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THE
Congregational Quarterly.
VOLUME XYI.-NEW SERIES, VOL. VI.
Editors and Proprietors :
ALONZO H. QUINT. CHRISTOPHER GUSHING.
; • w » » ■• • (
« ■ w • >t
«*«•!,
BOSTON: AMERICAN CONGREGATIONAL UNION,
30 CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE.
1874.
166334
Alfud Hudgs & SoK, Pbintxks, 34 School St^ Boston.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
rAOB
A Gospel Sonnet, by Ralph Enklne • 81
Amerioso Congregational AiaociAtion • 4M
American Congregational Union . 96,
854, 004, OM AndoTer Catalogue, namea starred on
sineel870 88
An Benmenlcal Conndl of the Congregi^ tlooal Churches, by Rev. A. Hastings
Boss ....... 281
BlOQRAPBICAL SKETCHES:
Bumhani, Samuel (with portrait), by Rev. A. H Quint, D. D. . . . 1
Grifflth, Walter r^cott (with portrait), by Rev. H. H. McFarland . . . S16
Hitchcock, t^amuel Austin (with por- trait), by Rev. C. M. Hyde . . 617
Storrw, Richard Salter (with portrait), by Rev. I. N, Tarbox, d,i>. . .866
Books Noticed : Act ss the Desert, Rev. B. M. Oami>.
bell, D. D 86
Aldlne 87
Alhambra and the Kremlin, S.I. Prime, 844 Ancient City, Fustel de Coulanges . 843 Antonlna, by WllMe ColUns . . 684 Arena and the Throne, Rev. L. T.
Townscnd, d. D 86
Argument of the Book of Job Un- folded, Rev. W. H. Oreen, d. d. • 831 Armadale, by Wllkle CoUlns . . 684 AutobiogrHphy of Thomas Outhrie,
Rev. D. K. Guthrie .... 841
Better Ijind . . . . . . 846
Bonrdaloue and Louis XIV, by L. L.
F. Bunffener 634
Child's Christmas Sheaf ... 847 Christian Trumpet, compiled by Pelle-
grino 832
Commentary on Matthew, Alexander . 79 " " " Lange . 78
" " " Owen . 79
Commentary on the Minor Prophets,
Lange 830
Commentary on the Proverbs, Miller . 77 Commentary on the Revelation of John,
Lange 621
Comnion«Scnse in Religion, J. Free- man Clarke 826
Comparative Hi«tory of Religions, by
James C. Moffut, D. D. . . 622
Conquest of Mexico, by Wm. Presoott, 629 ** " Peru " •' 629
Bamcst Words and True Success in
Life, Rvv. Kay Palmer, d. d. . .881 Bdncatlon Abroad and Other Papers,
Birdsey Grant Northrop, IX. d. . 486 Bvangelical Alliance . . . .621 Bxpository Thoughts on the Gosptsl of
St. John, Rev. J. C. Hylt*, b. A. .880 Fslthfhl Ministry, edited by Rev. Geo.
B. Baoon, d. d •
rAoa Fast Life on the Modem Highway, by
Jos«ph Taylor 636
Fetich In Theology, by John Miller . 610 First St<n>s in General History, by Ar- thur Gilman 630
Hard Problem 846
Hints and Helps in Pastoral Theology,
Rev. Wm. B. Plummer, d. d., ix. d. 820 History of Greece, Prof. Dr. Ernst
Curtlus* 840
History of Philosophy fix>m Thales to
the Present Time . .470
History of the Rise and Progress of
the Slave Power in America, Henry
Wilson, Vol. I 888
Holiday Pictures 847
Holly Books 847
Huguenots of France, by Samuel
Smiles 620
Hymns and Songs of Praise fbr Public
and Social Worship ... - 684 Land of Moab, H. B. Tristram . . 846 Liberal Education of Women, edited
by jHme* Orton, a. m. . . .87 Life of Charles Sumner, Jeremiah
Chaplin, and J. D. Chaplin . . 486 Literary and Social Judgments, W. R.
Greff 846
LiUleDot 847
Little Margery 847
Memoirs of Samuel Joseph May . • 83 Memorial Pulpit, Rev. Charles S. Rob- inson 80
Mouth of Gold. Rev. Edwin Johnson . 86 My MlACclinuies, by Wllkie Collins . 684 My Pet's Picture Book .... 847 Myths and Heroes, edited by Rev. S.
F. Smith, D. D 846
New Terms for Old Truths, Rev.
Thomas K. Beecher .... 76 No Name, by Wllkie Collins . . 684 Norwich Memorial, Rev.Maloolm McG.
Dana 81
Notes on the Epistle to the Hebrews,
Rev. Albert Barnes .... 881 Period of the Reformation, by Ludwig
Hiiusser 622
Personal Recollections of Mrs. Somer-
viUe 630
Pet, or Pastimes and Penalties, by Rev.
H.R HnwelA 634
Phlneas Finn, by Anthony Trollope . 034
Points of History 333
Proplietlc Voices oonoeming America,
by Charles Sumner . • • . 633
Robbie's Light 847
Seven Historic Ages, by Arthur Gil-
man 620
Sex in Education, Edward H. Clarke,
M. D 483
She Spake of Him, Mrs. Grattan
Gulness 342
Soul's Cry and the Lord's Answer . 846
IV
Contents.
rAOv I Bpenker's Oommantaiy . • • . 880 ; Suiuhine for Ralii v Duyt . • . 847 , Bapi'rhugian Origm of the Bible, Hen- {
rv Sogers 478
Tribune Extras • . . • . 635 .
Week's Holiday 840
Wilson's Kindling Depot . . .847: Women of the Arabs, Rov. Henry H.
Jessup, D. D 80 ;
Work of the Holy Spirit ... 847
Books received . 89,866,486,885
Brooklyn Council of 1874, by Rev. H. H.
McFarlaiid 446 ,
Burnhoin, Samuel 490 ,
Congregational History, Dr. Wadding- ton's 420
Congregational Ministers, List of . .183 Congregational Missionaries . . .178
CONOREQATIONAL XECROLOOT :
Bingham, Mrs. Naomi Emma (Morse) 71 Brigham, Rev. Willard . . . .470 Boies, Mrs. Husan (Lamson) . . 612 Cross, Mn». Sophia (Murdoek) . . 317 Cooper, Rev. JuSHpli Calvin • . . 815 Currier, Edward llallam • t • 471
Gore, Rev. Darius 60
Gould. Rev. David HiU . . . .67 Hale, Doa. Mosoe Little . . .613 Holton, Elev. I«aac Farwcll . . . 478 Pardons, Mrs. M.iry Elisabeth (Dud-
ley) 614
Pierce, Rev. John Walter . . .476 Porter, Rev. Charlf^ SommerviUe . 616 Russell, Mrs. Media (Stimson) . . 818 Tolman, Rev. Bumuol Howe ... 73 Tupper, Rev. Martyn .... 64 Windsor. Mrs. Mary Anne (HiU) . 820 Wood, Dca. Julius . . . ,821 Woodhull, Rev. tiichard ... 828
Churches and Pastors by States . . 07 Congregational Statistics . . . .214 Congregational Theological Seminaries
in 1878-74. by Rev. A. H. Oulnt, D. u., 804 Dcaconens in Congn'gatlonsI Churches,
TheOmceof 10
Dr. Waddington's Conn^gational His- tory, by Rev. Henry M. Dexter, d. d. . 420 Ecumenical Council of Congregational Churches 291
PAOS
Editors' Table . . . 01,351,400,630 First " t^u»nuehannah Association," by
Rev. D. Williams Patterson ... 285
Gospel Sonnet 31
Griffith, Wftltor Scott .... 215 Historical lU'lation of Xcw England to
the English Commouwealih, by J. Win*
gate Thornton, £«q. . . 22S, 332, 530 Hitchcock, Samut 1 Austin . . . 517 Hymns and Hymn Singing, by Will C.
Wood 598
Index of Names 645
Isaac Watts and his Hymns, by Helen F.
Clarke 408
List of Licentiates Reported . . .206 Litcrarv Review . . 76. 826, 478, 619 Mav a Woman Speak in a Promliicuous
Religious Assembly ? by Rev. Uarmon
Loomis 261
May Woman Speak in Meeting? by Miss
AugUDta Moore 279
I^amert on the Andover Catalogue, starred
since 1870 28
National and State Organizations of
Churches 208
National Benevolent Sneictlcs . . . 212 Office of Deacuue»ri in Congregational
Churches, by Kev. Joseph Anderson . 10 OurChurches In the United States Census
of 1870, hy liev. A. U. Quint, D. D. . 49 Portland Churches, by Rev. Edward Pay- son Thwing 259
Qdarterlt Record: Churches forrae<l . • 03, 352, 591, 640 Ministers deceuncd . 95, 353, 593, 643 Ministers diHmI«Hcd . 91, 3-S3, 502, 642 Ministers installed . . 04. 352, 501, 641 MInliiters married . . 95, SrwH, 598, 642 Minist-rs ordained . . 03, 352, 591, 640 Ministers received fh>m other denomi>
nations 94
Ministers' wives deceased, 95, 853, ft^ 643
Relation of Relidous to Scientific Thought,
by Rev. CharlcA Caveruo, Amboy, 111., 82 Speaking or Babbling .... 576 Storrs. Richard Salter .... 855 Summaries of Stati^tics . . . .175 " SuHQuehannah Association,'* The First, 287 Woman's Sphere 27
I
'V-^
• I • .
'. \ '. I
lAM'A .
:.•■'."■■' M. oHv. uf rli:' '-.iiior.
V.:: ' Mad been Ih.i! ;j^ Si 'I* '-'.i, ■•; ' ..•. ■■.■:; in his yvitfi. ib-^ S:.v. i ■■ .■' . ' i'-.U. In bis ^nv:i ,:iri;;!: '-■:
>i uil'S, KcM!>M::.i • .i''^ ':. . ' .1. 1..
I 'ft ■ »,.• *. I. t •
-^^^iZ^
THE
Congregational Quarterly.
Whole No. LXI. JANUARY, 1874. Vol. XVI, No. i.
7 j' : "
«
SAMUEL BURNHAM.
Samuel Burnham, one of the editors of this Quarterly^ died at his residence in Cambridge, Mass., on Sunday, June 22, 1873.
He was born in Rindge, N. H., Feb. 21, 1833, — bom in the parsonage which had been that of Seth Payson, and the home of Edward Payson in his youth. The small village at Rindge is set upon a hill. In his own language on one occasion, " Be- yond the line of hills, Kearsarge rises in silent majesty against the still blue sky. Along the east, the range of the New Ipswich hills. Far off to the south, Wachusett rears high its rounded top ; and in the dim west, like clouds, the long line of the Green Mountains skirts the horizon." Between the high village and these distant lines, the parsonage looked upon forests, cultivated fields, streams, lakes, and villages. In such a house and amidst such scenery was he born and nurtured.
His father was Amos Wood Burnham, minister at that place from his youth to his old age ; who graduated, in 18 15, at Dart- mouth College (which gave him the doctorate in 1858), and at Andover in 18 18. He was ordained pastor at Rindge, Nov. 14, 1 82 1, and remained such till his retirement in 1867. Dr. Burnham was a man of eminent purity of character, an accu- rate and well-informed scholar, an earnest, logical, and simple preacher, an excellent adviser, and a genial Christian. He
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by Chimstophbr Cushing, for the Pro- prietors, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
SECOND SERIES. — VOL. VI. Na I. I
a.<*g^JtV\'-''^'-* ■' '* 7--,- , "••'-^■■■•■^
\ *
2 Samuel Burnhatn. [J^ui.
enjoyed the fullest confidence of his brethren till he died, full of years, April 9, 1871.' His wife was Tirzah Kimball, a woman in rare sympathy with her husband, and who still sur- vives.
The influence of such scenery was added to the influence of such a Christian, scholarly, and sunny household. There were daughters, but Samuel Burnham was the only son.
Samuel Burnham was fitted for college at New Ipswich and Francestown, N. H. He entered Williams College in 1851. Said his classmate. Prof. William R. Dimmock, ll. d., in an address before the Sigma Phiy —
I recollect so well, that, on the morning before freshman year began, he was brought by an acquaintance to my room ; and our friendship was then commenced, and has continued uninterruptedly all these years. For two years he was with us, strong in body, earnest in his thought, faithful to all duty, affectionate to his friends, bright and playful in spirit, — the wit of our Society and our class. He was the same then that he was when I last saw him in my study, less than a month ago, the true soul, that from the beginning of college life needed no change, only growtli ; and how he grew!
At the end of sophomore year, a painful and wasting and depressing disease came on. ... In junior year he came back to us, but only to ar- range for a final departure from college, in search of strength in a more genial clime. He was so weak that he walked with difficulty; but his spirits were as bright as ever, and his wit as joyous and free.
Although thus obliged to leave college, but a few years elapsed before his acquirements were so recognized that he was enrolled with his class, that of 1855, as a graduate of Wil- liams College.
The disease which commenced in college afflicted him
1 Dr. Burnham's father was Deacon Samuel Burnham, — "a man," said Dr. Harris, of Dunbarton, " of sound judgment and tenacious memory, . . . kind to the poor, and a friend to mankind, . . . one of the main pillars of the church." Deacon Bumham*s wife, says Rev. Profl Noyes, " was a woman of uncommon ex- cellence. Her spirit seemed imbued with a most ardent love of God, of souls, and of heavenly things." They had thirteen children, who were brought up " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Of the seven sons, four had a collegi- ate education, of whom two became ministers, viz. Rev. Dr. Abraham Burnham, for- ty-two years pastor at Pembroke, N. II., who died in 1852, and Rev. Dr. Amos W. Burnham. Eighteen of the descendants of Deacon Samuel Burnham were graduates of college, and seven became ministers. The family was one of the New-England Christian and refined families.
1 874-] Samuel Bumham. 3
through many years of his life. It was not, indeed, until about 1868. that he could be considered a man of healthful body. All these years he was contending against disease, and doing his work with not infrequent entire pauses from prostration. When, early in this struggle, the physicians doubted of his recovery, and could hold out no better hopes than that he would be an invalid for life, he wrote, " If I get well, to Grod will be all the praise ; if not, I hope and pray that I may be prepared to submit cheerfully to anything he may have in store for me." What was in store was a life of patient endurance ; and God prepared him for it by a sunny disposition, an indomitable cheerfulness, a steady persistence, and the grace of his love. " I repeat a belief," says Prof Dimmock, " that it was nothing but his power of will, and his heroic cheerfulness and bright- ness of spirit, kept him alive during years of exhausting dis-
ease."
It was in college also that his open religious life began. He never said much of his feelings. His experience was always even, cheerful, faithful. On religious subjects he would speak, when needful to speak, with the same naturalness with which he would speak of any other subject. Not apt to make pro- fessions or assertions, he enjoyed a good Christian hope, and lived it in his life.
After leaving college, he went to the South, in search of health. He regained it sufficiently to enable him to become for a while a teacher in Rindge, and then to take charge of the High School in Amherst, N. H. This he soon relinquished, and came to Boston, in 1857, where he soon engaged in liter- ary occupations. It was immediately on his coming to Boston that he and the writer were brought into the same family, and at once contracted a friendship, which grew only more warm, more intimate, and more confiding, until the fatal separation.
Mr. Burnham was peculiarly qualified for literary pursuits. He had had only the experience of writing, while in college, for the Williams Quarterly ^ and in some correspondence with newspapers while he was in the South. But he was thor- oughly read in a wide range of the best authors, continuing the practice through his life. He had a wonderfully ready per- ception, broad grasp, and good judgment ; was quick, versatile,
and witti- : iiai a rrrasrf tssi* -wti ibi±T ti the deepest charan-sr : 2111 inii l c:i — :i:^if if "iL^riars, rrc ous, accurate:, arid riii. 'A'i:! rbsst riiilifirsiii^ii b* V->- an industry wiiicb de£ef fiMsstL zzif b:r* iZ th* irDri ^^'^ d:»
be put upon him. As he dt^*ii:c»2f-. be iispHij*! gifts of imagirian:'!-. JLiif ertz. :t p:erc pi-vsr. r-rt p
excelled in iLe totaZ}' irierELi sir. :*: a rrrir. cj*2r azii sica times rerv keen, bi:t alwivj r:crir!: — z
was jjerfecdy plai:: tc- ris en. =±jf_ Sz:. z: :c;re ^*^j*-* in some literarv Trork. be kecc :c- zntil :t recszze bis sensed ba, and one in '■'hicb be was tbDri'-^zi-j ^J? J-
Perbaps tbe rrst wi/ri z: «b:ii. be asi-s-tsd was ibe rzibiGr one of tbe prepaTAti:'!^ fr:ci tbe 2.~tb:'r s pirer?^ :•:* 2. tiCiiz::- nous History cf Bjst E:zt:-^.. b}" *3ez> Wzl H. 5'.znr.er. Ii required, how^nrtz. lab: r:: us izTestip^iz ir^to ilissacbusctts historj', and peTb2p5 led bin. liter in lift, t:; s^z-zzt exercise of his ability in suci: direr.iir^ -a-iirh resulted b: tstIius zaoers before the N. EL Histtric. Ge-esl-.'giDal S:«rier;.\ cf vzLzz he becanie a member. The E?.ft Bc-stm bister.- fr.si'y iwei as much of its rH'^c, in a literarv z*:iut :f view, as it z»j&5essei to the application of his taste wher. he was aZcwec lo exercise it Among other works cf this nature, he prepared tbe sketches of Gov. Andrew and Charles Sumner, tbr Jfsssj- ckusetis in ilu War, and various articles fcT Applet en's Cj- clopizdia. Among the latest of his labors was tbe supervis- ion, under the ^luHi'jt, of the publication of Sumner's Speeches, the author confiding to him unusual trust and respect. His review of this work in the Quarterly, 1873, shows his ccm- prehensive knowledge and ability.
He was also engaged, when he died, upon a history of the " Old South Churclv Boston," for the church. This was, to him, a most congenial work. His sympathy with the old New- England principles and religion found full exercise. He made tbe most thorough investigation into all records and books which could add even a single item to the narrative. He had f u!>:>iauitially completed it to the time of the Revolution, and left much material for the remainder.
But his chief literary work was in connection with period-
1 874-] Samuel Burmkam, 5
•
kalsL It is impossible to estimate accurately the amomit of his work. He became a welcome writer to the Boston Advertiser^ and a contributor to the Boston youmal^ to the Springfield Republican, and, in its eariy history, to the Ckristian Union, and contributed occasional articles to the Riverside, and other periodicals As his powers developed by exercise, he became more and more in request, and found his profession not only a pleasant, but a lucrative one. It is unfortunate now that his modest name rarely appeared ; he was content to leave his ideas to the worid, in the mass of bought to which no names are given.
Of his more special services in this direction, he was a year and a half connected, editorially, with the Congregationalist, in the temporary withdrawal of the chief editor. He wrote volumi- nously, week after week, to the great advantage of that paper.
He was the Boston correspondent of the Publishers* Weekly for some years, until his death, — a work which his knowledge of current literature made easy.
^'It is with the deepest sorrow," said the Weekly, ^that we write the annoancement of the death of a co-worker, not less loved by all who knew him as a man, than honored by the thousands who saw him only through his work as writer and critic . . . Well informed and skilled for his versatile work, which was as sound and appreciative as it was keen and witty, conscientious and sincere, he was a true friend of man, and be- loved of God. His loss leaves a void in many hearts and in the world^s work di£cult to be filled ; for it is rarely that one dies whose modest name is pregnant with such rich and beautiful associations as is that of Samuel Bumham."
In 1870, when the editor of Oliver Optics Magazine pre- pared to go to Europe, Mr. Bumham was employed to take his place during the absence. Says the editor : —
^ He entered upon his work in January, and by his genial and pleasant style won the regards of our readers. He retained his position as asso- ciate editor till severe illness compelled him to withdraw from his labors. He so £ar recovered as to be able to resume them for a brief period ; but the poem in the July number is his only contribution during the last year.
. . . We have known him for many years ; and we shall long miss him from his accustomed places. He was a Christian gentleman in the highest and truest sense ; and he could better afford to go hence than we could to have him.''
6 Samuel Bumham, LJan.
After leaving the Congregationalist^ he was engaged by the Watchman and Reflector as its literary editor. He con- tinued in this position till his death. He contributed not a few articles, and especially originated and continued the column of "Literary Items," whose bright and sparkling lines were copied all over the country. Here, in single sentences, he could dash off a keen and comprehensive criticism or facti which only a subtle appreciation could have originated. Said the Watchman: —
'* The weakness of his physical frame was in marked contrast with the brilliancy of his mind, which was in the full meridian of its power. . . . He had a facile and versatile pen, and wrote without effort, and yet never carelessly. His mind was well stored with the fruit of a broad reading, generous culture, and keen observation. . . . The grave has closed upon one of the most cultured and able of writers, one of the noblest of Christians."
Harper's Weekly contained a notice, from which we take the following : —
'Mn the death of Mr. Samuel Burnham, the Boston newspaper press have sustained a severe loss. . . . Mr. Burnham was a careful and able literary worker, and a most cultivated and genial gentleman. The religious press of Boston will especially miss his sprightly contributions. The story which we copy on another page this week, from the columns of the Watchman and Reflector^ entitled * A Ten-Cent Story of a Bazar,' is probably the latest production of this genial and accomplished writer."
It is no violation of confidence, if we add extracts from a letter from Joseph W. Harper, of the " Harper Brothers," —
" I feel keen personal grief at his death ; for I had promised myself the pleasure of a long, strong friendship : and the partly professional acquaint- ance which I had had with him for years had ripened into the beginning of such friendship last summer at the Vineyard. 1 was looking forward to the renewal of our walks and talks at the same place in August next, and to the frank, careless exchange of theories and opinions on many subjects which interested us both. I enjoyed his playful wit, his genial criticisms of books and papers and magazines, and his keen perception of men and afEstirs ; and I respected him for his noble qualities of frankness, truth, and manliness, — above all, for his tender reverence for the memory of his father, and for his grateful affection for his wife. His heart was fresh and good."
With the beginning of our volume for 1869, Mr. Burnham became one of the editors and proprietors of this Quarterly Notwithstanding all his other work, he became at once a most
i874-] Samuel Bumham. j
valuable laborer. He had a pride in its success. Although his name rarely appeared in connection with any article, there was no number which did not contain some products of his fertile mind. He had at this time regained his health ; and he brought to the Quarterly the strength of his new vigor and the fruits of years of experience. In the apportionment of work, the responsibility for the Literary Review fell largely to him. The increased space given to this department, and the accuracy and vigor of the criticisms, as well as treatment of subjects, were in a large measure due to his accession. These pages attracted the attention of thinkers, and have been ap- provingly and extensively noticed by the newspaper press. " He abhorred sham and falsehood," it has been truthfully said by the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, " which he readily detected ; and, although his trenchant pen was keen in its criticism, it was always pointed with justice and truth." It might also be added, that his criticisms were always honest. He never praised what was not deserving of praise ; and he never said a sharp thing merely because it was cutting.
With all these labors, he found time to give poems at the Commencements of some colleges. Three recall themselves to recollection, — at Williams, Madison, and Burlington, in which his playful humor was mingled with a genuine poetic fancy, which were well received.
Mr. Bumham's renewed health gave promise of long success. He rejoiced in it He was pronounced "well." But, after about three years, he was again stricken down. In loving at- tendance upon his father, who died of erysipelas, he took that disease. He did not even have the sad privilege of witnessing his father's departure. For weeks he lay prostrate ; and, when he returned to active duty, it was with a worn and wasted frame. But his indomitable courage sustained him. It was a marvel how the resolute will conquered the weakness of his body. He set himself to work, and persevered to the last He was as cheerful and uncomplaining as ever, — busy among men, and seen at his accustomed places. The final attack was but of short duration ; and in his latest days, just before he died, from his bed he gave directions as to his work for our pages.
8 Samuel Bumliam, [J^^-
His readiness of reply will long be remembered. It was a characteristic of his childhood. When he was a boy of seven years, on an errand one afternoon, he was once passing the shop of a notedly inquisitive newsmonger. " Samuel," the man hailed him, " where are you going } " — " Going past your shop," was the laconic reply. In the old parsonage at Rindge, it was the custom at morning prayers for each member of the family to repeat from memory a verse of Scripture. One sharp, piercing morning, the boy, keeping close to the fire, gave his, "Who can stand against his cold t " His quickness, his ready wit, was always genial. It is doubtful if, in all his life, he ever uttered a witticism which hurt the feelings of a single human being ; and it is certain, that, even from college he never said one which violated the most refined taste. It is much to say, but it is believed, that there is not a line in all his immense amount of writing which a friend would be sorry was written. Against the temptations to which all persons of keen wit are exposed, his kindly heart and Christian principle pre- served him.
The writer has purposely quoted from others. The warm friendship of sixteen years might seem to color too strongly his estimate of his friend. But in these years, the writer, in the fullest intimacy, never heard a word of unkindness or in- justice regarding any being, or saw any act which had the slightest taint of selfishness. The last sight of each other was when the writer was prostrate with fever. Mr. Burnham came, and sat by the bedside for two hours. His heart was warm, his hand cordial ; but his face was pale, and his step weak. The gravest forebodings were warranted. In two weeks he was dead.
"God," he once said to a young man whose way seemed dark, — "God will point out the path he wishes you to take. God always makes the next step clear. We are apt to trouble ourselves about the future ; but we forget that one step at a time is all we have to take." This had been his experience. He had had to live by faith, and see one step at a time ; and he accepted this method of trust in God. When disappointments came, his expression was, " God wishes me to do something else." And he forthwith did it.
1 874-] Samuel Burftham, 9
The pastor, Rev. David O. Mears, whom he came to love warmly, truly said : —
^' Religion with him was natural. It was for common life. It put no clamps upon his nature, except as a guard from wrong-doing. No one ever heard him boast of superior goodness. He said but little of his daily experience ; yet they who knew him best, best read it."
He could be firm. An eminent man, whom men delighted to honor, once sent to him, appointing an interview on the Sabbath, to examine a book. An answer was at once re- turned, " You must excuse me. The Sabbath is a day sacred to me." He was regular in church, faithful in the Sabbath school.
He was for a time Superintendent of the Sabbath school.
Such was his taste for music, and proficiency in it, that he served the church for a considerable period as organist.
He had a remarkably happy home. He had married, Feb. 22, 1865, Martha N. Clarke, of Franklin. They lived in a modest, but tasteful house. Love for the beautiful adorned it with works of art. The walls of room after room were cased, and filled with the choicer works of writers. In history, poetry, the best fiction, and general literature, his library was rich ; while works illustrated by the best artists were favorites. No deeper mutual affection could exist than existed in that cultured home. It prolonged his useful life, and made him happy ; and friends enjoyed the hospitality of that sunny house.
When it was told him that he could not probably recover, he was startled, but with the same cheerfulness as ever added, "It is all right." When his life had almost gone, he looked up, and said in his full, rich tone one word : " Beau- tiful ! "
A service was held in the church where he had worshipped ; and then his body was taken to the old burying-ground at Rindge, and lies among the New Hampshire hills, where he was born, and which he always loved.
10 The Office of Deaconess [Jan.
THE OFFICE OF DEACONESS IN CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCHES.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
At the General Conference of the Congregational Churches of Connecti- cut in 1872, one of the topics discussed was, " Woman's Work in the Church.'' The paper with which the discussion was opened ^ contained the declaration, " In the office and work of the deaconess I heartily believe, and I fully expect that it will come to be recognized and used." A line of inquiry was thus suggested, along which the discussion might be followed up, with the hope of attaining definite and practical results ; and accord- ingly it was proposed by the writer of this, that a committee be appointed to report on " the office of deaconess, — whether it existed in the apostolic age ; whether it is expedient to give it a place in our churches ; and if so, with what special functions ? " A committee was chosen, consisting of the writer, together with the Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton, D. D., of Hartford, and the Hon. Roger Averill, of Danbury.'
The report of the committee was presented to the General Conference, at its meeting in Middletown, on the 6th of November, 1873. I^ recep- tion by the Conference was unexpectedly cordial ; for it was " approved, and ordered to be printed," almost without opposition ; and the appended resolutions were " adopted " by a nearly unanimous vote. This report is reproduced in the following pages, without alteration or omission. Various notes have been added, however, by the author, — most of them for the purpose of indicating the authorities upon which his statements rest. It is believed that the value of the paper will thus be enhanced in the estima- tion of students ; while its fitness for popular use is not thereby diminished.
The following list of books and articles relating to the subject of the Report will perhaps be interesting to the general reader, and useful to those who may desire to pursue this line of inquiry for themselves ; —
** De Diaconis et Diaconissis Veteris Ecclesis." By Caspar Ziegler. Wittenberg, 1678.
*♦ Deaconesses ; or, The Official Help of Women in Parochial Work and in Charitable Institutions." By the very Rev. J. S. Howson, d. d. London, 1862.
" The Female Diaconate in the Early Church " : Article in " Good Words," February, 1863, by John Malcolm Ludlow.
'* Woman's Work in the Church : Historical Notes on Deaconesses and Sisterhoods." By John Malcolm Ludlow. London, 1865.
1 Presented by the Rev. William R. Eastman, of Plantsville, and published with other Conference papers in the "Religious Herald," January 23, 1873.
3 See " Minutes of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the General Conference," pp. 20, 2z. The question of female representation in Conferences was also referred to the committee, but, for want of time, was not reported upon. The report presented was prepared exclusively by the chairman.
1 874-] I^^ Congregatiofial Churches. ii
Article " Diakonissa/' in Suicer's **iThesaurus Ecclesiasticus " ; " Dea- coness," in Herzog's " Encyclopaedia," in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," and in M'Clintock and Strong's " Cyclopaedia " ; " Widow," in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible."
** Christian Women as Workers in the Church of God." By Rev. J. B. Waterbury, d. d. Brooklyn, 1873.
**The Diaconate." Article in the " Bibliotheca Sacra," January, 1873, by Rev. G. Anderson. (Vol. XXX, pp. 29-62.)
Of works on General Church History and Church Government, in which the office of Deaconess is discussed, the following may be mentioned: Bingham's " Antiquities of the Christian Church " ; Rothe's " Anfdnge der Christlichen Kirche "; Neander's •* History," and " Planting and Train- ing "; SchaflPs ** History of the Apostolic Church"; Pressens^'s "Early Years of Christianity : Apostolic Era "; Punchard's " View of Congrega- tionalism "; Dexter's " Congregationalism."
The subject is also carefully considered in the various commentaries on the First Epistle to Timothy, — especially by De Wette, by Huther in Meyer's " Kommentar," by Wiesinger in Olhausen's " Biblical Com- mentary," by Alford, by^EUicott, and by Van Oosterzee and Washburn in Lange.
Joseph Anderson.
WtUtrburyy Cohm*
REPORT.
To the General Conference of tJu Congregational Churches of Connec- ticut:
There are two questions to be reported upon by your com- mittee, each by itself demanding careful consideration : First, whether the office of deaconess actually existed in the churches of the apostolic age ; and, secondly, whether it is expedient to give it a place in the churches of the present day. Our answer to the second question must depend to some extent upon our answer to the first ; not that we are to copy the primitive churches in a merely mechanical way, or with what may be called a Chinese fidelity to the pattern ; but, as Congregation- alists, we shall certainly be influenced by apostolic practice, unless we can convince ourselves that what the apostles estab- lished was for temporary use. If the office of deaconess had no existence in the days of Paul and Timothy, we shall hardly feel called upon to bring it into being in these days ; if, on the other hand, it was an office ordained by apostolic authority, it
12 TIu Office of Deaconess [Jan.
behooves us to consider whether we have not made a serious mistake in not retaining it in our ecclesiastical system.
Your committee, therefore, have before them, to begin with, a question in exegesis. We are to ascertain, if possible, the exact meaning and bearing of certain words and phrases in the epistles of Paul.
The word diakonos^ from which the name " deacon " is de- rived, occurs in the New Testament thirty times, — usually with the general meaning of " servant," " servitor," or " helper." In four instances, however, it appears to be employed in a tech- nical sense ; and, in three of these cases, it is associated with the title episkoposy that is, "overseer," in such a way as to show that it designates an officer of a church. The two offices seem to have existed side by side in the churches to which Paul ad- dressed his epistles, — each local church having, first, its band of " overseers " ^ (also called " elders "), and, secondly, its band of church-servants, who were termed, where the Greek lan- guage was spoken, diakonoi. The existence of the second office may not be as clearly established as that of the first ; but, upon the whole, although it has been seriously called in question of late, there seems to be no good reason for doubting it.^ One of the four instances in which the word occurs as an official title is at the beginning of the Epistle to the Philippians (i, i), where Paul addresses himself " to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons," The second and third instances are in the first Epistle to Timothy (iii, 8, 12), in a passage in which the apostle describes the moral qualifications, first, of the overseers, and then of the deacons ; and the fourth is in the Epistle to the Romans, at the beginning of the long list of apostolic salutations with which
1 In Acts XX, 2S, in the common version, episkopoi is translated " overseers '' ; in the other four instances in which the title occurs in the New Testament, it is trans- Uted "bishop."
^ In the *' Baptist Quarterly ** for January, 1869 (Vol. Ill, pp. 40-68), appeared an article by the Rev. J. C. Wightman, in which the attempt was made to prove that " eldership is the only office which has been created by divine enactment . . . Christ gave no deacons ; they are the invention of men. . . . The appointment of committees for special duties is scriptural ; while the appointment of deacons is unauthorized " (pp. 62, 63). The article in the " Bibliotheca Sacra " for January, 1873, referred to in our introductory note, is a successful reply to these posi- tions.
1 874-] I^ Congregational Churches. 13
the epistle closes (xvi, i), where Paul writes, " I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a deacon (diakonos) of the church in Cenchrea." These are the only passages in which the office is distinctly mentioned by name ; although it is supposed to be re- ferred to in two or three other places, particularly in the Book of the Acts (vi, 1-6), in the account of the ordination of " the seven," to " serve tables." ^
The first point to be noticed in respect to these passages in which the word occurs with a technical meaning, is that in one of them (Rom. xvi, i) — the only one in which the title is used in the singular number — it is applied to a woman ; and that in the only other one that throws any light upon the question before us (i Tim. iii, 8-13), it is apparently used in such a way as to include both sexes. In all the New Testament, there is no one person called a deacon except "our sister Phoebe " of Cenchrea. Now, it will not do to say, because the term is here applied to a woman, that it is used not in a tech- nical, but in a general sense, and that the best rendering is that of the common version, — " servant of the church which is at Cenchrea." For, however general the word may be which we select to represent the Greek, it takes on a special meaning almost in spite of us. There is that in Paul's method of des- ignating this Christian woman which gives her an official character in our eyes. Not only had she been a " helper of many," including the apostle himself, — she had ecclesiastical business that called her from Cenchrea to Rome, and was com- mended to the Roman church in her official capacity.^
The passage in the Epistle to Timothy — at least that part of it which bears upon the question before us — is so ambiguous and difficult that expositors are greatly divided in regard to its interpretation. The apostle, having described the good " over-
^ The original, in Acts vi, 2, is diakonein trapezais : but it is not safe to build an argument upon the use of this verb ; for, in the fourth verse, the term diakonia is used of the '* ministry of the word,*' and applied to the apostles. See Cremer's ** Biblico- Theological Lexicon," sub voce,
^ That Phoebe was a diakonos in the technical sense of the word is apparently the almost unanimous opinion of the commentators and church historians. See Olshausen, Alford, Lange, Cremer, Neander, Gieseler, Schafi^ Howson, Ludlow, Punchard, and Dexter. Conybeare, in the *' Life and Epistles of St Paul," and Plumptre, in Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible," express some doubt in the matter.
14 The Office of Deaconess TJ^^
seer," goes on to specify the qualifications of " deacons." After enumerating certain important characteristics, he adds abruptly, " Women, in like manner, must be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things." And then he resumes his course of thought, saying, " Let deacons be the husbands of one wife," etc. The occurrence of a sentence in regard to " women," in this list of the qualifications of deacons, seems very strange, even when we keep in view the inartistic style of the epistle as a whole ; but it becomes a real problem for the expositor, when he observes the ambiguity of the word translated " women," which in this particular place may mean, according to the different views of interpreters, either women in general, or wives (that is, the wives of the deacons, or, as some think, of the deacons and the overseers), or lastly, women-deacons, or deaconesses. That women in general are referred to seems highly improbable ; because such a reference would be utterly irrelevant and out of place. As Chrysostom said, long ago, " Why should he wish to throw in anything about women amidst these remarks } " Equally improbable is it that the apostle refers to the wives of the overseers and deacons together ; ^ for in the next sentence he returns to the deacons in such a way as to indicate that they are the one subject of his discourse throughout the para- graph. We must suppose, then, that he refers either to deacons' wives, or to women who held the office of deacon. There is something to be said in favor of each of these interpretations; and there are objections to both. The arguments on either side are chiefly grammatical, and are of a kind which cannot be easily weighed one against another. It appears, however, that the ancient commentators are unanimous in the belief, that women-deacons are here referred to ; and in this opinion the best modern expositors coincide with them. Those writers in whose hands exegesis assumes almost the character of an " exact science " adopt this view with very little hesitation.' In
1 This is the view held by Calvin, Estius, Beza, Wieseler, and SchafT.
' That the women here spoken of were deacons' wives is the view which finds expression in our common version, and in the revised translation of the American Bible Union. It was also the view of Luther, Bengel, and Rosenniiiller. The strongest recent authority in its favor is Huther, in Meyer's " Kommentar " ; who defends it " on the ground, that in one part of the deacon's office (care of sick and destitute) their wives might be fittingly associated with them" (Ellicott). The
1 874-] ^^ CongregattQttal Churches. 15
the judgment of your committee, the correct position is, that in this passage, as in that which relates to Phoebe of Cenchrea, the official title is used as applying to both sexes ; in other words, that the diaconate in the apostolic churches was not confined to men, but included women also. The apostle speaks throughout the passage of deacons in general ; but, in the sentence under consideration, he refers in particular to women who serve in this capacity, describing their qualifications as similar to those of men who hold the same office.
But, in any thorough discussion of the question, there is another passage of this same epistle which demands consider- ation : it is that in which Paul gives instruction to Timothy in regard to the support of church-widows (i Tim. v, 3-15). The course of thought in this passage is somewhat confused ; but Paul seems to have in view three distinct classes : first, those widows whom the church is not bound to support, either be- cause their conduct is discreditable, or because they have rel- atives who ought to aid them ; secondly, those who are " widows indeed," who are desolate and helpless, but devoted to the ser- vice of God ; and thirdly, a smaller class, embraced within this last, who are described as " put on the list," or enrolled. The conditions of enrolment in the case of a pious widow were, first, that she must be sixty years of age ; ^ secondly, that she must not have been twice married ; and thirdly, that she must have led a useful and charitable life. The question arises, What is the significance of this enrolment ? What is the " list " on which the names of these devout women are placed 1 Evi- dently, it is not simply the list of those whom the church is to support ; for such conditions as these would, in that case, have
interpretation which makes Paul here refer to deaconesses is supported by all the ancient commentators, as asserted in the text (on the authority of Alford), and amongst the moderns by Grotius, Mosheim, Michaelis, DeWette, W iesinger.Alford, Ellicotl, Wordsworth, Cremer, Noyes (apparently), in his revised New Testament, Ludlow, Dexter, and G. Anderson, in the " Bibliotheca Sacra."
^ It would not follow, even if we found in this passage a positive reference to deacon- esses, that none should be appointed to the office except those who are sixty years of age ; for this limitation has regard to widows supported by the church. Doubt- less there were deaconesses who were neither widows nor elderly persons. The Council of Chalcedon, in the year 451, enacted that the deaconess should not be " ordained before her fortieth year " ; but of course the churches of the present day need not be bound by any rule in the matter, save the rule of expediency.
i6 The Office of Deaconess [Jan.
no appropriateness. Is it to a list of female elders — a class of church-oflficers not elsewhere mentioned — that Paul refers ? Or is it to the list of the deacons ? Here, again, there is consid- erable diversity of opinion among commentators, — some of them holding that Paul speaks of some special band of widows, sus- tained at the expense of the church, and set apart for ecclesias- tical duties ; others insisting that he has in view the deacon- ship, which was open to suitable persons from all classes in life and of either sex, but to which church-widows were not re- ceived except on the conditions specified. The language here used is so ambiguous and vague that no positive argument can be drawn from it'
Your committee are free to acknowledge, that neither of these passages, considered by itself, seems conclusive in regard to the existence of a female diaconate in the apostolic age ; and yet, taken together, they create a strong impression, in fact a decided presumption, in favor of it We do not mean that deaconesses existed as a recognized body, bearing a distinct name, but that in the class that had charge of the temporali- ties of the church, and that were designated as church " ser- vants," both sexes were included. According to the apostolic conception of the relations of the sexes, the eldership consisted exclusively of men. This was the authoritative body in each church ; and Paul's rule, " I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man" (i Tim. ii, 12), was doubtless rigidly enforced. But there was no reason why the functions of the diacoftate should not be shared by women ; while there were some special considerations in favor of a participation of both sexes in the deacon's work. In the apostolic age, the condi- tion of women in the East was much the same as it is to-day :
^ In regard to the meaning of the enrolment here spoken of, Van Oosterzee re- marks, *' We must decide whether it denotes a place on the list of those publicly supported, or an enrolment in the order of church-deaconesses. Almost all the older commentators are of the former opinion ; nearly all the recent ones, of the latter." On the contrary, a majority of the recent commentators seem to adopt the view, that Paul here refers to an order of female presbyters, or, at least, to an order of ecclesiastical widows distinct from the order of deaconesses. This is true of Gro- tius, Mosheim, De VVette, Wiesinger, Huther, Alford, Ellicott, and Ludlow. Dr. Schaff argues strongly in favor of the interpretation which makes the enrolled widows deaconesses. So also does ProC G. Anderson, in his article in the *' Biblio- theca Sacra." Pressens^ holds the same view*
V\ 1 ifl X MC « \
^ -'■ .- , .' * -i * *• . ;
1874.] In Congregational Churches. 17
they did not mingle with men in social life, but lived in com- parative seclusion. There was then, as there is now, a strin- gent separation of the sexes ; so that, in many cases in which women required temporal or spiritual aid, it could not have been conveniently rendered except by women. A church, therefore, that desired to avoid all appearance of evil, and to pay a decent regard to prevailing customs, must almost of necessity have included women in its list of deacons. If explicit scriptural proof of the existence of this class were lacking, we should be inclined, with some recent writers, to believe in their exist- ence, on the ground of general fitness and probability.^
It seems all the more allowable to adopt this view, when the very free constitution of the primitive churches is taken into account. Upon the background of the apostolic age, we are prone to project a picture of the ecclesiastical system which was aften\'ard, developed, filling in an outline which ought to remain vague, with institutions and rites belonging only to a subsequent time. In this way we attribute form and organi- zation to that which was as informal and unorganized as pos- sible. If we bear in mind that the laying on of hands was rather a sign of the bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the indi- vidual functionary than an act of induction into a special class, we shall readily infer that neither the eldership nor the diaco- nate in the primitive churches existed in the highly organized and strictly limited form in which we naturally conceive of them. The vagueness of the New Testament in regard to church government is the natural reflection of the informal character of the government itself in the primitive times.
Your committee are confirmed in the opinion that women were connected with the diaconate in the apostolic age, by the traces they find of such a connection in the period imme- diately succeeding the apostles, and throughout the history of the church. In one of the letters of the younger Pliny, writ- ten between the years 100 and 1 10 of our era, deaconesses are
^ See Pressense ; also Huther. In the " Apostolic Constitutions," Book III, Chap. XV, we read, " Ordain also a deaconess, who is faithful and holy, for the min- istrations to the women. For sometimes thou canst not send a deacon, who is a man, to the women in certain houses, on account of the unbelievers. Thou shalt therefore send a woman, a deaconess, on account of the imaginations of the bad.*
SECOND SERIES. — VOU VI. NO. I.
■l N^
i8 The Office of Deaconess [Jan.
mentioned by name. Writing to the Emperor Trajan in re- gard to the sect called Christians, Pliny says, '' I considered it necessary to ascertain the truth by subjecting to torture two maid-servants who were called deaconesses." ^ In the " Apos- tolic Constitutions," so called, in those parts of the work which seem to be the most ancient, as well as in those of later date, deaconesses are frequently spoken o£ * In the third century, they are mentioned by TertuUian in the West, and by Origen in Egypt. They were referred to in one of the canons of the Council of Nice, which assembled in the year 325, and were recognized in one way or another in subsequent councils, at different periods of the church. In the East, the female diaconate appears to have attained to great importance, especially in the fourth and fifth centuries. All the leading " fathers " of the Greek Church refer to it ; and notices frequently occur of individual deacon- esses, some of them of high rank and large fortune. The office appears to have continued in the Eastern church until the end of the twelfth century, and in the Western church (under proscription) almost as long, — although the traces of it in the West are far less conspicuous.^ The growth, how- ever, of ascetic notions in the church led to the development of female monachism both in the East and in the West, and to the establishment of other organizations by which the diaco- nate was stifled and superseded. An order of church-virgins — that is, of maidens who had accepted Christ as their only lover and husband — seems to have existed from an early age ; and, in course of time, the order of nuns grew up, who organized themselves into communities or sisterhoods, and maintained themselves by manual labor. Female monachism became one of the great institutions of the church, and proved itself in some respects a great evil ; in others, a decided blessing. Fur-
^ PIiny*s Epistles, Book X, epistle 97. The word used by Pliny for deaconesses is ministra " Ministra is the term applied to Phoebe, both in the old Italic version and in the Vulgate. Hence, probably, the use of the word 'servant ' rather than ' deacon,' by our own translators." (Ludlow, p. 24.)
' In the earlier '* constitutions,'' the term diakonos^ with the feminine article, is used ; in the later, diakonissa,
* The history of the growth and decline of the female diaconate in the early church is related with considerable detail by Ludlow in his *' Historical Notes," pp. 14-76.
1 874-] In Congregational Churches, 19
ther on in the history of the church, other communities were organized, under less stringent vows, and for more distinctively philanthropic ends, — such as the sisterhood of the B6guines in Germany and France, and the various sisterhoods " of char- ity" and "of mercy" — numbered by hundreds — belonging to the Roman Catholic Church in Europe and in America, All these, if they cannot be looked upon as a development from the New Testament diaconate as a germ, must at least be re- garded as an attempt to realize, under varied forms, the New Testament conception of womanly service in the churches.^
With the facts thus plainly before them, your committee proceed to a consideration of the second question submitted to them, — whether it is desirable to establish the female diaco- nate in the churches of to-day. The office seems to have existed in the apostolic age, with certain assigned functions, and to have performed an important work. Are there conditions and circumstances at the present time which call for its re-estab- lishment ? Shall the diaconate be confined exclusively to men, or shall it include both sexes ?
In answering this inquiry, we remark, first of all, that it isi not desirable to re-establish the female diaconate, if it is to constitute merely a supplement or duplicate of the male diaco- nate as it now exists in our churches. The office of deacon, whatever it may have been in the apostolic age, is now, in the Congregational and Presbyterian systems, but little more than a dead formality, — a sinecure, to which certain pious brethren are introduced, in recognition of their spiritual gifts, rather than a service demanding thought and energy. The defini- tion of the deacon's functions in Worcester's Dictionary is too nearly correct and exhaustive to be seriously complained of : " In Presbyterian churches, he attends to the secular interests
^ The standard work in this department of church history is that of Father H^lyot : " History of Monastic, Religious, and Military Orders, and of Secular Congregations of both Sexes." Paris, first edition, 1714-19; latest, 185S-59. •The prominent place held by sisterhoods in the Roman Catholic Church may be inferred from the feet, that, in the bibliographical work of Brunet (Vol. VI, pp. 1 181-83), forty-five distinct treatises are desq-ibedt relating to the history of the Religious Orders and Congregations of Women. A list of houses of Sisters of Charity, in existence twenty years ago, is given in the appendix to a work entitled " Hospitals and Sisterhoods." London, 1854.
20 The Office of Deaconess [Jan,
of the congregation ; in Independent churches, he distributes the bread and wine to the communicants." To distribute the bread and wine at the communion is certainly the chief business of Congregational deacons. Besides this, one of them takes charge of the communion collection, and, when occasion de- mands, disburses a portion of it to some impoverished sister of the church who stands in pressing need of a ton of coal or a barrel of flour. They also seem to consider themselves responsible for filling the void which usually comes to view in the weekly prayer-meeting, as soon as the meeting is *' thrown open to the brethren." In olden times, when supplies for the pulpit could not always be obtained on short notice, they were expected to make good the pastor's absence, by reading printed sermons. But, thanks to the railroad and the telegraph, the " deacons' meeting " is now a thing of the past. The chief duty incumbent on the deacons of the present day — the only duty habitually recognized as such — is to assist the pastor at the communion-table. Now, if this is to be the work of the diaconate in the future of our churches, as it has been in the past, there is no need of including women in it. No one would be strenuous about having female members of the church to officiate at the communion ; while, as regards filling the gap in prayqr-meetings, we suppose women might do so if they wished, without a vote of the church introducing them into the order of deacons. As to providing the occasional poor sister of the church with coal or bread, this could be done by men as faithfully and as tenderly as by women.^
As the present state of the diaconate suggests, the great want of the times in ecclesiastical affairs is an internal reor- ganization of the churches, and, as part of such reorganization, a restoration of their proper functions to the two offices — the
' In the Conference at Middlctown, the account given here, and in a subsequent paragraph, of the functions of the diaconate in the churches of the present day, was the occasion of some sharp criticism. It appeared to a few of the delegates, that an attack was here made upon deacons themselves, and that it was neces- sary to defend them against the insinuations of the report Examining these passages anew, in the light of the comments they called out, the writer can discover no reason for retracting or changing a single word. It is the modem conception of the deacons' office that is referred to. — not the men appointed to it There is no assault made upon their character or their fidelity ; but it is proposed that a larger and nobler work be assigned to them than that which they now perform.
i874«] ^^ Congregational Churches, 2i
diaconate and the eldership — which have come down to us from the apostolic age. Except to the thorough-going optimist, there is evidently something wrong in the relations of the churches to the world. Our organized Christianity is falling behind ; and this in a way that is to be explained, not by the bare fact of human depravity, but by a recognized failure in duty on the part of the churches. The mass of the unevan- gelized is steadily on the increase ; and the census returns seem to show that in our own country it is increasing, not only actually, but relatively to the population.^ Outside of the churches, and unclaimed by the religious bodies, there is a great and growing multitude, — a multitude in which all classes are represented, but consisting chiefly of the ignorant and the poor, — which must somehow be reached and saved, if the Christian church would do the Master's work, and make sure of her own future. The ignorant and the poor — numerous in every community, crowded together in city streets, and scat- tered along the borders of country parishes — are overlooked, are " left out in the cold," as the phrase goes, by the Protestant churches. But they ought not to be thus left out ; they ought to constitute in every community the chief field of effort of the church or churches there established. Every church of Christ ought to keep this class in view. Whether in the streets of the metropolis or on the back-roads of Connecticut, they ought to be sought and saved, — the indifferent, the con- temptuous, the ignorant, the necessitous, the depraved, the " dangerous classes."
To accomplish this end, to solve the great practical problem of modern Christianity, there must take place, as we have said,
* In 1850, when the population of the United States was 23,191,876, there were church accommodations for 14,234,825. In 1870, when the population had increased to 38,558,371, the number of church-sittings had increased only to 21,665,062. In 1850, in a population of twenty-three millions, there were about nine millions for whom there was no room in the churches. In 1870, in a popula- tion of thirty-eight millions and a half, there were about seventeen millions similarly situated. Making all necessary deductions for the sick, the aged, and the young, there remains a non-church-going population, the extent of which is appallingly large. If the increase in church-sittings had even kept pace with the increase of the population, there would have been accommodations in 1870 for 23,654,777 ; but the relative decrease in twenty years amounted to nearly two mil- lions. — See " Ninth Census," Vol I, p. 526.
22 The Office of Deaconess [J^^*
a reorganization of the churches. The churches of the primi- tive period were Christian societies for accomplishing a recog- nized philanthropic work ; the churches of to-day are, for the most part, audiences for the hearing of sermons. A transfor- mation must take place ; the churches must be vitalized anew, and the energies of their members developed and directed by a careful process of organization. We may insist as much as we please upon voluntary individual effort ; but there must be something more than this. In other ages of the world, this might possibly have sufficed ; but it will not suffice in this age. The complicated and never-ending work of a modem church cannot be accomplished in any such random way, any more than it can be accomplished by a single overtasked pastor. We must fall in with the universal modern tendency, and organize. But the churches, instead of creating new organi- zations outside of themselves, as their practice has been, — tract societies, temperance societies, Sunday-school unions. Christian associations, and what not, — must regard the divine law of parsimony, and organize themselves upon a new basis, such as the wants of the age demand. Doing this, they will find that it is, after all, the old basis which the apostles pro- vided.
In this reorganization, the first and most important task will be, not to create new offices, but to revivify those already exist- ing, and clothe them anew with their primitive and proper func- tions. It is not for us, as a committee, to speak of the elder- ship in our churches ; but we do not hesitate to affirm that the diaconate,as it exists, is but a dead husk, from which the living kernel has wasted away.^ If we restore this office to its primi- tive place, if we infuse a new life into it, we shall find it an efficient " arm of the service " in the great war of the Lord with the powers of darkness. A church doing its work in the primi- tive fashion will have in its membership not one or two neces- sitous persons, but many. Even here, in rich Connecticut, it will be largely a church of the poor. The ignorant, the de- praved, the abandoned, outside of its organization, it will con-
1 See an able article on " Church Organization versus Church Government," in the " Christian Quarterly" for January and April, 1873. * See note p. 20.
l874«] I^ Congregational Churches. 23
stantly keep in view. Its work will be largely humanitarian and social. A constant demand will be made upon it for the supply of material aid ; its temporalities will become more and more important. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, vis- iting the sick and the fallen, conducting industrial schools, find- ing employment for those who are destitute of it, relieving human want and sorrow, — in short, establishing and operating a system of practical benevolence, — will be a part of its recog- nized and regular business, not a task left to the fulfilment of independent charitable societies.^ In any departmental reor- ganization of a church, this wide field of labor, always existing, always unworked, barely touched by the pastor, would, accord- ing to apostolic precedent, be assigned to the diaconate. Here is a sphere which would demand an infusion of new life into the old office, and enlist the varied powers of those who belong to it
That the diaconate, thus remodelled and resuscitated, ought to include in it both sexes, will be obvious at a glance. It is still true, to a limited extent, that a special demand for the ap- pointment of women to the office is created by the social rela- tions of the sexes. Conditions which existed in the early ages, and which exist to-day in Turkey and India, are also present in a degree in our Western civilization, and always will be. But, irrespective of this fact, the work, as we have hastily sketched it, is a work for which women are peculiarly fitted ; and, furthermore, there are women to do it. In a money-mak- ing and intensely busy age, we can hardly expect men to turn aside — for they will consider it a turning aside — to philan- thropic or evangelistic labor ; but there are sisters and mothers in every church who have leisure for such tasks, and whose Christian love impels them onward. There are those who do a work of this kind even now, without being specially appointed to it, — deaconesses J*//!^ titulo ; but how much better it would
^ A recent number of the New York " Evangelist " contains a list of thirty- three different charitable societies and institutions, through which the Protestant Christians of New York accomplish a work of charity and philanthropy which ought for the most part to be carried on by the churches. Where is the scriptural authority for confining the churches to an exclusively " spiritual " work, while the feeding of the hungry and the clothing of the naked are thus delegated to indepen- dent organizations ?
24 TIu Office of Deaconess [Jan.
be to set them apart by some official act, and throw upon them a sense of delegated responsibility. If every large church had a diaconate numbering twenty or thirty, at least two thirds^ of them faithful Christian women — not only would the query. What are deacons for ? be answered in a practical way, but much would be accomplished towards a solution of the momen- tous question, How shall the world be saved, and brought to allegiance to Christ ?
It will hardly be necessary to point out to Congregationalists the decided difference between such a reorganization of the diaconate as we have proposed, and the movement now on foot in Europe and America by which Orders of Deaconesses, Sis- terhoods, Houses of Mercy, and the like, are being engrafted upon the ecclesiastical system of some of the Protestant denominations. These organized ** institutes " and " houses " are patterned after the sisterhoods of the Church of Rome rather than after the diaconate as it existed in the apostolic age. They are in harmony with an Episcopal, rather than a Congregational polity. What your committee propose is not a 'collective" diaconate, having a life of its own outside of the churches, but a parish diaconate, which shall be in each case the creature and servant of the local church, and whose official work shall have exclusive reference to a particular congregation. The movement which we refer to, and which has found full record in several recent volumes,* is doubtless a part of that great
* Of the 49,758 p>ersons belonging to the Congregational churches of Connecti- cut on the 1st of January, 1873, 17,016 were males and 32,742 were females. This is about the usual proportion.
2 The following are the titles of a few of the more important works, in addition to those already referred to, which have thus far appeared, in relation to Protes- tant Sisterhoods, or a " collective " diaconate : —
" Sisters of Charity, Abroad and at Home." By Mrs. Jameson. London, 1855.
"The Kaiserwerlh Deaconesses and their Establishment." London, 1857.
** Sisterhoods in the Church of England, with Notices of some of the Charita- ble Sisterhoods of the Romish Church." By Margaret Goodman. London, 1862.
" Six Months among the Charities of Europe." By John De Liefde. Lon- don, 1S65.
" Ministering Women and the Ix)ndon Poor." Edited by Mrs. Bayly. Lon- don, 1870.
" The .Service of the Poor : An Inquiry into the Reasons for and against the Establishment o{ Religious Sisterlioo.ls for Charitable Purposes." By Caroline Emelia StephetL London and New York, 1870.
1 874*] I^ Congregational Churches, 25
modem reform which contemplates the fuller development, and the utilizing for Christian ends, of woman's activity, and in so far is to be looked upon with favor. The associations to which it has given birth have already borne precious fruit in Chris- tian well-doing. But these are not what our churches want ; they rather stand in the way of our attaining it. Like the sis- terhoods of the Church of Rome, these orders of deaconesses choose their own fields of labor and their own methods ; but the diaconate needed by our Congregational churches is one that shall conform to the apostolic pattern, to do that specific parish work which we have attempted to describe.
It ought to be remembered that the establishment of a female diaconate upon this simple and scriptural basis is not without precedent in Congregational history. The early Con- gregationalists, whose aim was to bring back the churches as nearly as possible to the apostolic pattern, attempted to revive the office of deaconess. Among the " conclusions " published by Cartwright, Travers, and a number of other clergymen, in 1575, there is a passage in reference to "collectors for the poor, or deacons," in which they are spoken of as " deacons of both sorts, — namely, men and women." ^ Browne, in 1582, speaks of the deacon as the " reliever," and of the deaconess as the "widow." In 1589, the Congregational church of Gainsborough, England, had " relievers," or widows, who must be " sixty years of age at least," whose work it was to " minister to the sick"; and, in 1606, the Congregational church at Amsterdam had, in addition to their two "pastors and teach- ers " and their four " ruling elders," " three able and godly men for deacons," and " one ancient widow for a deaconess, who did them service many years, though she was sixty years of
"Women Helpers in the Church." Edited by William Welsh. Philadel- phia, 1872.
"Sisterhoods and Deaconesses at Home and Abroad." By the Rev. Henry C. Potter, D. D. New York, 1873.
There have also appeared numerous pamphlets and articles in periodicals, relating to the same subject, some of them of* considerable value.
1 See Neal*s " History of the Puritans," Vol. I, p. 140 (American edition), New York, 1843. The restoration of the office in some of the churches on the Continent was attempted at an earlier date than this. The question was discussed in the Synod of Wcsel, in the Netherlands, as early as 1568 ; and at this time the olTice already existed among the Bohemian brethren and the strict Anabaptists.
26 The Office of Deaconess. (Jan.
age when she was chosen." The character and functions of this good deaconess are quite fully described in the quaint phraseology of Gov. Bradford : " She honored her place, and was an ornament to the congregation. She usually sat in a convenient place in the congregation, with a little birchen rod in her hand, and kept children in great awe from disturbing the congregation. She did frequently visit the sick and weak, especially women, and, as there was need, called out maids and young women to watch, and do them other helps as their neces- sity did require ; and, if they were poor, she would gather relief for them of those that were able, or acquaint the deacons ; and she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and an officer of Christ" * In American Congregationalism, the function we have had in view was early recognized in a very marked way, by a reference to it in the Cambridge Platform, which says, " The Lord hath appointed ancient widows, where they may be had, to minister in the church, in giving attendance to the sick, and to give succor unto them, and others in the like necessity." *
Your committee were to report on the " special functions " of the female diaconate, supposing it to be established. These functions have been so fully set forth in the course of our re- port that it seems needless to dwell upon this particular point. It is not likely that the deaconesses of the future will wield the " birchen rod," as did the good dame of Amsterdam ; but, apart from this, their duties will be very similar to those which that " ancient widow " so honorably fulfilled. Human society, in its chief elements, remains the same in all ages. There are the same wants and the same sorrows, the same oppor- tunities for Christian well-doing, and the same proneness to shift the burden of responsibility from our own shoulders to those of others. What we hope to see is, such an organi- zation of the activities of Christian women — who constitute two thirds of our church members — as shall enable them to welcome responsibility, to make prompt use of opportunities, and to find real joy in the holy and beautiful work which awaits them on every side.
* See Young's " Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers," chap. xxvi. 'Chap, vii, 7. "Congregational Order," p. 113. The Scripture reference ia I Tim. V, 9, la
1 874-] Womafis SpJiere. 27
Your committee offer, in conclusion, the following resolu- tions : —
Re^olvedy That the Congregational churches, in order to meet the wants of the time, and to fulfil neglected duties, especially their duty towards the unchristianized masses, require to enter at once upon a work of internal reorganization.
Resolved, That, in the process of reorganization, the churches should aim, not to create new offices, but to resuscitate and utilize those that have come down to us from the days of the apostles.
Resolved, That, if it shall seem expedient to any church, in attempting such reorganization and revival, to enlarge its diaconate, so as to introduce into it Christian women, fitted to do a philanthropic and beneficent work, this will not be a de- parture from the primitive order, but rather a return to it, and will be fully justified by the needs of modern society and the condition of our churches.
WOMAN'S SPHERE.
The problem of woman's sphere, to use the modern phrase, is not to be solved by applying to it abstract principles of right and wrong. Its solution must be obtained from physiology, not from ethics or metaphysics. . . ,
The loftiest ideal of humanity, rejecting all comparisons of
inferiority and superiority between the sexes, demands that each
shall be perfect in its kind, and not be hindered in its best work.
The lily is not inferior to the rose, nor the oak superior to the
clover : yet the glory of the lily is one, and the glory of the
oak is another ; and the use of the oak is not the use of the
clover.
Edward H. Clarke, M. D.
28 Andover Catalogue. IJan.
NAMES ON THE ANDOVER CATALOGUE STARRED
SINCE 1870.
The last issued Triennial of Andover Theological Seminary- was published in June, 1870. Since that date, the following deaths have been noted. The year prefixed signifies the class. The mark f designates members of the class who did not com- plete the course. A few on this list died before 1870. The list gives the name, place of death, date of death, and age,
18 10. Ephraim Abbot, Westford, Mass., 21 July, 1870. 90. Richard S. Storrs, D. D., Braintree, Mass., 11 August, 1873. 86.
He was the last ^nrwiving graduate of this class. fGardner Spring, D. D., New York city, 18 August, 1873. 88. tWorthington Wright, Buffalo, N. Y., 28 October, 1873. 88.
He was the last surviving member of this class.
181 1. fNoah Coe, Hartford, Conn., 9 May, 1871. 85.
No graduate of this class is living, fjohn Chandler survives.
18 1 2. fGarrett G. Brown, Waterbury, Conn., i October, 1870. 86.
Jacob Ide, d. d., is the sole survivor of this class.
18 1 3. David Oliphant, St. Louis, Mo., 26 October, 1871. 80. Hczekiah Woodruff", Erin, N. Y., about 1862. 73 ?
Burr Baldwin is probably the sole survivor of this class. 1815. Ebenezer Burgess, D. d., Dedham, Mass., 5 December, 1870. 80. Eleazer T. Fitch, d. d., New Haven, Conn., 31 January, 1871. 80. Cyrus Kingsbury, D. D., Indian Territory, 27 June, 1870. 78. Nathan Lord, D. D., Hanover, N. H., 9 September, 1870. 78. Stephen Mason, Marshall, Mich., 8 November, 1870. 82.
18 1 7. Ebenezer B. Wright, Huntington, Mass., 19 August, 1871. 76.
1 81 8. Amos W. Bumham, D. D., Keene, N. H., 9 April, 1871. 79. Levi Spaulding, d. d., 19 June, 1873. 82.
Ebenezer Washburn, Central College, Ohio, 18 March, 1873. 84.
1819. Daniel Hemenway, Suffield, Conn., 18 February, 1871. 79. fCharles J. Hinsdale, Blandford, Mass., 17 October, 1871. 75.
1820. Sidney E. Morse, New York city, 23 December, 1871. 77, Jacob Scales, Plainfield, N. H., 16 October, 1873. 85.
1 82 1. Francis Norwood, Beverly, Mass., 6 October, 1871. 74. George E. Pierce, D. D., Hudson, Ohio, 27 May, 1871. 76. Charles D. Pigeon, West Gloucester, Mass., 16 October, 1872. 73. Marcus Smith, Dunkirk, N. Y., i July, 1871. 78.
Thomas C. Upham, D. D., New York city, i April, 1872. 73. Charles Walker, d. d., Binghamton, N. Y., 28 November, 1870. 79.
i874*] Andover Catalogue, 29
t Alfred Giester, New York city, 2 July, 1871. T^, tHinman B. Hoyt, died in 1838.
1822. Daniel G. Sprague, Salem, N. Y., 11 January, 1873. 76.
1823. Solomon Adams, Auburndale, Mass., 20 July, 1870. 73. Benjamin F. Clarke, Wellesley, Mass., 16 November, 1872. 80. fHorace P. Bogue, D. D., Buflfalo, N. Y., 15 January, 1872. 75. tjohn West, Providence, R. I., 4 June, 1870. 75.
fHenry C. Wright, Woonsocket, R. I., August, 1870. 73.
1824. John F. Griswold, Brooklyn, N. Y., 15 February, 1872. 77. Joshua P. Payson, Pomfret, Conn., 29 April, 1871. 70. John Sherer, Pleasant Ridge, Ohio, 14 February, 1863. 72. tJohn P. Cleaveland, d. d., Newburyport, Mass., 7 March, 1873. 73.
1825. Charles Boyter, Beverly, N. J., 31 October, 1870. 71. Moses B. Church, in Iowa, 28 December, 1871. 73. Richard C. Hand, Brooklyn, N. Y., 27 July, 1870. 68. Isaac Rogers, Farmington, Me., 14 February, 1872. 76. John Todd, D. D., Pittsfield, Mass., August, 1873. 73- tjosiah Brewer, Stockbridge, Mass., 19 November, 1872. ^6, fPindar Field, Hamilton, N. Y., 24 November, 1873. 79*
1826. George C. Beckwith, d. d., Boston, Mass., 12 May, 1870. 70. Peter Kimball, believed to have died in 1871.
fWilliam Jones, Neenah, Wis., 8 June, 1871. ' 76.
1827. Leander Cobb, Marion, Mass., 2 September, 1872. 70. fMilton Badger, d. d., Madison, Conn., i March, 1873. 73.
1829. Robert Southgate, Woodstock, Vt., 6 February, 1873. 65. Ira M. Weed, Ypsilanti, Mich., 50 November, 1871. 67. fMarcus A. Jones, in Kentucky or Tennessee, in 1837 or 1838.
1830. tJ^nies W. Ward, New York city, 31 January, 1873. 69.
1831. Giles Lyman, Winchendon, Mass., 11 November, 1872. 70. Benjamin P. Stone, D. D., Concord, N. H., 26 November, 1870. 68. fHosea Kittredge, Mason, Mich., 30 March, 1873. 7o-
1832. fSheridan Guiteau, Baltimore, Md., 10 October, 1872. 70. fWilliam L. Keyes, Hillsboro', Ohio, 1850 or 185 1.
1833. Charles B. Dana, D. D., Natchez, Miss., 26 February, 1871. 65. Job Hall, Orwell, Vt., 15 February, 1872. 69.
John Holmes, Jordon's Grove, 111., 19 January, 1854. 45.
Asa Putney (Warner, N. H., ?), in 1850 or 1851.
fErastus Hopkins, Northampton, Mass., 24 January, 1872. 61.
1834. Philander O. Powers, Kessab, near Antioch, 2 October, 1872. 67. fDiarca H. Allen, d. d., 9 November, 1870. 62.
fCharles L. Bartlett, Taberville, Mo., 16 September, 1867. 63. fWilliam McLain,D. D., Washington, D. C, 13 February, 1873. 66.
1835. John E. Edwards, Brookline, Mass., 3 April, 1873. ^i* Ephraim C. High, Streator, 111., 6 June, 1870. 65. Daniel Ladd, Middlebury, Vt, 10 October, 1872. 67.
fHenry Eddy, North Bridgewater, Mass., 23 September, 1872. 67. fLiCwis Sabin, d. d., Templeton, Mass., 8 June, 1873. ^*
30 Andover Catalogue, (Jaa.
1336k tFrtvlerick J, Goodwin, d. D., 29 February, 1872. 60.
tMark Ives \siarrfj on the Hartford Catalogue).
1837, Sajwucl H. Taylor, ll. d^ Andover, Mass., 29 Janoarr. 1871. 65. tAi^riah R. Graves. Oakland. Miss.. 5 November, 1S71. 63.
1838. tV harles IX Jackson, d. ix, Westchester. N. Y-, 25 June, 1871. 60. lS» lUuicl H. RiNxvk. West Townshend, Vt.. 14 Januarr. 1873. 61.
jv».\iah reaS.>i>\ North Stisifbrd, Conn.. 20 June. 1S73. 67. t rhomw P. Emereoc Prairie ia Chien. Kan., 1572-
lH4A Joaa* IV b\ Richards. M.'>b::e. .\la.. 2 Deceniber. i?-2. 62. I wiuivl H- Wheeler. Belo::. Wis-, 25 Febr-iarj. 1^72. 61. K'luulcs Iv McLean. We:hersdeld, Conn^ 29 Octocer. 1S73. 5^- fk'hiU^ C lVttiS?ne. Chica^io, III^ id Sep:ez:ber. :5^*x 55.
Iil4l. l.owi* F» Clark. Whitiasville. Mass., 13 Ocrxxr. ci"^ 55. James R. Keiser, Ches:er£e3d, Va., 12 October. :5:~2- 59^ tKv^U'tt McMath. Webster. N. Y., 22 Aag:ist. :5*c. ff.
184 J. \.'haile* Lv^ivi. New York city, 29 March. 1372, ci
»iU3. K^UuKnx Clark. Middlebury, Conn., 23 September, li'i. >> Jaiwcs J. HilL Fayette, Iowa, 29 October, iSjs. tlVrkius K. Clark, Char!emont, Mass., 4 January. i.S~2. fe tOauiel G, Mason. Schwalbach, Germany, 24 June, iSS^a. 4> tl.ubin B, Rockwood. Boston, Mass., 7 May, 1S72. 5S.
1844. tjackson J. BushnelL Beloit, Wi»., 8 March, 1S73. 5&.
1845. Hicorge Richards, Bridgeport, Conn., 21 October, 1870. 55- lH4S. Levi Wheaton, Beloit, Wis., 8 Octol^r, 1872. 55.
1851, Israel H. Levings, Madrid, N. Y., 20 July, 1871. 53. Edwin Teele, Florence vi lie, Iowa, 24 Novemr cr, 1873. 55. James A. Veale, Topeka, Kan., i January, 1871. 51.
1852, Samuel H. Tolman, Swanzey, N. H., 6 October, 1S73. 45. tEli B. Smith, Louisiana, Mo., 17 September, 1872, 44.
1853, John B. Perry, Cambridge, Mass., 3 October, 1872, 47.
1854, Henry M. Chapin, White Elarth Agency, Minn., August, 1S72, 47.
1855, OswaJd L. Woodford, West Avon, Conn., 21 October, 187a 43. fBenjamin F. Ray, New Ipswich, N. H., 7 January, 1872. 48.
1857. Grosvenor C. Morse, Emporia, Kan., 13 July, 1870. 51.
1 860. Alonzo T. Deming, Glyndon, Minn., 17 September, 1872. 38.
1861. tJol^D ^^- Holmes, Jersey City, N. J., 20 September, 1871. 40.
1864. William F. Snow, Lawrence, Mass., 11 January, 187 1. 32. Lyman S. Watts, Barnet, Vt, 3 June, 1872. 36.
1865. Rowland H. Allen, Neponset, Mass., 12 September, 1872. 32. 1868. Henry C. Dickinson, Appleton, Wis., 11 March, 1873.
Webster Patterson, L\Tin, Mass., 25 September, 1873. 32. tjohn L Forbes, Philadelphia, Pa,, 26 June, 1871. 27.
RESIDEXT STUDEXT.
1S56. John S. C Greene, Brookline, Mass., 6 July, 1S72.
1 874.] Andaver Catalogue, 3 1
RESIDENT LICENTIATES.
1837. Nelson Bishop.
1842. H. Augustus Woodman.
1848. 6. Hohannes der Sahakyan.
1850. Charles H. Marshall.
1853. Erastus Chester.
1 86 1. Francis £. Butler.
Of the members of classes, the ages of one hundred and five are given. The average is sixty-six years ; which, from the fact that ages are given only in years, is doubtless a few months below the exact figures.
/// who/e Hearts are the ways of them, who paffing through the Valley of Baca, make it a Well, the Rain alfo filleth the Pools.
" Such Heav'n-bom Souls are not to Earth confin'd, Truth's Highway fills their elevated Mind : They bound for Ziofi prefs with forward Aim, As IfraeV^ Males to old yerufalefn. Their holy Path lies through a parched Land, Through Oppofitions numerous and grand. Traverfing fcorch^d Deferts, ragged Rocks, And Baca's withered Vale like thirfty Flocks ; Yet with unfhaken Vigor, homeward go. Not mov'd by all oppofing Harms below. They digging Wells on this Gilboa Top, The Vale of Achor yields a Door of Hope ; For Heaven in Plenty does their Labour crown, By making filver Showers to trickle down : 'Till empty Pools imbibe a pleafant Fill, And weary Souls are heartened up the Hill, By mafly Drops of Joy which down diftil."
Ralph Erskine.
32 TJu Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. [Jan.
THK RELATION OF RELIGIOUS TO SCIENTIFIC
THOUGHT.
Larck allowance must be made in the treatment of so vast a theme for what astronomers term the personal equation. There arc rocks which we call intrusive. They have forced them- selves into the crevices of overlying strata, tilted them in all directions, perhaps inverted them, and metamorphosed every- thing; with which they have come in contact.
We are confronted, in the revelations which science is mak- ing, or is assumed to be making, with a body of intrusive thought. It is breaking through old conformable ideas, tilting, flexing, crushing, inverting. Some of it is decidedly Plutonian in character. It not only wants room for itself, but it wants to spread over and burn out everything else.
However, though the injected rocks found room, the old were not annihilated, but at new angles and in new positions still asserted themselves ; and time came on with his elements, filled in the gaping fractures, wore oft* the rough, jagged pro- jections, smoothed, rounded, and polished, till the old and the new embraced each other in all the loving harmony of land- scape beauty.
The new thought must have its room. There is something of the old that must and will have its existence.
Theism ought to be the common truth of science and of religion.
A rough outline of division of domain, starting from this base, would be somewhat as follows : —
Religion will busy itself with the relations which prevail be- tween moral agents and the Deity, and between moral agents inter se regarded as under the personal moral government of the Deity, — science with the divine method of action every- where else.
Religion should be content with the common postulate — God over all — and find its activity in the explanation of the moral and spiritual facts and laws which concern moral beings. Science should assent to the same postulate, and have unhin- dered privilege to examine and explain all other facts and laws of the universe. The first care of religion, then, is to defend
i874-] ^^ Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought 53
this first postulate. So far as its interests are concerned, given God, and the rest follows.
There is a tendency, however, in some scientific circles, if not to deny, at least to ignore this first postulate. Certain men of high scientific repute say, there may be a God, but we know and can know nothing about it They say they never meet Him or any indication of Him in Nature ; that they find there nothing but the eternal play of natural cause and natural effect.
If there be a God, however, we ought to see signs of Him in Nature. If we cannot find Him there, we shall have difficulty in preserving his position at the head of religion.
The type of mind that casts God out of Nature will invade religion, and banish him thence also. In fact, it is a very easy process, having got God out of Nature, to get him out of relig- ion. It is only necessary, in order to eliminate God from religion, to spread the mantle of Nature out over religion, — to say that it, too, is one of Nature's processes.
We may look our position then fairly in the face. Given a God-less Nature, and the conclusion will be no God anywhere.
Nor shall we make much headway against some forms of the new body of thought, by attempting to establish the existence of Deity through revelation in the moral line, and by transfer- ring him thence over the material world. We must meet this class of thinkers in the world on which they look and where alone they live. It is true that you can make no man see God anywhere, and perhaps this is as true in moral revelation as any- where else.
But we can tell what we see in Nature, and the media by which we see it. Mind inclined to materialism may thus through our help catch a glimpse of Deity in Nature.
The incoming of the idea of evolution is regarded by some minds as the annihilation of the old idea of a God-made universe.
Revolutions in thought bring to the surface philosophical out- laws, as civic revolutions, social outlaws. The new is welcomed as the total abolition of the old. Nothing of former thought is to be retained.
" Of old things all are over old; — » • . • . f
A world of oth^r stuff"
entirely is to be framed.
nCOND SBRIia. — VOL. VI NO. I. \
34 The EsIatirK rf Rcliriz'ni tz Sda^Hs Ticmgkt (J;
A cl2«5 oz T"zr Z.TW n^i*r.-''.gDr z'lZz'^zdbcrs siibstitnte a McKie fcr z Mik-Err. Tlrr r^~t reen :=ii:C* i: retain their faith in a p«erscr-5l Artz- "iz.ier ib^ ::=.?r;«ti:- :c 2 rsethod of agen- cv diferer.: fr:z: :"r^: f:r3.*rlv nrc'iseL T: then "^ the heav- ens" no z::re ~ ftrlzrt zht rlmr :f Giii." - the frmanent * no more shows ** his h£ZiirB":rJL* if ihej hire bem elaborated, dar- ing s-ow. revclvir.^ rvzles :f thu-e, fr:-=: z.ehul:»us matter and conditio::, instead of beitiz: sr^iken in:: eiistenrc and set in place in the tTririlinr cf an ere.
All that the svsten. as i: is. Trr^zht c-t >f chaos, as it has been, speaks cf thrurh:. 7I21: : zzrz'zs^ rres f;r nothing after the discover)- cf cne :f the ^rcat means — gra-ritation — by
Ever)-th:ng has f: und its place in the material universe by gra^dtation.
seems to be the sum of Herrert Spencer's rhysica! philosophy. But how things Icsk when they ^et int: p'sce, — whether the appearance is as if they -^^ere the result cf the "frrtuitous con- course of atoms," cr as th:u^h they were wisely, thoughtfully arranged, — for a g'.ance at such a matter he seems to have no aptitude. Mr. Huxley, with simething cf the air of triumph, expresses the opinion that teleclog}* received its death-blow at the ha.'ids of Darwinism.
When Mr. Huxlev tells us that teleoloc^^- is dead, it behooves us to stop and think what such an utterance means. It means no less than this, — that he who is even with the scientific thought of the day no longer looks in Nature for e\*idencc of the existence of God. The statement from such a source carries some weight with it ; for Mr. Huxley has been President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Does Mr. Huxley, however, carrj- with him the main body ot scientific thinkers ; or is he, after all, only the leader of a coterie who are heard in this world for their much, and not remarka- bly well-considered, speaking ?
It is worth while to make some examination here ; for it is not best to assume that the main body of scientific thinkers are in antagonism to religion. " It is worse than a crime ; it is a blunder/' to be firing into the ranks of one's friends.
1 874-] The Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. 35
Unless there is the absolute necessity of the truth of the case for it, it is not best to allow opponents of religion, with- out contradiction, to assume that the leading minds in science are in hostility to vital principles in religion. Young men are led into scepticism by nothing so much as the assumption that theism stands only in ignorance, — that it has not the respect of science.
Since Mr. Huxley proclaimed the death of teleology, three presidents of the British Association for the Advancement of Science have spoken upon this very matter, and also one presi- dent of the American Association. It will pay us to look at the testimony these men give. Its importance can hardly be overestimated. It shows us that we mistake the facts when we assume, or allow it to be assumed, that science is atheistic. It shows us that when a man — Mr. Huxley, for instance — tells us that teleology is dead, his utterance loses character as an utter- ance of science, and becomes merely that of an individual. What Mr. Huxley says may be one thing ; what science says may be quite another. A dictum of the one is not necessarily an established principle with the other. We do not want to confound the two authorities by a mistaken estimate of their weight. President Stokes, of the British Association, in the address for the year 1869, uttered himself as follows : —
" Admitting to the full as highly probable, though not com- pletely demonstrated, the applicability to living beings of the laws which have been ascertained with reference to dead matter, I feel constrained at the same time to admit the ex- istence of a mysterious something lying beyond, — a something sui gefieris, which I regard not as balancing and suspending the ordinary physical laws, but as working with them and through them to the attainment of a desigfted end. What this something which we call life may be is a profound mystery. We know not how many links in the chain of secondary causation may yet remain behind ; we know not how few.
** Let us fearlessly trace the dependence of link on link, as far as it may be given us to trace it ; but let us take heed that in thus studying second causes we forget not the first cause,
36 71ke Relatum of Religious to Scientific Tliought. [Jan.
nor shut our eyes to tite wonderful proof s of design which in tJte study of organized beings especially meet us at every turn,"
Sir William Thompson, in that most masterly resumd of the progress of science, constituting his address before the British Association in 1871, concludes as follows :-
" Sir John Herschel, in expressing a fevorable judgment on the hypothesis of zoological evolution, with, however, some reservation in respect to the origin of man, objected to the doctrine of natural selection, that it was too like the Laputan method of making books, and that it did not sufficiently take into account a continually guiding and controlling intelligence. This seems to me a most valuable and instructive criticism. I feel profoundly convinced that the argument from desigfi has been greatly too much lost sight of in recent zoological specu- lations. Reaction against the frivolities of teleology, such as are not rarely to be found in the notes of the learned com- mentators on Paley's 'Natural Theology,' has I believe had a temporary effect in turning attention from the solid and irrefragable argument so well put forward in that excellent book.
" But overpowering ly strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie all around us; and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or scientific, turn us away from them for a time, they come back upon us with irresistible force, showing to us through Nature and the influence of a free will, and teaching us tliat all living beings depmd on one ever-acting Creator and Rulerr
Dr. Carpenter, President of the British Association for 1872, in an article on " Mind and Will in Nature," in the " Contem- porary Review " for October, 1 872, which may be regarded as supplementary to his address before the British Association for that year, expresses himself thus : —
" When we have once arrived at that conception of force as an expression of will, which we derive from our own experience of its production, the universal and cofistantly sustaining ageiuy of the Deity is recognized in every plunomefion of the external universe ; and we are thus led to feel that in the fnaterial crea- tion itself we liave the same distinct evidence of his personal existefice and ceaseless activity as we have of the agency of
l874*] T*^ Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. 37
intelligent minds in the creations of artistic genius, or in the elaborate contrivances of mechanical skill, or in those written records of thought which arouse our physical nature into kindred activity? . . . Entertaining these views, I need scarcely say how entirely I concur in the following expression of them by Mr. Martineau, with his characteristic power and felicity of language : ' What indeed have we found by moving out along all radii into the Infinite ? That the whole is woven together in one sublime tissue of intellectual relations, geo- metric and physical, — the realized original, of which all our science is but a partial copy. That science is the crowning product and supreme expression of human reason. . . . Unless, therefore, it takes more mental faculty to construe (or, as I should say, to interpret) a universe than to cause it, to read the book of Nature than to write it, we must more than ever look upon its sublime face as the living appeal of thought to thought: "
President Gray thus concludes his address before the Ameri- can Association at Dubuque, in 1872 : —
" An able philosophical writer. Miss Frances Power Cobbe, has recently and truthfully said, * It is a singular fact that when we can find out how anything is done, our first con- clusion seems to be that God did not do it. No matter how wonderful, how beautiful, how intricately complex and delicate has been the machinery which has worked, perhaps for cen- turies, perhaps for millions of ages, to bring about some benef- icent result, if we can but catch a glimpse of the wheels, its divine character disappears.'
" I agree with the writer that this conclusion is premature and unworthy ; I will add, deplorable. Through what faults or infirmities of dogmatism on the one hand, and of scepticism on the other, it came to be so thought, we need not here consider. Let us hope, and I confidently expect, that it is not to last ; that the religious faith that survived without a shock the notion of the fixity of the earth itself may equally outlast the notion of the absolute fixity of the species which inhabit it ; that, in the future even more than in the past, faith in an order which is the basis of science will not (as it cannot reasonably) be dis- severed from faith in an Ordainer, which is the basis of religion."
38 The Rchtion cf Religious to Scientific Tkaugki. [Jan.
It is subinitted on this testimony that we are not quite yet under the ne'jessity of acknowledging that science finds no trace of thought in Nature.
This testimony is important, as showing that theologians have their rights in Nature, from which even science may not iustiv evi-jt them. Wurkers in the department of science may make disioveries of facts, and formulate expressions of the laws which the facts a^^egated denote, but any man may declare wh:it facts and laws mcLin (so far as he can sec mean- ing in them) in their adjustment in the system in which they have place.
We have no rii^ht to dogmatize or dictate concerning the discover}- or acceptance of scientific facts or laws. What sci- ence finds as fact we must accept as fact, no matter what old convictions of ours go by the board.
But as to how facts look when they are put in situ, — whether in their connection with their environment they indicate the operation of mind in their arrangement, — if we see anything^ we have the right to declare it ; and even science may not for- bid us.
It may seem a little strange how scientists can be antitele- ologists. A reason, perhaps the main reason, is, because they are chiefly engaged in investigation, in discovery, in the exam- ination of the causes by which effects are produced. Entranced with the joy of effort in that direction, they forget that eflfort in any other direction is legitimate, or even possible. Running up along the machinery of Nature, they find no place where matter and natural force cease, and direct divine agency comes into play. They see no evidence of the existence of Deity in the direction in which they look. Instead, however, of peering up the infinitely extended line of causation, if they would right about face, and look upon what they have gone over, see its order, its adaptation to ends of beauty or of use, they might, at least, come to understand a teleologist's position. It is not when we look up the line o{ causation, but when you look down the line of elaboration, that the character of the work done becomes apparent, and the intellectuality of the formative agent is disclosed. If a man will look only in one direction, it is not to be wondered at if he is unable to see what
1 874-] The Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought, 39
lies in another. It is not in politics or religion alone that men
** Born for the universe " narrow *'the mind."
A reason why Mr. Huxley thinks Darwinism is the death of teleology is because, according to Darwin, the environment of life has been the formative agency by which its species have been elaborated.
But is a purpose less a purpose because a means has been used in its execution ? If we discover agencies of adaptation, causes of adaptation, means of adaptation, does that destroy tht fact of adaptation ?
Mr. Huxley seems also to think that purpose cannot be inferred unless an effect be instantaneously wrought. But is thought less thought because time is required to unfold it ?
Mr. Huxley further says, that the origin of species by " nat- ural selection," or by the survival only of those best fitted to their environment, is equivalent to a " method of trial and error" in Nature, and that that destroys the force of Pale/s argument. The " trial and error " which natural selection sug- gests he treats as a new principle, and one utterly subversive of the teleological idea. If Mr. Huxley had been as fresh in his Paley as he ought to have been, before delivering his oracle, he would have remembered, that the consideration of the effect which a " method of trial and error " in Nature would have upon the argument from design, forms the fifth chapter of Paley's treatise ; and that Paley's conclusion is, that " trial and error" in Nature make no more against the divine ex- istence than "trial and error" in works of human art make against the existence of a human artist. Natural selection in this respect has raised no new difficulty for teleology. The foundations for meeting the teleological difficulties of natural selection were laid long before those difficulties were raised. Theologians have sometimes met difficulties before they have been sprung, as St. Augustine did in maintaining long periods of time for the six days of creation. Metaphysicians have sometimes gone through and blazed out a path for science long before it pushed its slow way over the same track, as Kant not only worked out evolution before Herbert Spencer,
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>*4-* -r*j ^* *r*/t 'Txliter.cc cf I>£::t. -o iriu^t oc tb^e religious Uk*..,f^, ,x d':r.'*ir..dr:rl All th^: is neecei is. :hi: a man shall K*u\,/»j \.\ :;.V;!l'r.t:iI tapa-rl:;^ i" ^1 :ze iirecti:ns in which t }'#^/ w^r ^ rn v: '; to r -. n. The pjs: ::o n «: :" an a.i:i: cleolo-^sr argues uh** V/ rn -',r* i;<i-',Ic of spiritual vision as lack of intellectual com- yrKiu:hii'/tnc%%, It is not reli^^oo, merely, which he ignores ; it
l874*] Tiir Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought, 41
is one line of strictly intellectual thought It is a question for the intellect, and not for the moral perceptions, what the sys- tems that have been so long elaborating in Nature, with so much exactness, and subserving so many uses, signify, — whether or not they look as though mind had been behind Nature's forces, operating them by purposed adaptations to purposed ends.
If we admit that life has been differentiated from even one original germ by evolution, that does not negative the fact that the work done bears on itself the stamp of thought The systems wrought out under the manipulation of natural agen- cies are methodical, connected, true to an idea.
Evolution has in no way touched the argument from design.
That argument does not rest on the idea that adaptations have no other origin than an instantaneous fiat of the Almighty. It is indifferent to the means used in bringing about an end, and to the time consumed in its accomplishment.
Its force lies in the conception^ we view work done^ that it has been thoughtfully done.
Mr. Darwin and Mr. Huxley both seem to labor under the misapprehension that teleology is a way of accounting for the origin of things ; that is, of designating the proximate means by which they have been made, and so that it is in antagonism to principles in Nature that they see, or think they see, have had moulding power.
Teleology proposes no substitute for such natural principles. It looks simply on work wrought, to see if there are indications in the adaptations and fitnesses discerned, — that mind presided in their arranging.
Perhaps this matter cannot be better put than it is by Janet, in his critique on Biickner.
"Naturalists persuade themselves that they have cast out final causes from Nature when they have shown how certain effects result necessarily from certain given causes. The dis- covery of efficient causes appears to them a decisive argument against the existence of final causes. We must not say accord- ing to them that the bird has wings in order to fly, but that it flies because it has wings. But in what, I pray you, are these two propositions contradictory ? In supposing that the bird has
42 The Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. [Jan.
wings in order to fly, must it not be that the flight results from the structure of the wings ; and so, because the flight is a re- sult, you have not a right to conclude that it is not an end ? Is it necessary, then, in order that you should recognize an end and a choice, that there should be in Nature effects with- out cause, or effects disproportioned to their causes ? Final causes are not miracles ; to attain a certain end, the Author of things must have chosen second causes precisely adapted to the effect desired. Consequently, what wonder that, in studying these causes, you should be able to deduce from them mechani- cally the effects ?
" The contrary would be impossible and absurd. So explain to us as much as you please that, a wing being given, the bird must fly ! That does not at all prove that he has not wings in order to fly. In good sooth, if the Author of Nature wished that birds should fly, what better could he have done than to give them wings ?
• ••■.•.•
" Let us finish by a general observation. In spite of the numerous objections which we have raised against the theory of Mr. Darwin, we do not take sides directly against this theory, of which the zoologists are the true judges. We are neither for nor against the transmutation of species ; neither for nor against the principle of natural selection. The sole, positive conclusion of our discussion is this: So far no principle — neither the action of means, nor habit, nor natural selection — can explain organic adaptations without the intervention of the principle of design (finaliti),
" Natural selection not guided, submitted to purely mechani- cal laws, and exclusively determined by accidents, appears to me under another name the cliance of Epicarus, as sterile, as incomprehensible as it ; but natural selection, guided from the beginning by a foreseeing will, directed towards a precise end, by intentional laws, might well be the means that Nature has chosen to pass from one step to another, from one form to an- other, to perfect life in the universe, and to rise by a continued progress from the monad to humanity. But I ask of Mr. Dar- win himself, what interest has he in maintaining that natural selection is not guided, is not directed ? What interest has be
1 874-] ^^ Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. 43
in replacing all final cause by accidental causes ? One cannot see. Let him admit that, in natural selection as well as in arti- ficial selection, there may be a choice and a direction, and his principle becomes at once quite otherwise significant.
" His hypothesis, while preserving the advantage of freeing science from having recourse for each creation of species to the personal and miraculous intervention of God, would yet not have the danger of banishing from the universe all foreseeing thought, and submitting all to a blind and brutal fatality."
Mr. Huxley speaks with derision of those who " cannot un- derstand the eye except by supposing that it was made to see with."
If the argument of design respecting the eye, even as it is used by Paley, were well put before the people, the number of those who could not " understand the structure of the eye, except by supposing it to have been made to see with," would be vastly increased. Of course very much has been done in science since the days of Paley, of which use may be made in enforc- ing the teleology of the eye. You can go back with Mr. Hux- ley to his own Bathybius (Bathalbius would have been a more significant name, though it is still questionable whether there is any Bios in it), and trace up on the principle of evolution, if so it be, the differentiation of nerve, from its simple state of sus- ceptibility to external impression, into the divers kinds fitted to take impressions from divers media. Thrown off in one direc*- tion, see the nerves whence we derive the sense of tact, which gives us some knowledge of gross matter. These nerves can also take up and interpret mass motions, at the rate of about one hundred feet per second.
In another direction, see the auditory nerves specialized for use in another medium, the air, fitted to take up and interpret motions that proceed in that medium at the rate of 1,090 feet per second.
Now look at the optic nerve, stretching in its capacity out beyond all these gross media of earth and air to catch the shimmer, the avTjQiOfiov ytXaa^ia^ of that infinitely tenuous sea, the ether, where motions proceed at the rate of 185,000 miles per second.
Very few minds are so unhappily constituted but that they
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T?*iwe has been vjo much of this " better getting on," and of c/^nyy; uent better adaptation within the total en\-ironment, t/> permit us to doubt that there has been an intent; that there ilufuld be just this " betUr getting onT
There has been too much of this differentiation of nerves of sensation ; too much of conduction of them to useful function across the tremendous chasms which separate the various media in which they find service ; too much of perfection wrought in the apparatuses adapting these nerves of sensation to useful ends in their several media.
k
I874-] ^7>S^ Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. 45
Man may have been evolved from primordial mist by laws and forces purely natural. But the mind is to be pitied for its intellectual limitations that is unsusceptible to the conviction that, running from mist to man, there has been an intent that he should feel and hear and see.
Of course the teleological argument may be carried on be- yond the mere adaptation of particular organs to their uses.
It runs to the combination of all organs for a general effect. We cannot stop to illustrate here. We can only say with Janet : *' In the presence of so many different examples, of a significance so clear, shall we not be permitted to say, as the savants do in like circumstances, that everything comes to pass, as if the cause, whatever it may be, which has made the organs in a living being had in view a particular effect which each one of them should produce, and a common effect which they should produce together ; in other words, that that cause has had a plan, and has proposed itself an end."
But beyond the adaptation of organs to individual purposes, and beyond their combined adaptation for general effect, is an ideal system which embraces all life.
Science, in the principle of classification, which it has dis- covered running through all Nature, has very much enlarged the boundaries of the possible application of teleology.
Agassiz's " Methods of Study in Natural History," perhaps better than anything else, shows the new kind of thought which science has opened for teleological use.
Even if we discount from that work all that the author says against the idea of the origin of species by derivation, what remains is inexpugnable as teleological argument. No matter by what means the system of life has been elaborated, here it v& as a system bound together by intellectual ties. It speaks of thought behind the forces which elaborated it
Mr. Darwin himself says, " Naturalists have long felt the profound conviction, that there is a natural system " in classi- fication.
Under Mr. Darwin's lead, however, we have been so long thinking about the possibilities along the margins of related life, that we are in danger of forgetting the actuality of its comprehensive uniformities. Margins may be indefinable, but sweeps of distinction still be clear.
45 Ths Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought, [Jan.
There are diptera with lepidopterous characteristics, sug- gesting the possibility of passage from one order to the other by genetic connection. Yet the difference between the two orders is so clearly and widely expressed, that practically there is little difficulty in distinguishing between a fly and a butterfly. Entomologists have had no difficulty in recognizing the indi- viduals of two and twenty thousand species as lying within the bounds of the one order, and the individuals of four and twenty thousand species as lying within the bounds of the other. The broad plains of thought, covered and expressed by each order, cannot be deprived of their significance because of an almost inperceptibly narrow belt of suture.
So far as the teleology of classification is concerned, no matter if we admit the principle of evolution. * Forms may have been derived from pre-existing forms, by manipulation of environment. That does not nullify the fact, that they have been forms after all, and, as forms, toughly persistent against the manipulation of environment over wide sweeps of space and time.
And the pliancy to circumstance has always been so worked on a systematic line, that from general forms you could proph- esy special differentiations, with the certainty that Nature would be held to the work of executing them.
In popular practice, the lowest and plainest ground should be taken in telcological argument. It makes no difference where the idea of God came from. The significant fact is, that the idea, being here, supplies the best reason for the condition of things, such as we find in Nature around us.
Practically it makes no difference what the metaphysical basis of the argument is. The supposition of mind behind the operative forces of the universe may be treated as a working liypothesis.
It is certainly fair to submit the question whether Nature, in its parts and in its combinations, can be as rationally accounted for on any other hypothesis as on that of an intelligent mind guiding and directing its agencies to definite, predetermined ends. Everything is as if m\nd were over it. Let no man say that this is not a sufficient base to command scientific respect
" No man hath seen " the ether " at any time." Yet Mr.
1 8/4-] The Relation of Religious to Scientific Thought. 47
Tyndall and his confrere savants found the whole philoso- phy of light upon it ; because, to use Mr. Tyndall's own expres- sion, " Everything \& as if \\, existed." There is a wider body of induction than that on which the scientific theory of the ether rests, which posits mind behind and in the processes of Nature. Fair catholic intellects see it.
That theologians, then, have rights in Nature, and to what end is apparent. The question arises. What use are they making of these rights } It is said that the masses are honey- combed with scepticism, derived from scientific materialism. Now perhaps it is possible to dislodge that scepticism, by press- ing sharply forwaid the moral considerations that lie more spe- cifically in the true domain of religion. But certainly it is well, also, joining issuewith that kind of scepticism to show its irra- tionality. That done, the field will be clear for unreserved attention to the moral considerations of religion.
Christ, as " the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation," cannot, to the best advantage, be pressed upon a man, when he is in doubt whether there is any God at all firom whom salvation might come.
All Nature lies open at the theologian's feet for his use. The more science discovers, the more material it supplies for his hands. Ministers do not lack the knowledgje necessary to meet the unbelief that arises from the scientific quarter.
But is not the failure of the clergy to popularize their knowl- edge one reason for the scepticism of the masses ? Do they not hold it too much as a guild mystery ? ^^Nos, nos, consules desutnus ? "
On all these topics that science forces upon us, we hear essays at ministers* meetings that seem to handle the matter satisfactorily ; but how often is the line of thought thus devel- oped put before the people ? Is it not too often the clergy- man s custom to look into these troublesome matters for him- self alone, just to preserve his own balance ?
It is not an unknown thing for a minister to say he fears to discuss matters of scientific scepticism, lest he should suggest doubts to minds that would otherwise never be troubled with them. And here let it be said with emphasis, that the timor- ousness of the clergy ought, in fairness, to be attributed,
48 The Relation of Religious to Scientific Tkam^eL (Jia
usually, to an overweening sensitiveness about personal, mond responsibility, rather than to intellectual cowardice aboat grap- pling with this class of difficulties. They are not actuated bf the dishonorable motive of fear for themselves, but by the honor- able one of fear for others.
The timorous policy is, however, a mistaken one. It nnder- etti mates the intelligence and the honest intent of the people; arid it assumes a position of conscience-keeper for others, quite at variance with the democratic principles of CongiegatiaD- ali«m.
A minister can hardly show authority for trying to save a man by keeping him in ignorance ; or, worse than that, by keq>- iiig other men in ignorance. We do not well to ignore what is patent and palpable. The world is deluged with books, pcri- odiriils, and papers, containing sceptical ideas professedly derived from science. The atmosphere is surcharged with scepticism, and what is in the air might as weU be lironj^ht to the ground, and examined. The fact that a minis- ter is ready to do it disarms scepticism of one of its most potent weapons, — the claim that religion fears to face the new thought. ** Make the church," says the author of " Ecce I loni!),** ** a place not merely of devotion, but also, as Protest- ant churches should be, of solid, continuous, and methodical instruition."
Painstaking instruction might meet the intellectual difficul- ties arising from scientific thought ; so that, on that ground, nothing shouKl be loft to scepticism but the moral obliquity of its irrcligion.
Charles CAVERxa
1874.] Our Churches in the U. S. Cefisus of 1870. 49
OUH CHURCHES IN THE U. S. CENSUS OF 1870.
A THICK quarto volume contains that portion oif the Census given to " Population and Social Statistics." It is beautifully printed, and is a monument of labor.
We have naturally turned to that part of the volume which gives the statistics of churches, and which occupies fifty- two pages. It is divided into two, each with its distinct title- page, namely : —
[i.] " Statistics of Churches in the United States, (A) by States and Territories ; (B) by Denominations."
[2.] "Statistics of Churches in each State and Territory (by Counties)."
The second part is, of course, a rearrangement of the first, but seen at a glance to take but two of the four items given with each denomination in the first set of tables.
The Census gives the number of churches of several de- nominations decidedly lower than they are given by their own denominational issues. It cuts the "regular" Baptists from '7>53S to 14,474^; the United Brethren from 3,753 to 1,44$; the Universalists " much " ; and to " other " Baptists it gives but 1,355, while the single branch called Freewill Baptists (ignored in the Census) reports 1,356, with the figures of 199 more of their kind. On the other hand, it credits the Episco- pal Church with 2,835, while their own report claims but 2,752.^ As to the Methodists, it is impossible to make any comparison, as the Census reckons all " the branches of the church " under the name "Methodist"; which, in fact, is the precise name of only one " branch," totally independent. Comparisons as to Presbyterians are also impossible; for the exactly opposite reason that the Census divides them into "regular" and "other," with no explanation of this hitherto unknown line of division, and with numbers (6,262 "regular," 1,562 "other") which defy our utmost attempts at grouping.^
^ On the other hand, the Census gives them in New Hampshire nearly twenty more churches than they had or claimed.
' In Massachusetts, the Census finds 107 ; the Episcopal official list claims bat 93.
' If the Northern and Southern General Assemblies are reckoned as the ''regu-
SICOND SZRIXS. — VOL. VI. NO. I. 4
I
M - *•
1 874-] Our Churclus in the U. S. Census of 187a 51
of difference, we could see reason in it, although our own list of actual " organizations " would have been none the less cor- rect because we and the Census had a different basis.
But, in the criticisms with which the Census assailed oiu: accuracy, there are a few tangible points.
The Census says that " the difference is partially accounted for (probably to the extent of between 50 and 60) by the later date (within the same year) of the statistics of the denomina- tion."
Unfortunately for the explanation in our relief, our average date was ^^r//>r than the Census date, which was June i, 1870. Our dates of different States varied. States reporting January 1st had 817 churches; April 1st, 622 churches; Mayist, 731 churches ; that is. States reporting 2,170 churches reported at times varying from one to five months earlier than the Census date, and included not one church organized after their respec- tive dates. And 208 reported on the exact Census date; while only 743 were reported later than the Census date. It is thus seen that the average was decidedly earlier than June 1st, rather than later.
If it was assumed that the States reporting latest gained faster than the earlier ones, — we have made a careful examina- tion, and we find the preponderance to be very nearly accord- ing to the average date. In fact, we enrolled only 18, all told, of churches organized after June ist, while we enrolled, among the 2,170 churches, none formed between the date of their re- ports and June ist. Instead, therefore, of having "between SO and 60 " more churches than the Census found June ist, by reason of our reporting later^ we had actually more churches June 1st than we reported that year, because we reported ear- lier. But " between 50 and 60 " implies careful examination. It is always best to appear exact.
What makes the attempted explanation remarkable is the fact that the exact date of reports was printed at the head of every page of our statistics, and in full view of the writer ! So grave a reversal of fact, with its data before his eyes, is not promising.
The Census goes into a particular criticism of our reports from three States (and three only), and these we can examine.
'l». Ill
5 J Oup Churches in the U. S. Census of 1870. [Jan.
.hhinsas. — "The Q'iar/erfy reports 2 churches, the Cen- !iu< tu»nc.'* On the contrarj', the Quarterly expressly said : *• Ni» u*|H>rt. last yean churches at Austin andBayou-Metoe.*' Wc vlul not even v«i sole instance) put these in our tabular K»im Wo vUJ not feci authorized to drop them, as we had ac- \\\a\ !vjvttH t\vin those chuorhes the preceding year. It was Ki»v'S' ii»^\:i»uou$ in the Census to make a labored argument ,1^1 •»>!: ou: .wvuncv. by trjrstorniing our distinct statement •N.i' ^v '^'U? 'tc 'vi,vr: irict? ' rerorts." and oiiiitting our evident
V -.I .•!*%>. — r>c Cv:nsus savs tia: our report claimed 3 ^.^ iiv^vvs. . Mc vMr. -Mt Tn:uir/. -le rasrorsof 2 of them stated !,>.i SIC >*i.'^ • Nij»i*s-;*. * :e jciier "•Christian" (which every .Sly 'vMv»«v > '-aj'is^c r TrLcce-.. Tie icts were simply these : ' *>v\"<: ■•v-; :? ::-:r>is v'lri -ivc'iiariv reported to us on our I xC'^o" -':^*. • — *' ru:?r:r :i oce of these was a IV ^. .1 'K'T :cr :c :ot :•: :■:.: .*-.j5j;:c.ar.:cs : and the other .N\\'. w. .«/>.'- ;.-;f.-::-?r.r :. Tr»; ra:*c:r not a member had :,* .15. t-L-^rchv.- r l it!?*.-* ys •;•,:•. iT'-Lred affiliation with :„:;-:..•- 4. 7~f^^ ::r.:-r::i Jie o:her has disap- ^s.i.w- \x-Ji>. v:ii liic :i:tr :>.-.r::jis :£ :3 Association, for- »uiV,\ ;v;^:e>e:::t'i i:. :.r Nii::*:^ J.i^rc- :*: 1S71 by its own s honvMi vlc'ciT^tes : L-.i :r-i: ;r.-r:>. >:— ri-^-JjLriy reports.
I hr third Kc:.tu:"i:v ;i_r:"!L. ih-c-r. riJ«ivi * Camp Nelson," io I ho onlv r.anie wr.l.i lit Cer.s-s rr.'ir.rj:.7,5 lr.ill its criticisms : x\\\\\ its choice \v2s :r.t n:->: u-I^jky :c.* :: ^:wIJ have made (ill ilsoh* I: ssvs -iiL:. there r^ir:^ r.: p:»>:-c3ice of that ihiino, "the inqu:r>- rc.i r.:: >? ":-5^ru:c'i./' Kad the office hoiil onlv a ver\- *^r,ti r..:e t: the c:r-:r^:Icr cf the statistics, the huiiiiry could have beer, ■"rrr^^cutei" TA:t>. rerfect ease. Not ihinkinj; of so s:r?.7*.e 2^. exreiier.t. it sij-s: -It may be iihhiimod that the s::i:er.:er.t cf a church at this place is limiiJod ujv>n a irad:t:.n *::" s:r:.e Ijcal ar.i ter:iT>orar\* organi- zation. ctVectoil viurin^ the ^\■A^ at the lar^e and important camp !ht»n formed there/*
Now it is ilirticuU to bo'ieve, b::t the :*hct is, that, when the CohhUH orticial ** ass\:?v.cd *' this the:r}" of o'jr "tradition," he hinl ihiooilv bol'oio his eves — evactlv where he found the name ••c',uu|i NoNou*' • the piiniovi stateniont that that church did
w t • . . V
1874] Our Churches in the U. S. Census of 1870 53
actually make a report on the loth of December, 1870, and in that report said that Gabriel Burdett was then (December 10, 1870) its pastor ; that on that December 10 it had 50 male members and 124 female, 152 of the total being actually resi- dent that day ; that, in the twelve months ending that Decem- ber 10, it had received 8 persons on profession and i by letter ; had lost 7 by death and 2 by excommunication, and had baptized 8 persons ; and that, on that December 10, 1870, it had a Sabbath School numbering 130. All this was on the only page, and in the only lines of the page, in which the name of this church appears ; and it was directly before his eyes when he said to the world that " it may be assumed that the statement of a church at that place is founded upon a tradition of some local and temporary organization, effected during the war." Further, had he looked back a year, he would have found the same church reporting in 1869 ; and, if forward, reporting itself every year till he went to press, and now to this date. A few more such lively " traditions " would be acceptable. The remarkable point in his criticism, it will be seen, is not his ignorance of the real post-office of this church, but his publish- ing to the world his supposition of a " tradition " of a church dead for five years, in the very face of such statements as were on the page before him. If he looked at the page, he must have seen these statements. If he did not look at the page, how did he know anything about " Camp Nelson " }
Pennsylvania, — This is the stronghold of the Census criti- cism. " The most important discrepancy" " in the East" is in this State. The careful qualification '* in the East," of course implies that there were worse in the West ; whereas no other State approaches it. But it is always best to be very precise in criticisms. It looks learned. "The agents of the Census report 40 church organizations. The 'Quarterly' claims 70. ... In the case of 13 of the churches thus reported by the denomination, the Census received positive information from the postmasters . . . that no such organizations were in existence. ... Of the 17 remaining to be accounted for. the Census office has been able to obtain no information." Perhaps it might have succeeded better if it had inquired of persons who did know, instead of persons who did not know.
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1 874-] Our Churclies in the U, S, Cmsus of 1870. 55
the churches, although associated as " Congregational," may not always prefix a name. And perhaps it may not be dis- loyal to the government, if we conjecture that the Pennsyl- vania " postmasters " were not always selected with a view to their discriminating knowledge of ecclesiastical affairs.
But while the failures of the Census to find these churches may be excusable, it has no right to assail the accuracy of our reports on the ground of its own failures. Its duty was to find all the Congregational churches in Pennsylvania : we found 72 ; the Census found 40. In failing to find the other 32, the Census failed to do what Congress appropriated public money to have it do.
These three States — Arkansas, Kentucky, and Pennsyl- vania— were its chosen field for criticism. When it had finished, it said, " Instances of this character could be multi- plied ; but the foregoing will suffice." In this excellent sen- timent, we cordially concur.
We will now notice the numbers of churches given by the Census in our denomination (which the Census ig^orantly calls " the Congregational Church," in utter defiance of the fundamental principle which gives us our name) in several States. In comparing with our own figures, we will concede so far as to drop from our number all churches which the Census could say lacked visibility ; and we will even drop all churches (except as specially mentioned for special reasons) which had no pastors, and made no report in 1870. When we shall say, " actual reports," we mean reports of membership, etc., given newly tJiat year by a bona fide working organization on our list That is, we will endeavor to reckon on the exact princi- ples of the Census, and a little more in its favor than it claims. The first number given is taken from the Census.
California, 40. We had actual reports from 46, and 2 others had pastors.
Illinois, 212. We had actual reports from 204 ; 8 others had pastors ; 1 1 others were then (and now) on the roll, with mem- berships from 1 1 1 down, only 3 having less than 40 members each.
Indiana, 18. We had 23 undoubted.
56 Our Churchis in the U. S. Census of 187a [Jan.
Kansas, 43. We had actual reports from 48, and 5 others had pastors.
Louisiana* g. We had 12, each with a pastor ; but we are not sure but that one was organized later than June isL
Maine. ^31. Of the 241 actual organizations, every one reported, it is Jiificuit to see how the Census could have over- looked more than 5.
Michigan* 156. We gave actual reports from 164, and 3 others luui p-xstura^
Miimcsuca. 57. We gave actual reports from 64 (sure at JuiKj ;\ ?^> vii wniea iad pasters.
MiSA^ur. ir- ^'^^ i^^"^ icrjal reports from 51, and 2 others
NvT-.n^teiiU :c* lie i^unss oc je, reported June ist, seem
Nc^ V%;:*r:**iv.:'t, .'>^ W^ iii acrjal reports from 185. r s \„-: r> s.?c n^- :-;: ::r^t ^ rntr coi£d be lost sight o£ V^r: J'-ir ..::^ : V^ rai 5 reporting their membership,
Vcr -li^f^r:. 5. "■". ^ -V TT xinies*. izd pastors, of 4.
\\:r3;.T:: : 5^. Vi\: -i v iscrrL r»:rts from 191 ; 2 others >.kI ^-^iiC-^r^ i-Ti :cv! *js X TituHLSCiT jHii 3 J members, though txo: :hc- r*->.\-: -^ rs ::-:--;r:*K Bitr i. iw of these churches
Virviiuu^ ::,x:^. \V* -r.-^ i:r£il rscccts from 4, each with a
minister.
We hAvc :bu* ^ /.•»?£: rie i3r^;K^^^ ui 15 Sates out of our 39. lt\ those* the Ce.:>u:j i:> ieiicteiir : :c ci;:rc«s ; whfle we pur- |Hv*oly vMuit aotuxl or;xii.n:xc5 iescin:? of pastors, if they k\\k\ not make 4 iicw --swrr tiix: p-jLTtlcuIar vear. notwithstanding tho UkX thvtt m^ii^y of :c«se iive si^c^ reverted, and that the (\m\?i\w \ui|;ht to have lOwnd thecr
i h\ tho othev hdnvl : —
AlaUuua, 4. Wc bjii be: 5 ; and -o other of that date has
niMiU't ot Cohimbijc .\ We bjLi be: i. < lot»i nirt» I v\ Wc had but 4 ; a:id co others of that date have ynt ap|HNu\Hl
Now York. ^^ We had but 2^6, The difference, and
l874-] Our Churches in the U. S. Census of 1870, 57
probably much more, is due to error in entering independent churches as Congregational.
Rhode Island, 27. We could find but 25.
Washington Territory, 2. We had but i.
Ohio is very close. Doubtless there is the same mistake of enrolling independent churches as Congregational.
It should be remembered that in all these cases we gave complete lists, embracing the precise locality of every church. The Census gives none ; and therefore we are unable to go into a more particular examination. We guarantee that in every case (natural errors excepted) there was an actual organization. We will do the Census this justice : that there were, perhaps, some scores of churches on our list, which, though not extinct, were not deserving of enumeration, on the principle of practical working condition required by the census. But, on the other hand, there were many churches not on our list that year which were actually existing, and many of which have since been enrolled or replaced. Some clerks of conferences omit some churches which fail to report, and espe- cially churches temporarily not connected with the organiza- tion. We replace such every year. Although thus tempo- rarily dropped from our list, the independent search of the Census ought to have found them. And the Census did credit us with churches which do not belong to us.
We have alluded to the omission in the Census of names of places smaller than a county. This prevents a close compari- son of the discrepancies. But the Census presents a set of tables, " Statistics of Churches in each State and Territory (by counties)." In hope of approximating to the fields of discrep- ancies, we turned to this second set of tables.
The result is, the very name " Congregational " does not appear in a single county in Pennsylvania ! The tables appear to be complete ; the " totals " are given : but in this subdivision even the "40" allowed us in the first set of tables have been extinguished !
We find also that the same omission of all Congregational churches occurs in Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It oc- curred to us to glance at other denominations. We find Bap-
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l874*] Our ChurcJus in the U. S. Census of 1870. 59
Advent, Unitarian, and Universalist. Neither bad a single church ; but it was needful to fill out the page. The statistics, therefore, are compiled, on the plan of taking just enough to fill a page full.
We have doubts whether it is legitimate in United States Census tables to extinguish 198 churches in a single State. On this plan, what examiner could tell how many churches of a given denomination are in any county ? One not familiar with denominational statistics would certainly suppose, from the misleading title-page, that we had not a church in Ohio or Pennsylvania. This incompleteness is itself contrary to the principles of statistics. The least that could have been done was to put a correct title-page, and give a note stating the fact of such omissions. But we insist that every denomination, large or small, has as much right to a mention in government statistics of churches as Methodists and Baptists, particularly when those tables purport to be complete. But we have still graver doubts whether a title-page implying completeness ought to cover tables thus cut in two.
A glance at the classification of denominations may be in place.
Some denominational names represent one denomination each ; such as the Congregational, Protestant Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and Unitarian. As to these, there is no need of confusion. The Census says that confusion has sometimes arisen from the common use, in some sections, of the name " Congregational " by the three denominations known as Congregational, Unitarian, and Universalist. We venture to assert that such confusion is extremely limited, and that one added question in instructions to Census takers wonld have secured exact facts. If such question was not in the list, it was a fault of the office.
We doubt the propriety of just two kinds of Baptists, "regular" and " other." " Regular " is no part of the Baptist official name ; and it is rather invidious to class all others as "other" than "regular." The Freewill Baptists, with a de- fined faith and complete organization, are swallowed up in "other" ; although they gave lists, in 1870, of 1,356 churches. They certainly are as worthy of notice as 331 Unitarian, 815
ffj Cnir Chir^hcs » thd Z\ S^ Ce'isiLS tf 187a [Jan.
* E-^r-relii-cl A£s:»ri£ti:TL.' dt pr New Jerzssjan. The Free- v!! iip.i.r- -«-::'- ::s r-izrter'v zjetr.'grs. Srzre organizations. trii rtrTitrrL V. S. Ciriferenrf:. is rerrr. 7 y iarg:c cnougb, and elf :.' :: *rr.:.-.r~ *: iive 1 rlnre :r. r""emTDe:i: tables.
T^t Pri:5b;-ierl£^5 sre 3l>: rri-jrei intd 'Tegular" and " -r''^.'" 'vVt cm .:-ier>t2.::f -wii^: is :i:-eiiit by such terms fcTC'lici to ZiEposts.. E5 tberr is s:'~* si}:! usage : but we own o.T j^^rpjirln- i-i £e:ii:r.g lar^: ?rcs~}-:cri:Lns are -regular." T'lc-'e Lre s.: je^s: eirb: i:s:i-r: :rg2.-ir2.tic*ns of Prcsby- t*:rlc.r-s : if the Cei.sus bi£ but river, -s 2 b:r.t of the grounds C/' :*-s s.sB.'.r:ine-:, it niz^b: iiive ;-5rLiIly settled some grave etti^sii^ticil c'jesrltr-s. \\"h2: a r^nf:r: :: would have been, had •: ferial autb: ri:y zrly ir.f?rz:e£ us wb^: particaiar '* school" is regular. Is it tie Xrr.berr. cburcb. :be Southern church, c»r bc'tb cburrbes ? Is i: :be true b'ue United, cr the true blue P^ef-.-rTnei r Dt^es the iiue z:- ou tbe Cztecbisnj, or on the Ps^ms alone? Tbe Census cfice kr.ew wbicb was r^^lar; tl^rt it C'juld not nave counted. It oucbt to have decided this n:a:t*:r bevond furiire ccntrcversv. Besides, it would have e-mailed us to understand its taV.es, As :i is, this novelty is a mvsten'. and tbe o*d ccntroversv niust co on.
The Mefnodist column is exact'v the reverse. The old Metbvdist Episcopal, tbe M. EL South, tbe Methodist Prot- e>tint, the Methodist with n?tb:n:: aided, tbe American Wesieyan, the Free Methodist, the Primitive Methodist, the A. M. E., and the A M. E. Zion, appear to be hidden under the one name, " Methodist." To have had to preserve all these distinctions would have tended to unsettle the brain ol an ordinarv' Census taker ; but certainlv some Methodists mi^ht have been indorsed as " regular."
Then the Lutherans. There are four large bodies, and a number of other svnods, in this countr\*. The distinction ot these bodies is ignored, and we think properly, in the Census. But why was not the same rule applied to the Presb)'terians ?
What we notice is, that there should have been some uni- form principle governing the classification. Baptists and Presbyterians are divided, each, into •* regular " and *' other." The distinction is invidious. The Census has no right to affix such terms. In the case of the Baptists there is an excuse.
i874-] Our Churches in the U, S. Census of 1870.
61
because the word " regular " is frequently used by them. But in the case of the Presbyterians, it is an invention, which is fortunately nullified by the complete silence as to its applica- tion. But, if these two denominations are divided into these two classes, why was not the same rule applied to Lutherans and Methodists ? Why were all '* branches " aggregated in the grand total of " Methodists," while Presbyterians were divided, and divided by an unexplained invention } There was evi- dently no uniform principle applied. Neither the large size of a denomination, nor its completely distinct and organized existence, nor its combination of these with a distinct doc- trinal faith, seem to have secured a name in the Census.
It is clear that the Census could not have subdivided itself into all the little distinctions. But, when it recognized some of them, it ought not to have hidden, under the word " other," a denomination which comprised almost all of that "other." The Census might have adopted this rule, — to enroll every denomination which was separately organized, clearly and quickly recognized in its distinctive faith, and readily found by Census takers of proper intelligence. Or, it might have grouped various bodies by a rule, that all bodies evidently branches of one family, although varying in doctrine or in polity, should appear under one name. By the former rule, the Cumberland Presbyterians, the Freewill Baptists, and some others would have had a place, which they have not. By the latter rule, the Presbyterians would have been aggregated, and the Baptists, which they are not. It would have been better to have had some rule on the subject.
Returning to our own denomination, it will do no harm to consider the comparative agencies employed in obtaining information.
The lists of our churches are made up, first, by clerks of local groups of churches, averaging perhaps a dozen in an asso- ciation. Reports are received from each church. This clerk is a resident, in many cases serving year after year. His group of churches covers but a few miles, and meets twice a year. It is extremely probable that this clerk will know what churches are actually existing. Secondly, a secretary of a State organization receives all these reports, edits them, prints them by associa-
<:r Oxr Ccxrzizz st u^ ^, S. Cnpmr jf ilTr Jav
irjz "5 ^^iT. zzii zx^jiLZ*:^ nnn^LTjss. H± -'fT;r rzrrJes x cr:::rr^
i.*:;;,«: ',r. iict 1 J^ ifitr tit/ Lxt* teamed rs ns-iist 2 prictical i:*r «t-t. — z^rj^i-ift thtv ir» stfZ irriil crz^zizadoas ;
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iy-t t:i^^ :* r-.ot •:i'.r-* -.:-^- V« e -iirip. er^rj jear. scca as g.. r^'> %:>:-' '-.t rec-r/err/, ar.i t2i:i5 ztzu* tie list is fist ani as closelv i.% c rtr i'> th*: C2.:se will all--.Tr. Wltli s-cli a svster:! ct collect-
ir.r^ vjlzIm'jii, nox .-a^r^ed bv us in se-.enteen vcars of its actual oz^^^il'^Ti^ vlih zi^:Trz3LrL^riZ resident clerks in all the local con- feriT:te*,r "-s^I'-o are men of intelligence, knt-irlei^e of the case, and intJtrest :n the work, it is ssie to Dresnme that our tables I^av<^ v>rne fyecMllar g^jarantees.
On tl',i^ othfrr hand, the Census oince had an immense work to d'j. Its ecclesiastical items were but a verv small fraction of itit undertaken :^. Its result is honorable to the industij' and general skiii of the ofnce. But it should be no:ed that a mar- shal who appointed the Census takers, and who made the sub- divbions of territory, " cannot be presumed," says the Census, " U/ have any acquaintance with the requirements of the work ; and he will naturally fail to appreciate the difficulties of enum- eration, for the reason that he has had no experience of them ;** that the Census takers were inexperienced in this work ; that they had sections " not exceeding " 20,000 inhabitants ; that they were loaded with a multiplicity of items ; that they had but a few weeks in which to do the great work in which they were inexperienced ; and that in some districts the compensa- tion " would hardly find food for man and beast." " Probably not lc<»» than 2,000 assistant marshals/' candidly says the report, have been kept from throwing up their positions solely by
ti
i874-] Our Churches in the U. S. Census of 1870. 63
fear of incurring the penalty fined by the law." " In some dis- tricts, . . . but for a rigid refusal to accept resignations, a general stampede would have occurred." The report well says that "any service is conducted at enormous disadvantage when it is performed by unwilling agents."
Under this candid acknowledgment of difficulties, for which the Census office was not responsible, we should not be dis- posed to complain of its defects. The wonder is, that it suc- ceeded so well. But, when it undertakes to criticise our tables from the results of its own confessedly insufficient system, we acknowledge our surprise. We are perfectly willing, before the minds of all candid people, to place our system of collect- ing the statistics by permanent and educated clerks, against the hasty method " conducted at enormous disadvantage when it is performed by unwilling agents."
Nor did we suppose that it was made a part of the duty of that office to criticise anybody's publications. We thought its duty was to collect and publish its own results. In addition to that, it has availed itself of its position, with its government moneys, to put into a great permanent official document attacks on the accuracy of other people, to which they can have no adequate opportunity to reply. In doing this it has, in re- peated instances, drawn replies which are very damaging to its reputation as a standard.
We repeat the expression of our surprise that the office, in searching for our churches not found by them, did not address a single letter to the compiler. It would have been very nat- ural, if they were in search of information. He could have enabled the office to perfect a list about which there could be no question.
We write this with no disrespect to the able head of the bureau. He cannot be held responsible for the weak criticisms of some subordinate. The difficulties were enormous.
They suggest that, if the Census business is to be continued, Tipennanent national statistical bureau ought to be established, whose officers can profit by their experience, and become so familiar with the work as to avoid some unfortunate errors which at present seriously interfere with the value of the Cen- sus.
Congregational XcctbIc^:
CONGREGATIONAL XECROIX>GY.
Rev. Martti'n Tupper died at ^Vest SiiiTord, Conn., July , 1872.
He was the second son of Thomas and Manha I'Wood) Tupp and uas bom in West Statturd, Conn., Jan. 6, iSos. His ea years were spent in labor upon his faiher's lann, with scarcely a opportunity to gratify the desire for knowledge and improremi which developed itself in his \eTs boyhood. The aspirations of youtliful nature soon ripentd into a determination to acquire a < lege education, which he kept steadily in view until it was accc plished. In this purpose, home furnished bitn neither help 1 encouragement ; and ditficuliies beset his way, which, to one of I resolute and undaunted spirit, would have appeared insurmountat From his paslor, however. Rev. Joseph Knight, he received sjin] thy and aid, as also from Rev. William Strong, then of Som< Conn., in whose family he resided for a season.
At the age of twenty-one, still bent upon securing a liberal edu lion, he started forth from the paternal dwelling with eleven doll, in his pocket, and the home-made suit he wore his only outfit, directed his course to Princeton, N. J., where he had been told il he could attain the end he had in view with less expense than el where. Such was the extremity to which he was reduced, that first night's Itxiging in this place was not paid for under a ye But, dark as was the prospect, with all he had to contend against, never lost heart.
Maintaining himself by teaching, and such other occupation as could find, prosecuting all the while his classical studies, bcfrienc by the officers of the college, he was at length admitted to 1 Sophomore class of N.issau Hall in November, 1823, gradual: therefrom with honor in i8a6. Having in the mean while b< brought under the converting power of the gospel, it became highest ambition to be a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. At t time, he was much under the influence of his intimate friend a classmate, James Brainerd Taylor, wiih whom he entered Yale Th logical Seminary the fall of his graduation from college. Here remained but a year, pursuing at the same time the studies of I classes.
After teaching for a while in Monson Academy, Mass., he \ ordained first pastor of the Calvinistic church in Hardwick, Ma April 16, 1S2S. A separation had just taken place from the 1
1 874-] Congregational Necrology. 65
church, because of its defection to Unitarianism. It was truly a day of small things with the new church ; but the seven years of his pas- torate were years of steady growth, increasing prosperity, and abun- dant manifestations of the divine presence and blessing.
A revival of religion commenced under his labors in 1829, and continued with increased power into the year 1830. Another and yet greater revival was enjoyed in 1 83 1, extending, with abated in- terest, into 1832. During these years, there was a full attendance upon religious meetings of every character. On one occasion, in the evening, when the religious exercises were closed, so deep was the interest felt that the whole assembly remained, and, with a single ex- ception, refused to leave the room ; and the religious ser\'ices were resumed. On another occasion, at a full and crowded meeting, when those who had purposed to choose Christ and his service as their portion were requested to rise, every individual in the room arose. A prayer-meeting was held at sunrise, which was well at- tended, persons being present whose residence was two miles dis- tant. The pastor had a Bible-class of young persons, and taught them the doctrines of the gospel. As the result of these revivals, eighty-one were added to the church.
So undemonstrative is the New- England character that he was not aware of the strength of attachment which his people cherished towards him ; and a church in the beautiful valley of the Connecticut, near the place of his nativity, being desirous of his services, he asked a dismission from his pastoral charge. At once the people to whom he had proved so rich a blessing gathered around him, and gave ex- pression to their affection. But, fearing the influence of a step back- ward, he declined to withdraw his request, and was dismissed April 29, 1835.
Thence he went to East Longmeadow, where he was installed pastor in October, 1835, and remained in charge of the church until September, 1849. May 21, 1850, he was installed pastor oi the church in Lanesboro', Mass.; from which he was dismissed May 19, 1852, to accept a unanimous invitation from the people of his first charge in Hardwick to a re-settlement with them. His regret that he had asked a dismission in 1835 prepared him to accept with joy this renewed expression of their confidence and love. His installa- tion took place June 23, 1852 \ and here the remainder of his stated ministry on earth was spent.
Sept. I, 1870, in fulfilment of a previously formed plan, he resigned his charge, and removed to Waverly, 111., to live with his
SECOND SERIES. — VOU VI. NO. I.
66 Congregational Necrology, [Jan.
children, who had their residence in that place. Here he continued to preach, as opportunity presented, to congregations of different denominations, ^^ath great acceptance for a year or more, when his strength gave way. For the last few months of his life, he was a great sufferer.
In hopes of benefit to his health, he revisited New England in the summer of 1872, bearing w4th him the remains of his departed wife for burial, as she had requested, by the side of her daughters in Hard- wick, so long her home.
This errand completed, there seemed to be no further service for him on earth. While spending a few days in company with his daughter, at the house of a former friend, near his birthplace, in West Stafford, Conn., he was suddenly taken worse, and passed away from earth.
He was buried by the side of her whom he had so recently con- veyed to her final resting-place, in the quiet cemetery, whither he had often gone during the twenty-five years of his ministerial life in that community, to speak words of tenderness and sympathy to nunirning friends by the new-made grave. A commemorative dis- course was afterwards preached in the church at Hard wick by Rev. E. P. Blodgelt, of Greenwich, from 2 Kings ii, 12, which has been published, auvl wherein he is spoken of as an instructive, discrimi- nating, and practical preacher ; a s\-mpathizing, affectionate, and help- ful pastor ; characterii^ed by honest)', sincerity, and fidelity in all his conduct ; delighting in nothing so much as in the prosperity of Zion and the salvation of smils ; taking great satisfaction in directing a soul struggling with spiritual difficulty to the place where he might lay his burden down, and be at rest.
During nearly his entire ministr}*, he was officially connected with the public schools of the towns in which he lived, doing useful service.
Such were the privations and hardships through which Mr. Tupper passed in obtaining his education, that he entered upon his profes- sion with a shattered nervous constitution. Several times, and once in the sacred desk, he had an attack of an epileptic character. Al- though this form of disease never recurred in subsequent years, yet the fear of it gave him a lite-long solicitude, which led him to avoid crowded assemblies and scenes of special mental excitement It was the occasion of his refraining from regular attendance upon the meetings of the Ministerial Association to which he belonged. His brethren did not understand this. They loved to have him present, for he was alwa\*s genial, and his criticisms were sometimes keen and witty. Indeed, he had a vein of humor, which, though rarely in-
1 874-] Congregational Necrology, 67
dulged, gave, on special occasions, peculiar zest to his off-hand remarks. He was modest and unassuming, scholarly in his habits, and delicate in his sensibilities. Although his advantages were limited, he was a good preacher. He was marvellously discreet in his intercourse with his people ; and they loved him most who knew hun best.
His salary was always small ; and he had too much self-respect to give hints as to his wants, or gain favors by a patronizing spirit Still, in one way and another, he secured to his family high educa- tional privileges ; in which achievement he was aided by the prudence of his beloved companion, and encouraged by her refined taste.
Mr. Tupper was married April 13, 1828, to Miss Persis Ladd Peck, of West Stafford, Conn., who died in Waverly, 111., July 17, 187 1, of whom an obituary notice appeared in the "Quarterly" for April, 1872.
They had six children : four are still living, — Henry Martyn, pas- tor of the Congregational Church, Ontario, 111.; Augusta Lomira, wife of Deacon Theo. E. Curtiss, of Waverly, 111.; James Brainerd Taylor, in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C; and Louisa Root, teaching in Waverly, 111. ; two deceased, — Emily Peck, wife of Dr. John C. Norris, of Philadelphia ; and Elizabeth Hamilton, who fell a victim to the mysterious malady which prevailed at Maplewood In- stitute in Pittsfield, Mass., in the summer of 1864. The former died at her home in Philadelphia, Dec, 24, 1866 ; the latter at Hard- wick, Aug. 26, 1864. c. c.
Rev. David Hill Gould died at Schroon Lake, Essex County, N. Y., Feb. 16, 1873. He was born in Trumbull, Conn., Feb. 17, 1827. His parents were Jonathan and Sarah (Hawley) Gould, both members of the Congregational church in Trumbull. His middle appellation of Hill was given him on account of his re- lationship to a distinguished lawyer on his mother's side of that name. His father desired him to become a farmer, as he was his only son ; but his own inclinations ran in a different direction, and led him to look forward to the gospel ministry as a profession for life. The poverty of his parents prevented them from giving him a liberal education, had his father favored his seeking it ; and it was only by his indomitable persistence in his plan that he was enabled at last to accomplish his desire to become a preacher of righteous- ness. His mother, a most earnest and devoted Christian, encouraged his aspirations, and helped him by her prayers and counsels.
68 Congregational Necrology, [Jan.
In addition to his other discouragements, his health was never good ; out he was enabled, by study with the able pastors of the church in his n.itive town, to acquire a good knowledge of systematic theol- ogy, a:":d in subsequent life, by his studious habits, to maintain his posit on and standing among his brethren of the ministr}-, and even to comnire verv favorably with some who ha J enjoved far higher educuional advantages. He was emphatically a self educated man, thou2:h he always regretted that he had not been able to avail him- self of the privileges of the higher schools of learning.
In the autumn of 1855 he received the approbation of the Essex (X. Y.) Consociation, as a candidate for the pastorate, and was com- mend':d to tlie churches by that body. The same year he commenced his ministerial labors with the Congregational church in Ticonderoga, N. Y., where he continued five years. From thence he remDved to Mori jh. in the same county, where he labored two }ears ver\' accept- ably, when the sickness of his father called him back to his native place. After his father's death, which occurred soon after the son's return, he settled his estate, and returned again to his people in Moriah, who had patiently waited for him to resume his position among them, after his two years* absence. Six years longer he acted as pastor of this church, nothing occurring to mar the harmony ex- isting between him and his parishioners, when the failure of his health compelled him to change his location.
The little church at the romantic and healthful \'illage of Schroon Lake, in Essex County, now becoming a somewhat noted place of summer resort for health and pleasure seekers, being without a min- ister, he accepted a call to labor with them. That he might combine open-air employments with the discharge of ministerial duties, he here purchased a small homestead, with a few acres of land, which he attempted to cultivate. The care of the church and farm, how- ever, proved too much for him ; and, after a brief sickness, he passed from the toils and trials of life to the rest of heaven. This little church more than doubled in numbers under his ministry.
Mr. Gould was a great lover of books, and left behind him a small but we 11 -selected library, which shows the marks of use. He was a man of few words, an independent thinker, and came to his conclusions after patient and careful thought It was ever his great concern to teach the truth, and that only. Everywhere he was favor- ably known, so far as known at all. Though not what is technically called '* a revivalist," yet he labored in several interesting seasons of awakening in other churches as well as his own, and by his earnest and faithful efforts won souls to Christ Among his most prominent
1 874-] Congregational Necrology. 69
traits of character were an indomitable will and a determined spirit of perseverance to accomplish whatever he undertook in life ; and these helped him to overcome almost insurmountable obstacles in preparing himself for his profession, and in achieving the great work of his life.
In his last hours, faith triumphed over the terrors of death and the grave ; and he spoke with confidence of his Father's house with many mansions, into which he was soon to enter. A brother minister, who was his neighbor, says of him, *' Every friend and acquaintance will hold in pleasing remembrance his meek, self-denying spirit, his schol- arly habits, and his high and noble Christian and ministerial walk." He was ordained at Crown Point in the autumn of 1866. Oct. 6, 1857, he was married, in Ticonderoga, to Mary Jane Calkins, a grandchild, on the mother's side, of Rev. Thomas Allen, who was pastor in Pittsfield, Mass., for forty-seven years, a notice of whom was published in the " Quarterly " recently. He left a widow and five children, — Lucia Nellie, aged eleven years ; Sarah Hawley, aged nine ; Willie J. and Mary R. (twins), aged six ; and Frances J., aged four.
He died at his post, as a home-missionary of the New York Home Missionary Society, and was greatly lamented by the church which he was serving. j. c. h.
Rev. Darius Gore died at La Harpe, 111., Aug. 9, 1873, having nearly completed his fifty-ninth year. He was born at Dudley, Mass., Sept. 24, 1 8 14, and was the eldest son of John and Anna (Carpenter) Gore.
His parents were both members of the Congregational church, as were their ancestors for more than a hundred years before them.
In early life he was the subject of religious convictions, which resulted in his conversion to Christ, at the age of seventeen. He cordially received the doctrines of the Gk)spel, as held by the Con- gregational churches of New England ; and their influence in mould- ing his character and controlling his life was manifest to all who knew him.
By the advice of his pastor and preceptor, he entered on a prepa- ration for the ministry, and fitted for college in his native town. In 1836 he entered college at Amherst, and was admitted to the sopho- more class. He held a respectable standing in all the studies of his college course, but excelled especially in mathematics. After his graduation in 1839, he sj>ent one year in teaching, and three years in the Theological Seminary at East Windsor, Conn.
70 Con^e^Uicnal Xecrology. LT^^
TI-'.' ■'•*mt: m:-<ion ip; rel'.i in the Western States was :hen white, \v^A ' .M t ! / :'■ : r t h '.* h i r. o st. He h eard the cal I fo r *. abo rers. and h i^r rv;! : '^ '^Icv. ll.iv;:'!^ received ordination at S'.urbnci^e, Mass., ^I IV T :. I "^14. Iv: w i«; C'^rini:s<:oned by ihe A. H. M. S.. and re- nj.v..;.: ■-.; <Ti!i.' <«.■■> 'P. t.'» Il'inois.
Ui-i t'-sr ?T-. 'i n li\:r".vis Groveland and \'icin:t\'. in T.izeweil C ^ if**v. wiv."-'.* ho 'iporu t:vo yj.irs. He then labored four years in \V.■•'^■.s'i^,•^|, NF'v^:!! in S;."«:irTV'»rt.\ nine in Lamoille, and four in 1. 1 1 1 r-v. w^.—o 'k' cI "»'iC'l hi-* c.irtlilv minislrv of t'^'enrz-iiine rears.
.X- \ vrv i.b.T, h.; w i< iri'it'-'.ictive, earnest, and fiithrul. He never {.....J » , ,... J, .J .|^.. ,„ :;»-vi !o l>v rvv/oltics or eccentricities : but ""bv iMir- ,: :'i in if 'JK' tT-vir'i ho c^mnicn lod himself t5 ever.* man's oM'Nii ■ • r \\\ '!i.; N-^vt -^r" G >.l.'* rh^iu^jh he never drev adminn:? oi-nv -^ !•; >/■-!, I .>:i i' '\\:\ >ri •. yjt hi-; minivir}* was an cnL-cnve and ux'-s' 1.?'. ll-wK I *i\-^- '1^ t^ every church and C0T.:iiur:irr in w'i:v.'ii 'i.- ; I'l.wol. H.' I:": r'Kfn Nirnn^cr and richer in evtrry element iif >':-:r-i'l ;i: w-vr-'v I'l ;m Iv; f«>iin;l them. His usefulness was .1. h- ■'.'*' f>'. jMi'-tu .i'»'! tnvn-i^ if. I'.iNtry, an I taithful a::ention to c. ;• . ! !■'.. I '.! i 1 o-.vv r::r.-T -i: .^r' hi-; |k» iple. He '.via always at h ' - u »■ X . I • 1 M ■ v.-; H" ••■'•,• i ' r iTi ^ ; : f to be entaTi2[!e i w! th any affairs .V •/».> ! w -o In I' .1:^1' It Ii:< :h li.'.^hts or divide his energies, rh..' w '-Iv M '.h.- rrM-.l^i'v v. i> f-'o "•"•rvj thiti^ " which he did. He th-:, I>/.i:»i ■ I w'i'x-ti «:t 'h I ■•..'■'■ 'o-! M-"" t<i l>e ashamed, and earned fh • ivv\ i! ■'! !• ^ ::-."o M iN^r, "Well done, gocd and faichiul
M • 'A !, 'hi-o iM !f .'! i''s\ M IV 15. 1S41, to Miss C. H. Bruce, .,• S 'r'l>r •.!,•,;, M i^s.. \viv» 'od .u Gu'wlaml, III., in October, 1844, .. '. rt ■ Ml :•;'!> I i.'i \\w\ riiM ••;■.'. S-[U. 29, 1846, he was married r , M-,, 1 . M |).i'». .'f \' \>\. ^V -^vU*. viv. Conn. She was spared to
). ., ,,.:^. v." «rs, ir'.' \\ i- i tiu'-it Willi. ihio comfoftcr, counsellor,
,., ; I, : . .. '-A x:\K- ^\ ^»>.»d wpik. Sho di«.il in Lamoille, in March, ,< .. ; *. 1 s. I '^■''^. I' * w IS III i: Mod to Miss C. J. Mc Arthur, of
! • . N . '. I :!.M ''.''M I > li iM. two diUj;htcrs arc living, educated.
1 874-] Congregational Necrology, 71
Mrs. Naomi Emma (Morse) Bingham was born in Westfield, Mass., June 13, 1802, and died^at New Haven, Conn., August 30, 1873. She was the youngest of the twelve children of Jacob and Naomi Morse. Her mother did not survive her birth. Her eldest sister, afterwards the wife of Rev. Lyman Strong, of Colchester, Conn , faithfully performed to her a mother's part She was educated at the Westfield Academy, and at Albany, N. Y. For several years, in company with an older sister, who was afterwards Mrs. Merrick, she taught in Troy, N. Y. Subsequently she spent some time in Vir- ginia, in the family of her brother-in-law. Rev. Stephen Taylor, then professor in the Theological Seminary in Prince Edwards County, and afterwards, until his death, pastor of a Presbyterian church in Richmond. Returning North for a visit, she was induced, in con- nection with Mrs. Merrick, then residing in New Haven, to open a school for young ladies in that city, which in 1839 had fewer of such institutions than often since.
This enterprise prospered and grew into the widely known ** Young Ladies Seminary in York Square." This after a time passed entirely into the hands of Miss Morse. In connection with this, was the great work of her life. She brought to it several qualifications of a high order. Always courteous, quiet, and self-possessed, firm in her purpose, yet gentle and winning in her manner, she readily gained the confidence of her pupils, and strengthened their resolutions to do .well. She was happily, by her own varied experience, fitted to sympathize not only with others, but with those who, from peculiar- ity in health or temperament, especially needed a mother's care and counsel.
She aimed to fit her pupils for the sober realities of life. Truth- fiilness and fidelity to duty, in her judgment, were more than learning. To be useful was more excellent for a woman than only to be accom- plished. Skilful in reading the motives and in discerning the deficiencies, quick also in appreciating the worth and the honest endeavors of those she instructed, she sought with rare patience and tact to correct the one and develop the other.
Apparently devoid of selfishness, it was her delight to enter heartily into the plans, and to promote, at whatever cost to herself, the wel- fare of her friends. Her Christian character was built upon firm faith in the Bible, and deep conviction of the value of the gospel. In her eyes, the young lady who had not become a disciple of Christ, lacked one thing of transcendent importance. Her family and school were repeatedly the scene of a blessed revival, for which her Sabbath instructions aided directly to prepare the way. Not a few
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i874-] Congregational Necrology. 73
Rev. Samuel Howe Tolman died at Nelson, N. H., Oct. 6, 1873, aged forty-seven years. He was the only son of Rev. Samuel Howe and Rachel (Damon) Tolman, and was born at Dunstable, Aug. 21, 1826, where his father was pastor of the Congregational church several years.
Mr. Tolman fitted for college at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and graduated at Dartmouth, in the class of 1848, ranking second in the class. After teaching a year, he entered Andover Sem- inary, and graduated there in 1852. Desiring to pursue his theologi- cal studies further, he went to East Windsor, Conn., where he re- mained nearly a year, and then entered upon active labor as a city missionary at Bath, Me., continuing in this service two years. Aug. 14, 1856, he was ordained and installed over the Congregational church at Wilmington, Mass., where he remained for fourteen years. September 23 of the same year, he was married to Mary J., youngest daughter of Henry and Lydia Melville, of Nelson, N. H.
Believing a change would conduce to his advantage and useful- ness, in the spring of 1870 he resigned his pastorate at Wilmington. The subsequent winter he was prostrated by a fever, and never re- covered entirely from its effects.
April 2, 1872, he was installed over the church at Lenox, Mass., and entered upon his work there with his accustomed zeal and earnestness. But his strength was unequal to his purpose ; and, after a few weeks* toil, he began to show signs of weariness and depression of spirits. A short vacation bringing no relief, he was persuaded to suspend his labors for the winter ; and the spring found him somewhat recuperated in strength, and revived in spirits.
But, soon after he resumed his pastoral work, it was evident that his mind was too much impaired to allow him to pursue it ; and some sjTnptoms of a diseased brain appearing, he was induced to retire early in the summer to the farm-home of his brother-in-law, at Nelson, N. H., in the hope that, by out-door work, the terrible conse- quences of a shattered mind might be averted.
In September, there being no improvement, he was advised to send in his resignation of his pastorate at Lenox ; which, after some delay, and with extreme reluctance, he did. This act seemed to in- crease the depression of spirits under which he was suffering. He clung to the people of his charge, and to his ministerial work, with great tenacity.
Returning to Nelson on Monday, afler a Sabbath service at Swanzy, he yielded to the imaginings of a diseased mind, and committed the act that deprived him of life, — a result feared by his physi-
74 Congregational Xecrolcgy. [Jan.
cians. This way of passing from out of the darkness to light and happiness seemed to his distorted vision the only solution of his fears. He had straggled heroically, but unsuccessfully, against his disease. His death was a terrible shock to his wife and children. His funeral took place at Xelson, attended by Rev. (Jeorge Dustan, assisted by Rev. Mr. Holbrook. A large ard weeping audience at the church, some of whom had come from neighboring towns, evinced the esteem in ^ hich the deceased was held.
Mr. Tclman's social qualities and gifts endeared him to all who knew him. Rev. Mr. Wilcox, of Reading, Mass., who was intimate with him, thus speaks of his character : " As a Christian, I think his most prominent characteristic was thorough conscientiousness. He was a soundly true man, from centre to circumference- There was no sham about him, no veneer-work ; but his whole being was in all he did and in all he said. You could not know him w.thout feeling that he was eminently a man to be trusted; and, in all my long and intimate acquaintance with him, I never had that feeling for one moment disturbed. As a man, he was one pre-eminently to be loved. His sympathies were quick and tender. He was confiding and affectionate, — as gentle and susceptible almost as a woman. In his home, and among his intimate friends, he shone more than anj'where else. I do not think there was a member of our associa- tion more beloved than he was. . . . He is at rest. No one that knew him can ever ask, whether or not he were a truly Christian man. His departure was dark indeed, and sad, looked at from below ; but, viewed from above^ it was seen to be the birth, through great suffering, of another soul into our heavenly home."
Prof. Phelps, of Andover, writes, " He always impressed me by his mature sermons and prayers, as being a model pastor in almost all the qualities that go to make up a solid, sensible, and enduring ministry."
He was a sincere friend, and so considerate ever of others* feelings that it was hardly possible for him to have an enemy. Says one who was a member of his family for some time, "I never heard him utter an unkind word. He was ever meek, gentle, Christ-like. It was the extreme sweetness and tenderness of his nature which made his presence by the bedside of the sick and dying so welcome, and gave his words of Christian consolation so much persuasiveness and force."
Several of his occasional sermons were published ; and these furnish a scholarly and close treatment of their subjects. He was very conscientious in his pulpit preparations, and in preparing articles
1874.] Congregational Necrology. 75
to be read before the association to which he belonged. He preached Christ, and ever evinced a hearty faith in the truth he preached.
His pastoral work was well done. He was permitted to enjoy several revival seasons during his ministry at Wilmington. Naturally hopeful, and of ardent temperament, he brought the full conse- cration of all his powers to the service of his Master. He cherished till his death a lively interest in everything that pertained to the kingdom of Christ.
His trust in God was cordial and entire ; and he seemed the last man to be daunted by difficulties or discouraged by obstacles. He took great interest in the education of the young, and did very much to elevate the standard of education among his people.
During his ministry at Wilmington, his church was burned ; and it was largely through his personal endeavors that a new, commodious, and tasteful edifice was erected.
His culture and grace of manners, that distinguished him as a Christian gentleman abroad, shone pre-eminently in his home. He seemed to walk in the light that came from the throne of God. He was the centre of love and attraction in his family, by the sweetness and gentleness of his spirit. Says the pastor who succeeded him at Wlmington, *' Never has the writer felt the power and attractive- ness of the true Christian home-life as he experienced it during the few weeks he was an inmate of his family." An aged mother, who was one of his household for years, and sisters, who were frequent visitors at the parsonage, received such attentions as made their stay with him most delightful.
His companion, an invalid for many years, received unwearied care and watching, and now, with their two children, mourns his loss.
Fragrant was the aroma of the love disseminated through the par- sonage, impressing every one within that home.
On learning of his death, the Society at Lenox, with a generous Sjrmpathy, passed a vote, allowing the widow of their pastor to occupy the parsonage till the close of the year, and also continuing the salary till April, 1874. G, D.
76 Literary Review. \\^sl
LITERARY REVIEW.
THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS.
Some months since, an article appeared in one of our religious papers on " New Terms for Old Truths," i in which the author says : ** Suppose a reverent, scientific spirit, considering the works of Nature, has the same thoughts and feelings that Paul had when studying the same works but spells the author's name JV-a-t-u-r-e, He thinks the same thing that Paul did when he wrote T-h-e-o-s^ or that Emmons did when he wrote G-<hiL Suppose another man has just the same thoughts and feelings, lookin? at the same facts, and spells out his idea f-o-r-c-e, and another man havine the same ideas, spells out his notion l-a-w.
"Is it not conceivable that curious, observant, honest, humble, and rev- erent men, looking at the * things that are made,' and inferring from them a grand generalization that shall reduce confusion to order, and make it easily memorable, — is it not conceivable, I ask, that they shall have the same idea under five different words, — Theos, God, Nature, force law ? "
After comparing the Calvinistic idea of divine decrees with the scien- tific idea of "inexorable law," the theologian's idea of human "inability" with the scientist's idea of " matter as of itself dead," the New Testa- ment doctrine of "the perdition of ungodly men," and the scientific theory of "combustion," he adds: "An estate of faith is a spiritual ex- perience. ... So far as man is concerned, to be in faith is practically of more importance than to have the right string or pole or edging around which to twine by faith. Ah, woe and alas ! when men begin to dispute about the object of their faith, the definition of their God whom no man by searching hath found out" What he at first propounds as a ques- tion, he at last asserts as a fact, declaring " These and other like state- ments . . . are identifications of the inexorable method and habit oi the human mind."
We have no sympathy with those who thus represent the faith of the Christian and that of the believer in mere force, subjectively considered, as identical.
This writer fails to see that, while certain intellectual exercises of the believer in mere force may be identified with certain intellectual exercises of the believer in God, it is impossible to have the same moral exercises towards an impersonal force or law which we may and ought to have towards a personal God. We may fear force, but we cannot reverence it We may yield to law, but we cannot love it A personal God we may reverence and love.
This writer also fails to discriminate between those who have no light except what is derived from Nature, — and may be true to the light furnished them, — and those who, familiar with the gospel of Christ, reject that lieht
1 New Terms for Old Truths. By Rev. Thomas K. Beecher. The Advance. May S, XS73.
1874-]
Literary Review.
77
deny the personality of God^ and, by admitting only the existence of a law, prove that they love darkness rather than light.
If he includes in Nature man's own nature, he assumes that a man may be true to his moral instincts, and yet reject the revelation which God has made of Himself in His holy word.
The sentiments which he expresses are identical with those of the late Theodore Parker, who says in his '* Discourse of Religion " (p. 104), " He that worships truly, by whatever form, worships the only God. He [God] hears the prayer, whether called Brahma, Jehovah, Pan, or Lord, or called by no name at all. Each people has its prophets and its saints. And many a swarthy Indian, who bowed down to wood and stone ; many a grim- £u:ed Calmuck, who worshipped the great God of storms ; many a Gre- dan peasant, who did homage to Phcebus-Apollo when the sun rose or went down, — yes, many a savage, his hands smeared all over with human sacrifice, shall come from the East and the West, and sit down in the kingdom of God with Moses and. Zoroaster, with Socrates and Jesus.'* The only difference is in the application made of the principle ; the one applying it to ancient Pagans, and the other applying it to modern, scepti- cal scientists, the latter application being the more objectionable.
The sentiment itself calls to mind the position once taken by a profane swearer, who, when reproved, replied : " There are different ways of ex- pressing our feelings : some men pray, some whistle, and others swear ; it makes no difference which mode you adopt, so long as the feelings are the same, and you get relief." We only add, we have ceased to wonder at anything which some people may write ; but we have not ceased to wonder at what our religious papers sometimes consent to publish.
Among the new commentaries, there comes to us a somewhat ponderous volume on The Proverbs,* on which an immense amount of labor has been expended. Emanating from Princeton, we assumed that it is of a conser. vative cast ; but, upon examination, we find that while it indicates on the part of the author reverence for the original Scriptures, it is quite indepen- dent of King James's version. The author does, indeed, say that " the old version of the Bible ought to be kept as the standard in English speech as long as it is practically possible " ; but for this position he gives, not the intrinsic merits of the common version, but the strange reason, that " the same peoples will never unite upon a new '' version. He adds : " A Bible in every sect is a state of things that may be almost sure to come." (Preface, p. 3.)
In this age, when the Evangelical denominations, although they find that they can labor in great Christian enterprises most efficiently in their separ- ate capacity, yet cherish towards each other a kindlier spirit and a more
* A Commentary on The Proverbs ; with a new translation, and with some or the original expositions re-examined in a classified list By John Miller, Prince ton, N. J. New York : Anson D. F. Randolph & Co. Large octavo, pp. 651 f4-oo.
78 Literary Review. [Jan.
genuine sjTnpathy than ever before, it is to our view preposterous that each will ever demand for itself a separate Bible.
The aim of this author is to seek the true sense of the original text. He asserts that " To prefer the work of King James to the actual mind of the spirit is fetich ; '' and boldly inquires, " Is it not time that our commen- taries had become more down-right ? " His use of the word " had " in this sentence, and, we may add, his general style as a writer, impress us anew with the importance of retaining at least the general features of the com- mon version as a model of good English. We will give one illustration of his style, in justification of our criticism : '* He [the author] is conscious of every care, and that he has moved his foot about honestly until he got it planted each time in what seemed finally to fit ; and yet the innovation is too large." (Intro., p. 7.) Indeed, so peculiar is his style, that should a person read aloud this entire Introduction, we imagine that his mout would feel as badly puckered as though he had been eating unripe per- simmons.
In his translation, he is such an innovator that in the first sentence of his introduction to this book he admits that '^ nearly one half of its texts are colored with some entirely new signification."
We will give a few examples of his " original expositions." The verse, "To know wisdom and instruction ; to perceive the words of understand- ing," he translates thus : ** To know wisdom and admonition ; to put a dis- tinct meaning into discriminated speeches." The next verse : " to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity " he renders thus : *' To accept clear-sighted admonition is righteousness and fudg- ment and right behaviour." For the following verse : " My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not," he gives this substitute : " My son, if sin- ners would make a door of thy simplicity, afford thou no entrance." We do not marvel that he speaks of " Too great innovation being the writer's own suspicion of his work."
He maintains that The Proverbs have a nexus^ and attempts, as a com- mentator, to find " a clear thread through the book." He gives a new translation of The Proverbs as well as a commentary on the text.
In such a review as our space allows, we cannot be expected to enter upon a detailed examination of a book like this. Strange, indeed, would it be if so elaborate a volume did not throw new light on some passages in this marvellous collection of wise sayings. The work is not popular in its style : it is designed for scholars ; and to the attention of scholars we commend it
We have recently received three commentaries on the Gospel ac- cording to Matthew. The first and largest work is by Lange.* It is called the " Sunday School Edition" ; but it differs from the larger work,
^ The Gospel according to Matthew, together with a General Theological and Homiletical Introduction to the New Testament By John Peter i^nge, D. D. Translated from the German by Philip Schafif^ D. D. New York : Scribner, Ann- strong & Co. 1873. 8vo. pp. 568. ^3.00.
187+] Literary Review, 79
irfth which the public are familiar, only by an omission of the Preface and
tf tbe General Introduction to the New Testament, hence commencing
^fritfi the 39th page. In the Introduction, the following topics are dis-
tened: i. The Distinctive Characteristics of the First Gospel. 2. Mat-
^jplnr the Evangelist. 3. Composition of this Gospel. 4. Theological
^^id Homiletical Treatment of this Gospel. 5. Fundamental Idea and
JjBkpBisin of the Gospel according to Matthew, divided into seven parts.
*ifcie parts are subdivided into no less than thirty-nine sections. There
rlfk a itOl more minute division of these sections, in some instances,
♦^ the use of letters. Each subdivision is treated in the body of the
under three forms : Exegetical and Critical, Doctrinal and Ethical,
ideal and Practical.
f/' We present the plan of the work thus in detail, to show the elaborate
Ajliailer of the commentary. This Sunday-school edition is all that
j-taij nunisters will desire for their own use, and too scholarly to suit
^'.b tastes of most Sunday-school teachers. It is orthodox, after the old
j^ttttern in its phraseology, including ^^transmitted sin.'' The mass of
^>)|Hteiial which it gives will confuse some and satiate others. No man who
='lajfl the book can complain that he does not get the worth of his money.
The second of the commentaries on Matthew, referred to, is by the late ?lfc Owen.^ This is a new edition of a work first issued in i860. Its style resembles that of Barnes's Notes, with which the public are liar. But the Commentary is written with more care, and has higher its, as respects scholarship, than the popular works of Mr. Barnes. ■ ft Owen, having spent nearly a quarter of a century in the study of the 'Cttek language, — having published, with copious Notes and Commen- ; Wes,a classical series, including a Greek Reader, Zenophon's Analysis
■ •d Cyclopaedia, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Thucydides, — had some Peculiar advantages in preparing this commentary on the Greek text of the new Testament Having spent most of his life as a teacher, he had op- l*rtunities for study of which the pastor of a large church cannot avail ■hiselfl This volume of his on Matthew does not stand alone, as the
1^ ttthor published also a commentary on Mark, Luke, and John, and at the I ttlieof his death (April 19, 1869) had nearly completed a similar work on \ ^ Acts of the Apostles.
■ That there should be a call for a new edition of this volume at the ^•tent time is a fevorable indication, not only as to the merits of the book, ■W also as to the interest felt by the public in the study of the Scriptures, ^rticularly is it true when we consider that this is only one of a number «f competitors for public favor.
The third commentary in this enumeration is that of Dr. Alexander.^
' A Commentary, Critical, Expository, and Practical, on the Gospel of Matthew, ^ the use of Bible Classes and Sabbath Schools. By John J. Owen, D. D , ^•Dt New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co. 1873. ^^o- PP* 4i5- 1^1.25.
' The Gospel according to Matthew. Explained by Joseph Addison Alexander. KtwYork: Scribner, Armstrong & Co. 1873. 8vo. pp.456. I1.25.
^1
8o Literary Review. [Jan.
This iss also a new edition of a work first published in i860. A peculiar Intercast, and a sacredness attach to it as the last work of the distinguished author. It is published as he left it, without an Introduction, and as a commc rotary closing with the sixteenth chapter. An analysis of the con- cluding chapters is added, to the completion of which the sick man sum- moned liis energies, and which he finished only a few days before his deatU. There is something peculiarly touching in the unfinished condition of tUe work ; and we cannot but admire the affection and tenderness of fricncla who have kept it as he left it Would it not have been a higher triV>ute to the genius of Raphael, had his admiring pupils preserved the TruMxJi juration of Christ as he left it, untouched ">
This commentar}-, so far as it goes, is much fuller and more elaborate
than tliat of Dr. Owen. Mr. Barnes gives 398 pages on this gospeL Dr.
Ow<?n, 415; while I^r. Alexander gives 446 pages on the first sixteen
chapters. This peculiarity, together with the scholarly character of the
exposition, commends it especially to the attention of ministers who desire
soinctbinK more than the truth made simple. We admire the enterprise of
the publisliers who issue simultaneously these three commentaries on one
ami the same lxx>k. They are doing a service which, we trust, the public
will .ipprcci.\te and render remunerative.
l^i'ui-isuKRS are proving the falsit}'of the representation that the pulpit is losinj: its jx^^wer, by the great number of volumes of sermons which they aie issuing tn-^m the press. One o\ the latest books of this kind is entitloil» "The Memori.\l Pulpit."^ It is intended to be one of a series, and is marked Vol. 1. Indeed, these sermons appeared at first in pam- phlet fonn, as a weekly issue, and the series continues. We do not under- st.invl x\hy this wlume is Labelled outside, " Church Work,'' and inside, •• Charch Lite.** It is a new w.\y c»!" idenriiyirig work and life. As the author has compiled an admirable H}Tr.no;og\-, we anticipated something poetic and Wauiiiul in this production of his pen ; but there is a remark- ai^-e want of imagination or fancy in these sermons. The brief PreSux is siitt and awk^xani. The discourses theinse^ves have an aniSda] struc- ture, as is indicated by their leng'.h. The iirst four occnpv just twelve pxces each ; and the renuir.;ng :ner.:Y-rn\'* ius: tea pages each. It makes c:s ^i.ttVi-erce what the s-b^ec: is. whether n^eagre or prolific, he has just sj? riuch :o say aVu: it. We imagine him in ihc habit of stiiciiinjr r*j£^'ber a gix^n r.ur.\^.^r o:' s>.eet5^ thei- wriung tiU the pvages are filled, a=>i 5": ';7-^5: 'f^^ -•* i'^V-'*^ ■* exhiusted. Aliboiigh he sonietimcs maj ret ix-i^*: his suNec',, -.: is cu::e cenaj: :lj^: he is ao: ia the habit of eiJ:.i-L5*^:ig >-'-> hearers. The*e serTi.-^iis are r.o: characierisncaLv Wi- cil Ti-t riiier is r:C^: :r:;^re^<.ei xi::h the sec-.:face of tb.->ur-hz. Theie 2$ =r s-^-^^-rig r>i-e Cff er>o:5on. as :he d jcourse airaares. laoeed, tbeie is
; r;>? Vsaii.-rii: TV in. Chx^rrci !;:» : <<ra.-x» rreiciiei in the Psrslnteria XtsT'.c.:- Curcr. Nrv Y.-ri cin-. Eabrir ni: : ir jcx iraai TasuMy to Tah^ j5*v ?t U.S Tiacx, C.i.irj» >. K>S3»:a;. u. iv Nrw York:* A- S^ B&iaei4k Ca' i5-> i^pJ^ J5^53?- *^5^
I874-] Literary Review, 8i
Qothing oceanic about the sermons. The sentences are short, the style abrupt. If we were to compare the sermons to the sea, in any of its con- ditions, we should say, they are " short chop." And yet these discourses have merit They are plain, clear, and practical. The themes selected are gospel themes ; the spirit exhibited is Evangelical. The preacher evidendy knows to what the Master has called him ; and he endeavors to do his Master*s work. There is nothing sensational, nothing offensive, about his ministrations. If he lacks genius, he does not lack sense. If he does not show himself a great philosopher, he does give evidence of piety. It is refreshing to know that in a large city such sermons are ap- preciated ; and it is one of the hopeful signs of the times that there is a call for such sermons in print. Dr. Robinson has had opportunity to glean knowledge from both hemispheres ; and the various incidents which he weaves into his discourses are interesting and instructive. Each ser- mon is followed by a hymn or brief poem, occupying a single page. The selections are appropriate, and some of them excellent.
The printer should be more careful as to the use of broken tjrpe, and the pressman feel his responsibility as to giving evenness of impression.
May the successive volumes be as useful as are the author's personal ministrations.
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
Our late civil war created a literature peculiar to itself. From the elabor- ate ** History of the Rebellion," by the lamented Horace Greeley, to the lighter narratives and sketches of camp-life, — from the legal treatise of William Whiting, Esq., on " War Powers Under the Constitution," to the most ephemeral lines furnished the newspaper press by the patriotic muse, ^ every variety of style and of quality in composition has been illustrated and exemplified.
Of the volumes which have been published, few bear any comparison in richness and elegance with ** The Norwich Memorial," from the pen of the Rev. Malcolm McGregor Dana.'
The title may suggest that this is a mere local history ; it is a local history, but it is also much more than this. It enters so largely into the war record of the State of Connecticut, and indeed gives so much of the national aspects of the great struggle for freedom, as to be of general interest.
The volume is dedicated to " The brave men of Norwich, who, under the impulse of a noble patriotism, went forth to defend their imperilled country." After a modest Preface, in which the obligations of the writer to various persons who had lent him aid in preparing the work are grace- My expressed, the subject is presented in seventeen sections, the first
*Thc Norwich Memorial ; The Annals of Norwich, New London County, Coittu,inthe Great Rebellion of 1861-65. By Malcolm McG. Dana, pastor of the Second Congregational Church, Norwich, Conn. Norwich, Conn. : J. ii, Jewctt & Company. 1873. Q"^* PP« 395*
nCOND SKRISS.— VOL. VI. NO. I. 6
it
82 Literary Review, [Jan.
4:1 even of which have a chronological aspect, and the remaining six are
The variety of themes of which the author treats is truly remarkable. Before he comes to any record of town affairs, he discusses " The Opening of trie War — Threats of Disunion — Action of Congress — Inauguratioii of Mr. Lincoln — Impressions produced by the Inaugural Address — Ho;/':r'jIiitss of the North — Effect of the News of the Bombardment ar.'i Surrender of Sumter — * Battle Sunday' — Proclamation by Pres. Li;.'.'/lii and Gov. Buckingham." This quotation trom the Table of C'yfit«.-nis indicates the thoroughness which characterizes the entire work.
J "very tiling of importance which was done by the Town, or its citizens \u tijtir private capacity, seems to have been gathered with the most care- f'jl industry, and related with marked fidelity. The "Roll of Honor" —
'i jji; Oiinplete Roster of Commissioned Officers, Army and Navy" — J II*.- •* Alphabetical Roll ot Norwich Soldiers, with Rank and Date of En- li.^tiiient " — and what is given under the head of "Remarks," as to their fcervi( c and the termination of their connection with the army, — must liavc cost in^nicnsc labor, and is of great historic value.
Ill a '* Mi.scellancous " section, the author gives a Tabular Statement of National, Slate, and Town Indebtedness, — Charities of the War (f.fuj/.ijf ),ooo) ; Tables showing the Military Population of the United St.iU-» (5,^>J4,o55) and its increase; Number of Men called for by the (iovirrnmciit (^,942,748); Number of Enlistments (2,753,723); Numberof DcitliM ill Military Service, — Killed in Battle, 44,238; Died of Wounds and Iiijurirs, 41^,205; Suicide, Homicide, and Execution, 526; Died of Dist-asr, i.Sf'i,ji^»; LI nknown causes, 24,184. Total, 304,369.
'I'lit: iiolili; part that woman took in the charities of the war is honorably prirti.iyt-d ; aiul evrry theme appropriate to such a history is presented with a i-oiuinvluMi.sive gr.isp and a minuteness of detail which make the v»)lumi* a niodi'l in its line. Could all our Towns have such a worthy rciiini ^iivLMi of what they did to preserve the republic, the materials fur- nished would be of inestimable value to future generations.
The volume is written in a terse and scholarly manner. Nearly all the aectituis are introduced with a short poem, selected with great taste; and the entire volume has hi|;h literary merit.
The work is embellished with eighteen elegant engravings ; and the printer has taken great pains to give the volume a truly artistic appearance.
Rarely do we examine a book in which we find so little to criticise ; but we cannot forbear to add, that in this volume the value of the Table of Con- tents w(»uUl be greatly augmented if the figures which indicate on what pages the sections commence were given with greater accuracy. When a reader is directed to pages i and xvi for indexes, he is not likely to look for them on pages 393 and 395 of the main work.
If he is directed for the commencement of a section to page 311, he does not expect to find it on page 2S9. The proof-reader can hardly be excused for such mistakes.
No one who is without experience in statistical labors can appreciate the
1 874-] Literary Review. 83
amount of labor bestowed on this Memorial volume. The author and publishers are deserving of all honor, not only for the exemplary manner in which they have performed their work, but also for giving all the pecu- niary profits of the book to the Sedgwick Post of the Grand Army of the Republic
The biography of the Rev. Samuel J. May * has attracted considerable attention, and been favorably noticed by the religious press. It is, to a large extent, an autobiography, and some portions of it are written in a fascinating style. It would be difficult to find in the English language any- thing more pure, simple, and winning than his account of the death of his little brother, and of his own experience in the grief and mystery of that dread providence. Mr. May's public life, as a reformer, was conspicuous. For the promotion of temperance, he labored with all his heart ; and in the antislavery agitation, he was a bold warrior. Graceful and attractive as an extemporaneous speaker, quick in retort, he did effective service wherever he went He was not a logician, like Amos A. Phelps, whose scalpel could dissect the most minute and recondite fibres of sophistry, and yet he was a good reasoner on common-sense principles, and, as a popular orator, swayed the emotions of his hearers. He took a deep interest in educa- tion, and labored unwearily for the elevation of our common-school system.
He despised anything which was mean, and his whole soul flowed out in sympathy towards any who were in distress. He hated injustice, but unfortunately he hated what we regard as justice quite as much. To use bis own language, inscribed in a lady's album, " his favorite virtue " was **• charity.'* He was " a believer in the final reformation of all mankind." p. 238. He would not perform a religious service with a murderer on the gallows at the request of the official, lest he should seem to be the agent of the State to do what he did not think the State had a right to do. p. 107. He was not only opposed to the death penalty in the State, but also to cor- poral punishment in the schools, and was an extremist as to " woman's rights."
He would not consent to act as chaplain of a military regiment. His hatred of justice was not confined to earth, but had relation also to the gov- ttmnentof God. He declared that the opinions of Theodore Parker were "less shocking, less derogatory to God, less discouraging to man, than ^c doctrines which are given in the Presbyterian confession of faith, >od the thirty-nine articles and creeds of the Episcopal church." p. 193. He 'peaks of the Universalists as those who " have borne a most faithful and persistent testimony against the greatest of all the abominable doctrines of ^e Orthodox theology." p. 285. Having heard a sermon on *• the justice ^^ God in the eternal damnation of the wicked," and. being asked, " what do you think of that " ? he replied, " I think we ought to ask our God,
^ Memoirs of Samuel Joseph May. Boston : Roberts Brothers. 1873. 12 mo. pp.297. |i-5<^
84 Literary Reznese. [Jan.
whose mercy endureth forever, to pardon us for having listened in silence while our deluded brother blasphemed H^m." p. 243.
This volume is disfigured iftith exhibitions of Mr. May's hatred of ortho- doxy. He speaks of ** the orthodox system c\ dcMrtriues and scheme of sal- vation," as ** utterly derogatorj- to God." p. 117. He caricatares the orthodox as busily circulating. ** throughout the community, grievous mis- representations of the faith and the spirit of Unitarians.-' p. 80. He represents the church of which he was the pastor, in Connecticut, as '^ under persecution . . . because of their defection from the csuth of the con- sociatcd churches of Connecticut" p. 62. Acd referring to one of the deacons of his church, he says. " he was declining slowly and sorrow- fully to the grave ; his heart ha\-ing been broken bv the harsh denunda* tions and severe treatment he had received from the original church in Bnwklyn." p. ^y
He speaks of "the prejudice against the so-called new heresy," as ** strong and bitter." p. 65.
Ho even defends the I'niiarians. not only in a^-ailisg themselves of the title umier jvarish l.iw to propeny given by an orthodox ancestry to sus- t.iin the institutions o: the g.^s>e!. but a!so in taking from the churches t!\e sacred vessels of :he co:n:iiun:on ser\-:ce, because the law did not rec- Oj;iu/e the churches, in viistir.ction from :he parishes, as a corporate body, having rights of property, p. loi. He driws a I-jiicroas and absurd pic- ture Ota j-vfrsonal in:er\'iew between himself and "an aged believer in the Ti initarian theo!v^ :::>•." in order to throw the cliinr.s of the orthodox into contempt, pp. 2"c». j-i.
There are ^vrtions of the b'X»k in which Mr. May. at first view, ap- jH\us u»e\hiMi an Kvar.i;el!s:al faith and a Christian experience. But to apprtvi.uc these exhi.i tions, we need :>"» •anderstand that in common with ot'ier Unitarians, he sometfxes usevi. within certain limitations, orthodox laiii;uagc, while he personally i;ive to tint language an un evangelical in- teiprr ration. How :ar he coul,: reconcile this to his own mind, with com* uum houestv, we w'U nx attempt to determine. The tict. however, has given wcasion to certain apparent inconsistencies in the volume itsel£ Thus he says. " 1 urgevl . . . that teachers should go into their sohwis in the s^Mrit ot Chrst. meaning to seek and to save them that are U\>t." p. I Si. Again : " When I came to be the minister of the church in Svracuse. I advised