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William Henry Furness (April 20, 1802 – January 30, 1896) was an American clergyman, theologian, Transcendentalist, abolitionist, and reformer.


Biography

Furness was born in Boston, where he attended the
Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
and developed a lifelong friendship with schoolmate
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a cham ...
. He graduated from the
Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...
in 1823. He preached in Watertown and Boston, Massachusetts and in Baltimore, Maryland in early 1823. At the age of 22 he became the minister of the
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia The First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia is a Unitarian Universalist congregation located at 2125 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a regional Community Center it sponsors cultural, educational, civic, wellness and spiritual ...
, which had operated without a minister for 29 years. He served there from 1825 until his retirement in 1875. The congregation grew substantially during his ministry, moving to a larger building in 1828 and an even larger building in 1886, which was designed by his son
Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...
. Furness was an ardent
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
whose attacks on the
Fugitive Slave Act A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also know ...
led to a discussion at a cabinet meeting of President
James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
about the possibility of indicting him for treason. He was a prominent speaker at the Martyr Day vigil in Philadelphia in 1859, which marked the execution of John Brown, who had attempted to spark a slave uprising in the South. After abolitionist Senator
Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
was severely beaten on the floor of the Senate by Congressman
Preston Brooks Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 – January 27, 1857) was an American politician and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina, serving from 1853 until his resignation in July 1856 and again from August 1856 until his ...
of South Carolina, he stayed at the Furness home during part of his convalescence. In 1840, he was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. Furness was a student of the life of
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...
, about whom he published several books. He asserted that the miracles attributed to Jesus in the Christian Bible were natural events with rational explanations. He rejected traditional beliefs about Jesus' miraculous birth, saying, "these stories may have been pure fictions ... rthey were exaggerations of certain simple and very natural incidents, magnified by wonder." He was a hymnwriter and published numerous popular hymns. Furness promoted outreach to the Jewish community in Philadelphia. His son Frank was the architect for the new building for Congregation Rodeph Shalom. He married Annis P. Jenks of Salem, Massachusetts in 1825. They had four children:
William Henry Furness, Jr. William Henry Furness Jr. (1827 – 1867) was an American portrait painter. He was born in Philadelphia to Annis P. Jenks and William Henry Furness. He began his career as a portrait painter in Philadelphia but soon moved to Boston, where he found ...
, a portrait painter; Horace Howard Furness, a Shakespeare scholar;
Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...
, one of Philadelphia's most prominent architects; and Annis Lee Furness Wister, an author and translator. He died on January 30, 1896 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.


Selected works

* ''Notes on the Four Gospels'' (1836) * ''Jesus and His Biographers'' (1838) *
Domestic Worship
', James Kay, Jun. & Brother, Philadelphia (1840) *
Schiller's Song of the Bell, a New Translation by W.H. Furness
' (1851) *
The History of Jesus
' (1853) * ''Thoughts on the Life and Character of Jesus of Nazareth'' (1859) * ''The Blessings of Abolition'' (1860) * ''The Veil Partly Lifted'' (1864) * ''The Voice in Speaking'', J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia (1875) * ''The Power of Spirit Manifest in Jesus of Nazareth'', J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia (1877) *
Jesus, the Heart of Christianity
(1882) *
The Story of the Resurrection of Christ Told Once More
(1885) * ''Verses, Translations and Hymns'' (1886) *
The Life of Seth Conkling
', Philadelphia (1892) File:Views in Philadelphia and its vicinity - engraved from original drawings (1827) (14765859372).jpg, 2nd building: First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia File:Undergroundrailr00lcstil 0712 Furness.jpg, Rev. William H. Furness, from
William Still William Still (October 7, 1821 – July 14, 1902) was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, businessman, writer, historian and civil rights activist. Before the Ameri ...
, ''The Underground Railroad'' (1872). File:First Unitarian Church in 1886.jpg, 3rd building: First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia (1885–86).


Citations


Sources


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Furness, William Henry 1802 births 1896 deaths 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American theologians Activists from Philadelphia American abolitionists American Christian hymnwriters American Unitarians Boston Latin School alumni Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Clergy from Boston Furness family Harvard Divinity School alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society