Otis A. Skinner.
Rev. Otis A. Skinner was an honor to the church. His native place was Royalton, Vt., but he came forth as a minister from Langdon, N. H., at the early age of nineteen. He was apprenticed to a clothier for a while before his ministry began. From his first school days he was thoughtful and studious, and succeeded in gaining a very good English education, beside giving some attention to the Greek and Latin languages. He was for some time a student with Rev. S. C. Loveland, of Reading, Vt. The writer first saw him at Kingston, N. H., at the session of the Rockingham Association, in 1828. He was just twenty-one, and a most attractive young man to behold, a sweet sunshiny glow in his comely countenance, which seemed most agreeably set in his golden ringlets of hair. We heard him preach then, at a private house, to a very good audience in the evening. He stood in front of the old family clock, and gave us a very sensible and well-arranged discourse from the text, "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Ps. cxxvi. 6). It was full of the plainest Universalism. He was soon settled in Woburn, Mass., where he gave a good account of himself, and afterwards in Baltimore, Md., where he was united in marriage with Angela, eldest daughter of Rev. Sebastian Streeter. He had a vigorous ministry in that city, including a public theological controversy with Rev. Mr. Breckenridge of the Presbyterian Church. From Baltimore he came back to Massachusetts, and settled in Haverhill, where he edited for a time the "Gospel Sun," as he had edited the "Southern Pioneer" in Baltimore.
A new Universalist society having been formed of worshippers in Boylston Hall, Boston, he was invited to become its pastor. So prosperous was his ministry, that a church edifice was soon erected in Warren Street. Here his pulpit services and pastoral work were very acceptable. He became a publisher of valuable books, and again the editor of a monthly journal, "The Universalist Miscellany." In 1846 he became pastor of Orchard Street Universalist Church in New York city; and in 1848 consented to be agent for raising $100,000 for the new college (now Tufts) proposed to be erected in Medford, Mass. For seven years he was in this laudable work, giving it his faithful attention in addition to his duties as pastor of the Warren Street Church, to the ministry of which he had been invited again most unanimously. No man could have been in his "labors more abundant" than he in this canvassing for the new college. He solicited everywhere, and especially among those of like faith with himself. Indifference, the averted eye or "cold shoulder," chilled not his ardor. He drew, by his persuasive words, dollars from pockets that seemed at his first call firmly closed against him. He succeeded in securing the amount needed for the endowment of the college and its necessary expenses, superintended the erection of the buildings, and at times when the means could not otherwise be readily obtained, paid the workmen from his quarterly pastor's income. One of the proudest days of his life was that on which the corner-stone of the college was laid. Since then, the institution has prospered; larger endowments have given it strength, faithful teachers have honored it, and its sons have gone forth bearing with them the evidences of the scholarship which can be secured to its students. Beautiful for outward situation, a literary Mount Zion of the Universalist Church in New England, it gives promise of yet increasing prosperity. But never will it outgrow its indebtedness to its first financial agent, who wrought so indefatigably, nobly, and successfully in its behalf.
In 1857 Mr. Skinner was induced by family considerations to move West. After residing in Elgin, Kansas County, Ill., for a few months, he was invited and persuaded to become president of Lombard University, at Galesburg, Ill. Here again was work for him, as the college needed much exertion that it might prosper. And he aided it essentially. But the task was too heavy, and after two years' hard service his health gave way. The death of his brother Samuel occurring at Chicago, he was called upon to give attention to his financial affairs. This was an additional burden too great for him to bear, but still his spirit for a while seemed proof against his bodily weaknesses. He removed to Joliet, and took upon him more than two healthful men could perform. He would preach to his own congregation in Joliet on Sunday morning, then ride five miles to Lockport and preach at one o'clock, thence nine miles to Plainfield and hold a service at three, and then return home to meet a crowd of listeners in his own church in the evening. This, added to his missionary work in the adjoining country towns, including funeral services on other days of the week, together with his business perplexities in the settlement of his brother's estate, proved too much for him. The end of this useful earthly life was near; fever set in, and did its work rapidly. It was the Christian believer's death scene. His faith was strong, his hope bright, his face and thought were turned heavenward. The last interview with a beloved daughter was inexpressibly touching,—her heroic self-control and his calm, heavenly resignation. His departure was the Christian saint's triumph. It occurred Sept. 18, 1861.
There was nothing of the flashy or sensational in the ministry of Mr. Skinner. He was a plain, logical, practical preacher, "in doctrine showing uncorruptness," an able expounder of the Scriptures, and a faithful looker-up of religious error. His strictures on the revivalism of Rev. Mr. Knapp in Boston, and his review of Rev. Theodore Parker's theology, in the "Universalist Miscellany," were good evidences of his fidelity to the New Testament Gospel and the intent of its work with mankind. As a pastor he was not to be excelled. He knew his flocks at their homes, and personal attachments to him as a friend, adviser, and companion were very strong. He was in this calling one of the models. He received the degree of A. M. from Harvard University, and that of D. D. from Lombard.
Of his brother Samuel P. we may say that he was a man of more than ordinary endowments. He was for a time in the ministry, and preached some in New England. He afterwards became editor of the "New Covenant," in Chicago. He was a quiet and sensible preacher, and excelled as a writer of clear, compact, and well-arranged expositions of Scripture, many of which enriched the columns of his paper.
Rev. Joseph Oberlin Skinner was of Piermont, N. H., born there in 1816. He came into the ministry through much hard study and striving. Trained in the old theology of New England, he became a believer in Universalism by being first awakened to a consideration of its doctrines by the preaching of Rev. John Moore. In 1834 he went to Lowell, Mass., and was for a time employed in a cotton-mill. He was encouraged by Rev. T. B. Thayer, then pastor of the First Universalist Church in that city, to enter the ministry, and was afterwards a student of theology in the family of Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, of Malden, Mass. He was minister in Holliston, Framingham, Dudley, and Concord, Mass.; in Ludlow and Chester, Vt.; in Nashua, N. H.; in Malone, N. Y.; in Montpelier and St. Albans, Vt.; and in Waterville, Me., where he died of paralysis, in 1879. He was for a time associate editor of the "Christian Repository," published at Montpelier, Vt. His labors were many and successful. His literary accomplishments were of a high order, and he was a faithful and impressive preacher. At the last of life he was confined to his bed for more than eleven months, helpless, but in quiet resignation to the Divine will. When asked if the faith with which he had comforted others was sufficient for himself in this great trial, he answered in the affirmative, adding, "I do not want any new revelation; I am satisfied with what we now have." He was a frequent contributor to the denominational and secular papers, wrote many articles for the "Universalist Quarterly," and prepared a history of the Masonic lodge of Waterville, which was very highly appreciated by the members of that order. He was for many years the accurate and able editor of the yearly "Universalist Register." In recognition of his scholarly attainments, Colby University, in 1872, conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M.
Nathaniel Stacy, born in New Salem, Franklin County, Mass., came to manhood at the close of the last century, and, after hard toiling in early life, with but small educational advantages, he concluded from sincere convictions of duty to become a preacher of the faith which he had embraced in early life. He was small and feeble bodily, but of sanguine temperament and great firmness and persistence of will. He was encouraged by Rev. Hosea Ballou to leave a secular avocation and prepare himself for the ministry. His first sermon was preached with much diffidence on his part, but he was encouraged to persevere in his efforts, and soon came to be a very acceptable speaker wherever he appeared as an advocate of his faith. He itinerated much in Massachusetts and Vermont, and afterwards much more in the Middle and Western States. No preacher of the Gospel was ever more engrossed in his work than he. All the vicissitudes of an itinerant's life were his for many years. Yet his ardor never waned, and his hopefulness helped him to meet all discouragements and surmount all obstacles. He was a veritable Christian apostle, and was welcomed everywhere by young and old wherever he came as a messenger to the churches. Many remember his ministry with deepest satisfaction, and his name stands high in the church as one of the most truthful and devoted of its evangelists. His autobiography was published in quite a large volume, in Columbus, Pa., in 1850. It is full of interesting incidents and apt and able expositions of the faith of the Gospel. Mr. Stacy departed this life at Columbus, Pa., April 4, 1869.
Rev. Stephen R. Smith. Of this eloquent and honored minister, his biographer, Dr. T. J. Sawyer, writes:—
"Few men have risen to a higher position in the denomination of Universalists, exerted a wider influence, or wrought out a brighter or more enviable fame. He was born and educated in the humblest circumstances. Being early led by the force of his own convictions to embrace an unpopular faith, he soon found himself impelled by a stern sense of duty to consecrate his life to its promulgation and defence. His health, never the firmest, was soon shattered by incessant application to study and the hardships endured in the early planting of Universalism in Central and Western New York, so that a large part of his life was spent and his work done under this great disadvantage. But the soul that burned within him was superior to bodily infirmity, and flashed and blazed forth from a frame so attenuated and slender that even those most familiar with him were astonished by the vigor and sweep of his transcendent intellect, the youthful play of his fancy, and the strokes of his wit. Nor was his moral character inferior to his intellectual endowments. Seldom does one meet with a warmer heart or a sterner integrity than distinguished him."[44]