(August 29, 1792–August 16, 1875), was an American revivalist, author and educator of the early 19th century. He was the president of Oberlin College, in Ohio, 1852. He believed that every human life was valuable and strongly supported giving freedom to the slaves. His college was a busy station on the Underground Railroad, which secretly brought slaves to freedom. Under Charles Finney’s direction as president, Oberlin College was the first university in America to award college degrees to women and to blacks. His college graduated Mary Jane Patterson, the first black woman ever to receive a bachelor’s degree in the United States. Charles Finney was the grandfather of artist Kenyon Cox (1856–1919), known for his murals on public buildings.
His Lectures on Revivals, 1835, had a powerful impact in England, profoundly affecting George Williams, who went on to found the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), 1844, and William and Catherine Booth, who founded The Salvation Army, 1865.
Charles G. Finney helped form the Benevolent Empire, a great network of volunteer societies organized to aid in solving social problems. Among them were the: American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1810; American Bible Society, 1816; American Sunday School Union, 1817; American Tract Society, 1826; American Home Mission Society, 1826; and American Temperance Society, 1826. By 1834, the budget of these organizations was almost as large as the federal budget of that time. Charles Finney said concerning the Kingdom of God:
Every member must work or quit. No honorary members.2076
Charles Finney declared:
The church must take right ground in regards to politics. … The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them. …
God cannot sustain this free and blessed country, which we love and pray for, unless the Church will take right ground. Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God. …
God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.2077
Hemans, Felicia Dorothea Browne (September 25, 1793–May 16, 1835), was an English poet. She was noted for her naturalness and simplicity. Sir Walter Scott wrote the epilogue for her play, The Vespers of Palermo. Felicia Hemans is best known to American readers for her work, The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, in which she penned:
What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith’s pure shrine!
Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where they first trod!
They have left unstained what there they found—
Freedom to worship God.2078