Amos Lawrence

“ There is a pleasant vision which opens to me when I look forward to the characters that the academy and the college are to send forth for the next hundred years. I bless God for my old home, and the great elm in front, which has a teaching and a significance that I shall endeavor to make use of in training my grandchildren and dear ones of my family connection. How important, then, that our places of education be sustained, as supplying the pure and living streams that shall irrigate every hill and valley of this vast empire, and train men to know and do their duty! ”

“ Do you remember visiting me, a dozen or more years ago, to get me to lead off with a thousand-dollar subscription for colonization, and my refusing by assuring you that I would not interfere with the burden of slavery, then pressing on our own Slave States, until requested by them? * * * * Liberia, in the mean time, has gone on, and now promises to be to the black man what New England has been to the Pilgrims, and Pennsylvania to the Friends. I say, with all my heart, to Gov. Roberts and his associates, God speed you, and carry onward and upward the glorious work of redeeming Africa! ”

“ Dear Brother Abbott: I hardly dare trust myself to speak what I feel, and therefore write a word to say that I thank God I am spared to this day to see accomplished by one so near and dear to me this last best work ever done by one of our name, which will prove a better title to true nobility than any from the potentates of the world. It is more honorable, and more to be coveted, than the highest political station in our country, purchased as these stations often are by time-serving. ”

“ I think the spectacle will be a grand one, of a whole people brought together to commemorate the birth of one of their fellow-mortals, who by his virtues and his talents has made his memory immortal, and whose precepts and example are calculated to secure happiness to the countless millions of his fellow-beings who are to people this vast empire through all future time. It is permitted to few to have open to them such a field as Washington had; but no one since the Christian era has filled his sphere so gloriously. ”

“ In that dread hour when I thought that the next perhaps would be my last on earth,—my thoughts resting upon my God and Saviour, then upon the past scenes of my life, then upon my dear children,—the belief that their minds are well directed, and that they will prove blessings to society, and fulfil, in some good degree, the design of Providence in placing them here, was a balm to my spirits that proved more favorable to my recovery than any of the other remedies. May you never forget that every man is individually responsible for his actions, and must be held accountable for his opportunities! ”

“ The cold can hardly penetrate beneath such a garment. God has blessed you with wealth; but he has given you a richer blessing still; that is, a heart overflowing with kindness to your fellow-beings, and a willingness to do good to all as you have opportunity. I accept, with warm emotions of gratitude and thankfulness, the kindness you have done to me. I would not exchange your gift for a large lump of the California gold. Be assured you have my fervent prayer and wishes, that you may at last receive a thousand-fold for all the kindness that you have shown to your fellow-men. ”

“ But where shall we find such a man? May I not be permitted to apply the character to my highly valued and respected friend, whose charities are boundless, and who daily dispenses blessings to all around him? May the enduring oak be emblematical of the continuance of your life! I depend much upon accompanying you to Mount Auburn, and to visit the spot which contains the precious relics of him whose life it is sweet to contemplate, and whose death has taught us how [240] a Christian should die. The perusal of this little volume has increased my veneration and friendship for its owner. ”

“ God speaks to us through the rustling of the leaves no less distinctly than in the voice of the whirlwind and the storm; and it is now our business and our privilege to look at him and to him for the lesson of yesterday. Dear W., as he parted from me the Sabbath noon before the last, looked the embodiment of health, long life, and happiness. Now, that noble figure, face, expression, and loved spirit, which lightened his path, is no longer among us, to be in danger of injury from our yielding him that which belongs to God only. ”

“ My greatest fear is, that you may form a wrong judgment of what constitutes your true respectability, happiness, and usefulness. To a youth just entering on the scenes of life, the roses on the wayside appear without thorns; but, in the eagerness to snatch them, many find, to their sorrow, that all which appears so fair is not in possession what it was in prospect, [97] and that beneath the rose there is a thorn that sometimes wounds like a serpent's bite. Let not appearances deceive you; for, when once you have strayed, the second temptation is more likely to be fallen into than the first. ”

“ What reason have we for devout thanksgiving, that our two countries are not at swords' points, and that the true feeling of our common ancestry is now sweeping over our land! We are in deep disgrace on account of this wicked Mexican business. What the end is to be can only be known to Infinite Wisdom; but one thing is certain,—no good can come to us from it. ”

“ The damning sin of adding it to this nation to extend slavery will be as certain to destroy us as death is to overtake us. The false step, once taken, cannot be retraced, and will be to the people who occupy what rum is to the toper. It eats up and uproots the very foundation on which Christian nations are based, and will make us the scorn of all Christendom. Let us work, then, in a Christian spirit, as we would for our individual salvation, to prevent this sad calamity befalling us.' ”

“ Since then, which is about thirty years, I have been a successful business man, although, for the last twenty years, I have been a broken machine, that, by all common experience, should have been cast aside. But I am still moving; and no period of my life has had more to charm, or has had more flowers by the wayside, than my every-day life, with all my privations. The great secret of the enjoyment is, that I am able to do some further work, as your father's example taught me, when the question was discussed near forty years ago. ”

“ The admonition of the last week comes home to me in a way not to be neglected, and I hope to keep in mind that, in my best days, I am as likely to be called off, as in these days of anxious care, when pressed down with pain and weakness, and surrounded by those dear ones who look upon every emotion with deep solicitude. On comparing myself now with myself a year ago, I have much to animate and cheer in the increased strength of body and renewed powers, by which I can enjoy life ”

“ Of all men I have ever known, Dr. Lowell is one of the brightest exemplars of the character and teachings of the Master; for all denominations respect him, and confide in him. For more than forty years I have known him; and, in all the relations of a good pastor to his people, I have never known a better. I have met him in the sick chamber, with the dying, and in the house of prayer. In the character of a teacher, and a leader of the people heavenward, no one among us has been more valued. ”

“ I answer, the retrospection of a well-spent life. The man who devotes himself to the cause of humanity, who clothes the naked, feeds the hungry, soothes the sorrows of the afflicted, and comforts the mourner,—whom each rising sun finds in the contemplation of some good deed, and each night closes with the assurance that it has been performed,—surely such a life must be the comfort of an old age. ”

“ From his father he had inherited the most profound veneration for Gen. Washington, and faith in his public policy; while the political principles of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay were those alone by which he thought the permanent happiness and prosperity of the country could be secured.
As a Christian, he endeavored to walk in the footsteps of his Master. He had no taste for the discussion of those minor points of doctrine upon which good men so often differ, but embraced with all his heart the revealed truths of the Gospel, which the great body of Christians can unite in upholding. ”

“ My mind turns back to you almost as frequently as its powers are brought into separate action, and always with an interest that animates and quickens my pulse; for, under God, it is by your good influence and teachings that I am prepared to enjoy those blessings which he has so richly scattered in my path in all my onward progress in life. How could it be otherwise than that your image should be with me, unless I should prove wholly unworthy of you? Your journey is so much of it performed, that those objects which interested you greatly in its early stages have lost their charms ”

“ I trust, my dear friend, you are looking for the mercy of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life. Death is not an eternal sleep; no, it is the gate to life. It opens up a blessed immortality to all who, in this world, have feared God and wrought righteousness. This world is a [283] probationary state; if we have been faithful, in some humble degree, to our convictions of duty; if we have regretted our follies and sins; if we have sought to do the will of our heavenly Father, and sought forgiveness through the mediation of his Son,—God will receive us to his heavenly glory. ”

“ We have had the sympathy of friends; and the circumstances have brought to light new friends, that make us feel our work here is not done. I feel called two ways at once: S. beckoning me to come up; the little ones appealing to the inmost recesses of my heart to stay, and lead them, with an old grandfather's fondest, strongest, tenderest emotions, as the embodiment of my child. Her remains are placed at the head of her mother's; and those two young mothers, thus placed, will speak to their kindred with an eloquence that words cannot. ”

“ Amherst College you know all about; and that is now in especial need of new instructors, and increased funds for their support. Twenty thousand dollars from you will place it on high ground, give a name to a professorship, make you feel happier and richer than you ever did in your life. What say you?—will you do it? The respect of good men will be of more value to you through your remaining days than any amount of increase, even if as vast as Girard's or Astor's. As I am a mere looker-on, you will take this, as I design it, as an expression of good-will to the college, no less than to you. ”

“ To the same he writes, a few days later:
"Tell —— that I saw little —— this morning. She is the sweetest little creature that ever lived, and I find myself smiling whenever I think of the dear child in health. Sympathy is a powerful agent in illustrating through the countenance the feelings within. I believe my face is as arrant a tell-tale as ever was worn; and whenever I think of those I love, under happy circumstances, [130] I am happy, too. So you may judge how much I enjoy in the belief that you are enjoying so much, and doing so well, in this journey." ”

“ God, my dear sir, will reward you for all your goodness; man never can. And yet the gratitude of the many whom you relieve, their prayers for your happiness, their consciousness of your expanded benevolence, is of itself a treasure of inestimable value. It is a source of consolation, which you would not exchange for any earthly boon of [180] equal value. Wealth is to you an enlightened trust, for the benefit of your race. ”

“ The kindly charities of your late lamented parent are still fresh in impressions of gratitude upon their recipients. They require no herald to give them publicity. The voice of fame would do violence to their spirit.
Yet, now that "the good man" can no more utter his words of sympathy and counsel,—that his pen can no more subscribe its noble benefactions, or indite its lessons of wisdom and experience,—the press may silently perpetuate those which survive him. ”

“ The merchants of this city have ever been distinguished, I believe, for their integrity and benevolence. Nowhere is wealth acquired by a more honest and healthy activity; nowhere is a larger portion of it devoted to all the objects which a wise philanthropy, an extended patriotism, and a tender Christian sympathy, would foster and promote. Mr. Lawrence was conspicuous for these qualities. His integrity, I may venture to say, stands absolutely unimpeached, without spot or blemish. His history, as a merchant, from first to last, will bear the strictest scrutiny. ”

“ In short, we can none of us know that a future will be allowed us to amend and to correct our previous misdoings and omissions; and it is not less the part of wisdom than of duty to be always up and doing, that whenever our Master comes we may be ready. I never was made so sensible before of the power of the mind over the body. It is a matter of surprise to some of my friends, who have known my constant habits of business for a quarter of a century, that I can find so much comfort and quiet in the confinement of my house, when I feel so well, and there are so many calls for my labors abroad. ”