History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 19

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

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A very large part of the published writings of Dr. Sears must he found in reports and addresses per- taining to education, but he published in 1846 " Select Treatises of Martin Luther in the Original German," with valuable notes, and in 1850, " Life of Luther," with special reference to its earlier periods and the opening scenes of the Reformation. Other less im- portant works need not be specified in this article. His influence on the students was powerful and wholesome.

The fifth professor in the order of appointment (1839) was Dr. Horatio B. Hackett, a graduate of Amherst College and of Andover Theological Seminary. As ad- junct Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages in Brown University from 1834 to 1839 he achieved dis- tinction as a classical teacher, and, during thetwenty- nine years (1839-1868) of his connection with the Newton Theological Institution he gained a national reputation for the accuracy and extent of bis Biblical knowledge and for his skill and enthusiasm in the work of instruction. Few men have excelled him in the class-room. His preparation for it was uniformly thorough, while the music of his voice, the richness of his thought and the beauty of his language moved and charmed those who were under his tuition. He was a safe and a great teacher. But, in 1868, he re- signed his place in the faculty for the purpose of giv- ing his undivided strength to literary work, and the Department of Biblical Literature was assigned to Dr. Oakman S. Stearns and Prof. Ezra P. Gould. Yet, missing the grateful variety and stimulus of contact with young men, Dr. Hackett, after two years, accept- ed the Professorship of New Testament Interpretation in the Rochester Theological Seminary, where he re- mained five years (1870-1875), until his death. During his connection with the Newton Theological Institu- tion he spent about three years abroad, residing firstin this country, he was elected Professor of Church Germany (1841-42), and pursuing the studies of his History in his theological Alma Mater (1855), an

department, then traveling (1852) in the East, and especially in Palestine, besides revisiting Germany, and finally residing in Athens six months (1858-59), and exploring those parts of Greece mentioned in the New Testament, under the auspices of the American Bible Union. He went to Europe again in 1869-70, and a fifth time shortly before his death, in 1875. Two or more of these later journeys were occasioned, in part, if not altogether by the impaired state of his health. The published writings of Dr. Hackett are somewhat numerous, and a few of them may properly be mentioned, e. g. : " Exercises in Hebrew Gram- mar" (1847) ; " Illustrations of Scripture suggested by a Tour through the Holy Land " (1855); " Comment- ary on the Original Text of the Acts of the Apostles " (Ist ed. 1851, 2d ed. 1858, last ed. [edited by A. Hov- ey] 1882) ; "Notes on the Greek Text of the Epistle to Philemon " (1860); thirty articles in the first ed. of Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible " (1863); and "The Book of Ruth," published in 1876, after his death. To the American edition of "Smith's Dictionary," edited by himself and Dr. Ezra Abbott, he made very numerous and valuable contributions.

Of the late professors, and especially of Drs. Robert M. Pattison, Albert N. Arnold, Arthur S. Train, Heman Lincoln and Samuel L. Caldwell, who have all passed away from the seen into the unseen, it would be interesting to speak more at length than space will permit. But the life of the institution cannot be described without a brief reference to each one of them. Mr. Pattison was called to be the suc- cessor of Dr. Sears in the chair of Christian Theology. It was not an easy place to fill, but he held it with credit to himself and advantage to the school more than five years, until he was called a second time to the presidency of Waterville College (now Colby Uni- versity). He was one whom it was only necessary to know in order to trust. A thoughtful student, a sound theologian and an effective preacher, there were in his spirit and manner a certain indescribable sin- cerity, friendliness and frankness which secured the love and confidence of his pupils. They found in him not only a teacher, but a counselor and a father, and they sometimes spoke with admiration of the episodes in his lessons, when, giving free play to his rising emotions, and illustrating his thoughts by inci- dents drawn from his own experience, he strove to kin- dle in their hearts a holy ardor for the work of God. During his lustrum of service, and in pursuance of his advice, the trustees obtained a modification of the charter by which their numbers conld be doubled (made forty-eight instead of twenty-four), and tlie duty of electing one-half that number could be assigned to the Northern Baptist Education Society. Dr. Arnold, a graduate of Brown University and of Newton Theological Institution, had been several years a missionary in Greece, but, npon his return to

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

office which, owing to the straitened finances of the school, he retained but two years. Yet while he was here a singular and beautiful union of culture and principle, of courtesy and firmness, of wit and learning, made his presence a well-spring of delight and his friendship a Christian benediction.

Dr. Train, a graduate of Brown University, which he then served for a time as tutor, was elected to the chair of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Duties in New- ton (1859), after ministering to the First Baptist Church of Haverhill, Massachusetts, twenty-five years with marked ability and usefulness. Though to a stranger his hearing may have seemed unduly self-relfant and almost careless of the opinion of others, yet upon closer acquaintance he was found to be gentle as well as manly, sympathetic as well as resolute, tender-hearted as well as conscientious. Naturally a superior scholar, he was also distinguished for good sense and practical sagacity. After seven years of faithful service in the seminary, he preferred to resume his favorite calling in Framingham, Massa- chusetts.

Dr. Ileman Lincoln, a son of Ensign Lincoln, one of the founders of the school,' was a graduate of Brown University and of Newton Theological Insti- tution, was elected Professor of Church History in 1868, and served in that department, or in the chair of Homileties and Pastoral Duties nineteen years, until his death, in October, 1887. He was remarkable for diligence, energy and versatility ; he was a vora- cious reader, a rapid writer and a fluent speaker. It was his custom to preach every Sabbath, and rarely did he fail of doing this during the nineteen years of his service in the institution. He was also aceus- tomed to write one article at least weekly for the religious press, and often two; of course, upon cur- rent topics. Feeling at times a profound solicitude as to political issues, he resorted to the daily secular press for the communication of his views to the public, and some of his articles were exceedingly vigorous and trenchant. In a word, he was an incessant toiler, with hand and voice and pen, in garden, study, public library, class-room and pulpit, in behalf of learning, virtue and religion. But this rich variety of service rendered it impossible for him to make original investigations in church history, or to pro- duce any standard treatise in that department. IIe labored for his pupils and cotemporaries, and he will live in their characters and memories. But neither his newspaper correspondence, however brilliant or timely, nor his more extended essays which found their place in reviews, are likely to be collected into volumes.

Dr. Samuel L. Caldwell was a graduate of Water- ville College and of Newton Theological Institution. Soon after leaving the seminary he was settled as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Bangor, Maine, where he labored twelve years, and then as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence, R. I.,

which he served fifteen years. From 1873 to 1878, a period of five years, he was a professor in the Newton Institution. IIis work was divided between homileties and church history. And the amount of labor which he performed can never be under- stood by one who has not delved in the same mines and tried to polish the same kind of gems. Think of church history : how vaat the libraries to be explored ! how difficult the task of just interpretation ! how numerous and vital the disputed questions ! how rare the discernment that can cast away the error and preserve the truth ! and how remarkable the power which can reproduce in a well-ordered narrative the results of faithful inquiry ! Yet this wide and difficult field was ably cultivated by Dr. Caldwell, though only for a brief period. Of his service in homiletical instruction it is enough to say that it was faithful and excellent. All looked up to him as a master of ex- pression. In the faculty he was courteous and wise, a helper in council, and loved as well as honored by his associates. But after a term of five years he ac- cepted a call to the presidency of Vassar College, an office for which he was thought to be pre-eminently qualified by character and culture.

Dr. Caldwell was editor of "The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution," hy Roger Williams, and of " The Bloody Tenent of Persecution yet more Bloody by Mr. Cot- ton's endeavor to wash it white in the Blood of the Lamb," by the same author, in the " Publications of the Narragansett Club." His editorial work in pre- faces and notes is scholarly and just. Moreover, in connection with Dr. A. J. Gordon, be prepared for publication a hymn and tune-book, "The Service of Song," which is one of the best ever offered to the churches. The task of selecting and editing the hymns, a part of which consisted in restoring their original text, is understood to have been performed by Dr. Caldwell. A considerable number of his ser- mons and addresses were published from time to time during his life, and a volume of his lectures and es- says is soon to be issued by a Boston house.

Of the professors now living (1890) seven are con- nected with the seminary and three are teaching in other seliools. Dr. Galusha Anderson, who was Pro- fessor of Homileties from 1866 to 1873, fills the same chair at present in the Baptist Theological Seminary at Morgan Park, Ill .; Dr. Ezra P. Gould, who was Professor of New Testament Interpretation from 1868 to 1882, is now teaching in the same department at the Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia, and Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, who filled the chair of Ilomilet- ics from 1879 to 1882, is now president of Brown Uni- versity. All these were accomplished teachers, mak- ing a deep impression on the minds of their pupils. The positions which they now hold are such as none but able men could fill.

The faculty is at present composed of the following persons : Alvah Hovey (since 1849 instructor, since 1853 professor-first of Church History and later of

NEWTON.

Christian Theology-and since 1868 president), Oak- man S. Stearns (Professor of Biblical Literature, Old Testament, since 1868), John M. English (Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Duties since 1882), Chas. R. Brown (Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Lan- guages since 1883), Earnest D. Burton (Professor of Biblical Interpretation, New Testament, since 1883), and Jesse B. Thomas (Professor of Church History since 1888). Mr. S. S. Curry has been an acting pro- fessor since 1885, though giving but a part of the time to this seminary and not being a member of the faculty. Professor Shailer Mathews, of Colby Uni- versity, has also assisted in New Testament interpre- tation a part of the time during the last year and the present. It may be remarked, in this connection, that the members of the faculty are not called upon to subscribe their names to any particular creed., As members of regular Baptist Churches they are pre- sumed to believe in the divine authority of the Scrip- tures and in the essential truths which they teach, or, in other words, to be in accord, as to all great princi- ples and duties, with the founders and trustees of the school. The trustees have authority to depose them, should their teaching prove unsatisfactory.

But the character of a professional school may be inferred more or less correctly from the work of its alumni. Indeed, its history would be as incomplete if no notice was taken of their work, as the history of a family would be if nothing were said of the chil- dren after leaving the parental roof. And the case will be still clearer if it be remembered that the work of the ministry embraces several forms of Christian service, besides the pastorate; e.g., that of teaching in some of its higher ranges, that of missionary ser- vice in all its branches, that of editorial work for the religious press, that of providing a Christian litera- ture in book-form for the people, and that of con- ducting the work of evangelical or reformatory socie- ties as agents and secretaries.

About eleven hundred candidates for the Christian ministry have studied in this school, and not far from three-fourths (725) of them have served the churches of their native land. Of these very many have been simply intelligent pastors, able to instruct the people by truth drawn from the sacred record, and content to labor for the Master wherever the providence of God directed their way. Many of them, though little known to the world, have been earnest and wise builders of the Lord's house. It is to this class of ministers tbat churches located in villages, East and West, have been indebted for much of their intelli- gence and stability, while it is from these churches that many young men of sterling worth find their way to the academy, the college, the seminary and the pul- pit. The influence of a village pastor in a rural dis- trict, if he is well-informed, sound in faith, pure in life and earnest in work, is something which an angel might covet. Some of these pastors have held on their way in the same village until their influence be-

came far-reaching and inestimable. Two or three may be named as specimens of a class : Cornelius .1. Thomas, D.D. (Brandon, Vermont), Elijah Hutchin- son, D.D. (Windsor, Vt.), and Daniel W. Phillips, D.D. (Medfield, Wakefield, Massachusetts; Nashville, Tennessee), William H. Eaton, D.D. (Salem, Nashua, Massachusetts ; Keene, New Hampshire), and Charles M. Bowers, D.D. (Lexington, Clinton, Massachu- setts). Without possessing the gift of eloquence in such a degree as to draw after them the multitude hungry for excitement, they have known how to speak well, commending truth to the minds and hearts of men, so that their influence was ever growing and salutary. Still more conspicuous and perhaps useful have been such city pastors as Drs. William Hague (Boston, Providence, Albany, New York), Rollin H. Neale (Boston), Samuel B. Swain (Worcester) ; Joseph W. Parker (Cambridgeport, Boston, Wash- ington, D. C.), William Lamson (Gloucester, Ports- mouth, .Brookline), William Howe (Boston), William H. Shailer (Brookline, Portland), Elias L. Magoon (Richmond, Cincinnati, New York, Albany, Phila- delphia), Thomas D. Anderson (Salem, Roxbury, New York, Boston), J. Wheaton Smith (Lowell, Phila- delphia), George Dana Boardman (Barnwell, Roches- ter, Philadelphia), James B. Simmons (Providence, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, New York), George Bullen (Skowhegan, Wakefield, Pawtucket), Henry A. Sawtell, (Limerick, San Francisco, Chelsea, Kala- mazoo,) Henry M. King, (Roxbury, Albany,) A. J. Gordon, (Jamaica Plain, Boston,) Henry F. Colby, (Dayton,) and numbers more (like Drs. D. N. Bur- ton, J. W. Warder, Edwin T. Winkle, John H. Luther), whose names command respect wherever they are spoken. Many of those given above were selected because their fields of labor were in Eastern Massachusetts, and they will be remembered by the citizens of Middlesex County.

Next to the graduates whose field of labor has been their native land must be placed those who have devoted their lives to service in foreign coun- tries. For in so far as the religious atmosphere and instruction of a theological school tend to foster a missionary spirit, it may be regarded as doing good to men. And in this respect the institution has made an honorable record. For not less than one student for each year of its history has gone to the foreign field. John Taylor Jones pursued his theological studies in Andover and Newton. He was a mission- ary in the East twenty years, eighteen of which were spent in Siam. During this time he translated the New Testament into the Siamese language. Francis Mason, D.D., a classmate of Dr. Jones in the semi- nary, preceded him about three months in the voyage to Burmah. His term of service extended over a period of about forty-four years. He translated the Scrip- tures into the Sgau Karen and Pwo Karen dialects, and published two works on Burmah, one entitled "Terasserim; or, Notes on the Fauna, Flora, Min-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

erals and Nations of British Burmah and Pegu," and the other, " Burmah ; its People and Natural Produc- tions." He wrote also a memoir of his second wife, and a " Life of Ko-thah-byu," and still later, " The Story of a Working-Man's Life."

He was studious, hopeful, enterprising : " a mathe- matician, a naturalist, a linguist, and a theologian." Rev. William G. Crocker finished the full theological conrse in 1834, and in July of the next year embarked for Liberia to preach the Gospel among the Bassas. Within less than nine years his work was finished, and he was called to his reward. But his missionary record was a noble one, for during that short period he endured extraordinary hardships on the burning and sickly coast where he was stationed. He was distinguished for sweetness of temper, simplicity of manners, large good sense and intense activity. Josiah Goddard was graduated from Newton in 1838, and sent out the same year as a missionary to the Chinese. For that people he labored earnestly and wisely sixteen years, first in Bankok, next in Shang- hai, and lastly in Ningpo. Besides his work as a preacher, he translated the whole New Testament and the first three books of the Pentateuch into a dialect understood by the people. He was a man of fine judgment, scholarship and temper, mastering the difficulties of the language as few Americans can, and accomplishing a very important service in a compar- atively short period. In his place, and worthy of his name, labors to-day a son, Rev. Josiah R. Goddard, also a graduate of the seminary. Rev. Benjamin C. Thomas, of the class of 1849, sailed for Burma soon after graduating, and toiled for the Karens twenty years in Tavny, Henthada and Bassein, though more than half of this period was passed in Henthada. IFis temperament was ardent and poetic, his piety deep and fervent ; but he was at the same time a man of sound judgment and practical spirit. His enthu- siasm was intense, but it was guided by reason, and he united in himself nearly all the qualities most useful to a missionary. Rev. Nathan Brown, D.D., was graduated in 1831, was a missionary in Assam more than twenty years, returned to his native land in 1859, and then after fifteen years went to Japan, where he lahored fourteen years. He was a man of vigorous intellect and unbending principle. In addi- tion to his other work he translated the New Testa- ment into the Assamese and the Japanese languages. Rev. Edward O. Stevens, D.D., graduated in 1836, was a missionary to the Burmese more than fifty years, serving the cause which he loved with a clear head and true heart till the day of his death. His son, the Rev. Edward D. Stevens, class of 1864, has been a faithful mis-ionary in Prome, Burma, from that time till 1889, when he was transferred to Maulmain. Another consecrated man, the Rev. Lyman Jewett, D.D., class of 1846, whose gentleness of manner and of spirit is only surpassed by his devotion to the will of Christ, labored among the Telugus about forty

years, until he was compelled by the impaired health of Mrs. Jewett to return home. He is a superior scholar as well as an heroic servant of the Master. The Rev. Chapin H. Carpenter, of the class of 1862, was a missionary in Rangoon, Burma, six years, being most of the time in charge of the Karen Theological Seminary, located in that city, and twelve years in Bassein, where he was in charge of a large and im- portant field. He was a devoted servant of Christ, a thorough scholar, and an earnest believer in the wisdom of calling upon the native churches to support all their pastors and schools, though not the missionaries sent to them from this country. His volume entitled "Self-Support, illustrated in the History of the Bassein Karen Mission from 1840 to 1380," must be reckoned a classic on the subject which it discusses. Much of the narrative is of thrill- ing interest, independently of the theme which it is used to elucidate. The Rev. Josiah N. Cushing, D.D., class of 1865, has been since his graduation a mis- sionary to the Shans of Burma, and has translated the whole Bible into their language. He is a fine scholar and teacher, as well as preacher. The Rev. D. A. W. Smith, D.D., class of 1863, was a missionary in Rangoon three years, Henthada ten years, and since 1876 president of the Karen Theological School, Ran- goon, Burma. An accurate scholar and teacher, he is also (like his father, the Rev. Samuel F. Smith, D.D.), said to be a writer of beantiful Christian hymns in the Karen language. Besides this work he has translated or composed a brief commentary on the whole Bible for the nye of the Sgan Karens.

This enumeration of faithful missionaries might be carried much further, embracing other names as emi- nent as those mentioned ; but enough have been spe- cified to show that the institution has always been friendly to the work of beathen evangelization. And it may, with equal truth, be said that it has been a source of laborers for the destitute parts of the home field. Many of the freedmen's schools at the South have been presided over by graduates of Newton. The Rev. D. W. Phillips, D.D., Nashville, Tenn. ; Charles H. Corey, D.D., Richmond, Va .; Henry M. Tupper, D.D., Raleigh, N. C .; G. M. P. King, D.D., Washington, D. C .; Edward C. Mitchell, D.D., Nashville, Tenn., and New Orleans, La .; Charles Ayer, Jackson, Miss. ; J. L. A. Fish, Live Oak, Fla., have been and are at the head of superior schools in the places named. And whether they be called mis- sionaries or presidents, uniting as they do these two forms of Christian service, they are doing a great and good work in a very satisfactory manner, and are to be numbered with the choice jewels which adorn the brow of their alma mater.

The institution has likewise furnished presidents for a considerable number of colleges and theological seminaries. Of these may be named : Drs. Eli B. Smith and James Upham, New Hampton Literary and Theological Seminary ; Barnas Sears, Newton

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Theological Institution and Brown University, Joel S. Bacon, Columbian College, Washington, D. C. ; David N. Sheldon, Henry C. Robins, G. D. B. Pep- per and Albion W. Small, Colby University ; E. G. Robinson, Rochester Theological Seminary and Brown University; George W. Samson, Columbian College, Washington, D. C., and Rutgers College, N. Y .; Martin B. Anderson, Rochester University ; Henry G. Weston, Crozier Theological Seminary ; Ebenezer Dodge, Madison University; Kendall Brooks and Monson A. Willcox, Kalamazoo College; Basil Manly, Georgetown College, Ky. ; Samuel L. Cald- well, Vassar College; Samson Talbot and Alfred Owen, Denison University, Granville, O .; Artemas W. Sawyer, Acadia College, Wolfville, N. S .; D. A. W. Smith, Karen Theological Seminary, Rangoon, Burmah ; S. W. Tindell, Carson College, Tenn .; S. B. Morse, Oakland College, Cal. ; Charles S. Corey, Richmond Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va .; Alvah Hovey, Newton Theological Institution and probably several others.

A still greater number have served as professors in colleges or theological seminaries, and of these it may be proper to mention, in addition to those previously named, Professors John S. Maginnis, D.D., John L. Lincoln, LL.D., James L. Reynolds, D.D., James S. Mims, D.D., Robert A. Fyfe, D.D., Peter C. Edwards, D.D., Samuel K. Smith, D.D., John B. Foster, LL.D., Joseph H. Gilmore, David Weston, Sylvester Burn- ham, D.D., Fletcher O. Marsh, Richard S. Colwell and Samuel Brooks, though others have done as good work as these. It would not be easy to overrate the service rendered to higher and Christian education by this body of presidents and professors, or to deter- mine how much of their influence and usefulness were increased by their course at Newton.

Moreover, the institution through its Alumni, has had an influence on public thought by means of the press. Its sons have contributed much to the relig- ious literature which has moulded the belief and life of the people, and especially of those connected with the Christian denomination supporting this school. But no record of the books written by the sons of Newton is known to have been kept, and no state- ment of the number of graduates that have been edi- tors or sub-editors of quarterly, monthly or weekly periodicals would be more than conjectural. Yet it is easy to form a considerable list of names that will suggest the character of the service which has in this way been rendered to mankind. Reference has already been made to the published writings of Barnas Sears, one ofits earliest graduates, and of its most distinguish- · ed professors. It will be sufficient to mention the names of others, with au accompanying word as to the kind of literary work performed by each. The abbrevia- tion, auth., will be used for the writer of anything published in book form ; ed., for the editor-in-chief or an assistant editor of any periodical or important work, and com., for an interpreter of any book of 6-iii

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 19

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278