episcopal cares and labors have been so successfully devoted."

Tuesday, October 28, being the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude,
the church was opened for prayers at nine, as usual, and for the Holy
Communion at eleven o'clock, the Rev. Dr. Eaton assisting the rector.
On the occasion, he remarks in his journal, " The Lord Bishop of
Newfoundland was present, and a partaker."

Having been invited to attend the consecration of the Rev. Dr.
WiLLiAJis, the assistant bishop elect of the diocese of Connecticut,
on Wednesday, the 29th, he writes to his father, " It is my design
to meet you at Hartford on that interesting occasion, and to bring
my surplice and scarf with me, according to the request in the
Witness. It is something that the primitive diocese recognizes the
white vestment as the suitable one for all assisting in this high
solemnity. God willing, I shall leave here in the afternoon train of
Tuesday." This he was enabled to do after attending to the morn-
ing services, as already noted, and leaving the parish in charge of
the Rev. Mr. Monroe. He adds, " I must be here on Friday
night, to give due attention to All Saints on Saturday ; and the
rather, as there will be communion the next day. But I shall find
time, of course, to look in at home before I return. I am glad
that you are to take a part in the ceremonial of consecration. I
hope it will be the last which any of the living clergy present will
be called to take part in. As old Bishop Andrews prays, ' Let
his age be like the age of Methuselah, his knowledge like the wis-
dom of Solomon, and suffer not the face of thine anointed to be
cast down.' "



472 MEMOIR OF AVILLLIM CROSWELL. [1851.

A few brief notes from his daily journal will furnish some partic-
ulars of this, his last journey : —

" Wednesday, October 29, 1851. Being at Hartford, Connecticut,
the guest of my old friends Dr. Sumner and Mrs. Grosvenor, I
attended the consecration of Dr. Williams, assistant bishop elect of
that diocese, in St. John's Church, The clergy were all clad in sur-
plices — not a gown to be seen in the whole number ; the primitive
diocese thus authenticating the proper sacerdotal dress to be worn
at these high solemnities. Took tea at Mr. Brinley's with Dr.
Wainwright and Mr. Burroughs. Walked in the dark and rain
to Bishop Williams's. All the bishops and many of the clergy
present."

" Thursday, October 30. At half past eight, left in the cai-s for
New Haven. . . . Housed all day with parents and family, by
reason of rain. Happy shelter at such a time." Though compelled,
by his arrangements at home, to terminate this visit the next day,
he considered it among the happiest incidents of his life.

" Friday, October 31. Bright and pleasant. Wrote to Dr.
Muhlenberg, enclosing subscription for the ' Evangelical Catho-
lic' At eleven, left for Boston. Reached home at 5." In this
letter to Dr. Muhlenberg, he enclosed, from memory, a copy of
the Hymn for Charity, which will be found at page 88 of this
work. It was published in the Evangelical Catholic, with a com-
plimentary note. After his decease, the letter was also published ;
and it is transcribed, as among the last of his letters, with melancholy
interest : —

New Haven, October 31, 1851.
Reverend and dear Sir :

" Be thou the first true merit to befriend ;
His praise is lost who stays till all commend."

With this couplet in my mind, I should have been more prompt
to express my gratification with your little catholic paper ; but
have been waiting in the hope to accompany it with a considerable
list of subscribers. When I return home, I intend to canvass the
parish with this view ; but in the mean while, lose no time in estab-
lishing my own claim to the residue of the volume. The concep-
tion corresponds with my own idea of the great object of any sheet,
large or small, and the manner of its execution answers all my ex-
pectations. I send you an old hymn in little, as adapted to the
view and the ends you have in contemplation, and may offer you
something newer of the same descrijition, should it be desirable.

" Stir up, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people, that they,
plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be
plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord."



IS.Jl.J OIIURCII OF THE ADVENT. 473

God strengthen, sustain, and prosper yon in all your doiiiirs begun,
continued, and ended in liim.

Ever yours, in Christ,

W. CROSWELL.

On the evening of his return, he wrote a short note to his father,
announcing his safe arrival ; and on the following day, Saturday,
November 1, being the Feast of All Saints, he entered, with his
accustomed ardor and zeal, upon those labors which were so soon
to be brought to a sudden close. With the assistance of the Rev.
Mr. Monroe, he held the usual services, with the communion,
preaching also from the text, " Wherefore, seeing we also are com-
passed about until so great a cloud of tvitnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus." Heb. xii.
1, 3. On Sunday, November 2, being the twentieth Sunday after
Trinity, with the assistance of the Rev. Dr. Eaton and the Rev.
Mr. Monroe, the communion was again administered, and he
preached a sermon in continuation of the subject of the preceding
day. Of these two discourses, there will be occasion to speak again,
at the close of this sketch. At present, it is sutficieut to say, that
could the preacher have been assured, at the moment, of his own
very near approach to the enjoyment and communion of the saints
in light, he could not have given higher evidence of his own con-
viction of the reality of the doctrine which it was his aim to incul-
cate. On the evening of this day he mailed his last letter to his
father. It was occupied chiefly with domestic matters. He speaks,
however, of the preceding services in high animation, and concludes
with a passage which is now recorded with painful emotion. At
his recent visit, his cousin, E. S., had presented him with some very
choice note paper, coupled with an injunction, that he would return
it well filled with poetry ; to which he replied, that it was his in-
tention again to indulge in his poetical vein. In reference to this
suggestion, he says, " I have tried to make a decent use of E.'s
paper in prose. The poetry must wait upon my leisure." Alas,
that the leisure was never granted ! that the poetry was never
written !

His few remaining days were devoted most faithfully to his pas-
toral duties. In addition to the daily morning and evening prayer,
he spent much time in visiting the sick, the afflicted, and the desti-
tute, ministering counsel, consolation, and alms, as the respective
cases required ; and preparing, as well as his opportunities would
permit, a special sermon, to be delivered to the children of the par-
ish on the approaching Sunday. On Friday, November 7, his forty-
seventh birthday, he remarked to the Rev. Mr. Robinson, whom he
aiet at Mr. Stimpson's bookstore, "I must go home and finish my
60



474 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CROSWELL. [1851.

last sermon." This remark arrested the attention of the Rev. E. M
P. Wells, who was also present, and who, in his peculiarly earnest
and affectionate manner, laid his hand familiarly upon the doctor's
shoulder, and said, "You do not mean, my brother, your last ser-
mon, but your last sermon for tliis week." To this remark Dr.
Croswell made no reply, and soon after they separated, nevermore
again to meet on earth. This incident was related on the authority
of Mr. Wells, in the Christian Witness, and copied into other
publications of the day, coupled with a suggestion that it may have
indicated a presentiment of the near approach of the termination
of his labors on earth. But this does not necessarily follow. He
had often expressed an opinion that the multiplication of sermons, of
which he had already a great number, could scarcely be deemed
expedient. And from several circumstances which occurred within
the few days immediately preceding, and on the very day of his
death, it seems hardly probable that he was acting or speaking
under any such apprehension. But, be this as it may, the result
proved that the remark was prophetical of the fact ; for it loas, lit-
erally, his last sermon.

It was during this week, and near the close of it, that having
occasion to direct a letter to his intimate friend, the Rt. Rev. John
WiLLiAJVis, Assistant Bishop of Connecticut and President of Trini-
ty College, he recurred, in the close of it, to the repeated afflic-
tions which had fallen upon their common friends, the family of
Dr. Stone, of Greenfield ; and after mentioning that, having heard
that Dr. Strong was sick and much exhausted, he was himself
daily expecting a summons to Greenfield to attend the funeral of
Mrs. Stone, who then was at the point of death, he says, " These
repeated afflictions, which have in so short a time left so desolate a
home where you and I have been made so happy, seem indeed
mysterious ! I cannot understand them. But one thing I hiow :
' Right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
HIS saints ! ' " How aptly fitted was this thought, prepared, as
it were, for his own burial, to comfort his own surviving friends ! *

On Saturday, November 8, he made his last entry in his journal.
This is a very brief record of the transactions of the day previous
to his death. Besides the ministrations already alluded to, he notes
especially his ineffectual search after a poor woman, who had ap-
plied at his residence for charity, but who had not given correctly
the place of her abode. After the labors of the day were over, he
called upon, and took tea with. Miss Margaret Coffin, an elderly
lady, with whom he had been long associated in works of charity,
from whose hand he had experienced many acts of kindness, and
for whose Christian character he entertained the highest respect

* It has been supijosed that this was the last letter -written by him.



1861.] CHURCH OF THE ADVENT. 475

and veneration. He retired early, with tlie most pleasant anticipa-
tions of the solemnities of the ensuing day.

ft was his last day, that day of trilinlation and sorrow to his
friends, when he closed liis solemn duties in the church militant,
and entered into his rest. He rose early, and appeared in fine
health and spirits, without the slightest indication of indisposition,
or apprehension of approaching danger. Agreeably to previous
arrangements, the Rev. Mr. Estes preached the morning sermon,
while he bore his part in the services, and, at the proper time, pub-
lished the following notices : —

" I propose to preach to the children tliis afternoon, on a part of
the first lesson for the morning. I hope the children of the parish
will all be in church."

" A course of instruction on the subject of confirmation will be
continued every Wednesday evening, after divine service. Due
notice of the time and j^lace of administering the rite will be given.
In the mean while, all who are interested are invited to attend." *

During the intermission, it was remarked by his family that he
never appeared more cheerful. He seemed to promise himself
much enjoyment in the approaching services — first, in admitting
an infant, by holy baptism, into the bosom of the Church ; and
last, in addressing the little ones of his flock, in whose spiritual
welfare he took the deepest interest. His sermon to the children,
from 2 I^ngs v. 2, 3, was written in a style of beautiful simplicity,
perfectly plain, and well adapted to the capacity of his juvenile
hearers, and yet full of the most sublime and elevated thoughts.
As he proceeded in the delivery, it was perceived that he occasion-
ally betrayed some signs of faltering in his speech ; but this was
very naturally imputed to his emotions, and would not have at-
tracted particular notice, had he not also, from time to time, placed
his hand in an unusual manner upon the back of his head, as if
suffering from pain or distiess. " The children," remarks an eye-
witness, " were much aflfected as they saw, or thought they saw, tears
stealing from his eyes. His voice, which was ever gentle and soft,
and could scarce shape itself to a tone of reproof but that it would
falter into music, meanwhile assumed, as from some presentimental
emotion, those tones of tender pathos which rendered his speech no

* These notices were found in liis Prayer Book, and are preserved as the last
relics of his handwriting, with the exception of the date and address of a let-
ter whicli he permitted his little daughter, who was detained from cliui-ch by
Indisposition, to write to her grandfather. She commenced the letter in ink,
thanking her grandfather for a book which he had given her, and expressing
a hope that she might commit many of the pieces to memory. But before the
letter was finished, she added, in peucQ, these remarkable lines : " Father was
in the middle of his sermon when he was taken faint, and he was brought
home in grandma Carpenter's carriage ; but aunt Delia thinks he may get
well." Alas, poor cMd ! her father was at this moment di-awing his last
breath.



476 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CROSWELL. [1851

less fit than if it had been specially meant for a valedictory to the
little ones of his flock." After j)roceeding through about two thirdj
of his manuscript, he closed his discourse abruptly, with a few re-
marks and the customary ascription. He then pronounced dis-
tinctly, from memory, the first stanza of the hymn previously ap-
pointed to be sung by the choir : —

" Soldiers of Christ arise.
And put your armor on,
Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through his eternal Son."

But in giving the number of this hymn, which is the eighty-eighth
in the collection, he named, by a most striking and extraordinary
inadvertence, the one hundred and eighty-eighth, in which these lines
occur : —

" Determined are the days that fly
Successive o'er thy head ;
The numbered hour is on the wing
That lays thee with the dead."

The choir, however, governed by his original directions, sung the
hymn appointed, during which he stood, as usual, facing the altar.
At the conclusion, he knelt down at the chancel rail, and said from
memory, his book having fallen noiselessly from his hand, the fol-
lowing collect : —

" Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious
favor, and further us with thy continual help ; that in all our works
begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy name,
and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.''''

But now his strength seems to have entirely failed. Instead of
rising and turning to the congregation, as was his custom, to pro-
nounce the concluding benediction, he remained on his knees, and said,
with a faltering voice, the apostolic blessing. The congregation imme-
diately took the alarm, and his friends rushed forward to his assist-
ance. He was borne down through the cliurch to the vestry room,
and from thence in a carriage to his residence. Though at first
evidently conscious, he seemed unable to articulate distinctly, and
uttered but a few words; and, being ajjprised by the physicians in
attendance of the dangerous nature of his attack, he composed him-
self quietly on his couch, and closed his eyes, as if in a calm sleep.
His old, long-tried, and faithful friend and father in the gospel,
the Rev. Dr. Eaton, was soon at his side, and, finding him unable
to speak, if not unconscious, knelt down, and taking him by the
hand, oflfered the Commendatory Prayer of the Church : —



1851.] HIS DEATH. 477

"O Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of just men made per-
fect, after they are delivered from their earthly prisons, we humbly commend
the soul of this thy servant, our dear brother, into thy hands, as into the
hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Savior ; most humbly beseech-
ing thee that it may be precious in thy sight. Wash it, we pray thee, in the
blood of that immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the sins of the
world ; that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted in the midst of
this miserable and naughty world, through the lusts of the flesh, or the wiles
of Satan, being purgetl and done away, it may be presented pure and with-
out spot before thee. And teach us who survive, in this and other like
daily spectacles of mortality, to see how frail and uncertain our own condition
is, and so to number our days that we may seriously apply our hearts to that
holy and heavenly wisdom, whilst we live here, which may in the end bring
us to life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, thine only Son, our
Lord. Amen.''^



As the word Amen was pronounced by the venerable priest, the
last breath was perceived to pass, gently, quietly, and without a
struggle, from the lips of the dying soldier of the cross, and he was
at rest in the bosom of his Savior !

It is impossible to describe the sensations produced by this ex-
traordinary and appalling visitation. The heart may conceive, but
words cannot express, the bitterness of this stroke to his family, to
his parish, and to the broad circle of friends, at home and abroad,
who were more immediately affected by the dispensation. The
publications of the day tell something of the pulsations of the popu-
lar feeling ; and to these due reference will be made in gathering
up the various public and private testimonials on which the biogra-
pher must rely for the exhibition of his character. As his biogra-
pher, he can only add to this portion of the work, for the consola-
tion of survivors, some of his dying counsels, selected from his last
general discourse, delivered on the Feast of All Saints, together
with a brief account of the funeral solemnities.

In this discourse, after a glowing commentary on the text already
cited, closing in the animated strains of the church hymn, —

" Behold the innumerable host
Of angels clothed in light ;
Behold the spirits of the just
Whose faith is changed to sight.

Angels, and living saints and dead.

But one communion make ;
All join in Christ, their vital Head,

And of his love partake," —

he proceeds with his application : —

" Such is that heavenly and invisible world of saints and glori-
fied spirits which the word of God discloses, and wliich the solemn



478 MEMOIR OF AVILLIAM CROSWELL. [1851.

offices of divine worship on tliis day, and all days, are intended to
assist us in realizing. Would that we might be roused to a consid-
eration of this great scene ; would that the vision of these glori-
fied witnesses might inspire praise to God, whose truth and mercy
to them is the confirmation of our faith, the encouragement of our
duty, and gives us in contemplation an antepast of our happiness
before we come to its full enjoyment. Here are men of like pas-
sions with ourselves, exposed while on earth to the same or like
trials, both of flesh and spirit, witnesses to us, from their blessedness,
of the efficacy of Christian faith, and the sure success of diligent
and devout application to the means of grace. Here are witnesses
to us of the sufficiency of the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin,
to procure a full and free pardon, and to insure that triumph
whereby the dying Christian, looking unto Jesus, can exultantly cry,
O Death, where is thy sting ? O Grave, where is thy victory ?

" And especially let those of us, beloved brethren, who have found,
in the anguish of bereavement, no adequate human object on which
their affections can rest, no earthly good to fill the aching void,
ponder and meditate on these neglected yet solemn doctrines, and
endeavor not only to believe them, but to make them part of our
habitual thoughts — our whole spiritual nature. Let these thoughts
and things of an unseen world lift us above the dangers and
temptations of things seen and temporal, and draw us closer to His
cross by whom and through whom alone the holy dead have fought
the good fight, and are now passed farther and farther into the
bosom of the church triumphant and the glorious prospects of heaven.
Let us feel how all that was truly them and theirs still survives, and
how deeply they should live in our affections — communing with
them in the same love we bore them while living, and that love
exalted and purified by their departure, and looking forward to a
more spiritual intercourse than ever the past afforded. With these
views, well may all that they valued be the more endeared to us ; well
may the house and altar of God, where we communed often to-
gether, — the spot where we last took leave of all of them that was
mortal, — become to us holy ground — a place set apart and hallowed
to tender recollections, to holy musings, to fruitful meditations, to
pious resolves, to strong yet chastened anticipations of that hour of
unspeakable bliss — too intense to bear, except the Spirit strengthen
us — of seeing our lost brethren, of looking on them again, of
having them at our side. Can we conceive, indeed, any more
afffecting call to a holy life than this hope of meeting in another
world the brethren and little ones of our Father's house, and
dwelling with them forever, with our capacities of love enlarged,
our mutual infirmities removed, our vile bodies made into glorious
bodies, and our spirits made perfect ? And as every little thing
brings them up in our minds, — our house, our room, our gardens.



1851.] SERMON FOll AI,L SAINTS'. 479

our walks, the little ornaments in our apartments, all serve to
touch a chord in our souls, — let not these awakeners of thought
cause us only a pang of sorrow. Let us turn them into angels'
voices. Let them warn us of sin, and incite us to all virtuous and
godly living ; to that preparation for Christ's coming, that life of
prayer and good works, which would make our hope of meeting
them in heaven not a mere baseless dream — a hope not wildly
and unreasonably entertained. And in order that the dead in
Christ may have this godly influence, can we do better than to set
apart some fixed and given seasons for their more solemn com-
memoration ? Can we do better than to devote such a feast as
this to tlieir memory — thinking of the religiousness of their earthly
life, of their everlasting recompense as faithful servants of Christ,
and of the hope of living with them in heaven, should we follow
their steps on earth 1

" Blessed are we when the thought of the glorified child, or
parent, or wife, or brother, or sister, or friend thus becomes an
incitement and aid to heavenly-mindedness. Blessed are we when
we act as if we heard their voices calling us, ' Come up hither,
and dwell with us — do not grow cold and careless ; ' when they
seem to lay hold upon us, as the angels did upon the lingering
patriarchs, to hasten our flight. When we thus think of them, we
would fain be with them. But duties remain. We seem like a
man toiling and wearied amid the harvest field, but in sight of the
home where his family and kindred are gathering, one by one, to
keep some joyous festival ; who often turns a wistful glance towards
them, and then bends patiently to his toil, knowing that the evening
will dismiss him to their enjoyments, and lending, a sturdier blow
to the work that must be done, animated by that homeward glance.
So may our view of the glorified cloud of witnesses lead us to a
more vigorous discharge of life's duties, to ' lay aside every weight,
and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and to run with patience
the race that is set before us.'

" And now, beloved brethren, ' looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith,' as penitent believers, longing in our
inmost hearts for that which neither the world nor popular religion
can insure us, — the communion of saints, — let us seek it, where the
Apostles' creed declares it is, in the Holy Catholic Church, whose
ministries and ordinances have descended to us in unbroken suc-
cession. Let us endeavor to sound the depths of that spiritual
service, wherein, if its words be not a solemn mockery, God does
' vouci)safe to feed us, who duly receive these holy mysteries, with
the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of his Son
Jesus Christ ; and does assure us thereby of his favor and goodness
towards us, and that we are very members incorporate in the mys-
tical body of his Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful



480 JklEMOm OF WILLIAil CROST^TILL. |18ol.

people, and are also iieirs through hope of his everlasting kingdom.'