Death of Another Pioneer in Reform.
By George I. Butler
My father closed his eyes in death, Thursday, Oct. 7, 1875, in the eightieth year of his age. The events of his life were in some respects remarkable, and hoping they may not be without a degree of interest to many of the readers of the REVIEW I will undertake to present a short sketch of them. Ezra P. Butler was born Aug. 25, 1796, in Waterbury, Vt. He was the son of Ezra Butler, who had served a term both as governor of Vermont and member of Congress, and had been associate judge upon the supreme bench of that State, besides filling many other offices of responsibility, and being an honored minister of the Baptist church. He was chosen captain of militia at the age of eighteen, in the war of 1812, and was on his way to join the army when the memorable battle of Plattsburgh took place. He was married Jan. 14, 1819. He was converted in February, 1826, and joined the Baptist church, and in a little over a year was elected deacon. The Congregationalist was the leading church in the village where he lived. He held a pew in this church and led the singing, and they desired him to join there. The Baptist church was three or four miles away and feeble. But his views on baptism would not permit him to join elsewhere. Here he commenced on the unpopular side. From this point all through his life he was identified with unpopular reforms. He was an ardent anti-mason in the great anti-masonic movement of 1827-8, and the first man in Waterbury who took his stand on that side. He firmly believed Morgan was put to death by Masons for revealing the secrets of Masonry, and was not slow in declaring his views in public. This movement was carried into politics, and in Vermont, governors and members of Congress were elected upon this issue. And so fierce was the contest that in the Congressional district where father lived, there were seven different votings, two months apart before they succeeded in electing a Congressman. The nominees of the whig and democratic parties not being opposed to Masonry, a third party candidate was put up, who was an anti-mason. The vote for him at the first election was very small, but increased at each succeeding election, till on the seventh he was chosen. Masonry was completely broken down in the State when the contest closed; and for a long time after, little was said about it in Vermont; but lately it has revived again. At the close of this contest the anti-slavery movement began to take shape. The Emancipator was placed in father's hands, and his mind became interested in the subject of the abolition of slavery. In 1832 or 1833 he was present at Middlebury, Vt., at the organization of the first anti-slavery society in that State. Only about twenty-five persons were present. Father was an ardent worker in the cause. He took Mr. Garrison's Liberator soon after it was first issued. To be an abolitionist made a man exceedingly unpopular, in the days when Garrison was mobbed and Lovejoy murdered. The first anti-slavery lecture ever given in Waterbury was by his invitation, when leading men of the place were much opposed to it. He was also an earnest laborer in the temperance cause in those early days, and in the work of moral reform. In 1839, father became interested in the Advent movement. Wm. Miller preached on that subject in Waterbury at that time, and from that point father never lost his interest in the soon coming of his Lord. It was the great and absorbing theme of his life ever afterward. Because of it, he lost his interest in politics, believing it was impossible to effect a purification of the political parties, and feeling that the only true hope for the world was in the coming of the Just One. He was a very zealous worker in the ’44 movement, and suffered a great disappointment when the Lord did not come in the autumn of that year. He commenced keeping the Sabbath of the Lord in the fall of 1850. He had two starch factories running in Stowe, Vt., at the time. But when he became satisfied that it was his duty to keep the Sabbath, both of these stopped two days in the week. The hands employed would not work Sunday, and he would not permit them to work on the Sabbath. This threatened a large loss, and caused much talk; but such considerations never hindered him from living up to his convictions of duty. He was ordained to the ministry by Bro. White in company with Brn. Hart and Evarts, not far from this time; but he never felt fully satisfied that he had the proper gift for this calling. He settled near Waukon, Iowa, in 1856, and remained there engaged in farming until within a few years, when he went to reside in Battle Creek, Mich., with his eldest daughter. He remained there till called away by death. He died in hope, full of days. He rests in peace. Though found on the unpopular side nearly all the years of his life, he ever had the confidence of the community where he lived as an honest man. Father was one of that old style of men whose authority was always respected in his family. His voice was raised in behalf of truth, virtue, honesty, and righteousness, on all occasions. These principles were respected among those over whom he had authority. Though erring, possibly, at times, on the side of sternness and in too little manifestation of tenderness, yet his heart was always ready to sympathize with distress, and to help to alleviate it when he was cognizant of it. In his last days he was like the ripening fruit; in his last hours, triumphant in God; and as his eyes closed in death, his countenance assumed the calm and placid expression of perfect repose. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” They rest from their labors. The battle is over with him. Those who are left are still struggling in the conflict. As a family, we all owe a debt of gratitude to our father. To such men the world owes a debt also, for an example of faithfulness to principle, of strict integrity, and of true moral courage. GEO. I. BUTLER. In his younger days many avenues to wealth and honor were open to him, hosts of friends would gladly have assisted in his advancement, his father stood in high positions of trust, but he followed his convictions of duty, though they led him through unpopularity and cut him off from his friends. In his closing years this was the greatest source of satisfaction of anything in his life record. He never regretted any sacrifice he had made to carry out his convictions of duty. Thus our friends pass away from us one after another. Soon the probation of all of us will close up forever. But, thank God, the morning of life will soon dawn, and the broken circles will be made whole. We expect then, if we remain faithful to God, to meet with parents and friends, radiant and glorious, when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. In connection with the foregoing sketch, the following extract from a letter to a near relative, left unfinished upon his table when he was stricken down by his last sickness, will be of interest to the many acquaintances and friends of father Butler:— You requested me to write you; the request was certainly a reasonable one, and it seems as though it ought not to impose an unreasonable burden upon one who can use his pen, if imperfectly. But I assure you that it has been a great source of reflection what I should write to a dear relative just on the verge of an unending state of happiness or of God’s eternal displeasure. Would that I had more wisdom, that I might give in this letter, which may contain the last words I shall ever say to you. Oh! that I might say something that might, more surely lead you to secure the pearl of great price. In this degenerate age, it is thought that Heaven is easily attained; that it costs but a little sacrifice to be a Christian; that Christ has died, that he has paid the debt, the just demands of the law of God; that if we acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God, join one of the churches of the land, attend meeting on Sunday, and help pay the minister’s tax, all is right. What a scene will be exhibited at the revelation of Jesus Christ! When he separates the just from the unjust, the righteous dead are raised; the living righteous changed, 1 Thess. 4:14-17, and the living wicked receive the just reward of their own doings—what a day will that be! No more mistakes as to which class they belong to—he that is holy will be holy still, he that is filthy will be filthy still—the saints saved, eternally saved, the wicked destroyed by the seven last plagues. It will then be a matter of infinite importance to which side we belong. When I think of the awful consequences of a mistake here, and look back on my past life, I am glad that I have conscientiously done the duties God has clearly made known to my understanding since I experienced religion. When first I set out to serve God, I had constantly been an attendant at the Congregational meeting, in a house which I had taken a great interest in building. But I left my pleasant associations there to be buried with Christ in baptism. I am glad to this day that I did it. I am glad I labored as hard as I did to strengthen and upbuild the Baptist church. I am glad I left it when I did, and embraced the advent doctrine. I have ever believed from that time to this that if I had rejected the light that so clearly shone upon my mind at that time, I should have been left to my own ways. I considered it was a case of life or death. I am glad I accepted the light. I am glad I did not give up the advent faith because the Lord did not come in ’44, when we expected him. I am glad that I was led to see the reasons why the Lord did not come in ’44. I am glad that in my first religious experience, I examined the claims of the first-day Sabbath, and found that if there was no day which had more claims for being considered the Sabbath than that day, God had left us without a Sabbath; which was my belief for a number of years. In this I have no satisfaction, because it is a more subtle error to get rid of than belief in the first-day Sabbath. I am glad I have seen that the wicked will receive the just reward of their doings, and perish, be burned up, utterly consumed, become ashes, and be as though they had not been. Language can never point out a destruction, if that used in the Bible does not. I am glad I believe in the unconscious state of the dead until the Lord comes and raises the righteous dead, and changes the righteous living from mortality to immortality, and that Abel will enter no sooner on his heavenly estate than the last saint that will be saved. The idea seems godlike to me of having all the saints enter upon their reward at the same time. One generation after another passes off the stage of action and remains perfectly unconscious of the passing of time, till the whole family of man is made up—the resurrection takes place, which brings into life the whole family of the saints. And I rejoice as much that I am permitted to see the wisdom of God manifested in appointing a Sabbath at the commencement of time, that he will defend and support at the close of time. In short, I rejoice that I live in a day when God is leading a people to search his word as for hid treasures, that he is causing the truths of his word to be searched out and published, and scattered in tracts and pamphlets in all parts of the country and to the world. I say that I am glad I live in this day, although Satan works as he has never worked before, in benumbing, stupefying, leading to all the fascinating things of the world, and to every corrupting, debasing, sinful thing practiced in the land. Could the eye of an all-seeing God have beheld more corruption in the days of Noah than he beholds now? And yet further, I believe that in no age of the world has God required more at the hands of his people than now. Nor is this unreasonable. He has in all ages of the world required an improvement on all the light given; and is there any good reason to be assigned why we should not be benefited by the experience of all past generations? There is very little we can present on a sheet of paper, but I have presented to you here a few scraps of my Christian experience, which are some things I do not look back upon with sorrow. I have presented them without giving one reason why I embraced them. Here are a few incidents covering over forty-nine years of my life. And while calling to mind the reasons which led me to embrace these views, and the many trials, reflections, hairbreadth escapes, in leaning to others, I cannot but rejoice that the Lord strengthened me to take hold of those truths I saw so clearly set forth in his word. I have not presented these things to boast of Christian attainments—I have far more reason to abhor myself that I have no better lived to the praise and glory of His name who suffered that I might have eternal life. Surely I ought to love and adore the riches of that grace that has borne so patiently with me.