AMERICAN QUARTERLY REGISTER. VOL. X. MAY, 1838. No. 4. MEMOIR OF THE REV. ASA BURTON, D. D., THETFORD, VT. [By the Rev. Thomas Adams, Waterville, Me.] ASA BURTON, son of Jacob and Rachel Burton, was born at Stonington, Ct., August 25, 1752.* When he was about a year old, his parents removed to the north parish in Preston, where most of his childhood was spent under the ministry of the Rev. Levi Hart, D. D. When two or three years old, he was very sick with the croup, and given over by the physician. Just at that crisis, a "straggling woman," an entire stranger, came in, and prescribed a remedy. As the case seemed desperate, it was applied, and was apparently the means of saving his life. At about nine years of age, his life was again preserved in a manner equally providential. His mother professed religion in early life, and was "esteemed a pious woman." His father did not unite with the church till a few years before his death. They had thirteen children, of whom Asa was the sixth. When he was in his fourteenth year, his father removed to Norwich, Vt., where he had purchased a large tract of land, including the "plain." There were then but two families in town. From that time till he was twenty years of age, his work was "to fell trees, chop them into logs, and then by hand roll them with levers into heaps to burn them, and carry great logs, and make them into log-fence, as they had no oxen for two or three years." The severity of his toils injured his constitution, and produced a weakness in his breast, so that at twenty he was scarcely able to labor. A little previous to this, the foundation of Dartmouth College was laid by the Rev. Dr. Eleazar Wheelock. Young Burton was one, with a number of others, who "struck the first blow" where the college now stands. As there were no suitable accommodations in Hanover, the trustees met at his father's house in Norwich, for two or three years. This circumstance brought him under the influence of literary society, and wakened within him desires for a liberal education. But it was while listening to the conversation of the Rev. Isaac Smith of Gilmanton, N. H., who, on a certain occasion, took lodgings at his father's house, that he formed the determination, if possible, to get an education. "His father was against it, and his mother was for it." The consent of the father was at length obtained, and * The materials of the following sketch have been obtained from a brief autobiography and other papers left in manuscript, by the subject of it, and from correspondence with his pupils and other intimate acquaintance. Whatever is quoted without reference, is from his manuscript papers. He kept no diary. 41 VOL. X. two months after he was twenty years old, he commenced the study of the Latin grammar, having previously learned nothing but reading and writing, and the first rules in arithmetic. On the day he was twenty-one, he was admitted a member of Dartmouth College. Among his associates while fitting for college, was JOEL BARLOW, who was then "under serious impressions." At the very commencement of his collegiate life, he experienced a sad and painful interruption to his studies. "A malignant putrid fever entered his father's family, and in the compass of a few weeks, his mother, a brother and two sisters fell victims to it. Himself was attacked in November, and did not recover sufficiently to resume his studies till the 11th of January. Meanwhile such heavy and embarrassing expenses had been incurred during that season of sickness, and the brother, on whose assistance his father chiefly relied, being removed by death, he was informed that the only way they could live was for him to leave college, and remain at home. He consented, and his father "went to the college to see the president, and obtain a dismission for him. He was gone the whole day, and returned at night, and informed his son that the president had persuaded him to let him continue his studies. He might therefore proceed." He was much embarrassed by his straitened circumstances, and was obliged to study the most rigid economy, much of the time carrying his food from home, and cooking it in his own room. "As I knew not," he says, "what branches of arts or sciences were most useful, and at the same time had a thirst for the improvement of the mind, I was very studious, and studied every classic put into my hand so hard as to injure my health. I pursued my studies with greediness through a collegiate course. I was always inclined to go, as we say, to the bottom of every thing. Though I then knew not what was meant by first principles in a science, yet I now see that then it was my desire to trace every thing back to first principles." One who knew him well from 1775 till the close of his life, remarks,* "While at college he was considered one of the best scholars of his class. In moral, natural and metaphysical philosophy he was superior to any of his classmates, and he exceeded any one of them in composition." He graduated in 1777. It was in troublous times. He took his turn in keeping guard at night, expecting an attack from the Indians and tories from Canada. On account of existing troubles, degrees were conferred on the graduating class earlier than the usual time, without any public exhibition. HIS CONVERSION.-He seems to have been the subject of serious impressions from early life; but it was not till he was about twenty years old that his attention was thoroughly awakened to the subject. The conversation of the Rev. Mr. Smith before alluded to, had a salutary influence in a religious as well as literary point of view. "I thought," he says, “if I could obtain a college education, become a good man and a minister of the gospel, I should reach the highest summit of all my desires. These impressions never left me. While I was fitting for college, for the term of nine months, my mind was more or less exercised and impressed. My heart appeared to me very wicked and hard, and stupid beyond description. It seemed to me that I had no feeling, and justly deserved eternal death. At that time I had never been acquainted with any persons under serious impressions of mind. I was very ignorant, and knew but little about either doctrinal or experimental religion. While I was thus troubled, and seeking, * Hon. J. P. Buckingham. as I thought, an interest in Christ, at particular times I enjoyed much inward pleasure. "At times, very suddenly, every thing around me shone with peculiar brightness and serene glory. It seemed to penetrate through my soul, and fill that with light. Then my mind felt serene and calm as the morning, without any agitation or distress. My heart seemed to melt within me, and tears would flow plentifully but silently down my cheeks. I experienced inward sweetness and joy too great for utterance. Yet I manifested nothing externally, which any one noticed; and as I related my feelings to no person, no one knew that I had such discoveries and feelings. Every thing I saw was glorious; I rejoiced that I was in the hand of God, and at his disposal, and the sweetness of my inward feelings was so great, that I could not conceive of any greater happiness. "I had, through the summer I was fitting for college, several such turns. They continued with me but a few minutes at a time, and were commonly succeeded by darkness and uneasiness of mind. I knew not what to make of them, kept all such feelings to myself, and for the most part considered them as transient, delusive fits, and not to be relied on. They gave me no encouragement to hope I had experienced any thing saving. I therefore lived without any hope for myself through the season, till I was taken sick in November after entering college. During the time of distressing sickness in my father's family, and during my own sickness, I had no hope, and was constantly exercised with a sense of my own sinfulness and fears of death. "When I began to recover from my sickness and gain strength, I thought I was very stupid and dead; yet I felt no great concern for my soul, but had an ardent desire that others should attend to religion. I talked to persons with much earnestness concerning the importance of religion. Though I then thought I was stupid myself, and had no engagedness in religion, yet afterwards, when I reflected back on myself at that time, it appeared to me that I had much feeling and engagedness in religion. At that time it appeared improper for me, being only a youth, to say much on religious subjects; and I wished I was a minister; for then, I said, I might converse, warn and exhort others as much as I wished, for it would be my work and duty, and no one could be offended with me for it. I was therefore wishing to be a minister, that I might devote myself wholly to religion, and the work of pressing its importance on the minds of others.' It was while in this state of feeling that he was very faithful in conversing with the young lady whom he afterwards married, and was apparently the instrument of her conversion. He proceeds: "In this state of mind I continued from the time I began to recover from my sickness, till I joined my class at college, on the 11th of Jan., 1774. Through the winter I was, as it now appears to me, engaged in religion. I took much satisfaction in religious duties and devotional exercises; at the same time had little conversation, except with Mrs. Coe and president Wheelock, whom I frequently visited, for I considered him as a father to me; and as I had no hope, I expected he might give me those instructions which would at last prove saving to my soul. Early in the spring I made him a visit, and in the course of our conversation he observed that some persons might be Christians and yet not know it. Those words struck me with some force; for I had always thought a person could not experience a change of heart and not know it. "When I returned to my room, and was reflecting on that observation |