442 BARNAS SEARS, D.D. 



BAENAS SEARS, D.D. 



In Saratoga, N. Y., July 6, 1 880, Barnas Sears * closed a long life 



of pul)lic usefulness. For more than fifty years he had done distin- 

 guished service in various departments of education, and had won an 

 honorable name in literature and in the pulpit. Like many eminent 

 leaders in political and professional life, he was born in the country 

 (Sandisfield, Mass., Nov. 19, 1802) and was bred upon a farm, and 

 his fine physique and well-poised character owed much to the bracing 

 air and grand scenery of the Berkshire Hills. 



The work of the farm was agreeable, and stirred an honest pride in 

 outdoing his older brothers ; but he early felt that he was called to a 

 broader life, and must follow public rather than private aims. At 

 fifteen years of age he bought his freedom from his father, and set up 

 for himself ; with characteristic energy, employing a man and a team to 

 assist him in building stone walls. In the winter he taught in district 

 schools, and industry with thrift soon gathered the resources needed 

 for his liberal education. lie graduated with honor at Brown Uni- 

 versity in 1825, but deliberately sacrificed the first place in his class 

 to the pursuit of studies not included in the curriculum. 



After leaving college he entered Newton Theological Institution, 

 and was one of the three members of its first graduating class in 1827. 

 He was called immediately to the pastorate of the First Baptist 

 Church, Hartford, and in a brief term of service gave promise of 

 winning a foremost place among American preachers. But discerning 

 friends recognized in him rare gifts for teaching, and as his own tastes 

 inclined more to study than to pastoral work, he accepted, in 1829, the 

 Chair of Ancient Languages in the Literary and Theological Institu- 

 tion at Hamilton, N. Y. He entered on his work with enthusiasm, 

 but soon felt the need of broader culture and better helps than could 

 be furnished by American scholarship, and was one of the first 

 students from the United Stites to seek the advantages of German 

 universities. He spent two years at Berlin and Leipsic and Halle, 

 and was grateful to the end of life for the inspiration received from 

 German teachers, and especially from Tholuck and Neander. He re- 

 turned to Hamilton in 1835, but after a few months removed to Newton 

 to fill the Chair of Christian Theology to which he had been elected. 

 For twelve years he was connected with this institution, during the 



* Notice omitted iu Volume XVI. 



