rs' happy, and, I
hope, not unprofitable ministration on my part that followed, and of
fidelity on the part of the people, were perhaps some humble fulfilment
and answer to the good petitions that it offered, and to all the
brotherly exhortations and supplications of that hour.

The congregation was small when I became its pastor, but it grew; a
considerable number of families from the Society of Friends connected
[59] themselves with it, and it soon rose, as it continues still, to be
one of the wealthiest and most liberal societies in the country.

My duties were very arduous. There was no clergyman with whom I could
exchange within thirty miles; [FN] relief from this quarter, therefore,
was rare, not more than four or five Sundays in the year. I was most of
the time in my own pulpit, sometimes for ten months in succession. In
addition to this, I became a constant contributor to the "Christian
Examiner," for some years, I think as often as to every other number. It
was not wise. The duties of the young clergyman are enough for him.
The lawyer, the physician, advances slowly to full practice; the whole
weight falls upon the clergyman's young strength at once. Mine sunk
under it. I brought on a certain nervous disorder of the brain, from
which I have never since been free. Of course it interfered seriously
with my mental work. How many days hundreds and hundreds did one hour's
study in the morning paralyze and prostrate me as completely as if I had
been knocked on the head, and lay me, for hours after, helpless on my
sofa! After the Sunday's preaching, the effect of which upon me was
perhaps singular, making my back and bones ache, and my sinews as if
they had been stretched on the rack, making me [60] feel as if I wanted
to lie on the floor or on a hard board, if any one knows what that
means, after all this, it would be sometimes the middle of the week,
sometimes Thursday or Friday, before I could begin to work again, and
prepare for the next Sunday. My professional life was a constant
struggle; and yet I look back upon it, not with pain, but with pleasure.

[FN: This distance, which now seems so trifling, then involved the hire
of a horse and chaise for three days, and two long days' driving through
deep, sandy roads. M. E. D.]

Besides all this, subjects of great religious interest to me constantly
pressed themselves upon my attention. I remember Dr. Lamson, of Dedham,
a very learned and able man, asking me one da