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MEMOIR

LIFE AND CHARACTER

SAMUEL HOPKINS, D. D

BY EDWARDS A. PARK, D. D.

SECOND EDITION.

BOSTON:
DOCTRINAL TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY.
1854.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
Sewa_l Hakdino,
In the Clerk's Office of fhe District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

Mi a..
tinvl

STEltEOTYPED AT TH3
BOSTON STEREOTY-E POUXDRY.

PREFACE TO THE MEMOIR.

A recent number (CXI.) of the Westminster Review contains the fol
lowing remark : " A fault of the Americans, to which we fear they are he
coming more and more addicted, is a certain tendency to decry the abilities
and virtues of their most distinguished historical characters.'' The justness
of this remark, is apparent in the disposition of some American authors to
depreciate the merits of Samuel Hopkins. The ensuing Memoir is by no
means a full vindication of this distinguished " historical " personage. An
adequate account of his life and lahors would fill a large volume. The
materials for such a volume are still extant A selection from them is now
given to the public. This selection is sufficient to prove the strength and
the piety of Hopkins, as well as his great influence upon the American
churches. In publishing his Journal, Letters, and other manuscripts, no attempt has
been made to correct their faulty style ; but they are printed, in the main,
as they were originally written. In some few instances, where his words
were illegible, or very obscure, the biographer has inserted, urithin brackets,
the terms or phrases which seemed to express the idea intended in the origi
nal manuscript.
For many of the facts stated in the ensuing pages, the biographer is in
debted to surviving parishioners or personal friends of Dr. Hopkins, and to
several literary gentlemen who have interested themselves in antiquarian
researches. He owes especial thanks to Hon. William R. Staples and John
Kingsbury, Esq., of Providence, R. I., Walter Charming, M. D., of Boston,
Mass., Professor James L. Kingsley, of New Haven, Conn., Rev. William
B. Sprague, D. D., of Albany, N. Y., Rev. Brown Emerson, D. D., of Sa
lem, Mass., Rev. Calvin Hitchcock, D. D., of Randolph, Mass., Rev. John
Ferguson, of Whately, Mass., and to many others who have rendered him
important aid. He has derived much information from the voluminous cor
respondence of Dr. Hopkins, from two manuscript letters of the late Rev.
William E. Channing, D. D., of Boston, Mass., from the Literary Diary ol
President Stiles, and from the following printed works : " Sketches of the
Life of the late Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D., Pastor of the First Congrega-

Vlll PREFACE TO THE MEMOIR.
tional Church in Newport, written by himself; interspersed with marginal
notes extracted from his private diary : " with an Introduction by Stephen
West, D. D., Pastor of the Church in Stockbridge, Mass. ; published in Hart
ford, Conn., 1805; — "Reminiscences of the late Rev. Samuel Hopkins,
D. D., of Newport, R. I., illustrative of his character and doctrines, with
incidental subjects : from an intimacy with him of twenty-one years, while
Pastor of a sister Church in said town, by William Patten, D. D." 1843 ; —
" Memoir of the Life and Character of Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D., former
ly Pastor of the First Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island:
with an Appendix ; by John Ferguson, Pastor of the East Church in Attle-
oorough, Mass ; " published in Boston, 1830. The author of the last-named
work was, for many years, a member of the church to which Dr. Hopkins
had ministered, was an intimate friend of the widow of Dr. Hopkins, and
was personally acquainted with many facts illustrative of Hopkins's charac
ter. The Memoir which Mr. Ferguson wrote has been very fully indorsed
by Rey. Caleb, J. Tenney, Dr P„ of Wethersfield, Qomi. In a letter dated
December Jl, 1843, Dr. Tenney wrote to Mr. Ferguson :
" I hav.e lately rep.erus.ed, with increased interest, your brief Memoirs pf
the Life of the late Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D„ pf Newport, R. I.
" My residence in his family during several of the last months of his life,
I recollect, now forty years ago, as a very highly-favored passage in my own
life. This acquaintance with one of the best men, and one of the ablest di
vines, whpm I have eyer kno^n, and my settlement with the same church
and people to whpm he ministered, Ej.ffor4.ed me peculiar opportunity to learn
his character and "the facts in his history.
" Of many things in your Memoirs, I had personal knowledge, and of most
of the other things, I had the most authentic information, and can most un
hesitatingly say, that the public may rely upon your Life of Hopkins as
prepared with great accuracy and fidelity, and as approaching well to a
perfect presentation of the original in actual and real life."
It may be added, that nearly all the more important statements in the en
suing Memoir have been submitted to spme of Dr, Hopkins's former friends,
and have been inserted in the Memoir with their approval. Several of the
manuscripts herp published, haye not been seen by the biographer, but were
copied for him by trustworthy friends.
Edwards A- Park.
Andovek Theolooioal Seminary,
March 16, 1862.

CONTENTS

MEMOIR.

Sect. I. Family and Birth, pp. 9-12. Religious character of Hopkins's an
cestors, p. 11. Dr. Hopkins, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, — Dr. Hop
kins, of Hadley, Massachusetts, — and Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, of Hartford, Con
necticut, p. 10.
Sect. II. Childhood, pp. 12, 13. Correctness of demeanor, — love of home,
p. 12.
Sect. HC. College Life, and early Religious History, pp. 13-20. Discipline
in logic, p. 13. Preparation for metaphysical theology, pp. 13, 14. Eminent
classmates, p. 14. Relation to the moderate Calvinists, p. 15. Interest in
Mr. AVhitefield, p. 15; — in Mr. Gilbert Tennent, pp. 16, 18. Interview with"
David Brainerd, pp. 16, 17. Conversion, pp. 17, 18. First mention of Presi
dent Edwards, p. 18. Mrs. Edwards, p. 19. Mental dejection, pp. 18, 19.
Dr. Buell, p. 19. Circumstances attending Hopkins's conversion, in their in
fluence upon his subsequent life, p. 20.
Sect. IV. Residence at Northampton, and Study qf Theology, pp. 20-24.
Family of President Edwards, — interview with Mrs. Edwards, p. 21. Her
Hopkinsian sentiments, p. 22. Hopkins begins to preach, p. 23. Length of
time spent with President Edwards, pp. 23, 24.
Sect. V. Private Journal, p. 24.
Sect. "VI. Earliest Efforts in tiie Christian Ministry, and Feelings in View of
them, pp. 24-26. Christian modesty, — despondency, p. 25. Christian hope,
pp. 25, 26. Self-dedication, p. 26. Saturday fasts, p. 26.
Sect. YU. Reasons for Hope and Discouragement on Entering ihe Sacred Of
fice, pp. 27-32. Personal appearance of Hopkins, pp. 27, 28. Appearance in
the pulpit, p. 28. Style of elocution and of writing, pp. 28, 29. Fondness
for strong expressions, pp. 29, 30. Want of fitness for popular oratory, pp.
30, 31. Personal diffidence, p. 31. Occasional power over his hearers, pp. 31,
32. Approbation of his earliest efforts in the pulpit, p. 32.
Sect. VIII. Ordination at Housatonick, or Great Barrington, pp. 33-35.
Condition of the place, pp. 33, 35. Smallness of salary, p. 34. Fever and
ague, p. 34. Ordination day, p. 35.
Sect. IX. Mr. Hopkins in his Parochial Labor, pp. 35-37. Temperance re
form, p. 35. Feelings of a missionary, pp. 35, 36. Faithfulness to young
converts, p. 37. a

2 CONTENTS.
Sect. X. Extemporaneous and Expository Preaching, pp. 38, 39. Mr. Ser
geant's objections, p. 38. Reading of the Bible in public service, pp. 38, 39.
Memoriter preaching, p. 39.
Sect. XI. Interference of Colonial Troubles with Mr. Hopkins's Ministry, pp.
40-43. Sacrifices for his country, p. 40. Disturbance of worship, pp. 40, 41.
Nearly three months' absence on an Indian scout, p. 41. President Ed
wards's fits, p. 41. Removal from Great Barrington for safety, p. 42. Acci
dent to Mrs. Hopkins, p. 42. Letters to Dr. Bellamy, pp. 41-43. Martial
spirit, p. 43.
Sect. XII. Interest in the Aboriginal Tribes, pp. 44, 45. Preaching to the
Indians, p. 44. Invitation to settle over them, p. 44. Influence in securing
President Edwards, as their missionary, p. 44. Intimacy between Hopkins
and Edwards, pp. 44, 45. Correspondence with President Wheelock, p. 45.
Sect. XIII. Sermon to the Indians, pp. 45-49. Nalveti in preaching, p. 45.
Interesting circumstance connected with this sermon, p. 46.
Sect. XTV. Social Intercourse, pp. 49-51. Visits to President Edwards, pp.
49, 50. Their theological importance, p. 50. Criticisms on Edwards's Works,
p. 50; — on Bellamy's Works, pp. 50, 51. Dismission of President Edwards,
p. 51.
Sect. XV. Studious Life at Great Barrington, pp. 51-53. Number of hours
daily spent in study, — temperance in diet, p. 52. Extent of his reading,
p. 53.
Sect. XVI. Domestic Life and Family at Great Barrington, pp. 54-58. Let
ter to his mother, p. 54. Her death, p. 54. His marriage, p. 55. Death of
his father, pp. 55, 56. Aid to his brother, Dr. Daniel Hopkins, p. 56. Friend
ship with Mr. John Norris, p. 56. Mark Hopkins, Esq., p. 57. Dr. Hop
kins's treatment of his children, p. 57. Brief account of them, pp. 57, 58.
Sect. XVII. Influence on Public Men, pp. 5S-64. Dr. Jonathan Edwards,
pp. 58, 59. Hopkins recommends exercises in elocution, p. 59. Dr. Stephen
West, pp. 59, 60. Dr. Samuel Spring, p. 60. Rev. David Sanford, pp. 60-62.
Candor of Hopkins, p. 63. Connection of the early Hopkinsians with benev
olent institutions, pp. 60-64.
Sect. XVHI. General Influence in the Community, pp. 64-67. Half-way
covenant, p. 64. General opposition to Edwardeanism, pp. 64, 65. Hopkins
invited to New Jersey, p. 65. Relations to the college of New Jersey, pp. 65,
66. Presidency of the college, p. 66. Female prayer meeting in Boston, p. 67.
Sect. XIX. Ministry at Great Barrington, — its Termination and Results,
pp. 67-72. Admissions to his church, p. 67. His strict Calvinism unpopular,
pp. 68, 69. Opposition of the Tories to Hopkins, p. 69. His popularity at
Salem, Massachusetts, — letters to Bellamy, p. 70. Dismission, pp. 70, 71.
Bad effects of it, p. 71.
Sect. XX. Depth of Mr. Hopldns's Religious Feelings during and after his
Residence at Great Barrington, pp. 72-76. His humility, pp. 72, 73. Adora
tion, p. 74. The Trinity, p. 74. Delight in God, p. 75.
Sect. XXI. Second Candidateship, pp. 76-79. Opposition to his settlement
at Newport, pp. 76, 77. Power of his farewell sermon, pp. 77, 78. Triumph
over the opposition, pp. 78, 79.
Sect. XXII. Connection of Mr. Hopkins with Dr. Ezra Stiles, his Clerical

CONTENTS. d
Neighbor at Newport, pp. 79-83. Moderate Calvinism of Dr. Stiles, p. 79. His
opposition to Hopkins's settlement, pp. 79, 80. His account of the installa
tion, p. 80. His learned sermon, p. 81. Subsequent friendship with Dr. Hop
kins, p. 82.
Sect. XXHI. Early Prospects and Success at Newport, pp. 83-86. Relative
importance of the town, p. 83. Qualifications of Mr. Hopkins for usefulness
in it, p. 84. His various labors and success, pp. 84, 85. Church discipline,
pp. 85, 86.
Sect. XXIV. Visit from Mr. Whitefield, pp. 86, 87. Intercourse of White-
field with Hopkins, p. 86. Their debates, p. 87.
Sect. XXV. Affectionate Intercourse with Friends, pp. 87-89. His strong
friendships indicate the type of his theology, pp. 87-89. Intenseness of reli
gious joy, p. 89.
Sect. XXVI. Effect of the Revolutionary War upon the Ministry of Mr. Hop
kins, pp. 89-92. His parsonage destroyed, meeting-house injured, people im
poverished, p. 90. Increase of infidelity, p. 91. Charitable assistance ren
dered to his church, pp. 91, 92. His want of ministerial success owing, in
some measure, to political causes, pp. 91, 92.
Sect. XXVU. Conduct in the Midst of Poverty, pp. 92-95. Dr. W. E.
Channing's description of Hopkins, p. 92. Influence of his freedom from av
arice, on his theology, p. 93 ; — on his pastoral life, p. 94. Testimony of Dr.
Walter Channing, p. 94.
Sect. XXVUI. Three Years' Absence from Newport, pp. 95-98. Labors
with Dr. Spring, at Newburyport, p. 95. Success, pp. 96, 97.
Sect. XXIX. Christian Edification; the Osbom Society, pp. 98-101. Hop
kins's success in improving the character of the church, p. 98. Character of
Mrs. Osborn, p. 99. Miss Susanna Anthony, p. 100. Miss Donelly, pp.
100, 101.
Sect. XXX.' Hopkins misrepresented, pp. 101-107. Resemblance between
Hopkins and Edwards, p. 101. Channing's description of Hopkins, p. 101.
Incidents from Dr. Patten, pp. 102, 103. Hopkins on infant damnation, p.
103. His rule, in speaking of the absent, p. 103. Litervlew with the walking
philosopher, — inquisitiveness of Hopkins, p. 104. Dispute with Mr. Murray,
pp. 105, 106. Charge of illiberality, p. 107.
Sect. XXXI. Letter to Dr. Stiles, pp. 107-112. Important acknowledgment
of Dr. Stiles, — his respect for the personal character of Hopkins, p. 108. The
two axioms of Hopkinsianism, pp. 108, 109. Its unpopularity, p. 109. Dr.
Channing's explanation of Hopkins's unpopularity in the pulpit, pp. 109, 110.
Confession of Hopkins himself, pp. 110, 111. His love of solitude, p. 111.
His success in the pulpit underrated, p. 112.
Sect. XXXII. Hopkins as a Reformer, pp. 112-114. Channing's opinion
of him as a reformer, p. 112. Abstinence from ardent spirit and tobacco, —
opinions on Free-masonry, p. 113; — on lotteries, p. 114. Possession of a
slave, p. 114.
Sect. XXXHL Public Opposition to the Slave Trade and to Slavery, pp. 116-
118. Buckminster's opinion of Hopkins, — interest of Newport in the slave
trade, p. 115. Heroism of Hopkins in opposing slavery, p. 116. Effect of his

1 CONTENTS.
Dialogue, p. 117. Honorary member of manumission societies, — interview
with Dr. Bellamy, p. 118.
Sect. XXXIV. Interest in Abolition Societies, and in Political Action against
Slavery, pp. 119-129. Hopkins's knowledge of human nature, — acts of the
Rhode Island Legislature against Slavery, p. 119. Newspaper essays against
slavery, pp. 120, 122, 124. Esteem for the Quakers, pp. 120, 123. Clerical
action against slavery, pp. 121-123. Abolition societies, pp. 125-128.
Sect. XXXV. Christianization of Africa, pp. 129-138. Interview with Dr.
Stiles, on the subject, pp. 129, 130. Two candidates for missionary life, pp.
130, 131, 133. First missionary circular signed by Drs. Stiles and Hopkins,
pp. 131, 132. Results of it, pp. 132, 133. Dr. Chauncy's opposition to Hop
kins, p. 133. Second missionary circular, pp. 134-136. The third and fourth
missionary candidates, p. 136. Correspondence with Phillis Wheatley, pp.
137, 138. Monthly meeting for prayer, — an Education and a Missionary So
ciety, p. 138.
Sect. XXXVI. Colonization of Africa, pp. 138-154. Its connection with
the evangelization of Africa, p. 138. First distinct allusion to the colonization
scheme, p. 139. Opinion concerning Dr. Thornton, p. 139. Correspondence
with Granville Sharp, pp. 140-143. Correspondence with Dr. John Erskine,
pp. 143, 144. Union of the plan for evangelizing, with the plan for colonizing
Africa, pp. 144, 145. Arguments for colonization, pp. 145-148. Proposal to
secure the aid of the National Government for colonizing Africa, p. 146. Pro
posal to form a Colonization Company, pp. 146, 147. Hopkins's perseverance
and generosity in the cause of African missions and colonization, pp. 148, 149,
153. Correspondence with Zachary Macaulay, pp. 150-153.
Sect. XXXVII. Newport Gardner, pp. 154-156. His remarkable talents,
p. 154. Circumstances connected with his liberation, pp. 155, 156. His per
severance in the plan of returning to his native land, — his embarkation, —
death, p. 158. Influence of Hopkins upon him, pp. 155, 156.
Sect. XXXVIII. Church Action in Regard to Slavery, pp. 157, 158. Meas
ures for securing the freedom of a slave owned by Dr. Hopkins's deacon, —
resolution against slavery, p. 157.
Sect. XXXIX. The United States Constitution and the Slave Interest, pp.
158, 159. Hopkins's opinion of the Constitution, pp. 158, 159.
Sect. XL. Relative Position of Hopkins among the Friends of the Slave, pp.
159-165. His predecessors in opposing the slave system, p. 160. His priority
to many others, p. 161. His precedence to others in the scheme of evangeliz
ing Africa, p. 162 ; — and in the colonization scheme, pp. 162-164. His influ
ence in promoting the colonization cause, pp. 164, 165. Samuel J. Mills, pp.
164, 165.
Sect. XLI. Interest in the Negro Population of Newport, p. 166. Negro
subscribers to his System of Divinity, — testimony of Dr. Channing, p. 166.
Sect. XLII. Interest in National and Church Polity, pp. 166-169. His Fed
eralism, p. 166. His opinion on the " Plan of Union," p. 167. His Church
Articles, pp. 167-169. Relation of children to the church, p. 168. Duty of
the church in regard to the support of its pastor, p. 169.
Sect. XLIH. Influence of Hopkins's Personal Character -upon his Theological
System, pp. 169-187. His honesty, p. 170. His strength of character, pp. 170,

CONTENTS. 0
171. His love of investigation, and of metaphysics, p. 171. His benevolence
and sense of justice, pp. 172, 173. His union of the doctrines pertaining to
sovereignty, decrees, etc., with those pertaining to human freedom, pp. 172-
175. Agreement with Edwards and Emmons, pp. 173-175. His tenacity of
purpose, pp. 175, 176. His love of free, rational, and biblical inquiry, pp. 176
-180. His situation in life favored his independence of thought, p. 177. TTia
defence of New Divinity, pp. 177, 178. His disregard of human authori
ty, pp. 178, 179. His love of progress, pp. 179, 180. Fears with regard to
him, p. 180. His deference for the Bible, pp. 180, 181. Its influence on his
theological style, p. 181. His modesty, pp. 181-184. Indisposition to claim
originality, pp. 182, 183. His system Calvinistic, pp. 183, 184. His confi
dence in the extent of divine truth, — success of his theological labors, pp.
184, 185. His comprehensiveness of mind, pp. 186-187. Combination of doc
trines often regarded as antagonistic, pp. 185, 186. Repugnance of his prin
ciples to Pelagianism, p. 187.
Sect. XLIV. Writings of Hopkins, pp. 187-231. Their relation to New
England theology, pp. 187, 188.
A. Discourses on Sin, pp. 188-190. Suggested by his religious feelings, p. 189.
Opposed on the ground of their high Calvinism, p. 189. Illustrative of their author's
reverence for God, and hatred of sin, p. 190.
B. Inquiry concerning the Promises of the Gospel, pp. 190, 191. Hopkins's opin
ion on the state of infants, p. 191.
C. Reply to Mills on the Character of the Sinner's Acts, pp. 191-193. This work
contains the most noted peculiarity of Hopkinsianism, pp. 191, 192. Written amid
severe opposition, p. 19*2. Apology for his severity, p. 193.
D. Reply to Hart's Dialogue.' — Epithet " Hopkinsian," pp. 193-197. Works pub
lished against Dr. Hopkins, pp. 194, 195. * Their spirit, pp. 194-196. Relation of Hop
kinsianism to Edwardeanism, p. 195. Feelings of Hopkins in the midst of his contro
versies, pp. 196, 197.
E. Work on Holiness, pp. 197-199. Opposition of Dr. Hemmenway, pp. 197, 198.
Charges against Hopkins, p. 198. Opposition to him from England, p. 199.
F. Sermon on the Divinity of Christ, p. 199. Review of it in the Spirit of the Pil
grims, p. 199.
G. Sermons on Law and Regeneration, pp. 199-201. Germ of Emmonism, p. 200.
Character of the New England Calvinism, at that period, p. 201.
H. Work on Future Punishment, pp. 201-203. Style of it, p. 202. Respect of
Hopkins's opposers for his personal character, p. 202.
I. Theological System; pp. 203-209. Dedication of it, pp. 203, 204. Remarks of
Dr. Edwards upon it, pp. 204-207. Hopkins represented as imaginative, pp. 207, 208.
President Langdon's pamphlet against Hopkins's System, p. 209.
J. Dialogue on Disinterested Submission, pp. 209-212. Its Calvinistic spirit, pp.
209, 210. Hopkins's mode of preaching on this topic, pp. 210, 211. Dr. Channing's
remarks on Hopkins's theory of Disinterested Submission, pp. 211, 212.
K. Volume of Sermons, p. 212. Invincible ignorance excuses a transgressor, p. 212.
Divine decrees and human liberty, p. 212.
h. Writings on Slavery, p. 213.
M. Biographical Writings, pp. 213—215. Importance of Hopkins's Memoir of Ed
wards, pp. 213, 214. Resemblance between Hopkins and Edwards, pp. 213, 214.
N. Editorial Labors, pp. 216-220. Hopkins's account of Edwards's manuscript^
a*

6 CONTENTS.
pp. 2l5, 216. Hopkins's opinions on Original Sin, pp. 216', 217. Discourage_ents fn
editing the Works of Edwards, p. 217. Edwards's Treatise on the Nature of Virtue,
pp. 218, 219. Relation of Hopkins to Edwards, and comparison between them, pp.
219, 220.
O. Miscellaneous Essays, pp. 220-222. Comment on Galatians iv. 12, pp. 221, 222.
P. European Correspondence, pp. 222-228. Letters in Tegard to Abraham Booth's
writings, pp. 222, 223. Andrew Fuller's controversial correspondence with Hopkins,
pp. 223-227. Fuller's opinion of Hopkins, pp. 224, 227. Epistolary intercourse with
Dr. Ryland, pp. 227, 228. Ryland's opinion of the American divines, pp. 227, 228.
HI. Home Correspondence on Theology, pp. 228-23L Letter to President Davies,
pp. 228-231.
R. Collected Works, p. 231.
Sect. XLV. Hopkins's Confidence in his Theological System, pp. 231-233.
His Catholicism, pp. 231, 232. His farewell to the world, p. 232. Dedication
of his Treatise on the Millennium, pp. 232, 233.
Sect. XLVI. Testimonies in Favor of Hopkins, and of Ms Theology, pp. 233-
238. Pecuniary donation to him, pp. 233, 234. Transatlantic reputation, p.
234. Respect of his antagonists for him, pp. 234, 235. Progress of Ms opin
ions, pp. 236, 237. Letter to Andrew Fuller, pp. 235-238. Hopkins's opkion
of Dr. Dwight, p. 235.
Sect. XLVII. Familiar Conferences, pp. 238-240. Social character of Dr.
Hopkins, pp. 238, 239. Order of the Christian graces, p. 239. Prayer in view
of God's immutability, pp. 239, 240.
Sect. XL VIII. Household Life ait Newport, pp. 240-245. Death of his first
wife, p. 240. Life and character of his second wife, pp. 240, 241. Study
chamber, pp. 241, 242. Regular habits, pp. 242-245. Poverty, p. 243. Per
sonal appearance in his old age, p. 244. Two portraits, p. 244.
Sect. XLIX. Shock of Paralysis ; Reflections; Self -Examination, pp. 245-
252. Submission to the divine will, pp. 245, 246. Examination of Hmself,
pp. 246, 247. Signs in favor of his Christian character, pp. 248-250. Feel
ings in view of sin, p. 248 ; — of Christ, pp. 248, 249. Religious Discourage
ments, pp. 250-252.
Sect. L. Preaching after his Paralysis, p. 552. His perseverance, — New
port Gardner, p. 252.
Sect. LI. Perseverance in his old Friendships, especially to the Edwards Fam
ily, pp. 252-259. Hopkins not a mere metaphysician, pp. 252, 253. Letter to
Rev. Mr. Judd, pp. 252, 253. Sketch of Madam Edwards's character, pp. 254
-256. Sketch of Mrs. Burr's character, pp. 256, 257. Letter to Aaron Burr,
pp. 257-259.
Sect. LH. Revival of Religion, p. 259. The ministerial life of Hopkins be
gan and ended in a revival, p. 259.
Sect. LIII. Death, pp. 260, 261. Its calmness and triumph, pp. 260, 261.
Sect. LIV. Funeral, Grave, pp. 261, 2S2.
Sect. LV. Re-interment; Monument at Great Barrington, pp. 262-264. Re
factions of future visitors at his grave, p. .268. Monument at Great Barring
ton, ip. 264. '.
APPENDIX,  265

CONTENTS.

SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES.
Preface  1
CHAPTER I.
DIVINE REVELATION. .... 6
Reflections,  27
CHAPTER H.
THE BEING AND PERFECTIONS OP GOD. ... 30
Reflections  57
CHAPTER Ed.
THE UNITT OP GOD, AND THB TRINITY. . . . 61
CHAPTER IV.
THE DECREES OP GOD. . . . .67
Improvement,  146
CHAPTER V.
THE CREATION OP THE WORLD, PARTICULARLY OP MAN. . 151
Improvement  . . 161
CHAPTER VI.
DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN GENERAL. . . .164
Improvement,  . . 167
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROVIDENCE OP GOD, AS IT RESPECTS MORAL AGENTS, ANGELB, AND
MEN  169
Sect. I. Divine Providence, as it respects the Angels, . . . 169
n. The Providence of God, as it respects Man in a State of Inno-
cency,  , . . . 176
Improvement,  203
CHAPTER VIH.
THE APOBTASY OF MAN, AND THE EVIL CONSEQUENCE TO HIM. . 206
Improvement  242

8 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE REDEMPTION OP MAN. . . 246
Improvement,   260
CHAPTER X.
THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. . . 265
Improvement,  312
CHAPTER XI.
THE DESIGN AND WORK OP THE REDEEMER. . . . 319
Improvement,  358
CHAPTER XII.
THE APPLICATION OP REDEMPTION. . . . 363
Sect. I. On tbe Application of Redemption in general, . . . 363
II. On Regeneration,  367
III. Conversion,  374
IV. Disinterested Affection,  378
Improvement  388
V. Divine Illumination,  399
Improvement, . .  417
CHAPTER XHL
A
SAVING FAITH  421
Sect. I. Saving Faith  421
Improvement,  ... 452
II. Justification by Faith in Christ,  457
Improvement,  482
III. The Covenant of Grace  486
Improvement, ...  495
IV. Manner of the Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace, and the
Preaching of the Gospel  496
V. All true Believers do persevere in Faith and Holiness, to the
End of Life, and will be saved,  611
Improvement, ... . . . . . . 518
VI. The Believer's Assurance of Salvation, .... 619
Improvement,  529

MEMOIR.

The biography of a pioneer teaches some useful lessons. If, in
despite of all obstacles, he have achieved good results! be stimulates
to better deeds men who have better advantages. His life may illus
trate tbe hardy and practical virtues. Failing to gratify the taste, it
may invigorate the resolution. Hopkins made his Memoir of Ed
wards not so much a work " of friendship for the dead as of kind
ness to tbe living ; " and the present Memoir of Hopkins is " only
an attempt to render a life that has been greatly useful yet more so." *
Sect. I. FAMILY AND BIRTH.
The name of Hopkins has been highly honored among the Puri
tans of New England. Stephen Hopkins came to Plymouth, Mas
sachusetts, in 1620, a passenger in the Mayflower. Edward Hopkins,
governor of Connecticut, and a benefactor of Harvard College,
arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, with Mr. Davenport, in 1637.
I. John Hopkins, (who is conjectured by some to have been a rela
tive of the two named above,) the ancestor of the theologian, settled at
Cambridge in 1634, was admitted freeman in 1635, and removed to
Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636. He died in 1654, leaving a widow,
Jane, and two children, Stephen and Bethia.
II. Stephen Hopkins, only son of John, married Dorcas Bronson,
daughter of John Bronson, of Farmington, and resided at Hartford,
Connecticut. He died in 1689, and his widow in 1697. He names
in his will six children, viz., John, Stephen, (who married Sarah
Judd, November 17, 1686,) Ebenezer, Joseph, Dorcas, (who married
Jonathan Webster, May 11, 1681,) and Mary Hopkins.
III. John Hopkins, [eldest] son of Stephen, of Hartford, settled
in Waterbury, Connecticut, where he died November 4, 1732. His
wife died May 30, 1730. Their children were John, born March 29,
* Preface to Hopkins's Life of Edwards.

10 MEMOIR.
1686 ; Consider, born November 10, 1687 ; Stephen, born November
19, 1689 ; Timothy, born November 16, 1691 ; Samuel, born De
cember 27, 1693 ; Mary, born January 27, 1696-7 ; Hannah, born
April 23, 1699 ; Dorcas, born February 12, 1706. Samuel, the fifth
son, became an exemplary minister of the gospel. He was gradu
ated at Yale College in 1718, was ordained at West Springfield i_
1720. He died in 1755. In 1753, he published a volume, entitled
" Historical Memoirs relating to the Housatunnuk Indians, or an
Account of the Methods used and Pains taken for the Propagation
of the Gospel among that heathenish Tribe, and the Success thereof,
under the Ministry of the late Rev. Mr. John Sergeant ; together
with the Character of that eminently worthy Missionary ; and an
Address to the People of this Country, representing the very great
Importance of attaching the Indians to their Interest, not only by
treating them kindly, but by using proper Endeavors to settle Chris
tianity among them." He was an uncle of the subject of this
Memoir, and seems to have had considerable influence in directing
the sympathies of liis nephew towards our aboriginal tribes. He
married a sister of President Edwards ; one of his daughters became
the wife of John Worthington, LL. D., of Springfield, Massachusetts ;
and one of his granddaughters became the wife of Fisher Ames.
He was the father of Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D., of Hadley, Mas
sachusetts, five of whose daughters were married to the five follow
ing clergymen : Dr. Emmons, of Franklin ; Dr. Spring, of New-
buryport ; Dr. Austin, of Worcester ; Rev. William Riddel, settled
first in Bristol, Maine, afterwards in Whitingham, Vermont ; and
Rev. Leonard Worcester, of Peacham, Vermont. These five divines,
all of them clear thinkers, were all firm disciples of the subject of
this Memoir, who was the cousin of their father-in-law. Their
wives, also, were intelligent theologians of the Hopkinsian school.
Few men could cope with them in an argument. (It ought to be
mentioned, however, that Mrs. Emmons, although educated by Dr.
Hopkins, of Hadley, was his step-daughter only. She was very
young wii&n her mother was married to Dr. Hopkins, who succeeded
her first husband in the ministry at Hadley. On the other hand,
Dr. H. had another own daughter, married to a gentleman who, at
the time of his marriage, was prepared and expecting to preach the
gospel ; but ill health prevented his doing so more than a few times.)
Stephen, the third son of John Hopkins, and another uncle of the
theologian, was the grandfather of Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, who was a
distinguished physician of Litchfield and Hartford, Connecticut, and
was associated with Trumbull, Barlow, Alsop, Theodore Dwight.
and others, (called the "Hartford wits,") in the Anarchiad, the
Echo, Political Greenhouse, the Guillotine, and similar satirical com
positions. He was a poet, and is said by President Allen to have writ
ten for Barlow the celebrated version of Psalm cxxxvii., » Along the

MEMOIR.

11

banks where Babel's current flows," etc. — Hon. Samuel Miles
Hopkins, LL. D., of Geneva, New York, was a great-grandson of
the same Stephen Hopkins.
IV. Timothy Hopkins, the [fourth] son of John, of Waterbury,
married Mary Judd, daughter of Deacon Thomas Judd, of Water
bury, June 25, 1719. He died in Waterbury, February 5, 1748-9,
aged 57. Their children were Samuel, the subject of this Memoir ;
Timothy, born September 8, 1723, who left two children ; Huldah,
born December 22, 1725, who married Abijah Richards, and left
eight children; Hannah, born April 11, 1728, who married Thomas
Upson, and left three children ; Sarah, born May 25, 1730, who
married Timothy Clark, and left one child ; James, born June 26,
1732 ; Daniel, born October 16, 1734 ; Mary, born June 27, 1737,
who married John Copet, and left one child ; Mark, born September
18, 1739.
John Hopkins, the grandfather of the divine, who is called on the
town record Lieutenant Hopkins, was often a representative to the
legislature, from Waterbury, between 1710 and 1726. Timothy, the
father of the divine, was a justice of the peace, and also, from 1727
until his death, was frequently the town's representative. Throughout
the last century, the family of Hopkins was one of the most respec
table and influential in Waterbury. Dr. Samuel Spring says, that our
theologian " descended from worthy parents, of family distinction." *
It was the right kind of parents, and they had the right kind of
home for training a minister of tlie gospel. It is well that such a
man be nurtured in simplicity of habit, above the insnaring influence
of poverty or riches, with healthful occupation, amid the invigorat
ing and pleasing scenes of rural life, where God is adored as the
Father of the house.
Of these nine children, our immediate concern is with Samuel.
" I was born," he says, " at Waterbury, in Connecticut, on the Lord's day,
September 17, 1721. My parents were professors of religion; and I descend
ed from Christian ancestors, both by my father and my mother, as far back
as I have been able to trace my descent. I conclude I and my ancestors de
scended from those called Puritans, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, above
two hundred years ago, and have continued to bear that denomination since,
and were the first settlers of New England. This I have considered to be
the most honorable and happy descent, to spring- from ancestors who have
been professors of religion, without interruption, during the course of two hun
dred years and more ; and many of them, if not all, real Christians. And I
have considered it as a favor that I was born on the Sabbath, and was perhaps
publicly dedicated to Christ by baptism on the day in which I was born ; and
if not, certainly soon after. — As soon as I was capable of understanding
and attending to it, I was told that my father, when he was informed that he
had a son born to him, said, if the child should live, he would give him a pub
lic education, that he might be a minister or a Sabbath-day man, alluding to
my being born on the Sabbath. — I was the first child of my parents that
¦* Mass. Missionary Magazine, vol. i. p. 361.

12 MEMOIR.
lived. They had one before, which was not alive when born, or died as soon
as born( My mother was twenty years old when I was born, and my father
thirty."* Hopkins was only two years and seven months younger than Dr.
Bellamy, eighteen years younger than President Edwards, and fif
teen years older than Dr. Stephen West, his three most intimate
friends. Sect. II. CHILDHOOD.
Dr. Hopkins continues his Autobiography with remarking :
" I have considered it as a great favor of God that I was born and edu
cated in a religious family, and among a people in a country town, where a
regard to religion and morality was common and prevalent, and the education
of children and youth was generally practised in such a degree that young
people were generally orderly in their behavior, and abstained from those
open vices which were then too common in seaport and populous places. I
do not recollect that I ever heard a profane word from the children and youth
with whom I was conversant, while I lived with my parents, which was till I
was in my fifteenth year. — I from my youth was not volatile and wild, but
rather of a sober and steady make, and was not guilty of external irregular
ities, such as disobedience to parents, profanation of the Sabbath, lying, fool
ish jesting, quarrelling, passion and anger, or rash and profane words, and was
disposed to be diligent and faithful in whatever business I was employed ; so
that, as I advanced in age, I gained the notice, esteem, and respect of the
neighborhood. I was, in general, greatly careless about all invisible things,
but was often plotting for something which then appeared to me good and
great in this life, and often indulged and pleased myself with vain and foolish
imaginations of what I should be and do in this world. And sometimes,
though rarely, had some serious thoughts of God, and about my soul and a
future world of happiness and misery. And I once had a dream of the future
judgment, in some measure agreeable to the representation made of it by
Christ himself in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. I dreamed that I and
a brother of mine, who was about two years younger than me, were sentenced
to everlasting misery, and driven down to hell, with the rest of the wicked.
This greatly impressed my mind for a long time after ; and the impression
then made has not wholly worn off to this day. ¦ — As my father was a farmer,
I was employed in laboring on the farm, with which business I was pleased,
and made proficiency in it. I was frequently told, and often thought of the
declaration of my father on the day on which I was born, that he would bring
me up to college, as the phrase then was for a public education. But I felt no
particular inclination to this, but was rather inclined to labor on a farm. But
what always turned my mind against going to college, was the years of ab
sence from my parents and their family which were involved in it. Such
absence was intolerable to my childish mind, and was sufficient to suppress
the thought of going to learning.' — But in the winter after I was fourteen
years old, I retired much to a chamber in my father's house, and spent con
siderable time in reading, especially reading the Bible, and began to feel
more inclination to learning, and less to working on a farm, as our farmino-
business did not go on so well as it had done, by reason of some particular
circumstances which had taken place. When my father perceived this, he
told me, if I was inclined to go to learning, he would put me to a place where
I might be fitted for the college ; to whiclil readily consented. Accordingly,
I was put under the care and tuition of the Rev. John Graham, of Woodbury,
* Sketches of the Life of the late Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D., pp. 23, 24.

MEMOIR. 13
which joined west on Waterbury, his meeting-house being about ten miles
from my father's house. Here I fitted for college, with a number of others,
and was examined and admitted a member of college in September, 1737,
being sixteen years old on the seventeenth day of that month." *
Sect. III. COLLEGE LIFE, AND EARLY RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
When Mr. Hopkins entered Yale College, it was under the rec
torship of Elisha Williams, who, according to President Stiles,t
" was a good classical scholar, well versed in logic, metaphysics,
and ethics, and in rhetoric and oratory.'' — " He was a man of
splendor ! " Professor Kingsley thus describes the course of study
pursued in college at this time :
Logic " claimed the principal attention, and skill in syllogistic disputation
was the chief object aimed at Burgersdicius, Ramus, Crackenthorp, and
Keckerman were the great lights of the time. The freshmen were em
ployed the first four days of the week on Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; begin
ning logic in the morning, at the latter end of the year, unless the tutors
should see cause, by reason of their ripeness in the tongues, to read logic to
them sooner." — " Logic was the sole study of the first four days of the week
during the second year, physics the third year, and metaphysics and math
ematics the fourth year. All resident bachelors were required to dispute
syllogistically once a week, and all undergraduates, after they began to read
logic, five times a week. Fridays were devoted, in all the classes, to ethics,
rhetoric, and the theology of YVollebius. Ames's Medulla was recited on
Saturday mornings, and on Saturday evenings the Assembly's Catechism in
Latin. Every Sunday morning there was an exercise in Ames's Cases of
Conscience. At the beginning of every recitation, a. portion of the Hebrew
Scriptures was read by the class into Greek, and a portion of the New Tes
tament from Latin into Greek, except in the freshman class, where the trans
lation of the New Testament into Greek was from English. Every under
graduate was required to declaim once in two months, and both graduates
and undergraduates committed sermons to memory, and pronounced them
publicly in the college hall." J
Hopkins had not been more than two years in college before
Rector Williams was succeeded by President Clap, who was emi
nent in the mathematics, and who gave to this, his favorite studjr,
a more prominent place in the system of college instruction than
had been given to it previously. It is easy to see the influence of
such a collegiate course upon such a youth as Hopkins. It sharp
ened his reasoning powers. It cultivated his taste for the abstract
sciences. It fitted him to be a metaphysical divine. It did not
introduce him into the graces of English style. It did not cherish a
love to the belles-lettres. It favored originality of thought more
than felicity of expression. It tended to make him a " man of one
book." We must not undervalue this contracted system of college
education. As it had its evils, so it had its advantages. It fastened
* Sketches, etc., pp. 24-27.
t MS. Diary.
t Sketch of the History of Yale College, in Connecticut, Quarterly Register, vol.
viii. p. 215. b

14 MEMOIR.
the mind of the thoughtful student upon a few great principles, and
obliged him to follow them out patiently and watchfully into their
obscurest relations. It familiarized him with the fundamental truths
of moral, the most important science, and these truths are like the
laws of the universe, as extensive in their application as they are
limited in number. It did not make accomplished scholars, but it,
made profound philosophers. It did not lead so many into various
learning as into deep thinking. " That old system," says President
Woolsey, " in which dry logic formed the staple, is not to be de
spised ; for by it some of New England's best minds were formed.
It is remarkable that nearly all the fathers and choir-leaders of
what may technically be called New England theology came from
this college. Men like Jonathan Edwards, Bellamy, Hopkins, West,
Smalley, and Emmons, — graduates of the years between 1720 and
1770, — do not proceed from cloistered retirements, where the mind
is wholly asleep and afraid to think. And whether we admit their
conclusions or not, we must admit that they are close consecutive
reasoners, always in earnest, who take broad views of the divine
government over the universe, and cover up deep religious emotions
under logical forms." — "On the other band, an effect of the modern
system of education, or of society, or of both, is to repress original
ity of thinking, to destroy individual peculiarities, and to produce a
general sameness among those who are educated."*
In his Autobiography, Dr. Hopkins has nearly overlooked his
intellectual habits at Yale, and says, in a manner equally honest and
unassuming :
" While a member of the college, I believe I had the character of a sober,
studious youth, and of a better scholar than the bigger half of the members of
that society, and had the approbation of the governors of the college. I avoid
ed the intimacy and the company of the openly vicious, and, indeed, kept but
little company, being attentive to my studies." f
This is certainly a modest statement of a man who was distin
guished in a class of twenty, among whom were Richard Mansfield,
D. D., of Derby, Connecticut ; Samuel Buell, D. D., the famous pul
pit orator, of Easthampton, Long Island; James Sproat, D. D., of
Philadelphia ; Noah Wells, D. D., of Stamford, Connecticut ; William
Livingston, LL. D., governor of New Jersey ; Hon. Jabez Hunting
ton, of Norwich, Connecticut. But he was more interested in his
religious than his intellectual history ; and to that let us now proceed.
" In the eighteenth or nineteenth year of my age," he says, " I cannot now
certainly determine which, I made a profession of religion, and joined the
church to which my parents belonged, in Waterbury. I was serious, and was
thought to be a pious youth, and I had this thought and hope of myself. I
was constant in reading the Bible, and in attending on public and secret reli-
* An Historical Discourse, pronounced before the graduates of Yale College, Au
gust 14, 1850, by Theodore D. Woolsey, President of Yale College, pp. 63, 64.
t Sketches, etc., p. 27. ™ '

MEMOIR. 15
gion. And sometimes at night, in my retirement and devotion, when I thought
of confessing the sins I had been guilty of that day, and asking pardon, 1
could not recollect that I had committed one sin that day. Thus ignorant
was I of my own heart, and of the spirituality, strictness, and extent of the
divine law ! In this time I was at home, in a vacancy at college ; and several
men, who were gross Arminians, entered into a dispute with me about doc
trines and religion. I was in theory a Calvinist, and attempted to defend that
scheme of doctrines, in opposition to them. In these we could not agree.
But when we came to talk of practical religion, and of conversion, I agreed
with them, allowing it to consist chiefly in externals, overlooking the real and
total depravity of the heart, and the renovation and great change which must
take place in that, in order to true conversion and the exercise of real religion,
having never experienced any thing of this kind. My mother heard the con
versation ; and after the company was gone, she told me she was surprised to
hear me agree with them in their notion of conversion, and that I should
think real conversion was no more than that which I and they had described.
This put me upon thinking, and raised a suspicion ih my own mind that I was
a stranger to real conversion. But it wore off, without any abiding conviction
of my deficiency. — From this experience of mine, I have been led to fear,
and, in many instances, to conclude persons to be strangers to true conver
sion, who appear to have the same or no better notion of it than I then had,
and talk much as I did on that head, while they profess to believe Calvinistic
doctrines, though they choose to be considered as moderate Calvinists. There
are many of this sort of professing Christians, with whom I have been ac
quainted.* When persons build upon such a false foundation, and set out in
religion, and think themselves Christians, without being bom of God, and con
tinue strangers to a true and sound conversion, they will be inclined to oppose
or slight the most important and excellent exercises of experimental religion,
and will be dry and fruitless Christians, and ignorant of true religious affec
tions and enjoyments. And it will be no wonder if they lose all their zeal
for the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, and grow indifferent about them, if
they do not gradually give them up, and renounce them.
" While I was in this state and situation of mind, Mr. Whitefield came into
New England, and, after he had preached in Boston and other places, came
to New Haven, in his way to New York. The attention of people in general
was greatly awakened upon hearing the fame of him, that there was a remark
able preacher from England travelling through the country. The people
flocked to hear him, when he came to New Haven. Some travelled twenty
miles out of the country to hear him. The assemblies were crowded and re
markably attentive ; and people appeared generally to approve, and then- con
versation turned chiefly about him and his preaching. Some disapproved of
several things which he advanced, which occasioned considerable dispute. I
heard him when he preached in public, and when he expounded in private in
the evening, and highly approved of him, and was somewhat impressed by
what he said in public and in private, but did not in the least call in question
my own good estate, that I remember. Pie preached against mixed dancing
and frolicking of males and females together ; which practice was then very
common in New England. This offended some, especially young people.
But I remember I justified him in this in my own mind, and in conversation
with those who were disposed to condemn him. This was in October, 1740,
when I had entered on my last year in college. — During that fall and the
succeeding winter,. there appeared to be much more attention to religion than!
before among people in general ; and a number of ministers in New England
"* And there were many more with whom he afterwards became acquainted. A great
part of his life was spent in controversy with "moderate Calvinists," one class of whom
he began to oppose thus early. He effected more, perhaps, than any other man, save
one, in raising the churches of New England above this " moderate Calvinism." Does
he not, therefore, merit the gratitude of all who love a high orthodoxy ?

16 MEMOIR.
were aroused, and preached oftener than they had done, and appeared much
more engaged and zealous than before ; and several came to New Haven, and
preached in a manner so different from what had been usual, that people in
general appeared to be in some measure awakened, and more thoughtful on
religious subjects than they had been before. — Early in the next spring, in
March, Mr. Gilbert Tennent, who had been itinerating in New England, in
Boston and other places in the winter, came to New Haven from Boston, in
his way to the southward. He was a remarkably plain and rousing preacher,
and a remarkable awakening had been produced by his preaching, and many
hopeful conversions had taken place under his preaching, where he had itin
erated. On his coming to New'Haven, the people appeared to be almost uni
versally aroused, and flocked to hear him. He staid about a week in New
Haven, and preached seventeen sermons, most of them in the meeting-house,
two or three in the college hall. His preaching appeared to be attended with
a remarkable and mighty power. Thousands, I believe, were awakened ; and
many cried out with distress and horror of mind, under a conviction of God's
anger, and their constant exposedness to fall into endless destruction. _ Many
professors of religion received conviction that they were not real Christians,
and never were born again ; which numbers publicly confessed, and put up
notes, without mentioning their names, but their number, desiring prayers for
them as unconverted, and under this conviction. The members of college
appeared to be universally awakened. A small number thought themselves
Christians before they came to college, and I believe were so. Several of
these appeared with an extraordinary zeal and concern for the members of
college ; and, without paying regard to the distinctions of higher and lower
classes, they visited every room in college, and discoursed freely and with
the greatest plainness with each one ; especially such whom they considered
to be in an unconverted state, and who acknowledged themselves to be so,
setting before them their danger, and exhorting them to repent, &c. The
consciences of all seemed to be so far awakened as to lead them to hang then-
heads, and to pay at least a silent regard to their reprovers. And every per
son in the college appeared to be under a degree of awakening and convic
tion. The persons above mentioned, who thus distinguished themselves in
zeal, were, two of them, my classmates, Buell and Youngs.* The other was
David Brainerd. I attended to the whole, and approved of all they said and
did, but retained my hope that I was a Christian, and had little or no conver
sation with these zealous men. At length Brainerd came into my room, I
being there alone. I was not at a loss with respect to his design in making
me a visit then, determining that he came to satisfy himself whether I were
a Christian or not. And I resolved to keep him in tlie dark, and, if possible,
prevent his getting any knowledge of my state or religion. I was therefore
wholly on the reserve, being conscious that I had no religious experiences, or
religious affections to tell of. In his conversation with me, he observed that
he believed it impossible for a person to be converted, and to be a real Chris
tian, without feeling his heart, at some times at least, sensibly and greatly af
fected with the character of Christ, and strongly going out after him, or to
that purpose. This observation struck conviction into my mind. I verily be
lieved it to be true, and at the same time was conscious that I had never ex
perienced any thing of this kind, and that I was a stranger to the exercise of
real Christianity. I then determined that no one should know from me, or
any other way, if I could prevent it, that I was not a Christian, until I should
be converted ; for it was mortifying to my pride to be thought to be no Chris
tian, having made a Christian profession, and having had the character of a
* Buell was at this time about twenty-five years of age, and in less than a j-ear
from this time, — in less than five months after his graduation, — he was preaching for Mr.
Edwards at Northampton, with wonderful effect. Hopkins was in his twentieth year ¦
yet he seems to have resisted the influence of his older classmate. and to have yielded
to the persuasive accents of Brainird only.

MEMOIR. 17
Christian for some time, though I now knew myself not to be one. Brainerd
took his leave of me without bringing me to put off my reserve ; and what he
then thought of me I know not, but believe he strongly suspected, if he did
not without hesitation conclude, that I was not a Christian.*
" My conviction fixed upon me. I saw I was indeed no Christian. The
evil of my heart, the hardness and unbelief of it, came more and more into
view, and the evil case in which I was appeared more and more dreadful. I
felt myself a guilty, justly condemned creature; and my hope of relief by ob
taining conversion failed more and more, and my condition appeared darker
from day to day, and all help failed, and I felt myself to be nothing but igno
rance, guilt, and stupidity. I now lost all desire to conceal my case from
those whom I considered to be Christians, and freely opened it to some of
them. They appeared particularly to interest themselves in my condition,
and often conversed with me, and asked me if I had any new views, &c. I
constantly told them I was still the same, in an unconverted state, &c. Thus
I continued for some weeks, generally retired, unless when I attended private
meetings of young people, for prayer, &c, which were frequent then in col
lege, and in the town. — At length, as I was in my closet one evening, while
1 was meditating, and in my devotions, a new and wonderful scene opened to
my view. I had a sense of the being and presence of God as I never had
before ; it being more of a reality, and more affecting and glorious, than I
had ever before perceived. And the character of Jesus Christ, the Mediator,
came into view, and appeared such a reality, and so glorious, and the way of
salvation by him so wise, important, and desirable, that I was astonished at
myself that I had never seen these things before, which were so plain, pleas
ing, and wonderful. I longed to have all see and know these things as they
now appeared to me. I was greatly affected, in the view of my own deprav
ity, the sinfulness, guilt, and odiousness of my character ; and tears flowed
in great plenty. After some time, I left my closet, and went into the adjoin
ing room, no other person being then there. I walked the room, all intent on
these subjects, and took up Watts's version of the Psalms, and opened it at
the fifty-first Psalm, and read the first, second, and third parts in long metre,
with strong affections, and made it all my own language, and thought it was
the language of my heart to God. I dwelt upon it with pleasure, and wept
much. And when I had laid the book aside, my mind continued fixed on the
subject, and in the exercise of devotion, confession, adoration, petition, &c,
in which I seemed to pour out my heart to God with great freedom. I con
tinued all attention to the things of religion, in which most appeared more or
less engaged. There were many instances, as was then supposed, of conver
sion. I felt a peculiar, pleasing affection to those who were supposed to be
Christians. " But two things appear, now, to me remarkable, with respect to my views
and exercises which I have just now mentioned. First, I had not then the
least thought or suspicion that what I had experienced was conversion, or any
thing like it ; nor did such a thought enter my mind, so far as I can recollect,
till near a year after this ; or, if any such thought was suggested at any time,
it was immediately rejected. I had formed an idea in my mind of conversion,
what persons who were converted must be, and how they must feel, which
was so entirely different from that which I had seen and felt, that I was so far
from a thought that I was converted, that I thought I knew I was not, and
made no scruple to tell my friends so from time to time. Secondly, I do not
* It is not to be forgotten that Brainerd was at this time (one year before his expul
sion from college) but a sophomore, and, in conformity with the collegiate usages of his
day, could not expect that Hopkins, being a senior, would condescend to much famil
iarity of personal intercourse with him, although he was more than three years older
than Hopkins. Subsequently, however, the two youths became intimate companions ;
and the fact that Hopkins never ferreted out the opinion which his friend formed of his
religious stale, in that college revival, is one among many instances of the dignity and
abstractedness which marked his conversation with men.
b*

18 MEMOIR.
recollect that I said a word to any person living of these exercises, or gave
the least hint of them to any one, for almost a year after they took place. I
did not think they were worth speaking of, being nothing like conversion.
And by degrees I ceased to recollect any thing of them, still hoping and
looking for something greater and better, and of quite a different kind.
" When I heard Mr. Tennent, as mentioned above, I thought he was the
greatest and best man, and the best preacher, that I had ever seen or heard.
His words were to me ' like apples of gold in pictures of silver.' And I
then thought that when I should leave the college, as I was then in my last
year, I would go and live with him, wherever I should find him.* But just
before the commencement, in September, when I was to take my degree, on
the seventeenth day of which month I was twenty years old, Mr. Edwards,
of Northampton, came to New Haven and preached. He then preached the
sermon on The Trial qf the Spirits, which was afterwards printed. I had
before read his sermons on Justification, &c, and his Narrative of the Re
markable Conversions at Northampton, which took place about seven years
Before this. Though I then did not obtain any personal acquaintance with
him, any further than by hearing him preach, yet I conceived such an esteem
of him, and was so pleased with his preaching, that I altered my former de
termination with respect to Mr. Tennent, and concluded to go and live with
Mr. Edwards, as soon as I should have opportunity, though he lived about
eighty miles from my father's house.
" After I had taken my first degree, which was in September, 1741, 1 re
tired to my father's, in Waterbury; and being dejected and very gloomy in
my mind, I lived a recluse life for some months. Considering myself as a
sinful, lo3t creature, I spent most of my time in reading, meditation, and
prayer, and spent many whole days in fasting and prayer. My attention
turned chiefly to my own sinfulness, and as being wholly lost in myself,
of which I had an increasing conviction. But I also attended to the state
of religion in the vicinity. There was a general and uncommon atten
tion to religion, and much preaching by ministers who went from town
to town; but opposition was made to the revival of religion, which now
began to increase among ministers and people. Some considered it as
an evil work, in the whole of it. Others allowed there was some good
attending it, but objected greatly to many things which took place and were
practised by the friends and subjects of the work, as imprudent and wrong.
I was a strong advocate for the doctrines preached by the ministers who were
instruments of promoting the revival, and for the practices of those who were
the subjects of it, and were supposed to be converted. It is true, there were
some things said and practised which I did not understand and fully see
through. But as I considered them as Christians, and myself as not one, and
consequently ignorant and incapable of judging, I concluded they must be
right. I spent days in fasting and prayer, seeking the promotion of that
which to me appeared to be true religion, and the suppression of all oppo
sition to it. I endeavored to promote religion among the young people in the
town, and encouraged them who were attentive and concerned to meet
together for prayer, and to spend days of fasting and prayer together, es
pecially those who were thought to be converted. When I saw persons
whom I considered to be unconverted, I felt disposed to pray for them, that
they might be converted and saved, and felt great concern for some individ
uals of this character.
* How different the opinion of Hopkins from that of Dr. Cutler, who wrote in 1741
l°/«?L-S°_ ?7 ™the Pr°Pa^tion of the Gospel, <• I need only mention one [follower
of Whitefield] Gilbert Tennent, a teacher living to the southward, who visited us the last-
winter, and afflicted us more than the most intense cold and snow that was ever known
among us, and kept even the most tender people travelling night and day, to hear the
most vulgar, crude and boisterous things from him, to the ruin of the health of many
and the poisoning of more, with unsound divinity," etc. See President Woolsev's His
torical Discourse, p. 109. -

MEMOIR. , 19
"In the month of December, being furnished with a horse, &c, I set out
for Northampton, with a view to live with Mr. Edwards, where I was an utter
stranger. When I arrived there, Mr. Edwards was not at home ; but [I] was
received with great kindness by Mrs. Edwards and the family, and had en
couragement that I might live- there during the winter. Mr. Edwards was
abroad on a preaching tour, as people in general were greatly attentive to
religion and preaching, which was attended with remarkable effects in the
conviction and supposed conversion of multitudes. I was very gloomy, and
was most of the time retired in my chamber. After some days, Mrs. Edwards
came into my chamber, and said, ' As I was now become one of the family for
a season, she felt herself interested in my welfare ; and [as] she observed that
I appeared gloomy and dejected, she hoped I would not think she intruded by
desiring to know, and asking me what was the occasion of it,' or to that pur
pose. I told her the freedom she used was agreeable to me ; that the occa
sion of the appearance which she mentioned was the state in which I consid
ered myself. I was in a Christless, graceless state, and had been under
a degree of conviction and concern for myself for a number of months. [I]
had got no relief, and my case, instead of growing better, appeared to grow
worse. Upon which we entered into a free conversation ; and, on the whole,
she told me that she had peculiar exercises respecting me, since I had been
in the family ; that she trusted I should receive light and comfort, and doubted
not that God intended yet to do great things by me, &c. This conversation
did not sensibly raise my spirits in the least degree. My views of myself
were such, and my prospect and hope of any good were so low, that I then
paid no sensible regard to what she said.
'; Religion was now at a lower ebb at Northampton than it had been of
late, and than it appeared to be in the neighboring towns, and in New Eng
land in general. In the month of January, Mr. Buell, my classmate, whom
I mentioned before, came to Northampton, having commenced a zealous
preacher of the gospel,* and was the means of greatly reviving the people to
zeal in religion. He preached every day, and sometimes twice a day, pub
licly, Mr. Edwards being out of town, preaching in distant towns. Profess
ing Christians appeared greatly revived and comforted, and a number were
under conviction, and I think there were some hopeful new converts. After
Mr. Buell had preached in Northampton a week or two, he set out on a tour
towards Boston, to preach in the towns in those parts, and I went with him.
People crowded to hear him in every place ; and great numbers were awa
kened, and many were thought to be converted. After continuing with him
about two weeks, I returned to Northampton, when my exercises of mind
were such that I, for the first lime, admitted a hope that they were really gra
cious, and my mind immediately recurred back to the time when I had those
views and affections, almost a year before, which have been mentioned ; and
they appeared to me to be of the same kind with those which now possessed
my mind, and [I saw] that the course of exercises which I since had did not
differ in kind from the first, and from those which I now had, though I had
within this time often said I was certain I had no grace ; and never had for a
moment, that I can recollect, entertained the least degree of hope, or one
thought that I was not in a state of nature. While at Northampton, before
this, I conversed with a number of Christiana who were thought to be know
ing and eminent. I perceived that they thought I was a Christian. But this did
not have the least perceivable influence on my mind, so as to excite the least
hope that I was a Christian ; but [I] thought and felt that I knew this was not,
and could not, be true.
" I now determined to make known the whole of my exercises to Mr. Ed
wards, as far as I could communicate them. I told him my present exercises,
and those which I have related which took place at college near a year before.
* He was licensed a month only after he was graduated. He came to Northamp
ton on tbe 27th of January.

20 MEMOIR.
When he had heard me, he asked me why I had not told him these things
before. I told him it was because I had no thought that such exercises were
conversion, or Christian exercises, till very lately. He gave not his opinion
expressly ; nor did I desire he should, for I was far from relying on any man's
judgment in such a case. But I supposed he entertained a hope that I was a
Christian." *
Thus we see that this diffident young man first opened his eyes
upon spiritual truth among those who were called "New Lights."
He drew his earliest religious breath among earnest men, who were
panting for the amelioration of the race. He was born, morally as
well as intellectually, among the advocates of progress. The circum
stances of his spiritual birth affected his entire religious life. Less
than a prophet might have divined that a youth in his teens, catch
ing the spirit of Whitefield, Tennent, Brainerd, Buell, and Edwards,
would not sleep over abuses because they had been sanctioned by
length of years. Such a man, renewed in such a way, feels a long-
continued impulse to make men better ; to free them from delusion,
even if it be old ; to enrich them with truth, even if it be new ; to
struggle forward and onward " for the perfecting of the saints."
In the case of Hopkins, history ratifies what might have been the
voice of prophecy.
We see also that this modest youth began his Christian life in a
revival of religion, which was attended with much fanaticism on the
one hand, and with eminent godliness on the other. But amid all
the wildfire that burned around him, how considerate and circum
spect he remained ! While many of his companions ran into ex- J
travagances, he was pressing through a severe " law-work," and was/
laying in solitude the deep foundations of a character which was to
rise high in religious worth. Many eminent Calvinists of his day,'
some of his college instructors, stood aloof from the revival ; he
was too benevolent to feel less than the deepest interest in it. Some
features of it he could not approve ; but he was too modest to rely
on his own judgment, in opposition to the good men whom he felt
to be, in the main, engaged in a good cause. He was not censori
ous against the enthusiasts, neither was he himself an enthusiast ; but
his narrative of the revival proves him to have been then, what he
developed himself to be afterwards, an humble Christian philosopher.
We have much to hope from such a convert.

Sect. IV. RESIDENCE AT NORTHAMPTON, AND STUDY OF
THEOLOGY.
We have already introduced this unassuming young student intq
the almost patrician family of President Edwards, at Northampton.
Nowhere on earth, perhaps, could have been found, at that time, a
* Sketches, etc., pp. 27-43.

MEMOIR. 21
more eligible residence for a theological inquirer. Mr. Edwards
was in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and at the height of his min
isterial usefulness. His wife was in her thirty-second year, and was
eminent, not only for her personal elegance, but for the richness and
brilliancy of her mind. Their daughter Jerusha, afterwards be
trothed to David Brainerd, was at this time in her twelfth year;
Esther, afterwards the wife of President Burr, was in her tenth year ;
and Mary, the mother of President Dvvight, was in her eighth year.
All of these daughters were beautiful and sprightly. The charms of
such an interesting family were the influences which Hopkins needed
in his despondent condition. We have just seen Mrs. Edwards
entering his room, and striving to impart that spiritual comfort which
so accomplished a lady was so well fitted to administer. We catch
another glimpse of his religious intercourse with her a few weeks
afterward, on Wednesday, January 27, 1742. His classmate Buell
had preached a lecture at three o'clock in the afternoon. The au
dience were deeply moved. Many of them remained three hours in
the meeting-house after the public exercises were closed. When Mrs.
Edwards returned to her house, she found there several Christian
friends, in company with Mr. Buell and Mr. Hopkins. " Seeing and
conversing with them," she says, " on the divine goodness, renewed
my former feelings, and filled me with an intense desire that we
might all arise, and with an active, flowing, and fervent heart, give
glory to God. The intenseness of my feelings again took away my
bodily strength. The words of one of Dr. Watts's Hosannas pow
erfully affected me ; and, in the course of the conversation, I uttered
them as the real language of my heart,- with great earnestness and
emotion : t,
' Hosanna to King David's Son,
Who reigns on a superior throne,' etc.
And while I was uttering the words, my mind was so deeply im
pressed with the love of Christ, and a sense of his immediate pres
ence, that I could with difficulty refrain from rising from my seat
and leaping for joy. I continued to enjoy this intense, and lively,
and refreshing sense of divine things, accompanied with strong
emotions, for nearly aa hour ; after which I experienced a delight
ful calm, and peace, and rest in God, until I retired for the night." *
It was with a frequent recurrence of similar interviews that our
reverential student prepared himself for the ministry. The influence
of them in directing and deepening his theological speculations, can
not be mistaken. He was wont to speak of them in his old age
even. There is a striking coincidence between his subsequent views
of " disinterested submission," and the feelings which Mrs. Ed
wards expressed several weeks after he became a member of her
family. * See Dwight's Edwards, vol. i. p. 176.

22 MEMOIR.
" I told those who were present," she says, " that I chose to die in the way
that was most agreeable to God's will, and that I should be willing to die in
darkness and horror, if it was most for the glory of God." *
During the night after this remark, (January 29, 1741,) and
through subsequent days and nights, she had a train of reflections
which would now be termed Hopkinsian, and which may have been
the germ of one branch of Hopkinsianism ; for they were, doubtless,
soon communicated to the inquisitive and solemn youth who sat at
her table and listened to her daily conversation.
" I also thought," she writes,* " how God had graciously given me, for a
great while, an entire resignation to his will with respect to the kind and
manner of death that I should die ; having been made willing to die on the
rack, or at the stake, or any other tormenting death, and, if it were God's will,
to die in darkness ; and how I had that day been made very sensible and fully
willing, if it was God's pleasure, and for his glory, to die in horror. But now
it occurred to me that when I had thus been made willing to Jive, and to be
kept on this dark abode, I used to think of living no longer than to the ordi
nary age of man. Upon this, I was led to ask myself whether I was not will
ing to be kept out of heaven even longer ; • and my whole heart seemed
immediately to reply, ' Yes, a thousand years, if it be God's will, and for his
honor and glory ; ' and then my heart, in the language of resignation, went
further, and with great alacrity and sweetness, to answer, as it were, over and
over again, ' Yes, and live a thousand years in horror, if it be most for the
glory of God. Yea, I am willing to live a thousand years [in] an hell upon
earth, if it be most for the honor of God.' But then I considered with myself
what this would be to live [in] an hell upon earth for so long a time, and I
thought of the torment of my body being so great, awful, and overwhelming,
that none could bear to live in the country where the spectacle was seen, and
of the torment and horror of my mind being vastly greater than the torment
of my body ; and it seemed to me that I found a perfect willingness, and sweet
quietness and alacrity of soul, in consenting that it should be so, if it were
most for the glory of God ; so that there was no hesitation, doubt, or dark
ness in_iy mind, attending the thoughts of it, but my resignation seemed to
be clear, like a light that shone through my soul. I continued saying, ' Amen,
Lord Jesus ! Amen, Lord Jesus ! Glorify thyself in me, in my body and my
soul,' with a calm and sweetness of soul which banished all reluctance. The
glory of God seemed to overcome me and swallow me up ; and every con
ceivable suffering, and every thing that was terrible to my nature, seemed to
shrink to nothing before it. This resignation continued in its clearness and
brightness the rest of the night, and all the next day and the night following,
and on Monday in the forenoon, without interruption or abatement All this
while, whenever I thought of it, tlie language of my soul was, with the great
est fulness and alacrity, ' Amen, Lord Jesus ! Amen, Lord Jesus ! ' In the
afternoon of Monday, it was not quite so perceptible and lively ; but my mind
remained so much in a similar frame, for more than a week, that I could never
think of it without an inexpressible sweetness in my soul."
Twenty-two years after this period, Hopkins says of Mrs. Ed
wards :
" She was eminent for her piety and experimental religion. Religious con
versation was much her delight, and this she promoted in all companies, as
far as was proper and decent for her ; and her discourse showed her under-
* Dwight's Edwards, vol. i. p. 181. t lb. pp. 182, 183.

MEMOIR. 23
standing in divine things, and the great impression they had on her mind.
The friends of true religion, and they who were ready to engage in religious
conversation, and delighted in that which was most essential and practical in
true religion, were her peculiar friends and intimates, to whom she would
open her mind freely, and tell them the exercises of her own heart, and what
God had done for her soul, for their encouragement and excitement in the
ways of God. Her mind appeared, to them who were most conversant with
her, constantly to attend to divine things, even on all occasions, and in all
business of life." *
We have noticed that in December, 1741, Hopkins came to study
at Northampton, while his teacher was absent. On the 25th of
January, 1742, Mr. Edwards went to Leicester, and there labored
several weeks. " In the latter end of March," Hopkins left North
ampton, " with a view to obtain a license to preach." It appears,
then, that before he commenced preaching, he remained with his
teacher less than four months, and it is known that during this
period his teacher was often from home on missionary tours. Hop
kins spent the month of April in his still and beautiful native town.
At his father's house, within about an hour's ride from the house of
Dr. Bellamy, in Bethlem, he writes :
" I have of late entertained a hope that I did experience a saving change
above a year ago; and I find myself more and .more established in it. The
Lord grant that I may not be deceived ! I have some thoughts (God willing)
of being examined, next week, in order to preach the sweet and everlasting
gospel of Jesus, though, many times, my heart shrinks at the thought. I
hope the Lord will direct me. — April 29, 1742. This day, I obtained a per
mit to go forth and preach the gospel : but this is only from men. It hath
been my request, and I hope my sincere desire, that I might have a commis
sion from the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Lord of the harvest, and be sent
forth by him as a laborer in his vineyard."
" After I had preached," he says in his Autobiography,! " a few times at
my native place and places adjacent, occasionally, I returned to Northampton,
proposing to spend some time in pursuing my studies with Mr. Edwards,
where I lived during the summer, preaching sometimes in Mr. Edwards's pul
pit, and to private meetings ; and sometimes rode out to neighboring towns,
and preached ; for which I neither demanded nor received any pay, except
forty shillings, old tenor, for preaching one Sabbath at Westfield, which was
given without any demand or expectation from me. I also preached in the
fall, a number of Sabbaths, at Bethlem, to Mr. Bellamy's people, gratis, while
he took a tour as far as Philadelphia, in order to preach, as people in general
then had a hearing ear."
After he had spent more than three additional months with Mr.
Edwards, in 1742, Hopkins did not regard himself as having com
pleted his theological education ; but he says, in his Diary, May 39,
1743, " Rode to-day from Westfield hither, [to Northampton;] — am
kindly received by Mr. Edwards and his family. I have thoughts
of staying here this summer. I hope God will lead me to what is
my duty." He commenced a school in the village, and at the same
* Sketch of Mrs. Edwards's Life and Character, Edinburgh edition, pp. Ill, 112.
t Sketches, etc., p. 45.

24 MEMOIR.
time prosecuted his studies, but at the end of four weeks was seized
with a rheumatic affection, and was compelled to change his resi
dence. Thus he spent a httle more than eight months in the bosom
of Mr. Edwards's household, and in the enjoyment of his rich in
structions. The intimacy which Hopkins then formed with his
teacher produced a decided effect upon his entire subsequent life.
It enabled him to give a very minute account of Mr. Edwards's
private habits. We are indebted to Hopkins for the authentic infor
mation which we have concerning the devotional observances, house
hold arrangements, social usages of his beloved instructor.
Sect. V. PRIVATE JOURNAL.
About this time, the young candidate began his Diary. It was
obviously designed to be private, for he records many events which
he would not wish to let his best friends know. Some of these in
cidents, for the purpose of secrecy, he narrates in the Latin lan
guage. And yet, through the entire Journal, (so far forth as it is
now preserved and has been perused by the present biographer,)
there is not to be found one disclosure which could in any degree
sully the fair name of Hopkins. Even its most secret records are
perfectly honorable to his character. It is written with careless
ness ; it exposes the great divine in his dishabille, but is a far nobler
monument to his virtue than is his Autobiography. If it had been
penned with any design of exposing it to his friends even, its charm
and its value would have been lessened ; but as it is, it serves as a
glass through which is to be seen the heart of its author. Some of
its assertions are too condemnatory of himself to be true, but they
were thought or felt to be true by him who made them. They are
to be received with abatement, as if they had been the words of his
enemy ; for he did hate and abhor himself, and write bitter things
against himself. His Autobiography has been called his Confession,
and his private Journal may be called his Self-accusation. It was
doubtless a fault to disparage his performances so unremittingly, but
it was a failing which " leaned to virtue's side."
Many of the details in the ensuing Memoir are derived from the
relics of this Journal. It is much to be regretted, that after Novem
ber 2, 1756, a large part of his Journal was written in cipher, and,
since the death of his widow, has been to some extent unintelligible.
Those parts of it which were deciphered by her for the Autobiogra
phy edited by Dr. West, are the richest portions of the whole.
Sect. VI. EARLIEST EFFORTS IN THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, AND
FEELINGS IN VIEW OF THEM.
The subject of our Memoir was constitutionally inclined to de
spondency. He looked at the dark side of nearly all objects, at the

MEMOIR. 25
darkest side of his own character. In two thirds of the passages of
his Diary, where he comments on his own sermons, he speaks of
them as " dull," " very dull," or as deserving of some worse epithet.
And even when he is willing to confess that he " spoke with some
power for a few minutes," and " had a little turn or two'' of " free
dom," and " was not so insipid as sometimes," he qualifies his con
fession, and " loses himself in a humble way." Thus he writes :
" Sunday, March 20, 1743. Preached to-day, in the forenoon, from Ps.
xxix. 4. Had no great pressing and feeling sense of divine truths, but yet
was enabled to speak with freedom. In the afternoon, from Matt. xvi. 26.
Had a little sense, for a small minute, of the happiness of those that should
forever dwell in the presence of God, and feel the beamings forth of his love.
No visible effects of the word this day." — " Wednesday, May 4, 1743. Have
had my mind much bent in studying some part of this day, in making a ser
mon wherein I treat of the Sabbath — of its institution and change, &c. And
this evening, through the goodness of God, have had some refreshing discov
eries of divine things, longing that the whole world might be brought to the
knowledge of God, and that the children of God might live like themselves,
and have views of an approaching eternity, and feel the love of God in their
souls ; that the ministers of Christ might alvyays experience how sweet it is
to preach Christ, and offer him to fallen, undone sinners ; that unconverted
ministers might have their eyes opened. O, how sweet it is to get on Mount
Pisgah, and from thence behold the promised land ! "
Such were his habits of introspection, and such was his humiliating
estimate of himself, that months before his ordination he wrote in
his Journal :
" I have for some time been much discouraged about preaching, and feel
inclined to leave off, — am filled with doubts about my own good estate."
" Friday, October 12, 1744. Have been trying at turns to study a sermon
all this week, but cannot make it out yet. I have been very senseless and
stupid to-day, and this evening have been in a strange posture. I know not
how to describe it. It is an uneasy stupor. There seems to be a separating
wall between God and my soul. I am all in the dark, and cannot speak to
him. I am full of doubts whether I know any thing about grace, or have any
of it, and have no courage to go on in the work of the ministry. — Monday,
October 15. I have been veiy barren to-day in my conversation. I feel
very much in the dark, and doubt whether I am a Christian or no. My heart
is excessively hard," etc. — " November 6, 1745. Have had some uncom
mon fresh thoughts of death this evening. I fear I am unprepared. My sins
stare me in the face. I have wofully departed from God, and fear I have not
one spark of true grace, and yet am afraid all the apprehensions and sense I
now have will soon wear off."
At other times, we find him reasoning, " disinterestedly," to prove
that his religious professions were not false.
"I have been very low and cold for the most of this day," he writes,
March 22, 1743. " I have been trying to study a sermon, but cannot make it
out. I had some enlargement in secret this evening ; was made to cry out
under this body of death, and had desires to be freed from it, and, while I
live in this world, to be as a flame of fire in God's service. Every grace of
God's Spirit which is implanted in the believer appeared lovely and desirable
to me, and I could not but long for them ; and I longed to see and know all
the attributes of God, through a sense of the sweetness and happiness that
c

26 MEMOIR.
such a knowledge would afford the soul ; and upon reflectmg upon these
[views] and this disposition of my soul, my doubts in some measure ceased ;
for surely this is something above nature ; for why doth that God that is de
scribed in the Bible appear the most desirable to me, unless I have seen him
and do love him ? Why do I long to behold a great, a holy, a powerful, a just,
a true, an eternal, an omniscient, omnipresent, all-wise, and sovereign God ?
Why doth such a God appear the most desirable to me, and why do I choose
to love such a God, unless these his attributes have been so seen and known by
me that they have left their stamp and impress on my soul ? And why doth
every Christian grace, as it is described in the word of God, appear beautiful
and lovely to me, considered in themselves, considered without their conse
quence, (even eternal life and happiness,) unless I have seen the beauty of
holiness ? How can I long for holiness, unless I am in some measure sanc
tified?" A httle more than three months after he had begun to preach, he
records the following self-dedication to God :
" August 7, 1742. Seeing Christ requires that I deny myself, take up
my cross, and renounce all for him, taking him for my only portion here and
forever, I do now afresh dedicate myself to the Lord, solemnly promising to
renounce all other lords, and take him for my portion. I call heaven and earth
to witness, that I now take the God of heaven and earth for my God. I now
make myself over, with all that I have or ever shall have, to him. I now
promise allegiance to the God of heaven, that henceforth I will make it my
only business to serve and honor him, begging his gracious assistance to per
form my obligations, and to keep my solemn vows inviolate. It is done ; I
am no more my own, but I give myself away to God, to be his forever. S. H."
It is an interesting fact, that he had no sooner entered the sacred
office than he set apart the last day of every week as a day of fast
ing and prayer. He continued this habit more than sixty years.
He did not allow his Saturday to be a day of hurried preparation
for the Sabbath, nor of any mere intellectual labor. His work on
his sermons was finished before nine o'clock on Friday evening, and
Saturday was his day of religious rest. Such was his reverence
toward Jehovah, that he dared not go into the pulpit save from the
foot of the throne. It was his principle not only to feel what he
preached, but also to preach what he felt. He chose to say aloud on
the Sabbath what he had experienced the day before. It is partly
because he had such deep emotion in view of truth, that he mourned
so much over his want of feeling. It is the pious man who weeps
the most bitterly over his remaining sin. What he says of Presi
dent Edwards is emphatically true of himself.
He was " much on his knees in secret, and in devout reading God's word,
and meditation upon it. And his constant, solemn converse with God in thess
exercises of secret religion, made his face, as it were, to shine before others.
His appearance, his countenance, words, and whole demeanor, (though with
out any thing of affected grimace and sour austerity,) was attended with a
seriousness, gravity and solemnity which was the natural, genuine indication
and expression of a deep, abiding sense of divine things in his mind, and of
his living constantly in the fear of God." *
* Life of Edwards, Edinburgh edition, pp. 45, 46.

MEMOIR. 27

Sect. VII. REASONS FOR HOPE AND DISCOURAGEMENT ON
ENTERING THE SACRED OFFICE.
Although God acts as a Sovereign in giving success to preachers of
his truth, yet he ordinarily blesses their services according to certain
laws which himself has originated, and on which he allows them to
calculate in some degree. Some of Hopkins's natural and moral
characteristics promised a life of usefulness in the ministry ; but he
possessed other traits which depressed him, and indicated that he
could better serve his race by scientific study than by oral address.
The influence of a public speaker is very much affected by his
external appearance. The person of Hopkins was dignified, but not
graceful. He was more than six feet in height, had a full chest, a
large head and face, high cheek bones, a broad, capacious forehead,
a gray or blue eye, which his friends and disciples represent as
beaming with intelligence. He was erect in his figure,* and his
whole person was of gigantic proportions. Some friends of his,
now living, remark that when, with his white, full-bottomed, pow
dered wig, his three-cornered hat, his silver knee buckles and shoe
buckles, he walked at the right hand of General Washington, with
Governor Arthur Fenner at the left, through the streets of Newport,
Rhode Island, during Washington's visit to that town, the stature of
Hopkins appeared as imposing, although his motions were by no
means so pleasing, as those of the father of his country.t Although
in his old age Hopkins moved slowly and clumsily, yet in his early
life he was noted for agility of frame, and several of his athletic
feats are still described by the village chroniclers. His manners, too,
although awkward, were commanding. In an association of min
isters, he inspired all with an affectionate awe. Dr. Samuel Spring
said, that he always trembled in Hopkins's presence. Not only in liis
youth, but even in his extreme age, Hopkins paid a fitting attention
to his dress, which was always neat. His motions, especially in
later life, were slow, and indicated the habitual composure of his
mind. There was a want of flexibility in his intercourse with pro
miscuous circles, which prevented his being a favorite among them.
He was not a genial companion with the masses. He was rather
inclined to be taciturn, except among chosen friends. His thoughts
* An old man of ninety-six years, who lived in Newport before, and while, and after
Dr. Hopkins preached there, and who belonged to Dr. Hopkins's church and choir, says,
that " the doctor always attracted attention in the streets, as an upright and tall man.
Strangers, presuming that he was a great man, would at once take off their hats when
they met him." A Baptist clergyman of Newport was wont to say, " Dr. Hopkins's
countenance always reminds me of the beloved disciple."
t This reminiscence of his friends is here mentioned, not for the Durpose of indors
ing its historical accuracy, but for the sake of disclosing the impression which Hop
kins's figure and bearing made upon his surviving favorites. The writer has no means
of ascertaining the truth of the report, that Hopkins officiated as chaplain when the
first President of the Union visited Newport.

28 MEMOIR.
were in solid bullion, and he had but little small change. Seldom
speaking unless he had something to say, he failed to please a some
what comprehensive class of both men and women. Besides, when
he saw marks of vanity or arrogance in others, he recoiled within
himself, and appeared blank to them. Hence he has sometimes been
misrepresented as unintellectual in his aspect.*
In the pulpit, his appearance was dignified, solemn, and even
fearful. A little girl was once found weeping, because she dared
not go into the meeting-house where he was to preach ; for she said,
" When I look up into the pulpit, I think I see God there." Still
he was no orator. He had more of homely strength than of polish.
He was blunt, though kindly, in his accents. He could " dehver " a
metaphysical' essay with very just emphasis; — Dr. William Patten
was wont to say that Hopkins's reading of such a treatise was equal
to any other man's commentary upon it; but he pronounced un
gracefully and inaccurately ; he made but few gestures, and those
were awkward ; his voice was not good,t and his whole enunciation
was apt to be drawling and monotonous. He mourned over his
ungainly style, was often depressed in view of it, and he strenuously
advised young preachers to study the proprieties of outward manner.
" I am troubled," he complains, in his twenty-third year, " with a sort of
tone, which I cannot get.rid of." And in his seventy-fifth year, reviewing his
ministry, he says, " I am sensible that I was greatly deficient and negligent in
tbe former part of my life in my attention to language and taking pains to ob
tain a good delivery, which occasioned a very bad and disagreeable delivery,
and rendered me, not a good, but a bad speaker ; especially in the former part
of my ministry ; though since, for above thirty years, I have made* some im-
* A distinguished author, describing his visit to Dr. Hopkins, says, " There is nothing
striking in his manner and conversation. On the contrary, there is something which
would lead a person ignorant of his character to think him rather weak, and simple, and
unthinking. He looks like a vacant-minded man, and his conversation on common and
ordinary topics is not calculated to remove such an impression.'' This criticism is im
portant, for in the Memoir of die eminent man who made the criticism, it is confessed,
that " to strangers, and especially to those who had no prepossessions in his favor, there
was in his [this critic's] manners an air of something magisterial or repulsive, which
kept many at a distance, and which even his best friends regretted," and which, we
may add, Dr. Hopkins was one of the last men on earth to encourage. It was a
marked peculiarity of Hopkins, and of Edwards, to seem to know nothing before men
who seemed to know too much.
t The voice of Mr. Hopkins has been variously described. In his old age, it was,
of course, more unpleasant than in his early life. A literary gentleman, who remembers
him only as he spoke in his later years, gives a representation somewhat diverse from
lhat given by Dr. Patten, and says of Hopkins, "His voice was as far removed from
melodiousness as voice well could be. He seemed never to have learned that it was
flexible, capable of an infinite variety of modulation. He spoKe ever on the same
key — a heavy, inelastic monotone." Several of his former parishioners, on the contrary,
describe his voice as solemn, and at times impressive. Is it not probable that those
who listened to him most frequently felt die defects of his utterance least sensibly, and
that those who were familiar with him before his extreme old age, did not notice the
faults which increased with increase of years, and made a deep impression on his
younger hearers 1 When he commenced his ministry, there may have been nothing dis
couraging in his vocal powers, but they wanted culture.

MEMOIR. 29
provement in my delivery, by paying more attention to it,* and to language,
by which I have been in a great measure cured of some of my bad habits, con
tracted through inattention, and the want of a friend to point them out to me
and admonish me. When I first began to preach, my mind was inquiring
after truth ; and this pleased and satisfied me wherever I could find it, with
out attending much to the manner or the language by which it was conveyed
to my mind. And I took it for granted that this was the case with others.
This led me to inquire after truth, and in my sermons to convey it to others,
without attending properly to the manner and the language in which it was
communicated ; so that while, I trust, I made some proficiency in the knowl
edge of the truth, I was careless as to the manner of communicating it, and
contracted these bad habits, with respect to this, which it was not easy,
if possible, to get wholly rid of, when I became sensible of my mistake, and
was convinced of the importance of studying good language and a proper
delivery." f
This tautological extract affords an apt illustration of the truth,
that unless a man study the principles of elocution in his early life,
he will seldom become master of them ; and unless he form a good
English style before he begins to preach, he is in danger of never
forming one. The youthful Hopkins did not obtain a mastery of
his mother tongue. His strong feelings vented themselves in strong
words, (how could he help it ?) but he did not explore the resources
of the language ; he did not learn its compass, its dignity, its graces,
its delicate shades of meaning, its refined distinctions. | This,
whether he perceived it or not, was to be one of the chief hin
drances to his power over an audience. He selected his words
clumsily. He often chose, or rather stumbled upon, more energetic
terms than he really meant to use. He did not know the meaning
of a euphemism. Hence he was often liable to be misunderstood,
to give unintended offence. Thus he advises a young lady: "Al
ways disregard and avoid, as much as you can, and slight, and even
despise, those who speak light of and ridicule religion and sacred
things." Now, the good man did not mean that she should despise
any part of " being in general," but rather that she should despise
* That this honest chronicler endeavored to improve in elocution is true ; that he suc
ceeded is not generally believed. He mistook the good effort for a good result.
t Sketches, etc., p. 92.
t In his earlier ministry he had a contempt for rhetorical study. When called to
criticize a youthful preacher, before an association who had unanimously applauded
that preacher for his eloquence of manner, Mr. Hopkins added to their compliments
tbe following remark : " Your sermon, sir, was very beautiful, very eloquent ; I was
pleased with it ; but, sir, you know lama blunt man, — and a thousand such sermons
would do no good to a rat." The writer once heard this criticism justified as literally
correct. — Here it may be well enough to say, that if his biography can be of no other
use to a public speaker, it may illustrate, by contrast, the worth of rhetorical culture.
A quaint clergyman once remarked to a circle of candidates for the ministry, " Three
things make out a call for you to preach : first, you must desire to preach ; secondly,
you must be able to preach ; thirdly, you must be able to get men to come and hear
you." The first requisite comprised a good heart ; the second, a good intellect ; the
third, a good style and utterance. The sequel will show that Hopkins began his min
istry with a better power of expression than he had when he closed it 3 but in the maia
he exerted his influence by the matter, in despite of the manner, of his sermons.
C*

30 MEMOIR.
the character of irreligious wits. In a very benevolent epistle, which
announces his intention to expose the low and disreputable nature of
a certain assault upon him, the kind-hearted writer blunders into the
nervous assertion, that he shall take "notice of a number of things"
tending to make his assailant " ashamed, and render him mean, and
even ridiculous, in the eyes of the public." He obviously meant
something less intense than what he said.
No one can rightly estimate Dr. Hopkins as a theologian, with
out considering this fault of his rhetoric. There is often an oaken
strength, a compressed energy, a real pith, in his style ; a vigor and
compactness of single phrases, a fulness and not unfrequent richness
as well as force of expression ; but there is oftener an inelegant and
cumbrous arrangement of terms, a tedious verbosity, interchanging
itself strangely with some most concise utterances; and above all,
there is an infelicitous use of harder and harsher words than he
would have selected, had he examined more minutely the " distinc
tions of sound." These unhappy words tended to prejudice many
against his discourses, and they still deter many from a patient study
of his speculations.
The intellectual powers of this youthful preacher betokened his
eminent usefulness in the church. He was distinguished for his re
tentive memory. When, in mature life, he was asked to explain any
prominent passage in the Bible, he could not only repeat it, but also
its preceding and succeeding context, and could add a statement
of the opinions expressed upon it by Bishop Newton, Flavel, Baxter,
Guyse, Doddridge, and all the most noted commentators. Still, his
genius did not promise the highest success in the pulpit. As his
literary taste had received but little culture, so liis imagination was
less vigorous and active than is needed for popular oratory. He
was at home in meditating on abstract truth, and he seldom wan
dered among the beautiful illustrations of it. His soul was on the
loftiest topics, and it was difficult for him to come down to the
familiar processes of lower minds. His habits of abstraction were
fitted to remove the style of his preaching beyond the sympathies of
undisciplined thinkers. He was a philosopher and a logician ; and
how difficult it is for such a man to become a fervid exhorter ! His
mental tendencies and his college habits indicated that he would
adopt an abstruse manner of preaching; and after he had been in
the ministry about fifty years, Dr. Ashbel Green says of him, "I
have had queries with myself whether his abstruse manner of preach
ing has not contributed to drive his people from him." * Medita
tive and grave, he seemed to live above the world ; but the world
claims of its favorites that they come down lower. One who now
lives to remember and honor him says, " Whenever he met me in
* Green's Life, p. 240.

MEMOIR. 31
my childhood, as I passed his house to my school, he inquired for
my name, and the name of my father ; but never seemed to notice
my answers so as to recollect them, but appeared to be lost in divin
ity." This last phrase happily describes his appearance as he
ascended the pulpit. He looked as if he was lost in divinity, when
children and mothers in his audience longed for a warmer glow of
fellow-feeling with poor, frail humanity.
In this respect, however, his appearance did injustice to his in
most heart. He was a man of the most earnest philanthropy. The
ensuing Memoir is a history of his beneficence. His love to his race
was comprehensive. It looked forward to the end of things. It
made him faithful in reproof; still, this kind of fidelity did not
promise to make him a favorite with the masses. His kindly feel
ing led him to become a plain-spoken man ; but will not such a man
have enemies ? He was inwardly and thoroughly honest : a so
briquet often applied to him in his later years, even by his oppo
nents, was, Old Sincerity. But it has been shrewdly said, that
" strict honesty is an obstacle to one who would press through
crowds." He had withal a remarkable degree of native modesty,
which his friends would love, but which would indispose him to
force his way to the high places of the earth. Even in recording
his own age, he would betray his lowly estimate of himself. " I sup
pose," he writes on one of his Fast-Saturdays, September 17, 1743, —
" I suppose " — and did not the good man really know ? — " that I am
this day twenty-two years old, and that this is my birthday." Such
native lowliness laid a firm basis for his Christian humility, which
was, perhaps, his most prominent virtue. While it ever led him to
disparage himself, it promised success to his inquiries after truth.
Only that man is fitted for sacred studies, who feels his urgent need
of them. The Most High dwells in the heart of the contrite, and
prospers the efforts of those who renounce themselves for him.
It appears, then, that Hopkins had reasons for persevering in the
ministry, although he had several characteristics which interfered
with the popularity of his preaching. His first reception among the
churches was also fitted to encourage, although not to flatter him.
Having a strong mind, and strong feelings, he often expressed them
in strong language, and he thus affected strong men. His influence
on vigorous minds was greater than on feeble ; but he sometimes
moved the masses. Thus he writes about six weeks after he began
to speak in public :
" July 3, 1741. I have this day rode from [North] Hampton to Suffield, in
order to preach. By the way, I was much drawn out in ardent desires that
God would go with me, and that I might do something for his honor. I heard
two sermons, and, being desired, I preached a third. The power of the Lord
came down, and many of his children were filled with the Holy Ghost. I had
a freedom in speaking which I never had before. I could not be heard all

32 MEMOIR.
over the meeting-house, by reason of the outcries of the people. O, wonder
ful that the Lord should make me his instrument to feed his lambs !
" Being desired, I preached again, this night, at the house where I lodged ;
many people came to hear the word, and we had the divine presence ; — many
Christians were sweetly refreshed."
March 25, 1743, he says : " Was a little raised this morning, by reading in
Pilgrim's Progress and conversing with some Christian friends. I had some
thing of liberty and freedom in speaking, but no great matter of a feeling
sense of divine truths. The people were attentive, and many seemed to be
affected. Some Christians were so affected as to cry out in sermon time."
It is evident that this young candidate was regarded as a man of
promise, for he had an uncommon number of invitations to preach,
in view of a settlement. Five of these he declined at once. He
thus describes his services at one place, where, perhaps, he ought to
have remained :
" In the beginning of December, 1742, 1 was invited to preach at Syms-
bury, in Connecticut, to a considerable congregation, who had lately lost their
minister ; where I continued preaching most of the time till the next May.
The greater part of the people appeared attentive, and in some measure en
gaged in religion ; but there were some opposers of the late revival of religion,
and of the doctrines which were preached, and were much insisted upon by
the friends of the revival. Though I refused to preach as a candidate, hav
ing no inclination to settle in the ministry at present, yet the town insisted
upon having a meeting to see if they would give me a call to settle in the
work of the ministry among them. When they met, it appeared that one hun
dred voted to give me a call, and that thirty voted against it. I told them
that I had no thought of settling in the ministry at present ; but if I had, I
thought their want of unanimity, and the number of opposers, was a sufficient
reason for not complying with their request. I therefore left them, and went
to Northampton, with a view to pursue my studies for a longer time with Mr.
Edwards." *
Dr. Patten narrates, that while Hopkins yet remained a candidate, he
preached a sermon before an association of ministers, from the " text, Phil. ii.
12, 13 : 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.' Instead
of the common construction, that we are to understand, by ' fear and trem
bling,' that terror which the sinner experiences when convinced of sin, and
awakened to a view of the punishment to which he is exposed, and by 'work
ing out his salvation,' those exertions he is to make in obtaining an interest
in Christ, he considered ' fear and trembling ' to denote that deep humility
which is implied in a sense of dependence on God, corresponding to the ex
pression, 'for it is God which worketh in you to will and to do ; ' it not being a
terror, but an encouragement to the soul, to realize its dependence on the God
of grace, and that this humility or sense of dependence ought to be exercised
in all that is willed or done in the work of salvation, till the work is finished,
and complete salvation is obtained. After their return from meeting, one of
the ministers said to Mr. Hopkins, ' You have given a strange explanation of
that text. I do not approve of it.' But Mr. Edwards came up and said, ' I
believe he has given the true meaning.' This was more in the scale than
the censure of the other minister, more than though all the rest had com
mended him."f

* Sketches, etc., pp. 45, 46.
t Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 29, 30.

MEMOIR. 33

Sect. VIII. ORDINATION AT HOUSATONICK, OR GREAT
BARRINGTON.
It was with the disinterestedness of a missionary, that after re
fusing various applications from other and better places, Hopkins
complied with a request to preach at Housatonick.* In 1740, this
parish was incorporated, with the name of the " Second Parish in
Sheffield." In 1761, it was incorporated as a town, with the name
of Great Barrington. It is now the residence of an enterprising
and cultivated population. Its natural scenery is charming. Mr.
William Cullen Bryant, once an inhabitant of the place, has celebrat
ed its woodlands and waters, in his poem on Monument Mountain.
That noble mountain stood there, indeed, and the streams flowed
around it, when Hopkins first visited the town; but he found there
a class of residents far inferior to their successors. They still
called their parish by its Indian name, Housatonick. They had
resided thirteen years in the place without a settled minister. They
were marked by that character which we may expect to find in a
border town. Then the place was on the frontiers of American
civilization. There were but six other white settlements in Berk
shire county. It had withal no flattering prospects of increase, for
it was dreaded by some on account of its proximity to the Dutch
settlements along the Hudson, by others on account of its exposure
to the Indian tribes from the north. Its yeomen often went to meet
ing with their guns on their shoulders. Was this the parish for an
argumentative preacher like Hopkins? He had been trained, and
his habits fitted him to live, among a more meditative people. He
denied himself in going to Housatonick, just as a scientific scholar
now crosses his natural inclinations in settling over a small, unprom
ising parish in Iowa. The best part of Hopkins's life was spent in
what was, to all intent, a missionary field. His writings came from
the heart of a missionary. When he went to Housatonick, it con
tained but thirty families. Of these several were Dutch. The very
names of some of the early settlers, Joachim Van Valkenburgh,
Isaac Van Deuseti, Conrad and Hendrick Burghardt, Meese Hogo-
boom, etc., indicated that an advocate of " strict communion " and
an opposer of the " half-way covenant " would have a perilous min
istry among them. The adversaries of this self-denying missionary
(as he was in fact, although not in form) often say that he preached
his people down • his own Journal proves how high his people had
been up. He went to Housatonick in June, 1743, and he writes thus
on the 1st of the next August :
" Took a walk to-day in the woods, and as I returned, went into the tavern.
Found a number of men there, who I believe had better been somewhere else.
* We follow, in the present Memoir, Mr. Hopkins's orthography for this word,
although his uncle, in the book already noticed, writes Housatunnuk.

34 MEMOIR.
Sonje were disguised by drink. It appeared to be a solemn place. The cir
cumstances of this place appear more and more dreadful to me. There seems
to be no religion here. If I did not think I had a call here, I should be quite
discouraged. — August 23. Have been much exercised to-day with the head
ache, and feel otherwise indisposed. I suspect I am about to have the fever
and ague, a distemper which few escape who live in this town.
" Sunday, August 28. I have had a fit of the fever and ague this afternoon.
I was taken with the ague between two and three o'clock. I mistrust I had a
fit every day but one last week, though in a lower degree. — August 30. Have
had another fit to-day. It began after two o'clock, I believe. It is very te
dious to bear the pain. I find I want patience. This pain made me think of
everlasting pains. It would seem dreadful to bear forever the pain I felt ;
what then will it be to live in hell to all eternity ! — September 17. I had
no fit last night, which is the first that has missed. I am in hopes I shall
have no more. I have had nineteen formal fits, one after another, without
missing a day, and five at first which were hard, though I had not much ague.
— September 30. Rode so far as Mr. Hubbard's, to-day, and back again.
My fits continue yet. The people here have given me a call to settle among
them, and have voted to give me sixty pounds, lawful money, for settlement,
and thirty-five pounds salary the first year, and then add twenty shillings
every year, till it arises- to forty-five pounds. The committee was with me
this night, and I objected against the settlement, as not enough to build a
house and barn. [The amiable modesty of this reason will be appreciated
by the reader, when he compares the situation of Mr. Hopkins at Great
Barrington with the situation of other ministers at that time. One of his
townsmen, his bosom friend, his classmate in college, and also his cousin,
Rev. Jonathan Judd, had been ordained at Southampton, Mass., on the 8th
of June, 1743, about three months previous to Hopkins's call, and ' had for
a settlement two hundred acres of land, one hundred pounds, old tenor, and
one hundred and twenty-five pounds, old tenor, to be expended in work on
his house.' His salary, for the first three years, was one hundred and thirty
pounds, old tenor, per annum ; and five pounds a year to be added till it
reached one hundred and seventy pounds. At the next meeting, it was voted
to give him his wood, ' and we will give him more, according to our ability.' *
These two hundred acres of land, in tlie rich but then new township of South
ampton, were sufficient for the support of a minister's family. The parish
ioners of Mr. Judd, moreover, had been trained under the pastoral care of Mr.
Edwards, of Northampton, and continued to enjoy his occasional ministrations.]
"Sunday, October 2. Preached in the forenoon at my lodging. — Had a
fit of the fever and ague this afternoon. I have now had thirty-two fits. —
November 25, 1743. Gave my answer to-day to this people, and have con
sented to stay among them in tlie work of the ministry ; they are very unani
mous in desiring me to settle among them. The day of ordination, if God
permit, will be on the 21st of next month.
" Sunday, December 11. Preached to-day from Isa. 50 : 11. Was very bar
ren and dry all day. It seems to be always so with me of late. I have been
very much shut up ever since I have been among this people. They are a
very wicked people, but I can't tell them of it. — December 14. Had a fast
to-day previous to the ordination. Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Sergeant, and Mr. Jen-
noson were here. Mr. Sergeant made the first prayer. Mr. Hubbard was to
gather the church, but there did not a sufficient number offer themselves, so
that that business is put by till the ordination. I feel very much discouraged
about entering into the work of the ministry. They are a contentious people,
and I fear I am no way qualified for such a work.
" December 23, 1743. Have rode out to-day to see who would be embodied
and join with tlie church to be gathered by God's permission, on the ordina
tion day. I find some people very backward, and one told me he did not like
* American Quarterly Register, vol. x. p. 396.

MEMOIR. 35
my preaching because I told people to come to Christ, but never told them
how to come. I have wondered that they said nothing against my preaching
before, but I believe the more is to come. The way looks very dark before
me. I am, it is most probable, going to run myself into innumerable difficul
ties by settling among this people. I dare not [say] that there is one male
Christian among them, and most of them [are] opposers to divine grace and
the power of godliness. — Saturday, December 24. I have fasted in secret to
day. — Have had some unusual assistance and enlargement. My courage is
increased about settling here in the work of the ministry, being willing to go
where God calls me, knowing that this life is not the place for happiness. I
must wait for that, till I launch into eternity, and leave my corruptions behind.
I hope God hath this day given me strength to desire his presence in the
great work of the ministry. — December 28. I have this day publicly and
visibly given myself up to the work of the ministry, being solemnly set apart
to that employment, though I have reason to be ashamed that I have done it
no more heartily. The Lord forgive me. [This was his ordination day. He
was now twenty-two years and three months old.] — December 29. This day
most of the gentlemen that assisted in my ordination set out home, and here
I am left engaged in a great work. O that I might be faithful unto the
death!" In the Life of David Brainerd, (Dwight's edition, p. 187,) we read : " De
cember 28, [1743.] Rode about six miles to the ordination of Mr. Hopkins.
At the solemnity I was somewhat affected with a sense of the greatness and
importance of the work of a minister of Christ. Afterwards was grieved to
see the vanity of the multitude. In the evening, spent a little time with some
Christian friends, with some degree of satisfaction ; but most of the time I had
rather have been alone."

Sect. IX. MR. HOPKINS IN HIS PAROCHIAL LABOR.
Gloomy as his forebodings had been, Hopkins at length succeeded
in collecting five persons to unite in forming his church. On his
ordination day, John and Jonah Pixley, James Sexton, Asahel King,
and Jonathan Nash, with himself as their pastor, were constituted a
church in this wilderness.* How faithfully he labored for this feeble
band, and with how much of a missionary spirit he struggled against
the untoward influences of his parish, may be inferred from the
following passages of his Journal :
" August 28, 1744. This evening I have had unusual freedom in prayer
Had some sense of the miserable state of my people, and some wrestlings for
them. Was enabled to give myself up afresh to Christ, taking him with his
cross, being heartily willing, if I might have his presence, to undergo all pos
sible hardships and trials. Was enabled with a holy scorn to trample upon
and despise the world, with all created good. I have taken some pains to
prevent there being a tavern here next year ; for which some are offended
with me, yea, even rage at me. I have felt for twenty-four hours a calm in
my own breast, respecting that, fully acquiescing in the will of God concern
ing it ; and I was enabled this evening, especially, to commit this matter to God,
and I -choose his will should be done, whatever it is. [Thus it appears that
Hopkins began early to be a reformer.] — November 20. Visited four Dutch
families to-day. I fear they have not much true religion among them. I
asked one, if she thought she could save herself. She answered, ' I don't
* Many of these facts are found in " A History of the County of Berkshire," and in
Barber's " Historical Collections of Massachusetts."

36 MEMOIR.
know, —I will try.' This is the very language of the natural man, though
all don't speak it out. — April 3, 1745. Have been very much discouraged,
and things look very dark to me, ever since I came from Northampton last
I have inward/ difficulties and outward troubles which are too great for me,
so that I go mourning all the day. I often fear I have no call among this
people, and this day am almost determined to leave them ; yea, to leave off
preaching. My inward burdens and troubles are inexpressible, almost. Here
is a fast to-morrow, and I cannot think of any thing to say to the people.
"Sunday, April 7. Preached to-day from Phil. iii. 18, 19. Had some
liberty in speaking in the forenoon, but was enabled to speak with more
warmth, vigor, and closeness this afternoon. I hope some one was smitten
by the word. — Sunday, April 28. Preached to-day. Had some freedom
of" speech, sed non prasentiam Dei. — Sunday, May 12. Administered the
sacrament, I have been very much sunk in my mind to-day and yesterday.
Began to catechize the children in public.
" Sunday, August 4. Went to meeting in the forenoon. It raining very
hard, but few people were there ; therefore only prayed, sung, and read a
chapter. Preached P. M. from Rom. vi. 23, without much freedom. .
" July 25, 1749. Had freedom in secret prayer this evening. I think I can
safely appeal to God, and solemnly declare before him, that I desire his
smiles, and acceptance in his sight, above all things else ; that I had rather
be stripped of every worldly comfort than to be without this ; yea, without
this all the world is nothing. I am also conscious before God that I am sincere
(though, alas ! shamefully deficient) in the great work I have undertaken, and
have never declined that which I seriously thought was for the spiritual good of
my people, for any worldly interest. — May 8, 1753. Visited H. D. to-day, who
is very sick, and is not like to continue long ; her sister, E., came out of the door
after me, appearing tenderly concerned about herself; desired me to pray for
her, which I endeavored to do when I got into my closet at home, and was
enabled to cry to God for mercy for her soul with freedom and importunity.
I cannot but hope that God enabled me to ask converting grace for her ; and
I humbly hope he will, in his time and way, give it. O, what a sweet duty-
is intercession, when it is done in faith with the whole heart ! Every fervent
intercessor has his reward paid down, and his prayer immediately returns
into his own bosom. — May 9. This day H. T>. died. She was a desirable
youth, and hopefully converted a few weeks before she was taken sick ; and
God was pleased to make me a mean of awakening her, which I esteem
a greater favor than if he had given me the whole world. This is the first
that I have evidence of the conversion of, since I have been in the place;
and surely it is well worth while to preach seven years (which is the time
I have been here) to be any ways instrumental of the conversion of one
soul. "December 28, 1754. This day finishes eleven years since I was or
dained to the work of the ministry. How poorly it has been spent, God
knows ! Have had no success ! Have reason to be greatly ashamed. Kept
a secret fast. God only knows my misery.
" November 6, 1755. — A young woman came to me this day, who lives in
the parish, with a countenance solemnized and dejected. She says she has
been concerned for her soul near half a year, but in a much higher degree
about three weeks past ; that for two or three nights past, she had little [sleep]
or none ; that to-day, as she had been some time alone praying, to that degree
of engagedness that she knew not where she was, she seemed to hear Christ
himself speak these words to her, ' Come unto me,' &c, which was accom
panied with such power to her soul, that she hopes she was enabled to
believe on Christ I hope she is born again, but am not without fears. May
the kind Redeemer prevent her being deluded.
"Lord's Day, December 29, 1755. Was sent for, in the intermission
to-day, to go and see  . The messenger said she was dying ; but
when I came there, I found her full of joy and comfort, supposing she had

MEMOIR. 37
had saving discoveries of Christ. She admired the goodness of God, and
called upon all to praise him. Upon examining her, I was satisfied thai she
was deceived ; that it was only the workings of her imagination. She was
confident ; but I told her my fears. How exposed to the delusions of the
devil are ignorant persons! especially those whose understanding is shat
tered, and their imagination lively by a fever.
"Monday, November 1, 1756. Attended the funeral of Sergeant John
Pixley, who died last night about nine o'clock. Asahel King and John
Pixley were members of this church, and both friendly to me and to the
interest of religion, [and] were some of the most constant attenders on public
worship. Asahel King was a man of more than common good sense, and
promised to be a useful man in church and state. I and the interest of
religion have received a greater loss hi his death than [we should have
received, perhaps, in the loss of any other.] I have in him lost my greatest
and ablest friend in this place. A prince is fallen, and I am weak."
The preceding quotations indicate the high standard of Christian
character, and the habit of plain dealing, for which the pastor of
Great Barrington was noted, and by which he gained little popu
larity with the multitude. He told men just what he thought of
them. On one occasion, a friend came to him, and described " a
great conversion," of which he had recently been the subject. Mr.
Hopkins said to him : " After several seasons of great excitement
and life, and several of depression, you will probably give up all
your hope, and within two years, or perhaps one, you will be worse than
ever. Go now, I beg of you, and become truly penitent for your
sins." The predicted apostasy took place. But, after a few years,
the same friend revisited Mr. Hopkins, and mourned over his own
sinfulness, and wondered that he did not love the divine character,
which appeared so amiable. "Ah," said the sagacious pastor, "you
will not get rid of this in six months. Your raising God one minute,
and depressing yourself the next, — your alternately exalting his law,
and falling down at the foot of the cross, — seem to indicate that God's
Spirit has been with you." And so it was. Mr. Hopkins's " power
of detecting the symptoms of religious decline, and of determining
the true state of the heart, formed one of the distinguishing qualifi
cations of his pastoral character. It was this that made him the spir
itual adviser of so many ; and that induced clergymen at a distance
to refer to him, so frequently, doubtful cases of church discipline." *
Here we see another point of resemblance between the pastor of
Housatonick and his theological instructor. In his Memoir of that
instructor, the pupil says just what we may say of Hopkins himself:
" In this world, so full of darkness and delusion, it is of great im
portance that all should be able to distinguish between true religion
and that which is false. In this, perhaps, none has taken more
pains, or labored more successfully, than he whose life is set before
the reader, "t
* See Ferguson's Memoir of Hopkins, pp. 136-139.
t Hopkins's Preface to his Memoir of Edwards, p. 4, Edinburgh edition.
d

38 MEMOIR.

Sect. X. EXTEMPORANEOUS AND EXPOSITORY PREACHING.
The opposers of Dr. Hopkins have supposed him to he devoid of
mental versatility, and have inferred, from his metaphysical tastes,
that he preached elaborate disquisitions rather than practical ser
mons, and wrote his discourses for the press rather than for his
audience. He doubtless was tempted to do so, but was too consci
entious to comply with the temptation. It is interesting to notice
how many expedients he tried to edify his hearers, and how often
his mind oscillated with regard to the most effective style of public
discourse. He writes, on the 2d of March, 1743, ten months after
his licensure to preach :
" Expounded this night at my lodging. Was very low and dull all day, so
that I could not study ; but just before the exercise began, I thought of this
place, Isaiah xl. 5, &c. Had words put into my mouth strangely, though not
with such a feeling sense as sometimes. Who would not trust in the Lord ?
" Housatonick, July 5, 1743. [After preaching a sermon before Rev. Mr.
Sergeant, predecessor of Edwards at Stockbridge, Hopkins says :] I perceive
that Mr. Sergeant was not well pleased with it. He made several objections
against it to me, and though he did not in plain words say so, yet he evidently
disliked my preaching without notes. It may be that I am in the wrong in
thus doing, but I do not see it yet. O that God would lead me in the way that
I should' go !
" July 10. I have preached now five Sabbaths altogether without notes,
and believe it the best way for me to practise it.
" Thursday, October 4, 1744. I prayed and preached. Had no freedom
at all. Used my notes pretty much. I something suspect I had better fling
them quite by.
"Sunday, June 16, 1745. Preached to-day. Wrote almost all that I
preached, and read all that I wrote. I propose to preach a system or body of
divinity ; to lay open and explain the fundamental doctrines of the gospel in
their order, and have begun to-day.
" Friday, September 28. I was much at a loss about a subject to preach.
upon to-day, (this morning ;) upon which I made a prayer for direction, and in
my prayer these words came to my mind, contained in Ex. xix. 10, 11 ; upon
which I immediately made a. sermon, and though I had no immediate or
special assistance in making or preaching it, yet surely it may encourage me
to depend on God.
" Tuesday, November 4, 1755. Attended our quarterly lecture. Finding
that but very few people attended it, I did not preach the sermon I had pre
pared ; but as I went into the meeting-house, nobody being there, and expect
ing but few, it being late, I pitched upon Mark x. 24, and extemporized upon
it. There were but about twenty persons at meeting."
In his seventy-fifth year, as he reviews the experiments of his
long ministerial life, he thus records their results:
"For forty years or more, since I entered on the work of the ministry, I
have made it my practice to read a. chapter in the Bible, one in the forenoon,
and the other in the afternoon ; and to say something on the chapter by way
of explanation and improvement; in which I have not confined myself as to
the time I should spend upon it, but have said more or less, as I thought
would be most instructive and edifying. In order to do this in the best man
ner I could, I have attended to the chapters to be read before the Sabbath,

MEMOIR. 39
and consulted those expositors which were within my reach, which has gen
erally cost me as much time and pains as the studying of my sermons. And
I have thought this was as profitable a part of the public exercises as preach
ing, which has not been neglected by thus reading and expounding. And I
have had satisfactory evidence that the hearers, in general, have been pleased
with, and thought themselves most edified by, this practice. And I have for
some years past neglected to preach a sermon, in the common way, in the
forenoon, and, instead of it, have expounded and improved the chapter which
comes in course in the New Testament. And this, so far as I can learn, has
been as acceptable to the congregation in general, as preaching from one par
ticular text, n not more so.
" I have not been confined to my notes in preaching, except for a short
time, when I first began ; and have not generally written my sermons in full
length, but only the heads of them, and some short hints to suggest ideas,
which were to be mentioned under the general heads.* I do not, however,
recommend this as the best method. I think it would be best, in general, to
write all the sermon, and commit it to memory ,f with an allowance to deviate in
some instances from what has been written, and to add to it what may be sug
gested to the mind in the delivery. If this practice be diligently followed for
a time, the preacher, it is expected, will be able not only to preach without
notes, but his mind will be so furnished with the knowledge of divinity, that
he will be able to preach without writing his sermons.
" I have not written the sermons which I have preached for some years past.
I have written in this time more on the various subjects of divinity than in
former years, but not in the form of sermons. And I suppose that a minis
ter cannot improve his mind in the best manner, and make proper advances in
the knowledge of divinity, unless he uses himself to write on divine sub
jects." |
The fact that Mr. Hopkins persevered so long in the extempora
neous style of address, which was highly unpopular among the
preachers of his time, and also the fact that, as early as 1755, he
read a chapter of the Bible before his morning and his afternoon
sermon,§ — a practice which was then denounced and shunned as
"Episcopal," — indicate the spirit of independence and of improve
ment which characterized the favorite pupil of Edwards. If he
had been born an orator, his extemporaneous and expository practice
would have added much to his oratorical power. As he was born
to be a teacher, this practice made him the more interesting to such
as loved to be taught.
* Many of the manuscripts from which Hopkins preached are about three inches
square, and contaiu from ten to twenty pages, some of them covered with his peculiar
cipher. He says that President Edwards, during the later years of his life, recom
mended the practice of preaching without notes altogether, but not without writing the
sermons, which were to be delivered in great degree memoriter.
t It is very obvious that he means to recommend this method as the best for young
preachers only, and as capacitating them to preach afterwards, without having written
their sermons.
% Sketches, etc., pp. 89-91
J By a record of President Stiles, dated January 8, 1771, it appears that Dr. Hop
kins was accustomed, while in Newport, to read a chapter of the Old Testament in
course, on Sabbath morning, and a chapter of the New Testament in course, on Sab
bath afternoon, and to accompany the reading with occasional comments.

40 MEMOIR.

Sect. XI. INTERFERENCE OF COLONIAL TROUBLES WITH
MR. HOPKINS'S MINISTRY.
To a merely human observer, it should seem that a logician, like
Hopkins, ought not to have been stationed among a people who
were trembling by night and day in fear of the Indian war whoop,
and whose Sabbath worship even was disturbed by military prepara
tions. To sow the seed of the word on a battle field is discouraging
to any one ; especially so to a man of Hopkins's philosophical tem
perament. It is no wonder, that such a man could not speak loud
enough to drown the screams of women and children frightened by
tlie noise of war. When his opposers have triumphed over the
meagre success of his ministry, they have forgotten how much he
did and how much he suffered in behalf of his country ; how often
his parochial services were interrupted by the exposure of his fron
tier residence to the perils of battle. Few ministers of the gospel
have sacrificed more than he for their country's welfare. He was a
true patriot. A French and Indian war broke out in 1744, about a
year after his ordination, and continued until 1749. Another raged
from 1752 until 1763. Some might suppose that Hopkins was so
much absorbed in metaphysics, as to feel no interest in these commo
tions. But the following passages of his Journal prove the contrary,
and show the importance of our considering the interruptions of his
ministry, when we estimate its results :
" Sunday, July 7, 1745. Administered the sacrament and preached in the
afternoon. A post came in sermon time, and brought news that Cape Breton
is taken. Have concluded to go to Albany to-morrow. — Albany, July 8.
Came here to-day with S. King and Benjamin Alvord, the post. The gentle
men of the city met us without the gate, and welcomed us in, being much re
joiced at the good news which we brought. — July 9. Staid in tlie city
to-day, and, being invited, went into the fort, where were all the gentlemen
of the city. The guns were shot, and all were treated with wine. Three
bonfires were made. — Thursday, July 18. Received a proclamation for a
public thanksgiving this evening, on account of our success at Cape Breton.
The day appointed was this, and is now past. — August 1. Kept this day as
a thanksgiving on account of success at Cape Breton. Preached from Mai.
ii. 2. Had some liberty of speech. . [A conscientious observance.] — October
4. The gentlemen from Boston, who are going to the treaty at Albany, lodge
here to-night. — Sunday, October 13. Received news by the post to-day,
that the Indians have killed one man and taken another on Connecticut River.
— November 22. Some time after midnight last night, there came a man to
my lodgings, and cried out with all earnestness, saying that Stockbridge was
beset and taken by the Indians — that there were a multitude of them, able to
drive all before them ; which news was brought by a couple of young men
who had fled from Stockbridge. This news alarmed the whole house and the
whole town in an instant. But people were soon in some measure calmed, by
hearing that the report was false — that Stockbridge was not beset, though
they expected them there every hour. This day the most of my people
moved off into forts. Having none in this place, I, with my landlord's family,
went down to Mr. Hubbard's, and lodge in the fort at Elisha Noble's. — No
vember 23. Had a very poor lodging in the fort last night The house was

MEMOIR. 41
crowded with women and children. There came up yesterday and last night
above a hundred men from Connecticut, who returned to-day, having found
out, by a post from Kinderhook, that the story which so alarmed the country
is false. — Thursday, December 5. This day being appointed for public
thanksgiving, I preached from Psalm Ivi. 12, 13, without any more sensible
freedom than nature will afford. — Sunday, December 8. Went to the fort
last night to lie, and some time in the night news came from Stockbridge that
a barn was set on fire and burnt up, — supposed to be done by the Indians and
French, — which made something of an alarm among us. Went to meeting,
and preached but one sermon, from Matt x. 28. Had some freedom in
prayer and preaching. — Thursday, August 14, 1746. Attended the public
thanksgiving to-day, ordered on account of the victory of the Duke of Cum
berland over the rebels in Scotland, gained April 16. I preached from Prov.
xi. 10, with some freedom of speech. — Northampton, Tuesday, August 26.
Came here to-day. Lodge at Mr. Edwards's. The Indians killed five men
and a girl at Deerfield, yesterday. — Sunday, September 28. Have been
strongly urged to go into the woods with a scout of a hundred men, to be gone
a fortnight or more. — Stockbridge, Monday, September 29. Came here to
day from home, with the design to go in the scout if Mr. Sergeant should ad
vise to it. and with his advice have concluded to set out with them. — Sep
tember 30. Set out in the afternoon, with a scout of one hundred white men
and nineteen Indians, and travelled about four miles, and then encamped by a
large pond. I and some others lodge hi a house before made by the Indians.
— Pontoosuk, October 1. Rose _tis morning finely refreshed in my bark
house, for which I was in a measure thankful to God, who can give health
when means are wanting. Drank a dish of tea in an Indian spoon, made in
a tin pot One man returned to Stockbridge, being out of health. It rained
last night and looked likely to rain to-day ; but we set out Mid have arrived
safe to Pontoosuk. It began to rain before we got here ; but there being a
house made before, a fire was directly built and we are very comfortable.
Two more Indians came in this night, and bring a letter from Captain Wil
liams, directing not to go above the fort destroyed at Hoosack ; and if we do,
order his Indians back who are listed for Canada. — December 24. It proving
a very cold and windy day, and having no company, I set out home. — Sun
day, February 15, 1747. Captain Williams came here before night, and
lodged with me.* He has orders to provide for the soldiers on this river, for
their march to Albany in order for Crown Point — Tuesday, March 10. The
soldiers in this place are enlisted for Canada. Being called off into the wars,
they desired me to preach a sermon to them before they went off. Accord
ingly, we had a meeting, and I preached from Ps. cxliv. 1. — Sunday, April 12.
Preached to-day in Conrad Burghast's fort, (people not being inclined to go to
the meeting-house,) from Isaiah xxii. 12, 13, 14."
LAtier to Dr. Bellamy. — "September 3, 1754. Reverend and Dear Sir:
The dire alarm we have had is like to prevent the proposed journey of myself
and wife ; yet I shall come down next week, if it can be thought prudent to
leave my family. You will doubtless rejoice with me when you hear that the
fiist news we had from Stockbridge was not true ; that good Mr. Edwards is yet
alive, and, as we hope, safe. His fits of the fever and ague had left him some
time ago, but are now returned again, and he has a fit every day. I made
him a visit last week. He seemed to be more dejected and melancholy than
I ever saw him before ; is quite [depressed], and pines at the loss of so much
time. On the Lord's [day] P. M., as I was reading the psalm, news came
that Stockbridge was beset by an army of Indians, and on fire, which broke
up the assembly in an instant All were pnt into the utmost consternation —
men, women, and children crying, ' What shall we do ? ' — not a gun to
> Mr. Hopkins often speaks of the military and civil office™ lodging at his house
die Indian wart. d"

42 MEMOIR.
defend us, not a fort to flee to, and few guns and little ammunition in the place.
Some ran one way and some another ; but the general course was to the south
ward, especially for women and children. Women, children, and squaws
presently flocked in upon us from Stockbridge, half naked, and frighted almost
to death ; and fresh news came, that the enemy were on the Plains this side
Stockbridge, shooting, and killing, and scalping people as they fled. Some
presently came along bloody, with news that they saw persons killed and
scalped, which raised a consternation, tumult, and distress inexpressible, many
particulars of which Mr. Wheeler, now at my house, quorum pars magna fait,
can relate, which I have not now time to write. Two men are killed and
scalped, two children killed, and one of them scalped ; but two Indians [have
been] seen at or near Stockbridge, that we certainly know of. Two Indians
may put New England to a hundred thousand pounds' charge, and never much
expose themselves, in the way we now take. The troops that came to our
assistance are now drawing off; and what have they done ? They have seen
Stockbridge, and [eaten] up all their provision, and fatigued themselves, and
that's all ; and now we are left as much exposed as ever, (for I suppose they
are all going.) In short, the case of New England looks very dark, especially
of the frontiers. A few savages maybe a terrible scourge to us, &c. — I
began this letter in the morning, since which time (for it is now past five
o'clock, P. M.) I have had thoughts of moving my children to Canaan. If I
do, I shall be at commencement, it is likely. My regards to Mrs. Bellamy.
From your friend and servant, Sam _ Hopkins."
" September 12, 1754. This day I moved my family to Canaan, to the
house of Mr. Jonas M  , that they may be out of the way of fear from the
Indians. — October 23. Moved my family home to-day, and have all got safe
to my own house. — November 20. This evening my wife met with a sad ac
cident. A pound of powder, being wet, was set in my oven, last night, to
dry. As my wife was lighting a candle just at the oven's mouth, the powder
took fire, and burnt her face and neck very much. It was a wonder it had not
killed her. Blessed be God for this preservation ! — Lord's Day, February 23,
1755. A great number of Connecticut soldiers were at meeting, who are
going to Stockbridge and Pontoosuk, to build forts and scout, &c. — Thurs
day, July 3, 1755. Attended a public fast to-day, which was appointed to
seek God for success in the expeditions going on this summer in North Amer
ica; one against those that used to be neutral French at the eastward;
another against Crown Point and a French fort near Oswego Lake ; another
against the French on the Ohio. Preached, A. M., from Deut xxiii. 9 ; P. M.
from 2 Chron. xiii. 18. — July 9. Heard to-day that the Indians have taken a
man, and woman, and child, about ten miles to the west of us. It was done
yesterday, and one Indian was killed by the husband, while he was attempt
ing to carry off his wife a captive. One woman is also wounded. Two or
three Indians chased a man about a mile and a half west of my house. Upon
this news, we think it not prudent to live at my house, and have therefore
concluded to lodge at mother Ingersoll's this night — September 13. Had
news this week that our army going to Crown Point was beset by French and
Indians, upon which great numbers set out for their assistance. But last night
a post came from the army, with the joyful news that our army has got the
victory, with the loss of about an hundred men; that the French have lost
nine hundred, and many are become prisoners, &c. May God have the glory !
— Lords Day, September 14. Preached from Psalm cvii. 21, with applica
tion to the victory granted last week to our army, over the French and In
dians. - December 5 Near twenty soldiers lodged at my house last night
Z* ZZ t T ^ Cam.F at Lake Geor£e' and a nur»ber are here ajain
tZZl hT^ Day'.,M„y 16' 1756- A great number of soldier, at
meeting, both forenoon and afternoon, who are on their march to Crown Point
noon" »ap eir comPanies desired prayers in their behalf in the after-
Utter to Dr. Bellamy.-" August 10, 1757. Reverend and Dear Sir;

MEMOIR. 43
You have abundance of nefrs below, I suppose. We have none here from
the forts since last Friday night ; and the most we can depend on is, that a
close siege is laid to the upper fort, and our men are in a distressed situation,
if not taken or relieved ; that General Webb, with the forces then arrived at
Fort Edward, (which Colonel Dwight thinks must be near six thousand,) went
on Lord's day or Monday for their relief. People from Westfield and Spring
field, &c, have been passing by us ever since Monday evening. Whether
the lower counties are in motion, have not heard. The upper part of this
county, Northampton, &c, I hear don't stir, because they think themselves
in danger ! Ah, such colonels ! I think it high time to have a change in the
ministry here, as well as in England. But I'll suppress invectives. There will
be enough without mine. Most men seem to be touchy and waspish, and, in ca
lamity, ready to blame somebody. But few look as high as the heavens, or
are sensible that they rule. If the princes in Zoan are become fools, by
whose ordering is it? This in a hurry (though perhaps it [will not] get to you
so.) No more, but that I am yours, Samuel Hopkins."
Letter to Dr. Bellamy. — " August 15, 1757. Reverend and Dear Sir : The
news that you may depend upon is, that Fort William Henry was surrendered
to the French, August 9, at seven o'clock, A. M., our men having liberty to
march out with their arms and packs, and one brass cannon. That tlie Indians
stripped and killed some of our men before they left the fort which was the
next morning about sunrise, and followed them four or five miles when they
marched, stripped them all, and killed hundreds, (how many not known,) in the
most barbarous manner. That 'tis not known whether the French design to
evacuate the fort or keep it That General Johnson's Indians say that large
parties of the enemy have struck off towards our frontiers since the surrender
of the fort That on this account two regiments, viz., Colonel Williams's
and Colonel Ruggles's, (one of which had got to Kinderhook, the other had
passed this place,) are gone back to guard the frontiers on Connecticut River,
and three companies of Colonel Chandler's regiment (Worcester county) are
gone to Stockbridge. That there is an innumerable company of men at Fort
Edward, all in a huddle and confusion, doing nothing, and like to be of no
service, if the enemy are withdrawn, which (to me, at least) is most probable.
That men are still passing by us towards the fort. Some hundreds, now in
town, have sent back to Springfield to General Pepperell, (for he is there,)
to know what to do ; whether go forward or go back. — Current reports are,
that Generals Johnson and Lyman, two days before the fort was taken, with
tears in their eyes, begged leave to march for the relief of the garrison, but
could not obtain. That General Webb sent orders to the commandant at
William Henry to deliver up the garrison three days before he did, &c, &c,
&c. — Many reflections rise in my mind which I suppress as not worth send
ing to you. These are dark times indeed, but I predict much darker. But
this is with God, and this in some measure supports your friend and ser
vant, Samuel Hopkins."
' Sometimes our theologian writes with force on the ill-judged
movements of the troops. " As to the army," he says, in 1756, " our
general officers are very grand. The particular or private baggage
of each one is at least five cart loads. The French will support a
bigger army, with perhaps one quarter of the company. Mighty
preparations, but nothing done. Is not a truly martial spirit de
parted 1 " His words, considering that he was a divine, often sound
like a trumpet. He strove to stir up his countrymen to high effort.
He labored and suffered for us, and we enjoy the fruits of his toil,
while we complain of his unsuccessful ministry. His patriotism
fitted him to be a theologian, and his theology made him a patriot

44 MEMOIR.

Sect. XII. INTEREST IN THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES.
The self-denying pastor of Housatonick not only felt a deep con
cern for the political condition of his own country, but also for the
spiritual welfare qf the Indians. We often find him preaching to
the tribes of red men collected at Stockbridge, about an hour's ride
from his own house. These Indians became so warmly attached to
him, that upon the death of their celebrated missionary, Rev. John
Sergeant, they earnestly desired Mr. Hopkins to supply the vacant
place. Had he accepted the appointment, he would have received
from the government a much larger income than he could ever ex
pect to receive at Great Barrington. The following is his modest
narrative :
" It was disagreeable to me to go so far from Mr. Edwards, as I did when
I settled at Great Barrington, (being at least sixty miles,) with whpm I had
studied so long, and who was able to assist me farther to make advancement
in knowledge, could I live in his neighborhood, so as to be able to visit him
often, and converse with him, &c. But I was relieved and gratified with re
spect to this, in a'few years after .my settlement, by his removing from North
ampton and settling at Stockbridge, within seven miles of my house. Mr. Ser
geant, who was missionary to the Indians at Stockbridge, when I settled at
Great Barrington, died on the 27th of July, 1749. The next year, the com
missioners in Boston, who had the care of the Indian mission at Stockbridge,
sent to me their proposal and desire that I would accept of that mission, in
which invitation both the white people and the Indians at Stockbridge ear
nestly joined. And the Indians sent a particular messenger to me to entreat
me to come and be their minister. My answer was, that I would take the
matter into serious consideration. But as I did not think myself equal to such
a situation and business, I should hesitate with regard to accepting the offer,
though I should not know of any other man better qualified to take the place.
But as I had one in view who was much better qualified, every way, for such
a mission, if he could be obtained, as I hoped he could, if I otherwise were
inclined to accept, I should refuse, in order to introduce him. Mr. Edwards
was the man whom I had in view. He had been dismissed from the church
in Northampton in the year 1750. I therefore wrote to the commissioners in
Boston, recommending him in the strongest terms, as the most proper person
for that mission, and mentioned him to the white people, and to tlie Indians,
as the most suitable man for their minister. Accordingly, he was introduced,
and settled there, in August, 1751, not quite eight years after I was settled at
Great Barrington." *
As Mr. Edwards had become very unpopular among the churches
at this time, he did not regard it probable that he could obtain any
where a re-settlement in the ministry. According to Hopkins's Memoir
of him, " beggary, as well as disgrace, stared him full in the face,
if he persisted in his principles." It is unlikely that he could have
elsewhere found so advantageous a residence as Stockbridge ; for here
he was near to the friend whose opinions and character he highly
valued, and their mutual fellowship amid the toils of the wilderness
* Sketches, etc., pp. 53, M.

MEMOIR. 45
would discipline their hearts for the best kind of theological investi
gation. A picture of Edwards and Hopkins, moving about among
the wigwams of Stockbridge Plain, would be instructive. It is also
encouraging to remember that the impressions then made by these
two divines upon the Stockbridge tribes, are, perhaps, now to be
traced upon the descendants of these tribes, on the banks of the
Vermillion River.
Between 1760 and 1770, we find our philanthropic pastor engaged
in a correspondence with the Commissioners of the Society for prop
agating the Gospel ; and also with Dr. Eleazer Wheelock, in refer
ence to the education of Indian youth. He entered into the details of
the enterprise, and took a fresh interest in all, even the humblest indi
viduals, who could further it. He manifests much good sense in his
letters ; as, for example, in the following to President Wheelock :
September 30, 1751. " Mr. Hawley, in a letter to me of the 20th instant,
desires me to inform you of the following particulars, which I will give you in
his own words : ' Since I wrote my letter to Mr. Wheelock, I am advised that
Mr. Occom is not quite so acceptaDle to the Indians there ' (at Oneida) ' as I
heard at first. He tells them they must not cut their hair, but let it grow, as
the English do ; that they must not wear their Indian ornaments, as wampum,
and the like, but put them off, and burn them in the fire ; that they must not
feast at weddings,  at the birth and baptism of their children, &c,
&c. These are points that he insists greatly upon, which are too unpopular
for them.' — I am sorry to hear this of Mr. Occom, which, if true, I think
shows him greatly deficient in that prudence which is necessary for an Indian
missionary, and renders him unfit to go among Indians ; at least alone. We
shall be informed of more particulars when Mr. Hawley returns, when I hope
he will make you a visit."
Sect. XIII. SERMON TO THE INDIANS.
The subject of this Memoir is called a metaphysical preacher.
In his tendencies he was such. But he often resisted those tenden
cies, and aimed to speak such words as fitted his audience. Even
in his old age, still more in the meridian of his life, " his preaching
had much naivete when he descended from his abstractions. He
used to speak without circumlocution, and in a plain, conversational
way. Once, in preaching at Dr. Patten's, he spoke of the " loaves
and fishes " as what men were still running after, and his simple,
blunt manner provoked a smile from some of his younger hearers.
He saw it, and said, " You may smile, but it's true." *
This reminiscence of Dr. Channing solves the oft-proposed
query, How could a metaphysician like Hopkins have engaged the
interest of the Housatonick and Mohawk Indians 1 for they heard
him gladly. The following sermon sheds more light than would
come from a volume of criticism, on his general principle of adapt-
* Extract from a letter of Rev. William E. Channing, D. D.

46 MEMOIR.
ing himself to his hearers. What if his philosophical speculations
raised him often above his auditory? This is a fault of human
nature. The habits of the philosopher thwart sometimes the inten
tions of the minister. Perhaps this sermon is the only one ad
dressed to the American Indians which has ever been printed. And it
is singular, that such a sermon should have come from one of whom
it has been said,* that " his love of metaphysics carries him out of
real life." There is not in the records of our literature a more inter
esting old manuscript than has been found among the papers of
Hopkins, indorsed with these significant words: " N. B. — These
sermons were preached to the Indians the next Sabbath after Mr.
Edwards left them to take the Presidency of Nassau Hall, January
21, 1758." ! — They are necessarily brief, for each sentence was first
spoken in the English language by Mr. Hopkins, and then in the In
dian by an interpreter. It is probable, also, that the preacher, as
was his wont, introduced extemporaneous remarks at the close of the
written paragraphs. But let us not detain the reader from one, as a
specimen, of these Indian discourses.
Text. — Luke viii. 4-15. The Parable of the Sower. Our Saviour in
this discourse, compares the hearers of the word to four sorts of ground, that
the seed which men sow falls on.
One sort of hearers he compares to the highway — the hard path. The
seed that falls on the hard, trodden path makes no impression on the ground,
but lies on the top, bare and uncovered ; and then the birds come and pick it
up, and so it is lost So some that hear the word, don't mind it much. It
does not lay hold of their hearts and make them concerned about their souls.
Their hearts are as hard as the hard path ; and so the word is all lost, and
does them no good. As the birds eat the seed that falls on the path, so the
devil steals the word out of the mind of such, that he may destroy their
souls. Another sort of hearers Christ compares to a rock that lies just under
ground, and has a little thin dirt on it The seed that is sown on such a
rock will fall into the dirt that is on it and be covered ; and because it has
a thin covering, it will sprout and come up quick ; but because there is not
dirt enough for the roots to grow in, when the sun shines hot upon it it
withers away and dies. So, many that hear the word think a great deal
about it. They believe it and are affected with it at first They love to
hear the word, and are concerned about their souls, for a while, and they
intend always to be good, and so go to heaven ; but yet their hearts are not
really good. They are not truly born again, so as to have new hearts ; and
therefore, when they are tempted to sin, they turn from all tlie good they had,
and fall into sin. All their goodness withers away, and they are often worse
than they were before.
Another sort of hearers of the word Christ compares to ground full of
thorns. The bushes are cut off and the ground ploughed a httle, but it is
all full of the roots of thorns that are not killed. When the seed sprouts and
grows, the thorns grow too, and outgrow the wheat, and shade it, and kill it
. So, many that hear the word mind it some, and seem as if they intended to
become good ; but presently the cares of the world, and their lusts and
pleasures, root all good thoughts out of their hearts, and they become as bad
as ever. * By Dr. Ashbel Green, in his Memoir, p. 240.

MEMOIR. 47
Another sort of hearers Christ compares to good ground — good strong
land, which is well fitted for seed. The seed falls into this, comes up, and
grows, and brings forth good fruit. So some that hear the word receive it
into good hearts. They love the word and obey it heartily, and when they
die, they go to heaven.
Now, which of these sorts of hearers are you ? What effect do the words
of Christ have on your heart ? You all hear the word ; Christ sends his
ministers to sow the word among you. Are not some of you like the path ?
Yon don't mind or care any thing about what you hear. Do you not forget
what you hear at meeting before you get home, and never think any thiiuj
more about it ? The word never comes to your heart so as to make you con
cerned about your souls. Other things come to your heart You are greatly
concerned about them and affected with them ; but you don't care about
what Christ says to you. Don't some of you mind the devil more than you
do Christ, and suffer him to take away Christ's words out of your heart ?
Are not some of you like the stony ground ? You have been affected
with the word, it may be. The word once seemed to come to your heart,
and you reformed your wicked practices, and prayed to God. You was con
cerned about your souls, and wanted to get an interest in Christ. You loved
to hear the word, and had great hopes you was good and should be saved.
But have you not fallen away, and forsaken Christ and religion ? Have you
not been like the wheat that comes up on a rock ? At first you seemed to
grow and flourish, as if you would bring forth a good crop ; but have you
not since hearkened to temptations, and forsaken the ways of Christ ? Is not
all your religion withered and dried up ? If it is so, the word of Christ never
had root in your hearts. Your hearts are like the hard rock, where the seed
cannot take root and grow. This stony heart must be broken and taken
away, and a new, soft heart given you, or you cannot be saved.
Are not some of you like the ground full of thorns ? The word has been
sown upon your hearts, and seemed to take some root. You reformed many
things, and said you would be good, you would love and serve Christ ; but
have you not altered your mind and changed your course since ? Have not your
lusts and the wickedness of your heart turned you away from Christ ? Don't
you care more about the things of the world, now, than about Christ ? Is not
the word become unfruitful by your worldly cares and lusts ? The good seed
cannot grow in such hearts, that mind the world more than Christ. Your
wicked hearts must be changed, and the bad things must be torn out of them,
as the roots of thorns are torn out of the ground, or the word will do
you no good.
Are any of your hearts like the good ground ? Has the word fallen into
your hearts, and do you keep it there ? Do your hearts love Christ and his
ways ? Do you love to hear of Christ, and do what he bids you ? And do you
bring forth good fruit by obeying Christ ? You ought seriously to inquire
how it is with you in these respects.
Christ has been sowing the seed of his word among you. Mr. Edwards
has been here a good while, sowing the word among you. He has sowed a
great deal of good seed among you, and has watered it with his prayers and
counsels, and tried to make it grow. But now he has done sowing the good
seed among you, and is gone ; and now you ought to sit down and consider
what is become of the good seed that is sown. If your hearts are not bad,
if they are like the good ground, the word he has sown among you will do
you a great deal of good, and bring forth much fruit ; but if your hearts are
bad, the good seed will all be lost; there will be no good fruit, but 'tis to
be feared you will go to hell, after all. „
It may be you have been a little affected with the word sometimes', but
then it has vanished away and come to nothing. And have not some of you
grown worse and worse while the word has been sown among you, rather
than better ? Are you not worse than you would have been, if you had never
heard the word ? Many times this is the case. If you cut trees off of land,

48 MEMOIR.
and do not plough it and kill the roots, it grows worse than it was before, in a
few years, and often gets full of briers and thorns. So it may be with some of
you. You are worse than those that never heard the word. If this is the
case, the fault is not in the seed sown, but in your hearts.
All good folks in the country are looking on you, and inquiring about you,
whether the word sown among you is fruitful. They will inquire of Mr.
Edwards whether you have received the word into your hearts, and bring
forth fruit in your lives. The good angels, that come down from heaven to
earth, are looking on you, to see what effect the word has upon you ; and
news is carried to heaven about you, and it is there known whether the word
sown brings forth good fruit. Christ is every day looking upon you, to see
what effect his word has among you. Surely, then, it becomes you to
inquire and see how this matter is. How must we answer this question ?
Does the word sown at Stockbridge grow and flourish, or is it all lost ? Must
it not be said there are a great many who receive the word no better than
the highway does the seed, where it makes no impression at all ? — that
many that made a hopeful appearance, and promised to be good, are fallen
away and come to nothing ? I hope it can be said there is some good fruit ;
but who of you are fruitful, so as to be an honor to Christ and a credit
to religion?
And now let me entreat you to hear the word and receive it into your
hearts. He that has been sowing the word among you is gone, but we hope
Christ will send another still to sow good seed among you. You ought to
pray earnestly every day for this. But how will you pray heartily for this, if
[you are not willing] to receive the word? You ought to be concerned,
therefore, to get good hearts. Though you have never so good a minister,
if yon have no heart to receive and obey the word, he will do you no good.
Yea, it would be better for you if you had never heard of Christ, than to hear
and refuse to mind what he says to you. So St. Peter says, (2 Pet ii. 21,)
Christ .will be exceeding angry with you, and cast you into hell, if you will
not mind what he says; and you will be more tormented than those that
never heard his gospel. The devil is trying to catch the word away, and
hindering its laying hold of your hearts ; and if you hearken to him once, he
will have more power against you.
Sowing time will be over by and by ; and they that bear good fruit, Christ
will take to heaven, but the unfruitful he will burn in hell, as men burn
briers and thorns. O, then, root every wicked thing out of your hearts.
Cross and kill every lust. Pray earnestly to God, that he would make your
hearts soft and good. God only can change the hearts of men, and make
them good, and fit, like the good ground, for seed. If he does not change
them, they will bring forth briers and thorns. Cry earnestly to God, then, for
this mercy, as David did : " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a
right spirit within me."
Observation 1. Men may hear the word, may have it sown among them a
great while, and yet get no good by it. The devil and their own wicked
hearts may join to reject it all. Their hearts do not grow softer and better,
but harder and more wicked, under the word. How sad is the case of such !
They will be cast into a fire that never can be put out, and tormented by
devils forever and ever. The devil will laugh at them, in hell, for being so
foolish as not to mind what Christ said to them, and they will be angry at
themselves and curse themselves for their own folly.
[Obs.] 2. Many may do a great deal in religion, and come to no good at
last, but fall away when they are tempted, &c.
[Obs.] 3. The best way to know whether the word does good, is to see
what fruit is brought forth.
[Obs.] 4. They who fall away when temptations come have reason to
think they have no goodness. When they have no temptations, they will be
very good, and resolve always to be so ; but every time they come into tempta
tion, they fall away. This is because goodness has no root in their hearts.

MEMOIR. 49
Men that have good hearts can resist temptation, and they [will remain good
in spite of temptation] ; but when the heart is not right, men will lose all
their goodness in the time of temptation. ,
[Obs.] 5. The word of Christ and they that sow the word, are not to blame
that men are not good, and do not bring forth fruit. They sow good seed,
and it does not prosper because the heart is not good. If men sow good seed
on bad ground, it will not grow, though they sow it never so well, and never
so often. So it is with those that sow Christ's word. If it is sown in bad
hearts, it will not grow and bring forth fruit ; but wickedness will grow up
and choke the word of Christ
[Obs.] 6. They that hear the word are in great danger of going to hell.
Most that hear the word live wickedly, and go to hell. You have all need to
be afraid of this. You had need to be concerned to have your hearts made
soft and [mellow],* that the word may take root there, and bear fruit to
eternal life. Sect. XIV. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.
It must not be supposed, that while his parishioners at Housatonick
remained poor, and ignorant, and fearful of savage invaders, their
pastor was deprived of all congenial society. He was regular in
meeting the clergy at Yale College commencement. Sometimes he
attended the election at Boston, where he had several wealthy friends.
Often we find David Brainerd coming to see him ; sleeping with
him, preaching for him, etc. Often we find Hopkins at his uncle's
parsonage in West Springfield. Still oftener we read, in his Jour
nal, such notices as the following :
" Northampton, July 23, 1743. Am kindly received by Mr. Edwards and his
family. Made Miss Jerusha a present of a Bible. Mr. Edwards is desirous
that I would preach for him part of the day to-morrow, but I cannot be willing.
"Sunday, July 24, 1743. Heard Mr. Edwards preach all day. I have
been very dull and senseless ; much discouraged about preaching. Hearing
Mr. Edwards makes me ashamed of myself. — Brookfield, Thursday, May 24,
1744. Set out to-day from Northampton for Boston, in company with Madam
Edwards and her daughter, who rides behind me [on horseback]. We lodge
at Colonel Dwight's, at Brookfield ;" [afterwards the well-known General D.,
of Great Barrington.]
After Mr. Edwards had removed to Stockbridge, and was within
about one hour's ride from Mr. Hopkins, we read, on almost every
page of the Journal, such notices as these :
" Bethlem, October 13, 1754. Mr. Edwards not being able to travel, I
am yet with him at Mr. Bellamy's. — Friday, October 18. Having done my
business at Waterbury, and Mr. Edwards continuing to have a severe fit every
day, I left Mr. Edwards at Waterbury, and set out homewards to-day. Lodge
at Mr. Bellamy's. — Thursday, August 28. This day being attended as a public
Fast Mr. Bellamy preached for me all day. I believe there is not a better
preacher in America, on all accounts. — August 30. Rode with Mr. Bellamy
yesterday to Stockbridge. — February 12, 1755. Mr. Bellamy came to my
house last Tuesday, with whom I went to Stockbridge, and staid there two
* Some of the words enclosed in brackets, throughout this discourse, were left by Dr.
Hopkins in cipher. They are here inserted, after a careful comparison of his short
hand with the context, and with bis own glossary.
e

50 MEMOIR.
nights and one day to hear Mr. Edwards read a treatise upon the Last End
of God in the Creation of the World. Returned home to-day. Mr. Bellamy
came with me, &c. ,
"March 9. Went to Stockbridge to-day to borrow some books, and re
turned. " September 2, 1756. Rode to Stockbridge to-day on an important secret
errand, and returned. — September 3. Mr. Edwards and Madam, and their
son Timothy, at my house to-day."
These and similar records have a theological value. Many of
them show that, in regard to their professional literature, Hopkins,
Bellamy, and Edwards " had all things common ; " and each was in
the habit of loaning to the others all the books, pamphlets, theologi
cal epistles, which they desired to borrow ; that they were also in
the habit of submitting to each other's criticism the manuscripts
which they intended to publish.
"In one instance," says Dr. Patten, "from some inconvenience in consult
ing Mr. H., he [Mr. Edwards] published a work without his [Hopkins's] pre
vious inspection. After it was in print he inquired of Mr. H. if he saw in it
any thing objectionable. Mr. H. replied by asking him if he had considered
such a particular proposition in the work. Mr. E. answered that he had not ;
that it was a current expression among divines. Wherein was it not correct ?
Mr. H. pointed out an objection, which Mr. Edwards immediately perceived
and acknowledged, and remarked, ' I am sorry that you did not see the manu
script; but this I promise, that I will never publish another book without
showing the manuscript to you, if you are in life.'
" Long after this, Dr. Hopkins observed to the writer, that the very few
errors of Mr. Edwards's writings were owing to the " fact that " some things
were taken for granted as true, because they had appeared in the earlier writ
ings of divines, and in creeds. They were admitted as first principles, which,
as to correctness, required no examination." *
Before Dr. Bellamy published his " True Religion Delineated," Dr. Patten
says that Bellamy " requested Mr. Hopkins to make him a visit of two or three
days, that he might attend to the manuscript, and make his remarks upon it.
When Dr. B. had proceeded some way in reading, Mr. H. said, 'Stop.'
' Why,' said Dr. B., ' what is there here ? ' 'I would not, for five hundred
dollars,' replied Mr. H., ' publish that sentence, with the sanction of my name
to it.' ' But it is a quotation from Edwards,' said Dr. B. ' I know it, but it is
wrong.' ' We are brought to a strange pass, indeed, if we cannot adopt tlie
sentiments of Edwards ! ' The quotation referred to self-love. It had been
the opinion of divines, that the self-love of the natural man is sinful only in
its excess ; that in regeneration it is brought down to its proper level in prin
ciple ; like a fire, which, unrestrained, spreads over the house, but is useful
when reduced to burn on the hearth. This opinion, as a matter of course,
and without examination, had been adopted by Mr. Edwards. The criticism
of Mr. H. was, that in the exercises of one who is not sanctified, there is noth
ing holy ; that holiness depends on the nature of the exercise, and not on the
degree in which it is exercised ; that the love of the sinner for himself has
nothing of that love which the law requires, more than his love forGotf or his
neighbor ; as his love for God has nothing of the nature of loving him with all
his heart, and as his love for his neighbor has nothing of the nature of loving
his neighbor as himself, so his love for himself has nothing of the nature of
loving himself as he does his neighbor; that in regeneration he has but one
love, which is new in each of these relations. Dr. B. admitted the justice of
* Reminiscences, pp. 41, 42.

MEMOIR. 51
the criticism, and corrected that part of his work. And during the examina
tion, both entirely concurred in approving of that which was published. This
distinction of the new love which one is brought to exercise for himself in
regeneration, Mr. H. considered as having occurred to him without meeting
with it in any commentator, and as more original in this sense than any other
doctrine in his system." *
As Bellamy confided in the criticisms of Hopkins, so did Hopkins
confide in the criticisms of Bellamy; and writes to him very fre
quently in a style like the following : " July 9, 1756. The enclosed
letters to Dr. Mayhew lay themselves at your feet and wait your
sanction. Please to say whether either of them shall be sent. If
one, which ? And with what corrections and emendations ? Please
to give the sanction, et ens mihi magnus Apollo." More than once
he sends his manuscripts to Bellamy with such deferential words as,
"From your sentence there will be no appeal." Beautiful, indeed,
was this mutual confidence of Edwards, Bellamy, and Hopkins in
each other.
Mr. Edwards lived nearly seven years within seven miles from his
beloved pupil. When he was invited to the Presidency of the Col
lege of New Jersey, Hopkins was the leading member of the coun
cil which advised him to accept the invitation. It has often been
said, that if Hopkins had expressed a different opinion, that invitation
would have been rejected. With his usual disinterestedness, he
parted with his revered teacher.
" Wl;en the council," he says, " published their judgment and advice to Mr.
Edwards and his people, he appeared uncommonly moved and affected with
it, and fell into tears on the occasion, which was very unusual for him in the
presence of others, and soon after said to the gentlemen who had given their
advice, that it was matter of wonder to him that they could, so easily as
they appeared to do, get over the objections he had made against his removal
to be the head of a college, which appeared great and weighty to him. But
as he thought it his duty to be directed by their advice, he should now en
deavor cheerfully to undertake it, believing he was in the way of his duty." \
In less than three months after this result of the council, Edwards
was in his grave. The death of so dear a friend had a depressing
influence upon Hopkins, whose temper was too despondent. He
became more and more distressed with the fear, that he had sinned
in advising the removal to Princeton. Its calamitous issue was un
wisely interpreted into a sign of its original wrongfulness.

Sect. XV. STUDIOUS EIFE AT GREAT BARRINGTON.
Having a giant frame, he could endure a great amount of severe
mental application. His plain diet and his rural abode aided him in
his intellectual processes. True, the fever and ague and other dis-
* Reminiscences, pp. 49, fiO.
t Hopkins's Memoir of Edwards, Edinburgh edition, p. 94.

52 MEMOIR.
eases of the wilderness shattered his system, as also that of Presi
dent Edwards ; but he retained vigor enough to rise above his
maladies, and says, in his seventy-fifth year :
"My bodily constitution, I believe, has been much better than most of those
who live a sedentary life. In the fonner part of my life, indeed, from the
twenty-first to the thirty-fifth or fortieth year of my age, my constitution was
rather slender and infirm, but not so as to prevent my attending to business
and my study, as much or more than is common among ministers. Since that
time of life, my constitution has been better, and I have enjoyed generally a
good state of bodily health, and have been able to study fourteen and fre
quently eighteen hours in a day, generally rising at four o'clock in the morn
ing, or between four and five, especially in the winter season. I have had
several fits of sickness, in which I have been brought very low, and have been
thought by my friends to be near death ; but these ill turns have not broken
my constitution, but have appeared to be the means of my better health, as
this has generally been the consequence ; and I now enjoy more bodily ease,
health, and strength than is common to men of my age." *
Dr. Patten says, that "probably, with his portion of the patri
monial estate," he obtained " a decent but commodious dwelling-
house, and thirty or forty acres of land, [about a mile from his meet
ing-house.] The land he brought under the best cultivation, and as
the soil was good, it was very luxuriant in its productions. He
cultivated trees, especially apples, which he grafted with a great
variety of the best of this species of fruit." Dr. Patten adds, that
these " labors and cares engrossed much of his attention, and inter
fered with his studies and ministerial duties." t That there may
have been a few instances of such interference, is possible. There
are many testimonies and incidents, however, which prove that he
usually labored on his farm less than his health required ; and that
his literary progress was aided, rather than impeded, by his muscu
lar exercise. Indeed, a subsequent remark of Dr. Patten affords
physiological evidence that this very period of Hopkins's life was
marked by his sedentary habits, and that he ought to have been longer
out of doors, so as to have required more generous repasts. He
was, says Dr. Patten, "very temperate in his diet, breakfasting and
supping on bread and milk, from a bowl containing about three gills,
never varying from that quantity, whether his appetite required more
or not so much. He thought that this regularity of eating tended to
render his appetite uniform, and to confirm his health." $ The
Journal and correspondence of Mr. Hopkins show him to have been
far more deeply interested in politics than in his farm. Indeed,
there are very few instances of his even alluding to his pecuniary
affairs ; and these few are exceptions, whicli prove that his rule was,
to look above the earth. The following is one allusion :
"Friday, January 20, 1744. Have spent this week but poorly hitherto.
Have been making a clock-reel, which seems not to be my business. I can-
* Sketches, etc., p. 84. f Reminiscences, pp. 30, SI, S3. \ lb. p. 33.

MEMOIR. 53
not live to any profit, unless I live free from the world. I design never
to undertake such a piece of business again, under the circumstances I am
now in."
The uniform testimony of his survivors, who once knew him, is,
that during the last thirty-three years of his life, he did not, from
January to December, take sa much as an hour's exercise, except
on parochial business, or in journeying ; and that his confirmed habits
were those of a reader and writer. From these later usages, we
may infer his earlier ; and may presume that he would have studied
more effectively at Great Barrington, if he had spent more time
than he did spend among his apple-trees. Nothing would have
sooner cured him from complaining of his discourses as " sense
less," than the performance of a daily work on his " thirty or forty
acres." The common impression is, that the studies of Hopkins were
chiefly metaphysical. What if they were 1 They were not entirely
so. He was a diligent reader of commentaries, particularly of Poole's
Synopsis. He read through the whole of Poole's five folios in Latin.
He commented three several times on every chapter of the Bible
in his expository discourses ; and this extensive exposition required
of him, what he pursued, a diligent perusal of the critics. He had
not been ordained much more than two years, before he, with Rev.
Mr. Hubbard, of Sheffield, and Rev. Mr. Sergeant, of Stockbridge,
formed a plan for each to study and comment upon the Epistle to
the Galatians, and to present his Commentary to the other two for
criticism. Mr. Hopkins's Exposition is still preserved, with Mr.
Sergeant's Review of it. Among the authors which are most famil
iarly mentioned by him, are Calvin and Van Mastricht, (both of
whom he studied in their original Latin,) Saurin, Owen, Manton,
Goodwin, Bates, Baxter, Charnock, Prideaux, Sharp, Matthew
Henry, John Locke, Whitby, Dr. S. Clark, Dr. John Taylor, Mos
heim, Doddridge, etc., etc. Nothing, then, can be more inaccu
rate, than to affirm that he restricted himself to metaphysics. Few,
if any, clergymen of his day were so conversant with the various
criticisms upon the sacred text. Upon that text he aimed to form
his theological system. He once remarked to Dr. Tenney,* " that
there was not a passage in all the Scriptures which had not been
the subject of his particular meditation ; nor one, the meaning of
which he had not endeavored, by his own reflections and the aid of
commentators, to understand."
» See Ferguson's Memoir of Hopkins, p. 146.
e*

54 MEMOIR.

Sbct. XVI.. DOMESTIC LIFE AND FAMILY AT GREAT BARRINGTON.
In less than a year after his ordination, Hopkins began to be
severely afflicted. He writes :
" Waterbury, December 5, 1744. Received news this morning that my
mother lay at the point of death yesterday morning. Set out towards noon,
and got to Waterbury about bed-time, where I received the sorrowful news of
my mother's death. Came to my father's house; — find it in mournful cir
cumstances; — no mother to welcome me home, as she was wont to do. — De
cember 5. This day my dear mother departed this life, about one o'clock in
the afternoon ; by whose death God has touched me in the most tender place.
She was, in many respects, nearer and dearer to me than any other relation,
and' was one that had the most tender and affectionate love for me, which she
abundantly expressed by words and actions. My natural affection now shows
itself; and though I am sensible of no murmurings, yet I can't but mourn.
Some time ago, I was especially concerned for my mother, and my thoughts
ran particularly upon her, which was the occasion of my writing the following
letter to her, which she received about three weeks before her death:
" ' Kind Mother :  I take this opportunity to express my gratitude and
thankfulness for all your care for and kindness to me, which is very great,
which I hope I am in some measure sensible of, and never shall forget it ; yet
I know I am in a great degree unthankful, and have reason to be ashamed of
my misimprovement of what I have received of my parents. I desire to see
the hand of God in it, and hope that it is both for your advantage and mine,
that your hearts have been thus opened to me, and that God will reward you
for your trouble and expense of temporal or carnal things, by bestowing upon
you spiritual and saving blessings, which are infinitely better ; and that your
end in it, so far as it has been good, will be answered by my being made a
great blessing in my station and calling, for which I desire the continuance
of your prayers. — I am engaged in a difficult work, and how difficult it is you
never will know, because it can be known only by experience. My business
is with the souls of men, and therefore I am called to unwearied diligence,
and my time seems more precious than theirs who labor for this world's goods.
— I wish I might say something, before I end this letter, that might tend to
your spiritual edification. O, think of eternity. It is just at hand. We shall
shortly be in it. I cannot bear to think of parting with you forever; but it
must be, unless we are both truly religious. The things of religion are as
real and certain as they were two or three years ago, though, alas ! the land
is asleep. I am, dear mother, your obliged, dutiful son, Sam _ Hopkins.
'" Sheffield, October 22, 1744.'
" Methinks the hand of God is to be seen in this thing, in that I should send
her a letter at this time, though I never sent one particularly to her before. 1
desire to be thankful that I was then led to express my thankfulness to her,
Beeing I had no opportunity to do it face to face.
"December 6. Attended the funeral of my deceased mother. Doubtless we
had many to mourn with us. O that I might mourn aright, and suitably im
prove God's dealings towards me and my father's family ! — Attended a lecture
after the funeral. Mr. Levinworth preached upon the great duty of resigna
tion to God's will, from those words, 2 Kings iv. 26. — Returned home to my
father's house, and find it as it were empty. — Sunday, December 9. Was
called up this morning with news, that my young brother was dying. I got
up, prayed with it, and baptized it. After that, it had some revival. I left it
and went to meeting ; —received the sacrament, and preached in the afternoon
from Psalm xxxix. 4. Had no great sense of things, though some freedom in
preaching. Came home and found my brother dead, and my brother's wife,
to all appearance, taken just as my mother was before she died. O that God
would sanctify his dealings to this family ! Surely he is frowning upon us.

MEMOIR. 55
" Monday, December 10. Attended the funeral of my young brother. He
was about three weeks old when he died. Alas ! I am a stupid, senseless
creature." Mr. Hopkins preached more than four years at Great Barrington,
previously to his marriage. A matrimonial engagement, which he
had formed at Northampton, was broken off in a way honorable,
but afflictive to himself. Another, which he formed at Great Bar
rington, was equally inauspicious. " He paid his addresses," says
Dr. Patten,* " to a young woman interesting in her appearance and
manners, and of a bright intellect, who was also rather a belle in the
place. She favored his suit, and, so far as appeared, there was a
mutual attachment, and the time of their marriage was not far dis
tant. But a former lover, who had been absent some time, returned,
with the design of renewing his attentions, and, by indirect or ex
plicit manifestations of it, excited in her the expectation of au offer
to be his wife. These intimations engaged her affection, and when
he made known to her his disappointment and his desire, she frankly
disclosed the truth to Mr. Hopkins, and assured him, ' that however
much she respected and esteemed him, she could not fulfil her engage
ment to him from the heart.' This, he said, was a trial, a very great
trial ; but, as she had not designed to deceive him in the encourage
ments she had given him, he could part with her in friendship."
At length, on January 13, 1748, he was married to Miss Joanna
Ingersol, daughter of Moses Ingersol, of Great Barrington. Dr. Pat
ten says of her, t " She was delicate in her person and features, of
a sprightly disposition, intelligent, possessing great decision of char
acter, and apparently a Christian." Her constitutional tendencies
were consumptive. During the last twenty years of her married
life, she was an intense sufferer. About the year 1786, her physical
pains were so great as to occasion a temporary insanity. In less
than a year, she recovered the tone of her mind, but still her dis
tressing maladies remained a source of deep grief to her husband.
The evenness, patience, and unwavering benevolence of his temper
were a great solace to her amid her afflictions. He " never retired
to study," says Dr. Patten, \ " or indulged in rest," till he had made
every provision for her comfort which kindness could suggest."
In one year from his marriage, he was again bereaved. He writes :
" February 4, 1749. Reached my father's house late in the night. Find
my father very sick, and two brothers and two sisters, with the measles. My
father knew me, and asked me why I was so long in coming ; told me he
sent for me that I might see him once more before he died, [and] asked me if
I did not think he was dying. I told him no. I asked him if he was willing
to die. His answer was such as gave me great concern for him. I was
quickly willing to part with him, if he might but give me evidence of his com
fortable hope in Christ, before he died ; but was soon brought to give up this
* Reminiscences, pp. 31, 32. t lb- P- 23- . lb- p. 113.

56 MEMOIR.
point, if he might but have a saving interest in Christ, and the comfort of it
in his own soul, which my soul longed for ; and I was enabled to seek God
earnestly on his behalf, having ^my mouth filled with arguments; and after
all, was obliged to resign, and acknowledge God to be the sovereign potter,
having a right to do what he would, and that he could do no wrong.
" February 5. We apprehend my father is dying. I made two prayers
with him. He, having been some time before speechless, revived a little, and
said he had more Iwpe now, referring to the discourse I had with him before.
These were almost the last words which he spake, and the most comfortable.
I had some views of the infinity of God's mercy, and expressed it in prayer,
and hope his soul felt it."
1 The mother of Hopkins died at the age of about forty-three years;
the father, at the age of fifty-seven. Samuel was the executor of
his father's will. Ultimately, the education of his three youngest
brothers was devolved upon himself. He took them to his house,
and fitted them all to enter college. In so doing, he performed a
good service to the State. His brother James was admitted to Yale
College in 1753, when he was twenty-one years old. In less than a
twelvemonth, however, he died at New Haven. Samuel hastened
to his death-bed, grieved, but submissive.
Daniel, the next brother, educated by Samuel, entered Yale Col
lege in 1754, and was graduated in 1758. He interested himself in
the early struggles of his country for independence, and is said to
have received some peculiar marks of confidence from General
Washington. He was a member of the Colonial Congress, and in
that capacity signed large quantities of the Continental paper money.
One who knew him well says :
" He was ordained pastor of the Third Congregational Church at Salem,
Massachusetts, in the year 1778,* and he remained over the same church
until the day of his death, in December, 1814. He was a discriminating,
faithful, and interesting preacher, a devoted and excellent pastor, and he
enjoyed, in a high degree, the affection of his people, and the respect of
the community. His theological opinions agreed with those of his brother
Samuel, except on the subject of submission ; and there he differed chiefly, if
not wholly, on the mode in which his brother explained it He entered deeply
into the theological speculations of his brother, and was acknowledged by that
divine to have originally suggested his argument on the Doings of the Unre-
generate. Mr. John Norris, the benefactor of Andover Theological Seminary,
was, with his wife, during many years, a member of Dr. Daniel Hopkins's
congregation, and they were strongly attached to him until the day of their
death.f Mr. Norris was also very strongly attached to the theological system
of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, and testified his respect to him by giving to one of
his [Dr. H.'s] granddaughters a permanent home in his [Mr. N.'s] own fam
ily." Other intimate friends of Mr. Norris say that he " became acquainted
with Dr. Samuel Hopkins during the frequent visits of the latter to Salem,
and often made him valuable presents." An inmate of his family writes that
Mr. Norris " often conversed on the Hopkinsian doctrines, and seemed to take
great pleasure in the thought that they were to be taught at Andover."
* He is said lo have been introduced to that church by his brother Samuel, who had
preached a number of weeks at Salem, in 1766 and 1767.
t Mr. Norris died December 22, 1808, aged fifty-seven years. Mrs. Norris died
March 21, 1811, aged fifty-four years.

MEMOIR. 57
But the subject of this Memoir expended his greatest care upon
Mark, his younger brother. When Mark was in his tenth year, he
became a member of Samuel's family, and continued such about five
years, until he entered college. He was a classmate at Yale with
his brother Daniel, and with Silas Deane. He commenced the
practice of law about 1761, at Great Barrington, and resided
about ten years a near neighbor of Samuel, who had trained him
for usefulness. He was eminent in his profession. He instructed
many law students, and among them the celebrated Judge Theodore
Sedgwick. In 1765, he married Electa Sergeant, a daughter of the
well-known Stockbridge missionary. He left four sons and one
daughter. Archibald, his oldest son, was the father of President
Mark Hopkins, and Professor Albert Hopkins, of Williams College.
In the revolutionary war, Colonel Mark Hopkins distinguished him
self as a patriot. He entered the army ; was taken sick with a
fever at White Plains, and died there, October 26, 1776, only two
days before the memorable battle at that place. He was thirty-
seven years of age at the time of his death.
Dr. Hopkins also educated for practical life two of his brothers-
in-law. He had five sons and three daughters, all born in Great
Barrington. He was reserved before his children, methodical and
strict in his discipline, yet remarkably free from a morose and irri
tating treatment of them. His attachment to them and to his grand
children was deep,- and they all felt an unbounded reverence for
him. As a father, he belonged to the old school. A single inci
dent, narrated by one * who lived, for a time, in the family of Mr.
Hopkins, will let us into the general course of things in the parson
age of Great Barrington. " In his strict attention to the Sabbath,
he [Mr. H.] excelled the most of devout Christians. From evening
to evening he celebrated the Christian Sabbath ; and to impress his
own mind and the mind of his family with the importance of ob
serving holy time, he uniformly, at sunset, introduced and concluded
the exercises of the Sabbath by family prayer. This domestic signal
of holy time, he found, by long experience, to be attended with
peculiar advantage."
His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, received much of her education
in Boston. She was an accomplished lady, and an engaging Chris
tian. She married Dr. John Sibley, a man of wealth, of eminence
in his profession, and of extensive usefulness. In his early life, he
was a surgeon of the revolutionary army, and distinguished himself
by his patriotic spirit. After the close of the war, he removed to
Fayetteville, North Carolina, at which place Mrs. Sibley died, Oc
tober 25, 1799, leaving two sons. Of late years, their descendants
have resided chiefly in Missouri and Louisiana. Several members
* Dr. Samuel Spring. See Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, vol. i. p. 363.

58 MEMOIR.
of their family belong to the United States army, and have been
recently brevetted for their achievements in our late Mexican war.
His second daughter, Mrs. Joanna Fisher, of Medway, Massachu
setts, died June 15, 1786. Her father says of her : She was » a
peculiarly dear and amiable child," and appeared to be " graciously
prepared for heaven." She left one daughter, who subsequently
resided with Dr. Hopkins. — His third daughter, Rhoda, wife of the
excellent Captain John Anthony, of Newport, was also an exem
plary Christian. She lived in the house with her father, relieving
him throughout the prolonged sickness of her mother, but, deeply to
his grief, .died, September 22, 1792, in her twenty-seventh year. She
left one child.
His oldest son, General David Hopkins, was a man of large prop
erty and influence, near Baltimore, in Maryland, where he died, leav
ing several children. — Dr. Hopkins's second son, Moses, was a highly
respected magistrate and yeoman, in Great Barrington, Massachu
setts. He was eminent for his strength of mind and his sterling vir
tue. He had nine children, and many of his descendants are now
useful members of society. Having been county register more than
fifty years, he died at the age of eighty-four. — Dr. Hopkins's third
son, Levi, was a member of Princeton College two years or more,
but was compelled to leave, through ill health. He subsequently lived
and died in Virginia. He left six children. — Dr. Hopkins's fourth
son, Samuel, resided on the homestead at Great Barrington, was a
thriving farmer, and left three children. — The fifth son, Daniel, died
in Maryland, in 1788, at the age of twenty-four. — The personal ap
pearance of these eight children is said to have indicated a strong and
decided character. They were all well instructed. Some of them
inherited the frail constitution of their mother.

Sect. XVII. INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC MEN.
In the preceding section has, been disclosed the formative power
exerted by Hopkins on several noted individuals related to him by
blood. He was a still more conspicuous benefactor to the world, in
moulding the character of a few other individuals, related to him by
a spiritual affinity.
The first of these is Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, President of
Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., a divine who will be honored
in succeeding ages, for having given so much of its present excel
lence to the New England. theology. It has been said that he, more
than Dr. Hopkins himself, was the father of the Hopkinsian sys
tem. He was certainly not so in all respects. Nearly all of the
following narrative is from Dr. Patten : *
* Reminiscences, pp. 45-47. See also Ferguson's Life of Hopkins, pp. 53, 64.
The same relation, for substance, has been given by various other persons acquainted
with Drs. Edwards and Hopkins.

MEMOIR. 59
" When Edwards was in his twenty-first year, and had been graduated at
Princeton College, ' he had not examined the theological system adopted by
his father, but objected strenuously, and with much confidence, to some of its
leading doctrines. Mr. Hopkins, from regard to his [Edwards's] father, and
concern, as well as affection, for the son, invited him to make his house his
home for the winter, offering him a room with a fire, and every facility that he
could give him in the pursuit of his studies ; and, as a particular motive, men
tioned that he had the manuscripts of his father, which he would have oppor
tunity to peruse.
" Young Mr. E., without much persuasion, accepted the offer. He was
amiable in his temper, but prompt and self-opinionated. Mr. H. soon put into
his hands a manuscript of his father's, maintaining a doctrine which he had
controverted. When he had read it, he brought forward objections which he
appeared to think conclusive. But Mr. H. attempted to correct his misappre
hensions, and to explain and strengthen, by additional proof, the arguments
of his father. Young Mr. E. was not convinced, though his zeal was in some
measure abated. He retired for reflection and the adjustment of his ideas,
expecting to bring new force in the morning. But in the next conversation
he became more embarrassed, and found that the subject required a deeper
investigation than he had ever paid to it. Under a conviction of his con
science, he became docile as a child, and made rapid proficiency in that be
lief in doctrines for which he could give a reason." " He ever retained a
filial respect and affection for Mr. Hopkins, and contributed to his support
when he feared he might be in want, and' Mr. H. felt a kind of pride in him
as a son. In the hearing of the writer, when some one was highly praising
Dr. E., Mr. H. said, ' Me make him,' alluding to an aged Indian minister, who
used this expression on hearing a young Indian preacher commended, who
was very popular, and who had been brought up under his instruction." *
The second individual on whom Hopkins exerted a formative in
fluence, and through whom he has made a deep impress on the pub
lic, is Rev. Dr. Stephen West, the successor of President Edwards
at Stockbridge. He was ordained on the 13th day of June, 1759,
and " has been heard to acknowledge, that for eight years he at
tempted to preach a Saviour whoTn he knew not." t He was a
decided opposer of the doctrines which President Edwards had
* " Dr. Edwards was graduated in September, 1765, and after a very short visit al
Stockbridge, went the same autumn lo Dr. Hopkins's, at Great Barrington, and re
mained there through the winter, till the next July ; and then went lo Dr. Bellamy,
with whom he remained till October of tbe same year, when he was licensed by the
Litchfield Association." So writes Bellamy's biographer, who has also communi
cated the following letter of introduction, sent by Hopkins to Bellamy, at the time of
young Edwards's going to complete his studies al Bethlem : " July 7, 176C. Sir
Edwards [this was the usual designation of the young men studying with Dr. Bel
lamy and Dr. Hopkins] will, I hope, get a great deal of good at your house. He
will take it kindly if you converse wilh him particularly about his personal religion,
and act the part of a father to him, in freely giving him your best counsel and advice.
He is, I think, an honest, conscientious lad, and in consequence of my kind treatment
of him, he trusts in me as a father. He has a high taste for good speaking, and will
be of service to your pupils wilh respect to this, if you promote the matter. I would
humbly propose that every day, or frequently, at least, some time should be spent in
pronouncing, by reading some book, or their own composition ; and let them correct
each other, or stand corrected by you." When Samuel Hopkins requests Joseph Bel
lamy to discipline Jonathan Edwards in elocution, our young ministers may well begin
to discipline themselves.
t Dr. Alvan Hyde's Sketches of the Life, Ministry, and Writings of Rev. Stephen
West, D. D., p. 9.

60 MEMOIR.
advocated; but being inquisitive, critical, studious, he cultivated an
intimacy, and sought frequent opportunities for discussion with Hop
kins, his clerical neighbor. He first studied the subjects on which he
intended to converse, and then visited that neighbor, with a fond
expectation of subduing him in the argument. Day after day, how
ever, he rode back discomfited. Still, day after day, he renewed
his onset ; until, at length, Hopkins made one of his strong appeals
to the moral sensibility of West. The appeal was decisive. " Con
victed in conscience that he stood, as a blind leader of the blind,
he [West] was brought to a solemn pause. His solicitude was
great, and his compunctions for sin were powerful and indescriba
ble." * Soon, however, he began to see the consistency of
doctrines which he had previously imagined to be irreconcilable.
He rejoiced in the truth. He changed his style of discourse. A
revival of religion followed the change. During his subsequent min
istry, his preaching was attended with five other revivals. He
admitted to his church five hundred and four apparent Christians,
retained for fifty-nine years the pastoral care of an intelligent people,
wrote more than three thousand sermons, published nineteen books,
and instructed many students in theology. President Kirkland,
Dr. Hyde, Dr. Catlin, and Dr. Samuel Spring, were his theological
pupils. He was a Coryphaeus of Hopkinsianism. As the pastor of
Great Barrington exerted a controlling influence over Dr. West, so
West had great power over Samuel Spring ; and this is the divine
who accomplished more than any one man for the establishment of
Andover Theological Seminary.
Dr. Spring, however, pursued his theological studies not altogether
with Dr. West, but partly also with Dr. Hopkins himself; and, accord
ing to one account, with Dr. Bellamy and Dr. Witherspoon likewise.
He was a profound admirer of Hopkins, paid frequent and reveren
tial visits to him as long as he lived, was related to him by marriage,
and received from him in personal intercourse, as well as through
the medium of Dr. West, that influence which he intended to trans
fuse, as far as the moderate Calvinists who formed a " union " with
him would allow, into his cherished seminary. Here is another
point of indirect communication between Hopkins and a seminary
which began its existence nearly five years after his death.t
A third individual, over whom the minister of Great Barrington
exercised a decisive influence, was Rev. David Sanford, of Medwny,
Massachusetts. This gentleman "had at an early age received a
/
* Dr. Hyde's Sketches of the Life, Ministry, «ind Waitings of Dr. West, pp. 7, 8.
t Dr. Patten gives an account of Hopkins's agency in transforming the life of West;
but the fullest account is given in Ferguson's Memoir of Hopkins, pp. 46-52. See
also the Sketches of the Life, Ministry, and Writings of Dr. West, by Rev. Dr. Alvan
Hyde, of Lee, Massachusetts. When it is said that West and Spring were Hopkin-
sians, it is meant that they were Hopkinsians of the Emmons type.

MEMOIR. 61
liberal education. The intention of his parents was, to prepare him
for the ministry ; but being destitute of religion when he arrived at
manhood, his attention was directed to agriculture. As a farmer, he
was located in the town of which Mr. Hopkins was the minister.
They married sisters. But although thus nearly related, Mr. San
ford was a bitter opposer of the religion and preaching of his brother
Hopkins. To him the preaching of Mr. Hopkins appeared con
temptible and foolish ; and on this ground he justified himself in
giving only an occasional attendance on his ministry. But altliough
he thus sought to justify his neglect of the instituted means of
grace, his conscience was by no means easy. As an evidence of his
state of mind at this time, and the rankling opposition of his heart,
he afterwards mentioned, that while at work on his farm, on removing
a log which had become imbedded in the ground, his attention was
directed to a number of [interesting] and to him uncommon animal
cules. After observing them for a moment, he thus expressed the
rankling feelings of his heart : ' Hopkins says that nothing was
made in vain, and for what were you made ? ' At the same moment
crushing them beneath his feet, he continued, ' There, that is what
you were made for.' - Yes,' said a voice within, which spoke the
language of conscience, ' they were made to show forth the enmity
of your heart against God.' " *
In this sta'te of hostility to his pastor's theological opinions, it be
came necessary for him to have frequent interviews with Mr. Hop
kins, in reference to some property which was to be divided between
their respective wives. Mr. Sanford was determined to irritate, if
possible, the minister who was so much noted for his equable temper.
He longed for one victory over that Christian patience. Aiming at
this result, he proposed such a division of the property as was glar
ingly unjust to Mrs. Hopkins, and he accompanied his proposal with
biting raillery and sarcasm. He succeeded in his plot. Hopkins
was excited, and, late in the evening, left his brother's house in an-
o-er. But he was unused to such irritation. He soon became
ashamed of it. He could not sleep at all during the night. The
next morning was very cold, but at an early hour Mr. Sanford looked
out of his chamber window, and saw the injured man approaching.
On entering the house, Mr. Hopkins requested that the family might
he called together ; and when all were convened, he. acknowledged
his resentful words during the last evening's interview, implored for
giveness for them, and consented to any reasonable division of the
property which his brother might propose. Mr. Sanford was over
whelmed. He knew that he had inveigled the unsuspecting Christian
* Ferguson's Memoir of Hopkins, p. 41, seq. The remainder of the narrative is taken
from Ferguson, Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 50-53, and from the private correspond
ence of several gentlemen who were familiar with the scene. In substance, all the nar
ratives agree, but differ somewhat in form.
/

62 MEMOIR.
into the resentment of the last evening; he knew that he had
given him reason to be indignant ; and, although he had felt a trans
gressor's triumph during the night, he was now assured, by this hum
ble confession, that a pious heart is nobler than worldly tact. He
never forgot that morning's visit. He spoke of it till his dying day.
Under the influence of it, he became a man of God. His father,
(who was a friend of David Brainerd, and named this son in honor
of that pious missionary,) had originally designed him for the sacred
office, and had once sent him to pursue his theological course with
Dr. Bellamy. The son, however, then felt his unfitness for the work,
and soon relinquished the preparative study. But now he recom
menced the delightful preparation. For thirty-seven years he satis
fied and delighted one of the largest churches in Massachusetts.
He became a theological author and teacher. He was honored as
an instrument of many religious revivals. He has now several de
scendants in the ministry. He was an intimate friend of Samuel
Spring and Nathanael Emmons. The latter divine, unused to ex
travagant praise, says of him : *
" The Author of nature endowed Mr. Sanford with a rich variety of rare
and superior talents. He possessed a quick apprehension, a clear and sound
judgment, a lively imagination, and an uncommon knowledge of human na
ture. These intellectual powers, sanctified by divine grace, fitted him to
shine with peculiar lustre in every branch of his ministerial office. But per
haps he appeared to the best advantage as a speaker, for which his body, as
well as his mind, was peculiarly formed. He had a piercing eye, a significant
countenance, a majestic appearance, and a strong, clear, melodious voice,
which he was able to modulate with ease and propriety. I know no man, of
any profession, in the circle of my acquaintance, who surpassed him in natu
ral eloquence. He was able to move any passion which he wished to move,
whether love or hatred, hope or fear, joy or sorrow. He knew every avenue
to the human heart, and could make the deepest impressions upon it"
It was often said, that if Hopkins had possessed the oratorical
gifts of his brother-in-law, he would have been another Whitefield.
But although destitute of Whitefield's power, Hopkins would have
been a benefactor to his race, if he had done no more for them than
that which he did through the medium of the eminent divines just
named. How few have accomplished more than the younger Ed
wards in exhibiting the truths of the Bible, free from the admix
tures of a false and bewildering metaphysics.
One secret of the power which the subject of this Memoir wield
ed over his theological adversaries, lay in his general self-possession.
When past the age of fourscore years, he confessed to his friend
Dr. C. J. Tenney, that in his early life he had found it difficult to
* See Emmons's Works, vol. i. p. 341. A Discourse at the Funeral of Rev. David
Sanford, A. M., Medway, who died April 7, 1810, aged 73. See also Dr. Emmons's
Discourse at the Funeral of Mrs. Bathsheba Sanford, wife of Rev. D. Sanford, and
sister of Mrs. Dr. Hopkins ; Works, vol. iii. pp. 9-18.

MEMOIR. 63
preserve an even temper ; but he added : " For more than thirty
years [referring to his interview with Mr. Sanford], I have not felt
an angry emotion, nor do I think it probable that I shall ever feel
another." It was this command over himself which gave him his
command over others. His equanimity qualified him for successful
debate. He was wont to hear his opponents patiently, and when
they had stated all their objections without being interrupted by
him, he would make his calm, but sometimes pithy reply. Dr.
West, who knew, for he had keenly felt, the power of Hopkins's
logic, makes the following ingenuous, and, in itself, very probable
statement : *
" Honored as I was with his friendship, I may be liable to prejudice ; but,
on long and intimate acquaintance, it has appeared to me that he possessed a
candor of mind which is rarely to be found. Men of the first abilities and
acquirements, like others, are apt to be tenacious of opinions they have once
imbibed. Having formed them, as they apprehend, on mature thought and
deliberation, they soon become possessed of a prejudice unfavorable to light
and evidence which might correct them. Rare it was, that any one was ca
pable of detecting an error in the sentiments of Dr. Hopkins on moral and
religious subjects. But he was remarkably open to conviction, whenever evi
dence was exhibited of the incorrectness of any of his opinions. Truth
appeared to be so much the object of his search, that he discovered an unu
sual readiness to admit it, from whatever quarter it came ; and that even
though he might find error in himself detected by it Did we all search the
Scriptures without any prepossession or prejudice, we should undoubtedly im
bibe truth without error. As might be expected with such candor of mind,
his manner, in verbal dispute, was unusually mild, fair, and moderate. Far
from being overbearing, he ever gave every just advantage to his opponent,
patiently hearing whatever he advanced in favor of his opinions, and giving
him full opportunity to vindicate them by every argument he thought favor
able. And as the Doctor had a happy talent of expressing his own arguments
with peculiar perspicuity, by these means he often convinced and gained over
his opposers ; when, had his manner been austere and overbearing, however
conclusive his arguments, the opposite party would have remained uncon
vinced, and received no benefit. He had a mind peculiarly formed for friend
ship, and appeared to be indeed the faithful friend. No one entered into
greater nearness and intimacy of Christian friendship, or gave, or seemed to
enjoy, greater pleasure in the society and friendship of Christians. And his
unaffected ease and openness, together with the instructiveness of his con
versation, were such as made his company greatly sought, and his friendship
highly valued, by the lovers of religion and truth."
It was in view of such facts as those above recited, that Hopkins
closed his Autobiography in 1796, with the words of joy :
" I have particular reason to be thankful and rejoice that I have been the
means of the conversion of more than one who are now in the ministry, (which
they themselves think is a fact,) and of enlightening and removing the preju
dices of others, who were before in a great measure blind to those truths
which they now see to be evident and important. May I not rejoice in this ?
And may I not hope ' to rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in
vain, neither labored in vain ? ' May God have all the glory. Amen." f
* West's Sketches, etc. pp. xii.-*iv. t lb. pp. 103, 104.

64 MEMOIR.
The influence of Dr. Hopkins on public men has been, of itself,.
enough to call forth the gratitude of posterity. Many of the most
prominent individuals in the early benevolent operations of this
century were his pupils or disciples. For instance, on the 28th
of May, 1799, thirty-eight men formed the Massachusetts Mission
ary Society, of whom, the greater part were firm Hopkinsians,
and the first two names subscribed to the constitution of that
society, were David Sanford and Daniel Hopkins. Dr. Emmons
was the first, and Dr. Daniel Hopkins was the second president;
Dr. Austin wps the first secretary of the society. Dr. Emmons
was the first preacher before it. Mr. Sanford and Dr. Daniel Hop
kins were the first two on the list of trustees. Dr. Emmons, Mr.
Sanford, Dr. Daniel Hopkins, and Dr. Spring were the first four on
the editorial list of the Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, a period
ical projected by the society in 1802, and in 1808 united with the
Panoplist, and in 1817 merged into the Missionary Herald. The
object of this society was, "to diffuse the knowledge of the gospel
among the heathens, as well as other people in the remote parts of
our country, where Christ is seldom or never preached." Dr,
Samuel Hopkins evinced the liveliest interest in it. His missionary
spirit animated his disciples. He manifested this spirit in his inter
course with them, and in his public addresses : see particularly his
"Farewell to the World." *

Sect. XVIII. GENERAL INFLUENCE IN THE COMMUNITY.
A parish minister is a city set on a hill. His light radiates over
the surrounding vales. While Mr. Hopkins resided in Great Bar
rington, he gave a decided impulse to the formation of every Con
gregational church, beginning its existence at that period and in that
neighborhood. For a quarter of a century, he did more than all
others in establishing the new churches on the right basis, with
regard to the Half Way Covenant.t In this particular he " fought
a good fight " for modern Christians, some of whom, forgetting the
conqueror, rejoice in the victory. He was regarded as a champion
for the unpopular doctrine, that persons exhibiting no evidence of a
renewed heart should not be admitted to the Lord's supper, and
that persons not coming to the Lord's supper should not offer their
children for baptism.^ Having been urged by some of his friends
* It may here be mentioned, by the way, that the American Doctrinal Tract Society,
which now publishes Dr. Hopkins's works, was at first formed exclusively by Hopkinsian
divines. t Testimony of Rev. Samuel Shepard, D. D., of Lenox, Massachusetts.
t Many clergyman, on ordaining councils, opposed the ordination of any candidate
who adopted the Edwardean theory on this subject. Mr. Hopkins was often summoned
to contend against them, in behalf of religious liberty. He' sometimes came as near

MEMOIR. 65
in New Jersey to discourse on this subject in that colony, be writes,
December 21, 1764 :
" I am not clear that it is worth while or prudent to raise all that fire which
will unavoidably be kindled up in the Jersey, for many miles round, both
among ministers and people, if I should go and declare and inculcate my sen
timents, in the present situation of affairs. Is it not a pity to break in upon
that peace and harmony they now enjoy ? I am sure, if it may and ought to
be done, it is an ungrateful task. I should be stigmatized through all that
world, as a stiff, rigid, imprudent mischief-maker ; and all the ministers would
sincerely wish me back to New England, if not to the moon. And what good
would be done ? The maxim our Saviour acted upon, (John xvi. 12,) is per
haps applicable to this case."
It is obvious, from his correspondence, that he was often con
sulted by clergymen in New Jersey with regard to their theological
interests ; and the following letter to Bellamy shows how impor
tant his services were regarded by some friends of the college at
Princeton :
" Great Barrington, March 25, 1767. I have a number of letters to you
from Jersey, which were brought by Mr. Timothy Edwards, [eldest son of the
President,] last week. I don't send them with this, because I have no direct
and safe opportunity, and because I expect to come myself and see you, the
second Monday in April, (if God will.) I have letters from Messrs. Caldwell,
McWhorter, Chapman, and Jonathan Edwards, importing that they, with a
number of others, are now in high zeal about a professor of divinity at the
college ; that Mr.  is not chosen, nor generally esteemed fit for that
place ; that no way is yet provided for the support of one ; that if they don't
get one, and one of the right sort too, and equal to the business, the college
will die a natural death ; that some of the trustees of principal influence have
been consulted, and they manifest an approbation of one of your friends in
New England, from what they have heard of him, and encourage that he
shall be undoubtedly chosen, if a support for him can be provided by sub
scription ; that a larger subscription can be procured for him, than for any
other. Therefore they have sent to him, to know if he will accept, if chosen,
and to desire him not to put himself under any engagements inconsistent with
this, till they can make a fair trial, which cannot be completed till next fall ;
to effect winch, they now intend to pull every string and turn every stone ;
the subscription to be but for five or seven years at first, concluding that
another can more easily be filled up, if needed, when that term expires, than
a longer one can be procured now. They want to know whether 'tis probable
any subscriptions for this design can be procured in New England, especially
at Boston. And [they] want your judgment, advice, and assistance in the
affair. They have engaged the messenger to treat with your friend more
as a man of his habitual tranquillity need come, to a loss of his patience wilh these men.
One of the most impetuous sentences in his correspondence is the following : " July 8,
1756. I value a correspondence and intercourse with you, by writing and conversation.
more than ever ; as I have lately had an uncomfortable interview wilh three neighbor
ing, senseless, stupid, wilful, ignorant, blind, illiterate, thoughtless, confident, suspicious,
disdainful,  (forgive me, dear sir; I have a great sense of it.) — He that says, 'I
see,' and yet is blind, has no son of notion about seeing, and knows not what it means.
How great and immovable is that blindness ! I pray God to deliver me from such
blindness and infatuation ! I had need to look to myself, for I am charged with having
no thoughts of my own, being wholly ; with contradicting myself; with being so
dark and con fused as that I neither know myself, nor can any one efse know what- 1
mean or aim at, &c, _c." r

66 MEMOIR.
particularly on the affair, than tbey could write ; have [written] you on the
head, I suppose, and tried to engage the messenger to go to you on his
return ; but he says he can't Edwards writes, that all the officers at college
are warmly engaged in the affair, &c. They are so sanguine, as to think the
fall of the college and of the religious interest of all those provinces turns
upon this affair. I write these hints, that your thoughts may perhaps be more
ripe upon the head when I shall see you, which I hope will be in less than
three weeks from this time. 'Tis thought that the proposed coalescence
(perhaps it might be more properly called a collision) of the Old side and
New, with respect to the college, must and will take place. And I think, if
Dr. Witherspoon don't come, (and the Old side will hinder it if they can,)
Dr.  will be President and that this is what they are, at bottom,
driving at But this is conjecture." *
The name of the individual who was thus proposed for the Pro
fessorship of Divinity at Princeton may be easily conjectured. This
proposal casts some light upon the statement of Dr. Patten, that after
President Edwards's death, in 1758, Mr. Hopkins was named by some
as the successor to the Presidency.
" But before the proposition was laid before the Board of Trustees, one of
the members was requested to visit Mr. H., that by actual observation he
might form an opinion of his qualifications for the office and station. Mr. H.
had not the least apprehension of tlie object of the gentleman in making him
a visit ; but received him with great courtesy, and entertained him with liberal
hospitality, not only according to his custom, but as he considered due to a
gentleman of his standing, and a friend of Mr. E. This gentleman, on his
return, reported unfavorably to the appointment, and assigned, as a reason, the
country style in which Mr. H. lived, and the correspondence of his manners
to such a state." f
For this statement, there is now, perhaps, no other authority than
that of Dr. Patten ; yet the assertion that Hopkins was a candidate
for the vacant Presidency may seem not improbable, from the fact
that some of the most active men in founding and sustaining the
college at New Jersey (as, for instance, Hon. W. P. Smith and
Rev. T. Arthur,) were the associates of Hopkins at Yale ; and Gov
ernor William Livingston, one of its firm friends, was his classmate.
The gentleman first appointed to succeed Edwards in the Presidency
at Princeton was Rev. James Lockwood, a Connecticut minister,
whose tendencies were to the New Divinity. Hopkins was not
formed for such an office; but it is grateful to record that the
* After the Professorship of Divinity, spoken of in the text, had been filled by the
appointment of Rev. John Blair, of Fogg's Manor, Pennsylvania, Mr. Hopkins continued
to manifest the same interest in it. Thus, after having visited Boston, he writes to Dr.
Bellamy : " July 23, 1767. Mr. Blair [Rev. Samuel B., paslor of Old South Church,
and nephew of the newly-appointed professor] and others are beyond expectation
friendly and zealous, wilh respect to the professorship. Mr. Blair tells me he can easily
get thirty pounds sterling per annum subscribed in Boston. My friend Mr. P. thinks
you ought lo go to New York, to, forward the matter there." As early as April 5,
1769, there is a record that Mr. William Phillips and his two brothers, of Boston, had
subscribed three hundred pounds, i. e., a thousand dollars, for the college at Princeton.
t Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 44, 45.

MEMOIR. 67
objections against him related not to "the substance of his doctrine,"
but to the style of his address.
Still, in despite of his inattention to the outward graces, he be
came the spiritual adviser of multitudes beyond the circle of his own
parish. One of the many incidents illustrating the deference which
was paid to him by the sex which is ever the quickest to discern
spirituality of character, is thus related by Dr. Patten :
" Mr. Hopkins was hijrhly esteemed by many pious persons, [in Boston.]
There was a female praying-meeting in the place, which had been long estab
lished, and which was in high repute, as consisting of some of the most intel
ligent, and discreet, and pious women belonging to the church. Of this
meeting Mr. II. was appointed chaplain, while residing at Great Barrington.
By this office it was expected that he would meet with them, when he came
to Boston, and that he would answer by letter, when at homo, any question
they might transmit to him on the doctrines or prophecies of Scripture, on
cases of conscience, or other subjects relating to the kingdom of Christ. His
answers, as one who belonged to the society informed the writer, were very
instructive and profitable." *

Sect. XIX. MINISTRY AT GREAT BARRINGTON, — ITS TERMINATION
AND RESULTS.
Amid the ecclesiastical commotions which followed the revivals
under Whitefield, amid the ravages of Indian warfare, amid the dis
tracting influences of a society composed of Dutchmen and Puritans,
in a new settlement, Mr. Hopkins found no more trouble than ho
expected. Any prosaic, straightforward, doctrinal preacher of high
Calvinism would have met similar embarrassments.
The town of Great Barrington flourished somewhat during his
pastorate. In 1761, it was selected as the seat of justice for Berk
shire county, and had become the residence of some eminent civil
ians. Notwithstanding the modest confessions of Mr. Hopkins,
that he had effected no good in his parish, (confessions that have
been believed, while the modesty of them has been unhonored, for
modesty in this age is a dangerous virtue,) he " admitted to liis
church, during his ministry, one hundred and sixteen members ;
seventy-one from the world, forty-five by recommendation from other
churches." t This was not a useless ministry. It is often said,
however, that his Hopkinsian peculiarities destroyed his influence at
Great Barrington, and effected his dismissal from the place. Ilis
dismissal was occasioned by a variety of causes; some of which would
have operated in like manner against the greater part of orthodox
teachers at the present day.
* Patten's Reminiscences, pp. S6, 57. This prayer-meeting, which is still continued,
was originated in 1741. Ten or fifteen years afterward, the members of it signed a
written covenant, like that of ihe Osborn prayer-meeting at Newport. This was prob
ably done through Hopkins's influence.
t History of the County of Berkshire, p. 228.

68 MEMOIR.
In the first place, a large proportion of his own friends in the
parish were poor, and could not contribute much to his support.
Secondly, a large proportion of his townsmen were parsimonious,
and would not contribute what they could. " A number," he says,*
" turned churchmen, apparently, and some of them professedly, to
get rid of paying any thing for the support of the gospel."
Thirdly, some of Mr. Hopkins's parishioners were dissatisfied
with the terms of church communion which he enforced, and which
are now so commonly sanctioned. A prominent civilian of Stock-
bridge, who had there opposed Mr. Edwards on the Half Way Cov
enant, removed afterward to Great Barrington, and transferred his
opposition from Mr. Edwards to Mr. Hopkins. Many unconverted
parents, particularly among the Dutch, insisted on having their chil
dren baptized ; and when the number of unchristened children
amounted to sixty or thereabouts, an Episcopal clergyman was invited
to administer the rite. Here we see another occasion of the Epis
copal church, which was formed at Great Barrington, in 1760, and
which materially lessened the resources of the old parish.
Fourthly, some of his hearers disliked his frank and honest way
of unfolding the doctrines of Calvinism, particularly the doctrine
that God decrees all events, sin not excepted.
Mr. Israel Dewey addressed a letter to his pastor, Mr. Hopkins, December
14, 1757, and represented him as having preached one sermon on the text,
" The Lord reigneth," &c, and as having asserted " the decrees, the eternal
plan, and that nothing could possibly happen but what was right and ought to
be rejoiced in, because all was exactly as God would have it, even events the
most vile and enormous." Mr. Dewey further represents his pastor, Mr. Hop
kins, as having preached a second sermon, on " using the world," &c, and as
having declared that we abuse the things of the world only when we use them
in opposition to "the interest end, and design for which they were given."
Here Mr. Dewey aims to involve his pastor in a dilemma, and says : " If God
ordered and appointed all the wickedness that comes to pass among men and
devils, then, certainly, it must be allowed that the wickedness of man in
abusing the world could not be contrary to the intention, end, and design of
God the Giver, but exactly agreeable to the appointment and determination of
God." Mr. Hopkins repliedto this letter, February 4, 1758 ; to which reply
Dewey rejoins, and represents Mr. Hopkins as having taught that God does,
and does not hate sin infinitely ; and that if he did infinitely hate its com
mission, he would be tlie most unhappy of all beings. Mr. Dewey infers from
his pastor's discourses, that " God and the devil are of one mind, and are
united in carrying on that work which God has eternally willed and planned
out for him." At length, he concludes his letter by tlie following significant
annunciation: "And now, reverend and dear sir, I would just observe that
the plain and manifest design of the Scriptures is to declare against sin. Nor
can it be true, that sin should be contrary to God's law, nature, and will, and
at the same time be perfectly agreeable to his good will and pleasure, and
exactly as he would have it, (as you are pleased to express it) And now, sir,
as you stand in the relation of a pastor to me and mine, and also a teacher, I
think it my duty and interest to oppose you, as long as you oppose the truth.
* Sketches, p. 49.

MEMOIR. 69
If I live, and you don't dismiss your principles, you may rationally expect I
shall oppose you and endeavor your dismission."
Fourteen years after this correspondence, President Stiles writes in his
Literary Diary : " Some persons printed Ijir. Hopkins's letter in answer to
the first of Mr. Dewey. This prompted Mr. Dewey to print both his. I have
not seen Mr. Hopkins's letters. He tells me he has them all, and says Mr.
Dewey, on a sick bed, seemed to be sorry for his letters ; but recovering to
health, returned to his former sentiments again. Ten years after this dispute,
Mr. Hopkins asked [his dismissal], and was dismissed. I consider the foun
dation of it partly laid in this dispute with Dewey." This foundation of it,
then, was laid in Calvinism, and not in Hopkinsianism as a distinct and
different system ; for Calvin makes a hundred assertions like these : " The
first man fell, because tlie Lord determined that he should ; " * "I confess
that all the children of Adam have fallen by the will of God into this miser
able condition in which they are involved ; and this is what I said at the first
that we must always return at length to the mere pleasure of the divine will,
the cause of which is hidden in himself." f
Fifthly, in addition to the above-named troubles came those of
politics. The irritability of feeling which preceded the revolution,
was ill fitted to promote tbe harmony of a parish. Mr. Hopkins
was as strong in liis Whig principles, as in other things. As early as
March 18, 1766, he writes to Dr. Bellamy;
" We have nothing very new this way. Town affairs engross the thoughts
of many. The battle is to come on next Monday, they say. If the Tories
get the victory, which they are zealous to do, the town will lie in ruins, and I
must soon leave preaching here, it is probable. I look on, and wait tlie event
with some degree of calmness, I hope." — The battle came on. The Tories
triumphed. But the town meeting was adjudged to be illegal. The General
Court ordered another meeting to be held in July. Major Hawley, of North
ampton, was to be moderator. " But the Tories are determined to carry the
day even then," writes Hopkins, " and are turning every stone, and my friends
are ready to give up the case for lost If they prevail, it seems I have done
here. ' The Lord reigns ; let the earth rejoice.' "
He writes again, July 26, 1766 : " Last week we had a town meeting, which
lasted three days. The spirits of each party were raised to a very high de
gree. In the issue, the Tories carried the day, and have got all town affairs
in their hands, just as they had before ; with this aggravation, that now they
have a vastly higher degree of resentment against me and the party that ad
heres to me, than before. They say they will withhold a great part of my
salary, if not all ; and it appears that they intend to get me out of town.
Query : Since my salary seems to be the great bone of contention, the strife
at bottom being about money, (Who shall have the government of the money
voted for preaching ? or, in one word, Whether the Dutch, &c, shall pay
any part of my salary ?) had I not better give my salary up, and, if those who
adhere to me will not maintain me by subscription, either leave them or
preach gratis1}" A characteristic proposal from this advocate of disinter
ested benevolence.
Sixthly, many of his parishioners became jealous of Mr. Hopkins,
and imagined that he was desirous of leaving them. Their sus
picions were inflamed by the fact that he had been invited to preach
* " Lapsus est eniui primus homo, quia Domiuus ita expedire censuerat." Inst. Lib.
iii. cap. xxiii. § 8.
t Inst. Lib. iii. cap. xxiii. $ 4.

70 MEMOIR.
in several vacant pulpits, and had spent several weeks preaching,
with much acceptance, in 1766 and 1767, at Salem, Massachusetts.*
He was annoyed by this jealousy ; still he assured his people, that he
had no wish to forsake them' if they wbuld give him an honorable
support, (by which he meant about two hundred dollars per annum.)
Having no wish to " drive a good bargain," he confessed that his pe
cuniary interests would be better if he continued at Great Barrington
than if he left it ; and then added, in his frank and blunt way, that
if they desired him to preach, they must be more punctual in their
attendance upon his ministrations. So many of them lived at a dis
tance from the meeting-house, were unable to own carriages, and
were not attracted to walk far over rough roads for the sake of
hearing his monotonous tones, that he was often discouraged by his
meagre auditories.
Seventhly, the spirit of the town remained, as it was at first, ad
verse to true religion. A great majority of the pious citizens were
his warm friends, but immorality abounded. In 1767, he requested
the church to refer the question of his continuance among them to a
council. But they refused, for they were resolved to retain him.
They adopted various expedients to raise his salary ; but after an
effort of two years, they despaired, and then united with their d-
spondent pastor in the summoning of a council. He writes to his
confidential friend Bellamy :
" December 30, 1768-9. I have but a minute, just to inform [you] that last
evening this church agreed to call a council, to sit here on the third Wednes
day of January next, to advise whether it is expedient for me to continue here,
as circumstances are, or be dismissed. The members of the council are to be
Dr. Bellamy, Messrs. Brinsmade, Farrand, West, Collins, and the messengers
the churches shall send with them. The church have appeared as forward to
take this step as myself, and have led the way in advising to it ; and they gen
erally have higher expectations of my dismission, I believe, than I have, —
wholly grounded in want of support And now, sir, I hope you will be will
ing to go through some difficulty to assist your friend and a poor people."
On the day appointed, (January 18, 1769,) the council met, and
advised, in a style very laudatory of Dr. Hopkins, that the connection
between the discouraged pastor and the afflicted church be dis
solved. He had been the minister over that people twenty-five years
and twenty-one days. This fact attests his perseverance ; for even
at this late day, not one of his successors at Great Barrington has
* In a letter to Dr. Bellamy, dated July 7, 1766, Mr. Hopkins writes : " The people
[of Salem] urged me to stay another Sabbath, and tried to get encouragement that I
would come and settle there. The congregation is pretty large, and they say, the only
one in lown that receives and will bear sound doctrine ; that 'tis of the greatest impor
tance they should have a man who is able to defend Ihe doctrines of the gospel, &c. ;
and they choose to settle, not a young man, but one whose character is established and
known. I gave them no encouragement." He did not believe that the people would
endure his preaching when they fully understood it. " Besides," he adds, "baptism
would probably be an insuperable difficulty. — Great Barrington seems to be the place
for me."

MEMOIR. 71
remained there so long. Indeed, there was no pastor over that
church for eighteen years after Mr. Hopkins left it His departure
let in evils, which his presence had kept out. After the war of the
revolution, in 1787, a minister was stationed there, but he remained
only three years, when the flock was again left without a shepherd
for sixteen years. In 1798, President Dwight visited the place, and
remarked : * "It is probable that there has been more horse-racing
in these two towns [Great Barrington and Sheffield] than in all the
State of Massachusetts beside." Twenty-five years after his dis
mission, Mr. Hopkins visited Great Barrington, with his friend Dr.
Patten, who thus describes the town : t
" The people were without a minister, nor was there any convenient place
in which to assemble for public worship. Dr. H. inquired if his former meet
ing-house could not be fitted for the purpose for one Sabbath ; but it was
found to be impracticable, as the windows were broken, the door had fallen
down, and the floor had long been occupied by sheep, who resorted to it from
the common at night, and in storms. It was further said, that if a meeting
should be appointed any where else, there would be but little interest taken
in it ; but few would attend. It was common for those who regarded the
Sabbath and public ordinances to go to other towns to enjoy them ; while
others devoted the day to visiting, to sitting in taverns, to horse-racing, and
other amusements ; and Mr. Hopkins supposed they expended much more in
these ways, and the consequent dissipation and extravagance, than would be
necessary for the support of the gospel ministry among them."
In his seventy-fifth year, looking back upon his dismissal, which
occurred in his forty-eighth year, this advocate for disinterested be
nevolence expresses himself thus : f
" I then had a wife and eight children, and owned a house and good farm,
and could, by leaving my study and attending to my farm, have supported
myself and family, and continued to preach to those who would come to hear
me, after a sort with little study. But I then thought, and it was the judg
ment of the council, and of the church, that as I could not be supported there,
so as to be able to give myself wholly to the work of the ministry, and pursue
my studies without any great interruption from worldly cares and labor, it was
my duty to leave them, and go where I could be supported. And if no such
place presented, I could, by turning my attention to farming, support myself.
But since I have seen the unhappy consequences to that people of my leaving
them, many of which might probably have been prevented by my staying with
them, though I had studied but little, and spent great part of my time in at
tention to my worldly concerns, I have sometimes been ready to call in ques
tion the reasonableness of that conclusion, and have thought it probable we
were all wrong in judging as we did, and that it was my duty to stay with
that people in those circumstances. It is certain this would have been greatly
to my loorldly advantage. But I then thought I did right, and took the most
prudent and proper steps, in taking the advice of a council."
Could the good man arise from his grave, and look out upon
the beautiful villages and the enterprising population which now dis-

* Dwight's Travels, vol. ii. p. 379.
t Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 65, 56.
{ Sketches, pp. 49, 50.

72 MEMOIR.
tinguish that romantic town, he would rejoice that he once struggled
there against the obstacles to its civihzation, and prayed there for
the children and children's cliildren of the pioneers who subdued its
wild forests.

Sect. XX. DEPTH OF MR. HOPKINS'S RELIGIOUS FEELINGS DURING
AND AFTER HIS RESIDENCE AT GREAT BARRINGTON.
In his thirty-third year, December 26, 1753, the good man writes :
" I have lately had distressing apprehensions of the badness of my state,
being ready to conclude that such a sinner as I am cannot possibly have any
grace. This evening my spirit labored under an unsupportable load of sin,
and my spirits were drunk up with anguish. As soon as I could, I shut my
self up in my study, and fell upon my knees before God.
" And first, I felt and told God that I had nowhere else to go but to him,
though I had sinned so greatly against him. I felt and expressed the extreme
folly of forsaking him, — that it was beyond all conception. I reflected on the
aggravations of my sins, and saw they were so vastly multiplied and numerous,
that it was impossible my mind should ever have a full view of them, or be
able to reckon them ; yea, that there was not one aggravation but what ex
ceeded all my thoughts and conceptions. I thought it a wonder that I was not
in hell, and confessed that God might justly send me there immediately ; yea,
ho might justly do what was unspeakably more dreadful, viz., continue me in
the world till I had filled up the dreadful measure of my iniquities, and be
come a great and remarkable vessel of wrath, fitted for that destruction for
which I was before appointed, that I might sink down unspeakably below Ju
das, and bear a more awful weight of wrath than any other who should so
to hell. ~ 6
" Under these shocking apprehensions of the weight of wrath which be
longed to me, it came into my mind that Christ could save from all this ; he
could deliver from such a weighty wrath.
" Immediately upon which, my soul applied to him for help, and this was
the language of my heart: 'Lord Jesus, I come, I come, I come to thee; I
come for deliverance from this distinguished place in hell, this uncommon
weight of wrath.' I thought I might hope in him for deliverance, though oth-
¦ ers went to hell, whose sins were unspeakably less than mine ; and the truth
contained in those words, '1 will have mercy on whom I ivill have mercy,'
seemed sweet and wonderful. I felt confounded, and my soul was filled with
blushing and shame, saying from my heart, ' Righteousness belongeth unto
thee, O Lord, but unto me shame and confusion of face, because I have
sinned.' In the conclusion of my petitions, when I mentioned Christ as the
person in whose name I presented myself and offering, I felt that he was the
only Saviour, and ground of hope for sinners. Had it not been for him, the
least sin must have damned infallibly ; and it seemed wonderful, even that tlie
least sinner, and especially such a sinner as I was, might have hope. When
I came to conclude my devotions with ascriptions of praise to God, my
heart dwelt up*on this, and I longed that the angels might praise God. I saw
that God could glorify himself by saving me, but the tribute of praise which I
could offer was mean and inconsiderable. I wanted to lisp out his praise in
some humble place. I rose from my knees, lightened and comforted ; all na
ture put on a more pleasant aspect, and those words, ' I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy,' dwelt on my heart with pleasure and delight."
In his forty-eighth year, a few months after leaving Great Bar
rington, he writes :

MEMOIR. 73
" Monday, J une 12, 1769. Spent Saturday in fasting and prayer ; had a
variety of exercises, more strong than common ; was in tears great part of the
day, so that I was obliged to shut myself up, not fit to be seen. If ever I
knew what it was to cast myself upon Christ I did so now. Sovereign grace
was all my plea and all my hope. I had unspeakable pleasure in thinking
that in me there was a proper foundation for the greatest exercise and display
of sovereign grace, even in my infinite, distinguished guilt, vileness, and mis
ery ; this afforded opportunity for the exercise of divine power, wisdom, and
goodness, in all their infinite height and latitude ; that in me, there was a
broad bottom for the trial of divine grace, on which it may have full scope, as
it were, and erect the greatest monument to the praise of the glory of God's
grace to all eternity ! My soul seemed to rejoice and exult in this, more,
unspeakably more than in my own salvation, considered as separate from this.
Yea, the latter was as nothing, of no account, and not worth asking for, in
comparison with the former, or aside from that.
" My exercises were uncommon and remarkable in one respect, viz., in the
quick succession of light and joy, and dejection and gloom. I was sometimes
lifted up, and then soon cast down, and my exercises, as it were, obliterated.
" The chief things I proposed to seek God for to-day, were, first, his direc
tion and smiles, with regard to my future circumstances and usefulness in the
world ; with respect to which I have had a variety of exercises, which would
fill a volume were they all recorded ; secondly, for my Christian friends ;
thirdly, for the church of Christ, &c.
" This morning, awoke with the words of Christ in my mind, ' He that hath
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that
loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest
myself unto him.' I seemed to long to keep Christ's commandments, and
thought the great one was to love one another. This led me, when I was up,
to read the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of John. And O, how
full of sweet instruction are they! There is an additional, inexpressible
sweetness in the Bible, now, which I never tasted before.
"Saturday morning, July 1. Purpose to spend this day in fasting and
prayer. The day is to be spent in the following manner: 1. In attending to
my sins, and confessing them before God ; 2. In praying for pardon and holi
ness ; 3. That God would make the path of duty plain before me, form me for
his service, and improve me in it; 4. In seeking mercies for my wife and
children ; 5. Praying for direction and assistance while with this people, that
some good may be done here ; 6. For my Christian friends and kind benefac
tors ; 7. For the church of Christ in general, and for the world of mankind. —
Close.the day with thanksgiving.
" When I first rose this morning, read the seventy-first Psalm, with some
exercises of heart and pleasure. Many passages in it seemed applicable to
my circumstances, and I thought I could make them the language of my own
heart The imprecations on enemies (verses 13, 24,) I could apply to invisible
enemies ; the devils, and wicked men, considered as enemies to me, because
enemies to Christ, and so far as they are such, they may be consumed and
destroyed. This is consistent with their being converted and saved.
" ' Their feet are swift to shed blood, but how to do good they know not.'
This is the very character that I have been of, all my days. All sin of omis
sion or commission is shedding blood ; it is mischief, it is murder. In all my
connections, I have been constantly guilty of omitting something which I ought
to have done for their good, or doing something which tended to their hurt.
I have missed ten thousand opportunities to do good, and have not seen them
till they were past through the stupidity and wickedness of my heart. If I
have ever desired to do any good, it has been the effect of sovereign grace.
" I have been longing to get rid of sin. The thought of living as I have is
dreadful. In this sense, I groan, being burdened !
" July 5. I have had a sweet hour between nine and ten. Surely, if the
highest enjoyments on earth were all laid at my feet, to have them to all Bier
s'

74 MEMOIR.
nity without God, I would not give this hour's enjoyment for them all. Yea,
I would despise them. ' It is good for me to draw near to God.' How swift
and how sweetly do ideas pass the mind, when it is in any measure in a right
frame ! It is impossible to express all the thoughts and ideas which have
passed my mind in this hour on my knees before God. ' There is none on
earth that I desire besides thee,' were words to which my soul did echo, and
which I could espouse with all my heart. Besides thee, that is, aside from
thee, or without thee, and not in union with thee. I concluded with a solemn
and I hope hearty dedication of myself to God, believing that he could, and
in a degree of confidence that he would, do more than I am able to ask, or
conceive. "July 6. Rose early this morning, and O, astonishing that I may say it!
have had a gracious ana most sweet visit from God. When I first attempted
to bow before God, I felt myself, all at once, in the presence of the all-seeing,
infinitely wise, good, and every way most excellent and glorious God, who is
wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working. My soul adored, and loved,
and rejoiced in him. My soul was drawn out in strong and sweet exercises
of love and praise, in a view of what God is in himself, and as manifested in
his works. My soul would praise God, let him do what he would with me. I
said, I will praise thee as long as I live, and bless thy name while I have a
being. O, how did my heart rejoice and exult that there is such a God!
Words cannot utter it, nor can I write a thousandth part of my exercises. It
appeared something wonderfully great, and inexpressibly desirable, to be the
instrument of bringing but one soul to the knowledge of this glorious God —
of turning men from darkness to this marvellous light.
" This morning I have been led to view and address God, considered in his
absolute, divine perfection, and address him in and through Christ more than
is common for me. I generally, when I have the greatest freedom at the
throne of grace, speak directly to Christ, as if he was, in a sense, the only
object of worship, being God, and having all power in heaven and earth; but
now it was otherwise.
" I have sometimes been troubled about this matter, and feared I had no
right ideas of the Father and the Son, of God and Christ, as I seemed not to
know how to conceive of them, and address them in my devotions. And [I]
have been hence led to ask, that I might know the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom he hath sent ; might have ideas and conceptions of the glorious
God and Saviour, agreeable and answerable to the revelation he has made of
himself. I have been more satisfied about it this morning. I now believe
that Christians may have different views with respect to this, and yet all be
right. Sometimes their minds may be fixed on Christ in whom dwells all the
fulness of the Godhead, and he may be more immediately the object of their
adoration and worship, addressing him more directly, in whicli he is consid
ered as set up by the Father, and invested with all authority, and so compre
hending ^all that is called God. At other times, they may have their minds
more especially fixed on the divine perfections, more absolutely considered,
yet not exclusively of Christ the Mediator, and so more directly address God
over all, blessed forever, as exercising mercy through a Mediator. And I
believe different Christians may, in a stated way, differ in this respect in their
view and addresses, and so be naturally led to talk of their exercises in a little
different language ; some speaking more of God, others more of Christ. Our
ideas are very scant at best, and we see but by parts and in a very partial
manner. Hence, when we view God in one attitude, if I may so express it,
his other relations and attitudes are more out of sight and less attended to.
Yet when all our ideas and views are compared together, they are perfectly
uniform and consistent, however various and different they may be.
" Three o'clock. Have had a sweet time in a walk in the woods [in Tops-
ham, Maine]. Had more hope and confidence before God that I should dwell
with him forever in his kingdom, than I ever had before. Christ appeared
great and glorious in redeeming his people from all iniquity, and even in

MEMOIR. 75
redeeming one such soul as mine. I said, ' I will praise thee forever ; ' but this
tribute appeared nothing. Then I said, ' Let all the angels praise thee for
thy wonderful works to me.' But this also appeared to be little, which led
me to say, ' Glorify thyself.'
"Saturday, September 30. Have been reading the twenty-fifth Psalm,
with application to myself. Have particularly attended to the seventh verse,
where the Psalmist desires that God would give what he asks for, for his
goodness1 sake, that is, for the sake of the display of his goodness, as there
must be a great and wonderful exercise and display of it in showing mercy to
him who was so sinful, unworthy, and ill- deserving. This has been often my
only refuge and plea. God shows mercy, for his goodness' sake. This is a
reason, then, why he should show mercy to me ; for his own goodness cannot
be more displayed and honored than in his being good to me. Blessed be
God for this plea. I can now say, ' Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.'
" November 10. Had a pleasant season this morning, soon after I rose. It
began with desires after the Holy Spirit I saw this was all I wanted, all I
could ask for, and pleaded the promise, ' Ask, and ye shall receive.' These
words of Christ were on my mind, 'He that forsaketh house, or lands,' &c,
&c. I thought I had a heart to do this, and blessed Christ that he had given
such a heart as the greatest possible gift, infinitely greater than to have the
whole world bestowed on me. I know I ought to be willing to suffer and die
in the cause of truth. O that Christ would give me such a heart !
" January 6, 1770. I have been walking in a ropewalk [at Newport, Rhode
Island] by myself. There I dedicated myself to Jesus Christ with strength
of heart and with unspeakable joy. I felt it to be an amazing privilege that I
might be devoted to him, and that he would accept such an offering. I felt
that I was under infinite obligations to this, and that the obligation is every
way unbounded, and that there is a peculiar happiness in being thus obliged
to him.
" I have promised that, by his grace, I never will recall this dedication of
myself to him, praying him to subdue every thing in my heart that opposes
this consecration, and that he would cause it to rise higher and higher con
tinually. " Saturday, near sunset January 13. Have had some sense of God's
mercies to-day, and some disposition to praise him for his wonderful goodness.
I have had a degree of confidence that I am devoted to God. I cast myself,
and all my concerns, the concerns of the church and the world, on him, with
some degree of sensible resignation and cheerfulness. Have had more strong
desires than ever for the good of the congregation I am preaching to, and
have been enabled to plead for it with God. My mouth has been filled with
arguments, and [I] have had strong desires to be the instrument of building
of it up.
" Monday morning, four o'clock. Have been worried about my preaching
yesterday. I believe it was the truth, but perhaps I had better not have
preached it then ; but I suspect the devil has a hand in my uneasiness and
perplexity. O that Christ would deliver me from this roaring lion, and
baffle and confound him ! I know he will, and that however imprudent I am,
and whatever advantage the devil gets by it at present, it shall all turn against
him at last and he shall be most effectually disappointed and confounded.
This is some comfort to me, I think ; but it is unspeakably dreadful to me, to
think of giving him advantage by my imprudence and sin. O Lord, in thy
righteousness deliver me from this subtle, powerful, cruel, unjust, injurious
foe ! He has no right to seek my ruin or the ruin of others. So far as I am
against him and desire to oppose him, and sincerely cry to thee for deliverance,
and his overthrow, I am in a righteous cause. O, dehver me in thy righteous
ness. Let him be blasted forever.
"Saturday evening, February 10. Have had freedom in thought and
prayer. Have been enabled to cast all my cares and burdens on God, as an
infinitely full fountain, and the portion which my soul desires. I have some-

76 MEMOIR.
times seemed to have nothing to pray for ; every thing is rignt, and just as I
should desire to have it be. So long as Christ reigns and has every thing in
his hands, I seem to have nothing to do but praise.
" It seems to me I have some higher sense of what is meant by living by
faith on the Son of God, than I used to have. It is to make Christ all, to
seek him for every thing, and live entirely on his expense and charges, having
nothing of our own but emptiness and poverty."

Sect. XXI. SECOND CANDIDATESHIP.
We are now to turn over a new leaf in the history of Mr. Hop
kins. One half of his ministerial life has passed away ; the more
eventful half is yet to come. When dismissed from Great Barring
ton, he doubted whether he should ever again become the pastor of
a church. He was engaged in writing a work for the press ; and,
spending the week at home, was accustomed to ride twelve miles
every Saturday, to North Canaan, and after preaching there on the
Sabbath, return home on Monday morning. In the ensuing April
and May, (1769,) he preached several Sabbaths at the Old South
meeting-house, in Boston. Many of the most earnest Christians in
that church desired that he should be installed over it * as a col
league with the venerable Dr. Sewall ; but the more popular mem
bers of the congregation frowned on the movement and checked it.
He was then invited to Topsham, Main*, where he preached to a
Presbyterian society, from the early part of June to the early part
of July. He was strongly urged to remain there, and assured that
he would receive a unanimous call. From Topsham, he was in
vited to Newport, Rhode Island. He arrived at that town, July 21,
1769, and preached his first sermon there, July 23. Having been
heard five Sabbaths, he received a call to settle over the First Con
gregational Church and Society in that town. Seven members of
the church voted in his favor, three voted against him, and two
voted neither way. He took the call into consideration, returned
home, and after several weeks went back to Newport with a pur
pose to comply with the desires of the church. He had become
strongly attached to its members. But a change had come over the
people. A sarcastic pamphlet had been circulated against him, and
a committee of the church now requested him to withhold liis an
swer to their call, to continue his ministerial labors among them, and
wait in hope that the prejudices excited by the pamphlet might sub
side. He yielded to the wish of his friends, and as the day for the
decisive vote drew near, he makes the following records :
" Saturday, March 3, 1770. I think I have given up every point but thisi
viz., that the path of duty may be made plain. If I have a call to leave New-
» He had been somewhat intimate with Rev. Mr. dimming, a former pastor of the
Old South, and with some wealthy individuals in the church.

MEMOIR. 77
port, and shall see it to be so, I think I can cheerfully go forth, not knowing
whither I am to go. And I have a pleasing hope and confidence that the way
will be made plain. Why should I not trust in that God for this, who has
hitherto led me in a plain path, especially ever since I have had a heart to
seek this in a more particular manner, making it my great petition, not caring
so much what God called me to, if his call might be made clear and plain ?
" God's goodness has been increasing upon me continually, and I will hope
in him, fori shall yet praise him. I wSl now praise him for all his wonderful
goodness to me, which is indeed beyond all account. God has forgiven me
from my youth unto this day, and why may I not trust in him now ? By his
grace I will ; on him I cast myself; on him I rely for pardoning and uphold
ing mercy.
"Lord's Day evening, March 4. Had some uncommon exercises this
morning. I longed to be improved in the work of the ministry, that Christ
would be with me and make me a blessing. I offered myself, desiring that
he would send me, since he had so much work to do in the world, and since
he must employ unworthy, guilty sinners. I offered myself as such an one ;
and since he glorified himself in improving such, the more unworthy and vile,
the more he would be glorified. I therefore made this an argument that I
might be improved, as I was the most guilty and vile that could be found.
" March 7. Feel calm, resigned, and in some degree thankful. O, what
consolation is it that God reigns, and will take the best care of his own honor
and interest ! And what an infinite mercy that I may hope and be confident
that this God is my God and Redeemer ! "
On Monday, March 12, the congregation met ; and after having
heard him nearly eight months, decided by a vote of thirty-six to
thirty-three that they did not wish his services as their pastor. His
opposers had circulated a paper for signatures against him, and by
dint of personal address had secured a majority against his settle
ment. His friends were surprised and grieved.
" When this vote was communicated to him," says Dr. Patten,* "he in
quired if the society had any supply engaged for the pulpit, the following
Sabbath. On their answering, ' No,' he further inquired, as he could not reach
home that week, whether the prejudices of the people were such that they
would not be willing to hear him preach. They replied, ' O no ; there is no
such prejudice against you as that ; they will be pleased to hear you.' The
writer has seen, in manuscript, the sermon delivered in the afternoon on that
occasion. It was appropriate as a valedictory discourse. It was expressive
of no irritation ; it manifested by implication no desire to have the call re
newed. It appeared to be his great solicitude to guard the people from preju
dice against the truth, and, in this light, against him as a minister of the
truth. He said that he ' held no doctrines, the substance of which he had not
preached to them before they gave him a call ; that it was his object, by study
of the Scriptures and by prayer, to ascertain the truth, and thus to preach no
doctrine to which any one could object without objecting to the word of
God.'" He preached this sermon, March 18, and at the same time com
municated to the church his letter declining the call which he had
received from them on the 21st of the preceding August. He
then expected to return home during that very week, and to " live
a private life on his farm." * Reminiscences, pp. 59-61.

78 MEMOIR.
" But," he says,* " the congregation appeared attentive and solemn, [during
my farewell discourse,] and numbers were observed to weep. The next
morning, [March 19,] it was reported, where I lodged, that there appeared to
be a revolution in the congregation ; that several of the leaders in the oppo
sition to me appeared to repent of what they had done, and said that their
consciences accused them so severely of their wickedness in what they had
done, that they had little or no sleep during the night, and were now deter
mined to do all they could to prevent my leaving them. And, accordingly,
they went to those whom they had influenced to subscribe against my stay
ing, to persuade them to retract And that evening, two or three of those
who had been at the head of the opposition to me came to me, and confessed
they had opposed my settling in the congregation, and influenced as many as
they could against me. But now [they] were convinced they had done
wrong, and had taken pains to undo what they had done, and persuade those
whom they had influenced to appear against my settling among them, to alter
their sentiments and conduct ; that they now sincerely desired that I would
stay and be their minister, &c. And I was at the same time informed that a
number of the congregation, who had been in a great degree indifferent with
regard to my staying or going away, now appeared to be aroused and engaged
in favor of my staying, and said they would do all in their power to prevent
my leaving them. The next day, the committee of the congregation applied
to me, and said that it appeared that those who had been in opposition to my
settlement among them had retracted, and were now desirous that I would
stay with them ; at least, this was true of the most of them. And they be
lieved, if the church and congregation were now to meet they would be
unanimous, or nearly so, in renewing their former invitation to me to settle with
them in the ministry. They therefore desired me to stay till the church and
congregation could be called together, and renew their call, if they should
appear, when met, disposed to do it I consented to this, and in the begin
ning of the next week, [March 26, 1770,] the church and congregation met,
and renewed their invitation to me to settle in the ministry with them. In
this they were almost unanimous ; but two or three of the congregation dis
sented, who had little or no influence in the congregation. And two or three
of the church chose to be neuters, and vote neither for nor against it"
This is but one of many instances in which there seems to have
been a real eloquence in the homely words of Mr. Hopkins. On the
following day, he writes in his Journal :
" March 19. This day I had news brought me that three men, who had
been most steady in opposing me, declared last evening that they were sorry
they had opposed me, and they were now desirous that I would stay and set
tle with them. They were brought to this by my farewell sermon. It is said
this sermon has had greater effect than all my preaching before. Some who
have thought it not best for me to stay, now appear zealous for my staying.
This is all wonderful. I desire to stand still and see the hand, the salvation
of God ! How greatly are my obligations increased to trust in God, to live
to him, and follow him in the dark ! What matter for praise and gratitude !
" March 21. My mind has been full of comfort and joy this morning.
Have had unspeakably sweet exercises, more than can be mentioned. The
success of my preaching last Sabbath is an instance of God's goodness, be
yond any thing of the kind I ever experienced before. The walls of Jericho
are fallen down by the blowing of rams' horns.
" Friday, March 23. The amazing instance of last Sabbath dwells on my
mind, though I fear it will not be improved by me as it ought When the
walls of Jericho fell flat before tlie people of Israel, an accursed thing was
* Autobiography, pp. 72-74.

MEMOIR. 79
soon found in the camp. All was not dedicated to the Lord, and he was dis
pleased. How justly displeased may he be, if this remarkable interposition
of Divine Providence should not be all consecrated to his praise and honor!
O Lord, keep me back from coveting any thing of the spoils of this victory
to myself, to be improved in the gratification of my pride and worldliness.
This I am in the utmost danger of, and shall do worse than Achan did, unless
the Lord hold me back. O, may all be consecrated to thy glory."
Speaking of his installation, he says, after the lapse of a quarter
of a century : *
" This event appeared to give satisfaction to all. And it was a time of pe
culiar gratitude and joy to my Christian friends, of whom there was a consid
erable number who had steadily adhered to me from my first acquaintance
with them. And their pious affections, gratitude, and joy were greatly
heightened, by the dark and trying scene which preceded, in my being appar
ently rejected by the congregation, and consequently determined to leave
them ; and the remarkable manner in which a revolution took place in favor
of my staying, in which the hand of God was so conspicuous. And it was a
peculiar satisfaction to me, that God had in such a manner opened the way
for my settling here, and made the way of duty so plain, and that such a num
ber of very dear and excellent Christian friends were hereby so greatly grat
ified. And I considered myself to be under new and greater obligations to
devote myself to the service of Jesus Christ, and to faithfulness to him and
the church and congregation to whom I now stood related as their pastor and
minister. And now with shame I reflect upon my great deficiency. I said I
would be wise, but it has been far from me ! O Lord, enter not into judgment
with me, for I cannot stand, or answer. I fly to pardoning mercy, through the
atonement of Christ, as my only refuge."

Sect. XXII. CONNECTION OF MR. HOPKINS "WITH DR. EZRA STILES,
HIS CLERICAL NEIGHBOR AT NEWPORT.
Both of the above-named gentlemen exhibited the most interest
ing traits of their character in their intercourse with each other.
President Stiles had been pastor of the Second Congregational
Church in Newport nearly fifteen years when Mr. Hopkins was in
stalled over the First; and he remained more than six years a co-
laborer with that self-denying divine. He was a man of extensive
learning f and of a transparent honesty. He was a moderate Cal-
vinist, and would not hesitate to express his disapprobation of any
man, who " was so very Orthodox as to be a little inclined to the
New Divinity." His church had not been separated from the First
on account of doctrinal differences, but still was less strict and
severe than the First, both in its theology and its religious life. It
contained more of the aristocratic and less of the Puritan element.
It was more noted for general intelligence, but less for theological
information. President Stiles was not at all in favor of Mr. Hop
kins's settlement over the First Church. In his Literary Diary he
* Sketches, pp. 74, 75.
t "This country has not, perhaps, produced a more learned man." — Dr. W. E.
Channing, Works, vol. iv. p. 340.

80 MEMOIR.
gives a less favorable, and, we have reason to believe, a less accu
rate account than that which all other writers have given, of the
changes effected by the " Farewell Sermon." He says that " no
alteration was made in more than seven men " by that sermon.
" Mrs. Osborn and the sorority of her meeting are violently engaged,
and had great influence. They and the two deacons, and two
thirds of [the] church were warmly engaged for Mr. Hopkins."
It is interesting to read that Dr. Stiles's church had some queries
with regard to the propriety of installing Samuel Hopkins as a
minister of the gospel ! There has certainly been some "progress
within the last seventy years ! Dr. Stiles writes in his Church
Records : '
" It having been suggested as Mr. Hopkins's opinion, that it was not the duty
of the unregenerate to use the means of grace, their guilt being increased,
the more light they resisted, under even the highest convictions, the church
insisted, and unanimously charged us in council, to know from Mr. Hopkins
whether he held that it was a sin for the unregenerate to use the means of
grace. And in case it was his principle, they desired the pastor not to pro
ceed nor assist in his instalment. Accordingly, when the council met, this
was agitated; and, after some discourse, Mr. Hopkins declared, before the
council, ' that it was the duty of the unregenerate to pray to God, to read the
Scriptures, attend public worship, and, in general, to use all the means of
grace.' This was to the satisfaction of the council, Mr. Hopkins being of
good moral character."
Dr. Stiles was the scribe of the council, and thus describes the
manner of the instalment :
" Repairing to the meeting-house about eleven [o'clock,] A. M., [April 11,
1770,] where was a large assembly, Mr. Campbell opened the solemnity with
prayer ; then I preached from John xviii. 3 : ' This is life eternal,' &c. Then
I read the result publicly, with the votes of the church and of the congrega
tion. Then I turned to the brethren of the church, (who sat together in a
body by themselves,) and put it to vote, whether they now continued to call,
&c. Then I turned to Mr. Hopkins for his answer of acceptance ; which be
ing done, I retired from the desk, and Mr. Ellis ascended it and prayed ; and
after prayer, he turned to Mr. Hopkins, the pastor elect, and addressed him
with a charge, which was done without imposition of hands, (as he had been
once ordained,) so that the design of this was only to give him the pastoral
charge of this flock. Then Mr. [Levi] Hart gave him the right hand of fellow
ship, and made the concluding prayer. Then Mr. Hopkins gave the Psalm,
and dismissed the assembly with a blessing."
At the time of Hopkins's installation, Dr. Stiles was at the height
of his intimacy with the Jewish Rabbies and other literati, at New
port. This is very obvious in his installation discourse. Its theme
was, " Saving Knowledge." It abounds with Latin and Greek sen
tences from the fathers, with biblical quotations also, in the original
Hebrew, to some of which are appended Latin translations ; with ref
erences to Selden, Croijus, Le Clerc, Basnage, Monis, Simeon ben
Johauy, Zeno, Plato, Parmenides, etc. He seemed ta think it fit
ting, that the sermon at Hopkins's installation should have a marked
_

MEMOIR. 81
character. The following are a few of his sentences on the " Trin
ity in Unity," and they must have caused a peculiar expression of
countenance in the pastor elect :
" To adduce a few passages. Isaiah xli. 4, Ani Jehovah rashon vat acha-
ronimani hu. Here is acharonim plural predicated of 2, oneness, repeated
unity — I am he — and yet this I am he is the first and last Gods, or plurali
ties. Again, Jeremiah xxiii. 36; Joshua xxiv. 19; Isaiah xxxvii. 16; Jere
miah x. 10 ; as also Deuteronomy iv. 35 ; 2 Samuel vii. 26 ; Amos iii. 13 ;
Hosea xii. 5; Malachi i. 9, — im adonim ani, (si Domini ego,) If I am your
Lords. Deuteronomy xi. 4, Jehovah elohinu Jehovah ahaud, (Jehovah dii nos-
tri Jehovah unus) ; Jelwvah our Gods is the one Jehovah, or, There is but one
self-existent being. I think every one, who understands these passages in the
original, must see Plurality in Unity ; that in Jehovah there are Elohim,
Gods ; and yet that they all make He singular or unity ; for Moses expressly
asserts Jehovah is a most absolute unity, — a unity to which no other unity
bears any resemblance ; agreeable to Rabbi Moses ben Maimon and the
Igdal, ahaud vain jaehid kajichudo, (unus nee unitas similis unitati sua.)
Now this plurality in the divine essence is the only thing (under a numeral
idea) which distinguishes it from other unities. All unities are alike, except
that of God. Rabbi Akiba, ix. Mishna, says, Chajim Elohim ruach ahaut,
(unus est spiritus Deorum viventium)." *
In one of his learned notes to this discourse, p. 18, Dr. Stiles
recommends to young clergymen the study of the Platonic writers
and of the Rabbinical literature. So different was he in his mental
texture from his new co-laborer, t His friendships, too, were by no
means the same with the friendships of his " new-divinity colleague."
He was intimate with Dr. Dana, of New Haven, Dr. Chauncy, of
Boston, and Rev. William Hart, the author of the pamphlet which
delayed Mr. Hopkins's settlement at Newport. Can we wonder,
then, that he recoiled from being shut up on an island with the
ablest living champion of the Edwardean theology 1 — Still, both
Dr. Stiles and his new neighbor were sensible men, and did not
press their speculative differences into social life. It has been said
by Dr. Channing, \ that they " held no ministerial intercourse " with
each other. This were sad, if true. But President Stiles writes in
his Church Records, that he exchanged with Mr. Hopkins on the
Sabbath preceding the installation of the latter. He afterwards
alludes to frequent instances of the like fellowship. After he be
came President of Yale College, he went to Newport often, and, in
his Literary Diary, thus notices his visits :
" October 1, 1780. Attended and heard Mr. Hopkins in the Sabbatarian
meeting-house, who administered the sacrament to about thirty communicants,
when I partook. — P.M. I preached [from] Rom. xii. 2, my congregation
* Inst. Sermon, pp. 13, 1-1-.
t Still, our metaphysical divine caught some Hebraistic inspiration from Dr. Stiles ;
for in less than three months after this " instalment sermon," Hopkins writes to Bel
lamy : " My friends in Boston are ready liberally to contribute for the support of a stu
dent of Hebrew, if a proper person could be found."
% Works, vol. iv. p. 350.

82 MEMOIR.
attending." [The two congregations worshipped together for a time after the
revolutionary army left Newport]
" September 29, 1782. Lord's Day, at Newport. Preached all day to my
dear flock in the Sabbatarian meeting-house. I notified a sacramental lec
ture at Mr. Hopkins's meeting-house, he expecting to be absent, and proposing
and desiring that the two churches should unite in communion together."
" October 3. I preached a sacramental lecture."
"October 6. I preached all day at Mr. Hopkins's meeting, and admin
istered the sacrament to both churches, united on the occasion, and for
the first time," [i. e. the churches, although worshipping together, had not
previously communed together.]
In his Memoir of Stiles, Dr. Holmes writes : * " Dr. Hopkins held a stated
evening lecture every week, which Dr. Stiles usually attended. On one of
these occasions, having read his text, he was taken with a bleeding at the
nose, and sat down. The blood not stopping, he requested Dr. Stiles to
preach. Furnished to all good works, he took the same text and preached
extemporaneously." It is interesting to notice the regularity with which Dr. Stiles records from
week to week his attendance upon the Thursday lecture of Hopkins, and the
gratification which he expresses, now and then, at the " many fine and judi
cious observations " which the lecturer made.
When he lost his wife, he wrote, May 30, 1775 : " I desired Mr. Hopkins
to make a prayer at my house, before the corpse was carried out," and " Mr.
Hopkins walked as a mourner " to the grave. " When I settled in the ministry
at Newport," he says,f " Mr.  , the Congregational minister of the
other church, was suspicious and cold toward me. I disarmed him by silence
and benevolence. When his ministry was ended, I hoped for a successor in
whom I might be happy as a cordial brother. There was a prospect of this
in an ingenious young man, Mr. A  . But the church finally settled Mr.
[Hopkins], of some sentiments very different from mine, while we agreed well
in the general system of orthodoxy. As the providence of God had brought
us into a connection, I determined to learn and get all the good I could from
him, treat him with respect and benevolence, and endeavor, as far as we were
agreed, to cooperate with him in building up the Redeemer's kingdom. And
we lived together in peace and love."
There were many particulars, indeed, in which these two divines
felt a cordial union. They were both decided patriots, and both
contended, shoulder to shoulder, against the Tory influence which
made many of the Rhode Island clergy adverse to the revolution. J
They were both thorough-going Congregationalists, and had saga
city enough to fear, and manliness enough to oppose, the growth of
the Anglican church among the descendants of those who had fled
from it to our shores. Above all, these two men were benevolent
Christians, and as such they went before their age ' in pushing for
ward various schemes of philanthropy.
It deserves to be remembered, in proof of Dr. Hopkins's Cathol
icism of temper, that not only during the six years of his connec-
* Dr. Holmes's Life of President Stiles, p. 195.
t lb. pp. 273, 274.
| Dr. Stiles gives a graphic account of the spinning matches, or » voluntary bees,"
which ftere held at his house, and also at the house of Mr. Hopkins, in 1770 and 1771.
" Ninety-two Daughters of Liberty spun and reeled, respiting and assisting one
another," etc., etc.

MEMOIR. 83
tion with Dr. Stiles, but also during the thirty-three years of his
pastorate at Newport, he lived in uniform friendship with the minis
ter of the Second Church, and the relations between that church
and his own were less hostile than they had been before his installa
tion, or than they were for a quarter of a century after his death.
Notwithstanding all his controversies, he was a " lover of peace."

Sect. XXIII. EARLY PROSPECTS AND SUCCESS AT NEWPORT.
To go from the hilly region of Berkshire to the ocean scenery of
Rhode Island, was a great change. Greater still was the transition
from the society of Massachusetts yeomen, to that of the nautical
and mercantile community at Newport. In his forty-ninth year, and
with the habits of rural life, Mr. Hopkins was not well fitted for such
an alteration of his social intercourse. When he was installed at
Newport, the town was larger than it is now, and far more enter
prising. It was the second town of New England in commercial
importance. Although the census taken in 1774 gave the place only
9209 inhabitants, yet the place is supposed to have actually con
tained about 11,000 ; * more than twice as many as Providence at
that time. Newport has now only 9563 inhabitants,-)" less than one
fourth as many as Providence. In 1773, New York had but 21,876
inhabitants, being only about twice as large as Newport, and having
in many departments a much less extensive foreign trade. The mer
chants of what is now the commercial emporium then sent often to
Newport for their foreign goods, as Newport sends now to that empo
rium. A mercantile house in London is said to have directed a
letter to " New York, near Newport." The town was noted, not
only for the charms of its natural scenery, but also for the beauty
of its private residences, for its fashionable and luxurious, as well as
its intelligent and enterprising society, its culture of the fine arts, its
scientific clubs, its refinement of taste and manners. Hence it was
the favorite resort of learned men. The painters Stuart and Malbone
were natives of the town ; it was the favorite residence of Bishop
Berkeley, and its medical practitioners were famed throughout the
land. Not even in Virginia did there prevail a much more elegant
hospitality, a much more sumptuous and baronial style of living, than
among a class of the Narraganset planters. Dr. McSparran, a cele
brated Episcopal clergyman in Newport, said, in 1752, that " neither
Epiphanius's nor Sir Richard Blackmore's catalogues contain more
heterodox and different opinions in religion than are to be found in
* Ross's Discourse, embracing the Civil and Religious History of Rhode Island,
pp. 67, 68.
t Still, it has at present eighteen churches — one for every five hundred and thirty
inhabitants ; whereas, in 1770, it had only ten churches.

84 MEMOIR.
this little corner." * When Mr. Hopkins went there, he found two
vigorous Baptist churches, each more than a century old. Three
hundred Jews, many of them eminent for wealth and commercial
skill, added interest to the town. Both Jewish and Sabbatarian
worship had been maintained there for about a hundred years. A
large number of Moravians, a still larger number of Quakers, diver
sified the social habits of the people. President Stiles loved to walk
over the Parade with the Jewish Rabbies, learning from them the
mysteries of the Cabala ; but was this a place for Samuel Hopkins 1
He could not harmonize with the Dutch farmers ; what will he do
with the French fashions? He was too severe for the moderate
Calvinists of Connecticut and Massachusetts ; will be not be a foreign
element among the formalists and dilettanti of Newport 1
Still he found here many attractions. He felt more religious lib
erty in Rhode Island than he could feel elsewhere, and religious
liberty he loved. He had access to tbe rich library of Dr. Stiles,
and to the still more extensive Redwood Library,t which was then,
as now, a treasure to the town. But, above all, — for this he valued
more than all, — he " found here a number who appeared to be ex
cellent Christians, and the best regulated church that he had seen." \
To the care of this church he addressed himself with fresh zeal.
He says, in condensed language :
" I preached a lecture every Thursday evening, which was well attended.
I invited the young people to meet at my house, the males on one week and
the females on the next ; and so to continue to meet every week alternately,
to have questions proposed to them, which they were to answer, &c. Above
forty young men subscribed to an engagement to attend those meetings ; and
more than seventy young women. After those meetings were attended a
considerable time, I proposed that instead of these, which began to aeclme, I
would attend a lecture every Sabbath evening at six o'clock in the meeting
house, in which I would explain to the young people the Shorter Catechism,
composed by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster ; the young people
to sit by themselves in the body of the meeting-house below, and elder
people, who were disposed to come, to sit in the gallery and the pews round
the sides of the house below. These lectures were crowded ; the congregation
being larger then than at the meetings in the former part of the day, as num
bers attended them from other congregations in town. And the young people
appeared attentive, gave constant attendance, and behaved decently. — When
I had gone through the Catechism in this way, I undertook to give a history
of ihe Bible, in a course of lectures, endeavoring to join entertainment with
instruction, and religious, profitable reflections, particularly applicable to
young persons. These lectures were continued, and well attended, till they
were broken up by the war between Britain and America." §
In the year 1771, he admitted fifteen members into his church ;
* See America Dissected, <_c, in Sundry Letters from a Clergyman there. Updike's
History of the Episcopal Church in Narraganset, pp. 483-533.
t He was made an honorary member of the Redwood Library Company, in 1770.
His own church also possessed a valuable collection of books.
X Sketches, p. 69.
j lb. pp. 75, 76. He established his Thursday evening lecture July 6, 1770.

MEMOIR. 85
in 1772, four members; in 1774, three ; in 1775, five; and, during
his whole ministry, fifty-nine members, of whom six were received
by letter. At the time of his death, thirty others were expecting to
be soon added to his church. He catechised, weekly, more than a
hundred children. Before he became pastor of the church, it had
been numerically declining.* Its more pious members considered
its existence as dependent upon his connection with it. His cor
respondence and church records evince that a new impulse was given
to it during the first six years of his pastorate ; new rules of eccle
siastical order and a new creed were formed ; new arrangements
were made for the care of the poor, for the music of the sanctuary,
etc. This was evidently the sunniest period of his ministerial life.
In a letter to Dr. Bellamy, dated January 8, 177J, he says :
" My lecture is well attended yet, and there are some instances of awaken
ing among us. Several hope they have been converted lately, in my con
gregation. So far as I can judge, my congregation in general are more and
more pleased. But many of the  are more and more
alarmed, as some doctrines which I preach are destructive of the religion most
in vogue among them. While you are all in quarrels, in Connecticut, and
Hopkintonians are cursed with bell, book, and candle, Divine Providence has
led me out of the noise, and provided a quiet retreat, where all is peace, and
I receive more kindness from the hands of my friends in one year than I
ever received in my life before."
On the 2d of April, 1773, we find him at the ordination of
Mr. Sanford, at Medway, and, on the 21st of that same month,
at the ordination of Mr. Emmons, at Franklin — two young men
over whom he was destined to exert a long-continued power. We
often catch glimpses of him walking with his guests, Dr. Bellamy
and Dr. West, to dine with President Stiles ; or else calling on
President Stiles's guests, Mr. Whittlesey and Dr. Dana, of New
Haven. Still, even at this most comfortable and most flattering
period of his ministry, we find him faithful as ever in purifying the
house of God. He sought not his own ease. He might have re
tained a pleasant degree of popularity, if he had aimed to please
men. But he was artless as a child. In a little more than two
months after he was installed, he became engaged in a process of
discipline with a mem,ber of his church. The entire process con
tinued until December 5, 1774. It resulted in the exclusion of the
delinquent member from the Lord's table. But that member was him
self a clergyman, and enlisted other ministers in his favor. He in
sisted that his own conduct and that of Mr. Hopkins, and of promi
nent individuals in the church, should be reviewed by a council. The
council unanimously decided that the offending clergyman ought to
have been excluded from fellowship, and that he had proved nothing
* May 31, 1770, his congregation consisted of a hundred and thirty-five families ; his
church,*of seventy members, and of these, less than twenty were males.
A

86 MEMOIR.
"in any measure" injurious to the "ministerial or Christian charac
ter " of Mr. Hopkins. It is easy to see, however, that such unflinching
perseverance, and such rigid faithfulness, as were manifested in this
discipUnary process, were fitted to exalt the moral feelings of a
church, rather than to make its pastor a favorite with the world.
He exposed himself to the charge of severity in his treatment of
offending brethren, and particularly in requiring of them a public
confession of their sin. It must be confessed that he abhorred
iniquity, and expressed his abhorrence with decision, and thus, even
if he had been identified with no peculiarities of doctrine, would
have given offence. But his severity came from his benevolence.
" My desire," he says, during the tedious process of this discipline,
" my desire of usefulness to this congregation is so great, that I am
willing to sacrifice every personal and family interest to this. In
this cause I think I am willing to give my life, and every thing dear
to me in this world."
Sect. XXIV. VISIT FROM MR. "WHITEFIELD.
It is pleasant to open the curtains of the past, and look upon our
Newport minister, as, four months after his installation, he was en
joying a visit from Mr. Whitefield. Hopkins had listened with de
light to Whitefield thirty years before, at New Haven ; and on the
3d of August, 1770, welcomed him as a guest at the old Newport
parsonage. At five o'clock, on the afternoon of August 4, White-
field " preached to a very crowded audience at Mr. Hopkins's meet
ing-house," from Ps. li. 11 : " Take not thy Holy Spirit from me."
A young Jewess heard him, " and greatly admired his preaching the
gospel of Christ." On the next morning, the Sabbath, he preached
for Dr. Stiles, from Job xxii. 21 : " Acquaint now thyself with him,
and be at peace." At six o'clock in the afternoon, he preached
from 1 Cor. iii. 11, in the fields adjoining Mr. Hopkins's meeting
house, to a thousand or fifteen hundred hearers. While preaching,
he stood on a table, which is still reverently preserved. On the 7th
of August, he preached at five o'clock, P. M., from Zech. ix. 12, at
Mr. Thurston's Baptist meeting-house, to an audience of thirteen hun
dred within the walls, and four or five hundred without. After preach
ing, he dined at Major Otis's, with Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Thurston,
and Dr. Stiles. At six o'clock on the next morning, he preached, from
Gen. i. 2, to eleven hundred hearers, in Mr. Hopkins's meeting-house.
After service, he dined with Messrs. Hopkins, Thurston, Stiles, and
Rusmeyer, the Moravian pastor in Newport, at the house of Mr
John Wanton, a Quaker.* In the afternoon, he left for Providence,
and before two months had passed away, he died in Newburyport
* The facts above stated are taken from Stiles's Literary Diary. The calculations,
perhaps extravagant with regard to the number of Whitefield's hearers, were the com
mon calculations of the time.

MEMOIR. 87
While Mr. Whitefield! was at Newport, he was invited, with Mr.
Hopkins and others, " to breakfast with a religious family, about five
miles from town. On their way, Mr. Whitefield said to Mr. H., ' I
am sorry that you New England ministers employ so much of your
time in controversy. [A remark often repeated since Whitefield's
time.] I wish you would devote your attention more immediately
to the conversion of sinners.' Mr. H. replied, ' I have not published
so large a pamphlet in the way of dispute as yours against Mr.
Wesley.' [A fit reply, to which Whitefield rejoined,] ' O, the doc
trine of Mr. Wesley was so contrary to the faith, and so dangerous,
that a regard for the cause of Christ compelled me to attempt its
refutation.' ' The same motive,' said Mr. H., ' may have influenced
others ; it certainly did me in what I have written.' [An apt retort.]
After a considerable pause, Mr. Whitefield said, ' Is it not surprising,
and much to be regretted, that good Mr. Edwards should deny the
witness of the Spirit ? ' Mr. H. replied, ' I did not know that he had.
What do you understand, sir, by the witness of the Spirit ? ' Mr.
W. paused in apparent study for a definition. Mr. H. said, ' Do
you mean by it an impression on the imagination, by some immediate
communication from the Spirit, that your sins are forgiven, and that
you are a child of God? ' ' No,' said Mr. W., 'that does not ex
press my opinion.' ' Do you then mean,' said Mr. H., ' an influence
of the Spirit of God, exciting such a love for God and Jesus Christ,
such clear views of their character, as that the subject of it knows
from experience and from Scripture, that he is a child of God and
an heir of salvation 1 ' ' This,' said Mr. W., ' more accords with
my views.' ' Yet this,' said Mr. H., ' is that witness of the Spirit for
which Mr. Edwards pleads, in distinction from the former, which he
represents as a species of enthusiasm.' " *
This conversation well illustrates the Socratic method of Mr.
Hopkins in conducting a dispute.

Sect. XXV. AFFECTIONATE INTERCOURSE WITH FRIENDS.
More is known of Mr. Hopkins's inner life during the first six
years of his residence at Newport, than during any other period of
his history. And the first impression which his correspondence
during this period makes upon the mind is, that he was a man not
only of glowing love to his Maker, but likewise of warm and deep
affection to his fellow-men. As he delighted in unreserved submis
sion of all his interests to God, so he chose to sacrifice himself for
the welfare of those who were made in the image of God. The
germ of his theology lay in his benevolent spirit. He was an em
bodied refutation of the saying so often quoted from Edmund Burke,
* Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 67, 68. See likewise Ferguson's Memoir; pp. 52, 53.

88 MEMOIR.
that there is no heart so hard as that of a thorough-bred metaphysi
cian. One reason why he loved to press certain articles of Calvin
ism to their logical sequences was, that he loved to contemplate
the happiness of his fellow-men as they were swallowed up in the
glory of their Father in heaven. True, he had so much of the
philosophical temperament that he expressed his feelings less easily
and readily than some do, and he often appeared, to men who did
not know him, impassible and stern; but that there was a heart
beating with strong and quick pulsations in his giant frame, is shown
in many of his letters, and especially in those which he wrote during
the meridian of his life. It must be acknowledged that some of his
correspondence is too affectionate to be spread out before the multi
tude, who choose to complain of him as dried up and ossified. It is
delightful to notice the style in which he often begins or closes his
epistles, and which betrays his unconscious struggling for words to
express his pent-up attachments. The following are specimens, from
his letters to various friends.*
"... I am, with great sincerity, high esteem, and constant, warm
affection and gratitude, your real friend and ready servant, S. H."
"... Suffer me to say, I prize the interest I have in your heart more
than the possession of the whole world ; and hope always to be, with growing
esteem and affection, your obliged friend, S. H."
"... My heart is affected with [this] fresh instance of your gen
erosity, benevolence, and friendship. I give you thanks ; and would have you
believe that my breast glows with a gratitude which words cannot express,
and that I prize the gift chiefly for the sake of the giver, and as a fresh token
of your love and friendship. Verily, you shall have your reward. I please
myself with a particular remembrance in your prayers, while absent on my
proposed journey ; and may assure you that I shall remember you, with other
dear Christian friends, so far as I remember myself, at least With the best
wishes I am capable of, and tender affection and gratitude, I am your very
unworthy, greatly obliged friend and servant, S. H."
"... As words only will not tell how much I esteem and prize you,
how dear you are to me as a Christian friend, — and all words are vain with
out a conduct answerable, — I think not to attempt to tell. May all my con
duct in the station in which God has set me, testify how much I esteem you,
and prize your friendship and prayers. O, how wonderful is God in his good
ness ! I have been affected with his goodness for many years, in giving me
such Christian friends ; which I valued as the greatest favor in life, and for
which I have daily blessed God, and have had ardent desires to continue in
this his goodness. That you should have such exercises and pleasure, in
giving thanks to God for his goodness to and by me, is greatly pleasing and
affecting. May all your pious, benevolent wishes and prayers be answered-!
Want of time forbids my adding, except that I am, with high esteem, and
constant, tender affection, your obliged friend, and willing servant, S. H."
" ... I thank you a thousand times for your last kind letter. I only
write a line now, to ease and give a little pleasure to my own heart by
expressing a little of my esteem and love, and the great obligations I feel
' The affection of Mr. Hopkins for his fellow-laborers, drew from them a like affec
tion. We are pleased in seeing that Dr. Samuel Spring becomes even poetical in
expressing his love to his instructor ; and not only commends his obituary notice of Mr.
Hopkins " to candidates for the ministry, to whom he imparted his advice and heart,"
but also " lo his attending angels, who guarded his bed when he fell asleep." See
M^orhnsetts Missionary Magazine, vol. i. p. 364.

MEMOIR. 89
myself under to you, and the sense I have of the privilege and happiness of
this dear friendship."
"... God's goodness to you does give me joy. For this I have
many times greatly rejoiced, and hope to rejoice in it forever."
"... If there is any thing right in my heart it often most sensibly
appears in its readiness to unite to the dear people of God, and desiring and
delighting in their love and friendship."
"... I thank you a thousand times for your kindness, and [for the]
freedom you use in writing. I pray you to continue it. My heart is dis
posed to love, esteem, and honor you, and I hope I shall forever be your
much obliged friend, S. H."
"... I rejoice in the exercises and enjoyments of my dear friend,
while your kind Shepherd is feeding you in green, soft pastures, and leading you
by still waters. I trust God is with me in some sense and degree at times, in
answer to your prayers ; which requires the most humble, thankful acknowl
edgments from me, while I confess and lament my awful barrenness. It has
often been observed, that God can feed his children by a raven. How disa
greeable is separation ! — not being allowed to meet my dear friends as
usual ! How happy they who know what true friendship is, and shall be
brought togetiier never to part again ! In hope of this happiness, I rest, yours,
in the bonds of the most sacred friendship, S. H."
"... Excuse the scantiness of this, and suffer me yet to place myself
among your most sincere, cordial, obliged, affectionate friends. I hope and
trust I shall be so, as long as I am S. Hopkins."
Can we wonder, that a man who had so strong attachments to
his fellow-men, delighted also in using the strongest expressions of
love to the great Ring ; in surrendering all interests to him, for
this world and the next ; in exalting him as a Sovereign, high
above all creatures 1 This is Hopkinsianism, as it appears in its
original defenders. We have heard much of " the Arctic regions
of Hopkinsianism," of its " hyperborean wildernesses." Such re
marks are forcible. But the men who originated the Hopkinsian
peculiarities were men of warm hearts as well as cool heads. The
doctrines and the spirit of their system are indicated in the following
statement of one who knew the private habits of the Newport divine,
and testifies that " he would sometimes come from his study, where
he had been intensely engaged in the contemplation of the law made
honorable and magnified by the atonement, and would walk across
his parlor floor for the space of two or three hours, pressing his
hands together in the most ravishing delight, and seemingly in such
an ecstasy as to be unable to contain himself." * Stern as he was in
his logical processes, he would often weep in the pulpit and at the
communion table, so as to make his utterance indistinct.

Sect. XXVI, EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR UPON THE
MINISTRY OF MR. HOPKINS.
The discouraging influence of the Canadian wars upon the minis
ter of Great Barrington has been noticed already. His heart was
* Statement of Mrs. Hopkins, as found in Ferguson's Memoir, p. 131.

90 MEMOIR.
far more saddened, however, by the effect of the revolutionary war
upon his pastorate in Rhode Island. He was in a patriotic and
resolute little colony. It claims to^have struck the first blow result
ing in the revolution. The British armed sloop Liberty was scut
tled and burned, in defiance of the crown, by the people of Newport,
as early as August, 1769. The armed schooner Gaspee was de
stroyed by them in June, 1772. The tea was not thrown overboard
in Boston harbor until 1773. Newport burned with a revolutionary
spirit, during all the disputes which preceded the general resort to
arms. Its harbor was early blockaded by the British. In Decem
ber, 1776, the British troops, numbering eight or ten thousand, com
manded by General Clinton and Lord Percy, took possession of the
town. There were many Tories in the place ; but the Whigs, as
many as were able, fled to the inland retreats. It was of no use
for the clergy to remain. Dr. Stiles left on the 13th of March, 1776.
Mr. Hopkins sent his family to Great Barrington two y;ears before ;
but, true to his instinct of holding on to the last, he himself clung to
Newport until the December of '76. Some of his congregation, who
remained in the town, were imprisoned by the enemy. His par
sonage was destroyed by the British troops. His meeting-house was
used as a barrack and hospital. Its pulpit and pews were demol
ished, its windows were broken or lost, and its bell was carried
away by the enemy evacuating the town. In tlie same manner did
the British treat every church edifice, except the Episcopal, in the
place. During the cold weather, they were quartered in the private
houses of the town, and did much to annoy those inhabitants who
had not escaped from the siege. They cut down for fuel the. groves
of forest-trees, and the rich fruit and ornamental trees which had
every where adorned the island. They injured or destroyed the
fences and wharves of the town. When they left it, in October,
1779, " the general appearance of the greater portion of the buildings
was truly distressing ; sashes and glass mostly gone, and windows
boarded up, with here and there a solitary square of glass cut into
the boarding, and often not more than one square to a window."*
About four hundred and eighty buildings had been destroyed. In
the spring of 1780, Mr. Hopkins returned to his desolate parish,
after an absence of more than three years. If, like Dr. Stiles, he
had never returned, he would not have been blamed by the world.
Many of his congregation had made their permanent homes else
where. The remainder were impoverished and dejected. The
town, also, having lost its wealth, a full half of its population, and
nearly all its eminent capitalists, lost therewith its public spirit. All
the religious societies received a severe shock, under which some of
* Memoir of Rhode Island, by Henry Bull, Esq., in Ihe Rhode Island Republican,
No. 1460.

MEMOIR. 91
them, as the Sabbatarian and the Jewish, languished until they died.
Nor was poverty the sole evil. After the British had retained
possession of the place nearly three years, the French army were
stationed there about nine months. The French officers instilled
their infidel principles into some of the best minds of Newport, and
thus left an influence which Mr. Hopkins toiled through his remain
ing life to counteract. Thus at Newport, as well as at Great Bar
rington, did this patriotic minister suffer with and for his country.
After the revolution, he was obliged to accommodate himself to a
new style of character and of manners. The old, rich families had
been scattered, never to reassemble at Newport, or else had been
denuded of their possessions, or else had been supplanted by the
young republicans whom our independence had called up from
obscure life. At the age of sixty, he was not supple enough to com
ply with those peculiar democratic changes which the revolution
introduced into the Narraganset country. He lived through a part
of two singularly different ages there. He could have labored more
effectively had there been no such transition ; for he was less flexible
than strong.
When this indefatigable man returned to his parish, he conducted
public worship at first in a private house, afterward in the Sabbata
rian meeting-house. But, complying with a vote of his church, he
wrote, in 1782, a pathetic appeal to his Christian friends, " in Boston
and Connecticut States," for aid in repairing his own church edifice,
and also sustaining in it the ordinances of the gospel. Dr. Spring's
church at Newburyport responded to this appeal, in a donation of
eighteen pounds ; the Federal Street Church, of the same place, sent
him twenty-eight pounds ; and the church of Professor Peres Fobes,
of Raynham, sent a pulpit. Still the poor man received no regular
salary for himself. During the first year after his return, his society
did not even dare to take up a contribution for his support. At the
close of that year, he was invited and urged to settle in the ministry
at Middleboro', Massachusetts, where he could be well remuner
ated. His affectionate people, however, entreated him to remain,
and promised to make sacrifices for his sustenance. He complied
with their wishes ; but, at the end of three and a half years from his
return, when the expenses of living were unusually high,* he wrote
to his church a pitiful letter, informing them that he had been, during
their past discouragements, " loath to complain and make known [his]
wants to the congregation ; " and had been compelled to use for his
* In his letters written during this period, Mr. Hopkins often describes tbe suffering
of the Newport poor, especially for fuel. The British had made such havoc with the
forests, that, during the winter after their departure, wood was sold for twenty dollars
per cord. Corn was sold at four dollars per bushel. See Memoir of Rhode Island, by
Henry Bull, Esq., in the Rhode Island Republican, No. 1460. This, however, was an
uncommonly severe winter, and expenses were subsequently reduced.

92 MEMOIR.
" house-rent and a suit of clothes," and for the support of his family,
a portion of the ninety-eight pounds which had been sent by Chris
tians in other places for the support of the gospel at Newport. His
church, burdened with the care of its poor laymen, justified its pastor
in this appropriation, which he had been compelled to make for the
sustenance of his household ; yet how humiliating that such a man
should be reduced to such penury ! *
It is well known that Mr. Hopkins has been blamed for not raising
up his church from this depressed condition, for not rolling back the
tide of infidelity which had set in from France, for not rousing the
energies of his dispirited people. He has been thus blamed by the
very men who believe that God is a Sovereign in the bestowment of
spiritual, as well as temporal blessings. All preachers have not the
same gifts ; and although we may suppose that a Bellamy would
have attracted large audiences in Newport, after the revolution, we
cannot think it strange, that a student, like Hopkins, between the
age of sixty-three and that of eighty-three, failed to restore his con
gregation to its former prosperity. They remained poor. He lived
and died poor. Let us now consider his " disinterested benevolence."
Sect. XXVII. CONDUCT IN THE MIDST OF POVERTY.
He was an optimist. His theology made him such. " He was
an illustration," says Dr. Channing, " of the power of our spiritual
nature. In narrow circumstances, with few outward indulgences, in
great seclusion, he yet found much to enjoy. He lived in a world
of thought, above all earthly passions." — " It has been my privilege
to meet with other examples of the same character ; with men who,
amidst privation, under bodily infirmity, and with none of those
materials of enjoyment which the multitude are striving for, live in
a world of thought, and enjoy what affluence never dreamed of, —
men having nothing and yet possessing all things ; and the sight of
such has done me more good, has spoken more to my head and
heart, than many sermons and volumes. I have learned the suffi
ciency of the mind to itself, its independence on outward things." t
There is something truly sublime in the record which Hopkins has
left of his scholarly and Christian independence, after his church
had been enfeebled by the war. His words are :
"I then concluded to stay at Newport, and my wife and one daughter came
to live with me, as the rest of my children were otherwise settled. There was
* We feel a humiliation of the same kind, when Hopkins describes to us the pecu
niary prospects of President Edwards, and says : " His correspondents and other
friends in Scotland, hearing of his dismission, and fearing it might be the means of
bringing him into worldly straits, generously contributed a handsome sum, and sent it
over to him."
i Works, vol. iv. pp. 352, 353.

MEMOIR. 93
no particular sum mentioned which they [i. e., my society] would give ; and
thus I have lived ever since, receiving what has been given by a weekly con
tribution and donations which particular friends have made. I have taken
care not to ron in debt for the necessaries of life, though frequently if a dol
lar extraordinary had been called for, it would have rendered me a bankrupt.
I have endeavored to live as cheap and low as I could, and be comfortable,
and answer the ends of living in my station and business ; and have experi
enced, through a course of years, remarkable interpositions in divine Provi
dence, by which I have been supplied with the necessaries of life in ways
unthought of; and have been preserved from suffering, for want of food or
raiment, whether I received less or more.* When more than common has
been given, calls for living have been equally greater ; and when I have re
ceived but little, there has been a less demand for necessaries to support the
family, and less has been as sufficient as more. This has made me often
think of what is said of the children of Israel, with respect to the manna on
which they lived : ' He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that
gatliered little had no lack.' I have been saved from anxiety about living,
and have had a thousand times less care and trouble about the world, than if
I had [enjoyed] a great abundance, and been in high life, attended with ser
vants, equipage, much company, entertainments, and high living. Being thus
freed from worldly care and anxiety, endeavoring to cast my care on God
with respect to living, not seeking great things in the world, and being in a,
groat measure unconnected with the great and rich in the world, and gay, un
profitable company, I have had more time to attend to my studies, in which,
and in a retired life, I have taken the greatest pleasure ; and particularly
have had leisure to write my ' System of Divinity,' which I hope will not prove
useless." f
There was, indeed, a close connection between his " System of
Divinity" and his freedom from avarice.; He was not tempted to
shape his books for the market. No divine has been more free
from even a latent wish to trim his words, so as to suit or to get
purchasers. He felt no inducement to discard a plain term, or to
adopt a vague term, to search out ambiguous phrases on critical ques
tions, to favor a popular, when he did not regard it a true, doctrine,
for the sake of gaining that filthy lucre which, in the theological
world, is the root of much evil. This fact gives an immense value
to his writings. They are the writings of a spiritual and honest
man. Their authority would be lessened, if they had come from a
soul blunted and debased by a passion for wealth; if they had been
published, not to be the fair exponents of his inward faith, but to be
sold, — as Voltaire confessed that he himself " wrote history, not to
be believed, but to be read."
Equally noble does this freedom from avarice appear in Hopkins,
as a pastor. He was frequently receiving offers of eligible stations
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but he chose to suffer affliction
for the good of his people. A few weeks after his return to New
port, during the revolutionary war, he writes to Dr. West :
* Mr. Ferguson says that Hopkins was never inclined to inquire into the " sincerity
of those who solicited charity. It was enough for him, if they were willing to beg; and
in his own deep poverty, he thanked God that he was never solicited when he had
nothing to give awa}-." — MS. letter.
t Sketches, pp. 79-81.

94 MEMOIR.
" I am fallen into new trials by coming here. My people are poor, and
have but little courage. The other inhabitants of the town, almost to a man,
are enemies to our prosperity. The leading people of Dr. Stiles's congrega
tion have heartily wished I might never return again, and hoped rny congre
gation would join with them in settling a man whom they should like. -.They
are resolved not to hear me, as they dislike my doctrines in general, and es
pecially my opposition to the slavery of Africans. They are determined to
have preaching among themselves, and have applied to Dr. Stiles to send
them a candidate. My people have not courage enough to attempt to fix our
meeting-house, so as to be fit for us to meet there. We hold public worship
in the Seventh-day [Baptist] meeting-house, which, though small, is big enough
for us, in our diminished state. But what is worst of all, there is a general
stupidity and carelessness about the important things of religion, and the minds
of the people are more filled with the cares of this world, than they were
when I left them ! In a word, we are as a valley of dry bones, very dry, and
God only knows whether we shall live."
Still he continued, without faltering, to preach the same unpopu
lar doctrines, in defiance of penury. After a brief interval, he had
Dr. Stiles's congregation as his hearers. Unable to sustain a pastor
for themselves, they continued to worship with the First Church*
until. 1786, when they invited Dr. Patten to become their minister.
But Dr. Patten was unwilling to be an instrument of reducing the
audience and the pecuniary support of Dr. Hopkins, and there
fore " waited on Dr. Hopkins, and informed him of the call, and
assured him, if by accepting it he should injure his interest, or hurt
his feelings, he would refuse. He replied, that he wished him to
accept ; that it was best for the two societies to be separate." t How
easy it wotdd have been for Hopkins to deprive the Second Church
of their expected pastor, and thus continue them as subscribers to
his maintenance ! But he was disinterested. And it is here deserv
ing of remark, that he soon attached Dr. Patten to himself, as a son
to a father ; and never were two colleagues better united than they,
in belief as well as affection.
It is a pleasing fact, that nearly all the letters of Hopkins to
his friends are either theological, or else contain some benevolent
proposal for the relief of the poor or distressed. About a half cen
tury after his death, he was thus mentioned by one who, when a
child, was acquainted with his manner of life :
" The doctrine of disinterested benevolence, which was the deep-lying
principle of his system, had, in his life and his character, constant and practi
cal illustration. His society was small, and its means not large. Well do I
remember the simple, unpainted parsonage, and the testimony every body bore
to the daily and self-sacrificing charity of the pastor. He accepted literally
the saying of St. Paul, that he was ready to be [accursed] for the glory of
God : how willing was he to ' sell all, and to give to the poor ! ' It was
the custom then to go to ' look on the face of the dead ; ' and though very
young, I went with others to see this patriarch saint in his coffin. The mem
ory of him then, and of his exhaustless love, kindness, and charity, is fresher
* See p. 82 of this Memoir. t Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 91, 92.

MEMOIR. 95
with me than are any of the peculiar doctrinal views which, in his great in
firmity and age, he gave to us from the pulpit." *

Sect. XXVIII. THREE YEARS' ABSENCE FROM NEWPORT.
From December, 1776, until the spring of 1781, Mr. Hopkins
labored in Massachusetts and Connecticut. We have already seen t
that a large donation was sent to his church from Newburyport, in
1783. This was, in part, an acknowledgment of his services there
during the summer of 1777. On the 19th of June in that year, he
writes to Dr. West :
" I have engaged to preach here to the congregation [now Federal Street]
to which Mr. Parsons used to minister, for some time, perhaps all summer.
It is, I suppose, the largest congregation on the continent. A great door
and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. I have
concluded I have a call to stay here for the present, as there seems to be a
prospect of doing good among a people who are not so much prejudiced
against tlie truth as many are, and yet most of them are much in the dark. I
hope there is a considerable number of good Christians here. I am disposed
to make the prayer of the Psalmist, [cxix. 79,] ' Let those that fear thee turn
unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.' If I may be useful to
these, by expounding unto them the way of God more perfectly, I shall be
happy ; and who knows but the heart of some poor sinner may be opened by
Christ to attend to the truths that shall be spoken ? As I have now, in some
degree, the charge of such a multitude of souls, it has brought a new burden
upon me. Who is sufficient for these things ? The affair of baptism seems
to be settled between Mr. Spring and the people, who have given him a call,
they having nothing wherewith to oppose him. But another peril yet more
dreadful, if possible, is come into view, viz., unregenerate doings. Mr. Spring
is determined to preach on the subject next Sabbath, and open his mind fully.
It is most probable they will not set up against him in this, and that he will
settle among them, and I hope will be greatly useful in this town." J
The hope which Mr. Hopkins indulged, of being useful to some
one of his new charge, was gratified ; and it is curious to trace the
lines through which his influence upon a single hearer was dissem
inated, at length, over multitudes whom he never knew. That
hearer was Miss Abigail Goodhue, then a young lady of twenty-one
years. Her biographer says of her :
" She had a mind to appreciate, and a heart to receive instructions like
those communicated by Mr. Hopkins — clear, deep, comprehensive, and
* A Lecture delivered before the Mechanics Apprentices' Library Association, Jan
uary, 1845, by Walter Channing, M. D., Boston, Massachusetts.
t See p. 91.
X Both Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Spring encountered much opposition in the town during
this summer. Rev. S. P. Williams says, in his Historical Account of the Federal
Street Church, that " although some few of his [Mr. H.'s] tenets were peculiarly odious
to the church and congregation, he was heard with candor during the whole period of
his engagement." The subject of baptism was one of the main causes of dissension ;
and on that subject the majority of evangelical Christians would now coincide with Mr.
Hopkins, rather than with his opponents in that controversy.

96 MEMOIR.
strongly doctrinal. She heard him with profound attention, and was greatly
affected with his preaching. Though a stranger, he soon marked the interest
with which she listened to the word of life, and concluded that she was either
a young disciple or a serious inquirer on the subject of religion. He sought
an acquaintance with her.
" The first interview is thus described [by Miss Goodhue] : ' My mind was
solemn, but not quite free from perturbation, which being noticed by Mr. Hop
kins, he conversed for a few moments in a free and condescending manner,
when my fears left me. He was now ready to introduce the subject he had
so much at heart He asked me how the truths I had heard him deliver
affected my mind ; whether I had any hope that I had experienced a renova
tion of heart ; how long I had been serious ; whether I did not think it my
duty to unite with some church. In person he was large, in mien dignified,
and his open, manly countenance beamed sweet benignity and benevolence.
I loved him as a father, and revered him as a messenger of God, sent to com
fort my desponding heart. I wanted to conceal nothing of my spiritual trials ;
and he attended to all my perplexities with paternal interest' This interview,
and others, were remembered by her with gratitude during life. Speaking
of a pastoral visit made by Mr. Hopkins at the house of Mrs. Coombs, she
says, ' His conversation was condescending and kind, and before he left us
he prayed in a feeling and solemn manner. Indeed, he seemed to me more
like his divine Master than any one I had ever seen.' " *
After Mr. Hopkins left Newburyport, he wrote a letter to Miss Goodhue, and
enclosed in it one from his daughter. Miss Goodhue thus speaks of the inci
dent : " I was affected with this token of fatherly affection, and soon returned
an answer. Is not this good man's finding a poor, disconsolate orphan, as
I was, in a large assembly, and pouring cordials into my fainting heart, a
token for good ? Trust in God, O my soul, for I shall yet praise him."
" How long the correspondence by letter continued," remarks her biogra
pher, " I do not know ; but the Christian friendship between this servant of
Christ and ' a desolate orphan ' continued so long as he lived, and, doubtless,
is since perpetuated in a better world. She confided in his friendship and
judgment, drank in his instructions, and followed his counsels. And certainly
they had a decided influence upon her future life. In accordance with the
advice of Mr. Hopkins, she attended meeting in the North Church, where
Rev. Samuel Spring had been settled." f
After listening to the discourses of Dr. Spring about thirteen years, Miss
Goodhue spent a winter in the family of his brother-in-law, Dr. Emmons, and
there was affianced to Rev. K. Bayley, then a theological student of Dr. Em
mons. After her marriage to him, she lived nearly twenty-seven years at
Newcastle, Maine, where she adorned tlie vocation of a pastor's wife. She
was particularly useful to the young men in Newcastle Academy, more than
a hundred of whom boarded, at different times, in her house, and some of
whom became interested there in religious truth. She was a friend and cor
respondent of some distinguished literati. She was among the first to labor
for the establishment of a theological school at Bangor. Her husband " had
as much agency, perhaps, as any other man, in the founding of our seminary,"
says one of its most intelligent friends. And Mrs. Bayley's biographer re
cords of her and of two other ladies with whom she cooperated : " But for
their prayers and influence, perhaps the theological institution of Bangor
might not have been established." t In 1814, she writes : " Blessed be God
for honoring me, unworthy as I am, with giving the first mite to the treasurer
for [Bangor seminary.] This was the freewill offering of a number of fe
males in different places, whose hearts the Lord has made to feel for their
* See Memoir of Mrs. Abigail Bayley, [formerly Miss Goodhue,] a Pilgrim of Ninety
Years, by Daniel O. Morton, A. M.. author of » The Life of Rev. Levi Parsons," pp.
32-34. t lb. pp. 34, 35. | lb. p. 145.

MEMOIR. 97
fellow immortals. The Lord bless them individually with his special love.
The little sum was one hundred and sixty dollars. The Lord make it to in
crease a thousand fold. Blessed be God for making me his almoner." *
" Mrs. Bayley persevered," adds her biographer, " in this labor of love, tdl
she had collected and paid to the treasurer of the Maine Theological Semi
nary, nearly two thousand dollars."
It is an interesting fact, that four others who were among the first
in projecting that school of the prophets were Hopkinsian divines.
Still more interesting is the fact, that all the professors who have
taught systematic theology there, have been recognized as Hopkin-
sians. Is it too much to say, that the Rhode Island pastor, when
he spent the summer of 1777 in Newburyport, was exerting an in
fluence, real, though indirect and remote, on the seminary of Maine 7
He made deep and lasting impressions, when he made any ; and
when we remember the wonderful modes in which moral influence
is perpetuated and diffused, is it visionary to surmise, that he also
gave some impulses, then and there, which affected the seminary at
Andover 1 He aided the most vigorous projector of that institu
tion, Dr. Spring, in his incipient troubles at Newburyport. He
maintained, until his dying day, a regular correspondence with friends
in that goodly place. He made an impression on the community to
which Moses Brown and William Bartlet belonged, and these two
men were munificent founders of the seminary. They revered his
memory, t and their interest in the Andover school resulted from
impressions like those, if not precisely and in any degree from those,
which he made upon themselves and their townsmen.
The winter of 1777-8 he passed in Canterbury, Connecticut,
" preaching to a destitute congregation there." During the spring
and summer of 1778, he supplied the pulpit of his deceased class
mate, Rev. Dr. Noah Wells, at Stamford, Connecticut. From the
autumn of 1778 to the spring of 1780, he preached in North Stam
ford, which was then a missionary field. He endeavored to culti
vate it by a system of pastoral visitation. But he found here, as
elsewhere, that the people were afraid of him. " On one occasion he
called on a family, and as soon as he was descried by the younger
members of it, they all fled. After sitting some time, he told the
father that he wished to offer prayer, and to have the youth and
children called into the room. After much lingering and many ex-.
pressions of timidity, on his part as well as on theirs, he began to
pray ; and he manifested so much pathos and tenderness, that all
the members of the family were affected to tears, and one or two of

* Pp. 162, 163.
t When Hopkins preached at Newburyport, Mr. Brown was in his thirty-fifth year,
and Mr Bartlet in his thirtieth. The last-named gentleman often expressed to the
writer his profound regard for Hopkins, Spring, and Emmons. He contributed largely
to the circulation of Hopkins's works.

98 MEMOIR.
them became, from that interview, personally interested in religion." *
From his correspondence we learn, that he adopted measures for or
ganizing a* church in this parish. One was formed soon after he
removed to his Newport home.

Sect. XXIX. CHRISTIAN EDIFICATION: THE OSBORN SOCIETY.
Although the church of Mr. Hopkins was reduced by the revolu
tionary war, it still comprised many eminent Christians. His min
isterial success was in edifying saints, more than in converting
sinners. He may have been a means of as much good in deep
ening the piety, as other ministers are in augmenting the number, of
the converted. " Men are to be weighed, not counted ; " and he is
a useful man, who so cultivates the mind and heart of others, as to
make them models to surviving generations. The world have not
known how joyful Mr. Hopkins was, in perceiving that the faith of
the faithful was strengthened, and the wisdom of the wise was in
creased, by his instructive sermons. "I know," he writes to one
who had been reanimated by him in the divine life, — "I know I am
utterly unworthy of your esteem and friendship, and yet I take a
peculiar pleasure in it. Your expressions of the benefit you have
received by my means, are peculiarly affecting, and give me inex
pressible pleasure, while they excite thanksgiving to God, and recall
to my mind the strong cries and tears with which I sought God
when coming to Newport, that I might be a means of good to his
dear children here, and feed his sheep and lambs. O, what obliga
tions am I under to God ! What encouragement to wait on him,
and ask the greatest things ! He will outdo all our desires."
This modest man, in despite of all his charges against himself,
went even so far as to confess, once at least, in public, that he had
done some good ; for he says in his Autobiography :
" But few persons have appeared to have been awakened and converted by
means of my preaching. The most apparent good it has ever been the means
of doing, is the instruction, quickening, and comfort of Christians. Many of
this character, and especially those who have appeared most eminent in dis
cerning and Christian experience, have highly approved of my preaching,
which has been a great support and encouragement to me ; though I have
been often disposed to attribute their satisfaction and approbation to their high
relish for the truth, however poor and defective the delivery and exhibition of
it may be." f
Among those who received especial benefit from the discourses of
this humble preacher, were several pious women, who gave char
acter to the religious society of Newport. He had learned of their
excellence before he ever visited Newport. He had been rather
., * MS. Letter of ReV. H. Fuller. t Pp. 88, 89.

MEMOIR. 99
afraid of them,, as he was apt to be of famous women. But he
gave up his fears, as soon as he saw their worth and usefulness.
We have already seen that President Stiles alludes to a certain
"sorority," who favored Mr. Hopkins's settlement. This was a
religious association, formed by some females of the First Church,
as early as 1741. The design of the association was, to promote
1 tbe spiritual good of its members, and the general interests of
religion, by reading, conversation, alms, and especially by prayer.
Its meetings were held every Wednesday or Thursday afternoon.
It had a regular presiding officer, and a constitution embracing
many excellent moral rules. In 1772, it contained more than sixty
members. Three years before Dr. Hopkins's decease, Mr. Wil
liam Gyles gave " the south end of his house " to be the property
of the society, so long as it should continue to meet " for praying."
In 1806, it was incorporated by the General Assembly of Rhode
Island, with the name of the Religious Female Society. This name
was changed by the same Assembly, in 1826, to the " Osborn So
ciety." The association still survives in vigor, after an existence of
a hundred and ten years, and still holds its regular meetings in the
Osborn house. The General Assembly of Rhode Island is, perhaps,
the first legislature in our land, which gave corporate powers to a
distinctive " Praying Circle."
The society was formed under the auspices of Mrs. Sarah Osborn,
a niece of the celebrated Dr. John Guyse, of London. She re
mained the first president of the society more than fifty years, and
had its meetings at her home. She was a remarkable woman.
Rev. Mr. Prince, of Boston, seeing one of her letters to a female
friend, in 1755, was so much interested in it, that he secured its
publication in a pamphlet of fourteen or fifteen octavo pages. It
passed through three editions. Long before Mr. Hopkins went to
Newport, Madam Osborn had been esteemed as the spiritual ad
viser of the church. She retained the delicacy of a woman, and
yet was consulted by whites and blacks, as if she had been a min
ister. When she had become almost blind, her conversations on
theology were instructive to her pastor, and her Christian example
was his great joy. Every Saturday afternoon, as long as her de
crepitude allowed the privilege, he took tea at her house. She, as
well as himself, had been wont to spend the last day of the week as
the " preparation day " for the Sabbath ; and at the close of her
" fasting and prayer," she gave the results of her solitary medita
tion to him who was on the morrow to address the people of God.
At her death, she left more than fifty volumes in manuscript, the
smallest of them containing nearly a hundred pages, the larger part
of them containing more than two hundred ; and some, more than
three hundred. Dr. Hopkins spent a year in perusing this mass of

100 MEMOIR.
manuscript, and compiling the Biography of its author. This Bi
ography has been useful to multitudes.
In the same house with Madam Osborn lived Miss Susanna An
thony, her most intimate friend for more than fifty years. Miss An
thony, although inferior to Madam Osborn in personal attractions,
was equally eminent for her spirit of devotion. Dr. Patten was
informed by a member of the Praying Circle, that she " would con
tinue an hour in prayer, without any hesitance or repetition ; with
out any thing redundant or defective ; but [all was] appropriate to
what appeared to be the objects of prayer, so that they who united
with her were sensible of no weariness, nor even ..conscious of the
lapse of time." Mr. Hopkins learned from the same source, that
" it was impossible to convey an adequate idea of the copiousness,
the pertinence, and the spirit of her prayer." * She, too, was an
uncommon theologian, and held a protracted correspondence with
Dr. Levi Hart, of Preston, Connecticut, Dr. West, of Stockbridge,
and other divines. Her Memoir was published by Dr. Hopkins,
soon after her death, and an abridged edition of it has been since
published by Dr. Pond, of Bangor Theological Seminary. A col
lection of her letters was also prepared for the press, by the widow
of Dr. Hopkins.
Of Madam Osborn and Miss Anthony, their biographer says :
" They were, in my judgment, the most eminent female Christians with
whom I have had any acquaintance. The public, and even Christians, who
never were acquainted with them, will not, by reading what is published of
them, have a full and adequate idea of their -excellent character. I think it a
great happiness to have been intimately acquainted with them for near thirty
years, and to enjoy their friendship and prayers. I hope that what is published
of them will be of great benefit to the church, not only in this generation, but
in ages yet to come." f
There were nine or ten other Christians, of rare excellence, in
that Praying Circle ; as Miss Mary, sister of Susanna Anthony ;
Mrs. Mason, Miss Elizabeth West, and Miss Mary Donelly. Of the
person last named, a good judge of character has said, that " she
continued until her death," which occurred many years after that of
Dr. Hopkins, " to exert an influence over the church, which greatly
abridged the labors, while it eminently promoted the usefulness, of
•ber pastor. Assembling the sisterhood around her, she exerted a
controlling influence over them ; it was an influence, too, of the most
lovely kind, — an influence which brought them around her by the
ties of affection, which entered into all their sympathies, and whicli
appeared to be solely exercised in doing good. Might I be allowed
to bear the same testimony to her memory, which Dr. Hopkins bore
* Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 63, 64. See also Ferguson's Life of Hopkins, pp.
92,93. •
t Sketches of Hopkins's Life,"p. 105.

MEMOIR. 101
to the memory of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Osborn, I would say, she
was in person, manners, and character, the most interesting and ex
cellent female Christian with whom I have ever been acquainted." *
When we catch a glimpse of Hopkins, walking through one of
the green and narrow lanes of Newport, to meet these pious women
at their hour of prayer, and when we afterward think of him as the
champion of high Calvinism, as putting his adversaries to the rout
by his stubborn argument, we must feel that he had a great char
acter, and combined in an unusual degree the stout antagonist with
the meek Christian.

Sect. XXX. HOPKINS MISREPRESENTED.
" He was thought by some, who had but a slight acquaintance with him, to
be stiff and unsociable ; but this was owing to want of better acquaintance."
How groundless the imputation was, " his known and tried friends best knew.
They always found him easy of access, kind, and condescending ; and though
not talkative, yet affable and free. Among such, whose candor and friendship
he had experienced, he threw off the reserve, and was most open and free ;
quite patient of contradiction, while the utmost opposition was made to his
sentiments that could be by any plausible arguments or objections. And, in
deed, he was, on all occasions, quite sociable and free with all who had any
special business with him."
So writes Hopkins concerning his theological instructor ; t and
had he himself not been equally uncommunicative to strangers who
had no " special business with him," he would have avoided some of
the misrepresentations which he actually suffered.
He may be defended against the charge of being " stiff and un
sociable," just as he defended his theological teacher. Although the
home of Dr. Channing had been for twenty years within a few feet
of Hopkins's parsonage, although for a short time he had sat under
Hopkins's ministry and attended his catechetical exercises, yet
Channing says : v
" It was not until I had left college that I became acquainted with him, and
a short intercourse dispelled all the fear and reserve which my early impres
sions had left in my mind. His conversation was free, rather abrupt, blunt,
and often facetious. We saw, at once, that he had lived in his study, and
borrowed very Httle from the manners of the fashionable world. He took
pleasure in talking with me of his past life, his controversies, &c, and I regret
that I took no notes, and did not, by questions, acquaint myself with the prog
ress of his mind." J
A Baptist clergyman of some celebrity writes :
" When I commenced my residence in Newport, I determined not to go
near Dr. Hopkins ; for, like many others, I had formed from his writings an
unfavorable opinion of his character. But I was obliged, by some peculiar
* Ferguson's Memoir of Hopkins, pp, 94, 95.
t Memoir of Edwards, Edinburgh edition, pp. 48, 49.
X Letter of February 14, 1340.
»*

102 MEMOIR.
circumstances, to alter my determination; and before I had been in his pres
ence one half hour, I was completely disarmed of my aversion, and won over
to the love of him. And now, in my old age, I say that if I have ever been
instrumental in doing any thing for the Redeemer, I owe it all, under God, to
my intercourse, which has been long and frequent, with Dr. Hopkins." #
There were many persons, however, who did not penetrate
through the seeming reserve of Mr. Hopkins's manners, and who,
therefore, never appreciated his real worth. He had an original
character, and this is always misunderstood. The following inci
dents, which occurred at Newport, will illustrate the general style in
which his person, as well as his theology, has been treated. It is
the less surprising that he should have been thus misrepresented in
the State of Rhode Island ; for that worthy State was, in the days
of Hopkins, more famous for its enchanting scenery, and for the gen
erous enterprise of its citizens, than for their attachment to the strict
principles of Calvinism, or to any kind of metaphysics in theology.
" A gentleman of respectability said to the writer [Dr. Patten], Have you
hoard the report of the unfeeling, the almost inhuman conduct of the old
Doctor ? I replied, I had not ; what is it ? He answered, I do not know
that it is true, but it is reported that there was a child of a widow near his
house, and whom he might have occasionally seen in liis house of worship.
This child was taken sick, and on hearing of it he went to see her. He found
her mother in the sitting-room, and inquired if her daughter was sick. On
being informed that she was, he said he wished to see her. The mother,
from his known severity, feared the interview might be injurious to her daugh
ter, and wishing to evade his design, told him that her daughter was on the
bed, and attempting to compose herself to sleep, and hoped he would call
some other time. But he observed, that he was an old man, and it was diffi
cult for him to leave home, and that he must see her then. On this, arising,
as though he would find her, he inquired, ' Where is she ? ' Her distressed
mother, under this constraint, requested him to follow her, and introduced him
to the sick chamber. The child, on seeing him, manifested alarm. He ap
proached her bed, and said, ' You are sick, child.' ' Yes, sir, I have a violent
headache.' ' But do you not know that you may die by this sickness ? ' ' Yes,
sir, I know I may.' ' And do you know that if you do not repent, and be
lieve in Christ before you die, you will go to hell?' The alarm, it was sup
posed, increased the disease of the child, and in three or four days she
expired. This was the report. Wishing to know the circumstances of the
case, I called on Dr. H. in his study, and tlie following conversation en
sued : ' I have heard, sir, there was a funeral in your neighborhood a few
days since.' ' Yes, a child was buried last week from a house not far distant'
'Had you any acquaintance with the child?' 'Yes, she lived in my family
some time, and had returned home but a few days before she was taken sick.'
' Did you know of her sickness before her death ?' ' Yes ; when her case
seemed fixed, her mother came with a request from the child that I would go
and see her, and I went immediately.' 'In what state did you find her?'
' Her fever was high ; but, to my surprise, she appeared acquainted with her
heart, and the way of salvation, and was calm and resigned ; and I think
there is reason to hope she was a true Christian.' ' But was there nothing
unpleasant occurred during your intercourse with her?' 'Not any thing;
why do you ask ? ' I then related the rumor. He appeared struck with unu
sual surprise and grief, and exclaimed, 'O, the blindness and wickedness of
* Ferguson's Memoir, p. 134.

MEMOIR. 103
some men ! ' The only ground of tlie slanderous report was, that a child in
tlie neighborhood had a fever, that Dr. H. visited her, and in a few days
she died.
" Another instance : the writer was in the house of a woman who belonged
to a different denomination of Christians ; but being situated near Dr. H.'s
meeting-house, I inquired if she had ever gone into it to hear him preach.
She replied, ' No, I hope not ; a man of such doctrine I never wish to hear.'
' What doctrine ? ' I inquired. ' Why, that tliere are infants in hell not a span
long.' 'You never heard him preach it; did you ever find it in any of his
writings ? ' ' No, I never read any of his writings, nor would allow one of his
books to be in my house.' I then assured the woman that she had been mis
informed. What she stated had been the common calumny, for several cen
turies, against the ministers of the gospel who had preached the natural
depravity of mankind. The doctrine of Dr. H. was nothing more. So far
from believing that 'there were infants in hell not a span long,' I had heard
him repeatedly declare that he did not believe there was one infant in hell.
Though it was difficult for her to resign her prejudice, yet, confiding in my
veracity, she did not persist in vindicating it." *
One cold morning-, Dr. Hopkins went out early, " to purchase a piece of
flannel, and called at the first store in his way, which was kept by a young
gentleman of undoubted integrity, and of a very respectable family. He
measured tlie flannel and threw it on the counter, and while he was making
change of the money for pay, Dr. H. cursorily said, ' Is that a yard ? ' The
young man resentfully replied, ' Yes, sir ; I am not such a rogue as to keep a
short yardstick.' Dr. H. added, ' I had not the least suspicion of it' But think
ing he placed too much confidence in himself, he rejoined, ' Though you are
now honest, you are not out of danger of falling, for many young men who
were as confident in their integrity as yourself, have committed greater crimes,
and been brought to the gallows.' The next day, his deacon called on him,
and informed him that a rumor was circulating in town which excited great
indignation against him, and which he knew could not be true, but requested
that he would state the facts, that he might refute it' Dr. H. inquired, ' What
rumor ? ' The deacon replied, ' It is said that you went into the store of such
a young gentleman, and requested a yard of flannel ; that when he had meas
ured it for you, you denied it to be just measure, charged him with keeping
a false yardstick, and said he was in danger of coming to the gallows.' On
this, the doctor observed, ' I believe, deacon, I had better give you no infor
mation on the subject ; for there was no one in the store with the young gen
tleman and myself, and there is no witness of the transaction. The rumor
must have originated with the young gentleman ; and were I to say it is false,
it would be charging him with lying, which would be a real censure on his
character that I am not able to prove. If true, he might, to vindicate his own
representation, say [that] the old man is ashamed of what he said, and, to save
his reputation, prevaricates. Thus, bad as the affair now is, it would be worse.
What is your opinion, deacon ? ' The deacon replied, ' I think with you, sir,
that the subject had better be left to take its own course.' " f
-* Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 121-125.
I Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 117-119. This incident illustrates the consistency of
Hopkins's conduct wilh his principles. It is in striking coincidence with his remarks on
the " Discipline of the Church," in his System, vol. ii. pp. 171-182, particularly p. 179.
All accounts agree that Hopkins described himself when he speaks of President Ed
wards, as " taking great care never to use [his tongue] in any way that might prove
mischievous to any? never lo sin with his tongue, nor to improve [?] it in idle, trivial,
and impertinent talk, which generally makes up a great part of the conversalion of
those who are full of words in all companies. He was sensible that in the multitude
of words there wanteth not sin, and therefore refrained his lips, and habituated himself
lo think before he spoke, and to purpose some good end even in all his words ; which
led him to be, above many others, agreeable to St. James's advice, slow to speak."
Memoir of Edwards, Edinburgh edition, p. 48.

104 MEMOIR.
Dr. Channing describes an interview, at the Redwood Library,
between Hopkins and " a singular man named Stuart, or Stewart,
sometimes called ' the walking philosopher,' in consequence of his
having travelled over a good part of the world on foot. Stuart was
a man of much kindness, too kind to lay his weight on a horse,
or to eat animal food, or even to kill a mosquito when sucking his
blood ; but he was an atheist, and let drop some expression of his
opinions before Dr. Hopkins. The Doctor was moved to indigna
tion, and cried out, ' You fool ! were it not for God, you could not
move a step from where you stand.' Stuart replied calmly to Dr.
Patten, who was present, 'The old gentleman seems disturbed.'"*
Other persons acquainted with the scene here noticed, deny, and
Dr. Channing does not affirm, that this stern reprover exhibited any
unjustifiable passion in pronouncing him to be a fool who " said in
his heart, There is no God." The reproof did not affect the friendly
relations which had long subsisted between the divine and the eccen
tric author. It was understood to be nothing more than " plain
speech." Infidels were wont to encounter the stalwart theologian,
and they learned not to treasure up ill will in memory of his homely
thrusts. Strangers, however, often supposed his pertinence to be
impertinence, and mistook the decisive tones of his voice for signs
of unwarranted passion.
They also misunderstood his inquisitiveness of mind. It must be
allowed that he was excessively fond of asking questions — a fault
which a native of New England should be slow to condemn. He
was one of those who " through desire separate themselves, and seek
to intermeddle with all knowledge." It was natural that the very
trait which fitted him to be a theologian, should develop itself some
times in too interrogative a style of conversation. In the eighth
edition of the Autobiography of Rev. John Murray, the pioneer of
Universalism in our land, is a vivid narrative of an interview between
himself and our inquisitive divine. The picture is drawn by an
opposer of Hopkins, and we may presume that it would have been
differently colored, " if the lion had been the painter." Shaded as
it is, however, it illustrates the eager curiosity and the decisive tones
of the Newport minister, as well as the authority which once be
longed to the " New England bishops." Explained as it ought to
be, it does not warrant the belief, which Mr. Murray seems to have
entertained, that Hopkins was irritated.-)- The two preachers were
riding together on horseback, in the autumn of 1773, a distance of
about forty miles, from Preston, in Connecticut, to Newport, in
Rhode Island. Mr. Murray says : %
* Letter of February 14, 1840.
t See p. 63 of this Memoir.
X Life, pp. 169-177. For the sake of convenience, Mr. Hopkins's part of the
dialogue is here printed in italics.

MEMOIR. 105
"In the course of the day, Mr. H. thus questioned me: ' Well, sir, I suppose
you ioHI preach in JVeivport.' — Very likely, sir. — ' You have friends there, I
presume.' — No, sir, I do not know a single soul. — ' You have letters of recom
mendation, perhaps.' — Not a line, sir. — ' Where, then, do you intend lo go, and
what do you intend to do?' — I have laid no plans, sir. — ' I promise you, you
shall not preach in my meeting.' — I should be very much surprised, if I did,
sir. — '¦And I suppose you think you are called of God to go to Newport.' — I
think it is not unlikely, sir. — ' / believe you will find yourself mistaken.' — It
is possible. — ' Suppose you should find no place to preach in, what would you
do then ? ' — Devote myself to private conversation. — ' But suppose you could
find no one lo converse with.' — Then I would turn about and come back
again  ' But what would you think of your faith ? ' — Call it fancy. But, at
present, I think I shall preach the gospel in Newport ; and, although I am an
utter stranger, knowing no one, nor known by any one, yet I expect, before I
leave the place, to have many friends. — 'Ay, these are fine fancies, indeed.' —
Hid you not better suspend your decision until you witness the result ? Will
it not then be full time to determine whetlier it be faith or fancy ? — ' If ii
sliould not be as I predict, I should not be ashamed to own my error ; if it should,
you ought to blush for your unwarrantable confidence. But as it is not impos
sible you may preach in that city, and that some of my people may be among the
number of your hearers, I think I have a light to question you.' — If God will
give me leave to preach to his people, I am content. — ' What do you mean by
i.'iid, sir?' — Your observation brought to my mind, what, on a certain occa
sion, a very distinguished servant of God said to his master, when he was told
to go down and see what his people were doing : ' O Lord, they are not my
people, they are thy people.' However, Moses was not settled on your plan.
— ¦ ' Well, sir, I look upon my people to be God's people.' — You are perfectly
right sir ; so indeed they are ; and if I speak to them at all, I shall speak to
them in that character. — ' Well, sir, as you call yourself a preacher of the gos
pel, and may, as I have said, preach to my people, it is proper I should know
what ideas you have of gospel. Tell me, sir, wlutt is gospel V — I am happy
"in being able to give you a direct answer. The gospel, sir, is a solemn dec
laration, given upon the oath of Jehovah, that in the Seed of Abraham all the
nations should be blessed. — '7s that all you know of gospel?' — Would it not,
my good sir, require a very long time to inform mankind who and what that
Seed is, how and in what manner all the nations of the earth are and shall bi
blessed therein ,- and what blessings they are blessed with, in Christ Jesus ?
The apostle Paul, although he labored more abundantly than his brethren,
found this vast, this important subject abundantly sufficient for his wliole life ;
and those who are blessed hi that Seed will find the contemplation of that
blessedness whicli they shall be blessed with, in him, sufficient to furnish a
song, -which, although never ending, will be ever new. — ' If such be your
views, you know nothing at all of gospel.' — You could not so absolutely deter
mine this matter, if you yourself were not acquainted with the meaning of the
term gospel. Tell me then, sir, if you please, what is gospel? — ' Why, sir,
this is gospel : He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned.' — Indeed, sir, I had thought the literal, simple meaning of the term
gospel, was glad tidings. Which part of the passage you have cited is gos
pel, that which announces salvation, or that which announces damnation? —
' Well, tlien, if you please, this is gospel: He that believeth shall be saved.' — Be
lieveth what sir ? — ' That' — What sir ? — ' That, I tell you.' — What, sir ?
— ' That, I tell you : He that believeth shall be saved.' — Believeth ivhat, sir?
What is he to behave ? — ' Why, that, I tell you.' — I wished, sir, to treat this
investigation seriously ; but, as you seem to be disposed to be rather ludicrous,
we will, if you please, dismiss the subject. — 'JVb, sir, I do not mean to be ludi
crous ; lam veiy serious.' — Well, sir, if so, then I begleave to ask, What is
it I am to believe, the believing of which will save me ? — ' That Jesus Christ
made it possible for sinners to be saved.' — By what means? — 'By believing.'
— Believing what ? — ' That.' — What ? — ' That Jesus Christ made it possible

106 MEMOIR.
for sinners to be saved.' — By what means is it possihle that sinners may be
saved ? — ' By believing, I tell you.' — But the devils believe ; will their believ
ing save them? — 'No, sir.' — Suppose I believe that Jesus Christ made it
possible to save sinners ; will that save me ? — ' No, sir.' — Then, sir, let me
ask, What am I to believe, the believing of which will save me ? — ' Why, sir,
you must believe the gospel, that Jesus made it possible for sinners to be saved.' —
But by what means? — 'By believing.' — Believing what? — ' That, I tell
you.' "
After some comments, Mr. Murray adds, (and, according to his
own version, he made far more offensive remarks than he received,
and was treated with peculiar fairness and moderation by his opposer :)
"Finding the temper of Mr. H. rise higher and higher, every time I repeat
ed my question, I endeavored to bring the matter to a conclusion, by observ
ing that I was astonished to find a master in Israel, and a writer too, either
not able, or not willing to answer a simple question, viz., what am I to believe
is the foundation of my salvation ? what am I to believe procures my justifica
tion in the sight of God ? — ' And I am astonished at your blasphemy.' — This
is in character, sir ; men of your description were long since fond of fixing
this charge on both the Master and his witnesses ; but remember, sir, if I
have blasphemed, it is only Mr. H. whom I have blasphemed. — ' Well, sir, I
believe I have gone too far ; I will, if you please, take back the charge.' — With
all my heart, sir. — 'I do not doubt you may be admired in Newport a whole
fortnight.' — That, no doubt, will be fourteen days longer than you would
wish. Arriving in sight of Newport, Mr. H. said : ' There, sir, is my meeting
house ; at a little distance from thence is my dwelling-house, and my friends are
multiplied.' — WeU, sir, I have no home, meeting-house, nor friend, in New
port Yet, I repeat, before I leave that city, I expect to have more than one
home, and many friends. — ' Well, now I think of it, there is one man who has a
little place, in which, possibly, you may get leave to preach ; I will direct you to a
man who has some acquaintance with him.' — I will thank you, sir, to inform me
where my. horse may be taken care of; for myself, I have little concern. — 'I
promise you horse keeping is very high in Newport.' — That, sir, is very sad
tidings to me, for I promise you my finances are very low. Some very bitter
speeches were made ; and I regretted that I was so unfortunate as to have
taken the journey with Mr. H. Your people, said I, are leavened with the
leaven of the Pharisees, and you seem to be leavened with the leaven of
Herod. — ¦' What do you mean by the leaven of Herod?' — I mean the nature
of Herod. — ' How does that apply ? ' — Some persons urged our Master to fly,
in consequence of Herod's seeking his life. Go, said he, tell that fox I work
io-day and to-mon-ow, &c, &c. Our Master denominated Herod a fox, for
the purpose of giving an idea of his nature. What is a fox ? a creature that
lives upon the spoil ; but he is dependent upon the secrecy of the night, and,
we are told, in order the more effectually to cover his designs, he sometimes
imitates the watch-dog, thus endeavoring to make it appear he is defending
the property of the husbandman, while, under the guise of watchful care for
others, he is covertly acting for himself, till the morning dawns, till the light
appears, and then his labor ends. This is the leaven of Herod, and it was of
the nature of this insidious animal, that our Lord cautioned his disciples to
beware. — ' Well, there is something ingenious in that, I confess.' — We reached
the ferry a little before sunset, and on landing at Newport ' There,' said Mr.
H., pointing to a small shop, ' if you will call on that man, he will give you
direction.' I walked on, stopped at the door, and holding the bridle in my
hand," etc., etc.
That must certainly be a commendable character, against which
its enemies can say nothing worse, than the father of New England

MEMOIR. 107
Universalism has said against one of the fathers of Hopkinsianism.
Mr. Murray erred, in supposing his antagonist's want of amenity in
manners to be an irascibility of temper. Amid all our commenda
tion of Hopkins, we cannot say that he sacrificed to the Graces.
His rugged work as a controversialist, did not make him a nice
observer of conventional etiquette. Dr. West says, that he was
never overbearing in an argument ; * his style, however, made him
appear so, at times, to strangers. He understood " human nature "
far more thoroughly than " human, life," and thus he often stirred up
prejudices which a more " fashionable " man would have avoided.
He was not made for smooth waters. Dr. Channing says, that " he
wanted toleration toward those who rejected his views ; " t but that
he was more intolerant than other Calvinistic divines, Channing did
not suppose, and" what Channing would call intolerance they would
call a needful reverence for the truth. Dr. Ashbel Green says, that
Hopkins " is certainly a man of much more candor, liberality, and
Catholicism than most of his disciples ; " f but his disciples have
been as liberal and catholic as other Calvinists. A gentleman of
literary distinction, who knew Hopkins well, and dissents from the
Hopkinsian creed, has the magnanimity to write : " He seems to me,
in looking back ou that early day, to have been the most individual,
identical man with whom I have ever been acquainted, or rather
[whom] I have ever seen. He said what he thought, and with a
clearness, a distinctness in perfect harmony with the occasion. I
do believe that ' disinterested benevolence,' the underlying principle
of his stern metaphysics and of his apparently totally impracticable
theology, was as real and as operative with him, as is the opposite
principle in the hearts and lives of other men."

Sect. XXXI. LETTER TO DR. STILES.
In the rich Literary Diary which President Stiles kept at Yale
College, he has inserted the following record, which vividly illustrates
the character of his times:
" New Haven, 1781. Received a letter from Rev. Mr. Hopkins, dated
Newport, January 26 ; wherein he says, speaking of the state of religion
there, ' Every thing is dark and discouraging here, with respect to the all-
important interest The people in general are going from bad to worse, and
I now see no way for my continuing here longer than till spring. Neither
your people nor mine are disposed to attend public worship constantly, except
a few individuals. There is but little encouragement to preach, where there
is so little attention, and so very little concern about any thing invisible. I
expected you, sir, would be willing to perform the part of a professor of
divinity on the decease of Dr. Daggett, till I was told the contrary by Mr.
Pitch. I wish that place may be well supplied. But where is the man to be
* See p. 63 of this Memoir. t Works, vol. iv. p. 342.
X Life of Dr. Green, p. 240.

108 MEMOIR.
found ?,— the man who will accept, and who will be accepted. If I knew
of one who probably would be acceptable to the college, and might be
willing to make a trial half a year or a year, he must not be mentioned, if he
be a New Divinity man.'
"Remark 1. Very . lamentable is the state of religion at Newport, and
particularly that they will not attend public worship. But,
" 2. One occasion of this negligence is brother Hopkins's New Divinity.
He has preached his own congregation almost away, or into an indifference.
He has fifty or sixty, or more, families of his own congregation in town, and
might easily command a good assembly, if his preaching was as acceptable
as his moral character. Mv congregation, gathered in town, are seventy or
eighty families, and would" gladly attend such preaching as Dr. Owen's, or
Dr. Doddridge's, or preachers of far lower abilities, provided they were
ejusdem farince with the first Puritan divines.
" 3. Although New Divinity preachers collect some large congregations
in some parts, as Taunton, Middleboro', Abington, &c, yet their preaching is
acceptable, not for the new tenets, but for its containing the good old doctrines
of grace, on which the new gentlemen are very sound, ana clear, and full. In
other parts, where the neighboring ministers generally preach the old Cal
vinistic doctrines, the people begin to be tired with the incessant inculcation
of the unintelligible and shocking new points ; especially, that an uncon
verted man had better be killing his father and mother than praying for
converting grace ; that true repentance implies a willingness and desire to
be damned for the glory of God ; that we are to give God thanks that he has
caused Adam to sin, and involve all his posterity in total depravity, that
Judas betrayed and the Jews crucified Christ, &-C, &c. ; that the children of
none but communicants are to be baptized, &c. ; that the churches and
ministers are so corrupt and Laodicean, and have so intermixed with the
world, that the New Divinity churches and ministers cannot hold communion,
but must and do recede and sequester themselves from them." 
" 4. I do not perceive on whom Mr. Hopkins has his eye for a professor
of divinity. But Mr. Fitch tells me, Mr. Hopkins spake of Mr. West of
Stockbridge, as a great scholar, a great divine, and excellently qualified for
such an office ; but he supposed the corporation would not choose him. He
also mentioned Mr. Hart, of Preston, as a great divine. I rather think he
supposed Mr. West would be acceptable to the scholars. But when it is said,
he would be willing to preach in college a year on trial, I should rather think
be meant some one else besides Mr. West or Mr. Hart"
These remarks of Dr. Stiles suggest a few comments.
1. He manifests his usual fairness in confessing that the New
School of divines were " vert sound, and clear, and full," on
the "good old doctrines of grace." This is the testimony of one who
had been intimate with the leader of that school. He was better
acquainted with their principles than are the men who, in some parts
of our country, accuse that same school of denying the " funda
mental doctrines of the gospel."
2. He implies, what is well known from other sources, that the
New Divinity men aimed to be more strict in Christian discipline than
the Old. He evidently revered — how could he avoid doing so . —
the religious spirit of Hopkins, who was, at that time, the accredited
chief of the New Divinity men. All who knew Hopkins acknowledged
his personal excellence.
3. The two Hopkinsian doctrines, that men have natural power
to do whatever they are justly required to. do, and that all moral

MEMOIR. 109
character consists in the free choices of men, are not considered by
Dr. Stiles as worthy of mention, when compared with the other
Hopkinsian principles, that the children of communicants only are
to be baptized, and that a creature ought to sacrifice all liis interests
when the glory of the Creator demands the sacrifice. During the
lifetime of Hopkins, he found some, but not many, unreasonable
enough to gainsay those two axioms relating to man's power to do
what is required of him, and to the active nature of all sin.
4. Dr. S. describes Hopkinsianism as unpopular, and therefore as
fit to be condemned. Many Calvinists have done the same, and thus
added force to the Arminian objection, that Calvinism is not attrac
tive to the human heart, and is, therefore, false.
. 5. The fact that Hopkins did not interest the fifty or sixty fami
lies of his parish in the support of the gospel, is ascribed by Dr.
Stiles to the New Divinity, as a main cause ; and yet the seventy or
eighty families of Dr. Stiles's parish did not even go so far as to
ordain a minister, until ten years after he had left them. If, then,
the low estate of the First Church was occasioned by the " strong
meat " of Hopkinsianism, why was not the lower estate of the Sec
ond Church occasioned by the " sincere milk " of moderate Calvin
ism, which Dr. Stiles had imparted for the twenty previous years?
The depressed condition of both the First and Second Church was
owing less to either the New or Old Divinity, than to the revolution
ary war.*
6. While Dr. Stiles refers to New Divinity as thinning the audience
of Mr. Hopkins, he concedes, with his characteristic frankness, that
other preachers of that same divinity collected " large congregations."
It is notorious that they had some of the best congregations in New
England. Does not this imply, that some other causes operated in
keeping away the multitude from the choir-leader of the New Divinity.
7. Dr. Channing ascribes the unpopularity of Mr. Hopkins, as a
preacher, to a combination of different causes. He says :
" My recollections of Dr. Hopkins go back to my earliest years, [i. e., a
short time after Dr. Stiles penned the above record.] As the Second Con
gregational Church was closed in my childhood, in consequence of Dr. Stiles's
removal to New Haven, my father was accustomed to attend on the ministry
of Dr. Hopkins. Perhaps he was the first minister I heard, — but I heard him
with no profit His manner, which was singularly unattractive, could not
win a child's attention; and the circumstances attending the service were
repulsive. The church had been much injured by the British during the
occupation of the town, and the congregation were too poor to repair it It
had a desolate look ; and in winter the rattling of the windows made an im
pression which time has not worn out. It was literally as ' cold as a bam ; '
and some of the most painful sensations of my childhood were experienced
in that comfortless building. As I grew up, I was accustomed to Attend
' See Hon. William EUery's Letter, in Dr. Holmes's Life of Stiles, pp. 223, 224.
Hopkinsianism was repugnant, and so was moderate Calvinism, to many who bad felt
Ihe influence of De Rochambeau and his army.
j

110 MEMOIR.
worship in our own church, where Dr. Patten was settled, so that for years I
knew little of Dr. Hopkins. My first impressions were not very favorable. I
think it probable, that his strong reprobation of the slave trade excited ill
will in the place ; and I can distinctly recollect, that the prevalence of terror
in his preaching was a very common subject of remark, and gave rise to
ludicrous stories among the boys."— "His [Dr. H.'s] preaching can only
be understood by one who had heard him. His voice was most untunable.
Some of the tones approached a cracked bell, more nearly than any thing to
which I can compare it. He changed from a low to a high key, and the
reverse, with no apparent reason. His manner was without animation. His
matter, as far as I can trust my memory, was not made acceptable by any
adaptation to the taste of the hearer. He had exercised the severer facul
ties of his mind too much to give a fair chance to the imagination. He had
no relish for poetry, and spoke of himself as finding no attraction in Milton
or Shakspeare. If his style was clear and strong, he owed these qualities to
his habits of thought, and not to any study of the best writers. We cannot
wonder, then, that he was a very uninteresting preacher. He sometimes
ascribed the unfruitfulness of his ministry to other causes, and seemed to see
in it a judgment on himself. But a minister who has not the gift to win
attention, should see no mystery in his failing to do good. Dr. Hopkins was
a student, not preacher. His mind was habitually employed in investigation,
and he never studied the art of communication. With an unharmonious voice,
with no graces of manner or style, and with a disposition to bring forward
abstract and unpalatable notions, is it wonderful that he did so littie in the
pulpit?"* 8. The account which Mr. Hopkins himself gives of his ministe
rial discouragements is an affecting exhibition of his rare virtues.
The idea seems never to have entered his mind, that by concealing
the limited success of his pulpit, he might preclude some objections
to his theology. With what an honest and humble spirit, does the
divine of nearly fourscore years confess :
" My preaching has always appeared to me as poor, low, and miserable,
compared with what it ought to be ; and frequently a sense of my deficiencies
in this has been very painful and discouraging; and I have felt often as
if I must leave off, and never attempt any more ; and commonly, if not
always, a prospect of preaching, and when I have been entering upon it has
brought a peculiar burden on my mind. And many times, when I have been
preaching, it has left a painful consciousness, that I have come unspeakably
short of what ought to be. And I have never wondered that my preaching
has been attended with so httle apparent good effect, since it has been so
deficient every way."f
How suddenly is a critic disarmed, when he reads the narrative
which this aged and broken-hearted penitent gives of his qualifica
tions for the pulpit !
" I have never," he says, " in the course of my life, since I first entertained
a hope that I had been brought to the knowledge of the truth, given up my
hope, and come to a settled conclusion that I had no grace ; but my doubts
have frequently rose very high. Many times my exercises have been such,
as for a time to exclude all doubts. But I have been constantly conscious
that I have always fallen unspeakably below what I ought to be, and what I
* Dr. Channing's Letter of February 14, 1840. Hopkins was an old man, as thus
described. t Sketches, p. 88.

MEMOIR. Ill
hoped I should be. My strongest religious exercises and highest enjoyments
have taken place in my retirement and secret devotions ; and in my public
performances, praying and preaching have generally been very low ; which
I have sometimes suspected was an argument that my religion is not genuine.
I know it is an argument against me, that I am very sinfully defective in my
social and public religion ! I have been frequently carried out in secret in
views of divine truth, and exercises, even to an ecstasy, while tears have
flowed abundantly, with groanings and desires truly unutterable. My re
ligious emotions and exercises of soul in the view of the truths respecting God
and the Saviour, the way of salvation, my own evil character, &c, have been
unspeakably more lively and strong, than any emotions and exercises I have
ever experienced, respecting any worldly, temporal objects. I have loved
retirement and have never been comfortable when deprived of it ; and have
taken more pleasure alone, than in any company ; and have often chosen to
ride alone, when on a journey, rather than in the best company.* I have for
a long course of years, even from my first entering on the work of the min
istry, spent the last day of the week in retirement, and in fasting and prayer,
unless inteiTupted by something extraordinary ; and have found great ad
vantage by it. This I have practised, not as a burden and task, but as a
privilege. I have felt and known myself to be a low and shameful Christian,
if I were one ; and have generally reflected on myself, character, and con
duct, as a Christian and minister of the gospel, with a painful shame and self-
condemnation, of which none can have conception but those who have felt
the same ; knowing that in many things I offend, and in every thing have
come unspeakably short of what I ought to do and be, considering my advan
tages, mercies, and obligations. My life and character, and all my exercises,
are stained with such an awful degree of moral depravity and pollution, that
I feel myself infinitely far from any righteousness or moral goodness that
can recommend me to the favor of God ; and if I am dealt with according to
my moral character and desert, I must be cast off by God, and made miserable
forever. I have no refuge but the righteousness, the infinite merit and
worthiness of Christ. In Aim I hope ; to him I come for pardon, justification,
and redemption from all iniquity, while I am willing to be considered as
infinitely unworthy, and ill-deserving, even the greatest sinner that is, or
ever was on earth ; and know that if I am saved, it will be wholly owing
to mere, infinite, sovereign grace ; to eternal, electing love ; for which I
cannot give or conceive any reason, but that which was given by tlie Son
of God — ' Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.' I am truly
ashamed of myself, that I have lived so long, and have made so little ad
vances in mental [probably a misprint for 'moral and'] religious attain
ments ; and am, at the same time, conscious that I see but very little of
my shameful depravity which has actually taken place, and now exists, and
as it is viewed by the omniscient Saviour ; and, therefore, my confessions,
. shame and humiliation in his sight are inconsiderable and nothing, com
pared with my real shameful depravity and odiousness. And that petition
well becomes me, ' God be merciful to me a sinner ! ' " f
* If Mr. Hopkins had learned to express in public the feelings which he poured out
in private, he would have been one of the most eloquent of preachers. But he was
often curbed and held down in presence of an auditory. He begins a letter on the first
of January, 1771, in a style not very common for a New Year's Day : " I can in some
measure sympathize with you in your dejecting sense of your own pollution, vileness,
and guilt ; though this brings a dreadful burden on me often, in which you cannot fully
share. You can secrete yourself, and withdraw from society, when this view of your
self renders you unfit for company, and fills you with apprehensions lhat you shall do
mischief to all you converse with. But I am obliged to lead in public worship, and
engage in the most solemn and awful business of speaking in God's name, and dealing
with immortals about their eternal concerns, whatever views I have of myself ; how
ever dejected in my own mind, and desirous to be hid in a corner, out of all danger
of spreading mischief— out of the way, and even the thoughts of all."
t Sketches, dd. 85-88.

112 MEMOIR.
9. The success of Mr. Hopkins in the pulpit has been underrated
'both by himself and his opponents. Had he not been so much more
celebrated in other spheres, he would have been called a useful
preacher ; not eminently so, not stirring or melting the sensibilities,
but enlightening the intellect, probing the conscience, and thus puri
fying the heart. We know not how we can otherwise explain the
eulogies of his friends, many of whom were noted for guarding and
measuring their words. Making all needful deductions for the filial
reverence with which Dr. Samuel Spring extolled the preaching of
his instructor, we 'cannot account for his eulogistic language, unless
we believe that Hopkins did some good to some men ; and was fitted,
although not to please the multitude, yet to edify mature Christians.
" No minister, we think," says Dr. Samuel Spring, " was ever more
justly esteemed and admired. For, though he was destitute of natu
ral eloquence, such was the choice of his subjects, the interesting
and properly arranged thoughts which constituted his sermons and
prayers, that but few preachers commanded more attention, and were
favored with more solemn and devout assemblies. To administer
conviction and instruction, edification and consolation, according to
the respective conditions of his hearers, was the design and tendency
of his preaching. Good people rejoiced, and wicked people trem
bled, at seeing him enter the desk. For he believed, and made them
believe also, that his ministration Would prove the savor of life to
some, and the savor of death to others. How solemn the thought !
How solemn and interesting the connection between minister and
people ! But this the Doctor felt, and this he was qualified to make
others feel. Hence the devout and awful solemnity which attended
his public performances. He preached Christ, and not himself; he
concealed himself, and displayed the truth." *

Sect. XXXII. HOPKINS AS A REFORMER.
" He had many qualities," says Dr. Channing, " fitting him for a
reformer — great singleness of purpose, invincible patience of re
search, sagacity to detect and courage to oppose errors, a thirst for
consistency of views, and resolution to carry out his principles to
their legitimate consequences." + He received the recompense of
reformers — much obloquy while lie was hving, but many presages
of a posthumous fame. In reading his letters and Journal, we are
surprised at the extent to which he anticipated some of our modern
reforms. He inculcated, at a very early day, the duty of entire abstinence
* See Massachusetts Missionary Magazine for February, 1804, p. 363.
t Letter of February 14, 1840.

MEMOIR. 113
from intoxicating liquids as a beverage.* He showed the power of
conscience and will over the sensibilities, in his sudden abandonment
of tobacco. The particulars of this change in his habit, are thus
detailed by Dr. Patten':
" Among the customs of the day, that of smoking had become general, es
pecially by ministers of the gospel. Mr. Hopkins had followed the custom.
At a meeting of ministers, as they were indulging in the practice, and had
filled the room with smoke, the wife of the minister at whose house they met,
found it necessary to take something from a cupboard at the farther corner of
the room. As she opened the door, a cloud of smoke came on her, and pro
duced a partial suffocation. She put her apron to her face, and hastened
across the room, and then returned and shut the door. Mr. Hopkins received
the impression that it was not becoming, but disgraceful, for Christians, but
especially ministers, to adopt a practice which was disgusting, and would ex
clude females of delicacy from their society and conversation. He said noth
ing, but took his pipe and laid it on the shelf over the fireplace, secretly
resolving that he would not take it down again unless he should feel it to be
necessary. Yet the impression so far continued, that he never had the least
inclination to resume the practice. A singular example of the power of rea
son and principle over sense and habit — a habit which is one of the most
powerful that can be contracted. After this success, he made it an object to
speak to his clerical brethren and others against the use of tobacco, as unne
cessary and injurious ; and so extensively did he prevail, that it became
almost a mark that one believed with him in doctrine, that he made no use
of tobacco." t
Mr. Hopkins was an early opponent of Free-masonry. % "I
heartily wish that Dagon sunk, as a millstone in the sea, never to
rise again. But there is a Washington in the way, and many others."
So he wrote at the age of seventy-seven, and in his eighty-first year
he says : " The Free-masons are building a famous lodge here. The
frame is now raising, a few rods from my house, in plain sight of
my study window. The din of axes, hammers, and the voices of
men, assaults me while I am writing this. It will cost some thou
sands of dollars, but they have money in plenty for the promotion
of such business. It is to contain a spacious hall for dancing. Thus
the devil's interest and kingdom seems to go on and prosper ; but in
reality it is all for Christ, and designed to promote his interest and
kingdom." Non omnia possumus omnes. There was one popular evil, the
nature of which Hopkins does not seem, at least before his sixty-
fifth year, to have detected. The Newport Mercury of December
18, 1784, appropriates an entire page to a list of the prizes drawn in
the first class of the First Congregational Church Lottery, in New
port. There were thirty-six hundred tickets in the lottery ; one
* See also his opposition to the sale of ardent spirit, as intimated on pp. 33-35.
t Reminiscences, pp. 37, 38.
X This opposition of Mr. Hopkins to the Masonic order evinces his impartiality ; for
tome of bis best friends belonged to that order, and are spoken of as having been
buried with Masonic and military honors.
r

114 MEMOIR.
ticket drew three hundred dollars, two tickets drew fifty dollars each,
five drew twenty each, and thirty drew ten each. The Mercury of
February 19, 1785, devotes a column to " a list of the fortunate num
bers in the second class of the First Congregational Church Lottery
in Newport." This church was Mr. Hopkins's. Other churches,
however, were in the same condemnation. The Mercury of May
28, 1785, gives a schedule of the first class of the Second Congre
gational Church Lottery; and September 17, 1785, it describes the
drawing of the second class of the lottery for the same church, then
recently Dr. Stiles's. The Mercury of April 28, 1795, publishes the
prizes in the " Little Compton United Congregational Society Lot
tery." The most reputable ministers of New E ngland then favored the
lottery system. Dr. Hart, Dr. Benedict, and other clergymen, drew
prizes in both the lotteries of Mr. Hopkins's church ; and " honest
Mr. Gillet " drew six hundred dollars, the highest prize of the second
class. — But why not conceal these facts 1 First, concealment is not
honest. Secondly, concealment is not wise. It is useful to know
the imperfections of the best men. Thirdly, concealment does not
accord with the inspired example. David and Peter are described
in the Bible as they really lived. Fourthly, concealment is not pos
sible. If the friends of a man do not tell the truth about him, his
enemies will. Fifthly, concealment is not necessary. The failure
of Hopkins to see the evil of the lottery system, was shared by many
of the best men in his own day, and only proves him to have been
human. There is also another evil, of which our reformer seems to have
been regardless, until the year 1770. He seems to have agreed with
President Edwards, as long as the President lived, with regard to
slavery. In the inventory of Edwards's estate, after his death, there
was mentioned, among his " quick stock," one negro boy, Titus,
valued at a hundred dollars. So, during a part of Hopkins's resi
dence at Great Barrington, he owned a slave. This is asserted in
part on the authority of Drs. Patten, Channing, Tenney, Mr. Fer
guson, and in part on the ground of common fame. An ordinary
observer, in the last century, would not have suspected, that Samuel
Hopkins would become the hero of a novel. The Christian World,
however, of October 14,21, and 28, 1843, devotes four or five columns
to a tale extracted from the Albany Weekly Patriot, with regard to
the sale of Hopkins's slave, the mental depression of the good man in
consequence of his bargain, and the subsequent history of the negro
who was sold. The scene of the narrative is laid at Newport. The
more common, as well as the more correct opinion, however, has
been, that the slave was sold before Dr. Hopkins visited Newport,
and that the remembrance of his own traffic in human flesh stimulated
him to oppose the same evil in other men»

MEMOIR. 115

Sect. XXXIII. PUBLIC OPPOSITION TO THE SLAVE TRADE AND
TO SLAVERY.
The amiable Buckminster wrote a Review of West's Sketches of
Hopkins's Life, for the Monthly Anthology. He introduced his
Review with the following words : " Nothing but the celebrity of
Dr. Hopkins's name would have induced us to give that attention to
these memoirs, which is commonly expected of reviewer's ; for we
imagine they will be very interesting only to those who have
adopted his system of theology, or who are inclined to lay equal
stress with him on the variety and frequency of what are called
religious experiences." * Now, it is very true, that Hopkins took
hold of theology with a strong hand ; but he was not a man of one
idea. Politicians, as well as sentimentalists, have an interest in him ;
as will be seen in the record of his anti-slavery projects.
Rhode Island has been justly famed for its love of freedom. The
Commissioners of Providence Plantations and Warwick passed an
act against the purchase of negroes, as early as May 18, 1652. In
1675-6, the Legislature prohibited the reducing of Indians to bond
age ; and in 1715, the importation of Indian slaves. But notwith
standing her early zeal in behalf of liberty, Rhode Island became,
at length, deeply involved in the slave system. Many of her fami
lies gained their wealth from it, many more were dependent upon it
for their maintenance. And of all her towns which were engaged in
the negro traffic, Newport was the chief. It was, indeed, " the great
slave market of New England ! " t It is said, that Hopkins often
looked upon the cargoes of Africans who were landed at the wharves
near his meeting-house and parsonage. His church members, his
best friends, his nearest neighbors, nearly all the respectable families
of the town, were owners, and many of the most accomplished mer
chants on the island were importers of slaves. They imported not
for New England alone, but for the South. Even as recently as
1804— S, Rhode Island owned fifty-nine of the two hundred and two
slavers carrying negroes into the single port of Charleston, South
Carolina ; and of the seventeen thousand and forty-eight Africans,
taken into that port during those four years by American vessels,
the Rhode Island slavers took six thousand two hundred and thirty-
eight ; and of these, the Newport slavers, diminished in number as
they had been, took three thousand four hundred and eighty-eight, f
Amid such a community, then, to attack the system of African
bondage was to rise up against principalities and powers ; against
friends, and even the church. It would have been very easy for
* See Anthology, vol. iii. p. 152, seq.
t Updike's History of the .Narraganset Church, pp. 170-174.
X Speech of Judge Smith, of South Carolina, in the United Slates Senate, December
8, 1820. See Updike's History of the Narraganset Church, p. 168.

116 MEMOIR.
Hopkins to discharge volleys against this evil from behind Monu
ment Mountain, in Great Barrington ; but now he has removed from
that snug retreat into the very centre of the slave interest, his per
sonal quiet and reputation are hazarded by a single whisper with
regard to it ; — and what shall he do . He is poor, and at this time
[about 1770] he has, what he never had before, a comfortable salary ;
— shall he forfeit his support 1 He is the reputed leader of a new
school of divines ; — and shall he expose that school to obloquy, by
identifying it with an unpopular assault upon an established institu
tion ? He is a preacher of the gospel ; — and shall he divert the
attention of his hearers from spiritual truth to a political scheme .
These were grave questions which he gravely canvassed. At first
he doubted. He was a prudent man. But his Hopkinsian divinity
was characterized by the principle, that one must sacrifice all his
interests, in this and the other world, if one can thereby promote
the welfare of " being in general." He believed that if he lifted his
voice in behalf of the bondmen, he should advance the interests of
his race and the honor of his Maker. He offered himself as a sac
rifice. He did it deliberately, solemnly. Anticipating the indigna
tion of his people and the anger of the community, he preached a
sermon against the kidnapping, and purchasing, and retaining ef
slaves. A New England poet * has said : " It well may be doubted,
whether, on that Sabbath day, the angels of God, in their wide sur
vey of his universe, looked upon a nobler spectacle than that of the
minister of Newport, rising up before his slaveholding congregation,
and demanding, in the name of the Highest, the ' deliverance of the
captive, and the opening of prison doors to them that were bound ! ' "
The citizens of Newport were startled by this novel discourse. No
minister in the land had preached on slavery in so bold a manner, t
The benevolent Quakers of Rhode Island had long been willing to
pursue, but were not now pursuing, a course of public action against
the evil. Hopkins stood up alone, not indeed without any in the
State who would give him their sympathies, but without any who
would rise in bold resistance to the dominant powers. He antici
pated the worst, and showed the spirit of a martyr. In his modesty,
he underrated the strength of attachment felt for him by his people.
His sermons offended a few, and made them permanently his ene
mies. One wealthy family left his congregation in disgust ; but the,
majority of his hearers were astonished that they, of themselves, had
not long before seen and felt the truths which he disclosed to them.
He was encouraged, and went again to the work. In 1776, he
* John G. Whittier, in the National Era, July 12, 1847.
t There is no doubt lhat many clergymen in the land were inwardly hostile to the
slave system, and were happy to see it so vigorously opposed. But Hopkins had not
been apprised of their feelings. — He preached several times on the subject between
1770 and 1776.

MEMOIR. 117
published his celebrated Dialogue concerning the Slavery of the Afri
cans, together with liis Address to Slaveholders. This is a remarkable
document. It opposes both the purchasing and the owning of slaves.
Some parts of it are written in a style of live-oak. They are good
specimens of the condensed vigor which he could, at times, throw
into his composition. Very few reasons and motives have since been
adduced for manumission, which are not found in this pamphlet. It
was for a long time a thesaurus for less original writers on the sub
ject. It is noteworthy, that he penned this Dialogue during the
alarms which his people were suffering, in the two years preceding
their dispersion by the British. He published it in the midst of the
revolutionary war ! He printed it at Norwich ; probably because
the Newport press could not safely engage in so offensive an enter
prise. What hope had he, that amid the distracting influences' of
the struggle for independence, his countrymen would listen to an
appeal for the slave 1 He deemed it the fitting time for such an
appeal ; because, while men were expending their treasures for their
own freedom, they would feel the consistency of giving freedom to
their own bondmen. Hopkins meant to sound a trumpet which
would be heard throughout the land. I He aimed high. He dedi
cated his pamphlet to the " Honorable Continental Congress."
Copies of it were sent to the members of that body, and to the
prominent citizens in all the colonies. As it was, in some respects,
perhaps the ablest document which had, at that time and on that
theme, appeared in the English language, and as it was not known to
have come from an humble parson, (for its author did not publish
his name at first,) it had a wide circulation among statesmen. It
was reprinted, in an edition of two thousand copies, by the New
York Manumission Society, conformably to a vote passed December
11, 1785, less than a year after the formation of the society. A copy
of it was sent, in accordance with another vote of the same asso
ciation, to every member of Congress, and of the New York Legis
lature. John Jay was at that time the President of the society, and
Alexander Hamilton the Secretary. Among its most active members
were James Duane, Mayor of New York City, and Robert R. Liv
ingston, Chancellor of New York State. The society, in about five
months after it had published this Dialogue, addressed a petition to
the Legislature, in favor of a law prohibiting the exportation of
slaves for a foreign market. It is said that the Dialogue did much
to prepare the minds of the society for this aggressive movement.
At a subsequent date, the society directed the following letter
to Mr. Hopkins. It is worthy of remark, that about three months
before this honor was conferred on him, the same honor was con
ferred, by the same association, upon Granville Sharp, of England.*
* See the letter of Judge Jay, and Mr. Sharp's acknowledgment of the same, in
Prince Hoare's Life of Sharp, pp. 252, 334, quarto edition.

118 MEMOIR.
" New York, December 10, 1788. Reverend Sir : I have the honor to inform
you that the Society for promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and protecting
such of them as have been or may be liberated, wishing to show their respect
to gentlemen who are eminent for their attachment to the rights of men in
general, and particularly to those who espouse the cause of the enslaved Afri
cans, have lately added to their rules one for the admission of honorary mem
bers ; a,nd at their last meeting took the liberty of enrolling your name among'
them ; of which they directed notice to be given by their Committee of Cor
respondence, in whose behalf I now write. It is with peculiar pleasure I
communicate the information, and have the honor to be, Reverend Sir, your
very humble servant, Eeen Hazabd."
About the same time, Mr. Hopkins was elected an honorary mem
ber of the Pennsylvania Society for the Manumission of Slaves ; of
which society Benjamin Franklin was President, and Dr. Benjamin
Rush was Secretary.
It must not be supposed that Hopkins confined his efforts to the
pulpit and the press. " In one instance," says Mr. John G. Whit-
tier,* " he borrowed, on his own responsibility, the sum requisite to
secure the freedom of a slave in whom he became interested." He
was a kind of anti-slavery apostle, visiting from house to house, and
urging masters to free their bondmen. He persuaded several of his
neighbors to perform this duty, and his conversation with many
clergymen awakened their minds to exertion in this branch of be
nevolence. We cannot estimate the amount of good which he ac
complished in the following interview with Dr. Bellamy, whose
example was a law to multitudes. Mr. Ferguson says, t that while
Hopkins was once on a visit at the house of Bellamy, who then
owned a slave, he pressed upon his friend the objections against
slavery. Bellamy defended the system with the usual arguments,
and Hopkins refuted them, and then called on his friend to free his
slave at once ; Bellamy replied, that « the slave was a most faithful
and judicious servant ; that in his management of the farm, he could
be trusted with every thing ; and that he was so happy in his ser
vitude, that he would, in the opinion of his master, refuse his free
dom, were it offered to him. < Will you consent to his liberation,'
said Dr. Hopkins, ' if he really desires it ? ' < Yes,' replied Dr. Bel
lamy, ' I will.' The slave was then at work in the field. ' Call
him,' said Dr. H., and let us try.' The slave came to receive, as he
he supposed, the commands of his master. — « Have you a good
master? ' said Dr. Hopkins, addressing the slave. What could the
slave answer but, < Yes "I — - Are you happy in your present con
dition? ' — How could the slave deny that he was ? — ' Would
you be more happy if you were free ? ' < O, yes, massa, — me
would be much more happy.' ' You have your desire,' exclaimed
Dr. Bellamy: 'from this moment you are free.' "|
* See National Era, July 12, 1847. See also Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 82, 83.
t Life of Hopkins, pp. 85, 86.
t Surstantially the same narrative has been given by several writers beside Mr. Fer
guson.

MEMOIR. 119

Sbct. XXXIV. INTEREST IN ABOLITION SOCIETIES, AND IN
POLITICAL ACTION AGAINST SLAVERY.
When Mr. Hopkins first preached against the slave system, there
was not — so far as we are apprised — an association formed in the
world for abolishing that system. Multitudes were in favor of the
abolition, but they had no concerted plan for effecting their purpose.
Although the forecasting mind of the Newport pastor was not the
first to devise the scheme of Abolition Societies, yet he was quick to
see their worth, and his efforts were among the foremost means of
augmenting their number. Not only by his Sermons and Dialogue,
but by his numerous letters to public men, and by his newspaper
essays, he stirred up ministers and laymen to an organized and po
litical action against slavery. He found powerful coadjutors among
the Society of Friends. He found, also, an innate love of freedom
among the yeomen of Rhode Island. With all his martyr-spirit, he
doubtless foresaw that the mass of the people would come right ; for,
although he was not familiar with the etiquette of society, he had a
profound knowledge of human nature,* and a faith that God will lead
his servants through much tribulation into ultimate success. It was
cheering to him, that some time after he had broken the silence of
the pulpit, the friends of freedom, in June, 1774, pressed a law —
somewhat inoperative, indeed — through the Legislature of Rhode
Island, prohibiting the importation of negroes into the colony. Still
more cheering was the legislative vote of February, 1784,+ declaring
that all children of slaves, born after the first of the next March,
should be free. He found hosts of enemies, however, and the fol
lowing correspondence exhibits his activity in counteracting their
schemes, and in waking up the energies of good men. It discloses,
also, the hardships to which the early advocates of freedom were
exposed, and our obligations to them for enduring this " hardness as
good soldiers."
To Moses Brown, of Providence, a wealthy member of the Society of Friends.
— " Newport, April 29, 1784. Much esteemed Friend : I am much pleased
with your zeal, and persevering, assiduous attempts to discourage and abolish
the slave trade and the slavery of the Africans among us. Though I have a
degree of the same zeal, yet I am apt to sink under discouragements which
you seem easily to surmount, I have dared publicly to declare that this town
is the most guilty, respecting the slave trade, of any on the continent, as it
has been, in a great measure, built up by the blood of the poor Africans ; and
that the only way to escape the effects of divine displeasure, is to be sensible
* When Dr. C. J. Tenney was a young man, on his way to Newport, Dr. Spring, of
Newburyport, said to him, " In fifteen minutes, Dr. Hopkins will sound you through and
through." t In this year, however, a motion to prohibit the slave trade was negatived by a con
siderable majority of the General Assembly of Rhode Island. Still, the Rhode Island
Assembly was only four years later than the Assembly pf Pennsylvania, in securing
tbe freedom of the slaves to be born within the State.

120 MEMOIR.
of the sin, repent, and reform. This has greatly displeased a number, and I
fear the most are far from a disposition to repent, especially they who have the
greatest share of the guilt. This town, I greatly fear, will be the last in the
State to do what they ought to do, and be foremost in it, respecting that most
abominable traffic, and the consequent slavery that is among us. This gives
me a gloomy prospect of our future circumstances. The freemen have cho
sen a new set of representatives, except one. - Though some of them are,
in many respects, worthy men, I believe not one of them will vote for any law
to discourage the slave trade, or the slavery of the Africans. And I suspect
that they who planned this choice had a particular view to this. As there are
objections against the law freeing those blacks which shall be born in future,
especially against the towns where they are born being obliged to maintain
them, &c, I expect there will be a strong motion to have it altered or re
pealed at the next General Assembly ; and I fear that, by the cunning and
influence of a number, the latter will be effected. But Gon sitteth in the
heavens. " The Friends have set a laudable example in bearing testimony against the
slave trade, and exerting themselves to suppress the slavery of the Africans ;
and, I must say, have acted more like Christians, in this important article, than
any other denomination of Christians among us. To our shame be it spoken !
The church in which I preside have agreed to declare, that the slave trade
and the slavery of the blacks, as it has been practised among us, is a> gross
violation of the righteousness and benevolence whieh are so much inculcated
in the gospel, and, therefore, we will not tolerate it in this church. But it is
thought that present circumstances will not admit of our addressing the Gen
eral Assembly on that head, so as to answer any good purpose. What I pub
lished formerly, in the weekly paper here, consisted chiefly in extracts from
other authors,* all which you have doubtless seen, and most of them have
since been printed in Providence papers. Our printer gave such offence to a
number, by publishing those extracts, and was so threatened, if he continued
to insert such things in his paper, that he has been backward to do any thing
of this, kind since. He has, however, consented to print some observations
on that head, which I thought proper at this time, next Saturday ; a copy of
which I shall send to you when I have opportunity." f
To Moses Brown. — " Nov. 17, 1784. My worthy Friend : I enclose to you
something relating to the slave trade, that you may get it inserted in the Prov
idence papers, if you think it will answer any valuable end. I have not offered
it to the printer here, because I thought if it first appeared in our paper, the au
thor would be more likely to be suspected, which would answer no good end,
but the contrary. J I am glad to see the address of the Friends to the British
Legislature^ inserted in Mr. Wheeler's paper. I hope it will have influence.
At least, they have delivered themselves from the guilt of that horrible trade."
* He published, at this period, various extracts from the writings of the Bishop of
Gloucester; and several years afterward, extracts from the works of Clarkson and
Paley, on the slave system. He also published, if we may judge from the style of the
anonymous essays, more of original matter than came from the pen of any other Rhode
Islander, on this topic
t This article was printed in the Newport Mercury of May 1, 1784 ; and as a speci
men of his mildest style on the subject of slavery, is now republished in tbe Doctrinal
Tract Society's edition of Hopkins's Works.
X This is a very spirited article. It first appeared in the United States Chronicle,
Political, Commercial, and Historical, printed by Bonnet Wheeler, Providence ; and at
the close is the following notice : " All the printers of newspapers in the United States,
who are friends to liberty, their country, and mankind, are desired to insert the above
in their several papers." Great efforts were made by Mr. Brown to circulate all of Mr.
Hopkins's newspaper essays. Many of them were struck off in a separate form, and
distributed as circulars over the countTy.
$ In E. Copley's History of Slavery, it is said that the first petition to Parliament
for the abolition of the slave trade was presented in 1785, by citizens of Bridgewaier.

MEMOIR. 121
To Dr. Levi Hart, of Preston, Connecticut* — " February 10, 1786. Rev
erend and Bear Sir : I send you three pamphlets, put into my hands to pro
mote a conviction of the evil of the slave trade and of slavery. You will use
them to that end, in the way you think best. They are printed by the Qua
kers in England. Mr. Brown, of Providence, who sent them to me, writes
that the dissenting clergy are joining to promote the utter abolition of slavery
in the British dominions, and of the slave trade. He wishes to have a prize \
set up in some of our colleges, to be given for the best piece against the slave
trade, and says he will give twenty dollars toward such a design. He wishes
the clergy in America were more engaged to use their influence against the
slave trade. Query : Would it not be worth while to attempt to get the Con
vention of clergy in Boston, the General Association in Connecticut, and the
Synod of New York and Philadelphia, to remonstrate against it to Congress,
or [in] some other way to bear their testimony against it ? "
To Moses Brown. — " March 9, 1787. My Friend : I wrote you two days
ago, but having since received a letter from Mr. Law, dated Charleston, Feb
ruary 16, 1 write again to send you the following abstract from it : 'A Cap
tain Moses S., of Providence, shipped two free negroes as seamen on board
his vessel ; and when he arrived at this place, he, instead of paying them their
wages, according to agreement, sold them for slaves. A gentleman, whom I
desired to inquire into the matter, informed me yesterday that they were re
deemed and set at liberty. But I think such iniquity ought not to go unpun
ished, if any law will take hold of it; and I wish you to write' to Mr. Moses
Brown. If nothing more, it may be a means of their preventing others doing
in like manner.' You will please to make what use of this you think best
He informs me that the Legislature in North Carolina had made a law prohib
iting the importing slaves into that State ; and that a senator, member of the
Legislature of South Carolina, then sitting at Charleston, had told him that he
did not doubt but a law of the same tenor would be enacted at that session."
To Moses Broion. — " August 13, 1787. My Kind Friend : Yours of July 17
came to hand about the beginning of this month. I thank you for the intelli
gence you have taken pains to communicate to me. I have the same opinion
of Dr. Thornton | that you have entertained of him. I have seen the memo
rial that you, with your friends, presented to the General Assembly of this
State, and highly approve of it. I have made a motion to most of the ministers
in this town to join with all the ministers in this State, in presenting a memo
rial to the Assembly, of the same tenor with yours. Several of them approve,
and say they will sign such a memorial, if I will draw one. But my situation
and business will not admit of my applying to all the ministers in the State,
before the Assembly is to sit I hope to present the matter as soon as possi-

But Clarkson, in his History, p. 94, mentions the petition of the Quakers for the same
object, in 1783 ; to which petition Mr. Hopkins here alludes. The House of Burgesses,
in Virginia, petitioned the King, oil the first of April, 1772, for the abolition of the
slave trade in Iheir colony.
* Rev. Levi Hart, of Preston, Connecticut, was an intimate friend of Hopkins, from 1760
to 1803. He was a theological student of Bellamy, and married Rebecca, Bellamy's
eldest daughter. He was among the original founders of the Missionary Society of
Connecticut, and was active in forming the connection between the churches of Con
necticut and the Presbyterian General Assembly. He was a trustee of Dartmouth, and
also of Yale College. He was a man of influence. At his funeral, Dr. Joel Benedict
preached a sermon ; and on the following Sabbath Dr. Nathan Strong preached anolher
sermon, in memory of his virtues. Both of these discourses were published:
t The idea of this seems to have been suggested by the prize essay proposed in the
year preceding, by Dr. Peckard, of Cambridge, England. Thomas Clarkson was the
successful competitor for tlie premium, and derived from it his first interest in the cause
of the slave. '
X One of the earliest friends of the colonization scheme.
k *¦

122 MEMOIR.
ble. I do not think it likely that the Assembly will take the matter up, so as
to do any thing against the slave trade, at the next session. If they do not
wholly dismiss the petition, I shall be glad. I have pretty good evidence that
some of them speak fair words to you and your friends, who yet are deter
mined against doing any thing against the slave trade. I enclose to you an
essay which I have attempted to get published in the Newport Herald. And
the printer promised me that he would insert the whole of it at the head of his
paper, this week, so that it should be out before the sitting of the Assembly.
But he has since told me that he cannot print it, and has returned it. He says
he has consulted his friends, and they tell him that it will greatly hurt his in
terest to do it; that there is so large a number of his customers either in the
slave trade, or in such connection with [it], or so disposed with respect to it,
to whom it will give the greatest offence, that it is not prudent for him to do
it He therefore wholly refuses to do it. Thus that wicked set of men in
this town have got the printer in their hands, and have silenced the press, as
other tyrants have done before them. In vain do I tell him, that he has fallen
from his profession and promise when he first came here, and that his press is
no more open and free. If, when you have read it, you shall think best to
have it published, and Mr. Wheeler or Mr. Carter will do it, you have my free
consent. I have erased Mr. E.'s name. His name who shall print it, if it be
printed, must be inserted in the room of that. The length, perhaps, may be
an objection, though Mr. E. did not object to that. If it cannot be all inserted
in one paper, it may be divided and continued to the next. — I shall very
thankfully accept of your kind offer of the loan of Ramsay's Treatise. I have
desired to read it ever since I saw the account of it in Clarkson's Essay. You
will please to send it by some safe conveyance, or commit it to the care of
Bristol Yamma, a free negro, in Providence, whom I suppose you know. He
will faithfully transmit it to me. This is to go through his hands. I send
you one of the second edition of the Dialogue concerning the Slavery of the
Africans, to which a short Appendix is added."
In a letter of October 22, 1787, Mr. Hopkins remarks to Mr.
Brown :
"It has been objected by some of the ministers, against preferring a memo
rial to the General Assembly, respecting the slave trade, that the present rul
ing part in the Assembly have appeared to be so destitute of all principles of
justice, or [of] regard to it, and have acted such an iniquitous part, that there is
an impropriety in applying to them for justice ; especially for the ministers of
the gospel to do it, whom they hold in the highest contempt, and would embrace
any opportunity to pour contempt upon them ; which we should give them by
laying such a petition before tiiem. This prevents any thing of that kind
being done at present."
In the same letter, Mr. Hopkins alludes to a lengthened Essay,
signed Crito, whicli he had written for the Providence Gazette and
Country Journal. It was inserted in two successive numbers of that
paper, October 6 and 13, 1787. Mr. Brown circulated copies of
these papers among the most influential statesmen of the land. The
letters which follow disclose the celebrity which this Essay attained,
and the importance attached to it. It is written in a more pungent
and racy style than is generally ascribed to the Newport metaphy
sician. It is now republished in the Tract Society's edition of
Hopkins's Works.
To Dr. Levi Hart, of Preston, Connecticut. — " November 27, 1787. Rev
erend and Dear Sir: I write this to go by Plainfield, by General Douglass.
By him I send to Mr. Steward several newspapers containing pieces respect-

MEMOIR. 123
ing the slave trade, and have desired him to transmit them to you. Perhaps,
if you should think it worth while, you might get them reprinted in some
Connecticut newspaper ; particularly the law made in this State against the
slave trade. Rhode Island is in such low credit, or, rather, so infamous, that
I fear their example will not have much influence, even when they do that
which is worthy of imitation. Is it not extraordinary, that this State, which
has exceeded the rest of the States in carrying on this trade, should be the
first Legislature on this globe which has prohibited that trade ? Let them have
the praise of this ; especially as the Assembly were so nearly unanimous, there
being but four dissenting voices. If Boston and Connecticut should not join
us in this, I fear this law will soon be like some other Rhode Island laws." *
To Dr. Levi Hart. — " November 27, at evening, 1787. Dear Sir : I have
received a letter from Mr. Moses Brown, of Providence, which I conclude to
enclose to you, with twelve pages which contain Ci-ito, which he mentions,
and which I mentioned in my letter of to-day, as conveyed to Mr. Steward,
desiring him to put it into your hands. Moses Brown is a man of a respecta
ble character, as an honest, sensible man. He is a man of interest. He was
not educated a Quaker, but joined that sect some years ago. He is brother
to the famous John Brown, tiie rich merchant in Providence.! This Moses
was once concerned in the slave trade ; but for many years has been con
vinced of the iniquity of it, and his sin in practising it has lain heavy on his
conscience. He thinks it his duty to do all in his power to put a stop to this
traffic, and an end to tlie slavery of Africans, and to assist them to obtain their
freedom, in all the ways he can. And he is active and unwearied in his en
deavors to promote these ends. And I must say, that he and a number of his
brethren, who join him in this matter, have acted a judicious, faithful, and
honorable part. We have no men of any other denomination in these States,
who appear so conscientious, discerning, faithful, and zealous, in this matter,
as these Quakers do ; or who, in this respect, show so much of a Christian
spirit If we had a number of men of influence of this stamp in every State,
the slave trade" and slavery would be soon abolished. You will see by his
letter what he desires of me. You are the only man I can apply to in Con
necticut, with a view of answering any end respecting this matter. You have
access to some gentlemen of influence. The Governor lives near you, and
[you] can communicate any thing you please on this subject to him. Esquire
Sherman is an honest man, and his influence is great ; and there are, doubt
less, others whom you know. There are, doubtless, clergymen, with whom
you have such connection that you may excite them to use their influence in
opposition to the slave trade, if it be true that they are now carrying it on in
Connecticut You will do what you think prudence and duty ; and this is all
that I can expect or desire. I have been truly ashamed, that the clergy in these
States, and in New England in particular, have not, unitedly and publicly,
borne testimony against this trade and the slavery of Africans. If the minis
ters of the gospel would now join in general, or by particular associations, to
petition the General Assembly to suppress this trade, in imitation of the Qua
kers in this State, I think they would act a part which is very becoming to
them, — yea, their incumbent duty, and honorable to their character. As to
publishing the Crilo, <_c., which I have mentioned in my letter of this day,
* The preceding section, and also the present, develop some inconsistency in Ihe
legislation of Rhode Island, with regard to the slave system. This vacillating policy
annoyed the good divine.
f John Brown laid the corner stone of the first building erected in Providence for
Rhode Island College. The second building erected for the college was named in honor
of a niece of Moses Brown ; and the college itself bears its present appellation in
memory of his nephew, Nicholas. There were four brothers, all eminent men, of whom
Moses was the youngest. He was an honor to human nature, and it is pleasant to
reflect, that amid the deep poverty of Hopkins, he was so intimate with a Quaker of
such princely fortune and more than princely virtue. See Genealogy of a Portion of
the Brown Family, pp. 6, 7. Providence, 1851.

124 MEMOIR.
and which Mr. Brown mentions to me, you will judge what can be done and
what is best He, you will see, offers to be at the expense which shall be
necessary, if any ; and I am not afraid to be his bondsman. He had fifty of
each of the papers on which the Crito is printed struck off for him," and took
pains to send them to most of the representatives and [members] of the Upper
House, before the meeting of the Assembly ; and it is thought this had con
siderable influence in producing the law."
To Moses Brown. — " January 5, 1788. Dear Sir : Ramsay's Essay came
safe to me, which I return with thanks. I also thank you for two dozen of the
Providence Gazette, and for your letter containing many particulars of which
I was glad to be informed. I, without delay, wrote particularly to Mr. Hart, in
Preston, in Connecticut, and enclosed your letter to him. He is an honest,
sensible, active man, and has a particular acquaintance with the Governor of
that State, and with others in public stations. He is ready to do all in his
power to put a stop to the' slave trade. I hope he will be able to do some
thing which shall effect the suppression of it in that State. I have also sent
Crito's Essay to Dr. Cogswell, in New York, who is a member of the African
Society, and not one of the least active. I proposed to him to get Crito
reprinted in some of their public prints ; and that the society would enlarge
their plan, and take into it endeavors to abolish the slave trade.
" Several days ago, one of your committee, Mr. Wilkinson, called upon me,
and informed me that there was a proposal to get Crito reprinted in several
newspapers in Boston State, unless something which might more particular
ly be adapted to that State might be published. I told him I had not thought
of any thing that would, in my view, be worth saying, which was not
contained in that Essay ; but I would think of the matter, and if any thing
should occur to my mind on that head, I would inform you, as I should write
to you the first opportunity. In this view, I have attended to it ; and have
added two marginal notes, which I send to you with the papers containing the
Essay. I am far from being confident that it is best, or worth while, to insert
them, especially the first, but leave it with you and your friends to determine
as you think best. One objection against inserting them is, that it will
lengthen the Essay, which is now almost too long to be inserted in a news
paper. But I do not find myself able to abridge it. If you should get the
Essay reprinted, as proposed, and think of inserting those marginal notes, I
give you full liberty to make any alteration in them, by adding or subtract
ing, as you shall think best"
To Moses Brown. — " February 25, 1788. My Kind Friend : When I wrote
you [my] last [letter], which went with Ramsay's Essay, I informed you that
I had forwarded your letter to me, with Crito on Slave Trade, to Mr. Hart, in
Connecticut. I have since had a letter from him, informing that the printers
of newspapers in Norwich and Hartford have engaged to print it in their re
spective papers, without cost. And that he shall exert himself to the utmost,
and use all the influence he has, against the slave trade. And he adds
tlie following : ' I hope the efforts of the honest and respectable society of
Friends, in tlie cause of humanity, may be successful, to the extirpation of
the slave trade from these States.' I have lately received a letter from Dr.
Cogswell, of New York, a member of the African Society there, to whom I
sent a copy of Crito, &c. I will transcribe a paragraph or two from him : ' I
thank you for the newspapers containing Crito's Essay. The African Society
here have agreed to petition the Legislature of this State for a law to prevent
the exportation and importation of negroes. Crito will be published about
the time the petition is presented. The society here are using every measure
that prudence dictates to put a stop to the slave trade. Their exertions have
already bepn attended with very considerable effects. The minds of people
are more awakened, and they think more liberally on the subject' I am
Borry it is not in my power to send you copies of several letters our society
have received from the African Society in London. But this must be omitted

MEMOIR. 125
till another opportunity. These would give you the information yon wish
respecting the proposed settlement on the coast of Africa. I can only inform
you now, that five ships have actually sailed for the purpose of making a set
tlement there, and that tlie society in London seem much engaged to put a
final period to this iniquitous traffic. For this purpose, they have sent Mr.
Clarkson (author of Essay, &c.) into various parts of tlie kingdom of Great Brit
ain, to collect materials to lay before the public, that the evil may be exposed as
fully as possible. ' They desire us to present them with all the information
we can on the subject ; and likewise to inform them how those negroes be
have that have been liberated. I wish you, sir, to give me all the intelligence
you can, on these points, from your State and from Massachusetts.' I tran
scribe the last clause to open the way to desire you to give me what informa
tion you can, respecting ' these points,' from Providence or any other parts.
And if you should go to Boston soon, or have opportunity to send by any of
your friends, I wish you to take measures to get information from thence.
Mr. Eckley is most acquainted with the blacks there of any man I know, and
is most likely to give the desired information respecting the freed blacks."
To Moses Brown. — "September 24, 1788. My much respected Friend: I
received your late letter, and thank you for the intelligence contained in it,
and the enclosed paper and pamphlets. I enclosed your letter, with the peti
tion of the clergy, &c, in Boston, to the General Court, and the Providence
paper which contains the law lately made in Pennsylvania, to Mr. Hart, of
Preston, desiring him to forward them to Dr. Edwards, of New Haven ; which
he writes me he shall do by the first opportunity. I have lately had authentic
information, that the General Association, which is composed of members
delegated from each particular Association of clergy in the State of Connecti
cut, and which was convened last June, unanimously agreed to present a me
morial and petition, in the name of all the clergy in that State, to the next
General Assembly, which will sit next month, in New Haven, praying that a
law may be made, to prohibit the slave trade in that State ; and that they ap
pointed a committee, of whom Dr. Edwards was one, to draw up said petition,
and they adjourned to New Haven, to meet there this month to sign it. I am
glad to hear that yon, with a number of your friends, have proposed to apply
to that Assembly on the same subject. I have no doubt of your succeeding."
The first society in the world, for the abolition of slavery, seems
to have been formed in Philadelphia.* A few Quakers of that city
met often, in 1774, for the purpose of devising a scheme for the re
lief of the negroes. They formed a society, April 14, 1775. This
society was resuscitated in April, 1784, and still a new impulse was
given to it in 1787, when Benjamin Franklin was chosen its Presi
dent. The second society was formed in New York, January 25,
1785. The third was formed in Rhode Island, and of course en
gaged the interest of Mr. Hopkins more than the other two. The
Maryland Abolition Society, likewise, was instituted in 1789. The
Connecticut Society was instituted September 9, 1790 ; of which Dr.
Stiles was President, and Judge Baldwin was Secretary. In the
* A society was formed in England by Wilberforce, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and oth
ers, May 22, 1787, for the abolition of the slave trade ; but it refused to comply with
die solicitation of Granville Sharp, and to include in its objects the entire abolition of
slavery. See Prince Hoare's Life of Sharp, part iv. eh. ii. Six of the English Friends
had united in a kind of informal society for " the relief and liberation of the negro
slaves in the West Indies, and for the discouragement of the slave trade on the coast
of Africp," as early as July 7, 1783. See Clarkson'* History, p. 96.
k*

126 MEMOIR.
formation of this society, Dr. Hart was very active, and was ap
pointed to preach the annual sermon before it in 1792. Virginia and
New Jersey formed Abolition Societies in or about 1791.
It is said by one who resided at the time in Mr. Hopkins's family,
that the first meeting for consultation, with regard to an Abohtion
Society in New England, was held in the large front parlor of his
house. Several gentlemen from Providence were present. The
Society, however, was not formally organized there. The reason may
have been, that it would have met a more violent opposition in New
port than in Providence. It was regularly formed at Providence,
February 20, 1789. A member of the old Congress, Judge David
Howell, was its first President, and Governor Arthur Fenner one
of. its Standing Committee. Mr. Hopkins was not pleased with
some articles of its Constitution. He desired that " a door [should]
be fully open, for persons in any of the New England States to be
come members " of it. The following is from one of his character
istic, large-hearted letters on the subject, to Moses Brown :
" March 7, 1789. Dear Sir : I have, with pleasure, seen the progress you
have made in forming the society for the Abolition of Slavery, and trust it
will answer important good ends. But I have objections to the title you have
f" ven the society : ' The Providence Society for Abolishing the Slave Trade.'
think this is too confined. It should, -at least, be extended to the whole State.
And I think it ought not to be confined to the abolition of the slave trade. It
ought to promote the freedom of those now in slavery, and to assist those who
are free, as far as may be, to the enjoyment of the privileges of freemen, and
the comforts of life. Those are, indeed, expressed in the preamble ; but why
should they not come into the title of the society ? However, I do not so
much insist upon the last objection as upon the first. I told Mr. Wilkinson,
who asked me to set my name to the constitution, that I was ready to do it, if,
instead of Providence, Rhode Island or the State of Rhode Island might be
inserted,' and that I would sign it on that condition, that this alteration should
be made ; and if it were not, I would have liberty to withdraw my subscrip
tion. He appeared to be convinced, from the reasons I offered, that the pro
posed alteration ought to be made, and said it might easily be done. Mr.
Thomas Robinson and William Almy were present, and agreed with me.
And I suppose all who are willing to subscribe, in this town, and in this part
i of the State, will insist upon this alteration." *
At Providence, the Abolition Society was not without its powerful
enemies. They asserted that it injured the reputation of the slave
traders, some of whom were " the best citizens of Newport ; " it
injured the character of the slaves by inducing them to run away ;
it tended to prevent the slave trade, which was a real benefit to the
Africans, as it saved them from the barbarities of their native land
* Notwithstanding these early objections, Hopkins did become a member of the
society, and as such delivered a sermon before it, in 1793. Its name was, ultimately,
« The Providence Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, for the Relief of
Persons unlawfully held in Bondage, and for Improving the Condition of the African
Race." It contained, in 1790, one hundred and eighteen members, of whom sixty-eight
lived in Massachusetts, and three in Connecticut. Jonathan Edwards was one of those
three. — A deep jealousy prevailed at this time between Providence and Newport.'

MEMOIR. 127
and introduced them into civilized regions : the spirit of the society
was adverse to the Constitution of the United States, one article of
which was made on purpose " to prevent the injustice which this society
and their adherents " are practising. A bold assault was made upon
the personal character of some officers of the society. To all this
Moses Brown replied, with the beautiful calmness which ever adorned
his mild life. Judge Howell came to the rescue with his keen ar
gument and his latinity of style. The opposition was the more
serious, because the " Citizen " who prompted it was one of the
most powerful men in the State. At the close of the affray, Hop
kins sent the following letters to Moses Brown :
" March 30, 1789. I wrote to my much respected friend, several weeks
ago, which [letter] I hope you have received. I am sorry to see the unhappy
quarrel which has taken place, at Providence. I have the pleasure, however,
of believing that the mad opposition the ' Citizen' is making to the Abolition
Society, and particular members of it, will be the means of strengthening it,
and of promoting the design for which it has been formed. I am pleased to
find you are enabled to maintain such a degree of calmness and fortitude, un
der tiie abuse which you and your friends have received from one who, unpro
voked, is casting firebrands, arrows, and death, and fighting with creatures of
his own imagination. — I have lately received letters from Philadelphia, and I
suppose you also have. The Corresponding Committee of tlie Abolition So
ciety there, rejoice to find a society is formed in Providence. They will do
all they can to assist and strengthen our hands. They have sent me an ac
count of a similar society lately formed in Washington, in that State, which
they desire may be printed in some New England newspaper. Edes has en
couraged me he will insert it in his paper, this week. If he should not, I
shall send it to you. If he should, I wish you to get it printed in one or both
of the Providence papers. I have also been desired to publish the names of
the Corresponding Committee in Philadelphia, which perhaps you will think
proper to have published in [the] Providence papers. I am desired to inform
my friends at Philadelphia, whether Dr. Hitchcock and Mr. West, who are
corresponding members of the Abolition Society in Pennsylvania, have joined
the society at Providence ; or what part they have acted in the affair. I must
depend on you for information respecting them. I have heard that Dr. H. de
clined joining, at first ; but what part he has acted since, I have not been in
formed ; or for what reasons he declined joining in the first formation of the
society. Since I saw Mr. Wilkinson, [I] have not heard what additions are
made to the society, or how many joined, in Newport, or parts adjacent. I
am sensible that the combination and influence in this town is strongly exert
ed against it ; and many, who reprobate the slave trade and slavery, in their
own minds, do not choose to appear openly against it, because they feel them
selves, in some way, dependent on those whom they should hereby offend."
" August 17, 1789. Much respected Friend : I also think it proper, and of
importance, that the design of the society should be expressed so as to com
prehend, not only ' The Abolishing the Slave Trade' but the protection and as
sistance of those blacks who are free. They are, most of them, exposed to be
injured, many ways. And they want direction and assistance in many in
stances. And if a way should be opened for their settling in Africa, and the so
ciety should, in any time hereafter, be able to promote and assist them in such
a design, it would be desirable that it might be done consistent with the ex
press design of the society.* What attention has been paid by the society's
* Here is a second allusion to the writer's colonization scheme. It deserves to be
recorded, that the Providence Abolition Society not only adopted measures, such as the

128 MEMOIK.
committee to the slave trade;. as carried on in this town, I know not. There
is no informing or corresponding committee here, I suppose. I have heard it
observed, that it would be proper to have a committee, or some of the commit
tee, here. But I question whether that would answer any good end. The
combined opposition is so great and strong here, that, I think, no committee
formed in this town would be able to do much ; and if there should be any
proper prosecutions, they must be carried on in Providence. However, there
might be a corresponding committee here. But the wisdom of those who
shall meet, will best determine this."
"November 18, 1789. Dear Sir: I learn that it is a question before the
society, Whether any prosecutions shall be commenced against those whose
vessels sailed on the slave trade, before the institution of the society, but since
the law made in this State took place. It appears to me, and I believe to
most of the members in this town, if not to all, that if this question should be
determined in the negative, the consequence will be very hurtful to the soci
ety, if not fatal. The past neglect to prosecute, and the known hesitation re
specting it, has had a great and apparent effect already. The slave traders
are more bold and resolute to go on in the trade, and entertain a low and con
temptuous thought of the society. And if the prosecutions in question should
be finally dropped, I am confident it will sink the society in the view of the
public in general, and we shall lose our influence, and the design of the insti
tution will be, in a great measure, defeated. I think that lenity in this case,
or any thing that looks like irresolution, neglect, and dilatoriness, will fix a
slur on the society which cannot easily be wiped off, but will sink it into dis
credit. Perhaps you and others have formed a different and better judgment,
on reasons which do not occur to me. But I thought it duty thus freely to
express mine, trusting it will not give any offence. Mr. Hart informed me
that a number of merchants in Norwich have lately gone into the slave trade.
But it is under such cover, that he knows not that such evidence of the act
can be obtained as to afford ground for a legal prosecution. Perhaps time
will bring forth evidence."
"March 11, 1790. Dear Sir: I have just received yours of the first instant,
by Mr. Buffum, and thank you for the communication. I think the matter
ought to be pursued to effect, if the negro can be recovered by law, or [the
' Citizen '] made to suffer the rigor of the law for the good of others. I am
no lawyer, so cannot assist in pointing out tlie method in which the case ought
to be prosecuted, but trust you have men able to counsel, at Providence. Mr.
Marchant * is not in town. If he were, I would lay the matter before him,
and see what he [would] say upon it. It is high time [this ' Citizen '] was
taken down a little, f Granville Sharp, Esq. has sent to me several copies of
' A Short Sketch of Temporary Regulations, &c.' I present one to yon, to
use it and dispose of it as you think proper."
It has been common to speak of Hopkinsianism as an impracti
cable scheme. Hopkins himself, however, must be considered a
practical man. It was, doubtless, a self-denial for him to leave his
studies in theology, and mingle with the politics of the day. The
preceding letters indicate the zeal with which he engaged in pe
titioning legislatures, encouraging legal prosecutions, etc. He was
evidently the man in Rhode Island, to whom appeals were made
memorializing of Congress and various State Legislatures for the prevention of the
slave traffic, but was also energetic in protecting free blacks, who were often assailed in
the streets, kidnapped, and sent from Rhode Island to other States.
* Hon. Henry Marchant, LL. D., District Judge, an intimate friend of Dr. Stiles.
t This could be more easily proposed than accomplished, for the gentleman alluded
to was one of the most eminent men in New England.

MEMOIR. 129
from the North and the South, with regard to even the details of
political action on the subject of slavery. It is not to be inferred,
that he deemed it wise to make himself prominent in all political
disputes. He stepped on the arena of civil strife, only when the
cause of religion seemed to demand his intervention. He knew how
to make exceptions to a rule. This knowledge is a great part of
what is called " common sense."

Sect. XXXT. CHRISTIANIZATION OF AFRICA.
The influence of this reformer in lessening the evils of slavery
proceeded not alone from his direct animadversions on the system,
but also from his scheme for planting the institutions of the gospel
upon the African continent. His efforts in prosecuting this scheme,
awakened the attention of many Americans and Britons to the im
portance of abolishing the whole slave system. There is an inti
mate union between evangelizing the African when at home, and
freeing him from his chains when abroad. It was religious principle
that prompted Hopkins to his efforts against slavery, and these
efforts were allied with an attempt to infuse a religious principle into
others. Soon after his installation at Newport, in 1770, he formed
a plan for sending the gospel to Africa. After he had matured it in
his own mind, he held a consultation on the subject with his theo
logical opponent, Dr. Stiles.* The Doctor at first viewed the plan
with indifference, not to say distrust. His suspicion that Hopkins
was desirous of trying au experiment with the " New Divinity "
upon the dark natives of Guinea may, of right, provoke a smile. In
Stiles's Literary Diary, we read : ,
" April 8, 1773. Yesterday Mr. Hopkins came to see me and discourse
with me on a design he is meditating, to make some negro ministers and send
them to Guinea. Mr. Hopkins supposes the great reason why the gospel is
not received, is because it is mixed with so many false glosses. He believes
the Moravians have no Christianity, — most Christians embrace delusions; —
and I never find him approving the doctrines usually preached in any churches
now in Christendom, whether Congregational, Presbyterian, or, &c. He
looks upon all the Protestant churches and ministers in general, as so errone
ous and corrupt, that their preaching tends directly to spread delusion, and
lead souls religiously down to hell. This is his opinion, to be sure, of most of
the New England ministers ; except forty or fifty, out of five or six hundred
ministers. There are about twenty or twenty-five ministers who fall in with
Mr. Hopkins's peculiarities, and twenty more who admire Mr. Edwards's
writings, and have a hearty friendship for Mr. Hopkins, though rather as they
are friends to all Calvinists, than for all his singularities.! I suppose there
* This amiable gentleman had been in a worse condemnation than Edwards, Bellamy,
or Hopkins, with regard to slavery ; for he had not only owned, but also imported fresh
from Africa a slave, whom, however, he afterwards freed.
t Dr. Stiles here expresses the general opinion of his times with regard to the differ
ence between Edwardean or Hopkinsian Calvinism, and the ordinary Calvinism of New
England. Every body regarded Edwards and Hopkins as introducing a new phasis of
Calvinism.

130 MEMOIR.
are three or four hundred more true Calvinist ministers in New England, who
disclaim these peculiarities; I do not find that Mr. Hopkins speaks with ap
probation of any of them, though I rather think that he esteems some of them.*
Yet he is evidently endeavoring to conciliate them, as a distinct body among
the churches. But he does not meet with that success in propagating his
sentiments in New England which he would wish And Dr. Witherspoon,
and the Synods to the southward in general, are against him. I have thought,
whether he had not an inclination that the experiment of his principles should
be tried on heathen Africans. There are two negro men, communicants in
his church, that he is disposed to train up for this end. The one is Qnamine,
a free negro, and the other, Yamma, a servant Now, if he could engage
some respectable persons to join in forwarding this affair, he thinks it would
lay a foundation of Christianizing the Africans on principles to his mind. He
wants, therefore, to contrive that these two negroes should be taken under
tuition, perfected in reading the Scriptures, and taught systematical divinity,
and so ordained and sent forth. I told him that if thirty or forty proper and
well-instructed negroes could be procured, true Christians, and inspired with
the spirit of martyrdom, and go forth [expecting that] f ten or a dozen of them
should meet death in the cause, and this conducted by a society formed for
the purpose, there might be a hopeful prospect. But even this, I feared,
would be taken up by the public and secularized, as Dr. Wheelock's Indian
College, which has already almost lost sight of its original design ; that if
one or two should be sent thither by Presbyterians, I could foresee a vigorous
opposition soon arising from the Episcopalian traders, and from Mr. Qnaque,
a ne^ro minister, already sent there from the Church of England. So we
left the matter to further thought and consideration. -Mr. Hopkins desired
me to talk with Quamine, and examine his abilities, which I said I was
ready to do.
" April 13. Last evening, Quamine came to see me, to discourse upon the
scheme of his becoming a minister. He tells me that he was born at Anna-
maboe, on the African Gold Coast ; that when he was about ten years old, his
father delivered him to Captain  , to bring him to Rhode Island for
learning. He came here about eighteen or nineteen years ago, or 1754 or 1755.
After sending him to school a while, the captain sold him for a slave. About
1761, he fell under serious impressions of religion, and thenceforward sought
to God by secret prayer, about three years. At length, it pleased God that he
experienced, as he hopes, a divine change, of which he gave an account to
Madam Osborn, in writing, which he addressed to her, dated October 8, 1764,
dictated by Quamine, and written by his female fellow-servant ; and after
wards in another to Deacon Coggeshall, which Mr. Hopkins brought me
yesterday. In 1765, he made a profession, was baptized by Rev. Mr. Vinall,
and admitted a member in the First Congregational Church in town, and has
behaved exemplarily and soberly ever since. He tells me that ever since he
tasted the grace of the Lord Jesus, he [has felt an] earnest desire or wish
that his relations and countrymen in Africa might also come to the knowledge
of, and taste the same blessed things.
" I examined his reading, and asked him what part of the Bible he had read
most. He said, Matthew, John, Romans, and Corinthians. I turned him to
the first chapter of John's Gospel. He read but indifferently; not freely, but
slowly, yet distinctly, and pretty accurately. I turned him to the tenth chap
ter, and also [to the] ninety-eighth Psalm, which he read slowly, and though
not freely, yet distinctly. I advised him to read the Bible in course, two or
* That Mr. Hopkins was accustomed to take rather dark views of his times there
can be no doubt. In a letter dated July 7, 176G, he characterizes a certain class of
Massachusetts ministers, as " awfully sunken creatures." Still, Ihe picture here given
of him by Dr. Stiles, seems to be overshaded. The worthy diarist probably gave too
literal and exact an interpretation to some of Mr. Hopkins's strong language.
t The words in brackets are substituted for an obscure phrase in the original.

MEMOIR. 131
three chapters daily, to perfect himself in reading, while, at the same time,
he would increase in Scripture knowledge. He has had but little time for
reading; seldom any but Lord's days. I did not try him as to writing, but
he said he had begun to write last winter. He is pretty judicious, but not
communicative, and I am doubtful whether he would be apt to teach. He
certainly wants much improvement to qualify him for the gospel ministry, if,
indeed, such a thing was advisable."
The preceding narrative of Dr. Stiles impresses upon us the con
viction, that the literary prospects of these two candidates for the
ministry were somewhat ominous. It is delightful to reflect on the
resolute, unwavering, indomitable spirit of Hopkins, in taking men
from this low condition, and training them for a missionary work on
the African continent. If the wisdom of the enterprise be doubted,
its benevolence will be admired. It did secure the approbation of
the wisest men ; for they have always known, that great results
come from small beginnings.
Dr. Stiles had a true benevolence of heart, and also a profound-
respect for the divine, whose high Calvinism he disliked. He en
tered at last into a cordial union with Mr. Hopkins, in promoting the
spiritual good of Africa, and he signed his name to the following
Circular, which was written mainly by Mr. Hopkins, and was dis
tributed among the churches of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
" To all who are desirous to promote the kingdom of Christ on earth, in the
salvation of sinners, the following narrative and proposal are offered, to excite
and solicit their charity and prayers.
" There are two colored men, members of the First Congregational Church
in Newport,* on Rhode Island, named Bristol Yamma, and John Quamine,
who were hopefully converted some years ago, and have from that time sus
tained a good character as Christians, and have made good proficiency in
Christian knowledge. The latter is son of a rich man at Annamaboe, and was
sent by his father to this place for an education among the English, and then
to return home. All this the person to whom he was committed engaged to
perform, for a good reward. But, instead of being faithful to his trust, he sold
him a slave for life. But God, in his providence, has put it in the power of
both of them to obtain their freedom. The former is, however, fifty dollars in
debt, as he could not purchase his freedom under two hundred dollars ; which
he must procure by his labor, unless relieved by the charity of others.
" These persons, thus acquainted with Christianity, and apparently devoted
to the service of Christ, are about thirty years old ; have good natural abili
ties ; are apt, steady, and judicious, and speak their native language, — the
language of a numerous, potent nation in Guinea, to which they both belong.
They are not only willing, but very desirous to quit all worldly prospects, and
risk their lives in attempting to open a door for the propagation of Christianity
among their poor, ignorant, perishing heathen brethren.
" The concurrence of all these things has led to set on foot a proposal to
send them to Africa, to preach the gospel there, if, upon trial, they shall ap
pear in any good measure qualified for this business. In order to this, they
must be put to school, and taught to read and write better than they now can,
and be instructed more fully in divinity, &c. And if, upon trial, they appear
to make good proficiency, and shall be thought by competent judges to be fit
* This church, it will be recollected, was under the pastoral charge of Dr. Hopkins.

132 MEMOIR.
for such a mission, it is not doubted that money may be procured sufficient to
carry the design into execution.
" What is now wanted and asked is money to pay the debt mentioned, and
to support them at school, to make the trial whether they may be fitted for the
proposed mission. Whatever shall be given to this end, and put into the
hands of the subscribers, they engage faithfully to improve to this purpose
only, and to promote the proposed mission according to their best discretion;
and to be at all times ready to give an account to those who desire it, of all
they shall receive, and the manner in which it has been expended.
" As God has, in his providence, so far opened the way to this, by raising
up these persons, and ordering the remarkable concurring circumstances and
events which have been mentioned, and there is, most probably, no other in
stance in America, where so many things conspire to point out the way for a
mission of this kind, with such encouragement to pursue it, may it not be
hoped it will have the patronage and assistance of all the pious and benev
olent ?
" And it is humbly proposed to those who are convinced of the iniquity of
the slave trade, and are sensible of the great inhumanity and cruelty of enslav
ing so many thousands of our fellow-men every year, with all the dreadful and
horrid attendants, and are ready to bear testimony against it in all proper
ways, and do their utmost to put a stop to it, whether they have not a good
opportunity of doing this, by cheerfully contributing according to their ability,
to promote the mission proposed ; and whether this is not the best compensa*
tion we are able to make the poor Africans, for the injuries they are constantly
receiving by this unrighteous practice and all its attendants.
" But, aside from this consideration, may it not be hoped that all who are
heartily praying, Thy kingdom come, will liberally contribute to forward this
attempt to send the glorious gospel of the blessed God to the nations who now
worship false gods, and dwell in the habitations of cruelty, and the land of the
shadow of death ; especially, since the King of Zion has promised that who
soever parts with any thing in this world, for the kingdom of God's sake, shall
receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life ever
lasting. Ezra Stiles,
Samuel Hopkins.
"Newport, Rhode Island, August 31, 1773."
This truly missionary appeal secured an immediate and an en
couraging response. In a letter dated February 7, 1774, Hopkins
writes to Dr. Hart :
" I thank you for your letter from Providence, and the enclosed from Mr.
Potter. I have communicated it to Dr. Stiles, and we both think Dr. Whee-
lock's proposals cannot take place to any advantage. At present, it is thought
best the negroes should continue at Newport, as they live cheaper here than
they could elsewhere, and are instructed gratis. And they would be little or
no advantage to Dr. Wheelock's negro boy, in his learning their native lan
guage, as 'tis not best they should attend to that much, now. If that boy was
otherwise fitted, and the mission should take effect, he might go with them, or
after they had made the first attempt, and would soon learn the language by
their assistance. If you write, Dr. Stiles and I desire you to present our com
pliments to Dr. Wheelock, and thank him for his kind offer of his assistance,
and his good wishes to the design.
" Our society of women contributed the first time to promote the African
mission, last Tuesday, which they spent together as a day of fasting and
prayer for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ Mr. Gordon has in
formed me that £5 sterling is ready for me in a merchant's hands in Boston.
The ministers in Berkshire county have sent a letter to Dr. Stiles and me,
highly approving of our design, and earnestly wishing it Buccess. And Mr.

MEMOIR. 133
West has sent £3 16s. lawful [money], which was contributed by them, ex
cept three dollars of it, which Miss Pamela Dwight generously gave.
" Dr. Stiles and I think the forwardness to promote the African mission,
manifested by you and tiie ministers in connection with you, and a number
among your people and Mr. Benedict's, and your and their generous contribu
tions toward it, worthy of particular notice ; and we desire you, as you have
opportunity, to express to them our thankful acknowledgments, and wishes
that they may have the reward which is promised to every one who parts with
this world's goods, for tlie kingdom of God's sake.
" Nothing new since tlie last date, except that the Doctor and I have re
ceived a line from the North Association in Hartford county, informing that
they approve of the proposal, in general ; but wait for information by which
they may judge of the probability of tlie negroes being qualified for and suc
cessful in the proposed mission, in order to do any thing to encourage it"
It is always difficult to separate theological partialities from prac
tical beneficence. Human nature works its way into the best schemes.
Some friends of Dr. Stiles were not so liberal to the African mission
as were the friends of Mr. Hopkins. In the Literary Diary of Dr.
Stiles we find the following morceau : " October 6, 1773. I received
a letter from Dr. Chauncy, in which he asks an account of the two
negroes intended for the African mission. He thinks a white mis
sionary ought to go with them, and should not be educated by Mr.
H  ; for he thinks that the negroes had better continue in pagan
ism than embrace Mr. H  's scheme, which he judges far more
blasphemous." *
But Mr. Hopkins was not a man who would allow a theological
prejudice to defeat a benevolent scheme. Probably for the sake of
allaying such a prejudice, he consented that the two negroes should
be sent to Princeton ; for although he dissented from some of the
theories which were taught there, still he was too catholic to deny,
that the " substance of doctrine " was retained at the college of Ed
wards and Burr. Accordingly we read in Stiles's Literary Diary :
" November 22, 1774. Yesterday morning sailed from hence for New
York, in their way to Princeton, Bristol Yamma and John Quamine, two
freed negroes of this town, designed for an African mission. We have sent
them to reside some time at Jersey College, under the tuition of President
Witherspoon. Last night there was a very severe storm and high wind, — a
very dangerous gale. They arrived safe at New York." Two days after
ward, Dr. Stiles records, " November 24. To-day, Mr. Hopkins and I signed
a set of bills for £50 sterling; being three bills dated this day, which we
drew on Mr. John Mcintosh, of Lothbury, London, by order of the Society
in Edinburgh for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in a letter to us from Mr.
* Between Dr. Chauncy, of Boston, and Mr. Hopkins, one would not anticipate a
theological harmony. For many years there had been a mutual dread of each other.
In a letter to Dr. Bellamy, dated July 23, 1767, Mr. Hopkins writes : " All Ihe wmV-
cumeised, in and about Boston, set up Dr. Chauncy as the standard, and say he has
struck oul the right path in his sermons. Mr. Blair [of Old South Church] is zealous
to have some remarks made upon them, as he thinks they contain the sum of all the
poison artfully intermixed and concealed. I believe if he could be well exposed and
taken down, it would give tbe greatest blow to that powerful and rising party ; and
wish you would carefully read him with that view, if your health will permit. I have
bought and brought him home with me."
I

134 MEMOIR.
James Forrest, dated February last, it being for the use of educating Bristol
and Quamine, two negroes, for the African mission."
On the 10th of April, 1776, Dr. Stiles and Mr. Hopkins signed a
second Circular, and afterward published it in a pamphlet. It was
written, as was the first, mainly by Hopkins, and exhibits remark
able evidence of his perseverance in the missionary work at that
early day. After quoting their Appeal of August 31, 1773, they
add: " In consequence of this proposal [to educate the two negroes for the Afri
can mission], numbers have generously contributed to promote the design ;
and we have received £102 Is. 4_ 3/., lawful money ; of which £55 8s. 3/.
has been given in New England ; £30 sterling has been given by the Soci
ety in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge ; and a gentleman in
London has sent us £5 sterling. And we have had encouragement, both
from Scotland and England, that more would be given, if wanted, and the
proposed mission should take place. But all intercourse with Great Britain
is now cut off.
" We have had the approbation of a number of gentlemen who have seen
the proposal. The presbytery of New York, and the associated ministers of
several counties in Connecticut, have written us, highly approving of the de
sign. Mr. Forrest, clerk of the society in Scotland, mentioned above, writes
in the following words :
" ' The perusal of this memorial * gave great satisfaction to the directors, while
it excited their admiration at the various secret and seemingly most unlikely
means, whereby an all- wise Providence sees meet to accomplish his gracious
purposes. At the same time, they rejoiced at the fair prospect now afforded
to extend the Mediator's kingdom to those nations who dwell, at present, in
the habitations of cruelty, and in the land of the shadow of death. After
Saying so much, it is almost unnecessary to add, that the plan suggested in your
memorial received the warmest approbation of the directors of the society,
and that they highly applauded your pious zeal in this matter, which they
earnestly wish and hope may be crowned with success.'
" The two men above mentioned have been at school and under instruction
most of the time since the date of the above proposal. They have spent one
winter at Princeton, under the care of Dr. Witherspoon, President of the
college there. And they have made such proficiency, and are in such a
measure qualified for the mission proposed, that they would enter upon it
directly, were there opportunity to send them to Africa, (which there is not
at present, by reason of the state of our public affairs,) and had we money
sufficient to furnish them for this purpose.
" Since this design has been on foot, means have been used f to get intelli
gence of John Quamine's family, by writing to Philip Quaque, a colored man,
and native of Guinea, who is missionary from the Society in London for Propa
gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and resides at Cape Coast Castle, by
relating to him the manner of his being brought from Guinea, and sending his
description of his father's family, and informing that he was now free, and
had thoughts of returning to his native country, &c. In answer to which he
writes as follows :
" ' It is with inexpressible pleasure and satisfaction that I acquaint you, that
* The Circular of August 31, 1773, quoted above on p. 131.
t Mr. Hopkins wrote a letter of inquiry to Mr. Quaque, on this subject. Mr.
Quaque was an Episcopal missionary, ordained in 1765. He died October 17, 1816,
aged seventy-five years, having been a useful chaplain and teacher in his native land
about half a century.

MEMOIR. 135
my inquiries after the friends and relations of that gentleman have met with
the desired success. The minute account he entertains you with of his fami
ly and kindred, is just. For, by inquiring, I have found his father's name to
be the same which you mention, who has been dead many years. His mother's
name is as you have written it, who is still alive, and whom I had the pleasure
of seeing. But the bowels of maternal affection — in truth do I declare it —
seem ready to burst, and break forth in tears of joy, like Jacob when he heard
that his beloved son Joseph was yet alive. The joy it kindled on the occa
sion, in expectation of seeing once more the fruit of her loins before she with
her gray hairs goes down to the grave, throws her into ecstasies resembling
Jacob's, and in raptures she breaks forth and says, It is enough ! My son is
yet alive ! I hope, by God's blessing, to see him before I die. His uncle is called
by the same name mentioned in your favor. In short, every circumstance is
agreeable to the description given me in your letter. A great personage of
his family, whose name is Oforee, and now enjoys his father's estate, desires,
with great importunity, that I would earnestly petition you that he may be
returned to them as soon as may be, and promises that nothing shall be want
ing to make him, and all about him, comfortable and happy among his own
kindred. And the whole family unanimously join in requesting me to render
you all the grateful acknowledgments and thanks they are able to return for
your paternal care and affection exercised toward him, and beg me to tell you,
that as it is not in their power to requite you for all your trouble, they there
fore hope that the good God of Heaven will recompense you hereafter for
your labor of love bestowed on him.'
" In a letter of a later date, he writes in the following manner :
" ' The mother is still looking with impatience for the return of her son, once
dead and lost. She, and the principal cousin, who possesses the estate of his
father, join in earnestly entreating you would, in your Christian love and
charity to them, send the lad again, that he may receive their cordial em
braces, looking upon themselves sufficient to support him. I received the
charitable proposals, and sincerely thank you therefor. And I am joyful to
hear, that there are Africans with you who partake of the blessings of the
gospel, and in time may be the means of promoting the greatest and best in
terest of Africans here. I wish to God for its speedy accomplishment, when
the nation who are now called not the children of Jehovah, shall become the
prophets of the Lord, and the children of the living God. May the benedic
tion of the Almighty prosper all their undertakings, to the saving of many
souls.' " A native of Annamaboe has lately arrived at Newport, who is a free man,
and appears to be a sensible, inquisitive person, and is recommended by the
captain he came with, as a man of integrity and good behavior. He is a re
lation of John Quamine's, and well acquainted with his family, and confirms
the above account. He expresses a desire to learn to read, &c, and to be
instructed in the Christian religion, sensible that he and his countrymen are
ignorant of the way in which men may find favor with God, and that they
stand in need of a revelation from him, in order to know what he requires of
them. He says, he has heard we have such a revelation among us, and he
desires to know what it contains. He informs, that he knows of a number of
youths at Annamaboe, who have a great desire to learn to read and write,
&c, and would come into these parts for that end, were they not afraid of
being deceived and sold. He appears pleased with the proposal to send
blacks to teach his people, and thinks they will be kindly received and at
tended to.
" There is another colored man, named Salmar Nubia, a member of the Sec
ond Congregational Church * in Newport, who is promising as a person of
a good genius, and giving evidence of real piety. He is about twenty years
* This church was under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Dr. Stiles.

136 MEMOIR.
old, and has lately had his freedom given to him. He is greatly desirous and
engaged, in some way to promote the spread of the gospel among the Afri
cans. We think there is good encouragement to be at the expense of fitting
him for a missionary or a schoolmaster among them.
"What has been given to promote this design is nearly expended al
ready ; — a particular account of the expenses any one who pleases may see
at any time. Money is now wanted still to carry it on, — to support these
men till they have an opportunity to go to Guinea, — to furnish them with
necessaries for their voyage and mission, — to set up schools to teach the
youth and children, if a way shall open for this ; and for any other services
to promote this important design, as God in his providence shall direct.
" Since it has pleased God so far to succeed this design in his providence,
and in such a remarkable manner to open the way, from step to step, and give
such hopeful prospects, and good encouragement to pursue it, we think it our
duty still to prosecute it, and ask the benefactions of all who shall be willing
to promote an undertaking in itself so benevolent; and which, though small
in its beginning, may hopefully issue in something very great, and open the
way to the happiness and salvation of multitudes ; yea, of many nations, who
are now in the most miserable state, ready to perish in the darkness of
heathenism. " We beg leave also to observe, that the present state of our public affairs
is so far from being a reason for neglecting this proposal, that it seems rather
to afford strong reasons to encourage it. For while we are struggling for our
civil and religious liberties, it will be peculiarly becoming and laudable to
exert ourselves to procure the same blessings for others, so far as it is in our
power. And when God is so remarkably interposing, and ordering such a
series of events in our favor, in this time of general distress, is there not a
special call to pay this tribute to him, according as he has prospered us, as
one likely method to obtain the continuance of his favor and protection ?
Ezra Stiles,
Samuel Hopkins.''
The revolutionary war interrupted these missionary exertions of
Hopkins for a time, but eighteen years after he had commenced
them, he wrote to Dr. Hart with as fresh an interest as ever :
" June 10, 1791. I also received a letter [by a late arrival] from the Rev. Mr.
Kemp, Secretary of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowl
edge, which I propose to enclose to you for your judgment and advice. —
Bristol Yamma is the first black on my list for a missionary. Salmar Nubia,
alias Jack Mason, has been thought of for another, by Dr. Stiles and me. He
is sufficiently zealous to go. He came from the windward coast The
nation to which he belongs is at a great distance from the sea. He retains
his native language in a considerable degree. I suppose you were ac
quainted with him when he lived at Preston. Newport Gardner is, in my
view, next to Bristol, and in some things excels him. He is a discerning,
judicious, steady, good man; and feels greatly interested in promoting a
Christian settlement in Africa, and promoting Christianity there.* These I
consider as the first three in America for such a design. Newport's master
offers to free him, his wife, and all his children but one, on condition he will
live with him two years from the first of this month, and receive three dollars
per month during that term. This offer is beyond our expectation, and we
hope he will yet give up the condition last mentioned.
"If it were thought best that a white man should go with them,t perhaps
a man cannot be found, of a character suited to such a business, who would
* Here is an allusion to Hopkins's favorite plan of Christian Colonization.
t See Dr. Chauncy's proposition on p. 133, above.

MEMOIR. 137
be willing to undertatke. You must be one to judge of the qualifications of
those who are proposed to be missionaries, and to make report to the society
in Scotland. And you must plan, advise, and prosecute. I am too old to do
much. Perhaps you can influence the African Society in Connecticut to
approve of some plan of this kind, and to exert themselves to get subscribers
to promote the design. If application were made by them, or a committee
authorized by them to the Legislature, to grant a brief for a contribution in
all the congregations through the State, it might be obtained. The African
Societies in Pennsylvania, New York, and this State, are composed of so
many Quakers, who make the most active, ruling part; and they, for some
reason or other, are not disposed to promote such a design. Therefore, there
is no encouragement to apply to them for assistance. If the society in Con
necticut should take the lead in promoting such a design, perhaps they might
fall in afterwards, and join to carry it on. You will return the enclosed letter,
when you have made all the use of it you think proper."
The correspondence of our philanthropist, on his favorite project
of evangelizing Africa, was more extensive than has been supposed.
He wrote to Britons and Americans, to men and women, to blacks
and whites. Among others whom he addressed on the subject, was
that interesting negress, Phillis Wheatley.* One would scarcely ex
pect that a logical divine, at the age of fifty-three, would devote
himself to the business of selling copies of a poetical volume, which
was written by a female slave at the age of twenty .+ But there was
nothing, honest and proper, which this enterprising man was unwill
ing to do for the welfare of the African race. He was not so ver
satile as he was strong, yet he had a richer variety of gifts than has
been commonly ascribed to him. The nature of his correspondence
with Phillis Wheatley is disclosed in the following letter, which she
wrote to him, a few months after her book of poetry was published
in London. She was about twenty-one years old at the date of her
epistle. The chirography of it is remarkably beautiful. It is here
copied verbatim et literatim.
" Reverend Sir : I received your kind letter last evening by Mr. Pembar-
ton, by whom also this is to be handed you. I have also received the money
for the five books I sent Obour, and 2s. 6d. more for another. She has
wrote me, but the date is 29 April. "I am very sorry to hear, that Philip
Quaque has very little or no apparent success in his mission. Yet I wish
that what you hear respecting him may be only a misrepresentation. Let us
not be discouraged, but still hope that God will bring about his great work.
though Philip may not be the instrument in the divine hand to perform this
work of wonder, turning the Africans 'from darkness to light.' Possibly, if
Philip would introduce himself properly to them, (I don't know the reverse,)
he might be more successful ; and in setting a good example, which is more
powerfully winning than instruction. I observe your reference to the maps
of Guinea and Salmon's Gazetteer, and shall consult them. I have received,
in some of the last ships from London, three hundred more copies of my
poems, and wish to dispose of them as soon as possible. If you know of any
being wanted, I flatter myself you will be pleased to let me know it, which
will be adding one more to the many obligations already conferred on her,
* See an account of her in Allen's Biographical Dictionary.
t Dr. Channing says, p. 110, above, that Hopkins had no relish for poetry.
/•

188 MEMOIR.
who is, with a due sense of your kindness, your most humble and obedient
servant, Phillis Wheatley.
"Boston, May 6, 1774. — The Reverend S. Hopkins."
As early as 1773, a society had been formed in Newport, under
the auspices of Mr. Hopkins and Dr. Stiles, for the education and
subsequent maintenance of these African missionaries. He then gave
to this society the hundred dollars for which, in the days of his
ignorance, he had sold his slave. Twenty years afterward, in 1793-4,
when he received nine hundred dollars for the copyright of his Sys
tem of Divinity, he contributed one hundred of it to this society. It
was an Education Society. It was also a Foreign Missionary So
ciety. In connection with it, there was a kind of monthly concert
for prayer. It was probably in allusion to this concert, that Dr.
Channing says : * "It was my habit, in the years 1800 and 1801,
to attend a monthly meeting of prayer for the revival and spread of
religion. Our number sometimes did not exceed twenty or thirty.
Still, a collection was taken for missionary purposes, and, as most
of us were very poor, our contributions did not greatly exceed the
widow's mite. On one occasion, as I have heard from Dr. Patten,
however, a hundred dollar bill appeared in the box. Dr. Hopkins
had received the same for the copyright of one of his books, and he
made this offering at a time when he received next to no salary, and
often, as I understood, depended for his dinner on the liberality of
a parishioner." t
Sect. XXXVI. COLONIZATION OF AFRICA.
The plan which Mr. Hopkins formed for evangelizing Africa, was
also a plan for colonizing it with reputable negroes from America.
From various intimations it is probable, that he distinctly meditated
this plan of colonization as early, at least, as April, 1773. He did
not intend to dissociate the missionary life of the Africans whom he
educated, from the civilized life of the Africans whom he would fain
send out with these missionaries. His colonization was to be re
ligious in its spirit and aims.
The first distinct allusion which we find to his scheme for plant
ing a colony of liberated slaves in Africa, proves that the scheme was
then far from being a novelty in his mind. It is mentioned as a
plan which had been contemplated for some time. Thus he writes
to Moses Brown the following very distinct words :
* Letter of February 14, 1840.
gf Letter of February 14, 1840. It is possible that Dr. Channing here alludes to the
hundred dollars which Hopkins gave subsequently to 1793-4, the time of receiving the
copyright of his System. If so, the gift had. no connection, perhaps, with the African
mission. One of Hopkins's early successors in the ministry at Newport, has informed
the writer, that Hopkins gave one half of the copyright for his System to the African
mission.

MEMOIR. 139
" April 29, 1784. There has been a proposal on foot some time, that a
number of blacks should return to Africa, and settle there ; that a number, who
have been under the most serious impressions of religion, should lead the way,
and when they are fixed there, should improve all opportunities to teach the Afri
cans the doctrines and duties of Christianity, both by precept and example. In
order to this, a number who shall be thought best qualified for this business, must
first be sent to Africa, to treat with some of the nations there, and request of
them lands, proper and sufficient for them and as many as shall go with them to
settle upon. It is presumed land would be freely given. And it is thought, that
such a settlement would not only be for the benefit of those who shall return to
their native country, but it would be the most likely and powerful means of
putting a stop to the slave trade, as well as of increasing Christian knowl
edge among those heathens. In order to this, there must be some expense.
A vessel must be obtained, and a cargo procured of such things as will sell
there, (all spirits excepted.*) A captain must be found, who can be relied
upon, and paid. This supposes a sufficient number of blacks may be found
for sailors, who are used to the sea, and that the advantage of the trade will
repay most of the expense. I communicate these hints of a plan to you,
that I may know how far you approve of it, and whether you think it practi
cable. And if you do, whether you, in conjunction with some of your able
friends, would advance any thing considerable to promote such a design. It
has been said by some, and doubtless by many, ' There are a number of men
who have large estates, much of which they have gotten by the slave trade,
who now profess to be convinced they have done wrong in having any hand
in that trade, and manifest great zeal against it, and are great enemies of
slavery. Let them show their repentance by their works j by giving up a
considerable part of their estates to liberate the Africans and promote their
good. Let them do this, and we will believe them sincere and honest men,
but not before, &c.' " f
The following important letter to Mr. Brown was written just one
month and one day before the first colony of blacks set sail from
England for Sierra Leone :
"March 7, 1787. Dear Sir: This will be handed to you by Dr. Thornton,
a gentleman from the West Indies, who has been in this city % some weeks.
He brings no recommendation, but appears to me to be an honest man, though
too flighty and unsteady, perhaps, to be at the head of an affair in which he
is very zealous : a settlement of the American blacks in some part of Africa,
Should he have opportunity to converse with you, which I wish, and [which]
will be agreeable to him, he will communicate to you his plan, &c. § I have,
as you know, sir, been for years desirous of an attempt to make such a settle
ment, and am glad to hear that Friends in Britain, and other dissenters, have
joined to carry this into execution, I suppose upon the late Dr. Pothergil's
plan. I wish some gentlemen, who are able, would send a vessel to Africa,
* As far as we can judge from the journal and letters of Hopkins, he was disposed
to insert a temperance clause in all his important negotiations whj^h would admit it.
f This closing appeal is another illustration of the unbending faithfulness which char
acterized its author. He knew that the charge of inconsistency had been brought
against tbe estimable man whom he was addressing, (see p. 123, above,) and he meant
lo use this fact as a motive for a more generous contribution to the new enterprise.
X In 1784, Newport was incorporated a city, but returned to its old town government
in 1787, a few days after the date of this letter.
§ It is important here to notice that Mr. Hopkins does not allude to Dr. Thornton's
plan, as in any degree novel. His fears relate merely to the prudence of Dr. Thornton
in executing it. Dr. Alexander says that Dr. Thornton " is still remembered as a man
of many eccentricities, arising from a vivid genius, and a real philanthropist." See His
tory of African Colonization, p. 61.

140 MEMOIR.
perhaps to the Ivory Coast, with a proper cargo to trade there for ivory, &c;
and that some proper persons might go and treat with the princes or nations
there for land, on which those who are disposed to return might settle. I
think there would be a prospect of their gaining, rather than their losing
money by such an undertaking, beside their promoting such a good design.
I thank you for your letter of January, 1786, and the pamphlets enclosed with
it. I have dispersed most of them, where I thought they might be of the most
service. I have seen the piece, upon the slave trade, which obtained the highest
prize in the University of Cambridge, in the year 1785, which you mentioned,
and hope it will do much good. I conclude you have seen it. I have not
been able to effect the design toward which you generously offered to give
twenty dollars,* as I have been much confined at home the year past. You^
have doubtless been informed that a gold medal was offered by the Society in
New York for Liberating the Africans, for the best piece against the slave
trade, to be produced at tiie last commencement in the college there. I have
not heard any thing further of it. — Any further intelligence from Britain, or
any other quarter, which you shall be able to communicate, respecting the
slave trade, and the resettlement of blacks in Africa, will be thankfully re
ceived by your respectful friend, S. Hopkins."
Nearly two years after the preceding epistle, we find its resolute
author addressing Granville Sharp, the eminent colonizationist of
Great Britain. The letter is inserted, with some abridgment, in
Prince Hoare's Memoir of Mr. Sharp, pp. 340—342 ; but the whole
of it is now published for the first time.
" Newport, January 15, 1789. Sir : As I am an utter stranger to you, I
presume to introduce myself by the following narrative : I am the pastor of
the First Congregational Church in Newport, on Rhode Island. I spent the
former part of my- life a hundred and fifty miles from this place ; have lived
here near twenty years. When I removed to this town, my attention was
soon turned to the slave trade, which had been long carried on here, and was
still continued. It appeared to me wholly unjustifiable and exceeding inhu
mane and cruel ; and I thought I was obliged, in duty, to condemn it in pub
lic and preach against it. I had better success than I expected, and most of
my hearers were convinced that it was a very wrong and wicked practice.
But this procured to me many enemies in the town, which were increased and
more irritated when I proceeded, as I soon did, to condemn the holding these
Africans in perpetual slavery, who were brought here by the iniquitous slave
trade. I was, so far as I then knew, almost alone in my opposition to the
slave trade and the slavery of the Africans ; but since, [I] have read, with
great satisfaction, your writings on that subject, some of which, I believe,
were published before the time above mentioned, and the writings of others.
And I have had the pleasure of finding a conviction of the evil of this prac
tice to spread and prevail in America. And two respectable and numerous
societies are formed, one in New York and the other in Philadelphia, with a
view to promote tiie abolition of the slavery of the Africans, and protect and
assist those who have obtained their freedom ; of which you have doubtless
¦ been fully informed ; of both which societies I have the honor to be a corre
sponding member.
" In Massachusetts, all the Africans are made free by their Constitution,
and many have obtained their freedom in this State. But their circumstances
are, in many respects, unhappy, while they live here among the whites ; the
latter looking down upon them, and being disposed to treat them as under-
* An allusion to the Prize Essay which was mentioned in the letter of February 10,
1786, to Dr. Hart, and which was suggested to Mr. Brown by the Prize Essay of Clark
son, noticed by Hopkins a few lines above.

MEMOIR. 141
lings, and denying them the advantages of education and employment, &c,
which tends to depress their minds and prevent their obtaining a comfortable
living, &c. This and other considerations have led many of them to desire to
return to Africa, and settle there among their brethren, and in a country and
climate more natural to them than this. Particularly, there are a number of
religious blacks, with whom I am acquainted, who wish to be formed into a
distinct church or religious society, and to have a black appointed as their
pastor, (and there is one, at least, who is thought qualified for that office,) and
then to go, with all the blacks who shall be willing to move with them, to Af
rica, and settle on lands whicli they think may be obtained of some of the na
tions there, from whom some of them were taken, and whose language they
retain ; and there maintain the profession and practice of Christianity, and
spread the knowledge of it among the Africans, as far as they shall have op
portunity ; at tlie same time cultivating their lands, and introducing into that
hitherto uncivilized country the arts of husbandry, building mills and houses,
and other mechanic arts, and raising cotton, coffee, &c, for exportation, as
well as for their own use. This plan I have had in view for some time, and
have wished and attempted to promote it. But no way has yet been opened
in America to carry it into execution ; there being no means yet found to de
fray the charge of sending a vessel to Africa with a number of blacks, to find
out and procure the most convenient place for such a settlement
- " In the mean time, we have, to our great joy, been informed, that such a
plan was projected and executed in England, in which the society of which
you are a member, had a great, if not a chief hand. We were assured that
several ships, with a considerable number of blacks, sailed from England for
Africa, in February, 1787, with a. design to make a settlement on the Wind
ward Coast. We have been earnestly waiting for an authentic information
of the success of this expedition, and the place and circumstances of the pro
posed settlement, but have received none to this day. It is indeed mentioned
by the Dean of Middleton, in his letter to the treasurer of our society, (p. 14,
note,) that a settlement is already established at Sierra Leone ; and he inti
mates that there is room for more settlers. And it is reported from Africa,
that those blacks have arrived there from England, and that a tract of land
twenty miles square had been procured for them, near the mouth of the river
Sierra Leone, and that the settlement is going on. But we have contradictory
reports of the success of it.
" I have thought, as do the most intelligent whites and blacks with whom I
am acquainted, that if such a tract of land is procured, there is much more of
it than can be occupied by the blacks which went from England, and there
fore the design might be forwarded by giving a part of it to the blacks in
America, who are disposed to go and settle there. We have a considerable
number of freed blacks, in New England, who have been educated and habit
uated to industry and labor, either on lands, or as mechanics, and are hereby
prepared to bring forward such a settlement, better than any other blacks, I
believe, that can be found.
" All this, sir, is a lengthy introduction to the following request : that you
would please to inform me, whether such a tract of land is procured, and on
what conditions ; whether the blacks, who settle on it, have the fee of the
land ; under what government they are ; whether British, or their own by a
particular civil constitution, formed for them, to be executed by themselves, or
some English gentlemen who are for that end to reside among them ; whether
there is any provision made to maintain and propagate religious knowledge
among them and others who may live in their neighborhood ; whether the set
tlers have behaved well, and prospered, since they began, and what progress
they have made ; finally, whether the blacks in America, who are disposed to
go, can have any part of these lands to settle themselves upon, and on what
terms ; and what encouragement and assistance might they probably have.
"If you are pleased to be at the trouble of writing me on this subject, a
letter sent to any of the members of either of the societies above mentioned,

142 MEMOIR.
will come safe to me. I take leave to enclose to you some of my anonymous
writings on the slave trade and the slavery of the Africans ; and am, with
great esteem and respect, your humble servant, Samuel Hopkins."
Light will be reflected on the movements of Mr. Hopkins, by in
serting here the reply which he received from Mr. Sharp :
" Leadenhall Street, July 25, 1789. Reverend Sir : Some little time after
your letter came to my hands, I received an account respecting the new set
tlement at Sierra Leone, so very discouraging that I began to be doubtful
whether I ought to communicate to you the same invitation for the blacks in
America to go to Sierra Leone which I had sent some time before to Phila
delphia and New York. I received such alarming intelligence of a conspira
cy, stirred up by the slave traders to cut off the settlement, that I began to
give it up for lost. It is but a few days ago, (the twenty-second instant,) that
these fears have been removed, by the arrival of one of the settlers, with let
ters from the Governor and several other persons in the settlement
" The messenger was sent on purpose with these letters, and had no other
means of coming hither than by going in a slave ship round by the West In
dies. By these letters I find that, contrary to my fears, their enemies have
not dared to meddle with the settlers, and that they are very well united, and
had punished two different captains of slave ships for ill behavior, by fine and
imprisonment, which occasioned the late combination against them. But
their numbers did not exceed one hundred and twenty people, men, women,
and children, altogether. However, I am informed that since those letters
were written, some more of the settlers, who had been dispersed in the neigh
borhood, were returned, and that they are in all about two hundred people.
" All the white people whom I sent out last year, to assist in supporting the
settlement, have been wicked enough to go into the service of the slave trade
at the neighboring factories, having been enticed away, I suppose, by high
wages; but the people who remained in the settlement have carefully ad
hered to their promise, not to permit the iniquity of slave dealing in the Prov
ince of Freedom ; so that, though they have not kept up strictly to other Regula
tions which I proposed for them, yet, in this most essential point, they deserve
commendation. I shall send you, by the first ship, copies of the Regulations
which I wished to establish there.
" As the settlement has been lately repurchased of King Naimbanna, the
settlers, I think, must now submit to receive and accommodate all new comers
with equal lots of land, gratis, until they amount at least to six hundred house
holders, notwithstanding the limitation of time in the Regulations ; so that I
hope I may venture to assert, that whatever people from America will en
gage to submit to the terms of the Regulations and the English government,
(which must be perfectly free, whilst frank-pledge and a universal militia are
maintained,) will be admitted to free lots, even if they amount to more than
double that number, provided that they go all at one time, and show this letter,
or a copy of it, to the Governor and Assembly of Settlers in the Province of
Freedom. "In addition to the accounts which I had before received, the settlers, who
brought me the last letters, inform me that the land is very good, and the
neighboring natives very civil ; and that King Naimbanna, a very reverend
old man, whose town is just beyond the borders of the settlement, is particu-
£ u t0 them' Tnese accounts are corroborated by three other settlers,
who have been here some time, and are all very anxious to get back again as
soon as they can. But I am sorry to inform you, that all my expense and
endeavors to procure a live stock of cattle have been rendered abortive by the
imprudence of the captain with whom I contracted to procure it ; for, instead
of delivering the cattle at the settlement, as he ought to have done, he only
gave goods to the value of a certain number of cattle, and obtained a certifi
cate from the settlers that they had received the value of so much cattle

MEMOIR. 143
though they have no means of transporting any to tlie settlement ; and, there
fore, if any people are sent from America, it will be right to make some little
reserve of goods, or dollars, to purchase a few lean, breeding cattle on the
African coast, for their live stock, as they will very soon increase, because
there is plenty of grass, and cattle thrive exceedingly well in most parts of
the African coast, where any attention is paid to them. I am, with sincere
esteem and respect, reverend sir," <_c, &c.
How many other letters our Newport divine wrote, on this
theme, to persons of wealth and influence, it is impossible to deter
mine. Two houses, in which were probably many communications
from his pen, were consumed by fire, with all their contents, several
years after his death. It is certain, however, that he had a length
ened correspondence on the subject with Dr. John Erskine, of Edin
burgh, the friend of President Edwards. One letter from Hopkins
to Erskine is here published for the first time.
" January 14, 1789. Dear Sir : I feel myself delinquent, when I find I
have not written you since January 1, 1788. This has been owing chiefly to
my not having any thing of importance to communicate or transmit to you.
I have, since that, received two letters with packets from you. The first was
dated October 29, 1787, which did not come till May 11, 1788. The last,
April 3, 1788, which came to hand the eleventh of August last, for which I am
much indebted to you. There have been no publications here of late, which
have come within my reach, which are worthy of your particular notice.
There has not been any revival of religion that I have heard of in the year
past, except what has taken place at Dartmouth College, and in some towns
west of that in Vermont, which, I have been informed, has been considerable,
but do not know particulars. Infidelity, Universalism, irreligion, and worldli-
ness generally prevail. Dr. Bellamy yet lives in much the same state of
body and mind in which he has been above two years ; utterly helpless, and
in a considerable degree insane, especially at times. Last September, Dr.
Stiles transmitted to me a letter which he had received from you, respecting the
blacks, by whom it has been proposed to propagate Christian knowledge in
Africa; in which you propose, if we think proper, that Drs. Stiles, Wales,
Edwards and I should jointly address the Society in Scotland for Propagating
Christian Knowledge, on that head, representing the state and circumstances
of that affair, and the prospects there were of answering some important good
end by encouraging and prosecuting it ; and that it was likely, that society
would advance something considerable in order to promote such a design.
The matter has been considered, and it does not appear best to apply to the
society at present There is a number of Christian blacks who stand ready
to unite in a church state, and have a pastor set over them, (and there is one
at least who is thought fit for that office,) and go to Africa and settle there
among their brethren, and maintain the profession and practice of Christianity,
and propagate Christian knowledge in that heathen land, as they shall have
opportunity. But no way has yet opened to send some persons to Africa to
find out and procure the most convenient place for such a settlement. If this
were done, the way would be open to prosecute the design, and it would,
doubtless, meet with encouragement in America, and the assistance of your
society would answer important ends.
" A settlement of blacks has, within these two years, been made from Eng
land, at Sierra Leone, in Africa, and it is said that a purchase of land twenty
miles square has been made for them. We hope to know soon on what con
ditions this land may be settled, and whether the blacks which would go from
America may have any of this tract to settle upon. If it should be found that
they may, the way would be opened to prosecute our plan, and then we

144 MEMOIR.
should, doubtless, apply to your society for assistance, not doubting of their
readiness to grant it. I am your obliged, affectionate friend, Samuel Hopkins."
The ensuing letter to Dr. Hart unfolds the union, which existed in
the mind of Hopkins, between the manumission of our bondmen and
the Christian colonization of Africa. At the time of writing this
letter, the Connecticut Society for emancipating the slave was about
to revise and enlarge its constitution, and Dr. Hart was deeply
engaged in the project :
" August 30, 1791. I approve of your proposal of writing to the society in
Scotland. But one difficulty attends it They will probably expect that I
should nominate some gentlemen for commissioners. But I know not who
would best answer the end, or where a sufficient number can be found of
such, who live in a vicinity, so as to be able to meet together as often as
would be necessary to answer the end of their appointment. I should mention
you for one ; but where could others be found ? I believe I shall defer writ
ing till I hear from you again, and know what your society will do at their
next meeting, and who you tiiink of as commissioners, &c.
" I wish, if you apply for a charter, the affair of making a settlement of
blacks in Africa, to civilize the nations there, and propagate Christianity
among them, and the proposal to fit persons for missionaries, schoolmasters,
husbandry, mechanic trades, &c, might be mentioned and included, if the
members would agree in such a plan."
A still more decisive exhibition of the mode in which Hopkins unit
ed his plan for terminating slavery with his plan for sending reputable
colonies to Africa, is presented in the following extract from a sermon,
which he delivered before the Providence Society for Abolishing the
Slave Trade, etc.* That sermon gives proof of the energy which its
author was able to summon at the age of seventy-two. He says :
" We may hope, that all this dark and dreadful scene will not only have an
end, but is designed by the Most High to be the mean of introducing the gos
pel among the nations in Africa ; that those who have embraced the gospel,
while among' us, with all who have been or may be, in some good measure,
civilized and instructed, will, by our assistance, return to Africa, and spread
the light of the gospel in that now dark part of the world, and propagate those
arts and that science which shall recover them from that ignorance and bar
barity which now prevail, to be a civilized, Christian, and happy people ; mak
ing as great improvement in all useful knowledge, and in tiie practice of
righteousness, benevolence, and piety, as has yet been done by any people on
earth, and much greater. Thus all this past and present evil, which the Af
ricans have suffered by the slave trade and the slavery to which so many of
them have been reduced, may be the occasion of an overbalancing good ; and
it may hereafter appear, as it has in the case of Joseph being sold a slave into
Egypt, and the oppression and slavery of the Israelites by the Egyptians, that
though the slave traders have really meant and done that which is evil, yet
God has designed it all for good, the good of which all this evil shall be the
* The title of the sermon is as follows : " A Discourse upon the Slave Trade, and
the Slavery of the Africans ; delivered in the Baptist Meeting-house at Providence,
before the Providence Society for Abolishing the Slave Trade, &c, at their Annual
Meeting, on May 17, 1793. By Samuel Hopkins, D. D., Pastor of the First Congrega
tional Church in Newport, and Member of said Society. Printed at Providence, by
J. Carter, 1793."

MEMOIR. 145
occasion. — Ought not this prospect to animate us earnestly to pray for such
a happy event, and to exert ourselves to the utmost to promote it. Can we
be indifferent and negligent in this matter, without slighting and disobeying
the command of Christ, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature ? And will not such an attempt to send the gospel to Africa, being
willing to spare no expense or labor thus to spread the knowledge of the Sa
viour among the nations there, be a proper expression of our love and regard
to this benevolent, important injunction ? "
Nor was the preacher satisfied with this appeal ; but he appended
to his discourse the ensuing statement, which he spread over the
length and breadth of New England.
" The proposal of assisting the blacks among us to go and make a settle
ment in Africa, which has been mentioned in the preceding discourse, I have
thought to be of such importance, as to require a more particular explanation
to be laid before the public, with the reasons for it, for their consideration ;
hoping that, if it be generally approved, it will excite those united, generous
exertions which are necessary, in order to effect it.
" There are a considerable number of free blacks in New England, and in
other parts of the United States, some of whom are industrious, and of a good
moral character ; and some of them appear to be truly pious, who are desirous
to remove to Africa, and settle there. They who are religious would be
glad to unite as Christian brethren, and move to Africa, having one instructor,
or more, and cultivate the land which they may obtain there, and maintain
the practice of Christianity in the sight of their now heathen brethren ; and
endeavor to instruct and civilize them, and spread the knowledge of the gospel
among them.
" In order to effect this in the best manner, a vessel must be procured, and
proper sailors provided, to go to Africa, with a number of persons, both white
and black, perhaps, who shall be thought equal to the business, to search that
country, and find a place where a settlement may be made with the consent
of the inhabitants there ; the land being given by them, or purchased of them,
and so as best to answer the ends proposed. If such a place can be found,
as no doubt it may, they must return, and the blacks must be collected who
are willing to go and settle there, and form themselves into a civil society,
by agreeing in a constitution and a code of laws, by which they will be
regulated. " And they must be furnished with every thing necessary and proper to trans
port and settle them there, in a safe and comfortable manner ; with shipping and
provisions, till they can procure them in Africa, by their own labor, and with
instruments and utensils necessary to cultivate the land, build houses, &c. ;
and have all the protection and assistance they will need, while settling, and
when settled there. And, if necessary, a number of white people must go
with them ; one or more, to superintend their affairs, and others to survey and
lay out their lands, build mills and houses, &c. But these must not think of
settling there for life ; and the blacks are to be left to themselves, when they
shall be able to conduct their own affairs, and need no further assistance ; and
be left a free, independent people.
" This appears to be the best and only plan to put the blacks among us in
the most agreeable situation for themselves, and to render them most useful
to their brethren in Africa, by civilizing tiiem, and teaching them how to
cultivate their lands, and spreading the knowledge of the Christian religion
among them. The whites are so habituated, by education and custom, to
look upon and treat the blacks as an inferior class of beings, and they are
sunk so low by their situation, and the treatment they receive from us, that
they never can be raised to an equality with the whites, and enjoy all the
liberty and rights to which they have a just claim ; or have all the eneourage-
m

146 MEMOIR.
ments and motives to make improvements of every kind, which are desirable.
But, if they were removed to Africa, this evil would cease, and they would
enjoy all desirable equality and liberty, and live in a climate which is pecu
liarly suited to their constitution. And they would be under advantages to
set an example of industry, and the best manner of cultivating the land, of
civil life, of morality and religion, which would tend to gain the attention of
the inhabitants of that country, and persuade them to receive instruction, and
embrace the gospel.
" These United States are able to be at the expense of prosecuting such a
plan, of which these hints are some of the outlines. And is not this the best
way that can be taken to compensate the blacks, both in America and Africa,
for the injuries they have received by the slave trade and slavery, and that
which righteousness and benevolence must dictate ? And even selfishness
will be pleased with such a plan as this, and excite to exertions to carry it
into effect, when the advantages of it to the public and to individuals are well
considered and realized. This will gradually draw off all the blacks in New
England, and even in the Middle and Southern States, as fast as they can be
set free, by which this nation will be delivered from that which, in the view
of every discerning man, is a great calamity, and inconsistent with the good
of society ; and is now really a great injury to most of the white inhabitants,
especially in the Southern States.
" And by the increase and flourishing of such a plantation of free people in
Africa, where all the tropical fruits and productions, and the articles which
we fetch from the West Indies, may be raised in great abundance, by proper
cultivation, and many other useful things procured, a commerce may take
place, and be maintained, between those settlements and the United States
of America, which will be of very great and increasing advantage to both.
" And this will have the greatest tendency wholly to abolish the abominable
trade in human flesh, and will certainly effect it, if all other attempts prove
unsuccessful. " That such a plan is practicable, is evident from the experiment which has
lately been made in forming a settlement of blacks at Sierra Leone. Above
a thousand blacks were transported from Nova Scotia to that place last year ;
who, by the assistance of a small number of whites, and supplies from Eng
land, have formed a town and plantation, which, by the latest accounts, is now
in a flourishing condition ; the inhabitants hving in peace and amity with the
neighboring nations, and with a promising prospect of being a great ad
vantage to them, by teaching them to cultivate their lands, and civilizing
them, and showing them the advantages of peace and of industry, and trade
in the productions of their country, and spreading the knowledge of Christian
ity among them. This will gradually put an end to the slave trade, and to
slavery, in that part of the continent And from this settlement, there is a
rational prospect of a commerce, in the productions of that climate, with
Britain, which will be so profitable as more than to compensate the latter for
all the expense of forming and carrying it on, and will be greatly advantageous
to both nations.
" There is reason to believe that a settlement may be made by the blacks
now in the United States, in some part of Africa, either on the river Sierra
Leone or in some other place, which will be as advantageous to those who
shall settle there, and to the adjacent nations, as this which has been men
tioned, and with much less expense ; and which will be a greater benefit to
this nation, than that may be to Britain.
" Are there not, then, motives sufficient to induce the Legislature of this
nation to enter upon and prosecute this design ? to form a plan, and execute
it, as wisdom shall direct ? And is there not reason to think that it would
meet with general approbation ? But if this cannot be, may not this be effected
by the societies in these States, who [which] are formed with a design to
promote the best good of the Africans ? Would not this be answering the

MEMOIR. 147
end of their institution, in the best way that can be devised, and in imitation
of that which has been formed in Great Britain for the same purpose ?
" Is there not reason to believe, that, if such a plan was well digested, and
properly laid before the public, and urged, with the reasons which offer, and
a company or committee formed to conduct the affair, there might be a sum
collected sufficient to carry it into effect ?
"The General Court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did, some
time ago, make a resolve to the following purpose : That when a place can
be found in Africa, where the blacks in that State may settle to their ad
vantage, they would furnish them with shipping and provisions sufficient to
transport them there, and with arms sufficient to defend them, and farming
utensils sufficient to cultivate their lands. If all the States in the Union, or
most of them, would take the same measure, such a design might be soon
and easily carried into execution. Nothing appears to be wanting but a
proper, most reasonable zeal, in so good a cause."
The preceding document suggests the following, among other
comments :
First. It is obvious that the colony which Hopkins proposed, was
not to have an exclusively missionary character. It was to be a free
and independent nation, cultivating the arts of life, and conducting a
foreign commerce.
Secondly. It is equally evident, that our reformer did not intend
to make the piety of the Africans an indispensable qualification for
their joining his colony, at its commencement even. He would even
then admit all who were " industrious and of a good moral char
acter." Thirdly. His scheme was self-consistent and comprehensive. To
some it may appear, that his plan of sending to Africa such blacks
only as would exert there a good moral influence, cannot be recon
ciled with his scheme of sending " all the blacks " in the United
States to their father-land. There is, however, an entire congruity
between the two proposals. He intended to transport, first, such
colonists only as bore a good character, and such as would lay the
foundations of a Christian government. When a colony had been
firmly established, on religious principles, it would, in his view, exert
a salutary moral influence upon our whole colored population, if
they should " gradually " emigrate to it. Then, their emigration
would be desirable, as it would be an emigration for Christian pur
poses, and with a prospect of maintaining Christian institutions.
Fourthly. Our philanthropist cannot be accused of any want of
sympathy with his colored brethren, in his proposing their removal
to their father-land. He had no desire to force them from our shores,
for our own comfort or convenience. He did not favor their re
moval against their will. It was their good which prompted his
efforts. He had a profound conviction, that they never would be so
happy among us, as they could be in an independent nation by them
selves ; that their physical condition would be improved by returning
to the climate of their ancestors ; that their mental, and, above all,

148 MEMOIR.
their spiritual welfare required a government especially adapted to
them. For a quarter of a century, he had lived in the neighborhood
of the Stockbridge Indians, and had seen the difficulty of persuading
the superior race to treat the inferior with a becoming friendliness.
Of course he blamed the prevalent disposition to injure the weaker
classes. But he looked upon the disposition as an existing fact,
and he therefore devised means for avoiding its influence.
Fifthly. Whether Hopkins were right or wrong in his coloniza
tion scheme, (and this is no place for expressing an opinion on the
subject,) he was in advance of his age. In the year 1850-1, many
of the most eminent citizens of Rhode Island presented a petition to
Congress, in favor of transporting to Africa, at the national ex
pense, such negroes as may desire to emigrate thither. Perhaps not
one of these petitioners was aware that, fifty-eight years before they
made their proposal, substantially the same plan had been published
to the world by a Newport pastor. These petitioners requested that,
as the Colonization Society could not remove all the blacks who
might wish to change their residence, the national government would
lend its aid. Hopkins had proposed, more than a half century be
fore, that the national government should be at the expense of the
transportation ; or, if this aid could not be procured, that a company
should be formed to superintend the removal. This "company"
would be, in fact, a colonization society, conducted on such prin
ciples as Granville Sharp and Wilberforce would approve ; on such
principles as would secure a preponderating religious influence.
Twenty years after his first public movement in favor of the
Africans, Hopkins addressed the following letter to Dr. Hart:
"July 29,. 1793. Bristol Yamma is out of health, and can do little or no
business. He has been advised to go into a warmer climate, supposing it
would conduce to his health. There is a prospect of an opportunity for him
to go to Sierra Leone next fall, and spend the winter there. There is a gen
tleman in this town who has lately come from that place, and informs me that
the settlement of blacks on that river, about eight miles above the mouth of
the river, called Freetown, goes on with success and agreeable prospects ;
that eleven hundred blacks or more are settled there, and within a year have
cleared a large quantity of land, and done a surprising deal of work ; that they
are all contented and pleased and healthy, — appear sober and pious, meet
ing morning and evening for prayers, &e. They have a Governor from Eng
land, and several other gentlemen fo take care of the affairs of the settlement,
who are upright, benevolent -men, and very friendly to the blacks, treating
them upon an equality with themselves. They are preparing to raise sugar
cane, coffee, &c. He says he is acquainted with that river and the adjacent
country, having lived there many years ; that he doubts not land may be had
in those parts for any number to settle upon, who should be inclined to go
from America. If Bristol could go, (and it would be desirable that one more,
at least, should go with him,) he might promote the design of a proposed set
tlement, by getting acquainted with tlie country and inliabitants, and perhaps
finding a place where a settlement may be made, and on what terms land may
be had. This cannot be done without some money. I will give fifty dollars
toward it, if it can be carried into effect Perhaps, if the plan and proposal

MEMOIR. 149
should be laid before the Connecticut Abolition Society, at their next meeting
at New Haven, or communicated to individuals who are most likely to forward
the matter, money might be obtained for that end. — Such a settlement, pro
moted by the Americans, would not only tend to the good of the Africans, but
would, in time, be a source of a profitable trade to America, instead of the
West India trade, which will probably fail more and more, as the curse of
Heaven seems to be coming on those islands, where the slavery of the Afri
cans, in all the horrors of it, has been practised so long."
Now, in his seventy-third year, our reformer is as eager as he had
been to communicate, as well as to receive, information in reference
to his favorite scheme. He writes to Dr. Hart :
" October 31, at night, 1793. Reverend and Dear Sir : All the information
I can give respecting the men of [whom] Bristol spoke to you, is the follow
ing: A white man, about sixty years old, and a black, called upon me, and
said they came from Saint Croix, a Danish island. The black was a native
of that island, a free man, and a Moravian. He spoke good English, and is a
man of property. He says there are five thousand free blacks in that island.
The white comes from Denmark. He speaks English badly, and talks so fast
that I could not understand a great part of what he said. But I collected the
following from him :
" The king of the Danes has lately made a [purchase] of land in Guinea,
lying in the fifth degree of north latitude, of eighty miles square, on which he
proposes to make a settlement of blacks only. The whites, who accompany
them, to protect and assist them in forming a settlement, a civil government,
&c, are to have no land, but leave the country to the blacks as soon as they
have answered the end for which they are to be sent. They are to raise the
productions of that climate, and Denmark is to have the monopoly of their
trade, as the only compensation. — This gentleman represents himself as sent
by the king of Denmark to go and view said tract of land, and see whether a
settlement can be made upon it, and where, or in what part of it, &c. The
black is going with him. They have hired a vessel, at Providence, to carry
them to Guinea, for which he gives five hundred dollars. They have both
engaged to send me information of their success. The white man appears
to be a Lutheran ; but says Christians of all denominations will be allowed to
settle there; — that there are seven whites and blacks already gone there,
whom they expect to find on the spot On the whole, the affair has a roman
tic appearance, and I suspect will come to nothing. The appearance of the
white man is not promising ; and it is rather improbable that such a man
should be sent by his Danish majesty on such business ; but time will bring
forth." At length, June 9, 1794, this tenacious man communicates a dis
couraging fact to Dr. Hart :
" I have got no farther information respecting the settlement of the blacks
at Sierra Leone. When at Providence, I inquired after the black, who, I
heard, came from that place, but could get no information. I believe the story
was magnified. The Abolition Society were to take the matter into consid
eration, at their meeting in May. But [I] have not heard what they did ; —
believe they did nothing. The Friends are always backward in promoting
such settlement, and are the most active members, and nothing can be done
without them. Bristol Yamma is dead ! He died last January, in North Car
olina." But although the prospects of our philanthropist were dark in his
own country, he continued to enjoy the sympathies of his fellow-

130 MEMOIR.
laborers in England. We find that at this period he was engaged in
a correspondence with Zachary Macaulay, so highly celebrated as
editor of the Christian Observer, as the companion of Scott, Newton,
and Wilberforce, and more recently as ' the father of the historian,
Thomas Babington Macaulay. The correspondence is valuable, as
it shows the care which both Macaulay and Hopkins took, in select
ing worthy emigrants for the new settlement on the African coast.
It corroborates the preceding assertion, that the colonization which
Hopkins favored was not, in its early stages, to be promiscuous, but
select; not limited, however, to the strictly pious Africans, but in
cluding also those who were apparently favorable to religion. Two of
Mr. Macaulay's letters are here inserted, for the sake of illustrating
the kind of missionary colonization in which Hopkins was engagedi
"Freetown, Sierra Leone, 19 March, 1795. Reverend Sir: We refer
you to the enclosed paper, marked No. 1, for an explanation of the reasons
which have induced us at this time to trouble you. We have considered
it as a sufficient ground on which to solicit your good offices, that you are
interested in the cause of humanity, and that you are zealous in the service
of Christ. Believing, therefore, that you will regard no task as a burden
which gives you an opportunity of manifesting these dispositions, we ad
dress you on the present occasion, with the full assurance that you will
be favorable to our views, and that you will spare no pains in fulfilling
them. " You already know, that several families of people of color, belonging to
Providence, have joined in making an application to us for a settlement at
Sierra Leone ; and though we be by no means desirous of an accession of
colonists, yet their application has been so urgent, that we have been induced
to comply with it. The number to be received is, however, limited to twelve
families ; and on perusing the conditions, you will see that even these are not
to be received, unless they present satisfactory testimonials of their moral
character, signed by you and another clergyman, and by the President of the
Abolition Society.
" The difficulties which have already arisen, in forming thiB settlement,
from the injudicious admission of persons of doubtful character, have led us
to guard more carefully against a similar evil in the present instance. These
difficulties have arisen, either from fallacious notions of civil rights, (a thing
not to be wondered at in emancipated slaves,) from extreme vehemence of
temper, or from low, confused and imperfect ideas of moral rectitude. The
first of these may, no doubt, be corrected by enlightening their minds ; the
second may be curbed by wholesome laws/; and the last may be amended and
improved by the preaching of the gospel: but we should be much better
pleased to have an accession of colonists who would strengthen our hands in
accomplishing these purposes, than of men who would furnish us with addi
tional employment in that way.
"There is another evil, however, which we fear may prevail among those
with whom the present application has originated, and which we wish to guard
against with more care than even against these. We mean the evil of specu
lative infidelity. From general circumstances which have passed under our
observation, we are led to judge, that the poison of the ' Age of Reason ' *
may have pervaded even this class of men. Now, we trust you will agree
with us, in thinking that the introduction of one such unbeliever into a
* It may here be mentioned, that the author of the " Age of Reason " had been ac
tively engaged in behalf of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.

MEMOIR. 151
colony founded for the express purpose of spreading among the heathen the
knowledge of a Saviour, might prove an evil beyond all calculation. We are
not such bigots as to require subscription to creeds and articles ; nor are we
such latitudinarians, as to be willingly accessory to admitting into the colony
one person who has learned to treat religion with contempt. However great
tlie usefulness of such people might be in other respects, we should conceive
ourselves to be more essentially serving the cause of God, by forming a
colony of the blindest of those blind people who now inhabit this land. We
do not look for characters of eminent piety, but we would expect a sober
demeanor, good intentions, and a disposition favorable to religion. Without
these, no man can make a good member of any community ; much less of
one established expressly for the purpose of preaching to Africa the acceptable
year of the Lord. What we have, then, particularly to request of you, sir, is,
that you would refuse your signature to any person's certificate with whom
you have not reason to be satisfied in this respect, as well as in every other.
Religion is not, indeed, expressly mentioned in the conditions, as necessary
to form a part of their character who migrate hither ; but as we think you will
agree with us in opinion, that none can with propriety be entitled to the
denomination of moral, of whose characters religion does not form the basis,
the omission is of no moment.
" We have written on this subject to you alone ; but we beg of you to
communicate our sentiments to the Chairman of the Abolition Society, and to
any other clergyman you may think proper to associate with you.
" We enclose a paper, No. 2, which will give you some notion of the extent
to which the slave trade is carried on in our neighborhood by Americans.
We hoped that the act of your Congress would have effectually abolished it ;
but we find, on the contrary, that it has considerably increased since the time
of the passing of that act. Had we had time, we should have sent you, by
this opportunity, a sketch of the history and nature of this settlement, but we
shall embrace an early opportunity of doing it We think it right to say, that
the behavior of Mr. James MacKenzie, as far as we have had the means of
observing it, has been proper and becoming.
" Requesting your pardon for the liberty we have now presumed to take,
and wishing you continued and increasing health and happiness,
" We remain, reverend sir, your very faithful and obedient servants,
Zachary Macaulay, Acting Governor.
James Watt, Councillor P. S.
"Rev. Mr. Hopkins, Providence, Rhode Island."
" Freetown, October 20, 1796. Dear Sir : On my return from England
in March last, I was favored with your much esteemed letter of the ninth [of]
September, 1795, and had also an opportunity of seeing your obliging com
munications to the Governor and Council. In their name, I beg to make the
heartiest acknowledgments for the attention you was pleased to pay to their
requests. They feel themselves particularly indebted to you, for the con-
siderateness with which you withheld your recommendation from persons who
might otherwise have caused them much trouble ; a circumstance, which will
lead them to receive with much regard any recommendation which, at any
future period, you may be induced to make them.
" I beg now to return you my best thanks for the pleasure afforded me by
your letter, as well as by the tracts accompanying it I have perused them
with profit, and have only to regret, that an oversight of Captain Benson's,
should have deprived me of the satisfaction of perusing some more bulky pro
ductions of the same pen. During my late visit to Europe, I had an oppor
tunity of passing some time at Edinburgh. My very excellent and venerable
friend, Dr. Erskine, communicated to me the substance of the interesting
account you give of your labors in behalf of this benighted land. It is to be
regretted, that they should have hitherto proved so fruitless. We may, how
ever, regard that and every similar effort that has been made, however to out

152 MEMOIR.
view they may have appeared vain, as silently operating in producing that
striking and unexampled eagerness, with which the Christian world in Europe
is now pursuing the benevolent object of evangelizing the heathen. During
my short stay at home, I had the satisfaction of seeing a mission undertaken
by the Baptists to India, and another to Africa, one undertaken by the
Wesleyan Methodists to the interior of the same country, and one put in a fair
way of being undertaken by the Moravians. A society for missions had also
been formed, which embraced all sects of Evangelical Pedo-Baptists, to the
funds of which £10,000 sterling had been subscribed, whose object, in the first
instance, is the South Sea Islands. It is with some concern I add, that the
Methodist mission to this country has entirely failed, through the unfitness of
the instruments, and that the Baptist mission near us languishes from the
same cause.
" One of my objects in visiting Edinburgh was, to procure some pious men
to accompany me on my return, as servants of the Company ; and in this I
succeeded to my wish. I was so fortunate as to meet with a young man of
the name of Clarke, who, possessed of great gifts, was also possessed of un
common piety, and embraced with gladness an offer of the chaplaincy here, in
the hope of an opportunity of doing good. He has, since his arrival, formed
a church, as far as circumstances admit, on the Presbyterian plan, (though we
banish names : — here we are not Presbyterians, but Christians,) and there is
a prospect of his doing much good. His usefulness has indeed been much
marred, by a number of would-be preachers, who started up among the people,
while they were without any regular instructor, and who find the continuance
of their influence so much involved in Mr. Clarke's success, that they use
every effort to cause dissensions and maintain a party spirit. We may regard
even that unpleasant circumstance as, in some measure, a token for good. If
Satan be busy, we may judge he trembles for his kingdom.
" You have a copy, if I am not mistaken, of the conditions on which I
agreed with MacKenzie to receive free blacks. Should the people around
you be disposed to give the requisite assistance to a few families who might
wish to migrate, and whom you could safely recommend, they would be
received on the same terms.
" I have the pleasure of enclosing a printed report of the progress of our
colony, till the time of its devastation by the French. Almost all the facts are
detailed from my own actual observation. I understand from Captain Benson,
that a very unfavorable report respecting my conduct at that time has reached
America. Misrepresentation is a part of that cross which, so very peculiarly
situated as I am, I must be content to bear. The report to which I allude,
took its rise from the ill will of a shipmaster bound hence to Jamaica, whom
I had forced to perform an act of common humanity to some seamen in dis
tress, and was eagerly retailed by the people of Jamaica, to whom, from a
residence of six years in that island, I am well known, and who, regarding
me, with some justice, as an apostate from their party, gladly seize every
opportunity of marking then- dislike.
" I shall not fail to send you the continuation of the printed reports, as
they make their appearance. In the mean time, you will like to hear that our
schools thrive, under the superintendence of Mr. Clarke, to a degree I could
hardly have expected. For particulars respecting them and many other
points, I must refer you to Captain Benson, whose representations I should
expect (if not from partiality a little too highly colored) would be very fair.
" You will be sorry to learn that, during the last year, the number of
American slave traders on the coast has increased to an unprecedented de
gree. Were it not for their pertinacious adherence to that abominable traffic,
it would, in consequence of the war, have been almost wholly abolished in
our neighborhood. By letters from my excellent friends, Messrs. Wilberforce
and Thornton, whose names I dare say are not unknown on your side of the
water, I find that, nothing daunted by their frequent defeats, they mean to
pursue without any relaxation their measures for a total abohtion. The

MEMOIR. 153
question was lost, in March last, only by a majority of four, and that not till
the last reading.
" The continuation of your correspondence will be highly gratifying to me,
and I shall have pleasure in writing to you, from time to time, on such topics
as from this far country will be likely to interest you.
" Dr. Hopkins,* Dr. Erskine, and tlie Rev. John Newton, have severally
told me that, were they young, they should strongly desire to migrate to
Sierra Leone. Their actual presence is a happiness which we dare not ex
pect; but we feel -ground for indulging a hope that their hearts are with us,
and that they sometimes breathe out a prayer in our behalf to Him whose
blessing can alone make our work prosper. That he may bestow on you, sir,
the best of blessings, is the warmest prayer of your faithful friend and obliged
and humble servant, Zachary Macaulay.
" P. S. I send, herewith, a number of little tracts, which are published
monthly in England, chiefly by my valuable friend Mrs. Hannah More.
Their object is, to supplant licentious and seditious ballads and pamphlets, by
affording amusement to the common people, at an equally cheap rate, or at a
cheaper rate than those pernicious writings are sold at ; whereby people may
be surprised, as it were, into someprofitable reading. The success of the
tracts has been truly astonishing. The plan began only in March, 1795, and
before last March, two millions of tracts had been sold."
We have already seen that two, of the first three candidates for
the African mission, died before their education was completed.-)"
Still, the projector of that mission clung to it ; and as late as
1799, when he was about eighty years of age, and had been laboring
twenty-six years in its behalf, he writes in the last book which he
ever published : f
" It may here be added, that the way to tthis proposed mission yet lies open ;
and the importance of it and the encouragement to it are as great as ever. All
that is wanted is money, exertion, and missionaries to undertake it. There
are religious blacks to be found, who understand the language of the nations in
those parts, who might be improved, if properly encouraged. And if they
were brought to embrace Christianity, and to be civilized, it would put a stop
to the slave trade, and render them happy. And it would open a door for a
trade which would be for the temporal interest of both Americans and Afri
cans. As attention to sending the gospel to the heathen appears to be now
soreading and increasing in America, it is hoped that the eyes of many will
be opened to see the peculiar obligations they are under to attempt to send
the gospel to the Africans, whom we have injured and abused so greatly, even
more than any other people under heaven ; it being the best and the only
compensation we can make."
In none of his letters, even to his most confidential friends, does
Hopkins intimate, that his original views of an African settlement, or
* Was there a Dr. Hopkins of England, who had seen Mr. Macaulay, and <• told"
him what is here asserted 1 Or does Mr. Macaulay speak of Dr. Hopkins of America, as
having written to him what is here stated 1 It was common, especially in that day, to
allude in the third person to the individual addressed ; but Mr. Macaulay, in the pre
ceding letter, does not address the Rhode Island pastor as Dr., but as "Mr. Hopkins."
t John Quamine had lost his life in the revolutionary war. Dr. Patten says, (Rem
iniscences, pp. 86, 87,) that he " entered on board a privateer, with the desire not only
to support in this way the cause of the army, but to obtain money to purchase the free
dom of his wife ; but he was slain in the first battle."
X Memoirs of Mrs. Osborn, pp. 78, 79.

154 MEMOIR.
even of an African mission, had been modified by any other coloni
zation movement. He records no change of plan between the year
1773 and the year 1799. That the lapse of time may have matured
his scheme, we do not deny ; but we can find no evidence of his
having essentially altered it. This is certainly remarkable, and is
one among other proofs, that his sagacious mind foresaw, from the
first, that John Quamine and Salmar Nubia were to be trained as
pioneers, not for churches only, but for commercial cities and ex
tensive colonies also. He manifests no surprise at the schemes of
Granville Sharp, but cordially unites in them, as long familiar to his
mind. Sect. XXXVII. NEWPORT GARDNER.
Many results of our philanthropist's labors were intangible. Not
all of them, however. Salmar Nubia and Newport Gardner were a
connecting link between the missionary colonization scheme of Dr.
Hopkins and the more indiscriminate colonization scheme of the
present day. Both of these men were introduced to our notice by
Mr. Hopkins, on p. 136, above. One of them, Newport, was a man
of mark. " He was brought to this country as a slave, in 1760,
when about fourteen years of age. He early discovered to his owner
very superior powers of mind. He taught himself to read, after re
ceiving a few lessons on the elements of written language. He
taught himself to sing, after receiving a very trivial initiation into the
rudiments of music. He became so well acquainted with the science
and art of music, that he composed a large number of tunes, (some-
of which have been highly approved by musical amateurs,) and was
for a long time the teacher of a very numerously attended singing
school in Newport. He retained a knowledge of his mother tongue,
so that he could speak it fluently in his eightieth year." * "A long
time after he came to this country, he distinguished, among a cargo
of slaves, two individuals, whom he instantly addressed in their own
language, and reminded them of his having previously met them in
their own land. In his person he was tall, straight, and well formed ;
in his manners, he was dignified and unassuming." t Mr. Hopkins
* Ferguson's Memoir of Hopkins, p. 90. Dr. Hitchcock writes : " Newport Gard
ner used to say to me, [between the years 1815 and 1820,] that he was very careful to
cultivate his recollection of his African tongue, so that in case Providence should open
a way, he might return to Africa, and find a people with whom he might converse intel
ligibly, and lo whom he might communicate the great truths of the gospel." — MS.
Letter. t MS. Letter of Mr. Ferguson. Dr. Hitchcock writes : " Newport often repeated
this maxim : < If you wish to do good to our people, you must keep us in our place.
You must not flatter us.' I have often heard him pray. He never failed to plead for
Africa, confessing the justice of God in her miseries, owing to her sins, especially ' in
worshipping trees, and streams, and fountains of water, and reptiles.' " — MS. Letter.
Such humility in a slave who was honored so much as Newport, is a proof of his su
perior endowments.

MEMOIR. 155
originated and encouraged the design of Newport's obtaining his
freedom, and returning a missionary to his own country. In a letter
to Dr. Hart, apprising him of " two remarkable events," Mr. Hop
kins says : " April 27, 1791. The other event is, ten blacks in
this town joined to purchase a ticket in the semi-annual lottery in
Boston, which has drawn a prize of two thousand dollars. One of
them belongs to our church, and is of a good character, — the best
that I know among the blacks, except Bristol Yamma. He is a
slave. — It is hoped that by this event he will obtain his freedom."
That slave was Newport, and he at once renewed his old applica
tion for the purchase of his liberty. But he had not money enough
to buy his own freedom and also that of his wife and children. He
therefore " was allowed to labor for his own profit, during whatever
time he might gain by extra diligence. The slave devoted all this
gained time to procuring the means of liberating himself and family.
He was finally advised, by a deacon of Mr. Hopkins's church, to
spend this time in fasting and prayer for his liberation, and he was
assured of more rapid success in this course than in that of manual
labor. Accordingly, having gained a day, this pious negro, without
communicating his plan to any but Mr. Hopkins, and two or three
Christian friends, spent that day in secret fasting and prayer that he
might obtain his freedom. His master, totally ignorant of his slave's
occupation, sent for him about four o'clock in the afternoon ; but
was told that ' Newport was engaged for himself, this being his
gained day.' ' No matter — call him,' says Captain Gardner. After
some hesitation, the slave was called, and the owner gave him a paper,
on which was written, — ' I, Caleb Gardner, of Newport, Rhode
Island, do this day manumit and release forever Newport Gardner,
his wife, and children," &c, &c. ; adding some conditions which
could be easily complied with. The slave received his manumis
sion with gratitude to his owner, but with still deeper gratitude to
his all-wise Disposer above, who had signally answered his request
for freedom, even before he had finislied his supplication." *
The desire which his pastor had enkindled in his bosom to re
visit his native land, for the sake of carrying thither the institutions
of the gospel, never died away. Both he and Salmar Nubia t
" continued, through life, with their faces turned toward their home,
* Slightly altered from Ferguson's Memoir, pp. 184, 185. Dr. Alexander, describ
ing this mode of Newport's liberation, says : " If it were not so well authenticated, we
should hesitate to mention it ; as, to some of our readers, it may probably savor too
much of enthusiasm. But in fact, it is nothing else than an evident, and somewhat ex
traordinary answer to prayer." History of African Colonization, p. 57. The account
rests on the authority of Colonel Vinson, Dr. Tenney, Mr. Ferguson, and others.
t This man, a member of Dr. Stiles's church in Newport, was a subscriber for the
first edition of Hopkins's System of Divinity; and his name is spelled Solmar Nubia
in the published list of the original subscribers' names. It is spelled, in some of Hop
kins's letters, Solmar Numa ; and in the census of Liberia for 1843. it is spelled John
Nubia.

156 MEMOIR.
and when the favorable moment came, they joyfully; embarked for
Africa. On the evening of the twenty-eighth of December, 1825, they
and sixteen others were constituted a church in the city of Boston.
Drs. Jenks, S. E. Dwight, Wisner, Justin Edwards, and Rev. Samuel
Green, conducted the exercises of the evening. The church made a
unanimous choice of Newport Gardner and John Salmar Nubia for
deacons ; " Rev. Samuel Green offered the consecrating prayer for
the two newly-elected officers, and at the conclusion of the service
an anthem was sung, which was " composed by Deacon Gardner,
and by him set to the following words of his own selection and
adaptation : "
" The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying : Write thou all
the words which I have spoken unto thee in a book. For lo ! the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and
Judah, saith the Lord ; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave
to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Therefore, fear thou not, O my
servant Jacob, saith the Lord ; neither be dismayed, O Israel ; for lo ! I will
save thee from afar, and thy seed from their captivity, and Jacob shall return
and be in rest and quiet, and none shall make him afraid. Amen. Hear the
words of the Lord, O ye African race, hear the words of promise. But it is
not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Truth, Lord, yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's table. O African,
trust in the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise ye the
Lord. Hallelujah. Amen."
On the 4th of January, 1826, the church sailed for Liberia, in the
brig Vine, from Boston. There were thirty-two colored emigrants
on board, all of them from Rhode Island. To the spectators of the
embarkation it appeared singular, that two men so old as these two
deacons, should venture to become pioneers of an infant colony, on
a sickly coast. But this had been their ruling passion. There had
been an influence upon them which the world knew not. They had
sat by the fireside of Hopkins's narrow study, and had there nour
ished their missionary spirit, a half century before it was developed
in their missionary life.* So permanent is human influence. The
two deacons arrived at Monrovia, February 6, 1826, and after a
rapid decline, died, about six months after their arrival. Newport
Gardner was about eighty, and Salmar Nubia about seventy years
of age, at the time of their decease.
* Somewhat altered from Ferguson's Memoir, pp. 90, 91, 185, 186. The author of
the " New Republic," speaking of the emigrants in the Vine, says, p. 101 : " One aged
black was among the number, who seemed to be filled with almost youthful enthusiasm
for the cause. < I go,' he exclaimed, ' to set an example to Ihe youlh of my race. ]
go to encourage the young. They can never be elevated here. I have tried it sixty
years — it is in vain. Could I by my example lead them to set sail, and I die the next
day, I should be satisfied.' "

MEMOIR. 157

Sect. XXXVIII. CHURCH ACTION IN REGARD TO SLAVERY.
It has been said that the church of Mr. Hopkins, at Newport,
was the first in the world which prohibited its members from
purchasing or owning slaves. It must be remembered, however,
that the Quakers of England, as early as 1761, voted to exclude
from their communion all who should engage in the slave traffic ; *
and in 1776, the Quakers of Pennsylvania voted to exclude all
owners of slaves who " refused to execute the proper instruments
for giving them their freedom. " t When it is said, then, that Mr.
Hopkins's church preceded all others in expressing its intolerance of
slavery, we must not include the Friends. It is remarkable that as
early as 1781, while yet in the midst of the revolutionary struggle,
our reformer proposed some ecclesiastical action on the subject, and
induced one of his most estimable and prominent church-members
to pledge himself, that, at the time of his death, he would manumit
his only remaining slave. In Hopkins's firm chirography, the fol
lowing votes now stand on the Church Records.
"At a meeting of the church, January 30, 1784, it was, Voted :
" 1. That whereas Deacon Coggeshall did, more than two years
ago, promise before the church that he would secure the freedom of
his black girl, Sarah, that she should be free upon his decease, it is
the opinion oT^this church that he ought, without delay, to deliver to
us a paper, properly authenticated, securing to said girl her freedom,
as above said.
"2. That Captain Hammond and Mr. Nichols be desired to let
Deacon Coggeshall know of the above vote, and desire him to com
ply with it, without delay."
"At a meeting of the church, March 5, 1784, Voted: That as
Deacon Coggeshall has delivered to Mr. Samuel Vinson a paper, in
which he has secured the freedom of the above-said Sarah, and it
has been read before the church, they are satisfied with respect to
that matter, and that Mr. Vinson be desired to keep said paper, until
he shall receive further direction from the church respecting it."
" At the same meeting, Voted : That the slave trade and the
slavery of the Africans, as it has taken place among us, is a gross
violation of the righteousness and benevolence which are so much in
culcated in the gospel ; and therefore -we will not tolerate it in this
church." From these votes, it may be, as it has been inferred, that if a
member of the church, already owning slaves, would give a written
* In 1727, this estimable body first warned its members against being concerned in
the trade.
t Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, p. 106. From this work,
and from Copley's History of Slavery, have been gleaned many of the facts commu
nicated in these sections. 71

158 MEMOIR.
pledge to liberate them at a future time, that member need not be
disciplined for retaining his slaves in bondage until that time ; but
he would be disciplined if he should purchase a new slave ; and no
man would be allowed to enter the church, either from the world
or from other churches, unless he first emancipated his bondmen.
These votes indicate the determined spirit of Mr. Hopkins, and at
the same time his kindly, considerate temper. He was as far from
fanaticism, as from attachment to old abuses.

Sect. XXXIX. THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND THE
SLAVE INTEREST.
What were the views of an abolitionist like Hopkins, in regard to
the proceedings of the Convention which framed the Constitution of
the United States ? In a letter to Moses Brown, dated October 22,
1787, about one month after the delegates had agreed on the Fed
eral Constitution, Mr. Hopkins says :
" My Kind Friend :  I am hurt by the doings of the Convention
respecting the slave trade. It is as you suppose. They have carefully
secured the practice of it in these States for twenty years, and prevented any
asylum for slaves during that term, unless every individual State should sup
press the trade. They have taken it out of the hands of Congress. We
cannot determine, that the major part of the delegates were pleased with this.
Some of the southern delegates, no doubt, insisted upon it, that the introduc
tion of slaves should be secured, and obstinately refused to conform to any
constitution which did not secure it. The others, therefore, consented, rather
than have no constitution, or one in which the delegates should not be unani
mous. I fear this is an Achan, which will bring a curse, so that we cannot
prosper. At the same time, it appears to me that if this Constitution be not
adopted by the States, as it now stands, we shall have none, and nothing but
anarchy and confusion may be expected. I must leave it with the Supreme
Ruler of the universe, who will do right, and knows what to do with these
States, to answer his own infinitely wise purposes ; and will vindicate the
oppressed, and break the arm of the oppressor, in his own way and time, and
cause the wrath of man to praise him."
To Dr. Hart, of Preston. — " January 29, 1788. Dear Sir : I thank you
for your exertions with regard to the slave trade. I should have been glad to
be informed whetlier what was reported to Mr. Brown be true ; viz., that they
are going into this trade at Middletown and Norwich. I hear they threaten
to carry it on here and at Providence yet, but question whether they will do
it, as they will expose themselves so much by it The new Constitution, you
observe, guarantees this trade for twenty years. I fear, if it be adopted, this
will prove an Achan in our camp. How does it appear in the sight of
Heaven, and of all good men, well informed, that these States, who have been
fighting for liberty, and consider themselves as the highest and most noble
example of zeal for it, cannot agree in any political constitution, unless it in
dulge and authorize them to enslave their fellow-men ! I think if this Con
stitution be not adopted as it is, without any alteration, we shall have none, and
shall be in a state of anarchy, and probably of civil war. Therefore I wish
to have it adopted ; but still, as I said, I fear. And perhaps civil war will
not be avoided, if it be adopted. Ah! these unclean spirits, like frogs.
They, like the Furies of the poets, are spreading discord and exciting men to
contention and war, wherever they go ; and they can spoil the best constitu-

MEMOIR. 159
tion that can be formed. When Congress shall be formed on the new plan,
these frogs will be there ; for they go forth to the kings of the earth, in the
first place. They will turn the members of that august body into devils, so
far as they are permitted to influence them. Have they not already got pos
session of most of the men, who will or can be chosen and appointed to a
place in that assembly ? I suppose that even good Christians are not out of
the reach of influence from these frogs. ' Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments.' " *
Decidedly as Hopkins opposed some parts of the Constitution, he
was yet earnestly in favor of adopting it, and he evidently thought
that, after its adoption, it should be obeyed, actively or passively, in
all its requirements. He would shut the door, not against amend
ment, but against forcible resistance. He deemed the loss of the
Constitution, as a whole, to be a greater evil, than the retention of
those articles which he so much disapproved. He believed that when
the advocates of freedom could not do as well as they would, they
should do as well as they could. He therefore urged the reluctant
Rhode Islanders to come into the Federal Compact. In a letter
dated July 29, 1788, he writes :
" Some of our politicians, who are. Federal, choose that the new Constitu
tion should not be adopted by this State ; as they wish for the supposed con
sequence of not doing it, viz., that the State will be divided, and part annexed
to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the other part to Connecticut.
Rhode Island is to join the former, and Connecticut is to have Narra
ganset ! "
Often, throughout his correspondence, he expresses his attachment
to our Constitution, and alludes in reverential terms to those who
first administered it. He was a great admirer of Washington, and
trained his family to support the Washiugtonian principles of gov
ernment.

Sect. XL. RELATIVE POSITION OF HOPKINS AMONG THE FRIENDS
OF THE SLAVE.
No great change of public morals is effected by a single indi
vidual. There are always " reformers before the reformation." It
is useful to learn the exact relation of Hopkins to other friends of
the slave, and the degree in which he was distinguished above them,
* This is indeed strong language; not so strong, however, as that used by many
companions of Hopkins, in the movement against slavery; not by any means so strong
as that used nineteen days before, by Granville Sharp, in a letter to Benjamin Franklin :
" Having been always zealous," writes Mr. Sharp, (Memoir, p. 253,) " for the honor of
free governments, I am the more sincerely grieved to see the new Federal Constitution
stained by the insertion of two most exceptionable clauses of the kind above men
tioned ; the one in direct opposition to a most humane article, ordained by the first
American Congress to be perpetually observed ; and the other in equal opposition to
an express command of the Almighty, ' not to deliver up the servant that has escaped
from his master,' &c. Both clauses, however, (the ninth section of the first article, and
the latter part of the second section of ihe third article,) are so clearly null and void by
their iniquity, that it would be even a crime to regard them as law."

160 MEMOIR.
or in which they surpassed him. By no means was he the first
who opposed the system of African slavery. As early as 1640, that
system had been condemned by Cardinal Ximenes, Charles V., Leo
X., Queen Elizabeth, and Louis XIII. ; and before the year 1770, it
had been written against in Europe, by Rev. Morgan Godwyn,
Richard Baxter, Thomas Tryon, George Fox, Thomas Southern,
Primatt, Montesquieu, Hutcheson, James Foster, Sir Richard Steele,
Atkins, Wallis, Rev. Griffith Hughes, Hayter, Postlethwaite, Jeffery,
Sterne, Rousseau, Bishop Warburton, Granville Sharp ; and in
America, by Whitefield, Judge Sewall, William Burling, Ralph
Sandiford, Benjamin Lay, John Woolman, Anthony Benezet.*
The English poets, also, such as Milton, Pope, Thomson, Savage,
Shenstone, Dyer, wrote in harmony with the free genius of song,
and excited a detestation of the African bondage. The English
Quakers, as a body, condemned the slave trade in public resolutions,
passed in 1727, 1758, 1761, and 1763. The Quakers of Pennsyl
vania condemned it in their meetings of 1696, 1711, and 1754. The
greater part of all which had been published as early as 1770, was
against the traffic in slaves ; but we have seen that Hopkins, about
the year 1770, preached not against the traffic only, but also against
all property in slaves ; t and as early, at least, as 1773, he projected
his African mission, with the design of preventing the slave trade ;
* This beneficent man, whom Granville Sharp declared to be " unhappily involved
in the errors of Quakerism," wrote an anti-slavery letter to Mr. Sharp, which was
received June 22, 1772, the very day of Sharp's triumph in the noted Somerset case.
In 1767, one of Benezet's works on slavery was republished in England by Mr. Sharp ;
and in 1769, one of Sharp's works on slavery was republished (in au abridged form)
in America, by Mr. Benezet. It was this same Anthony Benezet, whose " Historical
Account of Guinea " gave such timely aid to Clarkson, in 1785. Benezet published
his first large work on slavery, in 1762, but had previously written smaller works for
the press on the same theme. He thus made a public avowal of his opinions previously
to the time of Hopkins's Circular and Dialogue. He was more active in political
circles than Hopkins. But he was less profound in his discussions, and had less influ
ence over the clergy.
t That Hopkins preached against slavery about the year 1770, is evident from the
following facts. Many of his old parishioners have said, that he thus preached soon after
he went to Newport, July 21, 1769, and before he started his plan for an African mis
sion ; certainly, then, before April, 1773. He himself informed Granville Sharp, that
he preached against the trade soon after his removal to Newport j and against slavery
itself, soon after he had opposed the trade ; and that when he thus preached, he " was,
so far as [he] then knew, almost alone in [his] opposition to this trade and to Ihe
slavery of the Africans : " see p. 140, above. It should seem, then, that he must have
delivered these sermons before the year 1772 ; for on the first of April, in lhat year, the
Virginia House of Burgesses petitioned the king against the importation of slaves into
their colony ; and on the fourteenth of May, Anthony Benezet wrote, that in Pennsyl
vania, Maryland, Virginia, and New England, there was a strong public sentiment
against the slave system ; (see Hoare's Memoir of Granville Sharp, Esq.) Now, can
it be, that a man so proverbially inquisitive as Hopkins, did not know of these political
movements, when they were made 1 And if he did know of them, he must have stood
up almost alone against slavery before their occurrence, i. e.. before the spring of 1772.
He had probably heard of the anti-slavery discussions which commenced at Boston in
1766, and continued intermittently until the revolution ; but which seem to have been
confined to political circles, and to have promised no immediate results of great moment.

MEMOIR. 161
and he published a forcible argument against the whole slave system,
in 1776. He openly denounced the entire scheme, then, before Ben
jamin Rush printed his first pamphlet against it, in 1773 ; and before
Dr. Beattie and John Wesley made their open opposition to it. He
even printed his Dialogue as early as Adam Smith and Professor
Millar printed their works in which slavery was condemned, and be
fore a single page had been written on the subject by Dr. Robert
son, Abbe Raynal, Dr. Paley, Bishop Porteus, James Ramsay, who
first appeared as an anti-slavery author, in 1785, and Thomas Clark
son, who wrote his first Essay on the theme in Latin, in 1785, and
published it in English, in 1786. Granville Sharp became interested
in the subject by an accident, in 1765, and he published his first
work against the evil, in 1769, and triumphed in the Somerset case,
in 1772. He thus preceded Hopkins as a conspicuous friend of the
slave. But neither he nor any other man had, in 1776, written on
the theme so forcibly and fundamentally, and at the same time so
religiously, as this Rhode Island pastor. Unless we include, then, a
a few estimable preachers among the Society of Friends, Hopkins
was the first of the American divines, who published an effective re
monstrance against the claiming of property in slaves. He was the
ablest of all writers, English or American, who opposed the slave
system on strictly religious grounds, as early as 1776. He also sub
jected himself to more of personal suffering, than did the great
majority of those who assailed the slave system. He set himself
against the habits and pecuniary income, of the men on whom he
relied for his daily bread. He sacrificed property and immediate
reputation.* He was ridiculed and hated by many of his townsmen.
But he threw over himself, and over his cause, the mantle of religion.
He allied himself with Jehovah. In reply to the taunts of his fellow-
citizens, he often predicted, that " God would frown upon New
port ; " that "the judgments of Heaven would hang over its dwell
ings ; " and a large number of his friends, who saw the grass growing
in the streets of that beautiful town, for many years after these pre-
' dictions, associated the desolate appearance of the place with the
vaticinations of that troubled old pastor. His earnest words exerted
a prolonged influence on the mind of the youthful Channing ; and
this influence was developed fifty years after it was first exerted.
That sedate youth often met at his father's table the old apostle of
freedom ; and " it was from him that [Channing] first gained his
convictions of the iniquity of slavery." t
How far Hopkins preceded other men, and how far they pre
ceded him, in forming societies for the abohtion of slavery, and in
* See pp. 94, 110, 116, 119-126, etc., of the present Memoir.
t Channing's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 32.

162 MEMOIR.
ecclesiastical action with regard to it, has been detailed on pages 125,
126, and 157 of this Memoir. His preeminence over his brethren is
more conspicuous in his scheme for evangelizing Africa.
On the 19th of January, 1481, the Portuguese missionaries cele
brated their first mass in Guinea. As far as can be ascertained, the
French commenced an African mission, in 1635 ; the Spanish, in
1652; the Moravians, in 1736; and the British, in 1751. "The first
American who is known to have attempted any thing for the conver
sion of Africa, was " Dr. Hopkins* He may have heard, for he
was inquisitive on missionary themes, of Rev. Thomas Thompson,
who was the first, but not very consistent English missionary in
Africa,+ and who had previously labored five years in New Jersey.
Be that as it may, for about thirty years, Hopkins was strenuous in
liis exertions to wake up the missionary spirit in behalf of the negro
race. In about twelve years from the date of his last communica
tion on the theme, a spirit of missions was extensively developed in
behalf of all the heathen races, and the sons of two of his disciples
had consecrated themselves to the foreign enterprise. Is it at all im
probable, that his extensive correspondence on the African mission,
had predisposed the hearts of many in favor of the American Board 1
And would it be singular if his letters to Great Britain, on the same
subject, had exerted some influence on Carey, Fuller, Pearce, and
Ryland, (two of whom were his correspondents, and all of #hom
were his friends,) who formed the first Missionary Society of Eng
land, in 1792, nearly twenty years after Hopkins had written in
favor of evangelizing Africa?
The scheme of colonizing Africa on religious principles is yet
more evidently Hopkinsian. Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, says : f
" As well as can be ascertained by a diligent research, the first man
who ever seriously contemplated sending a colony to Africa, was
Dr. Thornton, a native of Virginia; but at the time when he
conceived this plan, a resident of the city of Washington, where he
is still remembered, as at the same time a man of many eccentrici- *
ties, arising from a vivid genius, and a real philanthropist. Dr.
Thornton not only formed a plan of African colonization, but ac
tually attempted its execution, intending to become himself the leader
of the colony. Therefore, in the year 1787, he published an • Ad
dress ' to the free people of color in Rhode Island and Massachusetts,
* Rev. Joseph Tracy's Historical Examination of the State of Society in Western
Africa, (p. 34,) — a pamphlet from which several of the facts here stated are derived.
t We are sorry to read the following sentence in a letter of Granville Sharp to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, dated August 1, 1786 : — « I fully answered their missionary,
the Rev. Thomas Th— ps— n, who had attempted publicly to vindicate the African
slave trade, and [I] sent my answer to Mr. Benezet in MS., which was printed in
America by the Quakers." — Hoare's Life of Sharp, p. 262.
% History of African Colonization, p. 61.

MEMOIR. 163
inviting them to accompany him to the western coast of Africa, with
the view of planting a colony in the land of their forefathers.
Although Dr. Hopkins's plan preceded this many years, yet his was
rather a missionary than a colonization scheme ; although, as we
have seen, it probably suggested the first idea of the colony at Sierra
Leone. But Dr. Thornton was undoubtedly the first who conceived,
and attempted to carry into effect, a plan for a colony of free colored
people on the western coast of Africa."
With regard to this statement, we need only say, that Granville
Sharp wrote a private memorandum with regard to such a colony in
1783, and proposed his scheme to others, in 1786;* and therefore
seems to have preceded Dr. Thornton, whose first public movement
is mentioned by Dr. Alexander as being made in 1787. It is highly
probable, that Mr. Hopkins first conceived his plan of African coloni
zation, as early as 1773; and it can be proved, that he wrote upon it
to a friend, as early as April, 1784, and then mentioned it, as a pro
posal which had been ' on foot for some time.' He could not have
been indebted to Granville Sharp for this plan. Sharp's mention of
it in 1783 was private, and his mention of it in 1786 does not appear
to have been known by Hopkins, or any American, for some time
afterward. Neither could Hopkins have received his idea from Dr.
Thornton ; for in 1787, when Dr. Thornton made his first appeal to
the community, Hopkins says of it, " I have, as you know, sir,
been for years desirous of an attempt to make such a settlement." t
Dr. Alexander says, that Hopkins's was " rather a missionary than
a colonization scheme." It would have been more accurate to say,
that the scheme was both a missionary and a colonization scheme.
It was a plan not at first for promiscuous, but for carefully regulated
colonization. It made Christianity prominent. It proposed the
religious improvement of the slaves, as the chief reason for their
emigration. But the prominence of religion aided, rather than
depressed, the colonizing enterprise. Whatever Hopkins undertook
was blended with the kingdom of Christ ; yet, as evangelical instruc
tion was to be given both in Granville Sharp's and in Dr. Thornton's
colony, Hopkins regarded both as capable of being united with that
which he had antecedently proposed.
But although Dr. Alexander regards the colonization movement as
having been prompted by the Virginian instead of the New Eng-
lander, he yet supposes that Hopkins's " extraordinary enterprise "
" had a real connection with the scheme of African colonization,"
which is now in progress, and which in some particulars is unlike
that of the Newport divine. Dr. Alexander conjectures, that Hop
kins's scheme may have suggested to Granville Sharp the plan of
* Prince Hoare's Memoirs of Granville Sharp, Esq., pp. 259, 260, 265.
t Letter to Moses Brown. See p. 139, above.

164 MEMOIR.
colonizing Sierra Leone ; and says that " the recollection of this
scheme of Dr. Hopkins, to send back to Africa some of her sons as
missionaries, in all probability suggested the idea of African coloniza
tion." * The Society in Scotland for Propagating the Gospel, made
this proposal of Hopkins known to the British public ; and it were
very natural to infer the expediency of colonizing, from the wisdom
of evangelizing that benighted land. Still, we are warranted to say
no more than this. If either of the two great men, Sharp and Hop
kins, received his first idea of colonization indirectly from the other,
it is more probable that the grandson of the English archbishop was
aided by the Puritan divine, than that the Puritan divine was aided
by the grandson of the archbishop. To the British philanthropist,
belongs the distinction of having been first to execute the plan which,
perhaps, was never suggested to him by another. To the Rhode
Island philanthropist, belongs the distinction of having been the first
man in the world who is known to have originated a scheme of
African colonization, and of having " done what he could " to make
it practically successful. This scheme was not a bare idea. It had
an historical result. How could it have been otherwise 1 Every
good thought is useful. Such a thought as this, presented to the
public year after year by a powerful reasoner, must have produced
an impression, deep, if not obvious. Who has ever labored so long
for any worthy object, without accomplishing some good 1 It must
be remembered, that with all his foes, some of the most enterprising
ministers in New England were the admirers and disciples of Hop
kins. He addressed to them letters and circulars ; he sent to them
newspapers and sermons on the subject, and thus prepared their own
minds and the minds of their children for a scheme of evangelizing
Africa, by means of moral and religious colonies. Let us contem
plate one among several like instances, of the effect which Hopkins
may have produced on the generation that was entering, when he
was leaving, the scenes of public life.
Samuel J. Mills was in his twenty-first year, when the subject of
this Memoir died. The father of Mr. Mills was the Congregational
minister of Torringford, Connecticut, a town in the vicinity of Great
Barrington. He is known to have been a personal admirer of Hop
kins, a believer in the main peculiarities of the Hopkinsian theology.
He was recognized through life as substantially, although not in all
minutia, a Hopkinsian divine. It is understood, that as long as both
of these pastors lived, they were in the habit of personal intercourse
with each other; at least as often as once a year, at the Hartford
election ; and that Hopkins was in the habit of sending to Torring-
* Alexander's History of African Colonization, p. 65. Dr. Alexander seems to have
thought, that Hopkins corresponded with Sharp before the Sierra Leone project had been
started. Not so, however.

MEMOIR. 165
ford, as to other towns, some of the essays which he published on
his favorite African scheme.* Now it is an interesting fact, that
in less than seven years after the death of Hopkins, Samuel J.
Mills, the son of the Torringford pastor, wrote in his Diary : —
" I long to have the time arrive, when the gospel shall be preached
to the poor Africans, and likewise to all nations." f Why did the
African mission, rather than the Indian, first occur to him at this
early period ? In thirteen years after the death of the man who had
recommended the formation of a " Company," for superintending
the emigration of the negroes, (see p. 147, above,) Mr. Mills became
a conspicuous agent for a colonization society. It was with the
spirit of a missionary, that he embarked in an enterprise, which was
commended twenty years before, in the same spirit, by his father's
friend. Can any one, who has watched the transmission of influence
from fireside interviews and juvenile impressions, (especially in the
families of our New England pastors,) be slow to believe, that the
mind of young Mills had been, in some degree, directly or indirect-
'ly, educated for this sphere of beneficence by the journals and pam
phlets which his father had been receiving, for thirty years, from the
Newport divine . It is not according to the analogy of God's provi
dence, that thirty years of untiring labor for any benevolent enter
prise, should fail to produce some impression upon the families
which were partial to the laborer.
We do not pretend, that Hopkins produced a distinctly and easily
perceptible effect in favor of Christianizing or of colonizing Africa.
The many disappointments of his life give it a tinge of melancholy.
His was not the cheering lot of such men as Moses Stuart, who, be
fore they die, clearly see the results of their life's toil. Hopkins
lived by faith, not by sight. He disseminated philanthropic plans,
whose influence has been in a great measure invisible. But unseen
results are none the less real. It is one lesson to be gathered from
his Memoir, that perseverance in duty, even amid disheartening ' re
pulses, will end well ; that an idea will never be lost, even though it
be " buried long ; " that " great truths can be expressed no where,
without spreading themselves every where."
* In attempting lo ascertain, whether these two clergymen were in the habit of
epistolary correspondence with each other, the writer learned, that in December, 1823,
when Mr. Mills was eighty years of age, his house, library, manuscripts, portrait,
etc., were burned. It is distinctly remembered, however, that among other works of
Hopkins in Mr. Mills's library, was the Memoir of Madam Osborn, which details a part
of the scheme for civilizing and evangelizing Africa. This Memoir was extensively
read a half century ago, in the families of New England clergymen.
t Spring's Life of Mills, p. 24.

166 MEMOIR.

Sect. XLI. INTEREST IN THE NEGRO POPULATION OF NEWPORT.
Mr. Hopkins was not one of those men who expend their zeal on
remote objects of charity, while they neglect such as are near at
home. On the 23d of June, 1780, he writes to Dr. West :
" The blacks look to me as their patron, and some of them have applied to
me to preach to them in public, alleging that a considerable number would
attend, and that there was an uncommon and increasing desire among them
to be instructed. I have preached to them two Sabbaths, at six o'clock, P. M.,
in the meeting-house. A considerable number attend, and behave so well,
that the whites who are present, (for they are not excluded,) can't but speak
in their favor. But this, I expect, will make me many enemies, and be the
occasion of my falling under much reproach. However, a persuasion that I
am in the way of duty, and the hope that I may be the means of some good to
the poor blacks, I hope will be sufficient to support me, whatever obloquy or
suffering may be the consequence."
Notwithstanding all his abstruse discussions, his meeting-house
was the favorite resort of the negro population, on the Sabbath.
" One side of the gallery was appropriated to their use." Several
of them belonged to his church ; and among the subscribers to his
" metaphysical " System of Divinity are enrolled the names, not only
of Dr. Erskine, of Edinburgh, and Dr. Ryland, of England, but also
of Congo Jenkins and Zingo Stevens, of Newport, and Cato Mum-
ford and Nimble Nightingale, of Providence. There were seven- *
teen negro subscribers, in Providence and Newport, for that recon
dite work. The remembrance of such facts as these, led Dr. Chan
ning to say, that Hopkins " labored for the education of the colored
people, and had the happiness of seeing the fruits of his labors in the
intelligence and exemplary piety of those who came under his in
fluence. " *
Sect. XLII. INTEREST IN NATIONAL AND CHURCH POLITY.
Mr. Hopkins lived at a period of high political excitement. He
took an interest in all that concerned his country. " His Fast Ser
mons," says one of his successors at Newport,t " were a perfect
terror to evil-doers." " Like most of the ministers of the time,"
says Dr. Channing, " he was a strong Federalist." He did not
spare the opposing party, although one of his prominent male church
members was earnest in its defence. About a year before his death,
he writes :
" December 14, 1802. On thanksgiving day, I said in my sermon, ' that we
had no reason to be thankful that the distinguished blasphemer of Christ and
Christianity, and reviler of our beloved Washington, — Paine, — was come to
America, and that he was invited here and caressed by many who were in
high stations ! ' This was soon spread through the town, and obtained the
** Channing's Works, vol. iv. p. 350.
t Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, of Randolph, Mass.

MEMOIR. 167
encomium of the Federalists ; but the contrary of some of the Democrats. I
say some of them, because I believe that a number of them are really ashamed
and sorry, that he was invited in the manner he has been, and that he is come."
Equally decided was Mr. Hopkins on questions of church govern
ment. His friend Dr. Hurt, while absorbed in the plan of union
between the Presbyterians and Congrcgntionalists, desired the New
port divine's opinion on the subject, and received the following
reply :
" August 30, 1791. You inform me that a committee from tlie Synod oi
General Assembly of Presbyterians, and one from the clergy in Connecticut,
are to meet at Now Haven ; and ask, ' What do you think we shall do ? ' An
swer : I believe you will do nothing very great and important. It may serve
to cultivate friendship, and keep up a correspondence which may answer val
uable ends. And you may agree upon some method or rule, by which can
didates or dismissed ministers shall be recommended from ono to the other,
without which recommendation they shall not bo received ; which may pre
vent, in future, disorders of that kind which have taken place heretofore. But,
it cannot be expected, that you will agree and tmite in one form of church
government and discipline."
After Mr. Hopkins luul been engaged in studying the prophecies,
and had become familiar with the symbolical style, he made frequent
use of the epithet frogs. In one of his letters he says : " On the
18th of this month, the Rev. Mr. James Freeman was ordained pas
tor of the First Kpiscopnl Church in Boston. This was done, I con
clude, by the Congregational ministers in Boston. What is the world
coming to! This is Catholicism indeed! Frogs — spirits of devils,
working wonders ! " Mr. Freeman was afterwards a Unitarian.
It is well known that Mr. Hopkins was active in the formation of
Congregational churches; and he left among his papers the ensuing
plan of government and discipline. It possesses a rare historical
value. It illustrates its author's independence, his high tone of
morals, his exactness of Christian discipline.
"Articles af a Church.
" We, the subscribers, being persuaded that wo are called by God to form
ourselves into a Christian church, entering into covenant with God, and with
each other, to walk in all tho commandments and ordinances of the Lord, and
to watch over and assist one another in love and faithfulness, and devoting
ourselves, with all wo have, to tho service of Christ, and to promote his inter
est and kingdom, do agree in the following articles, which we think agreeable
to the Word of God, and important, and necessary to be observed, in order to
the best regulation and prosperity of a church of Christ.
" I. That none are qualified, in the sight of God, to be members of a
Christian church, unless they be true believers in Jesus Christ, so as to bo his
real frionds, and obedient to him. And therefore none are visible members
of a church of Christ, or ought to be admitted there, but those who appear to
understand the doctrines and precepts of the gospel, and profess true repent
ance, and faith in Christ, and engage hearty obedience to him, and whose
conversation is agreeable to such profession and engagement.

168 MEMOIR.
"II. The children of those believers who are members of the visible
church, observing all things which Christ has commanded, are included in
the covenant with their parents, and are proper subjects of baptism, and ought
to be given up to Christ in that ordinance by the parents. But no other chil
dren may be baptized.
" III. A careful and strict discipline is to be exercised and maintained by
every particular church, over all the members of it; being very careful and
cautious in admitting members, that none be admitted but those who appear
to have tiie qualifications above mentioned ; and watching over one another,
and reproving and admonishing those who walk disorderly, contrary to their
profession and engagements ; and casting them out of the church, who, after
proper admonition, continue impenitent and unreformed. And the general
rule, for the discipline of offending members, is given by Christ in Matt.
xviii. 15, &c.
" IV. In all cases to be decided by the church, the voice of the majority of
the brethren present must be considered as the act of the church. However,
when there shall be any dissenters, who disagree with the majority, in any
case, they must be treated with love and great tenderness ; and all proper
means must be used by the rest of the church to convince them, and persuade
them, at least, so far to acquiesce in the act of the church^as to take no offence,
though they cannot see their way clear to act with them.
" V. The pastor of the church is to have no vote in the decision of any
matter before the church. He is to act as moderator, and give all the light
and assistance he can to the church, in all cases that may lie'before them.
" VI. Every church hath a right to choose their own pastor ; but he is to
be ordained to the work of the ministry, not by the brethren of the church,
but by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery ; that is, ministers of the

" VII. There ought not to be any appeal from the judgment and decision
of a particular church, to any higher judicatory which has authority to set
aside what they do, or oblige them to recede from it ; but each church hath
full power to determine, within and for itself, who shall be admitted as mem
bers, and who ought to be censured and cast out; and to decide all other mat
ters that may be before them. But it may be proper and expedient, in cases
that are difficult, or in which the church is much divided, before they proceed
to act and decide, to request the assistance of pastors and delegates of other
churches, in order to obtain light and direction. But such pastors and dele
gates have no authority to control the church which applies to them ; but only
to instruct and advise.
" VIII. As the education of the' children of the church, who have been bap
tized, is of vast importance, and the parents have solemnly engaged, to God
and to the church, to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,
the church ought to take a particular care of this matter ; and where there ap
pears to be a great neglect, the faulty parent is to be admonished, and reject
ed if he do not reform. And such children are to be under the care and dis
cipline of the church, when they are adult, so as to be capable of judging and
acting for themselves, in matters of religion. And if they walk disorderly,
and refuse to do whatsoever Christ has commanded, after proper admonition,
they are to be rejected.
" IX. The church ought to have frequent stated meetings ; at least, always
before their attendance on the Lord's supper, which ought to be once a month,
at least. At which meeting, and all other meetings of the church, both males
and females ought to attend, when the business that may be before the church
is to be transacted ; and the church are to pray together, and to converse freely
on any matters relating to their holy profession, that may be proposed, and
receive instruction and exhortation from the pastor, as time and circumstances
admit and require.
"X. The persons that desire to join with the church, shall apply to the
pastor; and after they have been examined by him, shall come before the

MEMOIR. 169
church, at one of their meetings mentioned in the preceding article, that the
church may have opportunity to satisfy themselves respecting their qualifica
tions for admission. And if the church approve of them, their proposal to join
with the church shall be published to the congregation. And if no reasona
ble objection be made against it, they shall then be admitted, by making a
public profession, and entering into covenant.
" XI. When any person shall be recommended to stated communion in the
church, by any other church, as in good standing with them, he shall not be
admitted upon such recommendation, until he give opportunity to the church
to be acquainted with his religious sentiments and exercises, so far as to sat
isfy them that it is proper for them to admit him.
" XII. As the church is a public society, a city set upon a hill, that cannot
be hid, the members of it ought to be admitted publicly, before the congrega
tion ; and when any person falls under the censure of the church, he ought not
to be restored until he makes a public, credible profession of repentance.
And when the church rejects any of its members, it ought to be done pub
licly. " XIII. It belongs to the church to choose their pastor, and to see that he
is well supported, so that he may give himself wholly to the work of the min
istry, if they be able, taking the whole of it on themselves, except what others
shall voluntarily give. And in furnishing this support, each member of the
church ought to give in proportion to his substance and ability. And the
church are to watch over each other with respect to this ; and if any member
shall neglect aptf- refuse to do so much as the church shall judge is no more
than his proportion, he ought to be rejected and censured as covetous.
" XIV. The church ought to take a kind and tender care of all the poor
members who need their assistance, so that none shall want of necessaries for
the body. And for this end they ought always to have a sufficient stock in
the hands of the deacons, to be distributed by them according to their best
discretion. "XV. The church is to choose deacons, who are to take the charge and
care of all the temporals of the church, for the support of the pastor, the sup
ply of the poor of the church, and furnishing the Lord's table, or for answering
any other purposes which the church shall undertake. And the deacons ought
to be ordained to this work.
" XVI. Brethren ought not to go to law with each other ; according to 1
Cor. vi. 1, &c. But when any one thinks himself injured by another in his
temporal interest, if the matter cannot be healed more privately, he ought to
bring it before the church. And if the injurious person refuse to hear the
church, he must be rejected; and then the injured brother may make use of
the civil law to recover his right.
" XVII. Churches ought not to allow any of their members to marry to
persons of openly wicked lives, or who are infidels, or embrace and maintain
damnable errors."

Sect. XLIII. INFLUENCE OF HOPKINS'S PERSONAL CHARACTER
UPON HIS THEOLOGICAL SYSTEM.
When we reflect on the philanthropic movements of this indefati
gable man, we are inclined to imagine that he was merely a philan
thropist ; and when we consider his theological labors, we are apt to
conceive of him as merely a theologian. We forget that his philan
thropy was his theology drawn out into practice, and that his theo
logical speculations were prompted and followed by philanthropic
aims. We cannot understand him as a theologian, without exam-

170 MEMOIR.
ining his life of beneficence ; and we cannot appreciate his activity
in doing good, without studying his peculiarities as a divine.
In estimating the influence of our author's personal character
upon his theological system, let us first consider his. transparent
honesty, as affecting the structure of his creed. Seeking neither
wealth nor fame, he kept his mind open to the teachings of the divine
word, and scrupled not to express his convictions, whatever they
might be. His system, therefore, is his own. A large part of its
value consists in the fact, that it is the result of his own thought, and
is so expressed as to please himself rather than his neighbors. This
is a rare merit. Of what use is it to write a theological system for
the purpose of gratifying the prejudices of a party 1 In reading the
works of Hopkins, we feel that we are near his heart. Whether we
approve or disapprove his words, we are quickened by them, as the
plain-spoken language, of an honest man. He did not write as a
diplomatist. In some respects, he resembled the early teachers of
Christianity. As they resisted all the religious parties around them,
so he, amiable as was his private character, gave offence to all the
sects and schools with whom he came in contact. He often spoke
in condemnatory words of " those who called themselves Calvinists,
that were for palliating the matter by, as it were, trimming off the
knots of Calvinism, that they might conform it more to the taste of
those who are most disposed to object against it." His entire frank
ness of spirit led him to express, in sermons and public addresses,
such doctrines, with regard to the divine agency in the production of
sin, as other Calvinists had expressed in scientific treatises only.
Where this honesty was known, it was highly revered ; and, there
fore, many of the Quakers, the Methodists, the Baptists, who had
opposed his doctrinal views, were among the most reverential ad
mirers of him as a man and a Christian.
The open-heartedness of Hopkins is well illustrated in the follow
ing reminiscence by Dr. Channing : " One day he dined at my
father's, with a young minister who was willing to comply with the
costume of the day, but whose modesty only allowed the ruffles to
peep from his breast. The doctor said, with good humor, ' I don't
care for ruffles ; but if I wore them, I'd wear them like a man.' " *
It was just so in his theology. He exposed what he had.
Our author's strength of character induced him to give an unusual
prominence to the more -difficult parts of theology, and thus it shaped
his entire system. Whether his speculations be true or false, he has
done a great work in promoting manly discussion, in convincing his
readers that piety is something more than a blind senttmentalism,
and that theology is something better than a superstitious faith. He
* Works, vol. iv. p. 348.

MEMOIR. 171
has encouraged men to examine intricate theories, and the examina
tion has saved them from scepticism. Hundreds have been repulsed
into infidelity, by the fear of good men to encounter philosophical
objections. Hopkins was too strong for such fears. He had that
sterling common sense which loves to grapple with important truths,
cost what they may of toil. The great problem of the existence of
sin early awakened his curiosity, and moved the depths of his
heart.* A weaker man would have shrunk from the investigation
of such a theme. But he was ready to defend all parts of what he
loved to call " a consistent Calvinism." His readiness to encounter
the hardest subjects and the sturdiest opponents, was foretokened by
one of his early corporeal feats. It is reported that an insane man,
stalwart and furious, was once escaping from his keepers with fearful
speed ; but the young divine intercepted him, and held him fast until
the maniac gave up, and cried, " Hopkins, you are my master."
Throughout the unpublished and the published writings of Hop
kins, there breathes a masculine spirit, which refuses to be satisfied by
assertion instead of argument, and insists on the legitimate use of
the faculties which God has given us. At the age of sixty-five, he
writes to Dr. Hart : "I ask what faith I shall have in the power of
God, or what belief of any revealed truth, if I do not so far trust to
my own understanding, as to think and he confident that I do under
stand that God has revealed certain truths, and what they are." In
his thirty-fifth year, Hopkins seized at what he deemed a tacit con
cession of Dr. Mayhew, that Arminiauism could not be sustained by
reason. He writes to Bellamy : " I think he [Mayhew] says that
which may be fairly construed as a crying down reason, under the
name of metaphysical, or some epithet tantamount." Hopkins was
too vigorous to leave such a concession unnoticed. He turns the
tables on his Arminian opposers, and they censure him for his argu
mentative style, — the very thing for which they have been censured,
again and again, by their antagonists. Our stout champion says,
that " Pelagians and Arminians have been, in too many instances,
treated so by their opponents, the professed Calvinists. The former
have gloried in their reasoning against the latter, as unanswerable
demonstration. The latter, instead of detecting the weakness, fallacy,
and absurdity of the reasoning of the former, and maintaining their
cause on this ground, as well they might, have endeavored to defend
themselves from this weapon by bringing it into disgrace, and rejecting

* Five weeks after he had finished his theological sludies at Northampton, our young
candidate is found in a dispute with the missionary Sergeant, Edwards's predecessor
at Stockbridge. He writes : "July 8, 1743. Went to see Mr. Sergeant, and in our
discourse he denied that the apostle spake of himself in the seventh chapter of Romans.
We had some talk upon it, but brought nothing to a point. I am not satisfied whether
it is from an Arminian principle or not, that Mr. Sergeant holds this. I know many
Arminians are of his mind as to this chapter."

172 MEMOIR.
it under the name of carnal, unsatictified reason, &c. This has been
so far from humbling or giving them the least conviction of their errors,
that it has had a contrary effect to a very great and sensible degree.
And no wonder ; for this was the direct tendency of it, as it is an
implicit confession that they felt themselves worsted at reasoning." *
Our author's benevolence and sense of justice and equity moulded
his theological belief. It was more natural for him than for some
other men, to resolve all virtue into benevolence. He had virtue
enough to bear an analysis, and he felt that all his virtue was reduci
ble to love. He judged that our moral disease needed severe medi
cines, and he therefore gave them. He aimed to increase the happiness
of men, by making them willing to lose themselves in the divine glory.
He was strict, because he deemed a strict life to be a truly kind one.
His faith was rigid, for the same reason that his conduct was philan
thropic. The tendency of some modern speculations to discourage
all penal enactments, is effectually met by the profound reasonings
of our author on the justice of eternal punishment. The spirit of
his entire system is one of stern opposition to sin, because sin de
serves this opposition, and because the interests of the universe
require it. He gives an unusual prominence to the idea, that the
severest of the divine dispensations are prompted by a desire to pro
mote the highest happiness of the largest number. He meant that
those theories which are called severe, should rest on a basis of love.
It would have been impossible for him to make the doctrines of high
Calvinism so impressive as he has made them, unless he had ex
plained, with unusual fulness, the equity of the divine administration.
He ever attempted to show that his doctrines were fair, as well as
true. He believed that God imputes the sin of Adam to all men, but
only because, and so far forth as, all men have first "approved of"
that sin, and chosen to make it their own. He believed that God
imputes the holiness of Christ to believers ; but only on condition
that they first " approve of " Christ's holiness, and prefer to imitate it.
The genius of Hopkins's theology consists in its attempting to show
the entire rectitude of the divine government, and then in exalting
that government high above all other interests. We cannot delight
too much in a sovereignty which is congenial with equity. The
speculations of our author have been termed abstract ; some of them
were so, but their general aim was practical and benevolent. Their
main drift was, to enforce obedience to God, by showing that obedi
ence is our reasonable duty. Their prevailing scope was to prove,
that God ought to be a Sovereign, and, therefore, is one ; that
his decrees are amiable, and, therefore, we ought to acquiesce in
them, whatever they may be ; that his law is level to our natural
power, and, therefore, ought t6 be obeyed forthwith. We do not
• Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. pp. 492, 493.

MEMOIR. 173
suppose that all his speculations were perfectly accurate, but they all
pointed to this practical truth : The first, the immediate, the fair,
the reasonable duty of all moral agents is, to love the government of
God supremely, and submit to it without reserve ; to this duty, and
to nothing save what involves this duty, sinners ought to be urged at
once, and without exception. By the new distinctness which Hop
kins gave to this truth, he has been made, and is now made, an in
strument of many revivals of religion. He, and the men who drank
of his spirit, have been distinguished as philanthropic and enterprising
Christians.* We cannot better illustrate our author's nice regard to equity,
than in the following Essay, which he wrote only twelve years after
Edwards had published the Treatise on the Will. The essay exhib
its, also, that strength of mind, that honesty of heart, which made
our author what he was. Unless he had written and preached often
in the style of the following discussion, he could not have sustained
himself in his high theories on the predestinating and sovereign
agency of God. We shall misunderstand those theories, unless we
view them in the light which they receive from the Hopkinsian
statements in the discussion here appended. The author first pro
poses three questions, and then gives his truly Edwardean answers.
" Question first. If underived virtue is peculiar to the Deity, can it be the
duty of a creature to have it ?
" Question second. If we actually have all that is communicated to us, is
not this all we should have ?
" Question third. If it is, is not every man as good as he should be ?
"In order to answer these questions, I begin with theirs*. If underived
virtue is peculiar to the Deity, can it be the duty of a creature to have it ?
" In answering this question, I would first lay down this axiom ; for the
proof of which, if not granted by all, I refer to Edwards on the Will, passim :
Moral impossibility or inability in man to perform any duty, does not excuse
him for not performing it.
" Again, before I proceed, I shall inquire into the sense of the word peculiar ;
for I perceive there is an ambiguity attending it, which will be apt to lead
into mistake. The word peculiar sometimes signifies that which so belongs
to a being or thing that it is absolutely impossible, in the nature of things,
that it should belong to any thing else ; or, that there is a natural impossibili
ty that it should belong to any other being or thing, even though that other
being should desire it, and choose it never so much. Thus, self-existence,
infinity, &c, are peculiar to God.
" But again, the word peculiar sometimes signifies no more than that which
belongs only to some being or beings, and not to all, or to some other being ;
though it might belong to this other being, did he but choose it and seek after
it. Thus, a knowledge of the liberal arts and sciences is peculiar to some
men, and does not belong to others, who might as well have it, if they did but
choose it and properly seek after it. Thus, also, justice and benevolence are
peculiar to some men, although all might possess them if they would. In this
latter sense, underived virtue is peculiar to the Deity ; so that although no
creature actually possesses it, yet all rational creatures might possess it, if
they would ; i. e., all creatures, supposing them to be created with barely
* See, for example, p. 64 of the present Memoir.
0*

174 MEMOIR.
those natural faculties which constitute them moral agents, may, if they
choose it, become possessed of that virtue which shall be underived in any
other sense than this : that as they have derived their existence from God, so
they themselves, and every act and habit of theirs, or disposition of their
wills, is in some sense derived. But their virtue may be as much underived,
as men's wickedness is now. I say, there is nothing but a volition or choice
of theirs wanting to effect this. Por virtue consists primarily and principally
in a certain disposition of will ; which, let us suppose, for the present, to be
benevolence ; for it makes no odds, in the present question, what disposition
we suppose it to be. Then, I say, nothing but a choice is necessary in order
to put one in possession of benevolence ; for if we do but choose benevo
lence, we are pleased with it, and are in love with it ; and if we are in love
with it, then we have an inclination or disposition of .will to it. If we have a
disposition of will to it, then we have a disposition to wish well to all beings.
If we have a disposition to wish well to all beings, then we have benevolence ;
for this is nothing but such a disposition. Therefore, if we do but choose
benevolence, we actually have benevolence. Therefore, there is nothing but
a volition or choice wanting in any creature, in order to his becoming pos
sessed of underived virtue. In this latter sense, therefore, underived virtue is
peculiar to the Deity.
"Thus we have shown in what sense underived virtue is. peculiar to the
Deity ; viz., only actually, or in fact, peculiar to him, and not necessarily ; i. e.,
there is no other impossibility but a moral one, that a rational creature should
possess it. And since that (by the forementioned axiom) does not excuse
from duty, notwithstanding underived virtue is peculiar to the Deity, yet il
may well enough be the duty of creatures to have it.
" This, then, is the answer to the first question : Yes, it can be the duty of a
creature to have it ; and actually is so, if it be his duty to have every amiable
quality which [it] is in his power to have, which he has a fair offer of, to
choose or refuse, as he pleases.
" Now, against this answer, I perceive several objections will be vehement
ly urged. As, ' That men can't become possessed of underived virtue, it is
absolutely impossible, and men might as well give themselves a new heart,
which we know from Scripture to be the peculiar work of God,' &c.
" As to the words can't, impossible, &c, I suppose it is generally well un
derstood what a fallacy is couched in them ; and how vastly different their
signification is, when used in a moral and philosophical sense, (which is the
case here,) from what it is when they are used in their vulgar sense. So
that I need say nothing to explain the matter here.
" Again, when it is said, ' men might as well give themselves a new heart,'
this is granted, that they might. And although we allow that this work is
peculiar to God, yet it is peculiar only in the latter sense, above [named]. So
that the greatest sinner on earth can renew his own heart, or change his will,
whenever he pleases ; which he is bound to do immediately ; and is threatened
with eternal damnation if he finally does not.
" It may also be objected, ' That it is impossible that God should make a
creature to be possessed of underived virtue ; how, then, is any such thing pos
sible at all, since Almighty God cannot effect it ? ' To which I answer, It is
just as possible, as sin was before it entered into the world. If by God's
making a creature to be possessed of underived virtue, be meant his enduing
a creature with it, we grant it is impossible, naturally impossible. For it is a
contradiction, to suppose that that which is endued or bestowed should be
underived. But that God should make a creature having perfect liberty, is in
no wise impossible. Neither is it, nor can it be, any other way impossible,
but in a moral sense, that such a creature should choose virtue, and so become
possessed of it, as much underived as any disposition or volition whatever.
" It may further be said, after this manner : ' How is it possible that any
creature should have underived virtue, when all virtue is as much diffused
from God, as its fountain, as light is from the sun ? Might not men as well

MEMOIR. 175
see light without its being disseminated from the sun, as have any virtue un
derived from God ? ' It is readily granted, as has already been intimated,
that all virtue is as really and actually from God as light is from the sun ; yet
still this instance is not exactly parallel. And concerning all such illustra
tions, transferred from the natural world to things of a moral nature, it is
worthy of observation, that there is a great fallacy in them, and they greatly
tend to deceive ; as in such affairs, in the natural world, the will of no crea
ture, perhaps, or at least of the person spoken of, can make any alteration in
any respect, let it be which way it will. But things of a moral nature are all
dependent on the will, and are just as that is. So, in the present instance, if
the sun should be removed, or cease to diffuse light, men could not see, let
them choose and desire it as much as they will. Whereas it has been before
shown, that if men did but once choose virtue, they would be actually in pos
session of it, however uncommunicated by God. i
" Thus it is shown, that though underived virtue be peculiar to the Deity,
yet it may be, and in fact is, the duty of every rational creature to have it.
And also several objections which might be made against this doctrine,' have
been answered ; all which, taken together, may suffice for an answer to the
first question.
" The first being answered, there need but a word or two be said to the
others. " Question second. If we actually have all that is actually communicated
to us, is not this all we should have ?
" Answer. No ; because, by the foregoing answer, we are obliged to have
what is not communicated to us, viz., underived virtue ; (or, we are obliged to
have and exercise virtue, whether it is communicated to us or not.)
" Question third. If it is, is not every man as good as he should be ?
" Answer. But it is not, by answer second. Every man, therefore, is not
as good as he should be ; because, although he has all that is actually com
municated, yet he has not all that he should have.
" Great Barrington, February 11, 1766."
If the preceding document had been published before Emmons
wrote his sermon on "The Excuse of Sinners their Condemnation,"*
we should suppose that many ideas in that sermon had been sug
gcsted by this document. The design of Emmons is to show, first
" What God does not require of sinners which he has not given
them ; " secondly, " What he does require of them which he has not
given them ; " and thirdly, " That they have no reason to complain of
his requiring that of them which he has not given them." There is
certainly a singular coincidence here, between the thoughts of Em
mons and those of Dr. Hopkins.
Our author's tenacity of purpose guided him in fashioning his
theological system, in adjusting its proportions, and regulating the
prominence of its different parts. He contended most stoutly for
those articles which were most vehemently opposed. As men ob
jected less to his doctrine of human freedom than to his doctrine of
the eternal decrees, he published less on the former truth than on
the latter. Through his whole life he taught, that " this sin which
* Emmons's Works, vol. vi. pp. 85, seq.

176 MEMOIR.
takes place in the posterity of Adam, is not properly distinguished
into original and actual sin, because it is all really actual, and there
is, strictly speaking, no other sin but actual sin ; " * still, he did not
introduce this doctrine into his works, so often as he introduced the
doctrine of God's agency in producing moral evil. Why not ? Prob
ably because the former doctrine was not gainsaid by many of his
readers. This seems to have been a chief reason, why the propor
tions of his system differ, somewhat, from those which we find in
some otlier Hopkinsian works. In other circumstances, he might
have varied the relative position of his doctrines. He was not ready
to yiejd any thing which he deemed true and important. There is
something great in his faithfulness to himself. We honor him for
his firmness, amid adversaries. When reading some of his very latest
epistles, we admire his adhesion to the creed of his earlier days. It
was not the obstinacy of a bigot, but the constancy of a Christian
student. It reminds us of his pertinacity in the physical habits of
his youth. " Dr. Hqpkins told me," writes one of his admirers,
" that in early life he was very sprightly, and could put his hands on
a five-rail fence and throw his feet over with ease, and that in his
old age he tried to perform the same manoeuvre, but failed, falling
his whole length on the ground." He never gave up, unless he were
obliged to do so by Providence. " Justus propositi tenax," is his
fitting designation.
The tenacity of purpose for which this good man was so eminent,
did not always prevent his yielding his own judgment to the advice
of his friends, on matters of secondary importance. Thus we are
told by Dr. Patten, that Hopkins was inclined to publish in his
" System" a certain section on the " agency of God in the existence
of sin ; " but was induced to omit it by the counsel of men whom he
valued. He afterwards regretted that he had complied with their
advice ; but he abandoned no important principle in the com
pliance. +
Our author's love of free, rational, and biblical inquiry, had an
influence on his doctrinal faith. We may say of him what he says
* Hopkins's Works, vol. i. p. 224.
t See Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 142, scq. That omitted section is now lost. It
is well known, that on the subject of the divine agency in producing moral evil,
Hopkins did not exactly agree with Drs. Emmons and Samuel Spring. - He was not
quite willing to say, that God's agency in regard to our wrong doing is as immediate
and direct, as his agency in regard to our right doing. When Dr. Emmons read to
Hopkins the manuscript of the celebrated sermon, entitled " Man's Activity and De
pendence Illustrated and Reconciled," Hopkins did not positively disapprove of it, but
advised him to read it to Dr. West before publishing it. Emmons read it to West,
who coincided with it, and it was published. On this point, Hopkins remained unwilling
to say so much as Emmons, although on other points of the subject he said more.
Several friends of Hopkins assert, that in his later years he looked upon Dr. Emmons
as the ablest theologian of New England.

MEMOIR. 177
of President Edwards : " He took his religious principles from the
Bible, and not from any human system or body of divinity. Though
his principles were Calvinistic, yet he called no man father. He
thought and judged for himself, and was truly very much of an
original. " * Hopkins has been called a metaphysician ; but one
great object of his life was, to break down a system of false meta
physics, which interferes with the plain meaning of the written word.
He was not perfect, but he bowed before the revelation of God. His
reverence for the Creator made him independent of creatures. Many
European theologians have been slaves to each otlier ; but what had
the minister of Great Barrington to fear from foreign prescription 1
Oxford could not overawe him. No oecumenical council could
reach him. In many respects, it was well for him that he was re
tired with Edwards, in the forests of Berkshire. He studied more
profoundly and more freely at the base of Monument Mountain, than
he would have done amid tbe fashions of a eourt. He was a Con
gregational minister in the New World ; and therefore, if true to
his calling and position, he must have examined the truth for himself.
He derived from Congregationalism one of its chief blessings, — an
impulse as well as a liberty to believe according to evidence, rather
than according to prescription.
Of course, he was accused, as an independent thinker is apt to
be accused, of all kinds of heresies. Once, when charged with
adopting Arminian interpretations of the Bible, he replies in his
sturdy way : "It does not fright me at all, to be told that Arminians
understand this text as I do. For who would not much rather join
with the grossest Arminians, so far as they are right, than with the
most orthodox Calvinists, wherein they are wrong !"t When tired
of hearing the stale charge that he had started new doctrines into
life, he responds : " I now declare, I had much rather publish New
Divinity than any other. And the more of this the better, — if it
be but true. Nor do I think any doctrine can be ' too strange to
be true.' I should think it hardly worth while to write, if I had
nothing new to say." f In his " Animadversions on Mr. Hart's late
Dialogue," Hopkins alludes to his having been falsely accused of
propounding new theories, and replies : " This he [Mr. Hart] has
over and over again, above a dozen times. He calls them ' new
doctrines,' ' new orthodoxy,' ' a new scheme,' ' new notions,' ' a
new system or rather chaos of divinity,' ' upstart errors,' &c. And
the teachers of them he calls ' new apostles,' ' new divines,' ' new
teachers,' &c. — If this were true, I see not what reason there would
be to make such a great outcry about it. This is really no evidence
against those doctrines. It is at least possible, that there is some
truth contained in the Bible, which has not been commonly taught ;
* Memoir of Edwards, p. 44. t Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. p. 393. X lb- P- 345-

178 MEMOIR.
yea, has never been mentioned by any writer since the apostles ; and
whenever that shall be discovered and brought out, it will be new.
And who knows but that some such new discoveries may be made in
our day 1 If so, unhappy and very guilty will be the man who shall
attempt to fright people, and raise their prejudices against it, by
raising the cry of New Divinity. Indeed, I question whether an au
thor can, with a right temper and view, take this method to run any
doctrine down, by appealing to the prejudices of people, and keeping
up a constant, loud cry of new, upstart divinity." *
So far does Hopkins indulge his independent spirit, that often
when he quotes other writers, even Edwards himself, he disclaims all
intention to quote them as establishing the truth of his positions, and
he says in one passage : " I hope I never shall be guilty of referring
to any uninspired man as an authority. When I mentioned a sense
which others put upon this text, I referred to the Doctor [Doddridge]
as one of them, not as any evidence that this was the right sense ;
but that it was in fact so understood by some, as I asserted." t We
must concede that, here and there, our author adopts a style too in
tense and unqualified, \ in asserting the duty of free thought. When
reprimanded for controverting some of the fathers, the intrepid man
replied, in language more nervous and cogent than some would
think him capable of using :
"If it could serve any good purpose, I might say, that as great a number
of divines, as old or elder than they, and as famous for piety and learning,
might be mentioned, who are on our side of the question. And we might
proceed to* set father against father, and try who shall get the most on his
side. But this is in truth nothing to the purpose. The opinion of the most
venerable and renowned fathers in this case, in determining what doctrines are
true, and what are not so, ought not to have the least weight And it is fool
ish, and even carries a degree of impiety in it, for us, who have the Bible in
our hands, to lay the weight of a straw on the opinion of the wisest and best
men that ever lived. I am sorry to have any occasion to make this observa
tion at this time of day, among Protestants. It is very weak and ridiculous,
if not something worse, for a divine to attempt to support or confirm any doc
trine by appealing to the judgment and decision of any man ; or to run down
and reject any tenet that is advanced, merely because it is a new doctrine, or
embraced by few, and is contrary to tlie opinion of the fathers, and what has
been established by common consent Since people in general are too apt to
be influenced by this, and it is common for every one to have his father, on
whose sleeves he pins his faith in a great measure, without examining for
himself, it is pity they should be upheld and confirmed in it by public teach
ers, when it is of such importance that they should by all possible means be
beat off from this sandy foundation, and learn to judge for themselves by ' rea
soning out of the Scriptures,' and ' searching them daily, to see if these things
are so.' " §
* See p. 9 of the Animadversions.
t Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. p. 387.
X It has been already asserted, (see pp. 29, 30, above,) that* our author, stable as he
was, often indulged himself in a style of writing too unqualified. He trusted, that the
good sense of his readers would suggest at once tlie needed limitations.
$ Hopkins's Two Discourses on Law and Regeneration, Works, vol. iii. pp. 564, 565.

MEMOIR. 179
Averse as Dr. Channing was to the spirit and genius of Hopkin
sianism, he yet never accuses Hopkins himself of a blind adherence to
human creeds, of a slavish and bigoted subjection to any uninspired
men. He rather commends the Rhode Island patriarch for the oppo
site virtues, and considers them as exerting an influence upon his
theological system. He says, in language needing qualification :
" His [Hopkins's] name is, indeed, associated with a stern and appalling
theology, and it is true that he wanted toleration toward those who rejected
his views. Still, in forming his religious opinions, he was superior to human
authority ; he broke away from human creeds ; he interpreted God's word for
himself; he revered reason, the oracle of God within him."
"... From such a man, a tame acquiescence in the established theology
was not to be expected. He, indeed, accepted the doctrine of predestination
in its severest form ; but in so doing, he imagined himself a disciple of reason
as well as of revelation. He believed this doctrine to be sustained by pro
found metaphysical argumentation, and to rest on the only sound philosophy
of the human mind ; so that in receiving it, he did not abandon the ground
of reason. In accordance with his free spirit of inquiry, we find him making
not a few important modifications of Calvinism. The doctrine that we are
liable to punishment for the sin of our first parent, he wholly rejected ; and
not satisfied with denying the imputation of Adam's guilt to his posterity, he
subverted what the old theology had set forth as the only foundation of divine
acceptance ; namely, the imputation of Christ's righteousness or merits to the
believer. The doctrine that Christ died for the elect only, found no mercy at
his hands. He taught that Christ suffered equally for all mankind. The
system of Dr. Hopkins was, indeed, an effort of reason to reconcile Calvinism
with its essential truths. Accordingly, his disciples were sometimes called,
and willingly called, Rational Calvinists. The impression which he made
was much greater than is now supposed. The churches of New England
received a decided impression from his views ; and though his name — once
given to his followers — is no longer borne, his influence is still felt. The
conflict now going on in our country, for the purpose of mitigating the harsh
features of Calvinism, is a stage of the revolutionary movement to which he,
more than any man, gave impulse, i" can certainly bear witness to the spirit
of progress and free inquiry which possessed him. In my youth, I preached
in this house at the request of the venerable old man.* As soon as the ser
vices were closed, he turned to me with an animated, benignant smile, and
• using a quaintness of expression which I need not repeat, said to me, that
theology was still imperfect, and that he hoped I should live to carry it
towards perfection. Rare and most honorable liberality in the leader of a
sect ! He wanted not to secure a follower, but to impel a young mind to
higher truth. I feel that ability has not been given me to accomplish this
generous hope; but such quickening language from such lips, though it
could not give strength, might kindle desire and elevate exertion." f
The quaint expression whicli Dr. Channing did not repeat in the
preceding extract, he has repeated in another document. It is an
expression illustrating the opinion which Hopkins, as well as Bel
lamy and Edwards, entertained, with regard to what the younger
Edwards terms " improvements in theology." Dr. Channing writes
of Hopkins, in a more familiar paper :
* Dr. Channing was ordained at Boston, in the very year of Hopkins's death.
t Channing's Works, vol. iv. pp. 342, 343, 344.

180 MEMOIR.
" I preached for him once ; and after the service in the pulpit, he smiled on
me, and said, ' The hat is not made yet.' On my asking an explanation, he
told me that Dr. Bellamy used to speak of theology as a progressive science,
and compare the different stages of it to the successive processes of making
a hat. The beaver was to be born, then to be killed, and then the felt to be
made, &c. Having thus explained the similitude, he added, ' The hat is not
made, and I hope you will help to finish it' " *
It has been said, that for a man like Hopkins to cherish the love
of progress in a youth like Channing, is of dangerous tendency. But
real progress will always lead into the truth. All movement toward
error is retrograde, and where the allowance of independent thought
has made one Unitarian, the repression of it has made ten infidels.
Attempts to fetter the human mind have maddened it, until it has burst
through all restraint into scepticism or atheism. Channing was a
youth of meditative and even ascetic habits. He admired Hopkins,
but he cherished a still higher reverence for Stiles. There is no
more evidence of his having been led into Socinianism by the inde
pendence of Hopkins, his neighbor, than by the eminent Catholicism
of Stiles, his former pastor ; nor can he be more justly said to have
been repulsed into Unitarianism by the stern features of Hopkins's new
divinity, than by the rigid expression of Stiles's old divinity. If the
charge had not been so often repeated, we should not deign to notice
it ; but if it be honorable to ascribe the career of Channing to the
fact of his having been trained amid Hopkinsian influences, it would
be equally honorable to ascribe the career of Buckminster to the fact
of his having been trained under Calvinistic and anti-Hopkinsian in
fluences. All such charges are idle, unless they be proved.
It is not wonderful, that so dauntless an inquirer as Hopkins should
have awakened the fears of less manly thinkers. His antagonist,
Mills, who reprimanded him for so many things, once expressed the
grief of " many worthy fathers in the ministry, whose praise is in
the gospel through the churches, and who are not so far superan
nuated, but that, with good old Eli, they tremble for fear of the ark,
when they see it in danger of a wrong touch from the vigor and
sprightliness of younger years." In our times it is unusual to char
acterize Hopkins as a sprightly author, but he replied to this repri
mand of Mr. Mills with a Hopkinsian vigor : " Who these worthy,
aged, trembling fathers are," he remarks, " I know not, and have no
inclination to detract from their praise. But I think I have a right
to say, they fear where no fear is; and if they tremble, and handle the
ark as Mr. Mills has done, no thanks are due to them, that it has
not been completely overset long ago." +
But while our author was a champion for untrammelled thought,
he was peculiarly deferential to the decisions of the inspired word.
* Letter of February 14, 1840. t Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. p. 417.

MEMOIR. 181
Independent as he was, he aimed to sink all human metaphysics be
neath the Scriptures ; to have no other than a biblical philosophy.
He went beyond the divines of his day, in deriving his science from
the sacred volume. His doctrines will be misunderstood by men
who do not appreciate his marked reverence for the letter, as well as
the spirit of the Bible.
There are different opinions on the question, whether a system of
divinity should be expressed in the language of the inspired penmen,
or whether it should exhibit the biblical ideas in a more modern and
occidental form. But whatever may be our own mode of answering
this question, we must admire the masculine genius of him who com
bines the greatest freedom of inquiry, and the purest love of rational
investigation, with an humble deference to the meaning and also to
the phraseology of the sacred writers. Even if men disapprove of
his judgment, they must commend the reverential spirit which led
our author to adopt the phrases, as well as the ideas, whicli he
deemed to be scriptural. He exposed himself to much obloquy, by
adhering to the forms of utterance which he found in the bold ap
peals of inspired men. He felt himself justified in asserting, because
the Bible asserts, that " the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,"
" and the heart of his servants," and " moved David to say, Go,
number Israel ; " and he "put a lying spirit in the mouth of" the
prophets, and " hath poured out upon men the spirit of a deep sleep,"
etc., etc., etc. He might have avoided many censures, if he had
couched his ideas in other phrases. But no. " The Bible says it,
— therefore I say it," was the ceaseless language of his heart. He
would yield to no objections against the words of holy men, who
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Did Samuel Hop
kins aim to exalt his logic above inspiration ? It is not too much
to affirm, that no divines before his day could express their faith in
the precise words of the Bible, so thoroughly and minutely as he.
This gave to his system its excellence, in his own lowly view.
Throughout his Journal we are every where meeting such nervous
comments as the following, from this admirer of a biblical creed :
"'And whom he will, he hardeneth.' Saint Paul here has refer
ence to God's hardening the heart of Pharaoh, and does not soften
the expressions used respecting the hardening his heart, in the least.
The softeners of our day would not speak so. They would say,
' Whom he will, he -permits or suffers to harden themselves.' We
may hence infer, that they do not think and feel respecting this
matter as Paul did." See also Hopkins's Works, vol. i. pp. Ill—
130, new edition.
The modesty of our divine had an obvious effect upon his theo
logical speculations. He cherished a native lowliness, which was

182 MEMOIR.
beautified by divine grace into a Christian humility. His Journal,
already quoted, discloses the depth of his penitence. This humble-,
ness of mind gave both impulse and guidance to his love of progress.
Feeling that be knew but little, he longed to know more. He was
not ashamed to learn. He remembered, that the temple of sacred
science is entered by those only who bow low at its portals. His
self-abasement was the secret of his success. It regulated his inde
pendence of mind. It led him to revere the authors whom he would
not adore. Few men have cherished a deeper veneration than he
for Calvin and tbe reformed divines. This veneration prompted
him to examine their writings with rare diligence. He did not love
to differ from them. He never aspired to be the leader of a sect.
He did not vaunt over his discoveries, but was pleased whenever he
ascertained that they had been anticipated by other writers. His
humble claim was, that from the contradictory statements of Cal
vinistic standards, he had collated those which were consistent with
each other, arid had reduced them to a scheme, every part of which
had by itself been explicitly or implicitly sanctioned by some Cal-
viuist, but the whole of which had been consistently defended by
no one. In his eightieth year, he addressed the following lowly reply
to an epistle from Mr. Miller, and disclosed in it how little he had
been influenced in his speculations by a desire for notoriety, or any
censurable love of novelty.
" Newport, January 23, 1801. Reverend Sir: Yours of December 16 came
to hand on the twelfth instant. .The most proper and satisfactory answer to
your questions, perhaps, will be, to refer you to my publications ; the first of
which was printed near half a century ago. You may, in them, see what doc
trines I hold, and be able to judge wherein and how far I differ from those Cal
vinistic divines who have written before me. I believe that most of the doc
trines, if not all, I have published, are to be found in the writings of former
divines ; viz., Calvin, Van Mastricht, Saurin, Boston, Manton, Goodwin, Ow
en, Bates, Baxter, Charnock, the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, Wil-
lard, Ridgley, Shepard, Hooker, &c. These indeed did not fully explain
some of those doctrines, which are asserted or implied in their writings ; and
many, if not most of them, are in some instances inconsistent with themselves,
by advancing contrary doctrines.
" If I am in any measure an original in any thing I have written, it is in as
serting, that the unregenerate, under the greatest convictions, and in all their
external reformations and doings, are more criminal and guilty than they were
in a state of security, and really do no duty ; (all their moral actions are sin ;
this is necessarily implied in the doctrine of total depravity, which all Calvin
ists hold ;) and that all true holiness consists in disinterested benevolence, and
those affections which are implied in it ; and that all that self-love which is
not implied in disinterested benevolence, is sinful, and that in which all sin
essentially and radically consists ; that the original threatening, ' Thou shalt
surely die,' does not mean or imply a separation between soul and body, but
the destruction and misery of soul and body in hell forever, which is in Scrip
ture called the second death, which the finally impenitent will suffer.
" But it is really no great matter who first advanced a doctrine ; if it be
agreeable to Scripture, it ought to be received; if not, let it be rejected.

MEMOIR. 183
"No scheme of doctrines has got the name of Hopkintoman by my
consent or invention, or desire of any of my friends. This was the invention
of the late Rev. William Hart, of Saybrook, who published some remarks on
what Mr. Edwards, Dr. Bellamy, and I had written, to which I replied, and
the controversy perhaps was too personal. He was, to be sure, irritated ; and
wrote a pamphlet in which he mentioned a number of doctrines as mine, and
set them in as bad a light as he could, by way of reproach ; and to fasten an
odium upon me and them, he gave them the name of Hopkintonian doctrines.
This epithet has been since used both by friends and enemies. The latter
and many others have, in many instances, used the term as carrying an odium
with it, while they do not know what are the doctrines implied in it. — I am
your friend and servant, < S. H."

This letter modestly reconciles the contradictions which have so
often been imputed to the Newport divine. " He claimed to be a
disciple of Calvin," it is said, " and yet spent much of his life in
contending against the Calvinists. He pretended to have made im
provements in theology, and yet avows that all his improvements
were known before his day. The same system, and yet an amended
system ! How can a man make advances, and still keep pace with
those whom he has outrun 1 " It is very true that our modest divine
regarded his theological scheme as consistent Calvinism, and yet as
differing somewhat in its proportions, and in its sequences, from the
prevalent Calvinism of the schools. It excluded some parts, which
were repellent to other parts of the prevailing system. It carried
the Geneyan_ principles to their logical results. Hopkins was origi
nal in his combinations of old ideas. He used established truths in
a new way. Here and there, this writer and that writer had sug
gested all which Hopkins taught ; but he united their suggestions into
a system which was new in its harmonies and completeness. It were
easy to corroborate all of our author's peculiar doctrines, by quota
tions from the Reformed divines. He was wont to make these
references in his own defence. His originality, then, lay in his
eclecticism and in his logical inferences. He chose to regard Hop
kinsianism as a statue found in an ancient block of marble. His own
estimate of the relation between his conclusions and the premises
which he had learned from Calvin, was expressed by his energetic
pupil, Samuel Spring, in words which the " Hopkinsian Calvinists "
have loved to quote: "It is evident," says Dr. Spring, " that Hop
kinsian sentiments are only the genuine, flourishing, and fruitful
branches of the Calvinistic tree. For we plead that there is no duty
in the actions of sinners, because they are totally depraved. As total
depravity, therefore, is the great pillar in the Calvinistic theory,
there is no more difference between Calvinists and Hopkinsians, than
there is between a tree and its branches, or between first principles
and consequences. The broad foundation which supports our ample
superstructure, was long since deeply and most firmly laid in the first
principles of Calvinism. To support my theory, I need no first

184 MEMOIR.
principles, except those which Calvinists have adopted and improved
against Pelagians and Arminians." *
Our author's confidence in the extent of divine truth influenced
his theological inquiries. If all his writings had perished, the fruits
of this confidence would still remain. It waked up the energies of
men who " were giants in those days." The great success of Hop
kins was in the spirit, more than in the letter of his teachings. His
mind was fixed on God, and he did not believe it possible for any
single generation to exhaust the science of the Infinite One. He
looked with far deeper reverence upon the boundlessness of God's
truth, than upon the faithfulness of scholars in their past explorations
of it. " Men are a long time finding out," he says in his Journal,
" what is in the natural world. This volume of science has been
open to men in all ages. But new things are found out and seen in
one age after another, which before lay hid, not discerned. And
there is reason to think, there will be yet greater discoveries of things
contained in this volume of nature, by the search and experience of in
quisitive men, which have never yet been thought of. And why may
not this be equally true of the volume of the moral world, the volume
of divine revelation 1 Many things, many truths, may be contained
in it, which have not yet been discovered ; but remain to be found
out by inquisitive men, who will rise hereafter."
Such hopeful passages enliven both his letters and his diary. The
spirit of them prompted his own mind, and the minds of his pupils,
to an unremitted study of the divine perfections. He favored all
possible modes of penetrating into the truth; and his school have
always been noted for sharp and severe investigation. He has been
condemned for his metaphysics ; and yet few divines have done more
than he, in destroying the credit of that false metaphysics whicli has
loaded the faith of men with cumbrous inventions. He believed that
metaphysical science is susceptible of expansion. He has been
censured for exciting a love of theological inquiry. The investi
gating habit does not result in unmingled good. But in the end,
truth is better learned and more deeply felt, where the curiosity is
cherished, than where it is repressed. There was far more of sound
orthodoxy in Neyv England when Hopkins closed his labors, than
when he began them. The history of the future will record, that
he has raised the tone of religious doctrine throughout the land.
' He has done this, not so much by his rhetoric or his logic, as by his
spirit of hopeful study. This spirit has incited men to investigation.
This investigation has led men into the truth. The boundaries of
truth are enlarged by the fit indulgence of an inquisitive temper.
* See Spring's Disquisitions, pp. 44, 45, second edition. See the same passage quot
ed with approbation by Emmons in his paper on Hopkinsianism, published in Miss Han
nah Adams's View of Religions, p. 130, third edition.

MEMOIR. 185
The inquisitireness of Hopkins was proverbial. Had it been less
eager, there would have been, during his life, less complaint of his
novel speculations, but more distrust of the* Bible, a narrower view
of its teachings. Infidelity is the ultimate result of checking the
desire for expanded knowledge. " There is nothing," says Dr. Ar
nold, " so revolutionary, because there is nothing so unnatural and
so convulsive to society, as the strain to keep things fixed, when all
the world is, by the very law of its creation, in eternal progress ;
and the cause of all the evils of the world may be traced to that
natural but most deadly error of human indolence and corruption,
that our business is to preserve and not to improve. It is the ruin
of us all alike, individuals, schools, and nations." *
Our author's comprehensiveness of mind gave a peculiar character
to his theological system. That capacious frontal development
which marked his figure, indicated the type of his theology. As his
personal qualities, his sternness and mildness for instance, have been
thought to be incompatible with each other, so his creed, because so
comprehensive, has been deemed self-contradictory. His great aim,
however, was to form a self-consistent scheme. He disliked hetero
geneous and fragmentary thoughts. Dr. Ashbel Green says of him : t
" He is certainly a man of a subtle and discriminating mind. He is
indeed more calculated for minute inquiries, than for comprehensive
views. His mental optics seemed [seem ?] formed to see small objects
distinctly, but are unable to survey large ones. He sees parts, but not
the whole. His love of distinguishing sometimes leads him to make
distinctions where there are no differences. He separates, in rea
soning, things which are never separated in fact." This portraiture
of Dr. Hopkins is exactly the reverse of the truth. He was less
remarkable for acuteness than for comprehensiveness of intellect.
His analysis was less accurate than his generalization was exten
sive. His mind loved to expatiate on the vast and illimitable. His
theology is, what it ought to be, the science of the great God ; — the
decrees, the sovereignty, the universal government of God, — above
all, the infinite love of God in Christ. We take up his volumes with
awe, for we know that they will present thoughts of vast compass.
They will develop the religious sentiment which loves to enthrone
Jehovah, and abase the creature. But with all his fondness for ex
alting the claims of God, our comprehensive divine unites an amiable
desire to maintain the free agency of man. He brings together, in
one extensive scheme, the fixed certainty of all events, and such a
liberty of the human will as leads him often to say, that sinners " are
under no inability, but what consists in their inexcusable, voluntary

* Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D. D:, p. 173, first Am. ed.
t Memoir, p. 340.

186 MEMOIR.
wickedness ; " and that the unregenerate sinner " is under no kind
of inability or difficulty that is in the way of his turning to God im
mediately, which the open profligate is not under, as a bar in the
way of his reforming his wicked conduct immediately."* Our
author's theology was offensive to unrenewed men, because it held
before them the sovereign dominion of the Creator on the one hand,
and the doctrine of our natural ability on the other. The combi
nation of these two truths has a rare power over the heart. Men
dislike to hear, that the only reason why they do not submit to the
sovereignty of Jehovah is, their own vile choice. They love to hear,
that they are naturally unable to do what the law is said to require.
This is a pillow for their sweetest sleep. Hopkins irritated them by
taking the pillow away. " For," he says in his decisive style, " this
doctrine of man's inability, as consisting in some difficulty in the way
of holiness, which is independent of the will, and for which they are
not wholly to blame, is as agreeable to the corrupt heart of man, as
any Arminian or Pelagian doctrine whatsoever can be. How many
of those who are called Calvinists have fled to this refuge of lies, and
here are like to perish, God knows ! " t And because our author
was wont to speak thus, is he to be called an Arminian or a Pela
gian 1 One great use of his writings is, to show, that the doctrine
of man's entire freedom may be combined with that of his entire and
certain sinfulness. The man who rejects either of these truths,"
merely for the sake of holding the other, is contracted, one-sided.
It is because Hopkins was large-minded and large-hearted, that he
held together what less capacious minds are tempted to put asunder.
He asserted in the boldest terms, that God is the original Cause
producing the certainty of sin ; but he combined this assertion with
another, that man is under no natural inability to be holy. He did
not teach, that God produces wickedness in any such sense as im
plies that men are forced or compelled to be wicked ; nor did he
teach that men have natural power to be holy, in any such sense as
implies that their sin is not made certain by the providence of God.
We may not think that all his language and illustrations are wisely
chosen for a scientific treatise, f but the substance of his teachings on
these themes is neither more nor less than this : God so makes and
preserves, and circumstances men, that the unregenerate do uni
formly and certainly sin ; their sin is made certain by the efficiency of
Him who predestinated their whole moral course ; § but yet they are
* Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. p. 296.
t lb. p. 299. — A fundamental idea of our author's system is, that all our inability to
obey the law is itself wickedness, and not the mere occasion of wickedness. See, for
one expression of it, his System, vol. i. pp. 235, 509, 510.
X See pp. 29, 30, of this Memoir.
j Hopkins asserts and proves, often, that his theory of the divine agency in sin is the
same which is taught by the Westminster Assembly ; see Hopkins's Works, new edi
tion, vol. i. pp. 106-110.

MEMOIR. 187
as free as moral agents can be ; their inability is the certainty of
their sin, and their certain sin is their free choice. One of these
doctrines explains the other. One oFTKem-; prevents fatalism ; the
other exclude,? a " liberty of indifference " which is uncontrollable by
the Deity. In their reciprocal bearings- upon each other, both of
these doctrines combined make out the truth to which our compre
hensive theologian devoted a large part of his life. Future genera
tions will honor him, for having so asserted our natural power to do
our duty, as to render it preposterous for men to brand this dogma
with Pelagianism. His rare merit is, that he has defended not one
truth alone, but many truths ; and has proved that the divine and
human action are harmoniously blended. He stands out as a prom
ontory in the sea, around which and against which the waves of
theological misrepresentation break and foam without avail. If the
assertion of man's ability commensurate with his duty, be Pelagi
anism, then Hopkins was a Pelagian, — and the very sound of this
last clause refutes it. If the assertion that God causes the certainty
of all acts, be fatalism, then fatalism is consistent with the doctrine
so often avowed by Hopkins, that " the creature acts as freely as if
there were no agent concerned but himself, and his exercises are as
virtuous and holy, and it is as really and as much his own virtue and
holiness, and he is as excellent and praiseworthy, as if he did not
depend on divine influences for these exercises, and they were not
the effect of the operation of God." *

Sect. XLIV. WRITINGS OP HOPKINS.
" I have thrown together these recollections of a man, who has
been crowded out of men's minds by the thronging events and in
terests of our time, but who must always fill an important place in
our ecclesiastical history." So writes one t who had a decided aver
sion to the creed of Hopkins, but knew the historical value of his
writings. Had they no other merit, they would deserve to be
studied for the instruction which they impart with regard to our
Dogmatic History. No man can rightly appreciate the theology of
New England, either in its progress or in its present condition, with
out understanding the works of this veteran divine. That these
works are free from every mistake, the most zealous admirer of
them will not pretend. They combine, however, in a more than usual
degree, the vigor of a theological pioneer, with the accuracy of a
critical philosopher. They could not have accomplished their pre
destined good, unless they had been strong, positive, aggressive ; and
* Works, new edition, vol. i. p. 139.
t Dr. Channing, in his Works, vol. iv. p. 352.

188 MEMOIR.
if tKey have these excellences, can we expect them to possess also
the gentle and mellowed character of treatises composed in pacific
times . They broke up the green-sward. They levelled the uneven
places. They encountered a rough opposition. They subdued many
an obstacle. It were strange if, in this stern contest with difficulties,
they had preserved themselves immapulate. Equally strange were
it, if they had not exerted so much influence over our New England
theology, as to become a part of our theological history. In this
respect, they will always retain an interest for one who aims to be
an accomplished divine. It is important, then, for the historian, as
well as the theologian, to know the circumstances in which our
author performed his theological labors. Therefore, let us now
glance at the character, object, and influence, of his various writings.
A. Discourses on Sin.
We have already seen,* that about the time of President Ed
wards's dismissal from Stockbridge, Hopkins was engaged in a
singular controversy with a parishioner at Great Barrington, in re
gard to the divine purposes respecting sin. In a twelvemonth after
the close of that dispute, and in the thirty-eighth year of his age, our
author published a pamphlet of eighty pages, entitled :
"Sin, through Divine Interposition, an Advantage to the Universe, and
yet this no Excuse for Sin or Encouragement to it ; Illustrated and Proved :
and God's Wisdom and Holiness in the Permission of Sin, and that his Will
herein is the same with his Revealed Will, Shown and Confirmed : in Three
Sermons, from Rom. iii. 5, 6, 7, 8. By Samuel Hopkins, A. M., a Minister
of the Gospel at Sheffield, 1759."
These Three Sermons were reprinted at Boston, in 1773, " by J.
Rneeland, next to the Treasurer's Office in Milk Street." They
were also republished, about the same time, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The title of the sermons was, as their author narrates in 1796, " so
shocking to many, that they would read no farther. And many who
read the sermons, were far from falling in with the sentiment ad
vanced. But few bad studied the point, and it was a new doctrine
to many. Yet no one undertook publicly to confute it. And many
who read the sermons were convinced of the truth exhibited in them ;
and thought the reasoning from Scripture to be unanswerable, and
the sentiments which were advanced to be important and useful.
And this conviction has been spreading from that time to this ; and
the most who are serious and attentive, whether ministers or others,
approve of this publication, so far as I can judge. And light on this
subject has been, and still is increasing." t
These sermons are of some historical importance. They show,
* On pp. 68, 69, cf this Memoir. t Sketches, p. 93.

MEMOIR. 189
in the first place, that the sentiments of Dr. Hopkins were suggested
by his religious feelings. One of his young children was very sick,
and was not expected to live more than a few hours. He had pro
vided a faithful and trustworthy nurse for it ; physicians had exhausted
their skill upon it ; and at night, when the father could do no more,
he retired to his study, and consoled himself with the thought, that
all the evils of the world would be overruled for good. Rather
than look on the suffering child, and pour out his unavailing regrets,
he chose to meditate on the holy purpose of God, in exposing chil
dren and adults to sin and pain. These meditations he afterwards
incorporated into the three discourses, by which he first attracted
the public attention to himself as a theological author. He wrote,
not under the influence of a merely metaphysical theory, but from
the impulses of a heart panting for solace from the afflictions which
result from sin.
lti the second place, these discourses prove, that the first oppo
sition which Hopkins, as an author, encountered from his brethren,
arose from the Calvinistic features of his theology. He advanced
nothing peculiarly severe on the doctrine of sin overruled for good.
The Calvinistic standards abound with expressions far more unpopu
lar, than those contained in these sermons. Hopkins was not dis
tinguished from Edwards and Bellamy in the censures which were
heaped upon him ; but the well-known triumvirate were universally
regarded as contending for the same doctrine on this, as on other
topics. " So much of late," said an ingenious author of that day,
" has' been written to persuade us that the existence of all the wick
edness of men and devils is agreeable to God's will, necessary to his
glory, and for the benefit of the universe, that I found, by reading
such [writers] as E  s, H  s, B  y, and I know not whom,
my abhorrence of sin did much abate, and a more favorable idea of
vice grew up insensibly in my mind ; as he who often converses
with atheists and swearers, will find his horror and detestation of
their language daily lessen. Yet my scruples are not quite gone ;
but I find a strong suspicion that all they can say to beget in me a
good opinion of sin, is a mere device of the father of lies." * This
* See pp. 25, 26, of " A Preservative against the Doctrine of Fate," in opposition to
Edwards on the Will. Boston, 1770.
In a letter to Dr. Bellamy, dated July 23, 1767, Hopkins says : " Mr. Dana, of
Wal  rd, has just published two sermons, preached at Cambridge, last May, in which
he has given a bold stroke at you and me, for what we have wrote on the permission
of sin, though he has not named us."
A few months after Hopkins had printed his Three Sermons, he sent to Bellamy a let
ter which illustrates the intimacy known to exist between the two divines, and the an
noyances which they endured from the espionage of their common enemy. — "Yours of
the fifth of November," says Hopkins, " I found at one of our taverns, on the twenty-
third. It was opened, and one enclosed to Mr. Kneeland [publisher of the sermons]
was opened also. The landlord says, he found them in his counter, on the floor, and
who left them there neither he nor any of his family knows." — " I am much obliged to
you for your good opinion of my sermons," etc.

190 MEMOIR.
is precisely the objection which has been made for centuries to the
Calvinistic system. That system goes even so far as to assert, that
sin is inflicted on man as his punishment. Must not a punishment
inflicted by Jehovah be useful ?
Thirdly, these discourses illustrate their author's reverence for
God, and abhorrence of moral evil. Whatever men may think of
his Calvinistic theory, that sin is an occasion without which it is im
possible for creatures and their Creator to secure the highest con
ceivable good, men must approve of his teachings that sin, as sin, is
merely pernicious, but the Providence of God with regard to it is
merely beneficial ; that whatever man does in violating the law tends
in itself to evil, and nothing but evil, but that whatever God does in
so causing the certainty of sin as to prevent its natural necessity, and
in so counteracting its tendencies as to preclude the evil which it is
fitted to produce, tends to the highest good which Omnipotence can
secure ; that although sin in its own nature- leads to nothing useful,
yet the acts of God in making it certain though avoidable, and then
in resisting its appropriate influence, do lead to more useful results
than Omnipotence can otherwise secure ; that God could not have
promoted the best interests of his kingdom, unless he had so planned
the world that sin would certainly be committed ; and yet the wel
fare of his kingdom does not result from the moral evil viewed in
itself, but rather from the divine plan of thwarting the moral evil.
" In a word, 'tis not the tendency of sin, as such, that Mr. Edwards
is here speaking of [as beneficial], but the tendency of God's per
mitting it, and holding it in his hands, and overruling it to answer
his own wise and good ends by it." *
B. Inquiry concerning the Promises of the Gospel.
In our author's forty-fourth year, he published his first controver
sial volume. He says of it :
" In the year 1765, 1 published a book of one hundred and forty-five pages,
octavo, the title of which was, ' An Inquiry concerning the Promises of the
Gospel : whether any of them are made to the Exercises and Doings of Persons
in an unregenerate State. Containing Remarks on two Sermons published
by Dr. Mayhew, of Boston, [entitled " Striving to enter in at the Strait Gate,
explained and inculcated ; and the Connection of Salvation therewith, proved
from the Holy Scripture." Also, a brief Inquiry into the use of Means ;
showing their Necessity in order to Salvation ; and what is the true Ground
of Encouragement for Sinners diligently to attend on them.' Published in
Boston.] In these sermons Dr. Mayhew attempted to prove that there are
promises to the doings of the unregenerate. In the tenth and last section of
this book, I attempted to show what is the design and end of the use of
means, with respect to the unregenerate, in order to their salvation; where I
observed,, that the end was not to render the unregenerate better or less sinful
while they continued unregenerate; for persons while they continued to
* See Hopkins's Appei.dix to the above-named Three Sermons.

MEMOIR. 191
reject the gospel, which all the unregenerate did under all the means used
with them, and with all the light and conviction they might have, did not
become less sinners, but greater and more guilty, whatever external reforma
tion might take place. Though this truth had been at least implicitly
asserted in the writings of many Calvinists, and in their preaching, yet it had
not been so explicitly and particularly asserted and explained by Calvinistic
writers and preachers in general ; and many, in contradiction to what they at
other times said, and to true Calvinism, said things which implied the con
trary, and represented the convinced and externally reformed sinner, though
unregenerate, and continuing to reject tlie gospel, as a much less sinner, and
less guilty than the unawakened, secure sinner. Therefore, though Dr.
Mayhew, who was not a Calvinist, made no reply to my remarks on his ser
mons, yet many professed Calvinists thought the sentiment I had advanced
was contrary to the truth, and of very bad tendency." *
In the fifth, seventh, and other sections of this Inquiry, our author
first advances the doctrine, that no change of nature, antecedent to
the change of moral act, entitles the subject of it to the promises of
life ; that regeneration, if viewed as distinct from conversion, is not
in itself an improvement of moral character ; but that moral char
acter lies in the exercises of the heart. He believed that there is a
certain state of the soul, preparing the unregenerate to disobey tlie
law ; that this state of the soul is in itself neither holy nor sinful, but
that the disobedience, being active, is sinful ; that in regeneration
the state is changed ; that the soul is passive in this change ; that
there is in the regenerate a certain state of the soul inclining them to
obey the law ; that this state is neither holy nor sinful, but that the
obedience, being active, is holy ; and that this change from disobe
dient to obedient act, is conversion, to which alone the promises of
the gospel are addressed. In one of the numerous papers, on which
our author penned his theological meditations, are found the follow
ing statements :
"Question I. Are infants united to Christ? If they are, how is this
union brought about ?
" Answer. They are not actually united to Christ, but virtually so, if regen
erated. They are actually united to him as soon as they come to act, which
takes place as the natural and necessary fruit of conversion.
" Question II. If a doctrinal knowledge of gospel truth is necessary in order
to conversion, how then can infants be converted ?
" Answer. Infants are not converted : they may be regenerated, but not con
verted, till they come to the knowledge of the truth." [Of course, then, Hop
kins believed that infants are saved in a manner differing, in one respect,
from the manner in which converted adults are saved: see p. 103 of this
Memoir.] C. Reply to Mills on the Character of the Sinner's Acts.
The most noted peculiarity of Hopkinsianism is the doctrine, that
sinners have no promises addressed to them as such, and they should
not be exhorted to perform any act in the character of sinners, and
* Sketches, pp. 93, 94, 95.

192 MEMOIR.
should be urged to perform, without delay, those acts only which
involve holiness. They ought to use means, but to use them in a
holy way. In his discussion of this topic and its correlates, Dr. Hop
kins achieved his most signal victories. Speaking of the opposition
to his criticisms on Mayhew, our author says : " Mr. Mills, of Ripton,
in Connecticut, was greatly alarmed, and thought the doctrine I had
published was new and strange, contrary to the Bible, and tended to
great mischief. He therefore thought it his duty to oppose, and
attempt to confute me, and published a book of one hundred and
twenty-four pages against me, in the year 1767." *
The title of Mr. Mills's work is, of itself, a small volume, charac
teristic of his times. It proceeds thus :
" An Inquiry concerning the State of the Unregenerate under the Gospel ;
whether on every rising degree of internal Light, Conviction, and Amendment
of Life, they are (while unregenerate) undoubtedly, on the whole, more vile,
odious, and abominable (in God's sight) than they would have been had they
continued secure and at ease, going on in their Sins, under the same external
Means of Light ; containing Remarks on the Tenth Section of the Reverend
Mr. Samuel Hopkins's late Answer to Doctor Mayhew's Sermon on Striving
to enter in at the strait Gate ; intitled ' A brief Inquiry into the Use of
Means.' By Jedidiah Mills, Minister of the Gospel in Ripton, Stratford.
[Published in] New Haven : Printed by B. Mecom, 1767."
The Preface of this once noted " Inquiry " is dated November 5,
1766. The work was published in the early part of 1767. At this
time, there was a great commotion in Hopkins's parish at Great
Barrington. The public controversy with regard to his doctrines, '
made this commotion the more ungovernable. He was dismissed
January 18, 1769, and immediately betook himself to the refutation
of Mr. Mills. Without a parish to sustain him, with a severe oppo
sition of the clergy, and a deep-seated prejudice among the churches
against his doctrines,t with but little prospect of ever being able to
secure another settlement, Mr. Hopkins was led to look upon this
controversy, at this juncture, as peculiarly hostile to the cause of
true religion ; and he therefore expressed his feelings with great
decision. His subsequent comments on the spirit of his Reply are
characteristic. " In the year 1769," he says, " I published my answer to Mr. Mills of one
hundred eighty-four pages, octavo, in a small, comprehensive type. The
* Sketches, p. 95.
t See p. 76 of this Memoir. The line between the old school and ihe new had been
distinctly drawn, for several years. Bellamy and Hopkins were, since the death of Ed
wards, the stoutest living champions of tlie new school. There was often a struggle
between the two parties, when a vacant pulpit was to be filled. " A certain clergyman,
in the county of Litchfield," — writes Hopkins to Bellamy, March 18, 1766, — " I hear,
told a Sheffield man, that Sheffield [a destitute parish] might not get a minister unless
he was in a straight line from Great Barrington to Bethlem. This being spread, some
begin lo say, ' We shall never get a minister, so long as Messrs. Bellamy and Hopkins
are onr advisers.' "

MEMOIR. 193
following was the title of it : ' The true State and Character of the Unregen
erate, stripped of all Misrepresentation and Disguise : [a Reply to Mr. Mills's
Inquiry, etc. Printed at New Haven.'] I believe this book, with what was
afterwards published on the same subject, was the means of spreading and
giving much light and conviction with respect to the real character and doings
of the unregenerate, and has in a great measure put a stop to exhorting the
unregenerate to do duty in order to obtain regeneration, which was very
common among preachers before that time. Some of my friends thought I
treated Mr. Mills with too much severity, in taking pains to show how many
self-contradictions were to be found in his writings, and to discover his weak
ness, &.c. ; since I, as well as others, believed he was a good man, and had
done much good, and the opposition he had made to me was more owing to
his weakness and his old age, and his speculative error, than to his opposition
of heart to the truth. And I believe there is something of this kind which
ought, all things considered, to be left out, or otherwise expressed ; though I
had no perception of it in the time of it, but thought I was conscientiously
careful to leave out all personal reflections and every tiling which was not
necessary in the best manner to expose error and vindicate the truth. But
how deceitful is the heart ! Who can understand his errors ? " *
The severity, for which the venerable author thus apologizes, and
which is mildness itself in comparison with the style of many subse
quent disputes among theologians, seems to have arisen from his
honesty. He abhorred all controversial arts, all attempts to excite
the odium theologicum against a divine. He was at this time suffering
persecution in consequence of such appeals to popular prejudice.
There is a real eloquence, in some of his indignant protests against
one common stratagem of theological disputants :
" When I have attended," he says, " to this method Mr. Mills has taken ih
his dispute with me, and the way in which he has managed it, (which seems
almost peculiar to himself,) and how he has not only tacked Sandeman upon
my back, and took care to keep him fast there, and held him up in sight from
beginning to end, but has also ranked me with Arminians and Quakers, yea,
with the devil himself;! I say, when I have attended to this, it has brought
to my mind the method the Roman Catholics have often taken with Protestant
martyrs who were to be put to death ; that is, to place a large cap on then-
head, on which are painted a number of hideous monsters and ugly devils, on
purpose to raise the indignation of the crowd against them. It is to be ob
served, however, that they do this to those only who they really think deserve
such treatment, they being in their view as bad at least as the devil himself;
whereas Mr. Mills has done all this to his ' dear brother, and worthy author,
and one whom he highly esteems' " %
D. Reply to Hart's Dialogue. — Epithet "Hopkinsian."
Mr. Mills was effectually silenced by Hopkins's celebrated Reply.
But in the latter part of 1769, Rev. William Hart, the friend of Dr.
Stiles, published a pamphlet of seventy-one pages, entitled, " Brief
Remarks on a Number of False Propositions and Dangerous Errors,
* Sketches, pp. 95, 96.
t Speaking of Mr. Hopkins's book, Mr. Mills says, "Nor is it in my power to doubt,
that the grand enemy of Christ's cause and precious souls, puts his hearty Amen to it."
X Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. p. 351.
9

194 MEMOIR.
which are spreading in the Country; collected out of sundry Dis
courses lately published, wrote by Dr. Whitaker and Mr. Hopkins.
Written by Way of Dialogue, by William Hart, A. M., Pastor of the
First Church in Saybrook," [Connecticut. Printed at] New Lon
don, 1769. The title page bears among its mottoes, Job lxii. 7, 8.
This pamphlet is, as its author was, very respectable. Before Hop
kins replied to it, he wrote thus to Dr. West :
" January 12, 1750. [When my Reply] is finished, I am to send it to Mr.
Hart, of Preston, and he will get it printed, if he and Mr. Austin approve of
it I am sorry you and a number of others could not see it, before it goes to
the press, (if it does go,) for I think my judicious friends might be of great
service to me in this way ; and now believe my Reply to Mr. Mills would
have appeared to better advantage, had you and some others spent considera
ble time upon it, in correcting it. The first and general complaint against
that, I perceive, is, that I put on a haughty, supercilious air, by which I dis
cover the pride of my heart, — and treat good old Mr. Mills in an unmannerly,
saucy manner, looking down upon him with contempt, &c. And some of my
judicious friends say, (and perhaps all of them now think,) it might have been
wrote in a better style and manner, and without one witty sarcasm, or any
thing that should look like an ill-natured reflection, to his best friends ; but,
on the contrary, with an air of benevolence and tenderness which especially
becomes those who have professedly espoused the most benevolent scheme.
They ought, above all others, to avoid every thing that looks like selfishness
and ill nature, and [to] distinguish themselves in generous benevolence, &c. I
have not read my reply, since I have heard the objection; but am now ready
to think it is not wholly without grounds."
Hopkins's Reply appeared in a pamphlet of thirty-one closely
printed pages, with the following title : " Animadversions on Mr.'
Hart's late Dialogue ; in a Letter to a Friend. By Samuel Hop
kins, A. M., Minister of the Gospel." New London, 1770. It bears,
as its motto, Acts xxiv. 14. It must be confessed, that some parts of
this Reply are written in a more caustic style than the Dialogue of
Mr. Hart seems to have required. There are two circumstances,
however, which account for the severity of those passages. One is,
that Mr. Hart's Dialogue appeared to have been written with some de
sign to prevent Hopkins's resettlement in the ministry, and that the
free circulation of it in Newport did in fact excite the early revolu
tion of the First Church against him.* Another circumstance is,
that soon after Mr. Hart had published his Dialogue, " there was,"
says Dr. Hopkins, " a small pamphlet published, which was doubtless
written by the same Mr. Hart, which was written in a sarcastical
way, without argument or reason, in which the doctrines I, and
others who agreed with me, had published were misrepresented;
attempting to set them in a ridiculous light. And with a particular
design, as it appeared, to disgrace me before the public, he called
them Hopkintonian doctrines. This is the original of this epithet.
And since that time, all who embrace the Calvinistic doctrines which
* See p. 76 of this Memoir.

MEMOIR. 195
were published by President Edwards, Dr. Bellamy, Dr. West of
Stockbridge, and myself, have been called Hopkintonians, or Hopkin-
sians. Thus I am become the head of a denomination, who have
since greatly increased, and in which thousands are included, and a
large number of ministers, who, I believe, are the most sound, con
sistent, and thorough Calvinists ; and who in general sustain as good
a character, as to their morality, preaching, and personal religion, as
any set of clergymen whatever, and are most popular where there
appears to be most attention to religion ; and, at the same time, are
most hated, opposed, and spoken against, by Arminians, Deists, and
persons who appear to have no religion. And I believe, though this
denomination or name originated from no such design, that it has
proved an advantage to truth and true religion ; as it has given op
portunity and been the occasion of collecting those who embrace the
scheme of Christianity exhibited in the fore-mentioned publications,
and ranking them under one standard. It has excited the attention
and promoted inquiry into the principles and doctrines which are
embraced and held by those of this denomination, by which light and
conviction have been spread and propagated." *
Mr. Hopkins took no public notice of this pamphlet, which origi
nated the appellation "Hopkinsian ;" but his "Animadversions" seem
to have been tinctured by his abhorrence of its spirit. To these Ani
madversions Mr. Hart replied, in " A Letter to the Rev. Samuel Hop
kins, occasioned by his Animadversions on Mr. Hart's late Dialogue,
in which some of his Misrepresentations of Facts and of other Things
are corrected. By the Author of that Dialogue. ' He that is first in
his own cause, seemeth just, but his neighbor cometh and searcheth
him.' New London, 1770." Mr. Hart accuses our author again
of " new doctrines," " new divinity," " Calvinism improved," etc. ;
and complains of having been " treated in an injurious, unfriendly,
and ungentlemanly manner." " Indeed, sir," he says, " you do not
write in a good spirit." Of Mr. Hart's spirit, the following extract
from his Rejoinder will give an illustration ; — rather more unfavor
able, however, than is the general character of his defence. The ex*
tract proves two important facts : first, that the epithet " Hopkinsian"
was originally applied to the New Divinity in special reference to its
doctrine of the utter sinfulness of all acts preceding regeneration,
and the consequent necessity of enjoining immediate repentance ;
secondly, that Hopkinsianism was then supposed by its most in
telligent opponents, as well as friends, to be indissolubly connected
with Edwardeanism. If one falls, the other was thought to fall.
Hopkins was not fifty years old, and hadjjot published his most im
portant works, when the New Theology began to be called after his
name. * Sketches, pp. 97, 98.

196 MEMOIR.
" I observe, sir," Bays Mr. Hart, in his letter, " you complain of injury and
falsehood, in that I sometimes call the new doctrines Sandemanian errors.
When you objected this to me at my house, I answered, that the new scheme
and Sandeman's are near akin, coincident in some things, and both come to
much the same issue. More than this is not pretended in the Dialogue,
though in some particular passages I may have expressed myself too loosely.
If your smiting was that of" the righteous, I would esteem it as excellent oil.
But, unhappily for you, you are come abroad this time, in the spirit of a Jew
at the close of his fast. As the teachers of the new scheme of doctrine had
not given it a new name, I was a little in doubt what name it ought to be called
by. Calvinism I could not call it, without misleading my readers. It appeared
to mS much nearer related to Sandeman than to Calvin ; so I sometimes loosely
called it the Sandemanian scheme. But, since it displeases, I forbear.
Please, sir, to give the poor stranger a proper name, it is your right to name
your own children. If it is called after your own name, I believe nobody
will be displeased.
" You, sir, labor to convince your readers that I have embraced several of
Mr. Sandeman's distinguishing doctrines, and know it not. (p. 14.) This is
pleasant enough. 'First of all, you represented me as agreeing with the devil,
(p. 8 ;) now with Mr. Sandeman. If your wrath, rises a little higher, I fear
you will undertake next to prove, that I have also embraced Mr. Hopkins's
sentiments, and know it not. You have actually done so towards the close
of your letter.
" Speaking of Mr. Edwards's piece on the Nature of Virtue, you observe,
that his notion of virtue and natural conscience, &c, ' are fundamental to the
scheme of doctrines I oppose.' They are so ! And his notion of virtue is
new and strange, and the scheme you have built upon it [is1 new. Both must
stand or fall together. You ask, ' Why did not Mr. Hart take this Dissertation
in hand, and censure and confute it? This would be laying the axe to the
root of the tree.' It would. I will also tell you why I did not. I had not
then seen that Dissertation, though I had heard of it. If I had seen that and
your Sermons, before I wrote, my Dialogue would, in some respects, have been
more perfect. I have since read that Dissertation, and laid the axe to the root
of the tree : and, perhaps, shall publish some remarks upon it, showing that
Mr. Edwards's notions of virtue, of tiie primary and secondary beauty of moral
things, &c, are wrong, imaginary, and fatally destructive of the foundations
of morality and true religion. If I do, I hope to have the piece out of the
press by next commencement. Since you think this will be doing something,
and that I ought to have done it before, I presume this intelligence will please
you, and that you will subscribe for a dozen copies, at least."
It is interesting to look through the dust and smoke of a theologi
cal controversy, to the solitary musings of the controversialists. We
have often heard, that no man is a hero to his valet de chambre. But
we must say, that the private disclosures of Hopkins are a more
striking proof of his honest regard for the glory of Jehovah, than is
to be found in his public manifestations. The nearer we come to
him, the more must we honor him. He was assailed so violently,
that his ministerial usefulness seemed to be destroyed. " I think it
most probable," he writes, January 12, 1770, " that I shall return to
private life, if I live muchjenger, unless there shall be a remarkable
turn in religious affairs in New England. They are rousing more
and more every where, and [are] determined to crush and extirpate
the new orthodox heresy." Very seldom has an American divine been
called, like Hopkins, to contend abstrusely and metaphysically for

MEMOIR. 197
his official reputation and his daily bread. Yet how heavenly were
his thoughts during this severe contest ! It was in the very thickest
of it, that he wrote the meditations on pp. 73-76 of this Memoir.
The following extracts from his Diary do not seem to have come
from a dismissed pastor, whose enemies were toiling to bar the doors
of the churches against him :
"Newport, Thursday evening, January 18, 1770. Have begun to write
remarks upon Mr. Hart, and think it my duty to prosecute it as fast as I can,
supposing I am called to it by God. O that God would guide my heart and
my pen through the whole !
"Lord's Day, January 21. Preached from Heb. ii. 3: 'How shall we
escape,' &c. Had freedom of speech, and now feel calm and easy in my
mind, as having in some measure declared the truth clearly and plainly, and
recommended myself to men's consciences in the sight of God. I pray God
to give his blessing to what has been said. May it be the means of salvation
to some poor soul.
" Saturday, January 27. I seemed to have some sense, to-day, of God's
goodness to me. It surpasses all expression — all thought. O, how reason
able, how comely is praise ! Let me spend an eternity in this ! "
The man who wrote thus, and felt thus in his closet, could not
himself he buried, nor let the truth lie buried under the missiles of
his adversaries. Nearly all the main principles for which he was
thus sacrificing his temporal interests, in this controversy on the use
of means, are now generally adopted by the most successful preachers
of New England. E. Work on Holiness.
Rev. William Hart published, in 1771, bis valuable " Remarks on
President Edwards's Dissertation concerning the Nature of True
Virtue." He endeavored to disprove the Edwardean theory, and
thus to undermine the foundation of Hopkinsianism. He often
alluded to Hopkins, as the chief representative of Edwards. About
the same time, Dr. Moses Mather took up the pen against the doc
trines of Edwards, Bellamy, and Hopkins, three men who are to*
stand or fall together. Dr. Hemmenway was loudly called upon, by
many Calvinists of his time, to come forth in aid of Mr. Hart. Hem
menway had an exalted reputation as a scholar and divine. His
friend Buckminster said of him : He " was a sincere and firm Cal-
vinist of the old school, though candid and charitable to such as had
their doubts and scruples upon some of its doctrines. He was
alarmed at some of the strange cions [scions] which modern Cal
vinism has attempted to graft upon this stock, and, by the subtleties
of metaphysics, to prove that they were legitimate sprouts from its
venerable roots." * In 1767, Dr. Hemmenway had published seven
* See p. 16 of an excellent " Sermon delivered at the Interment of the Rev. Moses
Hemmenway, D. D., Pastor of the First Church in Wells, (District of Maine.) By Jo-

198 MEMOIR.
sermons, on the iobligation of the unregenerate to strive for eternal
life. He, of course, regarded Hopkins's Reply to Mills as a virtual
reply to those sermons. Accordingly, in 1772, he printed a volume
of a hundred and twenty-seven octavo pages, entitled : " Vindication
of the power, obligation, and encouragement of the unregenerate to
attend the means of grace: — Against the exceptions of Rev. Mr.
Samuel Hopkins." In reply to these various attacks from Connecti
cut, Massachusetts, and Maine, our author published, in his fifty-
second year, a volume of two hundred and twenty pages, entitled :
"An Inquiry into the Nature of True Holiness, with an Appendix,
containing an Answer to the Rev. Mr. William Hart's Remarks on
President Edwards's Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue ; and
brief Remarks on some Things the Rev. Mr. Mather has lately pub
lished. Also, an Answer to the Rev. Mr. Hemmenway's Vindica
tion, «fec. By Samuel Hopkins, M. A.,  Newport, R. I.
1773."  He rightly judged, that the differences between him
self and his opponents resulted from their respective views on the
nature of holiness. His Treatise on this subject was republished in
1791, in an edition of fifteen hundred copies. Mr. Hart and Dr.
Mather made no rejoinder to this Reply ; but Dr. Hemmenway
published, in 1774, a hundred and sixty-six pages of " Remarks on
the Rev. Mr. Hopkins's Answer to a Tract, entitled, ' A Vindica
tion,' " etc. In the conclusion of his Remarks, Dr. Hemmenway
says, " Truth is not afraid of giants." . These words betray his con
viction that he had fallen into the grasp of a giant. He was an able
man, but Hopkins had the better cause. Therefore, Dr. Hemmen-
. way was driven to the well-understood methods of a defeated con
troversialist. He heaps upon our author injurious charges, of igno
rance, pride, anger, Arminianism, Pelagianism, et id omne genus;
accuses him of denying original sin, and condemns both him and
Edwards for their remarks on Ability, etc. As Hopkins took no
notice of Mr. Hart's personal assault in 1770, so be passed over in
silence the vituperative Reply of Dr. Hemmenway. He says that
the Reply " was not much read, and had but httle influence on the
minds of any." * Dr. Hemmenway lived to regret and to confess
his fault, in assailing Hopkins with so much acrimony. It must be
conceded, however, that Hopkins appeared to feel rather too con
scious of his superiority to Hemmenway, and wrote against him in a
style of occasionally too severe reprimand. His honest contempt
for weak, inconsistent reasoning was mistaken for a haughty, domi
neering temper. His severity, however, was far less than that of
many controversialists, who have lived in a more refined age.
seph Buckminster, D. D. < He was a good man.' 'A great man has fallen.' — 1811."
Dr. Buckminster was the father of the celebrated Unitarian preacher, Joseph Stevens
Buckminster, of Boston.
* Sketches, pp. 99, 100.

MEMOIR. 199
Hopkins's Theory of Holiness was assailed by an English writer,
in the Theological Magazine, vol. ii. pp. 139, seq., and defended in
the same Magazine, vol. iii. pp. 274, seq. To this Reply the British
divine published a Rejoinder, in vol. iii. pp. 418, seq., and before a
surrejoinder could be prepared, the Magazine was discontinued.
With his Treatise on Holiness, the controversial career of our
author, as a theologian, ended. In his old age, he looked back upon
this career with peculiar satisfaction. " Dr. Hopkins, in conversing
with me on his past history," says Channing, " revsrted more fre
quently to his religious controversies, than to any other event of his
life, and always spoke as a man conscious of having gained the vic
tory ; and in this, I doubt not, that he judged justly. He was true,
as I have said, to his principles, and carried them out fearlessly to
their consequences, whilst his opponents wished to stop half way." *
F. Sermon on the Divinity of Christ.
Our author's theological forecast, his quickness to discern the be
ginnings of error, and to oppose it in its very inception, are strikingly
manifest in a sermon preached at Boston, in his forty-seventh year.
He says of it :
" In 1768, a sermon which I preached in the Old South Meeting-house, in
Boston, was published at the desire of a number of the hearers. The title of
it is, ' The Importance and Necessity of Christians considering Jesus Christ
in the Extent of his high and glorious Character.' The text [is] Hebrews iii. 1.
It was composed with a design to preach it in Boston, as I expected soon to
go there, under a conviction that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ was
much neglected, if not disbelieved, by a number of the ministers in Boston." j
Sixty-two years after this sermon was published, it was reviewed
in the Spirit of the Pilgrims, vol. iii. pp. 582-591, aud its prophetic
character was distinctly commended. It is noteworthy, that the very
man whose writings are sometimes said to have prepared the way
for Unitdrianism among us, was the first to sound the alarm in regard
to it, more than forty years before it had awakened a general oppo
sition in our orthodox community. It was the resolute, uncompro
mising spirit of such discourses as this, which led an opponent to
say of our author : " He was a singularly blameless man, with the
exception' of intolerance towards those who differed from him."|
G. Sermons on Law and Regeneration.
In a letter to Dr. Bellamy, dated July 23, 1767, our author writes :
[I have recently] "preached at Boston, Salvia,  , Ipswich, Rowley,
and Newbury, I imagine generally to good acceptance. They are much
* Works, vol. iv. p. 350. Dr. Channing proceeds to give a synopsis of the Hopkin
sian controversy ; but in that synopsis we cannot agree with him.
t Sketches, p. 95. X Channing's Works, vol. iv. p. 352.

200 MEMOIR.
more religious, and zealous to hear preaching at the east of Boston, than in
any other part of New England. Two sermons which I preached at Ipswich
are [likely] to be printed. I send you some of the proposals. I have more,
which I propose to carry to the commencement. If you will wait for me, I
will endeavor to be at your house Monday night"
These two sermons were printed in a pamphlet of sixty-five pages,
in 1768, and reprinted in 1793. The title of the first edition is :
" Two Discourses : I. On the Necessity of the Knowledge of the Law of
God, in order to the Knowledge of Sin. II. A particular and critical Inquiry
into the Cause, Nature, and Means of that Change in which men are born of
God. By Samuel Hopkins, A. M., Minister of the Gospel in Great Barrington.
Boston : Printed and sold by William M' Alpine, about midway between the
Governor's and Dr. Gardiner's, Marlborough Street. 1768."
In the third division of the second of these discourses, our author
teaches the moral innocence of all states preceding choice ; and it is
noticeable that this doctrine elicited but little comment from the
multitude who opposed him. Even Dr. Hemmenway uttered only a
feeble protest against these discourses. In a note to the second of
them, (see vol. iii. p. 553, of Hopkins's Works,) our author expresses
his doubt, whether all that lies back of moral exercises may not be
resolved into a mere constitution or law of nature. He declares that
" it is difficult, and perhaps impossible to form any distinct and clear
idea " of a passive " principle, taste, temper, disposition, habit, «fec"
As early, then, as 1767, the germ of Emmonism was found in the New
Divinity.* At this time, Dr. Emmons was a member of the senior
class at Yale College. When Emmons had been only three months
a licentiate, and before he had made any impression on the theology
of our land, Mr. Hopkins wrote the following words to Dr. West :
" January 12, 1770. Messrs. Smalley, Hart, and Austin are much
opposed to the new notion of no spiritual substance, which they call
Berkshire Divinity. The two latter insist upon it, that such a notion
is inconsistent with what I have published concerning regeneration ;
and that according to this, regeneration is nothing but conversion, and
is wholly by light. I wish you would turn your thoughts a little on
this subject. I should be sorry if the few Edwardeans should get into
divisions among themselves." This letter proves that the Exercise
Scheme, which took no notice of (whether or not it allowed the existence
of) any nature or state back of the will, was not an invention of Dr.
Emmons. The letter also proves that Hopkins was not so sensitive
* The differences between Hopkins and Emmons pertained chiefly to other subjects
than those of sin, ability, etc. Thus, after the publication of one of Emmons's most im
portant volumes, Hopkins wri>s to West : " October 17, 1800. Have you seen Dr.
Emmons's late volume of sermons ? I differ from him on two points, which perhaps
you do not ; viz. the sonship of Jesus Christ, and the perfection but inconstancy of the
holy exercises of Christians ; their imperfection consisting wholly in the latter." Hop
kins was more particularly sensitive to what he regarded as Emmons's error on the sub-
ject of baptism ; and wrote an essay against the supposed error, but after reading tbe
essay lo Emmons, concluded not to print it.

MEMOIR. 201
as Smalley and Hart, with regard to the scheme, which professed an
utter ignorance of a passive state or temper occasioning holiness or
sin. The principles of this scheme had, in fact, been intimated in
the above-mentioned note to Hopkins's two discourses. He looked
upon it, as a whole, with more of distrust, and even of respect, than
of positive aversion.* The letter further suggests, that while Hop
kins opposed the prevalent Calvinism of New England, and asserted
that regeneration is performed without the instrumentality of divine
truth, some of his followers, as West, Emmons, Spring, coincided
with that Calvinism, so far forth as to assert that regeneration is not
performed- without the instrumentality of divine truth. They meant
by regeneration what Hopkins meant by conversion. So curiously
have the systems of our divines been intertangled with each other.
In their nomenclature on this theme, Hopkins was farther from the
New England Calvinism of his day than were his disciples, West,
Emmons, Spring !
The life of Hopkins was a battle. Every thing which he published
was opposed by some one of the parties then in the field. The above-
named two discourses were violently assailed in a political newspaper.
Jonathan Edwards, Junior, then a young man of twenty-four, came
to the rescue, and wrote a spirited defence of his revered teacher.
The controversy was too personal, and was exciting in the highest
degree. H. Work on Future Punishment.
In his sixty-second year, our author published an octavo volume
of one hundred and ninety-four pages, entitled :
" An Inquiry concerning the Future State of those who die in their Sins :
wherein the Dictates of Scripture and Reason upon this important Subject are
carefully considered; and whether endless Punishment be consistent with
Divine Justice, Wisdom, and Goodness. In which, also, objections are stated
and answered. By Samuel Hopkins, A. M., Pastor of the First Congrega
tional Church in Newport. 1783."
The work was written several years before its publication. In
his memoir of himself, our author remarks : " I published that book
at that time, because the doctrine of universal salvation was preached
and propagated by a number, and began to spread in the country." t
In the fourth section of this Inquiry, the author says of the wicked :
" The smoke of their torment shall ascend up in the sight of the
blessed forever and ever ; and serve, as a most clear glass, always
before their eyes, to give them a constant, bright, and most affecting
view of all these. And all this display of the divine character and
glory will be in favor of the redeemed, and most entertaining, and
give the highest pleasure to all who love God, and raise their hap-
* See pp. 176, 200, of this Memoir. t Sketches, p. 101.

202 MEMOIR.
piness to ineffable heights, whose felicity consists, summarily, in the
knowledge and enjoyment of God." Again, he says, that " this
eternal punishment reflects such light on the divine character,"
and " makes such a bright display " of the Redeemer's worthiness,
etc., " that, should it cease, and this fire could be extinguished, it ,
would in a great measure obscure the light of heaven, and put an end
to a great part of the happiness and glory of the blessed." * This
sentiment is by no means peculiar to our plain-spoken divine. It per
vades the Calvinistic treatises. Hopkins clothes it, however, in lan
guage more apt than the common phraseology, to give offence. He
feared not the face of man. What word more obnoxious than the
word " entertaining," could have been selected for such a theme 1
Elsewhere, he uses the word " relish " in the same application, and
with the same boldness. Such a choice, or rather such an employ
ment of nervous phrases, for teaching the standard Calvinistic doc
trines, illustrates the fact, more fully than it can be shown by a
lengthened criticism, that the charge of hyper-Calvinism, so often
preferred against our author, is suggested by his diction, more than
by his meaning. He meant to express forcibly and effectively the
real idea of the Calvinistic creed. He meant to be understood and
felt. He thus awakened the popular prejudice, that his faith on the
subject of eternal punishment exceeded the standards of orthodoxy.
He suffered far more opprobrium for his teachings on this theme,
than for all his assertions that sin consists in choosing wrong, and
this wrong choice can be avoided by the transgressor. At least two
caricature prints were circulated, for the purpose of representing
him as being " entertained " with the woes of the lost. The above-
cited passage, with the word " entertaining," was quoted in a sharp
critique, which appeared against him in the Newport Mercury of
September 20, 1783. It is pleasing to notice, however, that the
author of this newspaper criticism, like every other citizen of New
port, treated the personal virtues of Hopkins with deference ; com
mended him as a man, but rebuked him as a theologian ; spoke of
him as one " whose education, conduct, and long experience in the"
ministry render his character respectable ; but," he adds, " though
far my superior in years, experience, and understanding, it may not
be amiss for him, in the words of the poet, to
' Lend me, for a while, his patience,
And condescend to hear a young man speak.' "
To this newspaper Review of Hopkins, two Replies appeared in
the Mercury, one of them apparently from our author himself.
No one can attentively read this Treatise of Hopkins on Future
* Dr. Hopkins was always prepared to defend his use of these expressions, by the
fact that words equally intense are employed in the sacred poetry. His style was not
adopted through carelessness, but on principle. See his Works, vol. ii. pp. 457, 458.

MEMOIR. 203
Punishment, and compare it with succeeding discussions of the same
topic, without perceiving the originality and profoundness of our au
thor, and the often unacknowledged indebtedness of other writers to
him. Perhaps not one of his Treatises more fully illustrates his
eminent holiness, as well as his deep penetration.
I. Tlieohgical System.
Mr. Whelpley, in his celebrated Triangle,* says, that this " is one
of the noblest bodies of divinity in the English language ; " and he
predicts that when it shall be candidly studied, " and, especially
when it shall have the good fortune to be judged by those who have
read it," "it will stand as high on the shelves of future libraries, and,
be regarded as a work of as much utility and merit, as Pictet,
Ridgely, and Turretin." Hopkins himself thus writes the history of
the work :
" In the year 1793, was published my ' System of Doctrines contained in
Divine Revelation^ explained and defended ; showing their Consistence and
Connection with each other. To which is added, a Treatise on the Millen
nium.' In two large octavo volumes, the whole containing one thousand two
hundred forty-four pages ; sold to subscribers at three dollars a set There
was a large subscription for this work, of above one thousand two hundred.
I sold the copyright to the printers for nine hundred dollars, which has been
a help to me, in the low, deranged state of my church and congregation ;
without which I know not how I should have subsisted. I had no expectation
of getting a penny by the publication when I began, and while I was pre
paring it for the press, nor had the least view or thought of it. I was about
ten years, composing and preparing it for the press. It has been a laborious
work to me, which I consider as the greatest public service that I have ever
done. It has met with more general and better acceptation, by far, than I
expected, both in America and Europe ; and no one has undertaken to answer
it, though some cursory remarks have been made upon some parts of it, by
way of objection, which, I believe, will not have much, if any, influence to
prevent the credit and usefulness of it." f
Our author began the composition of this System, on the thirty
Jirst day of December, 1781, and the Preface to it was dated Au
gust 20, 1792. He labored on it, then, from his sixty-first to his
seventy-first year. He hesitated much with regard to the place of
its publication. He said : " No printer in this town is equal to it
[i. e. to publishing so large a work] ; for unless it could be done
well, I would not have it printed." He finally sent it to Thomas &
Andrews, in Boston. He wrote, but did not publish, the following
Dedication of it :
"[O thou Head] of the Church, [Sovereign] Lord of all!
" In thine infinite condescension and goodness, permit and assist the most
unworthy of thy servants to dedicate the ensuing labor and production to
* See pp. 90, 91. t Sketches, pp. 101, 102.

204 MEMOIR.
Thee, and humbly lay it at thy feet, asking thy gracious acceptance, pat
ronage, and blessing.
" Hast not Thou called him and pointed out his way to this work ? And
hast not Thou supported, assisted, and carried him through it ? Thou seest
all the defects of it, and every thing that is wrong. Thou only art able to
prevent the evil effect of these, and overrule them for good. Thott only
canst bless and succeed this endeavor to serve thy cause, and vindicate and
promote thy truth, and the interest of thy church and kingdom. Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings, Thou dost ordain and perfect strength and
praise ; and art able to make this attempt the mean of supporting and pro
moting thy saving truth, and a blessing to millions ; and cause it to produce
those happy effects which shall promote thine honor and the happiness of thy
kingdom, forever.
" This is thy cause, and to Thee it is cheerfully committed, with joy that
it is wholly in thine hand, and that thou doest whatsoever pleaseth thee, in
heaven and on earth.
" And wilt not Thou, O thou highly exalted and most merciful Saviour,
accept this offering from one who, though infinitely unworthy, esteems it the
highest honor and happiness to be thy devoted servant, forever ?
Samuel Hopkins."
Bellamy, who had rendered such fraternal aid to Hopkins, in
criticizing his preceding works, had now been in his grave two years.
His son-in-law, Dr. Hart, of Preston, first examined the System in
manuscript ; then, it was criticized by Dr. West, of Stockbridge ;
afterwards by Dr. Jonathan Edwards, of New Haven. The last-
named divine was also requested by Hopkins, to comment on the
System after its publication. A copy of his remarks is here sub
joined. They illustrate the frankness and faithfulness of the criti
cisms upon one another, which our great men were wont to
encourage. They also prove, that Edwards agreed with Hopkins
on the more important parts of the Hopkinsian System, and that
this system received, in the main, the sanction of the more eminent
divines in that day. Hopkins indorsed on Edwards's letter the
following words : " Dr. Edwards's Remarks on my System ; — to be
attended to, if there should be a second edition. March 19, 1795."
This second edition, however, was not printed until 1811, eight years
after our author's demise.
"New Haven, October 29, 1793. Reverend and Honored Sir: I have re
ceived your request by President Stiles, that I would send you remarks on
your System ; now sit down to comply [with] it In general, I approve it, and
thank you for it, and think you deserve the thanks of all friends to the truth.
Still, some things struck me as capable of amendment They are as follows :
" i. Would not real and manifest miracles now wrought in favor of any
doctrine, not agreeable to the gospel, either prove that doctrine to be from
God, or prove that the miracles wrought by Moses and Jesus were no proof
of their doctrines? This refers to what is said, vol. i. pp. 14, 15.*
" 2. How do the prophecies of the Old Testament prove that the writings
of the New are from God ? (Vol. i. pp. 20, 21.) Would not the prophecies
* Dr. Edwards's references are modified, so as to make them conform to the com
plete edition of Hopkins's Works.

MEMOIR. 205
of the New Testament equally prove any true history of the popes to be
from God? .
"3. Is the goodness of the doctrines and duties revealed in the Scriptures,
a. proof that they were given by inspiration ? (Vol. i. pp. 23, 24.) It undoubt
edly proves that those doctrines are true, and that those duties are obligatory ;
but that a number of doctrines and precepts, all favorable to real virtue and
godliness, could not be invented and published by uninspired men, does not
appear. Therefore I do not believe what President Edwards has written on
this subject, in his Treatise on Religious Affections.
" 4. Is it impossible, that the Scriptures should be understood by men of
corrupt mind ? (Vol. i. pp. 25, 26.) I do not believe it.
" 5. Goodness and justice are not always the same thing. (Vol. i. pp. 47,
48.) It is goodness to pardon a sinner believing ; but it is not justice. It
would be justice to damn Paul, but it would be no goodness.
"6. Goodness, truth, and faithfulness do not appear to be properly dis
tinguished. (Vol. i. p. 48.)
'¦ 7. That God loves and regards himself infinitely more than the whole
creation, (vol. i. pp. 51, 52,) appears to me not true. For any being to love
himself, is to love his own happiness. But all God's happiness consists in
producing a happy creation ; otherwise he is not a benevolent being. Now,
to say that God regards his own happiness infinitely more than he does that
on which all his own happiness depends, is manifestly not true. The propo
sition rests on the supposition, that God has a private, selfish happiness, not
consisting in benevolence and beneficence ; which, though implied, will not
be avowed.
" 8. God is not above all obligation to his creatures, (vol. i. p. 55,) unless by
obligation be meant something which implies dependence, subjection to
power, and exposure to punishment Doubtless it would be as really sinful
and wicked for God to abuse a creature, as for a creature to abuse God ; and
surely wickedness is a violation of moral obligation.
" 9. The proof of the moral perfections of God seems to be defective.
" 10. I conceive that future existence may be made an end, (vol. i. p. 72,)
and that the then future, perfect creation was the real end for which God
created every thing. God makes himself his end, as he makes his happiness
his end. But the happiness which he makes his end, is the happiness which
he takes in benevolence and beneficence, or the happiness which he takes in
the perfect and highest happiness of the created universe. So that to make
himself his end, and to make the happiness of the creation his end, is perfectly
one and the same tiling. Yet, if I understand Dr. Hopkins, he does not view
it thus, or, at least, liis expressions imply the contrary.
" 11. I wish the conjecture concerning the particular kind of probation of
the angels (vol. i. pp. 173, 174) were omitted ; it is more suitable to Paradise
Lost than to a System of Divinity. A systematic divine has no licentia
poetico. The same I may observe concerning what is said of the gift of lan
guage to Adam, and some things concerning the tree of life. At least, I
wish conjectures were advanced as conjectures, and not as if they were
granted truths.
" 12. The first sin of Adam no more, in its own nature, tended to all sin,
than the first act of holiness in a regenerate man tends to all holiness.
" 13. Dr. Hopkins considers Adam's sin as the sin of all mankind, and
supposes that his posterity were considered by God as sinners in consequence
of Adam's sin. But God is not deceived ; he does not consider them as
sinners, unless they really be sinners. But they are not really sinners, before
they are guilty of personal sin. (Vol. i. pp. 212, 213.)
" 14. He takes it as an axiom, that every moral creature is dependent on
God for all his moral exercises. (Vol. i. p. 219.) Is this fair, when it is so
much disputed?
" 15. Adam, in his first sin, no more wished all men to sin than every sin
ner wishes this, in every sin.
r

206 MEMOIR.
" 16. Loving self as self, is to roe an obscure and unhappy expression. I
presume what is meant, is what President Edwards meant, by loving that
happiness which consists in such gratifications as are entirely private and
personal, not implying any benevolence ; such as the pleasure of eating and
drinking, rest, venery, gratified ambition, &c.
" 17. That the lowest degree of self-love is wrong, is not true, unless self-
love be used in an uncommon sense. Will it be said that the lowest degree
of regard to the pleasure of eating and drinking, of matrimony, and of a good
reputation, is wrong ? Regard to these pleasures is what President Edwards
meant by self-love, and I believe is commonly meant. 'But, no doubt, Adam,
before he fell, had some regard to these pleasures, yet not a supreme regard.
Dr. Hopkins seems to mean by self-love, a supreme regard to them. No
doubt the lowest degree of this is wrong.
" 18. Dr. Hopkins seems to represent, that faith not only implies love to
God, repentance, benevolence to men, &c, but that it is the very same thing.
" 19. He seems to go too far into the idea, that Adam's sin is the sin of all
his posterity, and that they consent to that sin ; yet they no more consent to
that sin than they do to the sin of Joseph's brethren, or any other sin.*
"20. Is there not an inconsistency in holding, that all the children of
believers are included in the covenant with their parents, and therefore are to
be baptized ; and yet holding that no children are entitled to the promises of
the covenant, but the children of those believers who are faithful, who are
allowed to be but few, of even real believers ? And since we do not know
who are or will be faithful, how can we know who have a right to baptism for
their children ; especially since professing Christians do not profess the high
degree of faithfulness which is requisite ? Nor, indeed, is there a foundation
for them to profess or promise it, since God has not promised it to them.
"21. In p. 121 of vol. ii., there appears to be a contradiction: 'Though
they may not be what they appear to be [holy] ; ' ' though there be no reason
to believe that they are all such.'
" 22. That freedom or liberty consists in volition, seems to me not true. Ex
ternal liberty is not action, and why should internal ? A man may be exter
nally free who does not act at all ; and why may not he be free internally,
with respect to that concerning which he has no present volition ? External
liberty is purely negative, implying the absence of obstacles. So the liberty
of tiie will is the absence of natural necessity. Otherwise, the unregenerate
have, no liberty to love God, &c, &c.
" 23. I do not believe that, before the millennium, my neighbor will kill me
because I am a Calvinist, and I kill him because he is an Arminian. This
was the fashion of Queen Mary's time ; but the fashion is antiquated, and not
likely to return.
" 24. I hear, you intend to insert your section on being willing to be damned.f
* Throughout his journal, Hopkins alludes often to his favorite idea, that Adam's sin
is ours because we consent to it, and that all transgressions may be imputed to us, pro
vided that we voluntarily delight in them. Numerous passages may be found, like the
following :
" If any object, that they are undone by the sin of Adam, they may be told that when
ever they disapprove of [i. e., hale, refuse to imitate] tbe sin of Adam, they shall not be
hurt by it ; but be delivered from all the evil consequences of it, and be saved," and be
more happy forever than if he had not sinned."
"Rom. ii. 1, 2, &c. — The apostle here supposes and asserts, that every impenitent,
wicked man does the same things which the most corrupt and openly wicked do. Every
allowed act of sin approves of all sin. He who hates his brother, is a murderer ; who
looks on a woman to lust after her in Jiis heart, is an adulterer. He who is under the
government of self-love, has the root of all wickedness, and in embryo practises all the
sins which men do or can commit."
This idea lies at the basis of Hopkins's theory of imputation, although some of his
phrases appear to be inconsistent with this as the fundamental principle of the theory.
t In the second edition.

MEMOIR. 207
I have mentioned it to all the ministers of this neighborhood, friendly to the
System, and they all wish it may not be inserted ; [in] particular, Mr. Upson.
The System is now in credit and I wish nothing may be done to hint the
credit of it, and to prevent its doing good. The enemies of the truth will
take advantage of that section, and triumph. Now, they are silent Besides,
it would be an injury to the property of Thomas &. Andrews : and certainly
they, by asking you to correct it do not imagine that you are empowered to
hurt the sale of the work. If they did, they would not suffer you to meddle
with it Indeed, I think you cannot insert that section, consistently with jus
tice to them. I will subscribe for half a dozen, if you will print that section
in a separate pamphlet I wish the Dedication to the Milleniiarians [vol. ii.
p. 224] were left out ; it is too fanciful.
•' These, dear sir, are the principal remarks which I have made. As the
bearer is going, I can only add, that with great esteem and sincere friend
ship, I am yours, Jonathan Edwards.
•• Doct Hopkins."
These are the criticisms of one of the most keen-eyed Reviewers
of his own or of any day. They are the results of an examination,
which he made for the express purpose of finding in the volumes of
Hopkins every fault, which the pupil would desire his teacher to
remove. They were made, as they were received, in the spirit of
honest and indissoluble friendship. There was, probably, no theo
logical System extant, to which the sharp-minded critic would have
proposed so small a number of objections. The fact that tlie criti
cisms of such a man on a work of such extent, are so few, and so far
from being fundamental, is one of the most pleasing encomiums
which the work could have received.
To some it may appear singular, that Dr. Edwards should dare to
imply that the System of Hopkins was imaginative in the slightest
degree. There are hundreds of expressions, however, in the System,
which indicate a simplicity of character, a childlike feehng, seldom
belonging to an abstruse logician. Thus, in reasoning against the
idea, that the saints of heaven will return and dwell bodily in the
world, during the millennium, he says : •> They would take up that
room in the earth, which will be then wanted for those who will be
born in that day." — Works, Vol. ii. p. 266. In objecting to the
personal reign of Christ on earth, during the millennium, he says.
that the Messiah is now ¦• in the most proper, agreeable, and con
venient situation, to govern the world and take care of his church."
— lb. p. 263. Our author teaches, that Adam " was created on the
latter part of the sixth day, but soon fell into a deep sleep, and had
no great enjoyment or thought till the next day." — lb. p. 88.
This stern metaphysician made no attempt to adorn his volumes
with poetic imagery. But if a man like Byron cotdd be induced to
read the Svstem of Hopkins, and to look through its unpolished style,
he would detect in it the elements of a poetic grandeur and sub
limity. " It gives me," says Byron, — and he often repeated similar
remarks, — "a much higher idea of the majesty, power, and wisdom
of God, to believe that the devils themselves are at his nod, and are

208 MEMOIR.
subject to his control, with as much ease as the elements of nature
follow the respective laws which his will has assigned them." * Now,
a prominent feature of Hopkins's System of Divinity is, the su
premacy and dominion which it ascribes to the Eternal One. Per
haps no work has a more uniform aim to exalt the Creator, and to
abase the creature. Here is seen the depth and fervor of the author's
religious sentiment, and this sentiment is one of the fountains of
poetry. Far be it from any critic to imply, that Samuel Hopkins ever
sacrificed his judgment to his imagination. We err, however, when
we surmise that he had no imaginative tendencies. No one born
of woman is without them. A decided opposer of his System has
remarked concerning him :
" His doctrines, indeed, threw dark colors over the world around him ; but
he took refuge from the present state of things in the Millennium. The
Millennium was his chosen ground. If any subject of thought possessed
him above all others, I suppose it to have been this. The Millennium was
more than a belief to him. It had the freshness of visible things. He was
at home in it. His book on the subject has an air of reality, as if written from
observation. He describes the habits and customs of the Millennium, as one
familiar with them. He enjoyed this future glory of the church not a whit
the less, because it was so much his own creation. The fundamental idea,
the germ, he found in the Scriptures, but it expanded in and from his own .
mind. Whilst to the multitude he seemed a hard, dry theologian, feeding on
the thorns of controversy, he was living in a region of imagination, feeding on
visions of a holiness and a happiness which are to make earth all but heaven." f
Hopkins was, above most others, a prosaic divine ; but there is
a poetic grandeur in the very thought, that an indigent and often
invalid pastor, after having been reproached and persecuted for half
a century, should waver not a hair's breadth from his obnoxious
faith ; and in his extreme age should publish it, without a single
attempt to subdue its offensive features, or to win patronage or
renown ; and, with a seemingly pure aim to glorify his Sovereign,
should insist, sternly as ever, on a reverence for the unconditional
decrees, and the every where penetrating agency of that august
Being. It is pleasant, as well as instructive, to know that this dis
interested love' of all that he deemed true, was rewarded with the
esteem of the wise and good; and that the Body of Divinity on
which our author had expended his maturer years, was ushered into
the world with the approval, after a most rigid review, of the three
men whose position and relations gave them an unusual influence
over the mind of Hopkins. There were no three men living, whose
sympathy was more gratifying to this early friend and brother of
President Edwards and Bellamy, than the three who gave their
careful sanction to his System : one of them, President Edwards's
* Gait's Life of Byron, p. 276.
t Channing's Works, vol. iv. p. 353.

MEMOIR. 209
son ; another of them, President Edwards's successor in the ministry
at Stockbridge, the revered " Patriarch of Berkshire County ; "
another, the son-in-law, and for many years the intimate companion,
of Bellamy. These men were the representatives of a strong and
resolute body of clergymen, whose influence has been felt in our
own and in otlier lands.
We by no means intend to imply, that there was no public oppo
sition to this most important of Hopkins's writings. Among the
pamphlets which appeared against it was the following :
"Remarks on the Leading Sentiments in the Reverend Dr. Hopkins's
System of Doctrines, in a Letter to a Friend, from Samuel Langdon, D. D.
Published according to Act of Congress, for the Author. Printed at Exeter,
by Henry Ranlett, for and sold by the Author ; sold also by most of the Book
sellers in New England, and by tlie Printer hereof. April, 1794." pp. 56.
President Eungdon, in this pamphlet, accuses Dr. Hopkins of
" artful reasoning," of " an artful way of summing up the whole
character of the great God of love," " of venturing boldly into
logical speculations," of agreeing too much with Dr. Priestly on the
subject of the will, of " scholastic speculations," " over-curious in
quiries," " cobweb schemes," etc., etc. He says that Hopkins " has
prepared a balloon which mounts him very high into the ethereal re
gions, until he almost loses sight of earth." In this single pamphlet
of the worthy President, he has anticipated many phrases of succeed
ing but less original critics. It is almost amusing to notice the style,
in which the old patriarch of Rhode Island received these criticisms
of Dr. Langdon. " He finds much fault," says Hopkins, " but has
not written so as to mortify me in the least." " If a thousand
pamphlets were to be written to no better purpose, I should think
them not worthy an answer."
J. Dialogue on Disinterested Submission.
Dr. Hopkins wrote several essays on the duty of entire resigna
tion to the will of God. One of them, which was written several
years before his death, was not published until two years after it.
The treatise was entitled " A Dialogue between a Calvinist and a
Semi-Calvinist." It occupied only twenty-six duodecimo pages, but
has probably elicited more prejudice against its author, than has been
excited by all his other writings, except those on the divine govern
ment over sin. Yet his speculations on this subject illustrate the in
trepidity, with which he followed the principles of Calvinistic authors
to their logical conclusions. With what a firm tread he moves on,
from the proposition that men ought to feel as God feels, to the
proposition, that if God wills them to be lost, they ought to acquiesce
in his preference. They should be willing to lose their eternal life,
provided that, and in the same sense that God is willing that they
r*

210 MEMOIR.
lose it. They ought to submit to their own condemnation, provided
that, and in the same sense that they ought to submit to the condem
nation of those fellow-creatures, whom God may in any sense choose
to condemn. They ought to love neither sin nor misery, as such ;
but ought to be resigned to any and all evils, so far forth as these
evils are essential to the highest good of the universe, and are there
fore willed by the Holy One. In whatever sense sin and misery are
not conducive to the general welfare, we should not feel resigned to
them, either in our own or in other persons. Dr. Samuel Miller
seems to regard the Hopkinsian doctrine of Disinterested Submission,
as a logical result from the Edwardean theory on the nature of True
Virtue ; * but it should rather be regarded as a logical result from the
old Calvinistic principles, that God in any sense prefers to condemn
transgressors, and that all men ought to harmonize with every divine
preference. Such was the habitual view of Dr. Hopkins. He never claimed
to have done any thing more on this subject, than to have drawn a
simple inference from admitted principles, and he regarded this in
ference as nothing new.f The few pages of his Dialogue give a
remarkable exemplification of his entire theological character. He
treated the apostle's words in Rom. ix. 3, on the principle so often
sanctioned by Calvinistic writers, that " it is safe to speak according
to the Scriptures ; and so far as any man does not, it is because, in
that instance, there is no light in him." f Dr. Patten narrates the
following incident :
" A minister of some eminence, from a distance, possessed of great zeal,
came to Newport, and the writer invited him to preach for him. In his ser
mons he denounced what were considered Hopkinsian doctrines, as very
erroneous and absurd. On Monday morning, the writer inquired if he had
any wish to see Dr. Hopkins. He expressed his assent. On being intro
duced, he said, in a very frank, or rather abrupt manner, ' I want, Dr. Hop
kins, a statement from you of the most important arguments in favor of your
doctrine, that men ought to be willing to be damned for the glory qf God ! '
'Why,' said Dr. Hopkins, 'do you call it mine?' 'Because,' replied the
stranger, ' it is ascribed to you, and I presume you preach it' ' I do not rec
ollect,' said Dr. Hopkins, ' that I ever used those expressions in a sermon, in
my life, or that I maintain a doctrine which has not been expressed by other
orthodox divines, and which is not scriptural, and therefore [it is] not my
doctrine.' The divines to whom he might refer, are, Dr. Cotton Mather in
his article in his diary on a private fast, and Dr. Doddridge in his Penitent
in the Rise and Progress of Religion, and various others, who express the
spirit of the doctrine as maintained by Dr. Hopkins." §
It has been supposed by some, that our author loaded his sermons
with the phraseology, "men must be willing to be damned;" but
according to the preceding statement, he adopted for the pulpit a
* See Miller's Life of Edwards, p. 244.
t See a suggestion of the inference, on p. 22 of this Memoir.
X Hopkins's System, vol. i. p. 430.
§ Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 98, 99.

MEMOIR. 211
different style from that which he admitted into his Dialogue. It
has been also supposed, that he pressed upon all disciples, old and
young, the duty of a conscious willingness to be lost. But it is the
testimony of some valuable witnesses, that while he believed this duty
to be involved in all hearty submission to the divine government, he
did not expect that all who were truly pious would be distinctly con
scious of having performed it ; he did not expect that all youthful,
or uninstructed, or mistaught, or feeble Christians would analyze
their consciousness so thoroughly as to detect this grace, although it
was an element in every act of their self-consecration. It is said
that he regarded the perceptible and prominent exercise of the virtue,
as an attainment of the more enlightened or mature disciple.*
There is a striking resemblance between the feelings of Dr. Hop
kins and the feelings of Fenelon, Madame Guion, and many other
mystics, with regard to the endurance of pain for the divine glory.
It is unnatural for any man to rise into these heights of sentiment
and of reasoning, unless he have an ideality far above that of the
masses. Hopkins, with all his logic, had a comprehensive though
not an active imagination, and he took into his range the loftiest sup
positions conceivable. His Dialogue is a permanent refutation of
the slander, that Hopkinsianism is a scheme of low utilitarianism.
It is the expansive benevolence of his theology, which captivated the
enthusiastic mind of Channing; and if Hopkins had adorned his
sentiments with the graces of a poetic style, he would have been a
favorite with those imaginative writers who lose themselves in the
praises of a self-sacrificing spirit, of a self-forgetful soul, swallowed
up in the well-being of the universe.
" His system,'' says Channing, " however fearful, was yet built on a gen
erous foundation. He maintained that all holiness, all moral excellence,
consists in benevolence, or disinterested devotion to the greatest good ; that
this is the character of God ; that love is the only principle of the divine ad
ministration. He taught that sin was introduced into the creation, and is to
be everlastingly punished, because evil is necessary to the highest good. To
this government, in which the individual is surrendered to the well-being of
the whole, he required entire and cheerful submission. Other Calvinists
were willing, that their neighbors should be predestined to everlasting mis
ery for the glory of God. This noble-minded man demanded a more generous
and impartial virtue, and maintained that we should consent to our own per
dition, should be willing ourselves to be condemned, if the greatest good of
the universe and the manifestation of the divine perfections should so require.
True virtue, as he taught, was an entire surrender of personal interest to the
benevolent purposes of God. Self-love he spared in none of its movements.
He called us to seek our own happiness as well as that of others, in a spirit
of impartial benevolence ; to do good to ourselves, not from self-preference,
not from the impulse of personal desires, but in obedience to that sublime law
which requires us to promote the welfare of each and all within our influence.
I need not be ashamed to confess the deep impression, which this system made
* This is the testimony of several who sat under his ministry, and whose recollections
-en the topic are definite, if not correct.

212 MEMOIR.
on my youthful mind. I am grateful to this stern teacher, for turning
my thoughts and heart to the claims and majesty of impartial, universal
benevolence." * /
In the same posthumous volume which contained the above-named
Dialogue, was published "A Serious Address to Professing Chris
tians, in the name, and from the words of Jesus Christ, recorded [in]
Revelation vi. 15." This Address of our author was originally a
sermon, and illustrates the practical character of his pulpit.

K. Volume of Sermons.
The last theological work which our author prepared for the
press, was a volume of " Twenty-one Sermons on a Variety of In
teresting Subjects, sentimental and practical. They were published
at Salem, Massachusetts, in an octavo of three hundred and eighty-
seven pages, a short time before his death, under the auspices of his
brother, Dr. Daniel Hopkins. " That they will be printed in my
lifetime, or ever," says their humble author, as soon as he had fitted
them for publication, " or whether they are worth printing, is to me
very uncertaiu." They are worth printing, although they display less
versatility of genius than is exhibited in his sermon to the Stock-
bridge Indians.t They are well worth reprinting, as the develop
ments of a singularly consecutive logic. Those principles which
permeate his System, — that the original cause or occasion of sin
cannot be itself sinful, £ that sin is not the punishment of sin, § that a
person may be " guilty in those exercises and that conduct in which
he has no knowledge or consciousness that he is doing wrong," ||
and that if he can not learn the divine will, he " is not guilty at all,
so does not things worthy of any stripes, because in this case his igno
rance is properly invincible ; " |[ — those and similar principles affect
the whole train of thought in these discourses. One of our author's
successors in the ministry ** has remarked, and every student of this
volume will readily believe the assertion, that " no man ever insisted
more fully on both doctrines, [divin* sovereignty and human liberty,]
than Dr. Hopkins. Of no man was it more frequently said, that he
contradicted himself flatly, than of him. This charge always had
exclusive respect to the doctrines of ability and decrees." Hopkins
never seems to have been disheartened, when accused of contradict
ing himself in regard to these two doctrines ; for he well knew the
tendency of one-sided men, to suppose that the will is not free if
God's agency be universal.
* Channing's Works, vol. iv. pp. 343, 343. t See pp. 46-49 of this Memoir.
X See System, vol. i. pp. 100-104, 124, new edition.
§ System, vol. i. p. 194, new edition. J lb. p. 132
IF Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. p. 323.
** Rev. Calvin Hitchcock, D. D., Randolph, Mass.

MEMOIR. 213
L. Writings on Slavery.
The poet John G. Whittier predicts, that " when distracted and
divided Christendom shall unite in a new Evangelical union, in
which orthodoxy in life and practice shall be estimated above ortho
doxy in theory, he [Dr. Hopkins] will be honored as a good man,
rather than as a successful creed-maker ; as a friend of the oppressed,
and the fearless rebuker of popular sin, rather than as the champion
of a protracted sectarian war."* The activity of this divine,
however, on the subject of slavery, formed, in his own view, but an
episode in his life. Still, could all the letters which he addressed on
this theme to lay and clerical philanthropists in Europe and America,
and could all the essays which he printed concerning it in the news
papers of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, be now
gathered up, they would form no inconsiderable volume. His
Dialogue, mentioned on p. 117, and his Sermon, mentioned on p
144 of this Memoir, constitute but a small part of his writings on
the subject. M. Biographical Writings.
I. At the age of forty-one, our author wrote, and two years
afterward published, his first biographical work: "The Life and
Character of the late Reverend, Learned, and Pious Mr. Jonathan
Edwards, President of the College of New Jersey ; together with
Extracts from his Private Writings and Diary. Boston, 1764."
The Seventeen Sermons of Edwards which Hopkins edited, were
published in the same volume, together with President Edwards's
Farewell Sermon to his people at Northampton. A second edition
of this volume was published at Northampton, in 1804. An edition
of it was published at Edinburgh, in 1799, under the auspices of Dr.
Erskine. An English edition of the volume, revised and enlarged,
was published in 1815, in London. Hopkins's Memoir of Edwards
has served as the basis, for the other Memoirs of that great man. It
is a narrative by an eye-witness of the scenes described. The world
tire indebted to it, for the best portraiture of Edwards which was
ever drawn by a man who knew him. One or two of President
Edwards's children objected to it as incomplete ; and during the
last thirty years it has fallen into unmerited oblivion. In a coming
age, however, it will be prized as the result of a confidential inter
course with the father of New England theology.
There are many facts recorded in this Memoir, which give us a
vivid idea of President Edwards as a man, and which are doubly
valuable, as the same or very similar facts are reported concerning
» National Era, July 12, 1847.

214 MEMOIR.
Dr. Hopkins himself. Thus we read in the biographer's simple-
hearted and honest style, that:
" He kept a watchful eye over his children, that he might admonish them
of the first wrong step, and direct them in the right way. He took opportuni
ties to treat with them in his study, singly and particularly, about their own
souls' concerns, and to give them warning, exhortation, and direction, as he
saw occasion. He took much pains to instruct them in the principles of
religjon ; in which he made use of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism : not
merely by taking care that they learned it by heart, but by leading them into
an understanding of the doctrines therein taught, by asking them questions on
each answer, and explaining it to them. His usual time to attend this, was on
the evening before the Sabbath. And, as he believed that the Sabbath, or holy
time, began at sunset the evening before the day, he ordered his family to
finish all their secular business by that time, or before, when they were all
called together, and a psalm was sung and prayer attended, as an introduction
to the sanctifying the Sabbath. This care and exactness effectually prevent
ed that intruding on holy time, by attending on secular business, too common
in families where the evening before the Sabbath is pretended to be observed.
" He was a great enemy to young people's unseasonable company-keeping
and frolicking, as he looked upon it as a great means of corrupting and ruin
ing youth. And he thought the excuse many parents make for tolerating
their children in it, (viz., that it is the custom, and others' children practise it,
which renders it difficult, and even impossible, to restrain theirs,) was insuf
ficient and frivolous,, and manifested a great degree of stupidity, on suppo
sition the practice was hurtful and pernicious to their souls. And when some
of his children grew up, he found no difficulty in restraining them from this
pernicious practice, but they cheerfully complied with the will of their parents
herein. He allowed not his children to be from home after nine o'clock at
night, when they went abroad to see their friends and companions ; neither
were they allowed to sit up much after that time, in his own house, when any
came to make them a visit. If any gentleman desired acquaintance with his
daughters, after handsomely introducing himself, by properly consulting the
parents, he was allowed all proper opportunity for it, and a room and fire, if
needed ; but must not intrude on the proper hours of rest and sleep, nor the
religion and order of the family." *
II. At the age of seventy-five, our author published " The Life
and Character of Miss Susanna Anthony. — Worcester, 1796."
III. At the age of seventy-eight, he published " Memoirs of the
Life of Mrs. Sarah Osborn. — Worcester, 1799." This and the
preceding volume consist chiefly of extracts from the writings of the
women to whom they are devoted. They have an historical worth,
as illustrating the style of piety which was cultivated under the min
istrations of our author.
IV. Two years after his death, was published a duodecimo of
two hundred and forty pages, entitled, " Sketches of the Life of the
late Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D., Pastor of the First Congregational
Church in Newport, written by himself; Interspersed with Marginal
Notes extracted from his Private Diary : to whicli is added a Dialogue,
by the same hand, on the Nature and Extent of True Christian Sub
mission ; also, a Serious Address to Professing Christians : closed by
* Life of Edwards, pp. 50, 51, Edinburgh edition.

I MEMOIR. 215
Dr. Hart's Sermon at his Funeral; with an Introduction to the
whole, by the Editor. Published by Stephen West, D. D., Pastor
of the church in Stockbridge. [Printed in] Hartford," [Conn.] The
Autobiography occupies a hundred and fifteen pages. It was com
posed in 1796 and 1799. Its style is one of singular condensation,
and breathes all the honesty and lowliness, although, alas ! none of
the grace of Izaak Walton. Soon after its publication, it was very
severely reviewed by Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster, in the Anthology.
Not having been personally acquainted with Dr. Hopkins, Mr. Buck
minster speaks of him with far less reverence than is exhibited in
the criticisms of Dr. Channing; although both of these writers
" shrunk with abhorrence " from the Hopkinsian tenets.
N. Editorial Labors.
Our author was urged to edit the writings of President Edwards
by the President's widow, her eldest son, and her son-in-lafr, the
father of Dr. Dwight. He was probably induced to undertake the
work, by the known wishes of his revered teacher. We are told by
Dr. Patten, that " by request of Mr. Edwards, all his [Mr. E.'s]
manuscripts were placed in the hands of Mr. Hopkins. These, not
including his sermons, amounted to many volumes. He considered il
not a little to his credit, compared with many ministers who have
books but do not read them, that he gave all the manuscripts a
perusal. This he did, not as a task, but as a gratification." * He
is said, on good authority, to have spent six years mainly in the study
and preparation of these manuscripts. In 1764, he thus describes
the labor which had been devolved upon him :
" Mr. Edwards has left a great many volumes in manuscript, which he wrote
in a miscellaneous way on almost all subjects in divinity ; which he did, not
with any design they should ever be published in the form in which they are,
but for the satisfaction and improvement of his own mind, and that he might
retain the thoughts which appeared to him worth preserving.  He has
wrote much on the prophecies of the Messiah, justification, the divinity of
Christ, and the eternity of hell torments. He wrote a great deal on the Bible,
in the same way, by penning his thoughts on particular passages of it, as they
occurred to him in reading or meditation; by which he has cast much light on
many parts of the Bible, which has escaped other interpreters, and by which
his great and painful attention to the Bible, and making it the only rule of
his faith, are manifest.
" If the public were willing to be at the cost, and publishing books of divinity
met with as much encouragement now as it has sometimes, there might be a
number of volumes published from his manuscripts, which would afford a
great deal of new light and entertainment to the church of Christ ; though
they would be more imperfect than if he himself had prepared them for pub
lie view.
" As the method he took, to have his miscellaneous writings in such order
as to be able with ease to turn to any thing he had wrote upon a particular
* Patten's Reminiscences, p. 45.

216 MEMOIR.
subject, when he had occasion, is, perhaps, as good as any, if not the best that
has been proposed to the public, — some account of it will here be given ; as
what may be of advantage to young students who have not yet gone into any
method, and are disposed to improve their minds by writing.
" He numbered all his miscellaneous writings. The first thing he wrote is
No. 1 ; the second, No. 2 ; and so on. And when he had occasion to write
on any particular subject, he first set down the number, and then wrote the
subject in capitals or large characters, that it might not escape his eye when
he should have occasion to turn to it. As, for instance, if he was going to
write on the happiness of angels, and his last number was 148, he would
begin thus: 149. Angels, their happiness. And when he had wrote what
he designed at that time on that subject, he would turn to an alphabetical table
which he kept, and under the letter A, he would write, Angels, their happi
ness, — if this was not already in his alphabet ; and then set down the number
149, close at the right hand of it. And if he had occasion to write any new
thoughts on the same subject, if the number of his miscellanies were in
creased, so that his last number was 261, he would set the number 262, and
then the subject as before. And when he had done writing for that time, he
turned to his table, to the word Angels ; and at the right hand of the number
149, set down 262. By this means he had no occasion to leave any chasms,
but began his next subject where he left off his last.
" The number of his miscellaneous writings ranged in this manner, amounts
to above fourteen hundred. And yet, by a table contained on a sheet or two
of paper, any thing he wrote can be turned to at pleasure." *
It is an interesting fact, that the first printed volume for which
Mr. Hopkins felt any personal responsibility, was Edwards on Origi
nal Sin. This treatise was published in 1758, before Mr. Hopkins
had written any thing for the press, except in the newspapers. A
few sheets of the volume had been printed, several months before
President Edwards's decease. The subject of this work was one
which had long occupied the mind of Hopkins. At the age of
twenty-three, he wrote in his Journal : " I have been reading Mr.
Taylor's works, who denied original sin. I cannot fall in with him.
If I give up this doctrine, I must give up Christianity." Although
Hopkins often declares in his System, that the children of Adam are
not answerable for his sin, and it is not their sin, any further than
they approve of it, by sinning as he did, — in this way only they be
come guilty of his sin, viz., by approving of what he did, and joining
with him in rebellion," — and although Hopkins expressly defines
original sin to be " that total moral depravity which takes place in
the hearts of all the children of Adam, in consequence of his apos
tasy, which consists in exercise or act, as really as any sin can do,
and therefore cannot be distinguished from actual sin ; " t he yet, in
some of his expressions on this theme, approaches more nearly to
the style of Edwards's treatise on the same doctrine, than has any
other eminent divine of New England within the past century. £ It
is a proof of his most affectionate attachment to his theological
» Life of Edwards, pp. 98, 99, Edinburgh edition.
t See System, vol. i. pp. 218, 224, 230, etc.. etc.
t In proof of this statement, see Hopkins's System, vol. i. pp. 199,200, 210, 211, 213.

MHMOIR. 217
instructor, that In: nowhere specifically dedans his dissent from
Edwards'* philosophy ou this theme, mid he frequently speaks of
Edwards's treatise with high commendation.*
On the tenth of December, 1759, Hopkins writes to Bellamy :
"Mr. Foxcroft [pastor of the First Church, Boston] has offered Mr. Ed
wards's cliildren [that he will] assist in the publication of somo of Mr. Ed
wards's manuscripts ; und promises faithful nesi, if they will commit any to
him. Mrs. Gill lias sent a letter to them, urging them, by many arguments,
?o accept of Mr. Foxcroft's kind offer; and Mr. liuwley has wrote about it to
Mr. Dwight. And Mr. Dwight has wrote up, proposing that some manu
scripts should bo sent to Mr. Foxcroft, by iny advice and help. Tlie children
seem to be pleased with the scheme. Accordingly, tho two Dissertations on
the I'lml of (Jod, &c, und on Virtue, and forty-six volumes of Sermons aro
Delected to lie sent to Itoston.
" Mr. Foxcroft proposes, that somo history of Mr. Edwards's lifo shall bo
prefixed lo tho first publication, and desires me to send him what I have
wrote. [1] have encouraged him I will transcribe and sond it, but almost regret
that I have- done it, on several accounts."
More iliiin two yours ufler tlie dutc of this epistle, Hopkins wrote
aguiti to Bellamy, in u characteristic vvuy:
"Mnreli 24, 17(iiJ. I have a letter from Mr. dimming, [Pastor of Old
South f'lnii-i-.li, Boston,] from which I gather, that nothing is done toward
printing Mr. Kdwiirds's Life and Sermons. Tho sermons not transcribed;
thoy depend much upon me to do it, while tho sermons aro at Boston ! Tho
printer waiting for subscriptions, very lew of which come in. Mr. Foxcroft,
ton whom chief reliance had been placed,] sick, and can do nothing towards it
Mr. Gumming, out of heallh and under difficulties, and a degree of persecu
tion, has thoughts of printing in his own defence. Mr. Searlo [a particular
friend of 1'residcnt I'M wards] cannot transcribe. That on tho End of God,
&a, is not transcribed yd. Nothing will he done. I have boon much out of
health of late; have not preached the two Sabbaths past; havo done no busi
ness for some time. My people are in an uncommon ferment, and I am
dejected and discouraged."
Wc wait more limn two years longer, mid find Hopkins himself in
ISostou ! His printer hud struck oil' only six of Edwards's sermons
and three sheets of Hopkins's Memoir. Of tho forty-six volumes of
manuscript, only seventeen sermons were printed us lute ns the close
of 1704 ! Edwards luul then been in his grave nearly seven years.
So difficult was it, in that day, to bring forward the publications, of
one whose most trivial manuscripts are now regurded us trensurcs.
It has been supposed, that the writings of President Edwards re
ceived, from t)io churches of our land, n far more cordial welcome
than was given to the proihiciions of Hopkins. But between the
first and second editions of Hopkins's Works, a shorter interval
elapsed, than between the first and second editions of Edwards's
valuable publications. It is a humiliating fact, that several of Ed
wards's writings were sent lo Scotland for publication, because our
own community would not patroni/.u them !
* Seo his Memoir of Edwurdt, p. CI, Edinburgh edition.
S

218 MEMOIK.
In the early part of 1765, our author succeeded in carrying
through the press the two Dissertations " Concerning the End for
which God created the World," and the " Nature of True Virtue."
Together with Hopkins's Preface, etc., they formed a duodecimo of
only a hundred and ninety-eight pages ; a small volume, written and
edited by ministers in the forests of New England, but destined to
enchain the attention of such philosophers as Dugald Stewart and Sir
James Mackintosh. The proof-sheets of this volume were corrected
by Messrs. Pemberton and Eliot of Boston. Edwards had written
the Dissertations three years, at least, before his death. He had
made a public announcement of his intention to publish, soon, the
Treatise on Virtue. The main idea of that treatise he had de
veloped in his college life ; and had thus matured it during his forty
years of study. It was, therefore, incumbent on Hopkins to prepare
it as soon as possible for publication. Both he and Bellamy had
reviewed, in company with Edwards, the Treatise on the End of
God in creating the World ; and there is no doubt, that the Trea
tise on Virtue had been the topic of earnest consultation among these
three friends.* Hopkins, especially, was so intimate with Edwards,
and was withal so inquisitive, and eager for information, that he
must have ascertained the opinions of his teacher with regard to the
practical bearings of the theory whicli, more than almost any other,
contains the " seeds of things." He spent much of his life in de
fending and applying this theory of virtue. He founded many of his
peculiarities upon it. No man had enjoyed so signal an advantage
for learning the varied uses which Edwards would make of it. Dr.
Samuel Miller says : " It is confidently believed, that if he [Ed
wards] had foreseen the use which has since been made of the doc
trine of this Dissertation [concerning Virtue], he would either have
shrunk from its publication, or have guarded its various aspects with
additional care."t But Hopkins expresses the general opinion,
when he affirms, in the Preface to these Dissertations, that Edwards
" had a rare talent to penetrate deep in search of truth ; to take an
extensive survey of a subject, and look through it into remote con
sequences." Some of these consequences, there is reason to believe
that Edwards himself would have more fully developed, had he lived
to edit his own manuscript ; for Hopkins says in his instructive Pre
face, that " if his [Edwards's] life had been spared, he would have
reviewed them [z. e.r the two Dissertations,] and rendered them in
some respects more complete. Some new sentiments, here and
there, might probably have been added, and some passages bright
ened with farther illustrations. This may be conjectured from some
brief hints or sentiments, minuted dtown on loose papers found in
" See pp. 49, SO, of this Memoir.
t Miller's Life of Edwards, p. 244.

MEMOIR. 219
the manuscripts." Hopkins knew what these additions were. If
they had been at all inconsistent with the main doctrine of the Dis
sertations, his honesty would have prompted him to publish the fact
But he knew the contrary. He implies that they confirmed and
illustrated that great doctrine. Here we see a new cause for thank
fulness to an all-wise Providence, that the editorial supervision of
Edwards's works was committed to his confidential friend, who had
a better acquaintance than any other man, with the inner views and
aims of the " prince of metaphysicians ; " and who, in his reverent
spirit, chose to call himself an Edwardean, while in his modesty he
never desired to be called a Hopkinsian.
After preparing several other works of Edwards for the press, the
disheartened editor became satisfied that they would not be sold, and
he therefore turned his mind to other projects.
Much instruction may be derived from the changes which have
taken place, in the relative estimate of these two divines. It has
been a cherished intent of some, to magnify the differences between
the teacher and the pupil. But formerly, the most jealous admirers
of Edwards were wont to say, that his pupil was indebted to the six
years' study of the President's manuscripts, for the most important
peculiarities of the Hopkinsian creed, and therefore the creed ought
to be called Edwardean. Dr. Channing is equally sure of the sub
stantial agreement between the two friends, but takes an entirely
different view of their relation to each other. " My impression is,"
he writes, " that President Edwards was a good deal indebted to
Dr. Hopkins for his later views of religion; especially for those
which we find in his Essays on Virtue and on God's End in Crea
tion. Dr. Hopkins had not the profound genius of Edwards, but
was he not a man of a freer and a bolder mind 1 " *
Doubtless the two friends, in their frequent conferences during an
intimacy of seventeen years, in their many social rides and walks, and
their closet interviews, which are so often mentioned in the Diary of
Hopkins, gave to each other many hints, and opened before each
other many views, which neither would have received alone. The
pupil loved to confess, that his mind derived an unwonted stimulus
and enlargement from the earnest study of his teacher's manuscripts ;
and the fact that those manuscripts were committed to his care, is
one indication of the confidence which his teacher was known to have
reposed in him. The pupil revered the instructor, and the in
structor relied on the sound judgment of the pupil. With his char
acteristic honesty, Hopkins avows in regard to the most vital of all
his speculations : " In this, however, I don't pretend to be an origi
nal. President Edwards, in his Dissertation on the Nature of True
Virtue, has given the same account of holiness, for substance,
» Letter of February 14, 1840.

220 MEMOIR.
(though under a different name,) which the reader will find in the
following Inquiry.* All I can pretend to, as an improvement on
him, is to have explained some things more fully than he did, and
more particularly stated the opposition of holiness to self-love ; and
shown that this representation of holiness is agreeable to the Scrip
ture, and to have answered some objections he has not mentioned,
and made a number of inferences.1' Dr. Jonathan Edwards acknowl
edges, that Hopkins effected the great improvement in American
theology, with regard to the use of means in an impenitent state ;
and yet both Dr. Edwards and Dr. Hopkins strenuously contended,
that this improvement is a logical result of premises laid down by the
President himself.f These doctors may have misunderstood the
principles of the Edwardean theology ; but if Hopkins did not, more
fully than any otlier man, comprehend these principles, he must have
been singularly obtuse ; for he was more conversant than any other
man with their author, when he first developed them ; he aided in
that development ; his suggestive mind was often consulted and con
fided in by their author ; he was intrusted with their defence ; he
examined them with rare intenseness after their author's demise ;
he devoted the studies of sixty years to them ; he saw them in their
practical workings ; he learned them by living them. He did not
mean to be a copyist of Edwards. He believed, however, and loved
to believe, that, if Edwards had lived to a good old age, the two
friends would have remained as firmly united with each other in
faith, as they had ever been; that they would have continued to
plead for essentially the same theories, to enjoy essentially the same
aids, and to contend against essentially the same objections.
O. Miscellaneous Essays.
These were very numerous ; too much so to be here specified.
Many of them were published in the Theological Magazine ; a peri
odical to which himself and Drs. Edwards and West contributed the
ablest articles. Some were published in the Connecticut Evangeli
cal Magazine, in the newspapers of Hartford, Boston, Providence,
and Newport. In his Diary, Hopkins often speaks of manuscripts
which he was interested in writing. Some of them are now lost.
Several which are preserved relate to baptism, miracles, prayer, the
nature of " saving faith," the atonement, free justification, and kin
dred topics. The greater part of them, however, are expositions of
biblical texts, and prove that the Bible, rather than books of meta
physics, was his chief study. The following is a single specimen of
* " Inquiry into the Nature of True Holiness ; " from the Preface to which volume,
these words are quoted.
t See the Essay in Dr. Edwards's Works, vol. i. pp. 488, 489, on the Improvements
made m Theology by President Edwards.

MEMOIR. 221
his exegetical * papers. The present biographer would, on some
accounts, choose to make a few alterations in it, but as he has, in
other instances, abstained from any changes in his author's compo
sitions, (except in those rare cases which are denoted by brackets, )t
so he prefers, on the whole, to let the ensuing illustration of Hop
kins's philology speak for itself, verbatim et literatim.
"December, 18, 1786. I have been attending to Gal. iv. 12: 'Brethren,
I beseech you, be as I am ; for I am as ye are : ye have not injured me at
all.' The original is, ' Be ye as I ; for I as you.'
"1 find it capable of four senses different from each other, which have
been put upon it
" By some it has been taken as expressing his desire to be one [with the
Galatians] in affection and love, which is effected by [their] loving each other
as themselves. He wishes them to love him as he loved them, and exercise
the same kind of affection. The words of Jehoshaphat, they suppose, are an
illustration of this sense, (1 Kings xxii. 4,) ' I am as thou art.' In the original
it is ' I as thou.' This sense is embraced by Luther, Calvin, Beza, Grotius,
and Gomarus.
" Others give the following sense : ' I have put off the Jew, and considered
their rites of circumcision, &c, as not binding, and have, in these things, con
formed to you Gentiles, and conversed freely with you. I am, in this respect,
as you Gentiles ; I beseech you to continue to be as I am, and not forsake
me by turning Jews, in conforming to their rites, which I have renounced,
but be as I am.'
" This is the construction of Estius, Monochius, Erasmus, and Tinius.
" Another sense is put upon this text by some Greek expositors, mentioned
by Estius, by Paraeus, Vestius, Vatabulus, and Dr. Doddridge. They render
the text thus, ' Be ye as I now am, for I was once as ye are,' i. e., I was once
in the same error, into which you are now running. I know the sin and dan
ger of it ; I wish you to renounce it, as I have done, and be as I now am.
"I find, by examining my manuscripts, that above forty years ago I under
stood this passage in a sense different from all the fore-mentioned, which
seems to have been the sense to which I was led by attending to the original,
without consulting any author, or knowing how it had been understood by
expositors. I then paraphrased the verse as follows : ' Be ye as I am ; for I
am as ye were, and ought to be. Brethren, I am concerned for your good,
and seeking your benefit, and not my own interest ; for that is not concerned
in the matter ; for what you have done no way hurts or injures me in my per
sonal interest.'
"In the original, the words dd_L<pol Siouai vu&v come in after the first
sentence, ' Be ye as I ; for I as you,' and seem to be a sentence by itself,
agreeable to the punctuation in the Greek Testament ; and not as the English
translation puts it, by transposing the words. The sense I have given of the
words in my paraphrase, perhaps, is strained. It is there supposed that a
peculiar emphasis is to be put on the word Siouai; that it expresses his
tender concern for their interest, by which he was led, in the most tender
manner, and with the greatest concern and compassion for them, as on his
knees, to entreat and beseech them, not in the least influenced by any personal
interest or resentment ; which the last words express : ' Ye have not injured
me at all,' quod dicit, You have hurt yourselves, and not me, by renouncing
the truths which I taught you ; and I am entreating you, and exercising dis
interested compassion for you, and seeking not my own profit, but yours.
" ' For I am as ye were.' This is as easy and natural a supply to the original,
* The word exegesis is occasionally used by Hopkins, in his comments on the Bible.
t See the- Preface to this Memoir.

222 MEMOIR.
as 'I was as ye are,' or any other. They did, at first, embrace the truth
preached by Paul, and did run well for a time. They turned away from the
truth. Paul continued steadfast as he was, and wished them to return to him,
and be as they once were."
Many of Dr. Hopkins's biblical Expositions are much more accu
rate than the preceding, and would have been here substituted for it,
if the aim of this Memoir had been to proclaim his merits and con
ceal his faults. He would doubtless have applied to this Exposition
the epithet, which he so often applied to his manuscripts, " non dig
num typis." But the most incorrect of his philological essays prove,
that he was accustomed to study the original languages of the Bible,
and the ablest commentaries upon it, and then to form his own in
dependent judgment. P. European Correspondence.
This was elaborate and voluminous. Our author's letters are
scattered among the documents of Erskine, Sharp, Macaulay, Ful
ler, Ryland, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and
various other associations and individuals. No one can say, that Dr.
Hopkins did not accomplish as much for the world, by his epistles to
the English and Scotch divines, as by his published volumes. He in
fluenced men who had great power over their race. He touched the
hinges of a large community.
It is well known that " American Theology," as it was termed, had
a marked influence in breaking down the Antinomianism of the Eng
lish dissenters. The three American writers who were most care
fully studied by the British assailants of that Antinomianism, were
Edwards, Hopkins, and Bellamy; and this triumvirate exerted,
through Andrew Fuller and his coadjutors, nearly as much power
over Old, as over New England. No small part of this influence
came through the correspondence of Hopkins. At one date, we find
him urging his friends to print an English edition of Bellamy's
works. At another date, we find him remonstrating, in a letter of
eight closely written pages, against James Hervey's doctrine of jus
tifying faith. In all his epistles he has a serious object.
The most important of his letters were in reference to the writings
of the celebrated Abraham Booth. In 1796, Mr. Booth published
his " Glad Tidings to perishing Sinners ; " a work written in de
signed opposition to the school of Andrew Fuller. Mr. Booth " sus
pected, that Mr. Fuller and his friends were too much attached to
the sentiments of President Edwards and other American divines of
later date ; and that by importing their metaphysical refinements,
there would be some danger of relaxing that muscular system of
theology [1] to which he himself was so ardently attached." "In
the progress of his inquiry, Mr. Booth did not fail to animadvert pretty

MEMOIR. 223
severely on some of the American writers; whom he mentioned,
rather in terms of contempt ; and the sentiments of Dr. Hopkins in
particular, on the subject of regeneration and justification, he con
sidered as 'pernicious' and tending to 'corrupt the Gospel.' His pam
phlet soon crossed the Atlantic, where it was attentively examined by
Dr. Hopkins, who transmitted to a friend on this side the water a
complete refutation of several of Mr. Booth's positions, accompanied
with some pointed strictures on the temper of his performance, and
the inconclusive nature of his reasonings. The respect entertained
for Mr. Booth, did not permit the printing of this valuable manu
script, and it obtained only a private circulation ; for, whatever dif
ference of opinion might exist on some speculative points, all parties
were agreed in paying homage to his [Mr. B.'s] , character. Mr.
Fuller apologized to Dr. Hopkins for Mr. Booth's manner of writing,
and his seeming contempt for contemporary authors, in a letter dated
March 17, 1798 ; while he, at the same time, expressed his own
opinion of the manuscript in question. 'I sincerely thank you,' says
he, [Mr. Fuller to Dr. Hopkins,] ' for your remarks on Mr. Booth's
performance ; which every person of judgment who has seen them,
within my knowledge, considers as a decisive refutation.' " * It was
common for Hopkins to receive like testimonies of gratitude from
his English friends, for his aid in their controversies.
Mr. Fuller encountered a severe opposition in consequence of his
esteem for the " American theology." He was sometimes derisively
called the " American doctor." t Very frequently was he reproached
as an Arminian. " In fact," says liis biographer, " so blind was the
enmity directed against him, that one of the churches in his own
neighborhood refused, for seven years, to hold communion with him,
or to allow any of their members to have fellowship with his church." J
It is natural, therefore, that both Fuller and his biographer should
feel desirous of dissociating his name with those peculiarities of
American divines, which he did not approve. In a letter to Hopkins
dated March 17, 1798, he specifies the following objections to Hop
kins's " manner of writing," and also to the metaphysical tendencies
of some more youthful writers in our land :
I. " I am not sure that your idea of God being ' the author of sin,' is essen
tially different from the notion of those Calvinists who consider sin as the
object of divine decree ; but I am satisfied of this, that to say ' God is the
author of sin,' does so naturally convey to almost every mind the ideas that
God is the friend and approver of sin ; that we are mere passive instruments ;
* See Morris's Life of Fuller, chapter xi.
t This may have been owing, in part, to the circumstance that he received a doctor
ate from the College of New Jersey, in 1796. This doctorate, however, was declined
by Mr. Fuller, in a letter to Dr. Hopkins in 1798 ; as the same honor from Yale Col
lege was declined by him in 1805, in a letter to Dr. Dwight.
X Morris's Memoir of Fuller, chapter ix. See also Ryland's Life of Fuller, chapter
viii. and Appendix.

224 MEMOIR.
and that he, himself, being the grand agent, ought only to be accountable for it,
— that I should think, by using it, I conveyed ideas directly contrary to James
i. 13 ; and I must say, that the whole of that passage, taken together, appears
to me to represent an important truth, which your manner of writing seems
to overlook, and which is thus expressed by M'Laurin in his sermon on the
passage : ' Whatever dishonorable thoughts sinful men may have of God
to the contrary, yet it is a truth clearly evident, that God is infinitely free
from the blame of their sins.' Your observations on the passage in the 4th
chapter of your System, go only to prove that your views do not represent
God as tempting men to sin, or as being tempted himself to sin ; but you do
hot observe the opposition in the context, that evil is not to be ascribed to
God, (ver. 13-15 ;) that every good and perfect gift is to be ascribed to
God, (ver. 16-18.)"
II. " I have enjoyed great pleasure in reading many of your metaphysical
pieces, and hope those who can throw light on evangelical subjects in that
way, will continue to write. But I have observed that wherever an extraor
dinary man has been raised up, like President Edwards, who has excelled in
some particular doctrines or maimer of reasoning, it is usual for his followers
and admirers too much to confine their attention to his doctrines or manner
of reasoning, as though all excellence was there concentrated. I allow that
your present writers do not implicitly follow Edwards, as to his sentiments,
but that you preserve a spirit of free inquiry ; yet I must say, it appears to me
that several of your younger men possess a rage of imitating his metaphysical
manner, till some of them become metaphysic mad. I am not without some
of Mr. Scott's apprehensions, lest by such a spirit the simplicity of the gospel
should be lost, and truth amongst you stand more in the wisdom of men than
in the power of God."
Dr. Hopkins replied to this letter in the same fraternal spirit which
prompted it. His answer is very instructive, as in it he disclaims all
belief in the theory which Fuller condemns, respecting the divine
agency in producing sin, and also discountenances all such use of
metaphysics as appeared unsafe to his transatlantic friend. Fuller
was objecting, not to strict Hopkinsianism, but to an erroneous view
of it ; not to the substance, but to Hopkins's expression of the docs-
trine, that God decrees the existence of sin and insures the fulfilment
of his decrees. This is obvious 'from the ensuing reply, which con
tains nothing but a straightforward Calvinism dressed in the Hop
kinsian style.
" Newport, October 12, 1798. Dear Sir : I feel myself much obliged to
you for your letter to me of March 17, which did not come to hand till the
third instant
" I am far from wishing to say or do any thing to alter your opinion of
the honesty and holiness of Mr. Booth ; but, from what I have seen of his
writings, — which are only his Reign of Grace and Glad Tidings, — I cannot
consider him as a divine of a clear or orthodox head ; and I think I have a
divine warrant to say, that the religion which has its foundation on the prin
ciples he has asserted, both in his Glad Tidings and Reign of Grace, (see
pp. 248, 270, of the later edition of 1795,) is altogether a selfish religion, and
therefore abominable to God. (See Matt. iv. 46.)
" I could not see how his treatment of my sermons on Law and Regeneration
could be reconciled with Christian candor or honesty. But as I am not so
proper a judge of that matter as you are, I am willing the apology you make
for him should be admitted.
"f am, I confess, a great enemy to that religion which originates in selfish-

MEMOIR. 225
ness, and consists wholly in it, as I am certain it is directly contrary to the
religion which Jesus Christ inculcated ; and fear that millions in the Christian
world have perished, and are perishing with it. I have, for a number of
years past, made exertions to detect and oppose it. And I am not surprised,
that so many condemn me as carrying matters too far on this head. They
appear to me to be unwilling this abominable idol should be wholly destroyed.
" I allow your observation to be in some measure just, that some American
writers are ' metaphysic mad.' I know not, however, what writings you refer
to, unless it be some pieces which have been published in the Theological
Magazine. A number of them, especially those written by Speculator,
Vol. I. No. V., have offended many of tlie subscribers for the Magazine, and a
number have withdrawn their subscription on that account. But very few
Americans, and none, perhaps, but the author or authors, approve of writings
of that complexion.
" You might well say, ' I am not sure that your notion of God being the
author of sin, is essentially different from the idea of sin being the object of a
divine decree.' You may be sure it is not, so far as you can rely on my dec
laration, and you can see any force in the arguments I have offered to prove
there is no difference, and whicli I thought amounted to a demonstration.
(See System, Chap. IV.) *
" To say that God is tlie author of sin, without any explanation and show
ing in what sense he may be said to be so, and in what sense he is not, would
doubtless be wrong, and convey to those who do not understand tlie subject,
wrong ideas, injurious to the divine character. I think I am not chargeable
with this. I have endeavored to prove that God being, in the sense ex
plained, the origin or cause of sin, does not imply any thing contrary to his
infinite holiness, or that he is pleased with sin, considered in itself. (System,
Chap. IV.)
"It is impossible to prevent wrong ideas on this subject, in those who are
strongly prejudiced against the truth, and will not think carefully and impar
tially, or to stop their mouths. The doctrine that God has foreordained whatso
ever comes to pass, (which I have declared, and think I have proved implies all
which I have advanced on the subject,) has been always objected to, as making
God the author of sin, and implying ' that he is tiie friend and approver of
sin.' Thousands and millions in the Christian world have felt and said this
was true. And all that Calvinists have said to remove the objection from the
minds of most, has not done it And the objection cannot be well answered,
without at the same time answering all the objections that are made to the
divine agency in the existence of sin. The objection to the divine agency in
originating sin, ' that we aro passive instruments, and that he himself being
the grand agent, ought only to be accountable for it,' is equally against God
working in men to will and to do that which is good, as his agency in the
existence of moral evil. They, therefore, who believe the former, cannot con
sistently make this objection to the latter. (See System, fourth chapter.)
And, indeed, the objection has no foundation in reason, as, 1 think, has been
fully shown in my System. . .
" On the whole, if God's decreeing or willing the existence of sin, and,
consequently, doing all that without which it could not exist, and which en
sures its existence, (tiie latter being necessarily implied in the former,) does
represent him as being pleased with sin itself; then his decreeing and pro
ducing natural evil, does equally represent him as delighting in the misery
of his creatures for its own sake, which is as inconsistent with his goodness

* Here is a definite proof, that Hopkins meant no more, by teaching that God is the
author of sin, than is meant by teaching that God foreordains sin, and secures the fulfil
ment of his decree. He who does not believe this, may be a good man, but is no Cal-
vinist.— The phraseology of Hopkins often does injustice to his real meaning.

220 MEMGIJU
as the former is with his holiness. And there is no way to obviate the objec
tion against the latter, which will not equally remove that against the former.
(See System, Chap. IV.)
" But what the apostle James says (chap. i. verse 13-18) is thought to be
inconsistent with divine agency in the existence of sin, and ' teaches that evil
is not to be attributed to God ; but that every good and perfect gift, especially
that of regeneration, is.'
" You observe, that ' my observations on the passage go only to prove that
my views do not represent God as tempting men to sin.' If I have proved
this, then the apostle's words are not contrary to my views, or inconsistent
with the divine agency in the existence of sin. Consequently, his saying that
every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, &c, is not opposed to this ; but to his tempting men to sin, if
opposed to any thing, (which is quite a different thing.) The apostle does
not say, that God has no agency in any thing but that which is in itself good,
and is not the origin and cause of that which is not in itself a good and per
fect gift ; but only that every such gift is from him, without affirming or im
plying that he has no agency in any existence or event which is not in itself
a good and perfect gift, and which cannot properly be called a gift. The
agency of God in producing natural evil is never represented in Scripture, I
think, to be a gift, much less a good and perfect gift ; because what is pro
duced is in itself evil ; and is consistent with every good gift coming from
God ; and asserting the latter does not deny the former, nor is in any degree
inconsistent with it This may be applied to moral evil with equal truth and
propriety. " If there were no other passage in the Bible but this, in which any thing
is said relating to this subject, it might be liable to a misconstruction, and
considered as asserting that moral evil did in no sense originate from divine
agency.' But since so much is said in the Scriptures on this point, and it is
so often and in so many ways expressly asserted, that God hardens the hearts
of men, and makes them obstinate, turns their hearts to hate what they ought
to love, and puts it into their hearts to do that which is sinful, &c, &c, (see
System, Vol. I. fourth chapter,) it is not reasonable to put a sense upon the
words of James inconsistent with those numerous express declarations, and
to which they cannot be reconciled without putting an unnatural, forced
meaning upon them ; especially since, taken in their natural meaning, they
convey no idea inconsistent with the divine holiness, and with the freedom
of man, and his being wholly blamable for every deviation in his heart from
the divine law ; and since they appear perfectly consistent with the words of
James,-upon a careful examination of them.
"I have been greatly pleased with the . distinguished piety and zeal of
Messrs. Carey and Thomas, and am glad to hear that they are of your senti
ments, which I before hoped, and even supposed. We wish them success,
and doubtless thousands are praying for them in America.
"I rejoice that any circumstances in England give you opportunity to
spread your sentiments. I have, for some years, felt my heart united to Dr.
Ryland, yourself, and Messrs. Sutcliff and Pearce, in esteem and affection.
May prosperity attend your attempts to support and propagate the truth ; to
promote the cause of Christ and the salvation of sinners. I am your obliged,
affectionate friend, S. Hopkins.
" Reverend Andrew Fuller."
There was one other point, on which Mr. Fuller held a contro
versial correspondence with Hopkins. It must have been grateful
to our American divine, to perceive that the objections of his Eng
lish friend related, not to the doctrines of ability, active sin, per
sonally merited imputation, but to the less fundamental peculiarities

MEMOIR. 227
of the Hopkinsian faith. Referring to an epistle from the " mighty
reasoner," Mr. Fuller writes :
" Dr. Hopkins thinks that I have given up the doctrine of disinterested love,
because I have observed concerning David, — when he said, ' Here I am, let
him do with me as seemeth good m his sight,' — that he could not mean by
this, If God have no love to my soul, I submit to be forever separated from
him ; for such submission is not required of any who lives under a dispensa
tion of mercy. — I have written an answer to Dr. Hopkins, in which I have
defended that position. He is a mighty reasoner ; but on this subject I feel
my ground. Should he furnish a reply, the correspondence may hereafter be
published." The friendly correspondence of Hopkins with Dr. John Ryland,
was as extensive as that with Andrew Fuller. It sometimes, though
rarely, took the form of dispute ; but in all his letters, Dr. Ryland
never seems to controvert any of the more essential doctrines of
Hopkins, such as those relating to the nature of sin, natural power,
etc., but he criticizes the ambiguous propositions, that God is the
author of moral evil, and that men should be willing to be lost. One
of the last letters which Hopkins ever wrote, was a defence of his
misunderstood opinions on these topics, against the criticisms of his
very amiable friend.* The influence which Hopkins exerted upon
" that disciple whom Jesus loved," is indicated in the following words
of Robert Hall :
"The system of divinity to which he [Dr. Ryland] adhered, was moderats
Calvinism, as modelled and explained by that prodigy of metaphysical acu
men, the celebrated Jonathan Edwards. For the writings of this great man,
and those of his followers,-}- he formed a warm predilection very early, which
continued ever after to exert a powerful influence on his public ministry, as
well as his theological inquiries and pursuits. It inspired him with the most
elevated conceptions of the moral character of the Deity, to the display of
which it taught him to refer the whole economy of providence and of grace,
while he inculcated the indispensable duty of loving God, not merely for the
benefits he bestows, but for what he is in himself, as essential to true religion.
Hence, he held in abhorrence those pretended religious affections which have
their termination in self. Whether he attached an undue importance to these
speculations, and rendered them occasionally too prominent in his public min
istrations, it is not for me to determine ; it is certain that they effectually se
cured him from the slightest tendency to Antinomianism, and contributed not
a little to give purity and elevation to his religious views. The two extremes,
against which, you are well aware, he was most solicitous to guard the reli
gious public were, Pelagian pride and Antinomian licentiousness ; the first of
which he detested as an insult on the grace of the gospel ; the last, on the
majesty and authority of the law." %
* See the Letter at ihe end of vol. ii. of Hopkins's Works, new edition.
t To some it may appear singular, that Mr. Hall should denominate the theology of
these men, '¦' moderate Calvinism." It was " moderate Calvinism," in some of ils rela
tions, and " high Calvinism," in other relations.
X See "Fuueral Sermou for Dr. Ryland," in Hall's Works, vol. i. pp. 220, 221. It
could not have been expected that Mr. Hall, so sensitive to the graces of English style.
should be an admirer of " the American divines of the Hopkinsian stamp.-' In 1800-
1801, he uttered a sharp criticism upon them, " President Edwards always excepted,"
who was considered by Mr. Hall as bearing "the Hopkinsian stamp." Hall was

228 MEMOIR.
That Hopkins was one of the principal Edwardeans who had this
power over the English divine, is evident from several facts. Dr.
Ryland was wont to express a higher reverence for our author, than
for any other of President Edwards's disciples. He maintained a
more instructive correspondence with Hopkins than with any Ameri
can divine. He was introduced by Hopkins to Dr. West and others,
who continued, through their correspondence, to preserve, in their
estimable friend, the same regard which had been cherished in him
by the Newport divine, for our Edwardean theology.
Q,. Home Correspondence on Theology.
More than two hundred of Hopkins's letters to Dr. Buell, Dr.
Davies, and New England ministers and laymen, are still preserved.
A large number of these are theological. Some of them show his ac
tivity in exciting his brethren to those labors, which have resulted in
so much of spiritual benefit to our churches. As Robert Hall loved
to set his " brother Fuller's troops in motion," so Hopkins gave im
pulse to minds which worked nobly for their race. The world are
indebted to him for various animating letters, like the following to
Bellamy :
" February 20, 1755. I find three neighboring ministers have a great es
teem of Mr. Ashley's sermons on Churches consisting qf Saints ; and I believe
it is generally thought, by those that oppose Mr. Edwards, to be the best thing
that has been published, and even unanswerable. Mr. Williams's piece is
wholly done with, and this is trumpeted up. Now, if Mr. Ashley's scheme is
built upon a nonentity, [alias, upon a few of his peremptory assertions only,)
and contains a number of palpable contradictions, would it not answer a good
end to have this well made out before the world ? I think it may easily be
done, if undertaken by one equal to the task ; and since Mr. Edwards will not
deign so much as to read Ashley's performance, if I had the ordering of the
matter, I would allot this business to you. — A sermon upon the same text,
and in much the same method with Mr. Ashley's, with a few particular obser
vations upon Mr. Ashley's, in an Appendix, might perhaps answer the end
well. If this is not the best method, then set Paulinus and Agrippa to dia
loguing." One more extract from his letters, will illustrate the abstruse and
philosophical style in which some of them are written. The follow
ing is a part of a truly Edwardean communication to President
Davies, of Princeton :
" April 22, 1760. Reverend and honored Sir : As I was with the Rev. Mr.
Bellamy about the time yours of the third of February came to hand, he gave
me one of the questions you proposed to be considered and answered, and
insisted on my writing my thoughts upon it, and sending them to you. This
particularly severe against the excellent Dr. Spring, of Newburyport. But Mr. Morris, in
recording this criticism, says : « It is not believed he [Mr. Hall] would have formed ex
actly the same opinion at a later period of life." See Morris's Recollections of Robert
Hall, pp. 95. 96.

MEMOIR. 229
must be my apology for what I have now undertaken ; not, indeed, to give
you any light and instruction, but for my own profit and the advantage of
truth. For I consider myself as one of your pupils, to whom you give out
questions, that by answering them they may improve their own minds, and
give you an opportunity and advantage to correct their mistakes, and commu
nicate the instruction you are able to give.
" You query, ' Is happiness so essential to the goodness of tho universe,
that it is by so much the more perfect or excellent, by how much the more
happiness there is in it ? '
"I answer in the affirmative. Doubtless happinoss is something in itself
valuable, which is to be valued, desired, and sought, for its own sake. And
if so, then the more there is of it the belter ; and that system which has the
most happinoss in it, is the best and most perfect; and that plan alone is abso
lutely perfect, in which there is provision for the highest possible degree of
happiness. This appears to me undeniably true, unless there is something
whicli is in itself of greater worth and importance, and so more to be valued
than happinoss, with which the greatest possible degree of happiness is incon
sistent ; so that the more happiness there is in the universe, the less there
will be of that. On such a supposition, [the system is not -the most perfect
which admits the greatest degree of happinoss, but the system is the most
perfect] * which admits more of that which is more valuable and excellent
than happiness, and which the greatest degree of happinoss necessarily
excludes. " But is there any such thing possible in nature ? Perhaps it will be said,
Yes, — the glory of God is of more worth than the happiness of the creature,
and therefore happiness must give way to this, and that system is most per
fect and excellent in which God's glory is most displayed, though it be at the
expense of tho creature's happiness ; for misery may be equally, yea, more
illustrative of tlie divine glory than happiness.
" I answer, Though it may be true that, in order to the greatest display of
God's glory, there must bo misery, yet it does not follow, that the brightest
display of the divine glory is inconsistent with the greatest possible degree
of happiness. It may be necessary, in order to tlie greatest possible degree
of happiness, that there should be a great degree of misery ; yea, it may be
necessary in order to the greatest possible degree of happiness, that there
should be the greatest possible display of the divine glory. If the happiness
of the creature consists, summarily, in the knowledge and enjoyment of God,
then the happiness of the creature will keep pace with the manifestations
God mokes of himself; so that God's glorifying himself in the highest possi
ble degree, is not only not inconsistent with, but necessary to, the greatest
possible happiness, and they arc both inseparably cemented together.
" What is meant by tho glory of God, or God's glorifying himself, but his
communicating himself ad extra to the creature, — to the understanding and
will of intelligences in knowledge, holiness, and happiness ? If so, then God's
highest declarative glory and the greatest degree of holiness and happiness are
inseparably united. And [though] we are wont to speak of the glory of God
and the happiness of the creature as- distinct things, and as different and
separate ends which God has in view in his works, yet, perhaps, in reality
they are but one and the same, and therefore viewed as such by the divine,
all-comprehending Mind. Wo shall see this point particularly considered,
when the late President Edwards's Dissertation on the End of God in Cre
ating the World is published.
" The way is now prepared for an answer to the last clause of your ques
tion, — ' May not tiie permission of sin be vindicated, without supposing it ia
subservient to the greater happiness ? '
" I answer in the negative. For it cannot be vindicated, without supposing
* One line of Ihe manuscript is illegible.
t

230 MEMOIR.
it is for the greater glory of God ; and this necessarily supposes that 'tis for
the greater happiness.
" Perhaps some will object to all this, that 'tis certain that there is not so
much happiness in the universe as there might have been ; and, therefore,
if the more happiness there is, the more perfect and excellent it is, the uni
verse is not so perfect and excellent as it might have been. God might have
made a thousand intelligences to behold his glory and be happy in communi
cations from him, where there is one now ; and then there would have been
a thousand times as much happiness, as now there is or ever will be. Now,
if the more happiness there is, the more perfect and excellent the universe is,
why has not God created more to be happy ? Why does he confine himself
to so small a number ?
"Answer I. The same objection may be made to the hypothesis, that the
more God is glorified, the more perfect and excellent the universe is, and that
this is sought as distinct from and inconsistent with the greatest happiness.
It may be said, that God has not glorified himself so much as he might; for
he might have made a thousand worlds where he has made one, and so have
made much greater displays of his own glory.
" Answer II. This objection must be groundless and absurd, it being no
more of an objection against God's creating no more intelligences to be happy
than he has, than it would be against God's creating no more, if he had cre
ated millions of millions where he has one. The question might still be asked,
with as much propriety as now it is, Why did he not create more ? This is
a demand which cannot be satisfied ; for, I may say, God could not create so
many, but that more might have been created. The question would still re
main, Why did he not create more? Now, that objection which is made
against a particular case, as being so rather than otherwise, is- certainly frivo
lous, which equally lies against all other supposable cases. 'Tis a senseless
question, which demands why God did not create a thousand intelligences
where he has one, when, if he had, there would be just as much reason to
object against his creating no more, and to ask why he did not create a
million, — and so on, in infinitum.
" In order to the greatest display of God's glory, and the highest possible
degree of happiness, there must (notwithstanding any thing we know) be a
certain precise number of happy creatures, with such capacities and in such
circumstances. And as infinite wisdom was perfectly able to determine this,
doubtless that very number, those very capacities and circumstances, have '
been pitched upon by God, which will in the best and highest degree answer
this end and produce the greatest possible happiness ; or, in other words, by
which God may communicate himself in the best and fullest manner, and to
the highest possible degree.
"Mr. T. Edwards informs me, that you desire a short sketch of President
Edwards's private life. This is a very difficult task, and I think it quite im
possible Vor me to do justice to the memory of that great and eminently pious
man, in such an attempt ; yet perhaps silence, in such a case, would be yet
greater injustice. — [Mr. Hopkins here gives a lengthened account of Ed
wards's religious and social habits.]
" The hope and joy of many, which were greatly raised upon Mr. Edwards's
being invested with the presidency of Nassau Hall, were soon damped by his
sudden departure. But God, in his great goodness, has. caused a new day to
dawn. I shall doubtless speak tiie sentiments of all the greatest and best
friends to Mr. Edwards and the interests of the college, when I say that the
vacancy is supplied more to their satisfaction than [it] could have been in any
other person. And I cannot but congratulate you, worthy sir, on your being
placed in this station so much to the general acceptance of the public, and of
the college in particular ; in which you have opportunity to improve your tal
ents to such noble purposes. May it be seen that you have caught the falling
mantle, and [may it] be said, ' The spirit (yea, a double portion of the spirit)

MEMOIR. 231
of Elijah doth rest on Elisha ! ' May you be enabled to answer the expecta
tions of all the friends of Zion, and become a most extensive blessing to the
church of Christ" R. Collected Works.
Nearly all the published works of Dr. Hopkins, comprising more
than two thousand octavo pages, were reprinted in 1852, by the Doc
trinal Tract and Book Society. The writings not reprinted by the
i Society, are his four Biographies, his "Animadversions on Mr. Hart's
Late Dialogue," and the larger part of his essays for the periodi
cals. It is a fitting tribute to the memory of this philanthropist, that
a Society founded by his reverential disciples, and aided by one of
his estimable grandsons, should rise up to fulfil a prophecy which
he once intimated in his modest way : " I still believe, [that my
system] is, in the main, right. Dr. Cotton Mather, who published
sixty books or more, which had not a very current sale, said to his
printer, ' After I am dead, they will read my books.1 "

Sect. XLV. HOPKINS'S CONFIDENCE IN HIS THEOLOGICAL SYSTEM.
The last quotation suggests the fact, that with all the modesty of
our author, he had a manly faith in his own creed ; and with all his
confidence in that creed as a whole, he believed and hoped that his
successors would make improvements upon it. " There is no reason
to doubt," he says in his seventy-second year, " that light will so
increase in the church, and men will be raised up, who will make
such advances in opening the Scripture and in the knowledge of
divine truth, that what is now done and written will be so far super
seded as to appear imperfect and inconsiderable, compared with that
superior light, with whicli the church will then be blessed." * It is
honorable for the leader of a school to avow, after a life of suffering
for his faith, that his own scheme is not perfect, and that in the
millennium a church will arise, " which will have all that is good,
right, and excellent in the different denominations and churches that
exist now or have been, and will renounce all the superstitions and
corruptions, in principle or practice, which have taken place." t In
his seventy-seventh year, this veteran in theology said to his friend
Dr. Ryland:
" As to my writings, I have not the least doubt of the truth and importance
of most of the sentiments I have published, but do not pretend to be certain
that every thing I have proposed is true, or that I have explained and vindi
cated every doctrine in the best manner. I do not wish any one to receive
what I have written implicitly ; but think I have a right to be heard without
prejudice and with candor. I thank you for the pains you have taken to effect
* Preface lo his System,-
t Hopkins's Works, vol. ii. p. 76.

232 MEMOIR.
this.* It is with pleasure I expect to have all the mistakes and errors in my
publications detected and exploded ; and all the truth contained in them set
in a much clearer and more advantageous light ; and great advances made,
far beyond what I have attained, or even all the divines who have written."
In his extreme old age, he was " asked by a clergyman, whether,
if he should write his System over again, he would not make some
alterations in it. He replied, ' I do not arrogate to myself infalli
bility, and perhaps some things in it might be altered to advantage.'
- But would you,' continued the clergyman, ' make any alteration in
the sentiments 1 ' Raising his withered arm, and kindling with the
glow of youthful energy, he brought it down with a solemn and
emphatic — ' No : I am willing to rest my soul on them forever.'" f
About two years before his death, he said to his people, in a ser
mon: " I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God, so far as
I have understood what it was  Some of the doctrines which I have
preached and published have been opposed from the press and the pulpit, and
more privately, and have not been understood, and [have been] represented as
horrible and mischievous, tending to destroy all true religion, &c. But all this
has no impression on me, to excite the least doubt of the truth of the doctrines
so opposed, or to incline me to cease to assert and vindicate them. I have
such clear and full conviction, and unshaken confidence, that the doctrines
which I have for a long course of. years preached and maintained, are the truths
contained in the Bible, that I stand as a brazen wall, unhurt, and not moved
by all the shafts of opposition and reproach which have been levelled at me,
and the system of truth and religion which I have espoused ; being assured
that it will stand forever ; and certain beyond a doubt, from Scripture, reason,
and experience, that a cordial belief and love of these truths, with religious
exercises and conduct agreeable to them, is connected with salvation, and is
a sufficient ground of support and comfort under the greatest trials, and in
the nearest view of death and eternity. On this foundation I cheerfully rest
my eternal interest, which indeed is infinite, and invite all to do the same." J
The discourse from which the preceding paragraph is taken, was
published a few weeks before its author's death. It is eminently
characteristic of him. A man so modest and lowly must have had a
firm confidence in the truth and the worth of his speculations, or he
would not have dared to preach, still less to publish, a sermon en
titled " The Author's Farewell to the World." An equally interest
ing illustration of the same faith overpowering his personal diffidence,
is seen in the Dedication of his Treatise on the Millennium. It is
dedicated " To the People who shall live in the Days of the Mil
lennium ; " and it commences thus :
" Hail, ye happy People, highly favored of the Lord. To you the following
treatise on the Millennium is dedicated, as you will live in that happy era,
* Dr. Ryland had exerted himself much to circulate Hopkins's System and his other
works, in England. ,
t Ferguson's Memoir, p. 153. See also Patten's Reminiscences, Introduction, pD.
xi. xii.
% See Hopkins's Works, vol. iii. pp. 768, 769.

MEMOIR. 233
and enjoy the good of it in a much higher degree than it can now be enjoyed
in the prospect of it ; and that you may know, if this book shall be conveyed
down to your time, what is now thought of you,.and of the happy day in which
you will come on the stage of life. You will be able to see the mistakes
which are now made on this head ; and how far what is advanced here is
agreeable to that which is noted in the Scripture of truth, and a true and
proper description of the events which are to take place, and to rectify every
mistake. All is therefore humbly submitted to your better judgment."
This " Dedication to the Millenarians " was condemned by Dr.
Jonathan Edwards, as the reader has perceived on p. 207 above. It
is, however, as an exhibition of a modest man's assurance, so pecu
liar that it would have been a pity to expunge it.

Sect. XLVI. TESTIMONIES IN FAVOR. OF HOPKINS AND OF HIS
THEOLOGY.
Throughout this Memoir many expressions have been made, in
dicating the deference with which Mr. Hopkins was treated by some
of his contemporaries. Without recurring to those expressions, we
will simply refer to a few other testimonies which were given in favor
of this much injured man.
At a time when a doctorate of divinity meant something, Mr.
Hopkins received that honor from Brown University. It was given
him in 1790, at the same time that the degree of " doctor of laws "
was conferred by the same university upon George Washington. It
was conferred during the presidency of Dr. Manning, who was not
on terms of personal friendship with the leading Congregationalists
of Newport. But the excellence of Mr. Hopkins's character secured
the esteem of all candid men. '
Dr. Patten narrates the following incident:
" Some time after Dr. Hopkins had sent his manuscript ' System of Divinity,'
to be printed, he was obliged to go to Boston to inspect the press. While
there, Dr. Clarke, who had been the colleague and was then the successor of
Dr. Chauncy, invited him to preach the Thursday lecture for him. Dr. H.
declined. ' Why, are you not in health ? ' 'Yes, sir.' ' Why then,' replied
Dr. Clarke, with urgency, ' do you decline ? ' ' Since you are so candid as to
wish me to preach, [said Dr. Hopkins,] I will tell you the reason. My manner
is not polished, and my doctrines do riot agree with yours, and I cannot accom
modate myself to the occasion as your substitute ; and if I preach at all, it ,
must be as I am accustomed to preach in my own pulpit, and this, if it should
not be a mortification to you, might bring on you some reproach.' ' I do not
wish ' replied Dr. Clarke, ' that you should attempt to accommodate yourself
to any one ; you cannot gratify me more than to preach your own doctrines,
in your own way. This is precisely what I wish.' 'Then,' said Dr. H., ' I
will preach.' It providentially happened, that a Scotch gentleman of Rox-
bury [nearly related to] Governor Smnner's wife, was at the lecture. On
leaving the house, he expressed strong approbation of the preacher; said he
was such a looking man and such a preacher as he had been accustomed to
hear in Scotland ; and on learning his name, and that he had a small and pre-

MEMOIR.
carious salary, made hkn a present, to the amount, it is believed, of five or six
hundred dollars." *
The reputation which Dr. Hopkins's works acquired in Great Brit
ain, in the day when men asked, "Who reads an American book 1 " —
was a sign of their intrinsic value. Such men as Pearce, Thomson,
Carey, Sutcliff, expressed in various ways their regard for the "pious
metaphysician." The Earl of Buchan sent an elegant portrait of
himself, as "a token of his warm attachment," to Dr. Hopkins.
There were more subscribers for his System in Great Britain, than
among all the " white inhabitants " of Rhode Island.
A signal honor which Dr. Hopkins has received, is the esteem of
all his theological opposers who were personally acquainted with him.
No divine in this country, has felt a greater repugnance than Dr.
Channing, to our author's creed ; and the encomiums of Channing
were elicited simply by the fact, that he knew the character of the
man who was regarded as so much better than his creed. By whom
was the New Divinity more steadfastly opposed, during the last cen
tury, than by President Stiles 1 But in the very height of his
opposition to it, he discloses his own and the general opinion, that
Hopkins was both a great and a good man. His statements are
instructive, even when they are incorrect. They illustrate the char
acter of the resistance, which was made to what he calls " the
Eurekas of New Divinity." In the satirical style of the following
extract from his Literary Diary, he reveals much that is honorable
to his chief opponent :
" August 10, 1787. Reverend Messrs. Hopkins, West, Amzi Lewis, Fow
ler, and some few other New Divinity gentlemen, are beginning to hold, that
the faith of parents in the act of baptismal dedication insures grace and real
holiness to baptized children. Reverend Messrs. Sanford, (brother-in-law of
Mr. Hopkins,) Emmons, Smalley, Foster, and some others, are beginning to
concur with Mr. Bacon in denying a real vicarious suffering in Christ's atone
ment. They hold atonement, but deny it in the orthodox and Calvinistic
sense. Messrs. Hopkins, West, &c, differ from them, and hold the atonement
in the just, scriptural sense. The New Divinity gentlemen are getting into
confusion, and running into different sentiments. They are generally giving
up the doctrine of imputation, both in original sin, and in justification. They
are dropping and leaving off the diction of ' love to being in general,' as de
scribing the nature of holiness ; and some of them, receding from disinterested
benevolence, are going into the idea, that all holy motive operates as termi
nating in personal happiness, while others are still willing to be damned for
the glory of God and the good of the universe.
" They (New Divinity gentlemen) perceive some of the pillars are removed,
and others shaken and falling ; President Edwards has been dead twenty-nine
years, or a generation ; Dr. Bellamy is broken down, both body and mind,
with a paralytic shock, and can dictate and domineer no more ; Mr. Hopkins
still continues, but past his force, having been somewhat affected by a fit and
nervous debilitation ; Mr. West is declining in health, and, besides, was never
felt so strong rods as the others. It has been the ton, to direct students in
* Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 130-132.

MEMOIR. 235
divinity, these thirty years past, to read the Bible, President Edwards, Dr.
Bellamy, and Mr. Hopkins's writings; — and this was a pretty good suffi
ciency of reading. But now the younger class, but yet in full vigor, suppose
they see further than these oracles, and are disposed to become oracles them
selves, and wish to write theology and have their books come into vogue.
The very New Divinity gentlemen say, they perceive a disposition among
several of their brethren to struggle for preeminence ; — particularly Dr. Ed
wards, Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Smalley^ Mr. Judson, Mr. Spring, Mr. Robinson,*
Mr. Strong of Hartford, Mr. Dwight, Mr. Emmons, and others. They all
want to be Luthers. But they will none of them be equal to those strong
reasoners, President Edwards and Mr. Hopkins.
"President Edwards's valuable writings in another generation will pass
into as transient notice, perhaps, as scarce above oblivion, as Willard, or
Twiss, or Norton ; and when posterity occasionally comes across them in the
rubbish of libraries, the rare characters who may read and be pleased with
them, will be looked upon as singular and whimsical, as in these days are
admirers of Suarez, Aquinas, or Dion. Areopagita." f
The progress of his opinions was still more honorable to Hop
kins, than were the respectful allusions of his antagonists. Can any
one doubt, that he has been a means of raising the standard of theol
ogy among us, far above that whicli would have been attained under
the influence of his opponents ? Hundreds of New England clergy
men have made, substantially, the same remark which has been re
peated by Professor Stuart : " After reading Dr. Hopkins's System
of Divinity, a number of President Edwards's Treatises, several of
Andrew Fuller's, a part of Ridgley's Body of Divinity, and some of
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, and a part of Prideaux's Connec
tion, I was examined and licensed to preach, by the neighboring
Association of Ministers." £ This relation of Hopkins to the clergy
of New England, gave him an influence over them which is now too
much forgotten.
The following letter to one of his best friends illustrates the hon
est, religious spirit of our author, his freedom from personal aims in
» A strong-minded man, father of Professor Robinson, the author of " Researches,"
etc. t Stiles's Literary Diary. It is well known that the clergymen here mentioned by
Dr. Stiles, differed in some respects from the Newport divine, for they were independent
thinkers ; yet tbey were all termed Hopkinsians, in that day, and enjoyed the confidence
of Hopkins himself. — It ought to be understood, that several of the clergymen whom
Dr. Stiles thus compared with Hopkins, were at that time very young men.
X The course here specified was marked out by President Dwight. As Dr. Stiles, in
tlie preceding extract, and as Dr. Hopkins, in his letters, have both mentioned the name
of Dwight in connection with the New Divinity, it may be proper to say, that this great
man was in early life so much in favor of the Hopkinsian peculiarities, that he wrote an
essay to prove man's obligation lo be willing to be lost, if the glory of God should re
quire the sacrifice. Subsequently, however, he burned the manuscript. Dr. Hopkins
often writes in a eulogistic style, about " young Dwight." As late as 1798, he says :
"I think Dr. Dwight's discourse to the citizens of New Haven, on the fourth of July, to
be a masterly performance ; in which he has outdone himself, and all the many publica
tions of orations, &c, on that day. I wish it may have another edition, if not more."—
It was a noble trait of Hopkins, that he was inclined, in his old age, to speak well of
young men, and had disciplined himself, as very few others have done, to say with com
posure, " He must increase, but I roust decrease."

236 MEMOIR.
his theological studies, his full assurance that Hopkinsianism is the
same in essence with Edwardeanism, and his modest, unselfish grat
itude for the triumph of those principles which he was foremost in
defending, and with which his interests were bound up.
To Reverend Andrew Fuller. — " Newport, October 15, 1799. Dear Sir : I
thank you for your letter of August 12, which came to hand on the twelfth
instant, and brings much agreeable intelligence. That concerning Mr.
Pearce is grievous, as it represents him as near to death ; since the loss of
such an excellent man, in the prime of life, is gr^at, and appears to us very
undesirable. Yet there is ground of consolation in this, that Christ has raised
up such a man, and continued him so long, and done so much by him, and he
is now going to receive a rich reward. And the Lord is able to raise up
many more accomplished and excellent men, and will do it when he shall
want them, for which we have the greatest encouragement as well as a divine
command to pray ; to which the removal of this our dear and worthy friend is
a strong incitement. My heart has been in a sensible and peculiar degree
united to Mr. Pearce, since I saw his writings and perceived his connection
with you, Dr. Ryland, &c.
" Since I first heard of Carey and Thomas, I was pleased with their charac
ter, — that of Carey especially, — and have had fond hopes that great things
will be done by them, and those who may be added to them. I rejoice in
the zeal and liberality of the people in promoting that design. May the
blessing of thousands who are ready to perish come on you and them. I yet
hope the report of the ship Duff being taken by the French will prove not
true. But if it prove true, we have stable and sufficient ground of support
and consolation in the exalted Head of the Church, who orders all things, all
events, from the greatest to the smallest, in the most wise and best manner,
so as to answer his own ends exactly ; by which he will be glorified in the
highest degree, and the greatest possible good to the universe will be effected.
On this ground we stand firm and unshaken, in the midst of all the evils and
revolutions which surround us, and are able to rejoice always.
" I am pleased to hear that Edwardean principles are gaining ground and
spreading, as I am certain that every contrary scheme of principles [is irrec
oncilable with] the Bible, and that all or most of the late remarkable exer
tions to 6end missionaries among the heathen, and propagate the gospel
among others in Europe and America, have originated in a poor shoemaker,
from having imbibed these principles. I believe all the missionary societies
lately formed in America, owe their rise to those formed in England, and their
extraordinary exertions. There are five of these societies now in New York,
Connecticut, and Massachusetts States, the leaders in all which, except one,
(if that is to be excepted,) are Edwardeans. The Massachusetts Society,
which has been formed this year, consists wholly of Edwardeans, which is
[likely] to increase and flourish.* That in Connecticut consists of the Gen
eral Association of Ministers, chosen annually from each of the particular
Associations in the State. They have chosen twelve trustees, and these are
to be chosen yearly, to manage the business of the society in their recess,
and are accountable to them. The trustees consist of six ministers and as
many laymen. The trustees they have chosen this year are all Edwardeans,
which is an evidence, among many others, that men of these principles pre
vail, and are esteemed.
" These principles are gaining ground fast in New England. More mep
of these principles are ordained in churches than others, and they are the
most popular preachers. And some of those who have been prejudiced against
these principles and opposed them, begin now to think more favorably of
them, and to own that many Edwardeans are men of the best abilities. And
* See p. 64 of this Memoir.

MEMOIR. 237
well may they allow this, when we have Drs. West, Edwards, Dwight, Trum
bull, Emmons, Messrs. Hart, Strong, Spring, Backus, &c, &c, &c.
" There are four presidents of colleges who are Edwardeans — Dr. Edwards,
of Union College, in Schenectady, sixteen miles north-west of Albany, which
is richly endowed ; Dr. Dwight, of Yale College, in New Haven ; Mr. Fitch,
of Williams College, in Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts;
Mr. Balch, of Greenville College, in the new State of Tennessee, west of
the Carolinas. From these seminaries, we may reasonably hope, there will
issue numbers of pious young men of good principles, to supply our vacant
churches ; as many have already come forth from Yale, Dartmouth, and Provi
dence Colleges, and are settled in the ministry, with a number of other pious
men who have not had a public education.
" But what appears most favorable now to the spread of our principles and
of true religion, is a great and remarkable revival of religion, which is spread
wider and has risen higher than any thing of the kind has done in America,
for above fifty years. Ithas taken place in the west and north-west parts of
Connecticut, and in the States of New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
and Vermont. It is said to be in above one hundred towns and parishes.
There appears to be little or no enthusiasm. It goes on in a still, but strong
and energetic manner. Many thousands have been the subjects of deep and
strong convictions, and great numbers are hopefully converted. And it is to
be remarked, that this revival has taken place in almost all, if not in every
instance, under the preaching of those ministers who have embraced Edward
ean principles. We hope it is yet on the increase, and will bear all before it.
. " As to the Baptists, they have appeared to increase of late years in many
places in America ; but they have generally had a tincture of enthusiasm and
Antinomianism, and believe that all true faith is an appropriating faith, i. c, it
is a belief that Christ died for me, &c, or that this is necessarily implied in
saving faith. Hence, their converts generally become so by first believing
that they shall be saved, or to that purpose, and many pass for converts
among them of whom I much doubt. But there is a prospect that there will
be a favorable revolution of principles among them, and it is, indeed, already
begun. I know of eight or ten ministers of that denomination who discard
the principles of Dr. Gill, &c, and have imbibed those of Edwards. Some
of them have but lately risen on the stage, and are men of good abilities and
hopeful piety. I am glad you are writing on the subject you mention. If I
should live till it can come to America, I hope for the pleasure and profit of
reading it. If you have not seen Strong, entitled Benevolence and Misery, I
shall desire Mr. Davis, of New York, to send it to Dr. Ryland or you.
" As to myself, I was taken with a paralytic stroke last January, which
affected the limbs of my right side and my speech, so that I was unable to
perform any public service for some months ; but I am now most mercifully
recovered, so that I am able to walk and to preach, and to write thus after a
sort with difficulty ; but my dearest partner will transcribe it before it goes
to you. I was seventy-eight years old the last month, and do not expect to
continue much longer in the body, nor do I desire it. I have a pleasing hope
of a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ; where I also hope to
see you. — Mrs. Hopkins is my second wife, and is seventeen years younger
than I am. She will transcribe this, with a heart full of love to you and your
dear friends. I am yours in the strongest bonds, S. Hopkins."
The preceding letter was written in the seventy-ninth year of the
author's life. In the seventy-fifth year he writes :
" About forty years ago, there were but few, perhaps not more than four or
five who espoused the sentiments which since have been called Edwardean,
and' New Divinity ; and since, after some improvement was made upon them,
Hopkintonian, or Hopkinsian sentiments. But these sentiments have so spread

238 MEMOIR.
Bince that time among ministers, especially those who have since come on tlie
stage, that there are now more than one hundred in the ministry who espouse
the same sentiments, in the United States of America. And the number ap
pears to be fast increasing, and these sentiments appear to be coming more
and more into credit, and are better understood, and the odium which was cast
on them and those who preached them, is greatly subsided." *
It appears, then, that about the year 1756, there were, in our land,
four or five Edwardean clergymen ; in 1773, there were forty or fifty ; t
and in 1796, there were more than a hundred. But the spirit of the
New Divinity was in the hearts of thousands, who did not favor it in
all ils forms. The term, "Hopkinsian," soon became the common
designation of those evangelical or orthodox divines who favored the
doctrines of general atonement, natural ability, the active nature of
all holiness and sin, and the justice of God in imputing to men none
but their own personal transgressions. Throughout some parts of
the land, Hopkinsianism became a synonyme for New England
divinity, and one of its decided antagonists said in 1817, that " a
very large majority of tlie professors of religion in the United States,
are either Hopkinsians or entire Arminians, and as such, opposed to
the doctrine of a definite atonement." J Now the bare fact, that
the name Hopkinsian has been applied to such multitudes of en
terprising Christians, is one among many signs of the power which
Hopkins has exerted, directly or indirectly, on men who disowned
some of his peculiar tenets.

Sect. XLVII. FAMILIAR CONFERENCES.
In his later years, our indefatigable pastor recommenced, with
some modification, an exercise which he instituted at the begin
ning of his pastoral life at Newport. § It was a Socratic conversa
tion, for which he seems to have been singularly adapted. One of
his successors in the ministry || says of him : " There is no doubt
that he was incapable of appearing to advantage in any party of
brilliants, but in a social circle of intelligent friends, he was cheerful,
interesting, incomparable. And this excellence of the Doctor in
creased as he advanced in life." He is uniformly represented by his
* Sketches, pp. 102, 103.
t See p. 129 of this Memoir. — In 1777, Dr. Edwards, of New Haven, informed Dr.
Stiles, that there were three parlies among the clergy of Connecticut : " the Arminians,
who he said were a small party ; the New Dhmiiiij gentlemen, of whom he said he was
called one, — who were larger, he said, but still small; and the main body of the minis
ters, which he said were Calvinistic." — The friends of the New Divinity called them
selves not Calvinists, so much as " consistent Calvinists."
X See "A Historical Sketch of Opinions on the Atonement," etc., by James R. Will-
son, A. M., pp. 180, 184, 188, 196, 197, 198, 210, 215.
$ See p. 84 of this Memoir.
|| Rev. Dr. Hitchcock, who was ordained at Newport in the fourteenth year after the
death of Hopkins.

MEMOIR. 239
Christian admirers, as having shone most of all in familiar discourse
on the themes of religious experience. And the above-named ex
ercise, which he conducted in his old age with peculiar comfort to
himself, and with an interest still remembered by many who enjoyed
it, illustrates this representation. It is thus described by one who
often attended it :
" Among the occasional services of Dr. H. was a conference meeting at
his own house. This meeting was strictly a conference, and was highly in
teresting and useful. [It was] conducted in the following manner. After
singing and prayer, one or two present collected in writing, questions from as
many as desired the resolution of any doubt, or the discussion of any subject,
and brought the papers and laid them on the table before Dr. H. He read
them, and then taking the first, he requested several of the most judicious
persons to express their opinion of it in succession. If he agreed with either
of them, he would state it and give his reasons for it. If he differed from the
whole, he would express his opinion either by a quotation from some writer,
or by making a statement with an illustration.
"To adduce an instance. One evening there was this question, 'What U
the order of exercises, when a soul is converted to God ? ' One to whom it
was referred, answered, ' When a sinner is convinced of sin, he always al -
tempts to recommend himself by works of righteousness ; finding this in
effectual, and under apprehensions of punishment, he looks to Christ for
pardon, and in this way finds acceptance and peace. When it came to Dr.
H., he observed, ' The sinner must be convinced of sin, and as sin is a trans
gression of the law, he is arraigned before God as lawgiver and judge. It is
necessary for him to approve of the law, though he be condemned by it ; for
it is impossible that he should repent of having transgressed the law, while ho
indulges enmity to the law, or to God as lawgiver, and it is impossible for
him to exercise true faith in Christ, as He came not to abolish but to honor
the law. To hope in Christ for pardon, and then approve of God and of the
law because one's sins are forgiven, is productive of false peace, and is a de
lusion. It is wholly a selfish act. The condition of the sinner when the law-
is before him is very trying and distressing. It is a point at which his heart
naturally rises in the greatest enmity against God. But when he is brought
to approve of the law, he finds that God, instead of executing judgment, ex
ercises mercy. He is prepared to see the provision made for his salvation
by Jesus Christ, and he embraces Him with inexpressible joy. This,' said
Dr. H., ' as appears from the Scriptures and the nature of the case, must be
the order of the exercises, though many trae converts are not conscious of it.
Especially the act of submission may be followed so instantaneously with the
experience of pardon, that it maybe overlooked ; but it has been experienced,
and is of essential importance in the case.' '"*
Among the papers of Dr; Hopkins is found still another answer,
which appears to have been given to another question proposed at
this conference. It illustrates the philosophical style of his practical
meditations. "How can we pray to an unchangeable God, who has already determined
what he will do, and what shall be in every instance, and will not alter any
thing? " Answer. Many things may be said to show the reasonableness and im
portance of prayer to an- unchangeable God ; and they will offer tnemselves
* Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 108-111.

240 MEMOIR.
to any considerate, pious person, almost at first thought. But these shall not
be mentioned now. We will rather attend to the case of a person who,
when on his knees in his devotions, has this thought impressed on his mind
of God's unchangeable purposes, so as to put a stop to his proceeding to put
up any petition. What shall he do ?
" Answer. Let him not try to pray, nor give over his devotions. Let all be
turned into praise, giving glory to God, and rejoicing that he does reign, and
does what he pleases in heaven and earth, — that all things are unchangeably
fixed by infinite wisdom and goodness, &c., <_c. This will be the natural
effect of such a view and impression, if it be from God. If it be a suggestion
from Satan, it is with a design to interrupt and put a stop to devotion ; and to
improve it in the manner above mentioned, will be the most direct and
effectual way to oppose and defeat him. '
" The same direction may be given if it be suggested to a person, that the
goodness of God is so infinitely great, and particularly so great toward his chil
dren, that there is no need of asking him to do any thing for them ; yea, it
will be wicked arrogance to do it, as it must arise from a doubt of his good
ness, and a thought of ourselves as more kind to them than he is, so that there
is need of onr pleading with him on their behalf, &c. If this suggestion stop
him in his petitions for his Christian friends, then let his devotions be imme
diately turned into thanksgiving to God, and praises for his goodness. And
this is the likeliest way to prepare his mind to return to his petitions and
prayers." Thus did the aged divine realize the idea, that the church is a
school and the Christian is a student. He could not have been a
popular minister, unless in an uncommonly meditative age.

Sect. XLVIII. HOUSEHOLD LIFE AT NEWPORT.
And had the hero of all these wars, political and theological, any
domestic relations 1 What time had he for his family 1 We have
already noticed * the afflictive state of his wife's health, the death of
all his daughters, and of one son, and the dispersion of his four sur
viving children. After lingering twenty years in a state of scrofulous
consumption, his wife was relieved from all her pains, in the sixty-
eighth year of her age. She had been advised to leave the sea air
of Rhode Island, for the sake of gaining strength among her native
hills. With a hope of this gain, her husband accompanied her to
his former parish, in May, 1793 ; but she died on the last day of the
ensuing August. She now lies buried, among her children and
children's children, in the beautiful village of Great Barrington.
As early at least as 1764, Mr. Hopkins had met Miss Elizabeth West
in the Praying Circle of the Old South Church, Boston. He then
formed, and ever afterward retained, an exalted opinion of her
Christian character. She left Boston, her native town, for the coun
try during the revolutionary war, and then became acquainted with
some of the families who had left Newport at the same time. They
persuaded her to establish, after the war, a boarding school at
* See Section xvi.

MEMOIR. 241
Newport. She was successful in this school, having pupils from
Norwich, New London, and from some of the first families on Rhode
Island. She was a faithful member of the Osborn Society. She
was a divine. Few masters of the New Divinity had a more intelli
gent conviction of its truth, than she. Some of her letters to Dr.
Hart and Dr. West, are worthy of a theological veteran. She had a
depth of Christian experience commending her to the friendship of
her pastor. She taught her school in his house, during the later
months of her remaining a teacher. On the fourteenth of Septem
ber, 1794, she was married to him. The ceremony, he says, " was
performed in public, on the Sabbath, by Mr. Patten, in the morning,
before the public exercises began. Our proceeding, and the manner
in which it was done, has had the approbation of all my friends, and
of the whole congregation, so far as I can learn." At the time of
her marriage, she was fifty-five years of age, and he was seventy-
three. They had been acquainted in prayer meetings, more than
thirty years. After his death, as during his life, she manifested the
deepest interest in his theological opinions. Her criticisms on the
faulty style in which the Sketches of her husband were prepared by
Dr. West, and subsequently printed, indicate sterling sense and good
taste. Some of her friends advised an abridgment of her husband's
System of Divinity, for the second edition, in 1811. "But no," she
writes ; " an abridged work often loses its importance and sinks into
oblivion. If the public will not be at the expense of printing it as it
is, let them do without it till the millennium ; then it will be read and
published with avidity. If I could gain ever so much, (as things
appear now,) I would not give my voice in favor of abridgment."
She passed a widowhood of uncommon saintliness, feeling ' desolate,
yet trusting in God, and continuing in supplications and prayers
night and day.' She died in Taunton, Massachusetts, April 9, 1814,
at the age of seventy-five years.* There is something pleasing in
the theological style of her husband, when he speaks of himself as
" peculiarly happy in finding such a wife," and adds : " I esteem it
as one of the greatest favors of my life, to have such a companion in
my advanced years, in whose prudence, good family economy, friend
ship, and benevolent care Lean confide ; and who is to me the first
object among creatures, of the love of esteem, benevolence, com
placency, and gratitude." t
While discussing the doctrine of Decrees, in his System of Theol
ogy, Dr. Hopkins has the following illustration : " My neighbor now
comes into my study, and asks, whether a table he has made for me
* She now lies buried in Taunton, where, after all her solicitude about the style of
her husband's Works, an ungrammalical inscription is yet suffered lo deface her grave
stone.  It had been her request lo be buried at the side of her husband, at Newport,
but the malignant nature of her disease forbade the removal of her remains
t Sketches, etc., pp. 83, 84. W

242 MEMOIR.
can be introduced and have room here. I ask him what is the
length and breadth of it. He answers, it is three yards square. I
tell him, it can then be of no use to me, nor can it be introduced.
He is confident [that] I am mistaken. And after some dispute, we
at length conclude to take a common measure and apply it to the
table, and to my door and study. Upon this the matter is soon de
cided, and it is found that the former agrees exactly with the latter;
for his yardstick was found to be but twelve inches long." *
Our author was certainly right in querying about the admission of
such a table into his study chamber ; for that room, in which he
wrote his System of Divinity and corresponded with an African
poetess, and entertained Dr. Bellamy, and Dr. Channing, President
Stiles and Newport Gardner, was only eleven feet eight inches
long, nine feet seven inches wide, seven feet three inches high ; and
was entered by a door twenty-six inches in width ; a room rather
circumscribed for a man who weighed two hundred and twenty
pounds. That he must have sat at a narrow table, is self-evident.
We can almost see him leaning over his familiar desk, and listening
to the roar of the ocean, and writing such words as these :
" The weak Christian, in the midst of strong temptations and potent ene
mies, constantly seeking and exerting all their power and cunning to devour
and destroy him, is preserved and upheld, through a course of trial, by the
mighty, omnipotent hand of the Redeemer; and the httle spark of holiness
implanted in the believer's heart is continued alive and burning, while there
is so much, both within and without, tending to extinguish it ; which is really
more of a constant miracle and manifestation of the power of Christ than it
would be to preserve a little spark of fire, for a course of years, in the midst
of the sea, while the mighty waves are fiercely dashing against it and upon it,
attempting to overwhelm and extinguish it." f
There was certainly a difference between Hopkins confined six
teen or eighteen hours a day within this limited enclosure, and Bishop
Berkeley walking out from his Newport residence, with his writing
utensils borne by a servant behind him, and at length sitting down
on Paradise Rock, and there, " with that joyful instinct which a
rural scene and fine weather inspire," composing his Minute Philoso
pher. Into his contracted study chamber Hopkins entered at four
o'clock in the morning, f and remained until his family were pre
pared for breakfast. When called, he descended a narrow and steep
flight of stairs, and, having conducted the morning devotions, sat
down at his frugal and generally silent repast of " a cup of coffee
and a little Indian bread." Breakfast being over, he went out, if
there were need, to make a parochial call, or to purchase some
* Hopkins's Works, new edition, vol. i. pp. 79, 80. + Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 29, 30.
X Dr. Channing says, in his letter of February 14, 1840, Dr. Hopkins's " study was
visible from my father's house, and I recollect that, rising very early one winter morn
ing, I saw the light of his candle streaming through the window. He took little exer
cise. His frame was very strong, or he must have sunk under his labors."

MEMOIR. 243
articles for his household. When he bought any thing, he paid for
it on the spot. He asked no credit. It was " customary with him,
when he had purchased a necessary article, as flour, or sugar, &c,
to reserve, from the money he weekly received, the amount of the
expenditure of that article, that when the whole of it was gone, he
might have money on hand to pay for a new supply." *
Having performed these duties out of doors, he moved his giant
frame slowly back to his narrow chamber, where he remained until
the dinner hour. He then took a httle meat, generally in silence,
and climbed up again his precipitous stairway ; and with the inter
ruption of a brief interval for a cup of tea, he remained in his study
until nine o'clock in the evening.t He then (often at least) put
his light near his window, in order to apprise a neighboring house
hold that he was going down to his family prayer, and thus to secure
with that household a kind of praying concert. At ten o'clock he
retired to bed. This was the even tenor of his way.f
It is said, that in his small room he could not have had many
* Patten's Reminiscences, p. 140. The congregation of Dr. Hopkins took up a weekly
contribution for him, and paid it to him on Monday morning. It amounted to about two
hundred dollars per year. " One gentleman paid annually sixty dollars, and a lady
furnished his family with a dinner several times in a week." One of his wealthiest
parishioners put twelve and a half cents into the contribution bag every Sabbath. His
pastor considered this worse than nothing. A reason why his people gave him no more
than such a pittance was, their faith that he would be sustained without their aid, and
that he would give away all that he could possibly do without. He had a farm at Great
Barrington, the proceeds of which, however, he surrendered to his children. He had
several wealthy friends who made him many presents ; and some, who had only a clerical
fortune, were affectionately desirous of ministering to his need. An association of min
isters in Reading, Massachusetts, at one of their meetings, took up a contribution for
biin, after he had met a pecuniary loss. It was an unsolicited proof of their filial affec
tion for the man. Mr. Hopkins did not justify his people in contributing so little for his
maintenance. He deemed it better for them to give more. He said that even if he did
not need their money, " he would take il and cast it into the sea," rather than not en
courage among them a liberal spirit. " Occasionally," says Dr. Patten, (Reminiscences,
p. 139,) " when there was a prospect of his wanting some necessary stores for the
winter, especially fuel, he would make a statement in writing, and deliver it into the
hand of some of the church, with a request that he would show it indiscriminately to the
members of the society; but with a charge to say nothing by the way of soliciting a do
nation, but in silence to leave each one to act according to his own inclination. The
ground of his request was never charity, in the common acceptation of the word, but as
sistance lo their pastor, in fulfilling his duty to them and the Redeemer; and such appli
cations, it is believed, were never unsuccessful."
t Several of his letters close abruptly with the words, — "The clock strikes nine, and
I can only add that I am your affectionate and unworthy friend, S. H."
X There were, of course, occasional variations of his daily routine. On Saturday
evening, after his fast, he drank a bowl of milk before going to rest, and on Sabbath
noon he drank a bowl of chocolate. It was certainly safer to drink such liquids, at such
times, than to employ the stimulants which his clerical brethren used ; but the dull elo
cution of which his hearers complained, was not relieved, perhaps, by this soporific diet.
— We sometimes catch a glimpse of him riding on horseback to the " Hartford elec
tion," and to the " Boston election," and calling on Mr. Sanford, Mr. Emmons, Mr.
Sprin"-, Dr. Hart and Dr. Strong. — During the protracted absence from Newport of his
first wife, on account of her consumptive habits, he writes : « My little congregation are
as friendly to me as ever, if not more so. They feel thai I am not dependent on them,
or that I am not obliged to stay here in order to get a living."

244 MEMOIR.
books. The great majority of the volumes which he read were
borrowed from public hbraries, or from ministerial friends.* It is
ascertained, however, that in his library at Newport, were about
fifty folios, about sixty quartos, a hundred octavos, and some duo
decimos. They were books of sterling value. It was better to have
this select library, and to read it much, than to have a more imposing
array of volumes, and read them not at all.
Every fortnight the barber visited the old patriarch and shaved his
head. Over his head the aged father wore a white linen cap, and,
covering this, a higher cap of red velvet. A gown of blue worsted,
lined with green, or of green plaid or baize, was his favorite dis
habille, always worn by him in the study and sometimes out of doors.t
Ordinarily, however, when he appeared in the street, he was clad in
the straight-bodied coat so common among gentlemen of the old
school ; and his head was covered with a powdered wig and three-
cornered hat. He wore the clerical neck-band when he preached.
The first portrait of him was taken with his pulpit attire, and usually
hung in the west parlor of the parsonage. An engraving of it was
prefixed to one of Dr. Hopkins's volumes, during his life. The second
portrait was taken at the expense of a few citizens of Hartford,
when he was in his eightieth year, and presents him in his study
dress. This last-named portrait was copied in the engraving prefixed
to his Autobiography, and has been more accurately copied for the
complete edition of his Works. While this interesting old portrait
was in a public gallery at Hartford, it was examined by a gentle
man, who disliked the subject of it so intensely, that he thrust his
cane through the canvas, near the head of the figure, and made a
rupture which yet remains. He gave as a reason for thus defacing
the picture, that Dr. Hopkins believed in the damnation of infants.
Some of Hopkins's clerical opponents have been equally injudicious
in their assaults.
To his dying day, Hopkins retained his love of neatness and order.
No member of his household was allowed, to move a book or paper
in his study. He had a place for every article of his clothing, and
he must needs be sure that every thing was in its place. The same
peculiarity belonged to West and Emmons, and was often sportively
said to be one of the outward signs of a Hopkinsian.
To his dying day, also, Hopkins retained his love of study. Long-
after his first shock of paralysis, he was wont to climb up his nar
row staircase to the favorite south-west corner of his parsonage, and
* The charge of owning fewt >oks, is often brought against the New England divines.
It is not considered, that they had what amounts to a circulating library, among them
selves, and that each read the volumes belonging to his brethren.
t " I can well recollect," says Dr. Channing, (Works, vol. iv. p. 348,) " Ihe impres
sion which he made on me, when a boy, as he rode on horseback in a plaid gown fas
tened by a girdle round his waist, and with a study cap on his head instead of his wig."

MEMOIR. 245
there lose himself in divine contemplations. " I recollect," says Dr.
Channing, « that on visiting him one day when he was about eighty
years of age, I found his eyes much inflamed by reading and writing.
I took the liberty to recommend abstinence from these occupations.
He replied, smilingly, with an amusing story, and then added, ' If
my eyes won't study, no eyes for me.' " *
This remark is quoted by Channing as an instance of the face-
tiousness in which Hopkins occasionally indulged. It is said by some,
that he had more pleasantry as well as more inquisitiveness, in his
later than in his earlier years, and that his house became more and
more attractive to his friends.

Sect. XLIX. SHOCK OF PARALYSIS ; REFLECTIONS ; SELF-EXAMI
NATION.
In his seventy-eighth year, having performed labor enough for
breaking down a constitution of iron, this old divine was struck with
a paralysis. Instead of describing his case pathologically, he turns
the attention, at once, from the body to the soul.
"December 16, 1799. On tiie tenth of last January, I was suddenly
seized with a paralytic stroke, which affected my right side, and rendered my
limbs of that side in a great measure useless, and much affected my speech.;
but was attended with little or no pain, and the exercise of my reason and
mental faculties was not in the least affected. This appeared to threaten my
speedy dissolution, in my view, and in the view of my friends, either by a
greater and more deadly stroke, or some other way. To be sure, I seasona
bly considered it as a warning to be ready for death. I felt that God had laid
his hand lightly upon me, and that tlie affliction was attended with much ten
der mercy ; and [II was resigned and thankful. For a short time, at first, my
mind was dark, and I seemed to myself to be in a measure shut out from the
sensible presence of God and the Saviour ; but soon I was led to a view and
sense of Jesus Christ, as exalted to the . throne of the universe, having all
power in heaven and earth, clothed with infinite power, wisdom, rectitude,
and goodness, governing tlie world and ordering every event, the least and
greatest, as it shall be most for his glory, and the greatest general good ;
having mercy on whom he will have mercy, and hardening whom he will ;
and showing mercy to every one to whom he can do it consistently with wis
dom and goodness, — i. e., consistently with the greatest display of his char
acter and perfections, and the highest happiness of the creation ; and that all
this, and every thing, and event, and circumstance were determined and fixed
from eternity, by eternal, unerring wisdom, righteousness, and goodness. In
this view, the Saviour appeared infinitely great and important, and divinely
worthy and amiable. I felt myself and all creatures and things to be in
his hands, and was pleased and rejoiced in this, knowing that every thing
was ordered and conducted in tlie wisest and best possible manner, so as to
answer the best and most desirable ends ; that the Saviour would injure none,
fulfil all Ms promises to a tittle, and accomplish all his designs in the best
time and the most desirable and perfect manner ; so that all is well, in tiie best
* Works, vol. iv. pp. 348, 349. — It is probable that after his paralysis, the aged divine
may not have risen so uniformly at four o'clock, as he had done. He was tenacious,
however, of his old habits. M

246 MEMOIR.
and most desirable situation that possibly can be. In a belief and sense of
tbis, and more, which cannot be expressed, my soul was full of comfort and
joy, saying, ' The Lord Jesus Christ reigns, let the earth rejoice. Our God
is in the heavens. He hath done, doth, and will do whatsoever he pleaseth.'
" In these pleasing and comfortable views and exercises, I had no particu
lar attention to, or thought of, myself, whether I were a Christian and should
be saved or not. But my comfort and joy were derived from, or rather con
sisted in, a view and sense of the excellent, glorious character of Christ, in
whose hands I and all things were, and who would order and dispose of
things concerning me and all men and creatures, so as in the highest degree
to promote his glory, or the glory of God, which is the same ; and effect the
greatest general good or happiness, or the wisest and best ends. In this
view, my heart said, with strong emotions and the most pleasing sensations,
' Amen ! Thy will be done ! ' — without knowing or considering what his will
was concerning me. Had I reflected judiciously on my own exercises, I
might have rationally judged them to be agreeable to the truth, and an evi
dence that I was a friend to Christ ; but I did not so reflect as to make this
conclusion. This view and sense of things still abides with me, but at differ
ent times in a higher and lower degree, but not so that I can infer from it,
without hesitation, that I am a real Christian, and shall be saved. My views
and exercises appear to me so much below the truth and so inconstant, that,
sometimes, I doubt of their reality, or of their being real Christian exercises ;
and I have such a deceitful heart, that I fear delusion, though at times all
doubts subside. My person and whole interest in time and to eternity is,
compared with the grand whole, — the glory of God and the best interest of
his kingdom, — so small and inconsiderable, that when I have the latter in a
sensible view, the former sinks into a. mere speck or nothing, and is almost
wholly overlooked and forgotten, and the language of my heart is, ' Let God
be glorified by all, and the best interest of his kingdom be secured and pro
moted, let what will become of me and my interest ! ' And while I see the
former grand interest is secure, and will be in the best manner promoted, I
am satisfied and rejoice. And this so engrosses my thoughts and reflections,
that I do not attend to the interest of any individual person, my own or [that
of] any one else, so as to excite any sensible joy or sorrow, hope or fear ; tho
interest of such individual being overlooked as not worthy of any regard, in
comparison with the grand interest of the whole ; — this so impresses the mind
and fills it, as to exclude the other.
" But as my mind cannot have a view of all objects with equal clearness
and attention, at one and the same time, but different objects are more attend
ed to, and make a greater impression at some times than at others, so when I
attend more particularly to my own state and interest, I naturally reflect upon
the views and affections and enjoyments I have experienced in attending to the
person, character, and works of Christ, and the greatness, glory, and happi
ness of his kingdom; and the inference seems to be plain, that I am a friend
to these objects ; but I am not able always, if at any time, to see the truth of
this consequence with clearness and certainty. When the clearness and
sensibility of these views and exercises in a measure subside, and I attend
more to my own character, and my depravity, stupidity, unbelief, and the evil
and deceitfulness of my heart rise into view, I am disposed to call in question
my own good estate, and to suspect that my exercises fall short of real Chris
tianity ; yet, maintaining a hope that this is not the case, which is sometimes
weaker and sometimes stronger, and frequently for a short space rises so high
as to exclude doubting ; but even then, though this excites gratitude, it does
not raise my comfort and joy to that degree, as does the direct view of the
.haracter of Christ and his kingdom above mentioned, without any particular
attention to my own character and personal interest When my doubts and
fears prevail most, respecting my personal union to Christ, and I attend par
ticularly to my personal concerns and interest, it appears, when considered by
itself, to be beyond all conception, and infinitely great, which I feel ta be

MEMOIR. 247
wholly in the hands of Christ, to be determined by him whether I shall be
happy or miserable forever. And this is so far from being disagreeable to
me, that I am highly pleased with it, and would not have it otherwise on any
consideration whatever. I feel that I am in the best hands, and, in this
respect, in the best situation that I possibly could be in. He certainly will
not injure me in any respect, or in the least degree. He is infinitely wise,
good, and merciful, and knows what is most for his own glory, and the highest
good and happiness of his kingdom ; and can and will certainly save me and
every one else with whom I have any connection, if it may be consistent with
his glory and the greatest happiness of his kingdom, or consistent with wis
dom and goodness, which is the same ; and I cannot so much as wish or have
the least desire to be saved on any other supposition, — i. e., if this be incon
sistent with infinite wisdom and goodness, and contrary to the greatest good
and glory of Christ and his kingdom ; and [I] feel that it would be awful impi
ety and rebellion to ask for salvation on any other supposition. ¦
" But when I reflect on the dreadfulness of being cast away forever by
Christ, to suffer the just desert of my sins, feeling tlie strokes and tokens of
his righteous anger and vengeance ; and b'eing given up to evil lusts, to join
with the devil and exist eternally on his side, an enemy to Christ and his
kingdom, my soul recoils, and feels this to be intolerable ! Then I fly to
Christ and his atonement, and cast myself down at his feet, to dispose of me
as he pleases ; yet hoping and crying for mercy, — O ! be merciful to me, a
sinner ; — which is accompanied with a number of various exercises which
cannot be easily described.
" And when I reflect on these exercises, they appear to me to be consistent
with Christianity, and an evidence of real friendship to Christ; and I am
sensible that if another person should relate to me such views and exercises
as experienced by him, I should think them an evidence that he was a real
Christian. Yet I often greatly doubt of my being a true Christian ; especially
when I have some more clear view and sense of my barren and sinful life,
and attend particularly to that.
" These are some of my daily, various exercises, in all which I always
maintain a hope that I am a Christian, which sometimes excludes . all doubt ;
being constantly assured of the truth of the gospel, — that this is a revelation
of the only true God, and of eternal life ; and that the truths which I have
preached as contained in the gospel, are indeed the truths of God, and suf
ficient to support and comfort a Christian in the near view of death and eter
nity, and under all tlie afflictions of this life. And I live in the constant
assurance of the truth of the doctrine of the decrees of God, and of his uni
versal and particular providence directing every event and every thing which
comes to pass, and exercising absolute sovereignty in his dealing with men ;
without which I could have no support and comfort. And my chief comfort
and joy does not consist in or arise from an assurance or hope that I shall be
saved ; but in a view and sense of tlie perfections and glory of Christ, his
power, wisdom, and goodness, reigning and ordering all things for the glory
of God and the greatest good of his kingdom. And this is accompanied with
an experimental assurance, that the exercises of true religion are wholly dis
interested and in direct opposition to all selfishness, — a doctrine which I
have endeavored to maintain and inculcate for many years.
" When I was first taken with this disorder, and for most of the time since,
I have had little or no sensible desire of recovering, and was not inclined so
much as to ask for it ; my mind rather reluctated at the thought of recovering
so as to preach after the poor, dull way in which I had hitherto preached,
and with as little success. But God has been pleased to recover me, so that
I have been able to attend public worship and preach for several months past ;
and I do not feel that preaching hurts me, or aggravates my disorder, which
encourages me to proceed, but with many and great discouragements from
my own great deficiencies, and the want of a proper attention apparent in the
congregation in general. But Christ will answer his own ends by me, and

248 MEMOIR.
continue me in the world, and take me out of it in the best time ana manner,
so as best to answer these ends ; and in this I daily acquiesce and rejoice.
Amen." *
On the tenth of January, 1800, this lowly disciple made the follow
ing record, first, of the signs that he was " a real Christian," and,
secondly, of the indications that he was not " a real friend to
Christ." The favorable signs are thus humbly and honestly given :
" 1. I have been so far convinced of my sins and reproved for them, that I
know that I am infinitely guilty, and deserve eternal destruction and misery ;
that God would be just, and I should have no reason to complain, if he should
punish me forever, with aggravated torments. This conviction is abiding and
increasing, while I heartily approve of the law of God which curses the trans
gressor, — as holy, just, and good. This conviction and sense of the evil of sin,
and of my depravity and sinfulness, rises much higher sometimes than others ;
but I am never disposed to cast it off or doubt the truth of it, but it is fixed
on my mind ; and when I have the greatest sense of it, I know that I see but
little of what it really is in the sight of God, — that the number of my sins
and the magnitude and aggravations of each one are infinitely beyond my
comprehension, and are known perfectly to God alone, — that I am wholly
and beyond expression depraved and sinful, naturally, being infinitely far from
any moral goodness to recommend me to the mercy and favor of God, — and
that if my heart be changed so as to exercise holiness in any degree, yet this
is so defective, and attended with so much moral defilement and sin, that all
taken together it is worse than nothing, and affords matter of condemnation,
and is infinitely far from deserving any good or favor. And if I were wholly
recovered from my depravity, and were made perfectly holy, this would be so
infinitely overbalanced by the guilt of my sins, that it could not be reckoned
in my favor, so as to procure the pardon of my sins, or render me deserving
of any good thing. I have a constant and growing conviction, that I am
wholly dependent on the preventing, sovereign grace of God, for my recovery
from this miserable, lost state of infinite guilt and total depravity, and for the
least degree of sincerity and faith or conformity to the law of God ; that I
am wholly lost, and shall sink down to hell, an enemy to God and all good,
and justly perish forever, unless Christ, by his sovereign goodness, clothed
with omnipotence and infinite wisdom, shall recover and save me, while' I shall
not do any thing towards my salvation, or make the least exertion for it ; but
all that I will and do is contrary to it, unless and no farther than he shall work
in me to will and to do, of his sovereign good pleasure, what he requires as
necessary to my salvation. Thus I feel myself to be an infinitely guilty,
odious creature, utterly undone in myself, and have not a word to say, and
have not a thought in my favor ; my mouth is stopped in this respect, and I
am guilty before God, and accept the punishment of my iniquity.
"If this, which I have imperfectly described, implies the essentials of real
repentance, in which I humble myself in the sight of the Lord, with a broken
and contrite heart, then I have a new heart and am interested in tlie divine
promises. But if not, — then I have never yet understood the true meaning-
of these words of Scripture, and my eyes are yet blinded with regard to my
own character !
" 2. I think I do most heartily approve of, and acquiesce in, the person and
character of Christ, and am pleased with the way of salvation of sinners by
him. All his directions, exhortations, commands, doctrines which he taught,
all that he said, did, and suffered, and all his revealed purposes and designs
appear wise, good, and excellent, and carry clear marks and abundant evi
dence of divinity in them. Hence
* Sketches, etc., pp. 105-113.

MEMOIR. 249
"3. I do, I think, place all my hope in him, and desire not to be found and
accepted in any righteousness of my own, were this possible ; but to be par
doned and justified by the merit and righteousness of Christ. I am sensibly
and greatly pleased with being wholly dependent on him for righteousness,
sanctification, and complete redemption. If there were any other possible way
of salvation, which I know there is not, I would reject it, not desiring to be
sived in any way but that which is revealed in the gospel.
" 4. I think I desire and seek the glory of God and the greatest good and
happiness of the universe, as my highest and ultimate end ; and in this view
am pleased with and rejoice in the character and designs of God and Christ,
who is doing every thing for this end, and will accomplish it in the most per
fect manner, and in the highest possible degree. And on this account I am
highly pleased with Christ and the gospel, as by the redemption of man by
Christ, God is glorified in an eminent degree, and the greatest happiness of
creatures promoted and effected. And for this reason I acquiesce in it, that
all of the human race should not be saved, but a part of them perish forever
iii their sins, as divine revelation has declared ; because I know this is neces
sary for the glory of God, and the greatest good of his eternal kingdom, and
not one will be lost forever, who could be saved consistently with this ; and
therefore all will be saved who can be saved consistently with infinite wisdom
and goodness. Therefore, —
" 5. I am most satisfied and pleased, when I have the most clear and feel
ing sense of my being in the hands of Christ, in the most perfect and absolute
sense and degree, and wholly at his disposal in time and to eternity ; knowing
that he will do with and by me what is most for his glory and the good of his
kingdom ; and that he will save me, if he can do it consistently with this ; and
this is all that I can desire. Therefore I am well pleased with being in his
hands and wholly at his disposal, let him do what he will with me, and cannot
conceive of a better and more desirable situation : yea, I know there cannot
be a better.
" When I reflect on the feelings and exercises expressed in the last two
particulars, they seem to me to be the expression of true disinterested benev
olence, or that love by which we are formed after the likeness of God, and
he dwelleth in us, and we in him. The reason of my doubting of this, espe
cially at times, has been in some measure suggested before, and will be more
fully expressed in the sequel.
" 6. I think I do hunger and thirst after righteousness. My longing to be
perfectly holy is, sometimes, very sensible and strong, exceeding all desires
of earthly things that I have, or of which I am capable. I have often felt
willing and a desire to die immediately, if this might bring me to perfect holi
ness, to a complete conformity to Christ
" 7. I feel my heart strongly united to those whom I consider to be real
friends to Christ, in benevolent and complacential love ; especially those with
whom I am more particularly and intimately acquainted. I have a quite dif
ferent feeling toward them from that which I have toward otbers, and have a
peculiar delight in their company and conversation.
"8. My preaching and conversation has been generally acceptable and
pleasing to those whom I have esteemed the most judicious and best Chris
tians, so far as I have been able to learn. I have not only preached the doc
trines which I verily believed to be true, but heartily approved of them, and
have delivered those truths of the word of God respecting practical and ex
perimental religion, which were the dictates of my heart, and often, if not
commonly, suggested by my own feelings and exercises ; and have not en
deavored to appear better or in a more agreeable light, than was agreeable to
the truth, though I am sensible that my Christian friends have in many in
stances and respects, thought too highly of me, which has been matter of shame
and humiliation to me ; yet their love and esteem, I have been ready to con
sider as an evidence in my favor, though of little weight considered by itself,
as we know not each other's hearts, and are liable to be greatly deceived in

250 MEMOIR.
others. I therefore mention this as coinciding with, and in some measure
strengthening the evidences which have been mentioned. This is, at least,
an evidence that what appears in my preaching, conversation, and external
conduct, which, so far as I know, is in general agreeable to my heart, (at least
I do not on design attempt to play the hypocrite,) is to judicious Christians,
who are most acquainted with me, an evidence that I am a real Christian."
How beautiful is the honesty of this aged scholar ! How un
common is the lowliness with which he proceeds to write dark things
against himself!
" I proceed to mention some things which appear to me, at times at least,
reason of fear that I never have known what it is to be a real Christian, and
are at times, if not generally, the cause of many doubts.
" 1. My stupidity and hardness of heart with respect to things divine and
' invisible, or the truths exhibited in the gospel. At times, and I believe I may
say generally, I have very little or no sense of these things, and they make
very little impression on my heart, if any ; and I often feel as if they had no
existence, while in my reason and judgment I have no doubt of their truth
and reality. And when L have some sense of the truth, reality, and excel
lence of them, and even when I have the greatest sense and the most affect
ing view and impression of them on my heart, and I am most strongly and
deeply affected with them, I am sensible that the view and sense I have is
very imperfect and unspeakably short of the truth, and of what I ought to have,
and even the greatest impression, and highest affection that I at any time ex
perience, commonly soon abate and subside, and I am left as stupid and sense
less as ever ; and what I thought I had experienced seems like a dream, and
as if it was not a reality. This stupidity and senselessness is commonly most
sensible and burdensome m my public performances of prayer and preaching ;
and even when I have freedom of speech and a flow of words, and my Chris
tian friends have thought I was greatly assisted, I have been conscious of my
great and shameful stupidity, and want of a proper sense of the things of"
which I have been speaking. This, which is more or less sensibly felt, is
my constant attendant, and the grief and burden of my heart, and mat
ter of my constant confessions and prayer to God for deliverance from
it; being always sensibly convinced that no external light and advantages,
or any means used, will in the least remove this stupidity and hardness
of heart ; but that the Spirit of God alone can remove it, and give me
that spiritual sensibility and feeling of heart which I seem most earnestly
to desire. I consider this stupidity, blindness, and insensibility of heart
to divine things, to be altogether and infinitely criminal; as it must be
owing to the moral corruption and depravity of my heart, or rather consist
wholly in depravity and wickedness of heart, being hardened, contracted, and
bound up in selfishness and pride, and all the evil propensities which are im
plied in these. This is unbelief of heart, which is consistent with a convic
tion of the reason and judgment, of the truths contained in the gospel ; for
no degree of such conviction will in the least remove this blindness, hardness,
and unbelief of heart, which I am considering. But blindness and unbelief
of heart have a strong tendency to prevent or remove a conviction of the judg
ment and conscience of tlie truth and reality of invisible things, and to pro
mote speculative unbelief of them ; and are the real and only ground of all
deism and atheism, and all speculative infidelity. This gives Satan great ad
vantage to blind the minds of them who believe not, and lead them captives to
infidelity, which he improves to the utmost of his power.
" I do not sensibly perceive the real ground and reason of this darkness and
stupidity of my mind with respect to invisible things, but am most sensible of
the fact, while the cause of this lamentable fact is out of sight, and is rather
the object of reason and speculation. This blindness and stupidity of heart

MEMOIR. 251
are so sensible and, appear so great to me, especially at times, that I much
doubt whether it be consistent with the true knowledge of God, or my having
any real Christian light and discerning, which Christ calls ' the light of life"'
which he gives to all his true followers. Yet I know that when I hear pro
fessing Christians complain of their stupidity and blindness, &c, I do not con
sider this as an evidence that they are not Christians, but rather in their favor,
as a sign that they have a sensibility and discerning respecting their own
hearts, which is peculiar to Christians. But it is not easy for me to apply
this to myself, and draw such a consequence in my own favor. I am apt to
consider my blindness and stupidity not to be like that of others, but greater
and peculiar to myself.
" 2. My life and conversation, all taken together, both external and inter
nal, appear very much against me, and so destitute of any good fruit, and so
full of deformity and sin both of omission and commission, that I know not
how to reconcile it with the life of a Christian, especially at some times, when-
I have a view of it as a most deformed and odious life, considering the many
and peculiar advantages and opportunities I have had, and my great obliga
tions to live a holy life, wholly devoted to Christ ; all which I have abused in
a greater or less degree continually. Though I dare not say I have not been,
and am not in any degree sincere in my regard to Christ and the truths of the
gospel, and have a hope that I have had and now have some sincerity, yet I
cannot look back upon a well-spent life, for it appears unspeakably far from
such an one. I have often said, ' I will be wise,' but it has been far from me.
I cannot view myself as a good and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, but much
to the contrary ; and, therefore, cannot realize it, or even conceive how he
can view and call me such an one, as he represents that he will do all who
shall be owned by him at the last day. This is often cause of great doubts
and fears that I am not a real servant of Jesus Christ. I know he will own
and accept of the least thing done for him from a true regard to him, but I
feel that I have nothing that I have done to plead in my favor.
"3. It has been matter of doubt and discouragement to me, that I have
httle or no success by my preaching, in being made the instrument of
awakening and converting sinners. But very few instances of this have
come to my knowledge, and these not very remarkable and clear. I came
upon the stage and began to preach, when there was a great and general re
vival of religion in New England ; many were awakened, and thought to be
converted, and many ministers were successful in this, and had great revivals
in their congregations ; but. no such thing has appeared under my preaching,
though some individuals have sometimes appeared to be in some degree
awakened. I should expect that a good minister of Christ would be succeed
ed in this respect — especially when others round about him were successful
- more than I have appeared to be. This has led me to fear, especially at
times, that there is some essential defect in me, and that I had not the true
spirit of Christ, and his real presence and approbation. I do not think I have
reason to conclude that my ministrations in preaching, writing, and conversa
tion have been altogether useless and unprofitable. They have been accept
able to many, if not to all, who have appeared to be Christians, especially tu
the most attentive, engaged, and judicious ; and many have thought them
selves greatly instructed, strengthened, and comforted by them ; and my
usefulness, if there has been any, has not consisted in being the mean of
convincing and converting sinners, but chiefly in ministering to the saints,
and building them up in faith and holiness ; and I believe my publications
have been the means of spreading light with respect to some important doc
trines of Christianity. This I consider as matter of thankfulness ; but it does
not wholly remove my gloom and doubts, which arise from the inefficacy of
my preaching with respect to sinners ; and when I attend to the great and
shameful defects and poorness of my preaching, and the little sense I have
of what I do say, &c, together with want of success, I don't wonder my

252 MEMOIR.
preaching is without effect, and my doubts of my having any true grace are
increased." *

Sect. L. PREACHING AFTER HIS PARALYSIS.
" I speak with difficulty," writes the faithful paralytic, October 4,
1799, " yet so that my congregation can understand me. I have
preached all day on the Sabbath for some time, and [I] do not find
that it hurts me. But I am hastening to the grave, and do not find
that I am doing any great good, if any." Doubtless his friends could
easily understand his discourses. But a gentleman now living, who
occasionally attended service at Dr. Hopkins's meeting-house, writes :
" I can truly say, that I never heard him preach ; his voice was
so tremulous, broken, inarticulate, that I never heard him, [even
when I saw him preaching.]" The venerable paralytic lived only a
few rods, from his church edifice, and yet was often obliged to
ride thither in a chaise ; but he persevered in preaching till the age
of eighty-two. It was dangerous for him to ascend the pulpit stairs,
or even to go up the broad aisle, without help; therefore his old
friend and sexton, Newport Gardner,t often walked close behind
him, to catch him if he fell, and to stay up his trembling frame, if
he seemed to falter in his movements; — still he persevered in
preaching. There are persons living who recollect, or at least have
the impression, that Newport Gardner sometimes helped him rise in
the pulpit to read the hymn, or offer prayer, and afterward aided
him in resuming his seat ; — still he preached. One would think
that his constant theme should have been, " the perseverance of the
saints."

Sect. LI. PERSEVERANCE IN HIS OLD FRIENDSHIPS, ESPECIALLY
TO THE EDWARDS FAMILY.
One of the most interesting traits in the character of Hopkins
was, his continued faithfulness to the friends of his youth. He has
been thought to be one of those men who, in the words of Milton,
have " such a scholastical bur in their throats, as hath stopped and
hindered all true and generous philosophy from entering, [and]
cracked their voices forever with metaphysical gargarisms." But
more than once in his letters, at the age of eighty-two, he apologizes
for his earnest expressions of friendship, with such clauses as, " You
will perhaps think by what I have written, that I am not a little en
thusiastic in my old age." The following honest-hearted words to
Rev. Jonathan Judd, of Southampton, J breathe the forgiving spirit
of the man who had suffered so much for his faith :
* Sketches, etc., pp. 114-124. t See section xxxvii. of this Memoir.
X See p. 34 of this Memoir.

MEMOIR. 253
" Newport, November 5, 1798. Dear Sir : It is near thirty years since I
have had any thing direct from you, and I do not remember that I have writ
ten you since, which I am now disposed to consider as my fault The import
of your line to me then was, that you considered me as a great and wicked
heretic, highly deserving rebuke.* I believe I have published nothing since,
that would lead you to have a better opinion of me, had you read my writings,
which to me is improbable.
" However, considering our consanguinity,! that we originated in the same
town, were classmates at college, and the intimacy which took place between
us when we were young and entering on the stage of life, there is, perhaps,
no reason for our living strangers to each other. I therefore now sit down to
write you by post, as I know of no other way of conveyance, presuming yon
are yet in this world, though I have heard nothing of you for a considerable
time. " You are about a year older or younger than I am, I think, but I do not
remember which. I was seventy-seven years old on the seventeenth day of
last September. But very few of our contemporaries are now living, and we
shall soon be called off the stage of life. I think I have heard of the death of
the wife of your youth ; and that you have since married another wife, but who,
or from whence, or whether she be yet alive, I know not. You have children,
I conclude, some or all of them grown up and settled in the world ; but how
many you have had, whether they be all alive, and what proportion of males
and females, I have not been informed." —
Hopkins next gives an unvarnished account- of his own family, and
adds :
" My church and congregation were large and flourished, before the war
with Britain, but in that war were greatly-diminished and impoverished ; from
which state they have not risen. However, I have my daily food, and live
comfortably and in peace, having neither poverty nor riches, as a temptation
to lead me astray." —
"I enjoy a comfortable measure of health, through the distinguishing mercy
of God, and have fewer complaints than men of my years commonly have ; —
am able to attend the public services of the Sabbath constantly, and we have
a weekly conference at my house every Thursday, evening. But religion is
very low with us, and in these parts." —
The writer then enumerates his various publications, and adds :
" We are going into a world of light, where it will be known what truth
and what errors we have imbibed and contended' for in this dark world ; and
then all matters will be set right ; to which I feel no reluctance, hoping I
sincerely love the truth, and that I am building on the sure foundation laid
in Zion, whatever hay and stubble may be found' with me. And as to others,
who are the professed friends of Christ, I desire not to judge any of them
before the time.
" If this should find you alive and in health, and you- should find it in your
heart to write me by the same conveyance in which this goes, you would
much oblige your kinsman and old friend, S. Hopkins.
" Reverend Jonathan Judd.
"P. S. Mrs. Hopkins wishes you to think of her as your respectful
friend." J
* Mr. Judd was strongly opposed to some of the opinions of Dr. Hopkins.
t The mother of Dr. Hopkins was a sister of Mr. Judd's father.
X See the whole of this letter in the New England Historical and Genealogical Regis
ter, vol. v. pp. 43-45. V

254

MEMOIR.

The faithfulness of Dr. Hopkins to his old friends, is most con
spicuous in his life-long devotedness to the family of President Ed
wards. When the President and his consort were removed by death,
Hopkins wrote :
" Mrs. Sarah Edwards, the amiable consort of President Edwards, did not
long survive him. In September, she set out in good health on a journey to
Philadelphia, to take care of her two orphan grandchildren, which were now
in that city, and had been since the death of Mrs. Burr. As they had no re
lations in those parts, Mrs. Edwards proposed to take them into her own
family. She arrived there by the way of Princeton, September 21, in good
health, having had a comfortable journey. But in a few days she was sud
denly seized with a violent dysentery, which put an end to her life on the
fifth day, October 2, 1758, in the forty-ninth year of her age. ' She said not
much in her sickness, being exercised most of the time with violent pain.
On the morning of the day she died, she apprehended her death was near,
when she expressed her entire resignation to God, and desire that God might
be glorified in all things ; and that she might be enabled to glorify him to the
last ; and continued in such a temper, calm and resigned, till she died.
" Her remains were carried to Princeton, which is about forty miles from
Philadelphia, and deposited with Mr. Edwards's. Thus they who were in their
lives remarkably lovely and pleasant, in their death were not much divided.
Here lie the father and mother, the son and daughter, who were laid together
in the grave within the space of a little more than a year ; though, a few
months before, their dwelling was more than one hundred and fifty miles
apart. Two presidents of the same college and their consorts, than whom it
will doubtless be hard to find four persons more valuable and useful, in a few
months are cut off from the earth forever ; and by a remarkable providence
are put, as it were, into one grave ! And we, the survivors, are left under
the gloomy apprehension that these righteous are taken away from the evil
to come.
" Surely, America is greatly, emptied by these deaths ! How much knowl
edge, wisdom, and holiness is gone from the earth forever ! And where are
they who shall make good their ground ! *
Hopkins describes Mrs. Edwards as uncommonly beautiful in her
person, courteous and engaging in her manners, and gives the fol
lowing simple-hearted account of her domestic life :
" She paid proper deference to Mr. Edwards, and treated him with decency
and respect at all times. As he was of a weakly, infirm constitution, and was
peculiar and exact in his diet, she was a tender nurse to him ; cheerfully at
tending upon him at all times, and ministering to his comfort ; and spared no
pains to conform to his inclinations, and make things agreeable and comfort
able to him.
" She accounted it her greatest glory, and that wherein she could best serve
God and her generation, in being a means of promoting Mr. Edwards's comfort
and usefulness, in this way. And no person of discerning could be conversant
in the family, without observing and admiring the great harmony and mutual
love and esteem that subsisted between them.
" When she herself labored under bodily disorders and pains, which was
often the case, she was not wont to be full of her complaints, and put on a de
jected or sour countenance, being out of humor with every body and every
thing, as if she was disregarded and neglected, but she would bear up under
them with patience, and a kind of cheerfulness and good humor.
* Appendix to the Memoir of President Edwards, pp. 109, 110, Edinburgh edition.

MEMOIR. 255
" She was a good economist, managing her household affairs with discre
tion ; in which she was laborious and diligent She was very careful that
nothing should be wasted and lost ; and often, when she did any thing to
save a small matter, or directed her children to do it in any instance, or saw
them waste any thing, she would mention the words of our Saviour, which,
she said, she often thought of, as containing a maxim worth remembering ;
when, as the reason why his disciples should gather up the fragments, he
says, ' that nothing be lost' She took almost the whole care of the temporal
affairs of the family, without doors and within; and in this she was peculiarly
suited to Mr. Edwards's disposition, who chose to have no care of any worldly
business. " She had an excellent way of governing her children. She knew how to
make them regard and obey her cheerfully, without loud, angry words, or
heavy blows. She seldom struck her children a blow ; and, in speaking to
them, used mild, gentle, and pleasant words. If any correction was needful,
it was not her manner to give it in a passion. And when she had occasion to
reprove and rebuke, she would do it in few words, without heat and noise,
with all calmness and gentleness of mind. And in her directions or re
proofs, in any matters of importance, she would address herself to the reason
of her children, that they might not only know her inclination and will, but at
the same time be convinced of the reasonableness of it. She need speak
but once ; she was cheerfully obeyed ; murmuring and answering again were
not known among them ; and the kind and gentle treatment they had from
their mother, while she strictly and punctually maintained her parental au
thority, seemed naturally to beget and promote a filial regard and respect,
and lead them to a mild, tender treatment of each other ; for quarrelling and
contention, as it frequently takes place among children, was not known among
them. She carefully observed the first appearances of resentment and ill will
towards any, in her young children, and did not connive at it and promote
it, as many who have the care of children do, but was careful to show her
displeasure at it, and suppress it to her utmost ; not by angry, wrathful words
and blows, which often provoke children to wrath, and stir up and confirm
their irascible passions, rather than abate and suppress them.
" As she was sensible that, in many respects, the chief care of forming
children by government and instruction naturally lies on mothers, as they are
most with their children in their most pliable age, when they commonly re
ceive impressions by which they are very much formed for life, so she was
very careful to do her part in this important business. And when she met
with any special difficulty in this matter, or foresaw any, she was wont to
apply to Mr. Edwards for advice and assistance ; and on such occasions they
would both attend to it as a matter of great importance.
" But this was not all in which she expressed her care for her children.
She thought that parents had great and important duty to do towards their
children, before they were capable of government and instruction. For them
she constantly and earnestly prayed, and bore them on her heart before God,
in all her secret and most solemn addresses to him ; and that even before
they were born 
" She was remarkable for her kindness to her friends and visitants, who
resorted to Mr. Edwards. She would spare no pains to make them welcome,
and provide for their convenience and comfort ; and she was peculiarly kind
to strangers who came to her house. She would take such kind and special
notice of such, and so soon get acquainted with them, as it were, and show
such regard and concern for their comfort, and so kindly offer what she
thought they needed, as to discover she knew the heart of a stranger, and
well understood how to do it good, and so as to oblige them to feel, in some
measure, as if they were at home.
" She made it her rule to speak well of all, so far as she could with truth
and justice to herself and others. She was not wont to dwell with delight on
the imperfections and fadings of any ; and when she heard persons speaking

256 MEMOIR.
ill of others, she would say what she thought she could, with truth and justice,
in their excuse, or divert the obloquy by mentioning those things that were
commendable in them. Thus she was tender of every one's character, even
of theirs who injured and spoke evil of her ; and carefully guarded against
the too common vice of evil speaking and backbiting. She could bear inju
ries and reproach with great calmness and patience, without any disposition
to render evil for evil ; but, on the contrary, was ready to pity and forgive
those who appeared to be her enemies.
" She had long told her intimate friends, that she had, after long struggles
and exercises, obtained, by God's grace, an habitual willingness to die herself,
or part with any of her most near relatives, — that she was willing to bring
forth children for death, and resign up him whom she esteemed so great a
blessing to her and her family — her nearest partner — to the stroke of death,
whenever God should see fit to take him. And when she had the greatest
trial, in the death of Mr. Edwards, she found the help and comfort of such a
disposition. Her conversation and conduct on this occasion was even to the
admiration of her friends. It was such as discovered that she was sensible
of the great loss she and her children had sustained in his death ; and at the
same time showed that she was quiet and resigned, and had those invisible
supports and comforts by which she could trust in God with quietness, hope,
and humble joy." *
In the same volume which contains the " Short Sketch of Mrs.
Edwards's Life and Character," is also a " Brief Account of Mrs.
Esther Burr, and some Extracts of Letters wrote by her." Mrs.
Burr was the third daughter of President Edwards. Her biographer
says of her :
She " exceeded most of her sex in the beauty of her person, and in a de
cent and easy gesture, behavior, and conversation, (not stiff and starch on the
one hand, nor mean and indecent on the other ;) in her unaffected, natural
freedom with persons of all ranks with whom she conversed. Her genius was
much more than common. She had a lively, sprightly imagination, a quick
and penetrating thought, and a good judgment She had a peculiar smart
ness in her make and temper, which yet was consistent with pleasantness and
good nature ; and she knew how to be pleasant and .facetious without tres
passing on the bounds of gravity, or strict and serious. religion. In short, she
seemed to be formed to please, and especially to please one of Mr. Burr's
taste and talents, in whom he was exceeding happy. But what crowned al.
her excellences, and was her chief glory, was her religion. She was hope
fully converted when she was seven or eight years old ; and she made a pub
lic profession of religion when she was about fifteen years of age ; and her
conversation and conduct, to her death, were exemplary, and as becometh
godliness." f
Our author thus describes her death :
" Mrs. Burr and her children were inoculated at tlie same time her father
was, and were recovered when he died. But after she was perfectly recov
ered to all appearance, she was suddenly seized with a violent disorder, which
carried her out of the world in a few days ; and which the physician said he
could call by no name, but that of a messenger sent suddenly to call her out qf
the world. She died April 7, 1758, sixteen days after her father, in the
twenty-seventh year of her age. She was married to Mr. Burr June 29/
1752. By him she had two children, a son and a daughter." J
* Appendix to the Memoir of President Edwards, pp. 112-116, Edinburgh edition.
t Ibid. pp. 104, 105. { Ibid. p. 10*.

MEMOIR. 257
In one of her letters to her father, after the death of President
Burr, the bereaved widow thus expresses herself:
" Since I wrote my mother's letter, God has carried me through new trials,
and given me new supports. My little son has been sick with a slow fever,
ever since my brother left, us, and has been brought to the brink of the grave,
but I hope in mercy God is bringing him up again. I was enabled to resign
the child, (after a severe struggle with nature,) with the greatest freedom.
God showed me that the child was not my own, but his ; and that he had a
right to recall what he had lent, whenever he thought fit; and I had no reason
to complain, or say, God was hard with me. This silenced me.
" But O, how good is God ! He not only kept me from complaining, but
comforted me by enabling me to offer up the child by faith, I think, if ever I
acted faith. I saw the fulness there was in Christ for little infants, and his
willingness to accept of such as were offered to him. ' Suffer little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not,' were comforting words. " *
This " little son " became, in the lapse of time, Vice President
of the United States. Knowing him to be then surrounded with a
brilliant circle of admirers, and to be flattered with a hope of new
promotion, Hopkins sits down in the narrow study, and writes to him
the following epistle. It is one of the last letters which he ever
wrote. He seems to have felt that he could not go to rejoin the
family of President Edwards, until he had performed a sad duty to
one of that good man's erring descendants :
" Newport,  , 1802. Honored Sir : You will probably be surprised,
(though it is hoped not offended,) by being addressed by a person above four
score years old, who has no personal acquaintance with you, and whom you
never saw and perhaps never heard of. The only apology I have to make for
this, is the intimate acquaintance and friendship which subsisted between me
and your .grandfather and grandmother Edwards, and their daughter, your
mother, and President Burr, your father ; and my consequent benevolent, re
spectful regard for you.
" After the death of President Burr, President Edwards, and your mother,
Mrs. Edwards was informed that you and your sister were taken to Philadel
phia, by a friend of your deceased parents. She thought it her duty to make
a journey to Philadelphia, and take the best care she could of her two littie
orphan grandchildren. The day she set out on her journey, she called at my
house, as I then lived at Great Barrington, and proposed to me to write the
life of the late President Edwards ; to which I objected my being very un
equal to such a work. But being urged by her solicitations, I consented to
attempt it. Accordingly it was written, and by the approbation of his sur
viving friends it was published ; to which was added a Sketch of the Char
acter of Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Ijurr. This has been reprinted in London,
which you have doubtless seen, and read the account your mother has given
of her pious exercises respecting you, when you was a fatherless infant, and
sick unto death, as was feared, but mercifully recovered in answer to fervent
prayer. But to return from this perhaps needless digression.
" Mrs. Edwards arrived at Philadelphia in apparent good health, but was
soon seized with sickness, which put an end to her life in a few days, which
was, in a sense and degree, sacrificed in behalf of her two orphan grand
children. " In whose hands you was left after this, and who had the care of your
•"Appendix to the Memoir of President Edwards, p. 108, Edinburgh edition.
V*

258 MEMOIR.
education in your childhood and early youth, I do not recollect that I was ever
informed. But that you have had a liberal education, and when you entered
on the stage of life you studied and practised the law with success and repu
tation, and that in our late revolutionary war with Britain you were an active
and useful officer under Washington, is sufficiently ascertained ; and you are
now raised to the dignity of Vice President of the United States, and con
sequently are a candidate for the highest office which the people of these
States can confer.
" It is reported, and it is believed by a number, that you do not believe in
divine revelation, and discard Christianity as not worthy of credit. I know
this is an age of infidelity, but I do not think I have such evidence of the
truth of this report, as to exclude all hope that it is not true. It would be
very grievous to me, and! know it would be inexpressibly so to your pious
and worthy, ancestors, were they now in this world, to know that one of their
posterity, for whom they had made so many prayers, who was educated in a
Christian land, and is possessed of such great and distinguished natural
powers of mind, was an infidel ; especially as it is certain diat such a char
acter cannot be so useful as mischievous, nor can he be happy, but miserable,
in this life ; and, dying so, will be inconceivably miserable forever.
" I am as certain that the God revealed in the Bible is the only true God,
and that Christianity is from hearen, and the only way to true happiness, as I
am that there is a God, or that there is any existence, either visible or in
visible ; therefore that all infidelity, whether it be called deism, atheism, or
scepticism, renounces the true God, has its foundation in a very depraved and
corrupt heart, and will land in endless misery. There is the most certain and
clear evidence, which cannot but be seen by every discerning, attentive mind,
both from reason, experience, and divine revelation, that all the worldly riches,
honors, and enjoyments, that any man can possess, cannot make him happy,
but is attended with more pain than pleasure ; and commonly, if not always,
with peculiar, trouble and vexation, if he seek happiness in this life only ; and
the best that he can hope for is the awfully dark and precarious cessation of
existence, when he shall leave this world. But if this forlorn hope fail, as it
certainly will, nothing remains but certain, inconceivable, endless misery.
"And there is equal evidence and certainty from the above-mentioned
sources, that the true Christian, whether rich or poor, in a high or low station,
honored and applauded, or neglected and despised by men, is in the posses
sion of a high, solid, and refined enjoyment, which the men of the world
know not, and which the world cannot give or take away ; consisting in the
knowledge, belief, and love of the truths and realities contained in the gospel,
and the exercises of heart and practice conformable thereto, and the hope of
future happiness and glory with which Christianity inspires when cordially
embraced ; to which he will soon be brought, under the care of an infinitely
powerful, wise, and benevolent Saviour, where he will enjoy complete and
growing felicity, without any end.
" Sir, however needless, futile, or assuming, this address may appear, I
hope it will be received without offence, from one who, with his best wishes
for your prosperity in all things, is your sincere friend and ready servant, in
all your lawful desires and commands. Samuel Hopkins,
Pastor of the First Church in Newport, R. I.
" Hon. Aaron Burr,
Vice President of the United States of America."
Honest old man ! Having loved the friends of his youth, he
loves them even to the last, and longs to repay their kindness to
him by laboring for their children and their children's children. His
right arm had been palsied three years before he wrote this epistle ;
but he obviously took great pains in fashioning its letters, and it is

MEMOIR. 259
penned with a much firmer hand than he exhibited in any of his
theological communications written at this date. All his attachments
were constant.

Sect. III. REVIVAL OF RELIGION.
It seemed good to the Rewarder of those who call upon him, no
to take home this laborious but often discouraged pastor, without first
gladdening his heart by a religious interest among his people. The
friend of Edwards, Buell, and Brainerd, he had preached his first
sermon in a revival of religion : it was meet that he should preach
his last in a like scene. The sun which rose brightly in the morn
ing, and had long been hidden behind the clouds, shone out again a:
its setting, and smiled upon the patient man who had waited so long
for its beams.
In his extreme old age, this faithful minister wrote down the name
of every member of his congregation, and offered day by day, in
that little study chamber, a separate prayer for one after another of
his beloved hearers. He had just completed this series of special
supplications, when Mr., afterwards Dr. Caleb J. Tenney, came to
aid him in his labors. A religious interest began at once. Strong
men were bowed down. The men who had become " mighty in
the Scriptures " under his tuition, began to love the truths which
they had learned. He had been particularly earnest in his prayers
for the choir, and nearly every one of his singers became joyful
in the Christian hope. In about a year from that time, thirty-one
of his hearers had enrolled their names among the disciples of
Christ, and his church- now contained about a hundred mem
bers.* His last sermon was preached during the progress of this
revival. He had been afflicted with a severe fever in the middle of
May, so that he was unable to speak in public until the middle of
July. He then resumed his work. On the sixteenth of October,
he preached from 1 Peter v. 8. " Be sober, be vigilant, because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour." Several who heard the sermon represent it as
solemn and subduing. He rode home, and as he was helped out of
his carriage, he said, with a wearied look, to his granddaughter :
" Now I have done : I can preach no more." He gave up. He
toiled as long as he could. Let us follow him to his rest.
* A larger number than at his installation ; (see p. 85, above.) It is to be remem
bered, that the revolutionary war reduced his society to sixty or seventy families, from a
hundred and thirty-five. His church was afterward reduced yet more, and at one time
it contained only three male members. The Second Congregational Church was also
diminished, and at one time depended upon Dr. Hopkins's church for a deacon, to dis
tribute the communion emblems.

260 MEMOIR.
Sect. LIII. DEATH.
On Monday morning, October seventh, he remained in his ex
hausted state, and during the forenoon was seized with a severe fit
of apoplexy, " which gave him all the appearance of a corpse. Re
covering his reason before night, he would sometimes whisper as loud
as he was able, ' O ! the glory, the glory that shall follow.' And
when reduced to his lowest state, and suffering the acutest of pain,
his soul seemed to be refreshed by this his favorite exclamation,
' O ! the glory that shall follow.' " *
Soon afterward he was attacked with a disorder of the intestines,
which greatly reduced him. He lost all appetite for food, and for
nine weeks took scarcely an ounce of solid nutriment. He sat up
in his easy chair two or three hours in the day. " I was with him,"
says Dr. Channing, " the day after he was seized with his last sick
ness. A minister present prayed with him, and for the continuance
of his life. When the prayer was finished, Dr. Hopkins said some
thing to this effect : ' You should not have asked for my life. I
can do nothing more. It is time for me to go.' He could not at
that moment have been distressed by doubts. Perhaps these were
the last words I heard from him." t
Says one who attended him through his last sickness: " Repos
sessed an uninterrupted peace ; and though he could say but little,
through his great inward weakness, yet he seemed to dwell in the
clearest views of divine truth. The glory which would arise to God,
in the salvation of sinners, filled his soul with ineffable joy. He had
not one anxious thought about death, — rejoiced that he was in
the hand of Christ, and wholly at his disposal." f
Another says, that often in his sickness he repeated the Psalm :
" I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and
my fortress, and my deliverer ; my God, my strength, in whom I
will trust ; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high
tower," etc., etc.
A clergyman bending over him uttered the words, " Most gone."
" Yes," he replied, " most gone." " And how do you feel, brother
Hopkins 1 " " My anchor is well cast, and my ship, though weather-
beaten, will outride the storm." §
He was particularly interested in the members of his own parish,
who made him their farewell visits ; and although he could not say
much to the young converts, he gave them " his approbation and his
blessing." Three days before his death, he received a visit from a youth over
whom he had watched with earnest but seemingly useless care.
* Ferguson's Memoir, p. 125. X Sketches, Introduction, p. xx.
t Letter of February 14, 1840. J Ferguson's Memoir, p. 126.

MEMOIR. 261
Taking the young man by the hand, he remarked : » I am feeble,
and cannot say much. I have said all that I can say. With my last
words I tell you, ' Religion is the one thing needful' " He pressed
the hand of his visitor still more closely, while he added : " And
now I am going to die, aud I am glad of it."
During the eighteenth and nineteenth of December, writes one
who was familiar with his last scenes, " his bodily distress was be
yond description." His reason was perfect to tlie last, and his
patience in his agonies, astonishing. After a very distressing turn,
we laid hiin down in his bed. He seemed easier ; and while a num
ber of us were sitting round him, he breathed his last, without a sigh
or a groan ; nor could we tell the moment in which he went ! " *
So died this calm man, on the twentieth of December, 1803, in the
sixty-third year of his Christian profession, in the sixty-second year
of his ministry, in the eighty-third year of his age ; an old disciple.

Sect. LIV. FUNERAL; GRAVE.
There had been, as we have already seen, an intimate friendship
of more than forty years, between tins deceased father and Dr. Levi
Hart, of Preston, Connecticut. These two divines had made an
agreement, that when either of them died his funeral sermon should,
if possible, be preached by the survivor. In conformity with this
plan, Dr. Hart pronounced the discourse, before a large auditory, t
at the funeral of his venerated friend. The sermon was published
soon afterward. J The Newport Mercury of December 24, 1803, con
tains the following notice of the funeral scene :
* Sketches, Introduction, pp. xx. xxi.
t It was affecting to see the number of the colored population, who testified their
gratitude to the deceased by attending his funeral.
t See West's Sketches, pp. 217-240. After a brief notice of the principal events in
Dr. Hopkins's life, Dr. Hart says :
•' Those who best knew him, and are most able to judge of ministerial eminence, will
agree that he was, even beyond most evangelical ministers, the chariot of Israel and the
horsemen thereof, in all those respects which have been already noticed. For this im
portant work he was eminently qualified by natural endowments, acquired knowledge,
and divine grace.
'•' His instructions, as a Christian teacher, were plain, clear, impressive and entertain
ing lo the attentive hearer, conveying the most essential and practical knowledge. His
example confirmed to his hearers the truths and duties which he taught. He was emi-
nendy useful to young ministers, and to those preparing for the Christian ministry, by
verbal instructions, and by various publications on theological subjects. All his printed
works may be read with profit, and especially the System of Divinity, in two volumes,
which he published in the latter part of his life.
•• We add, lhat he was the defence and safety to the church by his prayers ; in which
we have abundant reason to believe he was devout, ardent, and persevering to the last.
In these respects, and odiers not mentioned, he was a pillar in the church below, a man
lo make up the hedge and stand in the gap.
" While we drop the filial tear in committing his venerable dust to the house of
silence, as a common loss to the church on earth, still more oppressive sorrow must
pierce the hearts of his family connections and the people of his charge." —

262 MEMOIR.
" Help, Lord, for the godly cease ; for the faithful fail from among the children
qf men.
" Died, on Tuesday evening, the twentieth instant, the Reverend Samuel
Hopkins, S. T. D., in the eighty-third year of his age, and for more than
thirty three years pastor of the First Congregational Church in this town. He
was as blameless in his private character as distinguished by his writings ;
and was eminently useful in all his relations to the church and to society.
His funeral was attended yesterday afternoon, at the meeting-house in which
he had ministered, and an instructive and pathetic discourse was delivered on
the occasion, by the Rev. Dr. Hart, of Preston, from the words : ' My Fa
ther! my Father! the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.'" (2 Kings
ii. 12.)* The remains of this godly man were interred in the burial-place
adjoining his meeting-house. They lay near his old pulpit. A
horizontal tablet was placed over them, and on it was inscribed the
following epitaph : t IN MEMORY OF
SAMUEL HOPKINS, D. D.,
FASTOK OF THE
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,
EST NEWPORT:
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE
DEC. 30th, A. D. 1803 ;
IN THE 83d YEAR OF HIS AGE;
WHOSE FAITHFUL ATTENTIONS TO THE DUTIES
OF HIS PASTORAL OFFICE, AND
WHOSE VALUABLE WRITINGS,
WILL RECOMMEND HIS CHARACTER,
WHEN THIS MONUMENT,
ERECTED BY HIS BEREAVED FLOCK,
SHALL, WITH THE PRECIOUS DUST IT COVERS,
CEASE TO BE DISTINGUISHED.

Sect. LV. RE-INTERMENT; MONUMENT AT GREAT BARRINGTON.
Years rolled by, and the two churches over which Dr. Patten
and Dr. Hopkins had been stationed as pastors, nobly forgot their
* The newspapers of that day gave only brief notices of the deceased. The Inde
pendent Chronicle, of Boston, for January 2, 1804, merely announced : " In Newport,
after a long and ledious illness, which he sustained with great philosophy and Christian
fortitude," Rev. S. H., etc., etc.
t The authorship of this epilaph has been ascribed by some to Dr. Patten ; by others,
lo Dr. Channing ; by others still, with more probability, to Dr. Caleb J. Tenney.

MEMOIR. 263
differences, and were reunited after a separation of more than a
century. They erected a new house of worship, and in front of that
house now lies gathered the dust of those two pastors who, having
been united pleasantly in life, are not divided in death. The re
mains of Dr. Hopkins were removed to their new resting-place, on
the twenty-fourth of October, 1849. They are covered by the same
freestone slab which was placed over them nearly a half century be
fore. They repose on one of the most beautiful islands in the coun
try, and the waves and breezes of the neighboring ocean remind us of
the free and pure thoughts, with which the peaceful sleeper was once
animated. Whoever enters the sanctuary where the descendants
of his parishioners worship, now looks upon his grave. How many
and what differing classes of men, will pause with interest at that ven
erable stone. He was a preacher to three distinct races of men ;
and the friends of the Iudian and the African will stop to read his
epitaph, and pay a tribute to his comprehensive charity. The ad
mirers of Brainerd, and Whitefield, and Buell, and Bellamy, and the
Edwardses, — of Andrew Fuller, John Erskine, John Ryland, —
will bend over the ashes of one whom these great men esteemed as
a brother or a. guide. The historian will linger at the grave of the
scholar who, indigent, desponding, solitary, produced a deep impres
sion on clergymen and laymen in our own and the fatherland, and
has visibly modified the faith of his opposers even, and has now for
a hundred years been raising the popular standard of orthodoxy, and
has made a knowledge of his life essential to a correct estimate of
the New England faith. The metaphysician will stop to speculate
on the powers of him who is seen at one time in the wilderness with
an Indian scout, at another time in his study translating a page of
Calvin or Van Mastricht, — here conversing with Emmons on bap
tism, and therewith Channing on slavery; — now writing on the
final cause of all things to President Davies, then teaching the most
recondite doctrines of the gospel to his negro missionaries, and again
corresponding with the government of Sierra Leone. The philan
thropist will pause to wonder at the man, who went as far in advance
of his age in the cause of moral improvement as in the cause
of theological science ; who anticipated several of the benevolent
operations of our own day, and united in an uncommon degree the
speculative with the practical tendencies. The humble Christian
will forget the prejudices of school and party, and will commend
the spirit of the man who made it the great aim of his speculations,
and of his life-long discipline, to dethrone self and to exalt Je
hovah, and who has associated his very name with the epithet
" disinterested." In the year 1850, a monument was erected to the memory of Dr.
Hopkins, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, by the generosity of

264 MEMOIR.
Hon. Charles W. Hopkins ; the same gentleman who has rendered
such liberal aid in publishing the edition of his ancestor's collected
works. It is a solid and beautiful structure of Italian marble. It
bears the following inscription :
IN MEMORY OF
SAMUEL HOPKINS, D. D.,
FOE MANY YEARS PASTOR
OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN THIS PLACE,
AN EMINENT TEACHEE OF THEOLOGY;
i
WIDELY KNOWN BY HIS ABLE WRITINGS.
HE DIED AT NEWPORT, IN RHODE ISLAND,
DECEMBER 30, 1803, AGED 83 YEARS:
AND OF JOANNA, HIS WIFE,
WHO DIED AUGUST 31, 1T93, AGED 68 YEARS:
AND OF MOSES HOPKINS, HIS SON,
WHO WAS BORN MARCH HI, 1751 ;
AND, HAVING FILLED WITH CREDIT
MANY PUBLIC STATIONS,
CLOSED A LIFE OF USEFULNESS AND INTEGRITY
ON THE 9'h OF MARCH, 1838:
AND OF ANNA, WIFE OF MOSES HOPKINS,
WHO DD3D JULY HH, 183*, AGED 80 YEARS.

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