Chapter XXXVI

DIARY.--AMOUNT OF CHARITIES.--LETTERS.--THOMAS TARBELL.--UNCLE TOBY.--REV. DR. LOWELL.

"_January 1, 1852._--The value of my property is somewhat more
than it was a year ago, and I pray God that I may be faithful in
its use. My life seems now more likely to be spared for a longer
season than for many years past; and I never enjoyed myself more
highly. Praise the Lord, O my soul!

"P. S.--The outgoes for all objects since January 1, 1842 (ten
years), have been six hundred and four thousand dollars more than
five sixths of which have been applied in making other people
happy; and it is no trouble to find objects for all I have to
spare."

This sum, in addition to the subscriptions and donations for the year 1852, makes the amount of his expenditures for charitable purposes, during the last eleven years of his life, to be about five hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. From 1829 to 1842, the sum expended for like appropriations was, according to his memoranda, one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars; making, for the last twenty-three years of his life the sum of six hundred and thirty-nine thousand dollars expended in charity. Taking the amount of his property at various times, as noted by himself, from the year 1807 to 1829, a period of twenty-two years, with his known liberality and habits of systematic charity, it would be safe to assert that during his life he expended seven hundred thousand dollars for the benefit of his fellow-men. Many persons have done more; but few perhaps have done as much in proportion to the means which they had to bestow.

In a letter to President Hopkins, dated March 31, Mr. Lawrence writes:

"I am interested in everything you write about in your last
letter; but among the items of deepest interest is the fact of
the religious feeling manifested by the young men; and I pray God
it may take deep root, and grow, and become the controlling power
in forming their character for immortality. I trust they will
count the cost, and act consistently. May God speed them in this
holy work!"

A few days later, he writes on the same subject:

"And now let us turn to matters of more importance; the awakening
of the young men of your college to their highest interest,--the
salvation of their souls. I have been moved to tears in reading
the simple statement of the case, and I pray God to perfect the
good work thus begun. I have much to think of to-day, this being
my sixty-sixth birth-day. The question comes home to me, What I
am rendering to the Lord for all his benefits; and the answer of
conscience is, Imperfect service. If accepted, it will be
through mercy; and, with this feeling of hope, I keep about,
endeavoring to scatter good seed as I go forth in my daily
ministrations."

The following correspondence was not received in time to be placed in the order of its date, but is now given as an illustration of Mr. Lawrence's views on some important points, and also as an instance of his self-control. In the autumn of 1847, he became acquainted with the Rev. Dr. ----, a Scotch Presbyterian clergyman, then on a visit to some friends in Boston. During a drive in the environs, with this gentleman and the Rev. Dr. Blagden, Mr. Lawrence made a remark of a practical nature upon some religious topic, which did not coincide with the views of his Scotch friend; and a debate ensued, which was characterized by somewhat more of warmth than was warranted by the nature of the subject. Mutual explanations and apologies followed, and the correspondence, which was continued after the return of Dr. ---- to Scotland, shows that the discussion on the occasion referred to had caused no diminution of their mutual regard or good-will.

The Rev. Dr. Blagden, in a note to the editor, dated Boston, April 18, 1855, writes as follows:

"As the result of our incidental conversation on Monday last, let
me say, that the facts of which we spoke occurred during a drive
which the Rev. Dr. ----, of Scotland, and I were enjoying with
your father, in his carriage, at his kind invitation, in October,
1847.

"Without being able to recall the precise connection in which the
remarks were made, I only now remember that Mr. Lawrence was led
to speak with some degree of warmth, but with entire kindness, on
the great error of relying on any idea of justification before
God by faith, without corresponding works; so that, to one not
familiar with the religious events in the history of this
community, which, by operating on Mr. Lawrence's habits of
thought, might well lead him to be jealous of any view of faith
which did not directly express the necessity of good works, his
remarks might very readily have seemed like a direct attack on
that great truth of justification by faith, which Luther affirmed
to be, as it was held or rejected, the test of a falling or
rising church.

"Immediately, that which the late Edward Irving, in one of his
sermons, under the name of 'Orations,' calls the 'ingenium
perfervidum Scotorum,' burst from the Rev. Dr. ----, with
something of that zeal for the doctrines of Knox and Calvin for
which I understand he has been somewhat remarkable in his own
country. He vehemently declared his abhorrence of any such denial
of the first and fundamental truth of the Gospel, evidently
taking it somewhat in the light of an insult to us as the
preachers of that truth. He ended by saying, with much force and
warmth, that the apostle Paul sometimes condensed the whole of
the Gospel into a single phrase; and one of these phrases, as
expressed in the Epistle to the Philippians, he commended to the
notice of Mr. Lawrence, namely, 'We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit; and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in the flesh.'

"Mr. Lawrence met this strong, and apparently indignant and truly
honest expression of feeling, with entire courtesy and
self-command, but with evident and deep emotion; and, repressing
all expression of displeasure, he gradually led the conversation
to less unwelcome subjects, so that our ride ended pleasantly,
though the embarrassment created by this event continued, in a
lessening degree, to its close.

"It will probably add to the interest of the whole transaction,
in your own mind, if I state, not only what you seemed aware of
on Monday, that your father sent me, a day or two after, 'Barr's
Help' (I believe is the name of the volume), with a very kind and
polite note, alluding to what had passed, and a paper containing
some development of his own religious belief; but Rev. Dr. ----,
also, soon after, in alluding to the circumstances in a note to
me, on another subject, and which is now before me, wrote:

"'I regret the warmth with which I did so. Alas! it is my
infirmity; but it was only a momentary flash, for I was enabled,
through a silent act of prayer, to get my mind purged of all
heat, before I ventured to resume the conversation on the vital
topic which our good and kind friend himself was led to
introduce.'

"I suspect this will reach you at an hour too late entirely for
the use which you thought might possibly be made of it. It may,
however, have some little interest, as a further development of
the excellent character of your father; and it refers to a scene
of which I have never been in the habit of speaking to others,
but which I shall always remember with great interest, as one
among many pleasing and profitable recollections of him."

The following extracts are taken from the paper referred to in the preceding communication: "BOSTON, November 4, 1847.

"To Rev. G. W. BLAGDEN, D.D.

"REV. AND DEAR SIR: Our interesting ride last Thursday has
peculiar claims upon me as a teacher and a preacher for a better
world. To one who knows me well, my unceremonious manner to our
friend would not seem so strange; but it was none the less unkind
in me to treat him thus.

"My first impressions are generally the right ones, and govern
the actions of daily and hourly experience here; and these
impressions were entirely favorable to our friend; and my
treatment, up to the moment that you 'poured your oil upon the
waters,' had been such as I am now well pleased with. But the
conversation then commenced; and the lecture, illustrations,
arguments, and consequences, were all stereotyped in my mind,
having been placed there twenty-seven years ago by a learned and
pious Scotchman, whose character came back to my memory like a
flash of light. It is enough to say that a multitude of matters
wholly adverse to my first impressions left me no command of my
courtesies; and I stopped the conversation. * * *

"I believe that our Saviour came among men to do them good, and,
having performed his mission, has returned to his Father and to
our Father, to his God and our God; and if, by any means, he will
receive me as a poor and needy sinner with the 'Well done' into
the society of those whom he shall have accepted, I care not what
sort of _ism_ I am ranked under here.

"There is much, I think, that may be safely laid aside among
Christians who are honest, earnest, and self-denying. Again I
say, I have no hope in _isms_, but have strong hope in the cross
of Christ.

"The little book[15] I send is a fuller exposition of the Kirk's
doctrine than our friend's. I have reviewed it, and see no reason
to alter a prayer or an expression. Return it at your leisure,
with the two notes of our friend to me since our drive. Soon
after I left you, I came home, sat down at my table to write a
note as an apology to him for my rudeness in stopping his
discourse, fainted, went to bed; next day, ate three ounces of
crusts, rode out, and went to bed sick with a cold in my face.
For the following forty-eight hours, I did not take an ounce of
food; the slightest amount of liquid sustained me; and yesterday
was the first day of my being a man. To-day, I called to see and
apologize to you." * * * * *

[15] "Help to Professing Christians. By Rev. John Barr. Published by
Perkins and Marvin. Boston, 1831."

(TO A FRIEND IN SOUTH CAROLINA.)

"BOSTON, June 12, 1852.

"MY DEAR FRIEND: The announcement of the death of your beloved
wife, and the queries and suggestions you made, touched me in a
tender place. You and your dear wife are separated, it is true;
but she is in the upper room, you in the lower. She is with
Jesus, where, with his disciples, he keeps the feast; and, not
long hence, he will say to you, 'Come up hither.' Your spirit and
hers meet daily at the same throne,--hers to praise, yours to
pray; and, when you next join her in person, it will be to part
no more. Is not the prospect such as to gild the way with all
those charms, which, in our childhood, used to make our hours
pass too slowly? * * * * *

"My connection with the people of your State, growing out of my
marriage, has brought me into personal intercourse, for more than
thirty years past, with a great family connection, embracing in
its circle many of your distinguished characters. All the M.
family, of whom your present Governor is one, came from the same
stock; and the various ramifications of that family at the South
include, I suppose, a great many thousand souls. I, therefore
take a lively interest in everything interesting to your people.
We have hot heads, and so have you; but I think your people
misjudge, when they think of setting up an independent
government. The peculiar institution which is so dear to them
will never be interfered with by sober, honest men; but will
never be allowed to be carried where it is not now, under the
Federal government. Politicians, like horse-jockeys, strive to
cover up wind-broken constitutions, as though in full health; but
hard driving reveals the defect, and, within thirty years, the
old Slave States will feel compelled to send their chattels away
to save themselves from bankruptcy and starvation. I have never
countenanced these abolition movements at the North; and have
lately lent a hand to the cause of Colonization, which is
destined to make a greater change in the condition of the blacks
than any event since the Christian era. * * *

"You need no new assurance of my interest in, and respect for,
yourself, and the loved ones around you. I enjoy life as few old
men do, I believe; for my family seem to live around and for me.
My nephew by marriage, Franklin Pierce, seems to be a prominent
candidate for the 'White House' for the next four years. He is
the soul of honor, and an old-fashioned Democrat, born and bred,
and to be depended on as such; but, as I am an old-fashioned
George Washington, John Jay Federalist, from my earliest days,
and hope to continue to be, I shall prefer one of this stamp to
him. * * *

"With a heart overflowing, I hardly know where to stop. We shall
meet in the presence of the Saviour, if we hold fast to the hem
of his garment; and I hope may be of the number of those whose
sins are forgiven.

"Ever yours,

AMOS LAWRENCE."

During the summer, a small volume appeared, entitled "Uncle Toby's Stories on Tobacco." Mr. Lawrence read it; and the views there inculcated so nearly coincided with his own, so often expressed during his whole life, that he caused two editions, of some thousands of copies, to be published and circulated, principally by the boys of the Mather School. On this subject, he writes to President Hopkins, under date of Aug. 5:

"My two last scraps told their own stories to the children, and
to-day you will receive a package by express that may require
explanation. Uncle Toby has hit the nail on the head in telling
his tobacco stories to American lads; and I think your students
will do good service in carrying them among their friends
wherever they are, to show them how much better it is to prevent
an evil than to remedy it; and, taking school-boys as they are,
these stories will do more good than any that have been
published. I met the author yesterday accidentally at the
American Sabbath School Union Depository, where I had just paid
for the fifty copies sent to you, and he was very earnest to have
me write a few lines for him to publish in his book; but I
referred him to the three hundred boys of the Mather School, who
are full of the matter to help other school-boys to do as they
are doing. However, I may say to him, that, as a school-boy, I
was anxious to be _manly_, like the larger boys; and, by the
advice of one, I took a quid, and kept it till I was very sick,
but did not tell my parents what the matter was; and, from that
time to this, have never chewed, smoked, or snuffed. To this
abstinence from its use (and from spirit) I owe, under God, my
present position in society. Further, I have always given the
preference to such persons as I have employed, for more than
forty years past, who have avoided rum and tobacco; and my
experience has been such as to confirm me that it is true wisdom
to have done so. The evil is growing in a fearfully rapid ratio
among us; and requires the steady course of respected and honored
men to prevent its spread, by influencing the school-children of
our land against becoming its slaves. You will please use the
fifty copies in the way you think best. If my life is spared, the
Mather School boys will be allowed to tell their own experience
to the boys of all the other public schools in this city and
neighborhood. In short, I look to these boys influencing three
millions of boys within the next thirty or forty years. Is not
this work worth looking after?"

The following well-merited tribute to the character of a respected citizen, who devoted his life to the promotion of every good object, is extracted from a note written by Mr. Lawrence to the Hon. Benjamin Seaver, then Mayor of the city, and dated Aug. 23:

"MY FRIEND SEAVER: I have desired, for some weeks past, to
inquire of you some further particulars of the disposition our
friend Tarbell[16] made of his property. You mentioned that
something would be paid over to A. & A. Lawrence, and something
to the Old Ladies' Home, which institution he helped forward by
his labors and his influence, in an important stage of its
existence; and he was called off just as he was beginning to
enjoy the fruits of his labor, in making a multitude of old
ladies happy in thus supplying them a home for the remainder of
their days on earth. Our friend has passed on; but I doubt not
that his labors have prepared him to enter that world where
there is no weariness or want, and all sufferings are at an end.
I have journeyed side by side, for more than three-score years,
with our friend; and can say, with truth, that I never knew him
guilty of a dishonest or dishonorable act, and that his life was
a practical exponent of his Christian principles. I pray to our
Father to make me more faithful in doing the work our friend had
so much at heart, while I can do it. My share of the money,[17]
coming from his estate, I shall wish paid over to the Old Ladies'
Home, and I doubt not brother A. will wish the same done with his
share. This appropriation will increase our friend's happiness,
even in his heavenly home; for the voice from Heaven proclaims,
'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; that
they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow
them.'"

[16] The late Thomas Tarbell, originally from Groton, Mass.

[17] This was a debt contracted by Mr. T., in 1826, amounting, at that
time, to about fifteen hundred dollars, when he failed in business.
The amount of the debt was soon after transferred to the "Old Ladies'
Home."

The editor feels some delicacy in inserting the following, from a gentleman still living, and in our own vicinity; but the tribute to Mr. Lawrence, coming, as it does, from a divine so distinguished in all those qualities which adorn his own profession, as well as for every Christian virtue, is too flattering to be omitted:

"ELMWOOD, Sept. 3.

"MY DEAR FRIEND: I take such paper as happens to be near me, in
my sick chamber, to thank you for the books and pamphlets, which
I have read as much as my dim sight and weak nerves will allow me
at present to read. I wish, when you write to your friend Dr.
Hamilton, you would thank him for me for his eloquent and
evangelical appeals for Christian truth and duty. Tell him I am a
Congregational Minister of Boston, but no sectarian; that I was
matriculated at the University of Edinburgh, fifty years ago, and
studied divinity there under Drs. Hunter, Micklejohn, Moodie,
&c., and moral philosophy, under Dugald Stewart;--that my
particular friends were David Dickson, since Minister of St.
Cuthbert's, Edinburgh; David Wilkie, since Minister of Old Gray
Friar's Church, Edinburgh; Patrick McFarlane, since Minister in
Glasgow and Greenock; Thomas Brown, since Professor of Moral
Philosophy at Edinburgh; David Brewster, since Sir David, &c.:
most of whom he probably knows. Tell him I should be glad of his
correspondence, as I have that of his friend, Principal Lee, of
the University of Edinburgh; and that we should be glad to see
him in Boston. I was happy to see your name appended to a
petition on the subject of the liquor law, though I always expect
to find it among the advocates of every benevolent enterprise
within your reach. Your visit did me much good. I have much
valued your friendship, and your manifestations of respect and
regard for me. Heaven bless you and yours, and make you more and
more a blessing! Come and see me when you can, my dear friend.
With much affection and respect,

"Your old friend,

CHARLES LOWELL.

"P. S.--I write with a feeble hand, dim sight, and nervous
temperament."

In enclosing the preceding note to the Rev. Dr. Hamilton, Mr. Lawrence writes, Sept. 4:

"The writer of the foregoing is the Rev. Dr. Lowell, of this
city, who is broken down in health, but not at all in his
confidence and hope and joy in the beloved Jesus. Of all men I
have ever known, Dr. Lowell is one of the brightest exemplars of
the character and teachings of the Master; for all denominations
respect him, and confide in him. For more than forty years I have
known him; and, in all the relations of a good pastor to his
people, I have never known a better. I have met him in the sick
chamber, with the dying, and in the house of prayer. In the
character of a teacher, and a leader of the people heavenward, no
one among us has been more valued. Although I have not been a
member of his church, he has, in times of great urgency, supplied
our pulpit, and has always been ready to attend my family and
friends when asked. I sent him such of your writings as I had in
store for circulation, 'The Royal Preacher' among them; and I
must say to you that I think no living man is preaching to
greater multitudes than you are at this day. I have circulated
tens of thousands of your tracts and volumes, and, if I am
spared, hope to continue the good work. Millions of souls will be
influenced by your labors."