31 |
Rose Cottage, November 12, 1849. I must now tell you something about Mr. W.H. Channing, because he is in a remarkable manner connected with the life of the country. He was some years ago the minister of a Unitarian congregation in Cincinnati, but the confines of Unitarianism became too small for him; he could not put heart and soul into it, and "he therefore resigned an office which he could no longer hold with an easy conscience," although his congregation, which was very much attached to him, did all they could to induce him to remain, and although he knew not how henceforth he was to maintain himself, his wife, and his two children. But he probably thought like the old patriarch, strong in faith, when he obeyed the summons of the Supreme, "The
32 |
Channing’s answer to this letter proved the nobility
and the earnestness of his heart. He came. And
since that time he has lived conformably with the
invitation which enabled him to visit now prisons,
now religious or social festivities and organizations,
or to appear as lecturer on social questions in New
York, Boston, and other towns, following the dictates
of his inspiration, and by his genial and beautifully
gifted nature arousing souls and warming hearts. He
produced "revivals" of a higher life, scattering the
seed of eternity and fanning the feeble flames of
true life wherever he went.