paid long after it was due, in a depreciated currency; at a time when laborers were scarce and dear; and in the midst of disease, which carried his whole family to the grave; he put his trust in God, and continued with unabated zeal in his appropriate work. If we look attentively at his circumstances during the Revolutionary war, as he himself has detailed them, we can hardly avoid the conclusion, that if any minister could be justified in relaxing his efforts in his sacred calling, to attend for a season to his secular concerns, he was the man. But this indulgence, which so many take, and which not a few consider to be right, he never claimed. Though his farm was large, and the labor required upon it not inconsiderable, yet he always carried it on entirely by the aid of others. He exerted himself to procure good help, and to do it seasonably; but when a man was found competent to the undertaking, the whole care of the business was thrown upon him. The Doctor merely exercised such a superintendence of his concerns as was unavoidable, and which he could do, without any interruption to his studies, or parochial labors. He would never allow those in his employ to depend upon his assistance in their work, in any emergency whatever. If they laid out more than they could do, or failed to prepare themselves for emergencies which might occur, and by this miscalculation or neglect got themselves into difficulty, they were taught never to expect relief from any personal exertions of his. Though he sometimes walked out among his laborers, and for his own recreation took hold of their tools, and wrought with them for a few moments, yet he would sooner see the waste or ruin of his crops, than have it understood that he might be called off from his studies, to assist in the labors of his farm. The inflexibility of his purpose on this subject, may be seen from such facts as the following. At a time when a large quantity of his hay lay exposed in the field, his men were suddenly alarmed at the prospect of rain. They at once concluded that they could not secure it, unless they had assistance, and it was now too late to go abroad for help. Though they knew that in ordinary circumstances it would be in vain to expect any aid from him, yet as there was now so much at stake, and the loss to be sustained entirely his own, they thought it possible that he would so far relax from the rigidity of his habits, as to assist one of them in unloading a load of hay in the barn, while the other should get that in the field in readiness to carry in. Accordingly, one of them went to the Doctor's study, and told him that a shower was rapidly approaching, and that the hay must be wet unless he would give them aid in throwing off a load in the barn. "Then let it be wet," said he; "I am not going to leave my work to do yours." Those who knew his accommodating spirit, his readiness always to gratify the feelings of others, so far as he could consistently with his duty, and his daily habit of assisting the needy, will see in this, not the recklessness or unkindness which the apparently harsh expression might indicate to a stranger, but that strong guard against every temptation to turn aside from his appropriate work, for which he was so remarkable. The only conceivable motive for the above refusal, was a desire himself to avoid all undue attention to his secular concerns; and to prevent his help from depending upon him, or repeating their solicitations for his aid. He used to say in respect to all such solicitations, "If you say A, you must say B; and the safest way is not to begin the alphabet." While able to preach, and actively engaged in the ministry, he would subject himself to no kind of secular labor, not even to harness his horse, or feed his cattle, or bring in his wood. He depended upon his hired men, or his children, to see that all these things were done for him. After he had closed the active duties of the ministry, and no longer felt himself under obligation to give his time and attention to this work, he would often wait upon himself and others, very pleasantly observing, "I have nothing else now to do." It was not the mere loss of time which he regarded, in his total abstinence from all secular labor. He feared its influence upon his mind and habits of study. An intimate friend of his, and a brother in the ministry, once said to him, when conversing upon his habit of refraining from the usual modes of exercise which people adopt, "I should think, Doctor, that you would find it pleasant to labor in your garden an hour or two a day, and that this exercise would contribute to your health and mental vigor." "Too pleasant, I fear," said he. "If I were to labor an hour a day in the garden, or long enough to become interested in it, I should have my garden in my study all the rest of the day." Dr. Emmons did not pretend to say that it was the duty of all ministers to abstain as strictly from secular labor as he did. Though he thought it their duty to give themselves to their work, that is to say, as entirely as their health and other circumstances will admit, and was often heard bitterly to lament the fact that many are culpably negligent in this respect; yet he was fully aware that every one had not the constitution which God had given him, or natural ability to endure that degree of confinement to which he cheerfully submitted. He was willing to believe that others might find it necessary, some on account of their health, and some on account of the scantiness of their support, to be engaged to some extent in manual labor, or teaching, or some other literary or scientific pursuit. It was a maxim with him that every man ought to study himself and his circumstances, or, in other words, the movements of Divine Providence with respect to him, and shape his course of action accordingly. But while he was thus candid in regard to others, who think it their duty to give their attention in some degree to secular concerns, he felt himself sacredly bound to give his whole time and strength to the ministry. The consecration which he at first made of himself to this work was unreserved; and he retained through life a fixed and unwavering purpose that no other should engage his attention or his heart. The industry with which he pursued his sacred calling was in proportion to the ardor of feeling with which he had devoted himself to it. While he separated himself from every other pursuit, and called off his attention from every other subject, it is natural to suppose that his industry in his appropriate work would be unceasing. This was the fact. He was never idle. Nor was he slow and inefficient in his action. His movements both of mind and body were unusually rapid and energetic. He was always in his place; he was always engaged in his appropriate business; and whatever his hand found to do he did with all his might. A single fact, which it may not be improper here to name, will show what were the impressions of people in respect to his industry, and especially in respect to his habits of study. A Mr. Brown, who had been a student of his and a boarder in his family, shortly after he began to preach, became deranged, and fancied himself to be, as he said, "in the other world." Though perfectly beside himself in respect to this point, yet he would reason with great composure and strength upon other subjects, and in conversation with his friends would often attempt to reason on this also. While on a visit at the Doctor's, sitting one day with the family in the parlor, he introduced his all absorbing subject, and began to name one fact after another, to prove that he was "in the other world." Some of those present queried with him on this subject. This led to a pleasant, but very animated debate, in which he defended his position with great ingenuity and earnestness. In the midst of the conversation, Dr. Emmons, having been out some time, came in, and, perceiving the object of the debate, sat down and listened to Brown's argument. As soon as Brown saw him seated with the family, he turned with an air of triumph to his opponents, and, pointing to the Doctor, exclaimed, "See, there is demonstration that this is the other world. Dr. Emmons is out of his study, and is now sitting here with the family; and you all know that no such thing ever happened in the old world.” Though it is not true that Dr. Emmons never sat with his family, yet so uniformly was he in his study when at home, and so well known were his habits in this respect, that the wit of the maniac had a peculiar point; and, while it produced a general burst of laughter, put an end to the debate. In the entire consecration of himself to the work of the ministry, and in the extraordinary industry with which he pursued his work, we have, it is apprehended, the great secret of his success in his attempts to elucidate and defend the doctrines of the gospel. Though his talents were unquestionably of a superior order, and the cast of his mind just such as was suited to the work which he undertook; yet, without the efforts which he made to keep himself disentangled from the cares of the world, and the unexampled industry with which he pursued his employment, the present result of his labors would have been an impossibility. Perhaps it may in truth be said, that in nothing has he shown his wisdom in a higher degree, than in the adoption of the very means which were suited to the accomplishment of the great end he had in view; and perhaps his decision and firmness are in nothing more manifest than in his perseverance, through all the temptations of life, in the course in which alone his object could be attained. A better illustration of the entire devotion of Dr. Emmons to his work, and his untiring industry in it, cannot be given than by a list of his publications. Besides those included in the present edition of his works, the following are from his pen: |