Sketches of the life and character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A. M., for many years pastor of a church in Rutland, Vt., and late in Granville, New-York

Front matter

j

THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Digitized by

Preface

The subject of the following Memoir having left among his writings but very limited materials for his biography, the principal facts have been collected by correspondence and personal application. Some scores of individuals have been thus consulted. For their prompt attention to the inquiries of the author they will accept his grateful acknowledgments. Materials have been collected, and the book written, under the pressure of professional labours, during the progress of a precious work of God's Spirit in his own congregation and in neighbouring churches. This is his apology for the unexpected delay of the publication, and for inaccuracies which time and leisure might have corrected. The book goes forth with but few of those attractions which usually command attention. The style is without ornament. The subject ot the Memoir was in humble life, with no adventitious circumstances of rank, wealth, or family to recommend him to special notice. There is, however, one redeeming circumstance. The acute Andrew Fuller remarks, " That in attending to written lives, those narratives should be selected which represent persons who were distinguished by unerring wis-

Viii PREFACE.

dom — for gifts, graces, and usefulness." la this important respect, the following sketch may not be unworthy of attention. At least, it is believed that the friends and admirers of Mr. Haynes, who often listened to the impassioned eloquence of the living preacher, w'ill welcome this attempt to rescue his name from oblivion. This Memoir now goes from the author with a fervent prayer that it may exert some influence to counteract pleasing and fatal error, to encourage the pious efforts of the young and the friendless, and to guide the pilgrim to his rest.

TIMOTHY M. COOLEY.

Granville, Mass., December, 1836.

JJx" The extracts from the writings of Mr. Haynes will appear in their original dress, with scarcely a verbal alteration.

Contents

Introduction, by the Rev. Dr. Sprague .... Page xiii CHAPTER I.

KARLY HISTORY OF MR. HAYNES.

Birth. — Abandoned by his parents. — At the age of five months placed in the family of Deacon Rose. — Eminent piety of the deacon. — Characteristics of the people. — Alarm in a thunder-storm.— Narrow escape from drowning.— Exposure to infidelity when a ploughboy.— Privilege at a common school. — Chimney-corner.— His rule. — Scarcity of books. — The infidel book.— Death of Mrs. Rose 27—40

Introduction

ocrity have not, in many instances, emerged from an obscure condition, and rendered important service to their generation. What I would imply is, that where God designs to render an individual eminently useful, whose condition in life would seem to oppose formidable obstacles to it, it will generally be found that he has given him some peculiar original qualifications for encountering these obstacles successfully.

But it is not merely in the native character of the mind, but in the arrangements of Divine providence, that we are to look for the cause of eminent usefulness in what would seem eminently unpropitious circumstances. If we examine closely in such cases, we shall generally find that God has set over one >hing against another, and that that condition whose general features seem most uninviting, has in it, after all, some element of improvement — something which may assist to the formation of a useful character, and even be a passport to future eminence. And a moment's reflection may satisfy us that such an arrangement is admirably adapted to develope and strengthen the intellectual powers. On the one hand, there are difficulties enough to require the most vigorous exertions to overcome them ; and on the other, there are facilities enough to encourage the hope of ultimate success ; so that there is a double influence operating to a sustained and diligent course of effort at mental improvement. In many cases, indeed, there may appear to be such a

INTRODUCTION Xvli

preponderance of difficulties, and the path to eminence so entirely hedged up, that, to a superficial observer, it may seem impossible that the individual should ever escape from his original obscurity; and yet, to the more scrutinizing observation of the person who is most of all interested, there may appear enough that is favourable to awaken hope and stimulate to exertion ; and it will usually be found, in such cases, that the degree of eminence attained, other things being equal, is in proportion to the amount of difficulty overcome.

In the case of the venerable man whose character is exliibited m this volume, there was a combination of unpropitious circumstances at his entrance upon life, which, if the idea of his attaining to future eminence in the Christian ministry had been suggested, would doubtless, with almost every one, have stamped it as a visionary project. But there were, after all, some circumstances pertaining to his condition of a favourable kind, and his instinctive sagacity led him to discover them, while his eager desire of knowledge prompted him to avail himself of them. Though his lot was cast in a neighbourhood which, at that time, was favoured with limited advantages for intellectual improvement, yet a few books were actually within his reach, and if his poverty forbade his reading them by the light of a candle, he knew how to appreciate and improve the light of a kitchen fire. And though he was cast B 2

XVlii INTRODUCTION.

helpless upon the world, without a friend and without a farthing, he was thrown into a family who evinced towards him an uncommon degree of kindness, and were disposed, according to their ability, to second his humble efforts at improvement. It deserves especially to be remarked that this family was distinguished by the fear of God ; and it was no doubt the influence of an exemplary Christian conversation which served chiefly to mould the elements of his moral character, and ultimately to imbue him with a deep and pervading piety. Had his lot been cast in a family of a different description, where he had been treated with cold neglect instead of being fostered with parental tenderness, or where he had breathed the atmosphere of infidelity and blasphemy rather than of piety and prayer, is it not reasonable to suppose that he might have proved a scourge rather than a blessing to society ? — a degraded wanderer over the world, instead of an eminently devoted and honoured minister of Jesus Christ ?

And the providence of God is often not less strikingly or kindly manifested in indicating to the individual an appropriate field of labour, than in combining circumstances to rescue him from early degradation. Had Mr. Haynes, even after he became a preacher, attempted to plant himself in the bosom of refined and cultivated society, he might have found himself engaged in an impracticable enterprise ; and not improbably, if he had subsequently found his proper place, would have iNTROcrcTioN. xix

gone to it with his energies depressed, and his spirit broken by a bad beginning. But, instead of seeking great things for himself, he chose a retired and comparatively uncultivated field, where the peculiarity of his history would be least likely to awaken prejudice against his ministrations. And, more than that, the field of his early laboiurs was overrun to a great extent with different forms of infidelity ; and the unusual fertility and quickness of his mind, in connexion with his previous famiUarity with the cavils and objections of unbelievers, singularly qualified him for such a sphere. The result has been, that the trophies which he gained in some of his conflicts with the enemies of true Christianity, survive to his honour on both sides of the Atlantic. Perhaps it had not been easy to have selected another field in which both his original powers and early training would have conspired to render him so much at home, and in which such a mind as his was so pre-eminently needed.

It must appear on the slightest reflection, that there is much in the history of such a life as that of the subject of this memoir, to aid young men of promising dispositions and talents, but of an humble lot, to encounter the obstacles which lie in their way to usefulness and distinction. It must be acknowledged, indeed, that Mr. Haynes had the advantage of possessing finer original powers than fall to the lot of the mass of mankind ; but, on the other hand, it is equally certain that few have

XX INTRODUCTION.

ever risen under the pressure of such adverse circumstances ; so that, if he had more power than most others, he had proportionally greater difficulties to surmount. Is there a child at this moment in some one of the haunts of wretchedness around me, in whose bosom is kindled up the great and noble desire of becoming an enlightened and useful man ; — of moving in the walks of respectabiUty, or becoming a fountain of intelligence and blessing to his neighbourhood, or devoting himself to the service of God in the ministry of reconcihation ; — shall I bid that child extinguish this rising desire, and tell him that the degradation into which he is cast is too deep to warrant the hope that he shall ever escape from it, and exhort him to make the best of his ignoble condition, because it admits of no remedy ? No, I will do no such thing ; but I will approach him with looks and words of encouragement, and I will tell him that there is no obstacle that will not yield to perseverance ; and then I will go over with the story of Lemuel Haynes, to show him that I speak words of truth and soberness. And it were easy to refer to many other instances of a similar character, in which individuals have triumphed over the most appalling obstacles to eminence, and, from the humblest lot, have actually risen to the highest places of influence and honour. Yes, there are men now in our own country whose influence is felt at the extremities of the nation— men in the various departments of literature, and

INTRODUCTION. Xxi

science, and politics, and religion, who are among those that take the lead in moulding the elements of our public prosperity — whose present elevated standing must be referred to what seemed a most unpropitious beginning ; and if you go back with their history but a few years, you will find them amid the toils of some humble vocation, engaged with the perplexing problem, " whether the obstacles in the way of their acquiring an education were too great to be overcome ?" Happily, they decided in favour of making a vigorous effort to overcome them ; and in the successful result which has followed may be read in golden letters the great truth, that nothing is too hard for an unyielding perseverance.

But while the history of eminent self-made men holds out the strongest inducements to young men of promise, in humble circumstances, to grapple fearlessly with the difficulties which may lie in the way of their being liberally educated, it suggests to the wise and good, and especially to the guardians of our public interests, the great importance not only of seconding the wishes and aiding the efforts of such young men, but of keeping an eye out upon the humbler classes of society, with a view to cherish, so far as possible, every opening bud of piety and genius. It is indeed an office that requires much judgment and discrimination, to select youth in indigent circumstances to be educated solely, or in a great degree, upon the charities of the church; but in a state of things which calls for so much

Xxii INTRODUCTION.

well-directed intellectual and moral influence as that in which our lot is cast, it is manifest that every class of society must be taxed for its legitimate share, and even the humblest must not escape. There are young men of considerable vigour and precocity of mind, whom it may not be desirable to educate, on account of some marked defects in their moral constitution ; and there are young men, on the other hand, of promising dispositions and exemplary piety, who have too little force of intellect to warrant their being withdrawn from a vocation in which i\ie hands rather than the head are put in requisition ; but where talent, piety, and pmdence are found in combination, and there is a disposition on the part of the individual to consecrate himself to the Christian ministry, no doubt it is the duty of the church to train him for her own service ; and the individual by whose benefactions he is sustained in his preparation for the sacred oflSce, or by whose watchful sagacity he has been selected for such a destination, may have exerted a benign influence which will reach to the ends of the earth.

There is perhaps no public instrumentaUty which is so important in its bearings upon this subject as the Sabbath school. Into the sacred enclosure which this institution provides are gathered children from the humblest walks of society ; and the intercourse wliich the teacher necessarily has with them gives him the best opportunity of estimating aright their dispositions and

INTRODUCTION. Xxiii

talents. It were well that every teacher and superintendent should consider it a part o-f his duty to watch the characters of those under his care with reference to this object ; and whenever he find^ a case of sufficient promise to warrant such a step, let him report it to the officers of the church, and let the individual be recommended to her charities.

If I may pass to a remark or two of a more general kind, I would say that the formation of such a character as that of Mr. Haynes furnishes a striking illustration of the wise and wonderful workings of Divine providence. Who that beheld him in the deep degradation of his earhest years, could have dreamed that he was destined to occupy an extensive sphere of usefulness in the church ; to stand for more than half a century a skilful and valiant defender of the faith, and to leave behind him a name which multitudes would delight to honour ? But God's ways are not as our ways. The elements of his character, his faculties, and dispositions, were given with reference to the work he had to accomplish. And so, too, the ordering of his circumstances was made to subserve the same end ; and even those events in his history which seemed to betoken nothing but degradation and disaster, were rendered subservient to the development of his faculties and the extension of his usefulness. If there was bitterness in his cup, it was qualified by softening ingredients. If there was thick darkness hanging over the commencement of his path, a faint light soon shone in

Xxiv INTRODUCTION.

the darkness, and that hght grew brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. And this is only a specimen of God's deahngs with his people. He leads them by a path which they know not ; and in the admirable combination of prosperity and calamity, of hopes fulfilled and hopes blasted, which compose their lot, he gives them sooner or later to see that his own kind hand has been constantly at work for the promotion of their highest interests. Let the Christian ponder this gracious arrangement of Providence, and rejoice in his darkest hours ! Let the church ponder it, and look fearlessly at the boldest array of opposition !

And finally, the preceding train of thought naturally leads us to consider how superior is the dignity which is conferred by character to that which is the result of mere circumstances. It will not be difficult to find in some of the highest places of earthly distinction men of feeble intellects, degraded morals, and perhaps malignant dispositions ; the moral element in which they move is a withering selfishness or a black misanthropy ; and yet they move in splendour, and multitudes render them a kind of homage, and they are well nigh lost in the bright visions of their own glory. But here is an individual coming up from the humblest walks of hfe, with his heart beating in vigorous and holy pulsations to be useful to his fellow-men ; his character is formed after a model of superior excellence ; he borrows no importance from the pride and circumstance of life, but moves about continually, as did the Master whom he

INTRODUCTION. XXV

serves, on errands of benevolence ; and wherever the sound of his footsteps is heard, it is welcomed as the harbinger of heaven-born charity. Here is true dignity— the other deserves not the name. If the man who writes your epitaph can only say of you that you bore the image of your Master, and served your generation well, though yoiur home on earth had been a hovel, he confers infinitely higher honour upon your memory than if he were simply to record that you had worn a crown and occupied a throne.

I have extended these remarks beyond what I had designed ; and, in bringing them to a close, I have only to congratulate the reader that he is about entering a field in which, I am sure, he can hardly fail to be at once interested and improved. The memoir is written with the simplicity and perspicuity which characterize all the productions of my respected friend ; and, from my knowledge of the venerable man who is the subject of it, I have reason to believe that the character is presented with great truth and fidelity. I shall feel much disappointed if the labours of Doctor Cooley in preparing this memoir do not secure to him the gratitude of every portion of the church in which it circulates, and if the character which he has so happily exhibited does not diffuse its savour of wisdom and piety beyond the present generation.

W. B. SPRAGUE.

c

THE

LIFE AND CHARACTER

OF

THE REV. LEMUEL HAYNES, A. M.

CHAPTER L

^ EARLY HISTORY OF MR. HAYNES.

It often occurs that useful men are found to have derived their origin from parents in an obscure condition. Many individuals in whom native talents were lodged, which by education might have blessed and even astonished the world, have passed on unnoticed to the grave, while others have been the ornaments of science, of religion, and of civil liberty. It is delightful to behold such men overcoming all the obstacles which encompass their path, and pressing their way onward through every form of opposition. The life of one who has risen to distinction by his own efforts, and has thought, and laboured, and suffered for the welfare of mankind, is worthy of being delineated for the entertainment and instruction of the world.

In various periods of time there have been Africans whose intellectual powers and attainments would be an ornament to any age or country. Among warriors few have held a higher rank than Hanno and Hannibal.

The poetic works of Terence were admired in the Augustan age, and have survived the devastations of two thousand years. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, whose memory is dear to all Christendom, and Augustine, bishop of Hippo, the successful defender of the church from Pelagius and his heresies, were sons of Africa.

It is believed that, could a full and faithful biography of the worthy subject of this memoir be furnished, it would do much to exemplify what unaided vigour of mind, even in unfavourable circumstances, can effect. It would place before the community an instance of unfeigned piety and sanctified genius. This is the manifest tendency of all the records which can now be procured respecting him, and of all the recollections of those who knew him, in the most interesting and trying situations in which he was placed. If these shall so exhibit the various parts of his life as to give the prominent features of his character, they can hardly fail to mitigate the unreasonable prejudices against the Africans in our land, to encourage those who, though beset by difficulties, are anxious to improve their minds and their hearts, and, finally, to e.xemphfy the power of divine grace over the affections and lives of men.

Lemuel Havnes was born July 18th, 1753, at West Hartford, Connecticut. He was a partially coloured man, his father being of unmingled African extraction, and his mother a white woman of respectable ancestry in New-England. Fe bore up the name of neither father nor mother, but probably of the man under whose roof he received his birth. Tradition Bays that his mother, in a fit of displeasure with her

REV. LEMUEL HAYNES.

host for some supposed neglect, called her child by his name.

" Mothers love, and love for ever." The affection of a mother to her new-born infant is one of the most powerful and active of the natural instincts. But mothers " may forget." This unliappy child was abandoned by his parents in early infancy, and was never, to the end of life, favoured with a single expression of a mother's kindness. He was thus an orphan, not by the bereaving hand of God, but by the cold neglect of those who ought to have been his most affectionate guardians. The tincture of his skin he knew to be an obstacle to his being identified in interest and in life with those among whom he dwelt. His susceptible mind soon began to feel its forlorn condition. In the bitterness of his grief, he must often have uttered his complaint iu language like the following : — " Let the day perish wherein I was born ; let darkness and the shadow of death stain it." His mother refused to visit him or to see him. Tradition says, that when a lad, he providentially met his mother in an adjoining town, at the house of a relative ; and then he fondly expected that he should at least receive some kind attentions from her. But he was sadly disappointed. She was determined to elude the interview. At length he caught a glimpse of her as she was attempting to escape from him. Vexed and mortified at such an instance of unnatural contempt from his mother, he accosted her in the language of severe but merited rebuke.*

Though thus contending with troubles which would have destroyed the elasticity of common minds, an un-

C2 seen hand had been directing the destinies of the poor boy. A remarkable providence had placed him, in earlyinfancy, in a kind and religious family, where all his wants were well supplied. Now he realized the " orphan's hope" — " When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." This part of the story can be best told in his own simple language :—

" When I was five months old I was carried to Granville, Massachusetts, and bound out as a servant to Deacon David Rose till I was twenty-one. He was a man of singular piety.* I was taught the principles of religion. His wife, my mistress, had peculiar attacliment to me : she treated me as though I was her own child. I remember it was a saying among the neighbours, that she loved Lemuel more than her own children."

The people of Middle Granville, among whom he passed the first thirty-two years of his life, were a choice company of emigrants from Durham, Connecticut. They had been brought up under the ministry of the Rev. Nathaniel Chauncey, and he had consecrated most of them, in their infancy, with the sacramental water. They possessed the bold and intelligent spirit

* Deacon Rose was remarkable for his spirituality and communion with God. He was often called in to pray with the sick and the dying, and he was endowed with the gift, and especially with the spirit of prayer. Such was his holy walk with God, that his face seemed to shine, like that of Moses after he had been with God on the mount. He felt tenderly concerned for the salvation of sinners, and, as he had opportunity, solemnly admonished them, and often with good effect. It is related, in illustration of his character in this respect, that, on going one morning into a neighbour's house, he said to the woman — " Good morning : how do you do T How does your soul do ?" This salutation was uttered with so much tenderness, that the woman was instantly brought under pungent conviction of sin, which soon resulted in a hope in the Lord Jesus unto salvation.

REV. LEMUEL HAYNES.

which usually marks the character of those who break away from the home of their fathers, and encounter the perils and privations of a rugged desert. That they possessed their full share of intellectual worth is manifest from the fact, that of the youth in this small parish, with a population of less than seven hundred, one has become a member of Congress, one a judge of the superior court, and as many as fourteen have entered the office of the Christian ministry. Deacon Rose was one of the first settlers, and a practical agriculturist. Having a farm to subdue that was covered with thick forest, Lemuel had the simple and hardy education common to these mountainous regions. The God of the forlorn sent him into this religious family, where the Sabbath was sanctified, daily prayer offered, and ihe evening preceding the Sabbath sacredly employed in the religious instruction of the household. In this beloved retreat he found a home, not only till he was " twenty-one," but until his ordination as a minister of the gospel. Thus removed from the low and froward associates to which such a child must have been exposed in many places, he was here trained up under the influence of pious example, and his mind was early imbued with religious knowledge. A more suitable place could not have been found. As a servant-boy, he was strictly and firmly faithful to his trust ; so that any one acquainted with him would not be inclined to inquire with Solomon, Prov. XX., 6, " A faithful man who can find ?" Indeed, but few years had passed over his head before he discovered such prudence in the management of his master's business, that the oversight of it was almost wholly committed to him. If a horse was to be purchased, Lemuel was the purchaser. He went unbidden to his daily toils and cares, and every thing prospered in his hands.

When he was a small boy he experienced a dreadful alarm in a thunder-storm, which made an impression that was never effaced. The circumstances of this affecting event he used to relate to his family in nearly the following words : " One evening, as I was left at home alone, a dark cloud came over, and the air was filled with streams of lightning, and with terrible peals of thunder, and the house shook. At first I had fearful apprehension that the last great day was come, and that the world would be burnt up. My mind was filled with solemn awe of God's great power and majesty. I was afraid of being struck dead and sent to hell. I had a solemn conviction that I was unprepared, and that it would be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

To what extent the scenes of this evening affected his tender and thoughtful mind is not fully known. It is stated, however, that he retained the impression which the solitude of his condition, and especially liis view of his unfitness to die, were calculated to make. Ever after he was peculiarly affected during thunderstorms, and never failed to allude to them in prayer in terms of grateful recollection. Of these the following is a specimen : " We thank thee that thy lightning's awful blaze has not consumed our dwelling, nor been commissioned to burn the thread of life as in a moment." If a storm of thunder arose during the hour of worship in his family, it was their custom to sing Watts's hymn, entitled, " God the Thunderer ; or, the Last Judgment and Hell."

REV. LEMUEL HAYNES.

" Sing to the Lord, ye heavenly hosts, And thou, O earth ! »dore ; Let death and hell, and all their coasts. Stand trembling at his power.

" His sounding chariot shakes the sky, He makes the clouds his throne ; There all his stores of lightning lie Till vengeance dart them down.

" His nostrils breathe out fiery streams. And from his awful tongue A sovereign voice divides the flames. And thunder roars along.

"Think, O my soul! the dreadful day When this incensed God Shall rend the sky and burn the sea. And fling his wrath abroad.

" What shall the wretch, the sinner do? He once defied the Lord !

But he shall dread the thunderer now, And sink beneath his word.

'•Tempests of angry fire shall roll. To blast the rebel worm.

And beat upon his naked soul In one eternal storm."

About the same time he experienced a wonderful dehverancc from perishing in the water. He had gone, with a number of his mates, to bathe in the river. It was one of his first attempts in learning to swim. While they were amusing themselves near the shore, Lemuel ventured beyond his depth, and soon sunk in deep water. His young friends had not the skill, nor even the power, to save him. In his allusions to this memorable event of his life, he used to say — " I immediately sunk to the bottom, and should without doubt have been drowned, had not a friend, who was not far off, plunged into the water and conveyed me to the shore." This narrow escape from a watery grave he often alluded to, even in the pulpit, as illustrating the special and merciful care of Divine providence towards himself in that dangerous season of life.