While Mr. Whitefield was at Newport, he was invited, with Mr. Hopkins and others, "to breakfast with a religious family, about five miles from town. On their way, Mr. Whitefield said to Mr. H., · I am sorry that you New England ministers employ so much of your time in controversy. [A remark often repeated since Whitefield's time.] I wish you would devote your attention more immediately to the conversion of sinners.' Mr. H. replied, I have not published so large a pamphlet in the way of dispute as yours against Mr. Wesley.' [A fit reply, to which Whitefield rejoined,] O, the doctrine of Mr. Wesley was so contrary to the faith, and so dangerous, that a regard for the cause of Christ compelled me to attempt its refutation.'. The same motive,' said Mr. H., may have influenced others; it certainly did me in what I have written.' [An apt retort.] After a considerable pause, Mr. Whitefield said, 'Is it not surprising, and much to be regretted, that good Mr. Edwards should deny the witness of the Spirit?' Mr. H. replied, I did not know that he had. What do you understand, sir, by the witness of the Spirit?' Mr. W. paused in apparent study for a definition. Mr. H. said, Do you mean by it an impression on the imagination, by some immediate communication from the Spirit, that your sins are forgiven, and that you are a child of God?' No,' said Mr. W., that does not express my opinion.' Do you then mean,' said Mr. H., an influence of the Spirit of God, exciting such a love for God and Jesus Christ, such clear views of their character, as that the subject of it knows from experience and from Scripture, that he is a child of God and an heir of salvation?' This,' said Mr. W., more accords with my views.' Yet this,' said Mr. H., is that witness of the Spirit for which Mr. Edwards pleads, in distinction from the former, which he represents as a species of enthusiasm.'” *

This conversation well illustrates the Socratic method of Mr. Hopkins in conducting a dispute.

SECT. XXV. AFFECTIONATE INTERCOURSE WITH FRIENDS.

More is known of Mr. Hopkins's inner life during the first six years of his residence at Newport, than during any other period of his history. And the first impression which his correspondence during this period makes upon the mind is, that he was a man not only of glowing love to his Maker, but likewise of warm and deep affection to his fellow-men. As he delighted in unreserved submission of all his interests to God, so he chose to sacrifice himself for the welfare of those who were made in the image of God. The germ of his theology lay in his benevolent spirit. He was an embodied refutation of the saying so often quoted from Edmund Burke,

*Patten's Reminiscences, pp. 67, 68. See likewise Ferguson's Memoir, pp. 52, 53.

that there is no heart so hard as that of a thorough-bred metaphysician. One reason why he loved to press certain articles of Calvinism to their logical sequences was, that he loved to contemplate the happiness of his fellow-men as they were swallowed up in the glory of their Father in heaven. True, he had so much of the philosophical temperament that he expressed his feelings less easily and readily than some do, and he often appeared, to men who did not know him, impassible and stern; but that there was a heart beating with strong and quick pulsations in his giant frame, is shown in many of his letters, and especially in those which he wrote during the meridian of his life. It must be acknowledged that some of his correspondence is too affectionate to be spread out before the multitude, who choose to complain of him as dried up and ossified. It is delightful to notice the style in which he often begins or closes his epistles, and which betrays his unconscious struggling for words to express his pent-up attachments. The following are specimens, from his letters to various friends.*

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I am, with great sincerity, high esteem, and constant, warm affection and gratitude, your real friend and ready servant, S. H." Suffer me to say, I prize the interest I have in your heart more than the possession of the whole world; and hope always to be, with growing esteem and affection, your obliged friend, S. H."

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My heart is affected with [this] fresh instance of your gen erosity, benevolence, and friendship. I give you thanks; and would have you believe that my breast glows with a gratitude which words cannot express, and that I prize the gift chiefly for the sake of the giver, and as a fresh token of your love and friendship. Verily, you shall have your reward. I please myself with a particular remembrance in your prayers, while absent on my proposed journey; and may assure you that I shall remember you, with other dear Christian friends, so far as I remember myself, at least. With the best wishes I am capable of, and tender affection and gratitude, I am your very unworthy, greatly obliged friend and servant, S. H."

As words only will not tell how much I esteem and prize you, how dear you are to me as a Christian friend, — and all words are vain without a conduct answerable, I think not to attempt to tell. May all my conduct in the station in which God has set me, testify how much I esteem you, and prize your friendship and prayers. O, how wonderful is God in his goodness! I have been affected with his goodness for many years, in giving me such Christian friends; which I valued as the greatest favor in life, and for which I have daily blessed God, and have had ardent desires to continue in this his goodness. That you should have such exercises and pleasure, in giving thanks to God for his goodness to and by me, is greatly pleasing and affecting. May all your pious, benevolent wishes and prayers be answered! Want of time forbids my adding, except that I am, with high esteem, and constant, tender affection, your obliged friend, and willing servant, S. H." .. I thank you a thousand times for your last kind letter. I only write a line now, to ease and give a little pleasure to my own heart, by expressing a little of my esteem and love, and the great obligations I feel

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The affection of Mr. Hopkins for his fellow-laborers, drew from them a like affertion. We are pleased in seeing that Dr. Samuel Spring becomes even poetical in expressing his love to his instructor; and not only commends his obituary notice of Mr. Hopkins to candidates for the ministry, to whom he imparted his advice and heart," but also "to his attending angels, who guarded his bed when he fell asleep." See Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, vol. i. p. 364.

myself under to you, and the sense I have of the privilege and happiness of this dear friendship."

God's goodness to you does give me joy. For this I have many times greatly rejoiced, and hope to rejoice in it forever."

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.. If there is any thing right in my heart, it often most sensibly appears in its readiness to unite to the dear people of God, and desiring and delighting in their love and friendship."

.I thank you a thousand times for your kindness, and [for the] freedom you use in writing. I pray you to continue it. My heart is disposed to love, esteem, and honor you, and I hope I shall forever be your inuch obliged friend, S. H."

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I rejoice in the exercises and enjoyments of my dear friend, while your kind Shepherd is feeding you in green, soft pastures, and leading you by still waters. I trust God is with me in some sense and degree at times, in answer to your prayers; which requires the most humble, thankful acknowledgments from me, while I confess and lament my awful barrenness. It has often been observed, that God can feed his children by a raven. How disagreeable is separation! not being allowed to meet my dear friends as usual! How happy they who know what true friendship is, and shall be brought together never to part again! In hope of this happiness, I rest, yours, in the bonds of the most sacred friendship, S. H."

.. Excuse the scantiness of this, and suffer me yet to place myself among your most sincere, cordial, obliged, affectionate friends. I hope and trust I shall be so, as long as I am S. HOPKINS."

Such re

The

Can we wonder, that a man who had so strong attachments to his fellow-men, delighted also in using the strongest expressions of love to the great King; in surrendering all interests to him, for this world and the next; in exalting him as a Sovereign, high above all creatures? This is Hopkinsianism, as it appears in its original defenders. We have heard much of "the Arctic regions of Hopkinsianism," of its "hyperborean wildernesses." marks are forcible. But the men who originated the Hopkinsian peculiarities were men of warm hearts as well as cool heads. doctrines and the spirit of their system are indicated in the following statement of one who knew the private habits of the Newport divine, and testifies that he would sometimes come from his study, where he had been intensely engaged in the contemplation of the law made honorable and magnified by the atonement, and would walk across his parlor floor for the space of two or three hours, pressing his hands together in the most ravishing delight, and seemingly in such an ecstasy as to be unable to contain himself."* Stern as he was in his logical processes, he would often weep in the pulpit and at the communion table, so as to make his utterance indistinct.

SECT. XXVI. EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR UPON THE MINISTRY OF MR. HOPKINS.

The discouraging influence of the Canadian wars upon the minister of Great Barrington has been noticed already. His heart was

Statement of Mrs. Hopkins, as found in Ferguson's Memoir, p. 131.
h*

far more saddened, however, by the effect of the revolutionary war upon his pastorate in Rhode Island. He was in a patriotic and resolute little colony. It claims to have struck the first blow resulting in the revolution. The British armed sloop Liberty was scuttled and burned, in defiance of the crown, by the people of Newport, as early as August, 1769. The armed schooner Gaspee was destroyed by them in June, 1772. The tea was not thrown overboard in Boston harbor until 1773. Newport burned with a revolutionary spirit, during all the disputes which preceded the general resort to arms. Its harbor was early blockaded by the British. In December, 1776, the British troops, numbering eight or ten thousand, commanded by General Clinton and Lord Percy, took possession of the town. There were many Tories in the place; but the Whigs, as inany as were able, fled to the inland retreats. It was of no use for the clergy to remain. Dr. Stiles left on the 13th of March, 1776. Mr. Hopkins sent his family to Great Barrington two years before; but, true to his instinct of holding on to the last, he himself clung to Newport until the December of '76. Some of his congregation, who remained in the town, were imprisoned by the enemy. His parsonage was destroyed by the British troops. His meeting-house was used as a barrack and hospital. Its pulpit and pews were demolished, its windows were broken or lost, and its bell was carried away by the enemy evacuating the town. In the same manner did the British treat every church edifice, except the Episcopal, in the place. During the cold weather, they were quartered in the private houses of the town, and did much to annoy those inhabitants who had not escaped from the siege. They cut down for fuel the groves of forest-trees, and the rich fruit and ornamental trees which had every where adorned the island. They injured or destroyed the fences and wharves of the town. When they left it, in October, 1779, "the general appearance of the greater portion of the buildings was truly distressing; sashes and glass mostly gone, and windows boarded up, with here and there a solitary square of glass cut into the boarding, and often not more than one square to a window." About four hundred and eighty buildings had been destroyed. In the spring of 1780, Mr. Hopkins returned to his desolate parish, after an absence of more than three years. If, like Dr. Stiles, he had never returned, he would not have been blamed by the world. Many of his congregation had made their permanent homes elsewhere. The remainder were impoverished and dejected. The town, also, having lost its wealth, a full half of its population, and nearly all its eminent capitalists, lost therewith its public spirit. All the religious societies received a severe shock, under which some of

* Memoir of Rhode Island, by Henry Bull, Esq., in the Rhode Island Republican, No. 1460.

them, as the Sabbatarian and the Jewish, languished until they died. Nor was poverty the sole evil. After the British had retained possession of the place nearly three years, the French army were stationed there about nine months. The French officers instilled their infidel principles into some of the best minds of Newport, and thus left an influence which Mr. Hopkins toiled through his remaining life to counteract. Thus at Newport, as well as at Great Barrington, did this patriotic minister suffer with and for his country. After the revolution, he was obliged to accommodate himself to a new style of character and of manners. The old, rich families had been scattered, never to reässemble at Newport, or else had been denuded of their possessions, or else had been supplanted by the young republicans whom our independence had called up from obscure life. At the age of sixty, he was not supple enough to comply with those peculiar democratic changes which the revolution introduced into the Narraganset country. He lived through a part of two singularly different ages there. He could have labored more effectively had there been no such transition; for he was less flexible than strong.

When this indefatigable man returned to his parish, he conducted public worship at first in a private house, afterward in the Sabbatarian meeting-house. But, complying with a vote of his church, he wrote, in 1782, a pathetic appeal to his Christian friends, "in Boston and Connecticut States," for aid in repairing his own church edifice, and also sustaining in it the ordinances of the gospel. Dr. Spring's church at Newburyport responded to this appeal, in a donation of eighteen pounds; the Federal Street Church, of the same place, sent him twenty-eight pounds; and the church of Professor Peres Fobes, of Raynham, sent a pulpit. Still the poor man received no regular salary for himself. During the first year after his return, his society did not even dare to take up a contribution for his support. At the close of that year, he was invited and urged to settle in the ministry at Middleboro', Massachusetts, where he could be well remunerated. His affectionate people, however, entreated him to remain, and promised to make sacrifices for his sustenance. He complied with their wishes; but, at the end of three and a half years from his return, when the expenses of living were unusually high,* he wrote to his church a pitiful letter, informing them that he had been, during their past discouragements, "loath to complain and make known [his] wants to the congregation;" and had been compelled to use for his

In his letters written during this period, Mr. Hopkins often describes the suffering of the Newport poor, especially for fuel. The British had made such havoc with the forests, that, during the winter after their departure, wood was sold for twenty dollars per cord. Corn was sold at four dollars per bushel. See Memoir of Rhode Island, by Henry Bull, Esq., in the Rhode Island Republican, No. 1460. This, however, was an uncommonly severe winter, and expenses were subsequently reduced.