Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

tinued to reside at Windsor, as chaplain of the State Prison, for six years. He then removed to St. Johnsbury, and was not again employed in the ministry, except that he preached a year in Craftsbury, a year in East St. Johnsbury, and a year at various places in the West. In the fall of 1863 he enlisted as a private in Company H, 9th Vermont Regiment, then stationed at Newbern, N. C., but was subsequently transferred to the 18th army corps in Virginia. He was detailed as a nurse, for which he was well qualified by his general knowledge of disease, and his cheerful, social qualities. He also engaged in holding meetings on the sabbath and at other times, and in distributing religious publications, and was held in high esteem for the fidelity with which he discharged all his duties. About the first of November, 1864, he was sent to the hospital with chronic diarrhoea, of which he died. He married, October 24, 1837, Ann Fisher, of Franklin, Mass., (sister of Prof. Alexander M. Fisher, of Yale College,) by whom he had Catherine Beecher, born October 23, 1839, and Helen Everett, born September 2, 1841. He received the degree of A. M. from Middlebury College in 1837.

P. H. W.

Rev. JACOB NOBLE LOOMIS died in Craftsbury, Vt., December 5, 1864.

He was born in Lanesboro', Mass., October 8, 1790, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Noble) Loomis. In his youth his parents removed to Charlotte, Vt., where he fitted for college with Rev. Truman Baldwin. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1817, and at Andover in 1820, and was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Hardwick, Vt., January 3, 1822. Rev. Calvin Dale, of Charlotte, preached the sermon. His health failing he was dismissed January 27, 1830. In the fall of 1830, he became acting pastor at Plainfield, N. H., where he remained two years. Of his ministry there, it is said in Lawrence's History of the New Hampshire Churches-"His services in the pulpit and parish were very acceptable and useful. Had he and Mrs. Loomis been permanently settled here, great good might have been expected as the result." From the fall of 1832, to the fall of 1834, he was acting pastor at Greensboro', Vt.; and from the spring of 1835 to the spring of 1836, at Hardwick. He then retired from active service in the ministry, removed to Craftsbury, and spent the rest of his life as a farmer. He married, September 6, 1822, Deborah Worcester, of Hollis, N. H.

[blocks in formation]

Mrs. MARY A. WARNER died at Johnstown, Rock Co., Wis., Dec. 18, 1864, of consumption, at the age of thirty years. The deceased was the wife of Rev. J. K. Warner, of Johnstown, as also the daughter of the late Rev. Eben Platt, of Brooklyn, and niece of Rev. Dennis Platt, of South Norwalk, Ct., all well known, and much respected Congregational ministers.

Only those who knew Mrs. Warner best can appreciate her excellences or understand the loss her family and friends have sustained. She was a person of superior intellectual ability and culture. She was familiar with our best authors, and her literary judgment and taste were unusually correct and delicate. Had she given her attention to it, she would undoubtedly have become more than an ordinary writer. So think the few who have some of her productions, both prose and poetical, treasured up among them.

Her circle of intimate friends was not large. She was too sensitive to pour out her heart, in all its richness of love and friendship, to every one. She was ever ready to sympathize with the needy and sorrowing; but her extreme simplicity, and aversion to display, kept her retired. Her affection for friends was, however, exceedingly strong; while theirs for her knew no bounds. It is the happy lot of but few to be loved as was Mrs. Warner.

Of her as a wife, no one can speak except her bereaved companion. But those who had the privilege of mingling in their own family circle knew that she was all a wife well could be. Her devotion to her husband was complete. She took a deep interest in everything that concerned him; while her exalted intellect and rare good sense rendered her an invaluable assistant in his ministerial labors.

She was a true mother to the four little children she leaves behind, the oldest of whom, a girl of eight years, gives good evidence of having been already led to Christ through her instruction and example. When her husband was attending sabbath evening service, she frequently gathered her little ones around her, and read a chapter in the Bible, after which all knelt down and prayed. And they now speak of what good meetings they used to have, and of the passages of Scripture they read. The one in John, repecting the Good Shepherd, they remember

with peculiar interest. Eternity alone can unfold her influence on these young and tender minds. The eldest will retain a vivid recollection of her, especially of her last sickness and death; and she will in afteryears, if their lives are spared, take pleasure in telling her little sister, now an unconscious babe, of their mother in heaven.

But it is chiefly as a Christian that we love to think of our dear departed friend. At the age of thirteen she gave her heart to Christ, and ever afterward won the esteem of all who knew her, by her ardent piety. Possessing qualifications that would have fitted her for almost any station in life, she cheerfully accepted the many petty annoyances and privations of a country pastor's wife. When in the early summer she received warning of -the near approach of death, her mind became the scene of a severe conflict. Few persons enjoy life, not its vanities but its substantial pleasures, as much as Mrs. Warner did. Few have as much to hope for from the future as she had. She was just in the prime of life, having a husband to whom she was devotedly attached, a family of little children whom she loved as only a mother can love, and a somewhat numerous circle of friends to whom she was bound by the strongest ties of affection. Besides, she took a lively interest in all the important movements of the day, and especially in the struggle now going on in our own country.

Under such circumstances, it is not strange that in the early stages of her illness, when the result seemed doubtful, she was anxious to recover. But as her disease progressed, and it became more evident that her end was nigh at hand, she was enabled to say, "Thy will be done." After reaching this point she enjoyed perfect peace of mind. She no longer desired to live, or troubled herself about her little ones, three of whom were in the meantime dangerously sick with diphtheria. Christ was everything to her. Her whole soul seemed absorbed in him.

During the last few weeks her sufferings were intense; but she endured them without a word of complaint. Her chief anxiety was lest she might not be patient to the end. At one time, after a coughing spell, to a friend who was trying to comfort her she said, "Oh, I don't mind it; every cough is one step nearer home." When passing whole nights without a moment's sleep, she spent much of the time in meditating upon such passages of Scripture as seemed to her most precious and comforting, remarking, "How thankful I am that I learned so many when a child! At

another time, after repeating some of her favorite hymns and portions of God's word, she said to her husband, her mind perhaps a little wandering, "What a pity it is we can't take the Bible and hymn book with us. In a moment, however, seeing her mistake, she added with a smile, "But we shan't need them there."

Her last moments were peculiarly interesting. She was constantly talking, and Jesus was her only theme. The following are some of her expressions which she uttered in a most touching manner: "Precious Jesus, come and take me! Loving Saviour, come and take me to my glorious home!" "He has heard my prayer; I feel his arms around me! I see across the river, and behold the beautiful gate open." With her last breath she gasped out, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and then fell asleep in his arms.

Rev. SENECA WHITE died in Amherst, N. H., January 11, 1865, aged seventy-one years lacking a few weeks.

He was a son of Peter and Sarah (Moore) White, and was born in West Boylston, Mass., February 27, 1794. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1818, and at Andover in 1822, and was ordained pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Bath, Me., September 10, 1823. Rev. Eliphalet Gillott, D. D., of Hallowell, preached the sermon. He was dismissed in August, 1830, and was installed in Wiscasset, April 18, 1822. Rev. William Allen, D. D., of Brunswick, preached the sermon, and it was printed. He was dismissed July 19, 1837. His next and last settlement was in Marshfield, Mass., where he was installed September 8, 1838. Rev. R. S. Storrs, D. D., of Braintree, preached the sermon. His actual pastorate closed May, 1847, but was not formally terminated till October 30, 1850, when he was dismissed by the same council which installed his successor. He removed to Amherst, and resided there without ministerial charge till his death.

He married, January 29, 1826, Elizabeth Stockbridge Winslow, a native of Bath, Me., and a descendant in the 6th generation from Governor Edward Winslow.

P. H. W.

Dea. OLIVER CLARK died at his late residence, in Tewksbury, February 15, 1865, aged eighty-five years.

He was the son of Dea. Thomas Clark, and was born December 28, 1779. The old family residence was within a few rods of

the place where he afterwards made his own home, and some three miles from the meeting-house. His parents were prompt in the matter of his baptism; as the record shows him to have been at that time only three months and nineteen days old. On the subject of his early religious experiences we have no light, except from his subsequent character and history: from these we infer a great depth of his early convictions, and consecration to the service of his Master. He made a profession of religion May 22, 1808, and was appointed a deacon in the church in August, 1826. At the first organization of the Sabbath school in the town, he was chosen superintendent, in which office he continued for many consecutive years.

All the early remembrances of him point in one direction: they show him to have been an earnest and true-hearted Christian man. Conscience and the fear of God ruled in all his life. He is familiarly spoken of as one who was venerated for his piety, and loved and trusted by all,-a very Nathanael, in whom was no guile. He accepted the whole of vital religion; its doctrines, its precepts, its spirit, and its duties. His interest in the cause of Christ, both at home and abroad, never wavered. He had a word for his Master on all occasions, and recom mended religion by the whole spirit and temper of his life and conversation, wherever he went. He was favored by nature with a genial and happy temperament and great cheerfulness; and these were enhanced and purified and sweetened by religion.

His delight was in the communion of the saints, and in prayer. He established a prayer-meeting between the sabbath services for those who, like himself, lived at too great a distance from the church to go home at noon. Prayer-meetings were also held from time to time in the school-houses in the different districts of the town. And when the distance was five, six, or even seven miles, extending within the limits of Andover and Billerica, he did not count it too great. After the labors of the day, he prepared himself for the spiritual repast of the evening; and was sometimes, like Paul, "minded to go afoot." He is remembered, too, as a pioneer in the cause of temperance. He became a practical abstainer from the use of intoxicating drinks a number of years before any temperance society was formed, and refused, at the same time, to furnish ardent spirits for his workmen or for his guests. Of course he was a faithful laborer in the temperance reform. He was the unsparing foe of tobacco

and rum, giving neither the one nor the other any quarter. He kept along with the world at the same time that he kept above it. His religion never made him morose, or jealous of the progress that he saw around him. He was ever hopeful, ever cheerful, and ever interested in all that had in it a promise of good for society. No one ever doubted his piety but himself; and he with only that measure of doubt that betokened a proper Christian self-distrust and humility. One who writes, from a distance, his early recol. lections of him, says, "His was not an equivocal Christian character, but stood out clear and decided; and he leaves us no dim and shadowy hope as to his destiny. It is a hope full-orbed; and we may say of him, that we know in whom he believed. What an influence his life has carried with it, calm, quiet, serene, yet effective and pervading!"

To him it was given, beyond the lot of ordinary Christian men, to enjoy his reward on earth. The divine covenant with him was kept in a manner to attract the notice of all who knew him. With a competency of the good things of this life, he was permitted to enjoy that which is far better-the knowledge that all his children were walking in the truth; and that with no halting or uncertain step, but as conspicuous examples of Christian light and power, and as officers and commanders in the army of the church militant. Of the three sons, one is a deacon in the important church in Winchester, and, for seventeen consecutive years, superintendent of the Sabbath school, with the promise of many years of equally valuable service to come; another is an able and honored minister of Christ, who has already seen some fifteen years of fruitful service, and is now settled over one of the most interesting and promising churches in New Hampshire; and the third, a deacon in the High Street Church in Lowell, and superintendent of the Sabbath school, and in either position honored and beloved: while, of the daughters, one is the earnest and helpful companion of a well-known Massachusetts pastor (Rev. Mr. Coggin of Boxford); another is the wife of Professor Fisk of Beloit College; and the others, each in her sphere, doing equal honor to his memory, and proving that the covenant with him was one of life and peace for his household.

Thus, in every view, his Christian lifewhether we contemplate its internal spirit, its outward activities and influence, or its results-seems rounded into completeness,

and leaves a rich heritage to the world. It was his desire, repeatedly expressed, that, if it should be the will of his heavenly Father, he might depart without a lingering illness. It was as he desired. What seemed an ordinary cold, and was scarcely thought to be serious until within five or six hours of his death, carried him gently but quickly down to the grave. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." A few days after his death, there was found in his Bible, in his own handwriting, a copy of the hymn beginning "Farewell, dear friends, I must be gone." From circumstances known to the family,

[blocks in formation]

Books of Interest to Congregationalists.

Gillett's History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States,' it is hardly necessary to say, is a valuable contribution to American ecclesiastical history. It does not cover so much ground as one might suppose from the title, which we find to be used in an official sense only, -inasmuch as the work does not include the Associate Reformed, nor the Associate un-reformed, nor the Reformed without the Associate, nor the Reformed Presbyterian, nor the United Presbyterian, nor the United Synod, nor the Reformed Protestant Dutch, nor the Free, nor the Cumberland, nor the Southern General Assembly, nor any more, if more there are, which are a standing argument in our country how nicely the Presbyterian polity prevents splits and preserves unity; not the Presbyterian Church which split itself in 1837, and which now exists, as the author thinks, in the New School body as the genuine article.

This work bears evidence of much and careful research, within certain limits. It is written in a spirit apparently as candid as any man, who writes the history of his own body, can hope to possess. It is interesting, though by no means such reading as Stevens's fascinating History of Methodism. On matters of fact within his Church, the work doubtless ought to be authoritative.

1 History of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. By E. H. Gillett, author of "The Life and Times of John Huss." Philadelphia: Presbyterian Publication Committe. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 600, 617.

But when the author goes outside his denominational lines, he is far from satisfactory. For instance, as to Presbyterians early in New England, a very interesting and valuable chapter might and ought to be made. The author does not seem to have access to proper sources of information in this particular, or else to have thought it not worth while to do more than generalize.

But he makes up for this indifference by finding supposed Presbyterians in astonishing quarters. We are gravely told of the "Presbyterianism of Owen," and informed that "Robinson was a Presbyterian,”—old John Robinson! The author does not specify Robinson's works in his list of books consuited. If he had, such a statement would be unpardonable; if he had not, the blunder is no less gross and silly. When he says, also, that "Robinson claimed that his Church at Leyden was conformed to the French Presbyterian Church," he errs by evidently quoting second-hand a statement accurately printed in Bradford's History, ed. 1856, p. 34, where neither is the word Presbyterian used nor a sentiment advanced which makes the Leyden Church Presbyterian.

A still more absurd statement is that "the Church at Plymouth was in reality a Presbyterian Church." Does the author presume on the fact that most of his readers would never be able to verify his reference to Prince as authority? Prince explicitly declares that that Church was "independent in the exercise and enjoyment of" its "rights and privileges," and allowed no interference, by way of authority, of other ministers or churches. The fact is, the author inferred those things.

He gets bewildered by looking at everything through Presbyterian spectacles. Finding the name "Ruling Elder," his reasoning seems to be,-Presbyterian churches have Ruling Elders; therefore a Congregational Church, having Ruling Elders, is a Presbyterian Church. We expect to see some Episcopalian argue: the Episcopalian Church has Deacons; therefore a Presbyterian Church having Deacons is an Episcopal Church. The fact is, our old Ruling Elder was a different being from a Presbyterian Ruling Elder, and by and by, from his very uselessness, became unknown. We never had an authoritative Church session; mere attempts to allow one only to prepare business for the Church itself utterly failed. For light on this, we refer the author to an article in this Quarterly, in 1863. He finds, too, the word Presbytery; therefore, Congregational churches are Presbyterian. As well argue that Presbyterians are Episcopalians because they say that a minister is a bishop. Our Church officers, collectively in a local Church, were called its Presbytery; but as to a Presbyterian Presbytery, outside of churches, to which appeals were carried, such a thing was unknown. So, again, he finds Synods; therefore, the early Congregationalists wanted Presbyterianism. We do have Synods; but they no more make our churches Presbyterian, than, because of the use of a name, the "General Assembly " of the Presbyterian is identical with the "General Assembly of the first-born."

-

Our author shows a want of familiarity with early Congregational ecclesiastical literature. This is no fault; but it is a fault in a historian to dogmatize on slight knowledge. A few quotations, apparently second-hand, from a few writers, out of their connection, do not do much for history. Let this author study Owen, Robinson, the Mathers, and the other wise men of the fathers, before he undertakes to state what they believe.

In some other matters we fail to get satisfaction. The early Congregational churches on Long Island and their fate are confused with Presbyterians. The facts our readers will find in Dr. Thompson's article, Quarterly, January, 1860. How the early churches in New York generally were transformed into Presbyterian, we should like to know in a history of the Presbyterian Church. His significant statement, also, that, "with the adoption of the plan of union, a new vigor seemed to pervade the Church," wants a chapter to show what influences stopped the formation of Congregational associations, changed

our churches into Presbyterian, multiplied Synods and Presbyteries, and enabled persistent minorities and arbitrary majorities to have things their own way. But this plan is dead now, thank God.

We are sorry to read a repetition of the old charge about doctrinal unsoundness in Western Congregationalists. That is very stale. It answered its purpose once, in frightening weak-minded Congregational emigrants; but upturned whites of the eyes, and clasped hands, and solemn laments over Western heresy, only make men laugh now. West and the East are brethren. The Congregational denomination vouches for their faith and practice. Let the old humbug die. This historian himself belongs to a body cut off for alleged doctrinal unsoundness more than for anything else.

The

We are also sorry to see the attack on the Home Missionary Society. The author does not state the thing fairly, when he says, "The Alton Presbytery came under a rule that virtually forbade it to cultivate its own field." This may be believed when it is felt to be either honorable or honest for Alton Presbytery to spend its funds almost entirely in founding weak churches exclusively Presbyterian, to be thrown on the society for support. But until then, the Alton Presbytery is a by-word for meanness.

In matters where Congregationalism is concerned, we think this book of little or no account. In matters within the Presbyterian Church, we suppose it to be as correct as it is evidently laborious. But merely as a matter of opinion of our own-we think exactly the other way from him as to the disruption of 1837.

Of works specially helpful to the clergymen of our denomination we find several on our table. First and chiefest' comes an important fragment from that most accomplished pen now still forever, which aids to the exact comprehension of the lands of the Bible. To human view the loss of the Christian world in the death of Dr. Robinson, before the completion of his great work, for which all before had been merely studies, seems almost irreparable; but God will take care of his cause and his kingdom. Meanwhile this treatise, so far as it goes, covering the physical geography of Palestine and the

1 Physical Geography of the Holy Land. By Edward Robinson, D. D., LL. D. A supplement to the late author's "Biblical Researches in Palestine." Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1865. 8vo.

pp. 399.

« VorigeDoorgaan »