I THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,* 
 I i:,^, 2 Princeton, N. J-_£_^_- | 
 
 t'TT/ From the PUBLISHER. ^ ^ f 
 
 BX%207 .J4 J82 1841 
 The jubilee memorial 
 
r 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arclnive 
 in 2015 
 
 littps://arcliive.org/details/jubileememorialbOOunse 
 
THE 
 
 JUBILEE MEMORIAL 
 
 BHINQ THB 
 
 SERMONS. MEETINGS, PRESENTillONS, 
 
 FULL ACCOUNT OF THE JUBILEE 
 
 COMMSMORATlNa y^y^ 
 
 THE REV. WILLIAM JAY'S 
 FIFTY YEARS' MINISTRY 
 
 " Firm in the faith and valiant for the truth. 
 Thine age hath well redeemed the pledge of youth." 
 
 JAMES MONTGOMERY. 
 
 NE w-york: 
 ROBERT CARTER, 
 
 58 CANAL-STREET. 
 M DCCC XLI. 
 
H. LUDWIG. FRINTEKf 
 
 72 vesey-st., N. Y. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE AMERICAN EDITION, 
 
 The members of Mr. Jay's family in America caimot resist the 
 desire they feel to circulate this Memorial of the labours of their 
 revered and honoured relative, (read by them with many tears,) 
 throughout the United States. 
 
 His works, which have for so many years been extensively read 
 and appreciated in America, have prepared the way for its recep- 
 tion ; and we doubt not that every admirer of his writings will 
 read " the Jubilee Memorial" with the liighest pleasure. 
 
 It contains the record of events the most important and inter- 
 esting—an exhibition of principles and sentiments the most Chris- 
 tian and lovely— and the details and illustrations of labom-s the 
 most valuable and exemplary. 
 
 May we not hope, as we earnestly pray, that these results from 
 a single ministry— these labours from a single workman— this 
 character in a single individual, and these testimonials from a 
 single community, may stimulate aU thus to shew themselves the 
 servants of Christ, acceptable to God, and approved of men. 
 
 It was resolved, on the occasion of the Jubilee, to present each 
 of Mr. Jay's grandchildren in America with a copy of all the pro- 
 ceedings ; this has been done— and it is from one of these copies 
 this edition is now published. 
 
 ROBERT BOLTON. 
 
 Pei-Ham Prtory, 
 
 New-RoclieUe, N. T. 
 
 May 8, 1841. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Sermons and Addresses composing this Vo- 
 lume have been printed from the transcript of the 
 short-hand notes of Mr. Oxford, of Bristol ; who 
 was engaged by the Publisher to take the proceedings 
 cormected with the Jubilee celebration. They have 
 since been revised by the respective preachers and 
 speakers ; and appear before the Public, therefore, in 
 an authentic character. 
 
 Bath, Feb. 19, 1841. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Pags 
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 RELIGIOUS COMMEMORATION OF THE REV. \VM. 
 
 jay's jubilee . . . . . .13 
 
 SERMON BY THE REV. WM. JAY . . . .15 
 
 SERMON BY THE REV. TIMOTHY EAST, OF BIR- 
 MINGHAM 60 
 
 SOCIAL CELEBRATION OF THE REV. W. JAY's 
 
 JUBILEE ....... 86 
 
 MORNING MEETING AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS 
 
 PRESENTATION AND SPEECHES . . .89 
 
 EVENING MEETING AT ARGYLE CHAPEL EREC- 
 TION OF PILLARS JUVENILE PRESENTATION 
 
 AND SPEECHES 144 
 
 ANTHEMS SUNG AT THE EVENING MEETING . . 177 
 
 JUBILEE HYMNS, COMPOSED BY J. MONTGOMERY, 
 
 ESQ 178 
 
INTKODBCTION. 
 
 The circumstance of any Minister of Religion offi- 
 ciating for fifty years in one place, is a striking event. 
 The attention of every one, who reflects at all upon 
 the brevity and uncertainty of human life, and upon 
 the numerous disqualifying ailments to which flesh is 
 heir, is arrested by the occurrence : and it is natural, 
 in such a case, to inquire, what has been the charac- 
 ter, and what the result, of labours so unusually pro- 
 tracted beyond the average limits of official efficiency 
 and usefulness. Occasionally, such inquiries may 
 issue in disappointment and regret. More frequently, 
 however, when such cases as the one contemplated 
 do occur, we may hope that the long period of half a 
 century, employed in the highest service and devoted 
 to the holiest ends, seldom fails to be crovraed with a 
 rich harvest of " good fruits." At least, there is no 
 uncertainty in the instance which has prompted these 
 remarks. Indeed, if we could suppose good men to 
 be at all influenced by envy, we should imagine that 
 not a few of those who are called to the sacred pro- 
 fession might be induced to wish that some of the 
 honour which deservedly attaches to the name of Jay 
 might be shared by themselves. Whether as a 
 preacher or as an author, it is alike known and re- 
 vered not only in the immediate scene of his personal 
 labours ; but in either Hemisphere — wherever the 
 English language is spoken — it may not be too much 
 to say, that the pulpit celebrity and imperishable wri- 
 tings of William Jay arc more or less known and 
 appreciated. 
 
viii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Well can his own flock bear testimony to the per- 
 sonal and pastoral qualities of the aged shepherd who 
 has attended to their spiritual wants during half a 
 century, and whose faithful services they were anx- 
 ious to perpetuate by some affectionate and endearing 
 memorial, because they know him to be one 
 
 . ..." Whose heart is warm, 
 
 Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life 
 
 Coincident, exliibit lucid proof 
 
 Tliat he is honest in the sacred cause." 
 
 In the character in which his name is become more 
 generally known — ^that of a preacher — we cannot pass 
 by this opportunity of rendering the tribute of respect, 
 due to genius that has so long and successfully devo- 
 ted its high faculties to the advancement of the cause 
 of Christian virtue, and the diffusion of the knowledge 
 of eternal truth. 
 
 The pulpit eloquence of Mr. Jay has enriched what 
 we may call the spiritual literature of the age. And 
 who can count the good which talents, exercising a 
 charmed influence over the heart and the reason, has 
 accomplished since the ministry of this most success- 
 ful and justly celebrated preacher commenced ! 
 
 It was at the exciting and awful era, when the po- 
 litical earthquake of the French revolution threatened 
 with ruin kingdoms and principles, when an infidel 
 philosophy walked forth, amid sacrifices of blood and 
 scenes of horror, to blaspheme the Majesty of Hea- 
 ven, and proclaim death an eternal sleep, — it was at 
 that awful era that William Jay and his late highly- 
 gifted friend Robert Hall, one of the most splendid 
 and powerful pulpit orators that England ever pro- 
 duced, commenced their useful and brilliant career as 
 preachers of the gospel. Along with the ablest cham- 
 pions of the Bible and the throne which the Church 
 of England possessed, aided by the lofty courage and 
 immortal genius of Edmund Burke, they assisted to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ix 
 
 fight the battle of Divine truth against the Satanic 
 crew who 
 
 . . . . " Made impious war on heaven, 
 And battle proud." 
 
 An unkno-wn debt of gxatitude is due to those who 
 shared in the dangers and toils of that great conflict, 
 and in the sublime triumph which they achieved, by 
 which was turned back from this Christian land the 
 rushing rage of infidel desolation, and the moral pesti- 
 lence staid which would have reduced man to the 
 state of a perishing, hopeless outcast, in the wilder- 
 ness of a forsaken and fatherless world. 
 
 If any living man is entitled to be thus distinguished 
 by the wise and the good, it is the venerable Pastor 
 of Argyle Chapel, Bath, who, by talents the most 
 brilliant, graces the most Christian, and energies the 
 most persevering, has won for himself the confidence, 
 the admiration, and the love of the people of God, in 
 every section of the Christian Church. 
 
 No jubilee of a conqueror in the field of mere 
 earthly warfare is enriched ^\ith the interesting recol- 
 lections which must be associated with the celebration 
 of his half-century of struggles, who has been in- 
 cessantly engaged in moral conflict on behalf of man's 
 eternal interests, and whose labours are crowned, like 
 his, with the trophies of Christian victory, pure, radi- 
 ant, and imperishable. 
 
 These facts being undeniable ; it had been matter 
 of just surprise if the religious community among 
 whom Mr. Jay has so long laboured had not evinced, 
 on the fiftieth amiiversary of his ministerial labours 
 among ihem, a lively sense of his valuable services, 
 and had not exhibited a corresponding course of con- 
 duct. Such a feeling and such a conduct, we rejoice 
 to say, they have evinced and exliibited. The church 
 and congregation at Argyle Chapel have, on this 
 memorable occasion, acted in a manner which reflects 
 
X 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on them high honour. They have shewn that, they 
 do esteem their venerated Pastor " very highly in 
 love for his works' sake." And, in aU that they 
 have done in proof of this, we doubt not that they have 
 at the same time designed to testify their gratitude to 
 the great Head of the Church for the invaluable bene- 
 fits which He has vouchsafed to them through the in- 
 strumentality of His much-honoured servant. 
 
 A numerous Meeting of the Members of the church 
 and congregation was held in Argyle Chapel, Bath, 
 on Tuesday evening, 13th October, 1840, at which 
 Henry Godwin, esq., presided. 
 
 The following Resolutions were then unanimously 
 adopted : 
 
 MOVED BY SECONDED BY 
 
 Mr. ISAAC TITLEY. Mr S. KING. 
 
 I. That, as in the month of January neit (should it please Al- 
 mighty God to prolong his hfe,) The Rev. "William Jay, the ven- 
 erable Pastor of this church, will have completed the fiftieth year 
 of his labours in tliis place, this meeting considers it their duty to 
 present to him some tribute of their high esteem and affectionate 
 regard, in testimony of their sincere attachment to his person, of 
 their veneration for the consistency of his character during so 
 long a period, and of their gratitude for the many spiritual benefits 
 ■which they have derived from his unwearied and successful la- 
 bours ; which they pray the great Head of the Church wiU still 
 continue unto him. 
 
 MOVED BY SECONDED BY 
 
 II. That an Address be presented to Mr. Jay on the day of the 
 Jubilee, accompanied by a suitable present . 
 
 III. That Subscriptions be now entered into for the purpose of 
 raising a fund for such Testimonial, and the incidental expenses 
 cormected therewith ; but that the nature of the present be sub- 
 ject to the approval of Mr. Jay. 
 
 Mr. BRYANT. 
 
 Mr. C. GODWIN. 
 
 MOVED BY 
 
 Mr. JACOB TITLEY. 
 
 SECONDED BY 
 
 Mr. JAS. GRIFFITHS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xi 
 
 MOVED BY SECONDED BY 
 
 Mr. NEWALL. Mr. RICE HOPKINS. 
 
 IV. That a Committee be appointed to carry out the objects of 
 the Meeting, by collecting additional Subscriptions, determining 
 the best mode of celebrating the day, and making all the necessa- 
 ry arrangements ; and that such Committee do consist of Twen- 
 ty-One Gentlemen, together with the Deacons of the Church, five 
 being a quorum . 
 
 MOANED BY SECONDED BY 
 
 Mr. R. H. GRIFFITH. Mr. FISHER. 
 
 v. That the following Gentlemen be appointed on such Com- 
 mittee, namely — 
 
 DR. BOWIE, 
 MR. J. BARNARD, 
 
 T. BARTER, 
 
 R. FINIGAN, 
 
 W. GIBBONS, 
 
 W. GEORGE, 
 
 H. GODWIN, 
 
 C. GODW^IN, 
 
 H. GOODRIDGE, 
 
 J. GRIFFITHS, 
 
 W. JAMES, 
 
 That Mr. Neavall be appointed Treasurer, and Messrs. R. H. 
 GsiFFiTH and Rice Hopkixs, Secretaries. 
 At a subsequent Meeting of friends of the Rev. 
 William Jay, held at the London CofFee-House, Lud- 
 gate Hill, London, on Friday, the 6th November, 
 1840 ; Edward Smith, Esq. presiding ; it was 
 unanimously resolved — 
 
 That this Meeting cordially approves the object of the foregoing 
 Resolutions ; and also desires to record its high admiration of the 
 pubUc and private worth of Mr. Jay and to aid the Bath Commit- 
 tee in receuing Contributions for the Testimonial referred to, 
 from friends jesiding in London and at a distance from Bath: 
 That, inasmuch as Mr. Jay has, in the course of his protracted 
 ministerial labours, frequently promoted the great cause of 
 Christianity, by a catholic advocacy of its claims amongst the va- 
 
 mr. g. king, 
 
 S. KING, 
 
 R. P. LEMON, 
 
 J. G. MANSFORD, 
 
 J. MATTHEWS, 
 
 H. MORGAN, 
 
 G. NORTHMORE, 
 
 W. PRICE, 
 
 E. SAUNDERS, 
 
 J. C. SPENDER. 
 
xii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rious communions of Christians ; and, as the members of these 
 denominations may feel interested in manifesting their personal 
 regard to the estimable individual who has thus, with commend- 
 able hberality of sentiment, officiated in their pulpits,— it appears 
 to this Meeting that an opportunity should be also afforded those 
 friends to evince their regard on the above interesting occasion. 
 
 That, in accordance with the foregoing Resolutions, contribu- 
 tions for London, and other places, be now paid into the Bank of 
 Messrs. Hankey, Fenchurch street ; and that these Resolutions 
 be advertised in the public papers. 
 
 Various Meetings of the Bath Committee were 
 subsequently held ; at which the necessary measures 
 were adopted for carrying out the objects for which it 
 was appointed. Among other things, it was agreed 
 that as the day of the JubOee would occur on Satur- 
 day, the 30th of January, and as that would be an in- 
 convenient day for the proposed celebration, the reli- 
 gious conunemoration should take place on Sunday, 
 the 31st of January ; and the social celebration, with 
 the presentation of the Testimonial and Address to 
 Mr. Jay, on Tuesday, the 2nd of February, The 
 arrangements made by the Committee, and the vari- 
 ous ways in which the Jubilee has been commemora- 
 ted, are recorded in the subsequent pages. 
 
RELIGIOUS COMEMOMTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 JUBILEE OF THE REV. W. JAY'S 
 PASTORATE. 
 
 On Lord's day, January 31st, 1841, a special 
 Meeting of the Members of the church and 
 congregation was held in Argyle chapel, at 
 seven o'clock in the morning, when fervent 
 thanksgiving and prayer were offered for the 
 Divine Goodness and blessing. 
 
 At nine o'clock, the Scholars belonging to 
 the Sunday school connected with the Chapel 
 were assembled, and books distributed among 
 them bearing an appropriate inscription com- 
 memorative of the event. An address was also 
 delivered by the Rev. Samuel Nichols, of Dar- 
 
 wen, Lancashire. 
 
 2 
 
14 RELIGIOUS COMMEMORATION, ETC. 
 
 At eleven o'clock, a Public Service was held 
 in the Chapel. The introductory devotional 
 engagements vv^ere conducted by the Rev. Sam- 
 uel Nichols, and a most impressive sermon was 
 preached by the Rev. William Jay. 
 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon, another 
 special Meeting for thanksgiving and prayer 
 was held, in which the Rev. R. Penman, of 
 Yeovil, and the Rev. J. Lewis, of Wotton-under- 
 Edge, assisted. 
 
 At six o'clock in the evening the concluding 
 service of the Lord's day took place. The Rev. 
 T. East, of Birmingham, occupied the pulpit, 
 and delivered an animating and appropriate 
 sermon. 
 
REV. W. JAY'S SERMON. 
 
 " What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are 
 not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 at his coming ? " 1 Thess. ii. 19. 
 
 " One star difFereth from another star in glory." 
 So it is in the natural world; nor is it less so in 
 the spiritual. Not only are the "righteous more 
 excellent than their neighbours," but some of 
 them more excellent than others. In the para- 
 ble of the sower, our Lord not only distinguishes 
 the good ground from the three unfruitful soils, 
 but represents the good ground itself as pro- 
 ducing in the unequal proportions of "thirty, 
 sixty, and a hundred fold." 
 
 It would be easy to exemplify this in the case 
 of individuals. Lot is called " just Lot ; " and 
 it is said, " his righteous soul was vexed with 
 the filthy conversation of the ungodly;" but what 
 a difference do we perceive between him and 
 his uncle Abraham, " the friend of God ! " How 
 superior was the faith of the Roman centurion, 
 
16 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 who was satisfied with a word from the Saviour, 
 without his bodily presence, to the hesitation of 
 Thomas, who resolved not to believe in his 
 Lord's resurrection, unless he saw and handled 
 him ! 
 
 The same may be also observed in regard to 
 religious communities. Let us take, for exam- 
 ple, two of the churches planted by the Apos- 
 tles themselves. Here is first the church of 
 Corinth. In this there were some good men, 
 and they abounded with every kind of gifts : but 
 the majority of them were selfish, and vain, and 
 contentious, and versatile. They soon turned 
 away from Paul, and made much of an adver- 
 sary that wished to invalidate his claims ; so 
 that " the more he loved them, the less he 
 was loved by them : " therefore, with a noble 
 independence of spirit, though a poor man, and 
 gratefully receiving assistance from other con- 
 gregations, he declined taking one farthing from 
 them, and laboured with his own hands to sup- 
 ply his necessities. 
 
 But now take ^the church of the Thessalo- 
 nians. For these Paul had a peculiar and pre- 
 eminent regard ; and they appear to have been 
 worthy of it. He therefore, (for he loved to 
 praise rather than censure,) speaks of them 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 17 
 
 always not only with affection, but commenda- 
 tion and applause. " For this cause," says he, 
 " we thank God without ceasing, because, when 
 ye received the word of God which ye heard of 
 us, ye received it not as the word of men, but 
 as it is in truth, the word of God, which effect- 
 ually worketh also in you that believe." And, 
 again, " We give thanks to God always for you 
 all, making mention of you in our prayers ; re- 
 membering without ceasing your work of faith, 
 and labour of love, and patience of hope in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our 
 Father ; for our Gospel came not unto you in 
 word only, but also in power, and in the Holy 
 Ghost, and in much assurance ; as ye know 
 •what manner of men we were among you for 
 your sake. And ye became followers of us, 
 and of the Lord, having received the word in 
 much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost : so 
 that ye were ensamples to all that believe in 
 Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded 
 out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia 
 and Achaia, but also in every place your faith 
 to Godward is spread abroad ; so that we need 
 not to speak any thing." 
 
 We wish we had time to recite more of these 
 pleasing representations : but we must hasten 
 2* 
 
18 REV. w. jay's sermon. 
 
 to the words you have already heard — " What 
 is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are 
 not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ at his coming?" 
 
 These words will furnish us with some appro- 
 priate reflections in our way to the notice of an 
 event which cannot but be deeply interesting to 
 the speaker, and much of the large audience 
 before him. 
 
 Our first remark regards the advent of the 
 Saviour ; for we are here informed, or, rather, 
 reminded of" His coming." This intends what 
 is called in Scripture his " second" coming. 
 " Once in the end of the world hath he appear- 
 ed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself ; 
 and to them that look for him will he appear a 
 second time without sin, unto salvation," His 
 former coming was, indeed, " unto salvation ;" 
 but then he came for the procurement of the 
 blessing by his blood : but his coming again 
 will be " unto salvation," because he will then 
 come to finish the application of it by his pow- 
 er. In the one, he " made himself of no repu- 
 tation," and was seen the " man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief ;" in the other, " he shall 
 come in his glory," and " before him shall be 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 19 
 
 gathered all nations." Then he was an insult- 
 ed prisoner at Pilate's bar ; now he is the 
 " Judge both of quick and dead." 
 
 The apostle here, as in many other places, 
 mentions this coming incidentally ; for he al- 
 ways took it for granted that they whom he ad- 
 dressed believed it, and were waiting for it, and 
 regulated all their concerns by it. And this is 
 the reason why he so seldom names it, but calls 
 it " iliaV^ day — " The Lord grant that he may 
 find mercy of the Lord in that day" — "I am 
 persuaded that he is able to keep that which I 
 have committed unto him against that day" — 
 " There is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
 ness, which the righteous Judge shall give me 
 at that day." Are we so full of his appearing 
 as to require only a minute or casual hint to 
 bring the scene before our minds % Has our 
 reference to this distinguished and distinguish- 
 ing day such a readiness and prominence in it 
 as to induce us habitually to view and feel it as 
 
 " The day for which all other days were made ;" 
 
 and the end and consummation of all things ? 
 
 Secondly. At his appearance there will be a 
 mutual recognition of individuals. Much has 
 
20 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 been written upon this subject of late years ; 
 and the eagerness with which discourses of this 
 kind have been received, shews that the senti- 
 ment is much cherished. It would seem enough 
 for us to be assured, that in God's presence our 
 joy will be full. But there is no divesting our- 
 selves of our present attachments and sympa- 
 thies when we look forward : humanity goes 
 along with us into another state of existence. 
 We wish to continue to be known and to be lov- 
 ed. We cannot endure the thought of losing 
 for ever our dear intercourse with those who 
 have afforded us so much pleasure and profit, 
 and to whom we often make, while here, such 
 poor returns. 
 
 " Friend after friend departs : 
 
 Who hab not lost a friend ? 
 There is no union here of hearts 
 
 That finds not here an end—" 
 
 How consoling, then, to be able to say, 
 
 " There is a world above 
 
 Where parting is unknown : 
 A long eternity of love 
 
 The good enjoy alone : 
 And faith beholds them dying here, 
 Translated to that glorious sphere." 
 
 " I am fully persuaded," says Baxter, " that I 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon-. 
 
 21 
 
 shall love my friends in heaven, and therefore 
 know them : and this principally binds me to 
 them on earth ; and if I thought I should never 
 know them more, nor, therefore, love them after 
 death, I should love them comparatively little, 
 as I do all other transitory things. But I now 
 delight in conversing with them, as believing I 
 shall commune with them for ever." 
 
 This is finely expressed and sustained. But 
 there has been much weak aro^uinor here : and 
 some have looked for far more express decisions 
 than the Scriptures choose to afford on subjects 
 not of the highest importance. Yet, we think 
 the sacred writers fully admit and establish the 
 fact indirectly. Witness the words of our Sa- 
 viour : " Make to yourselves friends of the 
 mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, 
 they may receive you into everlasting habita- 
 tions." Observe Paul's lancmacre to the Corinth- 
 ians : " Ye have acknowledged us in part, that 
 we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours 
 in the day of the Lord Jesus." Above all, re- 
 member the words before us to his beloved 
 Thessalonians : " What is our hope, or joy, or 
 crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the pre- 
 sence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" 
 
22 
 
 REV, W, jay's sermon. 
 
 This leads us to a third remark. That the 
 relation between ministers and people peculiarly 
 regards the day of God. All other connexions 
 are formed in time only, and derive all their 
 importance from the present world ; but this is 
 designed for eternity, and all its results issue in 
 a world to come. It is not therefore without 
 reason the appstle says to the Thessalonians, 
 whatsoever you are in our favour, we shall find 
 you to be " in the presence of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, at his coming :" or that he should have 
 said to the Philippians, " Hold fast the word of 
 life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that 
 I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." 
 It is easy to understand this, and to explain the 
 bearing our labours among you have upon that 
 solemn period. 
 
 Then only will the fruits of our ministry be 
 secure from all danger. This is not the case 
 now. Which of you, whatever may be your age 
 or degree in religion, is beyond the reach of 
 temptation, and does not need the admonition, 
 " Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed 
 lest he fall ?" Our apostle says of his converts, 
 " I am jealous over you ; and I fear, lest by any 
 means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his 
 subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted 
 
REV. V,'. JAY S SERMON. 
 
 23 
 
 from the simplicity that is in Christ." And says 
 John, to his children who were walking in the 
 truth, " Look to yourselves, that we lose not 
 those things which we have wrought, but that 
 we receive a full reward." 
 
 Then only w ill the fruits of our ministry have 
 attained their completeness. God has already 
 begun the good work in his people, but he has 
 not perfected that which concemeth them. As 
 yet something is defective in every duty ; and 
 wanting in every grace. But then the dawn will 
 be day ; the blade will be the full corn in the 
 ear ; the child will have reached the measure of 
 the stature of the fulness of Christ : and then, as 
 to their knowledge, their holiness, their enjoy- 
 ment, that w^hich is in part will be done away ; 
 and they will be presented " faultless before the 
 presence of His glor^" with exceeding joy." 
 
 Then only will the fruits of our ministry be 
 ascertained, and known. We have reason to 
 fear that some, if not many, who belong to us 
 now, will conduce little to our honour or happi- 
 ness when we shall meet before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ — unless, indeed, as they will be 
 compelled to bear witness to our fidelity and 
 ascribe their destruction to themselves : " for we 
 are a sweet savour of Christ, in them that 
 
24 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 perish, as well as in them that are saved." But 
 this is not the satisfaction we long after. We 
 may give up our account with joy and not with 
 grief ; but that will not be profitable for you — 
 And shall we have in that day to exclaim, when 
 we survey the company of the saved : " Where 
 is he who so long occupied such a seat in the 
 sanctuary ? — where is he who administered the 
 bread and wine at the Lord's table ? — where are 
 those who by their wisdom and zeal so aided in 
 our benevolent and sacred institutions ? — where 
 are those who so largely contributed to the sup- 
 port of missions and the spread of the Scrip- 
 tures ? Are they who wrought in the construc- 
 tion of the ark perishing in the flood ?" 
 
 Ah ! perhaps if we knew now what will here- 
 after be revealed, we should be affected to 
 distraction ; and certainly conclude that God 
 had not sent us, or that we had not spoken his 
 word faithfully. 
 
 On the other hand, at present we are not 
 proper judges of our success. In many instances 
 we may never know while here the good we have 
 been the means of doing. Some of our converts 
 are fearful and backward to speak ; others who 
 receive benefit may be removed to a distance, 
 and have no opportunity to communicate with 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 25 
 
 us. Yea, we may be useful to some when we 
 have finished our course. The sermons heard 
 from the living voice with indifference may in 
 remembrance impress ; and the thought of meet- 
 ing us again may awaken a salutary alarm. 
 
 Indeed, with regard to our success, ignorance 
 at present may be safer for us than knowledge. 
 Popularity is always dangerous, and frequently 
 injurious ; and perhaps no kind of popularity is 
 so exciting as that which arises from eminent 
 and distinguished usefulness. If Luther, or 
 Whitfield, or Wesley, could have seen in a vision 
 what they did while living, and what they are 
 doing now they are dead, they might have been 
 " exalted above measure." But no danger will 
 attend any discoveries of this kind hereafter. 
 There will be no subtle vanity in us to work 
 upon. We shall not " sacrifice to our own net, 
 or burn incense to our own drag." We shall 
 see and acknowledge that we were only instru- 
 ments ; nor shall we feel, as we sometimes now 
 do, that we were the instruments, and employed 
 rather than others. 
 
 Finally, we remark, that these future realiza- 
 tions may even now be pa7'tially anticipated. A 
 minister, as you have heard, must principally 
 3 
 
26 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 wait for what is to take place at the revelation 
 of the Saviour : but the less is included in the 
 greater ; and even now, in a good measure and 
 degree, he may look towards his people, and say, 
 " What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoic- 
 ing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ at his coming 
 
 The degrees of ministerial satisfaction will 
 vary. 
 
 Some encourage us — These are our " hope." 
 Some solace us — These are our " joy." Some 
 dignify us — These are our "crown of rejoicing." 
 We are all aware that the same persons may be 
 all this to a minister in the successive stages of 
 their experience and improvement : but we shall 
 exemplify the apostle's gradation in three 
 classes found in every religious society, though 
 the first is more numerous than the second, and 
 the second than the third. 
 
 Some encourage us — These are our " hope." 
 In some measure this will apply to all our hear- 
 ers. What animation should we feel if, when 
 we entered the pulpit, we were to look down 
 upon our audience, and suppose the greater part 
 of them were beyond the reach of mercy ? But 
 the Scripture does not require us to think this 
 — yea, it commands us to preach the Gospel to 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 27 
 
 every creature ; and to say to the ends of the 
 earth, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh 
 away the sin of the world." But many " reject 
 the counsel of God," or " neglect so great salva- 
 tion ;" and we cannot deny that there are those 
 among our own people who almost inspire us 
 with despair. They are those of you who have 
 long heard the word of life, and know the truth, 
 but hold it in unrighteousness ; and have been 
 often wooed and awed in vain ; and have re- 
 sisted the Holy Ghost, and have quenched the 
 Spirit ; and have become insensible under the 
 means which once alarmed you ; and are now 
 at ease in Zion. 
 
 But there are those who are our " hope"-— 
 They are the young, whose consciences as yet 
 are tender ; whose hearts as yet are not hard- 
 ened through the deceitfulness of sin ; whose 
 understandings are not yet perverted by error ; 
 who are not yet induced to flee to infidelity as 
 a refuge ; who are not yet taken captive by the 
 devil at his will ; whose affections now glow 
 with ardour who are now free from the cares 
 that will engross, if not embitter, future life — 
 while every thing invites as well as calls them 
 to " remember their Creator in the days of their 
 youth ; before the evil days come, or the years 
 
28 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 draw near, in which they will say, We have no 
 pleasure in them." When Jesus saw the young 
 man he loved him ; and said, " Thou art not 
 far from the kingdom of God." 
 
 — They are the offspring of pious parents — 
 For though grace goes not by descent, they have 
 a thousand advantages of which others are des- 
 titute. They have been screened from vicious 
 companions ; they have been followed by many 
 prayers ; they have early known the holy Scrip- 
 tures ; they have kneeled every morning and 
 evening at the family altar ; they have seen 
 good and alluring examples ; they have been 
 embraced and bedewed with tears, and address- 
 ed alone ; and the father has said — " My son, 
 if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even 
 mine ;" and the mother has said — " What, my 
 son ! and the son of my womb ! and the son of 
 my vows!" — We know, alas! that all these 
 advantages may be counteracted ; but we also 
 know that in many cases they have been divinely 
 blessed. In the families of our pious ancestors, 
 religion was a kind of heirloom, and passed 
 from sire to son ; and " as was the mother, so 
 was the daughter." We know also the value of 
 early impressions, and we know also who has 
 said — " Train up a child in the way that he 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 29 
 
 should go, and when he is old he will not de- 
 part from it." 
 
 — They are the afflicted. Afflictions may be 
 in vain ; and we read of those that " turn not to 
 Him that smiteth them." Yet what numbers 
 have had reason to say — " It is good for me that 
 I have been afflicted ; for before I was afflicted 
 I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." 
 Afflictions feelingly shew the evil of sin, the 
 vanity of the w^orld, the uncertainty of creature 
 dependence, and the importance of something 
 that shall refresh us when our gourds wither, 
 and support us when our props give way. There 
 is, therefore, a natural adaptation and tendency 
 in them to aid religious decision. I always, 
 therefore, look hopefully toward persons when 
 they come into trouble : just as, when I see a 
 smith putting the iron into the fire, I conclude 
 that he is going to turn it into an implement of 
 usefulness, which could not be done while it 
 remained cold and hard ; or as when I see the 
 husbandman pruning a tree, I conclude, however 
 much he cuts off, that he does not mean at 
 present to destroy it, but is anxious for its 
 growth and fruitfulness. I cannot, indeed, al- 
 ways, when I see a parent chastising, infer, 
 from the action, his moral concern for the child ; 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 for the fathers of our flesh often chastise for 
 their own pleasure, in relief of their passion : 
 but " the Father of our spirits," always does it 
 " for our profit, that we may be partakers of his 
 holiness." He does not afflict willingly, but, as 
 the only-wise God, employs the rod to enforce 
 the demands of the word ; and he himself ex- 
 pects a suitable result : " I will go and return to 
 my place till they acknowledge their offence, 
 and seek my face : in their affliction they will 
 seek me early." 
 
 — They are the convinced and awakened, who 
 begin to feel the powers of a world to come ; 
 who are sometimes awfully, and sometimes 
 pleasingly affected by divine things ; now trem- 
 bling at the terror of the Lord, or now melting 
 into tears at his dying love ; loving to retire 
 from the sons and daughters of vice and vanity, 
 to indulge in the morning and evening walk ; 
 and, meeting with the addresses of a God in all 
 around them, are ready to surrender their hearts, 
 saying, " Lord, I am thine, save me." 
 
 — We acknowledge that conviction is not 
 conversion, nor impression renovation, nor emo- 
 tion principle ; and therefore we do not depend 
 upon them. But we are now speaking of what 
 is only Jiopeful, and a beginning, though it does 
 
REV. w. jay's sermon. 31 
 
 not ensure the end, is necessary to it ; and the 
 blossom, though it is not fruit, precedes it ; 
 and, though knowledge is not always influen- 
 tial, influence depends on knowledge. 
 
 Some solace us — They are our " joy." — 
 These are the converted, and who give credi- 
 ble evidence of it in their lives. When Barna- 
 bas came to Antioch, and had " seen the grace 
 of God, he was glad." Yet they in whom the 
 efl'ects appeared were not converted by means 
 of his preaching ; but surely they would not 
 have aflbrded him less pleasure if they had 
 been the fruit of his oi^-n ministry. 
 
 Nothing is more mortifying than labouring 
 in vain, and spending our strength for naught ; 
 and what can be more grateful than, in any in- 
 teresting case, to see our anxieties and sacri- 
 fices, and fears and toils, crowned with suc- 
 cess? Thus, how cheering to the husbandman 
 is it, after manuring, and ploughing, and sowing, 
 to go forth and see "the springing of the earth," 
 " the valleys standing thick with corn, and the 
 little hills rejoicing on every side ?" "A wo- 
 man when she is in travail hath sorrow, because 
 her hour is come : but as soon as she is deliver- 
 ed of the child, she remembereth no more the 
 anguish, for joy that a man is born into the 
 
32 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 world." And thus it is with the true ministers 
 of the world : they " travail in pain till Christ 
 be formed in the souls of their people." And 
 what then are their feelings ? Paul speaks of 
 Timothy's tears, and more than once of his 
 own ; and even of his " weakness, and fear, 
 and much trembling." Many know little of our 
 exercises and apprehensions. We have trials 
 in common with men ; we have trials in com- 
 mon with Christians ; and, in addition to both 
 these, we have trials peculiar to ourselves. — 
 And what comforts us ? and what is our " joy?" 
 Are not even ye? For "we live if ye stand 
 fast in the Lord." And strangers can little 
 imagine what our " joy" is when our prayers 
 are answered, and our endeavours succeed, and 
 tokens of divine approbation are afforded, and 
 seals are added to our ministry. For, what- 
 ever a Papist or Protestant priesthood may 
 avow, an efiectual ministry is the most valid 
 one ; and such, ministers need no letters of re- 
 commendation to them, or from them. " Ye 
 are our epistle, written in our hearts, known 
 and read of all men : forasmuch as ye are man- 
 ifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ min- 
 istered by us, written not with ink, but the 
 Spirit of the living God ; not in tables of stone, 
 but in fleshly tables of the heart." 
 
REV. W. JAY S SERMON. 
 
 33 
 
 And in the event itself, the salvation of souls 
 how much is there, not only to excite, but to 
 justify our "joy !" James considers the work 
 as its own reward, proposes no other ; and he 
 proposes this not as to a multitude of converts, 
 but an individual only : " Brethren, if any of 
 you do err from truth, and one convert him ; let 
 him know, that he which converteth the sinner 
 from the error of his way shall save a soul from 
 death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."— 
 Compared with this, what is the rescue of a fel- 
 low-creature from the flood or the devouring 
 flame ? Yea, what would the freeing of an em- 
 pire from civil bondage be, compared with the 
 deliverance of one sinner from the power of 
 darkness, and his translation into the kingdom 
 of God's dear Son ? — for this one ransomed sin- 
 ner will at length have lived an infinitely longer 
 period than the subjects of this empire would 
 have lived if all of them could have existed one 
 after another. And what a difference in their 
 conditions ! For while they would have lived 
 only in a vale of tears, this saved sinner not 
 only lives for ever, but lives for ever in an im- 
 mensity of glory and blessedness. Angels, 
 therefore, who are proverbial in their knowl- 
 edge, and have a free intercourse with our 
 
34 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 world, are represented as thrown into an ecsta- 
 cy by this event only : " There is joy in the 
 presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
 that repenteth." Yea, in every transaction, the 
 Lord Jesus sees " of the travail of his soul, and 
 is satisfied." "He will save, He will rejoice over 
 them with joy. He will rest in his love, He will 
 joy over them with singing.'' 
 
 Some dignify us — They are our " crown of 
 rejoicing"! These are not only safe for eter- 
 nity, but walk worthy of the vocation where- 
 with they are called. They not only have life, 
 but they have it more abundantly. They not 
 only possess what is essential in religion, but 
 " adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all 
 things." 
 
 — They are the well-informed — in malice 
 children, but in. understanding full-grown men; 
 not easily imposed upon ; having their senses 
 exercised to discern both good and evil ; dis- 
 tinguishing things that differ ; not mistaking a 
 weak conscience for a tender one ; not laying 
 on minor things in religion the stress due only 
 to the greater : for what is the chaff to the 
 wheat ? It is sad to look at a people and ask, 
 " Is there not one wise man among you ?" But 
 how emboldening is it to be able to say, " I 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 35 
 
 speak as unto wise men ; judge ye what I 
 say." 
 
 — They are the consistent. It is a good 
 thing that the heart be established with grace, 
 and that we fall not from our own stedfastness. 
 Therefore says the apostle, " That we hence- 
 forth be no more children, tossed to and fro, 
 and carried about with every wind of doctrine, 
 by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, 
 whereby they lie in wait to deceive." We do 
 not admire a Reubenite, of whom Jacob said, 
 " Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." A 
 changeling can be no character, for character is 
 the force and effect of habit ; and habit arises 
 from repetition and constancy. Oh ! it is de- 
 lightful to see a man standing in every evil day, 
 and saying by his life, " My foot hath held his 
 steps, his way have I kept, and not declined ; 
 neither have I gone back from the command- 
 ment of his lips." Even in matters of church 
 order, and discipline, and attendance on the 
 means of grace, steadiness is commendable- 
 Inconstant hearers, now in their places, and 
 now out of them — one Sabbath here, another 
 there — rambling after novelties, and heaping to 
 themselves teachers — having itchinor ears — are 
 no minister's care, no minister's comfort, and 
 
36 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 no minister's credit. Yet how many are there 
 in our day, mere birds of passage ; spiritually, 
 homeless vagrants ; religious gipsies, who pre- 
 fer the lanes and hedges, to the rates, and du- 
 ties, and privileges of the citizens of Zion. 
 
 — They are the amiable — who not only think 
 upon " whatsoever things are true, and whatso- 
 ever things are honest, and whatsoever things 
 are just, and whatsoever things are pure," but 
 " whatsoever things are lovely and of good re- 
 porty Oh ! there is such a thing as the beauty 
 of holiness. There is such a thing as sanctity 
 without sanctimoniousness. There is such a 
 thing as a proper separation from the world, 
 without saying to others, " Stand by thyself, 
 come not near to me, I am holier than thou." 
 Oh ! there is such a thing as rendering religion 
 not only impressive, but inviting ; and, while 
 we enjoy our liberty, not suffering our good to 
 be evil spoken of : " and he that in these things 
 serveth Christ is acceptable to God and ap- 
 proved of men." 
 
 — They are the mild and pacific — who fol- 
 low peace with all men ;" and " as much as 
 lieth in them live peaceably with all men." 
 They are not soon provoked ; and they are 
 ready to forgive ; and and the meekness of 
 wisdom enables them to say, 
 
REV, W. jay's sermon. 
 
 37 
 
 "I'll not easily offend, 
 
 Nor be easily offended ; 
 What's aniiss I'll strive to mend, 
 
 And endure what can't be mended." 
 
 — They are the kind and generous — who de- 
 vise liberal things ; who shew mercy with 
 cheerfulness; and, as they have opportunity 
 do good unto all men, and especially to those 
 that are of the household of faith. The apostle 
 makes a difference between a righteous man and 
 a good man ; but says, it is for a good man one 
 would even dare to die. 
 
 — They are the public -spirited — zealously 
 caring for the things of God ; abundantly labour- 
 ing to promote the cause of the Redeemer in their 
 own connexion, and at large ; and evincing not 
 only by their prayers but exertions and sacrifi- 
 ces, that they are on his side, and fervent in 
 spirit, while serving the Lord. 
 
 You see by my rapidity that I can only point 
 at these characters, for I have not time to de- 
 scribe them. But these, these are they that not 
 only solace us, but complete and adorn, and 
 crown our rejoicing. 
 
 But now it may be asked. How stands the 
 case with regard to you, my brethren of this 
 communion ? I am not accustomed to give llat- 
 4 
 
as 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 tering titles to any ; and I do not, I must not, I 
 will not, say this of you'all. Oh, that I could ! 
 It would save me many a sigh, and furnish me 
 with many a song, on this Jubilee. Yet, blessed 
 be God, I have reason, much reason, to be 
 thankful in the review of this church as a whole. 
 Few religious bodies would bear a comparison 
 with it, or furnish so many individuals who are 
 nothing less than a " crown of rejoicing." 
 
 But why should not this be the case with all 
 of you ? Why should not ail those who are 
 our hearers become our " hope ?" Why should 
 not all those who are our " hope" become our 
 *'joy? Why should not all who are our 
 "joy" become our " crown of rejoicing?" 
 ? Yea, and why should the most highly approv- 
 ed among you be satisfied with any advances 
 you have already made 1 Are you above 
 Paul ? But Paul said, " This one thing I do, 
 forgetting the things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are be- 
 fore, I press towards the mark for the prize of 
 the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Let as 
 many, therefore, as be perfect, be thus minded. 
 
 And here, in an ordinary service, I should 
 conclude my address : but on this occasion 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 39 
 
 something more will be naturally expected 
 from rae. And here I feel a difficulty. The 
 speaker must now become, in a measure, his 
 own subject ; and who does not know how deli- 
 cate it is for a man to enlarge upon himself and 
 his own concerns? If he speaks favourably of his 
 attainments and exertions, his aids and success- 
 es, he is likely to be charged with vanity : and 
 if he speaks in a more lowly strain, he is then 
 likely to induce the suspicion of affectation ; 
 and some may still conclude that he is angling 
 for praise, though now with the bait of humility. 
 
 There are four things which relieve and em- 
 bolden me here. First, my young friends na- 
 turally and lawfully wish to hear a little of 
 things which preceded them, but in whose 
 consequences they now find themselves deeply 
 concerned. Secondly, I am not troubling the 
 public at large, but speaking in my own imme- 
 diate connexion ; so that others have no right to 
 complain, or even to criticise. Thirdly, my 
 age allows a little more freedom than would be 
 conceded to greener years. And lastly, above 
 all, the occasion is unusual and striking ; and 
 few, I presume, would think that it were pro- 
 per or possible to pass it by without some no- 
 tice. 
 
40 
 
 REV. W. JAy*S SERMON. 
 
 David reigned in Jerusalem forty years ; and 
 the historian speaks " of the times that passed 
 over him, and over all Israel, and over all the 
 kingdoms of the countries." My connexion 
 here is ten years longer than his reign : and 
 what times, my brethren, have passed over us 
 and over others during these fifty years ! Dur- 
 ing this period, what occurrences and excite- 
 ments, what shakings and wars, what revolu- 
 tions and changes, have taken place in the 
 nations of the earth ! The hand of God has 
 been in all this ; and, we are persuaded, event- 
 ually for the improvement of mankind, and the 
 accomplishment of his counsel, wherein He 
 says, " Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be made low ; and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough 
 places plain : and the glory of the Lord shall 
 be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together : 
 for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 We do not, therefore, ask why the former 
 days were better than these ; for, as Solomon 
 says, we should not inquire wisely concern- 
 ing this." We have no superior veneration for 
 what is called antiquity. Lord Bacon has very 
 justly observed, that we are the proper ancients 
 of the world ; and in proportion as we go back 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 41 
 
 we approach the world's infancy. And is 
 childhood always to govern age ? Is time to 
 advance, while every thing else is to lag be- 
 hind ? 
 
 And what a period has this been for our own 
 country ! What an extension of empire has 
 taken place — what increase of commerce — 
 what progress in science — what improvement 
 in the arts — what gainings in the cause of lib- 
 erty, by the removal of invidious and unfair 
 distinctions, by the substitution of justice for 
 toleration, and by the concession of the right of 
 private judgment, and the abhorrence of perse- 
 cution and bigotry ! 
 
 And what a progress has there been as to 
 moral and spiritual advantages ! Some of you 
 are not qualified to compare the former and the 
 present state of our country ; but how am. I 
 struck with it, when I look back, to see how 
 the wilderness and the solitary place have been 
 made glad, and the desert has rejoiced and 
 blossomed as the rose ! Since the noviciate of 
 my ministry, what a spirit has been excited — 
 what agencies have been produced — what so- 
 cieties have been established — what a multitude 
 of sanctuaries have been opened for the wor- 
 ship of God, and the preaching of the gospel — 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 what a spread of evangelical religion, both in 
 the Establishment and out of it ! 
 
 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, the 
 author of all good, by not gratefully acknow- 
 ledging that much has been done because all 
 has not been done. Say not, the greater part of 
 the business has been mere profession : there 
 has been much really of the power of godliness. 
 Say not, the zeal which now burns is not of the 
 right kind : it is of the right kind. It is reli- 
 gion alive and in motion. It is not speculation ; 
 it is not mysticism ; it is not the luxury of re- 
 tirement : It is what the day requires ; — it is 
 activity in the field ; it is seizing the means and 
 opportunities Providence is furnishing us ; it is 
 employing our hands as we rise from our knees, 
 and after asking, " Lord, what wilt Thou have 
 me to do?" 
 
 Besides the salvation of souls, (and how many 
 have there been called by divine grace !) we 
 ought not to overlook what has been done subor- 
 dinately, during this period, by the influence of 
 Christianity. To this we owe the noble exer- 
 tions which have been made in the abolition of 
 the accursed slave-trade, and the opposition to 
 war by our peace societies, and our temperance 
 meetings, and the education of the poor, and 
 
REV. W. jay's SERMON'. 
 
 43 
 
 the provision made to meet human distress in 
 all its forms and degrees. And yet, forsooth, 
 according to some, the world is so bad, that it 
 must soon come to an end ! Why, my brethren, 
 evil is not increased more than formerly ; but 
 the increase of good makes it more felt, more 
 lamented, more opposed, and therefore more 
 observed too. 
 
 But we must draw a little nearer home, and 
 view things more in relation to ourselves. 
 Though it is now just half a century since my 
 connexion with this church, yet I laboured 
 here occasionally, and sometimes for several 
 Sabbaths together, during more than a year 
 previously to my ordination. Neither was this 
 the commencement of my ministry : I began 
 preaching before I was sixteen, and had preach- 
 ed nearly one thousand sermons before I was of 
 age. Now I do not boast of this ; yea, I should 
 rather reflect upon it, had it been the result of 
 my own forwardness. But I was under a tutor 
 whose authority I was bound not to dispute, but 
 to obey. Our academy was at Marlborough ; 
 and the state of the villages all around was truly 
 deplorable. Our tutor — the Reverend Corne- 
 lius Winter (concerning whom the late Bishop 
 Jebb, in one of his letters, exclaims, " Oh, what a 
 
44 
 
 REV. W. jay's SERM©N. 
 
 celestial creature was this Cornelius Winter!") 
 — compassionating those who were perishing 
 for lack of knowledge, sent his students to ad- 
 dress them very early, and when they would 
 have been unqualified for larger and more regu- 
 lar congregations. But the poor rude rustics 
 required little depth or accuracy : they only 
 wanted to know the faithful saying, and wor- 
 thy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came 
 into the world to save sinners." 
 
 In some of those villages I have preached 
 down many a livelong Sabbath, in the homely 
 cottage, on the green before the door, or in some 
 open place in the road, or in a field hard by. 
 How often have I wished to revisit all these 
 hamlets ! But, alas ! how few should I now 
 find alive, and who would be able to remember 
 — what he was always then called — " the boy 
 preacher." 
 
 Many of these places we supplied on week- 
 day evenings, as well as on the Sabbath, as we 
 could afi'ord time and assistance. To many of 
 them we walked on foot ; from some of them we 
 returned, for want of accommodation, the same 
 evening, whatever was the weather : and from 
 none of them received we the least remunera- 
 tion. 
 
REV. W. JAY S SERMON. 
 
 45 
 
 We seldom encountered persecution. This 
 depends very much always on the preacher : 
 and our prudent tutor taught us not to rail and 
 abuse, but simply to preach the truth ; and to 
 avoid the offence of folly when we could not 
 avoid the offence of the cross. 
 
 I shall never forget with w^hat eagerness and 
 feelincr these villages received the words of 
 life. The common people heard us gladly, and 
 the poor had the gospel preached unto them ; 
 not by " the poor man's church," but by those 
 who then supplied their lack of service. 
 
 Upon leaving the academy I felt myself too 
 young to undertake the pastoral office. I there- 
 fore chose an obscure village, where I had 
 preached frequently while a student, to enjoy 
 retreat and to pursue my improvement. Income 
 I looked not after, provided my personal wants 
 were supplied. My fixed salary, therefore, was 
 thirty-five pounds a year, and my board in a 
 private family. But being then known, and not 
 unpopular, I was frequently drawn forth to sup- 
 ply the neighbouring churches ; and being ill- 
 supplied with books, the design of my retire- 
 ment was very imperfectly answered. 
 
 I then met with Lady Maxwell, who engaged 
 me to officiate in her chapel at the Hotwells. 
 
46 
 
 REV. W jay's sermon. 
 
 There I was for nearly a year, not witliout 
 proofs of acceptance and usefulness, as the place 
 was filled and crowded. I was therefore pressed 
 by her ladyship to take the oversight of the con- 
 gregation. At the same time, having preached 
 in Bath before and during the illness of my pre- 
 decessor here — (who with his dying breath re- 
 commended me to succeed him) — I received an 
 invitation also to settle in Argyle chapel. For 
 a time I was perplexed ; but while deliberating 
 on these two proposals, some circumstances 
 arose which immediately determined ray move- 
 ment towards this city. The step was to me 
 an event of unspeakable importance ; but it was 
 instantly followed by a conviction that I was 
 where I ought to be : and this conviction never 
 for a moment wavered. Disregarding, therefore, 
 all subsequent offers to change my situation 
 (and some of them, compared to my salary, 
 were very lucrative,) I resolved to continue in 
 a connexion which has proved a peculiarly 
 happy one ; but which has, as you here see, 
 witnessed the lapse of the larger and better part 
 of my life. It is worthy of remark, that the first 
 text I ever preached from among those who 
 were to become my "hope," and "joy," and 
 " crown of rejoicing," was, " What I do thou 
 
REV. W. JAY S SERMON. 
 
 47 
 
 knowest not now, but thou shalt know here- 
 after." 
 
 Some time after the acceptance of the call, I 
 was ordained — fifty years ago yesterday. The 
 charge was addressed to me by my honoured 
 friend and tutor, Mr. Winter ; and the sermon to 
 the people was preached by the Rev. John 
 Adams, of Salisbury. 1 was a young pastor — • 
 but the people despised not my youth ; and, un- 
 der various deficiencies and inexperience, they 
 patiently waited for more maturity from ripen- 
 ing seasons. 
 
 Without entering into the minuteness of any 
 human system of divinity (which I would not do 
 for any people under heaven,) I engaged to 
 preach Mr. Hervey's three R's, as they have 
 been called, — Ruin, redemption, and regenera- 
 tion ; ruin by Adam, redemption by Christ, and 
 regeneration by the Spirit. From these princi- 
 ples — and these are principles — I have never 
 seen cause yet to swerve. And though, in this 
 long course of things, there have been many 
 " Lo, here's," and " Lo, there's," I have been 
 too much bent on the good old way to be attract- 
 ed by them. If in any minor things I have ever 
 differed from my brethren, and have had faith, 
 I have had it to myself before God ; or I have 
 
48 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 said, " Let every one be fully persuaded in his 
 own mind." 
 
 With regard to abstruse speculations — to 
 which I was naturally much inclined — I was, 
 after no inconsiderable reading and inquiry, 
 constrained to draw off my attention ; having a 
 full conviction that, if these things were not so 
 useless as not to merit regard, they were too 
 high to be reached, or too deep to be fathomed : 
 and therefore of such subjects I have long been 
 very contentedly ignorant. We shall know, 
 in a few moments after we enter the world of 
 light, much more than we could acquire here 
 by the laborious study of many years ; while 
 the precious time and attention saved from im- 
 pertinences can be rendered profitable to life 
 and godliness. I have valued nothing in teach- 
 ing since I have been here but what had, at 
 least in my own conviction, a practical bearing 
 on the conscience and conduct; fully persuad- 
 ed that, " as the body without the spirit is dead, 
 so faith without works is dead also." 
 
 But what is preaching without impression and 
 effect ? And is nothing here to be sacrificed to 
 secure this ? Can you plant a flower without 
 bending, or lift up a child from the ground 
 without stooping 1 Is there to be no difference 
 
REV. \v, jay's sermon. '49 
 
 between the press and the pulpit ? Are preach- 
 ers only to consider what will be gratifying to 
 scholars, and overlook the mass of their audi- 
 ence ? " The words of the wise are as goads 
 and as nails." There is no informing the mul- 
 titude in the way of dissertation : argument with 
 them is nothing, unless it be brief, and illustrat- 
 ed by comparison : and no feeling is to be pro- 
 duced without facts, examples, natural imagery, 
 touches of passion, and strokes of imagination. 
 How few are there of those who very freely 
 pronounce on preachers, who are proper judges 
 of what is necessary to rouse the careless mind, 
 CO relieve the jaded attention, to recal the wan- 
 dering thought, to fix a sentiment, to furnish a 
 handle to an idea, so that it may be laid hold of 
 and carried away ; to put a picture over the 
 lesson of the child ; to honey the vessel con- 
 taining the medicine which the patient is by no 
 means- willing to receive ! Yet we are talked 
 of, and we are censured, by persons who con- 
 sider condescension as a want of taste, and a 
 plainness of address as vulgarity, and who never 
 take into the account our situation as ministers, 
 our difficulties, and our aims. I remember, a 
 French king wished that all his subjects could 
 
 be kings for a few months; for, he said, it would 
 5 
 
50 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 free them from envy and reflection. I wish 
 that all our hearers, upon the same principle, 
 could be preachers for a few months ; for, I am 
 sure, it would disarm them of those free and 
 foolish remarks in which they now often in- 
 dulge. However, I bless God I have never re- 
 garded fastidious criticism, or resigned one par- 
 ticle of that freedom by which I could use any 
 thing important or convertible to popular edifi- 
 cation. Is not one sentiment, though it may be 
 quaintly expressed, which is remembered and 
 repeated by numbers twenty years afterwards, 
 better than a whole sermon of tame smooth- 
 ness, which slides oflf from the mind like oil or 
 mercury down a slant marble, and is forgotten 
 before the admiring audience have even reach- 
 ed their own homes ? 
 
 The state of things at my coming to Bath was 
 not considerable, but it was encouraging ; and 
 there seemed to be an open door, and not only 
 room, but a call for increased exertion. Our 
 Baptist friends had a church, but it allowed of 
 no mixed communion. The Wesleyans had an 
 interest, which was very prosperous ; and there 
 was a chapel belonging to the Countess of 
 Huntingdon, which had been a great blessing, 
 but it was then supplied by episcopalian minis- 
 
REV. W. jay's SERMON'. 
 
 51 
 
 ters only ; and the exclusion of other preachers 
 who had laboured there before gave rise to a 
 secession of persons who had been awakened, 
 and converted, and edified, by their labours. 
 This led, eventually, to the formation of the In- 
 dependent church here : for the seceding mem- 
 bers were encouraged by their former ministers, 
 and especially by the Rev. Rowland Hill (who 
 all through life ever took the liberal side of 
 things,) to secure a place, and to act for them- 
 selves ; which they immediately did. In the 
 Church of England there was nothinoj vv'hich 
 the evangelical clerg}^ who visited Bath would, 
 according to their views, consider the gospel ; 
 and none of them could gain admittance into 
 any pulpit of the Establishment here for many 
 years after my settlement, except that of my 
 respected father-in-law, who was then officiat- 
 ing at Batheaston, though his living was at a 
 distance. Perhaps the opinion of such a man 
 as jNIr. Wilberforce, an episcopalian himself, 
 concerning the state of things here at that pe- 
 riod, may be more regarded than my own. In 
 one of his letters, after kindly admonishing me 
 (and the admonition was not needless or use- 
 less) to be very explicitly evangelical in every 
 discourse, he says, " I am aware that your own 
 
52 
 
 REV. W. jay's SERMON". 
 
 congregation may not stand in need of this ; hut 
 indeed, my dear sir, you are a debtor both to 
 Greeks and barbarians. Consider the situation 
 in which you stand — not another minister in 
 Bath whom any of the poor, wretched upper 
 classes are likely to hear who preaches the 
 gospel ! They come, perhaps, to your chapel ; 
 they never heard the word of life before ; they 
 never may have another opportunity. Pity 
 them, my dear sir, as I know you do. They 
 above all others deserve to be pitied. I, alas ! 
 have been more acquainted with them than you, 
 and am thereby the more impressed with the 
 sense of their wretched ignorance in spiritual 
 things — " 
 
 The peculiarity, therefore, of my situation 
 influenced, in a considerable degree, my preach- 
 ing and my ministry. I saw that the impression 
 must be very much made in the pulpit : and I 
 kept my eye, not only upon my home-hearers, 
 but upon strangers, who, at that time, often 
 peculiarly needed evangelical information, and 
 who, if they obtained good, would carry it away 
 and disperse it in their own neighbourhood. And 
 I cannot but bless God for the number of persons 
 who have made acknowledgments of this kind ; 
 and no few of whom were ministers, or becamre 
 
REV. W. jay's SERMOX. 
 
 63 
 
 such, nor less than seven of these episcopa- 
 lians. 
 
 A church, therefore, of our own faith and 
 order, seemed to be here desired. To this en- 
 couragement was given, not only by residents, 
 but by visiters. One, in particular, from Lon- 
 don, a banker, who nearly, if not entirely, at his 
 own expense, fitted up the old Roman-Catholic 
 chapel (which, for the glory of God, had been 
 burned down in the Gordon riots), and engaged 
 on his recommendation of a minister, to support 
 him till the people were able to bear the burden. 
 That house, now used by our friends the Qua- 
 kers, proving too small, my predecessor, encou- 
 raged especially by Lady Glenorchy, who pro- 
 mised a considerable sum (which was lost by 
 her untimely death), and others of his friends, 
 was induced to undertake the erection of this 
 place. When ready for use, that excellent man 
 of God for whom it was erected was too ill to 
 open it, though he was present : I therefore 
 performed all the services of the day ; and, as I 
 was the first preacher in this place, so I have 
 been the only pastor of this people. 
 
 I only add, that this church was from the 
 
 beginning as liberal in its discipline as a regard 
 
 to its purity would allow, never refusing oc- 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 REV. W. jay's SERMON'. 
 
 casional fellowship to communicants of otheT 
 churches: and though no lion was placed at the 
 door of entrance, and though no accounts of 
 conversion and experience were exacted before 
 all, what a small number from the beginning 
 here has ever been excommunicated, or even 
 suspended from the holy communion ! It is 
 remarkable, that, during the fifty years we have 
 been reviewing, there has been no division, no 
 discord, no jar. 
 
 As the cause has prospered much, there have 
 been several enlargements of the chapel, the 
 last of which was very expensive ; but all has 
 been paid for, and the place set clear by the 
 generosity of the church and the congregation, 
 which has afforded me no little gratification. 
 
 Such are the reflections derivable from the 
 subject of our text, and the occasion of the day. 
 And now what can 1 add more ? As I ascended 
 this desk, and looked down upon this vast 
 audience, I said to myself, Ah ! where will all 
 this assembly be by the return of this Jubilee 1 
 Some of you will remain, and perhaps you will 
 then be talking over what is now passing here : 
 but where, oh where, will the majority of you 
 be found then ? 
 
REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 55 
 
 As to many of us, a much shorter period will 
 have removed us, and the places that now know 
 us will know us no more for ever. Other 
 occupiers will fill these pews ; other singers will 
 lead the psalmody when the voices of those who 
 now charm us will be silent in the grave : and 
 another voice will be heard in this pulpit than 
 that which has filled it for fifty years past. 
 
 To how many of you is my ordination a 
 matter of history ! You have been born since 
 that day which many of your fathers and mothers 
 attended. How many of you have I taken in 
 these hands, and offered to God in holy bap- 
 tism ! How many of you have I hailed at your 
 coming to the table of the Lord ! And how 
 many of your connexions have I followed to our 
 l.mrying-ground ! " Ah!" says one, " there lies 
 my cherub child !" " And," says another, 
 " there lies the desire of mine eyes, taken away 
 with a stroke." " And there," says another, 
 "lies the guide of my youth." I am glad, 
 therefore, when every church has a place of 
 interment of their own : it seems keeping up 
 still a kind of connexion with the departed. 
 Our dead lie not amonsf strangers. " There I 
 buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife ; there I 
 buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife ; and there I 
 
56 
 
 REV. W. JAr's SERMON. 
 
 buried Leah." We have all our precious dust 
 in yonder ground ! where is the person belong- 
 ing to us who does not go to the grave to weep 
 there ? I am sometimes ready to be jealous 
 lest our burying-place should become richer 
 than our church. But no ; instead of the 
 fathers are the children. Our sons are plants 
 grown up in their youth; our daughters are 
 corner-stones, polished after the similitude of 
 palaces : and we haye a noble band of the 
 young and middle-aged, who have covenanted 
 with God, and who are saying, We will not 
 forsake the house of our God. Oh, how does 
 old age, while it leaves life, peel off continually 
 its connexions, till we seem left even as a beacon 
 upon the top of a mountain, or as an ensign 
 upon the hill ! Oh, how many of the various 
 relations of life, during such a varied and exten- 
 sive acquaintance as mine, have gone down to 
 the dust, and have seen corruption ! How 
 many ministers have been taken away ! " The 
 fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do 
 they live for ever ?-" Of all the ministers that 
 belonged to the Wiltshire Association when I 
 entered it, I am the only survivor : and of all 
 those who signed my call when I came here, 
 only one remains, whose venerable head you 
 
REV. W, jay's sermon. 
 
 57 
 
 would have seen here this day but for indispo- 
 sition. And, oh ! what a curtaihnent are fifty 
 years in a brief duration like ours ! Your 
 preacher, therefore, feels this ; and though, in 
 some measure, he can talk like Caleb, who said, 
 " As yet I am as strong this day as I was in 
 tlie day that Moses sent me : as my strength 
 was then, even so is my strength now, for war, 
 both to go out and to come in;" yet he does not 
 forget that the days of our years are threescore 
 years and ten. Yes ; therefore a period cannot 
 be far remote when, as he hopes he shall never 
 stand in the way of usefulness, he will either 
 entirely resign his labours, or share them with 
 another: and, though he knows the extreme 
 difficulty attached to a concern where three 
 parties are so deeply interested, the Lord can 
 provide. 
 
 Now I seem to be taking a farewell of the 
 fifty years which I have passed within these 
 happy walls ! What a difference between the 
 day of which I am reminded, and this day ! 
 Then, I was rapidly entering life : I am now 
 gradually withdrawing from it. Then, I was 
 commencing my voyage across an untried 
 ocean : now, with the glass in my hand, I am 
 looking for the fair havens. Then, I was a 
 
68 
 
 REV. W. jay's sermon. 
 
 mere youth: now, surrounded with children and 
 grand-children. What was then anxiety is now 
 repose ; what was then hope is now accomplish- 
 ment ; what was then prayer is now praise. 
 What a season of humiliation, you will naturally 
 conclude, must this have been ! We are hardly 
 aware of our deficiencies and imperfections till 
 something occurs which drives us to retire, and 
 reflect, and review. But who can look back 
 upon fifty years, and not exclaim, " Enter not 
 into judgment with thy servant, O Lord : for in 
 thy sight shall no flesh living be justified." " 0 
 Lord, if Thou shouldest mark iniquity, 0 Lord, 
 who can stand !" Yet what a season of thanks- 
 giving ought it to be ! How has my life been 
 indulged ! How few have been so satisfied with 
 favour, and filled with the blessing of the Lord ! 
 Yet I have had trials enough to remind me that 
 " full bliss is bliss divine." Though I have not 
 drunk deep of the cup, I have tasted the bitter- 
 ness of affliction. One trial has pressed upon 
 me with peculiar force ; and concerning which 
 I should have been ready to say. Lord, afflict me 
 in any other point — but his ways are judgment. 
 
 But what deliverances have I experienced 
 during this period ! Serious attacks of indis- 
 position formerly prepared me to expect an 
 
REV. w. jay's sermon. 59 
 
 abbreviated ministry ; and perhaps you looked 
 for it too : but, having obtained help of God, I 
 continue to this day ; and, after all the Ebene- 
 zers I have reared along the road, I now rear 
 the largest of them all. And 
 
 " Here in thy house I leave my vows, 
 
 And thy rich ^ace record : 
 Witness, ye saints, who hear me now, 
 If I forsake the Lord." 
 
REV. T. EAST'S SERMON. 
 
 *♦ They that turn many to righteousness as the stars 
 for ever and ever." Daniel xii. 3. 
 
 There is a sight which is sometimes seen by 
 others, but which you, as a congregation, have 
 never beheld — a deserted pulpit in mourning. 
 From such a heart-rending ^scene, easily 
 sketched in the imagination, I turn to-night to 
 the vision of life ; and, with feelings I shall 
 not attempt to describe, congratulate you, my 
 Christian brethren, that, instead of being assem- 
 bled together to listen to the deep sepulchral 
 voice of death, the sweeter, shriller, softer notes 
 of Jubilee have just struck upon your ear.* — 
 Your esteemed minister — not more esteemed 
 by you than by myself — has often stood where 
 I now stand, and gazed in the silent agony of 
 grief on the memorials of death presented to 
 his eye from almost every pew in this chapel. 
 
 * The congregation had just been singing the hymn, " Blow ye 
 the trampet, blow." 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 61 
 
 But hitherto the shield of the divine protection 
 has been around his life ; and he still lives to 
 execute that sacred trust committed to his 
 charge in the days of your fathers. And where 
 are they — the friends of his youth, and the 
 glory of his riper years 7 If I could now lift up 
 the veil which conceals the unseen world, you 
 might behold them shining as the brightness 
 of the celestial firmament, thinking of him to 
 whose faithful administrations they attribute 
 their being " turned to righteousness ;" and an- 
 ticipating, with ineffable delight, that hour you 
 so much dread, when he also, having finished 
 his course, shall enter into rest, there to shine 
 " as a star for ever and ever." 
 
 The private Christian, who has wisely 
 " chosen that better part which cannot be taken 
 away from him," and the faithful minister of 
 Jesus Christ, who is the means of " turning 
 many to righteousness," are living in the anti- 
 cipation of the same glorious issue of their 
 faith ; and when the end of their faith is real- 
 ized, though there may be some obvious marks 
 of distinction — as the star, which reflects light, 
 is necessarily more conspicuous than the firma- 
 ment which is merely pervaded by it — yet the 
 distinction will neither generate pride nor ex- 
 
62 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 cite envy, as each one will appear in his own 
 order and in his own glory ; while all will 
 ascribe their salvation to Him that sitteth upon 
 the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever. 
 
 In improving the service of the evening, al- 
 low me to call your attention, 
 
 I. To the work assigned to the faithful minis- 
 ter of Jesus Christ. And, 
 
 II. To the recompence he may anticipate, 
 and will ultimately receive. 
 
 I. The work assigned to the Christian 
 MINISTER— which is, to " turn many to righte- 
 ousness." 
 
 I. Their work is specific and of unparalleled 
 importance. They are not appointed to their 
 office to acquire distinction as men of learning, 
 of science, of literature, of magisterial dignity ; 
 or to be the leaders of a sectarian party whose 
 only cry is, " The temple of the Lord, the tem- 
 ple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are 
 we :" but to " turn many to righteousness" — 
 this is their work. 
 
 By this definite expression, we are not to 
 suppose that their work consists merely in 
 turning men from a course of practical impiety 
 to practical virtue ; as that may be done while 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 63 
 
 the primary object of ministerial labour is left 
 unaccomplished. Man, irrespective of his so- 
 cial habits of virtue or of vice, is a sinner 
 against God — guilty and depraved, and involved 
 in a sentence of condemnation from which 
 there is no deliverance but through the redemp- 
 tion of Jesus Christ. To convince him of his 
 guilt, that he may repent of sin ; and of his dan- 
 ger, that he may believe in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ ; is the work assigned to the faithful 
 minister of the gospel : and, when successful, 
 the sinner, like the condemned criminal whose 
 sentence is remitted, passes from death unto 
 life, is renewed in the spirit of his mind, and 
 made a partaker of the purity of the divine na- 
 ture. And thouo^h some, who are ignorant of 
 the provision which the gospel makes to guard 
 the sanctity of the law amidst the splendid 
 triumphs of sovereign and unmerited grace, may 
 imagine that we endanger the interest of social 
 virtue by placing the salvation of man exclusive- 
 ly on the redemption of Christ Jesus our Lord; 
 yet, my brethren, the apostles tell us — and their 
 testimony is confirmed by observation and prac- 
 tical experience — that as "there is no condem- 
 nation to them who are in Christ Jesus,'' so 
 also in them " the righteousness of the law is 
 
64 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 fulfilled and after this great personal and re- 
 lative change has been effected, their future 
 course is impelled, not by the tendencies of a 
 fallen and a depraved, but of a renewed and 
 sanctified nature ; they walk not after the flesh, 
 but after the Spirit. 
 
 The work then assigned to the minister of 
 Jesus Christ is to " turn many to righteousness;" 
 v/hich is of unparalleled importance to man 
 individually, and to man relatively. 
 
 It is important, my friends, in relation to your 
 •personal safety. You may have every social 
 virtue adorning your character — an amiable tem- 
 per, a sweet disposition ; all the relative duties 
 of life may be discharged with promptness and 
 facility ; there may be no apparent flaw in your 
 character : but, if you have no interest in the 
 redemption of Christ, you are like the condemned 
 traitor who is allowed to walk abroad, but who is 
 never secure — his life being forfeited, and may 
 be demanded any moment. 
 
 Therefore it becomes a question of vast im- 
 portance to your personal safety, and to your 
 personal happiness. The language of the Apos- 
 tle is very beautiful and very simple. " Being 
 justified by faith, we have peace with God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 65 
 
 so, but we can rejoice even with joy that is 
 unspeakable and full of glory." 
 
 It is important in relation to the 'personal dig- 
 nity of man. We often see a fine assemblage 
 of ^'irtues hovering around the reputation of men, 
 who are known to treat with insufferable con- 
 tempt the redemption of Jesus Christ as the 
 originating cause of their production. But then 
 we see these virtues associated with principles 
 which tarnish the lustre, and render them quite 
 recarious in the continuance. The man of 
 Honour fears not God. Generosity is associat- 
 ed with licentiousness. Compassion for physi" 
 cal wretchedness disdains to contribute to the 
 relief of spiritual misery- The intrepid advo- 
 cate of civil liberty is a persecutor of the faith- 
 ful in Christ Jesus. And only let a change take 
 place in their relative position in society ; — let 
 them be brought down from the pinnacle of 
 greatness to the valley of humiliation ; or be 
 called to follow the desire of their eyes, or their 
 first-born, to the tomb ; and how often will they 
 open a grave with their own hands, or utter 
 words of blasphemy, or cherish malignant feel- 
 ing against God, who has suffered these evils to 
 come upon them. But the moral principles 
 
 which constitute and adorn the character of the 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 KEV. T. EAST'S SERMON. 
 
 Christian, who has been created anew in Christ 
 Jesus, have no such associated rices to tarnish 
 their lustre, or endanger their permanent ex- 
 istence. He, like the man of constitutional 
 virtue, may see changes in the aspect of Provi- 
 dence ; but the strength and stability of his 
 principles will prove equal to the occasions of 
 their exercise; and in the decline of life, and 
 under the severest trials, no less than in the 
 "vigour of his days, when all things prospered 
 around him, he will appear, without ostentation, 
 invested with a moral dignitj-, which will com- 
 pel even strangers to the peculiar character of 
 his principles to admire and applaud them. 
 
 This work of turning many to righteousness 
 is of unparalleled importance in relation to man 
 relatively. 
 
 My esteemed friends, your minister said in 
 the morning that the peculiar circumstances of 
 the day really justified references and allusions, 
 which he other\^-ise could not have made from 
 the pulpit. I feel it necessary- to plead the pe- 
 culiar circumstances of the day, as an apolog}'- 
 for these personal references, which I cannot 
 avoid making, unless I suppress a communica- 
 tion which I think will give you pleasure to 
 hear ; while, at the same time, it will shew the 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 67 
 
 unparalleled importance of turning men to righte- 
 ousness, viewing them as standing in relation to 
 each other. 
 
 The recovery of the South Sea Islands from 
 the dominion of idolatry — the publication of the 
 Missionary Enterprise" — the sailing of the 
 ship Camden, from the mouth of the Thames, 
 on an extraordinary voyage of discovery — the 
 erection of Spring Hill college, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Birmingham, which bids fair to be 
 one of the most important institutions of Europe 
 — the religious experience of the person who 
 now addresses you, with all he possesses as a 
 citizen of this world, and all he anticipates as a 
 candidate for immortality — may be traced up to 
 the successful labours of your pastor. 
 
 Some years ago, Mr. Jay preached a sermon 
 London, which was the means of the conver- 
 n of a young man, possessing rather superior 
 ^3nts, who entered the ministry, rose to a con- 
 siderable eminence, and was rendered very 
 useful in turning many to righteousness. This 
 minister was preaching in Castle-street chapel 
 in Reading, when I was a wild lad — a specula- 
 tive and a practical infidel. I had often made a 
 mock of sin; but that did not satisfy me — I made 
 a mock of righteousness. Thirty-nine years 
 
68 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 ago last November I resolved to go to the chapel 
 once more, intending, on the following week, to 
 leave my native country for ever, without letting 
 any one know my purpose ; when, with a usual 
 form of expression — the last time I ever used 
 it, and one I dare not repeat here — I said I was 
 going to turn Methodist. Nothing was further 
 from my expectation or from my desire. I heard 
 that minister preach who attributed his conver- 
 sion to the labours of your pastor. God blessed 
 that sermon, I hope, to my salvation. I claim, 
 then, your minister as my grandsire in the faith 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. Soon after this great 
 change took place. Providence brought me to 
 Bath ; and here, from his lips, I received, with 
 meekness, I trust, the pure milk of the word, and 
 became established in the faith. 
 
 Seven-and-twenty years ago to-night, in the 
 providence of God, I was called to preach a 
 sermon at the Tabernacle in London. A young 
 man, of gay habits, and fme natural talents, who 
 was going to spend the evening at a tavern at 
 Islington, with some of his gay and dissipated 
 companions, was induced to enter, heard the 
 sermon, felt its power, offered his services to 
 the Missionary Society, and went forth to preach 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 69 
 
 the Gospel. That young man was John Wil- 
 liams, the missionary. 
 
 A few years ago, the providence of God 
 threw me into connexion with a gentleman who 
 had long lived a stranger to the grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. In answer to prayer, and 
 by the influence of example and conversation, 
 he was brought to the faith of Jesus, and was 
 so delighted with the mysterious change, that, 
 when walking with me in his sister's garden, he 
 said, " Mr. East, I will give you such an estate 
 if you can tell what to do with it." I replied, 
 after a momentary pause, "We will found a col- 
 lege for the education of young men for the 
 ministry." He, with his sisters, gave estates, 
 worth at least twenty thousand pounds, and he 
 brought me twenty thousand pounds in money. 
 The whole thing v/as arranged, and now it is in 
 the act of being brought into practical execu- 
 tion. 
 
 All this may be traced up to that one sermon 
 which your honoured minister preached, when 
 God attended it with divine power. 
 
 We see, then, the importance of one man 
 being " turned to righteousness" in relation to 
 other men, to the families of other men, to the 
 sectional parts of society where other men live, 
 
70 REV. T, east's sermon. 
 
 to distant parts of the world : and the effect of 
 that sermon will not be expended till the last 
 redeemed sinner is taken safe home to eternal 
 glory. 
 
 Nor is. it confined here. The angels of light 
 rejoice over the conversion of one sinner : and 
 how often, since that sermon was preached, have 
 they been called from their more immediate em- 
 ployment in the celestial kingdom to rejoice over 
 the conversion of sinners to God ! 
 
 2. I remark, that the work assigned to the 
 minister of Jesus Christ is ihe most lionourahle^ 
 and yet ihe most difficult, that can he entrusted to 
 human agency. 
 
 It is the most honourable, inasmuch as it is 
 that work w^hich the Son of God came to per- 
 form. It is precisely that species of labour 
 which the angels of light and the disembodied 
 spirits of the just would prefer, if they were 
 allowed to come into human form : and it is 
 almost the only species of labour which entails 
 neither shame, nor the sense of meanness, nor 
 discredit, during the period it is engaged in, or 
 when it is actually terminated. 
 
 But while it is thus honourable, it is, at the 
 same time, equally arduous. It is no easy 
 thing, my friends, as you know from personal 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 71 
 
 experience, for a minister of Christ, to induce 
 the thoughtless, the careless, the unconverted, 
 to give a prompt and a serious consideration to 
 this great question — " What must I do to be 
 saved ?" It is not an easy thing, when we are 
 preaching, to fix your attention, to control your 
 habit of thinking, to leave those impressions on 
 your minds which shall constrain you to think 
 when you go away from a place of worship, that 
 shall superinduce the habit of solemn considera- 
 tion and devout inquiry. And even when this 
 first difficulty is got over, what various objec- 
 tions will men advance, not in favour of their 
 own salvation (as one should naturally imagine, 
 if positively ignorant of the tendencies of human 
 nature,) but against it, as though they had an 
 interest in being lost. 
 
 And when objections are in some measure 
 silenced, when a spirit of thoughtful inquiry 
 comes over the heart, impressions made, the 
 spirit of prayer excited, the Bible read, the 
 question propounded to the minister, or to a 
 private Christian friend, " What must I do to 
 be saved?" — entrance obtained into the Christian 
 church, and the ordinance of the Lord's supper 
 received — oh ! what difficulty to keep the young 
 convert from associating with the world, to 
 
72 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 sustain these impressions, to guard these habits, 
 to invigorate these principles, to lead him on 
 through the temptations of the world in safety, 
 till at length he is fitted for the kingdom of 
 heaven ! 
 
 Brethren, what an extraordinary combination 
 of talent does a minister require who keeps 
 constantly in view the great objects of his minis- 
 terial appointment ! I do not now refer so much 
 to intellectual as to moral talent. What a large 
 portion of the spirit of Christ ought constantly 
 to rest upon him ! And what was the spirit of 
 Christ ? A profound regard for the honour of 
 God, combined with the tenderest compassion 
 for the salvation of man. He must unite the 
 fidelity of an ambassador with the ingenuity of 
 an advocate ; and thus preserve, unimpaired, 
 the legislative dignity of his sovereign, while 
 attempting to persuade men to be reconciled to 
 him. He has to win souls ; and the sacred 
 testimony says that this requires great practical 
 wisdom in varying the modes of address and 
 appeal to excite attention. I will venture to say 
 that my esteemed friend has often had his eye 
 fixed upon one, and another, and another, who 
 has grown up from youth to manhood, and from 
 manhood to old age, to whom he has often pre- 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 73 
 
 sented tnith in such a specific form as to hope 
 that now it will tell, without seeing any effects 
 produced : and the secret prayer has been, 
 " Lord, help me to construct a sentence that 
 shall touch to-day this man's heart." Oh ! how 
 difficult is the work of the ministry ! 
 
 3. I remark that the successful minister of 
 Jesus Christ must always entertain a -piercing 
 apprehension of his personal responsibility, asso- 
 ciated with the absolute renunciation of all self- 
 suficient power. 
 
 It has often been said that we are responsi- 
 ble only for our fidelity, not for our success. I 
 admit the truth of the expression to a certain 
 extent ; but I rather apprehend that there is, too 
 frequently, lurking under it a dangerous fallacy. 
 We are responsible for our success : if not, 
 there would be no lamentation if we are unsuc- 
 cessful ; no self-reproach ; no instituting this 
 inquiry, with a corresponding feeling of anxiety, 
 " Why do I conduct a series of services. Sab- 
 bath after Sabbath, month after month, year 
 after year, without being successful ?" The 
 fact is, that a holy man of God will feel that he 
 is responsible for the exercise of his talents to 
 the veiry full extent of their capability ; and 
 
 hence, inertness, indolence, consequent defect 
 7 
 
74 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 of motive, the absence of that all-absorbing 
 anxiety which should ever stand associated with 
 the discharge of ministerial duties, will lead 
 him to a deep prostration of soul before God, to 
 revive the work of grace in his heart, to induce 
 a greater earnestness and zeal in his cause, 
 that he may not at last stand in the divine pre- 
 sence alone, or with only few standing around 
 him, as his " crown of rejoicing." 
 
 In close connection with this personal re- 
 sponsibility there is the renunciation of all self- 
 sufficiency. In no one thing does the faithful 
 minister of Jesus Christ differ from the hireling 
 of superstition than in the entire renunciation of 
 all self-sufficiency to execute his ministerial 
 trust. The hireling of superstition — and it 
 matters not with what form of superstition he 
 stands in connexion — arrogates to himself lof- 
 ty pretensions, moves about amongst the people, 
 and wishes to inspire them with a mysterious 
 awe of his person, as entrusted with extraordi- 
 nary power, to give efficiency to his own min- 
 istrations. Hence, in the arrogance of his 
 spirit, he will talk of effecting the great change 
 of regeneration at the baptismal font — of for- 
 giving sins by virtue of the authority which he 
 himself 'possesses — and of giving to the poor dy- 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 75 
 
 ing sinner the sacrament, as a safe passport to 
 the kingdom of heaven. Heiice they will at- 
 tempt to make their admirers believe that the 
 administration of the sacraments, when it is 
 conducted by them, is sure to take effect ; as 
 they are entrusted with a delegated authority, 
 which renders the concurrence of a divine 
 power quite unnecessary. In opposition to 
 claims like these, the faithful minister of Jesus 
 Christ, however splendid his talents, and power- 
 ful his eloquence, will adopt the language of the 
 apostle, " Who is sufficient for these things 1 
 Our sufficiency is of God." If we are the 
 means of converting a sinner, reclaiming a back- 
 slider, comforting a believer, imparting conso- 
 lation to the wounded heart, it is all of God. 
 I will now proceed to call your attention, 
 
 II. To THE RECOMPENCE WHICH THE MINIS- 
 TER OF Jesus Christ is allowed to antici- 
 pate, AND will ultimately RECEIVE. " And 
 they that turn many to righteousness, as the 
 stars for ever and ever." 
 
 The law which prohibited the muzzling of 
 the ox when treading out the corn was a signifi- 
 cant enactment, expressive of that personal in- 
 terest which the minister of Jesus Christ is al- 
 
76 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 lowed to take in the progress and result of his 
 own labours. There were, this morning, some 
 touching allusions to the overwhelming anxieties 
 which have preceded, which have attended, 
 and have accompanied, the ministrations of this 
 pulpit for the last fifty years ; and if those 
 anxieties could at any period have been ren- 
 dered palpably visible to you or your fathers, 
 they would have excited sympathies such as 
 you have never felt, and led you to pour forth 
 such prayers as you have never uttered. But it 
 is a wisely-constituted law of the divine gov- 
 ernment, that in proportion to the labour shall 
 be the recompence — to the intensity of anxiety 
 accompanying its production, the bliss of the 
 feeling when the design is answered. Here 
 the anxiety has been felt : in that vestry the 
 recompence has been received. I sketch, I 
 have no doubt from real life. In that vestry, 
 your pastor has sometimes sat himself down, 
 pensive, oppressed, absorbed in thought. He 
 has been disturbed by the entrance of a stran- 
 ger — a young man — " Sir, I have been brought 
 by your ministry to see what a sinner I am : 
 will you tell me how I can be saved ?" — There 
 is the recompence. 
 
 And there is a certain recompence after the 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 77 
 
 work is done : though this is never anticipated 
 as deserved. I am confident that I speak the 
 feelings of your pastor's heart, in giving utter- 
 ance to my own, when 1 say that we sometimes, 
 in common with you, anticipate our final sal- 
 vation, but scarcely ever, if ever, go beyond it : 
 and if, under extraordinary excitement, the min- 
 ister of Christ really anticipates something of 
 that distinction which will be created on behalf 
 of those who " turn many to righteousness," he 
 will bow down and say, " Not unto me, O Lord, 
 not unto me, but unto thy name be all the glory." 
 
 But whether anticipated or not, it will be re- 
 alized. It cannot be otherwise. Time and 
 localities have an extraordinary influence even 
 now over the state of human feeling. Only let 
 strangers be associated unexpectedly in distant 
 localities from their own residence, and a fine 
 glow of feeling will spring up of a peculiar and 
 hallowed nature. And think you it is possible 
 for a minister of Jesus Christ to enter heaven, 
 and there distinctly recognise those to whom he 
 ministered the word of life on earth, without 
 feeling what no language was ever invented to 
 describe ? I do not know, I confess, the full 
 import of the meaning of my text. There are 
 
 many allusions to heaven — its order, its glory, 
 7# 
 
78 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 and to tlie sources of its felicity ; but there is 
 nothing sufficiently defined to allow us to form 
 a clear conception of what we shall be, or of 
 the elevation and dignity to which we shall be 
 raised. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
 neither have entered into the heart of man to 
 conceive, the things which God hath prepared 
 for them that love him." 
 
 It will be a recompence in proportion to the 
 extent of the labour, its sacrifices, its difficulties 
 — the purity of the motive, and the vigour of 
 the principle, which have been employed in its 
 execution. " And they that turn many to right- 
 eousness." 
 
 I recollect, some years ago, taking a solitary 
 walk, and in the distance I saw a man who sud- 
 denly disappeared. Curiosity, rather than an 
 apprehension of danger, impelled me to quicken 
 my steps ; when I saw that he was in a state of 
 intoxication, rolling down a steep bank, the 
 bottom of which was within seven feet of a 
 canal ! I hurried down, and was in time to put 
 ray foot on the curbstone of the canal, and save 
 him from destruction. I never returned from a 
 walk with more complacent satisfaction than on 
 that evening. But it was the only instance of 
 the kind that ever occurred. If such an occur- 
 
REV. T. EAST S SERMON. 
 
 79 
 
 rence had frequently happened, the amount of 
 my felicity would have been in proportion to the 
 extent of my usefulness. So here — " many to 
 righteousness." Oh! to think of sustaining one 
 situation for half a century, for no other avow- 
 ed and real, practical purpose than to save men 
 from everlasting destruction, and to prepare 
 them for eternal felicity ! This is the noblest 
 
 vork in which a man ever could be enCTaaed ; 
 
 ud the gratification resulting from it, when the 
 whole mystery of God is accomplished, must be 
 in proportion to its success. 
 
 This will be shared in common with others 
 engaged in the same delightful labour. Unhap- 
 pily, the artificial distinctions either of civil or 
 ecclesiastical wisdom or folly, purity or crime, 
 divide Christian from Christian, and minister 
 from minister. The disciples of Jesus Christ, 
 redeemed by the same blood, sanctified by the 
 same Spirit, and tending towards the same in- 
 heritance, live as foreigners and strangersj 
 rather than as fellow-citizens ; often opposed to 
 each other, though bowing at the same throne 
 of grace, and avowing attachment to the same 
 Saviour. So with ministers : one says, " I 
 am a Paedobaptist," another, " I am a Bap- 
 tist :'■ one, I am a Calvinist," another, " I 
 
80 REV. T. EAST'S SERMON. 
 
 am a Methodist;" one a Dissenter, another a 
 Churchman ; one a Presb}'terian, another an 
 Episcopalian. And we delight in these desig- 
 nations of human origin, pressing them around 
 us with all their repulsive spirit, rather than 
 rising superior to their influence, and acting 
 with dignity, as the disciples and ministers of 
 Christ, and cherishing that reciprocal aflfection 
 which he has made the test of character. 
 
 How long this state of things is to continue 
 is known only to that great and good Being who 
 knows the end from the beginning. But this I 
 believe — that if there be one sin which may be 
 designated a national crime, it is not swearing, 
 it is not drunkenness, it is not sabbath-break- 
 ing, it is not licentiousness, it is not infidelity, 
 in any of its forms : it is disunion among the 
 disciples of Christ, especially among the minis- 
 ters. This is the curse of curses : this is the 
 cause that Infidelity lifts up her head with such 
 a front as she bears ; asking the question, satiri- 
 cally, scornfully, indignantly, " Can you be the 
 disciples of Christ who are so opposed to each 
 other 
 
 But there is a world where these unhallowed 
 distinctions, with their accompanying spirit, will 
 all vanish away, and each one in his own order ; 
 
REV, T. east's sermon. 
 
 81 
 
 no Episcopalian there, no Presbyterian there, 
 no Baptist there, no Pagdobaptist there : no, 
 none but the disciples of Christ : and none will 
 " shine as stars for ever" but his faithful ser- 
 vants ; without these human distinctions so 
 dishonouring and so destructive of harmony and 
 of peace. 
 
 Without trespassing much longer on your at- 
 tention, permit me to say, that if there be one 
 minister on earth whom I revere and esteem for 
 his uniform consistency, and the extent of his 
 very successful labours, that minister is your 
 honoured pastor. And rather than not have 
 been present to have witnessed what 1 hope to 
 see on Tuesday, if there had been no vehicle 
 to have brought me, I would have walked every 
 step of the way. 
 
 As for you, my Christian brethren, of this 
 congregation, allow me to congratulate you on 
 the high character you have sustained as a con- 
 gregation for so many years. As the apostle 
 had commended the church at Macedonia, I 
 feel myself at liberty to make some reference to 
 you. There was a time when I knew you in- 
 timately — at least I knew your fathers — and I 
 must say, that, having been your neighbour for 
 twelve years before I went to Birmingham, I 
 
82 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 can bear testimony — which no one, I think, 
 who ever knew you, would ever contradict — 
 that you have, for a series of years, sustained 
 a reputation as a Christian church and congre- 
 gation of which you have no reason to be 
 ashamed. 
 
 I recollect once spending a portion of the day 
 with a gentleman, standing very high in the re- 
 ligious world, who was tinged rather deeply 
 with the Antinomian heresy — and who, at that 
 period, though accustomed to my ministry for a 
 few weeks in the year, could hardly tolerate 
 it, not being exactly of that description which 
 suited his taste — very gravely asked me this 
 question, " You know Mr. Jay's congregation, 
 don't you, sir, as you are a neighbour ?" I said, 
 "Yes." ''Is there any piety among them?" 
 " Piety among them ! My opinion of Mr. Jay's 
 congregation is this — taking it altogether, it is 
 the finest in the West of England, both in rela- 
 tion to the consistency of its religious charac- 
 ter, its harmony, its unity, its devotion to its 
 minister and its pastor, and the prevalence of 
 personal piety among its members." This was, 
 then, my opinion ; and I believe nothing has 
 since occurred to change it. You have a good 
 character — sustain it — thank God for it ! 
 
REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 83 
 
 The degree of influence which is recipro- 
 cally exercised by a minister and people, in the 
 formation of their respective characters, is one 
 of those questions which it is not easy to solve 
 to the satisfaction of a cautious, and especially 
 a fastidious mind. Sometimes the congregation, 
 forms the character of the pastor in his early 
 settlement; and then the pastor throws back 
 his character on the state of his congregation. 
 Here I would call upon you to be thankful that 
 you have, for a long series of years, had pre- 
 siding over you, and have the prospect of his 
 continued presidency, one whose example, 
 whose spirit, whose entire character, you can 
 think of without a blush, and in reference to 
 whom you were never put to the necessity of 
 olfering either an apology or an explanation. 
 And in proportion to your advantage is your re- 
 sponsibility. There is a season coming on 
 which your eye is to gaze, for which his labours 
 have been preparing you ; but the result of his 
 labours is yet unknown. I do not refer to what 
 is to take place on Tuesday : that will be a 
 novel sight — a gratifying sight. Who would 
 give a premium to be absent 1 Why, no one 
 who has an attachment to his minister and pas- 
 tor ; no one who wants to see a sight which is 
 
84 
 
 REV. T. east's sermon. 
 
 rarely seen, that may never be seen again ; no 
 one who wants any thing like peculiarity to 
 mark a period in the progress of time. Tues- 
 day will soon be here ; the events of that day 
 will soon come and go ; the sight will be soon 
 exhibited, and remain only 'in the recollection, 
 exercising a little influence on human conduct, 
 perhaps on human principle : but soon it will 
 be past. There is another sight coming far 
 more glorious than the one to which I have just 
 referred ; when your revered minister will be 
 presented faultless, in the immediate presence 
 of God our Saviour, and receive his crown of 
 righteousness. But, alas ! how many, eager to 
 see the gratifying sight which Tuesday is ex- 
 pected to exhibit, feel no intense anxiety to be- 
 hold his celestial coronation. 
 
 Allow me to address myself to you, children 
 of the departed, whose fathers, whose mothers, 
 the friends of your youthful days, are now glo- 
 rified spirits in the celestial world. Have you 
 joined yourselves to Christ ? or are you living 
 without prayer, without repentance, without 
 faith, fitting yourselves for destruction ? Oh, 
 my dear friends, though I know you not person- 
 ally, let me beseech you not to let this day pass 
 till you have, by solemn prayer to God through 
 
REV. T. EAST S SERMON. 
 
 83 
 
 Jesus Christ, looked up for the salvation of 
 your souls. 
 
 How soon this solemn scene will come — who 
 can tell 1 "Who would like to see the greatest 
 ranger in this congregation led out now, by 
 oome ruffian band, bearing an official character, 
 connected with stem justice, and, in the pre- 
 sence of the whole, compelled to follow, to wit- 
 ess him executed, without even time to ask 
 ..ny? 
 
 But what is such an occurrence as this in 
 omparison with the awful solemnity of a spirit 
 ■'ins, damned, and lost in a moment and for 
 . er ? As now is the accepted time, let me be- 
 ech you to flee for refuge to Jesus Christ, 
 > ho alone can save you from the wrath to come; 
 who alons can make you meet to be partakers 
 of the inheritance of the saints in light. Hav- 
 ing done this, what a splendid scene will be 
 visible, when, rising to the eternal world as the 
 brightness of the firmament, you will behold the 
 ministers of Christ in their order, as stars shin- 
 ing for ever and for ever ; amidst the whole, the 
 "^un of Righteousness in his glory, his dignity, 
 nd his greatness ! 
 -May God command his blessing. Amen. 
 8 
 
SOCIAL CELEBRATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 JUBILEE OF THE REY. W. JAY'S 
 PASTORATE. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, the 2d of February, 1841, 
 a breakfast took place at the Assembly Rooms, 
 Bath, in accordance with a proposal made by 
 Mrs. H. Stothert, Mrs. C. Godwin, Mrs. 
 Spender, and Mrs. R. Hopkins, members of 
 the church at x\rgyle chapel, and approved by 
 the Rev. William Jay and the Committee ; the 
 arrangements of which were conducted with 
 great taste, order, and satisfaction. 
 
 At ten o'clock, the Rev. J. Lewis implored 
 the divine blessing in the large room, and the 
 Rev. W. Skinner in the octagon room; and 
 when breakfast was finished, the tables in the 
 large room were removed, and the friends from 
 the octagon room admitted, so that during the 
 Meeting the Presentation all were together. 
 
REV. W. jay's jubilee. 
 
 87 
 
 The number of persons at the breakfast was 
 eight hundred and twenty ; the expense being 
 defrayed by the sale of tickets. 
 
 Free tickets were given to ministers who 
 attended on the occasion, and also to the poor 
 members and Sunday-school teachers belonging 
 to Argyle chapel. 
 
 The ministers present were the Rev. Messrs. 
 Bedford, of Winchester ; East, of Birmingham; 
 Elliott, of Devizes ; Haynes, Lucy, Thomas, 
 and Davie, of Bristol ; Gregory, of Clifton ; 
 Nichols, of Darwen, Lancashire ; Glanville, of 
 Kingswood, Gloucestershire; Lewis, of Wot- 
 ton-under-edge ; Jupp, of Melksham ; Hine, of 
 Plymouth; Fernie, of Frome; Skinner, of Bru- 
 ton ; Hopkins, of Weston-super-Mare ; Harris, 
 of Westbury, Wilts ; Oxley, of Sherborne ; 
 Penman, of Yeovil; Bishop, of Bridgewater; 
 Edwards, of Frampton-upon-Severn ; Smith, of 
 Marlborough; Martin, of Cheltenham; Mann, 
 of Trowbridge ; Rees, of Chippenham ; Slade, 
 of Corsham, Wilts ; Russ, of Seaton, Devon- 
 shire ; Jackson, of Taunton ; W. Bunting, of 
 Manchester; Owen, Richards, Wassail, Cater > 
 Jackson, Thornton, Brown, Reichell, Griffith, 
 and Seaville, of Bath. 
 
 At half-past six in the evening, the closing 
 
88 
 
 REV. W. jay's jubilee. 
 
 celebration of the Jubilee took place in Argyle 
 chapel, the principal scene of the protracted 
 and successful labours of the venerable pastor. 
 The large building was densely thronged long 
 before the commencement of the meeting. 
 
 On one side of the pulpit was placed a pillar, 
 commemorative of the late Rev. Thomas Tup- 
 pen, and of the erection of the chapel ; and on 
 the other side a corresponding pillar, commemo- 
 rative of the fifty years' pastorate of the Rev. 
 William Jay. The pillars are of Scotch gra- 
 nite, beautifully polished; and were executed 
 according to the chaste design of Mr. H. E. 
 Goodridge, architect ; each is surmounted by a 
 bronze lamp. 
 
MORMXG METING AT THE ASSE3IBLY-R003IS, 
 
 AXD 
 
 PRESENTATION OF TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 Hexry Godwin, Esq.. in the Chair. 
 
 The Rev. John Owen read the 133d Psalm; 
 and the ReT. W. L. Thornton besought the 
 divine blessing on the proceedings of the day. 
 
 One of the hymns, composed expressly for 
 the occasion, by James Montgomery. Esq., of 
 Sheffield, was then sung : it wiU be found at 
 the end of this volume. 
 
 The Chairman then addressed the Meet- 
 ing : — Ladies and Gentlemen, — I oueht, in the 
 conmienceraent of the present festival : for so 
 we consider it ; to inform you that we have re- 
 ceived letters from several eminent and distin- 
 guished ministers, which would be read if it 
 were not feared that they would trespass too 
 
90 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 much upon the time which can be more profita- 
 bly employed. I will, therefore, merely say, 
 in few words, that their contents are nearly 
 uniform, expressing regret at the writers' being 
 unable to be present to celebrate with us this 
 very interesting occasion, and their unaltered 
 and unalterable attachment to our esteemed 
 pastor. They express their warmest desire 
 that the meeting may be conducted, from be- 
 ginning to end, in a spirit which I am sure will 
 characterize it. 
 
 As there is this uniformity in the letters, I 
 will not occupy the time by reading them : but 
 there is one from the individual who, if indis- 
 position had not prevented him, would have 
 filled the situation which I now hold. I need 
 not say that I allude to Mr. Henry Griffith, the 
 senior deacon of Argyle chapel, and the only 
 survivor of those who signed the requisition to 
 Mr. Jay to become its minister. That letter 
 must be his apology for not being present ; and 
 it must be my apology for taking this situation. 
 
 I believe, if I understand at all the duties 
 and the province of the chairman of a meeting 
 such as this, he is expected to give something 
 like a character and a tone to the assembly 
 over which he presides. Now I conceive that 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOM. 
 
 91 
 
 the characteristics of a meeting such as this 
 should bear the impress of sacred pleasure and 
 brotherly love. It is delightful to retreat from 
 a world of turmoil and care, distracted with the 
 conflict of politics, into a hallowed circle such 
 as wc are now enjoying. It is something for 
 me, too, who have mingled, perhaps too much, 
 in the earthly politics of the day, to breathe 
 here something of the atmosphere of heaven, 
 and to unite in the delightful enjoyments which 
 we have anticipated and are now realizing. 
 
 I was considering, on Saturday, on what peg 
 I should hang the observations I should ad- 
 dress to you : and I intended to say something of 
 the endeared connexion which subsists between 
 a minister and his people, and especially one 
 which has subsisted, for half a century, be- 
 tween our honoured pastor and his congrega- 
 tion. But my reverend friend completely cut 
 the ground from under me in his admirable dis- 
 course last sabbath morning. It was then the 
 principal subject with him, and he invested it 
 with all the solemnities of eternity, and with 
 all the responsibilities of the judgment bar. 
 I shall therefore abstain from touching on that 
 point. I intended also to refer to the circum- 
 stances and condition of the country during the 
 
9^ 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 fifty years which he has passed amongst us. 
 But here again I have been anticipated : and 
 I shall therefore only say, in general terms, 
 that I entirely agree with Mr. Jay, that they 
 have been the most important years which have 
 distinguished the Christian era, one similar 
 period only excepted — the first fifty years, 
 when the great " mystery of godliness" appear- 
 ed, God manifest in the flesh, when angels 
 witnessed " the suffering of Christ, and the 
 glory that should follow." With that excep- 
 tion, no fifty years have occurred in the world's 
 history which may be compared in their im- 
 portant, their religious results ; and they ap- 
 peared to me to form an important link in that 
 chain which shall unite them with the period 
 when, " to those who look for him, the Saviour 
 shall appear the second time without sin unto 
 salvation." 
 
 If brevity be the soul of wit, I assure you, 
 you shall have a witty chairman to-day; and I 
 will proceed, without any lengthened address, 
 to refer at once to one or two things which 
 have struck me. 
 
 In the testimonial which lies before me I 
 perceive a sweet intermingling of sentiment, of 
 regard, and of love. In it the peer of the realm 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOM. 
 
 93 
 
 and the honest mechanic, the dignitary of the 
 church and the humble teacher of the Sunday 
 school, the widow's mite and the offering of the 
 affluent, are blended : and surely we shall catch 
 the flame which has here been manifested, and 
 not say or do anything which is inimical to 
 this catholic spirit. We have left all our dif- 
 ferences outside the door, and I trust we are not 
 going to bring them in. We meet here without 
 the compromise of a single principle ; but I 
 hope we shall meet without inflicting a wound 
 upon any man's conscience. I trust that this 
 meeting will resemble some we have witness- 
 ed, where the platform has been raised too high 
 to be assailed by sectarian differences, and that 
 we shall be imbued with something of the 
 spirit of that world above, where party names 
 and distinctions are unknown. 
 
 There is one witness whom I could almost 
 wish were here this morning to bear his testi- 
 mony to the worth of our beloved pastor. Be- 
 lieve me, sir, I am not going to indulge in the 
 language of adulation : it would be as repugnant 
 to me as it would be offensive to you ; and as 
 contrary to the canons of good taste as to the 
 canons of scripture. I wish the sainted Wil- 
 berforce were here to testify his esteem for 
 
94 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 you : and we know not but that he may be look- 
 ing down with pleasure upon us now ; for if an- 
 gels rejoice over a repentant sinner, why should 
 not glorified saints look with ecstasy upon such 
 a scene as this ? But I can give you the testi- 
 mony of Wilberforce himself; and I give it you 
 on the veracity of a man who feels, I trust, that 
 he stands in the sight of God. 
 
 Though not intimately acquainted with that 
 good man, I had the pleasure of having three in- 
 terviews with him, in one of which Mr. Jay was 
 the subject of conversation ; speaking of whom 
 he said, " There is one thing in Jay, (for he 
 spoke familiarly, and I will speak familiarly 
 too,) there is one thing in Jay, dear Jay, that I 
 love : it is, his uniform consistency, his uniform 
 humility. I remember him when he was a very 
 young man ; and I know that the popular ap- 
 plause which followed him was enough to turn 
 a young head. But he always kept his steady 
 course : I never saw him in the least inflated 
 by it : I never saw the least indication of his 
 being so : he seemed to shake it off as the lion 
 shakes the dew from his mane. Dear Jay ! I 
 love Jay !" Such was the testimony of Wil- 
 berforce : but his sons appear to have forgotten 
 that love ; at all events, they have not shewn it 
 in the biography of their father. 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 95 
 
 I am old enough, my friends, to have wit- 
 nessed a great deal of the popularity of Mr. 
 Jay : and, of all the trials and temptations he 
 has had, perhaps that has been the greatest. I 
 have seen him a young man, launched, like a 
 vessel laden with divine truth, upon the troub- 
 lous, treacherous ocean of popularity : he has 
 kept his steady course ; the flag aloft has been 
 the union of faith, hope, and charity ; Christ 
 has been at the helm, and the glory of God has 
 been his polar star; the Bible has been his 
 compass ; the sweet breath of heaven, humble 
 prayer, has filled the well-spread sails, and 
 carried him onward. But he has had the gales 
 of trouble, and the billows of sorrow, which 
 have risen against him : and many a frail bark 
 which attended him has been shivered upon the 
 rocks, or wrecked upon the shoals. By the 
 grace of God he has kept his steady course; 
 he has gone onward and onward towards the 
 fair haven of eternal rest : and here he is, still 
 going onward. Soon — alas! too soon, perhaps, 
 for us — he will reach the blissful shores of 
 eternity, thence beckoning us along, and shout- 
 ing, " Victory, victory, through the blood of the 
 Lamb!" 
 
 There is another individual who is not pre- 
 
96 
 
 mornIng meeting 
 
 sent : how I wish she had been here ! I refer 
 to her who first gave him the title of a parent — 
 the beloved one who first said to this amiable, 
 venerable couple, " Father !" " Mother!" Oh! 
 I wish Mrs. Bolton had been here. Some of 
 us love that woman : we love her husband well: 
 and, though she is absent. I trust our prayer is 
 that she may be blessed. 
 
 And now, my beloved pastor, I turn to you. 
 It is my duty to read to you the address of your 
 church and congregation, which so much accords 
 with my own sentiments that I cannot do bet- 
 ter than let it conclude mine on the present 
 occasion. 
 
 To the Reverend William Jay. 
 
 Reverend and very dbar Sir, 
 
 Fifty years have rolled away since a gracious God was pleased 
 to direct the church and congregation assembling in Arg>ie chapel 
 to choose you as their pastor. : Solemn is the thought, that of 
 those who then crowded to hear you profess " a good profession 
 before many witnesses," few— very few remain to welcome this 
 day ; and of those who then invited you to accept the ministerial 
 charge, one — only one honoured individual survives. But God 
 has preserved you ! and we are' how assembled to commemorate 
 the lapse of half a century spent in holy duty, and affectionate 
 intercourse between yourself and the people of your charge. 
 
 We come not to praise' you. It would not be acceptable to you, 
 and we regard the occasion as too hallowed for .any such pur- 
 pose. Wo desire to unite with you in fervent gratitude to the 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOJIS. 
 
 97 
 
 Great Head of the church for the signal blessings He has bestowed 
 on you, in fitting you for the high, and sacred, and distinguished 
 course of ministerial usefulness He has enabled you to fulfil; 
 and on us, as a church and a congregation, in providing for us so 
 rich and edifying an exhibition of the gospel of the grace of God, 
 
 But, wliile we bow in gratitude before the Most High, and 
 would devoutly adore Him for his goodness, we cannot be insen- 
 sible, that, under Him " from whom cometh every good and per- 
 fect gift," we owe you much. To the great Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, Philemon owed his "own self." To you some of us 
 re Tinder similar obligations; and it is our prayer, that with 
 se of our predecessors and fellow-worshippers, who have 
 parted in the faith, we mayunitedly rejoice in the day of Christ, 
 that you have neither run nor laboiired in vain. 
 Receive from us, very dear sir, the assurance of our strong 
 ' ction and unabated regard ; and with it, as a token of our 
 achment to your person— of our veneration for your charac- 
 and of our gratitude for your labours as a faitliful minister of 
 list, we request your acceptance of the accompanying tribute 
 of esteem. 
 
 Finally, we pray for your prosperity, and commend you to the 
 love of the Savioxir. May the evening of life, which is now come 
 upon you, and upon one who has tenderly and long augmented 
 your joys, and alleviated your anxieties, ever be irradiated by the 
 Divine presence : and when it shall please Him, whom you serve, 
 to call you to the temple above, may these glorious words break 
 upon your ear—" Well done, good and faithful servant ; enter 
 thou into the joy of thy Lord 1" 
 
 Signed on behalf of the Church and Congregation, Bath, 30th 
 Januar}-, 1841. 
 
 Wm. Newall, 
 James Bryant, 
 K. H. CRirriTH, 
 
 Henry Griffith, 
 
 Isaac Titley, 
 Jacob Titlky, 
 Samuel Fisher, 
 
 Deacons of the Church. 
 
 9 
 
98 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 H. Godwin, Chairman of the Committee. 
 Rice Hopkins, Secretury of the Committee. 
 
 William George, 
 John Barnard, 
 Edward Saunders, 
 Charles Godwin, 
 George Northmork, 
 Thomas Barter, 
 Ja.mes Griffiths, 
 William Gibbons, 
 Henry Edm. Goodeidoi, 
 
 John Matthews, 
 George King, 
 Richard Parker Lemon, 
 William Price, 
 Richard Finigan, 
 William James, 
 John Griffiths Manpford, 
 J. C. Spendzr, 
 S. King, 
 
 Henry Morgan, 
 Being the Committee appointed at a General Meeting of the Church 
 and Congregation, held 13th October, 1840. 
 
 With this address, sir, which so fully ex- 
 presses my own sentiments, 1 have to present 
 you also with this salver and purse, which 
 contains £650, as a token of our united esteem, 
 affection, and gratitude. 
 
 The address, written on fine vellum, was a 
 chaste specimen of penmanship, the produc- 
 tion of Mr. James Griffiths. It was surround- 
 ed by a richly-ornamented border, executed by 
 Mr. H. E. Goodridge. 
 
 The case containing the roller on which the 
 address was placed was the contribution and 
 work of Miss Eliza King. The material was 
 rich purple brocaded satin, trimmed with bands 
 of purple velvet and silver lace. 
 
 The salver (manufactured by Mr. Moore) 
 was of solid silver, with a shell-pattern border, 
 containing in the centre the following inscrip- 
 tion, surrounded with an engraved wreath of 
 flowers : 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 99 
 
 PRESENTED, 
 TOGETHER V.'ITH THE SUM OF SIX HUNDRED 
 
 AND FIFTY POUNDS, 
 TO THE 
 
 Kn). lUilliam Jag, 
 
 BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH AND 
 
 CONGREGATION 
 ASSEMBLED IN ARGYLE CHAPEL, BATH, 
 AND BY OTHER FRIENDS, 
 ON THE COMPLETION OF THE FIFTIETH YEAR 
 OF HIS HAPPY AND USEFUL PASTORATE, 
 AS A TRIBUTE OF 
 CHRISTIAN ESTEEM, AFFECTION, AND GRATITUDE. 
 JANUARY XXX. MDCCCXLI. 
 
 The beautiful purple velvet bag, nobly orna- 
 mented with silver cord and tassels, which en- 
 closed the salver and the purse, of correspond- 
 ing beauty and pattern, were the production 
 and gifts of Miss Titley- 
 
 The venerated minister, for whose accept- 
 ance these various presents were intended as 
 tokens of regard and attachment, then rose, 
 amidst the enthusiastic congratulations of the 
 company ; and, though evidently labouring un- 
 der emotions which he could scarcely control, 
 delivered the following address : 
 
100 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 The Rev. William Jay : — Mr. Chairman, 
 and my Christian friends : Of late years you 
 have not often heard me speak publicly, unless 
 in my own appropriate sphere. It was not 
 without reflection and conviction that, believing 
 every man is best in his own order, considering 
 the limitation of human powers, and knowing 
 how liable I was to importunities, and feeling 
 the pressure of various important engagements, 
 I was induced to lay down a rule — and which 
 I rendered general, in order to avoid giving par- 
 ticular off'ence — that I would decline all plat- 
 form engagements, and confine myself more ex- 
 clusively to the press and the pulpit. 
 
 With regard to the former, I hope I have not 
 erred, because I have not failed, God having 
 given large acceptance and circulation to my 
 various and numerous publications : in conse- 
 quence of which I have the pleasure to think, 
 that, after my decease, there are many who may 
 derive some pleasure and profit from the labours 
 of my pen ; and especially that my own church 
 and congregation will be able to have in remem- 
 brance many of the things they heard from the 
 living voice. 
 
 Nor do I think I have been mistaken with re- 
 gard to the latter, when I was led to view my 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 101 
 
 principal duty as lying in Argyle chapel ; since, 
 after having preached there for more than half-a- 
 century, I have had no diminution in attendance 
 or attention ; and I now survey this large and 
 voluntary assembly, convened together to exhi- 
 bit tokens of their regard. 
 
 Without any intimation or promise from my- 
 self, I fear an expectation has been raised that, 
 on this occasion, I should take rather a large 
 review of a ministry, the fiftieth anniversary of 
 whose ordination, so many of my friends have 
 agreed to celebrate in this flattering manner. 
 But, in the first place, in the usual course of 
 nature, you will soon, from what I may leave 
 behind me, learn some of the circumstances of 
 my earlier history, if they may be worth inquir- 
 ing after ; and you will see the peculiar, the 
 very peculiar manner in which the providence 
 of God, without any design or eflbrt of my own, 
 or of my humble friends, led me into a work to 
 which I have consecrated so large a portion of 
 my life, happily, and I hope not unprofitably. 
 And, in the next place, on Sabbath-day morning 
 last (as our chairman has mentioned) I took a 
 pretty large review of things ; especially as 
 they led to the formation of my connexion with 
 those who have so long been my " hope, and 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 joy, and crown of rejoicing;" together with 
 some other circumstances connected with the 
 church and with the pastor. 
 
 I seem, therefore, now only called to do, what 
 would be a very pleasing duty were it not for 
 the load of emotion under which I am called to 
 discharge it : for, unless I were made up of in- 
 sensibility and stupidity, you must suppose that 
 I could not receive such an address, such a 
 token, such a testimonial, without feelings 
 which would be too oppressive and embarrass- 
 ing to allow of a full, or perhaps even proper, 
 utterance. I will not, therefore, attempt what 
 I feel to be impracticable ; but will briefly, and 
 simply, and in a manner the most respectful 
 and grateful, acknoAvledge my obligations to 
 you, Mr. Chairman, for your disinterested, zeal- 
 ous, and judicious agency — To the gentlemen 
 of the com.mittee who have been connected with 
 you ; and — To all those who have contributed 
 on this occasion, as if mentioned by name. 
 Many of them are present ; they can receive 
 my thanks from my own lips immediately : and 
 I hope that, in some way or other, they will 
 reach all those contributors also who are ab- 
 sent ; for I find that I have had friends not only 
 at home, but abroad : and also — To that distin- 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 103 
 
 guished and truly Christian poet who has deign- 
 ed to employ his muse on this occasion. 
 
 But what do I owe to those ladies who darted 
 into this business, and who have shewn (they 
 are always combined in them) so much earnest- 
 ness and taste in the arrangement of this festi- 
 val ? I never indeed despair of anything being 
 done, and being done well, when it once gets 
 into the heads, and the hearts, and the hands 
 of females. ]\Iy fair sisters, I am not indulging 
 the language of flattery. My conscience bears 
 me witness that I have always had a concern 
 in private and in public to plead the cause of 
 your sex ; and you may take it, if you please, 
 as a kind of testamentary avowal, that, in a long 
 and not unobserving life, I have always found 
 females — like the dear afflicted one at my right 
 hand — worthy of peculiar confidence, esteem, 
 and praise. 
 
 I hope I have character enough to obtain for 
 me a belief, when I affirm, that all, with regard 
 to this jubilee — excepting the sacred part of it 
 — originated with, and has been carried on by, 
 others : and therefore all the guilt must rest 
 upon the heads of a numerous body of friends, 
 who have been perhaps too partial and too warm 
 in their friendship. 
 
104 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 I should be sorry if any have been led to 
 imagine, because I have generally been suc- 
 cessful in life, that I had now well-feathered a 
 nest for myself, or for one dearer to me than 
 myself. But I can glory in saying, this is not 
 the case. While, therefore, with regard to the 
 pecuniary part of this oblation, I am not at a 
 loss to employ it, especially relatively and pros- 
 pectively, yet it is not with this that I am prin- 
 cipally impressed. " How long have I to live 
 that I should go up with the king to Jerusa- 
 lem?" I hope providence and grace have 
 taught me, in whatsoever state I have been, 
 therewith to be content. Nor can I expect to 
 derive any immediate comfort from this present; 
 but as a testimony of respect and approbation 
 I exceedingly prize it : and there are few things 
 which could have afforded me more pleasure, 
 considering the principle from which the gift 
 has sprung, and the various expressions of 
 esteem and regard with which it has been ac- 
 companied. 
 
 I feel also the unsectarian nature of this boon, 
 as it has come from churchmen and from dis- 
 senters, and from the various religious parties 
 for whom I have often preached — and for whom 
 I have always prayed, saying, " Grace be with 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 105 
 
 all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sin- 
 cerity;" for "whosoever shall do the will of 
 my Father which is in heaven, the same is my 
 mother, and sister, and brother." 
 
 From the rank and office of some of the con- 
 tributors, in church and state, perhaps it may 
 be expected that there should be a more distinct 
 acknowledgment. I am very willing to render 
 to them the praise which is their due ; but you 
 will allow me to say, I have been most affect- 
 ed with the poor of my flock : and nothing will 
 so long remain written on the fleshly table of 
 my heart as the generosity of one individual 
 who presented sixpence to one of my deacons, 
 adding, " I only wish it were a hundred pounds !" 
 
 I have only one thing more to add. 1 take 
 this purse, and I present it to you, madam, 
 [addressing Mrs. Jay, in whose hands he placed 
 the purse, amidst the warm applause of the com- 
 pany~\ — I present it to you, madam, who have 
 always kept my purse, and therefore it has been 
 so well kept. Consider it as entirely sacred to 
 your pleasure, your use, your service, your com- 
 fort. I know this has been perfectly unexpected 
 by you, but it is also perfectly deserved by you. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and my Christian friends ; — 
 there is not one here this morning but would 
 
106 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 acquiesce in this appropriation if they knew the 
 value of this female, as a wife for more than fifty 
 years; and if they knew also the obligation the 
 public is under to her (if I have been enabled 
 in any measure and degree to serve my genera- 
 tion ;) and how much her sex owe to one who 
 always raised and confirmed my estimation of 
 them ; and especially how much my own church 
 and congreo^ation owe to one who has watched 
 over their preacher's health, who has cheered 
 him under all his trials, who has reminded him 
 continually of his duty, who has animated him 
 in the prosecution of it, and who has freed him, 
 when in her power, from every interruption and 
 embarrassment, that he might be free in his 
 work ; and how much my family owe to her for 
 aiding in training up a number of children who 
 will always call her blessed, and being the mo- 
 ther of another mother who now resides in 
 America, shining at the head of a lovely train 
 of thirteen children, all v/alking with her in the 
 way everlasting, [^continued cheering.^ 
 
 The Chairman : — You will next be address- 
 ed by one of the oldest of Mr. Jay's contempo- 
 raries, the Rev. Richard Elliott, of Devizes. 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 107 
 
 Rev. R. Elliott : — It would be very difficult 
 for me Mr. Chairman, and my Christian friends, 
 to tell you under what class of emotions I rise 
 to address you upon this very interesting and 
 memorable occasion. Hearing that which I 
 have just heard, witnessing the solemn scene 
 which has been presented to my eyes, and per- 
 ceiving how deeply (I think I may say) you 
 have all been affected, I fear lest any remarks 
 which I may make, however affectionately, I 
 think of certain parties now present, may tend 
 to do away with the hallowed feeling which 
 has so delightfully prevailed throughout this 
 assembly. I could almost wish that we were 
 about this moment to separate, that we might 
 carry away with us, uninjured and unabated, 
 those sensations of which we have been the 
 subjects. At the same time, placed as I am in 
 this position, by the good will of my friends 
 around me, and after, I may now say, a long 
 connexion with my dear and venerated friend, 
 your beloved pastor, I should not think it right 
 to be entirely silent, when there are so many 
 recollections in the years that are past which 
 tend to excite a feeling of gratitude to God for 
 mercies which have been mutually enjoyed. 
 Upon this occasion, most assuredly, I may be 
 
108 
 
 MORNING MEETING. 
 
 allowed, as one not resident among you in this 
 celebrated city, to congratulate you, my friends 
 in Bath, for that which has transpired in the 
 services of this morning. For, although I ob- 
 serve, in the presentation of the Memorial, that 
 notice is taken upon that salver that this testi- 
 monial has arisen from different sources (and 
 the acknowledgment is so far very properly 
 made,) yet I happen to know — and I take the 
 opportunity, as a matter of duty to state it — that 
 this is substantially, and almost entirely, the 
 gift of the good people in Bath. 
 
 Having been reminded again and again, in 
 the course of these services, of the lapse of 
 time, will you allow me to refer to one circum- 
 stance in past history, which, if it were in some 
 measure connected with my own life, was con- 
 nected also with engagements of my dear and 
 venerated friend? I refer to a period now 
 nearly seven-and-thirty years since, when, at 
 my own ordination, the revered Cornelius Win- 
 ter was present to give me ministerial advice, 
 and my dear friend, Mr. Jay, addressed those 
 whom I may still, through the mercy of God, 
 call the people of my charge. It is peculiarly 
 touching when we look back upon past events 
 of this kind. I am not conscious at the present 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 109 
 
 moment, that there exists a minister, excepting 
 my dear friend here, who took part in that ser- 
 vice : death has swept them all away, and we 
 are following hard after. Oh ! that the senti- 
 ments which have been again and again ex- 
 pressed this morning may be realized by us all, 
 that when we shall finish our course we may 
 enter into the joy of our Lord ! 
 
 I am almost forgetting that I am instructed, 
 by the paper put into my hand, to pursue a pe- 
 culiar course ; but the sentiments contained in 
 this resolution, prepared by our friends, have 
 been already so repeatedly expressed, that you 
 will excuse me if I do not enlarge upon them. 
 There are four things contained in this resolu- 
 tion. In the first place, there is the expression 
 of devout gratitude to God, who has been pleased 
 during the long period of fifty years, to spare 
 our beloved friend, and to render him useful 
 amongst you. The resolution further expresses 
 your desire thankfully to record the goodness 
 of God both towards him and yourselves in this 
 respect. It also requests me to take notice of 
 that which has just fallen from the lips of my 
 esteemed friend himself — the usefulness which 
 has attended his labours from the press, in 
 England and in other parts of the world. And 
 10 
 
110 
 
 MORXING MEETING 
 
 then there is the hope expressed (oh ! how in- 
 scrutable are God s ways ! we cannot look in- 
 to futurity ; we know not what a day may bring 
 forth) — there is the hope expressed — and in 
 this, I am persuaded, you will all sincerely join 
 me — that for your own sake, for the sake of the 
 churches, for the sake of the world, it may 
 please God still long to preserve to us our be- 
 loved friend : and when the moment shall arrive 
 at which it shall be the will of God to take 
 him to Himself, that he may have, as the reso- 
 lution expresses it, " an abundant entrance 
 ministered unto him into the everlasting king- 
 dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 I trust Mr. Chairman, that it vriW not be out 
 of place — and I hope the audience will not 
 consider it so — if. looking around me upon this 
 vast and interesting assemblage, I express the 
 hope that none of us may be found wanting on 
 that day. Oh ! is not this a season in which 
 there should be deep searchings of heart 1 May 
 there not be present — is it not according to 
 the ordinary course of things that it should be 
 so — some who feel a lively interest in passing 
 events, and who yet perhaps are still far from 
 God? Oh! what a happy day will this be for such, 
 if this commemoration should prove to be the 
 
AT THJE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. Ill 
 
 season of their conversion to God ! Let every 
 heart be lifted up, that the Spirit of God may 
 descend and put such a glory upon this Meet- 
 ing. 
 
 The following is the resolution which I beg 
 leave most respectfully and affectionately to 
 move : 
 
 •'That this meeting desire to record its devout thankfulness to 
 Almighty God lor the signal blessings which He has bestowed on 
 the Rev William Jay, in having graciously qualified and permitted 
 him to labour, with such a large measure of success, for fifty 
 years, as the Pastor of the Church and Congregation assembled 
 in Argyle Chapel ; and in having made him the honoured instru- 
 ment of widely diffusing ' the Gospel of the grace of God' by his 
 valuable writings, both in this countn- and in America. And this 
 Meeting would also fervently pray that he may yet be spared for 
 many years to ' preach the unsearchable riches of Christ ;' and 
 that, when he shall have fully ' ser\-ed his generation, according 
 to the will of God,' he may have ' an abundant entrance ministered 
 unto him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviouj. 
 Jesus Christ.' ■' 
 
 The Chairman : — The seconding of this 
 resolution was allotted to our friend W. Hunt, 
 esq., the Mayor of Bath. The duties of his 
 cfhce, however, require his attendance else- 
 where ; but I hold in my hand a letter from him, 
 in which he states that he considers the city of 
 Bath to be more indebted to Mr. Jay than to 
 any other individual with whom he is acquaint- 
 ed ; and he laments that he cannot be with us to 
 
112 
 
 MORNING MEETING. 
 
 bear this testimony personally, I know his 
 heart is with us, though his duties call him 
 away. 
 
 The duty of seconding the resolution will be 
 performed by a minister of the Church of Eng- 
 land — the Rev. J. G. Bedford, of Winchester, 
 who has kindly stated that he will supply any 
 vacancy which may be occasioned. 
 
 Rev. J. G. Bedford : — Mr. Chairman, Friends 
 and Brethren. I rise with the utmost pleasure 
 to second this resolution ; and I thank the 
 chairman for acceding to my request on entering 
 this room, that I. might be permitted to address 
 you on this heart-stirring occasion, and to give 
 expression to the feelings of which my breast is 
 full. I shall detain you but for a few moments, 
 for I have lived many years in retirement, and 
 am unaccustomed to take part in public business, 
 or to speak on public occasions. But being, as 
 I am told, the eldest of the very few ministers 
 of the Church of England who are present in 
 this room, I considered that I had something 
 like a claim to offer my testimony in that 
 character to the eminent worth of your beloved 
 pastor, and, if he will permit me to call him so, 
 my revered and honoured friend. 
 
 Brethren, blindness has made me a very un- 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 113 
 
 serviceable minister of the church : and nature 
 and Providence have placed me at a great 
 distance below my honoured friend ; but I 
 lament my obscurity on the present occasion 
 only because it diminishes the dignity and the 
 grace, although it cannot invalidate the truth, 
 of my testimony. I will not repine at this dis- 
 pensation ; and 1 bless God that the loss of my 
 sight has made me exercise more assiduously 
 the mental eye, and has made me, perhaps, 
 dwell more intently upon objects which, in the 
 daylight of my youth, I passed by too lightly. 
 
 My brethren, one subject of my reflections 
 has been this — Have the holy Scriptures indeed 
 placed any barrier betwixt me and my invalu- 
 able friend 1 Is it true, that because my parents 
 were of the Church of England — that because I 
 was taught by them to love and honour the doc- 
 trines and the liturgy of my church, and because 
 I still love them, still prefer episcopacy as a 
 form of government — I am, therefore, separated 
 from the eminent servants of God of other de- 
 nominations ? Brethren, my children have read 
 to me the Scriptures in the original language ; 
 and I declare to you with perfect confidence 
 that there are no such barriers. There are 
 no such barriers in the reformed Church of 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 England. There are no such barriers in the 
 nineteenth and twentieth articles of the Church. 
 There are no such barriers in the writings of 
 the Reformers ; there are no such barriers in 
 the writings of Usher and Leighton, nor in any 
 of the great divines v/hom I love to follow as 
 my guides. 
 
 It is for these reasons that I sincerely lament 
 that none of the bishops or superior clergy are 
 present to supersede me on this occasion, and 
 take the office which I now claim, of offering a 
 testimony so richly due to the eminent worth 
 of your beloved pastor. Yes, my friends, I 
 stand forward, humble and obscure as I am, to 
 offer that testimony. I pass no censure be- 
 cause the eminent and excellent men whom I 
 have mentioned are absent to-day. What is 
 the cause ? The cause lies in the unripeness 
 of the age. These men are absent because 
 they are withheld by their sense of duty, by 
 their conscientious opinions, by their conscien- 
 tious scruples, and fears : and, if I enjoy my 
 own Christian liberty, I will not impugn the 
 liberty of others. No. But I am here to testi- 
 fy that the Church of England is deeply in- 
 debted to the labours of Mr. Jay. I refer to 
 the bright and steady light which has shone in 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 115 
 
 this city for fifty years, and which began to 
 shine in a time of gross and palpable darkness. 
 What ! shall we not claim fellowship with a 
 fellow-labourer who has helped us to reap in 
 the harvest when the labourers were few ? 
 Shall we not thank him for helping to feed the 
 flocks which were wandering unprovided on the 
 mountains ? 
 
 I refer, also, to his admirable and useful 
 writings, which are mentioned in this resolu- 
 tion. They are upon the library shelves of all 
 our clergy; and I have heard more than one 
 dignitary of the church allow that a clerical 
 library is not complete without them. Why, 
 shall we forget the " Christian Contemplated," 
 which is a comfort in the cottage as well as the 
 palace ? Shall we forget the " Morning" and 
 " Evening Exercises," which are the consola- 
 tion of the rich and the poor, both in and out 
 of the Establishment ; and are to be found in 
 the huts of furthest America, and India, and 
 Australia. I know that they are in the tent of 
 one young soldier in the dreary mountains 
 which separate India from Affghanistan ; and I 
 bless God that I know it. 
 
 Yes; and I must here mention the extreme 
 usefulness of those practical lessons which the 
 
IIG 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 younger clergy have derived from Mr. Jay in 
 pulpit oratory ; nay, I will avow that the pulpits 
 of the Establishment are even now resounding 
 with the noble arguments, the bold and clear 
 distinctions, the pointed illustrations, and with 
 the glowing expressions of this preacher. Can 
 I blame the clergy for this ? By no means : 
 they do well to use such rich materials ; but 
 then let us have the honesty to acknowledge it. 
 I will at least make my own confession. I have 
 for many years, from time lo time, sat at the 
 feet of this dear instructor, and that with deep 
 and increasing delight. But I should offer him 
 but a poor tribute if I did not add, the hope that 
 I have done so with growing profit, and deep- 
 ened impressions. 
 
 My friends, there is another testimony I 
 would bear this day upon a point which, I am 
 sure, has cost our dear friend some pain. I 
 mean the notion that Mr. Jay has spoken of- 
 fensively of the Church of England. It is im- 
 possible that he should have done so. I have 
 heard him speak with deserved rebuke and 
 ridicule of intolerance and bigotry ; but I never 
 heard an offensive word proceed from his mouth. 
 It has been a sublime spectacle to me to see a 
 man of his amazing powers abstain from employ- 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 117 
 
 ing them in the all-absorbing politics and con- 
 tentions of the day. I have seen him sit apart, 
 and pursue his tranquil course, looking quietly- 
 down upon the contentions and tumults beneath 
 him. Lucretius, the Roman poet, imagined 
 such a picture ; but, believe me, the Christian 
 philosopher alone can realize it. 
 
 Now it is from this eminence that he has 
 come down to be amongst us this day. We know 
 that he comes forth from his closet, and from his 
 books, w^ith some degree of unwillingness. And 
 we ought to consider it as a mark of the bene- 
 volence of his disposition that he has yielded to 
 your wishes on this occasion, and consented to 
 a public exhibition so alien to his habits and his 
 principles. We know that heart religion is a 
 jealous thing : it fears lest the brightness of its 
 garments should be sullied in the public way. 
 It fears to expose the heavenly treasure in the 
 world's market, lest it should receive the least 
 stain or diminution. But, in thanking him for 
 thus conceding to our wishes, I feel that he has 
 done so on a very high principle : that he thought 
 it his duty not to withhold his testimony here to- 
 day, that God's saints are held in honour even 
 here. And he is conscious also, he must be 
 conscious, that we have a warrant for this 
 bestowal, because God has bestowed His war- 
 
118 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 rant, and has blessed his labours to the souls of 
 thousands and tens of thousands of his fellow- 
 creatures. 
 
 Friends and brethren, I have reached the true 
 ground at last. This is the common ground 
 upon which your testimony and mine are offer" 
 ed to-day. It is no longer a question between 
 Churchmen and Dissenters. Men of great and 
 eminent usefulness are not the property of any 
 section of the community : they are the pro- 
 perty of the Church universal ; they are the 
 property of the human race ; and, since such 
 men's deeds live after them, they belong to men 
 and to times which are to come after. My 
 friends, I support this resolution with my whole 
 heart. 
 
 The Chairman : — The motion will be sup- 
 ported by our friend, Mr. Haynes, of Bristol. 
 
 The Rev. T. Haynes: — Mr. Chairman, — 
 when I arrived at your house this morning, I 
 had no conception that I should be called upon 
 to take any part in the engagements of this day ; 
 nor would any thing have induced me to forego 
 my own determination but that one sentiment 
 which you declared to me, intimating that it was 
 the wish of a friend, whom I cannot and dare 
 not refuse. 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 119 
 
 I participate, my friends, fully, and I hope 
 with all my heart, in the high tone of spiritual 
 feeling to which this meeting has been raised by 
 the luminious and attractive statements with 
 which we have been so greatly delighted, edified, 
 and impressed ; and I sympathize most cordially 
 in the sentiment of the speaker who has lately 
 sat down. I feel it to be a privilege, sir, to be 
 in the society of men who feel that they are 
 Christians more than that they belong to any 
 section of the church of Christ. I have learned, 
 sir, to feel that my personal Christianity is the 
 first boon I hold ; that my New Testament is 
 the next ; and that I must live and walk in har- 
 mony with that boon, let others live as they 
 may. It is a blessed thing to be able to trace, 
 in the inspired pages of the New Testament, 
 the great principle, that spiritual Christianity is 
 the gift of God : and that, when it comes on a 
 man's mind in illumination, and upon his heart 
 in its impelling and saving power, it raises him 
 not only above his degradation as a sinner, 
 but above his ordinary position as an intelli- 
 gent agent in the creation of God. It makes 
 him a higher man ; it makes him a nobler being ; 
 it rarifies his Christian principle in proportion 
 as he adopts and as he breathes its spirit. 
 
120 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 I think we have had a lovely example of this 
 fact this morning. I felt a very deep and stir- 
 ring interest in the address v^rhich was given to 
 us by our venerated friend ; and if, as a minis- 
 ter, I were only to say, that he ought to live in 
 the affections of every minister of the gospel, 
 but especially those of his own denomination, 
 whom he has always been willing to smile 
 upon, and to help when he could — always will- 
 ing to serve and to assist, when it was in his 
 power — I think, if it were only on this ground, 
 his ministerial brethren would say, This is the 
 man whom we delight to honour. I believe I 
 speak the sentiments of every heart in this as- 
 sembly, as well as my own, when I bear this 
 testimony both to the kindness of spirit, the ur- 
 banity of manners, the frankness, and the hearti- 
 ness, with which our friend has always render- 
 ed his assistance to a ministerial brother, who 
 has asked for his help to plead the cause of 
 charity, or to further any of the objects of the 
 Christian ministry, in which he has been so 
 honourably and so highly engaged. 
 
 But, sir, can I look round on this assembly, 
 and endeavour to feel with them as I know 
 they do towards the man who has been for fifty i 
 years their pastor, leading them in the ways of j 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 121 
 
 years their pastor, leading them in the ways of 
 truth and righteousness, without knowing that 
 there is many a heart here which can say of 
 the sanctuary where he labours, " I was born 
 there ? " Oh ! sir, what a sentiment is this ! 
 Crowns and sceptres, what are they compared 
 with the honour of having led a wanderer back 
 again to the fold, and carried the message of 
 mercy and of life to the dreary understanding 
 and the degraded heart of a fallen and apostate 
 sinner ? This honour encircles our dear friend 
 on this occasion. He can say of and to many 
 of you, not only, " Ye are my glory and my 
 joy;" but he can speak of you as those whom 
 he has been instrumental in begetting in the 
 Lord. Oh ! what a noble, what an animating 
 testimony is this of the divine approval ! Sir, 
 we know that others may talk of signs and to- 
 kens of divine approval ; but if we see the bless- 
 ing of God resting on a man's testimony, and 
 the power of the Spirit carrying the message 
 he delivers to the conscience and.to .the heart, 
 there is the sign that a man has the apostle's 
 spirit, and the apostle's testimony, and the apos- 
 tle's success. 
 
 I was pleaded to hear the allusion made by 
 the last speaker to the writings of my revered 
 11 
 
122 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 friend. I was delighted to hear him specify 
 " The Christian Contemplated," and one or two 
 other works. But, sir, we all have our likings 
 — we all have our particular feelings and tastes ; 
 and perhaps our circumstances contribute very 
 much to the growth of the one and the quality 
 of the other ; but let me say, that the " Life of 
 Winter" — the book of his youth, and the book 
 of his heart, memorializing the friend he tender- 
 ly loved, who had taken him by the hand and 
 led him into the ministry — the " Life of Winter" 
 is the book for me. I have the pleasure of 
 knowing that that book has been very useful to 
 many a young minister, both in determining re- 
 solutions which were feeble and changing, in 
 fixing principles which were all but evaporat- 
 ing in the mind, and in directing the heart to 
 the right tone of Christian ministration, and the 
 right solicitude of Christian pastorship and fel- 
 lowship, which the minister of the gospel 
 should be anxious to sustain. I am not asham- 
 ed to say for myself, and to confess with feel- 
 ings of love — and I will not yield to any other 
 in the warmth with which I cherish them — 
 that to that book I am indebted more than to 
 any other human book for the desires, the hopes, 
 the feelings, and the sentiments, which I have 
 been led to entertain, primarily with respect to 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 123 
 
 the ministry itself, and afterwards with regard 
 to its spirit, characterj and tone. And if I could 
 desire for myself a blessing, or ask it for others, 
 I should say, Give me the mind and the heart 
 of Winter, and let me have it in the tone and 
 temper of his biographer ; let me feel to his 
 eminent piety as my venerated friend felt to- 
 wards his tutor ; and let me admire, and love, 
 and walk in the steps of those who have so 
 carefully followed our Lord and his apostles. 
 
 I will not trespass longer on your time ; but 
 most cordially and heartily support the resolu- 
 tion. 
 
 The Chairman then put the resolution to the 
 meeting, and it was unanimously agreed to. 
 
 The Rev. T. East, of Birmingham : — Mr. 
 Chairman, without the least affectation, I at 
 once confess that I feel very much embarrass- 
 ed ; and I fear that I shall not be able to dis- 
 charge the duties devolving upon me in moving 
 this resolution, without being in great danger 
 of trespassing on those hallowed laws of cour- 
 teous delicacy to which every wise and good 
 man is expected to bow down and do homage. 
 I think, Mr. Chairman, that you and the whole 
 
124 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 of this audience will admit this after I have 
 read the resolution — 
 
 " That the friends of the Rev. William Jay, now assembled, 
 desire to offer liim their sincere congratulations on this truly in- 
 teresting occasion, and would beg to assure him of their high 
 esteem and unabated regard, and of the gratitude which they cher- 
 ish for the many spiritual benefits which, under God, they have 
 derived from liis eminently useful labours as a faitlifulmuiister of 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 I would not, Mr. Chairman, wound a heart 
 which I would ever step forward to protect 
 from a painful touch ; nor would I give utter- 
 ance to a single expression which should in- 
 duce any one to imagine I am about to offer the 
 incense of mere flattery. My post is delicate : 
 I must speak to the resolution, or hold my 
 tongue. My resolution is one of congratula- 
 tion, pledging you who are disposed to support 
 it to the cultivation of those hallowed affections 
 which we may all cherish towards a faithful 
 minister of Jesus Christ without giving offence 
 to his Master. 
 
 Allow me, then, my deeply-respected and 
 venerated friend, to congratulate you on the 
 high honour God conferred upon you when he 
 called you by his grace, and counted you faith- 
 ful, putting you into the ministry. Allow me to 
 congratulate you on the peculiar talents with 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 125 
 
 which you have been entrusted, and the very 
 eminent services which the exercise of those 
 talents has rendered to the cause of Christ, not 
 simply in this country, but throughout the whole 
 universe of being ; and to express my decided 
 opinion that there is not one man living whose 
 labours have been more eminently blessed, di- 
 rectly and indirectly, than yours, in advancing 
 the cause of God our Saviour. 
 
 Allow me, my dear friend, to congratulate 
 you that you have passed through life so far, 
 without having been permitted to fall into any 
 speculative or practical errors, but have been 
 upheld by the grace of God to the very present 
 day. And allow me to congratulate you on the 
 prospect there is before you. 
 
 Shall I tell you a little anecdote ? Perhaps 
 
 it may be remembered when every other part of 
 
 what I may say will be forgotten. A gentleman 
 
 of pre-eminent piety, a resident some years at 
 
 Bristol, was taken ill a little while before he 
 
 was missed out of the circle in v/hich he moved ; 
 
 for though not a " religious gipsy," he was the 
 
 friend of all parties, and stood unconnected with 
 
 any. At length he was missed. A friend called 
 
 to see him — saw him on his bed — saw him ill 
 
 — saw him dying, — and congratulated him that 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 he was now going home. With a smile on his 
 countenance, he replied, '* Yes ; and my Father 
 is waiting to receive me." My dear sir, you 
 will not enter heaven unexpectedly, when you 
 do enter it ; you will not enter it as a stranger ; 
 you will not enter it as one unwelcome. There 
 are thousands there waiting your arrival. There 
 is your Father, there is your Saviour, there is 
 your Master ; there are your spiritual children. 
 My dear sir, the greater part of the rest of your 
 life, lengthened out as I hope it will be, ought 
 to be spent alternately betwixt gratitude and 
 dependence — that God has so much for you, 
 and that there is yet so much remaining to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 My resolution pledges you, my Christian 
 friends who support it, to the cultivation of the 
 affection, the esteem, the regard, and the grati- 
 tude which you may cherish towards our es- 
 teemed friend, as a faithful minister of Jesus 
 Christ, without giving offence to his Master. 
 We do not come' here to flatter ; we do not come 
 here to applaud ; we do not come here to raise 
 a monument of praise to the honour and the glory 
 of the man, his talents, or his agency ; for there 
 js a little expression within the parenthesis of 
 my motion which will lead me to a conclusion — 
 
JLT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 127 
 
 " All under God." And I am sure I speak the 
 sentiment of my friend when I say he would 
 arise to respond to this declaration — it is through 
 the grace of God he is what he is ; through that 
 grace he has been enabled to do what he has 
 done ; and to that grace he now, with you, and 
 all the people of God throughout the world, will 
 ascribe the glory for ever and for ever. 
 
 I cannot sit down — as I have a nephew in 
 this city, a clergyman, who is not present this 
 morning — without referring to the speech which 
 has been delivered by a clergyman present. 
 He used one very happy expression : it was this, 
 if I have caught it rightly — that the primary 
 reason why so many good men belonging to the 
 Church of England are absent this morning, 
 who might have been here, is not to be attri- 
 buted so much to the badness of their spirit as 
 to the unripeness of the age. That is it. They 
 are men of God ;* they are faithful ministers of 
 Jesus Christ ; they are serving their generation 
 according to his will ; they long to see a blessed 
 change throughout the whole moral world- 
 Give them time, they will come right at last, I 
 have not the least doubt: and if the present 
 generation come not right, recollect they are 
 
128 MORNIXG MEETING 
 
 preparing the way themselves to correct the 
 generation that will succeed them. 
 
 At any rate, Christian friends, mind one thing. 
 What you think wrong in them, correct in your- 
 selves. Do not censure, do not condemn. Let 
 a good spirit, a generous feeling, be displayed 
 by you on all occasions : and then by the force 
 of comparison, they will see there is something 
 defective in themselves in which you excel. 
 This, if sanctified, will have a fine efi'ect — first, 
 on you, and then on them ; till God brings about 
 that period of ripeness when we may all live in 
 love and in peace. 
 
 W. T. Blair, Esq. : — Mr. Chairman, and 
 Christian friends. — I hope that the pleasure, the 
 entire cordiality, with which I rise to second 
 this resolution, will not be measured by the 
 number of words I may employ in doing so : for 
 when I was applied to, to take a part in the 
 proceedings of this morning, I took the liberty 
 of stipulating, not for freedom of speech, but 
 for the greatest possible limitation of it; and 
 for this very good reason amongst others, that, 
 in the present state of my voice, I am incapable 
 of addressing so large a meeting for more than 
 a few minutes, without great inconvenience. 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 129 
 
 While this is my apology, if apology be 
 necessary, for not saying much, I should indeed 
 be doing violence to all my feelings as a man 
 and as a Christian, — nay more, I should be 
 ashamed of myself and of my Christianity, — if 
 I hesitated, on such an occasion, thankfully to 
 embrace the opportunity presented to me to 
 add, however briefly, my humble but hearty 
 testimony to the tribute of respect and affection 
 which we are now met to offer to the venerable 
 and venerated individual whose long and emi- 
 nent pastorate we are commemorating. 
 
 It would not only be wanting in good taste, 
 but unbecoming the occasion, to use the com- 
 mon language of paneg)Tic in speaking of our 
 esteemed and honoured friend, and allow me to 
 add of my esteemed and honoured friend ; and 
 yet it is difficult to allude to such a man, while 
 using the words of truth and soberness, without 
 being in some danger of erring in this respect. 
 But all studied eulogium would be both imper- 
 tinent and unnecessary in the case of one who 
 will live in his admirable writings long after 
 the voice of human applause shall cease to 
 sound in his ears, and whose name will be 
 embalmed throughout eternity, in the grateful 
 reminiscence of multitudes who look to him as 
 
130 
 
 MORNING MEETING, 
 
 the instrument of their salvation. Truly he 
 needs not epistles of commendation from men, 
 and, I am sure, he seeks them not. Though 
 his 'praise may be in all the churches, yet his 
 best record is on high, and his reward is with 
 his God. 
 
 To spend and be spent in the most obscure 
 walk of the Christian ministry is an honour 
 that might well satisfy the ambition of any man : 
 but to be placed on such an eminence as to be 
 the chief ornament of one of the first cities of 
 the empire for half a century ; to have been 
 permitted during all that time to sustain an un- 
 tarnished reputation before men ; and to have 
 employed unceasingly all the powers of an 
 original and vigorous intellect in instructing and 
 blessing mankind ; is a distinction conferred on 
 very few, and in comparison of which all world- 
 ly honours and possessions — even the Roman 
 purple and the dominion of the world — are 
 splendid baubles. But the highest tribute by 
 far that can be paid to the protracted labours 
 and worth of our revered friend will be found, 
 not in loud applauses, nor in recording them on 
 tables of stone, or more enduring brass, but in 
 their being engraved by the finger of God on 
 the many living seals that have been given to 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 131 
 
 him for his ministry : and if we desire, in the 
 way most acceptable to the faithful minister of 
 Christ, to cheer the evening of his days and to 
 enhance his joys hereafter, let us be fervent in 
 supplicating the throne of grace that a richer 
 unction and a double portion of the Spirit may 
 rest upon him, and that the gospel which he 
 proclaims with so much simplicity, perspicuity, 
 and fidelity, may prove a savour of life to in- 
 creasing numbers who may be privileged to 
 hear the truth from his lips. I will only add 
 my fervent hope that so valuable a life may be 
 protracted to a distant period, and in all the 
 vigour and glow of health in which we now de- 
 light to behold it. May it prove a cruda viri- 
 dlsque senectus to the last; and whenever in 
 the providence of God, his honoured servant 
 shall be called to finish his course with joy and 
 the ministry he has received of the Lord, may 
 he take his place amongst those who, having 
 turned many to righteousness, shall shine as 
 the stars in the kingdom of their Father for ever 
 and ever. 
 
 The Rev. S. Martin, of Cheltenham :— Mr. 
 Chairman, and dear Christian friends, — 1 am 
 placed in this position entirely by the impulse 
 
132 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 of gratitude. Many reasons which I need not 
 mention would have urged me to have kept in 
 the quiet seat which I have been occupying for 
 some time ; but my own library shelves bear 
 testimony to the kindness of the Christian 
 friends in Bath, and I would therefore now pub- 
 licly rejoice with their joy, that they may see 
 that I am not insensible to kindness when 
 shown to another, while I am thoroughly con- 
 scious of it when manifested to myself. 
 
 This resolution calls upon me to offer con- 
 gratulations to your venerated and beloved pas- 
 tor. The remarks which have been made have 
 chiefly referred to the past and the present ; 
 but while I have been sitting here, I have been 
 thinking that the life of your beloved pastor is 
 yet to come. The seventy-one years which 
 he has spent here, these are but the bud of his 
 being : all the fruits that you have seen in his 
 character and in his ministry, these are but the 
 blossoms of the spring : and if this be the mani- 
 festation you have beheld in the meaner part of 
 his existence, what shall -the fruit be when the 
 voice shall be heard, " Thrust in "thy sickle, and 
 reap, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe 
 Mr. Jay, sir, has yet scarcely begun to exist : 
 *' for what is our life ?• ,Jt is but a vapour that 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 133 
 
 appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth 
 away." But vapours, you know, sir, though 
 they are light and airy, and are carried about by 
 every small wind, are important in their relation 
 to the ocean. They rise from the ocean, they 
 fall upon the mountain, they constitute the tor- 
 rent, they fill the bed of the river, and then they 
 mingle again with the mighty waters. T/m5 these 
 seventy-one years which have arisen from the 
 immensity of God's nature, and which you have 
 seen move as the little cloud, and descend in 
 fertilizing influences upon human hearts, these 
 have yet to be seen in the ocean of immortality, 
 moving throughout eternity, to the glory and 
 praise of God. 
 
 " The righteous," it is said, " shall flourish 
 like the palm tree : he shall grow like a cedar 
 in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the 
 house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of 
 our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in 
 old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing ; to 
 shew that the Lord is upright : He is my rock, 
 and there is no unrighteousness in Him." We 
 see this day an illustration of these truths. 
 The blind, sir, that cannot see this stately palm 
 and this majestic cedar, have plucked of the 
 fruit, and have found it pleasant unto their taste 
 12 
 
134 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 They, sir, have been nourished by this tree, 
 which has not been an object of vision, but 
 which has appeared to their immortal nature, 
 and made impressions there which will be 
 amply sufficient to enable them to recognise 
 that being when he and those whom he has 
 blessed shall appear at the bar of their God. 
 Mr. Jay has had joys, sir ; but what are those 
 joys in comparison with the pleasures which 
 are to come ? He knew the joy which attended 
 his first introduction as a youth to the ministry 
 of the gospel, and the thrill of delight which he 
 experienced when first he knew that a soul 
 was converted by his ministry — when first he 
 could say, " This is the seal of mine apostleship, 
 the soul that I have won unto Christ." But he 
 has yet to see gathered around him the children 
 whom God hath given him, whom no being yet 
 can count up ; for they shall not be reckoned 
 till the Lord reckoneth up the people, and until 
 it shall be said of different sanctuaries, " This 
 and that man were born there, and these were 
 converted to God here." I say, sir, he has 
 yet to know the joy of the Christian minister's 
 relation; he has yet to see gathered the fruits 
 of his ministry. 
 
 He knows, sir, what activity is ; but what has 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 135 
 
 been the activity of his life in comparison with 
 the activity that is yet to come ? Has he not, 
 though he has had health, been paralysed and 
 hindered by the bondage of corruption 1 He 
 has yet to know what freedom of action is, with 
 a glorified body, and in a dwelling where every 
 thing around him and every thing within him 
 will conspire to promote an immortal energy. 
 He has to know the joy of action without any 
 thing like a hinderance, without any thing like a 
 clog, witout any thing like fatigue. He has yet 
 to know what it is to move through immortality 
 towards God, and to feel m that motion the utmost 
 thrill of delight, without the least sensation of 
 w^eariness or labour. What, sir, have been his 
 labours, and what have been his joys, in compa- 
 rison with the pleasures and the exercises of im- 
 mortality? They are lighter than nothing and 
 vanity when compared with those which are 
 unseen and eternal ! 
 
 Even when Jirst entering that glorious state, 
 he beholds the smile of the Master — what 
 pleasure has he found in the smiles of the many 
 happy faces here \vhich can at all be compared 
 with ikis ? Not that any minister, not that any 
 Christian, would despise the favour of friends. 
 Far be it from me to tread it beneath my feet ; it 
 
136 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 is that which often supports and cheers me in 
 the post in which God has placed me. But this 
 is not our reward. We have not our recompence 
 in the smiles of men : the best creatures are but 
 dust, and the best are but mutable. Our reward 
 is there ; it is there ; it is there. It is in hearing 
 our Master say, " Well done it is in beholding 
 his smile ; it is in knowing his approval ; it is 
 the consciousness that he has loved us, and has 
 honoured our services by rendering them useful. 
 
 My congratulations, then, sir, shall have re- 
 ference to the future : and my glorj- this day 
 shall be, that Mr. Jay shall be never lost, that 
 Mr. Jay shall never die. That body which now 
 you see crowned with hoary hair is not your 
 pastor — that is not your friend. The pastor 
 and the friend is here — it is here : and that heart 
 shall live when the body shall crumble into dust 
 and mingle with the earth from which it sprung. 
 And you shall see that spirit, and know that 
 spirit, and unite with that spirit, in those plea- 
 sures which are for evermore, in those activities 
 which await us on our entrance into immortality. 
 
 But I want you to present him to-day with 
 something more valuable (great as has been the 
 token of your esteem) than that which is found 
 on this table. The gold, moth and rust corrupt, 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 137 
 
 and thieves break through and steal : but there 
 are treasures which are in heaven, that neither 
 moth nor rust doth corrupt, and which thieves 
 break not through and steal. Are there not 
 some of the young of his congregation who have 
 not yet given God their hearts ? Are there not 
 others here who have long heard his cry, " Re- 
 pent, and believe the gospel" — ah ! some who 
 heard it with the vigour and the tone of his 
 comparatively youthful voice, and now hear it 
 as it almost quivers on his lips — and yet it is 
 to them a tale that is told ? It has not yet reach- 
 ed the heart; it has not yet brought the hearer 
 upon his knees with the cry, " God be merciful 
 to me a sinner." But this is what your pastor 
 wants ; this is the testimonial which he most 
 prizes — the devotion of your heart to his Father 
 and my Father, to his God and my God. Give 
 it him this day. I say, give him your heart this 
 day. I need not urge the motives on you : they 
 live ill your remembrance, are again and again 
 suggested to you every time you hear him : but 
 I put you in remembrance of the fact, that that 
 is the only real and solid satisfaction that he 
 can receive in his declining years. 
 
 If this be your testimonial, oh, what a Jubi- 
 lee shall this be! Our joy, sir, shall not rest 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 MORNIXG MEETING 
 
 on earth ; no, it shall rise as a cloud towards 
 heaven ; it shall reach the angels that are hov- 
 ering over this assembly ; and they shall catch 
 the spirit as they look on some souls that hear 
 now the cry, " My son, give me thine heart," 
 and who are replying, " Lord, I give thee mine 
 heart." I say, the Jubilee shall not he confined 
 to earth, but it shall extend to heaven ; for an- 
 gels and the spirits of just men made perfect 
 shall unite with our joy and our expressions of 
 gladness to day. 
 
 And what shall I say as I close this address? It 
 seems somewhat inconsistent for one so young 
 as myself to take part in a service like this : 
 but you know that in harmony and in melody 
 there must be the lowest notes as well as the 
 highest. I saw hoary heads begin these con- 
 gratulations, and I thought it might not be in- 
 consistent for youth to close them, that it might 
 be evident there was a harmony in the feelings 
 of this assembly ; that while aged spirits were 
 quickened, young hearts beat high with glad- 
 ness, rejoicing before God that he has spared 
 his servant to behold this day. And I can con- 
 gratulate my honoured father in the ministry, 
 as the youthful soldier would congratulate the 
 veteran whom he has seen for years keeping 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 139 
 
 his sword without a spot of rust, and his ar- 
 mour as bright and as glorious as when he re- 
 ceived it from the hands of the Captain of sal- 
 vation. I can congratulate him, because I 
 have my own hopes and my own fears, my own 
 despondencies and my own joys, in the work 
 to which God has called me. I do congratulate 
 him, while with my whole heart I would say 
 to our honoured father in the ministry, God 
 bless you, sir, and the partner of your days, and 
 the children God hath given you. May you be 
 an unbroken family in heaven ! God bless 
 you as a pastor, and bless your flock. May they 
 be your " crown of rejoicing" in the day of the 
 Lord Jesus ! 
 
 I have much pleasure, sir, in supporting this 
 resolution. 
 
 The Chairman : — Before I put the motion, 
 a friend wishes to occupy your attention for a 
 few moments, who would not like to return to 
 the metropolis without briefly expressing his 
 sentiments on this occasion. I allude to Ed- 
 ward Smith, esq., the Chairman of the London 
 Committee. 
 
 Edward Smith, Esq : — It is with sincere 
 
140 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 and heartfelt pleasure that I address you on the 
 present interesting occasion. They are no or- 
 dinary circumstances which "now convene us. 
 A good man is at all times deserving honour ; 
 but where excellence, permanency, and consis- 
 tency of character, have been displayed for half 
 a century, the honour ought to be pre-eminent. 
 Examples of moral worth in a degenerate world 
 should not be allowed to pass away without 
 exciting in us emotions of gratitude and feel- 
 ings of emulation. We need such instances of 
 human virtue to inspire us with exalting and 
 ennobling sentiments, and to impress more vi- 
 vidly upon the mind " whatsoever things are 
 lovely and of good report." 
 
 The life of William Jay is calculated to pro- 
 duce these results. His long attachment to re- 
 ligious truth, and his public promulgation of it 
 — that truth which alone is capable of regene- 
 rating a fallen world, and restoring man to the 
 image of his Maker — have so imbued the spirit 
 of our venerable friend as to exhibit in his per- 
 son the beauty and loveliness of religion. Fif- 
 ty years of holy, faithful, and consistent service 
 in the same sphere of usefulness in his divine 
 Master's vineyard have brought him forth to 
 maturity like a shock of corn fully ripe : and it 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS. 
 
 141 
 
 is our eminent duty, no less than it ought to be, 
 and, I am persuaded, is, our exalted pleasure, 
 that we thus meet to do him reverence. 
 
 So far as my own humble efforts have been 
 concerned in this result, I am free to confess 
 that I never in the course of my life more 
 cheerfully and zealously performed any act of 
 kindness and friendship. In fact, with any pre- 
 tensions to a feeling of even common gratitude 
 for the spiritual obligations I owe to my beloved 
 and venerated friend, I could not do otherwise. 
 And is there an individual here who does not 
 sympathize in the sentiment I have now ut- 
 tered, and who would not have done likewise ? 
 It appeared to me, and to some of our London 
 friends, that you at Bath ought not to monopo- 
 lise all the honour which was to be conferred 
 upon the present occasion. Our friend is pub- 
 lic property ; and so, it would seem, that noble 
 organ of public opinion, the Press, has consid- 
 ered him : for, irrespectively of the differences 
 of political party and religious persuasion, it has 
 combined to present to him a hearty unanimity 
 of praise — praise felt to be justly due to a holy 
 man who, for so protracted a period, has been 
 the faithful and affectionate advocate of our 
 common Christianity. 
 
142 
 
 MORNING MEETING 
 
 I cannot conclude without offering my best 
 thanks to a pious and liberal-minded episco- 
 palian, well known by his efforts to abolish the 
 sanction of idolatry in India — John Poynder, 
 esq., who did me the honour to send me, as chair- 
 man of the London meeting, a most admirable. 
 Christian letter of merited eulogy upon our 
 friend, in the course of which he says — " It ap- 
 pears to me to reflect great honour upon all 
 who feel with you that such laborious services 
 as Mr. Jay's should be duly appreciated : and, 
 amidst much darkness and discouragement 
 which at present obscure the prospects of our 
 beloved country, it forms at least one pleasing 
 and grateful feature of the present times, that 
 the Almighty is thus putting it into the hearts of 
 my dear countrymen to honour those who have 
 deserved well of their country, and who by a 
 long and peaceful course of consistent useful- 
 ness, have done more to raise her reputation 
 and prolong her existence, than her highest 
 statesmen, or her most renowned warriors." — 
 He adds, " it has pleased God to place me in a 
 different communion, but I cannot withhold my 
 testimony from the real value to the church of 
 Christ, and the nation at large, which such a 
 man has proved." 
 
AT THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS. 143 
 
 The Rev. J. Jackson, of Taunton, gave out 
 one of the Jubilee hymns, written for the occa- 
 sion by J. Montgomery, esq.* The hymn 
 being sung, the Rev. J. Jj^ckson pronounced 
 the apostolic benediction, and the meeting 
 terminated. 
 
 * See end of the volume. 
 
EVENING MEETING AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 Henry Godwin, Esq., in the chair. 
 
 Prayer being offered by the Rev John Glan- 
 viLLE, of Kingswood ; 
 
 One of the Jubilee hymns, composed by J. 
 Montgomery, Esq., was given out by the Rev. 
 P. Cater, and sung by the congregation. 
 
 The Chairman : — I believe the present 
 meeting is assembled to praise God, and that 
 praise will constitute the greater part of our 
 employment this evening. We are also assem- 
 bled for an object which must be familiar to 
 most of our friends who are at all conversant 
 with profane history. We know that the set- 
 ting up of pillars and obelisks was very com- 
 mon in ancient times ; and so early did the 
 practice obtain in the world, that the period 
 when the pyramids of Egypt and others were 
 set up has been the subject of dispute amongst 
 historians ; and to the present day there is a 
 difficulty, if not an impossibility, of ascertain- 
 ing how early the setting-up of pillars might 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 145 
 
 have begun in the profane world. We see 
 them also in use in our own time. We have 
 our Wellington pillars, our Nelson pillars, and 
 obelisks ; and the crosses which we see at the 
 roadside, and the votive altars which are dis- 
 covered in digging foundations for buildings in 
 this neighbourhood, shew us that the custom is 
 ancient, and perhaps laudable. 
 
 But these trophies, these obelisks, these pil- 
 lars, were raised for mortal heroes, to perpetu- 
 ate the fame of those whose glory was in the 
 field of battle, who carried carnage, with gar- 
 ments rolled in blood, through the world. They 
 have been crowned, indeed, with the emblems 
 of victory ; but the victory has been attended 
 with the sighs, the mourning, and the tears of 
 widows and orphans. We are, however, as- 
 sembled this evening to set up other pillars. 
 We have a higher and a brighter object. We 
 have to-night to set up peaceful emblems — to 
 follow examples recorded in the Scriptures as 
 our authority for what we are about to do. I 
 am sure that most of those who hear me now 
 are familiar with some of the first pillars which 
 were set up : such as that erected by Jacob on 
 his journey to Padan-aran. The pillar which 
 he then set up produced an awful impression 
 13 
 
146 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 upon his mind ; which constrained him to say 
 (and may we now, and at all times when we enter 
 this sacred house, entertain similar ^feelings,) 
 " How awful is this place ! This is none other 
 than the house of God, and the gate of heaven." 
 A little of this feeling to-night, amidst all our 
 joy and all our praise, will not be either incon- 
 venient or inconsistent. 
 
 There are other accounts in the Scriptures 
 recording similar occurrences ; such as the set- 
 ting-up of the twelve pillars by Moses in the 
 wilderness. But there is a pillar spoken of in 
 the Apocalypse which we all should think of; 
 that is, the pillar which is to be in heaven ; the 
 pillar that is to bear the temple there ; the pil- 
 lar that is to bear the inscription of the Chris- 
 tian's name, and to be placed in that city whence 
 they shall no mere go out. Oh ! let us be more 
 emulous than ever that we may become the pil- 
 lar that St. John saw in the temple, and that our 
 names may be written on it ! 
 
 To detain you longer would be inconsistent 
 with the duties which lie before us ; and the ob- 
 ject of our meeting being well known to you, I 
 shall, without further hesitation, call upon our 
 excellent friend, Mr. East, to commence the 
 celebration of this portion of the Jubilee by mov- 
 ing the first resolution. 
 
AT ARGYLK CHAPEL. 
 
 147 
 
 The Rev. T. East : — I have been requested, 
 my Christian brethren, to read the following re- 
 solution : 
 
 " That, feeling it to be their duty to " remembei them which 
 have had the rule over them, and who have spoken unto them the 
 word of God, and being- desirous to record the period when this 
 house was erected for the worship of Almighty God, accordmg to 
 the faith and practice of Protestant Dissenters of the Independent 
 denommation, the members of this church and congregation now 
 set up this Pillar, with the following inscription engraved there- 
 on :— The Rev. Thomas Tuppen, the first pastor of this church, 
 entered into rest Feb. 22d 1790, having, in 1788, laid the founda- 
 tion of this place of worship. It was opened October 4th, 17S9, by 
 the Rev. William Jay, who was ordained its minister January 30, 
 1791. 'Consider the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the 
 same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.'— Heb. xiii. 7, 8." 
 
 It is now somewhat more than thirty-eight 
 years since I first entered this chapel, having 
 just then escaped from darkness to light, from 
 the power of Satan unto God ; little thinking, 
 when I took my first sitting, that I should ever 
 live to see such a day as this. 
 
 But I confess that I feel more depressed to- 
 night than elated ; and for the following reasons. 
 This is the last of a series of interesting ser- 
 vices ; it is the last of an extraordinary series 
 of extraordinary services : and there is always 
 something in the last which is verj' touching to 
 a sensitive mind. 
 
148 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 But it is not this ^vllich depresses me. What 
 then? — The prospect of another scene, to which 
 my esteemed friend, the Chairman, made an al- 
 lusion at the conclusion of his address. There 
 sits my venerated friend, whose long-continued 
 ministry in this place has led to the services of 
 this day. But there is a day coming when he 
 is to be glorified with the glory which the 
 Father, through the Son, v. ill put upon him : 
 and who will witness that splendid scene ? A 
 ticket, easily thrown off, easily presented, and 
 easily received, constituted the right of admis- 
 sion here to-night. I\Iy friends, are you prepared 
 for that other scene which may burst upon glo- 
 rified and damned spirits ere we are aware of 
 it? 
 
 I was depressed on entering the chapel to- 
 night from the circumstance of the rush to get 
 in. Why ? Why ! because I fear there are 
 many persons present who will never make such 
 an effort to get into the kingdom of heaven as 
 has been made to get into Arg)-le chapel to- 
 night. Here you see the pillar ; there you see 
 the venerated pastor : you have listened to the 
 hymn of praise. 0 man ! 0 woman ! if you 
 have never yet fled for refuge to Jesus Christ, 
 flee for refuge to him to-night ; lest the remem- 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 149 
 
 brance of these extraordinary services should 
 only tend to embitter your recollections of earth, 
 and render the impressions of eternity more 
 piercing, more agonizing, for ever and for ever ? 
 
 " But as yet there is a hope ; 
 
 You may his mercy know : 
 Though his hand is lifted up, 
 
 He still forbears the blow. 
 
 'Twas for sinners Jesus died ; 
 
 Sirmers he invites to come. 
 None who come shall be denied : 
 
 He says, There yet is room." 
 
 The Rev. W. M. Bunting, of Manchester : 
 — Mr. Chairman, — I cannot describe to you the 
 embarrassment, occasioned partly by disap- 
 pointment and partly by surprise, under which 
 I accept your call to address for a few minutes 
 this respectable and deeply interested audience. 
 Disappointment, I say ; for I will freely con- 
 fess, that I have encountered an addition of be- 
 tween eighty and ninety miles to a long jour- 
 ney, to which I stood previously engaged, 
 purely for the gratification of being present at 
 these festive proceedings : and yet, during the 
 whole of the day, in consequence of a familiar 
 infirmity, in which I cannot but recognise the 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 direct interposition of Providence, I have been 
 prevented from enjoying that, the anticipation 
 of which was so pleasurable to me. I have 
 scarcely been able to apprehend a sentence, 
 or sometimes to receive a sound on this occa- 
 sion ; and can hardly, indeed, at the present 
 moment hear the tones of my own voice. 
 
 And even the pleasure of witnessing what I 
 have witnessed is greatly qualified by the sur- 
 prise you have inflicted, by calling on me to oc- 
 cupy a prominent station on this platform. If 
 it had been permitted to any stranger — to any 
 member or minister, for instance of my own 
 church — to have intruded on the proceedings of 
 this assembly, (an assembly, which I hope I 
 shall not profanely compare to the company of 
 heaven — a great multitude, and yet a sealed 
 and select one,) that duty might have devolved, 
 or rather that privilege might have been accord- 
 ed, more naturally to some one of my Wesleyan 
 brethren resident in this city. It seeilis to me 
 that your calling on the present speaker to ad- 
 dress you is equivalent the to question, " Friend, 
 how camest thou in hither?" — and in answer 
 to this, I must beg to throw the blame of my 
 appearance here entirely on my venerated fa- 
 ther in the ministry. I appreciate, for one, the 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 151 
 
 delicacy and elevation of the sentiment, which 
 has led the members of the church and congre- 
 gation in Arg}-le chapel to confine this demon- 
 stration for the most part to themselves — to their 
 own number : but if the interest and attraction 
 of the occasion have extended beyond Bath, I 
 ask, whose fault is it ? Certainly not mine : it 
 is the incident, it is the fortune, of eminent ex- 
 cellence to be known and loved in spite of it- 
 self ; and I must devolve on my venerated 
 friend, Mr. Jay, the responsibility of my being 
 attracted to so great a distance, to pay him the 
 homage of my humble gratitude and respect. 
 
 I may boast, sir, that my knowledge of Argj-le 
 chapel itself, and my interest in, and, I hope, 
 benefit from, the ministrations of your pastor, 
 have spread, occasionally, over a period of about 
 twenty -five years — half the term of his connex- 
 ion with Argyle chapel. I recollect, some- 
 where about twenty-five years ago, attending 
 this chapel, and listening with delight to his 
 ministrations ; and, independently of the advan- 
 tage derived from a frequent hearing of his min- 
 istr}' in London and elsewhere, I have to thank 
 him sincerely before God, and with supreme 
 gratitude to God Himself, that he has been, in 
 countless instances, my private instructor, and 
 
152 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 the conductor of my family devotions. I ex- 
 pect that he will conduct those devotions to- 
 night, in my absence from home ; I mean, of 
 course, by virtue of that modified ubiquity, 
 which is the attribute of successful authorship. 
 I expect that this evening your pastor will pre- 
 side at my domestic altar, and bear the devo- 
 tions of my family before the Throne. 
 
 I have to return him thanks, too, on behalf of 
 the denomination to which I belong, not merely 
 for his valuable services to our missionary cause, 
 but for the many instances in which I have 
 known our people, as well as others, profess to 
 have been profited by the perusal both of his 
 devotional and his didactic writings. And more 
 than that, separating myself (if such a thing be 
 possible)/rowi myself — flinging aside what I am 
 heartily sick of, all denominational and secta- 
 rian selfishness — forgetting that I belong to any 
 thing but, I trust, the mystical body of Christ — 
 I honour him as my father in the Christian min- 
 istry ; as one with whom I shall deem it my 
 happiness and distinction to associate in a fu- 
 ture world ; and from whom I should think it 
 my degradation and my guilt to be needlessly 
 dissociated in the present life. I, for one, have 
 no notion of cultivating estrangement and re- 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 153 
 
 serve in regard to those, in the present world, 
 with whom I hope to unite in the adoration of 
 God and the Lamb for ever and ever. 
 
 I congratulate Mr. Jay on such a line of 
 spiritual posterity before him, and on his being 
 permitted to witness them in the land of the liv- 
 ing and in the congregation of the righteous ; 
 in union with the church, and, I believe, in 
 union, for the most part, with Jesus Christ him- 
 self. And humbly and earnestly pray that his 
 own life may yet be long spared to you ; and 
 that, as he leans forward on the staff of old age, 
 or backward on the pillow of death, the pro- 
 ceedings of this day may be among the most 
 hallowed, as well as the most happy, recollec- 
 tions of that life. I rejoice to see him even as 
 an old man, because — as we were affectingly 
 reminded this morning — that it is but the omen 
 of his approach to a glorious immortality. If 
 he stoops, it is but under the honours which 
 time, and age, and your affection have heap- 
 ed upon him, and the usefulness with which 
 the Great Head of the church has been pleas- 
 ed to accompany his labours. He draws near 
 to the glory which shall be revealed in him : 
 and I pray that all who celebrate with him his 
 jubilee on earth, may celebrate with him the 
 
154 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 centenary of his connexion with this church — 
 for I hope the tie will be indissoluble. We 
 know where he will spend it — may we spend it 
 with him. May you, my dear friends, be his 
 rejoicing, even as he is yours in the day of the 
 Lord Jesus ! 
 
 The Chairma* having put the resolution, it 
 was unanimously adopted by the meeting. 
 
 The anthem, " When the ear heard him," was 
 then performed by the choir. 
 
 The Rev. T. Haynes : — Mr. Chairman, and 
 Christian friends ; I have been requested to 
 read the following resolution, and propose it for 
 the adoption of the meeting : 
 
 "That the members of lliis church and congregation, being- 
 deeply sensible of the distinguishing goodness of God, to their 
 venerable pastor, and to themselves, during the lapse of half a- 
 century, and being desirous to have a memorial set up to com- 
 memorate this hallowed period, do now erect this pillar, with the 
 following inscription engraved thereon : — To record tlie goodness 
 of God to this church and congregation, and to their mmister, 
 the Rev. W. Jay, who, on January 30, 1841, completed a happy 
 and useful pastorate of fifty years, this Pillar was erected.—' Noi 
 unto us, O Lord ! not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory.' — 
 Psalm cxv. 1." 
 
 It is one of the obvious and evident utterances 
 of genuine and ardent piety, that it seeks to 
 memorialize the special mercies of a covenant 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 155 
 
 and crracious God : and when those mercies are 
 
 o 
 
 associated with the highest and most glorious 
 objects which human minds can engage in, and 
 which human life can be spent in, it surely be- 
 comes highly important that such mercies should 
 be distinctly commemorated. 
 
 The church and congregation assembling in 
 this place of worship have, then, a just and 
 righteous reason for memorializing the perpetu- 
 ated services of their beloved pastor, and for 
 lifting up their banner in the name of the God of 
 heaven, that they have been signally blessed by 
 Him. And where is the individual, possessing 
 Christian sentiments and Christian feelings, who 
 does not respond to the emotions which have 
 erected these memorials to pastoral esteem and 
 pastoral labour ? I apprehend, sir, that if there 
 be a man in the Christian ministry at this time 
 to be found in any quarter of the globe, or in 
 any city of any part of the world, to whom such 
 a memorial is appropriate and desirable, it is to 
 our venerated friend, whose services are now 
 embalmed in the affections of his people, and 
 recognised in the monumental inscription upon 
 this pillar. Oh ! how delightful it is to see 
 Christian brethren thus recognising the great 
 principles of our Christian religion ; thus stand- 
 
156 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 ing forward to attest the sense of the sterling 
 worth of the Christian ministry ; thus ready, 
 while they honour God for the instrumentality 
 of his servant, especially to memorialize their 
 obligations to his mercy and his love, for that 
 grace by which the servant of the Lord was 
 distinguished, and for that success which the 
 Spirit of the Lord has poured upon his ministry. 
 I am sure that the venerated pastor of this 
 church, every Christian minister in this assem- 
 bly, and every Christian mind under this roof, 
 would revolt from the thought of paying homage 
 and honour to man, without a distinct reference 
 to the high influence from heaven which has 
 distinguished the individual. It is the glory, 
 and the grace, and the crown of success attend- 
 ant upon the ministerial labours of the individual 
 whose services we commemorate, — it is because 
 God has thus distinguished him, that we unite 
 in our feeble, humble strains to commemorate 
 the goodness and the grace of God. 
 
 If w^e could review the ministerial labours of 
 the faithful servant of God, as they are seen by 
 Him who knows their worth, who knows their 
 connexion with his purposes, who sees their 
 relation with the salvation of immortal souls, 
 and who looks at the end from the beginning* 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 157 
 
 how much deeper would be our sympathies, 
 how much more sacred our impulses, how much 
 more ardent our gratitude, than they are at the 
 present time ! But, sir, the record of every 
 faithful minister is on high ; and while it is his 
 comfort to know, that wherever he opens his 
 lips in the name of Jesus, for the honour of his 
 gospel, and for the salvation of souls, the testi- 
 mony cannot be lost — cannot be lost on earth, 
 shall not be lost in heaven, but shall have its 
 record there, and its seal there ; — I firmly be- 
 lieve, sir, that the promise of our Lord author- 
 izes every faithful minister to expect that the 
 testimony borne to Jesus, simply in faith, and 
 in truth, is never borne in vain. 
 
 But, sir, when I think of the labours of my 
 venerated friend, I cannot help feeling that, in 
 the tone which he has given to the ministry at 
 home, in the spirit which he has breathed into 
 the ministerial office generally, and in the glo- 
 rious results which his style and quality of 
 preaching, and temper of mind and simple re- 
 liance on divine grace, have effected in in- 
 fluencing the ministry, an incomparable amount 
 of good has been done. Sir, we want our 
 standards, not only of divinity, but also of min- 
 istry ; those standards to which we may look, 
 14 
 
158 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 and by which we may measure ourselves ; by 
 which we may catch the spirit of a higher and 
 better world, and the spirit of that Master 
 whom we serve : and I never can come into 
 the fellowship or under the ministry of a man 
 of God, who breathes the spirit of his Master 
 and of his work, and who puts forth simple 
 truth with an earnest and manifest desire to do 
 good, but I feel — I was going to say, insensibly, 
 in the first instance, imperceptibly- — that I am 
 in the presence of a character whose majesty 
 and dignity must awe my spirit, and whose tes- 
 timony for my Saviour and my Lord must be 
 honoured, esteemed, and loved by me ! Can 
 we say to how great an extent the ministrations 
 of my friend have accomplished blessed re- 
 sults, in preserving Christian brethren from 
 turning aside from the truth ; in keeping Chris- 
 tian minds from even looking at error ; and in 
 preserving the love and temper of the Christian 
 ministry in its plainness, its fervency, its 
 earnestness, and its power ! I, for one, must 
 confess — and I do it before God and this assem- 
 bly — that I do not remember an instance in 
 which the influence of an individual minister of 
 the gospel has produced so (as I conceive it) 
 scriptural and fair a view of what the ministry 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 159 
 
 of the gospel should be, upon my own mind, as 
 that of my friend Mr. Jay : and I know I speak 
 the sentiments of many when I make this 
 avowal. I hold it to be a distinguished bless- 
 ing that the showers of heavenly grace have 
 rested on him to the present hour. I pray that 
 thesh owers of divine influence may still come 
 down and distinguish his latest days ; and that 
 those who assembled with him in this place of 
 worship may, one and all, rejoice in the great 
 things of God, in their experimental knowledge, 
 and in their blessed and beneficial results ! 
 
 I have much pleasure, expressing these sen- 
 timents, in proposing the resolution. 
 
 The Chairman : — The Rev. Samuel Nich- 
 ols, grandson of the first deacon of the Inde- 
 pendent church in Bath, will second the reso- 
 lution. 
 
 The Rev. S. Nichols : — I cannot conceive it 
 possible that the heart of any individual in this 
 assembly, who has witnessed the proceedings of 
 this morning, or, as far as they have gone, the 
 proceedings of this evening, can look on with in- 
 sensibility though that sensibility may admit of 
 different degrees. And I conceive it equally im- 
 possible that any of you can feel more intensely 
 
160 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 in connexion with these services than the indi- 
 vidual who is now addressing you. Mr. Chair- 
 man, you made a happy reference this morning to 
 what the sainted Wilberforce would feel in con- 
 nexion with this celebration : and if there be 
 degrees of intense feeling in heaven, my sainted 
 grandsire, to whom yoa have just referred, must 
 experience the most exalted pleasure. If there 
 be joy in heaven to see one sinner returning to 
 God, taking his first step in the path to heaven, 
 oh ! it must be joy to angels and to saints, and 
 especially to those once associated with the 
 services of the minister whose Jubilee we are 
 now celebrating ; it must be the cause of high 
 joy to their hearts to find that he has been pre- 
 served to the present hour, and his reputation, 
 in every sense, yearly increasing. 
 
 When I recur to the recollections of child- 
 hood, which are identified with these very 
 walls, I see before me, in yon part of the 
 chapel, the countenance of my affectionate an- 
 cestor, beaming with vivid joy as he listened to 
 the voice of his pastor : and I cannot breathe 
 a belter wish for his successors in ofllice, 
 through every future generation, within these 
 walls, than that they may inherit, and imbibe, 
 and display like straightforwardness of purpose, 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 161 
 
 like simplicity of faith in Christ, to that which 
 distinguished him. More I will not say, be- 
 cause he was my grandsire ; less I could not 
 say in justice to his memory, or in justice to the 
 occasion on which we are assembled, in refer- 
 ence to an individual than whom no one felt a 
 deeper interest in the erection of this place of 
 worship ; than whom no one welcomed with 
 more solicitude and joy our venerated friend, 
 fifty years ago, to his introduction to the pasto- 
 ral office : than whom no one clave more close- 
 ly to him, with attachment, not for a single 
 moment interrupted or abated, but growing with 
 the increase of his years down to his dying 
 moments. 
 
 Amongst my earliest recollections of child- 
 hood is the sight of my friend in the pulpit, his 
 head then white, but not as now with the snows 
 of age, — not, as now hoary with the glory of 
 being found in the way of righteousness. And 
 amongst the earliest sounds which my ear, after 
 the lapse of forty years, can now retain, are the 
 deepness and the pathos of his tones, which 
 attracted the attention of my childish years long 
 before I knew the import of the sounds which 
 were uttered; a voice which, in after years, 
 with much solemnity, delivered to me a charge 
 14* 
 
162 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 at the period of my being set apart to the 
 Christian ministry. 
 
 Forgive me, my friends, for thus speaking so 
 much of myself, on a subject in referring to 
 which I know I shall be more than justified on 
 the present occasion. You will not wonder that 
 I feel intense delight in connexion with this 
 Jubilee. I am thankful that, not many weeks 
 ago, I had the pleasure of being present at the 
 very preliminary proceedings which have issued 
 in a series of services so unusual and so appro- 
 priate. I rejoice in having been permitted on 
 Thursday evening last to elicit the first key- 
 note in the hearts of many, with remarks which 
 I hope were not unsuitable to usher in the 
 larger and more lengthened tones which follow- 
 ed. I rejoice now to address you for a few 
 moments at the close of this celebration. 
 
 And now let me touch a string which has 
 again and again vibrated during the present 
 day's proceedings — I mean, your responsibility. 
 We have said much, and heard much, but not a 
 word too much, connected with this scene, of 
 your privileges; and, oh! let me remind you 
 again of your responsibility. Members of this 
 Christian church ! God has honoured you : He 
 has honoured you long j He has honoured you 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL, 
 
 163 
 
 highly ; but remember your obligations bear an 
 equal proportion. The world has a right to 
 expect much, very much, from you. God him- 
 self has a right to expect very much from you. 
 Oh ! forget not this ; but as this Jubilee is like 
 the renewal of youth to your venerated pastor, 
 let it be like a renewal of youth to you in every 
 thing that is zealous, and Christian, and lovely. 
 Looking onward, as well as backward, connect 
 this Jubilee with the anticipated solemnities of 
 the last judgment, with the searching and start- 
 ling peal of the last trumpet. " Therefore, my 
 beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immoveable, 
 always abounding in the work of the Lord; 
 forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not 
 in vain in the Lord." 
 
 You who are the members of this congrega- 
 tion have been reminded again and again to-day, 
 and most impressively, of the awfulness of your 
 condition, should you, after possessing all these 
 privileges, be yourselves lost. Let me faith- 
 fully and affectionately remind you that there 
 may be attachment to the servant, where there 
 is none to the Master ; that there may be at- 
 traction in the tact and talent, and, above all, 
 the consistency, of the pastor of this church, 
 while you see no attraction in the wonders of 
 
164 
 
 EVENING BTEETIXG 
 
 the Cross — no attraction in the loveliness of 
 Him who is altogether lovely. Let me remind 
 you that you may admire the reporter, while 
 you forget the report. Let me remind you that 
 nothing would cheer his heart more, than to 
 know that the day of his Jubilee is the day of 
 your conversion. 
 
 My young friends, to your last days cherish 
 the recollection of what you have heard this 
 evening. Parents, take care that, as far as in 
 you lies, this shall be the case. Amidst all that 
 was touching in the proceedings of this morning 
 — and there were strokes upon strokes, till the 
 heart almost bowed and bent beneath their 
 influence — there was nothing touched my heart 
 so much as when our venerated and revered 
 friend referred to his daughter across the ocean, 
 and told us that while she was the mother of 
 thirteen children, through the aboundings of 
 the grace of God, all of them were walking 
 with her in the path to God and to glory. Oh ! 
 who that has a parent's heart, but must beat 
 high with anxiety for the interest of their chil- 
 dren? It is delightful to see (as I have re- 
 cently experienced) the oldest publicly devoting 
 himself to God : but, oh ! what joy must it be 
 to have thirteen companions, not only along the 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 165 
 
 path of life, but dear children travelling with the 
 parent to a higher and a better world ! Oh ! 
 that like blessings may descend on us all ! Oh! 
 that on all the children of our venerated friend, 
 and all their children, the Spirit of grace may 
 richly descend ; that at last they " may meet, 
 no wanderer lost, a family in heaven !" Amen, 
 and amen. 
 
 The motion being put by the Chairman, re- 
 ceived the unanimous adoption of the meeting. 
 
 THE JUVENILE TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 The younger branches of the congregation 
 having determined upon presenting their min- 
 ister with a token of their affection and esteem, 
 a gold medal and a silver salver were prepared 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The medal was from a design by Mr. S. 
 King. On one side it has a medallion likeness 
 of the pastor whose Jubilee it is intended to 
 commemorate, and bears the following inscrip- 
 tion : — " The Rev. William Jay completed a 
 pastorate of fifty years, Jan. 30, 1841." The 
 reverse shows an elevation of the sacred edi- 
 
166 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 fice SO long the scene of Mr. Jay's ministerial 
 labours, being inscribed — " Argyle chapel, 
 Bath. Erected 1789. First enlargement, 1804; 
 second enlargement, 1821." 
 
 The salver bears the following inscription : 
 
 " The juvenile members of the church and congregation of 
 Argyle chapel present this salver, bearing a gold medal, comme- 
 morative of the event, as a tribute of aifection to their highly-es- 
 teemed pastor, the Rev. William Jay, on the completion of the 
 Jubilee of his ministerial labours, with the sincere hope that he 
 may long be spared to them as their shepherd,— .Ba^A ; 20th Jan. 
 1841." 
 
 The bag in which these tokens of regard 
 were enclosed was composed of crimson vel- 
 vet, embroidered with gold, and ornamented 
 with tassels of the same material ; the gift of 
 Miss Jones. 
 
 This testimonial was now presented to Mr. 
 Jay, through the medium of the chairman, by 
 a deputation from the young persons, headed by 
 Mr. J. R. King and Mr. Finigan, with the fol- 
 lowing address. 
 
 Mr. J. R. King:— Mr. Chairman,— The 
 pleasurable duty devolves on me this evening 
 of presenting to you, from the hands of these 
 3^oung ladies, this elegant testimonial of the 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 167 
 
 love and esteem which the juvenile members 
 of this church and congregation bear to their 
 venerable and beloved pastor. It is their de- 
 sire sir, that you would have the kindness to 
 present it to Mr. Jay. This token of respect 
 is the result of the zealous exertions of the la- 
 dies accompanying me to this platform, whose 
 names I would have publicly given, but from 
 the fear that my doing so would be objectiona- 
 ble to their feelings ; as they are names which 
 would be easily recognised by our dear pastor, 
 and such as have been identified with the con- 
 gregation of Argyle chapel for a long series of 
 years. I only have to add, sir, that we beg 
 most earnestly to join in the beautiful sentiment 
 expressed on this salver, " that our dear minis- 
 ter may long be spared to us as our shepherd." 
 
 The Chairman having received the testimo- 
 nial, presented it to Mr. Jay, with the following 
 observations. 
 
 The Chairman : — My honoured pastor, — I 
 am requested by the juvenile members of your 
 congregation, represented by these young la- 
 dies, to present to you this gold medal, which 
 is perfectly unique ; there is no other, there can 
 
168 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 be no other, like it. It is intended, sir, for your 
 acceptance, to be preserved as an heirloom in 
 your family, which may always bring to re- 
 membrance the affection of your congregation, 
 and particularly the juvenile part of it. The 
 young ladies who have taken the lead in pro- 
 viding this memento, have evinced great zeal, 
 but that zeal has been tempered with prudence. 
 They have felt great pleasure in collecting 
 contributions towards this token of esteem, and 
 have evinced as much ardent affection as any 
 other portion of your congregation. They pre- 
 sent it with their united prayer that you may 
 be long preserved to them as their minister and 
 spiritual shepherd. 
 
 During the performance of the anthem, 
 " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord," Mr. Jay ascended the pulpit, and after- 
 wards delivered the following address. 
 
 The Rev. W. Jay : — I feel more at home 
 ^ere, though not entirely so amidst these pecu- 
 liarities. Mr. Chairman and my dear young 
 friends, I little imagined I should have been 
 called upon for a second address on this occa- 
 sion. I feel entirely exhausted, not by exer- 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 169 
 
 tion, but by emotion ; for whoever endured such 
 a persecution of kindness, and friendship, and 
 honour, as I have endured this morning and this 
 evening ? 
 
 And yet I cannot complain of being called to 
 this service. Yea, I ought to feel gratified and 
 grateful ; and I assure you I do feel gratified 
 and grateful in no ordinary degree. The token 
 I have now received is enhanced and endear- 
 ed by the very quarter from whence it comes. 
 For the young are the hopes of our families, 
 and of our churches, and of our country. On 
 them we depend to fill all the sacred and civil 
 departments in the community . for one genera- 
 tion passeth away and another cometh, and none 
 is suffered to continue by reason of death. But, 
 oh! could we see a large number of the rising race 
 coming forward as a seed to serve the Redeem- 
 er, who shall be accounted to him for a gene- 
 ration ; — how would this gently loosen the cords 
 of life, and enable us to say, " Lord, now lettest 
 Thou thy servant depart in peace, according 
 to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy sal- 
 vation." 
 
 My dear young friends, what a privilege — 
 ffor I will not refer to it as a duty now — what a 
 privilege is early piety ! Hence the language 
 15 
 
170 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 of Solomon, which we so often quote, " I love 
 them that love me, and they that seek rae early 
 shall find rae," and which has so frequently 
 adorned a youthful tomb. All that seek shall 
 find. The force of the promise, therefore, must 
 be considered comparatively. All alike find, 
 but all do not find alike. Is there no differ- 
 ence between your finding Him now in the be- 
 ginning of your journey, to guide you safely 
 forward, and finding Him after wandering in 
 wrong roads, and after being robbed and wound- 
 ed by thieves, and having your strength worn 
 out, and the shadows of the evening falling up- 
 on you ? Is there no difference, my young 
 friends, between finding Him in the loveliness 
 and cheerfulness of life, and finding Him only 
 *' when the days and the years draw near where- 
 in ye will say, we have no pleasure in them 
 No diff'erence between your finding Him in the 
 health of your countenance and the vigour of 
 your strength, and finding Him only when your 
 bones will be filled with the sins of your youth, 
 which lie down with you in the. grave ? No ; 
 none find Him like those who seek Him early. 
 None find such peculiar acceptance with Him, 
 none derive such distinguished privileges fron» 
 Him. A thousand satisfactions;^nd advantages 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 171 
 
 are wanting in a late conversion which adorn 
 and bless an earlier one. Take an old man : his 
 conversion is of importance to himself; but 
 what is it to others? His conversion secures him 
 for eternity, but it is attended with no usefulness 
 in life. He runs no race, he accomplishes no 
 warfare, he gains no laurels, he glorifies not 
 God in his body and spirit, nor serves his gene- 
 ration according to the will of God — 
 
 There is a proverb which you, perhaps, may 
 have met with, which says. Young saints prove 
 old devils. I would rather reverse this ; and 
 say, that young saints often prove old angels. 
 Read through the Scriptures : notice the history 
 of Joseph, and Samuel, and David, and Daniel, 
 and John, and Timothy. Read through the his- 
 tory of our godly ancestors. Remember the 
 language of Beza in his will : " Lord," says 
 he, " I thank thee that at the early age of six- 
 teen I was enabled to dedicate myself to thy 
 service." Here the speaker could refer to his 
 own experience, and perhaps it would not be 
 improper on this occasion. My young friends if 
 he had not been cut off in the midst of his days, 
 what a different figure would he have made at 
 this time had he been the victim of youthful 
 vices. And I am persuaded that there is not a 
 
172 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 Christian here who is not, next to the salvation 
 of his soul, most grateful for an early consecra- 
 tion to the service and glory of God. 
 
 Now I presume that many of our young friends 
 who have joined in this testimony of respect are 
 already walking in the truth : and I can have 
 no greater joy than to see this. But I hope this 
 will be the case with all who have joined in 
 this token of respect. Oh ! my young friends, 
 it would be sad, it would be dreadful, for any of 
 you, after having come forward thus to honour 
 your minister now, to constrain him hereafter, 
 on a more public occasion, to condemn you — to 
 say, " Lord, they are guilty : Lord, they have 
 destroyed themselves. I instructed them ; I 
 warned them ; I invited them ; I besought them 
 with tears to come unto thee. But they turned 
 away from him that speaketh from heaven ; 
 they neglected so great salvation ; they rejected 
 the counsel of God against themselves." 
 
 But I hope better things of you, and things 
 that accompany salvation, though I thus speak. 
 And, oh ! my young friends who have thus fa- 
 voured me, could I take many of you by the 
 hand and lead you to the table of the Lord, it 
 would afford me much more delight than the 
 reception of this medal. And yet I do not un- 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 173 
 
 dervalue this present ; yea, I prize it, not only 
 for the exquisite beauty of the workmanship, 
 but for the sake of those who have presented it. 
 It will remind me of you, my young friends, 
 and lead me to remember you, too, for good. 
 
 This medal, you are aware, cannot long re- 
 main in my possession: but it will, as our chair- 
 man has remarked, serve as an heirloom in my 
 family; so that my children and my children's 
 children when they look upon it may prize it, 
 and remember how long their father laboured 
 within these walls, and how God smiled upon 
 him, and was pleased to favour him to the last. 
 
 Here are two pillars erected. Delicacy and 
 my feelings will not allow me to refer to them. 
 Indeed, the allusion would be unnecessary after 
 the remarks which have been made by our 
 chairman. But remember they are memorials. 
 One of them is a memorial of my predecessor ; 
 the other, after a while, will be a memorial of 
 myself. Oh ! then may I be enjoying Him 
 above while you are zealously serving Him be- 
 low : and, at last, may we all unite in that bless- 
 ed world where adieus and farewells will be a 
 sound unknown ! 
 
 O God ! let thy work appear unto thy ser- 
 vants, 'and thy glory unto their children : and 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 EVENING MEETING 
 
 let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, 
 
 and establish thou the work of our hands upon 
 us ; yea, the work of our hands establish thou 
 it. Amen. 
 
 The anthem, " How excellent is thy name, 
 O Lord, in all the earth," having been sung by 
 the choir ; the Rev. D. Wassell, Baptist min- 
 ister, of Bath, gave oQt Mr. Montgomery's Ju- 
 bilee hymn, which was sung by the congrega- 
 tion. 
 
 The benediction was then pronounced by the 
 Rev. W. Lucy, of Bristol. 
 
 The Chairman : — The business of this even- 
 ing is now at end ; though I have the pleasure 
 to state that the gentlemen in the orchestra in- 
 tend to perform several anthems and pieces of 
 music, which will present a pleasing finish to 
 a festival so sacred and delightful, wherein, as 
 far as I have observed, nothing but brotherly 
 love has been manifested. I now leave the 
 chair, highly gratified with your attention and 
 your kind indulgence to me as your chairman. 
 
 A selection of sacred music was then per- 
 
AT ARGYLE CHAPEL. 
 
 175 
 
 formed by the choir, which gave very general 
 satisfaction. The musical arrangements were 
 under the direction of Mr. Jacob Titley, who 
 also led the singing at the Public Breakfast in 
 the morning. 
 
 The occurrence which called for the pro- 
 ceedings recorded in the previous pages was so 
 rare that precedents were out of the question. 
 The Managing Committee were therefore 
 thrown entirely upon their own resources for 
 modes of celebrating the event, and they did 
 well what they undertook to perform. 
 
 One feature in the celebration was particu- 
 larly gratifying : the happiness with which the 
 day was hailed by the immediate members of 
 the Independent church seemed to pervade 
 every denomination of Christians. Episcopa- 
 lians, Wesleyans, and Baptists, were present 
 at each meeting ; the little barrier which sepa- 
 rates them on earth was thrown down, and all 
 felt that they were of " one church," and " one 
 in Christ Jesus." 
 
THE ANTHEMS 
 
 SUNG DURING THE EVENING MEETING. 
 
 MH. NOBLE PRESIDED AT THE ORGAN. 
 
 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord! 
 
 How excellent thy name, 0 Lord ! 
 
 Sing unto God, and high affections raise ! 
 
 How beautiful are the feet of him that bringeth 
 the gospel of peace ! 
 
 Their sound is gone out into all lands. 
 
 Paraphrase of 107th Psalm. 
 
 And the glory of the Lord. 
 
 On thee each living soul awaits. 
 
 Hallelujah Chorus. 
 
JUBILEE HYMNS 
 
 SUNG AT THE MORNING AND EVENING MEETINGS. 
 
 Hymn I. 
 
 A blessing on our Pastor's head, 
 Lord God ! we fervently implore ; 
 On him, this day, a blessing shed 
 For life, for death, for evermore. 
 
 For all that Thou in him hast wrought, 
 For all that Thou by him hast done, 
 Our warmest, purest thanks be brought, 
 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, thy Son. 
 
 To Thee he gave his flower of youth. 
 To Thee his manhood's fruit he. gave, 
 — The herald of live-giving truth, 
 Dead souls from deathless death to save. 
 
 Forsake him not in his old age. 
 But while his Master's cross he bears. 
 Faith be his staflf on pilgrimage, 
 A crown of glory his grey hairs. 
 
JUBILEE HYMNS. 
 
 179 
 
 With holier zeal his heart enlarge, 
 Though strength decay and sight grow dim, 
 While we, the people of his charge. 
 Still glorify thy grace in him. 
 
 So, when his Avarfare here shall cease, 
 By suffering perfected in love. 
 His ransomed soul shall join in peace 
 The Church of the first-born above. 
 
 Hymn H. 
 
 Hallelujah ! heart and voice, 
 Yielding all the praise to Thee, 
 Lord ! the flock would now rejoice 
 In the Pastor's Jubilee. 
 
 Hallelujah ! heart and voice, 
 When the day of God they see, 
 All Christ's sheep will thus rejoice 
 On his own great Jubilee. 
 
 Hallelujah ! heart and voice. 
 Then in heaven one fold shall be 
 And one Shepherd, — to rejoice 
 In eternal Jubilee. 
 
 James Montgomery. 
 
 The Mount, Sheffield. 
 
riATP ni ic 
 Ut\l c uuc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HIGHSMITH #^ 
 
 15230 
 
 
 Printed 
 
 in USA /