PROFESSOR STEPHEN CHASE.--PROFESSOR DAVID PEABODY.--PROFESSOR WILLIAM
COGSWELL.
Professor Stephen Chase, who succeeded Professor Young in the chair of
Mathematics, the latter retaining the department of Natural Philosophy
and Astronomy, was the son of Benjamin Pike and Mary (Chase) Chase,
and was born at Chester, N. H., August 30, 1813.
The following notice of this distinguished mathematician is from a
commemorative "Discourse" by President Lord:--
"In the first class that entered the college, after my connection with
it, nearly twenty-three years ago, a young man, spare, tall, as yet
unformed in manner, soon engaged the attention of his teachers. We
marked his mild, serene, yet quick and penetrating eye, his
independent, unaffected, yet modest and regulated movement, his
lively, versatile, earnest, and comprehensive mind, his cheerful and
honest diligence, his punctual attendance upon the exercises of the
college, his respectful, but unstudied and confiding deportment
towards his superiors, his frank and generous, but reserved
intercourse with his fellow students, his care in selecting his most
intimate associates, and his quiet, unpretending, yet exact and
intelligent performance of all the studies of the course. An
indifferent stranger would not have noticed him, except, perhaps, to
criticize his unique exterior; and his fellow students, as is natural
to young persons who are most impressed by aesthetical manner and
accomplishment, did not dignify him as a leader or an oracle. But a
deeper insight convinced his teachers that, whatever partial observers
might think wanting in respect to artistic excellence, was well
supplied by more substantial and enduring qualities. Their eye
followed him, while here, as a sound-minded, true-hearted young man,
and a thorough scholar; and, after he had graduated, as a teacher at
the South, and in two of the oldest academies of New England. In these
different relations he fully justified the good name which he had left
behind him at the college, till, the proper occasions serving, he was
called back to be first a tutor, and then professor of the
Mathematics. The subsequent course of Mr. Chase proved that his
instructors had not miscalculated his powers, nor over-estimated his
qualifications for one of the most difficult and trying positions in a
learned institution.
"Professor Chase performed the duties of his office without
interruption till the close of the last term, during a period of about
thirteen years; and died, after a short illness, in vacation, while
yet a young man. He was scarcely thirty-eight years of age. Yet he was
old, if we measure time, as scholars should, not by the motion of the
heavenly bodies, but the succession of ideas. He had made great
proficiency in knowledge. Well he might; for he had great
susceptibilities. His temperament was ardent, his instincts were
lively, his perceptions keen, his thoughts rapid, his reasoning
faculties sharp, his imagination fiery, and his will determined. No
man has all his active powers proportioned; for that would constitute
perfection, which exists not in this world any more in physical than
in moral natures. But his balance was less disturbed than most, and,
consequently, he was capable of various and large attainments. What he
could he did, for his spirit was earnest, and his industry untiring.
He had become well founded and extensively versed in most departments
of liberal study, and it would be difficult to say in what branch of
knowledge he would have been most competent to excel. He was not a
genius; that is, no one power of the mind absorbed the others, and his
culture was not unequal. Therefore he would not have glared for a
while, like a meteor, and then exploded, but he would have stood one
of the pillars of learning, and a true conservator of society.
"A man of excellent constitutional faculties, like Mr. Chase, must use
them, if Providence gives him opportunity. He has a self-moving power.
He cannot be still. Use of the faculties increases their facility and
productiveness; and the increase of products increases the love of
acquisition. His gains, and his consequent love of gain, will be
according to the Providential direction which he takes, whether to a
trade, an art, a profession, to the pursuit of wealth, or power, or
general knowledge. Mr. Chase's direction was to knowledge. He acquired
it easily, his stores rapidly increased, and the love of it became a
passion. He loved knowledge as some men love pleasure, and others
gold, for its own sake. Yet not exclusively, for he was genial,
warm-hearted, and humane. He appreciated the enjoyments of personal,
domestic, and social life. No man could be more affectionate, kind,
generous, or public-spirited. He was never a recluse or an ascetic. He
was ready to take anything in hand, and liked to have his hands full.
He desired an estate, he studied a profession, he amused himself with
useful arts, he loved a farm, a garden, an orchard, a fruitery, an
apiary; and occasionally, to do the work proper to them all himself;
and he did it well. But knowledge, science, in the largest sense, was
his _beau ideal_.
"Professor Chase, as might be expected, had great excellence as a
teacher and governor of college. His ideal of education may be
inferred from his personal culture. This had always been general and
liberal. He omitted no branch of important knowledge. He accepted
nothing partial. He believed in none of the romantic expedients which
are often hastily adopted, and successively abandoned, for making
scholars without materials, and forcing public institutions of
learning, for a present popular effect, off from the methods which
nature has prescribed, and experience has sanctioned. He regarded a
college as a place not so much of learning, as of preparation for
learning,--a school of discipline, to bring the student up to manhood
with ability to perform thenceforth the hard work of a man in his
particular profession. To that end no part of fundamental study could
be spared. He would as soon have judged that young men could be
trained to excellence in the mechanic arts, while they disused any
important organ of the body; or a sculptor elaborate a perfect model
by chiseling only the limbs. He would not expect such a mechanic, or
artist, or educators of the same school, to find either honorable or
lucrative employment, when society, though temporarily blinded by
ingenious but visionary projects of improvement, should learn the
practical difference between the whole of anything and its parts. He
would not have consented that any other department of college study
should be sacrificed even to the Mathematics.
"But he would have the Mathematics lie, physically, where God has
placed it, at the foundation. He would have the student early settled
and accustomed to the most approved methods and varieties of
demonstrative science. He would discipline the mind among the
certainties of numbers, that it might better search for truth among
the probabilities of things; just as we learn to swim where we can
touch bottom before it is safe to plunge into the deep. He judged
soundly that one must learn to use his reason before he can wisely
apply it to the purposes of life; and that without this preliminary
training nothing else can be learned well; and that whatever otherwise
seem to be accomplishments, turn out, at length, to be fantasies that
vanish in the turmoil and struggle of life, or mislead men into a
false and fickle management of affairs. Wherefore he felt the peculiar
responsibility of his position with all the intenseness of his earnest
and far-reaching mind. He knew that his department, though most
difficult to be commended to young men in general, was most
indispensable to their success, and he sought accordingly to magnify
his office. That he was a complete master of it is out of question. Of
this he has left enduring monuments; and not the least, I am happy to
say, in minds which he had trained.
"His own perception of relations was like intuition, and hence he was
sometimes uneasy at the embarrassments of students, even when
involuntary, and much more, when the result of indifference or
neglect, even though they might at times be increased by the rapidity
of his own illustrations. I should have dreaded to be taken by
Professor Chase to the blackboard, unless I had a good lesson, or a
good conscience; and I could not have been sure that the latter would
avail me without the former. But though I should have shrunk from the
criticism, I should have respected the man. If I feared him in the
lecture-room, I should honor him in his study; for there his warm
heart would open to the story of my mental trials, and he would lead
me, and help me to bear my burdens, with the kindness of an elder
brother. He was exacting, but he was humane; he was impatient, but
full of generous sympathies. These qualities might not always be
tempered in the hurry of an occasion, but found their balance in the
leisure and quiet intercourse of retirement. He was just and faithful.
He had strong likes, but he would yield a favorite when he must; and
strong dislikes, but he was incapable of hate. He stopped short of all
extremes. You could move him easily either way on the current of the
sympathies; but you could not tempt him to do wrong. As with the
judgment, so with the sensibilities; they were led by conscience. As
with the love of knowledge, so with the passions; they were subject to
the love of truth. Whatever the occasional excitement of the intellect
or the feelings, there was that in his mind which made it impossible
for him to be an enemy of God or man. The soul had been harmonized by
grace.
"Mr. Chase had a pious ancestry, and was brought up by Christian
parents in the fear of God. An excellent mother, an invalid in his
childhood, sat much in her arm-chair with the Bible on her knee. She
used it with her little boy as she would a primer. Before he was four
years old he had learned to read it, and read through the New
Testament; and that particular volume now remains the best part of his
estate. He was ever afterwards a diligent student of the Bible, and
never ceased to honor the father and mother who had led him in this
way of life. Filial reverence was one of his most beautiful and
characteristic traits. It was a natural step to the fear of God; and
the early fear of God is likely to be succeeded, according to the
covenant, by that love of God which, when perfected, casteth out fear.
During his third year at college he became, as he hoped, regenerate,
and professed his faith in Christ. It is said that his religious
awakening at that time was unusually deep; his awe of the Divine
government and his sense of sin profound; his acknowledgment of God's
justice and general sovereignty unreserved; and his trust in Christ
for justification free and unqualified. That sheet-anchor saved him.
It brought him up, subsequently, in the hour of danger. When the
fitful and rough winds of the spirit of the power of the air beat upon
him, and the swelling waters went over his soul, it dragged, but it
held. It was cast within the veil. That New Testament in his
childhood, that subjection to his parents, that conversion at
college,--they were blessings to him and to us that can be measured
only by eternity.
"It was a sorrowful day when, in the solitude and stillness of the
winter vacation, we laid him in the tomb. It was sorrowful in that
house where he had been the joy and hope of loving and trusting
hearts, and had found rest from the cares and vexations of official
life; where a sincere, unworldly, unartificial hospitality always
reigned; whence tokens of kindness went freely round to friends, and
compassionate charity to the poor. It was sorrowful to his colleagues,
for we trusted him, his knowledge and judgment, his integrity and
zeal, his faithfulness and efficiency, his independence and courage.
We knew that he was above pretense, artifice, and duplicity; that in
his keeping, righteous principle was safe, and over his application of
it wisdom, benevolence, and firmness would preside. It was sorrowful
to the village, for he was known to be a just man, a kind neighbor,
and a good citizen. He was always ready to do what he could for the
common welfare, and to bear his proportion of the common burdens.
Every man in the community felt that he had lost a friend."
The scientific world could have no better demonstration of Professor
Chase's rare mathematical talents than his text book on Algebra, which
is still used in one department of the college.
Professor Chase married Sarah Thompson, daughter of Ichabod Goodwin,
and granddaughter of General Ichabod Goodwin, of South Berwick, Me. He
died at Hanover, January 7, 1851.
* * * * *
In "Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit," we find the following
notice--furnished by the kindness of Rev. Daniel L. Furbur, D.D.--of a
gentleman of great worth, whose early death was a serious loss to the
college:
"David Peabody, the youngest son of John and Lydia (Balch) Peabody,
was born at Topsfield, Mass., April 16, 1805. He was employed more or
less upon his father's farm till he was fifteen or sixteen years of
age; but as his physical constitution was thought to be not well
suited to agricultural life, and as his early tastes were more than
ordinarily intellectual, and he had a strong desire for a collegiate
education, his father consented to gratify him; and, in the spring of
1821, he commenced the study of Latin at Dummer Academy, Byfield. The
same year his thoughts were earnestly directed to the great subject of
his own salvation, though he did not feel so much confidence in the
genuineness of his religious exercises as to make a public profession
of his faith until three years afterwards. In 1824, he united with the
Congregational Church in his native place, and in the autumn of the
same year joined the Freshman class in Dartmouth College.
"By severe labor during his collegiate course, he overtasked his
naturally feeble constitution, and thus prepared the way for much
future debility and suffering. He was graduated in 1828, on which
occasion he delivered the valedictory oration.
"After spending a few weeks in recruiting his health at his father's,
he became, for a short time, assistant editor of the 'New Hampshire
Observer,' at Portsmouth, but before the close of 1828 he entered the
Theological Seminary at Andover. In the spring of 1829, he accepted an
invitation to take charge of a Young Ladies' Select School at
Portsmouth; but in the autumn of 1830 his declining health obliged him
to relinquish it, and to seek a Southern residence. He went to Prince
Edward County, Virginia, and secured a situation as teacher in an
excellent family,--that of Dr. Morton, and at the same time entered
the Union Theological Seminary, of which the Rev. Dr. John H. Rice was
the founder and principal professor. He remained in the family of Dr.
Morton till he had completed the prescribed course of study, and was
licensed to preach by the West Hanover Presbytery in April, 1831;
after which he supplied the church at Scottsville for six months. So
acceptable were his services, that the congregation would gladly have
retained him as their pastor; but, as he preferred a Northern
residence, he declined all overtures for a settlement, and returned to
New England, with his health much improved, in 1832. In November of
the same year he was ordained pastor of the First Church in Lynn,
Mass. In September, 1834, he was married to Maria, daughter of Lincoln
Brigham, then of Cambridge, but formerly of Southborough, Mass. In
January, 1835, he was attacked with a severe hemorrhage, which greatly
reduced his strength, and obliged him for a season to intermit his
labors. Finding the climate unfavorable, he reluctantly came to the
determination to resign his pastoral charge, with a view of seeking an
inland home, when his health should be sufficiently recruited to
justify him in resuming the stated duties of the ministry.
"Accordingly, in the spring of 1835, he was dismissed, after which he
spent some time in traveling for the benefit of his health, at the
same time acting as an agent for the Massachusetts Sabbath-school
Society. His health now rapidly improved, and on the 15th of July
succeeding his dismission, he was installed as pastor of the Calvinist
Church in Worcester.
"The change of climate seemed, for a time, highly beneficial, and had
begun to induce the hope that his health might become fully
established; but, in the winter of 1835-36, he was prostrated by
another attack of hemorrhage, which again clouded his prospects of
ministerial usefulness. In the spring of 1836, his health had so far
improved that he resumed his ministerial labors and continued them
through the summer; but in September, his symptoms again became more
unfavorable, and he determined, in accordance with medical advice, to
try the effect of a sea voyage and a winter in the South. Accordingly,
he sailed in November for New Orleans; and, on arriving there, decided
on going to St. Francisville, a village on the Mississippi. Here he
remained during the winter, preaching to both the white and colored
population, as his strength would allow. In the spring, he returned to
his pastoral charge, with his health considerably invigorated. He
labored pretty constantly, though not without much debility, until the
succeeding spring (1838), when he found it necessary again to desist
from his labors, and take a season of rest. In company with a friend,
he journeyed through a part of Vermont and New Hampshire, and on
reaching Hanover, the day after Commencement, was surprised to learn
that he had been appointed professor of Rhetoric in Dartmouth College.
Conscious of his inability to meet any longer the claims of a pastoral
charge, and hoping that his health might be adequate to the lighter
duties of a professorship, he could not doubt that the indications of
Providence were in favor of his accepting the appointment. He did
accept it, and shortly after resigned his charge at Worcester, amidst
many expressions of affection and regret on the part of his people,
and, in October following, entered on the duties of his professorship.
"The change of labor proved highly beneficial, and during the winter
of 1838-39, he enjoyed a degree of health which he had not known for
many previous years. In March, he was so much encouraged in respect to
himself that he remarked to a friend that he thought God would indulge
the cherished wish of his heart, and permit him again to labor as a
minister. But another cloud quickly appeared in his horizon, which
proved ominous of the destruction of all his earthly hopes. In April
following, he suffered from an attack of pleurisy, which was followed
by lung fever; and, though he so far recovered as to be able to attend
to his college duties till the September following, it became manifest
to all that his disease was, on the whole, advancing towards a fatal
termination. He died at the age of thirty-four years and six months,
on the 17th of October, 1839. His last days were rendered eminently
tranquil by the blessed hopes and consolations of the gospel. His
funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Lord, President of
Dartmouth College, and was published. He left no children.
"Mr. Peabody's published works are a brief 'Memoir of Horace Bassett
Morse,' 1830; a Discourse on 'The Conduct of Men Considered in
Contrast with the Law of God,' 1836; a 'Sermon on the Sin of
Covetousness, Considered in Respect to Intemperance, Indian
Oppression, Slavery,' etc., 1838; the 'Patriarch of Hebron, or the
History of Abraham' (posthumous), 1841."
FROM THE REV. SAMUEL G. BROWN, D.D.
"Dartmouth College, July 25, 1856.
"My Dear Sir: It gives me great pleasure to send you my impressions of
Professor Peabody, though others could write with more authority. I
knew him in college, where he was my senior. He belonged to a class of
great excellence, and was honorably distinguished throughout his
college course for general scholarship, diligence, fidelity, and great
weight of personal influence, in favor of all things 'excellent and of
good report.' His character was mature and his mind already well
disciplined when he entered the class, and education had perhaps less
to accomplish for him in the matter of elegant culture than for almost
any one of his associates. Hence there was not the same conspicuous
progress in him as in some others. Yet at the time of graduation he
stood among the first, as is indicated by the fact that he was the
orator of one of the literary societies, and was selected by the
Faculty to deliver the valedictory oration at Commencement. In every
department of study he was a good scholar,--in the classical, moral,
and rhetorical departments, pre-eminent. As a preacher, he was
distinguished for a certain fullness and harmony of style, justness in
the exposition of doctrine, and weight of exhortation. He was prudent
without being timid, and zealous without being rash; eminently
practical, though possessing a love of ideal beauty, and a cultivated
and sensitive taste, and as far removed from formalism on the one side
as from fanaticism on the other. Dignified and courteous in manner, he
was highly respected by all his acquaintances, and while a pastor,
greatly esteemed and beloved by his people. His fine natural qualities
were marred by few blemishes, and his religious character was steadily
and constantly developed year by year. Grave, sincere, earnest, he
went about his labors as one mindful of his responsibility, and as
seen under his 'great Task-master's eye.' Indeed his anxieties outran
his strength, and he was obliged to leave undone much that was dearest
to his hopes. The disease to which he finally yielded had more than
once 'weakened his strength in the way,' before he was finally
prostrated by it. The consequent uncertainty of life had perhaps
imparted to him more than usual seriousness, and a deep solicitude to
work while the day lasted. He performed the duties of a professor in
college but a single year, and that with some interruptions. No better
account of the general impression of his life on those who knew him
best can be given than in the language of a sermon preached at his
funeral by the Rev. Dr. Lord.
"'What his private papers show him to have felt in the presence of his
God was made evident, also, in his social and official intercourse.
Intelligent, grave, dignified; conscientious in all his relations,
from the student upwards to the teacher, the pastor, the professor;
nothing empty as a scholar, nothing unsettled or inconsistent as a
divine, nothing vague or groundless as an instructor; sincere,
generous, honorable, devout; keenly sensitive in respect to the
proprieties and charities of life; warm in his affections, strong in
his attachments, stern in his integrity; above the arts of policy, the
jealousies of competition, the subserviency of party spirit, and
simply intent upon serving God, in his own house, and in all his
official ministrations, he was one of the few who are qualified to be
models for the young, ornaments to general society, and pillars in the
church of God.'
"Hoping, dear sir, that this hasty and imperfect sketch may be of some
trifling service in commemorating a good man, who deserves something
much better,
"I am very truly your obedient friend and servant,
"S. G. Brown."
FROM THE REV. JOHN NELSON, D.D.
"Leicester, July 23, 1856.
"My dear sir: My personal acquaintance with the Rev. Mr. Peabody was
limited to the period during which he was the pastor of the Central
Church, in Worcester. While he held that office, I had, I may say, an
intimate,--certainly a most happy, acquaintance with him. I often saw
him in his own house, and often received him as a welcome guest in
mine. I often met him in the association to which we both belonged and
in ecclesiastical councils.
"I remember him as having a rather tall and commanding figure, and a
benign countenance, beaming with intelligence, especially when engaged
in conversation. This appearance, however, was modified by constant
ill health. No one could be with him without receiving the impression
that he was a scholar, as well as a deep and accurate thinker.
"The few sermons which I heard him read, or deliver from the pulpit,
were of a high order, distinguished for both accuracy of style and
power of thought. They were clear, methodical, and highly eloquent. It
was my own impression, and I know it was the impression of some of his
most distinguished hearers, that he was among the best preachers of
his time. In ecclesiastical councils he was shrewd, discerning, and
wise. As a friend, he was always reliable. His moral character was not
only high, but well balanced, and marred by no inconsistencies.
"It is presumed that no one will dissent from the statement that,
during the few years he was in Worcester, by his intelligence, his
manly virtues, his kindness of heart, his active labors for the
advancement of Christ's kingdom, and his ability as well as
faithfulness as a preacher, he greatly commended himself, not only to
the people of his immediate charge, but to the whole community in
which he labored.
"Affectionately yours,
"John Nelson."
We are indebted to "Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit" for yet
another notice--furnished by the kindness of Rev. Daniel Lancaster--of
a gentleman widely known to the friends of education and religion.
"William Cogswell, the son of Dr. William and Judith (Badger)
Cogswell, was born in Atkinson, N. H., June 5, 1787. He was a
descendant from John Cogswell, of Westbury, Wiltshire, England, who,
with his family, sailed from Bristol in a vessel called the 'Angel
Gabriel,' June 4, 1635, and was wrecked at Pemaquid (now Bristol),
Maine. He settled at Chebacco, now Essex, then a part of Ipswich,
Mass., where he died November 29, 1669, about fifty-eight years old.
His father was distinguished as a physician and a magistrate, and held
the office of hospital surgeon in the army during the war that gave
us our Independence. His mother was a daughter of the Hon. Joseph
Badger, of Gilmanton, a gentleman of great respectability and for a
long time in public life.
"Under the influence of good parental instruction, his mind was early
formed to a deep sense of the importance of religion; but it was not
till he was fitting for college at Atkinson, that he received those
particular religious impressions which he considered as marking the
commencement of his Christian life. He did not make a public
profession of religion until the close of his Junior year, September,
1810; at that time he, with both his parents, and all his brothers and
sisters, nine in number, received baptism, and were admitted to the
church on the same day, in his native place, by the Rev. Stephen
Peabody.
"He became a member of Dartmouth College in 1807. Having maintained a
highly respectable standing in a class that has since numbered an
unusual proportion of distinguished men, he graduated in 1811. For two
years after leaving college, he was occupied in teaching in the
Atkinson and Hampton Academies. But, during this time, having resolved
to enter the ministry, he commenced the study of Theology under the
direction of the Rev. Mr. Webster of Hampton, and subsequently
continued it under Dr. Dana of Newburyport, and Dr. Worcester of
Salem,--chiefly the latter. Having received license to preach from the
Piscataqua Association, September 29, 1813, he performed a tour of
missionary service in New Hampshire, and at the close of December,
1813, returned to Massachusetts, and accepted an invitation to preach
as a candidate for settlement, in the south parish in Dedham. After
laboring there a few weeks, he received a unanimous call, which, in
due time, he accepted, and on the 20th of April, 1815, he was duly set
apart to the pastoral office. Here he continued laboriously and
usefully employed about fourteen years, during which time the church
under his care was doubled in numbers, and enjoyed a high degree of
spiritual prosperity.
"In June, 1829, he was appointed general agent of the American
Education Society, and he accordingly resigned his pastoral charge
with a view to an acceptance of the place. He entered upon the duties
of his new office in August following, and so acceptable were his
services, and so well adapted was he found to be to such a field of
labor, that in January, 1832, he was elected secretary and director of
the Society. His duties now became exceedingly arduous, and his
situation one of vast responsibility. In addition to all the other
labors incident to his situation, he had an important agency in
conducting the 'Quarterly Journal and Register of the American
Education Society,'--a work that required great research, and that has
preserved much for the benefit of posterity which would otherwise have
been irrecoverably lost.
"In 1833, he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, by
Williams College.
"It became manifest, after a few years, that Dr. Cogswell's physical
constitution was gradually yielding to the immense pressure to which
it was subjected. He accordingly signified to the Board of Directors
of the Education Society his intention to resign his office as
secretary, as soon as a successor could be found. He was induced,
however, by their urgent solicitation, to withhold his resignation for
a short time; though in April, 1841, his purpose was carried out, and
his resignation accepted. The Board with which he had been connected,
rendered, on his taking leave of them, the most honorable testimony to
the ability and fidelity with which he had discharged the duties of
his office.
"On the same month that he determined on resigning his place in the
Education Society, he was appointed by the Trustees of Dartmouth
College, professor of History and National Education. Here again his
labors were very oppressive, as he was obliged not only to prepare a
course of lectures on a subject comparatively new, but to perform much
other service, especially in the way of collecting funds to endow his
professorship. He was chiefly instrumental, at this time, in
establishing the Northern Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of
gathering for it a library of about two thousand volumes.
"But while he was thus actively and usefully engaged, he was invited
to the presidency of the Theological Seminary at Gilmanton, in
connection also with the professorship of Theology, and a general
agency in collecting funds. There were many circumstances that led
him to think favorably of the proposal, and finally to accept it. He
accordingly removed his family to Gilmanton, in January, 1844.
"His expectations in this last field of labor seem scarcely to have
been realized. The removal of one of the professors to another
institution, devolved upon him an amount of labor which he had not
anticipated, and he found it impossible to attend to the business of
instruction, and at the same time to be abroad among the churches
soliciting pecuniary aid. At length, finding that the public mind was
greatly divided as to the expediency of making any further efforts to
sustain the institution, he recommended that its operations should,
for the time being, be suspended; though he considered it as only a
suspension, and confidently believed that it had yet an important work
to perform. He held himself ready after this to give private
instruction in Theology, whenever it was desired.
"In 1848, Dr. Cogswell suffered a severe domestic affliction in the
death of his only son,--a young man of rare promise, at the age of
twenty. This seemed to give a shock to his constitution from which he
never afterwards fully recovered. He acted as a stated supply to the
First Church in Gilmanton until the early part of January, 1850, when
he was suddenly overtaken with a disease of the heart that eventually
terminated his life. He preached on the succeeding Sabbath (January
13), but it was for the last time. He performed some literary labor
after this, and read the concluding proof sheet of a work that he was
carrying through the press for the New Hampshire Historical Society.
When he found that death was approaching, though at first he seemed to
wish to live, that he might carry out some of his plans of usefulness,
not yet accomplished, he soon became perfectly reconciled to the
prospect of his departure. He died in serene triumph,--connecting all
his hopes of salvation with the truths he had preached,--April 18,
1850. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Daniel Lancaster of
Gilmanton, and was published.
"Dr. Cogswell was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of
the American Antiquarian Society, and of the New England Historic and
Genealogical Society. He was also an Honorary Member of the Historical
Societies of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, and a Corresponding Member of the
National Institution for the Promotion of Science at Washington.
"The following is a list of Dr. Cogswell's publications 'A Sermon on
the Nature and Extent of the Atonement,' 1816. 'A Sermon containing
the History of the South Parish, Dedham,' 1816. 'A Sermon on the
Suppression of Intemperance,' 1818. 'A Catechism on the Doctrines and
Duties of Religion,' 1818. 'A Sermon on the Nature and Evidences of
the Inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures,' 1819. 'A Sermon before the
Auxiliary Education Society of Norfolk County,' 1826. 'Assistant to
Family Religion,' 1826. 'A Sermon on Religious Liberty,' 1828. 'A
Valedictory Discourse to the South Parish, Dedham,' 1829. 'Theological
Class Book,' 1831. 'Harbinger of the Millennium,' 1833. 'Letters to
Young Men Preparing for the Ministry,' 1837. In addition to the above,
Dr. Cogswell wrote the 'Reports of the American Education Society' for
eight years--from 1833 to 1840; and two 'Reports of the Northern
Academy.' He was the principal editor of the 'American Quarterly
Register' for several years; was editor also of the 'New Hampshire
Repository,' published at Gilmanton, N. H.; of the first volume of the
'New England, Historical and Genealogical Register;' of a paper in
Georgetown, Mass., called the 'Massachusetts Observer,' for a short
time; and of the sixth volume of the 'New Hampshire Historical
Collections.'
"Dr. Cogswell was married on the 11th of November, 1818, to Joanna,
daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Strong, D.D., of Randolph, Mass. They
had three children,--one son and two daughters.
FROM THE REV. SAMUEL G. BROWN, D.D.,
PROFESSOR IN DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
"Hanover, April 10, 1856.
"My Dear Sir: I had the pleasure of considerable acquaintance with the
Rev. Dr. Cogswell, though only during the later years of his life. He
was not then accustomed to preach, except occasionally to supply a
vacant pulpit, or as a part of his duty as secretary of the Education
Society, or in connection with his professorship in Dartmouth College,
or the Theological Seminary at Gilmanton. He had formed his style on
the model of the older preachers and theologians, and if he had
something of their formality, he had much of their Scriptural
simplicity of statement and devoutness of feeling. His sermons, so far
as I remember them, though showing a careful adherence to the
doctrinal opinions of the fathers of New England, were not of a
polemic character, but were marked by good sense, earnestness, a
Biblical mode of address, and warm Christian sympathies.
"From natural kindness of heart, he avoided unnecessary controversy,
and was especially solicitous to harmonize and unite by charity,
rather than by acuteness to discriminate differences among brethren,
or to separate them by severity of judgment. Not ambitious, he was yet
gratified by the approbation and good opinion of others, and loved a
position where he might be prominent in labors of charity. Neglect or
contumely wounded but did not embitter him. No feeling of ill-nature
was suffered to disturb his peace or check his liberality.
"Among the prominent traits of his character was a sincere and
unwearied benevolence. He was interested in young men, and his labors
as secretary of the American Education Society were stimulated even
more by love of the work than by a sense of official responsibility.
He was thoroughly devoted to the objects which interested him, and
though one might differ from him in judgment with respect to measures,
none doubted his sincerity or refused him the praise of unsparing
fidelity.
"His tastes led him to antiquarian pursuits, and he was prominent in
founding and conducting several learned societies which have done much
to rescue valuable knowledge from oblivion, and thus to secure the
materials for future history.
"He bore adversity with meekness and patience. What might have crushed
a harder spirit, but gave his greater symmetry. The latter years of
his life, though darkened with many disappointments, were illustrated
by the exhibition of admirable and noble traits of character, such as
few, except his most intimate friends, supposed him so fully to
possess. The death of an only and very promising son while in college,
and the failure of some favorite plans, seemed only to develop a
touching and beautiful Christian resignation and a high magnanimity.
Not a murmur was heard from his lips under his irreparable loss, nor
an unkind or reproachful word at the disappointment of his
expectations; nor did an unsubmissive or harsh thought seem to find a
place in his heart. Those especially who witnessed his last sickness
were deeply impressed with the Christian virtues and graces which
found a free expression in the hour of trial.
"Dr. Cogswell was portly in appearance, grave and dignified in his
bearing, and eminently courteous in manner. He will be remembered with
kindness by all who knew him, and by many with a feeling of strong
gratitude and affection.
"With great regard, your obliged friend and servant,
"S. G. Brown."