HKB
SKETCHES OF MINISTERS--continued.
"Go forth, all hands! God's fallow lands Need ploughmen, seedmen, reapers! Plough deep and long; uproot old Wrong; Turn Sin, turn Slaveries under; Sow Wisdom, Lowliness, Freedom, Holiness, And reap in joy and wonder!"
REV. D. K. LEE, D. D.
Rev. Thomas F. King was a minister of rare qualities. He came up from the humble walks of life, and by hard study and the improvement of every opportunity for mental culture, became a scholar of excellent acquirements. He was an enthusiastic believer in the Gospel, and one of its most eloquent preachers and defenders. He was especially acquainted with the evidences of natural and revealed religion, and well prepared to present them for the consideration of sceptical minds. His voice was rich, deep, and musical, and as a reader he could hardly be excelled. This, aside from their intrinsic merits, made his discourses strongly impressive. An instance is cited of a disaffected hearer who had concluded not to attend his meetings any more, finding himself at the door of the church one morning, after the service had opened, in expectation of hearing a stranger preach. Mr. King was there, reading the Scriptures,--the invitation in Isaiah's prophecies, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," &c. The hearer stood still, listened, attempted to leave, and was held fast. Again he started, but the words reached him, "Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live!" Further resistance was useless. His place in the sanctuary was taken again, and held afterwards while he lived. Mr. King had a large, warm, sympathetic heart, and made the joys and sorrows of his people his own. He was the life of the social circle, and his fund of anecdote and good humor usually insured him a warm reception everywhere. He had an unusually rich bass voice in singing. His pulpit services were pervaded with a profound reverential spirit. He was pastor in Hudson, N. Y., Portsmouth, N. H., and Charlestown, Mass., in which last-named place he departed this life, Sept. 13, 1839. His death was a Christian's triumph.
Of his eminent son, THOMAS STARR KING, what can we say that most readers do not already know? and yet the man and his life will always bear noting and will never fail to be admired. He was born in the city of New York, Dec. 17, 1824. He early manifested singular aptitude for study and deep conscientiousness. His education was desultory, but with his quickness of apprehension he acquired Latin and French at an early age. At fifteen, on the death of his father, he became the head of the family, and worked for their support as a clerk and school-teacher. In the mean time he was an untiring student of metaphysics and theology. One of his historians, Mr. E. P. Whipple, writes of him:--
"He mastered the results of the great German and French critics of the Bible. To many of our present young students exegesis practically means exit Jesus; but King, in all his eager quest of truth, and dutiful acknowledgment of the service which the great German theologians had rendered to the rational interpretation of the Scriptures, never lost his original hold on Christ Jesus as the express image of God,--as the Son who reveals to us the Father,--as the ideal embodiment of a perfected Humanity. Such a person had a natural call to the ministry."