(Excerpt from The Life of the Saviour
I have availed myse...)
Excerpt from The Life of the Saviour
I have availed myself of the call for another edition of this work to make several additions and some changes in various parts of the volume. None of these are of much moment, except an additional chapter at the close of the work, and the exclusion, from the first chapters, of what was drawn from the apocryphal histories. This change is made at the suggestion of several friends, and I trust will be disapproved by none.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
On the Formation of the Christian Character: Addressed to Those Who Are Seeking to Lead a Religious Life (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from On the Formation of the Christian Character:...)
Excerpt from On the Formation of the Christian Character: Addressed to Those Who Are Seeking to Lead a Religious Life
I would even presume, further, to warn one class of readers, and that not a small one, against a danger which lurks even in their established respect for religion. That general regard for it, which grows out of the circumstances of education and the habits of society, may be mistaken for a religious state of mind; yet it is perfectly consistent with religious indifference. A man may sincerely honor, advocate, and Upheld the religion of Christ on account of its general influence, its beneficial public tendency, its humane and civilizing consequences, without at all subjecting his own temper and life to its laws, or being in any proper sense a sub ject of the peculiar happiness it imparts. This is perhaps not an infrequent case. Men need to be made sensible that religion is a personal thing, a matter of personal application and experience. Unless it is so considered, it will scarcely be an object of earnest pursuit, or of fervent, hearty interest.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Henry Ware was an American preacher and theologian.
Background
Henry Ware was born on April 1, 1764 in Sherborn, Massachussets He was a descendant of Robert Ware who was in Dedham, Massachussets, as early as 1642, and was the ninth of the ten children of John and Martha (Prentice) Ware. As a boy, he worked on his father's farm and attended the short winter terms of the country school. When he was fifteen his father died and because of the promise Henry had shown, both in mind and character, his elder brothers decided that he should have the advantages of an education. Accordingly, he was put under the care of the parish minister, the Rev. Elijah Brown, who prepared him for college.
Education
In 1781 he entered Harvard, where, four years later, he was graduated, valedictorian of his class. He then took charge of the town school in Cambridge, and at the same time began a course of study with a view to preparing himself for the ministry.
Career
On his twenty-third birthday, in the town where he had grown up, he preached his first sermon, and on October 24, 1787, he was ordained pastor of the First Parish Church, Hingham, Massachussets, succeeding in that office Dr. Ebenezer Gay. In this, his first and only pastorate, Ware remained eighteen years. His income of $450 a year proving inadequate for a steadily increasing family, he was "obliged to resort to the only means which seemed to be open to a country clergyman for supplying the deficiency of his salary, that of keeping boarders, and taking the charge of boys to fit for college. " It proved, he said, "a very laborious and irksome life, and less profitable than it should have been". In spite of this handicap, he increased in knowledge and influence and rose to a place of distinction in his profession. Like his predecessor, Dr. Gay, he belonged to the liberal, or Unitarian, branch of the Congregational order, and after the death of Prof. David Tappan, Ware was chosen by the liberals on the board of Fellows of Harvard College as their candidate for the Hollis Professorship of Divinity, the opposing candidate being Dr. Jesse Appleton. Ware was nominated by the Fellows and, in spite of strong opposition from some of the Overseers, the nomination was confirmed on Feburary 14, 1805, and he was inaugurated on May 14. This election, which marked a new era in the history of Congregationalism, gave rise to a memorable controversy between members of the liberal and orthodox parties. In its earlier years, Ware's participation in it was slight, but in 1820 he crossed swords with Dr. Leonard Woods, 1774-1854, by publishing that year Letters Addressed to Trinitarians and Calvinists, Occasioned by Dr. Woods' Letters to Unitarians. Woods made reply, and in 1822 Ware issued Answer in a Second Series of Letters Addressed to Trinitarians and Calvinists, to which, the following year, he added A Postscript to the Second Series of Letters. Someone at the time called the argument the "Wood'n Ware Controversy, " by which title it came to be generally known. Ware performed the duties of his office with ability and good judgment. In 1811 he began a course of special instruction for men preparing for the ministry, from which developed the divinity school, organized in 1816, with Ware as professor of systematic theology and evidences of Christianity. Twice, when the college was without a president, he served as administrative officer - in 1810 and in 1828-29. Because of the inconvenience resulting from a cataract on one of his eyes, he resigned the Hollis Professorship in 1840, but continued his work in the divinity school. An unsuccessful operation on his eye seriously weakened him. Before he was entirely incapacitated, however, he was able to arrange and publish some of his lectures under the title An Inquiry into the Foundation, Evidences, and Truths of Religion (1842). He died at Cambridge in his eighty-second year. A number of his discourses - chiefly ordination and funeral sermons - were printed, among them one on the death of Washington and one on the death of John Adams.
(
This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Personality
Ware was respected for his mental attainments and even more for the traits of character he exhibited. He was a man of simple tastes, extreme modesty, gentle disposition, and serenity of mind; yet he was fearless in maintaining his convictions. In the classroom he was noted for his candor, his fairness, and his distrust of ardent partisanship. As a preacher, a contemporary states, "he was too logical, sensible, moderate, and unimaginative" to appeal to all classes.
Connections
On March 31, 1789, he married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Jonas Clark of Lexington. His first wife died July 5, 1805, and on Feburary 9, 1807, he married Mary, daughter of James Otis and widow of Benjamin Lincoln, Jr. , who died eight days later; on September 18 of the same year, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Bowes of Boston. He was the father of nineteen children, ten by his first wife, and nine by the third.