Chapter XI: Sketches of Ministers (2)

Another minister of the same ancestral family was Rev. BENJAMIN WHITTEMORE, D. D., born in Lancaster, Mass., May 30, 1801; died in Mattapan, Boston, April 26, 1881. He was educated at the academies in Lancaster and Groton, and became in early life a convert to Universalism, mainly through reading the writings of Rev. Hosea Ballou. He felt impelled to enter the ministry. He had successful pastorates in West Scituate, Mass.; Troy, N. Y.; South Boston, Mass.; and Norwich, Conn. In 1843, he took possession of the old homestead in Lancaster, where he remained ten years without pastoral charge, but working in various ways for the promotion of the Christian cause. He was instrumental in establishing a Universalist society in Fitchburg, Mass. In his later years he became blind, but, in spite of this infirmity, he continued to preach occasionally, repeating his hymns and Scripture lessons from memory. He was always heartily engaged in his work. As an expositor of the Scriptures he possessed eminent ability, and in preaching, his logical method and aptness enabled him to express his convictions with great force. He was a sturdy defender of Christianity against the objections of the doubting and unbelieving. He received the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology, of Tuft's College, in 1867. His wife was Mandana, the third daughter of Rev. Hosea Ballou. They were united in life for nearly sixty years. His intellect was unclouded to the last, and "his faith grew brighter as his spirit took its flight."

An eminent and effective "defender of the faith" was Rev. DOLPHUS SKINNER, D. D., whose death took place in Utica, N. Y., in 1869. He was born in Westmoreland, N. H., in 1800, and passed his minority in labor on a farm, attendance at a neighboring academy, and keeping school. His theological studies were with Rev. S. C. Loveland, of Reading, Vt., and he entered the ministry in 1823. The most of his life was passed in Utica, N. Y., where as preacher and editor he proved himself one of the ablest promulgators of the Universalist faith in the land. The "Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate," of which he was for many years editor, had a large circulation. He was a very popular preacher in Central New York. Of commanding person, with a voice of great volume and softness, with the readiest use of language, he was a favorite with the people. His discourses were strong, doctrinally and practically, and his ministries at funerals were exceedingly satisfactory. During his ministry of forty years, he preached over five thousand discourses. He was the author of valuable books and pamphlets. His letters to Drs. Aiken and Lansing, and his discussion with Rev. Alexander Campbell, evince much ability. He was a Christian reformer. The "Clinton Liberal Institute" has been greatly indebted to his timely and unwearied exertions for its prosperity. He was a Christian patriot also, and took a lively interest in the political welfare of his country. The termination of his earthly life was peaceful. "I am an old soldier," said he to his physician, "and am about to receive my discharge." After a night of quiet from his protracted pain, he entered that morning which opens the resurrection life to man.

A brother of Dolphus was Rev. WARREN SKINNER, who passed the great part of his life in Vermont, and who was well known there, and in most of New England, as a talented and useful minister. His personal appearance was, like that of his brother, imposing, and his discoursing, if a little heavy in manner at times, always methodical and sound. He was a staunch friend of Universalism, and had great faith in its evangelizing power. During some part of his ministry he was a useful expository writer in the church journals. He did much valuable missionary work, and lived to a ripe old age in full possession of his mental powers. He gave a son to the ministry, Rev. Charles A. Skinner, now of Somerville, Mass.

Rev. OTIS A. SKINNER was an honor to the church. His native place was Royalton, Vt., but he came forth as a minister from Langdon, N. H., at the early age of nineteen. He was apprenticed to a clothier for a while before his ministry began. From his first school days he was thoughtful and studious, and succeeded in gaining a very good English education, beside giving some attention to the Greek and Latin languages. He was for some time a student with Rev. S. C. Loveland, of Reading, Vt. The writer first saw him at Kingston, N. H., at the session of the Rockingham Association, in 1828. He was just twenty-one, and a most attractive young man to behold, a sweet sunshiny glow in his comely countenance, which seemed most agreeably set in his golden ringlets of hair. We heard him preach then, at a private house, to a very good audience in the evening. He stood in front of the old family clock, and gave us a very sensible and well-arranged discourse from the text, "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps. cxxvi. 6). It was full of the plainest Universalism. He was soon settled in Woburn, Mass., where he gave a good account of himself, and afterwards in Baltimore, Md., where he was united in marriage with Angela, eldest daughter of Rev. Sebastian Streeter. He had a vigorous ministry in that city, including a public theological controversy with Rev. Mr. Breckenridge of the Presbyterian Church. From Baltimore he came back to Massachusetts, and settled in Haverhill, where he edited for a time the "Gospel Sun," as he had edited the "Southern Pioneer" in Baltimore.

A new Universalist society having been formed of worshippers in Boylston Hall, Boston, he was invited to become its pastor. So prosperous was his ministry, that a church edifice was soon erected in Warren Street. Here his pulpit services and pastoral work were very acceptable. He became a publisher of valuable books, and again the editor of a monthly journal, "The Universalist Miscellany." In 1846 he became pastor of Orchard Street Universalist Church in New York city; and in 1848 consented to be agent for raising $100,000 for the new college (now Tufts) proposed to be erected in Medford, Mass. For seven years he was in this laudable work, giving it his faithful attention in addition to his duties as pastor of the Warren Street Church, to the ministry of which he had been invited again most unanimously. No man could have been in his "labors more abundant" than he in this canvassing for the new college. He solicited everywhere, and especially among those of like faith with himself. Indifference, the averted eye or "cold shoulder," chilled not his ardor. He drew, by his persuasive words, dollars from pockets that seemed at his first call firmly closed against him. He succeeded in securing the amount needed for the endowment of the college and its necessary expenses, superintended the erection of the buildings, and at times when the means could not otherwise be readily obtained, paid the workmen from his quarterly pastor's income. One of the proudest days of his life was that on which the corner-stone of the college was laid. Since then, the institution has prospered; larger endowments have given it strength, faithful teachers have honored it, and its sons have gone forth bearing with them the evidences of the scholarship which can be secured to its students. Beautiful for outward situation, a literary Mount Zion of the Universalist Church in New England, it gives promise of yet increasing prosperity. But never will it outgrow its indebtedness to its first financial agent, who wrought so indefatigably, nobly, and successfully in its behalf.

In 1857 Mr. Skinner was induced by family considerations to move West. After residing in Elgin, Kansas County, Ill., for a few months, he was invited and persuaded to become president of Lombard University, at Galesburg, Ill. Here again was work for him, as the college needed much exertion that it might prosper. And he aided it essentially. But the task was too heavy, and after two years' hard service his health gave way. The death of his brother Samuel occurring at Chicago, he was called upon to give attention to his financial affairs. This was an additional burden too great for him to bear, but still his spirit for a while seemed proof against his bodily weaknesses. He removed to Joliet, and took upon him more than two healthful men could perform. He would preach to his own congregation in Joliet on Sunday morning, then ride five miles to Lockport and preach at one o'clock, thence nine miles to Plainfield and hold a service at three, and then return home to meet a crowd of listeners in his own church in the evening. This, added to his missionary work in the adjoining country towns, including funeral services on other days of the week, together with his business perplexities in the settlement of his brother's estate, proved too much for him. The end of this useful earthly life was near; fever set in, and did its work rapidly. It was the Christian believer's death scene. His faith was strong, his hope bright, his face and thought were turned heavenward. The last interview with a beloved daughter was inexpressibly touching,--her heroic self-control and his calm, heavenly resignation. His departure was the Christian saint's triumph. It occurred Sept. 18, 1861.

There was nothing of the flashy or sensational in the ministry of Mr. Skinner. He was a plain, logical, practical preacher, "in doctrine showing uncorruptness," an able expounder of the Scriptures, and a faithful looker-up of religious error. His strictures on the revivalism of Rev. Mr. Knapp in Boston, and his review of Rev. Theodore Parker's theology, in the "Universalist Miscellany," were good evidences of his fidelity to the New Testament Gospel and the intent of its work with mankind. As a pastor he was not to be excelled. He knew his flocks at their homes, and personal attachments to him as a friend, adviser, and companion were very strong. He was in this calling one of the models. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard University, and that of D. D. from Lombard.

Of his brother Samuel P. we may say that he was a man of more than ordinary endowments. He was for a time in the ministry, and preached some in New England. He afterwards became editor of the "New Covenant," in Chicago. He was a quiet and sensible preacher, and excelled as a writer of clear, compact, and well-arranged expositions of Scripture, many of which enriched the columns of his paper.

Rev. JOSEPH OBERLIN SKINNER was of Piermont, N. H., born there in 1816. He came into the ministry through much hard study and striving. Trained in the old theology of New England, he became a believer in Universalism by being first awakened to a consideration of its doctrines by the preaching of Rev. John Moore. In 1834 he went to Lowell, Mass., and was for a time employed in a cotton-mill. He was encouraged by Rev. T. B. Thayer, then pastor of the First Universalist Church in that city, to enter the ministry, and was afterwards a student of theology in the family of Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, of Malden, Mass. He was minister in Holliston, Framingham, Dudley, and Concord, Mass.; in Ludlow and Chester, Vt.; in Nashua, N. H.; in Malone, N. Y.; in Montpelier and St. Albans, Vt.; and in Waterville, Me., where he died of paralysis, in 1879. He was for a time associate editor of the "Christian Repository," published at Montpelier, Vt. His labors were many and successful. His literary accomplishments were of a high order, and he was a faithful and impressive preacher. At the last of life he was confined to his bed for more than eleven months, helpless, but in quiet resignation to the Divine will. When asked if the faith with which he had comforted others was sufficient for himself in this great trial, he answered in the affirmative, adding, "I do not want any _new_ revelation; I am satisfied with what we now have." He was a frequent contributor to the denominational and secular papers, wrote many articles for the "Universalist Quarterly," and prepared a history of the Masonic lodge of Waterville, which was very highly appreciated by the members of that order. He was for many years the accurate and able editor of the yearly "Universalist Register." In recognition of his scholarly attainments, Colby University, in 1872, conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M.

NATHANIEL STACY, born in New Salem, Franklin County, Mass., came to manhood at the close of the last century, and, after hard toiling in early life, with but small educational advantages, he concluded from sincere convictions of duty to become a preacher of the faith which he had embraced in early life. He was small and feeble bodily, but of sanguine temperament and great firmness and persistence of will. He was encouraged by Rev. Hosea Ballou to leave a secular avocation and prepare himself for the ministry. His first sermon was preached with much diffidence on his part, but he was encouraged to persevere in his efforts, and soon came to be a very acceptable speaker wherever he appeared as an advocate of his faith. He itinerated much in Massachusetts and Vermont, and afterwards much more in the Middle and Western States. No preacher of the Gospel was ever more engrossed in his work than he. All the vicissitudes of an itinerant's life were his for many years. Yet his ardor never waned, and his hopefulness helped him to meet all discouragements and surmount all obstacles. He was a veritable Christian apostle, and was welcomed everywhere by young and old wherever he came as a messenger to the churches. Many remember his ministry with deepest satisfaction, and his name stands high in the church as one of the most truthful and devoted of its evangelists. His autobiography was published in quite a large volume, in Columbus, Pa., in 1850. It is full of interesting incidents and apt and able expositions of the faith of the Gospel. Mr. Stacy departed this life at Columbus, Pa., April 4, 1869.

Rev. STEPHEN R. SMITH. Of this eloquent and honored minister, his biographer, Dr. T. J. Sawyer, writes:--

"Few men have risen to a higher position in the denomination of
Universalists, exerted a wider influence, or wrought out a brighter
or more enviable fame. He was born and educated in the humblest
circumstances. Being early led by the force of his own convictions
to embrace an unpopular faith, he soon found himself impelled by a
stern sense of duty to consecrate his life to its promulgation and
defence. His health, never the firmest, was soon shattered by
incessant application to study and the hardships endured in the
early planting of Universalism in Central and Western New York, so
that a large part of his life was spent and his work done under this
great disadvantage. But the soul that burned within him was superior
to bodily infirmity, and flashed and blazed forth from a frame so
attenuated and slender that even those most familiar with him were
astonished by the vigor and sweep of his transcendent intellect, the
youthful play of his fancy, and the strokes of his wit. Nor was his
moral character inferior to his intellectual endowments. Seldom does
one meet with a warmer heart or a sterner integrity than
distinguished him."[44]

His pastorates were in New Hartford, Clinton, Albany, and Buffalo, N. Y., and Philadelphia, Pa. He was born in Albany, in 1788, and died in Buffalo, in 1850, aged sixty-one. It was truly said of him at his death, "But one individual in the denomination can expect higher or more heartfelt tributes of love and reverence." His eloquence in the pulpit was often compared with that of Henry Clay in the halls of Congress. It was the delight of the writer to hear him three times at meetings of the United States Convention, the last in Boston in the School Street Church, from the text, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The discourse was radiant with the truth, and electrifying with the spirit and power of the Gospel.

A sturdy theologian, as well as a conscientious Christian was that stalwart man from one of the villages of Maine, the Rev. SYLVANUS COBB. The title "D. D.," when conferred upon him, was significant. He was an able theologian. His words in discourse were weighty, his sentences often as ponderous as those of Dr. Johnson, and if called to controversial work, Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" was an illustration of him:--

"You could hear him swing his heavy sledge
With measured beat and slow."

If warmed up in exhortation or appeal, he was grandly fervent. He never evaded the toughest theological problem proposed to him for consideration, but seemed always in readiness to attempt a solution of it. His "Compend of Divinity" is an elaborate work, his "Commentary on the New Testament" an excellent helper in the family and Sunday-school, and his discussions with Dr. Nehemiah Adams and Rev. C. F. Hudson, involving the questions respecting endless punishment and the annihilation of the wicked, are highly creditable to him as a Christian theologian. As editor of the "Christian Freeman" for twenty-five years, and as a temperance and anti-slavery reformer, he waged a good warfare for the right. He was pastor in Waterville, Me., and in Malden, Waltham, and East Boston, Mass.

During the three years of his service as a lecturing agent of the Middlesex County Temperance Society, he was entertained more or less at the houses of clergymen. On one occasion, in Dracut, at the house of a Presbyterian minister, he was thus questioned by his friend: "I have been thinking, my dear sir, about your doctrine, and it seems to me, even if it is true, it is hardly expedient to preach it, for all men will finally be saved, whether it be preached or not. But if it should prove to be an error, the consequences of believing it will be terrible." "You have reasoned erroneously," replied Mr. Cobb, "from having assumed that my doctrine exerts not so good a moral influence as yours. Here is your mistake: you believe that we are here forming characters for eternity, and that we carry with us into the future life and retain there the moral dispositions and affections which we cultivate in this life. Now if this doctrine of yours proves true, I shall be an eternal gainer from the faith I cherish here, because it produces supreme love to God, sweet reconciliation to his government, and a cheerful, happy state of mind. I would greatly prefer to bear through eternity the mind and character formed by my religion, than such as yours must naturally produce. Yet I am not expecting the heaven of eternity as a reward. I am more than paid for loving and serving God here; I feel that I am God's poor debtor; and I trust in his grace forever." "I was not expecting such an answer as that," was the sole reply of the questioner.

Mr. C. departed this life in East Boston in December, 1866.

In 1827 Rev. MENZIES RAYNER entered the Universalist ministry from the Episcopalian church. He was born at South Hempstead, L. I., Nov. 23, 1770. His advantages for learning were principally derived from private instruction. He showed early signs of superior abilities. When very young he became a convert to Methodism, and before the age of twenty-one commenced preaching as an itinerant. He was ordained at Lynn, Mass., by Bishop Asbury. He continued to itinerate according to the rules of the Methodist Church for more than two years, when he received and accepted an invitation to settle with the Protestant Episcopal Church in Elizabethtown, N. J., where he was ordained as a minister in that church by the Right Rev. Bishop Provost of New York. After a pastorate of six years in that place, he accepted a call to the rectorship of the Episcopal Church in Hartford, Conn., where he continued ten years. He next removed to Huntington, Conn., and took a joint rectorship of that town and New Hartford (now Munroe). He remained there sixteen years, when from close and prayerful inquiry and study of the Scriptures he became convinced of the truth of the doctrine of Universal Salvation. He asked and obtained an honorable dismissal from Bishop Brownell of that diocese. Through all his subsequent life he continued to enjoy the respect and esteem of several distinguished clergymen of that church. So much Bishop Brownell pledged to him at the time of his withdrawal.

Soon after becoming known as a Universalist, he was called to the pastorate of the church in Hartford left vacant by the removal of Rev. John Bisbe to Portland, Me. He continued in Hartford four years, when he was earnestly solicited to remove to Portland and take charge of the society there left without a pastor by the death of Mr. Bisbe. He accepted the call, and remained there four years, excepting one winter, which he spent in North Carolina, where, and in intermediate places, he preached the Gospel. Afterwards he had pastorates in Troy and Lansingburg, N. Y., and preached in Schenectady, Fort Ann, Hartford, and other places. For a year and a half he ministered to the Bleecker St. Universalist Society in New York city. He resided in that city until his death, which occurred Nov. 22, 1850. He retained his mental vigor until a few days before his departure at the age of eighty.

"Father Rayner," as he was familiarly called, was a remarkable man. His mental powers were of a high order, his social qualities made him always attractive, his wit was keen, but he had great tenderness and depth of feeling. His appearance in the pulpit was venerable and apostolic, and his preaching clear, powerful, and convincing. He gave to the world some printed works, which exhibit the clear and logical character of his mind. While at Huntington, he published a review of a sermon on Regeneration, by Dr. Taylor, of New Haven, and another of a sermon by Dr. Tyler, of Southbury, on the "Perseverance of the Saints." This was replied to by Dr. Tyler, who was again reviewed in a pamphlet of sixty pages, which closed the controversy. While at Hartford, he edited a paper called the "Inquirer," and at Portland the "Christian Pilot." While at the latter place, he delivered "Nine Lectures on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus." He also published a review of a missionary sermon by Dr. Tyler, and a sermon entitled "St. Paul a Universalist."

While Mr. Rayner was with the Episcopalians, frequent theological discussions took place in the ministerial circles. On one occasion, among other questions considered, Mr. Rayner proposed this: "Has every human being a just reason to be thankful for the gift of existence?" He cautioned all who would answer it directly, "Yes" or "No," to consider very carefully before giving the answer, because of one other question which might follow. But all present were agreed in the decision that every man had just cause for thanksgiving for the life conferred upon him. "Now," said Mr. Rayner, "answer me this: If any of the human race are to be doomed to unending misery, have such ones any cause for such thankfulness?" "Why, Brother Rayner, you are a Universalist," said one of the ministers. "But that has nothing to do with the question," was the response; "you are all agreed, I see, in your answer."

[37] A new edition of this valuable work, with an Introduction by Rev. Dr. Miner, Mr. Ballou's successor in the Boston pastorate, has just been issued by the Universalist Publishing House in this city. It ought to have a new and a larger circulation than ever. The writer owes his conversion to Universalism, by divine grace, to the reading of this book.

[38] Account by Rev. A. B. Grosh.

[39] "Universalist Quarterly" for April and July, 1871.

[40] Rev. A. C. Thomas.

[41] Rev. A. J. Patterson, D. D.

[42] For a more particular account of Dr. Whittemore, the reader is referred to his Memoir, by the author of this work. Universalist Publishing House, 1878.

[43] "Universalist Miscellany," Vol. VI., p. 290.

[44] Memoir of Rev. Stephen R. Smith. By Rev. Thomas J. Sawyer, D. D. Boston: Published by Abel Tompkins, 1852.