The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-03-09
REV. TIMOTHY O. EATON.
ABILENE, KAN

REV. TIMOTHY O. EATON.
I'm the morning SOW thy seed. in the evening
withhold not thy hand" Eccl xi.6.
The above text has been impressed
on my mind with new force by the
dedication sermon of the Pullman
Memorial Church, which Tread with a
deep interest and greatly enjoyed
That church is certainly "thing of
beauty"-of moral beauty, in concep-
ton, building and dedication. It
crowns the son with peculiar honor
which nothing he can ever do will
surpass. From its first announce
ment it has had kind of charming
interest in my mind, though I did
not dream it had anything in it per-
sonal to me. But reading the dedi-
cation sermon revealed to me that it
had. And very likely other readers,
we'll stricken in years, were similarly
affected. Rev. TIMOTHY G. EATON,
the evangelist, who is said to have
been the instrument of the Divine
Spirit in awakening the religious life
of the elder Pullman, and so of MAX
ing the family what it was and is,
was personal and very dear friend
of mine, not far from the time of his
acquaintance with this family. All
that the sermon said of him was true.
He was an earnest, deyout, affection
ate, unselfish preacher of the Gospel,
who believed it with all his might
and preached it in its heavenly reali
ty. He was everybody's friend and
carried his friendship in his hand and
face and speech.
In the summer of 1848 he was the
pastor of our church in Marietta,
Ohio, and had been for some years.
That summer the State Convention
met with that church. I, as young
preacher without a pastorate, was
present. 1t was the first time | had
seen Mr.. Eaton. On the second day
of the Convention, he told me in
whisper that after the Convention he
was going back to Chautauqua coun-
ty, New York, to see his old friends
and get place to locate if he could,
and would be glad to put me in his
pulpit, to hold it for him if he came
back, or for myself, if he made set
Element in New York. In whisper,
in Convention time, we made the ar
rangement as he wished. He was
soon settled in his dear old Chautau-
qua county.
A few months after | invited him
back to join me in a movement to es-
tablish a Universalist academy in
Marietta. He came. The academy
was soon inaugurated under the name
of the Western Liberal Institute.
Then he settled near by at McCon-
nelsville.
In few years our paths separated
and he went west, and later on died
l believe, in California. / have often
wondered whether he knew that the
seed sown in the Marietta school re-
suited in few years in Lombard Uni
versity, and few years later in Buch-
tel College. Now comes the story in
the Pullman dedication sermon, of
the religious life of this family grow
ing out of his faithful work, and
many years after his death, this
beautiful Albion church rising to the
memory and honor of the elder Pull
mans, and yet to the memory and
honor of Timothy G. Eaton's fidelity
and success in his Christian work.
Little did he dream of such results.
How little do men foresee the out
come of their endeavorsl
In his lifetime Bro. Eaton realized
as much as his brethren the good re-
suits of his ministry. But now we
who live after him can hear him
preach in Baltimore, Lynn and Albion
and teach in the professorships of
Lombard and Buchtel, and see him
live in the lives ennobled by his apos-
tolic work.