THE just delineation of moral and religious character is an essential part of Christian Bio graphy. And to excite the reader to emulate the virtues of those who have been remarked for their exemplary conduct, should ever be a leading object with him that at tempts to sketch their lives. It seems, therefore, that those only whose piety has rendered them worthy of imitation, should be considered as falling within the peculiar province of the religious historian. It is conceived but right that the memorials of gospel ministers should be allowed a preeminent claim on your pages. But may not a less elevated individual, accustomed to tread the humbler walks of human life, be drawn with propriety from beneath the shade, and introduced as a pattern to many, who may never be called to occupy the important and conspicuous station of a pastor?

Mr. John Ridley was born July 20, 1759, at Wylam, a small village on the margin of the Tyne; whence he was removed at an early period of his life to Hexham, where he spent the remnant of his days. The education he received from his parents was very slender, but afterwards considerably improved

VOL. I.

by a course of habitual industry, for which he was particularly distinguished. Nor were his religious privileges, in the commencement of his earthly career, either numerous, or of so superior an order as those now generally enjoyed. In his early years, the pure light of the gospel was very partially diffused over the northern counties of England; and Northumberland might truly be ranked amongst "the dark places of the earth." It was, as appears from his own diary, in the twenty-first year of his age, under the preaching of some connected with the Methodists, who had now extended their circuit to these parts, that Mr. R. received those impressions which laid a foundation for solid and permanent piety. From this respectable society of professing Christians, however, some time after, the subject of the present Memoir withdrew from conscientious motives; finding it more profitable to worship with those whose religious sentiments he deemed more evangelical. But, as was both just and natural, he continued to cherish through life a tender regard for that people amongst whom he had received the first dawnings of spiritual light. And, indeed, his liberality of sentiment, and his cha2 F

ritable disposition were evinced towards all who differed from him on minor points in divinity, provided they held what he viewed as the grand essentials of our holy religion, whatever the name by which they were distinguished, or the denomination to which they belonged. When he met those with whom he could agree to differ, he felt no difficulty in presenting them with the hand of Christian affection; when "sick and in prison," he hesitated not to visit them; and, mingling with theirs his kindred feelings, he wept over them with tenderness, he prayed for them with fervency, counselled them with simplicity, and spoke of them to others with concern and sympathy.

Mr. R. was not permitted, at any period of his life, to commit any acts of flagrant immorality. From the time that he felt the power of the gospel in his soul, and was convinced of the odiousness of sin, he uniformly and strenuously endeavoured to maintain a conscience void of offence, and a walk and conversation becoming the Christian character. In this he was scrupulous to such a degree, as led some of his acquaintance, who were by no means ill-disposed, to attach to him the appellation of Tender Conscience. Having experienced the benign and beneficial influences of religion in his own heart, he was solicitous to invite others to partake of the same blessings. With this single object in view, he commenced preaching, or exhorting, in such villages around the place of his abode, as were not favoured with the regular ministry of the word of life. This practice may be thought by some exceptionable, and especially in persons not qualified by education for the office. But in this instance it was probably a duty, and Mr. R. felt it such, to attempt to rouse those whom he had the op

portunity of addressing from the awful slumbers of ignorance, depravity and indifference, to a concern for their spiritual welfare. In the prosecution of his hortatory plan (as might be expected in those degenerate times,) Mr. R. had to "suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ." But he had the satisfaction of witnessing some good effects resulting from his humble endeavours amongst those, to whose capacities his great plainness of speech was peculiarly adapted, and upon whom eloquence would have been thrown away.

But we are now to consider Mr. R. moving in a sphere to which he was, perhaps, upon the whole better adapted; we mean that of a tradesman and a private Christian. At the age of twenty-five he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Mr. John Enington, a considerable glove manufacturer; which business having previously learned, he soon began to conduct on his own account. Had success in business been the necessary consequence of industry and care, the deceased would have had every thing for which he could have reasonably hoped. But he was called to encounter difficulties and sustain losses which no human foresight could prevent. And after exerting himself to the utmost to maintain a long and hard struggle, and to keep his ground, he had at last the mortification to find himself in a state of insolvency. This, to a man of real integrity, like him, could not fail to be a source of much uneasiness. And what rendered his situation more gloomy and distressing, he was at this very time the subject of bodily disease, which threatened a serious termination, and hence excited the apprehension, that he would never be able with his own hands to extricate himself from the difficulties in which he was now in

volved. But while these trying circumstances caused him to see more clearly that every thing of a worldly nature bore the impression of vanity; while they made him more sensible of the precarious duration of all earthly enjoyments, which he was scarcely permitted to touch and to taste before they eluded his grasp, and receded from his view; and while they deepened his conviction of his own impotency, they afforded an opportunity of evincing those graces which might have been less cultivated, and less obvious, amid the false glare of temporal prosperity. His faith and patience were indeed put to the test. But in the exercise of them he was enabled to cast his young and helpless family upon God. And, removed from his wife and children to a neighbouring town for surgical aid, he calmly waited the event of his sufferings. Contrary to the expectations of his friends, he was restored to such a degree of health as enabled him to superintend his secular concerns. He requested his creditors only to allow him time to recover by industry, what had been on his part unavoidably lost. None who knew his tried integrity hesitated to comply. Friends, who had ability and inclination, came forward to offer him their generous assistance. Providence furnished means, and blessed the use of them. His affairs assumed a brighter aspect. Business extended and prospered in his hand. And, ere long, he had the high gratification of fully satisfying the demands of his creditors, by paying them twenty shillings in the pound; and they, with others, cordially acknowledged that his upright conduct had irresistible claims on their admiration. The author presumes not to offer any comment on the manly and Christian part Mr. R. acted in the season of adversity. Nor is it judged

necessary. He leaves the simple honest statement of the unadorned fact to speak for itself, and plead its own cause. But often in the subsequent part of his life did the deceased look back on this part of his history with grateful emotions.

In the glove manufacture, which Mr. R. from this time carried on to a great extent, there are a number of poor females employed. This led him to an intimate acquaintance with the circumstances of a numerous class of the labouring poor, in whose welfare he manifested himself particularly interested; and to whose service a considerable portion of his time was cheerfully and assiduously devoted. From an early period of life he had been a subject of affliction. During the latter part of his probationary existence he was oppressed with a complication of diseases, which left him but few intervals of ease. This excited, refined, and elevated his feelings of sympathy for his suffering fellowmortals to such a degree, as perhaps few attain, who are almost strangers in experience to bodily indisposition. Those branches of practical godliness which are represented as forming a delightful part of "pure and undefiled religion;" and which characterize the person and piety of him that neglects not " to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world," were ever green and fruitful, if the expression may be allowed, as distinguishing traits of Mr. R.'s active life. As a visitor of the sick, he was indefatigable in his endeavours to do them good, as well by his efforts to procure them medical aid, and (if needed) pecuniary assistance, as in attempting to administer to their spiritual wants. In these visits of mercy and benevolence, he explored the garret and the cellar; encountered the danger of conta

gion, and the repulsive attendants of poverty and wretchedness, loathsomeness and disease, in all their sad variety. With a lowliness pre-eminently desirable, and absolutely essential to a proper discharge of the duties of such an office, he has entered the miserable hovel which scarcely afforded him a seat, and knelt down by the bedside of those whose deep distress alone could invite his attendance. His peculiar mental exercises, which were often extremely painful, (as appears from his own account,) seem to have qualified him for imparting instruction to those who were assailed in a similar way, but were less experienced in divine things And there is reason to hope that his frequent conversations with individuals labouring under mental depression, and his prayers and advice in general, offered in the habitations of affliction and death, were not "in vain in the Lord."

The cause of Christ lay near his heart. In the prosperity of Zion he seemed to feel as much interested as in his own private concerns. For a considerable time previous to his departure hence, he had taken a most active part in the management of the affairs of the Independent or Congregational church, of which he had been for many years a consistent and honourable member; and of which he was unanimously appointed to the office of deacon, but a few months before he was called to associate with the church triumphant. It is hoped that, from the narrative already submitted, we shall not be accused of colouring to excess; and we flatter ourselves that the inference we would deduce, will not be censured, as at all strained, though it should exhibit Mr. R. not only as a man of the strictest integrity, but also as a favoured subject of genuine, active, bene

volent, disinterested and uniform piety. In the family circle, in the transaction of public business, in the miserable abodes of poverty and affliction, or in the "sanctuary of God;" nay, whether seen abroad in the world, or found at home, he approved himself the constant, sincere friend, and the humble, de- ` vout, and devoted Christian. Providence was an object he admired, revered, and adored. Of its proceedings he was a minute observer. And in his diary, which for extent, and neatness, and exactness, has seldom been surpassed, the occurrences he has recorded, and the personal reflections he has subjoined, are almost without number. While the greatest seriousness pervades and mingles itself with the whole mass, a mind imbued with divine influences is marked and manifest: the effort to find in every event a personal bearing, and to derive from every dispensation personal improvement, is apparent.

Thus lived Mr. R., and we have little to add. "The chamber where the good man meets his fate" is not always gilded; the last scene is not always irradiated. Many a life devoted to God, and spent in his service, has closed without any remarkable manifestation of the Divine presence. I saw him in the conflict and, Oh! impressive was the sight. I charge my memory never to forget it. What a mournful stillness! broken only by the parting sigh; and the tremulous voice of prayer reigned around. What a bauble did the world, with all its glittering distinctions, then appear. How infinitely momentous did vital religion seem. How inconceivably important salvation and eternal life! But how was Mr. R. employed when the messenger entered his house, and bid him set it in order? Habitual preparation for the last solemn change

had been long the object of his supreme desire, the subject of his meditation, and the end of his endeavours. From the strain of his conversation during the last few weeks of his valuable life, one would imagine he had some presentiment of his approaching dissolution. In one of his latest visits, he observed to a Christian friend, that his mind had been much occupied latterly with that animating passage, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." But his immediate death was not anticipated by his connexions. Affliction had been his lot during a great part of his life, and was so still; yet, as usual, he continued to superintend his business, and visit the poor and sick of his acquaintance. Only ten days before his own spirit obtained complete emancipation, he attended the death-bed of one of his grandchildren; three days after this he visited a member of the church who was suddenly taken ill and died; and on the Saturday immediately preceding his deliverance from sin and sorrow and suffering, he went to see and take leave of a dying sister. This was his last visit: on the Thursday following, Aug. 15, 1822, he received the summons which he silently obeyed:

"His body with his charge laid down, “And ceas'd at once to work and live."

Though his religious enjoyment was not rapturous, yet "Behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.

His heart was "fixed, trusting in the Lord;" and directed "into the patient waiting for Christ." "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing."

Such an active and useful member of society could not leave the world without being much regretted. From those whom he had made the objects of his attention, he

could expect no remuneration except their tears; and these were not denied, nor are they still. Crowds of spectators at his funeral paid a voluntary tribute to his memory. And since his remains were committed to the dust, some of his poor dependants have been seen hanging in grateful and affectionate recollection over the grave of their lamented master. Such a father and husband could not be taken away from his dearest earthly connexions, but the loss must be felt and deplored. He had, however, the pleasure of seeing his children arrive at the age of maturity; of leaving them in comfortable circumstances; and, above all in his estimation, he witnessed "those of his own house, (after the example of their pious parents) serving the Lord." The removal of such an active officer from the church, was a circumstance that could not fail of being regretted both by minister and members. A sermon was preached on the mournful occasion by the Rev. W. Colefall, from a text previously selected by the deceased, to an overflowing and attentive audience. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”—Rev. xxi. 4.