Boston, Harvard and Princeton

NEW ENGLAND JOUENEY CONTINUED — BOSTON — DK. ECEXEY — DE. MOESE — HAEVAED COLLEGE — IPSWICH — DE. DANA — NEWBTJEYPOET — EXETEE — DAETMOUTH COLLEGE — DANIEL WEBSTEE — SHELBUENE — DE. PACKAED — COMMENCEMENT AT PELNOETON — PHILADELPHIA — EETUEN TO THE COL-LEGE.

“T OBSERVED on approaching Boston,” says be, “that -*- few persons rode on horseback, and that I attracted no little attention, having my valise, overcoat and saddlebags, and a horse very different in form from those of New England; for he was of English blood, and had been a racer in his time. I began to feel, as I commonly did when entering a city, a certain shyness, which led me to avoid the most frequented houses. When, therefore, I came to the City Hotel, and observed many men in uniform, and some with epaulettes, I thought I would ride on further, and find a quiet house. But after proceeding some distance, I found that I had gone entirely through the town, and was on the way over the bridge to Cambridge. Here, however, I observed a sign, and as I meant only to leave my horse, I determined to stop. And indeed I found a quiet house, for the innkeeper put my horse into the stable himself, and I saw no one about the premises. I felt that I was out of my latitude, and thought it was too late to present my letters. For Dr. Burnet, at Norwalk, had kindly given me an introduction to the Kev. Dr. Eckley, minister of the Old South. The next day I went in search of this gentleman, and coming to a bookstore, the common refuge of strangers and loiterers, I received the necessary directions and proceeded to deliver my letter.

“Dr. Eckley insisted that I should take up my abode with him, saying that the Kev. Henry Kollock of New Jersey had been his guest, but was now gone to Charlestown to spend a few days with Dr. Morse. After a little time, I returned to my hotel, paid my bill, and mounted my Eosinante, which I proceeded to have put up at the City Hotel. The Doctor informed me that it was the evening for the Boston Lecture, a series of discourses preached in turn by the clergy of Boston and vicinity.

“Dr. Eckley was one of a class I had never known. He was refined, possessing great sensibility, punctiliously courteous, and talkative on all subjects. I accompanied him to the Thursday lecture, where about fifty persons were met, and where old Dr. Howard delivered a downright Arian sermon; not, however, in a controversial way, but just as if all agreed with him. Indeed at that time all controversy was proscribed by the liberal party. After sermon I was presented to Dr. Morse, who greeted me cordially, and invited me to Charlestown. A dozen venerable looking clergymen were present, some with fullbottomed white wigs.

Henry Kollock, to whom I was next introduced, was one of the most affectionate men I have ever known; his heart seemed to be for ever overflowing with kind feelings.

“Dr. Morse insisted that I should go the next evening and preach at his lecture, which I agreed to do, but soon repented, for my spirits had sunk below par. I however went, and preached, but was much disturbed by the glare of the lights; for chandeliers were then all. the fashion. I did as well as I could, using no notes; the fact was I had none with me. On the Sabbath I had engaged to preach for Dr. Eckley in the morning, and for Dr. Morse in the afternoon. Poor Kollock was almost torn to pieces, in the anxiety to secure his pulpit services, which were something new in Boston; for in composition and delivery he followed the French school, and having an impassioned manner produced an extraordinary impression upon his audience. He divided his labours among all sorts. Indeed there was as yet no public line of demarcation among the clergy. One might learn with ease what each man believed, or rather did not believe, for few positive opinions were expressed by the liberal party. Dr. Kirkland was said to be a Socinian, as was Mr. Popham; and Dr. Howard an Arian. Dr. Eckley had professed to be an Edwardean, but he came out, after my visit, a high Arian. Mr. Eliot was an Arian, Mr. Emerson a Unitarian of some sort, and Dr. Lathrop a Universalist. Dr. Freeman, one of the first who departed from orthodoxy, was the lowest of all, a mere humanitarian. He still used the book of Common Prayer, altered so as to suit his opinions. Dr. Morse was considered a rigid Trinitarian.

Dr. Harris, of Dorchester, was reckoned a low Arminian, and became a thorough Unitarian.

“Harvard College was not yet fully under Unitarian influence, but was leaning in that direction. President Willard was thought to hold the old Puritan doctrine, but had no zeal for orthodoxy. Dr. Tappan, professor of theology, was in his writings a Calvinist of the school of Watts and Doddridge; a very amiable man, of prepossessing manners. Dr. Pierson was professor of Hebrew; he was much opposed to Unitarianism, but did not possess great influence. All were for making little of doctrinal differences. As soon as the liberal men had caused this to be settled as a principle, they devised a way to introduce the ablest Unitarians into the College, as fast as vacancies occurred. When Dr. Willard died, Kirkland, a man of genius and eloquence, was put into his place. Even at the time of my visit, all the young men of talents in Harvard were Unitarians.

“Dr. Morse took charge of me for the most part. He conducted me to the Commencement, and introduced me as the President of a college in Virginia. At my first arrival, there was a laughable mistake about this presidency. I had never intended to mention my connection with a college, and I knew that Hampden Sidney was perfectly unknown. But Coffin had told Dr. Burnet that I had been President of Hampden Sidney, and Burnet in introducing me to Dr. Eckley, had written it Camden Sidney. This letter, Dr. E. showed to Dr. Morse, and the American geographer was nonplussed; he had never heard of the College. There was no way to clear up the difficulty but by applying to me.

But by this, the matter was little mended, for Dr. Morse in his Geography had represented Hampden Sidney as nearly extinct; my honour as a President was not therefore very flattering. All titles of this sort, however, go for much in New England, and I was often placed before my seniors and betters. I was invited to dine with the professors and students, but Dr. Holmes, the author of the Annals, took me to his house.

“I preached a number of times for Dr. Eekley in the Old South, and two or three times for Dr. Morse, in Charlestown, but for no others. The principal surprise at hearing me preach was, that I, a Virginian, should avow such doctrine. A certain Judge Peabody, after one of my discourses, expressed this opinion, adding that he had supposed almost all the educated Virginians to be Deists.

“In the Old South Church I found a lingering relic of Whitefield’s times, in a convert of his day, a lady between eighty and ninety years of age, who belonged to a prayer-meeting, founded then, which had been kept up weekly, until within a few years. Of this she was now the only surviving member. The celebrated Samuel Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a member of the Old South, but too infirm to come out. Having spent a week or ten days in Boston, I mounted my horse and went on my way towards Newburyport.”

At Ipswich he found Dr. Dana, father of the present venerable Dr. Dana. He had been engaged in a controversy respecting the use of the means of grace; in which he and Dr. Tappan, of Cambridge, were the leading writers on one

side, against Dr. Spring and Dr. Emmons on the other. We here resume the fragment of autobiography:

“I preached at Kowley, the day after I left Ipswich, and saw Mrs. Bradford and family. It is pleasant to meet with evidence of having been the instrument of good to any one, after having remained in ignorance of it for almost half a century. The sister of Dr. Coggswell informs me that she was present at that sermon, and then received her first religious impressions. Mr. Bradford had been in his lifetime a zealous advocate for the new opinions in theology, and his people had caught the itch of disputation. Two of them, of whom one was a deacon, came to the house where I was entertained, that I might settle a metaphysical difference which they had been discussing for some time. It was whether there is any thing in the mind besides exercises? I found it very difficult to comprehend what they meant; for at that time, I had never heard of what is called the 6 Exercise Scheme, It occurred to me however, that my best course was to get them into the dispute before me, which I did by asking questions of one and the other. I was greatly amused with the matter and manner of the controversy, and began to understand the subject in debate.

“The next day I went into Newburyport. My letter directed me first to Dr. Spring’s; but when I came to the house, I found them under a great and sudden affliction. The next clergyman on my list was the Kev. Daniel Dana, a son of the pastor at Ipswich. He was about my own age, and received me kindly. There was a considerable excitement in the town, where the Free Will Baptists had just corninenced operations, and made a number of converts. I was informed by Mr. Dana, that although there were eight Congregational churches, no two ministers agreed in their theological system. One, an Englishman, was an old-fashioned Calvinist; another, a disciple of Grill, was called an Antinomian; a third was a moderate Calvinist; a fourth an ultra Hopkinsian; a fifth an Arminian, and a sixth a high Arian. These are all that I remember, and I preached for them all. Indeed, they kept me so constantly at work that I broke down towards the last, and was obliged to cease on account of a pain in my breast. In consequence of the affliction in Dr. Spring’s family, I saw but little of him; otherwise I should have had a time of severe sifting, as the Doctor was accustomed by a train of logical reasoning, to push his opponent to the conclusion to which he wished to bring him,”

One day Mr. A. dined at the house of Dr. Coffin, the father of his late travelling companion. A clergyman present (for the manuscript leaves it obscure whether it was Dr. Coffin or another), entered into discussion with him upon the reigning topics of the day, and supposed him to concede that that which renders an action morally good, is its tendency to produce the greatest amount of happiness. “I told him that I did not believe it. I maintained that holiness. has an intrinsic excellence, distinct from its tendency to promote happiness, an excellence greater than that of happiness itself. I added that the animal creation has a constitution which renders them susceptible of happiness, and yet that constitution is not moral; that many inanimate things have a tendency to produce happiness, which nevertheless does not stamp them with the character of virtue. He looked me full in the face and said, c Where were you educated? ‘I replied that what little education I possessed was obtained among the wild mountains of Virginia.”

Leaving Newburyport, he journeyed towards Exeter. A trait of the times is not without entertainment. “On the way,” says he,” I was overtaken by a man on horseback, whom I immediately knew to be a clergyman, by the three-cornered hat which all country ministers still wore, when they appeared in public. Dr. Eckley told me that even in Boston, when he visited the older people, he was obliged to put on the cocked hat, as they considered the round hat too c buckish ’ for a clergyman. The stranger informed me that he had been out ’ candidating, that is, preaching as a candidate in a vacant church. Before we reached Exeter, he turned aside to visit a rich old farmer, and to fill his saddle-bags with cucumbers from the garden. In those days, a pastor in New England who had been dismissed from his people was in a situation little better than if deposed. Poor Mr. M. N. lived in a dilapidated house, where I visited him, and where there seemed to be no supplies but the cucumbers and some rusty bacon. I greatly commiserated his condition; for he was a man of learning, and his wife was a well-educated and refined woman, of great simplicity.

“The Phillips Academy, at Exeter, was the most celebrated institution of the kind in New England. After spending a week in Exeter, Mr. Kowland, the pastor, accompanied me to Portsmouth. I preached here several 17 times (for Dr. Buckminster) in the week-evenings, and to full houses. I found the Doctor an exceedingly agreeable man; well-informed if not learned, orthodox, without any ultraisms, but not abounding in zeal. He introduced me to his son, who had been graduated at the late Commencement, and was the pride of Harvard. He was full of anecdotes, such as were current at Cambridge, and which were mostly intended to ridicule evangelical opinions.”

From Exeter he directed his course toward the mountains of New Hampshire, and was soon in the midst of romantic scenery, which revived the associations of his youth. This is a proper place to insert some paragraphs from a publication made by Dr. Alexander in the year 1850, which derives additional interest from the recent death of our great statesman, since these pages were commenced.

“At Harvard, I had the pleasure of being introduced to President Willard, Professors Tappan, Pearson, and others. I was also able to attend the commencement at Dartmouth College. In passing from Massachusetts over the mountains of New Hampshire, I lodged within a few rods of the house of a farmer, the father of the Honourable Daniel Webster. The old gentleman came over to the tavern in the morning, and chatted for half an hour. Among other things he said that he had a son at Dartmouth, who was about to take his bachelor’s degree. The father was large in frame, highbreasted and broad-shouldered, and, like his son, had heavy eyebrows. He was an affable man, of sound sense and considerable information, and expressed a wish that I might be acquainted with his son, of whom it was easy to see that he was proud.

“Arriving at Hanover, the seat of the College, a day or two before the commencement, I put up my horse and secured a room at one of the two public houses. On the morning of the commencement I presented my letters to President Wheelock, and was received with a profusion of ceremonious inclinations; for it was pleasantly said that the President suffered no man to have the last bow. This, it was reported, was put to the test by a person of some assurance, who undertook to compete with him in the contest of politeness. He accordingly took his leave, bowed himself out of the mansion, and continued to bow as long as he was upon the premises; but the President followed him to the gate, and remained in possession of the field. Dr. Wheelock was a man of learning, especially in the department of history. It was said that he had a great historical work in preparation, but none such ever appeared.

“When I afterwards returned to the tavern, I was surprised to find the whole house filled with a strange and motley multitude. My own room was occupied by a company of gamblers, and the usual circle of lookers-on. I loudly asserted my claim to the room, threw myself on my reserved rights, and made appeal to the host. He declared himself unable to turn the people out; the Green Mountain Boys appeared to be good-natured, but perfectly impracticable. At this juncture I began to consider my situation quite deplorable, when relief came from an unexpected quarter. A note was delivered to me from a gentleman of the village, inviting me to become his guest; by singular resolution he had kept exclusive possession of his house, the only one in

Hanover exempt from invasion. I found ample room and hospitality. It appeared that a letter from Salem, Massachusetts, had named me to this worthy friend, as a clergyman of Virginia, making a first journey through New England. In this house I made the acquaintance of the only other guest, the Reverend Theophilus Packard, now Doctor Packard; whom I accompanied to his home in Shelburne, and there spent a very happy, and as I think, profitable fortnight.

“At the Dartmouth commencement, General Eaton, of eccentric memory, was marshal of the day, and was unceasing in busying himself about the order of the procession to the church; giving each graduate, of every college, the place due to his seniority. Among the speakers was young Daniel Webster. Little dreaming of his future career in law, eloquence and statesmanship, he pronounced a discourse on the recent discoveries in Chemistry, especially those of Lavoisier, then newly made public.”

As the introduction of this extract has carried us a little further forward than we intended, it will be necessary to go back and glance at a few incidents of the road to Hanover.

“The tavern belonged to Capt. Webster, though he lived in a large house a few rods distant. The morning that I was to set out to cross the mountains, two clergymen drove up, both alumni of Dartmouth, and on their way to the Commencement. One of these was Mr. (now the Rev. Dr.) Gillett, of Hallowell, in Maine. They were in a chaise and I was on horseback, but they were very willing to make frequent exchanges. Mr. Grillett was an adept in metaphysical discussion, and we were often in danger of upsetting the chaise among the rocks, from being so intent on our discussion. The other clergyman held the same opinions, but had little of his companion’s acuteness.

“On the side of a mountain, for we had many to cross, we came to a house early in the afternoon, which was the only place for a great distance where we could obtain lodgings; here, therefore, we determined to remain over night. On conversing with the woman of the house, I found that she had recently obtained experience of religion, though she had heard no preaching. Her eldest son had gone out into the forest to cut some fire- wood, when the limb of a tree fell on his head and broke his skull. He was brought home dead. For a fortnight the mother wept day and night, and was inconsolable. At length it came strongly into her mind that there was no use in grieving for the child, but that she had great cause to grieve for her sins. From this time she began to experience a change in her feelings. She ceased to mourn for her loss, and sorrowed for her guilt, until God manifested himself as reconciled through Jesus Christ. As the people living on the mountain were entirely destitute of preaching, we proposed to have the neighbours collected in the evening; when Mr. G-illett preached to them on the doctrine of Election.

“Next day we took the road to Enfield, a Shaker village, as we were all desirous to see and converse with this strange people. We arrived about noon, and found all the shops closed, as the men were out clearing new ground; with the exception of the Elders, who never put their hands to any labour.”

It is a fact not generally known, that shortly after his return home, and through the influence of Judge Niles, Mr. Alexander received the appointment of Phillips Professor of Theology in Dartmouth College. The book of the Trustees shows that this election took place at the Annual Meeting in August, 1802. From Hanover he went to Shelburne, upon an invitation of the Kev. Mr. Packard, afterwards Dr. Packard. “I was the more willing to do this,” he writes, “as Mr. P. had just received a letter from home, informing him that a revival had commenced in one part of his parish. At Westminster, we found, very appropriately, an Assembly of Divines. The Congregational ministers of New Hampshire were met in General Association. During my stay of a fortnight with my friend Packard, he never preached once in his own church. Besides the services of the Sabbath, we had meetings on week days in several parts of the congregation. We also visited from house to house, where there were any under serious impressions. One thing in the exercises and conduct of the awakened surprised me. They sat still and believed it improper to pray or use any means except hearing, until they received the gift of a new heart. I preached as usual, and exhorted inquirers to pray, read, &c. Two cases among the awakened I must mention, because they were brought to my remembrance many years afterward, in a very pleasing way. At the house of a Mr. Fisk, we found his wife and daughter in the deepest distress, yet using no means, but sitting still and waiting for the converting influences of the Spirit. Both were convinced of their lost estate and utter helplessness, taking all the blame to themselves. The next day, as the assembly could not be accommodated within, I preached in an orchard. Before I began I perceived Mrs. Fisk walking briskly towards the table on which I stood, and the first glance I had of her countenance assured me that her feelings had undergone a change. I intimated this to Mr. Packard, who immediately after the service spoke to her and found that she was full of joy and love. Many years after this, the Kev. Pliny Fisk, the missionary to Palestine, called upon me, telling me that he came at the request of his mother, who had enjoined it upon him, if he ever should be within fifty miles of me, to ma. himself known as a son of the woman who was converted while I was in Shelburne.

“On another day we stopped at the house of an old man, also named Fisk, who had a son with a large family living in the same house with him. One of the children, about nine or ten years of age, was under serious impressions, and was called up for us to converse with him. After a longer period than the one above mentioned, and long after I had known the Kev. Dr. Ezra Fisk, of Goshen, he one day asked me if I remembered talking with a boy in Shelburne, describing the circumstances. And on my replying that I did, he said, c I am that boy, Harvey Fisk, once my pupil, and afterwards much engaged in the service of the American Sunday School Union, informed me that another person by the name of Fisk, who became a minister and was eminent for his piety, dated his conversion from the same revival.

“The people of Sherburne seemed reluctant to part with me. The pastor and a number of others accompanied me to Conway, the next town, where I was to preach for old Mr. Emerson, who had been unable to walk for many months. He was a meek and pious man, of the old school of Puritans, and an uncle of the Emerson of Boston, who became a Unitarian. He told me that the father of the latter was a pious and orthodox man; and that when he had reminded his nephew of this, the reply was, that if his father had lived to this time, he would in like manner have changed his opinions. Here I found many sincere and benevolent persons; but I could observe that I was no longer under the cloud which showered its blessings over Shelburne. Leaving the higher parts of Massachusetts, I descended to the valley of the Connecticut, and soon found myself in Northampton, the town made memorable by President Edwards. At Hatfield I called on Dr. Lyman, whom I had seen before.” At Hartford he again visited Dr. Strong, who engaged him to write for the Connecticut Magazine. At his request, Dr. Greorge Baxter contributed to this work an account of the great revival in the South. By easy stages he continued his homeward way, through New Haven and the towns upon the Sound to the city of New- York. Here he preached on a Lord’s Day evening in the Brick Church, for Dr. Kodgers. The next day was partly spent at Newark, with the venerable Dr. McWhorter, after which he proceeded to Elizabethtown, and visited the Kev. Henry Kollock, at the house of his father. It was a favourite plan of Mr. Kollock to have his friend settled in the congregation of Orange, but the steps taken by him were unsuccessful.

Princeton was visited in the return, and the following narrative, which has been already printed, is here in place.

“Princeton was taken in my journey homeward. In this town, likewise, it was no easy matter to find a place to lay my head, so great was the concourse of strangers. But my friend Mr. Henry Kollock, afterwards distinguished as a preacher, and who had recently been a tutor in the college, kindly introduced me to the house of old Mrs. Knox, where the students of divinity had their abode.

“The appearance of the Trustees and Professors struck me with awe. I seriously question whether such a body of men, for dignity and importance, as then composed the Board could have been found in any part of the country. I need only name Dr. McWhorter, Elias Boudinot, LL. D., John Bayard, Esq., Dr. John Woodhull, the Hon. William Paterson, Dr. Grreen, the Kev. James F. Armstrong, the Hon. Richard Stockton, Governor Bloomfield, and Judge Wallace. The class then commencing Bachelors of Arts included the late Mr. Biddle, Mr. Kobert Goodloe Harper, the Rev. Andrew Thompson, Mr. Henry E. Watkins, Professor Cook of Kentucky, the Rev. Dr. Johnson of Newburgh, and the Rev. Dr. John McDowell of Philadelphia.

“The President, Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, I had met in Philadelphia, six or seven years before; and certainly, viewing him as in his meridian, I have never seen his equal in elegance of person and manners. Dignity and winning grace were remarkably united in his expressive countenance. His large blue eye had a penetration which commanded the respect of all beholders. Notwithstanding the want of health, his cheek had a bright rosy tint, and his smile lighted up the whole face. The tones of his elocution had a thrilling peculiarity, and this was more remarkable in his preaching, where it is well known that he imitated the elaborate polish and oratorical glow of the French school. Little of this impression can be derived from his published discourses, which disappoint those who do not know the charm of his delivery.

“On this occasion Dr. Smith appeared to great advantage, for though he had passed his acme, he was erect and full of spirits. The formality used in the collation of degrees does not appear to be of much importance, but with the sonorous voice and imposing mien of President Smith, it added dignity to the scene, and left an indelible impression.

“The College of New Jersey at that time contained some young men who were far above the ordinary level of attainments; distinguished for a high sense of honour, which preserved them from the despicable courses in which misguided youth sometimes seek distinction. It was gratifying to observe, that these young men were the favourites of the President, and that, in their turn, they were strongly attached to him. Some of them still live, to reflect honour on their Alma Mater; but I will not name those who occur to me, lest I do an unintentional injustice to the rest. Some, alas, are extinct; but some may be found shining as stars, with a mild but brilliant lustre, in the civil as well as the ecclesiastical firmament.

“Doctor John Maclean, a native of Scotland, after pursuing the path of science with indefatigable zeal, so far as it was open to him in Edinburgh and Glasgow, visited France, that he might avail himself of the increased facilities afforded for physical researches in the schools of Paris. After accomplishing this purpose, Dr. Maclean emigrated to America, in 1795, and became one of the most popular professors who ever graced the college. He was at home almost equally in all branches of science; Chemistry, Natural History, Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, successively claimed his attention. It is believed that he was one of the first to reproduce in America the views of the new French school in Chemistry: on this subject he waged a successful war with Dr. Priestley, the great champion for phlogiston. No one could attend a commencement at Princeton, without perceiving that Professor Maclean was, as it were, the soul of the faculty. He enjoyed the attachment of all the students, unless perhaps some of the idle and abandoned; it is these who, in all colleges, display the opposite temper.

“At the time of my visit, Dr. Maclean was in the prime of life, a gentleman of fine appearance, polished manners, and a disposition remarkable for kindness and cordiality. He is now remembered, as the students’ friend, with sincere and tender attachment, by many of his surviving pupils. It is no part of these paragraphs, to follow any of the persons named into their subsequent life, but only to note these incidents of a day which was full of interest. After the other honorary degrees had been announced, the Trustees, by a consultation at the moment on the stage, agreed to confer on the writer the degree of Master of Arts; an act, which, it seems, was never entered on their minutes: and in the evening he was initiated into the American Whig Society.”* On this occasion he was accompanied to Princeton by Mr. Kollock, and Mr. Beasley, afterwards Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.

In Philadelphia he preached for Dr. Linn, whose health was impaired. In Baltimore he stopped with his old preceptor. Dr. Priestley, already mentioned in these pages. He was further detained to supply the pulpit of Dr. Alison, who had sunk into a melancholy state. The impression made by these services, as will presently appear, was such as made it likely for a while that his lot might be cast in Baltimore; and the remembrance of them was long cherished in that city. After this he hastened to Hopewell, where arrangements were made for his approaching marriage.

In the retrospect of this tour, he was accustomed to speak of it as one of the most agreeable and instructive portions of his life. That part of it which brought him into acquaintance with New England, its clergy, its manners and its revivals, he always recurred to with pleasure. To this may be traced the remarkable absence of all prejudice and rancour which marked his feelings and language towards the churches of that land. Of their hospitality he used to speak in warm terms, and as to the inquisitiveness which he had been taught to expect from the people, he declared it to be less than he had encountered in his native State. And although he spent but a few months in that region, the mode of travelling which he employed, and the intimate relations

* Princeton Magazine, 1850.

he sustained to ministers and private families, afforded far better opportunity for observation than a much longer time, passed in the modern methods of speedy transit, and sojourn at places of public entertainment. In moments of relaxation at the fireside, his fund of anecdote concerning this tour was inexhaustible; and he loved to recall these scenes on occasions when he was visited by friends from that part of the country.

His return to Prince Edward and to the College was hailed with much cordiality, and the old president’s house was put into repair, in expectation of his new relations. During the winter of 1801-2, he spent most of his time in Charlotte, under the hospitable roof of Major Read. His preaching labours were abundant, and were attended with some success.

In the year 1801, on his return from New England, he passed a night, as has been said, at the house of Dr. Priestly, who was at that time a member of the First Church in Baltimore. As Dr. Alison, the pastor, was then in feeble health, Mr. Alexander, somewhat reluctantly, consented to remain and preach, as there was but one intervening day before the Sabbath. Early on Monday morning he proceeded on his journey, but having acquaintances in Alexandria he stopped there, and found the Presbytery of Baltimore in session; before whom he preached at their request. Before he left the place, letters were received both by himself and Dr. Muir, requesting him to return to Baltimore and preach for several weeks. At the urgent request of Dr. Muir and other clergymen, he complied. The result was, that after his arrival at home he received a call to be the pastor of that church.*

To the same part of the period which has lately engaged us, we refer a discourse, which is mentioned in the following extract of a letter to the author.” It occurs to me to mention a little incident connected with our parents, which, though but one among hundreds of similar character, was followed by important personal results, and so by a train of interesting facts, of more general influence. My mother’s religious education was very defective. Her mother, who was pious, died in early life, and her moral training was left very much to chance. On growing up and marrying into a religious family, she became the subject of serious impressions. She has often told me that her permanent religious interest was due to a sermon of your father’s, on the character of Ruth. I presume he subsequently wrote it out as a tract, c Ruth the Moabitess,’ published by our Board. After my father’s death, in 1819, my mother was left, with three or four others scattered over the county, the only Presbyterians in it. Her house became the rallying-point, and her efforts and prayers were blessed in a few years, first, to the procuring of missionaries, and then to the organization of a church. I well remember the first appearance at Montrose of the first pastor, then a missionary; his preaching, I think his first sermon, in the old family residence; my mother’s joy, and her efforts and sacrifices to keep her household in possession of the means of grace. I have often thought of

* Letter of Dr. Alexander to Dr. Backus, September 13, 1847.

the providence of God which blessed that sermon, and of all the gracious results which seem so intimately connected with it. Doubtless many other single sermons have been equally blessed. I only relate this, as one of the cases, in which God by his providence lifts the veil, as he also does by his inspiration, and permits us to see the causes and ends of his works.” *

* Letter of the Rev. B. M. Smith.