Was glad to hear from you again, and find you are in a larger
field. [He had gone to a Pennsylvania city.] Perhaps you may draw
into your church--take it for granted you have gone there to
preach--Universalists and Unitarians.... We shall be glad to loan
you books again as soon as you are ready for them. Have had added
to the library lately "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Trinity,"
by Hugh H. Stannus; "Christ the Revealer," by Thom (both English
works), "The Power of the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth" and "The
Story of the Resurrection," both by Dr. W. H. Furness, of
Philadelphia,--the latter just published, and he presented the two
to us. Am not quite ready to loan the latter, as I've not read it
myself. If you know or meet with any Germans in your vicinity, we
are soon to have some Unitarian tracts in the German language....
Hope you read with enthusiasm the earnest appeal for ministers at
the East, and also at Meadville, in the "Register" of April 9. We
hope to have two of our correspondents go to Meadville in
September, and hope you may succeed in your desire to get to
Harvard. We had a very pleasant letter from one of our "boys," as
he styled himself, a week since. He is still enjoying his
privileges there.... Hoping to hear from you again, and wishing you
success in your new position, whatever it may be, in which the
Women's Auxiliary Conference join,
Yours truly, SARAH ELLIS.
A gentleman in Mississippi, superintendent of schools in his county,
writes of Miss Ellis as
"... One whose memorial I read with a saddened heart. A single
request to her consequent upon an advertisement which I saw in a
paper commenced a correspondence which continued uninterruptedly
till the time of her death. Though just from the side of a dear
sister whom she had left destined to a glorious immortality, she
found time to write to us a letter of condolence on the great loss
that we had sustained in the death of our son,--a young man just of
age,--in which she blended submission to Him 'who doeth all things
right,' with such words of comfort as could emanate only from a
good, earnest, self-sacrificing instrument of our Heavenly Father.
Than in her life of trials and troubles there has never been a
greater instance of the victory of mind over matter. I am afraid
that I do little good with the sermons, etc., among the people
here, who, although they use the beautiful hymn, 'Nearer, my God,
to Thee,' at their funerals, still look upon Unitarians as cultured
heathens."
A lady in Ohio, who became a regular correspondent and bought many
books, wrote Miss Ellis:--
"The lectures and papers you have sent have been, and are, the
source of much pleasure to me; and I have given them to some of my
friends, who also seemed pleased with them. I had thought for a
long time that the Unitarian faith would be my idea of true
religion, and now I feel _sure_ of it. I knew nothing about its
creed, or whether it had one, but had had a desire for several
years to know something of it. All my friends and acquaintances
were as ignorant as myself, and the most definite idea I had been
able to gain concerning it was through James Freeman Clarke's
'Self-Culture.' When I found your little notice in the newspaper,
it was just what I most desired. I have always wished to be
religious; but there are things in the Bible which my reason
repels, and the Orthodox way of teaching them became at last so
abhorrent to me that at one time I just gave it all up and ceased
to try to believe any of it; though I am sure I always felt the
beauty of Christianity as taught by Christ, and would be glad now
to be a Christian, if not compelled to believe him the miraculous
Son of God.... We like the 'Register' better and better all the
time, and I have no doubt shall subscribe for it regularly. I
consider it exceedingly high-toned as a moral and religious
teacher, and also in a literary point of view. The sermons and
lectures supply for us a long-felt need. I intend sending a list of
names of friends and acquaintances to the publishers soon. My
sister-in-law has become a convert to the Unitarian faith through
the medium of the 'Register' and the tracts you have sent me from
time to time. She is quite an enthusiast, and feels that
Unitarianism is a great boon and comfort to her now in the midst of
her troubles. [The sister had recently lost her husband.] She, like
myself, could not conscientiously subscribe to the old Orthodox
creeds and requirements, and so remained outside the Church; but
now she feels that she may be a Christian without stultifying her
sense of reason. When she returns home, she expects to subscribe
for the 'Register.'"