Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Na­hum Al­ger and Ca­ther­ine S. Lodge.

He at­tend­ed Har­vard Di­vi­ni­ty School (1844–47).

In 1848, he was or­dained a Uni­ta­ri­an min­is­ter in Rox­bury, Mas­sa­chu­setts, serv­ing there un­til 1855.

He lat­er served at the Bul­finch Street Church, Bos­ton (1873); Church of the Mes­si­ah, New York Ci­ty (1873–77); and at church­es in Co­lo­ra­do, Il­li­nois, Maine, Lou­isi­ana, and Rhode Is­land.

He was a Free­ma­son and abo­li­tion­ist, and con­trib­ut­ed to the pub­li­ca­tions Old and New and the Chris­tian Ex­am­in­er.

He was cha­plain to the Mas­sa­chu­setts state House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives in the 1860s.

Among Al­ger’s quotes are Most men give ad­vice by the buck­et, but take it by the grain and Men oft­en make up in wrath what they want in rea­son.

Works

• History of the Cross of Christ, 1851
• The Po­et­ry of the East, 1856
• A Cri­tic­al His­to­ry of the Doc­trine of a Fu­ture Life, 1860
• The So­li­tudes of Na­ture and of Man, 1867
• The Friend­ships of Wo­men, 1868
• Prayers Of­fered in the Mas­sa­chu­setts House of Rep­re­sent­atives Dur­ing the Session of 1868 (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ro­berts Bro­thers, 1868)
• Life of Ed­win For­rest, the Am­er­ican Tra­ge­di­an, 1877
• The Des­ti­ny of the Soul, 1878
• The School of Life, 1881
• The Sourc­es of Con­so­la­tion in Hu­man Life