Consent of Fathers of another age, the Church of one age against the Church of another age. Traditive interpretations of Scripture are pretended, but there are few or none to be found. No tradition, but only of Scripture, can derive itself from the fountain.""Propose me any thing out of this book, and require whether I believe it or no; and seem it never so incomprehensible to human reason, I will subscribe it with hand and heart: As knowing no demonstration can be stronger than this; God hath said so, therefore it is true." But then we ought to be well assured, that God hath said what we attribute to him; that we understand the import of the divine word; and that no prepossession, or prejudice, or passion, or mental bondage leads us into an inexcusable misapprehension. Sonnet 30. My wife, MARIA MALLEVILLE, who died very suddenly at Brunswick in Maine June 3, 1828, aged 40 years, was the only daughter and child of Dr. John Wheelock, the president of Dartmouth College. She was of Huguenot descent by her mother, Maria Suhm, the daughter of Christian Suhm, the Danish commandant and governor of the island of St. Thomas: he died in 1759, aged 40, being a native of Copenhagen. Mrs. Suhm's descent was from Thomas Bourdeau of the south or west of France, a protestant martyr after the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, as follows. He sent his only daughter Maria at the age of ten years for safety to the island of St. Thomas. In the same vessel was a protestant emigrant from the same place, Mr. La Salle, whom she at the age of 15 married. Their daughter Maria La Salle married John Malleville of St. Thomas: their daughter, Maria Malleville, married in 1751 governor Suhm, who after his death was succeeded by her brother, Gov. Thomas Malleville. Her second marriage was to Lucas Von Beverhoudt of Beverwyck in Parsippany, New Jersey, where she was accustomed to receive Washington at her house. Their daughter, Adriana, married T. Boudinot, the descendant of another Huguenot family from France.--She died in 1798. Her daughter, Maria Suhm, married, as has been mentioned, president Wheelock-My wife, whom I married Jan. 28, 1813, was the mother of 8 children. Sonnet 32. About 50 years ago, when the neighborhood of Sackett's Harbor was a wilderness, a little child of one of the new settlers aged 4 years was lost in the woods. The father's house was 6 miles from the Harbor. All possible aid in the search was of course called together under the regulation and with the success described in this sonnet. Sonnet 35. As Spenser says of the Lamb; "His sceptre is the rod of righteousness, With which he bruiseth all his foes to dust, His seat is Truth, to which the faithful trust, From whence proceed her beams so pure and bright, Sonnet 36. Dr. John Codman died at Dorchester, where he was long the pastor of a church, Dec. 23, 1847, aged 65. Graduating at Harvard college in 1802, he pursued his theological studies in Edinburgh from 1805 to 1808. in which year he was ordained. His subsequent life was devoted to the faithful preaching of the gospel. Among his last words he said,—“I am willing to be in God's hands " His Memoirs and Sermons were published in 1853. Sonnet 37. The grave-yard of Northampton, laid out in 1661, is one of peculiar beauty and rich in the deposit of the dead disciples of Christ; among whom were my own ancestors of several generations. Four of the earlier and eminent ministers sleep here; Eleazer Mather, who died in 1669, aged 32; Solomon Stoddard, died 1729, aged 85; John Hooker, died 1777, aged 48; Solomon Williams, died 1834, aged 82. Another tenant of this grave-yard is Rev. David Brainerd, the missionary, who died Oct. 9, 1747, aged 29.—In this year, 1859, some unknown person has erected a handsome marble monument to Rev. E. Mather, who died 190 years ago. Sonnet 39. Spenser in his Hymn on heavenly beauty says; "For far above these heav'ns, which here we see, Be others far exceeding these in light, Not bounded, not corrupt, as these same be, Sonnet 40. The record of the first minister of a flourishing American town and a brave patriot of the revolution is a matter of interest. Thomas Allen was born in Northampton and was a descendant of Samuel, one of the first settlers, whose father-dying at Windsor in 1648-is supposed to have come over from the west of England with the Dorchester people in the ship Mary and John in 1630.-His grandfather, named also Samuel, was an unswerving friend of Jonathan Edwards and a deacon in his church. Mr. Allen graduated at Harvard college in 1762 in a distinguished class, among whose members were Gov. Gerry, Judge F. Dana, and Drs. Eliot and Belknap. He was ordained at Pittsfield in Berkshire county, Mass., April 18, 1764, and here passed the remainder of his life; he died after a ministry of 45 years Feb. 11, 1810, aged 67 years: I was ordained his successor Oct. 10, 1810.-He was not only a faithful and eloquent minister; but a patriot, and a chaplain in the army, and on one occasion he played the part of a soldier. He marched Aug. 15, 1777 with a company of his own people in a three days' campaign to Bennington to check the advance of Burgoyne :-the next day he shared in the assault and the victory; -and the third day he returned home to preach the gospel to his rejoicing people Aug. 18th. His trophies often delighted my eyes in subsequent years,-two large, square, white flint-glass bottles, which he captured with a Hessian surgeon's horse, and gave the wine to the wounded. His wife was Elizabeth, the daughter of Rev. Jonathan Lee, the first minister of Salisbury, Conn.: she was descended from Gov. Bradford of Plymouth; she died in 1830, aged 82. Of their 12 children the writer of this is the only survivor.-On the death of his eldest daughter, Mrs. White in London, he went to England in 1799 in order to bring his little grand-child to his house: in London he became acquainted with the eminent ministers Newton, Haweis, Rowland Hill, and Bogue, and from them caught a pious zeal for the promotion of foreign missions. He published sermons on the death of his daughter, E. White, 1798; of Moses Allen, 1801 of his son Thomas, 1806: Massachusetts election sermon, 1808. Sonnet 41. The sublime passage of scripture, which is here versified, may admonish us, that we are travelling rapidly to the end of time in respect to its being our period of probation for eternity. It is the solemn voice of the Gospel,-"Behold, now is the accepted time! Behold, now is the day of salvation!" Sonnet 42. Paul teaches us, that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," and that " the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” All men therefore, whose foolish heart is darkened," are "without excuse." 66 Sonnet 43. In the words of Spenser, "Ah! wretched World! the den of wickedness, Ah! wretched World! the house of heaviness, Sonnet 44. My eldest daughter, Maria Malleville Allen, died Jan. 30, 1833, aged 17. Through God's great goodness this is the only instance of death, which has occurred among my children; and through his grace and infinite mercy she died in the hope of immortal life in heaven through the mediation of her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. What greater blessing can I supplicate for all my descendants, than that God will give them at the hour of their death her Christian faith and hope? Sonnet 47. On a church-yard Mr. Wordsworth has the following lines: "Encincture small, But infinite its grasp of joy and woe! Sonnet 49. Even Beattie addresses Nature as follows ; "O Nature, how in every charm supreme! To sing thy glories with devotion due !" Sonnet 50. As it is a year since this sonnet was written, my present very ill state of health teaches me and may teach others, that a recovery from illness, though most gratefully to be acknowl 7* edged, may be a transient blessing. While I was sick, others have fallen around me. Living or dying, it is my prayer, that I may acquiesce in God's will, and that I may participate with all penitent believers in the salvation purchased by the blood of his Son. Sonnet 51. One all-important method of God's communicating good to man is described by Milton; "God hath now sent his living oracle And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell In pious hearts an inward oracle To all truth requisite for men to know." Sonnet 52. Our class, which graduated at Harvard college in 1802, was larger than any previous class,-consisting of 60 members, an unusual number of whom became men of distinction, and one quarter part of whom after 57 years are still living. To my esteemed surviving Brothers I bid farewell, wishing them faith in the Son of God, who is "the resurrection and the life." Sonnet 53. From a Sonnet by Montgomery, on Nature praising God: "The fountain purling, and the river strong, The rocks, the trees, the mountains raise one song; Faithless were I, in willful error blind, Did I not Him in all his creatures find, His voice through heav'n, and earth, and ocean hear." Sonnet 56. The Compact, entered into by the Pilgrims, was signed on board the Mayflower Nov. 11, 1620; on which day they anchored in Cape Cod harbor. More than a month afterwards they landed at Plymouth. They had in view “the glory of God and the advancement of the christian faith." Forty-one men signed the paper, forming themselves into "a civil body-politic," in order to enact, constitute, and frame "just and equal laws, ordinances, acts constitutions, and offices." Sonnet 57. When Jesus said, John 10, "I and my Father are one," the Jews accused him of blasphemy, for making himself "God." He replied, "If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?" |