Biography of Rev. Hosea Ballou

by Maturin M. Ballou

The maid I prize has tears for grief,
And soft compassion for the poor;
'Tis her delight to grant relief;
Where want resides she knows the door.

The maid I prize hath chosen that part
The golden Indies cannot buy;
And garnered in a pious heart
A treasure far above the sky."

As late as December, 1851, and January, 1852, Mr. Ballou passed five weeks in the city of New York, preaching to the societies there frequently three times of a Sabbath, and at conference meetings during other days of the week. He was often called upon for lengthy remarks, which he most cheerfully and heartily gave. He was never so happy, never so well, as when engaged about his Master's business; and though, at this age,—eighty-one,—his form was a little bent, and his step less firm than of yore, yet in the pulpit he stood as erect as at fifty. His whole soul seemed to dilate, and his firmness of voice and body to be like iron; so much so, indeed, that it was usual to hear remarks to this effect, from all quarters, wherever he appeared.

During this his last visit to New York, he wrote to us as follows:

"Maturin: A kind Providence brought me safely hither in due course, and I have already made several appointments and promises relative to my services while I tarry here. As in years gone by, I find the same cordial hospitality here, and brotherly love extended towards me still. I need hardly say how grateful this is to my feelings. We grow, perhaps, more sensitive, as we advance in age, as to these little kindnesses and attentions, that unitedly go to make up the quiet peace and happiness of private life.

"Our Heavenly Father has smiled upon the sacred cause in this place, and the churches flourish here exceedingly. Even now I am about to proceed to New Jersey, to dedicate a new temple, raised to the service of the living God. To me, the increase of the denomination with which I have so long been identified is a source of peculiar satisfaction. My bodily health is fully as good as when I left Boston; and, by the blessing of Divine Goodness, I trust again to be at home in a brief period, to enjoy the society of those near and dear to me. Please tell your mother to duly regard her health, and remember me kindly to all the family.

"Affectionately,
"Hosea Ballou."

"After the singing of another anthem," says the correspondent of the Trumpet, in a letter from Newark relative to the dedication referred to, "came the sermon, by our venerable and beloved Father Ballou, from the fitting words recorded in 1 Chron. 16: 29. The audience was not large, but respectable in number; and from the first moments when the gray-haired speaker stood up before the people till he sat down again, the most marked and almost breathless attention was given. The speaker believed that 'the name of the Lord' expressed all the attributes of His adorable character. He proceeded to notice some of those attributes, with wonderful power and simplicity, enforcing the truth that goodness must be coëxtensive with wisdom in the Divine character. He illustrated the workings of the law of love, as opposed to the law of fear, by the examples of the grateful offerings of our people to the beloved Washington and Lafayette. The people honored them, not because a terrible penalty was threatened should they refuse to yield the tribute, but because they loved them. Worship, true worship, cannot be bought; it must be free. It can be offered only to a God infinite in goodness and mercy. Father Ballou affectionately exhorted the people to give unto the Lord, in the neat temple they had reared, the glory so justly due for all his revelations of good will to the children of men. As children, filled with gratitude, should they come into his courts. A severe, yet kind-spirited rebuke, was administered to those who go to church simply to display fine apparel, or because it is fashionable. In doing our duty, we are happy, we offer unto the Lord; while they who serve fashion and popularity have just their reward, and no more.

"I have never listened to this aged servant of God with greater delight and profit than on that occasion. It hardly seemed possible that so clear, and forcible, and eloquent a production, could come from the mouth of one who has borne the brunt of eighty-one years."

At the age of four score, Mr. Ballou preached before the New York Convention of Universalists, at Boston, in September, 1851. Concerning this occasion, Rev. A. C. Thomas, in the autobiography before quoted from, says: "He (Mr. Ballou) is an exception to the 'labor and sorrow' affirmed of those who, by reason of strength, attain that period of life. He was, indeed, feeble in body; but 'his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.' He saw as clearly as ever into the 'root of the matter,' and largely exemplified his peculiar force of argumentation. Was there ever a clearer or more forcible illustration than the one he presented regarding a mother and her child?—'Your child has fallen into the mire, and its body and its garments are defiled. You cleanse it, and array it in clean robes. The query is, Do you love your child because you have washed it, or did you wash it because you loved it?'"

Mr. Ballou's contributions to the press largely increased during the latter years of his life, and the articles he wrote, at various times, during this period, will bear the most critical examination, as it regards the soundness of their doctrinal points, the excellence and purity of their style, and the Christian spirit they invariably show forth in every line. These contributions to the press have appeared mainly in the "Trumpet and Universalist Magazine," the "Universalist Quarterly," and the "Christian Freeman."

In 1851, at the solicitation of Rev. Mr. Usher, book publisher, Mr. Ballou edited a collection of his sermons, and wrote some original articles, which were published under the title of "A Voice to Universalists." This book also contained a collection of Mr. Ballou's fugitive verses, published many years since, and written for the poet's corner of his paper. We can, perhaps, give no better review or reference to this book, than by copying Rev. Thomas Whittemore's published review of it, which we subjoin.