to which we are called. Only by doing this work can we take the noble stand of the early Christians. Their glory lies in the discernment of the hideousness of error long familiar, and like a friend to them. We honor them as we see them coming out of all half-way devotedness to truth and right, and enlarging the receptivity of their minds for broad and generous views. This shows us the full conversion of Peter; this exhibits the disinterestedness of Paul. Our fathers in the ministry of reconciliation afford us like examples of wholeness, of devotedness to truth, bearing the reproaches of the church and the schools, deemed presumptuous, sophistical, ignorant, or reckless; but their entire labor was to send principles home to their consequences. They shot no arrows into the dark, but men saw them glittering on their way in the clear sunshine home to the heart of the distant foe,

"And the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again,
Viewed its own feather on the fatal. dart

That winged the shaft that quivered in its heart."

Yes, the confessions, the admissions, of the dominant Church, like the shed feathers of the eagle, did indeed wing with the best effect "the fatal dart." And what are we, in this time of moral conflict, when institutions of like pretension as Judaism and Paganism in the age of the apostles, dispute the sovereignty of Christianity, and ask for parties and states that which would rend the seamless garment of Jesus in every direction? Do we need an Elijah to cry, "How long halt ye between two opinions?" Shall we repudiate faith, ask to see all the way before us, trust to our concessions, our expediency, our compromises, and distrust our guidance as Christians adhering to doctrine and principle? God will indeed take care of his glory, whatever may be our foolish choice, but who shall shield us from shame as traitors to right, as cowards in the battle of life, as guilty of high treason against Heaven! Let us give heed to duty, look around with searching and penetrating vision, and see what are really the later conflicts of Christianity; what has been "bequeathed by bleeding sire to son" in Fredom's battle; and manfully and christianly so stand our ground, that

our full strength may be given for gospel truth and right, and we be counted worthy of being numbered in the army of God with those who "fought the good fight and kept the faith" in the early conflicts of Christianity.

H. BN.

ART. XIX.

Memorial of Sanford.

Memorial of Sanford: comprising a Selection from his Sermons; with a Memoir. By M. Ballou, Pastor of the Universalist Society, Bridgeport, Ct. New York: Hallock & Lyon. 1850.

It is refreshing to find, among all the books greeting us in these times of literary profusion, biographies of those who have served the world in their exertions for its moral welfare; who, by the gentle ministration of Christian truth, have "made their mark" on the community for good and not for evil; who have been content to be the servants of him whose kingdom was not of this world, and dispensers of that grace in which, and in which only, the world can be blest with salvation. We have such a biography before us. It is the brief, and yet in one sense the full, history of one of the purest minded and most faithful of Christian ministers; one who wrought well while he lived, and who was taken suddenly away in the strength of his years and usefulness. It is written by a friend who knew him well from early boyhood, and whose pen, without any thing like undue partiality, has done good justice to the subject.

Merritt Sanford was born in Readsboro', Vt., on the 11th of October, 1812, of very respectable parentage; and passed the years of his earliest life upon his father's farm, in that rugged and picturesque region of the Green Mountain State. His education during that time, was such only as could be obtained by attendance in winter terms

at such schools as most country places in the interior of New England then afforded. He was a diligent and apt scholar, and made the most of these means. In his sixteenth year, he entered a store as clerk; but being pleased with this employment chiefly from the change of life it afforded him, he in a few years left it, and returned to the paternal home. Here he continued until the years of his manhood.

His parents were Methodists; and he was educated under the influence of the theology of that sect; though not without opportunities for becoming acquainted with the great doctrine of the final holiness and happiness of all men. From the first Ballous and others he received his instructions concerning this latter sentiment; so that, in time, he became a believer therein. He found and received this faith through careful and searching personal examination of the Scriptures, together with the aid of such works as Dr. T. Southwood Smith on Divine Government, and Rev. H. Ballou's Treatise on Atonement. His convictions of truth gave him "joy unspeakable; and he was resolved to become a preacher of the gospel. Obstacles to such an undertaking were, indeed, in his way the remonstrance of parents, straightened pecuniary circumstances, his limited literary acquirements. notwithstanding all these, he kept his main purpose steadily and constantly in view, toiling on the farm, teaching school, and devoting every hour at his command to studies which he supposed would fit him for his intended work.

But

It

He preached his first sermon in January, 1835. made a favorable impression on those who heard it; and he was encouraged to proceed in his ministerial course. He was then in his twenty-third year; and his biographer thus speaks of the man and of his pulpit efforts.

"The intervals of his summer toils and his winter teaching had been improved with a zeal and intensity of effort that are seldom found in connection with greater advantages; and hours that most young men would have given to amusement and recreation, he had dedicated chiefly to reading and thought. His earlier sermons. plainly showed that this labor was not in vain. Those who had been familiar with his boyhood, and knew his humble means of improvement, were astonished to see him step forth so suddenly and so thoroughly qualified for his great work, with convincing thought

and persuasive speech. And though a prophet is generally supposed to have little honor in his own country, he soon won an enviable reputation in his native town, and praise even from those who could not agree with him in religious opinions. Methodists and Universalists alike attended his meetings. There was a fervor of zeal, a singleness of purpose, and a goodness of heart, joined with firmness, integrity, and a modest deportment, that won him a high position in their esteem and affections. He was immediately called on to preach in his own neighborhood and adjoining places, and continued his ministry in that region for about seventeen months."

In the spring of 1836, Mr. Sanford was invited to take charge of the Universalist Society in Bath, New Hampshire, to which place he removed in the following June. His location was an agreeable one; though from the sectarian opposition he was called to meet, his ministry had peculiar trials there. Nevertheless he sustained himself well; the attachment between himself and his people increasing during all the time of his tarrying with them. He was married during his residence here to a young lady of his native town; a union which was to be enjoyed in this life but for a brief season. At the close of his third year in Bath, he removed to Hartland, Vermont, and took charge of the Universalist Society in that place. This was in July, 1839. His situation in Hartland was agreeable to him, and the field of duties open in this new location were truly encouraging. But clouds were gathering around him. Soon after his home had been blest with the presence of an infant child, both mother and son were suddenly removed by death, and his house and heart thus left desolate. So heavy was this afflictive visitation, that it is believed he never recovered from the effects of it while he lived. In the language of his biographer,

"They gave a tinge of melancholy to his sober hours, and threw a chastening influence over his lighter ones. They pressed a restraint upon the activity of his social feelings, checked his joyous impulses, rendered the current of his thoughts introversive, and gave a sombre tone to a character naturally of great cheerfulness. And, although he subsequently entered into the marriage relation again, with a very interesting and amiable lady, forming a union as fortunate and happy doubtless as could exist under the circumstances; and though he became popular and highly suc

cessful as a preacher and writer, holding an enviable position in the ministry of reconciliation, with a wide circle of very devoted friends, still it could not be concealed from those who had known him intimately from childhood, that the first freshness of the heart was gone, that much of the elasticity of his spirits had departed, and that the brightest portion, as it were, of his very being had been buried in the grave with his wife and child."

Although warmly attached to his people, as they were, indeed, to him, his recent and heavy affliction so weighed him down, that he resolved to seek a new field of labor, for his own personal good and that of the cause which lay so near his heart. He accordingly asked a dismission from the society in Hartland, and removed from that place in January, 1841, taking with him the remains of his companion and child, which were deposited in a beautiful resting place in Readsboro'. Passing the remainder of the winter with his relatives and friends in that and the adjoining towns, he received, during the time, several invitations to settle with societies in different places, but decided to accept the one from Middletown, Connecticut, and accordingly commenced his duties as pastor there early in May. He labored in the double capacity of pastor, and of assistant editor of one of our religious papers, published in the place. As much of his time as he could spare from other duties was given to the study of the sciences in connection with theology, especially the science of geology. Being more inclined to his books than to visits among his people, (though his social propensities were by no means small,) he made great advancement in his intellectual pursuits. He was afflicted, however, with a bronchial difficulty to such a degree as to lead to the belief that he must abandon the ministry; a step which would have been of all things most grievous to him. He concluded, however, to suspend his pulpit labors for a time, and so tendered his resignation on the 20th of June. He was subsequently married to a lady of Portland, Connecticut. Obtaining relief for his throat, in Boston, from the use of Homœopathic medicines, he resumed his preaching and studies with new zeal. In August 1844, he delivered the occasional discourse before the Connecticut State Convention of Universalists; and was invited to take charge, as pastor, of the society in Hudson, New York; an