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exertion. Diphtheria came finally, and he passed into the higher life, March 4, 1865. His words at the last were: "I feel all the privileges and greatness of the future."
One of our ablest theologians and most devoted ministers was Rev. ABEL CHARLES THOMAS, born in Exeter, Berks Co., Pa., July 11, 1807. He was of Quaker lineage, his grandfather Abel having been a distinguished preacher of the Society of Friends during fifty-six years. It was of Rev. A. B. Grosh, then of Marietta, Pa., that he received his first knowledge of Universalism. In 1827 he went to Philadelphia as a printer, and was there encouraged by resident ministers, Rev. S. R. Smith, and Rev. T. Fisk, to enter the ministry. He preached his first sermon in the Lombard St. Church in November, 1828. In the following January he became publisher and co-editor with Mr. Fisk of the "Gospel Herald and Universalist Review" in New York city, writing editorials, putting them in type, conducting the correspondence, and as he says, "writing his sermons on a pine board by night," for he had begun his ministerial labors April 5, 1829, preaching in a small frame meeting-house on Grand St. In less than a year from the delivery of his first sermon, he responded to a cordial invitation to become pastor of the Lombard St. Church, Philadelphia, which connection continued with mutual interest of pastor and people for ten years. In 1834 and 1835 a discussion took place between Mr. Thomas and Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, D. D., which was afterwards issued in book form, and has probably been more widely circulated and had a more permanent interest and usefulness than any other theological discussion in our country. It gave to Mr. Thomas a fame which will always be connected with his memory. Visiting New England after the discussion had closed, he received a most cordial and enthusiastic welcome, and preached in many places to large and deeply interested congregations.
Mr. Thomas removed to Lowell in the autumn of 1839, and took charge of the Second Church. Here he and his co-laborer, Rev. T. B. Thayer, started the "Star of Bethlehem," a vigorous weekly publication in support of the Universalist faith. While living here, he established the "Lowell Offering," a new movement for that time, and which elicited much interest in this country and in England. After three years' active and efficient work in Lowell, and after a few months' travel for his health, he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he organized a society and was one of eight men who built the first Universalist church in that city. From Brooklyn he went to Cincinnati, O., in 1844; but declining health and overwork obliged him to resign his charge in 1847. After a year's rest he returned to his old parish in Philadelphia. Twelve years later he was induced to go out as a missionary of Universalism to England and Scotland; the required funds were promptly raised, and accompanied by his family, in May, 1852, he sailed for England. His time was spent chiefly in London and Edinburgh, though he preached in all the principal cities of the United Kingdom, and made careful investigation of the religious aspect of affairs there. At the close of a year's labor he was joined in London by his co-worker in Lowell, Rev. T. B. Thayer, and wife, and for six months they travelled together on the Continent. He then returned to Philadelphia, and resumed his labor there.