THE

CONDUCTED BY

B. B. EDWARDS AND W. COGSWELL.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY PERKINS & MARVIN.

1838.

The text of this and other superb works are available on-line from:

The Willison Politics and Philosophy Resource Center

http://willisoncenter.com/

Reprint and digital file December 15, 2000.

This document was scanned from an original copy of the American Education Society’s Quarterly Register, which served as a digest of the diverse facets in American Education and its outflowing effects worldwide. The society was comprised of leading Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and Princeton Alumni, and served to promote the work both in the U.S. and abroad for educating the people in the Reformation’s worldview of the Bible serving as the only infallible rule of life, which, of course, was the purpose for which these schools were founded.

PREFACE TO VOLUME X.

THERE are various associations in this country which have for their principal object to promote the study of the antiquities of the United States; to collect, embody and diffuse information on a great variety of important subjects. Among the foremost of these are the Historical Societies which have been formed in a number of States, and some of which enjoy a Vigorous existence, and are producing the happiest results. The American Antiquarian Society at Worcester are enlarging their sphere of operations, and augmenting the precious relics of former times. The State of Massachusetts, under the auspices of the present enlightened governor, are doing much to rescue the records of the past from neglect and decay. The Rev. Joseph B. Felt, a learned antiquary, who has been compelled by infirmity to desist from his ministerial functions, has been for many months employed upon the time-worn documents in the State house. A large number of ponderous folios, with papers well classified and arranged, and substantially bound, attest his industry and good judgment. The labors of the Secretary of State, John P. Bigelow, Esq., are particularly valuable, both as it respects the direct results of his own investigations, and the urbane manner in which he assists other inquirers. In the mean time the government of the United States are not idle, though much less has been accomplished than is desirable. An elaborate memorial on the subject of statistics was presented to the Senate of the United States some months since, by professor Lieber of the College of South Carolina. We do not learn that there has yet been any action on the memorial. The Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, commissioner of patents, has presented to Congress some valuable papers. Various committees of both houses have occasionally done themselves the honor of elucidating important subjects of general statistical interest. In the same field there are a few individuals scattered over the country, whose solitary and unaided toils are worthy of all praise and encouragement.

In our humble way, we propose, in the pages of the American Quarterly Register, to aid this great Cause. Something has been already accomplished; but more inviting fields lie before us, into which we have hardly entered.

Many things in relation to the United States yet remain unattempted or incomplete. We hope, in the next volume, to enrich our pages with an alphabetical catalogue of all the college graduates out of New England. Important medical and legal statistics are in a course of preparation. Greater and greater accuracy and fullness will be attained in our ecclesiastical researches. The investigation of one branch frequently throws unexpected light on another, or suggests new topics of inquiry. We have recently received from our correspondents in Great Britain important reports and documents concerning the various seminaries of the Dissenters—as well as the ancient universities. We shall make use of some of these papers in our next volume. Elaborate papers relating to most of the continental nations will be supplied by the Rev. Robert Baird. The religious and educational statistics of some of these nations are but little known even in Europe.

In the mean time we shall not forget one great object of this publication—the promotion of ministerial education—the raising up, with the blessing of Heaven, a numerous, learned and holy ministry, until all the waste places of the earth shall become like the garden of the Lord.

BOSTON, April 30, 1838.

VOL. X. AUGUST, 1837. No. 1.

MEMOIR OF REV. ELEAZAR WHEELOCK, D. D.

FOUNDER AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.

By William Allen, D. D., President of Bowdoin College.

AMONG the men, who for their worthy deeds and eminent services in the cause of science and religion, deserve to be held in honorable remembrance, the subject of this memoir is doubtless to be ranked. Indeed he has the peculiar distinction of having established and conducted the first Mlissionary School in this country, and of having founded the first College, which was created by the efforts of an individual. This distinction God has given him, although he sought not honor from man.

DR. ELEAZAR WHEELOCK was born in Windham, Connecticut, in May, 1711. His earliest ancestor, of whom any account has been obtained, was his great grandfather, Rev. Ralph Wheelock, who was born in Shropshire, in 1600, and educated at Clare Hall, in Cambridge. Being an eminent non-conformist preacher, and suffering persecution for dissenting from the established re1igion, he came to New England for liberty of conscience in 1637, and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, where he was one of the founders of the first church in 1638. Thence he removed to Medfield, where he was one of the principal land-owners. Of this town he was a representative for several years; he also occasionally preached in Medfield and the adjoining new settlements, but declined taking the charge of any particular church. He died universally respected in November, 1683, aged 83 years.

Dr. Wheelock’s grandfather, Captain Eleazar Wheelock, born in 1654, removed from Medfield to Mendon. He was a soldier, as well as a Christian. In the Indian wars he commanded successfully a company of cavalry. His house, converted into a garrison, was sometimes besieged. In peace he was familiar with the savages, often joining them in their hunting expeditions, arid treated them with great kindness. He died March 24, 1731, aged 77 years.

The father of Dr. Wheelock was deacon Ralph Wheelock, born in 1683, who settled in Windham, where he lived a farmer, and died Oct. 15, 1748, aged 66 years. His mother was Ruth Huntington, the daughter of Christopher Huntington of Norwich. He was an only son. Of his

five sisters one married the Rev. Dr. Pomeroy of Hebron his half-sister Mary, whose mother was Mercy Standish of Preston, married Jabez Bingham

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 10

ham of Salisbury, and was the grandmother of the Rev. Dr. Kirkland, president of Harvard University.

At the age of 16 or 17 his heart was renewed by the Spirit of God. His grandfather, whose name he bore, having left him a legacy to defray the expenses of his education, he was sent to Yale college in which seminary he was distinguished for his good conduct and proficiency in learning. The first premium, instituted by dean Berkley, to be awarded to the best classical scholars of the senior class, was given to him and Mr. Pomeroy, afterwards his brother-in-law.* He graduated in 1733, and in March, 1735, was ordained as the minister of the Second or North society in Lebanon, called Lebanon Crank, now the town of Columbia, where he toiled as a faithful laborer in the vineyard of his Lord about 35 years.

In 1735, soon after his settlement, by his faithful and earnest labors, great effects were produced among his people at Lebanon. It pleased God to send down his Spirit to bring the gospel to the hearts of sinners; and the same work of divine mercy and love was accomplished, which, about the same time, was experienced at Northampton under the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, and in other towns of Hampshire county, Massachusetts, as well as at Coventry, Durham, Mansfield, East Windsor, Tolland, Bolton, Hebron, Norwich, Groton, and other towns in Connecticut. In some of these towns there was an impression of deep seriousness made upon the minds of almost all the people, and in some places it was supposed that as many as twenty or thirty persons were converted in one week. In 1740, and in subsequent years, in consequence of the labors of Mr. Whitefield and others, this revival of religion became more general.

Mr. Wheelock was at this period incessant in his labors to promote the salvation of his fellow-men. Of his character as a preacher, it may be interesting to read the account, given by Dr. Trumbull, who was personally acquainted with him.-—-" The most zealous and laborious in the cause, who took the most pains and spent the most property in the service of their Master, were the Rev. Messrs. Jedediah Mills, Benjamin Potneroy, Eleazar Wheelock, and Joseph Bellamy. They were not only abundant in labors among their own people, and in neighboring towns and societies, but they preached in all parts of the colony, where their brethren would admit them, and in many places in Massachusetts, and the other colonies."

Mr., afterwards Doctor and President, Wheelock was a gentleman of a comely figure, of a mild and winning aspect; his voice smooth arid harmonious, the best, by far, that I ever heard. He had the entire command of it. His gesture was natural, but not redundant. His preaching

[ *Footnote: In the catalogue of Yale College, the name of Eleazar Wheelock is not placed alphabetically, but stands a little below the middle of the class It seems, that the names from 1702 to 1767, of the graduates are placed according to the supposed rank of their parents. Thus, is the class of 1733, the name of S. Talcott stands first, probably because be was the son of the govenor Talcott. Dividing each class, thus arranged, into two equal parts, and instituting a comparison between these parts, some ccurious facts are deduced. In the upper half the number of ministers is 168; in the lower half 270.In the Harvard College catalog, arranged in the same way from 1642 to 1772, the ministers in the upper half are 321; and in the lower 586. Is this disproportion to be accounted for from the consideration, that young men of families in moderate circumstances, are freed from many evil allurements, which assail the sons of the more rich and honorable?

In the comparison as to the attainment by laymen of worldly honors, judging by the capital letters in the catalogue, the proportion is the other way. The proportion is about 50 to the upper half and 20 to the lower; and the same is the Cambridge catalogue. The sons of the rich, and influential gain the honors of this world: the poor are more likely to take the kingdom of heaven.

In the lower half, however, besides the name of Dr. Wheelock and the names of presidents Dickinson, Johnson, and Daggett, and of Rev. Drs. Caner, Goodrich, Trumbull, Dana, and Emmons, —and in the lower half also, in the Cambridge cataloge, the names of presidents Hoar, Wadsworth, Langdon, and Rogers, and rectors Pierson and Williams, and Rev. Drs. Hitchcock, Shute, Forbes, Hemmenway, Howard, Deane, Cummings, Belknap, and Osgood

Of laymen, we find in the lower half of the Cambridge catalogue the names of Gov. Trumbull, Chief-Justice Pratt, (the last in his class,) John Adams, president of the United States, and governors Gerry, Strong, and Eustis. ]

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 11

and addresses were close and pungent, and yet winning, beyond almost all comparison, so that his audience would be incited even into tears, before they were aware of it."

This is high commendation of Mr. Wheelock’s eloquence, coming from one, who speaks of Whitefield, Tennent, and Bellamy, whom probably he had often heard and who thus represents Mr. Wheelock’s voice as the best, by far, he had ever heard, and his manner of preaching the most winning beyond almost all comparison.

So interesting and acceptable was the preaching of Mr. Wheelock, and so fervent was his zeal, that in one year " be preached a hundred more sermons than there are days in the year." The following letter will show the estimation in which he was held, at the age of twenty-nine, by Jonathan Edwards, who was eight or ten years older. It is dated Northampton, Oct. 9, 1740.—"Rev, and dear Sir,—l congratulate you, and would bless God for the success, which he has lately given to your labors, which you mention, and for the many joyful things, we have lately heard concerning the city of our God. I think that those, that make mention of the Lord, should now be awakened and encouraged to call upon God, and not keep silence nor give him any rest, till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth ; and particularly should be earnest with God, that he would still uphold and succeed the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the instrument that it has pleased him to improve to do such great things for the honor of his name, and at all times so to guide and direct him under his extraordinary circumstances, that Satan may not get any advantage of him.

I thank you for your concern for my aged father under his troubles, and the pains you have occasionally taken with some of his people on his behalf; and also for your kind wishes for me and for the success of my ministry. We need the prayers of all that are favored with God’s presence and the lively influences of his Spirit. It is a sorrowfully dull and dead time with us; The temporal affairs of this town are arid have been for some years most unhappily situated to be a snare to us, and I know not where to look for help but to God. 0, dear Sir ! earnestly pray for us. And I desire, that now, while God smiles upon you, and it is a day of his specialfavor towards you, that you would pray earnestly for me, that I may be filled with the divine Spirit, and that God would improve me, though utterly unworthy, as an instrument of glory to his name, and of good to the souls of men, and particularly, that he would bless Mr. Whitefield’s coming here for good to my soul, and the souls of my people. That God would more and more bless and succeed you, and make you more and more a burning and shining light, is the sincere desire and prayer of your unworthy brother and fellow-laborer,

"JONATHAN EDWARDS."

In another letter to Mr. Wheelock, dated June 9, 1741, Mr. Edwards requests him to go and preach at Scantic or East ‘Windsor, to his father’s society, of whom he says, "they are wholly dead in this extraordinary day of God’s gracious visitation." He then adds— " Another thing that I desire of you, is, that you would come up hither and help us, both you and Mr. Pomeroy. There has been a revival of religion amongst us of late ; but your labors have been much more remarkably blessed than mine; other ministers, as I have heard, have shut their pulpits against you ; but here, I engage, you shall find one open. May God send you here with a like blessing, as he has sent you to other places; and may your coming be a means of humbling me for my barrenness and unprofitableness, and a

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 12

means of my instruction and enlivening. I want an opportunity to concert measures with you for the advancement of the kingdom and glory of our Redeemer."

A short extract from a letter of Mr. Edwards’s father to Mr. Wheelock, dated Aug. 26, 1741will tend still further to illustrate Mr. Wheelock’s character and labors;-- Religion hath been very much revived and has greatly flourished among us, since you were here. I have propounded sixty—four persons to full communion, many of whom have been already taken in and with them, that I expect will be propounded the next Sabbath, with others, that have been with me, and some, that have not yet been with me, there are above seventy, that very lately, viz, in about five or six weeks time, have been savingly converted in this society, and still there is a great stir among us respecting mens eternal concerns. We have all great reason to bless God for your repeated labors of love of late as a minister of’ Christ here.

Your affectionate and obliged brother and servant in Jesus Christ,

These letters, addressed to a young minister, who had been but four or five years in the ministry ii stry ,by Mr. Edwards, the most profound of theologians, and the most pious and faithful of ministers, and by his aged and venerable lather, prove, that Mr. Wheelock was regarded by those who knew him, as very eminent for piety and for power as a preacher of the gospel, and show how greatly a sovereign God was pleased to bless his labors in unpromising fields.

In this time of religious excitement, and at a period, when in Connecticut the distinction between the church and the state was not well understood, it is not to be wondered at, that the itinerant preachers should have met with many rebuffs and much ill-treatment, especially as some fanatical preachers and lay-exhorters called Separatists, disturbed the peace of the churches. "This glorious work of God,’’ says Dr. Trumbull, "was most violently opposed byministers, by magistrates, by cruel and persecuting laws, by reproach and misrepresentation, and all other ways and means , which its adversaries could invent.’’ Mr. Finley, afterward president of New Jersey college, [ now Princeton University, Ed. ] for preaching as an itinerant in Connecticut, was carried, according to law, as a vagrant out of the colony. Mr. Davenport and Mr. Pomeroy were arrested and brought before the assembly of the legislature. The former was ordered to be "transported" to Long Island rid to the place whence he came and the latter was rudely treated, and afterwards was again before the assembly under an indictment saying, that " no colony was so bad as Connecticut for persecuting laws," and other similar offences.

The following extract, from a private journal of Mr. Wheelock, will illustrate in some degree the state of religion at that period, and his popularity as a preacher ; it is dated about a year after Mr. Whitfield’s first visit to New England, which was in September, 1740. He set out on a journey through Rhode Island to Boston, during which he preachedincessantly.

"Oct. 19, 1741, that God would give me courage, zeal, and skill to deal faithfully with my friends.

"Oct. 20. Preached at 10, with some enlargement [at a town near Plainfield]. Present, Rev. Messrs. Coit, Kirkand, Dorrance, Barker, Avery, Marsh, &c. The assembly large and considerably affected. Preached in the afternoon at Plainfield to a full assembly. A number cried out. Held a conference at night. Young Christians don’t rise, as

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 13

in some places. One converted. 0, when shall I learn to live always upon God and be thankful for all the least enlargement and assistance."

"Oct. 21. Had but little sleep. Arose before day. Rode with Mr. Coit and my friends to Voluntown. Courteously received and entertained by Mr. Dorrance. Went to meeting at 10. Heard Mr. Gideon Mills preach well. Preached after him. There is a great work in this town but more of the footsteps of Satan than in any place I have yet been in: the zeal of some too furious, they tell of many visions, revelations, and many strong impressions upon the imagination. They have had much of God in many of their meetings, and his great power has been much seen and many hopefully converted. Satan is using many artful wiles to put a stop to the work of God in this place. Good Lord, let him be confounded. Let his mischiefs fall upon his own head. At their conference at night I mentioned some of these devices of Satan, which I apprehend they are in danger of, and heard the accounts of a number of new converts.

"Oct. 22. Rose this morning refreshed. A pleasant day found my soul stretching after God. The Lord has this day in some measure fulfilled my early desires. Preached twice with enlargement, by Mr. Smith’s barn to great assemblies. Many cried out many stood trembling; the whole assembly very solemn, amid much affection ; four or five converted. One woman, who came from Kingston against a great deal of opposition on purpose to hear me, came out clear and invent away rejoicing in God, longing to have her husband and others taste and see with her.

Oct. 23. Rose at 3; somewhat indisposed. Dear Lord, I commit my body, my soul, my life, health, and all to thee. Use me as thou wilt, only let me glorify thee and seek that as my last end. Left Voluntown about 7, accompanied by a great number of wounded and comforted. Came to Mr. Cooper’s of Scituate in the county of Providence. Preached to a considerable assembly. I am always thronged with company, and want time to talk with the tenth part of those, who desire to converse with me. Dined, and rode with a great number of Voluntown people to Capt. Angel’s. Preached there. The old man and woman violently opposed ; called me antichrist, &c. Rode to elder Fish’s ; found him a bigoted, ignorant Baptist his wife soon shot her bolt and told us all what she was. She seemed to look upon baptism in their way as the only evidence to be relied upon of a safe estate. Came about 8 to Mr. Henry’s, seven miles front Providence.

"Oct. -24. Rose early, prayed and sang. Discoursed with some wounded ; afterwards exhorted a company, who came in. Sung a hymn, prayed, and rode with a great company of Voluntown people and others to Providence. About two miles from Providence met Mr. Knight and another man, who came out to meet us. His first salutation was ‘ God bless you, my dear brother.’ Went to his house. Rev. Mr. Cotton came, invited me to preach ; felt freedom and sweetness in my soul.

‘‘Oct. 25. Rode with Mr. Knight into town in his calabash. Preached three sermons, 2 Cor. xiii.5 Mark i. 2 ; Luke x. ult. 0, the dreadful ignorance and wickedness of these parts; 0 what a burthen dear Mr. Cotton has daily to bear.

"Oct. 26. Rode with Mr. Cotton back seven miles to Mr. Bonnet’s preached at 1 o’clock to a numerous and affected assembly. One converted. Returned with a great number to Providence. Preached to a full assembly many scoffers present ; one man hired for twenty shillings to come into the meeting-house and fall down, which he did and made great disturbance; ordered all, who had a real concern for the salvation of

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 14

their souls, to follow me to Mr. Cotton’s in order to have a conference with them. A considerable number came, who seemed considerably moved. Mark xvi. 16; Job xxvii. 8.

"Oct. 27. Went with Mr. Cotton and madam over the ferry to Rehoboth, upon Mr. Greenwood’s invitation; preached at 1. Rode with Mr. C. &c. to Swansey.

"Oct. 28. Brother Finney went to deacon Kingsley for liberty to preach in the Baptist meetinghouse, but he refused it; but deacon —sent for the key, and I preached at 1, and again in the evening. 0, poor, bigoted, ignorant, prejudiced people! Went after sermon to Capt. William Turner’s, a separate Baptist; was exceedingly pleased with his wife, a true and shining Christian and a woman of great knowledge and prudence; her family exceedingly well governed by her: stayed with them and discoursed about their spiritual concerns, &c. I think, that the principles of the separate Baptists are the most uncharitable, unscriptnral, and unreasonable, that I have yet met with. John vii. 38; Ez. xxii. 14.

"Oct. 29. Came with Mr. Cotton and many others to Attleborough: very courteously received by Mr. Wells. Heard Mr. Turner of Rehohoth; preached after him ; a great deal of affection and sobbing through the whole assembly; had great enlargement. Exhorted in the evening at Mr.Well’s. Matt. vi. 33.

"Oct. 30. Had a great sense of my own badness and unworthiness, of what a cursed heart I have. 0, Lord, let me see and know more of it. Rode with Mr. Wells and many others to Norton kindly received by Mr. Avery. Preached to a full assembly ; much affection and sobbing through the whole assembly. Ezek. xxii. 14. Rode after lecture to Taunton. Lodged at madam Danforth’s, who lives with her daughter Hodges. Preached at 10 : a great outcry in the assembly ; many greatly wounded. Dined at Mr. Danforth’s, son to the former minister. Rode to Raynham with Mr. Wales and brother Byram.

"Nov. 1. Preached in the forenoon to a full assembly; one cried out, many affected. Mark i. 2, 3. Advised those, who belonged to the assembly, not to follow me to Taunton, but stay and hear their own preacher. Went with brother Byram to Taunton ; preached there, Job xxvii. 8. One or two cried out. Appointed another meeting in the evening. Hos. xiii. 13. I believe thirty cried out. Almost all the negroes in town wounded ; three or four converted. A great work in the town. Dear brother Crocker, a true servant of Jesus Christ, preaches here upon probation. I was forced to break off my sermon, before it was done, the outcry was so great: continued the meeting till 10 or 11 o’clock.

"Oct. 2. Rode with Mr. Crocker to the tavern to see Capt. Leonard’s negro (a slave), found him under a very clear and genuine conviction. Dear brother Rogers came to see me here. Rode with a great number to Bridgewater. Preached to a full assembly in Mr. Shaw’s meeting-house.

Present the Rev. Messrs. John Wales, Jonathan Parker, John Cotton, Daniel Perkins, John Shaw, John Porter. Matt. vi. 33.

"Nov. 3. Rode with a great number to Mr. Perkins’s meeting-house ; a very full assembly. After sermon the lecture was appointed at Mr. Anger’s; but so many wounded, that I could not leave them. Therefore preached again to a full assembly. Ez. xxii. 14. A great outcry : four or five converted.

"Nov. 4. Rode to Mr. Porter’s. A great multitude. Preached upon a stage. Hos. xiii. 13. One converted in sermon. After dinner rode with Mr. Belcher and a great multitude to Easton. Brother Rogers preached.

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 15

John v. 40. A very great outcry in the assembly. I preached after him. Acts vii. 51; four or five converted. Lodged at Mr. Belcher’s.

Nov. 5. Came to Mr. Niles’s of Braintree. Preached with great freedom, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Present, Messrs. Eells and Hancock ; Mr. Worcester came in the evening.

Nov. 6. Set out for Boston. Met by dear Mr. Prince and Mr. Bromfield about eight miles from Boston. Came in to Mr. Bromfleld’s; received in a most kind and Christian manner by him, madam, and his family,—a dear Christian family, full of kindness, love, and goodness: the names of his family Edward and Abigail ; their children, Edward, Abigail, Henry, Sarah, Thomas, Mary, Eliza, Samuel. His eldest son is now in his last year at Cambridge college I believe a real converted person. Soon after my arrival came the Hon. Joseph Willard, Secretary, Rev. Mr. Webb and Mr. Cooper, and Major Sewall, to bid me welcome to Boston. At 6 o’clock rode with Mr. Bromfield in his chaise to the north end of the town and preached for Mr. Webb to a great assembly. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. After sermon returned to dear Mr. Webb’s; pleased with the conversation of dear Mr. Gee.

"Nov. 7. Rose and prayed with Mr. Rogers. At 10 rode with Mr. Bromfield to Mr. Webb’s, preached, Hos. xiii. 13, to a full assembly. Returned and was invited by Dr. Coleman and Mr. Cooper to preach for Dr. Coleman in the forenoon of the next day, being Sabbath, and by Mr.

Prince and Dr. Sewall in the afternoon. Preached at the workhouse.

"Nov. 8. Went to Dr. Coleman’s meeting, preached with considerable freedom, Job xxvii. 8. Dined with the Dr. Went with Mr. Rogers to Mr. Prince’s. Preached, Mark xvi. 16, to a full assembly. After meeting was followed by a great throng of children, who importunately desired me to give them a word of exhortation in a private house, which I consented to do, though I designed to go and hear Mr. Prince, who, being by, desired, that I would have it publicly, which I consented to after 6. We met again. Preached, Matt. vi. 33, to a very full asseml)ly. Rode with Mr. Bromfield in a close chaise; followed to his house after me a great many children to receive a word of exhortation at the gate, which I could not stand long to do, being very wet.

Nov. 9. Visited this morning by a great number of persons under soul trouble. Refused to preach, because I designed to go out of town. Discoursed with Mr. Bromfield’s dear children ; took my leave by prayer, recommending them and one another to the Lord. Just as I was going, came Mr. Webb, and told me the people were meeting together to hear another sermon. I consented to preach again. A scholar from Cambridge being present, who came to get me to go to Cambridge, hastened to Cambridge, and by a little after 6 a great part of the scholars had got to Boston. Preached to a very thronged assembly : many more than could get into the house, Ps. xxxiv. 8, with very great freedom and enlargement. I believe the children of God were very much refreshed. They told me afterwards, they believed, that Mather Byles was never so lashed in his life. This morning Mr. Cooper came to me in the name of the Hon. Jacob Wendell, Esq. and earnestly desired a copy of my sermon, preached in the forenoon of the Lord’s day, for the press. 0, that God would make and keep me humble. Appointed to preach tommorow for Mr. Balch of Dedham, at his desire.

"Nov. 10. Madam Bromfield gave me this morning a shirt, and pair of

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 16

gold buttons, two cambric handkerchiefs, and part of a loaf of sugar and he a preaching Bible, in two vols. &c.

"About eight miles from Boston met Mr. Cotton of Providence, who came by the desire of his church to get me to come back that way, and informed me of some very good beginnings and very hopeful appearances among his people, and the people of other persuasions there but I thought it my duty to go directly home. He accompanied me to Mr. Balch’s at Dedham. Preached, Mark. xvi. 16. Went to Medfield.

Nov. 11. Preached at 3 with some freedom, Mark ii. 3. Went in the evening to see Mr. Baxter.

Nov. 12. Being thanksgiving, preached Ps.xxxiv. 8, and in the evening at Medway for Mr. Bucknam. He seemed displeased, that I told his people, that Christians generally knew the time of their conversion. Returned to uncle Adams’s; gave a word of exhortation to, sung and prayed with, a number of young people there.

Nov. 13. Went with uncles Wheelock, Adams, aunt Wheelock, Elisha Adams, and many more to Bellingham. Preached to a very large assembly in the woods. Mark xvi. 16, Many appeared affected; present, Messrs. Dorr, Messenger, and dear Mr. Havens. Dined at Mr. Obadiah Wheelock’s. Received and treated with much respect by him and family, and by brother Benjamin much importuned to preach at Mendon ; but came to Uxbridge.

Nov. 11. Came to Thompson Nov. 15. Preached three sermons for Mr. Cabot, one to rite young people at night many affected.

Nov. 16. Came to the consociation at Windham, and afterwards went home about 1 o’clock. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits

From this journal of a short preaching tour, it appears that in about twenty-five days he preached more than forty sermons, besides attending various conferences, and giving exhortations, counsel, &c. A similar journal of a tour in the month of June, 1742, gives an account of hiss preaching in different towns between Lebanon and New Haven, and as far west as Stratford. In one week he preached ten times. The following is an extract:—" June 9, 1742. Came to New Haven. Understood, that the authority have been consulting how to take me, and that Col. Whiting had given out great words, and had said, that I should not preach but once in town.

June 10. Went to morning prayers at college.[ Yale, Ed. ] Afterwards was invited to breakfast with the rector (Mr. Clap). I went over : he seemed to be very much set against the separate meeting, charged them with great disorder ; insisted upon it, that we ought to proceed against those we think not converted, according to the rule, Matt. xviii. ‘ First go and tell him his fault, then take two or three more,’ &c. I told him, I could not believe, that that rule was ever intended to be improved so, for a man’s being unconverted. Was no trespass against me. Again, it is no scandal and if it is, then all mankind are born scandalous. 1 asked him to tell me the steps of procedure with such. He said,—’ "Go and tell him his fault, then take two or three more : then go to your association." I supposed, that they would be generally in the same case and not suitable judges : he said, I must deal with them as before. I asked him what I should do, when hitherto I have condemned and they justified. He said, that it would be very proper to print upon it. I asked him what I should do for the people of the country, who were going by thousands to hell. He

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 17

said, I should deal with them after the same manner. He seemed to have a remarkable faculty to darken every thing. Preached at 6 o’clock, Ps. xxxiv. 8, with freedom. Understood, that Col. Whiting had been over to the governor to. consult him about me, and that the authority met in the evening upon it.

"June 12. Sabbath day. Preached three sermons, John v. 40, with two uses according to Matt. xv. 21, and Matt. xxii. 12; the third from Rom. ix 22, with great power. A young woman from North Haven said, she would go to the New Light meeting and see how they acted. She did not question but she should hear some of them cry out. This she spoke with scorn, deriding them. She came, and was the first, that cried out in great distress. There were also many others in great distress. The children of God refreshed. The people in general so prejudiced, that they won’t come to hear me.

"June 13. Stayed at home to receive such as wanted to consult me. Was full all day. Was visited by many dear Christians ; heard dreadful accounts about Mr. N.’s conduct with them, when under their concern.

June 14. Preached Ps. xci. II. The children of God much refreshed.

June 16. Preached this morning at Ripton, John v. 40. Came to Derby, preached twice, Gal. ii. 20; Rum. ix. 22, with power. The great power of God was seen, three or four converted ; many wounded ; many raging. Brother Humphrey very lively. I was very much spent and faint. Sat up with the wounded till just day.

"June 17. In the morning preached, Ps. xxxiv. 8. Came to New Haven, preached, Mark xvi. 16; many edified and refreshed.

"June 18. Went to see Col. Whiting; treated courteously ; he promised me a visit. Discoursed with many, that came to consult me. 0, I long to be near the Lord, to be delivered from this body of sin and death. When, 0 when, will it be ?"

Mr. Wheelock did not escape the general flame of persecution. The following letter to his wife will throw some light on the state of things in Connecticut. It was written June 28, 1742, at New Haven :—" The week before last I preached ten sermons. I told you in my last of the power of God at Derbv. Last week I preached ten times again. My journey was to Guilford, where we saw a great shaking among dry hones, and hell break loose and in a rage at it. We also saw a great shaking at Branford, and something at East Haven. They tell me, in the two former places it was greater than ever had been seen before in them. I am this day going to preach round the other way, as far as Stratford. Things in this town are much more calm than they were ; I mean as to the spirit and temper of people. Mr. Clap refuses to let me preach in the college or to let the scholars come to hear me. 0 that God would give him another heart. I am exceedingly worn out with constant labor and much watching." It may well be deemed remarkable at the present day, that in Connecticut one eminent itinerant minister, afterwards the president of the college of New Jersey, should be carried as a vagrant out of the colony, and that another, afterwards the president of Dartmouth college, should he interdicted from preaching the gospel to the students of Yale.w

With all the fervency of his zeal, Dr. Wheeiock was yet discreet and Wise, and set himself against the fanaticism of the separatists and of the lay-exhorters, who were disturbing the order of the churches. The following extract from a letter, addressed to him by one of them in 1744, may show the spirit of the times. After speaking of his afflictions and losses

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 18

the writer, who lived in Plainfield, says :—" Yet all this never went so near my soul, as it does to hear and see the blessed work and ways of the glorious God called errors and delusions of the devil. Pray, Sir, let me deal plainly now, and don’t be angry; do you think you are out of danger of committing the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost ? It would not surprise me much to hear, that God had opened the flood-gates of his wrath and let out the horrors of conscience on you, and many more of your party, who deny the truth, so that you should die in as great despair as Judas or Spira did."

While, on the one hand, Mr. Wheelock was thus bitterly censured by those, whom he would save from fanatical extremes, and on the other hand, was rebuked by the church-and-state party, as it may be called, who thought that the parish lines were never to be invaded by itinerancy, he wisely and earnestly improved the remarkable season of the outpouring of the Spirit of God to preach the gospel of salvation to his brethren in every field of promising usefulness. The doctrines, which he preached, were those, which humble man and exalt the grace and mercy of God,—the doctrines of original sin, regeneration by the supernatural influences of the divine Spirit, justification by faith in Jesus Christ, the perdition of the unbelieving, and the perseverance of the righteous. Knowing the relation of a pure church to the progress of religion, one great object of his preaching was to expose the hypocrisy of false professors and bring them to repentance and to awaken the slumbering disciples from their torpor. Aware that the neglecters of the great salvation must perish, his heart bled for them, and with unequalled pathos and tenderness, with the eloquence of an inflamed heart, he urged them to accept the mercy, which was most freely offered them in the gospel. Under his preaching there were repeated revivals in his parish in 1735, the first year of his settlement, and down to 1769, when he removed to a new field of labor.

The same divine blessing, which attended his zealous preaching of the gospel in East Windsor, as evinced by the letter of Mr. Edwards, already quoted, attended his itinerant labors in other towns, as appears from various letters of grateful acknowledgment, addressed to him.

ORIGIN OF MOOR’ S SCHOOL.

After the period of religious excitement had subsided, Mr. Wheelock commenced his labors as a teacher of youth by taking a few scholars into his own house. He found his salary as a parish minister inadequate to the support of his family, and probably the small profits of a school, as well as the hope of being useful to youth, furnished a reason for this additional labor.

Although settled in 1735, on a nominal salary of £140, yet as the amount was made up by reckoning certain provisions at high prices, and was to fall proportionally, he in some years received only about a third part of that sum, paid too for years in provisions. It may well be supposed, that he could not live on one hundred and fifty or sixty dollars a year, and that his parish could have no claim to his whole time. In December, 1743, he was induced to receive among the boys of his school Samson Occom, a Mohegan Indian, aged about 19, and kept him in his family and educated him four or five years. This Indian, it is well known, became a preacher of distinction. Mr. Wheelock soon formed the plan of an Indian missionary school. He conceived, that educated Indians would be more

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 19

successful than white men as missionaries among the red men, though he proposed also to educate a few English youth as missionaries. The project was new, for the labors of Sergeant and the Brainerds, as well as those of Eliot and the Mayhews, were the labors of missionaries among the Indians, and not labors designed to form a band of Indian missionaries. Two Indian boys of the Delaware tribe entered the school in December, 1754, and others soon joined them. In 1762 he had more than twenty youth under his care, chiefly Indians. For their maintenance funds were obtained by subscription of benevolent individuals, from the legislatures of Connecticut and of Massachusetts, and from the commissioners in Boston of the Scotch Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. Joshua Moor, a farmer in Mansfield, having, about the year 1754, made a donation of a house and two acres of land in Lebanon, contiguous to Dr. Wheelock’s house, the institution received the name of Moor’s Indian Charity School." Of this school several gentlemen were associated with Mr. Wheelock as trustees; but in 1764 the Scotch Society appointed a board of correspondents in Connecticut, who, in 1765, sent out white missionaries and Indian schoolmasters to the Indians on the Mohawk in New York.

In 1766 Mr. Wheelock sent Mr. Occom and Rev. Nathaniel Whitaker to Great Britain to solicit benefactions to the school, that its operations might be enlarged. The success of this mission was great, and was owing chiefly to the labors of Mr. Occom. He was the first Indian preacher from America, that ever visited Great Britain, and preached several hundred sermons with great acceptance to numerous assemblies in England and Scotland. The king subscribed £200, and lord Dartmouth 50 guineas. The amount of monies collected was about seven thousand pounds sterling in England, which was deposited in a board of trustees in London, of which lord Dartmouth was president and John Thornton treasurer, and between two and three thousand pounds in Scotland, which was deposited with the Scotch Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. To these societies Mr. Wheelock presented his accounts, on the allowance of which he drew for the monies voted. The expenditures related chiefly to the support of the scholars in the school, (of whom, in some years, there were thirty or forty,) of their teacher, and of missionaries and schoolmasters among the Indians. Of his own disinterestedness in his great and unequalled labors, some judgment may be formed from the following extract of a private, unpublished letter to a friend in London, dated, Lebanon, March 13, 1770: "My dependence for support has been upon a small salary from my people and the rents and profits of mine and my wife’s small patrimony, and I have used frugality as to my manner of living. I have never yet from the first used a farthing, that has been collected either in Europe or America for the use of my school, for my own or family’s support; and that I may cut off all occasion of reproach forever from such, as are seeking occasion, I have determined never to use any part of it. I have been exposed to great and extraordinary expenses. I find that my expense has been so disproportionate to my means, that I am now in debt about one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, below a balance with the World. And I am not able to pay my debts, remove, build, and settle without assistance, unless I could sell my little interest here, which I have no Prospect of, as there are so many sellers, who are removing into the new country. My necessity is not known, except by a few. I have wronged no creditor, and the conjecture of the world in general is, that I have made a great estate by my school, and many seem to think it

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 20

incredible, that I should do what I have done, unless inspired by such a motive to it." *

OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.

After conducting Moor’s school in Lebanon fourteen or fifteen years, Dr. Wheelock, in order to increase its usefulness, determined to remove it to some new country, and to obtain for it an incorporation as an academy, in which a regular and thorough education might be given to the youth, Indian and English, who should he assembled in it. At this period there were only two or three colleges in New England, those at Cambridge and New Haven, and an institution at Warren, R. I. which was afterwards transplanted to Providence. When his design was made known to the public, he received various offers from the owners of new lands and from different towns. In the county of Berkshire, Massachusetts, liberal offers were made from Pittsfield, and Stockbridge, and the owners of No. 2. The Mayor and Aldermen of Albany offered a building 132 feet by 42, situated on a hill, overlooking tile city, with a few acres of land, valued at 2,300 pounds sterling. In New Hampshire some thousand acres of land were offered in Plymouth, Rumney, and Campton, also in Orford, and Haverhill, or Upper Coos. It being determined to plant the school in the western part of New Hampshire, a charter, dated December 13, 1769, was obtained for a college, which was endowed partly by governor Wentworth and partly by private individuals with about 40,000 acres of land, In procuring this charter there was a negotiation between Dr. Wheelock and Gov. Wentworth, as appears from letters and papers in the hands of the writer of this memoir. Among these papers is an original copy of the charter, which Dr. Wheelock caused to be prepared and presented to Gov. Wentworth. In this the title is ‘‘Dartmouth Academy," instead of" Dartmouth College," and Dr. Wheelock is called the founder of the School, not of the Academy. The words are, we "appoint our trusty and well beloved Eleazar Wheelock, Doctor in Divinity, the founder of the said School, to be president of the said Dartmouth Academy." Its the charter of the college the words are the same, except the substitution of the word College for both " School" and " Academy," and this probably by mistake of the transcriber, who, in changing the word Academy throughout the instrument to College, might in this place inadvertently change the word School also to College. This is probable, because it had been recited, that Dr. Wheelock had "on his own estate set on foot an Indian Charity School," or founded it. Some names are also mentioned in the charter of the college as trustees, which the governor omitted, as he did also one or two clauses, in the charter, which he executed ; and some names are inserted, which are not found in the projected charter. In a letter, a few weeks before the charter, the governor proposed the bishop of London as a trustee, and says,— "the nomination of the three provincial officers to be of the active trust in this country, I strongly recommend, but do not insist upon. That 1 did not mention any other than the governor to be of the trust can by no means he

[ *Mr. Wheelock received the degree of Doctor or Divinity from the University of Edinburgh, June 29, 1767. His diploma bears upon it, among other, the eminent names of William Robinson, president, Gregory, A. Monro, Jun., J. Hope, William Cullen, Hugh Blair, Adam Ferguson, and M. Stewart. It was an unsolicited honor; but whether such distinctions among the ministers of the gospel are on the whole useful as well as whether they can be sought in accordance with the prohibition of the Head of the church, may well be made a question. In the present case the honor was conferred rather on the head of a school, than on the pastor of a church. The gaining of an honorary title is a poor ambition in a minister of the gospel, and the possession of it a poor satisfaction to a high looking mind. ]

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 21

preclusive; neither did I so intend it." In reply Dr. Wheelock consented to the bishop, but expressed his satisfaction, that the governor would not "insist upon the addition of the provincial officers." Yet those officers were named in the charter, and the bishop was omitted.

It appears from this negotiation, that Dr. Wheelock proposed to remove his school to New Hampshire on condition of obtaining an act of incorporation of Dartmouth Academy and satisfactory grants of land, and that Gov. Wentworth gave a charter of Dartmouth College, with a liberal endowment from the government and from iudividnals. In the charter Dr. Wheelock is called the " founder of the College," though he claimed in his proposed charter only to be the founder of the School. Whether in a strictly legal sense he was the " founder " of the college is of little consequence. He was the cause of its establishment. The governor and his four provincial officers in their letter to hin of June 10, 1770, respecting the location, utter this prayer to ‘‘ the Fountain of all true wisdom,"— " that under your care this seminary of Christian knowledge may be safely founded and long flourish."

Doubtless at first, Dr. Wheelock intended to have the School incorporated, and to have the trustees in London share in the government of it, but the governor created a College, and conferred no power on the London trustees, omitting the clause in Dr. Wheelock’s projected charter, which gave them an equal voice with the American trustees in the election of the president. Though the London trustees consented to the removal of the school, yet they were entirely dissatisfied with the incorporation of a college. One of them wrote, in July, 1770, speaking of Lord Dartmouth and Mr. Thornton, "they, as well as the other trustees, see clearly, that by the affair of the charter the trust here is meant to he annihilated. It was certainly a very wrong step for you to take without consulting us. It is the sentiment of us all, that by lodging the power in other hands, it has superseded the trust here, and we shall desire to have done with it.’’ In reply, Dr. Wheelock wrote, dated Hanover, November 9, 1770, saying, there was no design on the part of any of the trustees in Connecticut to annihilate the trust in England on the contrary, he says, that the Connecticut trustees " desired, that the trust in England should have not only the Patronage of the school, but of the college too so far as to have an equal share in the choice of a president, so long as they should see fit to perpetuate their board, and so the charter was drafted, when it was sent to Gov. Wentworth ; nor have I ever heard, that one of the trustees in this province objected against it, but the governor, apprehending it would be a burden you would not be full of and that it would make the holy too unwieldy, rejected that clause in it. The charter means to incorporate the school with the college and give it possession of the donations and grants, made in this province to it. But the charter was never designed to convey the least power or control of any funds collected in Europe, nor does it convey any jurisdiction over the school to the trustees of the college. The charter grants them jurisdiction only over the college. If I resign my office as president of the college, I yet retain the same relation to the school, and control of it, as ever."

Without doubt these last remarks of Dr. Wheelock are perfectly correct. But if so, it then follows most clearly, that his school was not " incorporated in and with Dartmouth college." There is but one charter; and that is the charter of the college. There is but one set of trustees; and they are the trustees of the college. The long preamble to the charter is to be considered only as a history of Moor’s school and of the circumstances,

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 22

which led Dr. Wheelock to apply for a charter of the college, not as proving at all, that the school is merged in the college, or that the founder of the school is therefore the legal founder of the college. In his narrative, 1771, he says, "The charter gives the trustees no right of jurisdiction but over the college and the school remains still under the same patronage, authority, and jurisdiction, as it was under before the charter was given." The trustees of the college also voted, that they had no jurisdiction over the school. In fact, Moor’s school has ever been kept distinct from Dartmouth college ; Dr. Wheelock, in his last will, appointed his successor as its president and after his death it received in New Hampshire, in 1807, a separate act of incorporation.* To this school Hon. John Phillips, in 1770, gave 3,333 dollars ; and the State of Vermont afterwards gave the township of Wheelock half to the school and half to the college.

Though the college bears the name of Dartmouth, yet it does not appear that lord Dartmouth was its benefactor, nor did he approve of its incorporation. He and the other London trustees wrote to Dr. Wheelock, April 25, 1771— "We cannot but look upon the charter, you have obtained, and your intention of building a college and educating English youths as going beyond the line, by which both you and we are circumscribed;" and they require him to adhere to the original plan, to keep a distinct account of the monies of the school and not blend them with his college, and that he draw up a fresh narrative of his school. February 1, 1775, these trustees informed him, that the fund in their hands was expended, and of course, that their trust had ceased ; but the Scotch fund remains at the present day, and the interest is paid in settlement of the accounts of Moor’s Indian Charity School.

Governor Wentworth, and not lord Dartmouth, was the chief benefactor and patron of the college. It had been right, had the college borne his name; and this in fact Dr. Wheelock authorized his agent in the negotiation about the charter to propose to the governor. The charter having been obtained, and the governor having offered five hundred acres in Hanover, and other proprietors having offered much land in the neighborhood, Dr. Wheelock, in 1770, visited the towns in the western part of New Hampshire, and it was determined to plant the college at Hanover, near the banks of the Connecticut river. The grant of the township of land of 24,000 acres to the institution, proved void, having been previously granted by a former governor.

In August, 1770, Dr. Wheelock took leave of Lebanon and proceeded to Hanover, in order to make preparation for the immediate reception of

[ * The following extract is taken from the charter of Moor’s school:

"Be it enacted in the Sarate and House of Represemtatives, in General Court convened, That the said John Wheelock, president of Dartmouth college and his successors in office for the time being, appointed agreeably to the charter of said college, whether by the last will of the president preceding or otherwise; shall forever hereafter be, and hereby is declared to be the president of Moor’s Charity School; and the board of trustees of Dartmouth College for the time being shall forever hereafter be and hereby are declared to be the Trustees of said school, and that said school as a corporation and as heretofore considered for the purposes aforesaid, may and shall be known and be called hereafter by the name of the President of Moor’s Charity School and that said president with the advice and consent of said Trustees may and shall expend the issues and all the funds and property of said school for the uses intended by the donors, provided nevertheless that the funds of said college and school and their proceeds shall be distinct and separate, and that nothing herein contained shall be considered as having any concern with the funds in the care of the Honorable Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, or as interfering with their rights of inspection, or as affecting any other property belonging to said school than such as has been and may be hereafter granted in America for the use and benefit of said school."

Thus it appears, that though Moor’s Charity school and Dartmouth college are two distinct institutions, yet they are under the control of the same Board of trust, or rather the same gentlemen, who are the President and Trustees of Dartmouth College, have the entire charge of Moor’s Charity school, though in a different capacity. ]

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 23

his family and his pupils in the wilderness. The pine trees on a few acres had been cut down. Without nails or glass he built him a log cabin, eighteen feet square, and directed the operations of forty or fifty laborers, who were employed in digging a well, and in building a house for his family of one story, and another of two stories, eighty feet long, for his scholars. As his family arrived before these habitations were prepared, his wife and daughters lived for about a month in his hut, and his sons and students made them booths and beds of hemlock boughs. October 29, he removed into his house; and the rooms in college were soon made comfortable. A school-house was also constructed. The scholars engaged with zeal in their studies, in their new abode, finding "the pleasure and profit of such a solitude." " But that which crowns all," says Dr. Wheelock in his narrative, "is the manifest tokens of the gracious presence of God by a spirit of conviction and consolation. For no sooner were these outward troubles removed, but there were evident impressions upon the minds of a number of my family and school, which soon became universal, insomuch, that scarcely one remained, who did not feel a greater or less degree of it, till the whole lump seemed to be leavened by it, and love, peace, joy, satisfaction, and contentment reigned through the whole. The 23d day of January, 1771, was kept as a day of solemn fasting and prayer, on which I gathered a church in this college, and school, which consisted of twenty-sevens members, on which occasion they solemnly renewed their oath of allegiance to Christ, and entire devotedness of body and soul, and all endowments of both, without reserve to God, for time and eternity." *

The first commencement, held at the college, was in August, 1771, when four young men were graduated ; one of whom, John Wheelock, the son of Dr. Wheelock, was his successor as the president of the school and of the college, and another, Mr. Ripley, was the first professor of theology in the college. Rev. L. Frisbie, of Ipswich, was in this class. The last survivor of the four, Samuel Gray, died in Windharn, Connecticut, in 1836. Dr. Wheelock lived to preside at seven other commencements, and conferred the honors of college on seventy-two young men, of whom thirty-nine became ministers of the gospel. Among then were Rev. Dr. John Smith, professor of the ancient languages in Dartmouth college, Rev. Dr. M’Keen, the first president of Bowdoin college, Rev. James Miltimore, of Newbury, Massachusetts, and Rev. Dr. Asa Burton, of Thetford, Vt.

[ *The following tines are an extract from a totem on the founding of Dartmouth college, by Mr. Frisbie, of the first class:

0 Forlorn, thus youthful Dartmouth trembling stood,

Surrounded with inhospitable wood

No silken furs on her soft limbs to spread,

No dome to screen her fair, defenceless head,

On every side site cast her wishful eyes,

Then humbly raised them to the pitying skies.

Thence grace divine beheld her tender care,

And bowed an ear, propitious to her prayer.

Soon changed the scene; the prospect shines more fair

Joy lights all faces with a cheerful air;

The buildings rise, the work appears alive,

Pale fear expires and languid hopes revive.

Calm solitude, to liberal science kind,

Sheds her soft influence so the studius mind;

Afflictions stand aloof; the heavenly powers

Drop needful blessings in abundant showers.

Thus Dartmouth, happy in her sylvan seat,

Drinks the pure pleasures of her fair retreat;

Her songs of praise in notes melodious rise,

Like clouds of incense, to the listening skies;

her God protects her with paternal care,

From ills destructive and each fatal snare;

And may he still protect and she adore,

Till heaven, and earth, and time shall be no more." ]

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 24

In 1773 there were about seventy members of the church, of whom about fifty were members of the college and school.

There was a second period of deep religious excitement in the college in the close of 1774, or beginning of 1775. In his narrative, after speaking of some efforts of the students and resolves of some whole classes for reformation, Dr. Wheelock adds,— "And to this God seems to have further testified his approbation by pouring out a spirit of conviction upon a number of the students of late, which, in a judgment of charity, has issued in saving effects in a number of instances: And I hope in God to see evidences of the same effectual work in many others, who at present appear to have some real conviction of their perishing necessity of the renewing work of the Spirit of grace and hitherto the work has appeared to be very genuine, and the fruits of it very good."

The death of such a man as Dr. Wheelock is a most interesting event we wish to see in what manner he meets the king of terrors, whom we also must meet. Although afflicted for years with the asthma, he yet ceased not to preach to his little flock, composed of his students and the neighboring villagers. When unable to walk, he was repeatedly carried to the chapel ; and he sometimes conducted public worship, seated in his chair in his own house. His prayer was granted, that he might not outlive his usefuluness. After his strength, enfeebled by so many cares and labors, had been declining for about four years, he was seized with the epilepsy in January, 1779. Though he recovered, so as to ride on horseback, yet, in April, he rapidly declined, and died on Saturday, April 2-1, 1779, in the 68th year of his age. In the morning he was able, with assistance, to walk his room. But as he knew, that his end was near, his family were summoned at his request. Being asked by his wife what were his views of death he replied, "I do not fear death with any amazement ;" and soon afterwards repeated the exulting words of the Psalmist, and of the Apostle: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

" I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ." At his request a minister, who was present, now prayed, commending his departing spirit to God. He then uttered his final exhortation, " Oh, my family, be faithful unto death !" and immediately closed his eyes on all the objects of the earth. His immortal spirit fled, leaving impressed on the countenance of him, who slept in Jesus, a smile of peace.

Dr. Wheelock was "of a middle stature and size, well proportioned, erect, and dignified. His features were prominent his eyes a light blue and animated. His complexion was fair, and the general expression of his countenance pleasing and handsome. His voice was remarkably full, harmonious, and commanding."

Dr. Wheelock was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in April, 1735, was Mrs. Sarah Maltbv, relict of Capt. William Maltby of New Haven, and daughter of Rev. John Davenport, of Stamford, Connecticut. She died at Lebanon, November 13, 1746, aged 43. One of her daughters, Ruth, married Rev. William Patton, of Hartford. his second wife was Miss Mary Brinsmead of Milford, Connecticut. By her he had five children ;—Mary, who married professor Woodward, the first professor of mathematics in Dartmouth college ; Abigail, who married professor Ripley, the first professor of theology in Dartmouth college John Wheelock, LL. D., the successor of his father, and president nearly forty years; Col. Eleazar Wheelock, and James Wheelock, Esq. his descendants live in different States of the Union, from Maine to Louisiana.

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 25

His grandson, Gen. Eleazar W. Ripley, distinguished in the war of 1812, is now a member of congress from Louisiana; another grandson is the Rev. William Patten, D. D. late of Newport, R.I., now of Hartford, Conn. ; another grandson still, Rev. James Wheelock, is a minister in Indiana; one of his granddaughters married Hon. Judah Dana, late a senator of the United States from Maine; another married Rev. William Allen, president of Bowdoin college; and another married Rev. James Marsh, president of Vermont university.

Dr. Wheelock published a narrative of the Indian Charity school at Lebanon, l76~2; A sermon at the ordination of Charles J. Smith I n 1763; Narratives in several numbers from 1763 to 1771; Continuation of the narrative, 1773, to which is added an abstract of a mission to the Delaware Indians west of the Ohio, by M’Clure and Frisbie; A sermon on liberty of conscience, or no king but Christ in the church, 1775. His memoirs by Drs. M’Clure and Parish, were published in 1811, with extracts from his correspondence.

Some of his religious views, as manifested by his manuscript notes of sermons, are the following. In a sermon on John iii. 5, on the renovation of the heart by the Spirit : " The subject is passive;—the sinner is made poor ;—and owns, whenever it is done, that God has done it. And not only passive, but the greatest opposition to it, such as nothing but Omnipotence could conquer."—" "The sinner must see certain damnation before him, and no other possible way of escape, before he will comply."— "Being born of water and the Spirit implies a new principle of life, and of course a change of all the propensities, inclinations and affections: these will all be, as the principle is."

In a sermon on Heb. ix. 13, he says, "God hardens whom he will, without giving any color of reason to impeach his justice or goodness, or doing any thing inconsistent with the greatest sincerity of love towards sinners."— "His will to harden sinners and to punish them has the same reason for it, as his actually doing it—their willful blindness, obstinate impenitence, and resistance of the means of grace,"—as from Ex. viii. 15, 32. Rom. i. 24. "It is not the decree of God, but the love, grace, and goodness of God, which are the means of hardening men, till God gives them up."

In a sermon on James, i. 13, he says, "God is not the author of any man’s sin ;—he infuses not the evil, nor co-operates in the act as sin, yet he has decreed the sin, and thus makes Satan and wicked men subserve the great purposes of his glory."

Very few of his sermons were written out at length. His manuscripts in general exhibit only short notes of the heads of his discourses, especially after the first few years of his settlement, when the pressure of a multitude of cares gave him little leisure for writing sermons. The following is an extract of a sermon on Ezek. xxii. 14, written in 17;36, and which in its character is not unlike the sermon of president Edwards, of 1741, entitled, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." It begins thus:— "Sinners! you will find it another thing, when you come to stand it out against the fiery indignation and vengeance of your incensed God, when he comes to deal with your naked soul, and immediately execute his vindictive wrath and vengeance upon you; I say, another thing, than you do here to stand out and endure his thunderings from Mount Sinai. You have already stood many shocks of thunderings from thence. The fiery law of God has been again and again delivered to you; and you have been again and again told of the flaming sword of justice, that is

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 26

whetting, ready to execute the vengeance of an angry God upon you; but they, who have dispensed these things to you, have seemed to you as those that mocked, when they have told of the designs of the Almighty against you, and the swift destruction from his presence and from the glory of his power, which you are running amain down into. And I am afraid, I shall seem this day to you as a mocker, as I have heretofore seemed to many of you ; else why have you not before now bestirred yourselves to flee from the destruction, which God threatens you with? And take it how you will, I will tell you plainly, what my errand to you this day is. I am come with a message from the King of kings, and that is importunately to urge upon you the question in our text, "can thine heart endure, or can thy hand be strong in the day that God shall deal with you?", And would to God I might, before I have done with you, bring you within the view of that mount, which burneth with fire,—that you might look into the pit of blackness and darkness, to which you are hasting, and see what God has ordained for you and what he will by and by do unto you, as sure as his name is Jehovah, unless you will be stirred up to flee frornmthe destruction, which he threatens upon you." ‘The following is from the close of the sermon: "How will your hearts endure when devils and damned spirits shall forever upbraid you with a neglect of the day and means of grace, that you had once an opportunity to have escaped these things, if you had not been wretchedly stupid and negligent; and how often will they tell you, while you are weeping, and wailing, and gnashing your teeth, uttering your bitter, though fruitless cries, screeches, and lamentations, ‘Ah! these were things, that you were told of again and again, when you might have escaped them!, I tell you solemnly, I fear, that many of you are posting on amain the downward road to this amazing destruction ; and it is well, if there be not some among you that have gray hairs, whom the devils have these many years expected in hell, knowing, that they have once and again easily prevailed with you to grieve away the Spirit of God, when it was striving with you !"

In the Memoirs of Dr. Wheelock it is stated, that for his great labors eight or nine years as president of the college and school, professor of divinity, and pastor of the church in the college, he received no salary, his only compensation being a supply of provisions for his family. The legislature of New Hampshire, after the college was established, voted him one hundred pounds, and governor Wentworth granted him, December 19, 1771, two hundred acres of land in Hanover, in consideration of his having made a donation of four hundred acres in Hanover to the college. The history of the affair is this. Benning Wentworth had given five hundred acres to the college, and the proprietors of the town had given Dr. Wheelock four hundred acres. At the first meeting of the trustees, October 22, 1770, they agreed with him, at his request, to exchange two hundred acres out of the five hundred for his four hundred acres. But this gift proving illegal, governor John Wentworth made the grant of the two hundred acres directly to Dr. Wheelock, who allowed the college to retain the four hundred, formerly agreed to be given for the same two hundred acres. This land, and other land, which he had purchased, Dr. Wheelock left to his children. He had also built him a house on his own land at the close of the year 1773, till which time he had lived in the hut, or store-house, as it was called, not being able to build for himself. Mr. Thornton, in a letter, July 22, 1774, says, "I was glad to hear you had a comfortable habitation for your family; and I can only repeat to you, that I shall, with great cheerfulness, assist you with what your occasions may require."

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 27

Dr.Wheelock, in reply, acknowledges, that the private munificence of Mr. Thornton had heen "the principal means of his support, since he left Connecticut;" stating also, in regard to his private affairs, that for land purchased, and improvements on his own land, and for buildings, he was still in debt about two hundred and fifty pounds sterling. His patrimony in Connecticut and other property he afterwards sold for upwards of a thousand pounds.

There is scarcely a name, which, for liberality and noble benevolence, deserves to be held in such honorable remembrance, as the name of JOHN THORNTON. He was a London merchant, living at Clapham, of large property, and most deeply interested and earnestly engaged in promoting the kingdom of Jesus Christ in the world. To Rev. John Newton, of Olney, he allowed two hundred pounds a year, that he might be hospitable and "help the poor and needy:" paying him in all about three hundred pounds. He made an annual payment for years of a hundred dollars to Samson Occom. To Dr. Wheelock for a long series of years he was abundantly liberal ; and in fact, such was his confidence in him, that he authorized him to draw upon him for such sums as his private necessities might require.

If it should be asked, " what success attended the efforts of Dr. Wheelock to communicate the blessings of the gospel to the Indian nations?" it may be replied, that he accomplished something for their benefit, and that great and insuperable obstacles in the providence of God prevented him from accomplishing more. It was soon after he sent out missionaries into the wilderness, that the controversy with Great Britain blighted his fair and encouraging prospects. During the last four years of his life there was actual war, in which many of the Indian tribes acted with the enemy. Yet the Oneidans, to whom Mr. Kirkland was sent as a missionary, kept the hatchet buried during the whole revolutionary struggle, and by means of this mission probably were a multitude of the frontier settlers saved from the tomahawk and the scalping knife. Thus is benevolent effort for the instruction and salvation of the savages amply rewarded even in this life. It is easy to see, that had our government expended ten or twenty thousand dollars in giving the miserable Seminole Indians the implements of agriculture and schools, and had a few missionaries been sent out to them, the expense of ten millions or more of dollars, the loss of many lives, and the desolation of the whole territory of East Florida would have been prevented. When will governments, when will the people learn, that benevolence is infinitely higher in dignity and worth, than greedy covetousness; and that, although injustice may carry its point, it were vastly better for those, who succeed, were they defeated in their projects? What brokenhearted widow, what friendless orphan, what mourning, childless father would willingly exchange the life, whose loss is so bitterly deplored, for the possession of the whole of Florida

Some of the Indian youth under Dr. Wheelock became pious, and others made useful and important advances in knowledge. The following is an extract from the letter of a celebrated Indian, one of his scholars, to his son and successor, Dr. John Wheelock the letter was written by colonel Joseph Brant, chief of the four confederate nations in Upper Canada

"Dear Sir, " Grand River, February 9,1801.

I receive an inexpressible satisfaction in hearing from you, that You have taken my sons under your protection ; and also to find, that you yet retain a strong remembrance of our ancient friendship. For my part,

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 28

nothing can ever efface from my memory the persevering attention, your revered father paid to my education, when I was in the place my sons now are. Though I was an unprofitable pupil in some respects; yet my worldly affairs have been much benefited by the instruction I there received. I hope my children may reap greater advantages under your care, both with respect to their future as well as their worldly welfare. The reason that induced me to send them to be instructed under your care, is the assurance I had, that their morals and education would be there more strictly attended to, than at any other place, I know of. The steady friendship you do me the honor to assure me of, is what, from numberless obligations, I doubly owe your family on my part; and I beg leave to assure you, that until death I remain your sincere friend."

This is a remarkable letter, coming from an Indian, who was not long a member of Moor’s school. Two other Indians, Occom and Johnson, were acceptable preachers, and their manuscript sermons are as well written, as those of many of their white brethren. It is not easy to calculate the good, that may have been done by these Indians. A minister wrote from Canada in 1800,— "Col. Brant greatly encourages civilization and Christianity." So that the instruction of Brant may have had an important bearing on the welfare, present and future, of hundreds of Indians.

But were nothing accomplished for their benefit, yet the zeal, which chiefly sought their good, reared up a venerable institution of science, in which many strong minds have been disciplined and made to grow stronger, and nerved for professional toils and public labors, and in which hundreds of ministers have been nurtured for the church of Christ.

For enlarged views and indomitable energy, and persevering and most arduous toils, and for the great results of his labors in the cause of religion and learning, perhaps no man in America is more worthy of being held in honor than ELEAZAR WHEELOCK. In an age, too, of eminent piety, he ranked high amongst the good and devoted servants of Jesus Christ. Amidst all the excellencies of his character doubtless he had his imperfections. Meeting with enemies to his plans and opposers of his measures, subjected frequently to unmerited reproach, it was sometimes with an impatient spirit, that he encountered opposition, and his rebukes were occasionally severe. Open, frank, and unsuspicious, he was keenly touched by the ingratitude of his parishioners and of some of the scholars, whom he had patronized, especially if they thwarted him in his dear and important projects. He felt the full burden of his multiplied cares. In his private journal of 1777, he writes, that, being "on the verge of the grave, he was oppressed with a weight of cares, of many kinds, enough for an angel."

In contemplating his character, some of its prominent traits may now be brought under consideration.

1. He had large and extensive views for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. The wretched condition of the American Indians, ignorant, though in the neighborhood of Christians, of the gospel of salvation, affected his heart, and he formed the plan of giving them the light from heaven. For this purpose he determined to draw as many of the Indian young men from their roving habits in the wilderness, as possible, and train them in a well-regulated school to be schoolmasters and preachers of the gospel to their red brethren. The schoolmaster and the preacher! these he deemed essential instruments in converting savages into enlightened Christians. And what other instruments can accomplish the work?

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 29

The untutored mind will be sensual, dark, ferocious even the highest degree of civilization, without the knowledge and the reception of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, will leave the mind a prey to corrupt, disquieting, desolating passions, as has been witnessed most deplorably in unbelieving, Catholic France, as well as in other countries of Europe and America.

As our Indians are now chiefly removed from the States of the Union, and congregated on the west side of the Mississippi, the intelligent benevolence, which seeks their highest welfare, will make strenuous efforts to give them competent schoolmasters and faithful preachers of the gospel. If circumstances shall soon compel them to be stationary, instead of migratory, they will become cultivators of the soil, and thus the instruments, employed for their good, will have tenfold power. As we have gained the rich lands, from which they have been removed, it is to be hoped, that our government, by its sense of justice as well of benevolence, will aim to promote the civilization and Christianization of the unhappy tribes of the West. Assuredly it must be in the power of our government to prohibit the introduction, from the States, of spirituous liquors amongst them, and to encourage their change of habits from the uncertain pursuit of game to the cultivation of the ground, which fails not to reward abundantly the toil that cultures it. A constant course of kindness towards them is demanded by a regard to the safety of the frontier settlers.

When experience had taught Dr. Wheelock the inexpedience of relying on his Indian pupils, unless accompanied in the wilderness, and superintended by white missionaries, he formed the plan of enlarging his school into a college, that he might rear up a multitude of young men, well qualified to execute his purposes of benevolence. If Dartmouth college has been a nursery of science and a blessing to our country, this must be ascribed to the pious zeal and enlarged views of Dr. Wheelock, seeking in the most effectual manner to advance amongst the red heathen the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus often has piety enriched the community with the most valuable institutions.

2. He adopted wise measures for the accomplishment of his plans. When his school commenced, he sought in every direction, from individuals at home and abroad and from the provincial governments, the charities, required for the support of the Indian youth. The sending of Samson Occom to Great Britain for the collection of moneys was a master-stroke of policy, although perhaps this was done at the suggestion of Mr. Whitefleld, who also urged Dr. Wheelock himself to proceed to England.

Lest his integrity should be questioned and the fountains of public benevolence be in consequence dried up, he procured the appointment of trustees, both in Connecticut and in England, who should inspect his accounts, and attest his disinterestedness. His correspondence was most extensive. His narratives, printed from time to time, made the world acquainted with his operations, with his receipts and expenditures, and the prospects of usefulness from his school. The establishment of a college was indispensable in order most effectually, in the wisest amid best manner, to promote the objects, which he had in view. His school having been long

a well known institution, its removal to some other place and conversion into a college was a matter of deep interest to the settlers and owners of land in different parts of the country, which enabled Dr. Wheelock to obtain liberal offers from various towns for its establishment in them.*

* Among his correspondents, whose letters are preserved, were John Thornton, Esq; Rev. Messrs. Whitefield, Gifford and, and Erskine ; presidents Burr, Davies, Edwards, Clap, and Stiles; Rev. David and John Brainerd; Governors Livingston and Wentworth; Gen. P. Lyman; Rev. Messrs. Buell, Bellamy, W. Tennant, Solomon Wiiliams, T. Edwards, and S. Kirkland.

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 30

3. Dr. Wheelock was persevering, and incessant it labor. He early placed one great object before him, and on that one great object he kept fixed his undivided attention for nearly half a century. There was with him no vacillation, no wavering in his purpose, no distracting views to relax the energy of his zeal. It is not easy to describe the variety of his cares and the extent of his toils. In Lebanon for thirty-four years he had the charge of a parish. His school, in its various interests, required his incessant watchfulness and effort. Indians were to be drawn from the wilderness, and superintended in their daily conduct; a teacher procured provision to be made for the supply of their wants from public or private charity from year to year; accounts to be kept and submitted to the trustees, missionaries to be educated, and sent out into the wilderness, and there supported. And when he removed to Hanover, his labors were doubled. The two institutions, the school and the college, were ever kept distinct; in both he was a teacher ; of both he was the chief governor. He had houses to build, mills to erect, and lands to clear up and cultivate. He was also the preacher of the college and the village, it is no wonder, that under the weight of such labors and amidst the vexations of a multitude of minute affairs, he should sometimes find himself heavily oppressed. Yet he wished not for repose in this world. He desired to toil, so long as it should please his great Master to continue him on the earth, and then to enter into rest.

4. He was an excellent and faithful minister and an eloquent preacher. Not that he was a writer of polished and elegant sermons. The occupation of his time by other cares would not allow of this. But he plainly and with almost unequalled success preached the great doctrines of the gospel for nearly half a century. Many were the converts, in different parts of the country, under his preaching. Thousands hung upon his lips. The testimony of Dr. Trumbull to his eloquence has already been quoted. Though he knew how to deal in terror; yet he had a most attracting, winning address, and his heart loved to dwell upon the grace and mercy of the Redeemer, and to invite sinners to believe in his name and to accept his free salvation. The circumstance of his being followed in Boston from the meeting-house by a crowd of children, who begged him to give them a word of exhortation, is a most touching scene, and a proof that his manner was tender, affectionate, and most winning.

A learned and elegant writer on subjects of deep importance is to be regarded as a public benefactor ; but much more so is he to be regarded, who with the tongue of eloquence toils incessantly to bring divine truth to bear upon the consciences and hearts of the ignorant, the sinful, and the perishing, and who establishes seminaries, in which are reared up the laborers, who shall toil in the wide field of the world, already "white unto the harvest."

5. Dr. Wheelock was of a cheerful and pleasant temper, and manifested much urbanity in his deportment. Yet the multitude and weight of his affairs, combined with the occasional gloom of hypochondria, sometimes extorted from him groans. He had a most delicate sense of propriety. His numerous acquaintances he always received in the most cordial and hospitable manner. His friends were bound to him by the strongest ties. He used to say, that he abhorred that religious profession, "which was not marked with good manners."

6. In his government of his school and college Dr. Wheelock combined great patience and kindness with the energy of necessary and indispensable discipline. It was no small labor to tame the ferocity of the Indian

[1838] Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. 31

and to reduce them to submission. When for a flagrant fault such a youth was to be corrected by his preceptor, Dr. Wheelock was usually present to witness the punishment, and to acid his solemn and kind admonition. He was generally obeyed from affection; but he knew how, by severe rebuke, to overawe the offender. The incorrigible he removed, lest they should contaminate others.

7. In the last place, he was a man of faith and prayer.

He believed in God’s word and relied on his promise. Amidst difficulties, he never desponded, for he was satisfied that he was engaged in a good work, which God approved, and he felt assured therefore of the divine blessing. He had an unshaken confidence in the great Jehovah. To him, in obedience to his command, he made continually his supplication, and sought his benediction on his labors. Before setting out on a journey, he always prayed with his family and students. He often set apart certain seasons for prayer. A concert of prayer, when two of his missionaries were going out to the Ohio, was proposed by him to them and his pupils,—that "beside daily remembrance of one another at the throne of grace, they might spend special seasons Saturday and Sabbath evenings, between 6 and 7 o’clock, in prayer to God for his protection, presence, and blessing upon them, and on all missionaries, gone to proclaim salvation to the heathen."

Knowing the power of prayer, he says, at the close of his last narrative, in 1775,—. "I believe I have found the benefit of the prayers of many of the lovers of Zion for this institution, and I earnestly bespeak the continuance of them, that God would graciously perfect what is yet wanting, and build it up for the glory of his own great name." For all colleges Christians may well incessantly pray.

His last act was an act of prayer, before uttering his final words, "Oh, my family, be faithful unto death." It cannot be doubted, that he was faithful, and has gone to inherit the promised reward in heaven. On his monument, as on that of the martyr, Polycarp of Smyrna, might well be engraven a circular wreath or crown of olive-leaves, to denote his immortal crown ; and well may the words of Christ to the church of Smyrna come with force to the heart of every reader of this memoir,—" BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, AND I WILL GIVE THEE A CROWN OF LIFE!"