History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881, Part 32

Author: Ballou, Adin, 1803-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Boston : Rand, Avery, & co.
Number of Pages: 1328

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Milford > History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881 > Part 32

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HISTORY OF MILFORD.

In the first place, it must be understood what sort of a man I am, by constitution and mental discipline ; for thereby only can an out- sider judge me justly. I have a very strong desire to find out what is absolutely true and right in all departments of human concern, especially in religion and morals. I am very strongly disposed to inquire into the abstract causes and principles of things. I am extremely inclined to carry out premises logically to their legitimate conclusions, and have an invincible aversion to inconsistency. Also, I have an intense longing to see abstract theories and principles, if good, reduced to practice. Thus constituted and mentally disciplined, I spent the earlier years of my manhood in rectifying and perfecting my theology ; troubling myself less about the prevailing system of ethics. After much investigation and reflection, I settled down in the firm theological persuasion : -

1. That there is one supreme, self-existent, all-perfect God, who is the loving and wise Father of all moral intelligences.

2. That Jesus Christ is the truest, highest, and most trustworthy exponent of God's moral perfections, of his will and law, and of human duty ; not as a mere man, speaking and acting on his own personal anthority, but as fore-chosen, ordained of the Father, and plenarily endowed with his Holy Spirit, to teach and exemplify absolute religious truth and righteousness, and thus to be the spiritual head and discipliner of the human race for their salvation from all sin.

3. That all human beings are by nature free moral agents within a limited sphere, always subject to divine over-rulement and corrective discipline, and always required, according to their ability as creatures of progress, to co-operate in their own perfectation.

4. That all human moral agents and all other moral agents are brothers and sisters of a common family, whose individual, social, and collective good is the same eternally, and they all bound, by the divine moral law, to love their common Father and one another with that perfect love which worketh no ill to its object.

5. That all moral agents are spirits destined to final immortal blessedness, throngh a long process of divine discipline administered in perfect love and wisdom, whereby evil will sooner or later be over- come by triumphant good.

6. That this grand result ought to be earnestly prayed and labored for.

Without argument pro et con as to the truth of this theology, it suffices to say, that it was sublimely true to me, and influenced me accordingly. And now came up a general agitation of ethics and

265

THE LOGIC OF PRINCIPLES.

practical reform. Was chattel slavery sinful? Was war, even for good objects or in self-defence, Christian? Was capital punishment, or any kind of vindictive punishment, right? Was it right for indi- viduals to do any thing through governmental agencies, which it would be morally wrong for them to do directly themselves? Was there any moral law that should govern the acquisition and use of property, requiring them to be strictly fraternal? Was civil society itself, on the existing plane of so-called Christian civilization, con- formable to the Sermon on the Mount? And was it right for the professed Christian Church to be amalgamated with civil society in upholding slavery, war, deadly penalism, and the unfraternal acquisi- tions and nses of wealth? These questions, with other kindred ones, all demanded profound consideration. My theology had been forced out of the old ruts. Must my ethics also undergo a revision? I shrank from it, and contented myself as long as I could with the general views in which I had grown up, and which permeated the almost universal public sentiment of the world. That public senti- ment held that chattel-slavery was a great evil ; not per se, but by reason of its abuses, and certainly could not be abolished in our country without violating sacred political guaranties, and perhaps cansing a dissolution of the Federal Union. It held that war also was a great evil ; but often a lesser one than peace, and at worst an unavoidable necessity, so long as there are men in the world bad enough to outrage justice and the natural rights of their fellow-men. Deadly force must be repelled by deadly force. Self-defence was the natural right and duty of individuals, communities, and nations. Just wars and righteous inflictions of death were indispensable to the very existence of society, law, and order. Abuses of these rightful resorts to deadly force ought to be condemned, but not the resorts themselves. So the property and class inequalities of existing civili- zation were natural and unavoidable in the very constitution of humanity. There were manifold abuses of them which ought to be corrected, checked, or mitigated ; but the things themselves were right.

Thus far I could only doubt, demur, and investigate. But there was one very important and undeniable conclusion : The vast majority of mankind are firmly wedded to all these customs of war, dernier-ressorts to deadly force, class distinctions, etc. ; they are prone to them by nature ; general society, civil and religious, is thoroughly saturated, cemented, and identified with them ; and therefore, until radically converted to opposite principles, customs, and habits, the world will persist in substantially its old course. I had no doubt of this. Yet there was one alternative. Individuals and voluntary

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HISTORY OF MILFORD.

associations might rise to a higher moral plane, if so disposed by their convictions of truth and duty. They might, on that higher plane, show "a more excellent way," and thus gradually convert mankind to that way. They might do this by carefully abstaining, first, from all complicity with the objectionable laws, customs, and practices of the world's general society, even at the hazard of martyrdom ; and second, from all acts in any wise detrimental to the good order more or less conserved by existing human governments. And was not this precisely Christ's moral plane, and his ideal of the true Church? This was a new standpoint from which to prosecute my ethical investigations ; and I prosecuted them accordingly. I was no longer tied down to the necessity of maintaining a code of ethics practicable for individuals and society unconverted to the principles of heavenly righteousness ; but might choose one suitable and practi- cable for converts professing to be governed by such righteousness. Neither was I bound to assume that these converts were obliged to work out their higher righteousness in the harness of politicians, statesmen, patriots, and governmentalists of the world, but only in a meek and peaceable spirit on their own higher moral plane as indi- viduals and voluntary associations. Nor did I feel under any ne- cessity to wait for the multitude; for it was certain, that, if the Christ-like went with the world in practice, their theoretical higher righteousness would amount to nothing. Their foundation would then be virtually abandoned. To sail in the old ship was to sail with it whithersoever it went. From such a standpoint, how must I now proceed to ascertain what absolute individual and social righteousness was? Obviously I must not reason from existing popular institu- tions, laws, customs, and fashions, as to what ought to be ; for this would only be to stand still, or go backwards, and thus confirm myself against progress. I must reason from the highest known divine revelations of fundamental laws and principles. Here my theology at once took precedence. Was Jesus Christ what I believed him to be? and, if so, what did a fair interpretation of the Scripture record show was the righteousness he taught and exemplified? I knew it was not a fair interpretation of that record, to lay stress on mere literal verbalism, figurative language, and intensive phrases; but I must honestly accept the general tenor of meaning and spirit pervad- ing the main body of connected Scriptures. I followed this rule, and asked, Does the record show that Jesus Christ ever was or at- tempted to be a civil ruler, statesman, patriot, warrior, or politician? The record answered unequivocally, No. Did he ever teach his disciples to take such positions in governmental society? No. Did

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THE ARGUMENT CONTINUED.

he not purposely avoid such positions, and distinctly declare that his kingdom was of a higher nature? Yes. Did his chosen apostles and primitive disciples ever teach, practise, or imply, that it was a Chris- tian duty to take part in the civil and military affairs of the world ? Never. Did Christ and his apostles ever teach or practise any other duty in respect to the governmental powers of the world, than to transcend their righteousness, and scrupulously abstain from all un- peaceable resistance of their temporal authority? No. Did Christ or his apostles ever teach or practise the rightfulness of inflicting death on any human being, or any lesser harm, or any retaliation of injury, under any pretext whatsoever? No. Did not the Master and his apostles often solemnly enjoin the sublime duty of loving euemies and offenders with the love that seeks to overcome all evil with good? Yes. Did he or they ever speak of caste distinctions, whereby superiors assumed to aggrandize themselves over inferiors, as justifiable, commendable, or innocent? No, but the contrary. Did they not emphatically deprecate the accumulation of riches by individuals as morally harmful and dangerous? and did they not always inculcate the duty of using property in a fraternal spirit for the general good? The record is unmistakably plain on this point. The same is true of oath-taking, chastity, and nearly all the speci- fications of our declaration.

In further confirmation of the same ethical conclusions, every arti- cle of my theology logically forced me to the same ultimate convic- tion of duty. The all-perfect Fatherhood of God; the pre-eminent Christhood of Jesus ; the brotherhood of all human and other moral intelligences ; the moral agency, responsibility, and progressive per- fectibility of mankind under divine discipline ; the destined final tri- umph of good over evil in our universe, and the duty to pray and labor for universal blessedness, - all ran in one ethical direction, en- throning the obligations of perfect love throughout the whole realm of moral being. It was thus that my mind reached the acme of its ethical superstructure. Nor can I now recede from them without reversing my premises. Reverse either of them, and my moral fabric would be fatally weakened. Convince me that God is not the all-perfect Father of the whole moral universe, so that there are more or less moral agents to whose highest good he is, or for any reason ever will be, hostile or indifferent, and then I shall logically set a corresponding limit to my ethics. For whom God reprobates, destroys, or aban- dons to hopeless ruin, I may rightfully treat accordingly. A main pillar in my edifice of perfect righteousness would then come down with a crash. Shall a man be better than God? Convince me that

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HISTORY OF MILFORD.

Jesus Christ is not to be reverenced and trusted, as invested with plenary divine authority, above his own human selfhood, to teach and exemplify perfect righteousness, and I must of course cease to consider the ethics of the New Testament of any superhuman value or extraordinary importance. Thus another of my main pillars would crumble into dust. My declaration of faith, principles, and duties, would be a mere human contrivance. Convince me that the universal brotherhood of man and other moral intelligences is not an absolute reality, in any such sense as that one brother or sister of the family may, under some circumstances, rightfully kill, injure, harm, or hate another, and my declaration must be both false and absurd. For that brotherhood which could be exemplified by treating an acknowledged brother or sister like a ferocious beast, venomous reptile, or con- temptible thing, would be at best but a rhetorical fiction. Convince me that mankind are not by nature disciplinable and progressibly perfectible moral agents under the divine government, so that some of them are mere automata and others liable to become incurable reprobates, and I will treat them accordingly, and abandon my declara- tion forever. Its foundation would then have been destroyed. So, if I can be convinced that God has not destined the complete final triumph of good over evil in our moral universe, but wills or con- sents that a portion of the human race shall be endlessly sinful and miserable, or shall be stricken out of existence as hopeless incura- bles, I will cease to aim at overcoming evil with good in all extreme cases. Or, finally, if it is wrong to pray and labor for universal holi- ness and happiness, then I have built my house on sand. Convinced of this, I will cease to work for the abolition of war, capital punish- ment, self-defensive homicide, or any so-called justifiable resort to deadly force. I will sorrowfully return, logically and squarely, back to the popular civil and military standard of righteousness ; for it would then be conclusively settled in my mind that good and evil are both ineradicably grounded in the very nature and destiny of our universe, beyond all possibility of doing any thing better for hardened sinners than to crush them out of existence, or imprison them in dun- geons of irresistible repression. But, so long as I hold on to my the- ology, I must hold on to my ethics. Therefore whoever is ambitious to convert me from my ethics must begin at the beginning, and con- vince me that my articles of theological faith are unsound. If any one of them can be rendered untenable to my highest convictions, I shall be cured of all my extra benevolence and hope. Fraternal com- munities will then no longer seem to me possible or desirable.

Still, however, I shall be asked, How could you expect to succeed

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EXPOSITION CONCLUDED.

in such an undertaking, under such immense disadvantages? Because I had unbounded confidence in my objects and principles, in human capabilities, and in divine favor. I believed firmly in the two old axioms, " What ought to be done can be done," and " Where there is a will there is a way." I was extremely sanguine in my aspira- tions and hopes. I can now honestly confess that I expected too much, too soon ; that I had more zeal than knowledge of indispensable conditions ; that I did not fully count the cost ; that I very insuffi- ciently understood several indispensable requisites to success ; that I was too much in haste to wait for necessary preparations ; and that I overrated the fitness of myself and associates for such an enter- prise. Hence our failure. What then ? Is it necessarily a final failure? Would it have been better, on the whole, not to make the attempt? Or, more probably, was the attempt providentially neces- sary in the order of progress, to enable successors to understand and secure the requisite conditions of accomplishment? There will cer- tainly be successors on the same general platform, who doubtless will profit by the mistakes of their predecessors, and who will finally achieve the desired results. This is the light in which I now view the subject. If my failure, such as it was, is deemed disgraceful, I willingly accept all the reproach and shame that may be laid upon me. I shall never deem halting prudence and contentment in mere theory more honorable than earnest endeavors to actualize worthy schemes. I did not expect the perfect exemplification of our community ethics and plan by its adherents ; but I did expect much more than I real- ized, notwithstanding our obvious imperfections and disadvantages. Yet I have learned not to regret the undertaking ; for, after all, I do not conceive how I could have put myself to a better use. I, at least, have gained wisdom.

As to forewarnings and predictions of failure, I had no lack of them from the outside. Opposers and well-wishing friends did not conceal their opinions as to the result. The former knew, and the latter feared, I was doomed to disappointment. I neither wondered at this, nor complained of it. Nothing less was to have been ex- pected of them. But, on the whole, all classes treated me generously from the beginning to the end. For toleration by opposers, and many kindnesses on the part of unbelieving well-wishers, I have abundant reasons for thankfulness. The failure arose from within, and among ourselves. The stones of our social edifice were too imperfectly hewn, our mortar needed a better temper, and too much of our timber was unseasoned. We ought to have had beforehand a well-disciplined, practical Christian church, schooled prospectively for the ultimate 1

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HISTORY OF MILFORD.

establishment of such communities ; then we could have made a suitable selection of building materials ; and then, also, we could have started with ample consecrated funds, buildings, and pecuniary resources. These we had not. May our successors make better preparations ! Finally, when I consider the imperfection of our outfit, our crude personal discipline, and the innumerable powerful tempta- tions within and around us, constantly seducing us back into the old ruts of general society, I cannot wonder at our failure. I therefore acquiesce, in " hope of a better resurrection." Such is my explana- tion of how and why I projected the Hopedale Community on the platform prescribed, why the enterprise failed, and how I now regard the whole subject. I have spoken perhaps too much in the first per- son singular. I have done so partly because I know myself to have been mainly responsible for the community's existence ; partly he- cause I fully understood my own motives and reasons for the under- taking ; and partly because, in speaking for myself, I could fairly indicate the principal sentiments of my colleagues without assuming that they were in all respects identical with my own. I submit what I have written to the generous consideration of those who have inter- est enough in the movement to inquire into its merits, and candor enough to do justice to the motives of its responsible promoters. I subjoin only the number of the community's members, at successive stages, and the names of its principal officers.

The number of members at organization, in 1841, was just thirty- two, which gradually arose to about one hundred, and declined to the present remnant of less than forty, mostly scattered abroad over the country. Probationers and dependents were not accounted members. The organization still nominally exists, but is wholly inert. It had officers of various grades and functions. Its Presidents were, suc- cessively, Adin Ballou, Ebenezer D. Draper, William S. Heywood, and William H. Humphrey ; Secretaries, or Recorders, William W. Cook, Abby H. Price, Lemuel Munyan, Edmund Soward, Daniel S. Whitney, William S. Heywood, Catherine G. Munyan, Mary A. Walden, Abbie B. Heywood, Abbie J. Spalding, Cyrus Bradbury, and John L. Hey- wood ; Treasurers, Ebenr. D. Draper, Lemuel Munyan, and Cyrus Bradbury ; Executive Council, Business Trustees, or Directors, Lemuel Munyan, E. D. Draper, David R. Lamson, Henry Lillie, Daniel S. Whitney, Butler Wilmarth, William H. Fish, Amos J. Ballou, George W. Stacy, Clement O. Read, Horatio Edson, Almon Thwing, Wil- liam H. Humphrey, William W. Cook, Dudley B. Chapman, William S. Heywood, Alonzo A. Cook, Joseph B. Bancroft, Stephen Albee, Cyrus Bradbury, George Draper, and perhaps one or two overlooked

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THE HOPEDALE PARISH.

in scanning the records. At one period Vice-Presidents were chosen, of whom I find three recorded : viz., William S. Heywood, Wm. H. Humphrey, and Wm. W. Cook. After 1850 there was a permanent board of real-estate Trustees, kept full to the constitutional number of five, until a few years ago. Such were Adin Ballou, Ebenr. D. Draper, Wm. H. Humphrey, Butler Wilmarth, Almon Thwing, Ste- phen Albee, John L. Heywood, and Jerome Wilmarth. The three first named still stand, and act when occasion requires. There was a Board of Education, a Council of Religion, a Promulgation Commit- tee, a Relief Committee, and other minor officers, regularly chosen ; but I refrain from adding their names to the foregoing. I now close with the single remark, that, though the Hopedale Community failed, it has experienced a no worse fate than has fallen to many a benefi- cent and noble undertaking on the long march of human progress.

THE HOPEDALE PARISH.

This religious organization, which, as assign and successor of the Hopedale Community, accepted its remaining resident members, its meeting-house, minister, Sunday-school, cemetery, and disposable funds, deserves at least a brief record in this part of the town's his- tory. It was formed, after due preliminary consideration, Oct. 27, 1867, under the following

CONSTITUTION.

" Whereas, in the year 1856, the Hopedale Community so altered their Constitution as to admit settlers among them friendly to their declared fundamental principles, though not required to become members of the Community organization ; and

" Whereas all homesteads and other real estate have been conveyed to such admitted settlers on expressed conditions which in honor bind them to maintain respectful and friendly relations toward said Community; and

" Whereas, in consequence of the constitutional alteration aforesaid, many persons have become inhabitants of Hopedale who are not members of the Community organization, nor likely to become such, but who are willing to co-operate with it, to a greater or less extent, in supporting public worship, religious meetings, the Sunday school, sacred music, and other instrumen- talities for the promotion of moral order in the neighborhood ;

"Therefore, in general harmony with said Community, a Liberal Chris- tian Society is hereby formed, to be called the Hopedale Parish ; which shall be organized and governed in accordance with the following Articles of Com- pact : to wit, ---

" ARTICLE I. This Parish shall exercise all its powers, rights, and privi- leges, in friendly concurrence and co-operation with the Hopedale Community, so far as respects the particulars set forth in the foregoing preamble.

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HISTORY OF MILFORD.

" ART. II. Any person sixteen years of age, residing in Hopedale or its vicinity, may become a voting member of this Parish, by subscribing this Constitution, and contributing annually to its funds.

" ART. III. This Parish shall hold an annual meeting, during the first week of December in each year, for the choice of officers and the transaction of other legitimate business ; also such special meetings from time to time as occasion may require. All meetings shall be duly notified in accordance with a prescriptive standing rule, enacted by the Parish for that purpose ; and nine members shall constitute a quorum.

" ART. IV. The officers of this Parish shall be an Executive Committee, consisting of three or more members, a Clerk, a Treasurer, and a Collector; also, more permanently, a board of three Trustees, who shall hold in trust such property of the Parish as may be deemed expedient, and serve for a term of three years. They shall be competent to receive and convey titles to real estate, and to exercise all the powers vested by the laws of Massachu- setts in trustees of religious societies. Any other officers, of whatever title or function, may be chosen from time to time as necessity or expediency shall be deemed to require. All Parish officers shall perform the duties indicated by their titles, subject always to the rules, regulations, and instructions of the Parish. They shall keep reliable records of their doings, and continue to exercise their respective functions till relieved by duly elected successors.

" ART. V. This Parish may enact any rules, regulations, or by-laws, not inconsistent with their Constitution for the time being. And this Constitu- tion may be altered or amended, in any respect not unfriendly to the Hope- dale Community, by a two-thirds vote of the members present and acting in any regular meeting notified for that purpose.

" In testimony and full ratification whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our respective names, at the dates specified opposite thereto.

STANDING RULE.

" All annual and other meetings of this Parish for the transaction of important business shall be notified by a written call from the Executive Committee, or the Clerk, specifying the time, place, and principal purposes of the meeting ; which call shall be posted in the entry of the Hopedale chapel, at least seven days prior to the time appointed, and be read from the desk at least once. Meetings for the transaction of comparatively unim- portant business shall be deemed regular, if notified by a written call from said Committee, or Clerk, once read from the desk ; provided no member shall object to action under such notification."

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History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881, Part 32

Author: Ballou, Adin, 1803-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Boston : Rand, Avery, & co. Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Ballou, Adin, 1803-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Boston : Rand, Avery, & co.
Number of Pages: 1328