarked: \"Some subjects are involved\nin impenetrable darkness; but here we seem to have a super-abundance\nof light!\" When the last inquirer had been answered, the speaker\nasked: \"Are you all through?\" And no other one questioning, he said:\n\"And now, after the fashion of the good old divines, I come to the\n'Improvement';\" under which head he carefully and briefly reviewed the\nsubstance of the debate. It was a masterly plea.\n\nBut the end was not yet. There was an evening meeting. Again the hall\nwas filled, to listen to a reply to Mr. Pierpont by Wendell Phillips.\nThe orator was in his best mood, and his silvery speech kept the\naudience spell-bound. It was a complete refutation of the arguments\nadduced in the afternoon. A clergyman sitting near to Mr. Pierpont\nsaid to him: \"How can his arguments be answered?\" to which the latter\nreplied: \"I should like to see the man who could tell me!\" So Greek\nmet Greek in those stirring and stormy days.\n\nIt was an up-hill movement, this anti-slavery agitation. It called out\nspirits of more colors than those mentioned in \"Macbeth.\" The\nopposition was intense. Garrison's life was in peril in the streets of\nBoston in 1835, and a little company of his sympathizers, including\nthe poet Whittier and George Thompson, the English philanthropist,\nwere closely followed in the streets of Concord, N.\u00a0H., one evening,\nthat they might be seized by certain mobocratic ones, and subjected to\nan immersion in some liquid coloring of transient, if not indelible,\nblack; but the hounded ones escaped, preserving white men's\ncomplexions. They were not to be put down by mobs nor frightened by\nany human opposition. They had the spirit of Luther as he went to the\nDiet at Worms. Though the pro-slavery \"devils were thick as the tiles\non the houses,\" they proposed to fight them in the name of God and\nhumanity.\n\nPoliticians could do nothing with them, and the churches generally\ndiscarded them. There was no love lost, however, between them and the\nchurches. The churches did not give them credit for the good they were\nseeking to do, and they had no words of approval for the humanity of\nthe churches. Even the National Constitution was denounced as \"a\ncovenant with death and an agreement with hell,\" and the churches were\naccused as upholders of this covenant. So they reasoned, not always,\nhowever, in that charity which the New Testament commends. There were\nthose in the churches as strongly opposed to slavery as\nthemselves,--but they were slow to recognize action against it outside\nof their own organizations,--who could say, as did Dr. Gannett of the\nUnitarian Church:--\n\n  \"In principle I am with you. But there are those with whom you are\n  connected, persons who seem to me so to distrust the goodness of all\n  others who differ from them, and to look down upon all such with so\n  great a consciousness of moral superiority, that I feel myself when\n  in their presence to be in a situation not unlike that of a criminal\n  before his accuser and judge.\"[29]\n\nAt one time they held an Anti-Sabbath Convention for a few days, in\nBoston, during which they said many hard things against the sanctity\nof this seventh-day worship-time, evidently because they could thus\ncastigate the churches for refusing to discuss freely on this day the\ncrying sin of American slavery. It seemed a pity to hear such harsh\ndenunciations by the speakers who were advocating a righteous cause,\nagainst an institution that had done so much towards the world's true\ncivilization. But this was one of their methods of carrying on the\nreform.\n\nA leading spirit in this movement in the \"Granite State\" was Nathaniel\nP. Rogers, for a few years the editor of the \"Herald of Freedom,\"\nissued at Concord, N.\u00a0H. He was a lawyer of Plymouth, Grafton County,\nand a member of the Orthodox Church in that town, and was a descendant\nof him who was burned at Smithfield, and had the martyr spirit of his\nnoted ancestor. He was a scholarly, witty, and affable man, and\nwielded as facile a pen as any editor in New England. In many of his\ndescriptive sketches he gave to the scenery of New Hampshire a\nfascination equal to that with which Sir Walter Scott invests the\nlochs and hills of Scotland. His plea with Mr. Webster, the great\nSenator from Massachusetts, to let \"his lion voice in one Numidian\nroar\" be heard from his place in Congress on the abomination of\nAmerican slavery and the claims of American freedom, once read, could\nnever be forgotten. When his \"Herald of Freedom\" was first issued,\nsome of the stage-drivers from Concord refused to carry it out to the\nsubscribers; but this hostility, through the personal influence of the\neditor, soon ceased. Its columns were opened to all sorts of radical\nsayings against the churches because of their presumed hostility to\nhuman freedom; but as the columns of the paper were free, there were\nsometimes sound and strong answers to them. Mr. Rogers, worn out with\nmental toiling and anxiety, was called from the earthly life in the\nmidst of his years.\n\nAnd so this work of the anti-slavery reformers went steadily forward\nwith increasing momentum, till a more general awakening took place all\nover the land. The churches were becoming more and more alive to it,\nand the politicians could in no wise evade it. The seed of\n\"Free-Soilism\" sown, \"Know-nothingism\" sprang up, and one of the two\nleading political parties became the party of Freedom--of \"free soil,\nfree speech, free men.\" The passage and attempted enforcement of the\nFugitive Slave Act, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, had\nserved to bring about this result. Hence the election of Mr. Lincoln\nto the Presidency, secession, war, the downfall of slavery. These\nfirst agitators lived to see the end they had striven for attained.\nThey had _been heard_, and a stronger than they had heard, and\nhad answered them, and an imploring and struggling nation, \"in the day\nof his power!\" Now could one of the first of our poets sing:--\n\n          \"Ring and swing\n    Bells of joy! On morning's wing\n  Send the song of praise abroad!\n        With a sound of broken chains\n        Tell the nations that he reigns\n  Who alone is Lord and God!\"\n\nOf course the Universalist churches could not evade this controversy\nbetween freedom and slavery. Their very faith invited and encouraged\nit. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man are doctrines\nwhich forever stand in opposition to the presumption that man can own\nproperty in his fellow man. Of all the Christian sects, Universalists\nwere the last who could countenance in the light of their beneficent\nfaith the abomination of American slavery. If other theologies gave\ncause for the aspersion that \"God was the greatest slaveholder in the\nuniverse,\" because it was his intention to keep in spiritual bondage\nand sufferings great numbers of his offspring world without end,\nUniversalism affirmed that this whole human creation now groaning and\ntravailing in pain shall be delivered from its bondage of corruption\ninto the glorious liberty of the children of God.[30] Could this\nchurch, bearing its own significant name, be silent, then, when the\ntest time came? Nay, it was a golden opportunity for her to speak and\nact. She uttered her voice, firmly, freely, faithfully. True, there\nwere conservatives at first in this church as in others, who dreaded\nthe consequences of the agitation of this subject, who deemed it a\npolitical question rather than a religious one, and feared not only\ndiscord and division in the churches because of it, but a disruption\nof the national union. This timidity wore off in due time, and this\nmanifesto went forth from the Universalists of Massachusetts and other\nStates in 1845. It is a \"protest against American slavery,\" and is\nsigned by three hundred and four Universalist clergymen. The reasons\nstated as the basis of the protest are these:--\n\n  \"1. Because slavery denies the eternal distinction between a man and\n  property, ranking a human being with a material thing. 2. Because it\n  does not award to the laborer the fruits of his toil in any higher\n  sense than to the cattle. 3. Because it trammels the intellectual\n  powers and prevents their expansion. 4. Because it checks the\n  development of the moral nature of the slave; denies him rights and\n  therefore responsibility. 5. Because it involves a practical denial\n  of the religious nature of the slave. 6. Because it presents an\n  insurmountable barrier to the propagation of the great truth of the\n  Universal Brotherhood and thereby most effectually prevents the\n  progress of true Christianity. 7. Because the essential nature of\n  slavery cannot be altered by any kindness, how great so ever,\n  practised toward the slave. 8. Because the long continuance of a\n  system of wrong cannot palliate it, but on the other hand augments\n  the demand for its abolition. 9. Because we would in all charity\n  remember that peculiarities of situation may affect the judgment and\n  moral sense; still, we must not forget that no peculiarity of\n  situation can excuse a perpetual denial of universal principles and\n  obligations.\"\n\n[29] Memoir of Dr. Gannett, by his son, p. 294.\n\n[30] Heb. viii. 21, 22.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nREFORMATORY PROGRESS.\n\n  \"The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places\n  plain.\"--ISAIAH, xl. 4.\n\n\nThe half-century just passed has been notable for the progress of\nthought in reference to the significant reforms now claiming public\nattention. Foremost among these is that of\n\n\n_Temperance._\n\nIn no other period of the past has its work been so marked and\ncheering. In Great Britain and America its manifestations were almost\nsimultaneous. Intemperance was seen to be a monstrous national vice,\nand societies were formed for the suppression of it. Abstinence from\ndistilled liquors was at first the pledge taken; but subsequent\ndiscussion of the subject induced the next and safer step forward, of\ntotal abstinence from all intoxicants. From 1834 to 1838 nearly the\nwhole of the original societies through England and Scotland extended\ntheir principles on the new and broader declaration, and worked with\nrenewed enthusiasm.[31] The same course was taken in our own country,\nand similar effects followed. The new pledge was consistent, because\nit struck at the root of the evil.\n\nThe Temperance reform enlisted the sympathies of Universalists in the\nbeginning. It was a vindication of the Gospel of enlightened and pure\nmanhood, maintaining its supremacy over the sinful inclinations and\nindulgences \"that war against the soul.\" Indeed, one of the first\navowed advocates of the practice of total abstinence, as early as\n1778, was the well-known and honored Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the\nsigners of the Declaration of Independence, and a firm believer in\nChristian Universalism. He not only advocated this practice himself,\nbut was especially interested in commending it to the attention of two\nreligious bodies in Pennsylvania, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians,\nat their annual meetings. When in later days the attention of the\nChristian churches was called to the consideration of this reform, no\nmore zealous friends of it were found than those among Universalists.\nThe Universalist ministry was well represented, and its services\nwelcomed by others. An instance is remembered of a deserved tribute,\ngiven in his peculiar quaintness of speech, by the elder Dr. (Lyman)\nBeecher, to Rev. Edwin Thompson, at an annual meeting of the\nMassachusetts Temperance Society. Mr. Thompson was State agent for the\nSociety, and had been very active in its work during the year; so that\na speaker alluded to him as having been in that time \"the main spoke\nin the wheel.\" \"Indeed,\" said Dr. Beecher, \"it seems to me that he has\nbeen the hub, and all the spokes, and a considerable part of the rim!\"\n\nThe reform in our country was quickened by the \"Washingtonian\"\nmovement, which involved the reformation of the inebriate, and his\nwork to redeem others from the destroyer. Although there were\nbacksliders in this, as in all reformatory movements, yet the number\nof the saved justified a thousand times the interest taken in the\ngreat work itself. It was an indication of what might be done\neverywhere and in all time by Divine aid, and human will at work\nrelying upon it. It seemed also to emphasize the truth that men,\nhowever far overcome by wrong habit, are not to be given over as\nirreclaimable. It was in accord with the grand idea that there are no\nlost ones so far astray as to be beyond the mercy which sent Him into\nthe world, who said, \"I came not to call the righteous but sinners to\nrepentance. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that\nare sick.\"\n\nLegislation took higher and stronger ground in reference to the evil\nof intemperance. The subject went into politics more than ever. The\ndoctrine of prohibition gained advocates. A law favoring it was passed\nin Massachusetts, and afterwards in Maine. Prosecutions and law-suits\nfollowed, and appeals went up to the highest courts to test the\nconstitutionality of the law. This was affirmed by them, just as the\nframers of the law knew that it would be. Despite all sophisms and\nevasions, the common sense of every man will settle down into the\nconviction that the people of a nation, if they would be really strong\nand free, must employ every safeguard against this giant evil, that\nhas so constantly outraged and cursed our world.\n\nThe rising of the women of the West, in 1873, to suppress the\ndemoralizing work of the liquor-saloons, was an outspoken,\nprovidential protest against these scourges of our civilization.\nJeered by the thoughtless, and insulted and cursed by the dealers in\nthe death-poison, it was an indication that made the traffickers in\nstrong drink thoughtful, the friends of woman to take new note of her\nrighteous demands and of her reformatory power, and every true soldier\nin the temperance army to put on new courage in view of the many\ninstrumentalities which God is able to raise up in aid of His\nredeeming work with His children. One result of the Woman's Crusade\nhas been the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Unions in\nall parts of our land.\n\nThe signs of progress in this reform are more significant than ever.\nThe popularity of the Prohibitory Law in Maine; the Prohibitory clause\njust put into the Kansas and Iowa Constitutions, and proposed in other\nStates; the numerous Reform Leagues; the proposal to institute in our\nCongress a thorough investigation in reference to the bearing of this\nquestion of liquor-making and vending on the industrial, social, and\npolitical welfare of our nation; the continued discussion of the\neffects of the use of intoxicants by leading statesmen, scientists,\nand medical professors of our age, and the bringing out of new facts,\nall showing the vital importance of the Temperance reform; and, also,\nthe evident tendency of these movements, as apprehended by the\ndevotees of the liquor interests themselves, moving them, as at a\nrecent convention of brewers in Washington, to avow their\ndetermination to defeat, if possible, by all practicable means, the\nlegal, moral, and especially the religious endeavors put forth against\nthe evil by which they are enriched at the expense of the prosperity,\nhappiness, and peace of so many millions of our land,--these facts are\nunmistakable indications of still greater achievements in the days and\nyears to come.\n\nLike most reforms, this one must work a long way on to its completion.\nThe evil against which it contends is deep-seated and far-reaching.\nAppetite, avarice, and the drinking usages of society are its\nstrongholds. But all these are not impervious to the inroads of the\nright upon them. The public conscience is awake to the demands of this\nreform as it never was before. When that is more truthfully and\ngenerally educated, moral suasion will have freer course, and\nrestrictive laws will find a stronger support everywhere.\n\n\n_Peace._\n\nThe history of our race is one of warfare. \"Wars and fightings\" have\nbeen realized among men from the beginning, and the world has not\noutgrown the sanguinary strife. Even during the time of which we are\nspeaking in these pages, when so much has been done for the mental and\nmoral enlightenment of mankind, these murderous human contentions have\nbeen going on in the Old World and the New. Our own nation has passed\nthrough one of the darkest passages of its history. The war of the\nRebellion came of a war that existed previous to the withdrawal of the\nSouthern States of our Union, the war of slavery,--for slavery itself\nis war always, an outrage on the rights of human beings, perpetrated\nby members of a common brotherhood. And thus one war opened the way to\nanother. They who were warring upon others could no longer bear to\nhave their wrong-doings questioned, but claimed the right to multiply\nand perpetuate them. So came secession, so came the fratricidal\ncontest. The majority of the nation did not seek war, did not desire\nit. But the Unionists of the nation deemed themselves justified in\nresisting the efforts of the secessionists to dismember the nation,\nand so through a defensive warfare sought to preserve the Union. It\nwas a terrible ordeal, and although the abomination of slavery was\nswept away, it was at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, of a\nvast amount of treasure, of suffering as yet unrevealed, and of a\nlamentable demoralization. The Almighty brought out of it a new order\nof things with our nation, by abolishing human bondage and placing\nfreedom in the ascendancy. The new order, however, is not yet fully\neffected. It will take time, wisdom, patience, mutual forbearance,\nsympathy, and fraternal help to secure this result.\n\nBut one reform aids another. A higher view of the claims of human\nfreedom will tend to effect a clearer perception of the great claims\nof the human brotherhood. If man is too good to be enslaved by his\nfellow-man, he is too good to be destroyed by him. If human freedom is\nsacred, so is human life. And we are sure that this grand conception\nhas been very clearly realized, and as clearly affirmed, during the\nmiddle of the present century.\n\nIn the midst of the world's conflicts during this time, the advocates\nof peace principles, on both sides of the Atlantic, have not been\ninactive. They have had a hearing, if a limited one, in Christendom.\nPeace associations have been more operative than before, and the\npulpit and press have made new appeals to the public for the promotion\nof peace principles. Excellent publications in essay, sermon, or\noration have been issued from the press. We hear of one Sunday, in\n1845, when one hundred and twenty peace sermons were preached in the\ncity of London. Our philanthropic countryman, Elihu Burritt, has done\nmuch for this cause. One of the ablest and most admirable of appeals\nin behalf of \"peace on earth and good will to men\" was given in 1845,\nin Boston, by Charles Sumner,--who may be justly reckoned as one of\nthe brightest lights among philanthropists and statesmen of the\npresent century,--on \"The True Grandeur of Nations.\" Moved by the\nthreatening aspect of affairs between the United States and Mexico,\nthe orator denounced the war system as the ordeal by battle still\nunwisely continued by international law as the arbiter of justice\nbetween nations, and insisted that this system ought to give way to\npeaceful arbitration for the settlement of international questions, as\nthe private ordeal of battle had given way to such substitutes in the\nadministration of justice between individuals. \"The oration attracted\nunusual attention, led to much controversy, and was widely circulated\nboth in America and Europe. It was pronounced by Richard Cobden to be\n'the most noble contribution made by any modern writer to the cause of\npeace.'\"[32]\n\nThe delusion that wars must always be expected more or less with\nmankind is a vagary of barbarism, and not a true Christian thought.\nRather is the poet right, when he says:--\n\n  \"War is a game, which, were their subjects wise,\n  Kings would not play at.\"\n\nWars may be lessened, may be outgrown in human society. There are\nbetter ways of settling human disputes than by an appeal to arms.\nFacts in the history of our own nation prove it. Here are a few of\nthem:--\n\nIn 1794, the question of the Northeastern boundary between the United\nStates and the dependencies of Great Britain was settled by\narbitration.\n\nIn 1822, the question of restitution or compensation for slaves found\non board of British vessels during the war of 1812. The matter was\nreferred to the Emperor of Russia, and his award accepted by both\nnations.\n\nIn 1858, a difficulty between the United States and the government of\nChili and Peru, was referred to the arbitration of the King of the\nBelgians, and settled by his award.\n\nIn 1869, the claims of the United States and Great Britain to landed\nproperty in and about Puget Sound were adjusted by peaceable\nreference.\n\nIn 1871, the well-known Alabama claim, which caused so much ill\nfeeling between the United States and England, and threatened to\ninvolve the two countries in a terrible war. President Grant,\nreferring to the settlement of this claim, said in his message of Dec.\n3, 1871:--\n\n  \"This year has witnessed two great nations, having one language and\n  lineage, settling by peaceful arbitration disputes of long standing,\n  which were liable at any time to bring nations to a bloody conflict.\n  The example thus set, if successful in its final issue, will be\n  followed by other civilized nations, and finally be the means of\n  restoring to pursuits of industry millions of men now maintained to\n  settle the disputes of nations by the sword.\"\n\nIs this good possible? Assuredly, if good is able to prevail over\nevil, right over wrong, love over hatred. And what does the Christian\nGospel signify but this: \"Peace on earth and good will toward men\"?\nThis \"good will\" shall come, if Christians will do their duty by\ninsisting on the practicability of it. The undercurrent of a better\nfeeling is gaining force as the great truth of the Brotherhood of Man\nis more deeply and extensively realized. If the present toiling-time\nis dark, there is light beyond it, the unerring prophecy of the time\nwhen \"nations shall learn war no more.\"\n\nAs said Victor Hugo, at the Congress of Peace in Paris, in 1849:--\n\n  \"A day will come when the only battle-field shall be the market open\n  to commerce and the mind opening to new ideas; when a cannon shall\n  be exhibited in public museums just as an instrument of torture is\n  now, and people shall be astonished how such a thing could have\n  been. A day shall come when those two immense groups, the United\n  States of America and the United States of Europe, shall be seen\n  placed in presence of each other, extending the hand of fellowship\n  across the ocean, exchanging their produce, their commerce, their\n  industry, their arts, their genius, clearing the earth, peopling the\n  deserts, meliorating creation under the eyes of the Creator, and\n  uniting, for the good of all, these two irresistible and infinite\n  powers,--the fraternity of men and the power of God.\"\n\nIn agreement with the foregoing statements in reference to the reform\nmovements of our time, we may note more briefly certain other\nindications of the increase of that spirit which would lessen the\nafflictions and wrongs and promote the well-being of society.\n\n\n_The Treatment of Criminals_\n\nhas been a subject of much thought and discussion during the\ngeneration just passed. It has been, and still is, an open question\namong the more thoughtful, whether the subject of the proper treatment\nof criminals has been regarded aright. We may justly plead for\nbenevolent sympathy without being the apologist of crime. Conscience\nmust be remembered as well as the cry of pitying tenderness, and\npunishment must have a meaning, or the distinctions of right and wrong\nare lost. \"It will be a sad day,\" as one has truly said, \"when those\nwho violate our laws are more pitied than blamed.\" Christians are\nbound by their religion to labor for the prevention of crime, and for\nthe strict application of all righteous laws to the criminal; to\nimpress as they can the awfulness of sin on their own and on other's\nconsciences, and to recall the fallen back to virtue, shamed by his\nsin, and resolute and strong in the working of a regenerated will,\nthus vindicating and imitating \"the goodness and severity of God.\" The\ntreatment of convicts in our prisons at the present time is generally\nmore in accordance with these considerations than in the past, when\nseverity was deemed more needful as applied to criminals who were\nsubjects of total depravity, than a proportionate mercy, which\nregarded them not only as lost ones, but as capable of a possible\nrestoration to their rightful Owner and Almighty Friend. The reform\nschools in our different States are working in this Christian\ndirection. The subject of\n\n_Capital Punishment_\n\nhas elicited much attention during the time of which we are speaking.\nIt has been discussed in newspapers, pamphlets, legislatures, pulpits,\nand lyceum halls. Some of our States have abolished the gallows,\nothers are agitating this subject in their legislatures. The present\ngovernor (Long) of Massachusetts, in his annual messages of the last\ntwo years, has recommended the abolition of the death penalty. A large\nnumber of ministers of the Universalist Church have constantly\naffirmed their opposition to it. Rev. Charles Spear published a\nsensible work on the subject, and Rev. Hosea Ballou, D.\u00a0D., thirty\nyears since, gave the whole question a very thorough investigation, in\nreply to Rev. Dr. Cheever of New York, and others.[33] Michigan was\nthe first State in the Union to abolish the death penalty, and a late\nReport makes the statement that, with a population of 1,500,000, no\nman has been executed in the State during the last thirty-five years,\nand that a less number of murders have been perpetrated during the\nlast ten years, in ratio to the population, than during the same\ndecade in any other State where public or even private executions have\nprevailed.[34] Capital punishment has also been abolished in Maine.\n\n\n_The Position and Work of Woman_\n\nhas also been a subject of deep and widespread interest. Christianity\nhas ever given to woman a place denied her by all other religions. As\nChristian thought has had freer course, and Christian theology and\npractical work new and brighter development, the relations of woman to\nthe welfare and progress of human society have been more clearly\nunderstood and appreciated. Her rights in law are now more plainly and\njustly defined, and the importance of her equal education with the\nother sex admitted and emphasized. She is prominent and indispensable\nas a teacher, all over the land; she is a graduate of the college and\na professor there; she is a successful practitioner in the legal and\nmedical professions; she is an ordained minister of the Gospel; she is\na merchant, a book-keeper and accountant, an editor, an artist, a\nmechanic, a farmer, and has more than average success in all these\ndepartments of activity. Her right to the ballot is slowly but surely\ncoming to a settlement, which it will take time and thought on her\npart (for when _she_ asks for the ballot it will be hers), and\nenlightened legislation to effect. Where she has exercised this right,\nnone but favorable results have been witnessed.[35] Our State\nlegislatures are called upon to give attention to the subject, and a\ncommittee of our national Congress have just decided to report a\nproposed amendment to the Constitution, declaring that \"the right of\ncitizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged\nby the United States or by any State on account of sex, and giving\nCongress the power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the\nprovisions of this article.\" If Congress will agree to propose this\namendment, and three fourths of the States will ratify it, woman\nsuffrage will be legalized.\n\n\n_Other Questions._\n\nThe philanthropic and successful efforts in behalf of the blind, the\ndeaf and dumb, and feeble minded, of fallen women, and orphan\nchildren, are becoming more and more apparent every year, all in\ncheering accord with that restorative mercy and power evinced in Him\nwhose mission was to relieve the sorrows and remove the afflictive\nevils that beset mankind. And no more unmistakable evidence of the\ndecline of that horrible doctrine of endless suffering for the wicked\ncan be realized, than the instituting and maintaining societies for\nthe suppression of cruelty to animals. Surely, the Father of our\nspirits will not be less merciful towards any of his children, than\nthese children are justly called upon to be to the inferior creatures\nof his forming hand! These are some of the signs of Christian progress\nduring the last half-century. _Laus Deo!_\n\n[31] Chambers' Miscellany.\n\n[32] New Amer. Enc.\n\n[33] Universalist Quarterly, Vol. VI. No. 4, October, 1849.\n\n[34] \"Gospel Banner,\" Augusta, Me., June 10, 1882.\n\n[35] The Governor of Wyoming affirms that woman suffrage is an unqualified\nsuccess in the Territory.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH AND ITS WOMEN.\n\n  \"Help those women which labored with me in the\n  churches.\"--PAUL, Phil. iv. 3.\n\n\nThe Universalist Church is much indebted to its faithful women. Taking\ninto consideration its comparative numbers, no other church in America\nhas been more signally favored in the genial and healthful influence\nof its writers who have borne the honorable name of Woman. They have\nbeen instrumental in spreading the doctrines of the primitive Gospel\nand the moral bearings of their religion before the world in most\nattractive and impressive forms, and have disabused the public in its\nwrong estimate of the character and ability of the advocates of\nUniversalism and the tendency and influence of its principles.\n\nAmong those worthy to be remembered in this goodly company, who have\npassed from the present life during the last half-century, we may\nmention the gifted sister poets, Alice and Ph\u0153be Cary, Mrs. Sarah\nBroughton, Mrs. Julia H. Scott, Mrs. Sarah C.\u00a0E. Mayo, Mrs. Charlotte\nA. Jerauld, Mrs. Henrietta A. Bingham, Mrs. Elmina R.\u00a0B. Waldo, Mrs.\nLuella J.\u00a0B. Case, and Mrs. E.\u00a0H. Cobb.\n\nAmong the living we may note the names of Mrs. Catharine M. Sawyer,\nwhose contributions to our church journals are so well known; Mrs.\nMary A. Livermore, who in her past connection with our church work and\nliterature has gained such a high reputation with her voice and pen,\nas well as in her deeds of benevolence and mercy during the war of the\nrebellion; Mrs. Julia A. Carney, whose hymns and instruction books\nhave made her name so familiar in our Sunday-schools and homes; Mrs.\nCaroline A. Soule, whose consecrated words and works have secured her\na name which the church of her love will hold in righteous estimation;\nMrs. Nancy T. Munroe, Mrs. Lathrop (formerly Mrs. Bacon), Mrs. E.\u00a0M.\nBruce, Mrs. J.\u00a0L. Patterson, Mrs. S.\u00a0M. Perkins, Mrs. P.\u00a0A. Hanaford,\nMiss Carnahan, Miss Remick, Miss Minnie S. Davis,--but it is difficult\nto know where to draw the line in this counting. Others might be\nnamed, would space permit, who have made their contributions to the\nliterature of the church. The older and well known retain \"their\nwonted fires,\" and the new and younger are coming to succeed and honor\nthem. Some of our women are speaking our best and most practical words\nin our churches, prayer and conference and missionary meetings; in our\nSunday-schools, conventions, and associations; in our pulpits, as\nevangelists and pastors; in our educational institutions. If the\nUniversalist Church has not at this hour as brilliant a presentation\nof Christian literature from the pen of its women as it had thirty\nyears since, there never was more of the practical and available\ntalent of woman in it than at the present time; never so much\norganized effort on their part as now.\n\nThis effort seems to have taken new form and life since the Centenary\nYear of the church came round,--1870. Previous to that date, the\nhistory of many a new movement, many a new parish or church, had been\nthe history of woman's fidelity in the inception, progress, and\nsuccess of the enterprise. It was but natural, then, that in the\ninspiration awakened by the approach of this centennial year, the\nwomen of the church should be aroused to new and still greater effort.\nAnd thus it was that the \"Woman's Centenary Aid Association\" was\norganized at Buffalo, N.\u00a0Y., in September, 1869. The organization was\neffected, and the main work under it was to aid in the raising of the\nproposed \"Murray Fund,\" of $200,000. The total amount raised by that\nAssociation for this object, in all the States and elsewhere,\ndeducting comparatively moderate expenses, and placed in the treasury\nof the United States Convention for the Murray Fund, was $35,000.\nNearly 13,000 women thus became members of the Association. The fact\nwas a new and cheering manifestation. The \"Christian Leader,\" a\nUniversalist journal of New York city, thus alluded to it:--\n\n  \"If our women need no eulogy, we need the satisfaction of making a\n  warm, explicit confession of our admiration of their attempt, and\n  our gratitude for what they have done. They can well afford to\n  dispense with the acknowledgment, but we cannot afford not to make\n  it. It becomes us here to raise no question as to woman's fitness\n  for certain employments and political prerogatives, hitherto the\n  prerogatives of the rougher sex. But should we reach what some call\n  'extreme views' on the several points, and should our zeal bring us\n  onto the platform as a champion thereof, the sledgehammer we should\n  wield is, _the work of the Universalist women in their Centenary\n  Year_. God bless and make us grateful for our women!\"\n\nSince that time the Association has taken the title of the \"Womans'\nCentenary Association\" (dropping the word \"Aid\" used in the beginning\nin reference to its work in connection with the United States\nConvention). It has much other work of its own now. Its tract\npublishing and circulation, its Scotland Mission, its endowment of\nwomen professorships in one of our colleges, its special gifts for the\naid of theological students, the helping of needy and worthy parish\norganizations, establishing Sunday-schools in waste places, and\nassisting to sustain them and other beneficent works, are included in\nits ministries. Every year's report of its doings has spoken to the\npublic of the utility and effectiveness of its work.\n\nIn May, 1875, Mrs. Caroline A. Soule, the first President of the\nAssociation, sailed from New York city for Scotland, on a mission of\nobservation, as a company of believers there had for some time\nreceived aid and encouragement from the Association. She passed\nseveral months in Scotland, preaching in Dunfermline, Glasgow,\nLarbert, Dundee, and other places, and organized the \"Scottish\nUniversalist Convention.\" She also assisted at the dedication of a\nlittle church in Stenhousemuir, the only Universalist Church edifice\nin Great Britain. Three years afterwards she went, by approval of the\nAssociation, as a preacher and missionary. After preaching awhile in\nDundee and Glasgow, in 1879 she organized, in the last-named place,\nthe \"St. Paul Universalist Church,\" and established a Sunday-school\nand church library. Great numbers of tracts and many books (twenty\nbarrels of closely-packed matter) were circulated as helps in her\nwork. The rite of ordination was conferred upon her by the Scottish\nConvention. During her work in Scotland she has proved, by her\nfidelity, self-sacrifice, and persistence in her work during many and\nsevere discouragements, her qualifications for a Christian missionary\nworthy to be recorded among the most devoted of any in the other\nchurches who have been strengthened and honored by the accomplishment\nof devoted women in their missionary fields. Her work is a noble\nbeginning of that which may continue to be done by the Universalist\nChurch, if it shall possess a zeal commensurate with the magnitude of\nthat pre-eminent Gospel to be \"preached to every creature,\" which it\nis called of God to maintain. Christian Universalism and woman, \"what\nGod hath joined together, let not man put asunder.\"[36]\n\n[36] For a more ample view of the position and work of the women of\nthe Universalist Church, we refer the reader to the volume recently\ngiven to the public by Mrs. E.\u00a0R. Hanson, entitled \"Our Women\nWorkers.\" Chicago, 1882.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS.\n\n  \"Insignificant as the denomination of Universalists may now appear\n  in the eyes of the world, it is not to be doubted that the time is\n  coming when it will occupy in this country, and throughout all\n  Christendom, a much more commanding position, and men will ask for\n  the beginning of what they shall then see, and love to read the\n  story of our present struggles and victories.\"--REV. T.\u00a0J. SAWYER, D.\u00a0D.\n\n\nIt is within the first century of our national republic, just passed,\nthat this great faith in the universality of God's love and of the\nwork of Christian salvation with man, has gained a prominence in the\nchurches which it had not known since the earlier times of\nChristianity. It is of the last half century, in connection with the\nhistory of this faith, however, that I would more particularly speak,\nas it is within this period that the work of its promulgation in our\nown country has been especially realized, its public advocates\nmultiplied, and their ministries extended in many of the States of our\nUnion. Its publications and other educational forces have increased,\nand, as we have seen, it has identified itself with some of the most\nsignificant reforms of the age. Many of its friends and\nrepresentatives have been among the worthy and excellent of the times\nin which they have lived, and not a few of its public advocates\ndeserve to be honorably and thankfully remembered in the present and\nthe future for the contributions they have made to the progress of the\nchurch in the knowledge of Christian truth and the realization and\nenjoyment of the Christian life. It is one of the enjoyments connected\nwith the preparation of these pages, that the writer may call them up\nin memory and speak of them as they appear to him, and note some of\ntheir characteristics, and pay them that tribute of respect and honor\nwhich they so justly merit.\n\nThough others may appear as their successors in the same high calling,\nthey can scarcely be more faithful or effective in their labors than\nhave these earnest defenders of the Abrahamic faith who have been\nforemost in its promulgation during the past generation. If many of\nthem now rest from their labors, their works surely follow them, and\ntheir names deserve tender and thankful remembrance by their survivors\nin the church for whose prosperity and honor they so hopefully,\nbravely, and faithfully taught and wrought.\n\nIt should be understood that, in the succeeding sketches of ministers,\nit is not the intent of the writer to present anything like a full\nrecord of all who have faithfully served in this capacity in our\ncountry during the time of our church history comprehended in these\npages. A complete biographical encyclop\u00e6dia cannot be compassed in so\nlimited a space. It is from his own particular standpoint of\nobservation and recollection that the writer presents his testimony.\nFurthermore, it is mainly to those now departed that these references\nare made.\n\n\nThe BALLOUS have been conspicuous in this conflict of religious\nopinions during the present century. Foremost among the family of\npreachers, most of whom have departed, stands acknowledged Hosea the\nelder, one of the strongest theologians of the past or present in New\nEngland. He lived through half the present century, being nearly\nthirty years old when he entered it, and was vigorous to the last at\nthe age of eighty-one. The statement of his life-history is not a new\none now. The four ample volumes containing it, by Dr. Whittemore, have\nbeen extensively read, and will be for years to come. But having known\nand revered him, it is an unspeakable pleasure to the writer to state\nhis impressions of the man and the preacher.\n\nHOSEA BALLOU (a native of Richmond, N.\u00a0H.), came from the home of\na worthy Baptist clergyman, whose means of living and supporting a\nlarge family were small. He had but meagre opportunities for\neducation, but employed what he had to the best advantage, and became\na school-teacher in early manhood. He joined the Baptist Church when\nquite young, but afterwards grew out of its theology, and became\nconvinced of the truth of Universalism. Discouraged in his first\nattempts as a public speaker, he grew more confident, and soon\nattracted much attention, wherever he appeared, as an advocate of his\nfaith. His pastorates were in Barnard, Vt., Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., Salem\nand Boston, Mass. He died in the last-named city, June 7, 1852, after\na pastorate of more than thirty years. His two sons, Hosea F., of\nVermont, and Massena B., of Stoughton, Mass., have served in the\nministry many years.\n\nMr. Ballou was gifted with great logical clearness, aptness, and\nforce. His preaching was plain, scriptural, and often fervent, and no\none could bring home to the hearer the great themes of the Divine\nFatherhood and Human Brotherhood more effectively than he. Wakeful\nindeed must be the theological opponent who could evade the force of\nhis logic. He employed the Socratic method, by drawing the objector\nout, so that his own statements would confound or confute him. Many\nvaliant ones of the opposite faith were there who could readily assail\nand denounce his doctrines, where his replies could not reach them,\nbut who would be very sure to keep at a respectful distance from that\n\"sword of the Spirit\" which he wielded with such consummate skill.\n\nOf the published works of Mr. Ballou, none have evinced more mental\nclearness and vigor than his volume on \"Atonement,\" issued in\n1805.[37] Its plainness and adaptedness to the common reader, its\nsharp logic, and above all its apt and convincing appeals to the\nScriptures, render it a timely helper everywhere and always, in the\ndiscussion of the theologies which have assumed the Christian name,\nand which are now being so closely scrutinized. Every reader and\nstudent of theology understands something of the old theory of\nAtonement so long dominant in the Christian Church, so exceedingly\nperplexing to honest and independent inquirers, so hard to be\nvindicated by its ablest advocates, and so surely sowing the seeds of\nscepticism and infidelity in many minds. Volume after volume has\nappeared in defence and attempted illustration of it. Sin an infinite\nevil, being a violation of infinite law, and therefore the law\nrequiring an infinite sacrifice, short of which no atonement could be\nmade; the transgression of Adam bringing the whole human race into the\nsame situation of sin and misery, and subjecting them all to the\ninfinite penalty of an infinite law, which they had violated in their\nparent before they individually existed. In view of this penalty,\nwhich was endless suffering, God himself, to placate his own wrath\nagainst the delinquents, assumed a body of flesh and blood, and\nsuffered the penalty of the law by death,--not that God himself\nactually died, but the human body in which he came,--this is deemed\nthe infinite sacrifice by which it is possible for a part of mankind\nto be saved. \"Divines of the greatest ability,\" writes Mr. Ballou,\n\"and of the first rank among the _literati_, have drained the last\nfaculty of invention in plodding through the dark region of\nmetaphysics to bring up a Samuel to explain the solecism of\n_satisfying an infinite dissatisfaction_.\"\n\nNow let us note how the author of \"Atonement\" quietly sets forth this\nabsurdity. It is all comprehended in a single page of the volume:--\n\n  \"We will state it as it is often stated by those who believe it,\n  which is by the likeness of debt and credit. The sinner owed a debt\n  to Divine Justice, which he was unable to discharge; the Divine\n  Being cannot, consistently with his honor, dispense with the pay,\n  but says, 'I must have what is my just due;' but as the debtor has\n  not ability to pay the smallest fraction, Divine Wisdom lays a deep,\n  concerted, mysterious plan for the debt to be discharged. And how\n  was it? Why, for God to pay it himself!\n\n  \"Our neighbor owes us a hundred pounds; time of payment comes, and\n  we make a demand for our dues. Says our neighbor, 'My misfortunes\n  have been such that I am not the possessor of the smallest fraction\n  of property in the world; and as much as I owe you I am worse than\n  nothing.' I declare to him positively that I will not lose so much\n  as a fraction of the interest, and leave him. A friend calls, and\n  asks me how I succeeded in obtaining my dues of my neighbor. I\n  reply, 'My neighbor is not, nor will he ever be, able to pay me any\n  part of my demand.' My friend says he is sorry that I should lose my\n  debt. I answer, 'I shall not lose it. I have very fortunately, in my\n  meditations on the subject, thought of a method by which I can avail\n  myself of the whole, to my full satisfaction; and I think it is a\n  method which no person in the world but myself could ever have\n  discovered.' My friend is curious and impatient to know the secret,\n  never before found out. The reader may guess his confusion on my\n  telling him, 'that as I have that sum already by me, I am now going\n  to pay up the obligation before the interest is any larger!' This\n  has been called the Gospel plan, which contains the depths of\n  infinite wisdom.\"\n\nWhat could be plainer, and how could the justness of this\nrepresentation be questioned? Questioned it was, of course, not by any\nattempt at elaborate examination and refutation, but by a sermon now\nand then given out from some Orthodox pulpit, by some honest minister,\nentrenched behind the prejudices of his hearers, and altogether\ndisinclined to meet the whole question in the broadest daylight of\ninvestigation. Out of this plain exposition, and others like it, since\nmade, have come the examinations, and statements, and restatements,\nand amendments, and improvements of the orthodox doctrine of\nAtonement, which are keeping astir at this hour the pulpits and\nschools of theology all over the land and across the seas.\n\nMany are the anecdotes of Mr. Ballou given in the biographies already\nbefore the public. Were we to attempt a selection, we should be at a\nloss where to begin. We have one in mind, given us by Rev. Moses\nBallou, which we have never seen in our religious journals. A Mr.\nBuckman, a relative of Mr. Ballou, had taken it upon him as a matter\nof conscience, with very little mental preparation, to be a preacher.\nHe had a good deal of self-assurance, and, withal, strong love of\napprobation. Being in company with Mr. Ballou, at one time, he was\nanxious to get an approving word from him, and said, \"Brother Ballou,\nI am awfully tried with myself.\" \"Ah!\" said Mr. Ballou, \"Why so? What\nis the trouble?\" \"Why,\" said Mr. Buckman, \"it is this: to think that I\nshould ever try to preach, and know so little. Now, what do you think\nabout it?\" \"Why,\" said Mr. Ballou, hesitating a little, \"if you really\nwant to know my mind, I think--_that--if you knew a little more, you\nwould never try again_!\"\n\nHow welcome was he at the great meetings of the church,--conferences,\nassociations, conventions. He was usually called upon to give the\ndiscourse at the close of the meeting. And it was often a feast to\nhear him, as he would dwell upon the excellency of the divine\nattributes, the \"exceeding great and precious promises,\" and the plain\nand reasonable precepts of the gospel. A prophetic word of good cheer\nwould be spoken by him at such times. He would see, and make others\nsee, the clouds receding, and the clear day opening in the blue and\ngolden sky beyond. However acceptably others had preached before him,\nthe expectation was that somehow his discoursing would give finish and\nsanction to them all. And it was so. At Barre, Vt., where the General\nConvention met in 1831, excellent discourses were delivered by able\nministers present, and so rich and varied were the topics dwelt upon,\nthat the query was somewhat humorously proposed, \"What will Father\nBallou have to say after all this?\" Judge of our interest and delight\nwhen the modest man arose, and in the most quiet way proposed for his\ntext the words of Elihu, in Job, xxxvi. 2: \"Suffer me a little, and I\nwill show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf.\" And such a\nvindication of the character of the gracious Father of all in face of\nthe aspersions cast upon it by his weak and erring children! It was\nsimply electrifying.\n\nThe late Rev. Theodore Clapp, D.\u00a0D., of New Orleans, and a minister in\nthe Unitarian Church, once related that, being present in a gathering\nof Unitarian clergymen in Boston, the conversation turned on the\nchanges which had been effected in the theology of New England, and\nthe question who, of all her great divines, had wrought the most and\ngreatest changes. Of course Channing had the most advocates; but there\nwere some who named Edwards, Emmons, Hopkins, and other doctors of the\nOrthodox Schools. At last Dr. Clapp, who had remained silent, was\nappealed to. \"Gentlemen,\" said he, \"you have not yet named the man!\"\n\"What!\" replied all in astonishment, \"not named him!\" \"No, gentlemen,\nyou have not yet named him.\" \"Why, who can it be? We have named every\npreacher of eminence in New England.\" \"And yet, gentlemen, you have\nnot named _the_ man.\" \"Well, who do you say he is?\" With great\nimpressiveness, Mr. Clapp uttered the name. \"Hosea Ballou has effected\nmore and greater changes in the theological opinions of the people of\nNew England, than any man dead or living.\" There was silence for a\ntime, and the discussion was not renewed.[38]\n\nMr. Ballou was a vigorous writer. His \"Treatise on the Atonement,\"\n\"Notes on the Parables,\" and volumes of sermons, are among his best\nofferings to the public. The first-named book ought to be read\nthroughout Christendom. He was through his professional life a welcome\ncontributor to the periodicals of the church. He has stood and will\ncontinue to stand high. His imposing statue at Mount Auburn will look\nout upon generations mentally and spiritually blest through his\ntruthful ministries.\n\n\nThe eldest son of Mr. Ballou, Rev. HOSEA FAXON BALLOU, was born in\nDana, Mass., April 4, 1799, and died in Wilmington, Vt., May 20, 1881.\nAt the age of thirty he became desirous of entering the ministry, but\nhesitated from anxiety as to the support of his growing family. He\nbegan the study of theology, however, and in 1832, after a few months\nwith Rev. Benjamin Whittemore, preached with success three times in\nthe vicinity of Boston, and was called to Whitingham, Vt. He was\nordained at Boston, June 30, 1833. After a pastorate of nearly\ntwenty-five years at Whitingham he went to Wilmington, where he was\npastor until, in 1872, the infirmities of age led him to abandon the\npulpit, after a ministry of forty years without the loss of a single\nSunday. In person Mr. Ballou was tall, erect, and strong, bearing a\nmarked resemblance to his distinguished father in face and form as\nwell as in mental characteristics. His sermons evinced a high order of\nintellect and cultivation. During the last seventeen years of his\nresidence in Whitingham, he held the office of town clerk, and in\nWilmington was twice elected to the Constitutional Convention and once\nto the State Legislature. He was President of the Wilmington Savings\nBank for seven years before his death, and occupied many other\npositions of honor and trust. He reared a large family of children,\nand it has been said of him, in truth we may believe, that during the\npast fifty years no man in Southern Vermont exerted so wide an\ninfluence over religious opinions.\n\n\nAnother son of Mr. Ballou, MASSENA B. BALLOU, was pastor of the\nUniversalist Church in Stoughton, Mass., for twenty-five years, and\nnow resides in that town, at an advanced age.\n\n\nAn elder brother of Hosea was Rev. DAVID BALLOU, of Munroe, Mass.,\na man of remarkable acuteness as a reasoner, and quite as sound a\ntheologian as the more distinguished one just noticed, but whose\nsuccess as a preacher was much less, because of the want of that ease\nand fluency in the delivery of his discourses which his brother\npossessed. But those who knew him well have borne witness to the\nexcellence of his character and his great ability as an expounder of\nthe Word of the Gospel.\n\n\nHis son, Rev. MOSES BALLOU, held a prominent place in our church as\none of its talented ministers, and as a writer of more than ordinary\nability. He was born in Munroe, Mass., March 24, 1811. Educated at the\nacademy at Brattleboro, Vt., he began preaching at the age of\ntwenty-two. One of his earliest charges was at Bath, N.\u00a0H. He was\nsubsequently settled at Portsmouth, where he had pastorates twice. He\nhad charge of the churches at Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven,\nConn., and in later years removed to New York city, where he was\npastor of the Bleecker Street Church. He then came to Philadelphia,\nand took charge of the Church of the Restoration. Failing in health,\nhe gave up his work in that city, and removed to Atco, N.\u00a0J. His\nfriends there erected for him a small church edifice, where he held\nservice when able so to do. He died in Philadelphia, May 19, 1879.\n\nHe was the author of two books,--one the \"Memorial of Rev. Merritt\nSanford;\" the other, \"The Divine Character Vindicated,\" a review of\nRev. Edward Beecher's work, entitled \"The Conflict of Ages.\" This\nlast-named volume indicates the masterly mental strength of the man.\nDr. Beecher himself, we are informed, acknowledged it to have been the\nablest of any reply made to his work. It has never yet been read by\nUniversalists as it deserves to be. Mr. Ballou was not only a strong\nand logical writer, but an earnest and eloquent preacher. Dr. T.\u00a0B.\nThayer writes of him:--\n\n  \"In his best days, when in the vigor of his manhood, physically and\n  mentally, few men could hold a thoughtful and intellectual audience\n  to closer attention than he; and even those who differed from him\n  theologically acknowledged the ability with which he maintained his\n  positions, and were little disposed to enter the lists of\n  controversial argument against them. And at times when the great\n  truths of the Gospel seemed, in the midst of his speaking, to dawn\n  upon him in new and larger revelation, he would break into speech\n  that thrilled his hearers, and lifted them for a space into the\n  fellowship of the angels.\n\n  \"He knew for a good while that the end was approaching, and he was\n  ready. Death was to him only the door that opened into the new\n  immortal life, which was almost as presently real to him as the life\n  he was living here. And when, at the last, his life-long friend,\n  Rev. James Shrigley, said good-bye to him, he exclaimed, 'Why say\n  good-bye, when we shall meet again to-morrow?'\"\n\n\n [Illustration: H. Ballou 2d.\n From a Dag.\n H. W. Smith Sc.\n J. H. Daniels Pr.]\n\nOf all the worthies in this company of church leaders of which we are\nspeaking, not one of them is entitled to a higher place than HOSEA\nBALLOU, D.\u00a0D., or \"2d,\" as he was called before the doctorate was\nconferred upon him. A rare man was he, a clear-headed and closely\nlogical thinker, an untiring student, one of the soundest of\npreachers, and humblest and noblest of men. We have no fear of using\nlanguage too strong in our statement of his character, its\npre-eminence and worth. An editor of a volume of his discourses has\ngiven it, on the title-page, from Laman Blanchard:--\n\n  \"His thoughts were as a pyramid up-piled,\n  On whose far top an angel sat and smiled,\n  Yet in his heart was he a simple child.\"\n\nHe was of Guilford, Vt., born there in 1796. His parents were\nBaptists, but the thoughtful and studious boy, before the age of\nnineteen, had embraced Universalism. He began early the study of Latin\nand Greek, and gave much attention in later days to ecclesiastical\nhistory. He was pastor in Stafford, Conn., and in Roxbury and Medford,\nMass. He was for some years one of the editors of the \"Universalist\nMagazine,\" and afterwards of the \"Quarterly,\" a publication which\nunder his supervision was a most creditable addition to the literature\nof the Christian Church. His most valuable contribution to this\nliterature is his \"Ancient History of Universalism,\" the result of\nlong and patient research in a new field of inquiry, and which proved\nto be a work of acknowledged merit. It settled at once and for all\ntime the loose statement that Universalism was a new doctrine, not\nknown to any extent in olden times. Some of the brightest lights in\nthe Christian Church are recognized as its early advocates. Harvard\nUniversity, of which he was for some years a trustee, conferred upon\nhim its honorary degree of D.\u00a0D.; and Tufts College, for which he had\nanxiously pleaded and diligently labored, elected him her first\npresident. \"His scholarship,\" writes another, \"was not only general\nand varied, but exact in details, and frequently astonishing by its\nminute acquaintance with things and events out of the ordinary\nchannels of information; and his knowledge was so unostentatiously\nheld, and kindly and modestly imparted, that it required special\ninquiry to elicit it, and seemed but natural to him. His gentle\nmanners and readiness to impart information, and his mild and loving\nspirit, won for him the esteem of all who became acquainted with him,\nso that their admiration of the scholar and teacher were often lost in\ntheir affection for the friend.\"\n\n\nTwo brothers of Dr. Ballou, LEVI and WILLIAM S., were for years\npreachers and pastors in New England. William resided in the West for\na time, where he died in 1865. Levi was pastor of the Universalist\nChurch in North Orange, Mass., for nineteen years. Clear-minded,\ngentle, and yet forcible men were they, making good proof of their\nministry.\n\n\nRev. EDWARD TURNER was for years one of the ablest ministers in the\nUniversalist Church. He was born in Medfield, Mass., July 28, 1776,\nand was in early life sent to the school of the celebrated Hannah\nAdams and her sister. In 1786 his family removed to Sturbridge, Mass.,\nand in his seventeenth year he was at Leicester Academy. He was\neducated under \"orthodox\" influence, and used to say that he \"held the\nminister in such fearful reverence that he would jump over the wall to\nhide himself if he saw that he must meet him on the road.\" The towns\nin the section of Worcester County in which he lived were among those\nwhere Universalism was first preached. Oxford, especially, was one of\nits strongholds, the first Convention having met there when he was ten\nyears old. In such a neighborhood he could not have lived long without\nhearing something of the \"strange doctrine,\" but all that is known is,\nthat he is said to have been a Universalist as early as his sixteenth\nor seventeenth year. He began to preach in 1798, when, at the age of\ntwenty-two, he preached his first sermon at Bennington, Vt. He first\nappears in the public records of the Universalists in 1800, when it is\nstated that a Letter of License was given him by the General\nConvention. From this time until 1824 his name appears in the records\nnearly every year. He is mentioned in the records of the Convention\nfor 1803 as of Sturbridge and also of Charlton, from which it is\ninferred that both these towns had societies of which he was pastor.\nIn 1809 he removed to Salem, Mass. Here he remained till June, 1814,\nwhen he accepted a call to Charlestown, Mass. In March, 1824, he\naccepted an invitation to Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., where he continued till\nthe spring of 1828. He was afterwards minister in Charlton, his old\nhome, and at Fishkill Landing, N.\u00a0Y. In 1841 he removed to Jamaica\nPlain, to a home left by a son-in-law, where he passed the remainder\nof his days. He was twice married. He occasionally preached up to the\nlast. He was present as one of the bearers at the funeral of his old\nfriend and co-worker, Mr. Ballou, June 9, 1852, and departed this life\nJan. 24, 1853.\n\nWith the opinions of the elder Ballou in regard to future (or\nno-future) punishment he had no sympathy; and an estrangement somehow\ngrew up, which led him to connect himself, later in life, with the\nUnitarians, instead of remaining with those in the Universalist\nministry, such as H. Ballou, 2d., the Streeters and Skinners, Rev. L.\nWillis, Thomas F. King, and others, whose opinions coincided with his\nown. A severe illness in 1811 wrought a marked change in him. Before\nthis he was quite robust and erect, afterwards he appeared more\nfeeble. Previous to this sickness, like Mr. Ballou, he had been\nexclusively an extemporaneous preacher, and is said to have been one\nof the \"rousing\" sort,--live, vehement, electric; but from this period\nhis whole manner changed, and his ordinary preaching became subdued,\nlanguid, what is called \"moderate,\" at times, perhaps, even heavy. Dr.\nE.\u00a0G. Brooks, in an excellent biographical notice of him, says:--\n\n  \"He had immense latent power. At times, when kindled by some great\n  occasion, or stirred by opposition or some peculiar circumstance,\n  this came out. Then he preached with all his old fire, and sometimes\n  rose into impassioned and commanding eloquence. 'All the fountains\n  of the great deep' within him 'were broken up,' and thought and\n  feeling came in a flood. Rev. Russell Streeter writes me, 'On\n  Convention occasions he was, on the whole, _second to no one_.' My\n  parents tell me that he was 'sometimes _very_ animated.' They speak\n  particularly of one sermon in Portsmouth, called forth by some\n  bitter outbreak of opposition, when he preached with surpassing\n  effect. Others report similar instances. Doctrinal sermons in\n  abundance he preached, but even those most argumentative and most\n  sharply controversial were flavored with a religious meaning and\n  reasoned to practical ends. He never preached a sermon that was\n  _merely_ doctrinal, but always made dogmatic discussion subordinate\n  to moral impression. Though in a mistaken estimate of duty, as we\n  believe, he separated from us, his name can never be taken out of\n  our records as one of the worthiest of our early heroes, nor his\n  work cease to be an occasion of gratitude and honorable pride to us,\n  nor his reverent and saintly character fail to be one of the most\n  precious portions of our denominational inheritance.\"[39]\n\n\nThe STREETER brothers are to be numbered in this \"company of the\npreachers.\" SEBASTIAN was for more than thirty years pastor of the\nFirst Universalist Church, on Hanover Street, Boston. He was a\nminister of marked character, light-framed, nervous, dark-eyed, of\nquick movement, clear and strong-minded, voluble in speech, affable,\nat home everywhere, especially in the pulpit.\n\nUnder many disadvantages, he laid for himself the foundation of a\nprofessional education. He intended to qualify himself for the law,\nbut a superior wisdom and will called him to the Christian pulpit. At\nthe age of eighteen, while a school-teacher in New Hampshire, he was a\ntalented advocate of Christian Universalism. At twenty-two he preached\nhis first discourse. He travelled extensively as a missionary in\nMaine, encountering the reproach which awaited the advocacy of his\nfaith in those days in many parts of New England, and having the honor\nof being stoned once while preaching in a Christian house of worship,\nand by a zealous member of a church. With him, however, opposition was\nan incentive to new earnestness in his work. He was singularly gifted\nas a preacher. He despised all garishness and affectation, and was\nusually full of his theme. There was in him a latent fire of\neloquence, which when kindled stirred his audience to the depths of\ntheir souls. The writer calls to mind occasions of his preaching: one,\nwhile the hearer was standing in the doorway of a church at a meeting\nof the General Convention in Vermont. The pulpit was between the doors\nthat opened upon the faces of the congregation. The preacher was in\nthe heat of his discoursing on the words of Jesus, \"And I, if I be\nlifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.\" There were no\nindifferent listeners, and but few dry eyes to be seen. The\nremembrance has often been an inspiration. The other was at the\nsession of the Rockingham Association, in Nottingham, N.\u00a0H., in 1833.\nMr. Streeter delivered the occasional discourse, an able and a timely\none. He was speaking of reforms and reformers, and was all aglow with\nhis theme. He thus came to a climax:--\n\n  \"We know of a revivalist and reformer infinitely superior in skill\n  and power to those of all sects combined; one who will continue to\n  move onward, 'conquering and to conquer,' till he has 'renewed a\n  right spirit' in every heart, till he has reformed fully and forever\n  the countless millions of our race. Yes, blessed be God, we know his\n  name. It is Jesus of Nazareth; the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; the\n  Son of God; the Saviour of the world!\" [\"Amen!\" from a brother\n  minister.][40] The preacher responded: \"Hallelujah! Glory to God in\n  the highest! Jesus will make all things new. Let heaven proclaim his\n  honor; let earth echo and re-echo his praises; and let eternity\n  respond them through the long and lofty roll of its interminable\n  ages!\"\n\nSaid Mr. Streeter to a friend, one Monday morning:--\n\n  \"I had something tender to put into my sermon yesterday morning. As\n  I was going to church, a poor woman came to me to borrow a dollar to\n  get bread for her children, and, as I handed it to her, she offered\n  me a small locket containing a braid of hair from the head of a\n  little child she had buried a week ago. 'Take back the locket,' said\n  I; 'it is too sacred for my hands; but keep the dollar, you are\n  welcome to that. It does me more good to give it than you to receive\n  it, and you can have more if you need.' Then she wept, and said she\n  was a poor widow, living in such a street near by, and her poor\n  children had not had a mouthful since yesterday noon, and she had\n  nothing to buy them bread. I knew by her looks that she told me the\n  truth, but to satisfy her I went and saw where she lived, and saw\n  her children, and gave her more money, and told her I would look to\n  her wants again to-morrow. Then I went into the pulpit, and put the\n  incident into a sermon, and I haven't preached so well, nor enjoyed\n  the service so much, for many a day.\"\n\nHis heart was often overflowing with such charities as this, through\nall his ministry.\n\nHe was the life of a conference meeting, and his Friday evening\nconferences in the Hanover Street vestry were never forgotten by those\nwho attended them. As a pastor, he was always welcomed in the homes of\nhis parishioners, sharing as he did their joys and sorrows with the\nsympathy of a brother and friend. As an officiating attendant at\nweddings, he was exceedingly popular, and his yearly marriage list,\nfor a long time, exceeded in numbers that of any other clergyman in\nBoston. On funeral occasions, he was eminently a \"son of consolation.\"\nThere was such an unction in his usual manner of preaching--a manner\nso peculiarly adapted to the services of the Sabbath--that a brother\nminister who highly respected him, quaintly suggested that\n_Sabbathstrain_, rather than Sebastian, might properly be used as his\nname. As another has written of him: \"He was an intensely magnetic\nman. It was not simply what he said, but the spiritual unction with\nwhich he uttered the truth, that won and held you.\"[41]\n\nMr. Streeter lived to the age of eighty-four. In his last days he\nsuffered intensely from asthma, which had long afflicted him. He has\nleft the example of a true and noble life to the churches.\n\n\nRev. RUSSELL STREETER was a younger brother of Sebastian, and a man of\nmuch mental vigor,--sharp, witty, and logical. He had quite a number\nof ministerial settlements in New England, and in them all was noted\nfor his ability as a preacher, for his peculiarities of character, and\nhis good qualities as a neighbor and citizen. He was the first editor\nof the \"Christian Intelligencer,\" a Universalist weekly paper,\npublished at Portland, Me.; was minister in that city for some years,\nand afterwards, much later in life, went to pay the society a long\npastorate visit of six and a half years, which proved very agreeable\nto pastor and people. He died at Woodstock, Vt., Feb. 15, 1880.\n\nMr. Streeter was a subject of impulses. When in the happy mood, no\none, it seemed to us, could preach a more acceptable sermon than he.\nWhen not in this favorable frame of mind, he would not always do\njustice to himself. We can never forget a discourse (the closing one)\nat a Conference in Orford, N.\u00a0H., from the text, \"Behold how good and\nhow pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.\" The\nsermons previously delivered were timely, and had been well received,\nand he was fully in the spirit of them all, and felt that he had the\nstrong sympathies of his hearers. His words \"dropped like the rain,\nand distilled as the dew.\" Doctrine, illustration, exhortation,\napplication, all were excellent, and there was an unction in the whole\ndiscourse that left upon the audience impressions most highly\nfavorable to the faith he was setting forth. On another occasion, at\nthe closing of a session of the New Hampshire Convention, at Lebanon,\nhe was the last preacher of the occasion. Very able and impressive\ndiscourses had been delivered by five other ministers. Mr. Streeter,\nin an apparently extemporaneous effort, took special notice of the\nmatter and manner of them all, and of the characters of the speakers;\nand when he alluded to the sermon of the young and beloved Hanscom, as\n\"an eloquent appeal from one whose hollow and sepulchral tones seemed\nto indicate that the youthful and faithful speaker was nearing the\ntomb,\" the effect was exceedingly impressive.\n\nDuring the editorial career of Mr. Streeter with the \"Christian\nIntelligencer,\" he proved himself an able and effective writer, and\ndid much to call attention to the religious principles which he\nadvocated. While in Portland, he was neighbor to Dr. Edward Payson, of\ndistinguished memory in the Congregational Churches; a very zealous\nadvocate of Christianity, as he understood it, and who regarded the\nGospel as promulgated by Mr. Streeter as a pernicious and deadly\nheresy. Mr. Streeter was somewhat fond of looking after him, and\nnoting what he considered to be some of his errors in doctrine. One\nevening the two happened to greet each other at a meeting where Dr.\nPayson presided and which Mr. Streeter attended. Soon theological\nquestioning and cross questioning took place, and some very strong\ndenunciatory words were used by the Doctor, who was evidently much\nexcited. Mr. Streeter was cool and keen in his replies, and soon\npushed the Doctor into a very close corner, causing him to contradict\nhimself, and to appear to his friends and all present to great\ndisadvantage. It was a triumph of temper as well as of theological\nability. The Doctor, saintly man as he surely was, evidently felt the\nforce of his neighbor's replies to him.\n\nMr. Streeter was an able writer. His \"Familiar Conversations\" have\nbeen much read. They were adapted to the time in which they were\nwritten, and so were some of his works on the revival movements of the\nOrthodox Churches in New England and elsewhere, thirty or forty years\nago. His little volume entitled, \"The Latest News from Three\nWorlds,--Heaven, Earth, and Hell,\" was a scorching satire upon the\nextravagances connected with these movements. Scriptural argument and\nstrong logic are mixed with keenest wit, mirthfulness, tenderness, and\nrhetoric most glowing and redundant. The ministers and churches to\nwhom these reviews were addressed must have seen themselves in no very\ncommendable light in that glass. Those who have once read the book\nattentively are not likely to forget it. While engaged in the\n\"Burchard War\" in Vermont, he published a pamphlet entitled, \"Mirror\nof Calvinistic Fanaticism; or, Jedediah Burchard & Co., During a\nProtracted Meeting of Twenty-six Days in Woodstock, Vt.\" It was an\neffective issue.\n\nDuring most of his ministry, Mr. Streeter was a zealous and successful\nadvocate of the temperance reform. His addresses were always lively\nand interesting, full of anecdote, ludicrous hits, and quaint sayings.\nHe was popular in all places and with all sects in this work, and many\nwho would hardly consent to hear him advocate his religious sentiments\nrealized much enjoyment in listening to his defence of temperance\nprinciples. On one occasion he was in the pulpit with a clergyman\nwhose sense of self-dignity was \"above the ordinary,\" and who\nevidently had no strong inclination to be the subject of a joke. While\nMr. Streeter was addressing the meeting, he took occasion to describe\nthe different mixtures of strong drink which were in use almost\neverywhere previous to the temperance reformation. \"The last article\nof all,\" said he, \"added to perfect the dram, was--was--really,\nstrange to say, but I have just now lost the name! Will some one\nplease to mention it?\" \"Nutmeg!\" exclaimed the dignified clergyman\nnear him. \"That's it!\" responded Mr. Streeter. \"He's well informed in\nthese matters, I'll warrant you.\"\n\nWe have heard an account of his attendance, in Western New York, at a\nmeeting where a Methodist and a Universalist were to preach in the\nsame meeting-house one Sunday. The Universalist was to speak in the\nmorning, and the Methodist in the afternoon. In the last sermon the\npreacher was very severe in his treatment of Universalists and their\ndoctrine. Mr. Streeter, seeing that there would be no opportunity for\na rejoinder to his statements, asked his ministering brother the\nprivilege of taking his place in offering the closing prayer, in\nwhich, in the most reverential, solemn, and emphatic manner, he\nbriefly noted what he considered the misrepresentations of the last\nspeaker, and left upon the audience an impression decidedly favorable\nto his own faith. The whole exercise, quaint as it was, was so\nremarkably able and timely, that all criticism of it seemed to be\nsilenced.\n\n\nRev. THOMAS JONES was a successor of Rev. John Murray, at Gloucester,\nMass. He came from the Methodists in England, and once belonged to the\nLady Huntington connection. He was a veritable Welshman, honest,\nkind-hearted, blunt in speech, and unique in his method and style of\nsermonizing. His discourses were most positive statements of\nUniversalism, and abounded in Scriptural quotations. Some one wittily\nsaid of Father Balfour, that so great was his reliance on the\nauthority of the Bible, that he would go to it to find out whether a\nsuspected bank-note were counterfeit or not. A parishioner of Father\nJones remarked of him, that he could hardly get through saying grace,\neven at a Fourth of July festival, without repeating the passage, \"For\nas in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.\" He had\na long settlement in Gloucester, and died there at a ripe old age\n(eighty-three), Aug. 20, 1846. The discourse at the funeral was\ndelivered by Rev. A.\u00a0D. Mayo, the officiating minister and pastor at\nthe time. He paid a just tribute to the honored old Christian soldier,\nand to the early defenders of our faith in America.\n\n\nRev. PAUL DEAN received fellowship as a Universalist minister in 1805.\nHe afterwards preached extensively in Vermont and New Hampshire, and\nmoved to Whitestown, N.\u00a0Y., in 1810. He traversed frequently large\nportions of Central and Western New York, and held several successful\ndiscussions,--two, particularly, with Rev. Mr. Lacy, then a Methodist,\nafterwards an Episcopalian Bishop. He removed to Boston in 1813, and\nin 1823 his friends left the First Church, and built for him the\nchurch in Bulfinch Street, now Unitarian. About 1828, he withdrew from\nthe fellowship of the Universalists, and, with a few others, formed\nthe \"Massachusetts Restorationist Association.\" On its decline he left\nBoston, and settled in Framingham, in 1840. He was an eloquent and\npopular preacher, and was for many years an active Freemason, holding,\nduring the greater part of his manhood, the highest offices of that\nOrder in the United States. He died in Framingham, of paralysis, Oct.\n5, 1860, aged seventy-seven years.\n\nIn his early ministry, Mr. Dean, while in Central New York, was\nsubject to the oppositions which others of his fraternity sometimes\nencountered. On one occasion, an over-zealous woman was so highly\nincensed at the expectation of his coming to the house where she\nresided, that she had in preparation a kettle of hot water with which\nto greet him, but was prevented by others from effecting her evil\ndesign.\n\n\nAn honest and clear-minded man was Rev. WALTER BALFOUR, who came from\nhis native Scotland to Charlestown, Mass. He was first a\nCongregationalist, and afterwards a Baptist, and an acceptable\npreacher with both sects; a Greek and Hebrew scholar, and well\ninstructed in sacred literature. A most conscientious believer was he\nin the old theology of Scottish orthodoxy. He had never dreamed that\nUniversalism could be true. But he was a reader and thinker, and\nespecially inclined to the good use of his logical powers. He read the\nworks of American orthodox authors, among whom was Professor Stuart of\nAndover, for whose opinions he had profound respect. The Professor\nbecame engaged in a controversy with the eminent Unitarian, Dr.\nChanning, and Mr. Balfour followed up the discussion with deep\ninterest. In his attempts to set forth Christ as equal with God, the\nProfessor cited the words of the Revelator (Rev. v. 13), where \"things\nin heaven, in earth, and under the earth\" (a periphrasis for the\nuniverse), are said to bow the knee to Jesus, and ascribe blessing,\nhonor, glory, and power to him. \"If this be not spiritual worship,\"\nsays the Professor, \"and if Christ be not the object of it here, I am\nunable to produce a case where worship can be called spiritual and\ndivine.\" Mr. Balfour read and pondered. He had not doubted the\nTrinity, the equality of Christ with the Father. But what is the\nimport of this statement, that the universe is offering spiritual\nworship to Christ? Is this the Professor's meaning? Would he thus avow\nthe truth of Universalism? He becomes anxious on the subject;\naddresses a respectful but earnest letter to the Andover teacher,\nasking an explanation of this statement; awaits patiently an answer,\nbut none comes. Writes again and again, still receiving no reply.\nAfter nearly a year and a half, his last appeal is made. An equivocal\nanswer came, expressing unwillingness to reply to anonymous newspaper\nwriters! Frivolous pretension, and in discreditable contrast with the\nhonesty and sincerity of the inquirer. Bound to oppose Universalism,\nas the creed of the Institution compelled him to, why would not the\nProfessor seek to save this inquirer from its fatal enticements? But\nthe Professor's neglect was the inquirer's opportunity. He continued\nhis inquiries, and the result was his conversion to the Universalist\nfaith, his life interest in it afterwards, and the writing of volumes\nin its defence, which aided in disseminating a knowledge of it widely\nthroughout the land. Thus Andover inadvertently, through the\nunwillingness of this its teacher to save the honest inquirer from\nerror, gave to the Universalist Church one of its ablest, most\ndevoted, and worthy ministers and defenders. That is a part of its\nhistory henceforth.\n\n\nA minister of marked character, and of much service to the\nUniversalist Church, was Rev. JOHN BISBE. He was a Massachusetts man,\nand graduated at Brown University, in 1814. He was a student of law\nfor a short time in Taunton, and while employed as a teacher in New\nHampshire, became acquainted with Universalism, and subsequently a\npreacher of it. His reading was extensive, and his knowledge of the\nEnglish language quite thorough. In ordinary conversation he expressed\nhimself with a striking precision. He preached first in Connecticut\nand Western Massachusetts, and was settled in Hartford, Conn., from\n1824 to 1827, when he became pastor of the Universalist Church in\nPortland, Me. He was an impressive preacher, with no attempt at the\nsensational. His personal appearance was notable: a thin man, of\nstiff, perpendicular carriage and measured walk; with light hair, pale\nface, and very dark eyes, almost a glittering black. The distinguished\nliterary author, John Neal, said of him:--\n\n  \"I have heard Mr. Bisbe repeatedly, and the more I hear him the\n  better I like him. He is fervid, free, and powerful, uses lofty and\n  generous language, and where he fails to reason, it would appear to\n  be not so much from a want of metaphysical power as from a habit of\n  disregarding it. From his appearance you would not expect much; but,\n  notwithstanding this, he is decidedly the most eloquent preacher in\n  our part of the country. He is, moreover, a man of exceedingly happy\n  erudition.\"\n\nThe editor of the \"Eastern Argus\" wrote of him as:--\n\n  \"A distinguished and talented preacher, of transcendent powers of\n  mind and eloquence in the pulpit; eloquence that moved and burned as\n  he breathed it, and that sunk deep into the heart through the\n  understanding as well as the passions of his audience.\"\n\nHe took especial interest in the church institution, in the\nBible-class for scriptural exposition, and in all that pertained to\npersonal religious culture and the work of Christian charity. He died\nMarch 1, 1829, aged thirty six. The death scene was indicative of the\nstrength and joy of his faith.\n\nSoon after Rev. Thomas F. King came to Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., he became\nacquainted with Mr. Bisbe. He had a high admiration of the talents and\nworth of the man before they met. Previous to the introduction, Mr.\nKing had been told of the stiffness and precision of Mr. Bisbe in his\nsalutations of others, and was humorously inclined to use a little of\nthe same precision in their first greeting. The effect, to an\nobserver, was amusing in the extreme. But both parties preserved their\ndignity.\n\n\n [Illustration: Thos. Whittemore.\n H. W. Smith.]\n\nAmong the foremost of the advocates of this old and new Gospel in New\nEngland, we may justly name the sturdy and indefatigable THOMAS\nWHITTEMORE. He began earthly life with the present century, Jan. 1,\n1800. He came up from life's humblest walks. His parents educated him\nreligiously in moderate Calvinistic sentiments, but he grew out of\nthem and became sceptical, until his attention was arrested and his\nmind deeply impressed by the preaching of Rev. Hosea Ballou, in\nBoston. An acquaintance with Mr. Ballou turned his attention to the\nministry, and he became a diligent student in preparation for that\ncalling. His first sermon, written upon the bench at intervals between\nhis working hours, was preached in Roxbury, his dress for the occasion\nprovidentially coming in to him, as he was too poor to obtain it\nhimself. His first pastorate was in Milford, his second and longer one\nin Cambridgeport, Mass., in which place he had his home until his\ndeath. His work as editor of the \"Trumpet\" was a long and vigorous\none, and the volumes that came from his pen beside this weekly\nperiodical were of much value to the Christian Church. Historical,\nexegetical, musical, were they, all for the good of the Christian\ncause, in whose interest it was his delight to work. He was a proud\nbanner-bearer of his church. Universalism was to him the Alpha and\nOmega of theology and religion. He saw nothing that could take its\nplace, and held no fellowship with those who were disposed to\ncompromise its claims. His editorial pen was alive with clear\nscriptural expositions, watchful warnings against the religious errors\nof the times, and bold and defiant defences of what he accepted as\nChristian truth. His \"Modern History of Universalism\" is a book of\nrare merit, and his \"Commentary on the Apocalypse\" one of the plainest\nand most sensible ever given to the public, and one which theological\ncritics of the dominant sects have been wary enough to let alone. His\nfour volumes of the life and writings of Rev. Hosea Ballou make out a\nvaluable epitome of the history of Universalism in Massachusetts and\nin other parts of New England, from the beginning to the middle of the\ncentury. He had ready wit, a never-failing flow of spirits, and a\ngenial temperament, which drew to him hosts of friends. His preaching\nwas always popular with the masses,--scriptural, logical, often\nstrikingly illustrated, if occasionally in a homely way, fervent and\ntelling with his congregations. He was a welcome evangelist all over\nNew England. He was a man of rare business qualifications also. He\nrendered much civic service to the State as legislator, and was highly\nefficient as president and director of bank and railroad corporations.\nHe was stricken with paralysis more than a year before his decease,\nand never regained his vigor. He departed this life in 1861, in his\nsixty-second year.[42]\n\nMr. Whittemore is remembered as a controversialist, and with those who\nbeheld him chiefly in this light his other qualities may not have been\nfairly estimated. His very position as a Christian theologian was\naggressive. He came into the field to face what he deemed religious\nerror, and to give it battle, asking only that freedom of thought and\nexpression which Christian faithfulness demands. During his active\nlife, years ago, a ministering brother (Rev. T.\u00a0J. Sawyer, D.\u00a0D.)\nwrote of him:--\n\n  \"Perhaps some may think him wanting in refinement and grace, and\n  others, I know, regard him as at times bolder and plainer than\n  necessary. That he deals severely with some of his opposers is\n  certain, yet, with all his severity, there is a frankness and\n  manliness which challenges the respect even of his enemies. Then it\n  is but just to remember the school in which he has been disciplined.\n  He who has been called to stand at the head of the prominent\n  Universalist press of New England for the last twenty years must\n  have learned ere this to defend himself and his course. It has been\n  no warfare for paper hats and silk gloves. The head needed a helmet\n  of steel, and the hand must know how to grasp the sword and spear.\n  Reflect for one moment on the Batcheldors, the McClures, the Cooks,\n  the Matthew Hale Smiths, with whom Mr. Whittemore has been called to\n  contend, and then tell me if the old soldier has not come out of the\n  fight with charity and kindness worthy of admiration. Paul fought\n  with beasts at Ephesus; Whittemore has been scarcely more fortunate\n  in Boston. Upon the whole, Mr. Whittemore is a man whose life and\n  character deserve high consideration. He is supposed by some to be\n  too much a party man, and to consult with too much exclusiveness the\n  interest of the denomination of which he is so prominent a member.\n  Perhaps it is so, but if this charge is sustained against him, I\n  hope I may be included in the same condemnation.\"[43]\n\nMr. Whittemore's strong traits were: 1. Positiveness of interest in\nthe Christian Gospel. He had a positive faith to promote and defend.\nHe seemed to realize the force of Paul's statements: \"I know whom I\nhave believed.\" \"Therefore we are always confident.\" 2. Fervor. He\nbelieved in Christian earnestness and zeal; was more afraid of frost\nthan of fire in the churches. 3. Industry. This in him was\nindomitable. One of his sayings was, \"Dead fish float with the\ntide,--live ones swim against it.\" He was one of the living ones, who\nstemmed opposition and wrought victories. The grand words of our poet\nFields are illustrative of him,--\n\n  \"Souls that freed from prison bars,\n  Struck the blows themselves have won,\n  Grappling with their evil stars,\n  Stand, like Uriel, in the sun.\"\n\n\nAnother minister of the same ancestral family was Rev. BENJAMIN\nWHITTEMORE, D.\u00a0D., born in Lancaster, Mass., May 30, 1801; died in\nMattapan, Boston, April 26, 1881. He was educated at the academies in\nLancaster and Groton, and became in early life a convert to\nUniversalism, mainly through reading the writings of Rev. Hosea\nBallou. He felt impelled to enter the ministry. He had successful\npastorates in West Scituate, Mass.; Troy, N.\u00a0Y.; South Boston, Mass.;\nand Norwich, Conn. In 1843, he took possession of the old homestead in\nLancaster, where he remained ten years without pastoral charge, but\nworking in various ways for the promotion of the Christian cause. He\nwas instrumental in establishing a Universalist society in Fitchburg,\nMass. In his later years he became blind, but, in spite of this\ninfirmity, he continued to preach occasionally, repeating his hymns\nand Scripture lessons from memory. He was always heartily engaged in\nhis work. As an expositor of the Scriptures he possessed eminent\nability, and in preaching, his logical method and aptness enabled him\nto express his convictions with great force. He was a sturdy defender\nof Christianity against the objections of the doubting and\nunbelieving. He received the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology, of\nTuft's College, in 1867. His wife was Mandana, the third daughter of\nRev. Hosea Ballou. They were united in life for nearly sixty years.\nHis intellect was unclouded to the last, and \"his faith grew brighter\nas his spirit took its flight.\"\n\n\nAn eminent and effective \"defender of the faith\" was Rev. DOLPHUS\nSKINNER, D.\u00a0D., whose death took place in Utica, N.\u00a0Y., in 1869. He\nwas born in Westmoreland, N.\u00a0H., in 1800, and passed his minority in\nlabor on a farm, attendance at a neighboring academy, and keeping\nschool. His theological studies were with Rev. S.\u00a0C. Loveland, of\nReading, Vt., and he entered the ministry in 1823. The most of his\nlife was passed in Utica, N.\u00a0Y., where as preacher and editor he\nproved himself one of the ablest promulgators of the Universalist\nfaith in the land. The \"Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate,\" of\nwhich he was for many years editor, had a large circulation. He was a\nvery popular preacher in Central New York. Of commanding person, with\na voice of great volume and softness, with the readiest use of\nlanguage, he was a favorite with the people. His discourses were\nstrong, doctrinally and practically, and his ministries at funerals\nwere exceedingly satisfactory. During his ministry of forty years, he\npreached over five thousand discourses. He was the author of valuable\nbooks and pamphlets. His letters to Drs. Aiken and Lansing, and his\ndiscussion with Rev. Alexander Campbell, evince much ability. He was a\nChristian reformer. The \"Clinton Liberal Institute\" has been greatly\nindebted to his timely and unwearied exertions for its prosperity. He\nwas a Christian patriot also, and took a lively interest in the\npolitical welfare of his country. The termination of his earthly life\nwas peaceful. \"I am an old soldier,\" said he to his physician, \"and am\nabout to receive my discharge.\" After a night of quiet from his\nprotracted pain, he entered that morning which opens the resurrection\nlife to man.\n\n\nA brother of Dolphus was Rev. WARREN SKINNER, who passed the great\npart of his life in Vermont, and who was well known there, and in most\nof New England, as a talented and useful minister. His personal\nappearance was, like that of his brother, imposing, and his\ndiscoursing, if a little heavy in manner at times, always methodical\nand sound. He was a staunch friend of Universalism, and had great\nfaith in its evangelizing power. During some part of his ministry he\nwas a useful expository writer in the church journals. He did much\nvaluable missionary work, and lived to a ripe old age in full\npossession of his mental powers. He gave a son to the ministry, Rev.\nCharles A. Skinner, now of Somerville, Mass.\n\n\n [Illustration: Otis A. Skinner.\n J. A. J. Wilcox, Boston.]\n\nRev. OTIS A. SKINNER was an honor to the church. His native place was\nRoyalton, Vt., but he came forth as a minister from Langdon, N.\u00a0H., at\nthe early age of nineteen. He was apprenticed to a clothier for a\nwhile before his ministry began. From his first school days he was\nthoughtful and studious, and succeeded in gaining a very good English\neducation, beside giving some attention to the Greek and Latin\nlanguages. He was for some time a student with Rev. S.\u00a0C. Loveland, of\nReading, Vt. The writer first saw him at Kingston, N.\u00a0H., at the\nsession of the Rockingham Association, in 1828. He was just\ntwenty-one, and a most attractive young man to behold, a sweet\nsunshiny glow in his comely countenance, which seemed most agreeably\nset in his golden ringlets of hair. We heard him preach then, at a\nprivate house, to a very good audience in the evening. He stood in\nfront of the old family clock, and gave us a very sensible and\nwell-arranged discourse from the text, \"He that goeth forth and\nweepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with\nrejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him\" (Ps. cxxvi. 6). It was full\nof the plainest Universalism. He was soon settled in Woburn, Mass.,\nwhere he gave a good account of himself, and afterwards in Baltimore,\nMd., where he was united in marriage with Angela, eldest daughter of\nRev. Sebastian Streeter. He had a vigorous ministry in that city,\nincluding a public theological controversy with Rev. Mr. Breckenridge\nof the Presbyterian Church. From Baltimore he came back to\nMassachusetts, and settled in Haverhill, where he edited for a time\nthe \"Gospel Sun,\" as he had edited the \"Southern Pioneer\" in Baltimore.\n\nA new Universalist society having been formed of worshippers in\nBoylston Hall, Boston, he was invited to become its pastor. So\nprosperous was his ministry, that a church edifice was soon erected in\nWarren Street. Here his pulpit services and pastoral work were very\nacceptable. He became a publisher of valuable books, and again the\neditor of a monthly journal, \"The Universalist Miscellany.\" In 1846 he\nbecame pastor of Orchard Street Universalist Church in New York city;\nand in 1848 consented to be agent for raising $100,000 for the new\ncollege (now Tufts) proposed to be erected in Medford, Mass. For seven\nyears he was in this laudable work, giving it his faithful attention\nin addition to his duties as pastor of the Warren Street Church, to\nthe ministry of which he had been invited again most unanimously. No\nman could have been in his \"labors more abundant\" than he in this\ncanvassing for the new college. He solicited everywhere, and\nespecially among those of like faith with himself. Indifference, the\naverted eye or \"cold shoulder,\" chilled not his ardor. He drew, by his\npersuasive words, dollars from pockets that seemed at his first call\nfirmly closed against him. He succeeded in securing the amount needed\nfor the endowment of the college and its necessary expenses,\nsuperintended the erection of the buildings, and at times when the\nmeans could not otherwise be readily obtained, paid the workmen from\nhis quarterly pastor's income. One of the proudest days of his life\nwas that on which the corner-stone of the college was laid. Since\nthen, the institution has prospered; larger endowments have given it\nstrength, faithful teachers have honored it, and its sons have gone\nforth bearing with them the evidences of the scholarship which can be\nsecured to its students. Beautiful for outward situation, a literary\nMount Zion of the Universalist Church in New England, it gives promise\nof yet increasing prosperity. But never will it outgrow its\nindebtedness to its first financial agent, who wrought so\nindefatigably, nobly, and successfully in its behalf.\n\nIn 1857 Mr. Skinner was induced by family considerations to move West.\nAfter residing in Elgin, Kansas County, Ill., for a few months, he was\ninvited and persuaded to become president of Lombard University, at\nGalesburg, Ill. Here again was work for him, as the college needed\nmuch exertion that it might prosper. And he aided it essentially. But\nthe task was too heavy, and after two years' hard service his health\ngave way. The death of his brother Samuel occurring at Chicago, he was\ncalled upon to give attention to his financial affairs. This was an\nadditional burden too great for him to bear, but still his spirit for\na while seemed proof against his bodily weaknesses. He removed to\nJoliet, and took upon him more than two healthful men could perform.\nHe would preach to his own congregation in Joliet on Sunday morning,\nthen ride five miles to Lockport and preach at one o'clock, thence\nnine miles to Plainfield and hold a service at three, and then return\nhome to meet a crowd of listeners in his own church in the evening.\nThis, added to his missionary work in the adjoining country towns,\nincluding funeral services on other days of the week, together with\nhis business perplexities in the settlement of his brother's estate,\nproved too much for him. The end of this useful earthly life was near;\nfever set in, and did its work rapidly. It was the Christian\nbeliever's death scene. His faith was strong, his hope bright, his\nface and thought were turned heavenward. The last interview with a\nbeloved daughter was inexpressibly touching,--her heroic self-control\nand his calm, heavenly resignation. His departure was the Christian\nsaint's triumph. It occurred Sept. 18, 1861.\n\nThere was nothing of the flashy or sensational in the ministry of Mr.\nSkinner. He was a plain, logical, practical preacher, \"in doctrine\nshowing uncorruptness,\" an able expounder of the Scriptures, and a\nfaithful looker-up of religious error. His strictures on the\nrevivalism of Rev. Mr. Knapp in Boston, and his review of Rev.\nTheodore Parker's theology, in the \"Universalist Miscellany,\" were\ngood evidences of his fidelity to the New Testament Gospel and the\nintent of its work with mankind. As a pastor he was not to be\nexcelled. He knew his flocks at their homes, and personal attachments\nto him as a friend, adviser, and companion were very strong. He was in\nthis calling one of the models. He received the degree of A.\u00a0M. from\nHarvard University, and that of D.\u00a0D. from Lombard.\n\n\nOf his brother Samuel P. we may say that he was a man of more than\nordinary endowments. He was for a time in the ministry, and preached\nsome in New England. He afterwards became editor of the \"New\nCovenant,\" in Chicago. He was a quiet and sensible preacher, and\nexcelled as a writer of clear, compact, and well-arranged expositions\nof Scripture, many of which enriched the columns of his paper.\n\n\nRev. JOSEPH OBERLIN SKINNER was of Piermont, N.\u00a0H., born there in\n1816. He came into the ministry through much hard study and striving.\nTrained in the old theology of New England, he became a believer in\nUniversalism by being first awakened to a consideration of its\ndoctrines by the preaching of Rev. John Moore. In 1834 he went to\nLowell, Mass., and was for a time employed in a cotton-mill. He was\nencouraged by Rev. T.\u00a0B. Thayer, then pastor of the First Universalist\nChurch in that city, to enter the ministry, and was afterwards a\nstudent of theology in the family of Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, of Malden,\nMass. He was minister in Holliston, Framingham, Dudley, and Concord,\nMass.; in Ludlow and Chester, Vt.; in Nashua, N.\u00a0H.; in Malone, N.\u00a0Y.;\nin Montpelier and St. Albans, Vt.; and in Waterville, Me., where he\ndied of paralysis, in 1879. He was for a time associate editor of the\n\"Christian Repository,\" published at Montpelier, Vt. His labors were\nmany and successful. His literary accomplishments were of a high\norder, and he was a faithful and impressive preacher. At the last of\nlife he was confined to his bed for more than eleven months, helpless,\nbut in quiet resignation to the Divine will. When asked if the faith\nwith which he had comforted others was sufficient for himself in this\ngreat trial, he answered in the affirmative, adding, \"I do not want\nany _new_ revelation; I am satisfied with what we now have.\" He was a\nfrequent contributor to the denominational and secular papers, wrote\nmany articles for the \"Universalist Quarterly,\" and prepared a history\nof the Masonic lodge of Waterville, which was very highly appreciated\nby the members of that order. He was for many years the accurate and\nable editor of the yearly \"Universalist Register.\" In recognition of\nhis scholarly attainments, Colby University, in 1872, conferred upon\nhim the honorary degree of A.\u00a0M.\n\n\nNATHANIEL STACY, born in New Salem, Franklin County, Mass., came to\nmanhood at the close of the last century, and, after hard toiling in\nearly life, with but small educational advantages, he concluded from\nsincere convictions of duty to become a preacher of the faith which he\nhad embraced in early life. He was small and feeble bodily, but of\nsanguine temperament and great firmness and persistence of will. He\nwas encouraged by Rev. Hosea Ballou to leave a secular avocation and\nprepare himself for the ministry. His first sermon was preached with\nmuch diffidence on his part, but he was encouraged to persevere in his\nefforts, and soon came to be a very acceptable speaker wherever he\nappeared as an advocate of his faith. He itinerated much in\nMassachusetts and Vermont, and afterwards much more in the Middle and\nWestern States. No preacher of the Gospel was ever more engrossed in\nhis work than he. All the vicissitudes of an itinerant's life were his\nfor many years. Yet his ardor never waned, and his hopefulness helped\nhim to meet all discouragements and surmount all obstacles. He was a\nveritable Christian apostle, and was welcomed everywhere by young and\nold wherever he came as a messenger to the churches. Many remember his\nministry with deepest satisfaction, and his name stands high in the\nchurch as one of the most truthful and devoted of its evangelists. His\nautobiography was published in quite a large volume, in Columbus, Pa.,\nin 1850. It is full of interesting incidents and apt and able\nexpositions of the faith of the Gospel. Mr. Stacy departed this life\nat Columbus, Pa., April 4, 1869.\n\n\nRev. STEPHEN R. SMITH. Of this eloquent and honored minister, his\nbiographer, Dr. T.\u00a0J. Sawyer, writes:--\n\n  \"Few men have risen to a higher position in the denomination of\n  Universalists, exerted a wider influence, or wrought out a brighter\n  or more enviable fame. He was born and educated in the humblest\n  circumstances. Being early led by the force of his own convictions\n  to embrace an unpopular faith, he soon found himself impelled by a\n  stern sense of duty to consecrate his life to its promulgation and\n  defence. His health, never the firmest, was soon shattered by\n  incessant application to study and the hardships endured in the\n  early planting of Universalism in Central and Western New York, so\n  that a large part of his life was spent and his work done under this\n  great disadvantage. But the soul that burned within him was superior\n  to bodily infirmity, and flashed and blazed forth from a frame so\n  attenuated and slender that even those most familiar with him were\n  astonished by the vigor and sweep of his transcendent intellect, the\n  youthful play of his fancy, and the strokes of his wit. Nor was his\n  moral character inferior to his intellectual endowments. Seldom does\n  one meet with a warmer heart or a sterner integrity than\n  distinguished him.\"[44]\n\nHis pastorates were in New Hartford, Clinton, Albany, and Buffalo,\nN.\u00a0Y., and Philadelphia, Pa. He was born in Albany, in 1788, and died\nin Buffalo, in 1850, aged sixty-one. It was truly said of him at his\ndeath, \"But one individual in the denomination can expect higher or\nmore heartfelt tributes of love and reverence.\" His eloquence in the\npulpit was often compared with that of Henry Clay in the halls of\nCongress. It was the delight of the writer to hear him three times at\nmeetings of the United States Convention, the last in Boston in the\nSchool Street Church, from the text, \"And I, if I be lifted up from\nthe earth, will draw all men unto me.\" The discourse was radiant with\nthe truth, and electrifying with the spirit and power of the Gospel.\n\n\n [Illustration: Sylvanus Cobb.\n J. A. J. Wilcox, Boston.]\n\nA sturdy theologian, as well as a conscientious Christian was that\nstalwart man from one of the villages of Maine, the Rev. SYLVANUS\nCOBB. The title \"D.\u00a0D.,\" when conferred upon him, was significant. He\nwas an able theologian. His words in discourse were weighty, his\nsentences often as ponderous as those of Dr. Johnson, and if called to\ncontroversial work, Longfellow's \"Village Blacksmith\" was an\nillustration of him:--\n\n  \"You could hear him swing his heavy sledge\n  With measured beat and slow.\"\n\nIf warmed up in exhortation or appeal, he was grandly fervent. He\nnever evaded the toughest theological problem proposed to him for\nconsideration, but seemed always in readiness to attempt a solution of\nit. His \"Compend of Divinity\" is an elaborate work, his \"Commentary on\nthe New Testament\" an excellent helper in the family and\nSunday-school, and his discussions with Dr. Nehemiah Adams and Rev.\nC.\u00a0F. Hudson, involving the questions respecting endless punishment\nand the annihilation of the wicked, are highly creditable to him as a\nChristian theologian. As editor of the \"Christian Freeman\" for\ntwenty-five years, and as a temperance and anti-slavery reformer, he\nwaged a good warfare for the right. He was pastor in Waterville, Me.,\nand in Malden, Waltham, and East Boston, Mass.\n\nDuring the three years of his service as a lecturing agent of the\nMiddlesex County Temperance Society, he was entertained more or less\nat the houses of clergymen. On one occasion, in Dracut, at the house\nof a Presbyterian minister, he was thus questioned by his friend: \"I\nhave been thinking, my dear sir, about your doctrine, and it seems to\nme, even if it is true, it is hardly expedient to preach it, for all\nmen will finally be saved, whether it be preached or not. But if it\nshould prove to be an error, the consequences of believing it will be\nterrible.\" \"You have reasoned erroneously,\" replied Mr. Cobb, \"from\nhaving assumed that my doctrine exerts not so good a moral influence\nas yours. Here is your mistake: you believe that we are here forming\ncharacters for eternity, and that we carry with us into the future\nlife and retain there the moral dispositions and affections which we\ncultivate in this life. Now if this doctrine of yours proves true, I\nshall be an eternal gainer from the faith I cherish here, because it\nproduces supreme love to God, sweet reconciliation to his government,\nand a cheerful, happy state of mind. I would greatly prefer to bear\nthrough eternity the mind and character formed by my religion, than\nsuch as yours must naturally produce. Yet I am not expecting the\nheaven of eternity as a reward. I am more than paid for loving and\nserving God here; I feel that I am God's poor debtor; and I trust in\nhis grace forever.\" \"I was not expecting such an answer as that,\" was\nthe sole reply of the questioner.\n\nMr. C. departed this life in East Boston in December, 1866.\n\n\nIn 1827 Rev. MENZIES RAYNER entered the Universalist ministry from the\nEpiscopalian church. He was born at South Hempstead, L.\u00a0I., Nov. 23,\n1770. His advantages for learning were principally derived from\nprivate instruction. He showed early signs of superior abilities. When\nvery young he became a convert to Methodism, and before the age of\ntwenty-one commenced preaching as an itinerant. He was ordained at\nLynn, Mass., by Bishop Asbury. He continued to itinerate according to\nthe rules of the Methodist Church for more than two years, when he\nreceived and accepted an invitation to settle with the Protestant\nEpiscopal Church in Elizabethtown, N.\u00a0J., where he was ordained as a\nminister in that church by the Right Rev. Bishop Provost of New York.\nAfter a pastorate of six years in that place, he accepted a call to\nthe rectorship of the Episcopal Church in Hartford, Conn., where he\ncontinued ten years. He next removed to Huntington, Conn., and took a\njoint rectorship of that town and New Hartford (now Munroe). He\nremained there sixteen years, when from close and prayerful inquiry\nand study of the Scriptures he became convinced of the truth of the\ndoctrine of Universal Salvation. He asked and obtained an honorable\ndismissal from Bishop Brownell of that diocese. Through all his\nsubsequent life he continued to enjoy the respect and esteem of\nseveral distinguished clergymen of that church. So much Bishop\nBrownell pledged to him at the time of his withdrawal.\n\nSoon after becoming known as a Universalist, he was called to the\npastorate of the church in Hartford left vacant by the removal of Rev.\nJohn Bisbe to Portland, Me. He continued in Hartford four years, when\nhe was earnestly solicited to remove to Portland and take charge of\nthe society there left without a pastor by the death of Mr. Bisbe. He\naccepted the call, and remained there four years, excepting one\nwinter, which he spent in North Carolina, where, and in intermediate\nplaces, he preached the Gospel. Afterwards he had pastorates in Troy\nand Lansingburg, N.\u00a0Y., and preached in Schenectady, Fort Ann,\nHartford, and other places. For a year and a half he ministered to the\nBleecker St. Universalist Society in New York city. He resided in that\ncity until his death, which occurred Nov. 22, 1850. He retained his\nmental vigor until a few days before his departure at the age of\neighty.\n\n\"Father Rayner,\" as he was familiarly called, was a remarkable man.\nHis mental powers were of a high order, his social qualities made him\nalways attractive, his wit was keen, but he had great tenderness and\ndepth of feeling. His appearance in the pulpit was venerable and\napostolic, and his preaching clear, powerful, and convincing. He gave\nto the world some printed works, which exhibit the clear and logical\ncharacter of his mind. While at Huntington, he published a review of a\nsermon on Regeneration, by Dr. Taylor, of New Haven, and another of a\nsermon by Dr. Tyler, of Southbury, on the \"Perseverance of the\nSaints.\" This was replied to by Dr. Tyler, who was again reviewed in a\npamphlet of sixty pages, which closed the controversy. While at\nHartford, he edited a paper called the \"Inquirer,\" and at Portland the\n\"Christian Pilot.\" While at the latter place, he delivered \"Nine\nLectures on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.\" He also\npublished a review of a missionary sermon by Dr. Tyler, and a sermon\nentitled \"St. Paul a Universalist.\"\n\nWhile Mr. Rayner was with the Episcopalians, frequent theological\ndiscussions took place in the ministerial circles. On one occasion,\namong other questions considered, Mr. Rayner proposed this: \"Has every\nhuman being a just reason to be thankful for the gift of existence?\"\nHe cautioned all who would answer it directly, \"Yes\" or \"No,\" to\nconsider very carefully before giving the answer, because of one other\nquestion which might follow. But all present were agreed in the\ndecision that every man had just cause for thanksgiving for the life\nconferred upon him. \"Now,\" said Mr. Rayner, \"answer me this: If any of\nthe human race are to be doomed to unending misery, have such ones any\ncause for such thankfulness?\" \"Why, Brother Rayner, you are a\nUniversalist,\" said one of the ministers. \"But that has nothing to do\nwith the question,\" was the response; \"you are all agreed, I see, in\nyour answer.\"\n\n[37] A new edition of this valuable work, with an Introduction by Rev.\nDr. Miner, Mr. Ballou's successor in the Boston pastorate, has just been\nissued by the Universalist Publishing House in this city. It ought to\nhave a new and a larger circulation than ever. The writer owes his\nconversion to Universalism, by divine grace, to the reading of this book.\n\n[38] Account by Rev. A.\u00a0B. Grosh.\n\n[39] \"Universalist Quarterly\" for April and July, 1871.\n\n[40] Rev. A.\u00a0C. Thomas.\n\n[41] Rev. A.\u00a0J. Patterson, D.\u00a0D.\n\n[42] For a more particular account of Dr. Whittemore, the reader is\nreferred to his Memoir, by the author of this work. Universalist Publishing\nHouse, 1878.\n\n[43] \"Universalist Miscellany,\" Vol. VI., p. 290.\n\n[44] Memoir of Rev. Stephen R. Smith. By Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer,\nD.\u00a0D. Boston: Published by Abel Tompkins, 1852.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  \"Go forth, all hands! God's fallow lands\n    Need ploughmen, seedmen, reapers!\n  Plough deep and long; uproot old Wrong;\n    Turn Sin, turn Slaveries under;\n  Sow Wisdom, Lowliness, Freedom, Holiness,\n    And reap in joy and wonder!\"\n\n  REV. D.\u00a0K. LEE, D.\u00a0D.\n\n\nRev. Thomas F. King was a minister of rare qualities. He came up from\nthe humble walks of life, and by hard study and the improvement of\nevery opportunity for mental culture, became a scholar of excellent\nacquirements. He was an enthusiastic believer in the Gospel, and one\nof its most eloquent preachers and defenders. He was especially\nacquainted with the evidences of natural and revealed religion, and\nwell prepared to present them for the consideration of sceptical\nminds. His voice was rich, deep, and musical, and as a reader he could\nhardly be excelled. This, aside from their intrinsic merits, made his\ndiscourses strongly impressive. An instance is cited of a disaffected\nhearer who had concluded not to attend his meetings any more, finding\nhimself at the door of the church one morning, after the service had\nopened, in expectation of hearing a stranger preach. Mr. King was\nthere, reading the Scriptures,--the invitation in Isaiah's prophecies,\n\"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,\" &c. The hearer\nstood still, listened, attempted to leave, and was held fast. Again he\nstarted, but the words reached him, \"Incline your ear, and come unto\nme; hear, and your soul shall live!\" Further resistance was useless.\nHis place in the sanctuary was taken again, and held afterwards while\nhe lived. Mr. King had a large, warm, sympathetic heart, and made the\njoys and sorrows of his people his own. He was the life of the social\ncircle, and his fund of anecdote and good humor usually insured him a\nwarm reception everywhere. He had an unusually rich bass voice in\nsinging. His pulpit services were pervaded with a profound reverential\nspirit. He was pastor in Hudson, N.\u00a0Y., Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., and\nCharlestown, Mass., in which last-named place he departed this life,\nSept. 13, 1839. His death was a Christian's triumph.\n\n\nOf his eminent son, THOMAS STARR KING, what can we say that\nmost readers do not already know? and yet the man and his life will\nalways bear noting and will never fail to be admired. He was born in\nthe city of New York, Dec. 17, 1824. He early manifested singular\naptitude for study and deep conscientiousness. His education was\ndesultory, but with his quickness of apprehension he acquired Latin\nand French at an early age. At fifteen, on the death of his father, he\nbecame the head of the family, and worked for their support as a clerk\nand school-teacher. In the mean time he was an untiring student of\nmetaphysics and theology. One of his historians, Mr. E.\u00a0P. Whipple,\nwrites of him:--\n\n  \"He mastered the results of the great German and French critics of\n  the Bible. To many of our present young students exegesis\n  practically means _exit Jesus_; but King, in all his eager quest of\n  truth, and dutiful acknowledgment of the service which the great\n  German theologians had rendered to the rational interpretation of\n  the Scriptures, never lost his original hold on Christ Jesus as the\n  express image of God,--as the Son who reveals to us the Father,--as\n  the ideal embodiment of a perfected Humanity. Such a person had a\n  natural call to the ministry.\"\n\nHis first sermon was preached in Woburn, in the autumn of 1845. In the\nsummer of the next year he was invited to the pastorate of the\nUniversalist Church in Charlestown, then made vacant by the removal of\nthe Rev. E.\u00a0H. Chapin to Boston. He accepted the call, and enjoyed a\nbusy and happy ministry there, until his urgent call to become the\nminister of the Hollis Street (Unitarian) Church in Boston. The first\ninvitation he declined, and made a voyage to Fayal to recruit his\nhealth which had been impaired by his incessant labors. The invitation\nwas renewed on his return home, and he was installed in his new place\nin December, 1848. This course on his part was not agreeable to many\nof his Universalist friends, but they had no doubt that it was\nconscientiously taken by him, and most of them always retained their\ngood will and heart-fellowship for him. They knew that his work would\nbe mainly in the right direction always; and they were not disappointed.\nAs a public literary lecturer, he was among the foremost in the land.\n\nIn April, 1860, Mr. King took charge of the Unitarian Church in San\nFrancisco, Cal. He saw a field there which he deemed it an opportunity\nto occupy, both as a Christian minister and an American patriot. He\nentered with his whole soul into the defence of the national cause and\nin opposition to the traitorous intent of the secession conspirators.\nIn the pulpit and on the platform he vindicated the national honor and\npleaded for the maintenance of the national Union. As his biographer,\nMr. Whipple, writes: \"As far as regards the keeping of California\nloyal to the Union during the civil war, he ranks at least in the\nfirst file of its eminent citizens. His reputation was not confined to\nthe Pacific coast, but extended over the whole country.\"[45] He\nliterally wore out his life in this great and glorious field of\nexertion. Diphtheria came finally, and he passed into the higher life,\nMarch 4, 1865. His words at the last were: \"I feel all the privileges\nand greatness of the future.\"\n\n\nOne of our ablest theologians and most devoted ministers was Rev. ABEL\nCHARLES THOMAS, born in Exeter, Berks Co., Pa., July 11, 1807. He was\nof Quaker lineage, his grandfather Abel having been a distinguished\npreacher of the Society of Friends during fifty-six years. It was of\nRev. A.\u00a0B. Grosh, then of Marietta, Pa., that he received his first\nknowledge of Universalism. In 1827 he went to Philadelphia as a\nprinter, and was there encouraged by resident ministers, Rev. S.\u00a0R.\nSmith, and Rev. T. Fisk, to enter the ministry. He preached his first\nsermon in the Lombard St. Church in November, 1828. In the following\nJanuary he became publisher and co-editor with Mr. Fisk of the \"Gospel\nHerald and Universalist Review\" in New York city, writing editorials,\nputting them in type, conducting the correspondence, and as he says,\n\"writing his sermons on a pine board by night,\" for he had begun his\nministerial labors April 5, 1829, preaching in a small frame\nmeeting-house on Grand St. In less than a year from the delivery of\nhis first sermon, he responded to a cordial invitation to become\npastor of the Lombard St. Church, Philadelphia, which connection\ncontinued with mutual interest of pastor and people for ten years. In\n1834 and 1835 a discussion took place between Mr. Thomas and Rev. Ezra\nStiles Ely, D.\u00a0D., which was afterwards issued in book form, and has\nprobably been more widely circulated and had a more permanent interest\nand usefulness than any other theological discussion in our country.\nIt gave to Mr. Thomas a fame which will always be connected with his\nmemory. Visiting New England after the discussion had closed, he\nreceived a most cordial and enthusiastic welcome, and preached in many\nplaces to large and deeply interested congregations.\n\nMr. Thomas removed to Lowell in the autumn of 1839, and took charge of\nthe Second Church. Here he and his co-laborer, Rev. T.\u00a0B. Thayer,\nstarted the \"Star of Bethlehem,\" a vigorous weekly publication in\nsupport of the Universalist faith. While living here, he established\nthe \"Lowell Offering,\" a new movement for that time, and which\nelicited much interest in this country and in England. After three\nyears' active and efficient work in Lowell, and after a few months'\ntravel for his health, he went to Brooklyn, N.\u00a0Y., where he organized\na society and was one of eight men who built the first Universalist\nchurch in that city. From Brooklyn he went to Cincinnati, O., in 1844;\nbut declining health and overwork obliged him to resign his charge in\n1847. After a year's rest he returned to his old parish in\nPhiladelphia. Twelve years later he was induced to go out as a\nmissionary of Universalism to England and Scotland; the required funds\nwere promptly raised, and accompanied by his family, in May, 1852, he\nsailed for England. His time was spent chiefly in London and\nEdinburgh, though he preached in all the principal cities of the\nUnited Kingdom, and made careful investigation of the religious aspect\nof affairs there. At the close of a year's labor he was joined in\nLondon by his co-worker in Lowell, Rev. T.\u00a0B. Thayer, and wife, and\nfor six months they travelled together on the Continent. He then\nreturned to Philadelphia, and resumed his labor there.\n\nDuring the late war, with its manifold excitements and fatigues, the\nvisiting and caring for the sick and wounded in the hospitals, and his\nactive interest in assisting the soldiers constantly passing to and\nfro, made serious inroads on his long-enfeebled frame, so that he was\nobliged to resign his charge in 1863. He removed to Hightstown, N.\u00a0J.,\nwhere he preached two years, one sermon a Sunday, as a labor of love.\nHe then spent two years in Bridgeport, Conn., preaching in Danbury and\nother places as his strength permitted. In the spring of 1867 he\npurchased a farm at Tacony, Philadelphia, which was thenceforth his\nhome.\n\nMr. Thomas was the author of several volumes besides the \"Ely and\nThomas Discussion;\" his \"Autobiography,\" \"The Gospel Liturgy,\" \"The\nSongs of Zion,\" \"A Century of Universalism,\" &c. He wrote also some\nvery useful and popular tracts,--among them \"213 Questions without\nAnswers,\" which has had a wider reading and attracted more attention\nthan any other tract ever issued from our press. It has had a\ncirculation of at least a million copies. The questions are strong,\nawakening, and searching.\n\nRev. T.\u00a0B. Thayer, D.\u00a0D., makes this brief but truthful statement of\nthe character of Mr. Thomas:--\n\n  \"As a teacher, he was a man of wonderful gifts. His sermons were\n  largely doctrinal, expository, and defensive, as the position of our\n  church at the time he began preaching demanded. He was clear, terse\n  and logical, and original in the statement and discussion of his\n  subject, with just enough of quaint Quaker phrase to give it spice,\n  yet alive with the beauty and the glow of the poet's vision and\n  illustration; and sometimes, when a sudden burst of feeling and\n  inspiration came upon him, he rose to the highest demands of\n  oratory, his eloquence became electric, and, like a full-charged\n  battery, thrilled the entire congregation, until every heart beat\n  with the pulses of his own faith and fervor. As a controversialist,\n  he had few equals. His discussion with Dr. Ely, as an exhibition of\n  the Universalist argument, was, and still is, the best and most\n  persuasive work of the kind in our denominational history, and\n  admirably displays the skill, logic, fairness and manly courtesy of\n  Mr. Thomas as a debater. As a Christian gentleman, he was\n  distinguished for the grace and courtesy of his manners, for his\n  thoughtful kindness towards all, for his remarkable conversational\n  gifts, and for the personal magnetism by which he attracted to\n  himself all with whom he came in contact, young and old, strangers\n  and friends alike.\"\n\nFor the last three years of his life he was confined to his home, and\nquietly passed on in full assurance of the immortal life, Sept. 27,\n1880. Mr. Thomas was married Feb. 14, 1843, to Miss M. Louise Palmer,\nof Pottsville, Pa., who survives him, and is one of the active and\nefficient \"women workers\" of our church.\n\n\nContemporary with Mr. Thomas during his ministry in Philadelphia was\nRev. SAVILLION W. FULLER, who became pastor of the Callowhill Street\nUniversalist Church in that city in 1833. We are indebted to Mr.\nThomas, who, in his \"Autobiography,\" has given us a truthful though\nbrief account of the worthy man:--\n\n  \"His mind was comprehensive. His power of analysis was displayed\n  alike in sermonizing and conversation. His perception was quick, his\n  reflection rigid, and his stern conscience denounced what logic\n  condemned. As a public speaker he was unequal. Sometimes he was\n  tame, at others mightily stirring by forcible thought embodied in\n  unusually glowing language. The average placed him in a high rank\n  among the eloquent men of the age. In every respect of social\n  nobility I never knew his superior.\n\n  'He bore through suffering, toil, and ruth,\n  Within his heart the dew of youth,\n  And on his lip the smile of truth.'\n\n  He carried sunshine into all circles of the young and the old, the\n  literary and the religious. Even the house of mourning seemed\n  radiant in his visitations of loving trust. His keen wit was without\n  asperity, and his ardent zeal was uniformly tempered by charity. His\n  beaming face was a true index of the inner man.\"\n\nHe united with Mr. Thomas in a letter to four distinguished clergymen\nof Philadelphia, inviting them to lecture in the Universalist churches\nin that city on points of doctrinal difference between the parties.\nThe result of the invitation was, finally, the Ely and Thomas\ndiscussion.\n\nAn instance in illustration of Mr. Fuller's aptness in emergencies is\ngiven in the \"Companion and Register\" of 1858. Entering the\nstage-coach for Utica one day, he found it full of passengers, among\nwhom was a somewhat noted \"revivalist\" of that time, and his friend, a\ndeacon. Mr. Fuller soon became disgusted with the coarse, brow-beating\ndogmatism of the revivalist toward the unassuming passengers, and took\nup the argument against him. Enraged at being foiled in controversy\nand overmatched in wit, the elder poured out a torrent of abusive\nlanguage, when Mr. Fuller arrested his vulgar tirade by saying in a\ndignified and authoritative tone, \"Stop, sir! Not another word from\nyour lips! Why, sir, you are making a mere blackguard of yourself. Not\nanother word, sir!\" (arresting the reply before it could be\ncommenced). \"Not another word, I tell you! Why, you have already\ndisgraced yourself and your profession, and, if allowed to continue,\nwould disgrace the company you are in and the very horses that draw\nyou along!\" The mortified man shrunk into his corner, cowed by an\nimperiousness as much excelling his own in energy and power as it\ntowered above him in dignity and truth.\n\nBut his deacon was determined not to be put down thus, and spoke up\nwith much spirit, \"Sir, this is a free country, and others have a\nright to speak as well as yourself.\" \"Most certainly, my dear sir,\"\nsaid Mr. Fuller, with one of his beaming looks and in his blandest\ntones, \"most certainly, sir; and I hope you will _exercise_ your\nright.\" \"Yes, sir; and I _mean_ to exercise it, sir; I'll let you\nknow, sir, that I shall speak as much as I please, sir,\" said the now\nenraged deacon. \"That's right,\" replied the very courteous Fuller,\n\"speak on, my dear sir; we wish to hear _you_ speak.\" \"Yes, sir,\"\ncontinued the choking deacon, \"and I'll let you know that you can't\nshut _my_ mouth, sir.\" \"Oh, no, sir,--Heaven forbid that I should\nattempt it--I want _you_ to speak--so, speak on, sir--we like to hear\nyou.\" \"Yes, sir, and I won't ask your permission, neither! I'll let\nyou know, sir, that _you_ are not my keeper, sir!\" said the deacon,\nnow almost bursting with rage. \"Certainly not, sir,\" was the very\nquiet but smiling reply, \"certainly not, sir,--I am a _pastor_, _not_\na keeper of _swine_.\" A prolonged, hearty laugh from the passengers\nfinally died away, and \"there was a great calm.\" The deacon reclined\nin sullen silence, and the remainder of the journey was enlivened by\npleasant and profitable conversation between Mr. Fuller and the other\npassengers.\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM ALLEN DREW, most of whose life was passed in Maine, was\nborn in Kingston, Mass., Dec. 11, 1798. He fitted for college in early\nlife, but adverse circumstances compelled him to abandon his studies\nand go to Bath, Me., in 1813, where he was employed as a clerk for two\nyears. He then spent four years at work on a farm in Hallowell. In\n1819 he accepted an invitation to take charge of Farmington Academy,\nand remained in that position five years. He preached his first sermon\nin Farmington, Oct. 1, 1821, and was fellowshipped the same year. He\nremained in Farmington as teacher and preacher until 1824, when he\nbegan preaching in Belfast, and removed there Jan. 1, 1825. He\nremained there two years, preaching also in Camden, in Thomaston, and\nin other towns in the vicinity. In December, 1825, he began the\npublication of a religious paper called \"The Christian Visitant,\"\nwhich was afterwards merged in \"The Christian Intelligencer,\"\npublished at Portland by Rev. Russell Streeter, and Mr. Drew was\nassociated with him in the editorial work. In January, 1827, he\nremoved to Augusta, in which place he had his home during the\nremainder of his life. The \"Intelligencer\" was removed to Gardiner at\nthe same time, and he became its sole editor. From 1831 to 1833 he\npublished \"The Christian Preacher,\" a monthly journal of sermons. He\nestablished the \"Gospel Banner\" in 1835, and edited it with marked\nability until 1857. After his connection ceased with the \"Banner,\" he\nwas editor of the \"Rural Intelligencer\" for a few years, and was at\ndifferent times connected with the \"Maine Cultivator,\" the \"Augusta\nCourier,\" and perhaps some other papers. He was a contributor to the\n\"Gospel Banner\" even after the burden of years and infirmities pressed\nheavily upon him. He was eminently fitted for the editorship of a\npublic journal.\n\nMr. Drew organized the First Universalist Church in Augusta in 1833.\nHe was ordained its pastor when the meeting-house was dedicated, Nov.\n26, 1835, preached to it constantly, and performed pastoral labors\nuntil 1848. Rev. Dr. Quinby, who published a biographical sketch of\nhim after his decease, writes:--\n\n  \"As a writer and editor he had few equals. His pen was ever ready,\n  he never tired. Many of his productions bore the marks of great\n  research and deep thought, though evidently written in the midst of\n  a pressure of other occupations. His theology was plain and\n  straightforward. All could understand him. His descriptions of\n  scenes and places were vivid, natural, and generally true to the\n  life. He had many admirers as a controversialist. Possessing a wide\n  range of thought, good knowledge of the Bible, a well-balanced and\n  discerning intellect, a ready wit, and naturally exceedingly\n  sarcastic, he was a stalwart defender of Universalism in Maine, and\n  proved himself competent to any emergency.\"\n\n\nRev. ISAAC DOWD WILLIAMSON was one of the ablest advocates of the\nUniversalist faith. He was born in Pomfret, Vt., April 4, 1807, and\ndied in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1876. In early life he learned the\nclothier's trade, and had no other schooling than that of the common\ndistrict school; but his ardent thirst for knowledge, his force of\ncharacter and enthusiasm made amends for lack of external aid. He was\ntroubled with many doubts in his thoughts about religion until, at\nabout the age of fifteen, Ballou's \"Treatise on the Atonement\" was put\ninto his hands. He read it with avidity, and was greatly enlightened\nand encouraged. He had hitherto thought that all sorrow and suffering\nwere inflicted by God in anger upon his children for their sins. The\nfirst sermon from a Universalist to which he listened was delivered by\nRev. Kittredge Haven, from the text, \"Whom the Lord loveth, he\nchasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth\" (Heb. xii. 6).\nIt lifted him out of his doubts and sent him away rejoicing. He went\ninto a solitary place and wept for joy, and upon his knees vowed that\nif God would spare his life, and he could ever be qualified, he would\nenter upon the work of the ministry, a purpose which he followed out\nmost faithfully. He preached his first sermon Oct. 1, 1827, in\nSpringfield, Vt. After supplying the pulpit a short time in Langdon,\nN.\u00a0H., he settled in 1828 in Jaffrey, N.\u00a0H., and was ordained by the\nFranklin Association, at Townsend, Vt., Sept. 10, 1829. In June of the\nsame year he removed to Albany, N.\u00a0Y., where he lived seven years.\nFrom 1837 to 1851 he resided as pastor in Poughkeepsie a year and a\nhalf, in Baltimore two years, in New York city three, in Philadelphia\nthree, in Mobile two winters, in Memphis, Ky., in Lowell, Mass., one\nyear. From Lowell he removed to Louisville, Ky., remaining there two\nyears, from there to Philadelphia, where he spent three years, which\nwas his last regular pastorate, although he supplied in Cincinnati\nafter his return from Philadelphia. He was with Rev. C.\u00a0F. Lefevre,\neditor of the \"Gospel Anchor\" at Troy, N.\u00a0Y., about 1830, a paper\nafterwards merged in the \"Religious Inquirer,\" published at Hartford,\nConn., Mr. Williamson continuing to edit it. He was one of the editors\nof the \"Herald and Era,\" published at Louisville, Ky., and was for\nabout ten years connected with the \"Star in the West\" as joint\nproprietor and editor, though for several of his last years performing\nno editorial labor.\n\nDr. Williamson, through most of his life, was afflicted with asthma in\nits severest form, but his vigorous will enabled him, in spite of it,\nto perform much labor. He delivered nearly 4,000 sermons, published\nnine volumes, beside many pamphlets, and for forty years was connected\nwith our periodicals. He once crossed the Atlantic, and preached the\nGospel of Impartial Grace in Great Britain. He took seven voyages of\n2,000 miles coastwise by sea on the same errand. In his voyage to\nEurope, one of his fellow passengers was Washington Irving, then on\nhis way to Spain. Mr. Williamson conducted the religious services on\nboard the vessel, one Sunday morning, discoursing on the Paternal\ncharacter, purposes and requirements of God, in accordance with\nChristian Universalism. After the service, Mr. Irving, who had been an\nattentive listener, cordially thanked the preacher for his sermon,\nadding emphatically, \"These, sir, are my views, and I am trying to\nlive in agreement with them.\"\n\nMr. Williamson was a prominent and highly respected member of the\nSociety of Odd Fellows, lectured far and wide in exposition and\ndefence of their principles, and went to England mainly in their\nservice. He was for many years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of\nthe United States, and the ritual now in use by the Order was largely\nfrom his pen. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity\nfrom Norwich, Vt., University, in 1850. The writer of this sketch\nfirst heard Dr. Williamson preach at the session of the Universalist\nGeneral Convention held in Strafford, Vt., in 1832. The subject was\n\"Lukewarmness rebuked;\" the text, Rev. iii. 15: \"I would thou wert\ncold or hot.\" No noisy, declamatory appeal was it, no clap-trap effort\nreminding the audience of the \"smartness\" of the one to whom they are\nlistening; but a clear, strong, earnest statement of the greatness of\nthe Truth of God and of its pre-eminent claims upon the attention,\nlove, and consecrated zeal of every believer in its unsearchable\nriches. In illustration (not profuse), in persuasiveness and\napplication, it could not have been improved. The large old church was\nfilled, the audience were in closest attention to the end, and many\nwere the silent, sympathetic \"amens\" in response when his words were\nended. The discourse afterwards appeared in the \"Gospel Preacher,\" a\nmonthly publication issued at Augusta, Me.\n\nThe \"Rudiments of Theological and Moral Science\" may be considered the\nsumming up of Mr. Williamson's theological thinking during his\nministry. It is a notable vindication of the Divine Sovereignty, a\nsovereignty infinitely glorified in the Divine Paternity. Although\nsome of its reasonings savor too much of what is called fatalism to be\naccepted as practically healthful when men are called upon to \"work\nout their own salvation with fear and trembling,\" it is in the highest\ndegree helpful and hopeful to all of weak faith who need to realize\nthat God has will and purpose of his own, and works within his\nchildren \"to will and to do of his own good pleasure.\" God's\nbeneficent sovereignty was to him the adamantine foundation of the\nGospel. As strong and effective by voice and pen as the ministry of\nthis good man has been, there were those at the beginning of it who\nwere inclined to wonder at his attempt to enter this profession.\nLight-minded critics uttered their innocent witticisms, and sober\nwell-wishers of our denomination very plainly hinted to him that he\nmight possibly do quite as much service to it in some other line of\neffort than that of preaching! But all this to the pure-minded young\nsoldier of the Cross was but an incentive to renewed exertion. They\nwho doubted knew not that the Lord had called him, and had purposed\nfor him a life of honorable labor in his holy service. Father Ballou\nused to say, \"When the Lord undertakes to make a minister, he always\nmakes a good one.\" Dr. Williamson was thus made. He has given \"full\nproof\" of his ministry, and now having gone \"up higher,\" his works\nwill follow him.\n\n\nOne of the ministers of a long pastorate in Vermont was Rev. KITTREDGE\nHAVEN. He was of a family of nine sons and two daughters, and was born\nin Framingham, Mass., Feb. 24, 1793, and died in Shoreham, Vt., May 4,\n1877, aged 84. His father removed in 1802 to Cambridge, and in 1810 to\nBoston, where he established himself in a crockery store. The subject\nof this notice was providentially drawn to attend the ministry of Rev.\nPaul Dean, under whose preaching he was converted to Universalism,\nsang in his choir at his installation as colleague with Rev. John\nMurray in 1813, studied for the ministry with Mr. Dean, and in his\npulpit preached his first sermon in July, 1819. In the spring of 1820\nMr. Haven made a preaching tour into Maine, spending one Sabbath in\neach of the towns of Waterville, Brunswick, Livermore, Winthrop and\nTurner, and in Portland three Sundays. After returning to Boston he\nreceived a letter from Turner, inviting him to become a pastor there,\nbut he declined the call. Soon afterwards he took a journey into\nVermont, and in Dec. 1820 settled in Bethel, on a salary of $5 per\nSunday, which was the customary pay of a young preacher in those days.\nHe was ordained at Kingsbury, N.\u00a0Y., Oct. 14, 1821, by the Northern\nAssociation, embracing Vermont, a part of Canada, and all that part of\nNew York which bordered on Lake Champlain. Two ministers only besides\nhimself were present on that occasion, Rev. S.\u00a0C. Loveland and Rev.\nRobert Bartlett. In 1829 Mr. Haven moved to Shoreham, and there he\nremained until death, preaching there regularly thirty-seven years,\nand occasionally, every year, from Jan. 1, 1825, to Jan. 1, 1870,--in\nall forty-five years.\n\nMr. Haven was an earnest and effective preacher. He was not especially\nnoted for learning or eloquence, but was a plain, vigorous, and\nscriptural advocate of the Gospel. His preaching was a continuous\nstream of truth flowing forth in a strong and fervent delivery from\nthe beginning to the close of his discourse. He possessed excellent\njudgment, sterling integrity, an amiable and Christian spirit, and\nunostentatious piety. He won and secured the respect of all men by his\nkindness of heart, his gentlemanly manners, and pure life. He made\nUniversalism respected wherever he was known. Congregational ministers\neven called him evangelical. He left an honored name to his children\nand to the church which he had faithfully served for fifty years. He\nwas uncle of the late Bishop Gilbert Haven of the M.\u00a0E. Church.\n\n\nThe ministry of Rev. JOHN BOYDEN was one of the most useful and\nhonored of any in our churches. He was born in Sturbridge, Mass., May\n14, 1809, and died in Woonsocket, R.\u00a0I., Sept. 28, 1869. He attended\nthe public schools in his native town during his youth, and engaged in\nteaching schools winters before he reached his twentieth year. In 1829\nhe resolved to enter upon the calling to which he had for some time\nfelt drawn, and began his studies for the Christian ministry under the\ndirection of the elder Rev. Hosea Ballou. His first sermon was\npreached in Annisquam, near Gloucester, Mass. In the following year\n(1830), he was ordained at Berlin, Conn. It was his first settlement,\nand he remained there four years. He next located at Dudley, Mass.,\nwhere he continued as pastor until 1840, when he removed to\nWoonsocket, where he had before preached occasionally, and became the\nfirst pastor of the new society in that place, which had just erected\na church. His pastorate here reached nearly the limit of thirty years.\n\nAs a preacher, he was plain, sound, and forcible. He never attempted\ngreat things in the way of sensational effort. He had too much good\nsense, and too refined notions of propriety to do that. His eloquence\nwas in the sincerity, truthfulness, and earnestness of his statements\nand appeals. He was a clear and strong reasoner, and had always good\nillustrations of his subject at hand. Incidents from his own\nexperience were often made most timely and impressive in his\ndiscourses. He was pointedly doctrinal and thoroughly practical in his\nsermons, generally using great simplicity and plainness of speech, but\nalways giving evidence of a deep heart interest in the message he was\ndelivering.\n\nAs a minister of Christian consolation he seemed pre-eminent. In this\nrespect no preacher perhaps was more acceptable to our people. His\ncalls to attend funerals, sometimes at long distances out of his own\nparish, were many. Old friends, who had long known him, when bereaved\nand afflicted were thankful to hear his voice speaking to them the\ncomforting words of divine truth.\n\nHe was a true Christian reformer. All through his ministry this had\nbeen his character. Clear in his perceptions, sound in his judgments,\nconsistent in his positions, and with an adamantine firmness in his\nadherence to principle, he was always ready to give his word and\ninfluence in aid of the reforms of the times. As an advocate of\ntemperance and human freedom, he was surpassed by none in his\nfaithfulness.\n\nHow his own people loved him! and how long and closely and happily\nwere they united! That silver wedding celebration of the pastoral\nunion in 1864; what evidence it gave of that unity of the spirit which\ncan bind a good pastor and an appreciative people for so long a time\nwith interest deepening as years increase, and which is such a reproof\nof the many injudicious calls and frequent resignations which afflict\ntoo many churches! What a golden halo is set around this long\nsettlement of the faithful pastor and his loving people.\n\n\n [Illustration: John Moore.]\n\nRev. JOHN MOORE was another of the worthy and beloved of this\nministerial company. He was born in Strafford, Vt., Feb. 5, 1797, and\nwas early nurtured in the Puritanic theology of New England. Soon\nafter he had passed out of his teens he became acquainted with the\nfaith of the Universalist church. It answered to the true call of the\nmanliness that was in him, and soon became an inspiration to his\nspiritual powers. He grew in its light, and his soul expanded in its\ngenial atmosphere. Reading, meditation, and the culture of his mental\npowers soon opened the way for him into the ministry, the work of\nwhich he entered upon with hesitancy, not from lack of zeal in its\ninterest, but from modesty as to his qualifications for the great\ncalling. The counsellings of friends encouraged him, and his first\nmessages were received with favor, and he became one of the most\nacceptable ministers and missionaries in Northern New England. Of\nnoble personal appearance and gentlemanly demeanor, full of plainness\nand common sense in his discoursing, a clear expositor to the inquirer\nafter Christian truth, and a son of consolation to those who sought\nits hopes in their sorrows, he was welcome wherever he appeared as a\nrepresentative of our faith. His pastorates, nine in number (viz. in\nLebanon, N.\u00a0H.; Danvers, Lynn, and Lowell, Mass.; Hartford, Conn.;\nTroy, N.\u00a0Y.; Strafford, Vt.; and Concord, N.\u00a0H.), all gave evidence of\nhis fidelity. As a moral reformer, he stood well without the church as\nwell as in it, and as a man he was esteemed and loved wherever known.\nEven the politicians conferred upon him the nomination for the\ngubernatorial chair of New Hampshire; not so much because of his\nservice to them as a partisan, as from the fact of the excellences in\nhim that were above all mere party considerations, and which gave them\nthe assurance that his honest and sturdy manliness would prove an\nhonor in any position he might be called to fill. It afterwards\nappearing that his residence in the State had not been quite long\nenough to render him eligible to the office, another nomination was\nnecessarily made. His death was sudden. He fell, of heart disease,\nnear his home in the city where he had his last pastorate, lamented\nwherever his name and ministry were known. A public journal wrote of\nhim, after his departure, \"As a man, he was the very one that Diogenes\nwith his lamp was looking for.\"\n\n\n [Illustration: Henry Bacon.\n J. Andrews & H.W. Smith.]\n\nRev. HENRY BACON.--How shall we write of that minister of all work, of\nversatile genius, nervous temperament, indomitable will, constantly\nalive in his love of Universalism, rooted and grounded in its\ntheology, and full of its healthful and hopeful spiritualism as the\nsea is of water! He was a Boston boy, of the old North End, born June\n12, 1813; a hearer of Dean and Streeter and Ballou in his youth, and\ntaught at home by precept and example in the excellency of the\nknowledge of the Gospel of limitless grace. He was a born minister,\nfor it was as natural for him to think and speak and write\nUniversalism as it was to breathe God's air. He entered the ministry\nearly in life (1834), and was successively pastor of the societies in\nEast Cambridge, Haverhill, and Marblehead, Mass; Providence, R.\u00a0I.;\nand Philadelphia, Pa. He was for many years editor of the \"Ladies'\nRepository,\" a monthly publication issued at Boston by Mr. Abel\nTompkins; and his prolific pen often sent out sermons, tracts, and\npamphlets in advocacy of the faith of which his soul was so full. As\nanother (Rev. John Boyden) said of him: \"He was a living encyclop\u00e6dia\nof current facts, and a living philosopher to arrange and expound\nthem.\" The Universalist Reform Association appointed him their\nCorresponding Secretary, and an annual report on the topics usually\nembraced in their discussions was expected from him, because, as one\nremarked, \"He got hold of everything.\"\n\nHe consecrated himself to his labors, and in them he was abundant. The\npoet Quarles describes him:--\n\n  \"Thy life's a warfare, thou a soldier art,\n  Satan's thy foeman, and a faithful heart\n  Thy two-edged weapon, patience thy shield,\n  Heaven is thy chieftain, and the world thy field.\"\n\nHis preaching gave evidence of his consecration to his work. It seemed\nas though he could never tire of the pulpit service. He was always\nready to speak for God's truth. His words were earnest, full, and\nstrong; his illustrations inexhaustible; and there was an unction in\nall he said which gained the sympathy of every hearer susceptible of\nreligious emotion. Up to the last of his working he loved the pulpit,\nand stood up in it until exhausted nature would allow him to remain\nthere no longer. And when he withdrew with reluctance from that sacred\nplace, it was to finish his work in the retirement of his home, to\ngive his dying testimony to a life full of the beauty and strength of\ndivine truth. He departed this life in Philadelphia, March 19, 1856. A\nbiography of him by his wife has been given to the public.\n\n\nAnother of the saintly ministers of our church was Rev. DAY KELLOG\nLEE. He entered the Christian ministry early in life, and, although\nhis educational advantages in the beginning were not many, he was so\nclose and constant a student as to become an expert in literature and\nscience, as well as an able expounder of the Christian faith. He was\none of those who felt that he was called upon to preach, and that he\nmust not be kept too long from entering upon his work. The text of his\nfirst sermon indicates his anxiety in this regard: \"Let me go, for the\nday breaketh.\" Gen. xxii. 36. And he went out into the fields of the\nLord to be his faithful and profitable servant. Astronomy was a\nfavorite study with him. His sermons were often illustrated and\nbeautified by his presentation of its facts, and he came to be a most\nacceptable lecturer on the science itself. He had seven pastorates in\nNew York and Massachusetts, and in them all was deeply loved for his\nadmirable character and intense interest in his calling. He was a son\nof song, and put his soul into his verse. What can be sweeter than his\ntribute to the beloved poet and author, Mrs. Scott, inserted in her\n\"Memoir\"?\n\n  \"To say I'd pressed her hand, 't was not for me--\n    To share her friendship, it was not my gladness;\n  'T was ne'er the blessing of these eyes to see\n    The form whose slumber wakes this note of sadness.\n  But O! I weep for those who yet remain,\n    To know so bright a spirit hath ascended!\n  Fond of that lyre, enraptured of its strain,\n    I weep to hear its melodies are ended!\n\n  \"Short years ago, in boyhood's rosy morn,\n    When Aspiration seemed its measure brimming,\n  Longing for joys that crown the spirit-born,\n    I heard the lays of life that she was hymning.\n  Who that hath drunk those melodies that rose\n    Sweet as the murmur of celestial fountains,\n  Hath not in fancy pictured her with those\n    Whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains!\n\n  \"The seraphs all had joy in fuller streams,\n    When her pure lips their symphonies were swelling;\n  They'll want her there, while God's own glory beams,\n    And while the ransomed keep their starry dwelling,\n  To hymn the beauty of immortal mind,--\n    For, of that world, mind is the greatest splendor,--\n  Lift holier anthems as new bliss they find\n    And drink new life as loftier praise they render.\"\n\nHe was a writer of attractive volumes containing Tales of Labor;\n\"Summerfield, or Life on a Farm,\" \"The Master Builder, or Life at a\nTrade,\" and \"Merrimac, or Life in a Factory;\" works of merit, which\nhave been extensively read. His modesty, conscientiousness, devotion\nto duty, and religious spirit, all serve to make blessed his memory, a\nmemory that can never be dwelt upon but with affection by those who\nknew most of him in life. In 1868 St. Lawrence University conferred\nupon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He passed suddenly but\npeacefully away from the earth, in New York city, June 2, 1869, aged\n53. His son, Rev. Charles F. Lee, is at present pastor of the\nUniversalist church in Charlestown, Mass.\n\n[45] The mother of Mr. King was a woman of keen intellect and of many\nvirtues, and her talented son held her in highest esteem. As his popularity\nin California was increasing, there was a serious talk at one time\nof sending him as senator to Congress. The mother, hearing of this,\nwrote in a letter to her son: \"Be on your guard. Don't let Satan take\nyou to the top of Mt. Shasta, and _show you Washington_!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  \"There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their\n  praises might be reported.... Their bodies are buried in peace; but\n  their name liveth evermore. The people will tell of their wisdom,\n  and the congregation will show forth their\n  praise.\"--ECCLESIASTICUS, xliv. 8, 14, 15.\n\n\nRev. George Bates, one of the faithful ministers of Maine, was born\nthere in the town of Fayette, in 1798. In early life he was a\nmechanic, but in due time, as Rev. W.\u00a0A. Drew wrote of him, \"He laid\ndown the sledge of Vulcan, and put on the Gospel harness.\" He was a\nstudent for a time in the family of Rev. Hosea Ballou, at Boston. He\nwas pastor in Livermore, and afterwards for twenty-five years in\nTurner, Me. It is worthy of note that after a suit at law, in which\nthe town recovered the ministerial fund against the Congregational\nsociety, the people of Turner, by legal votes, dismissed the clergyman\nof that church, Rev. Allen Greeley, and settled Mr. Bates as the\ntown's minister. With true liberality, on acquiring possession of this\nfund, the town parish made a _per capita_ distribution of it to all\nthe societies in Turner, that each might enjoy its proportional share\nof support from the same fund.\n\nMr. Bates was one of the best of country pastors. He was at home\neverywhere, and a welcome visitor in most homes where he went. He was\nclear and scriptural in his expositions, and in his discourses \"a\nworkman that needed not to be ashamed.\" He was a minister of\nconsolation far and near, and had many calls to officiate on funeral\noccasions. No clergyman in Maine was more respected and honored than\nhe. His departure took place at his home in Lewiston, Me., Jan. 24,\n1875, at the age of 77.\n\n\nEZEKIEL VOSE. A small, lame, modest, but wide-awake-looking man was\nthis minister, as the writer remembers his first meeting him in\nNorthern New Hampshire. He came from the First Universalist Society in\nBoston, and settled in St. Johnsbury, Vt., preaching there and in many\nother places in Vermont and New Hampshire for some years. He had\nenjoyed only common educational advantages, but was a studious man and\na strong and clear thinker. He wrote but little. His preaching was\nusually extemporaneous, not always very methodical in plan, but\nusually successful, especially in making his subject plain. He could\nsay a great many things in one of his missionary discourses, and would\nbring them in quite miscellaneously. But they were usually things\nwhich proved interesting to his hearers, especially to those who had\nseldom, if ever, listened to ministers of our faith. Long remembered\nwill be a discourse which he gave in the writer's hearing one winter\nevening in Dorchester, N.\u00a0H. A large corner school-house was packed\nfull, and the speaker stood in one corner with his little Bible in\nhand. His text was, \"Prove all things;\" and so wide was his range in\ntopics, and so many things did he undertake to prove, and so long, and\nrapidly and earnestly did he talk to that attentive audience, that it\nseemed as though no man in the same time could come nearer than he to\na compliance literally with the direction of the text! He was a\nsincere, humble, warm-hearted Christian. Every one who knew him\nthought and spoke well of him. From St. Johnsbury he moved to Orleans,\nMass., and afterwards to North Turner, Me., where, after a busy and\nuseful life, he died in 1861, aged 67.\n\n\nRev. LEMUEL WILLIS of Windham, Vt., was born April 24, 1802. His\nfather was a convert to Universalism as taught by Rev. Elhanan\nWinchester, and the son was educated in the same faith. At an early\nage he became the student of Rev. S.\u00a0C. Loveland, of Reading, Vt., and\nin July, 1822, preached his first sermon. His first professional\nlabors were in Washington, Stoddard, Marlow and Acworth, N.\u00a0H. His\nsubsequent pastorates were at Troy, N.\u00a0Y. from 1826 to 1828; then in\nSalem, and afterwards in Lynn and Cambridgeport, Mass. and Portsmouth,\nN.\u00a0H. At the time of his death, Dr. G.\u00a0H. Emerson wrote of him\njustly:--\n\n  \"He always preached well. There was in his preaching a good basis of\n  thought, with a practical application, and a tone of fervent piety.\n  But he had and has no 'earthquake' gifts. The city did not run mad\n  because Lemuel Willis preached. We have heard one of his supporters\n  say that he does not remember one sermon that would be called poor;\n  but in all his Salem ministry he never once startled his hearers.\n  His manner is best described by the word _impressive_. Steady work,\n  steady power, and ever-increasing influence, and the _radiation_\n  more than the example of a good life, made him successful in the\n  purest sense of this much abused word. But not alone in Salem, but\n  everywhere, Mr. Willis did good in his character of minister.\n  Literally he was all minister. He cared to know only Christ and Him\n  crucified. And to this end all personal interests were subordinate.\n  Not alone in the pulpit, but on the street, in the house, at the\n  private gathering, he was the minister. But as he never put the\n  minister off so he never put the minister on. It was his nature to\n  be a minister and he could never seem to be otherwise.\"\n\nMr. Willis seemed the embodiment of a dignity, not offensive but\nagreeable. It is said that on one occasion he was in company at a\nstore in Salem with one of the orthodox pastors of that city, who was\na very animated and cheerful man in conversation. After they had left\nthe store, a gentleman who had quietly listened to them both, on\nasking the proprietor what clergymen they were, was told, and was\nasked to \"guess\" which one was the Orthodox and which the\nUniversalist. His decision was directly contrary to the facts. Mr.\nWillis departed this life at his home in Warner, N.\u00a0H., July 23, 1878.\n\n\nA younger brother of Lemuel, Rev. JOHN H. WILLIS, was born in Windham,\nVt., March 6, 1807. At the age of eleven he became deeply interested\nin a Calvinistic Baptist revival, and was immersed in the Connecticut\nRiver in very cold weather, when the ice, a foot thick, had to be cut\naway for the purpose, and soon afterwards joined the Baptist church in\nChesterfield. By reading and reflection he became an intelligent and\nzealous Universalist. He was a good scholar, and taught school\nsuccessfully when quite young. He worked as a mechanic for some years,\nand in 1830 went to Salem, Mass., where his brother Lemuel was then\nsettled, and after studying a year under his direction he began to\npreach, speaking in several places in Worcester County, to the\nacceptance of the people. He was ordained at Greenwich, Mass., Nov.\n23, 1831. He was pastor for varying periods at Dana, Greenwich,\nPetersham, West Boylston, Annisquam, Wakefield, Irving, Orange and\nWarwick, Mass., in Brattleboro', Cavendish and Chester, Vt., and in\nStafford, Conn. In 1850 he was elected to the Mass. Legislature, and\nwas for several years station-agent at Irving on the Vermont and\nMassachusetts Railroad. Yet amid his secular labors and cares he still\npreached and lectured often, especially in behalf of the Temperance\nreform. He was noted to the end of his days for his spiritual fervor\nand religious enthusiasm. He died Oct. 9, 1877, at the house of his\ndaughter, Mrs. W.\u00a0R. Shipman, at College Hill, Mass., aged seventy\nyears.\n\n\nThere went out from New England a talented advocate of the\nUniversalist faith in the person of Rev. THEODORE CLAPP, a native\nof Easthampton, Mass., and a graduate of Williams College, in the same\nclass with William C. Bryant. His theological studies were pursued at\nAndover, Mass., and he was licensed as a minister of the Presbyterian\nchurch in 1817. He became pastor of the First Presbyterian church in\nNew Orleans, succeeding the brilliant Sylvester Larned, whose fame as\na pulpit orator was far extended. Mr. Clapp proved a fitting successor\nof him, and achieved great celebrity for his pulpit gifts. Henry Clay\npronounced him the most natural pulpit orator he had ever heard. His\nchurch in New Orleans was usually crowded.\n\nSome twelve years after his settlement in New Orleans changes occurred\nin his theological opinions, which led to the dissolution of his\nrelations with the Presbyterian Church. He was deposed from his\nministerial office for heresy, and was afterwards known as an\nindependent minister, cherishing Universalist and Unitarian opinions.\nThis change of relations however did not alienate his parish from him.\nThe church building at an earlier date had passed into the hands of\nthe well-known Hebrew millionnaire, Judah Truro, and by his liberality\nMr. Clapp occupied the church and preached to his old hearers. His\nservices will long be tenderly remembered in New Orleans. During\ntwenty seasons of epidemic cholera and yellow fever, Mr. Clapp was at\nhis post of duty, and by his ministry of consolation carried comfort\nto the great multitudes stricken by the pestilence. His\n\"Autobiographical Recollections\" is largely devoted to these memorable\nseasons, and is one of the most interesting volumes ever published. In\nlater years of his life he felt compelled by failing health to\nrelinquish the work of the ministry, and in 1866 departed this life in\nLouisville, Ky., aged 74. Of him it was said by Dr. Alexander Campbell\nthat he could not believe the doctrine of endless misery if he tried:\n\"You have too much benevolence,\" added the Doctor. He read this in the\nface of Mr. Clapp, in the soft lines, and in the warm and benignant\nglow, that told of a heart full of sympathy and pity.\n\n\nA stirring and industrious laborer in the propagation of the\nUniversalist faith was Rev. JOHN A. GURLEY, of Connecticut. At the\nearly age of twenty he was preaching in Maine, and after a short\nsettlement in Methuen, Mass., he purchased a denominational paper, the\n\"Star in the West,\" and went to reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became\npastor and editor in that city. He did much missionary work,\njourneying into distant States and Territories, holding discussions\nand preaching wherever he had opportunity, the circulation of his\npaper constantly increasing. His bodily powers becoming weakened by\nover-exertion, he deemed it advisable to change his mode of life\nsomewhat, and disposed of his paper and ceased to preach. He\nsubsequently became an active politician, served two terms as\nrepresentative in Congress from Ohio, and was at the time of his death\nthe appointed Governor of Arizona. Although apparently a frail man, he\nwas capable of great endurance, and few of his years have put more\ndiligent work into a life. He was emphatically an executive man, and\nhad the faculty of making all his plans and movements tell to\nadvantage. He was fond of theological debate, and during the\npresidency of the elder Dr. Beecher at Lane Seminary, he sought to\ndraw out that noted man in a statement of his arguments against\nUniversalism. He received promises more than once from the doctor that\nhis request should be answered to his entire satisfaction, but the\nfulfilment of them was never realized. Mr. Gurley was a genial man and\nan attractive companion. He made many friends in his life, and will\nnot be forgotten by the Universalists in Ohio, who regretted that he\ncould not have devoted the last of his life solely to the interests of\nthe church.\n\n\nRev. ENOCH M. PINGREE was by birth a New Englander, born in Littleton,\nN.\u00a0H., but through some of the most important years of his ministry a\nlaborer in the West. He was one of the born ministers, and had good\nopportunities for study at the Methodist Seminary in Newbury, Vt. At\nthis school he was an earnest advocate of the Universalist faith,\nwhich rendered him unpopular with most of the students and teachers.\nHe distinguished himself in the lyceum and debating society, and\nexerted such an influence as to call out the professors to defend\ntheir cause against the arguments and bold positions of this ardent\nyouth. After preaching a little in New England, he started for the\nWest, in 1837. He was pastor in Cincinnati and Louisville, and a\nmissionary in various places in the Western States. Here he became\ndeveloped from a quiet and diffident man into a bold and confident\nadvocate of his sentiments. He became a public debater, and \"waxed\nvaliant in fight\" in many controversies. His published discussion with\nDr. Rice, an able and distinguished Presbyterian divine, does him\ngreat honor. He was a busy, sympathetic, and faithful pastor, also a\nready thinker, fluent speaker, and rapid writer. His industry was\nuntiring, and it wore him out at last. In discussion he was candid as\nwell as strong, never descending to any low or unmanly reference to\nhis opponent, no matter how much abused, nor attempting to take\nadvantage of the prejudices of the people. Religious discussions were\nmatters of purest conscience with him. His ministry was brief, but one\nof intense vigor and action. Greatly beloved by multitudes of friends,\nhe departed this life in 1849, at the early age of thirty-three.\n\n\nRev. THOMAS J. GREENWOOD, before his entrance upon the work of the\nministry, held the position of overseer in one of the mills in Lowell,\nat the beginning of the growth of that city. He was born in Newton,\nMass., and was a fairly-educated, strong-minded, and trustworthy man.\nAn attempt had been made to establish a Universalist Society in\nLowell, and Mr. Greenwood was deeply interested in it. The mill\nauthorities were opposed to the movement, and intimated to this their\nemployee that his heresy could not be favorably regarded by them, and\nthat if he continued to be its active supporter, they and he must part\ncompany. His conscience was true to principle as the needle to the\npole, and he readily accepted their terms, and turned away from their\nservice to enter and honor another, to which he afterwards gave the\nmost of his life. He had profitable pastorates in New England, his\nlast three having been in Dover, N.\u00a0H., and Malden and Saugus, Mass.\nHis good reputation was in all our churches, as a ready and vigorous\nwriter, an eloquent preacher, a loving and industrious pastor, and,\nmore than all, a royal man. A faithful biographer (Rev. A.\u00a0J.\nPatterson, D.\u00a0D.) has written of him:--\n\n  \"He was the central figure in the entire community where he dwelt.\n  His manly, dignified presence, his genial manners, his willing,\n  helpful hand in every worthy cause, his charity towards other sects,\n  his kindness to the poor, his pity for the erring, his sympathy in\n  chambers of sickness and towards all kinds of suffering, his words\n  of more than human comfort at the open grave, and withal his rare\n  good judgment and solid common sense in everything, caused him to be\n  respected and consulted far beyond the circle of the church. He was\n  devoted to all public interests, served several terms in the\n  Legislature of Massachusetts, and was once nominated for the\n  National Congress from his district.\"\n\nHe departed this life in Malden, Sept. 12, 1874.\n\n\n [Illustration: Fraternally Yours, E. G. Brooks.]\n\nRev. ELBRIDGE GERRY BROOKS, D.\u00a0D., was born in Dover, N.\u00a0H., July 29,\n1816, and died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 8, 1878. During his infancy\nhis parents removed to Portsmouth, where he passed the years of his\nboyhood. He was a strong, healthful youth, and was blessed with\nparents who were devoted to his highest welfare, and whose exemplary\nreligious characters made a deep impress upon his after life. Just\nprevious to his ninth birthday, a sad accident occurred, by which his\nleg was so severely injured that amputation became necessary. He bore\nthe painful operation with manly fortitude, and during the consequent\nconfinement saw many of the pleasing visions of his coming life\ndispelled. When he recovered, however, his brave nature did not brood\nover his misfortune, but his heart was made more tender by it, and as\nhe grew older was filled with a strong religious interest, and he\nearly decided to devote himself to the Christian ministry. His pious\nparents, rejoicing in the zeal and enthusiasm of their crippled boy,\ndid all in their power to encourage his aspirations and to have him\nsuitably fitted for his chosen calling.\n\nAt that time, Rev. T.\u00a0F. King was settled in Portsmouth, and,\ndiscerning the rare promise of his young friend, gave him hearty and\neffective encouragement. After acquiring such knowledge as the\nPortsmouth schools could give him, he was aided by his faithful pastor\nin the further pursuit of his studies, and at the early age of\nnineteen he began to preach. His first sermon was delivered in\nPortsmouth, and gave great satisfaction to those who heard it. He was\nfirst settled in Exeter, N.\u00a0H.; then in Amesbury, Mass., where he was\nordained, Oct. 19, 1837; then in East Cambridge, Mass.; then in\nLowell, and, in 1846, took charge of the parish in Bath, Me. In 1850\nhe returned to Massachusetts and settled in Lynn, where he remained\nnine years. In 1859 he was called to the Sixth Church in New York,\nwhere he remained eight years, and until he was chosen, in 1867,\nGeneral Secretary of the United States Convention. His duty in this\nnew capacity was to direct and take the lead of the missionary\nenterprises and to visit all sections of the country. His labors were\nmanifold and arduous, but very efficient and successful, until his\nhealth became impaired, and he was obliged to resign his office and\nreturn to his family. After resting a few months, and partially\nrecovering his strength, he accepted, in November, 1869, an invitation\nto the Church of the Messiah in Philadelphia, to which he gave the\nlast years of his useful life, and where he joyfully resigned that\nlife April 8, 1878.\n\nAs a preacher, Dr. Brooks was in the front rank of\nour ministers. As another has written:--\n\n  \"He was entirely consecrated to his work, and in the pulpit he spoke\n  as one having authority. His sonorous voice and majestic bearing\n  were in perfect harmony with his clear and forcible presentation of\n  his thought, and emphasized his urgent appeals to the conscience of\n  his hearer. He was by nature an ardent reformer, and was always true\n  to his convictions. He could not keep back the smallest fragment of\n  what he believed to be God's truth. He early threw himself, heart\n  and soul, into the anti-slavery cause, and during the war of the\n  rebellion his clarion voice gave no uncertain sound.\"\n\nHe was a clear and vigorous writer. His two volumes, \"Universalism in\nLife and Doctrine,\" and \"Our New Departure,\" evince this. They are\nvaluable additions to our church literature. He was one of our best\norganizers. Seldom absent from our conventions, and nearly always\nserving on executive boards and important committees, nearly every\ndepartment of our church work received an impression from his hand. In\n1867 Tufts College conferred on him the degree of D.\u00a0D.\n\nIt has been truly said of him:--\n\n  \"He was born into Universalism. He was cradled in its arms. He was\n  taught it at his mother's knee. He believed it from his earliest\n  conscious years. He never was influenced by any other faith. What he\n  was it made him. Let no man say it is not the power of God unto\n  salvation, while we can point to such examples of its influence in\n  life and death. He has gone to that home which his faith made so\n  real to many souls.\"\n\n\n [Illustration: Eben\u02b3 Fisher.\n H. W. Smith.]\n\nRev. EBENEZER FISHER, D.\u00a0D., has won honorable distinction in the\nUniversalist Church. He was born in Charlotte, Me., Feb. 6, 1815, and\ndied in Canton, N.\u00a0Y., Feb. 21, 1879. His father was one of the\npioneers of Eastern Maine, and the son passed his early years in a new\ncountry, in the midst of hardships incident to such a condition. With\nthe exception of a single term at the Readfield Seminary, he had no\nadvantages beyond what were afforded by the common schools of his\nnative town. His early religious training was in the Orthodox church,\nagainst whose gloomy doctrines his whole soul revolted. When about\nsixteen years old a few Universalist books and papers were put into\nhis hands, the perusal of which, in connection with the Bible, brought\nhim \"out of darkness into marvellous light,\" and he gradually formed\nthe purpose to fit himself for the Christian ministry. He sought and\nobtained fellowship of the Maine Convention in 1840, and in 1841\nsettled at Addison Point, Me., until in April, 1847, he accepted a\ncall to Salem, Mass., where his pastorate was eminently successful. In\nNovember, 1853, he removed to South Dedham (now Norwood), where he\nremained until 1858, when he was appointed President of the\nTheological School at Canton, N.\u00a0Y., and thenceforth he gave his time,\nlabor, thought, and strength to a work for which he proved himself\npeculiarly fitted. For more than twenty years he was the honored head\nof the first Universalist Theological School, and during that time one\nhundred and three students were graduated, who are now scattered over\nthe country, and bearing testimony to his faithful teaching, his rare\ndevotion to duty, his profound scholarship, and his eminence in all\nChristian virtues. However marked may have been the results of his\nlabors in other fields, his work in the Theological School was the\nmost important and conspicuous, and will be his most enduring\nmonument. The degree of D.\u00a0D. was conferred upon him in 1862 by\nLombard University. Rev. I.\u00a0M. Atwood, D.\u00a0D., his successor as\nPresident in the Canton Theological School, thus truly and graphically\npresents him to us:--\n\n  \"A grand man, made up in a large and noble fashion, with paternal\n  benignity in his face and a note of sonorous warning in his voice,\n  able, acute, aggressive, unmovable, the sturdy strength and wintry\n  rigor of his nature relieved by a certain charm of tenderness which\n  affected one like the scent of sweet flowers amid the majesty of the\n  primeval woods; in his preaching a strain of deep sincerity which\n  made the hearer feel the solemn reality of those things about which\n  there is so much superficial prattle,--a great, brave, patient\n  spirit, loyal to the truth, trustworthy as a star, and of such a\n  breadth and strength of moral build as made him an imposing\n  Christian force in the community,--such to our thought was Ebenezer\n  Fisher, who fell asleep Friday morning, Feb. 21, 1879, having just\n  passed his sixty-fourth birthday.\n\n\nA well-remembered elder of apostolic aspect and spirit was the Rev.\nSETH STETSON, born in Kingston, Mass., in 1776, and dying at the age\nof ninety-one in Brunswick, Me. He was reared in the faith of the\nPuritan fathers, near the old Plymouth rock; learned the trade of a\nship-carpenter, emigrated to Maine, gave himself to much study,\nentered the Congregationalist ministry, and was pastor in Maine and\nMassachusetts for some years. When the Unitarian controversy arose in\nNew England, he became deeply interested in it, accepted Unitarianism\nas the truth of God, preached it as a missionary, and soon saw clearly\nthe doctrine of the salvation of all men as a revelation of the\nScriptures. He was minister of this faith in Charlestown and Salem,\nMass., and afterwards had several pastorates in Maine. His heart and\nlife were full of the spirit of the great Christian Master.\nUniversalism to him was not only a divine word, but a regenerative\npower. The love which it inculcated he possessed and exercised. His\nheavenly spirit beaming from his pleasant countenance and pervading\nhis sweet conversation made him welcome everywhere. What the New\nTestament says of another was applicable to him: \"A good man, and full\nof the Holy Ghost, and of faith.\"\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM BELL, son of a Calvinistic clergyman, was for many years\nan active advocate of the Universalist faith. The rigid theology of\nhis father had the tendency to push him into Deism, until the light of\nthe greater Gospel broke upon his mind. After years spent in\nmechanical pursuits, with a moderate education, under the instruction\nof the senior Rev. Hosea Ballou, he began to preach, obtained\nfellowship, and spent the first ten years of his ministry in New\nHampshire and Vermont. Subsequently he became editor of the \"Watchman\nand Christian Repository,\" at Woodstock, Vt., and in after years of\nthe \"Star of Bethlehem,\" in Lowell, Mass. He preached much up to his\nseventy-eighth year, retaining his vigor of body and mind. He was\nplain and direct in his style as a preacher, keen in his expositions\nof what he deemed error, a good logician, strongly doctrinal in his\ndiscourses, and deeply religious in feeling. One of the last occasions\nof his speaking in public was at the Centennial Convention in\nGloucester in 1870. Near the close of his life he wrote a strong and\nsearching letter to Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in review of a sermon on\nfuture punishment published by him. He died in Boston in 1871.\n\n\n\"An able minister of the New Testament\" was Rev. CALVIN GARDNER, a\nnative of Hingham, Mass., and pastor in Charlestown, Duxbury, Lowell,\nand Provincetown, Mass., and for twenty years in Waterville, Me. In\nearly life he wrought at his trade in one of the mechanic arts.\nBecoming interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation, he entered\nthe ministry in 1825. He was a reader and thinker, a sound theologian,\nand forcible preacher. He was always welcomed at associations and\nconventions, and listened to with interest by those who came to be fed\nwith the plain and wholesome food of the Gospel. He was a genial\ncompanion and high-minded man. He passed suddenly away by death while\nseated in a store which he had entered but a little while before.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  The weapons which your hands have found\n    Are those which Heaven itself has wrought,\n  Light, Truth and Love;--your battle-ground\n    The free, broad field of thought.\n\n  WHITTIER.\n\n\nRev. Josiah Gilman was another of the sturdy mechanics who came from\nthe forge, and after his best endeavors to gain a tolerable\npreparation for the ministry, entered it, if not with much mental\nculture, yet with a heart full of love of the new faith into which he\nhad grown out of that theology which one of the Beecher sisters has\nsaid evinces \"an awful mistake somewhere.\" He was always alive with\nhis theme. His work in the pulpit was as strong and as faithfully done\nas any which he had wrought out upon the anvil. He was a useful\nmissionary. No one could have been more conscientious than he\nrespecting the religious qualifications of a Christian minister. His\nown character was the best illustration he could give of his ideal.\nThat was above reproach.\n\nMr. Gilman had a stentorian voice when excited in speaking, but was\noften slow in speech, and to some hearers might seem at times wanting\nin animation. It is related that while preaching in a country place in\nNew Hampshire one hot summer afternoon, a part of his audience being\nhard-working haymakers, his discourse became somewhat quiet in its\nmanner, so that an evident drowsiness had taken hold of some of the\nlisteners. The speaker, perceiving it, suddenly paused for some\nseconds, and then bringing his clenched hand down quite loudly upon\nthe desk before him, exclaimed good naturedly, \"Come brethren, wake\nup! and let us take another view of this subject.\" The call was\neffective, and both speaker and hearers were in sympathetic\nwakefulness to the end. The good man departed this life in Lynn,\nMass., in 1858, aged 67.\n\n\nAnother comer from the anvil, a strong, cheery, blunt, warm-hearted\nman, deeply in love with the truth of the Gospel, and running over\nwith zeal in his advocacy of it, was Rev. EMMONS PARTRIDGE. He was\nsuperintendent of the Sunday school in the First Universalist church\nin Providence, R.\u00a0I., while Rev. David Pickering was its pastor. He\nentered the ministry with but little scholarly preparation for it; but\nsomehow, by divine grace, he did quite an acceptable work as a\nmissionary and as pastor of a number of societies. God chooses his own\ninstruments in his work, and this minister was one. Without the graces\nof oratory, he was a plain and often instructive preacher, because he\nwas usually highly charged with his subject and eager to declare it to\nhis hearers. If his illustrations were sometimes homely, they were\nusually to the point, and if they excited a smile carried a\nconviction. He was ready in expedients, if these were necessary, to\nwin the good will of his neighbors who might be strongly prejudiced\nagainst his theology. \"I had hard work,\" said he, \"to get the kind\nattention of one man. I tried many ways: but at last, as we were both\nvery much interested in raising rare kinds of poultry, I opened his\nheart towards me by occasional exchanges of choice eggs with him!\" He\ncould meet pulpit embarrassments coolly and more successfully than\nothers might have done. Lecturing one evening in his pulpit at\nWatertown, Mass., he came to a place in his manuscript where the\nmatter was confusedly mixed. The leaves had been wrongly stitched\ntogether, and he vainly tried to put them in order. Despairing of\nthis, he quietly and quaintly remarked, \"Well, this is strange. I\nthought I put these leaves in as they ought to be, but they are so\nmixed that I can't make anything out of them. I think I will say the\nrest without the notes!\" and he did, to the satisfaction as well as\namusement of the audience. He died somewhat advanced in years, highly\nesteemed by all who knew him.\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM I. REESE began to preach in Central New York, in Onondaga\nCounty, and was ordained at the session of the Cayuga Universalist\nAssociation in 1824. For a few years he was the minister of the\nUniversalist societies in East and North Bloomfield, and then of the\nchurch in Portland, Me. He went to Buffalo on call of the church there\nin the early spring of 1834, and there in the succeeding summer his\nearthly ministry suddenly came to a close. It was the second year of\nthat terrible visitation, the Asiatic cholera, and the city to which\nhe had only just removed was awfully ravaged by the sweep of the\ndark-winged pestilence. Unfalteringly at his post of duty in all those\ndark days, devoting himself to loving ministries among sick and\nsuffering and dying people, showing himself everywhere an angel of\nmercy and consolation, he fell a victim at last to the desolating\nscourge, and in the prime of his grand manhood, the good fight fought,\nthe faith kept, the course finished, he passed on to receive his\ncrown, and to be enrolled among the brightest and most faithful of\nministering spirits.\n\n\nRev. ALBERT A. FOLSOM, an active and devoted minister, was born in\nExeter, and passed his early life in Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H. He had\nsettlements in Maine and Massachusetts, and departed this life, aged\n39, at Springfield, Mass., in 1849, after a ministry there of five\nyears. He was very acceptable to his congregations, in all his\npastorates. He had a rich voice, subject to a wise control, was a\nready speaker, and could acquit himself in a most happy manner. He\noften had texts handed him when entering the church, which he\ndiscussed to the evident satisfaction of his hearers. He was social\nand companionable, and his views of life and Providence were very\nhopeful. In his home he was a light and blessing. No minister ever had\nwarmer friends than he.\n\n\nWILLIAM CUTTER HANSCOM, a sincere and zealous young man, a clerk in a\nprominent dry goods store in Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., left his secular\npursuits to prepare himself for the ministry in the study of the Rev.\nT.\u00a0F. King of that town. He was soon known as an acceptable preacher,\nand, receiving ordination, was called to two pastorates, the first at\nNewmarket (Lamprey River village) N.\u00a0H., the second at Waltham, Mass.\nHe had much mental ability, was a vigorous and rapid writer, and an\nenergetic and enthusiastic speaker. He was greatly beloved by a large\nnumber of friends, and his pastorates were a joy to him and of much\nprofit to the churches. He was an evangelist in the true sense of the\nword. His career was short, as he was cut off by consumption, at\nCambridgeport, and was buried at Waltham, in 1838. But his pathway was\nan illuminated one, and its light lingers in many memories. He\ndeparted at the early age of twenty-three.\n\n\nRev. MERRITT SANFORD, born in Readsboro, Vt., and religiously educated\nin the Methodist church, became by attentive reading and much anxious\nthinking a believer in that divine goodness which will bring all souls\nat last in conformity to its will. With but ordinary means of\neducation in country schools, he grew, by close mental application to\nstudy, to be a scholar of very considerable acquirements, and entered\nthe ministry at the age of twenty-three. He was minister in New\nHampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. He was a quiet but\nforcible preacher, because of the soundness, strength, and aptness of\nhis discourses. He was continually growing mentally and spiritually,\nwas deeply conscientious and devout, and left a fragrant memory\nwherever he sought to do his work. He closed his earthly life after a\nshort illness, in Warren, Mass., in May 1849, aged 37.\n\n\nRev. ALEXANDER R. ABBOTT, who was somewhat advanced in life when he\ngave himself to the ministry, was a native of East Livermore, Me. His\nearly life was that of a hard toiler, his advantages for obtaining an\neducation were limited, but his thirst for knowledge overcame his\nearly deficiencies. With little if any aid from others, he became\nproficient in French and Latin and the mathematics, and for many years\nwas successfully employed in teaching. His first sermon was preached\nwhile residing in Lowell, Mass., in 1844, and his ordination took\nplace in the following year. His first settlement was in Bath, N.\u00a0H.\nFor a time he was employed as a missionary, to preach in destitute\nplaces within the limits of the Boston Association. Afterwards he was\nsettled successively in Newburyport, Mass., Pawtucket, R.\u00a0I.,\nGardiner, Me., South Dedham, Mass., Hudson, N.\u00a0Y., and Rockland, Me.\nHe was an indefatigable student, and a clear, strong preacher. No\nuseless verbiage encumbered his discourses. He grappled with the\nhardest questions in theology, and brought light out of them. His last\nsermon before the Maine Convention is remembered as a clear and\nmasterly treatment of one of the problems which has greatly occupied\nthe religious thought of the day. He stirred the consciences of his\nhearers. He was outspoken as an anti-slavery man, when to be so was to\nincur the hostility of men of both political parties, and endanger his\nsuccess in the places of his settlement. The temperance cause always\nfound in him a firm, consistent, and able advocate. And while he was\nthus efficient in performing the more rugged duties of his calling, he\nwas equally well-fitted, by the tenderness of his heart, for the more\nsympathetic offices of the ministry. The death of Mr. Abbott, at\nRockland, Me., in 1869, was occasioned by disease of the heart,\naggravated by the fracture of a limb. He was conscious and composed to\nthe last.\n\n\nRev. HENRY C. LEONARD came into the ministry at Haverhill, Mass.,\nwhere he had studied under the direction of Rev. Henry Bacon. He was\nborn in Northwood, N.\u00a0H., April 25, 1818, and died at Pigeon Cove,\nMass., March 7, 1880. His earliest labors were on Cape Ann, at\nGloucester and in other neighboring places. He was afterwards settled\nfour years in East Thomastown (now Rockland), Me. He then removed to\nOrono in 1847, where he remained about eight years, and then went to\nWaterville, in 1854. At the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he\nclosed his labors in Waterville, and accepted the position of chaplain\nin the Third Maine Infantry. He was afterwards transferred to the\nMaine Eighteenth Infantry, and then to the First Maine Regiment of\nHeavy Artillery, where he remained, greatly beloved by officers and\nsoldiers, till his term of service expired in 1864. He was publicly\npronounced by Gen. Howard the most faithful chaplain he ever saw.\n\nIn 1865 he took charge of the Universalist Society in Albany, N.\u00a0Y.,\nwhere he remained three years. He moved to Philadelphia in 1869, and\nwas pastor of the Lombard St. Church two years. He then returned to\nhis home at Pigeon Cove, Mass., intending to remain there permanently.\nBut he was called to be pastor at Deering, Me., and was Professor of\nBelles-lettres at Westbrook Seminary at the same time. His last\npastorate, at Annisquam, Mass., began in December, 1875. He preached\nfor the last time Sept. 28, 1879. He was for a time editor of the\n\"Gospel Banner\" and of the \"Universalist.\" He published a volume of\nsermons entitled \"A Sheaf from a Pastor's Field;\" also a little work\ncalled \"Pigeon Cove and Vicinity.\"\n\nMr. Leonard was a writer of rare accomplishments. Had he chosen\nliterature for a profession, and cultivated more fully his rare poetic\ngifts, his name might have been prominent among the writers of the\ncountry.\n\nHe was an enthusiastic lover of nature, and delighted to dwell in her\nouter temple. He had a sunny nature, and wherever he lived, won hosts\nof friends by his geniality and radiant joyousness of heart. The\ntruest, most cultivated and intelligent of all denominations welcomed\nhim to their companionship, and recognized the purity of his life, the\nelevation of his thought, and his rare intellectual endowments.\n\n\nRev. ABRAHAM NORWOOD began preaching in Annisquam, Mass., and was\nordained in 1833. He had been a student with Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, in\nMalden. He was a member of the Congregationalist Church in early life;\nbut, finding himself dissatisfied and troubled with his theology, he\ngave much attention to the study of the Bible, and became thereby a\nfirm believer in Christian Universalism. He had a clear and vigorous\nintellect, and great aptness in setting forth his opinions. He was\nsettled in South Dennis and Marblehead, Mass., in Fiskville, R.\u00a0I., in\nCanton, Mass., and in Salisbury, from 1845 to 1855. He then went to\nMeriden, Conn., and acted as State missionary, with rare fidelity, for\nsix years. He was widely known in Connecticut, and, after the close of\nhis regular ministerial labors, served the town of Meriden in several\npositions of trust. He was warmly interested in education, and a\nfaithful and devoted laborer in the Temperance cause. Besides his work\nas a preacher and pastor, he wrote and published two books,--\"The Book\nof Abraham,\" and \"The Pilgrimage of a Pilgrim.\" While marked with the\nquaintness of the author, they are direct and telling in their setting\nforth of Christian truth.\n\n\nRev. CHARLES SPEAR was a remarkable man; a printer by trade, a\nphilanthropist by nature, a self-sacrificing Christian by divine\ngrace. He was quiet and unostentatious, but persistent as fate in his\nwork. He was a Massachusetts man. He commenced life in humble\ncondition, and his constant liberality to every object and form of\ndistress kept him poor. His high religious zeal and strong\nphilanthropy forced him into the ministry, and into ministrations\nespecially connected with human degradation and suffering: the\nabandoned, the outcast, the down-trodden, the intemperate, and\nespecially the prisoner, were his parishioners. His absence of mind,\nforgetfulness of self, and disregard of (if not inability in)\npecuniary matters, often subjected him to painful embarrassments when\nfrom home; but that Providence on which he relied for aid as for\nguidance, always provided friends and means to deliver him. Mr.\nSpear's work on Capital Punishment, and his larger one on the \"Titles\nof Jesus,\" are readable and valuable books. Besides these, his\nliterary labors produced \"Voices from Prison,\" and a periodical called\n(like himself) \"The Prisoner's Friend,\" extended through several\nyears. Had he belonged to almost any other denomination than the\nUniversalist, he would have been much more widely known and more\nhighly praised during life, and his death would have been announced\nand his funeral attended with greater eulogy and higher honors.\nPrevious to his death he had been chaplain in the St. Elizabeth\nHospital in Washington, D.\u00a0C., where he died in April, 1863. His wife\nwas a faithful helper in his hospital work. His funeral services in\nWashington were attended by a Presbyterian (Dr. Sunderland). The body\nwas removed to Boston for burial.\n\n\nRev. JAMES W. PUTNAM, who died in Danvers, Mass., where he had been a\nbeloved and successful pastor, was a man of admirable qualities. He\nwas just past forty when he departed. Rev. Dr. Miner said of him, in\nan address on the funeral occasion, that he had known the deceased\ntwenty-four years before, when a pupil in New Hampshire,--a boy in\nyears, but a man in character:--\n\n  \"As a pastor for sixteen years in one parish, where he constantly\n  grew in strength, in the affections of his people, in the\n  opportunities for public usefulness, serving not only his parish,\n  but the town, the sure test of his worth is to be seen. His\n  character was so well rounded, so complete, so efficient in all\n  particulars, that no one trait seemed to predominate over another.\n  He was very modest and unassuming. When Tufts College conferred an\n  honorary degree upon him, it was so unexpected that, though he saw\n  the statement in the papers,--saw his own name,--he did not suspect\n  that it meant himself, but some other person! He had given the\n  highest evidence of his hold upon his people. Twice he represented\n  the town in the legislature, an experience which often breaks the\n  pastoral relation and sows the seed of disaffection. But he came\n  back from that official service to a united parish.\"\n\nHis settlement in Danvers was his only one. Calls to other parishes\nwith strong financial inducements were declined. He felt that the\npastoral relation should be broken as seldom as possible, a\nconsideration which, if more generally regarded, would be of great\nblessing to many churches.\n\n\nRev. JAMES W. DENNIS was pastor in Stoughton, Mass., for ten years. He\nwas justly and highly esteemed. Much afflicted with a painful and\nfatal disease, he had great conflict of mind because of his inability\nto meet all his duties as he desired; the sympathies of his people\nwere strongly enlisted in his behalf, and they shared with him in some\nmeasure his trials. He died in the triumphs of the unfailing hope of\nthe Gospel, and was buried by his friends of the church in the\ncemetery which his own words had helped to consecrate. \"It was an\naffecting sight,\" writes one, speaking of his funeral obsequies, \"and\na sure testimony of the profound esteem in which he was held. Little\nchildren, tearful women, and strong men were bowed in deepest grief. I\nshall never forget the appearance of one old patriarch who approached\nthe coffin with tottering steps, laid his hand upon the head of the\ndeceased, and then placing it upon his own forehead, turned away with\nan expression of the deepest sadness, as though he had lost a treasure\nnever to be replaced in this world. I saw him again at the cemetery,\nstanding at the door of the sepulchre, with eyes suffused, his gray\nhairs fluttering in the wind, and his head bowed in the attitude of\nprayer.\" Mr. Dennis died in 1863, aged thirty-eight.\n\n\nRev. HENRY B. SOULE was of Dover, Duchess Co., N.\u00a0Y. He was another\ninstance of \"the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties\" in his\nyouthful days. He was determined to educate himself, and through much\nanxiousness and privation and toiling he found his way in 1835 to\nClinton Liberal Institute in New York, where he was afterwards a\ntutor. The next year he was encouraged to prepare for the ministry by\nhis kind and honored friend, Rev. S.\u00a0R. Smith. His first work as a\npastor was at Fort Plain, N.\u00a0Y. He was subsequently at Troy, Utica,\nand in 1844 removed to Boston and became assistant pastor with Rev.\nHosea Ballou. Here he proved himself adequate to his position. His\nsermons were forcible, well arranged, and calculated to convince the\nunderstanding and enlist the affections. A year's pastorate in\nGloucester was a happy one. Then he was minister in Hartford, Conn.,\nwhere his first sermon was preached to forty-one, his second to\nsixty-four hearers, and his last to a crowded house. In 1852 his\nministry in Lyons, N.\u00a0Y., commenced. At the end of its first month he\nhad suddenly departed,--a victim of that fearful disease, small-pox.\nBut his bright life shed its radiance back upon many souls who had\nbeen blest by his ministries, and his name has since been an honored\none in our churches. His widow, who survived him, has won an honorable\nreputation in our church by her literary publications, and by her\ndevotion to our missionary interests under the auspices of the Woman's\nCentenary Association, of which she was the first president, and in\nwhose employ she has for three years labored faithfully as a\nmissionary in Scotland. An interesting biography of her husband was\nprepared by her and given to the public in 1852.\n\n\nRev. OBADIAH H. TILLOTSON, of New Hampshire, was an active worker in\nthe ministry; a successful pastor in Worcester, Mass., Hartford,\nConn., Northfield, Vt., and in other places. He departed this life in\n1863. He was a ready speaker, and was ardent and resolute in his\nministerial work. \"His ability,\" writes a friend, \"as a public debater\nwas signally shown in a protracted discussion (in Worcester) with a\nreligious opposer who was put forward to defeat him if possible. Four\nnights the contest went on, and the result was a complete success. He\nmore than met the expectations of his friends, and the opponent\nafterwards acknowledged that of all his contests (and he was a\ngladiator) Mr. Tillotson was the strongest opponent he had ever met.\nThere was much of sunshine in his soul, and it beamed out upon others\nin his social life. For a time he studied and practised law, but his\nold love for the ministry returning, he entered it again with renewed\nzeal, and continued earnest and faithful in its work unto the end.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  \"Thus bravely live heroic men,\n    A consecrated band;\n  Life is to them a battle-field,\n    Their hearts a holy-land.\"\n\n  TUCKERMAN.\n\n\nA highly-esteemed minister of our faith, and a vigorous and stirring\nadvocate of Christian reform, was Rev. ELHANAN W. REYNOLDS. Although\nhis career as minister and author was not long, the most valuable\nyears of his life were given to the work of promulgating the Gospel.\nHe was settled as pastor in Java, Sherman, Buffalo, Jamestown,\nWatertown, and Lockport, N.\u00a0Y.; in Norwich, Conn.; and Lynn, Mass. He\nwas a highly acceptable preacher, and wielded a fruitful and facile\npen. His little volume, \"The Records of Bubbleton Parish,\" is one of\nmuch interest in showing as it does the trials of Christian ministers\nand parishes because of the discordant elements in them, and in the\nvividness with which some of the characters in the particular parish\nat Bubbleton are drawn. But his best work, and one that evinces\nunmistakably the strong qualities of the writer's intellect and the\nsoundness of his orthodoxy in morals, is his volume entitled \"The True\nStory of the Barons of the South; or, the Rationale of the American\nConflict,\" issued in 1862. It is a compact but lively presentation of\nthe origin and growth of American slavery, from its inception with the\nVirginian colonists to the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion.\nIt is an unequivocal statement of facts, and an irresistible appeal to\nAmericans for the overthrow of the gigantic abomination of slavery,\nand the defence and maintenance of that freedom signified in the\nimmortal Declaration sent out by our Revolutionary fathers from this\nnation, to all the other nations of the earth. It is one of the\ntrumpet-calls to duty among the many that gave inspiration and life to\nthat desperate strife which sent American slavery to \"the receptacle\nof things lost on earth.\" Mr. Reynolds is worthy of honorable\nremembrance as one of the heroes of that strife. A discriminating\nwriter has said of him: \"As a preacher he was strong and often\nbrilliant; as a scholar his explorations were extensive, and his\nacquisitions the gold refined from innumerable heaps of dross,\npatiently searched out; and as a writer he was master of a style which\nwould have been his passport to the first literary circles of\nAmerica.\" He died at Milwaukee, Wis., August 31, 1868, aged\nthirty-nine years.\n\n\nRev. NATHANIEL GUNNISON, a native of New Hampshire, was ordained to\nthe ministry in 1837. He had entered it through much painstaking, and\nwas thoroughly in earnest in his work. He was pastor in New Hampshire,\nMassachusetts, and Maine, and for eight years in Halifax, N.\u00a0S., in\nwhich place he met with marked success. At one time the bishop of the\nEpiscopalian church assailed him, and, not having a correct knowledge\nof our doctrines, laid himself open to a searching review from Mr.\nGunnison. The controversy was a prolonged one, both oral and written,\nand the result was that the Episcopal church lost ground and members,\nand the Universalist church realized a corresponding increase. The\ncivil war in our country broke out towards the close of Mr. Gunnison's\npastorate. Halifax being in strong sympathy with the South, he stood\nalmost alone in his defence of the North, and gave offence to some of\nthe leading members of the society by his zealous exertions for the\nNorth while acting as Deputy Consul of the United States. He\nsubsequently removed to Maine, where he died of paralysis in 1871,\nwhile in the midst of his active labors. His son, Rev. A. Gunnison, of\nBrooklyn, N.\u00a0Y., pays this touching tribute to his honored parent:--\n\n  \"At the age of fifty-seven, the pastor of whom we speak was\n  paralyzed. Upon the early morning of the Sabbath, the secret blow\n  fell upon him, but yet he went to his work, and with half his body\n  dead went through his Sabbath service. Then came the weary months of\n  battling with death. Disease was stayed by the vigor of an\n  unconquerable will, and dragging his heavy limb, with right arm\n  lifeless at his side, he took up again the burden of his work....\n  The other day, in the lumber of a storage room, we found the old\n  trunk which contained the sermons of this veteran preacher, and\n  there upon the top a package of huge MSS. written in rude fashion,\n  unlike the singularly clear penmanship of the remaining mass. These\n  were the sermons written after the fell shock came to him, for at\n  fifty-eight years of age, finding that never again could the\n  accustomed hand hold the pen, the old man had with his left hand\n  learned to write, and until the last, week by week, the fresh sermon\n  came quick and vital from a brain which would not cease to work.\"\n\nHis busy ministry of thirty-four years was a Christian success.\n\n\nRev. JOHN MATHER AUSTIN was, on his mother's side, a descendant of the\nMathers distinguished in early colonial times, of which Cotton Mather\nis best known in history. He was born in Redfield, Oswego Co., N.\u00a0Y.,\nSept. 26, 1805, and died in Rochester, Dec. 20, 1880. The first\nfifteen years of his life were spent in Watertown, N.\u00a0Y., to which\nplace his parents moved during his infancy. He learned the art of\nprinting in early life, and while employed in it in Troy, N.\u00a0Y., he\nbecame a member of the Universalist society in that place. His\ninterest in religious truth became here stimulated to activity, so\nthat he studied for the ministry, and received fellowship at the\nHudson River Association in 1832. His first pastorate was in\nMontpelier, Vt., his next in South Danvers (now Peabody), Mass., when,\nafter a pastorate there of nine years, he was settled in Auburn,\nN.\u00a0Y., in 1844. In 1851 he resigned his pastorate in Auburn, and took\nthe editorship of the \"Christian Ambassador,\" then published at that\nplace.\n\nIn 1861 Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State during the\nadministration of President Lincoln, and a firm friend of Mr. Austin,\ntendered him the consulship of the West Indies, which was declined.\nThe consulship of Prince Edward's Island was afterwards offered him,\nwhich was also declined. In 1863 a commission was sent him, signed by\nSecretary of War Stanton, by which he was appointed paymaster in the\narmy with the rank of major. Mr. Austin was reluctant to relinquish\nhis work in the ministry, but after much persuasion he entered the\ngovernmental service and remained until 1866, when he was mustered\nout. After leaving the army he resumed his labors in the ministry,\npreaching occasionally until 1875, when the disease began to develop\nwhich ultimately caused his death.\n\nFor many years Mr. Austin was probably the most prominent preacher in\nCentral New York. He was a profound theologian, and a preacher and\ndebater of great power. His theological discussion at Genoa with Rev.\nMr. Holmes of the Methodist church gave him a wide notoriety. So ably\nconducted was it on the part of Mr. Austin that, it was said, many who\nheard him were converted to his views.\n\nSecretary Seward at one time began to write a life of John Quincy\nAdams, which was neglected and finally abandoned for want of time to\ncomplete it. At the request of Mr. Seward, Mr. Austin undertook and\nfinished the work. He was the author of several books of merit; among\nthem, \"A Voice to the Young,\" \"Austin on the Attributes,\" \"Golden\nSteps for the Young,\" and \"A Voice to the Married.\" Mr. Austin had\nexcellent traits of character. His mind was keenly logical, his\nemotional nature was deep and strong, and his social qualities were\neminently attractive.\n\n\nRev. TOBIAS H. MILLER. A rare man was he, of clear intellect,\nunfailing memory, tenderest sympathies, always thinking, always ready\nto talk, and always talking well. He was deeply religious, but his\nreligion was of the cheerful, hopeful kind. He was born and had his\nearly rearing in \"the old town by the sea\"[46]--Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., and\nwas blessed with the watchful care of a pious and faithful mother. He\nwas early instructed in the Puritanic orthodoxy of New England, and\ngrew up to be an approved expounder of it. For a time he was editor of\nthe \"Observer,\" the Orthodox weekly journal of New Hampshire, and was\na kind of active adjutant-general of the forces of that division of\nthe church militant in his native State. He was always to be trusted\nin his work, and was held in high esteem by all his brethren as by all\nwho best knew him. In later life his Scriptural investigations led him\nto accept the doctrine of Universalism as the truth of God, in which\ndoctrine he continued as an acceptable preacher to the end of his\ndays. His espousal of Universalism did not lessen the respect of his\nformer brethren for him. They never seemed to doubt the purity of his\nmotives nor the excellency of his Christian character. He stood in\ntheir pulpits from time to time during his later years.\n\nHe was a devoted Christian reformer. He became interested in the\n\"Washingtonian\" temperance movement in Portsmouth in 1841, and\nwhenever opportunity offered gave his word and work to promote the\ncause of total abstinence from all intoxicants. In the anti-slavery\nagitation his voice was raised for freedom, and soon after the\nProclamation of Emancipation made by President Lincoln he repeated, in\nthe Universalist pulpit in Portsmouth, an address which he wrote and\ndelivered nearly thirty years before on the subject of slavery, which\nshowed how accurately he had forecast the future and how his early\nauguries had been fulfilled.\n\nBeing a practical printer, soon after his arrival at manhood, while in\nNewburyport in the office of the \"Herald,\" he formed the acquaintance\nof John G. Whittier and William Lloyd Garrison. With the latter he\nstood side by side at the printer's case, and a strong life-long\nfriendship grew up between them. Mr. Garrison says of him:--\n\n  \"He was a very Benjamin Franklin for good sense and axiomatic\n  speech, in spirit always as fresh and pure as a new-blown rose. His\n  nature was large, generous, sympathetic, self-denying, reverent.\n  From his example I drew moral inspiration, and was signally aided in\n  my endeavors after ideal perfection and practical goodness. He was\n  as true to his highest convictions of duty as the needle to the\n  pole.\"\n\nMr. Miller was a terse and ready writer. A journalist speaks of him as\none \"who with a stroke of his pen would illumine dark themes and\nconfound vain philosophers, and who blended the clear vision of a\nFranklin with the modesty of a child.\" He was born Aug. 10, 1801, and\ndied in Portsmouth, March 30, 1870.\n\n\nRev. MARTIN J. STEERE was originally from Rhode Island. He was for\nnearly twenty years a minister of marked ability and excellent\nreputation in the Free Baptist Church, and for some time the editor of\nits weekly journal, \"The Morning Star.\" Given to scriptural\ninvestigation, he anxiously, but slowly and cautiously, reasoned\nhimself into Universalism. Convinced that this was the New Testament\nGospel, it was his desire to make known the pre-eminent faith to\nothers who might be seeking religious truth. He soon issued his\n\"Footprints Heavenward; or, Universalism the More Excellent Way;\" a\nvolume in the form of letters, addressed to his former brethren in the\nministry, relating his travail of mind in search of Christian truth,\nand stating some of the evidences which led him to see \"the truth as\nit is in Jesus.\" The work has been read with interest and profit by\nmany. In 1859 Mr. Steere received the fellowship of the Universalist\nChurch, and subsequently had pastorates in Maine, Massachusetts, and\nConnecticut. He was a vigorous thinker, plain, direct, and impressive\nin his discoursing, and deeply devotional in spirit. One who knew him\nhas written: \"The continued tone of his spirit was restorative to the\nperplexed and desponding; his piety was cheerful, his deportment\nhumble. His religion was his life.\" His death, in the triumph of\nChristian faith, occurred at Athol, Mass., in January, 1877.\n\n\nRev. FRANKLIN S. BLISS was born Sept. 30, 1828, in Cheshire, Mass.,\nand died March 23, 1873, in Greensboro, N.\u00a0C., whither he had gone for\nthe benefit of his health. At the age of ten he removed with his\nfamily to Lanesboro, Mass., where two years afterwards his mother\ndied. At the age of eight an illness so affected his eyes that he\nbecame nearly blind, and when he began to regain his sight his hearing\nbecame impaired. At the age of sixteen, finding he could see by using\nvery powerful glasses, he applied himself to close study. Being soon\nprostrated, twice by fever, the foundation was laid for infirmities\nwhich attended him ever after. He became a believer in Universalism\nwhile on a sick bed, but did not avow his sentiments until some time\nafterward, when he resolved to enter the ministry. His family were at\nfirst strongly opposed to this course on his part, but they all\nafterwards became pleased with his success and reputation as a Gospel\nminister. After some time spent in school-teaching, in 1853 he entered\nthe Liberal Institute at South Woodstock, Vt. (then under the charge\nof Rev. J.\u00a0S. Lee), at which time he was described as a pale-faced,\nfeeble-looking young man, but with a firm will and settled purpose to\ndo the most and the best that was possible under the circumstances.\nHis decision of character, concentration of purpose, and love for the\nwork of his chosen profession, overcame all impediments, compensated\nfor lack of health, and rendered him eminently successful and useful\nas a Gospel minister. He was ordained at Enfield, N.\u00a0H., in 1855, in\nwhich place he ministered for two years. Subsequently he removed to\nBarre, Vt., where he labored for fifteen years, with exemplary\nfidelity and abundant success. In him we have a striking instance of\nthe inward force of Christian character to overcome bodily infirmities\nand accomplish wonders in that ministry whose most eminent apostle\nsaid, \"I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.\"\n\nIn the winter of 1871, Mr. Bliss sought release from pastoral labor\nand care, and for some time tried a southern climate for aid. But the\nhope proved illusory. His earthly work was done, and well done. A\nfriend with him at the departure writes: \"I wish you could have\nwitnessed his last days--and his beautiful death. It was glorious.\"\n\n\nRev. RUSSELL TOMLINSON had a long and unbroken pastorate of\ntwenty-seven years in Plymouth, Mass. He was born in Newtown, Conn.,\nOct. 1, 1808, and died in Plymouth, March 4, 1878. In his early\nministry he entered the field as a missionary in Western New York,\nwhere he labored for two years, travelling on horseback hundreds of\nmiles, and preaching wherever opportunity offered, receiving slender\ncompensation for his services, and often none at all. He was settled\nat Le Roy, Buffalo, Ridgeway, and Rochester, N.\u00a0Y., before his removal\nto Plymouth. He resigned his charge in the latter place in 1866, and\nthenceforth devoted himself to the practice of medicine of the\nHom\u0153opathic School, to which he had previously given much study,\nobtaining a fair practice and a good reputation.\n\nMr. Tomlinson was a very positive man, of strong will and inflexible\npurpose. He was of such dignified demeanor that strangers were likely\nto suppose him cold and austere in his nature; but those who knew him\nintimately speak in highest terms of his kind and tender heart, that\nwas instant in response to any appeal from the unfortunate, the sick,\nor afflicted. After his decease, instances of his unostentatious\ncharity came to light that were never suspected by his nearest\nfriends. He was strongly interested in the temperance reform, and was\nthrough life an earnest and unflinching worker in that cause. He was\ninterested and active in educational enterprises, serving for many\nyears on the school board of Plymouth, and under Governor Boutwell he\nwas appointed a member of the School Board of Massachusetts. He was a\npreacher of no ordinary talent, an honest and devout Christian, a\nfaithful worker in the Church, to the end that he might induce men to\nbecome followers of Him whose religion is not in \"the letter that\nkilleth, but in the Spirit that giveth life.\"\n\n\nRev. DE WITT CLINTON TOMLINSON was born in Gaines, Orleans County,\nN.\u00a0Y., Aug. 24, 1824, and died at Wedron, Ill., July 27, 1881. He\nprepared for the ministry at Clinton, N.\u00a0Y., under the supervision of\nRev. Dr. T.\u00a0J. Sawyer, and began to preach in 1846. He had twelve\npastorates in New York and at the West, also one in Boston, Mass.,\nduring twenty years of his ministry. He was at Chicago, Ill., in 1880,\nand maintained his residence there until his death. He was a vigorous,\nfervent, and faithful man. With a physique that seemed to defy fatigue\nand disease, he was able to do a vast amount of pastoral and other\nwork. He had a peculiar aptness for the financial work of the church.\nHe was employed in soliciting aid successively for the Canton\nTheological School, for the Murray Fund, and for Buchtel College in\nOhio, and his labors for each were successful. His last employment was\nas State Superintendent for Illinois, in which he was engaged nearly\nup to the time of his death. In the midst of his strength and\nusefulness, he was stricken with disease at a grove meeting, where,\nalthough slightly indisposed, he preached what proved his last sermon.\nHis work had been well done.\n\n\nRev. LEVI C. MARVIN, born in Alstead, N.\u00a0H., in 1808, was one of those\nenergetic men who achieve their position in life by their own unaided\nefforts. His first work in a literary course beyond the common schools\nwas done in an academy in Chesterfield, N.\u00a0H., in the fall of 1828.\nThe next year he is a teacher in Rhinebeck, N.\u00a0Y. In 1831, being\ninvited by Rev. I.\u00a0D. Williamson to enter his household, as a student\nof theology, he accepted, and after some months commenced preaching.\nHe was ordained in 1834. The next year he removed to Newark, N.\u00a0J.,\nwhere he had a pastorate of more than three years, when he went to\nMissouri, and took up his residence in Arrow Rock, Saline County. A\nfew years later found him a resident of Booneville, Cooper County,\nwhere he held a discussion with Rev. Mr. Slocum, a Presbyterian. The\ndiscussion embraced twelve lectures on each side, and extended with\nunabated interest through six weeks. In 1848 he removed to\nJacksonville, Ill., where he had a discussion with Rev. C.\u00a0W. Lewis,\nMethodist. In 1850 he became a resident of Springfield, Ill., where he\nmade the acquaintance and secured the warm personal friendship of the\nlate President Lincoln. From that place, in 1856, he returned to\nMissouri, and made in Clinton his permanent home. After his return he\nhad two public discussions: one at Springfield, Ill., with Rev. Mr.\nJohnson, Campbellite, and the other at Georgetown, Mo., with Rev.\nW.\u00a0W. Suddath, Presbyterian.\n\nMr. Marvin was an exceedingly hard toiler. Much of his ministry was\nspent as an itinerant, with but small remuneration, so that extra\nefforts in teaching school were necessary on his part. His moral\nuprightness, his genial nature and social qualities were of the\nhighest order, and secured him many friends. During the rebellion he\nwas a strong Union man,--the only man in the county where he lived who\ngave a vote for Abraham Lincoln for President. His efforts in behalf\nof the Union awakened a bitterness of feeling often endangering his\nperson and life. During that period he was for two sessions a member\nof the Legislature of Missouri. At one session he was chosen Speaker\nof the House. At the same time his brother, Hon. A.\u00a0C. Marvin, was a\nmember of the Senate and acting Lieutenant-Governor. On one occasion\nthe two houses met for the transaction of some special business, when\nthe unusual scene occurred of two brothers presiding over the joint\nsession. He was a strong, pure-minded, and conscientious Christian\nreformer, religiously and politically. His last days of long\nconfinement and much pain were cheered with the hopeful light and\ncomfort of that Gospel which he so loved to commend to his fellow-men.\nHe died July 5, 1878.\n\n\nRev. GILES BAILEY, born in Acworth, N.\u00a0H., in 1815, was a diligent\nscholar and an able preacher. He acquired considerable knowledge of\nthe classics, receiving instruction from Hon. Horace Maynard. At the\nage of seventeen he began a successful career as a school teacher in\nVermont and New Hampshire, and was through life warmly interested in\neducational movements. After pursuing his theological studies with the\nlate Rev. Lemuel Willis, he was ordained in Winthrop, Me., in 1840. He\nwas settled in Winthrop for two years, then moved to Brunswick, where\nhe remained seven years, then lived three years in Oldtown, three in\nDexter, two in Claremont, N.\u00a0H.; then returned to Maine, and lived\neight years in Gardiner and two in Belfast, and finally, in the fall\nof 1869, he removed to Reading, Pa., where after nearly nine years of\nfaithful labor, he closed a noble and useful life.\n\nAdherence to right and principle was a marked feature in the character\nof this \"good minister of Jesus Christ.\" He was strongly interested in\nall reform movements, and the energetic boldness of his position on\nthe anti-slavery question is well remembered by his associates. His\naddresses on that subject were so filled with burning indignation and\ntender pathos, that all hearts were stirred by his eloquence. In\naddition to his regular work as a preacher and pastor, he was a\nfrequent and valuable contributor to our denominational papers. He\nwrote, many years ago, a series of letters over the signature of\n\"Lucius,\" for the \"Christian Ambassador,\" which attracted much\nattention. They revealed unusual literary ability and grasp of\nthought, and excited much curiosity in regard to their authorship. For\na time he occupied the editorial chair of the \"Universalist.\" He has\nleft a clean, manly, and luminous record.\n\n\nRev. JOHN E. PALMER, who lived to the great age of ninety years, was a\nnative of Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H. He was by trade a printer, and became a\nconvert to the doctrines of the \"Christian Baptists,\" under the\nministrations of the noted Elias Smith. He began to preach in the\nfellowship of that sect, and was ordained in 1809. The earlier years\nof his ministry were spent in Warren, N.\u00a0H., and Danville, Vt. It was\nwhile living in the latter place that he outgrew his early belief in\nendless punishment, and came to an undoubting faith that God will have\nall men to be saved. He was suddenly arrested by a circumstance which\ncalled his attention to a comparison of his own faith with that of the\n\"more excellent way\" in which afterwards his footsteps were directed.\nA very respectable young man, who had never been converted, while on a\nfishing excursion, was drowned. It was a deeply afflictive blow to the\nsurviving family and friends. Mr. Palmer knew that he should be called\nupon to preach the funeral sermon. He was greatly distressed. What\ncould he do? The apostles, he saw, had a faith which enabled them to\ncomfort those who were \"in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they\nthemselves were comforted of God.\" Had he that faith? He says: \"I\nslept not a wink that night. I walked the house, I read my Bible, I\nprayed for light; and I never preached the doctrine of endless woe\nagain.\"\n\nIn 1819 Mr. Palmer was called to the charge of the Universalist\nSociety in Barre, Vt., where he labored for eighteen years, scattering\nthe seed of truth over a wide region, for he was an indefatigable\nmissionary all through his life. On leaving Barre, he lived two years\nin Waitsfield, Vt., and then gave himself to missionary work in\nNorthern Vermont and New Hampshire. One who was well acquainted with\nhis ministry writes of him:--\n\n  \"We can vouch for the devout, evangelical spirit of his services,\n  the logic of his sermons, the perspicuity of his style, his fluency\n  of speech, the impressiveness of his delivery. He spoke always\n  extemporaneously, but his discourses were always coherent, sound,\n  and clear. There was an evident sincerity and earnestness in the man\n  that attracted the hearer's attention, and there was a natural\n  tremulousness in his voice that gave a peculiar pathos to his\n  discourses. There were in his words a certain indefinable grace and\n  force which are the gift of God, and not communicable by art or\n  learning. He was a man of deep religious feeling. Though he had\n  decided opinions, yet he was the soul of candor and forbearance in\n  his treatment of 'those of the contrary part.' He was a faithful and\n  true witness.\"\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM W. WILSON was of Stoddard, N.\u00a0H., born in 1819. An\naccident, by which he lost one of his hands at the age of thirteen,\nturned his attention to books and study. He was educated in the\nOrthodox faith, as it is called, but was awakened to a special\ninterest in the subject of religion by listening to the preaching of\nRev. J.\u00a0V. Wilson (not a relative) in his native town. Acquiring an\nacademic education, and becoming a believer in Christian Universalism,\nhe began to preach at the age of twenty-two. He was ordained in 1842\nat Laconia, N.\u00a0H., preaching in that town about two years. He was\nafterwards two years in Centre Harbor, four years in West Haverhill,\nMass., five years in Dover, Me., and in Southbridge, Mass., eight\nyears. In 1867 he went to Chatham, Mass., but was compelled by\nill-health to resign his charge. In 1870 he removed to Oxford, Mass.,\nbut after two years was again compelled to rest. In 1873 he was\nstricken with a partial paralysis, and from that time, though not\nentirely helpless, was unable to go on with his ministerial work.\nHowever, he never ceased to take a deep interest in the welfare of his\nparish and of the denomination. He was a great sufferer during the\nlast days of his life, but was constantly hopeful in the light of his\nholy faith. He departed this life June 19, 1874. He was quite well\nknown to our clergymen in New England, and beloved and honored for his\nmany virtues and for his faithful ministry. He was a Christian\nreformer, was genial and utterly sincere in all his work, and leaves a\nfragrant and blessed memory.\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM R. CHAMBERLIN, born in Brookfield, N.\u00a0H., Nov. 2, 1816,\nwas a man of marked ability, and a very acceptable preacher. In early\nmanhood he was a successful school-teacher. He was ordained as a\npreacher in Dighton, Mass., in 1847, and was induced to go to\nAbington, Va., and engage in missionary work in that State. For two\nyears he preached in the Virginia backwoods,--in its highways and\nbyways, in school-houses, mills, and log cabins,--enduring great\nhardship, encountering many dangers, risking his life from violence,\nand depending for support solely on Divine Providence. In the autumn\nof 1849 he went to Cincinnati, O., and for twelve years was employed\nas a book-keeper. But though engaged during the week in secular\npursuits, his activity in behalf of his faith did not in the least\ndecline. He connected himself with the Second Universalist Church in\nthat city, and for three years was superintendent of its Sunday\nschool. Subsequently he became superintendent of the school at the\nFirst Church, and held the position for seven years. It was in this\ncapacity that he was eminently useful and happy. His influence over\nchildren was unbounded; they were irresistibly drawn to him. He had a\nmost fertile imagination, and was ever ready with stories such as\nchildren love to hear. He laughed and wept by turns, and with these\nemotions the school was always in close sympathy. He had all the gifts\nof an improvisatore of the olden time.\n\nUneasy in his work out of the ministry, in 1867 he laid aside his\naccountant's pen, and entered it again. He was settled successively at\nMendota, Ill.; Vinton, Council Bluffs, and Dubuque, Iowa; and at\nClinton, N.\u00a0Y., at which last place he closed his earthly life. His\nwork in Clinton was very successful. He attached his people to him by\nhis amiable disposition, his unselfish spirit, and devotion to his\nwork. His sermons were always compact and often highly polished.\nIntellectual and cultivated people always admired and enjoyed them.\n\nWhen in 1873 he went on a kind of missionary tour to England and\nScotland, wherever he preached, his sermons were highly spoken of, and\nit is known that they impressed on those who heard them a high idea of\nAmerican Universalism.\n\nFor the last three or four years of his life he was a great sufferer\nfrom an incurable disease, but he worked steadily on until nearly the\nend. His last service was held in his own house, in March, 1876, when\nhe arose from his sick-bed and gave the right hand of fellowship to\ntwenty-one persons, baptizing seven, and consecrating the babe of a\nfriend. The announcement of his physician that his end was near he\nhailed with joy, and thus entered into the heavenly rest.\n\n[46] See Harper's Monthly Mag. for October, 1874.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  \"Like angels sent from fields above,\n  Be yours to shed celestial light.\"\n\n  A. BALFOUR.\n\n\nRev. Samuel C. Loveland resided nearly all his lifetime in Vermont. He\nwas born in Gilsum, N.\u00a0H., in 1787. His opportunities for schooling\nwhile young were but few, but he improved them, as he had a strong\ndesire for study. He wished to be eminent as a scholar and linguist,\nbut from force of circumstances was self-taught. His parents had\nbecome deeply interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation about\nthe time of Mr. Winchester's return from England, who preached a few\ntimes in the region where they lived, and was followed soon by several\nothers. He early participated with them in their religious views and\nfeelings, and in due time became anxious to enter upon his studies for\nthe ministry. To this end he began the study of Greek. But as there\nwere no books in those days with English notes and definitions, it\nbecame requisite first to study Latin. Finding a part of an old Latin\nBible, with a grammar and dictionary he plodded on through several\nchapters. By close application he was able generally to read out a\nwhole verse in _half a day_. Words that he could not trace were\ncarefully noted down for further developments to bring to light. At\nlength he was enabled to read the Greek Testament. He received\nfellowship at the General Convention at Cavendish, Vt., 1812. He\nafterwards studied Hebrew, and prepared and published, at great labor,\na Greek and English lexicon of the New Testament. The degree of A.\u00a0M.\nwas conferred on him by Middlebury College. He afterwards made himself\nquite well acquainted with several other languages, Chaldee, Syriac,\nArabic, &c. At one time he published a work in defence of Universalism\nentitled \"The Christian Repository,\" which was commenced at Woodstock,\nVt., in 1821. The work afterwards passed into other hands, and was for\nyears the weekly Universalist journal of the State. In the latter part\nof his life he commenced a reply to an infidel work by Robert Taylor\nof England, entitled \"The Diegesis,\" in the columns of the \"Star in\nthe East,\" issued at Concord, N.\u00a0H. A few ably written chapters were\nissued, when he was forced to relinquish the work in consequence of\nfailing health.\n\nIn 1827 and onward he became interested in political affairs, which\nfor a time lessened his influence as a preacher. But he was\nconscientious in this step. His course was successful and honorable.\nHe represented the town of Reading, Vt., in the State legislature, and\nhis county in the council; he was a judge of the county court, and\nheld several other offices of honor and responsibility. During the\nlast ten or more years of his life he devoted his whole time to his\nbooks and the ministry. He died at South Hartford, N.\u00a0Y., of\nparalysis, April 8, 1854, leaving the record of a true and noble\nChristian life.\n\n\nRev. DAVID PICKERING was a native of Richmond, N.\u00a0H., the birthplace\nof the elder Hosea Ballou. He joined the Freewill Baptists at an early\nage, and was very active in their meetings and in the promotion of\ntheir church interests. He was led to embrace the doctrine of\nUniversalism under the preaching of Rev. Paul Dean, in Barre, Vt. He\nentered the ministry in 1809, a very acceptable and much admired\npreacher. His first settlements were in Shrewsbury, Vt., and Lebanon,\nN.\u00a0H. He was afterwards in Hudson, N.\u00a0Y., and in 1823 took charge of\nthe First Universalist Society in Providence, R.\u00a0I., where he remained\neight or ten years. As a preacher and writer he had few equals. He\ncompiled and published a hymn-book, and conducted and edited with much\nability a Universalist paper, entitled \"The Christian Telescope,\" from\n1824 to 1828; also one volume of \"The Gospel Preacher\" in 1828. While\nin Providence, he delivered a course of lectures in favor and in\ndefence of \"Revealed Religion,\" which were issued in book form, and\nare very creditable to the author, and a valuable contribution to the\nChristian Evidences. Rev. James Wilson, pastor of the Broad Street\nCongregational Church in Providence, had made some very severe\nstatements against Mr. Pickering's ministry, and advised his people by\nall means to keep themselves away from it. When, however, this volume\nwas published, he read it attentively, and took occasion to say to his\ncongregation that, whereas he had warned them against the preaching of\nMr. Pickering, he wished to call their especial attention to this\nbook, and assured them that the reading of it would be really\nprofitable to them. Mr. Pickering was very agreeable in social life,\nand had many warm friends. He had some severe trials in his last days,\nand departed this life in Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 6, 1859.\n\n\nFrom 1830 to 1846 Rev. GEORGE ROGERS was an active itinerant and\nsometimes pastor in different States of the Union. He was at first\nwith the Methodists, and came into the Universalist ministry, in the\nvicinity of Philadelphia, in 1830, preaching his first Universalist\nsermon in the Lombard Street Church, where Rev. A.\u00a0C. Thomas was\npastor. He was for a time settled in Brooklyn, Pa., then he itinerated\nin the States of New York and Connecticut; and afterwards journeyed\nWest, and ministered to the Universalist Society in Cincinnati, Ohio.\nHere the field of his labors widened indefinitely. His \"Memoranda,\" a\nvolume full of incident and adventure, issued in 1845, gives us the\naccount of his varied experiences in city, town, country place, and\nwilderness; from New England to New Orleans, from Pennsylvania to the\nthen farthest West, preaching the Gospel of God's impartial grace in\nall available places and at all available times; holding discussions,\nmeeting rebuffs of bigotry and the pitiable opposition of ignorance\nand sectarian hate; but in all and through all self-possessed,\npatient, never losing heart in the mission on which he was persuaded\nhis heavenly Father had sent him. His \"Memoranda\" is an admirable book\nfor the family library.\n\nMr. Rogers had great aptness in adapting himself to circumstances in\nhis pioneer work. Sometimes a belated hearer would drop in when he was\nhalf through a discourse, and interrupt him with the honest question\nas to his text and topic, that he might better apprehend the speaker's\nmessage; a request which the preacher would very kindly answer, and\nthen proceed with his discoursing. Once, when preaching in Lexington,\nKy., he was greatly disturbed by people going out after he had begun\nhis sermon. Suddenly stopping in his discourse, he said: \"My friends,\nI have always noticed that people who go out of church during service,\nas a rule have more brains back of their ears than they have in front\nof them; and if you don't believe it, just notice the next person that\ngoes out!\" It is needless to say that no persons put their heads up\nfor examination after that.\n\nUnder similar circumstances, when once preaching in Baltimore, he\nsaid: \"My friends, if any person here tonight finds himself in better\nsociety than he is accustomed to keep, I hope he will try to endure it\nuntil the services are out!\" As in the former instance, this sharp\nrebuke was effectual.\n\nIt is seldom that profanity receives so sharp and witty a reproof as\nwas administered by Mr. Rogers to a Tennessee boatman. One day, when\nseeking for a place where he could safely ford a small river, he\nsought information from a person whom he saw upon the opposite side,\nand the following dialogue ensued:--\n\n_Rogers._--\"Hollo, stranger! Can you tell me if there is any place about\nhere where I can safely ford?\"\n\n_Stranger._--\"Go to hell!\"\n\n_Rogers._--\"What is that you say?\"\n\n_Stranger._--\"Go to hell!\"\n\n_Rogers._--\"What? Where is that place you speak of? I am a stranger in\nthese parts; can I reach it tonight?\"\n\nThis witty retort so amused the stranger that he courteously told Mr.\nRogers that he was the ferryman, and that if he would drive back to\nthe ferry he would take him across. When subsequently he offered the\nferryman the accustomed toll, it was flatly refused. \"No,\" said the\nferryman, \"I take no toll from you. You are the funniest man I ever\nrowed across this drink. I take no toll from you.\" Thus a witty answer\nturned away wrath.\n\nHe was in presence a modest, meek man, with thin voice as a speaker,\nbut clear and profound in his discoursing, and in religious debate\nwary, keen and pointed in his reasoning, and, like Apollos, \"mighty in\nthe Scriptures.\" Soon after his last visit to New England, in 1846,\nhis death took place in Cincinnati. Rev. A.\u00a0C. Thomas, who was present\nat his departure, writes: \"The valley of death was radiant by reason\nof the glory beyond. We conveyed his body to the quiet burial ground\nin Delhi, near Cincinnati. I had introduced him to the Universalist\nministry, and it fell to my lot to deliver the funeral sermon. A\nmonumental obelisk was placed on his grave.\"\n\n\nAmong the active ministers of Universalism in the Southern States from\n1831 to 1875 was Rev. LEWIS F.\u00a0W. ANDREWS, M.\u00a0D., a son of Rev. John\nAndrews, an eminent minister and journalist of the Presbyterian\nChurch. He was favored by his father with the advantages of a\nclassical education, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at\nTransylvania University, Lexington, Ky. He practised as a physician in\nCleveland, Ohio, and in the region round about Pittsburg, Pa. His\nattention was first called to the claims of Universalism on hearing a\nsermon by Rev. J.\u00a0C. Waldo, in Augusta, Ky. Mr. Andrews had requested\nthe preacher to discourse on the parable of the Sheep and Goats. He\ndid not suppose the minister able to give a reasonable interpretation\nof it in the light of the Universalist faith. He was greatly\ndisappointed, however, and though he came a doubter, he remained to\naccept thankfully and joyfully the doctrine of the preacher, for he\nprofessed to have been converted by that sermon. He soon afterwards,\nby the aid of Rev. Mr. Waldo, then of Cincinnati, entered the\nministry, and in 1832 became pastor of the Second Universalist Church\nin Philadelphia. In 1834 he travelled extensively in the South,\nvisiting New Orleans, Mobile, and Montgomery. In the last-named city\nhe gathered a society and started the \"Gospel Evangelist,\" a paper\nwhich was subsequently moved to Charleston, S.\u00a0C., and Dr. Andrews\nbecame pastor of the Universalist Society in that city. In 1836-7 he\nwas senior editor of the \"Southern Pioneer and Gospel Visitor,\" then\npublished in Baltimore, Md., it having been founded in 1832 by Rev.\nO.\u00a0A. Skinner. After this removal to the far South, Dr. Andrews\npublished the \"Evangelical Universalist.\" Like that persistent\nitinerant, George Rogers, he journeyed extensively in the Southern\nStates, preaching wherever a door of opportunity was opened to him.\nThe \"Universalist Register\" said of him: \"In labors abundant, in long\nand frequent missionary journeys, and in the midst of opposition and\ngreat tribulations, he, like our other Southern preachers, had to\nfight his way in the promulgation of the doctrine of a world's\nsalvation. Dr. Andrews was steadfast in his Universalism to the last.\nHe was generous, free-hearted, liberal, almost to a fault. His\nprodigal generosity tended to improvidence. The marked trait of his\nmind was activity. All he could know he grasped at a glance. Hence,\nthough not profound, he was ready for all encounters.\" He died\nsuddenly at his home in Americus, Ga., March 16, 1875, in the\nseventy-third year of his age.\n\n\nRev. CHARLES W. MELLEN was a worthy minister and pastor in\nMassachusetts for twenty-seven years. Simple and unostentatious in his\nmanners, he was thoroughly consecrated to his work. A clear and strong\nwriter and impressive speaker, his discourses were characterized by\nsound sense and earnestness. He worked from love of his calling. He\nwas hopeful and active in the temperance and anti-slavery reforms, and\nwas a son of consolation in his ministries with the sorrowing,\nafflicted, and bereaved, who looked to him for sympathy. He passed\nfrom this life in Taunton, Mass., while pastor there, in 1866, aged\nforty-eight.\n\n\nRev. HENRY A. EATON came into the ministry after having been a devoted\nand faithful member of the Universalist Sunday-school in Malden,\nMass., during the pastorate of Rev. J.\u00a0G. Adams. He was born in South\nReading (now Wakefield), Mass., Nov. 27, 1825, the youngest of seven\nchildren, and lost his mother at an early age. He was an apt scholar,\nbut at sixteen was compelled to earn his livelihood, which he did by\nserving in a store for two years, and afterwards by setting up for\nhimself in Newburyport. Resolving to enter the ministry, he left his\nsecular employment, and spent some time in Dr. T.\u00a0J. Sawyer's\nTheological Class in Clinton, N.\u00a0Y., and studied also with his\nbrother, Rev. E.\u00a0A. Eaton, until he preached his first sermon. He\nfirst settled in Hanson, Mass., afterwards at East Bridgewater,\nMilford, East Cambridge, and Waltham, Mass., and in Meriden, Conn.\nOverworking and injured health compelled most of these changes, for in\neach place he was much esteemed for his labors and beloved by many\nfriends. The illness and decease of his worthy wife, at East\nCambridge, and his devoted attention to her night and day, exhausted\nhis vital powers, and bronchitis, followed by h\u00e6morrhage from the\nlungs, finally compelled him to abandon the ministry. He retired to\nWorcester, and engaged in business for the support of himself and\nchildren, struggling manfully with various difficulties. Having\nprovided for his children, and arranged all his affairs, he calmly met\ndeath, cheered and strengthened by the unfailing hope of the Gospel,\nMay 26, 1861, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. He was a man of\ndeep consecration, of most attractive social qualities, whose memory\nwill be sacredly cherished by those who best knew him. His only son,\nRev. Charles H. Eaton, is the successor of Rev. Dr. Chapin in the\nministry of the Fourth Universalist Church in New York city.\n\n\nRev. W.\u00a0A.\u00a0P. DILLINGHAM was a son of Maine, and a graduate of the\nHarvard Divinity School. He had pastoral settlements in Augusta,\nWaterville, Dover, and Norridgewock, Me., and Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H. For a\ntime he became interested in the Swedenborgian Church, and entered its\nministry, but without changing his views as to the final destiny of\nmen. While in this connection, he writes: \"I never preached the\neternity of the hells, nor any doctrine inconsistent with the divine\nbenevolence, and I never heard Universalism or Universalists attacked\nor spoken of in derogatory terms as to their moral influence by some\nchurch people, without putting in a square defence of those whom I\nknew only to respect, and who had treated me with a consideration\nbeyond my deserts.\" In due time he returned to his own church, with\nthe honest confession that he had found no better, more conscientious,\nspiritual, intellectual, or tolerant people than those he had left.\nWhile in Waterville, he represented the town for two years, and was\nchosen Speaker of the House of Representatives the second year. Other\npositions of public trust were held by him, all of which he honored.\nHe was active in business, \"fervent in spirit,\" and devoutly\nreligious. Few men had better qualities for a public speaker. With a\ntall, dignified, imposing presence, and a voice of extraordinary\ncompass, richness, and power, his speech was impressive and effective.\nHe was suddenly stricken down with acute pneumonia, and died in 1871,\naged forty-six.\n\n\nA comparatively brief but very active ministry was that of JOHN GLASS\nBARTHOLOMEW, D.\u00a0D. He was born in Pompey, Onondaga Co., N.\u00a0Y., Feb.\n28, 1834. He had the benefit of a good common school and academical\neducation, was a lover of books and of intellectual effort. His\nparents being Universalists, he was sent to the Clinton Liberal\nInstitute, and after a time prepared himself for the ministry. He\nfirst preached in his native town in 1853 to great acceptance, those\nwho heard him being quite convinced that he had not mistaken his\ncalling. After preaching for a few years in Upper Lisle, Broome Co.,\nin Oxford, Chenango Co., N.\u00a0Y., and in the city of Aurora, Ill., he\nbecame pastor of the Universalist Society in Roxbury, Mass., where his\nministry continued from July, 1860, to January, 1866. During this\npastorate the parish was carried prosperously through a season of\npeculiar trial, and the membership of both the church and society\nconsiderably increased. In the year last named he accepted the\ninvitation of the Greene Avenue Church, Brooklyn, N.\u00a0Y., to become\ntheir minister. The expectations of those who had called him were\nhigh, and his pulpit efforts fully met them, but adverse circumstances\nprevented that prosperity all were desiring. The church building was\ninadequate to the occasion, and a failure to unite with a remnant of\nthe old \"Church of the Restoration\" so disheartened the minister that\nhe turned to a new field of work to which he had been invited in\nAuburn, N.\u00a0Y. His ministry here was highly successful. His influence\nreached beyond the city in which he labored, rendering his work\npeculiarly attractive. He subsequently removed to Syracuse, where for\nsome months he highly enjoyed his pastorate. His biographer, Dr. I.\u00a0M.\nAtwood, writes of him: \"Crowds flocked to his ministrations, and he\nseemed animated by extraordinary energies. But gradually he became\naware of some insidious malady repeating its attacks on his vigorous\nconstitution.\" He sought various means to master it, but in vain. Once\nor twice he rallied, under new treatment and diet, and came up\nsurprisingly. He made a visit of two weeks to his old friends in\nRoxbury and Boston, but was all the time failing, and with difficulty\nreached his home in Newark, N.\u00a0J., where he departed for the better\nlife, April 14, 1874. His mind was on his work to the last, but the\nunfailing hope cheered and sustained him. He was a preacher of\nremarkably magnetic power.\n\n\nOne of the most noted of Christian ministers in the present century\nwas Rev. EDWIN HUBBELL CHAPIN, D.\u00a0D., LL.\u00a0D., of the Universalist\nChurch. He was born in Union Village, Washington County, N.\u00a0Y., Dec.\n29, 1814, and died Dec. 26, 1880, in the city of New York. In his\nchildhood he became a resident, with his parents, of Vermont, where he\nreceived his academic course of studies in Bennington. His father, a\nrigid Calvinist, trained his son in the traditional theology of their\nancestors; but the creed proved too narrow for him to be satisfied\nwith it. In 1836, while with his father (an artist), who was on a\nprofessional visit to Utica, N.\u00a0Y., he first had access to a\ncollection of books teaching a more consistent interpretation of the\nScriptures, which he read with avidity. He attended the church of our\nlarger faith there, and in due time became convinced that Christian\nUniversalism was the Gospel of the New Testament. After attending to\nthe study of the law for a short time, he gave it up, and accepted the\nposition of associate editor of the \"Evangelical Magazine and Gospel\nAdvocate.\" His powers as a speaker and thinker soon becoming evident,\nhe was urged to enter the ministry, which after much serious and\nanxious reflection he concluded to do, and began his preparation\naccordingly. His first sermon was delivered in a barn at Litchfield,\nand he continued preaching in the vicinity until his ordination in\n1837. In May, 1838, he became pastor of the \"Independent Christian\nChurch,\" composed of Universalists and Unitarians, in Richmond, Va.\n\nIn 1839, on his way to the meeting of the General Convention, Mr.\nChapin attended the funeral of Rev. Thomas F. King, at the\nUniversalist Church in Charlestown, Mass., where Mr. King had been\npastor. Complying with an invitation to preach in the church in the\nevening, the result was an invitation for him to supply the pulpit for\nthree months. In December, 1840, he was installed as pastor there. He\nwas next invited to become colleague of the venerable Hosea Ballou, in\nthe School Street Church, Boston, and was installed there Nov. 28,\n1845. Finally, he became pastor of the Fourth New York Society, and\nremained so until his death. He first occupied the pulpit of the\nMurray Street Church, but this proving too small, the society moved to\nAll Souls Church in Broadway, where it grew to such proportions that a\nnew and costly edifice was erected at the corner of Fifth Avenue and\nForty-fifth Street, dedicated Dec. 2, 1866, and named the \"Church of\nthe Divine Paternity.\" During the years of his matured strength he\nministered to his people, while thousands of every name and creed came\nfrom near and far to listen to his eloquent words. Here on Palm\nSunday, March 21, 1880, he preached the last time on earth. And here\non December 30 was gathered the most august assembly that ever sought\nto honor the memory of an American clergyman, every Christian sect of\nthe city being represented at the altar by its ablest divines, while\ngreat numbers of men and women of all denominations turned away unable\nto gain admittance to his obsequies. In the other churches where he\nhad been pastor, memorial services were held.\n\nThe public life of Dr. Chapin was one of incessant action. He was not\nmerely a church preacher. As another has written of him:--\n\n  \"His was a divided throne between the pulpit and the platform. For\n  many years he was active in the temperance and other reforms, and\n  his magnetic eloquence made him sought by all associations of the\n  kind that desired the presence of a crowd and a stirring and\n  persuasive appeal. Then for five-and-twenty years he was one of the\n  most prominent of a long catalogue of lecturers whom every lyceum\n  must hear.\"[47]\n\nIn his memorial address in Boston, Dr. Miner thus alluded to the\naptness and force of his appeals:--\n\n  \"I remember on one occasion, in the suburbs of Boston, when, after\n  discussing in a somewhat general way the great waste occasioned by\n  intemperance, he asked his auditory to reflect upon the waste that\n  would be involved in gathering up the cereals of the Commonwealth,\n  converting them into whiskey, taking the whiskey down to the end of\n  Long Wharf, knocking in the heads of the barrels, and spilling the\n  whole into the dock; and, said he, 'would it be any less a waste if\n  you were to strain that whiskey through human stomachs, and spoil\n  the strainer?' What more telling exhibition of the vital diabolism\n  of the whole business of making and drinking whiskey than is\n  involved in that simple illustration.\"\n\nThe address of Dr. Chapin before the Peace Congress at\nFrankfort-on-the-Main, in 1850, surpassing every other of the occasion\nin eloquence and power, made his name known through Europe, and placed\nhim among the greatest orators in the world. His religious character\nwas deep and strong, an embodiment of consecration to Christian\nprinciple.\n\nThe volumes containing Dr. Chapin's sermons, orations, and addresses\nare so many, and their character in substance and style so uniformly\nattractive, that we hardly dare venture on quotations from them, even\nif space were allowed us. As a specimen, however, we present his\nstrong and glowing words in conclusion of his Fourth of July oration,\nin 1854, at the Crystal Palace, in New York city.\n\n  \"Men constitute eras. Washington himself was the embodiment of the\n  Revolution, and may fitly personate to other men and other ages the\n  principles of that movement. But let not even the greatness of\n  Washington overshadow the merits of the least of those who labored\n  and sacrificed in that early struggle. Come up before us to-day from\n  many a battle-ground, from many a post of duty; from the perilous\n  enterprise and the lonely night-watch! The pageant of this hour\n  sinks from my sight. This temple of industry, with all its emblems\n  of civilization, dissolves into thin air. These tokens of a great\n  and prosperous people pass away. This magnificent city dwindles to a\n  provincial town. I am standing now upon some village green, on an\n  early summer morning, when the dew is on the grass, and the sun just\n  tips the hills. I see before me a little band clothed in the garb\n  that is now so venerable. There are the cocked hat, the continental\n  coat, the well-worn musket. They have turned away from their homes;\n  they have turned from the fields of their toil; they have heard the\n  great call of freedom and of duty, and before God and man they are\n  ready. Hark! it is the tap of a drum, and they move forward to the\n  tremendous issue. That drum-beat echoes around the world! That\n  movement was the march of an irresistible Idea--the Idea of the\n  spiritual worth and the inalienable rights of every man; out of\n  which grow the stability of nations, and the unity of the world.\"\n\nA more positive and thorough expositor of the doctrine of Universalism\ncould not be heard from the pulpit than Dr. Chapin. This has been\nacknowledged on all hands by those who were most constant and\nattentive listeners to him. But the great aim of his ministry was to\nmake men know and feel the power of the inner life of the Gospel. He\ndistinctly states this in the first published volume of his\ndiscourses:--\n\n  \"The great end of preaching is to reform the life, to reconcile man\n  to duty and to God. The great principle to be propagated and\n  established in the souls of men is not this or that particular\n  _ism_, but the spirit of Christ. Without this no denomination\n  can be right, no society can flourish, no soul can live.\"\n\nMr. Chapin was a poet as well as an orator. Some of his hymns, long\nused in our church services, are of great merit, having the beauty of\nMoore with the spiritual fervor of Charles Wesley. The writer takes\npleasure in transcribing one of them for these pages, which was\nwritten from a sense of duty, and at the close of a very hot day in\nJuly, when we had been very diligently at work on the new Hymn Book,\ncompiled by us jointly for Mr. Abel Tompkins, publisher, in 1845. We\nwere about to make up the last package of matter for the press. The\nwriter had prepared one or two hymns expressly for the book, while\nsuch of Mr. Chapin's as had a place in it, were selected from papers\nand church service programmes of the time. He was urged to write one\nthen wanted for the miscellaneous department of the book, the subject\nto be, \"During or After a Destructive Storm.\" Wearied as he was, he\nconsented, and standing at the desk, wholly absorbed in his theme,\nsoon brought out the following, which speaks for itself:--\n\n  \"Amid surrounding gloom and waste,\n    From nature's face we flee,\n  And in our fear and wonder haste,\n    O nature's Life, to thee!\n  Thy ways are in the mighty deep,\n    In tempests as they blow;\n  In floods that o'er our treasures sweep;\n    The lightning and the snow.\n\n  \"Though earth upon its axis reels,\n    And heaven is veiled in wrath,\n  Not one of nature's million wheels\n    Breaks its appointed path.\n  Fixed in thy grasp, the sources meet\n    Of beauty and of awe;\n  In storm or calm, all pulses beat\n    True to the central law.\n\n  \"Thou art that law, whose will thus done,\n    In seeming wreck and blight,\n  Sends the calm planets round the sun,\n    And pours the moon's soft light.\n  We trust thy love; thou best dost know\n    The universal peace,\n  How long the stormy force should blow,\n    And when the flood should cease.\n\n  \"And though around our path some form\n    Of mystery ever lies,\n  And life is like the calm and storm\n    That checker earth and skies,--\n  Through all its mingling joy and dread,\n    Permit us, Holy One,\n  By faith to see the golden thread\n    Of thy great purpose run.\"\n\nThe closing of the life of this eminent man was in accordance with his\nwhole ministry. At his funeral services in the Church of the Divine\nPaternity, Rev. Dr. Armitage, of New York city, in a most impressive\naddress to the congregation, took occasion to speak of an interview\nwith him in his extreme weakness:--\n\n  \"'Doctor, do you realize now the sweetness of the promise of Christ\n  in your broken condition?' He looked at me with the simplicity of a\n  babe; but I saw a tear moisten his eye and a little tremulousness\n  mingled with his voice, and he said, 'My dear brother, what should I\n  do without Christ. Christ is everything to me now.' So he spoke of\n  the loving Redeemer. I said, 'Well, then, may I have this\n  consolation, Doctor, of knowing that you, who have been in the\n  ministry so long, labored so hard, done so much to lift up other\n  minds and pour consolation into disconsolate hearts, that you to-day\n  realize the same breadth and fulness and sweetness of consolation in\n  Christ that you have ministered to others?' He simply made this\n  answer: 'Doctor, Christ to me is all in all.'\n\n  \"I asked him if it would be pleasant to have a word of prayer. He\n  made an effort to rise, as if he greeted the proposition with great\n  joy. I said, 'No, Doctor, you can't rise; do nothing; lie quietly,\n  and I will kneel at your side with my hands in yours. Let us give\n  each other to God our Father to-day.' He said, 'Well, we will.' I\n  bent at his side, and with such simplicity and brotherly love and\n  confidence in God as I could summon, sought the blessing of heaven\n  upon him. He joined in the prayer; he buried his brow in one hand,\n  and held my hand with the other. He seemed to glow with love. I\n  asked the Lord to give him strength, and, if possible, to spare him\n  to the church, and presented those wishes at the Throne of Grace\n  which any of your hearts would prompt under similar circumstances.\n  At the close of a brief prayer, as I said, 'Lord, Lord, grant these\n  things to thy servant, for Jesus Christ's sake,' holding my hand\n  with a firm grip, and lifting up his eyes towards heaven, in the\n  same ringing, fervent, strong voice that you have heard so often\n  from his lips, his whole nature said, 'Amen.'\"\n\nIn 1856 Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary degree of\nDoctor of Divinity, and Tufts College that of Doctor of Laws in\n1878.[48]\n\n\nDuring twenty-five years Rev. JOSEPH D. PIERCE was pastor of the\nUniversalist Church in North Attleboro, Mass. He was born in North\nScituate, Mass., Nov. 15, 1815, and died in North Attleboro, Nov. 16,\n1880. During his minority his educational advantages were limited to\nthe public schools. After serving an apprenticeship as a carpenter, he\nentered the Derby Academy in Hingham. He taught in the public schools,\ndevoting his leisure to reading and study. Resolved on entering the\nministry, he began his preparatory studies with Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d,\nin Medford, Mass. His first sermon was preached in East Boston, in\n1839. He then supplied the pulpits in South Dedham and East Boston for\na year, and was ordained in 1841. He was first settled at Hartland,\nVt., where he also taught school, remaining until May, 1845, when he\nwas called to North Attleboro. After a pastorate here of one year,\nfailing health induced him to abandon regular preaching and engage in\nteaching. He became principal of the Attleboro Academy, continuing to\nsome extent his pastoral work, and occasionally supplying at West\nWrentham. In 1850 he took charge of the Universalist parish in\nClaremont, N.\u00a0H., where he preached, teaching school also most of the\ntime for five years. He also served as a member of the school\ncommittee in that town, and discharged the duties of his office with\nsuch marked ability and benefit to the schools that, upon hearing of\nhis intent to remove to Massachusetts, a deacon of the Baptist Church\nsaid, \"We cannot get along without him.\" By a unanimous invitation\nfrom the parish in North Attleboro, he was again settled there in\n1855, where he remained until his death. He was representative of\nAttleboro in the State Legislature for 1868, and served his\nconstituents with credit. He was an untiring student, logical in\nthought and method, and an effective preacher. He had great modesty,\nand never sought for oratorical display. His heart and hand were given\nto every good work. He was feeble in health, and endured much physical\nsuffering. He once said that he had not known a waking hour free from\npain for fifteen years, yet his religious trust and unsubdued spirit\nsustained him through a life of unremitting toil.\n\n\nRev. THOMAS J. CARNEY, of Dresden, Me., was a minister of varied\nexperiences, and a useful laborer in the Gospel field. He was taught\nthe gospel of universal grace and salvation in the home of his\nchildhood. He travelled over the States extensively in youth, and\nvisited the West Indies, and afterwards studied for the ministry. The\nlast years of his life were spent as pastor and missionary in\nMichigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He extended his journeyings and\nmissionary work to Missouri and Kansas, and visited New Mexico. He was\na man of strong convictions, and an earnest advocate of the doctrine\nwhich he loved. He made many friends, and well deserved them. Four\nchurch edifices are standing as monuments of his faithfulness. He was\nfatally injured by a fall from his horse, and died at Buffalo, Ill.,\nin 1871. His wife was, before her marriage, Miss Julia A. Fletcher, a\nwell known and very acceptable writer in our church and to the public.\n\n\nRev. JAMES MUNROE COOK was born in Marcellus, Onondaga County, N.\u00a0Y.,\nNov. 24, 1818. He was a favorite in the family circle, and kindly\nregarded by his schoolmates and teachers. At an early age he was a\ndiligent student of the Scriptures, and before he was fifteen years of\nage was not unfrequently engaged in defending the doctrine which he\nafterwards preached, and laboring to show to unbelievers its\nconsistency and attractiveness.\n\nIn 1837 he came to Rochester, N.\u00a0Y., and commenced his studies for the\nministry with Rev. George Sanderson. He was a diligent student, and\nhad a remarkably retentive memory. His first sermon was preached in\nGates, near Rochester, in October, 1837. He had pastorates in Chili,\nChurchville, Perrinton, and Victor, N.\u00a0Y. In November, 1845, he\nentered upon his duties as pastor of the Second Universalist Society\nin Providence, R.\u00a0I. Through discouraging circumstances in the\nbeginning of his work here, he went forward with great faith and\nearnestness, and realized a successful ministry. His pastorate in\nProvidence continued four years, when, in November, 1849, he took\ncharge of the Universalist Society in Baltimore, Md. His good\nreputation in Providence had preceded him, and he was warmly welcomed\nby his new friends. They were highly pleased with his pulpit\nministries, and the services in the church were well attended, and his\npopularity in the city was increasing. But the society had a heavy\ndebt upon it, and looked to Mr. Cook as the chief instrumentality in\nthe removal of it. He saw what was before him, and realized the\ndiscouraging magnitude of the work. But he would not shrink from what\nwas expected of him, and entered upon the effort with a bravery that\novercame all obstacles, and secured the end desired,--the removal of\nthe debt. But, alas! the strain had been too great; his strength gave\nway, and in the midst of his usefulness he was called to the higher\nlife. He died in calm resignation, and in strongest hope of entering\nhis final and immortal home.\n\nOf his ministry, Rev. Dr. Thomas Whittemore, at the time of his death,\nin 1850, wrote:--\n\n  \"As a preacher he excelled in certain respects. He was a man to move\n  the masses. He spoke without writing, and delivered his message of\n  divine truth with great power. He aimed not at elegant words and\n  polished sentences, but to speak the truth in demonstration of the\n  spirit. He aimed to reach the heart. He would keep the attention of\n  a thousand people fixed intently upon his theme through a long\n  discourse. His sermon, delivered in the Warren Street Church, during\n  the session of the United States Convention in Boston, in 1845, is\n  an illustration of the truth of what we say. There an immense\n  auditory listened to him with the greatest interest for a long time,\n  for they were unconscious of its rapid flight. They caught his\n  feelings, they rejoiced with him, they wept with him, and at the\n  close the general expression of the people was, '_that_ was the\n  Gospel, _that_ came from the preacher's heart and reached our\n  hearts.'\"\n\nCut off in the midst of his years, his memory is a blessing for what\nhe was enabled during his short life to accomplish.\n\n[47] Rev. Dr. T.\u00a0J. Sawyer.\n\n[48] For a more particular acquaintance with the life and character of\nDr. Chapin, the reader is referred to the excellent Memoir of him by\nRev. S. Ellis, D.\u00a0D., just issued by the Universalist Publishing House.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  \"As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at\n  hand.\"--JESUS.\n\n\nA fervent and devoted servant of the Christian Master was Rev.\nA.\u00a0W. BRUCE. Born in Bennington, Vt., he was taught the\nMethodist faith, and held it until his nineteenth year, when by his\nown diligent investigations he became a believer in Universalism.\nAfter practising as a physician for a short time, he entered the\nministry, and became an indefatigable and successful worker therein.\nHe was ordained in 1843, had settlements in New England and in three\nof the Western States, and died in Lafayette, Ind. in 1871, leaving a\ngood name in the churches and with all who knew of his work for human\nreform, and were co-operators with him.\n\n\nRev. FREDERICK A. HODSDON was a native of Berwick, Me. In his\nchildhood his parents removed to Kenduskeag, where his early years\nwere mostly spent. When but eighteen years of age, he was the subject\nof religious impressions, and gave himself by personal consecration to\nthe service of Christ. He became a Universalist in spirit as well as\nin belief, and resolved to devote his life to the ministry. He was a\nstudent with Rev. J.\u00a0B. Dods and Rev. S. Cobb, D.\u00a0D. His first\nsettlement was in Readfield, Me., his next in Danvers, Mass., his\nthird in Goffstown, N.\u00a0H., and from his labors here there came the\nchurch now existing in Manchester. He was next in Kenduskeag, his old\nhome, where he purchased a place of residence, and was for a time\npastor of the society there. In 1839 he preached the sermon at the\ndedication of the Universalist church in Belfast, and was unanimously\ninvited to become pastor of the society; but was obliged to decline on\naccount of previous engagements. A few years after he accepted a\nsecond invitation to the place, where his ministry was very\nprosperous. In 1849 he acted as General Agent for the Maine\nUniversalist Missionary, Educational, and Tract Societies. In 1850 he\naccepted a call to New Haven, Conn., where his labors were highly\nsuccessful. Failing health compelled him to resign his charge, and\nreturn to his home in Maine. He did not however, relinquish the work\nof the ministry, but preached at times in different places, until, on\nrecovering his strength, he was induced to become again minister of\nthe society in Belfast, where he continued for most of the time until\nhe was obliged to abandon the active work of his calling. He was for a\nlittle time Chaplain of the 24th Maine Regiment, and minister to the\nSecond Society in Portland. Before his departure he had a long and\npainful sickness, through which his strong faith sustained him. He\ndied Aug. 19, 1869, aged 64 years.\n\nMr. Hodsdon was one of the most faithful and honored of our ministers.\nHis convictions were strong, his motives the purest, his preaching\nclear, earnest, and convincing. A devout man himself, he made others\ndevout and prayerful. The cause of vital religion prospered under his\nministry. Of attractive and commanding personal appearance, courteous\nin manners and Christian in spirit, he won the hearts of old and\nyoung, and made hosts of friends wherever he resided or was known. The\nsavor of his noble life still lingers in the churches which enjoyed\nhis ministrations.\n\n\nRev. EZEKIEL W. COFFIN was one of the truly faithful of the\nministerial fraternity. He came from Gilead, Me., where he was born\nAugust 14, 1810. His parents were Methodists, but in his youth his\nattention was called to the doctrines of Universalism by the preaching\nof Rev. Sylvanus Cobb. He afterwards resolved to devote himself to the\nministry. He was a student with Rev. Mr. Averill of Eddington, Me.,\nand was ordained June, 1840. He was first settled at Centre Harbor,\nN.\u00a0H., for four years; then at Weymouth, Mass., then at Canton St.\nChurch, Boston; afterwards at North Attleboro, Annisquam, Beverly and\nShirley, Mass., Jaffrey, N.\u00a0H., Bryant's Pond, Me., Orange, Mass.,\nWest Concord, Vt., and Bernardston, Mass. His ministerial life\nincluded about forty-three years.\n\nThose who knew Mr. Coffin bear ample testimony to his many excellent\ntraits, both as a minister and a man; that he lived the doctrine which\nhe taught, and that in his last sickness \"he gave the whole community\na lesson of patience and resignation in suffering.\" His illness\nextended over a period of three and a half years, and was very\npainful; but he never lost his faith and courage. After he had become\nso helpless that he could not walk, or even stand, he still continued\nhis work. Faithful friends bore him in his chair to the pulpit on each\nreturning Sunday, and for more than two years he thus,--like Father\nMurray in his last preaching days,--delivered his testimony while\nsitting. Weak in body, but strong and upraised in spirit, he gave his\ntestimony to his people inspired with that glorious apostolic\nassurance, \"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the\nflower of grass. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this\nis the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.\"\n\n\nRev. EDWARD AUGUSTUS DREW was for a few years a useful minister. He\nwas born in Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 22, 1845, and died in Lynn, Mass.,\nOct. 11, 1874, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. He was very\nstudious from early life. Graduating from the High School in his\nnative town, he entered Tufts College in the autumn of 1863. To assist\nin defraying his expenses, he was obliged to teach during the winters,\nand by his ambition and perseverance he took many prizes, besides\ngraduating at the head of the class of 1867. He then became a teacher\nof the ancient languages in the Medford (Mass.) High School, where he\nremained two years. In 1869 he became Principal of the Green Mountain\nInstitute, now known as the Green Mountain Perkins Academy, at South\nWoodstock, Vt. He afterwards took the position of Chase Classical\nInstructor at Dean Academy, which he occupied until the summer of\n1871, when the conviction that he should enter the ministry induced\nhim to enter Tufts Divinity School, where he graduated in June, 1872.\nHe was first settled as pastor of the Universalist Church in\nNewburyport, Mass., and in one year afterwards became pastor of the\nSecond Universalist Society in Lynn, where he remained until his\ndeath. His labors were blessed with excellent results, but his course\nwas impeded by failing health. Another has written of him:--\n\n  \"He was highly appreciated and esteemed as a preacher of the Gospel.\n  His manner was pleasing, his language well chosen, his thoughts\n  clearly presented, his illustrations appropriate, often the fruit of\n  his scholarly reading and taste; and there was a blending of the\n  doctrinal, practical, and spiritual in his discourses that made his\n  preaching both instructive and inspiring, and adapted to interest\n  and benefit all classes of hearers. Outside of his own church he was\n  greatly esteemed and beloved.\"\n\n\nRev. NORRIS COLEMAN HODGDON was born in Epping, N.\u00a0H., Aug. 22, 1818.\nHis means of education in the beginning of life were limited, but he\nwas fond of books and study, and earnest and persevering in his search\nfor knowledge. After becoming a conscientious believer in the faith of\nUniversalism, he made every effort to strengthen his own convictions,\nand to awaken the attention of others to the claims of Christian\ntruth. He preached his first sermon July 23, 1841. He then preached a\nshort time in Baltimore, Md., Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn;\nwent to Maine in 1843, and was ordained in Paris, December 28, of the\nsame year. He preached in that vicinity for a short time, and then\nawhile in Ludlow, Vt. He was afterwards settled in East Randolph,\nChester, Jacksonville, and Vernon, Vt., in Kingston, N.\u00a0H., Harvard,\nSouth Dedham, Marlborough, and Foxborough, Mass. His last settlement\nwas for one year in Pittsfield, Me. While living in Vernon, Vt., he\ncompiled and published a book called \"A Denominational Offering from\nthe Literature of Universalism.\" It contains extracts from different\nwriters in exposition and enforcement of the doctrine and spirit of\nUniversalism, and has been well received. While attending a meeting\nnear Wilton, Me., in 1877, he was stricken with paralysis, from which\nhe rallied, and was able for a while to read and write and visit his\nfriends. He moved to Benton after his illness, where he passed the\nlast years of his life. He was a faithful, earnest man and minister.\n\n\nRev. S.\u00a0P. LANDERS, of Central New York, entered the ministry in 1836.\nHe was for a little time in Andover, Mass., and in 1841 began his work\nas pastor in Worcester, where he laid the foundation of the\nUniversalist church in that city. He afterwards resided in West\nCambridge (now Arlington), preaching on Sundays, and devoting his\nother time chiefly to his favorite pursuit, horticulture, and to the\ninterests of a private seminary established by members of his own\nhousehold. He was highly esteemed for his many virtues. \"His whole\nfamily,\" writes his daughter, \"are Universalists, and have been since\nUniversalism as such has been known in the land. In his native town\n(Afton, N.\u00a0Y.) half the Universalists are named Landers, or are\nrelated to them.\"\n\n\nRev. JOHN NICHOLS, of Cohasset, Mass., had pastorates in different\nplaces in Massachusetts, and in Claremont, N.\u00a0H. He was pastor in\nHolliston nine and in Beverly ten years, and while in the former place\nrepresented the town in the Legislature of 1848-9. He was a\npure-minded, warm-hearted, toiling man. In every one of his\nsettlements he wrought a good work, and the influence of his character\nand deeds made not only the minister, but the cause he represented,\nrespected. He was in sympathy with every moral reform, but was called\nsuddenly away. While preaching his last discourse in Beverly, he was\nstricken with paralysis, from which he never recovered, his farewell\nsermon being thus his farewell to earthly scenes.\n\n\nRev. ROBERT KILLAM was another faithful, modest, and earnest man.\nHis pastorates were in three considerable towns in Massachusetts. He\nclosed his earthly work in West Scituate in 1866, aged seventy-six. He\nwas a Bible Christian, a plain and clear expositor, practical in his\npreaching as in his daily conduct. Another writes of him: \"He early\nsaw and illustrated the duty of applying the Gospel to all the affairs\nof life. He joined the advancing hosts in the grave questions which\nhave convulsed the nation, his countenance aglow with youthful fire\nwhen he argued the equal rights of man.\"\n\n\nRev. CHARLES HENRY WEBSTER was born in Georgetown, Mass., Dec. 5,\n1817. He was from early life fond of books and study, and determined\nif possible to obtain a liberal education. But at the age of eighteen,\nwhile attending school at Bradford (Mass.) Academy, he was\naccidentally injured in one of his eyes, and did not fully recover for\nsome years. He was afterwards able to prepare for the ministry at\nClinton, N.\u00a0Y., and was first settled at Beverly, Mass.; afterwards at\nEast Lexington, South Dedham, East Boston, Chicopee, Mass.; at Auburn\nand Lewiston, Me.; at Collinsville and Granby, Conn. At the last-named\nplace he lived nine years, acting for two years as State Missionary.\nIn December, 1864, he was appointed chaplain of the 29th Maine\nRegiment, and served to the close of the war. His son, a young man of\nmuch promise, died of wounds received in the service. Mr. Webster's\nfirst wife was Miss Mary Buckminster, of Georgetown, Mass.; his\nsecond, Mrs. M.\u00a0C. Granniss, a lady long and favorably known to the\ndenomination by her contributions to the \"Ladies' Repository\" and\nother periodicals. Upon his second marriage he went into secular\nbusiness, still continuing to preach as opportunity offered. He died\nof pneumonia, after great suffering, March 8, 1877, in his sixtieth\nyear. He was one of the true and brave spirits who endured obloquy and\nrepudiation by family and friends because of his fidelity to his\nreligious convictions, and was made more than victor in his persistent\nand devoted life.\n\n\nRev. ASA P. CLEVERLY did good service in the ministry. Ordained in\n1834, he became the pastor of societies in Massachusetts and New\nHampshire. He had not the wide recognition of some ministers, but his\ncharacter was pure, and the best results of faithful Christian\nexertion were found in every parish in which he labored. The pastors\nfollowing him had cause to speak in praise of the good works of their\npredecessor. He died in Boston in 1871, aged sixty-four.\n\n\nRev. THOMAS J. WHITCOMB was born in Hanover, Mass., June 4, 1801, and\ndied in Canisteo, Steuben County, N.\u00a0Y., Feb. 9, 1877. He attended for\na while the academy in the neighboring town of Hingham, and studied\nfor the ministry with Rev. Paul Dean, in Boston. He was ordained in\nWashington, N.\u00a0H., in June, 1827. In 1830 he was at Hudson, N.\u00a0Y., and\nwas afterwards located at Schenectady, Victor, Cortland, Newport,\nSpringville, Buffalo, and Alexander, N.\u00a0Y., and, in 1844-46, at\nHightstown, N.\u00a0J. In 1868 he went to live in Cambridgeboro', Crawford\nCounty, Pa., where he resided four years. He then removed to Canisteo,\nand remained there until his death. He has left an excellent name as a\ncitizen, minister, and pastor. Rev. Dr. Le Fevre, who knew him well,\nsays:--\n\n  \"Brother Whitcomb was not what is termed a sensational preacher, nor\n  did he possess rhetorical powers, but he was a good preacher, and\n  left on his hearers the conviction of his earnestness and\n  devotedness. As a disciple of the Master, he followed his direction\n  'Go preach the Gospel!' That was the sum and substance of his\n  message. In his pastoral relationship he was very efficient.\"\n\n\nRev. GEORGE W. WHITNEY, born in Nashua, N.\u00a0H., March 27, 1843, was\nanother of our worthy ministers called away from his earthly work in\nthe prime of his usefulness. He received his early religious training\nin the Congregational Church, when after his eighteenth year becoming\nan attendant at the Universalist Church, of which Rev. J.\u00a0O. Skinner\nwas pastor, he embraced the doctrines there taught, and subsequently\nentered upon the study of divinity. His first sermon was preached on\nthe day of his majority, at West Windsor, Vt., where he preached part\nof the time in 1865. He was afterwards located as pastor in\nWestminster, Beverly, and Quincy, Mass., and in 1878 assumed the\npastorate of the parish in Augusta, Me., remaining here until the\nprogress of his disease (consumption) forced him to resign. He\npreached his last sermon Jan. 9, 1881, concluding a rich and\nsuccessful ministry. He had the inborn elements of a Christian\nminister. He was a logical, ready, and gifted speaker, but his great\nstrength lay in his earnest and sympathetic nature, which found out\nthe best qualities in his hearers and roused them to action. When\nconscious that his life-work was ended, he saw the approach of death\nwith calmness; his sufferings seemed but to develop greater\nspirituality. In one of his last letters to a friend, he says: \"Never\nuntil these days of trial and sickness has the spiritual and divine\nbeen so real, or my faith in another life so strong.\" He died in\nWaltham, Mass., May 26, 1881.\n\n\nRev. ROBINSON BREARE came into our ministry from England. He was in\nearly life a member of the Wesleyan Church there. In 1832 he was\ninducted into the ministry of that church, having been examined by the\nRev. Richard Watson, the author of Watson's \"Institutes.\" In 1839 he\nwas sent as a missionary to Halifax, N.\u00a0S. In 1841, while engaged in\nthe work of a revival in his church, a Universalist book was put into\nhis hands, and after a careful reading of it, and long and prayerful\ninquiry and meditation, he became a believer in the Gospel of God's\nimpartial grace and salvation. And there in Halifax, in the face of\npersecution by his former parishioners, in spite of the severance of\nall former friendships, he began, in painfulness and trial, the work\nof building up the Universalist Church. From that time, the work has\ngone steadily forward. Our church in Halifax is as true and\nsubstantial as any that exists in the Province.\n\nMr. Breare remained in Halifax until the first church was built. He\nthen came to Massachusetts, where he labored from 1844 to 1853. In\nthis last-named year he came to Ohio, where he successfully canvassed\nfor the \"Star in the West.\" Afterwards, for two years, he was employed\nas missionary by the Ballou Association. In 1856 he came into Gallia\nCounty, where he lived during the remainder of his days, having his\nhome at last in Wilkesville, Vinton County. He was loved and honored\nwherever known, and no man, it would seem, could have had a more\ncomplete consecration than he to the Christian cause. With his\nimmovable faith in Universalism, he united the enlightened and fervent\nzeal of a true Christian revivalist.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.\n\n  Workman of God! O lose not heart,\n    But learn what God is like;\n  And in the darkest battle-field\n    Thou shalt know where to strike.\n\n  LYRA CATHOLICA.\n\n\nRev. Zadoc H. Howe, of Maine, after receiving an academical education in\nReadfield, Me., prepared for the ministry, and was ordained in 1846.\nAfter a service of some years in his native State, he removed to\nMonroe, Madison County, Wis., where, after preaching a year and a\nhalf, he was compelled by failing health to suspend his labors. A\nsevere bronchial trouble, making public speaking difficult, was the\ncause of frequent removals. For the last six or seven years of his\nlife he was postmaster of Monroe. During the war of the Rebellion he\nwas appointed chaplain of the 5th Wisconsin regiment, but was obliged\nafter a few months to resign. He was a gentle and pure-souled man,\nwith keen intellectual powers. One who knew him well, has written of\nhim:--\n\n  \"In theology, as in his theories of reform in general, he was very\n  radical, holding firmly and conscientiously to the naturalistic\n  views of the so-called liberal wing of the theologians, and did not\n  feel himself in complete harmony with the policy of the Universalist\n  denomination. Yet embracing with his whole heart its fundamental and\n  distinguishing tenets, his soul was all aflame with noble and\n  generous impulses.\"\n\n\nRev. WILLARD C. GEORGE was one of the preachers of Maine, having had\npastorates there in Bremen, Dresden, and Calais. He was one of the\nmost modest of men, of feeble voice, but a speaker who was very\nacceptable to his hearers, because of the good thoughts brought out in\nhis discoursing. Convinced that his health required a change of\noccupation, he adopted the medical profession, making a visit to\nEurope to gain information from foreign sources that might aid him in\nhis new vocation. On his return home he published a book of his\ntravels and observations abroad. He was a successful practitioner in\nseveral places, and finally returned to his native town, Norway, Me.,\nwhere he died in October, 1869, aged fifty-seven. He was not only a\nsound theologian, but was well versed in the physical sciences, upon\nwhich he frequently lectured. He never abandoned his purpose to return\nto the ministry as soon as his health would allow. He was a devoted\nChristian, and gave his life to much of the good work which\nChristianity requires.\n\n\nRev. MARK POWERS began his preparation for the ministry with Rev.\nL.\u00a0H. Tabor, then of West Charleston, Vt., in February, 1854, and in\nJuly, 1855, was ordained at Washington, Vt., where for four years he\nlived, preaching there and at Strafford, twenty miles distant. He\nafterwards removed to Strafford, where he continued to preach for six\nyears, making in all ten years of labor in the latter place. He then\nremoved to Gaysville, Vt., where he continued for four years, and from\nthence to West Concord, which was his last settlement. In Strafford he\ninduced the Universalists to buy out the Free Will Baptists, who\nclaimed to own one half of the meeting-house, and to repair it, and\nwas thus instrumental in giving them a house of their own, and freeing\nthem from the constant annoyance to which a union house had subjected\nthem. Essentially the same thing was accomplished while he lived in\nGaysville, while the effort there resulted also in a better edifice.\nIn West Concord, his ministry, though short, was successful. His\nsermons were sound, his spirit excellent, and the result of his\nteaching every way good. In the autumn of 1870 Mr. Powers attended the\nCentenary Convention at Gloucester, Mass., where he was taken with a\nh\u00e6morrhage of the lungs from which he never recovered. He died in\nJune, 1872.\n\n\nRev. LEWIS LEONARD RECORD was born in Minot (afterwards Auburn), Me.\nHe graduated at Bowdoin College in 1845. In 1850 he was ordained, and\nwas settled as a preacher in Houlton, Me., in Scituate and Anisquam,\nMass. In 1863 he went into the army as chaplain of the 23d\nMassachusetts regiment of volunteers, and served eleven months. While\nwith the army in North Carolina he was attacked with the yellow fever,\nfrom the effects of which he never recovered. When his strength was\nsomewhat restored, he engaged in missionary work, and did good\nservice, especially in Biddeford and Saco, Me., preparing the way for\na new house of worship in that locality. In 1870 he moved to\nMarlboro', N.\u00a0H., where he labored earnestly and successfully until\nJuly, 1871, when he was compelled to desist from labor, and from that\ndate he steadily declined until his death, which took place in\nMarlboro, Dec. 7, 1871, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. At his\nburial the clergymen of different denominations in the town acted as\npall-bearers. He was highly respected, and his whole being was\nconsecrated to the cause of the Gospel.\n\n\nRev. HENRY H. BAKER was born in Minot, Me., Nov. 24, 1811, and died of\nparalysis in Rochester, N.\u00a0Y., Sept. 28, 1881. He was aided by friends\nin obtaining an education with the expectation that he would become a\nMethodist preacher; but being converted to Universalism in his school\ndays, he was unable to comply with their wishes, and desired to enter\nthe ministry of his newly-adopted faith. Being restrained from this by\nthe fear of alienating his friends, he determined to study medicine;\nbut after devoting a year to this, he yielded to his stronger impulse,\nand by advice of Rev. D.\u00a0T. Stevens, then of Lewiston Falls, Me.,\nabandoned medicine and began the study of divinity. He was ordained in\n1841. His first pastorate was over the societies of Windham and Gray,\nMe., where he preached on alternate Sundays for two years. He was\nafterwards settled over the parishes in Elliot and Kittery, Me., in\nEssex and Georgetown, Mass., in Ludlow, Vt., in Hammond, Fort Plain,\nSt. Johnsville, Fordsbush, Argusville, and other neighboring towns,\nN.\u00a0Y., one year in Orange, Mass., and six years in Middleport, N.\u00a0Y.\nAfter this he lived in Rochester and preached in Conesas, when his\nhealth declined, and he preached only occasionally as his health would\npermit. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from\nGeorgetown while he lived there in the winter of 1850-1. He was an\nearnest, sincere, and faithful servant of the Christian Master.\n\n\nRev. JAMES W. FORD was born in Orford, N. H., in 1796, and died at\nKendall's Mills, Me., Dec. 16, 1861, aged sixty-five. He was educated\nfor the medical profession, and gained a good reputation as a\nphysician, having served in that capacity in Westbrook and Waterville,\nMe. His love of Universalism, however, gradually led him into the\nministry. He appears as a new minister in 1841, at Claremont, N. H. He\nwas at Morristown, Vt., from 1842 to 1844; at Glover, Vt., 1844 to\n1847; at Winchester, N. H., 1847 to 1851; at Springfield, Vt., 1851;\nat Springfield, Mass., 1852 and 1853; at Holyoke, Mass., 1854-5; at\nNorway, Me., 1856 to 1860; at Kendall's Mills from 1860 until his\ndecease. Wherever he resided he was respected as a physician and\nminister. After an illness of several months he passed away quietly\nand peacefully, leaving a family and numerous friends to cherish his\nmemory. He was buried with Masonic honors, and two Methodist clergymen\nassisted in the funeral services.\n\n\nRev. E. H. LAKE was born in Haverhill, Mass., and moved to Lynn when\nfifteen years old. He soon became constant at church and active in\nconference meetings. In 1839, when only seventeen, he commenced\npreparing for the ministry, and soon after began preaching in\nschool-houses in the surrounding towns. He was afterwards settled\nsuccessively in Middleton and Bridgewater, Mass., and East Kingston\nand Westmoreland, N. H. About 1850 he removed to South Carolina on\naccount of failing health, and travelled extensively in that State,\nNorth Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi. He wrote\nmuch for the Universalist paper of that region, held several public\ndiscussions, published a book, and did the full work of a very strong\nman. He was a ready speaker, earnest, keen, yet pleasant, and had a\nretentive memory. He was difficult to manage in controversy, but was\nalways orderly, respectful, and kind to his opponent. He had purchased\na small farm of 100 acres in Magnolia, N. C., where he resided with\nhis family. He had seemed to be on the borders of the grave with\nconsumption for two years, but still kept actively engaged in his\nprofession, and died while on a visit to Rev. A. Bosserman, then just\nreleased from prison in Richmond, in the autumn of 1862, aged about\nforty years.\n\n\nRev. L. B. MASON died in May, 1864, in Madison, Wis. He was favorably\nknown as a minister and highly esteemed in New England. He was at one\ntime pastor of the Second Universalist Church in Lowell, Mass. From\nthis city he moved to Haverhill, Mass., and was pastor of the\nUniversalist Church in that place several years. From Haverhill he was\ncalled to the pastorate of St. Paul's Church in Chicago. He became\nproprietor and editor of the \"New Covenant,\" and conducted the paper\nwith much ability and discretion. After the breaking out of the\nRebellion, he became chaplain of the 12th Wisconsin Regiment, but the\nhardships and exposure incident to the position were too much for his\nfrail constitution, and he was compelled to resign his office in the\nautumn of 1863, after having faithfully served his regiment from the\nday of its organization. His men loved him devotedly, and testified to\nhis faithfulness as a chaplain. But he came home quite broken in\nhealth, though afterwards preaching and working when many men of\nfeebler determination would have been utterly discouraged. On one or\ntwo occasions he fainted in the pulpit when officiating, but still\npersisted in his work till within a few weeks of his decease.\n\n\nRev. LAFAYETTE BARSTOW died in Orono, Me., Nov. 10, 1865, aged\nforty-three years. In his youth he was connected with the Universalist\nChurch in Chicopee, Mass., where he won the confidence and respect of\nhis brethren. In 1850 he went to Oregon, where he remained several\nyears. Returning to the East, he entered Tufts College, and was\nafterwards called to the pastorship of the Universalist Society in\nOrono, Me., where he labored with diligence and success for eight\nyears, closing his only pastorate with his earthly life. Ex-Governor\nWashburn, for several years one of his parishioners, wrote in regard\nto his death and the loss to the Orono Society and to the\ndenomination:--\n\n  \"In the community where he lived his place will not be easily\n  supplied. He had become, as it were, an integral part of the life of\n  Orono. His well-known form will be missed upon the street, the light\n  of his genial face, radiant with spiritual beauty, will be a joy in\n  its homes no more, but his memory will be sweet and precious to all,\n  of whatever religious name or party, who have known him intimately.\"\n\n\nRev. STILLMAN BARDEN was a fervent and devout man. Born in Stoddard,\nN.\u00a0H., he commenced his ministry in 1839, and labored with but little\ncessation for twenty-six years. Most of his ministry was in\nMassachusetts. He was settled as pastor in South Reading, Orleans,\nBeverly, Marblehead, and Rockport. His whole ministerial, domestic and\nsocial life, was one of Christian fidelity. Not preaching to large\ncongregations of people, never receiving a large salary, he was,\nnevertheless, truly successful in securing the best results of the\nministry. His religion was intensely practical. He was active in the\ncause of Temperance, and the Anti-slavery cause had not a well-wisher\nmore ardent or conscientious. He loved the prayer and conference\nmeeting, and was always ready with a warm and suggestive word to give\nit effect. He was much interested in the science of mineralogy, and\nhad gathered quite a large and valuable cabinet of choice specimens.\nHe died in Rockport, Mass., Aug. 7, 1865, aged fifty-three years.\n\n\nRev. TIMOTHY J. TENNEY was a native of Weare, N.\u00a0H., and came into the\nministry from the instruction of Rev. T.\u00a0F. King, of Portsmouth,\nN.\u00a0H., in 1834. In 1836 he moved to Maine, where in Fryeburg and\nneighboring towns he labored successfully for nearly four years. He\nwas afterwards minister in Norway and Denmark, and then in St.\nJohnsbury and in Glover, Vt., where he closed his earthly career. So\ngood was his health generally that he failed in no one instance to\nmeet his appointments on account of illness, until at the very last of\nhis days. He died in Glover, Vt., Oct. 8, 1854. He was an able and\ndevoted minister of the New Testament, a conscientious and faithful\nman, true to his own convictions. He was a Christian reformer, always\nthe active friend of Temperance, Freedom, and Peace. His son, Rev.\nC.\u00a0R. Tenney, is at present pastor of the Universalist Church in\nStoughton, Mass.\n\n\nRev. ORREN PERKINS, born at Savoy, Mass., Aug. 11, 1823, preached his\nfirst sermon at South Adams, and was ordained at Bernardston, by the\nWinchester Association, in June, 1847. He was settled at Bernardston\nfour years; afterwards had a short pastorate at Wilmington, Vt., and\nthen moved to Winchester, N.\u00a0H., where he remained twelve years. For\nfive of those years he was a member of the State Legislature, being\nthree years in the House and two in the Senate. He was also for ten\nyears State superintendent of schools. Later, he took charge of the\nAcademy at Cooperstown, N.\u00a0Y., with which he was connected some years.\nHe was settled at West Concord, Vt., the last two years of his life,\nand left there for Chicago, where he was to be employed in editorial\nwork on the \"Star and Covenant.\" He had a peculiarly sensitive and\nnervous temperament; and during the last few years was subject to\ngreat depression of spirits, caused by the loss of his property and\nthe almost total failure of his voice. A gloomy cloud hung over him:\nhe felt that his usefulness was at an end, and his mental anguish\nbecame insupportable. In a moment of frenzied despair his mind,\naffected by hereditary insanity, gave way, and he freed himself from\nthe earthly life. He was much beloved, and his life was blameless. He\nwas an accurate scholar, a very successful teacher, and an able and\ninteresting writer. He died at Chicago, Ill., Oct. 30, 1880. He leaves\na widow, Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (one of our woman preachers), and three\ndaughters.\n\n\nRev. CHARLES HEMAN DUTTON was born in Ogden, Genesee County, N.\u00a0Y.,\nOct. 5, 1823, and died in Hamilton, Ohio, July 17, 1877, in his\nfifty-fourth year. His family removed to Rochester, N.\u00a0Y., when he was\nseventeen years old; and he was a student in the Rochester Collegiate\nInstitute. His thoughts at an early age had been turned to the\nministry through the preaching of Rev. J.\u00a0M. Cook. His studies\npreparatory to the ministry were very meagre; a few months were spent\nwith Rev. Mr. Hammond of Rochester, and a few more with Rev. S.\u00a0R.\nSmith, then of Buffalo. He was licensed as a preacher in 1843, when he\nwas scarcely twenty years old. He was pastor in Essex, Canton,\nMarblehead, and Lowell, Mass. Afterwards he resided in Rochester and\nLeroy, N.\u00a0Y., in Springfield, Marietta, and Hamilton, Ohio, in which\nlast-named place he died. He was credited, in the various places of\nhis residence, with a vigorous intellect, superior pulpit talents,\ngentlemanly manners, and the conscientious and faithful performance of\nhis duties as a minister of the Gospel. His Christian faith grew\nstronger and stronger as the outward man failed.\n\n\nThirty years since, there was a minister of the Universalist faith in\nNew Hampshire and Vermont, \"a plain, blunt man,\" with no pretensions\nto a classical education, but speaking in words of most expressive\nEnglish, with \"the Bible at his tongue's end,\"--Rev. ROBERT BARTLETT.\nHe was one of the pioneers, who preached the Gospel as opportunity\noccurred, in any place--school-house, barn, parlor, kitchen, church,\nor in the open field. He was always astir, and always full of his\ntheme, \"the Gospel of Universal Grace and Salvation.\" In the country\nplaces, rather than in cities, he seemed most at home. Once, it is\nsaid, when appointed to preach an occasional Convention sermon, at the\nyearly assembling, in a large and beautiful church, he seemed in his\nsimplicity and modesty so overpowered by the thought of the occasion\nas to be able to make only a faint demonstration of his speaking\npowers. But in his usual Sunday services in the rural places and with\nplainest surroundings, he would preach the word of the primitive\nGospel \"in demonstration of the spirit and with power.\" He is\nremembered, by not a few who have heard him, as such a preacher.\n\nIn recent time Mr. Bartlett disappeared from public notice; his work\nbeing done, and the infirmity of years resting upon him. He recently\ndeparted this life in Boston, January, 1882, aged nearly ninety. The\nfuneral was attended by Dr. Miner, who in his youth had often listened\nto his preaching. The remains were taken for burial to Laconia, N.\u00a0H.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nSKETCHES OF MINISTERS.--_continued._\n\n  \"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.\"--2 COR. v. 20.\n\n\nRev. Rufus Spur Pope, pastor of the First Universalist Society in Hyannis,\nMass., died in that place June 5, 1882. He was born in Stoughton,\nMass., April 2, 1809. His father removed from Stoughton to Dorchester,\nand thence to Marlboro, where the son spent his youthful days in\nagricultural pursuits. He received his education in the common schools\nand in the Marlboro Academy. While young he was drawn toward the\nministry, and his love for it continued to the end. He spent some time\nin theological studies with the late Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, D.\u00a0D., in\nMalden; and in 1833 preached his first sermon, in South Dedham.\nBesides his settlement in this place, he had pastorates in Milford,\nSterling, and Hardwick, covering a period of ten years. In 1843 the\nsociety in Hyannis invited him to be their pastor. Accepting the call,\nhe labored in this place faithfully thirty years. After closing his\nwork here, he ministered to the church in Orleans three years, and\nbriefly supplied some other parishes. His health has been gradually\nfailing for some years.\n\nMr. Pope was a public man in more than one sense. He served Barnstable\nfor years very faithfully and acceptably as one of its school\ncommittee, and was for two years representative from the town in the\nState Legislature. He filled for some time the office of Register of\nProbate for Barnstable County, and was for several years postmaster of\nHyannis. He was an active and much respected member of the Masonic\nfraternity.\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM M. DE LONG was born in Pittsfield, Otsego County, N.\u00a0Y.,\nSept. 2, 1815, and died in Binghampton, N.\u00a0Y., Oct. 30, 1877, aged\nsixty-two years. He was the youngest of a family of five brothers and\nnine sisters. When he was nine years old the family moved to Hastings,\nOswego County. His mother became entirely blind by an inflammation in\nher eyes, and by reason of afflictions, of hard times and many\nchildren to provide for, the family was reduced to abject poverty. The\nfather died soon after removing to Hastings, and the family was broken\nand scattered. The mother moved to Clark's Mills, near Utica, where\nshe died in 1830, when William was fifteen years old. He lived a year\nin Sanquoit, with a friend of the family, and while there heard Rev.\nW. Bullard and Rev. Dolphus Skinner preach a few Universalist sermons,\nin which young De Long became deeply interested, as well as in reading\nthe \"Magazine and Advocate,\" and for this reason was dismissed from\nthe machine-shop at Unadilla Forks by its proprietor, a Mr. Abel\nStillman, who, however, reconsidered his unreasonable conduct, and\nreinstated Mr. De Long, who worked there long enough to acquire the\nmoney to pay for a year's tuition at Hartwick Seminary. He afterwards\nattended the New Berlin Academy. His faith in Universalism grew with\nhis increased facilities for study, and in August, 1835, he preached\nhis first sermon. He was ordained July 20, 1837, and preached under\ndifferent engagements at Lebanon, Oran, and Binghampton, in New York.\nIn 1841 he joined Rev. George Rogers in a missionary tour through Ohio\nand Indiana. For many years he itinerated over a large circuit in New\nYork and Pennsylvania. He was twice married, first to Miss Mary Ann\nAshcroft, who died in 1870, and in 1871 to Miss Mary Jane Swart, an\nacceptable preacher of the Universalist faith, who survives him. There\nis a good account of her in \"Our Woman Workers,\" by Mrs. Hanson.\n\nIn 1873 Mr. De Long began to suffer from a paralytic affection, from\nwhich he could get no relief. These sentences, written and signed by\nhim a short time before he had lost the power of guiding his pen, show\nthe strength of his faith: \"I know that God is, that my Redeemer\nliveth, and that we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the\nheavens. This is the source of my consolation.\"\n\n\nRev. W.\u00a0B. LINNELL was born in Birmingham, England, in 1804, and died\nin Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 6, 1868. His first settlement in the\nministry was in Springboro, Ohio, in 1844, where he continued for\nseven years. He afterwards had a settlement in Fairfield, Ind.; Mt.\nPleasant, Ia.; and Oquawka, in which last place he remained until the\nbreaking out of the war. He then enlisted in the service of his\nadopted country as chaplain of the 10th Illinois regiment. Health\nfailed him, and he returned to his home, after enduring the hardships\nof camp life for nearly a year. After recovering his health, he took\ncharge of the church in Vevay, Ind. He was one of the pioneers of\nUniversalism in the West, and did good service as a Christian\nminister. Having much of the missionary spirit, his appointments were\nalways numerous, and they were made many weeks ahead. As a preacher,\nthough not particularly brilliant, he was always efficient. He\ninherited the traditional shrewdness and humor of the Yorkshire\npeople, who were his ancestors, in such a degree as to make him a\nmarked character among his brother ministers. He was kind and\ntender-hearted to a fault, yet his will was unbending, and when his\nmind was once made up it was difficult to change him.\n\n\nRev. JOSHUA BRITTON came from Westmoreland, N.\u00a0H., where he was born\nAug. 14, 1803. His early life was spent upon a farm, where he had but\nlimited opportunities for attending school. But he diligently improved\nthose that offered, and at the age of eighteen began a successful\ncareer as a teacher, which extended over ten years, pursuing his\nstudies at the same time, and still adding to his stores of knowledge.\nHe had from youth a serious and devout mind, and was always a regular\nattendant on public worship. He was inclined to the faith of the\nPresbyterian Church until about the age of twenty-three, when he had\nopportunities for hearing the doctrines of Universalism advocated and\ndefended by the late Rev. Dolphus Skinner, and others. He became\ndeeply interested, and his intelligent mind eagerly drank in the new\nviews presented. His faith grew stronger with the lapse of time, and\nhe finally resolved to enter the ministry. He preached his first\nsermon in 1831, and was ordained at Burlington Flats, N.\u00a0Y., June 6,\n1832. He was settled over parishes in the State of New York till 1839,\nwhen he was in Chesterfield, N.\u00a0H., for a year. He spent the next ten\nyears in Dudley and North Chatham, Mass.; then three years in Stoddard\nand Richmond, N.\u00a0H. He removed to Vermont in 1853, and preached in\nBrattleboro, West Concord, Lyndon, and Bradford for the next fifteen\nyears, when he went to Fort Atkinson, Wis., which was his home for the\nremainder of his life. He was a faithful and excellent pastor; he had\na mild and loving heart, and won many friends. If not one of the\ngreatest ministers intellectually, he was one of the best spiritually,\nand his life was a pure and useful one. He died at Fort Atkinson,\nWis., Oct. 30, 1878.\n\nAn instance illustrative of the orderly habits of the man was, years\nago, related to the writer. The books in his library were always\nexactly in their places, and the backs of them in a straight line. At\none time an exchange minister, who had the free use of the library\nduring a Sunday's tarrying, had failed to replace the volumes he had\ntaken down according to the rules of the proprietor. When Mr. Britton\nentered the study on his return home, while his brother was yet there,\nthe first kindly salutations were scarcely over when the projecting\nvolumes were all noted and quickly adjusted by their owner. A singular\nand timely suggestion.\n\n\nRev. GEORGE MESSENGER was originally from Berkshire, Mass., removing\nfrom thence to the State of New York, and afterwards, in 1838, to\nSpringfield, Ohio, where he ever after lived, a widely known and\nhighly respected citizen. He was licensed as a preacher at Madison,\nN.\u00a0Y., in 1824, and ordained, at Eatonsbush, N.\u00a0Y., Oct. 12, 1826. He\nwas an itinerant preacher, and much interested in the prosperity of\nthe church where he resided. As one of the trustees of Buchtel\nCollege, he gave much of his time and attention to the supervision of\nthe erection of the college building. For the last few months of his\nlife he was very hard at work at Akron, and while thus engaged\ncontracted a sickness which terminated in death. \"It may be said of\nhim,\" wrote the editor of \"The Star in the West,\" \"that he died a\nmartyr to the work which had enlisted his sympathies, namely,\nestablishing Buchtel College on a permanent basis. He subscribed\nlargely and liberally to the fund for its erection, and was an\nunceasing worker in its behalf. His widow, since his death, has been a\nsubstantial helper to the institution. She endowed the chair of Mental\nand Moral Philosophy, in memory of her husband, to the amount of\n$25,000; and has also contributed largely to the expenses of the\ninstitution, and given again and again for various special\npurposes.\"[49]\n\n\nRev. JOHN TEMPLE GOODRICH, of Middlefield, Otsego County, N.\u00a0Y., born\nin 1815, studied theology with Rev. Stephen R. Smith. In 1836, when\nless than twenty-one years of age, he was settled as a preacher in\nOxford, Chenango County, N.\u00a0Y., where he remained about twelve years.\nIn 1850 he was called to the pastorate of the Universalist Church at\nCanton, N.\u00a0Y., where he remained for five years, doing good work there\nand in neighboring places. An affection of his throat induced him to\naccept a call to Reading, Pa., where he labored two years, and where\nhis influence was strong and extended as it had been elsewhere. After\nthis he was persuaded to return to Canton, and take the agency of the\nnew Theological School and College projected at that place, and served\nin that capacity for five years, successfully, preaching in the mean\ntime in Canton and elsewhere. It was largely through his efforts that\nthe New York Legislature appropriated $25,000 to the Canton schools.\nReleased from this work, he became pastor of the Eighth Street Church,\nPhiladelphia, where he remained four years, when he left them out of\ndebt and himself out of health. After an interval spent in travelling,\nhe went to Wilmington, Del., and supplied that missionary station for\nabout two years.\n\nWhile he lived in Canton, he held an oral discussion with Rev. Mr.\nWheeler, Baptist, which continued several evenings, and was a marked\nsuccess on the part of Mr. Goodrich. In Wilmington he held a written\ncontroversy with Rev. Mr. Hoffman, a Presbyterian minister, a success\nalso. Years before this, he had held a written and oral discussion\nwith Rev. Mr. Dyer, a Presbyterian, of Preston, N.\u00a0Y., which gave the\ncause of Universalism an impetus in that place. Mr. Goodrich was not\ncombative, and would not seek a controversy, nor would he shrink from\none if duty called him to engage in it. He was devotedly attached to\nhis family, and was anxious to close up his secular concerns, and\nsettle down over some parish where the labor required was such as his\nhealth would enable him to perform. With this intent he left home on\nthe 25th of September, 1871; went to Fulton, then to Watertown, to\nRochester, and to Chicago, where he was seen by acquaintances, and\nwhere his name was entered on the register of the Metropolitan Hotel,\nfor room No. 36, on the 5th of October, and where it afterwards\nremained, with bill unsettled. He, with many others, perished in the\ndreadful conflagration at that time.\n\n\nRev. FRANKLIN CHARLES FLINT was born in Nelson, N.\u00a0H., June 16, 1836,\nand died in Shrewsbury, Mass., March 23, 1876. In 1840 his family\nmoved to Hancock, N.\u00a0H., and in 1842 to Shrewsbury, Mass., where he\nworked on his father's farm and attended a district school. At an\nearly age he was quite studious, and desired a classical education. He\nwent through his preparatory course at Thetford (Vt.) Academy, and in\n1857 entered Amherst College. But, after spending two years there, he\nleft, entered at Tufts, and graduated in 1861, the third in a class of\ntwelve, with a philosophical oration. He was enabled to work his way\nthrough college by gaining, in a competitive examination, one of the\nscholarships granted by the State of Massachusetts to Tufts College,\nand by what he could earn in teaching school during his vacations.\nUpon graduating, he took charge of the high school in Westboro, Mass.,\nand in the mean time turned his attention to theology. He preached his\nfirst sermon at Groton (now Ayer Junction). In 1863 he preached in\nDana and vicinity, teaching meanwhile a select school. In 1864-5 he\ntaught a select school at Hyannis, Mass., and afterwards was assistant\nin the academy at Dudley. In 1865 he removed to Chatham, on Cape Cod,\nwhere he was ordained, July 31, 1866. In 1867 he became pastor of the\nUniversalist Society in Southbridge, Mass., where he proved himself a\nfaithful minister, a useful member of the school committee, an\nefficient worker in the temperance cause, and by his active interest\nand co-operation in every good work, and by his frank and genial\nmanners, won the respect and good will of the people in and out of his\nparish. In 1874 he took charge of the Willow Park Seminary, at\nWestboro, Mass., but resigned after one year. He preached for short\nperiods at Oxford and Rockport. In 1874 he prepared for the press a\nmemoir of the late Rev. W.\u00a0W. Wilson, one of his predecessors in the\npastorate at Southbridge. In 1875 he took charge of the Universalist\nSociety in Attleboro, Mass., but failing health compelled him to\nresign the position in March, 1876. His people voted him leave of\nabsence, hoping he might recover, and he went to his father's in\nShrewsbury, but he rapidly grew worse, until death came to his relief.\nHis record is with that of \"the faithful in Christ Jesus.\"\n\n\nRev. HOPE BAIN was a Scotchman by birth, from Aberdeen. His father,\nonce an officer in the British navy, removed with his family to\nMaryland, and died in Baltimore in 1812. The son served during the war\nof 1812, young as he was (fifteen), as a member of a Baltimore company\nof volunteers attached to the 5th regiment, and was in the battles of\nBladensburg and West Point. He was at first a Presbyterian, and member\nof that church for many years. In 1830 he was appointed an agent to\nlabor in West Tennessee, and in the valley of the Mississippi, for the\nAmerican Sunday-School Union. He became a Universalist in 1847, and\nwas ordained a preacher at Norfolk, Va., in 1848. He was for fifteen\nyears a teacher in Virginia. He moved to North Carolina, in December,\n1851, and preached, before the war of the Rebellion, in twenty-six\ncounties, and, after the war, in six other counties. His last sermon\nwas in Goldsboro, in 1875. Anticipating his approaching departure, he\nsaid that at the age of eighty-one he could not expect to remain here\nmuch longer, nor did he desire to. He was nearing a home where he\nshould be united to loved ones gone before. He was widely known in\nNorth Carolina. He was a Union man in the strictest sense, thoroughly\nloyal to the government during the late war, which alienated from him\nmany of his former associates and hearers, but he never wavered in\ndevotion to his country, and to the cause of the Christian Gospel.\nAlthough without pecuniary resources, he continued to preach wherever\nthere was an opening, and with little or no remuneration labored\nfaithfully and steadfastly in the ministry as long as health and\nstrength lasted. His faith uplifted and sustained him as he passed\nfrom these earthly scenes.\n\n\nRev. WOODBURY M. FERNALD was for several years a prominent preacher\nwith the Universalists. He was born in Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., March 21,\n1813, and died in Boston, Mass., Dec. 10, 1873. He was ordained at\nPortsmouth, N.\u00a0H., in 1836. In 1838 he was pastor at Cabotville (now\nChicopee), Mass. In 1840 and 1841 he was located at Newburyport, and\nwhile there published a volume entitled \"Universalism against\nPartialism,\" an able statement of the contrast set forth. He was next\nin Stoneham as pastor for three years. In 1854 he removed to Boston,\nand becoming interested in the works of Swedenborg and the writings of\nAndrew Jackson Davis, he was after a while ordained as a Swedenborgian\nminister. He was so fascinated by the New Church doctrines as to\nbecome alienated from his former associates and lost to their\nministry. He published, in 1854, a \"Compendium of the Theological and\nSpiritual Writings of Swedenborg,\" and in 1859, \"God in His\nProvidence,\" in which he implicitly renounced the notion of \"the\neternity of Hell,\" and put forth a Universalist view of human destiny,\nturning Swedenborg's principles against the Seer's own conclusions,\nand making those principles the ground of an assurance of Universal\nRestoration. He published afterwards other works, evincing much\nability. His sincerity was never doubted.\n\n\nRev. CALEB PERIN MALLORY was a minister of the Universalist\nfaith in Canada during most of his life. He died at Huntingville,\nP.\u00a0Q., July 13, 1882, aged seventy-one.\n\nHe was born in Eaton, C.\u00a0E. His early training was under the influence\nof the theology after the kind taught by Calvin and Arminius. Being of\na thoughtful and studious disposition, however, he came to see in the\nteachings of the New Testament strong and unmistakable evidences of\nthe Gospel of Universalism. When about thirty years old he appeared\nbefore the public as an advocate of it. Rev. L.\u00a0H. Tabor, who\nofficiated at the funeral, gave the following account:--\n\n  \"As nearly as I can learn, he preached some three years in various\n  places to good acceptance, and was ordained at Glover, Vt., Sept.\n  19, 1843, and in just one year from the time of ordination (Sept.\n  19, 1844), was installed at the request of several brethren residing\n  in as many of the eastern townships over which he was installed. For\n  several years he preached regularly at Huntingville and other places\n  in the vicinity, and for over forty years had attended funerals and\n  weddings, baptizing children and adults as the disciples of Jesus,\n  the Saviour of the world. He was a Christian reformer, ready for\n  every good word and work. No one man could have been taken from that\n  community whose departure will be felt more. And when we saw the\n  multitude that gathered at his burial, with weeping eyes, we were\n  led to say,'Behold, how they loved him.' It was said, by good\n  judges, that there were a thousand people at his funeral, some\n  coming the distance of fifty miles.\n\n  \"Brother Mallory was a man of great energy of character, often\n  travelling and preaching under such adverse circumstances as would\n  have discouraged others of less inherent power. His compensation for\n  services has been comparatively small, but, sustained by the\n  ministry of the reconciliation, he fainted not, occupying till the\n  Master came.\"\n\n\nIn the yearly Universalist \"Register,\" the names of nearly thirty\nwomen are given as ministers,--evangelists or with pastorates,--in the\nUniversalist Church.[50] Among the number of those who have served in\nthis capacity, the record is made of the death of the following:--\n\n\nMrs. ELVIRA J. POWERS. She came into the ministry from the Canton\nTheological School as a licentiate of the New York Convention. At the\nend of six months she was compelled to give up her work on account of\nill-health, and was not able afterwards to resume it. During the war\nof the Rebellion, in the office of nurse, she rendered good service,\nand wrote an interesting book of her experiences, entitled \"Hospital\nPencillings.\" A friend and former pastor speaks of her personal worth\nin very strong terms. \"In fidelity to her conviction of duty, in her\nindustry, zeal, and integrity, in her constant sacrifice of the\nsuperficial and temporal for the profound and eternal, her life was a\ngreat success.\" She died in Worcester, Mass., Sept. 21, 1871.\n\n\nRev. FANNY UPHAM ROBERTS, daughter of Frederic and Hannah R. Cogswell,\nboth of whom were preachers in the \"Christian Connection,\" was born in\nSouth Berwick, Me., in June, 1834. She joined the Congregational\nChurch in Northwood, N.\u00a0H., and was for some time a superintendent of\na Baptist Sunday-school. She had, however, from a child been\nacquainted with the Universalist faith. In 1870 she began to give\nlectures in public on lyceum topics, and not long afterwards commenced\npreaching in Kensington, N.\u00a0H., and Wells, Me. In the spring of 1871\nshe removed to Kittery, Me. (where she had been ordained), and\npreached there until April, 1875, when from loss of voice she resigned\nher post, and went to Minnesota, hoping to regain her health. But the\nchange of climate failed to arrest her disease, and she steadily\ndeclined until death came to her relief. She died in Winona, Minn.,\nAug. 26, 1875. Her friends testify to her vigor of mind, her goodness\nof heart, and the graceful modesty and sweet womanly dignity that ever\nshone out in her life. An intelligent member of the Universalist\ncongregation of Portsmouth, N.\u00a0H., once informed the writer that in\nlistening to her discourses, as he did occasionally, he was forcibly\nreminded of the logical clearness and strength of the elder Ballou.\n\n\nRev. PRUDY LE CLERC HASKELL was born in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 6, 1844,\nand died in Oxford, O., Dec. 27, 1878. In her youthful days she was\nthoughtful, intelligent, and studious. Her parents were Universalists\nin sentiment, and her mind was impressed by the influences of their\nreligious faith. An only brother, who had intended to enter the\nUniversalist ministry, died in a Southern prison during the war, and\nshe felt herself called to take the place which he would have filled.\nShe was ordained at Madison, Ind., Oct. 14, 1869, where she preached\ntwo years, and succeeded in gathering the scattered remnants of a\nformer congregation into a living form. She then went to Mt. Pleasant,\nIowa, and labored there successfully for two years, greatly endearing\nherself to the people; but the climate proving unfavorable to her, she\nwas obliged to leave and return to the home of her parents in Aurora,\nInd. She was afterwards settled at Mt. Carmel, Ind., at Jeffersonville\nand Newtown, O., and at Covington, Ky. She was an attractive and\ninteresting preacher, and very popular as a pastor. While residing in\nCovington, she was united in marriage to Mr. Cassius L. Haskell, who\nafterwards entered the ministry. She had been married but a single\nyear when her earthly life ended. The remembrance of an evening with\nher at a meeting in Mt. Carmel, O., is very vivid in the mind of the\nwriter. She had been deeply interested in a new church organization\nthere, and had induced a good number of young believers to become\nmembers. Her welcome and counsel to them were pervaded with the\nChristian spirit.\n\n\n_Living Ministers._\n\nIt has been thought advisable to append to this record of the departed\nthe names of a few of the living ministers, now advanced in years, who\nhave earned an honorable reputation by their works during the time\nincluded in the survey here taken. It would have been agreeable to the\nwriter if the number of such could have been increased, but this was\nforbidden by the limits prescribed to this volume. Besides, as already\nstated, it will be understood that this historical sketching is by no\nmeans exhausted; that there is another and a larger roll of those\npassed on, who have done faithful service in the redeeming army, as\nthere is a noble company of the living who are yet adding their good\nwork to the history of the church, and whose names and deeds may in\nsome future day be truthfully and gratefully given to an appreciative\npublic. For this brief review we are able to take of the faithful dead\nand living, let us be thankful.\n\n\nOne of the most aged living ministers of the Universalist Church is\nRev. CLEMENT FALL LE FEVRE, D.\u00a0D., of Milwaukee, Wis. He was born in\nBerkhamstead, County of Hertfordshire, England, Nov. 12, 1797. He was\nchristened in the parish church, as was the poet Cowper, who was a\nnative of the same county. The father of Mr. Le Fevre was a clergyman\nand graduate of Oxford University, and was acquainted with the\ndistinguished poet, and always held his works in high estimation. In\n1814 Mr. Le Fevre had a commission in the British navy as second\nlieutenant of the Royal Marines, and was appointed to a frigate and\nsailed for Halifax. His war record was a short one, however, for with\nthe peace of 1815 he was put on half-pay. He was never in any\nengagement with the enemy, and, as he writes, \"my sword was never\nstained with American blood, and theirs was never stained with mine,\nand that I consider the better.\" Having no particular employment, he\nwas for some time adrift as to a life-calling, but subsequently\ninclined to his father's profession, and in nautical phrase \"bore up\nfor a parson.\" His father was educating some young men for the\nUniversities, and the son joined in their classes. Having by this\nmeans obtained some knowledge of Latin and Greek, he received\nordination, and was adopted by the Society for the Propagation of the\nGospel in Foreign Parts. This was in the year 1821. His appointment\nwas to a church in Canada, in the diocese of Quebec, where he remained\nuntil the close of the year 1829, when, rejecting the doctrine of the\nTrinity and endless punishment for the sins of this life, he withdrew\nfrom the ministry and communion of the Church of England.\n\nHe next removed to New York, and made his home at Hempstead, L.\u00a0I.,\nthe native place of his wife; and here and at several places on the\nisland and in the city of New York he frequently preached. In 1830 he\nreceived fellowship of the Universalists, at the New York and\nPhiladelphia Association, met at New Brunswick, N.\u00a0J. He was next\npastor four years in Troy, N.\u00a0Y., six in New York city, four in\nHudson, and six in Milwaukee, Wis. In the last-named place he\npurchased a farm and settled down for the enjoyment of a permanent\nhome. Although having no special pastorate, he has been doing much\nmissionary work, has constantly attended the meetings of the church,\nand often written for its publications. His health at this present\nwriting is quite firm for one of his years, a slight failure of\neyesight and a partial paralysis of the right hand being his principal\ninfirmity.\n\nMr. Le Fevre enjoys a deservedly high reputation. His pulpit talents\nhave always been appreciated by his congregations. His discourses have\nindicated a keen and well-balanced mind, logical force, and ripe\nscholarship. In social life he has always exerted a salutary\ninfluence; his wit and humor being admirable accompaniments of his\ngentlemanly dignity and sympathetic spirit. He has proved a valuable\nacquisition to the church whose pleasure it is to make this truthful\nrecord of him.\n\n\n [Illustration: Lucius R. Paige.]\n\nRev. LUCIUS ROBINSON PAIGE, D.\u00a0D., is, with two exceptions,[51] the\noldest living minister in the Universalist Church. He was born in\nHardwick, Mass., March 8, 1802, and was educated in the public schools\nof his native village. On reaching his majority he began his work as a\npreacher, and did some effective missionary work as a layman. In 1825\nhe was ordained, and was settled at Springfield, Mass., where he\nremained four years. During this time, his faith being assailed by two\nministers of the Methodist church, Rev. Timothy Merritt and Rev.\nWilbur Fisk, Mr. Paige entered into a controversy with them, and\nproved himself an able advocate and defender of the Christian Gospel.\nThe debate still exists in pamphlet form, and is one of the most pithy\nand searching that can be found. The spirit and behavior of the\nbigoted opponents of Universalism are strikingly illustrated, as well\nas the readiness and efficiency of the assailed one to meet and to\ndeal with them. Mr. Paige was next minister in Rockport, and removed\nfrom there to Cambridgeport, where he was installed pastor of the\nFirst Universalist Society July 8, 1832. He held this position until\n1839, after which he took no pastorate, but continued to preach\nfrequently for more than twenty years afterwards, and has been active\nin the ministry until within a few years.\n\nIn 1833 he published his \"Selections from Eminent Commentators,\" a\nwork showing most conclusively the admission on the part of orthodox\nwriters of the very ground taken by Universalists in their explanation\nof many passages of Scripture supposed to stand in opposition to\nUniversalism. It was a strong call upon all candid inquirers after\nChristian truth, and has made its impress in the progress of Christian\nthought since it was issued. In 1838 he published \"Questions on Select\nPortions of the Gospels,\" designed for Sunday schools and Bible\nclasses. His greatest work, however, is his Commentary on the New\nTestament, the first volume of which was published in 1844, and the\nlast in 1870. The work is the result of sound judgment, careful\nresearch and close thought, and is a monument of the steady and\nuntiring industry of the writer. It has been highly acceptable to\nthose on whose behalf it was prepared. While engaged upon it, he also\ncontributed to the denominational papers, and gathered materials for\nthe history of Cambridge, which was published in 1877.\n\nHe has also been actively engaged in secular pursuits. He was town\nclerk from March, 1839, to January, 1840, and from March, 1843, to\nMay, 1846, and city clerk from May, 1846, to October, 1855, and\nrepresentative in the General Court in 1878 and 1879. He was treasurer\nof the Cambridgeport Savings Bank from April, 1855, to April, 1871,\nand has been cashier and president of the Cambridge Bank. He received\nthe degree of A.\u00a0M. from Harvard in 1850, and D.\u00a0D. from Tufts in\n1861. Although he has retired from business, during the past few years\nDr. Paige has given much attention to the preparation of a history of\nhis native town, Hardwick, and after many years of hard work the task\nis completed and the manuscript is now ready for the printer. He is a\nmember of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and one of the oldest\non the roll; also of the American Antiquarian and Phi Beta Kappa\nsocieties.\n\nAs a Mason he has stood high. He joined the Order in Little Falls,\nN.\u00a0Y., in 1824, became Worshipful Master of the Hardwick Lodge in\n1826, having previously been exalted to the Royal Arch degree at\nGreenwich, and having joined the Knights Templars in 1824. He is now\nthe oldest Past Commander of the Knights Templars within the\njurisdiction of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He became Steward of\nthe Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1848, and deacon\nin 1850. The year following he was elected right worshipful deputy\ngrand master. Upon retiring from that position, he became a permanent\nmember, and is now the oldest surviving permanent member of the Grand\nLodge. In 1861 he received the thirty-third degree Scottish, and was\nat once admitted a member of the Supreme Council. Here he served as\nSecretary two years, and Minister of State three years. He is now, as\nhe has been for nineteen years past, resident representative of the\nSupreme Council of Belgium.\n\nOne of the most noticeable events in the life of Dr. Paige was that of\nthe celebration of his eightieth birthday, in the vestry of the\nUniversalist Church in Cambridgeport, on the evening of March 8, 1882.\nA large company was assembled, and after a feast at the tables, very\nimpressive exercises followed. Rev. O.\u00a0A. Safford, pastor of the\nUniversalist Church, presided, and introduced Dr. Paige to the\ncompany, who heard from him a very appropriate and affecting address.\nThe assembly was then addressed by Mayor Fox of Cambridge, Rev. Dr.\nMcKenzie of the Congregational church, Rev. Drs. Sawyer, Adams, Miner,\nand Capen, Rev. C.\u00a0A. Skinner, J.\u00a0A. Jacobs, Esq., the city clerk, and\nCapt. J.\u00a0W. Cotton. A letter, expressive of his sincere and hearty\nrespect for Dr. Paige, was read from Professor Longfellow. A handsome\nillustrated copy of Longfellow's Poems was presented to the doctor,\nbearing this inscription: \"Presented by a few old friends, with their\ncongratulations and best wishes on the 80th anniversary of his\nbirthday.\"\n\n\n [Illustration: A. A. Miner.\n J. H. Daniels Pr. Boston.]\n\nOn Monday, May 1, 1882, the Columbus Avenue Universalist Church\ncelebrated the thirty-fourth anniversary of the pastorate of Rev.\nALONZO AMES MINER, D.\u00a0D., LL.\u00a0D., who entered upon his duties as a\ncolleague of the late Rev. Hosea Ballou, pastor of the Second\nUniversalist Society in Boston, in place of Rev. Dr. E.\u00a0H. Chapin,\ncalled to New York. Mr. Miner was born in Lempster, N.\u00a0H., Aug 17,\n1814. His ancestors on both sides were distinguished by good sense and\nfirm physical constitutions. His remote American forefather, Thomas\nMiner, landed at Boston in the same year with the elder Winthrop\n(1630), and removed to Connecticut with the company of the younger\nWinthrop about 1646. His grandfather, Charles Miner, served in the\nRevolutionary War, and removed to New Hampshire soon after its close.\nThomas Miner, his ancestor, was a descendant of Henry Bulman of the\nMendip Hills, Somersetshire, England, who furnished Edward III., when\non his way to embark for the wars of France, with an escort of one\nhundred men, selected from his servants and from the men employed in\nhis mines. For this service the king honored him with a coat of arms,\nand changed his name to Miner.\n\nDr. Miner was so feeble in his youth that it seemed doubtful whether\nhe would grow up into mature life. But good care and judicious\ntraining wrought a change for the better, which was doubtless aided by\na vigorous will. His education was gained at village schools and\nacademies in New Hampshire and Vermont. He began teaching between\nterms when he was sixteen years of age, and in 1835 took entire charge\nof the Scientific and Military Academy at Unity, N.\u00a0H. His first\ndiscourse in the pulpit was delivered in February, 1838. In 1839 he\nreceived ordination, and was settled in Methuen, Mass. In 1842 he\nremoved to Lowell, where he became an efficient yoke-fellow with the\npastor of the First Universalist Church, and where they made good\nproof of their ministry in the pulpit and through the press. Dr. Miner\nremained in Lowell as pastor of the Second Society until the removal\nof Rev. E.\u00a0H. Chapin from Boston to New York, when he was called to\ntake his place as colleague with Rev. Hosea Ballou at the Universalist\nChurch in School St. On the death of Mr. Ballou, he became pastor of\nthe church, which office he still retains. His health failing him\npartially in 1851, he visited Europe, and on his return found that his\nchurch edifice had been remodelled during his absence, at a cost of\n$20,000. Subsequently, in 1872 the building in School Street was put\nto secular uses, and the edifice now occupied on Columbus Avenue was\nerected at a cost of $150,000. During his long pastorate, two\ncolleagues have been settled with him, Rev. Roland Connor, for a short\ntime, and Rev. Henry I. Cushman, now pastor of the First Universalist\nChurch in Providence, R.\u00a0I.\n\nIn 1862, after the decease of Rev. Dr. Ballou, President of Tufts\nCollege, Dr. Miner was chosen to this office, and took upon himself\nits duties in connection with his work as pastor in Boston. His energy\nseemed adequate to this double task for a time, until it became\nevident to him and his friends that the interests of both college and\nparish required his main attention to be given to but one of them. He\nchose the parish, to the great satisfaction of its members, and Rev.\nE.\u00a0H. Capen, one of the alumni of the college, was elected its\npresident.\n\nThrough his past life-course Dr. Miner has been one of the most\nindefatigable of toilers. As a Christian minister and reformer he is\nwidely known. His pulpit talents are of the highest order. His clear,\nstrong, and readily modulated voice, his sharp logic, often \"on fire,\"\nhis good scholarship, his aptness not only in making his points, but\nin the elucidation of them; his thorough acquaintance with the\nevidences of his faith, and especially with the scriptural proofs of\nit; his directness in striking at the wrong, as he perceives it, with\nmost telling blows, and his uncompromising adherence to what he\nconsiders the right, are sure to gain him a respectful and serious\nhearing wherever he comes before the public. His many published\ndiscourses evince his power as a theologian, and his little volume,\n\"The Old Forts Taken,\" embodies a searching review of some of the\nover-confident statements of Rev. Joseph Cook on the religious signs\nof the times. It would have been well for Christian truth, and for\nsome of the churches professing it, whose representatives so readily\napplauded many of the stirring and sensational words of Mr. Cook at\nthe moment of their utterance in Boston, could they have listened also\nto a close and rigid questioning of them by Dr. Miner. The\nUniversalist Church generally, we think, would be quite willing to\nabide by the presentation of its faith and the claims of it, by him.\nAt a conversation circle, embracing members of the \"Radical Club,\"\nheld in Boston within a few years, where all shades of religious\nopinion were represented, the question \"Is Christianity a Finality?\"\nor, in substance, can any religion superior to it be given to man? was\nproposed for consideration. After various discussions on the subject\nfrom the purest orthodoxy to the most radical \"liberalism,\" Dr. Miner,\nwho had come in while the subject was under discussion, was invited by\nthe chairman to speak. His statements were very readily made, viz.\nthat the Christianity of the New Testament included the best religion\nconceivable by man, meeting his deepest spiritual wants, answering his\nhighest aspirations after the purest life here, and his most anxious\nhopes respecting the future of himself and the race. All this is\npresented, and its complete fulfilment with all souls assured through\nChrist, the promise of whose mission is, that ultimately \"God shall be\nall in all.\" If Christianity is true, therefore, it will have no\nsuccessor. The discussion was at an end.\n\nAs a Christian reformer Dr. Miner has gained a deserved prominence. He\nhas been outspoken on the subject of Capital Punishment, advocating\nits abolishment, and in the Anti-slavery war proved himself one of the\nveterans. It is in the Temperance reform, however, that he has taken a\nstrong and marked interest. As an advocate of Prohibition he is one of\nthe leaders in the land. The pamphlet on Prohibition, published in\n1867, containing his arguments on the subject before the Massachusetts\nLegislative Committee in the Representatives' Hall, is one of the most\nreadable documents of the times.[52] His ready answers to the\nquestions proposed to him, and his telling questions pressed upon the\nadvocates of liquor license laws, on that occasion, evinced a mastery\nof the situation not often realized. In temperance conventions and\nconferences he has often some searching criticisms on the city\nofficials in their evasions of the laws respecting the liquor traffic;\nand on every available occasion when called to speak on the moral\nneeds of the State and the moral responsibility of the people, he is\nquite sure to give a few ringing notes emphasizing the temperance\nreform. Dr. Miner has been for ten years past President of the\nMassachusetts Temperance Alliance.\n\nAs an educator Dr. Miner has done good work. He began it early, and\nhas never lost interest in it. As president of the college, a member\nof the State Board of Education, and Chairman of the Board of Visitors\nof the Normal Art School, he has been true to it constantly.\n\nHis business talent is well known. He is a safe and far-seeing\nfinancier, to whom the interests of the busy movers \"on 'change\" are\nsomewhat familiar. In all financial plans and operations demanding his\naction he is especially and effectively at home. He is President of\nthe Universalist Publishing House, and is still one of the trustees of\nTufts College. The degree of D.\u00a0D. was conferred upon him by Harvard\nCollege, and that of LL.\u00a0D. by Tufts soon after his resignation of the\npresidency of that institution. He was one of the \"Hundred Boston\nOrators;\" having been called to deliver the oration before the\nauthorities and citizens of Boston, July 4, 1855.\n\nThe positiveness and persistence of Dr. Miner have sometimes had the\neffect to alienate rather than conciliate those who might conscientiously\ndiffer from him in their convictions of right and duty. It is to be\nlamented, however, that where we find one possessing his degree of\npositiveness in what he believes to be right, we are more or less\n\"troubled on every side\" by those who are only half-men because of the\nlow policies and expediencies by which they are governed. His\nconfidence in the right seems instinctive; as he says, \"A mountain can\nbe tunnelled; a principle never.\" A Boston secular journal just now\nspeaks of him:--\n\n  \"His honesty nobody has ever questioned. If he hit hard, he hit\n  where he believed hard hitting was warranted and indispensable. It\n  is fortunate for the world, perhaps, that he took a liberal side in\n  theology. Had he been a Calvinist, he would have been as\n  uncompromising as any one of those Puritan inflexibles who drove\n  Baptists into Rhode Island and Quakers into eternity; had he\n  embraced Catholicism, heretics would have fared the worse for it,\n  and he could hardly have found his fitting place anywhere short of\n  the college of cardinals, with its possibilities toward the chair of\n  St. Peter. By the same qualities that make him a terror to his\n  enemies, he binds his followers to him with hooks of steel.\"[53]\n\n\n [Illustration: Thomas J. Sawyer.\n F. T. Stuart Boston.]\n\nRev. THOMAS JEFFERSON SAWYER, D.\u00a0D., was born in Reading, Windsor Co.,\nVt., Jan. 9, 1804. His father was one of the earliest settlers of the\ntown, having removed with his father's family from Pomfret, Conn. The\nson enjoyed very good advantages for acquiring a common-school\neducation, and at the age of eighteen had gained such a mastery of the\nbranches then taught in such schools as to become a teacher, in which\ncapacity he served three or four months every year until he entered\nhis profession. He entered Middlebury College in the autumn of 1825,\nhaving completed his preparation after he was twenty-one, and\ngraduated in 1829. As there were no theological schools to aid him, he\nwent to study with Rev. William S. Balch, then at Winchester, N.\u00a0H.,\nwho was soon called to Albany. Mr. S. remained in Winchester through\nthe winter, preaching occasionally, reading the Iliad of Homer, and\nstudying such theological works as he had opportunity to find.\n\nIn April, 1830, he went to New York, and took charge of a small\nsociety there in Grand Street. The chapel in which he preached had\nbeen built and was for several years occupied as an Episcopal church.\nIt was afterwards purchased by the Universalists.\n\nIn 1832 Mr. Sawyer entered upon his ministry with his people in a new\nplace, a church on Orchard Street. The church was built three or four\nyears before by a small society of the Reformed Dutch Church, from\nwhich the property fell into the hands of two enterprising builders\nwho had been the contractors for it when it was erected. It was rented\nto Mr. Sawyer for two years. He was then a young minister of scarcely\ntwo years' standing in New York, and had entered the ministry only two\nyears and a half before. He had been married six months and had no\ncash investment. Four members of his congregation became his security\nfor the payment of the rent, and he in turn pledged for their security\nthe whole income of the church,--pew-rents, collections, and all.\nUnder the circumstances he was assuming quite a responsibility. The\nincome of the society had been small, and its receipts now were not\nequal to the rents alone. Besides, Universalism in New York had\nsuffered greatly through the defection of Abner Kneeland, and the\nconsequences of his lamentable course were still fresh in the memory\nof all. Divisions and heart-burnings still existed, and the prospect\nwas not greatly encouraging to the new adventurers. Yet it was seen\nthat, if success was to be realized, a new movement, as independent as\npossible of the old issues, must be made. Hence this piece of wise\npolicy in securing a new location, and beginning church-life under new\nauspices. It was a bold step, but a good Providence had directed it.\nMr. Sawyer writes of it:--\n\n  \"I well remember the joy we all experienced when we entered the\n  Orchard Street Church. The transition from the little Grand Street\n  chapel which we had previously occupied was striking enough. The\n  church was large, very large, to my unpractised eyes. True, it had\n  no side galleries, as it had afterwards, and was in every respect\n  inferior to what it became, but I doubt if Solomon, when he first\n  entered his majestic temple, felt more deeply impressed with its\n  greatness or its awful sanctity than I did on the day when we first\n  occupied this church. It seemed to me a goodly place, where, as I\n  hoped, Universalism was to be revived and restored in that great\n  city.\"\n\nThere were prophecies of failure on the part of some friends, but the\npersistence and faithfulness of the young pastor (encouraged by his\ncompanion, whose whole heart was in her husband's work) and his brave\nadherents, by God's blessing, wrought success.\n\nIn 1832 the city of New York was visited fearfully with the cholera.\nIt was suggested by some that the church should be closed during the\nepidemic, and the members of the congregation were one day desired to\nremain after service to express their opinions on the subject. Many\nwere about to leave the city, and thought the church might be closed\nfor two or three months and the pastor dismissed to the country. At\nlast Captain Packard, a somewhat eccentric but warm-hearted and worthy\nman, rose and said that he should remain in the city, and if ever he\nneeded the support and consolations of religion, it was during such\nseasons as they had already entered. If the pastor felt alarmed and\ndesired to leave, he of course would not complain, yet he should\ngreatly desire to come up to the house of his heavenly Father to\nlisten to his word and worship at his altar. This settled the\nquestion, and the Orchard Street Church was open regularly, morning\nand afternoon, through the whole of that gloomy and trying season. And\nin this case, as always, the path of duty proved in the end the path\nof greatest advantage. Many--perhaps a large part--of the churches in\nthe city were closed, and the pastors gone. The minds of the people\nwere seriously impressed, and the Gospel of infinite grace proved\nitself well fitted for such an emergency. The Universalist church was\nuniformly well attended, and great good was accomplished by its\nministrations. The society continued to increase. Old friends, whom\ncircumstances had alienated or caused to stand aloof from the\nmovement, returned one after another and forgot their former\ndifficulties and discontent. The best of feeling existed among the\nmembers and greatly encouraged all hearts.\n\nThough the Reformed Dutch Church gave up their new house on Orchard\nStreet, yet no sooner had it come into the possession of Universalists\nthan the members of that communion began to express a most lively\nconcern for the interests of religion. Dr. Sawyer writes:--\n\n  \"The 'Christian Intelligencer,' their religious journal, soon began\n  to pay some attention to Universalism; and Dr. Brownlee, one of the\n  boldest, if not one of their ablest, men and ministers, commenced a\n  course of lectures against the doctrine. The lectures were repeated\n  in the Dutch churches in the city, and briefly reported in the\n  'Intelligencer.' An attempt was made to get them repeated in the\n  Orchard Street Church, but failed. The Doctor was quite too busy to\n  permit it. His lectures were regarded by his friends as exceedingly\n  able and altogether irrefutable. He possessed a great deal of\n  assurance, and made assertions with vast boldness and emphasis. As a\n  reasoner he was but a third or fourth rate man. The ad captandum was\n  his forte, and among those who knew nothing of Universalism, and\n  undoubtingly believed in endless misery, his reasons were\n  satisfactory if not convincing.\"\n\nThe lectures were closely examined by Mr. Sawyer before large\ncongregations. It was a grand opportunity, and he improved it. This\nreview was afterwards given to the public through the press. The\nattack intended to check the spread of Universalism served to increase\nand strengthen it. During Mr. Sawyer's subsequent pastorate of\nthirteen and a half years, other controversies followed. With Rev. Mr.\nSlocum, a Presbyterian clergyman, he held a discussion that occupied\nfourteen evenings, and added twenty families to the Universalist\ncongregation. He answered Rev. Mr. Remington, a Methodist clergyman,\nand reviewed Rev. Dr. Parker's lectures on Universalism. These\nlectures of Mr. Parker had been preached and published in Rochester\nsome years before, and were, without essential alteration, repeated in\nseveral churches in New York. Mr. Sawyer happened to possess the\nRochester copy of the production, and very much to the astonishment of\nmany he replied to the learned Doctor's lecture on the very evening\nafter he had delivered it in the immediate neighborhood in the\nmorning. Another debate was also held by Mr. Sawyer with Rev. Mr.\nHatfield, the substance of which was published in a small volume\nentitled \"Universalism as it is.\" It was a rule with this sentinel on\nthe Universalist watch-tower in that city never to allow any\nantagonist of \"the faith,\" whose position and character deserved\nattention, to pass unnoticed or unanswered.\n\nThe Orchard Street Church was emphatically a success. After Mr. Sawyer\nleft it in 1845, it enjoyed the effective pastorates of Rev. Otis A.\nSkinner, since deceased, and Cyrus H. Fay (still useful and honored\namong our older ministers), and others. It has probably done more for\nthe diffusion of Universalism than any other single society in the\nState. All the societies in its immediate neighborhood, Bleecker\nStreet, Murray Street, Fourth Street, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg, were\nfirst formed by members of Orchard Street, and may be regarded as\noffshoots from that parent stock. It labored not merely for itself,\nits own ease or aggrandizement, but for the good of the cause, a\nveritable missionary institution.\n\nIn the autumn of 1845 Mr. Sawyer removed with his family to Clinton,\nOneida Co., N.\u00a0Y., and took charge of the Clinton Liberal Institute.\nHe succeeded in converting it into a Universalist school, and opened\nin connection with it a primitive theological school from which he\nsent out about twenty-five students, more than twenty of whom are\nstill in the ministry well and successfully employed. At the close of\n1852 he returned to New York, and, having preached for what was\nformerly called the Dry Dock Society a year, he returned to his old\nparish and continued with it until the spring of 1861, when, on the\nbreaking out of the Rebellion, and the volunteering of his oldest son\non his farm at Clinton, and on account of parish affairs in that\ndistracted time, he resigned and went to Clinton, where he remained,\npreaching for the parish there until January, 1863, when he again\nreturned to New York, and took the editorial charge of the \"Christian\nAmbassador.\" This paper was founded by Philo Price in 1831, under the\nname of \"The Christian Messenger,\" of which Mr. Sawyer was the\ntheological editor for several years. It passed under several names,\nand is now published at Boston as the \"Christian Leader,\" united with\nthe Universalist weekly formerly issued in this city.\n\nIn the autumn of 1865 he removed his family from Clinton to Star\nLanding, N.\u00a0J., and took possession of a farm he had just purchased\nthere. Here he remained, managing the farm and preaching occasionally,\nuntil the autumn of 1869, when he came to College Hill, Mass., and\nassumed the duties of Professor of Systematic Theology in the Divinity\nSchool, to which he had some time before been elected. He was one of\nthe original trustees of Tufts College, having called the educational\nconvention held in New York in 1847, which resulted in the\nestablishment of the college. He was also chiefly instrumental in\ncalling the first meeting in New York city to consider the necessity\nof establishing a theological school, which resulted in the founding\nof the Canton Theological School and the St. Lawrence University, of\nwhich he was also one of the original trustees, and for several years\nPresident of the Board. He received the honorary degree of S.\u00a0T.\u00a0D. at\nCambridge, in 1850.\n\nAmong the published works of Dr. Sawyer are his Letters to Dr. W.\u00a0C.\nBrownlee and to Rev. Stephen Remington in review of their Lectures\nagainst Universalism; the Occasional Sermon delivered before the\nUnited States Convention of Universalists in New York, September,\n1841; \"Endless Punishment, its Origin and Grounds Examined, with other\ndiscourses,\" 1845; Review of Rev. E.\u00a0F. Hatfield's \"Universalism as it\nis,\" 1841; Two Discussions with Rev. Isaac Wescott on Universal\nSalvation; \"Who is Our God? The Son or the Father?\" a Review of Rev.\nHenry Ward Beecher, 1859; a preface to the Philadelphia edition of\nPetitpierre on \"Divine Goodness,\" in 1843; \"Endless Punishment in the\nVery Words of Its Advocates,\" Boston, 1879; an article in the North\nAmerican Review, one of a series on the subject of Endless Punishment,\nin the March and April numbers of 1878. Besides the Occasional Sermon\nalready noted, he has preached two others before the United States\nConvention, one in Middletown, Conn., and the other at Rochester,\nN.\u00a0Y., in 1876. From the beginning Dr. Sawyer has taken a deep\ninterest in the literature of Universalism. He has written much for\nthe \"Quarterly\" and for the other church periodicals. He was\ninstrumental in originating the Universalist Historical Society, which\nhas now a very valuable library at Tufts College.\n\nDr. Sawyer has been an incessant and faithful toiler; and in all his\nwork, whether as preacher or teacher, has sought the promotion of the\nGospel of Universal Grace. His adherence to the work and advancement\nof the Universalist Church has been steady and unfaltering, and his\ndefence of the Christian Revelation as an authoritative dispensation\nfrom Heaven through Jesus Christ, clear and unequivocal, in admirable\ncontrast with the flippant rationalism and scepticism which have in\ntoo many instances found expression under the names of \"Liberal\nChristianity\" and \"Free Religion.\"\n\nThere is a church edifice in New York city in 127th Street, near\nLexington Avenue, which represents the Second Universalist Society of\nNew York, organized in 1828. It was completed two years ago, and is\ncalled the \"Sawyer Memorial Church.\"\n\n\n [Illustration: Tho\u02e2 B. Thayer.\n F. T. Stuart Boston.]\n\nAmong the older living ministers who have made themselves specially\nand constantly useful in the Universalist Church during the last\nhalf-century, no one is deserving of more grateful notice than Rev.\nTHOMAS BALDWIN THAYER, D.\u00a0D. He was born in Boston, Sept. 10, 1812.\nHaving received the usual rudimentary training and experience of\nboyhood, he successively passed through the grammar schools of his\nnative city, and at an early period in youth he entered the Latin\nschool under the direction of Mr. B.\u00a0A. Gould. The young student had\ntestimonials that his diligence was observed with marked approval. He\nentered college at Cambridge, where by permission he was to pursue his\nstudies for the first year, without college rooms, under the tutorship\nof Mr. F.\u00a0P. Leverett, the distinguished author of the Latin lexicon.\nFor certain reasons he was induced at the end of his first year to\nabandon a collegiate course, and from the duties of a college student\nhe very soon entered the Hawes Grammar-school in the capacity of an\nassistant. Soon after this, Mr. Leverett, resigning his position as\nprincipal of the Latin School in Boston, opened a private institution,\nmainly with a view to prepare students for college, and invited his\nformer pupil to become his assistant, which invitation Mr. Thayer\naccepted. It was while connected with this school that his purpose to\ndevote himself to the work of the ministry was formed.\n\nHis first engagement to preach was with the Universalist Society in\nSouth Dedham (now Norwood), where he supplied the pulpit for several\nmonths. This made his work quite arduous. His duties in his school and\nthose in the growing parish kept him constantly and closely employed.\nIn June, 1832, Mr. Thayer received Letters of Fellowship from the\nBoston Association, and was ordained by the same body in the following\nDecember. In April, 1833, he accepted an invitation from the First\nUniversalist Society in Lowell, and entered upon a pastorate there,\nwhich he kept for twelve years. While in this city, as another has\nwritten:--\n\n  \"Encouraged by the large congregations which regularly attended on\n  his preaching, he was moved to consider whether it were not possible\n  to meet the inquiring spirit of the people by a course of sermons\n  under circumstances which would give opportunity to present the\n  leading doctrines of Universalism to a larger number of persons than\n  could be accommodated in a church. This thought was communicated to\n  some of the leading members of the society, and after due\n  consultation, followed by prompt action, it led to the experiment of\n  a series of sermons in the capacious City Hall. The immense room was\n  filled with attentive hearers throughout the entire course. He then\n  proposed that, in conjunction with his own labors in the church,\n  regular preaching should be held four or five Sundays in the City\n  Hall, and that a subscription of fifty cents from each person\n  friendly to the project should defray the expenses incident thereto.\n  Rev. J.\u00a0G. Adams was engaged to supply the specified time. The\n  result was that to this day the meetings have never been\n  discontinued. The germ was originated, which, under the ministry of\n  Rev. Zenas Thompson, developed into the Second Society, now\n  worshipping in the beautiful edifice on Lowell Street.\"[54]\n\nFrom Lowell Mr. Thayer removed to Brooklyn, N.\u00a0Y., in 1845. His six\nyears in this city were years of great usefulness to his church and\nbeyond its limits. He connected himself with the Odd Fellows, and\nbecame editor of the \"Golden Rule,\" a paper published in the interest\nof the fraternity. In 1847 he gave a series of lectures on \"Social\nProgress,\" which were reported in part for the N.\u00a0Y. \"Tribune,\" as\nalso a series of lectures on the \"Dangers of City Life,\" especially in\nreference to young men. He was active in advocating social reform, the\nefforts for juvenile vagrants, and for the moral elevation of the poor.\n\nDr. Thayer has remarkable qualifications for a Christian minister,\nteacher, pastor, and writer. His sermons are always alive with\nthought, easily and earnestly delivered, doctrinally strong and clear,\npractically pointed, and plain; a mixture often of forcible\n_preaching_ (not reading) from manuscript, and freest extemporaneous\noutpouring, sweet and fresh with the heavenly fragrance of the Gospel.\nIn his Scripture readings at the opening of the church service, he is\nusually very acceptable to the hearers, interspersing the reading with\nexplanatory words and brief practical inferences.\n\nDr. Thayer is well known as an author. In the early days of his\nministry he published a volume entitled \"Christianity against\nInfidelity,\" an able and a timely offering to the public,--a strong\nand candid appeal to the reader in behalf of the Christian Gospel from\nthe Universalist standpoint. The work was some years afterwards\nenlarged, embracing the objections to historical Christianity by\nStrauss and Renan, and replies to them. A republication of this work\nwould be timely now, in this season of theological thought, of\nreligious drifting and doubt, of indifference and scepticism. His\n\"Theology of Universalism\" is a work of great merit, as also his\nadmirable volume \"Over the River.\" They deserve a place in the library\nof every minister, and should find a home in every Universalist family.\n\nHis most valuable work, however, has been done as editor of the\n\"Universalist Quarterly.\" His qualifications for this service are\nstriking. In addition to the able discussions in the publications from\nthe pens of other authors, the department containing the editor's\noutlook into the religious world, his notes and comments on the times,\nand his discriminating notices of new publications, is of itself a\nrich and welcome entertainment to all who are familiar with the pages\nof the Quarterly, a review reflecting great honor upon the\nUniversalist Church, and which the Universalist fraternity cannot\nafford to lose or neglect.\n\nAfter closing his ministry in Brooklyn, Dr. Thayer had a second\npastorate in Lowell with his old society, during which a severe\ncalamity came to him. He was thrown from a carriage by a frightened\nhorse, and so badly injured that for some time his survival seemed\nvery doubtful. His many friends were deeply anxious, and the strain\nupon his physical system was intense. But through all this terrible\nsorrow his faith and hope sustained and inspired him, and the lessons\nof his sickness and Christian endurance were to many souls more\nimpressive than any they had ever received from his pulpit\nministrations. It was a cheering event to hosts of friends that he was\ngradually restored to the calling he so much loved, though with the\neffects of the accident upon him which must go with him through life.\nHe afterwards removed to Boston, and was for a few years the\nmuch-esteemed pastor of the Shawmut Universalist Church in this city.\nSince his resignation there he has frequently supplied pulpits in the\nvicinity of Boston, always to great acceptance. At the present time he\nis engaged principally in his work with the pen.\n\nNotwithstanding the unquestionable qualifications of Dr. Thayer as a\npublic speaker, he is usually inclined to distrust himself, but no one\nof our ministers, when called upon to present any question of\nimportance at the public assemblings of the church, is more acceptable\nthan he. His lively musical notes of Christian truth and earnestness\nare sure to awaken a response in the souls of the listeners.\n\n\nRev. WILLIAM STEVENS BALCH, of Elgin, Ill., is one of the oldest of\nthe Universalist ministers now in active service. He was born in\nAndover, Vt., April 13, 1806. He received fellowship as a minister, of\nthe General Convention at Saratoga, N.\u00a0Y., in September, 1827, and\nordination in Claremont, N.\u00a0H., in June, 1828. His first location was\nin Windham County, Vt., boarding in Dummerston, preaching in\nneighboring towns one Sunday in each month, travelling on foot to the\nseveral stations, and receiving the payment of five dollars per\nSunday. He remained there preaching in nearly every town in that\nregion, until invited to his first settlement in Albany, N.\u00a0Y.,\nJanuary, 1831. Being after a time worn down with over-exertion, he\nfelt obliged to leave, and was settled next in Watertown, Mass., to\nwhich place he had been invited before going to Albany. His health\nsoon improved, and he found himself in the receipt of a salary of\n$450. But again his health failed, and he was induced to remove to\nClaremont, N.\u00a0H., in April, 1832. He preached there half the time, and\nsupplied in Hartland and Springfield, Vt., and Newport, N.\u00a0H., until a\nnew church in Claremont was finished. Here he was very actively\nemployed, not only as a pastor, but in doing missionary work in every\ndirection.\n\nIn September, 1835, at the General Convention held in Hartford, Conn.,\nhe was recommended by Rev. Dolphus Skinner to a committee of the\nsociety in Providence, R.\u00a0I., which was there to find a preacher \"not\ncommitted to Restorationism or Ultra-Universalism,\" in reference to\nwhich _isms_ the parish was quite divided. Mr. Balch consented to\nsupply three Sundays, not as a candidate, for he desired to live in\nthe country. He was, however, invited and urged to settle there, which\nhe did, after some hesitancy, in March, 1836. His ministry proved a\nsuccessful one. In two years the large church was crowded, and a\nsecond society was formed in the city. In 1842 he was invited to go as\na candidate to the church in Bleecker St., N.\u00a0Y. He declined, but soon\nafter received a call to become the pastor there. Having become\ninterested in what was known as the \"Dorr\" movement, and freely\nexpressing his wish to have a \"Republican form of government\" by a\nConstitution, and seeing a political storm brewing, he accepted the\ncall from New York, and settled there in November, 1842.\n\nIn 1848 he visited Europe, intending to go to Palestine. The troubles\nof that year made it difficult to go further than Rome. In 1852 he was\nasked by two men, not of his church, with whom a third joined, to go\nabroad if he wished, with full permission and means to journey as far\nand stay as long as he pleased. He was wise enough to accept the\ngenerous offer, and travelled extensively in Europe, extending his\njourney to Palestine, across the Desert, and through Egypt to Nubia.\n\nAfter seventeen years' hard work in preaching, lecturing, and writing\non religious and moral reform topics, he became quite worn down, and\nresolved to take life a little more leisurely for his body's sake, an\nexceedingly difficult course for him. He went to Ludlow, Vt., in 1859,\npreaching there half the time, and supplying other places, lecturing,\nand really working as hard as when in New York city. He then had\nanother removal, to Galesburg, Ill., where he preached five years, and\nagain resolved to retire, and removed to Hinsdale in 1870. But he\nstill preached. In 1871 he was urged to come to Elgin, Ill., where the\nminister's work was still before him. In 1877 he entered the plea of\nold age and resigned, purposing a visit to California. Meantime he was\ninvited to preach a Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa. The result was another\npastorate. He refused to \"settle,\" but consented to supply a few\nSundays until the society could obtain a pastor. He continued three\nyears and three months, not removing his family, but _staying_ there.\nHis ministry gave great encouragement to the church in Dubuque.\n\nIn 1880 Mr. Balch visited California; in 1882 the City of Mexico; and\nlast winter Florida. At the present time his health is quite firm. As\nhe writes of himself, \"I am comfortably situated, use no glasses\nexcept in dim light; and am fairly content in contemplating the past,\nstill busy with the present, and hopeful of a happy and immortal\nfuture.\"\n\nWhen in Providence, R.\u00a0I., Mr. Balch gave a course of \"Lectures on\nLanguage,\" which were published in 1838. He also wrote a \"Grammar of\nthe English Language, explained according to the Principles of Truth\nand Common Sense,\" published by B.\u00a0B. Mussey, Boston, and passing\nthrough four editions. In 1849 his volume \"Ireland as I saw it\" was\nissued, and in 1881 \"A Peculiar People,\" the first edition of which\nsold in eight weeks. He is the author of a \"Sunday-School Manual,\"\npublished in 1837.\n\nThe business capacity of Mr. Balch was evinced in his raising funds\nfor the Theological School at Canton, N.\u00a0Y., taking charge of the\nlocation, plan, and rearing of the buildings, and selection of a\nprincipal. He afterwards completed the raising of a large fund for the\ninstitution, obtaining also $10,000 for the library, and securing the\nvaluable libraries of Dr. Credner, and Rev. S.\u00a0C. Loveland. He devoted\nmuch time to the business of making the \"Christian Ambassador\" of New\nYork a denominational paper, and placing it on a sound financial\nbasis. His work in these particulars was well and faithfully done.\n\nMr. Balch has always been a very ready and popular speaker with the\nmasses. The graces of oratory he has not sought, but his talking power\nseems inexhaustible. Although in favor of fraternal organization for\nthe good of the cause, yet his ideas in reference to creeds and to\ncentralized authority are not accordant with those of many others of\nhis brethren, who hold in high estimation the work he has done in the\nspirit and in the truth of the Gospel.\n\n\n [Illustration: W. H. Ryder.\n Black. Phot.\n H. W. Smith.]\n\nAmong the long and successful pastorates in the great city of the\nWest,--Chicago,--we may note that of Rev. WILLIAM HENRY RYDER. He is\na New England man, having been born in Provincetown, Mass. (the son of\nCapt. Godfrey Ryder), July 18, 1822. During the early life of the son\nit was supposed that he would become one of the fraternity of seamen,\nas his worthy father had been. But this seems not to have been the\nProvidential intent. The parent did his part in sending the lad to sea\nin a vessel bearing his own name, \"William Henry,\" but the experience\nof a shipwreck cured the young sailor of what nautical tastes he might\nhave possessed, and turned his attention in another direction. He\nbecame anxious for the life of a student, and in his eighteenth year\nentered Pembroke, N.\u00a0H., Academy. He was a diligent and progressive\nscholar, and while at this institution decided as to the profession\nupon which he afterwards entered. At the age of nineteen he preached\nhis first sermon in Manchester, N.\u00a0H., and during the year following\nhe preached frequently in Concord, in the same State.\n\nLeaving the school in Pembroke, he entered Clinton Liberal Institute\n(Clinton, N.\u00a0Y.), then in care of a learned and efficient teacher, Dr.\nClowes. He preached frequently during his stay there. In the autumn of\n1843, soon after he was twenty-one, he was invited to take charge of\nthe Universalist Society in Concord, N.\u00a0H., to which place he removed,\nand in November of that year was united in marriage with Miss Caroline\nFrances Adams, who has proved a worthy and faithful helper to him in\nall the experiences connected with his profession. His ordination took\nplace in December, 1843. His ministry here was successful. The society\nhad been formed under the ministry of Rev. J.\u00a0G. Adams while doing\nmissionary work in New Hampshire, in 1834. Faithful men and women had\nkept it alive through changes and vicissitudes until it realized a new\nprosperity under Mr. Ryder, which has continued to the present time.\n\nAfter two and a half years of successful labor here, he accepted a\ncall to the neighboring city of Nashua, a larger and more promising\nfield, which he occupied to good effect. While giving great\nsatisfaction to his people, he became deeply impressed with the\nconviction that his ability to serve the church in the capacity of a\nChristian teacher according to his own ideal would be made greater by\na more thorough course of study than he had yet been able to take, or\nthan he could take with the cares of a pastor upon him. He therefore\ndetermined to spend a year and a half abroad in study and observation.\nResigning his charge in Nashua, he sailed from New York to England.\nLanding at Kinsale, Ireland, and exploring the lake region of\nKillarney, he passed on to Dublin, and crossed the channel into\nEngland, where he tarried awhile, visiting places of historic\ninterest, and making the acquaintance of several persons who were\nspecially interested in his own faith and profession. While in London\nand vicinity, he was cordially greeted by the Unitarian ministers\nthere, and preached in two of their churches. He soon crossed to the\nContinent and came to Berlin, where he applied himself diligently in a\ncourse of study under German instructors for seven months. He next\nextended his travels to Palestine, visiting Jerusalem and many other\nnoted places there. He also visited Athens, Constantinople, Cairo, the\nPyramids, Malta, Naples, Rome, Florence, Geneva, and Paris, from which\nlast-named place he went again to Berlin. He was absent a year and a\nhalf.\n\nSoon after his return to his native land he was called to the\npastorate in Roxbury, Mass. Here he had a successful ministry of ten\nyears, not only fully sustaining the high reputation which the church\nhad long enjoyed, but giving it new inspiration and vigor by the high\nand truly evangelical tone of his ministry. In 1860 he was called to\nthat great city of the West, Chicago, then twenty-seven years old, and\ncontaining 150,000 people. He took charge of St. Paul's Church at a\ntime when just such a helper and director as he proved to be was\nneeded. His discriminating mind and firm will and patience and\nsteadiness of action, worked effectively in building up the cause of\nUniversalism in his own church, and giving it an honorable reputation\nin that great and growing city. And out of the city and through the\nState and the whole West the influence of his teaching and work as a\nrepresentative of the Universalist Church has been justly acknowledged.\nHe has done work for the Christian cause that deserves to be kept in\nperpetual remembrance. In the pulpit, as a pastor, as an earnest\nworker in all matters affecting education, reform, and the public\nweal, he has been found constant and faithful.\n\nIn 1860 Harvard conferred upon him the degree of A.\u00a0M., and in 1863\nLombard University the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1868 he made a\nsecond visit to Europe, and brought home many treasures of art which\nwere subsequently destroyed by fire in the two great conflagrations\nwith which Chicago was visited. The fire that destroyed St. Paul's and\nhis own beautiful residence on an adjoining lot imposed great\nresponsibilities upon him, which he assumed and discharged with\nadmirable skill. He visited New England and returned with $40,000 with\nwhich to repair the shattered fortunes of St. Paul's Church; and such\nhas been his administrative skill, that, notwithstanding the heavy\nfinancial reverses to which the parish was subsequently subjected,\ntheir grand church, worth $200,000, is now without an incumbrance. Dr.\nRyder himself suffered great loss by the fires, but it is pleasant to\nrecord what one who knows says of him, that he is still \"in possession\nof 'enough and to spare.'\"\n\nDr. Ryder's life has been crowded with duties. As a preacher and\npastor and man of business he has made his mark on public opinion and\nhuman life during the forty years just closing. He has thoroughly\nidentified himself with the faith and work of the Universalist Church.\nAs an expositor of its faith he has always been clear and positive,\nand as an advocate of its work unmistakably emphatic. Organized church\nwork, State work, national work, mission work--home and foreign, he\nhas continually urged. The zealous and faithful women-workers of the\nchurch have always found in him a warm, hearty, and outspoken advocate\non all occasions when and where his word of good cheer has been asked.\nAs a preacher, another has thus truthfully spoken of him:--\n\n  \"He has rare power. A model pulpit voice, deep, sonorous; a manner\n  of wonderful impressiveness; a personality behind his words that\n  makes every word tell; and long years of sagacious work without\n  mistakes re-enforcing what he says, so that it is safe to say that\n  no man's word in any Chicago pulpit, on any question before the\n  people, goes as far as his in impressing the public mind.\"[55]\n\nDr. Ryder has what another has termed \"an impressive presence,\" not in\nbodily size, but in a pleasant dignity which is attractive rather than\nimposing. An indication of cool self-confidence is in every word and\naction. He is thoroughly in earnest as a public speaker, and as\nthoroughly sincere and fearless in maintaining what he believes to be\nthe right of the subject under consideration. A capital instance of\nthis quality in him was given in the discussion of a topic that came\nup at the United States Convention during its session in Lynn in 1875.\nHe had been invited to speak of \"The Needs and Methods of Spiritual\nAwakening,\" and used great plainness and force of speech in reference\nto what he deemed some of the spiritual failures of professed\nUniversalists which needed amendment. His matter was well considered,\nand his words were stirring and strong. An attempt was made to pass a\nvote of censure. He had discharged a duty laid upon him, and deserved\nthe thanks of his hearers, even though they had not assented to a word\nhe uttered, if they were convinced--as doubtless all were--that he\nhonestly believed what he said and discharged a conscientious duty.\nHis defence and vindication of himself were admirable. The attempt to\ncensure so significantly failed that the author of the resolution very\nreadily withdrew it. A chronicler of the occasion wrote that it was\nworth a long journey to listen to that \"outpouring.\"\n\nDuring the war Dr. Ryder was a strong helper of the Union cause,\nactive, eloquent, and untiring in his support of the government in\nmanifold ways.\n\nIn addition to his other agreeable personal characteristics, Dr. Ryder\nis well known to those most intimate with him as a genial, courteous,\nand warm-hearted friend and companion. All his pastorates bear\ntestimony to the love which the children and youth bore him, because\nof the interest in their welfare which he so constantly manifested.\n\nIn April, 1882, Dr. Ryder resigned his position as pastor in Chicago,\nand has since, with his companion, made a voyage to Europe. It is not\nhis intention to take upon him the duties of another pastorate, but he\nwill doubtless be always in readiness to aid as he may the interests\nof the church to whose prosperity his life thus far has been so\nconstantly devoted.\n\n\n_The Birthplace of Hosea Ballou._\n\nIn concluding the accounts of ministers here given, it seems\nappropriate to add a brief reference to an event of recent occurrence,\nto which the attention of the Universalist public had been specially\ncalled. We refer to the meetings held under the direction of the\n\"Cheshire Association,\" on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the 18th,\n19th, and 20th of August, 1882, in Richmond, N.\u00a0H., the birthplace of\nRev. Hosea Ballou, and in honor of this distinguished and venerated\nman. During these days, discourses were preached by Rev. Quincy\nWhitney, Rev. S.\u00a0S. Fletcher, Rev. Dr. S.\u00a0H. McCollester, Rev. Dr.\nA.\u00a0A. Miner, and Rev. Dr. G.\u00a0H. Emerson. Multitudes were in\nattendance, and the occasion was deeply impressive, and is\nsignificantly historical. Appended to a special account of the great\ngathering, Dr. Emerson, editor of the \"Christian Leader,\" presents the\nfollowing description of the birthplace of Mr. Ballou. We are glad to\ngive it a place in this volume:--\n\n  \"Stratford-upon-Avon has its one interest for the great world in the\n  happy fortune of giving to every age the Bard who, in the faculty\n  for putting an almost inspired wisdom into verse that is not simply\n  matchless, but at a vast altitude above that of every other poet who\n  has spoken the Saxon tongue,--William Shakespeare. The little town\n  of Ayr would be nothing but a Scottish post-village but for the\n  circumstance that Robert Burns first breathed within its borders.\n  But first Stratford and then Ayr, for the English-speaking world,\n  rise to an importance simply unique, above every hamlet upon the\n  British Isles, London and Edinburgh hardly excepted.\n\n  \"Those who with us fully believe that the future is to honor Hosea\n  Ballou with a niche in the temple of fame, as the peer of the elder\n  Edwards, and as hardly the second of Franklin, who find in the\n  'Treatise on the Atonement' the quarry where Bushnell has polished a\n  few boulders, will further agree with us that the gazetteer of the\n  coming century will put into conspicuous type, and honor with some\n  detail of description, the New Hampshire farming town where Hosea\n  Ballou was born. The compiler of Lippincott's did not know its claim\n  to distinction, when he summarily disposed of Richmond, N.\u00a0H., as 'a\n  post-township in Cheshire Co., 53 miles S.\u00a0W. of Concord.'\n\n  \"In a recent attendance upon the grove meeting, not the least among\n  the inducements to make the journey was the opportunity to see the\n  homestead where Hosea Ballou first took the breath of life, and to\n  explore some of the vales and hills his boy feet must have trod more\n  than a century ago.... As we enter this little village, a church at\n  our right, half a century old, is the Universalist church,--the\n  members of which have nearly all left, to be good parishioners at\n  Winchester, Keene, and other more thriving and distant neighborhoods.\n\n  \"A little farther on, at our left, is a 'meeting-house,'--it is true\n  to that classic cognomen. It is black with age. It seems hardly\n  strong enough to keep timber, board, and shingle together. It cannot\n  be less than a century and a half old. The very sight of it takes us\n  back to a former and very primitive age. The glass is held to the\n  sash by bits of tin,--the putty got tired long ago and 'let go.' We\n  cannot enter, but we can look through the windows. On the north side\n  is the great, square pine pulpit, possibly one that never knew the\n  smell of paint. The square pews have high seats from which only\n  tolerably long limbs can touch the knotty floor. There is no grace\n  of form, no cunning device of architect, nothing to woo a trained\n  fancy. In and of itself, it is a hulk that only cumbers the ground.\n\n  \"Why, then, did we look often, long, and spell-bound upon this\n  wretched old rookery, and see therein a fascination not to be noted\n  in the Capitol at Albany or the mammoth and costly post-offices of\n  New York and Boston? The answer is in the history. More than a\n  century ago, Rev. Maturin Ballou preached regularly from that pine\n  pulpit. Among the regular auditors, possibly the most thoughtful of\n  them all, his little legs dangling from the rough benches, sat his\n  little son--Hosea.\n\n  \"On the morning of Sunday, our friend and host, Mr. L. Martin, says\n  to his pastor of many years, the Rev. E. Davis: 'Take my horse and\n  carriage, and show these people where Hosea Ballou was born.' 'These\n  people' include Dr. Miner, Rev. Mr. Stone, of Canton, Rev. Q.\n  Whitney, and the editor of the 'Christian Leader.' Mr. Davis knows\n  the way, but in Mr. Bowen, who owns the farm contiguous to the once\n  Ballou territory, he finds and calls a pilot and village\n  antiquarian. Perhaps a mile east of the Keene and Richmond road, a\n  mile and a half from the Universalist church on the hill, right at\n  the foot of 'Grassy Hill,' we find a strictly modern house, and a\n  very old barn, and a much older corn-house,--less now by a good\n  sample than it was before we saw it. It is a one-story house, with\n  modern windows, and three small chimneys. Mr. Bowen explains: 'That\n  house contains the frame within which Hosea Ballou was born, and the\n  form of the interior is substantially the same.' He was confident\n  that the three chimneys were the same in material as the one big\n  chimney of the old structure. Of the corn-house near by, Mr. Bowen\n  says: 'That is just the same, only it is older and is now going to\n  decay.' Knoll, stream, valley, plain, and high hill to the east,--in\n  the woods of which run the fence or wall that bounded the Ballou\n  farm: upon these time can have wrought but little change. We saw\n  them upon that Sunday morning as Hosea Ballou saw them,--as child,\n  as boy, as youth, as man. From that quiet spot, so rural, so out of\n  the way, so completely in the backwoods, almost hidden by precipice\n  and hill, came the acorn, the oak whereof is now strong and\n  vigorous,--we trust with healing in its leaves. The little boy\n  entering that corn-barn to get fodder for his father's horse, cows,\n  and oxen,--is that the same whose stalwart form first rose before us\n  in the School Street pulpit forty years ago; whose eloquent tongue\n  set the blood thrilling in our youthful veins; whose majestic\n  bearing seemed to us--what it was--that of an Apostle? \"It has been\n  our good fortune to look upon the Forum where Cicero declaimed in\n  orations that yet thrill; to traverse the Colosseum where Trajan had\n  a private box; to walk the streets of Pompeii whose pavements were\n  trodden by resident Greeks and strangers centuries before the advent\n  of Jesus.\n\n  \"But there is an ample niche in our memory left. We place therein,\n  to recall reverently, gratefully, and with weird association, our\n  visit, on the morning of August 20, 1882, to the birthplace of Hosea\n  Ballou, Richmond, N.\u00a0H., 'twelve miles from Keene, due south.' The\n  town of hill, vale, and forest is largely deserted by man. Farms\n  that once waved with corn are now covered with forests of pine. The\n  locomotive has never been seen--hardly heard--within its borders.\n  But its history is precious. For what it was, for what it\n  bequeathed, it shall live in history and in song.\"\n\n[49] \"Our Woman Workers,\" p. 353.\n\n[50] The first Universalist woman who appeared in the pulpit as a\npreacher of the Gospel was Miss Maria Cook, who preached before the\nWestern Association in Bainbridge, N.\u00a0Y., in June, 1811. She is spoken\nof by Rev. Stephen R. Smith, in his \"Historical Sketches\" (Vol. I.\npp. 31, 32). Notwithstanding the good impressions made by her as a\nspeaker, there were those who deemed \"so extraordinary an undertaking\nas an evidence of mental alienation!\" A more enlightened and\ncandid judgment in reference to this subject has since prevailed.\n\n[51] Rev. Thomas G. Farnsworth of Waltham, Mass., ordained in 1822,\nand Rev. Alvin Dinsmore of Woodland, Cal., ordained in 1823.\n\n[52] \"Argument on the Right and Duty of Prohibition.\" By A.\u00a0A.\nMiner, April 2, 1867.\n\n[53] Boston Transcript of May 1, 1882.\n\n[54] Rev. G.\u00a0H. Emerson, D.\u00a0D., Ed. in \"Christian Leader.\"\n\n[55] Rev. J.\u00a0W. Hanson, D.\u00a0D.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nEDUCATIONAL AIDS.\n\n\nThe Universalists, like some others of the Christian sects in America,\nwere at first destitute of the educational forces which have so\nsignally aided and strengthened the more popular churches of the land.\nThey had no colleges, no academies, or theological schools at their\ncommand. Although some of their ministers were very respectable\nscholars, giving good evidence of their literary attainments in their\npulpit instructions, and now and then an uncommon genius would appear,\nmaking his talents specially available as a writer or preacher, the\nlarger number were more notable mainly for their plain good sense,\ntheir reasoning powers, their very intimate acquaintance with the\nScriptures, and their aptness in the use of them in the defence and\nadvocacy of their faith. These last named qualifications gave the\nUniversalist minister a vantage-ground in the elucidation of his\nfaith, which often rendered it impossible for a theological opponent,\nhowever well trained as a scholar, to sustain himself in an attempted\nvindication of his opinions. If, therefore, Christian truth could be\nthus clearly and impressively set forth by those of but limited\neducational resources, how much more effective might it prove if\nthoroughly prepared and armed with a ripe and ready scholarship? This\nconsideration, as was to have been expected, in due time moved some of\nthe wisest and best friends of the Universalist Church to take steps\ntowards the accomplishment of this object.\n\nAnd not for the ministry only was this advantage sought. Those who\nwere needed to sustain the ministry were equally involved in the\nattainment of it. Every Christian sect has been elevated and sustained\nin a great measure by giving its support to educational\ninstitutions,--the college, the divinity school, the academy. If an\neducated ministry is one of the great aids in sustaining Christian\ntruth and the Christian Church, so is an educated laity. Both would\nhave their religion represented and upheld by the highest educational\nsupports and influences of modern civilization.\n\nBesides, Christian Universalism is a child of the light. It is \"not of\nthe night nor of darkness.\" It would send out its inquiries everywhere\ninto the universe in its readiness to \"prove all things and hold fast\nthat which is good.\" It would stand face to face with all the\nquestionings that come up in science, history, philosophy, fully\npersuaded that all these, truthfully consulted, will more and more\nconfirm its great doctrines of God, the divine law and its operations,\nthe divine purposes and their fulfilment, the reign of righteousness\nand its final triumph over all evil, as made known through Christ, the\nHead, Guide, and Emancipator of Man. Hence it could not be otherwise\nthan that the enlightened Universalist should be the earnest advocate\nand friend of educational institutions.\n\nA notable evidence of this interest was seen in the instituting of\nTufts College in Medford, Mass. It was a timely generosity that gave\nit being on that pleasant hill which \"the centuries had piled and\nplanted to be the candlestick on which Charles Tufts should set the\nlight of this institution.\"[56] It was incorporated in 1852, and\nopened for students in 1855. Its prosperity has been of steady growth,\nits funds have multiplied and its endowments increased; the last\nreport of the President (E.\u00a0H. Capen, D.\u00a0D.) showing it to be \"no\nlonger an experiment, but a power.\" The aggregate assets of the\ncollege at the present time, including the buildings and one hundred\nand twenty acres of land, are not less than $1,000,000. With a Faculty\nof great practical efficiency, and with the close personal intercourse\nof teachers and pupils, no institution of the kind in America affords\nbetter facilities for a thorough education. In connection with the\ncollege is the Divinity School, with its able and devoted instructors.\nA professorship in the school was endowed by Charles Packard, Esq., of\nBoston. An elegant chapel near the main college building is soon to be\nready for use, at a cost of $25,000, the gift of Mrs. Mary T. Goddard,\nof Newton, Mass.\n\nLombard University, at Galesburg, Ill., is another institution,\nfounded by Benjamin Lombard, of Galesburg. The university building is\nof brick, three stories high, with spacious rooms. It has libraries of\nabout 5,000 volumes; an extensive mineralogical cabinet, including a\nrare collection of shells; a valuable philosophical and chemical\napparatus, and a permanent fund of about $100,000. Young men and women\nare admitted alike to all classes and all courses of study. Rev. N.\nWhite, Ph.\u00a0D., is President, as also of the Theological Department in\nconnection with the university. All departments of the university are\nopen to the students of theology without charge.\n\nSt. Lawrence University is at Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N.\u00a0Y. It has\ntwo fully organized departments. 1. The collegiate, comprising the\nusual four years' classical course, and a four years' scientific\ncourse. Rev. A.\u00a0G. Gaines is president and Craig Professor of\nIntellectual and Moral Philosophy. Young men and women are admitted to\nthe institution on the same conditions. 2. The theological, of which\nRev. I.\u00a0M. Atwood, D.\u00a0D. (the successor of the late Dr. Fisher) is\npresident. Competent and faithful teachers are in both schools. The\nlocation and surroundings of the school are favorable to uninterrupted\nstudy. A good number of well-educated and useful ministers have gone\nout from Canton.\n\nAnother college worthy of special attention is Buchtel, Akron, Summit\nCo., Ohio. It was founded by the Universalist State Convention of\nOhio, and was named in honor of Hon. John R. Buchtel, its most\ngenerous and devoted benefactor, and was opened to students of both\nsexes, Sept. 11, 1872. The curriculum of study embraces: 1. A complete\nclassical course of four years; 2. A thorough philosophical course of\nfour years; 3. A full scientific course of four years. There is also a\npreparatory course of three years for each of the above courses. Rev.\nO. Cone is president of Buchtel, who has a company of able teachers\nwith him. There are thirty-two perpetual scholarships of $1,000 each;\nand four professorship endowments (two for women), two of $25,000, and\ntwo of $20,000 each. The outlook from the institution was never more\npromising than at present, and its friends were never more devoted to\nits interests. Its generous founder has lived to see this child of his\nmany anxieties and strong affection one of the great joys of his\nlifetime; and he richly deserves it. The college was lately freed from\ndebt. Its total capital is $290,000.\n\nClinton Liberal Institute has been of good service. It was founded in\nClinton, N.\u00a0Y., in 1831, and removed to Fort Plain, N.\u00a0Y., in 1879,\nand came into possession of the buildings and grounds formerly known\nas the Fort Plain Seminary and Collegiate Institute. It was the first\nacademic institution set up by Universalists, and has had a steady\nsuccess from the beginning. Charles V. Parcell, A.\u00a0M., is president,\nand has with him a full corps of competent teachers. The amount of its\nproperty is $100,000.\n\nOne of the most convenient and beautiful educational buildings in New\nEngland is Dean Academy, at Franklin, Mass. It was incorporated in\n1865, and derives its name from the late Dr. Oliver Dean of Franklin.\nThe edifice with the outbuildings is valued at $200,000, is lighted\nwith gas and heated by steam, and has every modern improvement and\nconvenience for the comfort of the pupils. Its principal is Lester L.\nBurrington, A.\u00a0M., Chase Professor of Latin and Greek. The institution\nis well endowed and is increasing in prosperity. It is an honor to the\nUniversalist denomination as well as to its venerable founder, and\ndeserves to be widely patronized and vigorously sustained. The edifice\nstands upon land once owned by the distinguished Orthodox divine, Dr.\nNathaniel Emmons, formerly the minister of the town.\n\nGoddard Seminary is situated in the beautiful village of Barre, Vt.,\nsix miles from Montpelier. The school is for both sexes, and offers\nthree complete courses of study, viz. the college preparatory, of\nthree years; the ladies' collegiate, of four years; the English\ncourse, of four years. The seminary is well supplied with anatomical\nmodels, skeletons, charts, globes, stereopticon, table and gas\nmicroscope, and apparatus for the illustration of physiology,\nastronomy, philosophy, and chemistry. The cabinet contains an\nexcellent collection of minerals, fossils, and natural history\nspecimens, and superior facilities are offered for the study of\nnatural science.\n\n [Illustration: Thos. A. Goddard.\n H. W. Smith.]\n\nThis institution bears the name of one whose generous encouragement\nwas given it in the beginning,--Mr. Thomas A. Goddard. He was a member\nof the Second Universalist Church in Boston, and during the long\npastorate of Rev. Hosea Ballou was the faithful superintendent of its\nSunday-school. Prosperous in business, he was always liberal in his\ncontributions to the church and its charities, which in a large city\nwere ever making appeals to him. From the time of the first movements\nfor the founding of Tufts College, he was among its most interested\nand generous helpers, and was one of the first treasurers of the\ninstitution. When, a few years since, the infant seminary at Barre\nbecame embarrassed, a devoted friend, acting as its agent, determined\nto make a vigorous effort in its behalf. He came to Massachusetts, and\ncalling on Mrs. Goddard, whose husband had aided the school in the\nbeginning, the result was Goddard Seminary.\n\nWestbrook Seminary and Female College is a boarding-school for young\nmen and women, near Portland, in Deering (post-office Stevens Plains),\nMe. The institution began to be talked of as early as 1830. A generous\ncitizen of Westbrook, Mr. Zechariah Stevens, had resolved to donate\nland ample enough for the school buildings and the needed adornment\naround them. How his gift has been improved, the present attractive\nappearance of the seminary declares. The institution was chartered in\n1831, and opened in 1834. It has had friendly aids from time to time,\none of them being Hersey Hall, the gift of Gen. S.\u00a0F. Hersey of\nBangor. Common and higher English courses, a college preparatory, and\ntwo collegiate courses for ladies are provided. The school-building\ncontains the chapel, recitation-rooms, library, laboratory, and\ncabinet of minerals. Rev. J.\u00a0P. Weston, D.\u00a0D., is president of the\ninstitution.\n\nGreen Mountain Perkins Institute is situated in the village of South\nWoodstock, Vt. It was incorporated in 1848, and has since been in\nsuccessful operation. The school is for both sexes, and offers three\ncomplete courses of study. The classical, of three years, includes\nGreek and Latin sufficient to prepare students for admission to any\nNew England college. The ladies' collegiate for four years is offered\nto those wishing to take an extended course in Latin, French, and\nGerman, and higher English. The school has gained a good reputation.\n\nIn this presentation of the principal educational institutions founded\nand sustained mainly by the Universalist public, it is seen what\ninfluences may go out from them to the honor of the Universalist\nChurch, the promotion, of literary culture, scientific enlightenment,\nand Christian civilization.\n\nIt may be well here, as we speak of educational aids, to recognize the\ninstrumentality of the Sunday-school, which has found such a good\ndegree of encouragement from the friends of Christian Universalism. It\nhas been an outgrowth of the increased conviction among them of the\nduty of instructing the rising generation in the truth and life of the\nGospel. From the beginning of the present century in America this work\nhas been recognized, the Universalists in Philadelphia and Boston\nmanifesting their special interest in it.[57] Growth in this work has\nbeen gradual but encouraging, and the Sunday-school is now one of the\ncherished institutions of the Universalist Church. Its interests are\nwidely and earnestly discussed, and the means for its advancement\nthrough the children's paper and teachers' \"Helper\" promise good\nresults, if wisely utilized in the future. Although still needing\nimprovement, the Sunday-school may be regarded with this church, as\nwith others bearing the Christian name, as an indispensable aid in the\nmoral advancement and religious culture of the children and youth on\nwhom will rest the responsibilities of the church in the years to\ncome. The Sunday-school cause was never more generally and unitedly\nencouraged by Universalists than at the present time.\n\nAnother educational aid worthy of note is that to be found in the\ncirculation of the literature of the church; its periodicals, books,\npamphlets, and tracts. These have thus far done excellent work in\nreaching and awaking interest in religious truth where the living\npreacher has not gone. A hundred-fold more can this be done by a just\nappreciation of this great instrumentality,--the Press. It is always a\npower in the advocacy of any cause; it will be in its tendency to\ndeepen and strengthen the loyalty of Universalists to the church they\nrepresent. An active and clear-sighted agent of one of our Western\ncolleges just now writes:--\n\n  \"In my work for the college, the closest readers of our church\n  papers are the ones who have responded most readily to the call for\n  help. Loyalty to our church among them is the rule, while among\n  those who do not take a paper, he is the exception, only, who\n  responds to the call. Nothing else can be so powerful an ally of the\n  preacher in keeping the people informed of our schools and colleges\n  and all other interests; and that Universalist family which refuse\n  to take a church paper for the pittance which our Western organ\n  costs,--_four cents a week_,--not only lose much of interest\n  and enjoyment, but thereby advertise their own indifference to the\n  best interests of the church.\n\n  \"Strenuous efforts should, for these reasons, be put forth by the\n  ministry and other agencies to place a church paper in every\n  Universalist home throughout the land.\"[58]\n\nThe appeal here made will apply to any locality. And more than this.\nThese readers of the church publications are themselves to seek a\nlarger distribution of this means of Divine enlightenment to others.\nIgnorance of Christian truth at home and abroad,--in our own land and\nin lands less blessed with heavenly knowledge,--is constantly calling\nfor this educational work on the part of those who are permitted to\nlive in the light and cherish the hopes of the Gospel of God's\nimpartial and efficient grace.\n\n[56] Wilmot L. Warren, Esq.; Address before Alumni, June 20, 1882.\n\n[57] See an article in the Universalist Quarterly for October, 1882,\nentitled \"The Universalist Origin of American Sunday-schools,\" by Rev.\nRichard Eddy.\n\n[58] Read at the Ohio Convention, by W.\u00a0F. Crispin, Financial Agent\nfor Buchtel College.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nTHE LAITY.\n\n  \"All the members have not the same office. One body in Christ, and\n  severally members one of another.\"--ROM. xii. 4, 5.\n\n\nAlthough in the biographical sketches contained in this volume those\nof the ministry are made conspicuous, the writer is sensitively aware\nof the fact that many devoted and honorable laymen, who have\nfaithfully and essentially sustained the ministry, are equally worthy\nof record for their works' sake. A separate volume, such as we are not\nable to make up, would be required to do them justice. We take\noccasion, however, to speak a word in way of sincere and grateful\ntribute to these good and strong helpers, through whom the ministry\nhas received inspiration and strength.\n\nNo sect can live mainly on the dignity, or piety, or learning, or good\nreputation of its ministry. Leaning too much on these, it will grow\nformal and cold; will fail to become an active force among the masses,\nin the midst of the opposing hosts of this great world around it. To\nsustain a ministry as a kind of moral or spiritual convenience, to\nwait upon it chiefly to be entertained, or to be satisfied with the\nrespectable precision with which its functions are performed, and thus\nto keep in \"good standing\" with the Christian community and the\nobservant world, is different entirely from the intent of that great\nspiritual enterprise which the New Testament upholds.\n\nIt was a significant saying of the rebuilders of the ancient temple,\nthat \"the people had a mind to work.\" Leaders, priests, prophets,\nmaster-builders were aided by others on every hand, and so the work\nwent successfully on. It must be thus in the uprearing and\nstrengthening of the walls of the Christian Zion. With the diversities\nof gifts, there is to be the one spirit, one will and endeavor, and\nthe one glorious end constantly in view. The direction of the apostle\nto the Church at Rome gives us the true idea: \"We, being many, are one\nbody in Christ, and every one members one of another.\" He used the\nwell-known illustration of the limbs and members of the human body to\ndescribe the several offices and functions in the Church; setting the\nright estimate on the diversity and unity of those who composed it,\ngiving to all their places and to each its share of the essential\nlife-work to be done.\n\nOf the true and faithful \"women-workers\" of the Universalist Church we\nhave freely spoken; to the fidelity of the good and faithful men we\nwould as readily testify. Names we may not mention, for, these once\ngiven, we should be unable to decide where to close the record. But\nthis we can say,--and every faithful minister will bear witness to the\ntruth of our statement,--that among his experiences none have been\nmore uplifting than those connected with the co-operation of true\nsouls who have waited on his ministry, and given their ready counsel\nand sure and steady support. The minister of the city with his\nincessant toils and cares, the country pastor in his quiet rounds of\nduty, or the missionary-evangelist having his preaching-stations at\nlong distances from each other, all have been doubly blessed in their\nanxious and unremitting toils in the Lord's field by the cordial\nsmiles and welcome greetings and generous encouragements of the lay\nfriends who, by spirit and action, have been all the time bidding them\n\"God-speed\" on their way.\n\n\"How shall they hear without a preacher?\" is a very sensible New\nTestament question. How shall the preacher be sustained and blessed by\nhis hearers? is another of equal weight and timeliness. A society or\nchurch is to be formed; a Sunday-school organized; ways and means\ninstituted to secure a financial basis to carry on the work of the\nchurch. Where rests the responsibility, and where the directing and\nsustaining force, but in the few, perhaps, who are to be depended upon\nin every such movement, and who give confidence and courage to others\nwho are gladly willing to do their parts with them.\n\nA low tide comes in society affairs; adversities have been realized,\nand the faint-hearted are prophesying failure. Who but the few\n\"stand-bys\" are among the hopeful and helping; those always readiest\nwith their money, always in their places at the worship service, or in\nthe conference meeting or the Sunday-school? What would be the courage\nof the minister but for this loyal church-guard ever to be depended on?\n\nA church edifice is to be built, or a church debt cancelled? Who shall\nlead in the business? the minister? Yes, if he can more conveniently\nthan any other one. But what shall his \"lead\" be without followers? On\nwhom does he most rely? On those laymen who are only waiting for his\nword to begin the work. Their generous zeal will awaken new interest\nin others, and this \"striving together\" of minister and people will\ninsure success.\n\nA pastor is out on a mission of private charity. The case of a poor\nwidow, or sick and needy husband and father, or some suffering and\ndesponding one needing help and comfort, is tugging at his\nheart-strings, and the immediate resources of his pocket are not equal\nto the demand. What then? He knows just where to go, directly,\nquietly, to the counting-room, or store, or farmhouse of that layman\nwhose religion makes him glad to \"do good and to communicate,\" and\nwhose worldly store gives him opportunity thus to bless himself as he\nconfers a blessing on others.\n\nA college needs an additional endowment. Money is required. The\npresident or some other friend of the institution goes forth in\nconfidence that, on a truthful representation of the needs, certain\nones will listen with interest and liberally respond to the call, and,\nas the annual report at the next Commencement declares, he is not\ndisappointed. He has consulted the laymen.\n\nThe General or State Convention makes its annual call upon the parish\nfor its apportioned contribution to the funds for the general work of\nthe church, and its extension beyond existing parish lines; for\nmissionary operations in the waste places, that they may be blessed\nwith the light and joy of the Gospel. Who will be sure to meet truly\nand promptly this call? The loyal layman who has made himself\nacquainted through the church journals and from his minister in the\npulpit with the just and holy demands of this enterprise, and who has\nnever indulged himself in laying back from it, saying, \"We have enough\nto do to meet our own parish expenses!\" No, he and such as he now\ncheer the heart of his minister, and make glad sister parishes, and\nadd credit to the whole church.\n\nA blessing like this cannot be too highly prized, cannot awaken too\nstrong a thanksgiving. A faithful ministry the church must have or\nfail. But this ministry, to be strong and prevail, must have for its\nfresh inspiration the hopeful eyes and ready hands and throbbing\nhearts of a constant and loyal laity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE PRESENT OUTLOOK.\n\n  \"No man can be assured of his own salvation, except he see the same\n  salvation in the same Saviour for all men, as well as for himself;\n  which is to love his neighbor as himself.\"--RICHARD COPPIN.[59]\n\n\nThat the errors connected with what has been deemed the Orthodoxy of\nthe past are passing away is undeniable. We have been noting this on\nevery page of this volume. The Christian pulpit and the religious and\nsecular press are bringing out new confirmations of it continually.\nTake two indications; first, the emphatic utterances coming from the\nEpiscopal Church in England and America. It is Rev. Charles Kingsley\nwho writes: \"I preach to you a Son of God who has declared everlasting\nwar against disease, ignorance, sin, death, and all which makes men\nmiserable. Those are his enemies, and he reigns and will reign, till\nhe has put all enemies under his feet, and there is nothing left in\nGod's universe but order and usefulness, health and beauty, knowledge\nand virtue, in the day when God shall be all in all.\" It is Canon\nFarrar at Westminster Abbey who is awaking deep interest in his\nvigorous exposures of the hideousness of the old ideas of a wrathful\nGod who would punish some of his simple offspring hereafter \"without\nrelief and without end.\" His volumes entitled \"Eternal Hope\" and\n\"Judgment and Mercy,\" are full of references to the opinions of others\nin the past, who have opposed these errors,--although most of them are\nnot new to readers and students of Universalist literature,--and are\namong the harbingers of that coming day when the absurdities which he\nassails shall be numbered among the things that were. His admissions\nof the force of the arguments of Universalist writers are such as will\nawaken new inquiry in many directions, notwithstanding he takes\noccasion to affirm of himself most distinctly, \"But I am not a\nUniversalist.\" We can only say that, if he is not, he is doing no\nsmall share of a work which will tend to make others avowers and\ndefenders of this faith. Others of the ministry in England, like the\nlate Dr. Maurice, Rev. Frederick Robertson, and Rev. Stopford Brooke,\nhave given their testimonies in behalf of these higher and clearer\nviews of Christian theology. In America, such men as Drs. Holland and\nPhillips Brooks, are advocates of the improved theology, the\nlast-named explicitly affirming his faith in the final salvation of\nall souls. Dr. Heber Newton, rector of the Anthon Memorial Episcopal\nChurch at New York, in his sermon on the death of the late Rev. Dr.\nChapin, said that--\n\n  \"Dr. Chapin, knowing the feeling of the church against the new ism,\n  boldly became its preacher, for he recognized its great and noble\n  mission. That sin had its recompense, he never doubted, but his\n  doctrine of 'God is love,' was so eloquently preached that the\n  theologians reconsidered their doctrines of retribution. Even the\n  Episcopal Church, he says, in recently reviewing the articles,\n  struck out the one about eternal punishment. When Universalism began\n  its mission, religion so to speak, had become ossified and rigid,\n  and it was necessary, to meet the advanced thought of the age, that\n  some change be made in it. The force that wrought this change,\n  developed outside of the Orthodox Church, and it has been\n  instrumental in banishing much of the barbarism and cruelty of\n  expression which Christians borrowed from the Pagans.\"\n\nThe Presbyterian and Methodist Churches have had their experiences in\nthe agitation of these questions involving the acceptance or rejection\nof the leading points of theology held by them in the past. But the\nfreest and boldest utterances on this subject seem to have come from\nthe Congregationalist Churches. Members of the Beecher family have\nbeen quite conspicuous in their allusions to the old and abhorrent\ndoctrines of Calvinism; as for instance, Mrs. Stowe, in her\n\"Minister's Wooing\" and \"Old Town Folks;\" her sister Catherine, in her\nemphatic saying, that, as this theology is set forth, \"there must be\nan awful mistake somewhere;\" Dr. Edward Beecher, in his \"Conflict of\nAges\" (a work ably reviewed by Rev. Moses Ballou); and Rev. Henry Ward\nBeecher, who has just now affirmed that he will never more preach the\nhorrible doctrine of endless punishment. After repeating a statement\nhe had made, that the dogma of endless suffering is the cause of\nincreasing infidelity, Dr. Edward Beecher says, that \"Universalism is\nno longer restricted within denominational lines, but is now diffused\nmore widely than some suspect,\" that \"the preaching of the doctrine is\nlargely neutralized by a latent Universalism within the walls of\nevangelical churches,\" that some of the clergy \"dare not investigate\nthe dogma (endless suffering) in an impartial, scientific method, lest\nthey bring themselves into conflict with the creed they are expected\nto defend;\" and closes thus: \"Meanwhile the creed-doctrine of an\nendless punishment is seldom discussed from the pulpit, and never\nwillingly heard by the pews.\" Significant indeed is the closing of his\nvolume on the \"Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution:\" \"Even admitting\nthat the doctrine of eternal punishment is the word of God, it seems\nto be forgotten that allegations may be attached to it that shall make\nit to be not the word of God, but the greatest falsehood in the\nUniverse.\"\n\nAt the Congregationalist Convention in Boston in 1865 the difficult\nproblem came up to be solved, \"how they could state what they\nthemselves had come to believe, without appearing to deny what the\nfathers believed.\" Assembled at the old Burial Hill of the Pilgrims in\nPlymouth, they affirmed their adherence to the \"substance of the\nWestminster and Saybrook Confessions of Faith.\" To clothe this\n\"substance\" in verbal forms, making it a true statement of the old\ntheology of Puritanism, and at the same time a living thing of to-day,\nwould seem to be an undertaking resulting in as great a confusion of\ntongues as in any instance recorded in the history of the past. To\nkeep intact the theology of the past in their churches is an\nimpossibility.\n\nFor, let us understand that the most thoughtful among the theologians\nof nearly all the churches are now beginning to feel the force of the\nquestion hitherto hushed down, as it has been boldly asked or even\nwhispered in the face of the theology of the past: What is the Divine\nresponsibility in the creation of man? It is the question asked by\nHosea Ballou, in his youth, of his father, a Baptist minister: \"Would\nit be an act of goodness on my part to create a human being,--had I\nthe power,--knowing that his existence would prove an endless curse to\nhim?\" a question which the father was unable to answer, and which the\nson did not press strongly upon him. This question, though familiar\nenough to Universalists and long made a ground of argument concerning\nhuman destiny, has usually been evaded by the supporters of the\npopular theology, as beyond the reach of human reason. They have\nregarded the inquiry as to the responsibility of God in the creation\nof man as irreverent on the part of his feeble offspring. But the\nquestion has been considered and earnestly examined, and the\ndiscussion of it has elicited the most outspoken opinions as to the\nresult of the investigation.\n\nRev. W.\u00a0W. Patton, D.\u00a0D. of Howard University, has recently spoken\nvery definitely on this subject, although he acknowledges that it has\nnot been a legitimate one to be decided upon by the theologians of his\nschool. He affirms that the Divine reason like our own (we being made\nin the Divine image) includes the eternal, unchangeable, and\nimperative idea of right, the practical synonym of which is\nlove,--love being that which always, everywhere, and in all beings,\nexpresses the right or sums up duty. He reaches the conclusion that\nGod chooses love as the rule of his activity, that when he creates\nrational sensitive beings, by that very fact he put himself\nvoluntarily into a relation which calls upon him to act upon the\nprinciple of love, which gives them a right to expect that he will so\nact.\n\nIt is an answer to the question of Abraham, \"Shall not the judge of\nall the earth do right?\" and of Paul, \"Is God unrighteous?\" In\nagreement with this reasoning of Dr. Patton, is that of Rev. John\nMiller of Princeton, N. J., who just now affirms:--\n\n  \"A deformed God is a great light gone out from any religion, and is\n  the chief ally of infidelity. God is not to be worshipped because he\n  is powerful, any more than Satan is; but because he is moral. If he\n  wrongs me in bringing me into being, he is no sovereign to me.\"[60]\n\nIn the same strain comes this testimony from Miss Elizabeth Stuart\nPhelps, of Andover, in a late number of the \"North American Review:\"--\n\n  \"The Bible meets us squarely upon the deepest and the highest\n  question which the finite intellect has the right to ask: What,\n  having made us at all, is God's moral attitude toward us? When he\n  thrust into space this quivering ball of pain and error, did he mean\n  well enough by it to justify the deed? Profounder than all our\n  philosophy, wiser than all our protest, comes the sublime and\n  solitary answer: 'He so loved the world that He gave his only Son.'\n  This magnificent reply, which theology has distorted out of its\n  grand and simple proportions, to which science has refused its\n  supreme reasonableness, the true human heart and the clear human\n  head have accepted. The contortions of faith and the malice of doubt\n  have almost equally united to shake the hold of this great\n  re-assurance upon the world. The world will have it in spite of\n  both. The world will have it, because it is the best it can get; and\n  by all the iron laws of common sense it will keep the best till God\n  or man can offer it something better.\"\n\nEven so. Amen!\n\nAt the present time the orthodoxy of Andover Theological Institution\nis assuming new and strange aspects. During the recent discussions\nrespecting the invitation to Dr. Newman Smyth to accept a\nprofessorship at the institution, this avowal on the part of the\nprofessors still in their places there is given to the public:--\n\n  \"It cannot be denied that the doctrines of eternal punishment and of\n  the judgment have lost their proper place in the teachings of the\n  pulpit. That method alone can restore them to a reflective age which\n  refuses to put into them more than our Saviour left in them, and\n  which brings them into accord with the knowledge of divine truth\n  which the spirit of Christ is ever developing in his Church.\n  Christianity educates men to ever higher, broader, more truthful\n  conceptions of God. The questionings of to-day in Christian hearts\n  respecting the doctrine of eternal punishment are a consequence of\n  the elevating and spiritualizing power of the Gospel. The Church\n  should seek out positions that can be held. It should be in advance\n  of its enemies.\"\n\nThis change, it is affirmed by the Andover professors,--\n\n  \"... is a natural development of principles which the New England\n  theology has especially cultivated. These principles have gained\n  their rights only by hard conflicts. At every stage the cry of\n  heresy has filled the air, but they have won the day. They have\n  banished the dogmas of guilt for Adam's sin, of infant damnation, of\n  passive regeneration, of the universal perdition of the heathen.\n  They have been attended all along by concessions,--concession of the\n  dogmas that all men sinned in Adam, that Adam was their federal\n  head, that the death of Christ was only for the elect; concession\n  that 'elect infants' who die in infancy include all such; that we\n  cannot fix the time when moral agency begins; that none who die\n  before this point is reached are excluded from salvation; and so on,\n  through ever-advancing modifications. The path of New England\n  theology is thus strewn with concessions,--concessions to _an\n  advancing knowledge of God's Word_, concessions _to truth_!\"[61]\n\nVery explicit language, surely. And yet, in direct conflict with it,\nthere is the fact that the Andover creed, to which all professors of\nthe institution must give their assent, involves the doctrines of the\nTrinity and Vicarious Atonement; that \"by nature every man is\npersonally depraved, destitute of holiness, alike opposed to God; and\nthat, previously to the renewing agency of the Divine Spirit, all his\nmoral actions are adverse to the character and glory of God; that,\nbeing morally incapable of recovering the image of his Creator, which\nwas lost in Adam, every man is justly exposed to eternal damnation; so\nthat, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;\nthat God of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, selected some\nto everlasting life, and that he entered into a covenant of grace, to\ndeliver them out of this state of sin and misery by a Redeemer.\" Yes,\nthe Andover creed declares there is a final separation from the love\nof God, which cannot wrest the erring soul from the grasp of death,\ncannot bridge the grave, cannot descend into the depths and bring up\nto life and light its own offspring. Christ himself may declare, \"I\nwill draw all men unto me;\" the Andover creed says, No! No salvation\nfor the soul that has entered death's dark realm. No matter that\nChrist has the keys of hell, he cannot rescue! No matter that the time\nhas been foretold when \"death and the grave shall be destroyed,\" when\n\"there shall be an end of sin,\" when pain shall no longer pierce and\ntears no longer flow; in opposition to all this the Andover creed\ntells us, as an essential part of Christian faith, as one of the\ninspiring strains of the Gospel message, that \"the wicked\" whom Christ\ncame to save, \"will awake to shame and everlasting contempt, and with\ndevils be plunged into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone\nfor ever and ever.\"\n\nHow are these theological contradictions to be explained? Infidels are\nsneering at this double-dealing; honest Christians are asking, \"What\nis to be the issue of this conflict? Why do not these religious\nleaders state plainly where they stand, and what they would have the\nchurches accept and affirm as the truth of God?\" The question has been\naptly asked, \"Is the moral sense at Andover Institution paralyzed? The\nsituation is perfectly clear to every honest barber, shop-keeper, or\nshoemaker, and it makes a hundred infidels where the 'Age of Reason'\nmakes one.\"[62] It is a matter for congratulation that the Christian\nworld has been moved, that its thought has been so largely modified,\nand that it is our great honor \"to stand at the centre, however men\nmay hesitate to acknowledge it, towards which these lines of influence\nare tending.\"[63] But why, we must ask, are not these professed\nfriends of Christian truth in all the churches more in readiness to\nacknowledge this indication, and plainly state what they think of it?\nWhy hesitate and stand in the shadow of their old errors, when it is\nso clearly evident that they can be no longer successfully maintained,\nand which do not represent their real opinions? Why not say outright,\n\"We were mistaken in accepting and teaching these doctrines of total\ndepravity, election, and reprobation, infant and endless damnation,\nand have come to see that God is the Father of all men, and that in\nall his dealings with his children he will act in strict conformity\nwith his paternal justice and love?\" Are we to conclude that there is\nwith them the plague of a confused moral sense, which hinders the\nhonest and prompt avowal, on their part, of the truth of that Gospel\nof Divine grace \"that bringeth salvation to all men?\"\n\nTo avoid the admission of the truth of Universalism, there are not a\nfew who seem disposed to tarry at the half-way ground of the doctrine\nof the annihilation of the wicked, as though in these desperate cases\nof sinfulness the saving resources of the Infinite love were\nexhausted, and God could make no better disposition than this utter\ndestruction of those created in his own image, and capable of knowing,\nserving, and enjoying him forever. Strange that God's children can so\nlimit his saving love and power! Is there any instance of sinfulness\nthat cannot be reached by that grace which so much more abounds than\nany transgression of men?\n\nAnother conclusion which inquirers reach is that of the indefiniteness\nin which this question of the ultimate results of the Divine\ngovernment is involved. As though, on a subject of such unspeakable\ninterest as this to every mortal, there could be indefiniteness in a\nRevelation involving the truth of man's origin, duty, and destiny! Why\nnot indefiniteness in this Revelation as to the being of a God and his\nattributes, as to man's whole duty, as to the objects of Christ's\nmission, as to the immortal existence of _any_ souls? No! the eminent\nChristian apostle will teach us all better, as he does in his lofty\nassurance of the extent of God's claims on his children and his\npaternal interest in them: \"For I am persuaded that neither death nor\nlife, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,\nnor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,\nshall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ\nJesus our Lord.\"[64] Everlasting thanks to heaven for the definiteness\nrespecting this great question, which the advocates of Christian\nUniversalism have constantly maintained. These hesitancies, haltings,\nevasions, policies, will have their day, and through them and after\nthem the truth of the Gospel will find its open avowal and\nvindication. Here is the prophecy, years since made by one of the\nablest and worthiest of Christian ministers. \"Whoso readeth, let him\nunderstand.\"\n\n  \"A few generations more, and the system you have advocated will be\n  among the things that are only remembered. You will abandon it, but\n  by degrees; as the truth increases you will begin by first exploding\n  the old notion that infants are damned, and by avowing the salvation\n  of all who die in early life. Then you will proceed to reject so\n  much of your doctrine as to allow that a very small part of mankind,\n  here and there an individual, will be sent to hell. And continuing\n  the work, you will at length determine that even these will there\n  suffer no other pain than the remorse of conscience; next, that\n  their remorse will be no greater, in degree, than what is\n  experienced in this world. And finally you will give up the\n  remainder, first, in confidential whispers among yourselves, and\n  then, after the common people shall have generally led the way, you\n  will come out boldly, and preach God as the Father of all and the\n  Saviour of all.\"[65]\n\nMany a one not now ready to acknowledge the claims of the faith of the\nUniversalist Church has this, mainly, as his reason for it, that it\nhas not been for centuries past the popular faith of the churches in\nChristendom. There are great numbers of Christians who have in reality\nno more plausible reason why they are not better acquainted and more\nin love with this faith. Whenever they have heard it spoken of it has\nbeen in such words as to lead them to regard it as a modern\ninnovation. Beyond this they have not looked. Convinced of this, they\nhave not desired to look farther. But they should. A faith making such\npretensions and appeals ought to be looked after. Men are not wise and\nhumane; they are not lovers of their race and its truest well-wishers\nin the Christian sense; they are not in readiness to rejoice in view\nof the widest and most thorough dispensation of Divine grace, in the\nmost extensive and effectual work of salvation through the \"One Lord\nJesus Christ,\" while they regard with indifference the affirmation\nwhich the Gospel makes of this very work with all souls. Is it true?\nThis ought to be the eager inquiry of everyone professing faith in the\nsignificance of the second commandment, \"Thou shalt love thy neighbor\nas thyself.\" Where this love pervades the heart, will not that heart\nseek every evidence that can be offered in proof of this most\ndesirable of all results, the reconciliation of all souls to the\nDivine administration, the Divine love regenerating, uplifting, and\nglorifying all God's offspring? We press these questions home, without\na word of apology, to every lover of Christ and the Christian cause.\n\nIf these hesitating ones of whom we speak would take up the\nexamination, they would find that some of the clearest and noblest\nminds of the past have given their assent to this very faith, and that\nthe doctrines in opposition to it are not to be regarded as past\nquestioning when they have been sanctioned by generations involved in\nas much mental and moral darkness as most of those which have preceded\nus.\n\nChrist came to teach positive truth, and his religion invites the\nlargest and freest inquiry as to its claims. And so this theology of\nthe past will be investigated. It is undergoing the process now in\nminds and in the midst of institutions where this old conviction of\nthe superiority and sacredness of the past has been revered as it\nnever can be again. All the sects are more or less affected with this\ncontagion of inquiry. It will not be suppressed. To silence it for a\nseason is but allowing it to accumulate greater force with which it\nshall again make itself manifest. Said a speaker, a few years since,\nin a Methodist Conference in New York city:--\n\n  \"What reason can be given for the difference in manifestation of\n  conviction of sin between our day and the times of our fathers?\n  Whereas we used to preach to sinners that an endless hell awaited\n  all who died in their sins, we now leave the fact almost wholly out\n  of sight. We say we believe that when men thus die they go to a\n  place of everlasting burnings, where the Almighty tortures them\n  alive as long as he the Almighty lives. If we believe this, why do\n  we not preach it now? Why do not our editors write about it, and our\n  bishops thunder it from their pulpits till the people tremble?\"\n\nA brother minister present took exception to these remarks. He thought\nthat the Christians made by what were termed the \"reformed methods\" of\nthe day are as abundant in good works, and their lives redound to the\nglory of God full as much as was the case under the machinery of fifty\nyears ago. \"We do not propose to go back on the operation of the Holy\nSpirit to-day, because he acts now in ways different from those of\nold.\" A sensible conclusion. The churches are growing,--growing out of\nunreasonable doctrines which had their origin in the darkness of the\nolden time, and which must vanish away as the full day of Christian\ntruth comes in to gladden the waiting world.\n\nChristianity will stand all this controversy. It was made to. It is\nnot only the wisdom and the love, but the power of God, and that\nendures and triumphs. It needs of itself no alteration. While it can\nsuit itself to all the shifting phases of human history, it is of\nitself, like its author, \"without variableness or shadow of turning.\"\nIt has the same fulness and adaptiveness now that it ever had. Says\nRev. Mr. Spurgeon:--\n\n  \"Men in the days of Whitfield looked back to the days of Bunyan, and\n  men in the days of Bunyan wept because of the days of Wyckliffe,\n  Calvin, and Luther; and men then wept for the days of Augustine and\n  Chrysostom; men in those days wept for the days of the apostles; and\n  doubtless men in the apostles' days wept for the days of Jesus\n  Christ; and, no doubt, some in the days of Jesus Christ were so\n  blind as to wish to return to the days of prophecy, and thought more\n  of the days of Elijah than they did of the most glorious days of\n  Christ. Some men look more to the past than to the present. Rest\n  assured that Jesus Christ is the same that he was yesterday, and\n  will be the same forever.\"\n\nVerily so; and what he is, it is our business in the present to\nascertain. How much of his fulness may we now be able to comprehend?\n\nAnd so again we say, \"the world moves,\" the church moves, the spirit\nof the All-wise and Almighty is moving upon the heart of humanity. Man\nadvances. This is the Divine process. For long centuries there may be\nbut little, comparatively, accomplished; then a new activity will be\nrealized. We do not expect to go back to the Dark Ages again. The very\nlast half-century, as we have seen, has been more marked with progress\nthan any other before in the world's history. Our own nation has given\nsignal evidence of this. Our Declaration of Independence has an\nincreased luminousness at the present hour. That the next half-century\nwill have equal advancement, we are not sure; but all signs are\nhopeful that there will be more growth, continued improvement. One\nthing seems evident in reference to our own nation, which is, that the\nreligion of the Gospel is needed in it more than ever before, to meet\nits increasing needs, and to give it strength of character and\npermanent life. Truer words were never spoken than those by the orator\nat the Yorktown Centenary celebration during the past year:--\n\n  \"No advanced thought, no mystical philosophy, glittering\n  abstractions, no swelling phrases about freedom,--not even science,\n  with all its marvellous inventions and discoveries,--can help us\n  much in sustaining this republic. Still less can any Godless\n  theories of creation, or any infidel attempts to rule out the\n  Redeemer from his rightful supremacy in our hearts, afford us any\n  hope of security. In that way lies despair! Commonplace truths, old\n  familiar teachings, the ten commandments, the sermon on the mount,\n  the farewell address of Washington, honesty, virtue, patriotism,\n  universal education, are what the world most needs in these days,\n  and our own part of the world as much as any other part. Without\n  these we are lost. With these, and with the blessing of God, which\n  is sure to follow them, we may confidently look forward.\"[66]\n\nIf we are reading the signs of the present and the indications of the\nfuture aright, we readily conclude that it is but early day yet in the\nhistory of humanity,--we mean in its moral and spiritual history.\nGross darkness, fearful wrong, appalling sin yet afflict and demean\nit. If we have the gain of the past to encourage us, if we would be\naids in the world's progress, the new instrumentalities of the present\nwhich we possess must be used as though we had full faith in their\npower, that is, in the Divine indications that are in them. If the\ntrue millennium is yet afar off, it is advancing. So should we be, not\nas children of the night, nor of any darkness of the past, but of the\nChristian day, which has had its heavenly breaking, and whose rising\nbids us to be risen also, and to be moving on! We are debtors to the\npast, how great we can never fully realize. We are equally debtors to\nthe future. What can we now do for its largest blessing, its permanent\nlife?\n\nSeeing that these errors, delusions, and wrongs of the past are to be\ndissolved, what is the work of the Universalist Church now and in the\ntime to come? The answer is ready. It is to magnify its office, to\nextend the spirit and life of its holy faith. It is false to its trust\nif it fail to do this. It is to advance, \"strong in the Lord, and in\nthe power of his might.\" To boast of its grand conceptions of truth,\nits reasonable interpretations of the Bible, of its pre-eminence in\nany way, and still to have no quickening power in the work it is\ncalled to do, is not to seek advancement and success, but to court\ndisappointment and failure.\n\nThis highly-favored church, then, should offer to the acceptance of\nthe world,--\n\n1. A positive faith. At this peculiarly transitional time in the\nChristian Church history, great watchfulness and discrimination are\nneeded on the part of those who are regarded by the majority of the\nchurches as \"liberal Christians,\" because this word \"liberal\" is often\nquite vague in its meaning and covers very many phases of belief and\nunbelief, scepticism, and credulity. A candid and able writer of the\nUnitarian fraternity has just given to the public these very timely\nand wholesome suggestions:--\n\n  \"Liberal Christians will make a fatal mistake if they dream of\n  gaining strength and influence by statements so nebulous and so\n  universally inclusive that even those who deny all spiritualities\n  can ally themselves with them, and speak from their pulpits. If they\n  intend to form a debating club or a school of philosophy, they might\n  naturally and wisely pursue such a policy. But if they wish to form\n  a church, with a faith to offer to the world, and a positive and\n  definite work for a definite end, such a course is self-destructive.\"\n\n  \"The effort of liberal Christianity should have been to strengthen\n  the things that remain. Instead of that, its work has tended too\n  much to minimize faith and to maximize doubt. Everything has become\n  the subject of dissection, almost nothing the object of enthusiasm\n  and trust. That religious body whose supreme function is criticism,\n  however skilful it may be in special work, will never be a\n  regenerating power in human society.\"[67]\n\nWell said. And this leads us to speak directly and freely on the\nsubject of creeds as connected with all Christian churches, and\nespecially as involving the policy and duty of the so-called Liberal\nchurches. We know that at the present time many are cutting themselves\naway from old creeds, such as have held them and their ancestors\nbefore them; when there is more religious inquiry abroad than ever\nbefore, and when it is becoming quite fashionable to speak lightly of\nall creeds, and to intimate that, on the whole, the church and the\nworld may get along about as well without them as with them,--perhaps\nmuch better without them. It is well, as this impatience of creeds is\nincreasing, \"to think soberly,\" if possible, on the whole matter.\n\nWhat is a creed? Let us \"begin at the beginning,\"--the dictionary.\nCreed comes from the Latin _credo_, and signifies to believe. It is \"a\nsummary of Christian belief, or of the articles of faith. Any\nprofession of that which is believed; a statement of the articles of\nbelief, as the _creeds_ of political parties.\" All religionists have\ncreeds of some kind; from the most liberal to the most exclusive of\nthem. Take the most radical \"free religionist\" you can find, and ask\nhim, immediately after you have heard him berating creeds and\nadjudging all as bigots who would be bound by them, what he believes,\nand as surely as he says anything, he will state to you _what_. And\nthis is his creed, whether he calls it so or not. He might as well\ndeny that he has a head by calling it something else, or by not\nallowing it to have any name. A creed he has, if he believes anything.\nThe same of all men.\n\nWhat, then, is the objection to creeds? Why, that the Church has been\nfull of bad creeds, narrow creeds, unreasonable creeds, contradictory\ncreeds, creeds dishonorable to God and to humanity. There is no doubt\nof this; and the evil still abounds. But what then? Away with all\ncreeds? You cannot do it. A creed you will have, at last, after all\nyou have thought and said and done against having one. It is\ninevitable.\n\nMost of the creeds of the Church, for centuries past, have contained\ndoctrines revolting to the common sense and to the holiest affections\nof mankind. The Church and the world are outgrowing them, and they\nmust be put away. There will be no rest nor peace for those who hold\nand defend them until they are put away. But what more? Will there be\nnothing instead of these falsehoods, in the forms of human creeds? Are\nthere no TRUTHS to take the place of them? Every reasonable mind\nconcludes that there are. Better views of God and man will be taken,\nmore reasonable and scriptural doctrines will be accepted, and these\nwill go to make up the new creeds. If these new creeds have errors in\nthem, then there will be new siftings in the controversies that will\nbe continued on the old apostolic principle, \"Prove all things; hold\nfast that which is good.\" Notice; _to be continually questioning_ is\nnot the great object of Christian investigation. There is something\n_to be held fast_. It is that truth which will commend itself to every\nman's conscience in the sight of God. This will constitute the\nperfected Christian creed at last, just as surely as that \"every knee\nshall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory\nof God the Father.\"\n\nBecause the churches have not yet the right creed is no reason why\nthey may not be seeking for it, and may not one day find and adopt it.\nWe do not mean, of course, that all minds can be alike, but that all\nminds will unite in acknowledging certain truths, such as the Divine\nPaternity, the Human Brotherhood, the necessity of personal holiness,\nthe divine and human mission of Jesus, the immortality, holiness, and\nhappiness of mankind. If these are truths, as we believe they are,\nthey will constitute a part, at least, of the Christian creeds of the\nchurches.\n\nTo what, then, does this sweeping denunciation of creeds amount? May\nnot much of it be of very questionable utility and soundness? We know\nthat good and wise men talk thus. But are good and great men, even,\nalways sure of being right in their statements and conclusions? One of\nour distinguished public men, Mr. Wendell Phillips, said in his\ndiscourse on \"Christianity a battle, not a Dream,\" that the New\nTestament was nothing but the New Testament, and that \"nothing like a\ncreed could be tortured out of it,--nothing like Universalism,\nCatholicism, or Unitarianism.\" We have as little faith in the\ntorturing process as he; but we utterly deny that a Universalist creed\ncannot be clearly and undeniably found in the New Testament. We have\nalready stated a part of it. If the Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood\nof the race, the unceasing obligation of man to love God and his\nfellow-creatures, the lordship and mission of Christ the Saviour of\nthe world, the immortality of all mankind, are not positive doctrines\nof the New Testament, then no doctrines, no precepts, no principles\ncan be proved from it. This is the very question at issue between\nUniversalists and those who deny that their faith has its foundations\nin the New Testament. We are ready to stand on this issue with all who\nwill meet us there as honest inquirers after truth.\n\nA gifted and highly honored member of the fraternity of Friends took\noccasion some time since to speak lightly of an attempt on their part\nto \"tinker a creed\" for themselves. And why might they not do it? If\nnot satisfied with their present statement of faith they have a right\nto search for that which will enable them to make a better one.\nTinkering! What are we all doing in our investigations and conclusions\nbut just this? Rather poor workmen, most of us; but here, in this\ngreat workshop God has given us, we have a right to keep hammering and\nwelding away,--a right and a duty to see how perfect a piece of work\nwe may show as the result of our patient and persistent labor. Newton\ndeemed himself but a picker-up of pebbles, while the great ocean of\ntruth lay all unexplored before him. Our best searching will only give\nus indications of that truth which is infinite. Yet this is no reason\nwhy we should not be looking for it, and stating it when we think we\nhave found it. God will accept even our homeliest work, when honestly\ndone.\n\n  \"When done beneath his laws,\n  Even servile labors shine.\"\n\nSo, in reason's name, do not let us be afraid of \"tinkering\" on\ncreeds, any more than we should be ashamed to be diggers, hammerers,\nfurnace-workers and explorers in the fields of science. Truth will\ncome of it all; truth that shall be worked into a good creed at last.\n\nUniversalists have a creed. Its articles, we believe, are reasonable\nand uncontradictory, commending themselves to the clearest intellect\nand to the holiest affections of mankind. Their principal creed or\n\"Confession\" is a short one, yet remarkably comprehensive. It can be\nand is enlarged, and in this form adopted in many of the churches. The\nworld asks what Universalists believe. They have been in existence as\na sect long enough to tell them; and ought to be in readiness to do\nthis. Yea, anxious to do it, because of their convictions of the need\nof this truth in the understandings and hearts of men. Our Unitarian\nneighbors have been much troubled with the fact that many of their own\npeople, especially their younger ones, have not known what Unitarians\nbelieved,--what were the articles or doctrinal statements of their\ncreed. Just one thing, surely, that they and others ought to know. If\nUniversalists have had any defect of this kind, it should cease to be\nwith them, especially if they have definite convictions of Christian\ndoctrines such as the Divine Paternity, the Brotherhood of Man,\nChrist, the Holy Spirit, Regeneration, Retribution, Forgiveness,\nAtonement, Salvation, Immortality. If they have not definite\nconvictions respecting them, let them say so, honestly, as in the\nhearing of all men. Otherwise, let them have a positive creed to state\nand defend.\n\nA positive creed, we say. For, to have a creed made up of statements\nthat are questionable in the minds of its defenders, is to have\nanything but a New Testament--a truly Christian creed. The Apostles\nhad no such creed. Their creed reads thus: \"To us there is one God,\nthe Father, of whom are all things, and we by Him.--Christ is made\nunto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.--Now is\nChrist risen, and become the first fruits of them that slept.--God\nwill have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the\ntruth. God shall be all in all.\" With them these were not questions\nopen for self-settlement in their minds, but truths of which they were\nthoroughly convinced, and in the promulgation of which they were most\nthoroughly in earnest. This is the Christian ministry now needed, not\na ministry made up of inquirers and sceptics mainly, who are \"ever\nlearning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth,\" but of\nthose who have settled convictions of what the truth of God is, and\nwho are in readiness to state and maintain a creed which they believe\nto be every way in accordance with reason, with the Scriptures, and in\nanswer to the most earnest and anxious inquiries of the human soul.\n\n\"But creeds are binding,\" says one. Of course they are if we believe\nthem to be the truth, and are truthful ourselves in the acceptance and\nuse of them. But _how_ are creeds binding? Erroneous, evil creeds\nbring the souls who hold them into bondage. We understand this. But\nwhat about true and good creeds? It appears to us that these give\nliberty, aye, the largest liberty. Jesus says, \"Ye shall know the\ntruth, and the truth shall make you free.\" Who says, in the light of\nthis statement, that the truth of Christ adopted in a creed tends to\nbondage? God's truth, dear reader, is binding on you, and on us all,\naccording to our convictions of it. What freedom do you desire? That\nwhich will give you indulgence in perpetual scepticism, unsettlement\nin regard to anything? Call you this liberty? We regard it as about\nthe worst of bondage; because we are thus in uncertainty; we have no\npermanent habitation in God's love and life. We have, indeed, the poor\nliberty of an outcast, but not that of \"a child at home.\" This last is\na liberty which a creed embracing Christian truth will allow us. We\nwant no greater. It will help us in all our interpretations of God and\nHis works and ways in the universe which is open before us.\n\nTwo considerations, then, we may bear in mind; one is, that of the\nreasonableness and propriety of Christian creeds. This indiscriminate\ndenunciation of them is not wise. It is one of the flurries of the\npresent age, but will not endure the long run of theological\ninvestigation. Creeds may not all be written, but they will exist,\neven with those who denounce them. The logic of fact and human\nexperience effectually settles this, so that a further superfluity of\nbreath on this subject does not seem to be really needed. A faith in\nthe unseen that is most in accordance with nature, human intuitions,\nsound philosophy, and the Word of God, is the one after which all\nsouls may rightfully seek.\n\nNext, of the Universalist creed, let us understand that it is not only\na theological affirmation, but a constant teacher of the most thorough\nvirtue,--a call to the purest, highest, and most heavenly life. The\nUniversalist Church needs nothing so much as to be vitalized by its\nspirit; the world needs nothing more than this vitality for its\npresent salvation.\n\n2. And this leads us to speak, briefly, of the true Christian life\nwhich this Church should seek to commend to the world. Here is the\nApostle's direction which opens to us most clearly the practical\ninfluence of the faith of the gospel: \"For the grace of God that\nbringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying\nungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,\nand godly in this present world.\"[68] It is the indwelling heavenly\nlove, the love which Christianity is ever indicating and proving, that\nwill find its expression in the true Christian believer. It is the\npractical interpretation of that text from John, \"We love him because\nhe first loved us.\"[69] It is the faith with works, proving its\nspiritual vitality. It is at war with sin and wrong; it comprehends\nthe scriptural statement, \"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.\" And\nit realizes how evil is to be overcome and put away. It aims to live\nhere and now as it becomes the soul born of God to live, \"soberly,\nrighteously, godly.\" What words more expressive of its life can be\ngiven? They sum up the whole of the Christian life.\n\nThis religion which the Christian Gospel recommends is reverential and\nworshipful. The flippant inquiry of atheism of olden or modern time,\n\"What is the Almighty that we should pray to him or serve him?\" it\nanswers, rationally and emphatically, \"The Lord he is God; serve him\nwith gladness; for he is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth\nendureth to all generations.\" Worship is the natural utterance of the\ntrue believer as he looks upward to the Father. Forms of worship are\nmeans by which his adoration finds expression. Monotony, routine,\nrepetitions, drony formality, will not be in the offering, for the\nreason that his whole soul is seeking God, and finds the enjoyment of\nhis holy presence and ineffable light.\n\nThis religion is affectional and emotional. It is intellect awakened\ninto love; it is sober thought seeking most earnest expression; it is\nlogic on fire. Those who have no taste for the emotional in religion\nhave only a partial conception of the most effective expression which\nthe Christian religion seeks, and in which it may properly and\nprofitably indulge. The needy, empty-souled, impulsive world-masses\nare not to be reached and warmed, uplifted and inspired, by clearly\nexact and well-stated and well-worked-out theological problems. The\nmultiplication table is true, and useful, but we do not look for any\nspiritual inspiration in it. The religion that has most blessed the\nworld is a religion that appeals to and draws out the affections;\nthat, while it repudiates imprudent zeal and fanaticism, insists on\nthat earnestness which everywhere meets us in the New Testament\nGospels and apostolic records and epistles; which reaches men's hearts\nand convinces them of their need of heavenly aid; awakens the question\nasked by the converted soul, \"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?\" and\nrealizes the significance of those apostolic declarations, \"Be filled\nwith the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and\nspiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto God the\nLord; giving thanks always for all things unto the Father, in the name\nof our Lord Jesus Christ.\" All this signifies living interest, fervor\nof spirit, emotional, wakeful expression.\n\nThis religion is, moreover, eminently practical. It is not only ready\nto say, \"Lord, Lord!\" but to do the Lord's work as well. It forecloses\nthis inconsiderate criticism sometimes heard, \"Why all this wordy\ndemonstration and noise about religion? Good works are of a thousand\ntimes more avail; the best religion is to do good.\" True, indeed, and\nthis is what Christianity is constantly teaching. No one taught it\nmore forcibly than Jesus himself. The parable of the Good Samaritan is\nemphatic on this point, that the reputed unbeliever who did good was worthy\nof more praise than the most punctilious professor of religion who was\ndeficient in the essentials of the Christian kingdom,--Justice, Mercy,\nand Love. \"What doth it profit, though a man say he have faith and\nhave not works? Can faith save him? For as the body without the spirit\nis dead, so faith without works is dead also.\"[70] But good works do\nnot exclude these other manifestations of the true religion. \"These\nought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.\"\n\n3. Once more: this religion is reformatory and progressive.\nReformation and progress are words always indicative of the Christian\ndispensation with man; the call to holiness and the response to it,\ngrowth in God's grace, new achievements,--never resting in present\nattainments, but ever striving with fresh inspiration for new\naccomplishments in the heavenly course. Most religions (especially\nunder the Christian name) have some of these characteristics; but the\nreligion nearest to that which Christ taught and exemplified will have\nthem all. To secure the highest blessings of the Christian kingdom,\nthe churches must be based on the principles, and conform to the\nrequirements, of this kingdom. The Universalist Church must. Its true\nprosperity has been and will be in accordance with its fidelity in\nthis particular. One of its earnest preachers of the present time has\ntruly said:--\n\n  \"Opinions as faith will never serve to build up any Christian\n  character. There is not a saved soul in any paradise anywhere which\n  was ever saved by any opinion. It is only when opinions become\n  faith--become rooted forces of the soul--that they have any\n  effect.\"[71]\n\nIt should have the Christian missionary inspiration and action, should\nopen its eyes to the magnitude and glory of the missionary outlook\nwhich no faith short of that of Christian Universalism presents to\nevery lover of this humanity now groaning in bondage, and waiting \"for\nthe manifestation of the sons of God.\" It should rise to a new and\ngrander conception than has been realized by those who have borne to\nsouls in the darkness of heathenism the limited doctrines of human\nwisdom. \"Go ye INTO ALL THE WORLD, and preach the Gospel TO EVERY\nCREATURE.\" To no other church in Christendom does this great text of\nthe ages speak more explicitly than to the Universalist. It has the\ntruth of the Human Brotherhood, which all the world should understand\nand embrace, for which all heathendom is waiting, and to which in the\nlong run it will come if this favored church is true to its heavenly\ncalling. That it may be thus true, it is not to deceive itself with\nany false ideas of the leavening process which is to go on in other\nchurches, while it is inclined to do the least and not the most to\nkeep the leaven in healthy and constant operation. When Rev. Otis A.\nSkinner was canvassing New England to raise the first one hundred\nthousand dollars for Tufts College, he was met with such suggestions\nas this from certain ones who professed friendliness to the success of\nhis movements: \"Is it really necessary to make this attempt to build a\nnew college? Why not keep quiet, and wait until the time comes when\nHarvard College will fall into our hands?\" Supposing such\nshort-sightedness and apathy had prevailed, where would Tufts College\nwith all its benefits have been to-day? Universalists should be about\ntheir own church missionary business. It is theirs, and no others are\ncalled upon to do it for them. Dr. Edward Beecher, in his \"Records of\nthe Church in the Third Century,\"--many of whose members were avowed\nbelievers in the final reconciliation of all souls,--states that they\nwere among the most zealous and devoted Christians of that age in\npersonal piety and in active missionary labors. They sent out the\nGospel to the remotest shores of the then known world. Here is the\nsame world to be reached by the messengers of this very Gospel to-day.\n\"How shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach\nexcept they be sent?\" No corner of the earth is exempt from the\nbenefits of this message; no means should be left unemployed to send\nit forth. Are Universalists acquainted as they might be with the\nmissionary work that has been already done by the other churches\naround them? Are they familiar with their reports and other\npublications involving the missionary enterprise, showing what good\nthey have accomplished in opening the Christian Scriptures and aiding\na Christian civilization in other lands? Do they realize that if these\nmissionaries have propagated errors in theology, they have cleared the\nway in part for a better dispensation of Divine Truth by the\ntranslations of the Bible into other languages, which they have made?\nThese are important considerations, and Universalists will do well to\nact upon them.\n\nAs the Lord liveth, the now \"open questions\" will one day be settled,\nand settled on the side of the Divine Beneficence. The love of God in\nChrist has come into the world, and will not go out of it until its\nwork is here done; love that is long-suffering, that rejoiceth not in\niniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; that beareth, believeth, hopeth,\nand endureth all things, and that never faileth; love that will bring\nthe last lost one home, that will obliterate all the hells, and people\nall the heavens in the universe.\n\n[59] These significant words of an advocate of Universalism more than\ntwo centuries ago are in striking agreement with those of an advanced\northodox thinker of the present time. \"It should never be forgotten\nthat in the Biblical philosophy of salvation the life of the\nindividual is bound up with the life of the whole, and reaches its\nfulness and completion only in the liberty for which the whole\ncreation waits.\"--\"The Orthodox Theology of To-day;\" by Rev. Newman\nSmyth, D.\u00a0D.\n\n[60] Article in the \"Universalist Quarterly,\" for July, 1882, \"The\nDivine Responsibility,\" by Rev. C.\u00a0W. Biddle.\n\n[61] Published opinions of the Professors of Andover Theological\nSeminary, April 10, 1882.\n\n[62] \"Christian Leader.\"\n\n[63] Rev. A.\u00a0A. Miner, D.\u00a0D.\n\n[64] Rom. viii. 38.\n\n[65] Rev. Hosea Ballou, D.\u00a0D. Reply to Dr. Hawes's Arguments against\nUniversalism. It was nearly a half-century ago that these words were\nwritten. And now at this very time there comes this echo of them in\nconfirmation of the truth of the prophecy: \"Little by little the pulpit\nshrinks from the medi\u00e6val theology. Ministers first gloss it by new\ninterpretations, then they prudently hold it in suspense, then doubt it,\nthen cast it away.\" Rev. H.\u00a0W. Beecher, in \"North American Review,\"\nJuly, 1882.\n\n[66] Oration of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop at Yorktown, Va., October 19,\n1881.\n\n[67] Rev. F.\u00a0B. Hornbrooke, in Unitarian Review, August, 1882.\n\n[68] Titus, ii. 11, 12.\n\n[69] 1 John, iv. 19.\n\n[70] James, ii. 14, 26.\n\n[71] Rev. James Pullman, D.\u00a0D.\n\n\nUniversity Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.","title":"Fifty Notable Years: Views of the Ministry of Christian Universalism During the Last Half-Century; with Biographical Sketches","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":91339}