He was a man of a feeling heart, always sensibly affected at the sight of human suffering. His sensibility knew no bounds. He exhibited quickness of perception and had the advantage of a never-failing memory. The confidence generally reposed in him by both ministers and the people credit him with having mature judgment. Although lacking in what is commonly known as classical education, as he never penetrated very far into the Greek and Latin classics, his mind was decidedly literary. He read the Latin language fairly well but had never read more than the Greek testament and Septuagint. He was well read, however, in the English classics and his discourses show taste for the beauties of poetry and elegant composition.
Haynes was always industrious, his early habits having been formed in the rigid pursuits of business. At home he was a man of the highest domestic virtue. His family government was strictly parental, based on reason and principle, not on passion or blind indulgence. He was always strict, ever adhering to a standard of the most Puritanic order. Having early formed the high ideals of uprightness, no man could ever bring against him the charge of dishonesty. Above all he was a man of consistent piety and resignation to the will of God.
His dying testimony was: "I love my wife, I love my children, but I love my Saviour better than all." A plain marble marks his grave. On it is this inscription, prepared by himself:
"Here lies the dust of a poor hell-deserving sinner, who ventured into eternity trusting wholly on the merits of Christ for salvation. In the full belief of the great doctrines he preached while on earth, he invites his children and all who read this, to trust their eternal interest on the same foundation."
So lived and died one of the noblest of the New England Congregational ministers of a century ago. Of illegitimate birth, and of no advantageous circumstances of family, rank or station, he became one of the choicest instruments of Christ. His face betrayed his race and blood, and his life revealed his Lord.
W. H. Morse.
Hartford, Conn.
Footnotes:
[1] Cooley, Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes, p. 36.
[2] Ibid., p. 38.