Life notes; or, Fifty years' outlook

THE LIBRARIES

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LIFE NOTES

FIFTY YEARS' OUTLOOK

BY

WILLIAM HAGUE D.D.

BOSTON _^
LEE AND ] SH^PAftt) . l^UJSLISHERS

lO MILK STREET NEXT OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE

iS88

^3 8\r
HIZ

^3 -f 7373

Copyright, 1887,
By lee and SHEPARD.

Ali rights reserved.

PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

The eminent author of this volume closed siiddenh^
his earthly life almost immediately after he liad exam-
ined the last pages of the appendices of this book. On
Saturday, the Soth of July, 1887, Rev. Dr. Hague
sent by the mail, to the publishers, the last "proof'
pages of this work, which he had examined that morn-
ing at his residence in Cambridge, Mass. He had
written his final word, and had made his last revision.
On the Monday following he visited Boston, and was
on his way to exchange congratulations with his pub-
lishers on the happy conclusion of his literary labors
by the successful completion of his "Life Notes; or,
Fifty Years' Outlook," when he was stricken with
apoplexv while walking on Tremont Street, and would
have fallen to the pavement but for the timely assist-
ance of friends. He died soon after, in the entrance
to Tremont Temple, near the place where much of his
life-work had been done.

Dr. Hague was born in Westchester County, N.Y.,
Jan. 4, 1808, and was a graduate of Hamilton Col-
lege, New York, in the class of 1826. He took his
theological course at the Newton Institute, graduating
in 1829. He was ordained Oct. 20, 1829, as pastor of
the Second Baptist Church in Utica, N.Y. There he
remained until called to the pastorate of the First
Church in Boston : his installation took place Feb. 3,
1831, the Rev. Dr. Wayland preaching the sermon. In
June, 1837, he entered upon his duties as pastor of
the First Church in Providence, over wliich he was in-
stalled July 12, 1837, the sermon being preached by
the Rev. Dr. Barnas Sears. The church commemo-
rated while he was pastor the second century of its
foundation. Nov. 7, 1839, and he preaclied an histori-
cal discourse on the occasion, which was published.

iv rUPLTSHERS' NOTE.

During nine months of the j^ear 1838-39 be was abroad.
Sept. 20, 1840, in the Federal-street Church, Boston, he
commenced his hibors. His subsequent pastorates have
been in Jamaica Plain, Mass., Newark, N.J., Albany,
N.Y., New- York City, Boston, Chicago, and Orange,
N.J. He was senior pastor of the Baptist Church at
Wollaston Heights, Mass., at the time of his death.
Dr. Hague received the degree of Doctor of Divinity
from Brown University in 1849, and from Harvard
College in 1863. He was chosen a trustee of Brown
University in 1837. Among the many productions of
his pen were, "The Baptist Church Transplanted from
the Old World to the New," "Guide to Conversation
on the Gospel of John,"" Review of Drs. Fuller and
Wajdand on Slavery," " Christianity and Statesman-
ship," "Home-Life," "Emerson," etc.

Dr. Hague was in the eightieth year of his life, which
had been marked especially by ministerial, literary, edu-
cational, and philanthropic achievement. He was a
scholar in a broad sense, and his acquirements and
abilities were of the highest order. He was a clergy-
man of profound religious convictions and of rare
persuasive eloquence. He gave character to all his
endeavors, and embellished every occasion with which
he was associated. His aid to educational and to
philanthropic institutions and causes is of permanent
value. His writings will have a lasting and important
place in history ; and this book, intended to be auto-
t)iographical to a considerable extent, will be found to
contain the rich personal reminiscences of a noble life
filled with great deeds, and consecrated to all that is
uplifting, — a life of love, of sincerity, and of truth.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Old Pelham and New Rochelle 1

Revisitations. — Strength of Child Memory. — Union of
Saxon and Celtic Elements. — The French Exile's
Inquiry, What were this Young Lord's Anteced-
ents?—The Education of the Manorial Heir quite
Noteworthy. — A Memory of Huguenot Womanhood.
— A Young Huguenot of New Rochelle becomes rec-
ognized as Chief Citizen of Boston. — The City Cele-
bration, Boston, July 4, 1843, in this Connection,
exceptionally Interesting. — Henderson's Island and
its Home-Library a Century ago. — The New Distinc-
tion: Hunter's Island and its Art-Gallery. — Epi-
sodes of our Pelham Home-Talks. — Starting-Point
of New Ecclesiastical Controversy in the Experience
of Mrs. Ann Eliza Bayley Seton. — Issues of the
Manorial History.

II.

School-Life in Old New York 37

Child Schooling. — Spirit of the Time specially Educa-
tional.—Our Neighborhood: Church and School.—
Primary Lessons.

III.

Academic Life in Old New York 44

Boyhood Schooling. —The School and its Master. —Rev.
Dr. William R. Williams's School-Days. — His Pro-
fessional Career. — Robert and William Kelly, Broth-
ers. — Ideals of Culture realized practically.

V

VI CONTENTS.

IV.

PAGE

Educational Period 55

School-life Surroundings. — Literary Spirit of the Period.
— Educational Leaders. — Samuel L, Mitchell, LL.D. ;
Daniel n. Barnes, LL.D.; Dr. Griscom. — Historical
Development of the Church in our School Vicinity.

A Youxo Student's Laipressions of Col. Aaron Burr . 65
The Questionings as to his Alleged Personal Power.—
Where lay the Secret of that Power? — Temporary
Realization of Ideal Heroism, — The Tested Friend-
ship.— Limitation of Ethics and -Esthetics as to
the Issues of Life.

VI.

Educational Period 88

Critical Point of an Educational Course. — Interval
between Academy and College. — The Farm, the
Church, The Preacher and his Sermon. — Travelling
Abroad regarded as Educational.

VII.
Educational Period Continued 98

College-Life. — The Educational Trend Westward. —
Historical View-Point as to Relations of Old and
New New York. — Introduction to College-Life. —
Intellectual and Social Atmosphere. — Oxonian and
Hamiltouiau Kecognitions.

VIU.
Theological-Seminary Lite Ill

Post-graduate Bewilderments. — The Uplifting Aiui. —
Ideal Superiority to all Denominational Orgaui.sms.
— Real Significance of the " Ecclesia" recognized. —
Student-Life at Princeton Theological Seminary
Sixty Years since. — Transfer of Student Relation-
ship to Newton Theological Seminary.

CONTENTS, VU

IX.

PAGE

The Wide World Field 124

First Call to the Pc'storate. — First Acquaintance with
President Wayland. — Cliaracterization of the Church
in Utica. — The New Yorlc "Baptist Register" an
Educator and Unifier of a " People." —Hon. Alex-
ander M. Beebe, LL.D.— Early Ministry in Utica. —
Only One Sorrow: Climatic Interference.

X.

Old Boston . 136

Transition Period. — Persistency of the Old Past. — Rev.
John Codman, D.D., of Dorchester, Exponent of
Evangelical Congregationalism. — New Era of Re-
vivalism ; Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher. — Special Rela-
tion of the Baptists to that Era. — Relative Position
of the First Church. —The Representative Sexton.

XL

Garrison and Thompson 147

The Receding and the Rising Question of the Transition
Period. — Point of Party Division in Relation to the
New Question. — Relative Position and Power of
William Lloyd Garrison. — Our Prompt Reception
of Hon. George Thompson on the First Week of his
Arrival.

XII.
The Transition Period 157

Several Names signalizing the Transition Period. — Dan-
iel Webster as a Statesman Educator, preparing the
Nation's Way. — William Lloyd Garrison a Maker of
History. — Wendell Phillips, Representative Orator
and Scholar. — Charles Sumner and his Surroundings.
— George S. Hillard, the Conservative. — Noteworthy
Moods of Mind. — A New Era of Christian Home-
work.

viil CONTENTS.

xiii. page
The Era of Mysticism 170

First Meeting with Ralph Waldo Emerson, my Nearest
Clerical Neighbor. — First Impressions of his Per-
sonality. — His Mental Unrest as to Church Organism.

— His New Position curiously Interesting. — Tenta-
tive Steps to his New Career. — General Re-union in
Providence, R.I., in Association with Margaret Ful-
ler.—Era of "the New Pulpit." — Transcendental
Enthusiasm and " The Dial." — Half a Lifetime " at
his Best."— Free Play of Conflicting Judgments in
England. — The Central Idea of this Mystic School
characterized as Anti-Christian. — Downward Trend
of the (so-called) Greek School. — Forecasting of Ulti-
mate Issues.

XIV.

Eka of Historical Enthusiasm 197

The Spirit of Rhode Island History. — Progressive Criti-
cism. Distinction of Roger Williams in World His-
tory. — Judge Story's Centennial Discourse in Salem.

— Lyceum Discourse of Rev. Dr. Charles W. Upham
in Boston ; the Pastor of the Old First Church of Salem
voices the Sentiment of Salem. — Professor James D.
Knowles's Life of Roger Williams welcomed; also
that of Professor William Garamell, LL.D., and that
of Professor Romeo Elton, D.D. —Kindred Tastes of
Rev. Dr. Stow. — Historic Sense of Rev. Dr. RoUin
H. Neale. — Special Appeal for its Culture.

XV.

Aspects of Rhode Island Life 209

Question of Removal from Boston to Providence. —
Subtle Workings of Historical Associations. — A
Church Retrospect of Two Centuries or more, and its
Appeal. — Brown University under President Way-
land. — He becomes "Master of the Situation." —
Greeting of his Moral Philosophy by John Foster,
"the Essayist." — Foster's Interest in Rhode Island

CONTENTS. IX

PAGE

History. — Visit to John Foster at his Home in Bris-
tol. — Samuel G. Arnold, then intending to write
the History of Rhode Island, appreciates the Oppor-
tunity.—The Colonial Families "a Living Pres-
ence."— Suggestions of Likes and Contrasts in the
Comparison of Margaret Fuller and Charles Kings-
ley's " Hypatia." — Social Atmosphere of Providence.

XVI.

A Time of Organic Recoxstructioxs 223

An Appeal to return to Boston for a Second Term of
Ministry. — Special Needs of the Federal-street
Church.— A Defined Aim asserts itself as Motive-
Power. — Characterization of the Time: an Era of
Intellectual Awakening. — An Exceptional Mood of
the Public Mind. — Diffusion of the Spirit of Inquiry.

XVII.
The Area of Discussion Widenixg 232

Conciliation of Beliefs the Special Aim of Rev. Dr. James
Freeman Clarke. —A Basis sought for Faith and
Unity. — To this End " The Church of the Disciples "
organized. —An Effort to realize a Higher Ideal of
Church-Life. —Unifying the Elements of Progress
and Conservatism. — Counter Driftings to New Issues.
— From our Home-Fields of Evangelical Work En-
during Fruitage reaped. — A Spiritual Uplifting. —
«*The Word itself" the Main Factor. — " Building
better than we knew."

XVIII.

Strength from Unification 244

Editorship offered; accepted. — The Work of the Pul-
pit and Press united. — Home and Church Life at
Jamaica Plain. — "An Eden of a Place." —A Call
for Help from Newark, N.J. — The Occasion of a
Conference with Rev. Daniel Sharp, D.D. — Signifi-
cance of the Situation. — Call to the New Church
accepted. — Auspicious Beginnings.

X CONTENTS.

XIX.

PAGE

Principles of Church-Growth 253

Era of Church-Extension in Newark. — The Election of
Dr. Henry C. Fish. — The First Unified Movement. —
Encouraging Success reported. — Memorable Career
of Rev. Dr. Fish. — Retrospective View of Newark.

XX.

Elements of Thrift and Growth 262

Early Memories of Albany. — Ministerial Career of Rev.
Dr. B. T. Welch in that Capital.— Our Progres-
sive Church- Work. — Chapels and Self-supporting
Churches springing up. — Sabbath-morning Offer-
ings. — Development of Public Spirit. — Characteri-
zation of Albany as an Historic Community. — Our
Veteran Contemporaries. — Impressive Personality
of Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D.D., President of Union
College. — His Relation to Albany. — His Presence at
the Funeral of Ex-Secretary Marcy.

XXI.

Studying the Signs of the Times 274

From the Capital to the Metropolis. — A new Church-
Home in the Upper Part of New York, architectu-
rall}^ harmonizing with its Surroundings, the Prime
Objective Point in the Series of Things to be done.
— Onward from Small Beginnings. — Discourse of
Dedication, Jan. 6, 18G1. — The Era of Bewilderment
inaugurated by the War. — No Financial Currency
better than Postal-Stami^s. — No Grounds of Calcu-
lation for the INIorrow. — The First Proposal of Union
as a means of Strength. — The Organic Union with
"Old Oliver-street." — Starting-Point of the Union
Movement. — End of the Union, 1881, by Separation
upon Accepted Terms. — " Unity of the Spirit in the
Bond of Peace."

COXTENTS XI

Our Epilogue with its Episodes 201

Primary Purpose of the " Life Notes." —Oalled back to
Fields of Former Service for tlie Country and the
Cliurch. — Regular Pen-Work during the War. — Rev.
Daniel Sharp, D.D., as Representative of his Genera-
tion.—The Birtli-Year of Vassar College within the
Period of my New York Ministry. — Its Example
recognized as an Inspiring Power by the Founder of
Holloway College for the Higher Education of Young
Women in England. — A Company of Educators in
England responsive to the Sentiment. — Private
Conference requested. — Organization considered.—
Offer of a " Trusteeship " to Dean Stanley. — Letter
from Mr. Holloway indicating his Intention of Com-
plete Endowment. —Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's
Chronology reviewed. — Claiming too much for Emer-
son.—The Reviewing Editor's Surprise widely
shared. — Mystification as to Accounting for Over-
sights. — An Unnoticed Unification of Aftinities and
Forces. — Historic Associations awakened at "the
Old Corner Book-Store." — Insignificance of "Im-
pressions " as to timing One's Life- Work.

APPENDICES 327

I. Hon. John M. S. Williams. — II. Rev. James Free-
man Clarke, D.D. — III. Rev. Dr. John Overton
Choules. — IV. Archbishop Bayley. — V. A Confer-
ence In Audover Fifty Years ago. — VI. Controver-
sies and their Fruitage.— VII. Baptist Theological
Seminaries. — VIII. Cambridge Co-workers. — IX.
Historic Sense of Rhode Islanders.

LIFE E'OTES.

I.

OLD PELHAM AND NEW EOCHELLE.
PtEVISITATIONS.

It was my fortune to revisit recently, after a
long interval of absence, two homes of my child-
hood,— the birth-home at Pelham, Westchester
County, in the vicinity of New York ; and the
church-home at New Rochelle, the town adjoin-
ing, originally a part of Pelham, comprised within
the area of the manor by the royal charter of
1666, in the reign of Charles II. That charter
was granted to Thomas Pell, Esq., "gentleman of
the bed-chamber to King Charles L," and after-
ward, in 1687, was granted anew, and confirmed
to his legally recognized heir, the only son of his
brother, the first resident proprietor, " Lord John
Pell," according to the usage of address here-
abouts in the seventeenth century.

The first object of interest that won attention

2 LIFE NOTES.

within view from the railway station, two or three
minutes' walk westward along the old historic
" King's highway," was the beautiful church edi-
fice of stone, designated " Trinity Church of New
Rochelle ; " presenting itself to the eye of the in-
quiring visitor as the successor of the old " French
church," that hallowed that surrounding in the
reign of Queen Anne. Having noticed, in a
musing mood, the contrast between the showing
of the rude, small, stony structure that I had first
known in childhood as a house of worship and
that of the finely proportioned modern temple
whose graceful spire now casts its shadow over
the old site, I turned my steps toward the church
burial-ground, seeking the graves of my grand-
parents. Long-slumbering memories were aroused,
first of all, by the sight of the marble that marked
the grave of my grandmother, — Sarah Pell, widow
of Capt. William Bayley, — whose funeral service,
ministered in the churchyard by her aged relative,
the rector. Rev. Theodosius Bartow, I had attended
with a large family gathering in the month of
March, 1819, being then eleven years of age. The
form of the venerable clergyman in his official
robes at the grave, his bald head uncovered,
despite the chill of a heavy snowfall, is vividly
remembered now, as if it had figured in a scene
of yesterday.

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCHELLE.

STEENGTH OF CHILD ]VIE:M0RY.

Meanwhile, however, memory had let slip the
date of my grandfather's departure, and I was
desirous to regain it from the chiselled record
at the head of the grave nearly adjoining. What
a bewilderment ! I could scarcely believe my eyes
as I read, ''Died March 3, 1811." It seemed al-
together abnormal that such minute remembrances
of him as had been familiar to me, scores of par-
ticulars pertaining to his individuality, even the
tones of his voice, and his handicraft in making
toys for my amusement, should have been thus
long kept within the brain as in a photographic
or phonographic cabinet. Yet, thus it must have
been, despite all seemings to the contrary, I said,
soliloquizing in the presence of the facts : At
the age of three and a half, hereabouts, began my
outlook upon the world. Here I approximate the
starting-point of conscious thought ; and this out-
look over the life area of " threescore and ten "
discloses its varied scenes of light and shadow,
from infancy to age, as one broad panoramic
unity.

Child memories, no doubt, are effective factors
in shaping " the make-up " of any personality.
The image of my grandfather, associated as it is
with the old homestead, and with his flow of talk

4 ■ TJFE NOTES.

while occupying his easy-chair upon the piazza,
where he was wont to enjoy one of the finest
of Landscapes, taking within its scope Hunter's
Island, Pelham Creek, the expanse of Long Island
Sound, has never become dim ; so that he has
ever represented to me the ideal grandpa of poetry
or song, of fiction or graphic art, as pictured by
Sir Walter Scott or " Peter Parley." Thus has
he ever been to me in thought "a living pres-
ence," although the obtruding question as to the
possibilities of a baby brain will put itself over
and over again like a mocking puzzle.

Despite the puzzle, the fact asserts itself. From
the view-point occupied at the time of this writ-
ing, March, 1882, looking back to the last sickness
and to the funeral services at Pelham and New
Rochelle, the succession of years and order of
events are clearly traced by memory, and sub-
stantiated as a personal history. There is no
break in the outline, although many things —
thoughts, words, deeds — may be missed from
" the filling-up."

UNION OF SAXON AND CELTIC ELEMENTS.

But now, while occupying the old churchyard
as a retrospective view-point, it seems noteworthy
that this first advent of death into the household,
and this first funeral that shadowed the path of

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCIIELLE. 5

my young life, cannot be described without the
joining of two okl town names, French and Eng-
lish,— New Rochelle and Pelham. Thus, too,
looking upon the headstones that memorialize the
many graves in this "God's acre," as the Old
English called the consecrated burial-ground, we
notice the alternations or intermingling of Eng-
lish and French surnames, denoting the - quick
fusion of English and French blood in the homes
of the early settlers nearly two centuries ago.
On the tombstones of the dead and on the door-
signs of the living the same old names present
themselves, — the Pells, Bayleys, Bartows, Pinck-
neys. Sands, Hunts, Guions, Le Counts, Allaires,
Leroys, Coutants, Secors, Badeaus, Flandreaus, De
Pej-sters, De Lanceys, and others, — signalizing the
spontaneous union of Saxon and Celtic elements
in the historic home-life and church-life of the
Colonial days.

These first exiles from France, seeking perma-
nent homes and religious liberty, thougli to a
great extent "spoiled of their goods," realized act-
ually the sentiment so well emphasized by Daniel
Webster in addressing young Americans, namely,
" Character is capital ; " being, in the best sense,
"well to do," free, and inclined to contract
family alliances from choice, taste, and personal
qualities, rather than from considerations of mere

6 LIFE NOTES.

expediency or goading necessity. Few and weak
thongli they seemed, their phice in history is as
clearly defined as that of the ''Ten Thousand"
retreating Greeks whom Xenophon has immortal-
ized, having been long ago distinguished as a part
of that heroic " Fifty Thousand " who fled from
France to England about four 3^ears before the
annulling of the Edict of Nantes, signed by Henry
IV. in 1598, for the protection of Protestants, and
revoked by Louis XIV. in 1685 ; having been in
force nominally, though not really, nearly four-
fifths of a century. Having emigrated from Eng-
land to New York, some of them by way of the
West Indies, particularly St. Christopher's and
Martinique, they found the most beautiful lands
of the vicinity chartered under English manorial
proprietorship, whereby it was made easy for them
to establish themselves in new and permanent
homes. All antipathies of blood or race uielted
away in the presence of a common Christianity.
An area of six thousand acres, a part of the manor
of Pelham, was conveyed to their friend and agent,
Jacob Leisler, merchant of New York, on accept-
able terms, in 1689; surveyed and divided into
lots or farms by Alexander Allaire and Capt.
Bond in 1692 ; named New Rochelle, in memory
of the old fortress of Protestantism in France : and
then the family life of the two peoples, by its own

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCHELLE. J

interior law of development, grew into a civil and
social unity, " compact together," under the sway
of a common sentiment, as if all gloried in the
same genealogical origin.

THE ANTECEDENTS OF " LORD JOHN PELL."

In this retrospective view of bi-centennial his-
tory we can hardly trace the fortunes of a rich
domain so beautiful as was this broad, picturesque
area of almost ten thousand acres, so near the
rising metropolis, constituted by royal, ducal, and
colonial authority, under lawful grant and patent
of his Majesty Charles II., and also of his sterner
brother King James II., " an absolute, entire, en-
franchised township, and place of itself, in no
manner or way to be subordinate or under the
rule of any riding, township, or place of jurisdic-
tion," and then observe how it was " willed " at
once by its first proprietor, Thomas Pell, into the
possession of an English heir, his nephew, a
young man only twenty-five years of age, without
being sympathetically alive to the import of the
doubtful questioning put by the more advanced
of the exiles : " What manner of man is this lord
of the manor ? What have been his antecedents ?
Is his spirit akin to that of the intriguing, perse-
cuting Royal Duke, James of York, now king,
through whom, by special permission of his Ma-

8 LIFE NOTES.

jesty Charles II., the earlier charter of proprietor-
ship was received ? " The inquiry was serious ;
the answer was encouraging. The young lord's
biography was easily traced. His environments
suggested cheerful jDrophecies. Although liis
youthful years had been passed amid a general
unsettlement of things in Church and State, ad-
verse to the pursuit of his studies continuously in
due course, liis home-life and school-life under his
father's ej^e furnished advantages quite exceptional
for liberal self-culture, adapted to qualify him for
the place of lordly eminence bequeathed to him in
this New World as the protector of an oppressed
people, the founder of a community truly unique
as to condition and character.

At this point of our retrospect let us take up
the exiled Huguenot's question : What were this
young lord's antecedents? His father, whose
name figured largely in the State papers of the
Protectorate as the Right Honorable John Pell,
was eminent among English educators. Born on
the first day of March, 1610, at Southwycke,
Sussex County, England, of Avhich parish liis
father, the Rev. John Pell, was then rector, he
entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year
1623, and before the end of another decade had
won European fame as an author in the higher
range of philosophical and mathematical studies.

OLD PEL/IAM AND NEW ROCHELLE. g

Having accepted the offer of a professorship in
Amsterdam, he then attracted the regard of the
Prince of Orange, by whom he was appointed to
the professorship of mathematics at Breda, in
Holland, where a military and naval academy had
been established. Thus, having achieved a bril-
liant career in the prime of life, he was chosen by
Oliver Cromwell, in April, 1G54, English Resident
Ambassador to the Swiss cantons. This confi-
dential relation to the Lord Protector at the time
when he stood forth at the height of his power,
the recognized ^^I'otector of Protestant Switzer-
land against the persecuting powers of the
Continent, gives ample proof of an enlarged states-
manlike style of mind, in harmony with the liberal
ideas and progressive spirit that have througliout
our own century thus far ruled the course both of
English and American history. A single fact
recorded by Mr. Bolton in his history of West-
chester County (H. 51) puts this inference
beyond all questioning: "In the Lansdownc MSS.
are eleven volumes of Dr. Pell's, written in excel-
lent style. The first volume contains a vast fund
of information respecting the persecutions of the
Piedmontese." Evidently his sympathies were
with the true leaders of the age ; not with the
oppressors, but the oppressed.

10 LIFE NOTES.

THE EDUCATION OF THE HETK.

In connection with a fact so significant, we are
not surprised to learn, that, while serving the
government of his country at Zurich, Mr. Pell's
letters to his wife at home indicate minute
attention to the elementary education of his only
son, the future '' Lord John " of Pelham ; particu-
larizing the most suitable schools, the studies, and
the teachers appropriate to the young scholar's
situation or turn of mind; even urging special
care as to the style of penmanship required by
the boy " eleven years old," in danger of form-
ing wrong habits at the outset. Four years after
his many educational counsellings had been writ-
ten from Zurich, while the school-life of young
John was still in process, the English mission to
Switzerland was terminated ; the minister was
commended, called home, and informed on his
arrival that the Lord Protector was dying. Very
soon the whole country was convulsed ; but, de-
spite the agitations of that disastrous period, the
youthful heir of a transatlantic " lordship " — fif-
teen years of age at the time of his father's return
— was exceptionally favored as to his opportunities
for receiving the best possible training under the
eye of his watchful parent, who had already taken
rank with the best educators of England.

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCHELLE. II

Fortunately for the professor, while occupying
so effectively his chair at Breda he found it with-
in his power to confer personal favors upon the
exiled king, Charles II., then sojourning there.
These were gratefully remembered, and opened
the way, soon after the Restoration, for liis behig
admitted into " holy orders " by the Bishop of
London in 1661, for his being honored with the
degree of Doctor of Divinity, gifted by the Crown
with the rectory of Fobbing, in Essex, and after-
ward by the bishop with that of Lavingdon, in
the same county ; all showing that the change
of government from commonwealth to kingdom
brought to him no great distress, nor interfered
with the educational interests of his family. The
scholar, the diplomatist, the statesman, who had
been recognized throughout Europe as the repre-
sentative of the Lord Protector in defence of the
peoples oppressed for conscience' sake, was emi-
nently qualified, of course, to train his only son
into sympathy with his own ideas and the martyr
spirit of the exiles who were to seek transatlantic
homes within his own lordly domain.

In this timing of events the Huguenot pilgrims
discerned a divine adjustment of means to ends as
real and apt as was that traced by the Israelites
in the predicted exaltation of the youthful Joseph
to that ancient "lordship" that prepared their

12 LIFE NOTES.

way to the Land of Promise. Of the fine quali-
ties of character exemplified by these heroic peo-
ple, and the possibilities of their future, he was
thoroughly appreciative. How different miglit
have been their fortunes, had he, like some lead-
ing men of the period, favored the exclusive
policy of the reigning monarch by whom the
manorial charter had been granted, and whose
measures erelong rendered the English Revolu-
tion a logical necessity ! But all antipathies were
overruled, and in the annals of tlie following
century we trace the gradual growth of a well-
ordered and happy community, distinguished by
an inherited refinement of manners and a degree
of intellectual culture that made the New Rochelle
of Pelham what the legal phrase of the charter des-
ignated the manor, — "a place of itself;" unique,
winning to its homes and schools the best elements
of family-life and of social advancement. At the
opening of the nineteenth century, the French
language, spoken in purity and elegance, still
lived as the vernacular of home-life, attracting
the more progressive class of students, whereof
the names of Washington Irving, John Jay, Philip
Schuyler, and Gouverneur Morris may be taken
as exponents. A few who were children at that
period are yet living, and remember the ladies
who, like Mary Beslie, the sister of Dr. Oliver

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCHELLE. 1 3

Beslie, possessed home libraries containing the
standard works of French literature that had
nourished the intellectual youth of their mothers
in France. As it has been well said by Macaulay,
that the fusion of Norman and Saxon elements in
the thirteenth century produced the England that
has figured as a power in world history, so we
may truly say that the fusion of English and
French elements in this manorial tract, bought
originally of the Indians by Thomas Pell, Esq.,
in 1654, confirmed by an English king, James II.,
as a '-lordship " in 1G8T, produced a social growth
of fine typal character, and furnished a contri-
bution distinctively its own to the progress of
American colonial civilization.

A MEMORY OF HUGUENOT WO^IANHOOD.

The incidental reference by name to an excel-
lent lady who had passed the border-line of
" threescore and ten " before the nineteenth cen-
tury began, recalls to mind one whose image is
associated with my earliest memories and with
my first impressions of the primitive style of the
cultivated Huguenot's life and manners. Madame
Beslie, while in thought I replace her amid the
old home surroundings in Pelham, New Rochelle,
and New York, re-appears in my retrospective mus-
ing as I saw her often in my school-days, a queenly

14 LIFE NOTES.

woman of ninety-five years, not bent by age,
retaining her natural ease and grace of movement,
still able by her winning ways to draw us young
folk to her side as listeners to her talk while
she rehearsed the memories of her youth. The
younger children of the family circle, usually
speaking of her as "Aunt MoUie Bayley," were
obliged, each in turn, to take a lesson on the
different spellings of French words that sound
alike. When her memory became unretentive
of things recent, it kept fresh as ever the things
long j)ast ; hence, whensoever I greeted her after
absences of a month or week, she would place her
hands upon my temples, then, kissing me upon
the forehead, would pleasantly allude to the old
French mode of salutation. At once, as if making
a new communication, she would repeat with an
interest as lively as ever the story of the flight,
the deadly persecution throughout France, and the
fate of a relative who had been dragged through
the streets of Paris by the hair of her head. Hav-
ing ended her narrative, the turn of her familiar
talk would be suggested, often by the old French
book that she would happen to be holding in her
hand, or by a reference to some volume or pictured
page within the glass doors of her book-case.
Gifted as she was with communicative power, she
was, at the same time, one of the best of listeners,

OLD PELIIAM AND NEW ROCHE LLE. • I 5

calling forth from her company the best they had
to ofl^r ; and, indeed, I have sometimes wondered
whether the charms of her conversation were to
be regarded the more eminently as an inherited
talent, as the incidental outcome of favoring social
influences, or the product of some kind of educa-
tional training that had grown into "a second
nature." Though uncertain, just now, as to the
date of her departure from earth, — not far from
the close of 1817, — I can truly say that her beau-
tiful example of refined Christian womanhood has
been ever before me as an exponent of Huguenot
character, shaping my conceptions of Huguenot
home-life, and keeping alive my sympathies with
the spirit of Huguenot history.

Coincident with these sentiments as to inherited
culture, was the impression made upon the mind
of New England by the example of pubHc spirit
exhibited in the city of Boston by a native of
New Rochelle, more than a century and a quarter
ago. From the earliest days of the American
Revolution, Faneuil Hall has been to Boston a
household word, familiar to the lips of men, women,
and children as the memorial of Huguenot munifi-
cence, rendered classical by historic associations
that quicken the pulse of patriotism, and call forth
the spirit of song in commemoration of "the
Cradle of Liberty." Thus the name of a Hugue-

1 6 LIFE NOTES.

not of New Rochelle has not only lield a sliining
place in the annals of the colonial commonwealth,
but lives in the nation's history as a source of
inspiration, awakening memories that are an up-
lifting power.

THE HUGUENOT BENEFACTOR OF BOSTON.

Although the name of this man, thus memorial-
ized, has been dailj^ repeated in the first city of
New England by four or five successive genera-
tions, yet his short and inspiring life-story had
been permitted almost to fade away from memory,
until its late restoration to the popular range of
home-reading by the pen of Charles C. Smith, who
has contributed a choice chapter to the ''Memo-
rial History of Boston." The uncle of Peter,
the founder and donor of the Hall, was Andrew
Faneuil, who fled from France to Holland in 1G85,
and thence, as the record shows, had become in
1691 a tax-payer and citizen of Boston. At the
opening of the eighteenth century he had taken
rank as the leading merchant of the city in point
of wealth, trusted by all as a man of honesty and
honor. His death, in 1737, seemed, indeed, an
untimely event. The sense of loss was universal,
expressed by the gathering at his grave, — a pro-
cession of eleven hundred persons, representatives
of the whole people. His property was " willed "

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCHELLE. 1/

to his nepliew, Peter, who at eighteen years of
age had left his native town, New Rochelle, and
sojourned for a short period in Rhode Island,
whither he had accompanied his father, Benjamin ;
proceeding thence to Boston, he entered into the
service of his uncle Andrew, and soon won the
confidence and the love that issued in his appoint-
ment as his uncle's executor and residuary legatee.
His career was brief but brilliant. Though he
lived only five years after his uncle's decease, he
rendered that small fraction of life a fine histori-
cal episode in the municipal record of his time.

In the year 1740 the people were divided into
two parties, nearly equal in numbers, by the dis-
cussion of a proposal to meet a public need, — the
erection of a central market-house. The oppo-
nents of the enterprise were persistent, though
the grounds of their action are not now clearly
discernible. In this state of the public mind,
Peter Faneuil came forward, and offered to erect
the building at his own cost, '' to be improved for
a market, for the sole uses, benefit, and advantage
of the town, provided that the town of Boston
would pass a vote for that purpose, and lay the
same under such proper regulations as shall be
thought necessary, and constantly support it for
said use."

The selectmen called a meeting to act upon the

1 8 LIFE NOTES.

proposal ; 367 votes were cast for accepting the
gift, 360 against it. Mr. Faneuil enlarged his
plan, and over the market erected a splendid hall,
capable of accommodating a thousand persons.
At a town-meeting in the town-house, Sept. 13,
1743, a vote was unanimously passed accepting
the gift, and appointing a committee, consisting
of the moderator of the meeting, the selectmen,
the representative to the General Court, and six
other gentlemen, "to wait upon Peter Faneuil,
Esq., and, in the name of the town, to render him
their hearty thanks for so bountiful a gift, with
their prayers that this and other expressions of
his bounty and charity may be abundantly recom-
pensed with the divine blessing."

The first town-meeting held within the walls of
Faneuil Hall, 1743, was the occasion for deliver-
ing a eulogy on the life and character of the
donor, by Mr. John Lovell, master of the Latin
School. In his oration, Mr. Lovell said, after re-
ferring to private charities, " Let this stately edi-
fice, which bears his name, witness for him what
sums he expended in public munificence. This
building, erected by liini at his own immense
charge, for the convenience and ornament of the
town, is incomparably the greatest benefaction
ever yet known to our Western shore." Thus
Boston, a century and a quarter ago, gratefully

OLD PEL II AM AND NEW 2WCIIELLE. 1 9

declared to the world, that, although the Hugue-
not element did not much affect population as to
quantity, it was an effective factor of sterling
worth as to quality^ and that the finest expression
of its spirit and style was to be found in the mag-
nificent record left there by the large-souled young
Huguenot of New Rochelle.

THE CITY CELEBEATION, JULY 4, 1843.

Having mentioned the year of Mr. Faneuil's
departure, 1743, it may be noted, incidentally,
that in 1843 the celebration of our national inde-
pendence in Faneuil Hall awakened into new life
old historic associations, and imparted to that
day's observance somcAvhat of the dignity of a
centennial recognition. On the Fourth of July
of that year Mr. Charles Francis Adams de-
livered his first public oration, and, as had been
expected, in the presence of the venerable ex-
President, his father. Having been invited to
officiate as chaplain on that occasion, I repaired
to the Council Chamber of the City Hall half an
hour before the time for forming the procession.
While reclining alone upon the old-fashioned
window-seat, enjoying its pleasant outlook, the ex-
President entered the room ; erelong, taking his
seat beside me, he touched upon a few reminis-
cences of the past, and then said, in a tone expres-

20 LIFE NOTES.

sive of profound feeling, " Tliis is one of /"he
happiest clays of my whole life. l^^ifty years
expire to-day since I performed in Boston my first
public service, which was the delivery of an ora-
tion to celebrate our national independence.
After a half-century of active life, I am spared
by a benign Providence to witness my son's per-
formance of his first public service, — to deliver
an oration in honor of the same great event." To
this I answered, "President, I am well aware of
the notable connection of events to which you
refer ; and, having committed and declaimed a
part of your owui great oration when a schoolboy
in New York, I could without effort repeat it to
you now." To '* the old man eloquent " as Avell
as to myself the coincidence was an agreeable sur-
prise. At the close of tlie services connected with
the delivery of the oration, the guests of the city
were gathered at the festal banquet in Faneuil
Hall. There I was called upon, as chaplain, not
only to invoke the divine benediction, but to re-
spond to a patriotic sentiment that awakened
memories of the heroic dead. To me, certain 1}^ it
was aji uplifting thought, that, like the founder of
the Hall, belonging by birth to Pelham and New
Rochelle, at the end of a century from the j'ear
of its completion and his departure, I was stand-
ing in the thronged edifice that memorialized his

OLD PEIJIAM AND NEW ROCIIELLE. 21

ni me, alive to the significance of the position,
well assured that by every uttered word I was but
voicing the ideas that he loved, that he expressed
in deeds more eloquent than words, and made his
record a treasured legacy.

Henderson's island a centuky ago.

This early colonial civilization, which we have
traced from its beginning, with its style of culture
so unique on account of its variety of elements
fused into newly developed characters, erelong
put forth a power of attraction that gathered to it
and around it people of congenial tastes, apprecia-
tive of the social qualities and educational aspira-
tions recognized as a transmitted heritage. Long
remembered among these who, at the close of the
last century, sought a home in old Pelham, Avas
a man of large fortune, an educated gentleman, a
bachelor just touching the border of middle life,
of whom, as it seems, only one memorial can now
be found, and that the marble slab at the head of
his grave, hinting briefly at the beginning and
ending of his life-story. A single sentence utters
its whole message, thus : " In memory of Alexander
Bampfield Henderson, Esq., a native of Charleston,
in South Carolina, but late of the town of Pelliam
and county of Westchester, who departed this life
26th December, 1804, aged 47 years."

22 LIFE NOTES.

On a bright summer's day about ten years ago,
in a solitary walk among the tombs of the old
French burial-ground, my attention was arrested
by the inscription here copied. Although I had
never seen the man, nor had been his contem-
porary, I felt myself closely related and greatly
indebted to him ; for I was familiar with the
story, that from his beautiful island residence,
separated by Pelham Creek from the land estate
of my grandparent, William Bayley, he used daily
to walk across the causeway and bridge to our
homestead, and relieve the loneliness of " Bach-
elor's Hall " in the sympathetic enjoyment of our
family-life. Such was his habitude, indeed, during
the most important period of my mother's history,
— her later school-days. His private library, a true
iudex of his cherished tastes, was one of the best,
at tlie time, outside of the metropolis ; and it
greatly intensified his enjoyment of it, often recog-
nizing in my mother, n4e Anne Bayley, a keen
appreciation of books, to minister to her intellec-
tual development by placing at her command the
freshest productions of English literature, render-
ing her familiar with the standard works of essay-
ists and poets, with most of those English classics,
indeed, that would be found in the choicest liome
library at the close of the eighteenth century.
Thus, working ""better than he knew," he was

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCIIELLE. 23

providing the main topics of interest that ruled
the course of our household talk throughout my
school-days, and was qualifying my mother to be-
come, not professionally, but incidentally and
really, the attractive companion and educator of
her five children. Her grateful allusions to him
made his name familiar to our ears, and often
curious fancy would invest with a golden haze of
romance the unwritten history of this "lone lord
of the isle.'' Rumor had sometimes whispered
that, in his experience, the glow of youthful hope
had been dimmed by the death of a first love, for
whose vacant place no substitute could be found
on earth.

In this connection, it remains to be said, how-
ever, that, whether this suggestion were true or
not, a few well-remembered facts, outlining his
life-course, were recently rehearsed to me by
Elbert Roosevelt, Esq., whose lifelong residence
in Pelham, near the island, suggests a series of
memories, related to the whole vicinity, extending
over two-thirds of a century. These conversa-
tional statements supply what was lacking to give
a desired unity to the story.

Mr. Henderson, born in South Carolina, was of
Scotch origin : was educated at the University of
Edinburgh, and then took rank as a surgeon in
the English army. Thus he was brought into

24 LIFE lYOTES.

communication with the British ambassador in
India, and was by him introduced to the court
of the reigning prince, who engaged the surgeon's
professional services in behalf of his favorite wife,
then seriously ill. The treatment was a success ;
and the delighted prince honored Mr. Henderson
in his own way, by the presentation of a beau-
tifid Circassian slave girl, about thirteen years
of age. This present the army surgeon did not
bring away with him from India ; " but, after es-
tablishing his home at the island," said Mr. Roose-
velt, " he commissioned your father (Capt. James
Hague of Pelham, commanding a ship in the
India trade) to look after this princely gift, and
bring with him the young Circassian as a passenger
on his return voyage from Calcutta. With her,
accordingly, Capt. Hague sought an interview, but
found her so well pleased with lier position in the
household of a British officer, that she could not
be induced to leave her new protector. Never-
theless, the captain was accompanied by an Indian
lad, the surgeon's protege^ who Avas welcomed,
treated as an adopted son, and bore the name of
William Henderson. The lad survived the re-
tired surgeon eight years, and was buried by his
side in the old French burial-ground at New
Rochelle." Tlie two graves are surrounded by a
well-wrought iron fence, and the smaller marble

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCIIELLE. 25

headstone bears tliis brief inscription: "In memory
of William Henderson, who died Jan. 19, 1812,
in the 25th year of his age."

In his last sickness the young man was most
kindly attended by Dr. Kogers, through whose in-
fluence or advice he bequeathed the sum of twelve
hundred dollars, appropriated to the erection of a
town-house "for the use and convenience*' of
the people of New Rochelle. With the recogni-
tion of this gift, the townspeople of our time
generally associate the name of the owner of the
island home. It is, however, the East-Indian
youth's memorial.

UNIQUE ART-GALLERY.

Henderson's Island, beautiful for situation, dis-
tinguished by its homestead, so greatly enriched
by the best of home libraries in Pelham, became
well known as Hunter's Island, more distinguished
than ever by its new palatial mansion, with the
best private art-gallery ui the United States.
The propriety of this characterization by the use
of the superlative degree was probably undis-
puted by any rival during the first two decades
of this century. We may safely say that no one
of the earlier generations of the Pells, or of the
Huguenots, however aspiring, would have dreamed
of such a possibility for a family home within the

26 LIFE NOTES.

bounds of the manorial grant so recently chartered
by an English king in troublous times, and then
so thoroughly impoverished by the Revolutionary
War. Under wliat conditions could it have seemed
possible that some of the choicest treasures of an-
cient Italian galleries could be transferred to a
secluded little island fifteen miles from the city of
New York, the purchase of a young American?

The explanation, as received from Mr. Hunter
personally, was this : At the time of his gradua-
tion from Columbia College, twenty-one years of
age, it so happened that he came into full posses-
sion of his property. A friend and fellow-student,
travelling in Europe while Napoleon was cam-
paigning in Italy, wrote earnestly, reminding him,
that, on account of insecurity, art treasures were
offered for sale at great sacrifice, and that an
opportunity to indulge cherished tastes had now
arrived, the like of which had not been known
before, and might never come again. '' My an-
swer was prompt," said Mr. Hunter, ''availing
myself of his service, with faith in his judgment
and discretion."

Here, at this point of writing, I have arrested
my pen, in order to read aloud to a friendly caller
what, as it happens, I have just now written, and
have thus drawn forth this critical questioning :
"Surely the Italian art-dealers must have seen

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCHE LLE. 2/

their opportunity in negotiating with a young
commissioned American, and might have been
quite equal to the occasion. How have the ckiims
of these choice treasures been verified ? ' How-
ever fair and apt that questioning may be, suffice
it here for me to say, that it is not within the
scope of my purpose to determine the origin of
the pictures, and that, with a youth's faith in the
keen insight and critical judgment of so highly
educated an amateur as the Hon. John Hunter, it
was my fortune to realize, amid our surroundings
in the gallery, all possible delight and mental
quickening, limited only by the measure of recep-
tivity. Outside of the family circle, Mr. Hunter,
who in his spirit and style of manners repre-
sented a high ideal of the typal gentleman, the
courteous and accomplished State senator, re-
appears to the eye of memory as the first person-
ality that I can recall as associated with my early
life in Pelham. Erelong after the death of his
son, Des Brosses Hunter, Esq., the galler}^ was
sold. The island passed into other ownership.
Yet, whatsoever may be its fortunes in the future,
its relation to old Pelham and New Rochelle as
a source of intellectual and aesthetic culture to
several successive generations, will brighten the
record of its past, and render its name a cherished
memory in the annals of local liistory.

28 LIFE NOTES.

EPISODES OF OUR PELHAM HOlNfE-TALKS.

The mention of these names pertaining to the
island's liistory in connection with that of
tlie manor and town, carries us back in thought
to tlie Anglo-French life of old Pelham, as pic-
tured out sixty or more years ago in our family
talks, and illumined now by our memories of
those who represented the remoter past. Fortu-
nately for us, our dear grandparents, uncles, and
aunts were lovingly communicative ; rehearsing to
us of the third generation the local annals of the
manor and the familiar facts of the Revolutionary
era, — little episodes as lively as any that Feni-
more Cooper has woven into his romance of " The
Si)y." Tlien incidental stories of the home-life
that followed the establishment of independence
and '' the Union " were equally winning, making
us acquainted with our kindred and neighbors,
with our parents' associates in their early days
throughout rural and suburban surroundings.
Prominent among these was Dr. Richard Bayley,
the only brother of my grandfather, Avhose mother
was a Huguenot, nie Susanne Leconte, and whose
eminently distinguished daughter, Eliza Ann
Bayley Seton, has been historically recognized as
the presiding genius of the Roman-Catholic aca-
demic institute at Emmettsburg, Md., and the

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCIIELLE. 29

founder of tlie order of Sisters of Charity in
the United States. Dr. Bayley himself, a favorite
student of the celebrated Hunter of London,
the first professor in tlie medical department
of Columbia College, an accepted authority as a
j^rofessional writer in England and France, though
living within an environment of churchly influ-
ences at home, acknowledged no connection with
any ecclesiastical organism. Hence the position
of his accomplished daughter, biographically com-
memorated as ''Mother Seton," the gifted educator
as well as the founder of the most eminent of
sisterhoods (and we may add here, parenthetically,
the more recent positions of his grandson, James
Roosevelt Bayley, as having been at first rector
of the Episcopal Church at Harlem, and then
at last Roman-Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore,
Primate of America), seems the more particularly
note worthy. 1 In a widening circle of relationships
thus made up, there could be evidently no lack of
conversational topics adai)ted to keep us all men-
tally alive and wide awake to note the driftings
of thought throughout the whole community, so
recently set free from the regime of a coh/uial
Church establishment, whose ideal aim had been,
of course, the legal maintenance of religious uni-
formity.

Touching the first of the ecclesiastical transmu-

1 See Appendices, page 335,

30 LIFE NOTES.

tations here mentioned, profoundly sad, indeed,
was the tone of amazement discernible in the
exclamation of Mrs. Seton's elder sister. Mis. Dr.
Wright Post of Throgg's Neck, addressed to my
mother, and by her repeated to me, regarding the
talented Ann Eliza : " She has gone over to
the Church that persecuted her ancestors." As
we now look back over the seven decades that
have gone by since that day, we may safely say
that no change of eaclesiastical relations on the
part of an individual has stirred " society " at
the time with emotions so keenly conflicting, or
has been effective of influences more widely felt
in the homes of the country.

To many, even personal friends, the change
seemed inexplicable ; a mystery, a fact untrace-
able to any adequate cause. Numerous and ear-
nest were the questionings as to what influences
had been secretly working at the starting-point of
this new career. By some, especially those who
had been associated with her from childhood in
the communion of "dear old Trinity," the ex-
planation was found in the sensibility of her
emotive nature, under the stress of sorrow, to
loving appeals during her stay in Italy, where, in
the year 1804, her honored husband, William
Seton, Esq., died after a lingering illness, and
where her depressed spirit found relief in the

OLD PELHAM AND NEW ROCIIELLE. 3 1

ministrations of the Roman-Catholic Church, as
well as in the hospitable home of the noble-souled
Felichi. The truth is, however, that the trend
of her steps toward the Roman-Catholic Church,
strengthened by her aesthetic tastes, was noticed
in her earlier days before she had left her native
land ; and, after her return from Italy to New
York, she was still a communicant of Trinity
Church, for weeks, as she said, "in an agony of
suspense," engaged in discussions, oral and writ-
ten, with the Rev. John Henry Hobart, then rector
of Trinity, afterwards bishop of the diocese of
New York, and Archbishop Carroll of Baltimore,
in regard to the main principles of Protestantism.
At that earlier period her cousin, Ann Bayley of
Pelham, only eight years younger than herself,
was living in the environment of the same reli-
gious atmosphere, keenly sympathetic, constantly
interchanging sentiments as well as visits.

The leading idea that then engaged the thoughts
of those two cousins pertained not so much to the
emotive nature as to the intellectual ; for a main
subject of discussion, emphasized in the chief
pulpits of New York at that day, was the relation
of the sacraments to personal salvation. At that
point the life-course of the two cousins diverged.
The affirmation, sometimes eloquently argued, that
the sacraments, administered through a regular

32 LIFE NOTES.

priestly succession, are the divinely appointed
channels through Avhich saving grace flows forth
from the fountain of life into the human soul,
took the strongest possible hold upon the spirit
nature of the elder cousin, calling forth, even
then, painful doubts over a suggested question ;
namely, this : " As the Anglican Church recognizes
the perfect validity of the Roman-Catholic sacra-
ments, while, on the other hand, the older Roman
Church has never recognized the validity of the
Anglican administration, am I not re(|uired, by a
proper regard for my own souFs peace and safety,
to place myself upon the ground that remains to
both sides undisputed?" Strange as it may seem
to many that her early faith should have faltered
before such a question, from that starting-point
of thought she advanced in due time, after her
return from Italy, through "an agony of sus-
pense," to the positions taken in her printed corre-
spondence with Bishop Hobart and the Primate of
Baltimore. At the same time, her younger cousin,
then residing at the paternal home in Pelham,
equally interested in the new inquir}-, as to them
it seemed, having been attracted as a listener to
the teachings of the eminent preacher of the Pres-
byterian church in Murray Street, Rev. Dr. John
Mitchell Mason, who occasionally delivered a dis-
course in New Rochelle, she embraced, with a

OLD PE LI/AM A. YD NEW ROCHELLE. 33

responsive spirit, the formulated statement of pure
Protestantism, "justification by faith alone," so
eloquently put forth by him as "the true spirit
union with Christ, embracing within it character
and condition." Thenceforward her favorite char-
acterization of Christianity was "the religion of
tlie New Testament ; " emphasizing thus, as she
thought, by this short phrase, the two distinguish-
ing (^[ualities of the Primitive Church teaching, —
simplicity and catholicity.

It is a curiously suggestive study, this tracing
of mental histories. From the same starting-
points of intellectual, emotive, or spiritual develop-
ment, even of congenial minds, how strangely far
apart the issues ! Some time before her departure
for Italy, the elder cousin visited her younger,
sisterly cousin at Pelham ; at the moment of taking
leave, bidding her good-by while presenting her an
article of skilfully wrought needlework as a love-
token, she kissed her, and said, " I hope we shall
meet in heaven." They never met on earth again.
Both lived, however, to an advanced age. The
elder, having wept for the last time over the grave
of her liusband in Italy, — the English burial-
ground at Pisa, — and having returned to New
York, welcomed, erelong, tlie comparative seclu-
sion of a conventual life in Maryland. The
younger, having been joined in marriage — by Rev.

34 LIFE NOTES.

Theodosius Bartow, rector of New Rochelle, at her
father's house in Pelham — to Capt. James Hague,
commander of a ship in the East-India trade, lived
happily the life of her family circle until nearly
*' fourscore years " of age ; and then, after fourteen
years of widowhood, died at the house of her only
daughter, Mrs. Dr. Alexander W. Rogers, Pater-
son, N.J., amid the benedictions of her children,
who, in accordance with the Old Scripture's
voicing of filial love, "rise u^j and call her
blessed."

ISSUES OF THE MANORIAL HISTORY.

Tlie contrasted issues of two lives thus realized
by two friends of Huguenot descent, impart sig-
nificance to a saying noted at Paris in a tourist's
journal, — that the trend of the French nature is
toward intellectual freedom, and that, where there
is French blood, it will assert itself in individuality
of character, tempered and toned by inherited
tastes and manners into social and civil concord.
The fortunes of Pelham and New Rochelle illus-
trate this view. In this connection, it seems a
noteworthy fact that the English monarch who
gave to Pelham its first manorial charter, was
himself the sole, self-determined donor of the
charter of Rhode Island to Roger Williams,
openly declaring the reason of his action to be

OLD PELHAM AND NEW NOC//ELLE. 35

liis sovereign will to " experiment whether civil
government could consist with such liberty of
conscience." It may seem strange that a notably
careless, pleasure-loving king, like Charles II.,
should rise to the height of the grandly excep-
tional opportunity presented to him as a means of
solving a great problem for the world through all
time. The thought has been naturally suggested,
that he had no higher aim than a provision for
unlimited freedom for the Roman Catholics. In
that combination of events, however, the founder of
Khode Island recognized a divine ruling, or over-
ruling, when he said, '•'• The Father of spirits has
impressed his royal spirit," and added, in his letter
to Major Mason, '' This, his Majesty's grant, was
startled at by his Majesty's high officers of state,
who were to view it in course before the sealing ;
but, fearing the lion's roaring, they couched, against
their wills, in obedience to his Majesty's pleasure."
As here we repeat this marvellous testimony, we
are tempted to wish that the experimenting king
who gave to Pelham as well as to Rhode Island a
charter of self-government, could have lived long-
enough to hear from the whole area of the old
manor, after embracing within its limits the
town of New Rochelle, the experimental response
of a thriving population, w^ith all its diversities
of race, taste, and traditions, a live civil unity ;

36 LIFE NOTES.

their homes all vocal with the ancient song of
the Hebrews, — '^ The border-lines have fallen
to us in pleasant places ; we have a goocll}'
heritage."

SCHOOL-LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 3/

II.

SCHOOL-LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK.
CHILD SCHOOLING.

"A THING of beauty is a joy forever," — the
first line of a long poem, — has been a household
oracle, familiar to the lips of three generations of
English-speaking peoples. No Avonder, then, that
occasional revisits to a rural birthplace like Old
Pelham, with its picturesque landscapes so well
remembered as the play-ground of early childhood,
should have power to renew one's youth for a
lifetime. Evidently a pleasant birth-home in the
country is an enduring heritage, without regard
to the matter of land-title ; for, as the broad out-
look remains unchanged, the early home-love will
strengthen itself by the lapse of years. How
sharply contrasted with this experience is that of
childhood within the city, where home-life is in a
constant flux of change ! To-day a visit to Pel-
ham is recreative ; a visit to the home of our
school-days in Old New York, where trade has
swept the family life away from the surroundings,
is comparatively saddening if not sickening.

38 LIFE NOTES.

Those days of child scliooling in the great city
began when I was scarcely seven years of age.
During the period of my father's long vo3'ages to
India, his little family at Pelham had been health-
fully growing ; and now the time had come for us
to bid good-by to the ancestral homestead, regard-
ing it thenceforward as a resort for our holiday
pastimes, rather than a home-centre.

SPIRIT OF THE TIME SPECIALLY EDUCATIONAL.

The transfer of '' the boys " — James, William,
and John Bayley — from the country to the city
came about at a time exceptionally favorable to
our growth manward, near the end of 1814 and
of the war with England. The two preceding
years are remembered still by a few octogenarians
as a time of gloom, mercantile stagnation, and
general depression of spirit. The pleasant out-
look from our piazza at Pelham had been made
rather sombre by the presence of English war-
vessels in sight upon the sound. A brilliant scene
signalized the beginning of our life in New York ;
namely, the extemporized illumination called forth
so magically by the arrival of the " Favorite," on
the evening of Feb. 11, 1815, bringing the news
of the treaty of peace. At once the whole city
seemed to glow in electrical light. Despite the
wet and slush, the streets were thronged, and all

SCHOOL-LIFE I.V OLD NEW YORK. 39

emotions fused into one pervading sentiment of
joy. None were consciously old that night ; all
were young alike : and songs that wedded rljyme
to music, made the very heavens resonant with
patriotic jubilation.

To the many living veterans of '76, that treaty
of peace was as the fniishing-up of the w\ar of
independence, "establishing the work of their
hands." The proclamation thrilled us into unity,
and " made all men kin." It was a real educator.
It affected the tone of our school-life, inspired
patriotic sentiment, and quenched antipathies in
the joyous pride of nationality. It ruled our
tastes and our selections for declamation. Patri-
otic oratory was at its best. The speeches of the
Revolutionary fathers supplied a large proportion
of the favorite themes, not excluding, however,
the standard spemmens of liberal English elo-
quence nor those of patriotic Irish orators. Amid
the exultations of the period, there was, in 1815,
no South ver%u% North, no North ver^uB South,
but simply America verms England and king-
ship; so that the school-life beginning at that
time was inspired and uplifted by the public
spirit that had been nurtured by the privations
of war.

40 LIFE NOTES.

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD; CHURCH AND SCHOOL.

Our city home Avas in Spring Street, not far
from the Presbyterian church, then under the
care of Rev. Dr. Perrine. The church was ren-
dered comparatively eminent, however, by his
successor in the pastorate, a man of brilliant origi-
nality, who showed, as was then often said, his
early associations with Quakerism by his style of
protest against honorary titles, yet quietly suc-
cuml)ed at last to the transforming forces of his
environment, and became famous on both sides of
the Atlantic as the Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox,
D.D. He was gifted with a noble physique^ an
attractive and self-asserting personality. His min-
istry, intellectually quickening, yet not "sensa-
tional," combined the most remarkably effective
qualities as teacher and preacher, expositor and
orator. He was one of the most genial of men.
His style, truly cosmopolitan, drew to him inquir-
ing and thinking minds of every age and class,
won continuous attention, shaped opinions, and
left lasting impressions upon personal history.
As a highly cultured man, his power of adapta-
tion to his whole audience was excejjtional. Even
young schoolboys were curious listeners, and re-
peated his sayings man}^ a time. Gratefully do I
recall to mind his appearance as a rishig power in

SCHOOL-LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 4 1

our neighborhood, and trace his career as a theo-
logian of world-wide eminence. As a debater, he
has been long remembered by the ministers of
England and of the Continent gathered in Lon-
don at the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance,
who frankly declared their conviction that he had
no superior in the world upon the arena of doctri-
nal discussion.

Directly southward of that Presbyterian church,
about a minute's walk in Dominick Street (parallel
with Spring), stood an ample frame building, sig-
nalized as the " Village Academy," where, in the
3'ear 1815, were daily gathered more than a hun-
dred children, whose schooling, at graduated prices,
was committed to an excellent teacher. Rev. Mr.
Wyckoff, minister of the Baptist church in Van-
dam Street, ten minutes' walk northward from the
school. He was one of those men whose personal
presence is ever the best possible introduction, — a
self-witnessing character, incapable of guile. He
was clear-headed, genial, paternal, apt to teach,
ruling by love, commanding profound respect.
His chief assistant was his son, j\Ir. Peter Wyckoff,
whose daily care was to initiate the younger
scholars (including his two brothers, Josiah and
William H., with myself) into the mysteries of
writing, spelling, reading, and arithmetic. He,
too, was faithful, '' magnifying his office," watch-

42 LIFE NOTES.

ing and training ns individually ; his father super-
intending all, assuring himself that the foundations
of our educational structure were well laid. Then
and there we were taught to regard spelling as a
high art, essential to success in life and even to
respectability. Since those days we have made
the acquaintance of learned professors in colleges
who have sought aid from their own students to
write correctly in the English tongue their letters,
" articles," or " papers " for the press, and so have
we learned to appreciate the ideas of our first
teachers as to the value of iwimary lessons in rela-
tion to the whole of one's life-work.

PRIMARY LESSONS.

While thus emphasizing fidelity to beginners
in the child-period of education, memory recalls
a few juonths of schooling prior to that begun
thus in New York under Mr. Wyckoff. In the
year 1813, five years of age, I was permitted to
be the companion of my mother for a day's jour-
ney, in order to visit my older brother, James,
then boarding at New Canaan, Conn., in the
family of Mr. Abraham Richards, in company
with a dozen boys from New York; all of them
attending the district school under the care of ]\lr.
Keeler, spoken of by many as " a born teacher."
This first excursion from home beyond the bounds

SCHOOL-LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 43

of the old manor — that is, outside of Pelham and
New Rochelle — was quite charming; hence it was
granted, as a favor, that I should remain with my
brother to become initiated into school-life under
happy auspices. There I was taught to " spell "
in earnest, by one who " meant business," and to
read in "The Child's Instructor."' Mr. Keeler's
daily drill and training were perfect. His heart
was in his work ; and he managed to get a good
deal of amusement out of it, instinctively adjust-
ing his way to the needs of each scholar individ-
ually, as if believing that the fortunes of each
were to be shaped by his beginnings. Our reci-
tations were made as lively as the play of any
old-fashioned spelling-match on a New-England
winter's evening ever was ; and we were made to
understand that our aim should be, not merely to
spell our lessons aright, but to become " unable to
spell wrong without being aware of it, and thence
blamable for doing so on purpose." Throughout
a long lifetime I have never lost a sense of indebt-
edness to my first teacher in Old Connecticut;
gratefully remendjered, indeed, as are those who
in Old New York carried forward the primary
Avork so faithfully and aptly begun. In school-
teaching, every item of honest work tells its own
story, and endures forever.

44 LIFE NOTES.

III.

ACADEMIC LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK.
BOY,HOOD SCHOOLING.

The last quarter of the year 1816 witnessed the
removal of our household from '' West Side/' the
neighborhood of the Rev. Mr. Wyckoff and his
popular school-circle, for a residence more con-
venient in regard to advanced schooling. The
new home was situated near Chatham Square, a
location containing, as was often said by its many
patrons, " the best school in the city," under the
direction of a gifted principal, Mr. Eber Wheaton,
whose text-books and apparatus for teaching had
won him credit for professional skill. The time
of the public-school system had not yet fully
come in New York ; and Mr. Wheaton, soon after
his starting, gained a strong hold upon the com-
munity, exhibiting an array of four hundred
scholars from the choicest patronage of a wide
area. In that gathering were represented families
of various races, and every denomination of be-
lief, political or religious ; children not only of

ACADEMIC LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 45

native American, but of English, Scotch, Irisli,
Huguenot, and Jewish bk)od, and these mostly of
the best type of character. A considerable pro-
portion were preparing for college ; and for suc-
cessive years Latin and Greek were taught by
graduates from Trinity College, Dublin, until the
appearance of young John Walsh, " a New York
boy," whose genius for teaching the ancient lan-
guages gave him a commanding position as soon
as he had attained the age of legal manhood.
The school was, in fact, a comprehensive institute,
meeting the needs of " the well-to-do classes " of
the community. To-day New York honors her
public schools, and invites strangers to visit them :
in the first quarter of this century all gloried in
our chosen private schools, and compared the
claims of their principals with a gratified pride
of preference.

THE SCHOOL AND ITS MASTER.

Mr. Wheaton's school-establishment was sit-
uated, at the beginning of his career, on the east-
ern side of Chatham Square, then a little park,
between James and Fayette Streets, where about
two hundred scholars were gathered within a two-
story buildiug of apparently ample dimensions.
Its overcrowding, however, occasioned the erec-
tion of a four-story edifice of brick, adapted to

4.6 LIFE NOTES.

school purposes, capable of holding more than
four luindred scholars (the entrance for tlie girls
being at the front-door on Chatham Street, that
for the boys through an alley opening on James
Street). This structure, well furnished, having
received its '' Faculty " of seven instructors, Avas
unsurpassed for several years as an educational
institute for boys in Old New York. Not only
every department, but every individual, felt the
impelling and overruling power of the principal.
He was always moving watchfully on his reguhir
beat from room to room, receiving reports, admin-
istering discipline or encouragement, and uttering
some timely word as food for thought. He was
then in his prime. He was proud of his school ;
and, despite the comphiints of laggards, the ma-
jority were proud of him, owning their indebted-
ness for pungent " fillips," that called forth what
was best in them. Never have I seen, since then,
a finer show of youthful life, of congenial and
competitive forces, than daily met within those
walls, under the sway of one master-spirit and a
co-operative Faculty.

WILLIAM P.. Williams's school-days.

From my place among the smaller boys in the
north-east corner of the most spacious room in
Mr. Wheaton's first school-building, as I turned

ACADEMIC LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 4/

my glance diagonally across toward the south-
west corner, to the larger boys preparing for Co-
lumbia College, my eye rested upon William R.
Williams, occupying his place at his desk, head-
ing that division. Though I often noticed him, I
never caught his eye glancing toward me or my
vicinity; rather, on the other hand, he was usually
bending over the open books before him, moving
slightly back and forth from his text-book to his
dictionary or grammar, and then again to his
lesson-page, — Homer it might have been, or "Col-
lectanea Majora," containing extracts from Demos-
thenes, Longinus, or other standard writers, — his
whole attention apparently engaged not so much
in doing the set task as in searching like a miner
for the subtle meanings treasured in the lore be-
queathed to us by the old past. He was the head
scholar. In the same relative standing he entered
Columbia College with the class of candidates
composed of boys from all the other preparatory
schools of the city, and kept his place of eminence
to the day of his graduation.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER.

Having thus traced our distinguished school-
mate's scholastic life to its ending, we may fitly,
at this point, note the beginnings of his profes-
sional career.

48 LIFE NOTES.

As that historical era, the day of graduation,
approached, many friends of the family were wont
to express. the wish that young Williams might
study for the Christian ministry ; and some, in
view of the harmony of his tastes and habitudes
with his home surroundings and the favored seclu-
sion of his fatlier's library, were quite sure tliat
this determination would assert itself as a matter
of course. Others, however, were doubtful, and
gently rebuked these calculations by reminding
the calculators of the proverb, '^ Grace does not
run in the blood ; " while others still were sure to
add the remark, that, '^ if the Master has any use
for this young man in the ministry of the gospel,
he will know his calling in due time, and be unable
to keep himself out of it." But when it was told,
erelong, that the graduated student had regularly
entered the law-office of Hon. Peter A. Jay, and
was there daily at liis work, notable exclamations
of wonder were heard at once; and one highly
respected gentleman, of Welsh stock, of purest
blood, and very positive opinions, freely expressed
his astonishment that so excellent a man as tlie
Rev. John Williams could ever consent that his
gifted son should adopt a profession so necessarily
immoral as that of a lawyer, ''requiring, as it docs,
in order to success, the whitening or blackening of
character at the sacrifice of truth."

ACADEMIC LIFE IX OLD XEW YORK. 49

Xevertlieless, the regular course of law-study
was pursued, aud at its termination Mr. Williams
opened an office in Grand Street, on the eastern
side of the city. About that time, in tlie autumn
of 1826, having graduated at Hamilton College,
Clinton, Oneida County, and having resolved to
enter the theological seminary at Princeton, I
was lingering in the city, with the view of obtain-
ing a license to preach from the Oliver-street
Church, and was just then enjoying a visit at the
home of Mr. Joshua Gilbert, a member of that
church, a lifelong friend of the pastor's family ;
a character of marked individuality ; a man whose
physique indicated healthful vitality ; a large-
souled, plain, honest man, straightforward, yet
altogether gentlemanly aud Christian in tone,
manner, and spirit.

"Come," said he, one evening, "let us walk, I
pray you, and call on Mr. William R. AVilliams at
his law-office. I am firm in the belief, that, though
he would become a great lawyer, grace long ago
touched his heart, and that he ought to abandon
the law-business, and enter upon the ministry of
the gospel. I wish to convince him that it is his
duty to do so. Now, I know that he will plead
the other side against me ; and I desire you to be
with me, and help me all that you can." We were
cordially welcomed at the office. Mr. Gilbert

50 LIFE NOTES.

made a long evening of it, proceeding immediately
to business, and urging the claims of the Christian
ministry upon the young lawyer as relatively su-
preme in view of his peculiar qualifications and all
the adjustments of his life regarded as means to
an end ; attacking directly and strategically Mr.
Williams's position in defence of his continuance
in the life-course upon which he had entered, by
argumentation, by wit, humor, and solemn appeal.
Recognizing the dignity of the profession of law,
he emphasized the dignity of the gospel ministry,
and the specialty of its claims in the case here
considered.

An account of that evening's interview I com-
municated to my father, who, meeting Mr. Gilbert
soon afterward, inquired if he thought Mr. Wil-
liams inclined to yield to the views that had been
urged upon- his attention ; the reply was, " Oh, no !
He was, from first to last, modest as a maiden
and stubborn as a mule."

Although it is impossible for me to say whether
that visitation was in any way influential or not,
the simple incident, as part of a personal history,
discloses the point of view occupied by the young
lawyer in regard to his outlook upon life at
twenty-three years of age. Whatsoever the truth
may be in answer to that question, as to the work-
ings of thought or feeling, suffice it to say, that,

ACADEMIC LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 5 I

while he was yet in the prime of early manhood,
he was impelled by his supreme convictions to
adopt as a life-aim the higher ideal, which Ave have
lived to see realized hi the pastorate of half a cen-
tury, exerting an influence of distinctive type
through the pulpit and the press over a world-
wide area.

ROBERT AND WILLIAM KELLY, BROTHERS.

In the range of students near to William R.
Williams, in a younger class, like him in faculty
of acquisition, was Robert Kelly, the son of a
New York merchant. He, too, in scholarship the
peer of the best, fulfilled his course persistently.
Taking the highest honors as he passed along the
curriculum of academy and college, after his gradu-
ation he entered into mercantile business in com-
pany with his younger brother, William Kelly,
who had devoted his later school-years mainly to
English literature. At the close of a brief mer-
cantile career, not much more than six years, they
retired, in 183G, with ample fortunes, escaping
the crash of 1837, which wrecked so many of the
oldest houses in various lines of commerce. The
younger gave his attention to agriculture, in
accordance with the most advanced scientific and
artistic ideas ; rendering his farmhome at Rhine-
beck famous the whole country over. That grand

52 LrFE NOTES.

farm, however, and its correlated interests, did not
make up his whole world. Educationally, socially,
and politically, he was a leading spirit in the
Empire State, an active worker in agricultural,
industrial, and philanthropic associations. At the
time of his death he was president of the Board of
Trustees of Vassar College. Strongly contrasted
with this predominant rural taste as a factor in
shaping a career^ was the sympathetic interest
in city life tliat disposed the elder brother, Robert
Kelly, Esq., to make his home in the great me-
tropolis, actualizing one's best conceptions of cul-
tured American citizenship ; cherishing to the last
his youthful enthusiasm in intellectual pursuits,
responsive to the calls made upon him for official
service in literary, civil, philanthropic, as well a-s
educational relationships.

The memory of an example like that thus briefly
noted is a source of strength. From the year of
his graduation to that of his departure from earth
there was not a day when Mr. Kelly would not
have been recognized as competent to occupy
effectively a professor's chair in the classical de-
partment of any universit}^ His habit of faithful
work in connection with examining-committees
has been on many occasions a reminder of that
fact. All his acquisitions were cherished treas-
ures, and his delight in classical re-readings was an

ACADEMIC LIFE IN OLD NEW YORK. 53

inspiring lesson to the students who came before
him as an appointed examiner. The minutest
items of criticism seemed to be to him as fresh as
ever. Of few, indeed, in England or America,
can the like fusion of tastes and activities be
truthfully affirmed. How rare the living exam-
l)le, though always apparently among the possi-
bilities ! A half-century ago, or more, there was
a name shining brightly as a star in the literary
firmament, illustrative of this combination, quite
familiar, comparatively, to the young men of that
time, — the name of William Roscoe, a banker of
Liverpool, author of the "Life of Lorenzo de
Medicis, called the Magnificent," and the " Life of
Leo X.,'' of a pamphlet on the " Slave Trade,"
and of " Criticisms on Burke's Views of the
French Revolution." He commanded most grate-
ful recognition as the scholarly gentleman, at
home alike in the counting-room, the Board of
Trade or the Chamber of Commerce, and in the
associations of professional men of cosmopolitan
spirit, whether authors, editors, or statesmen, as
exemplified by some few in our own age, like
Bryant, Gladstone, or Garfield. The death of
Robert Kelly seemed untimely, as if interfering
with the programme of his proper life-work. In
the view of those who knew him best, his name
was associated with that of Roscoe as an exponent

54 LIFE NOTES.

of the highest literary and scientific culture out-
side of the range of professional or scholastic
life. By the best men of the age his removal was
felt as a bereavement ; and by none, perhaps, more
than by Rev. Dr. William R. Williams, to whom
early friendship had bound him in ties of closest
relationship to the last moment of his earthly
existence.

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 55

IV.

EDUCATIONAL PEKIOD.
SCHOOL-LIFE SURROUNDINGS.

In a large school-establishment like the one
already described as presided over by Mr. Wheaton,
in New York, a considerable part of a boy's edu-
cation is derived indirectly from his surroundings,
rather than the direct teachings that he pays for.
Of benefits thus received incidentally, the most
noteworthy of all, in relation to character, is a
cosmopolitan spirit, implying a superiority to clan-
nish prejudices. In the Chatham-square school,
seventy years ago, a portion of the best family-life
of the city was represented. And thus, from a
fusion of home influences, there grew up grad-
ually a sympathetic interest in the subjects of
daily talk introduced into our several home-circles
by the popular writers of the time.

LITERARY SPIRIT OF THE PERIOD.

Never, indeed, before or since the first quarter
of this century, has there been known in this

56 LIFE NOTES.

country an awakening of literary enthusiasm so
quickly pervading the community of a great city
as that which distinguished this period in New
York, when the newspapers and placards were so
frequently announcing a new story by the author
of "Waverley," "The Great Unknown," a new
poem by Sir Walter Scott or by Lord Byron, a
new sketch or essay by Washington Irving, or a
new historic romance by J. Fenimore Cooper.
These authors were then at the height of their
power, eacli a "living presence," not only at home,
l)ut in our scliool, interesting alike the young and
tlie old; calling forth queries and criticisms; bring-
ing teachers and scholars, parents and children,
friends and neighbors, to a common plane of so-
cial intercourse. In the elevation of the public
taste, by creating a new literature for home-life.
Sir Walter Scott and Washington Irving were
good co-workers, warmly appreciative of each
other, as was shown by the fact that Scott en-
treated Irving to remain in England as editor-
in-chief of a new magazine, to meet the needs
of English-speaking peoples everywhere. This
friendly proposal Irving declined, and returned to
New York to complete his life-work amid the asso-
ciations, haunts, and resorts of his young da3's.
All were glad to welcome him home again ; for
the personal presence of such a man, even the

EDUCATIOiXAL PERIOD. 57

si^lit of liirn occasionally in the streets, is a
gleam of sunsliiue, a real cheer, to a whole
community.

EDUCATIONAL LEADERS.
In noting the surroundings of our school-life,
we recall the images of public-spirited men who
were naturally educational co-workers. Eminent
among these was Samuel L. Mitchell, LL.D., pro-
fessor of natural history, lecturer in the ]\Iedical
College, whose influence as an example of cheer-
ful industry touched us all, not only by means of
his ubiquitous activities, but also by his geniality
of manner and aptness of speech in presidmg at
examinations and in presenting the prizes. His
faculty of memory was a wonder, and won for
him the appellation of "the Live Cyclopaedia,"
— a homely title of honor whereof he might well
have been proud, distinguished though he was by
insignia of honorary membership conferred by the
chief learned societies of Europe. Education, in
the original sense of that word, — the bringing-out
what is in one, — was his delight; and the ease
with which he won co-operation, even of boys, in
enriching his museum with specimens of the rare
and curious, gathered, through their friends, from
all quarters of the globe, was but the play of a
special power, a gift of nature. The juvenile

58 LIFE NOTES.

friendships thus formed by the Doctor were often
lifelong, — a fact that I am reminded of b}' a letter
in my keeping, responsive to a college mineralogi-
cal society of undergraduates, who had voted him
an honorary membership, written as gracefully as
if addressed to the Royal Society of London or
the Academy of France.

Of this order of men, and a co-worker with Dr.
Mitchell in nearly all his scientific aims, was Rev.
Daniel H. Barnes, LL.D., who, toward the close of
the first quarter of this century, was at the head
of a great monitorial school, famous for a tim.e as
"the New York High School," carrying into
effect the Lancasterian system of teaching by
trained monitors, in an ample three-story edifice
of brick, munificently furnished with apparatus,
and accommodating five hundred enrolled scholars.
Associated with Dr. Barnes, as lecturer on nat-
ural philosophy and chemistry, was Professor
Griscom. Both of these gentlemen had won rec-
ognition as veteran teachers in their separate fields
of labor, both having been gifted with the power
of inspiring the young with a desire for knowl-
edge. Dr. Griscom, whose style of dress signal-
ized his Quaker origin, never seemed so much in
his glory as when in his place upon the platform,
lecturing on chemistry to the older classes of the
institute, and by apt experiments — as, for in-

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 59

stance, burning iron wire in oxygen — setting
some minds on fire with the ambition to become
scientists.

Dr. Barnes also, ratlier tall and stately, yet of
winning manners, possessed the art of putting
liimself into communication with every scholar,
through the extemporized talks that were sug-
gested by passing occasions. At the sound of his
silver pocket-whistle the whole roomful became to
him as one class ; then a few words from him
would supplement the lesson teachings, and fix the
impression of clear ideas for a lifetime. " A born
teacher " himself, he had been trained under Presi-
dent Nott, and was graduated from Union College
with honor in 1809. Thus the learned Baptist
and the gifted Quaker, whose life-work in their
separate fields of action had pertained to the
surroundings of our school-life, were ultimately,
toward the end of the first quarter of this century,
united for the establishment of the most mao-nifi-
cent private school ever seen in New York under
individual or social proprietorship. In this part-
nership, though both were recognized scientists.
Dr. Barnes was eminent as a specialist in con-
chology. He was highly appreciated. When Sir
Charles Lyell, while engaged in his great life-work
of reconstructing the science of geology, first
touched the American shore at Boston, he went

6o LIFE NOTES.

immediately from the ship to seek the leading con-
chologist, Dr. Augustus A. Gould, as a guide to
the first steps of his local investigations ; had it
been possible for him to have started upon his
grand errand a few years earlier, and had he then
touched this continent first at New York, he would
have been impelled to seek another as a concho-
logical assistant, and Avould, it is likely, have found
his need met by Dr. Barnes, whose name is still a
cherished memory. Mitchell and Barnes were
" true yoke-fellows."

ECCLESIASTICAL AND SOCIAL ELE^IENTS.

The educational surroundings of our school-life
embraced, however, not only literary and social,
but also religious and ecclesiastical elements.
Representatives of all creeds, of all classes of
church-going or non-church-going families, were
drawn to our school in Chatham Square while the
century was yet ''in its teens." Thus our ac-
quaintanceships took wide range. One of my
classmates in the Latin department was Isaac A.
De Lima, a West-Indian of Jewish stock, sent from
home to New York to prepare for Columbia Col-
lege, to graduate, to pursue a medical course under
Dr. Valentine Mott's direction, and then to return
for professional practice to Cura^oa. While carry-
ing out that programme he was my companion

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 6 1

much of the time. The more I saw of him, the
more highly I esteemed him for his manly char-
acter. As he was making his home with the family
of Mr. Peixotto, minister of the synagogue, I was
often an invited guest of the domestic circle and
an occasional attendant of the synagogue in Mill
Street. The knowledge thus acquired, and the
sympathies awakened, in regard to the most culti-
vated portion of the Jewish people, has ever been
to me a matter of grateful remembrance ; destroy-
ing race prejudice, and substituting the kindly
hopefulness that is at once a source of happiness
and a power for good.

On a sunny afternoon of the autumn of 1821,
while walking witli De Lima on the west side of
Chatham Square, I noticed a venerable man. Rev.
John Williams, approaching us, and said, " There
is my minister ! " I supposed that my companion
would step aside to avoid the meeting, when, to
my surprise, De Lima whispered, " I like his looks :
introduce me." The miiiister's countenance and
manner had won him at a glance ; and the brief
street-talk, followed by a visit to the church on
Sunday, and that by a decided turn toward
enlarged and progressive thought, has been re-
membered as an incident somewhat suggestive of
the subtle influences that often become effective
factors in the education of boyhood, and the
ultimate make-up of opinions in manhood.

62 LIFE AZOTES.

CHURCH-LIFE CHARACTERIZED.

The minister just now mentioned was a promi-
nent figure in the surroundings of our school-life ;
his church and home being situated in our imme-
diate neighborhood, only five minutes' walk from
the schoolroom. It was not on this account, how-
ever, that I had been led to recognize the relation
denoted by the phrase " my minister." The Rev.
John Williams (father of Rev. William R. Wil-
liams, D.D., of New York), a native of Wales,
and in his prime of manhood an accredited
preacher of the Congregationalists, was at this
time the pastor of the Baptist church in Fayette
Street (now Oliver vStreet) ; its membership being
largely of English and Welsh origin, and remark-
able for its great proportion of men substantial
not only as to wealth, but also as to character and
position. At the period of their history when I
spoke to the young Jew of Mr. Williams as " my
minister," I had been drifted into the centre of
their social circle by an exceptional course of
events. These men were all profoundly interested
in the rise and progress of the English Baptist
mission in India, which in the last decade of the
last century, under the administration of Rev.
Drs. Carey, Marshman, and Ward, had attracted
the attention of Christian people everywhere.

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 63

From the opening of the present century my
father had been commanding a ship in the India
trade. When in Calcutta, though not a church-
member himself, he had put his hired house at
the service of Dr. Carey as a place for meeting
Hindoo merchants, and was accustomed to spend
a portion of his sabbaths at the Mission in Seram-
pore.^ His arrivals in New York, therefore, were
looked for and welcomed by the leading men of
the Baptist church in Oliver Street ; and many an
evening was passed at the hospitable mansion of
John Withington, Esq., in listening to the news
from India in minute and lively statements that
the letters could not convey. Thus, between
these parties Avere cherished lifelong habits of
social intercourse ; and when, in succeeding years,
I was permitted to accompany my father, I found
myself within a circle of men who seemed to me
the best and happiest social gathering that I had
ever seen. Memory recalls spontaneously their
forms and features. John Cauldwell, Thomas
Hewitt, Joshua Gilbert, Eliakim Raymond,
Thomas Purser, the Colgates, Bleeckers, occasion-
ally Matthew Vassar from Poughkeepsie, and
others who were associated with these scenes of
home-life, are still present to my thought as

' There is an allusion to this co-operation in Dr. Carey's printed diary, p.
283 of Memoir by Eustace Carey. Boston : Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln, 1836.

64 LTFE NOTES.

living personalities. No wonder that during those
years of school-life the sabbath worship of Oliver-
street Church asserted its attractive power.

This momentary glance back to the social life
of the people gathered under the ministry of John
Williams, clearly indicates the providential educa-
tion of that church for its early leadership in sus-
taining the missionary work in India, responsive
to the call sent by Adoniram Judson and Luther
Rice, after they had joined the church at Seram-
pore, to unite for their support in a new field of
work in Old Asia, at the centre of the oldest
heathenism. Never did an audience gather with
more curious interest, combined with profound
emotion, than did the assembly in Oliver Street,
to listen to the narrative and appeal of Rev.
Luther Rice, so soon returned from Lidia, on the
Sunday morning that followed his arrival in
America. The facts stated in the sermon seemed
vocal with a cry as pathetic as that which reached
the ear of Paul across the jEgean Sea, and brought
Christianity over from Asia into Europe. It im-
pelled to action. It aroused to fresh inquiry the
Christian community at large, and has been utter-
ing its appeal with renewed energy through the
succeeding years of the century.

IMPRESSIONS OF COL, AARON BURR. 65

V.

A YOUNG STUDENT'S IMPRESSIONS OF COL. AARON BURR.i
HISTORIC QUESTIONINGS.

During the latter half of January, 1881, while
sojourning in Washington, and occasionally visit-
ing the Capitol, particularly the Senate Chamber,
in company with a few friends, the historical asso-
ciations pertaining to our surroundings called
forth, in the free flow of talk, allusions to the
early days of the American Congress, — the Presi-
dency of Thomas Jefferson, the Vice-Presidency
of Col. Aaron Burr. In connection with the men-
tion of the latter name, several facts were touched
upon, quoted from Mr. James Parton's biography
of the man, illustrating his power of address ; the
ease with Avhich he could put himself in commu-
nication with people of every class, from the high-
est to the lowest, from the most cultured to the
rudest, old and young alike ; instinctively quick to
adjust himself, as to thought, tone, and manner,

1 Read before the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society,
March 25, 1S81.

66 LIFE AZOTES.

to any personal presence whatsoever, confident in
his ability to win responsive feeling, and realize
the aim, or even the whim, that may have impelled
him at the time.

The conversation, having taken tliis turn, evi-
dently, as it went on, awakened fresh interest in
the study of a distinguished character that had
seemed to some mysterious and almost mythical.
One lady there present, certainly well read in
general history, was disposed to criticise the style
of those statements as exaggerated; quite ready
to admit the exceptional greatness of the man as
a born ruler of men, exemplified especially in his
last address as presiding officer of the Senate,
whereof there were many witnesses, yet ques-
tioning the affirmations she had heard as to the
extent of his regal sway, his capability of univer-
sal conquest, despite distinctions of age and class,
wheresoever the way was open for his genius
to assert itself as "a living presence." Then
another added, with an emphasis of expression,
"Why, the style of talk about Burr that I have
heard from some old Southern gentlemen sounds
like a boy's romancing, rather than a man's plain
story of what he had seen and known in the
matter-of-fact Avorld we live in."

Thus I was led, when alone at night, thinking
of the driftings of that day's talk, recalling my

IMPRESSIONS OF COL. AARON BURR. 67

own personal memories of Col. Burr, to muse
upon the curious combination or fusion of incon-
gruous influences that have free scope in ''the
make-up " of every particular individuality of the
human race. One's own experience may vivify
this thought to his own consciousness if he
chance to follow it out in reflective or retrospec-
tive moods of mind. How few, comparatively,
have apprehended, much less comprehended, the
workings of all the conflicting elements in con-
stant play throughout the changing phases of in-
ner life, yet all unified at last under the dominant
sway of one supreme idea or ruling principle !
Such is tlie general observation then recorded
in my diary, to me very real indeed, as if I were
writing it in the real presence of two contem-
porary contrasted cliaracters, called up at my
mind's bidding from " the vasty deep," both at
once re-appearing, not seeing each other, but both
greeting me, as of old, in contrasted tone and
manner, with the cheer of friendly recognition.

The intervening half-century is as one day ;
for, as I now look back to the early years of my
academic life in New York, where I was in the
Avay of seeing Col. Burr, for successive j^ears,
twice or thrice every week, at the liouse of an
aged relative wliere he occupied the lower front-
room as a law-office, it seems to myself quite

68 LIFE NOTES.

noteworthy that I, so young, should have been
so thoroughly captivated as by the spell of his
genius for winning social sympathy; admiring
him as the realization of an heroic ideal, and at
the same time, on the other hand, conscious of
an attracting force put forth by one of the plain-
est, most simple-minded, and most honest-hearted
of Christian men, Richard Cunningham, Esq.,
an elder of the Brick Presbyterian Church, under
the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Spring while that
distinguished minister, who kept his place of
eminence for more than a half-century, was yet
in his prime. The elder, a good and lovable
man, could not have endured the companionship
of Col. Burr for a single hour without a keen
sense of nervous uneasiness, so little had they in
common, particularly after the public feeling had
turned so mightily against the slayer of Gen.
Hamilton. At that period, my father, who com-
manded a ship in the India trade, disliked the
mere presence of Col. Burr ; and it happened
once, that when Mr. Bartow, a relative of my
mother and also of the Colonel, called in company
with him at our house, my father, as soon as the
name was announced, managed to take himself
out of the way, and thus refused to see the late
Vice-President of the United States, freely speak-
ing of him as an enemy of his country, and a

IMFRESSIOiVS OF COL. A A RON BURR. 69

social demoralizer whom good society should dis-
own. And yet, even at that time, enjoyiug week
by week the freedom of opportunity for observa-
tion allowed to a schoolboy in a recognized family
relationship, the charm of Burr's manner and
conversation, incidentally in the law-office or in
the parlor, was felt intensely as a power of ex-
traordinary attraction.

Now, I may safely say, that if Richard Cun-
ningham, Esq., whose wife and my mother had
grown up at Pelham a^ neighbors in a relation
like that of sisterhood, at whose city home, there-
fore, I was a frequent visitor, had been aware of
the fact that I have here recorded, and had in-
quired of me what I had found that was so inter-
esting in the presence of the ex-Vice-President,
who had " lost caste," as Dr. Spring expressed it,
I could not have explained the matter so that either
he or his minister could have understood it at all.
Nevertheless, viewing it retrospectively, it is easy
enough here to set it forth so that any one may
discern the secret of personal power, or, as some
have called it, "magnetism," and see the Colonel
from a 3'oung student's point of observation.

WHERE LAY THE SECRET OF THAT POWER?

To this end, let the reader picture to his thought
Old New York as it was more than a half-century

70 LIFE NOTES.

ago^ and imagine that about six o'clock p.m. of a
November day, about 1821, being a schoolboy of
thirteen, having delivered my mother's message
to her aunt, Mrs. Bartow, an aged lady of seventy-
five (a relative by marriage to Col. Burr's first
wife, nee Theodosia Bartow), I was protracting
my stay in the parlor of her dwelling in Vesey
Street, with the expectation that the Colonel
would come in very soon, as was his wont, to take
his tea, in company with Mr. Bernabue Bartow,
and his excellent mother {iiee Ann Pell), whom
Col. Burr could not but venerate, and upon Avhose
sympathetic kindness he recognized a degree of
dependence. Imagine lum entering the parlor, as
I recall him, at a moment when it happened that
I was lingering there alone. His physicfie^ air,
style of movement, realize a boy's highest ideal of
the soldier and the gentleman ; while his keen
glance and sunny smile, expressive of a personal
interest as real as if I had been a Senator, awaken
a feeling quickly responsive to the tone of cheer
in his greeting, " Well, Will, I'm glad to see you.
Have they left you alone here ? "

"Hardly, Colonel. Aunt and cousin Bernie
were called out just now. They will be in soon."

Approaching the sofa where I had been reclin-
ing, and taking up a school-book that lay there,
he notices the titlepage and the edition, asking,

IMPRESSIONS OF CO I. AARON BURR. 7 1

" Is it your way to be carrying Caesar's ' Commen-
taries ' about with you ? "

" No, sir ; but I have evening lessons. And, as
I have not been home since school, I have kept
Csesar with me."

" How far have you read ? "

" Ui3 to the Bridge."

From this incident as a starting-point, the reader
may trace in thought, as far as fancy can serve
him, a lively talk about Julius Csesar, — stories of
his youth, his personal appearance, his manner
and habits of life, his characteristics as a Roman
citizen, a soldier, a writer, etc. ; all of which the
Colonel could render as interesting to a boy as
Sir Walter Scott's word-pictures of Queen Eliza-
beth, or of the Duke of Buckingham in ''Kenil-
worth," — a book that occurs to memory in this
connection, because it happened to be the freshest
of the " Waverleys," that everybody was reading
or talking about just then.

Here, in reminiscences pertaining to school-days
(taking within their scope two men notably con-
trasted, constantly within view, and present to
my thought, often meeting in Old New York, but
never interchanging a word or look of recogni-
tion), I trace in personal experience two currents
of educational influence incessantly active, dis-
tinct, and different, yet coalescing like the two

72 LIFE NOTES,

contrasted streams of Hebrew and Greek thonght
in the education of youth throughout England
and America. A similar fusion of influences in
the early domestic and academic life of the only
son of the second president of Princeton College,
and grandson of the third president, Jonathan
Edwards, may be traced in the life-course of Aaron
Burr, who, when Vice-President of the United
States, could so readily carry with hijii the sympa-
thies of the national Senate by the power of elo-
quent address, and could ever move with equal
ease and gracefulness of bearing in the social
circle, in the festive hall, in the re-unions of
scholars, writers, and scientists, in courts of law,
upon the arena of political conflict, upon the
chosen ground of the duelist, in the camp, or upon
the battle-field. In the interior life of Col. Burr,
the Greek, or " Gentile," element dominated, ulti-
mately shaping his conceptions and ideals ; so much
so, that, even in those early academic days to
which memory now reverts, while reading parts of
Rollin's "History," the thought would suggest
itself that we saw in him actually the ancient
Stoic and the primitive Epicurean fused into a
live unity. Never could I conceive of an ancient
Stoic, in the palmiest days of that philosophy,
more fully "possessing himself," and persistently
imperturbable, than was Aaron Burr. He sur-

IMPRESSIONS OF COL. AAROA' BURR. 73

passed Zeno himself. His perfect poise, his equa-
nimity, his power of endurance, his apparent
superiority to all changes of condition, even from
affluence to a poverty that he could dignify like
Diogenes, who stood up in the sunshine so royally
as the peer of Alexander, were exceptionally won-
derful, seeming almost superhuman. And now,
while the memory of those fine qualities revives
the sympathetic admiration ever called forth by
his personal presence, we cannot resist the sadden-
ing thought, that, if they had but been subordi-
nated to a worthy life-aim of sufficient " pith and
moment " to enkindle the enthusiasm of which his
gifted nature was capable, the world would have
recognized a style of heroism that it would grate-
fully commemorate, and would have assigned to
him a place in history upon the highest plane of
" representative men."

This remarkable power of self-possession, an
endowment of nature, — improved, even in his
college-days, by a regulated self-discipline, — was
incidentally, now and then, a topic of home-talk ;
and in this connection it was a familiar observa-
tion that Col. Burr was never, throughout all his
life, in the least disconcerted, "except once."
Well do I remember the day when I asked of my
mother an explanation of this saying. " It was
during his sojourn in Paris," she answered,

74 LIFE NOTES.

" where, for a time, he felt himself liable to arrest.
There, while walking alone, quite willing to remain
unnoticed, he was surprised by the quick, sharp
exclamation of a stranger, ' That's the man I ' "
The Colonel told the story himself, frankly con-
fessing his exceptional experience of a nerve-
tremor and a heart-beat. It turned out that the
stranger had seen the portrait of Col. Burr
drawn by his celebrated pi-oter/S^ Vanderlyn ; and
his quick recognition of the likeness startled
him into a mood of admiration that could not
but express itself aloud to the honor of the
artist.

At the time here noted. Col. Burr, sojourning
as an exile in the French capital, to which his
party in Congress had once unanimously agreed
that he should be sent to reside as United States
Minister, must have felt himself keenly alive to
the falseness of his position, out of all normal
relations to society ; and any European who might
have made his acquaintance just then would have
seen him not "at his best," but his worst, thus
failing to get a just impression of that combination
of qualities that had for years called forth from all
orders of people the most curious questionings as
to the possibilities of his career. Nevertheless,
every feature of his physique and manner indicated
the complete self-control which is always sure to

IMPRESSIONS OF CO I. AARON BURR. 75

win the mastery of others. Thus it had been from
first to last. At the outbreak of the Revolution-
ary War, nearly a year before the declaration of
independence, at the age of nineteen, enlisted as
a volunteer under Gen. Arnold in the campaign '
against Quebec, he won the military prestige that
a veteran iiiight have envied ; then, after the war,
while we behold liim a self-trained student and
practitioner, acquiring pre-eminence at the bar, and,
yet in early manhood, called forth and idoHzed as
a pohtical leader by the best young men of the
nation, we feel assured that we have before us, as
a study, not merely a personality richly gifted by
nature, but severely self-disciplined for the reali-
zation of a well-defined ideal, ever present to his
thought as an impelling and uplifting power. His
conception of the type and style of character to
be realized seems not to have been given by
"heredity," but formed by the agency of moral
causes ; a strong will putting forth choices of its
own, as if consciously a creative genius, with faitli
in the maxim that " a man makes for himself the
world that he lives in." In rendering his concep-
tion of manhood actual, he was as minutely par-
ticular as Lord Chesterfield (in his view, a typal
character) in laying down rules of gentlemanly
living ; not disdaining, in his intercourse with law-
students, to emphasize the smallest things pertain-

76 LIFE NOTES.

ing to conduct, as, for instance, by the reminder,
''Remember, sir, no gentleman will be seen
smoking in the streets."

TEMPORARY REALIZATION OF IDEAL HEROISM.

That reminder, which in those days was occa-
sionally quoted in my hearing, is associated with
memories of the whole aggregate of unpressions
made upon my mind, during the period of my
school-life in New York, by Col. Burr, "as a living
presence ; " realizing to my youthful conception
the highest type of cultured manhood, awakening
an intense desu^e to appropriate and assimilate the
elements of manly power, of which he was ever
before me as the most complete exponent. The
possibility of my exemplifying the qualities that I
so keenly appreciated was often a matter of serious
questioning. Under his care at that time was a
Spanish lad, Columbus, occupied as an office-boy,
whom I was always glad to meet. One day, while
talking with him in front of the house in Vesey
Street, the Colonel stepped out to the hall door-
way, in order to give the boy an errand, and some
particular directions as to the manner of doing it.
As soon as he had left us, and closed the office-door,
I was impelled to exclaim, " O Columb ! isn't he
great ? A perfect gentleman ! You could tell
he was a born soldier if you had never seen

IMPRESS/ONS OF COL. AAROiV BURR. 7/

him before, couldn't you?" To this Columb
assented.

The incident is here recalled as illustrating the
impression of the moment. That and like impres-
sions were enduring. I can truly affirm, that, as
a matter of personal experience, throughout the
half-century that followed, seldom, if ever, have I
found myself tempted to give way to impatience,
to anger, to peevishness, to the abandonment of
self-control, but that the image of Col. Burr has
risen before me as a mentor, rebuking the weak-
ness, and quickening manly resolution. Even
now, in similar circumstances under the spell of
such a temptation, that early experience would be
renewed, and the soliloquizing question put:
"Shall I, with all the added aid of a Christian's
faith, fall below the standard of self-mastery
attained by one whose only recognized sense of
inspiration was a ' common-sense philosophy,' —
the strength of a gifted and cultivated nature?
What a miserable and pitiable failure that would
be!"

In connection, however, with this grateful ac-
knowledgment of indebtedness to Col. Burr for
influences so helpful and uplifting, there comes
the unwelcome reflection, that his life regarded
as a Avhole, even in relation to his own cherished
ideal, was a disastrous failure. His philosophy

yS LIFE NOTES.

proved utterly inadequate to meet Ms need of
self-regulating power at the cuhninating point
of his brilliant career. At the opening of this
century, in his manly prime, he had captivated
the nation ; he had won its heart ; thrilled it with
the delight of a hero-worship that seemed but a
generous enthusiasm. Then came to him what
comes to all in a degree, — the crucial trial of the
grounds of character, the one great temptation
that becomes a turning-point of history. He seems
like a man standing upon a pinnacle, "observed
of all observers," — beyond the reach of harm
from any one except himself, — listening to the
subtle tempter whispering, "Cast thyself down,"
and whispering, too, the false promise of power to
lift himself up in bedazzling triumph over his
enemies, above all law, human or divine. Instead
of bidding away the angel-like fiend that assumed
to speak as the champion of Honor, he yielded to
the sway of "the hour and power of darkness."
In his latest retrospect of life he must have caught
a glimpse of " the situation " as we see it now,
when, having been sympathetically moved, one
afternoon, by hearing readings from Sterne, among
them the story of " Uncle Toby and the Fly," he
was heard to say patheticall}^ " Had I read Vol-
taire less, and Sterne more, I might have thought
the world wide enough for Hamilton and me ! "

IMPRESSIONS OF COL. AARON BURR. 79

How suggestive was that expression of a sad
heart-story, never fally told, but just hinted I
Wliile we all regret his great mistake, we may
trace it back to its source, chronologically beyond
the period when Voltaire overshadowed Sterne, to
the day of his student-life at Princeton, when he
sought an interview with the fourth president of
the college, Dr. Witherspoon, in order to solicit
his opinion as to the proper manner of treating
the extraordinary religious interest in progress
just then among all classes oP the undergraduates.
To the good Doctor, thoroughly familiar with tlie
set habitudes of a Scotch university, moulded
by the traditional forms of the State Church, this
spontaneous movement, on the part of the young
men, of an earnest spirit of inquiry not com-
prised within the prescribed educational curricu-
lum^ was of a sort somewhat new and strange. He
spoke of it disparagingly ; treated it as an outbreak
of fanaticism. The young inquirer acknowledged
his sense of relief from anxiety, and resolved to
ignore the movement, or resist its appeals. This
hostile attitude was unhealthful ; issued in a set
antipathy that modified his tastes, his choice of
books or favorite readings, his associations, his
decisions, and the trend of his life-course. If tlie
fourth president of Princeton had been as well
qualified to " understand his times " as have been

80 LIFE NOTES.

his successors, especially the eminent Christian
philosopher of our own time, who also crossed the
Atlantic to take the same presidential chair, he
would surely have emphasized in some way the
sentiment sounded forth by Thomas Carlyle in
interpreting the story of young Oliver Cromwell
at the like crisis of his inner life, heart-trouble,
and deliverance, thus : " Certaiiily a grand epoch
for a man, — properly the one epoch, the turning-
point which guides upward or guides downward.
him and his activity for evermore. Wilt thou join
the dragons ? Wilt thou join the gods? Of thee,
too, the question is asked, whether by a man in
Genevan gown, by a man of four surplices at All-
Hallowtide, with words very imperfect, or by no
man and no words, but only by the silences, by
the eternities, by the life everlasting, the death
everlasting." Would that some such Carlylean
oracle had been whispered in the ear of the presi-
dent of Princeton in time for the critical hour of
liis pupil's exigency, and imparted the fitting tone
of response to the call of an inquiring spirit !

THE TESTED FRIENDSHIP.

After the summer of 1824, absence from the
city of New York during the period of collegiate
and professional studies, and then the establish-
ment of my home in Boston, allowed me but few

IMPRESSIONS OF COL. AARON BURR. 8 1

opportunities of personal interviews with Col.
Burr; hearing from him occasionally, however,
through mutual relatives and friends. Through-
out the years of his residence in Vesey Street,
which Mr. Parton has not particularized, he en-
joyed, to a degree, the sympathies and comforts of
family-life ; and afterward, death having invaded
that home-circle, his office was removed, and he
lived, for the most part, alone within it. His
physical energy was wonderfully sustained until
the year 1830, when he was suddenly smitten by
paralysis of the right side. As soon as the intel-
ligence reached his cousin, Mrs. Hawes {riee
Catharine Bartow), she hastened from her resi-
dence in Brooklyn to visit him in his office, then
on the corner of Gold and Fulton Streets. His
physician and several friends were there, and the
experiment of electrical application was going on.
He expressed his wish to Mrs. Hawes that he
might be removed to her home, and be under her
care. Mr. Edwards, one of the company, imme-
diately took an opportunity to say to Mrs. Hawes,
with a look of anxiety, " He is not in a fit condi-
tion to be removed; and it will excite him too
much, just now, to talk about it. As there is a
coach at the door, perhaps you had better avail
yourself of it, and take leave of him for the
present." Mrs. Hawes returned to Brooklyn.

82 LIFE NOTES.

But the strong-willed man had his way erelong.
On the day following, a coach containing the
Colonel, and two strong men as attendants, who
had arranged a mattress and pillows for his sup-
port, arrived at the dwelling of Mrs. Ilawes, wlio,
hastening, in her surprise, to greet him, was hailed
by his salutation in an exultant, joyous tone,
''Cousin Katie, I told you that you must take
care of me now." It was so. He was cordially
welcomed. The sickness did not prove to be, as
had been expected, his last. A few weeks' assidu-
ous care on the part of Mr. and Mrs. Hawes,
encouraging him with their help to rise, and, by
gentle exercise in the parlor, to learn to walk
again, repeating the process at a set hour daily
for a month, restored the old warrior, so that he
resumed his office business with as keen a zest as
ever. Although he had passed "the border-line
of threescore and ten," his interest in the details of
professional work had not flagged ; the changes
wrought by time had not touched his brain ; and
the tone of his mind, thus marvellously kept up,
rendered his work a kind of rejuvenation. At
the same time, despite all faults, sorrows, "loss
of caste," abandonment by society, he never lost
faith in the genuineness of unselfish friendship, or
his power to win and keep it ; and never, we may
safely say, has history shown us the example of a

IMPRESS/O.VS OF COL. AARON BURR. 83

man whose experiences of adversity more fully
proved that the love-poAver is a reality, and that
real love is a deathless principle.

LIMITATION OF ETHICS AND ESTHETICS.

Among the reflections suggested by the review
of a life-course so marked by contrasted changes
and interesting episodes, there comes to us one
that is somewhat startling ; namely, this : the
ethical and aesthetic lessons inculcated by mor-
alists in their analyses, summings-up, and final
judgments of his career, had been anticipated by
Aaron Burr himself in the papers that he had
written and read as " compositions " in the years
of his college-life at Prhiceton. Therein he has
set forth a high ideal of character and purpose.
That fine ideal was, in the main, actually realized
in his own family-life as husband, father, edu-
cator, and companion. From the day of his mar-
riage to Mrs. Theodosia Prevost {nee Bartow) to
the day of her departure from earth, no household
of any public man in America that we have any
account of, as to its interior relations, could show
a more beautiful exemplification of a pure and
happy home. To her, though older than himself,
he had been attracted by qualities of mind and
heart that not only won his love, but commanded
his admiration. Their correspondence betrays a

84 LIFE NOTES.

profound congeniality of sentiment and intellec-
tual kinship of the highest order ; so that in her
he recognized a woman to whom he could look up
as a superior representative of her sex, realizing
his own cherished ideal of true womanhood.
Trust is the basis of love, and his trust in her
was all but boundless. He honored her judg-
ment when it differed from his own, appreciating
its frank expression. Writing of her, before the
time of their marriage, he said she could talk of
books, of Voltaire, Rousseau, Chesterfield, " could
appreciate those authors, without becoming their
disciple." In accordance with this statement, we
notice that in one of her letters to him, in 1781,
referring to Lord Chesterfield, she says, *^ The in-
dulgence you applaud in that author is the only
part of his writings that I think reprehensible."
At the same time, referring to the subject of reli-
gion in its personal relations, she declared that
worlds should not purchase the little she pos-
sessed. In all their communications, we trace a
sense of mutual indebtedness. She admired his
type and style of manliness. In 1781 we observe
his saying to her, in familiar pen-talk, " That mind
is truly great which can bear with equanimity the
trifling, and unavoidable vexations of life, and be
affected only by those events which determine our
substantial bliss." They were mutual helpers in

lAfPRESSIONS OF COL. AARO.V BURR. 85

their life-battle. Years after her death, while we
hear him saying, as was his wont, " The mother of
my Theodosia was the best woman and the finest
lady I have ever known," we feel assured that her
loss could not be supplied by any human substitu-
tion. He needed not only her companionship, but
a kindred religious principle as a regulating force.
Had that distinguished woman lived, in full pos-
session of her queenly powers, a few years longer,
and been with him as his "guardian angel" at the
critical point of his life-trial, he might have come
forth from it wearing the laurel of moral conquest,
and exemplified the ancient saying, " He that is
slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he
that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."

The biography of Col. Burr, by James Parton,
has been widely welcomed as a contribution of
permanent value, not only to American literature,
but to world-history. Its achievement was an im-
portant part of his "mission." Had he passed
away without undertaking it, the lack could never
have been supplied. Although his readers may
differ from him occasionally as to sentiments in-
cidentally expressed, we recognize throughout the
skill of the artist and the fidelity of the conscien-
tious historian. During the closing years of Col.
Burr, to the last day of his life, Sept. 14, 1836,
the heroic elements pertaining to his gifted nature

S6 LIFE NOTES.

were still in lively play ; and ]\Ir. Parton's word-
pictures are so clear and truthful, that the reader
who still remembers the subject of the narrative
as a living personality is impelled by agreeable
surprises to soliloquize aloud, like the stranger
who had beheld the portrait by Vanderlyn, " That's
the man ! "

From different quarters objections have been
urged against Mr. Parton's treatment of his sub-
ject as a fanciful style of portraiture, investing an
essentially defective character with a halo that
renders it attractive and even fascinating to youth-
ful minds, when it should have been his aim
rather to dispel its charm, and render it repulsive.
Such criticisms are quite superficial. A biogra-
phy is not a novel. In a work of fiction a writer
may create his characters, but a writer of history
deals with facts. If the biographer had repre-
sented Col. Burr in any other light than as a
mightily attractive personality, his book would
have been untruthful and morally valueless. A
volume was not needed to warn any one against
the fatal issues of a life utterly destitute of any
element of excellence to love, honor, or admire ;
but to demonstrate by a great example that a
character may be eminent for virtues that com-
mand the homage of a nation, and yet fail as to
the realization of the chief end of life, for lack of

IMPRESSIONS OF COI. AARON BURR. 8/

a supreme moral principle ruling within, at the
very centre of one's being, is to set forth the one
primary lesson that our times call for, and Avorthy
of being issued in new and improved editions, for
the sake of '' the generations to come."

88 LIFE NOTES.

VI.

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD.
CRITICAL POINT OF AN EDUCATIONAL COURSE.

While tracing the course of school-life in Old
New York along the first quarter of this century,
the early entrance of boys upon the college curric-
idum seems noteworthy as a feature of the time.
The trend that way had been set somewhat by
the classical teachers from the universities of
Great Britain. It was not uncommon for boys
to make a beginning with the Latin Grammar at
nine years of age, and then at a little over twelve
to present themselves at the chapel of Columbia
College, Park Place, to pass an examination for
entrance into the Freshman class. Although it
may have been said that the normal age for en-
trance w^as fourteen, "the boys of twelve " seemed
to consider themselves in regular order as candi-
dates, and approached the ordeal with an air of
self-reliance, as if ''masters of the situation."

Looking back to the educational methods of
that time from the stand-point of the present, we

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 89

note many changes for the Letter ; but in this
particuhir connection the feeling of contrast as-
serts itself in irrepressible exclamations of wonder
over this relic of old scholastic custom. What a
torturing trial of body and soul that was ! It
does seem now, indeed, as if the whole arrange-
ment had been contrived by ancient schoolmen to
overawe the youthful aspirants by the solemnity
of their surroundings. In the centre of the chapel
was a platform large enough to hold a chair placed
before a table containing all the books then re-
quired. Along the southern side of the room
were ranged the candidates for admission from
the various preparatory schools ; on the northern
side were seated their school-fellows and friends
to witness their trial; while at the western end
were arrayed the robed Faculty, suggesting the
judicial dignity of the Supreme Court of the
United States. On the occasions which we re-
member, though the venerable President Harris
was in his place, the examination was mainly con-
ducted by Professor Charles Anthon, LL.D. ; and
he performed his part con amove. Of course, the
scholars had all been told by their teachers that
they were "well prepared;" and no doubt they
had good reason to think so. Each one in turn
mounted the platform courageously; but when
once there, alone, " the observed of all observers,"

90 LIFE NOTES.

confronting such a solemn Inquisition, the situa-
tion seemed quite new : and tlien, just at the
point where any close questioning was started,
demanding the boy's whole attention to the matter
in hand, we have seen more than one who had
" never known fear " lose his self-command, and
break down suddenly, with no power of expres-
sion but the irrepressible tear, so tenderly vocal
with surprise and disappointment. To the honor
of the Faculty, how'ever, be it said that they re-
membered their own experiences, and seldom
failed to make proj^er allowances for such inci-
dental weaknesses, so that no boy was put back
for the mere heredity of nervousness. In fact,
the whole corps of teachers who sent the candi-
dates in those days were trusted men, and the
professors generally treated their certificates or
judgments of scholarship with profound respect.

INTERVAL BETWEEN ACADE:MY AND COLLEGE.

It w^as at this stage of our educational course,
in the year 1820, that I was separated from the
companionship of the classmates with whom I had
been prepared for Columbia College. My father
was unwilling that I should enter upon the four
years' curriculum of the college at twelve, or even
thirteen, years of age. He had thought out a defi-
nite programme for my future, and had awakened

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 9 1

on my part a sympathetic interest in following it
out. It was his wish, for himself, after a full third
of a century's experience in ploughing the deep, to
turn to the ploughing of the land, and to make a
change from city life to a home in the country.
In order to gain time for deliberate choice before
purchasing a farm in New Jersey, he hired the
parsonage of the Reformed Presbyterian Church
in Paramus, at the time unoccupied by the pastor.
Rev. Dr. Wilhelmus Elting, who was then residing
upon his own home-farm in Aquackonouck. At
the same time he arranged for me a year's resi-
dence in New York at the home of a widowed
relative, Mrs. Joseph Bayley, in order that I might
carefully review, under the special teaching of
Mr. John Walsh, the ground I had already gone
over, and thus acquire, as it was hoped, the habit
of self-direction in study. In this connection he
disclosed his projected course ; namely, that during
the year 1822 I should have a regular practice of
farm-work at Paramus ; that in 1823 I should take
a four months' trip to England with him, and
then, returning at the close of that year, resume
my course of studies at Paramus, availing myself
of the aid of a resident instructor, Mr. Simeon
Zabriskie, especially apt in teaching arithmetic,
algebra, and geometry, with the view of entering
college in 1824, a year and a half in advance.

93 LIFE NOTES.

Tliis planning was carried out to the letter. Thus
my interval between academy and college em-
braced three years' intermingling of farm-work,
foreign travel, and self-directed study.

THE farm; the church AND ITS PREACHER.

The projected change from the city to the coun-
try was a lively contrast. There was the charm
of novelty ; there was also the sense of responsi-
bility pertaining to the charge of the farm during
my father's absence on business in the city. The
surroundings were very pleasant. Paramus was
originally a settlement of well-to-do farmers, of
Holland stock, growing wealthier every year by
honest gains ; for, as yet, the town had never seen
a poor person, dependent upon charity, within its
borders. Tlie people's home-talk was Dutch as
much as English, and the preaching of Dr. Elting
was in Dutch every alternate Sunday service.

The Doctor was then in his prime, and, whether
speaking in Dutch or English, was, as to style of
thought and manner, plain, conversational, argu-
mentative, earnest. In rising to address us, he
always looked at us directly, as if kindly intent
upon communicating something that had interested
liimself, and so won us at once. Thus it was, in-
deed, as a matter of experience on a beautiful Sun-
day morning in June, 1823, when I entered the

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 93

old Paramus Reformed Presbyterian Church in a
state of entire indifferentism as to the whole range
of subjects appropriate to the day and the place.
On that day, however, Dr. Elting was "at his
best," as if under some exceptional inspiration.
He drew his text from Christ's valedictory dis-
course (John XV. 22, "If I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin : but now
they have no cloak for their sin "), and proceeded
to set forth, as a characteristic of the jNIaster's
preaching, his method of appealing to every soul
individually by a direct testimony, presenting him-
self as a divine teacher and Saviour, calling upon
each to do one of two things : either to prove that
testimony to be false, or treat it as true by a free
act of choice in a personal self-surrender. Em-
phasizing that idea, he affirmed that this free act
of self-surrender to Christ, in answer to his call,
puts the soul into a new relation to him, and in
this decisive choice one "becomes a Christian."
This act of faith on the part of the soul is just as
intelligible, just as simple, as was the poor leper's
act of faith in regard to his body (Matt. viii. 1-3) ;
placing it before Christ for healing, and thus com-
ing; at once into the new relation of a patient to
the divine Physician. There is no puzzling mys-
ticism here. Did not that sick man act ration-
ally? Would you not have gladly done as he did

94 LIFE NOTES.

under like circumstances ? In offering one's own
soul to Christ, responsive to his invitation, the
intellect, heart, and conscience act in unity, freely-
yielding to the highest possible motive of action ;
namely, the loving appeal of the Saviour in " lay-
ing down his life, of himself," a sacrifice for us,
as he did when he let sin have its own way in
putting him to death upon the cross of Calvary,
and thus showed forth " the exceeding sinfulness
of sin " in man when left to act itself out accord-
ing to its essential nature. Now, a human being,
conscious of sin, accepting him as the self-sacri-
ficing Son of God, having, as he proclaimed,
" power on earth to forgive sin," in that very act
joins with Jesus in " condemning sin " (as Paul's
expression is in Rom. viii. 3), rejects at once all
other sacrifices or offerings of merit in the way of
atonement, enters into a new relation with God,
based upon a new groundwork of present accept-
ance, and so, by this act of faith, or sympathetic
union with Christ, becomes identified with him in
the realization of "eternal life," through and with
him, "the heir of all things." This change of
relation is a real salvation for both worlds ; because
the subject of it, " having now received the atone-
ment," recognizes within himself a grateful love
to the self-sacrificing Redeemer, that is of itself a
neiv power^ "working in him to will and to do,"

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 95

and insuring nltimate victory in the long conflict
with evil. In the delivery of this discourse the
doctor seemed to speak with an unwonted and
touching earnestness. To one, at least, in that
audience the Christianity of the New Testament
disclosed itself in an aspect of simplicity unrec-
ognized before ; namely, a revelation of divine
love, creating a responsive love in the human soul
as a new vital force : so that, before the sun set on
that day, there was realized the consciousness of a
new love as a motive-power within, of a new rela-
tion to the kingdom of Christ on earth, and a new
life-aim that marked a turning-point of personal
history.

From that day to this I have never spoken or
written the name of Wilhelmus Elting, D.D.,
without a profound sense of indebtedness.

TRAVELLING REGARDED AS EDUCATIONAL.

The four months' visit to England in company
with my father, already alluded to, though not
thought of at first as part of an educational pro-
gramme, proved itself, as it now seems, a factor
of some worth educationally. In this direction
it was more effective, probably, than a "rapid
transit " over the continent of Europe, in the style
of modern tourists, could have been made. We
travelled leisurely, enjoyed the top seats of the

96 LIFE notes:

old-fasliionecl stage-coach, and took time enough to
reconnoitre the places and objects of the highest
historical interest. Every acre of English ground
has something to tell that is worth hearing, and
the period of boyhood is the time set to listen.
This remark is verified by a glance at the journal
of those days, retained still in a condition readable
to the writer. The diary of a boy traveller is a
unique sort of thing, pertaining exclusively to its
own season ; and the like of it cannot be afterward
produced for love or money. What a variety of
minute details, items of curious interest, the exact
figuring of dimensions, trifles " not worth noting "
that become signihcant by their connections, things
that the college graduate would never have seen,
are recalled with interest from the journal of the
schoolboy ! They all turn out to be of use at some
time, and acquire historical worth, at any rate.
The quickening of an interest in history is of itself,
in part, an education. The dullest will be stirred
by the object-lessons given even by untrained
teachers. " Take this hatchet in your hand ;
observe its long blade ; feel its edge. When I tell
you what it is, you will remember it all your life,"
said the portly, good-natured guide through the
Tower of London. " Well, what is it ? " — " It is
the instrument with which the beautiful Queen
Anne Boleyn was beheaded." The cicerone was

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD. 97

right : memory rej^eats the thrill of horror even
now, and vivifies one's conceptions of court-life in
the time of Henry VIII.

In this connection it is worthy of notice that any
American schoolboy travelling through England
in 1823 would become somewhat educated practi-
cally to an appreciation of the study of American
as well as of English history ; for the main ques-
tion that is still agitating the country was then the
subject of earnest talk everywhere, — in parlors,
shops, and counting-rooms alike, — namely, the
tariff. In that year the spirit of discussion was at
its highest; every Englishman was well assured
that America would see that it was her true policy
to content herself with furnishing raw material,
and buying her manufactured goods. It was so
plain a case as to leave but little ground iox doubt
touching the issue. To their astonishment, the
next year, 1824, came the American tariff; and to
the astonishment of many now, the same question
agitates both nations, while the same arguments
are repeated by another generation about as far
as ever from any unity of doctrine that dictates
the policy of the future.

98 LIFE NOTES,

VII.

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED.
COLLEGE-LIFE.

The six years of New York school-life already
traced, pertained to a period of transition : Old
New York then actually passed away, and Mod-
ern New York entered upon its national and
cosmopolitan career. The Erie- Canal, connecting
the waters of our Mediterranean Seas with the
Atlantic, — though its completion was not sig-
nalized by public celebration until 1825, — had
become, despite the most deadly political antago-
nism, generally recognized as the great historical
fact of the time three or four years before the
close of the first quarter of the century ; even as
early as 1820, when Col. William L. Stone assumed
the editorship of "The Commercial Advertiser,"
and made it the organ of a new political party
known as "the Clintonians." Around DeWitt
Clinton as their leader that party rallied with
enthusiasm, and the great project which they cham-
pioned successfully exerted a subtile influence upon

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED. 99

the conceptions of every New York schoolboy,
who could now understand that " the city of his
habitation " was no longer to be distinguished
mainly as the commercial capital of the Hudson-
river Valley, but as the metropolis of the Empire
State. The idea was, of itself, as a new guiding
light in the line of forecasting thought ; investing
the whole interior beyond the MohaAvk, from
Schenectady to Utica, thence to Buffalo and
Niagara, with a fresh glow of romantic interest.

THE EDUCATIONAL TREND WESTWARD.

This connection of events and turn of public
thought shaped the educational plans of a number
of city students, who but for this impulse would
have been content to follow along the beaten path
to Columbia College, in their own vicinity, or at
any rate, if otherwise minded, would never have
entertained the thought of going westward beyond
Schenectady and Dr. Nott for the sake of collegi-
ate education. Now, however, the outlook seemed
quite different. The rise of Hamilton College at
Clinton, near the centre of the State, about eight
miles from Utica westward (an institution of
normal growth, whereof the Hamilton Oneida
Academy, established at Clinton in 1812, was the
germ), occup3'ing a beautiful site, and " officered "
by a competent Faculty, attracted young men from

lOO LIFE NOTES.

the East as well as from the West, from New York
as well as from Detroit. There, nearly sixty years
ago, they were gathered from the geographical
extremes as well as from the central neighbor-
hoods ; as, for instance, young Tompkins, the son
of the vice-president, whose home was on Staten
Island, and the son of Gov. Clinton, whose home
was in Albany, were fellow-students with the son
of Judge Porter, the proprietor of the land on
the American side of Niagara Falls. The college
catalogue exhibited, for successive years, the
names of students representing the oldest families
of Old New York in class-fellowship with those
who hailed from little villages that were then all
alive with the sense of a " manifest destiny " to
become great cities, with possibilities quite un-
definable. To the whole company of students
domiciled upon Clinton Hill at that period the
outlook of life was bright and hopeful in the light
of a new era, and the future of every individual
seemed well assured, like the future of the im-
perial State that could unite the waters of our
inland seas to all the seas of the world, and bring
the wealth of the West to our own metropolitan
centre. In the year 1825 the completion of the
Eric Canal was magnificently celebrated ; and
then, when Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell ended the
ceremony by pouring into the Atlantic tide bottles

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED. 10 1

of water from " the Ganges and Indus of Asia,
from the Nile and the Gambia of Africa, the
Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, and the Danube of
Europe, the Mississippi and Columbia of North,
and Orinoko, La Plata, and Amazon of South
America," in connection with a spirited oration in-
terpreting the symbols, he fitly expressed the high-
toned hopefulness that had animated the whole
community throughout the preceding half-decade.

THE HISTORICAL VIEW-POINT.

Thus the year 1825 asserts its claim as a chrono-
logical stand-point for any one who would appre-
hend correctly the historical relations of the old
and the new. The mention of it in this connec-
tion awakens many pleasant memories, noting it
as the middle year of my Hamilton-College life,
having joined the Sophomore class in 1824, the
third term. Leaving the steamer " Chancellor Liv-
ingston " at Albany, the old-fashioned stage-coach
stood ready to carry our travelling company to
Schenectady, whence we went right forward to
Utica by the Erie Canal, at the rate of four miles
an hour, in the new and strange-looking " packet,"
which, attractive to us by its novelty, compensated
for its slowness by uninterrupted persistency day
and night ; illustrating the old story of the tortoise
overtaking the race-horse.

I02 LIFE NOTES.

A number of my fellow-passengers were then
enjoying their first trip on the Erie Canal. Land-
ing at Utica, they were greatly amazed at the
sight of a comparatively thriving and beautiful
city that had sprung up so suddenly along the
shores and heights of the Mohawk. Men of lively
imagination could not discern the limitations of
its groAvth, and predicted for it a sort of metro-
politan eminence.

INTRODUCTION TO COLLEGE-LIFE.

The Presbyterian congregation was already the
most poAverful religious organism of the city, its
house of Avorship a large central structure, and
the Rev. Dr. Aikin, the minister, though in his
prime, seemed relatively patriarchal. As a life-
long family friend, he made me his guest, and
sent me forth to the college at Clinton, eight miles
westward, well equipped with letters of introduc-
tion. The president. Rev. Henry Davis, D.D.,
once a professor at Yale, afterwards president of
Middlebury College, Vermont, in stjde of dress
and manners a perfect representative of ancient
scholastic dignity, received the new-comer with
Internal graciousness at his " study " in the north-
west corner of his own dwelling, having an out-
look over the college-grounds ; provided for my
examination at the college without delay, mainly

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED. IO3

under the direction of the senior tutor, William
Kirkland ; then, cujigratulating me on the realiza-
tion of my Avishes, arranged with instinctive per-
ception of character, through the agency of his
son, my first introductions to fellow-students, and
a provisional room-mate. It was the instinct of
parental wisdom and the keen tact of an educator,
as it now seems to me retrospectively, that sug-
gested these arrangements as to their minute par-
ticulars of adaptation to m}^ tastes and needs,
mentally and socially. Alone, without acquaint-
anceship, how much as to personal happiness and
welfare depended upon first impressions and first
companionships ! Immediately I found myself at
ease, at home, and satisfied with my surroundings.

EIVAL LITERARY SOCIETIES.

One of the first impressions, however, made
upon my mind soon after my arrival, pertaining
to the social tone of the college, seemed for a
little time somewhat abnormal. All alike, even
the oldest, were apparently desirous of making
my acquaintance ; and the grace or tact with which
o})portunities were sought, suggested some excep-
tional inspiration more than the spirit of ordinary
civility. There was a sense of environment in a
sunny atmosphere ; and this first specimen that I
had seen of a state of separation from the outside

I04 LIFE NOTES.

world to the new relationship of college home-life,
commended itself to my sympathetic appreciation.
Erelong, however, the nature of the inspiration
that prompted these winning attentions disclosed
itself, not so permanently unique as it had seemed.
A warm rivalry between the two literary societies
kindled a specially sympathetic interest in the
new-comer ; so that the youngest stranger from
tlie country, however shy by nature, found him-
self quite rich in friends, and his favoring smile
sought as a prize. In due time the claims of the
Phoenix and the Philoputhean were eloquently
pleaded ; and, by the time that the decisive choice
was made, the young pilgrim, who might have
been a little chilled by loneliness, found himself
naturalized to a tropical climate, healthful and
enjoyable.

INTELLECTUAL AND SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE.

The influence of these two rival societies, each
being centred in its own room and library, was
favorable to self-culture, especially aiding devel-
opment of faculty in speaking and debate more
effectually than the regular collegiate exercises.
Kindred associations in various colleges of the
country have of late years given place to " secret
societies," proposing sociality as their one end and
practical aim. Educational observers have said.

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED. 105

that, during the last two decades, the poAver of
debate has declmed within the area of college-life.
And the president of one university,^ recognizing
"the situation," has provided, by means of the
construction, or reconstruction, of the college-
buildings, for the furnishing of society rooms in
an attractive way, adapted to revive an interest in
the ideal aim that stimulated to special efforts the
students of the olden time. Can any one peruse
the life of Daniel Webster, and notice the degree
of power attributed by his biographer, George
Ticknor Curtis, to the action of a society of this
order, in the development of the grandest Ameri-
can lawyer, orator, and statesman of our century,
without a profound feeling of the significance of
such a proposal ?

In this connection it is worthy of notice that
the cherished interest in this line of educational
self-culture has never died out on Clinton Hill,
and that, in the intercollegiate representative trials
of oratory, Hamilton College has never receded
from the van.

PERSONNEL OF THE FACULTY.

Although, in referring to the examination for
entrance, I mentioned particularly the name of
the senior tutor, Mr. William Kirkland, several

1 President Robinson of Brown University.

I06 LIFE NOTES.

other members of the Facult}^ were present. Of
Mr. Kirkhiiid himself we may speak as " to the
manor born;" the family history of the Kirklands,
including the eminent president of Harvard Uni-
versity, having been so intimately associated with
the annals of the village of Clinton and the county
of Oneida. In manner the senior tutor was
gentlemanly, deliberate, critical ; in fact, like his
distinguished relative of Harvard, accomplished
and effective in personal communication, but
without corresponding power of expression by
means of pen or type. He is now, retrospectively,
quite familiar to our thought as the husband of
Mrs. Caroline M. Kirkland, nee Stansbury, author
of the "Life of Washington," and an eminent
figure in New York society before and after the
war for the Union.

Prominent in the college Faculty, occupying
the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy,
was Professor Theodore Strong, LL.D., a strong-
brained man, putting all the energy of his nature
into his specialty, and in regard to whose rank
among mathematicians it was generally conceded
that there were none above him. He was in
later years, while professor at Brunswick, N.J.,
an effective contributor to the mathematical litera-
ture of the time, and, as a teacher, especially prized
by the few who took rank as "born mathemati-

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED. \OJ

cians." Nevertheless, the professor always denied
that nature had gifted him with ''genius,'' aftirm-
ing that all his acquisitions had been conquered
by force of will and hard work. In this line of
direction his talk was an inspiration of encourage-
ment to the dullest.

At the head of the classical department was
Professor John Monteith, a clergyman of Scotch
origin, a man of gentle manners, who " magnified
his office " by doing honest work and by getting
honest work out of his students ; by a personal in-
fluence drawing them into sympathy with his deep
sense of the essential worth of classical studies
as related to success in life. In his presence, how
low and mean and unpractical seemed the views
of those who regarded the knowledge of the
ancient languages as merely " ornamental " ! If
ever his unemotional features glowed with the
feeling of utter scorn, it was wd:ien provoked by
the expression of that idea by some popular jour-
nalists. Over the laboratory Dr. Noyes, " free
and easy " in his dress and address, presided, and
having drawn to him, as assistant, George W.
Clinton, did his best to impart to "us boys " such
an amount of college chemistry as was possible
under his limitations. He was never disconcerted.
If an experiment issued differently from his pre-
diction, as it often would, he was happy over it, as

I08 LIFE NOTES.

quite fortunate ; saying that he had already given
ns the true hiw of the case, and that now anotlier
very important principle had been incidentally
verified. Thus every mishap was clear gain I
One thing we Avere well taught in that laboratory ;
namely, how to make the best of our mistakes by
tracing them to their causes.

EFFECTIVE FORCE OF "THE SMALLER COLLEGES."

My retrospective view of college-life has never
suggested a regret that I was induced to leave the
great metropolis to seek matriculation in one of
the smaller colleges of the country. There, cer-
tainly, the environment was most favorable to
mental health and effective work ; adapted to call
out the best that is in one, so as to realize the
essential idea of education. A largely endowed
university, with its thousands of students, may
fitly meet the needs of those who would pursue a
post-graduate course for the mastery of specialties ;
but for the majority of the younger class the surest
groundwork of a really liberal education, suited to
the broad area of American citizenship, is the
curriculum of the college, pursued without liability
to distraction for several successive years. Illus-
trative of this statement in the sight of the civil-
ized world is the life-story of President Garfield,
whose kingly rank as scholar, orator, soldier, and

EDUCATIONAL PERIOD CONTINUED. IO9

statesman is recognized to-day not only by the
nation that owned liim as chief, but by all edu-
cated nations throughout Christendom and Hea-
thendom. To meet his needs for the realization
of his high ideal, there was one great necessity;
namely, a college like Williams College, including
"a born teacher" like President Hopkins, combin-
ing a genius for metaphysics as well as for science
and literature. The correspondence of demand
and supply was complete ; and while the example
of Garfield is remembered, thousands of young
men will discern in President Hopkins's beck to
the struggling student, voiced in the written re-
sponse to his inquiry, ''Come, and we will do what
we can for you," an argument in the interest
of " the smaller colleges."

OXONIAN ANT) HAMILTONIAN BROTHERHOOD.

While writing this last sentence there is on the
table before me a journal containing an article
referring to the latest edition of Dean Stanley's
" great work " on Palestine and Syria, tracing the
steps of the eminent English scholar pursuing his
critical studies over the ancient land, guided by
Dr. Edward Robinson, the pioneer of his age in
that line of investigation, whose subtle insight in
the determination of doubtful questions has won
for him recognition as " a supreme authority." It

no LIFE NOTES.

is interesting to observe with what implicit trust
tlie illustrious alumnus of uld Oxford follows the
leadership of the alumnus of Hamilton College,
treating his tested conclusions as final ; freely ac-
knowledging the indebtedness of European scholar-
ship to the American geographer, whose faculties
were trained for his enduring life-work in the
college-halls of Clinton Hill.

THEOLOGICAL-SEMINARY LIFE. Ill

VIII.

THEOLOGICAL-SEMINARY LIFE.
POST-GRADUATE BEWILDERMENTS.

The night and day that followed our gradua-
tion festival seemed exceptionally long — more
than twice twenty-four hours— while lingering,
necessarily, upon Clinton Hill, after the last fare-
wells had been spoken, when the college-halls
were all silent, and the surroundings solitary.
This post-graduate depression, however, was tem-
porary, and not so serious as some have told me
of, in communicating an experience of their own,
brought on mainly by the failure to choose with a
decided preference any profession or specialty of
pursuit.

At the end of the college curriculum they have
halted doubtingly, looking forth upon the wide
world teeming with busy life, unable to advance
a step in view of any defined end or aim fit to call
forth the best that is in them, or to render the
future attractive. Some of the strongest men in
the world have had a heart-story like this to

112 LIFE NOTES.

tell. Even John Stuart Mill, after having passed

throuo'h liis set course of home education, thou<

fc>

exempt from any sequent pang of separation from
companions, felt the strange, chill gloominess of
this mental state, wherein the lack of any special
interest in life issued in a depression that he has
described as distracting hopelessness.

THE UPLIFTING LIFE-AIM.

From any bewildering experience of this sort I
was saved by the determinate choice of the Chris-
tian ministry as my life-work. During my school-
days the trend of my thought had been toward
the law as a profession ; and many of my holiday
hours were given to the amusement of attending
the marine court, and also the higher courts, in the
old City Hall. But the intensely religious interest
that so widely prevailed in Northern and Central
New York in 1825 invested the college, at last,
like a tropical atmosphere, and imparted a higher
tone to our thinking and purposes. The faith
that I had already cherished nearly three years,
constituting me, as I believed, a member of " the
one spiritual Cliurch," — " the one flock of God
on earth," whereof Jesus proclaimed himself " the
one chief sheplierd" (John x.), — had been find-
ing scope for action in the membership of the
College Theological Society as well as in Sunday-

THE OL O GICAL-SEMINA KY L IFE. 1 1 3

school work, and was now quickened to keener
sympathy, not only with the older workers, but
also with " the young converts " who were starting
upon their life-course with new ends and aims.
Among these older workers Avas Harrison G. O.
Dwight, now remembered as one of the pioneer
American missionaries at Constantinople ; Harvey
Fisk (a cousin of Pliny Fisk, missionary to Pales-
tine), the author of the first Sunday-school ques-
tion-book published in America ; Asa Mahan, whose
volumes on "The Science of Logic" and ''The
System of Mental Philosophy " are still fresh issues
from the press: among "the young converts,"
John Diell, who became first chaplain of the
American Seamen's Friend Society at Honolulu.
In the process of this concerted work the ministry
loomed up as a divine institution, dealing with
the highest interests of mankind, and asserting the
supremacy of its claims. The questioning as to
personal duty became urgent. I conferred with
my father, and was warned by him against enter-
taining the thought of assuming the obligations
of a life-work like that, unless assured that I could
be conscientiously content with no other calling,
and that, for the sake of this one, I would rather
live, if necessary, on the equivalent of "locusts
and wild honey in the wilderness " than luxuriate
in the great metropolis on rewards of secular

114 LIFE NOTES.

success. Tlie advice was wise. I accepted the
conditions, in self-deliberation passed the ordeal,
and resolved to obey tlie higher vocation.

IDEAL SUPERIORITY TO DENOMINATIONALISM.

As yet, however, I had no membership in any
denominational organism whatever. In fact, the
question whether any organized externalism, or
any visible " ecdeua^^ set up by Christ himself to
be an exponent or representative of tliat one
spiritual Church whereof he had said, " I am the
good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am
known of mine," could be found anywhere upon
the face of the earth as a formulated order in a
"local habitation," had not been satisfactorily
settled. The outlines of Church history — Greek,
Romish, and Protestant — had awakened a dread
of self-subjection to a merely man-made organism,
claiming priestly or clerical authority. Hence it
seemed necessary to seek anew fresh information
at the original sources, in accordance Avith Christ's
direction to the inquirers of his day : " Search the
Scriptures." To read or re-read his word in
the Greek Testament Avitli reference to the one
question that had presented itself, was the su-
preme duty just then. From the plain facts of
the historic narrative in the Four Gospels, the
thirty years' Church-history of the Acts, elucidated

THEOLOGICA L-SEMINARY LIFE. 1 1 5

by the teachings of the Epistles, it became quite
clear that Christ not only affirmed his personal
relation to a spiritual kingdom composed of those
who were " of the truth hearing his voice " (John
xviii. 37), called forth from the world, and united
to him by the sympathies of a loving faith, but
that he did, moreover, institute local organisms,
visible exponents of that spiritual kingdom, and
designated each one of those assemblies or con-
vocations his '•'' ecclesiay^ denoting thus a body of
persons gathered together of their own accord,
responsive to a call. In this connection it became
clear, also, that this characterizing term first ap-
pears in the New Testament as put forth by Christ
himself (Matt. xvi. 18), indicating the direct
opposite or set antithesis to the old Hebrew
organism wherein membership was inherited as in
a civil state ; that such " ecclesice " were gathered
by the first preachers under the commission be-
yond Judaea, throughout Asia Minor and Europe ;
that, in constituting these local organizations, the
requisition of baptism, followed by the observance
of the Lord's Supper, Avas added to that of an oral
confession of the interior faith that was always
emphasized as the primary and vital element of
conscious Christianization. This primitive con-
ception of a spiritual kingdom and a visible repre-
sentative '' ecdesia^'' given to the world by Jesus

Il6 LIFE NOTES.

and his apostles, shone forth from the pages of the
New Testament as a distinctive feature of external
Christianity; a guiding light, self-witnessing!^

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE " ECCLESIA " RECOGNIZED.

When this teaching of the New Testament had
become clarified as a doctrinal unity, it asserted
itself as authoritative. The next step was taken
with the joyousness of a settled mind. The spring
vacation of 1825 afforded the opportunity. On a
Saturday afternoon, at five o'clock, I presented
myself to Rev. John Williams, at his study in
Oliver Street, New York, where my story was
heard, and followed by a pastoral welcome to the
next church gathering. It was the last relation
of a personal experience that he listened to on
earth : the next morning, at ten o'clock, he died
suddenly while attem[)ting to put on his coat in
order to attend the usual church-AVorship. On
the first sabbath of June my baptism, and welcome
to church-fellowship, were administered by his col-
league, Rev. Dr. Spencer H. Cone.

The reception of these ordinances was not re-
garded as initiating a new spiritual relation to
Christ, but simply as " making manifest " the rela-
tion already existing ; adding to the avowal of
personal union with the one spiritual Church the
baptismal oath, symbol of self-dedication, and then,

1 See Appendices, page 342.

THEOLOGICAL-SEMINARY LIFE. WJ

in concert with those who had already taken it,
adding also the sequent sacrament or memorial
feast, to be often repeated in commemoration of
Christ as the source of redemptive life.

STUDENT-LIFE AT PRINCETON.

Before the last partings and farewells were
ended on Clinton Hill, a few of us promised to
meet again at Princeton Theological Seminary, to
join the junior class of 1826-27. The promise was
kept. It was a happy re-union. My introduction
to the president. Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander,
seemed a notable event, so reverentially regarded
was he as the patriarch of American Presbyterian-
ism, the most widely accepted interpreter, through
the pulpit, of its doctrinal formulations, its charac-
teristic tone and spirit. In the highest degree he
realized one's best ideal of the parental character,
and his welcome made the young student think of
himself as adopted at once into the filial relation.
A feeling somewhat different was called forth on the
day following, by my introduction to the eminent
professor of ecclesiastical history. Rev. Samuel
Miller, D.D., — an event anticipated with special
interest, on account of his former associations with
life in New York. The Doctor, as to his physique
and the most trifling characteristic of his make-up,
represented, to the general thought, the cultured

Il8 LIFE NOTES.

Christian gentleman. His latest work, entitled
"Clerical Manners and Habits," was then fresh
from the j)ress, the talk of the day, calling forth
criticisms, both captious and candid ; even the
ladies taking a profound interest in the treatment
of the minutest points. His gentle, naturally dig-
nified and attractive manner made the j^oung stu-
dent feel that his own character as a gentleman
was cordially recognized. Ushered into his library
about ten o'clock in the morning, we happened to
meet him with one boot just then put on, holding
the other in his hand ; bowing, waving his hand
toward a chair, he said, " Pray be seated. Excuse
me for putting on my boot ; already I have put on
one, and it claims its mate." Scholarly though
he was, his way and manner were not scholastic ;
rather, courtier-like, and so far cosmopolitan, that,
had he been appointed to any European court as a
diplomatist with the prestige of statesmanship, the
impression made at his reception would have been
in consonance with his accredited character. His
influence upon young men was wholesome, and an
element traceable widely in the clerical culture of
the period.

At this time we all missed the personal presence
of Rev. Dr. Charles Hodge, then absent in Ger-
many. Combining, as he did, the higher qualities
of exegete and theologian, his volumes entitled

THE OL O GICA L-SEMINA R V LIFE, 1 1 9

" Systematic Theology " stand to-day, in company
with the four volumes of Dwight's " Theology," in
the libraries of the leading scholars and cultivated
readers of English-speaking peoples. In 1876 I
noticed them together upon the same shelf at the
home of a professor in Glasgow ; suggesting then
and there the remark, that for five generations
Yale and Princeton, in the persons of Dwight and
Hodge, had furnished the most widely accepted
exponents of evangelical Christianity, thus con-
tributing largely toward a unification of theologi-
cal thought, and a real advancement as to the
method, spirit, and tone of European thinking as
well as discipline.

CHARACTERIZATIOX OF PEINCETON IN 1827.

The interest of a residence in Princeton in 1827
was intensified by the enthusiasm of discussion
called forth by the division of Presbyterians into
two parties, rallying around the distinctive stand-
ards of the Old and the New School. Although
Princeton represented the Old, there was a strong
trend toward the New School on the part of
many ; all alike, however, in the main encouraging
a scholarly freedom of thought and speech. A sig-
nificant fact pertaining to the religious literature
of the period, indicating an underlying basis of
unity, seemed even then, when it first drew atten-

120 LIFE NOTES.

tion, prophetic of the reconciliation that has since
been accomplished. A Boston house, Lincoln
& Edmands, having issued an edition of Andrew
Fuller's complete works, seven volumes, presented
a set to the Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher, as a repre-
sentative of the New School, and another to the
Rev. Dr. Miller of Princeton, as a representative
of the Old. Each of those gentlemen expressed
in Avriting to the Boston house his appreciation
of the gift ; each of them saying for himself, that,
if he were to name any one man as the trusted
exponent of his own conception of Christian doc-
trines fitly formulated into unity, — apart from
his denominational position as a Baptist, — he
would name Andrew Fuller. An unexpected rev-
elation ! The leaders of opposing schools found
themselves most satisfactorily interpreted b}' the
leading writer of another denomination, who took
rank with no '' school " at all, but simply sought,
as teacher and preacher, to give just expression to
biblical Christianity, apprehended as a unity by
minds in sympathy with its all-pervading spirit. ^

The first study of the junior year was Hebrew
under Tutor Nevin, using the grammar and chres-
tomathy of Professor Stuart of-Andover, then re-
cently issued by that noble pioneer of American
scholarship in an advanced course of biblical study.
As yet, but little attention had been given to He-
1 See Appendices, page 344.

THEOLOGICAL-SEMINARY LIFE. 121

brew in this country ; dow it began to assert itself
as an essential element of ministerial education,
and these effective beginnings were heraldic of the
real "theological renaissance of the nineteenth
century." From that day to the present, the turn
of thought among evangelical Christians has been
onward, away from self-subjection to the formula-
tions of scholastic authority, to " the sound words "
of the apostolic men interpreted by tlieir contexts
and the other hermeneutical rules universally rec-
ognized as grounded in the unchanging laws of
nature and reason.

FROM PRINCETON TO NEWTON.

It had been my expectation, on entering Prince-
ton, to avail myself of the complete three years'
course at that seminary. An incident suddenly
turned my steps toward New England. While in
New York, occupying for a sabbatli the pulpit of
my absent pastor. Rev. Dr. Cone, I was brought
into communication with a merchant of Boston,
Mr. Nathaniel R. Cobb, who had been active and
financially liberal in laying the foundations of the
Theological Seminary at Newton, where two schol-
arly men. Professor Irah Chase and Professor
Henry J. Ripley, were already at work. His
urgent invitation to visit Boston at the beginning
of the next Princeton vacation was accepted : and

122 LIFE NOTES.

the issue was a change of relations, in 1828, from
the venerable seminary of the Presbyterians to the
youthful Baptist institution crowning the beau-
tiful eminence at Newton Centre.

The determination to make that change was not
induced simply by denominational sentiment or
personal sympathy. Newton Theological Semi-
nary was the exponent of a cardinal idea; namely,
the subordination of the whole curriculum of
studies to the mastery of a purely biblical the-
ology. The chief means to this end was the
thorough "rooting and grounding" in the exegesis
of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures ; that is, iu
the primary record of facts and sajings that con-
stitute " revealed Christianity." No creed or
formulation, like that of the Presbyterian Confes-
sion of Faith, could rightfully assert an authority
to dominate in interpretation. No disciple or
teacher could be rightfully burdened with the re-
sponsibility of defending, in the view of the
Church or the world, any extra-Scriptural com-
bination of words and phrases. In a course of
studies shaped by this ruling idea, exegesis (that
is, the application to " the written word " of those
tried rules of interpreting language that shine by
tlieir own light, and command the acceptance of
mankind) would naturally hold the primary place.
And it was so. This ideal, as a guiding light.

THEOLOGICAL-SEMINARY LIFE. 1 23

slione before the mind of the senior professor, Dr.
Chase, when he composed the printed statement
of the ends and aims of Newton Seminary, which
then loomed up as a "sign of the times," with a
unique aim, analogous to the mission of the Beth-
lehem star that led the inquiring Magians to the
recognition of the Messiah, worthy to receive their
choicest tributes of personal devotion and of
world-wide testimony.^

1 See Appendices, page 347.

124 LIFE NOTES.

IX.

THE WIDE WORLD FIELD.
FIRST CALL TO THE PASTORATE.

In the company of students at the Newton
Theological Seminary in 1828, there was no one
more distinguished by persistent energy in his
preparatory course, or more glowing enthusiasm
in view of his future, than Francis Mason, who,
like William Carey, while yet alone in compara-
tive seclusion, had set his heart upon one object of
supreme interest ; namely, the life-work of a mis-
sionary in Asia. His career has been effectively
completed; and his elaborate volume, entitled
" Burmah," while valued highly as a memorial of
himself, constantly suggests the thought, by its
masterly comprehensiveness, that the spirit of Dr.
Carey rested upon him as an exceptional endow-
ment. It seems now no wonder to me that his
daily companionship and spontaneous talk should
have kindled latent sympathies responsive to the
calls from heathendom. It was so ; and the awak-
ening led to a conference, as to the proper field

THE WIDE WORLD FIELD. 1 25

" to look forward to," with the good and fatherly
secretary of the Board, Lucius Bolles, D.D., who,
after his usual calm consideration, counselled me
to "drop the question for the present," saying
that he doubted not that Providence would indi-
cate to me special work on the home-field in a
way that would leave no room for hesitation as to
the path of duty.

Erelong there came to. me at Newton a formal
call to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church
of Providence, R.I., presented by a committee who
were authorized to say, that, in view of the excep-
tional weight of parochial cares incident to the
surroundings, and as related to a jir^t pastorate,
only one sermon on the sabbath would be expected
for several successive years. This proposal was
to me a surprise ; an action on the part of the
old historic Church that I could not account for,
except by considering their habit of deferential
feeling — the growth of a lifetime — toward their
late patriarchal pastor, Rev. Dr. Stephen Gano, to
whom, personally, I had been brought exception-
ally near in an interesting relationship a few
months before his death ; for it had come to pass,
that, after my visit to Boston in September, 1828,
already noted, the equinoctial storm detained the
steamer for New York at lier dock i:i Providence.

Wearied with the dela}^, I found my way up

126 LIFE NOTES.

the hill to the parsonage in the afternoon of that
da/, and thus made the acquaintance of the ven-
erable Doctor, who was, when I arrived, reclining
on the lounge, just entering upon a three months'
confinement by the sickness that closed his earthly
career. He would not let me leave his house
during the storm, but sent for my luggage, per-
suaded me to remain over the sabbath, then sent
me to his pulpit, and drew from me a promise,
that, when returning from Princeton on my way
to Newton, I would stay over the sabbath as his
guest and helper. Thus began a special acquaint-
anceship with him, and a friendly relation to the
First Church of Providence, that has now become
the sacred memory of more than half a century.

It was said that the dying pastor, but a short
time before the final moment, had expressed a
wish ill regard to the pastoral succession, that liad
issued on the part of the church in the action
communicated by this committee. Deeply touched
as one would be by such remembrance, I felt m}-
self obliged to decline the call, assured that the
time had not yet come for my accepting a charge
so many-sided as was that of this eminently his-
toric church, and that wisdom and grace would be
given unto me to make a more effective use of wliat
working-power I miglit liave, with some cheering
sense of adjustment to a more urgent need.

THE WIDE WORLD EI ELD. 12/

INTRODUCTION TO PRESIDENT WAYLAND.

In connection Avith these visitations to Provi-
dence, while yet a student, I recall my early ac-
quaintance with President Wayland, who had
then recently accepted the presidency of Brown
University, and had entered upon his arduous
work of reconstruction soon after the resignation
of his pastorate in Boston and a brief occupancy
of the chair of mathematics and natural history
in Union College. It was to me then, at the first,
the gratification of a curious interest merely to
see and speak with him. For my first recogni-
tion of his individuality as a leading thinker and
writer of the time came through a regular decla-
mation by a senior of Hamilton College, in 1826,
to which I listened in the chapel with intense
interest as to a fresh disquisition on " The Nature
of Sublimity ; or. Characteristics of the Sublime."
And when I inquired whence the orator had
drawn his selection, I was informed that it was
an extract from Wayland's discourse, published in
Boston, on " The Moral Dignity of the Missionary
Enterprise." Immediately I sought the pamphlet,
and while in Princeton heard it talked about con-
siderably ; one of the reviewers of the day having
disapproved the effort to hold up the missionary
enterprise before the world so as to charm it out

128 LIFE NOTES.

of its indifference, and win resthetic interest. I
was sorry for the reviewer, so ntterly lacking
capacity of emotional elevation, and capable only
of belittling the subject whereof he undertook to
treat. The published discourse met " fit audience "
abroad, and was re-issued in Scotland, with an
appreciative introductory essay by Dr. Wardlaw.
There is reason for saying that this sermon, like
Claudius Buchanan's " Star in the East," will live
long, with a special mission for some susceptible
minds in successive generations, quickening their
latent aspirations, and aiding them to realize in
action their true life-aim.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CHURCH IN UTICA.

While the call of the First Church of Providence
was before me, Dr. Wayland availed himself of
every opportunity that occurred, to assure me of
the coincidence of his wishes with those of the
church, and of his reliability as a co-worker in
every way possible for my " aid and comfort " in
the pastorate. He thought that the singular com-
bination of events that had issued in the call had
a meaning yet to be disclosed, and should render
me cautious as to declining. His suggestions were
encouraging. Nevertheless, my reasons for declin-
ing were not merely negative. From another
quarter were derived motives of action decidedly

THE WIDE WORLD FIELD. 1 29

positive and controlling. During the latter part
of my junior and tlie whole of my senior year in
Hamilton College I had become thoroughly inter-
ested m the fortunes of the Baptist Church in
Utica, then meeting in Broad Street ; small and
weak comparatively, yet representing, as I be-
lieved, a great cause at a great geographical and
moral centre, destined to be the source of forma-
tive influences for good or evil extending over a
wide area. This small church, the sudden storm
of the anti-Masonic controversy had tried with ex-
ceptional severity, rending away from its support
those whom it could ill spare. Yet there was a
well-organized remnant, and that remnant, in the
main, composed of the very best elements as to
character, religious and social. From the centre
of that little church went forth, week by week, the
chief aggressive, constructive, and organizing force
just then in existence; namely, "The New York
Baptist Register," edited by Hon. Alexander M.
Beebe, LL.D., and, as to its department of busi-
ness, managed by Mr. Edward Bright, jun., whose
forecast and persistent energy urged it onward to
win its way to the new homes over an ever widen-
ing extent of territory. "The Register," then in
its prime, was the educator of a rising "people;"
making itself felt through successive years as a
growing, unifying, denominational power in the
Empire State.

I30 LIFE NOTES.

In regard to the editor of that paper, Mr. Beebc,
no one feared, while he was living, to speak of his
real worth as a man, a citizen, and a Christian, in
terms of a superlative degree ; now, surveying his
life as a completed unity, w^e may repeat aptly the
exclamation, " Behold the perfect man ! " He was
the grandson of the Presbyterian patriarch Rev.
Dr. McWhorter, pastor, of the First Presbyterian
Church of Newark, N.J.; was educated a Pres-
byterian ; studied law in the same office wdth
President Van Buren ; yet at last found his main
life-work in the editorship of ''The Register." He
was content ; never ambitious of a higher sphere
on this earth, and, as to the interplay of his intel-
lectual and emotional nature, admirably well bal-
anced, — a benefactor to the community in general,
and to his denomination in particular. To him, in
his somewhat advanced age, Edward Bright, jun.,
in his youth was a right-hand man ; a coadjutor, not
only carrying the cares of the business, but sharing
those pertaining to the moral and religious ends
and aims of the paper. In his office, at one time,
he placed a few books for sale, adapted to meet the
primary denominational needs of the country; and
from that germ grew a bookstore that did good
service in the interests of general literature and
science, — the first establishment embracing such a
combination of elements west of Boston. In the

THE WIDE WORLD FIELD. 13T

management of tlie departments as a practical
unity, editorial, clerical, mercantile, or financial,
the adjustment of aptitudes was perfect ; and
Utica was at that day a denominational centre
of organization for the State of New York west of
the Hudson.

That little church, though storm-tossed and
weakened, was even then beginning to make its
influence felt in Asia by parting with Cephas
Bennett (with Mrs. Bennett), to go forth as
missionary printer to India, where to-day may
be seen the proofs of more than a half-century's
effective service. In local home-work, too, there
was real efficiency in proportion to numbers ; an
enthusiasm of biblical study, the essential life of
the Sunday-school institution, pervading the whole,
young and old alike. Memory signalizes the
decade beginning with 1825 as, in fact, a Sunday-
school historical era, so great was the relative
amount of intellectual energy concentrated in that
direction. Utica then as a Christian community
was prominently "at the front" in the line of
progress ; the largest school in the city being that
of the First Presbj'terian, unsurpassed even to
this day as to method, tone, or effectiveness, and
the smaller school, under the superintendence of
Mr. Bright, as to ideal, aim, and action a recog-
nized kinship. Both superintendents took rank

132 LIFE NOTES.

as leading thinkers and workers in developing the
ca|)acities of the Sunday school as a permanent
institution, then comparatively fresh and full of
life, prophetic of a future.

EARLY MIKISTRY IN UTICA.

From this church in Utica was sent to me a call
to their pastorate about the time that the call to
the First Church of Providence lay before me.
Immediately on its reception the positive reasons
urged for its acceptance were decisive. All the
cherished affections pertaining to the period of
my college-life in their vicinity were revived.
Their call was with authority, as the voice of the
Supreme Providence ; and I resolved to accept,
without any questioning as to terms or conditions
of any kind.

That was a decision " never repented of." The
sympathetic pastor at Albany, Rev. Dr. Welch,
emphasized his felicitations in his own way, and
in due time fulfilled the joromise that he would
be present at the ordination festival, and preach
the sermon of that occasion, which he did most
happily on the 20th of October, 1829, taking his
text from Acts v. 20, "Go, stand and speak in
the temple to the people all the words of this life."
On the Sunday evening following, we all gathered
around him in the First Presbyterian Church, in

THE WIDE WORLD FIELD. 1 33

a union meeting, at the invitation of the pastor,
Dr. Aikin, and enjoyed his discourse on " The
Prayer of Jabez," addressed to a crowded audience.
His visitation was a quickening and a cheer to
our little church ; small as it seemed, the field of
work was ample. There was no need, just then,
of advertisements to gather audiences. Erelong
there were responses to " the Word preached " of
the kind most ardently desired ; and a succession
of baptisms drew several thousands at a time to
the banks of the Mohawk, where the baptismal
self-dedication of converts confirmed the Word as
" with signs following," and uttered appeals that
are still transmitting themselves. In one of those
throngs thus gathered, least observed of all, or
noticed, stood a Scotch bo}^ who, as he beheld and
mused, said in his heart, " This is just what Jesus
meant." Soon he followed in the same path, in
the presence of many witnesses, and has been
already, more than a third of a century, engaged
in winning and guiding others, well known in the
far West as Rev. A. Cleghorn, D.D. Our joyous
recognition more than twelve years ago, at a
Western convention, revived the memory of the
scenes long past, as scenes of youth, and rendered
that memory an inspiration of worship.

134 I-^F^ NOTES.

ONLY ONE SORROW: CLIMATIC INTERFERENCE.

It might be inferred, from our incidental al-
lusions, that the Sjoirit of inter-denominational
Christian union was a cheerful feature of the
time whereof we write. It was so ; and from that
day to this we have rarely seen in any community
a more genuine catholicity in social life, or more
readiness of ministers and people to unite in work
for the common service. In Broad Street, nearly
opposite our own place of worship, was that of
the Reformed (Dutch) Presbyterians, where Rev.
George W. Bethune, D.D., a friend of my school-
days, was pastor. Though topographically oppo-
site, there was no opposition of interests. No two
bodies of people, even of "the same faith and
order," were seen more freely intermingling on all
occasions of worship, as opportunity offered. In-
deed, the remembrances of my first pastorate are
associated with only one personal sorrow ; namely,
the necessity that called forth the physician's pre-
scription of a change of climate for a disorder of
the vocal organs, threatening a loss of voice. It
seems now that my residence so near the river was
a sanitary mistake. Thus my ministry in Utica,
too brief, was ended, not to accept a call from an-
other church, but to enter upon a different sphere
of action, — the professorship of Latin and Greek

TFIE WIDE WORLD FIELD. 1 35

in Georgetown College, Kentucky. The long jour-
ney and the climatic change restored my voice ;
and then, erelong, I gave up the professorship, and
returned to the pulpit by accepting a call to the
pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Boston.

The year of that departure (1830) witnessed
the incorporation of Utica as a city, with a popu-
lation of less than nine thousand. Now, with a
population of nearly forty thousand, it signalizes
the gradual growth and thrift of Central New
York. There the denominational banner of the
Baptists was first uplifted by the Welsh, always
intent upon claiming the highest historical origin
possible for their faith as well as for their race.
They constituted the First Baptist Church. The
Second was the one meeting in Broad Street,
which, under the ministry of Rev. A. S. Patton,
D.D., in 1864, changed its locality and its name,
entered a new and beautiful house of worship
upon "the Hill," recognized as "the Tabernacle
Baptist Church." From this Second sprang the
Third, to which Rev. D. G. Corey, D.D., has min-
istered for more than a third of a century without
interruption. Despite all changes. Central New
York, with its schools and universities, having a
history of its own, has kept step with the age, and
fulfilled — if not all the prophecies — the sober
promises of its bright beginnings in its relations
to the State and the country, old and new.

136 LIFE NOTES.

X.

OLD BOSTON.
TRANSITION PERIOD.

Toward the close of December, 1830, after
contrasted experiences of the pain of parting
from the friends within and around Georgetown
College, Kentucky, and the exhilaration of the
return journey to the North with a lost voice fully
restored, came the welcome to Boston as a field of
work and predestined home; the old acquaint-
anceship pertaining to the period of student-life
in the vicinity rendering it truly homelike. Com-
paratively, the time of this return seems now
quite noteworth}^ as a point of transition. Old
Boston was just then beginning to pass away ; and
the common talk was lively with guesses as to the
future of the New Boston that was to rise in
the suburbs, whither the trade-power was threat-
ening to remove the homesteads and family-life of
the old historical city. The chief chronological
point of distinction between the old and the new
may be discerned by the youngest reader in the

OLD BOSTON. 1 37

light of tlie fact, that only two years before (1828)
we had listened to Edward Everett, in Faneuil
Hall, calling upon the capitalists of Boston to
prove themselves equal to the demands of the age
by investing their money in enterprises that would
give them the mastery of their future ; using all
his art of argumentation to convince them that
railroads would pay ! With what contrasted tones
did he complain that Boston was so slow, and
then tauntingly exclaim, "New York saj^s that
the grass will soon be growing in Boston streets ! "
That oration was addressed to Old Boston, but it
was soon " out of time ; " and some one has said,
" The new era dawned the next morning."

PERSISTENCY OF THE OLD PAST.

But then, "the Old," though thus disturbed,
lingered long ; looking back, loath to leave the
old homesteads, or to see family-life " emigrating "
from them. Hence it was my fortune to begin
my ministry, in a good degree, among those who
were a imrt of that past^ and thus rendering tlie
leading men and women of the departed genera-
tion "a living presence" to our thought and feel-
ing. Thus, in making the acquaintance of my
" parish," I found myself at the centre of a social
circle wherein one of the most eminent ministers
of the last century, Rev. Samuel Stillman, D.D.,

138 LIFE NOTES.

was incidentally alluded to, day by day, as if he
had been my immediate predecessor, although
he had been absent from this world twenty-three
years, having died in 1807, the year before my
birth. Four pastorates had intervened between
Dr. Stillman's and my own, including Rev. James
M. Winchell's, of six years' duration ; Dr. Francis
Wayland's, of five years ; and Cyrus Pitt Grosev-
nor's, of four years. These were all well remem-
bered, but the mere mention of Dr. Stillman's
name would call forth allusions of such pictorial
naturalness as to make him seemingly my contem-
porary. That illusion grew into a sort of mental
habitude, so that it required sometimes a second
thought to place one's self chronologically right in
relation to him.

Tliis vividness of impression in regard to men
and things, actors and factors of the past, did not
pertain merely to my own parochial surroundings,
but to the broader area of relationship sustained
by the ministry of the old First Church during
the previous half-century. An illustration of this
remark presents itself in an incident associated
with my installation, wherein Dr. Way land
officiated as the preacher. The first offer of an
exchange of pulpit services came to me from an
eminent clergyman of another denomination, whom
I had known of historically as a trusted leader

OLD BOSTON. 1 39

and recognized exponent of evangelical Chris-
tianity during the period of conflict that broke
organic Congregationalism into two parties, dis-
tinguished as Unitarian and Orthodox, — Rev.
John Codman, D.D., of Dorchester, who, like the
true and valiant shepherd that loves the flock as
his ver}^ life, had grandly kept his charge within
the old fold. At first sight of him, on the evening
of Feb. 3, 1831, I was impressed with the expres-
sion of his noble physique, the realized ideal of
patriarchal dignity. As soon as the " Amen "
of the benediction was sounded forth, he took my
hand cordially, saying, "In years long gone it was
my privilege to exchange pulpit services with your
excellent predecessor. Dr. Stillman ; and now, be
assured, it is a great pleasure to me to welcome
his young successor here, and to propose a con-
tinuance of the courtesies so long and so happily
remembered." That kindly welcome, as spoken
then and there, was alive with fresh suggestion
as to the significance of the occasion in its con-
nection with that stormy old past wherein the
weak " Orthodox remnant " had found cheer and
help in its recognition of spiritual kinship with
the rising Baptist brotherhood of that day. Re-
garded as a representative character, the very
presence of Dr. Codman at the installation w^ould
have sufficed, of itself, to revive many dim

140 LIFE NOTES.

memories of that epochal history, and to start
fresh questionings as to its import. Dr. Channing,
who was also the contemporary of Stillman, was
then still speaking to the great public through the
press as well as the pulpit, giving freer scope to
his pen after the settlement of his colleague. Dr.
Ezra S. Gannett. Thus, at the very outset, our
immediate church surroundings were notably dis-
tinguished by the presence of veteran leaders
whose pronounced names suggested all that was
characteristic in the conflicting movements of the
preceding half-century.

NEW ERA OF RECOXSTPtUCTIONS.

At that time, the beginning of 1831, Rev. Dr.
Lyman Beecher had fulfilled five years of the
decade comprising his Boston ministry, undertaken
in 1826 with the view of re-organizing the scattered
forces of evangelical Congregationalism, construct-
ing or reconstructing for it new churches and
church edifices, not only in the metropolitan cen-
tre, but in the old historic towns where " Liberal
Christianity " had taken possession of the ancient
heritage, claiming the prestige of parochial and
legal heirship. The Liberals, with Cambridge as
their centre, supreme in the University, ruled the
State. Litigation in the courts about the titles to
church property had nearly reached its limit. As

OLD BOSTON. I4I

yet, however, Congregationalism was legally " the
standing order," and taxation for its support was
universal, except in those cases for which the ad-
justed law had necessarily provided exemption by
means of "signing off" a written declaration of
attendance upon some other form of denomina-
tional worship. Not till 1834 was the Church and
State completely separated in Massachusetts as it
was in the other States of the Union, and as it had
been in Rhode Island from the beginning. Under
these conditions, the revival of evangelical Con-
gregationalism was identical with the revival of
Scriptural Christianity as an experience of the in-
dividual soul, implying a real personal conversion
or voluntary self-surrender to Christ, responsive
to his divine call. This conscious heart-union to
him as the supreme requisition, and strict fidelity
to that main idea in eloquent and effective preach-
ing, was the one memorable distinction of Dr.
Beecher's ministry. He was then as in the prime
of his life, " his natural force unabated ; " in love
with his accepted mission, filling his own pulpit
and meeting other weekly appointments — often
out of the city and far away — with all the per-
sistency of the most highly paid lyceum lecturer ;
addressing crowds in the spirit of that pure revi-
valism whereof he was then the chief exponent ;
realizing its unmarred ideal, and doing his best

142 LIFE NOTES.

to make it what it became at last in the history
of the period, — a characterizing and redeeming
feature.

RELATION OF THE BAPTISTS TO THAT ERA.

In this connection we may properly remark,
that Dr. Beecher, after having become acquainted
with his field in Massachusetts, recognized, like
Dr. Codman, the special relation of the Baptists
as fellow-helpers in the common cause of evan-
gelical religion, and aptly jiut that recognition as
part of a sermon delivered from the pulpit of the
First Baptist Church as early as 1829, frankly say-
ing, '' Your light was kept burning and shining
when ours had gone out." To that ancient
church he was a welcomed neighbor ; the granite
edifice wherein he ministered being near, and con-
tinuously a point of attraction until its destruction
by fire, when the interest was transferred from
Hanover Street to the new structure in Bowdoin
Street, where the Doctor preached his farewell
sermon after his acceptance of the presidency of
Lane Seminary, Ohio. Dear and grand old man !
I ought to love and honor him ; for not only was
his personality in the pulpit an uplifting force,
but also that freedom of communication which he
heartily encouraged by welcoming me even to his
study, and treating me as a son.

OLD BOSTON. 1 43

EELATTYE POSITTOX OF THE FIRST CHURCH.

At the time noted above, when Dr. Beecher
sounded forth that quoted testmiony from the
pulpit of the First Baptist Church, — " Your light
was kept burning and shining ^yhen ours had gone
out," — that church was regarded, essentially in
its representative relation, as expressing the ideas
and spirit of " a people " denominationally organ-
ized, having a history of its own. And 3'et that
First Church was, of itself, an object of interest
as the monumental witness of a marvellous past,
suggestive of an enduring future. Its deaconship
was composed of five men, the majority of whom
had been co-workers under the ministry of Dr.
Stillman, — James Loring, a veteran publisher, and
the founder of " The Watchman," the second
weekly religious paper issued in the United States;
Prince Snow, though beyond the bound of " three-
score and ten," tall, stately, and "straight as an ar-
row" as he walked, remembered, too, as the father
of Dr. SnoAV, author of the history of Boston;
then, Deacon John Sullivan, the first West-Indian
merchant who had won the honors of leadership in
the cause of temperance by sacrificing a lucrative
business to his convictions, destroying the poi-
sonous beverage by offering the costly libation,
poured forth into the open street of Commercial

144 ^^^^ NOTES.

Wliarf, as the proper sequel to a sermon of Dr.
Wayland. The choice of the mild and peace-
making Urann Avas of a later date. And, last of
all, Moses Pond, most happily for us, v/as chosen
as the fitting representative of the younger gen-
eration.^

THE REPRESENTATIVE SEXTON.

Tlien, besides the deaconship was another office;
namely, the sextonship, that had long seemed like
a "permanent institution " in the person of Father
Winslow, a venerable old man, all life and nerve,
and, despite all changes, abuut as young as ever.
Such was the common saying. The cut of his
dress, his whole attire, including particularly the
old-fashioned queue, in keeping with the style
of Colonial days, were suggestive of an original
character, decidedl}^ positive, having sources of
strength within itself. In accordance with ancient
custom, it had been his wont, of old, to precede
his pastor, Dr. Stillman, u[) the broad aisle, and
deferentially open the pulpit door for his conven-
ience. In process of change, the pulpit became
proximately a jilatform : there were no doors to be
opened; and, as to that formal service, it was said,
"The sexton's occui)ation is gone." But his field
of work was broad, and as a veteran undertaker he

1 See Appeudices, page 327.

OLD BOSTON. 1 45

dignified his calling ; well known throughout the
old city, and kindly greeted everyAvhere. Of the
memories associated with this part of his life-work,
one occurs more frequently than the rest, on ac-
count of its connection with a name that has
become more and more widely spoken from that
day to the present. Having opened for me the
door of the carriage that he had sent to convey
me to "the house of mourning" where he had
charge of the funeral, he detained me to say that
it was now expected by the friends of the deceased
that the young minister of the Unitarian church
in Hanover Street — Rev. Ralph Waldo Emerson
— would be present, and that they would be
pleased to have the service so arranged as to in-
clude a participation on his part. I replied that I
should be happy to fulfil the wishes of the mourn-
ers in that particular. " Very well," said the old
gentleman, "very well. But I will tell you here,
that, while Mr. Emerson's people think so highly
of him, he does not make his best impression at
a funeral ; in fact, he does not seem to be at ease
at all, but rather shy and retiring. To tell the
truth, in my opinion, that young man was not
born to be a minister." The quaint manner of
the old sexton gave emphasis to this unexpectedly
outspoken opinion. It must have seemed, if over-
heard, an exceptionally strange impromptu^ consid-

146 LIFE NOTES.

eriiig the position of the speaker, the time, and
the place. But after all, and stranger still, the
quaint old man's instincts were quick, keen, and
prophetic. Erelong Ralph Waldo Emerson
uttered the same opinion of himself, took himself
entirely out of the rank of ministers, concentrated
his mental force upon the transcendental commun-
ion with " Nature," summarizing his thought and
purpose in the words that he repeated with an
emphasis all his own : " What I am born to be, I
will be." Thus our little episode brings back to
the eye of memory the representative sexton, the
ancient and honored ''Father Winslow," in the
twofold character of sexton and prophet.

GARRISON AND THOMPSON 1 4/

XI.

GARRISON AND THOMPSON.
AGITATING QUESTIONS, OLD AND NEW.

Already Ave have had occasion to notice the
advent of the railway power as the chronological
point of distinction between Old and New Boston,
Within the brief course of three or four years
(1830-34) we witnessed the settlement of the one
great question that had shaken the Commonwealth
during the preceding lialf-century, and the rise of
another that was destined to shake thoroughly
both the State and the nation during that eventful
tliird of a century upon which we were then enter-
ing. Both of these questions agitated the whole
community at once, because they both combined
religious and political elements, and were recog-
nized as politico-religious questions. The first
leading issue was the entire separation of Church
and State, regarded as organisms ; the second was
"the slavery question," which was effectually
settled in 1865 by the overthrow of the slave
power, and the constitutional establishment of free-

148 LIFE NOTES.

dom as an inalienable birthright, no longer sec-
tional, but national.

In regard to the first question, one has often
occasion to observe, that, while everybody knows
how rigidly Congregationalism was maintained as
the legally established religion in Colonial days,
comparatively few now remember with what per-
sistency, throughout the old Bay State, the old
system struggled to sustain itself by universal
taxation long after it had been abolished by the
other States of the Union. For obvious reasons
the denominational trend of the Baptists had long
been normally toward the Democratic party, and
continued so until new issues ruled the relations
of parties by the power of new ideas. But this
original trend lasted long, asserting itself in vari-
ous directions. Throughout and beyond the time
here noted as a transitional period, the president
of the First Baptist Society's Trusteeship, the Hon.
John K. Simpson, though rejecting all offers of
political office, was often spoken of as virtually a
member of President Jackson's cabinet. Thus it
occurred that in the early summer of 1833, when
the President and his suite left Washington for
a visit to New England, including a sabbath in
Boston, the programme indicated the First Baptist
Church as their chosen place of worship.

To the last moment of the last legislative debate

GARRISON AND THOMPSON 1 49

the conservatives were as intent as ever upon sus-
taining the okl reijime. The most memorable
speech in its defence was made by the Hon. Alex-
ander H. Everett, who based his argument upon
the ground of educational necessity. All, of every
class, he said, demand legislative provision for the
support of public schools; but in Massachusetts
the school and the church had always been re-
garded as equally essential to educational advance-
ment and the stability of Christian civilization.
They had, from the beginning, been "joined to-
gether," and he distrusted the policy that would
" put them asunder." They stood together in the
same relation to the State as necessary means to a
main end, alike deserving and claiming legal sup-
port. Personally, his position was somewhat excep-
tional, being at once a Unitarian and a Democrat ;
afterward, indeed, as a Democrat, he was appointed
Minister to China. It is here worthy of note, how-
ever, that the Unitarians, then generally of the
Whig party, voted heartily with the Baptists for
the dissolution of this legal bond.

Toward the end the battle " waxed hot," but the
victory of religious freedom soon clarified the
atmosphere. As the smoke of conflict passed off,
the defeated conservatives " accepted the situa-
tion " gracefully, without audible wailing over "the
lost cause," and learned to appreciate the gain of

150 LIFE NOTES.

a clear field with its improved conditions for
"making history," and rendering the future bet-
ter than the past.

THE NEW QUESTION STATED.

The second great agitating question of the pe-
riod sprang forth suddenly within our own im-
mediate vicinity and circle of acquaintanceship,
marring the denominational and social unities tliat
had distinguished the past. As to the essential
principle, the underlying sentiment, the moral
basis of action, there was, within our familiar range
of daily observation and intercourse, a real unity;
the one turning-point of division was the alter-
native, gradual or immediate emancipation. Around
and w^ithin the widening area of our relationships
there was a strong anti-slavery sentiment, that had
found a partial expression, for a succession of
years, in co-operation with the American Colo-
nization Society, originated by the best men of
Virginia, Kentucky, and the North, in the interest
of gradual emancipation as well as for the national-
ization of the colored race on the coast of Africa
in the form of a Christianized republic. Such a
republic, it was believed, when acknowledged by
the national governments of Europe and the United
States, would be an uplifting power, not only for
the "Dark Continent," but for t4ie colored race

GARRISON AND THOMPSON. 151

everywhere. At the starting-point the aim was
right, and the method apparently the best possible.
The political leaders of South Carolina, however,
erelong denounced the scheme as an antagonism
to their positive idea of the 'permanence of the slave-
relation, imprisoned the colonizationist agents,
threatened to hang them if they persisted in pub-
licly advocating their cause, and then at last
adroitly won over to their own opinions, theoret-
ically or practically, the Southern mind at large,
creating thus a unity unmatched in history.

RELATIVE POSITION AXD POAVER OF GARRISON.

This extreme issue Mr. William Lloyd Garrison
saw clearly before it had developed itself to the
view of the Northern public. He always had the
courage of his convictions ; a simple truth once
discerned, however unwelcome, must assert itself.
He not only availed himself of the weekly press,
but put forth a weighty pamphlet, replete with
facts, argumentation, and appeal, and characterized
the whole scheme of colonization as a conspiracy
against the rights of the colored race, using epi-
thetic adjectives without stint, all in the superla-
tive degree. As at that time I had been elected
in the place of Rev. Dr. Howard Malcom, who had
left the city, a member of the Massachusetts Aux-
iliary Colonization Board, whose special work was

152 LIFE NOTES.

school education in Africa, I was present at its
meeting when the great pamphlet of Mr. Garrison,
fresh from the press, was brought in, and placed
upon the table. Dr. J. V. C. Smith, afterwards
mayor of Boston, presided. The Hon. Alexander
H. Everett was thoroughly incensed, and said that
the writer should be indicted for libel. The occa-
sion led me to observe that there were colonization-
ists and colonizationists, — two classes: the original
Virginian type, represented by such men as Judge
Washington and Mr. Custis of Arlington ; and the
contrasted South-Carolinian type, represented by
all the leading men aiming at nullification, who
had, with persistent energy and strategic skill, been
gaining an ascendency over the sympathies and
the public sentiment of the whole South. These
two classes were like the two baskets of figs shown
in vision to the Hebrew prophet : the good were
very good, and the bad very bad ; representing, as
Jeremiah explained, " the house of Israel " in his
day. To some, the plain facts in their true rela-
tions may not, just now, seem quite clear in the dim
distance ; but fortunately, by way of exposition,
the leading article of " The American Colonization
Journal's" issue for October, 1830, entitled "An
Appeal to South Carolina," tells the real story of
the time to an intelligent reader, and is historically
significant. Mr. Garrison, as author of the pam-

GARRISON AND THOMPSON. 1 53

plilet, comes before us as a narrator of plain facts,
revealing virtually the growth of this South-Caro-
linian element, and prophetic of startling issues :
hence it seemed to me that we should accept the
two sets of facts with their particular meanings,
discriminating between good and evil, and avoid
confounding things that differ.

In view of this state of things, it must be evident,
even to the youngest reader, that when Mr. Garri-
son, through " The Liberator," denouncing slave-
holding as a sin against God and humanity, called
upon the nation for repentance of that sin, and
innnediate abjuration of it, there was a power of
truth and right in his appeal that touched millions
of consciences, issuing in a division of parties ; the
one side grounded upon the idea of what was
tlieoretically right, the other upon the idea of what
was immediately practicable, and that to these of
the latter class the clarion call was startling, just
as a jubilee trumpet in ancient Israel would have
seemed if sounded over the land before the set
time. Even Dr. Lyman Beecher appeared in the
view of many unlike himself in his manner of
pleading for exceptional indulgence in the treat-
ment of organic sin. Nevertheless, within our own
denominational surroundings the profound respect
for genuine convictions, for liberty of conscience
and of speech, was a regulating power, keeping the

154 LIFE NOTES.

organized bodies " compact together," and, despite
all differences, effectively one in a common interest
for missionary enterprise at home and abroad. At
the same time, the intense and growing faith in the
safety of immediate repentance for all wrong, and
of doing right at once, under all circumstances,
began to assert and organize itself for concentrated
work in its own line of direction, under the leader-
ship of Timothy Gilbert, ''a grand, whole-souled
Abolitionist," of wliose life-work Tremont Temple
is a lasting memorial, and whose biography, written
by Dr. Justin D. Fulton, is a timely contribution
to the local history of the period.

GREETING OF HOX. GEORGE THOMPSON.

The profound respect for genuine convictions
and freedom of utterance, noted above as a regu-
lating power, was called forth into public expres-
sion by the arrival in Boston of the eminent
English orator and philanthropist Mr. George
Thompson, as the coadjutor of Mr. Garrison in
arousing the people to concerted action. In his
own country Mr. Thompson had already signalized
his career by victories in the cause of the Right,
appealing to the people against the selfish tyranny
of the English administration in India, and thus
created a public opinion that the government was
obliged to recognize in his utterance as the voice

G ARK/SON A. YD TIIOMPSOiV. I $5

of the nation. He had been faithful at home in
the canse of universal right, and that cause was
not Christian England's only, but our own as well.
The political press generally, North and South,
greeted his advent here in terms of the most
resentful disparagement touching the man and his
mission ; treating it as a specimen of obtrusive
English interference with Amei'ican affairs, in-
spired by the base motives of enmity and greed,
and thence calling upon the pul)lic at large to
ignore the pretentious stranger. Upon all those,
however, who met Mr. Thompson personally, he
made a most favorable impression ; and so, havhig
learned that he had been in due form accredited
by a Congregational church in London, several
years before, as an acceptable preacher of the
gospel, I invited him at once to occupy the pulpit
of the First Baptist Church on the following Sun-
day afternoon. The house, centrally situated, was
crowded ; and the sermon, on " Christ the Great
Atoner," was heard with sympathetic interest, and
welcomed most cordially by those who, as evangeli-
cal Christians, were recognized as persons of repre-
sentative character. That hospitable greeting Mr.
Thompson never forgot. Several years afterwards,
while I was passing a month in London, he made
of it the most grateful mention possible. We often
met at the house of a mutual friend, Mr. Moore,

156 LIFE NOTES.

one of the leading men of the church to which
Mr. Spurgeon now ministers, and father-in-law of
Rev. Dr. R. W. Cushman. He was then in his
prime, as zealous for the cause of universal right
in relation to Asia as he had been in its relation to
America. He invited me to accompany him to
one of his great India-meetings, held in Exeter
Hall, called for the purpose of arraigning the Eng-
lish administration in India ; and favored me with
a chair on the platform, near himself and John
Howard Ilinton on one side, and Daniel O'Connell
on the other. Lord Brougham presided ; in speak-
ing was " at his best ; " referred to Mr. Thompson
as the heroic orator of England, and predicted his
election as a member of the British Parliament.
That expression called forth a warm res]3onse.

THE TRANSITION PERIOD. 15/

XII.

THE TEANSITION PEEIOD.
EFFECTIVE MEN OF THE EPOCH.

The settlement of the question of religious
liberty, and the rise of " the slavery question " as
a national party issue, has been noted as pertain-
ing to a transition period (1830-34), chronologi-
cally distinguishing Old and New Boston, and
heralded in Faneuil Hall by Edward Everett's
appeal to the men of Boston for the investment
of capital in the construction of railroads. Asso-
ciated with this period — namely, the beginning of
1830 — is the achievement of Daniel Webster in
the Senate Chamber at Washington, where, in the
discussion of primary principles, his speech in
answer to Gen. Robert Y. Ilayne of South Caro-
lina effectually established the unsettled mind of
the North in the conviction that the American
Union is not a mere confederation, whose authority
any State can nullify or suspend at will, but a
living nationality, supreme within its own sphere,
as defined by the Constitution. That one speech

158 LIFE NOTES.

was the effective educator of the younger genera-
tion that bore the brunt of the war for the Union,
whose issue, in 1865, ended that, controversy.
Several paragraphs of that speech won immediate
acceptance throughout the schools and colleges of
the land, in the way of class declamation ; the
educated youth of the country " got it by heart ; "
and thus the debate became a turning-point of
American history.

Moreover, associated with this same period is
the uprising of William Lloyd Garrison as a
maker of history, an adjuster of the political and
social forces, whose way had been prepared by the
great work of Webster in clarifying the American
idea of nationality, thus creating a firm public sen-
timent appreciative of the emancipator's appeals.

In awakening memories of this period, we can-
not mention the name of Mr. Garrison without
recalling in thought that of Wendell Phillips,
whether we utter it or not. His graduation at
Cambridge occurred the year after that of Mr.
Sumner ; and, in 1837, his speech in denunciation
of the murder of Lovejoy won him recognition
as the "Prince of Orators," the "golden-mouthed"
coadjutor of Mr. Garrison, sustaining to him a
relation as vital as that of Melanchthon to Luther ;
supplying to " the Cause " the Demosthenic
energy that had been lacking. He came forth in

THE TRANSITION PERIOD. 1 59

the fulness of his power, and, retainmg it for
ahiiost half a centuiy, stood forth distinguished
among laymen, — the non-official or non-profes-
sional,— recognized by Harvard as a chosen ex-
ponent of the live scholarship of New England,
able to voice, or even criticiHe^ that culture and
spirit of the age that Harvard now represents.

Within the scope of the same period is our first
recognition of Charles Sumner as a young lawyer,
a zealous scholar, an effective writer, "a man of
ideas." He was graduated at Harvard in 1830, — a
few months before the commencement of my first
pastorate in Boston, — pursued a course of studies
at the Law School, and in 1834 entered into part-
nership with Mr. George S. Hillard, the firm
occupying two adjoining offices in Court Street
(near Washington), well remembered throughout
the twenty years following as Mr. Sumner's busi-
ness centre, until that distinction was transferred
to his home in the national capital.

In both places, throughout his professional and
political career, I was in the way of seeing Mr.
Sumner occasionally, and at times not unfre-
quently. But Mr. Hillard, of whom it might be
exceptionally said that his society was as attrac-
tive as his books, I was wont to meet only in
Boston. Having been present at his graduation
in Cambridge, I chanced once to repeat to him,

l60 LIFE NOTES.

years afterward, some sentences from liis oration,
to wliich quotation he responded laughingly, in
the mood of humorous self-criticism. In compar-
ing the two partners, though so congenial, the
points of agreement and contrast were clearly
marked. In incidental talks, great underlying
principles would, of course, come into discussion,
and then Mr. Hillard's conservative tendencies
would find winning expression ; while, even at
that early period, when Mr. Sumner was so enthu-
siastically occupied with the literature of law, his
strong ethical convictions, overruling deep sym-
pathies, determined a different trend, and would
assert themselves in sentiment and tone decidedly
anticipatory of those uttered afterward in the
elaborated sentences heard in Faneuil Hall, Tre-
mont Temple, the Capitol at Washington, or read
in the complete edition of his printed works.
This fact suggested a diary note on a certain day,
quoting a saying of Coleridge, "Every principle
is the germ of a prophecy : " thence came the
recorded prediction that the young '' Radical's "
identification of himself, in thought, with the cause
of man, as man, ever one with the cause of the
Supreme Right, made sure a place of leadership
at the front of tlie nation's advancing march ;
while the " Conservative " would be relatively
drifting into the dim distance of a receding past.

THE TRANSITION PERIOD. l6l

CHAELES SUMXER's AIDS TO SELF-EDUCATION.

A trend and mood of mind like what we have
seen disclosed, the cherished conception of an aim
so broad and high, would naturally lead Charles
Sumner to regard a personal observation of the
leading minds of the time, at home and abroad,
as an essential element of preparation for his life-
course : hence his absence of nearly seven weeks
on a visit to Washington in 1834, while yet a
reader in Mr. Rand's law-office ; and then, near
the beginning of 1838, his absence in Europe of a
little more than two years and a quarter, until
May, 1840, despite the objections of many friends
as to the effect of such an absence upon his pro-
fessional interest. That absence occurred during
my three years' ministry in Providence, including
a journey to the old East, Greece, Turkey, and
the Danube ; and on my return to Boston, in 1840,
as pastor of the Federal-street Baptist Church, I
was glad to greet him ''home again." Thencefor-
ward my interest in his fortunes became more
intense, assured of his having a great mission to
fulfil. In this connection I recall many of those
incidental hints and references whereby one might
trace the working of a certain formative and im-
pelling power in the degree of influence exerted
upon his thinkmg and style of action by three

1 62 LIFE NOTES.

men ; namely, Judge Stoiy, Dr. Channing, and
ex-President John Qiiincy Adams.

Of this renowned trio, the first was not only an
accepted legal '' authority " in America, but also
in England, and the world over among the jurists
of English-speaking peoples. Fortunately for
liis students, his conversational power was inex-
haustible, unmatched in attractive ease, grace, and
aptness. In Charles Sumner, as student or com-
panion, the great jurist found a scholar of ample
capacity, sympathetically receptive, quick to as-
similate all elements of knowledge, and quick to
unify them into subserviency to his own ends. In
this relation both were fortunate ; certainly it
seems so at this moment, recalling, as I do, a
single evening in Providence, where, while offici-
ating as Chaplain of the United States Court, I
was invited by Judge Pitman to meet his family
at tea, with his guest, Mr. Justice Story. For
more than four successive hours, there was a spon-
taneous flow of apt and welcomed talk, uninter-
rupted except by the inquiries or suggestions put,
thus inducing tlie course of thought in this or
that direction over a wide area of observation.
The memory of other times, but of that evening
especially, reveals the formative power put forth
by one mind in the education for his sphere of ser-
vice of the youthful scholar, who was, virtually,

THE TRAiYSlTTON PERIOD. 1 63

head of the Law School when the professors were
called away to the national capital. He, as lec-
turer, editor of " The American Jurist," and law
reports, had won his high trust by hard work.

Then, in unison with this personal influence
was that of Dr. Channing, Avho sustained an ex-
ceptionally intimate relation, intellectually, to the
whole student-class of young Bostonians, whether
within or without the lines of theological kinsliip.
As an exponent of moral ideas in their direct appli-
cation to life generally, civil or social, he held this
pre-eminence. No clergyman of Old Boston ever
attained so wide a sway over the sympathies and
sentiments of leading minds by means of the pen
and the press. His reviews at times were espe-
cially effective. When ^lilton's prose works were
unearthed and edited, and Scott's Life of Napoleon
published, not far apart, there was, comparativel3%
almost as much of a rush to get a copy of Chan-
ning's " Milton," or Channing's " Napoleon," as
there had formerly been in Old New York to see
the first issue of a new work from the pen of Irving
or Cooper. Near the source of this influence was
Charles Sumner, in his youth ; inhaling it as vital
air, and feeling its power in his veins and heart-
beat.

Later, and last of the trio, looms up in this per-
sonal relation ex-President John Quincy Adams,

164 LIFE NOTES.

" the old man eloquent," who, retaining to the end
of life his place in the House of Representatives
at Washington, when at home in Boston or Quincy
kept the whole circle of his friends quite alive to
all that was politically significant in the doings of
the day and the hour. To him Mr. Sumner sus-
tained a relation of intimate and admiring friend-
ship, inducing a habit of free intercommunication:
and so, as occasions came, we were in the way of
noting, now and then, his casual references to a
recent expression of " the President," or the talk
of a ''last evening's hiterview," citing some apt
saying ; often, indeed, prophetic of the worst that
came of bloody war into the nation's experience.
On account of his dramatic position in Congres-
sional conflicts, especially in the sectional fight
over the right of petition, Mr. Adams represented
the heroic element of statesmanship, realizing for
a time the highest popular ideal.

To these three men we are indebted, in a great
degree, for the contribution of Charles Sumner's
career to our national history ; and, with emphasis
may we add, for that matured character, invested
with a moral majesty that forbade even the ap-
proach of any human being with the offer of a
bribe, or the proposal of any thing dishonorable.
Thus at last, the young Senator of Massachusetts
in the national capital, the successor of Daniel

THE TRAXSITION PERIOD. 1 65

Webster, lie stood forth before all in the dignity
of true manhood ; just to all, asking favors of
none, face to face with the most chivalrous of his
foes in the highest stj^le of the perfect gentleman,
commanding tributes of respect as their feer uni-
versally acknowledged at home and abroad, with-
out fear and without reproach.

NOTEY/ORTHY MOODS OF jSHND.

The happiest, the most exultant mood of mind
that I can recall as a part of Mr. Sumner's experi-
ence, was occasioned, in the city of New York,
by congratulations on his success in gaining the
United States' recognition of the independence of
Liberia. More than one old-time Southern Sena-
tor had jeered at the proposal, saying, '^ Not while
I live I " But they did live to see it an accom-
plished fact, the dawn of a new day for Africa.

This statement recalls, moreover, the pleasant
remembrance of congratulations that turn the
thoughts in another direction (suggestive of " the
theology of feeling," as Professor Park would
express it), called forth by Mr. Sumner's impas-
sioned eloquence at Worcester, deprecating all
compromises with the armed Confederate leaders,
particularly Jefferson Davis, and indicating a fresh
appreciation of those imprecatory and deprecatory
Psalms of David relating to the foes of Israel, that

1 66 LIFE NOTES.

he had learned in earlier days to regard as utterly
barbaric. The very spirit and words of those
Psalms he had now been led to adopt in charac-
terizing that Confederate leadership as a deadly
antagonism to the dearest hopes of humanity, call-
ing for judicial destruction at the hand of God
and man in behalf of civilization, and the bequest
to posterity of a life v\^orth living. '' How sub-
limely, Mr. Sumner," I exclaimed, ''you caused
the stalwart Samuel to loom up as ovur benefactor,
keeping his own nation to its mission by his sum-
mary treatment of Agag ! " Tliis exclamation
called forth the sentiment, " Yes ; to judge them
aright, we must put ourselves in their place : in
the story and the song there is more than meets
the eye of a boy reader."

A NEW ERA OF CHrwISTIAN HOME-WORK.

Nearly contemporaneous with tlie uprising of
public sentiment for concerted action in the cause
of the poor and enslaved at a distance, was the
rise of new organisms for home-work in behalf of
the poor and neglected classes of Boston and its
vicinity. Care for the poor took on a new aspect,
that, in a degree, distinguished the period ; even
as Jesus signalized his own time when he said,
" Unto the poor the gospel is preached." He
preached to the rich and the poor alike, and com-

THE TRANSITION PERIOD. 1 6/

missioned his disciples to do the same. Although
the gospel had been preached to the poor in
Boston long before, by means of missions and
missionaries, it had not usually been preached to
the rich and the poor by the %ame persons or class
of persons. Rather, there was a disposition on the
part of family churches or pew-renting congrega-
tions to provide ministries for the poor outsiders,
as such, and to send to them men "good enough,"
though they would not be acceptable in their own
pulpits, or qualified to take rank with their pas-
tors. This, however, w^s not the realization of
Christ's idea of preaching the gospel to the poor.
At this time there came a change of view, a general
advance of thought, and a special quickenuig of
interest, within the range of our denominational
home-work. To this line of service Rev. William
Howe had devoted himself while yet a student at
Newton, and was then recognized as the assistant
of the four city pastors in their own pulpits, when
the Sunday evening united lecture as a tliird ser-
vice, recurring to each in turn, required a supply
for the first or second service of the same sabbath.
Thus, having been associated with the pastors, his
mission-work became, at the set time, a pastorship ;
and workers of kindred spirit gathering around
him, a '' Union Baptist Church " was constituted,
to become, as it did at once, a growing power in

1 68 LIFE AZOTES.

its own neighborhood. A "mission for the poor"
was no longer talked of, and a real people's church
loomed up in its place.

The change was vital ; and the culmination of
the better method of realizing the ideal of the
New Testament as to the preaching of the gospel
may be seen in the history of the Ruggles-street
Church during the ministrj^ of Rev. Dr. Seymour.

For effective stimulation to thouglit in this direc-
ticn, the whole company of w^orkers felt themselves
personally indebted to the movement of the Uni-
tarians in the constitution of their " ministry at
large," emphasizing this principle by their illus-
trative example. They called to their leadership
Rev. Dr. Joseph Tuckerman, an honored pastor
of Chelsea; and he began his work in the pulpit of
Dr. Channing, practically Avinning, by apt state-
ments of ideas and methods, the co-operation of
that whole people, and thence calling forth into a
compact organism for home-work their whole de-
nominational array in Boston. Their financial
power was concentrated, comparatively, upon the
home-field around them. Their working ministry
was composed of men who, like Rev. Dr. Water-
ston and Rev. JNlr. Gray, and others, took rank
with the highest and best, intellectually and
socially. The day is well remembered when Mr.
Simon G. Shipley, one of the younger members of

THE TRAiXSITION PERIOD, 1 69

our First Church (afterwards elected deacou),
hailed me in the street to call attention to tliis
movement of the Unitarians, saying, " See what
profound wisdom and common-sense they show in
their plans. They know that the social wheel is
constantly revolving, and that the families who
are now ' the poor ' will be ' the rich ' erelong,
with the shaping of the future in their hands. If
we lag behind, we shall soon drift out of sight."
In these words he voiced a rising sentiment, that
'' work is worship ; " and that sentiment^ acting
through new organisms of the old and young, pre-
pared the way for Phineas Stowe, whose Bethel
work became of itself a real " ministry at large,"
in an important sense supplementing that of
Father Taylor, who learned to esteem as a true
co-worker the young man whom he was so shy of
while 3'et a stranger, before his character had
passed the ordeals that tested its quality, and
had won the love that discerns the solid grounds
of trust. His work still lives, is still progressive ;
having its own fresh story to tell to appreciative
listeners year by year.

I/O LIFE NOTES.

XITI.

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

In one of the notes recalling several names as-
sociated with the years of a semi-decade distin-
guished as a transition period (1830-35), mention
was made, incidentally, of an introduction, occur-
ring soon after my settlement in Boston as minis-
ter of the First Baptist Church (then approaching
the one hundred and sixty-sixtli anniversary of its
birth-year), to Rev. Ralph Waldo Emerson, my
nearest clerical neighbor, colleague of Rev. Henry
Ware, jun., in the ministry of the Second Unita-
rian Church. That introduction, having taken
place at the home of mutual friends, where Mr.
Emerson's participation in a funeral service indi-
cated his parochial relation to a part of the
bereaved family circle, rendered the occasion
memorable as the starting-point of a welcomed
acquaintanceship.

His manner was genially responsive, while his
countenance, tone, and bearing Avere suggestive,

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. I/I

apart from all culture, of a rarely gifted nature.
Though only five 3'ears older than myself, his
position as the colleague of the Rev. Henry Ware,
jun., invested liim with a certain prestige of
dignity equivalent to an additional decade of
years, and made the likelihood of meeting him
often, prospectively interesting. Our wide paro-
chial surroundings, of more than a century's
growth in a homogeneous community, would
constantly furnish apt occasions for friendly in-
tercourse on matters of common concern, muni-
cipal or educational. It seemed, just then, that
any observing stranger, even at a first meeting,
would be quick to recognize the presence of a
unique, transparent personality ; a free, self-
reliant mind, uttering itself without restraint and
without guile ; not fluent, as that of a trained
talker watching the impressions he is making, but
with speech aptly winning, spontaneous as that of
a little child impelled to find expressiou for the
thought or feeling of the moment.

MENTAL UNREST AS TO CHURCH ORGANISM.

Even at that early period, it was often, from my
point of view, a matter of w^onder that a man so
highly gifted, distinguished by degrees of insight
and of farsight so exceptional, with a positive
Christian faith so inconsiderable, could be content

172 LIFE NOTES.

or at all able to bear the routine of a pastorate
requiring weekly pulpit services necessarily char-
acterized by statements or by implications of rela-
tive non-belief rather than any order of truths
supernaturally and divinely revealed. My per-
sonal conviction was, that, Avith simply natural
ethics to inculcate, I could have no heart to meet
the regular calls of a ministry that arose in the
first century as the exponent of a gospel super-
naturally attested, implying thus a lively faith in
certain historical facts, all vocal with teachings
that enkindled the highest style of enthusiasm, a
new uplifting power to every recipient. Surely,
I said, — now and then soliloquizing, — surely I
would be obliged to abandon the pulpit, and take
to literature, or drift into Communism, or seek the
platform as a lecturer on philosophy or history, or
perhaps political economy embracing the relations
of labor and capital, or on some mastered specialty
of thought or enterprise that could " possess my
soul " as the one work given me to do. A pro-
fessional relation that woidd require me to use
the traditional terms and phraseologies of the
Christian ministry for secular ends, emphasizuig
my non-beliefs, would be to me tedious, incongru-
ous, distasteful, and intolerable.

These soliloquies turned out to be instinctively
prophetic, verified by experiences of historic inter-

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. 1 73

est. To that issue Mr. Emerson came, erelong,
with the most cahn and settled determination.
The statement of reasons for this ''new depart-
ure " was made to me by Mr. Emerson himself,
about the time of its occurrence, in a casual con-
versation, as here recorded, with the occasion that
called it forth.

It chanced that on a Monday morning, in 1832,
we met in the street, each carrying a little hand-
satchel. Approaching, we exchanged salutations,
and then followed this brief talk : —

" Mr. Emerson, it seems that we are travellers
to-day, going in opposite directions, and our time,
therefore, is limited ; but, if you have a minute's
margin, I should like, for information, to put a
question which no one except yourself can fitly
answer."

"Do so freely," he replied. "I am not in a
hurry : I have margin enough of time."

" Well, I will tell you, then, that I am boarding
with my little family at Mrs. Wilson's on Green
Street, where I enjoy the society of several of
your parishioners and friends as companions in
table-talk, and find that your people are greatly
agitated by the report that you have renounced
the observance of the Lord's Supper, and refuse
all participation in it as a religious rite. Loath
as I am to say a word unadvisedly touching a

174 LIFE NOTES.

matter of such personal interest, I should like to be
informed in regard to two points : Is the alleged
renunciation a fact? If so, the ground of it? "

"Yes," he answered, ''it is a fact; and the
ground of it is my conviction, that, in the devel-
opment of religions, we have outgrown all need
of this externalism, or the like of it in any way
whatsoever. This conviction has been intensified
by fresh readings of the leading Quaker writers,
with whom I find myself in sympathy."

To this I replied, " Thanks. Your statement of
reasons is satisfactory as explanation; normally
developed, I should say, from your point of view.
Nevertheless, I presume your sympathies have
gone beyond the bounds of Quakerdom, even over
into Asia, attracted by affinities w^ith some ideas
of older origin."

This allusion to a pantheistic trend provoked
a smile that seemed to say, " Your guess is sug-
gestive, but we must go." And so we parted
quickly, to make sure of redeeming the time that
this short episodal talk had cost us.

HIS POSITION EXCEPTIONALLY ATTRACTIVE.

The withdrawal of Mr. Emerson from all
churchly organism was gently but decisively ac-
complished. He used to say, '' Let every man be
his own Church." That rather queer phrasing

THE ERA OE MYSTICISM. 1 75

anticipated whole pages of his essay-writing. It
made the ultimate issue quite plain to the com-
mon mind. As soon as this step of his early
career had been taken, my personal interest in his
course and style of action as an independent man,
an original personality, was greatly quickened ;
my communication with him became more free,
unembarrassed by any degree of sensitiveness as
to the proprieties pertaining to official or clerical
relations. Seeing that he had broken away from
ecclesiasticism entirely, ignoring at once all ex-
ternal or supernatural revelation, still asserting
himself as a philosophical and religious teacher,
"hilling back on Nature," the recipient of fresh
truths, as a familiar correspondent in direct com-
munication with Nature, I became more and more
curious to learn how a mind thus strongly trend-
ing would see and report to us the past, present,
and future of this mysterious universe wherein
we live. Appreciating, as I did sympathetically,
his dissatisfaction with his inherited church posi-
tion, I desired to trace the lone way of his " new
departure." This feeling was strengthened by the
free scope accorded to it ; for he always talked as
one quite sure that the plainest speech, the most
direct way of ''putting things," was best liked ;
and he thus constantly awakened in one the
feeling that he never could be offended by

176 LIFE NOTES.

the sharpest antagonism of a sincere man. This
childlike simplicity, this " believing, and tlierefore
speaking," was of itself a lifelong power, charac-
terizing not only the casual or private talk, but
also the set public address. In this connection I
may say, incidentally, that its free expression was
once somewhat startling to me, and to many
quite amusing, on a certain occasion, — the meet-
ing of the American Institute, composed maiidy
of teachers, at the State Capitol, — where he de-
livered the opening discourse. Having finished
my appointed service as chaplain, and offered the
introductory prayer, he at once, stepping into
the place I had occupied, commenced his address
with a brilliant paragraph containing a parenthetic
affirmation of the uselessness of prayer !

TENTATIVE STEPS TO THE NEW CAREER.

During several years following the period here
noted, the opportunities for occasionally meeting
Mr. Emerson were not quite so continuous as
might have been reasonably hoped for. Early in
the year 1832 he had been bereaved of the wife
of his youth; and then erelong the state of his
health suggested his visit to Europe in 1833, — a
year well remembered by Thomas Carlyle as an
era of his home history signalized by the acquisi-
tion of Mr. Emerson's acquaintance. After his

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. I//

return to America he was not so mncli in our
neighborhood as had been his wont. In 1834
Concord became his abiding home-centre, where
he devoted himself to reading, study, and literary
work, keeping himself in communication with
Boston and the world at large mainly by means
of lectures, single or in series ; availing himself of
the Lyceum platform, which at the time seemed
to him a rising poAver, destined to supersede the
pulpit. At this period particularly he embraced
within his range of study the old Neo-Platonic
mj^sticism, as taught by Plotinus (third century),
by Porphirius (third and fourth), and by Proclus
(fifth centur}^) ; tracing, too, its modern develop-
ments, especially in Germany. In 1835 he estab-
lished his household by a second marriage : and
in 1836 he j)^^t forth his first volume anony-
mously (calling it " an entering wedge "), ninety-
three pages, entitled "Nature;" the first sentence
whereof, in the spirit of the authors above named,
affirmed the invalidity of all external or super-
natural revelations, and the all-sufficiency of every
souFs own intercommunication witli Nature for
realizing the highest possibilities of humanity.
The motto upon the titlepage was a quotation
from Plotinus: "Nature is but an image or imita-
tion of Wisdom, the last thing of the soul ; Na-
ture being a thing which doth oidy do, but not

178 LIFE XOTES.

know." In the first words of this new book the
writer appealed to the century against the primary
claim of Christianity, exclaiming, " The foregoing
generations beheld God and Nature face to face ;
we, through their eyes. Why should not we enjoy
also an orighial relation to the universe? Why
should not we have a poetry and philosophy of
insight, and not of tradition, and a religion by reve-
lation to U8^ and not the history of theirs ? "

GENERAL EE-UXION IN PROVIDENCE, R.I.

During the following year (1837), soon after
my removal from Boston to Providence, "the
new views " were made more familiar than ever
to the thought and talk of an extending circle of
readers and students, whose interest was quickened
by the enlivening presence of Margaret Fuller, " a
born teacher," and also the centre of a sociality
whose bond of union was intellectual culture. As
one of a special evening class readily gathering
around her for the study of the German language
and literature, I was naturally led, by the inci-
dental topics of conversation, to a more continuous
turning: of tlion^ht in this new line of advance-
ment. At this time her helpful friend, Mr. Emer-
son, shared her companionship and the social life
of Providence for several weeks, having accepted
an invitation to deliver a course of lectures.

THE ERA OE MYSTICISM. 1 79

At the close of that series he announced, as
supplementary, "A Lecture on Religion," to be
delivered at another hall " across the bridge." A
large audience answered the call. Among the
listeners I occupied a seat near the speaker ; and
as soon as the lecture was ended, he addressed to
me a remark that led to the following conversa-
tion : —

"I think, Mr. Emerson, this whole audience
would agree in saying that your tracing of the
character of Jesus, his spirit and style of action
as a man and a teacher, was marvellously apt,
just, and beautiful, giving to us fresh impressions
of his moral greatness as the inaugurator of a new
era. A unique paragraph of Rousseau has often
been quoted as eloquently appreciative, but there
seems to me nothing extant in literature that sur-
passes the characterization you have presented
here. Yet, in regard to one suggested point, I am
somewhat puzzled ; namely, the question : What
relation does the testimony of the miracles of
Jesus, affirmed by himself as well as the witnesses,
sustain to your line of historic thought? I have
imagined that it may be to yours, relatively, what
the story told at the opening of Plato's life has
been to mine. There it has been said, you know,
that, while he lay in his cradle, the bees came and
shed honey on his lips ; on reading which, I say

l8o LIFE NOTES.

to myself, ' That is a very pretty story ; but
whether it be true or not, is a matter of no
account.' "

" Yes," Mr. Emerson replied ; " you have an-
swered your own question. The illustration is
good."

'' If so," I rejoined, " I am now the more per-
plexed; for, suppose Plato had gone forth as a
teacher throughout Greece, addressing the com-
mon people as well as the scholars, and claiming
the acceptance of his teachings not only as self-
witnessing, but as divine communications, verified
at will by superhuman works recognized as re-
sponses to the teacher's words from the one
Author of the surrounding sense-world and spirit-
world alike, thus attesting an exceptional unity
and a supreme authority, what would you have
said of Plato ? "

" Why, certainly," the reply was, " I should
have said that Plato was a great charlatan."

''Well, then," I asked, "why not say outright
the very same of Jesus, — that lie was a great
charlatan, — seeing that this was exactly what he
did throughout the land of Palestine ? "

With a quietly musing, meditative air, Mr.
Emerson seemed for a moment to be extemporiz-
ing an answer, when a group of friends, students,
and others came pressing forward with their per-

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. l8l

sonal greetings, so that the opportunity for further
talk in this direction was suddenly ended. We
regretted the interruption.

ERA OF "THE NEW PULPIT."

At the time here noted, Mr. Emerson's forecast-
ings and his tentative efforts upon platforms had
interpreted themselves as the initiation of a new
career. It was not far from the period of his
visits to Providence as a lecturer, that he came,
after many questionings, to the full recognition of
his own Ufe-calling, as one impelled by his genius,
and ''ordained by nature," to the work of the
platform. In January, 1829, he had been, by a
regular council, ordained to the work of the
church-pulpit; now he was exulting in his sense
of freedom from all traditional bonds, and in his
welcomes to the " new pulpit," where, as he said,
"there is no prescription." Assured of fit audi-
ence, this fresh feeling of liberty was as a new
start in life. Already he had characterized the
turn of the time by referring to the groups gather-
ing around him as " ladies and gentlemen without
a religion, seeking a new one ;" and some one or
more of these had characterized him as "the
Apostle of the Eternal Reason."

This style of expression became to us gradually
familiar, especially after my return to Boston, in

1 82 LIFE NOTES,

1840, as minister of the Federal-street Baptist
Church, near the time of the memorable notice of
a course of lectures to be given forth from the
pulpit of Dr. Channing, in Federal Street, by his
colleague. Rev. Dr. Ezra S. Gannett, who prefaced
that announcement by stating that for twenty
years the Unitarian pulpits, having been mainly
engaged in dealing with ethical and practical
matters, had left to the press the discussion of
central doctrines, so that a generation had grown
up under their ministries not knowing what to
believe. To aid in meeting this need, he advertised
a course of lectures for six successive Sunday
evenings, on '' Christ and Christianity." That
call drew croAvds of listeners. This connection of
things indicated not only a certain awakening of
thought at the time, but the new field of work
also that seemed, from Mr. Emerson's point of
view, fast widening around him, flushed with
budding promises. His way had been more
than twenty years in process of preparation.
He welcomed his opportunities. He " discerned
the signs " of lii8 sky. The responsive moods
of mind wherein the more youthful audiences
greeted the new ideas so musically voiced from
the platform, re-acted upon him, as helps to
larger aims, to a more persistently working force
exerted through class gatherings, anniversary

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. 1 83

orations, issues from the press in pamphlet-
form, book-form, and special articles of magazine
literature.

THE NEW ENTHUSIASM AND ITS EXPONENT.

A genuine enthusiasm was thus enkindled.
Who could define its range ? Some ardent minds
predicted immediate and boundless conquests,
somewhat like the friends of Charles Fourier in
France, who exclaimed, in 1839, ''If Fourierism
has alread}' won twenty thousand adherents, why
may it not, in due time, gain twenty millions, or
thirty, and thus reconstruct tlie nation ? " As a
fit exponent of this rising Western transcendent-
alism, a new magazine was projected ; and, after
many hesitations as to the most worthy name for
characterization, it was made ''presentable" by
Mr. Emerson as well as by Margaret Fuller, and
named "The Dial." The Athenian taste of the
really curious or inquiring spirits " seeking a new
relioion," was met by stimulations of brilliant
thought, as well as by profound psychological
intuitions ; yet it was in this line of direction that
the new enthusiasm, grappling with practical
issues, including the financial problem, discovered
its first sign of limitation. Despite the originality
of the writing, the generosity of the staff of
writers, the lack of golden responses proved that

1 84 r.lFE NOTES.

the appreciative or sympathetic minds were but a
small fraction of the reading public. The day
arrived erelong (1843) when the sales would not
l^ay the expenses, and the ideal " Dial " gracefully
withdrew itself to the higher shelves of the home-
study or the shaded archives of the public library.
Thither some elite scholar of each successive gen-
eration will find his way, in order to muse over
its pages, and report to his own time the historic
significance of the ideal school that it represented.

HALF A LIFETIME "AT HIS BEST."

Mr. Emerson's interest in " The Dial," however,
was sympathetic rather than directl}^ personal.
Its departure was, no doubt, more of a disappoint-
ment to Margaret Fuller than to him, though, for
the sake of his "young friends," he desired its
success. During the two decades that preceded
the civil war (1841-61), and most of the decade
and a half that followed, comprising a little more
than a third of a century, he appeared continually
" at his best," in the very prime of his power. He
greatly enjoyed, in the main, his professional trips,
far and near, — often derived exhilaration from
them ; and thus we have known him appear to
advantage as a conversationalist amid the chance
society of a railway excursion. In this connection
I am reminded that it was once my pleasure to

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. 1 85

introduce to him Rev. Dr. Caldwell, late president
of Vassar College, to whose companionship Mr.
Emerson took kindly, witli a decided zest, fur tlie
day or two following. Arriving at Buffalo, they
staid at the same hotel ; and there my engage-
ments took me away from them in another direc-
tion. In the evening Mr. Emerson accepted Dr.
Caldwell's mvitation to look in upon the meeting
of the American Baptist Missionary Union, where
Rev. Dr. Parker of Cambridgeport was to give
an account of his visit to the Baptist churches of
France. Dr. Parker was graphically interesting
in the putting of his facts, so that there w^as no
dull listener in the house. Afterward, meeting
Dr. Caldwell, I inquired, ''Did Mr. Emerson say
any thing suggested by the sayings or doings of
the meeting ? *' — " Oh, yes I " replied the Doctor,
" he spoke of it freely ; and T can hardly tell you
how greatly amused he seemed to be with the
mere idea of the Baptist Missionary Union at-
tempting in earnest the conversion of France I "

That reply, by the way, has of late often re-
curred to my thought suggestively. When it was
uttered, France was an empire ; and at that time I
knew of some who were hoping and praying that
they might live to see France a republic, and all
religion free. Erelong the empire fell, and then
" The Nation " of New York well said, "After the

1 86 LIFE NOTES.

lapse of a thousand years, France must now begin
again, and build up anew from the very founda-
tions." Even so. Eight years ago I stood in the
vestibule of the Chamber of Deputies at Versailles,
conversing with one of the evangelical leaders of
France, Rev. Dr. Pressense, in preceding years
the able correspondent of " The Watchman " of
Boston, then the representative in the national
Legislature of the Department of "the Seine,"
exulting as never before in the freedom of the
republic, the great awakening of the popular mind,
and the brightening pros^^ects of primitive Chris-
tianity.

Throughout the whole period, just noted, of
Mr. Emerson's professional life as lay lecturer and
as essayist, his mental poise, his tone, spirit, and
genial manner, seemed ever the same. Occasional
meetings and greetings are now vivid memories;
especially, as pertaining to his later years, those
which occurred while I was associated with him
in the library committeeship of Harvard Univer-
sity. In those casual or incidental talks wherein
there is no premeditation, and thought springs
spontaneously, " free and easy," from suggestions
serious or trivial, it was quite noteworthy how
intimately associated with all kinds of topics was
some word or action of his sylvan friend, Henry
Thoreau, whom Emerson had lovingly introduced

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. 187

to literature by means of " The Dial," tlie first
contribution being a poem published in the first
number.

Thus it happened, one day, that Mr. Emerson
was passing the house of Dr. Robbins, dentist, just
as I was leaving it ; and, while on the top of the
steps, closing the door behind me, he hailed me
from the sidewalk with the greeting, " Pray, what
have 3^ou been doing there ? "

''I have been getting a mutilated mouth re-
paired," was my reply.

"Indeed; have you come to that already?
When Thoreau reached that stage of experience,
and the operation had been ended, he exclaimed,
' What a pity that I could not have known betimes
how much Art outdoes Nature in this kind of
outfit for life, so that I might have spoken for
such a set to start with I ' "

In the conversation that followed, Mr. Emerson
spoke with curious interest of what had been
lately written on brain-power, and the recent com-
mendations of Scotch oatmeal, fish, wild birds,
and articles of diet wherein Nature, by providing
stores of phosphatic sustenance, had wrought with
such motherly care for the health of our brain-
life.

1 88 LIFE NOTES.

OF CONFLICTING JUDGINIENTS IN ENGLAND.

In his persistent and effective use of the plat-
form and the press from the very beginning of liis
professional career, Mr. Emerson was progressively
gaining audience at home and abroad ; the law of
'* elective affinities" having asserted itself with
special vigor in England, where it was noticed
as early as 1842 that the "Radicals" were cir-
culating liis lecture, "Man, the Reformer," read
Jan. 25, 1841, before the Mechanics' and Ap-
prentices' Library of Boston. At that time the
free-thought associations of England indicated
a higher tone of vitality than any of their kin in
this country. Thus the way of Mr. Emerson's
visit to England, five years afterward, as an in-
vited lecturer, was gradually prepared, and a com-
munity of minds educated to welcome him, even
with sympathetic appreciation. Nevertheless,
though in listening there was unity of interest,
the judgments of the listeners were sharply con-
flicthig; not only of one hearer in relation to
another, but of each individual mind at different
moments, varying with the contrasted moods in-
duced by the original, self-witnessing, and the
directly antithetic affirmatives of oracular, sibylline
tone, abounding in every lecture.

Caroline Fox, in her " Memories of Old Friends,"

thp: era of mysticism. 189

published a year or more ago, records this obser-
vation of Mrs. Jane Carlyle : '' She tlionght no
good would come of Mr. Emerson's writings, and
grants that he is arrogant and short-coming."
This record is the more noteworthy because it is
well known that Mrs. Carlyle had expressed in
strong terms, written and unwritten, her interest
in reading Mr. Emerson as almost exclusive, ren-
dering her indifferent, comparatively, to all other
writings except those of her husband. Both state-
ments may be truthful, — not at all contradictory, —
whatsoever, at first, the verbal seeming may sug-
gest. For the Avorks of Mr. Emerson, regarded as
a whole, exhibit conflicting elements of the actual
and speculative, the real and fanciful, the self-
witnessing generalization and the illusive half-
truth ; so that we are by turns, short or long,
attracted and repelled, uplifted and depressed,
instructed and mystified, fascinated and shocked,
charmed by a poetic optimism, and horrified by a
logically and practically inevitable pessimism, like
that voiced by Schopenhauer as a regular evolution
of the data furnished by "eternal Nature." From
the stand-point occupied by Mr. Emerson, he could
reveal no way of escape for us from the combina-
tion of terrible forces traced by Schopenhauer ;
could do nothing, in fact, but what he did, —
namely, denounce the philosopher and his doctrine

IQO LIFE NOTES.

as "dispiriting" and "odious." But this mere
emotionalism ])rings no relief from the horror of
that pessimistic abyss. The trend of the younger
free-thought scliool of Germany to-day is to the
enthronement of Schopenhauer as the imperial
thinker ; not fully recognized by his own age, but
the philosopher-laureate of ours. If we would
form a comprehensively just estimate of Mr. Em-
erson's prose writings, we must treat them in a
manner analogous to that of Plato's criticisms of
Homer, set forth in the second book of the " Re-
public." There Plato, in concert with Socrates,
discriminates the qualities of Homer's great epic,
and demands the exclusion from the ideal republic
of the poet's conceptions of the character and
conduct of the gods, on account of their influence
in demoralizing the republic's youth. Even the
greatest work of " the godlike Homer " Plato would
bring to trial by the test-question, " What fruit-
age ? " From the copies of the Iliad admitted to
circulation, he required the elimination of certain
mythological elements. So, when Mr. Emerson's
transcendental intuitions or ecstatic revelations,
taking form as oracles, interpret the universe to
us pantheistically, bidding every soul, though sin-
cerely denying the existence of a personal God, to
abandon itself to a blind instinct of Nature-wor-
ship, whensoever the ecstatic mood shall impel to

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. I91

the adoration of nature, we recognize the ideal
identity with that ohl paganism that did actually
demoralize Grecian manhood despite its culture,
and subordinated cultured intellect to an ascetic
Orientalism on the one hand, or, on the other, to
a sensual Nature-worship akin to that whereof
Paul spoke as abandonment to " a reprobate
mind," and whose Oriental sacred writings Max
Miiller has sadly said he cannot make presentable
throughout, by a fair translation, to English-speak-
ing peoples.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THIS IMTSTTC SCHOOL.

To particularize : in his lecture on '' Self-Reli-
ance " Mr. Emerson puts the central thought of
his teaching in a short preceptive sentence, thus :
'^In your metapliysics you have denied personality
to the Deity, yet, when the devout motions of the
soul come, yield to them heart and life, though
they should clothe God with shape and color."
This is an apt expression of the interior spirit of
that Alexandrian Neo-Platonism represented by
several writers, from Plotinus of the third century
to Proclus of the fifth (to the study of whose
works Mr. Emerson especially gave himself for a
year or more preceding the issue of his first vol-
ume, " Nature ") : a scholastic sectarianism which,
while it found scope and play for the intellect in

192 LIFE NOTES.

pliilosopliy, eliminated intellectuality from worship,
subjecting that, in its purest character and style,
to blind emotional instinct ; thus setting up a sharp
antithesis to that essential idea of Christian wor-
ship Avhich Jesus uttered, in view of the mongrel
or eclectic religionism of the Samaritans, when he
said, '-^ Ye worship ye know not what : we know
what we worship/' Even so : Christianity rec-
ognizes no worship as genuine when emptied of
this intellectual discernment of its object, while
Paganism degrades humanity by giving supremacy
to a blinding, fanciful caprice under the name of
religion. From first to last, such worship is, in
fact, a mere superstition. Thus, when a mission-
ary in India found a pagan man worshipping before
a picture as a household god, he ventured to in-
quire of the worshipper if he knew what the picture
represented. The devout man said he did not
know. '' It is," said the missionary, ''a picture of
the Emperor Napoleon." — ''Oh, well," said the
worshipper, ''you know we must worship some-
thing."

DOWN\YAKD TREND OF THIS SCHOOL.

In regard to the Neo-Platonic school, which
seems to have attracted so strongly Mr. Emerson's
youthful sympathies, it is worthy of note in this
connection, that John Stuart Mill, as a literary

THE ERA OF MYSTICISM. 1 93

critic, fitly characterized it eighteen years ago, in an
article on "Grote's Plato," "Edinburgh Review,"
April, 1866, wherein, after noting the complete-
ness of Grote's work as far as it had gone, he pro-
ceeds thus : " If to this were added a summary of
what is known to us concerning the Pythagorean
revival and the later Academy, no portion of purely
Greek thought would remain untreated of; for
Neo-Platonicism, an aftergrowth of late date and
little intrinsic value, was a hybrid product of Greek
and Oriental speculation, and its place in history
is l)y the side of Gnosticism. What contact it
has with the Greek mind is with that mind in its
decadence, as the httle in Plato which is allied to
it belongs chiefly to the decadence of Plato's own
mind. We are quite reconciled to the exclusion
from Mr. Grote's plan of this tedious and unsatis-
factory chapter in the history of the human intel-
lect."^ The subtle affinity between Mr. Emerson's
distinctive style and line of thought, and the old
Gnosticism, a self-asserting transcendental philos-
ophy, is quite clearly apparent. His completed
life-work presents him to the world as the first New-
Englander — or, rather, American writer — whose
speculative trend of mind took sympathetically to
the Gnostic ideas, and whose inherited proclivity

1 Dissertations and Disicussions, Political, Philosophical, and Historical,
vol. iv. pp. 228, 229. New York : Heury Uolt & Co.

194 LIFE NOTES.

as a born New-Englander necessitated the effort to
combine those Oriental elements with the shrewd
common-sense of practical Yankee life. Yet, alas !
there is no vital unity. The incongruity is glaring,
and balks all effort to naturalize the alien mysti-
cism as an aider to home culture. The American
will live out his supreme ideas, whatsoever they
may be, in religion as well as in politics. Let him
abandon the idea of a personal God, a divine
Fatherhood, as primevally revealed, and he, then
logically agnostic, will not worship at all, utterly
repelling the mystic's thought of an ecstatic wor-
sliip '' WITHOUT IDEAS ; " or, if he yield to the
mental inebriation of an aesthetic, emotional Na-
ture-worship, he will drift to the extreme of natu-
ralistic spontaneity, ignoring the mere thought of
sin or evil as a fossil conventionalism, and say,
perhaps, like the gay young Ingersolian, vindicat-
ing his moral lawlessness, " It is pure nature ;
what is nice to me is nice to God."

Hence, what fruitage? Moral and social dis-
integration is the normal aftergrowth.

FORECASTING OF ULTIMATE ISSUES.

This view of the normal issue of an actual trans-
portation of the Neo-Platonic mysticism into the
popular religious conceptions of our own age as an
element of " Modern Thought," is not discredited,

THE ERA OE MYSTICISM. I95

to say the least, by Mr. Emerson's characterization
of the moral tone of his own time, after the lapse
of nearly half a century from the beginning of his
career. In his article entitled " The Sovereignty
of Ethics," published in " The North-American
Review," May, 1878, he clearly recognizes moral
retrogression rather than advancement, saddened
by the signs of the outlook. Having referred to
men of the past, he thus disparages those of the
present : " I confess our later generation appears
ungirt, frivolous, compared with the religions of
the last or Calvinistic age. There was in the last
century a serious, habitual reference to the spirit-
ual world, running through diaries, letters, and
conversations — yes, and into wills and legal instru-
ments also, — compared with which our liberation
looks a little foppish and dapper. The religion of
seventy years ago was as an iron belt to the mind,
giving it concentration and force. A rude people
were kept respectable by the determination of
thought upon the eternal world. Now men fall
abroad, want polarity, suffer in character and intel-
lect. A sleep creeps over the great functions of
men ; enthusiasm goes out. In its stead a low
prudence seeks to hold society stanch ; but its
arms are too short : cordage and machinery never
supply the place of life. The more intellectual
reject every yoke of authority with a petulance

196 LIFE NOTES.

unprecedented. It is a sort of mark of probity
and sincerity to declare how little you believe,
while the mass of the community indolently follow
the old forms with childish scrupulousness ; and
we have punctuality for faith, and good taste for
character."

Day by day this disparaging characterization be-
comes more profoundly significant. It is virtually
an historic testimony as to " seeding and fruit-
age " within the writer's field of observation. But
whence this tone of surprise? Why wonder?
Can any higher style of character or any better
moral issues be fairly looked for from any religion
whatsoever, old or new, that can ignore a personal
God, ignore the reality of sin as a positive force,
and affirm as one of its dogmata that " evil is only
good in the making"? Can any religion thus
assert itself, and yet continue to realize its own
ideal as an uplifting or a transforming power?
No, never ! The old Christian recognition of " a
law of sin " that is itself gravitation to a moral
abyss on the one hand, and a personal union to
Christ by a loving faith as in itself redemptive
power and eternal life on the other, is the tested
remedy " worthy of all acceptation."

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM. 1 97

XIV.

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM.
THE SPIRIT OF RHODE ISLAND HISTORY.

With the names already noted pertaining to
the ''transition period" (1830-34, the chronologi-
cal point of distinction between Old and New
Boston) are associated the memories of a new
era, properly recognized as the era of historical
enthusiasm. The curiously critical and persistent
taste for the study of early American history that
had asserted itself in the pursuits of comparatively
few, either within or without the ranks of "the
learned professions," now became quite widely
popularized; so that every earnest lecturer or
writer felt himself stimulated to effort in this
direction by a new environment of sympathetic
interest. This turn of the public mind dates back
to the second decade of this century, and was
quickened by the arrival of the second centennial
birth-year anniversaries of Plymouth, Salem, Bos-
ton, and the other primal settlements of Old
Massachusetts. That series of festal years was,

198 LIFE NOTES.

ill regard to tlie determination of public sentiment,
a revolutionizing period.^ The time had now come
when it was possible to survey the broad land-
scape of American history " in perspective ; " that
is, to see the sequences of things in their real
unity, and thus in their historical significance.
Hitherto this inquiring spirit had been merely
potential : now it had become, comparatively
speaking, thoroughly alive ; rising superior to all
local or personal antipathies, and rejoicing in the
outlook disclosed from this bi-centennial stand-
point.

PROGRESSIVE CRITICISM.

The first really effective expression of this com-
prehensively critical spirit was given publicly by
the Rev. Dr. Charles W. Upham, minister of the
First Congregational Church of Salem (Unitarian),
in his Lyceum lecture, addressed to an audience
in Boston. The position of Roger Williams in
world history was by him clearly distinguished as
that of the true exponent of a supreme idea, even
of that universal religious liberty that was directly
proclaimed by Jesus Christ, and implied in all the
teachings of his works and words. Although I
was not present at the delivery of that lecture, it
was immediately reported to me by Rev. John O.
Chonles, D.D., of Newport, R.I., who said that
the lecturer was so thoroughly alive with the

1 See Appendices, page 331.

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM. 1 99

spirit of Rhode Island history, with the meaning
and suggestions of his theme, that he was now
and then, in moments of excitement, grasping his
white handkerchief, winding it around his hand,
and manoeuvring with it, seemingly, like a lady
with her fan, quite unconscious of the movement
as an attempt at special emphasizing, or of any
questioning as to the aptness of such rare elocu-
tionary gesticulation ; thus forgetting himself, and
lost in his subject, he spoke with the eloquence of
true enthusia'sm, the power of profound convic-
tion. The warm response of the audience was
the index of the critical judgment of that passing
generation, comprehensive and final.

ROGER Williams's place in history.

A contemporaneous public expression of this
historical judgment, pertaining to that period, was
the oration of Mr. Justice Story, called forth by
the second centennial anniversary of the settle-
ment of Salem, and delivered in the sanctuary of
that old First Church of Salem, to whom Dr. Up-
ham was ministering, — a discourse that occupied
three hours of time, gladly yielded, wherein the
judicial orator uttered the affirmation, so often
quoted, that the charter of Rhode Island, pro-
cured from Charles II. by Roger Williams, was
"•the first royal proclamation of religious liberty,

200 LIFE NOTES.

for man as man, that the world had heard since
Christianity had ascended the throne of the
Caesars." This declaration, thus fitly announced
from the pulpit of the church that historically
represented the ecclesiastico-civil power that had
banished Roger Williams from Salem, was a new
" sign of the sky," voicing the new thought of the
present, and the critical judgment of the future.

Pertaining to this period, and thus associated
in memory with the historical discourse of Mr.
Justice Story, was the first volume of the history
of the United States from the pen of George Ban-
croft, who was recognized and welcomed at once
by the press and the people not merely as a faith-
ful chronicler of facts, but as their interpreter;
uniting keen insight and the faculty of minute
analysis with justness of generalization, and able
thence to comprehend the unity of the nation's
story, to discern and set forth the ideas that must
rule as guiding lights of its future. In no par-
ticular did the power of the author, througliout
that first volume, assert itself more effectively in
winning appreciation than in the simple force of
thought and style, whereby, despitfe the inheritance
of old antipathies, that were still cherished and
domesticated throughout his early surroundings,
he determined for all time the true historical
position of Roger Williams as the inaugurator of

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM. 20I

the new era of religious liberty. It may be
justly said, that, as to greatness of personal
achievement in revolutionizing public sentiment,
Carlyle never exhibited much greater power in his
transformation of English public oj)inion regard-
ing the significance of the French Revolution, or
of the career of Oliver Cromwell, than did Ban-
croft in revolutionizing the public sentiment of
tliis nation (outside of Rhode Island) regarding
the relation of Roger Williams to the whole world-
wide history of humanity.

BIOGRAPHERS OF ROGER WTTJJAMS.

At the same time, there was felt throughout the
State of Rhode Island, and over the land gener-
ally, more especially by the Baptists and many
thousands in sympathy with them, the want of a
" Life of Roger Williams," worthy to be accepted
as an exponent of their views of him, of his char-
acter and mission. To all it seemed fitting that
the contribution of such a volume, bridging over
a chasm in historical literature, should be the
work of a Rhode-Islander. As soon as that
sense of need found open expression, we saw that
its demand had been already provided for. The
pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Boston,
Rev. James D. Knowles (afterwards professor at
Newton), the immediate successor of Dr. Thomas

202 LIFE NOTES.

Baldwin, was a native of Rhode Island, early
schooled in journalistic life, a fit representative of
the spirit of Rhode Island history. By hosts of
friends, far and near, he was called upon to accept
''his proper mission," as they interpreted it.
Greatly to their credit, his church Avere in sympa-
thy with the historical enthusiasm of the time, and
favored the giving of his whole strength to this
service for several successive weeks, apart from
them, amid the surroundings of his early home,
and the archives of the Rhode Island Historical
Society in Providence. On his part, it was a work
most lovingly begun, and thence nobly accom-
plished. Thus Knowles's *' Life of Roger Wil-
liams " lives to-day, a trusted " authority " in
American historj^ It became, too, a source of
inspiration to other writers of kindred mind ; and
thus the critically supplementary biography of
the founder of Rhode Island, by Professor William
Gammell, LL.D., and the tribute of spontaneous
loyalty from the pen of Romeo Elton, D.D., have
been added to the literary treasures of our time.

This reference to Professor Knowles re-awakens
a keen sense of bereavement caused by a death
which seemed quite untimely, occurring soon after
he had won the gratitude of Christendom by his
"Life of Mrs. Ann Hasseltine Judson." While
interesting himself editorially in the establishment

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM. 203

of " The Christian Review," he was taken from us
in his prime, most mysteriously, smitten by small-
pox after his return from a convention in New
York, at his house in Newton, and buried hastily
by friendly hands in the gloom of night; thus
suddenly leaving the professor's chair a chilling
vacancy.

KIXDEED TASTES OF DR. STOW.

His successor in the pastorate of the Second Bap-
tist Church of Boston was the Rev. Baron Stow,
D.D., well remembered as the early friend and
educational co-worker of i\Ir. Knowles in Colum-
bia College, Washington, D.C., and welcomed to
the pastoral care in Boston in the year 1832, after
the resignation of his charge in Portsmouth, N.H.,
his native State. On behalf of the ministering
brotherhood and the sisterhood of churches, it
was made my duty to extend to him the welcome
expressed by the hand of fellowship. There, in
the old church-home of Baldwin Place, through-
out an active and most effective ministry of fifteen
years, he labored persistently, until, in 1848, he
was prostrated by sickness and nervous debility
that confined him closely at home for three months.
From this deep physical depression, however, he
recovered his strength gradually, and became, no
doubt, better qualified thereby for his twenty-

204 LIFE NOTES.

years' mission in the new edifice of the Federal-
street Church (corner of Rowe and Bedford
Streets, near the old Latin and English High
Schools), where, while the family-life of North
End was being driven away by trade or handi-
craft, and while South End was in process of con-
struction, he continued to draw around him in his
central position the scores of young people and
young families that would otherwise have been
drifting away from fitting church relations, unrec-
ognized and homeless. Many of these, drawn
into compact church-organism, became, during an
unsettled twenty-years' period of municipal recon-
structions, a power for good, a rallying-point of
moral forces that would otherwise have been scat-
tered abroad, a debilitating loss of denominational
life-blood. Dr. Stow saw the importance of his
new position in this light, and rejoiced in his field
of work with the feeling of renovated youth.
His distinguishing power lay in his faculty of con-
centrating all the energies of his nature upon his
immediate home-work, either of the pastorate or
pulpit ; and thence sprang forth those revival har-
vests of transformed characters that were ever
replenishhig his church-membership. Within this
sphere of action his studied sermons were all
alive with quickening thought, with keen, incisive
speech, revealing the individual soul to itself, and

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM. 205

thus leading it into that true rehation to Christ
which meets its need for both workls.

After the lapse of twenty years in his second
Boston ministry, Dr. Stow saw with sadness that
the topographical situation of his church was not
permanent, — would not last even for his own life-
time. Its essential needs as a family church would
require its removal to the new centre of family-
life. Of course, this view must have become
depressing, unrelieved by any programme or fore-
casting that would offer scope for fresh and hope-
ful activity. He expressed the conviction that
his earthly work had been finished, that he had
"served his generation," and that no man could
serve any generation but his own. Some of his
friends, we know, tried earnestly to broaden and
cheer this outlook. Nevertheless, he continued to
emphasize his own cherished idea, and thus uncon-
sciously invested his sudden departure with that
aspect of fitness whereof the ancient poet spake
when he associated the approach of the good man
to his grave in full age with the beauty of the
ripened shock of wheat garnered " in its season."

The quickened historical spirit of his time Dr.
Stow largely shared, — a fact memorialized by a
pocket volume, tracing the history of the church
that he first served, commemorating its struggles
and its more sunny seasons under the ministry of

206 LIFE NOTES.

Rev. Dr. Thomas Baldwin, and also of his suc-
cessor, Professor James D. Knowles. In recent
days its fortunes have shown marked contrasts of
rise and decline. The disintegration of the old
homesteads, and the avalanches of foreign immigra-
tion, made the surroundings a sort of chaos.
There were no young families: all liad. drifted
away ; but of this depression a ^' Remnant " deliv-
ered itself under the leadership of Rev. Dr. D. C.
Eddy, a man gifted with those historical sym-
pathies that render the loved ones of the past a
perpetual inspiration, so that the voice of the
weakened church, calling him from Philadelphia,
seemed imperative. It was his accepted mission
to see that persistent Remnant re-established in a
beautiful church-home on Warren Avenue, where,
in its continuous growth under the youthful min-
istry of Rev. O. P. Gifford, it is now realizing the
prosperity of its brightest days.

HISTORIC SENSE OP REV. DR. ROLLTN H. NEALE.

These references to Dr. Stow's continued par-
ticipation in the revived historical interest of his
earlier days, remind us that his neighbor, Dr.
Neale, was a lifelong kindi-ed spirit, and that this
cherished taste was fitly expressed by his contri-
bution of a published " Historical Discourse," called
forth by the second centennial anniversary of

ERA OF HISTORICAL ENTHUSIASM. 20^

the First Church, founded in 1665, — an eloquent
expansion of the sentiment that animated his
"election sermon" of 1852, delivered before the
Governor and Council and the Legislature of
Massachusetts, in the Old South Church. His
half-century's life-work I have already set forth
in volume form.

ESTO perpetua!

This historical enthusiasm thus noted as of
itself an impelling power, that, by a series of
second centennial celebrations, made old Massa-
chusetts, from Cape Cod to the Berkshire Hills,
conscious of a quickened pulse-beat, should be
sympathetically cherished by the whole Baptist
denomination throughout these United States.
There is no body of people upon this planet more
strongly held in unity by simply moral forces, and
thus distinguished from the unifications formed
by merely natural bonds or legally inherited rela-
tions, irrespective of character and free choice.
There are none, therefore, whose organic unity
can be nourished from deeper sources of a gen-
uine historical enthusiasm. Professor Heman
Lincoln of Newton, for successive years, as it
seems, impelled by this sentiment, has wrought
well for its diffusion. May his example "provoke
many," encouraging all of us. It is not a mere

2o8 LIFE NOTES.

esprit de corps, or traditional sentiment, here
appealed to, but a miglity sympathy growing out
of defined ideas of the Messiah's kingdom; a
subtle force, widely ignored, yet ever working and
ever modifying the course of world history.

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE, 209

XV.

ASPECTS OF EHODE ISLAND LIFE.
KEMOVAL FPvOM BOSTON TO PEOVIDENCE.

Already I have had occasion, in connection
with memories of well-known names, to allude to
my removal from Boston to Providence in the
early summer of 1837, responsive to the invita-
tion of the church that is historically known as
the First Baptist Church of America, whereof
Roger Williams was the first minister. That in-
vitation came in the early spring ; but as I had
entered just then upon the seventh year of my
pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Boston,
more than ordinarily interested in plannings for
the future, the call was declined for what were
regarded as adequate reasons. It was repeated,
however, three months afterward, and so presented
by President Wayland, a predecessor in the Boston
pastorate, as to seem morally imperative. Al-
though the motives of action in this case com-
mended themselves to the approval of all the
acting parties, the sundering of ties pertaining to
this cherished relationship was a painful process.

2IO LIFE NOTES.

SUBTLE WORKING OF HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

Nevertheless, years afterward there seemed,
retrospectively^ in this unsought transfer a trace
of dim forecastings strangely realized ; for, in
days of youth, the story of Roger Williams, as
first told at home in the family circle, invested
Providence and all Rhode Island with a more than
romantic interest. My first sight of the old First
Baptist Church edifice of Providence, in 1828, was
far more thrilling and uplifting, as being ever
closely associated with all that is sublime in
human character and history, than was my first
view of St. Peter's at Rome in 1838, when those
two structures, so far apart, not even within the
range of comparison architecturally, were present
to my thought as the types of antagonistic ideas
that were so vital, so irreconcilable, suggesting
the elements of continuous conflict. From early
school-days, these associations of thought had in-
vested Rhode Island with an unrivalled ideal
greatness, despite the smallness of her geographical
area. She had, indeed, seemed the greatest of
the States ; a self-asserting sentiment, aptly vindi-
cated, I may say, by Lord Chief Justice Cole-
ridge, at his reception in the Music Hall of New
York, when, referring to the talked-of territorial
vastness of the United States, he said that he was

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE. 211

not particularly impressed with that, and added,
" What of the size of your country ? You didn't
make it. It is not size, but products, that are to
be looked at." Even so : —

" It is the water makes the gem, and not the size."

When the statue of the founder of Rhode Island,
wrought by an American artist in the city of
Rome, was set in its place by Congress in the
Capitol at Washington, Rhode Island's world-wide
victory for man as man was fitly signalized.
There it stands to-day, awaiting the ultimate
triumph of the ideal that it represents. In ac-
cordance with this conception, long dominant, a
call to accept the vacant place in the ministerial
succession of Roger Williams became practically
authoritative ; and thus the parting from the First
Church of Boston was the recognition of a Su-
preme Providence that becomes to all living souls
its own interpreter.

A CHUBCH RETROSPECT AND ITS LESSON.

The old historic First Church of Providence,
after the departure of its honored patriarchal pas-
tor. Rev. Dr. Stephen Gano (1828), had been
favored with the ministry of Rev. Robert Everett
Pattison, D.D., afterward president of Waterville
College, Maine, now Colby University. His com-

212 LIFE NOTES.

ing, after a long pastoral bereavement, was to the
church a spiritual rejuvenation, touching and
quickening the younger class of his own contem-
poraries. Following him in June, 1837, I found
much of welcomed co-operation among those wlio
had entered the communion of the church under
his teachings. Some of these I had known before,
having at different times aided Dr. Pattison in
sustaining his series of week-day gatherings.
Thence onward, for successive months, there was
a progressive spirit of inquiry, affecting the tone
of thought and talk throughout our surroundings.
To the enhancement of this interest several stu-
dents of the university freely contributed ; and
the union of the old and the young in the re-unions
of the vestry-service, — the pastor presiding, —
with all the freedom of the old-fashioned Rhode
Island style of conference, won fresh attention,
and made lasting impressions of the reality and
self-witnessing power of that New-Testament
Christianity whereof that ancient church had been,
during two centuries, a stalwart witness.

In this connection, therefore, it is noteworthy,
that from first to last, thus far, without any ivritten
creed except the New Testament itself, as it was
said, this church had passed the most severe
ordeals of stability, maintaining a primitive unity
of faith. Throughout those stormy controversies

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE. 21 3

that swept over New England during tlie first
quarter of this century, shaking from their l)ases
the old Puritan churches, and thus reshaping what
they called "the New England Theology," this
church continued to increase its membership, with-
out any conservatively formulated creed, or any
symbols of its faith except what was contained in
the apostolic Scripture, and the two external ordi-
nances, that were, of themselves, Christ's own ap-
pointed "confessions" of the distinctive doctrines
of Christianity. These two outward symbols,
baptism and the Lord's Supper, kept in their unity
as attesting those ideas wherewith they w^ere
originally vocal, are of themselves sufficiently con-
servative without the addition of any dogma.

THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS PKESIDENT.

Brown University, just now advanced into the
second decade of President Wayland's administra-
tion, was "at its best" compared with the view
of any preceding period. There was vitality
throughout, — a fact emphasized in the thought of
those who remembered the low state of decline
out of which it had been uplifted. At the begin-
ning, a thorough work of reconstruction had been
achieved ; and, as in the rebuilding of Jerusalem
after the Captivity, there was much rubbish to be
removed, so here was an accumulation of dead

214 ^^^^^ NOTES.

routine to be gotten rid of. There were, of course,
deep-set prejudices to be encountered ; but all the
antecedents of Dr. Wa^dand's life seemed like a
divinely ordered preparation for the educational
needs of the times. Ever at hand as a sympa-
thetic friend, wise counsellor, and effective co-
worker, was Professor William G. Goddard,
whose distinguished position as a scholar, writer,
and teacher qualified him exceptionally to act as
an aid to Dr. Wayland in actualizing his ideas,
and thus becoming "master of the situation."

Soon after the president had " settled " the
status of the University, as to its aims and meth-
ods, he found himself at liberty to undertake the
task of meeting a special need of the time by pro-
viding a text-book for the study and teaching of
moral philosophy. His intention had been an-
nounced in advance of the work. At that time.
Rev. Dr. Choules of Newport, R.I., visiting Eng-
land, met the eminent essayist John Foster, and,
in the course of talk, incidentally mentioned that
President Wayland was engaged in writing a text-
book on moral philosophy. On hearing this,
Foster smiled, and, opening his ej^es with an
expression of curious or dubious surprise, rejDcated
musingly the words of his informant: "Moral
philosophy, — a text-book on moral philosophy ?
Sir, that is no child's play." The tone and

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE. 21 5

manner of the essayist indicated that it seemed
rather queer that the attempt of an educator to
supersede Paley's work should proceed from
America, and from the college of Rhode Island.
This incident is the more noteworthy because no
living Englishman had, by his writing, shown any
capacity of appreciating the relation of Rhode
Island to world history in comparison with John
Foster. It was his fortune, however, to see Dr.
Wayland's work welcomed far and Avidely over
the English-speaking world as a contribution of
thought adjusted to the want of the time; a moral
philosophy grounded not upon utilitarianism, but
upon self-witnessing principles intuitively per-
ceived, and recognized as supreme truth,

Foster's comprehension of historic issues.

This reference to John Foster recalls him as
remembered, in 1839, at his beautiful home in the
vicinity of Bristol, Eng., where Hon. Samuel G.
Arnold of Providence (then a college student)
and myself, fellow-travellers, having been properly
introduced, enjoyed an hour's free talk, the topics
all of mutual interest. My companion was much
pleased to learn that the great essayist was then
engaged in writing a review article that would
lead him to emphasize the significance of Rhode
Island history. The communication of this fact

2l6 LIFE NOTES.

was a fresh stimulus to the student's trend of
thought; for already, he had been f(jrecasting his
plan of life, including graduation at Brown Uni-
versity and the Cambridge Law School, then
more foreign travel as educational in relation to
commerce, comprising, too, the devotion of suc-
cessive years to the writing out from original
sources the history of his native State. This plan
was thoroughly actualized. Ten years of toil
completed the two volumes of Rhode Island his-
tory, that aptly met a need of his own time, and
are therefore assured of the highest appreciation
in the centuries to come a^ a standard historical
authority. At the period of the visit here men-
tioned, it so happened that T was preparing to
meet the appointment to deliver, soon after my
return home, the commemorative discourse occa-
sioned by the two hundredth anniversary of the
organization of the First Baptist Church of
America. Young Arnold was intently observant
of every fact or incident pertaining to this work,
keenly S3'mpathetic with its ideas and aim. This
early historic enthusiasm was lifelong. It was fitly
recognized to his latest day in his prolonged presi-
dency of the Rhode Island Historical Society ; and
all his occasional addresses, called forth through-
out his career, literary or political, are alive with
the expanding spirit of Rhode Island history.

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE. 21/

THE COLONIAL FAMILIES "A LIVING PRESENCE."

During the series of years here recalled (1837-
40), the Rhode Island families of Colonial days
were made to seem to us " a living presence " by
their immediate representatives greeting us in the
streets and in our social gatherings, the very
sounding of their names associating with us those
whose lives had been identified with the histories
of the Church, the city, and the State. Our
senior deacons were living in the cherished past,
and in their talks would sometimes carry us back
into company with the men and women of the
eighteenth century who were present at the dedica-
tion of the church-edifice while Rhode Island was
yet an English colony. Near the old pulpit was the
family pew of the Hon. Nicholas Brown (whose
name, as a benefactor, the University commemo-
rates), from whicli he was seldom absent during a
half-century of sabbath services. As time was
now telling effectively upon his naturally hale
frame, it was a privilege to feel one's self, however
briefly, his contemporary. Recognized as the head
of a mercantile house (Brown & Ives) eminently
representing the rise of American commerce in its
relations to the old East, his gentlemanly address,
his genial manner and paternal air, in keeping
with the somewhat antique cut of his apparel.

2l8 LIFE NOTES.

awakened in the breasts of the young a truly filial
feeling, and in others ideal conceptions of the
princely English merchant who figures historically
in the van of English Christian philanthropy.

My personal acquaintance with Mr. Brown
dates back to 1828, just before the beginning of
my student-life in Newton Theological Seminary,
and extended to 1840, the time of his departure, —
a period of twelve years. Conspicuous within the
home circle of Mr. Brown was Ex Gov. Francis,
his son-in-law, yet in his prime ; and, though
residing in the neighborhood, at his own home-
stead, Pawtuxet, as much as ever at the centre of
affairs in the city and the State, — a man of cul-
ture and commanding presence, to whom civil and
social leadership came naturally, without self-
assertion. Mr. John Carter Brown, who inherited
his father's interest in the promotion of letters
and sound learning, and whose name is now fitly
commemorated by the new home for tlie library,
while occupying his place in the old mercantile
house, was cultivating his taste for rare books in
comparative quietude.

That whole series of years, indeed, looms up in
perspective, lustrous with personal memories. As
early as the second year of President Wayland's
administration, the rejuvenation of the college
was felt throughout the community as a quicken-

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE. 219

ing of intellectual and social life. In the Faculty
there was no scholastic recluse. Though pro-
fessionally expert within the range of their set
specialties, like Professors Alva Woods, Alexis
Caswell, Romeo Elton (and then, erelong. Pro-
fessors Gammell, Chase, Lincoln, and Harkness),
they were happily social, and thus influential be-
yond the area of college-life. Dr. Woods, how-
ever, was soon called away from the chair of
mathematics to the presidency of the State Uni-
versity of Kentucky, and later to that of the
State of Alabama ; and his pleasant home in
Providence, presided over by Mrs. Woods (nee
Marshall), was regretfully missed by many, and
is now remembered as a characterizing feature of
the society of Providence more than fifty years
ago. Here, too, it may be noted, that, however
appreciatively or partially wx may speak of the
leading men of that time, it may be truly said
that the proper balance of a true home -life was
admirably sustained by the women, who realized
one's best ideal of cultivated American and Chris-
tian womanhood. And of these it seems not
improper to recall the name of Mr. Nicholas
Brown's widowed sister, Mrs. Hope Ives, whose
memory has been so reverently cherished b}^ the
citizenship of Providence, even " unto the third
and fourth generation."

220 LIFE NOTES.

COSMOPOLITAN FREEDOM OF SOCIAL LIFE.

In awakening memories of the social life of
Providence during my ministry, from 1837 to
1840, I am impressed with its geniality, freedom,
and intellectual activity. Never in that city had
there been, comparatively, much recognition of
ecclesiastical and denominational distinctions in
social any more than in civil life. For more than
two-thirds of a century the university had been
a source of intellectual quickening to the com-
munity, modifying the character of the beautiful
little capital. At the same time, there had been
a diffusion of Avealth, refinement, and culture
sufficient to impart to general society a tone and
spirit quite cosmopolitan. Men and women, rep-
resentatives of almost every school of thought, —
evangelical, transcendental, theological, philosophi-
cal, literary, or scientific, — might be found, even
in small clubs or social gatherings, drawn to-
gether by a common interest in mental acquisi-
tion. Within my own area of religious affinities,
this freedom was an educational element, aiding
clearness of thinking, and more effective expres-
sion of distinctively Christian ideas. From the
prolific field of modern Congregational Unitarian-
ism a new school of religious "free thought" had
naturally developed itself. Thence proceeded the

ASPECTS OF RHODE ISLAND LIFE. 221

new formulation of doctrine known as Transcen-
dentalism, affirming the all-sufficiency of natural
intuition as the divine inner light, transcending
all sense-knowledge Avhatsoever ; and of this ultra-
istically ideal school Margaret Fuller Avas the
leading expositor. As a conversationalist she was
unrivalled; and conversation was her favorite
mode of teaching either the young ladies of her
school, or the men and women of her classes in
the German language, literature, or philosophy.
How often, indeed, I had occasion to speak of her
as the Hypatia of the nineteenth century ! If
Charles Kingsley, who has so finely pictured the
Hypatia of the fourth century, the gifted woman
who attracted to her lecture-hall the youthful in-
tellects of Alexandria, intent upon winning their
acceptance of Greek Paganism as a true Nature-
religion, could have joined a re-union of Marga-
ret Fuller, he would have been tempted to hint,
however fancifully, the re-incarnation of his hero-
ine. But as to the battle-grounds of their one
work, Alexandria in the fourth century and Provi-
dence in the nineteenth were sharply contrasted ;
for Alexandria was the theatre whereon the op-
pressive forces of a corrupted Christianity had
ample play, and Providence was the chosen field
where, thirteen centuries afterward, the real
Christianity of the first century had full scope to

222 LIFE NOTES.

recruit and re-assert itself with a healthful freedom
entirely unrestricted. As to the making of sin-
cere converts, the Hypatia of the fourth century
occupied a position of superior opportunity, on
account of the very horribleness of that nominally
Christian power that decreed her death. The
Hypatia of our nineteenth century, on the other
hand, inherited a freedom of speech and action
that had been won by the self-sacrifices of Chris-
tian martyrs and heroes, like Roger Williams,
who recognized the liberty of the individual mind
and conscience as an essential idea of the Chris-
tianity taught by Christ. In Providence, instead
of repelling or avoiding the modern Hypatia, we
welcomed her society, invited her professional or
spontaneous communications, discussed them with
perfect freedom, and realized the benefit of " prov-
ing all things," thus " having our senses exercised
to discern between o^ood and evil."

A TIME OF ORGANIC RECONSTKUCTIONS, 223

xvr.

A TIME 0? ORGAMC RECONSTRUCTIONS.
A SECOND TERM OF MINISTRY IN BOSTON.

Our three years' retrospective view of the course
of things in Providence, from 1837 to 1840, in-
clusive, pertains to a period distinguished by a
quickened intellectual life, seeking expression in
discussions of literary, philosophical, and theo-
logical, as well as of strictly religious questions.
Fourteen years of President Wayland's adminis-
tration had passed away, leaving clear signs of an
educational influence that had gone forth from
the professional chair, the pulpit, the platform, the
press, and had been felt not only within the pre-
cincts of the University, but also indirectly through-
out a widening area of society. The higher ideal
of intellectual progress then uplifting the com-
munity was indicated not only by the reconstruc-
tion of the public-school system, but also by the
tendency to unite in literary associations, lyceums,
or club gatherings in the interest of personal and
social culture. This aspect of the time imparted

224 LIFE NOTES.

to the lively little capital and its outlook of the
future a fresh and growing interest ; so that, at
the opening of the year 1840, there was no sign
of a probability that on my part, within half a
year, a return to Boston as a field of service could
be thought of.

Early in the spring of that year, however, I
received a communication from Mr. Charles D.
Gould, the well-known publisher, the junior deacon
of the Federal-street Baptist Church of Boston,
informing me that it was the intention of that
church, at its approaching monthly meeting, to
offer to me a formal call to the vacant pastorate,
and giving his reasons for hoping that I would
regard it favorably. To this communication I
returned an answer immediately, affirming that
I did not feel myself at liberty to entertain any
proposal looking to a change of pastoral relations,
and that, as the rejection of the call would do no
good to either party, but rather harm, sound
judgment would counsel the withholding of it.
That answer I supposed would be final ; ere a
fortnight had elapsed, however, a committee com-
posed of six gentlemen, for every one of whom I
had long cherished the most sincere respect, came
to Providence bearing the formal call, commending
it to my acceptance by a frank and earnest state-
ment of the difficulties, the hopes and aspirations,

A TIME OF ORGANIC RECONSTRUCTIONS. 22$

of the church that liad sent it. They set forth
clearly the difficulties in the way of sustaining any
ecclesiastical position in Federal Street while the
invasions of trade were driving family-life away
from its vicinity ; emphasizing the inevitable loss
of membership on that account, and the prospect
of greater loss when the new edifice in Bowdoin
Square should become the church-home of a
portion of the remnant.

The mere fact of a visitation by such a com-
mittee, presenting itself in Providence on an
errand of this kind, directly in the face, apparently,
of the letter I had addressed to their deacon, Avas
a surprise, explainable only as a sacrifice of per-
sonal pride to a sense of duty, appealing to the
kindred sentiment of another in the recognition
of a " mutual faith.*' In this connection of events,
moreover, I received an additional communication
from Hon. Richard Fletcher, expressing his belief,
that, if this call were declined, the church would
disband. The ideas and aims set forth in these
communications, oral and written, commended
themselves as unselfish and worthy of considerate
review. This was promised. Erelong the possi-
bilities of resuscitation and progress, of the rallying
of new forces sufficient for the enterprise of con-
structing a new church-home within an environ-
ment that would minister to growth instead of

226 LIFE NOTES.

depletion, seemed quite clear. Awakened memo-
ries of the exceptionally intimate relations of this
church with "the Old First" at a certain period
of my ministering to it when the neighboring
pastor of Federal Street, Dr. Howard Malcom, w^as
seeking health in Europe, intensified my sympa-
thetic hopes of seeing a restored prosperity, iden-
tical, as in the past, with a world-wide Christian
work. The attempt to grapple with difficulties in
the way of success seemed but following the beck
of the Divine Master's hand ; thence, as the result
of manifold deliberation, the sense of duty became
imperative, and the call to return to Boston was
accepted.

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TIME.

Having noted the succession of three years pre-
ceding 1840 as pertaining to a period of intellect-
ual awakening in Providence, we are led in this
connection to designate that year, and the three
or four years following, an era of intellectual
awakening in Boston, mainly within the range of
theological and philosophical inquiry. That period
may be thus indicated in view of the elements of
thought brought into play, as distinguished from
a revival simply religious, or from an awakening
of intellectual life within the scope of science and
literature. Parkerism was a term then presenting

A TIME OF ORGANIC RECONSTRUCTIONS. 22/

itself in common talk as a characterization of tlie
time in one of its phases. In days gone by we
had been wont to note the separate areas of doc-
trinal belief as Unitarianism, Liberalism, Ortho-
doxy, or Evangelical Christianity. Now, however,
Liberalism was agitated by a perplexing nnsettled-
ness of ideas, for young Theodore Parker was
formulating his progressive thought as the leader
of that increasing class who were leaving Dr.
Channing, Andrews Norton, and the old Unitarian
school, with its inherited elements of supernatural-
ism and, evidential miracles, far behind ; and, in
behalf of these inquirers, he was reasoniug out
inductively, as well as affirming transcendentally,
the ethics of Nature. The contrast was quite
sharp, for Parker declared, " I do not believe there
ever was a miracle, or ever will be ; " meaning that
no change of Nature's established sequences was
ever made by the direct action of any spirit will-
power, human or divine.

As an index of this general unsettledness we
may refer to the notice given forth from the
pulpit of Dr. Channing's church in Federal Street
by his eloquent colleague, Dr. Ezra S. Gannett,
saying that for twenty years the Unitarian pulpit
had left doctrinal discussion mainly to the press,
and that thence a generation had grown up around
it not knowing what to believe or what to affirm

228 LIFE NOTES.

as the distinguishing ideas of the Christian reli-
gion ; that, to meet this want, he would deliver, on
successive Sunday evenings, a course of six lec-
tures on "Christ and Christianity." This an-
nouncement was timely. The realm of Liberaldom
was moved to prompt response ; and, from first to
last, the aisles and galleries were filled a half-hour
or more before the set time of service by audiences
drawn from the city and its surroundings. The
undertaking was thoroughly unique, novel, excep-
tional. The first discourse of the series — meet-
ing the question, "Who was Christ?" — occupied
two hours ; and, strange to say, instead of suggest-
ing hints of weariness, called forth admiration of
the earnestness, interpretative clearness, and logi-
cal power of the preacher. There was no flagging
of interest in any part of the course ; and the long
sermon was vindicated as "a thing beautiful in
its season," needed just then to meet a mental
craving of twenty years' growth. The teaching
throughout was argumentatively expositional, de-
signed to show that the Unitarianism represented
by the school of Channing voiced truthfully the
meaning of the Sacred Scriptures. The whole
course, now remembered as historic fact, indicated
a new awakening of a great community, that,
having ended its conflicts for individual freedom
from the bonds of ecclesiastical traditionism by

A TIME OF ORGANIC RECONSTRUCTIONS. 229

tlie complete separation of Church and State in
1834, had now become intent upon using its free-
dom for the determining of fundamental beliefs
by the lights of revelation and of reason.

AN EXCEPTIONAL MOOD OF THE PUBLIC ISHND.

At the time of Dr. Gannett's first advertise-
ment of his projected series, I had already pre-
2)ared a course of four lectures for delivery on
successive Sunday evenings, touching the same
range of topics, and was about ready to announce
the fact when the published title that he had
chosen, identical with my own, namely, "Christ
and Christianity," drew attention. Holding these
lectures in reserve until the Sunday following
the close of his course, I then made the announce-
ment of my projected series, in connection with
the statement that it had not been originated as a
specialty, in answer to any other course of lec-
tures, but had been prepared leisurely, as respon-
sive to the calls of inquiring minds and the
questionings of the time.

Very soon, however, it was quite evident that
the popular series just now completed in our
neighborhood had happily prepared my way; for
not only was the house, even the aisles and gal-
leries, filled before the set time of commencing
the service, but occupied in large proportion by the

230 LIFE NOTES.

same audience. It was an inspiring assemblage,
a marvellous scene, this continuous flowing to-
gether of thinking men, social and denominational
leaders, mingling with younger classes of earnest
listeners, all alike welcoming the most free and
direct discussion of the central doctrines of Chris-
tianity. The like of it had never before been
seen in Boston ; and it has been truly said, perhaps,
that the like of it has not been seen since, and
may never occur again. The incidental talk of
the streets took its tone, quite notably, from the
themes of the pulpits, exceptionally free from
the traditional harshness of theological controversy.

DIFFUSION OF THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY.

Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in one of his letters
to Thomas Carlyle pertaining to this first decade
of his own career, mentions as an item of special
interest the gathering around him of "young
gentlemen and ladies without a religion, seeking
a new one." This statement is noteworthy as in-
dicating the awakened intellectuality of the time.
Others might have given like reports of their
surroundings as seen from their own stand-points.
Dr. Edward N. Kirk, for instance, might have
spoken of the many thronging to listen to him
Avhile preaching as an evangelist in Park-street
Church, and afterward at the commodious church-

A TIME OF ORGANIC RECONSTRUCTIONS. 23 1

home built for him when he had accepted the
proffered pastorate in Boston. So, too, Dr. Alex-
ander H. Vinton, the able expositor of Evangelical
Christianity, attracting eager listeners from all
quarters, might have written thus commemora-
tively of this period of his ministry as rector of
St. Paul's. Thus, moreover, Dr. Rollin Heber
Neale of the First Baptist Church, and Dr. Baron
Stow of the Second, each being then in his prime
and " at his best," might have summed up their
ingatherings in figures that would seem like notes
of harvest-songs. And thus, also, other men,
teachers and preachers of the day, like the patri-
archal Dr. Daniel Sharp, the veteran and venerable
leader of a preceding generation, Dr. Robert W.
Cushman of the new church in Bowdoin Square,
Dr. Nathaniel Colver of Tremont Temple, were
they now living, would furnish, each for himself,
his memorial of the period so distinguished by that
quickened intellectuality which, on the one hand,
intensified the spirit of disbelief, and on the other
hand aroused the public mind to more profound
thoughtfulness, clarified its views of Christianity
as the revelation of a personal Christ to the indi-
vidual soul, and thus led multitudes, by a faith re-
sponsive to '^the Word," into that consciousness of
a personal relation to Him which is itself redemp-
tive power, self-witnessing life, and enduring peace.

232 LIFE NOTES.

XVII.

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENINa.
AIMING AT POSITIVE FAITH AND UNITY.

In our retrospective view of the lialf-century,
the year 1840 has loomed up as signalizing an era
of intellectual awakening, exceptionally trending
toward philosophical and religious inquiry. This
mental quickening was exceptional as being at
once so pervasive, transcending denominational
lines, circles, sets, or cliques ; so that everywhere
we were in the way of meeting faces that seemed
to betray a consciousness of new moods of mind
that might fitly utter themselves as " confessions
of an inquiring spirit." From his pulpit as a cen-
tral stand-point, Dr. Gannett had aptly reported
his own outlook when he said that " a generation
had grown up around the pulpits not knowing
what to believe ; " thus, while there had been no
lack of emphasis as to what not to believe, all now
recognized the heart-cry for a positive faith.

In accordance with the view of Dr. Gannett
was that of Dr. James Freeman Clarke, who, hav-

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENING. 233

ing graduated from the Harvard Divinity School
in 1833, and fulfilled a seven years' course of ser-
vice as minister of the Unitarian church in Louis-
ville, Ky., returned to Boston in 1840, intent upon
emphasizing the idea that a religion of negatives,
with its relatively destructive criticism, must lack
permanent force, and thence drew around him a
congenial society whose defined aim, as seekers
after a positive belief under his leadership, was
expressed by their chosen designation, — " The
Church of the Disciples." The special aim of Dr.
Clarke was the conciliation of Christian beliefs so
as to lay a broad basis for organic unity, — an aim
whose scope and method is suggested by the title
of one of his later works (1866), " Orthodoxy, its
Truths and Errors." Confident, as he was, that
in all the creeds of those who differed from him
there were some truths upon which they could
unite, he knew how to make the most of this com-
mon ground, and enlarge its area so as to reduce
the points of difference to a minimum. Thus, ere-
long, cultured persons of unsettled mind were
gathered around his uplifted banner of a "common
faith," united in the hope of realizing a higher
ideal of Church-life, unifying at once the elements
of conservatism and progress.^

1 See Appendices, page 329.

234 LIFE NOTES.

DRIFTINGS TO NEW ISSUES.

Against the realization of these hopes, however,
there were subtle influences in free play ; at first,
perhaps, scarcely discernible as tendencies.^ but as-
serting themselves at last as logical results. These
disintegrating influences proceeded from two rec-
ognizable sources, — the lecture platform of Ralph
Waldo Emerson and the pulpit of Theodore Par-
ker : differing, indeed, as to their way of working,
but coalescing in one issue ; namely, the drifting
away of youthful inquirers from all the attractions
of Church-life to the vague affinities of instinc-
tively inspired individualism, as indicated by the
movement of the Free Religious Association. Of
that movement Mr. Emerson was an acknowledged
leader ; and its characterizing thought was ex-
pressed by him in his address before that young
association when he said, " I think the necessity
very great that invites all classes, all religious men,
whatever their connections, whatever their spe-
cialties, in whatever relation-s they stand to Chris-
tianity, to unite in a movement of benefit to men,
under the sanctions of religion." He then went
on to speak of all churches in the aggregate, of all
creeds and theologies, as outgrown, and unsuited
to the needs of our progressive humanity. Thus,
after a lapse of forty years, Mr. Emerson's "de-

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENING. 235

part lire " from organized Unitarianism, as being
already outgrown, has culminated in a new Free
Association, without any distinctively religious
ideas whatsoever, sharply antagonizing the ideal
conservatism of Dr. Clarke and the spirit of Disci-
pleship which the new Church organism had so
eloquently voiced as the harbinger of a unified
Christendom.

GOOD FRUITAGE GARNERED.

The intellectual movement, indicated by the free
discussion of fundamental ideas, proved favorable
in a high degree just then to the progress of evan-
gelical Christianity, touching and quickening as
it did the moral and spiritual element throughout
the whole community. A fresh spirit of inquiry
seemed to be pervading all classes, more or less
simultaneously, like tidal waves of the moral at-
mosphere, uplifting all to a higher plane of thought
and feeling. Religious or semi-religious topics of
conversation were "in place" everywhere, one
might say; asserting themselves "in season, out of
season," often when least expected, a wayside
surprise. Thus, as I now remember, passing near
the ship-yards one day, about eleven o'clock, a
workingman hastily stepped forth, crossed the
street, and then, having asked the favor of a
minute's talk, earnestly put his question ^s one

236 LIFE NOTES.

" meaning business," — " Sir, what is Transcenden-
talism?" The difference between this condition
of the public mind and that of the period that
preceded it, was as clearly marked as the difference
noted by the Evangelist Luke in the Book of
Acts, between the mental tone of the Bereans and
the Thessalonians ; the former being "more noble"
than the latter, distinguished by a ^inrit of inquiry
that passed beyond traditional limits, and sought
truth at the f(nintain-head.

In all Sunday services, and in church assem-
blages generally, this same spirit found expression.
Never had we seen such free intermingling of
thinkers and workers of all classes around the
pulpits of those who could say heartily, " We be-
lieve, and therefore speak." Despite all inherited
antipathies, an earnest teaclier would attract lis-
teners who were keenly appreciative of a profound
conviction. In recalling the memories of personal
observation pertaining to the time, I am impressed
with the thouo-ht that no sermons seemed to be so
effective with this inquiring class as those that
aimed to distinguish between Christianity as an
orthodoxy or accepted formulation of a creed, and
the Christianity of Christ set forth in the New
Testament, verified by facts of history and experi-
ence, appealing to the reason, the conscience, and
the heart at once as the voice of absolute truth.

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENING. 237

Tlins, within tlie range of my own ministry m
Federal Street the inquiring spirit of the time
was most quickly responsive to the services that
combined most closely the expositional and the
practical. For special discourses in this line of
direction, there was always the encouragement
of a welcome, and the cheer of responsive listen-
ers in their testimonies of a renewed inner life.
Hence, erelong, the outlook of our future as a
church enkindled the zeal of the people for a
speedy movement towards the removal and re-
establishment of a church-home at a central point,
amid the surroundings of family-life, such as the
invasions of trade had been driving away from our
neighborhood. The financial questioning w^is no
longer an occasion of extreme anxiety. Before
the close of 1843 they were thoroughly united in
the recognition of the fact that the time for that
step of advance had already come.

A SPIRITUAL UPLIFTING.

Nevertheless, there was no hurried movement.
Few, if any, were impatient of delays; inclined,
rather, to "make haste slowdy." Around that
church-edifice loving memories clustered. Its
history seemed, hideed, too brief. In 1827 it was
dedicated to divine service as the home-centre of
worshippers who had already been hailed and wel-

238 LIFE NOTES.

corned by the denominational brotherhood as the
Fifth Baptist Church of Boston, — a church whose
annals throughout an entire decade are invested
with a certain historic interest as a continuous
record of missionary co-operation, and whose har-
vests have been garnered not only from the city
surroundings, but also from the distant fields of
heathendom. From the beginning it had kept
itself in communication with its representative
workers in fcu'eign fields. For a succession of years
its senior deacon, Hon. Ileman Lincohi, was the
faithful treasurer of the Missionary Union ; and
the two volumes of "Travels in South-eastern
Asia," written by its first pastor, Rev. Dr. Howard
Malcom, long after his loss of vocal power had
occasioned the resignation of his charge (issued
by a publishing firm within its own membership,
Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln, 1839), still remain as
reminders of the joyous missionary spirit that
permeated the Federal-street Church in its early
days, still rendering its name a cherished memorial,
and thus a factor still in Christian work. Yet,
despite the strength of local attachments and
memories, the resuscitation of spiritual power in
connection with the ingatherings of successive
years following 1844, uplifted the mind of the
church to a higher plane than that of past or pres-
ent, concentrating its thought upon the outlook

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENING. 239

of the widening future, and forecasting the welfare
of '' the generations to come " as the supreme
interest.

The unity of spirit and of aim thus produced
soon found expression in the purchase of a cen-
tral site (on the corner of Rowe and Bedford
Streets, near the S2)ot chosen for the erection of
a uew edifice for the Latin and High Schools),
in the election of a building committee, and in
arrangements for our sabbath services throughout
the interval of our pilgrimage from the old home
to the new. During the greater part of that in-
terval we occupied the " Melodeon " on Sunday
afternoons, and were obliged to content ourselves
with one sermon for the day, as the place had been
pre-engaged to the society of Theodore Parker for
his morning services. In regard to the occupancy
of the morning, however, we were highly favored,
as the rector of St. Paul's Church, Rev. Dr. Alex-
ander H. Vinton, placed the chapel in the rear of
the beautiful sanctuary on Tremont Street at my
command for the gathering of a Bible class. The
class filled the chapel, and we designated our
exercise "the Synagogue Service," thus hinting
its accordance with the manner of the synagogue
in the time of Christ, where, after the reading of

240 LIFE NOTES.

the Scriptures and the commenting thereon, any
one present was at liberty to make inquiries of the
speaker, or ask further exphmations. The interest
in that service deepened from week to week.
Thus, while Mr. Parker was occupying the Melo-
deon in the morning, our lively synagogue service
was in process at St. Paul's Chapel ; and while I
was occupying the Melodeon in the afternoon, Mr.
Parker was concentrating all the forces of his
thinking in the teaching of his Bible class in a
room under the same roof. Although thus made
neighbors in the strictest sense of that word, none
would have suspected either of attempting to
manipulate theological formulations in order to
reach a common ground upon which we could
stand together in religious unity. If the walls of
the auditorium could have reported the Sunday
sermons, it would have appeared that those of the
morning always taught, directly or impliedly, the
trustworthijiess of man's intuition for apprehend-
ing all the truth required by his spiritual needs,
while those of the afternoon affirmed, directly or
impliedly, the utter insufficiency of that intuitional
knowledge without the aid of additional truth, as
supernaturally revealed in the person of the Christ,
the Son of the living God.

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENING. 24I
BUILDING BETTER THAN WE KNEW.

In due time the last sermon was delivered in
the church-edifice of Federal Street, greeted by
mingled smiles and tears, suggestive of the hopes
and memories of the young and the old, remind-
ing us of the scene described in the Book of Ezra
(iii. 12, 13), where parents and children were so
deeply moved by rehearsals of the past and the
prophecies of a hopeful future while they stood
together upon the site of the old Temple. The
laying of the corner-stone of our new edifice at-
tracted a large assembly, who united in the ser-
vices of prayer and song ; and the address of the
occasion was in part a vindication of the chosen
style of architecture, — the pointed, or Gothic, —
affirming that, instead of its being, as some had
said, a sign of retrogressive sympathy with medi-
aeval tastes, the like of which had not as yet been
seen in Boston, it was, on the other hand, a sug-
gestion of nature by means of the beautiful tem-
ples formed along the arched ways of the forest
as well as in the stony grottoes " wrought in the
deep places of the earth." The structure was
completed satisfactorily, and dedicated with appro-
priate services ; the announcement of entire free-
dom from financial anxiety imparting a special zest
to our songs of thanksgiving.

242 LIFE NOTES.

To-day, however, I am reminded, while writing
these lines, that upon that chosen site no sign of
such a structure is seen, and that the last memo-
rial of it was swept away by the rush of trade a
decade and a half ago. To none of us was the
faculty of forecast given in large measure, intent
as we were upon meeting the architectural tastes
and needs of those who should live after us, even
"unto the third and fourth generation." Plow
short-sighted we were I Nevertheless, '' w^e builded
better than Ave knew." While old North End
was fast passing away, and South End was yet
" without form and void," this church was fulfill-
ing a twenty year's special mission in providing
a home-centre for scores of young households that
would have been exposed to the danger of drifting
away into a state of religious and social disinte-
gration. Happily, when, near the close of my
seven years' ministry as pastor of "• the Federal-
street Church," another sphere of service claimed
and won my sympathetic regards, the Rev. Baron
Stow, D.D., fully restored to the enjoyment of
health after long confinement by sickness, was
quite ready to accept an invitation to the pastoral
care of that church, then settled in its new Rowe-
street home. Regarded from his point of view,
the outlook seemed hopeful; his personal expe-
riences in relation to his surroundings seemed

THE AREA OF DISCUSSION WIDENING. 243

suggestive of a guiding Providence. Thus lie
entered upon his new field as one who had re-
newed his youth like the eagle's, and then left a
record of twenty years* effective service worthy of
his whole past. The pulpit of Rowe Street was
never occupied by a successor, and the history of
that beautiful church-edifice virtually ended with
that of his nnnistry. The church itself, however,
now far and widely known as the Clarendon-
street Baptist Church of Boston, under the min-
istry of Bev. Dr. A. J. Gordon, still lives and
thrives, progressing " from strength to strength ; "
cherishing the same simplicity of loving faith that
was the very life and inspiration of its youth.

244 ^^^^ NOTES.

XVIII.

STRENaTH PROM UNIFICATION.
EDITORSHIP.

Not long after the public services appropriate
to the laying of the corner-stone of the church-
edifice in Rowe Street (corner of Bedford), I
chanced to meet, one morning, not far from Bos-
ton Common, a venerable friend, who seemed to
have diverged from his path in order to greet me
with a special message ; namely, this : " I learn that
the editorship of ' The Christian Watchman ■ has
been urged upon your acceptance, in official asso-
ciation with our friend Dr. Olmstead, and that
thus you may be impliedly bound to furnish articles
every week, for which you would be editorially
responsible. Beware ! You are already well
laden with official obligations ; and now, remem-
bering that 'it is the last ounce that breaks the
camel's back,' I trust that you will regard your
healtli as a prime consideration, and avoid every
additional risk of a break-down."

To my esteemed friend I at once acknowledged

STRENGTH FROM UNIFICATION. 245

that his position was well taken ; that the attempt
to combine in an effective unity the cliarge of a
city pastorate, embracing the pulpit, the church,
and the parish, with a continuous editorial care,
was quite objectionable. Nevertheless, I said, it
was not on my part an attempt, but rather the
recognition of a " providential call " that asserted
itself with an imperial authority. "How so?"
my friend inquired. " Let me see the matter from
your own point of view." In the course of a few
minutes' talk I noted the history of "The Christian
Watchman," the oldest religious weekly of the
country, excepting then " The Boston Recorder ; "
its honorable association with the names of Wes-
ton and Loring, welcomed more than a half-
century ago as an accepted exponent of the
Baptist sentiment of the United States, reflecting
the past and forecasting the future ; then, in later
years, the rise of partyism caused by the slavery
question, asserting itself antagonistically as
conservatism or radicalism, and issuing in the
establishment here of a new exponent voicing
the new era, and designated "The Christian
Reflector." The time had now arrived, however,
when free discussion of fundamental principles
had produced, comparatively and practically, a
oneness of opinion, and that this unity now sought
expression in the uniting of the "Watchman "and

246 LIFE NOTES.

" Reflector " as an exponent of one prevailing
sentiment and an advocate of the common cause.
I mentioned also that Mr. Ford (now more widely
known as proprietor and publisher of " The Youth's
Companion " ) had brought to me the proposal
of editorship, urging, as an argument for my ac-
ceptance, that I had already written occasionally
in both papers, and had already empliasized the
main ideas which all desired to see, just then, per-
severingly sustained. In view^ of these and like
considerations, 1 had already concluded to accept
the position, not as forecast by myself, but as one
to which I had been " called " by a voice that had
spoken in both " society and solitude " as a voice
of authority.

THE WOEK OF THE PULPIT AND PRESS UNIFIED.

In relation to the end proposed, the situation
was favorable. All eyes were turned in one direc-
tion ; namely, toward Congress, and especially to
the prudential coricession made to the policy of the
slave power by Mr. Webster in his speech of
March 7, 1850. Then, immediately, "conserva-
tives" and "radicals" alike united in affirming,
that, for once in his life at least, our great leader
had spoken as a politician rather than as a states-
man ; had failed to discern the predominance of
the moral element, in the long run, over all anti-

STRENGTH FROM UNIFICATION. 247

tlietic expediencies in shaping the course of human
liistory. As to our own outlook, believing in the
reality of the Messiah's kingdom as a reconstruc-
tive force upon this planet, ever advancing,
despite delays, to work out its own ideals, I was
never troubled with a moment's doubt touching
the destmed issue. An editorial article in "The
Watchman and Reflector," entitled " God and
the Constitution," called forth responses from
leading men far beyond all sectional lines, and
strengthened my faith in the alliance of the pulpit
and the press as an urgent demand of the common
cause. My association with Dr. Olmstead was
particularly welcomed, assured as I Avas that his
tastes, habits, and trusted oversight in relation to
the whole range of office-work would render me
quite free from care touching every point of
deliberation beyond my one sphere of service.

HOME AND CHURCH LIFE AT JAMAICA PLAIN.

Every week furnished fresh occasion for arti-
cles of widening and deepening interest pertaining
to the time, treated persistently in the editorial
columns, in connection with my ministry in Bos-
ton, without any intermission for winter or summer
rest, and without the slightest sense of additional
suffering from fatigue. At that period my in-
creasing appreciation of my twofold work forbade

248 LIFE NOTES.

all feeling of weariDcss. Before the close of the
second year, however, a considerable group of
friends and co-workers liad built their pleasant
suburban homes at Jamaica Plain, and had been
active, also, as co-workers with the young Baptist
church that had already sprung up almost sponta-
neously, as if in full faith of their coming, and
intent upon preparing their Avay. A new house
of worship, in keeping with its surroundings, Iiad
been built, and within its walls the Rev. John
O. Choules, D.D., had ministered several years.
After his resignation he returned to Newport, R.I.^
The pulpit having been vacated about the time I
have been noting, the church at Jamaica Plain
urged several reasons in favor of my accepting a
home at the Plain as their minister, combining
under more advantageous conditions the pastoral
care and the editorial work. They were so thor-
oughly in sympathy with my twofold aim, so unan-
imous in pronouncing both departments of my
work at that period a real unity, so generously
anxious to see it carried forward under the most
hopeful circumstances, that their statements seemed
self-evincing, and their way of '' putting things "
quite incontrovertible. Chief among these was
James W. Converse, Esq., who is, even now, en-
joying a half-century's retrospect over an area
of manifold business-life, contemporaneously with

1 See Appendices, page 331.

STRENGTH FROM UNIFICATION: 249

various forms of Christian service, — deaconsliips,
trusteeships, and committeeships, — trusted univer-
sally for wise counselling and effective action.

My life at Jamaica Plain was comparatively a
recreation, and is still a delightful memory. It
had always seemed to me, even from my seminary
years at New^ton, like " an Eden of a place," as a
lady once expressed it ; the lovely lake and its sur-
roundings being to her sight and feeling " the per-
fection of beauty." During those early student
days, there was only one church upon the Plain,
and that the one originally established by the early
Puritans ; but by tidal driftings the ecclesiastical
organism had taken on a form of parochial liberal-
ism strongly contrasted with the definiteness of
old Puritanism, regarding Christianity more as a
natural development than as a revelation of super-
natural facts and forces. In my trips from New-
ton to Boston I was wont to take a roundabout
way for the pleasure of pedestrianizing over this
Eden-like Plain ; occasionally musing in a kind of
dreamy questioning whether I should live to see
there a new church organism, representative of
the renaissance cf the evangelical element. De-
spite all the enthusiasm of the Rev. Dr. Lyman
Beecher's career of Orthodox resuscitations in
Eastern Massachusetts, the Congregationalists had
as yet done nothing here in that line of direction.

250 LIFE NOTES.

Nevertheless, at the period I am now noting, I had
been welcomed as the pastor of a Baptist church
gathered at the centre of that lovely Plain, minis-
tering to a people all alive with the hope and faith
of a progressive future. Every successive month
brought accessions of fresh strength to this pro-
phetic feeling.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CALL TO NEWAEK.

How shall I account for any williiigness on
my part to leave, after a brief two years' ministry,
a home invested with such associations? The
cherished retrospective view naturally suggests a
self-questioning like that. Indeed, as a matter of
fact, that was the very question put with the em-
phasis of a fatherly earnestness by the Rev. Daniel
Sharp, D.D., when he remonstrated most tenderly,
at his house in Boston, against my entertaining
the consideration of a call from a young church
composed of thirtj'-nine persons, bearing letters
from the First Baptist Church of Newark, N.J.,
gathered in the parlor of Joseph Battin, Esq., with
the view of taking measures for the erection of a
new church-home in Kinney Street, in the south-
ern section of Newark, the growing metropolis of
the State. "I cannot see," said he, "any sound
reasons whereby you can vindicate satisfactorily
such a change of relations at this time." To this

STREXGTH FROM UiV/F/CAT/OiV. 25 I

remoDstrance I replied, "Doctor, it is my desire
that I should not take a single step in tins direc-
tion that you would not approve cordially, after a
full survey of the whole case. Thence I would ask
you to remember that it is now nearly forty years
since you were pastor of the First Baptist Church
in Newark, having resigned that charge, in order
to take your present position, in 1812, at the
breaking-out of the war with England; and that
from that time to this day there has not stood
forth above the ground a single shred of any kind
of structure indicating a step of advance on the
part of the people to whom you ministered, or of
the ideas that you represented. The first recog-
nizable sign of progress is this church organiza-
tion of thirty-nine persons, led by such efficient
men as Daniel M. Wilson and John ]M. Davies,
for the building of a new house of worship in the
rapidly expanding southern section of a city that
is now like an American Birmingham, attracting
the best elements of American mind in material
production. They turn now to me for special
services, as one familiar from days of early youth
with ' the situation,' and thence in sympathy with
their aims. With lifelong memories thus revived,
put yourself in my place. Doctor. Imagining that
you were forty years younger than you are, wotdd
you refuse to listen to them ? " For a minute or

252 LIFE NOTES.

SO the Doctor seemed to be musing over the facts,
and then said, " Well, your relation to the case is
peculiar, and I do not wonder that their appeal
has deeply moved you. I recall my remonstrance,
and pray God to guide you, whatsoever your de-
cision may be."

Erelong the call was accepted. I began my
ministry in Newark m the basement lecture-
room (on a rainy April morning, 1850), filled with
a sympathetic audience, whose presence was an
inspiration of hope, and thus interpreted as a
prophecy of success. Three months afterward the
church-edihce was completed, and was dedicated
on Thursday afternoon, July 18, 1850, amid bright-
ening signs of progress. Of these signs, however,
the brightest was the awakening of an earnest
spirit of religious inquir}^ comprising within its
scope the young and the old alike. The announce-
ment of an evening course of twelve lectures on
'' Home-Life, its Relations and Duties," attracted
the attention of all classes alike, and soon brought
usin to widening relations of social sympathy with
the whole community.

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH-GROWTH. 253

XIX.

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH-aHOWTff.
EKA OF CHURCH-EXTENSION IN NEAVAEK.

During the spring of the year 1850, ah-eady
noted as the begmning of my ministry in Newark,
the Rev. Dr. E. E. Cummings, formerly of Con-
cord, N.H., occupied the pastorate of the First
Baptist Church of Newark ; the call having been
then but recently accepted. He was known and
honored as a man of " an excellent spirit," whose
field of service, through a long life-course, had
ever abounded in memorials of effective work.
It was an occasion of regret to many that he felt
himself constrained by sanitary reasons to resign
his charge, and return to New England. The
vacating of that pulpit was felt by us all alike as
an embarrassment ; for in spirit and in practical
aims the two churches were identical, — a unity
that was, in a degree, illustrated by the fact that
Daniel M. Wilson, so trusted as a leader, was at
the same time a deacon of the one church and a
trustee of the other, and thus " a living presence "

254 LIFE NOTES.

in both. The preservation of this unity was, in-
deed, an essential element of all onr calcnlations
as to a progressive future ; and these, evidently,
might be baffled or hindered in case the pastor of
the First Church should prove to be unai)precia-
tive of them, or of uncongenial tone. Hence the
supplying of that vacancy was, exceptionally, a
matter of common interest, even to a degree that
might never afterwards recur : for, in accordance
with ideas already talked over among us, all the
members of that young South Church, while in-
tent upon their own home-work, were united in
the desire to concentrate the available forces of
both, the First and the Second, the mother and
the daughter church, in the planting of a mission
in one of the growing neighborhoods, with the
hope of seeing it soon able to take rank as the
Third Baptist Church of Newark ; thus actualiz-
ing at once a principle of church-extension " hav-
ing its life in itself," capable of expanding its
area, "redeeming the time," and insuring the
record of a future more fruitful than the past.

THE ELECTION OF DR. H. C. FISH.

In electing another pastor, however, the mother-
church seemed to be realizing the caution of the
old proverb, " Make haste slowly." In the course
of a few weeks a number of names had been con-

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH-GROWTH. 255

sidered, without any sign of unanimity. Mean-
while an article, puljlished in one of onr papers,
setting forth the Scriptural idea of church-extension
by means of mission-work sustained by churches
co-operating and acting through their own chosen
representatives, as distinguished from societies ex-
temporized locally to meet special needs, arrested
my attention. The article was attributed to Rev.
Henry Clay Fish of Somerville, N.J., of whom
we had already known something as an earnest
thinker and a persistent worker. Through Mr.
Wilson I learned that his name had been con-
siderately mentioned in relation to the pastorate
of the First Church, but that several of the senior
members had mildly uttered some doubts or ob-
jections pertaining to his general bearing, — his air,
manner, self-assertion, and the expression of his
physique, — all summed up in the saying, ''He car-
ries his head too high." I observed to Mr. Wilson
that this view of Mr. Fish's personality was to me
entirely unexpected, and inquired whether it were
in accordance with his own. He replied, "Not at
all. I think it to be a mere prejudice that would
yield to a better acquaintance and a true knowl-
edge of the man." To this sentiment I responded
heartily; adding, "I pray you, do justice to your
own conviction, and remind our friends of the
caution of Jesus, ' Judge not according to appear-

256 LIFE NOTES.

ance, but jndge righteous judgment.' A man may-
carry his head high, as set by nature upon his
shoulders, without being high-minded ; while an-
other may bend his head downward like a bulrush,
and yet be as proud as Lucifer. In his writing,
Mr. Fish has already indicated a clear conception
of the true principle of church-extension in en-
tire accordance with what we consider the primi-
tively Christian idea, as apt as ever, too, to our
own times. Hence I have been hoping that you
would not go out of New Jersey, since, as Paul
said of Timothy, I know of no man like-minded
who would naturally care for your state." Ere-
long these views prevailed ; Mr. Fish was elected,
and it was my happiness to give him the right
hand of fellowship as a part of the public service
of recognition.

THE FIRST UlSriFIED MOVEMENT.

In the course of a few months, Dr. Fish having
become well acquainted with his surroundings, I
was not surprised by his greeting me, one Monday
morning, with the expression of his matured fore-
thought; "It seems to me that the time has come
for our two churches to unite in starting a mission-
work in this city, north or south; what think
you?" — "Certainly," I replied, "it is a mere
question of time. I have been waiting for you to

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH-GROWTH. 25/

take time enough to impart to the whole aggre-
gate of the First Church your own sentiment, to
be assured of their sympathy, and to sound the
note of advance." — "Then," said he, "we are all
ready." The conclusion was, after conferring
fully with our friends, to call a union meeting on
Sunday evening, at the South Church, Kinney
Street, to consider and determine "the things that
ought to be done." At the set hour the house
was crowded with a sympathetic audience ; and
the practical issue of the deliberation was the
appointment of a Mission Board of twelve, choos-
ing six representative men from each church, with
directions to select a site, to erect a chapel, to
engage, if practicable, a missionary pastor, and to
present a report of their doings at a union meet-
ing to be called by them when the assigned work
should have been accomplished. The next union
gathering, in the same place, took on the character
of an anniversary. The Board had fulfilled its
commission, and reported a debt of three thousand
dollars. That amount was raised at once, and the
assembly separated more hopeful than ever of see-
ing a unified method of progress realized ; namely,
three churches acting in concert for a fourth,
then four for a fifth, and so onward, until the law
of limitation should assert itself.

258 LIFE NOTES,

MEMORABLE CAREER OF DR. FISH.

Thus the work of church-extension in Newark
was auspiciously begun ; and now, looking back
over the quarter of a century that followed, that
completed Dr. Fish's ministry and his life on earth,
it becomes evident that there was no field of ser-
vice upon this continent where his power and
inspiring presence as an earnest and persistent
worker could have found more fitting scope for
effective action, or better adaptations for calling
forth the highest and best that was in him.
When, after my three years' constant co-operation
in that field, other undertakings of special interest
drew me away from Newark, I was still, during
the remaining twenty-two years of his course,
watching with the keenest sympathy his every
movement pert-aining to the common mission-
work, renewedly cheered and strengthened by
the achievements of his untiling spirit, recog-
nizing in his life-work an apt adjustment of
gifts to time and place, and the best "serving
of his generation." Little did I dream of the
possibility of my outliving him, and of being
requested, by the people whom he loved and
served so well, to rehearse in their presence
his whole career, and thus to offer a memorial
discourse as a tribute of love to tell its own

PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH-GROWTH. 259

story of his sterling character as a man, and his
heroic spirit as an " able minister of the New
Testament."

KETKOSPECTIVE VIEW OF NEWARK.

As a thriving and progressive community, New-
ark has held a place of eminence in the history of
the country from its earliest days. At the begin-
ning (1666), its area, purchased from the Indians
for a few blankets and guns by settlers from New
Haven and Milford, Conn., extended from the
Passaic to the base of the Orange Mountain.
The elements of New-England life predominated
in its development, — industrial, social, intel-
lectual, and religious. Even the grand old elms
that shaded and beautified its pathways a century
ago, awakened reminiscences of New Haven and
its cultured homes. Those first-coming families
well understood the conditions of thrifty advance-
ment, and knew how to make good investments
of capital in church-edifices and schoolhouses, as
well as in manufactures that were sure to attract
the muscular strength of the rising rural districts
around them. The First Presbyterian Church,
centrally situated, now regarded by the young
as " an antiquity," is still, architecturally, as fit as
ever to the needs of "the time," and has never
been long lacking a ministry of the highest order

26o LIFE NOTES.

of mind. The schools have always been of the
best, and the Academy has been effective in its
preparatory college training. The press, too, has
achieved distinction; ''The Newark Daily Adver-
tiser " has ever held a high position in journalism,
and even half a centnry ago, under the editorship
of Hon. Thomas Kinney (once United States i\Iin-
ister at Turin), was the chief journal outside of
New York whose articles were constantly quoted
over the whole land, unless, indeed, we might
regard " The Springfield Republican," of Massa-
chusetts, as its fellow in this relation. Under the
direction of his son, ]\Ir. Thomas Kinney, " The
Advertiser " yet lives and thrives, winning to its
service the contributions of scholarly writers,
among whom we have noticed, occasionally, the
veteran physician and poet of Newark, Dr. Abra-
ham Coles, author of " The Evangel," with its im-
mense wealth of critical scholiasm, the tasteful and
rhythmic translator of Latin poetry that enriches
our libraries, — for instance, in the artistically
wrought edition of the " Dies Irse." May he long
live to enjoy his serene life-evening in his com-
paratively literary seclusion !

A retrospective view of my life in Newark is
associated with memories of cherished friendships,
and of attractive work for which the days seemed
too short. My health was uninterruptedly at its

PRINCIPLES OF CIIURCH-GROWTIL 26 1

best ; yet that of my family, who were all bom in
Massachusetts, yielded to Avhat was regarded as
the malarial influence of the surroundings, so that
their removal seemed to them, personally, a su-
preme necessity. The separation of a family may
become a rather serious question at times, — as
much so in America as in India, where it more
frequent]}^ recurs as "a missionary experience."
Coincident Avith this questioning came the visita-
tion of a committee from the Pearl-street Church,
Albany, bearing a call to their pastorate. This
connection of events was interpreted by the house-
hold as simply meaning " God wills it," and this
prevailing conviction issued in my removal to
Albany.

262 LIFE NOTES.

XX.

ELEMENTS OF THRIFT AND GROWTH.
EARLY MEMORIES OF ALBANY.

My acquaintance with Albau}^ and its society
dates back to the period of college-years, when I
was accustomed, in passing from New York to
Clinton, back and forth, to " stop over " as a
guest in the pleasant home of the well-remembered
mayor and State Senator, Hon. Friend Humphrey,
whose name is associated closely with the early
annals of the First Baptist Church of Albany.
Among the noteworthy events pertaining to this
period was the call of the Rev. Bartholomew T.
Welch of Catskill to the pastorate of that church.
Already (1824-26) Dr. Welch's preaching had
attracted special attention beyond his neighbor-
hood; and his spacious house of worship in Albany,
though then rather obscurely situated in the lower
part of the city, was thronged by audiences com-
prising many of the leading men of that day who
were residing at the State capital.

The power put forth from that pulpit was, in-

THRIFT AND GROWTH. 263

deed, far-reaching ; for not only were thinking men
attracted, but hundreds representing the broadest
range of average intelligence were touched and
moved, — a fact emphasized by the saying of a
lady who, her habitual attendance at the theatre
and the church alike having been noticed so as to
call forth her companions' friendly questioning
whether nhe were really interested in Dr. Welch's
preaching, answered, "Certainly, just as much as
in Cooper's playing. They are both geniuses, and
the combination of elements in each is singular."
Tliat casual reply is especially suggestive ; for Dr.
Welch's preaching was not sensational., but char-
acteristically doctrinal and argumentative: yet,
when at his best, his argumentation, warm from
the heart as well as brain, w\as as "logic set on
fire ; " and his illustrations, drawn from biblical or
historic scenes, facts, and characters, exhibited a
power of description seldom, if ever, surpassed.
Such a union of imaginative and reasoning faculty
with naturally oratorical expression is rare indeed.

MINISTERIAL CAREER OF DR. WELCH IN ALBANY.

Thus exceptionall}' gifted, the natural and im-
pulsive play of Dr. Welch's mind imposed some
severe conditions of success : for he could not go
to his pulpit without a conscious grasp of his
whole subject as a unity ; not exactly " word for

264 LIFE NOTES.

word," but thought for thought, so consecutively
held as to infold his own inspiring power of force-
ful speech. These moods could not always be
commanded ; thus, unable to avail himself, like his
Scotch contemporary, Chalmers, of adjusted manu-
script, his effort, before leaving his study for the
pulpit, to realize his own ideal of preparedness,
became at times a perilous agony. Yet, in cases
of extreme exhaustion, his childlike faith ever
saved him. He believed in his divine calling to
his work ; and this conviction was life and power,
as real as that of Peter walking upon the waves.
His twenty years' pastorate, judged by its issues,
seemed the most brilliant and effective that I had
ever known, either as a reader or an observer.
It began in a place of comparative obscurity ; it
ended in a church-edifice centrally situated, archi-
tecturally attractive, and recognized, moreover, as
the church-home of a people whose intellectual
and social power became an effective factor in
almost every department of Christian or philan-
thropic work that has marked the progressive
trend of the century. When Mr. Van Buren left
Albany to make his home in Washington as presi-
dent of the Senate, and thence afterwards as
President of the United States, it was his desire,
as it was also the desire of another parishioner.
Secretary Marcy, to see some way properly

THRIFT AND GROWTH. 26$

opened for the calling of Dr, Welch to fulfil his
ministry at the national capital. In the mind of
the Albany preacher, however, there was no ambi-
tion responsive to this friendly expression ; yet,
after twenty years of persistent service, a call to
Brooklyn, urged by sanitary reasons, awakening a
hope that the change of scene, climate, and field
of action might induce a renewal of youthful
energy, met with an acceptance that was regarded
by his friends in Albany as indicating an abnormal
state of mind that might have been better met by
a voyage to Europe. At the beginning of my
ministry in Albany Dr. Welch was occupying this
position in Brooklyn ; while, at his old home-
centre, we were all interested in watching for the
moment when he would be inclined to retire from
all official service pertaining to city life, and accept
the homestead in our neighborhood, at Newton-
ville, so lovingly offered, situated amid quiet sur-
roundings favorable to the enjoyment of a serene
life evening. Erelong that moment came. He
accepted an invitation to spend a Sunday with
us, and preached in his old pulpit. A day or two
afterward we met as guests at the home of Gen.
John F. Rathbone, in whose company this question
of retirement from city life was renewedly talked
over. Dr. Welch re-affirmed his feeling of ability
for continued service in the pulpit, and quoted

266 LIFE NOTES.

the testimony of his friends in Brooklyn. I had
noticed on Sunday, that, in holding the book to
announce the hymn, there was a tremor of his
hand, and called his attention to the significance
of that fact, the liability that it suggested. After
a few moments' silence, he said, "Well, you are
all right. As you say, God wills it; and so I
yield to your advising." Thence, for successive
years, his suburban residence became to us all an
object of special interest ; while the city itself
continued to minister largely, as of old, to the
enjoyment of his social life.

PROGRESSIVE CHURCH-WORK.

During the period thus noted, one element of
Dr. Welch's happiness was his sympathetic inter-
est in the welfare of " the Pearl-street Church,"
and his appreciation of every thing said or done
that indicated the genuine spirit of progressive
work, the growth of " a power for good." Every
step in this direction seemed to impart to him a
feeling of rejuvenation. Thus, he was delighted
to observe how readily the church had adopted
the system of laying upon the altar, each sabbath
morning, an offering of benevolence for one or
another department of mission-work, springing
from the apostolic idea of concerted giving;
namely, laying by in store on the first day of the

THRIFT AND GROWTH. 267

week, "according to ability." The principle was
actualized ; and thence arose the chapels that
became the homes of self-supporting churches,
each of them supplying a record replete with en-
couragement for fresh effort. The beginnings
were humble ; but, when one of the earliest of
these organisms called Rev. Dr. Justin D. Fulton
to its pastorate, there was a prevailing impression
that it had become a real reformatory power ;
especially so, when George Dawson, Esq., editor
of "The Albany Evening Journal," long asso-
ciated with the Pearl-street Church, gave himself
with an enkindled enthusiasm to a course of
active service in connection with this "new enter-
prise," as we used to call it while it existed only
in forethought.

DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC SPIRIT.

In this connection it seems worthy of record
that every step forward in the line of evangelizing
work was noticed by the press in all directions,
without distinction of parties, with congratulatory
expression, and was welcomed by the community
generally as the promotion of a common interest.
This was done persistently, in ways that indicated
a prevailing sentiment, and not a mere flashing of
temporary feeling. The degree of this spontane-
ous sympathy, flowing from a source deeper than

268 LIFE NOTES.

the excitement of any special appeal, I was led to
regard as, in part, an ontgrowth and fruitage of
Dr. Welch's ministry ; remembering, as we all did,
what a genial relationship to the whole commu-
nity he sustained when he stepped forth as if he
had been commissioned and inspired to arouse all
to united efforts and generous sacrifices for the
creation of a public cemetery worthy of their place
and name, thus keeping step with the aesthetic
needs of our American civilization. They were
responsive to his appeals, and endowed him with
ample power of executive action. Such catholicity
of feeling, putting itself forth in practical unity
of aim, is of itself a sign of inherited culture, cre-
ating an atmosphere of its own. The pulpit has
alwaj^s kept relatively its original position in Al-
bany as a recognized power of intellectual and
social leadership; and merely to mention the name
of my nearest clerical neighbor, the Rev. Dr. Wil-
liam B. Sprague, author of ''Annals of the Ameri-
can Pulpit," would suggest to many memories a
matter-of-fact illustration. The foamy efferves-
cences of political partyism at the capital con-
ceal from the eyes of many a visitor the broad
area of cultivated mind that has characterized the
genuine home-life of the grandly substantial old
city.

THRIFT AND GROWTH. 269

ALBANY AS A HISTORIC COMMUNITY.

Tliis substantiality of the oldest settlement of
the old thirteen States (Jamestown, Va., ex-
cepted) was the product of ph3'sical and moral
elements that lay originally in the character of the
families that emigrated from Holland more than
two centuries and a half ago, destined to take
rank with the founders of a new-world civilization.
They were honest, industrious, maidy pioneers,
who, being represented mainly by the Schuylers
in all their dealings with the neighboring Indians,
won the confidence of savage men, lived in peace
upon the land occupied as " the city of their habi-
tation," and named the place New Orange. That
name was kept until 1664, when the province
passed under the dominion of the English, who
memorialized their supremacy by the new name,
Albany, in honor of the Duke of York and Albany,
afterward known as James 11. , — a king not worthy
to be thought of, however, in comparison with
William, Prince of Orange, who was called to the
throne of England in 1688. Nevertheless, Albany
was a good euphonic name, historically interesting,
and, after the Revolutionary War, stood for a com-
munity distinguished by thrift and growth, whose
fortunes were shaped by the gradual fusion of
Dutch and Yankee elements that asserted them-

2/0 LIFE NOTES.

selves ill the development of sturdy balanced char-
acter. Thus, from the starting-point of its career
Albany was morally well-toned ; and as to signs
of education and culture, such as schools, acad-
emies, libraries, literary societies, scientific insti-
tutions, university lectureships, and an endowed
observatory (the gift of a citizen, but worthy of a
State capital), lias held its own in the foreground
of any just historical picturing of our progressive
American life.

OUR VETERAN CONTEMPORARIES.

Of contemi)orary leaders of public thought
whose names are still fresh and fragrant, no one
man has stood forth more eminently for successive
generations as an accepted representative of this
type of substantial character, tlian the Rev. Dr.
Eliphalet Nott, who resigned his ministry in Al-
bany— soon after the publication of his celebrated
sermon on the death of Gen. Hamilton — to fulfil
his main life-work in the vicinity as president of
Union College, Schenectady, and, we may truly
add, in whom the church and the college, the
preacher and the educator, were effectively united.
At the semi-centennial anniversary of his presi-
dency in 1854, several hundreds, representing
more than thirty-seven hundred men who had grad-
uated under him, were assembled ; and I rem em-

THRIFT AA^D GROWTFL 2^1

1ier one who said, tliat if there had been such an
office as president of the world, whereof the occu-
pant must be designated by free suffrage, the ma-
jority of Dr. Nott's students would have agreed
that he was the right man to be voted for. How-
ever fanciful the rhetoric of that, expression, the
feeling was real. Wonderfully grand old man !
Once, when his guest for a day, while fulfilling an
appointment at the college, he mentioned to me his
belief that he would live to see his hundredth year
on eartli. Such was the vitality of his tempera-
ment, and, Moses-like, of "natural force unabated."
The last time that I saw him was in Albany, on
a memorable occasion, — the funeral of ex-Secretary
Marcy, July, 1857, — when the whole city was in
mourning, and the sympathies of the nation were
expressed by the large assemblage at the State
Capitol of men who were representative of the
government at Washington. As the lifelong
pastor of Gov. Marcy, Dr. Welch was invited to
deliver the address of the occasion ; having de-
clined, however, on account of infirmity, and the
official duty having thence devolved upon me, it
was an agreeable surprise, on my entering the
speaker's desk at the Capitol, to meet President
Nott awaiting my arrival, having accepted his
appointment to lead the devotional service. His
mere appearance there was an impressive event ,•

2/2 LIFE NOTES.

regarded from my point of view, lie was invested
with a patriarchal majesty, suggesting a sense of
unfitness in my appointment to voice the senti-
ment of the nation in the hearing of one who was
an accepted teacher and leader of men long before
I was born, and in relation to whom it might be
said that there was no man then living whose mere
presence would awaken in so many minds the most
thrilling memories of an eventful past.

And now, at the moment of this writing, a sali-
ent feature of that scene re-appears in the expres-
sive countenance of ex-President Martin Van
Buren, whose presence also "opened the many
cells where memories slept." No man was ever
more highly gifted with entire self-possession,
especially observed, too, amid the fiery storms that
raged in the United States Senate Chamber, where
he, while Henry Clay was yet in his prime, pre-
sided, and where he ever seemed calm, emotionless,
rising above all liability to the slightest degree of
mental agitation. Rarely, if ever, did he betray
any emotionally responsive feeling or any weak-
ness of keen sensibility. On this sad occasion,
however, he was deeply moved by a sentence or
two, quoted from an American historian, describ-
ing the scene of Washington's farewell interview
with the officers of his army at the close of the
Revolutionary War, when the Commander-in-

THRIFT AND GROWTH. 2/3

Chief, unable to conceal his emotions, confessed
his inability to rise from his chair to take each
one of them by the hand, but requested them to
come, one by one, and take him by the hand ; thus
illustrating the deep sympathies that the retro-
spects of life call forth from the contemporary
actors of eventful times. The ex-President made
no effort to conceal the profound feeling quickened
by the memories of his heroic friend, whose manly
form, now cold in death, lay near him there.

At the time thus noted, July, 1857, it did not
seem at all probable that I would fulfil my minis-
try of the future in any pastoral relation away
from Albany. The subtle affinities that unite
pastor and people were asserting their strength
day by day. Nevertheless, experience teaches us
all, in new ways, the old lesson, that " the Heavens
do rule;" and so, before the close of 1857, I was
transferred from the capital to the metropolis,
not attracted by any superior ecclesiastical posi-
tion, but led by an " overruling Providence," and
" bound in spirit " to seek the realization of special
ends.

2/4 ^^^^ NOTES.

XXI.

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
FROM THE CAPITAL TO THE METROPOLIS.

The day following tlie funeral of Secretary
Marcy, already referred to, I was on my way
westward, in accordance with a promise drawn
from me by the committee of the Second Baptist
Church of St. Louis, that I would not answer the
call of the church to their pastorate until I had
visited their city, and conferred with them person-
ally. The acquaintance then formed has already
been a pleasant memory; yet I was constrained
by sanitary reasons to decline their invitation,
and was induced soon afterwards to accept a call
to a field of special work in the city of New York,
believing that the atmosphere of the seacoast
would be for me a more healthful environment
than that of an interior riverside.

When it became known to my circle of friends
in Alban}^ that a formal communication had been
sent to me from New York, proposing my removal
thither with a view of erecting in the upper part

STUDYING THE SIGXS OF THE TEMES. 2/5

of tlie city a new church-home in architectural
harmou}^ with its suiToundings, the conversational
questionings that followed were all based upon
the supposition that there must have been, as a
matter of course, a new combination of earnest
men financially qualified to initiate such an enter-
prise. When it came to be understood, however,
that the proposal had taken the form of a regular
call to the pastorate of a small church, occupying
a small house of worsliip, having an income of
scattered rentages amounting to about four hun-
dred dollars per annum, and distinguished by no
material advantage except its position on the cor-
ner of Lexington Avenue and Thirtieth Street,
there was a free expression of surprise that I
could discern in this proposal a " spirit of faith "
uttering an appeal that, like an echo of the voice
of God, was worthy of profound respect and sym-
pathetic interest.

Yet so it was. That sentiment liad been of
gradual growth. For more than a decade of
years, after the introduction of street rail-cars, the
breaking-up of church-homes in New York by the
aggressions of trade, and the flow of family-life to
the upper wards, where scores of young Christian
householders were drifting away from their reli-
gious centres, had been quite often a subject of
deliberative talk m incidental meetings with

2/6 LIFE NOTES.

friends, especially with veteran members of " old
Oliver Street," the first chosen church-home of my
early days. Provision for this exigency seemed
then the chief demand of the time ; and the ques-
tioning was often put, in one and another form of
expression, Why should not '' old Oliver Street "
continue to fulfil its historic course as a family
cliuTcl^ providing for and drawing to itself as a
home-centre the new households that would natu-
rally come within the scope of its ministries ?
Hence, why not yield betimes to the necessity of
removal " up town," and place itself at the centre
of this extending home-life ? In this connection,
too, how often have we heard from the lifelong
residents of the loAver ward, responsive to such
inquiries, the exclamation, " Oh, we have even
now around the old church a Avide field, a dense
population, increasing every day ! " Then, to this,
how often was made the appealing reply, *' Do
you expect to reach this aggregation of foreign
elements outside of Christian family-life by such
means of growth, culture, and edification as you
require for yourselves, your children, your friends
or associates ? ' Count the cost like a king going
to war,' as Jesus once said ; provide here where
3'OU are, ' down town,' your bands of trained
workers, experts in address, apt to penetrate into
all recesses, skilled in winning souls, one by one,

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 2 J J

like miners after nuggets of gold beneath the sur-
face, or else seek to gather around the old banner
the scattered and growing families pertaining to
our own kith and kin in the rising neighborhoods
of the city."

At this period, while these questionings were
day by day recurring without leading to any issue,
the Lexington-avenue Baptist Church addressed
to me, unexpectedly, a call to their pastorate ;
urging its acceptance by no argument except the
conviction, that, though organically few, they were
actually representative of many who regarded
topographical convenience as a mighty factor in
shaping the issues of the time. Their statement
of the case fitly emphasized my own view of the
outlook : their call, therefore, coming to me as a
sympathetic appeal for co-operation in a common
cause of exceptional interest, was at once "effec-
tual;" and thus, despite all that seemed pruden-
tially objectionable, induced a prompt acceptance.

ONWARD FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS.

In accordance with public announcement, the
series of pastoral services responsive to that call
was begun on the first sabbath of April, 1858,
and rendered more and more encouraging by full
audiences, composed mainly of men the most of
whom, of various professions and businesses, rep-

2'/S LIFE NOISES.

resented in a good degree the home-life of the
vicinity. A considerable number of the younger
class, of both sexes, welcomed the course of weekly
conversational lectures, in the vestry, on biblical
and correlated topics ; all being free to question
the speaker, as of old in the weekly synagogue
services referred to in the New Testament. Thus,
from the first, there were apparent many hopeful
signs of congenial sentiment, a spirit of inquiry, a
trend toward unity of action as well as of ideal
aim. At the same time, there were indications of
an increasing religious interest, enlivening the de-
votional gatherings, and signalized by testimonies
of personal belief, of conviction, conversion, and
settledness of mind, quickened by successive bap-
tismal occasions that seldom failed to utter their
own appeals effectively ; sometimes, indeed, where
least expected. Hence our comparatively small
beginnings in Lexington Avenue grew healthfully.
Erelong, at the end of " the old quarter," on the
set evening when the pews of the whole house
were offered for the coming year, the amount of
rentages went up from several hundreds to as
many thousands ; exhibiting a list of names that
stood for an aggregate of men combining all the
forces requisite to the success of the work set
before us, — the building of a convenient church-
home architecturally suited to its surroundings.

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 2/9

PROGRESS THROUGH SUNSHINE AND STORM.

Thenceforward the project moved on apace, as
if the fitting agencies were organizing themselves
spontaneously. Even the question of location,
despite ray fear of its necessitating delay, seemed
to settle itself rather easily when the owner of the
ground-plot that had been my lirst choice, remem-
berhig me as a schoolmate of his early youth,
pointed out, of his own accord, the eligibility of
the site (Madison Avenue, corner Thirty-first
Street), indicating also his sympathy with our
aims, and his hopes of their realization. This
expression on the part of Mr. Jacob Vanderpool
met a need of the movement, and smoothed our
way. About the same time a fresh impulse forward
was imparted by the expressions of personal in-
terest on the part of an excellent lady. Miss Sarah
Colgate (daughter of William Colgate, Esq.), who,
having been influential as "a living presence,"
uttered a memorably effective appeal for our
cause in one of the latest acts of her life, put
forth but a little while before her departure,
June 2, 1859, bequeathing five thousand dollars
towards the building of oar church-home. The
choice of the situation won favor. Under the di-
rection of our chosen architect, Griffith Thomas,
the corner-stone of the edifice was laid on a pleas-

28o LIFE NOTES,

ant afternoon, October, 1859; and the discourse
of dedication (text, 2 Chron. vii. 5) was delivered
to a thronged house on a bright Sunday morning,
Jan. 6, 1861, just two days after the national ob-
servance of the day of fasting and prayer called
for by President Buchanan in view of the dreaded
signs of civil war. The songs that cheered us at
the laying of the corner-stone, under a sunny sky,
were all in lively harmony with our hopes of pre-
vailing peace ; but on the day of dedication the
portents that darkened the political firmament
awakened forebodings that no orchestral music,
grand as it was, could utterly dispel. A note
received from the Rev. Dr. Richard Fuller of
Baltimore, responsive to our request that he would
preach for us on the evening of the dedication
day, indicated a kindred feeling, thus expressed:
"Thanks for your invitation; I cannot now leave
home. You have built your walls in trouldous
times. May God show unto us his great salva-
tion."

THE ERA OF NATIONAL BEWILDER:MENT.

On the Monday following our festival of dedica-
tion, the opening sermon was published in " The
New- York World," Jan. 7 ; and within three days
afterwards the same journal announced the first
rebel-shot, at the mouth of Charleston Harbor,

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 28 1

upon the steamship " Star of the West," sent from
New York with supplies for the garrison at Fort
Sumter, thus compelling her to return humiliated
hy failure to fulfil her commission. Only twelve
weeks intervened ere the Confederates' attack
upon Sumter, and the capitulation of the heroic
garrison, unified the Free States as a war-power
for the Union. At once, in answer to the call of
President Lincoln, seventy-five thousand men
sprang to arms ; and within another month eighty-
three tliousand men were arrayed for service
during the war. Yet within less than two months
came the terrible defeat of our army at Bull
Run, interpreted by millions as the portent of
national doom, thus intensifying the feeling of de-
spondency.

The year 1862 opened with the most gloomy
prospects. The banks of the Northern States
were forced to suspend "specie payments," fol-
lowed, of course, by the United States Treasury,
whose requisitions on the banks in the struggle
for money had been the chief cause of their sus-
pension. The financial situation, now so dark,
became darker still after the failure of our army
before Richmond in July. There were no grounds
of calculation as to financial issues ; for the United
States Treasury note, or greenback, had not then
obtained the imperial credit-power wherewith it

282 LIFE NOTES.

now commands universal confidence. There was,
in fact, nothing financial worthy to be called a
currency. We were paying our street-car fares
with postal-stamps. The situation was unprece-
dented. All alike, rich and poor, in all relations
of life, — as individuals, families, or corporations,
— were in need, without any money to pay our
debts. Just then, in our church relations, the
dilemma was exceptionally bewildering : for, while
heavy bills were due, the law of the State of New
York gave to the holders thereof, contractors, a
lien upon the property; thus putting all of it
within the power of creditors, who, for aught we
knew, might be pressed, in unanticipated condi-
tions, to " do something desperate," and precipitate
a sacrifice.

PROPOSAL OF UNION AS A MEANS OF STRENGTH.

It was in this chaotic state of affairs that an
incidental remark from an excellent man, widely
known in circles of business pertaining both to
the capital and the metropolis, wealthy and gener-
ous, Mr. Clark Durant, determined my steps sud-
denly along a new line of direction. He had
saluted me on a certain bright morning a few
months before, near his residence in Madison
Avenue ; and there, taking from his pocket-book
several hundred dollars in a package of bank-

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 2 S3

notes, he placed them in my hand, saying, "I have
noticed your church-movement with deep interest.
You want money, of course. Please hand this to
your treasurer. I do not care for a receipt, but
hope to be on hand to accommodate myself with
a pew erelong, and then will make it all right
with the trustees." At that time the financial sky
was not so densely overcast. Now, however, hap-
pening to meet near the same place again, he
hailed me again, though not in the same inspiring
tone. "You are welcome to the money I gave
you here for the church : but I know not when I
may be able to take a pew ; for, indeed, I do not
know that I shall be worth five hundred dollars
to-morrow, and I don't know who knows that lie
will ! " That exclamation, in its connections, vivi-
fied my sense of the situation, the uncertainties
of the morrow. I soon repeated it to Mr. Mil-
bank, the deacons, and other friends, as being
notably significant as to the outlook ; and, before
the sunset of that day, I had turned my steps
towards the old familiar church-homestead in
Oliver Street, was welcomed to the study of the
pastor, Rev. Dr. Weston, and there, with Mr.
Durant's words for a text, urged my conviction
that the exigency of the time, requiring union for
the sake of strength, made it advisable that our
historic parental church should follow the beck of

284 LIFE NOTES.

Providence leading her steps " up town," to join
the young church that had pioneered her way,
placing tliere the avails of her real estate as an
anchorage against the war-storm that had already
swept away every dollar from the nation's treas-
ury, and was still ravaging the whole land. I
added the suggestion, that, if the churches could
thus be brought together in organic unity, I would
readily resign, at the proper moment, my pastoral
relation, — a step which the state of my health had
rendered desirable, — and leave to him the j^astoral
care, with heartfelt prayers for the speedy restora-
tion of peace and progress.

In regard to these views the pastors were of one
accord, and erelong were assured of a practical
unanimity of sentiment on the part of the two
churches. As soon as I became satisfied touching
this issue, I hastened to resign my pastoral charge,
with the view not only of simplifying the process
of unification, but also of regaining my health,
already impaired by the environment of excep-
tional cares that had increased since the national
Fast Day, so closely associated historically with
our Dedication Day, at the beginning of tlie pre-
ceding year. Hence, on the 24th of July, 1862, I
presented my resignation, which, after prolonged
consideration, was accepted, to take effect on the
first day of September.

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 285

THE ORGANIC UNION CONSUIVIMATED.

The .measures, conferential and legal, requisite
to unification, moved on smoothly. On the first
day of August the Madison-avenue Church pre-
sented a communication to the Oliver-street
Church, requesting the appointment of a commit-
tee to meet a committee of the Madison-avenue
Church for conference on the subject of a union
of the churches. The consummation was reached
on the 22d of October, when the Oliver-street
Church, having engaged to change its name to
that of the Madison-avenue, and the property of
Madison-avenue having been deeded to the Oliver-
street Church, in order to form a union of the two
churches on an equal basis, the clerk of the ]\Iadi-
son-avenue presented a list, with certificates of its
correctness, containing the names of two hundred
and twenty-one members, who were all received at
once into the membership of the Oliver-street
Church by unanimous resolution. This form of
'^ fusion " was adopted as the most fitting, in order
to preserve certain reversionary rights of property
pertaining to the organism of the older church.

By this arrangement I re-entered the member-
ship of the Oliver-street Church, temporarily,
thirty-seven years after my baptismal union with
it in 1825.

286 LIFE NOTES.

ALTERNATrOXS OF MISTRUST AND HOPEFULNESS.

Although a feeling of bewilderment as to tlie
financial situation of the country, inducing, as it
did, an undefined dread of liability to a great sac-
rifice or loss of property, impelled me to urge the
acceptance of my resignation in connection with
the plea for union as a safeguard, it is worthy of
remembrance that the men representing the young
church in Madison Avenue never indicated a like
degree of exceptional disturbance : they rather
counselled patient waiting, passive and trustful
endurance of the troubles incidental to the time,
as they might come, day by day, one by one, as-
sured of our sliaring the financial recuperation that
must also come in its season. In this line of di-
rection their hopefulness was stronger than mine,
discerning more clearly the possibilities of the
United States' treasuryship under tlie administra-
tion of Secretary Chase. At the same time, my
confidence in the military triumph of " the Union
Cause " always asserted itself in the superlative
degree, so that I did not share their gloomy de-
spondency caused by the defeat of our army at
Bull Run; but, taking my texts from certain ex-
periences of ancient Israel recorded in the closing
chapters of the Book of Judges, interpreted that
defeat, and others afterward, as a divinely disci-

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 28/

plinary education for the victories in reserve for us
when duly prepared to use them aright, in accord-
ance witli the grand aim of the Messianic kingdom,
still a living power upon the earth. In recalling
my tone of thought or speech at that period, I can
truly say, that, without variation, it was joyously
exultant. Yet, as to the speedy resuscitation of
the national finances, of an adequate currency,
their faith or foresight was clear, while mine was
comparatively dim. Hence, when, after the close
of the war, T passed through New York on my way
back from St. Louis to my home in Boston, and
saw Mr. Milbank at his office, while referring to
the past, he exclaimed in a gentle, saddened tone,
"In letting you go from us as we did, we dis-
trusted God; but in going from us as you did,
you distrusted God and man both I " The saying
w^as aptly put, describing "the situation" as it
loomed up retrospectively.

STARTLSG-POINT OF THE UNION MOVEMENT.

In this connection it is fitting to observe that
at different times since this union of the two
churches " on an equal basis " was consummated,
allusions have been made to the transaction in
several public prints, as if the young church in
Madison Avenue had given up all hope of ever
paying its debts, and thence had ^old its property

288 LIFE NOTES.

to the Oliver-street Cliurch in order to escape the
pressure of the pecuniary liabilities it had too
hastily incurred. Had " the situation " been as
thus hastily described, and deliverance from debt-
pressure the main aim, the young church had the
best possible opportunity for taking care of itself
when the representatives of the neighboring parish,
" The Church of the Incarnation," under the
rectorship of the Rev. Dr. Montgomery, neediiig
more space than the limits of their beautiful temple
would allow (corner of Madison Avenue and
Twenty-eighth Street), proposed to exchange loca-
tions with the Madison-avenue Church, on the
corner of Thirty-first Street, and pay the balance
in gold treasured up by them for the realization of
their cherished purpose. The acceptance of their
offer would have placed the young Madison Church
in a pleasant home, near at hand, free from all
financial anxiety whatsoever. But our answer was,
that the proposal could not be entertained, as we
recognized no such stress of necessity as would
require us to subject our church-home to any use
differing from that for which it was originally
designed. This one fact tells its own plain story,
and refutes the suggestion that the young church,
in its movement for organic union, sought escape
from immediate financial pressure as its predomi-
nant aim. Noting these early years of the war

STUDYING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 289

from my point of retrovspective view, I am led to
affirm, in this connection, that I liad never known
any thing of a proposal for this union until it
first proceeded from myself to Mr. Milbank, Mr.
Abbe, and others of the trustees ; and, in urging
it onward under the impulsion of startling events,
I was but aiming to realize the long-cherished
hope of seeing the church of " my first love " in
youthful days established in a permanent abode,
renewing its youth, and rejoicing to enter the new
fields so rich in promises of enduring fruitage.

" UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE."

The union of the two churches was felt by all
to be a concentration of strength, and a relief from
an exceptional pressure of care pertaining to the
time. Before the close of the year, however, there
were serious questionings started on the part of
the younger body as to the fulfilment of that main
condition of union that had been indicated in the
compact by the clause "on an equal basis." These
questionings were not composed satisfactorily, and
issued in legal litigations, but were ended in 1881
by separation upon accepted terms, — the retention
of the edifice by the younger body, and their pay-
ment of sixty-five thousand dollars to the older.
At the time of this writing, both churches, — the
older, known as the Baptist Church of the Epiph-

290 LIFE NOTES.

any, Rev. Joseph F. Elder, D.D., pastor; the
younger as the Madison-avenue Baptist Church,
under the ministry of Rev. C. DeWitt Bridgman,
D.D., — having interchanged expressions of frater-
nal feeling and Christian fellowship, are recognized
" fellow-helpers to the truth," effective co-workers
in the promotion of " the common faith."

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 29]

XXII.

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES.
PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE "LIFE NOTES."

The aim of the writer, in sending forth this
series of notings, was not, in the main, the make-
up of an autobiography. The conception of "a
man's writing memoirs of himself " has never, in
any musings just now remembered, found accept-
ance, or seemed attractive, except where the
life-work had been the exponent of some historic
specialty. Apart from this condition, it is safe
for a man to treat the notion of becoming his own
biographer as akin to "a siren's Avhisper," and
have a care " lest he enter into temptation."

Nevertheless, when one in prolonged public
service has been permitted to pass the set boun-
dary of threescore years and ten, it is quite likely
that many in the prime of life, sustaining to him
intimate relations of friendship as well as of " kith
and kin," would wish to know how the outlook
of men and things looming up within his range of
view had indicated their real significance, and

292 LIFE NOTES.

been characterized in his afterthoughts. Thus,
after having "served his own generation," and
then entered into new official rehitions with the
generation following, this series was begun, with
no intention, however, of extending it beyond the
salient j)oints pertaining to that "thirty years'
course " long accepted as the numerical limit of
one generation's lifetime. Such a review of one's
public life-course and its surroundings must, nor-
mally, take in many particulars that are quite apt
to meet the needs of young inquirers pertaining to
their preceding generation, the knowledge where-
of, indeed, could be derived from no other source.
Kegarded from the stand-point of my original
purpose in relation to the record of my official
or ministerial career, the limitation of that record
is almost chronologically identical with the clos-
ing of my ministry in the city of New York.

CALLED BACK TO OLD FIELDS OF SERVICE.

The announcement of my having given up my
metropolitan work into the hands of Rev. Dr.
Weston, now president of Crozier Theological
Seminary, Chester, Penn., drew forth immediately
a call back to Boston as pastor of the Third
Baptist Church, in whose ministry the Rev.
Daniel Sharp, D.D., had wrought out the most
effective part of his life-work, followed by Rev.

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES.

293

Dr. Stockbridge, Eesthetically akin, whose work
of several years was signalized by enduring
spiritual fruitage. That call I accepted under
the sway of a sympathetic interest that liad been
a growth of years from early childliood, when Dr.
Sharp was wont to visit the home of his youthful
manhood in New York, where he had attracted
around him a circle of young admirers. Im-
pressed with the fact that lie had also not only
served lih generation, but that the one next
following had passed away, and that now, in one
of the darkest periods of the war-storm, the call
of that church — the home-church of my choice
\i\ the days of my student-life at Newton — had
come to me, I was inclined to accept it at once ;
the more so, certainly, while remembering that
my former connections with associations organized
111 Boston for co-operative service in the cause of
Freedom and the Union still furnished facilities
for effective work that emphasized every other
motive for my acceptance. The two objects of
supreme interest, the cause of self-ruling Chris-
tianity and the cause of the nationality, seemed
for the time identical, and destined to be cele-
brated by the same song of thanksgiving. So,
indeed, has it been. A significant fact it is, that
the Sunday-school song beginning with the line,
"My country, 'tis of thee," by Rev. Dr. S. F

294 L^P^ NOTES.

Smith, has been adopted by the American mil-
lions as the fit expression of both patriotism and
religion.

REGULAR PEN-WORK DURING THE WAR.

In consonance with this trend of thought and
feeling was my regular pen-work, week by week,
of sending forth, through the columns of " The
Watchman," a series of " Watclmotes," begun in
New York at the opening of the war, and contin-
ued almost uninterruptedly to its close in 1865.
It was not my intention at the start, wlien ac-
cepting Dr. Olmstead's proposal, made to me in
New York, to keep myself en rapj)ort with Boston,
to write so frequently. But, in fact, there was
no quiet escape from a unique kind of call that
seemed sacredly imperative ; for erelong mes-
sages were sent to me from all parts of the coun-
try, — from the bereaved or desponding, from
widoAvs, from mothers whose sons were away in
the army, from invalids wdio were confined at
home, to whom the outlook was sadly dim, — all
assigning essentially one reason for the request
that the series should be continued ; namely, this :
" Our homes seem the darker if we miss one of
them, because they have always brought fresh
cheer, and brightened our hopes of the future."
Every one of these messages awakened the

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 295

deepest sympathy, and became an impelling power.
I was gladdened by the reminders, that, from the
day the Sumter gun was fired, I had never known
a moment of doubt as to the ultimate victory,
assured that the overthrow of the slave-power was
involved in the destinations of the Messiah's
kingdom.

There were messages, too, from the army, from
soldiers unknown to me. One communication,
particularly, presented itself to memory, recog-
nizing the justness of the " Watchnote " that had
represented the views of the soldiers in a recent
discussion with another journal, conveying to me
in a decided tone the sympathetic sentiment of
the company. Incidentally, of late, I learned
that the writer was Rev. William jNIacwhinney,
minister of the First Baptist Church of Cambridge,
who still carries with him, in tlie uneven step of
his gait, a reminder of the conflict shared by camp
companions, who shared also, as we apprehend, a
common faith in the destinations of the Messiah's
kingdom, and thence in the mission of this Union
for all humanity.

Indeed, this sentiment I cannot emphasize too
strongly as an element of manifold power pertain-
ing to that period, a cherished realization in many
a personal experience. The distinctive idea, the
inspiring belief here noted, is not a mere accept-

296 LIFE NOTES.

aiice of an inherited theism, or doctrine of a
universal mind-power as an overruling Provi-
dence, but it comprises a clear conception of the
Divine Messiah as the ruler of a moral kingdom,
whose aim and issue are to be realized as the
supremacy of truth and righteousness. In accord-
ance with this view is my remembrance of what
seemed at the time one of tlie gloomiest days of
the war, when our announcement of a Sunday-
evening sermon at Tremont Temple (entitled as
if mockingly, according to the seeming, "The
Brightening Outlook " ) was responded to by a
thronging audience. The text was drawn from
the prophet Isaiah (xxi. 11, 12) : '' Watchman,
what of the night? Watchman, what of the
night? The Avatchman said, Tlie morning cometh,
and also the night," etc. The adjustment of the
subject to the time was in showing that the exist-
ence of the Messiah's kingdom upon the earth,
admitted as a reality, and verified historically, in-
volved the establishment of the American Union
as means fitted to a predestined end. The signs
of a divinely subtle preparation for this grand
issue, and the moral necessity of bringing these
prepared elements of power into effective play,
seemed to shine Avith vivified impression at every
advancing step, and to unif}^ themselves like a
self-revealing truth. Never have I had occasion

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 297

to observe a large audience more thoroughly in
unison, nor, indeed, to see so clearly how mind
itself, suddenly exultant in quick sympathy with
hundreds, seems able to impart electrically a
quickening energy to the atmosphere.

"REPRESENTATIVE OF A GENERATION."

As has been noted above, the design of the
" Life Notes," from the starting-point, has been to
aid the second, or perhaps the third, generation of
my contemporaries to answer some of their own
inquiries in regard to the preceding one that had
already passed from their range of social relation-
ships, and thus to limit the series by or near the
bounds of the area they had occupied. Of that
first generation of my clerical or ministerial con-
temporaries, the Rev. Daniel Sharp, D.D., stood
forth an accepted representative, as, indeed. Har-
vard well indicated wdien, by the conferring of her
Doctor's degree, he became one of her honorary
alumni. During my student-life in Newton I
was often called to be his assistant in the pulpit;
and this practically became a kind of felt relation,
the beginning whereof dates back to the year
1828. The reckoning of a generation, thirty years
from that time, 1858, places me amid the sur-
roundings of my ministry in New- York City.
The death of Dr. Sharp, after a pastorate in

298 LIFE NOTES.

Boston of forty-one years' duration, signalized an
epochal period distinguished by the highest de-
gree of denominational energy in effective action,
memorialized by the establishment of a home-
centre for transacting the business of the foreign
missionary work and by the founding of the
Newton theological institution. The departure of
his widow, Mrs. Ann Cauldwell Sharp, occurred
Nov. 18, 1864; and, as the Divine Overruler of
our forecasting^ had led me into the pastorate
of the Third Church, I was favored with oppor-
tunities to visit her occasionally, to minister to
the mental needs incidental to her last sickness,
and also to listen to her cheerful recognitions of
the divine ordering that the last of the ministra-
tions pertaining to her earthly existence should
be fulfilled by one whose presence awakened
pleasant memories of many more associated with
a cherished home history. Her expressions, so
retrospective, seemed, indeed, to be apt sugges-
tions of one who was uttering representatively the
tender farewell of her own generation, leaving
me to transmit what I knew of its life-story to
the generation following, as a normal heritage.

THE BIRTH-YEAR OF VASSAR COLLEGE.

In addition to the reported points of historic
interest pertaining to my ministry in the metropo-

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 299

lis, I would here note, witliin the scope of our
retrospective outlook, one object of world-wide
regard, whose unprecedented beginnings attracted
much sympathetic interest; namely, Vassar Col-
lege, for the education of young women.

From the early days of student-life, my friendly
relations with Matthew Yassar, Esq., led me
often to Poughkeepsie, and furnished occasions
for that kind of social home-talk which reveals
one's interior trend of thought and most deeply
cherished aspirations. For several successive
years, while Mr. Vassar was much engaged in
observing and deliberating without determination
of purpose, he was favored with the genial com-
panionship and apt counselling of Professor Milo
P. Jewett, a successful educator, whose aid in
unifying thought to concentration of aim and
effective issues, was, I may say, a real godsend.
Despite great difficulties or seeming impossibili-
ties amid the storms of war, the college opened its
doors, initiating its course tentatively, and at the
end of sixteen years saw the diplomas borne by
her alumuce honored by the educators of Eng-
land as promptly and cordially as those borne by
the alumni of Harvard.

The significance of these statements may be
illustrated by a glance over the pages of a tour-
ist's journal. In November, 1874, I was crossing

300 LIFE NOTES.

the Atlantic in the steamer " Russia," and there was
favored with the company of Hon. David Chad-
wick, M.P. (of the house of Chadwick, Collier, &
Co., London and Manchester), homeward bound
from California, who informed me that lie had
taken time to visit Vassar College, and had brought
away the pamphlet that was in his hand, shoAving
me a catalogue. In reply to my inquiry, '' Have
you brought av/ay nothing more ? " he said that
he had not. Having asked him to excuse my
absence for a moment, I soon carried to him from
my trunk a copy of Dr. Benson J. Lossing's illus-
trated " History of Vassar College," quarto form,
and requested him to accept it. He was so greatly
interested, that he read it to his family at home,
and then presented it to Professor HolloAvay, who
had already avowed his purpose to do for the
young women of England all that Vassar had
done for those of America, and had paid twenty-
five thousand pounds for an estate at Egham, near
Windsor, as a site for a college, with this view.
He was now about to call together a meeting of a
number of the educators of England, in order to
avail himself of advisory aid. Having noticed in
Lossiiig's ''History" the address which I was called
to make on behalf of the newly incorporated
trustees, responsive to Mr. Vassar's presentation
of "his securities," and declaring our acceptance

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 3OI

of the trust, he sent me a message, through Mr.
Chadwick personally, expressing the desire that
I would remain in London a fortnight longer,
with the view of meeting the gathering of edu-
cators from all parts of England. I consented
to do so, and at the set hour met a company of
about twenty-five (as memory pictures it) des-
ignated educators, known as teachers, authors,
editors, lecturers, specialists, professional men^ and
ladies also, including Mrs. Fawcett, whose fame
is international. At the proper moment Mr.
Hollo way rose, and in a few fitting words thus
drew the attention of all to the business of the
hour : —

Ladies and Gentlemen, — You are all aware that for
a considerable time past I have had in view the accom-
plishment of a work that commends itself to us all as a
matter of common interest, pertaining to the provision of
a higher education for the young women of England. Of
the chief end and special aims of this work I have a satis-
factorily clear conception that impels me onward; but my
course of life has not been such as to qualify me, in the
administration practically of particulars and details, to
realize my own ideal. Thence I invoke your sympathy in
attempting to carry into effect my cherished purpose. Li
this line of direction I have been incited to promptness as
well as decision by the example that has beeu given by a
younger nation of English-speaking people.

302 LIFE NOTES.

At this point, directing attention to Lossing's
" History of Vassar College," that lay conspicu-
ously upon the table, he said, —

Ladies and gentlemen, America has gone before ns in
this hitherto untrodden path ; has unconsciously appealed
to us by her own brilliant achievement ; has thrown us into
the shade ; has, indeed, made us ashamed of ourselves.

To this the whole company assented, respond-
ing applausively. Never before had it been my
fortune to see a gathering of cultivated English
people assent by acclamation to any claim of
American superiority within any range of com-
parison that gave scope for rivalry.

Mr. Holloway then introduced me to the com-
pany, with the request that I would indicate some
particulars in regard to the earliest beginnings of
Vassar; and thus I was led to note a few points of
history in regard to the structure of the curricu-
lum^ and the special gifts that qualified the organ-
izing president. Rev. John H. Raymond, LL.D., to
guide the thinking of the first students, to inspire
them with the sentiments and aspirations, as well
as the knowledge of principles, that enabled them,
in constituting the four classes, to realize his ideal.

PRIVATE CONFERENCE ON ORGANIZATION.

At the close of the meeting Mr. Holloway in-
quired if I could give him the opportunity of a

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 303

private interview for more extended conversation.
The hour of two p.m. the following Saturday, at the
Holborn office, were made the set time and place.
The two hours' talk touched many things inci-
dentally suggested, but mainly organization ; fur-
nishing occasion for me to object against electing
ex-officio persons, '' heads of colleges," as members
of his college government, and to indicate the idea
that Mr. Vassar had followed out, " to a degree,"
in making up his chartered corporation : namel}^
the union, first of all, of educators ; then, secondly,
men of business sufficiently well educated to dis-
cern and appreciate the ideas of the educators, and
actualize them effectively. As representatives of
the two classes, there happened to be present to
my thought President Martin B. Anderson, LL.D.,
and Nathan Bishop, LL.D., of the first class ;" Hon.
James Harper and Smith Sheldon, publishers, of
the second; adding tlie remark, that, if I knew
England as well as America, I could illustrate the
guiding thought of that combination in connection
with all parts of the land. As that was not the
case, however, I said that I would follow the
suggestion of a certain latent analogy, without
stopping to explain, and note the name of Dean
Stanley as one widely representative of a class
that are trustworthy as to their judgments on
every question that comes before them, on the

304 L^FE NOTES.

ground of their own well-balance cl individual
personality, not to be shaken or reshaped l)y any
prejudice of partyism, churchly or anti-churchl}^
After a moment's consideration, Mr. Holloway
replied, expressing his agreement with the views
set forth, and commissioned me to present per-
sonally to Dean Stanley, on his behalf, the offer of
a place in the government of the college.

Having accepted this trust, I proceeded to fulfil
it early on the following week. At four p.m. on
the Tuesday or Wednesday I sent my card to the
Dean in his library, where, fortunately, he was
alone and at leisure, having just then returned
from some extra service in the Abbey. The con-
versation began by my referring to the interest
with which I had listened to his discourse on the
Sunday preceding, occasioned by the death of
Charles Kingsley. " Indeed ? " said the Dean,
" Were you in the audience before me on Sun-
day?" He then turned to a pile of pamphlets that
had just then been sent in, from which he took
one, saying, "There is only one proper answer to
your remark," as he inscribed a copy, and offered
it to my acceptance. The main point of my errand
then came in, — the offered place in the govern-
ment of the colleg^e. The Dean called forth from
me, by connected statements and questioning, a
good deal of minute information as to the rise and

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 305

growth of Vassar College, and the influence it had
exerted upon the mind of the founder of Holloway
College. As to all that was personal, he highly
appreciated the sentiment expressed by the pro-
posal I had brought to him. " The facts," he said,
" are significant and encouragingly suggestive of
good fruitage," but added, "■! am too old, too
old I Things of this order must now be left to
younger men."

LETTER FROM MR. HOLLOWAY.

A short time before leaving England the follow-
ing letter was received from Professor Holloway ;
and, now that he has gone from us, we regard it
as the treasured memento of a man to whom
Avealth was an uplifting power and an educator
of manly character.

TiTTENHURST, SUNXINGHILL, April 8, 1876.

Dear Sir, — I regret to think I was not in London at the
time you were so kind as to call at Oxford Street and leave
your card, as I should like to have told you what I am about
as regards the Holloway College.

Since I had the pleasure to see you, the style of the build-
ing has been completely changed. Alterations and improve-
ments have Ijeen suggested, have been adopted with great
care ; and the more such things have been considered, step by
step, the more it was found necessary to provide for : and
this has been going on for a considerable time.

Even the foundations have been a work requiring the

306 LIFE NOTES.

architect's serious attention. He estimates the cost of the
same, carried up to a certain point, will be about thirty-nine
thousand pounds. It is believed that in two months from
this time the contract will be in the hands of one of the
large building-firms ; and, when once they are fairly started,
the work will be carried on rapidly.

I again take this opportunity to thank you most cordially
for the interest you are pleased to take in this work, and I
trust that on some future visit to this country you may be
good enough to look at what is being done in this way.

I am truly sorry to learn that you have had a severe
attack of bronchitis during the late inclement season. I
trust you are now in the enjoyment of perfect health.

When returning homewards, allow me to wish you a
most prospei-ous voyage.

I remain, my dear sir,

Very truly yours,

THOMAS HOLLOW AY.
TuE Rev, William Hague, D.D.

p.S. — You may perhaps remember, at the time of our
meeting at Oxford Street with several friends, I left it to be
inferred that I would do nothing more than build the
college. I thought that was saying enough at the time ; but
I had then, as now, the intention of endowing it with the
sum of a hundred thousand pounds, in addition to providing
it with every requisite.

This communication has been characterized by
a friend as like a hxdy's letter, the most important
matter having been modestly left for the postscript.
The endowment has been ample. Holloway Col-

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 307

lege has been opened with royal magnificence, it is
winning appreciation nationally as an uplifting
power, and we cannot but hope that its record
throughout the lifetime of "the generation to
come " may be brightened by manifold proof that
the ideal of the founder has been realized.

A CHRONOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT NEEDED.

The Life Note numbered XIII. in this volume,
having been issued as a pamphlet from the press
of G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, entitled
"Ralph Waldo Emerson," has in that form received
very friendly attentions from Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes in his Life of Emerson, containing kindly
allusions that need to be reconsidered chronologi-
cally, and a misjudgment critically noted. A little
more than a year has 'now passed (including the
period of Dr. Holmes's absence in England) since
the matter was noticed by the editor of "The New-
York Baptist Weekly," Rev. A. S. Patton, D.D.,
formerly, in the days of Mr. Emerson's prime, a
minister and resident of Watertown, quite familiar
with the daily driftings of thought and talk in
Old Cambridge, as well as with those of our sur-
roundings in Boston. He entitled his review
article, which I find on the first page of the num-
ber issued March 26, 1885, " Claiming too much
for Emerson ; " and, as it is adequately minute, I

308 LIFE NOTES.

venture to avail myself of it, as suggestive expla-
nation, introducing the subject thus: —

The appearance of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's memoir of
Ralph Waldo Emerson (seventh of the series of '* American
Men of Letters," edited by Charles Dudley Warner) has been
widely welcomed, especially by the younger class of general
readers, who have often felt the need of help in their efforts
to apprehend as a unity the oracular sentences and sugges-
tive teachings of Emerson, extending over the area of fifty
years past, and calling forth continuous discussion as to
their significance or real outcome. The elements of special
aptness to meet this need have been exceptionally combined
in Dr. Holmes, whose sympathies as a lifelong friend have
not predominated so far as to interfere with the exercise of
keen discrimination or judicial criticism.

By these general statements, however, it is not intended
to imply the reliableness of Dr. Holmes's personal judgments
as entirely unexceptionable, or, to intimate that he has
avoided quite perfectly the mistakes of several preceding
biographers, who have estimated the advent of Emerson as
the inauguration of a reformatory era in the history of the
human intellect, and have been wont to trace to his influence
every contemporaneous element of ethic or aesthetic thought,
of all social life or of individual character worthy of special
mention. Some of these mistakes on the part of biograph-
ical devotees, Dr. Holmes has effectively corrected, espe-
cially in showing that any thing like leadership in the front
rank of the aggressive anti-slavery men can never be justly
attributed to Emerson ; and yet he has not risen superior
to the liability to correctional criticism in this same line of
direction.

An illustration of this particular trend occurs toward

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 309

the close of his volume (pp. 413, 414), where the Doctor is
stating summarily the import of Emersonianism, proceeding
thus : " Out of the endless opinions as to the significance
and final outcome of Emerson's religious teachings, I will
select two as typical. Dr. William Hague, long the hon-
ored minister of a Baptist church in Boston, where I had
the pleasure of a friendly acquaintance with him, has written
a thoughtful, amiable paper on Emerson, which he read be-
fore the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
This essay closes with the following sentence: —

" ' Thus, to-day, while musing, as at the beginning, over
the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, we recognize now, as
ever, his imperial genius as one of the greatest of writers ; at
the same time, his life-work as a whole, tested by its supreme
ideal, its method, and its fruitage, shows also a great waste
of power, verifying the saying of Jesus touching the harvest
of human life, "He that gathereth not with me, scat-

TERETH ABROAD." '

" ' But when Dean Stanley returned from America, it was
to report,' says Mr. Conway (Macmillans, June, 1879),

* that religion had there passed through an evolution from
Edwards to Emerson, and that the genial atmosphere which
Emerson had done so much to promote is shared by all the
churches equally.'

" What is this ' genial atmosphere ' but the very spirit of
Christianity? The good Baptist minister's essay is full of
it. He comes asking. What has become of Emerson's

* wasted power'? and lamenting his lack of 'fruitage ;' and
lo ! he himself has so ripened and mellowed in that same
Emersonian air, that the tree to which he belongs would
hardly know him. The close-communion clergyman handles
the arch-heretic as tenderly as if he were the nursing mother
of a new infant Messiah. A few generations ago the preacher

310 LIFE NOTES.

of a new gospel would have been burned ; a little later he
would have been tried and imprisoned ; less than fifty years
ago he was called infidel and atheist, — names which are fast
becoming relinquished to the intellectual half-breeds who
sometimes find their way into pulpits and the so-called re-
ligious periodicals."

Thus it appears that the latest biographer of Emerson
treats those qualities of the essay that he characterizes as
full of " the very spirit of Christianity " as the outgrowth of
a new environment, that pervaded the author's surroundings,
and imparted a mental expansion whereby he outgrew his
old associations. This will surprise the lifelong friends of
Dr. Hague, especially those of them pertaining to Rhode
Island, remembering him there nearly half a century ago as
a successor of Roger Williams in the ministry of the First
Baptist Church, delivering in 1839 the second centennial
discourse commemorative of the triumphs of "soul-free-
dom," and in that connection contrasting the expansive
spirit of Rhode Island history i with the inveterate narrow-
ness of the cultured minds of Massachusetts in maintaining,
even throughout the whole first third of this century, that
oppressive union of Church and State which taxed all alike,
willing or unwilling, for the support of public worship. It
was not till 1834 that the last political link that bound the
Church to the State was destroyed, leaving every man free to
pay much or little, any thing or nothing, for the support of
religion ; and this liberation was the direct issue of a keen
conflict, in which Dr. Hague, as pastor of the First Baptist
Church of Boston, in concert with the other Baptist minis-
ters of the Commonwealth, had a full share. The liberating
bill, which was passed several times in the House of Repre-
sentatives, was lost in the Senate, but was canied at last
by an immense mujorittj at the hallot-huxcs. In the light of

1 See Aiipendiees, page 351.

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 311

these memories, this judgment of Dr. Plolraes, accrediting to
the Baptist essayist on Emerson a high degree of mental
expansion as a product of the fresh environment of Emer-
sonian atmosphere, seems, indeed, somewhat of a queer
anachronism, at once surprising and anmsing.

In this connection it may be fairly said that Dr. Ilohnes,
despite his varied knowledge of men and things, practically
ignores in thought the spirit of Rhode Island history as an
uplifting, expanding, and liberalizing factor in the develop-
ment of the national mind. Dr. Channing, a native of
Rhode Island, was keenly appreciative of its subtle influ-
ences, iUelf the creator of a "genial atmosphere." In sym-
pathy with this sentiment, more than a half-century ago,
were several of the best sons of Massachusetts, eminent
among whom was Judge Story, who said, in his " Centen-
nial " at Salem, 1828, touching the principle of "soul-free-
dom " as established in Rhode Island, " In her code of
laws we read, for the first time since Christianity ascended
the throne of the Caesars, that conscience should be free, and
men should not be punished for worshipping God as they
were persuaded he required, — a declaration which to the
honor of Rhode Island she has never departed from," and
hesitated not to add, " Massachusetts may blush that the
Catholic colony of Lord Baltimore and the Quaker colony
of Penn were originally founded on the principle of Christian
right long before she felt or acknowledged them." At last,
in 1834, on the Capitol hill of Boston, our deferred hopes
were realized long before the genial Emersonian atmosphere
had been evolved. About that time, throughout 1835, Mr.
Emerson was devoting himself to the study of Plotinus, New
Platonism, and the German mystics ; in 1836 he put forth
his first volume, "Nature " (93 pages), which he called "an
entering wedge ; " in 1837 he was feeling his way along,

312 LIFE NOTES.

tentatively, to a recognized position on the lecture platform,
and to that end spent parts of several weeks in Providence,
while delivering a course of lectures, enjoying at the same
time a good deal of social life in company with Margaret
Fuller, who was already a distinguished educator, profes-
sionally devoted day by day to her field of work, — the Green-
street School, — and supplementing that by attracting even-
ing classes of ladies and gentlemen to set places of gathering
for the study of the German language and literature. Thus,
Dr. Hague at that time (1837), while ministering to the
First Church of Providence, was brought into frequent com-
munication with these two, who were said to have been " born
akin," and were alluded to as "spirit-twins," despite the
strong self-assertion of individuality, mutually attracted by
the feeling of an exceptional unity.

THE ANACHRONISM ILLUSTRATED.

Of this period a well-remembered incident indicates the
reality of pleasant, and perhaps rare, mental relationships.
On a certain Sunday morning INIargaret Fuller requested a
young friend to call at Dr. Hague's residence, and ascertain
whether he would occupy his pulpit that morning ; assigning,
as a reason for the inquiry, that Mr. Emerson was passing
the day in town, and would accept her invitation to attend
the service in company with herself if assured that the
minister would be at home. They were both present at the
set time. Not long afterwards, as it appeared, JNIargaret
devoted a page of her diary to a critical judgment of the
preacher, which may now be found in " Memoirs of Margaret
Fuller Ossoli" (the joint work of Ralph Waldo Emerson,
James Freeman Clarke, and W. H. Channing), vol. i. p. 183
(Boston: Phillips, Sampson, & Co., 1852) ; and this impres-
sion of the "spirit-sister" (A.D. 1837) might indicate to

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 313

Dr. Holmes, if he should take the time to re-read it, that in
her sight there could not have been much scope left for in-
debtedness, regarding "fruitage ripened and mellowed,"
even "the very spirit of Christianity," to the geniality of
the Emersonian atmosphere, whatsoever that may be, or
whensoever the time of the evolution might come.
The following is from the diary record of 1837 : —
" Mr. Hague is of the Baptist persuasion, and is very
popular with his own sect. He is small, and carries his head
erect; he has a high and intellectual though not majestic
forehead ; his brows are lowering, and, when knit in indig-
nant denunciation, give a thunderous look to the counte-
nance ; and beneath them flash, sparkle, and flame — for all
that is said of light in rapid motion is true of them — his
dark eyes. Hazel and blue eyes, with their purity, stead-
fastness, subtle penetration, and radiant hope, may persuade
and win, but black is the color to conmiand. His mouth has
an equivocal expression ; but, as an orator, perhaps he gains
power by the air this gives.

" He has a very active intellect, sagacity, and elevated sen-
timent, and, feeling strongly that God is love, can never
preach without earnestness. His power comes first from
his glowing vitality of temperament. While speaking, his
every muscle is an action, and all his action is toward one
object. There is perfect abandon. He is permeated, over-
borne, by his thought. This lends a charm above grace,
though incessant nervousness and heat injure his manner.
He is never violent, though often vehement. Pleading tones
in his voice redeem him from coarseness, even when most
eager; and he throws himself into the hearts of his hearers,
not in weak need of sympathy, but in the confidence of gen-
erous emotion. His second attraction is his individuality :
he speaks direct from the conviction of his spirit, without

314 LIFE NOTES.

temporizing or artificial method. His is the * impreraedi-
tated art,' and therefore successful. He is full of intellec-
tual life ; his mind has not been fettered by dogmas, and the
worsliip of beauty finds a place there. I am much inter-
ested in this truly animated being."

One point of these diary-notes is specially suggestive;
namely, Margaret Fuller's affirmation that Dr. Hague was
a recognized exponent of the ideas and spirit of his own
denomination, or, as she puts it, "very popular with his own
sect; " indicating, on her part, the absence of all thought,
that, as to the matters noted in her pen-talk with herself, she
had been criticising " fruitage " that had " mellowed " in any
newly evolved atmosphere, and of such sort that the tree to
which it belongs would hardly know it ! AVithin her scope
of outlook there had been no " new departure " from that
ideal standard of the primitive Christianity of the New
Testament so freely avowed in Rhode Island more than two
centuries ago, — a revelation of supernatural facta vocal with
teachings. Within the area of that revelation, imparted
primarily at Jerusalem and at Antioch, the best aspirations
of the soul may be realized, without any supplementing from
Alexandria, the home of that heterogeneous New Platonic
mysticism of the fourth century, which, transformed into
Emersonian idealism, presents itself, in the shape of lectures
and essays, to universal acceptance as the latest revelation
for the last quarter of the nineteenth.

THE editor's surprise WIDELY SHARED.

From this review notice it is evident that the
editor, Dr. Patton, has been greatly amazed by
the discernment of the fact that Dr. Holmes, who
had been credited by us all with a world-wide his-

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 315

torical knowledge, should have been so unconscious
of an J memory pertaining to "the spirit of Rhode
Island history," long ago recognized by the lead-
ing authors of his own State as the most effective
element in the religio-political reconstructions of
this hemisphere, and through them interpreted by
the best thinkers of the Old World as a prophecy
of its own destined heritage.

A MYSTIFYING TROBLEM.

In this connection we are led to confess (the
" we " here denoting our reading companionship)
that we were quite strangely mystified by the re-
mark of Dr. Holmes, designed to suggest the
signs of mental expansion by the inhalation of
liberalizing influences within the environment of
a genial Emersonian atmosphere, mainly called
forth by the sympathetic interest of a neighboring
Baptist minister in tracing the leading features of
Mr. Emerson's personality. The essential charac-
terizations given by my essay, however, are not
the tracings of Mr. Emerson's individual man-
hood, but the determination of Emersonianism.

This latter characterization was the chief end
of my writing ; they are, certainly, to be differenti-
ated. But Dr. Holmes regards only the first, —
the treatment of the individual manhood. That
a Baptist minister treats this with a curious per-

3l6 LIFE NOTES.

sonal interest and a keenly appreciative estimation
of what seems really unique, is interpreted by the
Doctor as a sign of progressive mental expansion,
the product of a genial Emersonian atmospheric
environment. Contrasting Mr. Emerson's com-
paratively pleasant experiences at the hands of a
Baptist clergyman as signalizing, in his view, the
great difference between the present and the past,
he writes, "A few generations ago the preacher
of a new gospel would have been burned." Just
here we are somewhat startled by the question
that the context suggests ; namely, " Burned by
whom ? " There is just here an earnest call for
the Doctor's interpretation ; for, certainly, there
never was known in New England, or elsewhere
on this planet, a recognized Baptist minister
whose conduct in this line of direction as to burn-
ing, or any form of force, could have furnished an
example in contrast with that of the one whom he
has been so cordially commending.

SUBTLE UNIFICATION OF FORCES.

The distinctions underlying what has been said
in regard to ideas and princij)les as guides of
thinking, seem to have been more familiar to the
mind of the generation preceding than to that now
contemporary. In regard to such comparisons,
however, we need to have a care to avoid general-

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 317
izino' from an insufficient observation of facts.

o

Here I am reminded, by the context, of that keen
intellectual awakening on fundamental political
questions that occurred in 1834, the year that
ended the long battle between the Senate and the
Polls. In the course of a walk and talk in Boston
with a distinguished Unitarian clergyman, I was
led to say, responsively, " Is it not, indeed, a
marvellous thing that you Unitarians and we
Baptists should be banded together in this battle
for cutting the last political link that binds the
Church to the State, against the conservative Or-
thodox, so called ; thus preventing forever here-
after the administration of Christianity by any
kind of force, merely physical or legal ? "

" Certainly, it is so," he replied. " Who could
have predicted such a union a decade ago ? "

" A consideration that makes it the more sugges-
tive," I said again, '' is this : that you base your
demand for the change mainly on one ground, and
we on another, yet in action a unity."

'-'• To what different grounds do you refer ? "

To this question I replied, "Your chief argu-
mentative appeal is derived from the self-evident
teachings of nature and reason, essentially iden-
tical with that annunciation that arrests attention
in the first sentence of the Declaration of our
National Independence, affirming the Unalienable

3l8 LIFE NOTES.

rights of all men to life, liberty, and the pur-
suit of happiness,' which enumeration we both
supplement by the proclamation, ' Freedom of con-
scienee^' or ' soul-liberty.'' Our chief plea, you ob-
serve, is grounded upon the nature and teaching
of Christianity, identical with that set forth by
the founder of Rhode Island more than two cen-
turies and a half ago. Then, as you may remem-
ber, he quaintly preached and printed thus the
supreme idea : * It is the will and command of
God, that, since the coming of his Sonne (the
Lord Jesus), a permission of the most Paganish,
Jewish, Turkish, or anti-Christian conscience and
worships be granted unto all men, in all nations
and countries : and they are only to be fought
against with that sword which is only in soule
matters able to conquer ; to wit, the sword of God's
Spirit, the Word of God.' "

"I welcome your statement," said my compan-
ion, " as true and interesting. Though I had not
before thought of the two different grounds of
action signalizing co-operative parties, yet this
practical unity, akin to that of reason and reve-
lation, is a fact of real significance. As a matter
of fact, evidently, the claim urged and gained for
individual liberty of conscience as a right, was
grounded upon the teaching of Christianity as set
forth in the New Testament, and attested by the

OUR EPILOGUE IV/T/I ITS EPISODES. 319

martyr-Spirit wlio won its protection from royalty,
and secured its supremacy in America."

It is worthy of special mention, that " The
Christian Register" (Unitarian) has emphasized
this historical fact in several connections, within a
comparatively recent period, as eminently sugges-
tive, and has quoted the same declaration of funda-
mental truth that I have just now drawn from
the Introduction to " Tlie Bloody Tenent," a part
of Roger Williams's argumentative plea against the
sanguinary reasonings of the Massachusetts clergy.

At the time of this writing, a friendly question
is put, quite seriously, by a genuine admirer of
the ever-youthful poet of America : " How has it
happened that Dr. Holmes has indicated no im-
pression of this order of facts, nor of any of the
suggested lessons that associate themselves with
the era of 1834?" One of the company just then
present aptly replies, " Are you not aware that
the Doctor was absent from home at that period
(from 1832 to 1836), pursuing his professional
studies in Europe?" This timely statement of
fact was welcomed as explanation. "Ah, yes, I
see ; and in the years following, evidently, the
spirit of historical enthusiasm, expressed by the
orators of the time, the greatest and best, like Dr.
Upham (Unitarian), minister of the First Church
of Old Salem, from whose pastorate Roger Williams

320 LIFE NOTES.

was driven forth by the ruling power, like Judge
Story, like George Bancroft, and others, created
' a genial atmosphere ' that transformed public
sentiment, but whose mental quickening and up-
lifting power Dr. Holmes could not fully share in
the transatlantic Old World, while busy in pre-
paring to take the brilliant leaderships that he has
won on several conspicuous fields of action.
Nevertheless, his mind is yet young, and has not
yet reached, we may reasonably believe, its limit
of acquisition."

Tliese references to the past, in connection with
the name of Dr. Holmes, recall the images and
names of many whose ''living presence" made
so large a part of Boston forty years ago, and for
whose genial ministries of friendship, unconscious
as well as conscious, there will never come to us
on earth any adequate substitution. Especially
do these memories associate themselves with the
old attractive haunt on the corner of Washington
and School Streets during the regime of Ticknor
& Fields. There, on a sunny morning, about
forty years ago, Mr. Ticknor was behind the
counter toward the rear of the store when the
first copies of the " Blue and Gold Edition " of
Holmes's " Poems " arrived, welcomed by us both

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 321

tlie more cordially od account of the Doctor's long-
continued interdict against any fresh issues. That
interdict had attained its end when his profes-
sional character had so established itself as to
maintain its pre-eminence of dignit}^, and simplify
the public conception of his primary life-aim.
At the moment here noted, it happened that Dr.
Holmes opened the door and entered from Wash-
ington Street, when Mr. Ticknor called him to
step forward, witli the added exclamation, " Here
is a man who paid five dollars for the last little
volume that remained up to the time of the inter-
dict, supposing it unlikely that he would ever have
a chance to obtain another ! So, you see, this
copy seemed as if invested at once with historical
interest." The Doctor replied, " There is only one
proper answer to that remark," and, immediately
taking the copy nearest to him (vols. 1, 2), pre-
sented it to me, having ali-eady invested it with
historical interest by his autograph inscription.
The old corner where we then were had long be-
fore become ''historical," — a fact whereof a fresh
impression was made when Rev. Dr. Judson, hav-
ing returned to Boston after thirty years' absence
in India, left the ship, to find his way to the book-
store of Carter & Hendee, the old proprietors long
gone, known chiefly by hearsay to "the rising
generation."

322 LIFE NOTES.

And so to-day the words of the last line just
now written are beginning to tell the story of the
younger firm, whom I can readily recall only as
they were in their prime, achieving a brilliant
career, a world-wide reputation ; sending forth
many works of the best and highest style ; meet-
ing the intellectual needs of their period, which
Ave associate chronologically with the three or four
middle decades of this century. To my retrospec-
tive outlook, the whole period seems so bright and
brief as to become a sort of bewilderment, starting
the question whether the memory itself does not
pertain in part to dreamland. Let me think it
over. Not far from forty years ago, at six o'clock
of the sunny morning, as I opened my front-door,
Mr. Ticknor had just then reached the steps, and
hailed me, saying, " I know that you were in the
way of pedestrianizing an hour before breakfast,
and I have come to wayhiy you for a walk, and
talk in regard to a question of personal interest
now under consideration. He was then connected
with a bank, and was at the same time our paro-
chial treasurer, while I Avas ministering to the
church in Federal Street. A proposal to leave
the bank, and find in the old book-store his field of
work for the future, involved all the questioning
of that early hour. " In the end," I said, " re-
garded from my point of view, there is no call for

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 323

protracted deliberation. All your antecedents,
every distinguishing element of your personality,
your readiness of address, every taste, trend, and
habitude that I have discerned, indicate an adapt-
ness to the demands of that trade-centre, and a
prophecy of success. As you ask for my opinion,
I give freely, glad that it is positive, confident as I
am that you are being providentially led, ruled, or
perhaps overruled, to the fulfilment of your life-
aim/' These hopeful predictions have been admi-
rably realized, — a fact of personal history that I
was led to speak of commemoratively wlien offici-
ating at the home-funeral service, where all were
mourners, and none more so, outside of the family,
than the two men who were nearest to me on that
occasion, — Hawthorne on one side, and ex-Presi-
dent Pierce on the other.

AS TO TIMING OXE's LIFE-WOEK.

Not one of tliese three friends here noted lived
very far beyond his prime ; apparently, at least,
considering their vitality of temperament. Of
each of them we have heard it said incidentally,
his death appeared to be itntimely ; that is to say,
it seemed a baffling of reasonable hopes and cal-
culations. Yet, despite this liability to mistaken
calculations, we have known the most thoughtful
men suggest rules and forecastings, as if the

324 LIFE NOTES.

measure of " threescore years and ten " were an
established law in relation to the average of
civilized humanity. In every generation the life-
time of some persons has been determined by the
sway of mere impressions for which there was no
accounting. There was a time when my own ex-
perience, to a degree, exaggerated such an impres-
sion. The day following Dr. Wayland's discourse
on the occasion of my installation (February,
1831), in the course of a walk and talk, he made
the incidental remark, " Jf I were in your place, I
would not publish any thing before reaching thirty
years of age." To this I responded, " President,
I accept your rule as Bafe; but I must confess to
you that I do not expect to live much over thirty."
Of course, he treated such an impression as reason-
less, and approved the motto that I had recently
commended in a discourse to young Christians ;
namely, " Be ready to die to-day, but lay out your
life-plan for threescore and ten." As a matter of
fact and experience, however, such advisory rules
of adjustment as to age are of very limited value
practically ; for rising occasions sweep them away,
and determine issues. In regard to my own
case, all rules as to the right time for publishing
were forgotten when the era of Ij'ceums and lec-
tures began to assert itself in Boston. I was in-
vited to deliver a lecture in the Lyceum Course

OUR EPILOGUE WITH ITS EPISODES. 325

at Boylston Hall. My subject was one that I
selected because I was interested in it; namely,
'' Moral Reasoning." A friend connected with the
Lyceum Committee expressed a doubt whether a
subject so metaphysical could win popular atten-
tion. I replied, ''Be not anxious. The novelty of
the Lyceum will suffice to attract an audience ;
and, when once there, I think their sympathetic
interest will be sufficiently encouraging. Imme-
diately at the closing of that lecture, James
Loring, Esq., publisher (Manning & Loring),
stepped upon the platform, and proposed at once
to buy my manuscript, in order to print it as an
introductory essay to a work already in press,
entitled "Gambler on j\Ioral Reasoning." Ere-
long the work was issued, and sought as a text-
book for teaching in academies, high schools, and
colleges, so fulfilling a special mission. Thus the
time of my first publication was determined by the
occasion imperially, age being treated as of no
account. Other publications followed, mainly
called forth by their publishers on subjects re-
garded somewhat as matters of common interest.
\\\ this friendly and inspiring relation stood forth
for a long course of years the eminent pubhshing-
firm of Gould & Lincoln (for a time Gould, Ken
dall, & Lincoln) ; that young firm having had
bequeathed to it in early days the heritage uf an

326 LIFE NOTES.

excellent prestige from the preceding house of
Lincoln & Edmands, whose books had been famil-
iar to the homes of a large area in New York
during the period of my school and college days,
and were there and elsewhere awakening minds in
various directions, so as to become a factor in the
chief departments of education, religious, literary,
and scientific. Some of the highest and best
works of the age within each of these departments
were issued by the enterprise of this firm, and are
still fulfilling their world-wide mission.

From these stand-points of retrospective outlook,
other names loom up within view ; while the
forms, voices, movements, of many pertaining
to my contemporary surroundings tempt both
greeting and reminiscence. But this tempting
aim implies another volume. I would fain yield
to the enticement, but know too well that I have
not the margins of time or strength to warrant a
responsive pledge like that which the ]:»eginnings
of this called forth. Yet, as " with God nothing
is impossible," and he has granted so much, he
may give this also ; who can tell ?

APPE]^DICES.
I.

HON. JOHN M. S. WILLIAMS.^ _

Of the reminiscences pertaining to my first pastor-
ate in Boston, one of the most noteworthy is the fact
that my first conversation with an individual in regard
to his personal welfare was not held with an inquirer,
or any one, indeed, who could be thought of as belong-
ing to the class of inquiring minds. At the close of
my first afternoon sermon service (December, 1830),
Mr. Goddard, superintendent of the Sunday school,
requested me to go with him to the small room above
the organ, in order to talk with a fractious boy who
had been "kept in for bad behavior." Without
questioning, I assented at once, and on entering the
room was confronted by a boy of twelve apparently,
sitting with his back to the wall, his feet upon the
bench, his arms folded so as to give a complete ex-
pression of a defiant spirit, ready for any occasion
or opportunity to " answer back," and " give any one
as good as he sends."

While on the way to the room, I had asked of the

1 See page 144.

328 LTFE NOTES.

superintendent the name of the boy ; he replied,
"John M. 8. AVilliams." There he sat, as if expect-
ing an attack or rebuke of some kind, but seemed
quickly surprised into another mood of mind when,
being somewhat amused with the oddity of the scene,
I took my place upon the same seat, and, having
repeated what the superintendent had reported about
him, proceeded to sa}-, " There is one thing pretty
well settled in my mind, and I wish to tell you of it ;
that is, when I look into your face, it seems to me quite
likely that you have not been so bad a boy as was
myself at your age." He became at once an earnest
listener to the account I was giving him of boy-life in
New York, especially while setting forth "the situa-
tion" in regard to what I described as my "great
temptation," — the critical experience that he recog-
nized as akin to his own; awakening thus a sympa-
thetic interest in my confession of utter inability to
resist the destructive forces of evil that constantly
assail us, making our condition " worse and worse,"
and, of course, more miserable. From that point
onward, in this connection of ideas, he could fully
appreciate all that was said of my escape by means of
a resj^onsive self- sxir render to Him who calls us b}' his
gospel into a new spirit relation to himself, wherein
we enthrone his Word within us.

The truth took effect in the formation of a new
character, and the fractious boy was erelong recog-
nized by his young associates as a leader in Christian
work.

APPENDICES, 329

Though that scene was never forgotten by me, it
was recalled to mind with fresh vividness when, after
the lapse of a third of a century, I found myself at
Washington sitting by his side in the House of Repre-
sentatives, occupying by invitation a vacant chair, in
order to have a chance for conversation on topics of
national and world-wide concern. The words spoken
at the time of my firat sitting by his side in ' ' the little
room over the organ," and the matters of supreme in-
terest talked of while occupying a seat l)y his side as
a member of Congress at a critical period of the
nation's history, present a contrast that voices to us
ail a fresh testimony to the simplicity of the New-Tes-
tament Christianity, illustrating it practically with a
fresh emphasis of suggestion.

II.

EEV. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, D.D.^

About this period, still signalized in the memories
of a few as the season of '' conciliation," an excellent
lady of our church, whose husband had joined "The
Church of the Disciples," brought to me at my
"study" a manuscript copy of one of Dr. J. F.
Clarke's sermons on "Regeneration," requesting that
I would indicate to her, in due time, every point of dis-
agreement. A few days afterward I returned it to her
without suggesting any amendment as to its expres-
sion in any line of direction. As a formulation of
1 See page 233.

330 LIFE NOTES.

doctrine, it seemed to be apth' elaborated. I mention
this incident to illustrate the trend of thinking just
then, — the inquiring spirit of the period.

In this connection it is worth}^ of notice, that in the
year 1850, while Dr. Clarke was confined at home by
sickness, I accepted an invitation from the officers of
his church to deliver to them a Sunday-evening ser-
mon. The subject of my discourse on that occasion
was " The Simplicity of the Christian Religion."
The text was ''The Simplicity that is in Christ."
At the close of the service, as I stepped from the pul-
pit to the floor, a company of about twelve gentlemen
were grouped together in conversation, half of whom
I recognized, and distinguished as professional, — law-
yers, physicians, and others. Those whom I knew
personally, introduced me to their associates ; and then
one, addressing me directly, said, '' Dr. Hague, we
all feel alike that you have expressed your views
with entire clearness to-night." To this 1 responded,
'' Well, gentlemen, I doul)t not 3'ou desired me to do
so, and not aim to be the mere echo of another's
voice." — "True, true," it was answered, '-and for
that quality we all like your sermon. Now, about
one-half of these gentlemen here gathered can go with
you the whole length of your statements, while the
other half " — waving his hand significantly — *' would
demur. We are accustomed to convene for a si)ecial
purpose on Thursday evenings, and we all unite in
inviting you to join us in friendly and free conversa-
tional discussions touching these subjects."

A PPENDICES. 3 3 I

This invitation I welcomed with high appreciation,
and would have realized it actually had I not been
obliged to inform them as to my acceptance of a call
to the fulfilment of a special work in Newark, N.J.,
requiring my presence there by the end of the follow-
ing week. The incident itself is vocal with a clear
testimony of its own as to the spirit of the period.

III.

REV. DR. JOHN OVERTON CHOFLES.^

The historic trend of Rev. Dr. John Overton Chonles
of Newport, R.I., tempered his whole life-work, which,
indeed, fulfilled its mission mainly in this country,
after he had received the highest style of education
that England could then furnish outside of the univer-
sities. More than half a century ago, after having
edited several smaller works, he committed to the
press, in the year 1832, the "History of Missions," in
two volumes, quarto, — a work which had been com-
menced by the Rev. Thomas Smith, an eminent minis-
ter of England, who died, in the midst of his toil, in
the year 1830. Dr. Chonles not only completed the
History, but bestowed much labor upon the required
editorship, and was gratified with its favorable recep-
tion by the public.

While enjoying his four years' ministry at Jamaica
Plain, Dr. Chonles employed the hours of leisure then
at his command in preparing for the press a new edi-

1 See pages 198, 248.

332 LrPE NOTES.

tion of Neal's " Histor}' of the Puritans," which was
issued in 1844 from the press of Harper & Brothers.
The design and the extent of his labors in this direc-
tion he has thus stated : '' It is quite clear that in the
United States there is a general attention directed to
the subject of Church history, partly arising from the
almost total apathy which has so long existed, and,
in a considerable degree, owing to the extraordinary
movement in the Church of England of those who re-
gard their amputation from Kome as original sin and
actual transgression. I have long wished to see
Neal's admirable ' History of the Puritans ' in the
hands, not only of the ministry and students, but all
private reading Christians, — a growing class in the
country ; but its very high price has been an insuper-
able barrier to general circulation. Consultation with
many of our most nifluential clergy of all denomina-
tions interested has induced me to prepare an edition
which shall not only be so cheap as to admit of general
use, but which shall embod}' the valuable information
which has been garnered up by the writers of the last
century. Since Neal finished his work, we have had
the writings of Towgood and Toulmin, Wilson and
Palmer, Brooks and Conder, Fletcher and Orne, and
especially the admirable contributions of Drs. Vaughn
and Price. The works alluded to, and very many
others, have been faithfully and laboriously consulted
in order to enrich this edition. It may have some
errors in t3"pography which have escaped my notice ;
but I can assure the reader that it is the most perfect

APPENDICES. 333

edition extant, and that I have made scores of correc-
tions from the latest London edition. Not an iota has
been altered in the original text of Neale, and every
edition of the immortal work has been carefully col-
lated and compared."

When we consider, that, in addition to the works
already mentioned, Dr. Choiiles has put forth an Amer-
ican edition of Foster's '' Statesmen of the EngUsh
Commonwealth ; " that he has furnished a continuation
of Hinton's ''History of America," ending with the
administration of President Taylor; that for several
years he edited ''The Boston Christian Times," or
contributed regularly to other papers ; that his lectures
on the character and administration of Oliver Crom-
well, and also his lectures on other subjects, have been
effective, — we are led to the conclusion that the Bristol
*^ orphan-boy of twelve," whom we recognized in due
time as the Rev. John Overton Choules, D.D., wielded
a pen that was seldom idle, and bequeathed large lega-
cies of treasured learning to meet the needs of his own
generation, and of the adopted country that he loved
so well, as infolding within its destinies the brighten-
ing fortunes of the ages to come.

While thus recalling the name of Dr. Choules in
connection with his pen-work, it is worthy of special
remembrance that the sphere of action where his dis-
tinguishing gifts of power were most quickly discerned
and felt was the broad social world. On the 25th of
February, 1856, the day after my delivery of the dis-
course commemorative of his life and character, the

334 ^^P^ NOTES.

Hon. Mr. Cranston of Newport showed me one of
Mr. Webster's treasured letters to him, stating certain
arrangements for a private meeting of political friends
at Newport, so timed as to meet the senator's conven-
ience on his way from Washington to Boston. It was
designed as a meeting for consultation. The invited
ones were named, and then came this postscript : " Do
not forget to invite Rev. Dr. Choules." Mr. Webster
is said to have once remarked, that the distinctive
mission of Dr. Choules was the bringing into direct
communication of the persons who needed each other's
acquaintance. The make-up of his individuality sug-
gested this as an end and aim. Nothing that was re-
markable escaped his notice. He was at home with
all of every rank. From each he gathered something
that was interesting to another. He was therefore
welcomed by all, and he enjoyed the pleasure of both
giving and receiving. Hence, too, his natural sagacity
in reading character.was rapidly cultivated. No human
being, from the highest to the lowest of the social
grades, was entirely devoid of interest to him. Even
in the days of his boyhood, if the greatest men of
England visited Bristol, he was sure to find some
proper way of approaching each one of them, and
perhaps of forming his acquaintance ; so that, as was
once said to me by a companion of his later youth,
Rev. Thomas Price, D.D. (editor of "The Eclectic Re-
view "), it was a matter of amusement and amazement
to his fellow-students to witness the ease and grace-
fulness with which such determinations were carried

APPENDICES. 335

out in action. At the same time, his keen zest for
knowledge and for oV)seivatiou of character would
render the abode of some poor, obscure man a charmed
resort. His own wit, in common talk, would often
recall the pith and point of Sydney Smith.

IV.

AKCHBISHOP BAYLEY.^

James Roosevelt Bayley (the son of Dr. Carlton
Bayle}', my mother's first cousin) was the first and
only native American who had attained a rank so high
as the primacy of the Roman-Catholic Church in the
United States, the dignity pertaining to the arch-epis-
copate of Baltimore. He entered upon his priestly
career as rector of the Episcopal Church in Harlem,
near New York. Though knowing much of each
other through relatives and friends, we lacked opportu-
nity of coming into free personal communication until
he had received his appointment as Roman-Catholic
bishop of Newark. Not long after his arrival in that
city he called at the residence of my elder brother,
Mr. James Hague, in order to pay his respects to my
mother, then spending a week at the home of her old-
est son. Early that evening, as I entered the house,
arriving from New York, my brother said, "I wash
you had come a few minutes since : the bishop has
just now left the house, and desired to see j^ou." This
remark was the occasion of my calling at the library
1 See No. I., page 29.

336 LIFE NOTES.

of the Cathedral, where I had the pleasure of meeting
him about au hour afterward.

Some inquiries that interested both of us, as to
points of famil}' history, having been considered, he
suddenly turned the subject by this questioning :
" Pray, tell me how it happened that 3'ou ever became
a Baptist ; as all your relatives around Pelham and
New York are Episcopalians, that change has been to
me a puzzle."

To this I replied, " Bishop, for a like reason it has
been to me a puzzle how you became a Roman Catho-
lic ; for knowing of 3"ou, at the beginning of 3'our pro-
fessional life, as rector of the Episcopal Church in
Harlem, it was a real surprise to learn that 3^ou were
officiating as private secretary of Arclibishop Hughes,
and then that 3^ou had become, as now, the bishop of
this diocese."

" Well," he quickly answered, " tell me your story,
and I will tell you mine if you wish to hear it."

" In answering your call, bishop," I said, " my own
explanation ma3' be briefly put. I have no noteworthy
remembrance of an3^ personal interest in the teachings
of Christianity until the year 1823, — an interval
between my academy and college life, devoted to my
farm-education at Paramus, N.J., where, on the first
Sunday of June, I listened to a sermon by the Rev.
Dr. Elting, pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian
Church. His text was drawn from the fifteenth chap-
ter of John's Gospel, fifteenth verse : ' If I had not
come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin : but

APPENDICES. 337

now they have no cloak for their sin.' The preacher
began by voicing the sense, saying, ' If no Saviour
had ever come into the world, our sinfulness would be
nothing compared with what it must be if, after his
coming to us, we reject him. He appeals to us all,' it
was said, ' individually, as sinners whose future, as to
character and condition, must depend upon our chosen
relation to himself. The real import of that future is
determined, on the one hand, by the self -surrendering
faith that unites the soul to him, or, on the other
hand, by one's self-abandonment to "• the law of sin"
that asserts itself in human nature.' His waj^ of put-
ting this alternative was decidedly effective, simpli-
fying Christianity, especially as set forth in such
illustrative miracles as that experience of the leper
(Matt. viii. 1-4) who surrendered himself to the
Great Physician for healing both of body and spirit.
Assured on that very day that I had entered the
si)iritual Church by a self-surrendering faith, in accord-
ance with Christ's own description of that Church as
recorded in the tenth chapter of John's Gospel, where
we notice that in the porch of the temple, in the pres-
ence of the priesthood, he proclaimed himself the one
supreme Shepherd of the flock of God on earth,
' who knows his own, is known of them ; ' regards
them individually, ' calleth them by name.' This
great idea, so significantly emphasized by Paul in ad-
dressing the Romans, — namely, union to Christ by
faith alone, including within itself all promised bless-
ings,— quickened me with a new sympathy for all who

338 LIFE NOTES.

are thus spiritually akin. These make np that one
true spiritual Church whose bounds are known only to
Him who ' knoweth all things,' as Peter expressed it
when appealing to Jesus for his own personal recogni-
tion.

" Thus assured as I was, bishop, of my being a
member of the spiritual Church, which is, in reality,
'the Holy Catholic Church' (the word ' Church,' you
know, meaning originally '• the Lord's own '), that rul-
ing idea engaged my thought, irrespective of any out-
ward or visible organism to represent it. At this stage
of my experience I entered college, joined the Theo-
logical Society and an association of Sunday-school
teachers as an avowed Christian worker. After the
lapse of a few months, an increasing degree of reli-
gious interest furnished the chief topics of talk around
' College Hill ; ' and then in due time many were
joining churches of different denominations, though
still a unity in Christian work. This particular ' situ-
ation ' had its own appeal for me, impelling me to a
special re-studying of the Greek Testament, in order
to determine the question whether, in addition to the
one spiritual Church which Christ had described, there
had been histituted also hy liim an external or visible
organism as its exponent in the sight of the world.
This re-reading, with a definite aim, showed clearly
that such a representative organism had been consti-
tuted by Christ, not at Rome, but at Jerusalem, and
had been extended thence by the apostles throughout
the Roman world, made up not of nations, like your

APPENDICES. 339

Roman-Catholic Church, nor of ^States, nor of muni-
cipalities, nor of families as such, but of individuals,
— responsible souls, professing their own faith, and
asking for their own baptism as the appointed symbolic
testimony^ the set sacrament or oath of lo3^alty. As
soon as this unification of the New Testament's
teaching disclosed itself, I discerned at once the dis-
tinguishing primitive idea as to the outward organism
pertaining to Christ's Church (or ecdesm), which the
Baptists really actualize. Thence, at the opening of
my last Junior vacation, on my return to New York I
presented myself for baptism, and was accepted. This
is the whole story of the change."

The bishop listened with an expression that sug-
gested the newness of these thoughts in relation to
himself, or rather, his cherished habitudes of think-
ing. After a moment's musing he said slowly, "Well,
well, that is sufficiently simple and also logical. If
I had ever accepted your premise as a basis or start-
ing-point of reasoning, namely, ' the Bible alone the
rule of faith and practice, a gift of God to the in-
dividual soul, thus made responsible for its own
interpretation of it,' I would have reached the same
conclusion, and would have become a Baptist myself."

This remark furnished me occasion to reply, " I am
not surprised to liear you say so : a score of years ago
I heard some of the leading scholars of Rome utter
similar statements as to tne logical necessities of the
case, especially my host, Signor Nicolo, chaplain to
the Cardinal Barberini, in whoso house I lived a

340 LIFE NOTES.

month, having my cot in his Ubraiy. Now, having
tokl 3'ou my story, I wait for yours."

Th(j hishop at once proceeded: ''You have ah-eady
referred to my rectorship of the P^piscopal Churcli at
Harlem. You are aware, no douljt, that when a young
inquirer, as I was once, seeks religious guidance of
his official teacher, whether deacon, priest, or bishop,
the teacliing most strongly emphasized at the very
beginning is tlie one precept, ' Hear the Church/
ordained of God to provide for yom* needs, and answer
your (questions. Tlie authorized formulations of doc-
trine, for 3^oung or oUl, are then brought into requi-
sition. If tiie inquirer, perplexed with the varying
interpretations of sects or schools, should seek more
si)ecial aid, and ask, — amid the many that speak, and
the intermingling of voices, — ' How shall I distinguish
the voice of the Church?' an accepted answer long-
has been, that the need was divinely provided for by
means of the first CEcumenical Council of Nicea,
called together under Constantine, the first Christian
emperor, in the year 325, for the purpose of giving
formulated expression to the apostles' teaching as to
Church doctrine and government, thus to transmit them
invested with the authority pertaining to the one world-
wide representative Christian assembly nearest to the
apostolic age. During my earlier years these sum-
mary statements sufficed to keep me contented along
the line of prescribed duties without change of rela-
tions. In due time, however, I was led to in(juire
mure closely as to the com[)ositiou of that council, —

APPENDICES. 341

who they were, whence they came, and what things
they did in fact believe and teach. The true answers
to those questions, you know yourself, no doubt ; and
when concentrating my thoughts in that direction, it
became evident that they believed and avowed the
very doctrines which we had rejected, such as priestly
absolution, prayers for the dead, Purgatory, and so
forth, what remained for me but to be true to the fun-
damental principle or guiding light of Church author-
ity, and place myself with the Roman-Catholic Church
as the faithful exponent of that world-wide representa-
tive Council of Nicea? "

To this I replied, after a moment's musing, slowly,
in accordance with his manner of expression to me,
''Well, well, that is all very simple and very logical.
If I had accepted your premise as a basis of reasoning
at the starting-point, — namely, Church authority the
one supreme principle or rule of faith and practice, —
I would have accepted your conclusion, and would
have become, also, a Roman Catholic."

This last turn of the conversation seemed to be like
a fillip to the bishop's mind, giving him a fresh im-
pulse, and quickening him to exclaim, "Yes, yes ! I see,
I see ! Our talk brings to view the main alternative.
Within the area of effective Christian thinking there
are only two positions, or ' stand-points,' that are solid,
or have any kind of maintainable endurance ; namely,
' the Bible alone,' or ' Church authority.' All posi-
tions between these two are weak, sandy, without any
consistency ; and from these men must slide or gravi-

342 LIFE NOTES.

tate. Either of tliese, clearly conceived, may inspire
enthusiasm, and may become aggregating powers.
The antithetic exponents of these two ideas must
ultimately come into closer conflict, and do more
than has yet been done to determine the great
historical issues of the future, so far as those
issues shall bear the impress and shaping of Chris-
tianity."

It is worthy of note that Archbishop Bayley died at
Newark while sojourning in his old diocese a few
days. The funeral celebration at Newark occurred on
the day set for the funeral of the Rev. Henry Clay
Fish, D.D., pastor of the First Baptist Church, — the
service for the archbishop being observed in the fore-
noon, and that of the Baptist pastor in the afternoon.
Great crowds visited both the Cathedral and the First
Church : and it is noteworthy that the estimates of
attending numbers tallied ; namely, in each case ten
thousand.

A CONFERENCE IN ANDOVER FIFTY YEARS AGO.^

A FIXED impression of the power of traditional the-
ology was made upon my mind more than half a cen-
tury since, — as far back, indeed, as 1830, when I w^as
called to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in
Boston, and wdien T visited the Theological Seminary
at Andover, wdiile some of my college-mates were still
abidhig there. About eight o'clock of the evening
1 Sec page IIG.

APPENDICES. 343

following ray arrival, while engaged in conversation
with one of these in his room, several of the theologi-
cal students came in separately, and were introduced,
until we had a gathering of more than seven. Erelong
one of the new-comers spoke up in regard to a special
errand that had interested them all at once. In pur-
suing their course of class exercises, they had reached
the subject of Christian baptism, the study for the
ensuing day ; and they had agreed to talvc the oppor-
tunity to ask from me a statement of our " distinc-
tively denominational position,'* and the grounds of it.
Their friendly proposal was welcomed ; inviting, as I
did, the utmost freedom in questioning or suggestion.
After a protracted conversation, that touched all the
points within their range of view, I had occasion to
remark, " It seems to me, dear friends, that you have
entered the membership of your several churches with-
out having given any attention to the teachings of
Christ and his apostles as to the visible sacrament
of self-dedication, and to have made your profession
of Christian discipleship without any questioning what-
soever." To this inferential inquiry they freely an-
swered all alike, — that they had become communicants
and students for the ministry without any thought in
that direction, except what might have come incident-
ally in reciting the Catechism.

Did this group of theological students regard this
unified expression as an exceptional experience? Not
at all. They had no feeling of exceptionality, or of
failure in any point of duty. All that remained for

344 Z/i^i5' NOTES.

me to do in that case was the emphasizing of the words
of Jesus responsive to an inquirer touching another
question; namely, " Wliat saith the Scripture? How
readest thou ? ' '

Yet now, as ever, the pastorates, too many of the
Sunday schools, and many theological seminaries, are
training ministers whose highest ideal of the ministry
seems to be that of a skilled professional theologizing,
whose sustenance is theological formula, and whose
beliefs rest upon no deeper foundations than those set
forth by an eminent rector when commending his
advanced teachings as the conclusions of "the most
accepted and latest authorities ' ' ! After the lapse of
more than half a century, even the Andoverian teach-
ing of Moses Stuart's time (a name honored as exeget-
ical authority in the Germany of his age) gravitates
from the high plane of a supernatural revelation faith-
fully interpreted to the lower level of scholarly intuition
and conclusions of the " Higher Criticism."

VI.

CONTEOVERSIES AND THEIR FRUITAGE.l

Although the first twenty years of my earlier
residence in Boston and Providence (1830 to 1850)
brought several occasions for employing tlie press in
controversial discussions, it seems quite noteworthy
that one issue of these discussions was the growth of
new relations of friendship between the parties en-
1 See page 120.

APPENDICES. 345

gaged in them. In this direction memory emphasizes
the qualifying word ''new" as intimating the begin-
ning of lasting friendships that became invested with
the dignity of a confidential type of character, ex-
pressed in seeking advisory aid in regard to things of
the keenest personal concern.

Considering, for instance, the great differences of
opinion between the Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D.D., and
myself on matters pertaining to Church and State, to
the relations of slavery and Christianity, and so forth,
I cannot fail to note the suggestive fact, that, after the
closing of public controversj', the spirit of his per-
sonal communications indicated as much of sympa-
thetic trustfulness as could possibly pertain to any
kind of denominational unity.

It was about the year 1834 that Dr. Adams pub-
lished his volume entitled " The Baptized Child." A
reply appeared in "The Christian Review," and this
was afterwards put forth by the publishers in volume
form. A copy of this volume I sent to Dr. Adams,
accompanied by a note, and received from him in re-
turn a note of thanks for the politeness thus ex-
pressed ; adding the remark, that he would send forth
no answer through the press to the argumentation of
my book. Thenceforward, however, memory has
verified the saying, " Honest men of strong convic-
tions have strong mutual trust, knowing icliere to find
each other ; and real trust is the foundation of love."

This volume, responsive to that of Dr. Adams, was
read by Rev. J. G. Oncken in Germany ; and in a

346 LIFE NOTES.

letter published in "The Watchman" of Boston,
about twelve years ago, he spoke of it as adapted to
the conditioDs and needs of the German miud, ex-
pressing earnestlj' the wish that it might be translated
into the German language, and some provision made
for the fulfilling of its proper mission.

Now that Mr. Onckeu has departed, and we survey
his earthly career as a unit}', it is in this connection
that the life-work of an early friend, the Rev. Barnas
Sears, D.D., looms up as having been intimately asso-
ciated with that of Oucken in the Church history of the
nineteenth century. Distinguislied among the first
American young men who sought the opportunity of
mastering the scholarly acquisitions of the German
universities was Dr. Barnas Sears, the honored grad-
uate of Brown University, well remembered still by
many from his twelve years' effective presidency, until
called thence to be the active administrator of " the
Peabody Fund " for the promotion of school education
throughout the Southern States. As editor of ''The
Christian Review," as the successor of Horace
Mann in the secretaryship of the Massachusetts Board
of Education, as author of "The Life of Luther"
and other works, he is still remembered as the expo-
nent of a life-power that effectively impressed and
modified the history of his generation. That this
American student in Germany should have met and
baptized J. G. Onckeu, from whose life-work, as
direct fruitage, organized Baptist churches, embracing
scores of thousands that have been thence onward

APPENDICES. 347

extending their area day by day throughout Northern
Europe, is not merely a fact of history, but so won-
derful as to take rank with the most unique of facts
pertaining to " the romance of history."

VII.

BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINAEIES.^

The Theological Seminary at Hamilton, Madison
County, N.Y., sometimes referred to as pertaining to
Madison University, was the predecessor of Newton
chronologically, and, from the smallest of beginnings,
has attained wonderful success in its efforts to meet the
calls of widening missionary fields in the Old World.
In this connection it may be fitly observed that the men
who started these Baptist seminaries upon their career,
had no thought of providing schools in the interest of
theology for all comers, but mainly to qualify those
for higher and broader service who would be sure to
preach, whether educated or left to self-development.

The starting-point of Hamilton Theological Semi-
nary recalls "the day of small things." A growing
academy, under the care of Professor Daniel Hascall,
represented the beginnings of an educational and de-
nominational interest. At that time there were great
religious revivals throughout the western part of New
York ; and connected with the reception of this intel-
ligence were signs of great unrest on the part of
Mr. Hascall, so exceptional as to attract the anxious

1 See page 123.

348 LIFE NOTES.

attention of his family. Mrs. Hascall, a wcll-remera-
bered and excellent lady, reached the source of this
uneasiness, so seriously interfering with his "taking
rest in sleep," when she drew from him the confession
that the trend of his musing for days past had been
toward the hosts of 3'oung men who had joined the
churches, and would certainly become preachers^ whether
educated or not. The relief prescribed at once was a
journey westward, whence, in the course of a few
weeks, he returned, accompanied by a " seminary stu-
dent," whose general appearance and first impression,
Mrs. Hascall said, were not prophetic of celebrity, but
whose life-work in Asia it was always to her a great
cheer to rehearse, while she pronounced so tenderly
the name of Jonathan ^Yade as a quickening memory.
This rustic lad became a pioneer student-worker.

This historic fact loomed up significantly in the view
of many when Mr. Wade returned to this countr}' from
his Karen harvest-fields, bringing a few of his sheaves
with him. Thus we were reminded of the principle
upon which the aims of the founders and first support-
ers of Baptist theological seminaries were grounded.
They had no thought of furnishing facilities for college
graduates without any life-aim, not knowing exactly
what to do with themselves, to enter upon a theological
course as a relief from ennui or an aid to literary ac-
quisition. In lands where Church and State are legally
united, such facilities, of course, abound ; their product,
however, is rich in hosts of theologists, whose fields of
speculation are soon exhausted, and the issue is quiet
agnosticism.

APPENDICES. 349

VIII.

CAMBKIDGE CO-WORKERS.^

A PRIME mover in the presentation of this sacrificial
offering to the cause of temperance was a nephew of
the honored deacon ; namely, John Nathaniel Barbour,
Esq., now well known as an octogenarian resident of
Cambridge, where, in company with the late Hon. John
M. 8. Williams (once a member of his class in the
Sunday school of the First Baptist Church of Boston),
he has been a co-worker in the membership of the First
Baptist Church of Cambridge. More than a half-cen-
tury ago the question in regard to entering into com-
mercial business with his uncle was under consideration,
and the accei)tance of the partnership was determined
by that sacrifice. As a Christian worker in the brother-
hood of the old First Church he still lives, yielding the
fruitage of spiritual youthfulness.

The mention of this old First Church, now known
as the Central-square Baptist Church, brings to mind
the days of student-life when I visited this home centre
of many friends at Cambridgeport, under the pastoral
care of the Rev. Bel a Jacobs, around whom there
rallied as large an aggregate of effective workers as
could be found in any church-gathering in Eastern
Massachusetts. There "at the right hand" of the
pastor, I might say, was Levi Farwell, president of
the bank, custodian of the college, thoroughly trusted,

1 See page 144.

350 LIFE NOTES.

loved, and honored b}^ the whole community, carrying
in his countenance "a letter of credit to all strangers,"
self-interpreting, and commanding confidence. With
him stood forth J. B. Dana, deacon and treasurer, a
kindred spirit and fellow-helper in every way. I can
note here only those whom I knew at that period. It
was then a cherished wish that I might live to see a
kindred assembly in Old Cambridge, recognized as
representative of the same distinctive ideas of the
New-Testament Christianity as differentiated from
" Churchianity." Very soon, comparatively, was that
wish realized. The men and women that led the way of
the succeeding generation lost no time ; they, too, already
" have a history," and I often read it at a glance as a
unity when passing their beautiful edifice of stone, in
architectural harmony with its surroundings. With it
the generation to come will associate the names of mem-
bers already departed, and others now living ; of the
latter class, especially, the name of one so sadly sepa-
rated from their assemblings of late years by excep-
tional sicknesses added to the touches of time, — J.
Warren Merrill, an officer of the church and an ex-
mayor of Cambridge, whose record for a third of the
century exemplifies a Christian life-aim, steadily pur-
sued and effectively realized. Not only has he been
missed from his place in the house of worship, but also
missed from his seat with the trustees in the corpora-
tion of Brown University.

This series of personal reminiscences pertaining to
church-life in Cambridge finds its culmination in the

APPENDICES. , 351

ministry of the Rev. Franklin Johnson, D.D., whose
retrospect of fifteen years' progressive work seems
prophetic of spiritual harvests yet to be garnered.

IX.

HISTORIC SENSE OF RHODE ISLANDERS.^

It has been aptly said that the State of Rhode Island,
one of "the old Thirteen," and ever the smallest of
the American sisterhood, is more thoroughly pervaded
by the historic spirit than any other State of the Union,
exhibiting, comparatively, the largest proportion of cit-
izens impelled by their sympathies or aspirations to
make the study of American history both work and
recreation. The Rhode-Island Historical Society has,
for the greater part of a century, drawn to its member-
ship the best native minds of the State; and when
these have gone forth to their fields of action, the
world over, they have carried with them so largely
the home-love, which, when uplifted by great ideas, is
a real enthusiasm, that they have become social factors,
awakenmg in others a historic sense that expressed
itself m various forms of association. Eminent among
these is Henry Thayer Drowne, Esq., president of the
New- York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the
special character of whose library and the social gath-
erings within and around it, seem, at times, to render
his home a choice part of Rhode Island itself trans-
ferred to the great metropolis.

1 See page 310.

352 LIFE NOTES.

In this connection I am reminded that the late
Hon. Samuel G. Arnold, remenil)ered as lieutenant-
governor, United-States senator, and author of the
" Histor}^ of Rhode Island," during the later j^ears of
his life was president of the Rhode-Island Historical
Society ; and I believe that, regarding it as a place
of honor and trust, he was more highly appreciative of
that position than of any other within his range of view.
In the days of his student-life, accompanying him to
Europe, we bore a package of papers (collected mainly,
I think, by Professor Elton) from the Rhode-Island
Historical Society to the leading philosopher of that
time, Victor Cousin, at Paris. Our interview with hmi
occurred at his room in ''The Sorbonne," where he
received us cordially, and quite delighted us with the
ease, freedom, and earnestness with which he engaged
in conversation touching men and things in America,
and particularly the men who had translated or reviewed
his works. Having been acquainted with these men
personally, he was curiously interested in the answers
given to his questionings, as we were both interested
and amused with his critical comments and incidental
suggestions.

The visit here noted took place in 1838, at the begin-
ning of a ten-months' tour over the Continent, just
touching Asia opposite Constantinople, and returning
with the first passengers that ever came iq) the Danube,
— Austria having just now established steam-naviga-
tion. I went abroad again, thirty-seven years after-
ward (1875) without his or any companionship, entirely

APPENDICES. 353

alone, yet finding occasion often to write his name in
my journal in connection with the many reminders of my
early European travels, which began in France, and
ended in England. The last letter that I wrote him
in that connection pertained to London and the library
of the British Museum, where occurred an incident
that interested us, illustrating the perfectness attained
in the world-wide working of that grand establishment.
The Rev. Dr. Bevan of the Tabernacle Church was
just then (1876) engaged in writing a lecture on Roger
Williams. Having heard that I, as a successor in the
ministry of the first Baptist Church in Providence, had
delivered a discourse called forth by the second centen-
nial anniversary of that church, he sought from me the
loan of a copy. Having no copy of the volume with
me, I said to Dr. Bevan that I would look for one at
the British Museum. To my surprise, I found there
two copies — a first and second issue — (one without
a table of contents, the other with it), and also my
name entered upon the catalogue fifteen times, in sev-
eral instances connected with pamphlets of local interest
that I had forgotten. Referring to this incident after-
wards. Governor Arnold seemed to be somewhat amused
with the uniqueness of my position, — amazed to find
myself dependent upon the British Museum for a list of
the titles distinguishing my printed works ; and we
joined in the utterance of the sentiment that in some
things pertaining to a matured civilization England is
unmatched, and that yet a young American English-
speaking nationality may aid England in realizing

354 Z/i^i^" NOTES.

the supreme ideal that is yet to unify, relatively, the
Eugiish-speaking world. And now it seems almost
bewildering to say that it is nearly a half-century since,
in company with Senator Arnold, I visited the substan-
tial old church that had known only two pastors for
a hundred years; namely, Rev. John Gill, D.D., and
the Rev. Dr. John Rippon, both widely known on both
sides of the Atlantic, — the one by his commentaries,
chiefly valuable for their citations of Hebrew Rabbin-
ical literature, illustrating to the exegete usages of
speech ; the other by the improvement of worship
through a hymn collection, published in immense edi-
tions. At that time this historic church was relatively
declining, the family-life having drifted away from its
surroundings ; but the old homestead was soon crowded
after young Mr. Spurgeon had begun his ministry
there. Erelong, however, it was evolved into what is
now known as Spurgeon's Tabernacle, within whose
walls the men of every class, the highest and the low-
est, have been wont to gather and listen to a gospel
that implied a unity of humanity by its appealing to
rich and poor, peer and beggar, young and old alike,
It is a mighty centre of influence, holding its own in
the heart of Christendom.

Thirty-eight years from the time above noted, I
visited (1875-76) the scene of his nearly finished life-
work, happily arriving there just before the opening of
the week set for the assembling of his young preach-
ers— the graduates of his college from all parts of
Great Britain — to collate facts, compare notes, discuss

A PPENDICES. 355

the rising questions, sum up and report the doings of
the 3'ear. Toward the close of the programme, Mr.
Spuroeon called upon me to address his students and
3'ouug preachers. I accepted the invitation. It was
to me, indeed, a great cheer to look upon that body of
young men before me, joyous with overtlowing life,
breaking forth irrepressibly into responsive acclamation.
At the close Mr. Spurgeon put in a little commenda-
tory epilogue, infonning them at the start that in a
Western- American State, old Kentucky, it was among
the usages of commendatory talk to speak of a man
who had been identified with a cause, political or other-
wise, that had needed and received bold and persistent
defence year after year, as "The Old Hoss ; " and then
expressed his pleasure in having brought before them
one whom he had recognized in times past as "The
Old Hoss" of the Baptist cause on the other side of
the Atlantic, east and west ; proceeding at the same
time to quote Job xxxix. 21, and enlarge on the image
of the war-horse in nis own peculiar way. Of course
" Mr. Spurgeon's boys " were quickly sensitive to any
poetic turn like this; and the reverberations of their
response seemed to make even the walls vocal, and to
recruit the very air electrically. Clearly, all had a
good time ; yet cherished memories inspired the wish
that the companion of my former visit to London could
have been there to enjoy the occasion sympathetically,
and to have given its record place in the diary that he
was wont to keep with such faithful persistency.

I]N^DEX.

Abbe, Mr., 289.

Adams, Charles F., 19.

Adams, John Quincy, ex-Presi-
dent, 19, 1G2, 1G3, 164.

Adams, Eev. Nehemiali, 345.

Aikiu, Rev. Dr., 102, 133.

Albany, N.Y., 262, 269.

Alexander, Rev. Dr. Archibald,
117.

Allaire, Alexander, 6.

American tariff, 97.

Anderson, Martin B., 303.

Andover Conference, 342-344.

Anthon, Professor Charles,
LL.D., 89.

Arnold, Hon. Samuel G., 215,
352, 353, 354, 355.

Arnold, Gen., 75.

Baldwin, Thomas, Rev.

Dr., 201, 206.
Bancroft, George, 200, 201, 320.
Baptist Church, Utica, 129.
Barbour, John N., 349.
Barnes, Daniel H., LL. D., 58, 59.
Bartow, Bernabue, 70.
Bartow, Rev. Theodosius, 2.
Battin, Joseph, 250.
Bayley, Anne, 22, 31.
Bayley, James Roosevelt, 29,

335-342.
Bayley, Mrs. Joseph, 91.
Bayley, Dr. Richard, 28.

Bayley, Capt. William, 2, 22.
Beebe, Hon. Alexander M.,

129, 130.
Beecher, Rev. Dr. Lyman, 120,

140, 141, 142, 143, 153, 249.
Bennett, Cephas, 131.
Bevan, Rev. Dr., 353.
Beslie, Mary, 12, 13, 14.
Beslie, Dr. Oliver, 12.
Beth una, Rev. George W., DD.,

134.
Bishop, Nathan, 303.
Boleyn, Queen Anne, 96.
Bolles, Lucius, D.D., 125.
Bolton, Mr., 9.
Boston, 15, 19, 197.
Breda, Holland, 9, 11.
Bridgman, Rev. DeWitt C, 290.
Bright, Edward, jun., 129, 130,

131.
British Museum, 353.
Brougham, Lord, 156.
Brown, Hon. Nicholas, 217, 218.
Brown, John Carter, 218.
Buchanan, President James,

280.
Burr, Col. Aaron, 65, 66, 67, 68,

72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86.

Caldwell, Rev. Dr., i85.

Carlyle, Mrs. Jane, 189.
Carlyle, Thomas, 80, 176, 201,
230.

357

35'

IXDEX

Carey, Rev. Dr., 02, 63, 124.
Carter & Hendee, 321.
Caswell, Alexis, 219.
Chadwick, Hou. David, M.P.,

300, 301.
Channing, Dr., 140, 102, 103, 182,

227, 311.
Charles II., 11, 199.
Chase, Professor Irah, 121, 123,

219.
Chase, Secretary S. P., 280.
Child memories, 3.
Choules, Rev. Jolin O., D.D,,

198, 214, 248, 331-334.
Clarke, Dr. James Freeman,

232, 233, 235, 329, 330.
Clay, Henry, 272.
Cleghorn, Rev. A., D.D., 133.
Clinton, DeWitt, 98.
Clinton, George W., 107.
Cobb, Nathaniel R., 121.
Codman, Rev. John, D.D., 139,

142.
Colby University, 211.
Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice,

210.
Coles, Dr. Abraham, 260.
Colgate, Miss Sarah, 279.
Columbia College, 99, 203.
Colver, Dr. Nathaniel, 231.
Cone, Rev. Dr. Spencer H., 116,

121.
Converse, James W., 248.
Corey, Rev. D. G., D.D., 135.
Cousin, Victor, 352.
Cox, Rev. Samuel Hanson,

D.D., 40.
Cromwell, Oliver, 9, 80, 201.
Cummings, Rev. Dr. E. E., 253.
Cunningham, Richard, 08, 09.
Cushman, Dr. Robert W., 231.
Custis, Mr., 152.

Dana, j b., 350.

Davies, John M., 251.

Davis, Rev. Henry, D.D., 102.

Dawson, George, 207.

De Lima, Isaac A., 00.

" Dial, The," 183, 184, 187.

Diell, John, 113.

Drowne, Henry Thayer, 351.

Durant, Clark, 282, 283.

D wight, Harrison G. O., 113.

Eddy, Rev. Dr. D. C, 200.

Edict of Nantes, 0.

Edwards, Jonathan, 72.

Elder, Rev. Joseph F., D.D., 290.

Elting, Rev. Dr. Wilhelmus,
91, 92, 93, 95.

Elton, Romeo, D.D., 202, 219,
352.

Emerson, Ralph ^\''aldo, 145,
140, 170, 173, 174, 170, 178, 179,
180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 180, 187,
188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 230,
234, 307, 308, 309, 310, 312, 315,
310.

Erie Canal, 98, 102.

Everett, Hon. Alexander H.,
149, 152.

Everett, Edward, 137, 157.

FANEUIL, Andrew, 16.
Faneuil, Benjamin, 17.
FaneuilHall, 15, 18,19.
Faneuil, Peter, 17, 20.
Fawcett, Mrs., 301.
First exiles from France, 5, 6.
Fish, Rev. Henry Clay, 255, 250,

258.
Fisk, Harvey, 113.
Fletcher, Hon. Richard, 225.
Ford, Mr., publisher of

" Youth's Companion," 24G.

INDEX.

359

Foster, John, 214, 215.

Fourier, Charles, 183.

Fox, Caroline, 188.

Francis, ex-Gov., 218.

French Church, 2.

Fuller, Andrew. 120.

Fuller, ]SIargaret, 183, 184, 221,

312, 314.
Fulton, Rev. Dr. Justin D.,

154, 267.

GAMMELL, Professor ' Wil-

ham, LLD.,202, 219.
Gannett, Dr. Ezra S., 140, 182,

227, 229, 232.
Gano, Rev. Dr. Stephen, 125, 211.
Garfield, President, 108.
Garrison, William Lloyd, 151,

152, 153, 154, 158.
Georgetown College, Ky., 135,

13G.
Gifford, Rev. O. P., 206
Gilbert, Joshua, 49, 50.
Gilbert, Timothy, 154.
Gill, Rev. John, D.D., 354.
Goddard, Professor William G.,

214.
Gordon, Rev Dr. A. J., 243.
Gould, Dr. Augustus A.. 60.
Gould, Charles D., 224.
Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln, 238,

325.
Gray, Rev. Mr., 168.
Griffith, Thomas, 279.
Griscom, Professor, 58,
Grosevnor, Cyrus Pitt, 138.

Hague, Capt. James, 24, 34,

63, 68, 90.
Hamilton College, 99, 110
Harkness, Profe.ssor, 219.
TTarper, Hon. James, 303.

Harris, President, 89.

Hascall, Professor Daniel, 347,

348
Hawes, nee Catharine Bartow,

81, 82.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 323.
Hayne, Gen. Robert Y., 157.
Henderson, Alexander Bamp-

field, 21, 23.
Henderson, William, 24, 25.
Henderson's Island, 21, 25
Henry VIII., 97.
Hillard, George S., 159, 160.
Hinton, John Howard, 150.
Hobart, Rev. John Henry, 31,
Hodge, Rev. Dr. Charles, 118.
Holloway College, 306, 307.
Holloway, Professor Thomas,

300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 306.
Holmes, Dr. Oliver Wendell,

307, 308, 309, 311, 313, 314, 315,

316, 319, 320, 321.
Hopkins, President Mark, 109.
Howe, Rev. William, 167.
Humphrey, Hon. Friend, 262.
Hunter, Des Brosses, 27.
Hunter, Hon. John, 27.
Hunter's Island, 4.

Irving, Washington, 12, 56.
Ives, Mr^. Hope, 219.

Jackson, President Andrew,

148.
Jacobs, Rev. Bela, 349.
James of York, King, 7.
Jay, John, 12.
Jay, Hon. Peter A., 48.
Jefferson, President Thomas, 65.
Jewett, Professor :Milo P., 299.
Johnson, Rev. Franklin, D.D.,

351.

36o

INDEX.

Jutlson, Adoniram, 04, 321.
Judson, Mrs. Ann Hasseltine,
202.

KEELER, Mr., 42, 43.
Kelly, Robert, 51, 52, 53.
Kelly, William, 51.
Kingsley, diaries, 304.
Kinney, Hon. Thomas, 260.
Kinney, Thomas, jun., 260.
Kirk, Dr. Edward N., 230.
Kirkland, Mrs. Caroline M., 106.
Kirkland, ^Villiam, 103, 105.
Knowles, Rev. James D., 201,
202, 203, 206.

Lane Seminary, 142.
Leconte, Susanne, 28.
Leisler, Jacob, 6.
Lincoln, President Abraham,

281.
Lincoln & Edmands, 120, 326.
Lincoln, Rev. Heman, 207, 219,

238.
Long Lsland Sound, 4.
Loring, James, 143, 325.
Lovell, John, 18.
Lyell, Sir Charles, 59.

MACAULAY, Lord, 13.
Macwhinney, Rev. William,

295.
Mahan, Asa, 113.
Malcom, Rev. Dr. Howard, 151,

226, 238.
Marcy, Secretary William L.,

264, 271, 274.
Marshman, Rev. Dr., 62.
Mason, Francis, 124.
Mason, Rev. John Mitchell, 32.
McWhorter, Rev. Dr., 130.
Merrill, Hon. J. Warren, 350.

Milbank, Mr., 283, 287.
Mill, John Stuart, 112, 192.
Miller, Rev. Samuel, DD., 117,

120.
Mitchell, Samuel L., LL.D., 57,

58, 100.
Monteith, Professor John, 107.
Montgomery, Rev. Dr., 288.
Moore, Mr. (of London), 156.
Morris, Gouverneur, 12.
Mott, Dr. Valentine, 60.
Muller, Max, 191.

NEALE, Rev. Dr. Rollin H.,

206, 231.
Nevin, Tutor, 120.
Newark, 259.
"Newark Daily Advertiser,"

260.
New Rochelle, 1, 5, 6, 13, 27, 34.
Newton Theological Seminary,

122, 124.
New York, 13, 98.
Nott, Rev. Dr. Eliphalet, 270,

271.
Noyes, Dr., 107.

O'CONNELL, Daniel, 156.
Olmstead, Rev. Dr. John W.,

244, 247, 294.
Oucken, J. G., 345, 346.

Parker, Theodore, 227, 239,

240.
Parker, Rev. Dr., 185.
Parkerism, 226.
Parton, James, 65, 85, 86.
Pattison, Rev. Robert Everett,

D.D., 211.
Patton, Rev. Dr. A. S., D.D.,

135, 307, 314.
Pelham, 1, 4, 5, 13, 27, 28, 34, 37.

INDEX.

361

Pell, Rev. John, 8, 9, 10.

Pell, Lord John, 1, 7, 10, 11.

Pell, Sarah, 2.

Pell, Thomas, 1, 7, 13.

Perrine, Rev. Dr., 40.

Phillips, Wendell, 158.

Pierce, ex-President Franklin,

.323.
Pitman, Judge, 162.
Plymouth, 197.
Pond, Moses, 144.
Post, Mrs. Dr. Wright, 30.
Pressense, Rev. Dr., 186.
Prevost, Theodosia, 83.

RATHBONE, Gen. John F.,
265.

Raymond, Rev. John H., LL.D.,
302.

"Register, The Christian," 319.

"Review, The Christian," 203.

Rhode Island Historical Socie-
ty, 351, 352.

Rice, Rev. Luther, 64.

Richards, Abraham, 42.

Ripley, Professor Henry J.,
121.^

Rippon, Rev. Dr. John, 354.

Robinson, Dr. Edward, 109.

Rogers, Mrs. Dr. Alexander
W., 34.

Roosevelt, Elbert, 23.

Roscoe, William, barker and
author, 53.

Salem, i^.Vi \ \> \> \^;

Schuyler, PhlliV, 12. ^ "' ' '-
Scott, Sir Walter, ff/.^^ y. /^
Sears, Rev. Barn=:is; r).T>/, Wh\
Seton, Eliza Aiin Bdyley,' 'J8. '
Seton, William, 30.

Seymour, Rev. Dr., 168.
Sharp, Mrs. Ann Cauld well, 298.
Sharp, Dr. Daniel, 231, 250, 292,

293, 297.
Sheldon, Smith, .303.
Shipley, Simon G., 168.
Simpson, Hon. John K., 148.
Smith, Charles C, 16.
Smith, Dr. J. V. C, 152.
Smith, Rev. Dr. S. F., 293.
Snow, Dr. (author), 143.
Snow, Prince, 143.
Sj)rague, Rev. Dr. William B.,

268.
Spring, Rev. Dr., 68.
Spurgeon, Rev. C. H., ,354, .355.
Stanley, Dean, 109, 303, 304, 309.
Sterne, 79.
Stillman, Rev. Samuel, D.D.,

1.37, 138, 139, 143.
Stockbridge, Rev. Dr., 293.
Stone, Col. William L., 98.
Story, Judge, 162, 199, 200, 311,

320.
Stow, Rev. Baron, 203, 204, 205,

231, 242.
Stowe, Phineas, 169.
Strong, Professor Theodore,

LL.D., 106.
Stuart, Professor, 120.
Sullivan, Deacon John, 143.
Sumner, Hon. Charles, 158, 159,

160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165.

Taylor, Father, i69.

Thompaon, Hon. George, 154,

155, 15o.
Thoreau, Henry D., 187.
Tickiior & Fields, 320.
Ticknor, Mr , 320, .321, 322.
Iriuity Church, New Rochelle,

2.

36:

INDEX.

Trinity College, Cambridge'

England, 8.
Tuckermau, Rev. Dr. Joseph,

1G8.

UPHAM, Rev. Dr. Charles W.,

198, l!)i>, 319.
Urann, Deacon, 144.

Van BUREN, President Mar-
tin, 130,264,272.

Vanderpool, Jacob, 279.

Vassar College, 52, 298, 299, 300,
303, 305.

Vassar, Matthew, G3, 299.

Vinton, Dr. Alexander H., 231,
239.

Voltaire, 78, 79.

Wade, Jonathan, 348.
Walsh, John, 45, 91.
Ward, Rev. Dr., 62.
Wardlaw, Dr., 128.
Ware, Rev. Henry, jun., 170, 171.
Washington, Judge, 152.
Waterman, Rev. Dr., 168.
Wayland, President Francis,

127, 128, 138, 144, 200, 213, 214

218, 223, 324.

Webster, Daniel, 5, 105, 157, 158,

1(35, 246.
Welch, Rev. Dr. Bartholomew

T., 132, 262, 263, 265, 266, 268,

271.
Weston, Rev. Dr., 283, 292.
Wheaton, Eber, 44.
William? College, 109.
Williams, Rev. John, 48, 61, 62,

64, 116.
Williams, Hon. John M. S., 327-

329, 349.
Williams, Roger, 34, 209, 210,

198, 199, 200, 201, 222, 310, 31<),

353.
Williams, William R., 47, 48,

51, 54.
Wilson, Daniel M., 251, 253,

255.
Winchell, Rev. James M., 138.
Winslow, Father, 144.
Witherspoon, Dr., 79.
Withington, John, 63.
Woods, Professor Alva, 219.
Wyckoff, Peter, 41.
Wyckoff, Rev. Mr., 41, 42, 44.

ZABRISKIE, Simeon, 91.

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