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 "HE, BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH." 
 
 TWO DISCOURSES, 
 
 OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THE 
 
 HON. JOHN HALL 
 
 DELIVERED OCTOBER 3rd, 1847, 
 
 BY NATHANIEL hIeGGLESTON, 
 
 PASTOE OF THE CONGREGATIONAL C HW B CH^ lajELLINGTON, CONN. 
 
 SYRACUSE: 
 
 printed FOR THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF THE DECEASED 
 BY BARNS, SMITH & COOPER. 
 
 1848. 
 
HE, BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH. 
 
 TWO DISCOURSES, 
 
 OCC.^IONED BY THE DEATH OF THE 
 
 HON. JOHN HALL 
 
 DELIVERED OCTOBER 3ed, 1S47, 
 
 BY NATHANIEL H. EGGLESTON, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIO>'AL CHURCH, IN ELLINGTON, CONN. 
 
 SYRACUSE: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF THE DECEASED. 
 
 BY BARNS, SMITH & COOPER. 
 
 1848. 
 
To THE Family and Friends of the Deceased : 
 
 These Discourses, necessarily written in the utmost possible haste, and 
 which I have neither time to rewrite nor to revise in any just manner, I should 
 not suffer to appear in a printed form, even for private circulation, were it not 
 for the presumption, which I indulge, that the few who are expected to be my 
 readers, will vacate the office of literary criticism in the more grateful occupa- 
 tion of contemplating eveii an imperfect record of the life of one whom they 
 cherished with affectionate regard, and in the desire to make his virtues con- 
 spicuous in their own lives. N. H. E. 
 

 DISCOURSE I. 
 
 HEBREWS XI. 4 
 He being dead, yet speaketh. 
 
 Sad as Is death, under any circumstances, It Is not the 
 end of us. It can not prevent our living in another world. 
 Nay, we are warranted in the supposition that death does 
 not even put an end to our existence in this world, but only 
 changes the outward form and condition of our life, while, 
 so far as the true essence and end of our being are con- 
 cerned, we may as truly live, even upon this earth, after 
 coldness has fallen upon our bodies and corruption seized 
 them, as before that event, upon which we are wont to look 
 with so much dread. For aught that we know, the disem- 
 bodied spirits of the dead may be inhabiting the earth with 
 us, witnessing its scenes and occupied with its pursuits, as 
 truly as when they dwelt here, clothed in flesh and blood. 
 But whether we credit such a literal life on earth after our 
 bodily death, or refuse to give credence to any such exist- 
 ence, it is yet true, beyond all gainsaying, that man does, 
 in some important manner, survive upon earth the dissolu- 
 tion of his physical frame. In his example, in the legiti- 
 mate consequences of his conduct, in the results of his 
 plans, in the lessons imparted by his visible acts, he lives 
 long after his body has been consigned to the grave and 
 corruption has laid hold of his flesh. 
 
 It is a dignified view of life which we gain, when we thus 
 regard it as free from any serious interruption, by death. 
 It opens upon us the sight of our immortality, and reminds 
 
 ivi76ll37 
 
us that we are not made to live only as the brutes, and like 
 them to perish ; but are creatures of a higher mould and 
 a nobler destiny than they; 
 
 And Avhen this view is taken, of a life well ordered dur- 
 ing its condition of bodily existence, it becomes at the same 
 time one of an elevated and consoling character. "Whether 
 we contemplate our own decease or that of friends, there 
 is much to mitigate the sorrow which such bereavement 
 necessarily occasions, when we can believe that an exam- 
 ple and an influence of goodness and virtue are still to 
 remain on earth, after the bodily form, through which 
 they have hitherto been manifested, has perished forever. 
 When these are left to us, we can dismiss the corporeal 
 structure with comparatively little reluctance. 
 
 It is with this exalted view of human life that the apos- 
 tle uses the language of the text, in regard to one who 
 lived well nigh six thousand years ago. Abel, the second 
 man born on earth, is presented to us in the Bible with 
 few details of life or character. We barely learn that hia 
 occupation was that of a herdsman ; that on a certain oc- 
 casion he manifested his regard for God by ofl'ering to him 
 in sacrifice a portion of his flock, and that in a fit of jeal- 
 ousy his brother took his life. 
 
 Our first thought on reading this narrative is, that Abel 
 lived in vain, so soon, as it would seem, is his earthly ex- 
 istence terminated. But God creates nothing in vain, 
 nothing which fails to accomplish a valuable end. Abel's 
 bodily form was not essential to the securing of God's pur- 
 pose in him. In the simple fact of his ofl'ering to God a 
 sacrifice from his flock, there was that which had an im- 
 portance, independent of all corporeal organization. There 
 was that which could act upon the world, age after age 
 forever. There was in it the proof that, in that early 
 period of the world, God was not without sufficient witness 
 
5 
 
 to men of his goodness and his rightful chiim upon their 
 love and obedience. There was that in it "vvhich indicated 
 that Abel saw reason to put his trust in God. Having put 
 forth this one act alone, Abel could die and yet not leave the 
 world unbenefitted by his living in it. The testimony of 
 that act has come down the lapse of centuries ; it has sur- 
 vived the flood, the confusion of tongues, and all the acci- 
 dents of the world's history. It has even reached us, and 
 Abel, though dead, yet speaketh. He speaks of God, of 
 faith and duty. Speaking thus, he lives most truly, and 
 is superior to the bondage of a mortal dissolution. We 
 welcome him as a cotemporary with us. We hear his 
 words. Well is it if we are ready to give heed to them. 
 
 The instance of Abel is only one illustration of a gene- 
 ral fact. Like him, Noah and Jacob, and David and Paul, 
 though long since dead to bodily sight, yet live and speak 
 to us. Like him, all the worthies of all ages still speak 
 to us. 
 
 '^ Though dead, they speak in reason's ear, 
 And m example live ; 
 Their faith and hope and mighty deeds, 
 Still fresh instruction give."' 
 
 So, likewise, it is true of every man after death, that 
 though dead he speaketh. He leaves behind him an exam- 
 ple and a character of some kind, which have a voice that 
 will be heard, through a sphere of greater or less extent; 
 
 But especially is this fact noticeable and worthy of con- 
 sideration in the case of those who have occupied a con- 
 spicuous position among their fellow men. Nothing can 
 he more manifestly true, than that such persons survive 
 the dissolution of their bodies, and have a voice which is 
 heard long after the grave has closed upon their corporeal 
 structure. Though dead, they speak ; and speak with a 
 power and influence proportionate to the providential posi- 
 tion and the real character of their visible lives. 
 
6 
 
 The recent death of an honored member of this commu- 
 nity is Avell calculated to deepen our convictions of the fact 
 that the grave is not the end of us ; and I shall therefore 
 make it my object, in what I have now to say, to set forth 
 this very important fact, as it is illustrated in his history. 
 
 Before I proceed directly to my main purpose, however, 
 a brief summary of his life will not be without interest, 
 nor out of place. 
 
 John Hall was born in this town, February 26, 1783. 
 He was the youngest of four children, and an only soni 
 One of his sisters died at an early age. , The others were 
 married, the one to the Rev. Diodate Brockway, and the 
 other to Levi Wells, late of this place. His father, whose 
 name was also John Hall, was a merchant in the South- 
 East part of this town, a man of distinguished business 
 habits, a devoted christian, and at the time of his death, ai 
 Beacon of this church. 
 
 Of the earlier life of the subject of this sketch, compara- 
 tively little is known. He fitted for College with the Rev. 
 Mr. Prudden of Enfield, and was then distinguished as a 
 scholar. He entered Yale College, as a Freshman, in the 
 year 1798, two years after the death of his father, and 
 throughout his collegiate course maintained a high rank for 
 scholarship and correct deportment. He early attracted 
 the favorable notice of Dr. Dwight, then President of the 
 College, which notice grew into warm friendship continu- 
 ing through the life of the latter. In the year 1804, Mr. 
 Hall was made a Tutor in College and acted as such until 
 the year 1807, when he returned to Ellington, for the pur- 
 pose of a permanent residence, and for a short time was 
 connected in business with the late Mr. Wells. He after- 
 wards purchased a farm, which he continued to improve 
 until about the year 1830. At the early age of twenty-nine 
 he was made Judge of the Court of this county, and held the 
 office for several years. He represented this town twice in 
 
the State Legislature, in the years 1815 and 1819. He 
 also held the office of Judge of Probate for several years. 
 In the year 1817, when a candidate for Congress, the po- 
 litical party to which he was attached was unsuccessful 
 throughout the State. In the year 1820, he retired, from 
 choice, from political life, and thenceforth took no active 
 part in political affairs. 
 
 In the year 1825, he established, at his own expense, a 
 Select School. This, in the year 1829, grew into the pre- 
 sent High School, the duties of Principal of which he dis- 
 charged until within a few years of his death. 
 
 Soon after his first marriage, Mr, Hall was brought to 
 the verge of the grave by a violent attack of typhus fever, 
 in consequence of which his eyes were permanently weak- 
 ened, and his physical powers so enfeebled as to prevent 
 him from making much bodily exertion at any subsequent 
 period. But though thus cut off, in a great measure from 
 the use of books and the physical toils of life, he was by no 
 means idle. T\Tien hands and eyes failed, his thoughts 
 gave him ample employment ; and that this employment 
 was not without profitable results was testified by his con- 
 versation, his writings, and his occasional public remarks. 
 
 At the close of his senior year in college, Mr. Hall be- 
 came hopefully pious, and throughout the remainder of his 
 life maintained a consi>.ent and eminent Christian charac- 
 ter. Eew have studied the Bible more diligently than he. 
 It was his daily habit, not only to read it, but to study it 
 with all the ability of his own mind and the critical help of 
 others. He studied it abundantly, and it rendered back to 
 him abundant consolation. 
 
 He was one who had seen afliiction. A wife, sisters, a 
 son of much promise who bore his own name, a year since a 
 daughter, and but two short months ago a beloved son on 
 ■whom his old age had begun to lean, — these he was called 
 to part with. 
 
8 
 
 He took a very warm interest in all benevolent move- 
 ments, contributing willingly to their support, according to 
 liis means. For many years he was the President of the 
 Tolland County Missionary Society, and a Life Member 
 and Vice President of the Connecticut Bible Society. On 
 the Sabbath before his death he made inquiry concerning 
 the recent meeting of the A. B. C. F. M., and expressed 
 great interest in its success. 
 
 He was a man devotedly attached to his family. The 
 society of his children was his delight, their mental and 
 moral improvement an object of constant solicitude, and in 
 the desire to improve every opportunity of imparting in- 
 struction, even his daily table became a school. And now 
 that he is dead, he has left to them the rich lessons of paren- 
 tal wisdom, and to all the example and the testimony of a 
 godly life. 
 
 Such, briefly is the history of one who has filled a large 
 place among us. He is now dead. The great event which 
 awaits all the race of mankind has befallen him. Coldness 
 has settled upon his flesh: his blood has ceased to run its 
 wonted course, and we have carried away liis lifeless re- 
 mains and laid them down in the grave. 
 
 But, my friends, though that form which we so well 
 remember has disappeared forever, think not that he who 
 bore that form and animated it is forever dissociated from 
 us. No, blessed be God, man's life is not confined to a 
 bodily organization ; his continuance is not dependent upon 
 the endurance of nerves and muscles ; his sphere of action 
 is not circumscribed by the limits of corporeal power and 
 corporeal position. The body is only the temporary dwel- 
 ling place of the soul — the place where the man takes up 
 his abode while engaged in discharging a certain business 
 which he has to do in this material world. The man is not 
 there exclusively. He is abroad in the world, doing that 
 which is before him to be done. He runs throughout the 
 
d 
 
 and imparting in turn, it may be, to others in almost every 
 clime. He is gaining lessons in history and experience 
 every day, and is every day imparting an influence, by his 
 life and example, which, striking first those immediately 
 around him, transmits itself onward, from them to others, 
 until its reach is bounded only by the confines of the globe. 
 
 It is a low view of our nature which can not see ourselves 
 except as we are connected with a bodily structure, and 
 which regards man as tied down to the capabilities of a 
 mass of bones and muscles. Rather are these mere me- 
 chanical instruments, which we make use of for the pur- 
 pose of attaining certain ends, and which, when the ends 
 are secured, we cast away as things of no further use. 
 
 My hearers, he who has just vanished from our bodily 
 sight has not perished. He has only left his tenement of 
 clay to occupy a better one. He yet lives, lives as truly 
 as ever, nay^ far more manifestly than when his life was 
 controlled in a measure by a physical organization. That 
 was a clog upon his powers at times, preventing him from 
 accomplishing what his spirit prompted to. Now we be- 
 lieve he is bound by no hindrances or impediments of such 
 a character. He lives. He speaks. He speaks to us to- 
 day, and will speak to us and to others for long time to 
 come. 
 
 I. He speaks by the genekal impression of his cha- 
 EACTER. In the estimation of all, he was a man of intel- 
 ligence. By this I mean that he possessed a high under' 
 standing and used it with diligence and effectiveness. The 
 powers of his mind were naturally of a high order and 
 capacity. But to this native capacity was added the dis- 
 cipline of a thorough education. Thus equipped for the 
 pursuits of life, his mind was not suffered to waste itself 
 in sloth nor dream itself aAvay in elegant idleness. He 
 was always a busy man: never supposing that he had 
 
10 
 
 nothing to do or nothing to learn, and so he made con- 
 stant additions to the sum of his knowledge. Nor was 
 this knowledge of a comparatively useless character. He 
 was eminently practical in the tendencies of his mind. 
 When he thought, when he set his mind to the business of 
 reflection, when he bent it in close and continuous study, 
 it was with some practical end in view, it was that he 
 might accomplish something which should be of real, sub- 
 stantial benefit to himself or others. As a natural conse- 
 quence, he gained among men a reputation for intelligence. 
 They respected his attainments and frequently sought his 
 opinion in regard to the various plans and concerns of 
 life. His mind was a treasure to the community, a well 
 filled store-house to which they could at any time resort. 
 He w^as a scholar through life. Unlike many however 
 whose lives are in a considerable measure spent with 
 books, this did not beget in him that speculative habit of 
 mind divorced from practical experience which is continu- 
 ally exhausting itself in wild theories and visionary pro- 
 jects. This fact I cannot forbear to mention as a vindi- 
 cation of true scholarship from the disrepute into which 
 these visionary dreamers are continually bringing it. You 
 know, my hearers, at least those of you who have attained 
 a life of mature years, by a happy experience in the case 
 of him whose death we all lament, that one who is a close 
 student may be none the less fitted, by reason of his books 
 or his hours of studious reflection, for all the ordinary of- 
 fices and pursuits of life. 
 
 But not only was Mr. Hall a man of acknowledged in- 
 telligence, he was likewise a person of upright character. 
 Nor was he one of those who claim and sometimes receive 
 the praise due to uprightness of character, but whose up- 
 rightness is simply that cautious policy or studious selfish- 
 ness which carefully avoids overstepping the limits of ac- 
 
11 
 
 knowledged rights and obligations, wliile it is "willing to 
 take advantage of ignorance or misconception to further 
 its own objects. He was above all this. He was not one 
 of those who are ever ready to talk of the beauty of an 
 honest life, or to make their boast of the possession of the 
 virtue which is implied in such a course of living. He had 
 the virtue, however, without the boasting. The upright 
 attitude of his body was in fine keeping with the character 
 of the man and was a free expression of it. His course 
 of life was not the devious track of expediency and selfish 
 policy, but the straight forward line of sober truth and 
 steadfast principle. No one, I believe, ever ventured to 
 charge him with duplicity or a willingness to deceive under 
 any circumstances. It would be saying little of such a 
 man to say that he kept within the bounds of statutory jus- 
 tice and never infringed the well known rio-hts of others. 
 This is a character which is consistent with an utter lack 
 of good principle and Avhich the veriest knave may wear 
 under the garb of an external fairness and gentility. It 
 was a characteristic of Mr. Hall not only to refrain from 
 trespassing upon rights ivell knoivn, but to forbear indulg- 
 ing in any act which might infringe the possible rights of 
 others. But you all understand his character too well in 
 this respect to require from me any further exhibition of it. 
 He left behind him, as all will agree, the reputation of an 
 upright life, a reputation which is far from being attained 
 by all men. 
 
 But what is yet higher praise, Mr. Hall was a man of 
 unquestioned lyiety. This was the crowning excellence of 
 the man, and this imparted an element of its own kind to 
 his other characteristic qualities. This, without question, 
 made him a more intelligent man than he would otherwise 
 have been, and this was the soul of his uprightness. There 
 is a power in religion not only to soften and warm the heart 
 and give birth to all good and happy affections, but a power 
 
12 
 
 likewise to impart strength and vigor to the intellectual 
 faculties, and thus makes him who receives it into his soul 
 at the same time a better and a wiser man. 
 
 Mr. Hall was a religious man and experienced the value 
 of a religious life. A student, of the closest habits of ap- 
 plication, he made the Bible one of his classics, and pored 
 over its pages when his children wondered how he could 
 be so interested and absorbed in that familiar household 
 book. A man of independent thought, who called no man 
 master, and was willing to follow truth let it lead him 
 whither it might, he found in the precepts and expositions 
 of the sacred volume that which commended itself to his 
 reason, and commanded with the voice of supreme autho- 
 rity the implicit obedience of his life. The religion of 
 such a man is indeed a religion of value and a thing of ex- 
 alted character. It is not, for it cannot be, a matter of 
 mere feeling, a thing of frames and sympathetic impulse. 
 It is first of all established in the deepest convictions of the 
 understanding, and then is admitted to the cells of feeling 
 and emotion. Such a man obeys"God, not so much because 
 he feels it to be seemingly and desirable, as because he 
 knozos it to be right. Such a religion is not dependent for 
 its own comfort upon the contagious emotions of others, 
 but relying on its own firm basis of well established con- 
 viction, holds fast its communion with God and finds con- 
 tinual life and peace therein. 
 
 Such was the religion of our departed brother : a calm, 
 quiet, sober religion ; but a religion which could stand up 
 and maintain itself manfully and rationally against all the 
 cavils and reasonings of skepticism or infidelity. It bore 
 him through the world calmly and steadfastly amid many 
 and severe trials, and proved itself a true and a valuable 
 religion, inasmuch as it brought him out of every scene of 
 trouble with his faith in God unshaken, and his confidence 
 in the truth of the scriptures undiminished. It sustained 
 
13 
 
 him in his final decline to the grave, not indeed in raptur- 
 ous ecstacy, not without some anxious self-examination, but 
 yet with a steady reliance upon the Redeemer, in whom he 
 had long trusted, and with a quiet resignation to the will 
 of his God. The life is the best test of piety, not the 
 couch of sickness and pain, and tried in this way, all con- 
 fess that Mr. Hall was a man whose life was governed by 
 the precepts of the Bible. 
 
 Since his death I have f:und a hymn which he wrote 
 and which expresses so accui-ately the state of his mind a 
 few days before he died, that I cannot forbear to quote it. 
 It is founded on the question which Christ put to Peter, 
 "Lovest thou me?" 
 
 '•Love I thee, thou blest Redeemer? 
 Love I thee, thou sinner's friend? 
 Love I thee, my soul's preserver? 
 Whither can such question tend? 
 
 Well I know my heart is fickle; 
 Well I know the force of sin; 
 Well I know a subtle tempter, 
 Foe to virtue, lurks within. 
 
 Still the question gives me anguish, 
 When I hear it put by thee ; 
 Dost tJwu, Lord, indeed suspect me ? 
 Dost thou some unsoundness see ? 
 
 By thy spirits' power to quicken, 
 By thine own sufficient might, 
 Set me free firom all deception ; 
 Keep me safely — keep me right. 
 
 Grace to lean upon thy bosom, 
 Grace to purify and save, 
 Grace, till I arrive in heaven, — 
 Grace, eternal grace, I crave." 
 
 Thus, my friends, he who is gone speaks to us, and that 
 
14 
 
 most forcibly, in the knowledge of his character, as that of 
 an intelligent, upright, and Christian man. 
 
 II. But he speaks also hj the void created hy Ms death. 
 We miss him as a counsellor, in all the relations of life. 
 We can no more go to him and receive the advice of his 
 "wisdom, and the assistance of his judgment in matters of 
 taste and policy. We miss him in the street. We hear no 
 more his words by the way-side. His feet have ceased to 
 cross our thresholds. We can not go and meet him in his 
 own dwelling, where so kind a welcome awaited those who 
 came. We can not rely upon his voice to be raised in ad- 
 vocacy of every hopeful purpose and in rebuke of every 
 wrong. We miss him in the church, the place he loved, 
 the place he honored, the place he adorned. Who shall 
 come to us month by month with intelligence of the gospel's 
 progress in that capital of Greece, where Paul first planted 
 the standard of the religion of Jesus ?* Who will stand 
 in his place at the weekly meeting for prayer and religious 
 conference and give us his enlightened counsel to correct our 
 errors and impart new strength to our faith ? Who will 
 stand up in his stead before this community to commend 
 religion to all as a means of happiness, and to testify to all 
 that the precepts of the gospel will withstand the scrutiny 
 of the keenest intellect and the most labored investigation ? 
 Alas ! the church mourns the loss of one whose place will 
 not be speedily filled. The interests of religion, the cause 
 of truth, the best hopes of a man, have lost an advocate and 
 friend whose loss is a public calamity. And permit me 
 to bear my testimony to his value. I can say, from the 
 deepest conviction, the friend, the counsellor, the helper is 
 
 * Note. — Reference is here made to the fact that in our arrange- 
 ment of the monthly prayer meeting for the spread of Christian truth 
 throughout the world, we assign dilierent portions of the world to dif- 
 ferent members of the church, as their field of special investigation, 
 and that in this arrangement, to Mr. Hall Greece and Turkey were 
 assigned. 
 
15 
 
 gone. By his death there is a void created which none 
 can feel more sensibly, save the immediate relatives, than 
 he whose office it is to preach the gospel here and to 
 take the oversight of the church which God has here 
 planted. May God himself fill the place now made vacant 
 by new and larger gifts of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Do you not hear the voice of our absent brother thus 
 speaking through his very absence ? Me thinks I hear it 
 everywhere ; at home and abroad, in the place of business 
 and in the house of worship ; and everywhere I receive 
 the assurance that though dead, he speaketh. 
 
DISCOURSE II. 
 
 III. I arrested my discourse this morning, after having 
 led you to notice the fact that our brother, whose recent death 
 we all lament, still speaks to us by the general impression of 
 the character which he sustained among us, and by the void 
 which his death has created. These, however, are not the 
 only ways in which he speaks to us. There is a voice to 
 which none of us can be deaf, which comes from the more 
 obvious ivoi'Tcs and labors of the man. These, the proper 
 treatment of our subject demands that we notice. And 
 where, my hearers, can we turn our eyes, without behold- 
 ing the proofs that Mr. Hall has spent his life here ? In 
 what direction can we look, without meeting the witnesses 
 of his labor, the evidences of his intelligence, the tokens of 
 his '-^ste? Who can look out upon the face of oui* Town 
 without hailing him as a public benefactor ? 
 
 Mr. Hall was a student, as I have said, and eminent in 
 scholarship, and it might be supposed that a student would 
 be little esteemed and counted of little value, in a place so ex- 
 clusively agricultural as this. The notion has possessed the 
 minds of many, that the only labor and worth are those of 
 the husbandman or mechanic. But who, I ask, took almost 
 the first step toward making this valley a desirable and a 
 profitable place of residence to the farmer ? Was it not a 
 student ? Was it not a man of books ? Was it not Mr. 
 Hall ? He it was, unless I am very much in error, who, 
 
18 
 
 by tlic example of his judicious plans and experiments, 
 taught others how to turn a large portion of this pleasant 
 valley from almost a waste into a garden. 
 
 Pie was a pioneer in introducing that improved system 
 of agriculture which is combining the principles of science 
 with the physical strength of the husbandman, and while 
 it makes his labors less exhausting and more productive, 
 confers upon them the dignity of an intellectual process, 
 and renders them the instruments of a refined happiness 
 before unthought of. He undertook to apply philosophy 
 to agriculture, rightly judging that He who made the earth 
 to yield its increase for the support of man, had made it to 
 yield its increase in obedience to certain and definite laws. 
 In the endeavor to apply the principles of science to the 
 culture of the earth, he experimented, as every true philo- 
 sopher does. Doubtless, too, he sometimes failed of the 
 expected results, as every philosopher and every man does 
 at times. At others he succeeded, and so advanced to cer- 
 tainty and dignity the occupation of the husbandman. But 
 a failure in philosophy is not a thing to be ashamed of, nor 
 a thing of no positive value. If he was successful, others 
 have the results of that success. If any experiment disap- 
 pointed his expectations, it yet did others a service in warn- 
 ino; them and saving them the cost of a similar trial. Thus 
 we profit by the success as well as by the failure of oth- 
 ers. The man of parts works out his own fortune, not 
 only with his hands but also with his head, while he who 
 is too dull for this may yet look over the fence and borrow 
 or steal the wisdom which another has brought to light. 
 The man who reclaims a sand barren or a marsh, and makes 
 it susceptible of cultivation, though his coined money may be 
 diminished thereby, is necessarily none the poorer on that 
 account, but may leave a legacy for his children far better 
 than the treasures of the bank. He has changed his wealth 
 
19 
 
 from a form in ■svliicli it might be lost to one as permanent 
 as the rocky globe itself. Silver and gold are only certain 
 kinds of earth, and none the better because they shine. 
 
 Mr. Hall, then, speaks to us as the intelligent husband- 
 man, as the husbandman who tilled the ground, not for his 
 own benefit alone, but for the profit of all around him. He 
 speaks in these green fields ; and he will continue to speak 
 from them. As often as these acres shall sprout up in the 
 verdure of spring, or groan under their autumnal burden, 
 they will be his voice to those who dwell here, reminding 
 them that he was once an inhabitant of this place. 
 
 He speaks, too, from these noble trees, whose drooping 
 limbs hang down as though to weep in concert with us, and 
 whose leaves are falling into the grave with him whose pro- 
 vident care has made them our shelter and delight. They 
 are his living monument, and as there are "tongues in 
 trees," he shall speak through them in long time to come. 
 They are the monuments of his taste, and of his goodness 
 also ; for his hand planted them, for no purpose of exclu- 
 sive benefit to himself. They have been the charm of our 
 village. They have elicited the admiration of the passing 
 traveler. They have been our boast. They have encour- 
 aged us to plant around oui- dwellings the trees on which 
 God has conferred so many qualities of beauty and value. 
 And when we have gone down to the grave, to lie beside 
 him who planted them, they will still speak to our children 
 and they will delight to make mention of him who did so 
 much to make the place of their habitation a place of beau- 
 ty and comfort. 
 
 But these venerable trees speak to us not in lessons of 
 taste and comfort alone. They have lessons also of a reli- 
 gious character. They tell us that one has lived here who 
 was not wrapped up in his own immediate comfort and 
 gratification alone, having no care for the comfort of oth- 
 
20 
 
 crs. They stand here rather, in storm and sunshine, in 
 the heat of summer and amid the blasts of "winter, to tell 
 us of one who, in laying plans for his own welfare, forgot 
 not that of others ; and one who, while gratifying his own 
 tastes, had an eye to the interests and enjoyment of all. 
 
 Such a person must be remembered with grateful emo- 
 tion, when he whose labor and wealth are expended upon 
 his own gratification alone is utterly forgotten, or is re- 
 membered only as an instance of selfishness. 
 
 My friends, these trees are a substantial blessing to us 
 all. They add beauty to our dwelling-place. They refresh 
 us in our summer walks, after the labors of the day. They 
 cast their grateful shade along our path, as we come to the 
 house of God. They inspire us with happy emotions and 
 beget, amid the rugged employments of life, a love of grace 
 and beauty. Long may they stand, to speak of him who 
 planted them, and remind us of his disinterested regard for 
 the comfort and happiness of his fellow-men. 
 
 And there is a voice which speaks to us from the several 
 dwellings which he occupied, a voice which speaks of home 
 and all its endearments, of family ties and household afiec- 
 tions. Many of you know that it was considered, by not a 
 few, a great mistake when Mr. Hall selected yonder hill 
 as the site on which to erect a dwelling. Barren and bald 
 in aspect, and unproductive in its soil, to most men it gave 
 little promise of a proper reward to labor bestowed upon 
 it. But what was the result ? A few years of care and 
 intelligent culture, and the exercise of an enlightened taste, 
 surrounded that dwelling with trees which cast their grate- 
 ful shade upon its grounds or feasted the eye and invited 
 the hand by their luxuriant fruits, while they secluded its in- 
 mates from the obtrusive gaze of the public, and yet allow- 
 ed the eye to look out upon prospects of the f\iirest beauty. 
 It was a remark of Mr. Hall that those people who place 
 their dwellings near the road and neglect to plant trees and 
 
21 
 
 shrubs about tliem, arc too little aware liow, in this way, 
 they tend to prevent in their children any attachment to 
 their home, because that home is thereby rendered so un- 
 attractive. 
 
 A wise remark ; worthy to be engraved on silver. Home, 
 should be the most blessed spot on earth. It should be the 
 nursery and school of all that is lovely, all that is manly, 
 and all that is good. God has set men in families for some 
 higher purpose than that they may eat and drink together, 
 even that they may glorify Him in every scene and occu- 
 pation of social life ; glorify Him by training each other 
 up continually to habits of thrifty intelligence and holy 
 virtue. It is not only the policy therefore, but also the 
 duty of every parent to make the place where his children 
 are growing up around him, as beautiful and attractive, 
 both within and without, as it is possible for him to make 
 it. Books, pictures, trees, flowers, these are worth more 
 than money hoarded up for children. Give them these and 
 right counsels from parental lips, and when the time comes 
 in the providence of God, for them to leave the home of 
 their childhood, they will have the best of all capital with 
 which to obtain a livelihood 
 
 But I must not dwell on the fruitful themes which our 
 subject suggests. There are other voices speaking to us 
 from the dead. 
 
 As the bell sounds its call to study from that edifice 
 which looks down upon us from yonder eminence, it speaks 
 for him whose wisdom and whose regard for the good of his 
 fellow-men placed it there. That building, erected for the 
 high purpose of education, is a speaking monument to him 
 who built it. It speaks to this whole community, for by 
 its silent daily influence it has touched the springs of 
 thought in those who dwell here and given us a name 
 and honor above many around us as a people of intelligence. 
 Let us cherish that institution as the precious gift of our 
 
22 
 
 deceased benefactor, and let it be our continual rejoicing 
 that our children may groAV up to receive its choicest 
 blessings. 
 
 Mr. Hall like-wise contributed to the proper education 
 of the young, by means of those school-books -which he pub- 
 lished, and in ■v\'hich he has made a gift to the public of the 
 ripe fruit of his o-wn scholarship and protracted experience. 
 In them he speaks continually, ever addressing to the 
 young lessons of practical value and sound ■\>'isdom. 
 
 He speaks to us also from the very house and home of 
 the dead. With no unreasonable attachment to the per- 
 ishable body — -which is but the tenement of the soul, the 
 real being — he -was so tenderly attached to his friends, that 
 every thing -which pertained to them had a peculiar value 
 in his estimation. His thoughts very naturally, therefore, 
 ■would d-well -with a manifest interest upon the place of 
 sepulture. And as his heavenly father called him from 
 time to time to consign to the grave the bodies of -\vife and 
 children, the place of burial gre-w more and more valuable 
 to him year by year. Regarding the matter thus, he had 
 a desire to see the grave-yard -wearing the look of careful 
 attention and affectionate regard instead of being the most 
 neglected and forsaken of all enclosures. He advocated 
 therefore, -with earnestness the laying out of a ne-w ceme- 
 tery -VN'hile a fit location could be made, and had a conspicu- 
 ous part in securing the object. He speaks to us from that 
 quiet field of mortality. He has laid his body do-wn there 
 ■with the bodies of those -who -^-ere bone of his bone and 
 flesh of his flesh. But though dead, he yet speaketh, speak- 
 eth not only from all the -walks of living men, but also from 
 the resting place of the dead. 
 
 Such, briefly and imperfectly noticed, are the voices 
 ■which are sounded in our ears from the dead. He speaks 
 to all, though the living mouth is silent forever more. To 
 
28 
 
 lilm who tills the ground ho speaks in the new face which 
 the cultivated earth around him wears. To the student he 
 speaks an unmistaken language. To the man of taste, 
 yea, the passing traveler, and to all, he speaks in yonder 
 stately trunks and whispering leaves; To the lover of 
 home and the charms of social life, he speaks in the neat- 
 ness and comfort wdiich his example has thrown around all 
 our dwellings. And to him who visits the house of God, 
 he speaks by what he has done here, and by his absence 
 now. Wherever we look, whithersoever we turn, though 
 we see not our departed brother, we yet hear his well 
 known voice, speaking in many tones and uttering itself on 
 every side. 
 
 Let us now, after having thus contemplated the life and 
 character of Mr. Hall, in their particular manifestations, 
 survey them as a whole, and consider the lessons which are 
 thus afforded us. 
 
 I. And the first one leads us to see lioiv much one may 
 do in this world. Mr. Hall was always a man of feeble 
 health. He had but just reached the age of manhood when 
 a very severe illness, through which he barely survived, 
 prostrated his physical strength and left him an invalid for 
 the remainder of his days. Incapacitated thus for the 
 sturdy toils of the husbandman, he was unable to engage, 
 to any considerable extent, in the bodily labors upon his 
 farm. And while this was so, his eye-sight was impaired 
 in such a degree as to deprive him, in a measure, of the 
 society of books or the use of the pen. 
 
 The judgment of most men would decide that such a per- 
 son could accomplish but little in the world, however pro- 
 tracted might be his life. But how far from the truth such 
 a judgment. A man of feeble physical mould, he was in- 
 strumental in effecting a revolution in the agriculture of this 
 place, so that from being proverbial for a lack of almost every 
 
24 
 
 tiling wliicli is inviting to the cultivator of tlie soil, it liaa 
 become distinguished for its productive beauty, Deprived 
 in a measure of those organs which are all essential to the 
 student, he was eminent as a man of learning, as an in- 
 structor of others, and as the author of text-boohs which 
 are as yet unsurpassed in value. Add to this his services 
 to the public in the Legislature of the State, and on the 
 bench of Justice, and his numerous services in Town, Soci- 
 ety and Church, and you have an amount of services and 
 labor Avhich few would dare to predict of any man. 
 
 And here is a most important lesson for us all. It is in 
 the power of each and all of us to do much if we will but 
 do what we can. The secret of Mr. Hall's accomplish- 
 ments is this : he did what he coidd ; he used loith dili- 
 gence the i^ower which he had. Instead of repining at the 
 loss of vigorous health, he went on to do what his actual 
 health would allow him to do. Instead of bemoaning the 
 loss of a keen vision, he used his eyes as he was able, and 
 and when he could not bear the light of the outward world 
 he explored the chambers of his mind and labored to dis- 
 cover what is within man. Thus he was always busy. He 
 was a laboring man in the truest sense. He diligently em- 
 ployed those faculties which God permitted him to use. 
 This is all that any one can do ; and whoever will do this 
 will be able to do much. We wrong ourselves, and we dis- 
 honor our Maker when we allow ourselves to be remiss in 
 cifort because we have not a good prospect of accomplish- 
 ing all that we desire. There is no surer way to make 
 our lives a useless blank than to fall into such a disposition. 
 God moreover has allotted us that work precisely which it 
 is best in all respects for us to do, and has given us the ne- 
 cessary powers by which to perform that work ; and we im- 
 peach at the same time his wisdom and his goodness when we 
 neglect to do with diligence that which he has assigned us 
 
25 
 
 II. Again, the life of Mr. Hall, contemplated as a whole, 
 presents a character in its principles worths/ of our emula- 
 tion. He lived for the world. His conduct was not gov- 
 erned by selfishness. He was not absorbed in his own 
 comfort or reputation, to the disregard of the welfare of 
 others. On the contrary, while doing those things and 
 laying those plans, which were conducive to his own enjoy- 
 ment, he was also busy in schemes for the good of his fel- 
 low-men. If he was a man who spared no pains in endea- 
 voring to secure those things which were conducive to his 
 own enjoyment, he found that enjoyment in pursuits and 
 objects which were also promotive of the enjoyment of others 
 besides himself. He was not the man all-absorbed in his own 
 immediate interest and that of his family, and bestowing on 
 others only that which he could not use for selfish ends. 
 He was not the man to amass money and turn away the 
 api^lication of the poor, or the claims of benevolence, with 
 what was only a mockery of all charity. The work which 
 he accomplished, of various kinds, assures us on every 
 hand, that he confessed the obligation and experienced the 
 pleasure of laboring for the good of his fellow-man. 
 
 He lived also to G-od. Truth, duty, the will of God, 
 these, with him, were the arbiters of his conduct. To them 
 he subordinated his life. Acknowledging God as his crea- 
 tor, and as a being of infinite goodness and power, the ob- 
 ligation of obedience was too plain to be questioned. Nor 
 did he yield this obedience only in cases of duty expressly 
 declared in the word of God, or recognized by the universal 
 judgment of mankind. He did not allow himself to do 
 whatever was not manifestly wrong, but only that which 
 was manifestly right. And here, very often, is the grand 
 distinction between the person who lives to God and the 
 one who only professes to live so. It was this stern devo- 
 tion to truth and right which at times, perhaps, gave Mr. 
 
 Hall a repulsive aspect to some, or caused him to assume 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 an attitude of seeming opposition. It was because he did 
 not believe in that notion of expediency, as many do. 
 Right, with liim was right, and duty was a thing to be per- 
 formed, no matter what interests of policy might stand in 
 the way. If he differed from others, it was a matter of 
 conscience ; it was because he chose to hearken to what he 
 deemed the voice of God, and to obey that rather than the 
 voice or the wishes of men. I have often said that I never 
 knew a person more inflexibly devoted to truth and duty 
 than he was. And being thus devoted, he had his reward. 
 However he might be compelled to forego what promised 
 to prove valuable to himself or others ; however he might 
 be obliged to renounce a favorite scheme or a darling pro- 
 ject, he always had the satisfaction of knowing that in so 
 doing he had obeyed the ultimate decisions of his mind and 
 the supreme rule of conduct. 
 
 Such an example, my hearers, is worthy of our emula- 
 tion. We can propose to ourselves nothing higher, nothing 
 nobler, nothing more satisfactory, than to live in such a 
 manner as to do good to our fellow-men and honor the God 
 who made us capable of knowing and doing right. 
 
 III. Again ; the life which we have been contemplating 
 suggests the fact, that in order to leave a worthy name 
 heJiind him one must live for worthy objects. It is not be- 
 cause Mr. Hall was a man of extraordinary intelligence 
 that his character warrants the public notice which we give 
 it to-day, or the general honor in which we hold it. It is 
 not because of any signal acts of greatness. It is not be- 
 cause of his holding any post of special honor among his 
 fellow men. These, any or all of them, could not render 
 his name one of great esteem. But we count him a worthy 
 man, because his intelligence was used for worthy objects; 
 because what he did had a tendency to promote the comfort 
 and welfare of others as well as his own ; because whatever 
 station of life he occupied, he performed the duties of that 
 
27 
 
 station with honesty and scrupulous fidelity. For this we 
 honor him. Because of this, he has left a name which we 
 shall not suffer to perish or be lightly esteemed. 
 
 So it must be with all men. If they would be remem- 
 bered with esteem they must live for estimable objects.' 
 They must live to do right. They must live to do good. It 
 is one thing to have a name of note, and quite another to 
 have a name of worth. The very things which often give 
 a man the one are what deprive him of the other. To live 
 for a selfish end, such as the acquisition of great wealth, 
 or family place, will make one's sordid habits or aspiring 
 endeavors the conspicuous object of remark, while the sole 
 end of such remark may be, to hold his character up to 
 execration. 
 
 The secret of a good name, and especially of a good 
 name after death, is a good life. Owing to the various 
 media through which we behold men while living, and ow- 
 ing also to other causes, we sometimes assign, at first, the 
 wrong character to a man, and he may pass for a time as 
 one better than he really is. But this judgment is sooner 
 or later corrected : if not during life, at least it is after 
 death : and as goodness and usefulness are the choicest 
 qualities, in the unbiassed judgment of all, so all concur in 
 awarding the palm of true worth to him who has been truly 
 good. 
 
 IV. In view of our subject, I cannot but remark, Tioto 
 easy it is to do good. The planting of a tree by the way- 
 side is a matter of little difficulty, but it will grow up into 
 such a manifest blessing as to make the deed remembered 
 with grateful esteem. And so in a thousand ways we have 
 it in our power to do good at only a slight expenses to our- 
 selves. God has made man to do good, and for this end 
 has made it easy for him to do good. It only needs a be- 
 nevolent will, and a benevolent way can easily be found. 
 
28 
 
 And what is more, our good deeds, like trees, thoiigli tliey 
 be small at the outset, have a principle of growth in them 
 •which causes them to expand beyond our largest expecta- 
 tions. The good done to a fellow-man to-day, in the next 
 generation, may be blessing a whole continent. 0, there 
 is nothing at the same time so precious and so cheap as 
 goodness. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, a question to all, and especially 
 to the young. I have said, and you know it to be true, 
 that Mr. Hall was a religious man, a man of avowed and 
 strict piety. Was his [religion then, I ask, a weakness in 
 him, a blemish, after all, upon his character ? When he 
 made all his gifts and endowments subject to the will of 
 God, and laid them down at the foot of the cross, was it 
 done ignorantly or superstitiously ? Was it the exhibition 
 of a strong mind for once thrown out of its balance and left 
 to act without the guidance of reason ? Nay, it was the 
 highest exercise of reason. It was the act of one whose 
 disciplined powers of mind were equal to almost any inves- 
 tigation and superior to any dictation of fashion or of fear. 
 It was the act of such a one looking out upon the expanse 
 of creation around him, and into the Bible before him, and 
 into the depths of the heart within him, and from such a 
 various and comprehensive observation concluding it to be 
 his duty to reverence and obey God, to believe the Bible, 
 and to make it his endeavor to purify his heart from all un- 
 righteousness. It was an act performed intelligently, 
 soberly, deliberately. It was an act sanctioned by evi- 
 dence and dictated by enlightened judgment. Is not that 
 religion then deserving of your consideration and your cor- 
 dial embrace ? Think not, in the face of such evidence, 
 that it is a thing for the weak and the childish only. It is 
 what commends itself to the manliest, and lays its claim 
 upon the strongest of minds. Do not then do yourselves 
 
29 
 
 tlie discredit of refusing to make It the ruling principle of 
 life. This is the true good, beyond all question. Do not 
 fail then of its immediate acquisition. Behold the exam- 
 ple of him, -whose life is to-day the theme of our considera- 
 tion, and as you acknowledge the disciplined strength and 
 manly independence of his mind, make that religion youi'S 
 which he chose as the law and solace of his life. 
 
Erratum.— On page 8, last line, it should read, — He 
 runs throughout the compass of the earth, accumulating 
 possessions from every portion of the globe,