"I have never learned that there were, before my birth, any prophecies delivered by any one, or that any one had dreamed anything concerning myself. If there happened, at the time of my birth, an earthquake, or the appearance of a comet, or any other phenomenon of nature which indicated anything relative to me, or signified what manner of person I should become, in what employment my life should be spent, whether I should become useful to society or a nuisance, the fact has never come to my knowledge."
The life of Mr. Ballou is so intimately woven with the annals of Universalism that the account of the one must be an almost complete life of the other. He nursed the first dawn of belief in impartial and free grace to all mankind, and lived to see the blessed doctrine grow and spread over the land, like the day, from its breaking to the meridian. He was the pioneer, the leader, the propagator, of Universalism.
During April, 1848, he visited and preached in Philadelphia, New York, &c., and on his return expressed himself as he always did of the brethren in those cities, and that he had been made most happy in his communion with them.
About this period, an infatuated preacher of future punishment, somewhere in the northern part of New York State, while in a high state of excitement, declared to his audience that Universalists and Infidels always renounced their belief before they died, and absolutely instanced old Hosea Ballou, as he termed him, who had lately died, penitent and fully repentant for his evil life, entirely refuting all his former belief, and praying to be saved from the wrath to come. Equally ridiculous allusions were made to his wife, who was said to have showed more consistency, and to have died stubbornly adhering to her old principles. This ridiculous assertion was reported in a paper published in the vicinity, and a copy marked and sent to Mr. Ballou.
We asked him if he had not better address a brief letter to the editor, just to confound the propagator of the falsehood. "No," said he; "I have learned, by experience, that libels, if neglected, are forgotten; if resented, they too frequently pass for merited satire."
In the month of June, 1849, Mr. Ballou visited Troy, N. Y., for a few weeks, and preached there and in the neighborhood, with his accustomed vigor and mental power. His clear, musical tones of voice were as perfectly modulated as ever, and his mental and physical vigor was the occasion of remark by all who listened to him.
One of Mr. Ballou's latest impromptu efforts at versification was elicited by a request for his autograph, by a young lady, who presented her album for this purpose, and in which he wrote the following lines:
THE MAID I PRIZE.
"The maid I prize may not be one
Whose beauty dazzles vulgar eyes;
Those glowing folds 't were wise to shun,
Where death in hidden poison lies.
The maid I prize may not rely
On costly robes my heart to win;
The rose's blush, the lily's dye,
Can ne'er commend a breast of sin.