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7 

^ PRINCETON, N. J. *g 



Presented by \-^r'(2/&\0\c£/Y^V \ (TvV-Vor 

BV 2372 .H34 A3 1882 
Hallock, William A. 1794- 

1880. 
Memorial of Rev. Wm. A. 

Hallock. D. D. . fir^^-^ 




^XfOLULDAra ^o [}{]A[L[L®CKp [0). [0) 

SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



Memorial 



OF 



REV.WM. A. HALLOCK, D.D., 



FIRST SECRETARY 



OF THE 



American Tract Society. 



BY MRS. H. C. KNIGHT. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
The Early Home page 5 

CHAPTER n. 
Life in Andover 13 

CHAPTER HL 

First Labors in Tract Work 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

Formation of the American Tract Society 32 

CHAPTER V. 

Development of Tract Work — Marriage — Home -- — 43 

CHAPTER VI. 

Fruitful Activities- ■ 5- 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Enlarged Labors— Close of the Journal 64 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Colportage; and Conflict 76 

CHAPTER IX. 

The End: Portraits by Co-Workers and Friends 86 



MEMORIAL 



OF 



REV. WM. A. HALLOCK, D. D, 



CHAPTER I. 
THE EARLY HOME. 

In the bold and rugged town of Plainfield, in the 
western part of Massachusetts, settled chiefly by farm- 
ers, Rev. Moses Hallock was ordained pastor of its 
newly-formed church, July ii, 1792. 

In summer the whole region is clad in living green. 
On the south, lies Cummington, the birthplace of our poet 
Bryant. Westward rises Mount Greylock twenty miles 
or so. Eastward in the clear air Monadnock lifts its 
hoary head, while towards the north, the Green moun- 
tain range stretches far away into the state which bears 
its name. 

Ninety pounds were voted for the settlement of the 
new minister, " with forty-five pounds for two years, to 
be increased five pounds a year until it reached sixty 
pounds, when the sum becomes stationary." We be- 
lieve, however, the sum became stationary long before 
reaching its legal limits; "the settlement and salary to 



6 DR. WILLIAM A. IIALLOCK, 

be paid, one quarter in cash, the other three-fourths 
in farm produce at cash prices." 

If this seems meagre, let us remember that wood in 
the forest was but twenty cents a cord, and other needs, 
fewer and simpler than now, were no doubt at corre- 
sponding prices. 

On receiving a gift of sixty young apple-trees for the 
orchard of the new parsonage, " The trees arrived safely," 
writes Mr. Hallock to the generous donor. " I received 
them with gratitude and set them out with more care than 
if they had been purchased with my own money. I can 
think of nothing of the same value which would have 
been so acceptable. The ground was ready to receive 
them ; but I should not have bought any, for it seemed 
imprudent to increase my debts. May I ever, with 
humility, ascribe the supply of my wants to the Divine 
care. I hope, sir, the limbs of these trees will hereafter 
bend to meet the innocent hands ot some millennial 
people. Did I know this, it would put a tenfold value 
on them. I am wilHng to plant for them to eat. When 
I think of the happiness of the millennium, my soul 
runs forward to anticipate the joy. But though it 
tarry, my dear brother, let us wait for it, for surely it 
will come." 

Mr. Hallock was a graduate of Yale College with 
his only brother, Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, who nearly 
at the same time was settled in Canton, Conn. Though 
sixty miles apart when sixty miles was a slow and toil- 
some journey, the brothers never failed of a yearly 
meeting. From a paper written to a grandchild of his 



THE EARL Y HOME. 7 

life-long and well-beloved deacon, we find that Mr. 
Moses Hallock " used to visit his brother once in two 
years, and the road which he travelled passed the house 
of Deacon Richards, so he always called there on his 
way and they both prayed together ere he went on his 
journey. His brother also visited him once in two 
years, and when he returned home Mr. Hallock used to 
walk by the side of the wagon as far as your grandfather 
Richards', where they both called, and the three prayed 
together and shook hands and parted. Was not that a 
delightful way to live ?" 

Jeremiah usually came to Plainfield in September, 
often bringing their aged father with him, which led 
Moses to call August the happiest month and October the 
gloomiest month in the year. They were the sons of a 
godly English ancestry, early rooted in the eastern part 
of Long Island. When their venerated father died 
at eighty-five, the most precious legacy which he 
wished to leave was " one word " received from his 
father, to be transmitted to the latest generation : *' Re- 
member there is a long eternity." 

The young pastor of Plainfield brought Margaret 
Allen of Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, to be wife and 
help-meet in the new home. At the beginning of his 
ministry over this little church of fourteen members, God 
poured out his Spirit, and '' in consequence of this 
glorious work," the record runs, " seventeen joined the 
church in one day." Again we find that " another 
eifusion of the Holy Spirit entered into almost every 
part of the town, and in some parts with great power." 



8 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

A little later, "thirty-one persons joined the church, 
twenty-four of whom adorned the aisle at one time." 
Six such ingatherings are recorded ending in 1828, 
when sixty-six came into the fold, swelling the number 
to three hundred and forty-eight during his ministry — 
a truly blessed ministry of forty years, the harmony 
existing between him and his people never having been 
interrupted or broken; rather year after year, there 
were an ever-increasing confidence, cooperation, and 
friendship. 

His theology was the theology of the Bible. This 
was the book which he studied and over which he 
pored and prayed to the end of his days. In the stead- 
fastness and hold of his reliance on its truths as from 
God was the hiding of his power. He found in it, and 
loved, the "doctrines of grace" clustering around the 
work and offices of Christ, and these he preached and 
practised with believing earnestness to the end of his 
days. 

To kindness and courtesy he united sincerity, 
frankness and humility, with a deep and heartfelt inter- 
est in the welfare of everybody around him. 

As the years went on, four sons and one . daughter 
came to fill the home with glad activity, William, 
Gerard, Leavitt, Homan, and Martha, the only sister. 

Partly to supply an educational want, partly to meet 
the exigencies of a growing family, the pastor became 
teacher, receiving scholars under his own roof For 
many years he was rarely without them. Three hun- 
dred and four young people thus came under his ex- 



THE EARL Y HOME. 9 

cellent training : one hundred and thirty-three of whom 
entered college ; fifty became ministers of the gospel, 
seven went as missionaries to foreign lands, while others 
entered into various callings, which they adorned by 
public and private worth. 

Many had their education at a cost little over a dol- 
lar a week ; those especially who were poor and aiming 
at the ministry, received not only a father's sympathy 
and counsel, but pecuniary aid as well. Some began a 
religious life under his instruction ; others frequently 
assisted him in pastoral work ; all acknowledged the 
elevating power of his practical piety. But one of this 
large number died while an inmate of his family, and 
this was the only death which occurred in his house for 
forty years. 

It is interesting to recall the names of those who 
went abroad at that early day to lay the foundation ol 
Christian institutions in pagan lands, receiving as they 
must have done some of their best lessons in practical 
wisdom as well as their warmest impulses In Christian 
consecration in the humble parsonage at Plalnfield. 

We find Rev. James Richards In Ceylon, and his 
brother William at the Sandwich Islands, sons of a 
beloved deacon of the pastor ; Levi Parsons and Pliny 
Fiske exploring Palestine and bringing it nearer than 
ever before to Bible readers ; Jonas King laboring In 
Syria and in Greece ; William Ferry among the Amer- 
ican Indians, and Homan Hallock, missionary printer 
in Smyrna. 

Mr. Hallock cherished habits of more familiar inter- 

Dr. Hallock. 1 



lo ZVv\ IV/LLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

course with his children than was perhaps common at 
that time. He early led them to consider their inter- 
ests identical with their parents'. As soon as the sons 
were old enough to think and act, he consulted them 
about the various labors of the farm, leading them to 
plan and carry out their plans, as if everything depend- 
ed upon their own foresight and diligence. 

The thrift and self-reliance which dignified this pas- 
tor's home are happily illustrated in the father's reply 
to his eldest son, who on one occasion wished to relieve 
the family purse by seeking aid to pursue his studies 
from some charitable fund for this purpose. 

"Letters from you are always welcome, my dear 
son, but your present request for ' credentials ' will 
not be so readily granted. Children should not beg 
bread so long as their parents have enough. It is now 
nearly six years since I entered you and your brother 
Gerard at Williams college. I had given you to the 
Lord, and I believed he would support you. He has 
so wonderfully prospered us, that all your expenses 
were paid in good season and without the least per- 
plexity. * The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did 
the cruse of oil fail.' His kindness continues. Beg of 
the Lord continually, but ask not of man till you are 
suffering from v/ant. If your name is already given as a 
beneficiary, take the first opportunity of having it erased." 

" It has long delighted me," said the good man on 
another occasion, " to see what interest my children 
take in each other. Each child is, as it were, a parent 
to all the rest. I hope and trust this mutual love will 



THE EARL Y HOME. 1 1 

continue. It is very pleasant. It is useful. It is hon- 
orable. May we, parents and children, love the Lord. 
There is enough in Christ to make us all happy, if we 
have a holy relish for what is provided for us." 

Nor is this touch of farm-life without a tender inter- 
est: "I lately went," he wrote, "into the forest where 
William and I gathered the dry wood for winter. I 
went to the brook where we drank, and to the tree that 
had fallen over it, on which we sat and ate our cold din- 
ner together and acknowledged God." 

It was from a home like this that the subject of the 
following sketches came to take his place and do his 
part in forming and fostering one of the great Christian 
institutions of the century — the American Tract Society. 

With such a nurture, we might naturally expect to 
find this eldest son of the pastor early entering the 
church fold. 

Not so, however; partly, perhaps, because children 
were not then thought capable of apprehending the 
nature of either the sacraments or the vows of the 
church; partly because "conversion" was beset with a 
greater degree of ideal distress and deliverance than 
the common experience of most children in Christian 
families was able to reach. Short of this many a thought- 
ful and earnest young person has suffered years of delay 
to go by, shorn of the help and strength which the com- 
munion and fellowship of the church would have afford- 
ed them. 

William looked for a marked and sudden change in 
his inner life, which never came, and he reached man- 



12 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

hood " secluded from the hopes and privileges of the 
child of God." Indeed, he gave up his early classical 
studies, feeling that they would be not only no benefit 
in this world, but would rather " enhance his misery in 
the world to come;" relinquishing study, he devoted 
himself to the labors of the litde farm. 

At twenty, through much heart-searching, fasting, 
and prayer, a desire for a college course again sprang 
up in his mind. His father joyfully cherished it, per- 
ceiving in it, with a father's discernment, the " new life" 
of his beloved child. He resumed his neglected stud- 
ies, entered Williams College, and in 1819, at the age 
of twenty-five, graduated with the highest honors of his 
class. 

Doubting, fearing lest he had never been " savingly 
converted," he yet steadily set his face towards the the- 
ological seminary at Andover, even then expecting 
from without that confirmation of his hopes which only 
personal steadfastness in faith can ever make sure. 

It has been said that " men of every class who have 
done something creditable ought, being trustworthy 
and honest men, to write their lives with their own 
hand." However doubtful a latitude this might give, 
we have a journal of Mr. Hallock, kept during a period 
when events most shape and impress the character, 
which gives a more vivid portrait of the man and his 
time than the truest pen of another could do. 

As far as the journal goes, it is only supplemented 
by occasional statements intended to bring into brighter 
relief the events which are recorded. 



LIFE IN ANDOVER. 13 

CHAPTER II. 
LIFE IN ANDOVER. 

William A. Hallock entered the seminary at 
Andover, November 3, 181-9. A question of duty soon 
confronted and deeply agitated him. *' I owe to Christ 
and his cause the full consecration of all my powers, yet 
I have never publicly consecrated myself to him. All 
through my four years of college I have never avowed 
myself his. Is this reserve for ever to continue ? I will 
go now to the professors of the seminary, tell them my 
story, and ask their counsel as to my duty." 

"Andover, Jan. 16, 1820. Sabbath morning. This 
day I have devoted to fasting and prayer, that God will 
prepare me to come out from the world ; that he will 
assist my parents in their consideration of the letter I 
have written them, to give me such an answer as shall 
be for his glory. 

" Feb. 13. Sabbath. The last day of January I re- 
ceived letters from my father and mother and sister. 
The spirit of tender concern which their letters breathe, 
and the earnest desire which they express for my spir- 
itual welfare are very affecting. Eight days ago I com- 
municated to Brother Richards my desire of uniting 
with the church. On Tuesday I consulted Professor 
Porter, the friend of my uncle. Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, 
and my father. Yesterday I met the officers of the 



14 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

church, and conversed with them with great freedom, 
and to-day I have been propounded. 

" March 3. This day is set apart in the seminary as 
a day of fasting, humihation, and prayer. The occasion 
renders it highly interesting to me, as I expect this 
afternoon to enter into covenant with a holy God to be 
his for ever. I desire to feel that the privilege is un- 
speakably great, and the transaction unspeakably sol- 
emn. Since I was examined, I know not that I have 
seen a moment when I wished to undo what I have now 
done. 

" And now, glorious Redeemer, do thou prepare my 
heart so to give myself away as to have thy gracious 
acceptance. Thou wilt be my Judge. Be now my 
Advocate, my Sanctifier, my all. 

" Sabbath evening. When I proposed joining this 
church, I expected to be alone, but there were ten who 
united with me: Brothers Prentiss and Pigeon, and 
eight from the academy and the neighborhood. Rev. 
Dr. Woods preached from the text, * What mean ye by 
this service ?' The discourse was very appropriate, and 
the communion season an hour of peculiar solemnity. 
Thus have I taken the vows of God upon me, and I 
cannot go back. Blessed Redeemer, keep me as in the 
hollow of thy hand. May I come off conqueror through 
Him that loved me and gave himself to die for me. 

"March 27. This day has brought interesting In- 
telligence : the death of Hon. Peter Bryant. The mis- 
sionaries Fiske and Parsons have safely arrived at Smyr- 
na. Brethren Winslow, Spaulding, Woodward, and 



LIFE IN ANDO VER. 1 5 

Scudder, with their wives, have arrived at Ceylon, and 
their labors on the passage were so blessed to the crew, 
that on their arrival all but one were hopefully convert- 
ed. Rev. Mr. Meigs' interpreter has professed faith in 
Christ. The members of Mr. Meigs' school are calling 
on him and inquiring for the way of salvation. Mr. 
Farrar, the treasurer, has received from a benevolent 
donor good news as to a new building for this semi- 
nary. Four have obtained a hope in Hamilton college, 
and seven are inquiring ; twenty have a hope in Union, 
and thirty inquiring ; one hundred have been admitted 
to the church in Stillwater. Such is the news of Zion's 
prosperity which-, has greeted our ears in one day ; we 
hear good news also from several other colleges. Light 
seems to be dawning in Dartmouth, Bowdoin, and Brown 
University. 

" April 29. I have been reading the life of Samuel 
J. Mills. What is my duty? Oh, help me to devote 
myself, my God, to thee. Give me faith ; give me zeal ; 
give me prudence ; give me strength. 

"June 15. The spring vacation of six weeks I 
have spent very pleasantly, and I hope profitably, in 
visiting Martha's Vineyard, the birthplace of my mother. 
Her father's farm in Chilmark, the western town of the 
island, lies on the south side, where the broad Atlantic 
rolls its perpetual waves, nearly opposite the island of 
' No Man's Land.' In this visit many narratives which 
entertained me at my mother's knee were made real. 
Among my relatives on the island are the descendants 
of the Missionary Mayhews of five successive genera- 



i6 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

tions, whose name is embalmed in the annals of the 
churches. 

"Andover, Jan. i, 1821. The Lord's Supper was 
administered yesterday, and this evening I have attend- 
ed the Concert of Prayer. I have just heard from my 
parents and sister and brothers, and have much occa- 
sion for thankfulness that the descent of my parents in 
the vale of years is so peaceful and happy, and that I am 
enjoying all the blessings of this seminary. My brother 
Gerard, my classmate and roommate in college, is pass- 
ing his second year giving instruction in the academy 
at Amherst. 

" March 18. Rev. Mr. CorneHus preaches In the 
chapel to-day. God is sparing my life to enjoy pre- 
cious privileges. My studies are delightful and inti- 
mately connected with my usefulness as a minister. My 
class is now on the subject of Moral Agency. I recite 
frequently to Professor Gibbs in the Greek of the New 
Testament, and have been much occupied. in preparing 
a dissertation for the Society of Inquiry, on the ' Influ- 
ence of Heathen Religions on Moral and Intellectual 
Character.' I have also the privilege of membership in 
a literary society, composed chiefly of gentlemen resi- 
dent here, besides other societies, and all the pubHc 
exercises of this institution. 

"Plainfield, May 5. Gerard, still Preceptor of 
Amherst Academy, has made us a fine visit of three 
days. Our own family, father, mother, four sons and 
one daughter, breakfasted by ourselves this morning. 
It was entire. Death has as yet made no breach In it. 



LIFE IN A ND VER. 1 7 

We sang the Farewell, and united in committing our- 
selves into the hands of a kind and guardian God. 
Shall we ever meet again ? God only knows. 

" May 18. President Moore and lady dined with us 
to-day. He brought an official letter requesting me to 
be a candidate for the place of Tutor Porter in Williams 
College the ensuing year. I know not what my answer 
should be. I intend taking the counsel of my father 
and brother Gerard, and the professors at Andover. 
May my course be directed from on high. 

"July I. In the week now closed I attended the 
General Association of Massachusetts at Haverhill. 
Dined at Mrs. Atwood's in company with the profes- 
sors of this seminary, Rev. Sereno E. Dwight and wife 
of Boston, and Professor Gibbs. There are many 
charms attached to the former residence of Harriet 
Newell. 

" I have concluded not to accept the proposition to 
spend my next year as tutor in Williams College. 

" I have been writing a dissertation on the question, 
* Whether the Doctrine of a Future State of Rewards 
and Punishments is Taught in the Old Testament,' for 
the ' Christian Spectator,' and have just finished an ab- 
stract of the same, to be read at the ensuing examina- 
tion. I have also written a dissertation on the ' Priest- 
hood,' to be read before a literary club of which I have 
been elected a member. 

" I am a little burdened with societies — Secretary of 
the Rhetorical, Secretary and Treasurer of the Lock- 
hart Musical Society, Treasurer of the Auxiliary Cor- 



i8 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

ban, and Committee of Recommendation, Purchasing 
Committee of the Athe^ieum, Vice-President of the So- 
ciety of Inquiry, treasurer of another society, agent also 
for purchasing German books. They do not all make 
a great demand, but they occupy some hours every 
week. 

" Gerard has just written that he intends to leave 
teaching, and to spend the ensuing year with me in this 
seminary. My brother Leavitt has relinquished the 
idea of obtaining a public education. My brother Ro- 
man, I am informed, will enter Amherst College this 
fall. In the welfare of these brothers I have a deep 
interest. What greater blessing could I receive than 
to see them all the devoted servants of Christ ? 

" I have been doubting where to spend the coming 
vacation. I might take a school; I might spend it 
journeying; I am invited to spend it in Hallowell, 
Maine, where all my expenses will be borne. I have 
been requested by one of the trustees of Amherst ' Col- 
legiate Charity Institution ' to hold myself ready for a 
tutorship there. I have no expectation of going to 
Amherst — a school will wear me out and encroach upon 
the ensuing term ; journeying is too expensive. I have 
determined to pass the vacation in Maine, v/here health 
and experience in labors for Christ may be acquired. I 
shall be at no expense, and spending my time in reli- 
gious meetings, visiting for religious purposes, etc., will 
be beneficial as preparing for usefulness both in an in- 
tellectual and moral point of view. I desire to leave 
myself in the hands of God, and cheerfully to follow the 



LIFE IN AND OVER. 19- 

indications of his providence. My heavenly Father, 
thou seest my needs, supply them out of thine infinite 
fulness. 

" October 4. Arrived at Hallowell to pass my 
vacation assisting the Rev. Dr. Gillette. I have found 
some hearing ears, especially among those who do not 
enjoy the stated ministrations of the sanctuary. I have 
often found it pleasant, and never irksome, to speak in 
the name and for the cause of Christ ; and have only to 
regret that I have no more heavenly ardor in promul- 
gating his truth. 

" November 4. I leave Hallowell with regret. 
Christian friends have been numerous and affectionate. 
They have laid me under great obligations. May the 
blessing' of God rest upon them evermore. 

" November 6. Sloop Liberty, twenty-five miles 
from Portland. I left Bowdoin College Wednesday 
p. M., called a moment on Rev. Asa Cummings, North 
Yarmouth ; dined at Rev. Mr. Whittemore's, Falmouth ; 
arrived at Portland, three p. M. ; called five minutes on 
Rev. Dr. Payson, nine thousand copies of whose Ad- 
dress to Seamen are now in the press of the New Eng- 
land Tract Society ; took tea at Mr. Cutler's, and heard 
Granville Mellen's eloquent address before the Mechan- 
ics' Association. 

" At nine p. M. the sloop left the wharf, and never 
shone a brighter moon. In the morning the rising of 
the sun from mid-ocean was beautiful. The sea was 
smooth as glass ; before sunrise the red rays, reflected 
from the western sky upon the water, gave its whole 



20 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

surface the hue of a mellow purple. At length the sun 
rose out of the mighty deep in full splendor. The 
White Mountains of New Hampshire appeared like a 
white-capped thunder-cloud in the west, towering above 
everything else. Such a morning I never beheld ; but 
even all this beauty became tiresome for the lack of one 
thing — wind. Fearing what would come next, the cap- 
tain made sure of a harbor at Cape Porpoise. I had 
taken my berth at nine, but the wind becoming fresh 
from the southeast, at one I rose, went on deck, and 
saw that a storm was inevitable. At three I was set on 
shore six miles from Kennebunk. I walked ten miles 
before I saw any signs of sunrise, and at York the rain 
and the United States mail-stage overtook me together. 
The rain fell in torrents; the wind blew almost a gale; 
the waves dashed terribly on the shore. The ferry at 
Portsmouth was dangerous. I reached Newburyport 
in safety, rejoicing all the way that I was neither amid 
the foaming billows nor confined at Cape Porpoise ; and 
after a pleasant Sabbath arrived at my room. 

" Bartlett Hall, second story, southeast corner, An- 
dover, November 17. A great class of almost sixty 
juniors has just arrived. Rev. Prof. Porter is at the 
South for health. Last evening my class received a 
license from the professors to preach in the seminary. 
Thus I am now to enter on this great work to which I 
have been looking forward. May I quit myself like a 
man. 

" November 19. Gerard has this day arrived to 
spend one year in this sacred seminary; I have been 



LIFE IN ANDOVER. 21 

very anxious that he should be here. I hope that, 
through the grace of God, all his religious privileges 
here will be the means of advancing his spiritual in- 
terests. 

"March 16, 1822. The present is a season I wish 
long to remember. Gerard has been deeply interested 
in religion, intent upon it, earnestly desiring to be fitted 
to be useful in the ministry, and for the kingdom of 
heaven. He has laid aside his books — all but his Bible, 
and Henry Martin, Davies, and kindred works ; he 
wanders in the woods, and wherever he can find retire- 
ment. He Is tender, he is earnestly inquiring. The 
Lord be praised. 

"Another student now on this sacred hill is deeply 
impressed. Many brethren are quickened, and some 
in the academy are serious. There are also some hope- 
ful appearances in town. Oh that God would come 
and work wonders here, as he has in many places in 
our land. New Haven and Pittsfield have been blessed 
with almost a constant revival for some months. 

"Andover, April 26. I yesterday returned from 
the meeting of the Londonderry Presbytery, by whom, 
with fifteen others, I was licensed to preach the gospel. 
The occasion was one of deep solemnity. Brother 
Shed and I, as a committee, have just received a 
letter from the Hon. Mr. Bardett of Newburyport, in 
reply to our acknowledging his kindness in furnishing 
us with the new seminary building (Bartlett Hall) which 
we now occupy. He expresses much friendship, humil- 
ity, and desire for the spiritual welfare of the seminary. 



22 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

" As to the coming vacation, I have no doubt that 
it is my duty to spend it in Hallowell, and can only 
commit my way to God, praying him to make me 
useful. 

" May 6. Monday morning at nine o'clock, I sailed 
from Boston in the schooner Sea- Flower, and in thirty- 
one hours she lay to by the wharf in Hallowell. 

"I preached while in Hallowell and the vicinity, 
written sermons on twenty-two occasions, and assisted 
or took the lead in eight other meetings ; in all thirty. 

"Andover, June. Having returned here, I have 
everything to be thankful for, except that I have been 
no more faithful. I regret to. leave friends in Maine. 
Now I feel that a life of activity in public labors is 
better than that of a student in the preparatory course." 



FIRST LABORS IN TRACT WORK. 23 

CHAPTER III. 

FIRST LABORS IN TRACT WORK. 

"July 26, 1822. Dr. Justin Edwards, secretary of 
the New England Tract Society, while riding on horse- 
back to visit his people, stopped and called at my room, 
to say that the Society, having had no agent for two 
years, is in a very low state and needs reviving, and that 
it must have some one from the senior class to engage 
for a time in its agency. * We have been looking over, 
the class,' he said, ' and according to the best light we 
have, we think it may be your duty to labor for a time 
in this department. We wish you to think of it and 
seek for light and direction from above. My duties 
are pressing. Good morning, sir.' 

"September 16. I have resolved, immediately 
after closing my three years' course in the Theological 
Seminary, to visit my parents and then engage in the 
service of the Tract Society. My success in furthering 
its work must depend on the aid that shall be given 
me from above. 

" Brother William Richards, my classmate and fel- 
low-townsman, is soon to leave me and his country for 
the Sandwich Islands ; and my class are to separate to 
the four v.inds, many of them on missionary ground. 

"September 26. Thus rapid time has finally closed 
my connection with the dear Theological Seminary. 
My three years have been happy ; but I cannot feel 



24 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

that I have made such acquisitions of divine and human 
knowledge as I ought. I am now but a child in theology, 
a child in knowledge, and a child (if indeed I am a 
child) in piety. But my hours, however improved or 
misimproved, are gone, never, never to be mine again. 
I am thrust into the field, and I have only to implore 
the divine blessing, and go forward. 

" This is the most gloomy day of my life. I have 
been into the chapel, where we have met every morning 
and evening for devotion, and those vacant seats, which 
I and my scattered classmates are never to occupy 
again — speak a language such as no tongue can utter. 
Dear Richards, the friend and companion of my child- 
hood and youth ! I sung with him most lovingly and 
harmoniously at the concert last evening ; and I have 
sung by his side in college and seminary, morning and 
evening, for seven years; he has prayed with me, and 
told me my faults ; he has been my friend, a friend 
more faithful than a brother ; and we have been togeth- 
er in trouble and' in joy. But we sing together no 
more, we part ; God make us faithful, and let us meet 
again — in heaven ! 

** Brother Brigham, with whom I have roomed in 
love these three years, will go to-morrow first to Ken- 
tucky a few months, and then on a mission to South 
America ; and my other classmates are dispersing in all 
directions. But I must take courage, inquire into the 
state of the Tract Society, and do what I can to supply 
its wants. 

"October 15. Left Andover on foot to visit the 



FIRST LABORS IN TRACT WORK, 25 

neighboring churches and raise funds for the Tract 
Society. 

" November 21. Returned to Andover with $419 15, 
having visited about thirty churches in the vicinity, my 
travelhng expenses being just thirty-four cents ! — all for 
tolls at bridges and turnpike gates. Have become deep- 
ly interested in many pastors and churches, whose kind- 
ness has laid me under obligations of lasting gratitude. 

" December 24. I have now remained in Andover 
more than a month ; written a sermon for my agency ; 
a circular to the Christian public; a circular letter to 
the agents of depositories ; an article on * Auxiliary So- 
cieties ;' another inviting friends to furnish matter for 
new tracts ; selected the ' Conversion of Mrs. E. Emer- 
son,' * The Splendid Wedding,' etc., for new tracts, and 
spent one Sabbath in Dracut and one in Methuen. 

" December 25. Left Andover on the business of 
the Society, and visited about twenty towns, in which 
the cordial cooperation of pastors and their people laid 
me under special obligations. 

"January 31, 1823. Have remained in Andover 
sixteen days, writing a sermon, making a list of life- 
members, sending circulars to every town in Massachu- 
setts, and writing four articles for the ' Boston Recorder.' 
Spent one Sabbath in Boxford ; walked home Sabbath 
evening ten miles in damp snow and took a severe cold." 

" Took a third tour in Massachusetts for collecdng 
funds, visiting about seventy churches (including five 
within the boundaries of New York), receiving for the 
Society about $800. 

Dr. Hallock. A 



26 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

" I cannot express the sacredness and tenderness of 
the tie that binds me to the hearts of the pastors and 
churches, men and women, old and young, by whom 
the above sums were contributed to this blessed cause. 
Most of them I shall never see again on earth ; but I 
expect to meet them with mutual joy and thanksgiving 
in a brighter and better world. 

" Brother Brigham's mother and relatives received 
me as if I had been an old friend. At Canton I sup- 
plied the pulpit of my revered uncle, Rev. Jeremiah 
Hallock, whose praise is in all the churches. 

" Visiting my parents at Plainfield, I had great pleas- 
ure in supplying my father's pulpit, and he could 
hardly consent to my tarrying only for one Sabbath. 
Martha is devoted to the service of Christ, Leavitt 
seriously considering the duty of publicly professing 
faith in him, and Homan, a member of the freshman 
class in Amherst College, was one of twenty-two hope- 
fully converted in a revival the past winter. News 
has just been received that Rev. James Richards, mis- 
sionary in Ceylon, has died in the triumphs of faith. 

''June 2, my birthday. A good Providence has 
preserved me another year, and I can truly say it has 
been crowned with loving kindness. All that I have 
done for the Tract Society has been a joy, every pain 
I have been called to suffer for it, though sometimes 
travelling on foot by night amid the chills and snows of 
the New Hampshire hills, is sweet. 

" A letter now lies on my table urging me to go 
to Maine and attempt to build up a church in Farming- 



FIRST LABORS IN TRACT WORK. 27 

ton. I am also requested to consider the state of the 
church at Buckland, Mass. A hint is also received 
from New Marlborough. But at present my path is 
plain, though I hope by-and-by to be stationed in the 
ministry. 

"September 24, 1823. It is now a year since I 
began labor for the Tract Society. ' I have been con- 
stantly engaged from the time I rose in the morning 
till late at night. Besides preparing and circulating 
9,000 copies of our Annual Report, and the Christian 
Almanac, a somewhat extensive correspondence has 
been constantly maintained; new tracts have been se- 
lected, proofsheets revised, etc. Four young men of 
the seminary are now secured to devote their coming 
vacation to the circulation of its works. 

" I have visited New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 
and Washington, with a special view to the issuing of 
the Christian Almanac in each of those cities ; confer- 
ring freely with the officers and friends of the Tract 
cause in reference to its interests in those cities and 
throughout the land and world. 

" Returning to Boston, I found Gerard engrossed in 
establishing a weekly religious newspaper, ' The Boston 
Telegraph.' 

"Andover, December 11. I returned this day from 
a tour through Boston, Salem, Newburyport, etc., to 
increase the funds of the Society. In Boston had a 
delightful visit with Mr. John Tappan, preached twice 
for brother Green, conducted a meeting in Park Street 
Church, and dined at Thanksgiving with Mr. David 



28 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

Hale and my brother Gerard. Also visited Salem and 
Nevvburyport. Collected in the tour about $550. 

"March 13, 1824. Since the above date, I have 
been engaged in revising the series of tracts, correcting 
all the new editions from the press, procuring cuts, 
making inquiries of paper -makers so as to get this 
costly article on the best terms, writing for the religious 
newspapers, and maintaining a somewhat extensive 
correspondence. 

" I have now almost completed the revision of the 
first five volumes of tracts, and am proceeding with the 
other two, when I expect to select new tracts, publish 
the * Proceedings of the First Ten Years * of the Soci- 
ety, the Annual Report, and the Christian Almanac for 
1825. 

*' December 18. I yesterday returned from a jour- 
ney to my father's, to attend the annual Thanksgiv- 
ing. I had the happiness of meeting the entire family 
circle. We formed a perfect union of sentiment and 
views. Religion was uppermost with us all. 

"In the evening we sat together, and told to each 
other, from the oldest to the youngest, what we hoped 
God had done for our souls. I gave my father assis- 
tance in preaching and other religious meetings, and 
spent two days in collecting facts in the history of the 
late deacon Joseph Beals, as material for a tract, ' The 
Mountain Miller.' " 

The new agent is already imbued with the spirit of 
the stirring Annual Report of the Society issued a few 
months before he entered its service, in which Mr. 



FIRST LABORS IN TRACT WORK. 29 

Edwards eloquently urged the ease with which it might 
speak to millions at the same time ; the great amount 
of good which it could do by small means; the seal of 
God's approbation upon the work already begun. "And 
who." he asked, " knowing that a single tract put in 
operation all the Bible Societies of Russia, Sweden and 
the neighboring countries, could fail to expect, when 
he stands on Mount Zion, to see the multitude which 
no man can number vastly augmented through this 
humble instrumentality " ? 

The mother of the modern popular tract was Han- 
nah More, whose " Cheap Repository Tracts," written in 
plain language and simple story, were widely circulated 
and read in England the latter part of the last century. 
The formation of the Religious Tract Society in Lon- 
don soon followed — 1792 — to give such reading to the 
masses. 

Private efforts for this object sprang up a few 
years later in several parts of our own country. Rev. 
Dr. Proudfit of Salem, New York, wrote a series of 
small books which Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer and 
others in Albany provided funds to print and circulate 
especially in the new frontier settlements. 

Rev. Jedidiah Morse, of Charlestown, Mass., also 
printed an edition which were sent in small parcels to 
new settlers in Maine, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 

In 1803, Governor Samuel Phillips of Massachusetts, 
through the persuasion of his friend, Dr. David Tap- 
pan, Professor of Theology at Harvard College, gave a 
thousand pounds, five-sixths of the interest of which 



30 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

was to be spent in circulating " pious books " in Ando- 
ver, his native place ; and three thousands pounds for 
" a more general distribution of like pious books." From 
this fund Baxter's Saint's Rest was put into every family 
in Andover, whose influence, Dr. Justin Edwards said, 
" was like that of a gentle revival of religion throughout 
his parish." 

In 1812, Professor Porter of Andover, having 
bought a small religious book at a very high price, 
turned over in his mind how to lessen the cost of such 
books, as lessened they must be for general reading. 
He brought the subject before a small circle of friends, 
who met at his study every Monday evening to con- 
fer upon the subject of church work. A plan was pro- 
posed, which, striking them favorably, they endorsed 
by generous subscriptions. Funds were readily ob- 
tained from others discerning its wise provisions, until 
by the time of its public approval at Boston, May, 
1 8 14, more than two thousand dollars were subscribed 
and more than two thousand already spent in further- 
ance of the object. The new organization bore the 
name of the " New England Tract Society," subsequent- 
ly changed to " American Tract Society." Its planning 
and printing were done in Andover, with a book de- 
pository at Boston. 

In 1 82 1 it issued its first edition of the Christian 
Almanac, prepared by Rufus Anderson, then a student 
at the seminary, and in 1824 it ventured on a small 
monthly magazine. Both before and after this time, 
small Tract Societies sprang up in New Haven, Hart- 



FIRST LABORS IxY TRACT WORK. 31 

ford, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Vermont, Cincinnati, as 
well as in New York, showing the widespread mental 
and spiritual need which such publishing societies were 
seeking to supply. 

The New York Religious Tract Society was founded 
in 181 2. In its sixth year, works in French and Span- 
ish were added to its list of publications. A "Female 
Branch " was also formed, with Mrs. Divie Bethune at 
its head. Tract work soon became the popular, if not 
the only channel of active Christian usefulness for the 
women of the church at that time, upon which they 
entered with characteristic ardor and fidelity. 



32 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN TRACT 
SOCIETY, 

" From the time of becoming thoroughly enHsted in 
tract work," writes Dr. Hallock, " it was the great and 
legitimate object of my efforts to extend its influence 
throughout the United States. My mind was upon 
every movement which had any bearing on this grand 
end, whether favorable or unfavorable. I felt the over- 
whelming embarrassment of a location in a retired 
country village like Andover, and became convinced 
that the seat of the Society must be removed to Boston. 
It was, however, too painful a subject to be laid before 
the gentlemen of Andover most interested in it. 

" Meanwhile officers of the New York Religious 
Tract Society, which for several months had been be- 
coming active, conceived the idea of a National Institu- 
tion in New York ; and a committee, consisting of Mr. 
Arthur Tappan, Dr. James C. Bliss, and Rev. Charles 
G. Sommers, were appointed to address the American 
Tract Society at Boston, and propose to them to remove 
their whole establishment to New York, and become 
the National American Tract Society. 

" Their letter dated November 12, 1824, was brought 
to my room by my friend and counsellor, Rev. Justin 
Edwards, our Society's secretary, who dropped it on my 



FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY. 33 

table saying, * There is a letter from New York. They 
wish us to remove the American Tract Society on there 
and let it become the National Society in New York.' 

"At these words, the blood rushed through my 
veins from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot. 
Providence seemed to have gone before me, and it 
appeared to me in a moment that the concentration of 
tract work in New York was what God designed. 

"The Committee directed an answer inquiring 
whether, in case of a removal, the people of New York 
would build a house for the Society's accommodation, 
and would retain its auxiharies, depositories," members, 
etc. The reply was sufficiendy satisfactory as to their 
kind and liberal intentions; and on the nth of January 
a public meeting of our Society was held in the vestry 
of the Park Street Church, Boston, when the letters 
were read, and the subject fully discussed by Rev. Drs. 
Edwards and Woods, Hon. Samuel Hubbard, Jeremiah 
Evarts, S. V. S. Wilder, Henry Hill, and others, and 
the subject was referred back to the Executive Com- 
mittee, then consisting of Rev. Drs. Edwards, Church, 
Codman, and Fay, and Esquire Blanchard. 

"That committee met on the following day, and 
unanimously ' Resolved, That William A. Hallock be 
and hereby is appointed permanent Agent of this Soci- 
ety, with a salary increased to $800' — showing that the 
committee had relinquished the idea of a removal. On 
my return to Andover, I was greeted with congratula- 
tions that the whole subject was put to rest. 

" It was not put to rest, however, in my own mind ; 

Dr. Hallock. C 



34 DR. WILLIAM A. IIALLOCK. 

on the contrary it was assuming a constantly growing 
importance, and after one Sabbath I expressed to Mr. 
Edwards my most decided impression that the Execu- 
tive Committee should give the whole subject further 
consideration. A special meeting was then called, when 
I presented a written statement of the clear indications 
of Providence that the subject referred to the Commit- 
tee demands their most serious consideration." 

" I begin with the embarrassments connected with 
the location at Andover, namely: that of 125 deposito- 
ries, only thirty-seven can obtain tracts as conveniently 
from Boston as from New York ; and of those thirty- 
seven, only two can obtain supplies at Andover as con- 
veniently as at Boston ; that only one-ninth of the popu- 
lation of the country is naturally'associated with Boston, 
and only one-twentieth of the territory east of the 
Mississippi ; that much delay, risk and expense attend 
the transmission of tracts from Andover, an interior 
town, to the different parts of the United States ; that 
the great mass of the Christian community have now 
no access to the fountain-head of the Society, and no 
city has the stimulus and benefit of having its location 
among themselves. The stereotyping, the engraving, 
and the circulation of the Society's Magazine must all 
be done at a distance ; we have no market for procu- 
ring paper, and the town being so small, the interests 
of the printers, papermakers, and Executive Commit- 
tee are so interwoven as to embarrass the concerns of 
the Society; while in a large city there might be a 
great saving in the publishing department. 



FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY. 35 

" ' That further embarrassment arises from the Socie- 
ty's connection with the Theological Seminary mainly 
representing one Christian denomination; that in case 
of the removal by death or otherwise, of one man, Rev. 
Justin Edwards, now of Andover, whose aid on the 
Committee is a very principal argument for the present 
location, few would consider the Society more safe as 
to the evangelical character of the tracts, than if located 
in the city of Boston or New York. 

" ' We have considered the embarrassments of the 
present location a reason for collecting large funds for 
establishing local depositories throughout the country ; 
and if the Society can be essentially freed from these 
embarrassments, ought we not to lay the whole state of 
the case before the Christian public, that all may give 
understandingly ? 

" ' God now seems opening the way to relieve the 
Society, and give it opportunity greatly to extend itself. 
Shall it not be permitted to improve this opportunity ? 

" 'The present is a most important crisis in the tract 
operations of this country. A National Tract Society 
is, without doubt, to be formed, and it is of vast impor- 
tance to do all we can to give it a truly evangelical 
character. There is an excitement in the public mind 
in favor of national societies. A friendly proposition is 
now made to this Society by the Society in New York, 
on the acceptance of which may depend the character 
of tract operations in our country for the long future. 

"'One argument, which seems to me to outweigh all 
suggested at the public meeting of the Society, is that 



36 DK. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

by uniting these societies in a National Institution, we 
may, to all human view, promote a union of feeling and 
of effort among Christians of various denoininations . 

" * Another argument of surpassing weight is that, to 
human view, the Coviniittee 7nay now, by one act of 
theirs, be the instru7ne7it of enlisting the great body of 
Christians throughout all our territories in circulati?ig 
our truly evangelical series of tracts. 

" ' This Society has given the most sacred pledges to 
the Christian public that it is laboring /<?r the whole 
country. If, when a National Society is to be formed, 
we refuse to unite on principles such as we ourselves 
would wish to propose, do we redeem our pledges ?' 

" The Committee, as the result of their deliberations, 
sent me the following communication : 

" ' To Mr. Wm. A. Hallock, Assistant Secretary ot the Amer- 
ican Tract Society : 

" ' The Executive Committee hereby authorize and 
commission you to go to the City of New York, and 
conduct in their behalf a correspondence with the Com- 
mittee of the New York Religious Tract Society. 

" * Wishing you the guidance and blessing of God, 
we affectionately commend you, and the important in- 
terests in which you are engaged, to his infinitely wise 
and good disposal. 

"'J. EDWARDS, 
" ' Clerk of Ex. Com. Am. Tr. Soc. 

*" Andover, January 27, 1825.' 

" Thus instructed, I immediately wrote to the New 
York Religious Tract Society, proposing that they be- 



FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY. 37 

come a Branch ; and February 3 I visited that city. I 
found there a burning love for the tract work enkin- 
dled in the hearts of officers and friends to whom God 
had given large means. Almost daily meetings were 
held for consultation and prayer at the house of Dr. 
Bliss, on the corner of Broad and Garden streets, in 
which Messrs. Arthur Tappan, Moses Allen, Richard 
T. Haines, and Marcus Wilbur, largely participated, 
besides several distinguished clergymen. The neces- 
sity of a building large enough to accommodate the 
new Society was deeply felt, and several generous sums 
were already promised for it. Under these circum- 
stances, viewing the tract cause as one, whether in 
Boston or New York, having evidence that there was 
in the latter city the proper spirit and all the requisite 
qualifications for conducting a National Society, I 
paused in my efforts for the Society at Boston, and did 
all I could to organize a National Society in New 
York. 

*' It was a striking providence that March and a part 
of April of this year (1825) was the season immediately 
preceding the losses by the cotton speculation, and was 
perhaps the most prosperous commercial period in the 
history of New York city. Within three months after, 
her losses were immense, her commerce depressed, and 
to have raised $20,000 for a Tract House would have 
been, to all human view, utterly impracticable. This 
was unknown to us, but was known to an unerring 
Providence ; and let his hand be gratefully recognized 
in the event. 



38 DR. WILLIAM A, HALLOCK. 

" A meeting was called March ii, at the City Hotel, 
at which $12,500 were immediately subscribed, and a 
draft of the Constitution for the new National Society 
was read and approved. It had been digested with 
great care, and was in some respects unlike any one 
that had preceded it. 

" While its object was * to diffuse a knowledge of 
our Lord Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of sinners, and 
to promote the interests of vital godhness and sound 
morality, by the circulation of religious tracts calculated 
to receive the approbation of all evangelical Christians,' 
in order to * promote in the highest degree these ob- 
jects, the officers and directors shall be elected from 
different denominations of Christians ; the Publishing 
Committee shall contain no two members from the 
same denomination, and no tract shall be published to 
which any member of that body shall object.' 

" Dr. Milnor, with Dr. Spring and many others in 
different parts of the country, supposed a union to pub- 
lish the Bible without note or comment was about as 
far as Christians of different denominations would go. 
He felt far from sanguine that they could unite in a 
Publishing Society of this character ; yet he expressed 
great willingness to do his best in making the attempt. 

" Immediately after the meeting, letters were ad- 
dressed to the principal Tract Societies of the country, 
inviting them to send delegates to meet the Executive 
Committee of the Society on Tuesday, the loth of May, 
to confer together and take measures for the final 
organization of a National Society. 



FORMATION OF THF SOCIETY. 39 

" By the last of March, the subscriptions having been 
raised to $20,000, I left New York for Andover, where 
I wrote the Annual Report of the Society at Boston, 
brought up the correspondence which had been neg- 
lected, and returned to New York to attend the meet- 
ing of delegates. The union of members of different 
denominations was a deHcate affair. The meeting came, 
however, to an harmonious result, and the crowded and 
delightful anniversary of the next day, when the beloved 
and eloquent Summerfield made a most effective ad- 
dress, which was the last that ever fell from his heav- 
en-inspired lips, calmed the minds of the doubting, and 
gave the friends of the Society fresh ceurage. 

" Returning home to attend the anniversary of the 
Society at Boston, May 25, Drs. Milnor, Spring, and 
Sommers, delegates from New York, were present and 
took part in its exercises. On the following day the 
meeting for business was attended by the religious 
strength of New England. Full and free discussions 
took place, when, through the influence of Jeremiah 
Evarts, Esq., Rev. Dr. Edward D. Griffin, and the 
delegation from New York, a definite resolution to be- 
come a Branch of the Society at New York was intro- 
duced, and after three hours of animated debate, con- 
ducted with great ability, was carried without a dissent- 
ing voice. Thus everything was happily adjusted. 

" I soon returned to New York and began my la- 
bors for the new American Tract Society, of which I 
had been elected Corresponding Secretary and appoint- 
ed General Agent. Dr. Justin Edwards was made a 



40 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

member of its Publishing Committee, with Dr. Mihior 
of the Episcopal church, Dr. Gardiner Spring of the 
Presbyterian church, Dr. John Knox of the Reformed 
Dutch church, Rev. Charles Sommers of the Baptist 
church, and Rev. John Summerfield of the Methodist 
Episcopal." 

" It is a great consolation," wrote Dr. Hallock on a 
later review of this period, " that in looking back on the 
intricate way in which I have been led in Tract Society 
arrangements, I see no important steps taken which I 
could wish to retrace. My proceedings on my first offi- 
cial visit to New York were somewhat rash, particularly 
in enpfafifing: at oace in the formation of the new Socie- 
ty ; but on that rashness, if such it must be called, de- 
pended, under God, the whole character and history of 
tract operations in this country perhaps for years to 
come. 

" In looking back on the working of my own mind 
in relation to the formation of the new American Tract 
Society, I seem to have been driven by a more than 
natural impetuosity. The concentration of effort on the 
plan which has now been realized seemed to me vastly 
important, as enlisting the whole body of evangelical 
Christians throughout all our territories in circulating 
the most truly evangelical, devotional, and excellent 
series of tracts ever issued ; and I felt that I must, and 
it would seem that I actually did pursue it, in Divine 
strength, with all my might. 

" Thus far the hand of the Lord seems to have been 
most visibly and kindly interposed. What he "designs 



FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY. 41 

for the future I know not. I would not distrust his love 
or his mercy, nor yet would I trust presumptuously that 
his providence will always direct events in a manner so 
animating and cheering. In the most affectionate, kind, 
and cordial meetings of our several Committees, such a 
spirit of prayer, of dependence on God for a blessing, 
and such ardent love for the souls of men, and desire to 
promote their salvation appear, as to give great assu- 
rance that the Lord is still with us, and that if we pro- 
voke him not to wrath, his kindness will still follow us." 

Mr. S. V. S. Wilder of New York was chosen Pres- 
ident of the new organization. 

Mr. Wilder had already identified himself with simi- 
lar work abroad. Some years before, while in London, 
he dropped one evening into a small church where 
Rowland Hill with Thomas Burder and others were 
holding a missionary service. The contribution-plate 
not reaching the back pew in which he sat, he sent it a 
ten-pound note, which proved the means of introducing 
him to the ofificers of the British Bible and Tract Soci- 
ety. On being asked if their tracts could be circulated 
in Paris, where he was then residing, he at once directed 
that ten pounds' worth be sent to his address. The 
large box arrived at the customhouse, where it was 
seized as contraband, and he was summoned to account 
for it. " Nothing political or revolutionary," replied 
Mr. Wilder, handing a copy of the books to each one 
present. Thus suddenly enhsted in tract work, his 
interest in it never flagged. 

Visiting Mount Calvary near Paris, the scene of an 



42 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

annual Papal festival, he was on the point of being ar- 
rested by a gendarme, with a mob at his heels, for dis- 
tributing " those vile books." " No vile books at all," 
said Mr. Wilder, turning round to his assailants with 
stately courtesy of manner. " I am distributing the Life, 
Death, and Resurrection of our blessed Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. Will you allow me to present you with 
one, sir, and one to all your attendants?" The men, 
thus unexpectedly confronted, accepted the books, and 
suffered the polite and generous stranger to pass on 
unmolested. 

The busy merchant was no less a busy Christian. 
Mr. Wilder laid the corner-stone of the Tract House 
on its present site, corner of Nassau and Spruce streets, 
May 26, 1825, surrounded by a large and enthusiastic 
crowd. 



DEVELOPMENT OF TRACT WORK. 43 



CHAPTER V. 

DEVELOPMENT OF TRACT WORK— MARRIAGE 
—HOME. 

" 1826. My brother Gerard," writes Dr. Hallock, 
" having left the ' Boston Telegraph,' received propo- 
sals from Sidney E. Morse to become joint editor of the 
' New York Observer.' He has completed the contract 
and comes to New York. It is seven years since we 
roomed together at college, and he is now to share 
with me my snug quarters in a corner of the Tract 
House. 

" August 26. I have just returned from a visit of 
three weeks to my parents. For the sake of my health 
I took a horse at New Haven, visiting on the way the 
bereaved family of my venerated uncle. Rev. Jeremiah 
Hallock, who departed this life June 23, 1826, aged 68. 
This dear uncle was eminently a man of God. Bating 
all my partiality to him, he gave me evidence of higher 
attainments in piety than I have perhaps ever elsewhere 
observed. His annual visits at my father's almost made 
the house a little heaven below. Never shall I forget 
suddenly opening a chamber-door, and finding him and 
my father on their knees pleading with God for my own 
salvation, the floor before them bearing testimony to 
their flowing tears. He always prayed that he might 
not outlive his usefulness ; and having faithfully labored 



44 DR' WILLIAM A, HALLOCK. 

in the ministry forty years, the same period, as he said, 
through which Israel was detained in the wilderness, he 
rested from his labors.* 

**' I also spent a night at New Marlborough, Mass., 
with my Andover roommate, Brigham, who, I rejoice 
to say, is about to come to New York as Corresponding 
Secretary of the American Bible Society. 

" I found my parents well and happy. Spent one 
day with my father in the most confidential intercourse, 
as we were repairing fences in the sugar orchard, which 
was one of the happiest days of my life. 

"October 17. I have received a note from my 
brother Homan, stating that he is to sail for the island 
of Malta to superintend the mission press there estab- 
lished. I cannot but esteem it a privilege and an honor 
thus to have one member of my dear father's family on 
missionary ground. 

''June 2, 1827. My birthday. I am, as usual, deluged 
with business, pushing the day often far into the night, 
and wholly occupied with the tract cause from the be- 
ginning of the month to the end of it. The Society 
prospers greatly, its receipts having been $30,000 du- 
ring the year ending May i, and its issues 3,000,000 of 
tracts. Little did I expect, when coming to this city, 
that such would be the results of its second year. 

" August. Left New York for New London, Nor- 
wich, Boston, Andover, and Plainfield. In each of the 
two former places organized a tract society, in Ando- 

* See Memoir of Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, issued by the 
American Tract Society. 



DEVELOPMENT OF TRACT WORK. 45 

ver secured one or two agents for the Parent Society, 
and at Plainfield made an agreeable visit to my parents, 
who are now in the midst of a revival of religion. 

" Monday, May 24, 1828. Visited Boston as a del- 
egate. Addressed the Tract meeting Wednesday even- 
ing ; and attended a meeting of the Committee, at which 
they agreed to give up Rev. O. Eastman, their Corre- 
sponding Secretary, to become General Agent for the 
valley of the Mississippi. 

" I am convinced that it is my duty to leave the 
crowded Brick church, where I am delightfully situated, 
with near a thousand members, under the pastoral 
charge of Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, and join the en- 
terprise in the Bowery church for those more desti- 
tute. 

"March, 1829. I have preached in most of the 
churches in the city which unite in supporting the So- 
ciety, and obtained donations to the amount of about 
$7,000. I also spent a fortnight in Albany and Utica, 
in which two places $1,800 were raised, and a week in 
Hartford with Mr. Charles Hosmer, secretary, raising 
$1,100; all with reference to the valley of the Missis- 
sippi. This object at the present time excites the deep- 
est interest. Brother Eastman left this city, November 
17, as General Agent for that vast field. Three others 
are laboring near the Ohio river, and two more in New 
Orleans and vicinity. 

" Rev. F. Y. Vail has lately secured in Connecticut 
ten subscriptions of $500 each, in response to a propo- 
sition from Hon. Mr. Tallmadge of Litchfield to give 



46 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

$500, provided ten in that state would do the same pre- 
vious to March i, 1829 — the whole of which $5,000 is 
now secured. 

" Harlan Page, our Depositary, felt and urged, with 
the consent of us all, that the bearer of a tract or book 
must open his mouth and labor for the salvation of in- 
dividuals. We are now making a vigorous effort to 
supply every family in this city, at least monthly, with 
a tract, accompanied by kind personal efforts for the 
salvation of souls. I have taken the responsibility of 
the Fourteenth ward. I think if this plan can be thor- 
oughly carried out in this city, it will set an example 
which will give an impulse to tract operations through- 
out the country. 

" Six >veeks ago Gerard was applied to by Mr. Ar- 
thur Tappan to leave the ' New York Observer ' and 
become editor of the ' New York Journal of Commerce.' 
This daily business paper was established more than 
one year since with reference to the morals of the city, 
on the ground of excluding advertisements of lotteries, 
theatres, and ardent spirits, and being printed without 
any infringement on the hours of the Sabbath, while it 
should be a paper of high standing as a journal of com- 
merce and a vehicle of the news of the day. Mr. Tap- 
pan has paid nearly $20,000 for its establishment, and a 
further capital of $20,000 is now raised by him and oth- 
ers to carry it forward. 

" Norwich, Conn., Nov., 1828. 
" My respected and very dear Parents : I 
write from the house of Charles Lathrop, Esq., who was 



DEVELOPMENT OF TRACT WORK. 47 

the classmate and roommate of my father in Yale Col- 
lege. He has long been clerk of the county courts, and 
is a deacon and pillar in the church. He remembers 
you with much interest, and Mrs. Lathrop says he has 
often said he had no classmate he so much wished to 
see, and he now sends you his kindest regards. 

" Last August I formed a large tract society in Nor- 
wich city, and then called on Rev. Dr. Strong of Nor- 
wich town, and proposed forming a ladies' auxihary in 
his parish. He gave me the names of three young la- 
dies whose cooperation would be desirable, one of whom 
was Miss Fanny Leffingwell Lathrop, a daughter of 
your classmate. I thought of this family with some in- 
terest, and spent with them the Connecticut Thanks- 
giving. Their oldest daughter married Rev. Miron 
Winslow, and has long been an active missionary in 
Ceylon. They were with Rev. James Richards there, 
and attended him in his death. Fanny is the oldest 
child remaining at home, and has three younger sisters, 
the whole family being devoted Christians. The moth- 
er, a sister of William Leffingwell, a retired merchant of 
New Haven, is an intelligent lady, and merits, as fully 
as any one I know, the high and honorable appellation 
of a Christiaji mother, in all the sacred and pleasant 
import which that term ought to convey, and ever does 
convey to a child favored with such a mother as mine. 
Fanny is active in promoting the benevolent objects ot 
th-e day. Her character is decidedly domestic; her 
pleasures, cares, and labors, being chiefly at hofue, 
where she is happy in the circle of her intimate friends. 



48 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

She is neither a poet nor a singer, but has sound dis- 
cretion and intelligence, and I think an unusual sense 
of propriety ; and verily, if I would undertake to say 
what there is in herself or the family that could be con- 
sidered an objection to a connection with them, I know 
not what I could mention, I have endeavored to think 
of all the various hints my father has from time to time 
suggested as to what constitutes the true excellence of 
female character, and I surely know of no young lady 
in whom I beHeve you would more fully confide." 

"Sept. I, 1829 [his wedding-day], I went to Nor- 
wich with Gerard and his wife. We met the beloved 
family where I have spent many of the happiest hours 
of my life, with pleasant anticipations of the scene before 
us. On the same day our cousin. Rev. George B. Whi- 
ting, and his expected companion on a foreign mission ; 
Rev. John C. Brigham, Secretary of the American Bi- 
ble Society ; Rev. Seth Bliss and lady, Rev. Mr. Ever- 
est, Miss Frances M. Caulkins, and among other friends, 
Hon. Samuel Hubbard of Boston, joined us. The ven- 
erable Rev. Dr. Strong performed the marriage ceremo- 
ny, offering two prayers very solemn and appropriate. 
On the morning of the following day we bade farewell 
to this estimable circle of Christian friends, who from 
the first have omitted nothing which could be for our 
happiness or endear them to us, and took our departure 
to visit my parents at Plainfield, stopping at Canton, 
where we visited the grave and copied the epitaph of 
my revered uncle, Rev. Jeremiah Hallock. We spent 



MARRIAGE. 49 

ten days at Plalnficld most agreeably. The interviews 
with my revered father were most dehghtful and refresh- 
ing. He spoke of them frequently as a source of satis- 
faction, and the day before we left, as we were at din- 
ner, said, * This young man seems to me quite as much 
like brother Jeremiah as like my son.' Returning, we 
spent the Sabbath in Bolton, at the residence of S. V, S. 
Wilder, Esq., President of the American Tract Society, 
and I preached in his new evangelical church. 

" New York, Oct. 4. Thus far I surely find a 
very great addition to the happiness of life in a cordial, 
sincere, single-hearted, unpretending, affectionate, devo- 
ted companion, who as yet has caused no painful emo- 
tion to enter my heart, but a sense of the sacred respon- 
sibility to be faithful to her in all things for the present 
and the future life. I desire to receive her as a blessing 
lent from God. 

"January i, 1830. This first date of the new year, 
my dear parents, I devote to you. I intended to have 
written you on Thanksgiving day, but I was in Balti- 
more, where, and in Washington, Georgetown, and Al- 
exandria, I labored for the tract cause three weeks. I 
therefore have seen no Thanksgiving day this year, 
whereas, two years since, I spent one at Mr. Lathrop's 
in Connecticut, and another here the following week. 
My dear wife understands the conduct of household 
affairs, and seems to me to be all that can be desired in 
a faithful, affectionate wite. My numerous friends here 
have manifested every expression of Christian confi- 
dence, and indeed she has most evidently strengthened 

Dr. Hallock. 7 



50 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

my hands in fulfilling all my public and official respon- 
sibilities. She is active in our Bowery church, supply- 
ing, with Mrs. Dr. Peters, about 150 families with the 
Bible and tracts, and joining the ladies of the church in 
making garments for destitute Sabbath - school chil- 
dren. 

"June 2. During the time of the anniversaries the 
past month, we have had the pleasure, for the first time 
since I came to this city, to see my dear father and 
mother here. They tarried with us eight days, and 
made a visit exceedingly agreeable to us, and appa- 
rently not less so to them. At the same time we had 
the pleasure of a visit from father and mother Lathrop, 
so that ottrfour parents met each other here, and our 
two fathers very agreeably revived the friendships of 
classmates and roommates in Yale College. 

" March 13, 1831. We were called to part with our 
honored father Lathrop. My dear wife and I were in- 
formed that he was more feeble, and went with all the 
haste that a snowstorm, cutting off the usual convey- 
ance by land or water, allowed ; we arrived the morn- 
ing after the burial, to sympathize with a mourning 
widow and fatherless children. 

*' Though externally attentive to the duties of reli- 
gion, he had no evidence of vital piety till about the 
year 1807, when he was led to feel its importance by 
perceiving in his oldest daughter, now Mrs. Winslow 
of the Ceylon Mission, a serious concern for her soul's 
salvation. In April, 1808, on the day when this daugh- 
ter was twelve years old, both parents were enabled, 



HOME, 51 

with her, to consecrate themselves to the Redeemer by 
a pubHc profession of their faith in him. 

" He seemed to feel more than most men the import 
of the resolution of Joshua, ' As. for me and my house, 
we will serve the Lord ;' and the seasons of morning 
and evening family worship were evidently among the 
happiest seasons of his hfe." 



52 DR. WILLIAM A, HALLOCK. 

CHAPTER VI. 
FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES. 

" New York, April 12,1 832. My dear parents : Our 
precious little daughter, Martha, is dying in her moth- 
er's arms ! I cannot tell you how sorely grieved we 
are to part from her ; but God so comforts and sup- 
ports us, that we can say from the heart, 'He deals 
graciously with us.' When returning wearied from 
my daily toil, her sweet smile and the loving pat 
of her little hand on my face were a real refreshment 
to me. 

" Five o'clock, p. m. At noon the dear child sweetly 
breathed out her spirit to God. I took her little hand 
in mine and we commended her to her Saviour as she 
took her everlasting flight. 

" May 13. I have just been on a visit to the prin- 
cipal churches from Utica to Buffalo, especially to enlist 
them in the work of systematic tract visitation. We 
have made arrangements for supplying some twelve or 
fifteen counties in Western New York with tract visita- 
tion to every family monthly, accompanied by personal 
labors for individual souls. Five members of Auburn 
Theological Seminary are engaged for five counties. 
One man has engaged to supply a county of 3,000 
families monthly for a year, another to furnish the 
tracts for another county for three months ; others to 



FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES. S3 

visit and organize counties into districts, etc. I find in 
Western New York, many decided friends, and many 
places almost destitute of faithful preaching and other 
means of grace. The moral desolations of this wide 
field cause my heart to bleed. I wish I could stay and 
labor here for months. 

" Brother Eastman has accepted the appointment of 
Visiting and Financial Secretary. We hope to adopt 
a resoludon at the coming anniversary to proceed im- 
mediately and systematically in supplying our whole 
country ; contributions have been coming in from vari- 
ous sources : the churches seem awakening, and, all in 
all, I think I have never seen a period of so deep inter- 
est in the tract cause. 

"June 2. It gives me great joy that we have 
been able to appropriate $5,000 for foreign and pagan 
lands. I am now writing duplicate letters to all the 
principal foreign missionary stations supported from 
this country, and I hope God will open the way for 
yet more liberal appropriations in time to come. 

"July 7. I have had much satisfaction in being 
elected a member of a ministers' meeting, a delightful, 
harmonious, confidential circle, who love the Lord Je- 
sus. We meet weekly at each other's houses, and pray 
and converse in order on important topics. I have 
greatly needed such brotherly intercourse ever since I 
have been in the city. My labors so utterly engross 
time and thought, that I need such Christian fellowship 
on subjects connected with the general prosperity of 
the Redeemer's kingdom." 



54 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

For forty-eight years Dr. Hallock attended this 
gathering of " Christian Brethren," always anticipating 
with pleasure the recurrence of the Saturday evening 
hour, and receiving therefrom much stimulus and cheer 
in his Christian life. He and Rev. Dr. Cox were for 
many years the oldest members of "Chi Alpha," and 
they left it for their home above on the same day. 

"July 4, 1833. For some weeks past we have been 
quite a missionary family. Brother and sister Hutch- 
ings, soon to sail for Ceylon, and sister Harriet with 
Rev. Mr. Perry, her expected husband, destined for 
the same mission, have met under our roof We held 
frequent prayer-meetings and were full of business. 
The interviews were very cheering and delightful. 

"July 24. Brother and sister Hutchings left us for 
Boston to take ship for Ceylon. They were truly 
happy in thus consecrating themselves. Elizabeth 
showed unswerving attachment to the great mission- 
ary cause, and trust in God. We feel thankful to be 
thus identified with the work of foreign missions. May 
God give us more and more a true missionary spirit. • 

"June 12, 1834. This is a day of great interest in 
tract work. The facts in our 9th Report are of over- 
whelming Interest. God speaks to us to go forward, 
and the churches echo. Go forward. God help us to 
do it. I never felt such courage to labor ; never that 
grace and glory to the church were so near at hand. 
To recount God's blessings would be endless. I might 
mention : 

" I. The wide opening fields for tract labor, espe- 



FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES. 55 

dally ill pagan lands — the manifest voice of God calling- 
on us to enter them, and his blessing descending. Also 
the interest awakened for supplying the South and 
other portions of our own country with our precious 
volumes, as the * Saint's Rest,' etc., a work which we 
have slowly approached, but to which I could not but 
attach great importance even before I had completed 
my Theological course of study. 

" 2. The cooperation of Brothers Eastman and 
Woodbridge in presenting the cause to the churches, 
and the interest everywhere awaking in this work. 

" 3. My own health and vigor, which render labor 
pleasant, and enable me, I hope, to make each hour's 
effort more successful than ever before. 

"June 23. Last night we closed the eyes of 
our dear litde William A. Hallock, Jr., in death. Pre- 
cious babes, sweet and lovely as you were to us, and 
sore as is our loss, we would not call you back. The 
Lord's will be done ! 

" Ox). arriving in the city from a short journey, I 
was called to our dear brother Harlan Page, whose 
recovery from an illness that began in May was now 
hopeless. He had given up all wish to remain, was 
enabled to triumph in view of approaching death, and 
breathed out his soul to God on the morning of Sep- 
tember 23, 1834. It having been judged best that his 
body should be interred in Coventry, Conn., his native 
place, I accompanied it, where it was committed to the 
ground amid a large concourse of sympathizing rela- 
tives and friends. 



S6 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

" At the request of the widow, I prepared a funeral 
discourse, and on Monday evening, after my return, 
preached it, in connection with an address from Rev. 
Wm. Patton, in his church on Broome street, where 
Mr. Page for some years had superintended a large 
Sabbath-school. 

" I was immediately requested to preach the same 
sermon on Sabbath evening at Rev. Dr. Spring's 
church. The following Sabbath I delivered it to a 
crowded house at Rev. Mr. Downer's church, and also 
to the Brainerd church. On succeeding Sabbaths, I 
repeated it in nine other churches in this city. On 
most of those occasions I was requested by clergymen 
and others to prepare a sketch of his life for the press ; 
and this, by the divine blessing, I hope to do, believing 
that it will exert a most salutary influence in inducing 
Christians to labor for the salvation of individuals, to 
whom, in the providence of God, they have access. I 
can truly say that during nine years in which we 
were associated in labors, I do not know that I ever 
passed an interview with him long enough to have 
any interchange of thought and feeling, in which I 
did not receive from him an impulse heavenward — 
an impulse onward in duty to God and the souls of 
men. 

** November. Oliver R. Kingsbury, a nephew of 
Harlan Page, has been induced to assume the labors 
of Assistant Treasurer as well as Assistant Secretary of 
the Tract Society. The editorial and foreign depart- 
ments, and the duties of the general agency, not other- 



FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES. S7 

wise designated, are assigned to me. Raising of funds, 
etc., to Brother Eastman. I am now devoting myself 
almost entirely to bringing up the arrears of the Pub- 
lishing Department in hope of accomplishing much for 
Christ. 

" December 7. I have just resumed a Bible class 
for men, nineteen having joined, and have transferred 
the superintendence of tract visitation in the 9th ward 
to a faithful brother within its bounds, still retaining the 
superintendence of the 14th ward. 

" May 3, 1835. I have completed the 'Life of Har- 
lan Page,' and desire to commit it to God. It cost me 
much labor. 

"June I. Our anniversary seasons have been emi- 
nently spiritual. The two foreign missionaries, Rev. 
Mr. Abeel from China and Mr. Sutton from Orissa, 
where the temple of Juggernaut is located, have done 
much to kindle a new missionary spirit. 

" October. It is ground of special gratitude to God 
that the 'Memoir of Harlan Page' is gaining a large 
circulation, the first edition of 2,000 being sold in nine 
or ten weeks, besides an edition published by Leavitt, 
Lord & Co. It is also being reprinted in London. 

"December 28. My dear mother: Brother Leavitt 
has just told us of your sickness, and we bless God that 
you are prepared for sudden illness or for death. It 
is all of grace, rich and glorious grace. We all hoped 
to see you yet, many times more in health, &nd now 
rejoice in the hope of meeting you in heaven. 

"Never did a mother do more for her children, 

Dr. Hallock. 3 



58 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

and I believe God has heard your prayers and blessed 
your efforts for us. Ten thousand times do I, your 
first-born, and we all, thank you for all you have done 
for us in infancy, childhood, youth, and all the way to 
the present hour. I bless God that whether living or 
dying, you are his, prepared for all his will, and that 
all he does with you will be in mercy. We shall cher- 
ish your memory while our lives last, and I hope thou- 
sands saved by your efforts and those of your husband 
and children will bless God for ever that you have 
lived. The Lord prepare our dear father and all the 
family for all his will concerning you." 

"Jan. 7, 1836. My venerated mother, Margaret 
Allen Hallock had a shock of paralysis, Dec. 16, after 
which she was unable to speak, but retained her reason, 
knew her friends, manifested great calmness and resig- 
nation in view of death, and on Tuesday, Dec. 27, left 
this world, aged 75. All that this mother did for me, 
her first-born, is more than can be recounted. Her toil 
for the temporal welfare of her household was unceas- 
ing, and words of Christian love and counsel distilled 
continually from her lips. From my earliest recollec- 
tion, I knew when she retired, morning and evening, to 
her consecrated room for prayer. Her steadfast confi- 
dence in God, and hope in death, are vividly impressed 
on my mind, as are the numerous hymns she taught me 
and the tunes in which she sweetly sang them, espe- 
cially when we all joined her in family worship. Once 
when I was alone ploughing in the field, thoughts of 
eternity and my sinfulness made my tears flow. When I 



FRUITFUL ACTIVFFIES. 59 

went in at noon, 'William,' she said, 'I have had very 
uncommon feelings about you this morning. I realized 
that you were in the presence of God, that he was 
watching over you, and that I could commit you to 
him. I hope he has mercy in store for you, and that 
I shall see you a joyful believer in Christ ?' 

" My dear mother combined great industry, econ- 
omy, and real kindness. She sympathized with the 
suffering Greeks, Poles, and those in pagan darkness, 
almost as if their temporal miseries and eternal sorrows 
were before her eyes ; always was she striving in some 
way to contribute to their relief. Her children and 
friends rise up and call her blessed ; her husband also 
and he praiseth her. An appropriate sermon was 
preached by Rev. Mr. Jennings." 

Mr. Hallock's journal brings us to the development 
of the Tract Society as a great national agency, not 
only for publishing religious works, but also for finding 
readers for them. Throughout the country, especially 
in the cities and larger towns, there was begun and 
carried on with more or less efficiency, for many years, 
a work of monthly tract distribution from house to 
house, "resting," said the Committee in 1829, "on the 
grand principle recognized on every page of the New 
Testament and enforced by the whole history of Christ 
and his disciples, that the gospel is a message, which 
it is the duty of the followers of Christ to carry and 
deliver to all who have it not." 

In New York, under the eye and with the heart 



6o DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCIC, 

of the Society in its warmest impulses, it was carried 
out with great thoroughness. The city was divided 
into districts, mapped carefully out with the number of 
families living in them ascertained and recorded. Each 
district was put under a superintendent, who, with his 
assistants, was to visit each family once a month, carry- 
ing the same tract to each — " The Institution and Ob- 
servance of the Sabbath," for March; " Kittredge's Ad- 
dress on Intemperance," for April ; ** The Dairyman's 
Daughter," for May, as once the record runs. 

"At a meedng of his co-workers in the 14th ward, 
Harlan Page," we quote from his Life, "laid the sub- 
ject of direct, faithful, personal, persevering effort and 
wresding prayer for particular persons solemnly and 
earnestly before them, depicdng the spiritual wants of 
the ward, and the condition of hundreds of families 
who absented themselves from the stated means of 
grace, and who, unless by their efforts, w^ould never 
probably have the offer of salvation pressed upon their 
attention. He then inquired of each distributor whether 
there were not in his district some one or more for 
whom he felt special encouragement to labor. It was 
made a subject for prayer and heart-searchings with 
each distributor, till one fixed his mind on one person, 
another on two, and another on three or more; and 
by the thirty-six distributors eighty-eight persons were 
thus selected as special subjects of their prayers and 
endeavors. This gave them, as will be readily con- 
ceived, a new impulse in their work. They saw a dis- 
tinct object before them, important as eternity. They 



FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES. 6i 

went to the throne of mercy. They went to the sub- 
jects of their affectionate soUcitude, and their mouths 
were filled with arguments. Access was easy. The 
Spirit of God seemed to go before them and to go with 
them." 

Personal work animated with such a spirit could 
not fail of being efTective. A digest of its principles we 
find printed on a sheet for the visitors' report : 

" Begin your work in your closet. Feel the value 
of the immortal souls whom Providence has placed 
within the district assigned to you, and pray God to 
bless your efforts for their spiritual good. 

" Read every tract before giving it, that you may 
know its value and be able to speak intelligently of it. 

** Try as far as possible to ascertain the spiritual 
needs of every family in your district, and omit no 
opportunity of personal religious conversation, or of 
aiding the Bible cause and Sabbath-schools, or of per- 
suading them to attend on the public worship of God." 

The monthly meetings of the distributors we may 
well believe to have been " memorable occasions," with 
such men as Arthur Tappan, A. R. Wetmore, Moses 
Allen, Mr. Hallock, or Harlan Page in charge of them. 

** We are glad this work," said Mr. Frelinghuysen, 
" has not been added to the long list of laborious ser- 
vices which we put upon the Christian ministry, but 
that it is voluntary lay work, which must elevate the 
standard of piety, and illustrate the fidelity of Christian 
character." 

" Another result conspicuously gratifying," says one 



62 DR. WILLIAM A, HALLOCK. 

from a distant city, "is that every church feels the 
influence of the work in causing people to flock to 
them for instruction. The language of the tract is not 
' Go to this or to that place of worship,' but simply ' Go 
to the house of God and to the Bible, and see if these 
things are not so.' " 

A method of church extension as apostolic and as 
catholic as could well be devised. 

Death and a biographer might have brought to light 
others, who, like Harlan Page, illustrated the fervent 
zeal with which this personal, steadfast, concerted work 
was then carried on. It required wisdom and tender- 
ness, as well as courage and self-denial; and these a 
great spiritual urgency often inspires. 

The wide spread religious awakening which took 
place at this period, notably in the City of New York, 
was due, no doubt, in part to the amount of religious 
truth thus pressed upon the attention of men, when 
religious reading from other sources was yet scant 
and cumbrous. It was long before the day of Illus- 
trated Christian Weeklies ; religious newspapers of any 
kind were few, and the daily papers had not admitted 
Sunday sermons and revival news. 

The value of tract work at that time, in reaffirming 
the central truths of Christianity in short and pointed 
papers to a great and rapidly-growing country, can 
hardly be over-estimated. And readers there were 
many, as we may infer from the circuladon of Mr. Hal- 
lock's " Life of Harlan Page," which reached more than 
112,000 copies. It was also translated into Swedish 
and German. 



FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES. 63 

Of his tract, " The Mountain Miller," 260,000 were 
issued : this was also reprinted in London and Liver- 
pool, and translated into French, German, and Tamil. 
Another popular tract from his pen, "The Only Son" 
(Rev. Dr. Jonas King), reached a circulation of 370,000; 
and still another, " The Mother's Last Prayer," has 
been more widely read than either. 

Dr. Hallock's other works were a Life of Dr. Justin 
Edwards ; one of his father, Rev. Moses Hallock ; 
sketches of Dr. J. O. Brigham, of Arthur Tappan, and 
of the Mayhews of Martha's Vineyard. 



64 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ENLARGED LABORS— CLOSE OF THE JOURNAL. 

" Sept. 13, 1836. The work of supplying our coun- 
try with standard evangelical volumes has formed an 
era in the operations of the American Tract Society. 
The ' Saint's Rest,' ' Baxter's Call,' and the solemn ap- 
peals of Doddridge, Bunyan, Flavel, and Alleine have 
been so much blessed for the salvation of men and the 
quickening of Christians in various parts of the land, 
that there is a great call for them, without the means of 
meeting it. If Christians rest, the adversary does not. 
Of the 8,000 books now on the trade-list of the country, 
more than one-hall are novels or works of injurious 
tendency. If the friends of God and man do not bestir 
themselves to furnish what is useful and salutary, others, 
for gain, will cherish every depraved appetite. It is the 
wish of the Society to provide aliment for the soul, and 
thus help to supplant poisonous literature. Fourteen 
volumes are already published as an evangelical library, 
and a number of others are in progress. Nothing but 
means is wanting lor the Society to furnish families, 
churches, and associations throughout the country with 
a standard Christian library of fifty or one hundred vol- 
umes on all the great subjects pertaining to man's high- 
est temporal and eternal good. 

" At a meeting of the Committee, held September 
30, 1836, the list of subscripdons for $50,000 to increase 



CLOSE OF THE JOURNAL 65 

the number of volumes in the Society's Depository was 
presented, from which it appeared that the whole sum 
which we needed and asked for is raised. The Com- 
mittee then devoted a little time to grateful acknowl- 
edgments to God, and prayer for his continual guid- 
ance and blessing. 

" The above noble effort was begun in March, and 
finished September 30. P^or the last five weeks I was 
almost wholly devoted to it. My heart was warmed 
and cheered continually by the Christian liberality and 
love shown by God's people for this great work." 

" October 23. I spent last Sabbath, my dear and 
honored father, with Brother Arms, in New Jersey, and 
preached for him. He feels greatly indebted to you for 
his clerical instruction, and loves you very much. 

" We shall always be very thankful for your kind- 
ness to our litde daughter Harriet — letdng her come 
out early to your kitchen fire, playing with her, and 
praying for her — and for all you have done for her and 
her mother during their visit. The Lord reward you, 
dear father, and prepare you and us all for his holy 
will. 

"Jan. I, 1S37. Very many blessings during 1836 
have we to recount. Our precious little daughter, who 
was feeble, is now full of life and vigor, laying, by her 
attractions, perhaps too strong a hold upon our be- 
reaved hearts. Sister Charlotte Lathrop, who seemed 
on the borders of death, has been raised up to comfort- 
able health, and sailed in November for the mission to 
Southern India. Thus Mother Lathrop has had the 



66 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

privilege of consecrating her fourth daughter to mis- 
sions in India. 

"January 9. This day the Lord has given us 
another daughter. A few montlis since, it seemed that 
we should soon be again childless, and now we are the 
parents of two children among the living. To Thee, 
blessed Redeemer, do we consecrate both them and 
ourselves for life or death. Our choice perhaps would 
have been a son, to take the place of our Httle William, 
but we are glad God has chosen for us. He can raise 
up ministers and missionaries without us, and if my 
name in my branch of the family is to be extinct, so 
let it be. We lift up our Ebenezer, and say, ' Hitherto 
hath the Lord helped us. To him be the praise.' 

"July 17. My venerable father, at the age of 
seventy-seven, sleeps in Jesus. Tidings first arrived 
that he was ill, and immediately after, that he had de- 
parted. How should I rejoice again to see him, and 
converse with him on a multitude of topics. Above all, 
to thank him for all his kindness, fidelity, and wise 
counsels, and render him that respect and filial love 
which perhaps never a father more justly claimed. 

" November 30. More and more deeply am I im- 
pressed with the heavy loss we all have sustained. Such 
men as my father, and his brother Jeremiah, with their 
father, I believe are rarely found — men of such integrity 
and honesty of character, such true humility, meekness, 
and trust in God. Few sons, I am persuaded, have 
found a father's heart always so warm and tender, and 
yet so firm, warning and admonishing with a frankness 



CLOSE OF THE JOURNAL. 67 

that I feel must give him joy in heaven. Every year 
when I have visited him of late, I have confessed to him 
my short-comings, and thanked him for all he had 
done for his children. He has felt that in the conduct 
of his children he had nothing to forgive, and that he 
must ask God to pardon his own unfaithfulness. Bless- 
ed MAN OF God, Farewell. 

"April I, 1838. This day, the Sabbath, has been 
one of thanksgiving to God, especially that three heads 
of families found by Mrs. Hallock and me amid the 
highways of sin, have publicly professed Christ, and sat 
down with us at his table. 

" On the second week in January, when there was 
preaching in the church every evening, notices of it 
were printed, and we visited several streets, entering 
every dwelling, inviting people to attend. 

" I have alluded to these cheering details because 
these feeble efforts seem to have constituted an era in 
my life. I never before have so taken individuals on 
my heart, and persevered in efforts for their salvation, 
in every way identifying my interests with theirs from 
week to week ; nor have I done anything which has 
been to me such a source of spiritual joy and spiritual 
growth. I verily believe that this one principle of 
action, faithfully carried out by the whole church of 
God, would speedily lead to the conversion of the land 
and world. 

"I think 1838 will be remembered with 1831 as a 
year of revivals. The one thousand laborers in the 
Tract Visitation in this city are putting forth a powerful 



68 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

agency : seventy-seven individuals found by them wan- 
dering in sin were reported last month as giving evi- 
dence of piety. Many Christians are very useful, and 
find their highest joy in seeking out and laboring for 
such individuals. Mrs. Hallock and I have done more 
in this way than ever before, and are learning the bless- 
edness of the service. In watering others we have been 
richly blessed. 

" November. Mr. Cook came to New York to buy 
books. Arriving at the setting in of a severe snow- 
storm, he stayed with me two days, and we devoted 
ourselves to a full and most interesting discussion upon 
the character and influence of the Society, combining 
personal efforts with tract visitation and volume circula- 
tion in all their bearings in our own and foreign lands. 
A fire was kindled in our hearts which will expand and 
glow as eternity rolls on. 

"June, 1839. Our Fourteenth Annual Report, just 
going to press, shows that \he foreign correspondence 
has been large, and that a deep interest has been awa- 
kened, far and wide, in foreign and pagan lands. 

'' Rev. R. S. Cook was elected additional Secretary 
at our last anniversary : I to devote myself to the Pub- 
lishing and Foreign Departments; Messrs. Eastman 
and Cook dividing between them the raising of funds 
and the awakening of the churches. Mr. Cook's talents, 
energy, and zeal are happily adapted to meet the wants 
of the Society, and may his faith and love be abundant- 
ly owned and blest by God. 

" October. I am now preparing our book of So- 



CLOSE OF THE JOURNAL. 69 

cial Hymns, and also ' Flavel's Fountain of Life,' on 
the very topic, ' Christ Crucified,' which I feel the deep- 
est interest in inculcating. It has given me more full 
and rich views of Christ, and rendered all said of him 
in Scripture very precious. Other volumes claim atten- 
tion ; new tracts are called for ; the Children's depart- 
ment of our publications greatly needs months of labor ; 
and the Foreign department claims much correspond- 
ence. Many calls at the Tract House devour time, 
and I feel like hanging as a little child on God for 
wisdom. 

"Our fifteenth Annual Report (1840) shows that 
God is still opening before us wide fields of usefulness 
at home and abroad, demanding great gratitude and 
redoubled energy for the future. 

" The presence in our family of Miss F. M. Caul- 
kins, who is revising the Society's books for the young, 
and of my brother Secretary, R. S. Cook, has been 
cheering and stimulating, especially in family worship. 

"Jan. 3, 1 841. At the coming in of the New year 
I have written, as usual, to Plainfield friends, but am 
reminded that I have neither father nor mother. What 
choice friends are a godly father and mother ! What a 
motive to be useful, that I might gladden their hearts. 
I was indeed a part of themselves ; this they felt beyond 
what I knew. 

" Thanks that our Committee love the truth, and 
apparently love it equally, though they are called by 
different names. We are all agreed that our one work 
is to diffuse the great evangelical and saving doctrines 



70 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

of the cross. On this point I see more and more clearly 
the wisdom of the catholic structure of this Society. 

"June 4, 1848. Our eldest daughter, Harriet, has 
this day united with the church. For more than a year 
she has had hope in Christ. 

"June 2, 1850. On this my fifty-sixth birthday, my 
youngest daughter, Frances, has joined her parents and 
sister at the table of the Lord. Great occasion have we 
to thank the Lord that he has thus inclined the hearts 
of both our children to his service. I believe it is to be 
attributed much to the influence of their mother and our 
religious relatives and friends. At Plainfield, three years 
ago, they found a decided religious influence, three of 
their cousins having professed Christ. The children's 
prayer-meeting there, the youths' prayer-meeting here, 
with all the influences of the Sabbath-school, seem to 
have been eflective means of their spiritual good. Our 
pleasant family worship has also doubtless had its influ- 
ence. 

"May 18, 1 85 1. On the 15th instant our venerable 
mother Lathrop, whose home has been with us in New 
York for sixteen years, peacefully slept in Jesus, at the 
age of seventy-nine. Few women have been more 
honored or blessed : eight children all pious, and four 
of her five daughters missionaries in Ceylon. We 
praised God for what he has done for us through her, 
and for what we had been enabled to do for her. In all 
the years when she has been most of the time with us, 
I recollect no expression to her or from her that I could 
regret, or that gave pain to any one." 



CLOSE OF THE JOURNAL. 71 

The close of his Journal closes the door to the inner 
life of Dr. Hallock, through which we have caught 
bright glimpses of his reverent filial love, his tender do- 
mestic affections, his unsparing diligence, and his devout 
trust in God. 

His children grew up with no memory of harshness 
or injustice. His uniform and judicious kindness ear- 
ly led them to revere their parents and to respect 
themselves. Their endearments rested his weary mind, 
and he often showed a touching gratitude for their sim- 
ple expressions of love and care for him. The family 
nurture was preeminently a Christian nurture. 

"The influence of my father's conversations with his 
friends and fellow-helpers, who used to visit us — while 
we, seated by his side or perhaps on his knee, were si- 
lendy listening — was a beautiful education," said one of 
his daughters. " His cheerfulness, his enthusiasm, his 
keen appreciation of what pleased him, his supreme 
loyalty to his great work, impressed us with a noble 
ideal of Christian character. We loved what he loved, 
and the interest which we took in the things which so 
heartily interested him was a constant source of pleasure 
to us. I could indeed hardly wish for anything better 
for my own children than the unconscious influence in 
the formation of character of such visitors as used to 
frequent my father's house when we were children.'' 

And there are still those who remember the cordial 
hospitaHties of the small and pleasant house in Greene 
street, where Dr. Hallock spent the busiest and happi- 
est period of his life. When no longer a desirable lo- 



72 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

cality, and it passed into the hands of strangers, " could 
its walls echo the words of prayer and praise which have 
ascended thence, nothing impure or unclean could dwell 
there," said one; "nay, rather, people would be wooed 
and won into the kingdom of heaven." 

" My idea of an earthly paradise," writes a daughter 
of Mr. Gerard Hallock, "was the homes of the two 
brothers (Gerard and William) side by side in Greene 
street, with the garden-gate always open, over which 
hung the most luscious grapes. Through this gate I 
often made uncle an early morning call, as I heard him 
sawing wood. When he heard my step, he would stop 
his work, and looking up with a cheery smile, say, * I 
do this for exercise ; it makes a man robust and ready 
for a good breakfast.' 

" He was scrupulously neat, and no trace of dusty 
work was ever seen when he appeared at table with his 
bright 'good-morning.' His house was made appar- 
ently of brick, but it must have been rubber, such 
numbers were welcomed there and entertained at his 
hospitable board — D. D.'s, colporteurs, etc., any and all 
who were interested in missionary or philanthropic ef- 
fort. Here he presided with marked generosity and 
thoughtfulness, ever kindly considerate of the wants ol 
wife and children, while attentive to the entertainment 
of his guests. 

"The hour of family prayer was delightful. After 
reading the Scriptures, making his clear and interest- 
ing comments, he with the daughters would sing some 
familiar hymn, each taking a different part. Singing 



CLOSE OF THE JOURXAL. 73 

was an act of devout worship; he always raised his 
eyes heavenward, and an expression of glorified peace 
seemed to illuminate his features. Then, before kneel- 
ing in prayer, he would frequently say, * Sweet music ! 
beautiful !' Often he said to me, ' What a good wife I 
have, and daughters too !' " His love for children was 
remarkable, and he was, in his leisure moments, ever 
ready to show an interest in their childish sports. 

A co-worker writes : '' I was five years at the Tract 
House, and saw Mr. Hallock daily, often several times 
a day, in his room and my own; and his unvarying 
kindness, gentleness, and patience with me, I shall never 
forget. We said Mr. Hallock in those days, and I well 
remember how very modest he was when the other title 
was conferred. I recollect a very pleasant Thanksgiv- 
ing dinner to which I was invited in Greene street, with 
others, and a very charming evening visit, when Mr. 
Cook was among the guests. Those were happy days. 
I enjoyed my occupations, and feel an indebtedness to 
Mr. Hallock that I cannot express." 

A letter, dated 1844, from Mr. D. Fanshaw, the old 
printer of the Tract and Bible Societies, has been pre- 
served, from which we quote the introduction of a new 
chair into the busy home. 

" Respected madam : I have sent you, as a New 
Year's gift, a very comfortable chair, which you may 
lend to your husband in the evenings. His more than 
wire and whalebone frame is fast giving way under the 
dreadful pressure of the whole tract work, which he 
will carry, instead bf apportioning It among others, and 

Dr. Hallock. lO 



74 DR, WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

taking charge of the helm only, as wise managers do. 
If one of his own children were to work for his benefit 
and glory, beyond her strength, he would feel it his 
duty to reprove her for it. When he gets home I think 
he will be found to have been a great transgressor of 
the command, ' Take no thought for the morrow.' 

" I send the chair to you, not to Mr. H., for he is so 
fearful of anything like a present, that I would not risk 
distressing him for the value of many such, nor would I 
in this way approach him, if I wanted anything from 
him. No, no. I have no favors to ask; if I had, I 
should much sooner pave the way for it by quarrelling 
with him, for he would be sure to heap coals of fire on 
my head if I did." 

" I have no idea of ever wanting any favor from him 
again; I have received so much already that I can 
never cancel my obligations, and have no desire to do 
so, for to me gratitude is a delightful feeling. The time 
is rapidly approaching when he will know how approv- 
ingly he was looked upon by the Ruler of events for 
his noble attempts to protect an injured brother. Till 
then may every blessing and comfort which a close 
communion with his Maker can procure be his lot 
and yours." 

No man was ever more thoroughly at home in his 
work ; and his home during this period of its enlarging 
activity and usefulness throbbed with the buoyant and 
dauntless spirit which animated him. 

The Tract Society was developing beyond his high- 
est expectations. He was alert to see and to seize every 



CLOSE OF THE JOURNAL. 75 

suggestion and opportunity for increasing its influence. 
Its catholic basis brought a wide coastituency, which 
he was conscientiously careful to preserve. In revising 
old books, or in providing new ones, he spared no pains 
to make them true to the compact upon which it was 
founded. Divine truth accepted by all the great Chris- 
tian bodies left no occasion for faultfinding on the part 
of any ; and if eliminations of differing views were some- 
times complained of, the verdict of the Christian public 
still acquiesced in them. 



76 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
COLPORTAGE, AND CONFLICT. 

The advent of Rev. R. S. Cook into the official 
circle of the Tract Society gave new breadth and spring 
to its influence. 

While pastor at Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., 
during a temporary loss of voice, he tried the experi- 
ment of substituting the printed page for the living 
preacher. This work in New York had attracted his 
attention and heartily interested him. Its development 
and success suggested a similar work in his own parish, 
which soon extended beyond his parish and town to the 
entire county. Again and again had he sent for the 
Society's books, and of the result of his efforts in circu- 
lating them he thus speaks : " I believe that the Lord 
has employed this instrumentality in effecting more 
good, present and ultimate, than all my labors as a pas- 
tor could have accomplished. It is not too much to 
say that most of the precious revivals enjoyed in that 
county during the last winter were greatly promoted 
by this enterprise. I have heard of many conversions 
by this means, and know of some directly resulting from 
books which I had given. 

" Nearly seven thousand volumes have been circu- 
lated, including more than one hundred libraries." 



COLrORTAGE, AND CONFLICT. ^7 

And what was true of this locahty was true of many 
others. 

** In my ministry," adds a New Jersey pastor, " I 
have endeavored never to lose sight of this means of 
influence. I have made it an object, as far as possible, 
to have every family supplied with plenty of religious 
reading. In but a few years I have distributed more 
than fifteen hundred volumes." 

" On several accounts," adds another, " I consider 
the volume circulation as among the most valuable of 
all the brotherhood of benevolent objects." 

Mr. Cook, with characteristic energy, presented this 
phase of the Society's work — furnishing sound and well- 
selected religious reading for school, family, and parish 
libraries — in Hartford, Providence, Boston, and other 
large towns, aw^akening an interest respondent to his 
own. In the annals of that day, we read of " six hun- 
dred volumes circulated in Dr. Codman's parish, Dor- 
chester;" "1,200 in Rfev. Mr. Steam's congregation, 
Cambridgeport; 1,800 in Charlestown ;" "6,175 ^^^ Prov- 
idence;" "in Factory Village, 1,665;" "Newport, 300." 

There were multitudes, however, in this rapidly- 
growing country, outside and far beyond any means of 
moral or religious improvement whatever. If the "vol- 
ume circulation" was important in New England and 
in New York, and needed pastors and friends to pro- 
mote it, how much more needy were the spiritual 
wastes elsewhere ! These, from the first, the Society 
took into account, and how to reach them was but a 
question of ways and means. 



yS DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

History repeated itself. When Calvin and Farel 
quitted France, and many of their comrades perished 
in the flames, other means were found to nourish the 
faith and increase the number of believers. In Basle, 
a free city on the other side of the Rhone, they set up 
a printing press vi^hose sheets were dispersed far and 
wide. The intrepid and indefatigable Farel hid them 
in the packs of pious pedlers, and eastern France had 
the living word. Whittier's little poem the " Vaudois 
Teacher " aptly describes the spirit and the methods of 
this simple itineracy. 

The men were called colporteurs, a French term for 
pious book-bearers, implying personal effort for the spir- 
itual good of those who traded in their wares. Knox 
in Scodand, Howell Harris in Wales, English Non- 
Conformists, Moravians and Wesleyans in the same way 
carried religious truth to ignorant neighborhoods and 
isolated homes, creating intelligent Chrisdan communi- 
ties out of much raw and unpromising material. 

The Tract Society resolved upon using such an 
agency. Unfolding its plan before a meeting at Boston, 
a gentleman promptly offered $150 a year for the sup- 
port of one colporteur, the offer to hold good for life. 
Two young men from Maine and New Hampshire 
offered their services and were soon commissioned to 
go, one to Kentucky, the other to Illinois. 

The next year twenty-seven were sent, and in the 
fall of that year — 1842 — a special meeting was called at 
the Broadway Tabernacle, New York, to lay before the 
Christian public the enlarging fields of usefulness open 



COLPORTAGE, AND CONFLICT. 79 

to the Society both at home and abroad, needing only 
a systematic cooperation of the churches to enter upon 
and occupy them. 

The meeting lasted two days. Stirring papers on 
colportage were presented by Mr. Cook. Mr. Hallock 
urged the claims of its work in foreign lands, where 
seventeen hundred of its publications in more than a 
hundred tongues were already circulated at different 
missions, while evangelistic labors in Russia, Finland, 
Sweden, Prussia and France had been greatly strength- 
ened by its grants. 

For all this, $40,000 for the Home field, and $40,000 
for the Foreign field were imperatively and immediately 
needed. 

" And will Christ's redeemed people excuse them- 
selves ?" asked Mr. Hallock, at the close of one of his 
papers. " Thou, blessed Lamb ! who didst Thyself comie 
down to die, hast commanded us to bear the cross and 
follow Thee, 'always abounding' in thy work. Shall 
we render no voluntary service to spread the knowl- 
edge of thy blessed name and save the souls of men?" 

Pastors and laymen, who took part in the delibera- 
tions of this meeting, endorsed in the strongest terms 
the objects laid before them, and commended the Soci- 
ety anew to the hearty and generous support of the 
Christian public. This did much to draw attention and 
increase both interest and confidence in the great or-, 
ganizatlon which offered itself as a custodian for the 
larger chanties of the church. 

As for colportage, henceforth Its growth was steady 



So DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

and rapid. By its fifth year, one hundred and seventy- 
five men were in commission. And since a thorough 
supervision was indispensable to the safe and successful 
prosecution of the work, Rev. Seely Wood, a Western 
man, was appointed superintendent of its Western 
branch, and Rev. Mr. Vail of the Southern. 

" The peculiar field for colportage," says Mr. Hal- 
lock in his Nineteenth Annual Report, *' embraces the 
absolute destitutions of the country existing in our great 
cities ; on the numerous islands along our coast ; in the 
lumber districts of the East; on the frontiers of the 
North ; on the extended mountain ranges dividing the 
East from the West ; among the barren pines stretching 
for a thousand miles to the Gulf; around the bayous 
and savannas of the South ; in the forests and along 
the borders of the ocean prairies and lakes of the West ; 
among the millions of Romanists and the 2,500,000 
Germans and other foreign em.igrants." 

Truly a broad field. We read of a " Bethel boat ;" 
log-cabin prayer-meetings ; embryo Sunday-schools ; 
Pilgrim's Progress in emigrant wagons ; Saint's Rest 
among the pineries ; Sabbath Manuals and Temperance 
Documents on the Mobile Lighters and in frontier 
*' Dug-outs," and many a library in more stationary 
quarters. . 

These colporteurs were sappers and miners of the 
great Christian army, making a way for the permanent 
occupation of gospel institutions. 

While most of them were plain men, German and 
French as well as English, some were students from 



8i 

our colleges and seminaries, spending their vacations in 
Christian work for the small pecuniary help it might 
afford them, while gaining what was more and better, a 
practical and efficient training for the ministry. 

Dr. Mark Hopkins felt the value of this. Dr. Net- 
tleton, he used to say, once having been at a loss to 
know what to preach upon, gave as a reason that there 
was in that place " no state of things ;" there being a 
vast difference betv/een preaching to people with a 
certain end in view, and preaching on a subject or any 
subject at large. Theological students from the pha- 
lanx of colporteurs understood people when they reached 
parishes to preach to. 

The American Messenger, lineal descendant of 
the American Tract Magazine, a popular monthly sheet, 
having reached a circulation of 200,000 copies, kept its 
readers posted in colporteur work, thus keeping alive 
their zeal in supporting it. An edition in German was 
called for and issued for the large German population 
coming to our shores. The Christian Almanac, was 
enlarged, and adorned by the best quality of wood-cuts. 

In 1852, an illustrated paper for the young was 
projected, called The Child's Paper, In paper and 
execution much superior to any child's paper then In 
existence. It gained swift recognition and a wide circu- 
lation — in 1869, before it had a host of followers, 355,000 
copies. Though for many years under the literary 
editorship of Mrs. H. C. Knight of Portsmouth, N. H., 
its articles passed under the eye of Dr. Hallock. He 
was editor of every work issued by the Society. Emen- 

Dr. Hallock, X I 



82 DR. VVILLlAAf A. HALLOCK, 

dations of old works were made according to his judg- 
ment, and new manuscripts were submitted to his care- 
ful reading and revision. In his correspondence with 
authors, not always an easy or cheerful task, he was 
frank, prompt, and courteous ; even if their own self- 
appreciation did not always coincide with his views, 
they felt he was considerate and conscientious In form- 
ing them. 

Every book and paper issued were also read and 
approved by the Publishing Committee, consisting of 
six clergymen, no two of whom were from the same 
denomination, and nothmg was published which any 
member could find fault with or object to. For forty- 
five years. Dr. Hallock attended every meeting of this 
committee held monthly at the Tract House, when the 
fullest expression of opinions was sought and given. 

The catholic basis of the Society was scrupulously 
adhered to and rigidly guarded. In spite of grave fears 
in the beginning. Its catholicity had wrought marvel- 
lously well, binding together in one compact and effec- 
tive body earnest men from all branches of the 
church, and all parts of the country, willing to hold in 
abeyance minor differences of rehglous opinion "in 
order to diffuse," according to the terms of agreement, 
"a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Redeemer 
of sinners, and to promote the interests of vital godli- 
ness and sound morality by the circulation of books 
calculated to receive the approbation of all evangelical 
Christians." 

The union seemed a marked success. Crowded audi- 



COLPORTAGE, AND CONFLICT, 83 

ences met at its May anniversaries to listen to the fervid 
recitals of its frontier agents, or the grateful testimony 
of a foreign missionary to its helpful beneficence in far- 
off lands, or the best utterances of our ablest men 
eloquently advocating its wise and educating ministry. 
Meetings in Western and Southern cities were also held 
from time to time by its agents and friends, to root the 
Society's claims in the intelligent sympathy and co- 
operation of growing Christian communities. 

Dr. Hallock not only conducted the correspondence 
of the Publishing Department, but the large foreign 
correspondence with mission fields in nearly every 
part of the world fell to his charge. 

"Its magnitude would amaze one now, with our 
sub-division of service," said a gentleman who knew 
the burdens he bore, and bore with such a wholesome 
heroism. 

These years of the Society's ever-widening useful- 
ness were years of faithful toil to the man whose force 
of will and power of concentration chiefly controlled it. 
He loved the work; he believed and rejoiced in it. 

"This tree of knowledge is a grand and goodly 
tree," used to be a favorite expression of one of the 
Society's oldest and stanchest friends — " a grand and 
goodly tree, which bears twelve manner of fruits, yield- 
ing her fruit every month ; and the leaves of the tree 
are for the healing of the nations." 

Meanwhile, a little cloud no bigger than a man's 
hand, but with ragged edges and portentous look, was 
rising in the moral and political sky, and gusts from the 



84 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

" irrepressible conflict" filled the air with vague alarms. 
Middle-aged men, inheriting from their fathers a still 
vivid sense of the blood and cost by which our national 
life was born at all, and our national government estab- 
lished to preserve that life for coming generations, 
shrank from a new strife. Slavery had been accepted 
and was protected by the Constitution, and to disturb 
the settled order of things seemed fraught with name- 
less peril. Not that slavery was right, or any the less a 
strange anomaly among a free people, but it was here, 
and had regulations which outsiders were bound to 
respect. Nor was it until slavery took measures to 
extend its area, that any wide agitation began. As soon 
as the general government was called upon to act in refer- 
ence to it, the people of every state shared in the respon- 
sibility of that action, and the subject was fairly before 
the tribunal of the people, no longer to be ignored or 
disowned or silenced or put down. Not a house or 
hamlet but had its mind made up, and every Christian 
body was called upon to show its colors, the Ameri- 
can Tract Society, with its large constituency north 
and south among the rest. 

To satisfy both was plainly impossible, and to tem- 
porize is always a hard road to travel. It was charged 
with mutilations and suppressions in its issues, some 
of them made, it was asserted, in the interest of slavery. 
A committee was appointed to examine the truth of 
this charge, and nothing was found but those revisions, 
abridgments and changes, which hymns as well as 
books undergo to fit them for larger uses, without 



COLPORTAGE, A AD CONFLICT. 85 

infringing the rights or betraying the sentiments of their 
authors. 

Its silence upon a subject, widely regarded as of vital 
importance, was considered a grave matter. Its officers 
and counsellors held to the words of the compact, to 
circulate only that which was " calculated to receive the 
approbation of all evangelical Christians," while many 
of its friends discerned, as they thought, that in the 
interests of " sound morality " there had arisen one of 
those tidal waves of righteousness which sweep away 
our beaten tracks of sight and endeavor, however long 
or successfully we may have pursued them. 

Such times are the times which try men's souls. 
The numerous papers produced by the heated discus- 
sions of that day, which now seems so far away and 
long ago, with the embarrassments, alienations and 
heartburnings following them, are a part of the great 
tribulation through which our nation passed to a cleaner 
and truer life. No one felt more keenly than Dr. Hal- 
lock the painfulness of the situation ; and when the war 
finally broke all truces, no one welcomed more heartily 
the hour that struck for freedom, and for ever put to 
rest all controversy on a subject which had so long 
embittered and endangered our national unity. 



86 DR, WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

CHAPTER IX. 
THE END, 

The year 1859 was marked by pleasant changes in 
the family circle. 

Fanny, Dr. Hallock's youngest daughter, married 
Mr. John E. Johnson, who came to reside for a time 
beneath his roof A few weeks later, his eldest left for a 
home but a few streets away, the wife of Mr. Rufus Park. 

As children were born in his household, the relation 
of grandparent opened a new spring of delight. It 
was sometimes droll to see the grave secretary at play 
with a baby on his back, or cooing baby lingo to a 
smiling httle one on his knee ; or if sickness overtook 
the cradle, to see his loving efforts to soothe the rest- 
lessness or hush the moanings of the little sufferer. 

In the spring of 1867, death stepped over the thresh- 
old and took the patient and gentle wife. "This is 
not dying," she said, "it is living." Every expression 
of her feelings was in the tone of " I am going home." 
The word dying was not spoken by her ; she seemed 
not to think of it. The way was never in view, only 
its glorious goal. 

" Perhaps I ought not think about meeting friends 
in heaven," she said to her sister, " but only the Lord 
Jesus ; yet to-night I cannot help thinking of father and 
mother, brother Charles, and Harriet, and Charlotte, 



THE END. 87 

and Joanna — yes, I know they will come with open 
arms to receive me." 

Dr. Hallock's letter to Dr. and Mrs. Spaulding at 
Oodooville, Ceylon, informing them of his loss, again 
opens the window of this Christian home. 

" New York, Sabbath Evening, March 17, 1867. 

''Dear brother and sister Spaulding: Must I say 
it ? — my dear wife has written you her last letter. Last 
Sabbath evening at half-past eight she ' went home ' 
with peaceful unwavering trust, to the arms of her 
Redeemer. The keynote of her life was love of mis- 
sions ; and perhaps to none, at home or abroad, was 
she more attached than to both of you. Her almost 
idolized elder sister, Mrs. Harriet L. Winslow, devoted 
herself to the mission in Ceylon, amidst much opposi- 
tion from friends around her; and I believe you two 
alone survive of the heroic ' Indus band ' — Messrs. 
Winslow, Scudder, Poor, Spaulding, Woodward, and 
their wives, who sailed in 1819, when I\Irs. Winslow 
wrote that she wished to send home the joyful news by 
writing on the moon, 'A Revival at Sea^ You 
watched over Mrs. Winslow at her death ; you wel- 
comed Mrs. Hallock's three younger sisters, Charlotte, 
Elizabeth, and Harriet Joanna, as missionaries in India ; 
and the graves of three of her sisters are under your 
eye at Oodooville, where you expect your bodies will 
also rest till the resurrection. 

" I too, before I knew anything of any of the above 
named, felt a deep interest in the mission in Ceylon. 
James Richards of Plainfield, in the Green mountains 



88 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

of Massachusetts, one of the five members of Wilhams 
College who about 1808, under the haystack, * prayed into 
existence American Foreign Missions,' as Dr. Grifhn 
said, was son of a deacon of my father s church, and 
his noble wife Sarah Bardwell was from a neighboring 
town. I saw them married and depart for their mission 
in Ceylon, where their bodies also rest under your own 
eye. 

•* Wonderfully did God guide my path. My life 
work is in the Publishing and Foreign departments of 
the American Tract Society; but two or three years 
after we had organized it at New York in 1825, I 
preached In Norwich city to organize an Auxiliary 
Society and obtain funds ; when I was told that in Nor- 
wich town little would be done by gentlemen, but if I 
would call on some of the ladies, probably thirty or 
forty dollars might be raised. The name of my dear 
wife was then given me among others ; and for thirty- 
seven and a half years she has been the light of my 
dweUing, and the joy of my heart, ' my helper in Christ,' 

" She was ever ready to join in efforts to sustain 
feeble churches, maternal associations, female prayer- 
meetings, and in everything whereby good could be 
done and my usefulness increased, or my heart cheered 
and strengthened for the work of God. Her good 
mother, widowed soon after our marriage, was with us 
sixteen years till her death ; the visits of her younger 
sisters before leaving for India were sweet hallowed 
seasons ; our two surviving daughters early joined 
themselves to God's people, and with their four Httle 



THE END. 89 

ones, all with or near us, were a constant balm to her 
spirit, till the hour of her departure. She was the de- 
voted mother of six children, the first two and the last 
two of whom died in infancy. When her arms were 
emptied and her heart desolated the second time, by 
the death of a beautiful son one year old, bearing his 
father's name, I marvelled to hear her calm but firm re- 
quest, knowing how happy she had been in dressing 
him every morning : ' Well, I must wash and dress him 
once viore." In training her surviving daughters, she, 
like her mother before her, seemed ever to dread the 
intrusion of any unhallowed thought. She shrunk from 
the slightest approach to even the confines of vice. 
' Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.' 

" Every day of my life I have been thankful to God 
for giving me such a loving, genial, cheerful, buoyant 
and to me fascinating companion ; such a mother of 
my children ; such a whole-souled, discreet, calm, judi- 
cious friend and counsellor in the toils and trials, the 
sorrows and joys of my pilgrimage. With instinctive 
wisdom and unswerving fidelity did she fulfil the obli- 
gations she saw to be devolving upon her in the varied 
relations she was called to sustain. 

"What can I do but thank my compassionate Sa- 
viour for the gift, and that he gave her to me so long. 
'I shall go to her; but she will not return to me.' May 
her prayers be answered in a gracious guidance and 
support from on high till I join her in the songs above. 

"Your affectionate brother and fellow -laborer, 

"WILLIAiM A. HALLOCK." 

Dr. Hallock, 12 



90 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

Every associate both in private and public life bore 
tribute to her Christian worth. 

Dr. Hallock afterwards married Mrs. Mary A. 
Lathrop of Brockport, N. Y., the author of seven in- 
teresting volumes for the young, published by the 
Tract Society. She became the cheerful companion 
and strong staff of his declining years. 

Invitations to his " Golden wedding " on September 
26, 1872, bewildered and surprised his friends. 

Mr. Hallock used sometimes playfully to call the 
Tract Society his first wife; with this key the summons 
plainly was to attend the anniversary of his first espousals, 
which had taken place at Andover fifty years before — 
a striking illustration of the hold which it had on his 
strong and tenacious nature. The work had become 
a part of his being, wrought into the very fibre of his 
earthly life. 

Among the guests of this festal occasion, Mr. East- 
man, Mr. Kingsbury, Moses Allen, Mr. Wetmore and 
Rev. Mr. Halliday of early days, were there, to recall 
with tender and grateful feelings the personal consecra- 
tions and Christian fellowships, which had been so 
richly blest for human good. 

From the letters of those who could not be present 
we quote these words by Dr. W. R. Williams of New 
York: 

" Fifty years unbroken and successful service in the 
work of one of our great religious societies is more 
than falls to the lot of many of Christ's laborers. In a 
world of change and death it were idle to wish that 



THE END. 



91 



these should be supplemented by fifty more years. But 
if this cannot be expected or desired, it is allowed us to 
hope and pray that, for many times fifty years, the 
influence exerted may continue, under God's blessing, 
in the usefulness of the Society you have long and 
warmly loved. 'Justin Edwards' and 'Harlan Page' 
and the * Mountain Miller,' and your own good uncle 
and father, though no longer in the body among us, yet 
by character and principles are still living and effective 
among the laborers and witnesses of the American 
Tract Society. Your own pen has aided to give to 
these worthies their prolonged career and their widely- 
expanded currency. 

" And when the biographer shall have gone to join 
in person the friends whom he has commemorated, it 
will be the joy of your friends who yet tarry behind on 
the earth to think of the great work of your earthly career 
as still moving onward. The blessed Saviour give you 
light in the evening of the earthly day, and crown the 
grace of the long past with the eternal glory of the 
heavenly future." 

A city pastor writes as follows : 

"I regret exceedingly that circumstances prevent 
me from being present this evening to participate in the 
fiftieth anniversary of your labors for the American 
Tract Society. This is a most remarkable service both 
as to length of time and abundant fruits, and furnishes 
the occasion of congratulation and gratitude to God. 
You have been a most faithful and devoted servant, as 
thousands in the church below and above can testify, 



92 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

and great will be your reward. I preserve, as a valua- 
ble relic, a commission signed by your hand more than 
thirty -five years ago, to labor as colporteur under the 
auspices of the American Tract Society." 

Mr. Glen Wood, superintendent of colportage at 
Chicago, exclaims from his Western post : 

" My impulse is to rush to the cars and make sure 
to be at the fiftieth anniversary of our beloved father's 
labors for the cause of God ; but the pressure of duties 
holds me here Irresistibly. 

" I recall with profound interest the occasion, thirty 
years ago, when a few friends were assembled in the 
parlors of a member of the Executive Committee to 
congratulate yourself and other officers of the Society 
upon the sending out of the first band of colporteurs, 
of whom I had the honor to be one. 

" How has that little band increased and multiplied, 
until it is counted by hundreds, and its fruits shake hke 
Lebanon. I look over the vast prairies and forests of 
the great Northwest, and I see now annually gathered 
into the churches here as the immediate results of the 
labors of colporteurs, more souls than the most san- 
guine expectations of my early manhood contemplated 
as a satisfactory result of a long and successful life's 
work. 

"What hath God wrought! And your eyes see 
the glorious results, and your heart enjoys, even while 
yet in the flesh, the dawn of the day when righteous- 
ness shall cover the earth even as the waters cover the 
sea." 



THE END. 93 

A favorite nephew thus speaks of a journey made 
with him at fourscore years or more : 

" I recall with pleasure the trip that Uncle William 
and I made to the eastern part of Long Island in search 
of our ancestral footprints : the tender regard which he 
ever felt for those * dear old saints * was something 
beautiful. He did not know that he himself had more 
than attained ' unto the days of the years of his fathers,' 
and was the very embodiment of those ancestral virtues 
which he reverently admired; but it was true, and I 
studied them in him even more than in those crumbling 
stones and yellow records. He had the zeal of youth, 
and lived over again the early sacrifices of the godly 
men in that lively way peculiar to him, never to be for- 
gotten. 

" Once as we walked, he was recounting the timidity 
of his own early faith, the doubts that encompassed his 
limited horizon. * But now,' said he, as he turned and 
looked off with beaming face from the hill we had al- 
most surmounted, ' there is not a doubt, not one. It is 
bright, all bright as this summer sky; all is sure in 
Christ !' No boy could have been more buoyant than 
he when at eighty he climbed over those Litchfield 
hills ; nature always made him young !" 

Before this. Dr. Hallock had retired from active 
duty. Rev. W. W. Rand, long his beloved associate 
in literary labor, having succeeded him in the Publishing 
Department, while Dr. J. M. Stevenson assumed the 
charge of the Foreign Field and Colportage, and 
Rev. G. L. Shearer of the Financial Department. As 



94 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

Honorary Secretary, Dr. Hallock was still the revered 
"father" of the large company of co-workers, who, 
each in his lot and place, round out this great institu- 
tion. 

It was hard, at first, to let go his hold on the respon- 
sible trusts of the Tract House and see others fill his 
place. Its vast interests had grown up under his vigi- 
lant eye and indomitable energy, and habits of toil 
like his do not easily yield even to waning strength. 
It cost him a struggle to stand aside; but when the 
situation was fully accepted, a sweet and tender spirit 
breathed its mellow richness through his soul, and life 
peacefully ebbed away, till at last he fell asleep, Oct. 2, 
1880, aged 86. 

" Blessed rest 
Whose waking is supremely blest." 

All his early associates were gone. Mr. East- 
man with a lifelong identity of official interests, had 
died a few years before. After nearly twenty years of 
faithful service, Mr. Cook, with failing health had with- 
drawn from the Society and spent his last years in an- 
other field of effort. Mr. Wilder, Dr. Milnor, the Tap- 
pans, his brother Gerard, and, last in the long list. Dr. 
William Adams, under whose ministry he had sat for 
nearly thirty years, had passed into the unseen and 
eternal. The sudden death of Dr. Adams, a few 
weeks previously, deeply affected him, and though 
he was swifdy following, he carried with him a sore 
sense of bereavement to the end. A sincere friendship 



THE EXD. 95 

had existed between them with recollections dating 
back to their early days at Andover, when Dr. Adams* 
father was principal of Phillips Academy, often extend- 
ing his cordial hospitalities to the students of the Theo- 
logical Seminary on the hill. An official bond also had 
united them. Dr. Adams having been for twenty-two 
years a member of the Publishing Committee of the 
Tract Society, they had discussed its issues together 
through the most trying period of its history. 

Each recognized and revered the excellences of the 
other ; the great preacher felt grateful and helped by 
the devout and appreciative spirit of the strong man 
who sat humbly before him, while Dr. Hallock listened 
with love and profit to the old Bible truths so familiar 
to him through the robust handling of Baxter and 
Flavel, yet ever new under the felicitous expositions of 
his beloved pastor and friend. 

The forecasting and exactness which characterized 
him as a business man shone conspicuously in his writ- 
ten wishes concerning his burial. His body rests in 
New Haven, Conn., by the side of his wife and four 
children, in the same plot with that of his brother 
Gerard, with this simple inscription in his own words 
on the marble above : 

William Allen Hallock, D. D., forty-five years 
Secretary of the American Tract Society. Born Plain- 
field, Mass., June 2, 1794. Died Oct. 2, 1880. 

His eldest daughter Harriet (Mrs. Park) from early 
girlhood showed the ardent love for work which char- 
acterized her father. Every branch of service in her 



96 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

church as she grew up was gladdened and quickened 
by her helpful presence. Her pastor used playfully to 
call her the "Hur" who held up his hands. A long 
career of active usefulness seemed open before her, 
upon which she entered with joyful alacrity. 

But this was not the divine plan for her. Scarcely 
over the threshold of her married hfe, her feet were 
set in a narrower and harder way. A disorder of the 
heart slowly developed itself which confined her at^ 
home. Under the sharp discipline ol pain, for eighteen 
years, she bore the rare fruit of true acquiescence in 
the divine will. Fulfilling the duties of wife and mother 
with loving exactness, her patience and self-forgetful- 
ness filled the house with their sweetness, and helped 
others bear for her and with her the heavy weight of 
her sufierings. And while she felt herself shut out from 
*' doing good," it would have surprised her to find how 
many precious lessons in the heavenly life were borne 
from her sick-room, as by unseen messengers, into 
wider circles and to unknown friends. 

She was taken to see her father before his death, 
and bade him a "good night," which was soon suc- 
ceeded by the "good morning" of a brighter and 
longer day. 

Three months of increased bodily distress followed, 
which made her long for the final relief And when 
it came, on the 15th of January, 1881, it was sweet 
to go where the inhabitants shall no more say, " I am 
sick." 



THE EXD. 97 

" The briefest portraiture of Dr. Hallock's character 
must note three marked traits," said Dr. Stevenson at 
the burial service, "singleness of purpose, force of will, 
persistency in work. 

*' Of no name preserved in history, described in 
biography, or embalmed in poetry — of no living states- 
man, civilian, or divine — can it be said with more truth 
or firmer emphasis, * This one thing I do,' than of him 
in the work to which he gave himself — the preparation 
and circulation of the essential truths of the gospel by 
the press; his object the glory of Christ, his purpose to 
win souls, his instrumentality printed truth. To this 
one thing he devoted all his energies, and from it never 
swerved. No calls to other forms of Christian labor 
pressed upon him in the earlier years of his public life, 
no less laborious or more lucrative department in the 
Master's vineyard had for him the least fascination or 
turned his thoughts for a moment from his chosen task. 
The claims of social life, the calls of civil society, the 
sacred duties of home and family were all discharged 
with scrupulous fidelity, but without forgetting for one 
hour the single aim of his being. With the fixedness 
of the needle to the ^pole, with the certainty and the 
inexorableness of the law of gravitation, his eye, his 
mind, his heart was ever upon this one thing. 

" Other men of equal or greater endowments have 
difiused their energies, and, to our vision, weakened 
their influence, by giving attention to a great diversity 
of plans in their work for Christ. It may be to the 
Omniscient mind that this diffused energy is not lost 

Pr. Hallock. I -^ 



98 ■ DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

but conserved, and by him directed to his high purposes 
in ways we cannot comprehend. But our sainted father 
let no divided interest thwart his purpose or divert his 
thought from the one aim of his being — the preparation 
and circulation of saving truth by the press. 

"To this concentrated purpose must be added a 
second trait — a force of will rarely equalled, in our 
observation never surpassed among cultured Christian 
workers. A will meaning ever to be directed and gov- 
erned by the will of God. 

" When fully convinced of the rightness of a given 
course of action, and assured of its tendency to pro- 
mote the cause of Christ as committed to him, the 
obstacles which would have appalled common minds 
had no power to shake his purpose, or weaken his 
resolve, * This one thing / do. Others may judge for 
themselves. Every man must give account of himself 
to God, but as for me I cannot otherwise !' As Luther 
was urged on to Worms, as Paul passed up to Jerusa- 
lem, so Dr. Hallock allowed no timid fears or hesitating 
and dissuading friends to check his resolute execution 
of what to him was clearly a duty. 

" If this resoluteness of will sometimes seemed to 
take too little account of the judgment and will of oth- 
ers, it arose from no conscious imperiousness of pur- 
pose, but solely from the undoubting conviction that 
what was clear to him must be right in the sight of 
God, for, with this forceful will was still connected the 
most childlike simplicity of character and the most 
transparent sincerity and humility of heart. 



THE END. 99 

" And this leads to the third noteworthy trait in 
the character of Dr. Hallock : a conscientious persis- 
tency in work — a persistency which no failures in plans 
or accumulation of discouragements could affect. 

" It must be that the man who shall mark out a 
lifework for himself of so difficult a nature, and in a 
path so little trodden as w^as his, when he chose it, 
shall meet unexpected obstacles and at times be over- 
whelmed with responsibilities ; but with Dr. Hallock 
these were brushed aside with the ease of an ancient 
habit. Labor in his chosen vocation was the joy of his 
being, and unceasing persistency the sum of his hfe. 
With a physical system developed and matured in the 
bracing air of New England farm -life, with a constitu- 
tion flexible and tough as tempered steel, an intellect 
stalwart, acute, and trained to activity, unending labor 
seemed no toil to him — This one thing I do. Of his 
long and happy domestic life, his affectionate and de- 
voted children, his personal consecration to Christ, his 
nearness to the cross in the closet, the prayer-meeting, 
and the Committee-room, his love for Foreign Missions, 
his wide views of the kingdom of Christ, and his utter 
consecration to its extension, his entire life was proof 
and embodiment. 

" Now combine this singleness of purpose, this reso- 
luteness of will, and this incessant and efficient labor in 
one person, baptize him with the Holy Spirit and with 
fire, consecrate him for 50 years to the most glorious 
work, next to preaching the gospel with the living 
voice, to which man or angel was ever called, and 



100 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLGCK. 

what may not such a man accomplish towards the 
evangehzation of the world? Such a man was our 
revered father, Rev. William A. Hallock, D. D." 
His associate, Mr. Rand, said at the funeral, 
" The career of Dr. Hallock is a fine illustration of 
the truth that when God has some grand work to be 
done, he prepares and furnishes the man for that work. 
Father Hallock's lifevvork was, to found the American 
Tract Society, shape its character and sphere, develop 
and mould its growth. For this great work he was 
peculiarly endowed, not only with the natural qualities 
just described, essential to success, but with what was 
equally important, a thorough religious training from 
childhood up, and such a spiritual experience as brought 
his whole after-life under the power of the unseen world 
and of the doctrines of grace. Without any morbid 
views about sanctification, he had that practical conse- 
cration that kept him day and night at work for Christ. 
Leaving the seminary at Andover fifty-eight years ago 
full of missionary zeal, he plunged with characteristic 
ardor and self-sacrifice into tract work as agent for two 
years of the New England Tract Society at Andover. 
In this work he soon learned the necessity and wisdom 
of three things: i, the formation of a National Tract 
Society to combine all the local societies ; 2, that it 
should be a Uyiion Society, including all evangelical de- 
nominations ; and 3, as the result of conference with 
Christians in New York, that It should be located In 
this metropolis. After earnest and prayerful confer- 
ence with the leading men of the existing society in 



THE END. 1 01 

New York, this Society was organized May, 1S25, and 
the Society at Boston became its most efficient auxiU- 
ary. He was chosen Corresponding Secretary of the 
new Society, and was reelected for forty-five years. For 
several years he was sole Secretary, and though as the 
work expanded many others were associated with him, 
he still retained the Publishing and Foreign Depart- 
ments in his control. 

" And what was his work ? 

" To examine with care every manuscript, tract, and 
book offered for publication, and select the best. To 
submit them for perusal to the Publishing Committee, 
and revise for the press, with the author's aid, such as 
were adopted, and then see them through all the pro- 
cesses of publication. In 1845, for example, he selected, 
prepared for the press, and issued 200 publications, large 
and small, besides reading 100 that were declined, and 
arranging for 100 new ones .published by the aid of the 
Society at missionary stations. 

*' He conducted all the correspondence relating to 
these publications at home and abroad, including in his 
letters to missionaries all grants in aid of their work. 
When the ' American Messenger' was commenced he 
was the principal editor, and put both it and the ' Child's 
Paper ' to press, reading all the proofs of book, paper, 
or tract, with care. Very few men could have accom- 
plished the amount of work he performed, and that 
from year to year, with but few and short intervals of 
rest even towards the last. His industry was prodi- 
gious — the wonder of those around him, their stimulus 



102 DR, WJLLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

and their despair. He subordinated everything to his 
work. Many a weary mile he threaded the city streets 
to confer with authors, with donors, the Committee, or 
influential friends. Denying himself many social en- 
joyments, his home-hours early and late were devoted 
to work. At the Tract House ever busy, in conference 
with his associates, supervising all the manufacturing 
work, remaining long after all others had gone home, 
for those hours of uninterrupted work he loved so well, 
and often protracting his labors far into the night. His 
great task was accomplished not so much by brilliant 
talents, as by shrewd good sense and indefatigable 
work. 

" And what were the results ? 

" The Tract Society stands to-day as his monument, 
more enduring than brass and more precious than fine 
gold. When he laid down the burden he had so long 
and so well borne, fifty years after finishing his studies, 
he had seen the Society advance from stage to stage of 
growth — from issuing a few hundred tracts and an al- 
manac, to a list of 4,000 publications, of which 880 were 
volumes. 

" The publications aided in foreign missionary fields 
were nearly equal in number, though not in size. He 
had helped to organize in turn Systematic Tract Distri- 
bution, the Volume Enterprise, the system of Colpor- 
tage, and the Periodicals of the Society. He had done 
much to place the Society in the front rank of publishing 
houses of the nation. He had infused much of his spirit 
of self- consecration for Christ's sake into all the work and 



THE END. 103 

workers of the Society. He had seen its models imi- 
tated and its methods followed by many others at home 
and abroad ; had watched the issue and circulation of 
450,000,000 of books, tracts, and papers; and had him- 
self found time to write four volumes and five tracts, of 
which more than 1,400,000 have been published. The 
most important of these is the Memoir of Harlan Page, 
of which 113,500 have been printed, and which has 
done more to promote living for Christ than almost 
any other book. 

" In 1870, at the age of 76, he was elected Honorary 
Secretary, and relieved of the burdens he had borne so 
long and so well. With what intense gratitude and joy 
he contemplated the work God had empowered him to 
originate and help forward ! What region of the earth is 
not full of his labors ! What Christian in America has 
not derived some benefit from the publications of the 
Society ! W^hat American community anywhere is not 
the better in some way for its influence ! What does 
not our country and the church and the world owe to 
the Institution he so loved ! By his quiet and unob- 
served toil he has accomplished what very few are ever 
so favored and happy as to do. His early associates, 
revered and honored men, have gone before him into 
glory — Milnor and Spring and Knox and De Witt and 
Mcllvaine and Brigham and Anderson and Sommers, 
and a great host of God's elect ; and very recently Dr. 
Adams, his life-long friend, his former pastor, and his 
fellow- laborer for many years. It is but a few short 
weeks since Dr. Hallock ventured from his home of 



104 ^A'. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

sickness to attend the funeral of this beloved friend, 
whose presence and whose half-inspired words of Chris- 
tian condolence we so miss here to-day. But now they 
are both in the presence of Christ, welcomed by their 
former beloved companions in the kingdom and pa- 
tience of the saints with what unutterable delight ! And 
not only by those known and loved here will he be 
welcomed there, but by untold multitudes here un- 
known, from the East and the West and the North and 
the South, brought to Christ or aided in His service by 
the Society he founded and the books he edited. Hap- 
py beyond compare the man who serenely rests from 
such labors, in the sure and blessed fruition of such re- 
wards. May his spirit of consecration, of diligence, of 
singleness of eye to the glory of Christ, characterize the 
Institution he loved to the end of time, and be an inspi- 
ration to all who serve his Lord and ours." 

At the same service Rev. William M. Paxton, D. D., 
said : " We live in the present, but we are always 
facing the future. * Memory,' said another, * presides 
over the past, duty over the present, and hope over the 
future.' As to the past, ' God requireth that which is 
past.' As to the present, he says, ' Now is the accepted 
time.' As to the future he says, * Hope thou in God.' 
We are assembled this morning to look back upon the 
past, and think what this dear father in Israel has been 
in his life and work, and to look forward to the future 
and think what he is now when he has entered into the 
joys of his Lord. 

" Dr. Isaac Taylor says that * every man living in 



THE EiVD. 105 

a state of grace is a perpetual miracle.' This was true 
of Paul: * By the grace of God I am what I am.' There 
is no accounting for the life and work of such a man 
as Paul, except upon the supposition of a divine influ- 
ence working in him and making him what he was. 
Circumstances could not make such a man; education, 
civilization never wrought such results ; unbelief is 
dumb before the problem of such a life. Hence Paul 
himself stands out as the highest proof of Christianity, 
just because he is the most conspicuous illustration of 
the grace of God. 

" The same is true in a measure of the life of Dr. 
Hallock. Nothing but a divine influence could make 
such a man ; self-interest could never produce such 
consecration; the world's motives could never beget 
such singleness of purpose, nor can human society 
mould such purity of character or such a spirit of self- 
sacrificing devotion. His life and work stand out be- 
fore us to-day as a proof of the reality of religion, and 
an illustration of the grace of God in its moulding and 
constraining power. 

" As we look back over the history of his busy life, 
we are impressed, 

" First, with the manner in which God prepares the 
man, and shapes the work of his life for him. 

" In his youth he hesitated long about joining the 
church, because of a self-jealousy as to the reality oi 
his religious experience. 

"When a student about completing his theological 

course, his longings were for the missionary field, but 
14 



io6 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

when his friends and companions were offering them- 
selves for this great work he held back in opposition to 
all his impulses from a sense of his own unworthiness. 
When he had finished his studies and was casting about 
for some humble sphere of labor, he caught at the sug- 
gestion of a tract agency made by one of his teachers, 
and accepted at once this humble office. He refused 
to ride in the stage because it would be expensive to 
the little society which he proposed to serve. He de- 
clined the offer of a horse because his feed might cost 
something to the ministers with whom he might lodge. 
Hence he started out on foot, traversed several of the 
New England states, urging his cause, and gathering 
subscriptions, and returned after some weeks' absence 
with encouraging additions to the treasury, at a cost for 
expenses of 34 cents ! When we think of all this, and 
remember that from this humble beginning he ad- 
vanced step by step through long years of persevering 
devotion, until out of this 'day of small things' has 
grown the great American Tract Society which is now 
shadowing with its beneficent influences this whole con- 
tinent, we cannot but see how clearly God prepared 
the man for the work and the work for the man. This 
is our impression as we look upon the divine side, but 
as we look again upon his history, we are impressed, 

" Secondly, with the human element in the work of 
God in the world. His life illustrates how much may 
be accomplished by entire consecration to a single 
work. 

" Every one who was acquainted with Dr. Hallock 



THE END. 107 

knew how completely his whole life was bound up 
within the idea of the Tract Society. He lived for 
nothing else, he knew nothing else. He lived and 
wrought with incessant toil and unflagging energy for 
the glory of God and the salvation of souls, through 
the word of truth printed and circulated by the Amer- 
ican Tract Society. He had many able and valued 
helpers, but he inspired them all with his spirit, and 
wrought into them all his one idea, and it is doubtless 
to this, under God, that we must attribute the wonder- 
ful success and wide-spread influence of this great insti- 
tution. 

" Thirdly. Again, the life of Dr. Hallock illustrates 
the special teaching of God's Spirit as a preparation for 
a specific purpose. 

" It was a work well worth the labor of any man, no 
matter how high his endowments or how extensive his 
attainments, to write the 'Life of Harlan Page;' but 
perhaps no other man on this continent could have 
written it. There was a correllation between the 
author and the subject. Harlan Page was a miracle of 
grace, and to Dr. Hallock was given the spiritual eye- 
salve to see the peculiar work of God upon his soul, 
the qualities of heart to appreciate the riches of grace 
in his experience, and the simplicity of heart and of 
style to tell the story with the greatest effect. Had the 
life of Harlan Page been written in a stilted style it 
would have lost its charm ; had it been treated with a 
philosophic criticism it would have created no interest ; 
had it been composed in a style adorned with rhetorical 



io8 DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK. 

prettiness, it would have robbed it of its power ; but as 
written by Dr. Hallock it has been one of the most 
potent influences for good that has ever issued from 
the American press. Thousands of souls ascribe their 
conversion to this little volume. It has stimulated 
Christian work in all our churches, and has been one 
of the chief influences in disseminating far and wide the 
idea of dealing with men personally, and of aiming to 
convert individuals. I doubt not but that this little 
book has been the forerunner that has prepared the 
way for the great work of the Young Men's Christian 
Associations in this country. 

" But time will not permit us to dwell at length 
upon the character and influences of this blessed man. 
With all his force and influence he was one of the 
humblest of men. He had no assumption. The 
thought of his own reputation or of getting glory from 
men seemed never to enter his mind. It was most 
refreshing to see his humble simplicity. It always 
made me feel better to know that there was such a man 
living in the world. It was my privilege to know him 
best in his later years. Like the Green Mountains in 
which he was born, his old age was green and beautiful, 
and now * he has come to his grave in full age, like as 
a shock of corn cometh in his season.' 

" In conclusion let me say how much he was loved 
and appreciated by his brethren in the ministry. He 
was a member of the ' Chi Alpha,' an association of 
ministers well known in this city. It seemed to be a 
perfect delight to Dr. Hallock to attend that meeting, 



THE END. 109 

and it was a joy to his brethren to see him there. Next 
to Dr. Cox, whose funeral occurs to-morrow, he was the 
oldest member of the association, and it was most inter- 
esting to see the tender affection with which he was 
always welcomed, and the honor which was spontane- 
ously accorded to him by his loving brethren. Blessed 
man ! he now rests from his labors, and his works do 
follow him." 

A body of earnest, believing men have left the field, 
" but it is a joy," said Dr. Williams, " to think of the 
great work of their earthly career as still going on." 

The personal efforts made in the wards of New 
York city by officers and friends in the early days of 
the Tract Society, to bring people within the pale of 
Christian influences and institutions, was carried vigor- 
ously and systematically forward from the first. There 
was no lapse or neglect in the great enterprise. So 
large had the work become to meet the needs of a 
great and growing city, in 1864 it was incorporated 
into a separate institution, taking the name of the 
*'New York City Mission and Tract Society." Its 
missionaries, chapels, Sunday-schools, reading-rooms, 
cheap lodging-rooms, improved tenement-houses, day 
nurseries, workingmen's clubs, and temperance socie- 
ties, form a network of reforming and redeeming agen- 
cies second to no similar work in the world. 

The spirit of Harlan Page and his biographer is not 
dead, but lives in a thousand forms of personal yearn- 
ing and endeavor to lift men to God and better things. 

While this vigorous offshoot is doing its brave 



no DR. WILLIAM A. HALLOCK, 

work in a permanent location, the main body of the 
American Tract Society is still stretching out its 
branches far and wide, and through its colporteurs and 
presses helping to educate the people of this and other 
lands. 

Inspired by its success, kindred societies have 
sprung up around it; books and papers and readers 
have multiplied, and a religious literature has been 
created. With its varied and hard-won experience, and 
its catholic basis more truly understood and interpreted 
than ever before, its present equipment, and the ever- 
increasing power of the press in our modern civilization, 
its useful and beneficent ministry must still go on to 
coming generations. While the methods and the qual- 
ity of Christian work must change to suit the changing 
epochs, the world will never outgrow its supreme need 
of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



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