Page images
PDF
EPUB

ART. XII.

Rev. Hosea Ballou; his Parentage and Early Life.

Biography of Rev. Hosea Ballou. By his Youngest Son, Maturin M. Ballou, &c. &c. Boston: Published by Abel Tompkins, 1852. 12 mo. pp. 404.

Life of Rev. Hosea Ballou; with Accounts of his Writings, and Biographical Sketches of his Seniors and Contemporaries in the Universalist Ministry. By Thomas Whittemore, &c. &c. Vol. i. Boston James M. Usher, 1854. 12 mo. pp. 420.

THESE two works furnish a very full biography of the Patriarch whose name they bear. Though issued so near each other, in point of time, it is perhaps fortunate on the whole that both of them have been published. Each is distinguished by some advantage peculiar to itself; each enters more particularly than the other into certain points. While both of them necessarily go over much of the same ground, the first-named work is distinguished by several notes of autobiography, which Mr. Ballou prepared for the purpose, not long before his death. It is also distinguished, we think, by a vivid presentation of his manners and domestic life, as well as by testimonies of admiration, and by reminiscences, from many of his brethren in the ministry. The second work appears to us to have the excellence of a full collection of facts, chronologically arranged, accurately stated (speaking in general terms,) and placed under their proper dates. It also gives poplar and defensory exhibitions of Mr. Ballou's doctrines, by means of large quotations from his writings in the order in which they were published, with comments and various remarks. In addition to this, it interweaves biographical notices of other early Universalist ministers, and furnishes numerous materials towards the history of Universalism in this country. The author's extensive acquaintance with the circumstances attending the rise and progress of our denomination, here, was evinced, nearly a quarter of a century ago, by his Modern History of Universalism; and his position as editor of one of our religious papers has kept him, ever since that time, in the way of increasing and completing that knowledge. It should be

observed, that his present volume reaches only to the close of Mr. Ballou's settlement in Salem, 1817, and that it will be followed by other volumes to finish the biography.

These two works leave but little for us to glean as our contribution to the common stock. Yet we wish to say something of one from whom we received a great deal of personal kindness, especially in early life, when kindness is of double worth, and whom we have ever regarded with an almost filial affection, as well as with much respect. If we do little more than to repeat, in our way, what has already been published, adding only a few small items, we presume that even such repetition will not be unwelcome to our readers. The place that Mr. Ballou, though dead, still occupies among us, will make it grateful to them to go over again with what they already know of him, and will give interest to any thing that may be new. He did more than any other man in the work of spreading Universalism in this country; he took the leading part in the transition through which Universalism has passed from its first and very crude state, among us, as a separate system; and, though it does not seem to be commonly perceived, he has indirectly contributed much towards the transition through which it is still passing, in its further rectification. It is pleasant to consider that the agency which the wise and good exert, does not cease with their death, nor stop even at the limits which they themselves designed. It goes out from their hands, modified indeed, into the hands of their successors, and eventually becomes a part of the impersonal moral force that is diffused through the world. Under the direction of God, it works on to wider results, and gradually throws off even the imperfections with which it is always associated while it remains a "treasure in earthen vessels."

In the following sketch, we shall make free use of both of the works above-named. As occasion may offer, we shall also draw from our own memory and observation. An intimacy with Mr. Ballou of nearly forty years, a life devoted from childhood to the cause in which he labored, and habitual attention the meanwhile to all that has concerned our denomination, have naturally led us to a considerable acquaintance with the subject. The narrow limits of an article in such a publication as ours, however,

will oblige us to confine ourselves chiefly to certain significent periods and scenes in his early life. The latter part of his life is "known and read of all men."

It is believed that all the families of Ballous, in this country, are derived from Mathurin Ballou, whom we first find among the poorest class of settlers in the town of Providence, under Roger Williams, about 1646. He was doubtless of French descent, as both his Christian-name and his surname indicate. Whether he came hither directly from France, is not known; it is suspected however, that before his arrival he resided in England, for a while at least. He was the great-great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir. He died before the year 1664, leaving a wife and several children. It would seem that his descendants, for two or three generations, settled mostly in Providence, and in the northern part of Rhode Island, and in Rehoboth, Mass.

In the third generation after him, was Maturin (so the name is now spelt by the family,) the father of Hosea. This Maturin was born in Providence, 1722; married, and settled in Foster, then a part of Smithfield, R. I., about the year 1744; became a Baptist preacher, either here or in Pawtucket, 1752; and after a residence of some six or seven years, in the latter place, removed to Scituate, R. I. He had the reputation of great gentleness, good

1 Mathurin, as a Christian-name, is frequently met with in French families, and, so far as we know, in none others, except cases in which it has been derived or borrowed from them. The surname, Ballou, looks and sounds as French, besides bearing obvious resemblance to other forms of French names, as Balue the Cardinal, Ballue the Deputy in the Legislative Assembly, &c. The early families of Ballous, in this country, spelled their name variously, as did many other families in those times. The first, whom we have mentioned, wrote his name "Mathurin Bellou" and "Ballou," if we may judge from his signature in the Records of the town of Providence.

This first Mathurin Ballou married Hannah Pike, not far probably from the year 1646, when we first find him in Providence. She was the daughter of Robert Pike, or as he wrote it, Pyke. Both he and Ballou were admitted, apparently at the same time, as inhabitants, but not as freemen, of the town of Providence, and each received from the town twenty-five acres of land, as a gift,‚—a sure indication that they were supposed to be poor, but not unworthy. Robert Pike had a brother, Conant Pike, and a sister who married Nathaniel Patten of Dorchester, Mass.-Several particulars, mentioned in this note, were communicated to me by Ira Peck, Esq., of Woonsocket, R. I., who has done much towards tracing out the genealogy of the Ballous.

ness, and piety; was respected and much esteemed; but was not eminent as a public speaker. He was poor. Probably he had but little learning, though it appears that he taught a school in some of the places just named. It would seem doubtful whether he was ever settled as a pastor while he remained in this region. During a ministry, here, of about fifteen years, he must have become wonted to the mode of thinking, and to the conceits, that distinguished the Rhode Island Baptists, if indeed he had not been brought up in that way. We think these peculiarities affected his manners and his sentiments to the last. About the year 1767, he removed with a large family of children from Scituate, R. I. to Richmond, N. H., where two of his wife's brothers had already set themselves down on the high, broken, and rugged table-land. Richmond was then a new town, having been settled only eight or ten years. About the time of his arrival, or soon afterwards, a Calvinistic Baptist Church was formed, there, in 1768. It was one of the first gathered in New Hampshire. Over this he was ordained pastor in 1770. According to a custom, then somewhat prevalent in that denomination, he had no stipulated salary, and the support of his family depended on their own hands, and on chance contributions, very scanty, of labor, or of provisions, seldom, if ever, of money.

In such circumstances of poverty, and amid the additional privations of a new, rough, and but partially settled township, HoSEA, the youngest of eleven children, was born, April 30th, 1771. When he was about two years old, his mother died. The family subsisted only by hard labor, and by what would now be deemed the hardest of fare, in a rude dwelling, poorly supplied with cheapest furniture, coarse food, and scanty, often perhaps ill-patched, clothing; in which respects, however, they but shared the common lot of their neighbors, while they received in return the common boon, a vigorous constitution, capable of long endurance, and a courage that could look want in the face without shrinking.

The children were diligently impressed with religious

2 So says Farmer,((N. H. Gazetteer, Concord, 1823, Art. Richmond.) If he was "ordained" at this time, it is probable that he was not a settled pastor while in Rhode Island.

ideas, according to the doctrine and sentiments of the Rhode Island Calvinistic Baptists. Though it was supposed that nothing but a supernatural conversion, after the distressful manner of those times, could save them, their father was careful by his prayers, precepts, and example, to train them up in the fear of the Lord; and some of the surrounding influences must have contributed to this result. While the ways and means of securing a livelihood would take precedence in the practice of such a people, yet in a place shut out, as that was, from other interests of a speculative or contemplative kind, religion was probably regarded by all as the one paramount concern, howsoever its requisitions might be deferred by some. It is difficult for one, who has never stood in similar circumstances, to conceive how commanding, how almost despotic, is this topic among a generally religious community of poor people, in a new and secluded settlement. To excite their ordinary interest, in the subject, into spasmodic violence, there were occasionally revivals, or as they were then called reformations. A powerful one occurred, about 1780, which gathered into the church some forty new converts. But it was soon followed, as those seasons of agitation were apt to be followed, with bickerings, and finally by secession, and a new Baptist church with its opposition minister was established. This division, which lasted about ten years, gave the Elder great sorrow, and some vexation, in which his children could not but sympathize. Meanwhile, the people were harassed, for several years, with the levy of "ministerial taxes," by law, for the benefit of Congregationalists abroad, an abomination in their eyes, that irritated their feelings, and their consciences too, against the latter denomination. The rude population was chiefly Baptists and Quakers; and this diversity, again, would naturally lead to discussion of the views in which they differed, and to dexterity in managing questions that arose between them. There was no want of circumstances to excite inquiries on religious tenets and practices; and Mr. Ballou says of himself, at this period, "I was remarkably inquisitive, even when a mere boy, about doctrines. I was fond of reasoning on doctrinal points, studied and talked much upon the subject of free-will and necessity."

« PreviousContinue »