■ 
 ■ 
 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 ■ i 
 
J^*y*<^ 
 
 cfL44*~r^a*c^L&/-~- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT 
 
 ©Mtt 
 
 May 20, 1870 
 
 
 HENRY E. SIMMONS 
 
 116 Washington Street 
 
 Boston fibs 
 
 v 
 
t H2Xt5 
 
THE REV? WM. W. DAVENPORT 
 
 OF BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 
 DIED AT PAU, MAY 20™, 1870 
 
 AGED 54 YEARS. 
 
 FOR SO HE GIVETH 
 HIS BELOVED SLEEP. 
 
 Inscription on tombstone at Pau. 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 BY REV. A. HUNTINGTON CLAPP, D.D. 
 
 Tl/ILLIAM WARD DAVENPORT, 
 
 son of Elijah Davenport and Susan~ 
 Ward Davenport, daughter of the Rev. 
 Ephraim Ward, of West Brookfield, Mas- 
 sachusetts, was born in Hallowell, Maine, 
 February 28, 18 16. In that year his parents 
 removed to Boston, and were both valued 
 members of the Old South Church. Here 
 William passed through the Franklin Gram- 
 mar and the English High schools, from 
 each of which he received at his gradu- 
 ation a medal, for excellence in conduct 
 and scholarship. His favorite study was 
 
MEMORIAL OF 
 
 mathematics, and the effect of his early 
 training in it was ever visible in the pre- 
 cision and logical directness of his speech 
 and writings. He had a natural gift for 
 music, and was fascinated with the scien- 
 tific study of it. While a mere boy, and 
 a member of the Old South choir, he was 
 instructed by Dr. Webb in harmony and 
 thorough bass. His musical knowledge 
 and skill did him good service, when called 
 to lead the songs of mission-schools and 
 neighborhood prayer-meetings; those of a 
 church in South Carolina, where the exi- 
 gencies of business took him for a time; 
 and at length as a leader of the social wor- 
 ship of his own people. 
 
 After two voyages, one to China and one 
 to Batavia, and some temporary service as 
 a clerk and civil engineer, 1 Mr. Davenport 
 
 1 As engineer he was engaged in the primary survey for 
 the introduction of the Cochituate water into Boston, spend- 
 ing the greater part of one summer in the field, and a portion 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 entered the wholesale dry-goods house of 
 Upham, Tucker, & Co., of Boston, where he 
 remained, first as a clerk, then as a partner, 
 for nearly twenty years. One of his part- 
 ners l says of him : ff Courteous, cheerful, 
 refined, intellectual, dignified, he exerted a 
 high-toned, elevating influence upon all the 
 young men in the office. In business he 
 was punctual, accurate, industrious, and 
 prudent. A strict disciplinarian, he exacted 
 from others nothing beyond his own ex- 
 ample. The motive and guide of his life 
 was Truth, — to others, to himself, and to 
 God, — as was shown in his voluntarily re- 
 
 of the winter months in office work, — principally in calcula- 
 tions of excavations and cuttings. One circumstance con- 
 nected with his engineering work illustrates his faithfulness 
 to duty and the strength of his will. Being engaged with a 
 party in some surveys at Saco, he was taken ill, but, knowing 
 that if he left his post the work of the corps would cease, 
 he continued in the discharge of his duty, except one half 
 day; and on his return home, after the work was completed, 
 was pronounced by his physician as recovering from a 
 typhoid fever. 
 
 1 William W. Tucker, Esq. 
 
8 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 linquishing, to the deep regret of his part- 
 ners, a business easy, pleasant, and lucrative, 
 because he thought it his duty to become a 
 preacher of the gospel." 
 
 Early converted, and thoroughly con- 
 verted, he became a member of the Old 
 South Church, with his parents; and in its 
 activities cheerfully bore his part, through 
 years full of the cares of business. His 
 readiness for every good work won him the 
 affection, and led to his sharing the labors, of 
 the devoted Deacon Thomas Wilder, a "city 
 missionary" before that name was known. 
 With Deacon Wilder, or alone, after busi- 
 ness hours, and on the Sabbath, he con- 
 ducted prayer-meetings and held other 
 religious services in the more neglected 
 parts of the city, — in the Mariner's Church, 
 the State Prison, Chelsea Hospital, and else- 
 where. He was for several years Secretary 
 of the Boston Sabbath School Union, and 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 wrote annually its published reports ; was 
 long the Secretary and a Director of the 
 Penitent Female Refuge, — an institution 
 for the reclaiming of erring women, to 
 which he devoted much thought and study, 
 and many laborious Sabbath and secular 
 hours. " At the monthly meetings he was 
 always present," writes one of his co- 
 workers, 1 " was always warmly interested in 
 the religious state of the inmates, with 
 whom he personally conversed and prayed, 
 with a wise adaptation to each case. He 
 officiated regularly on the Sabbath, and 
 established a weekly service which has been 
 continued to the present time, — sixteen 
 years." 
 
 He was also active in maintaining the 
 prayer-meeting from which, afterwards, 
 grew the Shawmut Church. In all these 
 self-denying ways, Mr. Davenport was com- 
 
 1 S. G. Deblois, Esq. 
 
IO MEMORIAL OF 
 
 pacting his religious character, long before 
 Young Men's Christian Associations were 
 thought of, and when it was common for the 
 young Christian to feel that he did his whole 
 duty if he sat at the feet of the elders, a quiet 
 learner. Not that his spiritual life mainly 
 showed itself in outward activity : far from 
 that. After a hard day's work at the desk, 
 and an evening in the prayer-meeting or the 
 sick-room, far into the quiet night (or rather 
 the early morning), he sat at the feet of the 
 true "elders," — the inspired writers of the 
 volume which, to the day of his death, he 
 studied with a reverence and prayerfulness 
 that enriched his own life, and made him 
 the wise, safe teacher of others. Though he 
 prized and carefully examined the works of 
 the best commentators, his favorite method 
 of study was the comparing of Scripture 
 with Scripture, — and he acquired a sufficient 
 knowledge of the ancient languages to do 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. n 
 
 this in the original, — striking from one por- 
 tion the light that made other portions clear. 
 These studies he loved to pursue, pen in 
 hand; and a difficult subject was pretty sure 
 to lead to an informal essay, as a means of 
 shaping and fixing his own conclusions, and 
 calling out the diverse views of others. 
 Very few, even of his Christian brethren, 
 dreamed that many articles in the religious 
 papers, and in the "Panoplist" (of which 
 he was one of the most valued contributors, 
 and at one time the editor), were the mid- 
 night work of the modest young merchant, 
 whose missionary visits helped to fill their 
 social meetings, and whose prayers and ex- 
 hortations enlivened them. 
 
 It is but simple truth to say — what may 
 encourage and quicken other busy young 
 men — that, by perseverance in these night 
 studies of the Bible and standard theologic 
 writers, Mr. Davenport became as well 
 
12 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 versed in doctrinal theology at least as are 
 the average of our ministers on leaving the 
 Seminary, after their nine or ten years' 
 course of classical and sacred study, while 
 it is believed that very few men were his 
 equals in a knowledge of the Bible, its con- 
 tents and history. 
 
 While engaged in these studies and this 
 Christian work, Mr. Davenport transferred 
 his church relations, with his home, from the 
 Old South to the Eliot Church in Roxbury, 
 under the care of Rev. Dr. A. C. Thompson, 
 where for years he used well the office of a 
 deacon, and took a leading part in the Sab- 
 bath school. Says an intelligent member of 
 his Bible class : l " He was one of the best 
 Sabbath school teachers that ever lived. He 
 had the clearest ideas of those truths of the 
 Bible which it is profitable to discuss, and 
 was willingly ignorant of the explanation of 
 
 1 Mr. William P. Kittredge, of Orange, New Jersey. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 13 
 
 mysteries which he considered as purposely 
 hidden by God. No number of questions 
 could involve him in a discussion which 
 would be of no benefit to the class. He 
 must have spent much time over the lessons, 
 for his explanations were full and unanswer- 
 able." 
 
 Chiefly through the influence and by the 
 advice of Dr. Thompson, Mr. Davenport 
 was induced, at the age of forty-two, to leave 
 the prosperous business to which he had 
 given so many precious years, and to prepare 
 himself for the gospel ministry. K It was 
 deeply interesting," writes one of his most 
 intimate friends, 1 " to see the movement of 
 his mind, in settling this question of duty; to 
 see the accomplished and prosperous mer- 
 chant, with the best prospects for the accu- 
 mulation of wealth, yet so ready to leave all 
 at the voice of the Master, which seemed to 
 
 1 Rev. Dr. E. W. Hooker. 
 
 2 
 
H 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 say, c Go thou and preach the kingdom of 
 God ! ' Would that his example in this un- 
 usual movement could be placed before the 
 minds of young men, in our colleges and else- 
 where, calling themselves Christians, who 
 turn their thoughts to the gainful professions 
 and pursuits of life, rather than to the minis- 
 try of that gospel on which they claim to 
 found their hopes for eternity. The pro- 
 cesses of such a mind in coming to the con- 
 clusion, ? Woe is unto me, if I preach not the 
 gospel,' it would seem must be seriously 
 suggestive to any considerate young man 
 counting himself a follower of Jesus, and 
 constrain him to cast one glance at least 
 toward the ministry, and to lift the inquiry, 
 ? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? ' " 
 
 After two or three years more given 
 wholly to study, under the wise direction of 
 his pastor, Mr. Davenport was "licensed" 
 by the neighboring brethren; and on the 
 
WILLTAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 IS 
 
 23d of August, 1 86 1 ? was ordained to his 
 only pastorate, — that of the Congregational 
 Church in West Killingly (Danielsonville), 
 Connecticut, which office he filled for a little 
 more than seven years, leaving it on the last 
 day of September, 1868. He then served the 
 Theological Institute of Hartford, Connecti- 
 cut, as its Financial Secretary, until, com- 
 pelled to lay down all active labor by the 
 development of pulmonary disease, under 
 medical advice, and accompanied by his 
 brother, he sailed from New York, on the 3d 
 of February, 1870, for the more genial cli- 
 mate of Pau, in southern France. There he 
 died, May 20, 1870, in the fifty-fifth year of 
 his age. 
 
 It is not the object of this sketch — in- 
 tended only for the eyes of personal friends, 
 more or less familiar with the outer and 
 inner life of its subject — to give any thing 
 
1 6 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 more than a mere outline of either. No 
 friend of Mr. Davenport will thank another 
 for obscuring his own remembrance of the 
 man we loved, by undertaking to give a 
 complete portrait of him. Several who 
 knew him best have suggested such features 
 as seemed to them most marked or attractive, 
 believing that the fixing on record of here 
 and there a prominent trait may help all of 
 us the better to retain an image which we 
 would not willingly forget. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 All who knew Mr. Davenport will agree 
 that his most characteristic trait was consci- 
 entiousness. To the bar of a conscience 
 spiritually enlightened, made pure and sen- 
 sitive by Scripture study and prayer, he 
 spontaneously brought his own life, as he 
 there tried all questions of social and public 
 morals and duty. That was something 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 17 
 
 more than a casual " habit," which showed 
 itself in his scrupulous neatness, method, 
 punctuality; in even such "little things" as 
 his dress and personal bearing, the orderly 
 arrangement of his writing-table imple- 
 ments; his nice care of books and manu- 
 scripts; his fair and legible penmanship; 
 the very folding and superscription of the 
 hastiest letter; in the church records, which 
 in his hands shared the same care that at 
 home and abroad kept his pocket memoran- 
 dum of daily expenses accurately balanced 
 at the end of the week. :? Your brother 
 must have been a very prudent, careful 
 man," wrote the Consul at Pau, " for I find 
 no debts beyond two or three days' board 
 at the hotel, and a few medicines." This 
 trait appeared more conspicuously in the 
 careful system by which he divided his time, 
 allotting to visiting, correspondence, reading, 
 study, devotion, each its portion; in his 
 
MEMORIAL OF 
 
 benefactions, measured by settled principles, 
 adhered to when the doing it cut him off 
 from innocent and otherwise profitable ex- 
 penditures. 
 
 In all these matters, he acted under the 
 firm control of conscience, as really as in 
 his early studies and Christian work; as 
 when deciding the question of entering the 
 ministry; or when, as a .minister, he gave 
 himself to study and prayer, intensely anx- 
 ious that his presentation of truth should 
 not merely please, intellectually quicken or 
 inform his hearers, but under God save 
 their souls; or when, as a pastor, questions 
 of administration brought him into conflict 
 with brethren whom he loved. Said one of 
 his people, 1 who knew him thoroughly for 
 seven years, — four of which Mr. Davenport 
 spent under his roof, — "I esteem him as a 
 man of integrity beyond any one I ever 
 
 1 S. Hutchins, M. D. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 *9 
 
 knew; honest, upright, a man of God." And 
 a neighboring pastor 1 testifies, w Thoroughly 
 orthodox, evangelical, moderately conserva- 
 tive, he sought out the old paths and walked 
 straightforward in them, conscientiously, 
 with no faltering step." 
 
 On questions of doctrine, and of practical 
 Christian and church life, he made up his 
 mind slowly, with careful study, consulta- 
 tion with others, and earnest prayer; and 
 when in matters of moment he had decided, 
 he stood firm as the eternal hills. For a 
 worthy cause, he would have gone to the 
 stake as readily as he gave up his pastorate 
 rather than take one step from what he re- 
 garded as the plain path of duty. In times 
 of persecution, he would have been very 
 likely to meet a martyr's fate; yet he 
 was no ascetic. Few men equalled him in 
 social, genial qualities, in relish for wit, 
 
 1 Rev. Francis Williams. 
 
20 MEMORIAL ^OF 
 
 appreciation of the ludicrous, or enjoyment 
 of hours of relaxation with trusted friends. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. William Thompson, of 
 Hartford, Connecticut, after speaking of Mr. 
 Davenport's "well-balanced and well-fur- 
 nished mind, his good judgment, settled faith, 
 and sweet Christian temper," adds: "Clear- 
 ness and accuracy of perception, aptness 
 for patient thought, cautious deliberation in 
 forming judgments, and firmness in adhering 
 to opinions once weighed and intelligently 
 adopted ; candor and kindness in dealing 
 with men holding sentiments averse to his 
 own,— these occur to me as traits readily 
 discerned in our departed friend. Judged 
 by Scriptural tests, his character will bear a 
 closer scrutiny than that of most men in the 
 church and ministry, whom it has been my 
 fortune to know since coming into public 
 life, about forty years ago. So many prove 
 hollow, or one-sided, or faithless, or incon- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. ■ 21 
 
 sistent, or childishly weak, or double- 
 tongued^, or thoroughly apostate, after running 
 well for a season, that, next to the beloved 
 Son of God, our Saviour, one's heart goes 
 out to a sound, trust-worthy, conscientious, 
 prayerful, patient, Christian minister of the 
 gospel. Thanks to divine grace for the 
 examples of lowly reverence, sturdy faith, 
 and self-forgetful love, that we are permitted 
 to know as companions in toil and suffering 
 on earth, and hope to meet in heaven." 
 
 THE PASTOR. 
 
 As a pastor, this chief trait had full 
 scope, and was patent to all. Even careless 
 observers saw that he was wholly absorbed 
 in his work ; that the spiritual welfare of 
 his people held the first place in his mind 
 and heart. Some intimate friends knew 
 how carefully he made, revised, and studied 
 a census of his people and their children, 
 
22 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 that each might receive a portion in due 
 season, and be surely borne personally to 
 God in prayer. 
 
 He loved the young, and kept the Sab- 
 bath school under his affectionate, prayerful 
 supervision. The sick, including chronic 
 invalids, of whom some tire after a time, 
 will never forget his faithfulness. "To the 
 afflicted, he was tender as one who had felt 
 the touch of sorrow. In his visits among 
 his people, of whatever worldly condition," 
 writes one of them, 1 "he was most faithful; 
 the child of sorrow always found in him a 
 sympathizing friend, and many a sad heart 
 was made happy by his words of comfort." 
 His personal intercourse in the households 
 of his parish, and families outside his flock, 
 was marked by the purity, dignity, circum- 
 spection, and spirituality of the true ambas- 
 sador of Christ. That his sound judgment, 
 
 1 Mr. Israel Simmons. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 23 
 
 tender, considerate, but ever faithful love 
 made him a precious adviser for spiritually 
 troubled souls, many can testify. 
 
 It was but natural that these qualities 
 should cause him to be in high esteem 
 among the churches and ministerial breth- 
 ren about him ; in councils, associations, 
 meetings of the "American Board," — 
 of which he was a corporate member, — 
 and the counsels of other religious and 
 charitable bodies, whose interests he was 
 ever ready to forward by his strong ad- 
 vocacy, and by his own example of liberal 
 giving. " In our ministerial and other meet- 
 ings," says a brother pastor, " he was always 
 present promptly, and fully prepared, thus 
 gaining a pre-eminent influence in our church 
 affairs, in which business he mingled un- 
 swerving adherence to truth and right with 
 great suavity. He held no doubtful position. 
 We knew where to find him, and that he 
 
2 4 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 would stand there, until convinced of error." 
 For the social meetings of the church he 
 conscientiously prepared, by study, medi- 
 tation, and prayer, aiming to make them 
 useful to his people and helpful to the chief 
 end of his ministry, — the ingathering of 
 souls, which he was far more anxious to 
 gather surely and permanently, by true con- 
 version, than rapidly and in great numbers, 
 under the rush of a passing excitement. 
 As to measures in times of religious interest, 
 particularly in reference to " the system of 
 modern evangelism," his published sermon 
 on that subject shows that his sentiments 
 were carefully matured • and if he adhered 
 to them against the pressure of some of his 
 people, those who differed most widely from 
 him will agree that he acted as one who felt 
 that he must be faithful to souls, as one that 
 must himself give account of his own 
 stewardship — to his Master and not to his 
 brethren. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 2 5 
 
 Of his unsparing labors in a time of relig- 
 ious awakening, the venerable Dr. E. W. 
 Hooker, who was with him in a revival in 
 1868, bears this testimony : "I had oppor- 
 tunity to observe the intense interest with 
 which he entered into the cases of the 
 awakened, and of the hopefully converted • 
 and the anxiety with which he looked upon 
 those who were in danger of losing the 
 precious season of opportunity, or who moved 
 on thoughtless ; his deep solicitude at the 
 course of some of his people who desired 
 new and extraordinary measures, and who 
 seemed to him to depend less upon the 
 power of the Spirit of God than on the 
 presence and ministrations of some noted 
 evangelist. His prayers in the family, in 
 the Sabbath and evening services, the sea- 
 sons of prayer which we had in his study, 
 his instructions in the conference room, and 
 to inquirers, all evinced the tender and 
 
 3 
 
26 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 solicitous feelings of the pastor, respecting 
 the effects of the revival among his people, 
 and his solemn conceptions of his own re- 
 sponsibilities as their spiritual watchman 
 and guide. It was a c study ' so to look at 
 the man who had left the highway to wealth, 
 that he might point inquiring sinners to the 
 Lamb of God." 
 
 THE PREACHER. 
 
 As a preacher, Mr. Davenport shaped 
 both his theory and practice by the same 
 unerring rule. He sought to please God 
 rather than men, though he was by no 
 means indifferent to the approval of judi- 
 cious hearers, and gave careful attention to 
 the manner as well as the matter of his 
 sermons, that he might win souls. His aim 
 was that his church might be built up, not 
 puffed up. Hence he was eminently Scriptu- 
 ral^ in his themes and the method of their 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 27 
 
 treatment. Every day had its hours consci- 
 entiously given to Bible study, with the aids 
 of modern learning, and that best aid of the 
 Holy Spirit in answer to prayer. Few men 
 shrink more sensitively than he did from 
 a partial preparation for the pulpit, or uni- 
 formly give to it more serious study. As 
 a consequence, the unanimous voice of 
 thoughtful hearers pronounced him an emi- 
 nently instructive preacher. " The most 
 instructive preacher I ever heard," says one 
 of his people; "and, under his ministry, this 
 church will bear record, we grew in divine 
 knowledge." 
 
 He was a doctrinal preacher, from a 
 necessity of his nature. He had a doc- 
 trinal system which he had long and thor- 
 oughly studied, and believed in with all his 
 soul. Christ was its corner-stone, and 
 upon Him were laid the pillars and builded 
 in harmonious proportions all the polished 
 
28 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 courses of the spiritual structure. When he 
 stood up to preach, Christ was ever the cen- 
 tral figure, behind whom the preacher was 
 hidden, and to whom he would attract every 
 hearer. Conservative by nature, logical in 
 his method, sensible, unimaginative and 
 unimpassioned, with an undisguised con- 
 tempt for "the sensational," presupposing 
 attention in the hearer, and some fair ac- 
 quaintance with religious truth, appealing 
 to the reason and conscience rather than to 
 feeling; his style clear, simple, direct, sel- 
 dom ornate and never flashy; drawing his 
 illustrations largely from Scripture and other 
 lofty sources, seldom from every-day occur- 
 rences, and neVer descending to the low or 
 undignified, keenly sensitive at any approach 
 to vulgar or even secular associations with 
 the Sabbath and the house of God; appeal- 
 ing habitually to higher motives than fear, 
 self-interest, or passion; aiming after thor- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 2 9 
 
 ough and permanent rather than immediate, 
 striking, transient results, — his preaching 
 may have been too largely after the model 
 of his own moral and intellectual structure: 
 it was doubtless better adapted to edify intel- 
 ligent Christians (to whom, though aiming 
 rightly to divide the Word, he best loved to 
 preach), than to rouse, sway, and overpower' 
 the impenitent. And yet on fit occasions 
 he could stir the feelings with masterly skill, 
 and the conscience of many a hearer has 
 writhed in the grasp of his quiet but resist- 
 less power. The records of the church will 
 show its steady, healthful, permanent enlarge- 
 ment from the world during the seven years 
 of his ministry ; and from other congrega- 
 tions not a few count him as their spiritual 
 father. 
 
 He did not lose or mar the influence of 
 his preaching, by eccentricities in the pulpit 
 or inconsistencies out of it. What he gained 
 
 3* 
 
3° 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 he held. And by this quiet, unobtrusive 
 man, some were gained whom many a 
 learned and eloquent divine had sought in 
 vain to win. In a city where he occasion- 
 ally preached, there was among his hearers 
 a young lady of beauty, culture, and pre- 
 possessing manners, courted by society for 
 her remarkable musical talents, but gay and 
 worldly, delighted with herself and her posi- 
 tion. No one could approach her upon the 
 matter of personal religion. On hearing 
 Mr. Davenport, she sought his acquaintance, 
 opened to him her heart, asked and re- 
 ceived his spiritual guidance. She died 
 soon after, leaving with her friends the testi- 
 mony that w she had never known a minister 
 whose character was so beautifully consist- 
 ent, and whose example and teachings had 
 made so deep an impression on her mind." 
 
 So just a man as Rev. Dr. Hooker says 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 31 
 
 of Mr. Davenport's preaching : w He was 
 above the aim to be what is called ? a popu- 
 lar preacher/ but the discourses I heard from 
 him were rich in sound Scriptural instruc- 
 tion. His style was simple, clear, and fault- 
 less. His delivery was in a good degree 
 natural, and always impressive from his seri- 
 ousness of manner. I should have accounted 
 it a privilege in my declining years to attend 
 upon a ministry such as his, had Providence 
 so ordered it. In his death the churches 
 have lost one of their best servants in the 
 gospel, and the ministers one of their best 
 brethren in the sacred office." 
 
 Another friend of many years' standing, 
 and his occasional hearer, 1 writes: "As a 
 preacher, I have always regarded Mr. Dav- 
 enport as able, persuasive, and deeply sol- 
 emn, holding the attention of his audience 
 to the close. Many of his sermons were 
 
 1 Eben. Wheelwright, Esq., of Newburjport. 
 
32 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 marked by peculiar tenderness and pathos, 
 and were written and delivered under most 
 affecting apprehensions of their truth and 
 importance. It seemed to me impossible 
 that they should not be deeply felt. He 
 preached in different churches in Newbury- 
 port, and was greatly beloved and admired 
 by the most evangelical portion of the com- 
 munity. The general impression of him in 
 this city was, that he was a wise, able, and 
 faithful minister of Christ. Christian so- 
 briety and consistency were the marked 
 features of his character as known among 
 us, and he secured the involuntary respect 
 of all who knew him here." 
 
 THE FRIEND. 
 
 The hand falters as it comes to trace the 
 lineaments of Mr. Davenport as a friend. 
 As a Christian, a preacher, a pastor, he 
 stands in his place among a great and hon- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 33 
 
 ored company; but summoned as a "friend" 
 he steps out from that wide public sphere, 
 and takes his wonted place with us alone by 
 the fireside or the study-table of home; and 
 the pen, that ran apace as it told what he 
 was to the public, hesitates, wavers, stops, 
 refuses to tell what he was and ever will be 
 to us. Open letters before us say, "As a 
 friend, he was confiding, generous, obliging, 
 faithful, affectionate." 1 
 
 "After ten years' enjoyment of his confi- 
 dence, I can say that I never found him too 
 busy to help a friend, nor too much en- 
 grossed by care to give attention, advice, 
 and sympathy. He was peculiarly fitted to 
 advise, not only by his wisdom and candor, 
 but by his power of making others' joys and 
 sorrows his own. I cannot but esteem him 
 as a model friend." 2 
 
 1 Rev. F. Williams. 
 
 2 Mr. Henry E. Simmons. 
 
34 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 ^ Of his character as a friend," writes Mr. 
 Wheelwright, " I can hardly speak as I 
 ought. I loved him as a brother; and the 
 solemn message of his death was as an 
 arrow from the Almighty, deeply wounding 
 my heart. To me his life and conversation 
 were the fruits of a religion that, to produce 
 such excellencies, must be divinely true. 
 I have met with few, in my life, in whom I 
 saw so much to approve, and so little to 
 condemn. He was a monitor as well as a 
 friend; for every part of his character was 
 instructive, and its beautiful symmetry was 
 a moral lesson, which I never studied with- 
 out feeling its commanding influence, and 
 wondering at that divine grace which made 
 it so lovely and so impressive. I am deeply 
 grateful that I had such a friend, so kind, so 
 constant, so faithful; and now that he is 
 gone, I love to recall the hours that we have 
 spent together, the themes of our converse, 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 35 
 
 and the spirit which pervaded all our inter- 
 course." 
 
 To such testimony the tried friendship of 
 more than a quarter of a century needs to 
 add little, save in the way of corroboration. 
 Conscientious in his friendships, as in all 
 else, he held them as sacred trusts from 
 God, for mutual spiritual profiting, and to 
 have violated a confidence would have been 
 to him sacrilege. He believed in concerted 
 prayer, and held very precious the promise 
 to the two who " shall agree on earth as 
 touching any thing that they shall ask." 
 Trustful of his friends, he frankly opened 
 his own heart, and, without obtruding either 
 his joys or sorrows, he kept from those he 
 loved no experiences which might profit 
 them in the sharing. And when admitted 
 to the like confidence in return, it was a 
 rare case for which he failed to find some- 
 thing helpful in his treasures of reading or 
 experience. 
 
36 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 To the moods of sorrow, his chastened 
 heart could not but be tenderly susceptible. 
 After a few happy months, and the birth of 
 an only son, who survives him, and whose 
 dutiful affection soothed the loneliness of 
 many homeless years, the companion of his 
 youth was smitten with a hopeless mental 
 malady, that separated them, with one brief 
 interval, for the rest of life; and the man so 
 fitted for, and dependent on, the solaces of 
 domestic love, deeply prized the homes 
 where he was known and welcomed. Into 
 those homes he brought much of the cheer 
 that he found there. 
 
 None knew better than he how to differ 
 from another without coldness or alienation. 
 Unlike the esteemed friend last quoted, the 
 writer of this sketch did not wholly agree 
 with its subject, as to certain modes of state- 
 ment, if indeed as to actual points of belief, 
 which mark diverse " schools " of theology, 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 37 
 
 and which Mr. Davenport regarded as of 
 great importance. For years these points 
 were at times sharply discussed, and to the 
 end of his life often referred to ; yet, with all 
 his tenacity of doctrinal opinion, nothing- 
 like the odium theologicum ever found lodge- 
 ment in his heart. In the intercourse of all 
 these years, in the hundreds of letters yet 
 preserved, written on all sorts of subjects, 
 in every variety of time, place, and mood, 
 with the utmost possible frankness of ex- 
 pression, there was no word of coldness or 
 indifference, no momentary wavering of a 
 trustful affection, unchanging, save as the " 
 years mellowed and ripened it, from its birth 
 among the hills of New England, till amid 
 the verdant scenes of southern France the 
 dying hand penned its final message, re- 
 ceived a week after the telegraphic an- 
 nouncement of his death: "Be sure, my 
 dear , that I appreciate the kindness 
 
 4 
 
38 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 of your continued prayers, and hope that 
 you will not grow weary. I know that 
 many prayers ascend for me, and that the 
 answer will come in the best way. Rest 
 assured, too, that in this comparatively short 
 letter is concentrated all the love that twenty 
 pages could express." 
 
 Three days after these words were writ- 
 ten, — probably the last that he ever penned, 
 — he went to take the hand of the Best 
 Friend, and walk with Him for ever. 
 
 THE PATIENT SUFFERER. 
 
 His brother, who had accompanied him 
 from New York to Paris, left him there, 
 feeling stronger and quite able to make his 
 way alone to Pau. For nearly three 
 months, his letters were very encouraging. 
 Under the kind care of Dr. Whipple, an 
 American resident physician, he seemed to 
 be gaining steadily, and was planning to 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 39 
 
 make an extensive tour through Italy, 
 Switzerland, Germany, etc. Meanwhile he 
 had formed pleasant acquaintances in Pau, — 
 especially that of Rev. Mr. Langmuir, an 
 American ; and Rev. Mr. Brown, resident 
 pastor of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, 
 with whom, as he wrote, he had very de- 
 lightful communion over the fifteenth chap- 
 ter of John. At Mr. Brown's evening 
 meetings he had twice offered prayer, and 
 was hoping for strength to address his 
 people at the communion season on the ist 
 of May ; but that day found him too feeble, 
 and from it he failed rapidly. He saw that 
 he must give up his long European journey, 
 and by advice of the physician changed his 
 plan for a summer's sojourn in Bagneres de 
 Bigorre, a short trip having proved that the 
 air of Bayonne and Biarritz was too bracing. 
 His letters from the ist of May were in 
 a different tone, — less confident of recover- 
 
4o 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 ing, but none the less full of Christian trust : 
 " I am still in the same kind, mighty hands, 
 and there I am best off. I do not feel lonely 
 or depressed : I try to rest in the Lord, and 
 wait patiently for him ; and there is a good 
 degree of peace in that. Of course I hope 
 for a good result, but am prepared for what- 
 ever pleases the Great Physician. I wait 
 patiently for what the Lord purposes to do, 
 hoping, yet I trust submissive." 
 
 The day set for leaving Pau for the Pyre- 
 nees found him suffering from debility and 
 difficulty of breathing. The physician pre- 
 scribed for him, and in the afternoon he felt 
 so much better as to stroll, with a book, into 
 the neighboring park. After reading for an 
 hour or two, he rose to return, but was too 
 weak to walk, and rode to the hotel, less 
 than a quarter of a mile, and reached it pros- 
 trate and almost breathless. Under medical 
 treatment he partially revived, calmly gave 
 
WTLLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 41 
 
 directions in case of his death, and continued 
 in that enfeebled but painless state for a day 
 or two. The Rev. Mr. Brown, who had 
 been called to Spain, returned just in time 
 to find that his friend had breathed his last. 
 But the patient had the tenderest care of Dr. 
 Whipple and other friends, who did all that 
 Christian kindness could do, until, at seven 
 o'clock on the morning of May 20th, 1870, 
 he roused himself as from slumber, looked 
 up and said, "I think I am dying," and in 
 a moment gently fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 His funeral was attended the next morn- 
 ing, in the Scotch Church, by about twenty 
 gentlemen, half of them Americans, to whom 
 " he had endeared himself by his living 
 piety, gentleness and wisdom." In the 
 church, Mr. Brown read a part of the eighth 
 chapter of Romans, and offered prayer ; at 
 the grave he read a part of the seventh chap- 
 
 4* 
 
4 2 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 ter of the Revelation, and prayed again. The 
 cemetery, just outside the city, is described 
 as "a beautiful spot, looking down the val- 
 ley, and commanding a view of the moun- 
 tains." In it the remains of several thousands 
 of English and Americans await the last 
 trumpet's morning call. There we leave 
 the ashes of our friend, " in sure and certain 
 hope," believing that the words spoken of 
 him by the Rev. Dr. William Thompson 
 are as true as they are beautiful : " ? When 
 the vine-clad hills of southern France shall 
 give up their dead, there will be early wit- 
 nesses for Christ's cross and crown, martyrs 
 of early times, but no one of that age, or any 
 other, more intelligently or firmly grounded 
 in Christian faith than the modest, truthful, 
 self-sacrificing man who has just fallen 
 asleep at Pau." 
 
 " The great Intelligences fair, 
 That range above our mortal state. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 43 
 
 In circle round the blessed gate, 
 Received and gave him welcome there ; 
 
 " And led him through the blissful climes, 
 And showed him in the fountain fresh 
 All knowledge that the sons of flesh 
 Shall gather in the cycled times. 
 
 " And, doubtless, unto him is given 
 A life that bears immortal fruit, 
 In such great offices as suit > 
 
 The full-grown energies of heaven.". 
 
 In a home on this side of the sea, where 
 our friend was always most welcome, and 
 where he loved to be, — the home from 
 which he went to the ship that bore him 
 from our earthly sight for ever, — there was 
 a gentle child, of ten years, who loved him, 
 and whom he loved \ in whose prayers his 
 name was uttered when she nightly com- 
 mended her " dear friends " to the Saviour's 
 care. He left her well and joyous, and 
 affectionately remembered her in his letters, 
 to the last. 
 
44 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 On the very day that he began to show- 
 sure symptoms of the coming change, she 
 was smitten with painful disease. While he 
 was bearing up under oppressive weakness, 
 and pining for the reviving air of the moun- 
 tains, this young frame was rapidly sinking, 
 and on Friday, May 6th, just two weeks 
 before her friend, she left desolate the 
 earthly home, and "entered in, through the 
 gates, into the city." 
 
 The sad letter telling of her death reached 
 Pau a day or two after Mr. Davenport's 
 decease ; so he was kindly spared the pain 
 of that intelligence, and to both of them, we 
 love to think, was given the joyful surprise 
 of a speedy meeting in our Father's house. 
 
 Onward from life's meridian, how rapidly 
 does the circle of our sacred friendships 
 narrow here — thank God, to widen above ! 
 How strong becomes the attraction to that 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 45 
 
 brighter world, sinless and deathless, where 
 we shall find again those whom we have 
 given back to Him, the resurrection and the 
 life ! — where we shall find them all, — the 
 wise, whose mellow, ripened piety reflected 
 back the hues of heaven as their sun went 
 down ; the strong, whose manly vigor gave 
 courage to Christian enterprise ; the unworn, 
 unworldly, whose morning freshness im- 
 parted a keener zest to hope; and with them 
 the little flowers, whose beauty and fragrance 
 cheered our homes for a while, and yet 
 remain in loving memory, a breath of Para- 
 dise, a stirring prophecy of eternal re- 
 union. 
 
 " They rest, they sleep, their sleep is sweet ; 
 
 " They do not die, 
 Nor lose their mortal sympathy, 
 Nor change to us, although they change. 
 
 " And love will last, as pure and whole 
 As when they loved us here in Time, 
 And at the spiritual prime 
 Re-waken with the Dawning Soul ! " 
 
Owing to sickness and absence, the following letter 
 was not received in time to be incorporated into the 
 Memorial. 
 
 Boston Highlands, May 9, 1S71. 
 ****** 
 
 "jV/TR. DAVENPORT held the office of deacon 
 five years out of the ten that he resided 
 here. He was elected to that position because 
 the brethren found him to be "grave, not double- 
 tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of 
 filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a 
 pure conscience." Like the primitive seven who 
 were set apart for the same service, he seemed to 
 be a man "full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." 
 The expectations of no one were disappointed. 
 He knew how to hold the office without being 
 officious. Good judgment, a ready tongue and 
 pen, a clear apprehension of what a Congrega- 
 gational Church of Christ with its officers should 
 be and do, and a conscientious devotion to his 
 own duties, were among his acknowledged 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 47 
 
 characteristics. In attendance upon social meet- 
 ings I never knew him to be tardy ; while, in 
 taking a part actively in the exercises, he was 
 ready without being forward, and he had the 
 rare gift of knowing when and how to stop. 
 From the Bible class of young men whom he 
 instructed, several have been called to the same 
 office in other churches, and one or more to the 
 Christian ministry. , 
 
 Mr. Davenport's thorough preparations to meet 
 this class in the Sabbath school were greatly 
 helpful — though not so designed — to his 
 entrance upon that " good degree " to which 
 Providence called him. In July of 1856, I had 
 a conversation with him relating to that subject. 
 After two months of deliberation and earnest 
 prayer, he communicated his decision to retire 
 from secular business, and devote himself to the 
 ministry of the Word. It would be superfluous 
 to say that this step was taken in a deep con- 
 viction that the hand and the Spirit of God were 
 leading him. His mind once made up on that 
 point, I am not aware that he ever for a moment 
 swerved in his purpose. It was not till June, 
 of the year following, that he was so far dis- 
 
4« 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 entangled as to give himself wholly to needed 
 preparations. He spent an hour with me daily, 
 Sabbaths excepted, bringing to this new work 
 well-established habits of accuracy and thorough- 
 ness. His success was of the most gratifying 
 kind. Before Thanksgiving Day, of that year, 
 1857, Mr. Davenport had been through the 
 Greek grammar thoroughly, had read a portion 
 of John's Gospel, had finished the Epistle to the 
 Colossians, had commenced the study of He- 
 brew, had written one good sermon, and had 
 made an excellent beginning in systematic the- 
 ology, notwithstanding he was over forty years 
 of age. 
 
 He was approbated as a preacher of the gospel 
 by the Suffolk South Association, in May, 1858, 
 and sustained a highly creditable examination. 
 
 At his ordination in Danielsonville, I addressed 
 to- him these among other words : " In obedience 
 to the summons of our Lord, you have left a 
 lucrative secular position ; you leave pleasant 
 neighborhood surroundings ; you leave a church 
 that will never cease to regret your removal from 
 its immediate membership, though rejoicing in 
 your call to the sacred office. Between you and 
 
WILLIAM IF". DAVENPORT. 
 
 49 
 
 myself there are ties of tender Christian endear- 
 ment, cemented by many years of intimate fellow- 
 ship. To-morrow a trembling hand will be 
 obliged to erase one cherished name from the 
 parochial list in a distant city. To-day the Faith- 
 ful Witness, the Prince of the kings of the earth, 
 lays upon you a hand that never trembles, say- 
 ing, r Fear not: I am the first and the last; lo, 
 I am with you.'" 
 
 It is not easy for me now to refrain from 
 enlarging upon my affection and esteem for this 
 deceased brother and friend. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 A. C. Thompson, 
 
The Sabbath following the announcement of the death of 
 Rev. W. W. Davenport, a Commemorative Discourse was 
 preached to the people of his former charge, West Killingly, 
 Connecticut, by the pastor, Rev. J. Taylor, D.D. 
 
 " Sorrowing most of all for the Words which 
 He spake that they should see His Face no 
 more." — Acts xx. 38. 
 
 \Ext?'act from that Discourse.] 
 
 HPHERE has come to us through the channels 
 of the great deep, but just now, the solemn, 
 suggestive message, that the face so inexpres- 
 sibly dear to many of you has been for ever 
 withdrawn, and so there is gloom in our hearts 
 and pallor on our faces this day. How subdued, 
 hushed, become the warm emotions of this 
 hallowed hour and sacred service, as the knell 
 strikes on the ear, "The Rev. W. W. Daven- 
 port is dead." Sundered for ever now those 
 earthly ties which once bound him to this place, 
 and to the people of his late and only pastoral 
 charge ! 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 Si 
 
 I need not tell how strongly his love lingered 
 here, though his body was far removed. These 
 fields and skies, these hills and dales, these 
 gardens, birds, and flowers, were all sacred to 
 him, as the familiar objects that greeted his eye 
 while prosecuting the labors of his holy calling : 
 sweet tokens all were they of the nearness of 
 that Zion's sacred abode where his best friends, 
 his kindred, dwelt; whose very stones were 
 precious in his sight. 
 
 Your late pastor was admonished, by failing 
 health and the best medical counsel, that his end 
 was near, if he could not find, by a sea voyage 
 and sojourn in foreign parts, that relief from 
 disease which was denied him through other 
 agencies. 
 
 In the south of France, near the line which 
 divides it from Spain, about sixty miles from 
 the sea where the blue waters round out into the 
 Bay of Biscay, is situated the town of Pau, on 
 the right bank of a river of considerable size, 
 which is crossed at that point by a bridge with 
 seven arches, and remarkable for its great eleva- 
 tion ; lying within the shadow of the Pyrenees, 
 and commanding a view of much that is beautiful 
 
5 2 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 and cultivated in Art, as well as grand and 
 picturesque in nature. It has for many years 
 been a favorite resort of foreigners, and invalids 
 in pursuit of health. 
 
 To this inviting sanatory retreat Mr. Davenport 
 hastened, in compliance with advice given him 
 on reaching England, patiently abiding the 
 Divine will. He died there last Thursday, and 
 so — 
 
 " He's gone the way among the spheres 
 To where the throne appears ; 
 
 He lives amid seraphic scenes 
 Upon the heavenly plains," — 
 
 where the inhabitants shall no more say, I am 
 sick. 
 
 Of his eminent Christian character there is 
 room for only one opinion to exist. He was a 
 man of God, thoroughly consecrated to duty and 
 usefulness. He loved the distinctive, pure doc- 
 trines of grace, not only as a system of truth 
 clearly revealing Christ and redemption, but as 
 the precious way of life and salvation for himself. 
 
 His loyalty to Christ was prominent every- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 53 
 
 where, in his life, walk, and conversation. Had 
 he lived in the old days of persecution, he 
 would have gone to the stake as readily for his 
 faith in Jesus, if need be, as to.the house of his 
 friend for the social repast. 
 
 He enjoyed the pastoral work here with the 
 intensity of a first and only love, and in its 
 earnest prosecution left everywhere the abiding 
 conviction that he was an "Israelite indeed, in 
 whom there was no guile." 
 
 You who enjoyed his ministry for so many 
 years, and knew well his manner of life, will 
 greatly sorrow that you shall see his face no 
 more. His prayers for you have ended. His 
 last words have been spoken. 
 
 The providence of his removal is a solemnly 
 suggestive one to us all. 
 
 To those who heard the message from his lips, 
 and were led to Christ through his instrumen- 
 tality, how tender the remembrance of him in 
 such relationships ! To many of you he was the 
 son of consolation in the season of great sorrow. 
 Precious memories of the man and scene survive 
 to-day. 
 
 Many heard his words of faithful warning, but 
 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 did not believe. How will you meet him at the 
 bar of God ? 
 
 To me, who have entered info his labors, the 
 solemn Providence is saying, — " Work while it 
 is day : the night cometh." 
 
 We cast our wreath of love upon his lifeless 
 body and veiled face, though sleeping so far 
 away. Mid sobs and tears we say, Farewell, 
 friend, brother: we hope, when the battle of life 
 is over and the victory is won, to meet thee again 
 on the fields of glorious eternity. 
 
 We hope to come where thou art now gone, — 
 to the invisible kingdom, to the glory complete, 
 to Christ, the all in all : till then adieu. 
 
 " Home at last, home at last, 
 No more to roam." 
 
The following minute was adopted by the Windham 
 Association of Ministers, at their annual meeting, June, 
 1870: — 
 
 \\ 7"E have received with profound sorrow the 
 news of the death of our brother in the 
 ministry, Rev. W. W. Davenport. We grieve 
 that the church below could receive his labors 
 only for so short a time. But God has shown 
 that it is his will that our brother should serve 
 him above, and his will is best. We reverently 
 and humbly submit to him. 
 
 We hold in tender remembrance the cordial 
 affection, the genial sympathy, which Brother 
 Davenport always manifested in his intercourse 
 with the brethren, and desire to record our hearty 
 esteem for him as a man and a minister. 
 
 He was remarkable for his fervent piety and 
 devotion to the Master, for his ready acquiescence 
 
56 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 to what he deemed the will of God, and for his 
 unflinch.ng fidelity to principle. He was a 
 laborious and faithful pastor, aiming to give the 
 best his mind and heart and strength could afford 
 to his Lord's work. 
 
 Upon the church and people for whom he 
 ministered, upon his brethren in the ministry, 
 upon all with whom he came much in contact, 
 the memory of his integrity, his purity of life, his 
 kindliness, his love of Christ, will long remain as 
 a grateful recollection. To such a character, 
 Mr. Davenport united a logical and thoughtful 
 mind, a broad and thorough knowledge of such 
 matters as pertained to his work, great care and 
 diligence in his preparation for his duties as a 
 preacher. 
 
 By his devotedness and conscientiousness in 
 his profession, he enfeebled a frame not naturally 
 vigorous ; and the worn body yielded to the 
 demands made upon it by the too willing spirit. 
 
 He died in a strange land ; but his soul, ever 
 dwelling near his God, found as short a passage 
 home, as if it had ascended from his native 
 shores. We rejoice that the summons found him 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 57 
 
 as ready to bow cheerfully to the will of his 
 Master as any event of his life. 
 
 We tender our heartfelt sympathies to his son, 
 and the other relatives, who are mourning the 
 departure of one so excellent in every relation of 
 life. 
 
Shortly before Mr. Davenport left for Europe, some of 
 his former parishioners requested the publication of his last 
 two sermons, to which he assented, when he should have 
 revised them. Just before his death, he spoke in a letter of 
 being at work upon them ; and when his papers came to 
 this country, they were found copied upon thin paper, 
 and folded ready for transmission by mail. The revision 
 of these sermons was probably his last literary work upon 
 earth. 
 
HOW TO DEAL IN THE TRUTH. 
 
 "Buy the Truth, and sell it not." — Prov. xxiii. 23, f.c. 
 
 r I ^HE aim of the Book of Proverbs, as indi- 
 cated at its beginning, coincides with the 
 manifest design of the whole volume of Script- 
 ure : to teach men the fear of the Lord, and the 
 knowledge of God, — to teach them to fear him as 
 the God of supreme authority and. rule, and to 
 know him as the God of infinite wisdom and 
 truth. His commands have full authority", and 
 are to be obeyed : his counsels are wise and true, 
 and are to be trusted and followed. A large part 
 of the Book of Proverbs is made up of such 
 counsels, which have the binding force of posi- 
 tive commands. The text is of this character. 
 Here is counsel which is equivalent to command : 
 
60 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 not only wise, but authoritative. The figure 
 under which it is couched is that of trading. 
 We therefore conclude that gain is to be had by 
 right dealing in the commodity named. There 
 are many maxims in this book designed to guide 
 men in the principles of worldly business, but 
 this is in some respects peculiar. It speaks of a 
 commodity which is peculiar as an object of trade ; 
 and the directions given, as far as they go, are 
 definite and positive, and laid down upon the 
 sole responsibility of Him who is the Author of 
 that commodity, who knows it thoroughly, — its 
 nature, its value, its effects, — and the right way 
 to make the largest gain by dealing in it. Here, 
 then, is instruction in spiritual trading. God 
 condescends to be our teacher in this department 
 of the business of our lives ; and it is certain that 
 our prosperity depends upon a careful following 
 of the directions given. Let me endeavor, then, 
 to guide you to a right comprehension of these 
 directions, as we consider, — 
 
 I. What is the commodity referred to; and 
 
 II. How you are to deal in it. 
 
 We shall then be able to apply it practically 
 to ourselves. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. fij 
 
 I. What is the commodity referred to f " Buy 
 the truth" 
 
 The articles in which men deal are as numer- 
 ous and as various as human wants and human 
 fancies. Whatever the preservation of life and 
 health demands, whatever comfort requires, what- 
 ever appetite craves, whatever will gratify the love 
 of amusement, or minister to pride and vanity, — 
 all find a place in the shops, and abundance of 
 purchasers. But here is a commodity which you 
 never find in the merchant's invoices, nor speci- 
 fied in his most comprehensive advertisements, 
 nor exhibited in his windows. No importer in- 
 cludes it in his orders from abroad : no manu- 
 facturer produces it at home. It is of divine 
 origin : it bears the exclusive trade-mark of 
 heaven, — "Thus saith the Lord;" and it shows 
 the characteristics of its origin in its purity and 
 perfectness and durability. 
 
 But what are its constituent elements? We 
 learn them in the volume whose name is The 
 Truth ; on whose pages are found the commenda- 
 tion of truth ; which reveals Him who is the em- 
 bodiment of the truth. Here we may find what 
 
 6 
 
MEMORIAL OF 
 
 that comprehensive thing is which divine wisdom 
 counsels us to buy. 
 
 Truth in the form of doctrine is one of its 
 elements. God himself furnishes this element 
 by express revelation. He has declared what 
 we are to believe respecting him, which other- 
 wise we could not have known ; concerning our 
 state and relation to him ; concerning the way 
 of life and salvation for sinners ; and concerning 
 the retributions of the future world. In this rev- 
 elation he has embraced every thing important for 
 us to know and believe, and nothing superfluous. 
 This form of truth, depending directly upon the 
 testimony of God, is the foundation of all genu- 
 ine religion. Whatever, bearing the name of 
 religion, lacks any thing essential to this, is im- 
 perfect ; and whatever contradicts it is spurious 
 and false. This is the first element. Whatever 
 God has revealed in his Word to be believed and 
 accepted by men is true. 
 
 Another element is truth in the way of per- 
 sonal experience. The things which God has re- 
 vealed are such as take hold of the very springs 
 of spiritual life. They are fitted to mould our 
 thoughts and feelings : they appeal to our inner- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 63 
 
 most dispositions and preferences, and tastes and 
 affections. Not by their own inherent power, 
 but by the power of the Holy Spirit accompany- 
 ing them, they act decisively on these fountains 
 of the spiritual life, in every case of genuine 
 renewal. They are the instruments which the 
 Holy Spirit uses in all his efficacious working 
 upon the hearts of men, when he makes them 
 new creatures in Christ. He first enables them 
 to see these truths by his enlightening influences ; 
 and then he applies his regenerating power, so 
 that they embrace them with the heart, and love 
 them as the truth. This experience of the truth 
 which God reveals, this yielding up the soul to it 
 and resting upon it, — especially that of redemp- 
 tion by an atoning Saviour, — is an essential ele- 
 ment in the truth I am endeavoring to analyze. 
 It is only by this experience that any man can 
 say : "Whereas I was blind, now I see." — "Old 
 things are passed away : behold all things are 
 become new." It is truth* experienced, in the 
 possession and consciousness of its transforming 
 effect upon the heart. 
 
 Still another element is truth hi its -practical 
 effects. This is what our Lord refers to as " doing 
 
64 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 the truth." It is the adoption of its principles, as 
 the rule by which the whole life, inward and out- 
 ward, shall be governed. First of all, it is a 
 careful regard to the sacredness of truth in gen- 
 eral ; that is, sincerity of heart; "truth in the in- 
 ward part ; " as opposed to all deception practised 
 on ourselves or others, and to hypocrisy in every 
 form and degree ; and as opposed to all easy in- 
 difference about maintaining the truth. Then it 
 includes the careful shaping of the life just as 
 truth, in its wide scope, requires, — following out 
 and acting upon all the necessary inferences from 
 every part of that truth ; that is, fidelity to it in 
 personal holy living, and careful growth in grace. 
 Then it includes maintaining and defending that 
 truth, in its principles and its practice, against all 
 that would contravene it. In short, this element 
 is an ardent love of the truth, which shows itself 
 practically in all possible ways : unyielding fidel- 
 ity to it in every word and action of the life. 
 
 The commodity we are here counselled and 
 commanded to buy has all these essential ele- 
 ments : truth in the way of doctrine, in the way 
 of experience, and in the way of practice. That 
 is, it is holy -principle in the understanding, the 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 65 
 
 heart, and the life. It is the sum of principles 
 which God has set forth for the direction of men, 
 to enlighten, renew, and govern them. It is the 
 manifestation of God to men, in what he teaches 
 them for their believing acceptance ; in his power 
 transforming them into his own image ; and in 
 the production of a courageous and holy fidelity 
 in the life. Thus it furnishes a name to the most 
 essential thing for man in his relation to God as a 
 subject of his government. 
 
 We are prepared, then, to consider, 
 II. How you are to deal in the truth. 
 1. Buy it. Not that any one can purchase the 
 truth by the payment of an adequate price. In- 
 deed, God's mode of trading with men in the dis- 
 pensation of his grace is wholly peculiar. He 
 invites us to buy, without money and without 
 price, the precious things of his gospel. They 
 are all, so far as he is concerned in the transac- 
 tion, free gifts ; and if they were not, man, 
 spiritually bankrupt, could not buy them. Nei- 
 ther money nor good works can be received in 
 payment : and if they could, who has gold enough 
 to set in the scale against these priceless treas- 
 ures ? or who has good works with which to 
 
 6* 
 
66 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 merit them ? And yet there is manifestly a price 
 which every man must pay who buys the truth. 
 It is the full surrender of himself — all he has, 
 and is, and hopes to be — to the will and service 
 of the Author of truth. This is absolutely neces- 
 sary. Without it, no man acquires the truth in 
 its full scope. 
 
 Still, this is not of the nature of an equivalent 
 paid for it. The force of the word " buy " is to 
 give greater emphasis to the counsel and com- 
 mand to get the truth. You are bidden to get this 
 holy principle at any cost, to make it your own 
 at all hazards. Whatever else you let go, what- 
 ever else you must sacrifice for the sake of it, 
 this truth you are commanded to possess. 
 
 You must gain the knowledge of it in the 
 understanding ; must know enough of what is 
 vital in God's revelation of truth, to bring you 
 into a right attitude toward him, and to be effec- 
 tive in the whole structure of your character. 
 
 You are, at any cost, to get the experience of 
 its transforming, guiding, controlling, and sancti- 
 fying power. Nothing else, as an instrument, 
 renews the heart ; nothing else is a trustworthy 
 guide ; nothing else so holds the impulses of the 
 
WILLIAM IV. DAVENPORT. 
 
 67 
 
 soul in a calm and steady adherence to what is 
 right and wise. And only the truth sanctifies. 
 For this instrumentality our Lord prayed in his 
 last devotions with his disciples : "Sanctify them 
 through thy truth : thy word is truth." 
 
 And you are to acquire that absorbing love of 
 the truth which will render it the governing rule 
 of your practice ; which will enlist you as its con- 
 servators and defenders whenever it is imperilled ; 
 which will make you its unflinching adherents, 
 no matter who or what may oppose. 
 
 With all this earnestness and comprehensive- 
 ness of purpose, you are to get the truth ; to seek 
 for it as silver, and search for it as for hid 
 treasure ; to pursue it with the utmost ardor ; to 
 embrace it so fully that you may be known, not 
 only as possessing the truth, but as thoroughly 
 possessed by it ; so that you may be conscious of 
 a perpetual influence from the truth, as the voice 
 of God, admonishing, approving, animating, and 
 guiding you- 
 
 2. Keef it. The divine direction is specific: 
 " Sell it not" This commodity brings no profit 
 by parting with it. He who has it is never to 
 offer it for sale, nor to accept any bid for it, how- 
 
68 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 ever large. As you have not the means to pay 
 an adequate price for it, so no one else is able to 
 offer you its equivalent. Notwithstanding every 
 inducement or temptation to part with it, you are 
 to keefi it, to cling to it, to prize this holy princi- 
 ple above all human values. The figures of the 
 price-current are wholly inadequate to express its 
 worth. There is indeed no possibility of trans- 
 ferring it to another. It can be sold only by be- 
 traying it ; and he who does this allies himself 
 to the one who sold its divine and living embodi- 
 ment for thirty pieces of silver. 
 
 But there are those who fail to keep it as the 
 text requires, through under-estimating its impor- 
 tance, or through self-confidence, or the want of 
 watchful care. There is one most active and 
 vigilant enemy, who will defraud you of it if he 
 can ; will tempt you to part with it, or at least to 
 hold it loosely. Nothing to which man can cling 
 so baffles his evil designs, and so excites his rage 
 and malice, as this same comprehensive truth. 
 If he can persuade a Christian to surrender it, he 
 has him at his mercy ; if he can persuade a 
 church to part with it, its foundations are under- 
 mined, and its efficiency for good destroyed. It 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 6 9 
 
 is the duty of every one, then, to guard this 
 priceless possession with jealous care ; to cherish 
 it; to keep it as carefully as the precious life. 
 For it ts the life of the soul ; it is the basis of all 
 vigorous and effective and staple piety ; it is the 
 bulwark of the cause of Christ in the world. 
 When this is sold, or suffered to slip from the 
 grasp, the heart keeps open door for every form 
 of error in doctrine and in practice ; the church 
 degenerates and becomes torpid, and the sacred 
 interests of vital godliness suffer eclipse. To 
 keep it is as needful as to buy it. 
 
 But, 3. Use it. Otherwise you cannot keep it. 
 It vanishes — it dies — through disuse. There is 
 no important principle which will not relax its 
 hold upon the conscience, if it be set aside as a 
 basis or rule of action. Let truth be slighted in 
 this way, and it will soon lose its value in your 
 esteem, and become of no more practical account 
 or binding authority with you than error. In this 
 trading, the special peculiarity is, that we act 
 upon the counsel and command of the Author of 
 truth and the Source of wisdom ; and that all the 
 gain is by our own use of the commodity. To 
 neglect using it is to be no wiser than the manu- 
 
7o 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 facturer who shuts down the gate, and lets the 
 stream flow idly by, while wheel and spindle and 
 every other machine are adjusted for their work. 
 
 The truth is to be used in accordance with its 
 nature and adaptations, and agreeably to the 
 command of Jts Author. It is designed to be the 
 guide of all action. It should be appealed to in 
 the formation of every plan, secular or sacred. 
 But, especially, it should be the constant standard 
 and test of every thing which is religious in its 
 character. Says the apostle Paul : " We can do 
 nothing against the truth, but for the truth." The 
 admixture of error with the truth, in however 
 small a proportion, is detrimental to its effect; 
 while the substitution of error for it is ruinous. 
 
 The truth, appropriately used, has these effects : 
 first of all, to settle the mind in the great princi- 
 ples of doctrine ; then to win the heart to a 
 cordial embrace of them ; then to become the 
 exclusive guide to personal holy living ; then to 
 incite to the propagation of the same truth, for 
 the sake of its own excellence and for the good 
 of men ; and, last of all, to nerve mind and heart 
 to maintain and defend that truth, in all its prac- 
 tical relations. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 71 
 
 In the administration of every thing of a relig- 
 ious kind, the truth in its comprehensive form (in 
 the sense of holy -principle drawn from the oracles 
 of truth) should have precedence of all else as a 
 guide and rule ; should stand before expediency 
 and taste, and philosophy and custom, and hu- 
 man prescription and policy, and whatever else 
 may assume to lead in promoting the cause of 
 Christ or the good of men. Our first question, 
 though asked in a different spirit and from another 
 motive, should resemble Pilate's: "What is 
 truth?" — What does the word and will of God 
 dictate? From a candid and honest answer to 
 this question, no man has the privilege of appeal. 
 When he knows it, he is tender imperative obliga- 
 tion to do it. 
 
 These three things comprise the right mode of 
 dealing in that comprehensive, holy principle 
 which the text designates as the truth: Buy it; 
 Keep it; Use it. Buy it at any cost; Keep it at 
 all hazards, in spite of every effort to take it 
 from you ; Use it with conscientious fidelity, for 
 your own good, for the good of others, and for 
 the honor of its great Author. 
 
 Permit me now to give to this subject its prac- 
 
72 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 tical application to yourselves. Let me first ad- 
 dress those who have not yet embraced the truth 
 in their own experience. Dear unconverted 
 friends, many of you are acquainted with the 
 truth so far as its vital doctrines are concerned ; 
 and these you accept with the intellect. But you 
 have not yet possessed yourselves of it in a per- 
 sonal experience of its renewing and saving 
 power. In bondage to sin by nature, the truth 
 has not yet made you free, though it is God's 
 appointed instrument to that needful end, and you 
 have had freest access to it. Your case is both 
 guilty and sad. The responsibility of slighting 
 the truth is your own ; and the consequences, if 
 you continue to slight it, will be unspeakably 
 dreadful. Let me then most earnestly and tender- 
 ly exhort you to heed the counsel and command 
 of the text; and, first of all, Buy the truth. Get 
 it at the cost of any thing and every thing earthly ; 
 though it should be needful to forsake father and 
 mother, and wife and children, and all that you 
 have, and then to lay down life itself, to possess 
 it. This is the pearl of great price : the truth in 
 its renewing and saving efficacy, — the truth, by 
 the power of the Holy Spirit creating you anew 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 73 
 
 in Christ Jesus. You are spiritually poor, but 
 come and buy ! Jesus Christ himself, the Author 
 of truth, stands at the mart with a full supply, 
 which he is ready to dispense freely to those who 
 need it so urgently. Come, " buy the truth ; " and, 
 having gained it, sell it not, even though the 
 whole world were offered for it. " For what shall 
 it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, 
 and lose his own soul ? " And this is the alterna- 
 tive : sell the truth and you sell your soul. Oh, 
 be persuaded, beloved friends, to hear and heed 
 the message which counsels you with divine wis- 
 dom, and buy and kcef the truth. Having once 
 truly embraced it, if you keep it, the truth will 
 keep you, till the great day when Christ shall 
 own all who have kept the truth as his, and ap- 
 point them a place with him for ever. Oh, " buy 
 the truth, and sell it not." 
 
 Beloved Christian friends, who profess that you 
 have acquired the truth in its saving power, — with 
 equal earnestness, and in the name of our common 
 Lord and Master, I exhort you to keep that truth 
 within your hearts, to guard it most sacredly as 
 the foundation of your piety ; and to act upon it 
 in all your conduct, for an illustration of the real 
 
 7 
 
74 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 fruits of the sanctifying and saving grace of God 
 in Christ. Commend yourselves and the truth at 
 once, in the eyes of an ungodly world and of 
 imperfect Christians. Keep the truth, and use it 
 diligently and faithfully, that you may be the 
 living epistle of God, known and read of all 
 men; and that, being faithful unto death, you 
 may at length receive a crown of life. 
 
 But my most earnest and affectionate exhorta- 
 tion is to this beloved church of Christ, in its 
 organic capacity, as well as in its individual mem- 
 bership. No pastor can ordinarily leave a people 
 with whom he has been connected for years, and 
 for whom he has borne weighty responsibilities, 
 without more or less of solicitude respecting their 
 future course. In this church, as in any other 
 similarly situated, each private member will now 
 especially share in the responsibility for its wel- 
 fare in coming days. Permit me then to exhort 
 you individually and collectively, — with reference 
 to this important interest, — "Buy the truth, and 
 sell it not." You are all supposed to have em- 
 braced the truth, intellectually and experimen- 
 tally, and to own your obligation to keep it and 
 use it practically. But remember that the acqui- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 75 
 
 sition of truth in this broad sense may and should 
 go on indefinitely. You may gain increased 
 knowledge of it, and may also grow in loving 
 and trustful appreciation of it, day by day and 
 year by year. But in whatever degree you may 
 now be, or may in future become, possessed of 
 the truth, I exhort you to keep and use it ; firmly 
 to adhere to and maintain every principle which 
 belongs to it. 
 
 First of all, hold firmly to the binding author- 
 ity of the truth. Let this never be surrendered. 
 Make it a part of your creed that the explicit 
 teachings and the clear principles of the Word of 
 God are an infallible standard in respect to faith 
 and practice. Whenever you can appeal to such 
 directions in this volume, every other standard 
 should yield to it. No custom or rule of man's 
 proposing, no argument, no analogy, no supposed 
 expediency, no dictum of any kind, should be 
 allowed to contravene what is required or sanc- 
 tioned by the Author of truth. 
 
 Again, see to it, dear friends, that this church 
 does not swerve from sound doctrine. This is 
 fundamental to the prosperity of a church. Just 
 what the Word of God teaches for doctrine, and 
 
7 6 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 nothing else, should be held firmly by each mem- 
 ber. You should be most solicitous to draw from 
 the sacred oracles only what the Holy Spirit 
 intended to teach in them, and prayerful in your 
 study of them, that you may receive no error into 
 your minds. You are required by the book of 
 truth to " contend earnestly for the faith once de- 
 livered to the saints." This indicates that great 
 sensitiveness to the purity and integrity of doc- 
 trine is in entire accordance with the will of God. 
 Error must be resisted. To admit it knowingly 
 to this pulpit, or to sanction it in the membership 
 of the church, is to sell the truth. Tenderness 
 toward vital error is treachery toward the truth 
 and its Author. To be silent, to acquiesce, when 
 the essential doctrines of grace are assailed or 
 set aside, is to be accessory to the introduction 
 of error. The peaceable progress of false doc- 
 trine in its membership, or the unresisted preach- 
 ing of such doctrine in its pulpit, is one of the 
 darkest signs which can appear in a church. 
 
 And, once more, keep to a Scriptural -practice 
 in this church. Let me exhort each member for 
 himself, and the whole body for all the members, 
 to strive earnestly after holy living, as required 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 11 
 
 by our "Master and Lord," and as the only con- 
 clusive evidence .of genuine piety. Cherish in 
 your hearts all the graces of the Holy Spirit, as 
 the hidden germs out of which the visible graces 
 of the Christian life will be evolved. And let it 
 be well understood that conformity to the world, 
 in professors of religion, is distinctly recognized 
 as contrary to the solemn covenant which each 
 member of this church adopts ; and that, in those 
 who have adopted it, such worldly conformity is 
 a clear breach of their deliberate engagement. 
 I entreat that you maintain a high standard of 
 Christian practice in personal and family religion, 
 and in the sphere of church fellowship ; and that 
 in all things there may be among you such a 
 keeping and using and following of the truth, as 
 will make you an example to all around, — a 
 model, approaching such perfection as is possible 
 on earth ; to which it will be safe to point other 
 churches for their imitation. 
 
 It may be thought by some that these sug- 
 gestions are needless ; that this church is safe in 
 all these and similar respects. But I cannot but 
 deem them very needful. If there is not degen- 
 eracy and growing laxness in doctrine among the 
 
tj 8 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 churches of every evangelical name ; if there is 
 not a fearful increase of worldliness in practice, 
 and defence of it among those who profess better 
 things ; if there is not timidity and sinful yielding 
 of holy principle for the sake of peace, by both 
 ministry and laity ; and if the foundations and 
 the superstructure of evangelical piety are not 
 endangered by all these, — then I have no skill to 
 read aright the signs of the times. There is peril 
 in these respects. Even peace, purchased at the 
 expense of essential truth, doctrinal or practical, 
 is too dearly bought. "Love the truth and peace," 
 says the prophet Zechariah. Truth first, then 
 peace. Precious as the latter is, the former is far 
 more so. 
 
 " Buy the truth" then ; and, dear friends, * sell 
 it not;" never part with one iota of holy principle, 
 let the temptation come from within or without, 
 from whatsoever quarter it may ; but stand firm 
 against every sacrifice of the truth, and every 
 compromise with error, doctrinal or practical. 
 Let this church be so firmly anchored upon 
 the truth, built up in it, identified with it, that 
 no waves, however tumultuous, may move it ; 
 that it may never be "tossed to and fro, and 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 79 
 
 carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the 
 sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby 
 they lie in wait to deceive ; " but being rooted 
 and built up in Christ, and established in the 
 faith, may illustrate the divine excellence of the 
 truth by whose power it is kept ; while others 
 may be moved from their foundations, to the 
 reproach of the truth, and their own dishonor 
 and loss. 
 
FAREWELL. 
 
 "Finally, Brethren, farewell. Be Perfect, be of 
 Good Comfort, be of One Mind, live in Peace ; 
 and the God of Love and Peace shall be with 
 you." — 2 Cor. xiii. n. 
 
 TT would seem to have been the Holy Spirit's 
 intention that the inspired volume should con- 
 tain passages exactly suited to every occasion to 
 which religious observances would be appropri- 
 ate. There are no exigencies of the church for 
 which we may not find suitable words of counsel 
 and direction, or of comfort and encouragement; 
 no events in the lives of individuals, for which 
 these sacred pages will not furnish what is fitting. 
 When a pastor addresses his own flock for the 
 first time, this book offers the right message for 
 his lips ; and when he is called to part from them, 
 it joins to his tender farewell the counsels and 
 promises which they then specially need. To- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. Si 
 
 day, in the all-wise providence of God, I address 
 you for the last time as the pastor of this flock ; 
 and during the present week the relation which 
 has bound us together for seven years will cease. 
 Permit me, then, to take an affectionate leave of 
 you now, in these words of the apostle Paul, which 
 seem so fitly to express at once the desires of my 
 own heart for you, and the inspired counsels which 
 are appropriate to your case. " Finally, brethren, 
 farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of 
 one mind, live in peace ; and the God of love 
 and peace shall be with you." 
 
 Notice and weigh, first, his counsels. 
 
 "Be -perfect" As individuals, be perfect. 
 This is the unrepealed requirement of the holy 
 law, and the great practical aim of the gospel. 
 The former permits no departure from that holi- 
 ness of which God himself is the spotless pattern. 
 It condemns every thing in disposition or act 
 which is contrary to it ; while it requires such a 
 hearty consent of the affections to holiness, as 
 will secure the subject in unbroken conformity 
 thereto. The latter (the gospel) opens the 
 channel for the reception of that grace by which 
 alone lost man can ever become perfect; gives 
 
82 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 us a pattern of human perfection in the life of the 
 incarnate Son of God ; and supplies the most 
 powerful of motives for its attainment. However 
 hopeless the attainment of absolute perfection in 
 this life, no one is free from the obligation to fol- 
 low it ; and no one can be truly happy who does 
 not make some advance in the pursuit. 
 
 As a church, too, be perfect. Let every thing 
 in the arrangement and administration of your 
 affairs be as near the true model, — as near in- 
 spired directions, — as human effort, aided by 
 grace from above, can possibly approach. See 
 that you keep this church pure, in doctrine and 
 in practice. See that you grow in the strength 
 of holy principle ; that among you the truth be- 
 comes a bulwark to guard and protect the sacred 
 cause of Christ from injury and from reproach. 
 Let each one know his own duty in the church, 
 and be ready to perform it, humbly but boldly, in 
 the strength of his Master ; and thus make this 
 church a guide and helper to all the churches 
 around. 
 
 Again, " Be of good comfort ; ." Does the duty 
 previously enjoined seem arduous? Is it discour- 
 aging to have it laid so heavily upon your con- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 8.3 
 
 sciences? Do all the cares and duties of the 
 Christian life, and the responsibilities of church 
 relationship, form a burden which makes your 
 hearts sink? Then look at the sources of com- 
 fort opened to you in the sacred oracles of God, 
 and in the experience of your past lives ; look at 
 the covenant promises of God, at the sacred and 
 tender pledges of your dying Saviour and living 
 Head ; hear the assurances of his unintermitted 
 presence with you, in the path of faithful adher- 
 ence to him and his commands ; weigh the pre- 
 cious import of this one declaration, "My grace 
 is sufficient for thee," and let your trembling 
 hearts be still. Let your souls be nerved to holy 
 resolution, and calmed to sweetest comfort, trust- 
 ing in him ; " for he hath said, I will never leave 
 thee nor forsake thee ; " " so that we may boldly 
 say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear." 
 
 "Furthermore, " Be of one mind" Not that all 
 differences of opinion on every topic are to be 
 debarred or eradicated ; but that the minds of all 
 should be set supremely in one direction, and on 
 one object of desire, — the glory of God as it is 
 promoted in the salvation of sinners, the edifica- 
 tion of believers, and the perfecting o"f the church. 
 
84 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 Let me affectionately charge you to put far away 
 the spirit of discord, with every thing that might 
 open the door to its return and entrance. For " if 
 ye bite and devour one another, take heed that 
 ye be not consumed one of another." The spirit 
 of unity is essential to the healthful life of the 
 church, and essential to the abiding presence of 
 the divine Spirit of holiness. 
 
 Once more, "Live in -peace" This is the 
 natural and certain fruit of that unity of mind 
 w r hich has just been inculcated. It is within your 
 reach. If it be carefully and prayerfully sought, 
 you may enjoy it. To cherish the atmosphere of 
 peace, which is both your duty and your interest, 
 as Christians and as a church, will stamp all 
 needless contention with its true character, and 
 make its features repulsive to all who love Zion 
 and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. 
 
 Then, — the apostle's words of comfort assure 
 you, — then "the God of love and -peace shall be 
 with you" This includes every blessing worthy 
 to be desired, while without it you are exposed 
 to evils most profoundly to be deprecated. If the 
 God of love be absent, then hatred may prevail, 
 even among those who call themselves his people. 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 85 
 
 If the God of peace be a stranger, then farewell 
 to the hope of spiritual prosperity in this church. 
 But if he be with you, attracted by your earnest 
 and persevering endeavors to prepare your 
 hearts for his entertainment, then with what 
 delight will he make this church his dwelling ! 
 with what benignity will he smile on every true 
 seeker after his favor ! with what fulness of bless- 
 ing will his gracious benediction gently descend 
 upon your heads and hearts ! how it will pene- 
 trate your closets with the flowing stream of his 
 own peace ; gladden your homes and family 
 altars ; and go with you to the place of social 
 fellowship, tuning your lips to solemn mirth as 
 you sing his praises ; and abide around you when 
 your glad feet stand within the gates of his sanc- 
 tuary ! Happy, thrice happy, that people with 
 whom the God of love and peace abides ! How 
 strong that church which his own hand binds 
 together with intertwining cords of sacred peace, 
 and mutual, holy love !-. 
 
 Dear friends, if I were sure you would regard 
 these counsels, so as to realize the delightful 
 assurance with which they close, it would be with 
 no less sensibility to the pain of parting, but with 
 
86 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 far less solicitude for your future welfare, that I 
 now speak the remaining word of the text, 
 "Farewell," — the first as written by the pen of 
 the apostle, the last to come from these shrinking 
 lips ; for it is the token of approaching separation 
 from a church and congregation who have been 
 the objects of my pastoral love and care for the 
 last seven years. You will not wonder that the 
 utterance of that word, and the retrospect of 
 the years of this sacred relation, should awaken 
 lively memories of the most tender and touching 
 nature, should call up before a pastor's mind 
 most affecting experiences, and vivid pictures of 
 the scenes in which he has been a participant ; 
 and that the remembrance of joys and sorrows in 
 which he has shared should fill his lips with 
 trembling when he speaks of them. 
 
 It is natural and suitable to look back at some 
 of the facts and events that mark the years of 
 this pastorate. 
 
 At the beginning of 1861, the- }*ear of my set- 
 tlement over you, sixteen of the twenty-eight 
 Congregational churches of Windham County 
 Consociation had pastors. The termination of 
 my relation to you will leave only nine pastors 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. §7 
 
 within its bounds. While this is a much smaller 
 proportion than the other counties of the State 
 exhibit, it reminds us that there is a falling oft in 
 the permanence of the pastoral relation, which 
 bodes no good to the interests of stable and true 
 religion. So far as possible, this tendency should 
 be resisted, as thoughtful and judicious Christians 
 are generally ready to confess. Only four of the 
 remaining pastorates are longer than my own., 
 
 By the favor of a kind Providence, I have not, 
 in these seven years, been prevented by disability 
 from occupying the pulpit and preaching, except 
 for a part of our annual vacation ; nor has this 
 house been closed nor this pulpit silent on one of 
 the Sabbaths of this period. 
 
 During my pastorate I have officiated at fifty- 
 five weddings, and one hundred and thirty-two 
 funerals ; having been called upon for both these 
 kinds of service by many who were not members 
 of this flock. 
 
 There have been received to this church in 
 the same time, by letter from other churches, 
 thirty -two ; and, on profession of faith, thirty-six. 
 Sixty-nine have been dismissed to other churches, 
 and forty-four have been recorded as deceased, 
 
88 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 though in a few instances the true date of death 
 was earlier. The number of present members is 
 three hundred and thirteen. A large part of 
 those dismissed to other churches had long re- 
 sided elsewhere, but had delayed removing their 
 church relation. Seventeen adults have been 
 baptized upon admission to this church, and 
 twenty-one infants have been presented by their 
 parents for the same ordinance. 
 
 The Sabbath school interest has flourished 
 among us, three branch schools having been sus- 
 tained a large part of the time, in addition to the 
 one immediately connected with the church. The 
 aggregate membership of all, on the first of Janu- 
 ary of this year, was four hundred and twenty- 
 three. 
 
 It is proper to add also, that, in the seven cal- 
 endar years ending with 1867, this church and 
 congregation have contributed to objects of strictly 
 religious benevolence, exclusive of all given for 
 our Sabbath school and other work at home, the 
 sum of $4,613.34, besides some contributions 
 which did not pass through the treasury of this 
 church. The aggregate contributions of the year 
 1861 were $301.07 ; and of 1867, $923.42 ; each 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 89 
 
 year showing an advance upon that which pre- 
 ceded it, beginning with an average of $1.01 to 
 each resident member, and increasing to an aver- 
 age of $3.36 per member. In the same term of 
 years the annual income of the Ecclesiastical 
 Society, from the rental of slips, increased more 
 than $400.00 ; while indebtedness to the amount 
 of $3,780.00 has been cancelled by subscription. 
 These facts are named, as having more or less 
 importance in the history of the church and 
 society during the period under review. What- 
 ever may properly be counted as prosperity should 
 be gratefully ascribed to the special favor of Him 
 from whom all prosperity comes. It should lead 
 this church to a firmer reliance upon his covenant 
 love and faithfulness, and a holier courage to 
 attempt yet larger advances in the years to come. 
 But I turn to speak of the pleasant and happy 
 relations and experiences which come like a 
 countless throng before my memory. Whatever 
 exceptions, personal or otherwise, there may 
 have been, let them all be forgotten to-day. It 
 would, indeed, seem like affectation to pass by 
 the difficulties and troubles of recent months 
 wholly without allusion ; but it is at least my 
 
 8* 
 
9° 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 privilege not to dwell upon them. There are 
 certain paintings, which, by a device of the artist, 
 are made to present two or more different aspects, 
 according to the point from which they are 
 viewed. From one side they may exhibit an 
 object which is forbidding, and from the other, 
 one that is pleasing. Let us stand at the latter 
 point to-da}s and, if possible, never again look 
 upon the other view. 
 
 These few exceptions now laid aside and dis- 
 missed, I have occasion to record, with devout 
 gratitude to the Master, that my relations to and 
 intercourse with this people have been the source 
 of greater joy to my heart than any previous 
 experiences of friendship and affection. I shall 
 not forget, while the powers of my mind remain, 
 the loving reception given me at my coming, — 
 the heartiness of respect and the warmth of affec- 
 tion then manifested. I cannot forget the cordial 
 welcome extended to me in your homes and in all 
 the circumstances in which it was my privilege to 
 meet you. It was my joy to believe that the Lord 
 had opened the hearts of my beloved people, and 
 had given me an entrance in unto them, which 
 promised the freest opportunity to labor for their 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 9 l 
 
 good. In the course of my ministry here I have 
 made not far from three thousand two hundred 
 calls upon my flock. Very many of these have 
 been called for by the providential trials with 
 which these families have been visited ; and I 
 have thus been permitted to comfort them in 
 sickness and bereavement, to counsel them in 
 perplexity, and to sympathize with them in their 
 various forms of trouble. I have found a ready 
 ear to hear, often a willing heart to heed and act 
 upon the counsels given or the views of duty pre- 
 sented. And oh ! how freely have the assurances 
 of appreciation and gratitude and respectful at- 
 tachment been expressed ! Many of these calls 
 have been made to meet cases of spiritual trial, — 
 sometimes in the form of despondency, some- 
 times of doubt and difficulty, and often of relig- 
 ious impression and inquiry ; and while wisdom 
 from above has been needed and sought, I have 
 found my people willing to listen to the instruc- 
 tions of their pastor; and often, to the joy of my 
 own heart and theirs, have been permitted to lead 
 them into the way of life, or of comfort, or of 
 light. In not a few instances I have stood beside 
 the dying beds of members of my flock ; some- 
 
9 2 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 times with unspeakable joy to witness the triumphs 
 of their faith in the stern conflict with the last 
 enemy ; and sometimes with deepest sadness to 
 know that they were dying without a reasonable 
 hope of heaven. It has likewise been my privi- 
 lege to rejoice with those whom God has clothed 
 with the garment of praise, and filled with the 
 spirit of gladness by his favoring providence ; and 
 to give thanks with them at the throne of grace 
 and goodness for the benefits which the divine 
 hand had bestowed. 
 
 And, on the other hand, I have been made the 
 glad and grateful recipient of many a kindness ; 
 many a delicate expression of ingenuous esteem 
 and attachment ; many an assurance that my 
 efforts for the good of my people have not failed 
 of appreciation at their full value, and beyond it. 
 
 Can you wonder, dear friends, that, notwith- 
 standing the inevitable trials of the ministry of 
 the gospel, I have still found much to reward my 
 toil and cheer my heart? that I have found the 
 bonds of attachment between my people and my- 
 self strong and delightful? May I not hope that 
 some of you who hear me have found satisfaction 
 in these same bonds? 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. go 
 
 But the point in which my relation to you as 
 pastor has been most prominent in its influence 
 upon the church and people is the public minis- 
 trations of the sanctuary. Some of you will 
 remember that, in the first discourse preached 
 here as your pastor, I solemnly pledged myself 
 to make Christ crucified the central theme of 
 my preaching. After the example of the great 
 apostle to the Gentiles, and aiming at the same 
 spirit which he exhibited, "I determined not to 
 know any thing among you save Jesus Christ, 
 and him crucified." My distinct and unqualified 
 purpose was to set before you, for the good of 
 your souls, the same great doctrines on which I 
 had rested the safety of my own ; and to do it 
 with all possible plainness, and faithfulness, and 
 boldness ; and to press home their practical re- 
 sults with all the tenderness and earnestness of 
 which I was capable. 
 
 How has this pledge been redeemed? If it be 
 accounted boasting, and if boasting be folly, yet 
 bear with me a little in my folly. I call you to 
 witness to-day, beloved flock, that Christ crucified 
 has been the central and foremost theme of my 
 instructions in this sacred desk, and in the place 
 
94 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 of social conference ; and that, in due connection 
 with this theme, I have presented those great and 
 important doctrines which it is most important for 
 you to know and believe and act upon. I have 
 set forth man's apostasy and ruin, and his con- 
 demnation by the holy law of God ; the absolute 
 need of regeneration ; the atonement of Christ 
 as a satisfaction to divine justice for men ; their 
 dependence upon the Holy Spirit to regenerate 
 and sanctify them ; the perfect freeness, suffi- 
 ciency, and sovereignty of divine grace ; and the 
 necessity of a holy life in order to salvation. 
 These great doctrines I have set forth with the 
 full belief that they are the truth of God, revealed 
 by him, and designed to be pressed upon the 
 attention of lost men for their salvation. I dare 
 not venture the bold apostolic declaration that I 
 am pure from the blood of all men, being well 
 aware of many imperfections in even the most 
 faithful efforts for your good. But I call you to 
 witness that I- have not timidly shunned to declare 
 unto you the whole counsel of God, and have 
 willingly kept back nothing that was profitable to 
 you. I have not sought to preach myself, nor 
 turned aside from the most serious and vital 
 
WILLIAM W. • DA VENP OR T. 
 
 95 
 
 themes to entertain you with pretty impertinences 
 in this sacred place. I have not feared to speak 
 whatever I deemed it my duty to proclaim, 
 whether in the form of doctrine or duty ; whether 
 rebuking sin or declaring distasteful truth. 
 Nothing has knowingly been suffered to shape 
 my utterances in this pulpit, but the will and word 
 of Him by whose appointment I have stood here 
 to preach at all. I have so aimed to preach the 
 gospel, not as pleasing men, but God which trieth 
 our hearts. But it has been my special joy to set 
 forth the Lord Jesus Christ as the only and all- 
 sufficient Saviour; to commend him to the confi- 
 dence of perishing sinners ; and to entreat them 
 in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. 
 
 In doing this I have had a rich reward. It has 
 been with holy satisfaction that I have preached 
 those truths which display the glorious holiness 
 and justice of the universal Sovereign, the God 
 of redemption ; but with peculiar delight that I 
 have been permitted to set forth and dwell upon 
 his matchless and infinite love in Jesus Christ. 
 And I have had the added satisfactiun of know- 
 ing that some among my people have been per- 
 suaded to accept the mercy offered by my lips, 
 
9 6 
 
 MEMORIAL OF 
 
 and to fly to the precious blood of Christ as their 
 only hope. A goodly number of these have 
 publicly owned him at this altar, and now bear 
 upon them the solemn vows of that covenant by 
 which they became members of his visible church. 
 There are also those here present who can testify 
 to-day, as many of them have done in various 
 forms, that they have been fed and instructed by 
 the word preached, and stimulated and quickened 
 in the Christian life ; while yet others have borne 
 witness that they have been led to see a beauty 
 and excellency in the Lord Jesus Christ to which 
 they were previously strangers ; and that they 
 have found his love as a motive growing more 
 and more powerful, and leading them to a more 
 entire and willing consecration to his service and 
 glory. These things, as tokens of the Master's 
 approval of my labors, have been my great 
 reward. Yet not so great but that I have coveted 
 it in far greater measure. But I make my boast 
 only in the Lord. It is he, working through the 
 human instrument ; dispensing the treasure from 
 an earthen vessel, that the excellency of the 
 power might be of God and not of man. And I 
 would not cease for one moment to remember 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 97 
 
 that " not he which commendeth himself is ap- 
 proved, but whom the Lord commendeth ; " yet I 
 can and do, with gratitude and humility, point to 
 some among you to whom he has made my min- 
 istry a blessing, and say, "Ye are our epistle, 
 known and read of all men." 
 
 But now this ministry is to close, and to-day I 
 must say to you all, Farewell. 
 
 To the beloved members of this church I say 
 this trying word. You have been with me in this 
 ministry ; you have been indulgent to its imper- 
 fections ; many of you have cheered and com- 
 forted my heart by your faithfulness to Christ's 
 cross and crown, and by manifest evidences of 
 growing sanctification and efficiency in the Mas- 
 ter's service. You have stayed up my hands by 
 prayer, and have encouraged my heart by labor 
 for the welfare of this church. You have my 
 hearty thanks for all your intercessions in my 
 behalf, and for all the help you have given me in 
 my work. Some of you have received admoni- 
 tion with meekness, and have heeded it; and 
 there are some of whom I could wish that they 
 had shown a more earnest and living interest in 
 the promotion of the cause of Christ and the sal- 
 
 9 
 
MEMORIAL OF 
 
 vation of souls among us. But now we are called 
 to separate. Our seasons of communion in public 
 and social worship as pastor and people are at an 
 end ; the joys of past fellowship in commemora- 
 tion of a Saviour's dying love will still linger in 
 our memories ; and the mutual love with which 
 we have shared in these sacred occasions will not 
 be wholly obliterated till we sit together at the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb. Oh, be faithful, 
 be true, be earnest, be consecrated heart and soul 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ. Correct what is wrong ; 
 supply what is lacking ; strengthen what is weak ; 
 and remember that without Christ you can do 
 nothing. 
 
 Youthful members of this church, who have 
 been led to Christ, and have publicly confessed 
 him during my ministry, — I cannot forbear a 
 special word to you. It has been with great joy 
 and comfort that I have witnessed the degree of 
 fidelity in duty, and stability in the Christian 
 walk, which you have exhibited since you pro- 
 fessed Christ and covenanted to be his. You will 
 not think it strange that it is a prominent desire 
 of my heart that -you should prove to be faithful, 
 stable, growing, laborious Christians to the end 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. qq 
 
 of life. Permit me to hope that I may always 
 have a good report of your faith, and love, and 
 every other grace, and of your Christian walk. 
 Let holy principle be always the governing power 
 in your hearts and lives. Let not the world find 
 the least encouragement in its worldliness from 
 you. No matter who else may make affinity with 
 it, do you be Christ's, — in practice as you are 
 by covenant, looking for your reward from him ; 
 and the God of love and peace shall be with 
 you. 
 
 Nor can I withhold my special farewell from 
 the officers of this church, with whom I have 
 walked in unbroken harmony and fellowship, 
 and to whom I have been greatly indebted for aid 
 and counsel in the discharge of my ministry. 
 May the candle of the Lord shine upon you, and 
 his grace be abundantly bestowed upon you in 
 the future discharge of the same duties ; and may 
 your reward be great at last. 
 
 But there is one class, — alas, how large ! — in 
 this congregation, to whom it makes my heart 
 bleed to say farewell, with no assurance that my 
 ministry has been the means of any good to them 
 for eternity. Dear unconverted friends, must we 
 
IOO MEMORIAL OF 
 
 part with this element of sadness in our separa- 
 tion? with no certainty that we shall meet in 
 heaven? God, who sent me to you, and who 
 takes me from you, knows I have loved your 
 souls, and have sought their salvation with intense 
 desire. Your own consciences will bear witness 
 that I have spoken to you with the greatest plain- 
 ness, not only of your misery as sinners, but of 
 your guilt. I have warned and invited and en- 
 treated you, as God has enabled me ; but you 
 are not saved. You have not made Christ yours ; 
 have not yet taken your imperilled souls, and laid 
 them in the mighty hand of Him who alone is able 
 to save them. Suffer me, then, to entreat you 
 this once more, by all the solemn verities of God's 
 Word, and the equally solemn realities to which 
 you and I are hastening ; by the awful justice 
 and the tender compassion of your God; and, 
 above all, by the dying love of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, to lay hold now of the refuge set before 
 you. Do not compel me to be an unwilling wit- 
 ness against you in the great day. Let not the 
 opportunities of these seven years, neglected and 
 perverted, be added to the weight that will sink 
 you in eternal despair. Turn to your compas- 
 
WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 IOI 
 
 sionate God to-day ; believe now on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. 
 
 Children and youth, I desire to keep fresh in 
 my remembrance the joy I have felt in having 
 your confidence and love these seven years that I 
 have been your pastor ; and I trust that in future 
 days I may know you are walking in the truth, 
 and serving Him who has redeemed you. Give 
 the love of your hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ 
 now, and serve him faithfully while you live, that 
 you may be his for ever. Some of you have 
 already chosen him for your portion. May he 
 keep and guide you to the end, guarding you 
 from error and shielding you from sin, and bring 
 you at last to the presence of his glory with ex- 
 ceeding joy. 
 
 Dear friends, the record of this ministry is 
 about to be closed. All its events and circum- 
 stances will soon be complete. These Sabbaths, 
 these appeals, these invitations are now to end ; 
 but their issues reach to the judgment-day, and 
 stretch onward to eternity. There you and I will 
 meet them, and will meet each other. Let me 
 once more entreat you, then, dear friends, to re- 
 member the words I have spoken unto you while 
 
102 MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM W. DAVENPORT. 
 
 I was yet with you, and to obey the voice of 
 divine authority and love, beseeching you not to 
 neglect your own mercies. Let me also exhort 
 you to guard the interests of this church and 
 society with jealous care. Be loyal and faithful 
 to the doctrines so long cherished here, and build 
 up this church by your prayers and efforts, so 
 that it may stand from generation to generation, 
 rooted and grounded in the truth, and exhibiting 
 the fruit of enlightened and stable piety in all its 
 members. And, "finally, brethren, farewell. Be 
 perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live 
 in peace; and the God of love and peace shall 
 be with you." 
 
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