The History of Dartmouth College

by Baxter Perry Smith

"The round of college duties presents few marked events. Time has left no record of most of the occurrences which diversified and enlivened the period from 1797 to 1799. How the two friends studied, and read, and discussed, and recreated together, has been lost, just as the facts of our daily life will be lost sixty years hence. They made constant and good progress. They were about equally good scholars, neither of them being a dead weight upon the other. Each was happy in the other's proficiency. The amount of learning requisite for a degree was less then than now. Sciences have been introduced into the course which were then in their infancy. But it may be doubted whether the students of our day have the advantage over those of an earlier period, in respect to thoroughness as well as extent of attainment. They read fewer books, in the first years of the college, but they thought the more. They were as well disciplined and able, and as competent to handle a difficult subject, I imagine, as our students, if they were not as well informed. We know from the esteem in which Shurtleff was held by the Trustees and Faculty, as it appeared not long after his graduation, that he was one of the best scholars of his time.

"Peculiar interest attaches to the religious experience of Shurtleff during his college course.

"He had performed some of the duties of a Christian before he supposed himself to possess the Christian character. The first school he taught he opened daily with prayer, persevering in the practice as a conscientious duty, in spite of many misgivings and much timidity. And this he did in every school he afterward taught. He kept up the habit of secret prayer, at the same time, asking more earnestly than for anything else, that his weak eyes might be cured, and that he might have the means of intellectual improvement.

"He seems to have supposed that during his senior winter vacation he became a true Christian.

"Soon after his return to college, he intimated a desire to a classmate, who, as he supposed, was the only professor of religion in the class, to join with others in a private meeting for religious conference and prayer. He had never attended, or even heard of such a meeting. After a little delay he was surprised to learn from his friend that such a meeting as he had proposed had been held for years, and that he was desired to attend. On the Saturday evening following, he and five or six other persons assembled, and by the free interchange of thought and feeling, and the apparently humble prayers that were offered, he felt himself greatly refreshed and quickened. On leaving college he regretted the loss of nothing more than of these Saturday evening conference meetings.

"The time had now come for choosing a profession. His success in teaching led him to seek for a situation in an academy; but no opening of this kind presented itself, and he believed himself thus providentially called to preach the gospel. There were at the time no theological seminaries; the students of the distinguished clergymen who gave instruction in theology were supposed to represent the views of their teacher; and that he might not be thought to go forth as the advocate of some exceptionable ism, Mr. Shurtleff chose to study theology by himself. Having pursued this course one year, he was appointed a tutor in the college, and at the same time was licensed to preach. The pressure of a considerable debt hastened the period of obtaining license, but we may be certain, from the opportunities subsequently enjoyed, and from the character of the man, that any deficiency he may have felt at first, from hasty preparation, was abundantly supplied.

"Mr. Shurtleff continued in the tutorship from 1800 to 1804, and was also engaged, for the greater part of the time, in preaching in vacant parishes.

"After the close of the four years' tutorship, Mr. Shurtleff was appointed a professor of Divinity in the college. It was a part of his duty to preach to the students and the people of the village. The church was at that time Presbyterian. The predecessor of Professor Shurtleff—Professor Sylvanus Ripley—had been the pastor of this church. Since his death, in 1787, Dr. John Smith, professor of Languages, previously associate pastor with Professor Ripley, had been the sole pastor of the church. Dr. Backus, of Conn., Dr. Worcester, of Salem, and Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, had been appointed at different times to the vacant professorship, but all had declined, in consequence, as it was supposed, of the influence of Dr. John Wheelock, the second president of the college. Professor Shurtleff accepted the office, expecting that the same causes which had kept it so long vacant would render it an uncomfortable post. The difficulties which he feared, he was called to encounter. The president wished him to become the colleague of Professor Smith in the pastoral office, but he refused,—agreeing in his decision with the views of the largest part of the church and of the village. In consequence of this disagreement, a controversy ensued which lasted several years, and ended in the law-suit between the college and the State, in 1816-17. In July, 1805, twenty-two persons, professors of religion, were constituted 'The Congregational Church at Dartmouth College.' To this church, and the religious society of which it was a part, Professor Shurtleff was invited to preach, performing pastoral labors so far as his other duties would permit. Professor Smith was, meanwhile, the pastor of the Presbyterian church till the time of his death, in April, 1809. Professor Shurtleff was ordained as an evangelist, at Lyme, N. H., in 1810. He continued in this relation until the year 1827.

"The literary labors of his office would have been quite sufficient to occupy all his time. In addition to these, an amount of work nearly equal to that of any pastor of a church was imposed on him—fully equal, perhaps, we shall say, if we consider the character of the congregation to whom he ministered. He was faithful and assiduous, both as a preacher and a pastor. But he performed the many duties of his station with acceptance and success. And he had the satisfaction of seeing that his efforts were crowned with the special blessing of God. In 1805 God displayed his saving power among the students and people of the village. As many as forty persons became Christians during the revival. But the most extensive and powerful work of grace, probably, which the church ever enjoyed was that of 1815. The revival began in the hearts of God's people. Some of the pious students resolved that they would every day talk with some unconverted person respecting the interests of his soul. The effect of this soon appeared in a general religious awakening. In one week forty persons expressed hope in Christ, and in four weeks as many as one hundred and twenty persons were supposed to be converted. There were also revivals in 1819, 1821, and 1826,—that of 1821 being the most extensive, and embracing among the converts a greater number of citizens than of students. Public religious meetings were less numerous during the revivals than in most of those of a later period. It was before the day of protracted meetings. Perhaps there was less reliance then on means, and more on the Spirit of God. It was not thought necessary that business should be suspended, and every day converted into a Sabbath. But such means as the state of feeling seemed to require were faithfully used. Professor Shurtleff was never happier than when engaged in conversation with inquirers, or in conducting meetings for conference and prayer. The informality and freedom of these meetings made them attractive. They were probably quite as useful as the more regular ministrations of the pulpit. The speaker can say that he never visited a more solemn place than the old district school-house—which stood where the brick school-house now stands—often was, on a Sunday evening during the progress of a conference meeting. A distinguished professor of a neighboring college, who was here in 1815, says that 'The evidence of an increasing seriousness among the students at large, in that revival, was first shown, so far as I can recollect, by the more crowded attendance at these meetings.' Not that the more formal services of the Sabbath were not also impressive and profitable. The same gentleman says of the preaching of Professor Shurtleff at this time: 'The general impression made on me by several of his sermons I remember to the present day. I liked to hear him preach, even before I took any especial interest in religion as a personal concern. His sermon on the text, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended," etc., produced a deep effect at the time of its delivery which was not soon forgotten. I remember the stillness and solemnity of the audience. This sermon must have been delivered some little time before the revival.' The same gentleman further states, that 'During the whole of this revival, and the gathering in of the fruits of it into the church, Professor Shurtleff was the leading instrument of the work, so far as human agency was concerned. He went into it with his whole heart. I have seen him and his excellent wife almost overpowered with joy when told of a new case of conversion among the students. He did a great deal—all that one man could do, as it seemed to me—to promote the good work by his own personal efforts.' It is in the power of the speaker to give similar testimony respecting the revival of 1821.

"When Professor Shurtleff entered upon the duties of his professorship, and for many years afterward, he met with much opposition. But his position was constantly growing stronger, both as it respects the sympathy of his Christian brethren and the clergy, and his popularity as an instructor. I have not been able to learn that there was a whisper of discontent with his instructions during the whole of the period from 1804 to 1827. The testimony of one of the best students of the Class of 1816 is, that 'As an instructor, particularly in Moral Philosophy, he was much thought of; and we were careful never to miss one of his recitations on this subject. His way of putting questions, and answering such as were proposed to himself, showed great judgment and shrewdness.' Quite a number of persons in the classes for seven or eight years following the time here referred to, were preëminent as scholars and as men. May not the fact be partly accounted for by the impulse and guidance of the mind of this instructor? He constituted a large portion of the faculty from 1815 to 1819, there being at that time only two professors,—Professor Adams and Professor Shurtleff. The graduates of the college who had been his pupils were never backward in acknowledging their obligations to him.