Memoir of Samuel John Mills

Front matter

A-

0^ is

A o c

CHAPTER I. Page

His youth and conversion, 1

CHAPTER n.

His education, and early devotion to the Missionary cause, 9

CHAPTER HI.

His interest and agency in the promotion of Foreign Missions, 19

CHAPTER IV.

His acquaintance with Obookiah, and the consequent establishment of the Foreign Mission School, 44

CHAPTER V.

His Missionary tours into the Western and Southern sections of the United States, . 69

CHAPTER VI.

His instrumentality in bringing forward the American Bible Society, and the United Foreign Missionary Society, . . 88

CHAPTER VH.

His residence in New York, and his exertions in behalf of the poor and ignorant in that city, 103

CHAPTER VHI.

His exertions in behalf of Africa, . 116

VIU CONTENTS.

Pag« CHAPTER IX.

His Journal as Agent of the ColoDization Society; 158

CHAPTER X.

His last illness and death, .233

CHAPTER XI.

His general character, 239

Conclusion; 252

MEMOIR OF RET. SAMUEL. J. MILLS.

CHAPTER I.

His Youth and Conversion,

Next to the devotions of the closet, and the perusal of the Holy Scriptures, there are fewmeans of advancement in the divine life better adapted to their end, than a familiar acquaintance vAih the lives of godly men. If Religion appears lovely when portrayed merely in the simplicity and amiableness of her principles, how much more lovely when exhibited in the purity and benevolence of her conduct. When w^e see something more than right views and holy dispositions ; when we behold not the portrait, but the living features of her excellence ; her image sinks into the soul. Few can rise from the Biography of such men as Xavier, Beveridge, Baxter, Brainerd, Edwards, and Fuller, without deep and vivid impressions of the worth of piety, and of the importance and feasibility of eminent attainments. Who that has traced the footsteps of some favored child of mercy through all the toil and discouragement of the Christian life — that has seen his heavenly spirit — that has witnessed his piety toward God, and his benefi- 1 cence toward men — that, with delighted admiration, has pursued his path to the threshold of heaven— has not been eager to catch his falling mantle, and bless the Father of Mercies for raising up men to shine as lights in the world, and to shed a lustre through a long line of succeeding generations.

No inconsiderable portion of this hallowed feeling will, it is believed, be excited by contemplating the character of the late Samuel J. Mills. If any man has a claim that his real character should be exhibited, and the extent of his usefulness impartially developed, this claim belongs to the subject of these Memoirs. While few men have more merited public applause and gratitude, few of such eminent usefulness have received less than he. These we know were not the rewards he sought ; but it is not the less delightful, nor the less dutiful, that they should be the tribute we pay.

It was the privilege of this beloved man to be the child of pious parents. He was the son of a venerable clergyman, * whose praise is in the churches,' and who is now the Pastor of a respectable congregation in Torringford, in the county of Litchfield, State of Connecticut, His mother was the daughter of Samuel Robbins, of a respectable family originally from Wethersfield, in Hartford county, in the same State. She was a woman of very exemplary character and pre-eminent piety, and one whose memory is embalmed in the hearts of all who knew her.

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Samuel was their seventh child, and was born the21st of April, 1783.

Could we without sacrilege enter the sanctuary of a mother's bosom, we might whisper a tale that would account for the distinguished usefulness with which God has condescended to favor some of the best of men. Many a godly mother can say, — '^ I have had peculiar solicitudes respecting this child. Even before its birth, I dedicated it to the Lord, and then engaged that it should be unreservedly devoted to his glory. And when the little immortal was committed to my arms, with many prayers an(^ tears did I renew my engagements, till it was strongly impressed on my mind, that God had heard my cry and accepted my offering.^' This is something more than fiction in relation to Mr. Mills. A plant so early watered might be expected to enjoy the most patient care and unremitting tenderness in its progressive maturity. ** Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," is a maxim too full of obligation and encouragement, to have been so long lost sight of by too many of the Christian Church. It is a precious thought, that God has engaged to preserve a Church in the world from the children of believing parents. What pious parent will not be inspirited in his duty, when he surveys the children of his care, and remembers that it was once said, ** of such is the kingdom of heaven !"

The childhood and youth of Mr. Mills were chiefly spent under his fether's roof, in the possession of the most faithful instructions, and of the best kind. When quite a child, his mind exhibited no common sensibility to the concerns of religion, and was easily and sometimes deeply affected with his neglect of religious opportunities, and his ruined condition as a sinner. These impressions gradually wore away, until the year 1798, when they were revived, and his attention powerfully arrested, during a season of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon his native town. This revival of religion took place about the time of a very general *' outpouring'* upon the churches of New-England ; when about one hundred and fifty congregations were visited with seasons of refreshing from the divine presence.

Young Mills was then fifteen years of age. Naturally very retired and incommunicative, he was least of all disposed to say much concerning the exercises of his own mind. But such were his views of his own sinfulness, so severe his distress, and so bitter his opposition to God, that he would sometimes ** break out in expressions of unyielding rebellion.^'- With nothing was his dissatisfaction more painful, than the discriminations of the divine favor in showing mercy to those who were around him, while he himself was apparently left to obduracy and ruin. He had beheld many of his companions in years and in sin, together with an elder brother, a sister and a cousin, all residing under the same

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roofj rejoicing in hope, and united to the visible Church ; while he himself obtained no relief from his agony, but remained in ^* the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity," Such was his state of mind for many months, and such it continued, when the revival began to decline, and when it was gone by 1 Two full years he remained in this dismal frame of mind, still refusing to bow at the footstool of mercy ; and, to adopt his own sentiment, *' at heart still cursing the day in which he was born." But he had seen too much of his own vileness to relapse into a state of unconcern. With \some apparent mitigation of his distress he left his father's house for a neighboring town, to take charge of a farm that had been bequeathed him by his maternal grandmother. His letters during this period, convince us that there was much in this absence from the bosom and prayers of his endeared family, to increase his apprehensions, that he should at last be an exile from God's presence, and an outcast from the community of his people. In November, 1801, he returned home with the view of spending the winter at an Academy in the town of Litchfield, about twelve miles off, but with no repose to his depressed and troubled mind. On the morning of his departure for Litchfield, ever anxious for her son, and never more than now, his mother took an opportunity of inquiring into the state of his mind, and begged him to make an ingenuous disclosure of his feelings. For a moment he 1*

\Ta9 silent, and wept ; but his heart was io& full, long to suppress the emotions produced by so affecting a request. He raised his head, and with eyes streaming with tears, exclaimed, ** O that I had never been born ! O that I had never been born 1 For two years I have been sorry God ever made me." What reply could such a mother make to such a disclosure? It was given her in that same hour what she should speak : — *' My son," said she^ *' you are born, and you can never throw off your existence, nor your everlasting accountability for all your conduct." This heavy thought was like a dagger to his soul. His mother expressed her fears that he had never thoroughly seen the evil of his own heart, and that he had much to learn before he was acquainted with himself; — to which he ventured to say, ** I have seen to the very bottom of hell !" With this frame of mind, he took a melancholy leave of his parents for the winter ; and it was a day never to be forgotten in the life of Mr. Mills, nor in our recollection of those splendid schemes of benevolence which characterized his subsequent history, and to which the events of this day bore so intimate a relation. What took place under his father's roof, may be easily conjectured ; — a scene, apparently of very little moment, and never unveiled till now — a scene, the world would scarcely deign to look at, but one on which God looks down with smiles — a scene, in which no prince or princess is the actor, but

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one which princes might come down from their thrones to emulate :— a devout and humble woman, wrestling with- the Angel of the Covenant^ and as a prince obtaining power to prevail !

The farewell to his mother drove her to her knees. There is such a thing -as special faith in prayer. It was such to this dear saint, when she went to plead for her poor son. She felt his sorrows and her own ; and God was pleased not only to show her that all her help was in him, but to enable her to feel that to him could her heart turn as her only God in covenant, and from him could it find unutterable relief She did not leave her closet, till she found the full relief she sought, and till her mind was confidently assured that God would remember mercy for her child ! It ought to be recorded, that on that very morning, it pleased the Holy Ghost, as she afterwards ascertained, to knock off the chains from this unhappy prisoner, and introduce him into the liberty of the sons of God. He had not gone far, before he had such a view of the perfections of God, that he wondered he had never seen their beauty and glory before. There was nothing in God now which distressed him. He had lost all his opposition to the divine sovereignty ; and, such were his views of this adorable perfection, that he could not refrain from exclaiming, '^ O glorious sovereignty ! O glorious sovereignty !" He retired a small distance into the woods, that he might be the more at liberty to contemplate the character of God, and adore and extol his holy and amiable sovereignly : but he here saw so much of God, that his mind was almost lost in the overwhelming manifestation. The scene was altogether new. There was a wonderful change either in God or in him. Every thing was gilded with light and glory ; and now and then, as he gazed at the splendor and majesty of the divine character, he would still exclaim, *'0 glorious sovereignty !" It does not appear that in all this he was bribed into acquiescence. '^ His mind was so constantly occupied in viewing the perfections of God, and in meditating on his v/ord and works, and so continued for several weeks, that he did not think of himself with any degree of concern." Such is the nature of genuine religion. It is far from being indispensable to our cordial acquiescence in God's character and government, to be persuaded that we are interested in his mercy. Though from Mr. Mills's letters, his friends were induced to hope that some change had taken place in his views; he himself was conscious of no hope, till about three months after this period. " Surely, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought !"

KEY. SAMUEL J. MILLS. 9