To the Young Gentlemen under the Patronage of the American Education Society… [opening lines].

Addressed to the male youth of American theological academies

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This printed letter addressed to the “Beloved Youth” enrolled in American theological academies in 1830 served as an injunction for “the favored sons of the Church” to mind the “millions of lost souls suspended upon you.”

The letter, from Elias Cornelius on behalf of the American Education Society, not only reminded the seminarians that their choice of path had required of them personal holiness; thorough preparation for the ministry; financial self-sufficiency; and cheerful service but also that it was too late to turn back. “The vision of Prophets, and the prayers of ages, are hastening to their accomplishment.”

This particular copy of the letter was mailed to Mr. Lucien Farnam, while he was at the Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. Farnam later joined the ministry in Princeton, Illinois, which became part of the Underground Railroad.

Elias Cornelius was an American Christian missionary, a native of Westchester County, New York. Elias Cornelius entered Yale at sixteen and is perhaps best remembered for writing the first published account of a white person to visit the Etowah Indian Mounds in Bartow County, Georgia, recognized as sacred by the Cherokee tribe. The Cherokee arrival in this part of Georgia well post-dates the chronological origins of these mounds.

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