Chapter XI: Sketches of Ministers (1)

"Insignificant as the denomination of Universalists may now appear
in the eyes of the world, it is not to be doubted that the time is
coming when it will occupy in this country, and throughout all
Christendom, a much more commanding position, and men will ask for
the beginning of what they shall then see, and love to read the
story of our present struggles and victories."--REV. T. J. SAWYER, D. D.

It is within the first century of our national republic, just passed, that this great faith in the universality of God's love and of the work of Christian salvation with man, has gained a prominence in the churches which it had not known since the earlier times of Christianity. It is of the last half century, in connection with the history of this faith, however, that I would more particularly speak, as it is within this period that the work of its promulgation in our own country has been especially realized, its public advocates multiplied, and their ministries extended in many of the States of our Union. Its publications and other educational forces have increased, and, as we have seen, it has identified itself with some of the most significant reforms of the age. Many of its friends and representatives have been among the worthy and excellent of the times in which they have lived, and not a few of its public advocates deserve to be honorably and thankfully remembered in the present and the future for the contributions they have made to the progress of the church in the knowledge of Christian truth and the realization and enjoyment of the Christian life. It is one of the enjoyments connected with the preparation of these pages, that the writer may call them up in memory and speak of them as they appear to him, and note some of their characteristics, and pay them that tribute of respect and honor which they so justly merit.

Though others may appear as their successors in the same high calling, they can scarcely be more faithful or effective in their labors than have these earnest defenders of the Abrahamic faith who have been foremost in its promulgation during the past generation. If many of them now rest from their labors, their works surely follow them, and their names deserve tender and thankful remembrance by their survivors in the church for whose prosperity and honor they so hopefully, bravely, and faithfully taught and wrought.

It should be understood that, in the succeeding sketches of ministers, it is not the intent of the writer to present anything like a full record of all who have faithfully served in this capacity in our country during the time of our church history comprehended in these pages. A complete biographical encyclopædia cannot be compassed in so limited a space. It is from his own particular standpoint of observation and recollection that the writer presents his testimony. Furthermore, it is mainly to those now departed that these references are made.

The BALLOUS have been conspicuous in this conflict of religious opinions during the present century. Foremost among the family of preachers, most of whom have departed, stands acknowledged Hosea the elder, one of the strongest theologians of the past or present in New England. He lived through half the present century, being nearly thirty years old when he entered it, and was vigorous to the last at the age of eighty-one. The statement of his life-history is not a new one now. The four ample volumes containing it, by Dr. Whittemore, have been extensively read, and will be for years to come. But having known and revered him, it is an unspeakable pleasure to the writer to state his impressions of the man and the preacher.

HOSEA BALLOU (a native of Richmond, N. H.), came from the home of a worthy Baptist clergyman, whose means of living and supporting a large family were small. He had but meagre opportunities for education, but employed what he had to the best advantage, and became a school-teacher in early manhood. He joined the Baptist Church when quite young, but afterwards grew out of its theology, and became convinced of the truth of Universalism. Discouraged in his first attempts as a public speaker, he grew more confident, and soon attracted much attention, wherever he appeared, as an advocate of his faith. His pastorates were in Barnard, Vt., Portsmouth, N. H., Salem and Boston, Mass. He died in the last-named city, June 7, 1852, after a pastorate of more than thirty years. His two sons, Hosea F., of Vermont, and Massena B., of Stoughton, Mass., have served in the ministry many years.

Mr. Ballou was gifted with great logical clearness, aptness, and force. His preaching was plain, scriptural, and often fervent, and no one could bring home to the hearer the great themes of the Divine Fatherhood and Human Brotherhood more effectively than he. Wakeful indeed must be the theological opponent who could evade the force of his logic. He employed the Socratic method, by drawing the objector out, so that his own statements would confound or confute him. Many valiant ones of the opposite faith were there who could readily assail and denounce his doctrines, where his replies could not reach them, but who would be very sure to keep at a respectful distance from that "sword of the Spirit" which he wielded with such consummate skill.

Of the published works of Mr. Ballou, none have evinced more mental clearness and vigor than his volume on "Atonement," issued in 1805.[37] Its plainness and adaptedness to the common reader, its sharp logic, and above all its apt and convincing appeals to the Scriptures, render it a timely helper everywhere and always, in the discussion of the theologies which have assumed the Christian name, and which are now being so closely scrutinized. Every reader and student of theology understands something of the old theory of Atonement so long dominant in the Christian Church, so exceedingly perplexing to honest and independent inquirers, so hard to be vindicated by its ablest advocates, and so surely sowing the seeds of scepticism and infidelity in many minds. Volume after volume has appeared in defence and attempted illustration of it. Sin an infinite evil, being a violation of infinite law, and therefore the law requiring an infinite sacrifice, short of which no atonement could be made; the transgression of Adam bringing the whole human race into the same situation of sin and misery, and subjecting them all to the infinite penalty of an infinite law, which they had violated in their parent before they individually existed. In view of this penalty, which was endless suffering, God himself, to placate his own wrath against the delinquents, assumed a body of flesh and blood, and suffered the penalty of the law by death,--not that God himself actually died, but the human body in which he came,--this is deemed the infinite sacrifice by which it is possible for a part of mankind to be saved. "Divines of the greatest ability," writes Mr. Ballou, "and of the first rank among the _literati_, have drained the last faculty of invention in plodding through the dark region of metaphysics to bring up a Samuel to explain the solecism of _satisfying an infinite dissatisfaction_."

Now let us note how the author of "Atonement" quietly sets forth this absurdity. It is all comprehended in a single page of the volume:--

"We will state it as it is often stated by those who believe it,
which is by the likeness of debt and credit. The sinner owed a debt
to Divine Justice, which he was unable to discharge; the Divine
Being cannot, consistently with his honor, dispense with the pay,
but says, 'I must have what is my just due;' but as the debtor has
not ability to pay the smallest fraction, Divine Wisdom lays a deep,
concerted, mysterious plan for the debt to be discharged. And how
was it? Why, for God to pay it himself!

"Our neighbor owes us a hundred pounds; time of payment comes, and
we make a demand for our dues. Says our neighbor, 'My misfortunes
have been such that I am not the possessor of the smallest fraction
of property in the world; and as much as I owe you I am worse than
nothing.' I declare to him positively that I will not lose so much
as a fraction of the interest, and leave him. A friend calls, and
asks me how I succeeded in obtaining my dues of my neighbor. I
reply, 'My neighbor is not, nor will he ever be, able to pay me any
part of my demand.' My friend says he is sorry that I should lose my
debt. I answer, 'I shall not lose it. I have very fortunately, in my
meditations on the subject, thought of a method by which I can avail
myself of the whole, to my full satisfaction; and I think it is a
method which no person in the world but myself could ever have
discovered.' My friend is curious and impatient to know the secret,
never before found out. The reader may guess his confusion on my
telling him, 'that as I have that sum already by me, I am now going
to pay up the obligation before the interest is any larger!' This
has been called the Gospel plan, which contains the depths of
infinite wisdom."

What could be plainer, and how could the justness of this representation be questioned? Questioned it was, of course, not by any attempt at elaborate examination and refutation, but by a sermon now and then given out from some Orthodox pulpit, by some honest minister, entrenched behind the prejudices of his hearers, and altogether disinclined to meet the whole question in the broadest daylight of investigation. Out of this plain exposition, and others like it, since made, have come the examinations, and statements, and restatements, and amendments, and improvements of the orthodox doctrine of Atonement, which are keeping astir at this hour the pulpits and schools of theology all over the land and across the seas.

Many are the anecdotes of Mr. Ballou given in the biographies already before the public. Were we to attempt a selection, we should be at a loss where to begin. We have one in mind, given us by Rev. Moses Ballou, which we have never seen in our religious journals. A Mr. Buckman, a relative of Mr. Ballou, had taken it upon him as a matter of conscience, with very little mental preparation, to be a preacher. He had a good deal of self-assurance, and, withal, strong love of approbation. Being in company with Mr. Ballou, at one time, he was anxious to get an approving word from him, and said, "Brother Ballou, I am awfully tried with myself." "Ah!" said Mr. Ballou, "Why so? What is the trouble?" "Why," said Mr. Buckman, "it is this: to think that I should ever try to preach, and know so little. Now, what do you think about it?" "Why," said Mr. Ballou, hesitating a little, "if you really want to know my mind, I think--_that--if you knew a little more, you would never try again_!"

How welcome was he at the great meetings of the church,--conferences, associations, conventions. He was usually called upon to give the discourse at the close of the meeting. And it was often a feast to hear him, as he would dwell upon the excellency of the divine attributes, the "exceeding great and precious promises," and the plain and reasonable precepts of the gospel. A prophetic word of good cheer would be spoken by him at such times. He would see, and make others see, the clouds receding, and the clear day opening in the blue and golden sky beyond. However acceptably others had preached before him, the expectation was that somehow his discoursing would give finish and sanction to them all. And it was so. At Barre, Vt., where the General Convention met in 1831, excellent discourses were delivered by able ministers present, and so rich and varied were the topics dwelt upon, that the query was somewhat humorously proposed, "What will Father Ballou have to say after all this?" Judge of our interest and delight when the modest man arose, and in the most quiet way proposed for his text the words of Elihu, in Job, xxxvi. 2: "Suffer me a little, and I will show thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf." And such a vindication of the character of the gracious Father of all in face of the aspersions cast upon it by his weak and erring children! It was simply electrifying.

The late Rev. Theodore Clapp, D. D., of New Orleans, and a minister in the Unitarian Church, once related that, being present in a gathering of Unitarian clergymen in Boston, the conversation turned on the changes which had been effected in the theology of New England, and the question who, of all her great divines, had wrought the most and greatest changes. Of course Channing had the most advocates; but there were some who named Edwards, Emmons, Hopkins, and other doctors of the Orthodox Schools. At last Dr. Clapp, who had remained silent, was appealed to. "Gentlemen," said he, "you have not yet named the man!" "What!" replied all in astonishment, "not named him!" "No, gentlemen, you have not yet named him." "Why, who can it be? We have named every preacher of eminence in New England." "And yet, gentlemen, you have not named _the_ man." "Well, who do you say he is?" With great impressiveness, Mr. Clapp uttered the name. "Hosea Ballou has effected more and greater changes in the theological opinions of the people of New England, than any man dead or living." There was silence for a time, and the discussion was not renewed.[38]

Mr. Ballou was a vigorous writer. His "Treatise on the Atonement," "Notes on the Parables," and volumes of sermons, are among his best offerings to the public. The first-named book ought to be read throughout Christendom. He was through his professional life a welcome contributor to the periodicals of the church. He has stood and will continue to stand high. His imposing statue at Mount Auburn will look out upon generations mentally and spiritually blest through his truthful ministries.

The eldest son of Mr. Ballou, Rev. HOSEA FAXON BALLOU, was born in Dana, Mass., April 4, 1799, and died in Wilmington, Vt., May 20, 1881. At the age of thirty he became desirous of entering the ministry, but hesitated from anxiety as to the support of his growing family. He began the study of theology, however, and in 1832, after a few months with Rev. Benjamin Whittemore, preached with success three times in the vicinity of Boston, and was called to Whitingham, Vt. He was ordained at Boston, June 30, 1833. After a pastorate of nearly twenty-five years at Whitingham he went to Wilmington, where he was pastor until, in 1872, the infirmities of age led him to abandon the pulpit, after a ministry of forty years without the loss of a single Sunday. In person Mr. Ballou was tall, erect, and strong, bearing a marked resemblance to his distinguished father in face and form as well as in mental characteristics. His sermons evinced a high order of intellect and cultivation. During the last seventeen years of his residence in Whitingham, he held the office of town clerk, and in Wilmington was twice elected to the Constitutional Convention and once to the State Legislature. He was President of the Wilmington Savings Bank for seven years before his death, and occupied many other positions of honor and trust. He reared a large family of children, and it has been said of him, in truth we may believe, that during the past fifty years no man in Southern Vermont exerted so wide an influence over religious opinions.

Another son of Mr. Ballou, MASSENA B. BALLOU, was pastor of the Universalist Church in Stoughton, Mass., for twenty-five years, and now resides in that town, at an advanced age.

An elder brother of Hosea was Rev. DAVID BALLOU, of Munroe, Mass., a man of remarkable acuteness as a reasoner, and quite as sound a theologian as the more distinguished one just noticed, but whose success as a preacher was much less, because of the want of that ease and fluency in the delivery of his discourses which his brother possessed. But those who knew him well have borne witness to the excellence of his character and his great ability as an expounder of the Word of the Gospel.

His son, Rev. MOSES BALLOU, held a prominent place in our church as one of its talented ministers, and as a writer of more than ordinary ability. He was born in Munroe, Mass., March 24, 1811. Educated at the academy at Brattleboro, Vt., he began preaching at the age of twenty-two. One of his earliest charges was at Bath, N. H. He was subsequently settled at Portsmouth, where he had pastorates twice. He had charge of the churches at Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven, Conn., and in later years removed to New York city, where he was pastor of the Bleecker Street Church. He then came to Philadelphia, and took charge of the Church of the Restoration. Failing in health, he gave up his work in that city, and removed to Atco, N. J. His friends there erected for him a small church edifice, where he held service when able so to do. He died in Philadelphia, May 19, 1879.

He was the author of two books,--one the "Memorial of Rev. Merritt Sanford;" the other, "The Divine Character Vindicated," a review of Rev. Edward Beecher's work, entitled "The Conflict of Ages." This last-named volume indicates the masterly mental strength of the man. Dr. Beecher himself, we are informed, acknowledged it to have been the ablest of any reply made to his work. It has never yet been read by Universalists as it deserves to be. Mr. Ballou was not only a strong and logical writer, but an earnest and eloquent preacher. Dr. T. B. Thayer writes of him:--

"In his best days, when in the vigor of his manhood, physically and
mentally, few men could hold a thoughtful and intellectual audience
to closer attention than he; and even those who differed from him
theologically acknowledged the ability with which he maintained his
positions, and were little disposed to enter the lists of
controversial argument against them. And at times when the great
truths of the Gospel seemed, in the midst of his speaking, to dawn
upon him in new and larger revelation, he would break into speech
that thrilled his hearers, and lifted them for a space into the
fellowship of the angels.

"He knew for a good while that the end was approaching, and he was
ready. Death was to him only the door that opened into the new
immortal life, which was almost as presently real to him as the life
he was living here. And when, at the last, his life-long friend,
Rev. James Shrigley, said good-bye to him, he exclaimed, 'Why say
good-bye, when we shall meet again to-morrow?'"

Of all the worthies in this company of church leaders of which we are speaking, not one of them is entitled to a higher place than HOSEA BALLOU, D. D., or "2d," as he was called before the doctorate was conferred upon him. A rare man was he, a clear-headed and closely logical thinker, an untiring student, one of the soundest of preachers, and humblest and noblest of men. We have no fear of using language too strong in our statement of his character, its pre-eminence and worth. An editor of a volume of his discourses has given it, on the title-page, from Laman Blanchard:--

"His thoughts were as a pyramid up-piled,
On whose far top an angel sat and smiled,
Yet in his heart was he a simple child."

He was of Guilford, Vt., born there in 1796. His parents were Baptists, but the thoughtful and studious boy, before the age of nineteen, had embraced Universalism. He began early the study of Latin and Greek, and gave much attention in later days to ecclesiastical history. He was pastor in Stafford, Conn., and in Roxbury and Medford, Mass. He was for some years one of the editors of the "Universalist Magazine," and afterwards of the "Quarterly," a publication which under his supervision was a most creditable addition to the literature of the Christian Church. His most valuable contribution to this literature is his "Ancient History of Universalism," the result of long and patient research in a new field of inquiry, and which proved to be a work of acknowledged merit. It settled at once and for all time the loose statement that Universalism was a new doctrine, not known to any extent in olden times. Some of the brightest lights in the Christian Church are recognized as its early advocates. Harvard University, of which he was for some years a trustee, conferred upon him its honorary degree of D. D.; and Tufts College, for which he had anxiously pleaded and diligently labored, elected him her first president. "His scholarship," writes another, "was not only general and varied, but exact in details, and frequently astonishing by its minute acquaintance with things and events out of the ordinary channels of information; and his knowledge was so unostentatiously held, and kindly and modestly imparted, that it required special inquiry to elicit it, and seemed but natural to him. His gentle manners and readiness to impart information, and his mild and loving spirit, won for him the esteem of all who became acquainted with him, so that their admiration of the scholar and teacher were often lost in their affection for the friend."

Two brothers of Dr. Ballou, LEVI and WILLIAM S., were for years preachers and pastors in New England. William resided in the West for a time, where he died in 1865. Levi was pastor of the Universalist Church in North Orange, Mass., for nineteen years. Clear-minded, gentle, and yet forcible men were they, making good proof of their ministry.

Rev. EDWARD TURNER was for years one of the ablest ministers in the Universalist Church. He was born in Medfield, Mass., July 28, 1776, and was in early life sent to the school of the celebrated Hannah Adams and her sister. In 1786 his family removed to Sturbridge, Mass., and in his seventeenth year he was at Leicester Academy. He was educated under "orthodox" influence, and used to say that he "held the minister in such fearful reverence that he would jump over the wall to hide himself if he saw that he must meet him on the road." The towns in the section of Worcester County in which he lived were among those where Universalism was first preached. Oxford, especially, was one of its strongholds, the first Convention having met there when he was ten years old. In such a neighborhood he could not have lived long without hearing something of the "strange doctrine," but all that is known is, that he is said to have been a Universalist as early as his sixteenth or seventeenth year. He began to preach in 1798, when, at the age of twenty-two, he preached his first sermon at Bennington, Vt. He first appears in the public records of the Universalists in 1800, when it is stated that a Letter of License was given him by the General Convention. From this time until 1824 his name appears in the records nearly every year. He is mentioned in the records of the Convention for 1803 as of Sturbridge and also of Charlton, from which it is inferred that both these towns had societies of which he was pastor. In 1809 he removed to Salem, Mass. Here he remained till June, 1814, when he accepted a call to Charlestown, Mass. In March, 1824, he accepted an invitation to Portsmouth, N. H., where he continued till the spring of 1828. He was afterwards minister in Charlton, his old home, and at Fishkill Landing, N. Y. In 1841 he removed to Jamaica Plain, to a home left by a son-in-law, where he passed the remainder of his days. He was twice married. He occasionally preached up to the last. He was present as one of the bearers at the funeral of his old friend and co-worker, Mr. Ballou, June 9, 1852, and departed this life Jan. 24, 1853.

With the opinions of the elder Ballou in regard to future (or no-future) punishment he had no sympathy; and an estrangement somehow grew up, which led him to connect himself, later in life, with the Unitarians, instead of remaining with those in the Universalist ministry, such as H. Ballou, 2d., the Streeters and Skinners, Rev. L. Willis, Thomas F. King, and others, whose opinions coincided with his own. A severe illness in 1811 wrought a marked change in him. Before this he was quite robust and erect, afterwards he appeared more feeble. Previous to this sickness, like Mr. Ballou, he had been exclusively an extemporaneous preacher, and is said to have been one of the "rousing" sort,--live, vehement, electric; but from this period his whole manner changed, and his ordinary preaching became subdued, languid, what is called "moderate," at times, perhaps, even heavy. Dr. E. G. Brooks, in an excellent biographical notice of him, says:--

"He had immense latent power. At times, when kindled by some great
occasion, or stirred by opposition or some peculiar circumstance,
this came out. Then he preached with all his old fire, and sometimes
rose into impassioned and commanding eloquence. 'All the fountains
of the great deep' within him 'were broken up,' and thought and
feeling came in a flood. Rev. Russell Streeter writes me, 'On
Convention occasions he was, on the whole, _second to no one_.' My
parents tell me that he was 'sometimes _very_ animated.' They speak
particularly of one sermon in Portsmouth, called forth by some
bitter outbreak of opposition, when he preached with surpassing
effect. Others report similar instances. Doctrinal sermons in
abundance he preached, but even those most argumentative and most
sharply controversial were flavored with a religious meaning and
reasoned to practical ends. He never preached a sermon that was
_merely_ doctrinal, but always made dogmatic discussion subordinate
to moral impression. Though in a mistaken estimate of duty, as we
believe, he separated from us, his name can never be taken out of
our records as one of the worthiest of our early heroes, nor his
work cease to be an occasion of gratitude and honorable pride to us,
nor his reverent and saintly character fail to be one of the most
precious portions of our denominational inheritance."[39]

The STREETER brothers are to be numbered in this "company of the preachers." SEBASTIAN was for more than thirty years pastor of the First Universalist Church, on Hanover Street, Boston. He was a minister of marked character, light-framed, nervous, dark-eyed, of quick movement, clear and strong-minded, voluble in speech, affable, at home everywhere, especially in the pulpit.

Under many disadvantages, he laid for himself the foundation of a professional education. He intended to qualify himself for the law, but a superior wisdom and will called him to the Christian pulpit. At the age of eighteen, while a school-teacher in New Hampshire, he was a talented advocate of Christian Universalism. At twenty-two he preached his first discourse. He travelled extensively as a missionary in Maine, encountering the reproach which awaited the advocacy of his faith in those days in many parts of New England, and having the honor of being stoned once while preaching in a Christian house of worship, and by a zealous member of a church. With him, however, opposition was an incentive to new earnestness in his work. He was singularly gifted as a preacher. He despised all garishness and affectation, and was usually full of his theme. There was in him a latent fire of eloquence, which when kindled stirred his audience to the depths of their souls. The writer calls to mind occasions of his preaching: one, while the hearer was standing in the doorway of a church at a meeting of the General Convention in Vermont. The pulpit was between the doors that opened upon the faces of the congregation. The preacher was in the heat of his discoursing on the words of Jesus, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." There were no indifferent listeners, and but few dry eyes to be seen. The remembrance has often been an inspiration. The other was at the session of the Rockingham Association, in Nottingham, N. H., in 1833. Mr. Streeter delivered the occasional discourse, an able and a timely one. He was speaking of reforms and reformers, and was all aglow with his theme. He thus came to a climax:--

"We know of a revivalist and reformer infinitely superior in skill
and power to those of all sects combined; one who will continue to
move onward, 'conquering and to conquer,' till he has 'renewed a
right spirit' in every heart, till he has reformed fully and forever
the countless millions of our race. Yes, blessed be God, we know his
name. It is Jesus of Nazareth; the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; the
Son of God; the Saviour of the world!" ["Amen!" from a brother
minister.][40] The preacher responded: "Hallelujah! Glory to God in
the highest! Jesus will make all things new. Let heaven proclaim his
honor; let earth echo and re-echo his praises; and let eternity
respond them through the long and lofty roll of its interminable
ages!"

Said Mr. Streeter to a friend, one Monday morning:--

"I had something tender to put into my sermon yesterday morning. As
I was going to church, a poor woman came to me to borrow a dollar to
get bread for her children, and, as I handed it to her, she offered
me a small locket containing a braid of hair from the head of a
little child she had buried a week ago. 'Take back the locket,' said
I; 'it is too sacred for my hands; but keep the dollar, you are
welcome to that. It does me more good to give it than you to receive
it, and you can have more if you need.' Then she wept, and said she
was a poor widow, living in such a street near by, and her poor
children had not had a mouthful since yesterday noon, and she had
nothing to buy them bread. I knew by her looks that she told me the
truth, but to satisfy her I went and saw where she lived, and saw
her children, and gave her more money, and told her I would look to
her wants again to-morrow. Then I went into the pulpit, and put the
incident into a sermon, and I haven't preached so well, nor enjoyed
the service so much, for many a day."

His heart was often overflowing with such charities as this, through all his ministry.

He was the life of a conference meeting, and his Friday evening conferences in the Hanover Street vestry were never forgotten by those who attended them. As a pastor, he was always welcomed in the homes of his parishioners, sharing as he did their joys and sorrows with the sympathy of a brother and friend. As an officiating attendant at weddings, he was exceedingly popular, and his yearly marriage list, for a long time, exceeded in numbers that of any other clergyman in Boston. On funeral occasions, he was eminently a "son of consolation." There was such an unction in his usual manner of preaching--a manner so peculiarly adapted to the services of the Sabbath--that a brother minister who highly respected him, quaintly suggested that _Sabbathstrain_, rather than Sebastian, might properly be used as his name. As another has written of him: "He was an intensely magnetic man. It was not simply what he said, but the spiritual unction with which he uttered the truth, that won and held you."[41]

Mr. Streeter lived to the age of eighty-four. In his last days he suffered intensely from asthma, which had long afflicted him. He has left the example of a true and noble life to the churches.

Rev. RUSSELL STREETER was a younger brother of Sebastian, and a man of much mental vigor,--sharp, witty, and logical. He had quite a number of ministerial settlements in New England, and in them all was noted for his ability as a preacher, for his peculiarities of character, and his good qualities as a neighbor and citizen. He was the first editor of the "Christian Intelligencer," a Universalist weekly paper, published at Portland, Me.; was minister in that city for some years, and afterwards, much later in life, went to pay the society a long pastorate visit of six and a half years, which proved very agreeable to pastor and people. He died at Woodstock, Vt., Feb. 15, 1880.

Mr. Streeter was a subject of impulses. When in the happy mood, no one, it seemed to us, could preach a more acceptable sermon than he. When not in this favorable frame of mind, he would not always do justice to himself. We can never forget a discourse (the closing one) at a Conference in Orford, N. H., from the text, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." The sermons previously delivered were timely, and had been well received, and he was fully in the spirit of them all, and felt that he had the strong sympathies of his hearers. His words "dropped like the rain, and distilled as the dew." Doctrine, illustration, exhortation, application, all were excellent, and there was an unction in the whole discourse that left upon the audience impressions most highly favorable to the faith he was setting forth. On another occasion, at the closing of a session of the New Hampshire Convention, at Lebanon, he was the last preacher of the occasion. Very able and impressive discourses had been delivered by five other ministers. Mr. Streeter, in an apparently extemporaneous effort, took special notice of the matter and manner of them all, and of the characters of the speakers; and when he alluded to the sermon of the young and beloved Hanscom, as "an eloquent appeal from one whose hollow and sepulchral tones seemed to indicate that the youthful and faithful speaker was nearing the tomb," the effect was exceedingly impressive.

During the editorial career of Mr. Streeter with the "Christian Intelligencer," he proved himself an able and effective writer, and did much to call attention to the religious principles which he advocated. While in Portland, he was neighbor to Dr. Edward Payson, of distinguished memory in the Congregational Churches; a very zealous advocate of Christianity, as he understood it, and who regarded the Gospel as promulgated by Mr. Streeter as a pernicious and deadly heresy. Mr. Streeter was somewhat fond of looking after him, and noting what he considered to be some of his errors in doctrine. One evening the two happened to greet each other at a meeting where Dr. Payson presided and which Mr. Streeter attended. Soon theological questioning and cross questioning took place, and some very strong denunciatory words were used by the Doctor, who was evidently much excited. Mr. Streeter was cool and keen in his replies, and soon pushed the Doctor into a very close corner, causing him to contradict himself, and to appear to his friends and all present to great disadvantage. It was a triumph of temper as well as of theological ability. The Doctor, saintly man as he surely was, evidently felt the force of his neighbor's replies to him.

Mr. Streeter was an able writer. His "Familiar Conversations" have been much read. They were adapted to the time in which they were written, and so were some of his works on the revival movements of the Orthodox Churches in New England and elsewhere, thirty or forty years ago. His little volume entitled, "The Latest News from Three Worlds,--Heaven, Earth, and Hell," was a scorching satire upon the extravagances connected with these movements. Scriptural argument and strong logic are mixed with keenest wit, mirthfulness, tenderness, and rhetoric most glowing and redundant. The ministers and churches to whom these reviews were addressed must have seen themselves in no very commendable light in that glass. Those who have once read the book attentively are not likely to forget it. While engaged in the "Burchard War" in Vermont, he published a pamphlet entitled, "Mirror of Calvinistic Fanaticism; or, Jedediah Burchard & Co., During a Protracted Meeting of Twenty-six Days in Woodstock, Vt." It was an effective issue.

During most of his ministry, Mr. Streeter was a zealous and successful advocate of the temperance reform. His addresses were always lively and interesting, full of anecdote, ludicrous hits, and quaint sayings. He was popular in all places and with all sects in this work, and many who would hardly consent to hear him advocate his religious sentiments realized much enjoyment in listening to his defence of temperance principles. On one occasion he was in the pulpit with a clergyman whose sense of self-dignity was "above the ordinary," and who evidently had no strong inclination to be the subject of a joke. While Mr. Streeter was addressing the meeting, he took occasion to describe the different mixtures of strong drink which were in use almost everywhere previous to the temperance reformation. "The last article of all," said he, "added to perfect the dram, was--was--really, strange to say, but I have just now lost the name! Will some one please to mention it?" "Nutmeg!" exclaimed the dignified clergyman near him. "That's it!" responded Mr. Streeter. "He's well informed in these matters, I'll warrant you."

We have heard an account of his attendance, in Western New York, at a meeting where a Methodist and a Universalist were to preach in the same meeting-house one Sunday. The Universalist was to speak in the morning, and the Methodist in the afternoon. In the last sermon the preacher was very severe in his treatment of Universalists and their doctrine. Mr. Streeter, seeing that there would be no opportunity for a rejoinder to his statements, asked his ministering brother the privilege of taking his place in offering the closing prayer, in which, in the most reverential, solemn, and emphatic manner, he briefly noted what he considered the misrepresentations of the last speaker, and left upon the audience an impression decidedly favorable to his own faith. The whole exercise, quaint as it was, was so remarkably able and timely, that all criticism of it seemed to be silenced.

Rev. THOMAS JONES was a successor of Rev. John Murray, at Gloucester, Mass. He came from the Methodists in England, and once belonged to the Lady Huntington connection. He was a veritable Welshman, honest, kind-hearted, blunt in speech, and unique in his method and style of sermonizing. His discourses were most positive statements of Universalism, and abounded in Scriptural quotations. Some one wittily said of Father Balfour, that so great was his reliance on the authority of the Bible, that he would go to it to find out whether a suspected bank-note were counterfeit or not. A parishioner of Father Jones remarked of him, that he could hardly get through saying grace, even at a Fourth of July festival, without repeating the passage, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." He had a long settlement in Gloucester, and died there at a ripe old age (eighty-three), Aug. 20, 1846. The discourse at the funeral was delivered by Rev. A. D. Mayo, the officiating minister and pastor at the time. He paid a just tribute to the honored old Christian soldier, and to the early defenders of our faith in America.

Rev. PAUL DEAN received fellowship as a Universalist minister in 1805. He afterwards preached extensively in Vermont and New Hampshire, and moved to Whitestown, N. Y., in 1810. He traversed frequently large portions of Central and Western New York, and held several successful discussions,--two, particularly, with Rev. Mr. Lacy, then a Methodist, afterwards an Episcopalian Bishop. He removed to Boston in 1813, and in 1823 his friends left the First Church, and built for him the church in Bulfinch Street, now Unitarian. About 1828, he withdrew from the fellowship of the Universalists, and, with a few others, formed the "Massachusetts Restorationist Association." On its decline he left Boston, and settled in Framingham, in 1840. He was an eloquent and popular preacher, and was for many years an active Freemason, holding, during the greater part of his manhood, the highest offices of that Order in the United States. He died in Framingham, of paralysis, Oct. 5, 1860, aged seventy-seven years.

In his early ministry, Mr. Dean, while in Central New York, was subject to the oppositions which others of his fraternity sometimes encountered. On one occasion, an over-zealous woman was so highly incensed at the expectation of his coming to the house where she resided, that she had in preparation a kettle of hot water with which to greet him, but was prevented by others from effecting her evil design.

An honest and clear-minded man was Rev. WALTER BALFOUR, who came from his native Scotland to Charlestown, Mass. He was first a Congregationalist, and afterwards a Baptist, and an acceptable preacher with both sects; a Greek and Hebrew scholar, and well instructed in sacred literature. A most conscientious believer was he in the old theology of Scottish orthodoxy. He had never dreamed that Universalism could be true. But he was a reader and thinker, and especially inclined to the good use of his logical powers. He read the works of American orthodox authors, among whom was Professor Stuart of Andover, for whose opinions he had profound respect. The Professor became engaged in a controversy with the eminent Unitarian, Dr. Channing, and Mr. Balfour followed up the discussion with deep interest. In his attempts to set forth Christ as equal with God, the Professor cited the words of the Revelator (Rev. v. 13), where "things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth" (a periphrasis for the universe), are said to bow the knee to Jesus, and ascribe blessing, honor, glory, and power to him. "If this be not spiritual worship," says the Professor, "and if Christ be not the object of it here, I am unable to produce a case where worship can be called spiritual and divine." Mr. Balfour read and pondered. He had not doubted the Trinity, the equality of Christ with the Father. But what is the import of this statement, that the universe is offering spiritual worship to Christ? Is this the Professor's meaning? Would he thus avow the truth of Universalism? He becomes anxious on the subject; addresses a respectful but earnest letter to the Andover teacher, asking an explanation of this statement; awaits patiently an answer, but none comes. Writes again and again, still receiving no reply. After nearly a year and a half, his last appeal is made. An equivocal answer came, expressing unwillingness to reply to anonymous newspaper writers! Frivolous pretension, and in discreditable contrast with the honesty and sincerity of the inquirer. Bound to oppose Universalism, as the creed of the Institution compelled him to, why would not the Professor seek to save this inquirer from its fatal enticements? But the Professor's neglect was the inquirer's opportunity. He continued his inquiries, and the result was his conversion to the Universalist faith, his life interest in it afterwards, and the writing of volumes in its defence, which aided in disseminating a knowledge of it widely throughout the land. Thus Andover inadvertently, through the unwillingness of this its teacher to save the honest inquirer from error, gave to the Universalist Church one of its ablest, most devoted, and worthy ministers and defenders. That is a part of its history henceforth.

A minister of marked character, and of much service to the Universalist Church, was Rev. JOHN BISBE. He was a Massachusetts man, and graduated at Brown University, in 1814. He was a student of law for a short time in Taunton, and while employed as a teacher in New Hampshire, became acquainted with Universalism, and subsequently a preacher of it. His reading was extensive, and his knowledge of the English language quite thorough. In ordinary conversation he expressed himself with a striking precision. He preached first in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, and was settled in Hartford, Conn., from 1824 to 1827, when he became pastor of the Universalist Church in Portland, Me. He was an impressive preacher, with no attempt at the sensational. His personal appearance was notable: a thin man, of stiff, perpendicular carriage and measured walk; with light hair, pale face, and very dark eyes, almost a glittering black. The distinguished literary author, John Neal, said of him:--

"I have heard Mr. Bisbe repeatedly, and the more I hear him the
better I like him. He is fervid, free, and powerful, uses lofty and
generous language, and where he fails to reason, it would appear to
be not so much from a want of metaphysical power as from a habit of
disregarding it. From his appearance you would not expect much; but,
notwithstanding this, he is decidedly the most eloquent preacher in
our part of the country. He is, moreover, a man of exceedingly happy
erudition."

The editor of the "Eastern Argus" wrote of him as:--

"A distinguished and talented preacher, of transcendent powers of
mind and eloquence in the pulpit; eloquence that moved and burned as
he breathed it, and that sunk deep into the heart through the
understanding as well as the passions of his audience."

He took especial interest in the church institution, in the Bible-class for scriptural exposition, and in all that pertained to personal religious culture and the work of Christian charity. He died March 1, 1829, aged thirty six. The death scene was indicative of the strength and joy of his faith.

Soon after Rev. Thomas F. King came to Portsmouth, N. H., he became acquainted with Mr. Bisbe. He had a high admiration of the talents and worth of the man before they met. Previous to the introduction, Mr. King had been told of the stiffness and precision of Mr. Bisbe in his salutations of others, and was humorously inclined to use a little of the same precision in their first greeting. The effect, to an observer, was amusing in the extreme. But both parties preserved their dignity.

Among the foremost of the advocates of this old and new Gospel in New England, we may justly name the sturdy and indefatigable THOMAS WHITTEMORE. He began earthly life with the present century, Jan. 1, 1800. He came up from life's humblest walks. His parents educated him religiously in moderate Calvinistic sentiments, but he grew out of them and became sceptical, until his attention was arrested and his mind deeply impressed by the preaching of Rev. Hosea Ballou, in Boston. An acquaintance with Mr. Ballou turned his attention to the ministry, and he became a diligent student in preparation for that calling. His first sermon, written upon the bench at intervals between his working hours, was preached in Roxbury, his dress for the occasion providentially coming in to him, as he was too poor to obtain it himself. His first pastorate was in Milford, his second and longer one in Cambridgeport, Mass., in which place he had his home until his death. His work as editor of the "Trumpet" was a long and vigorous one, and the volumes that came from his pen beside this weekly periodical were of much value to the Christian Church. Historical, exegetical, musical, were they, all for the good of the Christian cause, in whose interest it was his delight to work. He was a proud banner-bearer of his church. Universalism was to him the Alpha and Omega of theology and religion. He saw nothing that could take its place, and held no fellowship with those who were disposed to compromise its claims. His editorial pen was alive with clear scriptural expositions, watchful warnings against the religious errors of the times, and bold and defiant defences of what he accepted as Christian truth. His "Modern History of Universalism" is a book of rare merit, and his "Commentary on the Apocalypse" one of the plainest and most sensible ever given to the public, and one which theological critics of the dominant sects have been wary enough to let alone. His four volumes of the life and writings of Rev. Hosea Ballou make out a valuable epitome of the history of Universalism in Massachusetts and in other parts of New England, from the beginning to the middle of the century. He had ready wit, a never-failing flow of spirits, and a genial temperament, which drew to him hosts of friends. His preaching was always popular with the masses,--scriptural, logical, often strikingly illustrated, if occasionally in a homely way, fervent and telling with his congregations. He was a welcome evangelist all over New England. He was a man of rare business qualifications also. He rendered much civic service to the State as legislator, and was highly efficient as president and director of bank and railroad corporations. He was stricken with paralysis more than a year before his decease, and never regained his vigor. He departed this life in 1861, in his sixty-second year.[42]

Mr. Whittemore is remembered as a controversialist, and with those who beheld him chiefly in this light his other qualities may not have been fairly estimated. His very position as a Christian theologian was aggressive. He came into the field to face what he deemed religious error, and to give it battle, asking only that freedom of thought and expression which Christian faithfulness demands. During his active life, years ago, a ministering brother (Rev. T. J. Sawyer, D. D.) wrote of him:--

"Perhaps some may think him wanting in refinement and grace, and
others, I know, regard him as at times bolder and plainer than
necessary. That he deals severely with some of his opposers is
certain, yet, with all his severity, there is a frankness and
manliness which challenges the respect even of his enemies. Then it
is but just to remember the school in which he has been disciplined.
He who has been called to stand at the head of the prominent
Universalist press of New England for the last twenty years must
have learned ere this to defend himself and his course. It has been
no warfare for paper hats and silk gloves. The head needed a helmet
of steel, and the hand must know how to grasp the sword and spear.
Reflect for one moment on the Batcheldors, the McClures, the Cooks,
the Matthew Hale Smiths, with whom Mr. Whittemore has been called to
contend, and then tell me if the old soldier has not come out of the
fight with charity and kindness worthy of admiration. Paul fought
with beasts at Ephesus; Whittemore has been scarcely more fortunate
in Boston. Upon the whole, Mr. Whittemore is a man whose life and
character deserve high consideration. He is supposed by some to be
too much a party man, and to consult with too much exclusiveness the
interest of the denomination of which he is so prominent a member.
Perhaps it is so, but if this charge is sustained against him, I
hope I may be included in the same condemnation."[43]

Mr. Whittemore's strong traits were: 1. Positiveness of interest in the Christian Gospel. He had a positive faith to promote and defend. He seemed to realize the force of Paul's statements: "I know whom I have believed." "Therefore we are always confident." 2. Fervor. He believed in Christian earnestness and zeal; was more afraid of frost than of fire in the churches. 3. Industry. This in him was indomitable. One of his sayings was, "Dead fish float with the tide,--live ones swim against it." He was one of the living ones, who stemmed opposition and wrought victories. The grand words of our poet Fields are illustrative of him,--

"Souls that freed from prison bars,
Struck the blows themselves have won,
Grappling with their evil stars,
Stand, like Uriel, in the sun."