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 THE LIBRARIES 
 
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 1860-1945 
 
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LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. JAMES HERVEY. 
 
 BY 
 
 D. A. HAESIIA, M. A. 
 
 ' O THAT MT -WTIITINGS MAT EXALT THE DiVINE SAVTOTTR.'— HcrVCy. 
 
 Hervey'8 Birthplace. 
 
 ALBANY : 
 
 J. IVrUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 
 
 1865. 
 
 '■ t ' a 1 i 2 J > 1 
 

 No. ^^- 
 
 Entered according to Act orCongress, by 
 
 D. A. Harsha, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 
 Northern District of New York. 
 
 Edition of 50 Copies. 
 
 y^-r?f ^- 
 
TO THE 
 
 REV. JAMES HERVEY ANDREW, 
 
 PASTOU OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHTOCH, OF. SOTTTH 
 ARGTLE, NEW YORK, 
 
 A CLERGYMAN WHOSK GRAND AIM IN HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY, LIKB 
 
 THAT OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS AND EXCELLENT DIVINE, FOR 
 
 WHOM HE IS CALLED, IS TO DISPLAY THE 
 
 UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST, THE MATCHLESS EFFICACY OF 
 
 HIS DEATH, AND THAT PERFECT FREENESS WITH WHICH 
 
 ALL HIS INVALUABLE BENEFITS ARE BESTOWED^ 
 
 THE FOLLOWING MEMOIR, 
 
 AS A SMALL TRIBUTE OF PERSONAL REGARD, 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
'In Hervet's works are displj^ted a firm faith in 
 
 THE DIVINE TESTIMONT, AND STRONG TRAITS OP BENEVO- 
 LENCE, IN A STYLE TOO RICH AND ORNAMENTAL : HE, THERE- 
 FORE, MAY BE READ TO GREAT PROFIT, IN ORDER TO 
 STRENGTHEN OUR FAITH IN THE PROMISES, TO RAISE OUR 
 AFFECTIONS TOWARDS HEAVEN, AND EVEN TO IMPROVE OUR 
 STYLE, WHEN THAT VERGES TO THE CONTRARY EXTREME OP 
 POVERTY, -WHETHER OF EXPRESSION, DESCRIPTION, OR FIGU- 
 RATIVE LANGUAGE ; BUT A RICH FANCY WITHOUT A CRITICAL 
 JUDGMENT SHOULD BEWARE OF HeRVEY AS A MODEL.' 
 
 ffilliams' Christian Preacher. 
 
 ' 0, THAT THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD MAY DIRECT IT, 
 THAT WHOEVER READS HIS WRITINGS, MAY LEARN TO HAVE 
 NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH, BUT TO MAKE MENTION OF 
 
 Jehovah's righteousness even of his only !' — Rev. 
 If'l.lliam Romaine. 
 
 ' Hervey's Meditations, with the Pilgrim's Progress, 
 THE Duty of Man, and the Bible, are commonly seen 
 together on a shelf in the cottages of England.' 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 A beautiful illustration of the Christian cha- 
 racter in its various excellencies is exhibited in 
 the life of the pious and exemplary James Hervey. 
 And it is certainly interesting, edifying and pro- 
 fitable for the sincere disciple of Christ to contem- 
 plate this amiable divine in the daily scenes of his 
 calm and close walk with God ; in the fervor and 
 sincerity of his devotion ; in the ardor and con- 
 stancy of his love to the blessed Redeemer — and 
 to the souls of men ; in the peacefulness and 
 buoyancy of his mind amidst afflictions ; and in 
 the strength and triumph of his fiiith while on the 
 borders of the grave. What Christian does not 
 also love to think of him in his admiration of the 
 beauties of nature — in his tracing the power, wis- 
 dom, and goodness of God in stars, flowers, and 
 plants — in his winging his thoughts, in search of 
 themes declarative of the divine glory, 
 
 ' From hill to hill, from field to grove. 
 Across the waves, aromid the sky !' 
 
 It has been the aim of the author to give a clear, 
 
 succinct and comprehensive account of the leading 
 
 events of Hervey's useful and valuable life, and 
 
 of his happy and triumphant death ; and to make 
 
 some passing reflections on the more prominent 
 
 qualities of his character. 
 
G PKEFACE. 
 
 The materials for this memorial have been de- 
 rived from the best and most reliable sources, the 
 principal authorities on the life of Hcrvey having 
 been carefully consulted. The author's obligations 
 are especially due to the Life and Character' of 
 Heinjey^ by John Brown, published in 1822, 8vo. 
 
 To the author the preparation of the present 
 brief memoir has been truly a labor of love ; and 
 he will esteem it an ample recompense for his 
 service if it shall be the means of inspiring in any 
 reader a more profound reverence for the memory 
 of one — 
 
 ' Whose page and soul alike breathe humblest love 
 To his adored Redeemer.' 
 
 May the blessing of God accompany the reading 
 of the following pages, causing the memory of 
 Hervey still to be blessed, and making his writings 
 the honored instrument of exalting the divine 
 Saviour more and more throuo;h all comino- time, 
 till in realms of glory, far beyond the starry sides, 
 the fading flowers of earth and the cold, cheerless 
 tomb, ransomed millions shall unite in that won- 
 drous, sweet, unending song, with which the 
 arches of heaven shall eternally resound — ' Unto 
 Him that loved us, and washed us feom our 
 SINS IN His oavn blood, and hath made us kings 
 
 AND PRIESTS UNTO GoD AND HiS FaTHER ; TO HeM 
 
 be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 
 A:men.' D. a. H. 
 
 Argyle, N. Y., Seiit. 15, 1865. 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 Rev. JAMES HERVEY. 
 
 James Hervey was bom ou the 2Gtli of Febm- 
 aiy, 1713, at the village of Hardingstone, about 
 a mile from Northampton, England. He was the 
 son of an Episcopal Clergyman, who was rector 
 of Collingtree, within two miles of Hardingstone. 
 He was first taught to read by his mother, under 
 whose tuition he continued till he had reached 
 his seventh year, Avhen he was sent to the gram- 
 mar school of Northampton. There he remained 
 about ten years, acquiring, in this long period, a 
 critical knowledge of the Latin and Greek lan- 
 guages. The foundation of his classical attain- 
 ments was laid at this school. 
 
 In 1731, at the age of eighteen, he entered the 
 University of Oxford, where he resided about five 
 years. While at the University he met with 
 several works whose perusal afforded him great 
 pleasure, and which gave him a higher relish for 
 those subjects which in after life he himself so 
 
8 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 happily illustrated. Among these works were 
 Abbe de Pluche's Mature Displayed, Derham's 
 Astro-Theology, and Physico-Theology, and Ray's 
 Wisdom of God in Creation, Besides these books 
 he read with much interest and profit Spence's 
 Five Dialogues on Pope's Translation of Homer, an 
 essay which he often declared gave him a greater 
 insight into the nature and beauty of composi- 
 tion than any author he ever read.* 
 
 On leaving Oxford in 1736, he returned home, 
 and became curate for his father, who at that 
 time officiated as pastor of a church in Collingtree. 
 On leaving his father, he next accepted the curacy 
 of Dummer, in Hampshire, where he continued 
 about a year, preaching to a poor, illiterate 
 
 *An Essay on Pope's Translation of Homer's Odyssey, by 
 the Rev. Joseph Spence, 8vo. London, 1727, second edition, 
 1737, 12mo. ' One of the most pleasing and useful pieces of 
 criticism which we possess.' — Dr. Drake. 
 
 Mr. Spence's principal work is entitled Polymetis ; or an 
 Inquiry into the Agreement betiveen tM Works of the Roman 
 Poets and the Remains of Ancient Artists. London, 1747, 
 royal foUo. His Anecdotes, Observations, and Character of 
 books and men, collected from the conversation of Mr. Pope 
 and others, were published by S. W. Singer, with notes and 
 a life of the author, London, 1820, 8vo. port., second edition, 
 London, 1858. This is also a very useful, interesting and 
 amusing book. Dr. Dibdin says : ' This is one of the most 
 entertaining volimies of literary anecdote imaginable, and 
 worthy of admittance in an elegantly furnished hbrary.' 
 
LIFE OF HERVET. 9 
 
 ' people, to Whom the Rev. George Whitefielcl had 
 previously addressed the word of life.* 
 
 When he left tliis place iu 1738, Hervey was 
 mvited by his excellent friend Paul Orchard, Esq., 
 to his delightful residence at Stoke-Abbey, in 
 Devonshire, where he spent two years very agree- 
 
 shlrf T' '1 n^' "^"'^ '^'^ ''''' ^^^"^^^^^^^ officiated''for a 
 shoit tnne at Dummer. He was then in the 23d year of his 
 
 age; and from that time he continued to preach to crowded 
 congrega ,ons with increasing popularity. He was a little 
 yo mger than Hervey, being born on the 16th of December, 
 1714. He died on the 30th of September, 1770 Hervey 
 was an mtimate friend and a great admirer of Whitefleld 
 He thus speaks of a visit which he enjoyed with him at the 
 hoase of a gentleman at Northampton: 'I have lately seen 
 that most excellent minister of the ever-blessed Jesus, Mr. 
 Whitefleld. I dined, supped and spent the evening with him 
 at Northampton, in company with Dr. Doddridge, and two 
 pious, ingenious clergymen of the church of England, both of 
 them known to the learned world by their valuable writings • 
 and surely I never spent a more delightful evening, or saw 
 one that seemed to make nearer approaches to the felicity of 
 heaven. -A gentleman of great worth and rank in town 
 mvited us to his house, and gave us an elegant treat, but how 
 mean was his provision, how course his dehcacies, compared 
 with the fruit of my friend's lips! they dropped as the 
 honey-comb, and were a well of life.' 
 
 Whitefleld also seems to have had the hio-hest regard for 
 Hervey. He says : ' The author of the Meditations is my old 
 friend; a most heavenly-minded creature, who is contented 
 with a small pittance, and gives all chat he has to the poor ' 
 For excellent accounts of this extraordinary man, of whom 
 Lord Bohngbroke declared that he had 'the most commanding 
 eloquence he ever heard in any person,' see his memoirs by 
 Dr. GiUies, Robert Phihp, and Samuel Drew. 
 
10 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 ably, and was higWy esteemed by this hospitable 
 family. In describing the charms of this rural 
 retreat, he says, in a very devotional frame of 
 mind : ' On the one side, a vast tract of land 
 extends itself, finely diversified by rising trees, 
 floating corn, and pasturage for cattle ; on the 
 other side rolls the great and wide sea, where 
 go the ships, and where is that great Levia- 
 than. Which way soever I look, I meet with 
 footsteps of the divine immensity, I view Thy 
 great and marvellous works, Lord God Al- 
 mighty, I am encountered with ten thousand 
 arguments to hear Thy tremendous power, and 
 love Thy diflusive goodness.' In 1740, Hervey 
 removed to Bideford, fourteen miles from Stoke- 
 Abbey, and ofiiciated there as curate more than 
 two years. 
 
 It is well known that Hervey preached some 
 time before he experienced the power of religion 
 in his own soul, — before he discovered the pre- 
 ciousness of Christ and His spotless righteousness. 
 His views of divine truth now underwent a 
 radical change ; his preaching became evangeli- 
 cal; and henceforth, the righteousness of the 
 Redeemer, — a righteousness which he had former- 
 ly despised, — and all those glorious truths which 
 center in Christ and Him crucified, became the 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 11 
 
 grand theme of his miiiistnitions in the pulpit 
 and his labors for the press. Whitcfield was the 
 honored instrument of leading Hervey to the 
 knowled2:e of the truth as it is in Jesus. In a 
 letter ta»Whitelield, he says: ' Your journals, dear 
 sir, and sermons, especially that sweet sermon 
 upon What think ye of Christ ? were a means of 
 bringing me to the knowledge of the truth.' He 
 also derived much spiritual benefit from a perusal 
 of several old books of a thoroughly evangelical 
 nature, such as Jenks on Submission to Christ's 
 Righteousness;* Rawlin on Justification; Thomas 
 Hall on Perseverance^ in the Lime Street Lectm-es ; 
 Zimmerman on the Excellency of the Knowledge of 
 Christ; Marshall on Sanctification; Boston's Four- 
 fold State,^ and Witsius on the Covenants. Several 
 times he perused some of the sermons of Rev. 
 Ebenezer Erskine, on the assurance of faith. Of 
 
 *'It was one of the first books that gave me an insight into 
 the truth of the gospel, as the way of salvation by the infi- 
 nitely glorious obedience of our Surety, Jesus Ghx'xsi.'' -Hervey. 
 
 tWith regard to Boston's Four-fold State, Hervey thus 
 writes : ' This, in my opinion, is one of our best books for 
 common readers,' and the View of the Covenant of Grace, by 
 the same author, he pronounces 'an excellent treatise.' 'The 
 works of this popular and learned Scotch divine,' says Lown- 
 des, ' were published separately, and some of them have been 
 frequently reprinted, particularly his " Human JVature Z7i its 
 Fourfold State." ' 
 
12 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 the sermons of the Erskines, he says : ' Was I to 
 
 read, with a single view to the edification of my 
 
 heart in true faith, solid comfort, and evangelical 
 
 holiness, I would have recourse to Messrs. Ebe- 
 
 nezer and Ealph Erskine, and take their yolumes 
 
 for my guide, my companion, and my own familiar 
 
 friend.'* 
 
 While at Bideford, he planned and partly 
 
 wrote his Meditations and Contemplations. On 
 
 a ride from Bideford to Kilkhampton, in Cornwall, 
 
 he went into the church, and there laid the scene 
 
 of his 3Ieditations amony the Tombs. '\ 
 
 *Hervey seems to have also been a great admirer of the 
 writings of Marshall, and of Boston. Speaking of INIarshall 
 on Sandification, he says : ' It has been one of the most use- 
 ful books to my ovm heart ; I scarce ever fail to receive spirit- 
 ual consolation and strength from the perusal of it.' It is 
 ■worthy of observation that this old book was also a favorite 
 with Cowper, the Poet, who writes : ' INIarshall lies on my 
 table, and is an old acquaintance of mine ; I have both read 
 him and heard him read, with pleasure and edification. The 
 doctrines he maintains are, under the influence of the Spirit of 
 Christ, the very Ufe of my soul, and the soul of all my hap- 
 piness. I think Marshall one of the best writers, and the 
 most spiritual expositor of scripture I ever read. I admire 
 the strength of his argument and the clearness of his reasoning 
 upon the parts of our holy religion, which are least understood, 
 (even by real Christians), as master-pieces of the kind.' 
 
 fit was also in a church-yard that the scene was laid of one 
 of the most admu-cd poems in the Enghsh language, — Gray's 
 Elegy. There is a tradition that it was composed within the 
 precincts of the church of Granchester, about two miles from 
 Cambridge; and the curfew is supposed to have been the 
 
LIFE OP HERVEY. 13 
 
 To Ilorvoy a church-yard was a most hallowed 
 
 spot, as it should be to every ouc impressed with 
 
 the vanity of this mortal life. With our minds 
 
 solemnized, we should there consider ' the end of 
 
 all men,' while at the same time, we should raise 
 
 our views to those heavenly mansions which are 
 
 prcpai-ed for the righteous, and think of a happy 
 
 life beyond the grave, seeking through the merits 
 
 of Christ to be prepared for those untold and 
 
 unending felicities which are at God's right hand. 
 
 How beautifully and impressively has one of the 
 
 most gifted of our poets expressed the feelings 
 
 with which a Christian should approach a cemetery : 
 
 Through these branched walks will contemplation wind. 
 And grave wise nature's teachings on his mind ; 
 As the white grave-stones glimmer to his eye, 
 A solemn voice will thrill him, ' Thou must die ! ' 
 When Autumn's tints are glittering in the air, 
 That voice will whisper to his soul, ' Prepare ! ' 
 When Winter's snows are spread o'er hill and dell, 
 ' 0, this is death ! ' that solemn voice will swell ; 
 But when with Spring, streams leap, and blossoms wave, 
 'Hope, Christian, hope,' 'twill say, 'there's life beyond the 
 grave.' — Alfred B. Street. 
 
 great bell of St. Mary's. Some have pointed to the church- 
 yard of Stoke-Poges church, in Buckinghamshire, as the 
 scene of this celebrated poem. The Elegy was commenced 
 about the year 1742, revised from time to time, and published 
 in 1751. It is worthy of observation that Grey's Elegy and 
 Hervey's Meditations Among the Tombs were projected and 
 written about the same time ; both were commenced, we think, 
 in 1742. .^ 
 
14 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 In the summer-house of a pleasant garden 
 belonging to the family with whom he resided, 
 Hervey is said to have partly composed his Con- 
 templations on the Night, and on the Starry Heavens. 
 
 After remaining nearly three years at Bide- 
 ford, Hervey returned, in 1743, to Weston-Favel, 
 and ao-ain officiated as curate to his father in the 
 charge of Colliugtree. Before taking his final 
 leave of Bidcford, he was called to witness the 
 death of an infidel — a scene which he has thus 
 touchingly described : 
 
 ' I was not long since called to visit a poor 
 gentleman, erewhile of the most robust body and 
 gayest temper I ever knew ; but when I visited 
 him, O how was the glory departed from him 1 
 I found him no more that sprightly vivacious son 
 of joy which he used to be, but languishing, 
 pining away, and withering under the chastising 
 hand of God ! his limbs feeble and ti-cmbling, his 
 countenance forlorn and ghastly, and the little 
 breath he had left sobbed out in sorrowful sighs ! 
 his body hastening apace to the dust, to lodge in 
 the silent grave, the land of darkness and desola- 
 tion ; his soul just going to God who gave it, 
 preparing itself to wing its way to its long home, 
 to enter upon an unchangeable and eternal state. 
 When I was come up into his chamber, and had 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEV. 15 
 
 seated myself on his bed, he first cast a most wish- 
 ful look upon me, and then began, as he was able 
 to speak : "O that I had been wise, that I had 
 understood this, that I had considered my latter 
 end ! Ah ! Mr. Hervey, death is knocking at my 
 door ; in a few hours more I shall draw my last 
 gasp, and then judgment, the tremendous judg- 
 ment ! How shall I appear, unprepared as I am, 
 before the all-knowing and omnipotent God ? 
 How shall I endure the day of His coming ?" 
 When I mentioned, among many other things, 
 that strict holiness which he had formerly so 
 lightly esteemed, he replied with a hasty eager- 
 ness, " O, that holiness is the only thing I now 
 long for ! I have not words to tell you how highly 
 I value it ; I would gladly part with my estate, 
 large as it is, or a world, to obtain it. Now my 
 benighted eyes are enlightened, I clearly discern 
 the things that are excellent. What is there to 
 be desired in the place whither I am going but 
 God ? or what is there to be desired on earth but 
 religion ?" But if this God should restore you to 
 health, said I, tliink you that you would alter 
 your former course? — "I call heaven and earth 
 to witness," said he, "I would labor for holiness, 
 as I shall soon labor for life. As for riches and 
 pleasures, and the applauses of men, I account 
 
16 LIFE OF HEEVEY. 
 
 them as gross and dung, no more to my happiness 
 than the feathers that lie on the floor. O, if the 
 righteous Judge would try me a little longer, in 
 what spirit would I spend the remainder of my 
 days ! I would know no other business, aim at no 
 other end, than perfecting myself in holiness : 
 whatever contributed to that, every mean of 
 grace, every opportunity of spiritual improve- 
 ment, should be dearer to me than thousands of 
 gold and silver ! But alas ! why do I amuse my- 
 self with fond imaginations ? The best resolutions 
 are now insignificant, because they are too late : 
 the day in which I should have worked is over 
 and gone, and I see a sad, horrible night approach- 
 ino-, brine-ino; with it the blackness of darkness 
 forever. Heretofore, (wo is me !) when God called, 
 I refused ; when He invited, I was one of them 
 that made excuse ; now, therefore, I receive the 
 rewards of my deeds, — fearfulness and trembling 
 are come upon me : I smart, I am in sore anguish 
 already, yet this is but the beginning of sorrows ! 
 It doth not yet appear what I shall be ; but sure 
 I shall be ruined, undone, and destroyed with an 
 everlasting destruction !" This sad scene I saw 
 with my eyes ; these words, and many more 
 equally affecting, I heard with my ears ; and soon 
 after attended the unhappy gentleman to his tomb.' 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEY. 17 
 
 In 174G, Ilervcy gave to the world his Medita- 
 tions among the ToinJbs, Reflections on a Flower- 
 Garden, and a Descant on Creation, by which he 
 speedily acquired literary fame. In the followiiio- 
 year appeared his Conte^njplations on the Night ; 
 on the Starry Heavens ; and a Winter Piece. 
 
 These various productions are usually bound 
 together, and referred to as one work, under the 
 title of Meditations. In speaking of this work, 
 Dr. Jamieson, in his Cgclopcedia of Religious Bio- 
 graphy, very justly remarks : ' It was received with 
 very general admiration, and although Dr. Blair 
 and other arbiters of literary taste have con- 
 demned its style as too florid, full of puerile con- 
 ceits, and often bordering on turgidity, yet the 
 vein of piety that runs through it, together with 
 the attractive nature of the subject, procured 
 it high favor in spite of its acknowledged defects 
 in style. Indeed, there is reason to believe that 
 the very features which those critics censured as 
 unseemly blemishes, formed, in the judgment of 
 multitudes, one of the chief attractions of the 
 work.* At all events it enjoyed a most extensive 
 *Dr. Allibone, in his valuable Dictionary of Authors , remarks 
 ynih. equal appropriateness respecting this work : 'The style 
 of the Meditations is highly poetical, and abounds in imagery 
 not always of the most classical description ; but this flori- 
 dity, which displeased the critics, enchanted the multitude.' 
 Southey also observes that the work is 'not more laudable in 
 its purport than vicious in its style, and, therefore, one of the 
 most popular that ever was written.' 
 
 o* 
 
18 LIFE OF HERVET. 
 
 popularity ; edition after edition was issued, and 
 the press for several years could -udtli difficulty 
 supply the pressing demand.'* 
 
 Hervey's health, in 1750, was greatly im- 
 paired in consequence of too close application 
 to his studies ; and his friends, believing that a 
 relaxation of mind and a change of air were 
 necessary to give vigor to his feeble constitution, 
 formed the design, which they accomplished, of 
 conveying him to Loudon, ' under a pretense of 
 riding a few miles in a friend's post-chaise, who 
 was going thither.' Soon after he was thus 
 unexpectedly removed from the parish of Colling- 
 tree to London, he addressed the following words 
 to his beloved flock, which are highly characte- 
 ristic, beautiful and impressive : 
 
 ' My departure from Northampton was sudden 
 and unexiDccted ; could I have seen my people, 
 and given them my parting advice, it should have 
 
 * The second edition of the Meditations was pubhshed in 
 1748, in 2 vols. 12mo ; and the twenty-seventh, in 1804. Last 
 edition, in 1855, 12mo. In blank verse, by Thos. Newcomb, 
 1757, 2 vols. 8vo. In 1796, Mr. T. Heptinstall published a 
 beautiful edition with fine steel engravings, 2 vols, royal 8vo., 
 London. There is another edition Avith illustrations by 
 WestaU, London, 1818, 12mo. These iUustrated editions are 
 now very scarce. A fine copy of Heptinstall's edition, large 
 PAPER, early impression of the plates, is in the author's private 
 library. Such a copy has been sold in England for £2 17s. 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 19 
 
 been in the words ol" that good man Barnabas, 
 who exhorted all the disciples, that with purpose 
 of heart they should cleave unto the Lord. Cleave, 
 my dear friends, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Cleave 
 to His word; let the word of Cln-ist dwell in you 
 richly, and l3e your meditation all the day long. 
 Let the Bible, that inestimable book, be often in 
 your hand, and its precious truths in your 
 thoughts. Thus let us sit, with holy men, at the 
 feet of Jesus, and I hope you shall experience His 
 word to drop as the rain, and distil as the dew. 
 Cleave to His merits; fly to His divine blood for 
 pardon ; it is the fountain opened for sin and for 
 uncleanness. It purges from all guilt, and takes 
 away all sin ; and, blessed be God, it is always 
 open, always free of access. Fly to His righteous- 
 ness ; let us renounce our own, and rely on His 
 obedience : what unprofitable servants are we ! 
 how slothful is our life ! how imperfect in every 
 work ! But as for Christ, His work is perfect ; it 
 is complete and infinitely meritorious. In this 
 shall all the seed of Israel, all true believers, be 
 justified, and in this shall they glory. Cleave to 
 His Spirit ; seek for the Divine Spirit. Cry 
 mightily to God for the Divine Spirit. Let them 
 that have it, pray that they may have it more 
 abundantly, and be even filled with the Spirit. 
 
20 ^ LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 This blessed Spirit reveals Christ, strengthens 
 faith, quickens love, and purifies the heart. Christ 
 died to obtain this Spirit for us ; He intercedes for 
 us, that we may receive it ; and His heavenly 
 Father, for His sake, has promised (O glorious 
 privilege !) to give it more readily than a parent 
 gives bread to a hungry child. Cleave to IBs 
 example; study His whole life, eye His unblame- 
 able conduct, obsei've His amiable temper ; look 
 to this heavenly pattern, as those who learn to 
 write look to their copy ; and God grant that we 
 all, with open face, beholding the glory of the 
 Lord, may be changed into the same image from 
 glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. 
 Then let us cleave to Christ the Lord — cleave 
 .with full purpose of heart, incessantly, closely, 
 inseparably. Let us say with our father Jacob, I 
 will not let thee go. In the happy, happy man- 
 sions above may we, and many, very many of 
 my dear flock, meet, and never be parted more.' 
 
 Hervcy remained in London nearly two years, 
 employing himself, as he was able, in wi-iting and 
 revising. On his father's death in 1752, he left 
 the metropolis, and became rector of Weston-Favel 
 and Collingtree, where he ' devoted himself to his 
 sacred duties with a zeal and assiduity greater 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEY. 21 
 
 than before. In the intervals of his public labors, 
 however, he still prosecuted his literary studies.'* 
 At Weston he spent the remainder of his days in 
 a beautiful, rural situation, which his own pen has 
 thus described : ' Weston is near Northampton, 
 about two miles from the town, pleasantly situa- 
 ted on an agreeable eminence, on the right side 
 of the river [Nen], and a proper distance from the 
 meadow. My house is quite retired ; it faces the 
 garden and the field, so that we hear none of the 
 tumultuous din of the world, and see nothing but 
 the wonderful and charming works of the Creator. 
 O that I may be enabled to improve this advan- 
 tageous solitude ! Though secluded from the gay 
 and busy scenes of life, may I ever be present 
 with that Divine Being w^ho has heaven for His 
 throne and the earth for His footstool ; whose 
 
 * Among the many warm personal friends of Hervey was 
 the Rev. Risdon Darracott, a student of Dr. Doddridge, and 
 a man whom Whitefield has called ' a flaming and successful 
 preacher of the gospel.' Speaking of his first meeting with 
 Hervey at Weston-Favel, Mr. Darracott says : 'While a stu- 
 dent under Dr. Doddi-idge, I had an interview with Mr. 
 Hervey at a good man's house, who belonged to the doctor's 
 church, and lived in the parish of Weston-Favel : though it 
 is nineteen years ago, I retain a delightful mipression of our 
 converse then.' Darracott was born in 1717, and died in 
 1759, in the forty-second year of his age. The words which 
 fell from his lips in his last moments, remind one of the dying 
 sayings of Janeway, of Brainard, and of Payson. See an 
 interestina; Life of Darracott, bv Rev. Mr. Bennet. 
 
22 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 mercy in Christ Jesus is like liis majesty, exceed- 
 ingly great and infinite.'* 
 
 Hervey was one of the greatest admirers of the 
 charms of rural nature — of flowery gardens — of 
 fields clothed in verdure — of lakes, rivers, and 
 murmuring streams — of calm retreats by the side 
 of cooling fountains — of groves and forests stirred 
 by the gentle breezes of summer, and made vocal 
 by the music of birds ; — and of the glorious fii-ma- 
 ment studded with innumerable stars. Often did 
 he view through his telescope the magnificence 
 of the skies. While alluding, on one occasion, to 
 the beauties and attractions of rural scenes, he 
 exclaims : ' O ! ye blooming walks and flowery 
 lawns surrounded with dewy landscapes ! how 
 often have patriots and heroes laid aside the bur- 
 den of power, and stole away from the glare of 
 grandeur, to enjoy themselves in your composed 
 retreat ! Ye mossy couches and fragrant bowers, 
 skirted with cooling cascades ! how many illus- 
 trious personages, after all their glorious toil for 
 the public good, have sought an honorable and 
 welcome repose in your downy lap ! Ye vene- 
 rable oaks and solemn groves ! woods that whisper 
 to the quivering gale ! cliffs that overhang the 
 darkened flood 1 who can number the sages and 
 
 * Letters to Lady F. Shirley, Letter 31. 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEY. 23 
 
 saints that have devoted tlie clay to study, or 
 resigned a vacant hour to healthy exercise beneath 
 your sylvan porticos and waving arches ? that, 
 far from the dull impertinence of man, have lis- 
 tened to the instructive voice of God, and con- 
 templated the works of His adorable hand, amidst 
 your moss-grown cells and rocky shades ? How 
 inelegant or how insensible is the mind, which 
 has no awakened, lively relish for these sweet 
 recesses, and their exquisite beauties !'* 
 
 In the gardens and pleasant fields around Wes- 
 ton, Hervey spent many a deliglitful hour in con- 
 templating the works of nature, and in sweet 
 communion with God. To his devout and refined 
 mind his garden became a preacher, and ' its 
 blooming tenants were so many lively sermons.' 
 As he is about to pen the following passage in 
 his T heron and Asjxmo, our fancy sees him sit- 
 
 * How beautifully are such sentiments unfolded in poetic 
 strains, and in the chastest language by William C. Bryant, 
 in his inimitable Forest Hymn. Who that looks upon a noble 
 forest cannot say with Mr. Bryant : 
 
 ' But let me to these solitudes 
 Retire, and in Thy presence reassure. 
 My feeble virtue. 
 
 * * * 
 
 ' Be it ours to meditate 
 In these calm shades Thy milder majesty. 
 And to the beautiful order of Thy works 
 Learn to conform the order of our lives.' 
 
24 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 ting by the window of his study on one of tnose 
 snnuy days of early autumn, when nature is 
 di'essed in her golden pomp, and casting his eye 
 over the rich and beautiful landscape spread 
 before him : 
 
 ' Opposite to the room in which I write, is a 
 most agreeable prospect of the gardens and the 
 fields. T/ie^e covered with herbage and loaded 
 with corn ; those adorned with flowers and 
 abounding with esculents ; all appearing with so 
 florid and so beautiful an aspect, that they really 
 seem, in conformity to the Psalmist's descriptiou, 
 even to laugh and sing. Let me just observe, 
 that all these fine scenes, all these rich produc- 
 tions sprung — from what ? from the dissolution 
 of the respective seeds. The seeds planted by 
 the gardener, and the grain sown by the hus 
 bandman, first perished in the ground, and then 
 the copious increase arose. Much in the same 
 manner a true faith in Christ and His righteous- 
 ness arises — from what ? from the ruins of self- 
 sufliciency, and the death of a personal excellency. 
 Let me therefore entreat my Theron, still to keep 
 an eye on the depravity of his nature, and the 
 miscarriages of his life ; the more clearly we see, 
 the more deeply we feel our guilt and our misery, 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 25 
 
 the more liiglily shall we value the obedience of 
 our blessed Surety. In such a heart, faith ^-ill 
 flourish as a rose, and lift up its head like a cedar 
 in Lebanon.' 
 
 In 1752, Hervey published, in an 8vo. volume, 
 his Reimirks on Lord Bolinghrohe^s Letters on 
 the Study and Use of History, so far as they 
 relate to the History of the Old Testament, cfr., a 
 work which he had prepared while residing in 
 London. In the following year he preached his 
 excellent sermon at Northampton, on The Cross of 
 Christ, the Christianas Glory. In the same year 
 he wrote a preface for Eichard Burnham's Pious 
 Meftnorials; or the Poioer of Religion iqjoii the 
 Mind, in Sickness and at Death.* In 1755, he 
 gave to the world, in three volumes 8vo., one of his 
 most important and useful publications — Theron 
 and Asjpasio, "WTitten in the form of a dialogue, 
 ' a work which has long been a great favorite with 
 large circles of Christian readers, and which, in 
 many instances, has been instrumental in the con- 
 version of persons of great name. It i^ossesses 
 all the literary as well as pious characteristics of 
 
 *' The preface to this -R^ork, consisting of short anecdotes, 
 interspersed with devout reflections, was written by the Rev 
 James Ilervey, author of the Meditations. An edition was 
 published by Burder, 1820^ 8vo.' — Lowndes. 
 
 3 
 
26 LIFE OF HERVEW 
 
 Hervey's wi-itings, and was doubtless indel)ted to 
 its exhibition of those qualities for the favorable 
 reception it met with.' The main design of this 
 work is to exhibit, in as clear a light as possible, 
 the distinguishing doctrines of Christianity, espe- 
 cially the subject of a sinner's justification before 
 God, by the imputed righteousness of Christ, — a 
 doctrine which Luther has justly styled ' articidus 
 stantis vel cadentis ecclesim.'' In the preface of 
 this work, Hervey thus mentions its principal 
 object : ' The beauty and excellency of the Scrip- 
 tures, — the ruin and depravity of human nature, — 
 its happy recovery, founded on the atonement, 
 and effected by the Spirit of Christ, — are some of 
 the chief points vindicated, illustrated, and 
 applied in this work. But the grand article, 
 that which makes the principal figure, is the 
 IMPUTED EiGHTEOUSKESS of our diviue Lord ; from 
 whence arises our justification before God, and 
 our title to every heavenly blessing : an article, 
 which though eminent for its importance, seems 
 to be little understood and less regarded ; if not 
 much mistaken, and almost forgotten.' The pub- 
 lication of Theron and Aspasio gave rise to a 
 controversy on the leading doctrine of which it 
 ti-eats. It was attacked by several writers, among 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEY. 27 
 
 whom were John Wesley* and Robert Sande- 
 man,t of Edinburgh, the Glassite, Avhile it Avas 
 defended l)y Rev. Mr. Cudworth, pastor of an 
 independent congregation in London, and David 
 Wilson, a Scotch seceding minister, also pastor of 
 a church in London. Hervey answered the objec- 
 tions of his opponents in his Aspasio Viiidicated, 
 a posthumous pu])licatiou, issued from the press 
 in 17G6. One has remarked of this treatise, in 
 rather extravagant terms, however, that it con- 
 tains ' the best, the most evangelical, and the most 
 elaborate account of that righteousness, which is 
 imputed to a sinner for his justification ; and will 
 be read with the highest delight, by every one 
 
 *While a student at Lincoln College, Oxford, Hervey was 
 intimately acquainted with Wesley, whom he highly esteemed. 
 Wesley was at that time a fellow of that college, and a tutor 
 of Hervey, who has acknowledged his kindness to his teacher 
 in the following passage : ' I heartily thank you, as for all 
 other favors, so especially for teaching me Hebrew. I have 
 cultivated this study again, according to your advice. I can 
 never forget that tender-hearted and generous fellow of Lin- 
 coln, who condescended to take such compassionate notice of 
 a poor under-graduate, whom almost everybody contemned, 
 and no man cared for my soul.' Hervey and Wesley subse- 
 quently differed on theological questions ; the former adopting 
 Calvinistic sentiments, and the latter adhering to Arminianism. 
 
 t The reader should peruse the Rev. Andrew Fuller's 
 Slridureson Sandemanianism, in which the errors of Mr. San- 
 deman and Mr. Glasse are ably exposed and disproved, and 
 the doctrines of the gospel clearly exhibited. 
 
28 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 that adores the Sou of God as the Lord our 
 Righteousness* 
 
 In the summer of 1757, Hervey published three 
 sermons, which he preached on public fast days 
 during that year — ' The Time of Danger,^ ' The 
 Means of Safetg,' and ' The Wag of ffoliness.'f 
 These excellent discourses, well exhibit his fervid 
 and genuine piety, and his earnest desire to pro- 
 mote the cause of the Redeemer's Kingdom ; and 
 we are quite sure that they will be read with 
 great interest, delight and profit by all whose 
 hearts are glowing with love to God, and to the 
 souls of men. In the same year he edited, with 
 a preface the second edition of Jenks' Meditations, 
 in two volumes, 8vo. 
 
 After Hervey had labored six years in the 
 discharge of his ministry at Weston and Col- 
 lingtree, it became apparent, from alarming 
 sjniiptoms, that his earthly career was rapidly 
 drawing to a close. For many years he had been 
 
 * ' This lavish use of superlatives which has, unfortunately 
 for the interests of legitimate criticism, become so common — 
 this "bestin the language," "unrivalled," "unsurpassed," — is 
 our special aversion.' — S. A. Allibone, LL. D., in his Dic- 
 tionary of Authors, article Thomas Gray. 
 
 fA complete edition of Hervey's works was published in 
 7 vols. 8vo. London, 1797. Another edition was issued in 
 6 vols. 8vo. 1806, Newcastle, and still another in 6 vols. 12mo. 
 London, 1825. ' Hervey's works are still held in considerable 
 estimation.' — Lowndes. 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 29 
 
 an invalid, and was frequently brought to the 
 brink of the grave. But in all his afflictions he 
 was patient, cheerful and resigned. The follow- 
 ing extracts from his letters, written during sea- 
 sons of affliction, in the last years of his life, show 
 his inward joy, his peace of mind, his confidence 
 in God, his love to the Saviour, and his well- 
 grounded hope of immortal glory in the heavenly 
 mansions : — ' Perhaps it may be expedient for us 
 to be visited with affliction ; it may tend to wean 
 our affections from a vale of tears, and raise and 
 fix them where true joys are to be found : in 
 those mansions which Christ is gone to prepare, 
 in those alone, complete happiness and consum- 
 mate righteousness dwell. Every languor that 
 oppresses us, every pain that chastises us, is a 
 friendly monitor ; it tells us we are strangers and 
 pilgrims below ; it bids us look upon the heav- 
 enly halntations as our home, and never think 
 ourselves thorougly happy till we are absent from 
 the body, and present with the Lord. May the 
 disorders which I daily feel have this desirable 
 efiect on my heart.' — ' I write as a poor prisoner, 
 who lately expected to have the sentence of death 
 executed. May I never forget how much I shall 
 want an assured faith in the all-glorious Redeemer 
 when the awful change approaches. The faith- 
 
30 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 fulness, the goodness, the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ, apprehended by a sweetly-assured, soul- 
 reviving faith, — these are our sovereign support 
 under all our troubles, and our most effectual 
 preservative from all temptation ; we believe, 
 blessed Jesus ! help our unbelief.' — ' What a 
 dying life is mine ! Every blast pierces me, and 
 every cold crushes me. Blessed, forever blessed, 
 be God through Christ for a better life and a 
 happier state in the heavens, where we shall be 
 lauofuid no more, afflicted no more, and O ! 
 delightful consideration ! ungrateful to the dying 
 Jesus no more ; sin against the amiable God-man 
 no more.' — ' I am this day a prisoner in my cham- 
 ber, and wi"ite in much pain. Blessed be God 
 for that world where all tears will be wiped away 
 from our eyes, and there will be no more pain ! 
 and blessed be God for a Saviour, who is the way 
 to these happy mansions, and the door of admis- 
 sion into them.' 
 
 ' Now I apprehend myself near the close of life, 
 and stand as it were upon the brink of the grave, 
 with eternity full in my view. Perhaps you will 
 be willing to know my sentiments of things ; in 
 this a^vful situation, at such a juncture, the mind 
 is most unprejudiced, and the judgment not so 
 liable to be dazzled by the glitter of worldly 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEY. 31 
 
 ohjocts. I have read of a person, who was often 
 retired and on his knees, was remarkable for his 
 frequency and fervency in devotion ; l^eing asked 
 the reason of this so singuhir l)chavior, he replied, 
 "Because I know I must die." I assure you I 
 feel the weight of this answer, I see the wisdom 
 of this procedure, and, was my span to be length- 
 ened, would endeavor always to remember the 
 one, and daily to imitate the other. I think, 
 also, we fail in our dut}% and thwart our comfort, 
 by studying God's holy Word no more. Was I to 
 renew my studies, I would resign the delights of 
 modern wit and eloquence, and devote my atten- 
 tion to the Scriptures of truth ; I would sit with 
 much assiduity at my Divine Master's feet, and 
 desire to know nothing but Christ, and Him cru- 
 cified. This is wisdom, whose fruits are peace in 
 life, consolation in death, and everlasting salva- 
 tion after death. This I would seek, tliis I would 
 explore, through the spacious and delightful 
 fields of the Old and New Testaments. In short, 
 I would adopt the resolutions of the apostles, give 
 myself unto prayer, and to the Word. With regard 
 to my public ministry, my chief aim should be to 
 beget in my people's minds a deep sense of their 
 depraved, guilty, undone condition, and a clear, 
 believing conviction of the all-sufliciency of Christ, 
 
32 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 by His blood, His righteousness, Hjs intercession, 
 and His Spirit, to save them to the uttermost. I 
 ■would always observe to labor for them in my 
 closet as well as in the pulpit, and wrestle in 
 secret supplications, as well as exert myself in 
 public preaching, for their spiritual and eternal 
 welfare ; for unless God take this work into His 
 own hand, what mortal is sufficient for it ? Now, 
 perhaps, if you sat at my right hand, you would 
 ask what is my hope with regard to my futiu-e 
 and immortal state ? Truly my hope, my whole 
 hope, is even in the Lord Redeemer. Should the 
 king of terrors threaten, I flee to the wounds of 
 the slaughtered Lamb, as the trembling dove to 
 the clifts of the rock. Should Satan accuse, I 
 plead the Surety of the covenant, who took my 
 guilt upon Himself, and bare my sins in His own 
 body on the accursed tree, on purpose that all the 
 nations of the earth might be blessed. Should 
 hell open its jaws, I look up to that gracious 
 Being who says, "Deliver from going down to 
 the pit, for I have found a ransom." Should it 
 be said, No unclean thing can enter heaven ; my 
 answer is, "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth 
 us from all sin. Though my sins be as scarlet, 
 they shall be white as snow." Should it be added, 
 None can sit down at the marriage-supper of the 
 
LIFE OF UERVEY. 33 
 
 Laml) witlioiit a Avcdding garment ; and your 
 
 riiiliteonsncsscs, what are they before the pure law 
 
 and piercing eye of God, l)ut liUhy rags ? These 
 
 I renounce, and seek to ])e found in the Lord my 
 
 Iviiihtcousness. It is written in the Word that shall 
 
 judge the world at the last day, " By His oliedi- 
 
 ence shall many be made righteous ;" so that 
 
 Jesus, the dear and adorable Jesus, is all my 
 
 trust ; His merits are my staff, when I pass through 
 
 the valley of the shadow of death ; His merits are 
 
 my anchor, when I launch into the boundless 
 
 ocean of eternity. If the God of glory pleases to 
 
 take notice of any of my mean endeavors to honor 
 
 His holy name, it will be infinite condescension 
 
 and grace ; but His Son, His righteousness and His 
 
 sufferings, is all my hope and salvation.' 
 
 'I have been extremely ill, hovering upon the 
 
 brink of eternity. The doctor was twice sent for 
 
 by a special messenger, from an apprehension 
 
 that my dissolution was approaching. You will 
 
 probably be desirous to know how my mind was 
 
 affected in such circumstances of peril and pain. 
 
 The pain too often disturbed my advertence to 
 
 the gracious God, and interrupted my application 
 
 to his Almighty Majesty. Ah ! how unwise is it, 
 
 or rather, how desperately hazardous, to defer 
 
 the srreat work of reconciliation with our Creator 
 
 2 
 
34 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 to a languishing and dying bed ! when the anguish 
 is frequently so strong, that it quite shatters the 
 thought, and renders incapable of attending to 
 anything but the load of affliction. With regard 
 to death, I humbly bless the divine goodness I 
 was under no terrifying apprehensions ; it was 
 desirable rather than dreadful, — the thing that I 
 longed for, rather than deprecated. A believing 
 contemplation of God's rich mercy, of Christ's 
 unspeakably glorious atonement, enabled me to 
 say with the apostle, " O death ! where is thy 
 sting ? O grave ! where is thy victory ?" How 
 great, then, is the efficacy, and how precious 
 should be the interests, of that holy religion, 
 which could support the weakest of creatures, 
 when all earthly succours failed, and could give 
 courage to the most obnoxious of sinners, even 
 when summoned to his final trial ! O let us daily 
 get a clearer knowledge of the all-sufficient 
 Kedeemcr, a fin-mer establishment in His merits, 
 and a growing conformity to His image ! It is 
 Christ that unstings death ; it is the glorious 
 Captain of our salvation that emboldens us to 
 triumph over the last enemy. Old Simeon, hav- 
 ing the child Jesus in the arms of his flesh, and 
 the promised Messiah in the arms of his fiiith, can 
 go down to the chambers of the grave with a 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 35 
 
 peaceful tranquility ; and it is a most reviving and 
 delightful truth, that Christ has suffered in our 
 stead, and borne our sins in His own body on the 
 tree. When I was lately on the verge of etermty, 
 and just going to launch into the invisible world, 
 I could find consolation in nothing but in this 
 precious, precious faith. If all my iniquities were 
 laid on the beloved Son, they will never be laid 
 to my charge in the day of judgment ; if the 
 blessed Jesus made satisfoction for my transgres- 
 sions, the righteous God will never demand two 
 payments for one debt.* What an anchor for the 
 soul is such a belief ! how sure and steadfast ! 
 May it be our solace in life, and our security in 
 
 death.' 
 
 ' Amidst all the languors of decaying nature, 
 
 this is the most sovereign support — free justifica- 
 
 * How clearly and forcibly has the heavenly-minded Mc- 
 Cheyne illustrated this divine truth in the following passage • 
 'Look at Isaiah 40, i, ii, " Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people." 
 If you receive Christ as your Surety, you have realized double 
 punishment for all your sins. The sufferings of Christ for us 
 were as honoring to God as if we had suffered eternal punish- 
 ment thrice over. If you will only open your arms to receive 
 Christ as your Surety, then your iniquity is pardoned. You 
 will taste immediate forgiveness. Your warfare with the law 
 and an accusing conscience will be immediately accomplished. 
 If you will only lay hold on Christ now, you will feel the 
 force of that sweet command, " Comfort ye, comfort ye," 
 double comfort, double peace, for in Jesus you have suffered 
 double wrath.' 
 
36 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 tion through Jesus Chnst; a comfortable persua- 
 sion that He has removed our sins from us, as far 
 as the east is from the west ; that He has cast them 
 all into the deeps of the sea, and will present us 
 to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing.' 
 
 Hervey's last illness was long and painful ; but 
 his faith grew brighter as he grew more feeble. 
 The love of Christ was now, as formerly, the 
 theme on which he loved to dwell, and the divine 
 atonement was the consolation of his dying hour. 
 Let us listen to his last words, and see with what 
 composure, and even triumph, a Christian can 
 close his eyes in death : — ' My grand consolation 
 is to meditate on Christ, and I am hourly repeat- 
 ing these heart-reviving lines of Dr. Young, in his 
 * Fourth Night : 
 
 * This, only this, subdues the fear of death : 
 And what is this ? Survey the Tvondrous cure, 
 And at each step let higher wonder rise ! 
 Pardon for infinite offence ! and pardon 
 Through means that speak its .value infinite ! 
 A parclon bought wath blood ! with blood divine ! 
 With blood divine of Him I made my foe ! 
 Persisted to provoke ! though woo'd and aw'd, 
 Bless'd and chastis'd, a flagrant rebel still ! 
 A rebel 'midst the thunders of His throne ! . 
 Nor I alone, a rebel universe ! 
 My species up in arms ! not one exempt ! 
 Yet for the foulest of the foul He died ; 
 Most joy'd for the redeemed fi-om deepest guilt. 
 As if our race were held of highest rank, 
 And Godhead dearer, as more kind to man !' 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 37 
 
 Several clays before liis departure, he told a 
 dear friend that the fear of death was removed. 
 ' Do not thinlv/ said he, ' I am afraid to die ; I 
 assure you I am not ; I Imow what my Saviour 
 hath done for me ; I want to be gone, but I won- 
 der and lament to think of the love of Christ in 
 doing so much for me, and how little I have done 
 for Him.' A few hours before he breathed his 
 last his pious and beloved physician, Dr. Stone- 
 house,* on seeing the great difficulty and pain 
 with which he spoke, desired him that he would 
 spare himself. ' No,' said the dying man, with 
 peculiar earnestness, ' Doctor, no, you tell me I 
 have but a few minutes to live ; O let nie spend 
 them in adorinjj our great Redeemer !' He then 
 repeated the twenty-sixth verse of the seventy- 
 third Psalm — ' My flesh and my heart faileth ; 
 
 * Sir James Stonehouse was born in 171G, in Berkshire, 
 England. He was educated at the University of Oxford, and 
 there received his degree of M. D., in 1745. He first practiced 
 as a physician at Coventry, and afterwards at Northampton, 
 to which place he removed in 1748. He was then an avowed 
 infidel, and the author of a pamphlet against the Christian 
 religion. But by the pious efforts of Doddi-idge and Hervey 
 he was led to renounce his infidelity, and to embrace the pre- 
 cious doctrines of Christianity. At Northampton he had a 
 very extensive medical practice. He is said to have been 
 'very assiduous in his attentions to Mr. Hervey 's health and 
 comfort. He would be sometimes in his carriage at "Weston 
 
 by four o'clock in the morning and was often with him in his 
 
 4 
 
38 T^lFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 but God is the strength of my heart, and my por- 
 tion forever.' He now ex^jatiated in a most delight- 
 ful manner on the words of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 
 iii, 21-23 : ' All things are yours ; whether Paul 
 or Apollos, or Cephas, or the woi'ld, or life, or 
 death, or things present, or things to come ;' at 
 the same time referring his friends to the exposi- 
 tion of this passage by Dr. Doddi-idge.* ' Here,' 
 
 study.' When the Dr. himself was once recovering from a 
 dangerous illness, Hervey addressed these remarkable words 
 to him : ' I really believe God has some signal work for you 
 to do. He that has snatched the brand from the fire, and 
 made it a polished shaft in His quiver, will not, I persuade 
 myself, so soon cast it away, or break it to pieces. I have a 
 strong presage, that Almighty goodness will continue you as 
 an instrument to glorify His Son Jesus Christ, to turn many 
 to righteousness, years and years after I am gone hence and 
 seen no more.' Strange to say, Dr. Stonehouse, after prac- 
 ticing twenty years as a physician, with great success and 
 pecuniary profit, entered the Christian ministry, and became 
 a very popular preacher, and a man of eminent piety. He 
 was rector of Great and Little Cheverell, in "Wiltshire, ' where 
 he became the spiritual guide of Hannah ]\Iore, and the "]\Ir. 
 Johnson" of her admirable and far-famed tract, The Shepherd 
 of Salisbury Plain.' In 1795, thirty-seven years after the 
 death of Hervey, he departed this life, in the 80th year of his 
 age, and full of the hope of a blessed immortality. Dr. Stone- 
 house wrote the Sick Man's Friend, and other religious tracts. 
 
 *While Hervey was at Weston-Favel, Dr. Doddi-idge was 
 one of his most intimate and beloved friends. He was born 
 in 1702, and died in 1751, seven years before Hervey. In 
 1748, he published his beautiful, instructive, and effective 
 sermon on Christ's Grarious Invitation to Thirstj/ Soids, and 
 inscribed it to Hervey. In this dedication he says : ' Be assu- 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 39 
 
 said he, ' here is the treasure of a Christian ; death 
 is reclvoncd among this inventory, and a noble 
 treasure it is ! How tliankful am I for death, as 
 it is the passage through which I go to the Lord 
 and giver of eternal life, and as it frees me from 
 all the misery which you see me now endure, and 
 which I am willing to endure as long as God sees 
 fit ; for I know that He will, by and Ijy, in His 
 own good time, dismiss me from the body. These 
 afilictions are but for a moment, and then comes 
 an eternal weight of glory. O welcome ! welcome 
 death ! thou mayest well be reckoned among the 
 treasures of the Christian ; to live is Christ, and 
 to die is gain 1 Lord, now lettest thou Thy ser- 
 vant depart in peace, according to Thy most holy 
 
 red, sir, that no man living can more sincerely rejoice in the 
 acceptance of your labors, and particularly in that great and 
 general admiration in which your pious and excellent Con- 
 templations are so justly held, by persons of almost every rank 
 and genius, education and profession; so that the warmest 
 friendship can hardly dictate a higher wish relating to them, 
 than that they may be as useful, as they are delightful to all 
 your readers.' 
 
 When Hervey was informed, by Dr. Stonehouse, that 
 Doddridge was lying very ill at a village near Lisbon, in 
 Portugal, (where he had gone for the benefit of his health,) 
 and that he was not expected to live any time, ho made this 
 excellent remark : ' The departure of valuable persons should 
 tend to wean us from the world, and endear heaven to our 
 affections. Beza said, when he was told of Calvin's death, 
 " Now I have a fresh motive to be as a stranger on earth, and 
 set uiy atfections on the things above."' 
 
40 LIFE OF HERVET. 
 
 and comfortable word, for mine eyes have seen 
 Thy most precious and comfortable salvation. 
 Here, Doctor, is my cordial ; what are all the 
 cordials given to support the dying, in compari- 
 son of that which arises from the promises of sal- 
 vation by Christ ? This, this supports me.'* 
 Shortly before his happy spirit bade adieu to pain 
 and sorrow and winged its way to the heavenly rest, 
 he exclaimed in language of triumph : ' TIiq con- 
 fict is over; now all is done P After this he 
 scarcely uttered any other words intelligibly, 
 except ^jpredous salvation.'' Leaning his head 
 against the side of an easy chair, he gently closed 
 his eyes, on Christmas afternoon, 1758, and with- 
 out a sigh, groan or struggle, ceased to breathe, 
 in the forty-fifth year of his age. On the fourth 
 of the following January his friend, the Rev. 
 William Eomainef preached his funeral sermon 
 
 * ' 0, how precious did salvation then appear to him, when 
 he found death coining disarmed, and without a sting ! and it 
 grew still more precious when, with his last breath, he decla- 
 red, that death had no power to hurt the peace of God, which 
 ruled in his heart; for even then, he found salvation pre- 
 cious.' — Romaine's Funeral Sermon on Hervey. 
 
 t Rev. William Romaine was one of Ilervcy's most valued 
 friends. lie was born at Hartlepool, in the county of Dur- 
 ham, England, on the 25th of September, 1714. He was edu- 
 cated at the University of Oxford ; and ordained to the work 
 of the ministry, in 1738. lie was lecturer of St. Botolph's, 
 London, in 1748, and of St. Duustan-in-the-West, in 1749. 
 
LIFE OP HERVEY. 41 
 
 from these words in Luke ii ; 29, 30, ' Lord, now 
 lettcst Thou Thy servant depart in peace, accord- 
 ing to Thy word : for niinc eyes have seen Thy 
 salvation.' 
 
 Ta the following year he became assistant morning preacher 
 at St. George's, Hanover Square, London. It was, perhaps, 
 about this time that he formed an intimate acquaintance with 
 Ilervcy, whom he afterwai-ds so highly esteemed and so 
 dearly loved. About the year 1752 he was appointed profes- 
 sor of x\stronomy in Gresliam College. In 1764, he was 
 chosen to the rectory of Blackfriars. It is interesting to know 
 that Romaine received a pressing invitation to accept the pas- 
 toral cliarge of St. Paul's Church, in Philadelphia, with a 
 salary of £Q00 a year. This invitation he saw fit to decline. 
 He died on the 26th of July, 1795, at the advanced age of 
 eighty. His last hours were full of Christian triumph. He 
 was strong in fliith, constantly praying and giving glory to 
 God, to the last. Within a short time of his death he 
 exclaimed, ' 0, how animating is the view which I now have 
 of death, and the hope laid up for me in heaven full of glory 
 and immortality ! 0, how good is God ! What entertainments 
 and comforts does He give me : What a prospect do I see 
 before me of glory and immortality. He is my God in life, 
 in death, and throughout eternity.' ' Yea, though I -R-alk 
 through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no evil, 
 for Thou art with me.' When one said to liim, about an 
 hour before he died, ' I hope, my dear sir, you now find the 
 salvation of Jesus Christ precious, dear and valuable to you,' 
 he replied, with confidence and joy, ' He is a precious Saviour 
 to me now.' A little after tliis he uttered his last words in 
 this most happy exclamation, 'Holy, Holy, Holy ! Holy blessed 
 Jesus, to Thee be endless praise ." Thus triumphantly did he 
 fall asleep in Jesus. 
 
 The best edition of Romaine's works is that in 8 vols. 8vo. 
 London, 1796. There is an edition in one volume, 8vo. Lou- 
 don, 1837, and another in 1850, 8vo. 'Romaine,' says 
 
 4* 
 
42 LIFE OF HEKVEY. 
 
 Thus died the saintly James Hervey, sustained 
 
 and cheered by the Saviour's presence and love ; 
 
 and leaving behind him a noble testimony to the 
 
 preciousncss of the Christian religion, and to its 
 
 perfect adaptation to the wants of the immortal 
 
 spirit in life and in death. In the departure of 
 
 Hervey how truly may it be said, that the day of 
 
 his death was better than the day of his birth ! 
 
 ' Tis a blessing to live, but a greater to die, 
 And the best of the world is its path to the sky,— 
 Be it gloomy or bright, for the life that He gave 
 Let us thank Ilim— but blessed be God for the grave. 
 'Tis the end of our toil, 'tis the crown of our bliss, 
 'Tis the portal of happiness— aye, but for this. 
 How hopeless were sorrow, how narrow were love, 
 If they looked not from earth to the rapture above.' 
 
 As a preacher Hei-vey was impressive, instruc- 
 tive, and eloquent. His oratory was energetic, 
 impassioned and enchaining. Always earnest, he 
 became more and more animated towards the 
 
 Lowndes, ' was a zealous Calvinist, but firmly attached to the 
 Church of England. His writings are much esteemed, and 
 have been often printed ; especially his Life, Walk, and Tri- 
 umph of Faith, which were published separately, London, 
 1794-5, 12mo.— The three works in one volume, London, 
 1800, 12mo. There is an excellent edition of the Life, Walk, 
 and Triumph of Faith, with an Introduction by Dr. Chalmers, 
 Glas"-ow, 1827, 12mo. Romaine was editor of Calasio's He- 
 brew Concordance and Lexicon. See an excellent account of 
 him in the Evanfrelical Magazint, for November, 1795 ; and 
 also his Life by the Hon. aud Rev. W. B. Cadogan. London, 
 170G, 8vo. and prefixed to his works. 
 
LIFE OF IIERVEY. 43 
 
 close of liis discourses, exerting himself often 
 beyond his strength, and appealing forcibly to the 
 conscience. In a high degree his language was 
 pathetic, beautiful and sublime. His principal 
 excellences as a pulpit orator consisted in clear 
 and forcible conception, in lucid and easy arrange- 
 ment, in jDerspicuous and glowing diction, in a 
 lofty and brilliant imagination, in a pungent and 
 solemn appeal, and in a fervent delivery.* 
 
 The grand theme of his preaching, as well as 
 of his wi'itings and conversation, was the exhibi- 
 tion of Christ and BUm crucified. Says he, ' I have 
 but one subject on which I talk, write and preach ; 
 all is subservient to Christ ; all centers in Christ.' 
 
 *Rev. Dr. Haweis, who had the pleasure of hearing Hervey 
 deliver a discourse not long before his death, has furnished 
 the following account : ' My knowledge and acquaintance with 
 Mr. Hervey was only of one day, of one Sabbath : he was 
 removing from his ministerial labors, just as I was ready to 
 enter upon them, and being very desirous of seeing him before 
 his departure to glory, and if I might secure but a thread of 
 the mantle of Elijah, I rode from Oxford to Weston-Favel, 
 his parish, a distance of about fifty mUes for that purpose. I 
 found him tall, and much emaciated : with serenity of counte- 
 nance, and a cordial welcome, he asked me to dine and spend 
 the day with him, which I accepted with pleasure. His 
 preaching was purely evangehcal, and very similar to his wri- 
 tings, in beautiful comments on the Scriptures he quoted ; 
 but his manner of delivery far from the elegance I expected 
 in the tone of voice and action. His church was very small, 
 and, though full, not remarkably crowded; but the people 
 were yery attentive to hear him.' 
 
44 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 He was never weary of expatiatiug on the Person, 
 the grace, and the atonement of Jesus. These 
 were his favorite topics ; and would they were 
 the favorite themes of all who are invested with 
 the ministerial office. The love of Christ — that 
 exhaustless theme — ' fired all his thoughts, and 
 enraptured all his inward powers.' While con- 
 templating a suliject so interesting and important, 
 so amazing and divine, so rich and cheering, he 
 would repeat, with transports of joy, the follow- 
 ing lines of Dr. Young : 
 
 ' 0, goodness infinite ! goodness immense ! 
 And love that passeth knowledge, are vain words, 
 Language is lost in wonder so divine, 
 Come then, expressive silence, muse His praise.' 
 
 With great beauty and force did he discourse 
 on the Divine love — a love which was abundantly 
 shed abroad in liis own heart, and which he con- 
 stantly sought to unfold to others, in its various 
 forms — in its breadth^ and length, its de])tJi, and 
 height. 
 
 ' He had an excellency,' says Romaine, ' which I 
 never saw to so great a degree in any other per- 
 son. He never let an opportunity slip of speak- 
 ing of the love of Christ.' 
 
 We would here introduce a few of his remarks 
 on the commencement, duration, cflects, and fruits 
 of our Saviour's love :-^ 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 46 
 
 ' The co7nmencement of His love. — His love is 
 not of yestertlay ; His love, like His outgoings, is 
 from everlasting. "I have loved thee," says He 
 to the church, " with an everlasting love." We 
 value the affection that is of long standing, has 
 taken deep root, and still continues unshaken. 
 How excellent, then, is Thy loving Idndness, O, 
 blessed Jesus I which, before the mountains were 
 brought forth, or ever the earth and the world 
 were made, was fixed upon sinful dust ! O that 
 we should be in the thoughts, be upon the very 
 heart, of God's adorable Son, even from the ages 
 of eternity ! 
 
 ' The duration of His love. — It is invariable and 
 eternal. " Having loved His own, He loveth them 
 even unto the end." It neither began with time, 
 neither will it end mth time. As no worthiness 
 in us caused it, so neither will our failings extin- 
 guish it, no, nor our infirmities damp it. We 
 change frequently ; our holy frames fsiil ; but our 
 adored Redeemer is the " same yesterday, to-day, 
 and forever." Fear not, then ; " Neither life nor 
 death, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 any other creature, shall be able to separate us 
 from the ever tender, the ever constant, the ever 
 triumphant love of God our Saviom-." 
 
46 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 ' The effects of His love— It brought Him from 
 the heaven of heavens, to dwell in clay, and be 
 lodsed in a manojcr. It brought Him from those 
 happy mansions, where is the "fulness of joy," 
 and where " are pleasures for evermore," to be 
 destitute, afflicted, tormented in this vale of tears. 
 It made Him, who is heir of all things, not to have 
 where to lay His head ; till He was stretched on 
 the racking cross, and laid in the gloom of the 
 grave. Unparalleled and stupendous ! " Who 
 can declare the noble acts of the Eedeemer's love, 
 or show forth all His praise ?" 
 
 'ThQ fruits of this love.— To this is owing all 
 the good we possess or expect, every spiritual 
 and heavenly blessing. If our eyes are enlight- 
 ened, in any degree, to see the things that belong 
 to our peace ; if our desires are awakened to seek 
 the " inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
 fadeth not away ;" for this we are indebted to the 
 love and grace of Christ. If we are sanctified in 
 part, and desirous to grow in true godliness ; ii 
 we are perfectly justified before God, and adopted 
 to be His sons and daughters ; these also are 
 streams, which issue from that inexhaustible foun- 
 tain, the love of Christ. As it was stronger than 
 death in its actings and suflferings, it is richer than 
 all worlds in its precious, precious fruits. All the 
 
LIFE OF IIERVET. 47 
 
 inconceivable and everlasting joys of the glorified 
 state are its purchase and its gift. 
 
 'Justly, therefore, does the Scripture make use 
 of all the endearing relations that subsist among 
 mankind, to represent the love of Christ. Great 
 is the love of a friend; greater the love of a bro- 
 ther ; greater still the love of a parent ; greatest 
 of all the love of a bridegroom :— but infinitely 
 greater than any, than all, is the love of the ever- 
 blessed Immanuel to His people. When all has 
 been said, all has been imagined, it transcends 
 every comparison, it exceeds all thought ; or, as 
 St. Paul speaks, " it passeth knowledge." ' 
 
 The divinity of the atonement was a topic which 
 afibrded Hervey the higliest pleasure ; and one 
 on which he was accustomed to enlarge in exalted 
 language. 
 
 ' For my own part,' says he, ' I feel no conso- 
 lation, but when this truth is operative upon my 
 mind. When you see me at the great tribunal, 
 you will behold one of the poorest and vilest of 
 sinners made perfectly free from guilt— made 
 whiter than the mountain snow, by the precious 
 blood of Jesus. Let us not dishonor that blood 
 which is dignified above all things. It is the 
 blood of God's beloved Son. It is the blood of 
 Him who is God's fellow. It is the blood of Him 
 
48 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 who is God over all blessed forever. Surely, 
 then, its value must be immense, its efficacy iuti- 
 nite ; it must cleanse from all sin, and with a 
 perfection that is matchless and inconceivable.' 
 
 As a minister of the gospel, Hervey was faith- 
 ful to the immortal interests of his hearers, setting 
 before them the way of life and death, earnestly 
 beseeching sinners to comply with the gospel 
 method of salvation — ^to submit themselves ' unto 
 the righteousness of God' — to seek for ' the old 
 paths, where is the good way.' Nor did he fail 
 to administer serious admonition when necessary. 
 Without dwelling on this point, we would only 
 relate a striking anecdote as a good illustration 
 of his faithfulness when out of the pulpit. 
 
 ' Being once on a journey, a lady who happened 
 to be in the same carriage, was expatiating in a 
 particular manner on the amusements of the stage, 
 as in her esteem superior to any other pleasures. 
 Among other things, she said, there was the plea- 
 sure of thinking on the play before she went, the 
 pleasure she enjoyed while there, and the pleasure 
 of ruminating on it in her bed at night. Mr. 
 Hervey, who sat and heard her discourse without 
 interrupting her, when she had concluded, said to 
 her in a mild manner, that there was one plcasm-e 
 more besides what she had mentioned, which she 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 49 
 
 had forirot. " What can that be ?" said she ; " for 
 sure I have included every pleasure, when I con- 
 sidered the enjoyment beforehand, at the time, 
 and afterwards. Pray, Sir, what is it ?" Mr. 
 Hervey, with a grave look, and in a manner pecu- 
 liar to himself, replied, "■ Madam^ tJie pleasure it 
 will give you on your deatli-hedP A clap of thun- 
 der, or a flash of lightning, would not have struck 
 her with more surprise : the stroke went to her 
 very heart. She had not one word to say, but, 
 during the rest of the journey, seemed quite occu- 
 pied in thinldng upon it. In short, the conse- 
 quence of this well-timed sentence was, that she 
 never after went to the play-house, but became a 
 pious woman, and a follower of those pleasures 
 which would afford her true satisfaction even on 
 a death-bed.' 
 
 Hervey's intellect was clear and capacious ; his 
 imagination vivid and sublime ; his memory re- 
 tentive and highly cultivated ; and his acquaint- 
 ance with history, philosophy, and theology, inti- 
 mate and extensive. He was indeed a good scholar 
 in classical literature and Hebrew, and especially 
 was very familiar Avith Greek. No one can peruse 
 his writings without perceiving that he was well 
 acquainted with the productions of ancient genius. 
 
 Homer, Horace, and Virgil, especially the last, 
 6 
 
50 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 aiDpear to have been his favorite classical au- 
 thors. While he thus loved to read the classics, 
 he delighted especially in sacred literature. Among 
 his fovorite Christian authors were Jenks, Mar- 
 shall, the Erskines, Boston, Trail, Owen, Hall, 
 Beveridge, Howe, Bates, Charuock, Leighton, 
 Bunyan, JMiltou, Young and Watts. To the last 
 named divine and poet, he writes : ' Your works 
 have long been my delight and study ; the favo- 
 rite pattern, by which I would form my conduct, 
 and model my style.' But his greatest delight 
 was in the study and contemplation of the Scrip- 
 tures. In some of his letters he writes : ' For my 
 part, I propose to addict myself with more inces- 
 sant assiduity to tliis delightful and divine study 
 of the Book of God. Away, my Homer, I have 
 no need of being entertained by you, since Job 
 and the prophets furnish me with images much 
 more magnificent, and lessons infinitely more im- 
 portant. Away, my Horace, nor shall I suffer any 
 loss by your absence, while the sweet singer of 
 Israel tunes his lyre, and inspires me with the 
 noblest strains of devotion : and even my prime 
 favorite, my Virgil, may withdraw, since in Isaiah 
 I enjoy all his correctness of judgment, and all 
 his beautiful propriety of diction.' — ' When we 
 enter into the world, metliinlvs we launch into a 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. §1 
 
 troubled sea ; when wc retire into the closet, and 
 exercise ourselves in God's Word, we find a quiet 
 haven. The Scriptures are sources of peace, as 
 well as oracles of truth.' — ' I want to be better 
 acquainted with God's Holy Word ; to have its 
 inestimable truths lodged in my memory, its 
 heavenly doctrines impressed upon my heart; 
 that my tempers may take their fashion from it, 
 and my public administrations be enriched by it. 
 O, that the Word may dwell in us richly !' The 
 Bible was to Hervey truly an unfailing source of 
 consolation and of joy. He could also say with 
 the inspired psalmist : ' O how love I Thy law ! 
 it is my meditation all the day. How sweet are 
 Thy words unto my taste ! yea, sweeter than 
 honey to my mouth ! I love Thy commandments 
 above gold, yea, above fine gold.' How he delio-hts 
 to discourse on the excellency of the sacred Vol- 
 ume, and to press its glorious truths on the minds 
 of his hearers ! In his sermon on SearcJdng the 
 Sc7'iptu7'es he exclaims : 
 
 ' O blessed Book ! our better, our spiritual sun, 
 that sheddest thy bright beams upon our souls, 
 and furnishest us with the light of life ! thou 
 sovereign antidote against the delusions of the 
 devil, the treachery of our fallen nature, and the 
 darkness of the world ! thou guide, to lead us 
 
52 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 safely from the waves of this miseral)le life unto 
 our heavenly and everlasting rest I No wonder 
 that David counted his kingdom as nothing, and 
 called thee his heritage and portion forever ; no 
 wonder the holy martp's parted with their estates, 
 their families, their blood, rather than with thee. 
 'Tis rather to be wondered at, that manldnd do 
 not prize thee as their richest jewel, converse with 
 thee as their sweetest companion, and talk of thee 
 as the dearest object of their love, all the day 
 long. 'Tis with regret I leave oif from speaking 
 of thy unspeakable worth. 
 
 * Most wondrous Book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 
 Star of eternity ! the only star 
 By which the bark of man could navigate 
 The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 
 Securely ; only star which rose in time 
 And on its dark and troubled billows, still 
 As generation driving swiftly by, 
 Succeeding generation, threw a ray 
 Of heaven's own light, and to the hills of God — 
 The everlasting hills — pointed the sinner's eye.' 
 
 POLLOK. 
 
 As an author, Hervey has been much admired, 
 though persons of refined taste have justl}^ found 
 fault with his florid style. Dr. Blair in his Lec- 
 tures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, has this 
 remark : ' I cannot help thinking that it reflects 
 more honor on the religious turn and good dispo- 
 sitions of the present age, than on the public taste, 
 that Mr. Hervey's Meditations have had so great 
 
LIFE OP IIERVEY. 53 
 
 a currency. The pious and l)encvo]cnt heart 
 ■svhich is always disi)hiyed in them, and the lively 
 fancy which, on some occasions, appears, justly 
 merited applause ; but the perpetual glitter of 
 expression, the swollen imagery and strained de- 
 scription which abound in them, are ornaments of 
 a false kind. I would, therefore, advise students 
 of oratory to imitate Mr. Hervey's piety rather 
 than his style; and in all compositions of a serious 
 kind, to turn their attention, as Mr. Pope says, 
 " from sounds to things, from fancy to the heart." ' 
 Hervey's style has also been criticised by 
 James Montgomery, the poet, in his Lectures on 
 Poetry and General Literature : ' The pious sen- 
 timents of Hervey's Meditations,'' he says, ' recom- 
 mended the fantastic style in which they were 
 disguised to multitudes, who persuaded them- 
 selves that they were pleased because they sup- 
 posed that, in such a case, they ought to be, with 
 fine words and so many of them.' But notwith- 
 standing the acknowledged defects of his style, 
 the wi-itings of Hervey have been very popular, 
 winning the encomiums of the wise and good, on 
 account of the remarkable spirit of piety by which 
 they are pervaded, and pleasing, instructing, and 
 consoling thousands of readers on both sides of 
 the Atlantic. g. 
 
54 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 It may be proper to remark here that the style 
 of Hervey's sermons and other wi'itings is not open 
 to so much criticism, in point of floridit}^ as that 
 of his Meditations. Dr. Blair and Mr. Mont- 
 gomery's remarks are coirfined to this work. 
 
 CowTER T\Tites — ' Perhaps I may be partial to 
 
 Ml'. Hervey, but I think him one of the most 
 
 scriptural writers in the world.' And also the 
 
 celebrated Dr. John Witherspoon,* in dedicating 
 
 his Essmj on Justification to Hervey, uses the fol- 
 
 * John Witherspoon was born near Edinburgh in Scotland, 
 on the 5th of February, 1722. He was lineally descended 
 from the famous John Knox. He was educated at the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh ; and became minister of the parish of 
 Beith, in the west of Scotland, where he labored with great 
 acceptance and faithfulness. In 1757, he succeeded the Rev. 
 Robert Finley as pastor of a large church at Paisley. In 
 1768, Dr. Witherspoon came to this country to assume the 
 Presidency of the College of New Jersey. On the 22d of 
 June, 1776, he was chosen to represent the Colony of New 
 Jersey in the Continental Congress; and took his seat in 
 time to sign the Declaration of American Independence. For 
 six years he represented the State of New Jersey in the Gen- 
 eral Congress. ' During the whole period in which he was 
 occupied in civil life, he never laid aside his ministerial cha- 
 racter, but always appeared in every relation as became an 
 ambassador of God.' He died on the 15th of November, 1794, 
 in the 73d year of his age. ' His descent to the grave,' says 
 the Rev. Dr. Sprague, ' was comparatively easy, and his views 
 and feelings in reference to the approaching change were truly 
 and subhmely Christian.' 
 
 'There is an edition of his works in 9 vols. 12mo., Edin- 
 burgh, 1815 ; and another in 3 vols. 8vo., Philadelphia, 1803. 
 'His works,' says Lowndes, 'are in considerable estimation.' 
 
LIFE OF HERVET. 55 
 
 lowing expressions : ' You, Sir, are one of those 
 happy few, who have been willing to consecrate 
 the finest natural talents to the service of Christ 
 in the gospel, and are not ashamed of His cross. 
 You have been able to procure attention upon 
 some subjects from many who would hardly have 
 given it to any other writer. This hath made me 
 observe, with particular attention, the efiect of your 
 last performance, Theron and Asjjasio, the cha- 
 racter given to it, and the objections raised against 
 it. And I have always found, that the most spe- 
 cious and plausible objection, and that most fre- 
 quently made against the doctrine of justification 
 by imputed righteousness, has been in this case, 
 as indeed usually before, that it loosens the obli- 
 gations to practice. This is what I have particu- 
 larly applied myself to refute in the following 
 Essay, because I have rarely observed it done 
 distinctly, and at full length, in any writer. And 
 I have addressed it to you, as a testimony of my 
 esteem of your excellent and useful writings, as a 
 public declaration of my espousing the same sen- 
 timents as to the terms of our acceptance with 
 God, and my ambition of contributing some small 
 assistance to the support of the same glorious 
 cause. * * That your useful life may be pro- 
 longed, and that you may have the honor of con- 
 
56 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 tributing more and more to the conversion of 
 sinners, and the edification and comfort of believ- 
 ers, is the earnest prayer of, sir, your most obe- 
 dient humble servant, John Witherspoon.' 
 
 We may add the estimate of the excellent 
 EiCHAED Cecil,* 'a man deservedly distinguished 
 among the evangelical clergymen of the established 
 Church.' This oriijinal and strikino; wi'itcr ol> 
 serves : ' Let us do the world justice, it has very 
 seldom found a considerate, gentle, but earnest, 
 heavenly, and enlightened teacher, — when it has 
 found such, ti'uth has received a very general 
 attention. Such a man was Heevey, and his 
 works have met their reward.' 
 
 Those who have obtained the precious gift of 
 saving faith, who ' rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
 have no confidence in the flesh,' will look on 
 Hervey as one of the most evangelical and judi- 
 cious of our Christian authors, and one of the 
 most pious and heavenly-minded men in the 
 Church of Christ. And in contemplating his cha- 
 racter, the true Christian will never cease to ad- 
 mire him for that sincere and fervent love which 
 glowed in his heart to our adorable Redeemer ; 
 with whose glory let the whole earth be speedily 
 filled. 
 
 * ' His Remains, eminently useful to ministers, and per- 
 haps one of the most valuable books that has been given to 
 them in modern times.' — Bickerstetk. 
 
LIFE OF HERVEY. 57 
 
 On an occasional celebration of Ilervey's virtues 
 and talents, at the village of Weston-Favel, in 
 1823, JiVMES Montgomery composed the following 
 beautiful tributary poem, which will form an 
 appropriate conclusion to this brief memoir : 
 
 * Where is the house for all the living found ? 
 — Go ask the deaf, the dumb, the dead; 
 All answer, without voice or sound, 
 Each resting in his bed ; 
 Look down and see. 
 Beneath thy feet, 
 A place for thee ; 
 — There all the living meet. 
 
 ^b 
 
 ■ Whence comes the beauteous progeny of spring ! 
 — They hear a still, small voice, " Awake !" 
 And while the lark is on the wing. 
 
 From dust and darkness break ; 
 
 Flowers of all hues 
 
 Laugh in the gale. 
 
 Sparkle with dews, 
 
 And dance o'er hill and dale. 
 
 ■ Who leads through trackless space the stars of night ? 
 — The Power that made them guides them still ; 
 They know Him not, yet, day and night, 
 
 They do His perfect will. 
 Unchanged by age. 
 They hold on high 
 Their pilgrimage 
 Of glory round the sky. 
 
58 LIFE OF HERVEY. 
 
 ' Stars, flowers, and tombs -were themes for solemn thought 
 With him whose memory we recall ; 
 Yet more than eye can see he sought : 
 His spirit looked through all, 
 Keenly discerned 
 The truths they teach, 
 Their lessons learned. 
 And gave their silence speech. 
 
 ' Go, meditate with him among the tombs, 
 And there the end of all things view ; 
 Visit with him spring's earhest bloom, 
 See all things there made new ; 
 Thence rapt aloof 
 In ecstacy, 
 
 Hear, from heaven's roof. 
 Star's preach eternity. 
 
 • We call him blessed whom the Lord hath blest, 
 And made a blessing ; — long to shed 
 Light on the living, from his rest. 
 And hope around the dead : 
 Oh! for his lot, 
 Who dwells in light. 
 Where flowers fade not, 
 And stars can find no night.' 
 
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