HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY SHELDON FUND JULY 10, 1940 DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit: DISTRICT CLERK'S OFFICE. Be it remembered, that on the seventh day of December, A. D. 1830, in the fifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, PEIRCE & PARKER, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "Memoir of Nathan W. Dickerman, who died at Boston, Mass. January 2, 1830. In the Eighth Year of his Age." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and pro prietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an Act entitled "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etch ing, historical and other prints." JNO. W. DAVIS, { Clerk of the District THE following Memoir was submitted in manuscript to the perusal of the Rev. Drs. Jenks and Wisner of Boston. Dr. Jenks returned it accompanied with the letter inserted below. Dr. Wisner has added his testimonial to the correctness of the representations. The parents of Nathan have also read the nar rative twice in the course of its preparation, and have given it their sanction. Rev. Dr. Jenks's letter is as follows: 'MY DEAR SIR, 'Boston, Sept. 21, 1830. 'I have perused with a deep interest, as you may well imagine, your Memorial of Nathan Dickerman. It has convinced me that I had judged well in urging the task upon you, instead of attempting, as I was repeatedly requested, to do it myself. Your assiduous attention, the frequency of your visits, your practice of reducing to writing the results of your repeated observation-while it was impracticable for me to hear and understand, on all occasions, the remarks made when I was present, and out of my power to spend with the child so much time as would, for such a purpose, be demanded-all these considerations strengthen my conviction. 'What I have read is now, so far as my knowledge extends, and recollection serves me, a plain, unvarnished statement of matters of fact. I have little to add to the detail-which, I am somewhat fearful, may be judged, by some, too minute; but it still seems expedient that I should add a little, in order to make a few things more clear. The dear boy was not originally a member of my flock, and was hence totally unknown to mne, till his sickness, and subsequent expression of religious hope, had rendered him an object of peculiar attention to two of the brethren of the Church under my care, Mr. H. and Mr. B. These Christian brethren were teachers in the Sabbath School. At their request I visited Nathan, about the time that his desire to be admitted to the Church appears in your Narrative. 'You may well suppose that the expression of such a desire, by one so young, would excite deliberation and inquiry. No example had oc curred in the city, of so early an admission to the privileges of the Church. And yet these privileges were pleaded for in terms so scriptural, and under circumstances so interesting, that it seemed inexpedient, and even cruel, to withhold them. "If I have received the Spirit, as Christians tell me they think I have," argued the dear child, as was reported to me, "then, 'Why should I not profess his name?"" Accordingly, measures were taken by us for his regular admission to the Church, and due enjoyment of its privileges. 'I visited him often, yet, probably, not so often as he desired. He ever received me with the most grateful affection and respect; and I think I never was with him without being requested to pray, if I had not myself first suggested it. In the very first conversation, upon being asked, What made you first think of Christ and of your soul?-his reply speaks a volume of encouragement to the benevolent instructers of the young in our Sabbath Schools: "My Yes, the teacher is happy, teacher, sir." who was God's instrument in feeding this lamb of the flock of Christ. During the period since I entered the pul pit, which is now about three and thirty years, I have never seen so bright and sweet an exhibition of early and efficient piety. His religion was not a display of mere affection, uttering itself in the fond expressions which have disgusted the judicious in some books of devotion, as savouring too much of mere earthly love and presuming familiarity; it was a strong attachment, as intellectual as it could well be in such a subject, reverential, holy, devout, and yet, in a very remarkable degree, if not thoroughly, practical. No sooner had he obtained a standing for himself on the tenable ground of a Christian hope, than he was desirous of drawing all around him toward the same safe position. His father, mother, sisters, relations, schoolfellows, playmates, and acquaintances, were all encircled in |