Reverend Lemuel Haynes in the Pulpit
(Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design,
Bequest of Lucy Truman Aldrich)
“May We Meet in the
Heavenly World”:
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
Introduced and edited by
Thabiti M. Anyabwile
Reformation Heritage Books
Grand Rapids, Michigan
© 2009 by Thabiti M. Anyabwile
Published by
Reformation Heritage Books
2965 Leonard St., NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
616-977-0599 / Fax: 616-285-3246
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.heritagebooks.org
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haynes, Lemuel, 1753-1833.
May we meet in the heavenly world : the piety of Lemuel Haynes /
introduced and edited by Thabiti M. Anyabwile.
p. cm. -- (Profiles in reformed spirituality)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-60178-065-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Haynes, Lemuel, 1753-1833. 2. Theology. 3. Haynes, Lemuel,
1753-1833--Correspondence. 4. African American clergy. 5.
Calvinists--United States. 6. Puritans--United States. I. Anyabwile,
Thabiti M., 1970- II. Title.
BX7260.H315A25 2009
230’.58092--dc22
2009018604
For additional Reformed literature, both new and used, request a free book
list from Reformation Heritage Books at the above address.
To
my daughters, Afiya and Eden
my son, Titus:
Eternity is written in your hearts.
And to
J. R. and Chantha Scott:
Live for eternity.
Profiles in Reformed Spirituality
series editors—Joel R. Beeke and Michael A. G. Haykin
Other Books in the Series:
Michael Haykin, “A Consuming Fire”: The Piety of
Alexander Whyte of Free St. George’s
Michael Haykin, “A Sweet Flame”: Piety in the Letters
of Jonathan Edwards
Michael Haykin and Steve Weaver, “Devoted to the
Service of the Temple”: Piety, Persecution, and Ministry
in the Writings of Hercules Collins
Michael Haykin and Darrin R. Brooker, “Christ Is All”:
The Piety of Horatius Bonar
J. Stephen Yuille, “Trading and Thriving in Godliness”:
The Piety of George Swinnock
Joel R. Beeke, “The Soul of Life”: The Piety of John Calvin
Table of Contents
o
Profiles in Reformed Spirituality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
The Life and Piety of Lemuel Haynes (1753 –1833) . . . . . . . . . . . 1
  1. The Gospel and Slave-Keeping . . . . . . . . . . 21
  2. The Necessity of Regeneration . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  3. The Nature of Regeneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  4. A Brief Sketch of a Tour into the State of Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  5. The Character of a Spiritual Watchman . . . 43
  6. Meeting with God and Our People on the Day of Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
  7. How Eternity Affects Daily Ministry . . . . . . 51
  8. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
  9. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
10. Reminders When a Faithful Minister Is Taken Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
11. Ministers and Their Families before the Bar of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
12. Government and Religion Stand Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
13. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
14. True Greatness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
15. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
viii
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
16. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18. Confiding in God’s Government and the Use of Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19. Expect to Die Soon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21. To Timothy Mather Cooley . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22. Love without Dissimulation . . . . . . . . . . . . .
23. The Gospel Ministry and Politics . . . . . . . . .
24. To Deacon Elihu Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25. Traveling into Another World . . . . . . . . . . .
26. Suffering and Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27. To Deacon Elihu Atkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28. Make Haste to the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29. Externally Marked for Christ . . . . . . . . . . . .
30. In the Hands of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
31. Christ Is My All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
75
77
81
85
91
93
97
101
105
107
111
115
117
119
123
125
Reading Haynes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Profiles in Reformed Spirituality
o
Charles Dickens’ famous line in A Tale of Two Cities —
“it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”
— seems well suited to western Evangelicalism since
the 1960s. On the one hand, these decades have seen
much for which to praise God and to rejoice. In His
goodness and grace, for instance, Reformed truth is
no longer a house under siege. Growing numbers
identify themselves theologically with what we hold
to be biblical truth, namely, Reformed theology and
piety. And yet, as an increasing number of Reformed
authors have noted, there are many sectors of the
surrounding western Evangelicalism that are characterized by great shallowness and a trivialization of the
weighty things of God. So much of Evangelical worship seems barren. And when it comes to spirituality,
there is little evidence of the riches of our heritage as
Reformed Evangelicals.
As it was at the time of the Reformation, when the
watchword was ad fontes —“back to the sources”— so
it is now: the way forward is backward. We need to
go back to the spiritual heritage of Reformed Evangelicalism to find the pathway forward. We cannot
live in the past; to attempt to do so would be antiquarianism. But our Reformed forebearers in the faith
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
can teach us much about Christianity, its doctrines,
its passions, and its fruit.
And they can serve as our role models. As R. C.
Sproul has noted of such giants as Augustine, Martin
Luther, John Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards: “These
men all were conquered, overwhelmed, and spiritually intoxicated by their vision of the holiness of God.
Their minds and imaginations were captured by the
majesty of God the Father. Each of them possessed a
profound affection for the sweetness and excellence
of Christ. There was in each of them a singular and
unswerving loyalty to Christ that spoke of a citizenship in heaven that was always more precious to them
than the applause of men.”
To be sure, we would not dream of placing these
men and their writings alongside the Word of God.
John Jewel (1522 –1571), the Anglican apologist,
once stated: “What say we of the fathers, Augustine,
Ambrose, Jerome, Cyprian?… They were learned
men, and learned fathers; the instruments of the
mercy of God, and vessels full of grace. We despise
them not, we read them, we reverence them, and give
thanks unto God for them. Yet…we may not make
them the foundation and warrant of our conscience:
we may not put our trust in them. Our trust is in the
name of the Lord.”
Seeking then both to honor the past and yet not
idolize it, we are issuing these books in the series
. “An Invaluable Heritage,” Tabletalk, 23, no. 10 (October
1999): 5 – 6.
. Cited in Barrington R. White, “Why Bother with History?”
Baptist History and Heritage, 4, no. 2 (July 1969): 85.
Profiles in Reformed Spirituality
xi
Profiles in Reformed Spirituality. The design is to
introduce the spirituality and piety of the Reformed
tradition by presenting descriptions of the lives of
notable Christians with select passages from their
works. This combination of biographical sketches and
collected portions from primary sources gives a taste
of the subjects’ contributions to our spiritual heritage
and some direction as to how the reader can find
further edification through their works. It is the hope
of the publishers that this series will provide riches for
those areas where we are poor and light of day where
we are stumbling in the deepening twilight.
— Joel R. Beeke
Michael A. G. Haykin
Foreword
o
Years ago I found a friend and hero in Lemuel
Haynes. Being Reformed has at times been lonely.
When I first began to embrace the biblical and historical theology of the Reformation, I looked and listened
around and found no one who looked and sounded
like me. Admittedly, this was before the internet
boom and the on-demand access to information both
contemporary and historical. Nevertheless, the heroes
of the Reformation always came up as white European and American. While this is no reason to accept
or reject truth, it does cause one to pause and contemplate the conspicuous absence of non-white voices.
Not seeing or hearing overtly Reformed voices
within African-American history did cause me to
wonder why. If these truths are so rich, biblical, and
historical, why did not Christianity within the African-American tradition express them? The absence
of voices and faces recognizably like mine made me
wonder if God had skipped previous generations
and decided to make the glories of the Reformation
known to African-Americans only in the latter half
of the twentieth century. While this would be unlike
God, it was not beyond the realm of possibility.
xiv
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
However, I’m thankful that God is wiser and more
merciful than I can comprehend.
Unknown to my finite mind and existence, not
only had God revealed the truths of the Reformation to past generations of African-Americans, but
there had in fact been a long line of learned, passionate, and articulate African-Americans within the
Reformed tradition. Once I learned this, I rejoiced in
the wisdom and judgments of God to reveal to me
that my lonely days were over. Among my long-lost
friends and heroes was one of particular encouragement — namely, Lemuel Haynes. In these pages you
will learn of him.
I am excited that my dear friend and brother,
Thabiti Anyabwile, would take up the subject of our
friend Lemuel Haynes. In many ways, Thabiti and
Lemuel are a perfect match. As you will find in the
following pages, Lemuel Haynes was a thoughtful
preacher — so is Thabiti. Haynes was a pastor and a
scholar — so is Thabiti. Haynes was passionate for the
gospel and its defense — so is Thabiti. Haynes loved
the church and sought the comfort of the saints and
the conversion of the lost — so does Thabiti.
I rejoice to know that God has given me friends and
heroes like Lemuel Haynes and Thabiti An­yabwile. I
love them both. I have learned much from them. In
reading this volume, I am sure you will too. Enjoy.
Anthony J. Carter
Atlanta, Georgia
Acknowledgements
o
Many debts of gratitude are owed for this small
sampling from the works of Lemuel Haynes. Lemuel
Haynes would be largely lost to us were it not for the
labors of Timothy Mather Cooley in recording his
life and many of Haynes’s sermons and letters. As is
so often the case, we owe a huge debt to those who
labored before us, recording the important for a time
when we would have eyes to see it and ears to hear it.
Thanks are due to Richard Newman, who compiled
the most complete collection of Haynes’s writings.
Black Preacher to White America continues to be an
invaluable resource to those interested in Haynes, the
African-American church, and Colonial-era theology
and preaching. Someone should bring this work back
into print. And John Saillant’s Black Puritan, Black
Republican offers the most thorough study of Haynes’s
life and thought anywhere. His work places Haynes
in the rich theological and political context of Revolutionary-era New England and the early years of the
United States. For all these labors, we are indebted,
and this work depends upon them.
My wife, Kristie, offers the most consistent and
helpful encouragement any wife can give a husband.
She is my “helpmeet” and more suitable for me than
I could have imagined those twenty-one years ago
when I first saw her and knew we would marry. I
have obtained a wife, and with her the goodness and
xvi
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
favor of the Lord. We are heirs together of life, and
she has taught our three children to love the Lord, His
work, and the pastoral and writing ministry He has
given me. She is better than I deserve.
I gladly and eagerly acknowledge the partnership
in the gospel that the Lord has given me with the First
Baptist Church of Grand Cayman. They have become
my spiritual family, loving my family and me far better than we have loved them. Always encouraging,
always praying, and always serving, their thoughtful
reminders and fervent appeals for grace saw this little
project through to completion. Every pastor would be
well blessed to have a flock to shepherd like the saints
at FBC, who graciously encourage and protect time
for this kind of labor and thereby show their love for
all the Lord’s people and churches. Special thanks are
owed to Meg Bodden, who keeps my work life organized, remembers everything I forget, and protects
my calendar like a soldier. And special thanks to Bev
Chin-Sinn, a prayer warrior and friend, whose gentle
inquiry and suggestion helped me break through a
bout with writer’s block.
I wish to thank Jay Collier and the entire team
at Reformation Heritage Books. Jay was precisely
what a busy pastor hoping to write needs: constancy,
gentleness, clarity, and encouragement. I am thankful
for the Lord’s work through and among the people of
Reformation Heritage Books, and I pray their labors
bear much fruit that remains for His glory.
Humanly speaking, the greatest debt I owe is to
Lemuel Haynes himself. His life of faithful pastoral
ministry, spanning over fifty years, leaves us a rich
legacy from which to learn. His power as a preacher,
Acknowledgements
xvii
precision as a theologian, carefulness as a pastor, and
joviality as a brother all instruct us centuries later on
what faithfulness entails. His love for the Savior and
longing for eternity call us out of ourselves and upward
to the Bishop and Overseer of our souls. I have kept
Haynes’s original wording, but updated things such
as spelling, capitalization, and punctuation for ease of
reading. I have chosen selections that help us imbibe
something of his devotion to the Master. I pray this
compilation is life-giving to all who read.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
April 18, 2009
The Lord be with us in life, comfort us in death, and may
we meet in the heavenly world, and cel­ebrate the praises of
God among the blessed.
— Lemuel Haynes
His piety was uniform, deep, and consistent, and always
active. He was much in his closet;— watched, and prayed,
and fasted much; and, as one of God’s ministering angels
in flesh and blood, he seemed to maintain habitual communion with the Father of spirits. He forgot himself while the
glory of the Lord and the interest of Zion lay near his heart.
He was like one standing on the verge of two worlds, viewing
alternately the one and the other, and taking his measures in
due regard to both.
— Timothy Mather Cooley
Lemuel Haynes
The Life and Piety of
Lemuel Haynes
(1753 –1833)
o
The recently revived interest in Lemuel Haynes
(1753 –1833) comes not a moment too soon in the
history of the church. Long neglected in the dustbin
of history, Haynes ranks among the unsung heroes
of the Christian faith in the generation born after
the First Great Awakening (1740 –1742). Surviving
evidences of his pulpit ministry and public defenses
of the faith provide as eloquent and useful a study as
any written in his era. One described Haynes as “a
worker of unusual ability and a preacher of power.”
Haynes’s friend and biographer, Timothy Mather
Cooley (1772–1859), recollected that a full biography
of Haynes would “place before the community an
instance of unfeigned piety and sanctified genius.”
Early Years
Lemuel Haynes was born July 1, 1753, in West
. W. H. Morse, “Lemuel Haynes,” Journal of Negro History, 4
(1919): 31.
. Timothy Mather Cooley, Sketches of the Life and Character of the
Rev. Lemuel Haynes, A.M., for Many Years Pastor of a Church in Rutland,
VT., and Late in Granville, New York (New York: Harper and Brothers,
1837), 28.
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
Hartford, Connecticut. Haynes did not know his
parents when he was growing up. When Haynes was
five months old, his guardian indentured Haynes to
Deacon David Rose of Granville, Massachusetts.
His mother, a white woman, abandoned the baby
even earlier. Speculation regarding Haynes’s mother
swirled around him during his early life. Haynes once
visited a relative’s home where he is believed to have
seen his mother, only to have her turn away and flee
the encounter. No record exists of Haynes ever having a relationship with either of his parents.
Instead, Deacon David Rose and his family reared
and provided for young Lemuel until his early twenties. Haynes fondly remembered the Rose family:
When I was five months old I was carried to
Granville, Massachusetts, and bought out as a
servant to Deacon David Rose till I was twentyone. He was a man of singular piety. I was taught
the principles of religion. His wife, my mistress,
had peculiar attachment to me: she treated me as
though I was her own child. I remember it was a
saying among the neighbors, that she loved Lemuel more than her own children.
Settlement in Granville, Massachusetts, began in
1736. By 1774, Granville boasted a colonial residency
of seventy-five families. The number of residents
grew to 1,126 by 1776. The town’s economy focused
primarily on agriculture, with a handful of grist and
sawmills and taverns dotting the valley and hills of
the area. Deacon Rose, a farmer, involved Haynes
. Cooley, Sketches, 29.
. Cooley, Sketches, 30.
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
in the work routine of the family. Soon he entrusted
young Lemuel with a considerable portion of the
family’s business.
Residents organized the Granville Congregational
Church in 1747 and built the first meeting house in
the same year. In 1760, a group of Christians began a
Baptist work in the area. The Rose family attended
the Congregational church until some time around
1760, when Deacon Rose “united with a small
company of Christians styled separatists,” likely Hopkinsians or “Consistent Calvinists.” However, Mrs.
Rose “strenuously adhered to the [Congregational]
church, and no ordinary obstacle could detain her
from the house of God on the Lord’s day.” Lemuel accompanied Mrs. Rose to the Congregational
assembly. Cooley writes, “The God of the forlorn
sent him into this religious family, where the Sabbath
was sanctified, daily prayer offered, and the evening
preceding the Sabbath sacredly employed in the religious instruction of the household.”
Early education for Haynes came largely through a
small school in the area, family religious observances,
and opportunities greedily imbibed by the fireplace in
the evenings after the day’s routine. Hunger for learning revealed itself early in Haynes’s life. As a youth he
resolved, “I make it my rule to know something more
every night than I knew in the morning.” Books were
scarce, but Haynes dedicated himself to the study of
. Massachusetts Historical Commission, MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: GRANVILLE (1982), 4 –5. Available at http://www.
sec.state.ma.us/MHC/mhcpdf/townreports/CT-Valley/grn.pdf.
. Cooley, Sketches, 31, 39.
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
the Bible, the psalter, a spelling book, and Young’s
Night Thoughts.
Young Adulthood
At age twenty-one, Haynes’s indenture ended. The
American revolutionary sentiment was in full swing.
Haynes volunteered in 1774 as a minuteman, and
in October 1776 he joined the Continental Army in
the American Revolution. He served in the Continental Army until November 17, 1776, when he
contracted typhus and was relieved of duty. He
would become a lifelong defender of the republican
ideals of the time, on numerous occasions citing his
deep fondness for George Washington and allegiance
to the Federalist Party.
After his brief stint with the Continental Army,
Haynes returned to the home of Deacon Rose and
family, where he continued in the family’s religious
observances and routines. It was customary in preparation for the Sabbath for the family to have someone
read a sermon during the early evening. On one occasion, Haynes read a manuscript expositing John 3:3.
Following the reading, Deacon Rose asked whether
the sermon was Whitefield or Edwards. Haynes
sheepishly admitted that it was his own composition.
From that point, the family encouraged Haynes to
consider whether he would be of use in the gospel
ministry.
. Cooley, Sketches, 36 – 38.
. Helen MacLam, “Introduction: Black Puritan on the Northern
Frontier,” in Black Preacher to White America: The Collected Writings of
Lemuel Haynes, 1774 –1833, ed. Richard Newman (Brooklyn: Carlson,
1990), xx.
George Washington (1732–1799)
Commander of the Continental Army during
the American Revolutionary War and the first
President of the United States of America. Having served in the Army and holding Federalist
sympathies, Haynes held Washington in high
regard.
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
Helen MacLam notes: “Haynes was a determined, self-taught student who pored over Scripture
until he could repeat from memory most of the texts
dealing with the doctrines of grace.” The works of
Jonathan Edwards (1703 –1758), George Whitefield
(1714 –1770), and Philip Doddridge (1702 –1751)
most influenced him. Indeed, Haynes owed much to
the revival and evangelism efforts of Whitefield and
Edwards, who greatly impacted the New England
area and America during the Great Awakening of
the 1740s.
Haynes began his formal ministerial training
under the tutelage of clergymen Daniel Farrand
(1722–1803), an influential mid-eighteenth-century
revivalist in Canaan, Connecticut, and William Bradford, who also helped Haynes secure his first teaching
post in Wintonbury, Connecticut. Haynes’s studies
with Farrand and Bradford deepened his commitment to Calvinistic theology. Both Farrand and
Bradford adhered to the New Divinity school of theology advanced by Edwards. Haynes’s adoption of
these principles made him a clear theological descendant of Jonathan Edwards and colleague to Job
Swift (1743 –1804), Samuel Hopkins (1721–1803),
and Timothy Dwight (1752–1817).10
He was licensed to preach on November 29, 1780,
and five years later became the first African-American ordained by any religious body in America.
. MacLam, “Introduction: Black Puritan on the Northern Frontier,” xx.
10. John Saillant, Black Puritan, Black Republican: The Life and
Thought of Lemuel Haynes, 1753 –1833 (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2003), 84.
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
In 1804, Middlebury College awarded Haynes an
honorary master’s degree — another first for an
African-American. On September 22, 1783, Haynes
married Elizabeth Babbit (1763 –1836), whom he
first met while she was experiencing “deep reli-
gious anxiety” about her eternal standing before the
Lord. Haynes counseled the young white school
teacher through her spiritual difficulty. Once she
became a professing Christian, Haynes determined
to court and marry her, which he did. She bore him
ten children.11
Public Ministry
Haynes began his life of Christian service as a
founding member and supply pastor to the church
in Middle Granville in 1780. He served in Middle
Granville for five years, when he received ordination from the Association of Ministers in Litchfield
County, Connecticut. For a brief but fruitful period,
he served a church in Torrington, Connecticut. On
March 28, 1788, Haynes left the Torrington congregation and settled with an all-white congregation in
Rutland, Vermont, for the following thirty years. The
three decades in Rutland were largely peaceful, with
seasons of revival and drought.
He also emerged as a defender of Christian orthodoxy, opposing the encroachment of Arminianism,
universalism, and other errors. Timothy Mather
Cooley recounted the spiritual condition of New England during Haynes’s tenure:
11. McLam, “Introduction: Black Puritan on the Northern Frontier,” xxi.
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
It was a season of great moral darkness through
New England when Mr. Haynes commenced his
ministry. The Stoddardian principle of admitting
moral persons, without credible evidence of grace,
to the Lord’s Supper, and the half-way covenant by
which parents, though not admitted to the Lord’s
Supper, were encouraged to offer their children
in baptism, prevailed in many of the churches.
Great apathy was prevalent among professing
Christians, and the ruinous vices of profaneness,
Sabbath-breaking, and intemperance were affectingly prevalent among all classes. The spark of
evangelical piety seemed to be nearly extinct in
the churches. Revivals of religion were scarcely
known except in the recollections of a former age.
Some of the essential doctrines of grace were not
received even by many in the churches. Such was
the character of the age.12
Later, Cooley dubbed Vermont a “great moral
desert,” lamenting the extensive circulation of
Enlightenment writings and materialistic sentiment.13
Haynes himself would mourn the fact that Thomas
Paine (1737–1809), deist and opponent of Christian
orthodoxy, found a hearing among the people of
Vermont and that Arminianism was “not without its
votaries.” He concluded that “a clear understanding
of the doctrines of the gospel [was] very necessary for
ministers at [that] time.”14
Haynes rose to the challenge. What remains of his
pulpit orations indicates a consistent and eager press12. Cooley, Sketches, 67– 68.
13. Cooley, Sketches, 78.
14. Cooley, Sketches, 83, 84.
Thomas Paine
Revolutionary, inventor, and pamphleteer. While
Paine’s pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The
American Crisis series (1776 –1783) popularized
the cause of freedom, Haynes lamented the deistic attack on Christianity as seen in Paine’s The
Age of Reason (1793 –1794).
10
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
ing of the gospel on his hearers. He called men and
women to repent and believe the gospel and to prepare their souls for a fast-approaching eternity. One
of his most famous published works is Universal Salvation, a satirical response to the universalist preaching
of Hosea Ballou (1771–1852).15 Over seventy printings of the work circulated throughout America and
England.
Haynes’s public discourses were not limited
strictly to theological controversies. He also applied
himself to the pressing question of chattel slavery
and to the role of Christians and pastors in the political arena. For example, The Nature and Importance
of True Republicanism, delivered in Rutland on the
twenty-fifth anniversary of American independence,
both celebrated the principles of republican political
philosophy and pointed out the gross contradiction
of enslavement of African peoples with those principles.16 His address, Liberty Further Extended, interacted
with the pro-slavery arguments of the time and
offered a biblical and gospel-centered response.17 He
15. Ballou’s A Treatise on the Atonement became an influential work
among the second generation of universalist preachers. Ballou and
Haynes corresponded heatedly following Haynes’s sermon, Universal
Salvation. Ballou felt personally misrepresented by Haynes’s satire,
which likened the universalist idea and preacher to the lies of the
serpent in the garden of Eden.
16. Lemuel Haynes, The Nature and Importance of True Republicanism with a Few Suggestions Favorable to Independence. A Discourse
Delivered at Rutland, (Vermont), the Fourth of July, 1801— It Being the
25th Anniversary of American Independence (Rutland, VT: William Fay,
Printer, 1801).
17. Lemuel Haynes, Liberty Further Extended: Or Free thoughts on
the illegality of Slave-keeping; Wherein those arguments that Are used in its
Jupiter Hammon (1711–1806) was a contemporary of Haynes, and is considered the founding
father of African-American literature. Hammon
was known for his poetry, and his famous
“Address to the Negroes of New York” combines
Christian themes with ideas of emancipation.
12
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
spoke out also against the War of 181218 and argued
that ministers had a responsibility to speak out on
matters of mortal and eternal importance to their
people and their country.19
In March 1818, Haynes left the pastorate of the
Rutland congregation. Despite declining health, he
went on to serve as pastor in Manchester, Vermont,
from 1818 until 1822. The work in Manchester grew
under his leadership, but, feeling his intellectual abilities weakening, Haynes insisted that the prominent
and strategic church find a younger minister. From
1822 to 1833 Haynes shepherded a smaller church in
Granville, New York. There, he contracted a gangrenous infection in one of his feet. He left his duties in
May of that year, retiring to his home. On September 28, 1833, at the age of eighty, Lemuel Haynes
entered the eternity he so often thought about and
longed for.20
Personal Piety
The first major shaping influence on Lemuel Haynes’s
piety was death and eternity. Though the Rose home
provided a nurturing environment for Haynes, life in
eighteenth-century New England proved hard and
dangerous. Haynes’s life seemed regularly to present
him with death and near-death experiences. In many
vindication Are plainly confuted. Together with an humble Address to such as
are Concearned in the practice (1776).
18. Lemuel Haynes, Dissimulation Illustrated (1814).
19. Lemuel Haynes, The Influence of Civil Government on Religion
(1798).
20. McLam, “Introduction: Black Puritan on the Northern Frontier,” xxxv.
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
13
ways, the nearness of death lingered in his thinking
throughout life, pressing eternity always into view
and shaping his personal piety.
For example, as a young boy, Haynes found himself alone at home in a fierce thunderstorm. As the
house shook from rumbling thunder, Haynes recalled
a “fearful apprehension that the last great day was
come, and that the world would be burnt up.” Haynes
“was afraid of being struck dead and sent to hell.” He
came to realize “a solemn conviction that [he] was
unprepared, and that it would be a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God.”21
Shortly after, Haynes experienced another brush
with death when he nearly drowned while bathing in
a river. Venturing into the water beyond his depth,
Haynes repeatedly sank into the waters until a friend
dove in to save him. A little while later, he was nearly
gored to death by an irritated ox he had been driving
too hard. He suffered several wounds on his face and
head from the ox’s horns. The animal forced Haynes
to find shelter in a tree until passersby could divert its
attention. These incidents left their mark on Haynes
well into adulthood, when he would often recall them
in sermons and conversation.22
These scenes were followed by memory of an
unbelieving neighbor who mocked Deacon Rose and
scoffed at religion in young Haynes’s presence. The
neighbor’s ridicule began to influence the nine- or tenyear-old Haynes, until illness took the life of one or
more of the neighbor’s family. Shocked by the sudden
21. Cooley, Sketches, 32.
22. Cooley, Sketches, 32–34.
14
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
death(s), Haynes began to pray with Deacon Rose
about his doubts, and he came to see an inescapable
connection between religion and death. “If prayer
and religion are needful in sickness and in death, they
must be important in health and in life.”
Then, in 1775, the only mother Haynes had
truly known, Mrs. Rose, died. For Haynes it was an
“inexpressible sorrow,” causing “bitter mourning and
lamentation.”23
One experience contributed to Haynes’s conversion. He, like most people of the era, feared the world
was coming to an end at the appearance of the aurora
borealis, or northern lights. Haynes recalled that “for
many days and nights I was greatly alarmed, through
fear of appearing before the bar of God, knowing that
I was a sinner; I cannot express the terrors of mind
that I felt. One evening, being under an apple tree
mourning my wretched condition, I hope I found the
Savior.”24 Soon after, Haynes joined the church in
East Granville and was baptized.
All of these experiences led Haynes to think regularly about eternity and preparation for it. Added to
these meditations on eternity were over 400 funeral
sermons preached in his thirty years at Rutland and
another 120 in his eleven years at Granville. Life in
the Vermont wilderness was fleeting, and the question of eternal life was pressing. Had he wanted to,
Haynes could not have escaped the constantly looming figure of death. But he did not seem to want to
escape contemplation of eternity; he embraced it.
23. Cooley, Sketches, 40.
24. Cooley, Sketches, 41.
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
15
His personal piety centered on this theme and
framed his public words. His surviving ordination
sermons view pastoral ministry with eschatological
hope and seriousness. His personal correspondence
with friends speaks consistently of the things of eternity. Even his addresses on civic matters cast one eye
toward the bar of Christ and the coming judgment.
He seemed to live in view of eternity.
The second major influence on Haynes’s piety
was the writing and theology of Jonathan Edwards
and the New Light school of which he was a part.
Sometimes called “consistent Calvinism” or
“ultra-Calvinism,” the New Divinity followed
Jonathan Edwards’ theology in emphasizing the
absolute governance of God over all events, the
inability of sinners to save themselves, and the
ineluctable selfishness of all the thoughts and
deeds of the unregenerate, even their desire to be
saved. Theodicy was central to the New Divinity
ministers, who emphasized that God used sinners
and their evil deeds as instruments in a plan to
glorify himself and to gather the saints around
him in heaven.25
For Haynes, the presence, power, and providence of God infused all of life. He quipped, “He
who observes providence will have providences to
observe.” It was man’s duty to believe in this ruling
and good God with a friendly heart. One can detect
traces of Edwards as Haynes discusses the necessity
of religious affections in genuine faith. His preaching
insisted on such affections.
25. Saillant, Black Puritan, Black Republican, 84.
Jonathan Edwards (1703 –1758)
Colonial American preacher and philosophical theologian. Edwards was one of the most
influential theologians in America, and his experiential Calvinism is clearly reflected in the life
and ministry of Haynes.
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
17
He longed for eternity with joy. In the contemplation of death, although he was sober, he was not
despondent. Those who knew Haynes knew they
were likely to laugh in his company. When a friend
and fellow minister lost his manuscript sermons in a
house fire, Haynes quickly replied, “Don’t you think,
brother, they gave more light from the fire than they
ever gave from the pulpit?” At a general convention,
Haynes bumped into a fellow minister who was
working on a new book. He asked if the minister
was working on the book, to which the man replied,
“Trying to do a little something at it.” Haynes with a
twinkle replied, “Well, you have just as good a right
as those that know how.”26 Humor filled his life as he
longed for the age to come.
Family Piety
Having experienced and learned the blessing of
regular family worship in the Rose home, Haynes
regularly led his family in family worship as well. The
routine was simple, yet effective. Each of the children
read a portion of Scripture while their father followed
along in either a Greek New Testament or the Septuagint. Usually commentaries were also read, and
Haynes would quiz the children on the meaning and
application of what was read. Given Haynes’s love
for hymnody, singing usually occurred during family
worship as well. Prayer was fervent, and the entire
exercise was generally short.27
26. Cooley, Sketches, 125, 129.
27. Cooley, Sketches, 280–284.
18
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
The effect was lasting, however. His daughter,
Electa, remembered times of spontaneous prayer with
her father and praying with him at his death. And the
correspondence between Samuel and William, two of
Haynes’s sons, reveals the legacy left to them. “Has
not the Lord been gracious in that he has continued
our father so long? We have heard his admonitions
for many years — have been blessed with his society
and prayers. Our father was happy in death; his sun
set clear. He could say but little to us — admonished
us to walk in the ways of wisdom — live in love — implored the God of peace to be with us.” Commenting
after his father’s death, one son noted: “My father’s
counsels and prayers, I have reason to think, have
kept me from falling into many snares and temptations, with which my life has been beset. His advice
and warnings are as fresh in my memory as if they
were uttered yesterday. I have reason to bless God for
the gift of such a parent.”28
Conclusion
Lemuel Haynes preached his final sermon where he
started gospel ministry, in Granville, Massachusetts.
He chose 2 Corinthians 1:9 as his text: “But we had
the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.”
More appropriate words could not be selected for a
man who lived and labored as one who was familiar
with this sentence of death and who anticipated the
glories of life to come.
28. Cooley, Sketches, 310 – 311.
The Piety of Lemuel Haynes
19
Haynes penned the final words on his tombstone
by which he wished to be remembered:
Here lies the dust of a poor hell-deserving sinner,
who ventured into eternity trusting wholly on the
merits of Christ for salvation. In the full belief of
the great doctrines he preached while on earth, he
invites his children, and all who read this, to trust
their eternal interest on the same foundation.29
He preaches in death just as he did in life.
29. Cooley, Sketches, 312.
Haynes’s last home, located in
South Granville, New York
Andrew Fuller (1754 –1815)
English Baptist pastor who was greatly influenced by Jonathan Edwards. Haynes recognized
Fuller’s faithful labors and heartily recommended
his works to other ministers.
6
o
Meeting with God and Our People on the Day of Judgment
This solemn consideration is suggested in the text:
’Tis the design of preaching to make things ready for
the day of judgment. “To the one we are the savour
of death unto death; and to the other the savour of
life unto life” (2 Cor. 2:16). We are fitting men for the
Master’s use, preparing affairs for that decisive court.
This supposes that things must be laid open before
the great assembly at the day of judgment, or why is
it that there are so many things that relate thereto, and
are preparatives therefor.
The work of a gospel minister has a peculiar relation to futurity. An approaching judgment is that to
which every subject is pointing and which renders
every sentiment to be inculcated, vastly solemn and
interesting. Ministers are accountable creatures in
common with other men, and we have the unerring
testimony of scripture that “God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether
it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:14). If there
is none of our conduct too minute to be cognizable,
we may well conclude that such important affairs that
. From “The Character and Work of a Spiritual Watchman”
(1792), in Black Preacher to White America, 47– 49.
48
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
relate to the work and office of gospel ministers will
not pass unnoticed.
Arguments may be taken from the names given to
the ministers of Christ, that they must give account.
They are called soldiers, ambassadors, servants, stewards,
angels, etc. Which points out the relation they and
their work stand in to God: that they are sent of God
and are amenable to Him that sent them, as a servant
or steward is to give account to his lord and master
with respect to his faithfulness, in the trust reposed in
him. God tells Ezekiel that if watchmen are not faithful, and souls perish through their neglect, He would
require their blood at the hands of such careless
watchmen. It is evident that primitive ministers were
influenced to faithfulness from a view of the solemn
account they expected to give at the day of judgment.
This gave rise to those words [in] Acts 4:19: “But Peter
and John answered and said unto them, Whether it
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more
than unto God, judge ye.” If God’s omniscience is a
motive to faithfulness, it must be in this view: that He
will not let our conduct pass unnoticed but [will] call
us to an account.
It was approaching judgment that engrossed the
attention of St. Paul and made him exhort Timothy
to study to approve himself unto God. This made the
beloved disciple speak of having boldness in the day
of judgment (1 John 4:17).
The divine glory is an object only worthy of attention, and to display His holy character was the design
of God in creation, as there were no other beings
existing antecedent thereto to attract the mind of
Jehovah. We are sure that God is pursuing the same
Meeting with God and Our People
49
thing still, and always will. “He is in one mind, and
who can turn him?” (Job 23:13). There is no conceivable object that bears any proportion with the glory
of God; and for Him ever to aim at any thing else,
would be incompatible with His perfections. The day
of judgment is designed to be a comment on all other
days, at which time God’s government of the world
and their conduct towards Him will be publicly investigated, that the equity of divine administration may
appear conspicuous before the assembled universe. It
is called a day when the Son of man is revealed (Luke
17:30). The honor of God requires that matters be
publicly and particularly attended to, that evidences
are summoned at this open court. Hence the saints
are to judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2).
It will conduce to the mutual happiness of faithful
ministers and people to have [the] matter laid open
before the bar of God, as in the words following our
text, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief.
The apostle speaks of some ministers and people who
should have reciprocal joy in the day of the Lord
Jesus, which supposes that ministers and the people
of their charge are to meet another day as having
something special with each other. The connection
between ministers and people is such as renders them
capable of saying much for or against the people of
their charge, and of hearers’ making the same observations with respect to their teachers, and in this way
the mercy and justice of God will appear illustrious.
Since, therefore, the work of gospel ministers has
such a near relation to a judgment day, since they are
accountable creatures and their work so momentous,
since it is a sentiment that has had so powerful [an]
50
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
influence on all true ministers in all ages of the world,
also their connection is such as to render capable of
saying many things relating to the people of their
charge. Above all, since the displays of divine glory
are so highly concerned in this matter; we may without hesitation adopt the idea in the text: that ministers
have a solemn account to give to their great Lord and
Master how they discharge the trust reposed in them.
7
o
How Eternity Affects Daily Ministry
We are to inquire what influence such considerations
will have on the true ministers of Christ, or when they
may be said to preach and act as those who must give
account.
1. Those who properly expect to give account will be
very careful to examine themselves with respect to the
motives by which they are influenced to undertake in
this work. He will view himself acting in the presence
of a heart-searching God, who requires truth in the
inward part and will shortly call him to an account
for all the exercises of his heart. He will search every
corner of his soul [to see] whether the divine honor,
or something else, is the object of his pursuit. He has
been taught, by the rectitude of the divine law, that
God will not pass by transgressors but will judge the
secrets of men. The work will appear so great that
nature will recoil at the thought, like Jeremiah: “Ah,
Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.”
Or with the great apostle: “Who is sufficient for these
things?” The true disciple of Jesus will not thrust him. From “The Character and Work of a Spiritual Watchman”
(1792), in Black Preacher to White America, 49 – 51.
. Jeremiah 1:6.
. 2 Corinthians 2:16.
52
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
self forward into the ministry like a heedless usurper,
but with the greatest caution and self-diffidence.
2. A faithful watchman will manifest that he expects
to give account by being very careful to know his
duty, and [he] will take all proper ways which are
in his power to become acquainted with it. He will
study, as the apostle directs Timothy, to show himself
approved unto God. He will give attendance to reading, meditation, and prayer, [and] will often call in
divine aid on account of his own insufficiency. As a
faithful soldier will be careful to understand his duty,
so the spiritual watchman will adhere closely to the
word of God for his guide and directory.
3. A minister that watches for souls as one who
expects to give account will have none to please but
God. When he studies his sermons, this will not be
the enquiry: “How shall I form my discourse so as
to please and gratify the humors of men and get their
applause?” [Rather,] “How shall I preach so as to
do honor to God, and meet with the approbation of
my Judge?” will be his daily request at the throne of
grace. This will be ten thousand times better than the
vain flattery of men. His discourses will not be calculated to gratify the carnal heart, but he will not shun
to declare the whole counsel of God.
The solemn account that the faithful minister
expects to give [on] another day will direct him in
the choice of his subjects; he will dwell upon those
things which have a more direct relation to the eternal
. 2 Timothy 2:15
How Eternity Affects Daily Ministry
53
world. He will not entertain his audience with empty
speculations or vain philosophy, but with things that
concern their everlasting welfare. Jesus Christ, and
Him crucified, will be the great topic and darling
theme of his preaching. If he means to save souls,
like a skillful physician he will endeavor to lead his
patients into a view of their maladies and then point
them to a bleeding Savior as the only way of recovery. The faithful watchman will give the alarm at the
approach of the enemy, will blow the trumpet in the
ears of the sleeping sinner, and [will] endeavor to
awake him.
4. The pious preacher will endeavor to adapt his
discourses to the understanding of his hearers. “He
will not be ambitious of saying fine things to win
applause, but of saying useful things, to win souls.”
He will consider that he has the weak as well as
strong, children as well as adults, to speak to, and that
he must be accountable for the blood of their souls if
they perish through his neglect. This will influence
him to study plainness more than politeness. Also he
will labor to accommodate his sermons to the different states or circumstances of his hearers; he will have
comforting and encouraging lessons to set before the
children of God, while the terrors of the law are to
be proclaimed in the ears of the impenitent. He will
strive to preach distinguishing, that every hearer may
have his portion.
The awful scenes of approaching judgment will
have an influence on the Christian preacher with
respect to the manner in which he will deliver himself.
He will guard against that low and vulgar style that
54
“May We Meet in the Heavenly World”
tends to degrade religion, but his language will in
some measure correspond with those very solemn and
affecting things that do engage his heart and tongue.
He will not substitute a whining tone in the room of
a sermon which, to speak not worse of it, is a sort of
satire upon the gospel, tending greatly to depreciate
its solemnity and importance, and to bring it into contempt. But the judgment will appear so awful, and his
attention so captivated with it, that his accents will be
the result of a mind honestly and engagedly taken up
with a subject vastly important. “Such a preacher will
not come into the pulpit as an actor comes upon the
stage, to personate a feigned character, and forget his
real one; to utter sentiments, or represent passions not
his own” (Fordyce). It is not to display his talents; but
like one who feels the weight of eternal things, he will
not address his hearers as though judgment was a mere
empty sound; but viewing eternity just before him, and
a congregation on the frontiers of it whose eternal state
depends upon a few uncertain moments — Oh! With
what zeal and fervor will he speak! How will death,
judgment, and eternity appear as it were in every
feature, and every word! Out of the abundance of his
heart, his mouth will speak. His hearers will easily
perceive that the preacher is one who expects to give
account. He will study and preach with reference to a
judgment to come and deliver every sermon, in some
respects, as if it were his last, not knowing when his
. Though the exact quotation is not found there, this is perhaps
a reference to Theodorus: A Lesson on the Art of Preaching, published in
London in 1752 by David Fordyce, professor of philosophy at Marischal
College in Aberdeen, Scotland.
How Eternity Affects Daily Ministry
55
Lord will call him or his hearers to account. We are
not to suppose that his zeal will vent itself in the frightful bellowings of enthusiasm, but he will speak forth
the words of truth in soberness, with modesty and
Christian decency.
5. They who watch for souls as those who expect to
give account will endeavor to know as much as may
be the state of the souls committed to their charge,
that they may be in a better capacity to do them good.
They will point out those errors and dangers which
they may see approaching, and when they see souls
taken by the enemy, they will exert themselves to
deliver them from the snare of the devil. The outward
deportment of a faithful minister will correspond with
his preaching: he will reprove, rebuke, warning his
people from house to house. The weighty affairs of
another world will direct his daily walk and conversation, in all places, and on every occasion.