Letter from abolitionistJoshua Leavitt and Bacon toAbraham Lincoln, forwarding resolutions of General Association of New York, 1864
Bacon graduated fromYale University in 1856.[11] He became minister of the Congregational Church in Orange, New Jersey, in 1861,[12] and became a trustee of theAmerican Congregational Union in 1866.[13] In 1875, he was again nominated as trustee of the board of regents of the Congregational Union, but publicly stated that he declined to serve on the board withHenry C. Bowen;[3] Bacon's father, Rev.Leonard Woolsey Bacon, felt misrepresented enough by remarks made by Bowen that he wrote a letter to theChicago Tribune publicly disavowing any friendship with Bowen.[14] In the same year, George Bacon delivered the commencement address at theNew York Medical College and Hospital for Women.[15]
Bacon, whomThe Nation called a "lively" writer,[16] was a regular contributor toScribner’s Monthly, writing on religious[17] as well as social topics (such asChinese immigration to the United States[18]). He also wrote on theSabbath question, an important subject in late-nineteenth century America when a debate was waged between those who saw the day of rest as a legal obligation and those, including Bacon, who considered it a Christian privilege.[19] He died at age 40, on 15 September 1876, after a "lingering illness". In a eulogy,Scribner’s Monthly called him a "model literary clergyman": "His contributions to the body of the magazine were always marked by broad views, intense dislike of sham and cant, by high moral purpose, and by a style as simple and direct as it was elegant and attractive."[17]
The Sabbath Question: Sermons Preached to the Valley Church, Orange, N.J. New York: Charles Scribner. 1868.
The Sabbath Question: Sunday Observance and Sunday Laws. A Sermon and Two Speeches by Leonard W. Bacon. Six Sermons on the Sabbath Question by the late George B. Bacon. 1882.[20]
^National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States. Publishing Committee (1880).The Congregational year-book. Vol. 2. Congregational Pub. Society. p. 62. Retrieved2 March 2010.
^Clark, Joseph Sylvester; Dexter, Henry Martyn; Quint, Alonzo Hall; Langworthy, Isaac Pendleton; Cushing, Christopher; Burnham, Samuel (1866).The Congregational Quarterly. Vol. 8. p. 82. Retrieved1 March 2010.
^Clark, Joseph Sylvester; Dexter, Henry Martyn; Quint, Alonzo Hall; Langworthy, Isaac Pendleton; Cushing, Christopher; Burnham, Samuel (1866).The Congregational Quarterly. Vol. 8. p. 315. Retrieved1 March 2010.
