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FROTHINGHAM, OCTAVIUS BROOKS (1822-1895)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 252 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FROTHINGHAM, OCTAVIUS See also:BROOKS (1822-1895) , See also:American clergyman and author, was See also:born in See also:Boston on the 26th of See also:November 1822, son of Nathaniel See also:Langdon Frothingham (1793-187o), a prominent Unitarian preacher of Boston, and through his See also:mother's See also:family related to See also:Phillips Brooks. He graduated from Harvard See also:College in 1843 and from the Divinity School in 1846. He was pastor of the See also:North Unitarian See also:church of See also:Salem, See also:Massachusetts, in 1847-1855. From 1855 to 186o he was pastor of a new Unitarian society in See also:Jersey See also:City, where he gave up the See also:Lord's Supper, thinking that it ministered to self-See also:satisfaction; and it was as a See also:radical Unitarian that he became pastor of another See also:young church in New See also:York City in 186o. Indeed in 1864 he was recognized as See also:leader of the radicals after his reply to Dr Hedge's address to the graduating students of the Divinity School on See also:Anti-Supernaturalism in the See also:Pulpit. In 1865, when he had practically given up " See also:transcendentalism," his church See also:building was sold and his See also:congregation began to See also:worship in Lyric See also:Hall under the name of the See also:Independent Liberal Church; in 1875 they removed to the Masonic See also:Temple, but four years later See also:ill-See also:health compelled Frothingham's resignation, and the church dissolved. See also:Paralysis threatened him and he never fully recovered his health; in 1881 he returned to Boston, where he died on the 27th of November 1895. To this later See also:period of his See also:life belongs his best See also:literary See also:work. While he was in New York he was for a See also:time See also:art critic of the See also:Tribune. Always himself on the unpopular See also:side and an able but thoroughly See also:fair critic of the See also:majority, he habitually under-estimated his own See also:worth; he was not only an anti-See also:slavery leader when abolition was not popular even in New See also:England, and a radical and rationalist when it was impossible for him to stay conveniently in the Unitarian Church, but he 252 was the first See also:president of the See also:National See also:Free Religious Association (1867) and an See also:early and ardent See also:disciple of See also:Darwin and See also:Spencer. To his radical views he was always faithful. It is a See also:mistake to say that he See also:grew more conservative in later years; but his See also:judgment grew r.ore generous and See also:catholic.

He was a greater orator than See also:

man of letters, and his sermons in New York were delivered to large audiences, averaging one thousand at the Masonic Temple, and were printed each See also:week; in eloquence and in the See also:charm of his spoken word he was probably surpassed in his See also:day by none See also:save See also:George See also:William See also:Curtis. Personally he seemed See also:cold and distant, partly because of his impressive See also:appearance, and partly because of his own modesty, which made him backward in seeking friendships. His See also:principal published See also:works are: Stories from the Life of the Teacher (1863), A See also:Child's See also:Book of See also:Religion (1866), and other works of religious teaching for See also:children; several volumes of sermons; Beliefs of Unbelievers (1876), The See also:Cradle of the See also:Christ: a Study in See also:Primitive See also:Christianity (1877), The Spirit of New Faith (1877), The Rising and the Setting Faith (1878), and other expositions of the " new faith " he preached; Life of See also:Theodore See also:Parker (1874), Transcendentalism in New England (1876), which is largely See also:biographical, Gerrit See also:Smith, a See also:Biography (1878), George See also:Ripley (1882), in the "American Men of Letters " See also:series, Memoir of William See also:Henry See also:Channing (1886), Boston See also:Unitarianism, 1820–1850 (1890), really a biography of his See also:father; and Recollections and Impressions, 1822—1890 (1891).

End of Article: FROTHINGHAM, OCTAVIUS BROOKS (1822-1895)

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