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Palmer. His vicious conduct was rience, which was approved. On reformed; he was fitted for confer- this occasion he writes in a copyring moral benefits upon his fellow-book: "I was very much agitated creatures, and extraordinary support | was given him in the prospect of death and eternity.

He was born in London, and had opportunities in the family where he was brought up of attending on the public ministry of the word. The preaching, however, on which he attended, was not adapted to awaken him to a sense of his guilt and danger, so that while his mind was filled with some speculative opinions, his heart was left under the do- | minion of sin, and by his conduct he said unto God," Depart from me, I desire not the knowledge of thy ways."

At the close of the summer of 1816, he was informed by a female servant in the family, that some Baptist ministers preached in the fields on the Lord's-day mornings, near Tavistock-square, and she requested him to attend. He accordingly did so the next Lord's-day, September 8; but so ungodly and profane was the state of his mind, that he afterwards said, when he first saw the minister, he cursed him from the enmity of heart he felt against religion. The sermon, from Heb. ii. 10, arrested his attention, and he left the field pricked to the heart; and on his coming home wept bitterly on account of his dangerous condition. After breakfast he heard the same minister, from Eph. vi. 18: "Praying always with all prayer," &c. This discourse so powerfully affected his heart with the sense of his guilty conduct, in having restrained prayer before God, and afforded him such directions how he should proceed in seeking to God for mercy, that it both humbled and relieved him. It was 66 as a nail fastened by the masters of assemblies." He never lost the recollection of this season, and from that time he became “ a new creature" by faith in Christ Jesus; "old things passed away, and all things became new."

In May, 1817, he made application to the church in Eagle-street, for fellowship; and on the 11th of that month, he related his expe

VOL. X.

and could not express my feelings, but the Lord delivered me, and was with me, according to my most earnest request. I hope I shall never be a hypocrite. The Lord knoweth my heart, and I do hope I know my own in part; but in part only, for it is deceitful above all things." On the 23d of May he was baptized. "I hope," says he, "it was into Christ. I think I strive hard in prayer for the guidance and influence of the Holy Ghost.” On the occasion of his first partaking of the ordinance of the Lord's-Supper, he says, "May that Saviour whom I have named before many, own and bless me at his coming; then the communion will be sweet.".

Being anxious to live usefully, he soon became a Sunday-school teacher in a school at Kensington Gravel-pits, and manifested much concern for the salvation of the children. He went at the beginning of the last summer into the country, carrying a number of religious tracts with him, which he distributed with great zeal. It appears from his Diary that he was very solicitous to be employed in shewing to others the way of salvation. He writes, March 1, 1818, "I endeavoured for the first time to speak unto the children at Kensington Gravel-pits, from 1 Sam. in. But, oh how little feeling did I manifest on this solemn occasion for their welfare as to eternity! In prayer, after the address, my heart was dead to secret .communion, though I did desire to speak more feelingly. I hope it will not be ac counted sin." On the 13th of March he thus writes: "I expect to speak this evening to Mr. F. about going to Ireland; but how incompetent do I feel for so great a work! God grant me his favour and presence, then all will be well. I do declare most solemnly that I desire neither the praise of men, nor their money: nor am I interested in any other way but for the good of the souls of men. If this be not the case, (and the Lord knoweth,) I hope I shall not have any thing to do with it; for his presence will not go with me, and

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then, (O God forbid!) miserable and wretched drone I shall be. That he may grant me power to do all things for his glory, I beseech him for Christ's sake, who is, I trust, the hope of glory in me."

his divine Lord; and this he certamly did. All men were the objects of his sympathy and compassion; but his acquaintances were the particular objects of his tender solicitude. He was naturally bold and intrepid, and hence he phemous with firmness, and advocated boldly withstood the attack of the blas

his Master's cause with boldness against his infidel shop-mates and companions. Like his divine Lord and Master, his mind seemed intent upon doing good; and to effect this he seized every opportunity that offered, and employed all the powers he possessed. In fine, his deportment was regular, his character irreproachable, his conversation consistent; and hence he gained, what he justly In all things he acted like the Christian; merited, the esteem of all who knew him. for his happiness consisted in making others happy.

All these purposes were, however, broken off by the sickness which terminated in his sudden death. In September last he was seized with the typhus fever. At the first part of his disorder he seems to have felt much mental darkness and distress. He lay several days, and scarcely said any thing; at length a few hours before his death, on the 12th of September, he said, "I should like to pray aloud." He was told that he was not able, and that it would be injurious to him. After taking some water, he raised himself upon his hands and knees, and prayed audibly, and with uncommon energy, for nearly twenty minutes. He blessed God for his conversion and preservation from sin, prayed earnestly for his friends and relations, and the prosperity of the church, and concluded by saying, " Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory," &c. &c. He then fell back into his former stupor, and soon after ex-mind, convinced and self-condemned. pired.

"Night dews fell not more gently to the ground, Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft." His character may be judged of from the following letter, written by one of his intimate friends:

Sept. 19, 1818.

MY DEAR PASTOR ;—At your request I'communicate all I am capable respecting Mr. G. Palmer. From my acquaintance with him, I have had opportunity of observing his character, and I think he was one of the most humble and contented Christians I ever knew. He seemed to aspire after nothing but what would advance the Divine glory: he ́seemed to be dissatisfied with nothing

but his own sinfulness.

As a Christian, his character adorned the profession he had made; and, duly impressed with a sense of obligation for the blessings he had received, he felt, that having obtained the forgiveness of manifold sins, he ought to manifest a Corresponding degree of attachment to

As a teacher, he was punctual in his attendance, and as punctual in the discharge of every duty which devolves upon persons sustaining such a character. His heart yearned over the ignorance of his youthful charge, while his sympathy and sense of duty prompted him to employ every means of rescuing them from sin and hell. Oft have I seen him conversing with the boys in his class, who seemed to be struck motionless with his

convincing arguments, and even by his engaging manner, till the trickling tear betrayed the emotions of an agitated

Such conduct procured the esteem of the children, many of whom, when his death was announced, gave proof that he was dear to them.

As a friend, he was faithful, affectionate, and sincere. He would faithfully reprove his erring friend. He would affectionately interest himself for the welfare of his acquaintance: and in all his actions his sincerity and honesty appeared. Thus he lived, influenced by Divine grace, a life worthy of the imita tion of surviving Christians and though now dead, he still lives in the memory of those who enjoyed his friendship here

on earth.

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A funeral sermon, addressed to young persons, was preached at Eagle-street, September 28, from Matthew xxv. 10.

How forcibly does this account speak to young Christians, " Work while it is called to-day; the night cometh wherein no man can work!"

IOTA

RECENT DEATHS.

MRS. BROWNE.

ON Tuesday, September 15, 1818, departed this life, (after five days of acute suffering, which she bore with exemplary patience,) Mrs. Elizabeth Browne, wife of the Rev. T. B. Browne, of Buntingford. She was the youngest surviving daughter of Mr. Thomas Cox, late of Winchester-street, London, who was forty years one of the deacons of the Baptist church assembling in Eagle

MRS. WHITFIELD. DIED, September 4, at Hamsterly, near Bishop Auckland, Mrs. Whitfield, aged 62 years. Her remains were interred in the Baptists' burying-ground, September 7, 1818. Mr. Sample, of Newcastle, preached on that occasion from 1 Peter i. 24, 25; and Mr. Williamson, of North Shields, delivered the oration at the grave. Her death is a great loss, not only to her surviving husband, but to the whole church and congregation, by whom she was much and deservedly esteemed. May such Among her numerous ministerial painful events urge upon us all the friends, she had the honour and hap-instruction contained in Matt. xxiv. piness of ranking, as one of her most intimate and affectionate, the late Rev. Samuel Pearce, whose praise is in all the churches.

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42-44: "Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh!"

Review.

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of
John Calvin. By John Mackenzie.
Burton & Briggs. 2d Edit. 12mo.
pp. 407.

THE long and dreary night of Popery was not without its constellations. The Paulicians, the Albigenses, the Waldenscs, the Wicklittites, and the Hussites, shone with no small splendour even in those dark ages. But of the thousands of persons who then suffered in defence of the truth, there are not many individuals of whose lives we have a particular account. We cannot be sufficiently thankful to Divine Providence for the wonderful invention of printing, which not only by the diffusion of knowledge was a great instrument of bringing about the Reformation, but has also handed down to us the lives and writings of the emirent men by whom it was effected.

Of these the person whose life is here presented to us is one of the most illustrious. He was born July 10, 1509, at Noyon, a large town in

the Isle of France, about 60 miles N. E. of Paris. He was first placed in the college of La Marche, at Paris, under the celebrated Mathurinus Corderius, who afterwards became a Protestant, and died in 1564, at Geneva, at the age of eighty-five years. He next studied logic and theology under Hispanus. He studied the civil law at Orleans under Petrus Stella, President of the Parliament of Paris, and at Bourges under Alciat. He read till midnight, and reviewed in the morning in bed what he had read the night before: his progress was equal to his diligence; for in the absence of the professors he frequently supplied their place. At Bourges he also learned Greek under Melchior Wolmar; and sometimes preached at a small town in that neighbourhood.

On the death of his father in 1532, he returned to Paris, where he made divinity his principal study, and began publicly to teach the doctrine of Oecolampadius, the celebrated Swiss Reformer, who had died at Basil the

preceding December, This exposed | By the command of Christ, and the him to persecution. He escaped by desire of his people. Viret equalled means of the sheets of his bed from this son of thunder in his eloquence, the window of his college, and went but it was more mild and gentle. to Nerae, where he saw Faber Sta- Many became his hearers, who were pulensis, whom Beza calls one of the no friends to the doctrine he taught. most noble persons on earth for learn-| His auditory in general were so ing, piety, and desire of reformation. | charmed with his eloquence, that He returned to Paris in 1534; but they wished he would preach longer. it being unsafe to continue there, he When he was at Lyons, a pópulous went with his brother Anthony to city, he used to preach in the open Basil, where he contracted a close air, in so powerful a manner, that friendship with two very learned and some thousands were apparently pious men, Simon Grynæus, (who converted. Many who were occadied of the plague in 1541,) and sionally passing by, have been so Wolfgang Capito; under the latter fixed by his preaching, that they of whom he learned the Hebrew could not leave the spot till he had language. It was here that he pub- finished his discourse. Calvin exlished his Christian Institutions, celled in grave and sententious diswith a dedication to Francis I. dated courses. Beza says, "I often thought August 1, 1536. This work has that the gifts of these three men, been translated into almost all the meeting in one, would make a comEuropean languages. plete pastor. Farel died at Neufchatel in 1565, aged 75; Viret in Navarre, under the protection of its pious queen, in 1571.

From Basil he went to Ferrara, to visit the Duchess of that city, who favoured the Reformation, and who retained for him a great esteem The Presbyterian church-governthrough life. From Ferrara he went ment was established at Geneva; by to France with his brother, to 'settle virtue of which establishment the his affairs, and intended to return church was put under the power of to Basil; but he was arrested at Ge- the state. In all religious establishneva, on his way thither, by William | ments, the state occupies the place Farel, (the disciple of Stapulensis,) of Christ, who is the only lawful and Peter Viret, both of whom be- Head of the church. Were the came his intimate friends. Farel state composed entirely of good said to him, "You have not any men, the practical evil would not other pretext to refuse me than be so great as it otherwise is; but your attachment to your studies; even then it would be great; for, but I warn you, in the name of Al- besides that it is a dethroning of nighty God, that if, preferring your | Christ, it is not right that good men own repose to the cause of Jesus of one denomination should in Christ, you do not share with me in church matters be under the power the holy work in which I am en- of good men of another denominagaged, he will not bless your de- tion, which they must be unless they signs.” The talents of Farel and become Dissenters. But where the Viret were different. Farel seemed state is composed either in whole or rather to thunder than to speak: in part of irreligious men, the evil he possessed such a wonderful gift cannot but be sensibly felt. Farel of prayer, that he not only appeared and Calvin endeavoured to persuade transported himself with the life of the government of Geneva to atheaven, but lifted up the hearts of tempt the correction of the public his audience thither. He was often morals; and they and the other misurrounded with drawn swords: nisters preached against the vices bells were rung to prevent his being of the times, and refused to admit heard, but in vain: they could profligate persons to the Lord'sneither interrupt nor terrify the Supper. But mark the consequence! preacher. When they haled him | Coraut, one of the ministers, was, on before the magistrates, and it was account of his faithfulness, first for inquired of him by whose command bidden to preach, and then imprihe presumed to preach, he answered, | soned; and Calvin, Farel, and Co.

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raut, were soon after commanded to leave the city in three days, which they did, and made room for other preachers who would be more complaisant to their superiors.

How rare a thing it is for great men to be good men! and where they are not, although it is the duty of Christians to be subject to wicked rulers in matters wherein religion is not concerned, yet if the church is yoked with them, it is unequally yoked with unbelievers. It may then be said, "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or

what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" In this case there is no other remedy than to retrace that ground which ought never to have been trodden, and to hearken to the Divine injunction, which applies to all such improper connexions, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. vi. 17.

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After three years' banishment Calvin was permitted to return to Geneva, and was reinstated in his ministerial office. This was in the year 1541. In 1553, Bertelier was excommunicated on account of his wicked life: but the senate absolved him, and commanded that the sacrament should be administered to him within two days. Calvin then raised his voice, lifted his hands, and said, that he would imitate St. Chrysostom; that he would not oppose force to force; but that he would rather suffer himself to be massacred, than that his hands should present the holy mysteries to those who had been judged unworthy of them.-Who does not see that both Calvin and Chrysostom were unequally yoked with men with whom they ought not to have been yoked?

We are now obliged, however reluctantly, to record the death of Servetus. We cannot but drop a tear over the conduct of so excellent a man as Calvin, in having any

thing to do with it. It is true that many of the Reformers approved of his conduct: but if it were in our power, we would wrap it up in im penetrable obscurity. We will, therefore, dismiss the subject with the following quotation, made by Mr. Mackenzie from Mr. Fuller's "Calvinistic and Socinian Systems examined and compared."

"It ought, however, to be acknow ledged, that persecution for religious principles was not at that time peculiar to any party of Christians, but common to all, whenever they were invested withi civil power. It was a detestable error but it was the error of the age. They looked upon heresy in the same light as inimical to the peace of civil society; we look upon those crimes which are and, accordingly, proceeded to punish heretics by the sword of the civil magistrate. If Socinians did not persecute their adversaries so much as Trinitarians, it was because they were not equally invested with the power of doing so." Mr. Lindsay acknowledges, that Faustus So cinus himself was not free from persecu tion in the case of Francis David, Super intendent of the Unitarian churches in Transylvania. David had disputed with Socinus on the invocation of Christ, and died in prison in consequence of his opinion, and some offence taken at his supposed indiscreet propagation of it from the pulpit. I wish I could say,' adds Mr. Lindsay, that Socinus, or his friend Blandrata, had done all in their power to prevent his commitment, or procure his release afterwards" The difference between Socinus and David was very slight. They both held Christ to be a mere man. The former, however, was for praying to him; which the latter, with much greater consistency, disap tion to which Socinus was accessary was proved. Considering this, the persecuas great as that of Calvin; and there is no reason to think, but that if David had differed as much from Socinus as Serve tus did from Calvin, and if the civil magistrates had been for burning him, Socinus would have concurred with them. To this it might be added, that the conduct of Socinus was marked with disingenuity, in that he considered the opinion of David in no very heinous point of light: but was afraid of in,. creasing the odium under which he and his party already lay, among other Christian churches. It was the opinion. that erroneous religious principles are punishable by the civil magistrate, that did, the mischief, whether at Geneva, in

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