SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--_continued_.
"Like angels sent from fields above,
Be yours to shed celestial light."
A. BALFOUR.
Rev. Samuel C. Loveland resided nearly all his lifetime in Vermont. He
was born in Gilsum, N. H., in 1787. His opportunities for schooling
while young were but few, but he improved them, as he had a strong
desire for study. He wished to be eminent as a scholar and linguist,
but from force of circumstances was self-taught. His parents had
become deeply interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation about
the time of Mr. Winchester's return from England, who preached a few
times in the region where they lived, and was followed soon by several
others. He early participated with them in their religious views and
feelings, and in due time became anxious to enter upon his studies for
the ministry. To this end he began the study of Greek. But as there
were no books in those days with English notes and definitions, it
became requisite first to study Latin. Finding a part of an old Latin
Bible, with a grammar and dictionary he plodded on through several
chapters. By close application he was able generally to read out a
whole verse in _half a day_. Words that he could not trace were
carefully noted down for further developments to bring to light. At
length he was enabled to read the Greek Testament. He received
fellowship at the General Convention at Cavendish, Vt., 1812. He
afterwards studied Hebrew, and prepared and published, at great labor,
a Greek and English lexicon of the New Testament. The degree of A. M.
was conferred on him by Middlebury College. He afterwards made himself
quite well acquainted with several other languages, Chaldee, Syriac,
Arabic, &c. At one time he published a work in defence of Universalism
entitled "The Christian Repository," which was commenced at Woodstock,
Vt., in 1821. The work afterwards passed into other hands, and was for
years the weekly Universalist journal of the State. In the latter part
of his life he commenced a reply to an infidel work by Robert Taylor
of England, entitled "The Diegesis," in the columns of the "Star in
the East," issued at Concord, N. H. A few ably written chapters were
issued, when he was forced to relinquish the work in consequence of
failing health.
In 1827 and onward he became interested in political affairs, which
for a time lessened his influence as a preacher. But he was
conscientious in this step. His course was successful and honorable.
He represented the town of Reading, Vt., in the State legislature, and
his county in the council; he was a judge of the county court, and
held several other offices of honor and responsibility. During the
last ten or more years of his life he devoted his whole time to his
books and the ministry. He died at South Hartford, N. Y., of
paralysis, April 8, 1854, leaving the record of a true and noble
Christian life.
Rev. DAVID PICKERING was a native of Richmond, N. H., the birthplace
of the elder Hosea Ballou. He joined the Freewill Baptists at an early
age, and was very active in their meetings and in the promotion of
their church interests. He was led to embrace the doctrine of
Universalism under the preaching of Rev. Paul Dean, in Barre, Vt. He
entered the ministry in 1809, a very acceptable and much admired
preacher. His first settlements were in Shrewsbury, Vt., and Lebanon,
N. H. He was afterwards in Hudson, N. Y., and in 1823 took charge of
the First Universalist Society in Providence, R. I., where he remained
eight or ten years. As a preacher and writer he had few equals. He
compiled and published a hymn-book, and conducted and edited with much
ability a Universalist paper, entitled "The Christian Telescope," from
1824 to 1828; also one volume of "The Gospel Preacher" in 1828. While
in Providence, he delivered a course of lectures in favor and in
defence of "Revealed Religion," which were issued in book form, and
are very creditable to the author, and a valuable contribution to the
Christian Evidences. Rev. James Wilson, pastor of the Broad Street
Congregational Church in Providence, had made some very severe
statements against Mr. Pickering's ministry, and advised his people by
all means to keep themselves away from it. When, however, this volume
was published, he read it attentively, and took occasion to say to his
congregation that, whereas he had warned them against the preaching of
Mr. Pickering, he wished to call their especial attention to this
book, and assured them that the reading of it would be really
profitable to them. Mr. Pickering was very agreeable in social life,
and had many warm friends. He had some severe trials in his last days,
and departed this life in Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 6, 1859.
From 1830 to 1846 Rev. GEORGE ROGERS was an active itinerant and
sometimes pastor in different States of the Union. He was at first
with the Methodists, and came into the Universalist ministry, in the
vicinity of Philadelphia, in 1830, preaching his first Universalist
sermon in the Lombard Street Church, where Rev. A. C. Thomas was
pastor. He was for a time settled in Brooklyn, Pa., then he itinerated
in the States of New York and Connecticut; and afterwards journeyed
West, and ministered to the Universalist Society in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Here the field of his labors widened indefinitely. His "Memoranda," a
volume full of incident and adventure, issued in 1845, gives us the
account of his varied experiences in city, town, country place, and
wilderness; from New England to New Orleans, from Pennsylvania to the
then farthest West, preaching the Gospel of God's impartial grace in
all available places and at all available times; holding discussions,
meeting rebuffs of bigotry and the pitiable opposition of ignorance
and sectarian hate; but in all and through all self-possessed,
patient, never losing heart in the mission on which he was persuaded
his heavenly Father had sent him. His "Memoranda" is an admirable book
for the family library.
Mr. Rogers had great aptness in adapting himself to circumstances in
his pioneer work. Sometimes a belated hearer would drop in when he was
half through a discourse, and interrupt him with the honest question
as to his text and topic, that he might better apprehend the speaker's
message; a request which the preacher would very kindly answer, and
then proceed with his discoursing. Once, when preaching in Lexington,
Ky., he was greatly disturbed by people going out after he had begun
his sermon. Suddenly stopping in his discourse, he said: "My friends,
I have always noticed that people who go out of church during service,
as a rule have more brains back of their ears than they have in front
of them; and if you don't believe it, just notice the next person that
goes out!" It is needless to say that no persons put their heads up
for examination after that.
Under similar circumstances, when once preaching in Baltimore, he
said: "My friends, if any person here tonight finds himself in better
society than he is accustomed to keep, I hope he will try to endure it
until the services are out!" As in the former instance, this sharp
rebuke was effectual.
It is seldom that profanity receives so sharp and witty a reproof as
was administered by Mr. Rogers to a Tennessee boatman. One day, when
seeking for a place where he could safely ford a small river, he
sought information from a person whom he saw upon the opposite side,
and the following dialogue ensued:--
_Rogers._--"Hollo, stranger! Can you tell me if there is any place about
here where I can safely ford?"
_Stranger._--"Go to hell!"
_Rogers._--"What is that you say?"
_Stranger._--"Go to hell!"
_Rogers._--"What? Where is that place you speak of? I am a stranger in
these parts; can I reach it tonight?"
This witty retort so amused the stranger that he courteously told Mr.
Rogers that he was the ferryman, and that if he would drive back to
the ferry he would take him across. When subsequently he offered the
ferryman the accustomed toll, it was flatly refused. "No," said the
ferryman, "I take no toll from you. You are the funniest man I ever
rowed across this drink. I take no toll from you." Thus a witty answer
turned away wrath.
He was in presence a modest, meek man, with thin voice as a speaker,
but clear and profound in his discoursing, and in religious debate
wary, keen and pointed in his reasoning, and, like Apollos, "mighty in
the Scriptures." Soon after his last visit to New England, in 1846,
his death took place in Cincinnati. Rev. A. C. Thomas, who was present
at his departure, writes: "The valley of death was radiant by reason
of the glory beyond. We conveyed his body to the quiet burial ground
in Delhi, near Cincinnati. I had introduced him to the Universalist
ministry, and it fell to my lot to deliver the funeral sermon. A
monumental obelisk was placed on his grave."
Among the active ministers of Universalism in the Southern States from
1831 to 1875 was Rev. LEWIS F. W. ANDREWS, M. D., a son of Rev. John
Andrews, an eminent minister and journalist of the Presbyterian
Church. He was favored by his father with the advantages of a
classical education, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at
Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. He practised as a physician in
Cleveland, Ohio, and in the region round about Pittsburg, Pa. His
attention was first called to the claims of Universalism on hearing a
sermon by Rev. J. C. Waldo, in Augusta, Ky. Mr. Andrews had requested
the preacher to discourse on the parable of the Sheep and Goats. He
did not suppose the minister able to give a reasonable interpretation
of it in the light of the Universalist faith. He was greatly
disappointed, however, and though he came a doubter, he remained to
accept thankfully and joyfully the doctrine of the preacher, for he
professed to have been converted by that sermon. He soon afterwards,
by the aid of Rev. Mr. Waldo, then of Cincinnati, entered the
ministry, and in 1832 became pastor of the Second Universalist Church
in Philadelphia. In 1834 he travelled extensively in the South,
visiting New Orleans, Mobile, and Montgomery. In the last-named city
he gathered a society and started the "Gospel Evangelist," a paper
which was subsequently moved to Charleston, S. C., and Dr. Andrews
became pastor of the Universalist Society in that city. In 1836-7 he
was senior editor of the "Southern Pioneer and Gospel Visitor," then
published in Baltimore, Md., it having been founded in 1832 by Rev.
O. A. Skinner. After this removal to the far South, Dr. Andrews
published the "Evangelical Universalist." Like that persistent
itinerant, George Rogers, he journeyed extensively in the Southern
States, preaching wherever a door of opportunity was opened to him.
The "Universalist Register" said of him: "In labors abundant, in long
and frequent missionary journeys, and in the midst of opposition and
great tribulations, he, like our other Southern preachers, had to
fight his way in the promulgation of the doctrine of a world's
salvation. Dr. Andrews was steadfast in his Universalism to the last.
He was generous, free-hearted, liberal, almost to a fault. His
prodigal generosity tended to improvidence. The marked trait of his
mind was activity. All he could know he grasped at a glance. Hence,
though not profound, he was ready for all encounters." He died
suddenly at his home in Americus, Ga., March 16, 1875, in the
seventy-third year of his age.
Rev. CHARLES W. MELLEN was a worthy minister and pastor in
Massachusetts for twenty-seven years. Simple and unostentatious in his
manners, he was thoroughly consecrated to his work. A clear and strong
writer and impressive speaker, his discourses were characterized by
sound sense and earnestness. He worked from love of his calling. He
was hopeful and active in the temperance and anti-slavery reforms, and
was a son of consolation in his ministries with the sorrowing,
afflicted, and bereaved, who looked to him for sympathy. He passed
from this life in Taunton, Mass., while pastor there, in 1866, aged
forty-eight.
Rev. HENRY A. EATON came into the ministry after having been a devoted
and faithful member of the Universalist Sunday-school in Malden,
Mass., during the pastorate of Rev. J. G. Adams. He was born in South
Reading (now Wakefield), Mass., Nov. 27, 1825, the youngest of seven
children, and lost his mother at an early age. He was an apt scholar,
but at sixteen was compelled to earn his livelihood, which he did by
serving in a store for two years, and afterwards by setting up for
himself in Newburyport. Resolving to enter the ministry, he left his
secular employment, and spent some time in Dr. T. J. Sawyer's
Theological Class in Clinton, N. Y., and studied also with his
brother, Rev. E. A. Eaton, until he preached his first sermon. He
first settled in Hanson, Mass., afterwards at East Bridgewater,
Milford, East Cambridge, and Waltham, Mass., and in Meriden, Conn.
Overworking and injured health compelled most of these changes, for in
each place he was much esteemed for his labors and beloved by many
friends. The illness and decease of his worthy wife, at East
Cambridge, and his devoted attention to her night and day, exhausted
his vital powers, and bronchitis, followed by hæmorrhage from the
lungs, finally compelled him to abandon the ministry. He retired to
Worcester, and engaged in business for the support of himself and
children, struggling manfully with various difficulties. Having
provided for his children, and arranged all his affairs, he calmly met
death, cheered and strengthened by the unfailing hope of the Gospel,
May 26, 1861, in the thirty-sixth year of his age. He was a man of
deep consecration, of most attractive social qualities, whose memory
will be sacredly cherished by those who best knew him. His only son,
Rev. Charles H. Eaton, is the successor of Rev. Dr. Chapin in the
ministry of the Fourth Universalist Church in New York city.
Rev. W. A. P. DILLINGHAM was a son of Maine, and a graduate of the
Harvard Divinity School. He had pastoral settlements in Augusta,
Waterville, Dover, and Norridgewock, Me., and Portsmouth, N. H. For a
time he became interested in the Swedenborgian Church, and entered its
ministry, but without changing his views as to the final destiny of
men. While in this connection, he writes: "I never preached the
eternity of the hells, nor any doctrine inconsistent with the divine
benevolence, and I never heard Universalism or Universalists attacked
or spoken of in derogatory terms as to their moral influence by some
church people, without putting in a square defence of those whom I
knew only to respect, and who had treated me with a consideration
beyond my deserts." In due time he returned to his own church, with
the honest confession that he had found no better, more conscientious,
spiritual, intellectual, or tolerant people than those he had left.
While in Waterville, he represented the town for two years, and was
chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives the second year. Other
positions of public trust were held by him, all of which he honored.
He was active in business, "fervent in spirit," and devoutly
religious. Few men had better qualities for a public speaker. With a
tall, dignified, imposing presence, and a voice of extraordinary
compass, richness, and power, his speech was impressive and effective.
He was suddenly stricken down with acute pneumonia, and died in 1871,
aged forty-six.
A comparatively brief but very active ministry was that of JOHN GLASS
BARTHOLOMEW, D. D. He was born in Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y., Feb.
28, 1834. He had the benefit of a good common school and academical
education, was a lover of books and of intellectual effort. His
parents being Universalists, he was sent to the Clinton Liberal
Institute, and after a time prepared himself for the ministry. He
first preached in his native town in 1853 to great acceptance, those
who heard him being quite convinced that he had not mistaken his
calling. After preaching for a few years in Upper Lisle, Broome Co.,
in Oxford, Chenango Co., N. Y., and in the city of Aurora, Ill., he
became pastor of the Universalist Society in Roxbury, Mass., where his
ministry continued from July, 1860, to January, 1866. During this
pastorate the parish was carried prosperously through a season of
peculiar trial, and the membership of both the church and society
considerably increased. In the year last named he accepted the
invitation of the Greene Avenue Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., to become
their minister. The expectations of those who had called him were
high, and his pulpit efforts fully met them, but adverse circumstances
prevented that prosperity all were desiring. The church building was
inadequate to the occasion, and a failure to unite with a remnant of
the old "Church of the Restoration" so disheartened the minister that
he turned to a new field of work to which he had been invited in
Auburn, N. Y. His ministry here was highly successful. His influence
reached beyond the city in which he labored, rendering his work
peculiarly attractive. He subsequently removed to Syracuse, where for
some months he highly enjoyed his pastorate. His biographer, Dr. I. M.
Atwood, writes of him: "Crowds flocked to his ministrations, and he
seemed animated by extraordinary energies. But gradually he became
aware of some insidious malady repeating its attacks on his vigorous
constitution." He sought various means to master it, but in vain. Once
or twice he rallied, under new treatment and diet, and came up
surprisingly. He made a visit of two weeks to his old friends in
Roxbury and Boston, but was all the time failing, and with difficulty
reached his home in Newark, N. J., where he departed for the better
life, April 14, 1874. His mind was on his work to the last, but the
unfailing hope cheered and sustained him. He was a preacher of
remarkably magnetic power.
One of the most noted of Christian ministers in the present century
was Rev. EDWIN HUBBELL CHAPIN, D. D., LL. D., of the Universalist
Church. He was born in Union Village, Washington County, N. Y., Dec.
29, 1814, and died Dec. 26, 1880, in the city of New York. In his
childhood he became a resident, with his parents, of Vermont, where he
received his academic course of studies in Bennington. His father, a
rigid Calvinist, trained his son in the traditional theology of their
ancestors; but the creed proved too narrow for him to be satisfied
with it. In 1836, while with his father (an artist), who was on a
professional visit to Utica, N. Y., he first had access to a
collection of books teaching a more consistent interpretation of the
Scriptures, which he read with avidity. He attended the church of our
larger faith there, and in due time became convinced that Christian
Universalism was the Gospel of the New Testament. After attending to
the study of the law for a short time, he gave it up, and accepted the
position of associate editor of the "Evangelical Magazine and Gospel
Advocate." His powers as a speaker and thinker soon becoming evident,
he was urged to enter the ministry, which after much serious and
anxious reflection he concluded to do, and began his preparation
accordingly. His first sermon was delivered in a barn at Litchfield,
and he continued preaching in the vicinity until his ordination in
1837. In May, 1838, he became pastor of the "Independent Christian
Church," composed of Universalists and Unitarians, in Richmond, Va.
In 1839, on his way to the meeting of the General Convention, Mr.
Chapin attended the funeral of Rev. Thomas F. King, at the
Universalist Church in Charlestown, Mass., where Mr. King had been
pastor. Complying with an invitation to preach in the church in the
evening, the result was an invitation for him to supply the pulpit for
three months. In December, 1840, he was installed as pastor there. He
was next invited to become colleague of the venerable Hosea Ballou, in
the School Street Church, Boston, and was installed there Nov. 28,
1845. Finally, he became pastor of the Fourth New York Society, and
remained so until his death. He first occupied the pulpit of the
Murray Street Church, but this proving too small, the society moved to
All Souls Church in Broadway, where it grew to such proportions that a
new and costly edifice was erected at the corner of Fifth Avenue and
Forty-fifth Street, dedicated Dec. 2, 1866, and named the "Church of
the Divine Paternity." During the years of his matured strength he
ministered to his people, while thousands of every name and creed came
from near and far to listen to his eloquent words. Here on Palm
Sunday, March 21, 1880, he preached the last time on earth. And here
on December 30 was gathered the most august assembly that ever sought
to honor the memory of an American clergyman, every Christian sect of
the city being represented at the altar by its ablest divines, while
great numbers of men and women of all denominations turned away unable
to gain admittance to his obsequies. In the other churches where he
had been pastor, memorial services were held.
The public life of Dr. Chapin was one of incessant action. He was not
merely a church preacher. As another has written of him:--
"His was a divided throne between the pulpit and the platform. For
many years he was active in the temperance and other reforms, and
his magnetic eloquence made him sought by all associations of the
kind that desired the presence of a crowd and a stirring and
persuasive appeal. Then for five-and-twenty years he was one of the
most prominent of a long catalogue of lecturers whom every lyceum
must hear."[47]
In his memorial address in Boston, Dr. Miner thus alluded to the
aptness and force of his appeals:--
"I remember on one occasion, in the suburbs of Boston, when, after
discussing in a somewhat general way the great waste occasioned by
intemperance, he asked his auditory to reflect upon the waste that
would be involved in gathering up the cereals of the Commonwealth,
converting them into whiskey, taking the whiskey down to the end of
Long Wharf, knocking in the heads of the barrels, and spilling the
whole into the dock; and, said he, 'would it be any less a waste if
you were to strain that whiskey through human stomachs, and spoil
the strainer?' What more telling exhibition of the vital diabolism
of the whole business of making and drinking whiskey than is
involved in that simple illustration."
The address of Dr. Chapin before the Peace Congress at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1850, surpassing every other of the occasion
in eloquence and power, made his name known through Europe, and placed
him among the greatest orators in the world. His religious character
was deep and strong, an embodiment of consecration to Christian
principle.
The volumes containing Dr. Chapin's sermons, orations, and addresses
are so many, and their character in substance and style so uniformly
attractive, that we hardly dare venture on quotations from them, even
if space were allowed us. As a specimen, however, we present his
strong and glowing words in conclusion of his Fourth of July oration,
in 1854, at the Crystal Palace, in New York city.
"Men constitute eras. Washington himself was the embodiment of the
Revolution, and may fitly personate to other men and other ages the
principles of that movement. But let not even the greatness of
Washington overshadow the merits of the least of those who labored
and sacrificed in that early struggle. Come up before us to-day from
many a battle-ground, from many a post of duty; from the perilous
enterprise and the lonely night-watch! The pageant of this hour
sinks from my sight. This temple of industry, with all its emblems
of civilization, dissolves into thin air. These tokens of a great
and prosperous people pass away. This magnificent city dwindles to a
provincial town. I am standing now upon some village green, on an
early summer morning, when the dew is on the grass, and the sun just
tips the hills. I see before me a little band clothed in the garb
that is now so venerable. There are the cocked hat, the continental
coat, the well-worn musket. They have turned away from their homes;
they have turned from the fields of their toil; they have heard the
great call of freedom and of duty, and before God and man they are
ready. Hark! it is the tap of a drum, and they move forward to the
tremendous issue. That drum-beat echoes around the world! That
movement was the march of an irresistible Idea--the Idea of the
spiritual worth and the inalienable rights of every man; out of
which grow the stability of nations, and the unity of the world."
A more positive and thorough expositor of the doctrine of Universalism
could not be heard from the pulpit than Dr. Chapin. This has been
acknowledged on all hands by those who were most constant and
attentive listeners to him. But the great aim of his ministry was to
make men know and feel the power of the inner life of the Gospel. He
distinctly states this in the first published volume of his
discourses:--
"The great end of preaching is to reform the life, to reconcile man
to duty and to God. The great principle to be propagated and
established in the souls of men is not this or that particular
_ism_, but the spirit of Christ. Without this no denomination
can be right, no society can flourish, no soul can live."
Mr. Chapin was a poet as well as an orator. Some of his hymns, long
used in our church services, are of great merit, having the beauty of
Moore with the spiritual fervor of Charles Wesley. The writer takes
pleasure in transcribing one of them for these pages, which was
written from a sense of duty, and at the close of a very hot day in
July, when we had been very diligently at work on the new Hymn Book,
compiled by us jointly for Mr. Abel Tompkins, publisher, in 1845. We
were about to make up the last package of matter for the press. The
writer had prepared one or two hymns expressly for the book, while
such of Mr. Chapin's as had a place in it, were selected from papers
and church service programmes of the time. He was urged to write one
then wanted for the miscellaneous department of the book, the subject
to be, "During or After a Destructive Storm." Wearied as he was, he
consented, and standing at the desk, wholly absorbed in his theme,
soon brought out the following, which speaks for itself:--
"Amid surrounding gloom and waste,
From nature's face we flee,
And in our fear and wonder haste,
O nature's Life, to thee!
Thy ways are in the mighty deep,
In tempests as they blow;
In floods that o'er our treasures sweep;
The lightning and the snow.
"Though earth upon its axis reels,
And heaven is veiled in wrath,
Not one of nature's million wheels
Breaks its appointed path.
Fixed in thy grasp, the sources meet
Of beauty and of awe;
In storm or calm, all pulses beat
True to the central law.
"Thou art that law, whose will thus done,
In seeming wreck and blight,
Sends the calm planets round the sun,
And pours the moon's soft light.
We trust thy love; thou best dost know
The universal peace,
How long the stormy force should blow,
And when the flood should cease.
"And though around our path some form
Of mystery ever lies,
And life is like the calm and storm
That checker earth and skies,--
Through all its mingling joy and dread,
Permit us, Holy One,
By faith to see the golden thread
Of thy great purpose run."
The closing of the life of this eminent man was in accordance with his
whole ministry. At his funeral services in the Church of the Divine
Paternity, Rev. Dr. Armitage, of New York city, in a most impressive
address to the congregation, took occasion to speak of an interview
with him in his extreme weakness:--
"'Doctor, do you realize now the sweetness of the promise of Christ
in your broken condition?' He looked at me with the simplicity of a
babe; but I saw a tear moisten his eye and a little tremulousness
mingled with his voice, and he said, 'My dear brother, what should I
do without Christ. Christ is everything to me now.' So he spoke of
the loving Redeemer. I said, 'Well, then, may I have this
consolation, Doctor, of knowing that you, who have been in the
ministry so long, labored so hard, done so much to lift up other
minds and pour consolation into disconsolate hearts, that you to-day
realize the same breadth and fulness and sweetness of consolation in
Christ that you have ministered to others?' He simply made this
answer: 'Doctor, Christ to me is all in all.'
"I asked him if it would be pleasant to have a word of prayer. He
made an effort to rise, as if he greeted the proposition with great
joy. I said, 'No, Doctor, you can't rise; do nothing; lie quietly,
and I will kneel at your side with my hands in yours. Let us give
each other to God our Father to-day.' He said, 'Well, we will.' I
bent at his side, and with such simplicity and brotherly love and
confidence in God as I could summon, sought the blessing of heaven
upon him. He joined in the prayer; he buried his brow in one hand,
and held my hand with the other. He seemed to glow with love. I
asked the Lord to give him strength, and, if possible, to spare him
to the church, and presented those wishes at the Throne of Grace
which any of your hearts would prompt under similar circumstances.
At the close of a brief prayer, as I said, 'Lord, Lord, grant these
things to thy servant, for Jesus Christ's sake,' holding my hand
with a firm grip, and lifting up his eyes towards heaven, in the
same ringing, fervent, strong voice that you have heard so often
from his lips, his whole nature said, 'Amen.'"
In 1856 Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary degree of
Doctor of Divinity, and Tufts College that of Doctor of Laws in
1878.[48]
During twenty-five years Rev. JOSEPH D. PIERCE was pastor of the
Universalist Church in North Attleboro, Mass. He was born in North
Scituate, Mass., Nov. 15, 1815, and died in North Attleboro, Nov. 16,
1880. During his minority his educational advantages were limited to
the public schools. After serving an apprenticeship as a carpenter, he
entered the Derby Academy in Hingham. He taught in the public schools,
devoting his leisure to reading and study. Resolved on entering the
ministry, he began his preparatory studies with Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d,
in Medford, Mass. His first sermon was preached in East Boston, in
1839. He then supplied the pulpits in South Dedham and East Boston for
a year, and was ordained in 1841. He was first settled at Hartland,
Vt., where he also taught school, remaining until May, 1845, when he
was called to North Attleboro. After a pastorate here of one year,
failing health induced him to abandon regular preaching and engage in
teaching. He became principal of the Attleboro Academy, continuing to
some extent his pastoral work, and occasionally supplying at West
Wrentham. In 1850 he took charge of the Universalist parish in
Claremont, N. H., where he preached, teaching school also most of the
time for five years. He also served as a member of the school
committee in that town, and discharged the duties of his office with
such marked ability and benefit to the schools that, upon hearing of
his intent to remove to Massachusetts, a deacon of the Baptist Church
said, "We cannot get along without him." By a unanimous invitation
from the parish in North Attleboro, he was again settled there in
1855, where he remained until his death. He was representative of
Attleboro in the State Legislature for 1868, and served his
constituents with credit. He was an untiring student, logical in
thought and method, and an effective preacher. He had great modesty,
and never sought for oratorical display. His heart and hand were given
to every good work. He was feeble in health, and endured much physical
suffering. He once said that he had not known a waking hour free from
pain for fifteen years, yet his religious trust and unsubdued spirit
sustained him through a life of unremitting toil.
Rev. THOMAS J. CARNEY, of Dresden, Me., was a minister of varied
experiences, and a useful laborer in the Gospel field. He was taught
the gospel of universal grace and salvation in the home of his
childhood. He travelled over the States extensively in youth, and
visited the West Indies, and afterwards studied for the ministry. The
last years of his life were spent as pastor and missionary in
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He extended his journeyings and
missionary work to Missouri and Kansas, and visited New Mexico. He was
a man of strong convictions, and an earnest advocate of the doctrine
which he loved. He made many friends, and well deserved them. Four
church edifices are standing as monuments of his faithfulness. He was
fatally injured by a fall from his horse, and died at Buffalo, Ill.,
in 1871. His wife was, before her marriage, Miss Julia A. Fletcher, a
well known and very acceptable writer in our church and to the public.
Rev. JAMES MUNROE COOK was born in Marcellus, Onondaga County, N. Y.,
Nov. 24, 1818. He was a favorite in the family circle, and kindly
regarded by his schoolmates and teachers. At an early age he was a
diligent student of the Scriptures, and before he was fifteen years of
age was not unfrequently engaged in defending the doctrine which he
afterwards preached, and laboring to show to unbelievers its
consistency and attractiveness.
In 1837 he came to Rochester, N. Y., and commenced his studies for the
ministry with Rev. George Sanderson. He was a diligent student, and
had a remarkably retentive memory. His first sermon was preached in
Gates, near Rochester, in October, 1837. He had pastorates in Chili,
Churchville, Perrinton, and Victor, N. Y. In November, 1845, he
entered upon his duties as pastor of the Second Universalist Society
in Providence, R. I. Through discouraging circumstances in the
beginning of his work here, he went forward with great faith and
earnestness, and realized a successful ministry. His pastorate in
Providence continued four years, when, in November, 1849, he took
charge of the Universalist Society in Baltimore, Md. His good
reputation in Providence had preceded him, and he was warmly welcomed
by his new friends. They were highly pleased with his pulpit
ministries, and the services in the church were well attended, and his
popularity in the city was increasing. But the society had a heavy
debt upon it, and looked to Mr. Cook as the chief instrumentality in
the removal of it. He saw what was before him, and realized the
discouraging magnitude of the work. But he would not shrink from what
was expected of him, and entered upon the effort with a bravery that
overcame all obstacles, and secured the end desired,--the removal of
the debt. But, alas! the strain had been too great; his strength gave
way, and in the midst of his usefulness he was called to the higher
life. He died in calm resignation, and in strongest hope of entering
his final and immortal home.
Of his ministry, Rev. Dr. Thomas Whittemore, at the time of his death,
in 1850, wrote:--
"As a preacher he excelled in certain respects. He was a man to move
the masses. He spoke without writing, and delivered his message of
divine truth with great power. He aimed not at elegant words and
polished sentences, but to speak the truth in demonstration of the
spirit. He aimed to reach the heart. He would keep the attention of
a thousand people fixed intently upon his theme through a long
discourse. His sermon, delivered in the Warren Street Church, during
the session of the United States Convention in Boston, in 1845, is
an illustration of the truth of what we say. There an immense
auditory listened to him with the greatest interest for a long time,
for they were unconscious of its rapid flight. They caught his
feelings, they rejoiced with him, they wept with him, and at the
close the general expression of the people was, '_that_ was the
Gospel, _that_ came from the preacher's heart and reached our
hearts.'"
Cut off in the midst of his years, his memory is a blessing for what
he was enabled during his short life to accomplish.
[47] Rev. Dr. T. J. Sawyer.
[48] For a more particular acquaintance with the life and character of
Dr. Chapin, the reader is referred to the excellent Memoir of him by
Rev. S. Ellis, D. D., just issued by the Universalist Publishing House.