[I. 3Sfogra$)feal Series. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 THE HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 
 
 WITH OTHER NOTICES. 
 
 BY REV. RUFUS ELLIS. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 Sim erf can Slnf tartan Stesocfatfon. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 WM. CROSBY AND II. P. NICHOLS, 
 
 111 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 1850. 
 
 v. 
 
CAMBRIDGE : 
 METCALF AND COMPANY, 
 
 PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 t. 
 
THE sources from which the materials for the fol 
 lowing Memoir have been derived are mainly these : 
 A Sketch of the Life and Character of Hon. Samuel 
 Howe, by Rev. E. B. Hall, D. D., of Providence, R. I. ; 
 Addresses by Chief Justice Parker, and the Justices, 
 Williams and Strong ; and a private Memoir in manu 
 script, by the widow of the late Judge Howe, to which 
 the writer was kindly permitted to refer. 
 
 M214823 
 

MEMOIR. 
 
 IT is the object of these pages to recommend 
 a manly Christian life to young and active minds, 
 to warm and earnest hearts, by presenting a picture 
 of a truly wise and good man, who found great joy 
 and much success in pursuing such a life as an 
 end. An example is the best of arguments. No 
 other plea can be so eloquent as that of a great 
 moral achievement ; it makes virtue real, it res 
 cues goodness from the dream-regions of theory, 
 and gives to truth a habitation upon our solid 
 earth. And although the example of Christ is of 
 infinite value, we need besides the quickening in 
 fluence of lives purely human, of lives of men 
 wholly like ourselves, of men who wrought no 
 miracles, and who were joined to God only as we 
 are joined to him. If those who shall read these 
 pages are not quickened by the story inscribed 
 1* 
 
upon them, the fault will not lie in the life, but in 
 the unskilfulness of him who seeks to record it. 
 
 Twenty-one years have elapsed since the Hon. 
 Samuel Howe, one of the Justices of the Court of 
 Common Pleas for Massachusetts, was taken from 
 us by the hand of death. His loss was widely 
 and deeply felt, not only by the members of the 
 profession which he honored and adorned, but by 
 the community at large. The sad event called 
 forth from every quarter eloquent and affectionate 
 tributes to his memory, in which the high sense 
 so generally entertained of his singular worth was 
 fitly expressed. And he has not been forgotten. 
 The name of such a man does not soon cease 
 from human lips. The many who knew him 
 well, the many who were made wiser and better 
 through his influence, still speak with unfeigned 
 sorrow of our loss, and feel that we are all the 
 poorer because he was taken. He did not live, 
 neither did he die, unto himself. But the story of 
 his life has never been put within the reach of all 
 who might be profited by it. It has not been 
 told to the children who have cpme on to the stage 
 since he left it. The delineations of his character 
 to be found in pamphlets, reviews, and daily jour 
 nals published at the time of his death, are not 
 likely to come into their hands, who would be 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 7 
 
 guided aright, in the day of youth, by his example, 
 an example for the young, of all others. We who 
 were born into the views of religious truth which 
 he laboriously sought, and found with so much 
 joy, have not all heard of his spiritual experience 
 of what was to him a happy emancipation. And 
 in a world so full of evil, goodness should be 
 saved, like treasure, not indeed to be hoarded, but 
 to be scattered far and wide. Let the just live in 
 blessed remembrance. 
 
 SAMUEL HOWE, the youngest of six children, 
 was the son of Dr. Estes Howe, of Belchertown, 
 Massachusetts, and was born on the 20th day of 
 June, 1785. The maiden name of his mother 
 was Susan D wight. His grandfather, Samuel 
 Howe, removed to Belchertown from Rutland, 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Dr. Howe was a surgeon in the army of the 
 Revolution ; he was an exceedingly laborious man 
 in an exceedingly laborious sphere of duty, and 
 though he did not become rich, he acquired 
 enough for the suitable education of his children, 
 and for his own support in the time of old age. 
 The fruits of his labor were cheerfully bestowed 
 upon his children, and he was especially desirous 
 to secure for them that liberal culture, the want of 
 which he himself sorely felt. Three months after 
 
8 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the birth of Samuel, Dr. Howe was called to part 
 with his wife. She died of consumption at West 
 Springfield, on her return from New Haven, 
 whither she had journeyed in the hope of regain 
 ing her health. For ten years the children were 
 motherless and the household desolate. After the 
 expiration of this time, Dr. Howe was again mar 
 ried ; but as the second wife was already the 
 mother of eight children, the domestic privileges of 
 his family were not much increased. The Doc 
 tor seems to have devoted himself, so far as ur 
 gent professional calls would admit, to the care of 
 this youngest child, as the most dependent ; but, 
 on the whole, the days of Samuel s childhood 
 were not sunny, and were not recalled with much 
 satisfaction. Ten years unillumined by the sweet 
 smile of a mother s love have not much bright 
 ness to leave upon their path. 
 
 There was another pressure, which could not 
 have been light upon a mind like that of young 
 Howe. We mean the want of books. It is 
 hard for us, in our day, suffering as most of 
 us do from the opposite evil, to realize what a 
 want this was. The young persons who grow 
 up in these times, especially in cities and large 
 towns, can have but a faint idea of the slight aids 
 and slender food with which growing and hungry 
 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 
 
 minds, in retired places like Belchertown, sixty 
 years ago, were obliged to content themselves. 
 There were then no institutes or lyceums, with 
 their collections of books ; no social, and scarcely 
 a private, library could be found. Always pas 
 sionately fond of books, keeping one by him in 
 after life for perusal, whilst others wasted valu 
 able minutes in fretting about inevitable delays, 
 youn^ Howe found in his father s dwelling only 
 Flavel, Tillotson, Watts, and a volume of fairy 
 tales. He repeatedly rode miles to borrow a 
 book, and the loan of Robinson Crusoe and of 
 The Fool of Quality from a kind friend in Am- 
 herst was always gratefully remembered. 
 
 The use which was made of books, when they 
 were so hard to be obtained, may help the young 
 student to employ them aright now that they so 
 abound. Gibbon s advice is, to read much, rather 
 than to read many books. There is an unspeak 
 able advantage in the thorough and oft-repeated 
 perusal of a standard work, well selected for some 
 specific purpose. In process of time, a book so 
 read becomes almost literally our own. We could 
 almost construct such a one ourselves. A mind 
 trained with few helps may not receive so large 
 and so varied a culture as is now easily obtained ; 
 but what is wanting in variety is more than com- 
 
10 MEMOIR OF 
 
 pensated in exactness, and the healthy and well- 
 developed root secures in the end a vigorous and 
 luxuriant growth of branches and of foliage. The 
 appetite for intellectual food is kept very keen by 
 the constant exercise to which the mind is sub 
 jected, and the little nourishment that can be ob 
 tained is well digested. Some of the hardiest in 
 tellects that the world has ever known have been 
 nurtured under such circumstances. 
 
 The public school of Belchertown afforded very 
 tolerable instruction during the winter, but in the 
 summer it was necessary for the young student to 
 go elsewhere. One of these summers was passed 
 by young Howe with a private teacher at Palmer, 
 another at the New Salem Academy, and two or 
 three others at Deerfield, which has long enjoyed 
 a well-endowed institution of learning. The beau 
 tiful scenery and simple village life of Deerfield 
 made a deep impression upon him. It is indeed 
 a sweet spot, its hospitable trees welcoming to their 
 cool shade the weary traveller, while his eyes are 
 refreshed by the deep, rich, outspreading meadow, 
 here green with herbage and there golden with 
 grain, a great park for the whole village, the 
 pleasant stream which takes its name from the 
 town glistening here and there through the foliage. 
 It is a rare place indeed for the student, whether 
 of nature or of books. 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 11 
 
 The last summer at Deerfield was filled up with 
 very laborious study, which enabled young Howe 
 to enter Williams College at an advanced stand 
 ing. He joined the Sophomore class of that in 
 stitution when sixteen years of age, carrying with 
 him correct moral principles, a vigorous, healthy 
 mind, and an ardent love of learning. The fond 
 ness for exact thought, by which in after life he 
 was so much distinguished, had already appear 
 ed in his love of the mathematics. What is only 
 a stumbling-block to so many, was for him a 
 stepping-stone to truth. Of his college life we 
 have only scanty memorials ; and although there 
 is abundant evidence of his character and scholar 
 ship, it would seem that much of the benefit which 
 ought to have accrued to him from his position as 
 a scholar was neutralized by mismanagement, to 
 use no harsher word, on the part of the college 
 government. 
 
 It is pleasant to find the following record of the 
 impression made by Mr. Howe at this time upon 
 one whose fine and well-directed gifts have se 
 cured for her a wide reputation at home and 
 abroad. She writes, " My acquaintance with and 
 friendship for Mr. Howe began in my childhood. 
 I do not think that I was more than twelve or 
 thirteen when he first came home with my broth- 
 
12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ers, and from that period I have had a uniform 
 impression of his character, which seemed to me 
 through life to retain the freshness of its original 
 stamp. He was as a young man distinguished for 
 truth, integrity, unafFectedness, and simplicity. I 
 remember that my desire for improvement was 
 greatly stimulated by my intercourse with him, 
 and once, when he drove from our door, going to 
 the book-case and taking down the first volume of 
 a heavy history, with the earnest purpose to de 
 serve better his esteem." 
 
 The very next week after leaving college, Mr. 
 Howe, with characteristic promptness, entered the 
 law office of Jabez Upham, Esq., of Brookfield. 
 Leaving this situation at the expiration of a year, 
 he went, in October, 1805, to Litchfield, and con 
 nected himself with the law school at that place, 
 which then so justly attracted attention under the 
 auspices of Chief-Justice Reeves and Judge 
 Gould. It was a very happy step. The law 
 school was filled with hard-working students, who 
 maintained a high standard of scholarship, and 
 earnestly seconded in every way the efforts of 
 accomplished and devoted instructors. " That 
 school," said Chief-Justice Parker, " I consider as 
 the foundation of the improved state of education 
 in the science of the law." Mr. Howe, in his let- 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 13 
 
 ters to his father from Litchfield, writes most en 
 thusiastically of his advantages, and of his plans 
 for turning them all to the best account, acknowl 
 edging, at the same time, with dutiful gratitude, 
 his indebtedness to his kind parent for every op 
 portunity. He writes on the 21st of June, 1806, 
 as follows : 
 
 " I was not so much fatigued with the journey 
 as I expected. The horse carried me extremely 
 well, and will, I believe, answer my purpose much 
 better than the one I left ; yet I cannot but regret 
 the inconveniences you will suffer in consequence 
 of it. Indeed, Sir, when I reflect upon what you 
 have done, and the sacrifices you are every day 
 making to increase the means of my enjoyment, 
 to make me respectable and happy, my heart 
 swells with gratitude, and I find myself unable to 
 express to you what I feel upon the subject. I 
 hope by a long course of duty to convince you 
 that I am not guilty of the sin of ingratitude. I 
 ought to be peculiarly grateful to you, for I de 
 volved upon you in my infancy, and have required 
 your continued attentions ever since. Yesterday 
 completed my twenty-first year. On such an oc 
 casion as this what ought to be my reflections ! 
 When I look back, I see that, by parental affection 
 and advice, I have been permitted to escape the 
 2 
 
14 MEMOIR OF 
 
 thousand dangers of youth. By parental assist 
 ance, I have been enabled to enjoy many of the 
 pleasures of life, and have had an opportunity to 
 lay a foundation for future usefulness. But 
 above all, I have been enabled, by your precepts 
 and your example, to imbibe correct notions of 
 religion and of morality ; you have taught me the 
 vanity of the pursuits of this world, in competition 
 with an interest in our Lord and Saviour." 
 
 Intending to practise in Massachusetts, Mr. 
 Howe could remain only a year in Connecticut ; 
 and at the expiration of this time, in the autumn 
 of 1806, he removed to Stockbridge, and gained 
 admission into the office, the library, and the fam 
 ily of Judge Sedgwick, who kindly presented him 
 with his tuition. The last year of preparation for 
 his profession was passed under these highly pro 
 pitious circumstances, and many rich opportuni 
 ties were afforded him for storing his mind with 
 much that lay beyond the immediate circle of his 
 pursuits. It was a season of pure and profitable 
 pleasure. 
 
 In August of the following year, Mr. Howe 
 was admitted to the bar. He had passed through 
 the time of preparation with singular fidelity and 
 success. The social habits of the day exposed 
 young persons to great moral dangers, and in the 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 15 
 
 earlier part of his course he was brought into con 
 tact with some very bad examples ; but he came 
 out of the fiery trial unscathed, his education well 
 begun. " I saw him," said Judge Parker, " just en 
 tering upon his professional career, ardent in the 
 pursuit of knowledge, devotedly attached to the 
 study of the law, and determined to make it the 
 business of his life, as much for his love of it, as a 
 science, as for the hope of its pecuniary rewards. 
 I was then struck with the simplicity and strength 
 of his character, his frankness, zeal, and ardor, 
 his kind and benevolent feelings, the manly inde 
 pendence of his mind ; and I marked him as one 
 of the promising young men of the profession." 
 
 Mr. Howe commenced business at Stockbridge. 
 He had been engaged for a little more than a year 
 to Miss Susan Tracy, daughter of General Tracy, 
 Senator from the State of Connecticut, and the 
 death of this gentleman at Washington having 
 produced an unfavorable change in the circum 
 stances of his family, an immediate marriage was 
 decided upon. 
 
 In February of the year 1808, a removal from 
 Stockbridge to Worthington seemed desirable, and 
 was carried out. Worthington is one of the beau 
 tiful hill towns of Hampshire county, so situated 
 as to enable the resident lawyer to practise i 
 
16 MEMOIR OF 
 
 several counties. It is still a long way off from any 
 of our cities, and the way was longer far at that 
 time, when the stage-coach and the saddle were 
 the dependence of the traveller. It was a quiet 
 place for a man of great promise to seek ; but 
 books could be conveyed there, and leisure could 
 be secured for reading them, and a home could 
 be established which would be all the more 
 prized for occasional difficulties of access. In 
 deed, the situation afforded a fine opportunity for 
 that continued and systematic intellectual labor 
 which Mr. Howe so much coveted and prized. 
 The years of his residence at Worthington were 
 years of hard mental toil. No moment was lost. 
 Nobody could say that he was becoming rusty. 
 His position did not derfrand much effort, but his 
 mind could not rest. The inward impulse made 
 outward stimulus unnecessary. He read, he con 
 versed, he reflected, and the whole family could 
 not choose but catch the spirit, and read, con 
 versed, and reflected with him. The time that 
 was not given to his profession was quickly ab 
 sorbed by general studies and by social duties, 
 which were always cheerfully and thoroughly 
 performed. Students of law repaired to Worth 
 ington for instruction, and lived in Mr. Howe s 
 family. The writer once asked one of these 
 
HON. SAB1UEL HOWE. 17 
 
 students what could have been the occupation of 
 their teacher in so retired a spot. " Occupation !" 
 said he ; " he studied continually ; he was never 
 weary or dull, always fresh, keen, ready for 
 new exertion, a most devoted student." Unlike 
 many students, however, Mr. Howe did not deny 
 himself to his family, or grudgingly give them a 
 little of his time. To his household and to his 
 friends he devoted through life a large portion of 
 his valuable hours as their due, maintaining with 
 the absent a frequent and regular correspond 
 ence, and sharing with the family circle, so far 
 as practicable, his intellectual enjoyments. He 
 writes, " We shall not be inclined to complain of 
 solitude while we can enjoy together the society 
 of Shakspeare and Milton and Johnson and Burke." 
 We might write much, from the best authority, of 
 the beautiful spirit that reigned in the household ; 
 but though the temptation is great, we must re 
 strain our pen. 
 
 A little outward variety was secured by occa 
 sional journeys, one of which extended into Can 
 ada. A journey at that day was an event. It 
 afforded abundant leisure for the observation of 
 nature and of life, with many an excellent oppor 
 tunity for conversation, whilst the difficulty of 
 reaching friends made long visits and familiar in- 
 2* 
 
18 MEMOIR OF 
 
 tercourse seem all the more suitable. These long 
 journeys were often fatiguing enough, and weary 
 indeed must have been the days and weeks which 
 the traveller to some scene of affliction must spend 
 upon the heavy road. And yet there is a vast 
 deal which attracts one in the way of life now be 
 come obsolete through the rapid changes of these 
 last few years. As is always the case, we know 
 little about it save what is pleasant. Railroad 
 stations are too new to have gathered about them 
 the delightful associations which belong to the 
 village inn, the goal of a long day s journey. The 
 steam-ship and the locomotive are highly poetical, 
 and their mad speed harmonizes well with the 
 hurry of our times ; but all our pleasant images 
 cluster about the good bark with snowy sails, 
 and the fleet horse, whose shoes, like those of the 
 animal ridden by the fugitive Charles Stuart, had 
 been set, as the stanch Puritan smith discovered, 
 in four several counties ! 
 
 Mr. Howe entered at once into a comfortable 
 livelihood, and saw no reason to regret his early 
 marriage. At the close of His first half-year, he 
 recorded the following prayer: "I pray that 
 the improvement of my prospects may have no 
 other effect upon me than to increase my gratitude 
 and dependence upon the Giver of every good 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 19 
 
 gift. May I use properly every thing which is 
 given me to dispose of here below ! " But it was 
 not the will of the Heavenly Father that the be 
 loved wife whose home he labored to make happy 
 should continue with him in outward presence. 
 A dark cloud descended upon his dwelling ; on 
 the 25th of June, 1811, Mrs. Howe died very sud 
 denly, leaving an infant of a single day, their 
 second child. The blow was heavy indeed, and 
 all unlooked for. In that deep retirement, obliged 
 to separate himself immediately from his children, 
 he met the distressing bereavement, met it in a 
 Christian spirit, though the letters of the sufferer 
 are painful to read, notwithstanding the manly for 
 titude and quiet resignation which pervade them. 
 He felt that, for his children s sake, he must work 
 on in sorrow and bide God s time. In the autumn 
 of 1813 he was again married, and found in the 
 lady who now lives to cherish his memory and 
 mourn his loss a most faithful friend and devoted 
 mother of his children. 
 
 At this time the more active minds in the east 
 ern part of our Commonwealth were earnestly oc 
 cupied in religious investigations, and many Chris 
 tians, who were unwilling that this branch of the 
 Church of Christ should be for ever enslaved to the 
 theology of Calvin, found themselves obliged to 
 
20 MEMOIR OF 
 
 separate from their brethren in order to enjoy 
 common religious privileges. The hour for the 
 Longer and Shorter Catechisms had come. Their 
 dogmas, though faithfully taught along with the 
 Bible in the public schools, had been outgrown, 
 and as soon as zealous adherents to these opinions 
 insisted upon making them the tests of Christian 
 discipleship, the churches were violently rent 
 asunder, and ministers of the Gospel, instead of 
 occupying together, as they always ought to have 
 done, the great Christian platform, became " Or 
 thodox" and "Liberal." 
 
 This was not, as some pretend, a contest be 
 tween belief and unbelief, nor did it grow out of a 
 sect-spirit ; it was not a struggle to establish a 
 set of opinions called Unitarianism above another 
 set of opinions called Calvinism ; it was a move 
 ment in favor of a Bible Christianity, whatever 
 that might prove to be. We believe that impar 
 tial history will show that Freeman and Channing 
 and Willard and Ware and Buckminster and 
 Thacher were as far removed from sectarianism 
 as ever mortal man were, that they were not 
 in any strict sense Arians or Socinians, least of 
 all Belshamites or Priestleyites, that they held 
 the substance of great Christian truths as they 
 were held in early days, before even what is called 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 21 
 
 the Creed of the Apostles was framed, before 
 Arius and Athanasius lived and taught. Honest- 
 minded men could not go along with the Cate 
 chism. The writer of these pages recalls, in this 
 connection, a conversation upon this movement, 
 held with a plain, clear-minded, warm-hearted 
 farmer residing in a part of our Commonwealth 
 where external liberalizing influences are very 
 sparingly enjoyed. " My father," said he, " with 
 out communicating with any one upon the subject, 
 took the Catechisms and the Bible and studied 
 them in connection. He followed the references 
 through and through. He sincerely wished to 
 know whether the ministers who urged these for 
 mulas upon him taught God s truth. He was sur 
 rounded by zealous Calvinists, all his prejudices 
 were in favor of Calvinism, but he kept to his task 
 with manly honesty, and satisfied himself at 
 length that Christianity and Calvinism are fun 
 damentally distinct." It is said that men, women, 
 and children in our day are actually reading these 
 Catechisms again : let them be read as that 
 farmer read them, with intellectual honesty and 
 with a high and spiritual purpose. They may be 
 galvanized into spasms ; they will hardly be raised 
 again to life. 
 
 Mr. Howe, though never a bigot, was found 
 
22 MEMOIR OF 
 
 during the earlier part of his life on what was 
 called the Orthodox side, and was sufficiently in 
 terested in the subject to express a good deal of 
 concern when the lady with whom he was con 
 nected by his second marriage made known her , 
 Liberal tendencies. Mrs. Howe, being satisfied 
 that the root of the matter was in him, quietly re 
 frained from agitating the subject ; and in good 
 time, about two years after, it was brought to his 
 notice again by his intimate friend and class 
 mate, Mr. H. D. Sedgwick, for whom he always 
 entertained the highest regard. He obtained 
 from him Yates s Answer to Wardlaw, which was 
 carefully read in connection with the New Testa 
 ment. The subject was faithfully pursued in other 
 directions, and another mind was emancipated 
 from the Calvinistic theology. 
 
 Mr. Ho\ve had been a religious man before, a 
 man of high spiritual and moral purposes ; but 
 now the whole matter of the Christian life came 
 to him with new meaning and beauty, he read the 
 Scriptures with fresh interest, his spirit rose as if 
 a burden had been lifted from it, and, by joining 
 the church at Deerfield under the pastoral care of 
 the Rev. Dr. Willard, he publicly consecrated 
 himself to the Gospel. This step was taken in 
 the course of the year following that which the 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 23 
 
 conference with Mr. Sedgwick made so eventful 
 in his religious life. There was neither foolish 
 haste nor unwise delay. The avowal of Liberal 
 views must have exposed him to a great deal of 
 obloquy ; but whilst it is shameful to inflict mar 
 tyrdom, it is not manly or dignified for those who 
 suffer it to boast of their endurance. Mr. Howe 
 never would have done this for himself; we shall 
 not do it for him. 
 
 The following passages, selected from many 
 similar, and contained in letters written before his 
 change of religious sentiment, indicate the sober 
 and meditative cast of his thoughts. 
 
 " I think the balance of evidence is against the 
 idea, that our being is suspended from death until 
 the general resurrection. Death would certainly 
 lose half its terrors, if we believed that the mo 
 ment we were called to part with all we held dear 
 here below would restore us to all we had lost, in 
 another and brighter world." 
 
 " Instead of becoming feeble and insignificant 
 by trusting in God, we grow strong in his strength 
 and wise in his wisdom." 
 
 " The means of happiness are often mistaken 
 for happiness itself. Those who indulge them 
 selves in style and equipage take more pains to 
 make the world believe that they are happy, than 
 
24 MEMOIR OF 
 
 they do really to make themselves so. When we 
 abandon the former object, and direct all our at 
 tention to the latter, success is the never-failing 
 consequence." 
 
 After a residence of thirteen years at Worth- 
 ington, Mr. Howe removed with his family to 
 Northampton. He left Worthington with pain. 
 The place was endeared to him by many pleasant 
 and by many sadly pleasant associations, but the 
 interests of his young family imperatively demand 
 ed a change, and he had chosen for his new home 
 one of the loveliest spots in all New England. 
 
 These thirteen years at Worthington offer many 
 an example to the young man just entering upon 
 the duties of active life ; this especially, that he 
 ought not to strive so much to gain a commanding 
 position as to do a commanding work. Only let 
 one have something to say, and he will hardly 
 lack hearers ; they will come in due time. Only 
 let one have weight, and the true balance will be 
 sure to indicate it. In order to live and labor, 
 one need not live and labor in a crowd. Only be 
 sure to work, and you will work your way out in 
 good time, if you are not well enough where you 
 are. During Mr. Howe s residence at Worthing 
 ton, he amassed the larger share of that legal 
 learning which gave him such prominence in his 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 25 
 
 profession, whilst, at the same time, he enlarged 
 and enriched his mind by the pursuit of general 
 literature, especially interesting himself in the ac 
 cumulation of significant facts, facts of human 
 life, under its numberless aspects and as exhibited 
 in various ages, regions, and climes. In this he 
 manifested an appetite which has been a prevail 
 ing characteristic of all healthy-minded men. 
 
 In November, 1820, Mr. Howe established him 
 self in Northampton, having formed a business 
 connection with Hon. Elijah H. Mills, an eminent 
 lawyer and Senator in Congress. In June of the 
 following year he was appointed, under the new 
 organization of the courts of the Commonwealth, 
 a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a trying 
 situation, because the order of things was new, and 
 the friends of the old judges were dissatisfied. 
 But the respect and kind regard of the disaffected 
 were soon gained. In the autumn of 1823, a 
 flourishing law school was established in North 
 ampton, under the auspices of Judge Howe and 
 Mr. Mills, and not long after the Round Hill school 
 for boys, quite famous in its day, went into op 
 eration. 
 
 We do not know where a village could have 
 been found to compare with Northampton in nat 
 ural beauty and in all the fascinations of a cultivat- 
 3 
 
26 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ed community. Its society, long distinguished for 
 refinement and an elegant hospitality, was at this 
 time singularly attractive. The corps of instruct 
 ors connected with the Round Hill school em 
 braced some of the finest minds in our country, 
 men who have since gained a wide and high 
 reputation in science and letters ; and with these 
 were often joined foreigners of distinguished 
 scholarship and polished manners. The institu 
 tion was far better furnished than many a univer 
 sity, and there was a magnificence in all the ap 
 pliances and equipage which was as fascinating to 
 the beholder as it was ruinous to those most in 
 terested in the establishment. The law school 
 attracted to the village many young men of abil 
 ity, spirit, and high culture, and in a short time 
 could boast, besides such gifted instructors as Mr. 
 Mills and Judge Howe, the accomplished John 
 Hooker Ashmun, whose premature death robbed 
 the world of a most wise, pure, and gentle man, 
 leaving, however, what is no trifling legacy, a 
 very fragrant memory and a very quickening ex 
 ample. Of his intercourse with his pupils, Judge 
 Howe was accustomed to say that he was the 
 gainer by it as much as they ; it afforded most 
 excellent opportunities for investigation, both as 
 to precedents and principles. 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 27 
 
 Prominent amongst those who gave to Judge 
 Howe a hearty welcome was one whose name 
 will long be remembered with the utmost rever 
 ence and the warmest love by all who were priv 
 ileged to know him. We refer to Judge Lyman. 
 We shall give him no more specific designation 
 than this, for he needs none. To many, many hearts 
 these are charmed words. They call up the image 
 of one, the manly beauty of whose person was but 
 the fit expression of a most noble soul ; they re 
 call a man singularly gifted and singularly faithful, 
 a thinker, clear-sighted, yet reverent, a lover 
 of religious liberty, yet only for the pure Gospel s 
 sake, a devoted friend, a self-sacrificing phi 
 lanthropist, an ardent patriot, a man diligent 
 in business, yet ready to meet the largest demands 
 of every hospitable office, a cheerful giver, 
 one who made virtue venerable and lovely by the 
 uniform dignity, grace, and courtesy of his man 
 ners and by the sweetness of his speech, a man 
 whose moral and social qualities so occupied at 
 tention, that we could hardly do justice to a very 
 wise, discriminating, and cultivated intellect. The 
 beautiful light of his life has gone out from this 
 world ; it is our consolation to believe that it 
 shines brightly in the heavenly world. Remotely 
 related to Judge Lyman, closely connected with 
 
28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 him by marriage, and more closely joined to him 
 in spirit, Judge Howe found a most devoted friend, 
 even to the closing hour. 
 
 We come now to one of the most important 
 events in the life of Judge Howe ; we refer to the 
 prominent part which he felt called upon to take in 
 the separation of the Liberal Christians of North 
 ampton from their Orthodox brethren. We shall 
 pause a little upon the matter, not for the sake 
 of stirring the embers of an old controversy, but 
 in order to bring again into light the high ground 
 taken by Judge Howe in the movement, and 
 to pay our humble tribute to what must be regard 
 ed by every one as a very high-toned liberality. 
 Moreover, the condition of things in Northampton 
 at that time is not unlike the condition of things in 
 very many places at the present time. We con 
 fess to a great anxiety to free our denomination, 
 so far as can honestly be done, from the charge of 
 sectarianism, and here was an enterprise deliber 
 ately commenced, not in sectarian heat, not in 
 the pride of opinion, not with any exaggeration 
 of mere individual peculiarities of thought and 
 feeling, but with a sober and single regard for 
 the principles of Protestantism and of Christian 
 liberty, and in a peaceable spirit which was ready 
 to sacrifice every thing but the truth. 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 29 
 
 The Liberal Christians of Northampton formed 
 a very considerable and highly respectable portion 
 of the community, and church-fellowship had been 
 expressly extended to them. They had no desire 
 to separate themselves from those who were will 
 ing to acknowledge them as brethren, but offered 
 to sustain what was called an Orthodox ministry, 
 upon the condition that Liberal clergymen should 
 be occasionally invited to occupy the pulpit, by 
 invitation or by exchange. On the occasion of the 
 settlement of a colleague pastor in 1824, this con 
 dition was insisted upon. The candidate was 
 questioned as to the matter, and was understood 
 by the Liberal party to be entirely inclined to the 
 course which they proposed, provided only the 
 consent of the town could be obtained. In the 
 meeting of the town, the subject was distinctly 
 brought up, and, for the satisfaction of the Liberal 
 portion of the inhabitants, the following preamble 
 and vote were unanimously adopted : 
 
 " Whereas, it is well known that there are many 
 members of this society whose religious sentiments 
 differ from those of their present pastor, but who 
 are desirous to preserve the spirit of unity in the 
 bond of peace, and are willing to concur in the 
 settlement of a colleague whose religious senti 
 ments are different from their own, 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " Therefore, voted unanimously, That this so 
 ciety are willing that the colleague who may be 
 settled with us, in pursuance of the vote passed in 
 November last, should exchange with or invite to 
 preach in the desk any pious clergyman of any 
 denomination of Christians." 
 
 Of this vote the colleague, now elect, was dis 
 tinctly apprised. To us it seems a remarkable 
 step for the descendants of a congregation to 
 which Jonathan Edwards ministered. It helps to 
 show, that, when an issue is distinctly joined be 
 tween conservatives and the party of progress, the 
 chance is in favor of the latter if its members are 
 only anywhere within reach. The Liberal Chris 
 tians had already, by securing church-fellowship, 
 emancipated the people from the creed, and they 
 had now, as they supposed, emancipated the min 
 ister. But they had only seen the fair morning ; a 
 cloudy day was before them. The new clergy 
 man, on whose sympathy, as appears very clearly 
 from the " Statement of Facts " put forth by Judge 
 Howe, they had every reason to count, so declined 
 an exchange with a neighbouring clergyman of 
 Liberal views, the late Dr. Peabody of Spring 
 field, as to leave no doubt that he believed it to be 
 his duty to comply with the wishes of the strict 
 party. 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 31 
 
 It was a sad disappointment. We will not, at this 
 distance of time, judge him who was at the least 
 the occasion of it. We cannot say how the matter 
 may have appeared to his mind. He was then 
 a stranger in Massachusetts, unacquainted with 
 the opinions and feelings which were agitating so 
 many minds, unaware of the magnitude of the 
 concession to Liberalism involved in, the vote 
 above quoted, and continually subjected to conserv 
 ative influences. We are inclined to believe that 
 he was sincere in his original promises, which 
 were certainly most unqualified. At all events, 
 the Liberal Christians failed to attain their end, 
 and appealed for redress to the town. Most un 
 happily, Judge Howe was prevented by illness 
 from advocating the cause of religious freedom, 
 and the strict party carried the day, the elo 
 quence of one of the ablest and sweetest speak 
 ers* whom this Commonwealth has ever boasted 
 contributing greatly to the result. And so, of ne 
 cessity almost, a new society was formed, and the 
 bond of peace was broken, not, we trust, for ever. 
 
 We are inclined to believe that the wisest 
 course for the Unitarians of Northampton would 
 
 * Hon. Isaac C. Bates, late United States Senator from 
 Massachusetts. 
 
32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 have been to content themselves with church- 
 fellowship. The course which they proposed for 
 the pulpit would have made it virtually a Liberal 
 pulpit, and, although things must in the end come 
 to this or recede to Catholicity, the movement was 
 premature. But one can very easily give advice af 
 ter the event, and the unanimous vote of the town 
 was fitted, to encourage enthusiastic expectations 
 at that time. And we must express a deep sym 
 pathy with the large-minded and large-hearted 
 Christians, who, after such encouragement, failed 
 to obtain what they had every right and reason 
 to hope. By most honorable means they had 
 sought to realize a high purpose. They strove 
 to honor truth, whilst they avoided schism. They 
 sought to be at peace with their Orthodox breth 
 ren, whilst they bore testimony for a faith much 
 spoken against. The separation, when it came at 
 last, was a sad alternative, as every religious sep 
 aration should be. 
 
 We venture to insert a few of the closing para 
 graphs of the " Statement of Facts " put forth by 
 Judge Howe, because they so well express the 
 strong reasons for separation which then existed 
 and still exist. 
 
 " The name of CHRISTIAN is dear to us, in 
 common with all the followers of our blessed Lord. 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 33 
 
 That we should be patient under any attempt to 
 rob us of it, we think could hardly be expected. 
 If this reproach were bestowed on us individually, 
 it might be borne with patience ; but when it is 
 bestowed upon our friends and the faith we pro 
 fess, it would be treachery to our principles to 
 submit to it, and especially to support and uphold 
 those by whom it is bestowed. 
 
 " The vote of the church directing the pastor to 
 invite to the communion-table members of other 
 churches, without distinction, manifested a noble, 
 catholic spirit, and the vote of the town upon the 
 subject of invitations and exchanges, so contrary 
 to the predictions (not the wishes) of some of the 
 Orthodox, evinced a regard to the rights and feel 
 ings of others which will ever reflect the highest 
 honor upon them. How they understood the 
 proposition submitted to them, and what they in 
 tended by the vote they adopted, we cannot doubt 
 for a moment. The question is not what the 
 town wish, or what the Liberal party desire. It 
 is whether the pulpit shall be under the control 
 of the society, or whether, against their wishes, 
 it shall be closed at the pleasure of the strict 
 party 
 
 " We have felt it due to ourselves that our mo 
 tives and our conduct should be fully explained. 
 
34 MEMOIR OF 
 
 The total failure of our attempt to keep the spirit 
 of unity in the bond of peace is a bitter disap 
 pointment ; but it becomes neither Christians nor 
 men to cry Peace ! peace ! when there is no 
 peace, and we hope we have expressed our dis 
 appointment in a spirit of Christian candor, and 
 without violating the new commandment of our 
 blessed Lord, to love one another. " 
 
 It was a matter of extreme surprise to the Or 
 thodox of that day, why devoted and sincere 
 Christians could not be satisfied with what their 
 creeds offered to them as Christianity. The dis 
 satisfaction of men so sincerely religious should 
 have induced them to examine more thoroughly 
 the Scriptural grounds for their exclusive faith. 
 Devoted and sincere Christians never separate 
 themselves from their brethren, so long as they 
 can consistently remain united with them. Many 
 of the Orthodox of our day very well understand, 
 and are free to confess, that the Unitarian move 
 ment was necessary, and that, if not needful now, 
 this is because the good leaven has been cast into 
 their own midst, and will in due time work out 
 all the good that Unitarianism proposed. " No 
 doubt," says an Orthodox writer in the Quar 
 terly Review, " it is the inevitable tendency of 
 these extreme Calvinistic opinions to produce a 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 35 
 
 violent revulsion. Calvinism is everywhere the 
 
 legitimate parent of Unitarianism In truth, 
 
 the one leading thought throughout that school of 
 powerful, eloquent, and in justice we cannot but 
 add deeply devotional American writers, Chan- 
 ning, Dewey, Norton, is the abnegation of Cal 
 vinism." 
 
 To every bigot for the old theology we would 
 put this single question, Why could not this old 
 theology retain a man of high intelligence and 
 true piety, such as we know Judge Howe to have 
 been, a man bred in its schools, taught in its 
 catechisms, surrounded by its influences, with no 
 single moment to spare from engrossing public 
 services for sectarian strifes ? Why did he leave 
 the majority for the minority, after patient study 
 and mature reflection such as few men have the 
 capacity to bestow upon the subject ? We con 
 fess that we are glad to read so worthy a name in 
 the catalogue of Liberal Christians. It is not the 
 testimony of station that we prize, but the testi 
 mony of a wise mind and of a warm heart. 
 
 But it was not the will of God that Judge Howe 
 should long enjoy the religious privileges for 
 which he had so faithfully struggled. His consti 
 tution was never firm, and from boyhood his in 
 tellectual ardor had carried him far beyond his 
 
36 MEMOIR OF 
 
 strength. He pushed the study of his profession 
 to the utmost verge of his ability. Books of law 
 often found their way to his office in the country, 
 from beyond the sea, sooner than they were ob 
 tained in the law-offices of city practitioners. 
 " I have heard him," said Chief-Justice Parker, 
 " discuss questions which agitated the English 
 courts, before they were generally known here to 
 have been mooted." The duties of instruction, as 
 he performed them, were very exhausting, yet he 
 did not decline other cares, but maintained a lively 
 interest in the cause of general education and in 
 every good work ; he was the friend of the sick 
 and the bearer of religious consolation to the bed 
 of death. His aged father died in 1826, and from 
 the commencement of the year 1827 his own 
 health sensibly declined. Through life he had 
 been afflicted with most exhausting headaches, 
 indeed almost every effort at the bar was followed 
 by suffering of this sort, and this year began 
 with violent attacks, from which he did not recover 
 so thoroughly as at former times. During this 
 year a slight difficulty of breathing first showed 
 itself, originating in a cartilaginous formation in 
 the windpipe, which from the first was beyond 
 the reach of human skill. These last days in his 
 earthly home were not without their premonitions 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 37 
 
 to Judge Howe, and he seems to have been per 
 suaded that his end was at hand. The current of 
 many of his thoughts is apparent from a dream, 
 which made a very deep impression upon him. 
 
 He seemed to stand upon the piazza of his 
 dwelling, his new home but lately erected, as he 
 had hoped for a pleasant and permanent abiding- 
 place, where the hearth-fire might be kept burn 
 ing, and into which his children might be gathered 
 about him, for many happy years. This beauti 
 ful residence, a monument to his elegant taste, 
 quietly reposes at the foot of the shapely eminence 
 which crowns the village. He looked out upon 
 the glories which from that spot meet the eye at 
 every turn. The sun shone out resplendent, and 
 poured his beams aslant upon mountain and mead 
 ow, and the modest village, almost buried under 
 its gigantic elms. The shadows stretched out in 
 huge lengths before him, for the day was far 
 spent. Presently, as often happens in that valley, 
 there rose a heavy mist and obscured the whole 
 landscape, and sent a chill to his heart. But the 
 darkness and the cold were only for a moment. 
 Soon the mist disappeared, and the sun sank to 
 rest in that wondrous glory which, like the bow in 
 the clouds, the kind Father seems to have ap 
 pointed to cheer and reassure our hearts in this 
 4 
 
38 MEMOIR OF 
 
 world, where so many must be afflicted and where 
 all must die. He awoke, and behold ! it was a 
 dream ; but his inmost, prophetic soul said to 
 him, So shall it be with thee ! and so it was. To 
 this dream he alluded upon his death-bed. 
 
 In the month of December, Judge Howe left 
 his home, in company with his wife and their in 
 fant child, to preside over a court in Worcester. 
 This proved to be his last labor. An unusual 
 pressure of business detained the court until 
 Thursday of the third week. During the follow 
 ing night, Judge Howe was completely prostrated 
 by a profuse hemorrhage, but rallied sufficiently 
 to travel a part of the distance to Boston on 
 Wednesday of the succeeding week, and, after his 
 arrival in Boston, remained tolerably comfortable 
 during the remainder of that week. On Monday 
 he was much more ill, and continued in a condi 
 tion of great suffering for twelve days, almost 
 without power for continuous thought or attention ; 
 and it was soon but too evident that his case was 
 hopeless, though affection clung to hope almost to 
 the last. 
 
 About nine o clock of Saturday evening, he 
 was aroused from a state of partial stupor by the 
 arrival of Judge Lyman. Then the mist cleared 
 away, and the light of his soul shone out most 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 39 
 
 gloriously during what proved to be the closing 
 hours. Of these closing hours we have read 
 many most touching descriptions from the written 
 and the printed page, and without doubt, even at 
 this interval of time, many persons retain a vivid 
 remembrance of the scene ; but we cannot refrain 
 from presenting it again, in the hope that the les 
 son may fall under some eyes which else would 
 not read it. And we are the rather inclined to 
 dwell upon the hour of death, because the spirit 
 which adorned and ennobled it animated the 
 whole life, because it did not stand out as an 
 exception, but entirely corresponded with all the 
 rest of his days. 
 
 He began with prayer to God that he might 
 have strength to meet the duties arid trials of the 
 hour, and then, taking the hand of Judge Lyman, 
 whom he called " the best friend any man ever 
 had," his soul seemed to overflow with gratitude, 
 and he numbered up his mercies with thankful 
 acknowledgment. " There seems," he said, " to 
 be a most happy combination of circumstances at 
 this hour, the coming of my friend, Mr. Lyman, 
 the sight of my dear son, the best medical advice, 
 and the comforts of a devoted brother s home all 
 lavished upon me : these last especially move my 
 heart to gratitude. God s blessing rest upon him 
 
40 MEMOIR OF 
 
 who has been more than a brother to me in my 
 feebleness ! " And then he passed to some sober 
 words of religious trust, and to some thoughtful 
 and kind suggestions with reference to his worldly 
 affairs. " My confidence," he said, " is in the 
 mercy of God, as revealed in the Gospel. 0, my 
 confidence in God at this hour is worth more to 
 me than riches, or honor, or any thing else that 
 this world has ! " He said that he had not been 
 without a deep sense of the responsibilities which 
 pressed upon him, and that he had been surprised 
 at his success, at the clearness of his decisions, 
 and the absence of mental wavering. This power 
 he regarded as an answer to prayer. He trusted 
 that he had been conscientious in the discharge of 
 his public duties ; but he added, " Thou, God, 
 knowest ! " Heaven, he said, had ever been re 
 garded by him as the abode of those who culti 
 vated their moral and intellectual powers to the 
 greatest advantage, and that to do this had been 
 his aim. " I consider human happiness as exactly 
 measured by the amount of happiness which we 
 are able to confer upon others." With the greatest 
 collectedness of manner and the method which had 
 ever characterized him, he gave a few simple di 
 rections about his worldly affairs, and commend 
 ed his household to the God of the fatherless and 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 41 
 
 of the widow. He hoped to have made full pro 
 vision for them in pecuniary matters, but God had 
 otherwise ordered it. To each of his friends who 
 were present he addressed words of affection or of 
 disinterested counsel, pouring out, for the last time 
 on earth, the tide of his full, warm heart. And 
 then praying again, partly in the words which our 
 Lord hath taught us, and expressing again his 
 faith in the religion of Jesus, he passed away. 
 
 We have given many of the last thoughts, and 
 some few of the last words, of this good man ; 
 but it was the spirit that pervaded all, and even 
 beamed out from his calm face, that made the 
 chamber of death holy and blessed and peaceful. 
 His friends felt, as for more than an hour he thus 
 uttered himself to them, that the heart spake, 
 spake because it could not be silent. The throb- 
 bings of anguish ceased as the sweet, eloquent 
 words fell from his lips, and tears ceased to flow. 
 Those who were gathered about the bed of death 
 seemed to be translated for the moment with one 
 whose soul,. just ready to take its flight, brought 
 heaven and earth together. It was a spontaneous 
 outpouring from the heart, and it could heal the 
 wounds of the heart. Thankfulness and hope 
 for the moment prevailed over deep grief, and, in 
 dying as in living, the departing spirit blessed and 
 4* 
 
42 MEMOIR OF 
 
 strengthened his friends. A widow and six chil 
 dren remained to mourn his departure. 
 
 Judge Howe was buried where he died, in 
 the city of Boston, with every fitting honor, the 
 members of the Suffolk bar, to whom Chief- 
 Justice Parker addressed a very eloquent dis 
 course upon the services and character of the de 
 parted, following him to the grave. And so, after 
 an all too brief sojourn of forty-three years, the 
 wise and faithful man passed from our sight. 
 When such men die, we can hardly doubt whether 
 the soul is immortal or no. Only a negative an 
 swer can be given to the question, Would God, 
 the life-giver, extinguish such a life ? 
 
 We must turn now to the blessed legacy that re 
 mained, the character, the example, the cheer 
 ing, quickening remembrance, still fresh in the 
 minds of many friends, of work well done, of a 
 life well spent. 
 
 To the character of Judge Howe as a public 
 servant, as a jurist, as a friend, and as a Christian, 
 the most ample and delightful testimony was 
 promptly borne by his brethren of the legal pro 
 fession, by his attached pastor, and by many 
 friends in all the walks of life, his pupils, 
 amongst the rest, not failing to express their hi^h 
 sense of his devoted services. But it is a sub- 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. . 43 
 
 ject to which it is good to return. His was a 
 memory that should be kept fresh and green, and 
 his example may be the more widely valuable 
 because his distinction was not that of brilliant 
 genius, startling with its inspirations, but the pre 
 eminence of well-balanced and faithfully devel 
 oped talent. Nature had doubtless done much 
 for him, but he, on his part, had faithfully second 
 ed her efforts, and one of his best gifts was the 
 power of close and long-continued application, 
 which will always be numbered amongst the chief 
 elements of distinguished ability. 
 
 Judge Howe was characterized from the begin 
 ning by a large mind, capacious enough to em 
 brace the many sides of the subjects that present 
 ed themselves to his attention. In thorough, com 
 plete investigations he loved to exercise himself, 
 and, unlike many who are able to take compre 
 hensive views, he was singularly free from indif 
 ference, or a want of confidence in our ability to 
 discover, at least, a valuable portion of truth. He 
 was an Eclectic without being a Pyrrhonist. Un 
 like too many who profess to find truth every 
 where, he did not end in finding it nowhere. He 
 did not exhaust the whole power of his intellect in 
 weighing objections, difficulties, and negations. 
 He had none of that morbid feeling about testi- 
 
44 MEMOIR OF 
 
 mony which places all history in doubt, and will 
 have it that either there are no facts, or that nobody 
 can say what they are. A very retentive mem 
 ory rendered the accumulation of the materials for 
 thought comparatively easy, so that glowing iron 
 was never lacking in the furnace or upon the 
 anvil. He wrought without ceasing. There was 
 no moment during which rust could even begin to 
 accumulate. His mind was mainly exercised 
 upon his profession, and yet he was well aware 
 that no man who knows but one thing can know 
 that one thing thoroughly, and, for the sake of his 
 profession as well as for the love of good learn 
 ing, he took a wide range in his studies, and had 
 cultivated no mean literary taste. As every man 
 must, whose professional labors are exacting, he 
 occupied himself chiefly with models in literature, 
 and loved to read Shakspeare and Milton again 
 and again, rather than to sacrifice intrinsic value 
 to a craving after variety. His experience in 
 teaching was invaluable to him, and he continu 
 ally surprised inquirers after legal references by 
 giving them from memory the exact volume and 
 the very page. 
 
 If to all this we add a conscientious regard for 
 truth and justice, and an ardent love of his profes 
 sion, we shall not be surprised to learn, that, " be- 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 45 
 
 fore he had fully reached the meridian of life, he 
 was acknowledged by those that best knew him 
 to have few equals in his profession." As a 
 judge, he won golden opinions from all. Clear, 
 exact, methodical, quick to perceive, vigorous to 
 despatch, patient to investigate, eager only to 
 reach the truth, always impartial and always cour 
 teous, devoted to his work, he could not fail to 
 satisfy the members of the bar and all concerned 
 with him in judicial transactions. He was digni 
 fied, yet kind and simple, and his relations to the 
 different parties in the court-house were rather 
 friendly than formal. He believed that there are 
 limits to individual responsibility, and was free 
 from that morbid conscientiousness which would 
 hold every man accountable for every thing. 
 He felt that he sat upon the bench, not to make, 
 but to expound law, yet he was the fast friend 
 of liberty and progress, and one of the first to in 
 sist upon the importance of reforming as well as 
 of punishing criminals. He was a man upon 
 whom humanity could have relied in the darkest 
 hours. " He reverenced authority," wrote his 
 friend Sedgwick, as indeed a lawyer is bound 
 to do, " but he loved truth." He always aimed 
 at principles. 
 
 * Judge Williams. 
 
46 MEMOIR OF 
 
 When it is considered that he owed nothing 
 whatever to patronage or favorable circumstances 
 of any sort, and that he was never a very brilliant 
 or showy man, his early success is sufficient evi- 
 dence of his iron industry and indomitable en 
 ergy. He did the work that was given him to do 
 so well, with such a patient, masterly hand, let 
 the labor and the reward be ever so trivial, that the 
 great tasks of society came to him as a matter of 
 course, and there can be no doubt that, had his 
 life been spared, he would have steadily risen to 
 a proud eminence. " Already," said Judge Wil 
 liams, " the public sentiment seemed to have des 
 ignated him for a higher judicial station, where 
 his merits would have been still more conspicuous, 
 and the sphere of his influence still more exten 
 sive and permanent." Let all young persons 
 who cherish a worthy ambition attentively con 
 sider his steady upward way ; let them observe 
 that he knew nothing as a trifle, that he called 
 no useful work mean, that he stood in his lot 
 where God placed him, and never mistook noto 
 riety for fame, and never feared lest he should 
 not pass for his full value. He sought learning, 
 and not merely a reputation for learning, the 
 wisdom that would deserve and worthily fill a sta 
 tion, and not the mere station itself, and his 
 well-directed efforts found their reward. 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 47 
 
 But we are most concerned to direct attention 
 to the moral and religious qualities of this eminent 
 man. It does one s soul good to turn to these, 
 amidst so many melancholy examples of pervert 
 ed talent, to know that here was a man truly wise, 
 
 a man truly consecrated, a man guided by 
 the great God above us, a man filled with a 
 pure, strong faith in truth and duty and heaven, 
 
 a man verily persuaded that the good tidings 
 which are by Jesus Christ are worth more than 
 riches and fame, and that His life is the world s 
 best treasure. How does such a sober, well- 
 ordered, minutely faithful Christian life contrast 
 with the reckless career of many a gifted and, as 
 the world says, honorable man ! Goodness must 
 be joined to greatness to call forth, what is more 
 than our admiration, our reverence and love. 
 
 Judge Howe showed " piety at home." He 
 found there his first duties, as well as his purest 
 joys. Every morning the sacrifice of family 
 prayer was offered to Him who is the Light of our 
 dwellings, and the devout spirit that blessed the 
 first hour blessed every succeeding one. It was 
 first love to God and then love to the household, 
 
 a love that asked, How much can I do ? not, 
 How little will serve ? He preferred his own 
 fireside and the quiet intercourse of familiar 
 
48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 friends to what are called the pleasures of soci 
 ety, the fashionable amusements of the world, and 
 yet he did not lay down rules for others in such 
 matters, and was far enough from a Pharisaical 
 dread of innocent amusements. For the sake of 
 his family, he was minutely economical in all his 
 expenditures. By contracting his personal wants, 
 he was enabled to provide well for a large family 
 and maintain a hospitable home, and leave a por 
 tion for those who survived his early death. 
 Prudence with him was founded upon principle, 
 it was a part of his faithfulness. In these days 
 of reckless extravagance and unauthorized luxury, 
 economy is a trait worth dwelling upon. 
 
 We need not say that in his intercourse with 
 the world, in the performance of his various duties 
 to society, as a neighbour, as an advocate, and 
 as an expounder of law, Judge Howe sought to 
 be guided by conscience. He was a disciple of 
 James as well as of Paul, even as they were both 
 disciples of Christ, and he believed that by works 
 a man is justified, and not by faith only. Eecog- 
 nizing the claim of society upon every competent 
 man for labors which are not included within the 
 common departments of activity, he took a deep 
 interest in the education of the people. The 
 public school he regarded as second in importance 
 
HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 49 
 
 to none of our institutions, and we may add, that, 
 at the time of his death, he was a trustee of Am- 
 herst College, under the appointment of the State. 
 
 Knowing what sacrifices he made for the sake 
 of public worship, and how much he prized an in 
 telligent and faithful ministration of the Gospel, 
 we shall not be surprised to learn that he was 
 constant in his attendance at the sanctuary, and 
 carried thither not merely the outward presence, 
 but his mind and heart. He had formed a high 
 standard of pulpit services, and earnestly desired 
 that every facility for improvement should be af 
 forded to the clergy. For this, as well as for the 
 sake of liberality, he labored to secure freedom 
 and frequency in ministerial exchanges. Of the 
 peculiar type of his religious views we have al 
 ready given an account, and we will only add, 
 that, whilst he was deeply interested in the form 
 of Christianity which commended itself to his best 
 reason, he was not insensible to the danger of at 
 tempting any violent and sudden revolution in 
 religious opinions, and was ever the advocate of 
 moderate measures, striving rather to build than 
 to destroy, and to give more than he took away. 
 
 We have endeavoured to call attention to some 
 of the features of this rare character. Had it not 
 been so exactly balanced, our task would have 
 5 
 
50 MEMOIR OF HON. SAMUEL HOWE. 
 
 been easier, but far less profitable. Striking char 
 acters are more common than complete charac 
 ters. Without undergoing any of the painful pro 
 cesses of self-culture, without labor and self- 
 denial, we may succeed in startling the world, in 
 outraging its prejudices, and, it may be, in break 
 ing its slumbers. But the most blessed and the 
 most abiding influences proceed only from those 
 who strive, in all soberness and with unceasing 
 care, to hold the balance even within their own 
 souls. 
 
 These facts of human life are affectionately 
 presented to every susceptible mind, especially to 
 those whose characters are all unformed, in the 
 hope that they may increase the desire for Chris 
 tian excellence, in the hope that they may help 
 a little to outweigh the world in a very worldly 
 age. The purpose of the writer will have been 
 accomplished, if these few unpretending pages 
 shall lead any minds to more earnest meditation 
 upon the things which are true and lovely, and to 
 a vital, operative faith in the Son of God. 
 
51 
 
 [The following Letter, from the former pastor of the 
 First Congregational Church in Deerfield, Mass., was 
 addressed to the author of the previous Memoir, in re 
 ply to some inquiries which he had made. The writer 
 enjoyed the best opportunities for becoming acquainted 
 with the character of his parishioner, and his testimony 
 is very valuable. Moreover, it will afford great satis 
 faction to many to hear again from a devoted servant of 
 Christ, whose labors in his Master s vineyard have 
 been so abundant, and who has never failed, though 
 long since smitten with blindness, " to do what he 
 could " in the cause of Christ and of humanity.] 
 
 DEERFIELD, October 23, 1849. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 In the history of the wise and good, it has 
 been a rare thing for so many encomiums and 
 lamentations to be drawn forth by their depart 
 ure from this life, as were produced by what 
 is generally regarded as the premature death of 
 the late Judge Howe. For some ten or fifteen 
 years he had been known and honored in the 
 western towns of Massachusetts as a candid and 
 able advocate at the bar, and in the capacity of 
 
52 LETTER. 
 
 judge, in which he afterward acted, he occasion 
 ally visited most, if not all, the other counties in 
 this State, and became known, not only to the 
 members of the bar and others who had business 
 in our courts, but to many of the clergy, of whose 
 society he was fond. Hence, at the time of his 
 death, he was honorably noticed, not only in our 
 principal periodicals, but in sermons preached in 
 different places and afterwards published. Still, 
 there are comparatively few amongst those who 
 are under thirty years of age who know any thing 
 more of him than that he once lived and died re 
 spected and beloved. The present and the future, 
 in our new publications, press so constantly on the 
 attention of readers, that the past is in danger of 
 being forgotten and disregarded by the multitude 
 almost as soon as it is past. I am pleased, there 
 fore, with the proposal to bring up anew the char 
 acter of Judge Howe, as a happy illustration, if 
 not an evidence, of the efficacy of that faith 
 which, as we believe, was " once delivered to the 
 saints." 
 
 The second marriage of Judge Howe, in 1813, 
 led to my first acquaintance with him, which soon 
 became intimate, and continued till the time of his 
 decease. We and our families frequently ex 
 changed visits, and as he and his wife were for 
 
LETTER. 53 
 
 about eight years members of our church, they 
 passed the Sabbath with us whenever they found 
 it convenient to attend the communion-service, 
 which, after their removal from Worthington to 
 Northampton, they frequently did. I mention 
 these circumstances for the purpose of showing 
 what opportunities I had for learning his true 
 character. 
 
 In order to give the character of Judge Howe 
 its full and proper influence in its moral and relig 
 ious bearing, it is of some consequence to con 
 sider how he stood as a lawyer, how his mind 
 had been trained, what were his habits of 
 thought and his intellectual attainments. In re 
 gard to these things, I suppose it to be an unques 
 tionable fact, that he was deeply versed in the law, 
 that his views were penetrating and comprehen 
 sive, and that his conclusions and decisions were 
 candid, deliberate, and correct, in the opinion of 
 the highest tribunal, being as seldom overruled 
 as those of any judge on either bench. I well 
 remember, that, in conversation with the Hon. 
 Charles Jackson, he spoke of Samuel Howe and 
 the late John Pickering as the fairest candidates 
 for a seat on the supreme bench whenever a va 
 cancy should occur. I think, however, that there 
 was no vacancy on that bench till after Mr. Howe 
 5* 
 
54 LETTER. 
 
 was appointed a Judge of the Common Pleas, 
 where his influence was afterwards found too im 
 portant to be spared. So far as human authority, 
 therefore, is of any weight in matters of religious 
 speculation, Judge Howe seems fully entitled to 
 such an influence. There is reason to believe 
 that the conclusions he formed on these high sub 
 jects were the results of a candid and deliberate 
 investigation, with a mind accustomed to compre 
 hensive views and a vigorous scrutiny. 
 
 Judge Howe was born and bred under the com 
 mon influences of the Calvinistic faith. His fa 
 ther was of that school. The same may be said 
 of the Rev. Mr. Forward, under whose ministry 
 he passed his early years, of the preachers he 
 heard while preparing for college at Deerfield 
 Academy, and of most, if not all, the public in 
 structors in and about Williams College, where, 
 indeed, the Assembly s Catechism, or something 
 like it, was then a classic. Perhaps he was never 
 an advocate for any of the Calvinistic doctrines, 
 but he acquiesced in them for several years. I 
 once inquired of him by what means his views 
 had been changed with reference to the doctrine 
 of the Trinity, and he told me that his first doubts 
 were excited by hearing two men argue on the 
 subject, and that his mind was less affected by the 
 
LETTER. 55 
 
 strength of the arguments on the Unitarian side 
 than by the weakness of those in support of the 
 Trinity. He was doubtless surprised to find that 
 the doctrine, which he had been taught to regard 
 as the rock on which the whole Christian system 
 is founded, was, after all, on examination, to 
 crumble into sand and dust. His subsequent ex 
 amination resulted in a thorough change of views. 
 I do not mean that he embraced all the sentiments 
 which are now held by most Unitarians, but that 
 he discarded all the objectionable points in the 
 Athanasian and Calvinistic creeds. 
 
 Judging, as we are taught to do, the tree by its 
 fruits, there is reason to believe that Judge Howe, 
 both before and after the change of which I have 
 spoken, had something in his faith which produced 
 the proper effect in his heart and life. He did 
 not, indeed, make a public profession of religion 
 until he had been settled in a family for several 
 years. No one, I suppose, ever questioned his 
 strict integrity. He was a pattern of candor, 
 kindness, and generosity. He was eminently a 
 domestic man. In all the pressure of professional 
 business, he frequently, if not generally, spent a 
 part of the evening in reading to his family such 
 books as he thought would be interesting and im 
 proving. Such is the testimony of one who was 
 
56 LETTER. 
 
 a member of his family about four years. Such 
 was his industry and perseverance in what he re 
 garded as the great business of his life, that we are 
 surprised to see how much he accomplished in 
 the intervals of such painful infirmities as would 
 have rendered most others inefficient and inactive. 
 Indeed, some of his duties which required a close 
 and long-continued application of the mind were 
 discharged under violent headaches. 
 
 After the change which took place in the relig 
 ious views of Judge Howe, he could not associate 
 himself with any of the churches in his neighbour 
 hood, on account of their exclusive creeds. At the 
 close of the year 1815, however, he became so 
 much impressed with the duty of Christian com 
 munion, that, with his wife, he proposed to join 
 the church in Deerfield, which was then the near 
 est into which they could be received, though at 
 the distance of more than thirty miles by any com 
 fortable road. They were accordingly admitted 
 to that communion on the first Sabbath of 1816, 
 and frequently attended church till the establish 
 ment of the Unitarian society in Northampton. 
 
 I do not know that I can better close this ac 
 count than by referring to the mutual attractions 
 between Judge Howe and the late Professor Fris- 
 bie. They met for the first time in the year 
 
LETTER. 57 
 
 1821. Mr. Frisbie, in one of his vacations, was 
 going to visit his mother and sister in Ipswich, and 
 Judge Howe was on his way thither to hold a court. 
 They rode in the same stage-coach, and by some 
 means were introduced to each other, and fell 
 into conversation, which continued during a con 
 siderable part of the journey and excited in them 
 such a degree of mutual satisfaction and admira 
 tion, that each of them afterwards expressed to me 
 his peculiar delight in the other. They were in 
 deed kindred spirits, having many striking analo 
 gies both intellectual and moral. They were both 
 independent in their judgments of persons and 
 things, not allowing themselves to be controlled 
 by any human authority in those things in which 
 they were capable of forming an opinion for 
 themselves. At the same time, they were both 
 remarkable for their candor and the unassuming 
 manner in which they conversed with others. 
 They were alike in the quickness of their moral 
 sensibilities, in their strict adherence to what they 
 regarded as right, and in their high sense of 
 honor, that true honor which is founded in rec 
 titude and generous feeling. Both were acute in 
 their intellectual perceptions, and comprehensive 
 in their views of every subject of inquiry and of 
 contemplation. There were some diversities, in- 
 
58 LETTER. 
 
 deed, in the character of their minds. Professor 
 Frisbie seems to have had more of the poetic and 
 imaginative in the composition of his mind than 
 Judge Howe, though the latter, from nature or 
 from cultivation, had a high relish for works of 
 imagination and feeling. Perhaps, too, it may be 
 said that Professor Frisbie had more of original 
 intuition, and that the quickness of mental appre 
 hension which was remarkable in Judge Howe 
 was in a great measure owing to the discipline he 
 had habitually given to his mind. It might, in 
 deed, be expected, that there would be these diver 
 sities mingled with the analogies of their mental 
 character, from the different circumstances in 
 which they passed a great part of their years. 
 Professor Frisbie, for about one half of his life, 
 was unable to look into a book, and was obliged to 
 depend in a great measure upon inward resources, 
 while Judge Howe, with a full use of his eyes, 
 had the power and disposition to derive from 
 books whatever aid they could afford him in his 
 high pursuits. 
 
 Yours, with esteem, 
 
 SAMUEL WILLARD. 
 
NOTICES 
 
 OF 
 
 / 
 
 HON. THEOPHILUS PARSONS 
 
 HON. ISAAC PARKER. 
 

NOTICES. 
 
 THE foregoing pages have been occupied with 
 a brief memoir of an eminent member of the 
 legal profession, whose devotion to religion was 
 as conspicuous as his success in the pursuit of the 
 law. Such testimony to the importance of our 
 spiritual interests will have for some minds a pe 
 culiar value, because it cannot be explained as 
 professional. It comes, not from the school, the 
 cloister, or the closet, but from the world. And 
 whilst those who devote themselves exclusively 
 to the study of religion may well be regarded as 
 best qualified to pronounce upon its evidences and 
 its doctrines, yet, as they may be suspected of 
 narrowness and of bias, it is well to look for Gos 
 pel witnesses beyond, as well as within, the limits 
 of the clerical profession. We would not, indeed, 
 submit the high spiritual truths of Christianity to 
 the judgment of a sensual or a mere worldly 
 mind ; to such a mind they must be foolishness : 
 6 
 
62 NOTICES. 
 
 but there are conscientious intellects trained to 
 health and strength in the affairs of daily life, 
 whose religious opinions are well worth dwelling 
 upon. We naturally ask, What have they thought 
 upon the subject of religion, to whose wisdom and 
 probity their fellow-citizens have intrusted for 
 tune, liberty, character, and life, whose con 
 stant occupation, perhaps, has been the weighing 
 of evidence, an effort to ascertain the claims of 
 justice ? It is fair to inquire, Will the considera 
 tions upon which the teachers of religion are ac 
 customed to rely bear a curious scrutiny, a thor 
 ough sifting, a trial of witnesses, the rough han 
 dling of the world ? Is religion, in any degree or 
 sense, a prejudice of narrow, unreasoning, timid, 
 and over-sensitive minds ? Are the commenda 
 tions so often bestowed upon it by men in power 
 and place merely formal, uttered out of regard 
 to prevailing public sentiment ? 
 
 These and similar questions have already, in the 
 preceding pages, received practical answers in the 
 life of Judge Howe. It is the object of this ap 
 pendix to present brief sketches of the religious 
 life and opinions of two other eminent jurists, 
 whose Christian examples were conspicuous in 
 their day, and whose well-earned names may help 
 to draw attention to the Gospel. 
 
NOTICES. 63 
 
 Nearly a century ago, in the year 1750, THEOPH- 
 ILUS PARSONS was born in the parish of By field, 
 within the ancient town of Newbury. His father 
 was the clergyman of Byfield. Having prepared 
 himself for college at Dummer Academy, in that 
 place, under Master Moody, an honored and 
 gifted teacher, he passed the usual undergradu 
 ate s course at Cambridge, and, after receiving his 
 degree, in 1769, commenced the study of law at 
 Falmouth, now Portland. The conflagration of 
 that place by the British compelled him to return 
 to his father s house, where he was so fortunate 
 as to find the venerable Judge Trowbridge, the 
 most learned New England lawyer of his time, 
 under whose direction he laid the foundation of 
 his own preeminent legal attainments. He after 
 wards commenced practice in Newburyport, and 
 terminated a most distinguished career at the bar 
 by accepting, in the year 1806, the appointment 
 of Chief Justice of our Commonwealth. His death 
 was not so premature as that of Judge Howe, yet 
 he did not reach the threescore years and ten 
 allotted for our earthly sojourn, but was taken 
 away at the age of sixty-three, in the midst of a 
 career of the highest usefulness. 
 
 The fame of Judge Parsons as a lawyer rests 
 upon the highest authority. The late Chief-Jus- 
 
64 NOTICES. 
 
 tice Parker and Judge Story pronounced him, not 
 only the man of his age, but the man of his cen 
 tury. Even those who were not his friends styled 
 him the giant of the law. " He seemed," said 
 Judge Parker, " to form a class of intellect by 
 himself." He was deeply read in the " ancient 
 books of the common law," and without a rival in 
 the power of reasoning and in keen discernment. 
 The most competent judges, speaking advisedly, 
 did not hesitate to say that, had he lived in Eng 
 land, he would have been made Lord Chief Jus 
 tice. Accustomed to pursue his legal studies far 
 beyond the immediate demands of his profession, 
 he was prepared for the most unexpected emer 
 gencies, and, by the promptness of his decisions, 
 even exposed himself to the suspicion of rashness, 
 a suspicion which was soon changed into as 
 tonishment at the extent of his resources and the 
 amount of his reserved power. We must add, 
 that the studies of Judge Parsons were not con 
 fined to professional subjects. He found recreation 
 in such extreme opposites as the higher mathe 
 matics and works of fiction. With one or the 
 other of these, indifferently, he was accustomed to 
 amuse himself. He was besides a good classical 
 scholar, and quite a proficient in the Greek lan 
 guage and literature, the study of which, aban- 
 
NOTICES. 65 
 
 doned upon leaving college, he resumed at the 
 age of forty. His mind was stored with that fa 
 miliar and pleasant learning, those facts and anec 
 dotes, which add so much to the enjoyment of so 
 cial intercourse, and it was his delight to instruct 
 and amuse others, especially the young. 
 
 In his public and private relations Judge Par 
 sons was without reproach, a man of high in 
 tegrity and of warm-hearted kindness, a good 
 father, and a devoted friend, as well as a patron of 
 literature and a public-spirited citizen. That he 
 had his faults is not, of course, denied, but they 
 were not such as to interfere seriously with ad 
 miration for his great and good qualities. Upon 
 these attractive qualities it would be pleasant to 
 dwell at length, but our attention ought rather to 
 be concentrated upon the precise points for the 
 sake of which these few particulars have been 
 brought forward. 
 
 Judge Parsons was a firm believer in the Gos 
 pel. His strong and thoroughly trained mind was 
 entirely satisfied with its evidences, and this after 
 no hasty examination. It is a fact well worth re 
 cording, that this highly gifted logician, this most 
 eminent jurist, who had been employed for many 
 years in sifting and weighing evidence, formed 
 the project of subjecting the Gospel narratives 
 6* 
 
66 NOTICES. 
 
 of the resurrection of our Saviour to strict legal 
 tests, and, in pursuance of this project, carefully 
 studied these narratives and compared them each 
 with the other, as one would listen to different 
 witnesses in a court of law, and endeavour, by 
 combining and opposing their statements, to ar 
 rive at the truth. The result of this inquiry was an 
 entire assurance that our Saviour did rise from the 
 dead and manifest himself to his disciples. And 
 this assurance, as was natural, expanded into a 
 strong, rational Christian faith. For Judge Par 
 sons doubtless felt that, if so central, fundamental, 
 and vital a fact as the resurrection of the crucified 
 Jesus from the tomb of Joseph could be well sub 
 stantiated, the Gospel, with its miracles, its les 
 sons, and its spirit, must stand. It may be added, 
 that, in the opinion of this most able judge, the 
 slight discrepancies in the several narratives 
 strengthened rather than weakened the testimony, 
 by setting aside at once the possibility of collu 
 sion, and by showing that each witness was an in 
 dependent observer. Having subjected the faith 
 inherited from his fathers to this thorough trial, 
 Judge Parsons made a public confession of Chris 
 tianity by connecting himself with the church on 
 Church Green in Boston, then under the pastoral 
 care of the late President Kirkland. In conver- 
 
NOTICES. 67 
 
 sation, during his last sickness, with the successor 
 of Dr. Kirkland, the still lamented Samuel Cooper 
 Thacher, he expressed a most lively faith in im 
 mortality, and distinctly referred to the assurance 
 which he had gained from his thorough and for 
 mal inquiry. " Great men are not always wise." 
 Here was one who had grace to find the true 
 wisdom. Such an example is a sufficient refuta 
 tion of that off-hand, superficial skepticism, which 
 pronounces at sight against the evidences of 
 Christianity, and insinuates that none but weak- 
 minded persons can be satisfied with them. 
 
 We should be false to our doctrinal predilec 
 tions were we to take no notice of the peculiar 
 Christian views of Judge Parsons. His sympa 
 thies were with those who sought to " un-Calvin- 
 ize " the Congregational Church of New Eng 
 land, and although, in his day, no very decided 
 issue was made between the Liberal and the Or 
 thodox portions of the community, there can be 
 no doubt on which side he would have been 
 found had he lived to see the lines fully drawn. 
 His was one of the minds whose meditations and 
 convictions could not be confined within the cur 
 rent catechisms and creeds, and his authority is 
 as valuable as any human authority can be to 
 justify dissent from these formularies. When 
 
68 NOTICES. 
 
 human interpretations of the Bible are put upon 
 the same level with the Bible itself, it is reason 
 able to urge that many wise and excellent men 
 have not been satisfied with these interpretations, 
 and there remains after this the best and final ap 
 peal to the " law and the testimony." And here 
 we must close this brief memorial, with the ex 
 pression of a hope that it may do a little to quick 
 en a Christian activity and to foster a Christian 
 enthusiasm, especially in the mind of youth. 
 
 We would next direct attention to the late HON. 
 ISAAC PARKER, who took his seat upon the bench 
 of the Supreme Court just before Chief-Justice 
 Parsons was called to preside over its deliber 
 ations, and who was himself placed at the head 
 of the court on the death of Chief-Justice Sewall, 
 in 1814. He was born in Boston on the 17th of 
 June, 1768, and passed from the public Latin 
 School of the town to Harvard University, at the 
 age of fourteen. His course as a student was 
 distinguished by the faithful employment of his 
 fine intellectual gifts, as well as by friendly man 
 ners and purity of character. After studying 
 law, under Judge Tudor of Boston, he entered 
 upon the duties of his profession in the town of 
 Castine, in Maine. After having represented his 
 
NOTICES. 69 
 
 district in Congress and rendered service as Unit- 
 ted States Marshal for Maine, he was invited, at 
 the age of thirty-six, to sit upon the bench of the 
 Supreme Court of Massachusetts, an appoint 
 ment which, although it was at first declined, he 
 accepted two years after. In this court he labor 
 ed for eight years as Judge, and for sixteen years 
 as Chief Justice, until death surprised him in the 
 midst of his honorable and useful career. He 
 died at his own home in Boston, after only a day s 
 illness, on Sunday, the 25th of July, 1830. 
 
 These particulars have been taken from an ad 
 mirable discourse, pronounced from the pulpit of 
 the church in Brattle Square, Boston, by the pas 
 tor. To this discourse and to a brief notice of the 
 deceased by Judge Story, we are indebted for our 
 impressions of the abilities and character of this 
 distinguished public servant. 
 
 Judge Parker, though sufficiently versed in the 
 law, seems not to have been so remarkable for the 
 extent of his legal learning as for his clear, rapid, 
 and full perception of principles, and his singular 
 felicity in the statement and defence of opinions. 
 Distinguished early in life, he was a growing man 
 to the last. His ever-enlarging mind kept pace with 
 advancing station. Always abounding in labors, he 
 never seemed to be overburdened, but was equal to 
 
70 NOTICES. 
 
 every occasion and elastic under the greatest pres 
 sure. A master of elegant literature as well as 
 of legal science, his style was a model for method, 
 propriety, fluency, and happy modes of expres 
 sion. " His most striking characteristic," said 
 Judge Story, " was sound sense, which, though 
 no science, is, in the affairs of human life, fairly 
 worth all, and which had in him its usual ac 
 companiments, discretion, patience, judgment." 
 His mind seems to have been most happily con 
 stituted, at once for the deepest and most compre 
 hensive investigations and for the effective com 
 munication of truth, and those whose opinion upon 
 such a subject is reliable claim for him one of the 
 very highest places amongst lawyers and judges. 
 But all this would not in the least advance the 
 present purpose, could we not claim for Judge 
 Parker the pure, peaceable, and beneficent wis 
 dom which is from above, could it not be truly 
 said, that, " from first to last, his was a truly ex 
 emplary course." Those to whom he was well 
 known can hardly satisfy themselves with com 
 mending his high moral qualities. They speak 
 most earnestly of his pure and friendly heart, 
 of his unbending integrity and practical benevo 
 lence, of his Christian faith and profession. 
 Amidst his many public duties, he found time to 
 
 
NOTICES. 71 
 
 render good service in the great work of publish 
 ing and distributing the Scriptures, and presided 
 over the Evangelical Missionary Society and the 
 first Temperance Association. The cause of 
 education also found in him a devoted and con 
 stant friend. Firmly persuaded of the truth of 
 Christianity, Judge Parker made public profession 
 of his faith by connecting himself with the church 
 in Brattle Square, and as he believed he sought 
 to live. The friend of the lamented Buckminster, 
 he sympathized with him in the liberal tenden 
 cies of his theology, yet, with him still, he was as 
 free from bitterness towards believers of a differ 
 ent order as from any want of confidence in his 
 own views. He was, " from principle, sentiment, 
 habit, and experience, a religious man." His 
 penetrating and comprehensive intellect, so ad 
 mirable for its sagacity, scope, and patience, was 
 satisfied with the evidences of Christianity, and 
 careful study of the pages upon which Christian 
 truth is inscribed led him to prize and hold fast 
 what are commonly known as Unitarian views. 
 Those who share this doctrinal preference may 
 well be allowed to attach special value to his 
 Christian testimony and example. Let not Chief- 
 Justice Parker be forgotten by those who have 
 opinions and a character to form. 
 
 We might go on adding examples almost with- 
 
 
X 
 
 72 NOTICES. 
 
 out limit, some of them in attestation of 
 value and efficacy of our peculiar views of -bo 
 Gospel, and some .of them in support of 
 Christian faith which is common to us all. Of 
 the former class, we may specify the elder anc 
 younger Adams, father and son, true servant 
 God and of the people, whose fair fame is 
 rious portion of our national inheritance ; Sano 
 Dexter, the founder of the Dexter Lecture* i 
 Biblical Literature in Harvard University 
 nent alike for the accomplishments of mind 
 the graces of character; the venerable 
 Davis, late Judge of the Circuit Court of th< 
 ed States, a man in whom professional 
 ing and wide intellectual culture were ble 
 with a rare simplicity of character and the st 
 est religious faith ; and the late Judge Story 
 eminent jurist, the accomplished scholar, th( 
 hearted Christian. Of the latter class, we 
 mention Judge Marshall of our own country 
 Sir Matthew Hale and Sir William Jones of 
 mother-land. But we must content ourselves 
 directing attention to these great Christian na 
 and with expressing the hope that the stud 
 eminent Christian lives may help, under 
 blessing of God, to bring us into a closer 
 formity with that one perfect Life which ir 
 best gift of the heavenly grace. 
 
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