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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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record of a man who has moved not a little in public life , is in some sense due to those who , have seen and known him there ; and if any part of it may be useful to the living while honourable to the dead , this is a sufficient reason for not withholding it . And ^ ilJs _ p _ e _ c _ ulLarly grateful to every
feeling of domestic and of friendly regard , to recall to distinct remem ^ branee in the present instance , that course of intelligent activity and extensive usefulness , which , though suspended during a brief period of infirmity preceding death , should naturally recur as the most substantial , the most pleasing and the most permanent memorial of his life .
The writer of this feels the delicacy of his task in characterizing a father's life . He will nbT speak one word of eulogy ; that would be filial partiality in the view of strangers , it would be unnecessary to those who could iudse
whether the eulogy" were just . If he finds a portraiture -of Gharacter ^ it shall be one drawn by mature friend * ship , - not by young affection . He will only present a brief summary of dates and facts : in these there can be
no colouring , but in these , if he mistakes not , are involved the substantial evidences of the characteristic powers and qualities of , the honoured dead . The circumstances of Mr . Higginson ' s parentage , education , preparation for the ministry , and very earl y settlement in 4 tT ; the mention of his engagements as a teacher added to those of his ministry , and of the demands
made upon his time and talents for public usefulness besides , during nearly thirty of the best years of life , form altogether a personal history of the subject of this memoir , which demons " ^ ~ ittsCe ^^ f ^ elGrlil ) ing ~ "th e distinguishing energy of his mind and character . It had to struggle with difficulties of no trivial order , and
enabled him to rise to a degree of usefulness not to be lightly estimated . I feel a pride on his behalf , in recording my father ' s humble origin . His father was a fUstian cutter in
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Salford , Manchester . 1 have heard him say he has made many a piece of cloth in his school days , and even during his College life , to help out the small resources of the family . He was born March 20 , 1781 ; and
a brother , nearly two years younger , was the only other child . He entered the College in Mosley-street , Manchester , then under the discipline of Dr . Barnes , Oct . 1 , 1795 , being at that time only fourteen years and a half old . His father died in January , 1800 ; and this event , joined to the circumstance of somewhat numerous
applications being made to the College for young ministers , appears to have brought him forward as a temporary supply at Stockport , and subsequently to have induced him to settle there as minister , at an age which he looked upon afterwards as far earlie ^ than was desirable . In the summer
of 1800 he supplied the vacant pulpit at Stockport , being then nineteen years jold ; , and 1 have before , me a communication from the congregation there , dated August 10 th , inviting him to settle with them as soon as he should think it prudent to conclude his
College studies , and meanwhile to supply for them or obtain the help of fellow students . He did so , and at Midsummer , 1801 , became their stated minister . He was at this time only twenty . None could , I believe , be more sensible than . himself of the undesirahleness of
this very , early commencement of a minister ' s duties . None could regret more than he , that the opportunities of advancement in literary , philosophical arid theological studies , had been so much embarrassed during his College course , and so soon distracted by the duties of public life , But those who
knew what his attainments real ly were , may be surprised to learn under what eircumstances they had been made ; and will conclude that some credit is due not only on the score of ! talent , but of industry , to the boy of fourteen , to the young orphaned student , writing and preaching sermons almost weekly , for above a year of his Col-
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IJ ^ iqFAHlAN CHBONICLE . 139
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1832, page 139, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1817/page/11/
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