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II ■■ I "•»»ww»(^p :t MEMOIR, SERMONS, ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES OF REV. JOHN BATES IIY RKV. J. A. SMITH, D.D.. KMu-o. OK .'ru,.: sTANOARn,"cmcAr.o, and a,-tmor ok "mkmo.ks OK NArUANIEI. m,.VKR." " ..ATMOS. OR TMK KtN<:nOM AN,, TIIK PATIKNCK," «'tI.K SPrRIT IN TI.K. WORI,," "THK. SHETLAND AI'OSTLR," KTC. TORONTO: . W. WARWICK. WELLINGTON STREET EAST. 1877. --'-'-"•*^ Vijmkmriii" --- ^''-' -■'■- ■- — ■'-'■■■■" - .-....^-j.^ji PREFACE, «..' «.e M» « .k„.„i.. a»a .,« words H .scord., „.ay ^e toao.,o„ a„a entitled to thi, more permanent memorial. Among those to whom acknowledgment is made for assistance in 2-g U-is Memoir, Dr. F,fe, of Woodstock, Ont., and Bcv. James H* of Cascade, Iowa, should be especially mentioned. Dr. Cath- cart s welcome contribution, a. also that of Jesse Clement, Eso are credited to these brethren in the proper place. >'2 re7dearZr "T '° "'°°' "" """^ "' ^'"■" '^»'- both .iik7orr;etr„rhL ° r™ " " " -^ '"- "^"--^ >» especially true, that "being dead, he yet speaketl' "°°" Hiiip»l i^T^p^^ifi; w,;fPV'7.«V1i|. « IBtP ffUIH(fl(Jrfi*OIBP«l^ I 'I " ■' I^ I CONTENTS, PART I.— MEMOIR. CuAPXER I.— Parentage and Early Life ''*"f II.— Conversion-Call to the Ministry '^ " III._The Baptist Irish Society. ^^ '' IV._A Year at Ballina ....■.'.■.■.'■ .^!^ V — Shgo and Coolany \[ '^^ VI — Ballinacarrow— Bollina '^^ VII~Dungannon— Banbridce. ^^ " VIII.-America... 78 " IX.-Canada .'.'.'."'.'*.'.'."".** '-^'^ X.— La St Pastorate and Last Days \^^ XL — Conclusion . . ^^7 139 PART II.— SERMONS. -The Triumphant Power of the Gospel jgg Skrmon L- II.— The Sovereignty of God III— The Atonement . . ' ^74 IV.— The Church of God ......'.' " ^''^^ v.— Holmesa of the Church. ^^ VI.— Individual Exertion ^^^ Vll.-Character and Effects of 'the Gospel.".'. If, VIIL— David's Dejection ^^6 IX.— Living to the Lord ^^^ X. — Forgiveness ^^^ XL— Little Things. ^^4 XII — God Uemembering Noah ' ^^^ Xni.— Bringing Sinners to Jesus • • • • 284 XIV.-The Fruitless Vino ^^^ 233 iifli^»fl ^Wi^ ipjli«H(i.T»^T- VIU. CONTENTS I. ir. HI. IV. V. VI. vn. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. PAllT III.-ESSAYS, LETTEllS AND ADDBESSES. Tho Second Coming of our Lord.... jjqi Theories of Plymoutliism 3qj. Facts »bout Free Communion aoj What is it to Believe ? ...,., Thoughts on Eomans v. 12 345 Evangehsm „ .„ Christian Sympathy 3^5 Were the Disciples of Jesus Baptized ? \\[[ 3(54 The Office Bearers of the New Testament Church ] , 3G8 Address upon Missions 307 The Perseverance of the Saints . 4oy Substitution ,„. The Scripture Doctrine of Imputation .^33 An Affectionate Appeal \ , . „ Letters ,_, ■i.o'j - t^w f H^^IH Part I. MEMOIR, CHAPTER I. PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. ia06-1827. One of the rural districts of England is even more memorable in Baptist history than London itself. We speak of North- amptonshire. Here, at distances from each other not exceeding, at the most, some fifteen miles, are Kettering, so long the scene of Andrew Fuller's famous ministry, and where on the second of October, 1792, the English Baptist Missionary Society was formed ; Paulerspury where, thirty- one years before, William Carey, the first and greatest of Baptist missionaries was bornj Hackleton, in which he learned his trade as a shoemaker ; Earl's Barton, the scene of his eai'liest ministry, and Moulton, where, while uniting the two occupation, of preaching and making shoes, he came to know so well and feel so deeply the condition of the heathen world. In the adjoining county is Nottingham, where he preached the famous sermon with its two charac- teristic divisions — " 1. Expect great things from God. 2. Attempt great things for God." Within the same limited district are other less conspicuous towns whose names occur incidentally in these earliest records of our missionary history ; such as Clipstone, where, at a meeting of ministers in 1791, Mr. Carey urged upon his brethren with such persistency, yet for the time so vainly, the claims of nations " sitting in darkness," and Bugbrook, whose little Baptist church was one of the earliest to express faith in the missionary enterprise by contributing to its funds. Memoir of Rev. John Bates. !! In this last named village John Bates was born, January 26, 1806 ; being the son of Samuel Bate-' and his wife Mary M. Bates. Bugbrook is a small, neat village, six mile^ from Northamp- ton, the capital of the shire. The parish, of the same name, was one of the numerous manors granted by William the Conqueror to the Earl of Morton (Moreton or Mortaigne, originally) at the time of the conquest. In Doomsday Book, the famous register in which all the gi*ants made by William to those who came with him from Normandy as sharers in his great enterprise, are recorded, the manor in question appears as Buchehroc. This seems to have been the original form of the less euphonious name which it now bears, although one curious in such things might find it as difiicult to even conjecture the actual origin of the one name as the other. Buchehroc might mean "a wooden vase" or "jug ;" to what incident in the first occupation of the locality by its Norman owners it owed its christening after a utensil so humble it were vain even to guess. Northamptonshire is a portion of England famous also in general history. It is but a short ride from Bugbrook to Naseby, the scene of one of Cromwell's most important vic- tories, while a somewhat longer one brings the visitor to Fotheringay castle, in which Mary Queen of Scots was last imprisoned, and where she suffered death by command of the rival queen. It was in the meadows near Northampton that the hapless Henry VI. fought his last battle and was made prisoner. At Grafton lived the Lady de Grey who became the wife of Edward IV., Henry's successor. At Ashby St. Ledger's the Gunpowder Plot was contrived. It would in- deed be difficult to find any portion of England, as large as Northamptonshire, within which history has not located more or less of its great events : yet these which we have mentioned are among those most significant in the island chronicle. Parentage and Early Life. The birth of a day-laborer's son is not in itself an inciu^nt likely to become notable. Yet as every true man both makes and fills his own place in the world, the child born in a cottage may in due time become as entitled to permanent memorial as the child born in a mansion. Nor, although the usual occupation of the father of John Bates was what we have indicated, was his condition in life altogether such as the fact might seem to imply. Of the neat and pleasant cottageB in the village of Bugbrook two were his property, while his work in thatching, hedge-trimming, and other similar pursuits> was often undertaken m jobs and contracts, which made him much more independent in it than would be the case with the ordinary day-laborer. He was, too, a man of strong mental powers, which indeed had been a characteristic of the Bates family for many generations — the robust English intellect, so often found in men of comparatively inferior condition, and not unfr jquently securing to the possessor of it a measure of social influence quite beyond w lat might be implied by his nominal sphere. He was for many years a deacon in the Baptist church, and was amongst his brethren a valued counsellor and leader. In an account of his own early life, written after he had reached maturity, Mr. Bates said of his father : " He was a man of sound piety, strict integrity, prudence and industry." He adds that his mother was the same, piecing out by her own labor the limited family income, often working till far into the night. At these times the son would frequently sit up with her, occu- pied with Bunyan's " Pilgrim " and the " Holy War," w" th " Whitfield's Sermons," and other books of a like character. " I had some of these books," he says, " nearly by heart." Mr. Bates was accustomed to account it a good provi- dence which fixed his condition thus in the middle rank of society, rather than at either extreme. Of this and other circumstances of his early life he speaks in his diary, com- menced in 1831, and continued, as a record more especially If. I 1 1 ■ -p ■ Memoir of Rev. John Batss. of spiritual experience, during many years. " Few," he says, " have been placed in circumsfcances more favorable for religion than myself; a kind of middle station, not in the depth of poverty, and yet greatly removed from riches and affluence; my parents both the followers of Jesus Christ, and never failiug to instruct me in the way of salvation by the Son of God. I was constantly receiving admonitions to duty, and little rewards when I acted in a way that was right ; at the same time chastised and corrected for bad conduct, when by my disobedience I had incurred their displeasure. Notwith- standing all," he adds, " in the morning of my days I walked in the ways of the ungodly, and stood in the paths of sinners, and sat down in the seat of the scornful, loving darkness rather than light because my deeds were evil." His parents were anxious to afford him every opportunity for school instruction, and at much personal sacrifice kept him for some four years under such teachers as the place afforded. He was accustomed in after life to speak somewhat disparagingly of the progress he made ; yet it is remembered of him that he showed as a scholar exemplary diligence, and especially a most retentive memory. Of the latter he affords an illustration in what he says, as quoted above, of retaining in mind such large portions of the books he read. Another proof of proficiency in certain kinds of elementary know- ledge is at once detected by the reader of the diary already referred to. The earlier pages, written while in the employ of a mercantile house in Cheapside, London, when only twenty- six years of age, and previous to that severe training in private study to which he afterwards subjected himself, are nevertheless remarkable, not only for the neat and legible chirography, but for the accuracy of expression, the invari- ably correct orthography, and the general excellence of the whole production, with no appearance anywhere of the least effort at fine writing. One would imagine it to be the work of a practised writer, rather than of one whose time, from Parentage and Early Life. boyhood up, had been almost wholly devoted to labor for a livelihood. He speaks, in the passage last quoted, of his irreligious condition. It must not, however, be inferred that he was wholly neglectful of religious things. So far from this, he was an earnest worker in the Sunday school, acting som^. times as one of the visitors, and later, chosen its superintendent, which place he seems to have filled for several years. While yet a lad, it is related of him that at one time he collected a con- siderable sum in penny contributions, for the cause of foreign missions. We may copy, here, a few words from the diary. I think that I was about fifteen when I left ofif going to school, and after that period I worked with my father amongst the farm- ers, chiefly in gardening, thatching, and hedge-cutting. I still continued, however, to go to the Sunday school, and owing to my punctuality I was chosen to be a visitor. While I went to the Sunday sohool as a scholar, a plan was established among the teachers to give those children a reward ticket, who should repeat on Sunday morning the greatest number of verses from a passage given by some teacher on the Sunday evening previous. I frequently used to get forty, fifty, and eighty verses during the week, though I used to work every day, and on one occasion I repeated more than one hundred. So I generally gained the ticket of reward. .... At this period my mind was stored with divine truths, but they are now lost and gone. I did not go on in this work because I loved it, but because I wished to excel others, and if I love the Saviour now, it must be attributed to free, sovereign, and electing grace. His father seems to have been a singularly methodical man, and himself anxious io redeem, at least, a portion of each day for pursuits different from the mere labor of the hands. " Ten hours," he used to say, " or twelve at most, are suffici- ent to work, and I like to work in the morning." He was, accordingly, very often at his work by four o'clock in the morning, and so would be able ,to return home at three or four in the afternoon. His son shared with him the early morning labor and the afbemoMi leisure for other occupation, which was by no means allowed to go unimproved. As he Memoir of Rev. John Bates. grew older, he availed himself of such opportunity as offered to purchase books. With no one to guide him, however, he was often not wise in his choice of books, and sometimes found to his disappointment, as many another one has done, that he had been misled by a taking title. His first adventure in undertakings on his own account was when, at about the age of eighteen it would seem, he purchased some goods with a few pounds which he had saved, and became a pedler or hawker, carrying his pack upon his back. His purchases were made at Nottingham, and consisted of such light goods as could be easily carried and readily sold in families. His business once took him, in his journeys to and fro, as far as London. His trade was in a good degree profitable, but soon became highly distasteful. He especially disliked the necessity of stopping at night at public houses, finding nothing congenial, but much the opposite, in the sort of company he there encountered. After a season, selling off at home the stock which remained, he abandoned this busi- ness, and resumed work with his father. The motives which influenced Mr. Bates in the first im- portant and permanent change in his plans of life, he seems himself to have judged somewhat over severely. In 1827, when twenty-two years of age, he formed the purpose of going up to London, with a view to push his fortunes there. His wish in this regard was strongly opposed by his friends. Such a step at that time would of course seem, and actually hd, a much more formidable one than at present, when city and country are, by facility of inter-communication, brought into such near relations with each other. To persons in humble circumstances, living in a country village of North- amptonshire, London would seem a distant, a mysterious, and a dangerous place. The young man leaving the shelter of his father's roof, and going forth to the wilderness of a strange and crowded city, would depart "not knowing whither he went," and least of all knowing " what things i Parentage and Early lAfe. should befall him there." To himself there would be the fasciuatiou of curiosity, of desire for change, of ambitious hope ; but for those he left behind there would be only the grief of separation and the dread of evil, the more formidable because so vague. When young Bates made known his thoughts upon this subject, he was met with decided oppo- sition on the part alike of his parents, his brother and his two sisters. His reason for persisting he himself gives as follows : — " My principal design in leaving home was to get beyond the faithful reproofs of parental piety, that I might walk in the way of my own heart without an accuser." These words might seem to imply some vicious tendency, or desire to escape from lawful restraints. His course in London, as we shall see, was very far from indicating any- thing of this kind. It is quite possible that the urgency of parental anxiety in regard to his spiritual condition had be- come wearisome to him ; yet some deeper motive than this alone must have prompted the step upon which he in due time decided. It was evidently the impulse of eager, active and enterprising youth, pressing to a larger sphere, yet in its vague desires and hopes over-ruled and led by the gracious Providence which numbers the very hairs of our head. The journey to London, and the final separation from home was at length decided upon. The leave-taking was such as, in the circumstances, could not fail to occur. His weeping relatives stood watching him till lost to sight. " They returned," he says, " to comfort each other, and com- mend me to God at a throne of grace, and I, musing as I walked along, pursued my journey until I had lost the view of my native cottage, and at length of my native village, and then sensations of a peculiar kind seemed to rush in upon my mind. Thus I left a peaceful habitation and set out for London, without prayer for divine direction, or the least desire to be found among the people of God." As he set forth upon this adventurous journey, he carried 10 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. under his arm a small parcel of clothing, and had about five pounds in his pocket. He seems to have traveled on foot^ or by such chance conveyance as offered, until he reached the canal, and thence proceeded by boat to London. He reached Paddington at six or seven o'clock in the evening. He does not seem to have known, personally, a soul in all London. He had, however, been recommended to one man there who had friends living in Bugbrook. Following the directions given him he pursued his way down Oxford street, pausing often at the shop windows, and fascinated, as a country lad could not fail to be, by the strange and wonderful panorama of a crowded and brilliant London thoroughfare. Reaching Regent street he turned down it nearly to the Circus, and there, in a back lane, found the person of whom he was in search. He proved to be the owner and keeper of a beer and wine shop. He was now in London, but under circumstances far from promising. " Though unconverted," he says, " I trembled when I saw the wickedness of this beer-shop where I stopped. I wished to return, but was determined not to do so. On the Sabbath my mind was dreadful. No family prayer, no Sunday school, no Bible reading, no father and no home. I thought London a perfect Sodom, and was afraid lest I should be swallowed up. When leaving home my father's parting request was, ' John, keep holy the Sabbath day, go to a place of worship, and, if possible, a Baptist place.' I promised that I would, and was faithful to my word. I wrote home, telling them where I stopped, and by return of coach I received a small parcel containing a Bible from my father, who said in the letter that accompanied it, I should greatly need it in London." Four weeks passed in diligent search for employment. A situation as porter, at fifteen pounds per year, was at length secured with the firm of Bently, Pawson &; Co., Cheapside, dealers in dry goods. Thankfully he left the "den of Parentage and Early Life. II but to oiaoy b^uL ^ ' ^"""^ *^™"'"^' himself, ;a&:-;vv:]/; ■:;,;,, j-j ■i.\ CHAPTER II. CONVERSION— CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 1827-1836. m The Baptist chapel in Eagle street, London, is not now one of those deemed most interesting to visitors. While Rev. Joseph Ivimey was pastor there, however, the church was, by reason of the active and influential place filled in the denomination by its minister, as well as by its own relation to a vai'iety of important denominational movements, a recognized leader among the churches. At the time of which we now speak, Mr. Ivimey had been pastor at Eagle street for about twenty-two or twenty-three years. Three volumes of his " History of the Baptists " had already been published, and the fourth was in process of preparation, while a large number of other productions, partly sermons, partly writings upon subjects more or less controversial, had made him still more widely known as a writer. Like the subject of our present memoir, he was, in the sense commonly at- tached to the phrase, "a self-made man." His father, a tailor, and a man of dissipated habits, had paid very little attention to his education. At the time when he .began to preach, he was in business in the town of Portsea, his first efforts being of a very humble character, yet awakening in those who heard him such hopes of distinguished usefulness, that he was speedily called to more important work, and while still a young man was installed as pastor at Eagle street. It does not seem to have been any acquaintance with Mr. Ivimey's history that drew to him the youth with whose CoTiveraion — Call to the Ministry. 18 fortunes we are now principally concerned but something, rather, which he observed in the man himself. For a few weeks after his arrival in Loa»lon he remained without any Sabbath home. Occasionally he heard Mr. Clayton in the Poultry, sometimes Kowland Hill at Surrey Chapel, and other ministers. The first Baptist Chapel which he visited was that of Maze Pond, where Mr. Mann was the minister. Here he made enquiry for Dr. Rippon's place of meeting, and on the same day found his way thither. The account left by himself of what followed is so interesting, that we prefer to give it in his own words : The gentleman who preached in the morning at this chapel very much pleased me, and as I was a perfect stranger, I sup- posed it to be the good old doctor himself. Here for the first time I felt at home ; yet I forgot the text and almost all the ser- mon, except what was said just at last, when the minister gave a pathetic description of the love of Jesus to poor sinners, though after all, he said, it '* passeth knowledge.'' Here, for the first time, the silent tear trickled down my cheek, on account of my disobedience and rebellion against my Saviour. I felt as if I were ashamed to be seen, yet I had no inclination to wander any more. I went to the same place again, at the second service, for the language cf my heart was: " Here will I find a settled rest, While others go and oome ; No more a stranger or a guest. But like a child at home." In the afternoon I found another face in the pulpit ; this was Dr.Rippon himself. During the sermon. Dr. Rippon said: " I wish all that hear me this afternoon had been here to hear Brother Ivimey's sermon this morning, for then I think a good many of you would not live as you do." After the sermon I inquired who ' ' Brother Ivimey " was, and where he preached. I was told at Eagle street. Red Lion square, Holborn. During the week I made it my business to find his chapel, and went there on the following Lord's day. I found it was the same gentleman whom I had before heard at Dr. Rippon's. From this time I determined to wander no more. The se dous impressions felt by Mr. Bates while listening -*Tr--j'"i»"v»- i^.r"' '■'T"^; ' -•'«w»f-'?w"i|w", ^xv^^^m^^nr^ 14 MeTooir of Rev. John Bates. to this sermon of Mr. Ivimey, were not altogether new to him. Some years before, at his home in Northamptonshire, he had been much awakened through various causes, but chiefly under sermons preached in the chapel of his native place. One of these was by Mr. Maviot, of Milton, from the text, " There was no room for him at the inn :" another by Mr. Coultart, a missionary to Jamaica, whose text was : "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heav en, shalt be thrust down to hell." Two others, by his own pastor. Rev. J. Wheeler, he mentions as having left results which he believed to have been lasting. The text of one of these was : " But now they have no cloak for their sin;" and of the other, "Be sure your sins will find you out." It was the latter of these which seemed to leave the permanent impression. He says : "'Be sure your sins will find you out,' was continually sounding in my ears. Amidst all the worldly pleasure of my companions, and the happiness which I imagined myself to find with them, I was miserable. This text marred my fancied bliss. I endeavoured to stifle conviction, to draw happiness from the world, to banish the thought of a religious life, desiring still to walk in the ways of the world and a depraved heart, in order that I might fulfil the lusts of the flesh and of the mind. Yet I was miserable ; the convictions of conscience, when awakened by the Spirit of God, can no more be resisted than the arrow of death. 'Be sure your sins will find you out' was forever in my ear, and marred every earthly gratification, so that I had just religion enough to make me miserable, but not enough to make me happy." This state of mind continued with him, more or less, up to the time of his leaving home for London. To this was due, no doubt, in some measure at least, the fact that the irreligious and immoral associations in which he first found himself in the great city were so distasteful. He was already reaching, though blindly and vaguely, after the higher good, and the delights of the worldling and the vicious were hate- Conversion — Call to the Ministry. 15 ful to him. His serious and thoughtful demeanour, after becoming fairly installed in his new duties at the warehouse in Cheapside, soon attracted the attention of his associates there. They rallied him upon his grave looks, sometimes tried scoffing and ridicule, at other times sought to engage him in the frivolous pleasures in which they themselves de- lighted. He had no heart for them. His own state as a sinner — how to obtain peace and the assurance of salvation — how to have peace with God — these were the great con- cerns upon which his thoughts habitually dwelt. "I did not know," he says, " how I had been stopped in my sinful course, or why Jesus had not suffered me to rush onward to ruin. Sometimes I ventured to hope for mercy, yet on view- ing my character as one who had sinned against so much light and truth, had continued in sin so much against the dictates of an enlightened conscience and the reproofs of affectionate parents at home, it seemed presumption to hope for salvation ; that sovereign grace could not be so free as to reach my case ; that to hope for heaven was to expect what could never be realized." It was some months after he began his regular attend- ance at Eagle street, that, one Sabbath Mr. Ivimey said to him : " Call and see me some night, my young friend." The invitation was eagerly accepted, and not long after he spent an evening with the pastor. He found him a man, now fifty-four years of age, somewhat below the middle stature, stout and inclining to corpulency, with a face expressive of energy and resolution, more perhaps than of refinement. The visitor was in a measure disappointed in the interview to which he had looked forward so hopefuUy. Mr. Ivimey was, as Mr. Bates afterward described it, " dull, low-spirited and heavy." Yet, as the young man was leaving, the elder one placed his hand kindly on his shoulder and said to him, "You will soon preach; make it a matter of prayer." He seems to have already given evidence to those in Mr. ^•V^t^^T'Tm t'y^'v^*9F. WyfT^v^f ^'^,'' •••'f'V^r'WWIHP"*"^ ■*"*'"'" »'■■)■■'"■ 16 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. Ivimey's church who knew him, that he had passed from death unto life, and had indeed gained some degree of a like assurance himself Like many others at that time, he had his severe temptation and trial with reference to some of the Christian doctrines, particularly that of predestination. It was a time when doctrinal preaching was far more common than it is now, and souls seeking the Saviour frequently found themselves compelled, while yet immature in Christian knowledge, and perhaps wholly without Christian experience, to deal with those things in divine revelation which, till they are spiritually discovered, are often a perplexity, and some- times a st®ne of stumbling. While exercised over that great problem of predestination, Mr. Bates tells us that he found no little help in these lines in Milton's " Paradise Lost," where God says of Adam : . . . . "He had of me All he could have. I made him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Such I created all the ethereal powers And spirits, hoth them who stood and them who failed, Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. • Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true allegiance, constant faith and love ?" * t " Hence," says Mr. Bates, " I thought that Adam was created holy, but he fell, and ruined himself and all his pos- terity. Still, he could not cast the blame on God ; for Adam and Eve could not ' Justly accuse Their Maker, or their making, or their fate, As if predestination overruled Their will, disposed by absolute decree, Or high fore-knowledge ; they themselves decreed Their own revolt, not I, if I foreknew. Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault. Which had no less proved certain unforeknown.' * Book m., line 80, et seq. .,av^:^..>..-„^;» »>.»:,,.,: vs...,. .'.. Conversion — Call to the Ministry. 17 " In reading these lines," adds Mr. Bates, " I was in some measure enlightened to see that if I was lost I could not cast the blame on God. Because his foreknowledge does not, and never did influence me to commit anything of a sinful nature. K the fore-knowledge of God takes away the punishment due to our wickedness, it must equally take away the merit of our goodness ; in other words, it must destroy all account- ability." From that wrong view of the doctrine in question, which he had in some measure adopted, he now swung off toward Socinianism. Admitting the inexcusableness of sin, he yet thought, as it was a matter between his soul and God, the re- adjustment of their mutual relations in peace and harmony must be through repentance and the leading of a better life. Thus he was led to doubt, in turn, the doctrine of the atone- ment, and to reject the crucified Saviour, as not needed for either atonement or intercession. Here a volume of sermons by Dr. Watts came to the rescue, particularly the sermons upon the words, " Whom God hath set forth to be a propiti- ation." By these discourses he was led to see that he " must be saved by Christ." " Indeed," he adds, " I never thought that I could save myself, but that God might save me if He would, without being indebted to His Son. But the mercy of the Lord was great, and I was brought to the feet of Jesus, so as to look to Him for my salvation. I now gave myself up to Jesus Christ, with the desire to be His forever." There is much that is characteristic in this recital. It was Mr. Bates' way to grapple with difficulties and master them, not evade them. Nor was it possible for him to be satisfied with a faith that was not an intelligent faith When he thus ac .epted Christ, it was with the acquiescence of his reason, and the surrender of his whole being. It was very soon after this that the visit to Mr. Ivimey had occur- red. As yet he had communicated to no one his new state of mind. One of the deacons of the church, Mr. Young, had, 18 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. however, observed so much as led him to invite him one Sabbath morning, in a social meeting, to offer prayer. He did so, " with much fear and trembling." Not quite sure of his ground, he determined to write to the minister, but burned the letters as fast as they were written. Then came the in- vitation to the pastor's house, with the unexpected and startling words at parting. He thought the remark a strange one; yet there seemed to be in his heart something that echoed the sentiment of them. Mr. Bates was baptized at the Eagle street chapel on Christmas day, 1829, by Mr. WooUacott. Mr. Ivimey was present, but too ill to officiate. This was just two years and three days from the date of his leaving home. The thought of the pastor, with reference to the work in the world appointed to the young man who had come from the country to find a Christian home with them, was shared by his brethren in the church. Less than six months after his baptism, their convictions upon this subject became so strong that they invited Mr. Bates to preach before the church, with a view to a regular call to the ministry of the gospel. We safely infer from this fact, that he had taken up with zeal, activity, and intelligence, the work which fell to him as one pledged thenceforth to a Christian life in the church of God, and that, in spite of his humble calling, his brethren found in him talents suited to something better than the drudgery of a commercial establishment. His associates at the latter place seem to have gained a like impression, expressing it in their rough way, that he " was fit for nothing else but to be a parson." His own mind, as we shall see by passages of a subsequent date in his diary, was by no means clear on the point. He felt his deficiencies deeply ; he was not fuUy satisfied that the Lord had called him to this work ; at times he felt encouraged to assume the grave charge, at others he shrunk from it, and only seems to have been fully assured of the way in which duty pointed. Conversion — Call to the Ministry. 19 when the door of service had opened, and the call to enter it had become unmistakable. When, therefore, he consented to address the church on the last Sabbath in May, 1831, and again on the second Sabbath of July following, it must have been partly with a, view to test his own state of mind and general fitness, and partly to gain help in his decision from the judgment of the chui-ch. Two letters to his parents, written ci this time,, reveal something of the feeling with which this service was undertaken. He gives also a summary of each discourse,, with a view evidently to the gratification of friends at home who, to the great joy they had felt at his conversion, were now to have added the no less joy fid surprise of learning that one who had left them as a prodigal had become a preacher of the word. The text of the former of these sermons was in John iii. 3 : "Except a man be bom again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ; " of the latter, John vi. 37, " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." These, especially the latter, are somewhat formidable texts to deal with. It may interest the reader to see something of the way in which thia porter in a warehouse treated them. The first of the two sermons began with some notice of the time and circumstances of this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. The subject was then discussed under five divisions. 1. What was required : a now birth. 2. The author of the new birth : the Holy Spirit. 3. The nature of the change : which is explained, or touched upon in verse eight. 4. The indispensable necessity of the change : " eoocept," " cannot" 5. The efffect such a change must pro- duce in life and conduct. Under the first division the preacher said: A new birth implit ^ that we have lived much amies, or else to little purpose. We must begin from the foundation. We must have a new nature ; not think of patching up the old man» 20 Memoir of Rev, John Bates. t 11 1 or shaking off some of the grosser acts of vice and immorahty. We must be bom again. Not put on a new ooat or a new face, but put on the new man, walk in holiness, and lead a new life, the life of faith and communion with God. Speaking of the author of this change, he said : Jesus says that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Holy Spirit, then, is the author of the change. It is not wrought by any wisdom, power, or inherent principle of our own. " Can the Ethiopian change his skin ? " Upon the nature of the change, he remarked : " The wind bloweth where it Usteth." It does not come and go at our call. God bringeth the wind out of His treasuries, and it accompUshes His purpose. The Holy Spirit in regeneration acts as a sovereign, free agent, working upon the hearts of men when, where, and on whomsoever he will. The word he works by and the heart that is to be wrought upon he has access to, dividing to every man severally, as He will. But He works powerfully and with visible effects. ... He changes the lion into the lamb ; the stout-hearted rebel He brings to Jesus, in the simpUcity of a little child. . . . It is a spiritual change, a passing from sin to holiness, from death to life ; " for you h&tix He quick- ened, who were dead in trespasses and in sins." It gives us new affections, new aims, new desires, new pursuits. In a similar way the necessity of the change, and its fruits, vyrere discussed. The sermon showed remarkable maturity of thought and accuracy of statement, considering the circumstances of the preacher. He writes to his parents : *' I felt upon the occasion a little timid, and experienced much to humble me and to encourage me. I was enabled to speak xjuite as well as I expected, and felt myself, I hope, at liberty. But never did I feel my nothingness so much before, and if Jesus had not strengthened me and carried me forward, I should have sunk beneath my burden." We can only give the principal heads of the second sermon : I. There is a portion of mankind, given by the Father to the ^on. Conversion — Call to the Mvnistry. 21 II. Their salvation is seoure. All thus given shall oome, for He who gave Jesus to be the Saviour of sinners will send sinners to be saved by him. He who spoke this word has power to put that word into effect. III. The encouragement given : " Him that cometh, I will in no wise oast out." The robust Calvinism of the father to whom the son was thus reporting his first sermons, must have felt satisfied with the soundness of the doctrine at least. The church before whom the sermons were delivered were so well satisfied that at the next church meeting Mr, Bates was formally called to the work of the ministry. Something like two years, however, were to elapse before his destination in this regard should be fully decided, and the sphere of his special service finally chosen. In the meantime he occasionally preached, either for Mr. Ivimey, at the Eagle street chapel, or at some other of the Baptist chapels in London ; at times, also, at such places as the Clerkenwell workhouse. He was, meanwhile no less "diligent" than formerly in the " business " of his employers. His reading and study, however, began almost of themselves it would seem to take directions that might serve as preparation for the ministry. One part of his duty at the warehouse was the delivery of goods in different parts of the city. Any one observing him while so engaged, would have occasion to see something unusual in the porter of a mercantile house. Starting forth from the warehouse for the West End with his burden, he took his book with him. When wearied by his walk, he would seat himself upon a block for a few minutes rest. Here he would draw his " Watts' Logic," his " Mason on Self-knowledge," or some volume of Fuller, Booth, or Owen from his pocket, and snatch a few morsels of wholesome intellectual meat to be chewed and digested as he went on his way. As the thought of one day becoming a preacher more and more took pos- session of him, he used often, when the warehouse was Memoir of Rev. John Bates. closed — as he slept there — to go down into the cellar where goods were sold, and, as he expressed it, "preach to the bales of silk, stockings, shawls, etc., till nearly midnight." As time went on, and his employers learned to value him more, they gave him a better position in their establishment. He had no^y more time for study, and to improve it to the best advantage he began with Greek, under Mr. Ivimey. It was characteristic of his indefatigableness, in this as in other things, that he had the paradigm of the Greek verb pasted upon the wall at the foot of his bed, where his eye would be upon it at the moment of awaking in the morning. His journal, commenced near the close of 1831, indicates careftil and severe self-examination, extending to details of motive and of the secret thoughts, with many lamentations over what he felt to be his spiritual deficiencies. It may not be judicious to copy largely from these entries, yet one characteristic passage may be taken, partly as showing the severity of his self-scrutiny, and partly as an indication of the careful method in which he was already accustoming himself to arrange his thoughts. He says, January 19, 1832 : To-night I have endeavoured to examine myself, being alone. I found it very diflSoult to keep my heart from roving, and a willingness to pass over this work sUghtly. But on examination, I think that these things seem to be the causes of my decay and of my barrenness : I. A proud and haughty heart, arising from ignorance as to my lost condition by nature, as a poor, perishing sinner. II. From worldly-mindedness, and not dihgently striving to mortify " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride ofUfe." III. From indulging sinful thoughts, which eat out all the vitals of religion in my soul. May Jesus have mercy upon me, and grant a double portion of His Holy Spirit, whereby I may entirely consecrate myself to His glory. It must not be inferred that he was a gloomy Christian. Quite the contrary seems to have been the fact. He speaks ■— ^'-''' *=* i^-^Kr-r-i- Cotiversimi — Call to the Ministry, fiS often of finding great comfort in his devotion, and joy in the house of God. The morning hour was his favorite season for devotion and for reflection, and if he fails to find himself in a good spiritual frame " while dressing," he speaks of it as noteworthy, and as suggesting new cause for self-examina- ation and prayer. His interest in church work, and evan- gelical labor of every kind, grows upon him, with solicitude as to his own future course. Under date of January 2G, 1832, we find this entry : I have been long thinking of this great step, my going into the ministry. My heart still seems to be inclined that way, if it does not deceive me, and yet I know not what maybe the design of my Heavenly Father. I know that He can do without me, but He has made me the recipient of divine grace, and I still think He will, for the sake of Jesus, make me a pillar in His temple, and a standard-bearer in Zion. There is nothing too hard for God to do. I hope I have this night by humble and sincere prayer referred the matter entirely unto God, desiring that He may do with me as seemeth good in His sight, I am unworthy, but Jesus is worthy. I am unable but Jesus is all- sufficient, and He is my hope, my strength, my all. Nearly a month later, February 21, he writes again : I often think much about the ministry, and do not know at present what the Lord will do with me. My own unworthiness and insufficiency makes me afraid to go fortcard, yet when I think of his providence, and consider the state of my mind, I am afraid to go backward. Besides, God will never call his people to a work which they are not able to perform ; He will work in them both to will and to do. Those who work for God shall have help from God, and with His help I can do all things. A month or two later, April 2, this which follows, is written : My heart seems to be in the West Indies, among the poor negroes. I thought much about it to-day. But when I view the work, and think of the self-denial, the holy life, the ability and talent required, my soul is ready to exclaim, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " Then a voice from the scriptures is heard, saying, " All your sufficiency is of God." If I am called, 24 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. I shall be prepared. If I am sent, Jesns will bear my charges, and if I have my oredentials from heaven, I shall have His bless- ing upon my labor. Now, Lord, do with mo as seemeth good in thy sight ; not my will, but thine, be done. This feeling of self-distrust was natural in the circum- stances. Many a one whose opportunity for personal im- provement has been far greater than that of John Bates has felt the same. His desire for missionary work in the West Indies so increased in strength as to make it almost seem as if this must, at last, grow to be his especial call. A few days after the entry last copied, he expresses himself thus : I think much about our poor missionaries in the west. They are in bonds and in prison for the Gospel of Christ. that they may be faithful, even unto death, and then they will have a crown of life. I love them, but would rather hear that they were martyrs to the cause of Christ, than that they had quitted the field or changed their colors ingloriously. Jesus, stand by them, that they may be comforted in all their troubles. Guide them in all their difficalties, and strengthen them with all might by thy Spirit in the inner man, that they may fight thy battles more succegsfully. Let all their goings be established, and let them at last gain an illustrious triumph over all their enemies. I long to be there, to join with them in their toil. Last Lord's day, Mr. Ivimey read a letter or two from brother Burohell, dated, *• Common Jail, Montego Bay." This is a time of hot persecution against our beloved brethren.. The Island of Jamaica, in the West Indies, at the time of which we speak, as it still is, under the British government, had been selected by the English Baptist Mis- sionary Society as a field for missionary labor in 1814:. When the question of abolishing slavery in the British West Indies came to be agitated, the Baptist missionaries sided with the emancipationists, and as a consequence brought upon themselves the bitter enmity of the planters. They were arrested, imprisoned, even threatened with death. As we have seen, Mr. Bates first looked toward this island as the scene of his labors in the ministry, in case it should ConwraioTi^Call to the Miniatry. 25 approved ofTl^ Lil ! 'T T" ""'^ '""'>'=' f-''^ ofthomSThTwtr^ "T '■'r^o'i. -1 the affairs thought expedienrir fh .• . ''™'^''''"' "■»' '' *<« "»' -g field had oSeT ■ " "* ^'"" '^^' '""'">« -"'" '::i ::^^ CHAPTER III. ' it I !^ f THE BAPTIST IRISH SOCIETY. The lirst reference to the subject of missionary work in Ire- land which we find Mr. Bates himself making, is under date of September 12, 1832. He says: "I have had some thoughts about Ireland lately, and last night I read some of the ' triumphs of the Bible ' there. While reading some of the letters, my love was kindled and my sympathy excited. My tears flowed, and I desired to go, live, labour, and die amongst them. The will of the Lord be done. The night before I visited my beloved pastor and had some profitable conversation respecting it." Next day he speaks again of Ireland, adding these words, " My mind is much exercised when I think of giving up the West Indies to go there. I fear it looks as if I were given to change ; then if I say I will not go, I fear lest it should look like self-confidence, and a determination to have my own way. ' It is not in the heart of man that walketh to direct his steps.' that mine may be directed by God. As a servant of Jesus Christ, I feel willing to fjo where He, by His providence, shall send me. For a time he remained in a state of indecision, some times inclining coward the one field of labour, some times to- ward the other. The interest he felt in the oppressed blacks in Jamaica, and his desire for their salvation, was real and strong — stronger, possibly, than he himself realized, until events had occurred which seemed to make his own devotion of himself to them an impossibility. At one time he writes: "" Sometimes I think that God by His providence has per- Tlie Baptist Irish Society. 27 mitted that persecution to take place in the west just when I was proposed as a candidate, to try my faith and patience. At other times I think it the voice of God speaking to me, to give up the prospect of the ministry altogether, and con- tinue as a private Cfiristian. So that I am perplexed." Again he writes : " Although mj' prospects for the west are clouded, yet I think that my desire to engage in the work of the Lord is not damped. The poor Irish stand in as much need of my sympathy and love, as the poor oppressed slave. O that I knew the will of God concerning me in this matter." The evidences are abundant, not only that he sought in a spirit of entire self-surrender, to know God's will ; but that the indecision which distressed him rather increased than lessened his longing to be devoted, in some sphere, to the ministry of the word as his exclusive occupation. Here is a record expressive of feelings with which many another, pas- sing through like trials, has been prepared to sympathize: " My mind is very unsettled. I often think about the min- istry. Sometimes about leaving London and going home, then about trading — but God knows what is best for me. Sometimes I fear that I am a hypocrite, now a mere form- alist, then a pharisee, or sometimes nearly an infidel; at others I hope that I am a Christian and could die a martyr. But notwithstanding all, I love the Saviour, love His people, love His word, love His work, and love to promote His gloiy. Jesus is my hope, and I would not part with that hope for all the world." In the meanwhile, although he still continued in ser- vice at the warehouse of Bently, Pawson & Co., he improved such opportunity as he had for reading and study, and preached, whenever called upon, at such places as the Clerkenwell workhouse, under the auspices, partly, of a society having that species of labour in charge. On one occasion we find a record of his having preached the Wednesday night lecture at Elagle street. He says : " I did not feel much embarrassed, and was enabled to speak with a degree of liberty." Soon 28 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. h 'I after he took, though with some reluctance, and at Mr Ivimey's urgent request, the Sunday afternoon sermon at the same place. With the opening of the year 1833, the important ques- tion was at last decided. Having pifeached before the Com- mittee of the Baptist Irish Society, and submitted to an examination by them upon such points as his Christian experience and convictions of duty with reference to the ministry, he was formally invited to become one of the missionaries of that society in Ireland, and promptly, in response, signified his acceptance. The religious condition of Ireland had for some time engaged the earnest solicitude of English Christians. In the early centuries of our era notied for its fidelity to the word of God, and the doctrine and practice of apostolical Christianity, one of the very last of European countries to submit to papal usurpation, it had now for long ages suffered more under that usurpation and under the various abuses of an unprincipled priestcraft, than even Italy and Spain them- selves. A few Protestant churches in the island cast transient gleams of light upon the thick darkness, but these churches themselves were too often either crippled by their connection with the English Establishment, or paralyzed by division, or corrupted with worldliness or false doctrine. Among the very few Baptist churches Sandemanianism had crept in, " making the cross of Christ of none effect." In the year 1814 Rev, Christopher Anderson, an eminent Baptist minister of Edinburgh, having visited Ireland, pub- lished some statements, from which we take the following : The degraded state of the population cannot be conceived by those who have not visited popish countries, nor adequately by those who have. We saw enough to convince us that the priests by prohibiting the use of the Scriptures, have taken away the key of knowledge; thus they "neither enter into heaven themselves, and those that would they hinder." Without any wish to exag- gerate the' baneful evils of popish superstition, it was enough uai»i ..A^. ....^Ji...; .J Tlie Baptist Irish Society. 29 almost to break a compassionate heart, to see the thousands who attended masg on a holiday, stretching out their hands to catch what they consider the consecrated water, thrown on them by the priests, and the apparent devotion of many who were mut- tering over their Ave- Marias. On tho outside of a very large popish chapel erecting at Westport, an old man, or begging pil- grim, was sitting on the ground, repet^tiug aloud his prayers in Irish, surrounded by a great multitude of people who were seemingly catching his words. Not an Hindoo Fakir could exhibit stronger proof of personal austerities and mortifications, than this old devotee presented ; nor could an Hindoo bazaar have produced a more infatuated populace, than the thousands collected in this respectable commercial town. At this place we were within four miles of the Beek, or Glough-Patrick, a mountain on which it is said St. Patrick fought and conquered the devil's mother : and from hence also expelled forever all the venomous reptiles from Ireland. Though these stories are fabulous, the superstitious and baneful effects result- ing from them, which have attached a sort of sanctity to this mountain are no fables, but the most serious and awful realities. To this place many thousands of persons, twice a year, come from all parts of Ireland to perform what are called stations. The road to the top of the mountain is said to be at least a mile, and some parts very difficult of access, so that they suffer the most cruel penances in ascending to its summit. Not many months since, in winter, a poor woman, a soldier's wife, with an infant at her breast, reached its cloud-capt top ; but, the snow descending, she was prevented from returning, and both mother and child died on the top of the Beek. Another, no less credible witness, a minister living in Ire- land, testified about the same time : " The lower orders are almost all papists, and the higher classes are ivfidels;'^ a conjunction of cause and efiect more or less invariable in all popish countries. It may not be amiss to quote here a passage from a cate- chism largely circulated in parts of Ireland about this time : Q. Who will go to heaven ? A. They who keep the commandments of God and the church, and die in a state of grace. Q. Are we obliged to keep the commandments of the church ? A. We are ; "He that will not hear the church," saith Christ, " let him be to thee as a heathen." "-V 1 1 I i 1 30 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. Q. Say the commandments of the ohuroh. A. 1. Sundays and holy days mass thon shalt hear. 2. And all holy days sanctify through the whole year. 8. Lent, Ember days, and vigils thou shalt fast. 4. Fridays and Saturdays flesh thou shalt not taste. 5. In Lent and Advent nuptial leasts forbear. 6. Confess your sins at least once every year. 7. Receive your God about great Easter day, 8. And to his church neglect not tithes to pay. A system whose standard of spiritual attainment is such as here indicated, is scarcely a step removed from heathenism itself, especially as administered by priests, the majority of whom were as ignorant and brutish as the people them- selves. A pamphlet, written by a Roman Catholic clergy- man, and published about 1820, speaks thus of the general condition of the Irish as respects even the rudiments of education : " It is true the Irish are taught to read and write when the parents can pay a teacher ; this, however, hundreds and thousands of them have at all times been unable to do ; and, from the alarming increase of poverty, the number of these is of late years multiplied." The picture thus drawn of the general dissoluteness of the people, and the growth of genei-al immorality consequent upon this in- creasing ignorance, is simply frightful. When the attention of English Christians had once been called to this state of things, the feeling widely aroused was such as the Countess of Huntingdon so earnestly expressed: " Poor, wicked Ire- land, I trust, will yet have a gospel day. I cannot yet see how or wh.m, but it must be ; and, till I find out oppor- tunities, my eye is only waiting darkly for its accomplish- ment." The first step taken in this direction was the formation of the "Hibernian Society," in 1806. Its object was "to extend divine knowledge in Ireland, by the ministry of the gospel, by the dispersion of the Holy Scriptures and religious tracts ; by the formation and support of schools, and by ■ft um The Baptist Irish Society. m every other lawful and prudent measure, calculated to pro- mote pure religion, morality, and loyalty." This society accomplished much through its teachers and itinerants, but was alone in its work until the formation of the Baptist Irish Society seven years after, in 1813. The immediate occasion of this organization was the report made by two Baptist ministers, Rev. John Saffery, of Salisbury, and Rev. George Barclay, of Kilcoinning, who, in the year just named, had been sent to Ireland by the Com- mittee of the English Baptist Missionaiy Society, to solicit contributions from the churches there for the mission in India. They were also instructed to examine into the con- dition of Ireland, with a view to measures for promoting the •pure gospel there. Their report convinced the brethren in England that such measures could not be entered upon too speedily. Only five Baptist churches were found remaining in all Ireland, and these in an exceedingly enfeebled condi- tion. The single element of hope found in these was the fact that there were some in their communion who were " desii-ing and praying for better days." As to the general condition of the people, the report of Messrs. Saffery and Barclay fully anticipated and sustained that of Christopher Anderson, made one year later. The Baptist ministers of London had, for nearly a cen- tury, been accustomed to meet weekly at the Jamaica Coffee House, St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, for general ministerial intercourse, and the discussion of such matters of denomi- national or general religious interest as might come before them. Of this meeting, at the time to which we now refer, Mr. Button and Mr. Ivimey were the secretaries. The pub- lished report of the recent deputation to Ireland came before the meeting, and awakened very great interest. After consultation, it was decided that the secretaries should address a circular to the Baptist ministers of London and vicinity, inviting them to meet, Dec. 6, 1813, at the chapel 32 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. i|H! I in Eagle street. At this meeting the following resolution was adopted: That for the purpose of aiding their efforts [the Baptist ministers and churohes in Ireland] generally, and increasing the number of laborers in that vast field, we form ourselves into a society to be called " The Baptist Society for propagating the Gospel in Ireland ; " that the persons now present be a com- mittee for promoting the object of this meetuig, and that sub- scriptions be received by any of them, and by Mr. Button, for this purpose : that Mr. Ivimey, W. Shenston, and J. Smith, be a sub-committee, who are requested to have an interview with Mr. Saffery, and with his assistance prepare suitable rules, and adopt other measures for organizing this society, to be considered at a future meeting. Accounts of these proceedings were sent by Mr. Ivimey to Andrew Fuller, at Kettering, the measures adopted re- ceiving his full approbation. His advice to the brethren was, to be more anxious to do the work than to get money, to be choice in the selection of itinerants, and to be less eager as to doing much, than doing it well. Subsequent meetings were held in April, 1814; the first public gathering in this interest, occurring at the New London Tavern on the nineteenth of that month. Joseph Butterworth, Esq., M.P., occupied the chair. The number present was not large, but the sum received, £120, in aid of the object, was, at least, a. better basis upon which to begin the enterprise than the £13. 2s. 6d. with which the work of foreign missions had been undertaken. At this meeting the Secretary of the Hibernian Society was present, and stated that in view of the establishment of a Society specially for the purpose of preaching the Gospel in Ireland, that which he himself represented had determined to limit its own future efforts to the maintenance of schools and the circulation of Bibles and tracts. At the time when Mr. Bates accepted an appointment from this society, in January, 1833, it had prosecuted its The Baptist Irish Society. 33 benevolent labors during nineteen years, and with much encouragement. The obstacles were many, and the difficul- ties in reaching effectually the prejudiced and bigoted minds of the Catholic Irish, slaves of their priesthood, were very ^eat. Yet there had been numerous conversions, churches had been formed, while by means of itinerant labor the sphere of the work had been greatly widened. We must allow Mr. Bates, at this point, to state his own impressions as to the work upon which he was entering. January 6, 1883 : Sabbath evening. — What an important period this is of my life, that at the age of twenty-seven I should be called to the ministry. " What hath God wrought ! " This week I am expecting to leave my secular employment and get ready for my journey to Ireland. May the Lord prepare all things for me, and bless me in my going out and my coming in. "If thy presence go not with me, carry me not up hence." So far as I know my heart, I think that I have never felt quite • so strong a desire for Ireland as I had for the West Indies. My heart and soul seemed to be among the negroes. But God is my master and I am His servant. He must choose my place for me, and I must willingly go where I am sent. And though I am not going to the negro, yet I feel satisfaction in my mind that I am going where God has sent me. I hope the poor Irish will have my all, for I have given my heart to Jesus, and am willing to labor wherever I may go. My greatest concern must be to be found faithful. I feel that I have chosen a work of the greatest importance, and a station that is the most responsible in which man can be placed on earth. But I dare not refuse. From a very early period of my life I have had thoughts about the ministry, even when quite a boy, and now, when the church has said, " Go up to the help of the Lord against the mighty," I cannot, like Meroz, refuse. If I had made his refusal, I must have expected his curse. My desire to preach is very great. I have often dreamed about it at night, and have preached many a sermon when alone in an old cellar. I would rather be a minister with food and raiment, than have any other employment with the most com- fortable situation in the universe. Mr. Bates had now been five years in the service of the mercantile firm in Cheapside. That he had won the good 8 m I 84 Memoir of Rev. John Bates. will of his employers he had every reason to feel, when he went to receive his money and take his leave. The gentle- men of the firm expressed the greatest reluctance to part with him, assuring him that money need not be a consider- ation, and intimating even that opportunities might offer for securing a share in the business. They seem not to have been aware of his purpose to enter a sphere so wholly differ- ent, for when Mr. Bates replied that no money would tempt him to remain, " they smiled, and wondered what he could have in view." In reviewing the five years of his life in London, Mr. Bates found many reasons to confess the loving- kindness of the Lord. They had been eventful years, sig- nalized by special mercies of God, and he felt himself now called upon to dedicate himself anew. He expresses dread of " a decay in religion — a gradual and almost insensible declension." Recalling the words of the devil to John Bunyan, " I do not care if I am seven years in cooling you, so that I can but have you at the last," he earnestly sought grace to keep him in the upward way, with a heart ever warmer with life, and his feet on a road shining more and more unto the perfect day. CHAPTER IV. A YEAR AT BALLINA. 1888-1884. The last occasion upon which the writer of these pages had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bates, was that of a missionary designation at Chicago, in May, 1867. It occurred at the clos- ing exercises of the Missionary Union anniversary in that year. The occasion was one of especial and tender interest to Mr. Bates, as among those thus set apart to the work of foreign missions was his own daughter, Mrs. Timpany, with her hus- band, ready to depart for India. That incident, with the bearing of Mr. Bates, who took a leading part in the service,, and in whom the father and the Christian were equally seen, as he thus laid upon the altar one dearer to him than his own life, is now recalled, as we come to speak of his own designation to a service, in some respects similar, thirty- four years before. So far as this, at least, the two incidents are similar — that the work to which the father was devot- ing himself in 1833, called for a spirit of self-surrender in him akin to that in which his children gave themselves to a more distant, yet scarcely more taxing service in 1867. Previous to his formal and public designation as a mis- sionary to Ireland, Mr. Bates spent a few days in visiting his friends at Bugbrook. The mutual gratification afforded by this visit may easily be divined. Five years had passed since he left his home so suddenly, and so much to the grief of those who remained behind. He now returned, not only 3G Memoir of Rev. John Bates. I