William henry channing biography of abraham

Yet it is impossible to deny that he led, during the last twenty-four years, a divided life. Half his heart was in England, half in America. The English life suited his health; he enjoyed its opportunities for study; his wife liked it; and his children, having been educated there, preferred England as a residence. His only son was an Oxford graduate, afterwards prominent as a Liberal member of Parliament; his elder daughter became the wife of Sir Edwin Arnold, a man whose great knowledge and poetic temperament made his society always delightful.

As his younger daughter grew up, she developed literary and artistic tastes, for which London afforded excellent opportunities, though she in later life preferred to reside in her native country, where she later died. All these things anchored him in England; and yet he never for a moment ceased to be, in feeling or habits, first and chiefly an American.

He accordingly made repeated visits to this country, preaching and lecturing, and sometimes remaining many months at a time.

William henry channing biography of abraham: CHANNING is, without doubt, the chief

The longest of these visits was during the Civil War, when he was for some time minister of the Unitarian society at Washington, D. To say that he took an interest in the Union cause is inadequate. He gave every thought of his life to it at the most stirring period—preaching to his people, praying in the Senate chamber, visiting the battlefields, nursing in the hospitals, caring for the freed slaves who flocked into the city.

He was personally intimate with leading statesmen—Chase in the Senate, Garfield in the House—and led a busy and useful life. At a later period he visited Boston to give a course of Lowell Lectures, and he preached in various pulpits for a whole winter. Efforts were made by influential persons to obtain for him a suitable professorship in the Harvard Divinity School.

It is possible that he would have accepted some such position; but it was not his habit to fix his plans very definitely, and it is not safe to say confidently what he would have done. Again he visited this country on occasion of the Channing Centennial at Newport, R. Between these visits he grew perceptibly older; but his heart, his voice, his eloquence, his sympathetic ardor, were always the same.

William henry channing biography of abraham: William Ellery Channing's theology played a

He established a short-lived periodical called The Presentand published a few sermons, but his chief literary work was done as a biographer; and this, except in the case of a Boswell or two, leaves no permanent fame. It was a remarkable proof of the great qualities of the elder clergyman that he held always the absolute loyalty of the younger.

William Henry Channing had far more the temperament of genius than his uncle: he had more fire, more self-abandonment, more varied knowledge, and in some directions a richer mind; yet he was always ready to subordinate himself to this object of reverence. Had he been less ready, he would probably have achieved a wider fame. William Henry Channing was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

Channing's father, Francis Dana Channing, died when he was an infant, [ citation needed ] and responsibility for the young man's education was assumed by his uncle, William Ellery Channingthe pre-eminent Unitarian theologian of the early nineteenth century. Channing was ordained and installed over the Unitarian church in Cincinnati in He became warmly interested in the schemes of Charles Fourier and others for social reorganization.

William henry channing biography of abraham: Title: William Henry Channing autograph letter

He moved to Boston aboutafterward to Rochester, New York and to New York City, where, both as preacher and editor, he became a leader in a movement of Christian socialism. In he presided over The Religious Union of Associationists in Boston, a socialist group which included many members of the Brook Farm commune. Anthonya member of his congregation who was a young schoolteacher on the threshold of her career as a women's rights activist.

Elizabeth Cady StantonAnthony's close friend and co-worker, said in her autobiography that, "She [Anthony] first found words to express her convictions in listening to Rev. William Henry Channing, whose teaching had a lasting spiritual influence upon her. At the commencement of the American Civil War, he returned and took charge of the Unitarian church in Washington, D.

Among his inspirational writings, one piece, his "Symphony", is well-known: [ 6 ].

William henry channing biography of abraham: Born in Newport, R.

He died in London. Channing was married to Julia Maria Allen. Sign up for free Log in. The life of William Ellery Channing, D. D Bookreader Item Preview. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? In Channing conducted an associationist journal called "The Spirit of the Age.

Clarke, inin preparing a biography of Margaret Fuller; and he not only wrote a part of it, but he was the editor of the whole. In he became the minister of the Unitarian church in Rochester, but in the autumn of the next year he withdrew, and a year later he went to Liverpool and settled over one of the leading Unitarian churches in that city.

He was the chaplain of Congress, labored in the hospitals, gave much of his time to the work of the Sanitary Commission and the Freedman's Bureau, and did valiant service in the cause of the union and for emancipation. He returned to England at the close of the war, preached for a time in London, and also in other places. He made several visits to the United States, lectured, peached, and talked, made a valiant effort to revive spiritual religion, and to inaugurate a new religious movement; but while he was gladly heard by many wherever he went, he had no gift for organization or for bringing his thought to bear definitely upon the facts of life.

He was a great preacher and a saintly man, but he was visionary and impracticable. Emerson chose him as the one man good enough to baptize his children, and greatly admired his preaching. He was a most devoted transcendentalist, none more so; and one who lived in the realm of ideas and spiritual principles.