LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1853
To Hamilton Hill
7 January 1853
[Ms in Oberlin College Archives 7/1/5.]
Syracuse 7. Jan 1853.
Hamilton Hill Esqr.
My Dear Brother.
This is to inform you
that I have recd. $100. from A. G. Phelps to apply on my
salary. I thank you Dear Br. for your attention to my
correspondence. & for the several notes I have recd. from you.
I have not replied because no reply was needed, & because
of my multiplied engagements. The work of the Lord ad
vances slowly but steadily & perceptibly. I found here
perhaps the most difficult field I ever labored in, owing
in a great measure, to the fact that Infidelity & Unitarianism
Universalism &c. have taken the lead in reforms & the foun
dations have fallen away in the convictions of the many
[page 2]
in regard to the fundamental truths of religion.
These great truths retain but a slight hold on the con
victions even of the mass of professed christians here.
Hence the necessity here, of laying the foundations
again deep in the convictions of the people. In
doing this a world of rubish is to be removed.
It is impossible for the people at Oberlin to appreciate
or even to conceive of such a state of things. You are
aware that this is the seat of skeptical, denunciatory reform
conventions. Here conservatism on the one hand & what is
called ultraism on the other have developed their na
tural results to a frightful extent. But the state of
things is changing, the work of God extending & the people
begin to have confidence in it. Wife is better & joins in much
love to you & yours. Your Brother in the Lord. C. G. Finney.
Footnote:
These notes are not among the Finney Papers.