Spring of 1858
The Reverend Doctor Esau Channing was a man with no time for a lot of things. He had no time for rest; there was simply too much work to do. He had no time for waste or for wastrels; God had simply provided too much for fools to squander away. He had committed his life to the church, but he soon found that he had no time for his church. So he committed his life to the study of what is right and good for all. He was completely committed to God, but God’s price is time. Though he left his father and mother to cling to his wife as he had been instructed, he soon found that he had no time for his family.
He was rarely at home when his son Jacob was growing up. Even when he was home, he was always in his study consumed by his books. He had no time to play with his boy. He had no time for play or for the things of childhood period. His business was too important; Esau had to save the world. Too many men had become lazy, growing fat off the fruits of others’ labor so they could spend their time whiling away the idle hours sitting in the shade and sipping mint juleps. Slavery, alcohol, the tyranny that allowed men to profit from the labors of another, all of these evils had to be swept away to make the world ready for the coming of the Lord’s kingdom.
Raised only by his mother, the boy grew soft and Esau had no time for either of them. Jacob developed his fathers love for books, and he was soon to be found invading his fathers study in search of reading material. He was quickly 4 CHAPTER 1. THE FATHER
banished, as Esau had no time to waste instructing the youngster in the proper use of books. He developed his father’s love of the church, and went with his mother every Sunday while Esau stayed behind to prepare his next lecture. He developed his father’s love of freedom, and began attending Abolition Society meetings at a very young age.
Indeed, Jacob’s apple seemed to have fallen miles away from Esau’s tree. He had time for everything. He had time to feed every animal that wandered into the neighborhood until he had soon collected his own private menagerie. He had time to talk to every stranger he encountered on the street, so eager he was to hear all of the world’s stories. He had time for King Arthur, Robin Hood and every other silly little story for boys he came across. Many times he tried to talk to his father and hear his story, only to be shooed away. Esau simply had no time for the boy’s daydreaming.
But in the fullness of time Jacob grew into a man much like his father. His sense of right and wrong was absolute, and his moral compass always pointed the way north. He followed in his father’s footsteps, first into Harvard University and later into Harvard Divinity School. From the pulpit, Jacob developed a style not unlike his father’s, as his right was always right and his wrong was always wrong. But his manner of speaking was different in many other ways, for Jacob’s sermons were gentle, loving, and embracing. Although Esau would never say so, he was pleased to see his son come into his own. If he had wanted a machine, then he would have constructed one.
So after many years of hard and careful study, the day had finally come to pass that Jacob should take up his inheritance. Esau walked at a brisk pace through the crowded streets of Boston and through the doors of the Federalist Street Unitarian Church. Today was the day he would give to his son his blessing, and ordain him as a minister of the Unitarian Church like his father and grandfather before him. A rare smile just barely turned up the corners of the lips of the Reverend Doctor Esau Channing. For in his son he was well-pleased, although the good doctor would never find the courage to say as much to him.