"There be of them that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported.... Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth evermore. The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will show forth their praise."—Ecclesiasticus, xliv. 8, 14, 15.

REV. GEORGE BATES, one of the faithful ministers of Maine, was born there in the town of Fayette, in 1798. In early life he was a mechanic, but in due time, as Rev. W.A. Drew wrote of him, "He laid down the sledge of Vulcan, and put on the Gospel harness." He was a student for a time in the family of Rev. Hosea Ballou, at Boston. He was pastor in Livermore, and afterwards for twenty-five years in Turner, Me. It is worthy of note that after a suit at law, in which the town recovered the ministerial fund against the Congregational society, the people of Turner, by legal votes, dismissed the clergyman of that church, Rev. Allen Greeley, and settled Mr. Bates as the town's minister. With true liberality, on acquiring possession of this fund, the town parish made a per capita distribution of it to all the societies in Turner, that each might enjoy its proportional share of support from the same fund.

Mr. Bates was one of the best of country pastors. He was at home everywhere, and a welcome visitor in most homes where he went. He was clear and scriptural in his expositions, and in his discourses "a workman that needed not to be ashamed." He was a minister of consolation far and near, and had many calls to officiate on funeral occasions. No clergyman in Maine was more respected and honored than he. His departure took place at his home in Lewiston, Me., Jan. 24, 1875, at the age of 77.

Ezekiel Vose. A small, lame, modest, but wide-awake-looking man was this minister, as the writer remembers his first meeting him in Northern New Hampshire. He came from the First Universalist Society in Boston, and settled in St. Johnsbury, Vt., preaching there and in many other places in Vermont and New Hampshire for some years. He had enjoyed only common educational advantages, but was a studious man and a strong and clear thinker. He wrote but little. His preaching was usually extemporaneous, not always very methodical in plan, but usually successful, especially in making his subject plain. He could say a great many things in one of his missionary discourses, and would bring them in quite miscellaneously. But they were usually things which proved interesting to his hearers, especially to those who had seldom, if ever, listened to ministers of our faith. Long remembered will be a discourse which he gave in the writer's hearing one winter evening in Dorchester, N.H. A large corner school-house was packed full, and the speaker stood in one corner with his little Bible in hand. His text was, "Prove all things;" and so wide was his range in topics, and so many things did he undertake to prove, and so long, and rapidly and earnestly did he talk to that attentive audience, that it seemed as though no man in the same time could come nearer than he to a compliance literally with the direction of the text! He was a sincere, humble, warm-hearted Christian. Every one who knew him thought and spoke well of him. From St. Johnsbury he moved to Orleans, Mass., and afterwards to North Turner, Me., where, after a busy and useful life, he died in 1861, aged 67.

Rev. Lemuel Willis of Windham, Vt., was born April 24, 1802. His father was a convert to Universalism as taught by Rev. Elhanan Winchester, and the son was educated in the same faith. At an early age he became the student of Rev. S.C. Loveland, of Reading, Vt., and in July, 1822, preached his first sermon. His first professional labors were in Washington, Stoddard, Marlow and Acworth, N.H. His subsequent pastorates were at Troy, N.Y. from 1826 to 1828; then in Salem, and afterwards in Lynn and Cambridgeport, Mass. and Portsmouth, N.H. At the time of his death, Dr. G.H. Emerson wrote of him justly:—

"He always preached well. There was in his preaching a good basis of thought, with a practical application, and a tone of fervent piety. But he had and has no 'earthquake' gifts. The city did not run mad because Lemuel Willis preached. We have heard one of his supporters say that he does not remember one sermon that would be called poor; but in all his Salem ministry he never once startled his hearers. His manner is best described by the word impressive. Steady work, steady power, and ever-increasing influence, and the radiation more than the example of a good life, made him successful in the purest sense of this much abused word. But not alone in Salem, but everywhere, Mr. Willis did good in his character of minister. Literally he was all minister. He cared to know only Christ and Him crucified. And to this end all personal interests were subordinate. Not alone in the pulpit, but on the street, in the house, at the private gathering, he was the minister. But as he never put the minister off so he never put the minister on. It was his nature to be a minister and he could never seem to be otherwise."

Mr. Willis seemed the embodiment of a dignity, not offensive but agreeable. It is said that on one occasion he was in company at a store in Salem with one of the orthodox pastors of that city, who was a very animated and cheerful man in conversation. After they had left the store, a gentleman who had quietly listened to them both, on asking the proprietor what clergymen they were, was told, and was asked to "guess" which one was the Orthodox and which the Universalist. His decision was directly contrary to the facts. Mr. Willis departed this life at his home in Warner, N.H., July 23, 1878.

A younger brother of Lemuel, Rev. John H. Willis, was born in Windham, Vt., March 6, 1807. At the age of eleven he became deeply interested in a Calvinistic Baptist revival, and was immersed in the Connecticut River in very cold weather, when the ice, a foot thick, had to be cut away for the purpose, and soon afterwards joined the Baptist church in Chesterfield. By reading and reflection he became an intelligent and zealous Universalist. He was a good scholar, and taught school successfully when quite young. He worked as a mechanic for some years, and in 1830 went to Salem, Mass., where his brother Lemuel was then settled, and after studying a year under his direction he began to preach, speaking in several places in Worcester County, to the acceptance of the people. He was ordained at Greenwich, Mass., Nov. 23, 1831. He was pastor for varying periods at Dana, Greenwich, Petersham, West Boylston, Annisquam, Wakefield, Irving, Orange and Warwick, Mass., in Brattleboro', Cavendish and Chester, Vt., and in Stafford, Conn. In 1850 he was elected to the Mass. Legislature, and was for several years station-agent at Irving on the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad. Yet amid his secular labors and cares he still preached and lectured often, especially in behalf of the Temperance reform. He was noted to the end of his days for his spiritual fervor and religious enthusiasm. He died Oct. 9, 1877, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. W.R. Shipman, at College Hill, Mass., aged seventy years.

There went out from New England a talented advocate of the Universalist faith in the person of Rev. Theodore Clapp, a native of Easthampton, Mass., and a graduate of Williams College, in the same class with William C. Bryant. His theological studies were pursued at Andover, Mass., and he was licensed as a minister of the Presbyterian church in 1817. He became pastor of the First Presbyterian church in New Orleans, succeeding the brilliant Sylvester Larned, whose fame as a pulpit orator was far extended. Mr. Clapp proved a fitting successor of him, and achieved great celebrity for his pulpit gifts. Henry Clay pronounced him the most natural pulpit orator he had ever heard. His church in New Orleans was usually crowded.

Some twelve years after his settlement in New Orleans changes occurred in his theological opinions, which led to the dissolution of his relations with the Presbyterian Church. He was deposed from his ministerial office for heresy, and was afterwards known as an independent minister, cherishing Universalist and Unitarian opinions. This change of relations however did not alienate his parish from him. The church building at an earlier date had passed into the hands of the well-known Hebrew millionnaire, Judah Truro, and by his liberality Mr. Clapp occupied the church and preached to his old hearers. His services will long be tenderly remembered in New Orleans. During twenty seasons of epidemic cholera and yellow fever, Mr. Clapp was at his post of duty, and by his ministry of consolation carried comfort to the great multitudes stricken by the pestilence. His "Autobiographical Recollections" is largely devoted to these memorable seasons, and is one of the most interesting volumes ever published. In later years of his life he felt compelled by failing health to relinquish the work of the ministry, and in 1866 departed this life in Louisville, Ky., aged 74. Of him it was said by Dr. Alexander Campbell that he could not believe the doctrine of endless misery if he tried: "You have too much benevolence," added the Doctor. He read this in the face of Mr. Clapp, in the soft lines, and in the warm and benignant glow, that told of a heart full of sympathy and pity.

A stirring and industrious laborer in the propagation of the Universalist faith was Rev. John A. Gurley, of Connecticut. At the early age of twenty he was preaching in Maine, and after a short settlement in Methuen, Mass., he purchased a denominational paper, the "Star in the West," and went to reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. He became pastor and editor in that city. He did much missionary work, journeying into distant States and Territories, holding discussions and preaching wherever he had opportunity, the circulation of his paper constantly increasing. His bodily powers becoming weakened by over-exertion, he deemed it advisable to change his mode of life somewhat, and disposed of his paper and ceased to preach. He subsequently became an active politician, served two terms as representative in Congress from Ohio, and was at the time of his death the appointed Governor of Arizona. Although apparently a frail man, he was capable of great endurance, and few of his years have put more diligent work into a life. He was emphatically an executive man, and had the faculty of making all his plans and movements tell to advantage. He was fond of theological debate, and during the presidency of the elder Dr. Beecher at Lane Seminary, he sought to draw out that noted man in a statement of his arguments against Universalism. He received promises more than once from the doctor that his request should be answered to his entire satisfaction, but the fulfilment of them was never realized. Mr. Gurley was a genial man and an attractive companion. He made many friends in his life, and will not be forgotten by the Universalists in Ohio, who regretted that he could not have devoted the last of his life solely to the interests of the church.

Rev. Enoch M. Pingree was by birth a New Englander, born in Littleton, N.H., but through some of the most important years of his ministry a laborer in the West. He was one of the born ministers, and had good opportunities for study at the Methodist Seminary in Newbury, Vt. At this school he was an earnest advocate of the Universalist faith, which rendered him unpopular with most of the students and teachers. He distinguished himself in the lyceum and debating society, and exerted such an influence as to call out the professors to defend their cause against the arguments and bold positions of this ardent youth. After preaching a little in New England, he started for the West, in 1837. He was pastor in Cincinnati and Louisville, and a missionary in various places in the Western States. Here he became developed from a quiet and diffident man into a bold and confident advocate of his sentiments. He became a public debater, and "waxed valiant in fight" in many controversies. His published discussion with Dr. Rice, an able and distinguished Presbyterian divine, does him great honor. He was a busy, sympathetic, and faithful pastor, also a ready thinker, fluent speaker, and rapid writer. His industry was untiring, and it wore him out at last. In discussion he was candid as well as strong, never descending to any low or unmanly reference to his opponent, no matter how much abused, nor attempting to take advantage of the prejudices of the people. Religious discussions were matters of purest conscience with him. His ministry was brief, but one of intense vigor and action. Greatly beloved by multitudes of friends, he departed this life in 1849, at the early age of thirty-three.

Rev. Thomas J. Greenwood, before his entrance upon the work of the ministry, held the position of overseer in one of the mills in Lowell, at the beginning of the growth of that city. He was born in Newton, Mass., and was a fairly-educated, strong-minded, and trustworthy man. An attempt had been made to establish a Universalist Society in Lowell, and Mr. Greenwood was deeply interested in it. The mill authorities were opposed to the movement, and intimated to this their employee that his heresy could not be favorably regarded by them, and that if he continued to be its active supporter, they and he must part company. His conscience was true to principle as the needle to the pole, and he readily accepted their terms, and turned away from their service to enter and honor another, to which he afterwards gave the most of his life. He had profitable pastorates in New England, his last three having been in Dover, N.H., and Malden and Saugus, Mass. His good reputation was in all our churches, as a ready and vigorous writer, an eloquent preacher, a loving and industrious pastor, and, more than all, a royal man. A faithful biographer (Rev. A.J. Patterson, D.D.) has written of him:—

"He was the central figure in the entire community where he dwelt. His manly, dignified presence, his genial manners, his willing, helpful hand in every worthy cause, his charity towards other sects, his kindness to the poor, his pity for the erring, his sympathy in chambers of sickness and towards all kinds of suffering, his words of more than human comfort at the open grave, and withal his rare good judgment and solid common sense in everything, caused him to be respected and consulted far beyond the circle of the church. He was devoted to all public interests, served several terms in the Legislature of Massachusetts, and was once nominated for the National Congress from his district."

He departed this life in Malden, Sept. 12, 1874.

Rev. Elbridge Gerry Brooks, D.D., was born in Dover, N.H., July 29, 1816, and died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 8, 1878. During his infancy his parents removed to Portsmouth, where he passed the years of his boyhood. He was a strong, healthful youth, and was blessed with parents who were devoted to his highest welfare, and whose exemplary religious characters made a deep impress upon his after life. Just previous to his ninth birthday, a sad accident occurred, by which his leg was so severely injured that amputation became necessary. He bore the painful operation with manly fortitude, and during the consequent confinement saw many of the pleasing visions of his coming life dispelled. When he recovered, however, his brave nature did not brood over his misfortune, but his heart was made more tender by it, and as he grew older was filled with a strong religious interest, and he early decided to devote himself to the Christian ministry. His pious parents, rejoicing in the zeal and enthusiasm of their crippled boy, did all in their power to encourage his aspirations and to have him suitably fitted for his chosen calling.

At that time, Rev. T.F. King was settled in Portsmouth, and, discerning the rare promise of his young friend, gave him hearty and effective encouragement. After acquiring such knowledge as the Portsmouth schools could give him, he was aided by his faithful pastor in the further pursuit of his studies, and at the early age of nineteen he began to preach. His first sermon was delivered in Portsmouth, and gave great satisfaction to those who heard it. He was first settled in Exeter, N.H.; then in Amesbury, Mass., where he was ordained, Oct. 19, 1837; then in East Cambridge, Mass.; then in Lowell, and, in 1846, took charge of the parish in Bath, Me. In 1850 he returned to Massachusetts and settled in Lynn, where he remained nine years. In 1859 he was called to the Sixth Church in New York, where he remained eight years, and until he was chosen, in 1867, General Secretary of the United States Convention. His duty in this new capacity was to direct and take the lead of the missionary enterprises and to visit all sections of the country. His labors were manifold and arduous, but very efficient and successful, until his health became impaired, and he was obliged to resign his office and return to his family. After resting a few months, and partially recovering his strength, he accepted, in November, 1869, an invitation to the Church of the Messiah in Philadelphia, to which he gave the last years of his useful life, and where he joyfully resigned that life April 8, 1878.

As a preacher, Dr. Brooks was in the front rank of our ministers. As another has written:—

"He was entirely consecrated to his work, and in the pulpit he spoke as one having authority. His sonorous voice and majestic bearing were in perfect harmony with his clear and forcible presentation of his thought, and emphasized his urgent appeals to the conscience of his hearer. He was by nature an ardent reformer, and was always true to his convictions. He could not keep back the smallest fragment of what he believed to be God's truth. He early threw himself, heart and soul, into the anti-slavery cause, and during the war of the rebellion his clarion voice gave no uncertain sound."

He was a clear and vigorous writer. His two volumes, "Universalism in Life and Doctrine," and "Our New Departure," evince this. They are valuable additions to our church literature. He was one of our best organizers. Seldom absent from our conventions, and nearly always serving on executive boards and important committees, nearly every department of our church work received an impression from his hand. In 1867 Tufts College conferred on him the degree of D.D.

It has been truly said of him:—

"He was born into Universalism. He was cradled in its arms. He was taught it at his mother's knee. He believed it from his earliest conscious years. He never was influenced by any other faith. What he was it made him. Let no man say it is not the power of God unto salvation, while we can point to such examples of its influence in life and death. He has gone to that home which his faith made so real to many souls."

Rev. Ebenezer Fisher, D.D., has won honorable distinction in the Universalist Church. He was born in Charlotte, Me., Feb. 6, 1815, and died in Canton, N.Y., Feb. 21, 1879. His father was one of the pioneers of Eastern Maine, and the son passed his early years in a new country, in the midst of hardships incident to such a condition. With the exception of a single term at the Readfield Seminary, he had no advantages beyond what were afforded by the common schools of his native town. His early religious training was in the Orthodox church, against whose gloomy doctrines his whole soul revolted. When about sixteen years old a few Universalist books and papers were put into his hands, the perusal of which, in connection with the Bible, brought him "out of darkness into marvellous light," and he gradually formed the purpose to fit himself for the Christian ministry. He sought and obtained fellowship of the Maine Convention in 1840, and in 1841 settled at Addison Point, Me., until in April, 1847, he accepted a call to Salem, Mass., where his pastorate was eminently successful. In November, 1853, he removed to South Dedham (now Norwood), where he remained until 1858, when he was appointed President of the Theological School at Canton, N.Y., and thenceforth he gave his time, labor, thought, and strength to a work for which he proved himself peculiarly fitted. For more than twenty years he was the honored head of the first Universalist Theological School, and during that time one hundred and three students were graduated, who are now scattered over the country, and bearing testimony to his faithful teaching, his rare devotion to duty, his profound scholarship, and his eminence in all Christian virtues. However marked may have been the results of his labors in other fields, his work in the Theological School was the most important and conspicuous, and will be his most enduring monument. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him in 1862 by Lombard University. Rev. I.M. Atwood, D.D., his successor as President in the Canton Theological School, thus truly and graphically presents him to us:—

"A grand man, made up in a large and noble fashion, with paternal benignity in his face and a note of sonorous warning in his voice, able, acute, aggressive, unmovable, the sturdy strength and wintry rigor of his nature relieved by a certain charm of tenderness which affected one like the scent of sweet flowers amid the majesty of the primeval woods; in his preaching a strain of deep sincerity which made the hearer feel the solemn reality of those things about which there is so much superficial prattle,—a great, brave, patient spirit, loyal to the truth, trustworthy as a star, and of such a breadth and strength of moral build as made him an imposing Christian force in the community,—such to our thought was Ebenezer Fisher, who fell asleep Friday morning, Feb. 21, 1879, having just passed his sixty-fourth birthday.

A well-remembered elder of apostolic aspect and spirit was the Rev. Seth Stetson, born in Kingston, Mass., in 1776, and dying at the age of ninety-one in Brunswick, Me. He was reared in the faith of the Puritan fathers, near the old Plymouth rock; learned the trade of a ship-carpenter, emigrated to Maine, gave himself to much study, entered the Congregationalist ministry, and was pastor in Maine and Massachusetts for some years. When the Unitarian controversy arose in New England, he became deeply interested in it, accepted Unitarianism as the truth of God, preached it as a missionary, and soon saw clearly the doctrine of the salvation of all men as a revelation of the Scriptures. He was minister of this faith in Charlestown and Salem, Mass., and afterwards had several pastorates in Maine. His heart and life were full of the spirit of the great Christian Master. Universalism to him was not only a divine word, but a regenerative power. The love which it inculcated he possessed and exercised. His heavenly spirit beaming from his pleasant countenance and pervading his sweet conversation made him welcome everywhere. What the New Testament says of another was applicable to him: "A good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith."

Rev. William Bell, son of a Calvinistic clergyman, was for many years an active advocate of the Universalist faith. The rigid theology of his father had the tendency to push him into Deism, until the light of the greater Gospel broke upon his mind. After years spent in mechanical pursuits, with a moderate education, under the instruction of the senior Rev. Hosea Ballou, he began to preach, obtained fellowship, and spent the first ten years of his ministry in New Hampshire and Vermont. Subsequently he became editor of the "Watchman and Christian Repository," at Woodstock, Vt., and in after years of the "Star of Bethlehem," in Lowell, Mass. He preached much up to his seventy-eighth year, retaining his vigor of body and mind. He was plain and direct in his style as a preacher, keen in his expositions of what he deemed error, a good logician, strongly doctrinal in his discourses, and deeply religious in feeling. One of the last occasions of his speaking in public was at the Centennial Convention in Gloucester in 1870. Near the close of his life he wrote a strong and searching letter to Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in review of a sermon on future punishment published by him. He died in Boston in 1871.

"An able minister of the New Testament" was Rev. Calvin Gardner, a native of Hingham, Mass., and pastor in Charlestown, Duxbury, Lowell, and Provincetown, Mass., and for twenty years in Waterville, Me. In early life he wrought at his trade in one of the mechanic arts. Becoming interested in the doctrine of Universal Salvation, he entered the ministry in 1825. He was a reader and thinker, a sound theologian, and forcible preacher. He was always welcomed at associations and conventions, and listened to with interest by those who came to be fed with the plain and wholesome food of the Gospel. He was a genial companion and high-minded man. He passed suddenly away by death while seated in a store which he had entered but a little while before.