Fifty Notable Years

Rev. Russell Tomlinson had a long and unbroken pastorate of twenty-seven years in Plymouth, Mass. He was born in Newtown, Conn., Oct. 1, 1808, and died in Plymouth, March 4, 1878. In his early ministry he entered the field as a missionary in Western New York, where he labored for two years, travelling on horseback hundreds of miles, and preaching wherever opportunity offered, receiving slender compensation for his services, and often none at all. He was settled at Le Roy, Buffalo, Ridgeway, and Rochester, N. Y., before his removal to Plymouth. He resigned his charge in the latter place in 1866, and thenceforth devoted himself to the practice of medicine of the Homœopathic School, to which he had previously given much study, obtaining a fair practice and a good reputation.

Mr. Tomlinson was a very positive man, of strong will and inflexible purpose. He was of such dignified demeanor that strangers were likely to suppose him cold and austere in his nature; but those who knew him intimately speak in highest terms of his kind and tender heart, that was instant in response to any appeal from the unfortunate, the sick, or afflicted. After his decease, instances of his unostentatious charity came to light that were never suspected by his nearest friends. He was strongly interested in the temperance reform, and was through life an earnest and unflinching worker in that cause. He was interested and active in educational enterprises, serving for many years on the school board of Plymouth, and under Governor Boutwell he was appointed a member of the School Board of Massachusetts. He was a preacher of no ordinary talent, an honest and devout Christian, a faithful worker in the Church, to the end that he might induce men to become followers of Him whose religion is not in "the letter that killeth, but in the Spirit that giveth life."

Rev. De Witt Clinton Tomlinson was born in Gaines, Orleans County, N. Y., Aug. 24, 1824, and died at Wedron, Ill., July 27, 1881. He prepared for the ministry at Clinton, N. Y., under the supervision of Rev. Dr. T. J. Sawyer, and began to preach in 1846. He had twelve pastorates in New York and at the West, also one in Boston, Mass., during twenty years of his ministry. He was at Chicago, Ill., in 1880, and maintained his residence there until his death. He was a vigorous, fervent, and faithful man. With a physique that seemed to defy fatigue and disease, he was able to do a vast amount of pastoral and other work. He had a peculiar aptness for the financial work of the church. He was employed in soliciting aid successively for the Canton Theological School, for the Murray Fund, and for Buchtel College in Ohio, and his labors for each were successful. His last employment was as State Superintendent for Illinois, in which he was engaged nearly up to the time of his death. In the midst of his strength and usefulness, he was stricken with disease at a grove meeting, where, although slightly indisposed, he preached what proved his last sermon. His work had been well done.

Rev. Levi C. Marvin, born in Alstead, N. H., in 1808, was one of those energetic men who achieve their position in life by their own unaided efforts. His first work in a literary course beyond the common schools was done in an academy in Chesterfield, N. H., in the fall of 1828. The next year he is a teacher in Rhinebeck, N. Y. In 1831, being invited by Rev. I. D. Williamson to enter his household, as a student of theology, he accepted, and after some months commenced preaching. He was ordained in 1834. The next year he removed to Newark, N. J., where he had a pastorate of more than three years, when he went to Missouri, and took up his residence in Arrow Rock, Saline County. A few years later found him a resident of Booneville, Cooper County, where he held a discussion with Rev. Mr. Slocum, a Presbyterian. The discussion embraced twelve lectures on each side, and extended with unabated interest through six weeks. In 1848 he removed to Jacksonville, Ill., where he had a discussion with Rev. C. W. Lewis, Methodist. In 1850 he became a resident of Springfield, Ill., where he made the acquaintance and secured the warm personal friendship of the late President Lincoln. From that place, in 1856, he returned to Missouri, and made in Clinton his permanent home. After his return he had two public discussions: one at Springfield, Ill., with Rev. Mr. Johnson, Campbellite, and the other at Georgetown, Mo., with Rev. W. W. Suddath, Presbyterian.

Mr. Marvin was an exceedingly hard toiler. Much of his ministry was spent as an itinerant, with but small remuneration, so that extra efforts in teaching school were necessary on his part. His moral uprightness, his genial nature and social qualities were of the highest order, and secured him many friends. During the rebellion he was a strong Union man, – the only man in the county where he lived who gave a vote for Abraham Lincoln for President. His efforts in behalf of the Union awakened a bitterness of feeling often endangering his person and life. During that period he was for two sessions a member of the Legislature of Missouri. At one session he was chosen Speaker of the House. At the same time his brother, Hon. A. C. Marvin, was a member of the Senate and acting Lieutenant-Governor. On one occasion the two houses met for the transaction of some special business, when the unusual scene occurred of two brothers presiding over the joint session. He was a strong, pure-minded, and conscientious Christian reformer, religiously and politically. His last days of long confinement and much pain were cheered with the hopeful light and comfort of that Gospel which he so loved to commend to his fellow-men. He died July 5, 1878.

Rev. Giles Bailey, born in Acworth, N. H., in 1815, was a diligent scholar and an able preacher. He acquired considerable knowledge of the classics, receiving instruction from Hon. Horace Maynard. At the age of seventeen he began a successful career as a school teacher in Vermont and New Hampshire, and was through life warmly interested in educational movements. After pursuing his theological studies with the late Rev. Lemuel Willis, he was ordained in Winthrop, Me., in 1840. He was settled in Winthrop for two years, then moved to Brunswick, where he remained seven years, then lived three years in Oldtown, three in Dexter, two in Claremont, N. H.; then returned to Maine, and lived eight years in Gardiner and two in Belfast, and finally, in the fall of 1869, he removed to Reading, Pa., where after nearly nine years of faithful labor, he closed a noble and useful life.

Adherence to right and principle was a marked feature in the character of this "good minister of Jesus Christ." He was strongly interested in all reform movements, and the energetic boldness of his position on the anti-slavery question is well remembered by his associates. His addresses on that subject were so filled with burning indignation and tender pathos, that all hearts were stirred by his eloquence. In addition to his regular work as a preacher and pastor, he was a frequent and valuable contributor to our denominational papers. He wrote, many years ago, a series of letters over the signature of "Lucius," for the "Christian Ambassador," which attracted much attention. They revealed unusual literary ability and grasp of thought, and excited much curiosity in regard to their authorship. For a time he occupied the editorial chair of the "Universalist." He has left a clean, manly, and luminous record.

Rev. John E. Palmer, who lived to the great age of ninety years, was a native of Portsmouth, N. H. He was by trade a printer, and became a convert to the doctrines of the "Christian Baptists," under the ministrations of the noted Elias Smith. He began to preach in the fellowship of that sect, and was ordained in 1809. The earlier years of his ministry were spent in Warren, N. H., and Danville, Vt. It was while living in the latter place that he outgrew his early belief in endless punishment, and came to an undoubting faith that God will have all men to be saved. He was suddenly arrested by a circumstance which called his attention to a comparison of his own faith with that of the "more excellent way" in which afterwards his footsteps were directed. A very respectable young man, who had never been converted, while on a fishing excursion, was drowned. It was a deeply afflictive blow to the surviving family and friends. Mr. Palmer knew that he should be called upon to preach the funeral sermon. He was greatly distressed. What could he do? The apostles, he saw, had a faith which enabled them to comfort those who were "in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they themselves were comforted of God." Had he that faith? He says: "I slept not a wink that night. I walked the house, I read my Bible, I prayed for light; and I never preached the doctrine of endless woe again."

In 1819 Mr. Palmer was called to the charge of the Universalist Society in Barre, Vt., where he labored for eighteen years, scattering the seed of truth over a wide region, for he was an indefatigable missionary all through his life. On leaving Barre, he lived two years in Waitsfield, Vt., and then gave himself to missionary work in Northern Vermont and New Hampshire. One who was well acquainted with his ministry writes of him: —

"We can vouch for the devout, evangelical spirit of his services, the logic of his sermons, the perspicuity of his style, his fluency of speech, the impressiveness of his delivery. He spoke always extemporaneously, but his discourses were always coherent, sound, and clear. There was an evident sincerity and earnestness in the man that attracted the hearer's attention, and there was a natural tremulousness in his voice that gave a peculiar pathos to his discourses. There were in his words a certain indefinable grace and force which are the gift of God, and not communicable by art or learning. He was a man of deep religious feeling. Though he had decided opinions, yet he was the soul of candor and forbearance in his treatment of 'those of the contrary part.' He was a faithful and true witness."

Rev. William W. Wilson was of Stoddard, N. H., born in 1819. An accident, by which he lost one of his hands at the age of thirteen, turned his attention to books and study. He was educated in the Orthodox faith, as it is called, but was awakened to a special interest in the subject of religion by listening to the preaching of Rev. J. V. Wilson (not a relative) in his native town. Acquiring an academic education, and becoming a believer in Christian Universalism, he began to preach at the age of twenty-two. He was ordained in 1842 at Laconia, N. H., preaching in that town about two years. He was afterwards two years in Centre Harbor, four years in West Haverhill, Mass., five years in Dover, Me., and in Southbridge, Mass., eight years. In 1867 he went to Chatham, Mass., but was compelled by ill-health to resign his charge. In 1870 he removed to Oxford, Mass., but after two years was again compelled to rest. In 1873 he was stricken with a partial paralysis, and from that time, though not entirely helpless, was unable to go on with his ministerial work. However, he never ceased to take a deep interest in the welfare of his parish and of the denomination. He was a great sufferer during the last days of his life, but was constantly hopeful in the light of his holy faith. He departed this life June 19, 1874. He was quite well known to our clergymen in New England, and beloved and honored for his many virtues and for his faithful ministry. He was a Christian reformer, was genial and utterly sincere in all his work, and leaves a fragrant and blessed memory.

Rev. William R. Chamberlin, born in Brookfield, N. H., Nov. 2, 1816, was a man of marked ability, and a very acceptable preacher. In early manhood he was a successful school-teacher. He was ordained as a preacher in Dighton, Mass., in 1847, and was induced to go to Abington, Va., and engage in missionary work in that State. For two years he preached in the Virginia backwoods, – in its highways and byways, in school-houses, mills, and log cabins, – enduring great hardship, encountering many dangers, risking his life from violence, and depending for support solely on Divine Providence. In the autumn of 1849 he went to Cincinnati, O., and for twelve years was employed as a book-keeper. But though engaged during the week in secular pursuits, his activity in behalf of his faith did not in the least decline. He connected himself with the Second Universalist Church in that city, and for three years was superintendent of its Sunday school. Subsequently he became superintendent of the school at the First Church, and held the position for seven years. It was in this capacity that he was eminently useful and happy. His influence over children was unbounded; they were irresistibly drawn to him. He had a most fertile imagination, and was ever ready with stories such as children love to hear. He laughed and wept by turns, and with these emotions the school was always in close sympathy. He had all the gifts of an improvisatore of the olden time.

Uneasy in his work out of the ministry, in 1867 he laid aside his accountant's pen, and entered it again. He was settled successively at Mendota, Ill.; Vinton, Council Bluffs, and Dubuque, Iowa; and at Clinton, N. Y., at which last place he closed his earthly life. His work in Clinton was very successful. He attached his people to him by his amiable disposition, his unselfish spirit, and devotion to his work. His sermons were always compact and often highly polished. Intellectual and cultivated people always admired and enjoyed them.

When in 1873 he went on a kind of missionary tour to England and Scotland, wherever he preached, his sermons were highly spoken of, and it is known that they impressed on those who heard them a high idea of American Universalism.

For the last three or four years of his life he was a great sufferer from an incurable disease, but he worked steadily on until nearly the end. His last service was held in his own house, in March, 1876, when he arose from his sick-bed and gave the right hand of fellowship to twenty-one persons, baptizing seven, and consecrating the babe of a friend. The announcement of his physician that his end was near he hailed with joy, and thus entered into the heavenly rest.

CHAPTER XVI.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS —continued

"Like angels sent from fields above,Be yours to shed celestial light."A. Balfour.

REV. SAMUEL C. LOVELAND resided nearly all his lifetime in Vermont. He was born in Gilsum, N. H., in 1787. His opportunities for schooling while young were but few, but he improved them, as he had a strong desire for study. He wished to be eminent as a scholar and linguist, but from force of circumstances was self-taught. His parents had become deeply interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation about the time of Mr. Winchester's return from England, who preached a few times in the region where they lived, and was followed soon by several others. He early participated with them in their religious views and feelings, and in due time became anxious to enter upon his studies for the ministry. To this end he began the study of Greek. But as there were no books in those days with English notes and definitions, it became requisite first to study Latin. Finding a part of an old Latin Bible, with a grammar and dictionary he plodded on through several chapters. By close application he was able generally to read out a whole verse in half a day. Words that he could not trace were carefully noted down for further developments to bring to light. At length he was enabled to read the Greek Testament. He received fellowship at the General Convention at Cavendish, Vt., 1812. He afterwards studied Hebrew, and prepared and published, at great labor, a Greek and English lexicon of the New Testament. The degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Middlebury College. He afterwards made himself quite well acquainted with several other languages, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, &c. At one time he published a work in defence of Universalism entitled "The Christian Repository," which was commenced at Woodstock, Vt., in 1821. The work afterwards passed into other hands, and was for years the weekly Universalist journal of the State. In the latter part of his life he commenced a reply to an infidel work by Robert Taylor of England, entitled "The Diegesis," in the columns of the "Star in the East," issued at Concord, N. H. A few ably written chapters were issued, when he was forced to relinquish the work in consequence of failing health.

In 1827 and onward he became interested in political affairs, which for a time lessened his influence as a preacher. But he was conscientious in this step. His course was successful and honorable. He represented the town of Reading, Vt., in the State legislature, and his county in the council; he was a judge of the county court, and held several other offices of honor and responsibility. During the last ten or more years of his life he devoted his whole time to his books and the ministry. He died at South Hartford, N. Y., of paralysis, April 8, 1854, leaving the record of a true and noble Christian life.

Rev. David Pickering was a native of Richmond, N. H., the birthplace of the elder Hosea Ballou. He joined the Freewill Baptists at an early age, and was very active in their meetings and in the promotion of their church interests. He was led to embrace the doctrine of Universalism under the preaching of Rev. Paul Dean, in Barre, Vt. He entered the ministry in 1809, a very acceptable and much admired preacher. His first settlements were in Shrewsbury, Vt., and Lebanon, N. H. He was afterwards in Hudson, N. Y., and in 1823 took charge of the First Universalist Society in Providence, R. I., where he remained eight or ten years. As a preacher and writer he had few equals. He compiled and published a hymn-book, and conducted and edited with much ability a Universalist paper, entitled "The Christian Telescope," from 1824 to 1828; also one volume of "The Gospel Preacher" in 1828. While in Providence, he delivered a course of lectures in favor and in defence of "Revealed Religion," which were issued in book form, and are very creditable to the author, and a valuable contribution to the Christian Evidences. Rev. James Wilson, pastor of the Broad Street Congregational Church in Providence, had made some very severe statements against Mr. Pickering's ministry, and advised his people by all means to keep themselves away from it. When, however, this volume was published, he read it attentively, and took occasion to say to his congregation that, whereas he had warned them against the preaching of Mr. Pickering, he wished to call their especial attention to this book, and assured them that the reading of it would be really profitable to them. Mr. Pickering was very agreeable in social life, and had many warm friends. He had some severe trials in his last days, and departed this life in Ypsilanti, Mich., Jan. 6, 1859.

From 1830 to 1846 Rev. George Rogers was an active itinerant and sometimes pastor in different States of the Union. He was at first with the Methodists, and came into the Universalist ministry, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, in 1830, preaching his first Universalist sermon in the Lombard Street Church, where Rev. A. C. Thomas was pastor. He was for a time settled in Brooklyn, Pa., then he itinerated in the States of New York and Connecticut; and afterwards journeyed West, and ministered to the Universalist Society in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here the field of his labors widened indefinitely. His "Memoranda," a volume full of incident and adventure, issued in 1845, gives us the account of his varied experiences in city, town, country place, and wilderness; from New England to New Orleans, from Pennsylvania to the then farthest West, preaching the Gospel of God's impartial grace in all available places and at all available times; holding discussions, meeting rebuffs of bigotry and the pitiable opposition of ignorance and sectarian hate; but in all and through all self-possessed, patient, never losing heart in the mission on which he was persuaded his heavenly Father had sent him. His "Memoranda" is an admirable book for the family library.

Mr. Rogers had great aptness in adapting himself to circumstances in his pioneer work. Sometimes a belated hearer would drop in when he was half through a discourse, and interrupt him with the honest question as to his text and topic, that he might better apprehend the speaker's message; a request which the preacher would very kindly answer, and then proceed with his discoursing. Once, when preaching in Lexington, Ky., he was greatly disturbed by people going out after he had begun his sermon. Suddenly stopping in his discourse, he said: "My friends, I have always noticed that people who go out of church during service, as a rule have more brains back of their ears than they have in front of them; and if you don't believe it, just notice the next person that goes out!" It is needless to say that no persons put their heads up for examination after that.

Under similar circumstances, when once preaching in Baltimore, he said: "My friends, if any person here tonight finds himself in better society than he is accustomed to keep, I hope he will try to endure it until the services are out!" As in the former instance, this sharp rebuke was effectual.

It is seldom that profanity receives so sharp and witty a reproof as was administered by Mr. Rogers to a Tennessee boatman. One day, when seeking for a place where he could safely ford a small river, he sought information from a person whom he saw upon the opposite side, and the following dialogue ensued: —

Rogers.– "Hollo, stranger! Can you tell me if there is any place about here where I can safely ford?"

Stranger.– "Go to hell!"

Rogers.– "What is that you say?"

Stranger.– "Go to hell!"

Rogers.– "What? Where is that place you speak of? I am a stranger in these parts; can I reach it tonight?"

This witty retort so amused the stranger that he courteously told Mr. Rogers that he was the ferryman, and that if he would drive back to the ferry he would take him across. When subsequently he offered the ferryman the accustomed toll, it was flatly refused. "No," said the ferryman, "I take no toll from you. You are the funniest man I ever rowed across this drink. I take no toll from you." Thus a witty answer turned away wrath.

He was in presence a modest, meek man, with thin voice as a speaker, but clear and profound in his discoursing, and in religious debate wary, keen and pointed in his reasoning, and, like Apollos, "mighty in the Scriptures." Soon after his last visit to New England, in 1846, his death took place in Cincinnati. Rev. A. C. Thomas, who was present at his departure, writes: "The valley of death was radiant by reason of the glory beyond. We conveyed his body to the quiet burial ground in Delhi, near Cincinnati. I had introduced him to the Universalist ministry, and it fell to my lot to deliver the funeral sermon. A monumental obelisk was placed on his grave."

Among the active ministers of Universalism in the Southern States from 1831 to 1875 was Rev. Lewis F. W. Andrews, M. D., a son of Rev. John Andrews, an eminent minister and journalist of the Presbyterian Church. He was favored by his father with the advantages of a classical education, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. He practised as a physician in Cleveland, Ohio, and in the region round about Pittsburg, Pa. His attention was first called to the claims of Universalism on hearing a sermon by Rev. J. C. Waldo, in Augusta, Ky. Mr. Andrews had requested the preacher to discourse on the parable of the Sheep and Goats. He did not suppose the minister able to give a reasonable interpretation of it in the light of the Universalist faith. He was greatly disappointed, however, and though he came a doubter, he remained to accept thankfully and joyfully the doctrine of the preacher, for he professed to have been converted by that sermon. He soon afterwards, by the aid of Rev. Mr. Waldo, then of Cincinnati, entered the ministry, and in 1832 became pastor of the Second Universalist Church in Philadelphia. In 1834 he travelled extensively in the South, visiting New Orleans, Mobile, and Montgomery. In the last-named city he gathered a society and started the "Gospel Evangelist," a paper which was subsequently moved to Charleston, S. C., and Dr. Andrews became pastor of the Universalist Society in that city. In 1836-7 he was senior editor of the "Southern Pioneer and Gospel Visitor," then published in Baltimore, Md., it having been founded in 1832 by Rev. O. A. Skinner. After this removal to the far South, Dr. Andrews published the "Evangelical Universalist." Like that persistent itinerant, George Rogers, he journeyed extensively in the Southern States, preaching wherever a door of opportunity was opened to him. The "Universalist Register" said of him: "In labors abundant, in long and frequent missionary journeys, and in the midst of opposition and great tribulations, he, like our other Southern preachers, had to fight his way in the promulgation of the doctrine of a world's salvation. Dr. Andrews was steadfast in his Universalism to the last. He was generous, free-hearted, liberal, almost to a fault. His prodigal generosity tended to improvidence. The marked trait of his mind was activity. All he could know he grasped at a glance. Hence, though not profound, he was ready for all encounters." He died suddenly at his home in Americus, Ga., March 16, 1875, in the seventy-third year of his age.