LETTERS.—DIARY.
At the beginning of the year 1851, Mr. Lawrence writes to President Hopkins:
"The closing of the old year was like our western horizon after sunset, bright and beautiful; the opening of the new, radiant with life, light, and hope, and crowned with such a costume of love as few old fathers, grandfathers, and uncles, can muster; in short, my old sleigh is the pet of the season, and rarely appears without being well filled, outside and inside. It is a teacher to the school-children, no less than to my grandchildren; for they all understand that, if they are well-behaved, they can ride with me when I make the signal; and I have a strong persuasion that this attention to them, with a present of a book and a kind word now and then, makes the little fellows think more of their conduct and behavior. At any rate, it does me good to hear them call out, 'How do you do, Mr. Lawrence?' as I am driving along the streets and by-ways of the city." * * *
To an aged clergyman in the country, who was blind and in indigent circumstances, he writes:
"Jan. 14.
"Your letter of last week reached me on Saturday, and was indeed a sunbeam, which quickened me to do what I had intended for a 'happy new-year,' before receiving yours. I trust you will have received a parcel sent by railroad, on Monday, directed to you, and containing such things as I deemed to be useful in your family; and I shall be more than paid, if they add one tint to the 'purple light' you speak of, that opens upon your further hopes of visiting us the coming season. For many months I was unable to walk; but my feet and ankle-bones have now received strength. I feel that the prayers of friends have been answered by my renewed power to do more work. How, then, can I enjoy life better than by distributing the good things intrusted to me among those who are comforted by receiving them? So you need not feel, my friend, that you are any more obliged than I am. The enclosed bank-bills may serve to fit up the materials for use; at any rate, will not be out of place in your pocket. I trust to see you again in this world, which has to me so many interesting connecting links between the first and only time I have ever seen you (thirty-five or more years ago, in Dr. Huntington's pulpit, Old South Church) and the present."
(FROM REV. JAMES HAMILTON, D.D.)
"42 Gower-street, London, Feb. 15, 1851.
"My dear Sir: No letter which authorship has brought to me ever gave me such pleasure as I received from yours of July, 1849, enclosing one which Governor Briggs had written to you. That strangers so distinguished should take such interest in my writings, and should express yourselves so kindly towards myself, overwhelmed me with a pleasing surprise, and with thankfulness to God who had given me such favor. I confess, too, it helped to make me love more the country which has always been to me the dearest next to my own. In conjunction with some much-prized friendships which I have formed among your ministers, it would almost tempt me to cross the Atlantic. But I am so bad a sailor that I fear I must postpone personal intercourse with those American friends who do not come to England, until we reach the land where there is no more sea. However feebly expressed, please accept my heartfelt thanks for all the cost and trouble you have incurred in circulating my publications. It is pleasant to me to think that your motive in distributing them, in the first instance, could not be friendship for the author; and to both of us it will be the most welcome result, if they promote the cause of practical Christianity. Owing to weakness in the throat and chest, I cannot preach so much as many of my neighbors, and therefore I feel the more anxious that my tracts should do something for the honor of the Saviour and the welfare of mankind. You were kind enough to reprint my last lecture to young men. I could scarcely wish the same distinction bestowed on its successor, because it is a fragment. I have some thoughts of extending it into a short exposition of Ecclesiastes, which is a book well suited to the times, and but little understood. * * *
"Yours, most truly,
James Hamilton."
ABBOTT LAWRENCE
Print. by R. Andrews.
In reply to the above letter, Mr. Lawrence writes, April 8:
"I will not attempt to express to you in words my pleasure in receiving your letter of Feb. 15, with its accompaniments. The lecture delivered to the young men on the 4th of February, although designated by you as a fragment, I sent to my friend, with a copy of your letter, asking him whether he would advise its publication, and whether he would scatter it with its predecessor; and, if so, I would pay the expense. His answer you have here, and I have the pleasure of saying that the 'Fragment' will be ready to circulate by thousands the present week; and, when you shall have added your further comments upon Solomon and his works, our American Tract Society will be ready to publish the whole by hundreds of thousands, I trust, thus enabling you to preach through our whole country. The Memoir of Lady Colquhon is a precious jewel, which I shall keep among my treasures to leave my descendants. I had previously purchased a number of copies of the American edition, and scattered them among my friends, so that there is great interest to see your copy sent me. The part of your letter which touched my heart most was that in which you speak of my brother Abbott, and say of him that 'no foreign minister is such a favorite with the British public.' It brought him before me like a daguerreotype likeness, through every period of his life for fifty years. First, as the guiding spirit of the boys of our neighborhood, in breaking through the deep snow-drifts which often blocked up the roads in winter; then as my apprentice in the city; and, in a few years, as the young military champion, to watch night and day, under arms, on the point of Bunker Hill nearest the ocean, the movements of a British fleet lying within four or five miles of him, and threatening the storming of Boston; then, soon after, as embarking in the very first ship for England, after the close of the war, to purchase goods, which were received here in eighty-three days after he sailed. Since that time, our firm has never been changed, except by adding '& Co.,' when other partners were admitted. He has been making his way to the people's respect and affection from that time to this, and now fills the only public station I would not have protested against his accepting, feeling that place cannot impart grace. My prayers ascend continually for him, that he may do his work under the full impression that he must give an account to Him whose eye is constantly upon him, and whose 'Well done' will be infinitely better than all things else. I believe he is awakening an interest to learn more about this country; and the people will be amazed to see what opportunities are here enjoyed for happiness for the great mass. What we most fear is that ignorance which will bring everything down to its own level, instead of that true knowledge, which shall level up the lowest places, now inundated with foreign emigrants. Our duty is plain; and, if we do not educate and elevate this class of our people they will change our system of government within fifty years. Virtue and intelligence are the basis of this government; and the duty of all good men is to keep it pure. * * *
"And now, my friend, what can I say that will influence you to come here, and enjoy with me the beautiful scenes upon and around our Mount Zion?
"With the highest respect and affection, I am most truly yours,
"Amos Lawrence.
"P. S.—Mrs. L. desires me to present to you and your lady her most respectful regard, with the assurance that your writings are very precious to her. She is a granddaughter to a clergyman of your 'Kirk,' and enjoys much its best writings."
To the same gentleman he writes soon after:
"And now let me speak about the 'Royal Preacher.'[14] I expected much, but not so much as I found in it. We, on this side the Atlantic, thank you; and the pictures of some of our own great men are drawn to the life, although their history and character could not have been in your eye. Truth is the same now as in Solomon's time; and it is surprising that the mass of men do not see and acknowledge that 'the saint is greater than the sage, and discipleship to Jesus the pinnacle of human dignity.' I have had, this morning, two calls, from different sections of our Union, for your 'Life in Earnest,' 'Literary Attractions of the Bible,' 'Solomon,' 'Redeemed in Glory,' &c., which I responded to with hearty good-will. Some of the books will go out of the country many thousand miles, and will do good. I must shake hands with you across the Atlantic, if you can't 'screw up' your courage to come here, and bid you God-speed in all your broad plans for the good of your fellow-men.
"I have a great respect for deep religious feelings, even when I cannot see as my friends do; and therefore pray God to clear away, in his good time, all that is now dark and veiled.
"It is time for me to say farewell."