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BARNAS SEARS 
 
 A CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR 
 HIS MAKING AND WORK 
 
 BY 
 
 ALVAH HOVEY, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF ''a MANUAL OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY," "STUDIES 
 IN ETHICS AND RELIGION," ETC. 
 
 " Humility in the solemn presence of a mysterious universe, 
 and reverence for the Power that framed it, best become those 
 who are but the creatures of a day." 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
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 5 3 J 3 3 
 
 SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 
 

 
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 * COf*Y B. ' 
 
 Copyright, 1902, 
 By silver, BURDETT & COMPANY 
 
 »•» •'• 
 
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 MOTIVE 
 
 For many years the writer of these pages 
 has felt a strong desire to give expression 
 to his sentiments of gratitude and love to 
 Barnas Sears, D.D., LL.D., his teacher in 
 Christian Theology at Newton (1845-8), and 
 his honored friend to the close of a noble 
 life (1880). No sufficient record of his truly 
 eminent services to the cause of education, 
 whether theological, collegiate, or popular, 
 can be made within the limits of a small vol- 
 ume; but even a brief account of those ser- 
 vices, as performed by such a man, may be 
 welcome to not a few readers who find incen- 
 tives to strenuous labor for the good of man- 
 kind in the lives of past toilers in the same 
 field. 
 
 It is not forgotten that an eloquent tribute 
 to his character as a man, and to his ability 
 as a teacher of theology, was paid by his 
 
 iii 
 
 /<f/ 
 
iv Motive 
 
 enthusiastic pupil, Doctor Oakman S. Steams ; 
 but it was published in the Baptist Review for 
 1883, and is accessible to few at the present 
 time; moreover, it spoke of him chiefly ''as 
 a theological professor," while a great part of 
 his public service was in behalf of academic 
 or popular education. It may be true, as Doc- 
 tor Stearns intimates, that he never achieved 
 a greater success than in his work at Newton, 
 but it must always be remembered that his 
 work in that school was but a small part of 
 what he did for his country and mankind. 
 It was brilliant and fruitful service, but only 
 a fraction of his life-work, which must not 
 be suffered to obscure the wide compass and 
 rare merit of the rest. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chronology • . . . ix 
 
 I. Ancestry and Education . . i 
 
 II. At Hartford and Hamilton . 22 
 
 III. In Germany and France . . 26 
 
 IV. Professor and President at 
 
 Newton ..... 54 
 V. Secretary of Massachusetts 
 
 Board of Education . . 76 
 VI. President and Professor of 
 
 Brown University ... 91 
 VII. Agent of the Peabody Educa- 
 tional Fund . . . .110 
 
 VIII. Home and Social Life . . 151 
 
 IX. Last Address read by Dr. Ellis 1.60 
 X. Retrospect. . . . .164 
 
 Appendix 173 
 
THE SEARS COAT OF ARMS 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., about 
 
 1871 . . . . . , Frontispiece 
 
 Residence op Dr. Sears at Hamilton, page 
 New York ..... 24 
 
 F. A. G. Tholuck, Ph.D. . . . 42 
 
 Residence of Dr. Sears, Centre Street, 
 
 NevVton Centre, Mass., 1838-1848 60 
 
 The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., about 
 
 1850 78 
 
 Residence of Dr. Sears, Pleasant 
 Street, Newton Centre, Mass., 
 1848-1865 88 
 
 The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., about 
 
 1861 94 
 
 President's House, Brown University 106 
 
 The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop . . 132 
 
 Residence of Dr. Sears at Staunton, 
 
 Virginia 152 
 
 Corey Hill Homestead, Brookline, 
 
 Mass. . . . . . .172 
 
 Mrs. Sears, Mrs. Fultz, Capt. W. B. 
 
 Sears, Capt. Edward Sears . . 176 
 
CHRONOLOGY 
 
 Bom in Sandisfield, Mass., November 19, 1802. 
 
 Entered Brown University in the spring of 1822. 
 
 Graduated from Brown University, September 7. 1825, 
 
 Entered the Newton Theological Institution, October, 
 1825. 
 
 Commenced preaching for First Baptist Church, Hart- 
 ford, May 19, 1827. 
 
 Ordained pastor of the same, July 11, 1827. 
 
 Dismissed at his own request, March, 1829. 
 
 Professor of Languages, Hamilton, N. Y., September, 
 1829. 
 
 Married in Brookline, Mass., July 6, 1830. 
 
 Studied in Germany and France, 1833-35. 
 
 Professor of Christian Theology in the Newton Theo- 
 logical Institution, 1836-48. 
 
 President of the Newton Theological Institution, 1839- 
 48. 
 
 S.T.D. by Harvard University, 1841. 
 
 Secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848- 
 
 55- 
 President and Professor of Moral Philosophy, Brown 
 
 University, 1855-67. 
 LL.D. by Yale University, 1862. 
 General Agent of the Peabody Educational Fund, 1867- 
 
 80. 
 President of the American Baptist Missionary Union, 
 
 1874-77. 
 Died at Saratoga, N. Y., July 6, 1880. 
 Funeral at Brookline, Mass., July 9, 1880. 
 
Barnas Sears: 
 
 A Christian Educator 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION 
 
 The American ancestry of Barnas Sears is 
 worthy of distinct notice. He was of the 
 seventh generation from Richard Sears, the 
 emigrant ancestor (from Colchester, Eng- 
 land) of a family well known in New Eng- 
 land for business enterprise, public spirit, and 
 religious influence. Between Richard Sears 
 the first and Barnas Sears the seventh there 
 were in the direct line four Pauls and one 
 Joshua (Paul ' Paul \ Joshua *, Paul ^ Paul ") 
 making it reasonable, if names are charac- 
 teristic, to look for sound theology, courage, 
 
2 Barnas Sears 
 
 zeal, and courtesy in the subject of our 
 sketch. 
 
 Barnas Sears was born on the 19th day of 
 November, 1802, in Sandisfield, Berkshire 
 County, Massachusetts. His parents were 
 Paul and Rachel (Granger) Sears, both of 
 whom lived to a good age. His father was 
 born February 2, 1769, and died September 
 25, 185 1, at the age of eighty-three years. 
 He is said to have been a man of somewhat 
 uneven temper, and to have had an unmar- 
 ried brother of rugged nature, who was dis- 
 posed to undervalue the studious aspirations 
 of his nephew, Barnas. 
 
 His mother was born August 4, 1771, and 
 died August 23, 1846, at the age of seventy- 
 five years. She was a woman of very even 
 temper and gentle spirit, always character- 
 ized by her son as one of the sweetest Chris- 
 tians. It is, therefore, not surprising that 
 we are told by one who ought to know, that 
 " he had inherited a quick temper, but by the 
 time his family were grown he had it under 
 perfect control." It is added by the same 
 
A Christian Educator 3 
 
 witness that ''his heart was warm and affec- 
 tionate, so that, although separated from all 
 his brothers and sisters for many years, he 
 seldom spoke of them without emotion." ^ 
 
 But, in looking for the sources of tempera- 
 ment and ability, one need not restrict his 
 quest to a man's parents. His earlier ances- 
 try may be represented as well. And Doctor 
 Sears may have had in mind this fact when 
 he said: ''My grandfather, whom I remem- 
 ber well, was one of the first settlers in the 
 New Boston district of Sandisfield. He 
 came from Chatham, though he was born in 
 Harwich, Massachusetts, on the Cape. He was 
 so pious and prayerful a man that young 
 Christians of all denominations used to visit 
 him, and gave him the name of 'the saint 
 of New Boston.' " This grandfather, Paul 
 
 ' The children of Paul and Rachel (Granger) Sears 
 were all bom in Sandisfield, Mass., in the following 
 order: (i) Mary, July 2, 1788; (2) Alfred, September 
 27» 1795; (3) Belinda, August 23, 1798; (4) Sally, July 
 I, 1801; (5) Bamas, November 19, 1802; (6) Lyman, 
 September, 1904; (7) David G., June 29, 1806; (8) 
 John R., January 11, 1809; (9) Hiram, July 8, 181 1; 
 (10) Henry, August 3, 1815. 
 
4 Barnas Sears 
 
 Sears, was first connected with the ** Stand- 
 ing Order"; but during the "great awaken- 
 ing" he became a Separatist, and afterwards, 
 following out his convictions, he united with 
 others in organizing the First Baptist Church 
 of Sandisfield. 
 
 The first fifteen years of his life were 
 passed by Barnas Sears on his father's farm, 
 with only such opportunities for instruction 
 as farm-boys had in the county of Berkshire 
 a hundred years ago. The book of nature, 
 with its hills and mountains, its forests and 
 streams, its winters and summers, was open 
 to him as to all, but the country schools were 
 not as good as they have since been made. 
 It was before the days of Horace Mann and 
 the most vigorous attempts to improve the 
 character of the public schools of the Bay 
 State. But even then bright children in 
 simple ways laid hold at an early age of 
 the keys of knowledge, and gave to those who 
 observed their proficiency, promise of fu- 
 ture distinction. With such children must 
 be numbered the one scholar, in a family of 
 
A Christian Educator 5 
 
 ten (seven brothers and three sisters), whose 
 name was Barnas, and who is described by a 
 schoolmate as ''thoughtful, exemplary, and 
 at the same time vigorous, fond of fun, full 
 of jokes, an unconscious leader." Judging 
 him by this description, the boy was '' father 
 of the man." At the age of seven or eight 
 he was a ruddy, laughing-eyed lad, notice- 
 able anywhere in a group of his own age, and 
 attractive even to strangers. How rich in 
 lessons of life must those early years in Berk- 
 shire have been! 
 
 In speaking of Barnas as ''the one scholar 
 in a family of ten children," no shadow of 
 disrespect is meant for the others. The 
 children were all capable and efficient. 
 Several of his brothers became successful 
 merchants, first in Hartford, Connecticut, 
 and afterwards in New York City ; and none 
 of them were lacking in vigorous character. 
 They knew how to bring things to pass. 
 Though not scholars, they were well-in- 
 formed and worthy men and women. 
 
 Referring to the common schools of New 
 
6 Barnas Sears 
 
 England as they were conducted towards the 
 year 1830, Doctor Sears wrote this for his 
 last address : ' ' I will speak of them as I knew 
 them, for I was in them about ten years as a 
 pupil and six winters as a teacher during the 
 first quarter of the century. The school- 
 houses were somewhat improved. The large 
 fireplaces, the movable seats, and the dunce- 
 blocks and fool's caps were going out of use. 
 Discipline was still severe, but there was a 
 better supply of books, a better classification 
 of the pupils, and a more regular order of 
 exercises. Still, ever}^hing was mechanical 
 and followed a certain routine, repeating 
 empty words in a way which ossified thought ; 
 and the teacher had so many things to do at 
 once, and never time to do an}i:hing well, 
 that there was often not a little confusion." 
 This statement is followed by a remark- 
 able ** word-picture" of the daily exercises 
 of such a school, beginning with reading by 
 the highest class, the account of which may 
 be omitted. "During all the time that the 
 lower classes were reading the school-room 
 
A Christian Educator 7 
 
 presented a lively scene. The teacher's eyes, 
 ears, tongue, and hands were busy, and 
 sometimes nearly all at once. For example, 
 while with one eye and one ear he was attend- 
 ing to a reading lesson, he might, with the 
 other, discover strange tricks, — especially if 
 he turned around suddenly — and would 
 shake one boy, pinch the ear or pull the hair 
 of another, and call out a third for severer 
 punishment. Meanwhile he would, almost 
 incessantly, hear these words : * Please mend 
 my pen,' 'Please set me a copy,' 'May I go 
 out?' 'May I go to the fire?' 'Will you look 
 over my sum?' These shrill sounds were 
 heard till the youngest class was reached, and 
 the child had repeated the alphabet at the 
 point of the master's penknife. . . . Half 
 the session being thus ended, the whole pro- 
 cess (after 'going out') was reversed. The 
 youngest child was called up again 'to say 
 his letters,' — a term which fitly described the 
 performance. Next followed an exercise 
 which required genius. The task assigned 
 was to make syllables by repeating in sundry 
 
8 Barnas Sears 
 
 ways the first two letters of the alphabet, 
 although there was no more connection be- 
 tween those names and the syllables than 
 there was between them and the moon. It 
 reminds one of the story of the monk who 
 filed his teeth in order to speak Hebrew. The 
 spelling exercises, ascending from class to 
 class till the first was reached, filled out the 
 remainder of the half-day. . . . The spelling 
 and the writing of the older classes were, per- 
 haps, the least objectionable of all the school 
 exercises." It was in such a school, accord- 
 ing to his own testimony, that Barnas Sears 
 was a pupil about ten years — at least a part 
 of the time ; at first, perhaps, in the summer 
 months and, later, presumably in the winter, 
 beginning at the age of five and ending at the 
 age of fifteen. 
 
 During these years he acquired a taste for 
 books, and his reading may have encroached 
 sometimes on the hours of labor, to the 
 annoyance of his bachelor uncle, if not to the 
 grief of his more appreciative mother. And 
 so when the ardent youth, at the age of fif- 
 
A Christian Educator 9 
 
 teen, asked for the gift of his time, for the 
 purpose of working his own way through col- 
 lege, this uncle remarked ''that his father 
 might as well let the boy go, as he was nothing 
 but a book-boy, anyhow, and never seemed 
 to care for work." 
 
 Events, however, proved that he did care 
 for work when it was a step towards a liberal 
 education. For he presently made a contract 
 with a neighbor to build for him a handsome 
 stone wall, and not only fulfilled his contract 
 by hiring another man to assist him with his 
 team, but gained such a reputation for this 
 kind of work as to be in constant demand. 
 
 Whatever he did, he did well, for a high 
 and holy motive had entered into his life. 
 Two years before resolving to seek for him- 
 self a liberal education, he had accepted 
 Jesus Christ as his Lord, and had at once 
 taken his place with the band of workers for 
 the cause he loved. When he spoke in social 
 meetings there was always silence, and inter- 
 est in what he said. His pastor and his 
 mother divined his calling, and encouraged 
 
lo Barnas Sears 
 
 his longing to prepare for the highest Chris- 
 tian service. 
 
 So with his father's consent, he imdertook 
 the long task of personal training at his own 
 charges. * ' He wrought hard during the sum- 
 mer," and the following winter, at the age of 
 sixteen, we find him teaching school, begin- 
 ning thus early and bravely what proved to 
 be the principal vocation of his life. His 
 first teacher in the classics was the Rev. 
 Timothy M. Cooley of Granville, a neighbor- 
 ing town in Massachusetts, who was some- 
 what famous in his day for success in fitting 
 boys for college. But before entering Brown 
 young Barnas repaired to the University 
 school and put himself under the tuition of 
 Jesse Hartwell, its accomplished principal. 
 
 At a later period he thus characterizes this 
 class of schools as they were then conducted : 
 
 ** In the academies the teachers, as a class, 
 were well-educated men. The schools were 
 sometimes for both sexes, and consequently 
 had classes in English studies ; but when they 
 served as preparatory schools only, little was 
 
A Christian Educator 1 1 
 
 taught in them but the elements of Latin and 
 Greek, and even these were rather studied in 
 books than taught by the preceptor. The 
 education, therefore, which boys fitting for 
 college received, was mainly through a vigor- 
 ous exercise of the memory in learning the 
 words of an ancient language. A weekly 
 composition on some of the virtues or vices, 
 and a declamation every Wednesday from 
 some great orator, such as Chatham or Pat- 
 rick Henry, were the only variations from 
 the Latin and Greek exercises." In such 
 schools Barnas Sears fitted for college. 
 
 A severe -fever prevented him from joining 
 his class at the opening of the Freshman year 
 in the autumn of 182 1, but he joined it in the 
 spring of 1822, and was graduated in 1825, 
 his part at the Commencement being the 
 philosophical oration, and his theme, ''The 
 Influence of Association upon the Intellec- 
 tual Character.'* 
 
 Of his course as a college student but little 
 is known. Yet from a statement of later 
 years it is certain that he made no persistent 
 
12 Barnas Sears 
 
 effort to stand at the head of his class in 
 recitation, but preferred a broader scholar- 
 ship, without " cramming." In weighing the 
 significance of this statement it would be 
 well to bear in mind, first, that the regular 
 circle of college studies was at that time 
 (1821-25) much smaller than at present. 
 Few, if any, elective courses were offered to 
 students who were ambitious to enlarge the 
 circuit of their knowledge beyond the pre- 
 scribed limits of instruction for all. 
 
 Speaking of the colleges of that day. Doctor 
 Sears remarks that ''The funds of the colleges, 
 and consequently the salaries of the officers, 
 were low. My old president (Dr. Asa Mes- 
 ser) received twelve hundred dollars. I re- 
 member this from the fact that once, when 
 he was asked why he did not resign, he said 
 he 'had twelve hundred reasons for not 
 resigning.' The professors lived on eight 
 hundred dollars a year, if they had good 
 positions, or five hundred dollars if they had 
 not. In earlier times each college had a 
 president, two or three professors, one of 
 
A Christian Educator 13 
 
 whom taught the theology of his church 
 (never in Brown University, however!), and 
 two tutors. . . . The student first fell 
 into the hands of a tutor, stiff and very pre- 
 cise about preserving his somewhat doubtful 
 dignity. He had a room in college, and 
 acted as a spy and officer of police. His ex- 
 periences were often very romantic. . 
 Our professors were more portly men, going 
 on to sixty. Sitting cross-legged in an arm- 
 chair, against which a silver-headed cane 
 leaned, they would insist on your giving 
 them the exact words of Blair (false English 
 and all), or of Kames, and of Stewart and 
 Hedge. Our president, who heard us in 
 Enfield's philosophy, was more communica- 
 tive and even facetious. ... In lan- 
 guages, beyond making Latin, after Clarke's 
 Introduction, there was nothing, if we except 
 scanning, but translating and parsing; no 
 true philology, nothing of the necessary mean- 
 ing of words from derivation and usage, or of 
 the force of grammatical forms and construc- 
 tion. Everything depended on translation, 
 
14 Barnas Sears 
 
 generally guessed out, often stolen." Yet 
 he adds that "Many young men, while 
 they yielded passively to college customs, 
 had high aims and fixed purposes. They 
 were faithful in their studies, and made the 
 most of their opportunities ; and, more than 
 all, though boys, they were to become men ; all 
 had taken the true measure of themselves; 
 had formed warm and lasting friendships; 
 had at least surveyed the field of knowledge, 
 and knew what to do in after life; had, in 
 some way, been so long within the college 
 walls as to take on an air of liberal culture; 
 had, in some measure, acquired a literary 
 taste. When the time for manly action 
 arrived, slumbering capacities were not un- 
 frequently aroused which placed their posses- 
 sors in the first rank of society. Exactly the 
 same requirements were made of all students. 
 So much of mathematics, so much of Latin 
 and Greek, must be swallowed by every one, 
 whether his digestive organs were adequate 
 or not for their work." 
 
 It should be remembered, secondly, that 
 
^ A Christian Educator 15 
 
 Barnas Sears was already a close reader of 
 books, gathering rich harvests of truth from 
 the wide fields of literature. There was no 
 sluggish vein in his nature. Whatever he 
 did, he did with all the force of high aspira- 
 tion and purpose. From his excursions into 
 the realms of history, philosophy, moral sci- 
 ence, and Christian literature, he must have 
 returned with treasures of learning. It is not 
 known that he ever expressed regret for the 
 method of work which he pursued in college, 
 or that he was dissatisfied with the instruc- 
 tion which he received. But it is understood 
 that he sometimes found it no easy task to 
 obtain the funds needed for his support in 
 study. At one time he went to Boston for 
 help, and, being too poor to pay his fare by 
 stage-coach, he walked all the way thither, 
 a distance of forty-one miles, and after ob- 
 taining the sum required, returned to Provi- 
 dence in the same manner — a bracing 
 "constitutional" for the tall (six feet and 
 two inches), graceful, and energetic young 
 man who was moving with a resolute step 
 
1 6 Barnas Sears 
 
 into the future! Such exercise, if less at- 
 tractive than lawn tennis or foot-ball, was 
 no less convincing proof of genuine nobility 
 of character. He was a common school 
 teacher '' six winters," and some of these must 
 have fallen to his years in college. But no 
 reference to his wages as a school-master has 
 been discovered. It probably varied with 
 the size of the school and the place of its 
 location. How long he persisted in laying 
 fine stone-wall during the summer vacations, 
 for needed funds, is not known to the writer. 
 No definite record of his religious life in 
 college has been preserved. He kept no 
 diary of his progress in knowledge or of his 
 growth in grace. If he had, as may be 
 assumed, periods of self-distrust as well as 
 periods of confidence and hope, he suffered 
 them to pass without complaint or exulta- 
 tion. Yet he appears to have availed him- 
 self of opportunities to preach the gospel to 
 those who were ready to hear ifc; and then, 
 as ever afterwards, he did his work in the 
 pulpit without the help or hindrance of a 
 
A Christian Educator 17 
 
 manuscript. He preferred to look hearers in 
 the face, all the more, perhaps, because his 
 handwriting was not large enough to be. 
 easily read at a distance. Moreover, he was 
 keenly alive to his connection with the people 
 before him and stimulated by their uncon- 
 cealed interest in what he was saying. For 
 he rarely failed to win their earnest attention. 
 All eyes in the assembly were sure to be fixed 
 on the tall and animated speaker. And 
 from his method and success in preaching 
 during his undergraduate course, it may be 
 safely inferred that his spiritual life was not 
 sluggish for any length of time, but, on the 
 contrary, was vigorous and hopeful. What- 
 ever he did, he did with his whole mind and 
 soul, and, as far as can be ascertained, his 
 purpose to serve Christ in the ministry never 
 wavered. 
 
 From college to seminary Barnas Sears 
 passed after the interval of a summer vaca- 
 tion, and he certainly found the circle of 
 studies in a theological course even more 
 absorbing than that of the college. His 
 
i8 Barnas Sears 
 
 teachers were Doctors Irah Chase and Henry 
 J. Ripley, both of them accurate instructors 
 and reverent scholars. There were few 
 text-books, and the library of the Newton 
 Theological Institution, then at the very 
 beginning of its history, was meagre and 
 unattractive ; but the ideals of its founders 
 were high, as were also the hopes of the 
 young men who came there in quest of re- 
 ligious truth. The elements of Hebrew were 
 dictated at first to the students by Doctor 
 Chase, and the neatly written pages of "B. 
 Sears' s" note-book prove that he made good 
 use of accurate instruction in that vener- 
 able language. The chair of New Testament 
 interpretation was soon filled by Doctor 
 Ripley, a pupil of Moses Stuart, and his 
 peer in exact knowledge and sound judg- 
 ment. Besides the ''regular course," there 
 were some opportunities for special re- 
 search, and books enough within reach to 
 make it possible. Beyond any doubt, there- 
 fore, the days of the seminary life of Mr. 
 Sears were busy and delightful. The beauti- 
 
A Christian Educator 19 
 
 ful scenery of the place must have filled his 
 soul with cheer, and his rambling over the 
 hills and through the valleys must have 
 given vigor to his erect and manly form. 
 It is impossible to imagine him unmoved by 
 the aspects of nature which were spread be- 
 fore him morning and evening. God was in 
 his own world, and the alert and wide- 
 visioned student was daily taking lessons 
 from that world. But his correspondence at 
 the time has not been preserved, and we are 
 therefore indebted to our knowledge of the 
 man, and to his manner of referring to college 
 and seminary days, for our assurance of his 
 enthusiasm in the work and the recreation 
 which they brought him. 
 
 There is good reason to suppose that Bar- 
 nas Sears found pleasure during the latter 
 part of his course at Newton in calling rather 
 frequently upon a most worthy family in 
 Brookline. The distance was less than five 
 miles, by rural ways, from the top of Institu- 
 tion Hill to the house of Deacon Elijah Corey, 
 near the western base of Corey Hill, and an 
 
20 Barnas Sears 
 
 active and purposeful student would have 
 scarcely counted his steps in making it. The 
 goal must have seemed near enough, and the 
 prize fair enough, to call for a frequent walk 
 in that direction. For the prize was nothing 
 less than one who became his companion for 
 life two or three years later (July 6, 1830). 
 More invigorating out-door exercise could not 
 have been desired; unless, indeed, he were 
 able to climb, now and then, in a star-lit 
 evening to the summit of Corey Hill, in the 
 best of company, there to rest awhile and 
 "view the landscape o'er" — a truly mag- 
 nificent panorama — before returning to the 
 hospitable mansion below. It may be inno- 
 cently fancied that Barnas Sears and one or 
 more of the Corey girls sometimes did this, 
 to their mutual satisfaction. It is, however, 
 impossible to say how intimate their ac- 
 quaintance became during his Newton days, 
 for EHzabeth G. Corey attended Miss Caro- 
 line Beecher's Young Ladies' School in Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, during the two years after 
 Mr. Sears left Newton to become pastor of 
 
A Christian Educator 21 
 
 the First Baptist Church in Hartford. The 
 school was a famous one, and it is more than 
 probable that the young lady here continued 
 her acquaintance with her Newton friend, 
 enjoying his attentions as well as his 
 ministry. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AT HARTFORD AND AT HAMILTON 
 1828-1833 
 
 During the last year of his course in New- 
 ton, Barnas Sears accepted a call to the 
 pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Hart- 
 ford, Connecticut, an incidental proof of his 
 persistence in the habit of preaching by way 
 of supply to churches that needed his ser- 
 vices. He was ordained in the year 1828, 
 and engaged with all his heart in ministerial 
 duties. Tall, erect, with a noble bearing and 
 uncommon personal attractiveness, he easily 
 gained the hearts of his people. His success, 
 both as a preacher and as a pastor, was 
 marked, and it seemed for a brief period that 
 his vocation for life would be in the pulpit. 
 More than forty years afterwards he **was 
 
 affectionately remembered by the few sur- 
 
 22 
 
A Christian Educator 23 
 
 vivors of his flock" (Stearns). But before 
 the end of his second year in Hartford he 
 began to suffer severely with a bronchial 
 weakness which troubled him frequently 
 during the rest of his life. For this reason 
 he was willing to accept the professorship of 
 ancient languages in the ''Hamilton Literary 
 and Theological Institution" in 1829. 
 
 Professor Sears was a lover of the classics, 
 and his brief career in Hamilton as a teacher 
 of the ancient languages was nothing less than 
 brilliant. The school was young, but more 
 distinguished for its religious character and 
 evangelical theology than for a high standard 
 of literary attainment. Barnas Sears be- 
 came the rising star of the faculty and the 
 pride of the students. In his address at the 
 Jubilee Anniversary at Madison University 
 (now Colgate), Doctor Eaton said : " No man 
 ever connected with the faculty was more 
 admired and loved; and on no one were 
 higher hopes reposed than upon Professor 
 Sears. He was the pride and glory of the 
 institution in its intellectual and literary 
 
24 Barnas Sears 
 
 character, to which his short connection had 
 powerfully contributed." It appears that he 
 also served the church in Hamilton as pastor 
 during a part, at least, of this triennium. 
 
 But he was presently convinced that the 
 course of theological study and instruction, 
 which was the raison d'etre for the existence 
 of the school, ought to be extended and im- 
 proved; others agreed with him on the 
 point, and in order to accomplish this end 
 he was transferred from the chair of ancient 
 languages to a new chair of biblical theology. 
 But as there was no class prepared to enter 
 at once on the new study, and as he himself 
 felt the need of further preparation for the 
 great chair to which he had been assigned, it 
 was deemed necessary for him to visit Ger- 
 many, and learn the methods of work in that 
 land of scholars and libraries. Doubtless the 
 impulse to visit Germany was due to his own 
 mind, rather than to that of any other per- 
 son. For already the faculties of theology 
 in German universities had earned the dis- 
 tinction of remarkable freedom in religious 
 
RESIDENCE OF DR. SEARS, HAMILTON, NEW YORK, 1830-33 
 
A Christian Educator 25 
 
 speculation as well as in biblical criticism, 
 and it required more decision of purpose than 
 it does now for a young professor, who ex- 
 pected to be a teacher of biblical theology, to 
 put him.self in contact with the German free- 
 thinkers or rationalists, as they were called. 
 But Professor. Sears who was a man of deep 
 religious convictions and quick intellect, re- 
 solved to profit by the stimulating inquiries 
 pushed to their furthest limit by educators in 
 Halle, Leipsic, Berlin, and Paris. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 IN GERMANY AND FRANCE 
 (1833-1835) 
 
 Accordingly, leaving his wife and child 
 with her parents in Brookline, Mass. (for he 
 had been married in 1830 to Miss Elizabeth 
 G. Corey of that town), he embarked at New 
 York on the 12th of July, 1833, for Ham- 
 burg, where he landed on the 24th of August 
 and found ''several pious friends having Bap- 
 tist sentiments," who wished to be immersed 
 and organized into a Baptist church. Among 
 these was J. G. Oncken, who was to become 
 so well known as the bold and sagacious 
 leader of his brethren in Northern Europe, 
 though suffering for a time many things for 
 the Lord's sake. The steadfast disciples 
 were advised by Professor Sears to defer 
 their public confession of faith until he had 
 
 26 
 
A Christian Educator 27 
 
 become better acquainted with the whole 
 situation. 
 
 The following citations from letters to Mrs. 
 Sears will bring the course of events more 
 distinctly before the reader: 
 
 " Hamburg, August 24, 1833. 
 "I have written that the passage to the 
 Azores was pleasant and occupied fourteen 
 days. We passed through the English Chan- 
 nel in less than two days, and from the 
 Straits of Dover to the Texel we sailed in 
 twenty-four hours. Here a storm com- 
 menced which drove us most furiously all the 
 way to Cuxhaven, a distance of thirty miles. 
 The North Sea is dreaded by all the sons of 
 the ocean, as it is full of shoals and quick- 
 sands all along the eastern coast, with only 
 very narrow passages at the mouth of the 
 rivers, especially at the Weser and Elbe. 
 We had no pilot and our sailors felt great 
 alarm. / felt as I had never felt before. 
 When the storm became overpowering about 
 9 o'clock in the evening, knowing that I was 
 
28 Barnas Sears 
 
 too much exhausted to struggle with the 
 waves, should it at length become necessary, 
 I arranged my things so as to have the most 
 valuable at hand, spent some time in calm 
 but painful reflection, solemnly committed 
 myself to God, my only Helper, and, incred- 
 ible as it may seem, lay down in my clothes 
 and slept, not knowing but that I should 
 awake in a foundered ship ! Oh, how cheer- 
 ing was the morning light! But the storm 
 still was raging, hurling us swiftly between 
 rocks and sand-banks, and the whole day 
 was spent in fear. At sunset the gale 
 brought us into the mouth of the Elbe, the 
 yellow, sandy-looking Elbe, and we soon set 
 foot on the green turf of Cuxhaven, which at 
 that moment we would not have exchanged 
 for so much gold." 
 
 "August 27, 1833. 
 "After leaving Cuxhaven we ascended the 
 Elbe for three miles before discovering its 
 northern bank. From that point to Ham- 
 burg, a distance of seventy miles, the river 
 
A Christian Educator 29 
 
 averages two miles in width. ... I find 
 several pious friends here, and eight or ten 
 persons having Baptist sentiments. These 
 request me to baptize them. But I have 
 decided to wait, hoping we may organize a 
 church and ordain a minister. I expect to 
 remain here until September 3d, and then, 
 accompanied by Mr. Oncken, go to Berlin, 
 whence I hope to go direct to Halle.'* 
 
 ** Halle, April 8, 1834. 
 "Mr. Oncken's letter contained a request 
 for me to come to Hamburg (three hundred 
 miles) and baptize himself and several others, 
 and to form a church. As the summer term 
 at Leipsic commences the 5th of May, I could 
 not well go after that time ; I have therefore 
 concluded to go the last of the present week. 
 . . . From your request concerning some- 
 one to write to you in case anything should 
 befall me, I perceive that you think me a 
 greater stranger here than I really am. It 
 would be impossible for you not to hear. I 
 can hardly count the number who would do 
 
30 Barnas Sears 
 
 everything as for a brother. 'As strangers, 
 and yet well known' (Paul). ... I go 
 to Halle next Friday, and there join Mr. 
 Haverstick, who is going on my way as far 
 as Helmstadt. I shall then pass to Bruns- 
 wick and Hanover, and thence to Hamburg, 
 and shall probably return by a still more 
 southern route, so as to visit new places 
 every time. ... If you wish to know how 
 I spend the vacation, it is thus : I am review- 
 ing the Hebrew I read in Halle. I have a 
 little book, in which I write down every word 
 that I have to look out in the dictionary, and 
 these words I commit to memory. This 
 little book will be my pocket companion to 
 Hamburg. I am now also directing my at- 
 tention to Latin. Before the summer closes 
 I intend to speak it fluently. It is certainly 
 a shame for a scholar to be dependent upon 
 a Latin dictionary! I expect to have occa- 
 sion to read much Latin ; it begins to seem a 
 little like a native language." 
 
 At about midnight of the 2 2d of April 
 seven persons were baptized by Professor 
 
A Christian Educator 31 
 
 Sears in the river Elbe, a few miles from the 
 city, and, according to the following certifi- 
 cate in the hand writing of Barnas Sears, 
 Mr. J. G. Oncken was ordained by him the 
 next day to the Gospel ministry. 
 
 " Hamburg, April 23, 1834. 
 '' Dear Brother Oncken: 
 
 " This is to testify to all whom it may con- 
 cern, that, at the request of the Baptist church 
 in this place, after being fully satisfied of your 
 personal piety, of the correctness of your views 
 of Christian doctrine, of your possessing those 
 ministerial qualifications specified in Scrip- 
 ture, & of your being called both by the Spirit 
 and Providence of God to the work of the min- 
 istry, I have by prayer and the imposition of 
 hands solemnly set you apart to that respon- 
 sible office; and in the name of the church in 
 which I hold an official standing as a regular 
 ordained minister, pronounce you scripturally 
 invested with all the powers which belong to a 
 pastor of the flock of Christ and to a minister of 
 the gospel. May the Lord grant that you may 
 
32 Barnas Sears 
 
 have a higher testimony than man can give^ 
 that you may he recognized by him as a good 
 minister of Jesus Christ; and may it be your 
 exalted privilege to win, through grace, many 
 souls to his love; and to build up, in true 
 knowledge, faith, and every Christian virtue y 
 the church, redeemed by his precious blood. 
 I hereby also commend you to the confidence of 
 the Christian public, as a minister of the gos- 
 pel, and to the affectionate regards of all who 
 love our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Barnas Sears, 
 
 " Professor of Biblical Theology in the Hamilton Literary 
 and Theological Seminary, and formerly Pastor of 
 the Baptist Church in Hamilton, N. Y., in North 
 America." 
 
 On the 27th of April, 1834, he wrote as 
 follows to his wife: "My heart burns to tell 
 you without delay of what has happened here 
 to-day. Everything has gone on with me 
 much according to expectation, only more 
 favorably. I have baptized seven persons, 
 have constituted a church, and have ordained 
 Mr. Oncken as pastor. Several more are 
 asking for baptism, but we think it prudent 
 
A Christian Educator 33 
 
 to defer it a little. . . . To-day our little 
 flock have partaken of the Lord's Supper to- 
 gether! The scene was one of surpassing 
 interest ! They seemed to be overcome with 
 feeling, and everyone was in tears. Dear 
 friends! I never expect again to sit with 
 them on such an occasion till we meet in an- 
 other world. There is a prospect that the 
 Government will not disturb them." 
 
 In that hope he was too sanguine ; yet the 
 little group, in spite of much opposition for a 
 time, has become more than a hundred thou- 
 sand, including a large number as offshoots 
 from the German mission. In this whole 
 transaction we have a fine illustration of the 
 mingled discretion and courage which marked 
 the conduct of Professor Sears through life. 
 He was neither rash on the one hand nor 
 timid on the other. He met emergencies 
 manfully, but did not seek them. He was 
 prepared to stand fast in the face of opposi- 
 tion, but he avoided provoking it. 
 
 Although much absorbed by his duties in 
 Germany, Professor Sears often refers with 
 
34 Barnas Sears 
 
 deep interest to the members of his family. 
 Thus, in a letter dated May 26, 1834, he says: 
 "I think no person ever had such a mother. 
 When I think of her virtues and of all she has 
 done for me, my feelings are beyond expres- 
 sion. . . . My friends are all too good 
 for me. It is such a relief to be able to 
 think of wife and child as well and happy." 
 In another letter to his wife, dated August 
 10, 1834, he thus refers to members of the 
 family, and it is a sample of many similar 
 passages: "When you write your sister, re- 
 member me particularly to Brother Pratt 
 (who had married his wife's sister) and tell 
 them that it rejoices my heart that even in 
 Europe I hear of his fame. I would write 
 to him if I thought a letter would ever reach 
 him and an answer reach me here. I have a 
 great fondness for him. I suppose Mother 
 Corey has, by this time, experienced the bit- 
 terness of parting with dear Sarah and Mr. 
 Comstock. May your sister go attended 
 with peace and prosperity! It is a noble 
 sacrifice." 
 
A Christian Educator 35 
 
 Of his residence in Germany but a brief 
 account can be given. He entered upon his 
 studies in Halle with high hopes and great 
 ardor. He was there several months and 
 formed a life-long friendship with Tholuck 
 and Gesenius. The former was admired by 
 him as a powerful preacher of evangelical 
 truth, and, at the same time, as a versatile 
 scholar and attractive teacher. Gesenius, it 
 is said, advised him to read Arabic after read- 
 ing Syriac; Tholuck advised Rabbinical 
 Hebrew. He followed the advice of both, 
 being ready to undertake anything that 
 promised to be useful to him in his chosen 
 work. ' * I am transported into a new world, ' ' 
 he writes, ''and in study have commenced a 
 new life. I feel as if I had been seven or 
 eight years slowly waking up out of sleep, and 
 am just beginning to be wide awake. If I 
 succeed, as I now hope, I shall bring home a 
 cart-load of notes and have matter enough 
 to digest all the remainder of my life." 
 
 Every reader of this memorial will be 
 pleased to see parts of a letter written by 
 
36 Barnas Sears 
 
 Professor Sears from Halle. In the first 
 part of this letter he refers to Doctor Tholuck 
 in the following terms: ''The University of 
 Halle has no place of worship attached to it ; 
 it has, however, a morning service once in 
 the week in one of the principal churches of 
 the city. The preacher appointed by the 
 King of Prussia was Professor Marks; but, 
 when Doctor Tholuck came to Halle and was 
 appointed associate preacher, he drew so 
 much larger audiences than Professor Marks 
 that the latter resigned. Standing almost 
 alone in his evangelical sentiments, Tholuck 
 attracts throngs of rationalists to hear his 
 melting appeals in behalf of * a religion pure 
 and undefiled.' The first discourse that I 
 heard from him was upon Luther's birthday. 
 He preached like a reformer, and it seemed 
 as if the congregation were ashamed of hav- 
 ing departed so egregiously from the stand- 
 ards of the faith. The next time that he 
 preached happened to be on the Lutheran 
 festival in memory of the dead ; and, though 
 he is no admirer of papal rites, he did not 
 
A Christian Educator 37 
 
 hesitate to seize the opportunity to give sol- 
 emn counsel to the living. The hymn se- 
 lected for the occasion" was the Dies IrcB, or 
 'The Last Judgment,' by Celano of the thir- 
 teenth century. It is a masterly production, 
 and must live as long as Christianity itself. 
 It was impossible to refrain from tears when, 
 at the 7th stanza, all the trumpets ceased, 
 and the choir, accompanied by a softened 
 tone of the organ, sang these touching lines : 
 
 * Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, 
 Quem patronum rogaturus, 
 Quum vix Justus sit securus ? ' 
 
 Though there are ten different German ver- 
 sions of this hymn, none of them reach the 
 beautiful simpHcity of the original. Both 
 Goethe and Scott have introduced parts of 
 it into their poetical works, and the most 
 distinguished modern compositors have set 
 it to music." 
 
 In the same letter is a graphic description 
 of the opening services on a great occasion at 
 the University church, and we can almost 
 
38 Barnas Sears 
 
 see his changing countenance as he sat or 
 stood in the vast assembly. " The assembly- 
 was immense. We went very early in order 
 to obtain a seat, and found hundreds crowd- 
 ing about the passages before the doors were 
 opened. At the door we obtained the printed 
 sheet containing the hymns and responses of 
 the day. The service commenced with sing- 
 ing two stanzas, in which the whole congre- 
 gation joined. The Germans, it is known, 
 are a musical people. The cultivation of the 
 voice is with them a part of education ; and 
 when in church the old and young all pour 
 out their song together, it seems to touch a 
 chord of public sympathy and to operate 
 somewhat like the old national songs of the 
 Swiss mountaineers. We sat silently in 
 front of the pulpit, and when the congrega- 
 tion paused we could just hear at the altar 
 at our extreme left the accent of the preacher 
 uttering the Lord's Prayer; then, suddenly, 
 voices of melody broke upon our ear from 
 the orchestra of the gallery in the opposite 
 extreme of the house. The preacher and the 
 
A Christian Educator 39 
 
 choir were facing each other and responding, 
 while the whole congregation, standing, oc- 
 cupied the vast space between. The words 
 are generally some of the most impressive 
 and poetical parts of Scripture, and the music 
 of a select character. The choir, which is 
 trained with great care, consists of men and 
 small boys. 
 
 " And I must confess that no human voice 
 produces upon me so fine an effect as the 
 cultivated voice of a boy. It is not, indeed, 
 so deep and rich in the expression of human 
 passion as that of a man, nor has it the vari- 
 ous power and compass of a female voice. 
 But in those light and shrill tones, which waft 
 the spirit upward, it is unique and unrivalled. 
 As artists select the forms of boys as the 
 best ideal of angel forms, so may the music 
 of their voices be selected as the best ideal of 
 seraphic music. It is not difficult to fancy 
 that such sounds were heard on the plains of 
 Bethlehem. 
 
 '' During the responses the organ was silent. 
 Then followed what is called the ' chief song,' 
 
40 Barnas Sears 
 
 in which everything that could utter a sound 
 united. In these shouts of the multitude 
 and tumultuous clangor of instruments, 
 which appear like an attempt to carry the 
 heart by storm, there is, in my opinion, some- 
 thing too gross and physical to have the hap- 
 piest effect. The chorister acted a kind of 
 pantomime, which was designed, I suppose, 
 to direct the choir, but which made him 
 appear like a harlequin. Before the hymn 
 was concluded, the preacher was standing in 
 the pulpit in true German style, — in a fixed 
 posture, with his hands clasped before his 
 breast and his eyes turned upward, — and 
 produced, I hope, a happier impression upon 
 others than upon the writer. After a few 
 words of introduction, the text was an- 
 nounced and the congregation rose when it 
 was read. Sometimes the introduction of 
 the sermon is from another passage of Scrip- 
 ture, and then a hymn intervenes between 
 the introduction and the sermon. Not long 
 after the commencement of the discourse, 
 the little velvet bag, fastened to the end of a 
 
A Christian Educator 41 
 
 rod with a small bell, passes through the con- 
 gregation and every one casts in his mite. 
 Why the time of sermon should be chosen for 
 this business I cannot divine." 
 
 This, surely, is a very graphic picture of 
 what preceded the sermon itself. Professor 
 Sears now turns to the latter, and especially 
 to the preacher. Doctor Tholuck, whose work 
 in the pulpit he greatly admired. ''Here 
 ended all that could be offensive to one's 
 taste or piety ; and now one of the most de- 
 vout Christians and a distinguished scholar 
 and critic came forth to act a part where his 
 great strength lies. His familiarity with the 
 language and spirit of the Old and New Tes- 
 tament, with the works of genius not only in 
 the literary treasures of Greece and Rome 
 and in the languages of modern Europe, but 
 also in the wide field of Oriental literature, 
 affords him rare facilities of pouring out his 
 glowing thoughts so as to strike every capac- 
 ity and reach every human passion. The 
 child-like simplicity of his character and 
 manner, the tenderness of his affections, and 
 
42 Barnas Sears 
 
 the subduing influence of religion upon his 
 understanding and heart, win for him the 
 confidence of his hearers, while the truth of 
 his own feelings and his deep philosophic 
 knowledge of the human heart enable him to 
 speak to it directly and powerfully in its 
 agonies and in its joys, in its repose and in 
 its tumults. Like a part of nature he seems 
 to know all that human nature has felt or 
 can feel, and hence has a power over the sym- 
 pathy of others with which few men are 
 gifted. The strength of maternal affection, 
 the confiding simplicity of childhood, the si- 
 lent grief of the widow, the loneliness of the 
 orphan, the retrospect of old age . . . 
 all revive at his touch with the freshness of 
 original feelings. He thrills the heart with 
 the assaults of truth, not so much by follow- 
 ing men in their business and pleasures as in 
 stealing upon those moments of reflection 
 when light flashes upon the conscience and 
 disturbs the dream of life. The man of the 
 world who is sometimes visited by a recollec- 
 tion of early religious impressions, of a pious 
 
F. A. Q. THOLUCK, Ph.D. 
 
A Christian Educator 43 
 
 father's sacred counsels or of a mother's 
 tears ; the man of business in whose path the 
 footsteps of providence are too plain to be 
 denied or doubted; the statesman who is 
 often driven back to religion as the only 
 conservative principle of national security; 
 professional men of every name, who, in all 
 the ultimate truths of science, find a mys- 
 terious God; and the student who, in the 
 strife of human opinion, finds no resting place 
 for the soul, — these all bow, for the time 
 being, to the preacher's power, and acknowl- 
 edge that he knows the way to their hearts ; 
 not unfrequently saying, 'Almost thou per- 
 suadest me to be a Christian.' As might be 
 expected, he is often the instrument of con- 
 version, not only in his preaching, but also 
 in his private intercourse and in his exten- 
 sive correspondence. The plain, practical 
 doctrines of Christianity are his principal 
 themes, and all things else come in as acci- 
 dental aids. He is neither boisterous nor 
 artificially nice, but calm and sincere." 
 Not less graphic is Professor Sears 's picture 
 
44 Barnas Sears 
 
 of lecture-room work in the University. 
 *'The University of Halle has no splendid 
 pile of buildings, but on the contrary, the 
 principal lecture-rooms are in different parts 
 of the city. The only common centre is near 
 the market, where all the public notices of 
 the University are put up. Each faculty has 
 its separate place of advertisement. As one 
 approaches towards the entrance he sees a 
 frame containing a case over which is written, 
 *Ordo Theologicus,' beyond it another with 
 'Ordo Philosophicus,' including philology, 
 and then follow the faculties of law and medi- 
 cine. Each professor puts up in his own 
 handwriting, commonly in Latin, a notice of 
 all his exercises. The interior of the lecture- 
 rooms resembles that of large session rooms. 
 Every seat is numbered and every student 
 has his particular place. When the hour of 
 lecture arrives, the students are very punc- 
 tually in their assigned places. They usually 
 spend fifteen minutes in mending their pens, 
 fixing their papers, whistling and smoking 
 before the lecturer appears. When he en- 
 
A Christian Educator 45 
 
 ters, a simultaneous hiss is heard all over the 
 room and all is instantly still. The students 
 have nothing to do but to write down the 
 lecture as it is delivered. Some of the pro- 
 fessors add much to the interest and value of 
 their lectures by giving a copious exposition 
 of a single topic extemporaneously, and then 
 stating the substance of it in a condensed 
 form. Thus the students can drop their 
 pens and give their whole attention to the 
 subject ; and by the fulness of extemporane- 
 ous illustration perfectly understand the 
 views of the lecturer, while he can select with 
 better judgment, and abridge with more 
 skill, what they are to commit to writing. 
 The whole process of dictation appears, at 
 least to a stranger, not a little ludicrous. 
 
 " The professors exercise no government. 
 The number of one's hearers, and, of course, 
 his income, depends on his popularity with 
 the students. One professor last summer 
 read a full course of lectures to two students 
 who sat each side of him on a sofa in his own 
 parlor. The students hear whom they please 
 
46 Barnas Sears 
 
 and no professor can be independent by vir- 
 tue of his office. Nothing but his talent, or 
 rather his tact, secures to him power and 
 influence. The only real check upon the 
 student is that his final examination will be 
 rigid. He is advised and taught the relative 
 importance of different branches of study in 
 the lectures on Encydopcedia. The lecturers, 
 therefore, must use much art, for they must 
 have a hearing. Some are amusing and dis- 
 cursive and stoop to gratify a depraved 
 taste. Some flash with the brilliancy of 
 their wit. Some give the fruits of immense 
 reading on subjects not very closely con- 
 nected with what they profess to teach. 
 Others, laying their account with the good 
 sense of the students, render their lectures as 
 nearly as possible what they should be. 
 When a lecturer is dictating, he appears like 
 a horse accustomed to the mill. If he is not 
 heard, or if he dictates too fast, the signal is 
 given by a hiss, which is neither given nor 
 received as a token of disrespect, but as a 
 mere conventional sign for mutual conven- 
 
A Christian Educator 47 
 
 ience. If an opinion expressed by a profes- 
 sor is offensive to the students, they set up 
 a murmuring noise. Though Tholuck now 
 has more hearers than any other lecturer in 
 Halle, I have often heard their sullen growls 
 when he openly dissented from Gesenius or 
 De Wette; or recommended Hengstenberg's 
 views, or Olshausen's. But if there is a 
 large number of students of opposite feelings, 
 as is commonly the case, they hush the noise 
 by raising a respectful hiss. If it is lamen- 
 table to see such theological students, it is, 
 on the other hand, pleasing to see Tholuck 
 gaining the ascendency over them. What 
 adds to the strangeness of the scene is to see 
 several present in military dress. But it 
 should be remembered that Prussia is a mili- 
 tary kingdom, and that most of the students 
 do military duty one year while at the Uni- 
 versity." 
 
 In a postscript to this letter, not, of course, 
 intended for publication, the writer says that 
 **the political state of Germany is dreadful. 
 Revolutionists must fight, I believe, before 
 
48 Barnas Sears 
 
 this part of Europe can be quiet. . . . Labor 
 here is but Httle higher by the year than with 
 us by the month. Men Hve on air. Many 
 of the professors are as poor as snakes. . . . 
 During the winter I am obHged to send all 
 my letters to Havre. The postage to that 
 place costs at least fifty cents. When the 
 spring opens I can send much cheaper by 
 Hamburg. . . . May I have your prayers 
 that I be not the worse but the better, for 
 having come to Germany.'* Yours in Chris- 
 tian love, 
 
 " Barnas Sears. 
 
 "Halle, Jan. i8, 1834." 
 
 From Halle, after his visit to Hamburg 
 and the baptism of Oncken, Professor Sears 
 went to Leipsic and came into pleasant rela- 
 tions with Winer, Rosenmliller, Hermann, 
 and other professors of the University. His 
 love of classical studies was rekindled at this 
 place, and he wrote: ''I am drinking at the 
 fountain of Greek and Roman literature, and 
 could easily make this the pursuit of my life." 
 He was attracted, if not fascinated, by 
 
A Christian Educator 49 
 
 the German method of teaching Latin, and 
 especially by the practice of lecturing and 
 conversing in Latin. His own facility in ac- 
 quiring the power to converse in a foreign 
 language was remarkable, and he soon learned 
 to understand the people with whom he was 
 living. Within less than a month after he 
 entered France he was able to understand 
 the Parisians and speak with them freely. 
 It is also evident that he mastered very rap- 
 idly the common words and ordinary con- 
 struction of every language which he wished 
 to learn. 
 
 It is interesting to notice how completely 
 Professor Sears gave himself to the work in 
 hand. Thus, in a letter from Leipsic, May 
 26, 1834, he says: ''This summer I shall be 
 buried in Latin. Lectures, private lessons, 
 and almost everything is in Latin. Since I 
 began this letter I have had to check myself 
 and resist German and Latin expressions. I 
 am charmed with the lectures of Winer and 
 Hermann. I do not mean to say that I be- 
 lieve all these men say, but I am instructed 
 
50 Barnas Sears 
 
 and greatly stimulated by their genius and 
 learning. ... I now have a daily exer- 
 cise in speaking Latin. This makes me wish 
 to read every Latin book I can find. The 
 greatest modern Latin writers — Muretus, 
 Ruhnken, and Wittenbach — are scarcely out 
 of my hands a minute. My only trouble is 
 that I wish to read them all at once." Rarely 
 is any one so fully absorbed in his studies. 
 He was for the time being toUis in illis. 
 
 From Leipsic Professor Sears repaired to 
 Berlin, and at the great University of that 
 city became acquainted with Mliller, "with 
 whom no living physiologist can easily dis- 
 pute the palm;" with Bopp, "the founder 
 and richest ornament of the Sanscrit school 
 of comparative philology ; ' ' with Bock, ' ' the 
 greatest living master of Grecian antiquity;" 
 with Bekker, "the greatest editor of the 
 Greek classics from manuscript authorities;" 
 with Zumpt, "the Latin grammarian;" with 
 Grimm, "the greatest German grammarian, 
 lexicographer, and antiquary ; " with Charles 
 Ritter, "the prince of geographers;" with 
 
A Christian Educator 51 
 
 Ranke the historian, "with no rival but 
 Guizot; with the self-taught Pertz, until 
 lately librarian when Leibnitz was in Han- 
 over but now in Berhn, prosecuting the 
 greatest literary project of the kind, a com- 
 plete and critical edition of all the Latin his- 
 torians of Germany, from the fifth to the 
 fifteenth century;" with Neander, ''the re- 
 former and almost the creator of philosophic 
 church history;" and with Hengstenberg, a 
 resolute conservative in biblical criticism, 
 ''never so happy as when in the thickest of 
 the fight against the leaders of rationalism." 
 To have met with these men, and to have lis- 
 tened to several of them, was of great value 
 to such a man as this young American, in 
 quest of all the sources of knowledge. But 
 we have no space to employ in descriptions of 
 his Berlin activity. 
 
 After his university work in Berlin, and 
 before his return to America, he spent three 
 months in Paris, for the threefold purpose 
 of increasing his knowledge of the French 
 language, of becoming familiar with the 
 
52 Barnas Sears 
 
 theological treasures of that city, and of en- 
 couraging the few Baptists, especially the 
 Rostans, who resided there. The months 
 were crowded with activities, and were of no 
 small benefit to him in later years. He 
 made himself, as was his custom in other 
 places, master of the topography of Paris, 
 so that he was at home in every part of the 
 city. He visited the greater schools and 
 libraries and centers of light. He sought the 
 Christians of his own faith and spoke to them 
 words of cheer and counsel, such as only an 
 American could utter. But the writer has no 
 particulars to relate concerning the lectures 
 which he heard, or the fruits which he culled 
 from the trees of that great orchard. Yet 
 he has heard Doctor Sears speak with lively 
 interest of the months passed in Paris and of 
 his success in learning to converse in French. 
 In summing up the results of his residence 
 in these three universities, Doctor Stearns 
 remarks that "His life in Germany inflamed 
 his zeal for the broadest culture possible, 
 placed in his hands the best methods for 
 
A Christian Educator 53 
 
 careful research and authoritative results, 
 and empowered him to understand the 
 sources of Christian knowledge and the limi- 
 tations to which it is subject. He was not 
 tainted with rationalism, so called, nor did 
 he lose his faith in the faith of his fathers; 
 his stability in the old paths was strengthened 
 by the resistance of opposing forces. It was 
 needful to know whereof he affirmed; and 
 this necessity settled him the more solidly on 
 the Rock which can never be shaken. . . . 
 He was now nearly thirty-three years old, 
 with health restored, and with mind and heart 
 eager to express themselves; and when 
 almost exactly at that age he resumed his 
 labors at Hamilton, no teacher among the 
 Baptists of this country was more thoroughly 
 equipped for the position to which he had 
 been called." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 PROFESSOR AND PRESIDENT AT NEWTON 
 THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION 
 
 1835-1848 
 
 After his return from Europe, Professor 
 Sears taught less than a full year at Hamil- 
 ton. His reputation had greatly increased 
 since he left the seminary at Newton, the 
 residence of his wife and child at Brookline 
 during his stay abroad had served to keep 
 him before the minds of his Newton friends, 
 and many of the people wished to see him 
 again as a teacher where he had been three 
 years a pupil. To the great disappointment 
 of Hamilton, a change in his place of labor 
 was soon effected. 
 
 For in May, 1836, the Rev. Bamas Sears be- 
 gan his labors in the Newton Theological In- 
 stitution as Professor of Christian Theology. 
 
 54 
 
A Christian Educator 55 
 
 To this chair he had been elected "a short 
 time since," as the record book of the faculty 
 attests. The title, ' ' Christian Theology, ' ' was 
 now given for the first time to a chair of in- 
 struction in this seminary. It took the place 
 of the chair of ''Biblical Theology," prob- 
 ably because the latter designation had begun 
 to be used in a more restricted sense, to sig- 
 nify historical theology as taught in different 
 books of Holy Scripture, rather than the- 
 ology as derived by synthesis from the teach- 
 ing of the whole Bible. Christian theology, 
 as understood by Professor Sears, was to be 
 drawn primarily from the Scriptures, yet 
 their doctrines were to be logically arranged, 
 and, as far as possible, rationally supported. 
 Hence a teacher of this science ought to be 
 familiar with philosophy, psychology, his- 
 tory, natural science, and interpretation, 
 although bound to give the first place in 
 authority to the Holy Scriptures. Few 
 young men at that time possessed ampler 
 qualifications for the chair than Barnas Sears. 
 Doctor Stearns has truly said : " He was in the 
 
56 Barnas Sears 
 
 prime of life, in vigorous health, the posses- 
 sor of a well-stocked library, his mind thor- 
 oughly disciplined, and his acquisitions 
 ample, his heart in full sympathy with the 
 denomination he loved, and his purpose fixed 
 to do for Newton, and what Newton repre- 
 sented, all that Barnas Sears could do." His 
 motto was: ''While religion should be our 
 atmosphere, knowledge should be our food, 
 and discipline our exercise." ' 
 
 To estimate correctly what Doctor Sears 
 accomplished during the twelve years of his 
 service in Newton, it is necessary to bear in 
 mind that, in addition to the regular work of 
 his professorship, which he never slighted, 
 he gave instruction in church history dur- 
 ing a part of the time ; that for the last ten 
 years he was president of the seminary; that 
 he was editor of the Christian Review a num- 
 ber of years; that he was the writer of 
 numerous articles in that review, in the Bibli- 
 otheca Sacra, and in the American Encyclo- 
 pedia; that he was the author of four 
 ' From his diary. 
 
A Christian Educator 57 
 
 volumes and the principal contributor to a 
 fifth ; that he was for years an active member 
 of the Executive Committee of the American 
 Baptist Missionary Union; and that he was 
 frequently preacher of ordination and other oc- 
 casional sermons. During this period Doctor 
 Sears worked rapidly and intensely, yet with 
 great care and exactness. He believed that 
 five hours of concentrated and vigorous effort 
 were worth more in the attainment or ex- 
 pression of knowledge than ten hours of less 
 strenuous effort. So he worked with a will, 
 with soul, mind, and strength, and the prod- 
 uct of his work was abundant and precious. 
 
 Five of his sixteen articles in the Christian 
 Review are characterized as follows by Doctor 
 Stearns: '' His review of Neander's 'Church 
 History ' is a careful resume of church history 
 and church historians. His review of Burgess 
 * On Baptism ' is a classic. His review of Wig- 
 ger's ' Pelagian Controversy ' is exhaustive. 
 His article on ' China, its Geography and Re- 
 ligion,' exhibits a familiarity with the land 
 and the people satisfactory even to a native 
 
58 Barnas Sears 
 
 scholar. His article on 'Augustine' is both 
 learned and philosophical. No less valuable 
 are his well-known articles in the Bihliotheca 
 Sacra: 'Reformers before the Reformation,' 
 'The Papacy and the Empire,' 'Redepen- 
 ning's Life of Origen,' 'Historical Studies,' 
 'The Religious Experience of Luther in the 
 Cloister of Erfurt,' being not only good but 
 authoritative reading." The books which he 
 gave to the public during this period were: 
 ** Noehden's German Grammar," so recasting 
 it and supplying its deficiencies that, for a long 
 time, it was the best in the English language ; 
 "The Ciceronian," explaining the German 
 method of teaching Latin; " Select Treatises 
 of Luther," in German, with notes, designed 
 as a stimulus to the study of early German, for 
 which he had great fondness; "The Life of 
 Martin Luther," which he failed to complete 
 according to the original plan ; and " Classical 
 Studies: or. Ancient Literature," his collabor- 
 ators being Professors B. B. Edwards of And- 
 over, and C. C. Felt on of Harvard, the bulk 
 of the book being his own contributions. 
 
A Christian Educator 59 
 
 Doctor Sears was a most inspiring teacher 
 of theology, and perhaps equally so of church 
 history. He never used a text-book, and 
 rarely or never brought more than the brief- 
 est notes into the class-room. His supreme 
 purpose was to lead his pupils to investigate 
 and judge for themselves, to go out into the 
 world of history and of experience, and espe- 
 cially into the domain of Scripture for the 
 data to be used in reasoning about questions 
 of faith, and then to reason soberly and 
 fairly, with the expectation of finding the 
 ultimate grounds of their belief. He kept in 
 mind the nature of their vocation, namely, 
 that of being leaders of religious thought and 
 conduct, and felt that to qualify them for 
 their mission in the world they must be led 
 first of all to build the structure of their own 
 creed with their own hands. They must be 
 incited to handle and weigh, to test and 
 shape every stone which was placed in that 
 edifice, lest there should be found at last, in 
 some part of it, wood, hay, or stubble, to mar 
 its strength or its beauty. He therefore 
 
6o Barnas Sears 
 
 encouraged them to controvert his own views 
 or those of their classmates, with vigor but 
 courtesy, for the purpose of having the sub- 
 ject in hand thoroughly canvassed by the 
 very persons who were in all probability to 
 discuss the same subject before the people. 
 Moreover, he knew how to guide such a de- 
 bate and make it profitable. He was an 
 adept in the art of leading his pupils to an- 
 ticipate problems sure to meet them in ac- 
 tual life, and to find the solution of them. 
 His courtesy and tact were so prompt and 
 natural that his pupils often became, for the 
 time being, to the great satisfaction of their 
 master, earnest teachers of one another. 
 That this method was deliberately chosen, 
 appears from one of his reports to the trus- 
 tees. "The leading objects of the teacher 
 (meaning himself) have been: (i) To create a 
 deep interest in the study; (2) to point out 
 the extent and connections of the subject of 
 inquiry, together with the method to be pur- 
 sued and the means to be employed; (3) to 
 have the results of such investigations and 
 
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A Christian Educator 6i 
 
 reflections presented first by the student, 
 then by the class, and lastly by the teacher, 
 in free, but not polemic discussions; (4) to 
 have the fundamental doctrines and collat- 
 eral topics in any branch of study, the most 
 important works, ancient and modern, on 
 theology, the best chapters and treatises 
 on particular topics made the subjects of 
 analyses, critiques, translations, etc., to be 
 read before the class, and followed by oral 
 discussion. Neither the examination of 
 text-books nor formal lectures have been 
 adopted." 
 
 Doctor Sears was a great lover of books and 
 a fine judge of their value. What he read he 
 mastered and could reproduce in a condensed 
 form. He often referred in his class-room 
 to the works of distinguished men, pointed 
 out their particular excellences, and criti- 
 cised in a keen but kindly spirit their faults. 
 One left his presence eager to get hold of 
 some of these books and to enjoy the light 
 which they would pour on the subjects of 
 present inquiry. 
 
62 Barnas Sears 
 
 Doctor Sears came to his class-room full 
 of the subject to be investigated. It was his 
 habit to study with his coat off, so to speak, 
 up to the time when he must start for the 
 old Mansion House on the top of the hill, 
 so that his theme had full possession of him 
 when he came before his waiting pupils. In- 
 stantly, after a few words of reverent prayer, 
 he took his seat and was at once in the heart 
 of his theme. The inward fire was aglow, 
 and whether he began with an explanation, 
 or a historical resume, or a question, it was 
 evident from his manner that he was already 
 grappling with the truth to be vindicated or 
 the error to be exposed. No time was lost in 
 getting at work. The field to be explored 
 was rapidly outlined and made to appear so 
 large and interesting that every moment of 
 the hour was seen to be needed for the task 
 of surveying it properly. Yet there was no 
 hurry or rush or confusion in the look or 
 utterance of the teacher. But the task was 
 one that claimed instant and perfect atten- 
 tion. If the field to be surveyed was large, 
 
A Christian Educator 63 
 
 time must be taken to make the survey thor- 
 ough. But any delay or beating about the 
 bush was not to be thought of. The game 
 was already in sight and the chase begun. 
 Nevertheless, the interest was well sustained. 
 It grew deeper and livelier until the hour 
 was past. Students forgot the hardness of 
 the benches on which they sat. The desk 
 before them might be old and soiled and cut 
 by many a daring knife, but they perceived 
 it not. Their minds were with their teacher 
 or the subject which he had laid before 
 them. 
 
 Yet their interest was not merely in- 
 tellectual ; it was often deeply religious. 
 Conscience and feeling were touched, and 
 candidates for the gospel ministry felt them- 
 selves constrained to devote their lives to a 
 more fervent service of Christ. The writer 
 will never forget the impression made upon 
 him by Doctor Sears's luminous discussion of 
 the Divine Perfections, or by one of his ablest 
 occasional sermons, having for its theme, 
 "The Love of God." His treatment of the 
 
64 Barnas Sears 
 
 profoundest verities of religion was singu- 
 larly lucid and convincing. 
 
 The theology taught by Doctor Sears was 
 biblical in its source and evangelical in its 
 tone. It was clear to those who sat at his 
 feet that he was not in search of new opinions 
 because they were new, or of old opinions 
 because they were old, but rather of the 
 truth, whether new or old. But, though his 
 theology was biblical in its source, he did not 
 shut his eyes to the lessons of nature. While 
 he believed in Jesus Christ, as the highest and 
 perfect revelation of God the Father, his 
 mind was evermore hospitable to truth from 
 any source. He was indeed a Baptist from 
 conviction, but he was at the same time 
 large-minded and large-hearted towards men 
 of other creeds ; and always ready to defend 
 their right to the same ''liberty of soul" 
 which he claimed for himself. His relations 
 with men of other churches were friendly 
 and his recognition of their excellence 
 prompt. When listening to his class-room 
 instructions, or observing his pleasure in 
 
A Christian Educator 65 
 
 a fair debate between students on a mooted 
 question, one was led to feel instinctively 
 that his confidence in truth was steadfast, 
 and his desire to have freedom for all in 
 search of it was most sincere. He was de- 
 lighted to have those who were to be pub- 
 lic teachers of religion look at all sides of a 
 problem before claiming to have solved it. 
 The following picture of a first hour in his 
 class-room is from the pen of his loving pupil, 
 Doctor Oakman S. Stearns. Nothing could 
 be truer to fact. 
 
 ''Drawing from personal recollections, let 
 me invite you to accompany me to the famil- 
 iar and homely class-room in the southeast 
 corner of the old Mansion House. There is 
 a class of twelve scattered about the room, 
 sitting before crude benches, with pen, ink, 
 and note-books, waiting for the presence of 
 him of whom they have heard much, but of 
 whom they know little. The door opens. 
 A tall, dignified, white-haired man enters and 
 quietly takes his seat. Other teachers are 
 accustomed to stand, but he sits. He sits 
 
66 Barnas Sears 
 
 before a rusty-looking, green-covered table, 
 draws from his pocket a few pieces of paper 
 on which something seems to be written, lays 
 them down, and then rises and says, 'Let us 
 pray.' You know him to be your teacher, 
 but before that brief prayer closes, you feel 
 him to be your brother and your friend. His 
 simplicity of manner, his freedom from as- 
 sumption, his exemption from any impres- 
 sion that what he is about to say will be 
 oracular, though full to the brim with the 
 purpose of the hour, in form, in bearing, in 
 the entire make-up of the man, the first and 
 the strongest conviction you receive is frater- 
 nal sympathy. Such a man, you soliloquize 
 . . . will not ask that his ipse dixit 
 shall be the final utterance concerning God's 
 thoughts. He doubtless knows more than I 
 and will probably tell me much that I do not 
 know, but he is seeking to ascend the heights 
 and descend the depths of God in nature, 
 God in man, and God in revelation ; and all 
 he will require is to search with him for the 
 solid stepping-stones. Such was the first 
 
A Christian Educator 67 
 
 impression Professor Sears made upon me. 
 And I think a like impression was received 
 by all those students who studied with him." 
 Doctor Stearns then proceeds to character- 
 ize his teaching as (i) comprehensive, (2) 
 scriptural, (3) incisive and suggestive, (4) 
 timely. " Repeatedly he would say, ' Young 
 gentlemen, it is easy to destroy, not so easy 
 to rebuild. If you remove the old land- 
 marks you must supply their place. An oft- 
 quoted text may be irrelevant, but there are 
 enough that are relevant.' " 
 
 Among the highly valued treasures of the 
 writer is a small note-book of Doctor Sears, 
 a gift from him as a pignus amiciticB to one 
 who had been called to the chair which Doc- 
 tor Sears himself had so ably filled. A few 
 paragraphs from this manuscript treasure 
 will perhaps be welcome to the reader. These 
 paragraphs are parts of a mere outline, a dry 
 epitome, of what the great teacher expanded 
 by way of ''Introduction" to his course in 
 theology. 
 
68 Barnas Sears 
 
 " Theology is the Science of ReHgion. 
 "Religion 
 
 "We are here concerned only with what 
 truly appertains to the Christian religion. 
 Whatever true elements of religion may 
 exist in paganism, and there are many, are 
 embraced in Christianity. 
 
 ** Religion, to be genuine, must be founded 
 upon objective truth; and, to be vital, must 
 have a subjective existence. Without the 
 former, it would be nothing but superstition ; 
 without the latter, nothing but a knowledge 
 that is vain. 
 
 "Religion is not knowledge, is not feeling, 
 is not action ; it is all these combined, — it is 
 spiritual life. Love, though the most vital 
 part of religion, is but a part. A feeling of 
 dependence on God, as defined by Schleier- 
 macher, is too vague a representation. Still 
 more unsatisfactory is the Hegelian defini- 
 tion, a tendency to the infinite. God dwell- 
 ing in the soul — the view of Hengstenberg — 
 is substituting the cause for the effect. Modus 
 
A Christian Educator 69 
 
 cognoscendi et colendi Deum, makes religion an 
 aggregate without unity. 
 
 *' Whether rehgion has its seat primarily in 
 the understanding or in the affections (moral 
 suasion, the taste system), whether it is 
 essentially yvmffi? or Ttiarii (Origen, and his 
 opponents, Augustine says, Fides prcBcedit 
 intellectui) , a habitus theoreticus or a habitus 
 practicus (the Scholastics, the Mystics), has 
 been a question of much controversy. The 
 decision of this question must greatly affect 
 the mode of preaching and of all religious 
 instruction. 
 
 *' If we analyze religion and find it to con- 
 sist of knowledge, feeling and action, follow- 
 ing, too, in this order, it will be evident that 
 action, being an effect of the two former, 
 though essential as evidence, cannot be the 
 radical part. Knowledge, again, though an 
 indispensable condition, is merely a necessary 
 antecedent (and so is life, reason, etc.), and 
 not of itself a producing cause of right affec- 
 tions. Take away the middle link, and there 
 is nothing of religion left. A holy inclination 
 
70 Barnas Sears 
 
 throws back upon the understanding a clearer 
 light, and here spiritual knowledge com- 
 mences and sets the whole machinery of re- 
 ligion in operation. 
 
 "It may be true that these spiritual per- 
 ceptions are the acts of the understanding, 
 the affections having no perceptive faculty, 
 but if unholy affections necessarily prevent 
 these moral perceptions, and holy affections 
 necessarily produce them, then these affec- 
 tions are the spiritual part, notwithstanding 
 they act only through the medium of the 
 intellect. 
 
 ''It has been said that religion resides ex- 
 clusively in the will; that this is the only 
 moral faculty, the only one whose action de- 
 pends entirely upon ourselves, and, of course, 
 the only one for which we are accountable. 
 But it cannot be shown that the will has any 
 direct power over the affections, whereas it is 
 easy to show that the affections govern the 
 will. If this can be shown in any common 
 exercises of the mind, it will establish their 
 order as cause and effect in religious exer- 
 
A Christian Educator 71 
 
 cises. Love, for example, is not the result 
 of volition, but springs from the adaptedness 
 of the object to the character of the individ- 
 ual. Now, love — the essence of religion — is 
 not itself sl right state of the will, though pro- 
 ducing it. All the powers must be subject to 
 religious influence. The intellect must first 
 apprehend certain truths (few and simple) as 
 a prerequisite to regeneration. In connec- 
 tion with that (by some unknown law of 
 fitness) the Holy Spirit must change the in- 
 clination. This governs the will, and every- 
 thing else follows spontaneously. Of this, 
 more under the head. Regeneration. 
 
 ''Christianity is partly an assemblage of 
 facts, and partly a system of principles. 
 Neither can be laid aside without destroying 
 it as a whole. The one relates to it as an 
 actual provision for restoring fallen men ; the 
 other as containing immutable principles of 
 truth, which can exist alone for such as have 
 never sinned. Strauss denies the facts ; and 
 many have but a faint perception of the 
 principles of Christianity. 
 
72 Barnas Sears 
 
 ''Theology, which related first to the Di- 
 vine Nature, was in the Middle Ages extended 
 to all divine things — Xoyo^ rov deov or rov 
 dsiov. Its object is to give an exact and at 
 the same time comprehensive view of all the 
 doctrines of the Bible. 
 
 ''(i) Popular and poetical language is to 
 be translated, so far as may be, into the exact 
 language of science. Hence it presupposes 
 an exegetical training. Some subjects can 
 be so well understood by us, as to enable us 
 to determine with clearness how language 
 must be understood ; but on subjects beyond 
 our comprehension a difficulty in interpreting 
 language will always remain. 
 
 " (2) Subjects must be analyzed philo- 
 sophically, so far as it is in our power to do it. 
 Otherwise, their nature, their difference or 
 agreement with others cannot be under- 
 stood. E. g., repentance, faith, love, regen- 
 eration, sanctification. 
 
 '' (3) The relations of doctrines to each 
 other must be so far ascertained as to pre- 
 serve their harmony. The uncertain must 
 
A Christian Educator 73 
 
 conform to the certain ; our inferences must 
 not set aside divine testimony. Express and 
 clear declarations of Scripture, and simple 
 and necessary inferences, take the prece- 
 dence of philosophical speculation and long 
 concatenations of reasoning. Two doctrines 
 fully established by independent evidence, 
 must be allowed to stand, even when we can- 
 not perceive the connection, which is most 
 likely to occur on subjects which lie out of 
 the sphere of human knowledge. 
 
 "The demands of theology, as a science, 
 are exegetical and logical, the former fur- 
 nishing the material, the latter the instru- 
 ment. 
 
 " The relation of philosophy, or reason, to 
 theology is not perfectly simple. As philos- 
 ophy is a very broad term, we must make 
 many distinctions, (i) Science cannot be 
 overruled by theology. (2) Necessary con- 
 sequences of established principles cannot be 
 disregarded. (3) Reason is a guide in those 
 lower matters which are presupposed by the 
 Scriptures. (4) Speculation on the highest 
 
74 Barnas Sears 
 
 questions respecting God and the invisible 
 world can never be the basis of a sound the- 
 ology. (5) Those essential principles which 
 are common to all systems of philosophy 
 must be admitted by the theologian. 
 
 ** Theology borders on mental philosophy 
 as it does on many sciences, but it does not 
 include any of them. These relations are to 
 be pointed out in the discussion of particular 
 topics and everything referred to its proper 
 place. 
 
 " The relation of Christian theology to nat- 
 ural theology is that of a certain, authorita- 
 tive, and complete system to that of a vague, 
 insufficient, and imperfect one. The latter is 
 either presupposed by the former, or included 
 in it. Such a system of pure natural the- 
 ology never existed. 
 
 ''Its relation to Christian Ethics is that of 
 cause and effect ; and they cannot be entirely 
 separated. When, for the sake of conven- 
 ience, they are separated, the latter must 
 repeat so much of the former as to lay a 
 foundation for itself. If, as in this country 
 
A Christian Educator 75 
 
 and England, moral philosophy is made a 
 distinct science not including the Christian 
 system, then what is peculiar to Christian 
 ethics can be introduced into theology in con- 
 nection with the Christian virtues, the rest 
 (moral philosophy) being presupposed." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD 
 OF EDUCATION 
 
 1848-1855 
 
 During his connection with Newton, Pro- 
 fessor Sears received the honorary degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College 
 (1841). After twelve years of arduous 
 service he was elected Secretary of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Board of Education, and resigned 
 his place in Newton to be the successor of 
 Horace Mann in a post which few men were 
 supposed able to fill. It will be unnecessary to 
 attempt any elaborate description of his work 
 in the position which he occupied so honor- 
 ably and usefully for the next seven years. 
 Among his successors in that office was the 
 Honorable George S. Boutwell, who thus 
 spoke of the task achieved by Doctor Sears 
 as Secretary of the Board of Education : 
 
 76 
 
A Christian Educator 77 
 
 ''When the intellectual powers of Doctor 
 Sears were in their fullness, when his scholar- 
 ship was recognized generally by learned men 
 and by universities, when his capacity for 
 useful public service had been tested and 
 justified by experience, he accepted the office 
 of Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 
 Education. His only predecessor was Hor- 
 ace Mann. That eminent leader of public 
 opinion, and reformer both of the methods 
 and of the result of education, had impressed 
 his ideas upon the people and woven his 
 policy into the institutions of the State. But 
 his career had been a career of controversy, 
 in which indeed he had triumphed. But 
 there lingered in the minds of many a hope 
 that the changes which he had introduced 
 and the reforms which he had established 
 would, at no distant day, be overthrown. 
 The State, in Doctor Sears, secured an ex- 
 ponent and advocate and a most temperate 
 defender of the reforms which Mr. Mann had 
 introduced. There was no step backward, 
 but he presented alway§ the genial and 
 
7S Barnas Sears 
 
 attractive side of every subject to the pub- 
 lic. In the Normal Schools, in the Teachers' 
 Institutes, and in the County Associations, he 
 brought into the public service eminent men 
 and distinguished teachers, of whom I may 
 mention President Felton, Professor Agassiz, 
 Professor Guyot, Professor Russell, Lowell 
 Mason, and George B. Emerson; and thus 
 were the youth and the children of the State 
 brought under the influence of persons who 
 gave them high ideas of life and the best 
 practical illustrations of the art of teaching. 
 What in Mr. Mann's time had been regarded 
 by many as experimental, became in Doctor 
 Sears 's time the established and recognized 
 policy of the State. Old controversies were 
 silenced. Our system of public education, 
 schools for all the people, sustained by all the 
 people, was placed upon a foundation as im- 
 movable as the foundation of the State itself. 
 *'It would be too much, perhaps, to say 
 that all these great changes were due to Doc- 
 tor Sears alone, but I cannot doubt that to 
 his urbanity, to his earnestness, to his intelli- 
 
THE REV. BARNAS SEARS, D.D., ABOUT 1850 
 (While Secretary of Mass. Board of Education) 
 
A Christian Educator 79 
 
 gent activity, the State was largely indebted 
 for the establishment of a new order of 
 things in our system of public instruction. 
 It cannot be assumed that Doctor Sears 
 could have instituted the reforms or carried 
 out the contest which made the administra- 
 tion of Mr. Mann conspicuous, but it would 
 be equally improper to assume that even Mr. 
 Mann himself could have established per- 
 manently the reforms which he instituted, or 
 have made fixed in the policy of the State 
 the changes which he had advocated. These 
 two co-workers placed the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts under the greatest obligation. 
 That old, imperfect system of education was 
 set aside and a new and better one placed in 
 its stead. The change was for Massachu- 
 setts, and the example was for the whole 
 country. And if, in the richness of these 
 thirty years, other communities have at- 
 tained such excellence in their system of 
 education as banishes every thought of 
 the claim of superiority on our part, then 
 they, equally with ourselves, owe a debt 
 
8o Barnas Sears 
 
 to the memory of Horace Mann and Barnas 
 
 Sears." 
 
 This may be accepted as a just estimate of 
 the work of Doctor Sears as Secretary of the 
 Massachusetts Board of Education from 1848 
 to 1855. It refers to the principal difficul- 
 ties of his task and to some of the elements of 
 his power to accomplish it. Perhaps there 
 was no man in the State who could have 
 filled more ably than himself the place to 
 which he was called. For his interest in public 
 schools was profound and his knowledge of 
 systems and methods of education unsur- 
 passed. At the same time he was in accord 
 with his predecessor and with the Board in 
 respect to the methods to be employed as 
 well as to the ideals to be sought in general 
 education. The success of his many Teachers* 
 Institutes was marked and undeniable; and 
 their success was due even more to his in- 
 spiring presence and generalship than to the 
 great ability of the men whom he called to 
 his assistance. There was alertness and 
 animation and good cheer wherever he pre- 
 
* A Christian Educator 8i 
 
 sided, and teachers returned to their calHng 
 with zeal enkindled for nobler service after a 
 week with him and his helpers. It is hard 
 to overrate the value of personal intercourse 
 with such an educator. In this respect he 
 was probably superior to Horace Mann; 
 more genial, more stimulating, at least in 
 tone and manner, and more winsome ; a great 
 leader with an appreciative and loving spirit, 
 pointing out fearlessly ways of possible ad- 
 vance, while recognizing generously every- 
 thing strong or beautiful in current methods 
 or workers. In this direction may be seen 
 his unrivaled power. This made him an 
 educator of educators. 
 
 A few excerpts from his Annual Reports 
 will be welcome to every intelligent reader, 
 even though they are too brief to afford a 
 clear view of the significance of the complete 
 documents. In his Report for the year 1850 
 he treats, among other things, of the Teach- 
 ers' Institutes held during the previous year. 
 "The experience of the present year goes to 
 confirm that of past years, that no means 
 
82 Barnas Sears 
 
 employed by the State for the improvement 
 of the schools have an immediate efficiency 
 equal to that of the Institutes. They per- 
 form the office of light-armed troops, and by 
 the celerity of their movements accomplish 
 much that lies beyond the reach of the Nor- 
 mal Schools. ... By reducing the time 
 from ten days to six, I am able to take the 
 supervision of them all, without any inter- 
 ruption, and to procure instructors of a high 
 order and retain them without change to the 
 end. A larger number of teachers, likewise, 
 can afford the time and the expense necessary 
 to attend. . . . The object is to give the 
 whole body of teachers a new impulse to 
 improvement; to direct their attention to 
 the importance of ascertaining the best 
 methods of instruction ; to lead them, through 
 the influence of eminent and experienced 
 teachers, to task their own invention, judg- 
 ment, and skill to the utmost for perfecting 
 themselves in the art of teaching. . . 
 The tone and spirit of an Institute is there- 
 fore a matter of much greater moment than 
 
A Christian Educator S^ 
 
 the amount of time given to a mere review 
 of studies." 
 
 In the Report for 185 5, having set forth the 
 principal arguments for and against having 
 any reHgious teaching in pubHc schools, he 
 said: ** Considerations of this nature have 
 done much to unite the great bulk of the 
 community on the common ground of a 
 Christian but unsectarian education for all 
 the Commonwealth. It has been found, 
 upon experiment, that religion can be intro- 
 duced into the schools, without polemical 
 theology; that the Christian temper and 
 spirit can be exhibited and inculcated, with- 
 out stirring the bitter waters of strife; and 
 that instruction in religion and religious doc- 
 trines can be added to any extent, at home 
 or elsewhere, through some one or more of 
 the numerous provisions which are made for 
 all who desire that instruction." Referring 
 to past controversies, he says : '' But when the 
 battle has been fairly fought out and the vic- 
 tory won, the change is irrevocable. Spec- 
 tres will not make their appearance after the 
 
84 Barnas Sears 
 
 day has dawned. All that has here been said 
 is veritable history. The early friends of the 
 Massachusetts movement in education have 
 not forgotten it. Of these struggles, enough 
 remains in some few parts of the State to 
 render intelligible descriptions given of pre- 
 vious conditions of things, somewhat as cer- 
 tain living animals in some parts of the world, 
 serve to illustrate the fossil remains of former 
 geological periods. But, in general, a great 
 change has come over the Commonwealth in 
 this respect, which is attributable to a variety 
 of causes. The seed sown at a previous pe- 
 riod is producing its harvest now. The ideas 
 which then belonged to the few have become 
 the property of the many. The smaller num- 
 ber, with the right on their side, have proved 
 stronger, in the end, than the greater number 
 without it. But, after making due allow- 
 ance for all these and similar considerations, 
 the principal cause, if not of the change itself, 
 at least of the rapidity with which it has been 
 effected, is to be sought in the policy of the 
 Board in carrying their views, and those of 
 
A Christian Educator 85 
 
 the Legislature, to the very doors of the 
 people, by the living voice of men appointed 
 for the purpose. . . . The effect of a plan 
 of operations so carefully laid, and so well 
 executed, has been most gratifying. Watch- 
 ful observers have not failed to perceive that 
 to it we are mainly indebted for the newly- 
 awakened interest and activity manifested in 
 places that were slumbering in indifference 
 and inactivity but a few years ago, and for 
 that general tide of enlightened public senti- 
 ment on education which is now seen flowing 
 over nearly every portion of the Common- 
 wealth.'' 
 
 In his Report for 1856, Doctor Sears dis- 
 cusses with great thoroughness the obstacles 
 to perfect success in public-school education ; 
 such as the indulgence of unreasonable hopes ; 
 the danger of overlooking the Hmitations of 
 the teacher's power, limitations in himself and 
 in the fact that only a part of education belongs 
 to the school-room; in the presence of a for- 
 eign race of men ; in their demorahzing influ- 
 ence; in the rush of young people from the 
 
86 Barnas Sears 
 
 country into the city; in the low tone of 
 morals often prevalent ; and in the equivocal 
 character of much of the reading and of the 
 public amusements in which the children of 
 the present age share with others. He then 
 suggests antidotes to the evils described. 
 Near the close of this very able report, he 
 says : '' A child ought to be taught to regulate 
 his actions by the will of God. In one respect 
 the teacher and pupil ought to stand on a 
 level with each other, both bowing to the will 
 of their Maker, and performing their respec- 
 tive duties to each other out of regard to His 
 authority. A school should be led to view 
 itself as under the inspection of an All-seeing 
 Witness, and each member to hold himself 
 accountable to Him for the spirit and charac- 
 ter of his deportment. Let these compre- 
 hensive principles be kept before the mind, 
 and they will have a weight of authority 
 which every one will feel. There will be a 
 sense of obligation lying back of the teacher's 
 rules, making it the easier for him to require 
 of pupils the performance of their duties from 
 
A Christian Educator 87 
 
 the fact that both he and they together are 
 accountable to a higher being. In this way 
 the moral natures of children are called into 
 action. The conscience has its part to act. 
 A line is dropped which sounds the heart to 
 its lowest depths. Character thus formed 
 has strength and firmness. Its roots strike 
 deep and spread in every direction, giving a 
 vigorous growth to its trunk and waving 
 branches, and holding them firmly in their 
 true position." 
 
 The particular objects which Doctor Sears 
 sought to accomplish were three : (i) A change 
 in the laws of the Commonwealth by which 
 the control of common schools should be put 
 into the hands of towns, instead of being left 
 in the hands of small districts that contrib- 
 uted a part of the expense, selected teachers, 
 and fixed the amount of schooling for their 
 children. The town-system puts all this in 
 the hands of a suitable board of committee- 
 men appointed by the whole town, while 
 all charges are paid by the town or State. 
 (2) An improvement in the qualifications of 
 
88 Barnas Sears 
 
 teachers for their work. To effect this, Nor- 
 mal Schools were supported by the State, and 
 the Secretary of the Board of Education was 
 charged with the duty of making them as 
 efficient as possible. In this part of his work, 
 Doctor Sears felt a deep interest and was suc- 
 cessful. (3) A further improvement of ex- 
 perienced teachers by means of yearly 
 Institutes in different parts of the State. 
 These Institutes aimed to quicken the zeal 
 and enlarge the knowledge of teachers. 
 Doctor Sears made it a point to have able 
 and progressive lecturers associated with 
 himself in the conduct of these Institutes, 
 and he also, by his own appeals, sought to 
 make teachers magnify their calling and seek 
 with supreme endeavor the building up of 
 moral character in their pupils. The end of 
 education was, in his judgment, two-fold : the 
 formation of character and the attainment of 
 power to serve mankind. These objects he 
 \sought with very great enthusiasm, discre- 
 tion, and success. The field was large, the 
 task was difficult, and the results cheering. 
 
A Christian Educator 89 
 
 Some of his pupils in theology have ex- 
 pressed their regret that he published so few 
 books, that the amount of his writing in 
 official correspondence and annual reports 
 consumed so much of his time that he had 
 none left for book-making. But the tablets 
 on which he wrote during many of his busy 
 years were the souls of young men and women 
 who were in turn transmitting his influence 
 to the souls of children in the Common- 
 wealth. And it is doubtful whether he could 
 have reached a greater number with his 
 beneficent impulses in any other way. Vig- 
 orous as was his pen, and clear as were the 
 thoughts expressed by it, his living presence 
 and voice were more powerful than his words 
 on the printed page. No doubt he believed 
 this. No doubt he remembered the example 
 of Socrates, and of the divine Man who was 
 a far greater teacher than the Grecian sage. 
 Indeed, a true man is almost always greater 
 than his books. To hear and to see him at 
 close range are better than to read his choic- 
 est thoughts in print. If there are exceptions 
 
90 Barnas Sears 
 
 to this rule, it must be in cases where one 
 is slow of speech or too diffident to be his 
 true self in the presence of others. Horace 
 Mann was a specially powerful writer, and 
 may, perhaps, have been one of the few who 
 can move men as deeply by writing as by 
 speaking, even though his presence arrested 
 attention and his self-respect overcame diffi- 
 dence. But Doctor Sears could master a 
 subject without the use of a pen. His un- 
 written speech was equal in pith and sub- 
 stance to that which was written. And 
 gladly as all of us would have welcomed a 
 history of the Lutheran Reformation, or of 
 the German Anabaptists, from his pen, it is 
 by no means certain that he could have pre- 
 pared such a work without neglecting more 
 useful labors. Providence beckoned, and he 
 followed, as should always be the case. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PRESIDENCY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY 
 1855-1867 
 
 Doctor Sears enjoyed his relation to the 
 State, to the Board of Education, and to the 
 teachers of Massachusetts. He thought of 
 leaving his post as Secretary only when the 
 Presidency of Brown University was offered 
 him. The writer recalls with distinctness a 
 conversation on this matter. Doctor Sears 
 had been assured that, with his own consent, 
 his name would be laid before the corpora- 
 tion as a candidate for the office of president, 
 and that, if so, he would be without doubt 
 elected. He was now balancing in his mind 
 the opportunities for usefulness in the two 
 positions, and, though personal considera- 
 tions appeared to be wholly secondary, he 
 took occasion to express very strongly the 
 
 91 
 
92 Barnas Sears 
 
 satisfaction which he had had in his work for 
 education in the Old Bay State, and the re- 
 gret he would feel at sundering his connec- 
 tion with his Massachusetts friends and 
 co-laborers. Nevertheless, the opening at 
 Providence seemed to him a call from God 
 to serve the cause of Christian education in 
 a different sphere, and he was making up his 
 mind to obey that call. With singular clear- 
 ness he summarized the reasons for abiding 
 at his post in Massachusetts, and, over 
 against these, the reasons for going to Provi- 
 dence and putting his matured strength into 
 the lives of young men who were qualifying 
 themselves for public service. He was in the 
 midst of his days, — fifty-three years of age, — 
 and as full of hope and enthusiasm as he was 
 twenty years before. There was evidently 
 in his heart a deep longing to be at work 
 directly for young men. And so, as I clearly 
 perceived, the balances of his judgment in- 
 clined towards the new field. He had been 
 my teacher or neighbor and friend in Newton 
 Center ten years, and it was not in my power 
 
A Christian Educator 93 
 
 to think of his removal to another State with- 
 out regret; but, as usual, his statement of 
 the case brought my judgment into accord 
 with his own, and I was ready to bid him 
 God-speed as he prepared to leave his de- 
 lightful home in Newton Center for the 
 President's house on College Street, Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 But what was his success in the new sta- 
 tion? How did he prosper in dealing with 
 undergraduates and with the overseers of 
 this ancient school? In answer to a note of 
 inquiry, the following letter from Doctor 
 Albert Harkness was received: 
 
 " Providence, Sept. 28, 1901. 
 
 ** My Dear Doctor Hovey: 
 
 '' Your letter came during my absence from 
 the city, and it has followed me from place 
 to place until I fear my answer can be of no 
 use to you. 
 
 "I assume that you wish only a few gen- 
 eral hints that may aid you in completing 
 your estimate of Doctor Sears. You are 
 
94 Barnas Sears 
 
 doubtless aware that he came very near 
 being my ideal of a college president. He 
 administered the affairs of Brown Univer- 
 sity according to the charter, and, as I be- 
 lieve, faithfully and wisely. He was a ripe 
 scholar and a Christian gentleman, and by 
 his personal character and attainments ex- 
 erted a powerful influence for good, not only 
 upon the students, but also upon the profes- 
 sors. We all saw that he was deeply inter- 
 ested in the College, and that he gave his 
 best thought and his most earnest endeavors 
 to its welfare. He was the best President to 
 work with that I have ever had the good for- 
 tune to know. He encouraged all depart- 
 ments while he left all the professors free to 
 adopt methods suited to their tastes and 
 genius, believing that thus the best results 
 would be reached. 
 
 " Unfortunately the administration of Doc- 
 tor Sears covered the period of our Civil War, 
 when it was, of course, impossible to do much 
 for the enlargement of the College. But 
 Doctor Sears was not only a wise and efficient 
 
THE REV. BARNAS SEARS, D.D., ABOUT 1861 
 (At Brown University as President) 
 
A Christian Educator 95 
 
 president, but an accomplished and faithful 
 professor. He was an inspiring teacher, and 
 he taught the students to think for them- 
 selves. If these hasty lines can be of any 
 service to you, I shall be very glad. Should 
 you wish anything more, kindly inform me. 
 I am glad, dear Doctor Hovey, that you have 
 undertaken this pleasant task, as I know you 
 understand and appreciate the character and 
 worth of Doctor Sears, whose memory I 
 cherish with grateful affection. 
 
 "With kind regards and best wishes for 
 you and yours, I am as ever your friend, 
 
 "Albert Harkness.'* 
 
 To this discriminating letter may be 
 added a few paragraphs from the remarks of 
 Professor John L. Lincoln, at the funeral of 
 Doctor Sears in Brookline, Mass. : 
 
 "It is just twenty-five years this summer 
 since Doctor Sears was called to the presi- 
 dency of the University, an office made vacant 
 by the unexpected resignation of the late 
 Doctor Way land. Just thirty years had 
 
96 Barnas Sears 
 
 passed away since Doctor Sears had left the 
 college as a student. . . . He was, then, just 
 past fifty years of age, and so was in the full 
 vigor of his manhood, in the full maturity of 
 all his powers — so fine in themselves and so 
 well developed by long study and discipline, 
 in the ripeness of his fame as an educator and 
 as a leader in education. But all these 
 resources of his, which were so ample, he 
 needed, and all these powers of his he needed, 
 at their greatest and their best, and none 
 felt it more than himself; for he was called 
 to fill the post which had been held for 
 twenty-five years by Doctor Wayland, so hon- 
 ored for his character and for his standing as 
 an educator second, perhaps, to none in our 
 whole country. But he was called to the 
 place, as some of you know, by the unani- 
 mous choice of the guardians of the college, 
 who felt more deeply than anybody else 
 could feel the great void in the college 
 which he was called to fill. But that unan- 
 imity of choice, so cordially responded to by 
 the faculty, and by the graduates and friends 
 
A Christian Educator 97 
 
 of the college, seemed a bright augury of the 
 success of his administration. And how well 
 did the issue answer to that bright augury! 
 How well, how nobly he achieved that task 
 which was then devolved upon him ! I think 
 we must all see — ^those of us most conversant 
 with the affairs of the college can certainly 
 see — ^that he administered the great trusts 
 confided to him with an enthusiastic devo- 
 tion to religion, education, and learning 
 which had been so dear to the founders of 
 the college and to its subsequent benefactors 
 and friends, with a true and loyal love to the 
 place of his education, and with the sense of 
 duty and responsibility which belonged to 
 him then and always as a Christian man. I 
 remember . . . difficulties which he had 
 to encounter, trials which he had to endure, 
 incident to a post of such complex relations 
 and duties, but he surmounted or passed 
 through them all with patience and skill. 
 
 **Let me say a word as I recall his rela- 
 tions to the college circle, to his undergradu- 
 ate pupils. I think I may say that of all who 
 
98 Barnas Sears 
 
 have administered the affairs of the college in 
 the place of chief and guide, no one was more 
 highly esteemed, and certainly no one was 
 more truly loved, by all the pupils than 
 President Sears. I well remember how he 
 gained their admiration by the ample stores 
 of knowledge which he had at such ready 
 command, and which he made so accessible 
 to them for their assistance and their im- 
 provement; how he impressed them with 
 perfect respect for his love of truth and en- 
 thusiastic pursuit of it, for the habits of per- 
 sonal investigation which he formed in them, 
 and for the reverence which he inspired in 
 them for true wisdom and that fear of God 
 which is the beginning of wisdom, with faith 
 in Christ as the Redeemer of the world. I 
 am sure that all his pupils . . . were im- 
 pressed by the soundness of his judgment 
 and the vigor of his devotion. . . . But I 
 think that he bound them to him most of all 
 by personal, by filial ties of affection that 
 were firm as steel and precious as gold. . . . 
 By the love for them which shone out from 
 
A Christian Educator 99 
 
 all his conduct . . . there ever went forth 
 a virtue which had in it for them, and for 
 them all, everything beloved and blessed 
 and pure. ... I spoke of the coming of 
 Doctor Sears to our college, full as it was with 
 life and with promise. . . . But I remem- 
 ber also his departure, after those twelve 
 years of service, when that promise had been 
 proudly and amply fulfilled, and we felt what 
 a loss it was that we had sustained — a loss 
 that could hardly be made good to us. Yet 
 there was something of consolation in the 
 confidence we had in the high esteem enter- 
 tained for him without the walls of the col- 
 lege, since he was judged by the Trustees of 
 the Peabody Fund to be the man best of all 
 fitted to administer that grand trust for a 
 great educational enterprise." 
 
 It will also be in place to hear the testi- 
 mony of one or two who were under his in- 
 struction in Brown University: 
 
 ** I was under Doctor Sears's instruction in 
 my senior year (1860-1)," writes Doctor Bur- 
 rage. ' ' The studies were philosophy , the history 
 L.ofC. 
 
loo Barnas Sears 
 
 of philosophy, and the evidences of Christian- 
 ity. In the first two Doctor Sears used 
 text-books, viz.. Haven's *' Intellectual Phi- 
 losophy" and Schwegler's " History of Philos- 
 ophy." Not much time, however, was given 
 to the recitations of the text of the lesson. A 
 large part of the hour was occupied by Doctor 
 Sears himself in explanation and illustration of 
 the text. The wealth of his learning impressed 
 us all. His mind was a great storehouse 
 from which he drew abundantly. Doubt- 
 less the average college student received in 
 Doctor Sears's recitation room little beyond 
 what is derived from a noble personality. I 
 cannot but believe, however, that to sit in 
 the presence of such a man an hour a day, 
 four days in a week, for a college year, means 
 much to any student. A bright scholar, 
 prepared by aptitude and study to profit by 
 the instruction of Doctor Sears, found not 
 only enjoyment in his classes, but great in- 
 tellectual stimulus. The instruction in the 
 evidences of Christianity was by lectures, and 
 here, as it seemed to me. Doctor Sears was at 
 
A Christian Educator loi 
 
 his best. The lectures were dictated, and I 
 have often had occasion to consult them since 
 my college days. Here also he gave us much 
 more than the text of his lectures. He was 
 thoroughly familiar with what the best 
 scholars in Europe had said and were saying 
 in reference to Christianity ; and his aim was 
 to make us also familiar with it. My obliga- 
 tions to Doctor Sears at the time I gratefully 
 acknowledged, and I shall be grateful to him 
 as long as I live. 
 
 ''In the first part of my senior year the 
 Civil War was approaching, and my college 
 days ended in the beginnings of the great 
 conflict. With lessons concerning philosophy 
 and religion, Doctor Sears mingled many a 
 lesson of patriotism and duty. As young 
 men we were made to feel that we were living 
 in a great crisis of the nation's history, when 
 the requirements of patriotism and duty 
 should be conscientiously considered. If we 
 should have a part in the war, we knew we 
 would have Doctor Sears's approval and 
 benediction. H. S. Burrage." 
 
I02 Barnas Sears 
 
 " Dear Doctor Hovey, — I enclose Doctor 
 Barrage's reminiscences of President Sears, 
 and add a few words of my own. Our class, 
 that of '66, pursued nearly the same studies 
 as Doctor Burrage's class, with the addition 
 of German; but with us he made no use of 
 text-books, except in grammar. In philos- 
 ophy and related subjects he dictated to us 
 lectures he had himself prepared. He 
 seemed to care very little, however, about 
 our remembering even the substance of them. 
 Some professors appreciate a student's efforts 
 in the exact proportion in which their own 
 words are reproduced. If Doctor Sears ever 
 took any note of a student's daily work, — 
 and we could never perceive that he did, — 
 he measured us by an entirely different 
 standard. A parrot-like repetition of his lec- 
 tures would have given him but little pleas- 
 ure. On one occasion he remarked: */ do 
 not care to have you remember what I say; I 
 am simply anxious to teach you how to think. 
 If you learn that, you may burn my lectures if 
 you will.' With such a teacher I can imag- 
 
* A Christian Educator 103 
 
 ine some students would not be over-well 
 pleased. Those who sought the class-room 
 in order to be thoroughly drilled-into some 
 definite scheme of philosophy, probably went 
 away from Doctor Sears, grumbling that 
 they had gotten nothing. But some of us 
 certainly found him the most inspiring of 
 college teachers. He awakened and stimu- 
 lated us by his own example of noble think- 
 ing. At the same time it has always seemed 
 to me that Doctor Sears was at his best in 
 those lines of study that appealed to his lit- 
 erary tastes. It was when he talked of art 
 and literature and life that he revealed most 
 clearly his own lofty ideals and pure and 
 noble tastes. My remembrance of him as a 
 teacher of German literature brings back 
 hours of keenest enjoyment. His success in 
 this line leads me to believe that he would 
 have been a beau-ideal teacher of the classics, 
 and to wish that I might have had the privi- 
 lege of reading Homer or Plato under his 
 guidance. 
 
 *' In his personal relation with the students 
 
I04 Barnas Sears 
 
 he was most successful in winning their deep- 
 est and most loyal attachment. I don't be- 
 lieve a student in Brown in my days could 
 have been insolent to Doctor Sears. If one 
 had dared to be, the entire college would have 
 frowned on the offender. I have heard men 
 who were under Doctor Sears complain since 
 leaving college of something lacking as a 
 teacher in him, but in my college days I 
 never heard a word from any source that did 
 not express the highest appreciation both of 
 his character and attainments. In my mem- 
 ory he stands among the teachers of my 
 youth, equalled by few, surpassed by none. 
 
 ''J. B. GOUGH PiDGE.'* 
 
 The Rev. Albert H. Plumb, D.D., of Rox- 
 bury, Massachusetts, writes in the following 
 strain : 
 
 " I went to Providence during a six-weeks' 
 spring vacation at Andover Seminary, and 
 took notes of Doctor Sears's lectures on Chris- 
 tian Evidences and of his remarks on Doc- 
 tor Wayland's "Moral Philosophy," in 1856. 
 
A Christian Educator 105 
 
 He impressed me as a very learned man, 
 widely read, and profound in his philosophi- 
 cal thinking, wonderfully rich, too, in his 
 illustrative comments and practical applica- 
 tions of principles in the formation of correct 
 judgments and in the guidance of conduct. 
 I have found stimulus as well as instruction 
 whenever I have taken down my notes of his 
 teaching. His replies to the questions and 
 objections of students showed tact and power. 
 *' In the spring of 1857 I was in Providence 
 again, and I remember distinctly a remark- 
 able scene in the First Baptist Church. The 
 church was filled at one of those memorable 
 men's prayer meetings, perhaps at the noon 
 hour on week days, which characterized the 
 great revivals through the country that year. 
 Doctor Sears arose, evidently much moved, 
 and, as I recall his statements, said that he 
 had a little time previous written to his son 
 in business in New York, telling him of the 
 deep religious interest, and urging him to 
 leave his business and come on to Providence 
 to attend the meetings and seek salvation. 
 
io6 Barnas Sears 
 
 His son came, and Doctor Sears said: *He 
 has just returned to his home rejoicing in a 
 hope in Christ.' He added: 
 
 ' Let sinners learn to pray, 
 
 Let saints keep near the throne; 
 Our help in times of deep distress 
 Is found in God alone.' " 
 
 It has been said, with great propriety, that 
 **as President of Brown University he was 
 distinguished for politeness and courtesy to 
 the young men under his care. More than 
 one wild, reckless student has been heard to 
 say that there was no fun in trying to * get a 
 rise' on their ' Prex.', for he was so sincerely 
 respectful that it made all their efforts fall 
 flat to the ground. Even in the sarcastic and 
 impudently witty Mock Programme issued 
 on class days, their loved President was 
 spoken of as ' a gentleman and a scholar,' and 
 never was his dignified and stately presence 
 brought down to ridicule, even by the most 
 daring ring-leader in rowdyism. ' He treated 
 me as though I was a Senior,' explained an 
 apprehensive Freshman, after a summons to 
 
A Christian Educator 107 
 
 Doctor Sears's study, ' and the first thing he 
 did was to offer me a chair.' " 
 
 If it be asked, What did he accompHsh 
 during his presidency of Brown? the answer 
 may be given in the words of Doctor Guild, 
 the Hbrarian of the college: ''During his ad- 
 ministration the faculties for instruction were 
 increased; an elegant and well-appointed 
 laboratory for the department of analytical 
 chemistry was erected at the expense of lib- 
 eral-minded citizens of Providence ; a system 
 of scholarships for meritorious and indigent 
 students was inaugurated ; the Bowen estate, 
 so called, on the corner of George and Pros- 
 pect Streets, through the munificence of a 
 member of the corporation, was added to 
 the college green ; the institution was brought 
 into harmonious relations with the govern- 
 ment of the city and State by liberal conces- 
 sions in the matter of taxation; a debt of 
 twenty-five thousand dollars was extin- 
 guished, and large additions were made to 
 the college funds." 
 
 Brief reference may here be made to the 
 
io8 Barnas Sears 
 
 discourse of Doctor Sears at the Centennial 
 Celebration of Brown University in 1864. It 
 was an able historical retrospect, afterwards 
 published; but its account of certain events 
 connected with the origin of the College Char- 
 ter did not escape censure. It was felt to be 
 partisan by some liberal supporters of the 
 college, although it is difficult to believe that 
 its author had any but friendly feelings 
 towards Christians of every name, or that he 
 intended the slightest injustice to the mem- 
 ory of any man. He was himself too good a 
 historian to believe in misrepresentation, if 
 there was any opportunity for it, and it may 
 be doubted whether there was any motive 
 for it in the instance referred to. 
 
 But the great work of Doctor Sears during 
 his presidency was with and for the under- 
 graduates. It was strictly educational, aim- 
 ing to secure the development of the whole 
 man on lines of beauty and power. Neither 
 the moral nor the religious nature was over- 
 looked. Reason, conscience, and will were 
 deemed of no less worth than memory and 
 
A Christian Educator 109 
 
 learning. Character was glorified far more 
 than reputation. It was the aim of Doctor 
 Sears to inspire the men under his care with 
 a love of goodness and truth, more intense 
 and controlling than their love of greatness. 
 And his influence over them was ideally 
 powerful and wholesome. If he did not 
 make them all better men, more scholarly, 
 more thoughtful, more conscientious, more 
 self -forgetful, more courteous, more humane, 
 more hopeful, and more useful, than they 
 were when they came under his influence, it 
 must have been because of their being already 
 "joined to their idols" and given over to ''a 
 reprobate mind." Some there are in our 
 schools of learning who may not unjustly be 
 thus characterized, and no educator should 
 be held responsible for their persistence in 
 evil ways. But they are rare in schools ad- 
 ministered by men of the caliber and spirit 
 of Doctor Sears. 
 
-4 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 GENERAL AGENT OF THE PEABODY 
 EDUCATION FUND 
 
 1867-1880 
 
 V *' To he quite clear what one ought to do, and have little 
 or no choice, is one of the essentials of happiness." 
 
 B. Sears, in Diary. 
 
 In the year 1867, Doctor Sears was called 
 to a very different, though no less responsible 
 post — that of Secretary or General Agent of 
 the Trustees of the well-known Peabody 
 Fund. That important fund for the promo- 
 tion of education in the Southern States was 
 created by the following letter of George Pea- 
 body, a native of Danvers, Massachusetts, 
 part of which is now Peabody, but long a 
 resident in London, England : 
 
 "To Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Massa- 
 
 chusetts ; Hon. Hamilton Fish, of New 
 
 York ; Right Rev^ Charles P. Mcllvaine, 
 
 of Ohio; General U. S. Grant, of the United 
 
 no 
 
A Christian Educator 1 1 1 
 
 States Army; Hon. William C. Rives, of 
 Virginia; Hon. John H. Clifford, of Massa- 
 chusetts; Hon. William Aiken, of South 
 Carolina; William M. Evarts, Esq., of New 
 York; Hon. William A. Graham, of North 
 Carolina; Charles Macalester, Esq., of Penn- 
 sylvania; George W. Riggs, Esq., of Wash- 
 ington; Samuel Wetmore, Esq., of New 
 York; Edward A. Bradford, Esq., of Mary- 
 land; and George Peabody Russell, Esq., 
 of Massachusetts: — I give to you, gentle- 
 men, the sum of one million of dollars, to 
 be by you and your successors held in trust, 
 and the income thereof used and applied at 
 your discretion for the intellectual, moral, 
 or industrial education among the young of 
 the more destitute portions of the Southern 
 and Southwestern States of our Union ; my 
 purpose being that the benefits intended shall 
 be distributed among the entire population, 
 without other distinction than their needs 
 and the opportunities of usefulness to them. 
 "Besides the income thus devised I give 
 to you permission to use from the principal 
 
V 
 
 1 1 2 Barnas Sears 
 
 sum, within the next two years, an amount 
 not exceeding forty per cent. 
 
 ''In addition to this gift I place in your 
 hands bonds of the State of Mississippi, 
 issued to the Planters Bank, amounting, with 
 interest, to about eleven hundred thousand 
 dollars, the amount realized by you from 
 which is to be added to and used for the pur- 
 poses of the Trust. The validity of these 
 bonds has never been questioned. 
 
 "The details and organization of the 
 Trust I leave with you, only requesting that 
 Mr. Winthrop be chairman, and Gov. Fish 
 and Bishop Mcllvaine vice-chairmen of your 
 body; and I give you power to make all 
 necessary by-laws and regulations ; to obtain 
 an Act of Incorporation if any shall be neces- 
 sary. All vacancies, occurring in your num- 
 ber by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall 
 be filled by your election as soon as con- 
 veniently may be, and having in view an 
 equality of representation so far as regards 
 the Northern and Southern States. 
 
 "George Peabody. 
 
 "Washington, Feb. 7, 1867." 
 
A Christian Educator 113 
 
 In further explanation of his purpose, he 
 wrote: ''What I desire is to aid in giving 
 elementary education to the children of the 
 common people." It appears that Mr. Win- 
 throp had conversed with Doctor Sears at 
 the old Wednesday Evening Club of Boston 
 concerning the execution of the Trust, and 
 that this conversation led to a request by 
 him that Doctor Sears would state his views 
 in writing. Thinking of the matter over 
 night, he gave his consent the next morning 
 to do this, and the following day brought 
 this letter to Mr. Winthrop: 
 
 "Providence, March 14, 1867. 
 
 *'HoN. Robert C. Winthrop: At your re- 
 quest, I give you such thoughts as have 
 occurred to my mind, in the brief time that 
 has intervened since I saw you, on the sub- 
 ject of the use that it is expedient to make 
 of the Fund which Mr. Peabody has placed 
 at your disposal. 
 
 "i. Too much importance cannot be at- 
 tached to the policy and measures that shall 
 
 8 
 
114 Barnas Sears 
 
 be adopted. Besides the care that can be 
 bestowed on the subject by the Trustees, 
 who, it is supposed, can give but a hmited 
 amount of their time to it, I think, with you, 
 that it is desirable to have an executive 
 officer, a superintendent, who can compre- 
 hend the whole subject, and work whatever 
 machinery is necessary with unity of design 
 and with effectiveness. 
 
 '*2. As to plans and methods, much is to 
 be created. We have nothing exactly like 
 what is to be undertaken. There are no 
 examples before you. There has been no 
 experience directly in this line of action. 
 Much must come by time and by actual trial. 
 Principles may be laid down, but there must 
 be room for variations in details. 
 
 " S- There are two general methods to be 
 considered : the one is that of originating and 
 carrying on a system of schools. The other 
 is that of disbursing funds in aid of others 
 who shall have the schools in charge. The 
 former method would require an extensive 
 system of agencies. Work will not go on 
 
A Christian Educator 115 
 
 well, without an ever-present and active 
 superintendence and vigilance to prevent and 
 correct abuses arising from negligence or self- 
 ishness. The latter is simpler, easier, and 
 attended with fewer risks. 
 
 **Now, if time shall show that the two 
 methods must be, to some extent, combined, 
 it would seem to be safer and more conven- 
 ient to begin with the second, as the transi- 
 tion to the first could be made without 
 trouble and to any extent, whenever it 
 should seem expedient. Any change in the 
 other direction would be more difficult, as 
 the first method commits one largely to the 
 future. 
 
 "4. I should think it might be as well to 
 begin with a single agent, whose first busi- 
 ness it should be to furnish aid where it is 
 most needed, in strengthening and resusci- 
 tating schools, and, perhaps, aiding others 
 to open new ones. For a time he might find 
 judicious and active friends of education, 
 who, in different localities, would gladly ren- 
 der him the aid he shall need. Thus he 
 
ii6 Barn as Sears 
 
 would soon, as he proceeds, learn not only 
 what kind and amount of help is needed, but 
 he could come to know the men who could 
 best render it. If it be necessary to have 
 local agents, this would, perhaps, be the best 
 way of introducing them. 
 
 "5. Of course, effective schools, that shall 
 be permanent, is the great desideratum. This 
 is not only the best thing for the young, but 
 they furnish to the people at large the strong- 
 est argument in favor of popular education. 
 Let good schools, springing up on the soil, 
 growing out of the wants of the people and 
 meeting those wants, be sprinkled all over 
 the South, as examples, and be made the 
 nuclei for others, and let them be established 
 and controlled, as far as possible, by the 
 people themselves, and they will in time 
 grow into State systems. Beside direct aid 
 in the support of such schools, which would, 
 no doubt, be the first work to be done, there 
 are various indirect ways of reaching the 
 same end. Normal schools, especially for 
 training female teachers for the primary 
 
A Christian Educator 1 1 7 
 
 schools ; higher education given in the form 
 of scholarships to a limited number of young 
 men who should obligate themselves to teach 
 as long a period, at least, as that during 
 which they received aid, or to refund the 
 money; encouragement to Teachers' Asso- 
 ciations (County or State Associations) by 
 giving them fifty or a hundred dollars to 
 pay the lecturers at their meetings ; aid to 
 Editors or Publishers of Journals of Educa- 
 tion for the benefit of Teachers, these might 
 be some of the indirect methods to be 
 used. 
 
 "6. I state a little more particularly here 
 some of the objections to the first plan men- 
 tioned in No. 3. There will not only be a 
 great amount of supervision and direction of 
 the work on the hands of the Trustees and 
 their agents ; but many official reports from 
 all the schools, whose form must be pre- 
 scribed, which must be examined, collated, 
 and, possibly, printed, as is now done by 
 Boards of Education. All this formidable 
 official procedure by a body of men in some 
 
ii8 Barnas Sears 
 
 sense foreign to the different States, will only 
 serve as a barrier, keeping the schools from 
 the public sympathies. The ownership of lots 
 and buildings by the Trustees will tend to 
 make the people indifferent or jealous. The 
 ultimate transfer of such property to the 
 towns and cities will be an awkward business 
 to transact. The permanent care of a large 
 number of houses, their security, proper 
 occupancy and repairs, will be troublesome. 
 Property jointly held by the towns and the 
 Trustees would occasion still more trouble. 
 At the utmost, I should think, one or two or 
 three Normal School buildings might be 
 owned by the Trustees. Even these it might 
 be better to induce the people to build, and 
 then carry on the school for them, for a 
 longer or shorter time, either wholly or in 
 part. Places for other schools, especially 
 primary schools, could be obtained without 
 building or purchasing them, certainly for 
 the present. But on these and other 
 similar points experience would soon be 
 the best teacher. These are first thoughts, 
 
A Christian Educator 119 
 
 which, for that reason, may have little 
 value. 
 
 "Very respectfully and sincerely your obt. 
 
 servant, 
 
 "B. Sears." 
 
 By comparing the action of the Board of 
 Trustees at its first meeting on the 19th of 
 March, 1867, it will be seen that it followed 
 very closely the suggestions of this remark- 
 able letter. For it was resolved: 
 
 '' I. That for the present the promotion of 
 Primary, or Common School Education, by 
 such means or agencies as now exist or may 
 need to be created, be the leading object of 
 the Board, in the use of the fund placed at 
 its disposal. 
 
 ''2. That in aid of the above general de- 
 sign, and as promotive of the same, the 
 Board will have in view the furtherance of 
 Normal School Education for the prepara- 
 tion of teachers as well by the endowment of 
 Scholarships in existing Southern institu- 
 tions as by the establishing of Normal Schools 
 and the aiding of such Normal Schools as 
 
I20 Barnas Sears 
 
 may now be in operation in the Southern and 
 Southwestern States, including such meas- 
 ures as may be feasible and as experience 
 may show to be expedient, for the promotion 
 of education in the application of science to 
 the industrial pursuits of life. 
 
 '*3. That a General Agent of the highest 
 qualifications be appointed by the Board, to 
 whom shall be entrusted, under an Execu- 
 tive Committee, the whole charge of carrying 
 out the designs of Mr. Peabody in his great 
 gift, under such resolutions and instructions 
 as the Board shall from time to time adopt. 
 
 "4. That the Rev. Dr. Sears, President of 
 Brown University, be appointed the General 
 Agent of the Board, upon such terms as may 
 be arranged by the Finance Committee. 
 
 ''5. That an Executive Committee of five 
 Trustees be appointed by the Chairman at 
 each annual meeting of the Board, to whom 
 shall be entrusted, in connection with the 
 General Agent, the carrying out of such 
 resolutions and plans as the Board shall from 
 time to time adopt. 
 
" A Christian Educator 121 
 
 "6. That the next Annual Meeting of the 
 Board be held in New York on the third 
 Tuesday in June, 1868, and that in the mean- 
 time the Chairman be authorized to call 
 meetings at such times and places as the 
 Executive Committee may direct." 
 
 After further discussion, it was resolved: 
 
 ''That the Board will hold a meeting in 
 the city of Richmond on the third Tuesday 
 of January next." 
 
 In response to this action of the Trustees, 
 Doctor Sears took a little time for further 
 consideration and consultation. He was de- 
 lighted with his relations to faculty and stu- 
 dents in the University, and the corporation 
 was ready in its support of his measures. 
 But he was uncertain as to his safety in the 
 climate of New England during the winter 
 months, and he believed there was a wide 
 door of usefulness opened to him in adminis- 
 tering the Peabody Fund. As was expected 
 by Mr. Winthrop, he decided ere long to 
 accept the new position and sunder his con- 
 nection with the college which he ardently 
 
122 Barnas Sears 
 
 loved. His acceptance was dated March 30, 
 1867. The following paragraph from an 
 article of Doctor Heman Lincoln emphasizes 
 one of the reasons for his decision : ''In 
 regard to the Peabody Agency, the call of 
 Doctor Sears by Providence was as marked 
 as the call of Moses or Samuel. His health 
 had been broken down by the anxieties of 
 professional labor in Brown University; his 
 voice had failed and refused its office. The 
 physician's order was imperative for a change 
 of climate, and for rest. Doctor Sears was 
 on the point of asking from the Corporation 
 for a year's absence in Europe, when the 
 unanimous choice of Mr. Peabody and the 
 Trustees of the noble fund called him to a 
 new work. It gave him release from public 
 speaking, it opened a milder climate, and 
 probably added ten years to his life, and he 
 accepted it as a direct call from God." Re- 
 moving to Staunton, Virginia, September 19, 
 1867, he entered with vigor and hope upon 
 his new and difficult task. 
 
 No better representation of this task and 
 
A Christian Educator 123 
 
 of the skill and prudence with which it was 
 performed has been made than the follow- 
 ing from the pen of Doctor J. L. M. Curry, 
 the successor of Doctor Sears as Secretary of 
 the Peabody Trust : '' With great energy and 
 tact Doctor Sears entered upon his delicate, 
 difficult, and onerous duties. . . . He 
 brought to the discharge of his work accurate 
 scholarship, unusual fullness of historical and 
 pedagogical information, a minute and prac- 
 tical acquaintance with the principles and 
 details of State School systems, imperturb- 
 able temper, patient and laborious inquiry, 
 a ready and thankful willingness to learn, 
 and to modify opinions and judgments 
 formed from partial knowledge, a broad and 
 tolerant patriotism, impressive courtesy and 
 dignity of manner, firmness of action, tender- 
 est sympathy for the unfortunate, and stead- 
 fast, inextinguishable faith in the feasibility 
 and indispensableness of universal education. 
 It may well be doubted whether any other 
 person could have been found who had such 
 adaptedness to the work, because of his rare 
 
124 Barnas Sears 
 
 combination of personal, intellectual, and 
 moral qualities. Reference has been made 
 to the bankruptcy of the South and to the 
 timeliness of the benefaction. The truth of 
 history requires the cumulative statement 
 that while many resolutely accepted the situ- 
 ation, and with courage and subdued hope 
 turned their faces to the future, a majority 
 dwelt in the mournful past, grieved with un- 
 utterable sadness over 'the lost cause,' and 
 adjusted themselves slowly and with ill- 
 temper to the new environments, and were 
 not restraintful in the bitter and almost sav- 
 age expression of their discontent. To con- 
 ciliate opposition, to quiet offensive hostility, 
 to avoid irritation, to put a charitable con- 
 struction upon hasty speech and rude action, 
 to help in dissipating despair, to be listened 
 to in suggesting and urging a permanent 
 policy of free schools, offering equal advan- 
 tages to the late masters and the emanci- 
 pated slaves, and in direct opposition to the 
 traditions and practices of the whole past, 
 required what few men possessed; and this 
 
A Christian Educator 125 
 
 history would have been very different but 
 for the wonderful skill and ability with which 
 Doctor Sears, transferring his home and citi- 
 zenship to Virginia, surmounted obstacles, 
 changed adverse opinions and convictions of 
 the people, made the Peabody Fund a most 
 popular trust, and became himself imbedded 
 in the confidence and affections of the 
 South." ^ 
 
 It was a primary object of Doctor Sears to 
 encourage the establishment of systems of 
 public schools in all the States; and one of 
 the questions which he presently encoun- 
 tered related to the attitude which the almo- 
 ners of the Peabody Fund would hold to the 
 demand for ''mixed schools." In 1869, he 
 wrote to a New Orleans paper in reply to 
 articles of inquiry : 
 
 "I will now state our position, which is 
 perfectly known to you. We assume no 
 control whatever over the arrangement of 
 the schools to which assistance is accorded. 
 
 ^ See Peabody Education Fund, by the Hon. J. L. M. 
 Curry. 
 
126 Barnas Sears 
 
 We have nothing to do with any party 
 questions, or with the poHcy pursued by 
 Municipal or State authorities. We only 
 wish to aid in the work of universal education. 
 If separate schools are provided for the two 
 races, and both of them are pleased with the 
 arrangement, we can have no embarrass- 
 ment in co-operating with the State authori- 
 ties. If the law requires mixed schools, and 
 the children, whether white or black, gener- 
 ally attend them, we shall have no difficulty 
 in our work. ... If a State government 
 ventures upon an experiment which works 
 badly, we cannot help it. We leave the re- 
 sponsibility where it belongs. We must go 
 our way, and do our duty, helping the needy 
 and uneducated 'among the entire population, 
 without other distinction than their needs, 
 and the opportunities of usefulness to them.' 
 Our proper business is to encourage univer- 
 sal education ; not to meddle with any party 
 question, nor to encourage or discourage any 
 political body." 
 
 But he became fully convinced that "any 
 
A Christian Educator 127 
 
 authoritative interference with the schools of 
 these States (by Congress) would be disas- 
 trous to the dearest interests of education, 
 and would be by far the most unfortunate 
 for that class of citizens in whose behalf such 
 measures have been proposed. Foreseeing 
 the dangers which threatened the destruction 
 of the State systems of free schools in the 
 South, in all of which provision is made for 
 the education of one race as much as the 
 other, and standing, in some sense, as the 
 guardian of the interests committed to your 
 care, I could not remain a passive spectator, 
 while men in power were unwittingly, as 
 we are bound to believe, urging on a meas- 
 ure which, if carried out, would undo nearly 
 all that you have done at the expenditure of 
 so much treasure and assiduous labor. On 
 the contrary, I felt constrained to go twice 
 before committees and leading members of 
 Congress, and utter a voice of earnest warn- 
 ing against a futile attempt to enforce ' mixed 
 schools,' and to show, as best I might, what 
 would be the necessary operation of such a 
 
128 Barnas Sears 
 
 law. . . . Already an amount of mischief 
 has been done which it will take years to 
 repair. Confidence has been shaken; and 
 men who stood firm before have become de- 
 spondent, and are retiring from the field. . . . 
 Upon no part of the community would the 
 threatened calamity fall so heavily as upon 
 the colored people. Others can, without any 
 personal sacrifice, return to the old system of 
 private schools. . . . These, on the other 
 hand, would in most places be left com- 
 pletely destitute of schools. . . . Let us 
 look at the question in the light of their 
 interest m.erely. What advantages of edu- 
 cation have they now in fact or in law? The 
 same that the white people have. . . . 
 The laws in all the States require the same 
 provision to be made for both. Nor can any 
 distinction be safely made in administering 
 them. . . . From the very nature of the 
 case, the State governments must, in the 
 end, adopt and carry out the same rule Tor 
 both races," etc. (Annual Report in 1874). 
 The "Civil Rights Bill" was passed without 
 
A Christian Educator 129 
 
 the clause covering the co-education of the 
 races, and the ''States moved on with con- 
 fidence and courage," the words of Doctor 
 Curry assure us. 
 
 To illustrate a little further the work of 
 Doctor Sears, it may be remarked that during 
 the winter and spring of 1876 he made a can- 
 vass of the State of Texas in the interest of 
 public schools, which had failed of success 
 "during a period of fierce party strife." In 
 a letter to Mr. Winthrop, he says: " My work 
 in Texas was finished more than a week ago, 
 and I trust all reasonable expectations have 
 been realized. The appointments and other 
 arrangements made by our agent, Rev. Doctor 
 Burleson, turned out to be excellent." And 
 Doctor Burleson published an address, in 
 which he said: "Doctor Sears has made this 
 tour to Texas in compHance with the special 
 request of Mr. Peabody, expressed shortly 
 before his death. There never was such a 
 canvass made in the great cause of educa- 
 tion in Texas before, and never was there 
 such enthusiasm awakened to commence a 
 
I30 Barnas Sears 
 
 new and grand educational era in Texas. 
 Doctor Sears has been heard with profound 
 attention by our governor and supreme 
 judges, our greatest educators, our mayors, 
 our editors, our merchants, and leading 
 minds in all our professions and occupations. 
 One sentiment universally prevails — and 
 that is, that it will be a burning shame on 
 Texas not to provide better educational 
 facilities." 
 
 These particulars have been mentioned to 
 show, though in a very imperfect manner, 
 the extremely difficult and arduous service 
 which Doctor Sears was called to perform. 
 It would be easy to increase their number in- 
 definitely, and to enlarge upon the patience 
 and tact always displayed by him. He was 
 a Christian philanthropist putting all his 
 energy and heart into the work. 
 
 As to the manner of his fulfilling this new 
 and conspicuous trust, I may here produce the 
 testimony of the Honorable Robert C. Win- 
 throp at the funeral of Doctor Sears in Brook- 
 line. The very style of Mr. Winthrop's re- 
 
A Christian Educator 131 
 
 marks seems to labor with his emotion and 
 sense of conscientious obligation to speak 
 but the words of truth and soberness : 
 
 " It must be only a word that I shall say. 
 Within an hour past I have reached my home 
 after a fatiguing journey of more than sixty. 
 miles on this most oppressive day rather than 
 be absent from the obsequies of one whom I 
 venerated and loved. And the most that I 
 can say here this afternoon is to unite my 
 voice with that of my friend (Mr. Boutwell) 
 who has just taken his seat, in thanking God 
 for the good and great life that has just 
 closed. It has been my fortune to be brought 
 into the most intimate and affectionate re- 
 lations to Doctor Sears for thirteen years 
 past, and I think hardly a full month 
 has ever elapsed during that period — unless 
 I happened to be in Europe, and even then 
 his letters often followed me — that I have 
 not read letters from him on this question of 
 the great trust which had been committed 
 to him through Mr. George Peabody, or, as 
 I might say, as much through my own 
 
132 Barnas Sears 
 
 agency as Mr. Peabody's, for Mr. Peabody 
 had never known Doctor Sears, I think, until 
 after he had been made Secretary or General 
 Agent of that great Board of Trustees. Gov- 
 ernor Clifford and myself knew him as 
 Secretary of the Board of Education of Massa- 
 chusetts, and Governor Clifford had known 
 him as President of Brown University; but 
 I know very well that from the day on which, 
 by a unanimous vote of that great Board, we 
 made him its General Agent, from that time 
 to this we have gloried in that act. It has 
 been the crowning glory of his own life. We 
 have had as Trustees, with whom he was 
 associated, such men as President Hayes, 
 President Grant, Governor Fish, Secretary 
 Evarts, Bishop Mcllvaine of Ohio, Bishop 
 Whipple, the present Apostolic of Minnesota, 
 and I think there is not one of them, and 
 many others, who would not enjoin upon 
 me, utterly unprepared as I am, for I had 
 the intimation only as I entered the door a 
 moment ago that anything was expected 
 from me — ^there is not one of them who 
 
THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP 
 
A Christian Educator 133 
 
 would not hold me to account if I did not 
 express in behalf of the whole Board, includ- 
 ing especially the Southern members — Mr. 
 Keene, of South Carolina, Mr. Stuart, Gen- 
 eral Jackson, of Georgia, and the Chief Jus- 
 tice of Louisiana, who has recently been 
 added to our Board in place of General Tay- 
 lor — ^there is not one of them who would not 
 hold me to strict account if I did not express 
 in their behalf as well as my own the deep 
 sense of the great public loss that has been 
 sustained in the death of Doctor Sears, and 
 of the great personal loss which we shall all 
 feel. 
 
 " But, as I said, he has finished the crown- 
 ing glory of his life. Coming in just at the 
 close of the war, and when feelings between 
 the different parts of the country were embit- 
 tered, when there was great jealousy, great 
 impatience with anything that should seem 
 like interference with Southern institutions, 
 he so conducted that great trust through a 
 period of thirteen years, that we have com- 
 pleted, really, the primary work for which 
 
 */ 
 
134 Barnas Sears 
 
 the trust was instituted, and are ready to 
 follow a defined line of policy. He has con- 
 ducted it in a manner which I do not believe 
 any man living or dead could have conducted 
 it — with so much success, with so much abil- 
 ity, with so much devotion. I can say 
 nothing more." 
 
 And surely nothing more need be said to 
 convince anyone, who knows the relation of 
 Robert C. Winthrop to Barnas Sears and the 
 Peabody Fund, that the service of Doctor 
 Sears to the cause of education during the 
 last thirteen years of his life was a service of 
 the noblest and finest quality, worthy of the 
 cause and worthy of the man whose name 
 we delight to honor. 
 
 Yet the remarks of the Right Reverend H. 
 B. Whipple, at the meeting of the Board of 
 Trustees, February 2, 1881, after the Chair- 
 man's address on Doctor Sears, deserve a 
 place in this record: 
 
 " I do not feel able to add one word to the 
 just tribute paid by our Chairman to the 
 memory of Doctor Sears. His name will al- 
 
A Christian Educator 135 
 
 ways be remembered as the wise almoner of 
 this great trust. We all know his rare wis- 
 dom, his patient industry and his gentleness 
 in overcoming obstacles, and so drawing all 
 hearts to him that they worked with him in 
 laying the foundations of a system of public 
 schools for the South. 
 
 ''I feel that as one of another communion I 
 may say a few words of his Christian charac- 
 ter. The crowning glory of his life was his 
 simple, earnest faith in Jesus Christ. It was 
 to him a life of loyalty to the One who had 
 created and redeemed him. He doubtless 
 loved the church which was his home, but 
 his heart was too great to have his sym- 
 pathies fettered by any hedges of man's 
 making. He loved all whom God loved, and 
 his heart went out for all who need the com- 
 fort and consolations of religion. We can 
 all recall times when his gentle manners and 
 Christian humility won our hearts. I have 
 felt it a great privilege to be associated with 
 one whose religion was so broad, so earnest, 
 so real. Few men leave behind them so 
 
136 Barnas Sears 
 
 many blessed memories of work which was 
 well done. We can rejoice, while we mourn, 
 that the brave servant of Christ has entered 
 into the rest of the people of God. For him 
 the hoary head was a crown of glory, for he 
 was found in the way of righteousness, and 
 we believe that for him at eventide there was 
 the light of the other home." 
 
 No less instructive were the remarks of 
 the Honorable A. H. H. Stuart at the same 
 meeting of the Board. After speaking of 
 Doctor Sears at his home in Staunton, 
 he added these words concerning his 
 work: 
 
 '' But it was as an advocate of popular ed- 
 ucation, as an organizer of public schools, as 
 an exponent of the best methods of instruc- 
 tion, as a leader of public opinion, that he 
 stood pre-eminent among the men of the day. 
 His speech before the Convention of Virginia 
 in 1868, on the subject of * Free Schools,' and 
 the general diffusion of knowledge among the 
 people, was, in my judgment, one of the 
 ablest and most effective that was ever de- 
 
A Christian Educator 137 
 
 livered on that subject ; and I have no hesi- 
 tation in saying that it aided materially in 
 giving shape and impulse to the admirable 
 system of ' Free Schools ' which now prevails 
 in Virginia. 
 
 ''In reading the speech a few days ago, I 
 was particularly impressed with the follow- 
 ing sentence : ' Among the best gifts of Provi- i/' 
 dence to a nation are great and good men 
 who act as its leaders and guides; who 
 leave their mark upon their age ; who give a 
 new direction to affairs; who introduce a 
 course of events which go down from genera- 
 tion to generation pouring their blessings on 
 mankind.' How replete with wisdom, how 
 beautiful in expression, is this sentence,— 
 how worthy of the man who gave utterance 
 to it ! And who among those best acquainted 
 with him can fail to perceive that, in these 
 few words, he unconsciously, but with a 
 master's hand, sketched what must be recog- 
 nized as an accurate portrait of his own 
 noble character!" 
 
 Not less significant were the words of 
 
138 Barnas Sears 
 
 Chancellor Stearns of the Normal College at 
 Nashville, Tenn., as a tribute to the character 
 and work of Doctor Sears : ' ' This is not the 
 time or place for a minute analysis of the char- 
 acter of this gifted person, nor for a discussion 
 of those traits whose strength, fullness, and 
 harmony made up the man. I have already 
 touched upon many of the more prominent. 
 But as I have challenged your admiration, 
 I would also with much more earnestness, if 
 possible, hold up this exalted character for 
 your study and imitation. His almost 
 august person will never again be seen, or 
 his noble presence felt by us. We shall 
 never again listen, spellbound, to the words 
 of wise counsel falling in sweet yet manly 
 tones from his lips. We shall see him no 
 more, but I shall beg you not to forget what 
 made him great. The dignity of his person, 
 the elegance and courtliness of his man- 
 ners, his profound learning, his benevolent 
 spirit, his purity of heart, his undying Chris- 
 tian faith, his devotion to his Lord and Mas- 
 ter, may all be yours. Live, young gentlemen 
 
A Christian Educator 139 
 
 and ladies, such lives as his, and you will not 
 have lived in vain." 
 
 Tributes of a similar character came to 
 Mr. Winthrop from all parts of the South; 
 from boards of education, trustees of public 
 schools, State superintendents of instruction, 
 associations of teachers, city councils, and 
 governors; from Virginia, Georgia, Tennes- 
 see, Kansas, and Texas. All of them were 
 unqualified in their high appreciation of the 
 service which Doctor Sears had rendered to 
 the cause of education by his personal influ- 
 ence in the administration of the Peabody 
 Fund. It would be a pleasure to reproduce 
 these testimonials of his almost unparalleled 
 success in so difficult an enterprise; but 
 space will not permit. 
 
 In perfect accord with these testimonies 
 concerning Doctor Sears in the last thirteen 
 years of his life, are the words of the writer 
 of this memorial at his funeral, based upon 
 what he was as a teacher thirty years before. 
 His earlier work was prophetic of his later. 
 No man can be an inspiring teacher without 
 
 << 
 
HO Barnas Sears 
 
 loving knowledge with a great and mani- 
 fest love. This qualification for his work at 
 Newton was possessed in an eminent degree 
 by Doctor Sears. His pupils in theology and 
 church history were made to feel that realms 
 of truth were constantly opening to his view, 
 and that he was eagerly beckoning them on- 
 ward in the search for it. The action of his 
 mind was rapid and comprehensive. De- 
 tails of argument did not confuse him. He 
 laid hold of the latest and best discussions of 
 the topics which he was to present and used 
 them with skill. He gave to his pupils the 
 impression that truth was many-sided and 
 not to be attained without effort, but also 
 that it was eternal and within the reach of 
 honest endeavor. Not that it could be found 
 here in its perfection; for, though his words 
 were habitually hopeful, no one was more will- 
 ing to admit that now we know but in part. 
 ''With this sober estimate of human prog- 
 ress in religious science, he kept alive in his 
 own heart and kindled in the hearts of his 
 pupils an ardent love of Christian knowledge, 
 
A Christian Educator 141 
 
 giving to some of them an impulse to high 
 endeavor which will only cease to work with 
 the last moment of life. 
 
 ''But Doctor Sears was not simply a 
 scholar, he was also a philanthropist deeply 
 interested in the improvement of society. 
 Familiar with the history of mankind, he 
 was accustomed to trace with delight the 
 indications of a divine plan in that history, 
 the signs of overruling wisdom amid the 
 passion and selfishness of conflicting nations, 
 the evidences of progress toward something 
 better in the operation of vast social, moral, 
 and religious forces. This was evident in his 
 teaching. He had an eye to the world while 
 he was speaking to his class. He felt the 
 pulses of his age while he was dealing with 
 a few young men in the retirement of an 
 upper room. This may have been partly 
 due to the historical cast of his mind, but it 
 was chiefly due to his love of man. There 
 was nothing of the hermit in his spirit. He 
 believed in living and working among men 
 for their benefit. 
 
142 Barnas Sears 
 
 ''And no class of students could be so 
 small that he did not seem to connect it with 
 the whole world, and to feel that the truth 
 he was unfolding might be carried by it to 
 the ends of the earth. Nor was this a de- 
 lusion. From some of the smallest groups 
 that sat at his feet, men were called to visit 
 distant lands, that they might cast seeds of 
 truth into minds untaught and dark. How 
 much of their zeal for the diffusion of saving 
 truth was due to his influence no one can tell, 
 but we who enjoyed his tuition know that 
 the weal of mankind was rarely absent from 
 his thoughts. 
 
 ''For eight years he was a faithful and 
 laborious member of the Executive Com- 
 mittee of our Foreign Missionary Society. 
 His service on this Committee was during a 
 time of peculiar difficulty and excitement; 
 his counsel and influence are said to have 
 been wise and firm though conciliatory, and 
 his efforts very efficient in preserving the 
 Society from bankruptcy. I remember well 
 the appeals which he sometimes made to 
 
A Christian Educator 143 
 
 young men in behalf of the foreign vService. 
 Moreover, happily for us, and I believe for 
 him, he was repeatedly chosen, a few years 
 since, to preside over the Missionary Union 
 (three years, 1 874-77) . The addresses which 
 he delivered at the opening sessions of the 
 Union were remarkable, especially the last 
 two, one of them upon the Older Mission- 
 aries of the Society, and the other upon the 
 Present State of our Mission Fields. 
 
 ''After what has been said, it is scarcely 
 necessary to speak of Doctor Sears's fidelity 
 to Christian truth. Yet this is one of the 
 clearest evidences of high character which 
 the life of any Christian affords. For, 
 though persecution has ceased, it is impos- 
 sible for any good man to fill a place in 
 society without meeting with persons who 
 disapprove, if they do not despise, his re- 
 ligious belief; and it is the mark of a great 
 and genuine man to be always faithful to his 
 convictions of religious duty, to stand firmly 
 by what he believes to be true, and to let the 
 testimony of his example proclaim the faith 
 
144 Barnas Sears 
 
 of his soul. In this respect, I have reason to 
 suppose that Doctor Sears was a model 
 Christian, courteous to all, overawed by 
 none, willing to treat others kindly, but 
 ready, on proper occasions, to avow his own 
 standing in the Church of Christ, and his own 
 faith in the Redeemer of men. Such was 
 the impression which he made on our minds 
 as a theological teacher. For while his dis- 
 cussions in the class-room were broad and 
 free, without bitterness to any and singu- 
 larly just to those whose views differed from 
 his own, I am bound to say that I was never 
 in doubt as to his own belief on any impor- 
 tant point, and was sure that he accepted 
 with steadfast confidence the cardinal facts 
 and principles of our holy religion. Making 
 free use of German scholarship, and boldly 
 asserting it to be his right and duty to do 
 this, he was never, I think, the servant of 
 that scholarship, but always, in a proper 
 sense, its master, rejecting without fear or 
 scruple any of its conclusions that seemed to 
 be erroneous. And no mind, reverent and 
 
A Christian Educator 145 
 
 hospitable towards truth, can do otherwise. 
 Is not this the same man who thirty years 
 afterwards administered the Peabody Fund 
 in the South ? 
 
 ** If a more definite statement is desired in 
 respect to the results of Doctor Sears' s work 
 in the South, the following words of Honor- 
 able Robert C. Winthrop are sufficient : ' We 
 may well thank God that we have enjoyed 
 his inestimable services for thirteen succes- 
 sive years, and that during this period he 
 has accomplished, with our counsel and co- 
 operation, the first and most important part 
 of the plan which he originally marked out 
 for us. We have laid foundations which 
 cannot be removed. The Common School 
 System has been recognized and adopted in 
 every one of the States contemplated by 
 Mr. Peabody 's endowment. Good School 
 Laws have been enacted in all the Southern 
 States, and good Common Schools may now 
 be found "sprinkled," as he said, over those 
 States, as examples and models.' 
 
 "Another authority says : * When he began. 
 
146 Barnas Sears 
 
 the South was almost a stranger to public 
 schools; to-day the public-school system of 
 all Southern States is almost complete, and 
 its rapidly increasing privileges are offered 
 to all alike. It would be erroneous to assert 
 that this is exclusively the work of Doctor 
 Sears ; but it is right to say that no man has 
 cared more wisely for the common schools of 
 the whole South than Doctor Sears. He 
 has done fully as much for the schools of 
 the South as Horace Mann did for those of 
 Massachusetts; possibly he has done more. 
 And, unlike most reformers, he has been a 
 peace-maker, modest, retiring, and sweet- 
 tempered. It would be contrary to human 
 nature, if the whole South did not mourn his 
 loss like that of a paternal friend and per- 
 sonal benefactor.* 
 
 * ' In respect to the second part of the work 
 planned by Doctor Sears, the founding of 
 Normal Schools, of scholarships, and the 
 promotion of Teachers' Institutes, a good 
 beginning had been made. Writing to Mr. 
 Winthrop on the 23d of October, 1877, he 
 
A Christian Educator 147 
 
 says of Texas: 'The truth is, the light is 
 coming in steadily, and cannot be shut out. 
 I am reminded of what Luther said to Mel- 
 ancthon, "When you and I are drinking our 
 beer, the Gospel is spreading among the 
 people."' 
 
 "In a letter to Mr. Winthrop, dated April 
 28, 1879, after speaking of the Normal 
 Schools in North Carolina, Mississippi, Vir- 
 ginia, and Tennessee, and of the movements 
 for their establishment in Florida, Georgia, 
 and Texas, he says: 'On the whole, it now 
 looks as if we should carry out our new plan, 
 the improvement of teachers, as success- 
 fully as we did our first, the establishment of 
 schools. We must not expect to accomplish 
 this in a day ; but we may expect to see the 
 work done in a few years, if we steadily make 
 this our chief aim.' 
 
 "In his efforts to solve a perplexing prob- 
 lem concerning the removal of the Normal 
 College at Nashville, Tennessee, to another 
 place, Doctor Sears went to Atlanta, Georgia, 
 in the month of March, 1880, where he was 
 
148 Barnas Sears 
 
 joined by Chancellor Stearns on the 2 2d of 
 the month. 'On my arrival,' the Chancel- 
 lor reports, ' I found that Doctor Sears had 
 reached Atlanta some time before me. To 
 my deep regret, I found him in bed and very 
 ill, — much more so, it seemed to me, than he 
 was willing to admit. He had been actively 
 engaged since his arrival, with numerous 
 persons, who sought his always agreeable 
 company, and in visiting different sites pro- 
 posed for the location of the College. The 
 weather was cold and damp, and he was suf- 
 fering too much for the further prosecution 
 of business.' After describing a visit made 
 by three members of the Board to Athens, a 
 rival site for the College, Mr. Stearns con- 
 tinues: *We did not reach Atlanta on our 
 return the second day, until after 12 o'clock 
 at night. With some hesitation lest I should 
 disturb the Governor's hospitable family, I 
 repaired to the Executive Mansion. The 
 servant who admitted me said : ' ' Doctor 
 Sears wishes to see you in his room as soon as 
 you arrive." *' But Doctor Sears," I replied, 
 
A Christian Educator 149 
 
 "did not probably anticipate that I would 
 be detained until so late an hour; besides, 
 he is sick, and I cannot think of disturbing 
 him." ''But," said he, ''Doctor Sears has 
 not gone to bed, and says he shall not until 
 you come. He must see you to-night." I 
 accordingly knocked softly at his door, al- 
 most certain that there would be no re- 
 sponse ; but, to my amazement, he called me 
 in, and, as the servant said, sat waiting my 
 arrival at nearly one o'clock at night ! He 
 could not sleep, he said, until my return 
 and he had heard my report. I gave him 
 a brief description of my visit, and then 
 urged him to retire, promising to give him 
 all the particulars in the morning.' 
 
 *'It may not be out of place for me to 
 say here, that the physical disability under 
 which Doctor Sears was laboring at this time 
 seemed to us who were near him a mere tem- 
 porary affliction, and not at all indicative of 
 enfeebled or wasting physical powers. His 
 mind seemed never more vigorous, quicker 
 of apprehension, clearer or more powerful, 
 
150 Barnas Sears 
 
 or his judgment more logical and profound. 
 The remarkable vigor of intellect he exhibited 
 was not unfrequently commented upon by 
 those he met during this visit." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 But what can be said of Doctor Sears in his 
 Staunton home during these thirteen years ? 
 In the remarks of Honorable A. H. H. Stuart, 
 a part of which have already been quoted, we 
 find a partial answer to this question. ''In 
 my first interview I found myself drawn to 
 him by that species of magnetism which 
 some men possess in so high a degree, and 
 which at once inspires confidence and awak- 
 ens sympathy. ... To high intellectual 
 gifts and large attainments in most of the 
 departments of useful knowledge, he united 
 an urbanity of manner and vivacity of 
 spirits which rendered his society peculiarly 
 attractive. His colloquial talent and his 
 boundless stores of literary incidents and 
 anecdotes gave a fascination to his conversa- 
 tion which I have rarely known equalled. 
 
 151 
 
152 Barnas Sears 
 
 His house in Staunton was a sort of social 
 center, where a Hberal hospitahty was dis- 
 pensed, and gentlemen and ladies of culti- 
 vated tastes met periodically to read and 
 interchange thoughts and comments on the 
 best literary works of the day. ... In 
 social life, while Dr. Sears was always digni- 
 fied in his bearing, and never for a moment 
 forgot what was due to his high official posi- 
 tion and his sacred calling as a minister of the 
 Gospel, like Sidney Smith, he often took 
 pleasure in unbending and giving way to the 
 natural gayety of his disposition. On more 
 than one festive occasion, when surrounded 
 by a few congenial friends, I have known 
 him unlock, as it were, the treasury of his 
 literary knowledge, and delight the company 
 with racy anecdotes and sparkling displays 
 of wit and humor, which all felt it was a high 
 privilege to enjoy." 
 
 Not long after his death, there appeared 
 in The Watchman an article which speaks in 
 pleasant terms of his enjoyment of life in his 
 Virginia home. 
 
RESIDENCE OF DR. SEARS AT STAUNTON, VIRGINIA 
 
A Christian Educator 153 
 
 **He adapted himself to a retired, quiet 
 life with surprising cheerfulness. He be- 
 came very fond of his beautiful Virginia 
 home, and spent much of his leisure in im- 
 proving it. During the long summer months 
 he preferred remaining there to travelling 
 or visiting abroad. The pure mountain air 
 and the magnificent view from his piazza of 
 the famous 'Valley of the Shenandoah,' ex- 
 tending for more than twenty miles, inter- 
 rupted at last by the Blue Ridge, afforded 
 him continual delight. It was his habit to 
 take a favorite author out into the open air, 
 and spend hours under the wide-spreading 
 oaks, with which his place abounded. Here 
 much of his thinking was done ; here much 
 of his company was received. Many of his 
 intimate friends find themselves even now 
 vainly looking for the familiar figure, as 
 they come up the shady walks and expect- 
 ing the kindly greeting which always wel- 
 comed them. He took great pleasure in 
 pointing out the various places of interest to 
 the frequent strangers who, attracted by the 
 
154 Barnas Sears 
 
 commanding prospect, rather hesitatingly- 
 ventured up the hill. Many have carried 
 away pleasant memories of the genial, cour- 
 teous old gentleman, who so hospitably 
 begged them to rest awhile, and, in the case 
 of ladies and children, so freely offered them 
 flowers or fruit. 
 
 'Mn previous situations he had never had 
 the time or opportunity to enter into outdoor 
 occupations, but now, like the venerable Dr. 
 Wayland, he found delight in cultivating 
 fruit-trees, and vines, and ornamental shrubs ; 
 and, although unused to the exertion, might 
 often have been seen with his hoe or pruning- 
 knife. The partial superintending of a small 
 place, about a mile distant from his residence, 
 interested him much, and although regarded 
 as merely a ' garden' by Virginians, who 
 could not, by any stretch of courtesy, call 
 forty acres a 'farm,' to him it was quite an 
 undertaking. Conjectures were often laugh- 
 ingly made as to what some of his Northern 
 friends would say, if they could meet him, 
 riding out behind his colored man, in his 
 
A Christian Educator 155 
 
 spring wagon, with wide-brimmed hat and 
 umbrella, 'to view his crops.' There can be 
 no doubt that this simple, quiet country 
 residence prolonged his life for years. The 
 bronchial cough, which always assailed him 
 on Northern trips, here ceased. The un- 
 wonted exercise brought healthful fatigue, 
 and his sleep was calm and restful." 
 
 With these '' Northern trips " may be con- 
 nected an item of the present writer's ex- 
 perience. He is member of a literary and 
 religious club which Doctor Sears honored 
 with his presence during a transient visit to 
 Boston. One of the usages of the club is to 
 call upon its members and guests to make 
 some report of their reading during the 
 month. Doctor Sears was easily first in such 
 an exercise ; for he was not only a great reader 
 of good books, but a most skilful reporter of 
 their contents. His memory retained with 
 burr-like tenacity the substance of what was 
 committed to it, and was rarely at fault in re- 
 recalling whatever was stored away in it . On 
 the occasion referred to, his characterization 
 
156 Barnas Sears 
 
 of several books was so distinct and forcible 
 as to kindle the admiration of all present. 
 
 Doctor Sears was able to adapt himself 
 with remarkable facility to circumstances. 
 A friend writes that ''it was often a wonder 
 how he could so readily conform to any and 
 every condition. Once while visiting a well- 
 known family in the Southwestern part of 
 the State, he had occasion to take a trip of 
 more than seventy miles across uncultivated 
 country. The oldest lady member owned 
 a very fine saddle-horse, which she, although 
 a grandmother, kept exclusively for her in- 
 dividual use. In arranging for the expedi- 
 tion, this lady proposed that Doctor Sears 
 should take her horse and journey in the 
 saddle! It had been probably over forty 
 years since he had ridden horseback, but he 
 accepted the proposal, and afterwards was ac- 
 customed to relate, with some merriment, how 
 he accomplished the jaunt in three days' time. 
 Mr. Peabody met this lady at the White Sul- 
 phur Springs, shortly after, in company with 
 Doctor Sears, and hearing this fact related, 
 
4| 
 
 A Christian Educator 157 
 
 thanked her very graciously for assisting in 
 carrying out his great scheme of education. 
 
 ''On another occasion, while travelling in 
 Arkansas, the happy ability to 'accept the 
 situation' asserted itself with good fortune 
 to others. A furious snow-storm had 
 blocked the track, detaining the impatient 
 passengers for many hours. Without food 
 or fuel, their condition was most uncom- 
 fortable, but he, with his cheerful voice and 
 ready wit, beguiled the time, encouraging 
 each individual to contribute anecdote or 
 joke, so that the dismal detention was robbed 
 of half its wretchedness. Among the ladies 
 there was one, however, who did not par- 
 ticipate in the amusement and laughter. On 
 inquiry, it was found that she was a foreigner, 
 and unable to speak English. Her joy was 
 intense on hearing Dr. Sears address her in 
 her own language, and she soon told him her 
 romantic history. Several years before, her 
 lover had left Germany to make a home in 
 the United States, and had finally settled in 
 Arkansas. Having succeeded in saving 
 
158 Barnas Sears 
 
 some money, he sent for his betrothed to 
 come to him. She had been put in charge 
 of a family who came as far as New York, 
 and who gave her, on parting, a written ap- 
 peal to whomever she should journey with, be- 
 speaking their kind offices. Armed with this 
 slight protection, she had bravely made her 
 way to within a few miles of her destination. 
 But this accident had completely unnerved 
 her, and she was about to give way to de- 
 spair, when the kind, reassuring stranger 
 bade her take heart and promised to assist 
 her all in his power. She afterwards said 
 that hearing 'those good words from the 
 beautiful old gentleman gave new courage.' 
 
 "Doctor Sears's journeys abounded in in- 
 cidents of this sort, showing uniform courtesy 
 and unfeigned interest in the welfare of his 
 fellow-creatures. His was true kindness of 
 heart, bestowing itself alike on the rich and 
 the poor, the educated and the ignorant. As 
 a natural result he made hosts of friends, and 
 always met with the greatest attention in all 
 his Southern trips." 
 
A Christian Educator 159 
 
 It is possible to emphasize the "sweet 
 reasonableness" of Doctor Sears so strongly 
 as to obscure his indignation at wrong and 
 even his energy in carrying out a deliberate 
 purpose. He was from first to last, as every 
 great worker must be, tenax propositi. Clear- 
 sighted in deliberation, he was strenuous in 
 action. Doctor Heman Lincoln refers to an 
 intimation that he sometimes ''used a vein 
 of sarcasm in his controversial writing which 
 wounded persons more than errors;" but 
 he replies very truly that ''no one intimate 
 with Doctor Sears would doubt that a power 
 of sarcasm was one of his great intellectual 
 gifts. His intimate friends always won- 
 dered how he could hold such a power under 
 restraint. He was a model of urbanity in 
 social life, and of courtesy in discussions on 
 the platform and through the press. The 
 gift of sarcasm was rarely brought into use, 
 perhaps never, save in obedience to the 
 divine command: 'Answer a fool according 
 to his folly, lest he be wise in his own con- 
 ceit.'" 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 LAST ADDRESS READ BY DOCTOR ELLIS 
 
 We now turn to the words spoken by- 
 Doctor George E. Ellis concerning the last 
 days of his friend at Saratoga, whither he 
 had come to address the American Institute 
 of Instruction on the "Educational Progress 
 in the United States During the last Fifty 
 Years." Said Doctor Ellis, before reading for 
 his friend this address: "It could not have 
 entered my mind in coming to make my 
 accustomed summer visit here, that I should 
 be called to the service which I am asked 
 now to perform, in part by the late honored 
 and revered Doctor Sears, and in part by the 
 president of this institute. Doctor Sears had 
 dictated at his home in Staunton, Virginia, 
 and brought with him, the manuscript of an 
 address for this occasion. He was much re- 
 duced in health and very weak when he 
 
 i6o 
 
A Christian Educator i6i 
 
 came, four weeks ago, and expected that his 
 address would be read for him, while he hoped 
 to attend your meetings. You all know 
 with what fidelity and ability, with what 
 pre-eminent wisdom and practical efficiency 
 he has discharged his high and difficult ser- 
 vice to the great Peabody Educational Trust 
 for the Southern States. The distinguished 
 and most earnest president of that commis- 
 sion, the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, my 
 friend and neighbor in Boston, stood in the 
 closest relations of confidence and regard with 
 Doctor Sears, and charged me on my coming 
 here to seek out the patient, with whom I had 
 been long acquainted, and to report on his 
 condition. I accordingly made almost daily 
 visits, and, by Doctor Sears's request, these 
 were generally protracted ones, as they en- 
 gaged his mind from dwelling on his ill symp- 
 toms. He was exceedingly reduced and 
 weak, but hopeful of at least partial restora- 
 tion, preserving all his dignity and sweet 
 serenity, constantly referring to the benefi- 
 cent work which had engaged him with 
 
1 62 Barnas Sears 
 
 such rewarding results for thirteen years, 
 and expressing his profound respect and 
 warm affection for his advising and sus- 
 taining friend, Mr. Winthrop. His vigor 
 of mind was wholly unimpaired, and his 
 thoughts, fed by the elevated tasks and oc- 
 cupations which had made his long life so 
 serviceable and benignant, were a better sus- 
 tenance than his slender diet and his un- 
 availing drugs. At the verge of its close, his 
 animating, existing being, his life, seemed to 
 be of a sort for which there could be no ar- 
 rest or break, so continuous and steadfast 
 was its flow on towards a deepening channel. 
 His interest for his last days was largely en- 
 gaged by his address for the occasion. The 
 only intimation which he gave as to his 
 thought on what might be the result, near, 
 or not long to be delayed, of his illness, was 
 in a word which he dropped to me, that this 
 address was to be his last labor of the pen. 
 On Saturday, by his gently earnest request, 
 I read it over to him in his chamber. With 
 all the acuteness and vivacity of mind of his 
 
A Christian Educator 163 
 
 best years he made me pause upon words 
 and statements, to insure simplicity and ex- 
 actness as to phrase and fact. And then, 
 with most courteous delicacy, he solicited of 
 me as a favor, what more than willingly I am 
 now to do, adding also the suggestion that 
 I should preface the reading by telling you 
 how it fell to me. I would answer but 
 vaguely his full question as to what I thought 
 might be immediately before him. Trust 
 and hope are always full and fair for such as 
 he. More difficult was it to meet the in- 
 quiry of his faithful partner : ' I have lived 
 with him fifty years. He is a pure man. 
 Am I going to lose my dear husband ? ' Care- 
 ful preparations had been made for his pas- 
 sage to Boston yesterday, but spirit and 
 body then chose to part, and took their ways 
 to different homes." 
 
 This chaste and beautiful tribute was re- 
 ceived with profound attention, and the 
 earnest impressiveness of the speaker pro- 
 duced deep emotion in the vast assemblage. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 RETROSPECT 
 
 Thus passed from human sight (on July 6, 
 1880) a leader of men in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. How can we best interpret the facts 
 brought to mind by this imperfect sketch of 
 his life? Of one thing we may be certain, 
 namely, that he was debtor to his parents 
 for a nature of uncommon resources, for a 
 brain of fine qualities, a soul of noble im- 
 pulses, and a body of manly proportions. 
 He was born for strenuous action, and would 
 have achieved distinction in any form of 
 public service which he had chosen. There 
 is, indeed, no evidence that he was a born 
 poet, or that he could have excelled in writing 
 verses; but almost anything else he seemed 
 able to do. One cannot be too thankful for 
 an intelligent and vigorous ancestry. 
 
 But heredity does not really account for 
 
 164 
 
A Christian Educator 165 
 
 individuality. Doctor Sears was in many 
 respects superior to any of his family. He 
 was in fact a new and self -trained man. The 
 steps of his progress from the age of fifteen 
 to the end were self -chosen and resolute ; the 
 goal which he set before his eyes from the 
 first was distant and shining. He sought to 
 become a true servant of God by serving 
 truly the highest interests of man; and for 
 long years, at his own charges, he persisted 
 in qualifying himself for this high calling. In 
 those years the fibre of his being was tested 
 and made firm, the mettle of his spirit was 
 proved and seen to be pure and ardent. 
 Reason, memory, and conscience were sub- 
 jected to severe discipline, and by means of 
 humane studies his knowledge of what is in 
 man was steadily augmented. He was in 
 the end well read in the lore of the soul. 
 What a lesson does his career offer to an 
 American youth who is asking : What am I to 
 do in life? How can a farmer boy without 
 help reach a sphere of large influence among 
 men? 
 
1 66 Barnas Sears 
 
 Yet it is not strictly accurate to say that 
 Barnas Sears was altogether self-trained. 
 For ''there's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
 rough hew them as we will" ; and there was 
 at least one impulse to sublime endeavor in 
 the soul of young Sears which it would be 
 wrong to forget. He early became a King's 
 son, with a loyal and loving heart, and the 
 presence of that invisible King in his soul 
 was a source of light and holy impulse never 
 to be overlooked. His religious convictions 
 were deep and steadfast, the action of his 
 conscience was controlling, and his love to 
 God was unfailing and crescent to the last. 
 His sermons to the students at Brown, as 
 well as his Chapel talks to them, on occasions, 
 were referred to by Professor Lincoln at the 
 funeral as often both tender and impressive. 
 There was in him "a well of water springing 
 up into life eternal," which contributed even 
 more than his simply human purpose to his 
 education and success as an educator. 
 
 This had something also to do with his 
 manliness and courtesy. For he was singu- 
 
A Christian Educator 167 
 
 larly attractive in his intercourse with per- 
 sons younger than himself. His manner was 
 that of undisguised friendship, not that 
 of dignified though graceful condescension. 
 Young men soon felt at home in his study. 
 They were somehow made to understand 
 that he was a brother in spirit, considerate 
 of their feelings, their hopes, and their 
 anxieties. He wielded without apparent ef- 
 fort the sceptre of good breeding and fellow- 
 feeling combined. They looked upon his 
 benignant face with delight; they noticed 
 the sparkle of his eye with answering pleas- 
 ure. He was a Christian gentleman, which 
 presupposes both humanity and piety. He 
 was not saintly, but good and true and open- 
 hearted. So they trusted him fully. 
 
 That he was a distinguished scholar, in a 
 broad and true sense of the words, is un- 
 questionable; not a specialist in any one 
 language or natural science, but a man of 
 uncommon knowledge in many departments 
 of study; a natural linguist, historian, and 
 logician; a man of quick and penetrating 
 
1 68 Barnas Sears 
 
 insight, of easy versatility, of untiring energy 
 in quest of truth, and hospitable to new dis- 
 coveries without being easily disturbed in 
 older principles. He was so well informed 
 on almost all the subjects of human thought, 
 that it was ever a pleasure to converse with 
 him on any question before the public. 
 
 That he was an able teacher will also be 
 conceded by those who sat at his feet in the 
 class-room; not a martinet or drill -master ; 
 not a man who loved to have his ipsissima 
 verba repeated, as all his pupils were aware; 
 but one who opened broad fields of inquiry, 
 stimulated thought, and encouraged those 
 before him to employ their own judgment 
 and conscience in the interpretation of his- 
 tory and of life. His method perhaps was 
 not suited to every pupil, but it was very 
 inspiring and profitable to many, certainly 
 to those who were already graduates from col- 
 lege and engaged in studies for the ministry. 
 
 Doctor Sears was also a superb adminis- 
 trator. This appeared in his connection 
 with Newton, with the Massachusetts Board 
 
A Christian Educator 169 
 
 of Education, with Brown University, and 
 with the Peabody Trust. In the last im- 
 portant post his administrative capacity was 
 signally displayed. No one familiar with 
 the circumstances can entertain any doubt 
 on this point. The fruits of his work were 
 most beneficent, and one half the land has 
 reason to remember him as a singularly wise 
 and courageous advocate of public schools 
 where they were at first looked upon with 
 suspicion. His influence was a blessing of 
 inestimable value to the people of the South. 
 *' Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall 
 be called the children of God." 
 
 The springs and affluents of this beneficent 
 life must be sought in many quarters: first 
 of all, in the grace and providence of God ; 
 but then, in the ancestral heritage of capac- 
 ity from the Sears and Granger blood united ; 
 in the pure airs and clear waters of Berkshire ; 
 in the wholesome food and outdoor toil of 
 farm life; in the district schools of former 
 times, whether as pupil or teacher; in the 
 drill of worthy masters fitting boys for 
 
I70 Barnas Sears 
 
 college ; in the professors and books of a New 
 England college; in the special and more 
 thorough discussions of theological teachers ; 
 in the lessons of pastoral experience and 
 classical study; in the schools of Germany 
 and France, and the literatures of Greece 
 and Rome, of Palestine and Arabia, of 
 Prussia and Paris ; in the society of savants 
 and rulers ; in books of history and logic and 
 science consulted in preparing for his work 
 as teacher of theology, or Secretary of the 
 Massachusetts Board of Education, or Presi- 
 dent of Brown University, or General Agent 
 of the Peabody Fund ; and indeed in all the 
 changes of nature and of society passing be- 
 fore his eyes in the lapse of years. His 
 spirit was open to all kinds of ennobling 
 influence. It was capacious and thirsty 
 enough to welcome affluents of knowledge 
 and holy impulse from current events in 
 human progress, as well as from the beautiful 
 aspects of nature. 
 
 But the issues of his life were even richer 
 than its affluents, because they took addi- 
 
A Christian Educator 171 
 
 tional force and beauty from his noble pur- 
 pose. Hence these issues found their way 
 to the play fellows of his childhood, to the 
 schoolmates of his youth, to his comrades in 
 the academy, to his associates in the college 
 and the seminary, to his flock in Hartford 
 and his pupils in Hamilton, to his fellow- 
 students in Germany and his friends in 
 Hamburg and Paris, to his pupils in Newton 
 and to the whole body of school teachers in 
 Massachusetts, to the undergraduates of 
 Brown University and the public men of all 
 the South. The number of men whose 
 careers he did much to ennoble is past com- 
 putation, and the spreading streams of his 
 influence will flow on until time shall be no 
 longer. In him was fulfilled the Psalmist's 
 language : 
 
 "And he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of 
 water, 
 That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, 
 Whose leaf also doth not wither, 
 And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 
 
 Doctor Sears will be remembered as an 
 
172 Barnas Sears 
 
 educator. His last address was on the sub- 
 ject of education, and the last words of that 
 address, though not read at Saratoga, were 
 full of wisdom. 
 
 ''Fifty years ago, — let me say in conclu- 
 sion, — we thought we had already reached 
 the goal of human knowledge. We now 
 look back on what we knew then, some- 
 what as we then looked upon what the 
 ancients knew. Let us learn to think mod- 
 estly of our attainments, and wonderingly 
 at the unsolved mysteries of our own being, 
 of nature, and of Providence. Neither Hux- 
 ley nor Spencer can teach us all things. The 
 time may come when they and we, and all 
 the men of our day, will be regarded as mere 
 smatterers in knowledge. What we know 
 not, and cannot know in this age, may be 
 revealed to those who come after us. 
 
 "Humility in the solemn presence of 
 a mysterious universe, and reverence 
 FOR THE Power that framed it, best be- 
 come THOSE who are BUT THE CREATURES 
 OF A DAY." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Mrs. Sears was the daughter of Deacon EHjah and 
 EUzabeth (Watson) Corey, of BrookHne, Mass. She 
 was bom November 21, 1809, being therefore seven 
 years and two days younger than her husband, and was 
 named for her mother EHzabeth. She died in Staunton, 
 Virginia, March 2-1,, 1883, at the age of seventy-three 
 years, three months, and two days. Her father united 
 with the First Baptist Church in Newton (" Father Graf- 
 ton's") in 181 1, was dismissed by letter to unite with 
 others in forming the First Baptist Church of Cam- 
 bridge in 181 7, and became still later a constituent 
 member of the Brookline Baptist Church. "Deacon 
 Corey was one of the most liberal and influential 
 Baptists of his time. His home was open to ministers 
 and students. Upon a given Sabbath a young student 
 rode home with him from the Cambridge church, and 
 that day Bamas Sears and Elizabeth Corey met for the 
 first time. Two years ago last July, Doctor Sears died 
 at Saratoga. As the family were going to Brookline 
 for his burial, Mrs. Sears said to her children, during a 
 detention at Albany, that it was just fifty years (July 
 7, 1830-July 7, 1880) since she passed through that 
 city on her way to Hamilton as a bride." Mrs. Sears 
 was the sister of Mrs. Pratt, whose husband, John 
 Pratt, D.D., was president of Granville College (now 
 Denison University), Ohio, and she was half-sister to 
 Mrs. Comstock, whose husband died so prematurely in 
 Arracan, Burma. Mrs. Sears 's grandfather, Captain Tim- 
 othy Corey, was a soldier of the Revolution, beginning 
 
 173 
 
174 Barnas Sears 
 
 his service at the battle of Lexington, April 19,1775. It 
 has been truly said of her that "her quiet power enabled 
 her to supplement the needs of her husband's intense 
 intellectual activities by the closest and most careful 
 attention to everything pertaining to the home life. . . . 
 A bright young student said of her once : ' She has the 
 most authoritative simplicity of any person I ever 
 knew.' It was this that made her the noble wife, 
 woman, mother that she was." Doctor Sears was 
 always sure of her affection and wisdom, and his last 
 will is evidence of the mutual confidence which marked 
 their intercourse through half a century. " I do be- 
 queath and devise to my wife, Elizabeth G. Sears, all 
 of my property of every description, both real and 
 personal, whether being in the State of Virginia or 
 Massachusetts or West Virginia, or which I may here- 
 after acquire, to be her own absolute property, and to 
 be disposed of in any way she may desire. This I do 
 because she gave me the share she inherited in her 
 father's estate, and because I have perfect confidence 
 that she will do what is reasonable and just for our 
 children." 
 
 From the following paragraph in the Vindicator, one 
 may learn the disposition which Mrs. Sears made of the 
 property bequeathed to her: "The will of Mrs. 
 Elizabeth G. Sears, deceased, relict of the late Doctor 
 Barnas Sears, was also admitted to probate in this 
 court. The testator bequeaths two tracts of coal land, 
 400 acres and 260 acres respectively in Fayette Co., 
 West Va., to her children, Wm. B., Edward H., and 
 Robert Sears, and Mrs. Lizzie S. Fultz; the property 
 at Brookline, Mass., including the old Corey home- 
 stead, to her sons, Wm. B., Edward H., and Robert D. 
 Sears; the interest on $7,000 for life to her son E. D. 
 Sears; all her property in the city of Staunton, in- 
 cluding her residence on Sears 's hill with its furniture, 
 
A Christian Educator 17 5 
 
 books, pictures, etc., and also the houses and lots in 
 West End, to her daughter, Mrs. Lizzie S. Fultz, and 
 the forty acres of land lying west of and near Staunton, 
 known as "The Garden," to her son-in-law, Dr. J. H. 
 Fultz. The testator appointed Capt. Alex. H. Fultz 
 as her executor. Capt. Fultz has qualified, giving 
 bond in the sum of $8,000." 
 
 Dr. and Mrs. Sears had five children, four sons and 
 one daughter, as follows: 
 
 I. WilHam Bamas, bom Hamilton, Madison Co., 
 N. Y., July II, 1832. 
 
 II. Lizzie Corey, bom Newton Center, Mass., Octo- 
 ber 14, 1838; died January 25, 1900, Chicago, 111. 
 
 III. Edward Henry, born Newton Center, Mass., 
 October 4, 1840; died August 22, 1886, Dorchester, 
 Mass. 
 
 IV. Robert Davis, bom Newton Center, Mass. , June 
 
 28, 1842. 
 
 V. Edmund Dwight, bom Newton Center, Mass., 
 June 28, 1852; died November 10, 1883, Staunton, Va. 
 
 William Barnas Sears was educated in private schools 
 or by private teachers in Newton Center. He was 
 for a time an assistant teacher of German, Latin, 
 and Greek in the Pierce Academy. June 6, 1861, he 
 was commissioned by Governor Sprague ist Lieutenant 
 2d Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and October 
 28th of the same year, Captain. He was in the Army 
 of the Potomac under McClellan, Bumside, Hooker, 
 Meade, and Grant, and took part in the battles of the 
 Peninsula, Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness, 
 leading his company in many desperate struggles with 
 the enemy. June 17, 1864, his term of enlistment 
 having expired, he was mustered out, and returned to 
 private life and business pursuits. His career as a 
 soldier was patriotic, and he left the army honored by 
 
176 Barnas Sears 
 
 his superiors as well as by those under his command. 
 In business and social life, and in the Grand Army of 
 the Republic, he has always deserved the confidence 
 of his associates, and has been called to fill several 
 positions of honor and usefulness. His valuable assist- 
 ance to the writer in verifying dates, contributing facts, 
 and presenting photograph plates, is gratefully ac- 
 knowledged. 
 
 Lizzie Corey Sears, as the wife of J. H. Fultz, M.D., 
 and as the private secretary of her father during many 
 years of his agency for the Peabody Fund, gave ample 
 proof of cultivated powers and high character. The 
 friends of Doctor Sears are indebted to her for the record 
 of many incidents in the life of her father, and for the 
 publication of selections from his home correspondence 
 while in Germany. She appreciated her father, as did 
 the other children also, and the story of his life in these 
 pages has been enriched by not a few paragraphs from 
 her pen. Although she died in Chicago, her body was 
 brought to Brookline and placed in the Corey family 
 tomb, with those of her parents. 
 
 Edward Henry Sears was in Brown University one 
 year, September 1, 1860-June 5, 1861. At the last date 
 he was made ist Lieutenant 2d Regiment Rhode 
 Island Infantry; July 21, 1861 (first battle of Bull Run) , 
 he was made Captain of Company D, and December 
 2, 1 86 1, was commissioned ist Lieutenant of Battery 
 G, Light Artillery. He was in action at Yorktown, Va., 
 Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, second Bull Run, Antietam, 
 and Fredericksburg, Va. On August 22, 1863, he was 
 appointed Acting-assistant Paymaster U. S. Navy, and 
 ordered to report to the gunboat Underwriter at New- 
 beme. N. C. The crew of the Underwriter was killed 
 or captured by the Confederates, and he was a prisoner 
 of war at Kingston, N. C, Danville, Va., Libby, Rich- 
 mond, the stockade at Macon, Ga., and Roper Buildings 
 
MRS. ELIZABETH COREY SEARS 
 
 MRS. LIZZIE SEARS FULTZ 
 
 CAPT. EDWARD H. SEARS 
 
A Christian Educator 177 
 
 in Charleston, S. C, nine months, and thpn released by 
 exchange, November 15, 1864. He w. rdered to re- 
 port to the U. S. S. Wachusett, of the Chinese Naval 
 Squadron, December 15, 1864, in which he served until 
 June 22 , 1868. He was appointed postmaster of Staun- 
 ton, Va., December 21, 1869, and held the office six 
 years. His subsequent career in business life was such 
 as to command the respect and gain the good will of 
 those who knew him. "His great enjoyments" are 
 said to have been "in sketching, drawing, music, read- 
 ing, hunting, and yachting. He possessed a keen sense 
 of the ludicrous, and was full of wit and humor." 
 
 A third son, Robert Davis, bore the title Lieutenant, 
 but was prevented by sickness from engaging in actual 
 service. 
 
 It 
 
INDEX 
 
 Academies, lo, ii 
 
 Agassiz, Prof. J. L. R., Associate in Teachers' Insti- 
 tutes, 78 
 
 Aiken, Hon, William, iii 
 
 American Baptist Missionary Union, Dr. Sears as 
 President of, 143 
 
 "American Encyclopedia," articles in, 56 
 
 Ancestry of Dr. Sears, i 
 
 Augustine, article on, in Christian Review, 58; quoted, 
 
 69 
 Azores, Passage to, 27 
 
 Beecher, Miss Caroline, School of, 20 
 
 Bekker, Prof. Immanuel, 50 
 
 Berkshire County, 2, 4, 5 
 
 Berlin, 25, 29, 50 
 
 Bibliotheca Sacra, articles in, 56, 58 
 
 Bock, Prof. Karl Ernst, 50 
 
 Bopp, Prof. Franz, 50 
 
 Boutwell, Hon. Geo. S., estimate of, of Dr. Sears, 76; 
 
 as Secretary of Board of Education, 77-80 
 Bradford, Hon. E. A., iii 
 Brookline, 19, 26 
 Brown University, preparation of Dr. Sears for, 10; 
 
 entrance and graduation of Dr. Sears at, 11, 12; 
 
 absence of sectarian teaching at, 13; presidency 
 
 of Dr. Sears of, 91-109 
 Burgess "On Baptism," article in Christian Review, 
 
 57 
 Burleson, Rev. Dr., 129, 130 
 Burrage, Rev. H. S., D.D., letter of, concerning Dr. 
 
 Sears at Brown, 99-101 
 
 Chase, Prof. Irah, D.D., 18 
 Chatham, Mass., 3 
 
 179 
 
i8o Index 
 
 "China, its Geography and Religion," article on, in 
 
 Christian Review, 57 
 Christian Review, Dr. Sears as editor of, 56; articles in. 
 
 57.58 
 "Ciceronian, The," 58 
 
 Cliflford, Hon. John H., 11 1, 132 
 
 Colchester, England, i 
 
 Colgate University. See Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
 logical Institution 
 
 College, preparation for, 9-10 
 
 Colleges of that day, 12-14 
 
 Common country schools at that time, 5-8 
 
 Comstock, Rev. G. S. and wife, 34 
 
 Conversion of Dr. Sears, 9 
 
 Cooley, Rev. Timothy M., 10 
 
 Corey, Deacon Elijah, 19 
 
 Corey, Mrs, Elijah, 34 
 
 Corey, Miss Elizabeth G., 20, 26 
 
 Curry, Hon, J, L, M., opinion of, on Dr. Sears's fitness 
 for agency of Peabody Fund, 123-125 
 
 De Wette, Prof. W. M. L., 47 
 Dies Ires, sung at Halle, 37 
 
 Eaton, Pres. George W., D.D., address by, 23 
 
 Education in country schools of that time, 5-8 
 
 Edwards, Prof. B. B., D.D., 58 
 
 Elbe, the, 27, 28, 31 
 
 Ellis, Rev. Geo. E., D.D., remarks of, at funeral of Dr. 
 
 Sears, 160-163 
 Emerson, George B., 78 
 Evarts, Hon. Wm. M., iii, 132 
 Executive Committee of American Baptist Missionary 
 
 Union, member of, 57, 142 
 
 Felton, Pres. C. C, 58, 78 
 
 Fish, Hon. Hamilton, no, 112, 132 
 
 France, 26 
 
 General Agent of the Peabody Education Fund, iio- 
 
 150 
 " German Grammar, Noehden's," author of, 58 
 
 Germany, visited, 24, 53 
 
 Gesenius, Prof. F. H,, 35, 47 
 
Index i8i 
 
 Graham, Hon. Wm. A., in 
 
 Grant, Gen. U. S., no, 132 
 
 Granville, 10 
 
 Grimm, Jakob, 50 „ , 
 
 Guild, Reuben A., LL.D,, estimate by. of Dr. Sears s 
 
 work at Brown, 107 
 Guizot, F. P. G., 51 
 Guyot, Prof. A. H., 78 
 
 Halle, 25, 29, 30, 35-38 . . o 
 
 Halle University Church, 37-41; music m, 38-40 
 
 Halle University, lecture-room work in, 44-47 
 
 Hamburg, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 48 , 
 
 Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, ^ pro- 
 fessor of ancient languages in, 23, 54; professor of 
 Biblical Theology in, 24, 53, 54 
 
 Hamilton, pastorate at, 24, 32 
 
 Hanover, 30 ^ . 
 
 Harkness, Prof. A., LL.D., Ph.D., letter of, concerning 
 Dr. Sears at Brown, 93-95 
 
 Hartford, pastorate at, 20, 22 
 
 Hartwell, Jesse, 10 
 
 Harwich, 3 
 
 Havre, 48 
 
 Hayes, President R. B., 132 
 
 Helmstadt, 30 
 
 Hengstenberg, Prof. E. W., 47» S^. 68 
 
 Hermann, Prof. J. G. J., 48, 49 „ . -o-i, 
 
 "Historical Studies," article by Dr. Sears on, m Bib- 
 liotheca Sacra, 58 
 
 Jackson, Hon. Henry R., 133 
 
 Keene, Mr., of South Carolina, 133 
 
 Leipsic, 25, 29, 48, 49» 5° 
 
 Lincoln, Prof. Heman, 122, 159 
 
 Lincoln, Prof. John L., LL.D., remarks by, at funeral 
 of Dr. Sears, 95-99, 166 
 
 "Luther, Martin, The Life of," by Dr. Sears, 58; 'Se- 
 lect Treatises of," edited by Dr. Sears, 58 ; '' The 
 Religious Experience of," in the cloister of Er- 
 furt, article on, in Bibliotheca Sacra, 58 
 
 1846 
 
 1" Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution" became,^ in 
 46, "Madison University," and, in 1890, "Colgate University. 
 
i82 Index 
 
 Macalester, Charles, iii 
 
 Mcllvaine, Right Rev. Charles P., no, 112, 132 
 Madison University. See Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
 logical Institution 
 Mann, Horace, 4, 76, 81, 82, 90 
 Marks, Professor, 36 
 Mason, Lowell, 78 
 Muller, Prof. J., 50 
 Muretus, M. A., 50 
 
 Neander's "Church History," article on, in Christian 
 Review, 57 
 
 Neander, Prof. J. A. W., 51 
 
 New Boston district, 3 
 
 Newton Theological Institution, student in, 17-19; 
 Professor of Christian Theology in, 54; President 
 of, 56 
 
 "Noehden's German Grammar," translated and re- 
 vised, 58 
 
 Normal Schools, established in Massachusetts, 78; 
 supported by State, 88 
 
 North Sea, crossed by Dr. Sears in storm, 27 
 
 Olshausen, Prof. Hermann, 47 
 
 Oncken, Rev. J. G., 26; baptized and ordained, 29, 31, 
 
 Origen, 69 
 
 "Papacy, The, and the Empire," article on, in Biblio- 
 
 theca Sacra, 58 
 Paris, visited by Dr. Sears, 25, 51, 52 
 Peabody Education Fund, General Agent of, 1 10-150 
 Peabody, George, letter of, creating the Peabody 
 
 Education Fund, 110-112, 122, 129, 132 
 "Pelagian Controversy," by Wigger, article on, in 
 
 Christian Review, 57 
 Pertz, G. H., 51 
 Pidge, Rev. J. B. G., D.D., letter of, concerning Dr. 
 
 Sears at Brown, 102, 104 
 Plumb, Rev. A. H., D.D., estimate of Dr. Sears as 
 
 Professor, 104, 105 ; estimate of Dr. Sears in a 
 
 revival, 105 
 Preparatory schools, lo-ii 
 
Index 183 
 
 Public Schools, Religious Teaching in, report on, 83; 
 Obstacles to, report on, 85, 86; control of, by- 
 towns, 87 
 
 Public school teachers, better qualifications for, 87 
 
 Ranke, Prof. Leopold, 50 
 
 " Redepenning's Life of Origen," article on, in Christian 
 
 Review, 58 
 "Reformers before the Reformation," article on, in 
 
 Bibliotheca Sacra, 58 
 " Religious Experience, The, of Luther in the Cloister of 
 
 Erfurt," article in Bibliotheca Sacra, 58 
 " Religious Teaching in Public Schools," report on, d>^ 
 Riggs, Geo. W., Esq., 11 1 
 Ripley, Prof. Henry J., D.D., 18 
 Ritter, Prof. Karl, 50 
 Rives, Hon. Wm. C, iii 
 Rosenmiiller, Prof. E. F. K., 48 
 Rostan, J. C, 52 
 Ruhnken, Prof. David, 50 
 Russell, George Peabody, 11 1 
 Russell, Professor, in teachers' institutes, 78 
 
 Sandisfield, 2, 3, 4 
 
 Sears, Barnas, D.D., LL.D., ancestry of, 1-4, 164; early 
 education of, 4 ; conversion of, 9 ; first teaching by, 
 10; preaching of, while at college, 16; election of, 
 to professorship at Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
 logical Institute, 23, 53, 54; professorship of, at 
 Newton Theological Institute, 54; articles by, in 
 "American Encyclopedia," 56; election of, as 
 president of Newton Theological Institute, 56; 
 magazine articles by, 56, 57, 58; membership 
 of Executive Committee of American Baptist 
 Missionary Union, 57, 142; books by, 58 ; ability 
 of, as teacher, 59-63, 65-67, 139-141, 169; ex- 
 tensive reading of, 61, 155; theology of, 64; epi- 
 tome of " Introduction to Course in Theology" by, 
 68-75 ; secretaryship of Massachusetts Board of 
 Education, 76-90 ; report of, for 1855, ^^ "Re- 
 ligious Teaching in the Public Schools," 83 ; report 
 of, for 1856, on "Obstacles to Public School Edu- 
 cation," 85-87 ; presidency of Brown Univer- 
 sity, 91-109; letter of, to Robert C. Winthrop, 
 
i84 Index 
 
 Sears, Bamas, D.D., LL.D. — Continued. 
 
 concerning Peabody Education Fund, 113-119; ap- 
 pointment of, as General Agent of Peabody Fund, 
 120; results of work of, in the South, — common- 
 school system adopted, good school laws enacted, 
 normal schools founded, teachers' institutes estab- 
 lished, 120-150; death of, 164; self-training of, 
 165; religious convictions of , 166; personality of , 
 166; scholarship of, 167; administrative ability 
 of, 168, 169 
 
 Sears, Richard, the emigrant ancestor, i 
 
 Sears, Paul, the father, 2 
 
 Sears, Paul, the grandfather, 3, 4 
 
 Sears, Mrs. EHzabeth G. C. See Miss E. G. Corey 
 
 Separatist, 4 
 
 Standing order, 3 
 
 Staunton, Va., 122, 151, 153-155 
 
 Stearns, Rev, Eben S., D.D., 138, 148 
 
 Stearns, Prof. O. S., D.D., iv., 23, 55, 57, 65-67 
 
 Stuart, Prof. Moses, D.D., 18 
 
 Teachers' institutes, 78, 80, 81, 82, 88 
 
 Texas, State of, canvassed in aid of public schools, 129 
 
 "The Ciceronian," author of, 58 
 
 "The Life of Martin Luther," author of, 58 
 
 Tholuck, Prof. F. A. G., 35, 36; sermon of, 41-43 
 
 Trustees of the Peabody Fund, 99 
 
 Wayland, Pres. Francis, D.D., LL.D., 95, 96, 154 
 
 Weser, the, 27 
 
 Wetmore, Samuel, iii 
 
 Whipple, Right Rev. H. B., 132, 133, 134 
 
 Wigger, " Pelagian Controversy, article on," in Christian 
 Review, 57 
 
 Winer, Prof. George B., 48, 49 
 
 Winthrop, Hon. R. C, Trustee and Chairman of Pea- 
 body Education Fund, 110-113; letter to, by Dr. 
 Sears, 113-119; address by, at funeral of Dr. 
 Sears, 130-134; opinion of, of results of Dr. Sears's 
 work in the South, 145 
 
 Wittenbach, 50 
 
 Zumpt, Prof. K. G., 50 
 
DEC 18 »»U2 
 
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