SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.
"Go forth, all hands! God's fallow lands
Need ploughmen, seedmen, reapers!
Plough deep and long; uproot old Wrong;
Turn Sin, turn Slaveries under;
Sow Wisdom, Lowliness, Freedom, Holiness,
And reap in joy and wonder!"
REV. D. K. LEE, D. D.
Rev. Thomas F. King was a minister of rare qualities. He came up from
the humble walks of life, and by hard study and the improvement of
every opportunity for mental culture, became a scholar of excellent
acquirements. He was an enthusiastic believer in the Gospel, and one
of its most eloquent preachers and defenders. He was especially
acquainted with the evidences of natural and revealed religion, and
well prepared to present them for the consideration of sceptical
minds. His voice was rich, deep, and musical, and as a reader he could
hardly be excelled. This, aside from their intrinsic merits, made his
discourses strongly impressive. An instance is cited of a disaffected
hearer who had concluded not to attend his meetings any more, finding
himself at the door of the church one morning, after the service had
opened, in expectation of hearing a stranger preach. Mr. King was
there, reading the Scriptures,--the invitation in Isaiah's prophecies,
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," &c. The hearer
stood still, listened, attempted to leave, and was held fast. Again he
started, but the words reached him, "Incline your ear, and come unto
me; hear, and your soul shall live!" Further resistance was useless.
His place in the sanctuary was taken again, and held afterwards while
he lived. Mr. King had a large, warm, sympathetic heart, and made the
joys and sorrows of his people his own. He was the life of the social
circle, and his fund of anecdote and good humor usually insured him a
warm reception everywhere. He had an unusually rich bass voice in
singing. His pulpit services were pervaded with a profound reverential
spirit. He was pastor in Hudson, N. Y., Portsmouth, N. H., and
Charlestown, Mass., in which last-named place he departed this life,
Sept. 13, 1839. His death was a Christian's triumph.
Of his eminent son, THOMAS STARR KING, what can we say that
most readers do not already know? and yet the man and his life will
always bear noting and will never fail to be admired. He was born in
the city of New York, Dec. 17, 1824. He early manifested singular
aptitude for study and deep conscientiousness. His education was
desultory, but with his quickness of apprehension he acquired Latin
and French at an early age. At fifteen, on the death of his father, he
became the head of the family, and worked for their support as a clerk
and school-teacher. In the mean time he was an untiring student of
metaphysics and theology. One of his historians, Mr. E. P. Whipple,
writes of him:--
"He mastered the results of the great German and French critics of
the Bible. To many of our present young students exegesis
practically means _exit Jesus_; but King, in all his eager quest of
truth, and dutiful acknowledgment of the service which the great
German theologians had rendered to the rational interpretation of
the Scriptures, never lost his original hold on Christ Jesus as the
express image of God,--as the Son who reveals to us the Father,--as
the ideal embodiment of a perfected Humanity. Such a person had a
natural call to the ministry."
His first sermon was preached in Woburn, in the autumn of 1845. In the
summer of the next year he was invited to the pastorate of the
Universalist Church in Charlestown, then made vacant by the removal of
the Rev. E. H. Chapin to Boston. He accepted the call, and enjoyed a
busy and happy ministry there, until his urgent call to become the
minister of the Hollis Street (Unitarian) Church in Boston. The first
invitation he declined, and made a voyage to Fayal to recruit his
health which had been impaired by his incessant labors. The invitation
was renewed on his return home, and he was installed in his new place
in December, 1848. This course on his part was not agreeable to many
of his Universalist friends, but they had no doubt that it was
conscientiously taken by him, and most of them always retained their
good will and heart-fellowship for him. They knew that his work would
be mainly in the right direction always; and they were not disappointed.
As a public literary lecturer, he was among the foremost in the land.
In April, 1860, Mr. King took charge of the Unitarian Church in San
Francisco, Cal. He saw a field there which he deemed it an opportunity
to occupy, both as a Christian minister and an American patriot. He
entered with his whole soul into the defence of the national cause and
in opposition to the traitorous intent of the secession conspirators.
In the pulpit and on the platform he vindicated the national honor and
pleaded for the maintenance of the national Union. As his biographer,
Mr. Whipple, writes: "As far as regards the keeping of California
loyal to the Union during the civil war, he ranks at least in the
first file of its eminent citizens. His reputation was not confined to
the Pacific coast, but extended over the whole country."[45] He
literally wore out his life in this great and glorious field of
exertion. Diphtheria came finally, and he passed into the higher life,
March 4, 1865. His words at the last were: "I feel all the privileges
and greatness of the future."
One of our ablest theologians and most devoted ministers was Rev. ABEL
CHARLES THOMAS, born in Exeter, Berks Co., Pa., July 11, 1807. He was
of Quaker lineage, his grandfather Abel having been a distinguished
preacher of the Society of Friends during fifty-six years. It was of
Rev. A. B. Grosh, then of Marietta, Pa., that he received his first
knowledge of Universalism. In 1827 he went to Philadelphia as a
printer, and was there encouraged by resident ministers, Rev. S. R.
Smith, and Rev. T. Fisk, to enter the ministry. He preached his first
sermon in the Lombard St. Church in November, 1828. In the following
January he became publisher and co-editor with Mr. Fisk of the "Gospel
Herald and Universalist Review" in New York city, writing editorials,
putting them in type, conducting the correspondence, and as he says,
"writing his sermons on a pine board by night," for he had begun his
ministerial labors April 5, 1829, preaching in a small frame
meeting-house on Grand St. In less than a year from the delivery of
his first sermon, he responded to a cordial invitation to become
pastor of the Lombard St. Church, Philadelphia, which connection
continued with mutual interest of pastor and people for ten years. In
1834 and 1835 a discussion took place between Mr. Thomas and Rev. Ezra
Stiles Ely, D. D., which was afterwards issued in book form, and has
probably been more widely circulated and had a more permanent interest
and usefulness than any other theological discussion in our country.
It gave to Mr. Thomas a fame which will always be connected with his
memory. Visiting New England after the discussion had closed, he
received a most cordial and enthusiastic welcome, and preached in many
places to large and deeply interested congregations.
Mr. Thomas removed to Lowell in the autumn of 1839, and took charge of
the Second Church. Here he and his co-laborer, Rev. T. B. Thayer,
started the "Star of Bethlehem," a vigorous weekly publication in
support of the Universalist faith. While living here, he established
the "Lowell Offering," a new movement for that time, and which
elicited much interest in this country and in England. After three
years' active and efficient work in Lowell, and after a few months'
travel for his health, he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he organized
a society and was one of eight men who built the first Universalist
church in that city. From Brooklyn he went to Cincinnati, O., in 1844;
but declining health and overwork obliged him to resign his charge in
1847. After a year's rest he returned to his old parish in
Philadelphia. Twelve years later he was induced to go out as a
missionary of Universalism to England and Scotland; the required funds
were promptly raised, and accompanied by his family, in May, 1852, he
sailed for England. His time was spent chiefly in London and
Edinburgh, though he preached in all the principal cities of the
United Kingdom, and made careful investigation of the religious aspect
of affairs there. At the close of a year's labor he was joined in
London by his co-worker in Lowell, Rev. T. B. Thayer, and wife, and
for six months they travelled together on the Continent. He then
returned to Philadelphia, and resumed his labor there.
During the late war, with its manifold excitements and fatigues, the
visiting and caring for the sick and wounded in the hospitals, and his
active interest in assisting the soldiers constantly passing to and
fro, made serious inroads on his long-enfeebled frame, so that he was
obliged to resign his charge in 1863. He removed to Hightstown, N. J.,
where he preached two years, one sermon a Sunday, as a labor of love.
He then spent two years in Bridgeport, Conn., preaching in Danbury and
other places as his strength permitted. In the spring of 1867 he
purchased a farm at Tacony, Philadelphia, which was thenceforth his
home.
Mr. Thomas was the author of several volumes besides the "Ely and
Thomas Discussion;" his "Autobiography," "The Gospel Liturgy," "The
Songs of Zion," "A Century of Universalism," &c. He wrote also some
very useful and popular tracts,--among them "213 Questions without
Answers," which has had a wider reading and attracted more attention
than any other tract ever issued from our press. It has had a
circulation of at least a million copies. The questions are strong,
awakening, and searching.
Rev. T. B. Thayer, D. D., makes this brief but truthful statement of
the character of Mr. Thomas:--
"As a teacher, he was a man of wonderful gifts. His sermons were
largely doctrinal, expository, and defensive, as the position of our
church at the time he began preaching demanded. He was clear, terse
and logical, and original in the statement and discussion of his
subject, with just enough of quaint Quaker phrase to give it spice,
yet alive with the beauty and the glow of the poet's vision and
illustration; and sometimes, when a sudden burst of feeling and
inspiration came upon him, he rose to the highest demands of
oratory, his eloquence became electric, and, like a full-charged
battery, thrilled the entire congregation, until every heart beat
with the pulses of his own faith and fervor. As a controversialist,
he had few equals. His discussion with Dr. Ely, as an exhibition of
the Universalist argument, was, and still is, the best and most
persuasive work of the kind in our denominational history, and
admirably displays the skill, logic, fairness and manly courtesy of
Mr. Thomas as a debater. As a Christian gentleman, he was
distinguished for the grace and courtesy of his manners, for his
thoughtful kindness towards all, for his remarkable conversational
gifts, and for the personal magnetism by which he attracted to
himself all with whom he came in contact, young and old, strangers
and friends alike."
For the last three years of his life he was confined to his home, and
quietly passed on in full assurance of the immortal life, Sept. 27,
1880. Mr. Thomas was married Feb. 14, 1843, to Miss M. Louise Palmer,
of Pottsville, Pa., who survives him, and is one of the active and
efficient "women workers" of our church.
Contemporary with Mr. Thomas during his ministry in Philadelphia was
Rev. SAVILLION W. FULLER, who became pastor of the Callowhill Street
Universalist Church in that city in 1833. We are indebted to Mr.
Thomas, who, in his "Autobiography," has given us a truthful though
brief account of the worthy man:--
"His mind was comprehensive. His power of analysis was displayed
alike in sermonizing and conversation. His perception was quick, his
reflection rigid, and his stern conscience denounced what logic
condemned. As a public speaker he was unequal. Sometimes he was
tame, at others mightily stirring by forcible thought embodied in
unusually glowing language. The average placed him in a high rank
among the eloquent men of the age. In every respect of social
nobility I never knew his superior.
'He bore through suffering, toil, and ruth,
Within his heart the dew of youth,
And on his lip the smile of truth.'
He carried sunshine into all circles of the young and the old, the
literary and the religious. Even the house of mourning seemed
radiant in his visitations of loving trust. His keen wit was without
asperity, and his ardent zeal was uniformly tempered by charity. His
beaming face was a true index of the inner man."
He united with Mr. Thomas in a letter to four distinguished clergymen
of Philadelphia, inviting them to lecture in the Universalist churches
in that city on points of doctrinal difference between the parties.
The result of the invitation was, finally, the Ely and Thomas
discussion.
An instance in illustration of Mr. Fuller's aptness in emergencies is
given in the "Companion and Register" of 1858. Entering the
stage-coach for Utica one day, he found it full of passengers, among
whom was a somewhat noted "revivalist" of that time, and his friend, a
deacon. Mr. Fuller soon became disgusted with the coarse, brow-beating
dogmatism of the revivalist toward the unassuming passengers, and took
up the argument against him. Enraged at being foiled in controversy
and overmatched in wit, the elder poured out a torrent of abusive
language, when Mr. Fuller arrested his vulgar tirade by saying in a
dignified and authoritative tone, "Stop, sir! Not another word from
your lips! Why, sir, you are making a mere blackguard of yourself. Not
another word, sir!" (arresting the reply before it could be
commenced). "Not another word, I tell you! Why, you have already
disgraced yourself and your profession, and, if allowed to continue,
would disgrace the company you are in and the very horses that draw
you along!" The mortified man shrunk into his corner, cowed by an
imperiousness as much excelling his own in energy and power as it
towered above him in dignity and truth.
But his deacon was determined not to be put down thus, and spoke up
with much spirit, "Sir, this is a free country, and others have a
right to speak as well as yourself." "Most certainly, my dear sir,"
said Mr. Fuller, with one of his beaming looks and in his blandest
tones, "most certainly, sir; and I hope you will _exercise_ your
right." "Yes, sir; and I _mean_ to exercise it, sir; I'll let you
know, sir, that I shall speak as much as I please, sir," said the now
enraged deacon. "That's right," replied the very courteous Fuller,
"speak on, my dear sir; we wish to hear _you_ speak." "Yes, sir,"
continued the choking deacon, "and I'll let you know that you can't
shut _my_ mouth, sir." "Oh, no, sir,--Heaven forbid that I should
attempt it--I want _you_ to speak--so, speak on, sir--we like to hear
you." "Yes, sir, and I won't ask your permission, neither! I'll let
you know, sir, that _you_ are not my keeper, sir!" said the deacon,
now almost bursting with rage. "Certainly not, sir," was the very
quiet but smiling reply, "certainly not, sir,--I am a _pastor_, _not_
a keeper of _swine_." A prolonged, hearty laugh from the passengers
finally died away, and "there was a great calm." The deacon reclined
in sullen silence, and the remainder of the journey was enlivened by
pleasant and profitable conversation between Mr. Fuller and the other
passengers.
Rev. WILLIAM ALLEN DREW, most of whose life was passed in Maine, was
born in Kingston, Mass., Dec. 11, 1798. He fitted for college in early
life, but adverse circumstances compelled him to abandon his studies
and go to Bath, Me., in 1813, where he was employed as a clerk for two
years. He then spent four years at work on a farm in Hallowell. In
1819 he accepted an invitation to take charge of Farmington Academy,
and remained in that position five years. He preached his first sermon
in Farmington, Oct. 1, 1821, and was fellowshipped the same year. He
remained in Farmington as teacher and preacher until 1824, when he
began preaching in Belfast, and removed there Jan. 1, 1825. He
remained there two years, preaching also in Camden, in Thomaston, and
in other towns in the vicinity. In December, 1825, he began the
publication of a religious paper called "The Christian Visitant,"
which was afterwards merged in "The Christian Intelligencer,"
published at Portland by Rev. Russell Streeter, and Mr. Drew was
associated with him in the editorial work. In January, 1827, he
removed to Augusta, in which place he had his home during the
remainder of his life. The "Intelligencer" was removed to Gardiner at
the same time, and he became its sole editor. From 1831 to 1833 he
published "The Christian Preacher," a monthly journal of sermons. He
established the "Gospel Banner" in 1835, and edited it with marked
ability until 1857. After his connection ceased with the "Banner," he
was editor of the "Rural Intelligencer" for a few years, and was at
different times connected with the "Maine Cultivator," the "Augusta
Courier," and perhaps some other papers. He was a contributor to the
"Gospel Banner" even after the burden of years and infirmities pressed
heavily upon him. He was eminently fitted for the editorship of a
public journal.
Mr. Drew organized the First Universalist Church in Augusta in 1833.
He was ordained its pastor when the meeting-house was dedicated, Nov.
26, 1835, preached to it constantly, and performed pastoral labors
until 1848. Rev. Dr. Quinby, who published a biographical sketch of
him after his decease, writes:--
"As a writer and editor he had few equals. His pen was ever ready,
he never tired. Many of his productions bore the marks of great
research and deep thought, though evidently written in the midst of
a pressure of other occupations. His theology was plain and
straightforward. All could understand him. His descriptions of
scenes and places were vivid, natural, and generally true to the
life. He had many admirers as a controversialist. Possessing a wide
range of thought, good knowledge of the Bible, a well-balanced and
discerning intellect, a ready wit, and naturally exceedingly
sarcastic, he was a stalwart defender of Universalism in Maine, and
proved himself competent to any emergency."
Rev. ISAAC DOWD WILLIAMSON was one of the ablest advocates of the
Universalist faith. He was born in Pomfret, Vt., April 4, 1807, and
died in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1876. In early life he learned the
clothier's trade, and had no other schooling than that of the common
district school; but his ardent thirst for knowledge, his force of
character and enthusiasm made amends for lack of external aid. He was
troubled with many doubts in his thoughts about religion until, at
about the age of fifteen, Ballou's "Treatise on the Atonement" was put
into his hands. He read it with avidity, and was greatly enlightened
and encouraged. He had hitherto thought that all sorrow and suffering
were inflicted by God in anger upon his children for their sins. The
first sermon from a Universalist to which he listened was delivered by
Rev. Kittredge Haven, from the text, "Whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Heb. xii. 6).
It lifted him out of his doubts and sent him away rejoicing. He went
into a solitary place and wept for joy, and upon his knees vowed that
if God would spare his life, and he could ever be qualified, he would
enter upon the work of the ministry, a purpose which he followed out
most faithfully. He preached his first sermon Oct. 1, 1827, in
Springfield, Vt. After supplying the pulpit a short time in Langdon,
N. H., he settled in 1828 in Jaffrey, N. H., and was ordained by the
Franklin Association, at Townsend, Vt., Sept. 10, 1829. In June of the
same year he removed to Albany, N. Y., where he lived seven years.
From 1837 to 1851 he resided as pastor in Poughkeepsie a year and a
half, in Baltimore two years, in New York city three, in Philadelphia
three, in Mobile two winters, in Memphis, Ky., in Lowell, Mass., one
year. From Lowell he removed to Louisville, Ky., remaining there two
years, from there to Philadelphia, where he spent three years, which
was his last regular pastorate, although he supplied in Cincinnati
after his return from Philadelphia. He was with Rev. C. F. Lefevre,
editor of the "Gospel Anchor" at Troy, N. Y., about 1830, a paper
afterwards merged in the "Religious Inquirer," published at Hartford,
Conn., Mr. Williamson continuing to edit it. He was one of the editors
of the "Herald and Era," published at Louisville, Ky., and was for
about ten years connected with the "Star in the West" as joint
proprietor and editor, though for several of his last years performing
no editorial labor.
Dr. Williamson, through most of his life, was afflicted with asthma in
its severest form, but his vigorous will enabled him, in spite of it,
to perform much labor. He delivered nearly 4,000 sermons, published
nine volumes, beside many pamphlets, and for forty years was connected
with our periodicals. He once crossed the Atlantic, and preached the
Gospel of Impartial Grace in Great Britain. He took seven voyages of
2,000 miles coastwise by sea on the same errand. In his voyage to
Europe, one of his fellow passengers was Washington Irving, then on
his way to Spain. Mr. Williamson conducted the religious services on
board the vessel, one Sunday morning, discoursing on the Paternal
character, purposes and requirements of God, in accordance with
Christian Universalism. After the service, Mr. Irving, who had been an
attentive listener, cordially thanked the preacher for his sermon,
adding emphatically, "These, sir, are my views, and I am trying to
live in agreement with them."
Mr. Williamson was a prominent and highly respected member of the
Society of Odd Fellows, lectured far and wide in exposition and
defence of their principles, and went to England mainly in their
service. He was for many years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of
the United States, and the ritual now in use by the Order was largely
from his pen. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity
from Norwich, Vt., University, in 1850. The writer of this sketch
first heard Dr. Williamson preach at the session of the Universalist
General Convention held in Strafford, Vt., in 1832. The subject was
"Lukewarmness rebuked;" the text, Rev. iii. 15: "I would thou wert
cold or hot." No noisy, declamatory appeal was it, no clap-trap effort
reminding the audience of the "smartness" of the one to whom they are
listening; but a clear, strong, earnest statement of the greatness of
the Truth of God and of its pre-eminent claims upon the attention,
love, and consecrated zeal of every believer in its unsearchable
riches. In illustration (not profuse), in persuasiveness and
application, it could not have been improved. The large old church was
filled, the audience were in closest attention to the end, and many
were the silent, sympathetic "amens" in response when his words were
ended. The discourse afterwards appeared in the "Gospel Preacher," a
monthly publication issued at Augusta, Me.
The "Rudiments of Theological and Moral Science" may be considered the
summing up of Mr. Williamson's theological thinking during his
ministry. It is a notable vindication of the Divine Sovereignty, a
sovereignty infinitely glorified in the Divine Paternity. Although
some of its reasonings savor too much of what is called fatalism to be
accepted as practically healthful when men are called upon to "work
out their own salvation with fear and trembling," it is in the highest
degree helpful and hopeful to all of weak faith who need to realize
that God has will and purpose of his own, and works within his
children "to will and to do of his own good pleasure." God's
beneficent sovereignty was to him the adamantine foundation of the
Gospel. As strong and effective by voice and pen as the ministry of
this good man has been, there were those at the beginning of it who
were inclined to wonder at his attempt to enter this profession.
Light-minded critics uttered their innocent witticisms, and sober
well-wishers of our denomination very plainly hinted to him that he
might possibly do quite as much service to it in some other line of
effort than that of preaching! But all this to the pure-minded young
soldier of the Cross was but an incentive to renewed exertion. They
who doubted knew not that the Lord had called him, and had purposed
for him a life of honorable labor in his holy service. Father Ballou
used to say, "When the Lord undertakes to make a minister, he always
makes a good one." Dr. Williamson was thus made. He has given "full
proof" of his ministry, and now having gone "up higher," his works
will follow him.
One of the ministers of a long pastorate in Vermont was Rev. KITTREDGE
HAVEN. He was of a family of nine sons and two daughters, and was born
in Framingham, Mass., Feb. 24, 1793, and died in Shoreham, Vt., May 4,
1877, aged 84. His father removed in 1802 to Cambridge, and in 1810 to
Boston, where he established himself in a crockery store. The subject
of this notice was providentially drawn to attend the ministry of Rev.
Paul Dean, under whose preaching he was converted to Universalism,
sang in his choir at his installation as colleague with Rev. John
Murray in 1813, studied for the ministry with Mr. Dean, and in his
pulpit preached his first sermon in July, 1819. In the spring of 1820
Mr. Haven made a preaching tour into Maine, spending one Sabbath in
each of the towns of Waterville, Brunswick, Livermore, Winthrop and
Turner, and in Portland three Sundays. After returning to Boston he
received a letter from Turner, inviting him to become a pastor there,
but he declined the call. Soon afterwards he took a journey into
Vermont, and in Dec. 1820 settled in Bethel, on a salary of $5 per
Sunday, which was the customary pay of a young preacher in those days.
He was ordained at Kingsbury, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1821, by the Northern
Association, embracing Vermont, a part of Canada, and all that part of
New York which bordered on Lake Champlain. Two ministers only besides
himself were present on that occasion, Rev. S. C. Loveland and Rev.
Robert Bartlett. In 1829 Mr. Haven moved to Shoreham, and there he
remained until death, preaching there regularly thirty-seven years,
and occasionally, every year, from Jan. 1, 1825, to Jan. 1, 1870,--in
all forty-five years.
Mr. Haven was an earnest and effective preacher. He was not especially
noted for learning or eloquence, but was a plain, vigorous, and
scriptural advocate of the Gospel. His preaching was a continuous
stream of truth flowing forth in a strong and fervent delivery from
the beginning to the close of his discourse. He possessed excellent
judgment, sterling integrity, an amiable and Christian spirit, and
unostentatious piety. He won and secured the respect of all men by his
kindness of heart, his gentlemanly manners, and pure life. He made
Universalism respected wherever he was known. Congregational ministers
even called him evangelical. He left an honored name to his children
and to the church which he had faithfully served for fifty years. He
was uncle of the late Bishop Gilbert Haven of the M. E. Church.
The ministry of Rev. JOHN BOYDEN was one of the most useful and
honored of any in our churches. He was born in Sturbridge, Mass., May
14, 1809, and died in Woonsocket, R. I., Sept. 28, 1869. He attended
the public schools in his native town during his youth, and engaged in
teaching schools winters before he reached his twentieth year. In 1829
he resolved to enter upon the calling to which he had for some time
felt drawn, and began his studies for the Christian ministry under the
direction of the elder Rev. Hosea Ballou. His first sermon was
preached in Annisquam, near Gloucester, Mass. In the following year
(1830), he was ordained at Berlin, Conn. It was his first settlement,
and he remained there four years. He next located at Dudley, Mass.,
where he continued as pastor until 1840, when he removed to
Woonsocket, where he had before preached occasionally, and became the
first pastor of the new society in that place, which had just erected
a church. His pastorate here reached nearly the limit of thirty years.
As a preacher, he was plain, sound, and forcible. He never attempted
great things in the way of sensational effort. He had too much good
sense, and too refined notions of propriety to do that. His eloquence
was in the sincerity, truthfulness, and earnestness of his statements
and appeals. He was a clear and strong reasoner, and had always good
illustrations of his subject at hand. Incidents from his own
experience were often made most timely and impressive in his
discourses. He was pointedly doctrinal and thoroughly practical in his
sermons, generally using great simplicity and plainness of speech, but
always giving evidence of a deep heart interest in the message he was
delivering.
As a minister of Christian consolation he seemed pre-eminent. In this
respect no preacher perhaps was more acceptable to our people. His
calls to attend funerals, sometimes at long distances out of his own
parish, were many. Old friends, who had long known him, when bereaved
and afflicted were thankful to hear his voice speaking to them the
comforting words of divine truth.
He was a true Christian reformer. All through his ministry this had
been his character. Clear in his perceptions, sound in his judgments,
consistent in his positions, and with an adamantine firmness in his
adherence to principle, he was always ready to give his word and
influence in aid of the reforms of the times. As an advocate of
temperance and human freedom, he was surpassed by none in his
faithfulness.
How his own people loved him! and how long and closely and happily
were they united! That silver wedding celebration of the pastoral
union in 1864; what evidence it gave of that unity of the spirit which
can bind a good pastor and an appreciative people for so long a time
with interest deepening as years increase, and which is such a reproof
of the many injudicious calls and frequent resignations which afflict
too many churches! What a golden halo is set around this long
settlement of the faithful pastor and his loving people.
[Illustration: John Moore.]
Rev. JOHN MOORE was another of the worthy and beloved of this
ministerial company. He was born in Strafford, Vt., Feb. 5, 1797, and
was early nurtured in the Puritanic theology of New England. Soon
after he had passed out of his teens he became acquainted with the
faith of the Universalist church. It answered to the true call of the
manliness that was in him, and soon became an inspiration to his
spiritual powers. He grew in its light, and his soul expanded in its
genial atmosphere. Reading, meditation, and the culture of his mental
powers soon opened the way for him into the ministry, the work of
which he entered upon with hesitancy, not from lack of zeal in its
interest, but from modesty as to his qualifications for the great
calling. The counsellings of friends encouraged him, and his first
messages were received with favor, and he became one of the most
acceptable ministers and missionaries in Northern New England. Of
noble personal appearance and gentlemanly demeanor, full of plainness
and common sense in his discoursing, a clear expositor to the inquirer
after Christian truth, and a son of consolation to those who sought
its hopes in their sorrows, he was welcome wherever he appeared as a
representative of our faith. His pastorates, nine in number (viz. in
Lebanon, N. H.; Danvers, Lynn, and Lowell, Mass.; Hartford, Conn.;
Troy, N. Y.; Strafford, Vt.; and Concord, N. H.), all gave evidence of
his fidelity. As a moral reformer, he stood well without the church as
well as in it, and as a man he was esteemed and loved wherever known.
Even the politicians conferred upon him the nomination for the
gubernatorial chair of New Hampshire; not so much because of his
service to them as a partisan, as from the fact of the excellences in
him that were above all mere party considerations, and which gave them
the assurance that his honest and sturdy manliness would prove an
honor in any position he might be called to fill. It afterwards
appearing that his residence in the State had not been quite long
enough to render him eligible to the office, another nomination was
necessarily made. His death was sudden. He fell, of heart disease,
near his home in the city where he had his last pastorate, lamented
wherever his name and ministry were known. A public journal wrote of
him, after his departure, "As a man, he was the very one that Diogenes
with his lamp was looking for."
[Illustration: Henry Bacon.
J. Andrews & H.W. Smith.]
Rev. HENRY BACON.--How shall we write of that minister of all work, of
versatile genius, nervous temperament, indomitable will, constantly
alive in his love of Universalism, rooted and grounded in its
theology, and full of its healthful and hopeful spiritualism as the
sea is of water! He was a Boston boy, of the old North End, born June
12, 1813; a hearer of Dean and Streeter and Ballou in his youth, and
taught at home by precept and example in the excellency of the
knowledge of the Gospel of limitless grace. He was a born minister,
for it was as natural for him to think and speak and write
Universalism as it was to breathe God's air. He entered the ministry
early in life (1834), and was successively pastor of the societies in
East Cambridge, Haverhill, and Marblehead, Mass; Providence, R. I.;
and Philadelphia, Pa. He was for many years editor of the "Ladies'
Repository," a monthly publication issued at Boston by Mr. Abel
Tompkins; and his prolific pen often sent out sermons, tracts, and
pamphlets in advocacy of the faith of which his soul was so full. As
another (Rev. John Boyden) said of him: "He was a living encyclopædia
of current facts, and a living philosopher to arrange and expound
them." The Universalist Reform Association appointed him their
Corresponding Secretary, and an annual report on the topics usually
embraced in their discussions was expected from him, because, as one
remarked, "He got hold of everything."
He consecrated himself to his labors, and in them he was abundant. The
poet Quarles describes him:--
"Thy life's a warfare, thou a soldier art,
Satan's thy foeman, and a faithful heart
Thy two-edged weapon, patience thy shield,
Heaven is thy chieftain, and the world thy field."
His preaching gave evidence of his consecration to his work. It seemed
as though he could never tire of the pulpit service. He was always
ready to speak for God's truth. His words were earnest, full, and
strong; his illustrations inexhaustible; and there was an unction in
all he said which gained the sympathy of every hearer susceptible of
religious emotion. Up to the last of his working he loved the pulpit,
and stood up in it until exhausted nature would allow him to remain
there no longer. And when he withdrew with reluctance from that sacred
place, it was to finish his work in the retirement of his home, to
give his dying testimony to a life full of the beauty and strength of
divine truth. He departed this life in Philadelphia, March 19, 1856. A
biography of him by his wife has been given to the public.
Another of the saintly ministers of our church was Rev. DAY KELLOG
LEE. He entered the Christian ministry early in life, and, although
his educational advantages in the beginning were not many, he was so
close and constant a student as to become an expert in literature and
science, as well as an able expounder of the Christian faith. He was
one of those who felt that he was called upon to preach, and that he
must not be kept too long from entering upon his work. The text of his
first sermon indicates his anxiety in this regard: "Let me go, for the
day breaketh." Gen. xxii. 36. And he went out into the fields of the
Lord to be his faithful and profitable servant. Astronomy was a
favorite study with him. His sermons were often illustrated and
beautified by his presentation of its facts, and he came to be a most
acceptable lecturer on the science itself. He had seven pastorates in
New York and Massachusetts, and in them all was deeply loved for his
admirable character and intense interest in his calling. He was a son
of song, and put his soul into his verse. What can be sweeter than his
tribute to the beloved poet and author, Mrs. Scott, inserted in her
"Memoir"?
"To say I'd pressed her hand, 't was not for me--
To share her friendship, it was not my gladness;
'T was ne'er the blessing of these eyes to see
The form whose slumber wakes this note of sadness.
But O! I weep for those who yet remain,
To know so bright a spirit hath ascended!
Fond of that lyre, enraptured of its strain,
I weep to hear its melodies are ended!
"Short years ago, in boyhood's rosy morn,
When Aspiration seemed its measure brimming,
Longing for joys that crown the spirit-born,
I heard the lays of life that she was hymning.
Who that hath drunk those melodies that rose
Sweet as the murmur of celestial fountains,
Hath not in fancy pictured her with those
Whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains!
"The seraphs all had joy in fuller streams,
When her pure lips their symphonies were swelling;
They'll want her there, while God's own glory beams,
And while the ransomed keep their starry dwelling,
To hymn the beauty of immortal mind,--
For, of that world, mind is the greatest splendor,--
Lift holier anthems as new bliss they find
And drink new life as loftier praise they render."
He was a writer of attractive volumes containing Tales of Labor;
"Summerfield, or Life on a Farm," "The Master Builder, or Life at a
Trade," and "Merrimac, or Life in a Factory;" works of merit, which
have been extensively read. His modesty, conscientiousness, devotion
to duty, and religious spirit, all serve to make blessed his memory, a
memory that can never be dwelt upon but with affection by those who
knew most of him in life. In 1868 St. Lawrence University conferred
upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He passed suddenly but
peacefully away from the earth, in New York city, June 2, 1869, aged
53. His son, Rev. Charles F. Lee, is at present pastor of the
Universalist church in Charlestown, Mass.
[45] The mother of Mr. King was a woman of keen intellect and of many
virtues, and her talented son held her in highest esteem. As his popularity
in California was increasing, there was a serious talk at one time
of sending him as senator to Congress. The mother, hearing of this,
wrote in a letter to her son: "Be on your guard. Don't let Satan take
you to the top of Mt. Shasta, and _show you Washington_!"