LIBRARY OF THE University of California. Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. Received October , i8g4. Accessions No.^S^.^.O.J..- Class No. . >%imj^ r*" ,^-^^ ^J^^()^ . THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS MTLES P. SQUIER, D. D. LATB PKOPESSOB OF INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY, BELOIT COLLEGE, WISCONSIN. WITH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, EDITED AND SUPPLEMENTED BY EEY. JAMES R. BOYD. FROM THE PRESS OP R. L. ADAMS & SON, GENEVA, N. y, t/rtyl "-^m'r STra^f INTRODUCTORY NOTE. A few days only before the venerable subject of the ensu- ing memoir closed so peacefully his mortal career, I was sum- moned to his bedside to listen to his request that the papers now contained in this volume, besides those on the Being of God and on Moral Government, which will apjDear in another volume, should come under my editorial charge, and be pre- sented to the public in due order and form. The facts detailed in the autobiography, concerning the early settlement and Evangelization of Western New York, cannot fail to be deeply interesting to the residents of that part of the State ; while the able papers upon European topics, the result of thoughtful observation upon men and things when abroad, will command, it is l^elieved, both care- ful and remunerative perusal. On the whole, the volume seems to be adapted not only to preserve the memory of an eminently useful servant of Christ, but to stimulate to activity in the cause of Christian educa- tion, and also to awaken profound thought upon some of the more difficult problems of theological and philosophical study. The Editor feels constrained to offer an apology to all those who have written the kind and excellent letters of sym- pathy, embraced in the following memoir, for taking tbe lib- erty of exposing said letters, or extracts from them, to the public eye, since they were written with no expectation of such use being made of them. He w ould not have done so, if he had not regarded them as perfectly worthy of the place here assigned them, and of the writers. They also seemed to him to possess the greater value, as free expressions of honest sentiment, from the fact that they were written without refer- ence to future publication. Geneva^ N. T. ^^^^2:- J. R. B. ^ CONTENTS. I?^KT I. AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND SUPPLEMENT. Chapter I.— Parentage and Early Life. Chapter II. — Missionary Tour in Western New York. Chapter III. — Pastorate in Buffalo, N. Y. Chapter IV. — Relation to Auburn Theological Seminary. Chapter V. — Relation to tlie Western Agency of tlie American Home Missionary Society. Chapter VI. — Relation to the Geneva Lyceum, Chapter VII. — Connection with Beloit College. -^T I Chapter VIII. — Visit to Europe. Chapter IX. — Contributions to the Press. Chapter X. — Intellectual, Social, and Religious Character. Chapter XI. — ^His Last Days. CONTENTS. P^^RT II. MISCELLANEOUS AVTIITINGS. I. TEN LECTURES SUGGESTED BY A TISIT IN EUROPE. 1. Geneva and the Evangelical Alliance, including an Address on the American Question. 2. The American Meeting of the Alliance. 3. Italy — the Source of its Kegeneration. 4. France and its Emperor. 5. England and its Queen. 6. Dr. Pusey at Oxford. 7. The Attitude of Christian Europe on the American Question. 8. The Future of Europe. 9. Europe as Contrasted with America. 10. Prognosis of the Future of Empires. II. THREE LECTLTIES AT BELOIT COLLEGE. I. Highest Usefulness. II. Self-Control. III. Social Responsibility. III. TWO DISCOLTISES. I. The Way of Salvation. II. God is Light. IV. ESSAYS AND REVIEWS — THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL. I. • The Mystery ; or, Evil and God. In three numbers. II. Review of Dr. Bushnell on Nature and the Supernatural. III. Review of Dr. Orville Dewey's Lowell Lectures. IV. Free-Will : A Criticism on Dr. Whedon, and on Dr. H. B. Smith. V. Doctrine of the Spirit's Influence. ?:^- tiin^^ PART I. AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND SUPPLEMENT. CHAPTER I. In the summer of 1846, the subject of this memoir, drew up a brief sketch of some of the more important acts and events of his life, in the hope that they might be interesting to the circle of his family friends who should sui*vive him ; and also for the purpose of recall- ing to his own mind the ways of Divine mercy in which he had been conducted, that he might confide the more strongly in the providence and gi'ace of God during the remainder of his earthly pilgrimage. In April, 1863, a lecture was prepared and read by him before the Geneva Literary and Scientific Associa- tion, entitled, " Reminiscences in the Ecclesiastical His- tory of the State of New York," relating chiefly to his own experience and observations. As these two documents, together with a brief journal of a Tour in Europe, furnish matter for a large portion of the following memoir, it will have the freshness and chami of an autobiogi'aphy. So far as may be expedient, 8 PARENTAGE AND EAKLY LIFE. the lamented and venerated subject of it, shall address us in his own language, and in the first person. In re- spect to his parentage and early life, he thus writes : — I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. • "I was born, in Cornwall, Vermont, May 4th, 1792 ; being the second son and child of Wait and Hannah Squier. My parents were of English descent, and na- tives of Berkshire Co., Mass. My father was the thu-d gon of Andrew Squier, of Lanesboro, Mass., through whom the family is traced to Waterbury, and that re- gion in Connecticut. My mother's maiden name was Hannah Powell : she was the fourth daughter of Miles Powell, whose name I inherit. He was a man of some distinction in his day, and the Colonel of a regiment of Berkshire Militia, in the well-known Bennington battle in the war of the Revolution : that beginning of victo- ries in behalf of the American standard, which had so much influence on the great issue pending, and on the liberties of the world." " The first year of my life was one of feebleness, but through parental assiduity I attained to a good consti- tution and a vigorous childhood. I was early sent to the district school, and at the age of five years could read quite well in easy lessons. I had attained to the ordina- ry wisdom of the common school of that day, at the age of fourteen yeai*s, and was, in May, at the age of four- teen, removed to the Academy at Middlebuiy, Vermont ; and one yeai* from the next August, entered the College at that place, as a member of the Freshman Class, hav- ing obtained the premium for proficiency in Greek lit- erature in the Academy. I came to Middlebmy to enter PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. 9 the Academy, as I now recollect, on the day of the great eclipse of the sun, 180G, and entered College in August, 1807. My premium was 'Watts on the Mind,' and to that fact and work do I trace a predilection for the class of studies on which it treats. Much of my junior year in college I traveled, on account of ill health, induced, perhaps, by too great application to study, I took the philosophical oration as my appointment both at the senior exhibition and on graduating in August, 1811." " My Christian hope dates from the autumn of junior year, in 1809, in a period of great spiritual refreshing, both in the town and college. My first evidences of a right state of heart were in a sweet submission to anH acquiescence in the will of God as a righteous sovereign, and an overcoming sense of the ineffable glory and ex- cellency of His perfections, and the righteousness of His ways, and the suitableness of His expedients of mercy by the Gospel." II. PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. "I entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., in the autumn of 1811, and pursued a full three years' course of study for the Gospel ininistiy. I was present at the ordination of the first missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, (A. B. C. F. M.,) at Salem, Mass., viz.: Newell, Hall, Judson, Nott, and Rice : a very impressive and instruc- tive day. Three of them long since failed from the liv- ing on earth, and the other two with but ' feeble hold on life.' "* " My commission to preach the Gospel, dates from the * Judson died 1850. 10 ENTRANCE UPON THE GOSPEL MINISTRY. spring of 1814. My full term at Andover extended to the autumn of that year, and closed in the Anniver- sary of that year with two dissertations, — one in the de- partment of pulpit eloquence on '■ Affectation in Preach- ers,' and the other in the department of Christian The- ology. " On leaving the Seminary and its hallowed and en- deared associations, I fulfilled an engagement previously made, of eight weeks' supply of the j)ulf)it of the Con- gregational Society of Oxford, in Worcester Co., Mass.; it was a pleasant, improving, profitable period. I then returned to my friends in Vermont, and found the con- gregation of the City of Vergennes, five miles from my father's house, waiting to engage me. I tarried with that affectionate and agi'eeable people, until the spring of 1815, when my thoughts were turned westward, by an application from the Directors of the ' Young Peo- ples' Missionary Society of Western Neiv Yorh,^ endorsed by Dr. Porter, of Andover, and his urgent request, that, if other engagements would at all admit of it, I would not fail to go. It was for an exploring mission, through the more unsettled portions of Western New York, and the forming of auxiliaries in the principal villages and towns, for strengthening the Society then new, and whose first missionary I was." ! MISSIONARY TOUR IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 11 CHAPTER II. MISSIONARY TOrR IN WESTERN NEW YORK. " The settlement commenced dming the ninth decade of the last centmy. A few families only resided west of Utica in the State, in 1788. In 1790, Ontario county, which then embraced all west of Cayuga Lake, num- bered about one thousand inhabitants. In ten years they had become 100,000, and in 1810, 250,000. The settlements, being chiefly from New England and East- ern New York, brought with them the religious associa- tions to which they had been accustomed. In 1805 the Presbytery of Geneva was formed, embracing nearly all the region under review, being cut off from that of Oneida, by a line running south from the lake of that name. In 1810 the Synod of Albany divided this Pres- bytery into three, instituting those of Onondaga and Cayuga, and fixing the eastern boundary of the Geneva Presbytery at Cayuga Lake, and extending thence as before, to the western boundary of the State, and from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario. By this body was I or- dained to the Gospel ministry, and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Congregation at Buffalo, May 3d, 1816, and I am recorded on its minutes, for that period, and am now the earliest named there, among the living members of that body. I first met the Board of Directors in Oneida county. 12 MISSIONARY TOUR IX AVESTERN NEAV YORK. The Rev. Samuel F. Snowden was chairman. He had been pastor at New Hartford, and afterward j^reached at Sackett's Harbor, and died at Brown ville in the same county. Rev..H. Dwight, then pastor at Utica, Rev. Noah Coe, pastor at New Hartford, and Rev. John Frost, pastor at Whitesboro, and others, were members of the Board. These were no common men ; well cal- culated, in the instep of the countiy, to take charge of the cause of missions, and the work of evangelization in the regions beyond. Rev. Moses Gillett, also, was pastor at Rome; and the Rev. Dr. Azel Backus was Presi- dent of Hamilton College, then bringing forward its first class for graduation, and Rev. Dr. Asahel Norton, was pastor of the Village Church in Clinton. . ' Par no- bile fratrum^ — a noble band of brothers, worthy of the post they held in the forefront of all the west, in the be- ginning of days, and of a place in history for all time afterward. Dr. Backus was a man quite ^ sui- generis' He could laugh or cry, tell stories or preach sermons, — abounding in wit and humor ; he was sage, saintly, and Christ-like. He had a warm heart and a noble soul. As I called at his gate, on my way, he said, ' I am glad you are going, my young friend, but you will see that that will make yom* heart ache before you get back ; the Lord deliver you from the paw of the bear, and the teeth of the lion, and bring you back in safety :' and with his blessing I turned toward the wilderness. Passing through Rome, to Camden, where the godly and now sainted Henry Smith was afterwards the pastor, I preached my first missionary sermon there, and on the next Sabbath at Williamstown, taking the floor of a MISSIONARY TOUR IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 13 newly raised barn for our meeting place, and its over- stretching beams for a sounding board. I was hospita- bly entertained in a recently built log-house, where a blanket was the only partition between my own and thie lodging apartment of the family. Thence I went by marked trees and a bridle path twelve miles to Mexico, and on to Oswego, crossing the river on a scow or raft, and preaching on the Sabbath, in the second loft of a store, as the most eligible locality which that incipient city, now of goodly churches and congi-egations of thu'ty thousand people, could furnish. Thence the route of the lone missionary lay by marked trees again, westward, to Adam's Basin, on the easterly entrance of Sodus Bay, where now is the fine flourishing town and farming re- gion of Wolcott ; and thence by the Block House, now Clyde, through Junius to Geneva, then a village of one thousand inhabitants. This seemed like emerging into daylight. Society had begun here. The church had taken form, and the good Henry Axtell was pastor, and I hitched my missionaiy horse at his gate and waited on him for further instmctions. Mr. A., afterward Dr. A., by a well-deserved honor from Middlebury College, was a Director of the Society under whose patronage I la- bored, and I had letters to him in this behalf. He was the first minister of the Gospel I had seen, since leaving Rome, and he knew well how to enter into sympathy with the missionary life. He was installed pastor here in 1812, and continued seventeen years in the laborious discharge of the duties of his calling till in 1829, he fell asleep in Jesus, aged 45. Thence, after much consola- tion with the good people of Geneva, my route lay 14 MISSIONARY TOUR IN WESTERN NEW YORK. through Canandaigua, to Rochester, preaching as gi'oups of people could be gathered. "Rochester then contained only a few dwellings, a mill, and a school house in which I preached, lodging at the house of a Mr. Elisha Ely, brother of Henry Ely of that place. Thence I took the Ridge Road to Lewiston, and there spent next Sabbath : visited the Falls on the Canada side, and stood alone a stranger in a strange land, under Table Rock, and under the sku't of the over- flowing water, while the heavens gathered blackness, and heavy peals of thunder were just audible, amidst the continual roar around me ; thence to Bufialo, crossing over at Black Rock, to the house of one who became a fast Chiistian friend dm*ing all my residence on the frontier — Deacon Nathaniel Sill, than whom, very few whom I have met have more excellencies of character, or in whose families I have enjoyed more of the solaces of christian society and friendship. " At Canandaigua an incident of some interest oc- curred. My horse strayed from his enclosure, and I was detained till after the Sabbath. The Rev. ]Mr. Ton-ey, a Unitarian, was then the minister at that place. He had been ordained in Boston, and there somewhat anom- alously installed over the congi*egation of Canandaigua. He was a conscientious man, and then very ill at ease, with the sentiments which he had entertained. He was indeed all afloat as to doctrinal views, and quite appealed to me for relief and assurance. He said, ' Every time I visit my friends at the east, I find them farther and farther away from the peculiar teachings of the Gospel, and less and less depending for light upon it. I do not MISSIONARY TOUR IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 15 know but it is Calvinism or Deism after all. I can not preach Unitarianism to my people any longer, and I don't feel fit to preach anything just at present, and,' he added, ' you must stay with me, and preach for me on the Sabbath.' This I did, both morning and afternoon, and we had frequent and long conversations on the doctrines of gi'ace, and the subject matter of Revelation, and on the next Sabbath after, he advised his congregation of his doctrinal difficulties, and that he could preach for them as a Unitarian minister no more. He, from that time, disclaimed what was technically called ' liberal Christianity,' and lived afterward and died in the orthodox faith." 16 PASTORATE IN BUFFALO. CHAPTER ni. PASTORATE IN BUFFALO, N. Y. " At Buffalo, I was directed to the house of Mi\ Amos Callender, another elder of the church, whose unmter-' rupted counsel and friendship it was my privilege to en- joy. I spent two weeks in B. preaching in the unfin- ished saloon of the largest tavern then in the place, and since known as the Mansion House. On my retrnm east in fulfillment of my mission, a Aviitten invitation was handed me, signed by a large number of the prin- cipal citizens of Buffalo, requesting my return with a view to settle among them, as their pastor, and guaran- teeing a competent salary if I should. I promised to take it into consideration and inform them. I returned through the older settlements, and organized auxiliaries to the Society in whose employ I was. "This church was constituted on the 2d of Feb., 1812, (consisting of twenty-seven members,) by the Rev. Thaddeus Osgood, the man ' whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches.' For a few months after this company of disciples and the families associat- ed with them, enjoyed the privileges of a church state, and the occasional labors of the Missionaries of the Cross. But in the following September they were scattered abroad by reason of the desolations of the late wai* on this frontier; and did not meet again until July 15th, PASTORATE IN BUFFALO. 17 1815. This was but a few weeks previous to my first visit to this place, which was in August of that year." " I returned to Clinton in season for the commence- ment in Hamilton College, and the first, if I remember rightly, of that now honored and veteran seat of learn- ing ; and here I must relate another characteristic anec- dote of its good-hearted President. I called on him again with some account of travels, and personal history, and showed him my invitation to BufiTalo, and he said, ' Yes, yes, you must go to Bufialo !' I remarked lha!i I thought of accepting a Tutorship at Middlebury College for a year and then going. ' No, that won't do/ he re- plied. ' I'd rather never have a minister, than to wait a year for him. You must go home and see your friends awhile, and return this fall, and if you won't, I'll send right off to Andover and get a better man for them and cut you out, and you never shall go.' " My report, on surrendering my commission, advocat- ed the location of missionaries, and assisting congregations in their support as a more economical and successful method of missions, than that of itinerary labors, till then pursued. The report was published by the Board, and quite extensively circulated in the periodical press of that time, and I am happy to observe that the work of ' Home Missions' has since taken on the type very much, in our country, which was then suggested. " My return to friends in New Haven, V t., lay by the home of my venerated friend, the Rev. Jedediah Bush- nell, of Cornwall, of that State, and he, as a veteran missionary himself, and a pioneer in the work in West- ern New York, as far as Canandaigua and the Bloom- 2 18 PASTORATE IN BUFFALO. fields, must know all things concerning me, and how the cause prospered. He, too, was decided in the matter of my retm*n to Buffalo. * Oh, yes, you must go there. If you were my boy, I would rather have you settle in Buffalo than Boston. You will be more of a man and do more good ; go home for a couple of weeks, and then pack up yom* case of books, and hitch to that mis- sionary horse, and journey on thirty-five miles a day, and preach the everlasting Gospel to them.' I did so, and in the spring of 1816, the members of the Presbytery of Geneva, after a horse ride of more than one hundred miles over logs, and through mud, on the 3d of May in- stituted my pastoral relation to that people. " This was a little over two years after the burning of Buffalo, in the war with England of 1812, and a busier place was never seen. But the people had got tired of living without the Gospel, and craved a return to the habits and behests of Christian civilization. The des- olations of the war had pleaded the cause of truth, and they sought repose from its scenes and its wickedness in the accents of mercy and peace by the Gospel. They were then a peculiarly malleable people. They were willing to be taught and directed, and were Avilling to regard the Sabbath, the Sanctuary, and the institutions and claims of religion, as their grand antidote from the evils which they suffered and feared. Thus they were easily wrought into the habits of a Christian community, and the Word of God in a good degree had free course among them and was magnified." From the half-century discourse delivered Feb. 2d, 1862, by Rev. Walter Clarke, D. D., now pastor of the PASTORATE IN BUFFALO. 19 same church in the city of Buffalo, we learn that the in- teresting ceremony of inducting into oflBce this first pastor of the first church of the then infant town, took place, for want of better accommodations, in a new barn which had just been raised and covered but never used, and tlie kind owner made it a sanctuary before it could become a hostelry. "Extempore benches were made, a little platform built, and Ransom's barn was for a time a temple which neither God nor His people de- spised." The ordination sermon was preached by Rev^ Dr. Axtell, of Geneva. Dr. Clarke observes that Mr. Squier, " having received charge of the congregation, devoted himself at once to his proper work, preached sermons, and delivered addresses, and published articles exhorting the people to all due endeavors to enforce or- der, and set a curb on vice, and erect a virtuous, loyal, and happy community. The people valued his labors and were prompt to second them. They formed a so- ciety to promote public morals, engaged to abstain them- selves, and so far as they had influence or power, to hinder others from Sabbath breaking and the vices to which it so commonly leads. The next Sabbath all the stores in the village were closed. Eight persons joined the church in 1816 ; the next year thirty-seven, and the next thiity-four were added ; of these were two who en tered and honored the Chiistian ministry. The next year twenty-two persons joined the church, one of whom was Henry Hoisington, afterward the well-known missionary, a diligent minister and thorough scholar, whose memoiy and works remain." During his pastorate in Buffalo, of less than eight 20 PASTORATE IX BUFFALO. years, Mr. Squier received into cliurcli fellowship one hundred and fifty-eight persons. The Rev. Dr. A. T. Chester in his poem, read at the semi-centennial celebration of the First Chui'ch, in ad- dressing this mother church, thus happily introduces the subject of this memoir : — " The past is all thine own. Look back and see How graciously thy God hath dealt with thee. Pastors have served thee, faithful, pure of blame. Worthy to wear that consecrated name. Squier, of keen mind, and philosophic cast. Thy patient shepherd in the days long past. Now solves the problem, ' Where does ill begin ?' Gives God the glory and to Man the sin." " We had (wiites Dr. Squier) a way of doing things in Buffalo that was somewhat peculiar. "We, of all names as Christians, resolved to hold together until we got able to separate. We did not expect our minister to dwell much in advocacy of sects, but to give himself to the great, essential verities of the Gospel, and the people worked together with him for the advancement of the common cause. The Episcopalians were the first to hive out. Bishop Hobart thought it was time, in about 1818, or 19, to set up then- banners, and came for that pm-pose. I gave him my pulpit for the firet Sabbath, and we all heard him to edification : and he and his people aftenvards met on their own appoint- ments. The Baptists were next in time, and we seiwed them likewise, dismissing a member or two, from our communion, as being more at home with them : and after that the Methodists ; with but this difference, that MARRIAGE. 21 we discharged a member of our session for their assist- ance, and because we thought he would make a better Methodist than Presbyterian. These movements were all made in concert and with mutual understanding in accommodation to the predilections of worshipers, and thus laid the foundation of a union religious service, which was weekly held in the different congregations, alternately or in rotation. This was for a long time con- tinued, and contributed largely to that union of spirit, and consent of testimony, which characterized the early rise of Christian institutions and communions in Buffalo. My pastorship there continued about eight years until my connection with the Auburn Seminary as financial agent, and afterward with the cause of Home Missions, and at length with the College of Beloit at the west. My successors at Buffalo, in preaching the Gospel in the different denominations, were largely men of God, and together have contributed to that solidity and strength of Christian institutions in that city which is quite ob- servable, if not peculiar. " I was manied to Catherine Seymour, of Rome, N. Y., Feb. 22d, 1820 ; and have found her a help-meet in my work, and one in whom my soul could always con- fide. The failure of her health, and my own need of relief from the pressure of so large a charge, and the many responsibilities which crowded on me, from the state of the surrounding country, led me to resign my position, with a view of spending sl year or two in travel, and residence at some seat of Theological Science. " In the spring of 1817 I first attended the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at PhiladelDhia. 22 NIAGARA PRESBYTERY. as a Commissioner from the Presbytery of Geneva ; and in company with Dr. Axtell, and others. "In 1818 I was set off, by the Synod of Geneva, with two other ministers. Rev. Hugh Wallis, and Rev. M. Tuller, not then pastoi*s, into a new Presbytery, — ^Niag- ara Presbytery, — which was the origin of what is now called the Buffalo Presbytery, and one of the original germs of the present Synod of Genesee." AUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 23 CHAPTER IV. RELATION TO AUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. " The Theological Seminary at Auburn was the child of the Synod of Geneva. Dr. Axtell was Moderator of the Synod when, in 1818, in its sessions at Rochester, the institution was overtured and provisionally projected and determined on. Some things respecting this have not been written, and I dwell upon them for a moment. The Bill, as overtured to the Synod, contemplated an Academico-Theological institution, taking young men from the plough and the work shop, and in a term of some four years fitting them for the ministry, without the advantages of the College course. To this some of us were opposed : my own Presbytery without excep- tion. We had had the privilege of a full course, and we claimed it for the Seminary and its students. But after a discussion of two days, the vote went against us, and a committee of twenty-one members, from different por- tions of Synod and Presbyteries east of us, was appoint- ed to give it effect and establish the institution. As Buffalo was a point of some importance, my name was put on the committee ; and at our meeting in Canandai- gua in June following, I was happy to meet Dr. Davis, then President of Hamilton College, as a member of the committee, and to learn that his views fully accorded with my own as to the plan of the Institution. These 24 AUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. views were fully and successfully laid before the com- mittee, and a vote was passed by it requesting a special meeting of Synod to amend their minute and make the Seminary ai3propriately theological, and anticij)ating for its students the full academic and collegiate course of study. This was done by Synod in August following, at Auburn, and the stake stuck there ; but the recollec- tion of the anxiety and the struggle it cost to place it there on the basis of usefulness it now occupies, has al- m ost passed from the minds of the living. Distinguished men have filled its chairs, and many sous of the church have gone forth to honor it, and never more than now. With its full coi-ps of instructors, and its ample accom- modations and its deep hold of the affections of the churches, it promises much for "Western New York not only, but for the destitute and needy of every land and clime. " On resigning my pastoral chai'ge at B., I was re- quested to become the financial agent of the Theological Seminary at Auburn, and much against my previous views and inclinations, was induced, in consideration of its pressing importance, to undertake the work. In this work I spent more than a year, mainly in seeming the endowment of two professorships, and the getting of a competent Library. My agency led me to spend a win- ter in the city of New York ; and there in the work my health failed, and I was two months sick, and my gen- eral health much impaired for a long time after ; indeed, it never since has been so firm as before." Among the papers of Dr. Squier is found a form of letter, which seems to be the first draft of those which AUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 25 he sent to various gentlemen of property whom he in- tended afterwards to visit for the pm'pose of seeming one thousand dollar subscriptions by personal applica- tion. It is a strong, manly, and well written letter, showing the great necessity for the endowment of the Theological Seminary to assist in meeting the wants of the country and of the world. In that communication he thus Avi'ites : — " My plan is to find twelve men, who will be willing to put in $1000 apiece and complete the work — take up the stock in this bank, and get their in- terest in the love of doing good in this world and in the awards of our Father's kingdom hereafter. And now, dear sir, the question I have to ask is whether you will be one among the twelve, and be responsible for one- twelfth of the sum, provided I can get the rest of it, and put our Seminary on a permanent footing as to fands, to diffuse its blessings down upon our congrega- tions, or do its portion toward supplying the world with able and faithful ministers till time shall end. I wish you to carry the subject in prayer to God for direction, and to decide with the good of souls, and the day of millennial glory before you. Think how the Lord has blessed your industry, and how many pieces of property you have out of which you could raise this, and not take a single comfort from yourself or family. Think that in all probability, you will not, during your whole life, have another Theological Seminary to endow, and whether you are not willing to become so much poorer in this world, for the sake of the good, which, in the hands of God, we hope this gratuity would do ; and then you would vastly encourage this particular effort, and besides 26 AUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. I know not in how many ways, God may make it up to you. ' Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.' * The liberal soul shall be made fat; " &c. HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 27 CHAPTER V. RELATIVE TO THE WESTERN AGENCY OF THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. " In the autumn of 1825 I returned in feeble health to my father's in New Haven, Vt., and spent some two or three months in agricultural pursuits, quite to the benefit of my health: supplied the congregation of Springfield, Vt., some two months, and the rest of the winter at Bennington, Vt., in the congregation made vacant, by Rev. A. Peters accepting the appointment of Secretaiy of the United Domestic, now Home Missionary, Society. At the solicitation of that Society and of the Rev. Messrs. Axtell and Dwight of Geneva, I undertook the Secretaryship and Agency of the Western Agency of the American Home Missionary Society at Geneva, and removed to this place in the spring of 1826, and en- tered on the work. It embraced the supervision of Home Missions within the then seventeen westerly counties in this State, the planting of new congregations, the sustaining of feeble ones, and the seeming of aid from those able to help, as well as the gaining of an over- plus of means for the more destitute portions of the country, in aid of the general treasury of the Society. In this work I spent seven or eight years, sustaining on an average about seventy to eighty missionaries on our own field, defraying expenses of the Agency, and pay- n 28 HOME anSSIONARY SOCIETY. ing over to the Parent Treasury an annual surplus of from two thousand to foui* thousand dollars above the aggregate expense on this field." In May, 1851. ]VIi-. S. received a certificate of election as a Director of the American Home Missionary Society. It was accompanied by the following complimentary letter : New York, May 19th, 1851. Rev. Miles P. Squier — Dear Sir : — I liave tlie pleasure to forward you the foregoing certificate of your election as a Director of the American Home Missionary Society. As in times past we have been favored with your most valued co-operation in carrying forward the good work committed to us, so now, dwelling where so recently was a wilderness that has been turned into a garden of God, we shall none the less prize whatever your wise head and liberal heart, and large expe- rience in Home Missionary affairs can bring to our aid in complet- ing what is yet to be done in this land for the honor of our Divine Master. The strength of Israel be on your right hand in your new post of duty. Dr. Erskine Mason we laid on Friday last beneath the clods of the valley. What a loss to Zion ! My heart bleeds. Affectionately Yours, Milton Badger, Sec. GENP:VA LYCEUM. 29 CHAPTER VI. RELATION TO THE GENEVA LYCEUM. "In 1831 I founded the Geneva Lyceum. The Ge- neva Female Seminary was previously founded on my premises, and generally under my care, and I had built a house for its accommodation. This latter institution long and greatly flourished under the charge of Mrs. Elizabeth Ricord. In it commenced the great revival of religion in Western New York in 1831, so well known : it raised up many valuable females, pious and well trained, for society and the Kingdom of God. " The duties devolving on me as Secretary and Agent of Home Missions, together with an acquaintance other- wise extended, as a minister of the Gospel, with the state of classical education in Western New York, and the need of further efforts to train up pious young men for the Gospel ministry, and to give them a full, thorough and appropriate training in the outset of their classical course, suggested the thought of establishing this Insti- tution. The design was formed, in the hope of fully meeting the plan of study contemplated by the American Education Society and its branches, in the appropriately academical course of the student. Believing that much in respect to the eminence of his future attainments, and usefulness, would depend on the views entertained by him, and the habits of mind and heart he should form, 30 GENEVA LYCEUM. in the commencement of his career as a scholar, it was thought that more attention should be given, more im- portance attached to, and more privileges furnished for this part of his course than had hitherto been given. Signs of a desire in some quarters, to abridge the course of study, and hasten young men into the ministry with- out due preparation, urged the execution of the above design, in the hope of contributing some influence at least in the right direction. " In fulfillment of the above object, after a wide sur- vey of the country for a location, and much reflection, the premises of the late Dr. Henry Axtell, of this place , were purchased in the month of May, 1831. " This spot was selected as being in the midst of a community, intelligent, refined, moral and Christian, whose influences and privileges, would be fevorable to the pupils of such an institution, and adapted to its ob- jects, containing and likely to contain a number of liter- ary gentlemen, who would bring to the Institution incidental instruction, and fostering patronage : — a sit- uation central in Western New York, easy of access, and in itself healthful, rural, pleasant, retired, command- ing a good land and water prospect, and combining the privileges of both village and country. "In September, 1831, arrangements were made with the Rev. Eleazer Lathrop, then pastor of the Presby- terian congi'egation of Elmira, to open and take charge of the institution as its Principal in instruction, and em- ploying the Rev. Asa Messer, of this place, then teach- ing a select school, as his assistant. " October 3d, 1831, the Institution was opened by the GENEVA LYCEUM. 31 above gentlemen, with reasonably favorable prospects, and the character, and objects of young men entering, were to a large extent such as coincided with the chief design of the Institution." In consequence of the failure of Mr. Lathrop's health before the close of the year, the Rev. Justus W. French, of Hardwick, Vt., was elected in his place, and took charge of the Institution in October, 1832, and re- mained in charge of it till July, 1837, when the number of students in attendance was nearly one hundred. In the spring and summer of 1832, the " South Hall" was erected at an expense of about |3000, and at the laying of its corner stone an able address was delivered by Dr. Squier, the design of which was to show that knowledge is the natural aliment of the mind : that it is indispensable to the exercise of the rational powers, to the growth of intellect, and to the cultivation of the re- ligious affections : that without it mind is of no use, and creation without an object. He illustrated, at length, the position that all knowledge is summarily embraced under two heads : — the knowledge of God and of His works, and that these comprehensive departments of knowledge are associated in the relation of cause and effect. He also showed that knowledge is essential to the formation of character and to preparation for duty ; and further, that at no previous period of the world had the demands for the general diffusion of knowledge and for mental culture been more imperative. " The gates of the temple of knowledge," said he, in his address, " should be thrown wide open. The differ- ent professions should be filled with a high order of in- 32 GENEVA LYCEUM. tellect, and the genius and talents of the world be made tributary to the work of love. The resources of the combined intellect and wisdom of men should be brought to bear with unwonted momentum and effect upon the emancipation of the race from the curse of sin into the gi*ace and liberty of the Gospel of Christ." In speaking of the design for which the Institution was founded, and of the results that were to be sought after in its future operations, the enlightened and Chris- tian spirit of the founder is clearly discerned. The con- cluding part of the address is particularly worthy of preservation, as an indication of the high and sacred purposes to which he devoted his talents, his propeiiy, and his influence. It is also worthy of preservation as showing the legitimate and the most important and ap- propriate design of all institutions of learning : — " We desire that this Institution may harmonize with the redeeming providence of God. We would help to cultivate some immortal minds for God and the Church, for society and the world ; we would contribute our share of influence in concert with other institutions of learning and religion in the land and world, in repelling ignorance and sin, and striving together for the univer- sal difiiision of knowledge and righteousness among men. " In prosecution of this high aim would we erect this intended edifice, whose corner stone we now lay, and ive consecrate the building and the Institution to Christ and the Church, to the cause of truth, learning and religion, and ask for the undertaking, the protection, guidance, and gra- cious smiles of that God, who * is light, and in whom is GENEVA LYCEUM. 33 no darkness at all.' May His favoring providence attend us in its prosecution ; may no evil befall the work or them that work upon it, and may our design prosper, and obtain favor in the eyes of them that love Zion. May this Institution, now in its infancy, be nurtured by a kind Providence. May it not only be a seat of the muses, and a nm'seiy of sound science, but a consecrated spot on which the Sj)irit of God shall often descend in genial reviving influences, when intellect shall be sanc- tified, and immortal mind shall be endowed for the re- sponsibilities of this age, of the church, and the world. May many sons of the Church go forth from it, in suc- cessive years, who shall eventually ' preach righteousness in the great congregation,' and convey the knowledge of Christ crucified to those who ' sit in darkness and see no light.' May distant heathen nations feel its influence, and Christian lands be blessed, by its streams. May it rear up intellect for every profession and. useful depart- ment of life ; and may this Institution, these buildings, and such others as future wants shall authorize, these grounds, and fields, and gToves, so pleasant to the eye, have the blessing from on high, and long be sacred to the cause of learning and religion, sacred to the truth and service of the ever-living Jehovah, and to His name, to ' the Three that bear record in Heaven," — the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, — be praise everlasting." At an Anniversary exhibition of the Lyceum, in the Presbyterian Church, July, 1833, Dr. Squier pronounced an Address, highly instructive, and full of wise Christian counsels ; and from it we learn the admirable influence 3 34 GENEVA LYCEUM. which the Institution was exerting and the cheering re- sults which it had already accomplished. He states, that of the seventy-four young gentlemen and youth connected with the Lyceum, the term then closing, sixty-eight had been pursuing a classical course, having the learned professions in view ; sixty were entertaining the hope of personal piety ; fifty-six were pursuing study with reference to the Gospel ministiy. The admirable tone of the Address will be discov- ered in. the following extracts : — "Take heed to your characters, to your bodies, to your souls. (1.) "*A good name,' in the language of the wise man, * is better than precious ointment.' Character is indeed everything. It is indispensable to usefulness or success in any valuable undertaking. An apostle sent the injunction to his own son in the faith, — ' Let no man despise thee.' Do nothing to forfeit the respect, the esteem, the confidence of your fellow men. From upright and honest principles, pursue upright and honest ends, — keeping conscience void of oftence, toward God and toward men. Aim at consistency of character in everything, and be known and read of all, as the unde- viating friends of truth and virtue. You are young, — ' flee youthful lusts.' Turn from the syren song of pleas- ure, under every form of seduction, and follow after righteousness, recollecting that, ' the end of the com- mandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.' " (2.) " Take care of these bodies. They ^re the case- ment of an immortal mind, its organ of communication, GENEVA LYCEUM. 35 with the exterior universe around it ; its handmaid to duty, and usefulness, and the minister of its expansion and happiness." " In respect to most of you, we trust, that these bodies have become the temples of the Holy Ghost, and in re- spect to you all, we can but anticipate the day when you will yield them to Him, whose of right they are. Pre- serve them for the Master's use. Do nothing to induce disease, and bring on premature feebleness and decay. In the period of relaxation from study now allowed you, give yourselves up to cheerful, vigorous, healthful exer- ercise. Turn to the labors of the field, or the workshop or some other of the employments of active life, and be sure to return to us, if God permit, with the flush of health on your cheek, and a firmness of nerve, that will effectually resist the tendencies of sedentary habits." (3.) " Take heed to your souls. They are that im- mortal part, which comprises the sum, and stamps the value of your existence. ' Keep thy heart with all dil- igence, for out of it are the issues of life.' In leaving for a season your accustomed retreat of study, and of Christian privilege, you pass not from under the eye of God or get away from the resj)onsibility of duty. The obligations of religion equally attend you, wherever you go, wherever you are. Be mindful of this, and let the conviction of it ever rest on your minds. You will be surrounded with temptations. The net will be spread for your feet. Be aware of this. Tm*n from the way of the destroyer. Avoid the avenues to sin. ' Shun even the appearance of evil.' Are any of you destitute of a good hope in Jesus Christ *? To such, we can but again, 36 GENEVA LYCEUM. as often before, commend a personal interest in the Sa- viom-, as now your great concern. Flee at once to the stronghold in Zion. Let these powers, these attain- ments, yom* whole souls, your opportunities, your pros- pects of future influence and usefulness, be early, be now, baptized at the fount of forgiveness ; and in the School of Christ be trained for His service and His kingdom." " My young Christian friends, make the Bible the man of your counsel. By it seek to know and do the will of God. Let its precepts and its spirit take full possession of your souls. Though away from your wonted retreats of devotion, forget not that the vows of God are on you, — that the life of yom* religion depends very much on the faithful discharge of the duties of the closet. Neglect not the hour of prayer. Turn not away from the company of the pious, — forsake not the assemblies of God's people. Keep under the body. Let grace reign in you. Put wholly on the Lord Jesus. Let eveiy power, every attainment be sanctified. Keep in view the rest that remaineth, and strive ever after a growing raeetness for it, so shall you fail not of the full reward of grace." As a further illustration of the high intellectual and religious character of Dr. Squier's mind, it would be un- just to withhold the following extract, though quite long, of an Address which he delivered August 4th, 1840, at the close of the ninth year of the Geneva Lyceum, upon GENEVA T.YCEUM. 37 a highly important subject, and which he has treated with masterly ability. The subject is, — " THE MEN WE WANT." " I would call up the necessities of the world in re- spect to well-directed, educated mind. " Beneficent influence, is very much in the combined ratio of force of intellect and goodness of heart. Intel- lectual strength, and right principles, must be united in the men of whom we speak. They must have sound minds and holy hearts. They must have drunk deep at the fountains of science, and have gone to the pool in Siloam too, for cleansing from sin. They must stand on the elevation of knowledge in our world, and , receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost ; and to the watchword of Providence and the calls of duty, they must with their whole souls respond, — ' Here, Lord, am I, send me.' These are the men we ivant. This is the great desidera- tum of the age in doing its work ; this the living per- vading agency, imploringly called for, and I refer to some of the directions, from which the cry comes up, for the men I have characterized. I. THE RESEARCHES OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE. " True, much advancement is already made in this de- partment of knowledge, and its adaptation to the arts of life. But more, much more progress, in both respects, remains to be yet made. It is also conceded, that men with unsanctified hearts can investigate the laws and affinities of matter, and propound their discoveries intel- ligibly to others. And yet, more or less imperfection is liable to attend their . researches, and their statements. 38 GENEVA LYCEUM. They are wont to divorce the Creator from His. works, and familiarize their disciples with a pantheistic phrase- ology, on the one hand, or the dialect of atheism on the other. Their hearts go not after God, and they do not recognize Him in the things He has made. Besides, shall not the sons of God appreciate the operation of His hand? There is affinity between the Creator and His works : there is relationship between truth in physics, and truth in morals. The good man sees God in the mechanism of the Universe, in its laws and adaptations, its magazines of blessing and of wi'ath. He loves ' him that begat,' and for his sake, that which is begotten. With the zest of affiliated friendship to God, he threads the labyrinths of nature, and brings out her reluctant mysteries. His heart sympathizes with his studies and happily guides them. He looks at physical truth, from a point of observation, and under aspects, and relations, peculiar to himself, and favoring the best results. He traces all to the intelligence and mighty hand of God, and speaks of it, in a dialect that honors him, and thus aids in giving popular and legitimate conviction of the presence and agency of God, 'in the things that are seen.' II. THE SAME NECESSITY EXISTS IN THE WALKS OF LITERATURE. " ' Let me TV^ite the ballads of a nation,' says one, 'and I Ccare not who makes its laws.' The periodical and permanent literature of a people have a vast influence over them for good or evil. The writings of Voltaire, and of other infidels of his day, did much to poison the mind, and corrupt the manners of France, and the Con- GENEVA LYCEUM. 39 tinent ; to blot out conscience and send the world adrift without helm or compass! In respect to American lit- erature, this is a plastic age. Much that comes over sea is decidedly deleterious, and that which is poured forth so profusely from our own press, on criticism, poetry, politics and morals, and a variety of subjects of more or less general and permanent interest, is of a very mixed and anomalous character. Ours is a reading, busy, investigating age. It will have books, it will seek supply in eveiy form of publication from the daily penny sheet, up to the stately volume. Greater solicitude should be felt on this subject by the wise and good. More minds of the first class should be at work, to sanc- tify the literature of our country and of the age ; to pour into works of taste and general reading, more that is evangelical ; to imbue the thoughts and leisure time of the community, with principles, and maxims, and as- sociations coincident with the integi*al elements of truth, and our real relations to God and each other. in. SEATS OF LEARNING. " These are sources of great and abiding influence and interest. Schools, colleges, and seminaries of profes- sional study, are fountains f^'om which issue streams to gladden and refresh, or blight and destroy. Instructors in them are captains of hundreds and of thousands in the con^-egation of Israel. They teach those who are to teacl the rest of men. They mould the minds and embodj the influences which shall pervade society, and go down to coming generations. They should be em- inently wise and good men, and able to give to science 40 GENEVA LYCEUM. and literature and thought, that which the necessities of the age demand. The di-aft here is large, and will be continual and increasing. Presidents, professors, and teachers, will be needed in all our professional, collegiate, and preparatory institutions through the breadth of the land, among the heathen and over the world ; and they should be deficient in no gifts of the intellect or the heart. They should be men of master minds, capable of forming the material under their hands to great and good results, and of leaving theu* impression as the world's benefactors, on all coming time. • IV. THE SAME REMARKS ARE IN PLACE, IN RESPECT TO THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS AS A WHOLE. " On then* position in society, and the weight of theii* influence, it would be gratuitous to dwell. Tiey need to be replenished from som-ces, that shall not only sus- tain and advance their professional excellencies and abil- ity, but make them increasingly foimtains of spiritual health and blessing. 'iSuch, too, are the claims of the bench of JMstice, the chair of state, and our halls of legislation. The present is a crisis in the world's history. The policy of courts and cabinets is not equal to the economy of Providence, not to the hope inspired by prophecy, nor to the cherished inheritance of the rising age. There is too mudi of that wisdom which is ' earthly, sensual and de\"ilish \ too lit- tle of that from above, which is ' pure, peace^le and fiill of good fruits.' And here I can but referjthough with shame, to scenes of tumult and personal Molence, which, alas! too oft^en transpire in our national (legisla- ture, more befitting the brawls of a bar-room, tUn the GENEVA LYCEUM. 41 dignified councils of a great republic. Aye ! one sheds his brother's blood, almost within sight of the capitol, and comes fresh from the fatal encounter, with the gait and bearing of an honorable man, to his seat again in the grave counsels of the nation, and wipes his mouth, and says, ' I have done no iniquity.' Oh ! it is an offence to high heaven, a foul blot on the escutcheon of our country's glory : it is in dereliction of the necessities and aspirations of the age. "I speak the faults of no party or sect in politics, as such. There needs the infusion of better principles, of higher aims, of a richer sense of obligation and duty to God. There must be more men who fear God and work righteousness in the high places of society, to mingle in our counsels and guide the helm of state. More coti- science, and more practical reference to the precepts df inspired wisdom, must enter into that composition of forces, which urges on the car of our destiny. The dic- tates of a low, worldly, selfish and ambitious policy are out of place, and unequal to the task. Our sails must be filled with the breath of heaven. More sanctified influ- ence must go up into the seats of political power to avert the curse of God, and make the American nation what it should be: the light and benefactress of the world. " I intended a more emphatic reference to the Gospel Ministry in this discussion. The command was ' Go ye and teach all nations.' Under God, the ministry of re- conciliation is the sun in the system of means to en- lighten and regenerate the race of man. It is worth more to this end than all other agencies combined. Its 42 GENEVA LYCEUM. business is instruction. Its proper function is a worker together with God in the pathway of His redeeming Providence. It is His own economy for the conversion of men to, holiness ; for ushering in a glorious latter day, and making earth like heaven. To this work the minister of Christ is consecrated, and the watchword of Providence now is — 'up and onward, for the harvest of the world is ripe.' No previous age perhaps, has furn- ished equal facilities for advancing this work. Help springs from the perfection of the arts, from the easy intercourse of nations, and from the spirit of travel and geographical research. The heathen world is opening to the entrance of Christian Missions ; and it would seem to be time, high time, to place it undej the light of the Gospel, and to bring up its teeming millions from tte darkness and degradation of their gentile state. At home, in Christendom, and abroad, among all nations, the demand is limitless, and it is imperative too. The question of the moral renovation of the race is hasten- ing to conclusion. The world is getting weary of idols. It is weaiy too of the shackles of the ^man oj sin.'' Mind is breaking loose from the trammels of mere au- thority. Agencies in religion, in politics and morals, in commerce and in the daily intercourse of life, are burst- ing the cords of arbitrary restraint. Mind will be self- governed. As well may you hush the tempest in its wi'ath, or stay the avalanche from the mountains, as prevent it. But in vain do we demonstrate the foolish- ness of idols, or set men free from the dominion of the Pope, unless w^e put them under law to truth, to conscience and to God. They may as well be left to idols, as be GENEVA LYCEUM. 43 without restraint of any kind. If they may not feel the supremacy of conscience, and be intelligently under the sway of truth, let them be subject to any tyrant principle, whether emanating from Rome, or Mecca, or the lying vanities of Paganism. Their liberty would only be licentiousness, and then* condition one of deeper wretchedness than before. The Gospel is the world's great hope — its only resort. This day its light should be penetrating every shore, — its messengers be visiting every clime, and its full action be enjoyed by all people. " In view of wants like these in extent, and in event- ful urgency, do we speak of the necessity of well-directed, educated mind, at this day. In the light of these positions do we discover the value of well-trained youth, with minds and hearts equal to the demands that are upon us, capable of rising to the responsibilities of Providence now, of controling the moved elements of human thought and feeling, and of guiding the rising age, safely, man- fully through its destiny and of handing it down to the brighter, better hopes that follow. " Allow me to say in closing, that to assist in some humble measure at least, in rearing up this class of minds here refen-ed to, and to these ends, is the object of the Institution whose anniversary exercises we are now at- tending." The subsequent history of the Geneva Lyceum is thus detailed by the founder, in the sketch he has left behind, of the prominent events and acts of his life : — " Soon after this period, the American Education So- ciety and its branches, in a period of some perplexity, 44 GENEVA LYCEUM. adopted the unwise expedient of aiding no young man, in his course for the ministry imtil he had entered col- lege ; and as might be expected many were discharged, and prevented from commencing study. The means of the founder of Geneva Lyceum were inadequate to this posture of the case, — the tuition bills became insufficient for the teachers, and as but few pious young men, study- ing for the ministiy, were brought forward, the design of the institution could not be sufficiently met to war- rant its continuance, and it was reluctantly abandoned." " Our consolation concerning it is, that it has done much good, having besides other influences, been the means of introducing into the Gospel ministrj^, it is thought, over one hundred young men, whose praise is in the churches and whose record is on high." " After this the buildings and grounds of the Lyceum were oflfered to the Synod of Geneva, on terms every way advantageous, for the founding of a College in this iocaUty, — terms which involved a donation of some ten or twelve thousand dollars, by the proprietor. This, af- ter much agitation of the subject, was, from some lack of public spirit perhaps, and more it is likely, from its proximity to the Episcopal College in this place, was at length given up, and the premises have been devoted to other purposes." One testimony of the value of this Institution is here subjoined, from the pen of an alumnus, a minister of the Gospel, a president of a college, in a recent letter to Mrs. Squier : — " I there formed my idea of the value of institutions GENEVA LYCEUM. 45 for Christian Education. No one can measure the wide- reaching influence for good which has gone out from the Geneva Lyceum. I have always regretted that it could not have remained a permanent monument to the memory of your husband. But he was spared to be a light and a blessing to many young men, — and a most valuable contributor to Christian thought, — a champion of pure truth. A mind like his must feel a most ex- quisite delight in that world of unveiled and certain truth, where he sees so clearly that ' God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.' " Dr. Squier now furnishes us with a brief account of the manner in which his time was occupied from 1833 to 1845, in the following language: — "After closing my connection with the A. H. M. So- ciety in 1833, most of my time was occupied in the oversight and direction of the Lyceum, and as secretary, conducting the relations of its beneficiaries to the Edu- cation Society, the largest list of whom reported any one year, in the Institution, was forty-four. In the mean- time as health pei-mitted, I supplied destitute congrega- tions in the neighborhood ; among which were Junius, Newark, Castleton and West Fayette. With my wife I spent the winter of 1839 — 40 in Philadelphia, and took charge of the first congregation of Southwark, in that city ; it was the winter in which the * Church Case* (so called) was traversed in the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania, and in which it was my lot to appear as a wit- ness. I spent also several winters in the city of New 46 THE " CHURCH CASE." York, and one in oSTew Bennington, Vt., in charge of the Presbyterian congregation." The testimony offered by Dr. Squier in the case above refeiTed to, relates to a matter of history, that will deeply interest all ministers and members of what has since been denominated the New School Presbyte- rian Church. It describes the organization of its first Gen- eral Assembly in Philadelphia, in the year 1835, and is found on pages 107 and 108 of Lathrop's elaborate report of the Presbyterian church case, published by McElroy. That testimony is as follows : — Mr. Squier, in continuation, interrogated by IMi'. Ran- dall : — " I was present at the organization of the As- sembly of 1838. After tendering the commissions to the clerks, I gave them for keeping to Mr. Nixon. I introduced him to Dr. Mason, and then went into the house — found the house veiy densely occupied at the south end, a large proportion of the gentlemen in that part of it being of the Old School party. The sermon was preached as usual, and at its close the Moderator (Dr. Elliott) announced that after the usual prayer he would proceed to constitute the Assembly. This prayer being finished, he took his place in front of the pulpit? and made a prayer, at the close of which Dr. Patton rose and said, that he held in his hand certain resolu- tions which he wished to offer. Dr. Elliott said that was not the time to present resolutions. Dr. Patton said that he was anxious to present them at that time. Dr. Elliott stated that they could not be received, as the roll was the next thing in order; and I think, stated that the clerks were ready to make their report. Dr. Patton THE " CHURCH CASE. 4 1 stated that he had the floor l^efore the clerks, and that his motion related to the roll. The Moderator told him he was out of order. Dr. Patton appealed from his de- cision. The appeal was seconded, to the best of my recollection. The Moderator refused to put the appeal to the house, saying to Dr. Patton he was out of order. Dr. Patton then took his seat, and the clerks made their repoi-t. Dr. Erskine Mason then rose, and addressed the Moderator, saying that he held in his hand the commis- sions of certain commissioners, from the Presbyteries within the bounds of the Synods of XJtica, Geneva, Genesee, and Western Reserve, which had been refused by the clerks ; that he now tendered them (holding them up to view) for the purpose of completing the roll. The Moderator inquired of him if those Presbyteries were within the four Synods. He replied they were. The Moderator replied they could not be received, or in words to that effect. Dr. Mason then appealed from the decision of the Moderator to the house, which appeal was seconded. The Moderator refused to put the ap- peal, declaring it out of order. I then rose, and men- tioned to the Moderator, that my commission had been tendered to the clerks, and had been refused ; and I now demanded my seat, and that my name should be enrolled. The Moderator asked what Presbytery I represented. I replied the Presbytery of Geneva. The Moderator asked if that Presbytery belonged to the Synod of Ge- neva. I replied that it was within the bounds of the Synod of Geneva. He then said, ' We do not know you.' Mr. Cleaveland, of Detroit, then rose, and said, in substance, that as a Constitutional Assembly must be 48 THE "CHUBCH CASE." organized at that time and place, by the admission of all proper members to their seats, and as it was evident that this could not be done under these officers, or as it was impossible to go on and constitute or organize the Assembly under them, he moved that Dr. Beman take the chaii', which motion was seconded, and was put by Mr. Cleaveland. Dr. Beman rose immediately after the question had been put and carried, by what I should think a neai'ly unanimous vote. He was sitting near the front of the slip. A motion Avas then made and second- ed, and was put by Dr. Beman, that Dr. Mason and IVIi'. Gilbert be appointed clerks. Dr. Beman, the acting Moderator, then called for nominations for the regular Moderator of the Assembly, when Dr. Fisher was nom- inated, and the nomination being seconded, and none other made, the question was put viva voce. Dr. Beman then announced to Dr. Fisher that he was elected Mod- erator of the General Assembly, and sho\ild govern him- self by the rules thereafter to be read to him. The Rev- Dr. Mason Avas then nominated as stated clerk, and Mr. Gilbert as permanent clerk, which nominations were put by Dr. Fisher, and carried. Some paper was then read or refeiTed to, the purport, of which I did not then un- derstand. On the back of this, a motion was made to adjourn to the First Presbyterian Church. The paper was on the subject of the occupancy of the house, and signed by a Mr. Schott. I cannot state by whom it was read, but to the best of my recollection, it was by Dr. Beman. The body then retired to the Session-room of the First Presbyterian Church, the Moderator announc- ing that if there were any other commissions, which had THE "church case." 49 not yet been presented, they would be received there. After getting to the Lecture-room of the Fii*st Church, the business went on as usual." The resolutions offered by the Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., of New York, and referred to in Dr. Squier's testimony, were, with the preamble, as follows : — " Whereas, The General Assembly of 1837 adopted certain resolutions intended to deprive certain Presbyteries of the right to be represented in the General Assembly ; and whereas, the more fully to accomplish their purpose, the said Assembly of 1837 did require and receive from their clerks a pledge or prom- ise, that they would, in making out the roll of Commissioners to constitute the General Assembly of 1838, omit to introduce there in the names of Commissioners from said Presbyteries ; and where, as, the said clerks, having been requested by Commissioners from the said Presbyteries to receive their commissions and enter their names on the roll of the General Assembly of 1838, now about to be organized, have refused to receive and enter the same ; there, fore — " 1. Resolved, That such attempts on the part of the General Assembly of 1837, and their clerks, to direct and control the or- ganization of the General Assembly of 1838, are unconstitutional^ and in derogation of its just rights as the general representative judicatory of the whole Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. "2. Resolved, That the General Assembly cannot be legally constituted, except by admitting to seats, and to equality of powers, in the first instance, all commissioners who present the usual evidences of their appointment ; and that it is the duty of the clerks, and they are hereby directed to form the roll of the General Assembly of 1838, by including therein the names of all commissioners from Presbyteries belonging to the said Presby- terian Church, not omitting the Commissioners from the several 4 50 THE "church case." Presbyteries within the bounds of the Synods of Utica, Geneva, Genesee, and the Western Reserve ; and in all things to form the said roll according to the known practice and establlihed usage of previous General Assemblies." CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. 51 CHAPTER VII. CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. The operations of the Geneva Lyceum having now been brought to a close, as related on a previous page, Dr. Squier, nevertheless, did not relinquish the noble purpose to consecrate his life and pecuniary means to the cause of Christian Education, and with a more spe- cial and immediate view to the raising up of ministers of the Gospel, as appears from the following statements which he has left on record : — " In 1845, I attended as a delegate from the Presby- tery of Geneva the Convention of Presbyterian and Congregational ministers, in Detroit, Michigan ; and from representations then made me, and the views I then took of the commanding importance of Education- al Institutions in the great western valley, was induced to extend my journey farther than Detroit, and visit the site of a proposed College or University at Beloit, Wis- consin. The country, the people, the conventions that had assembled on the subject, pleased me. In view of the Christian aspect of the whole matter, I resolved if a University charter was obtained, and the subject pros- ecuted in good faith, to throw in my influence and stick my stake there. In 1846 the charter was obtained, and in 1847, the corner stone of its present fine edifice was laid, and the College went into operation, in the instruc- 0? THS'^^^ (Uiri7EESIT7l 52 CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. tion of its preparatory classes. In 1849 I received the invitation of the Board of Trustees of the College to the chair of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy in the in- stitution, and visited the ground in the spring of 1850, with my cherished friend, Rev. A. D. Gridley, of Clin- ton, to ascertain more fully the path of duty, — extending our journey thence into Iowa, and to the Falls of St. Anthony. " On my return to Geneva, I accepted the appoint- ment tendered me in the College, and in the spring of 1851 entered on its duties, taking charge of one recita- tion a day of the Senior Class, and giving a course of public lectures to the whole College (and invited hearers) in my department of instruction, and closing with an Inaugural Address on the morning of Commencement Day, on * The Province of the American Scholar."* The Addi-ess was published by the Board of Trustees, and that Commencement Day, by the presence of its friends, and the exercises of the students, and the favor of God, was one of much interest and advancement to the Col- lege. A Collegiate Freshman Class of sixteen was then entered for the next year, against a graduating class of three students.'* It would seem, from a letter of Dr. Squier of July 2, 1845, addressed to those in Beloit interested in fouhding the College, that he participated largely in the labor of projecting it, and in suggesting the best methods of securing the end in view. His heart seems to have been warmly engaged in this new enterprise, as is evident from his proposition therein contained, to throw his CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. 53 means largely into it, commencing with a subscription of ten thousand dollars, and to perform the duties of the Professorship of Intellectual Science and Divinity, and also to devote a portion of his time to the fiscal and general interests of the Institution, involving a traveling agency for that purpose. He proposed to bring his Library into the sei-vice of the Institution, as he had no children to need it, and states that as soon as the way should be clear for connecting himself with it, both he and his beloved wife would be gratified to give the re- mainder of their days to some nascent and promising institution of science and piety in the great west — to make a sort of child of it, and to do for it what they could, and leave to it the legacy of their prayers and means, mainly, as God should enable them, and mark out the line of duty. This perhaps will be the most convenient place to in- sert the following letter : — MiDDLEBUKY, Aug. 20th, 1852. Dear Sir : — It gives me pleasure to inform you that the Pres- ident and Fellows of Middlebury College, at their late annual meeting, conferred on you the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity. Respectfully yours, B. Labaree, Rev. Miles P. Squier, D. D. Pres't. Mid. Coll. Dr. Squier's connection with Beloit College is thus described by President Chapin in a lecture delivered in the College chapel a few days after Dr. Squier's de- cease. It is remarkable that the lecture, which came 54 CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. in a regular course of exposition of the early records of the Bible, closed with the translation of Enoch and its impressive lesson — as President C. remarks : — " By a striking coincidence the Providence of God to- day brings this lesson veiy near to us, teachers and stu- dents of Beloit College. But yesterday, the announce- ment came that one who has been for years very pleas- antly associated with us, whose venerable face we have seen and whose kindly voice we have heard often in this place, has just been called home ; and here, where we were daily looking to see him again, ' he is not,' for on Friday, a week ago, ' God took him.' "***** " He fixed his home in the beautiful village of Geneva, New York, and after leaving his missionary work, was much engaged in efforts to establish there an institution of learning, to help forward the young men of that re- gion in preparation for the work of the Gospel ministry. Although, through lack of general co-operation, that in- stitution was not settled on a permanent foundation, considerable success attended the effort with reference to its direct object, as not a few men, some of them now eminent in the church, trained by his aid, can attest. The interest then manifested in the work of Christian education, he never lost. As he advanced in years and had more leisure, he occupied himself with metaphysi- cal studies, for which he had a natural fondness, and was looking arour^d for some institution with which he might be identified as an instructor. He thus became interested in the steps taken for the founding of Beloit College, and in the summer of 1849 received an ap- pointment as Professor of Intellectual and Moral Phil- CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. 55 osophy in this institution. In the following year, he accepted the appointment, having provided out of his own resources for the endowment of the chair. His in- tention then was to transfer his property and his home hither and come into close connection with our work But his circumstances at the East and the difficulty, at "iis time of life of adapting himself to the constant vork of the class room, led him to change his purpose, aid content himself with spending a few weeks of each y«ar with us, giving instruction in his department both bj recitations and by lectures." •' For the last five years, his health has been precari- ous and his duties here consequently interrupted. His last visit was in 1863, three years ago. In consequence of ncreasing infirmities, he then made arrangements to past the work of his Department into other hands, thoigh his name has still had a place on our catalogue, as Professor Emeritus. During the last two years he las been quite an invalid; yet, in April last, I received a letter from him expressing anew his interest and love for the College and the hope that he miglt be with us once more, at our approaching Com- menciment. In that letter, he speaks, as he was apt to do, o;' the great want and the great hope of the king- dom (f Christ, whose interests lay always near his heart. He srys : * The times are big with interest — the West and tie South are opening and the world indeed to the ingress of light and truth. Sanctified intellect is the 3rder of the day. Christian civilization and the in- poming of millennial times are the aspu-ation and the throe of humanity and the aim of the Providence of 56 CONNECTION WITH BELOIT COLLEGE. God. Give us the men — the men we want. Money will come easier and is made faster.' " The Lectures delivered by Dr. S., at Beloit College, were on the following subjects, viz : — The Truth of Religion ; The Method and the Acquisition of Knowledge ; / Mental and Moral Habits ; The Value of a Philosophical Mind ; ' The Value of Moral Science ; / The Generic Properties of Mind ; / Philosophy and Its Uses ; Elements of Moral Science ; Lectures on Subjects connected with his late visit in Eur(pe. The last act of pious and substantial regard which he performed to Beloit College, upon which he had bestow- ed ten thousand dollars in the endowment of the Tro- fessorship of intellectual and moral philosophy, wai to direct in his will the transfer to the College of su